I do not own Sailor Moon just the original characters in this story.
Chapter 8
The prince sat on his throne listening the particulars of his brother's death from the forensics team that had gone to retrieve his body. Massive physical trauma, but his life had left him due to over use of his energy. He had poured everything he had into his last attack. Garnité and Akitaré had gathered to the throne as well to hear the report of Akalyte's heroic end. Once the forensics team had left Garnité spoke.
"That man he fought. He was honorable. Closed his eyes and stayed with him until he had passed."
"You don't meet too many like him around in this day and age." the prince agreed.
"A noble end for a noble warrior." Akitaré added.
"Indeed. We shall hold a funeral for him as soon as rest and repairs allow. We are only able to make repairs because of his efforts." the prince added.
"Should we go after the man responsible?" Akitaré asked.
"No, he did not want this any more than we did. He even spoke with me and asked if we would just leave." the price explained.
"And what happened?" Garnité asked.
"The Foreseer." the prince replied and Garnité hissed at the mention of the name. "Dislike him all you want Garnité, but he has always had the ability to see what the most beneficial course of action to take is for us."
"How exactly was this beneficial brother?!" Garnité shouted at him. "Akalyte lost! And for what a few engines repaired?! None of the sacrifices that were made were worth that especially not his!" Garnité stated emphatically. "Tell the Foreseer not to show his face around me again or I will be all too happy to remove it for him!" he called over his shoulder and stormed off with Akitaré following silently behind him before bowing to his father and leaving the throne room. Left alone in the silence his brothers words stabbed into his heart and he broke into tears mourning the loss of his brother and wondering if he truly had made the right decision by siding with the Foreseer.
* * *
"Welcome back... wait what happened?!" Usagi all but shouted as Seth stepped inside Rei's room at the temple. Minako was laid across Rei's bed and the others were gathered along the floor as Ami was sitting beside the bed rummaging through what medical supplies the temple had.
"I'm fine." he said waving away her concern. "My left arm is numb that's all."
"How is everyone else?" he asked looking at the others in concern and noticing that Makoto was not among them.
"She's outside training." Ami replied guessing at what his expression meant. Seth nodded and sat down next to Minako on the bed and sighed.
"Okay, time to get to work then." he said hitting a few spots on his arm and then testing it out to make sure it moved as he asked it to. "Do you have a bowl of cold water and rags?" he asked turning to Ami.
"Already here." came her reply.
"Good. Luna. Artemis. I need you two to stand guard. I can't have any interruptions right now. Minako's life depends on it." he stated.
"Understood." they both replied. He held his hand above Minako's body and a small jewel appeared above his palm.
"What is that?" Mamoru asked as the others turned to look at what Seth was holding.
"I'll explain later. Right now I need to concentrate." he replied and closed his eyes and the jewel began to glow with a soft orange light. "Ami-chan. Fresh rag for her, she's going to sweat a lot." he mumbled as she went to place a fresh rag on her forehead. He remained that way for two hours. asking Ami to change the rags every so often. After the first hour they all heard a soft click followed by two more. Then after two hours Seth opened his eyes and gave an exhausted looking grin. "She had more damage than I thought we were right to get her here immediately." he said as Makoto entered the room toweling off a fresh layer of sweat. "I think I gave you too much energy if you've been training this whole time." he said looking up at Makoto.
"I don't mind. It's like all of a sudden I had the biggest sugar high ever." she said with a grin and everyone else chuckled.
* * *
"Alright time to turn to you." Seth said moving off of the bed and sitting down beside Rei. "Just make sure that she gets plenty of water when she wakes up she's going to be very dehydrated, but she'll be fine." he said to Ami. "By the time she wakes I'll be sleeping." he moved placing his hands over Rei's legs and rushing energy into her body cooling her down and numbing her leg. She heard and felt a slight pop before the energy began to feel warm and soothing. Seth closed his eyes again and this time Rei could feel a rush of relief as blood vessels were reconnecting and her shin she realized was set in place. With a contented sigh she laid back and enjoyed the sensation. After twenty minutes the heat began to ebb away and she looked up to see Seth. Looking completely exhausted as the jewel disappeared from his hand. "That's about all I can do today. Your questions are gonna have to wait." he yawned and stretched his arms before wiping sweat from his brow.
"How long are we gonna have to wait?" Mamoru asked. "I've had Usagi fill me in on some of it, but it doesn't really help when she's still missing a lot of key pieces."
"Fine wake me when Minako comes around and I'll share then." he yawned again and then moved to lay his head around Rei's shoulder and immediately passed out.
"We all want answers Mamo-chan, but he's too exhausted." Usagi replied.
"I understand, but right now he knows our enemy better than anyone and I would like to know what we should prepare for." Mamoru said and the others nodded silently as Luna and Artemis returned from the hallway. Rei just sat stroking his hair grinning at her own little miracle worker.
* * *
Minako opened her eyes and shut them immediately. Why was everything so damn bright?!
"Good. You're awake." she heard Ami say as she felt herself being lifted up. What was going on had they won?
"How long have I been out?" she asked as she slowly opened her eyes again.
"Around nine hours." Ami replied as she sat up and looked around to find that she was in Rei's room... along with everyone else apparently. Usagi was fast asleep on Mamoru's shoulder. He was reading a book, but he looked up at them and smiled before closing it and asking how she felt.
"Fine I guess. I'm just so thirsty." she replied wondering what was going on.
"Seth said you would be. Here's a glass of water." Ami said handing her a large cup. She drank it happily. The dryness in her mouth and throat began to ebb away. She looked at the edge of the bed and noticed that Makoto was passed out beside her feet. Seth and Rei were asleep in each others arms in the corner behind her. They had fallen asleep in a giant group of Rei's stuffed animals.
"What happened?" Minako asked as she finished her glass and Ami handed her another. "Did you beat the Silver Shadow?" she asked before taking another sip.
"That wasn't the Silver Shadow you fought. It was just another of their soldiers in disguise." Mamoru answered. "The real Silver Shadow took care of him. He seems to have fixed you up pretty well too." he grinned.
"I need to thank him then." Minako said softly.
"Once he wakes up I'm sure you will." Ami replied looking over at Seth and Rei. Usagi stirred and her eyes slowly opened.
"I heard you talking she mumbled in a soft smile at Mamoru.
"I was, Minako is awake." he said softly back to her and stroked her face gently. She smiled back and lay there enjoying his touch when finally his words donned on her and she shot up and moved toward the bed wrapping Minako into a hug.
"You're alright!" she cried in joy causing Makoto to bolt up awakened by the loud voice. "I'm so glad your okay!" she continued hugging her friend even tighter as the rest of them smiled or stirred awake by the sound of Usagi's loud voice.
"Usagi you are like the best and worst alarm clock ever." Seth muttered rubbing his eyes. Usagi just chuckled back and slowly let go of her friend so that Makoto could wrap her in a soft hug.
"How are you feeling?" she heard Mamoru ask Seth.
"I'm ready for another nap." he replied still yawning.
"How long are you going to be like this?" Mamoru asked.
"At least another day. My energy is about replenished, but I have to sleep more so that my body can have time to get used to the new changes." he explained leaving Minako even more confused.
"I understand that." Mamoru chuckled.
"The Moonlight Knight incident, right? How drained were you when it all came rushing back?" Seth chuckled.
"How did you know about that?" he asked.
"Side affect of Usagi touching me when I went into the shared state. She got all my memories too, but I ended up getting hers as well." Seth explained.
"Slept for twelve hours, and I still felt tired." Mamoru grinned.
"My merger was a little different than that. I got everything all at once. At least you had time to process it." Seth scoffed. "And you didn't have Usagi in your head."
"You could use the upgrade." she retorted sticking her tongue at him.
"What upgrade? The only thing that you could have done was lower his IQ by fifty points, baka-Usagi!" Rei responded sticking her tongue back at her friend.
"The only thing I grabbed were her memories. At least I hope that's all." he mused. "No offense, but I don't wanna start pinning after Mamoru." he shivered and they all laughed.
"So what did I miss?" Minako asked putting down her third cup of water.
"Seth is the Silver Shadow." Makoto answered.
"Oh I get it now." Minako nodded. The moonlight Knight analogy actually helped. She chuckled to herself.
"Oh he's much more than that." Usagi replied.
"Yeah, most times it feels like I'm your babysitter too." he replied to Usagi.
"Yeah, right!" she scoffed.
"I'm sorry. How many times have I had to save your butt in either era?" he responded in a teasing tone. "Oh that's right, they haven't invented a number that high yet, have they?" he grinned.
"You're starting to make Shingo sound like the better brother!" she stated sticking her tongue out again.
"WHAT?!" Rei barked out.
"Yeah yeah. I guess it's time the rest of you got the explanation too." Seth said sitting up finally. As small jewel appeared above his palm and the others began to settle down.
"It can't be." Luna gasped.
"So you remembered too huh?" Seth chuckled.
"You don't forget a treasure of the royal family so easily." Artemis said in an astonished tone.
"You didn't really think that she would leave me behind, did you?" Seth responded sarcastically.
"So that's why she didn't leave." Luna stated in an understanding voice. While everyone but Usagi looked at them even more confused.
"This is the Silver Sphere. It's a treasure of the royal family of the Moon Kingdom. In the event that the queen has two children the daughter shall receive an incomplete silver crystal while the son receives the Silver Sphere. The Sphere contains a shard of the crystal in it. Once it is mastered the Sphere becomes equal in power to the Silver crystal itself and the shard returns directly to the Silver Crystal." Seth explained.
"So Usagi's Silver Crystal is incomplete?" Mamoru asked.
"Yes. That's why she can't revive others without giving her own live." Seth nodded. "Once I master this she will have the whole Silver Crystal at her disposal and then it is now my turn to help her master it." he continued. "That's why the queen died. If I had mastered it sooner the Moon Kingdom could have been saved." he mumbled.
"So that makes you the Queen's son." Ami stated.
"That's right, and Serenity is my sister. And now it's time that I returned the missing pieces of your memories. For my protection they were sealed away inside the Silver Sphere when I was sent to Earth." he held up the Sphere and it began to glow with a soft yellow light. The others closed their eyes and a wave of yellow energy pulsed through the room as a wash of thoughts and feelings long forgotten were reawakened in each of them. After a while the glow vanished and they slowly opened their eyes again to find Seth once again fast asleep, this time on Rei's lap.
"I missed you love." she whispered stroking his hair softly. As tears fell down her cheeks.
* * *
"Slave driver!" Usagi called at him. It was sunny outside and Seth had them training again. They were doing laps around an empty field loaded down with even more weight than before.
"Shut up and keep running." Seth called back. He was laying down in the grass. Still not fully recovered Rei had to help him move as they made their way to the field earlier that day.
"You could at least get up and do something." she called over her shoulder as she passed by him for the tenth time.
"If I could move I would get up and chase you sorry ass while slapping you in the back of the head the whole time." he called back. Makoto seemed to be the only one really enjoying the new training. Everyone else was just silently dealing with the harshness of the more advanced set. "Tomorrow is the more difficult part. You all have to fight me for real, and I'm not going to go easy on you anymore." he replied to all of them. A few of them moaned Usagi was the loudest, but Makoto and Mamoru grinned in anticipation. "The sooner you improve the better I will feel about having to be useless." he muttered to himself as Rei passed by on her fifteenth lap.
"You're hardly useless." she chuckled as she ran past.
"Thanks for that, but even I know it's true." he mumbled.
* * *
"He seems to be working them pretty hard." a woman's voice chuckled from the edge of the field.
"Should we go say 'Hi'?" another more feminine voice replied.
"Not just yet. We'll see how things progress. If he wasn't so drained he would have felt our presence by now." a third woman's voice stated.
"Still as handsome as ever." a fourth voice stated wistfully.
"Oh that's right I had forgotten that the two of you were lovers before." the first voice replied. Seth turned towards the sound of the voices and smiled in their direction.
"He knows." the third voice called .
"Then why hasn't he called us over?" the fourth one questioned.
"Maybe he wants to confront us when he is back to normal. Well, normal for him anyway." the second one mused.
"Tomorrow night." he mouthed at them.
"Understood." the third voice replied and they all vanished.
* * *
"My lord we are ready to proceed with the final stage of energy absorption." Krystyl stated stepping into the throne room.
"I was under the impression that we had received enough last time to leave this edge of the galaxy." the prince responded.
"We have, but the Foreseer thought it prudent to gather more in order to be ready to gather the fleet together for a retaliatory strike on the Aquians." she informed.
"I see." he nodded. Better to let the Foreseer play his games now so that he may reveal his intentions.
"I shall take a look at them and make any adjustments I see necessary." he replied and took the information from her before dismissing her.
* * *
"Alright, come at me seriously." Seth said to Mamoru. They were all standing in the field they had been using yesterday
"How come he gets to go first?" Usagi whined.
"Because he has finals to get ready for and work in the evening. Basically he has the most strict schedule and I have to work around that." Seth explained.
"Are we ready to get started?" Mamoru asked.
"Yeah let's get going." Seth replied and they stood facing each other as they unleashed a wave of energy from their bodies. Seth stood in front of them looking exactly the same while Mamoru had transformed into his Tuxedo Mask alter ego. They both vanished from sight while their attacks left damage on the terrain around them. "Let's see how long you can go against me now." Seth grinned and hurled an energy ball at Mamoru. He side stepped to avoid it and brought his arm up to block a right cross to the jaw. Twisting his wrist he grabbed hold of Seth's arm and flung him behind him. Seth let the momentum carry him and touched the ground lightly with his feet and used his centrifugal motion to sling Mamoru. Still holding onto his arm Seth released several tiny pin sized beams of energy into Mamoru's hand causing him to release his grip upon reflex and Seth sent him flying through the air followed very closely by several energy balls. They sailed through the air where Mamoru had been as Seth landed and found himself surrounded by roses. He grinned knowing what Mamoru had planned, the petals burst from their place on the roses and flew around Seth in a spiral. He released his energy around him destroying them all instantly and hopped back as Mamoru's hands came flying across less than an inch from his cheek. He slammed an energy ball into Mamoru's stomach sending him flying back a few feet while holding his ribs and cringing. "I told you I wasn't going to go easy on you." Seth chuckled. Mamoru disappeared and slammed an energy ball of his own into Seth's back.
"Guess there's no reason for me to do the same." he grinned back. Seth let the blow glance off of his side and spun with the motion to catch Mamoru dead in the chest with an energy beam that sent him flying. Mamoru landed on his back coughing up blood as he hit the ground and spun quickly to avoid a blow to the forehead as Seth was over him almost instantly. They both formed energy balls in their palms and shoved their hands forward to the other's face before grabbing their wrist with their free hand.
"Time!" Ami called across the field and Seth's grin grew even broader as the energy ball in his hand shrank and disappeared all together. He stood up and offered a hand to Mamoru.
"Next time I'll knock you to the ground." Mamoru said wiping blood from his lip.
"Yeah right. You're not there yet. Let's just work on you trying to get me to be serious." Seth retorted.
"Like you were taking it easy on me?" Mamoru replied sarcastically.
"I said I wouldn't take it easy on you, but I never said I would give you all I've got." Seth chuckled as they made their way back to the others.
"So, who wants to go next?" Seth asked as they rejoined the group and Mamoru toweled off a fresh layer of sweat. Everyone seemed to be looking at the ground except for Makoto who was positively beaming with anticipation.
"Usagi, I'm actually surprised that you weren't cheering on Mamoru through that whole fight." Rei chided as Seth and Makoto made their way to the center of the field.
"It just didn't seem right to cheer for one and not the other." she replied not taking her eyes off of the two of them as they got ready to start.
"You seem rather serious about this today." Rei responded looking her friend over in surprise.
"Well of course! I have to fight him soon. I need to watch how he moves and hope I can avoid him when we fight." she replied. Rei widened her eyes in surprise as did the rest of them around her. This was a very different Usagi it seemed she was finally going to take this training seriously.
"Good luck." Mamoru said pecking her on the cheek before she turned to kiss him on the lips.
"Are you thinking of going next then?" Ami asked as Mamoru left.
"No. I need more time to study him. Besides I want him to be good and tired when he gets to me. That way he can't make me run around too much." she replied seriously. The rest of the girls dropped their heads in response.
"Never mind she's back to normal." Rei groaned and Usagi looked around at all of them with a look of confusion on her face.
* * *
Makoto wasted no time she had transformed into her eternal form halfway towards the middle of the field. She's certainly ready to get started. Seth chuckled to himself.
"Don't get too eager and lose your focus." he stated before they began. Makoto nodded back and her smile vanished. She was all serious now. Good you need to take this training seriously now or you're going to end up with a great deal of damage. She set herself into position and it began. He gave her no warning he simply vanished from in front of her.
She had no time to look around for him. Every instinct inside her was screaming at her to move away from the spot she was in NOW! She hopped to her left and the impact that Seth's fist hit the ground kicked up a cloud of dirt he turned in her direction and even though he was smiling at her with pride his eyes remained the same. They coldly calculated her next move and plotted out his counter. No matter what smiles he threw at her he could not hide the eyes of an experienced warrior that he had now seemed to gain. Makoto side stepped a kick and caught his arm as she backpedaled. She gripped his arm tightly and ran a current of electricity up his arm causing him to wrench his arm out of her grasp quickly and retreat before she could land a blow with her other arm. Crap! Now it'll all be distance fighting! She moaned to herself for not seizing the opportunity to inflict more damage on Seth, but she could tell that had shaken him. She had caught him by surprise and he had not expected that yet. He shook his arm a few times to get the numbness to go away and took a quick step forward. She backed up quickly and he smiled raising his other hand. With two fingers he hit four different pressure points in his arm so quickly she could barely see it. After moving his arm around a few times to check the range of motion and control he had over it he turned his attention back to her.
"Probably not a good idea to let me fix my arm. You shouldn't give me the luxury of time to repair it. In a true battle that could cost you your life." he stated returning his expression once again into the cold calculating warrior. "Think of me as an enemy when you fight me." he stated and vanished again. This time Makoto gave herself over to her senses. She jumped left and spun to her right releasing a ball of lightning. It slammed into an energy ball and exploded. As soon as her feet toughed the ground she leapt into the air and unleashed a beam of electric current at Seth who had appeared below her. He leapt to the ground to avoid another jolt of electricity an barely had time to pull his head back as her fist came down into the ground surrounded by another electric current. He managed to avoid her direct hit, but some of the current had traveled through the ground and sent a small jolt through him. He slammed his hand into the grass below and used an energy beam to propel him into the air and away from the ground. She didn't bother to follow, she simply spun around and used her motion to hurl another ball of electricity at him. It flew through the space he had been hovering in. Before she had time to react his fist connected with her cheek and she was spinning quickly to the ground. He stood over her hurling an energy beam down on top of her and she reacted by sending another electric current across her body to absorb most of the shock and impact. He was out of her range before she could bring her leg up to kick him in the stomach. Three more energy balls where zooming towards her. She somersaulted backwards before the dangerous objects could hit her and came up ready to send another electric ball hurling up at him. He caught her dead in the stomach with another fist and sent her flying backwards blood and saliva both blown out of her mouth. He's certainly not being delicate with us anymore. Good! I didn't want to be babied in training after that last battle. She grinned to herself and wiped the blood away as Seth leapt forward to meet her head on. I should have figured he wouldn't give up on a close range fight just cause I caught him off guard once. He didn't gain the title of general for nothing. She chastised herself while covering her body yet again with electric current. He was in front of her before she cold blink and he thrust an energy ball at her. It hit her electric field and fizzled out. Then she realized what he was doing his attack may have been cancelled out, but so was her defense. Before she could blink he had his other hand out palm forward and his energy beam sent her flying ten meters away to land on the ground coughing up another batch of blood with the impact. She had no time to react, she threw her hand into the air above her and released an electric ball which slammed into Seth's chest and sent him flying away from her. He landed on his feet about two meters away from her.
"Time!" Ami called as Makoto lifted herself off of the ground and Seth turned his head to spit some blood out of his mouth. It seemed her last attack had done something at least.
"That trick of wrapping lightning around your body is a good one, but as you saw once an enemy has seen it they can adapt to it. that's exactly what those soldiers you fought the other day would have done. Never forget to take the opportunity to end it while you have the chance. I doubt they would be so lenient with you." Seth explained walking back with her.
"You were just fighting me at their level, weren't you?" Makoto asked in understanding.
"That's the level of soldier we will be facing soon." Seth nodded "And by the time they send stronger ones you will be able to take them on too." he replied. "But I have to admit that was a really good trick you pulled I wasn't expecting it. I had to rethink my whole approach to fighting you. Took me three more attacks to work out a decent plan."
"And that's when you started fighting close in again." she replied grasping what had taken place.
"Exactly. I noticed that you were fighting me thinking I wouldn't risk getting caught in that defensive lightening of yours. So I would play it safe by fighting at a distance. A sound strategy, but that's where the Dark Army and I differ. I came at you head on and forced an opening because of your confidence."
"So my line of thinking wasn't wrong. You're just saying I should be prepared in case I have to defend against both." Seth nodded his head in response as they rejoined the others and Rei handed her a towel.
"One last thing. That current you used to cancel out my attack can easily be a weapon at the same time if you can isolate the area that you are defending from the rest of the current. That way you can attack with the current like you did with me before. This can help you force an opening and defend against multiple attacks without losing the current altogether, but it won't work if the attack is as big or bigger than you since this is simply a current that runs across your body." Seth explained before grabbing a water bottle and taking a drink. "So, who's next?" he asked after he had downed another big sip. Rei stepped forward reluctantly and everyone grinned.
"Better get this over with now." she moaned. "We can't all wait to go last like Usagi." she muttered.
"Why are you going last?" he asked her.
"So I can have a chance to study you and because I want you to be worn out when I face you." she replied with no problem. Seth mulled that over for a moment before shrugging.
"I guess for you that's pretty strategic." he replied ruffling her hair. Taking one last swig he set the bottle down and headed out to the center of the field.
* * *
"Not gonna take it easy on me are you?" Rei asked as her outfit shimmered away and was replaced by her eternal outfit.
"Not a chance in hell." he grinned. "Out of all the others I want to make sure that you can take care of yourself the most when I'm not around." he winked at her.
"Fine, I won't go easy on you either." she replied sticking her tongue at him.
"Don't hate me after this. I have to be cruel." he cringed.
"Whatever damage you do you have to take care of once this is over." she smiled and he nodded back seriously.
"Let's begin." he said and disappeared. Rei spun around behind her with a bow and arrow of fire already forming between her hands. She aimed above her and to the right as Seth appeared ready to strike.
"Too predictable lover." she mumbled and fired hitting him point blank in the chest and sent him spinning through the air to land on his back twenty meters away on the edge of the field. She was beside him instantly and his eyes grew wider. When did she learn to move like me? I thought Makoto was going to be the most difficult one because of all the extra training.
* * *
"I get it. She was watching his feet the whole time during our fight and she figured it out." Makoto stated as Ami nodded and the others moved in to get more details. "The only thing I don't get is how she's able to stop so suddenly. In fact how do they both do it?!" Makoto added.
"The same way they start." Ami answered. Makoto squinted her eyes in concentration and watched as they reappeared.
"Oh yeah I see it now!" she grinned shaking her head at herself. "Our fight would have gone much differently if I had picked up on that the first time."
"What are you talking about?" Minako asked and Usagi leaned in further to hear but kept her eyes glued on the fight as Makoto began explaining.
* * *
Seems the others have picked up on it as well. Guess I'm not gonna be able to go so easy on them anymore. He said to himself as he dodged another arrow. Who would have thought they'd pick up on the trick this quickly. He grinned and side stepped to avoid a flaming fist and duck under the second one coming towards his head. He caught Rei in the stomach with an energy beam that sent her sliding back a few feet. Guess I shouldn't have showed her how to use the energy shield yet either. It's amazing that she assimilated the technique so quickly though. Just two quick kicks to the ground in roughly the same instant and you gain a giant boost in speed. Two quick kicks at the same moment and you stop. That's my girl!
"Looks like I'll have to step it up a notch or two from here on out." he grinned at her. "Sorry for taking you so lightly." he smiled and was instantly in front of her face still grinning.
"H-how?" was all she could manage to get out before the energy ball connected with her shoulder and she was spinning to the ground. Forming another arrow she fired at him before slamming onto her side in the grass. She looked up to find that a cloud of steam was rising above Seth's head as he dove towards her. She leapt out of the way hitting the ground twice and caught Seth's smirk as she did so. He was in front of her as soon as she stopped. She blinked and was on the ground, he was standing over her with another energy ball in his hand. She kicked at him, but he had backed away before she could catch him and slung the energy at her. A quick motion from her and a flaming ball of energy dissipated his attack. She surrounded her body with fire as he moved to attack he again. He stepped back and she struck nailing him in the stomach and doubling him over from the impact. She brought down her flaming elbow to connect with his spine, but it never reached him. A small shell of ice formed just above him and snaked around her arm extinguishing her flame. Releasing an even greater amount of flame melted the ice away, but by the time she had he was already too far away for close combat. He was still holding his stomach, but the look in his eyes stated clearly that he was still in control of this fight. Her energy was quickly beginning to fade and she only had a little more time left. This new technique seemed to consume a lot of her energy. She had to catch him in the next one or she would be helpless. Stomping twice on the ground she covered her entire body in flames and lunged at him. There was no grin on his face this time he was still holding his stomach. Apparently he didn't have enough time to heal it properly. She pulled back her arm and swung with all she had. She felt her arm stop but it wasn't because of an impact. She opened her eyes to find her arm again encased in ice and Seth with his arm pressed against her stomach and her lower body encased in ice from the waist down. Seth stepped back and put his hand back to his stomach and began to heal himself.
"Using multiple elements now?" Rei replied dryly.
"Well, you all can. It's just that you all have one particular form of attack that comes naturally. The rest you have to work on. Ice/water is especially difficult for you since you are naturally a fire type." he explained as he removed his hand to reveal that while his shirt was now worthless at least his stomach looked like nothing had happened to it at all. "As you get higher up the chain of your enemies you'll begin to encounter elemental type fighters. They guy I fought at the end the other day had one." Seth explained as Ami called time.
"What is your element then?" Rei asked as he melted the ice away from around her.
"Wind. Mamoru's is Earth. Usagi has pure energy. It's not exactly an element, but it is the most difficult to master and she's a natural at it." he stated as the last of the ice melted and she transformed back to her normal clothes and collapsed into his arms.
"How many elements do you use?" she asked as he carried her to the others.
"All five." he answered.
"Cheater." she scoffed.
"Hey, it took a long time to master them too. I spent three years on each. Well, four on earth. that was my big weakness. Wind and earth are opposites." he explained as they reached the others. He set he down gently on the ground before moving to get another drink of water. "You need to master the shikuchi better. I does give you a good burst of speed, but it drains you pretty quickly as you discovered. For now at least I think you should work on building your stamina. Once you do you should find using it longer to be simple."
"How did you increase you speed past hers?" Ami asked after he had taken a big gulp of water.
"I moved up to the next step of the shikuchi." he replied.
"How many steps are there?" Makoto asked as Rei sat back with a sour look on her face. Seems she didn't like how she lost.
"There are five steps. Though it's more accurate to say six. The first step is regular moment pushed to its furthest bounds, but this is technically not a shikuchi. Hitting the ground in two quick steps to gain a momentary boost in speed is the first step of the shikuchi. After that the amount of steps increases based on the amount of kicks you can land in roughly the same moment. Each one takes a considerable amount of time to master due to the amount of energy each level consumes." he answered.
"So how high can you go?" Minako asked.
"I have mastered hitting the ground four times before I enter shikuchi." Seth answered taking another drink.
"Four times? That's unreal!" Usagi shouted.
"Before I left on my last mission I had gained the ability to enter the fifth step of the shikuchi." he shrugged and ruffled he hair again.
"I had no idea you could go that far." Ami replied in wide eyed surprise.
"So how long are you gonna be holding back on us?" Rei asked sounding very annoyed now that she understood just how different their levels were.
"That depends on how quickly you catch up love." he whispered into her ear. His warm breath washing across her skin took some of the edge off of her anger and she grinned at him with a wicked look.
"Then I just doubled my training time." she replied softly back.
"Hey that's not fair! I have classes now!" he replied with a hurt expression. "And my schedule is very different from yours."
"I guess you shouldn't have gone so easy on me then" she replied.
* * *
"I'll go next." Ami said stepping forward as Seth sighed it seemed he was hoping for a longer break.
"I'm starting to think Usagi might have the right idea. You guys are starting to make me pull some serious amounts of energy. I might actually be tired when I face her." Seth moaned and the others grinned as Ami began making her way towards the center of the field already in her eternal form. And Ami's going to be the most dangerous one of all. He muttered to himself.
* * *
"I'm ready." was all she said and Seth nodded. They both disappeared from where they had been standing. Seth appeared in a clear area surrounded by large chunks of ice.
"Better focus on catching me before you try to hold me in place." he grinned and disappeared again. Ami responded by appearing in front of him as he reappeared in the next spot and froze him in a block of ice. As soon as it had entrapped him it had already begun melting. Ami gather a surge of energy into her palm and released it before the ice could melt completely. Seth went flying back and coughed up blood before slamming into the trunk of a tree outside of the field. After catching a lungful of air he disappeared. Ami turned around sensing his presence behind her and an energy ball found her spine. She went flying but was forced to the ground immediately as Seth slammed his palm into her stomach midway through her flight. The grounds was being unkind to everyone today it seemed as she coughed up blood. Seth was forming another energy ball in his palm. As she touched her feet to the ground three times and vanished. "I was wondering when you were going to try that out." he muttered as her fist came breezing across the skin of his cheek. Her other palm found purchase in his ribs and he flew across the field only to be slammed into the ground by an energy ball. His body was encapsulated in ice as soon as he touched the ground. Ami touched the ground ready to out an energy beam into his chest. She began pouring the energy from her palm as a ball of energy slammed into her back cutting off the energy flow to her arm and sending her face first into the grass a few feet away. Seth lifted her up by the back of her head and slammed a ball of fire into the ice she had wrapped around her body to protect herself. His fist found her stomach and he poured a beam of energy into her as he let her head go. She went flying towards the other girls but stopped just short of them and Seth held up his hand signaling that the fight was over before putting a hand on his ribs and collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. Ami returned to her normal clothing as she and the others ran towards Seth who was lying on his back spitting more blood from his mouth.
"How are you?" Ami asked as she knelt beside him.
"Three broken ribs, some minor internal bleeding, and tired." he replied. "I need a break." he said between coughs. She pulled a cloth out of her pocket and wiped the blood off of his face. He closed his eyes and after a moment his breathing became easier. "There." he replied. "Fixed the ribs." he said standing up. They all moved back towards the resting area. "You figured out the third step rather quickly." he replied to Ami.
"After seeing you use it I was able to calculate how much energy it would take and knew I could only use it twice as I am now." she responded.
"It's good to know your limits. It makes it easier to surpass them that way." Seth said plopping down next to his water bottle and tearing away what was left of his shirt. She could hear the sudden intake of air that Rei, Minako, and Makoto drew in at seeing him topless. She couldn't really blame them. He was thin but sculpted. The muscles were well defined. Most people would consider him thin and lanky unless they saw him without a shirt. However that was a deception. He could easily lift someone twice his size with one arm. At the very least the knowledge of the depth of his strength made him even more appealing. Add into that his general understanding and easy going nature and even Ami could not help but think how sexy that made him.
"You need another shirt lover." Rei muttered at him.
"Why?" Seth asked oblivious to the reaction he had caused.
"We're staring at you." she replied. "You're very distracting without it." she added in a pleased tone.
"Deal with it." he grinned shrugging off her annoyance. "Like a distraction won't happen just cause you're in battle." he said sarcastically.
"You should think less about how my body looks and more about what I can do with it." he replied.
"Oh trust me I am." Rei said obviously flustered by her line of though brought on by his sentence. She hid her face behind her long hair to avoid letting him see her blush.
"Not what I meant." he chuckled. "But I can't just rush home because I need a new shirt." he grinned showing his white set of teeth. He laid back on the grass and closed his eyes again. This time he laid there for a few minutes without saying a word. Just to rise and fall of his chest showed that he was breathing. Finally his eyes fluttered open and he sat up. "Okay. All better." he sighed. "Minako, it's your turn right?"
"Wait I have to fight you like that?" she blurted out.
"Trust me I'll be less appealing when we're fighting." he said evenly. He was all serious again.
"B- but that's not fair! None of them had to fight you looking at you topless! And you have a "V" too! That's mean!" Seth blinked in surprise.
"What the hell in a "V"?"
"She means the definition you have where your abs meet your waist." Rei whispered into his ear in a voice that let him know what she thought of it too.
"I brought you an extra shirt just in case." Usagi said handing him a T-shirt. He put it on and looked at Usagi with a sigh.
"It's tiny." he complained. The shirt was pulled tightly around his chest and stomach, and clung to his sweat covered skin.
"Sorry. Shingo doesn't wear big loose clothes like you do." Usagi apologized.
"I agree. It's practically no different." Makoto responded looking it over as if he were some interesting experiment.
"And I don't think Shingo would be happy about one of his shirts being torn up in training." Minako added.
"It's okay. He said he doesn't use it anymore." Usagi clarified. The sound of crackling energy caused them all to stop. Seth was holding and energy ball in his palm.
"Are we done now? I still have two more fights to go." he said impatiently. Apparently he didn't really care how he looked in it.
"Fine." Minako shrugged and headed towards the middle of the field changing into her eternal form as she did so. Seth let the energy ball fade out in his hand before following along. The fight lasted around 5 minutes. Minako managed to get the two quick kicks down and was pushing Seth back before he used the third step to get quickly behind her and slam her to the ground with an energy blast and pin her there.
"You didn't do so bad." he replied to her as she stood up and her clothing reappeared.
"That Shikuchi is difficult." she said between breaths.
"It takes time to get used." to nodded said as he picked up his water bottle and drank the rest of the water in it.
"Looks like you're up now Usagi." Rei said shoving her forward. She mumbled something under her breath about heartless friends and stepped forward as her eternal outfit materialized. They both moved to the center of the field and stood ready.
* * *
Usagi disappeared first and Seth moved forward... and instantly froze. It was as if his body was locked up. He was frozen that way for just a second before a tear fell from his wide eyes.
"Beryl... so that's how." he mumbled then Usagi's fist connected squarely with his jaw and he went flying across the field. His back hit a tree and the force of the impact cracked the trunk and he went through it as blood flew in large amounts from his mouth. The tree fell and he hit the ground hard chocking on the blood that had caught in his throat. The tree hit the ground softly and he spun over coughing up the last of the blood. He stood up slowly. "If I didn't know better I would think that was planned!" he muttered to himself as Usagi ran up to him in concern.
"Are you okay?" she all but shouted at him. "I didn't think you would just stand there and take the hit!" Seth stumbled a few steps before regaining his balance and shook his head to get rid of the ringing.
"I don't know what's killing my head more." he moaned leaning against the fallen tree. "Your right hook to my jaw or that crazy random flashback." He rubbed his head hoping to dull the pain.
"Flashback?!" Usagi called stepping closer to put a hand on his shoulder.
"One of your memories decided to surface. I just watched you fight Mamoru and Beryl." he explained.
"Wow! That was a while back!" Usagi 's eyes widened.
"Are you okay?" Rei asked as they finally made their way over.
"Yeah, let's try again." he muttered to Usagi. "I won't let you catch me off guard this time." he said patting Usagi on the back and moving back to the center of the field. They resumed their stances and this time Seth moved first. Neither one of the them even noticed the small dark cloud that had appeared in the air between them. Before any of the other girls could warn them a teenage girl with pink hair and pigtails dropped out of the cloud and landed in front of Seth; who was swinging his fist forward from his attempt to catch Usagi. Oh shit! I can't stop! The girls brought up her hand to block his an swung with the other. Seth skipped back and she chased after him holding an energy ball in her hand. Seth's face turned serious and he stopped backing up. She threw her hand forward and Seth caught her wrist. The energy ball sailed harmlessly to the ground beside them and Seth caught her other wrist and spun her around pinning her with her own arm. "Who the hell are you!" he whispered in her ear.
"Chibi-Usa! Wait!" Usagi called. The girl froze and relaxed. "It's okay Seth. You can let her go." he released his grip on her.
* * *
She turned around to get a good look at her attacker and she could immediately feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as she took in his features. He was...well he was cute. He stood in front of her and though his body was relaxed his eyes never moved from her. He was still regarding her as an enemy. And she couldn't blame him. She had just attack without warning, but that was just reflex do to the fact that she had just looked up and seen him swinging at her. Usagi ran up and grabbed her in a big hug. And she couldn't help but smile. The boy also relaxed his expression as soon as she had grabbed her. Then she was swarmed by the others as they all wrapped her in a big hug.
"Hey how are you?" Rei called.
"You here for more training?" Makoto added.
"Meet any cute guys?" Minako asked eagerly.
"How much growing have you done?" Ami asked looking her over.
"I'm good. Yes I have. No I haven't. And a lot." she responded to each of them. "I finally hit a growth cycle, but that meant I had to deal with puberty." she sighed.
"You look about sixteen." Minako replied. Seth just stood there with a curious look hoping someone would fill him in.
"Seth. This is Chibi-Usa. My daughter." Usagi introduced them. "Chibi-Usa. This is Seth my brother."
"WHAT?!" They both responded at the same time.
Sorry about not having Minako's fight in this one but it was taking so long coming up with ideas for how everyone was gonna fight against Seth. I don't have anything against Minako I just needed to get on with the story. Let me know what you think.
