Sailor Moon: Fellowship of the Moon

Chapter 13: Trust in One's Heart; The Fellowship Enemies?
Downtown Tokyo

Nighttime

A delivery truck was passing down a highway bridge, making a delivery to somewhere unknown. As it was heading straight for the next intersection, the driver spotted two figures standing in the middle of the road. The driver grumbled "What the heck" he honked the horn to get their attention but they wouldn't budge an inch. Suddenly he got a good look at them and saw a small fellow accompanied by a huge armored figure. The small guy then zoomed at the truck at blinding speed, almost about to pass the truck. But as the figure reached it, he shot out a jagged looking chain at the tires as he passed it, slashing them.

The driver tried desperately to gain control, but the big guy at the end took out a huge hammer and slammed it into the ground with tremendous force. Fissures shot forward at the truck, causing even more disability for the driver to gain control of the steering. Then suddenly, two figures dropped out of the sky, one looking like a samurai, the other looked like a swordsman with wings. They sliced the front of the truck, disconnecting the steering and the brakes.

The driver couldn't control the truck anymore as he headed towards the big guy. He yelled out loud as the guy raised his hammer, and in one swipe, slammed the guy off the bridge and plummeted to his demise. The four figures watched as the truck exploded into flames, and in a flash, they were gone.

Day 3

Arashi Mountain Hotel

It was morning and in Room 303, Ami was wide-awake, sitting near the room's study table. She was looking outside as she pondered about the realization back on the beach yesterday. She had realized that he was in love with her friend, Aaron. She had come to this realization yesterday when she realized how bad she had felt when he got hurt, trying to save her.

Just then, Luna jumped up on the table, surprising her. "Oh, Luna. What are you doing up this early?", Ami asked. Luna replied, "I was going to ask you the same question." Ami lean on her right hand as she looked down on the cat guardian. "Well…it's like this, Luna.", Ami said as she explained the events of yesterday. After she had told her everything, Luna's eyes nearly widened with surprise. "What! You mean you're in love with Aaron?", Luna nearly shouted.

Ami nodded in a shy way, while Luna shrugged, "Well, its not the way I imagined but I was wondering when you would soon notice." Ami was a little confused by this, "What does that mean?" Luna gave her a knowing look, "Ami, you sit next to him in school, talk to him all the time, see him all the time, and go and help each other during your study parties. You're both in each other's lives and are as close as a boy and girl can get without being in an intimate relationship…in the beginning, right from the start, you care for Aaron."

"O-of course I care, he's one of my closest and best friends.", Ami stuttered.

Luna sighed, "Ami, I was there every time you were with Aaron. Trust me; the way you've been acting ever since you two met there was an attraction between the two of you. I've seen it, and I think Serena, Lita, and the others have as well. You seem to care for Aaron more then just a friend since the beginning." Ami just sat there shocked in the realization of the truth. "You said so yourself your heart ached when you saw Aaron risk his life for you, and can you honestly say that you can see your life without him?"

Ami thought about that, could she? Aaron had been a wonderful addition to her life. She liked no loved hanging out with him, studying with him, and riding his bike alongside him. He was such a wonderful person and when she saw him hurt she would find that she hurt as well. She actually looked forward to seeing him everyday. She sat there thinking about all the things that they did together and all the fun they shared, and then the thought of losing him suddenly in her life.

The emptiness that she felt surprised her and then it finally dawned on her once again, only in a new light. "Oh god…I am in love with him…I was in love with him since the first day I met him.", she whispered out.

Luna gave her friend a sympathetic look and nuzzled herself on Ami, "Yeah, now you know…so what are you to do about it?" Ami looked at Luna, and back outside, looking at the rising sun, "I'm not sure…I mean I know about my feelings but I'm not sure if he'll feel the same way."

Luna then had a look of deep thought until she gave her an answer, "I'm not much on relationships, but whatever happens will happen." She then gave her a reassuring look, "Though I will say this…Aaron must deeply care for you to almost get himself hurt like that." Ami then had a smile of reassurance as the two watched the morning start.

Later On
Aaron had waked up and gotten dressed along with Frey; Sarah was still snoozing from all the fun from yesterday. Frey stretched out as he was walking with Aaron to go to the Breakfast bar, "man, saving your butt yesterday was exhausting enough." Aaron shot him a look, "Geez, I didn't know saving one of your own was such a huge and taxing task on you and Ian."

Pheromone Boy merely shrugged as they got closer to the Breakfast Bar, "Hey, he did it to get away from the girls, I did it to help out a friend." Aaron smiled at the truth of this; he never had any friends that would run towards him to the rescue. Then Frey got a sly smile on his face, "So what was going on with you and Ami when you two were hugging each other?"

Aaron nearly fell over after he had said that, "You were spying on us?" Frey shrugged, "Spying? I prefer to call it 'Looking out for a friend'." They entered in the bar and were about to go get something to eat, until Aaron bumped into someone. "Hey, You! Watch where you're..." the voice stopped as Aaron and the figure came face to face.

It was Mayura, the redheaded classmate in Aaron's class. She was dressed in bellbottom jeans, a white tank top that exposed her bellybutton, a yellow vest, red and white sneakers. She also had a few thumb and pinkie rings on as well as a bracelet and a black choker. She immediately lit up, "Aaron? Oh this is a surprise! I didn't know you were staying here too."

The two boys exchanged glances at each other and said in unison, "You're staying here too?" She nodded, "Yep, I just got here last night. Back in Tokyo, I was hanging out with my friends before we decided to come here for Spring Break." Aaron nodded and smiled, "Oh, that's great. I'm glad that you're spending your vacation among friends."

He and Frey went to go get their plates and fill them up to sit over with Jin. But before they could, Mayura nearly shouted, "Wait, Aaron!" He turned around and asked, "What's up, Mayura?" she didn't think she'd get a chance like this anytime at all, but right now she was about to make her move before a certain blue-haired brainiac did. Speaking of which, Ami was dressed and was entering the room, which she stopped once she saw Mayura talking to Aaron.

"I really like you, Aaron. More than just a friend, I mean."

Aaron was a little surprised at this, Frey raised an eyebrow, but Ami took this the worst. She felt a sharp pain go through her heart as she heard Mayura utter those first five little words. She felt her chances of telling him being crushed even further as she her Mayura continue her confession. "I mean I've liked you since you came to our school a few months ago." She then began to twiddle her fingers, "And, um, well I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me."

Aaron was a little taken back as she continued, "You can meet me by the park later today and give me your answer." With that she waved goodbye and left the room, passing Ami and not noticing her. Aaron just stood there with a deadpan look of confusion and shock on his face as he turned to Frey and asked, "What just happened?" Frey answered, equally shocked, "I think she just asked you out on a date."

At the Boy's Table
Jin had met up with them as Frey and Aaron was there, eating along with Ceros, who was chowing down on some pudding. Aaron just picked his food uninterested in it. Jin had heard the whole story from Frey and asked, "So what will be your answer?" Aaron looked up to them and said, "Well, isn't it obvious? The answer's no." Ceros spat out his pudding while Frey nearly choked on his food; Jin however, remained the same, only with his eyebrow raised.

"ARE YOU INSANE? YOU CAN'T TURN DOWN A HOT GIRL LIKE THAT!", Frey nearly shouted in the room. "Look, if this is about her being the right one, you won't know if you don't know her first.", Frey advised now that he had calmed down. Aaron nodded, "That's true but this isn't about if she's the right one, I can't accept anyone." The three looked at him in confusion, so he explained. "It's that loving someone, for me, it'll end in pain and loneliness eventually."

Now the boys understood; because of the death of his mother he had suffered a great loss, because he lost someone he loved. And it was because of that he decided to distance himself from love. Then Ceros asked, "So does that mean…" Aaron shook his head, "Nah, I still love my sister, Dad, and Grandpa. It's just a girlfriend that I fear of losing."

Jin then asked out of curiosity, still in his monotoned voice, "Is it due to something in your past life memories?" Aaron shot him a look, telling him not to go that far. Jin, completely unaffected by this, just turned back to what he was doing. Then suddenly, the door to the bar opened up and standing right there, panting from lack of breath, was Ian.

The three and Ceros were a little surprised to see him like this as he walked over. Frey humored his arrival, "Uh, I hate to tell you, Ian, but they stopped serving breakfast a few minutes ago." Ian didn't care about the joke as he held up a newspaper, "I didn't come here to eat…" he placed the newspaper on the table for everyone to see. The boys and Ceros were a little shocked to see the headline of the front page:

STRANGE VIGILANTE KNIGHTS TURN CRIMINAL!

Frey spoke out, "What the hell?" "Looks like someone's trying to frame us up.", Jin deduced on this. Aaron then stated, "And I've got three guesses as to who's setting us up to take the fall here." Ceros then crossed his arms, accessing this, "Looks like the Heartless are making it harder for us now."

Hollow Bastion

Library

Three of the four known Generals were just sitting and waiting for their fourth member to pop out from wherever he was. Meanwhile, Envy and Gluttony were looking at pictures of possible Princesses of Heart; each one was a girl in their teen years. Envy just grumbled, "This is nauseating; just trying to pick out a Princess of Heart possibility." Gluttony just looked at some of the pictures and licked them like lollipops, "I know and none of them are even tasty enough."

Lust was sitting near the Romance section reading a steamy romance novel, when Envy scowled, "And you're not even helping! All your doing is reading some dumb books about people, kissing, hugging, and doing IT! What the heck's wrong with this picture?" Lust peered over the edges of the book and stated, "My job is intelligence; besides these books aren't trash, they help me get in touch with my sexy side. That usually helps a lot on the field of battle."

"With looks like yours, I doubt you even need to read those."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and saw Greed walk in without a care in the Negaverse. Lust half smiled, "Well, look who's come back from the world of Light. Any luck?" Greed passed her but answered, "I've tried but luring out those Fellowship Knights is harder than it looks." Envy smirked, "Or maybe you're just not trying hard enough." Greed sat on the table the two were examining the pictures on, "It's not my fault those armored boneheads are thick-headed; they can't take a hint."

It was then he noticed a certain picture that caught his eye. He picked it up and snickered, "Well, this could be a worthwhile target." Envy and Gluttony pushed over to try and see who it was. It was then Envy grimaced and walked away in disgust back to the other pictures, "forget it. We've checked that one out and she's a complete Zero." Gluttony then commented, "But she does look tasty though." Greed then got a glint in his eye, "Yeah, she does, doesn't she?"

Lust put her book down and smirked, "Well looks like something for you to do to get the Knight's attention after all." Greed just smirked, "Yep, and I'm keepin' this one all to myself." He then began to leave the room, but not without a comment from Lust, "You're really greedy, aren't you?" Greed smirked as he tossed the picture into the air as it floated back to the table. "Of course, it's because I'm Greed incarnate."

And with that he took off, leaving the picture of the target he would claim. The picture was that of Mayura herself.

Arashi Mountain Hotel

Room 303

All the girls, minus Ami and Hotaru, were having a meeting in there. It seemed that the boys weren't the only ones who caught a glimpse at today's paper. Amara scowled at this, "So I guess the wolves are done hiding behind the sheep's skins." Michelle objected, "Now hold on, Amara. We can't make any accusations yet. Besides, it's not like they would do something like this."

Rei then spoke up, "I got to admit, it's not their style to do this kind of thing." Lita then put in her two cents, "Yeah, but what else to we know about them? I mean, we don't even know who they are without the masks off." That was true; they didn't even stick around for the girls to even ask them anything. On top of that, they didn't pop up in time until they were in trouble. For all they knew, the Fellowship could be working with the Heartless.

Just then, the door opened and in walked Ami with Hotaru, and they had gotten their breakfast for everyone and set it at the table, ignoring the newspaper. Lita noticed the depressed look Ami had on her face and asked, "Why so down in the dumps, Ami?" Ami snapped out of it and just shook it off, "Oh, it's nothing Lita." Serena snickered, "The old lovesick bug just bit ya, didn't it?" Ami was broken out of her daze and blushed in embarrassment, "How did you know?" She immediately covered her mouth as to what she just said out loud.

Serena picked up Luna, "Let's just say a little kitty told me." Luna gave her a look, "I'm sorry, Ami, but Serena had powerful methods of persuasion." Ami sighed in defeat as Rini asked, "So is it Aaron?" She lowered her head and blushed in embarrassment, "Was it that obvious, you guys?" they all nodded in agreement.

After explaining her situation and Mayura's confession, Lita shot up from disgust at Mayura's interference. "That's terrible, Ami! That redheaded skank muscling in on your future boyfriend!", Lita nearly shouted. Mina pointed out, "Yeah, we'll double reinforce this." She grabbed Ami by the shoulders and almost shouted, "Ami! You've got to confess your feelings to Aaron as well! I'm sure he'd pick you."

Ami sweat dropped at this and merely asked, "That might work but maybe I should wait…" she was interrupted as Mina shook her furiously, "WAITING'S FOR WIMPS, AMI! YOU'VE GOT TO CONFESS TO HIM OR IT'LL BE TOO LATE FOR YOUR CHANCE!" The girls just watched as this continued, but ended as Hotaru noticed the paper, and the headline.

"It's not true!", she shouted, causing everyone to look to her. "They're making up stories! They wouldn't hurt anyone; it's a lie!", she continued. The girls looked at her for a moment, until Trista asked, "Hotaru, is there something you're not telling us? What else do you know about the Fellowship?" She looked a little surprised at what she had jus said. She knew about the Fellowship's secret but promised the others that she wouldn't tell them. So she decided to sugarcoat her truth, "Well…they've always helped us in the past. And they helped to rescue Rini, so I know that they're on our side."

The girls looked at her in question; it was almost as if she was hiding something from them.

Later on

At the Park

Mayura was sitting on a swing, waiting for her knight in shining armor. She looked back and forth, wondering where he'll come in. 'Oh god, why am I so nervous? He shouldn't make a girl wait this long.', she thought. But she smiled, "Oh god, I can't believe I told him that. I can barely wait for his answer."

"I bet you can't either."

The sudden voice surprised Mayura as she got up from the swing to look around to find who had spoken out. Her eyes then caught to a guy who was leaning on a tree; it was Greed with his pearly great white grin. He got off the tree and walked to the swing set that Mayura was near. And he went to other swing and sat down. Mayura asked, "What do you want?" Greed just shrugged, "I'm just waiting for someone." He winked at her, making her a little uneasy, "and also enjoying the scenery, is all."

A Block Away

Aaron was walking down that way to meet up with Mayura. He was going to tell her his answer once and for all; no guilt in telling her this at all. Unaware to him, he was attracting a very huge line of stalkers, three being Serena, Frey, and Rini as they were tiptoeing their way behind him. Aaron did know that he was being followed and found it annoying; the last thing he needed was an audience.

"I know you guys are behind me so just stop following me, alright?", he said as he turned around. Serena, Frey, and Rini hid behind a telephone pole, but because the three of them were hiding in the same place, it caused them to get spotted easily. So the three popped out of their hiding spot to apologize, "We're sorry about that."

The three of them said in unison, only to realize he was gone from sight. Everyone else, who hid better, noticed that he was gone too. Lita commented, "Man, he's good." Ian, who was nervously near Lita agreed, "He sure runs fast for someone like him."

Unknown to everyone else, he had ran away the moment he shouted out loud. He had gotten some good distance, only he didn't count on the fact that Frey would ditch the others as well. He also didn't count on the fact that Ami would be there as well, seeing she had taken a quicker route to get to the park as she had already gotten there.

She was walking down the park's sidewalk and deep in thought, 'mina's right; I cant give up without a fight. I just have to tell Aaron how I feel about him.' Just then, she was broken thought as she heard screaming coming not too far from where she was. She ran towards in and stopped a few yards away from the source fo the screaming. There she saw in horror, Mayura being held up by a Heartless crucifix and someone dressed in black sticking his hand in her chest the same way that monster, Envy did to her back on the beach.

She hid behind a bush, and pulled out her transformation crystal pen. "MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!", and in no time at all, she was in her Sailor Scout uniform as Sailor Mercury.

Meanwhile, Greed pulled his hand out from Mayura and scoffed, "You're not a Princess of Heart at all." He then shrugged, "Oh, well. But you've got a lot of Darkness in your heart, so I think you'll have a great Heartless, and you'll make one hell of a high level Homunculus Nobody, that's for sure."

"Stop right there!"

Greed looked around, "Who said that?" "I did!", he turned around and saw a few feet away from them, Sailor Mercury. "How dare you destroy this girl's chance at true love. I won't tolerate your kind of evil. I'm a soldier of Love and Wisdom. I am Sailor Mercury. And in the name of Mercury…I will punish you!"

Greed looked a little confused, and did a heroic pose himself out of good humor. "Well then, girls like you are what guys like me desire; I'm a soldier of Greed and ambition. I am Greed, the fourth of the Deadly Seven, and the Nobody with the Ultimate Shield!" He then pointed at her, "And in the name of Greed…I shall have you!"

Mercury looked a little disturbed but shook it off as Greed laughed. "What's so funny?", she asked, seriously not amused. "The look on your face, is all.", he answered back. He looked around completely ignoring her, until she asked, "What are you doing?" He stopped looking around and asked, "I thought all you Sailor girls came all at once?" Mercury shrunk back realizing that she was all alone, but that didn't mean she wasn't weak. She stood with courage in her words, "I came by myself; so what if I'm alone?"

Greed then rubbed his chin and asked, "Well, then let me ask you something. Aren't you the one who that knight, Phoenix Blade always seems to save?" Mercury didn't like where this was going, so she answered, "I am. But so what if I…" he suddenly charged at her with his fists turning into black claw like fists, but she dodged him. She stood her ground as he looked at her with a devilish grin, "If I take you hostage…then Phoenix Blade won't be far behind."

He then charged at her again, only to see her with a glowing blue ball of energy, "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!", she shot forward her attack, creating a thick fog around them. Suddenly, Greed popped up in front of her as he was about to claw her, until his head was suddenly chopped off and fell to the ground lifeless.

She looked up and saw the one person she was hoping to see; Phoenix Blade. He leaned his sword on his right shoulder as he looked down at Greed's form, "Not the best way to lose your head, eh?" he looked to Mercury with concerned eyes behind his helmet, "Sorry about cutting it close like that; no pun intended." She didn't care about the pun as she ran up to him and gave him a great big hug. He stuttered at this awkward moment, "Uh, okay?" Mercury just said, "I'm sorry, but I'm really glad to see you" she broke the hug between them and just stood there.

Suddenly, Greed's body jerked back up and the head regenerated from bone, muscle tissue, skin, and hair. The two soldiers stood there in shock as Greed spoke up, "Been a long time since I had my head chopped off." Mercury got into a fighting stance, as did Phoenix Blade with his Buster Sword at the ready, "Care to have your torso removed?"

Greed shook his head and shrugged, "Nah, I had my fun for the day. However, I will leave you my little playmates to play with." He snapped his fingers and in an instant, four figures emerged from Greed's shadow. Phoenix and Mercury gasped as the four in question almost looked like the Fellowship, only when they stepped out of the shadows into the light, they were completely different.

The four figures looked to be only creatures with pointy joints and gray skins that looked like trench coats. The first one looked like a Samurai with a little bit of grayish blue mixed in with gray. He had long puffy sleeves with five sharp pointed fingers at the end. Its chest and waist were slim but built; his legs were sharp but strong with puffy black pants. Its head was that of a cylinder shaped helmet with seven slits, and he had a samurai sword hanging from the back of his belt.

The second looked a little droopy but was painted gray and lavender. His sleeves were long and slim but had on them pointed blade points. Its legs were lavender and gray, but were sharp points built like canine legs. Its head was also peculiar as it looked like a ball with a tie going down like a trunk, and it was colored lavender.

The third was a ten foot tall bulky giant carrying with it a massive hammer; its colors were gray and metallic gray. It's forearms, hands calves and feet were twice the size as its chest. Its head was shaped a short cylinder and had not distinctive features of any face at all on it, except for the metal nose guard. Its hammer was massive and the head of the hammer was shaped like a hammer head shark.

The fourth one resembled that of a human with the characteristics of a humanoid dragon; it was colored gray, purple, electric pink, and tips of yellow. The torso was human shaped, its arms were human as well, but the forearms were longer and the hands were like mittens. The legs were canine shaped with the feet having only three long purple sharp claws. The wings on its back were triangle shape but had not flaps to it, only four, long, and sharp triangle blades. Its head was human shaped and purple but was hidden in a gray hood with a dragon head on top with purple spikes running down its back neck and two purple horns on its head with a working jaw. It also held a lance like buster sword with a 90 degree triangle blade with three spiked blades sticking out of it on the handle guard.

Mercury and Phoenix looked at these new opponents and Mercury was the first to ask, "What are they?" Phoenix answered, "Well, one thing's for sure…they're not Heartless." "That's because they're not Heartless, kids. They're Nobodies." The two heroes looked at Greed who was about to leave in a Dark Flame Gate as he explained, "Tell me, you ever wonder what ever happens to the body after the Heart crystal's been removed to make a Heartless? If the body has a strong will it'll become a Nobody. And these four go in order: Samurai, Assassin, Berserker, and my favorite, Dragoon." And with that, he disappeared before saying, "Have fun with your imitations, Knight."

The two heroes just stood there, until one of the four Nobodies made the first move. The first one it seemed was the Samurai, who jumped up with ease and pulling out his sword. Phoenix immediately with Mercury as his backup, preparing for an attack as he and the Samurai drew blades and prepared to duke it out. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice the Assassin popping out of the ground and knocking his sword out of his hand.

Before the Samurai could slash at him, Phoenix reverse-dodged him and got in from behind. He slashed at the creatures back, merely hurting the surface, but not killing him. The Assassin dived back into the dirt, and shot out its long, bladed, and stretchy arms at Mercury, who easily dodged them. Mercury then noticed something about these creatures' movements, 'these creatures don't seem to act on instinct like the Heartless. They seem more intelligent and based more on strategy.'

Then suddenly the Berserker came out of nowhere and almost attacked Mercury, but it didn't get the drop on her. A puddle of water appeared out of nowhere, "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" She shot out a wave of freezing water and the Berserker froze in place. She sighed in relief, but she didn't realize that the Berserker was a decoy for the Dragoon, which dived right at her with his spear. Mercury froze in terror, realizing she didn't have enough time. Phoenix watched as he couldn't do anything to save her, nor get away from the Assassin and Samurai.

"SMARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" "TAURUS LIGHTNING BARRAGE!"

The two lightning attacks hit the unsuspecting target, and it was completely charging with electricity as it was thrown back from the attacks. Mercury looked behind her to see Sailor Jupiter and the Taurus Barbarian running alongside each other, but Taurus seemed a little nervous around Jupiter.

"Back off, you potato sacks!", Jupiter shouted to the Nobodies. The Berserker broke free of the ice and ran straight at the Scouts, but Taurus got in front of him, "Oh no, you don't! You and me, buddy! Hammer to hammer!" And with that, the two colossal warriors locked into battle with their hammers. Suddenly the Assassin let go of Phoenix and went straight at Taurus, hoping to get him off guard.

But then suddenly, "CHAIN DANCE!", suddenly, in a huge blinding gust of sand, the Assassin was wrapped up in a chain unable to move. And the one holding onto that chain was none other than Persian Prince, "I'd say it's time to wrap this up." And with a quick and strong tug, the chain cut through the Assassin, and tore it to tiny gray pieces that evaporated into gray mist.

Phoenix had shoved off the Samurai and had run to get back his sword. He had grabbed the Buster Sword, but in a quick flash, the Samurai was already there, along with the now recovered Dragoon. They brought their weapons down upon him, but in the nick of time, Pisces Samurai and Phoenix Blade had brought up their weapons and parried at the two Nobodies. "I take it they're not Heartless, eh?", Pisces asked. Phoenix answered as soon as he pushed away the Dragoon, "Worse, they're Nobodies."

The battle was vicious, and relenting as the Nobodies proved to be quite the fighters unlike the Heartless. Berserker was close enough to finish off Taurus with a charge strike, but Jupiter pushed him back as she jumped up from Taurus' back, with her lightning rod out, "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!", and shot a tremendous lightning bolt at him, causing it to spasm and back away a little. This gave Taurus the chance to charge ahead and raise his hammer, "TAURUS HAMMER QUAKE!" And with one blow, even as the Berserker raised its hammer like a shield, he shattered the hammer and the Nobody. Fissures cracked all over the Nobody as it broke apart with tremendous lightning pouring out of it.

The Pisces and the Samurai were still duking it out, though it seemed due to the nature of a Nobody able to stretch itself, it was proving difficult. They parried at each other, and each was at the equal edge, until the Nobody stabbed Pisces through the heart, and suddenly he shattered. The Nobody realized that it was a fake stand in, and realized that his target was right behind him. His blade and sandals both glowed as he charged at him, "PISCES ICE STRIKE!", and stabbed the Samurai straight in it's chest, freezing it in a block of ice. And with angle slash, he sliced the creature in half, causing it to dissolve into gray mist.

The final battle took to the air as Phoenix Blade used his mighty wings to keep up and still parry with the lance-wielding Dragoon. They collided and pushed each other with their blades, trying to get a hit in with both of each other. They flew across the sky with everyone down below watching in wait to see how this battle would end; Mercury silently prayed that Phoenix would come out of this all right. Their blades locked together as they charged at each other in one, but no one expected that the Dragon head could move on its own. It slammed its head into Phoenix Blade's face, shattering the mouthpiece.

Luckily he saw this as his chance as he grabbed the Dragoon by the dragonhead. He then took his Buster Sword in his right hand and spun it around like a wheel as it glowed flaming red orange, "PHOENIX INFERNO!", and swiped the Dragoon with his sword, incinerating it beyond the point of recovery. With that done, he flew down to the ground and the others ran up to him, with Mercury jumping on him into a hug.

Phoenix was a little nervous about this as he said, "Uh, thanks I guess." Sailor Jupiter then realized that the others would be coming soon and Mayura was passed out on the ground. "Sailor Mercury, we've got to get going!", she said as she ran off. The three other knights realized this and they were out of there in the blink of an eye. Leaving Sailor Mercury and Phoenix Blade just standing there, until Mercury broke the hug. "I'm sorry too, I have to go." She began to leave, but out of the moment, she went back to him and kissed him on the lips as quickly as she could.

Then she was out of there, leaving Phoenix a little confused by that kiss. Meanwhile, Mercury was running out of there, holding her head in her hands, screaming in her head, 'WHY DID I DO THAT? HE'S GOING TO THINK I'M WEIRD!'

Later On

Mayura stirred from her state of unconsciousness as she was lying on the bench. When she woke up, she saw Aaron kneeling right in front of her, keeping an eye out for her. She immediately lit up and dismissed the creepy guy as some bad dream. Meanwhile, Serena and the gang, minus Ami for being so shy at this, and Frey and the other boys, were behind the bushes eavesdropping.

Mayura stood up with Aaron and asked him, "So Aaron, have you thought about what I said?" Aaron took a deep breath, made a straight face, and went out with it, "I have." Everyone waited for the moment of truth on this as Aaron came up with his answer, "…I can't accept your feelings, Mayura." Serena and the whole gang made a sigh of relief at his choice, and amazingly so did Frey and the other boys.

Mayura, on the other hand, wasn't too happy with that news. Her happy face went from a look of shock to one of not too happy with this, "It's Ami Mizuno, isn't it?" Aaron had a puzzled look on his face until she went on. "Don't act clueless and start denying it; I've seen you and Mizuno riding together on your bike after school and on the weekends!", she yelled at him. Aaron then shrugged and answered, "I give her a ride to our study sessions when she walks over to my house. But we're not seeing each other; she's my friend."

It was then that he suddenly put two and two together on something; Mayura was always territorial when it came to her and Ami at sometimes during school. And then there was that time, Aaron noticed that slap bruise on his first day at Juuban High. He angrily spoke out, "It was you! You're the one who hazed Ami! Why?" It was then that he heard crying; it was coming from Mayura as her back was turned. She spoke out nearly quivering, "I liked you since you first came to our school. I know you didn't do anything special, but I still like you."

She then ran away yelling back at Aaron, "I WON'T LET HER HAVE YOU! EVER!" And with that, she left him confused as he plopped on the bench, looking up at the sky. He spoke out, "I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I can't love anyone else. It'll just end up in pain and loneliness." He stayed there looking up at the sky as it came close to nightfall. But also on his mind, he was thinking about the kiss that Sailor Mercury had given him.

Next Chapter: Slumber Party Frenzy; Operation: Kiss Aaron on the Lips Passionately
Nobodies introduced in order:

Assassin

Samurai

Berserker

Dragoon