damonika2009: okay something to really consider doing. I always did think it was sad, at one point I wanted to have them try for Usagi's but it wouldn't have fit very well.
kera69love: it will be a little bit like the anime but still my style.
Taeniaea: thanks.
Spike: I've very excited about the new Sailor Moon. But your right its hard to believe it all when there are so many rumors around.
trish1573: told you so.
NeoPrincessRini: there will be a few twists and turns but otherwise I'm just glad the heart wrenching scene worked well. I put effort into it that I wish the anime did.
Guest: I'll venture there, but I think I might have to consult the 'karma sutra' book for positions. lol
LoveInTheBattleField: always do.
Only 8…? Maybe this one will get you motivated for more. Read and review!
Sailor Moon S 'Rise of the Messiah' chi/ep.45
The heavy black clouds had amassed upon the Delta, draining away the remainder of the light from the day leaving the only souls brave enough to confront the coming storm, groping through the darkness.
Just outside the perimeter of Mugen academy stood the protector's of this planet. With Usagi in the lead, staring up at the looming fortress with a leader's calm. Her hand balled into fists at her sides. Dressed warmly in her fall pea coat with her jean skirt and leg warmer's, she looked just like an average girl. Which was the farthest thing from the truth there was. She needed to keep control of her fear, her anxiety and above all her courage.
This was going to be a tremendous fight and the two precious souls were in the balance. She had to succeed, there was no margin for error or doubt. As she entered the front gates, she could feel them her dearest friends at her back. Their presence fortified her, strengthened her resolve. With them she felt powerful, with them she could accomplish anything even the impossible. They had done it before they'd do it again.
Feeling that their friendships and bonds over the course of time had only strengthened them they approached till Usagi stopped and looked back, "You know what we're fighting for right?" the girls nodded, all dressed accordingly for the cold weather. In fall jackets, Makoto in jeans and an orange scarf. Ami in white slacks and mittens. Rei in tight jeans, while Mina was in a fluttering orange pleated skirt and white tights. With only a light jean jacket over top an orange sweater vest. They would soon be dressed differently.
"We need to save Chibi Usa, Hotaru - chan, the world from yet another enemy that wants to destroy it." Usagi stated, her eyes piercing her friends with a confidence and hope they could only aspire to.
Rei spoke, "They think we're going to be beat but as a united group we're unstoppable." "They think we're going to lay down and take this beating, their wrong." Makoto spoke fiercely, "They think we won't fight just because their stronger than previous enemies...it'll just make us fight harder." Minako stated determined. "We won't back down. Not in any lifetime." Ami stood also fierce in her words.
"Hai, we won't go quietly into the night..." She looked around, "Or early day...we're going to save everyone because that's what we do. It's who we are. This is the real deal. We can't have any doubts about what we're going to do. Hotaru - chan is somewhere within mistress nine. We'll get her back...cause deep down inside there is not only a sailor senshi within but there's an innocent little girl being used." the girls nodded.
"We can save all of them...we always do." Rei stated. The others agreed, "So let's show Mistress Nine and every other bad guy out there what the senshi are made of. Let's show them and any other enemies out there in the universe that we will never back down. That we not just contenders to fight that we pose a real danger to the enemy. That we won't be beaten, that this is our world and we'll fight to defend it."
The girls nodded in agreement, "That no matter what we will triumph over any evil that comes our way. Let the world know that we will always protect them. Let our enemies tremble before us as they always have in the end. We will triumph over evil and save our dearest friends. Let us win not only for the people we love but for the world we love." Usagi continued, the girls felt inspired and ready to act.
"Anyway, we can't die here cause we got entrance exams to study for still. I wont let my studying go to waist." Mina commented with bright sarcasm. There was a collective groan then a quiet giggling as the tension was broken.
"Right! I want to be a lovely high school student and finally be in the same school as you guys!" Usagi responded with a wistful smile.
"We can finally go shopping in Shibuya!" Mina grabbed Usagi hands and they jumping together with excitement.
"I want to find a new Sempai and fall in love." Jupiter added wistfully.
Rei rolled her eyes, since she went to all girls Academy that went from grade eight and into the first two year of college she didn't have to worry about such things.
"So let's go deal with this Mistress Nine, then grab some tea and ice cream at Fruits to celebrate!" Makoto offered, thrusting a fist in the air.
"We have our bright future ahead of us, we will not be defeated today!" Mercury added.
"Right!" Everyone agreed. Then faced the tower as a unit, striding with purpose and indomitable spirit towards their greatest battle yet.
Up on the roof of the Mugen Academy, Mistress Nine paced upon the cold obsidian stone that was in the form a circular pentagram. With two narrow rings around the outer rim, a triangle in the center with three smaller circles set at each point. Glowing red etching in swirling alien script anointed the stone. Upon the dead center of the summoning was a bulky machine, with tubes and tanks all hooked up to it.
A glass specimen tank was erected within the top of the contraption. Under it's glass dome, sat Chibi Usa's broach. A dark mist now billowing and caressing her cracked heart shaped case. Her pink crystal within shivering in dread as the evil aura of the fog sought to drain it's essence like cold would a battery. Seeking to use it to power this machine, so they could form a connection across the time space barrier and call forth the God who would end this world.
Steam and gas billowed from the exhaust manifold at the back. It wasn't pretty but it served a very important purpose. A ghastly machine that had the capabilities to force this world upon it's very knees.
Mistress Nine stood with Tomoe as he spoke, "All the preparations have been completed, once you put the grail into this device, the light will send a beam of energy to attract Pharaoh 90. It will shine a light upon this world, through the dark expanse of the Tau Nebula. To guide our master here to earth. If we don't have that mystical light we have no chance of granting him access to this world."
Mistress Nine for her part seemed in control of her vessel, while inside she was growing weaker by the hour. Hotaru's body was failing and her soul was fighting her from the inside, seeking to protect Chibi Usa's pure heart from being consumed. Needing to buy some time till Saturn was awake enough to save her only friend.
"Once he is here silence will reign over this world. The ultimate being of love and justice will fall before his might. Then this planet will be ours for the taking and no senshi will be able to stop it." Tomoe gloated, his laughter a low rumble in his throat.
Mistress Nine narrowed her eyes unknowingly to Tomoe, fingering the amber crystal of her Celestial home that hung from around her neck. The Taroian crystal gave off a low hum, the power of the Silver crystal lured them all here to this lush planet. Soon all the preparations will have been made and her master could be summoned here to devour this world and recreate the planet Tau again.
With a groan of discomfort she stifled Hotaru's fighting spirit back down. Swallowing the defiant girl like bile, back down into the depths of her darkness. Seeking to snuff out her spirit, as it was very difficult to possess a body with a Host inside. Chibi Usa's pure heart decided to give Hotaru more energy to reach out and break through mistress Nine's control. "Be gone you pest." she mumbled under her breath. She didn't want to show weakness in front of Tomoe, he wasn't worthy of it. Instead she gathered her strength for the oncoming battle.
Mamoru sat in meditative state upon the edge of the bed, holding his daughter's hand. With his head bowed, breathing slow and shallow, barely blinking. Luna was finding the sight depressing and needed a break. So she had taken a look around the apartment, now that she had a chance, not to mention she was trying to keep herself from worrying about current events.
Walking around finding few articles of clothes scattered in the bathroom, she noted how lived in the apartment was now. When it was just Mamoru here, the place had looked so neat and tidy, almost sterile like in its appearance. She started to truly realize that her charge had grown up and started a life for herself here with Mamoru. The fact that she was now a mature young woman, far before her time and it hit the cat heart hard.
She had caused this...she couldn't help but feel guilty for having to complete her duty and mind meld with Usagi again. Forcing her to become Sailor Moon and revive the other Guardian's. But this course was irreversible.
She wasn't ignorant to the fact that her charge was having sex, neither was she approving of that situation. Taking tentative sniff she immediately wrinkled her nose, catching the sweet scent of intercourse clear in the air.
"By the Kami!" she hissed. Padding down the hall and back into the bed room, shaking her head in dismay. Muttering to herself over how irresponsible and overly hormonal her charge had become as of lately.
"Relax, Luna." A calm, soothing voice called out to her. She looked up to find Artemis lounging upon the top of Mamoru's dresser. His white body curled up tight amid the clutter, guarding Mamoru just as she had been.
"I seem to recall a time when we had such an 'active life'." Artemis spoke up. He rarely brought it up since she seemed to conveniently forget the most about their past lives...together. "That was a very long time ago." she muttered, not wanting to go into it. "Why do you dislike it so? We were happy together." Artemis finally got the nerve to ask. Hopping down and confronting her before bed. He had been dying to ever since he started to fully remember their lives together on the moon.
"Because we have more pressing issues." She countered, "There will always be an enemy to fight. Are you going to let yourself get consumed with duty over love again? You know you can balance both, you did it before as did I." He now stood inches in front of her, "I think you're afraid of what might happen if you let go. That sense of unknown...unlike you am not afraid." he was just afraid of her rejection.
He inclined his nose forward and in a motion to kiss her leaned in. Fear struck her, her eyes flew wide and she pulled back. "Artemis this is NOT the time. Chibi Usa is - " she started, "And there's nothing we can do. It's up to Usagi and the others now to save her and Hotaru - chan." he countered, blinking away his hurt. He switched gears, sidestepping her and arching his back to rub himself along her flank.
Wanting to caress her and finally start to reclaim that connection they once had. Only to have her dart away from the feline embrace. Her avoidance stung Artemis, he was left with his festering doubts. Unsure what to do with himself and angry that his best laid plans hadn't worked out. He slunk out of the room to lick the wounds she had inflicted upon his heart.
Luna huffed, feeling that Artemis wasn't really hurt but pouting at not getting what he wanted once more. "Luna." Mamoru's soft voice called down to her. She looked up, her cheeks hot and eyes moist with held in emotion.
"To an extent I know how you feel but if you don't let someone in it will hurt even more. Loneliness shouldn't be your ally, it shouldn't be what keeps you going, he should be. If Usako and I can balance love and duty with the crazy family issues then why can't you balance it with Artemis, sans the family drama?" he asked, still holding onto Chibi Usa's hand, the palms glowing gold from his own aura.
Fear. And she knew it. "Stay out of it Chiba-san." she stated coldly. "You couldn't possibly understand the feelings I have." she snapped. "When I first got down to earth I had hardly any memories at all. Only enough to tell me to find Sailor Moon and the silver crystal for the Moon princess." she snipped at him, "My first real memory was abandonment and loneliness." she gave him a curious look.
"I had been in an accident with my family and I was the sole survivor. I had no recollection of them or the first eighty years of my life. I was mentally broken you see. Traumatized the doctor's said, I barely spoke, never left my room. I was like a zombie just putting in the days where I was, where I worked, doing just what I needed to stay alive and nothing more." She had a feeling there was more to come from this.
"My first real memories… were of a pretty young girl, roughly five maybe six had come in and gave me a red rose. It was the first time someone had ever paid attention to me, reached out to me like I was somebody. Not just a sick patient in the hospital." He gave a rueful chuckle at the memory of Usagi.
"It made me feel better. Prattling on about her baby brother and how excited she was to become an Onee-san." He chuckled, "I found it so annoying, all bright and cheerful. She was so innocent and sweet the cruelty of life had yet to touch her. As much as it made me jealous, I loved her for it. She gave me hope and my very first kiss. Even if I did run away from her after, probably hurt her feelings. I was a rather shy kid, and she was anything but that!" he laughed.
"You're telling me about a random girl when you have Usagi to think about?" She near snarled.
"No, that young girl IS Usako. I didn't make the connection myself till a few months ago when our link was fully formed and I saw some of her past memories through our link. I saw myself, our interactions...I felt warm all over again, knowing that my Usako was the same young girl that befriended me and gave me new hope that the world could accept someone like me." now Luna felt like a bit of a heel.
"Artemis is there for you just as Usako is there for me. He's your other half just as Usako is mine. I wouldn't give her up for anything. I'd die for her and have. He would do the same. Just note this...when we try to do what we believe is the right thing it makes the outcome worse in the end. When I broke things off with Usako during the Dark Moon's time I nearly lost her to Diamond in the process." Mamoru admitted, his eyes were glazed with bad memories.
He never liked the idea but had Diamond not been so aggressive and sneaky in his courting of her, he might have honestly won Usagi over. Fair and square. Only he himself had ever been aggressive with her, but that was only after they had confessed their feelings and had been dating for a while. He doubted she would have allow it if they hadn't already been so familiar with one another from both time frames…at least so soon.
She wasn't too fond of others trying to be that forthcoming with her. She wished to be treated respectfully, like a lady. She tried very hard to look dignified and chaste when in the public eye, wanting to make the right impression. Only Mamoru had the ability to make her so comfortable she felt like she could release her wild side and he release his own.
"We're not the same." she protested, "But you are. Love and duty are something we all deal with. Time you stepped out of your comfort box and realized everything will be okay." he told her. Luna huffed, leaving the room to brood somewhere else.
Artemis's ego was to bruised to want to be in the same room as Luna. So a few minutes later he entered the bedroom again. Mamoru paid close attention to how his white shoulder's slumped, how his head hung low lost in his thoughts. He looked somewhat defeated, then he couldn't help his feline curiosity. Noticing a black string dangling out just from beneath the bed he pulled it with his teeth. A dark edgy lace bra snaked into view. Its lace near see through. Seeing what it was he jump back startled and saw Mamoru's smug expression
Mamoru only smirked recalling the sexy tale that came with that particular number. Artemis remarked without thought, "Man are you gettin' some or what." Mamoru looked to the male feline advisor as he blushed a bright crimson, "Hai, I am. But you need to play your cards right if you want to re-ignite that fire with Luna. She seems to be all about duty but deep down I know she wants that connection, again. We all do." Mamoru told him, not wanting the tom cat to give up on his true love.
Artemis couldn't help himself, "So how much 'connecting' do you and Usagi do?" He quirked a lopsided smile. Mamoru laughed a good naturedly before smirking once more, "A gentleman tells nothing of his sexual adventures." Artemis smiled as Mamoru seemed to be his arrogant self once again.
"That good huh?" he asked. Before Mamoru could respond a highly pissed off Luna came around the bend looking ready to murder Artemis, she was having a hard enough dealing with her charges sexual calisthenics. She did not need to over hear them bragging about it!
"Tell me later!" he bellowed running from the room with his tail between his legs.
It was a small laugh to take in while Mamoru's future daughter lay with her life hanging in the balance. She looked so pale and fragile, like a porcelain doll. She looked...dead.
He couldn't help but stifle a tremble to his lower lip, biting down on his inner cheek. His eyes were watering and he felt at any moment he was going to breakdown. "Usako will make everything better again..." he told himself, "Your mother will save us all." he whispered feather light to Chibi Usa. She didn't even stir. His hand never once moving over hers, to afraid that even a twinge would break the thin connection he made.
Far off at the pinnacle of Mugen Academy, Tomoe was snickering as his plans for the earth were coming to fruition, "Soon, this planet will be overrun by the silence." he laughed long and loud up at the churning black clouds, raising his arms in victory. The spirit of the earth trembled, like a frightened child to called out to it's protector. Mamoru lifted his head up from his mediation, he sensed the planet was calling upon its prince for duty.
"I will come to your aid, once my future daughter is safe." he answered back to it. It was as if the earth heard his answer and quelled down knowing the senshi were there ready to fight the evil ready to invaded it. The earth knew that the senshi would beat back the rising evil as they had done before. It's why the earth continued to grand the senshi access to their fullest powers to help fight the evil that continued to try to invade it. Otherwise the senshi would have access but not full access to their growing powers.
The earth also knew the future heir to the kingdom on earth was at stake now. So it held itself back, quieted down and remained patient. It didn't want it's protector's connection to his daughter to be severed. But also knew it needed all of its protectors to save it, so it pleaded with Mamoru in it's own quiet way. "Usako will do what she does best. She'll make it right." he confirmed. His connection to earth just as strong as his connection with Usagi, which was something that he was grateful for. I have all the faith in you Usako.
He felt a brief hint of her touching his face through their link...we will win, no matter what. I won't let this earth be theirs. I'd rather give my life than to let billions of innocent people die. The connection calmed down as he let a tear slip, "Typical Usako...first class martyr all the way." he didn't want to lose her but she was right, they couldn't let the evil take over. He looked fondly down at Chibi Usa.
Keeping his thoughts from Usagi he internally thought to himself...if you future mother dies out there I will either go nuts from the loss, and follow her into death or if I were to find out she would be reborn once more in this life time. I'll wait for her rebirth to be with her once more. Though part of him wondered if he'd be an old man or if the fates would allow him to remain at a visually appealing age for her.
He knew his Usako didn't base herself on looks alone, but if she wasn't reborn till he was in his late 50's he would have no chance to be able to be with her. Only to watch as she grew up a little bit before his eventual death by age.
And that was the sunny side of things. He didn't want to think about what would happen if she wasn't to be reborn for another hundred years or even a thousand more years. He wouldn't be able to bear the pain of losing her and their daughter all at once. Without Usagi there was no Chibi Usa. "I won't live without her in my life again...I can't." he muttered out loud. When Chibi Usa was safe once more if Usagi would die to save the world...again...then he would be there with her in death once more. It was the snap from Usagi that threw him for a loop.
Quit sounding so morbid! The senshi and I will kick some serious ass then be back in time for dinner. I have all the senshi here, I can even feel Neptune and Uranus on their way as well as Pluto. We'll make it right. Have faith my love.
He internally nodded as he realized his thoughts had run from him during his internal rant and it leaked through their link. Gomen. He hadn't meant it to sound so morbid. It was just how he felt inside. We're going in...I love you. She told him. Stay safe! He mentally nodded, resisting the urge to nod in view of the felines currently running about.
A burst of warm soothing energy hit Mamoru through the link and he knew Usagi had just transformed. He sent the energy straight to Chibi Usa whom glowed a tad pink before more of her color returned to her.
"It seemed like she looked better for a moment." Artemis chimed in. Having temporarily out run Luna, "Usako transformed, I sent the energy into Chibi Usa. I thought she might feel a little bit better knowing that in some sense her future mother was aiding her." Artemis looked up with a smile, "Nani?" Mamoru asked, "You're going to make a great father Mamoru - san. Usagi will be a great mother to...I don't think there's anything you two wouldn't do for your family and loved ones." Mamoru smiled at the compliment before Luna found them.
"Gotta go!" Artemis dashed away as Luna bared her teeth and ran for him. Mamoru felt for Artemis he really did. But he couldn't help the grin that came to his face with the memory of the intimate moment behind the bra. Before his mind could supply the details he shook his head...time for that later. And there would be a later. He wouldn't let her leave the bed for a week if he could.
The Senshi rushed the glass doors as a unit, determined to get inside. As they closed in Mistress Nine felt the Chalice that now resided inside Moon's soul. It sent the more brilliant vibrations of purity rippling through the fabric of time and space that were intoxicating. The entity the resided within Hotaru was taken off guard, as much as it astonished her. A secondary source a more powerful Silver Crystal also shone within her. She was a feast of pure energy!
Walking like a willing lamb to the slaughter.
Mistress Nine found herself obsessing over this new approaching power. She wanted it, needed it! The vile entity that she was had a voracious appetite for pure energy. It was hard to remain at the summoning dais at the top of the tower, and wait for Sailor Moon to approach. Her borrowed body was trembling and sweating with anticipation. She wanted that energy now!
In the end since she was now humming with frenetic energy she began to pace with a bestial stride. As if she was great lion biding it's time for a gazelle to come in range.
She had thought that Chibi Usa held the key to the greatest power on earth. Yet here was a power that dwarfed her's, made it very meek in comparison to her's. Within the body of her elder Senshi...Sailor Moon. She found it irritating that these silly, weak girls could hold just amazing power's within.
Here was a power source that held infinite amounts of energy. With it she could bring her master here without worry, he might even be proud of her. She must have it!
So Mistress Nine took action and advantage of the coming confrontation.
"I can feel this Holy chalice closing in. but I need to get her alone." she stated. Using her powers she made the building rumble before destroying all the test tubes holding the daimon eggs down in the lab.
The formless substance it was without an object to mimic, now acted alive like millions of petite fleshy blobs. Burbling and oozing from the cracks in the lab door, like congealed blood, it valiantly tried to form a human like body. Only able to create a featureless head, the upper chest and long spindle like arms. As it seeped through every cracks in the mortar, broken walls, windows or fissures in the marble of Mugen. Moving with a single minded intent to heed their master's order's.
"I need the chalice to call Pharaoh 90 here. I can't call upon him without this ultimate source of power." Mistress Nine was none too thrilled with that fact. Having fought the outer senshi only she hadn't known a whole lot about the silver crystal but what she was able to gather had been enough for her knowledge. Then she got her first taste, when Hotaru had her attack outside of the Tsukino's residence. The immature crystal in the child's care had reacted to heal her best friend. It had been an exhilarating experience and it was then she had become a target.
"Only problem with that is that it is just like the Silver Crystal, it can only be used by a member of the Royal Moon family. It's useless in my hands as it will now only respond to her wishes. It's the disadvantages of going up against a senshi who has such a strong bond with such a powerful force." Mistress Nine admitted. Tomoe standing nearby contemplated her words.
"Are you wanting to take her Silver Crystal as well?" He mulled.
Mistress Nine shot him an incredulous look, her dark soulless eyes debating if taking the crystal and the Chalice was even possible. "This puny little crystal is not enough, it will be drained dry soon. It is not capable to opening the portal." She growled, defending her sudden obsession with Sailor Moon's power.
"Don't bother trying to get it away from her. The chalice will fit in our device just fine. The energy signature is similar to the crystals light but not the same. I don't want to ruin our chances by getting greedy." He advised humbly. Mistress Nine knew of how badly other enemies on this planet had played it out before. Having been dormant within Hotaru had given her a view of the outside world in the last few years.
Only able to view early on she watched the world as eventually Sailor Moon came in and started to destroy the evils. Only problem was Hotaru wasn't always around the evil, hardly ever. So the small tid bits she gathered about the battles was enough to tell her that while evil was greedy, Sailor Moon knew this, knew the enemies weak spots and knew how to use their own cunning against them.
She couldn't help but smile bitterly, "You know I've learned that sometimes the most primal aspect of evil, is also the weakest." Tomoe raised a brow to her, not to sure how to respond to her statement. "Sailor Moon has been able to figure her enemies out before. Thanks to the greed and arrogance they present as they seek to conquer this world. Beryl...Those idiot generals. The Doom tree...and her simpering children. Then there was the Dark Moon Family and their egotistical prince." She began to laugh.
She recalled the events as few as there were from Hotaru's eyes of the egotistical princes actions around the elder Moon senshi. His obsession she could tell became his end for an evil reign. He could have had that future he wanted but he squashed it with the need to possess the Moon senshi. As least that was the impression she had concluded within Hotaru. She knew nothing of Usagi healing him or his family. "Ah, we are left with your dear Witches. All of them suffered from greed, obsession and pompous posturing that was their undoing."
He tried to avoid gulping, wondering if her statement would fall back on himself, "They play their trump cards to early and think they'll win. They become overwhelmed easily when thing don't go according to plan. The trick is to assume your enemy is strong enough to lay waist to your precious plans, and have counter measures in place to fall upon. That way in the end you feel underwhelmed." She admitted with a languid sigh.
Tomoe nodded in agreement even if he had been acting so foolishly arrogant himself. "Let Sailor Moon and her senshi come. I am ready for them! Let them see that brutality is only the beginning." Mistress nine smiled.
Truly Tomoe or what was inside of Tomoe feared Mistress Nine. She was cunning and capable of the most heinous acts. Killing Kaolinite so effortlessly only proved how soulless and ungodly powerful she was. She could smite him down in a heartbeat if she wanted to. He just couldn't help his arrogance. Came with the territory of being a bad guy. You felt superior over your enemy. Now he was beginning to understand why the senshi were beating him so well. His greedy methods were the chink in the armor he had.
The red blobs of curdled blood looked hungry, flashing their sharp teeth as they seeped out of the buildings base. Rearing up the side of the building in a grisly tide of red ooze. Gleaming yellow eyes focused on Moon and the others were running towards it. Eagerly waiting for their prey to come into range. Sensing the evil connection from Mistress Nine commanding the red blobs Mars stopped, "What is it Mars?" Jupiter asked.
"I sense a great evil, amassing..." she pointed to the red flesh like liquid now making themselves visible to them. The half formed bodies and eerie moans they made was right out of some horror film. Added with the demi light now strobbing from the sky high above the tower. It sent chill down their spines, making their already racing hearts leap in bout of crazed nerves. It was like they had left earth behind and had entered in the bowels of hell.
"What in the hell?" Moon asked slightly dumbfounded. Mercury pulled out her visor, "It's giving off the same energy as the daimon eggs did. Oh guys...I think whatever substance was left over, that the professor was making the daimon's from is standing right in front of us." she explained, "You mean to tell me he had THAT many?" Venus demanded in shock. "Hai. But they're not fully formed so we should be able to destroy them more easily." Mercury agreed.
"Yeah but the numbers won't be easy. There must be millions of them." Moon stated, gasping in awe as the monster began to crawl up the tower forming a barrier. Mercury's computer finished it's scan, "Actually..." Moon looked to her, "Considering they can split up and join together the numbers can decrease or multiply as they wish." Moon bowed her head in disbelief at Mercury's words. "Unbelievable. Wait look." all of a sudden the creatures formed a giant dome over Mugen, easily a hundred feet from the property line.
It covered Mugen only to form a giant star on top of it. "Well that kind of makes it more difficult." Moon stated. "Hai! This is only going to get harder." Mars agreed before several blobs of goo dropped from the fleshy wall, landing with a wet smack on the cobble stone path before them. Rising up to form crude feminine humanoid shape. Standing guard just in front of the barrier, resembling a female made of red goop.
"How do we get past that?" Jupiter asked. "We should use sailor teleport to get past them...once we nail these guys." Moon figured. As soon as the words were spoken the creatures howled in fury, on Mistress Nine's orders they lunged.
"Incoming!" Mercury warned, dashing off to the right. "Oh shit!" Jupiter cursed, cross blocking over her face. They moved to fast! She had no time to counter, as she was instantly surrounded by deadly talons and lunging fangs.
The other senshi screamed as they were suddenly overwhelmed. Slammed by the vicious red goop of hungry daimons, getting cut, bitten, slashed, groped and grabbed as the monster attempted to gut and dismember them to the senshi's utter horror. Trapping them in a frenzied mob attack, they couldn't defend themselves against. Pushing them out past the fence line and back into the streets.
Mercury was drowning in the current of fleshy muck, as it crashed over her fast in a red tidal wave. Moon was scrambling, shouting order's, trying to rally them back together to attack as an equal front. Desperate to be heard over the howls of the daimon's and to keep her own head above the swarm. The frantic screams of her friends attempting to fight against the tide was heartbreaking.
"Forget this!" Venus raged, then pointed her finger charging her powers and like a gunshot screamed out her attack. "Crescent Beam!" It went like a laser and shot through the blob daimon's like they were nothing. But she knew she needed it to be less directional for once. She need to slice through the horde and give her friends a way to retreat. Standing her ground she urged her beam to expand, as she directed her arm in a wide arc. The beam of light slashed through tide of monster's, ripping through the daimon's more effectively.
"Mercury's right they are weaker in this form!" but then she got slammed by a wall of writhing goo, a daimon landing a bite to her ankle, "God dammit!" She screamed, pointing her finger downward and blasting the Daimon point blank in the head. The other side of its poorly formed face exploded, splattering goo to the cement. It never killed it by stunned the creature enough to lay still upon the ground.
"But Moon's also right, there are so many of them!" she amended, getting control of herself as she shot her 'Love me chain' out and bought herself a few feet of breathing room. She took a note from Moon's book and pretended to throw a tiara in her hands only she expelled her beam creating a lasso of power, that grabbed a huge chunk of the rushing horde and swept them aside into a building.
Mars having seen the move realized the benefits of it. "We've got to beat them back enough to let Moon use the scepter!" Mars called out, "I hear that! Mars watch it!" Moon called out, using her tiara to cut through anything close enough to both her and the fire senshi. "Put your tiara back on you need to conserve your energy for the scepter. It's our greatest weapon right now." Mars told her in warning. Moon cast her a disgruntle look, meekly placing her tiara back upon her forehead knowing it was the truth.
Using the fire from her fingers to light anything around her like it was barbecue, "Take that! You nasty, slimy pieces of - 'fire balls ignite'!" She yelled out at the end sending barrage, like cannon balls towards the charging tide of enemies. She couldn't do Moon's bouncing thing and jump around since anywhere you jumped you'd be jumping into the fray. So she settled for trying to make her whole body feel like it was a living torch.
Spinning around with her flames surrounding her she engulfed the area and bought herself and Moon several feet of clearance.
"Ridiculous! Moon use the scepter soon or we won't able to use sailor teleport!" she snapped angrily. Moon rolled her eyes as she had been already calling her scepter out. "There's so freaking many of them!" Jupiter snapped in anger, throwing lightning bolts in any direction that the blobs were to closing in.
Focusing her powers upon the staff, her hands glowed with her silver light. She spun her scepter as her power crackled up and down the shaft seeking release. But they were to close...the creatures were surrounding her far to quickly. She couldn't release any big attacks. Desperate to get some room, she whipped her hands about her in a circular motion before expelling a beam of light. She hung onto the shaft as her power exploded from the crown, sending it out in a wide swath of energy as she aimed it in an arc around herself.
Cutting through the wall of daimon's, frying them to a crisp, giving her a few feet of space as well. "Moon now would be a good time for you finishing move!" Venus yelled, "For the love of – 'Venus love me chain'!" Venus yelled once more, as the monster got way to close for comfort. Her chain whipping out and destroying the blobs now breathing down her neck.
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" Moon screamed, the attack tore a giant hole through the blobbed daimon's. A large bright pink heart enveloped the entire area, vaporizing the whole swarm. It gave them ample amount of room to plan, even with the reinforcements now howling in from the tower. A new wave was on its way and it would overtake them in a matter of seconds.
"There's to many. They can just keep coming." Jupiter snarled.
"When I use the scepter again we'll need to use the teleport right then and there. It's our only shot." Moon ordered them.
In agreement Mars then advised, "Don't use the scepter till you're ready. I know it takes a lot of energy from you to do those power ups." Moon agreed. While they used to fight likes cats and dogs and still did on occasion, Mars understood how much greater Moon's power's were, and how much more draining using her big attacks became. She began to recognize through her own increasing energy signatures as her own Senshi powers evolved how much each level of power Moon used to perform certain attacks.
It was a balancing act of stamina, she only had so much to give before her body gave out from over usage. She had to use it wisely. She could only use the devastating attacks, once she learned to hone in on the specific senshi energy she gathered within her crystal. She was still a long way off from doing what her future counterpart was capable of, but she well on her way to achieving it, her goal.
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto commandeered the Teno Maru, the personal helicopter of Haruka Teno. Wanting to get a full view of the area once they had seen the living shield go up around Mugen. "We have no time left." Uranus supplied, sitting in the pilot seat her calling into her headset. Her voice strained, as she stating the obvious in their quest. Neptune sat in the passenger seat beside her, her face set in stone.
Pluto sat in the back hatch, keeping her lips firm as she watched the inner senshi below fighting off attacks. They had gotten back up down the street and were now at the entrance to gable bridge that connected to another island in the delta. The inner's were to focus on protecting one another and themselves to notice the chopper above them.
"We have to strike her down before she completely awakens." Neptune agreed. Clasping her hand on the gear shift to control their descent, Uranus bitterly stated, "So there was no 'messiah' of light after all. We're essentially on our own. Were fucked. We have to save the world ourselves. No matter the sacrifice." her words were low towards the end, grim and full of bitterness. While Pluto narrowed her eyes wondering how their drastic views would change once they truly did see the true messiah come into the light herself.
Being the senshi of time she was HIGHLY limited in what she could tell. And she itched to tell them everything she knew. But alas she was forbidden to do so. It would put ripples into the fabric of time that they could not afford, it might even change the course they were upon now completely. She couldn't afford it.
"Sailor Moon I believe in you." She muttered. Making sure the other two senshi up front could not hear her muttering even in the slightest. She gripped her staff tighter as she wished for Moon to conquer her enemies and to win over the two hardened hearts of the senshi in front of her.
Professor Tomoe or rather the entity controlling him was fascinated by the power Mistress Nine was emitting, she stood rigid in all her dark glory before the barrier. Watching with the piercing gaze of a predator as the Sailor Senshi were overwhelmed by her forces down on the ground. Her body was glowing with a crimson aura, crackling like spirit flame from her wildly snapping black hair. She was truly something to be feared...
"Amazing." he marveled. She looked up to him evilly, "Mugen Academy is now protected by my dark energy. It's the omega zone now. Unless I want them to NONE will be able to step inside this impenetrable fortress."
She then raised up a glowing hand that resembled something sharp and demonic. Her talon's slicing through the fabric of the air, wounding their reality as a darkness seeped through the gash, twisting and expanded until it formed a tunnel of pure darkness. "Interesting." Tomoe commented, "It's time to get the grail." She explained, pushing the hand through a self-made dark energy portal.
It was outside that the senshi were giving out last minute attacks so Moon could build her power back up, "Fire soul!" Mars shouted. It struck the closest them like an execution squad. They fell one by one under her assaulting flames. Mercury's bubbles pushed others back before Jupiter was bitten and had the red goop daimon wrapping around her legs. Venus went to use her chain only to get them wrapped around her neck and arms preventing her from using any power.
It was when Moon used her weapon that the daimon were once more obliterated. It blasted through their ranks like a nuclear bomb, vaporizing them instantly. The senshi under attack gulped a breath of air in grateful once more.
"Sailor Teleport now!" Mercury yelled.
(We all agreed only for something very powerful to shift behind me. I turned literally into the hand of death. I didn't know what else to call it. It grabbed onto my neck like I was its next meal, perhaps I was. Its grip tightened as I lost my breath. I still had some air in my lungs but I now burned for more. I heard several gasps from my senshi. I already knew how this would play out and couldn't let them get hurt on my account.
"Don't try to…save me! Take care…of the…daimon!" I struggled out, as best as I could. Seeing as how I felt my windpipe being crushed. Kicking and twisting in it's grasp. I wasn't going to go without a fight. I tried to pull on the finger's grasping my neck but it was to strong to fight. Not very many enemies had been close enough to choke me, and the last person that was evil at the time, to get me in this forced submission was Endymion.
But no one heeded my words of warning. Instead I had all the senshi running to me.
"Sailor Moon!" Mercury screamed.
"We're coming!" Venus shouted.
"Hold on, we will get you free!" Rei advised.
"I won't let them take you!" Jupiter promised.
Briefly I swung my legs up to try and loosen then hold on me but the arm seemed to strong even for my senshi legs to deal with. I lost the grip with my boots and felt them swing back down. The girls grabbed onto my arms and legs as I was being pulled up. Trying to anchor me and force it to release me.
I felt my body getting pulled into the weird dark abyss in front of me. "I oh kami...please..." I begged them to let go but my breathing was getting short.
I knew I was ready to pass out. I saw the army of the half formed daimon's charging for their forms. They surged upon my senshi, pulling them under in to a river of blood red ooze. I screamed desperately for them as their grasp upon my limbs was lost, then my body was pulled up within seconds. I couldn't see anything anymore. I barely heard their cries of pain as they were drowning within the mass of melted flesh.
I felt tears in my eyes for them. I could face the unknown but I needed to know my senshi were okay, that they would be fine in the coming battle. I sent a quick prayer to the moon goddess Selene to watch over them in their time of need.)
Like a shock wave it hit Mamoru as well. Feeling his beloved in pain, fear and panic before darkness from lack of oxygen consumed her. She was still alive no doubt but she was not conscious. Usako?! He begged. He needed to hear her voice in his mind. Please talk to me. What happened? But nothing, not a peep. He gripped his hand tighter on Chibi Usa's trying hard not to cry. He wanted to send her some power to help heal her faster, but his power was being used for Chibi Usa.
DON'T!
He heard a sharp stab of her voice in his mind. Realizing that he had let the link be totally exposed he sighed in relief. You were unconscious weren't you? He could deal with her upset at him but not dead on him.
For a second or two...please take care of Chibi-Usa. I'll be fine. I think I'm inside Mugen now. The Senshi are trapped outside. It's dark and I can't see anything right now. I'll keep you posted.
Just like that she came back full consciousness and shut most of her thoughts off so she could focus. He was stunned, "She's in Mugen and the others are outside." Luna knew what he was talking about, "She'll be fine." she assured. He wanted to believe her...so he did. "Yeah...she always is." he remarked, looking down at their future child. Still holding on her life on a thin thread. "Your momma and the senshi are going to save us all." he told her lifeless form, the faint golden glow of his healing keeping her vital signs steady.
By the time the senshi had blasted their way back to the surface of suffocating Daimon, they were all stunned to find Moon had disappeared. "She's gone..." Mercury sat dumb founded in her fallen position. "Sailor Moon..." Venus whispered in fear. Jupiter for her part was in shock. One of her best friends was now in the enemies hands. "No..." she whispered.
Seeing that she had what she wanted Mistress Nine called back the rest of the daimon to creatures back to the barrier.
"This cannot be happening..." Mars was nearly begging, "It is. And without Sailor Moon we don't have the energy teleport inside." Mercury concluded sadly, feeling a little defeated. "But we can't let this slow us down there has to be a way to stop this." She pulled on her earring, activating her visor and computer pad. As they shimmered to life, she started to scan and calculate away, upon the dimensions and thickness of the barrier.
"They stopped once they got Sailor Moon…she was what they wanted." Mars concluded. The others mutely agreed. "There's always a weakness...a chink to any armor. You just have to find it." She muttered determined to find a way inside.
The Teno-Maru closed in on the tower's broken peek, the solid darkness now wrapping around their aircraft. The engine began to whine in protest as the rotor's struggled against the invisible barrier pushing against the Helicopter. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto saw the big star shaped hole in center over the top of the dome. Like ' a welcome if you dare' greeting. The black pit that lay beneath the barrier eluded nothing as to what might lay deep inside the roofs remains.
"Looks like that's our only ticket inside." Neptune surmised.
The daimon's spotted the chopper above them all at once. Surging upward to capture the suffering Helicopter that was having trouble finding enough updraft to stay in the air. Like a living wall they stretched upward seeking to wrap themselves around the personal helicopter with its inhabitants.
The two senshi in front cried out in alarm, as Pluto prepared to use the one power she had that was ultimately taboo for her to use.
She begged the god of time her father to allow her a one-time pass to let her use the full magnitude of her power without consequences. So she could get everyone out and to the relative safety within the barrier. She could feel him deciding, weighing the Immortal balance of allowing her break Taboo without punishment.
As the daimon surrounded the helicopter, preparing to wrap themselves around the chopper, constricting her rotor and strangling the metal outer shell seeking to crack it like a nut with the combined weight of their own bodies. The mechanics started to spark, the electronics exploding, shattering the control panels. The outer body was cracking from the pressure bare wires now falling all around them, electrocuting the senshi within.
All three screamed out in pain until Pluto felt a wave of acceptance. Not sure where it was coming from she assumed and made a decision. When Neptune and Uranus opened their eyes back up, they were in the middle of the explosion. The blue fire around them was frozen as if by a miracle, they were still alive. Looking over their shoulder's into the back hatch, they saw Pluto holding her staff up.
The orb within glowing a brilliant crimson, the timeless energy shimmering in the depth of her mysterious eyes. So focused and determined she looked like a goddess that was bending reality to her will.
Stunned that she held this much incredible power Uranus spoke first.
"What did you do?" She was shocked, "I stopped time." she bitterly hoped that she was being allowed to do this or else when time resumed she would not be allowed to leave the area within the explosion with them. She would be forced to stay there to endure the consequences of her actions. "Now go please." she pleaded. "You hid this must power from us?" Uranus was still stuck on the fact that an ally had held back so much power.
"No this is in fact the greatest taboo for me to break. It is against the laws of time and space to do so. Only the gods themselves have the authority under dire circumstances to do so." She explained, stoically.
"What will happen to you then?" Neptune asked. Instead of responding Pluto ignored her question unsure of it herself and said, "If you are able to uncover the real messiah...accept her." Uranus's eyes widened.
"But I thought - " Time was bent around her and she disappeared before she could finish. "Pluto!" Neptune begged before she was swallowed up by the time distortion. Both fell within the star shaped hole in the field and onto the roof of the building.
It was seconds later that the chopper exploded above them. The fiery blast blossoming like a sinister flower. Metal debris raining down upon the barrier as they past into darkness. Landing smoothly in the depths of the pit, unsteady in both mind and spirit. They made no move to explore further, merely standing below the star. They gathered their wits and their courage to continue onward.
"I don't believe it...do you think we were wrong?" Uranus turned to Neptune, her face was pale and her eyes looked haunted. Neptune looked over to her in question. Her chest ached and she could barely breathe. Pluto could be dead...they had mentally accepted that casualties my happen. But be face with losing a dear friend so suddenly. It was crushing...
"That maybe Sailor Moon is the real messiah and we just assumed she would need to be able to control the power instantly." Uranus kept on. Neptune wanted to believe her, wanted to accept Usagi…Sailor Moon, but she was someone who did things based on facts. Much like Ami was in that respect. But she turned her head away, unwilling to be as eager to believe in Usagi. Uranus held a special spot that she was unwilling to admit to for the young blonde. "She needs to prove herself worthy of doing what she pleases with the chalice." Neptune stated.
"I would like for it to be her but we don't know for sure. Her powers could eventually be limitless if she trained hard enough." It didn't bode with her. To her Usagi, Sailor Moon, while she was a kind hearted, strong, independent girl was also a very idealistic and felt that everyone could be saved. She constantly overreached her potential and soon everyone would pay the price for her arrogance. "I will give her the kudos of a sailor senshi if she can save Hotaru - chan while NOT killing the world." She admitted.
"And what about her being the messiah...?" Uranus asked, "If she is then I will give my power to aid in her quest." Uranus agreed before they both took off further along the roof. Having felt the Senshi of Times power twist reality just above her barrier, Mistress Nine smiled slyly, admiring their cleverness, "Smart senshi to use time to stop and escape. I believe it's time for me to retrieve the chalice. You go and take care of those senshi."
The entity controlling Tomoe looked to her in shock and minor worry as she ordered him to finish the senshi off.
He knew the outer senshi were stronger than the inners and they were now somewhere inside the summoning area.
"Just use those soulless vessels to get rid of them." She snapped now making herself look like Hotaru. Floating into the air, she disappeared while he looked a tad uneasy. Having hidden behind a lap desk this whole time hadn't prepped him really for a fight with two senshi. "Great..." he muttered heading their way.
Moon woke up in an area of dark desolation. Sitting up she coughed as she felt the bruises on her neck. "Ouch..." She muttered, wincing as she touched them, "That's going to leave a mark for a few days." she took a look around not moving a step until her blurry eye sight had cleared. She'd been around long enough to know, NOT to just wander off when you could be smack dab where you want to be. Evil was kinda nutty that way, just sucking you up and placing you in their most vital area. Where you could do a lot of damage to their plans.
(I was able to see a little further and saw what looked to be Hotaru's body, laying curled up under some mortar and building debris.
"Hotaru –chan...?" I now wondered if this meant that Mistress Nine had abandoned the girl's body. It was rather weak and failing at the time she had taken it over. Maybe she had used up the last of Hotaru's strength then left her dead body for another. Using Chibi Usa's pure heart, to become strong enough to sustain a new body. I wondered if this means that Mistress Nine is a LOT more powerful or weaker now.
I didn't think to much more one it, not wanting to accept she may be dead. I focused on the hope that Hotaru was free of that evil. A hope that she was alive and probably hurting and needed my help. So I went with that hope, burying all my negative thoughts deep down inside me. I needed to see about how to get Hotaru out and to safety. "I so need Mercury's computer. It would help in telling me if you're free from that evil being - using your body as a host." I spoke out loud, moving cautiously on my hands and knees to her side.
I didn't want her body to be to drained to walk. I wanted her to be able to go on her own, if I could find an exit for her, there had to be one. Enemies always had an escape route to use, okay usually they did.
Hotaru as if sensing me approaching, began to moan and shift, "Sailor Moon?" She questioned weakly, looking fearful and drained. My heart went out to her. "Hai, I'm here. How are you feeling?" I asked her, giving her my warmest smile. "Better. I'm just so scared." The fear in her voice clamped down on my heart. I reached for her without thinking and held her close to me. "It's going to be fine. What I'm going to do is try to see if I can use enough power to teleport you out." I had never tried it before and could only hope it worked.
"No wait! I heard them talking about the chalice." She reached up and weakly grasped by upper arm. I stopped, "Hai what about it?" I asked. "If they can get ahold of it they would be supplied with an unlimited power source." I rolled my eyes, "Typical bad guys. Well, I guess we shouldn't let then get it then. We will defeat them before anyone else gets hurt." I assured her.
I stood up, "Rest here, I will be right back. I'll go and see if I can't find an exit for you."
Her comment had me at a dead stop, "Arigato for your help Usagi - chan...You're so sweet." Her voice was sugary sweet and slick with fake gratitude. My heart went cold at hearing her obvious mistake. Her end words and the name she called me sent nervous shivers down my back. Hotaru didn't know of my secret identity. Chibi Usa would NEVER have told her unless it was dire and even then she wouldn't. Setting my expression in stone, I turned back around to find her face looking up at me, impassive and curious.
"Strange thing here..." I turned to face her with a strangled smile, "See Hotaru - chan doesn't know me as Usagi - chan..." Hotaru blanched before I saw Mistress Nine rise forth. "I see the error in my ways or did I do that on purpose?" she floated upwards, laughing manically. "Still using a young girl's body to do your dirty work for you I see. You're pathetic." I countered having been angry at myself for believing it could be Hotaru.
I should have seen it coming a mile away. Sometimes I had to admit I was to idealist for even my own good. With her guise dissolved again, she illuminated the room in a ghostly red glow. I found myself smack dab in the middle of grand central station...so to speak. Freaking great! I made sure Mamo – chan couldn't hear that as I looked about the place. A huge machine sat in the center of a black marble dais, the floor etched with strange alien symbols.
The edges of the pentagram guarded by slender black pillars, an heavy malevolent aura hummed over the roof. It was dark and oppressing, wishing spread fear and loathing across the Delta. To bend humanity's will and make this world cower before it.
"Great...nice job landing yourself in the death star…brilliant." I muttered, meaning that in a good and bad sense. Watching her cautiously as her long hair snapped and coiled like venomous snakes, dark and deadly waiting to prey upon helpless victims. "This is so not how I pictured things going." I mumbled under my breath. Mistress Nine surveyed her lair like a queen, proud of her domain of solid darkness.)
Alone with the most powerful enemy to date without my senshi to aid me. I AND I alone need to save Hotaru – chan's soul, Chibi Usa's pure heart and her retrieve her silver crystal before it's destroyed...no sweat.
(I thought sarcastically.
Usako you'll be fine the senshi are outside figuring things out. I'm sure of it. Mamo - chan's mental encouragement helped me out. Hai, I know. as soon as I get Chibi Usa's pure heart back and Hotaru out safe and sound - with a defeated Mistress Nine in tow - then you and I are having some serious down time. I felt his mental agreement. I'll treat you to day of shopping and a romantic supper in Ropongii. He promised. Then I will take you back to our bed and never let you leave. He added a bit greedily.
Love of my life...when have we been confined to JUST the bed? I mentally asked. I felt him smile, then he sent a vivid image of us both, a leg over his shoulder the other pinned to my own shoulder while my back was pushed against the kitchen tile. He was over me with us both covered in sweat as I could practically feel him thrusting within me. We haven't christened that yet. He smirked mentally. My, my, aren't we hot and bothered right now? Sexy boy. He blanched mentally. How about hot prince, man of your dreams...He suggested. I mentally agreed.)
All that aside I need to bounce Mistress Nine looks a little too happy.
Leaving her alone once again, the promise of her coming home made him smile. The talk within their minds gave him comfort and hope that he needed during this time. Though if Chibi Usa was given her pure heart back before the final battle he would be there for his Moon princess regardless. He felt the need to be with her nearly overwhelming. Though Chibi Usa's presence helped to keep him focused on where he was needed most for the moment. He couldn't abandon his future daughter.
Uranus and Neptune had made their way back down towards the subbasement. Landing on the south side of the Tower's roof, there had been nothing out of the ordinary to investigate. The summoning dais lay hidden within the fog of darkness. Mistress Nine had no intention of allowing the Outer's to just waltz into her little rally with Moon so easily. So she had summoned a glamour over the roof that made it seem untouched by her power.
So they quickly found an emergency exit and took to the stairs back down to the throne room were everything started. They were running down that very same narrow corridor, now filled with bizarre nude manikins. Hanging along the walls like puppets. The life sized dolls had blank faces with weird smiles, that looked to be ridiculously happy. A deranged grin, slashed across off a pure white face, with only one very large eye that looked far to real.
"This doesn't look wrong at all." Uranus snapped, weary of them now as Tomoe came out of hiding. Striding out of the rubble that was once the throne room, hand thrust deep into the pockets of his slacks. "I see you've made it this far. Too bad your journey ends here." he shrugged his shoulders, sheathed in his white lab coat. His glassed perched upon his nose, glared back at them.
"Maybe for you but not for us." Uranus quipped back.
"I believe we have never properly introduced ourselves." Tomoe sighed.
"My name is Daimon Germatoid and I have created these bodies myself. I will end you both here. Which is to bad really both of you would have been great hosts for daimon's to inhabit. Just like Tomoe here was." He finalized.
Neptune and Uranus both prepared for battle when their talismans came to life in front of their faces. Uranus griped the hilt of her space sword, comforted by the weight and confident that she could end this encounter quickly. Neptune cast her Deep Reflection Mirror towards the entity disguised as Professor Tomoe. The evil within Tomoe didn't look too pleased but laughed low and vile none the less.
"You will be my very first prey!" The entity snarled from it's human host, then with the tearing of skin and cracking of bones. It expelled its true form from Tomoe's body. Revealing its ugly true nature, as it shredded Tomoe's body upon it's departure. As that of a grisly, skinless corpse with a black star anointing his forehead.
Uranus and Neptune took his demonic body in stride, it was a disgusting and fearful sight but over the last year they had seen far worse. "Let the good times role. World Shaking!" Uranus yelled. She hit the thing dead on with a wind blast from her left hand. It exploded into clumps of body fat it seemed all over the ground before them. "That felt to easy." Uranus muttered out loud. Neptune was curious on a few things. Things she wasn't sure she should admit to out loud just yet. "So Tomoe was being used this whole time." Neptune surmised.
She now wondered it if were possible for Hotaru to be saved as well now. If perhaps Moon was correct in her thinking. But she highly doubted Mistress Nine would be willing to give up her host as this entity had been. He released his host for a reason, granted not a very good one but he did so none the less and she doubted Mistress Nine would have a good reason anytime soon for abandoning Hotaru's body.
The eerie ghost like voice whispered in an echoing breath from the depths of the hall. "The man did what he thought was best for his dying daughter. He didn't want to lose her so he let me inside of him to save her. When he didn't know was that Mistress Nine also needed to take sustenance from a human host. He thought he was bargaining for her life...offering himself as a sacrifice so willingly. It was truly pathetic. "
Uranus looked up and down the hall, filled with a greenish half light. Trying to find out how the enemy was still talking when she destroyed it. "My body maybe gone but not who or what I am or what I am capable of." He spoke knowing she was looking for him. It grated on her nerves at how powerful this daimon might really be. But thinking on what Tomoe did for his daughter, in the hopes that she might be spared. A selfish act that proved to be fruitless. The hopeless plight the Tomoe's were in only made her more bitter and furious at these heartless aliens.
She knew now though that he really loved his daughter. Even if he had just made a mistake that could have cost the world. How was he to know?
"He tried to save his daughter. That's braver than running for one's self. If anything using a desperate man to take over him and his dying daughter is a cowardice and pathetic act." Uranus snapped back trying to locate the source. As the fragmented pieces of it's body stealthy slid into the dolls, using the poor light in the corridor for cover.
"I knew it was to quick and easy." Uranus groused. Neptune agreed as the dolls hanging along the walls began to twitch and come to life. In seconds they had pulled themselves off the walls and charged them. Engaging in a flurry of movement they were upon them. Uranus hacked at them with her sword, severing arms and legs. While Neptune was forced into hand to hand combat, sending punches and kicks to keep them at bay. None of it was enough to even slow them down.
"World Shaking!" Uranus sent a dozen of them end over end down the hall in a blast of wind.
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune screamed, guiding a tide wave down the narrow hall after her partner's attack. But the dolls did not breathe so drowning them was useless, the raging water did slam the last of the mob up against their counterparts at the end of the hall though.
But even their powers only slowed them down, they charged off the wall in a jerky horde of clattering limbs to tear the Senshi to pieces. It seemed even for them a little to planned out and controlled. It was catching them off guard as it seemed these wobbly, contorting 'dolls' knew their every move.
Neptune was slammed from behind while Uranus's technics were being out done by their extreme flexibility and extreme twisting maneuvers that no human could possess. "Honestly, this is getting rather tedious!" Uranus ground out. Having no real choice now they backed into one another. It was as if Pluto came back to life, her voice in their minds, 'Use your talismans. Find the real doll and kill it. ' Before either senshi could contemplate the notion they grabbed their weapons again.
The 'dolls' surrounded them but now they had a chance to get free, a plan to fight and as a team, Neptune rose her mirror up to gaze within it's crystal clear depths, to find the main one to destroy. Uranus prepared to slice the target dolls head off. Destroy it and you take out the rest, or even make the ones that are just props disappear and find the real McCoy. At least that's what they were hoping would happen.
Feeling her new power swell deep within her, like the tides of the sea. She called forth it's name with a low reverence. "Submarine Reflection."
She let the mirror guide her, as the surface gleamed with energy. She then turned the face of the mirror towards their foes. A beam of spiritual light flared from the surface and bathed the horde in it's brilliance. The curse dolls started to disappear until all but one was left. Having nowhere else to hide, it moved into a defensive stance.
"And you're the winner!" Uranus laughed, then dashed after it moving with a speed and agility only the Senshi of the Sky could possess. She spun her sword in a stabbing motion towards the dolls head, her aim was precise, lobbing off the dolls head at the base of the neck. The decapitated doll crumpled to the floor, a daimon egg the most powerful to date fell out of it's neck, it cracked and release a dark essence.
The two Senshi took off. "We need to find the messiah, we need to find Mistress Nine and end this before it's too late!" Neptune barked.
'Then head back up the roof, for there is nothing here.' Pluto's voice commanded.
"Hai!" Uranus agreed, believing in her trusted friend. Not over thinking the reasons why she was a disembodied voice right then. They had a job to do, she'd ask later. Neptune had heard Pluto as well and was charging after her partner.
Moon stood up the dais, torn on how to aid Hotaru and Chibi Usa and how to end Mistress Nine for good. But one thing was for certain, she couldn't end Mistress Nine till Hotaru and Chibi Usa were no longer at risk. Ending her now could destroy Chibi Usa's pure heart. But time was against her, she needed to free it soon before Mistress Nine devoured it.
Who knows what could happen if she tried to kill Mistress Nine. She knew she had to somehow talk to communicate with Hotaru. If the little girls soul still lived of course.
"And the rest of the crew comes in." Mistress Nine announced smugly. The thunder of boots racing up behind Moon made her turn. Finding Uranus and Neptune's racing forward talismans at the ready.
"Take a good long look at this, because your world after today will be filled with absolute silence and despair." Moon nor either of the other senshi wanted that. And they'd fight to the death to prevent it.
To be continued….