Okay, this chapter is going to have at least one big bit of fighting here, if not more than one, for many of the people now on Tarokauni III, for sure. They will not have an easy time of it, but they will still fight various beings during it, whether sentient or not, in any case.
This will be a major battle on their quest to return to the Moon, even the Moon of 174 BC. And it will likely be an particularly memorable battle for them as well. Especially after some new attacks are created by certain Scouts now in the Katrelomisian Empire of Tarokauni III during it, at that.
With no further ado, then, here's the next chapter of Time Vortex One, folks. TUS out.
Somewhere Near Lake Kenokoa
September 15, 174 BC
Oshajimi, Katrelomisian Empire, Tarokauni III
Sometime later, then, after reaching the locations of at least two other turquoise blue diamonds on their map, the Scouts and all their current companions got no more than about twenty miles from the nearest shore of Lake Kenokoa, and no less than half that distance from it. They were mainly following the nearby Tatukoni River, still, at the current time, as they'd often been doing since leaving the area of Crystalion behind some length of time before. Eventually, they came to a town called Oshajimi elsewhere in the Katrelomisian Empire, which was marked by yet another turquoise blue diamond on their map. The town was not very large, but it still had a quite commonly-used road running through it, just the same. And they'd have to pass through it to get to their final destination anyway, no matter what.
Even if various kinds of monsters might be rumored to exist and live there, they'd all still have to pass through the town in order to get to their final destination on Lake Kenokoa's shores. They all might not like the idea of having to possibly fight any number of monsters on the way to the necessary place, of course. But if they had to, they most likely would do so, no matter what. Periodically, they'd encountered natives of Tarokauni III while heading toward their final destination on it. And those people had often suggested to them all that various kinds of monsters might actually exist on, over, or under its planetary surface. So they all realized that they'd all have to try to stay quite alert, whenever possible, as they all traveled to the required place there.
Eventually, they all entered the town with each other. They all soon came to a series of buildings in the town, as they'd all been directed to do by a scroll that they'd all found one turquoise diamond ago. That diamond was located on their map where they'd last reached a key location on their trip toward Lake Kenokoa. A scroll had told them to investigate certain buildings in the town of Oshajimi. So that was what they were about to do. Sentinel Serenity, of course, had to split up her companions into groups of at least two sentients apiece for them to investigate those buildings. She didn't like it, but she still had to do that, just the same. And she did so, after first making sure that all their horses were in sufficiently safe places, while they'd have to check out all the required buildings in the aforementioned town.
Luna, Artemis, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus investigated one building in the town. Serenity, Moon, Corona, Eclipse, Mini Moon, and Peppermint did the same for another. Calypso, Chrysalis, Bamboo, Jasmine, Cinnamon, and Rainbow took a third. Skyhorse investigated a fourth building with Saturn Beta, Uranus Beta, Neptune Beta, and Pluto Beta. Amilaram, Sierra, Paquasim, and Onziza checked out a fifth. That left Firehawk, Sacala, Enisangob, and Ocabirama to check out a sixth building.
No problems came the way of Luna, Calypso, and Amilaram's groups, when they each checked out the required buildings in the town. But Serenity, Skyhorse, and Firehawk's groups soon came under fire from unexpected beings in those buildings. Serenity told Luna and Artemis to go back to where their horses were now staying. And she told Mercury and the rest of her group to make sure they got safely back there, before they went to where Skyhorse's group was encountering some unexpected fire. Mercury acknowledged this order of Serenity's, and then Mercury's group did as ordered of them. As they did so, Serenity told Amilaram's group to help their fellow Monitors/Scouts. So Amilaram had her group then do so, of course. That left Calypso's group yet to be assigned to reinforce other members of their party. Quite naturally, Sentinel Serenity ordered them to reinforce her own group, of course. After all the groups were assigned as Serenity thought they should be, Serenity waited for those groups to completely carry out all her orders.
She did this while she, Moon, Corona, Eclipse, Mini Moon, and Peppermint all did whatever they could against those beings who were then attacking them. They were currently being attacked by half a dozen or more good-sized beings. And those beings had heads like horses, except for the fact that most, if not all, of their exposed skin was much like that of a Terran alligator or crocodile, quite possibly. Those beings could stand somewhat erect at times, and they each had tails about five to ten feet long, on the average. They each had four claw-like feet, each of which consisted of eight finger-like projections from their palms. Those feet were about two feet in average diameter, at least in the front. Their front feet could also serve much like hands, while their back feet couldn't. Their usual coloration was often either dark green or dark blue, with very little variation, generally, for any of them. And those beings were currently not the exception here against the Scouts. Those beings, as a matter of fact, were firing weapons much like machine guns, if not weapons of that exact kind, toward the Scouts that they were now opposing. At the moment, Serenity and her Scouts were doing whatever they could do to keep themselves from being hit by flying projectiles or breaking items.
Even if they had to try to dodge pieces of breaking items, they did so, to the best of their abilities. When they had to do so, they also quite obviously tried to stay where they couldn't be hit by flying projectiles sent their ways by their opponents, of course. It wasn't all that easy for them to do, but they still did it, just the same, as they waited for reinforcements. Reinforcements in the forms of Calypso, Chrysalis, Bamboo, Cinnamon, Rainbow, and Jasmine, in fact, at the very least, if nobody else as well at the current time.
Eventually, Peppermint said, as quietly as she could, "Either we need to get out of here, people, or we need to find a way to hide ourselves at least a little bit, until we can counterattack our current opponents here."
"If Saturn Beta were here, I think she'd be able to hide us at least a little bit. But she's not. So we have to figure something else out in the meantime," said Sentinel Serenity.
Mini Moon thought for a moment, as she and the rest of her current companions huddled behind various large items in their current building, no matter what those items might be here. Then she asked, "I have an idea. Corona, can you still use at least your Solar Wind Blast power?"
"I have at least some power left in that area for myself, Mini Moon."
"What about your Silent Shadow power, Eclipse?"
"Same thing. What do you want us to do, then?"
"Cause a distraction of sufficient size, if you can."
"That might be hard to do. We might have to expose ourselves at least a little bit, Mini Moon."
"Understood. Does anyone here have a power that allows them to shroud themselves or others in fog, for instance, or something similar enough?"
Peppermint said, "If I remember correctly enough, Mini Moon, I believe that I have such a power. But if I'm not too mistaken here, I somehow think you have an idea that you still might need me to carry out some other part of your plan."
"If I had my ball, I think that I'd be able to use it here. But I don't, Peppermint. So I'll have to think of something else instead."
She did this for a few moments longer, and only a few moments longer, before she spotted some barrels of what appeared to be strange chemicals of yet-unknown sorts. Then she asked Peppermint if she currently had with her some sort of sensing device, other than maybe her own Imperium Silver Crystal, of course. Peppermint said, "As a matter of fact, I believe that I do, Mini Moon."
"Please use it to scan the barrels that I'm now pointing out to you." Mini Moon said this, as she indicated what barrels that she was now talking about here.
Peppermint did so, and soon reported, "I think that we can use them to hide ourselves for a little while. We could hide ourselves from our opponents' view for a time, and still be able to see them through whatever's hiding us from them at the same time. I think that we can make something appear around us that won't cause any of us any problems at all, at least, if nobody else as well here."
"Do what you have to do then, please, Peppermint."
"All right, Mini Moon. Everyone, please stay as far away from the barrels in question, then, if you can. For I could be wrong about whether or not the strange chemicals would be able to hurt us at all, if they got too close to us here." Everyone did as Peppermint then said to do, as Peppermint then generated several chains of solid metal out of thin air, so to speak. She generated at least one chain per barrel that she was going to try to use the contents of, of course. After doing so, she quite quickly lassoed each barrel, one at a time, as she popped up and down. As she did so, Corona and Eclipse covered her as best as they could with the necessary attacks of theirs against their opponents, whenever the need arose for them to do so at all here.
Eventually, she had all the necessary barrels lassoed with her chains. And she was about to pull them over one at a time, quite naturally. Seconds later, she pulled the first of those barrels toward her. When it hit a barricade of sorts between her and it, it tipped somewhat, and began spinning, still under her control. She controlled it at least until she finally decided to let it go. Seconds after she did so, the contents of that barrel began emptying out onto the floor around it. Moments later, it was completely empty, and Peppermint was about to tip the second barrel over enough to allow its contents to mix with the chemicals that were already on the floor. The second barrel soon followed the first, and it rolled toward the first as it was emptying its contents onto the floor as well. When the chemicals from the first two barrels began mixing to at least some degree, a multi-phasic shield of some sort began developing. Granted, that shield might not last for a very long time. But it still might last at least long enough for Mini Moon to carry out the plan she was thinking of trying to carry out at the current time. At least that was what all the Scouts who were now present here hoped, as Peppermint continued to tip over barrels that Mini Moon had just indicated to her. The first level of that multi-phasic shield was largely, if not entirely, of a fog nature. The next was essentially of an ice nature. The one after that was mainly of a fire nature. The level after that was primarily of an arboreal nature, while the fifth level was of a chain nature, mainly. Within ten to twenty minutes. at the very most, of her beginning to tip over those barrels, then, Peppermint had a reasonably stable shield with at least five levels to it, and possibly even at least six, if not even more than that.
When she saw that they might now be able to have some breathing room, in terms of their opponents then not being able to directly attack them well enough, she said, "Mini Moon, I think that we can carry out at least the next part of your plan now."
"All right, Peppermint. If that's now true here, I'll need you to get out at least some of the capsules that I think you might be carrying with you now. I'll gladly provide a bowl, if Sentinel Serenity will also provide some water to dissolve all of those capsules in."
Peppermint searched in the things that she now had with her, as Mini Moon and Serenity did the same for their own things. Moments later, then, Mini Moon and Serenity set their respective contributions on a table that was somewhat near them. Peppermint met them at the table with her capsules. Then Mini Moon said, "It seems to me that you'll need to handle all these things together, Peppermint. I can't handle them all together. For I don't have the necessary knowledge that might allow me to do so here, I know."
"What about Serenity here?"
"With all due respect to her, of course, I really don't think she does either. She obviously knows about a whole lot of things in her life. But for some yet-unknown reason to me, she doesn't really seem to know as much as I think she might need to know here," said Mini Moon.
"Then how will I know how to handle each of these things, Mini Moon?"
"The answer to that question is somehow already written in your heart, I think, Peppermint."
"I hope you're right. Then, just in case that's true here, I suggest that all of you stay as far back from me as you can, while I handle all these things together."
"Agreed," said Mini Moon. So Mini Moon and the rest of Peppermint's current Scout companions got as far away from Peppermint as they each could do so, while still remaining within the multi-phasic shields that Sailor Peppermint had just erected around them. When they did so, Peppermint reached into her things that she was still carrying. And she took out a full-body suit and gloves. This suit of hers was much like the environmental suits that Mercury and Neptune Beta had used earlier, but also much like the environmental suits that natives of the Milky Way Galaxy's Sol System might possibly ever wear in their own lives, whenever the need arose for them to do so at all. The gloves were of a type that would allow Peppermint to safely enough handle the capsules, bowl, and water she'd have to handle for at least a little while, if not a long while. Peppermint donned both the suit and gloves in very short order, then.
After she was suited up, and the suit was providing her at least enough air for her needs, whatever they might be, Peppermint began pouring the provided water into the available bowl. She poured all the necessary water into that bowl before she ever dropped a single capsule into that water-filled bowl.
One capsule at a time soon followed another into the water, after the first one entered it with very little, if any, splash at all. Each capsule put into the water dissolved fairly quickly, once it'd been in the water long enough, as a matter of simple enough fact. Soon enough, then, a somewhat large pinkish cloud of some sort appeared immediately around the area of the table that Peppermint was now working at here. This cloud wasn't present where Peppermint was working, except as it rose to a point about four feet over her head, before it spread out around the table area she was now working in. From the bowl to the top of the clear area, then, there was a pillar of some sort of pink fog. It wasn't actually of a poisonous nature, at least to her or her fellow Scout companions. But it still might be to their current opponents, if they were somehow ever able to break well enough through the multi-phasic shields she'd established some length of time before.
As she worked under a pinkish shroud of some sort of fog, a mostly pink sash eventually appeared. She soon set it aside, and far enough away from the bowl that was currently in question here, just in case the bowl might accidentally tip over somehow. Either by being accidentally tipped over by her, or by being tipped over by something or someone else entirely. Whatever it or who it might be, as a matter of fact.
Several bazooka-like weapons, at least, if not any other kinds of weapons as well, soon became visible as she continued to work at the table, with her hands often in the bowl. She set each of them as far away from the bowl as she could, as soon as she could do so. Several canisters or grenade-like items soon followed, as soon as they possibly could do so. Two mirrors eventually came out of the bowl, under her quite careful hands, as well. She continued to work with the contents of the bowl for as long as she could then do so. Meaning at least until she had nothing more in it that she could work with well enough at the current time except the water, if not even longer than that, as a matter of fact.
Eventually, the cloud around her began to dissipate into thin air, in a manner of speaking. And she began to become visible again, at least to her current Scout companions, if not to anyone else at all who was currently in their present building. When it was completely dissipated into the necessary air, she told the other Scouts who were now with her. And she began distributing items she'd just pulled out of the provided bowl full of water to her current Scout companions. She kept the sash for herself, and donned it, as soon as she could safely do so.
Peppermint then gave Moon several canisters and/or grenade-like items to use with her current bazooka-like weapon. Moon put them in a pouch that she was now wearing on her belt.
Serenity received some canisters and grenade-like items as well, not to mention a weapon that could fire them sufficiently well, if the need arose for her to do so, from Peppermint. Peppermint also showed Serenity how she could hide at least the canisters and grenade-like items in various martial arts weapons that Serenity would often enough carry with her in her life. Serenity would at least occasionally carry long wooden staffs with her, for instance. Staffs that could often enough be called bos. Serenity, at least sometimes, would also carry sais and various other forms of swords and daggers, for the obvious reasons, whenever she could, in her life.
After Peppermint distributed all of the necessary items that she'd just pulled out of the bowl as she saw fit, if she didn't keep them, she poured the remaining contents of the bowl of water into at least a few small pouches she'd also pulled out of it earlier. After doing that enough to fill at least six to eight small pouches, she tied off each pouch with a ribbon she'd found in each of the pouches as she'd pulled them out of the bowl. After she'd finished tying off all those pouches with the necessary ribbons, a slingshot quite suddenly materialized out of what essentially might be considered to be thin air. This slingshot was only large enough to hold one of the pouches at a time, as a matter of fact. And if she was good enough to do so, she might even be able to make one or more of those pouches hit, quite accurately indeed, a target that was at least half a mile away, if not even farther away. Supposing that she wasn't forced to fire them in more crowded situations than that, of course. Like if she had to fire them in a building of small enough size, for example. Such as the one she was now in with several other Scouts, quite naturally. After then stowing away all of the necessary pouches in a larger one she'd suddenly found under the table while working on the things she'd pulled out of the bowl, she took off her environmental suit and the gloves she'd just used. She retrieved a medium-sized box from her sack. Then she opened it, and pressed a certain button she saw in it along one side of its bottom's inside area. That established some sort of energy field around her gloves and her suit. With that field established sufficiently well, the box engaged a certain program in its memory, once she pressed another button near the first one. That made the new contents of the energy field transfer themselves to a certain part of the bottom's inside area near a small keypad. The energy field traveled through the air from close to, if not on, the table to the inside of the box's bottom part. Seconds later, she pressed a third button, which engaged a box-closing program. And before it'd close on her hands, she quite naturally withdrew her hands again, of course. The box would automatically remain closed until such time as the contents of it would somehow be safe enough to touch again, most likely, if not most definitely. At least as it might pertain in any conceivable enough way to any kind of being who might actually be native to the Milky Way Galaxy's Sol System, anyway, quite naturally.
Calypso's group soon checked in with Serenity here. And Calypso said that it'd be at least a few more minutes, most likely, before she and her group could also enter the building where Serenity now was with five other Scouts. Serenity didn't like that idea, of course, but she still accepted it as best as she possibly could at the current time, as Moon, Corona, Eclipse, and Mini Moon periodically counterattacked their opponents. Serenity and Peppermint told their fellow Scouts who were now moving to reinforce them as quickly as possible about whatever they could tell them, while the younger Scouts covered them as best as they possibly could at the current time.
Moon soon pounded one of their opponents with her Mini-Moon Crystal Storm attack, as Corona sent a Solar Wind Blast, and Eclipse sent a Night Owl Storm attack, toward the exact same opponent. All three of those Scouts attacked the same opponent from three different directions. Eclipse did so from a position above, in front of, and to the left, of that opponent, as she was facing that foe of theirs, because she attacked from a balcony of sorts elsewhere in the building. Corona attacked from a position about ten degrees lower than Eclipse, about fifty degrees to Eclipse's right, but still in front of that opponent. Corona did this while Moon also attacked them from a position that was actually on the floor, but also directly facing their right side.
It soon turned out that the opponent in question could no longer withstand the attacks of the three Scout sisters from three different directions. And he then fell to their combined attacks in rather short order. He was quite quickly torn apart by the night owls from Eclipse's attack on him, if Corona's Solar Wind Blast attack didn't do that first to him. And what little then remained of him, if anything at all still did so somehow, almost immediately began hitting other opponents that still were present and still fighting against the Scouts currently around here.
Blood and various other parts of him soon landed on at least one, if not more than one, of his surviving companions. And when they did so, that quite often posed at least some trouble for those companions of his, due to certain circumstances that were most likely too numerous to mention in sufficient enough detail. That was at least at the current time, most likely, if it wouldn't always be the case here, of course.
His quite-unexpected demise even caused parts of him to land on the eyes of at least one of his companions. Which helped to blind them to at least some degree, if they weren't the only things that caused at least temporary blindness, if not permanent blindness, of the affected companion or companions of his. The affected being or beings quite mistakenly began hitting other beings like themselves with their various weapons, as they sought to fight back even without being able to see quite as well as they'd earlier been able to do. And their wild firing eventually began to help the Scouts out. For they were beginning to periodically take each other out of the fight, due to their current state or states of blindness. But it also did force the Scouts to begin dodging hostile fire again, once their multi-phasic shields began dropping again quicker than they'd been doing so a while before. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons, as a typical observer might logically expect, if they ever saw such a fight in progress from a safe enough distance away, most likely
If there was at least a sixth level to the shields, it collapsed first, at its highest possible level, before it then dropped to the next level below the just-collapsed one. Eventually the shields got down to the chain level, of course, if it wasn't originally the highest possible level. And that level collapsed not long afterward, mainly due to the quite wild shots from the panicking beings that'd been hit by fire from their various companions, at least, if not also by attacks from any or all of the Scouts who were now periodically fighting against them all. The Scouts' enemies, even while they were getting even more panic-stricken in the current fight, were still somehow able to cause at least some damage, if not a lot of damage, to the Scouts' multi-phasic shields with every single hit that they managed to get on them, for some yet-known reason. Supposing, of course, that anyone else would somehow ever know that very reason, quite naturally.
The shields' chain level collapsed within about fifteen minutes after it came under attack, if it hadn't originally been the highest possible level of shielding when those shields had been erected by Peppermint some time before. That meant, of course, that the arboreal level of shields was now the highest available level of defensive protection for the Scouts, at least for a while.
While stray shots were often enough hitting the Scouts' shields, the Scouts also saw several other beings quite similar to their opponents show up in the same building, by coming out of a tunnel they'd not yet seen in their current building. And then, Peppermint said, "Oh, great. Just what we need now. Even more monsters that we have to fight here. Just lovely."
Just a few seconds or so later, then, Serenity's communicator suddenly beeped in a certain pattern that she was familiar enough with in her life. That certain pattern was made up of at least a few notes from a musical piece that Serenity had learned at the age of five or six in her life. And she'd never forgotten that piece of music, for some strange reason. These notes were from the second movement of that particular musical piece, and she'd never forgotten them ever since she'd learned them to a sufficient enough degree in her life. The specific musical piece that was now in question here had actually been composed by the Moon-born Skyhorse, as a matter of fact.
Serenity had even trained quite often to the accompaniment of that very same piece of music from the time that she first became a Sailor Scout of any kind in her life. Maybe not all the time, of course, whenever she trained as a Scout. But still enough for someone to accurately be able to say that she'd often done so in her life as a Scout, if they knew her well enough in each of their own lives.
Skyhorse was using that pattern to tell Serenity that her group, after it'd been reinforced by Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, had finished off all their current opponents in the necessary building of the town. And that she was leading them toward Serenity's current building for that town. Serenity soon learned this, through the beeps that Skyhorse was sending her, and she soon informed Moon and the rest of the Scouts who were currently with her that Skyhorse's current group of nine Scouts was heading their way to reinforce them as well.
With that done, Serenity soon tapped out a reply in another pattern of notes from the same overall musical piece, and told Skyhorse their last message to her had been received, acknowledged, and understood to a sufficient enough detail. She very briefly posted Skyhorse on the current situation that she and her fellow Scouts were now facing in their present building. She was almost immediately rewarded with a five-note sequence sent to her by Skyhorse through her communicator. Which told her that Skyhorse understood, and that she and her group would act accordingly for at least the time being. The last of the aforementioned five notes was a signing-off note to close the channel. Then Serenity closed her end of the channel as well, and put her communicator back where she'd just gotten it from, if she'd not been wearing it when Skyhorse had just beeped her on it, of course.
As she did so, Moon and the other Scouts who were now with her were periodically striking against their various opponents, whenever possible. And while they did so, they also tried not to stay in one particular place too long, if they could avoid it. Just in case the shields couldn't protect them well enough in a certain part of the building they were now in.
The arboreal level of their shields collapsed no more than a few moments after Serenity closed her channel on her communicator, due to increased levels of accuracy being shown by their current foes who'd not yet been too injured or otherwise hurt during the current battle. That meant that the fire-related level of their shields was now the highest-possible level of protection for them, in terms of their shields. And depending on what their foes were sending against that level of shields, that level of shields might last for a long while, or it might not.
The fire-level shields held at least until Skyhorse's group of Scouts arrived outside the building in question, if not even longer. Then Peppermint briefly dropped them completely, so that Skyhorse and the rest of her current group could enter the building as well to help them out as much as they possibly could help out here. Five seconds after they were far enough into the building, and after they were close enough to the rest of the currently-present Scouts in that building, Peppermint put those shields back up as much as she could. Saturn Beta got into the act of protecting all the other Scouts now present in that building by using her ability to provide an Amethyst Sailor Star Shield. Which quite effectively helped to augment the present strength of the surrounding multi-phasic shield that Peppermint had earlier erected in their part of the building.
Saturn Beta did this while Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus began to go to work on the increasing numbers of monsters that were currently rising out of the floor some distance away from them. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus got only as close to their numerous opponents as they absolutely had to get in order to attack them, due to the increasing numbers of monsters that they were starting to have to fight here.
Skyhorse soon asked, "Does anyone have any idea where they might be coming from, in particular?"
"They're all coming out of a tunnel that we can't currently block off well enough. We're too far away from it, I think, Skyhorse," answered Peppermint. "Plus we still have others firing quite wildly all over the place, for various reasons that are too numerous to mention well enough at the current time, most likely, Skyhorse."
"Can you tell us why briefly enough, then, Peppermint?"
"Because of certain things that we've done to them, and also due to some things that they've happened to do to each other, I suppose, is the best way that I can describe it in somewhat brief detail here. I could be wrong about such things, of course. But I don't really know if I am here at all, Skyhorse."
Mercury and Jupiter teamed up to blast another monster, by Mercury using her Mini-Ice Bubbles power, and by Jupiter using a power she'd just thought of as she was entering the building that she was now in with so many other Scouts. Jupiter then called it, "Jupiter Kilo-Thunder Encircling Flashstrike," or "JK-TEF" for short.
This just-created attack for her formed what looked like a large ring of thunderbolts around a chosen opponent. And this ring looked like it was made up of at least a thousand such thunderbolts, if not more. The ring of thunderbolts would appear over the chosen opponent's head. And if that certain opponent wasn't quick enough to get away far enough from that ring before it was too late for them, that ring would then trap the opponent inside it, in very short order. When it did so at least well enough to make sure that the chosen foe would probably never be able to escape from that ring's boundaries, the ring would start to contract into an ever-shrinking circle. The more the opponent in question currently struggled, the quicker it'd contract, if possible. When the ring finally could contract no longer at the current time, that was when the Flashstrike part of the attack would happen. The Flashstrike would then essentially, or at least largely, reduce the unfortunate foe even further, if at all possible. And maybe even to mere atoms, given the right circumstances, so that no trace of them at all might ever again be detectable somehow, at least under normal enough situations, if any circumstances at all. The bolts would turn in toward the chosen enemy, and they'd strike them while flashing quite brightly, whenever they could possibly do so. Either until they'd run out of parts of them to strike or until they'd run out of sufficient energy to continue doing that, somehow. Jupiter unleashed that new attack of hers while Mercury froze the chosen enemy in place near the tunnel. And that particular opponent of theirs couldn't get away from those attacks of theirs sent toward them. Needless to say, that opponent was quite quickly reduced to mere atoms. Especially when a touch of Corona's Solar Wind Blast attack also hit that particular opponent of the Scouts here.
If any of their other opponents were also touching the unfortunate opponent at the same time that Corona's Solar Wind Blast attack also hit them, they too might have suffered the same exact fate as their now-blasted companion. And, in fact, three of their other opponents were actually in at least some physical contact with that foe of the Scouts. So, as had happened with that foe of the Scouts, they too were quite quickly reduced to mere atoms. Even if they'd not actually been hit by Jupiter's brand-new attack, they still were, because they were sharing at least some physical contact with her chosen foe. One of those other foes of the Scouts, in fact, had been exiting the tunnel at the same time that Jupiter's chosen opponent had been caught by her new attack and Mercury's Mini-Ice Bubbles power, and while Corona was using her Solar Wind Blast attack at the same time.
Seconds after all four of them had then been quite quickly reduced to mere atoms, the area of the tunnel was quite quickly abandoned by the remaining opponents of the Scouts that were still present in the building, and fighting against them. This was mainly because they didn't want to get hit by any attacks of the Scouts that might be aimed at that particular area of the building, of course. As a matter of fact, much of that particular area was now contaminated, at least to them, because of what the attacks of Mercury, Jupiter, and Corona had just done to their companions. So they all abandoned that area as quickly as they could, of course.
When they did so, many of them quite soon found themselves ambushed by Uranus Beta, Neptune Beta, and Pluto Beta, at least, if nobody else as well at the same time. Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta soon ambushed them with their ball-related attacks, after first notifying all the other Scouts that they'd be doing so before they ambushed those opponents of theirs. While Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta notified all the necessary Scouts that they'd be doing so, Pluto Beta then prepared to join in the ambush that Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta were about to spring. She'd do so with her own attack, of course, when the need arose for her to do so.
She'd used this attack of hers before while training with most, if not all, of the Scouts that she knew well enough in her life, but they generally didn't yet know what she called it in English. She'd always called for it to date in a rather obscure language of Charonian origin, as a matter of fact. The only ones besides her who might normally know that particular language in the Moon Kingdom, of course, might be people from her own world's mini-system. Meaning, of course, anyone from her world, its own space stations, its own spaceships, or its own moon Charon. This, in fact, could be the very first time that she might ever call for it in a language that most, if not all, of her fellow Scouts could normally understand easily enough in their own lives.
She'd call for it, once Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta felt it was the proper time for them to spring the ambush on their chosen foes, of course. And she'd maintain it for as long as she could, for all the obvious reasons, as Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta did the same with each of their respective attacks here.
Five to ten minutes later, at the very most, then, after Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta had finished notifying all the other Scouts that they had to notify, Uranus Beta, Neptune Beta, and Pluto Beta chose to spring the ambush now in question here. Uranus Beta called for her Mini-World Shaking Blast, Neptune Beta did the same for her Mini-Ball Deep Submerge, and Pluto Beta called, in English for the first time, upon her current main attack as Junior Sailor Pluto Beta. That current main attack of hers was called, when translated into English as well as it could currently be translated into it, "Pluto Black Onyxes Cascade Surround!"
This attack of hers would first form a suitably-sized cylinder or whatever other necessary shape around the opponent currently in question at any time she used it. After doing so, it would begin showering that opponent of hers with any number of black onyxes in often-cascading waves, until they were completely surrounding the opponent in question, if possible. And it'd do so, if at all possible, at least until the shape that she'd created around that opponent of hers was as full as it could possibly be, if not even longer than that. Then, if the opponent in question couldn't possibly free themselves from the mess that they were now in within about one to five minutes, at the very most, the onyxes would begin trying to extract all possible energy from them that they could, and feed it back to their controller. Which, in this particular case, was Pluto Beta, of course. After they each did so as much as they could each do that, Pluto Beta would recall that part or those parts of her attack back to herself, just before she'd generate some musical instrument out of thin air. She'd use this musical instrument to provide the final part of her attack, of course. This instrument could be of any shape, form, or design, and it could make any number of sounds, depending on how she might play it at the necessary time for her.
In this particular case, however, while Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta were attacking their opponents with any number of their attacks, Pluto Beta was attacking not only with the aforementioned onyxes, she was also preparing to call for the necessary instrument or instruments she'd need to use to finish off any or all of her own opponents. Pluto Beta caught one opponent per at least every two or three of either Uranus Beta or Neptune Beta's opponents, if not less than that, most likely. But still, Pluto Beta was proving at least as effective as Uranus Beta and Neptune Beta. For she was generally gathering more energy than she was expending, most likely, as she was attacking any number of the Scouts' opponents.
Later on, if possible, Sentinel Serenity would try to collect that energy for future use of her Scouts, and maybe even others as well. She'd try to do that with Pluto Beta's help, for all the obvious reasons. Pluto Beta would first have that extra energy stored in her own power locket's crystal. And she'd try to transfer it somehow to Sentinel Serenity's own Imperium Silver Crystal through the necessary power locket. If she could do so, Pluto Beta would eventually hand Serenity her own locket. This would be so that Serenity could try to collect a certain amount of energy from it and store it in her own locket, of course.
If Serenity could do so, she'd transfer it between the two necessary Crystals, as needed, until she'd thought that she'd taken enough energy out of Pluto Beta's own power locket. And then that energy would stay there, hopefully, at least until such time as she or any of her other Scouts would need to use any of it, if not forever.
In fact, this extra energy that Serenity might later try to collect in her own locket could possibly be the very energy that'd later allow her to try to send Serena and many others to Earth, after the end of the Moon Kingdom. Whether that was the case or not, it wasn't yet known, if it'd ever be, as a matter of fact.
It was quite often the case, as well, while the monsters were trying to dodge multiple attacks from other present Scouts anywhere in the building, that they were trapped by at least one part of Pluto Beta's current main attack as Junior Sailor Pluto Beta, if not more than one of the parts to it. And if they weren't fast enough in the necessary way or ways, it'd most likely mean curtains for them, in a manner of speaking. Which wouldn't be all that good for them, of course.
As several of the Scouts kept attacking the monsters now in question, many of the monsters fell under those attacks from the Scouts. Pluto Beta, for instance, took out at least five to ten of their opponents by herself every hour that the fight continued to rage in the building. Even while the bodies of the Scouts' opponents still continued to pile up periodically.
Eventually, the stream of reinforcements for the Scouts' current opponents ceased to flow into the building. Especially when all the other Scouts that were part of Serenity's current traveling group were finally able to enter the building still in question here. Including, of course, all the Monitors who were also Scouts at the same time.
The bodies, in some cases, even fell just mere inches from at least one, if not more than one, of the Scouts still in the building. But still the battle raged on for at least a little while longer.
Eventually, though, the still-surviving monsters could no longer withstand the combined attacks of the assembled Scouts, and they fled as quickly as they possibly could from that very building. Not all of them were somehow able to do so, however. And they fell in various areas of the building, no matter where those areas might be in it. But by the time that they could finally escape safely enough from that building, the now-dead corpses of at least 1,000 or so of their companions still remained present in the same place. An untold number of their companions had also been killed there, but no longer existed in detectable enough form, for all the obvious reasons.
After the battle finally could be considered quite over, then, Serenity and all her current companions accounted for each other as best as they could, as soon as they could do just that. This was mainly because it was still quite hard to see in the building, due to the various effects of certain Scouts' powers. Like Mercury, for example, if she could also make it harder for the Scouts' enemies to see any or all of the Scouts during a typical battle, at this particular time in her very own life. Her Mini-Ice Bubbles power could theoretically prove such a cover for herself and other Scouts, if needed, at least. That was if it wasn't actually yet known that it could surely do just that by anyone at all, even by her. Which, as a matter of fact, might not necessarily be the case here.
Mercury knew, for instance, that she could at least attack with them, if she didn't also know that she could defend with them as well. And by knowing that, she could logically expect that it might even be possible to use them to hide herself and others from hostile attacks by any number of the Scouts' opponents. For she was quite intelligent, as a matter of fact, in her life, as she'd always been, and likely would always be, if at all possible, in it.
Eventually, the building's air began to clear up well enough to allow everyone else who still lived in it to see each other. Especially after at least one door and/or window of it was opened up sufficiently well by any or all of the assembled Scouts. Including, of course, the Monitors/Scouts who were actually from Peru back on Earth, in actual reality. After it was completely cleared out and confirmed to be totally breathable by all of the necessary people and animals, Serenity accounted for all her party's human or humanoid beings completely. But only after all the Scouts' enemies that'd still remained in the building after the battle had been taken care of in all the necessary manners, for all the obvious reasons, of course.
Not long afterward, then, Luna, Artemis, and all of their traveling party's animals came to that particular building, and began to check it out rather thoroughly indeed. Many treasures and potentially useful items were soon enough found by all the assembled members of their traveling party.
Those items and treasures were quite soon afterward piled in at least one quite large pile, if not more than one, for eventual sorting by the Scouts and cats who were now in the necessary building. As were other items and treasures that'd also been collected from all the other required buildings of the town.
It took them at least a few hours, if not at least six hours, for everything to be sorted out well enough by the Scouts and the cats. But eventually, of course, they were able to do so well enough. They kept only the most important and useful items that they'd all found in the various buildings they'd just been in, if they couldn't carry everything they'd found with them as they traveled to the necessary place on Lake Kenokoa. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons.
Whatever they couldn't bring with them, they soon either buried, returned to their proper buildings, or gave away to others nearby, if it was at all possible for them to do so with those things at all. Other items and treasures that they couldn't keep or put elsewhere, they had to destroy by various means, from what they learned while sorting out all the things they'd earlier found in the required buildings of Oshajimi in the Katrelomisian Empire of Tarokauni III. They learned this from yet another scroll that was strangely written in what appeared to be at least 420 different languages at the same time. This scroll was found attached to the wall of the building that they were now all in, as a matter of fact, and it quite mysteriously unrolled itself out of a storage nook of some sort not long after the end of the battle. This scroll was about twenty feet wide and about six inches thick, as it unrolled itself out of the nook. When it'd rolled itself out onto the necessary floor area of the building, or as close to it as it could possibly get, it stretched practically from where it was attached to its wall to a line nearly to the closest wall that was definitely parallel to it in the building.
They periodically read from that scroll either as they wanted or needed to read from it, as the case might be for any or all of them. And the things that they had to destroy by various means, they all put in a certain area of the same building, as they'd been directed to do by that scroll. They did so whenever necessary, even while attending to all the things that they could either keep, give away, bury, or return to their proper places of origin, for all the obvious reasons.
Eventually, all the things that they could keep were in their things as needed. All the things that they could give away were given away to the appropriate people, as well. And the other items and treasures that were meant to be either buried or returned to their proper places of origin, before the Scouts were about to have to destroy other items and treasures by various means, were taken care of in the required manners, of course.
That left only the items and treasures marked for destruction left to be attended to, quite naturally. Not all the Scouts were needed in the area of the building designated for the elimination of the required items, so Serenity let those Scouts, whichever ones they might then be, do whatever they wanted or needed to do then in each of their lives. In fact, only the ones who were from the Moon originally were needed in that particular area. And, of course, that meant that Mini Moon, for instance, wasn't actually needed there at the current time. However, Bamboo, Calypso, Chrysalis, Cinnamon, Corona, Eclipse, Jasmine, Moon, Peppermint, Rainbow, Serenity, and Skyhorse were needed there, because of that fact about that area of the building which was now in question here.
While all the other members of their party did whatever they either wanted or needed to do at the current time, twelve Scouts went back to the necessary area of the building. When they did so, the scroll quite mysteriously rolled itself up again into its own nook just as quickly as it had unrolled itself earlier. As Serenity shut the required door behind her and eleven of her Scouts in the necessary area of the building, then, the scroll's nook closed quite securely behind the scroll as well.
Ten to fifteen minutes later, then, at most, the twelve chosen Scouts returned to where everyone else was waiting for them to return. Including, of course, Luna and Artemis. Sentinel Serenity soon enough told all her other companions exactly how those other items and treasures had been destroyed by her and the other eleven Scouts who'd then been with her. Or at least she did so to the best of her own ability to do so, if she couldn't do so completely enough at all. If any questions at all then came her way about any or all of the required means of destruction for those items and treasures, she answered them as best as she possibly could, if she couldn't do so completely enough for any or all of them, at least at the current time, if not forever.
Then Serenity and all the other members of her party who'd not yet been able to relax and/or enjoy themselves began doing so as soon as they could do just that here. And they soon enough rested, when their current situation then sufficiently enough allowed them to do so for a long enough period of time, and if they wanted or needed to do so, at the current time in each of their own mortal lives.
After resting and relaxing for at least a little while, then, all the members of Serenity's traveling party began to move again, if it wasn't already too late for them to do so at the current time. If it wasn't, they did so until it was time for them to stop for the night again. If it was, then they stayed in or near the building they'd last been fighting in somewhere in Oshajimi, for as long as they needed to stay there, for all the obvious reasons, of course.
They spent much, if not most or all, of at least the next week or so moving toward the place represented by the cobalt blue X on their map. But eventually, they all got there, just the same. And they all began waiting quite patiently for the comet that'd been mentioned in the scroll that Mercury had found some time earlier.
Well, that's another chapter down, and a little less than half the story to go, I believe, based on how long it was when I wrote this story more than fifteen years ago. It's still roughly that long, in fact. Later editing may change the length of this story, of course. But when I wrote it, the whole story was a little over 210 pages long and about 95,000 words, more or less. I do not know how many words this site will reckon its length at, once it's fully posted, just yet, for sure. However, I still expect it to reckon this story's word count at somewhere around 95 to 100 thousand words, at most, in truth.
I'd have to check at least once to be sure, but I believe there are still at least five to ten more chapters to this story, before the end of it. I will say this, however, folks. We will see many characters return very soon to the Moon of 174 BC, although just how soon, you'll all still have to read on to find out for sure, in any case.
Until the next chapter, then, I'll close this. Hope you're all being entertained by this tale, and are enjoying it at least a little, as well, of course. TUS out.