SailorStar9: Chapter 1 goes up. This is Chapter 2.
Disclaimers: I don't own Sailor Moon and Flame of Recca since if I did own them both, the Planetary Senshi will have equal footing as Sailor Moon and the Domon/Fuuko pairing would be canon. But you don't see that happening do you? However, I do own the pairing, I hope.
Chapter 2: Mokuren has Returned! The Menace of the Human Tree
In the ring...
Mokuren's branches tightened around the trapped Koganei as some of his roots took the Kōgan Anki from the teen.
In the stands...
"Unbelievable!" Kukai gasped.
"Move it!Move it! Move it! Move it! MOVE IT!" Fuuko hollered, charing in with Domon in two.
"Ouch..." she mumbled, knocking into Fujimaru. "Didn't I say to let me through? I'm in a hurry!"
"Ow... you should watch where you're going." Fujimaru remarked on Domon's arm.
"You're the disgrace of the Ku, Fujimaru!" Fuuko exclaimed.
"And you're... the big-breasted ugly gir..." Fujimaru shot back, barely finishing his sentence when Fuuko gave him a slap across the face.
"You didn't have to use the word ugly!" Fuuko fumed.
"Fuuko-san, Domon-san..." Saichō muttered.
"You guys are the Ku, aren't you?" Domon turned to see the rest of the Ku team behind him.
"Yes." the Ku team chorused.
That's right... How's Koganei?" Fuuko asked.
"Oh yeah..." Domon added, turning to the ring.
"What the hell is that?" Fuuko stammered at the sight of the deformed Mokuren.
In the ring...
"What a difficult situation you are in, Koganei." Mokuren mocked. "Mercy from your ex-partner? Do you think I would actually care?"
"Mokuren..." Koganei choked as the branches closed in on him.
On the ring side...
"What's going on?" Ganko stammered. "It's true that Mokuren has always been a disturbing person, but he never looked so creepy."
"No matter how hard you squeeze, I still won't know." Kondo protested.
"That's the madōgu, Kodama." Kagerō explained. "It should only have the ability to grow plants within the body and control them. But it should not have the power to transform the body of it's owner."
"So then why is Mokuren able to change into that form?" Recca asked his mother.
"I've said it before haven't I?" Anhara remarked.
Recca gasped at her implication.
"It was your doing, wasn't it?" he turned to Genjuro.
"Mokuren is quite strong." Genjuro chuckled. "Though my physic surgery, I implanted the Kodama inside of him. The synthesis of human and madōgu... Mokuren has become a human plant. Since the madōgu is now part of him, its power can exceed its limits I know exactly what the Hokage's madōgu can do!"
In the ring...
"Yo, Koganei!" Mokuren looked at his trapped former partner. "Didn't you say before you'd kill us all by yourself? Let's just see you try!"
At that, with Koganei partially trapped in his trunk, Mokuren proceeded to close his branches over the teen.
In the ballroom...
"This fight will be especially difficult for you to win." one of the guests remarked, viewing the fight on a large screen.
"It's true." his companion agreed.
Behind them, Nori chuckled.
In the VIP seats...
"How unfortunate, Koganei Kaoru." Kurei remarked.
In the ring...
Koganei panted as Mokuren's branches closed in on him.
"I was sloppy." Koganei admitted. "Hara-nee reminded me time and again never to turn my back on an opponent. Guys, I'm counting on you. But it seems that I'm already finished."
"The fighter is unable to continue." Nemi reported. "Winner, Mokuren!"
On the ring side...
"You won Mokuren, so release Koganei!" Recca hollered.
"I refuse." Mokuren replied, sinking Koganei into himself as the Kōgan Anki dropped to the ground.
"Koganei!" Recca shouted.
"Kaoru-kun!" Yanagi exclaimed in shock.
"True partners should never be apart." Mokuren told the Hokage team. "Now Koganei and I are truly united as one."
"Mokuren, damn you...!" Recca hissed.
"His blood, his bones, his flesh..." Mokuren droned, drawing Koganei into himself. "I will absorb them all as nutrients."
"Yanagi-chan!" Kagerō caught the healer who had fainted in her arms.
"Onee-chan!" Ganko gasped.
"Hang in there!" Kondo urged.
"Wait a bit, Koganei." Recca promised. "I'm coming to save you."
"Wait a minute! I'll rescue Koganei!" Fuuko shouted. "It's my fault for being late that Koganei's trouble."
"And I'm responsible too." Domon added. "I'll tear that human plant freak apart!"
"As punishment, you kids can go sit in a corner." Recca remarked, as he proceeded into the ring.
"Hanabishi Recca..." Mokuren remarked. "I've missed you."Whenever I see you face, the pain of my burns is revived. This time, your body will be the one to crumble."
"Hurry and bring it." he challenged.
"That's the plan." Recca shot back. "I'm gonna burn you into ashes."
Taking one step forward, he stopped when Anhara jumped into the ring.
"What the hell are you doing?" he turned to the ice wielder.
"You're too hot-headed." Anhara scolded. "You better sit down and cool that hot head of yours."
"What'd you say?" Recca demanded.
In the ring....
"And who the hell are you?" Mokuren asked.
"The pierrot you failed to kill." Anhara retorted.
"What?" Mokuren was astonished.
"Hey, Genjuro." Anhara turned to the aged man. "The next fighter should be Hanabishi, but I would like to fight first. Since we agreed to your request, it's your turn to agree with mine."
"As you wish, Celestial Star." Genjuro chuckled. "It seems it is your destiny."
"Since both teams agree, the Hokage's next fighter will be Kimura Anhara." Nemi declared.
On the ring side...
"They really changed it!" Recca exclaimed as the image onscreen changed into Anhara's picture.
"Calm down please, Recca!" Kagerō chided.
"But...!" Recca protested.
"What would happen if you were to fight Mokuren?" Kagerō posted a question.
"I'd burn him to ashes with my flame..." Recca replied.
And if he burned him... he thought.
"I see..." he realized.
"Koganei-kun is still alive inside Mokuren's body." Kagerō reminded him. "If you burnt Mokuren, Koganei-kun may not survive."
"And if I'm not wrong," she added, looking at Anhara. "That girl wields a Celestial madōgu."
"Celestial madōgu?" Mikagami echoed.
Kagerō nodded, "It is said that all the other madōgu originated from the Celestial madōgu, which in turn represented each planet of the Solar System."
"In other words," she looked at Anhara. "She is a Celestial Star. Someone chosen by God to wield his power."
"Planets..." Mikagami pondered. "But which planet does she represent?"
In the ring...
"I can't stand it..." Mokuren growled. "I can't stand conceited assholes like you!"
"Kimura Anhara versus Nagai Mokuren... begin!" Nemi declared.
"Ganko." Anhara started, removing the armlet around her right upper arm.
"Hai..." Ganko blinked, catching the armband at Anhara had tossed to her.
With the restrictor off, Anhara turned to Nemi.
"Ref, if you don't want to get frozen to death, I strongly suggest you step out." she told Nemi.
"Now!" the Celestial Star barked.
"Hai..." Nemi stammered, fleeing as Anhara expanded her aura.
"I'll squeeze you like a bug!" Mokuren retorted, his branches charging at the ice wielder.
"I wonder if you can." Anhara remarked, a cold gust of wind encasing her as she formed two ice scythes in her hands and sending the charged up sickles at the charging branches and slicing through them.
Mokuren retaliated by trying to corner her with his other branches.
"Celestial madōgu, Sui-sei, activate!" Anhara called out, the jewel on her chest glowing, summoning a pair of blue angel wings that sprouted from her heels as she took to the skies.
On the ring side...
"As I suspected," Kagerō looked up at Anhara. "She is the Celestial Star of Sui-sei. She's trying to save Koganei-kun."
"Eh? But..." Ganko blinked.
"Kimura and Koganei faced each other before..." Kondo pointed out.
"And that's the reason she wants to help him." Kagerō replied. "She had started seeing him as a younger brother."
In the stands...
"What the hell are you doing, asshole?" the crowd hollered as Anhara landed on one of of Mokuren's outstretched branches, before jumping up and somersaulting in the air and landing on another branch. "Hurry up and kill the wretch!"
"Don't tell me what to do damnit!" Mokuren barked. "Regenerate!"
"Regenerate? Regenerate! Bullshit! Why... why can't I regenerate?" he demanded of his branches.
"It is...?" he gasped, noticing that the tips of his branches had frozen.
In the stands...
"He's frozen?" Fujimaru exclaimed.
"Kimura-san froze his branches..." Saichō remarked. "She froze them as she stepped on them."
"I didn't know that she was that talented." Daikoku noted.
In the ring....
"Sui-sei no Toki,." Anhara remarked, as she landed on the ground, the freezing air emerging the ring floor. "Zettai Reido."
"Under extreme cold conditions all plants cease to grow." she told Mokuren. "Once they're frozen by Sui-sei's air, those limbs will never regenerate again."
On the ring side...
"Sui-sei is the planet of water." Kagerō explained. "Therefore, as the Celestial Star of Sui-sei, she can utilize all of the states of water, including the solid state of ice. But even so, it takes true strength to do so."
In the stands...
"It's a technique that only a true daughter of Sui-sei could perform." Kukai replied.
In the ring...
"Why should I be worried?" Mokuren barked., his other branches extended above the ice wielder and his roots emerged from the ground. "I still have plenty of roots and branches left! Do you plan on freezing each and every one of them?"
"And one more thing..." he added as Anhara leapt into the air once more. "Since you're attacking me, I'll use every last bit of power that I have. Can you figure out where that energy is coming from?"
In the ring side...
No way!. Recca realized.
In the ring...
"It comes from Koganei's body." Mokuren smirked,. Within him, his branches encased Koganei and draining the teen of his energy.
In the stands...
"What a cowardly act!" Saichō gasped.
In the ring...
"If you don't take me seriously, Koganei will become a withered husk." Mokuren threatened.
On the ring side...
"You friggin' wuss!" Domon retorted.
"Can't you win without taking a hostage?" Fuuko spat.
In the ring...
"Shut up! Just like someone said before, 'Do whatever it takes to win!"." Mokuren replied.
In the stands...
"Who would say something so cruel as that?" Fujimaru demanded as the rest of the Ku team looked at him.
"IT WAS YOU!" Saichō fumed.
On the ring side...
"Kimura..." Recca remarked as Mokuren chuckled at the Assassin.
"You piece of shit!" he hissed.
In the ring...
"You wish to save Koganei?" Mokuren mocked. "Then release your freezing air. If you end my torture, I'll let him go."
On the ring side...
"What'd you say?" Domon gasped.
"Quit playing game, Mokuren!" Recca fumed. "Let Koganei go! Or I'll burn you alive!"
In the ring...
"Don't pay attention to him." Mokuren told the ice wielder. "I'm the one who's holding the trump card. Did you or did you not hear what I said?"
On the ring side...
"Don't you dare, Kimura!" Recca barked.
In the ring....
"Didn't you hear!?" Mokuren barked. "Release your freezing air or else..."
"What the..." he gasped when he found his truck encased in ice.
"Or else what?" Anhara smirked. "You didn't think I expanded my freezing aura just for show, now, did you?"
"Mokuren, admit your defeat." she added, walking towards the frozen human tree. "When you chose to become a plant, you gave up the ability to feel anything. You couldn't feel any pain when my ice froze your branches so how could you tell that your body was freezing?"
On the ring side...
"What's that mean?" Domon asked, the freezing air getting to him.
"Kimura was only bidding for time." Mikagami realized. "Her freezing air wasn't for show, she froze the ring, along with Mokuren. It was meant to prevent Mokuren from making any movement. Ingenious."
In the ring...
"Wait! Koganei is still inside me!" Mokuren reminded the ice wielder. "If you destroy me, Koganei will be..."
"Your threats are pointless." Anhara retorted, jumping on top of the frozen tree. Pressing a hand onto the tree top, she passed a protective bubble into the tree. Seconds later, she withdrew the said bubble, with Koganei safely inside.
"How did you...?" Mokuren was stunned and she jumped down with Koganei safe in her arms.
"Do you understand the concept of heat conductivity?" Anhara asked. "Metals conduct heat much better than wood or flesh. In other words, his crucifix will freeze first. The first place on your body that froze would be there."
"I'm sorry." Mokuren stammered. "I already regret acting so cowardly. Please forgive me!"
Anhara glared at him and turned her back, as Mokuren grinned, thinking that she had fallen for his trick.
Stupid... the arena is warming up and your ice is already melting. Mokuren grinned.
"I'm sorry, I apologize." Anhara remarked coldly. "Only a coward would attack someone from behind, right? You haven't admitted your defeat yet."
"Well then, I have no choice." Mokuren told her.
"Go to hell!" he declared, thrusting his still frozen branch at her.
"Freezing Pulse." Anhara whispered, shooting a ice ball into the frozen tree. Seconds later, the tree broke into ice splinters and Mokuren burst out of the tree.
"My body feels... cold." Mokuren gasped, falling to the ground, Anhara's attack having frozen him from the inside out.
"Winner, Kimura!" Nemi declared.
On the ring side...
"What shines like gold is sometimes only a rock." Genjuro remarked.
"Wake up, onee-chan!" Ganko tried to shake Yanagi awake. "Koganei's going to be okay!"
"Kaoru-kun..." Yanagi muttered in Kagerō's arms. "Is Kaoru-kun okay?"
"Mokuren only stole his energy, that's all." Anhara replied, redrawing her bubble. "He's just fallen asleep, but he should be just fine."
"Thank goodness, Kaoru-kun." Yanagi smiled at the younger teen.
"I'm back." Koganei returned her smile.
In the stands...
"This proves that the strength of Hokage s real." Saichō remarked.
In the ring...
"So then, Uruha Maboroshi's second-to-last fighter, please come forward." Nemi announced.
On the ring side...
"Is she the Uruha's third fighter?" Recca inquired after Meno threw off her cloak.
She's just my type. Domon swooned.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.