Disclaimer: I got the idea for Phoenix Blade's armor from Power Rangers: The Movie, Guyver, and from the Kingdom Hearts 2 – Secret Ending (If anyone has beaten the game yet.)
Sailor Moon: Fellowship of the Moon
Chapter 2: the Phoenix Rises Again: The Phoenix Fights Back
Ami's Place
Ami had gotten out of her uniform and got into some more relaxing clothes; a lime green dress and a yellow jacket. She had on her glasses and was studying for the exams tomorrow, but couldn't seem to focus as her mind kept going back on one thing: Aaron. Being near him for the first time meeting him made her flustered; his eyes, smell, his very touch was mysterious to her, and yet felt so familiar from long ago. She had felt that she had met him before, but she had never seen him before until now. It just kept nagging until she heard the doorbell rang.
She stopped what she was doing and went to answer it. She opened the door to find Serena, Lita, Mina, and a twelve-year-old girl wearing a school uniform that was blue and red; with pink hair that had the same hairstyle as Serena except instead of meatballs, there were bunny ears; her name was Rini and the little cat next to her was named Diana. There was another girl with them and she had raven black hair and had dark eyes. Her name was Rei, and she was a temple maiden and psychic of sorts.
Ami wondered what they were doing her but remembered, "Oh, I completely forgot about the study session. Sorry guys." Everyone walked in while Lita said with a smile on her face, "Its okay, Ami. We understand your mind was on other things. Like on your boyfriend." Ami was puzzled by that, "What are you talking about?" Mina popped up and said, "It's alright, you can tell us. After all, we saw you riding with that cutie on the bike." Now Ami pieced it together as she realized what they were talking about. She shook her head, "Where did you get that nutzoid idea? Aaron was just giving me a ride home; he's just a good friend to me." Serena walked up with a smile and said, "Riiiight. So you two are already on a 'First-Name' basis I see."
Ami asked, "A 'First-Name' basis?" Mina sat down and shook her head as she smile slyly, "Yeah, it's the first step towards Dating; you both know your first names." Ami blushed madly, "We're not dating!" Lita now sitting on a chair pointed out, "oh come on, don't deny it. We saw how close and tight you were holding onto him when you were riding with him." Ami then probably blushed 14 shades of red as Lita pointed out and she stammered, "Y-y-you've got it wrong; when he started revving up the engines and went into the road, I got a little scared." Lita then just smiled and said, "Okay, I'll buy that. So tell us how far did ya go?"
Everyone just stared in shock with Ami a little surprised while Rini just looked puzzled. Lita smiled, "you know what I'm talking about." Ami just waved her hands in denial and talked hysterically, "I-i-it's not what you think Lita; Aaron and I are just friends. Nothing more. Besides I don't have time for that with exams and school, not to mention being a Sailor Scout!" Lita just waved her hands as she explained, "Okay, okay, I understand, Ami. But when someone asks you how far you go, it means how far did you go with Aaron on the bike?" Ami just blushed at embarrassment for misunderstanding the question as everyone laughed out loud. Mina calmed down for a minute and asked, "So if you're not seeing him, can I have him then?"
Ami was about to protest, but Rini spotted Rei looking out the window. Rini asked, "What's the matter, Rei?" Rei, still looking at the window, answered, "I feel a presence approaching; a dark presence." The others walked over to see what she was talking about and outside, they saw someone on a motorbike being chased by moving shadows. Ami was the first to recognize him, "That's Aaron." Serena asked, "Oh, so that's the guy. But what are those things?" Lita didn't care; her best friend's new friend was in trouble as she raced for the door, "I don't know, but they're about to be Moon-Dusted." Everyone shouted in agreement as they raced out the door.
Outside
Aaron's bike had run out of gas too soon as he stopped near a building not too fare from Ami's condo. He got off the bike and headed for the doors, but to no avail would they open. He cursed himself as he tried his best, but turned around to see the Shadow Heartless walking up to him. Aaron said to Ceros, "I don't suppose you can do something?" He nodded, "Sorry but in this form, I can't do a thing." "Great." Three Shadows got close enough and pounced right at them.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"
A tremendous wave of water splashed the three Heartless, but instead of getting wet, they were frozen in place. Aaron and Ceros stared in awe as Aaron asked, "What just happened?" Ceros looked around and saw what he didn't expect to see, "We had help." "Hey, Nega-dorks!" the Heartless turned to their right and saw six girls, each dressed in a sailor-type outfit with gloves that ended at their elbows, a tiara with a colored gem on each of them, different colored miniskirts; three had high-heeled boots that ended at their knees, two had high-heels, and one had tie up high-heels.
The one with a meatball hair style was colored red and blue. Her mini-skirt was colored white, yellow and blue, and had a heart shaped buckle on it. Her high heeled boots were red and at the part where it ended at the knee there was a crescent moon symbol on there. The sleeves on her sailor-type outfit were translucent, and her gloves were red. The bow on the back of her belt was silver and the bow's ribbon ends were long enough to touch the back of her knee. The ribbon on her chest was red and in the center of it was a heart shaped broach that was made of gold and ruby. She also wore a golden choker with a gold crescent moon on it. On her head was a golden tiara with a crescent moon on it, and on her meat ball head buns were two red ruby discs. She also wore crescent moon earrings.
The smaller one with the pink hair and ear shaped buns had the same look as her counterpart but hers was colored pink. Her skirt's colors were white yellow and pink. He gloves were white with pink trim on them. Her boots were pink white trim, and had the same crescent moon symbol on the top. On her bunny ears were two ruby discs with silver wing tips on them. She had the same type of ribbons that the first one had, as well as the earrings.
The next girl had blue hair similar to Ami's, and she was dressed in the same sailor-type outfit but it was white and blue; mini-skirt, translucent sleeves. The ribbon she wore on the back of her skirt was light blue as well as the one on her chest, but on the ribbon on front had a light blue heart broach on it. She also wore a tiara with a sapphire gem on it and had three sapphire earrings on each ear. She had a blue choker with a golden star on it.
The raven haired girl's outfit was white and red, with a little purple. The ribbon on her chest was purple with a red heart broach on it as the bow on the back of her red skirt was red. She also wore high-heel shoes, ruby star earrings and had a ruby incrusted tiara. She also had a red choker with a star on it.
The brunette's outfit was green and pink as the bow on her chest and back of her skirt was pink. Her shoes were lace up high heels, her earrings were roses, and on the bow on her chest was a green heart. On her tiara was an emerald incrusted in the center. She also wore a choker with a star on it.
The last one was a blonde with her hair down and tied with a red hair ribbon; her outfit was colored light orange and blue. Her skirt, glove's trim, and back bow were colored light orange. The bow on her chest was colored blue with an orange heart broach. She had on strap on high-heels and had an orange choker with a star on it. Her tiara had in it a topaz gem incrusted into it. She too had on a single topaz earring on each ear.
Aaron stared in awe at the girls as the Heartless just stared in confusion. The meatball headed one shouted to them, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that if you mess with citizens of Earth, you mess with the Sailor Scouts?" She struck a pose and said, "I'm Sailor Moon!" The pink-haired girl struck the same pose, "And I'm Sailor Mini-Moon!" The blue haired girl shouted, "I'm Sailor Mercury!" The raven-haired girl shouted, "I'm Sailor Mars!" The brunette shouted, "I'm Sailor Jupiter" the other blonde shouted, "And I'm Sailor Venus!"
They all shouted in unison, "We are the Sailor Scouts!" Sailor Moon said, "We stand for love and justice. And in the name of the Moon…" she and Mini-Moon finished, "…we shall punish you!" The Heartless just stared at them, completely clueless as to what was going on, as did Aaron. Ceros however snapped him out of it by saying, "C'mon Aaron, while they're distracted…" Aaron objected to the idea of leaving these 'Sailor Scouts' behind, "We can't just leave them here." Ceros shook it off, "Don't worry, these girls can handle themselves. Trust me." Right now, Aaron didn't have time to argue about it, so while the Heartless were preoccupied, Aaron slipped through.
Until the Heartless that were trapped in the ice by Mercury's attack broke out. They saw Aaron and ran straight for him. Aaron saw this and said, "Time to hoof it!" And ran straight into an alleyway with the three Heartless on his heels. Sailor Mercury saw this and looked to Mini-Moon, "Come on, he needs help." Mini-Moon nodded and they ran after them. Meanwhile the Heartless decided that the new playmates looked tasty and attacked head on.
Jupiter said, "Guess you'll find this shocking!" An antenna popped up from her tiara as it crackled with electricity that formed in her hands. "SUPREME THUNER CRASH!" She then tossed the ball of electricity to the charging Heartless. From Sailor Venus, her lips shined for a moment as she blew a kiss and a golden heart appeared in her hand. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" The heart spun around her in a circle and then multiplied, then they all shot straight forward. The two attacks hit the Heartless vaporizing them completely. The sailor scouts looked proud of their work, but Mars sensed something, "Guys! Behind us!"
They spun around to see more of the same creatures forming from the shadows. Sailor Moon cringed back a little and said, "There are more of these things!" Mars stood ready in position as did the others; they just hoped that Mercury and Mini-Moon were doing better than they did.
In the Alleyway
Aaron had run as fast as he could, and saw that there was a dead end. "Damn, we're trapped.", he cursed himself. He looked around and saw nothing, but one thing did catch his eye; on the building on his left was a fire escape. He ran over to it and jumped up to get the ladder; on the fifth jump he caught it and pulled it down. But before he could get up, the Heartless charged at him, but not before someone shouted, "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!" Suddenly, bubbles blew over the area and turning into a thick fog, making the Heartless lose sight of their target.
Aaron was about to lose himself when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He spun around, locking the arm with his and prepared a punch for the Heartless. He stopped in time to come face-to-face with Sailor Mercury. "Oh, it's you.", he said out of good cheer, but Mercury took his arm and said, "Come on, we've got to get you out of here." He stopped her and pointed upward, "We can go on the fire escape; it's the only way out." She looked and saw the fog was fading fast, and decided it was the only way. "Okay. Mini-Moon, follow us!" Mini-Moon ran for them and all three of them ran up the fire escape.
When the fog cleared up, the Heartless looked around and didn't see any sign of their quarry. It wasn't until they heard someone telling the other two to slow down that they looked up and saw the three. The Heartless jumped onto the fire escape and climbed up like monkeys. Sailor Mercury saw this and said, "You two keep going, I'll slow them down." Aaron protested by grabbing her arm, "Don't! If you lose they might turn you into one of them!" She could tell he was worried about what would happen to her. She gently took his arm off and gave him a smile that warmed him, "Don't worry, everything will be alright." He was about to protest, but Mini-Moon pulled him to the next set of ladders.
She saw the Heartless getting closer and she prepared for another attack. Above her a small puddle of water seemed to form out of nowhere as if she were creating it herself.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"
She then flung her arms open again as she spun around once like a ballerina, this time the puddle of liquid came at them and grew bigger and were about to get splashed. Unfortunately, they realized what was about to happen and jumped upward to avoid it. Mercury was prepared to fight them, but they went past her and kept climbing upward. It was then she realized what these things were trying to do, "They're after Aaron. But why?" She didn't have time to argue as she ran up the fire escape after them.
On the top of the roof, Mini-Moon was out of breath as she leaned on her knees to take a breather. Aaron put his hand on her shoulder and asked, "You okay?" She nodded, "Just let me catch my breath for a moment." He did but Ceros whispered to him, "We have to keep moving; they're right behind us." "I know that, but we have to wait for her." Suddenly, Aaron was tackled by two Heartless and was pinned on the ground. Mini-Moon saw it and ran over to help him, but a Heartless got in front of her and looked ready to attack her.
She brought out a strange looking wand and pointed it straight at the creature. "PINK SUGAR HEART ATTACK" it was suddenly bombarded by tiny small heart shaped beams knocking it silly. It tried to run away, but she kept following it and finally it sunk into the shadows. Mini-Moon looked around trying to find it, "Where'd it go?" She didn't see it, but the creature popped up from behind her and grabbed her from behind her, lifting it up to it's eye level. She screamed, "Let me go!" Instead it threw her into a chimney and she was knocked out cold.
Aaron struggled to get back up and was now on his feet, but the Heartless would not let him win. He got enough strength to slam one into the ground and it let go. But more Heartless had materialized and saw the human resist capture, so they ran towards him. But not until they heard someone shout out, "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" They turned around and saw Sailor Mercury play on an aqua harp and streams of water charged at them, freezing them up. After the attack, she sighed in relief; she saw Mini-Moon unconscious and Aaron struggling with what was now five Heartless.
She ran towards him but noticed that the Heartless entrapped in the ice were breaking free. She stood ready as a ball of energy appeared in front of her as she crossed her arms in front of her, the ball now shimmering and dancing. The Heartless had broken free and charged at her as she shouted, "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!" The Fog appeared again, but the Heartless knew where their prey was as they merged into a bigger Shadow, dressed as a circus soldier, that grabbed her and pinned her to the edge of the roof. It grabbed her throat and proceeded to choke the life out of her, slowly.
Aaron saw what was happening to the girl called Sailor Mercury and tried his best to break free but was not getting anywhere; Ceros flew out of his pocked and shouted, "Aaron, come on man!" Aaron struggled, "I'm not going…to let you…hurt her you...Freaks!" Suddenly a tremendous flow of energy filled Aaron's being, giving him strength. With a yell, he was able to throw the Heartless off and send them flying across the rooftop. Ceros' jaw nearly dropped at what he saw, and then he saw something glow on Aaron's forehead. It was a form of dots that connected in the form of a bird and it was glowing golden. Ceros couldn't believe what he was seeing; there in front of him the whole time was one of the people he was looking for. He whispered to himself, "Aaron's the Knight of the Phoenix, Phoenix Blade."
He saw the Heartless getting up again and shouted to Aaron, "Aaron, use this!" His front paws shot forward and a beam of energy shot straight at Aaron's right hand. When the beam subsided, Aaron saw on his ring finger, a golden ring with a Golden Crystal gem embedded into it, and inscribed on the gem was a bird with its wings flapping, but the wings looked like they were on fire. Aaron was confused as he shouted back, "What's this for?" Ceros answered, "It's your ring! It activates your armor and your power!" "What!" "You're one of the knights I've been looking for, Aaron!"
Aaron was a little shocked at that; him a knight? This would explain the dreams he had of him with five others on an ancient battlefield and many other dreams. He didn't have time to argue or think about it as he heard someone gasping for breath; he recognized it to be Sailor Mercury. He looked back at Ceros while still ignoring the Heartless advancing towards him, "What do I have to do?" He answered, "Just shout out, 'Phoenix Blade Armor Activate'. It will start the transformation; trust me!" Aaron looked at the ring, balled up his fist, and shouted while he shot his fist into the air, "PHOENIX BLADE ARMOR ACTIVATE!"
Suddenly, he was engulfed in flame as his body became one with it; he shouted out loud as he felt power going through every cell in his body changing him. An orange stream covered his body wrapping around him while flames covered him completely as his eyes and mouth glowed bright yellow. Then the flames wrapped around him like a cocoon, and then for a moment, the flames blew apart to reveal Aaron's transformation.
He was wearing a suit of armor that looked organic and seemed to articulate his body; kind of like the armor the Power Rangers wore in their first movie. The chestplate was gold and orange; the mid section showed a red spot to where a six pack was and two orange armor plates protected the sides of the stomach. His shoulder guards and biceps were gold while the lining was orange; on his shoulder guards was a yellow inscription of the Phoenix with its wings opening up. His lower arms and gloves were articulated to be organic metal; the outside of the arm was gold while the inside was orange. His elbow was hidden by the end of the glove which had an orange colored curved spike sticking upward. The hands were in golden gloves that were held on by an orange wrist guard; the fingers and thumbs of the gloves ended at pointed claws. His thighs were armored; his outside was golden while the inside part was orange. He also wore a sort of lower torso guard to guard the sides and back of his upper legs, and it was held up by an orange belt with a golden pentagon buckle. It ended at his knees and at the tips of the fabric were three talons dangling on them, resembling the Phoenix's tail feathers. His boots were golden with the top was orange and shaped like a triangle going down the front and ending at the mid section of the lower leg. He also had knee pads that were golden on the inside with an orange outside. His shoes were golden tip and heeled with orange for the rest. On the leg of the boots were detailed with flame designs. He wore a scarf cape that was wrapped around his neck and nearly covered half of his right shoulder; it went down to his back and ended at his thighs; it was held in place by a small golden cape broach with the constellation of the Phoenix in orange. His neck was covered in orange cloth with a golden collar. His helmet was gold as well with detail in the front of it; the visor of the helmet was colored orange was shaped like a beak that ended at the nose of the face. The mouth guard was silver and covered under the chin as well to hide the entire face. On the sides of the helmet were three orange metallic feathers to where the ears were supposed to be. On the temple of the helmet was a golden gem imbedded into it. To where the eyes were supposed to be, darkness was there until two glowing yellow eyes opened to see its new form.
He looked at himself and couldn't believe what he was looking at. Ceros noticed that the Heartless were closing in on him and shouted, "AARON!" The Heartless pounced at him, but not before he brought up his clawed fingers, and in a circled motion, sliced them like they were butter. They fell to the ground but got back up and charged at him swiping away like crazy, but he blocked every blow they made. He threw in a few punches and kicks that seemed to hurt them as they shrieked in pain. One charged straight and him, but he jump flipped over him and kicked it aside the head. The five Heartless were getting annoyed and charged one last time.
Phoenix Blade got into a stance, brought his hands apart wide as the tips of his gauntlets glowed with flaming energy dancing around them. "PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!" Then in a forward movement, slashed towards them, sending thousands of flaming talons at them. They made contact, slicing them up, and set then ablaze. They screamed in pain until they disintegrated into black smoke. Mini-Moon slowly regained consciousness and got up; she looked around and then saw Phoenix Blade and was surprised to see him. But she was also surprised to see Sailor Mercury being choked by an armored Shadow creature. "Sailor Mercury!", she shouted as she ran towards her. But something passed her and saw the stranger going towards them.
Mercury was about to get broken in half by the way the creature was applying pressure on her while strangling her, until she saw the Heartless get pulled off her and thrown off. She coughed, trying to get the air back she lost into her lungs again. She then saw a mysterious stranger clad in gold and orange armor fighting the creature, and he seemed to be winning. It locked itself to the stranger's arms and the armor clad stranger got his right arm free and punched it furiously for fives times in the head. The Shadow then caught the stranger's hand by the wrist and struggled with him. The stranger brought up his index and middle finger into a V sign and poked it in the eyes. The shadow shrieked as it covered its eyes in pain and the stranger doubled back a little. He brought up his right fist as the talon tips of the gauntlets glowed with fire; the Heartless charged at him as he shouted, "PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!" As the creature pounced at him, he rammed his right fist right through it, causing it burst into flames. The fire engulfed the creature, incinerating it into black mist.
Sailor Mercury and Mini-Moon just stared in awe at the stranger; he had beaten these creatures with even breaking a sweat. Mercury wondered if he was friend, or a foe by wanting to finish them off himself. He then turned around to face them and they backed away not sure of what to make of them. He walked towards them, but Mercury shouted, "Don't come any closer!" He ignored the threat as he continued to walk towards them. Mini-Moon got out her mini-wand at the ready as Mercury shouted, "I said stop!" He still didn't listen as he was getting closer to her; he reached a hand out to her. He stepped back a little but he got close enough to gently hold her shoulders and touched her neck. She closed her eyes thinking he was going to strangle her, until he asked in a concerned tone, "Are you alright?"
She opened her eyes as he heard the question and looked at him; he was still touching her neck lightly tracing the bruising on it, "Are you having any trouble breathing at all?" She nodded blushing at him touching her like this, "N-no, I'm alright, thank you." He let go of her shoulder and stepped back a bit, "Oh, that's good. I thought I might have been too late." Mini-Moon asked with her wand still at the ready, "Just who are you?" He stepped back a bit and kneeled down on one leg and balanced his right fist on the ground while looking up at them both, "I am Phoenix Blade, Constellation Knight of the Phoenix, wielder of the Phoenix Blade, and member of the Fellowship of the Moon."
The girls looked at each other in confusion and back at Phoenix Blade, "the Fellowship of the Moon?" He explained, "It is the Fellowship's duty to protect the Princess's of the Silver Millennium as well as the Kingdom itself. I am your ally against the Heartless as well as their Dark Lord." Mercury had never heard of the Fellowship of the Moon, nor did Luna or Artemis ever mention anyone or anything about them. She wanted to ask more questions about him, but they heard a familiar scream coming from down below in the streets. The two scouts looked to each other and realized, "Sailor Moon!" They rushed over to the side of the rooftop and looked down.
Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts were fighting with everything they had, but the Heartless Shadows were multiplying tirelessly. There were so many that they might fill the entire city block. Mercury looked to Mini-Moon, "We've got to help them." Just then they felt something run by them as they saw Phoenix Blade jump off the edge; Mercury reached out to him screaming, "PHOENIX BLADE!" He heard her but continued to descend below. He did a few Matrix style flips in the air, with his hands glowing with fire. When he made impact, he shouted, "PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!" The area around him exploded in a wave of flames as most of the Heartless around him when he landed were engulfed in the flames and incinerated.
He slowly got up without even and ache or a groan from the fall. He thought to himself, 'Man, a drop like that could've killed me. I'm glad this armor's not normal.' The Sailor Scouts saw him as Mars asked, "Who is that guy?" Jupiter just stared in awe, "Well, he may not be Tuxedo Mask, but he'll have to do." Sailor Moon looked at him in confusion, but saw that the Heartless had ignored them and started to advance towards him, "Hey, look out!" Phoenix Blade saw the Heartless approaching and realized, "Okay there's no way I'll be able to Flame Talon them all down."
Mercury and Mini-Moon saw the numbers of the Heartless increase around Phoenix Blade. Mercury was glad he survived the fall but was now worried about the number of shadow creatures advancing on him. Mercury wished she could get down fast to help but there was no way that they'd make it in time. Suddenly a little flying cat flew next to her and he shouted down below, getting their attention. "Phoenix! Summon the Blade of the Phoenix!" The two girls next to the furball looked at each other and were a little surprised to see him but asked, "The Blade of the Phoenix?" He turned to them unfazed at the fact that he'd been seen, "It is the Buster Sword that wields the Flames of the Phoenix."
Aaron tried hard to think about it, but then suddenly, a memory of such a weapon popped out of his head. He closed his eyes and concentrated, suddenly a compartment opened from his back and out popped a hilt. He reached with his right hand and pulled it out; and out came a blade that was as long as his body and wide as his own leg. It was a buster sword, the kind of blade you'd see in Final Fantasy 7. It was gray and was colored in flame colors. The Heartless cringed and hissed as they saw the blade; Aaron, believe it or not, was able to lift and swing it around like it was a wooden bat.
The Heartless charged at him as one pounced at him, but he dodged it and swung his sword at it. It was sliced in half and dissipated into black mist. The others charged at him and he kept dodging them and slicing them with his sword. The Sailors watched on as to what could be described not as a massacre but a battle to the death. The Heartless kept on going in so Phoenix decided to gain an advantage point; he jumped away from them and landed near a building. They charged at them and to the Sailor Scouts surprise, he ran up the side of the building. The Heartless were persistent and materialized on the building he was running up on; he swatted them away like cans as he got further and further up.
As he reached the top he jumped off the ledge and began to descend towards the ground. As he fell down again, the blade edge of the sword began to glow with fiery energy as he was preparing to bring down his sword hard into the ground. As he did, he shouted, "PHOENIX WING!" A tremendous wall of fire was thrown at the Heartless horde like a torpedo, engulfing the horde in a wildfire that burned until they were nothing but dust.
All the Sailor Scouts saw the whole thing and Sailor Moon was the one to say it, "His powers are amazing." Lita agreed to that, "Yeah, he took them all down like they were nothing." Moon looked to Mars and needed to confirm about something, "Is he the one that you might've sensed about the Dark Presence like those creatures?" Mars shook her head in disagreement, "No, he's not the one; I can already tell by his actions he's on our side. The Darkness is coming from somewhere else. I just can't seem to locate it."
On top of the building next to the one that Sailor Mercury and Mini-Moon were on, Lust and Gluttony were watching the battle. Lust looked on impressed by the Knight's appearance, while Gluttony just looked hungry as he asked, "Can I eat him?" She nodded, "No, Gluttony; you know what happens when you eat spicy food." They looked down there and saw only a few of the Heartless squad they brought along remained. Gluttony pointed out, "Looks like we're losing, Lust." She shook her head as she brought up her right hand, "Relax, it's only half-time." She then snapped her fingers.
The Heartless all twitched their antennas as they responded to something. Everyone looked confused at their action, and then the Heartless began regrouping towards each other, merging themselves together. Sailor Mercury brought out her visor and hand held computer to analyze the situation. She scanned it and realized the danger it was imposing as she radioed the others, "Guys, the creatures are increasing their power; it's off the charts!" The black mass of shadow then grew and grew to everyone's terror. It grew until it reached the top of the buildings and took form of a humanoid shape. Its body looked muscular; his feet were like that of the Shadows, except he had five clawed fingers instead of four. He had two small wings on its' back. His head was covered in black coils and yet its yellow eyes were clearly shown. And where his stomach ought to be was a hole in it shaped like a heart.
Lust watched the creature form and ordered, "Destroy them all, Darkside." The creature then moved forward as Sailor Moon and the Scouts back away a little while Phoenix Blade remained vigilant. Sailor Moon whined, "I know we're monster fighters, but not giant monster fighters." Phoenix thought, 'Ceros didn't say anything about this.' Darkside lifted his right fist into the air and brought it down hard at Phoenix Blade, who easily dodged it. Where his fist struck, a black hole appeared. And out of the black hole came out Heartless that charged at the Sailor Scouts. Mars ran up and shouted behind her, "Time to nip this in the bud Sailor Moon" Sailor Moon nodded as she pulled out a strange wand-sword weapon, the KaliedoMoon Scope. She called out to Phoenix Blade, "We'll take care of these clowns, see if you can stop the big guy!" He nodded, "I will, and good luck!"
They started to attack the Heartless with all they had and more so, and Phoenix Blade saw the chance to attack; the Giant Heartless still had his arm to the ground. So he ran towards it and climbed up at him until he reached the head. But the giant Heartless wasn't as instinct driven as the Shadows as he used his left hand and grabbed Phoenix Blade. He then brought him up to his face for a closer look at the enemy, and Phoenix Blade asked in annoyance, "What are you looking at?" Darkside just sneered as he slammed Phoenix into the building that Mercury and Mini-Moon were on the roof of. Mercury and Mini-Moon were tossed on the roof like salad as they felt the building shook for what seemed like nine times as the creature slammed Phoenix Blade into the building. After the ninth time he left him embedded into a huge cracked hole.
Sailor mercury saw in worry as gravity did the rest of peeling him out of the hole and fell to the ground. He landed on the ground with a thud, unconscious as the Buster Sword he held was let go. Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts saw this as their newest comrade had fallen from the giant menace. And they continued to fight like never before, powered by the rage that such a thing happened. Lust and Gluttony watched on as the battle continued; Lust smirked, "I almost feel sorry for the Phoenix Knight…almost." Gluttony then replied, "It's a real letdown; without him fighting this battle doesn't seem as amusing as it was before." Lust nodded, "true." She then snapped her fingers, "Darkside, finish off the Sailor Scouts; make it slow and painful for them all." She then looked at two Sailor Scouts up on the roof to where the Phoenix Blade was first spotted, and pointed at Sailor Mercury, "Starting with the Brains of the bunch."
Darkside's eyes glowed as it accepted the command; it turned its head and looked at Sailor Mercury as it reached out its giant had towards her. She was about to run but she couldn't move as she felt fear from Darkness she nor the others had ever encountered. Mini-Moon ran up to her but it was too late as it grabbed Mercury and raised her over its head high in the air. He then squeezed its palm, slowly crushing Mercury as she screamed in pain; the Sailor Scouts saw this and yelled out her name in worry. Ceros knew the only chance she had was Phoenix Blade, so he flew down towards the unconscious body and pulled at the helmet, shouting, "WAKE UP, DARN YOU! PRINCESS MERCURY IS GETTING CRUSHED AND HERE YOU ARE, BATTERED AND BRUISED, AND NOT EVEN TRYING TO GET BACK UP! ARE YOU GOING TO FAIL THEM AS YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T WHEN YOU TWO SAW EACH OTHER LAST! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THE PROMISE YOU MADE HER BACK THEN!"
"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN!"
Then suddenly, Phoenix Blade's eyes opened, but they were glowing even brighter than before. He slowly got up as his body began to glow as did the Phoenix inscriptions on his armor as well as the golden gem on his helmet. The Sailor Scouts, as well as the Heartless, stared in awe at this new turn of events. The Heartless charged towards him and pounced, but he waved his left hand and just like that, they burst into flames, consumed by fire until nothing was left. He picked up his Buster Sword, and with only one hand, spun it around vertically like a propeller. The sword glowed bright with red orange flames; it was spun around faster and faster. Darkside saw him and reached out with his right hand to grab him, but Phoenix Blade shouted in a voice that was disembodied and that echoed, "PHOENIX INFERNO!"
He then gave one mighty swing of his blade at Darkside, and what followed the swing was a tremendous flame shot straight at him. The mighty flame was shaped like a firebird and made contact with Darkside. The giant Heartless howled in pain as the flames burned its dark hide into a sunder, doing no damage to Sailor Mercury. Its body suddenly cracked open with beams of light shooting out of it; the hand that held Sailor Mercury crumbled, letting her unconscious form fall towards the ground. Mini-Moon saw this and shouted, "Sailor Mercury, No!"
Suddenly, after hearing that, Phoenix Blade snapped out of the trance he was in and saw Mercury falling. Out of instinct, he dropped his sword in which disappeared like a puff of smoke, and suddenly on his back, sprouted out two giant golden flamed wings. With that he suddenly flew upward towards Mercury and caught her within his arms. Mercury was unconscious but she felt everything; the strength of the arms that had caught her, how they were so strong as steel and yet were so gentle when they held her. He landed on the ground gracefully feet first, not ever letting Mercury down until he lowered her down and laid her down gently as the Sailor Scouts, including Mini-Moon, run up to check on their friend.
She opened her eyes slowly to see everyone gathered around her as she got up. The first thing she asked was, "Did we win?" Everyone just got a goofy smile on their faces as Mini-Moon hugged her, "We're so glad you're alright." Sailor Moon wiped her eyes a bit as she said, "Yeah, well actually, we've got that guy to thank." She pointed towards Phoenix Blade; Mercury turned around and saw him, with his wings still out. She stared for a long time at him; she thought as she saw him like that, 'he's beautiful. He looks like an angel.' He suddenly asked, "Are you okay?"
She blushed a bit, trying to get the thought out of her head, and simply replied, "Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for saving us." He simply bowed as he said, "I was simply doing my duty as a Knight of the Fellowship." She didn't accept that, as she got up and stated, "You did it more than just that. You did it because it was the right thing to do." Just then Ceros flew beside Phoenix Blade, "Actually, you're both right. He did because it was the right thing to do, and that it's his duty as a knight of the Fellowship." Just then, Mina remembered why they came out, "Oh shoot, we forgot about Aaron!" The other scouts realized that, but Phoenix spoke up, "If you're looking for the young man, he's safe; when no one was looking I snuck him out of there before the Heartless"
Mercury and the others sighed in relief at this, but Rei asked, "The Heartless? You mean the creatures that attacked us?" He nodded but said, "I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't ask anymore questions." He walked away from them, but turned around and simply said, "But I can assure you, this will not be the last time you see me or the Heartless." And with that, his wings flapped and he flew away from them into the night sky with Ceros following behind. The Sailor Scouts were all staring at the stranger as he flew away; Mercury, for some strange reason, felt a pain inside her heart as he left.
Up on the roof, Lust and Gluttony were watching the whole thing and didn't like the outcome of this battle. Not one little bit. Lust frowned and said to Gluttony, "We're in for an earful on this one." And with that, they disappeared into the shadows.
In the Sky
Phoenix Blade, or Aaron, was flying towards his house while Ceros was perched on his shoulder smirking. Aaron just said, "What are you so happy about?" Ceros just simply said, "Oh nothing, but I've got the feeling that you enjoyed that fight just as much as you had holding Princess Mercury?" Aaron just grunted in disgust, "There was nothing fun about a fight to the death, Ceros." Ceros slumped his shoulders and simply replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess I'm also happy that I found the first knight; you." Aaron just shook his head; he didn't have anything to do with this so he was just going to say it. "Listen, I can't do this. I just want to be a normal teenager. That battle was just a one time deal. Okay?"
Ceros took on a serious expression, "Aaron, I have no right to drag you into this, I know. But Ansem and his forces are already beginning to break free of the Negaverse if he's already able to send a squadron. The world needs you and the other knights again to face the threat of the Heartless and Nobodies. This task was appointed to you and the other five unknown knights. And if you can't accomplish this task or even accept it, there won't be a tomorrow for this world or any other." Aaron just hung in thought for a moment; he was given a heavy burden, he knew that, and if he didn't accept it, everyone would suffer; his friends, family, maybe even loved ones.
After a few minutes of silence, he spoke out, "I'll do it." Ceros beamed with joy, but aaron spoke out again, "but this had better not affect my normal life." Then in a few moments of silence, he asked, "By the way, what'd you mean by 'The Promise I made to her back then'?" Ceros paled for a moment and just nervously replied, "Ah, um, I think I'll tell you that when you're ready." And after that, they got into the biggest argument about not telling and telling. They argued about it all the way back home.
Back in Hollow Bastion
Ansem was on his throne, pondering as Lust and Gluttony explained to him what happened. He heard everything and was silent in thought; it wasn't until Gluttony spoke out, "Look at it this way, Lord Ansem, the greatest threat to the Heartless and Nobodies is just a teenager." Ansem spoke out in an unhappy tone, "That TEENAGER defeated one of my most powerful Heartless creatures." He got up from his throne and paced around for a while until he came to an open window, viewing the dark area around them. He then said, "Now he will undoubtedly make things difficult for us, and will soon search for the other knights." Lust then got an idea as she pointed out, "Well maybe if he and the others could be turned onto our side, they'd become powerful allies."
Ansem thought about it for a moment; his most dangerous enemies on his side and at his disposal. He said to himself, "Yes. Yess. The Fellowship of the Moon itself would make great assets to our cause." He then turned to them as he waved his hand, "you're dismissed." The two bowed and disappeared into the shadows as he walked towards the table that held the shattered remains of the Dark Crystal. He picked up a piece and balled up a fist with the hand that held the shard, causing it to bleed. He then said in a menacing tone as he looked at the shards, "The Knights will join us….or die."
Next Chapter: What Dreams May Come