In the last chapter, we saw the Negaverse attack during a volleyball match at Crossroads High School, and Eryn, Sylvia, and many other people were caught up in that attack. We saw two people get initiated as superhero-type fighters during that attack as well, those two being Sylvia and Rolando. And they then became Sailor Skyhorse and the Pilgrim, respectively, once they were both ultimately initiated as official fighters.
Sylvia and Rolando also discussed several things that were on Eryn's mind with her, and it wasn't always done in a peaceable way, when they did so. For there was a second fight that Eryn was part of in this story's last chapter. And that fight was against Sylvia when Sylvia forced Eryn to fight her so that she might hopefully be able to better deal with the things that were then bothering her at the present time.
While they haven't figured out entirely how Eryn should possibly deal with her younger brother Gearalt when it comes to certain things in both their lives, if they ever will, they are all more hopeful that things related to both him and to Eryn will eventually work out for the better, one way or another, in truth. Especially if and whenever Eryn ultimately finds herself actively fighting against the Negaverse at any time as an official superheroine, whether by her actual choice or not, they all are now.
In this next chapter, we will most definitely see the first appearance of a future teammate of Darien, Sylvia, Rolando, and Eryn, but they will not be awakened as such yet. We will also possibly see others who may eventually be part of the growing team of superheroes/superheroines, but that remains to be seen. Also, Eryn will become a superheroine in this chapter, but for you to know if she becomes one by choice or not, you'll have to read on and find out, of course, everyone. That's one thing I'm not going to spoil here in the introduction, for sure.
Now here is a little blurb about the new character who will make his first official appearance in this story's eighth chapter, Saving Sailor Sun. And after that blurb, we'll quickly get right back into the story. Until later, then, TUS out.
Kibwe Hengist - College student, 21 years old, short and wavy black hair, green eyes, someone who frequently wears elaborately-patterned clothes that often heavily feature African-related or African-influenced designs on them, his main interests include pottery, photography, and cats, to name just a few of them, often very serious, studious, and private, doesn't normally make friends easily, also very intelligent and usually is a man of very few words, if any, in most situations, whenever he can be, lives alone, more details to be revealed about him later. (04/28/1969)
Saving Sailor Sun
Friday night, Eryn decided to get on her bike to go on a shopping expedition to get the inexpensive painting kit that Rolando had recommended to her earlier on Friday night. She also bought a few clothing items and some music.
As she cycled, she thought about what she'd experienced, including the two attacks that she'd been caught up in, and her current situation with Gearalt. And especially about her most recent conversations with Sylvia and Rolando, and about what might lay ahead for her and others in the near future, whether or not she would ever have to fight as a superheroine against those launching attacks in Tokyo.
She was not totally decided on whether or not she'd willingly choose to oppose them as an official superheroine, but was hoping she'd not have to be one at some point against her will. For she really didn't want to ever have to fight anyone, having had enough of the Troubles in Ireland.
Eryn was unhappy about the fact that she'd let Sylvia provoke her into a private fight at a nearby park after they'd each returned home from a volleyball match at another school, for one thing. She was unhappy that Gearalt was trying to stick his nose into her personal matters. Like her attempts to make friendships with various females who were around her age in the local area. Being often moody, socially awkward, and also not being in her home country at present, she was finding it hard, especially when it came to the considerable language and cultural barriers.
At home, they spoke English apart from a few choice words of Gaelic, with Gearalt doing most of the talking among the four siblings. Paxton hardly spoke and Ashley couldn't get a word in, even if she wanted to. When they were younger, she hadn't minded him hanging around and asking questions. That was part of the deal of being a sister, but he had become annoying, and she had far more important matters on her mind.
It was now Saturday morning, and she was at an art gallery seeing to the placement of several pieces of her artworks as part of an exhibit that was due to be featured that afternoon and evening, after biking there from her family's residence in SEST. Sylvia and at least one more of her potential future teammates were elsewhere in the art gallery, and Sylvia was seeing to the placement of several items, including two quilts she'd recently made, in various places there.
Eryn suddenly heard, "Be careful with my pots here, people! I spent a great deal of time working on many of them, in truth! Don't be careless with handling them!" She turned to look in the direction where that voice was coming from, and saw a college-aged black man in rather intricately-patterned clothing yelling at a few of the workers then in the middle of moving several good-sized pots. That piqued her interest. And she watched until they were out of her sight, while also observing the positioning of a few of her seascapes.
Once all her artworks were placed, she went in search of that man, and found him sitting on an eight-foot-long bench near a water fountain, nervously twirling some pottery-making tools in both hands. He was muttering to himself, "Bumbling fools nearly dropped several pots I'd worked on for weeks, if not months! Where did they even come from in the first place?" He was wondering where the workers had come from, if they weren't the normal art gallery workers that he was already aware of from previous exhibitions at this gallery, in truth.
Eryn thought about leaving him alone, but something made that idea seem rather foolish to her, although she didn't know why. And so, she unexpectedly found her feet carrying her nearer to him, until she was sitting two feet away from him. She blurted out, "Sir, are you going to be okay?"
At her words, his head shot up, and he asked, "Who are you?"
"Someone who was wondering if you would be okay. You seem rather upset about something."
"I see. And do you do this often?" the man asked, with an accent that sounded rather unfamiliar to her at the present time, because she didn't yet know that he was from Kenya, or spoke Swahili fluently.
"No, generally not. Yet something somehow drew me over to this bench where you are now. So you do pottery, eh?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do, among other things. I'm going to have several of my pots shown later today, along with several photographic prints I've made recently during my time in college," he answered.
"You're in college?"
"Yes, I am. I attend college at Keio, and am a senior there, majoring in visual arts, specializing in pottery and photography. Are you an artist too, by any chance?"
She nodded, before saying, "I mainly paint, but I have been known to dabble at times with small sculptures. And to occasionally make quilts, but I'll likely never show any of them publicly in exhibitions."
"You're still in high school, I suspect."
"Yes, I am. But not for much longer."
"Mind if I ask your name?"
"Only if I can know yours first."
"Fair enough. I'm Kibwe Hengist."
"Eryn Kesell," she returned.
"Ireland-born, if I judge your speech correctly, I take it?"
"Yes, but how did you know that, somehow?" she asked, quite surprised he was able to guess that about her from just the sentences she'd already spoken to him.
"I've heard a lot of people over the years from the British Isles, and a number of them were from Ireland. Although I can't quite place the part of Ireland you are from."
"I can't place your accent either, Mr. Hengist."
"I'm Kenyan and speak Swahili. I can speak several other African languages with moderate to considerable fluency."
"Cool. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes, I will. Just have to calm myself down. It sometimes takes me a while. Now if you don't mind, Miss Kesell, I'd really like to have my privacy."
"Very well. Call it Irish intuition, but I think we're somehow going to see a great deal of each other in the future. I can't explain it," she said, as she rose from the bench to leave him alone.
"Call it Kenyan intuition, but I do too. By the way, you have a very nice dagger on your hip. I hadn't seen it before, but where did you get it, if I might ask?"
"At a nearby furniture store, Mr. Hengist."
"Kibwe."
"Huh?"
"The snows of Kenya and Kilimanjaro seem to be somehow telling me that you should call me Kibwe. I don't really know why they are, to be sure, but when they speak to me, I find it often quite wise for me to listen to them. Don't ever lose that dagger, Kesell. They also tell me that you need to keep it under your control and that its name is Sunstriker."
"I'll do my best, Kibwe."
"See you later."
"Until later, then."
Eryn left Kibwe, and did a little exploring in the art gallery for about another hour or so, before encountering Sylvia. Both girls were rather surprised to see each other.
Sylvia walked and Eryn pushed her bike along as they passed through the park they'd gone to with Rolando earlier. Once they were both in the center of the maze they'd fought in, and after confirming that they wouldn't be seen or heard, Sylvia said, "Rolando predicts that there will be an attack starting sometime between 4:30 and 8, although he doesn't know when they might launch that attack, or in what part or parts of the art gallery that they will launch it from."
"I hope you aren't going to try and force me to fight then, Sylvia."
"I won't, but I can't necessarily say the same for any monsters you might possibly encounter tonight. Especially if any of your family members are threatened or in danger."
"I was planning to have a nice quiet outing with my family today, two days before Ashley's birthday, there. I'm not likely to get it, though, am I?"
"Unfortunately not, it seems, according to Rolando. He doesn't know what kinds of monsters might show up tonight. But he strongly suspects that you'll somehow have to fight, even though he really hopes you don't have to, to be honest with you, Eryn."
"I got that painting kit he recommended earlier. And I still have my dagger with me, as well."
"Good, you'll likely need them after the attack begins."
"What are you having shown at the gallery today?"
"Paintings and quilts and a sculpture or two, Eryn. You?"
"Paintings, as well. No quilts or sculptures, though."
"And what will the man you met earlier have at the exhibition?"
"What man?" blurted out Eryn,without meaning to.
"Rolando had a dream of you meeting a man today. The man seemed strangely familiar to him, but he doesn't know why. He thinks he may be a possible future superhero."
"No kidding?"
"No kidding, Eryn. Where's he from?"
"Kenya, but he's not my type of man. He's a college senior now, so too old for me."
"I see. Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?"
"As a matter of fact, I would, unless you are willing to answer one I might ask you of the same kind, in return, Sylvia."
"So quid pro quo, then, I take it."
"Correct."
"Why can't this art gallery trip with your family wait two days, if I may ask, seeing as you just told me Ashley's birthday is in two days?"
"Because I can't get that day off from work where I work, unfortunately."
'But it's your sister's birthday, Eryn."
"Doesn't matter to my boss, so I'll have to deal with it. Ashley isn't happy that she won't be able to spend the evening of her birthday with me, as we often have done in the past."
"What kind of man would you perhaps tend to favor, if you don't mind me asking too much, Eryn?"
"That's quite personal."
"I know, but I'm just curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course."
Eryn considered what Sylvia just said in silence for several minutes before speaking again, while sitting on the edge of a nearby fountain near the center of the entire maze. Eventually, she said, "IF I tell you about my prior experiences with guys, I must insist that you tell me about yours, Sylvia."
"That's fair enough, for sure."
"As I've definitely already told you before, I have been made fun of for my looks, both here in Japan and back home in Ireland. I have had some guys interested in me for something other than my looks, but not very many. I have dated before, to be sure. But most of the boys I've dated were not even worth dating at least twice. I have therefore resolved to be very careful and very skeptical. I'm not interested in dating, as a result. I'm not going to risk my heart again for those who may not be ready, willing, and able to do the same. Now what about you, seeing as I just told you about me?"
"There isn't much for the former, but there is some for it, I must say. I have never dated a guy more than once by my choice, yet. However, the boys I've ever dated so far haven't generally measured up to either my standards or my preferences for potential future boyfriends or husbands. I have always been fiercely zealous when it comes to guarding my heart with unrelated males. And I have NEVER even kissed another unrelated guy, nor been kissed by them. Not even in school plays or other theatrical productions. Oh, sure, at least one or two of the boys I've ever had to date before has tried to kiss me or asked me for kisses. But I've always resisted their attempts or refused their requests for kisses." Sylvia paused for a moment, briefly looking at some chickadees that had decided to land near the sitting Eryn, so that they might perhaps drink some water from the fountain.
"But there is one boy in particular who I truly might not even be opposed to ever kissing. We have not progressed to that point, mind you, but we have spent time with each other outside of school, Eryn. Especially in the last year or so, we have, anyway, that is."
"Rolando."
"Yes, Rolando. He's the one male I would most likely let into my heart, if the Lord so leads me. I do not yet know if he's the ONE for me. But I happen to think the chances are very good that he is, somehow."
"But what of your new status as superheroes, Sylvia?"
"We will deal with things as best as they can in that regard, Eryn. IF we are truly meant to spend our lives with each other as either boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, it will certainly happen, I'm quite sure. Even if we have to fight before we can form a permanent and unbreakable bond with each other, it will still happen."
The girls spent about the next half hour or so with each other before parting again. Sylvia gladly let her leave, after which she went in search of Rolando.
After Sylvia was away from the park, she called up Rolando on a communicator that Moonlight Serenade had given her earlier that morning, when he'd found her on a pre-breakfast walk near her home. Rolando had encountered Book and Blueberry the day after the attack at Crossroads, and they had also given him a communicator that looked nearly identical to the one that Darien had earlier received, and nearly identical to the one that Sylvia now held. Now those communicators were normally kept, or would be kept, in subspace pockets away from public sight or hearing. She told him everything she then could from her conversation with Eryn, but didn't reveal needlessly any of Eryn's secrets to him.
Rolando wondered if Eryn would keep the fact that she knew they were both superheroes secret from all those who had no need nor business in knowing. Sylvia strongly believed that they would, and said as much.
They agreed to meet for lunch by noon local time at a small outdoor diner nearly equidistant from both their homes in the SEST area of Tokyo. After which, Sylvia quickly ended her chat with Rolando, and began heading there, as she also began hoping that the current special offer of the day there would be quite tasty.
Meanwhile, Eryn returned home, and found Gearalt near her and Ashley's room, thinking about something, although she couldn't tell what it might be. However, she did see him with a basket of laundry with girls' clothes in it. She asked, as she began quickly heading his direction, "What in blazes are you doing with that basket, Gearalt?"
"Well, I thought you girls might want a basket of clean clothes straight from the laundry, for one thing, Eryn. I mean, I can't wear them, nor can Father, and certainly not Paxton, you know."
"You're up to something, Gearalt. I'll find out what it is, and if you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, I'll not be happy, for sure," said Eryn, as she stopped directly in front of him and grabbed the basket semi-roughly from his hands.
"What's the big idea, of that? I'm just bringing you girls your clothes, that's all," claimed Gearalt.
"I'm going to tell you this once, and hopefully only once, Gearalt. Don't mess with me right now. I'm REALLY not in a real good mood at present, and I know you've been trying to greatly stick your big fat nose where it doesn't belong more than usual of late. Stop it, or else you might find yourself in some trouble you may or may not be ever be able to get out of easily enough at all. And when you go to the art gallery today, you'd best be on your best possible behavior, or not even our shared blood ties will be enough to keep me from getting after you one way or another in major enough ways later, most likely, I think. You cross me right now, and you might really regret it, for sure!"
That said, Eryn quickly whacked him upside the head once with her free hand not holding the laundry basket to her side, and said, "That whack's only a very mere taste of what might come from me if you don't stop all this foolish nonsense trying to involve yourself in my personal business! Now get out of here, or else!"
Not wanting to currently experience his older sister's anger more than he just had, he hurried away. But that in no ways meant that he'd never be as nosy as he'd most recently been when it came to certain Eryn-related matters again.
Eryn briefly watched him make tracks for anywhere other than somewhere near Ashley and her bedroom, before quickly heading to it with that laundry basket. When she entered their bedroom, Ashley was practicing Irish dancing using videos sent in the mail from Ireland. Ashley was also holding a pair of elaborately-decorated Chinese-style fans in her hands. For she also had an interest in potentially learning martial arts for purposes of self-defense. And she was in the process of trying to develop her own personal style of those techniques.
Ashley soon saw Eryn in a bad mood, and said, "I hope G.R. didn't flash you off this time, Eryn."
"No, I've got some big things on my mind now, and with all that's been going on of late for me, especially with eejit younger brothers, I'm not slapdashery at the present time." Eryn set the basket of clothes on a table along one wall of the bedroom as she said that, but not as gently as she usually would, because she was rather upset.
"Might you be able to talk with me right now?"
"No, Whirlygirl, I can't, to be honest. It's a lot of balderdash, I think, but something I can't talk about with you." Eryn sat on her bed after dropping her backpack near a door to their bedroom for about five minutes, before suddenly kicking off her shoes, and saying, "I'm going to take a bath. I don't want to be bothered as I do so. Don't expect me to be out of there for at least half an hour, either."
"It's one of those times again, Eryn?" asked Ashley, as she saw Eryn begin rummaging around in her dresser for some clothes to wear to the art gallery.
"Yes, Whirly, it is. Besides, I'm going to need to change my clothes," said Eryn, as she found some socks to wear.
"Are you mad at anyone at present?" Ashley stopped practicing her dancing and lay prone on her bed, setting her fans next to her as she faced Eryn.
"Why would you say that?" asked Eryn, without turning her head to face Ashley, as she also withdrew some blouses she might want to perhaps wear at the art gallery from a different dresser drawer.
"Because normally you wouldn't take a rather long bath if you weren't, if I remember correctly." Ashley looked at a bit of her wavy mid-neck-length brownish-black hair, twirling it between two fingers, before looking back at Eryn who was looking for clothes to wear to the art gallery. Dressy, but not too dressy. Bright, but not too bright. Comfortable, but not too comfortable. And form-fitting, but not too form-fitting.
"I'm not mad at anyone or anything, Whirly." Two skirts and a pair of jeans joined the growing pile of clothes on Eryn's bed.
"Yes, you are, Eryn. Is it Gearalt or Sylvia, for example?" Ashley suddenly reached under her bed and whipped a boomerang towards a target on one wall of their shared bedroom, nearly hitting some begonias on a stand between that target and her bed and near an easel elsewhere in the room.
"Sylvia Wakefield and I hardly know each other for us to be mad at each other. Gearalt is of course another story. Watch it with that boomerang of yours, Whirly," said Eryn, once she saw the boomerang whirling towards the target out of the corner of one eye.
"So what or who is flashing you off? Surely something or someone is. It's not me, is it?"
"No, it's not you, Whirly. Listen, I'd really like to be able to tell you more about what's on my mind, but I can't. I absolutely can't."
"Or about your dagger?" The boomerang passed three seconds later through a gap between two training dummies, as it began its return trip to Ashley's hand. At present, that gap was no more than six inches wide in any direction because Ashley had been trying to improve her martial arts skills.
"Especially not about my dagger. In fact, don't even ask anything more about it in the future, unless absolutely necessary. Don't even touch it," answered Eryn, as Ashley's boomerang rather quietly smacked into its thrower's hand.
Minutes later, Eryn left the room, singing an centuries-old Irish song while passing by her tapestry on one wall, and headed towards the upstairs bathroom. Ashley watched her go, and after she was gone, she thought to herself, 'Eryn, I really hope whatever's bothering you now won't be a major problem for you.'
As she thought that, she heard, "Football Head, get out of there now! I need to take a bath, and I need to take it now, if I'm going to be ready in time for our trip to the art gallery!" She thought, 'Yes, she's still not in a good mood, and it doesn't appear she will be again for some time.'
"You can wait, Eryn. I won't be much longer, if you'll just relax."
"No time to relax. I've got things to do and people to see, before the exhibition begins, Football Head. I need to be there by 1 pm, and it's nearly 11:30 now."
"But the show doesn't begin until at least 3, I believe, big sister."
"That may be so, but as I said, I have things to do and people to see before it does. So you'd best get out of there now."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I might go in your room and start going after your football-related items, because I'm really not in a good mood."
"Don't touch my football stuff, Eryn."
"Then you have five minutes to get out of the bathroom, or else I'll start heading to your room. I won't wait longer. Five minutes, and five minutes only! I'm timing you, starting now!" she shouted, after a brief glance at a watch.
Ten seconds before the deadline she'd set, he emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed, with a semi-upset look on his face. After quick looks passed between them, he left the bathroom first, and stalked off towards his room. Once he was out of sight and hearing range of her, she hurried into the bathroom, drew the water, and began her bath.
She chose to wear a sky blue long-sleeved blouse with several Celtic and Irish-styled suns, those suns being mostly near its hem, over pairs of matching slacks, socks, and low-heel sandals. In both ears, she also wore stud-style earrings with three identical suns apiece each separated by smaller aquamarines hanging down from her earlobes that she'd bought the evening before. When she finally came out of the bathroom, Sunstriker was on her left hip in its usual place.
Eryn quickly went downstairs and got herself some lunch, seeing as it was nearly 12:30. She talked for a while with all three of her siblings and their parents while doing so, before saying, "I have to head back to the art gallery for a while. I hope to be back here within the next hour or two, so that we can all accompany each other to it later. But if I can't make it back in time, so be it. If so, then I'll wait for you all there before the exhibition begins. Stay as close as possible to each other when you come to the art gallery, if I'm not able to come back and accompany you there later."
Cormac said, "Take whatever time you need, Eryn. Don't feel you have to rush back on our account."
"I'll do my best."
"That's all we ask, Eryn," said Liana. "In the meantime, have fun."
Just then, Eryn got a very strange sense of great foreboding, although she didn't know just why. She reached for her parents and siblings, and pulled them all silently into a group hug, and it wasn't a short hug, but it lasted for at least two minutes, but no more than five, as far as she could then easily recall, before she just as suddenly found herself releasing them all. Before she left their dining room, she said, in a very serious manner, "Stick together, as best as possible today, for as long as possible. And most definitely do NOT go into the Amaterasu Room. Danger is lurking there." From one of the doors leading into the dining room, moments later, she shouted, as she left the room, "DO NOT GO IN THAT ROOM, UNDER ANY POSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER, IF YOU CAN SOMEHOW AVOID EVER DOING SO AT ALL, ANY OF YOU!"
When they tried to ask her what she meant, she wouldn't say anything more, before she left. Which then left them all to puzzle over everything she'd just said for some time.
Eryn left her family's home, still feeling a great foreboding, as she rode back to the art gallery. On the way there, she encountered Sylvia and Rolando again, and they were deep in discussion about the exhibition and what might come to pass during it, including about the expected attack during it.
Sylvia saw Eryn before Rolando did, and asked her, after she noticed that Eryn wasn't currently in a good mood easily enough, "Did you just get a very bad feeling, Eryn?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" asked Eryn, slowing up slightly so that she could keep pace with her future teammates as they walked to the gallery.
"Because we both have that kind of feeling now. We don't know where in the gallery they'll begin their attack or attacks from tonight, but we expect that it will be a large attack, and dozens, if not hundreds, of people will be at risk of great harm or worse. We may need you to fight as well," answered Sylvia.
"We've gone over this, you two. I don't want to fight if I don't have to."
"Oh, no, this is bad!" exclaimed Rolando. He stopped and slipped off the backpack he was wearing, before swinging it quite fiercely towards a nearby tree along the sidewalk they were on while heading to the art gallery.
"What's bad, Volois?" Eryn stopped her biking, but kept her hands on its handlebars, so that she could maintain full control.
"I saw you and some people with you attacked in a vision, and five of them looked like they were possibly either unconscious or worse, while being held tight by tentacles or something belonging to a large alien monster, for at least one of those five people. Not only that, you were thrown a few feet away from the monster and those with you, in or near a room that appeared to be called the Amaterasu Room for the art gallery, if I'm not too mistaken here with my vision," he said, with a very concerned look on his face now, even as he began whacking the tree he'd just swung his backpack at several times in growing displeasure. He also quickly described the people apparently with Eryn in his vision.
"Are you serious?" Eryn was hoping he wasn't. For Rolando had perfectly described all three of her siblings and both of her parents.
Rolando shot her a very sad look, before nodding reluctantly. "I hope I'm wrong, of course, but I suspect very strongly that I am not, unfortunately, Eryn." More whaling on the tree followed.
"Rolando, settle down," said Sylvia, as calmly as she could, as she moved towards where he was now whaling on the tree with considerable force as quickly and as quietly as possible.
"But, Sylvia, innocents could potentially be harmed greatly, if not even killed, during this next attack. I hate seeing innocents get hurt needlessly, even in my dreams and visions."
"Listen, Rolando. Consider this a potential warning of possible danger before it even may happen, and let God show us what we may all need to do to safeguard and to preserve as many people as possible from being harmed or killed during this next Negaverse attack. Just because you saw a vision like that, it doesn't mean that things will happen in exactly the same way or ways during the attack and resulting battle as you just saw in that vision," said Sylvia. She came up to him, and placed her hands on his shoulders, before gently turning him around so that he couldn't whale any longer on the tree.
Eryn asked, "Is he often like this, Wakefield?"
"Around me, he sometimes is, but not often." As she said that, she continued holding him by the shoulders, and trying to calm him down with gentleness, yet firmness.
Eryn watched Sylvia deal with Rolando, as gently and as quietly as she could, even as Sylvia began singing a random praise and worship song in Hebrew straight from the Bible. As she did so, Rolando calmed down considerably, even though he didn't really know Hebrew. Several moments later, Rolando was calmed, and she let him go.
That done, the three of them continued on their ways to the art gallery, with no further sudden outbursts of great emotion. They arrived at the art gallery by 12:45. Eryn and Sylvia told Rolando that they each had a few people to see. When he asked what he should do while they were meeting with the people they needed to see, the girls briefly conversed with each other slightly away from him, before Eryn said, "Go explore the art gallery as you wish, but be back here by 2:15."
"Very well, then, Kesell. But do try to stay safe, both of you, okay?"
"We will, Rolando, we will," said Sylvia, before she and Eryn left Rolando. Rolando watched them go, and when they were out of sight, he found himself exploring the art gallery on the second floor.
Not long after that, he encountered Darien on the second floor near what appeared to be a painting of two young people in a garden under a sky with Earth in it. He soon thought, 'How is that possible? Earth is the only known habitable planet in at least this solar system, if not the whole Universe.'
When Darien realized that he was no longer alone in the Selene Room, he saw Rolando standing next to him looking at several paintings in a row, including the one with a young couple in a garden. He looked at Rolando for a few seconds, and asked, "Have we met before, stranger?"
"Not to my knowledge, but I have to say you seem strangely familiar to me for some reason, sir."
"I get the same feeling, somehow, although I can't exactly say why either, to be honest."
"I'm Rolando. Rolando Volois."
"Darien. Darien Shields."
The two young men got to talking to each other about the paintings then in front of them, before Darien said, "It was nice meeting you, Rolando. I have things to do now, unfortunately, but I expect to see you again."
"Likewise, Darien. I too expect to see you again."
"We'll see, Rolando, we'll see. Until our next meeting, then." Darien quickly left Rolando alone in the Selene Room. After which, Rolando resumed his explorations of the art gallery, but while also keeping in mind the girls' wish that he meet them back where they'd left him by 2:15.
Meanwhile, as Rolando was exploring in the art gallery, Sylvia and Eryn were meeting with several other people, and at least double-checking the areas in it where their respective items would be exhibited once the show began. As they were doing so, they each also encountered Kibwe, at two different times, who Sylvia had not yet had the chance to meet.
First, Eryn encountered him, and then Sylvia did, and then all three of them ended up near each other, just before the time that the girls were planning to meet up with Rolando. Before that three-person meeting happened, however, Kibwe found himself drawn towards the Amaterasu Room. While he didn't go in it, or very near it, he did get within twenty feet of its entrance, but no further. He kept himself at least that far away from it, for he got a real bad feeling about that room in the art gallery, for some unknown reason.
Not long after that, he encountered both Eryn and Sylvia. Even though Sylvia knew who he was, thanks to Rolando and Eryn's earlier descriptions of him, she still played along and pretended she didn't know who he was before Eryn introduced him to her and her to him, for appearance's sake. It wasn't long before all three of them were talking a great deal about art.
They were in conversation when they went to where the girls had earlier asked Rolando to meet them. He was waiting for them, and reading multilingual brochures from the art gallery.
Kibwe mentioned that there seemed to be something really strange going on in the art gallery. Rolando and Sylvia told him that they expected potential trouble later in the evening or night, but didn't go into any real details, not even while Eryn was present with them. Eryn stayed with them until about 2:30, before saying that she had to go home for a few moments, so that she could come to the art gallery along with her parents.
But ultimately, after Sylvia pointed out that she might not have enough time to do that easily enough before 3, she chose to stay at the art gallery and wait for her family to arrive at it. She did, however, go to the art gallery's main lobby on the first floor, to wait for them, while Sylvia and Rolando both got to know more about Kibwe, and Kibwe about them both. Of course, seeing as Kibwe was not known as a future member of their growing superhero team, they didn't mention certain things to him.
Kibwe went to where his items were going to be exhibited, while Sylvia and Rolando walked with each other. Whenever they could do safely enough as they walked with each other in it, they discussed their expectations and plans for dealing with the upcoming battle.
Eventually, Rolando remembered that there was another commitment he had to attend to that very day, and he said, "I just remembered a meeting with a book editor I have to attend to today, Sylvia. It was arranged two weeks ago, and I plumb forgot about it after the attack at Crossroads, believe it or not."
"Go ahead and go to the meeting. You do have a communicator with you, if I'd need to reach you, don't you, by any chance?"
"Yes, fortunately I do. Book and Pilgrim reminded me to bring it with me today, and it's in my subspace pocket which they told me about before the attack at Crossroads, in fact."
"Book and Pilgrim?"
"Book is a red monkey, and Pilgrim is a blue, white, and brown turtle. Don't ask me why they're the colors they are, because I really don't know. And there will be other animals around us of various colors, whether they're normal colors for the types of animals that they'll be or not, for sure, come to think of it. For instance, I'm expecting a red, white, and pink panda to eventually show up around us. Although I really don't know why I am, when I know most pandas, if not all pandas, are normally black and white, for sure. Book and Pilgrim will belong to me, but I don't know how I'm going to convince my parents to let me take them in where we live around here, Sylvia."
"And, of course, there's no way Moonlight Serenade can live with me and my family where we now live around here, for the obvious reasons. I wonder where he's staying or will be staying around here, as a result of that being the case right now, at least."
"Perhaps you can ask him that sort of thing later, when possible."
"Maybe, Rolando, maybe. Take care, and hopefully you'll be able to get back here before the attack begins, somehow. There is definitely going to be an attack here, right?"
"Unfortunately, I do believe so. I do hope, however, that nobody except the enemies are killed or hurt. Eryn is going to be so upset when her family gets attacked."
"And you think that might force her to fight alongside us, right?"
"Yes, even if she might not want to, and even though we won't be forcing her to fight, I think it will, Sylvia. I just hope she can handle herself well enough in battle and afterwards, once she is officially drawn into the fight and initiated as a fighter. I don't know yet if it will be another person or an animal who initiates her as a fighter, or if she'll self-initiate herself. But I am quite certain that she will be initiated as a fighter by no later than 8 or 9 tonight, if I'm not too mistaken about such things, in any case. I really don't want to have to leave you, for sure, but I do have a meeting to attend to in very short order with a book editor several blocks from here. So I'll have to see you later, I'm sure."
"Okay, go to your meeting, and do try to stay as safe as you can while you do so, and while you're away from here, Rolando."
Minutes later, Rolando was at his meeting, several blocks away from the art gallery, and Sylvia was alone again. She was quite glad that her family's members had other commitments or plans for the day, so they wouldn't be in any potential danger due to THIS upcoming attack. But she was greatly concerned about Eryn and her family's members. Especially for Gearalt, given what she already knew about him so far from Eryn and her own personal observations about him.
As she waited for him to return, she also did some exploring of the art gallery, even past the scheduled time of the exhibition's start, to see if she could find where all the currently-disguised monsters were at in it, before they could or would launch the attack. She kept her transformation locket close at hand, but completely within her subspace pocket, so that its actual existence and presence there was still kept secret from anyone else who didn't need to know of it.
She did this for an hour or two, but discovered nothing at all related to the monsters until just before 6 pm, when she happened to find herself several rooms away from the Amaterasu Room, and one floor away from it, from the floor above its floor in the art gallery. If it were possible for her to go through walls and/or floors in the art gallery in something other than a solid form, it would have been about forty feet of traveling on a mostly diagonal or arcing line through a floor, and a minimum of one wall and/or door, for her to go right to where the evil presence she had just discovered was. But seeing as she didn't have the capability to do that sort of thing, she'd have to go down on foot, to the Amaterasu Room's floor.
After she detected that evil presence, and while trying to locate other potential enemies she and others would have to face in the upcoming battle, she notified Rolando and Moonlight Serenade about what she'd just detected. They both told her to be as careful as possible and try not to start something until they and certain other allies of hers could assist her in the upcoming battle.
She said, while looking at a sculpture from a more secluded corner on the art gallery's third floor, "It appears that they're not yet ready to launch the attack, but I suspect that they will, somehow, by 8. I'm going to see if I can locate Eryn and her family in the meantime, and secretly let her know. Although I have this sneaking suspicion that I may not be able to find them before the attack is launched."
"Understood," said Rolando. "Be as careful as possible, until we can get there, if you can be. If things start, though, do the best you can there until we arrive against our enemy or enemies."
"Will do. Sylvia out."
Putting away her communicator, she went in search of Eryn and her family, hoping that they were safe and would be for a while longer yet, for sure. She didn't find them for another hour or so, though, but did encounter Hitomi, who she'd only met a few times before, at most, since the attack at the fashion show weeks earlier. The women briefly talked, and Hitomi said, once they were both in a safe enough place to do so easily enough, "I gather you have detected the evil presence or presences here by now, somehow, Miss Wakefield?"
"That's right, Mrs. Wakahisa. Are you Chrysanthemum Lady, by any chance? I seem to recall you being at the last battle, and Moonlight Serenade told me his mistress, in a manner of speaking, or owner, or however he referred to you, was a woman matching your description exactly. With or without a mask on her face at any time, for that matter."
"Yes, I am Chrysanthemum Lady. But don't go spreading that around, of course."
"I sure won't. Who's the guy who's fought wearing armor or a tuxedo during certain battles before, against them, if I might ask?"
"That is Earth Knight, who also has been known to fight as Tuxedo Mask. There are other allies who have fought them, but not all are fully awakened yet, as either Sailors or as Knights. I don't recall anyone called the Pilgrim fighting before the last attack, however."
"That's because the Pilgrim only awakened fully during the last attack, Mrs. Wakahisa, as did I."
"And you are, just to refresh my memory again? I believe Moonlight Serenade said he initiated someone as a superheroine during the last battle to me earlier, come to think of it."
"I am also Sailor Skyhorse now," said Sylvia, as she looked briefly away from Hitomi, to make sure it was still safe enough to talk about certain types of things at the present time with her. It was still safe enough for them to do so, so she said, "I hope this isn't going to be a very difficult battle tonight, Mrs. Wakahisa. But it seems that it will be, if I and the Pilgrim aren't too mistaken here, that is."
"Agreed. I'm getting that feeling too myself. I should probably get back to finding my allies/friends here or around here, Miss Wakefield. I trust that you will do the best you possibly can tonight, of course, one way or another. See you later, I'm sure, as well, Lord willing."
"Shalom, Mrs. Wakahisa."
"Same to you, Miss Wakefield, as best as possible tonight and afterwards, I hope." Moments later, Sylvia was alone again where she currently was in the art gallery, and she quickly resumed looking for Eryn and her family's other members, once she was.
She unfortunately didn't find them before the attack began earlier than planned for the Negaverse or expected by those who were on the heroes' side of the conflict. For several people found themselves going where they shouldn't have gone, whether they did so deliberately or not. Not the least of them being Gearalt, after he said he needed to go to the nearest men's restroom on the Amaterasu Room's floor, in fact.
He did go there, but after he left that restroom, and had walked a little more with his family, he decided to venture off when his parents and siblings' attentions were otherwise diverted suddenly. One second he was with them, and the next, he had slipped away from them and briefly into a crowd. Following the crowd's movements for a few moments, before slipping out of it, he headed right for the area of the Amaterasu Room, without his siblings or parents immediately aware of that fact and the related ones to it at the present time, unfortunately.
Eryn and Ashley were the first of his relatives to notice his absence, and Eryn said, "Gearalt's gone off, and I think he's going somewhere he ought not to go now. If he's heading where I told you all not to go, he's going to be in real big trouble, for sure! Let's go looking for him, but stay alert, and stick together with each other now, everyone!" After she said those things, she thought, 'Gearalt, you eejit! Looks like I'm going to have to go after you this time, and I really think that you're just like a foolish puppy who doesn't want to stay where he needs to be. Grow up, and stay where you belong, for once!' Wasting no more time after saying what she'd said to her parents and other siblings, she began leading them elsewhere in the art gallery, as safely and as quickly as she then could, in hopes that they all could find him in time before it was too late to somehow save and protect him well enough there.
As they searched for him on the Amaterasu Room's floor, Eryn was especially upset with Gearalt. But she didn't let it show to her parents and to her other two siblings, so that they wouldn't think the worst about the current situation any more than they each had to at the present time. Inside her, her current thoughts were raging fiercely, and such thoughts included ones like 'Gearalt, you're likely going to get yourself killed someday if you don't wise up and grow up,' for example.
Not long after they each began searching for him, various sounds, including a number of screams and shouts, for example, began reaching their ears. Eryn thought, 'Oh, no! The attack that Sylvia and Rolando told me about earlier has now evidently begun, even though it seems to be beginning earlier than they thought it might. Gearalt, you better hope you're not actually the cause of this attack or a contributing factor in why this attack has begun now. For if I find out you were, somehow, you'd better prepare to be thoroughly chewed out by me, at least, for sure. If nothing else as well!'
She sped up, and redoubled her efforts to find Gearalt in time. But her parents and siblings couldn't quite keep up with her easily enough, as she did so. It wasn't too much longer before she came upon several victims and certain signs of struggle and monster activity elsewhere on the floor. But she couldn't really stop to help them right now, unfortunately, whether those people were currently at great risk of potentially dying due to being attacked by various monsters present in the art gallery. Her parents and siblings tried to keep up with her as best as possible, but they were still unable to do so at the present time.
As she continued searching for her brother, she found herself tripping over a locket of some sort, near a painting of the Solar System, a few dozen yards away from the Amaterasu Room. She tripped, but somehow managed to land on her hands and knees, when she hit the floor, and not on her arms or elbows or legs. Picking up the locket she'd just tripped over, she briefly studied its casing, before unconsciously holding it tighter in her hand than she had when she picked it up off the floor. Although she didn't know why she did so, at least not at that particular time, she eventually would know, most definitely.
By the time she was within hearing range, if not also seeing range, of the Amaterasu Room, she had let her parents and other siblings besides Gearalt catch up. For she had found what she thought was a safe enough place to hide while she waited for them to catch up to her. And to better assess the likely current situation, as well, even though part of her wanted to charge right into things and see if she could aid those being attacked near that room, at least. But for now, at least, she waited, and watched, and all, looking for the best chance to make herself known to the monsters wreaking havoc in the art gallery.
It took her parents and two of her siblings about another five minutes to reach her current position, and Gearalt was still not yet seen by Eryn anywhere, much to her great dismay, for sure. That didn't permanently remain the case here, though. Because Gearalt suddenly appeared from somewhere near the Amaterasu Room in a direction she'd not expected anyone or anything to come from anywhere in the art gallery, after a certain monster strangely reminiscent of both octopi and squids had moved away from where he was, having drained several more people of their life energy with several tentacles of some sort.
Unfortunately, another similar monster unexpectedly was in the area, and that monster suddenly flashed into visibility, but not before reaching past Eryn and snatching her parents and two siblings, and then Gearalt, in that order. As they began draining life energy from her siblings and parents without Eryn seeing or hearing them do so immediately, that monster suddenly dropped its invisibility cloak of sorts, and appeared in front of her about halfway between where she was and where the Amaterasu Room was in the art gallery.
At its appearance, Sunstriker began to pulse on Eryn's hip, and the locket still in her hand began getting warmer, the more that she saw of the monster here. It wasn't too much longer before the monster turned and saw her, and sent a tentacle her way, hoping to drain her life energy as well. She couldn't avoid the tentacle's grasp, temporarily, and she was caught by it. But not for long, for about a minute after it had caught her, her new locket's face suddenly flipped open briefly, and flashed out bright lights that struck several places on the tentacle now holding her. Which then allowed its current grip on her to loosen slightly, and Eryn to snake her nearest hand down to her hip and draw Sunstriker from its sheath. Several quick slashes later, she was entirely free from its physical grasp, at least. But not before she was thrown into a nearby wall by the monster still holding on to her parents and siblings, unfortunately.
She was right-handed, but she was still able to use her left hand to draw Sunstriker from its place on her left hip and slash with it moderately well. She couldn't put as much strength or force into her slashes while holding it with her left hand, due to her being right-handed, yet she managed to force the monster to release its grip on her somehow.
The monster then snatched up a bit of now-jagged severely-damaged metalwork from a globe of sorts and sent it her way. But before it could reach where Eryn was struggling to get up, three dozen red roses from the now-present Tuxedo Mask forced it down to the floor several feet away from her, after they'd either impaled the metalwork multiple times or diverted its planned flight path to some degree. Not only that, but Wanderer and Seeker were engaging the monster, hoping to force them to release the people they were still attempting to drain of their life energy here, as well.
Eryn struggled to her feet, just in time to see the monster suddenly drop all her siblings and both her parents to the floor, and Tuxedo Mask shift into his Earth Knight form. She couldn't tell at that point whether her siblings and parents were dead or not, or just unconscious, to be sure, but she still hoped that they weren't dead, of course. Even Gearalt, she hoped that here, for sure, because of her being his big sister and all.
She soon saw that they were not moving, after being dropped to the floor by the monster now facing off against Wanderer, Seeker, and Earth Knight. Moving away from the wall she'd landed against slightly, she thought quietly for a few brief moments, while also looking around the area, then made a decision she hoped she would never regret making later on in her life. And she realized that by making that choice, her life, and the lives of certain others, would now change forever, or at least for quite a while, if not permanently, most definitely. No matter what it was, she still made her choice of what to do here and now.
Before she could, however, she also saw both Skyhorse and the Pilgrim suddenly flying involuntarily through the air, courtesy of another monster, until they landed on their sides or stomachs just in front of her, but not yet knocked out of the battle here, fortunately enough for them here. She looked briefly at them, and asked them, "Are you both okay, you two?"
"We've been better, but we're not done yet, for sure. It's going to take more than that to beat us from the monster we're facing now," said the Pilgrim, as both he and Skyhorse carefully rose from where they'd each landed near her, and prepared to re-engage their current mutual opponent. "I see your parents and siblings are down now, evidently, and not moving right now, even from here. What is your choice? What are you going to do now, if I may ask?"
She looked briefly at both Sunstriker and the locket she'd tripped over earlier, and then made her choice of what to do, for good or for bad, as the case might ultimately be for her and possibly for many others as well, in very short order. As she made that choice, she held Sunstriker in her right hand, and her locket in the other, before crossing her arms, with her left arm in front of her right one.
Stepping slightly away from where both Skyhorse and the Pilgrim were now standing, as they and their current mutual foe began angling for better fighting positions with each other, she faced the monster that had just been draining her parents and siblings as it had been. And she said the first thing that came into her mind suddenly, without even planning to think it in the first place, and without being prompted by any being now present, "Sunbeam Crystal Power!"
As she said those words, her sister Ashley had managed to hear her, and look at her, even though she was greatly struggling to stay conscious. Ashley thought, 'So this is something you were trying to hide from me, Eryn. Good luck, sister. I'm here if you need me. Just go show your enemies it's not wise to mess with Clan Kesell!'
As she simultaneously finished saying her transformation phrase, Eryn threw her arms apart until they were fully outstretched from her shoulders and parallel to the floor. She became shrouded by a green, gold, and orange pillar of light slightly larger than her wingspan, inside of which, she began transforming into her Sailor Sun state of being for the first time.
The pillar of light disappeared, revealing her new Sailor Sun fighting uniform. It was green, yellowish-gold, and orange, with some black and white. Her hair was woven into braided coils, so that it wouldn't get in her way during the fight, above a gold tiara with an aquamarine at its base that was lightly streaked with green and yellow-gold. Her new locket was centered on her front bow at the base of her sailor collar with two yellowish-gold stripes on it, and a hurling stick was on her back, its curved hook at her right shoulder. Even though she was right-handed, she'd draw that stick in battle with her left hand. Her painting kit was not visible from the front currently, seeing as it was still securely lodged in its holder on her back. Sunstriker was fully unsheathed and firmly held in her right hand, as she shouted at the monster, who faced another opponent to fight, "For attacking me, for attacking my family, I'll NEVER forgive you! With the power of the Sun, you shall be atomized!"
Pointing Sunstriker at her first opponent, as they smacked Wanderer into a nearby wall with moderate force, and batted away several more roses that Earth Knight had summoned during Sailor Sun's very brief speech, she suddenly drew a twelve-pointed star in the air, to represent twelve worlds in the Solar System. That star then drawn in no more than fifteen seconds, she shouted, "Sunburst Spiking Shot!", as she drew her hurley and smacked that star right at the monster. As the star shot out at the monster, it grew spikes of a sort, and by the time it hit the monster, it had dozens of assorted spikes present for it. The star hit the monster, and several spikes lodged in its flesh, and others exploded, causing considerable damage to the monster in a few places.
Sailor Sun had to launch three more such attacks towards the monster before she was able to sufficiently immobilize it. Although she still needed help from Earth Knight, Wanderer, and Seeker. Skyhorse and the Pilgrim, on the other hand, were still battling against the monster they'd been facing when Eryn transformed for the first time into her Sailor Sun state of being. For that monster had been much smarter, battle-wise, to this point, and had grown larger and more powerful during the battle.
Once Sailor Sun had sufficiently immobilized her first opponent, her locket suddenly flipped open, and shot several lights out of it, apparently to probe for possible pieces of Sailor Sun's future Sunbeam Crystal in its body. Those lights circled the monster several times, before splitting up and hitting several of its tentacles, where the locket had detected possible pieces of her future Sunbeam Crystal in them, as best as it could then tell here.
Those tentacles were then hit repeatedly by those lights until the ends of them were severed from the rest of the tentacles. Once they were, Sailor Sun was drawn to them, and she collected them, while then being covered by Earth Knight, Wanderer, Seeker, Skyhorse, and the Pilgrim. For other people had shown up and helped Skyhorse and the Pilgrim finally defeat their mutual opponent, even though they weren't actually transformed superheroes. Once that opponent was ultimately defeated and Skyhorse had destroyed it, the other people hurried off again to continue battling against other monsters still wreaking havoc all over the art gallery.
She quickly used her locket to scan those tentacles to find out exactly where in them the potential shards of her future Sunbeam Crystal might be. And each of those tentacles had between one to six small shards for them. For some of those shards, she didn't have to reach very far into those tentacles to retrieve them, after slashing into them near where the shards were. But for others, she had to reach in at least as far as her elbow, for some of the tentacles were rather thick in size that she had to slice into with Sunstriker or her hurley stick.
But before she could even cut into those tentacles, she'd first have to defeat the monster. It took another fifteen minutes, before she was able to defeat it, with Earth Knight and the others taking several hits apiece.
By that time, Sailor Sun had moved near her parents and all three of her siblings. Ashley was still barely conscious, while Eryn's other siblings and her parents were both completely unconscious. Ashley said, as Eryn briefly checked on her family's members, to see how they were, being covered by Skyhorse and the Pilgrim at present, "You are going to have to get the shards out of the tentacles you slashed, Sailor Sun, before you can destroy the monster. Otherwise, many may not survive, including us. I saw streams of energy flowing into those tentacles from the rest of the monster, after the lights from your locket severed them as they did."
When she heard that from Ashley, Sailor Sun shouted, "Don't destroy this monster yet, everyone! Cover me as I dig into these severed tentacles!" Sailor Sun left Ashley's side and began slicing through the tentacles, before starting to reach into them and collect the shards her locket was now confirming were present. Twenty minutes and nearly twenty shards later, she had been able to retrieve every single shard.
Once her locket told her that there were absolutely no other shards present, she suddenly shouted, "The rest of you go! I'll finish this monster off myself now! Clear the area, and take my siblings and parents with you!"
Wasting no further time, Skyhorse, the Pilgrim, Earth Knight, Wanderer, and Seeker each took one of her family members out of the area, with Skyhorse taking Ashley, Pilgrim Gearalt, Earth Knight Cormac, Wanderer Liana, and Seeker Paxton. Before Ashley departed the area, on Skyhorse's back, she said to Sailor Sun, "I love you, Eryn. Don't worry, it will take more than this to kill any of us, even if we are going to be inactive for a while. I'm so sleepy. Come visit us in the hospital soon. And beat these monsters as soon as you can." After Ashley said those things, she went silent, and fell completely unconscious.
A look quickly passed between Sailors Skyhorse and Sun, and Skyhorse said, "I will guard her with my life, no matter what happens, Eryn. I guarantee you this, for sure. She won't die if I can possibly prevent it!"
"I'm holding you to that promise, Sylvia."
"Noted. Now show that monster the consequences of its foolish actions here. I know you can do it! Keep your promise to atomize it, and avenge those it attacked."
"I certainly will, for nobody and/or nothing attacks me, and especially my family, like this, and gets away with it!"
Sailor Sun and the monster battled for another ten to fifteen minutes before Sailor Sun was able to permanently immobilize the monster from about twelve feet away, by using more of her generated spiky stars against them, along with several slashes from her hurley stick and Sunstriker.
"It's time to finish you off, for I have had enough of you being around here now! Any last words?"
"You will never defeat the Negaverse, you foolish little girl. Your Sun will die before the Negaverse is defeated!"
"We'll see about that. By the power of the Sun, I now vanquish you and banish you from existence forever! Sun Atomic Fusion Blast!" Sailor Sun first held both her hurley and Sunstriker in her fully outstretched arms, with her hurling stick in her left hand and Sunstriker in her right, before spinning to her right once to form a horizontal circle parallel to the ground around her. Performing a backwards somersault to get a few feet further away from the monster, she said the first half of that attack phrase. That done, she then traced with both her weapons another circle, but vertically oriented this time, until she had made a complete circle ending at the top of her head, and said the other half of that attack phrase, which made both now-traced circles fuse together. Once they were fused together, she brought her arms together and crossed them, exactly as she'd had them when she said her transformation phrase, before throwing them out towards the monster, and launching her finishing attack at it.
Five seconds later, there was nothing whatsoever left of the monster. Not even the tentacles' ends that she'd had to dig through to find the available shards for her Sunbeam Crystal survived that finishing attack. Sailor Sun thought briefly, as she stared for a few moments at where the monster had last been, 'I didn't want to have to kill, but now I have. Will I have to do a lot of it in the future? I really hope not! And I really hope my parents and siblings will be fine! Even Gearalt, as troublesome as he's been for me of late!'
Sailor Sun left and went in search of more enemies elsewhere in the art gallery. Along the way, she encountered Kibwe, who had fled from a room on the second floor. And he said that more were present all over the art gallery, but that they were being dealt with by both gallery security personnel and other heroes, even if they weren't transformed at present. She asked where she might be most of use, and he said, "Third floor, near the Super Sentai Room." When she asked if he needed her help to escape, he told her it wasn't needed.
So she let him be, and set off for the third floor area. On the way there, she encountered and destroyed several smaller and less powerful monsters, with her first attack, before getting to her planned destination. When she got there, she found several people, mostly security personnel, down on the floor, and others battling two moderately-sized monsters that were each about ten feet tall and nearly 600 pounds apiece with mostly pegasus-like features for them, excepting the leonine-style legs and feet/paws for them. She instantly jumped into the fight and seriously wounded one of them with a Sunburst Spiking Shot attack. Two attacks later, and one finishing attack later, the monster was destroyed, before she turned to the other monster and attacked it.
It took a bit longer for her to finish the other monster off, but it was quickly destroyed in turn, once everyone else near it had gotten far away enough from it to allow her to ultimately destroy it too. She stuck with those other people long enough to help clear the entire art gallery of whatever monsters still remained present, and eventually learned, that all monsters that had participated in the attack there had either been destroyed, incapacitated, or had withdrawn or been recalled back to the Negaverse.
As for those who had been attacked by those monsters all during the attack in question, she also learned that out of nearly a thousand or so people, there had been a dozen definite fatalities, 54 with injuries or energy drains that were currently judged as being potentially life-threatening, and about a hundred or so others who'd either suffered assorted injuries and/or been partially drained of energy that weren't likely in danger of dying. Everyone else hadn't been hurt or drained at all.
After it was confirmed that there would be no further fighting in or near the art gallery needed, Sailor Skyhorse found Sailor Sun, and told her that her parents and siblings were all unconscious in one of the nearby hospitals, but not in any danger of dying. She did this as Earth Knight, in his guise as Tuxedo Mask, began helping to repair as much of the damage to the art gallery as he could, by using his superhero abilities.
"Are they being watched over now, Skyhorse?"
"All of them are, yes."
"Will we have to fight again anytime soon, perhaps?"
"I hope not, but don't count on that not being the case, unfortunately, Sun. The Pilgrim thinks that there may be yet another attack soon, although he's not quite sure yet when it may be, or where."
"I don't want to get used to this sort of thing."
"Nor do I, but it seems we may have to, sorry to say."
"I suppose you're right, unfortunately. How long do you think they'll have to be in the hospital?"
"Unknown at this point, but they have been told to keep you posted, while your relatives are there. They won't be coming home in time for your sister's birthday."
"Ashley knows about my new superheroine state of being, it seems. I'm not quite sure how she knows I'm Sailor Sun, but she somehow knows that I am, Skyhorse."
"Do you think the monster knew that she knows that now, before you destroyed it?"
"If so, I hope they weren't able to communicate that to any other monster in the area. But I don't think they did."
"So do I, so do I, Sailor Sun. Now let's get out of here, and power down as quickly as we can."
Two minutes later, after finding a secure enough place to then do so, they both quickly powered down and returned to being just Sylvia Wakefield and Eryn Kesell in one of the women's restrooms. Seeing as Eryn's family members were now all in the hospital, and likely would be there for at least a little while, Eryn wouldn't be staying at her home for a while.
Sylvia offered to let her stay at her family's house, and Eryn accepted her offer, once Sylvia's parents went along with it. Before they returned to Sylvia's house, though, they stopped by the Kesell residence so that Eryn could pick up enough items to last her a week or more. However, she did take a few pictures of her family with her, so that she wouldn't forget who she would have to fight to protect.
Sylvia and Eryn arrived back at the Wakefields' residence by 12:30 in the morning of Sunday, October 14, 1990. It wasn't long before Sylvia and Eryn told Sylvia's parents and siblings whatever they could about the attack at the art gallery. But they didn't tell them everything. Esther said, "You can stay here as long as necessary with us, Eryn, while your parents and siblings are in the hospital. I'm sure Sylvia won't mind sharing her room with you."
"Sure I won't, Mother. She's quite welcome to stay with me for as long as needed."
"Very well, then, that's how it shall be as long as you're staying with us, Eryn. We will pray for your relatives' quick healings, most definitely," said Esther. Nigel and the other members of Sylvia's family agreed with her.
That done, Sylvia escorted Eryn upstairs, and the girls got cleaned up and patched up. Once it was safe enough, they spent a little while conversing about the battle, until they were too tired to remain awake. After which, Sylvia decided to sleep in her chair and let Eryn sleep in her bed, feeling that Eryn needed her bed more.
As she drifted off to sleep, she thought, 'Eryn, you did well, for a beginner, I must admit, but there are things we're all going to have to work on in the future. Even me, no doubt. If many future Negaverse monsters are as tough to deal with as they were this time around, we could really have our hands full, if we don't get more help anytime soon. But we must try our very best to defend the innocent, even if it might mean our deaths. It was interesting to fight alongside you tonight, I also have to say. I wonder how well we're going to be able to work together in battle. Guess we'll just have to find out later, won't we? I will certainly keep your parents and siblings all in my prayers and thoughts, I promise you this.'
Moments later, she was quite soundly asleep herself in her chair, but not without having covered herself with one of her own quilts first, and not without having her locket right next to where she was sleeping.
As for Eryn's locket, it was now resting securely inside her new subspace pocket, along with her hurling stick and her new fighting uniform. But not her backpack, because it wouldn't need to be there. Instead, that backpack was on the floor next to Sylvia's bed.
Eryn would find herself spending a great deal of time with Sylvia whenever she wasn't otherwise occupied while her parents and siblings were all at the hospital they'd been taken to earlier. And from doing so, she would unexpectedly start to know Sylvia well,. It was still unknown just how that knowledge of Sylvia and her ways would change the future for her and for Sylvia and many others.
Sadly, Eryn would visit her parents and siblings and she'd try to deal with it. In the meantime, other things would also occupy her mind, not the least of them being her new status as an officially-awakened superheroine who'd just joined a new team of fighters opposing the Negaverse's attacks anywhere in Japan.
People like Kibwe would try to help her, but how she would ultimately deal with them would be entirely up to her. Whether in her civilian state of being or her superheroine state of being.
And the way or ways that she might deal with them might determine whether or not her family members and many other people ultimately would live or die.