And here's part two, continuing off from the last episode. I'm glad I was at least able to reach this point before the Semster starts. Hopefully I can still update by then, but I can't guarantee they'll be as frequent as these last few episodes have been. But I can see more and more people are keenly following this story which is spurring me on to keep writing more. Keep up the alerts, favourites and reviews and enjoy the latest chapter!
~In this world, there exists two types of souls: those that are sustained through a pure heart and able to guide themselves to through the outerworld. We can equate these souls to the majestic shooting stars of our cosmos.
However there are also those whose souls are deprived of a heart, unable to sustain themselves without feasting upon others – forever hungering the satisfaction of a heart – but never able to fill the dark void which tears through their chest each and every waking moment. They are the black holes of our galaxy, consuming the stars and all in its path.
...But some posses a hunger far greater than a mere human could withstand...It is this immense yearning for fulfilment which drives some of the darkest forces to plague their misery on earth...It is these forces which the Sailor Senshi must thwart in order to save those of pure heart...and to save the very earth itself from becoming a Hollow's Domain...~
Sailor Moon B
Episode 4: Loly's Last Stand!? Usagi's New Power!?
"Mwahaha! That's it Shrieker! Devour their souls! Tear apart their Soul Chains! Do whatever you must do to fetch me that Daikon! Mwahaha!"
Loly had become depraved with the anticipation of success. Unlike her previous missions, she was not being resourceful about her Soul purges. She was an unrestrained bull, indiscriminately burying her horns into any and everything within her sight. Well, to be more accurate, she was rather the rider of that bull as she let her deviant Hollow, Shrieker take care of the actual soul purging.
But you could tell in her eyes that she was seeking blood, she wanted that Great Soul and grasp the ultimate power. She wanted to see all the other nine Espada fall in her wake as she enslaved them with an iron fist. She believed this could all be granted to her with the mere treasure of a Great Soul.
That was why she was gambling all or nothing on this last shot. And with a stronger Hollow, there was no way those pesky Shinigami pair were gonna spoil her party tonight.
Not too far away however were the pair of transfer students, Ichigo and Rukia. They had made a quick break for cover, but were now separated from Usagi and her friends. However, whilst it may have appeared to be a simple act of cowardice and desperate fleeing, Ichigo and Rukia looked as though they were ready to fight this threat that was terrorising Juuban's newest Shopping Precinct.
Gazing over the back of her shoulder, Rukia took in the features and characteristics of the monster. "So they've brought back yet another slain Hollow, what's going on?"
"What is it Rukia?" Ichigo checked with his partner as they leant their backs to the wall.
"Oh nothing Ichigo." Rukia clenched a fist as she prepared to take on the Hollow menace. "I hope those girls are alright. Let's hurry up and save them."
"Right!"
Ichigo pulled out a wooden object from his pocket, something that resembled an old badge of charm. He brought it close to his chest but just before he pressed it down, Rukia pulled his sleeve.
"Look, it's them!"
Ichigo and Rukia seemed to have recognised the five Sailor Senshi who were now tussling with the Hollow and his minions. These students must have witnessed them in action before.
Rukia bit her thumbnail as she cursed the situation. "Dammit those Sailor Senshi are going up against Shrieker of all Hollows."
"Stop right there!" came the call of the angel winged Eternal Sailor Senshi, Sailor Moon, as her four comrades assembled around her. "Hurting people while they're enjoying a cheap lunch at their Shopping Mall food court is unforgivable!"
"GRAGH! It's those damn Sailor wearing tarts again! Just what exactly are you anyway!?"
"I'm Sailor Moon." the said Sailor Senshi stepped forward. "And in the name of the Moon,"
"WE SHALL PUNISH YOU!"
"Humph. Well, I admit you weird bunch possess some sort of spiritual power – enough to be able to see me at least anyway; but you have no hope of stopping me or my latest Hollow! So how about you Sailor wearing sluts go entertain someone else before I take your Souls as well!"
"Why are you doing this?" Sailor Moon decided to use reason before violence. "What are you or your organisation after?"
But Loly wasn't interested in an interview in the middle of a Soul Harvest. "Enough chit-chat. Hurry up and get me a Daikon, Shrieker!"
"Daikon?" Saior Moon tilted her head.
"Why would she want a Radish." Venus wondered with her mind also stuck in the gutter. Loly's Hollow would bring her out soon enough though.
"Well, well, five beautiful young ladies in matching Sailor uniforms. My favourite type, hehe..."
"Eww, what a creepy guy." Venus seemed more offended at the Hollow rather than anything else.
"Uh, I don't think that's the problem here," Jupiter said as the perverted Hollow crouched down, revealing some more tinier monsters growing on his back.
And in his high pitched, inhuman voice he commanded his offspring. "Attack those five pretty girls!"
The tiny – compared to the Hollow at least – frog-like creatures leapt off their master and descended towards the Sailor Senshi.
"I'll take care of these bugs! JUPITER: OAK EVOLUTION!" Sailor Jupiter stepped forward and spun her body, sending scores of pellet like blasts of energy into the air, obliterating most of the frog like monsters in a barrage of small explosions. But several of them managed to latch around Jupiter's legs and stomach.
"Crap! Get off me you slimy things!" Jupiter raised her hands and tried bashing down on the frog's skulls. But the persistent creatures didn't seem to budge, even when their skulls were smashed and turned into green muck.
"Sailor Jupiter!" The other four Senshi were about to help Jupiter before she signalled for them to stay back.
"I don't want any of these things to latch onto you guys. I don't know what they're capable of..."
"Oh, you'd like to see what my little, 'artillery' can do?" the cold-blooded Hollow interjected as he produced a long, fork-shaped tongue from his fleshless mouth.
"Artillery?" Jupiter then recalled how the frogs exploded when she hit them. When she saw the connection, her eyes went wide as she inhaled a huge breath and shouted at the girls.
"GET DOWN!"
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Four loud successive bangs came from the frogs once attached to the green Sailor Senshi's body. One by one, they had exploded against the Sailor Senshi's body leaving behind green goop and a nasty legacy of damage to the guardian of Jupiter.
"SAILOR JUPITER!"
As Sailor Moon and the other's went over and tended to their fallen comrade, they noticed burn marks and abrasions all along the poor girl's legs and abdomen. Now even the gentle giant of the Sailor Senshi was down for the count; moaning softly in pain whilst the other girls tried to aid her.
"HAHAHA! Now you see what those little guys can do? Which one of you pretties would like to go next? How about the one with wings?"
"Sailor Moon no!" Mars went up against the Hollow as she summoned her legendary bow and arrow, forged from the mighty flames of Mars. "MARS: FLAME SNIPER!"
The bolt of flame barely left a burn mark on the terrifying monster as he cackled and produced another dozen of his explosive frogs.
Mars braced herself for a fate similar to Jupiter when a a pair of blurs crossed past her vision and cut apart all of the frogs in a shower of green slime.
"It's those Shinigami." Mars recalled with much relief as the orange-haired boy and his raven haired partner turned back to the warrior of Mars.
"This is no time for jokes. This time you girls must leave at once!" The Raven urged them to evacuate as Loly had reached her final straw with the interruptions.
"I'm sick of you all messing with my plans! Turn them all to dust Shrieker, NOW!" Loly stabbed out her hand with that order as the monster sprouted wings and flew towards the ceiling, dropping more and more of his four-legged 'artillery' in a Hollow air strike.
"Watch out! Those things will explode when they latch onto your body!" The Raven tried cutting down as many of the slimey bombs as super-humanly possible.
"Gehehe...I have plenty more of those for ya!" and with that eerie utterance another wave of amphibious bombs hailed down on the Sailor Senshi, obliterating tables, chairs and just about the entire floor and foundations of the food court.
"Oh no! All those people got caught up in those blasts!" Sailor Mercury observed with her special visor equipment.
"Don't worry, they'll be okay as long as those chains haven't been broken." The orange-haired sword wielder reassured the water wielder.
"Watch Out!" The Raven flew over and tackled a seemingly oblivious Sailor Moon just as a rogue blast of red energy was about to 'zap her to the Negaverse' (probably – most likely kill her though).
The blast of energy had belonged to the black pigtailed Lolita standing atop a makeshift stage of tables. "The one who copies my hairstyle and the one who steals my niche...I'll take care of you personally! HYAH!"
"WATCH OUT!" Rukia shielded the guardian of the moon as Loly's second blast of energy hit against her black, smouldering her black robes.
"Not you too!" Sailor Moon cried as the Raven continued shielding her from the maniacal Lolita's blasts of energy. All this after warning them to get away. This young girl was doing all to protect the Moon Guardian, even though to her, Sailor Moon and her cohort were just nuisances who got in their way of battle.
Meanwhile, the orange haired lad was having a hard time, warding off Shrieker's attacks whilst protecting three whole planets and a fourth injured one. He could have sliced up that Hollow by now if he wasn't preoccupied with shielding these girls himself.
The five Senshi could not do anything against this new enemy. And to make things worse, the five Senshi had made it impossible for the only two who could defeat this enemy to do exactly that.
As Sailor Moon was pinned to the ground by her selfless protector; only to watch as flashes of light scorched her body; only to watch the pain stretch across her face with each blast; only to watch as her pupils faded and her eyes struggle to stay open...
"Why are you doing this? You're letting yourself get hurt by her attack!"
But the words of the Moon when even this close could not travel through to this girl as she continued acting as Sailor Moon's shield. The Moon princesses cries were drowned out by the chaotic laughter of an enemy seeing her prey fall at her feet.
"HAHA! That's your biggest weakness you Shinigami have!" Loly mocked her victim as she continued firing tiny blasts of energy at the Shinigami girl. "Your duty to protect others...That is what makes us Hollow superior to you and the pathetic humans you protect."
That was when Sailor Moon stood up and gave some of her most passionate words.
"WE'RE NOT PATHETIC!"
Loly ceased her volley of energy for a moment, offering a smirk to Sailor Moon's words. "Hagh? You think you can convince me by acting all tough? Eat this you stupid preppy princess!"
The blast of energy impacted Sailor Moon's chest, throwing her back into a few tables by the blast. As though the wind had been knocked out her, Sailor Moon winced as she got back up on her feet and stood in front of the raven swordsman.
"Sailor Moon!" The other's witnessed Sailor Moon's bravery – or rather madness, as she held her arms out wide and looked up at her nemesis.
"Human's are not pathetic." Sailor Moon resumed her speech from earlier as she fearlessly confronted the leering Lolita. Mamoru's love was all that kept her from losing all composure and shrivelling up at this point; but she had to try and carry the task of her former lover and protect the Earth in his absence.
"Humans love and care for each other, that's why we're not pathetic! It is our love we share and the bonds we make which make us stronger than any enemy who fights alone. I can tell that your heart is aching, you're doing all this on your own. Your heart is crying for the one you lost too isn't it?"
Loly's expression twisted between sadness and madness as her mouth managed to smile and frown on each side. Sweat and anger swept through the girls body as she ruffled her hair and tried loosening the collar above her chest. "You stupid bitch! As if you know anything about me!? And just to prove how blonde you are, look at this!"
Sailor Moon and the others all gasped when they noticed a gaping black hole piercing through Loly's chest. "This hole represents the emptiness of my heart. We Hollow discard our hearts and with it, all the attachments, emotions and pathetic sentimentalities you humans carry around! You and I are completely different, Human!"
"No." And as Sailor Moon rejected Loly's claim, the Moon Princess's body began to glow with the light of the very celestial body she had been destined to protect. "We're not entirely different. I can tell you were once a human like us. Your heart may lie somewhere else now, but you still hold those feelings and love for that special person don't you?"
"Wait, how did she know those things about the Hollows?" the injured Shinigami said as she stared in awe at the girls glowing body.
"Sailor Moon."
"Let me return your heart and bring forth those feelings you've tirelessly fought to destroy." Sailor Moon was glowing with a light of purity. But the girl who was shrouded in darkness despised that light more than anything else.
"SHRIEKER! KILL HER! KILL HER NOW! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!"
"Sorry Princess!" The Sailor Senshi and the Shinigami could only watch as the behemoth leapt down from the ceiling ready to crush Sailor Moon and devour her pancake form. But as his shadow tried to consume her light, she focused her gaze upwards, illuminating the Hollow's body with a light more intense than the heart of the sun. The light wrapped around his back and pierced through his bone until he was completely swallowed by the light. Although it only lasted fractions of a second, it was a mesmerising display. A display which surprised the Shinigami and terrified the Espada Loly as her trump card had now been completely vaporised; not even the ash of his remains had survived that mysterious light.
"How did she...?" The Shinigami were speechless at what they thought was essentially a powerless Sailor uniform clad, dumpling-head girl.
But as Loly began to make her next move, the two Shinigami had finally regained control of the situation and had her covered. "It's over Loly."
The Shinigami would finish off the one who had escaped their hands twice in a row and deal her the fatal blow of the Soul Reaper's blade – the Zanpakuto.
And yet a voice cried out for them to stop. "Don't kill her!" Sailor Moon pleaded. "I know she's human, she doesn't have to die."
That slight distraction was all the opening Loly needed to get away yet again. Her laughs echoed across the ruins of the food court as she fled into the portal and back to her dimension of darkness.
"Dammit she got away again!" The girl cursed as she threw her sword down to her side. "You girls have just about done all you can to undermine our mission today!" Then she pointed her blade at the Moon guardian "And if it weren't for you, I would have-"
"-Been killed," an interjection came not from one of the Senshi but her own associate, the man with blazing orange hair. "You can't deny that she stood up to that Hollow and saved your life."
"But-"
The boy walked across the rubble and debris, placing a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder he said, "you've got an interesting power there. Sailor Moon, was it?"
"Uh...Yeah." Sailor Moon nodded after looking down blushing.
"I reckon we could use your help more often...now that we know you can beat Hollows. Ain't I right?" He checked with his partner for concurrence, but she crossed her arms and pouted.
"I don't want humans winding up in Shinigami business, even if they claim to be Sailor Senshi or something."
The boy looked back towards Sailor Moon with a friendly smile. "Well, I can't argue with her. But hopefully we might bump into each other the next time she brings us another Hollow."
As the pair began to turn their back and depart, Sailor Moon called out to the girl who saved her from Loly's initial attacks. "Hey wait a second! Your back is badly wounded!"
The raven haired warrior showed half her face as she spoke plainly. "These wounds are nothing a Shinigami can't handle. I'd be more worried about your friend over there." Referring to Sailor Jupiter who still remained unconscious from injuries sustained by Shrieker's bombs.
And so the pigtailed Moon Princess's voice trailed just like the Shinigami as they vanished into the unknown.
Shortly after that, Sailor Moon fainted.
~/~/~
Not long after that destructive incident at the Shopping Mall, atop their favourite perches, the telegraph poles, were the Shinigami, blended into the night.
"That was a bit slack Rukia." The orange haired kid said as he scratched his head. "Why didn't you heal that girls injuries?"
Rukia offered a tiny smile as she gazed down at the bustling life below. "Her injuries weren't necessarily critical; and besides Ichigo," as she gazed back up at her towering companion, the colours of the city lit up her otherwise porcelain face. "If those girls share a power like that of Sailor Moon, injuries like that should be as petty as scraping your knee."
~/~/~
"Have you found the Daikonpaku yet, Loly Aivirrne?"
The unfortunate Lolita was now before a jury of her superiors. Seven shadows stood by her left and right as Ulquiorra faced her. The shadows closer to Ulquiorra were more powerful and terrifying than their predecessors - it was like standing before a gauntlet of death itself.
Loly knew her time was up. The sentence had already been decided by this lofty jury and there was only one sentence for failure in the land of the eternal night.
"I knew you were a freakin' idiot to put a child in our Espada, Ulquiorra!" A cocky voice called out from one of the jurors. His wavy blue hair could be seen striking out from the darkness.
"Quiet Grimmjow." for Ulquiorra to refer to the Espada by his name and not rank must have symbolised he was ranked among the highest. "You of all the Espada should realise what a dire situation we are in."
"Cheh." Another shady voice barked out his voice, the sound of chains could be heard rattling as he spoke. "I'm with Grimm here, I say we butcher this useless piece of trash and have a limb or torso for dinner!"
Cirucci and Dordoni remained silent and kept their heads down, taking up the lower ranked end of the formation. As much as she despised Loly's ascent to the Espada, neither Cirucci or Dordoni were in any safe position to talk down on their subordinate. After all, their heads could quite literally be on the chopping block soon enough.
Ulquiorra held out his pale, lifeless hand and pointed a bony finger at the raven Lolita. "I truly believed you would stop at all costs to bring back your friend, but I suppose your will has yet to catch up to your resolve. Such a shame..."
Something was forming in Ulquiorra's raised hand. As he opened his palm, a black, cube like object was unfolding and cackling with tiny sparks of dark electricity. "Thanks to your miscalculations, you will never be able to see her again..."
"Caja Negacion!?" Dordoni whispered in shock. "He's not going to just kill her?"
Loly had sought the Daikonpaku for her own sake. She sought it to bring about her own desire to revive a lost comrade. She cared only for Menoly and none of these other Espada. They always looked down on her and spat at her feet wherever she walked amongst this corrupt palace. Whenever her friend gazed at her, they gazed at each other on an even level. Side by side with the 'filthy' Espada, she was nothing; by her side she was invincible.
Menoly.
She was regarded as a mere worm through these unforgiving eyes all around her. She devoured the worms and insects of this world when they were together. She felt even stronger before she became an Espada. Now this number ten etched on her buttocks was nothing but a mere perverted scar.
Menoly.
She had failed, and she would now suffer an eternal punishment.
Menoly...I won't let them...I won't let them keep me away from you!
Just as a stray tear splashed onto her fist, Loly grit her teeth.
And laughed.
"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! MWAHAHAHAHA!" creating confused looks on her superiors faces, Loly spread her feet and pressed her hands to her hips, echoing her laughter of madness across the halls of Las Noches. With her wicked smile and vengeful glare wrinkling up her otherwise youthful face, she offered her judge a snarl that contained deathly venom. "You all think you've won! But I have the last say of all you creeps! I never gave two shits about your Daikon or anything! I am already on my way to see her."
As Ulquiorra sensed where this was going, he tensed up and threw the Caja Negacion cube. But Loly reacted first and dodged the cube, knocking back a few Espada. She then pulled out her knife and without any sign of hesitation drove it into her stomach, twisting it through her ribs and throwing up buckets of blood as she fell to her knees and offered a drunken, bloody grimace. "I did it! I won! Now I'll get to see you after all...my precious Menoly." And with those final words of supposed victory, she lurched forward, the knife impaling through her stomach as she landed in her own puddle of blood...and eventually faded into the dust and particles which made up the land and atmosphere of this inhospitable realm of death.
As the remaining Espada returned their attention to Ulquiorra, Cirucci kept her gaze down at the empty floor where Loly's body was no more. She knew all too well that it was Loly, and not anyone else here...not even Ulquiorra...who had had the last laugh.
Usagi: Wait! First we had new transfer students. Now we have a new TEACHER!?
Ami: I heard she came from a pretiged academy in France. I envy your class now Usagi.
Usagi: Eh? Figures you'd get jealous over a teacher.
Ami: I hope she can make you study harder from now on Usagi.
Usagi: AHAHA! What are you saying Ami? I always study hard!
Ami: *Sigh* I guess I too will have to learn sarcasm someday.
Usagi: Still, I just hope she doesn't give us too much homework...
Next time on Sailor Moon B: "A Hot New Homeroom Teacher! Cirucci Enters the Scene!"
~The Moonlight carries the message of love~