Chapter 14: The Judgment Hours--Hour II--The Short, Intermission Chapter before the Fights

Eddy was running; running as fast as his legs could take him. He was searching for a certain someone close to his heart; Rei Hino. He had already gone by some scary looking trees and now came upon a moss-covered cave.

Eddy decided to rest his feet for a moment by sitting down on a rock near the cave. It was while he was sitting down that he heard footsteps from where he entered the cleared area of the woods. He put his right hand on his sword as he turned to there to see who or what followed him. But he soon let's down his guard when he saw who it was; it was everyone else that he had left behind.

"Eddy!" Double D and Ed said as they came over to him, "Don't go running off like that; you don't know what you're heading into yet," Ed said.

"I have an idea of what I'm heading into," Eddy said with slight irritancy in his voice.

Double D made a sigh, "Eddy, I know how you feel right now. But now is not the time to go off alone and get revenge; it may lead to a trap."

Eddy soon made a look of defeat on his face, "… You're probably right."

Soon everyone else came into view from where they entered. Sailor Neptune (AN: Or Nazz, as I will still call her, so no one wouldn't get confused with her and Michiru) was looking in the Submarine Mirror, "The Headquarter is in this cave," Nazz said as she pointed at the cave.

"What an original place to put your base," Kevin stated aloud sarcastically, but no one was really paying attention to him.

Sailor Moon turned to everyone, "Well… is everyone ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be to kick their butts!" Venus said.

"You've said it for me!" Johnny said alongside Venus.

"You know I'm in!" Nazz said with a cheer.

"Yeah, we'll get them for, uh, whatever they've done!" Kevin said. The only reason he was staying here was to protect Nazz from anything, of course, but also because he's suppose to.

"I will kick their alien butts back to where they belong!" Ed said bravely, "Because no one messes with my buddy's loved ones!" he then said, making both Double D and Eddy blush in embarrassment.

Saturn giggled at Ed's attitude, "You know I can't leave Ed to do all of the work. I have to come to help my friends too."

"And you know I'm there for you Sailor Moon," Kamen said.

Everyone turned to Double D and Eddy to see what they had to say.

"Let's go save them!" they both said as they both then turn to the cave and dash towards the entrance. Everyone else soon followed.

Rei felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks as she woke up in a sitting position. She was sitting in a chair in a dark cell, which appeared uninhabited. She heard voices in an area next to the cell, but she didn't care at the moment. She then tried to recall what happened, 'Well, we were all going to the lake that Eddy was talking about, and then--' Rei then stopped her train of thought to remember something that happened, 'Oh no, Eddy!'

When Rei tried to sit up from where she was sitting down, she felt her arms and legs wouldn't move apart. They were both apparently bound together to the chair!

'Oh no, I'm a prisoner!' Rei thought in horror as she tried to scream for someone, but yet again, she never noticed the duct tape that was over her mouth.

After this discovery, she just decided to wait until someone came into the cell to untie her, if possible. Then, a few minutes later, Rei saw someone coming into the cell. She made a death glare at who just came in; it was Russo.

"Well hello Princess Rei; did you enjoy your nap?" Russo asked as he came over to her and made a smirk, "I'm sure you had a dream about someone close to you?"

He then puts his right index finger under her chin, "Let's just hope it was me instead of that dead, shrimp of a servant knight," Russo rips off the duct tape from her mouth with one, quick swoosh, making Rei's head go to one side because of it.

Smacking her lips a couple of times to get rid of the bad taste, Rei glared up at Russo angrily, "What are you planning to do with me?" she asked.

"It's actually quite simple," Russo started to explain, "I'm going to steal your soul and give it to Lady Ultima to let her true form come out; simple, eh?"

Rei glared daggers at Russo, "Where're the others at?"

"What, you mean the other Sailor Senshi?" questioned Russo, "Mercury was captured; just like you, but she's not doing to good. Got hit in the shoulder with Weiss's sword; it's pretty nasty looking."

Rei turned pale in the face, "No…"

"Little Saturn wasn't caught because the other general questioned her authority," Russo continued to say, "But we really didn't need Saturn though; two Sailor souls are good enough to fill up Lady Ultima."

Russo then turned away from Rei and started to make his way to the cell door, "I'll leave you alone for now, but I'll be back in a minute," with that said, he left the room.

Rei just sat there and started to tear up a little, "Eddy… I-I hope you're in a better place now…"

Meanwhile, in a big room next to Rei's cell, we can see Ami sleeping in a pure black, crystal-like glass pod that was supported on the wall, along with several other pods just like it. We see Weiss sitting in front of Ami's pod, looking at her sadly.

"I'm so sorry Princess Ami," he said to her, "I didn't mean to hurt you like this…" he then made a glare at a thought he just had, "It's all Duo's fault!" he tightened up his fists as he stood up from where he sat, "I'm going to get him; no matter what!"

Weiss then turned back to Ami's pod and said, "I'll get him for you; I swear my soul on it!" with that said, Weiss left the room, not knowing that he was being watched the whole time by a figure in the corner.

Azure came into the room from another entrance and walked up to Ami's pod, "So, you're the famous Princess Ami of Mercury…" she stated, "… You're lucky that you have Weiss caring for you so much."

Meanwhile, in the throne room, we see Lady Ultima watching the approaching kids through the black sphere floating in front of her, "Hmm, more souls to harvest now?" she stated with a wicked smile, "It would be my pleasure to cause them suffering… but it looks like I should take the three other general's souls away, just in case if they decide to go soft on the enemy."

She then heard three screams of agony as Alani, Kin and Azure's souls were taken from their bodies, "Ah, how I love that sound of torture," she then said, "General of the Elements, I summon all of you six to come forth to me at once!"

Soon six colored portals formed in front of the woman. There was Weiss, Russo, Kin, Azure, Midori, and finally Alani. All six of the preteens soon bowed to the woman, "Yes, Lady Ultima?"

"There are some intruders coming toward the castle," Lady Ultima said, "I want you six to take care of these pests."

Lady Ultima then turned to Russo, "And I also see someone that's looking to kill you, Russo," she showed an image of the group and, to Russo's shock, there was Eddy at the front of the group line; alongside Double D and Ed with Saturn by Ed's side, "I thought I would be nice to tell you this; just in case if you wanted to attack someone from the group."

"Thank you for showing me, Lady Ultima," Russo said with a bow to her, "I'll make sure he's 'welcomed' properly."

"That's a good general, Russo," she said, "Now get going; all of you!"

"Yes, Lady Ultima," stated all of the preteens in front of her as they disappeared in their represented colored flashes.

Everyone was still walking in the cave, going deeper and deeper within it. It was then that they noticed some lights up ahead.

"What's that up ahead?" questioned Venus.

"We're about to find out," Eddy stated as everyone soon saw the source of light.

It was a huge hole in the cave that was letting the light in from the outside. And shining right in the middle was a black stoned castle.

"Well, we've found the place," said Johnny as everyone soon started to walk towards the castle with slight caution.

They were already halfway to the front castle doors when, all of a sudden, they heard two sets of laughs from out of nowhere, "Hello Sailor Senshi."

Suddenly, two colored portals formed in front of them, both of them white and red. The Ed's and Saturn quickly identified the two preteens that came from the portals; Weiss and Russo.

"It's an honor to meet almost all of you," Russo said as he made a smirk, "It's a shame that we won't get to know each other for very long."

Eddy made a death glare at Russo, "Tell me where Rei is; now!"

Russo made a laugh at him, "Ha, as if I'm going to tell you now!" he then disappeared with a flash of red light, "Maybe I'll tell ya; if you can find me first!"

Eddy made a growl of anger as he raced off to the castle doors, only to be stopped in his tracks when Weiss teleported himself in front of the doors, "Move it!"

"Not yet," Weiss said, "I need to talk to all of you; especially Duo."

Weiss then turned towards Double D as Double D came up closer to him, "Ami's condition isn't improving very much. She might not make it much longer."

Double D turned pale in the face at the thought, "W-Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I know you still care for her," Weiss stated, "It wouldn't be right for me to not tell you how she's doing," he then made a glare at Double D, "Plus, since it's you fault that she's injured, I'd figure that I would break the ice for you… pun intended."

"My fault?!" Double D exclaimed with anger, also surprised that he would even think that, "It was your sword that hurt her!"

Weiss just made a mad look, "If you think that, than that's fine; but it was you she was defending."

"But it was her choice to step into your--"

"Lies!" shouted Weiss as a gray aura appeared around him, "You made her do it so you would protect yourself!" he then disappeared with a flash of now gray light, "We'll settle this discussion later; I'm going to check on her."

As soon as he left, everyone busted through the castle doors as they looked around to see where they would go next. There were four passageways up ahead; one of them said 'General's Quarters' above the first passageway on the left. The three others were not labeled.

"Okay, I think we should split up and try to find the throne room that way," Kamen said to everyone, "That's where we find the person behind this whole thing."

Double D nodded his head in agreement, "Kamen's right," he then looked at the four ways to go, "I'll go down the third one."

"I will too," Eddy said as he stepped up to him, "If Ami and Rei are in the same place, then I'll go with you. Plus I can't let ya go all alone, now can I?"

"We'll come along with you two as well," Saturn said as she and Ed came up to them.

"I guess Kamen and I will go down the second one, "I have a feeling that's where the throne room is."

"Kevin and I will go down the fourth one there," Nazz said as she turned towards Kevin, "Right Kev?"

"Huh?!" Kevin stated with slight surprise; but quickly recovered by saying, "Uh, yeah sure!"

"I guess that leaves me and Venus, huh?" Johnny stated, "To… uh, which one again?"

"To the last one on the right," Venus said.

"Right, that one!"

Everyone nodded their heads, "Let's hurry!"

With that said, everyone darted to their locations; Kevin and Nazz going to the General's Quarters, Moon and Kamen in the second passageway, Double D, Eddy, Ed and Saturn going down the third corridor, and Johnny and Venus going down the fourth passageway.

Hey look; I've added more to this chapter!

Oh, please note that this next part of the chapter and the next two chapters all happen at the same time. Thought I might tell you this now, to clear up confusion. I also need to say that I'm not much of a " Battle" writer; thought you guys should know that. But I will do the best I can to deliver the goods!