Sailor Moon: Fellowship of the Moon
Chapter 9: Fire and Water Combine: Soul of a Samurai
Kyoto Day 1
At Night
Aaron, Frey and Sarah had reached the hotel to where they would be staying in. It was a classical place called the Arashi Mountain hotel, located directly on the Arashi Mountains and next to the Ohi River. It was a quaint and big hotel, complete with not only lush land, but beautiful and nice hot springs to go with it. Aaron and Sarah's dad made reservations for them and Frey; unfortunately they had to share a room. This meant that Aaron had to make sure that Frey didn't go into Pervert Mode near his sister. Little did any one of them know that right now, they were being watched.
Far from the hotel and up in one of the trees in the nearby forest closest to the hotel, two figures and two figures dressed in hooded trench coats stood there and watched. Lust looked at it and asked Envy, "You're certain that the Shadows detected a massive Heart Energy reading coming from there?" Envy nodded, "Yep, and if the Shadows were wrong about this, I'll eat my hat." One of the hooded figures spoke in an attractive male voice, "You don't wear a hat, unless you call that broomstick hairstyle of yours a hat." Envy snarled as he was about to whack him one. But fortunately Lust stopped him, "Chill, Envy. Gluttony's still healing from the last attack and we need his and her help right now."
Envy plopped down on the tree branch with his arms folded and mumbled, "Why couldn't it have been Pride to go with us here?" She ignored him and continued to formulate a plan to get the next Princess of Heart that was spotted.
Meanwhile
Aaron and Frey were in the room alone, talking to Ceros about an objective that he thought was weird. Aaron shouted, "You think that Jin Fujita is a Nobody sent by Ansem?" Ceros shushed him to keep quiet and explained, "Exactly. When I first saw him, he was giving out this weird aura. It wasn't anything I felt for over for so long." Frey was in serious mode now, thinking of something else. Aaron asked, "What's on your mind, Frey?" He got out of his thoughts and just asked, "Well, if he is one of the enemy, why didn't he try and attack us or anyone else for that matter?"
Ceros nodded and thought that was a little irregular for a Heartless, or even a Nobody. "Maybe, but until then we'd better be on our toes until now. We've been playing practice, but now that there are two of us, Ansem's forces will be playing hardball with us now." The two then took a serious moment on this one, and wished they had the other knights with them now. Just then, the door swung open with Sarah running in; Ceros played stuff animal again and the boys were just trying to act busy. "Hey come on you guys. What do we have planned for tomorrow?"
They merely shrugged, but Aaron got up, with Ceros sneaking into his pocket undetected. "Well, I know what I'm doing…" he headed for the front door, but not before he grabbed a cotton Kimono. "…I'm going to the hot springs." He looked at Frey seriously, "Frey, keep an eye on my sister and make sure she doesn't get into trouble." He then looked to Sarah, "And make sure he doesn't get himself killed, just because he tried to make a pass on a girl. Okay?" The two of them said okay, but Frey was still a little peeved at that last remark. And with that, he and secretly Ceros were on their way to the hot springs.
On the Other Side of the Building
Serena and the gang were all present and in their rooms and in the following. Serena and Rini were in room 301, Lita, Rei, and Mina along with Artemis were in Room 302. Ami and Hotaru were sharing Room 303 with Luna and Diana. And finally, Amara, Michelle, and Trista were in Room 308. In room 302, Ami was thinking about what to do for tomorrow; she had learned that Aaron and the others were here in Kyoto as well, but she didn't know where they were staying. She wished she had found out where they were. Hotaru looked at Ami and wondered if she was thinking about Aaron. So instead of thinking about it, she asked, "You're thinking about Aaron, aren't you, Ami?"
That snapped her out of her thoughts as she turned around from where she was sitting. "Uh…I.." Diana asked, "Why are you thinking about a boy, Miss Ami? Your studies should always come first." Then Luna explained to her, "Well, Diana, there's more to life than studies. There's also fun, family, and love as well." Then Ami had to speak in to clear up any confusion, "Now wait a minute. It's not what you think; I don't see Aaron like that at all!" The three stood there and looked at her like they couldn't believe this.
Luna spoke out, "Are you sure you don't see him more than just a friend?" Ami was puzzled and asked, "What are you implying, Luna?" The other two girls looked at each other and back at Luna to let her explain. "Well, all I'm just saying is that the two of you have gotten close to each other than friends ever do. You both are in each other's company and never tire of it. Plus, you're always thinking about him, and I'm pretty sure he does as well. You also think of him in the highest respect and admiration." Ami tried to explain while feeling embarrassed, "Well…that's because….I think that there's more to him than others think, Luna."
Luna shook her head and Hotaru suddenly asked, "Come on, Ami. You've never thought what it would be like to date Aaron? Not even once dreamt about it?" Ami sat and looked down in thought for a moment. It was true in her mind she did wonder what it would have been like if they had met and went out as boyfriend and girlfriend. She wondered what it would be like to go on a date with him; and besides, there were times when the image of Aaron in his towel, she cursed herself for not deleting that from her mind, would pop into her head.
She blushed for a moment, but shook it off as she came out of thought, "It's not like I want to ask him, I probably do…but…." The three looked at her and asked, "But what?" She lowered her head and then looked a little depressed, "But I don't know if it would work out, or if it would ruin our friendship. I just couldn't do it if it meant that we had to hurt each other."
Luna then remembered how shy Ami was when it came to love or dating. One thing she was afraid of is hurting other's feelings; she couldn't bear the fact of hurting someone or having her own feelings hurt. This was what she feared the most in her life, so Luna nodded, "I understand, but I'm sure that Aaron isn't the type of young man who can easily be hurt or hurt you in return."
Just then, the door knocked and Hotaru ran up to it, wanting not to go further into this. She opened it and saw Serena and Rini holding cleaning baskets; Rini asked, "Hey Hotaru, we're going to the hot springs. Wanna come with?" She turned to look at Ami but seemed to be cheering up from their discussion. She looked back and said, "Sure, Rini." She went back to grab her cleaning basket and went with the two to go, but not before Serena asked, "Hey, Ami. You wanna come too?" Ami turned to them and simply said, "Oh no thanks. I'll go later, but thank you for asking." And with that, they were off to the springs for a good old time.
The Outdoor Hot Springs
It was a sight to behold at; the hot springs were beautiful as it took on a look of nature and traditional Japanese appearance. The hot springs were outside and were surrounded by a bamboo wall, going all around the hot springs. Aaron was soaking in it with his towel folded on a rock next to where he was sitting, while Ceros was floating in the water, just enjoying it. Though Aaron was far from relaxed as he spoke out, "Ceros, what are we gonna do about Fujita? I mean, what if he is one of the enemies?"
Ceros stopped paddling in the water to look at Aaron, "Well, we'll just have to pray that you can beat him." Aaron got a confused look on his face at that moment, "What do you mean? I was able to last against Lust, Envy, and Gluttony." Ceros explained, "That's true but they're not professional swordsmen like that Fujita kid is. You see Aaron; you've only been using fragments of your swordsman skills, not the whole caboodle. Jin Fujita is on a whole new level compared to you, kid. If it came down between you and Frey against him, he'd be the victor." Aaron paled at this, he knew that some of the time that his memories were coming in and giving him a little knowledge, but he didn't realize he was only at half his strength. He sunk into the water and mumbled, "And with that Boken he could dissect me in less than five seconds. Why'd a highly skilled swordsman become my enemy?"
Then suddenly they heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the hot springs as Ceros hid behind Aaron. Aaron thought out loud, "It must be one of the other tenants." He looked behind the rock bed that he was sitting behind only to see someone he didn't expect to pop up here. It was Jin Fujita, wearing a traditional white training kimono, and kneeling with a bucket of water.
Aaron ducked for cover and screamed in his head, 'OH THIS IS NOT GOOD! HE'S HERE! DOES HE KNOW ABOUT US THEN?' Jin dumped the bucket of cold water on his head, soaking himself as he just looked upward, removing his glasses. He then spoke to himself in a whisper, "I'm in a tough spot as it is now, but things might prove interesting….if my suspicions of Masters and Asapin are in fact the Phoenix Blade and the Persian Prince."
Aaron and Ceros paled at this; someone outside their little circle knew of their secret. Ceros whispered to Aaron, "He knows about you and Frey; he's definitely a Nobody. Take him out quick." But before Aaron could try to do anything, a Boken was brought under his chin and a voice spoke in a threatening tone. "Who are you? If you don't tell me I'll crush you." The mist suddenly cleared up from around them and Aaron was able to get a good look at the attacker; it was Jin, and Jin saw that it was Aaron. Ceros was a little surprised, 'Aw man, he was able to catch Aaron off guard.'
Jin pulled away from Aaron and bowed, "I apologize. I thought you were someone else." Ceros was tired of this, so he blew his cover all for the sake of getting an answer, "NOW I'M SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF HERE, FUJITA! CUT THE WISE MAN ROUTINE! WE KNOW YOU'RE ONE OF THE NOBODIES SENT TO ASSASSINATE US!" Jin, completely unaffected from seeing a small stuffed animal moving and yelling at him, merely stated, "You misunderstand, I am merely…" suddenly, they heard screaming coming from the women's changing room.
The two looked over there and Aaron grabbed his towel and wrapped it around him. Jin grabbed his Boken and went for it, but not before he turned around and stated to the two, "Aaron! Ceros! Know that I'm neither your enemy nor a Nobody, or whatever it is you called me. I, Jin Fujita, am an ally to you!" With that he took off to see what was going on with Aaron and Ceros following behind him. The two looked at each other in confusion at to what he said towards them, 'What does he mean by an ally?', Aaron thought, but didn't have time to argue or question about it as they ran towards the women's changing room.
As soon as Jin opened the door, he and Aaron saw a pretty bizarre yet hilarious turn of events. They saw a girl with long blonde hair, around their age, and a thirteen-year-old girl with long pink hair, and Hotaru being attacked (Sort of) by what looked like monkeys. Except these monkeys were colored blue and gray, with yellow eyes and a certain symbol of a demonic heart on their chest. Aaron and Ceros, who hid behind Aaron, both thought of the exact same thing, 'Heartless!' All three of the girls shouted, "These monkeys are messing with our clothes!" Aaron faulted over as he heard that; the Heartless monkeys were messing with the girls' clothing, as if they were trying to strip them.
Jin was becoming a little infuriated by this as he pointed his sword at them. He then spoke in the same menacing tone as he did towards Aaron, "What are you doing to those three?" The monkeys stopped for the moment, but then decided to attack the strangers instead. But instead of attacking them, they just pounced on them, trying to disorient them from stopping them. They jumped on Hotaru and the blonde girl to keep her pinned down, and the rest of them grabbed the pink haired girl while she screamed out for help.
The blonde and Hotaru both yelled, "Rini!" "Serena!", the other girl cried out. Aaron realized that the two that were with Hotaru were Rini and Serena, but for some reason they were after Rini, but why? He didn't care however as he was able to swat off the monkeys and tried to go after them. But Fujita ran faster and lunged at the monkeys before Aaron could get any farther. "GATOSTU TECHNIQUE….SWORD OF A HUNDRED FLAMING CHERRY BLOSSOMS!" He made a circular slash swipe that exploded into a huge wind ki wave. The monkeys were immediately obliterated; causing Rini to fall, but Jin caught her in his free arm. All around them the whirlwind calmed down to look like gentle cherry blossoms falling.
Serena, Hotaru, and Aaron were running towards them; Serena shouted, "Rini! Are you all right?" Aaron stopped for a moment and looked towards the bamboo fence. He swore under his breath that he saw someone standing there and watching. Jin sat up Rini as she blushed at her rescuer, "Um, thank you, sir." He bowed in retrospect and Serena, Hotaru, and Rini looked towards Aaron but blushed from embarrassment as he was in a towel. Just then they were cut out of their embarrassment, Frey and a girl around fifteen, wearing a very expensive yukata, and had light brown hair tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head.
They stopped and Frey asked as he went near a certain blonde, "Miss, are you in anyway hurt?" He then pulled her close to her, which caused her to get a little irritated. "Uh, Frey? That's Serena.", Aaron informed. Frey paled at that fact but went all bug-eyed as he saw that Serena was seething with anger at that moment, "FRRREEEEYYYY!" She grabbed him and flip-slammed him into the ground. The girl walked over to Jin and smiled as she bowed her head, "It's good to see you again, Jin-sama." But as she lifted her head, she noticed he was leaving without say as much as a word.
Rini huffed out, "That guy's just completely rude; even ruder than Serena." Serena gave her a glare, but stopped as the girl turned around and defended him, "It's not that he's rude, he's just not used to having as many friends as he does now." Everyone looked a little confused, until Aaron spoke out, "Well, uh, we're not officially his friends. More like acquaintances. But who exactly are you and why'd you call him 'sama'?" The girl chirped in embarrassment until she bowed and introduced herself, "My name is Aoi Hanabishi, and I'm Jin-sama's fiancée."
Everyone went bug-eyed at this, but Aoi decided it would be better if they explained it inside.
The Lunch Room
Aoi and everyone else were present in the room; Aaron was dressed in one of the hotel's cotton white yukatas that they had. After everyone was seated, she explained that the hotel they were staying in was one of the businesses that were bought off by her family's business. She explained that she was in a family of wealthy doctors that spanned during the Edo era, and have amassed quite a fortune. Jin's family was the same; their family had become wealthy after the Revolution that gave birth of the Meiji government. Afterwards their family was spanned into a business of law firms.
Then one day both families decided to expand their district by allowing the youngest son, Jin, to marry the Hanabishi's youngest daughter, Aoi. She explained that at their age, which was six, they lived in pretty isolated homes; they didn't get to go anywhere in a while, nor did they have the opportunity to make any friends. It was back then that they had made their very first friend each. They would play together, laugh together, and through it all, they had even found a fondness for each other that later on in their lives grew into love.
After the story, Aoi had to return to her room and rest, but Aaron asked what she was doing here even if it belonged to her family. She smiled, "Don't be silly, I came all this way to spend spring break with my Jin-sama." And with that she left for her room. Aaron left as well, but not before Rini stopped him, while Ceros was hiding in the pockets of the yukata. He turned around, "What's up, Rini?" She bowed politely and said, "I just wanted to say thank you to you, and if you could, pass the word to your friend, Jin." He nodded, "No problem."
With that, Frey and Aaron were pretty much alone with each other, except for Ceros who was still in the yukata. Frey was the one to speak out, "So I'm guessing that Jin isn't one of the Heartless' flunkies, eh?" Aaron nodded, "Yep, but I still can't figure out how he knew about us." Then Ceros was the one to point it out, "Maybe instead of accusing him of something, we should ask him full front." The two boys nodded and went to look for the fellow who helped them. Until Aaron bumped into someone; he staggered for a moment and apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry, mam." She shook her head, "no, I'm the one who should apologize."
"Uh, thanks. Well, see ya.", Aaron said as he and Frey went off. Although Frey whispered, "She was sooo my type." Ceros mumbled, "Every girl you see is your type." Little did they know that the woman they had bumped into was the Nobody General of the Deadly Seven, Lust. She was wearing a fur black coat with white trim. She thought as she looked around, 'As I said before…we took our opponents too lightly.' She looked on to where she saw Serena, Hotaru, and Rini went off to. She smiled evilly, "But this time, we're going to fight fire with fire…so to speak."
Room 301
The three girls decided to skip the hot springs for the night in case of an attempt of what happened. All the girls were present in the room and Serena and Rini told them of what happened. Lita was the one to ask, "The Heartless attacked you just like that?" Serena nodded, "Yeah, but the weird thing is that they were only after Rini, while Aaron and that guy, Fujita were trying to help us." Amara and Michelle were both getting serious at this as Amara spoke up, "If that's the case, then Rini could be in danger." Michelle agreed, "We need to keep a close contact with Rini. We never let her out of our sight." Trista looked around, but saw no sign of her, so she asked Serena, "Serena, where's Small Lady?" Mina spoke that out, "She said she needed to use the restroom."
Rini made her way in the bathroom to where it was located in their room. She opened the door and went in, closing it behind her. When she looked at the bathroom, she saw a woman in her twenties, long flowing black hair, and dressed in black. She opened her eyes to reveal them to be yellow but looked to be the eyes that belonged to an animal. She smiled at Rini in a not so friendly way, "It's occupied." Rini was about to scream, until she grabbed her mouth, muffling it. She picked her up and said, "Lord Ansem will be most pleased."
Serena and company were outside the door, waiting for Rini to be done in there. Lita knocked on the door, "Rini, are you okay in there? You've been in there for ten minutes." "It's occupied.", was all they heard her say. Amara stepped up, "Rini, what's going on?" "It's occupied.", was all they heard in there. Lita and Amara looked to each other and knew what needed to be done now. The asked everyone to step back as the two did as well, and then they rammed themselves into the door. For three times they did this, and they kept hearing the same thing, "It's occupied". And then at the fourth time, the door was opened up, completely empty, all except for a tape recorder that kept playing the same line they heard through touch sensors attached to the door.
The girls looked in horror to the realization that Rini had been kidnapped. Luna suggested, "They couldn't have gone far from here." Everyone agreed to that, especially Serena, as everyone ran out to find them. Serena thought to herself, 'If anything happens to her…I won't forgive myself if anything happens to my future daughter.'
Outside; Near the Bridge
Jin was standing next to the railing of the bridge, well more like leaning on it deep in thought. Until someone patted him on the shoulder, "So here you are." He turned to see Aaron and Frey, and Ceros perched on Aaron's head. Jin turned to them and asked, "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" They looked to each other and back at him. Frey was the one to ask, "Well, we were just wondering…how'd you know who we were?" Jin, didn't change his expression, raised an eyebrow, "Not very subtle are you." He sighed until he was ready to explain, "Well, I guess the first reason is when I saw your friend, Aaron here, transforming in the hallway one day in class. I was walking down the hallway when I caught sight of your transformation."
Ceros and Aaron hung their heads in shame for not checking around thoroughly enough, but got back to normal for the other reason. "The second reason is my dreams." The two looked at each other and asked, "Dreams?" Jin nodded, "Well, more like repressed memories. The dreams I had were that of a time long ago, where a kingdom on the moon was built and prospered. There were also dreams or memories on which I was fighting on a blood soaked battlefield in some strange armor of samurai design and wielding a blade made from some unknown metal, I've yet to identify." Then he looked towards them, "And then…there were memories in which I was among friends." And to everyone's surprise, he allowed a small smile to broaden on his face as he went on
"and the most obvious of this is that, in the dream, the faces of the friends or comrades I'm with, have your faces." Ceros, Aaron, and Frey suddenly had a realization about this guy. But before they could confirm it, something jumped in front of them and landed on the railing of the bridge. Frey and Aaron recognized the figure to be Lust, but they were even surprised to see who she was holding in her arms. "Rini!", is all that came out of Aaron's mouth, as Lust stood up and smiled at them, "My, such handsome young men we have here. I'd love to stay and talk to you, but I've got a delivery to make."
And with that, she ran away from them with blinding speed. Aaron and Frey looked towards each other and brought their rings up, "PHOENIX BLADE ARMOR ACTIVATE! PERSIAN PRINCE ARMOR ACTIVATE!" And in a blinding display of their power, they were standing there with their armor, for Jin to see. Phoenix wasted no time and unleashed his wings, flying upward to catch up to Lust. Persian ran after them, but surprisingly Jin ran along with him.
Meanwhile, Lust was running towards the station, patting herself on the back, "That was all too easy; all I have to do is get Little Lady here to Hollow Bastion, and I'll be back in time for coffee." Just then, the sky above rained flaming claws as they struck the ground near her. She easily dodged them, but was slowed down long enough to stop as she saw the Persian Prince and that other guy that was with them running towards them. Phoenix Blade landed right in front of them and looked towards Lust, "I don't know what you want with her, but she's coming back with us."
She just smirked as she got back up, "I'm not giving up that easily; I and the others worked long and hard to find one of the Princesses of Heart and I'm not handing her over without a fight." She then sped on faster towards the train with the three in pursuit. She ran into one of the carts and the others followed suit. The doors closed and the train then suddenly started and sped off. Lust was running from them as fast as she could as they went from cart to cart, until the last cart they reached, she stopped and spoke, "Okay, Sloth, they're all yours."
Suddenly a figure appeared next to her all dressed in a black trench coat with a hood. As soon as the three got in the cart that Lust had been in, all the doors and windows closed shut. The hooded figure then waved their hands and in a bizarre instant the room began to flood with water until it was filled up, with the three boys still in it. Aaron gurgled, "This is not good! I can't use my flames in here!" Frey gurgled, "The sands won't be able to move around either." Lust smirked at this as Rini watched in horror, "Oh, those poor boys'll drown before we get to the district. Oh well, such a waste."
The three were having a hard time trying to move around, much less breathe. They would soon run out of air; Jin cursed himself, 'I…can't move around…I'm still such a novice.' Just then, a memory popped into his head, a memory in which he promised Aoi-chan he'd become strong enough to protect her. His eyes flashed open, "GATOTSU TECHNIQUE….FLASH OF CUTTING AIR!" A tremendous power glowed around him in a blue aura and in one slash of his hand, the water was washing straight towards Lust and Sloth as it burst out of the car and washed them into the other as the train stopped at the district.
Everyone came out of the train as the water left it. Sloth had disappeared but Lust was getting up with Rini. The knights were kneeling down, taking deep breaths but Jin had gotten up, and when Ceros was getting up from his little water trip, he noticed on Jin's forehead; a form of glowing blue dots connecting to look like a mighty fish. Ceros knew what this meant; Jin was one of the Fellowship knights. Jin pointed to Lust, "Did you see that, Woman. You'll be next unless you hand over the girl."
Lust looked at the boy and saw his eyes; they were that of a real killer with no compassion or mercy for the enemy. Within herself she felt for the first time in her immortal life: Fear. She quickly covered it up as she got up with Rini still in her arms. "You did pretty well, but I'm not giving you the second Princess of Heart." Phoenix and Persian heard that and now understood why she wanted Rini. She then bolted to the stairway that led to the exit.
Jin was about to go after her, until Ceros popped up right in front of him, "Hold it, buddy! You can't go like that!" Phoenix and Persian asked, "Ceros, what are you talking about?" He shot forward his front and a beam of energy shot straight at Jin's right hand. When the beam subsided, all three boys saw on Jin's ring finger, a golden ring with a Sapphire crystal gem embedded into it, and inscribed on the gem was a fish in the motion of jumping out of the water, but its fins and tail were all spiked. Jin asked, "What's this?" "It's your transformation ring. Like Aaron and Frey, you're a member of the Fellowship of the Moon. You're the warrior of water and ice, the Pisces Samurai."
Jin looked at it, still unwaverd by the events, "Somehow…I always knew of this, but I guess it wasn't a dream after all." Ceros noticed that Lust might have been long gone, "Ah, listen, Jin, I know you're still getting use to this but…", but before he finished, Jin shouted, "PISCES SAMURAI ARMOR ACTIVATE!"
Suddenly, his whole body was engulfed in water and taking shape. The water suddenly froze up, and began to shatter and exploded and there was Jin in his new armor. It was styled as samurai armor colored blue, white, and black. The chestplate was blue, but on the sides of the chestplate were two black eyes carved into it; the mid section showed a black spot to where a six pack was and two blue plates protected the sides of the stomach. His upper arm guards were shaped like that of traditional samurai armor, except they were shaped triangular, and pointed upward like vents; and on them was an inscription of Pisces the Fish jumping out of the water. On the back of the chest armor were two spike tails dropping downward like a cape. Under the upper armor was a blue and white kimono top. His forearm guards were blue on the outside and black on the inside, but the wrist guard was white. The tip of the elbow was covered in a spiked curve of the forearm guard. His gloves were traditional samurai hand guards colored blue while the glove on the inside was black. He was wearing black kimono battle pants, along with a lower torso guard to not only guard the sides and back of the legs, but the front as well. It was held up by a black belt with a blue hexagon shaped buckle on it. The lower torso guard was colored blue and the front piece was black with a blue tip to it. His calf guards were blue and white, with square V-shaped knee guards. On his feet were armored sandals colored blue and his sandal socks colored black. His helmet was that of a traditional samurai construction; there were three black bladed spikes coming out of the front visor in a triangulated position, along with a sapphire jewel embedded in the center spike. On the back of the helmet was an armored ponytail that ended at his midback with two black fins at the end. His mouth guard was blue but shaped to look like an Oni grin, and on the sides of the helmet were two spikes sticking forward. To where the eyes were supposed to be, darkness was there until two glowing blue slits opened.
The two stared in awe for a moment, until Persian mentioned, "Now that's armor with pizzazz." Ceros then butted in, "In case you haven't noticed, but Lust IS GETTING AWAY while you guys are conversing." All three boys snapped to it, and ran after Lust. Jin then decided to ask, "What exactly is this all about? What does she mean by when she called the girl, 'Princess of Heart.'?" Ceros explained as he flew next to Phoenix Blade, "Well, it's just my guess, but from a very reliable source the Seven Princesses of Heart will open a gateway for the Dark Lord Ansem to get into this world without any hesitation. And I think Rini's one of them."
The boys paled at that; the last thing they needed was to face the one who started this whole thing and not be ready for it. They rounded the corner and found the main stairway; it was pretty massive and went up three levels. But that's not what almost stopped them, they saw Sailor Moon, Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn there, and they were battling from what looked like flying red bells with straw hats and bird feet. And the weird thing about them was that they were spewing out fire.
Sailor Moon was dodging them while screaming, "Aaah! Where's Tuxedo Mask when you need him?" Jupiter was being attacked by a cluster of the flying red bells, "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" She generated a ball of electricity and they completely obliterated. She stepped back a little, unaware of the Shadows coming up from behind her. "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" A ball of shimmering energy struck the Shadows, obliterating them; Jupiter looked up to see Pluto and shouted, "Nice job!" She smirked, "Just be sure to watch your back!"
"That's actually good advice!", Lust shouted back as she gave an order to the Sprites, "Crimson Jazz! Warm them up!" They all spun around in a circle over the Sailor Scouts as soon as they were huddled together in one spot. Lust smirked while she still held onto Rini, "This little move will make sure you don't follow me further." The little sprites flew around and around until they became a large blanket of fire and fell right on top of them. The Scouts didn't have enough time to dodge, so Saturn got in the middle and shot her Glaive straight up, "SILENCE WALL!" A black lighting dome barrier encircled them as the flames landed on them.
The flames continued to burn, and the intense heat was becoming too much. Jupiter gasped, "It's getting too hot in here!" Sailor Moon agreed, "Yeah, I wish Mercury was here!" They then noticed Saturn beginning to buckle under the heat as well as the pressure. Pluto grabbed her to steady her position, "Just hang in there, Saturn." "I-I-can't hold on.", she quivered. Lust chuckled as she watched, "They won't be getting out of that. Looks like we'll be having Scout-kabobs tonight."
"SANDSTORM!"
Suddenly, a huge sandy whirlwind appeared around the flames and spun around like a tornado. It sucked up the flames, leaving the Scouts unharmed; the whirlwind sucked it up and dissipated along with the storm. Lust paled, knowing all too well who entered the party. "So now the Heartless have lowered themselves to kidnappers?" Lust and the Sailor Scouts turned and tried to find whom it was that saved them. Suddenly they saw Phoenix Blade, Persian Prince, and a new guy standing at the bottom of the stairs. Sailor Moon asked, "Who's the new guy?" Jupiter suggested, "He must be one of the Fellowship."
Persian quirked, "That flame was all show, Lady! No heat! What a joke!" Then the samurai pulled out a sword from a hilt on his right side. The handle was sapphire and iron mixed together, but the blade was shaped like a katanna. However, it was made of what looked like ice. The other two grabbed their blades as well, and charged straight at her, along with the Sailor Scouts. Phoenix Blade shouted, "Hand over the girl! Right now!" He sprung up into the air with the Buster Sword high over his head. Pisces brought his blade back for an assassin strike, and then suddenly, he slid on the stairs like he was on a skateboard.
The two swordsmen reached Lust and were about to strike her, until their weapons crashed against two staffs, being held by two similar yet different Heartless. They both looked like a fat bulbous man with Arabic pants and sashes, and had capes draped on them. But their upper torsos, except for their heads, were transparent and within them were skinny forms that looked like lava whirlwinds. They had turbans on their heads and the staffs they were wearing each had a different head. One was a lava ball head with spikes on the sides of it, and the other was an ice diamond head with ice wings at the side. One was ice blue while the other was lava red.
Lust smirked at the new opponents, "Fellowship Phoenix Blade and Pisces Samurai, these are the Volcano and Blizzard Lords. They'll be your opponents for this evening. Don't take them too lightly though." The Lords pushed back the two knights and jumped after them, leaving Persian and the Scouts for Lust to handle. She snapped her fingers and two Shadows grabbed Rini, while she walked up to them. Jupiter boasted, "Just give us your best shot, Skank!" Then suddenly, the tips of her fingers and thumbs grew until they were around thirty-six inches. Sailor Moon gulped that the razor sharp nail weapons that Lust now had, "Alright, Sailor Wimps. Lets' dance." She charged straight at them, slashing at them with her claw nails. They were able to dodge it, and looked behind them to see she had taken huge chunks of the stairs.
Sailor Moon blubbered, "Oooh, this is not good!" Lust charged back at them and parried them around until they were scattered. She went for a strike at Saturn, but she actually blocked it. "You're pretty good for a kid." She backed up and prepared for a stab strike, "But not good enough!" Saturn was prepared for it as Lust charged at her, but suddenly a gust of sand blew over and Persian was standing right in front of her; as he blocked the strike with his scimitar. He snarled at her, "You know, I don't care how dead sexy you are…" he then pushed her back while trying to slice or block every one of her advances until he got an opening and kicked her back to her Shadows and Rini. "…you don't pick on someone smaller than you!" Saturn didn't know if she was complimented or insulted at that moment, but somehow she was happy he had come to her rescue.
Meanwhile, Phoenix and Pisces weren't doing as good against the Volcano and Blizzard Lord. Phoenix was dodging and blocking all the flame throwing from the Volcano Lord as he floated around him. And sometimes it would bounce to try and crush him; it was close at a few times, but Phoenix escaped with nearly a nick or burn mark. With Pisces, he was constantly jump-dodging and slicing all the cold ice attacks he was being bombarded with by the Blizzard Lord. One advance turned into a giant snowball, so Pisces decided to break out one of his attacks. He brought up the Katanna of Ice into a 90 degree angle thrust stab position, and then the blade glowed with a blue energy, as did his sandals, "PISCES ICE STRIKE!", and then in a quick motion, charged straight forward at the giant ball of ice. And as he thrusted the blade forward, he launched a massive cold force that blasted through the ice ball splitting in two and shattering it.
He landed on the ground and saw his attack go for the Volcano Lord and then it hit him. The Heartless acted quite weak from the attack, and that's when Pisces realized what needed to be done. He dodged the Blizzard Lord and ran for Phoenix, and when he got to him side by side, he gave his theory on the battle so far. "Phoenix, I think the way this battle has gone so far has been at a certain disadvantage." Phoenix nodded to let him continue, "The old saying goes, 'Fight Fire with Fire' works at times, but fire alone cannot counteract with fire." "That would be just pointless and stupid to do.", Phoenix pointed out. Pisces continued, "we've been fighting opponents that have the same elemental powers as we do: Fire and Ice. But we've been fighting each other's elements. So the only way to end this battle faster…." Phoenix then understood it as he finished, "We have to fight the opposite."
They both shook their heads on it, and went for the other opponent; the Samurai went for the Volcano Lord while the Blade went for the Blizzard. The Volcano Lord tried to take on Pisces but to no avail as he couldn't even hit him when he slid on the floor at lightning speed and sliced the Lord's attacks with his Katanna of Ice. The Blizzard Lord kept attacking Phoenix with his ice based attacks, but all they did was melt as soon as his opponent swiped his Buster Sword at all of them. The two decided to end this battle as they ran towards each other with the two Lords following them; as they met they jumped up together and in the air, turned at their opponent. "PISCES ICE STRIKE!" "PHOENIX WING!" They both charged their attacks and shot them forward at them; Pisces launched himself down in the air like a torpedo at the Volcano Lord and shot straight through him, freezing him up. And with a quick slash at him, shattered the Volcano Lord into a million pieces. Phoenix charged his blade, and with one giant swipe, slashed down a charging wall of flame at the Blizzard Lord, causing it to melt at tremendous speed until it was nothing more than a little puddle.
Lust saw that this battle wasn't going to her favor as she jumped back to the Shadows that were holding Rini. "Well, I guess it's time to take the Princess and head back to the base." But before they could get away, she saw Sailor Moon and Persian Prince about to stop her. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" "SANDSTORM!" Sailor Moon launcher her tiara discus at her along with Persian's sandstorm attack following it. out of pure instinct, Lust grabbed Rini and brought her up front to use her as a shield. Sailor Moon saw this and cried out, "RINI!' Persian saw this and with a wave of his hand, caused the sandstorm to engulf the tiara discus and spin it around back to them. The tiara landed in Sailor Moon's hand while the sandy whirlwind puffed out.
Lust stared in confusion, only until Persian Prince shouted out, "Using a helpless little girl as a shield? You gutless wonder!" Lust smirked at this; she now knew that as long as she had the kid the Scouts and Knights wouldn't try anything to hurt her. She laughed out loud as she held Rini up by the neck, "Oh, this is perfect; I've got the ultimate collateral damage!" Then Sailor Moon was fed up with this and asked, "Just what do you plan to do with her?" Lust decided to spill the beans seeing that they couldn't win at this, "Well, first things first. We're going to find a way to render her mute, and then use that little sugary heart of light of hers for our own little purposes." That news made the Sailor Scouts, especially Moon, Pluto, and Saturn, angry at her for wanting to use Rini in such a way. The knights were also extremely miffed, including the Pisces Samurai. Lust let one of her nails grow out from the hand that held Rini up, "Such a pretty little girl. I'm sure that one day you'll be a lovely young woman." She nearly scratched a claw on her little cheek, making her flinch in fear. "Provided no one puts a scar on that beautiful face."
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO HER!"
The three knights charged forward at the Heartless General, not caring about holding back. "SANDS OF TIME: MACH SPEED!" Persian disappeared, and so did Rini, as Lust stared in horror. Persian reappeared next to Sailor Moon with Rini in his arms. Lust didn't see it coming and neither did the Shadows, but Pisces stopped only a few feet from them and prepared for another attack. He slashed his sword on the ground in front of him, and then water in tiny clumps sprinted upward, and then froze up to form Sakura blossoms. "PISCES FLOWER PETALS!" The blossoms bloomed open, and with one thrust strike forward from his sword, the flowers shattered and the shards shot forward Lust and the Shadows like bullets. They only scratched Lust up, cutting her dress, but once they hit the Shadows they froze up and shattered into a million pieces.
It was Phoenix's turn as he spun his sword like a propeller as it burned with fiery energy. "PHOENIX INFERNO!" He swiped his blade straight at Lust; the flaming firebird shot straight at her. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" "SATURN GLAIVE SURPRISE!" "MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!" All the Sailor Scouts attacks joined with Phoenix's attack and made contact with Lust, erupting in a huge explosion that nearly made a crater in the stairway to where she was standing in. Everyone looked to see if they got her, and when the dust settled, they saw her healing up but her clothes were nearly torn.
She saw them glaring at her with the utmost intention of wanting to tan her hide. 'Where do these kids get the gall to be this strong?' She snarled, "This isn't over yet, Twerps! Our Dark Lord will have all the Princesses of Heart in his possession!" And with that, she disappeared into a dark flame gateway. Sailor Moon hugged Rini, "I'm glad you're alright, Rini." Rini hugged back and nearly cried back. The scouts didn't notice that the Constellation Knights were gone already, but didn't notice that they were on the rooftop, looking down on them.
"I'm glad they're back together again.", Persian quirked. Ceros nodded, "Yep, I'm just glad we found you in time, Jin." The three turned to see that he was leaving, but Phoenix stopped him. "Hey, Jin!" He turned around to face them, "I'm sorry for the abrupt departure, but it's for the best." Aaron didn't believe that as he spoke out, "Look, Jin. I know you're not used to having friends. Aoi explained that; but you don't have to just think of us as simply allies or comrades. You can think of us as your friends too, you know." Frey added to that, "Yeah, so don't be a stranger."
Jin stood there for a moment; they didn't see it because of the helmet, but underneath it he allowed a small smile on his face as he heard them wanting to be his friends. He bowed his head, "I thank you, for being my friends." And with that, the three knights, now friends, disappeared into the night.
Back at the Hot Springs
Aaron, Jin, and Frey had gotten back to the hotel and went their ways for the night. Jin went to his room to meditate; Frey did what he always did and flirted with girls; particularly Rei and Mina. Aaron was now settling down in the hot springs for the second time; while Ceros was sleeping in the room they were staying in with Sarah, squeezing the life out of him, still thinking he was a stuffed animal. Aaron was trying to relax, seeing that the fight with Lust and the Volcano and Blizzard Lords left him with a few aches and pains.
He was just sleeping it off until he heard someone wadding into the spring. He turned around but didn't get a good look at them, until he noticed that they were walking towards his way. He couldn't get a good look at the person due to the mist that the springs let out, but now he could tell that the person was female. He cursed himself mentally, 'Darn it! I forgot this is a coed hot springs!' he was about to leave until the figure spoke out, now completely out of the mist. "Hello, I'm sorry I…"
Aaron recognized the voice as he turned around to come face to face with the last person who needed to see him like this: Ami. Ami had returned, knowing now that Serena and the others had found Rini when they split up into teams to look for her. She wanted to go to the hot springs and try to relax, but she didn't realize it was a coed hot springs until it was too late.
She gasped and blushed as she saw him with only a towel around his waist, and he saw her in a towel wrapped around her body as well. Both teens just stared at each other blushing red. Aaron couldn't help but notice her figure for the first time; she was in good shape for a girl who only studied. He also noticed her hair was damp due to the fact she had rinsed herself before going in the springs. She looked at him like this for the second time, but up close this time, and noticed how well defined his upper body was, but also noticed small scars here and there.
She snapped out of it first. "I-I-I'm so sorry." She said quickly turning around. After a few minutes of shock, Aaron snapped out of it, "Uh…I'd better be going now. I'm already done, and I don't want to get heat stroke." "Uh, okay." He left the hot springs; not one of them making eye contact as he did. Ami just sat down into the hot springs and never felt so embarrassed in all her life. She knew now that after the first incident she wouldn't be able to look Aaron in the eyes for a while after this. She pulled her towel aside and placed it next to her on the rocks as she allowed herself to sink into the water.
'Oh god I feel like such an idiot!', she shouted in her head as she felt the warm water all around her form. It also dawned on her that the two of them had nearly seen each other naked and the thought was both frightening and yet…she pushed that thought aside. 'I can't think of Aaron that way. He's my closest friend. Well, male friend.' she thought. Serena and Lita had that department covered for best female friends. She looked up towards the night sky, and watched as the stares twinkled with a beauty and radiance that made the night sky glow, like a thousand fireflies dancing across it. She tried to push it aside, then the question popped up: why was it she kept thinking of Aaron when she saw him in just a towel, and why was her heart racing when she thought of it?
She decided painfully that she had to try and avoid him for the whole Spring Break vacation, just in case.
Heartless Appearances:
Neo-Shadows
Crimson Jazz
Volcano Lord
Blizzard LordNext Chapter: Fighter for Hire; Bull by the Horns