Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 18: Fight fire with lightning.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 4, 2013
Last edited: May 25, 2017

Terry couldn't help but wince as he looked around his backyard. There were many patches of grass which were either frozen or burnt. True, he wanted to improve as much as the others, but he also wanted to find a place for them to do it without wrecking his house.

"Fire Soul!"

Circe was sent rolling back by the blast, and laid on the ground, trying to get her bearings back. "I suppose you guys aren't that weak after all."

Mira helped Circe up and smiled. "Or maybe we're not that strong."

"You know, I don't know about this," Calisto noted, "training out here? Don't you rich people always have some paparazzi hounding you?"

"My father's the famous one, I'm just a kid. Japanese media doesn't seem to care that much about me."

"If you're that worried, maybe we could go ask Jadeite to put a black dome around the mansion while we train," Mars joked.

Zero looked at the three Huntresses. "Okay, since you're fired up after training with the Senshi," he paused and noticed all the girls cringing at his pun, "how about you help me train a bit?"

"Won't our spells hurt you?" Mira asked.

"No offense, but I can take a hit by Mars' Fire Soul and not feel the heat, so I doubt it."

"Shadow Clap."

Usagi frowned at Circe as Zero was sent flying back several meters by a wide darkness wave. "Hey!"

Circe ignored her, instead smiling as Zero stood up. "None taken."

"Okay, so I guess some of your spells are a bit stronger than a Senshi's first level ones," Zero admitted. "Still, I think I can be hit by a few of those without any real danger."

"Terry, I don't think risking being hurt like that is a good idea," Ami warned.

The ninja smiled at her. "We're taking a lot of risks when we go fight youma, and I'm the weakest of us all. I would like to get better at dodging magic blasts, and if that means taking a shot or two from peole I know won't hurt me on purpose, then I'm fine with that."

"Where's the 'I don't trust you girls' attitude?"

"What can I say, I think Usagi's a bad influence for me. But joking aside, you're our allies, you've helped us in battle, and as far as I'm concerned, you're trustworthy."

"Good. Now stand still while we blast you around," Circe joked.

"Not a chance," Zero said and rushed at Circe.

The other girls stood back as the Huntresses started shooting at Zero. He wasn't fond of just dodging, however, so he kept on trying to hit them, but they phased out of harm's way each and every time.

Rei noticed Ami was staring at the fight, her face showing she wasn't quite happy about it. "Don't worry, he'll be okay," she said in a whisper.

Ami blushed slightly as she realized her friend had noticed her worry. "Uhm, I just don't want him to get hurt."

"Neither do I," Rei said.

"Flare!"

Zero dodged the fire blast, and used the momentum to jump straight at Mira. Mira saw this, and decided to try something other than dodging. "Shock Surge!"

The electricity hit Zero dead on, but didn't quite stop his charge. However, it caused him to lose focus for a second, turning his jump into a fall, and he ended up lying on the ground on top of Mira.

Calisto barely stopped herself from laughing out loud. "I see Emi knows how to make a guy fall for her."

Zero leapt away quickly, looking at Mira apologetically. "Uh, sorry about that."

Mira stood up. "It was my fault, I should just dodge next time."

"Or maybe you'll get him to fall again," Calisto teased.

"Cut it off, Maria."

Usagi had watched the scene along with the others, but she had also noticed something. Ami had, for a split second, shot a glare in Emi's direction. Maybe Usagi was reading too much into that, but could Ami be jealous?

Circe looked at Zero and nodded. "If you can dodge youma like you dodge us, then you'll have little problem fighting them," she paused for a few seconds before smiling slyly as she added "just try not to go falling on top of them."

"Aki!" Mira hissed, blushing a deep red.

Zero vanished his mask and looked at the other two Huntresses. "Really, cut it off, or I'm going to start thinking you wish you had been in Mira's place."

That got him a short glare from Mira, but also caused the other two to fall silent and stare at each other, before they also blushed.

Next morning, after school, Usagi and Terry were walking home. "Training was a lot more fun than I thought," the girl suddenly commented.

"Don't start with that," Terry muttered.

"Not what I meant," Usagi said, "but you know, I saw Ami glaring at Emi when that happened."

Terry stopped walking for a second, then shook his head and caught up with her. "I think you're just making things up."

"I know what I saw."

"Why would Ami like me? When I'm not being a blonde joke, I'm being a grim fool. I don't think it's the money, either."

Usagi smiled at that. "Oh, so you also..."

Terry stopped walking again, looking at Usagi with a neutral stare. "Don't tell her a thing."

"But you two-"

"There's more important things to take care of right now."

Usagi frowned at that. "Like what, killing Luminite?"

"Finding the other pieces of the crystal, finding the Princess, defeating the youma... But yes, at some point Luminite will have to be dealt with, too."

"What is it you're scared of?"

"I already lost someone I cared for to the youma. What if I fail again?"

Usagi sighed and started walking again. "I understand what you mean, but I can't agree with you."

"So, you'll tell her."

"She would use our mission as an excuse, just like you, so I won't."

"Thanks, I guess." Terry said, then noticed Usagi staring at him. "What?"

"Guess I'm a bit jealous of Ami, too," Usagi said, blushing slightly.

Terry's eyes widened. "Oh... But I thought you were after that Tuxedo Kamen guy?"

"I would gladly stop daydreaming about him if-" Usagi started, then realized she had said too much. "Uhm, sorry, I don't want things to get weird."

"Don't worry, Rabbit, I know I'm too charming for my own good. We can still be friends."

Usagi shook her head at that. "Now if you weren't so egocentric at times..."

"Ouch," Terry said with a smile. "I'm sure you'll find someone, Usagi."

When Rei got to the shrine, she was surprised to see an unknown man sweeping the stairs. The man seemed only a few years older than her, and was wearing a shinto outfit. "Who are you?"

"You must be Hino's granddaughter. My name is Yuichiro Kumada, he hired me to help at the shrine."

"I see. Nice to meet you, Yuichiro."

"Likewise."

I have to talk to grandfather about this, Rei thought as she walked up the stairs.

"... And he said he needed the money, and he doesn't look like a bad guy, so I hired him," the old man finished his explanation and looked at Rei. "I know, you would expect me to hire a cute young girl instead. But think about it, this way you won't have to worry about me being distracted." He stared at her with a smile which was one sound effect away from a chuckle, and added "or are you worried he will distract you?"

"As if," Rei muttered. "But I suppose you're right, it's hard to take care of the shrine on our own."

"And you seem to be pretty busy lately. I hope your friends are not distracting you from your studies. Specially that blond, handsome young man..."

"He's a friend."

"Nothing else?"

"No. And even if I was interested, I think his heart belongs to someone else already."

"I see. Okay-" He was interrupted by a shout from the outside. "Let's see what's going on. Hope it's not one of those monsters."

As they walked outside, Rei cursed under her breath. Luminite and Kunzite were there, and Yuichiro was facing them, wielding his broom as if it were a sword. "That guy's insane."

"I agree," Luminite mused and shot an energy blast at the guy.

Yuichiro leapt over it, bringing his makeshift weapon down on Luminite's head. The broom broke and Yuichiro stared at it in surprise. "Wow, she's tougher than she looks."

Nephrite had enough of the human, and shot a blast at him, knocking him out. "Now, let's get down to business."

Rei had figured out what they were after, her grandfather was a carrier. She couldn't transform in front of him, but he had to protect him, somehow.

The old man noticed her indecision and decided to stop fooling around. "Rei, you should go somewhere safe," he said out loud, then in a whisper, he added. "Then you can call your friends and take care of these evil ones."

Rei was quite shocked, but knew she would have to save her questions for later. "Okay, I'll go get help!"

Nephrite looked at the short old man. "Nothing you do will save you."

"I've heard the rumors, you target civilians, and those attacked turn into monsters until the Senshi defeat them."

"That's about right," Luminite noted. "So, will you give up?"

"Why not," the man said, "I'm just an old man, I can't hope to win against your kin."

Luminite smiled and walked to him, her hand lighting up. "Good, now stand st- Aargh!"

Nephrite wasn't quite sure what had happened, but the man had moved quite faster than someone that old should. Luminite was lying on the ground, clutching her arm and screaming in pain, a small piece of paper sticking to it. "What the Darkness..."

The man showed him another piece of paper. "My charms keep evil spirits away."

Nephrite laughed. "Oh, I see. There is magic to be wary of besides that of the Senshi."

Hino glared at the man. "Want to see if you're faster than your friend?"

Nephrite frowned. Actually, he didn't feel like testing that out. But he just had to wait until Luminite recovered, and keep him distracted in the meantime.

"Guys, this is Mars. The youma are targeting my grandfather. Come to the shrine as soon as you can."

"I'm just a block away," Mako said through the communicator.

"We'll go as soon as we can," Usagi said, "just try to stop them from getting him."

Mars sighed as she put her comm away. They didn't need to tell her that.

Terry looked at Usagi as she put her comm away. "Actually, I think we shouldn't stop youma from getting their targets."

"But this is Rei's grandpa, we can't just-"

"Listen, each of these 'carriers' has a piece of the Ginzuishou. We need those. Sure, they turn into a strong youma for a bit, but you have to trust yourself, and the others. And if the youma can't get their target, they'll just try again. What if they decide to attack Rei's grandfather while we're all at school?"

Usagi looked at Terry and smiled. "Well, I think I know what Ami sees in you..."

"Leave that for later, let's kick some youma rears."

Mars couldn't help but smile at the scene she saw when she got back to the shrine. Her grandfather was kneeling on the ground, visibly tired, but both Nephrite and Luminite were down and screaming in pain. "How did you do that?" She asked as she run to him.

"My charms are just too strong for weaklings like those. It's too bad it can only give them a few minutes of pain."

Mars nodded. "We'll talk later, now we have to..."

"I've had my fun," the man said, "but now you should let them get me."

"What? No, I can't do-"

"These monsters will keep coming back until they get me."

"How do you know that?" Mars asked, slightly upset at not realizing that herself. Moreso, they did need the Ginzuishou, so she would have to let her grandfather be turned, much despite herself.

"I have my sources. Now get ready, lady Mars," Hino said with a smile.

Mars saw Nephrite and Luminite standing up and sighed. "Right."

"Oh, one of those pests is here," Luminite noted dismissively. "Nephrite, get her, I'll wait until something worth fighting shows up."

"Likewise," Mars said, causing the two Generals to look at her in surprise. "You guys are too easy to fight, so turn this old man into whichever youma he has inside."

Nephrite frowned at that. "Overconfident, aren't we?"

Mars smiled. "I have my reasons."

Nephrite shrugged, noticing his target wasn't moving, and shot at the old man. He had guessed Mars' move, or at least that's what he thought. He shot an energy blast close to the crystal shard, but Mars had not moved to get it. Before he could wonder what was going on, he heard a shout of "Supreme Thunder!" and was sent flying forwards.

Luminite realized things had turned bad as he saw Nephrite fly. She turned and yelped as she leapt aside, barely dodging Jupiter's charge. "Another pest."

Mars smiled as she took the crystal, then looked at her grandfather, whose form was already changing, growing in size until it was several meters tall. "Oh crap."

Nephrite staggered up and smiled as he saw what the old man had turned into. "Suzaku, the youma of flame."

Mars realized two things. One, her attacks would do little against this youma. And two, she had to draw it away from her house. "Fire Soul!"

Jupiter saw Mars being chased out of the shrine by the youma, and knew what her plan was. "Oh well, it's not like I need the help."

Nephrite shoot a blast at Jupiter, but the girl dodged it. "You're on your own, and your friend will not be able to deal with Suzaku."

"Maybe she won't, but you're wrong about the first part."

"Moon Tiara Flight!"

Jupiter looked up as the Tiara hit the two Generals several times without stopping. "Good timing."

Zero saw Moon was kneeling on the ground. "Hey Rabbit, you shouldn't waste all your energy like that."

"Who's wasting anything? Look at them."

Zero finally noticed the Generals were out cold, and nodded. "I see. Jupiter, go help Mars. I'll knock them out again if they wake up."

As Jupiter run off, Moon looked at Zero. "Luminite's out cold."

Zero stared at Luminite. "I know."

"I thought you would-"

"I'm not going to lower myself to her level," Zero said, knowing what she meant.

Moon smiled. "Good, I was worried you would."

Mercury rushed in, and saw the others had the situation controlled. "Where's the youma?"

"Mars had to drag it away from here, it was a huge fire bird," Moon noted. They had seen the creature from a distance, and knew it would have burnt the place down if they fought it there.

"A phoenix?" Mercury said. "Wonder why they all look like mythical creatures?"

"Perhaps mythical creatures were based on them, actually," Zero guessed. "Go help the others, we'll be fine."

"Water versus fire," Mercury noted. "Still, what if these two wake up?"

"I'll just knock them around for a while."

Moon stood up. "Don't worry, Ami, we can keep them busy."

"Okay, I'll go help the others," Mercury said.

It only took a couple minutes for the two Generals to wake up. "Ow, my head."

"Hey there, Snow White."

Luminite glared at Zero. "Let's dance."

Nephrite looked at Moon. "I'm growing tired of your meddling."

"Likewise," Moon said, noticing Luminite and Zero were already trying to cut each other to pieces. "I don't like to fight, but that doesn't mean I'll let you win, Nephrite."

Mars leaned on a wall and sighed. Her own fire bird was no match for the youma, Nemesis' attack had barely hurt it, and Jupiter was not having a lot more luck with her electric attacks. The three Huntresses were nowhere to be seen, and Mercury was...

"Shabon Spray Freezing!"

The bird was knocked off the sky by the water blast, and the thick mist descended upon the area. Mercury walked to where Mars was, with Nemesis and Jupiter trailing right behind her. "Where's Moon?"

"She's keeping an eye on the Generals," Mercury explained.

"She gave them quite a beating," Jupiter commented, "I hope they stay out of the fight for a while."

"Where are the sidekicks?"

"Dew!

"Hail!"

"Rain Ball!"

"Here we are," Calisto said as the three Huntresses run in, then she added. "And we're not sidekicks!"

The mist cleared, and Mercury flinched. "Can't shoot another one, sorry."

"It's okay, that bird's quite tired."

Mars tried to summon her attack, but shook her head. "I'm out of juice too."

The bird, however, wasn't about to let the others try. It flapped its wings, and a large wave of fire shot forth, hitting all its foes.

Jupiter stood up, noticing only her and Mars were still conscious. "Damn it, we can't lose against a fried chicken."

Just then, a rose flew straight at the youma, burning up to ashes right after hitting it. "Worth a try," Tuxedo Kamen said from the rooftop he was standing on.

The bird screeched and shot a fire blast. The man leapt off the roof, barely dodging the attack, and bounced from wall to wall to descend safely. Jupiter watched this and frowned. Tuxedo couldn't beat one of the Rainbow Youma, Mars was weakened, and her other friends were out cold. She was on her own, but she knew just what to do. "Hey, ugly!" Suzaku turned to her, but she smiled. "Stop burning down my city. Supreme... Thunder..." She went through the motions of her Supreme Thunder attack, but held on the electricity for a while longer, forming a large ball of lightning. She rose her hands, and the electricity shot up, forming a large, dragon-like construct. "... Dragon!" Jupiter finally shouted, pointing at the firebird. The dragon hit the youma before it could react, knocking it to the ground and zapping it for several seconds.

Jupiter smiled and fell to one knee. The bird was gone, and grandpa Hino was left instead. "Such a lot of trouble in such a small package."

"Hey, that's my grandfather you're talking about," Mars said with a frown.

"Sorry."

Mars smiled. "It's okay. Let's go help Moon and Zero."

"Knowing the youma, they'll run away as usual."

Luminite laughed. "Really, kid, is that all you've got?"

Zero was holding his arm and panting, but still glared at her defiantly. "Let me recover and I'll show you."

"Not likely," Luminite snapped, but then turned to the side. "Suzaku."

Nephrite appeared near her. "He's been defeated. Let's go."

"But these kids..."

"We'll kill them eventually, but we can't lose Suzaku."

"Good point."

Zero looked around as the two Generals vanished. "Moon?"

Moon came limping to him, a line of blood running down her leg. "I'm fine, don't wo-"

Zero caught Moon before she hit the ground. "You're not fine."

The other Senshi were walking up the stairs, but they rushed to the two as they noticed Moon was hurt. "Moon, what happened?"

"Nephrite's tough to fight alone," Moon said with a weak smile.

The Huntresses appeared in front of them and winced as she saw Moon's wound. "Good thing Mira wanted to check on you two."

"We need to get her to a hospital," Mars said.

Calisto smiled and put a hand on Moon's wounded leg. "No need for that. Cure!"

Moon blinked a few times as she felt the wound closing. "Wow, that's amazing. Thanks."

"Rei, I think we need to talk."

Mars looked at her grandfather, who was just done walking up the stairs, and smiled as her friends all looked shockedly at them. "Guys, he knows about me."

"We'll see you later, then," Moon said.

Mira smiled. "Let's go back to your 'base' and we'll split from there."

Zero chuckled at the 'base' part. "Sure."

"Teleport!"

"Teleport!"

"Spell fusion, Mass Teleport!"

Hino blinked a few times as the Senshi and allies left. As she turned to Mars, he noticed she was back to her normal form. "Now, where's Kumada?"

Yuichiro came walking to them. "That was weird, I thought I heard voices here."

"It's just us two in here," Rei said.

Hino looked at the man. "I have something important to discuss with my granddaughter. Give us a shout if you need help, but I would appreciate if you didn't interrupt us for a while."

"Understood," Yuichiro said, then watched the two walk into the temple. "I guess rumors were right, this part of the city is never dull."

"So, how did you find out?" Rei asked.

"It's quite simple to explain. You may not have noticed how your spiritual energy shot up since you became one of them, but I sure did."

Rei nodded slowly at that. "Uhm, I did notice, I didn't think you would guess why."

"And you should be more careful," the man added, "I wasn't quite sure which one you were, but then I saw Sailor Mars run out of the temple..."

Rei sighed. "Yeah, I guess none of us is too good at stealth, but we're learning as we go."

"Thanks for knocking me back to my senses, by the way."

"It took a lot of us to do that," Rei admitted, "but it was Jupiter who finally got you."

"That's your friend Makoto, I suppose."

Rei stared at her grandfather for a few seconds. "... I suppose you also sensed their energy."

"Good guess," Hino said. "I wonder what Taichi will think when he finds out his niece is one of you?"

"Please, don't tell him."

"I won't, but he's smart and he has the resources. It's just a matter of time before he finds out on his own."

A/N: I could have called this particular youma "Houou" too, but I'm not sure which one's the most used (and least accurate) to make a pun on 'phoenix.'

Why are the demons inside people who's shown up more than once in the fic? Because while I didn't quite like the "monster of the day" thing from the anime, what I really hated was the "worthless, shallow youma fodder of the day" formula. I am not fond of once-a-story characters, and will only use them when it can't be avoided.