Earth Versus the Power-Hunters

by The Universal Storyteller

Jadeite's time may be running out, in at least one way, I expect, and things will get much more difficult for the heroes very soon, whether or not it is. Will the fates of many innocent humans' lives be tied to whether or not he survives somehow or not? You'll have to read on to find out, folks. There's still a lot more to tell of this story, for sure!

10. Freaky Felines and the Purloined Pottery

Freaky Felines and the Purloined Pottery

---

Two weeks later, Eryn and Sylvia were heading to school together after having visited Eryn's parents and siblings at one of Tokyo's hospitals and patrolling in Tokyo for a while. Sylvia had suddenly gotten this urge to patrol, and had dragged Eryn along with her, slipping out of her bedroom by way of her balcony. Eryn didn't like it, but Sylvia had pulled her out of bed, early in the morning of November 1, 1990.

They'd then patrolled much of Tokyo for several hours, finding little to hint at what the Negaverse might be planning for their next mission to Earth. Which didn't please either of them much, if at all. Especially Eryn, for she was still quite unused to this sort of thing, in comparison to Sylvia. Sun asked, as they patrolled, "Are you finding much for any useful information or anything, Skyhorse?"

"No, unfortunately not, Sun," said Skyhorse, jumping between two store buildings' roofs, with Sun following her. "However, I'm starting to get a rather strange feeling here, for some reason I can't presently identify clearly. And it seems to be a bad feeling as well, somehow." Heading towards Juuban, the two Sailors went, with Skyhorse seeming to be unconsciously drawn forwards as she patrolled with Sun.

The two of them stopped on a rooftop about three blocks away from the Crown. Skyhorse hid behind a large tank, dragging Sun with her, keeping her eyes focused on several buildings five blocks further on. She did so hoping they'd not be seen by those unloading four large trucks into them. Most of them related to an arts and crafts-related store called Cats and Pots and More, but not all. For she now had a real bad feeling that whatever they were unloading wouldn't be all that good for many in Tokyo and/or Japan, if they were distributed widely enough in the very near future, somehow.

They watched the people unloading those trucks for a while, and Skyhorse took pictures with a camera she'd stashed in her subspace pocket just before they'd left her house. Once those trucks were emptied and gone, Skyhorse said, "We'll have to come back here later, it seems, Sun. In the meantime, let's go check on things with your parents and siblings, before school starts for us again."

"All right, Skyhorse. Let's go. It's been a couple of days since I've seen them last, so I need to see them as soon as I can, I think."

"You certainly do, Sun, you certainly do." Realizing daylight was less than an hour away, at most, Skyhorse turned and ran in the direction they'd need to go so that Eryn could see her family's members again before school. Sun followed close behind her as she did so.

They were on the roof across from the required hospital fifteen minutes later. When it was safe enough, they jumped onto the hospital's roof, before they each moved to one of the two doors that'd allow them access to the rest of the hospital through the main stairwells leading down from the roof. They made sure that they'd still be able to stay in contact by opening a secure channel through their communicators, just in case they were out of direct hearing or sight range of each other. While they'd hide their communicators, they'd still use them for that purpose. They agreed to meet outside her parents' room in civilian form as soon as possible.

Skyhorse waited until both access points were well clear of any hospital security personnel before sending a certain pre-arranged hand signal to Sun and reaching for the necessary door in front of her. Sun quickly responded in like manner, and then did the same within five seconds. That done, Skyhorse held up her left hand, and began silently counting five seconds down where Sun could see her hand easily enough.

Five seconds later, they each opened the doors in front of them. Proceeding down their stairwells, and staying always on guard, they both soon powered down, four floors below the hospital's roof.

That done, Sylvia began making her way towards where Eryn's parents were, as casually and as silently as possible, periodically looking or popping into various patients' rooms, to see how they were then doing, as safely as possible, after having been caught up in the recent art gallery attack. Most of them seemed to be improving considerably, from what she could then tell well enough here of them. Not all, but at least a few, in any case, anyway.

As for Eryn, she soon found herself wandering in the hospital until a nurse unexpectedly came upon her, and recognized her from prior visits to her family in it. That nurse was Theodora Sutilenia, and she asked, with a strong Italian accent, "It's Eryn Kesell, isn't it? You're the girl from Ireland?"

Eryn turned around to see who was addressing her, and she saw a nurse about her mother's age; attractive with dark hair and green eyes, her auburn hair in a short, yet stylish, cut that made her look about five years younger than her true age of 47. "Are you lost, by any chance?" When Eryn nodded, slightly, not yet noticing the nurse's name on her badge, and mentally placing her face, even though she'd seen them before, the nurse said, "I'm Theodora Sutilenia, and I've been attending to your mama and papa in their room every so often since they got here."

"Ah, yes, now I remember you. Sorry, I haven't been here for a few days, so I forgot who you were," Eryn said, embarrassed she'd not recognized Theodora immediately upon seeing her again.

"You remind me of my daughter. She's about five years younger than you, and she has long dark hair. I say dark hair, but she often streaks three other colors into her hair, including bright pink! Crazy kids, who often do that, yes! But she's still quite a girl, although I can't really explain why she is how she is!"

Minutes later, Theodora brought Eryn to where her parents' room was, still chattering away, mostly in Italian to herself, to try to pass the time, and all. By then, Sylvia had slipped into a nearby corridor. Hearing Eryn talking to Theodora, whenever Theodora let her get a word in edgewise, she then knew she was on the right floor, and near her friend's parents in it.

"Thanks," Eryn finally managed to say, as she and Theodora reached her parents' room, while Sylvia hurried into the appropriate corridor, quickly joining Eryn outside it.

Theodora asked, in heavily Italian-accented English, "I will leave you with your parents. Your young friend can come in too, for I know her too. She has unusual eyes, although I can't explain what I mean by unusual eyes, for some reason. What am I trying to say that I can't? I don't know! Maybe it is Tokyo or something that makes eyes unusual, and is making it hard for me to say what I'm trying to say here?"

Eryn didn't know for sure, or at least not as of yet. But after hearing even that bit of commentary from Theodora, she began to wonder herself. Especially after hearing about Theodora's daughter. She'd look out for an Italian girl with bright pink-streaked long hair and unusual eyes. Surely there weren't many of them in Tokyo, were there?

"Thank you, Sutilenia-san. Ciao!"

Theodora nodded, continuing her rounds, as the two girls slipped quietly into the room, Eryn first.

When they entered, the curtain between both of Eryn's parents was opened, and both her parents were talking about their future plans once they got out of the hospital. They were glad to see Eryn, of course, and also Sylvia, and said as much moments later.

"Eryn has been a welcome guest of ours since you all ended up here, Mr. and Mrs. Kesell. We've had our differences of opinion, of course, but it's still been great, at least for the most part, having her stay with us while you and your other children are all still here. My parents and others around me have also been keeping you and them quite often in their thoughts and prayers, for sure, as have I," said Sylvia.

"I see," said Cormac, a few moments later. "We thank you and yours for all your prayers, Miss Wakefield, and we hope to be out of here in the near future. Since your last visit, there's not really been any significant change in the conditions of Eryn's siblings, and Gearalt still seems to be the most out of it, of them all. Ashley is apparently the best off, a little better than Paxton, but all are still unconscious, in any case."

"Have there been any additional yet-unexplained occurrences since our last visit here related to them, by any chance, you two?" asked Sylvia.

"Well," mused Liana briefly, "it seems that after a few visitors came to the hospital a few days ago, to visit with or check on many patients here, Ashley and various others seemed to improve, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons. The doctors checked on a number of them afterwards, and eventually told us that had been the case for a number of patients here. Although they couldn't tell us just why, in truth."

"Sylvia, go check on my siblings, please," said Eryn suddenly, after unexpectedly feeling Sunstriker seeming to secretly pulse on her hip, briefly turning to face her friend so that her parents couldn't see her face at that time. Shooting her a secret look towards the door, Eryn indicated that Sylvia needed to leave immediately, with a quick series of blinks.

"Okay, Eryn. I'll see you later. If I need you before then, I'll let you know. We'll continue to keep you all in our thoughts and prayers, as always, Mr. and Mrs. Kesell, then."

"Just take care of our Eryn here, at least, Sylvia, and we'll be fine with that," said Cormac.

Quickly nodding towards both Liana and Cormac, Sylvia immediately departed the room for Gearalt's room first, knowing that he was apparently the most unconscious for Eryn's three siblings. When she got there, she saw what appeared to be computer chips of some sort near his bed, and another girl apparently in a protective mood there as well. She didn't really recognize the girl very well yet. But she had been one of the players for Crossroads that had been caught in the attack during the still-recent volleyball match there. Most specifically, she was Terna Frinussi. And Terna was then holding what appeared to be some sort of modem-related cord in her hands near Gearalt's bed.

It took both girls a few seconds for them to recognize each other well enough at the current time, before Sylvia asked, "What brings you so far from Crossroads at this time, Frinussi-san?"

"I came here with Wakahisa-san to visit with several people here, and to accompany her to an appointment she had early this morning. Moments ago, I got a very strange feeling while walking near here, and I saw something weird not far away from here. They came in here, apparently looking for someone or something, and I followed them. We fought for a while. And while we were still fighting, they dropped this cord and what appear to be some computer chips of some sort, before a portal unexpectedly opened up behind them and they stepped back into it. Before I could stop them, and keep them here, though, they entered the portal and vanished from sight. I do not know where they went, unfortunately, and if they will be back. But now that I know that they have been here, I would not be all that surprised if they come back here sometime soon, to be completely honest with you here, Wakefield-san."

The two girls conversed with each other, as Terna gathered up the chips of some yet-unknown sort or sorts, and they also checked on Eryn's other two siblings for a little while. And they began trying to get to know each other at least a little bit better, as well. before Terna had to part from Sylvia again.

After that happened, Sylvia returned to where Eryn's parents still were conversing with her, and told all three of them what'd just happened in Gearalt's room, as best as she then could. Of course, she didn't tell Eryn's parents everything, and wouldn't. But she still secretly let Eryn know that potential danger had just been encountered there, somehow.

Eryn was not happy to learn that. But she also knew that she couldn't really say anything at great depth about certain matters, of course. She'd have to wait longer to discuss those things with Sylvia and others. Even if she really wanted to discuss them sooner than later, in any case, like it or not.

The two girls departed the hospital about half an hour before they'd have to be at school. They were a block away from their school no later than five minutes prior to the start of school and just before Rolando encountered them near their school.

A brief conversation later, all three soon went to their respective first classes of the school day. They didn't talk more about that morning's events until after school had ended for the day, and until they were all in a secure enough location. That being the exact same rooftop that both Sylvia and Eryn had been on in direct sight of the Crown while in their Sailor states of being earlier that morning, in fact.

---

Meanwhile, back in the Negaverse, Beryl was in conversation yet again with Jadeite and Nephlyte, about their progressions with the current tasks they'd been given to complete. Jadeite said, "My youma are presently stocking several nearby stores with devices that should hopefully drain a lot of people of their energy, so that we could then use it to awaken the Negaforce sooner than later. Those devices will take the form of various items of pottery, for example, and when people handle them, after a certain time, in their homes, they are programmed to begin draining energy from those handling them, but not so much at once that they arouse undue suspicion needlessly. At least that's the plan we have in regards to them, anyway, Queen Beryl."

"And how do you know that others won't see them for what they are supposedly meant to be, Blondie?" asked Nephlyte, with a skeptical look on his face as he looked Jadeite directly in his eyes.

"Well, you red dwarf space Chimpanzee, my youma have been following the news in Japan, and taking note of the latest trends and all, to see what is most popular of late. Among other things we've been doing, for your information. And it seems that cats, for instance, seem to be quite popular of late. As have various arts-related supplies, such as pottery-making ones, as well, if we don't miss our guess too much here now." Jadeite shot him a disgusted look, as if to say, "I'm only tolerating your presence here because Beryl is requiring us both to be here in front of her right now, and if that weren't true, I'd roast you if I could."

"You're going to fail again, I'm quite certain. Let's see, you've failed now seven times, if I remember correctly here. This mission is bound to fail as well, I think, so let's count this as defeat number eight, if so, and then the one after that should make nine. So do you have more than nine lives, so to speak, as the Terrans might perhaps say or not? I guess we'll have to see. I already know of your plan to strike a trivia contest later, as well. My sources tell me that it too will fail, and that new foes will arise for both our enemies and us, at that time. You will fail, and fail abysmally, for sure. Now I can't tell you how you will be dealt with, but you will be dealt with, somehow, Blondie."

"Your fighters aren't ready for action yet, that you are recruiting, my own sources tell me, either, you stargazing twit!" Jadeite unconsciously began reaching for a dagger on his belt while saying that, and struggled not to just bolt towards where Nephlyte was now standing near him.

"Not yet, I admit, but my first fighters will be ready for action against our enemies by no later than the end of November, for sure. But by then, will you still be around? Only time will tell, Macaroni Head!"

"I may be failing to defeat the enemy, but at least I'm still trying to do what I was ordered to do, Blockhead!" Jadeite's face rapidly flashed through a number of expressions, as he kept struggling to maintain enough physical control over himself, seeing as he was still in Beryl and Nephlyte's presence.

"And losing untold numbers of youma of all kinds in the process, I might add, while doing so, no doubt!" laughed Nephlyte, yet with a mostly straight face, at least as far as Beryl could then tell here.

"I sure took it to the newest Sailor last time around, didn't I?" shouted Jadeite, shaking his fist at Nephlyte, while standing both near Nephlyte and Queen Beryl in Beryl's throne room.

"Yet she survived your fireballs, did she not? Even with you managing to escape the battle location with a decent amount of energy this time, you still couldn't take out one of their obviously-young fighters who is still quite inexperienced, with your pitiful fireballs. And what's more, we've now got yet another foe to face on their side of things. Although I didn't catch his name during my observations of the last fight. He was manipulating snow and ice, it seems, during it. Let's see, that makes three males and two females so far against us as official fighters, plus any number of apparent civilians, at least, opposing us. Not to mention, of course, several animals, which you have also failed to incapacitate or eliminate as of yet."

"Enough, you two. Jadeite, is this true that you are planning an attack to occur during a trivia contest of some sort in the near future?"

"Yes, Queen Beryl, it is. Based on recent ticket sales for the place where said trivia contest will happen, there are expected to be at least a thousand spectators attending the trivia contest's various matches. And if we can harvest enough of their life energy, and keep it without it being lost, it should ideally provide a major boost to our efforts to awaken the Negaforce in the near future. However, if we continue to get too much opposition from those on Earth, without more forces of our own, that might not be so easy to do, I admit. I also admit I didn't foresee the awakening of a new Knight this last time around. But he's only been part of one actual battle against us, it seems to me. So he is still new to this sort of thing, for sure."

"We expected it. After all, our opponents already have a Sailor Sun and an Earth Knight. You didn't expect that they might have other potential fighters from other places in Earth's solar system? He did seem to wield powers relevant to another world in the system, although we're not quite sure which world that might be, at least at present. We do have our best researchers on the case looking for certain clues that might lead to the confirmed identification of that world, though, even as we now speak."

"So the Planetary Knights may be awakening?"

"That is our belief, at present, Queen Beryl, but we are not yet sure if they will be the same as they were long ago or not," said Nephlyte. "We do not yet have enough information to make educated guesses, at least, about them, or their female Sailor counterparts, unfortunately."

Thinking for a while in silence, before speaking again, Beryl considered all that she had just learned during the current conversation with two of her five current Generals. Even as she also paced in front of her throne and held her staff in one hand, she also stole glances at both Jadeite and Nephlyte every so often.

She came to a decision moments later, and then resumed her seat on her throne, as she said, "Jadeite, you will definitely be given two more chances to prove yourself and your worthiness to continue leading our forces into battle, but any further chances to lead our forces into battle will depend on your performance levels during your next two missions. If you fail, and if you do not prove yourself worthy enough in at least one way, somehow, you may even suffer an even worse punishment for your failures in battle or whatever than just losing the ability to lead our forces into battle. Now off with you, and you had best hope you can provide me with a good reason not to punish you later on for anything." She dismissed him with a quick wave in his general direction, which he responded to with a quick salute and bow, before obeying her wishes here.

Once he was gone, Beryl turned to Nephlyte, and said, "Do NOT interfere with his plans for his next two missions. Only watch, and learn, and instruct all your youma to do the same as I am now instructing you, Nephlyte. In the meantime, continue to prepare your recruits for potential battle in the near future, as best and as quickly as you can. I hope I have made myself quite clear here."

"Quite, Queen Beryl."

"I trust I won't have to warn you yet again about this sort of thing, then. My patience with him is growing thinner with every mission he gets beaten on, but it is not totally exhausted just yet. I will not further tolerate open sabotage of my subordinates' missions that I have given them any more than I absolutely have to, if I can possibly ever avoid doing so. So you and your youma had best make sure that I never learn that you or those loyal to you are trying to potentially sabotage missions already assigned to other subordinates of mine, Nephlyte, for sure. Or my wrath will certainly be unleashed on them at times they or you might not even expect at any time. Is that understood?"

"You won't have to warn me again related to Jadeite's planned missions, at least, Queen Beryl."

"Good, now off with you here, Nephlyte. Do not appear before me again until I summon you. Until then, do as I say, to the best of your ability."

"As you wish, Queen Beryl." Nephlyte was gone from her sight again no more than a minute later, after which Beryl soon found other things to do elsewhere in the Negaverse.

---

Meanwhile, Darien and Kibwe were quietly conversing in the Crown near Motoki. They were sitting on two stools in front of him when Serena, Usagi, and several other teenagers entered. Most went to the arcade part of it, while Serena decided to head to the restaurant part of it. Whereupon she soon spotted Darien talking to Kibwe, a person she had never knowingly seen before.

Intrigued, she soon came towards them, and stood near Darien, seeing that her usual stool in front of the counter was currently occupied by Kibwe. She then asked, "Hey, Mophead? Who's the new guy?"

Darien thought, before he turned around to face her, 'Oh, great, Meatball Head's here. Suppose I'd best answer her quickly, before she starts asking a lot of questions here.' He then turned to face her, before saying, "He is Kibwe Hengist, and he's from Kenya. Kibwe, Serena Moon."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Moon," said Kibwe, after looking her over as respectfully as possible. "You're a junior high student now, unless I miss my guess too much, are you not?"

"Yes, I attend Crossroads Junior High School around here." She offered her hand, offering a handshake, which he quickly accepted.

As he held her hand for a while, he began rapidly experiencing certain mental glimpses related to potential future animal allies and/or events, including felines of at least one sort, as far as he then could tell. He didn't know why, but he still did so for what seemed to be at least an hour to him, yet was actually only about ninety seconds, according to the nearest clock to him in the Crown then. "Animals will flock to the Hare of Mwezi before the season of snow begins in the upper regions of Dunia. And a chieftain of Dunia shall protect her with flora aplenty, as fauna gather around her and her comrades, until the hunters are driven away."

After he spoke those words, he found those glimpses ceasing almost as suddenly as they'd unexpectedly come when he'd taken her hand to shake it. He had no idea what any or all of those glimpses meant yet. But now he'd start to wonder why he had gotten them and what they meant or suggested, of course.

Almost immediately after those glimpses stopped for him, he released her hand, and then said, "I'll see you later, Darien. I just remembered something I need to check on, it seems." As he said those things, he kept a straight face, not wanting to potentially scare Serena here, for instance, needlessly at the current time.

"Okay, Kibwe. Go, if you feel you must, then."

Two minutes later, then, Kibwe was no longer visible anywhere in the Crown Arcade, whether it was the arcade part of it or the restaurant part of it, and neither were any of his personal belongings, for that matter. After he left, Serena asked, "How do you know that man, Shields?"

"We live in the same apartment building, and we both attend classes at Keio. We met a little while ago, and we have periodically seen each other since then," Darien said, as he turned to face her, and as she sat on the stool that Kibwe had just vacated moments earlier.

"How come I've never seen you with him before?" asked Serena, beginning to think he was trying to hide something from her, for some yet-unknown reason that she couldn't quite understand at the current time.

"Mainly because you don't yet go to college, I'd expect. And he doesn't generally frequent places that often draw younger people to them." Darien smiled, when he said that, which frowned her face.

"And how would you know that? After all, you just said you only met him a little while ago!" cried Serena, as Motoki set a milkshake near her as he knew she liked them to be whenever possible.

"I just do. Don't ask me how, but I just do, Meatball Head!" He sipped some coffee, as he also felt his emotions start to boil up again, which he normally tried to keep bottled up whenever he could in his life.

"Don't call me Meatball Head! My name is Serena! Or have you already forgotten it again?"

"Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't," smirked Darien.

"Don't you dare smirk at me, you conceited jerk!" answered Serena, as she caught an unexpected glimpse of the nearest wall clock, and realized that she'd just been about to forget something that she and her mother had been planning to do later on that day, or even that evening or night. "I don't have time for this, Shields! I'll deal with you again later!" Grabbing her milkshake, and draining it within thirty seconds, she then slammed her glass back on the counter, along with some money, before collecting her things and flashing out the Crown's doors as if hounds from Hades were somehow on her heels.

"Wonder where she's going in such a hurry," mused Motoki, picking up her glass and the money, before putting the money in a pocket of his apron, the glass in a rack to be washed later, and beginning to wipe down where she'd had her shake sitting on the counter.

"Don't know, and it's not really any of my business, but it did still surprise me at least a little that she didn't stick around here longer than she did this time, when I thought she'd next leave this place in the company of her friends, Motoki," Darien said, as he quietly sipped more of his coffee, and took an anatomy textbook, a notebook, and a pen out of his nearby backpack.

"Hope she'll be safe, wherever she's going, then," commented Motoki, "and that she'll be able to get home safely enough too tonight. There have been a lot of weird things happening all over Tokyo, it seems, for the past few weeks, at least, it seems to me."

"Tell me about it. It was never like this when I first got to Tokyo a few years ago. Sure, you have the Yakuza and other gangsters here, for example, but these kinds of things never happened back where I came from in the States. Unusual things perhaps happen from time to time, and have happened, I'm sure, in the States, but nothing I'd necessarily consider as otherworldly like others might, I think. Such as visitors from other dimensions or whatever." He then drained the rest of his coffee, and opened both his notebook and textbook, before starting to study for a while.

He studied there in relative silence, as Motoki continued to work near him in the Crown, until something in his subspace pocket suddenly began to sound. It took a few taps of his shoulder from Motoki for Darien to recognize that, and he blinked momentarily, before he realized that. He quickly excused himself, gathering up his things, leaving some money behind on his way out of the Crown, departing it as calmly as possible, so as not to alarm anyone needlessly if he could possibly avoid doing so then somehow.

When he was far enough away from the Crown and safely hidden within a nearby alleyway, he withdrew his communicator from his subspace pocket, and answered the page he'd been receiving for the past five or so minutes from Hitomi. "Trouble somehow seems to be either inbound or about to awaken several blocks from your position, Darien. Here's the information we've been able to gather so far about what our mutual enemies may be about to attempt next in Tokyo. We expect definite enemy activity within half an hour to an hour at most. Skyhorse, Sun, and Pilgrim are already on alert, and they are currently monitoring an area near you. We do not yet know exactly what the opposition's monsters will be or look like, unfortunately. We do have some suspicions, however, in any case. Utaridi is checking something else out, but he'll be joining the coming fight soon, if and whenever possible," she said, as his screen began to show all the information she was now sending him about their expected enemies for this fight.

He quickly viewed it, then asked, "What are your orders, then?"

"Use your best judgement, as always. Do not, however, expect the animals to help you this time around from the start of things. They are all currently checking other things out for me, but they will hopefully be able to and you and the others and civilians later, if and whenever necessary and possible."

"All right. You say they are expected to do something within the next half hour to an hour?"

"Yes. We don't yet know where for sure, but we believe it will begin somewhere near you, whatever it is that they may be about to do in your part of Tokyo."

A few moments of conversation later, Hitomi closed the channel, and Darien stashed his communicator safely away in his subspace pocket again. Looking around to make sure it was safe enough for him to do so, he saw nobody who might be able to spot him easily enough, as far as he could then tell, so he transformed just as quietly and as quickly as possible here into his Earth Knight state of being.

As soon as it was safe, he exited the alley he'd ducked into, by leaping up a nearby fire escape, jumping from one level to another, until he'd reached the roof of one of the buildings he'd just been between. It wasn't much later before he spotted Sun, Skyhorse, and the Pilgrim on a nearby building's roof, and they him. A few quick hand signals were exchanged between him and them, before he headed off in a certain direction they indicated he should then head off in. He didn't yet know why, but he still did so. Shortly thereafter, he arrived where they had told him his help might be needed through those hand signals, and began waiting to see what might happen next, and why, et cetera, once he was in position as he then needed to be here.

---

Meanwhile, back in the Negaverse, Jadeite was giving final instructions to many of the monsters he'd be taking to Earth this time around, based on information he'd received from various monsters he'd sent to places all over Tokyo, especially in Azabu Juuban, for intelligence and combat-related purposes. Most of those monsters he'd sent all over Tokyo had disguised themselves earlier as humans or as various Terran animals, but not all.

He knew he'd not had enough success to sufficiently satisfy Queen Beryl in the past roughly two months since the attack at the jewelry store at the beginning of September. And he also knew that if things didn't change significantly in his favor very soon, his chances of escaping her wrath alive without severe punishment included were increasingly slim, if not nil. Not only had seven of his prior missions to Earth failed so far, some much more than others, he'd also lost untold numbers of monsters during those mission to Earth against not only superheroes, but mere civilians and even several animals, much to his great surprise and extreme dismay, to put it very mildly. Also, five heroes had awoken in total as of yet, starting with Earth Knight, since the launching of that first attack at the aforementioned jewelry store. Including one who had even awoken fully during the last attack he'd led, at that.

He had not even considered sending his monsters to other parts of the world, especially seeing as Beryl had focused her attentions primarily on Japan, and especially the Tokyo area of it, on the orders of Queen Metallia, who was still mostly dormant at this time, even after having been given energy gathered from any number of sources over the past few weeks and months. Both Queens believed that their primary enemies and what they also sought to gain possession of were both somewhere in Japan, so that was where the Negaverse was currently focusing the majority of their efforts on Earth.

Nephlyte, on the other hand, had been given considerably more of a free hand, in regards to his assigned tasks related to the Negaverse. He had recently been assigned certain tasks related to the recruiting of potential human allies and associates to the Negaverse's cause on Earth, especially after the first mission that Jadeite's monsters had attempted to carry out on Earth some time before. That definitely didn't please Jadeite even one little bit at all. But there wasn't really anything he could do to fight that, as far as he could currently tell here. Jadeite needed a sufficiently successful plan if he wanted to remain the main mission commander for Negaverse attacks on Earth long-term, and he needed it quickly. He knew this, and many of his youma had also just told him what they'd unexpectedly overheard after he'd most recently been dismissed from Beryl's presence. So it wasn't all that surprising to him that she was so dismissive of him, and getting increasingly upset with him, especially of late.

He didn't really know what any of the other known Negaverse Generals thought of him, but he did know that Nephlyte and he were definitely not friends with each other at the present time. And he didn't expect that to change, either now or sometime in the future, if and whenever such a thing might ever come to pass.

As he prepared for this mission, he had also periodically gone to a certain part of the Negaverse where current captives of the Negaverse were being kept. And he either viewed or conversed with a number of them, including at least one or two that looked strangely like him, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons. He currently believed that they might be spies, and/or even clones, but they were not, although he didn't yet know that, if he ever would know it, in his life.

The actual truth of things, though, was quite different. And if he ever learned it, it would likely surprise him greatly, if not massively. Not only that, it would probably change many things quite significantly for him and any number of other beings then in the Negaverse, if not anywhere else as well, once and for all, somehow.

This apparent doppelganger of his would tell him periodically, "You won't win, and we who protect the Prince will be free once more, and at his side once again. Your forces will fall, and your Queens will be defeated and punished for their evil deeds, as will those who follow them, if they do not surrender and all in time. You may hold us captive for a time, but we will be set free, for sure."

Quite a few conversations had gone that way, or in similar ways, especially of late, between him and this apparent doppelganger of his. And Jadeite was really thinking about trying to somehow permanently silence this particular captive of the Negaverse, and/or any number of Negaverse-held captives. Even though Queens Beryl and Metallia had forbidden him or any of the other Generals from permanently harming or killing certain current Negaverse captives, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons, he still was.

Eventually, Jadeite finished his final pre-mission briefing of as many of the monsters he'd be bringing with him to Earth this time as he could, and said, "We leave for Earth in five Earth minutes. Prepare for departure. Arrange yourselves for it as ordered, and wait for my signal."

It wasn't much longer before he motioned to a nearby youma to have them open a portal to Tokyo, so that he could lead his assembled monsters into battle again there as soon as possible after landing on Earth as necessary and desired here. Several minutes later, the entire invasion force was on Earth, in and around the area of the Crown. Including, of course, Jadeite.

Jadeite waited several minutes after he'd learned all the members of his planned invasion force were in their respective assigned positions in and around the area of the Crown to give the necessary pre-attack signal to the rest of it. As he did, everyone waited for his next signal, and prepared themselves for battle.

When Jadeite thought everything was going sufficiently according to plan, he finally gave the required signal, not much later. And the attack began, starting in a few buildings about ten blocks from where Sun, Skyhorse, and the Pilgrim had been on alert in Azabu Juuban. Especially in Cats and Pots and More a good distance away from the Crown Arcade, at that, even.

Little did he know that by doing so, he would cause certain other people to awaken fully as fighters against the Negaverse and/or other hostile forces, or at least begin to. If he even knew it at all at the present time, somehow, or ever would. Whether very quickly or not, that was still the case here, in truth.

---

Meanwhile, not far from the Crown and various stores, including Cats and Pots and More, Sun, Skyhorse, and the Pilgrim had a good view of the area from their current vantage point. All was calm, for the moment, but they all knew that wouldn't likely remain the case for the rest of the entire night, given what Skyhorse and Sun had seen that morning. Skyhorse spotted Earth Knight on a nearby building, briefly holding his arm aloft in hopes they'd be able to see him, and waved back, thereby letting him know they'd seen him where he was. Or at least that she had, anyway.

"My parents have been in hospital for so long now," Sun said, head down between her knees, sitting not far from Skyhorse as she waved at Earth Knight.

"Don't get despondent. Their conditions were pretty serious right after the attack at the art gallery, and maybe once your Sunbeam Crystal is complete, it will help," said Skyhorse, noticing Earth Knight was making rapid hand signals towards them all. "Can you figure out what he's trying to say here?" she asked the others, who either stood or turned to look.

The Pilgrim said, "Apparently, he's saying that it's nearly time for action. Get ready! Hitomi must have sent instructions and information his way." A few more hand signals were quickly exchanged, and then Earth Knight bounded off to another nearby location, as necessary and appropriate at the present time.

"Lovely. Just how I wanted to spend my evening and/or night tonight! I really don't like this! I should be home with my parents and siblings, and not having to deal with this nonsensical balderdash!" cried Sun.

"But you can't be, unfortunately," noted the Pilgrim.

"Don't remind me of that, Pilgrim. It's bad enough that I can't be home right now. But this really burns, that I can't be with my family now. Even that bratty brother of mine, to be honest!"

"Save your frustrations for our enemies, Sun," said Skyhorse. "They and those sending them on missions to Earth are most to blame here, of course, you know."

When the expected attack finally began at 6, Sun said, "Finally, something more to go after here, for sure! I'm really not in a good mood, so these monsters better be ready for a serious thrashing!"

Skyhorse quickly sent Sun off in a certain random direction, not yet understanding fully why she sent them off in that direction, while she and the Pilgrim headed off in another. Two minutes later, after bounding across several more nearby buildings, the three heroes each began engaging whatever enemies they'd just encountered as the monsters began their attack in Tokyo this time.

Sun quickly found herself near several civilians beginning to be threatened by three human-sized youma with mostly feline features for them. None of which she recognized, or at least not as of yet, anyway. Although she might come to know some of them fairly well, later on, in any case, if at all possible.

Wasting no time with speeches, she immediately engaged those youma, and defended those civilians she'd just found herself near to the best of her ability. It took her about five to ten minutes of mostly close-quarters combat to defeat them all, because she was currently too close to most of those civilians to use her ranged attacks safely enough.

It wasn't easy, but she still defeated those three Negaverse monsters, without any of those she was defending now being drained too much, if at all, by them here. That done, she quickly moved on, as carefully as possible, and sought even more monsters to fight, all while still defending those currently around her. As she continued fighting, plenty of other monsters continued falling either to her hurley, to Sunstriker, or to whatever other tactics or attacks she was then able to use in the current battle.

The more monsters she took out, the more civilians she was able to protect, or to help escape the immediate area safely enough. And she eventually was able to make her way ever closer to the place from which the overall attack had mostly originated from here. Many monsters were between where she now was and that place, but she still continued dealing death, damage, and/or injuries to them.

As for Skyhorse and the Pilgrim, they separated from each other mere moments after having done the same with Sun, to also fight towards that place from two different directions. Earth Knight had already begun fighting towards it as well. And about twenty minutes after the attack began, Utaridi Knight was finally fighting against the invading monsters from a fifth direction in the area.

As for those being attacked now, Terna was among them, and so were Serena and a number of others, most of which wouldn't actually become superhero-type fighters of some sort, most likely. Like Serena's mother Irene, for example. But there were still a few who would be, in any case, for sure.

Terna, for instance, was fighting back by throwing whatever she could get her hands on easily enough, whether it was flower pots or manhole covers or whatever, at many of the monsters near her and others around her. Among other things she was then doing to try and defend those around her. Including a certain pre-teen with pink streaks in her hair who she and others would come to know fairly well in the future.

Serena was also fighting back, especially after a few of the monsters seemed to be rather interested in her and her mother, for reasons not yet known to her here. Mostly with thrown objects, including artists' palettes. But also sometimes with various martial arts moves she'd picked up over the past several years whenever possible, mostly from various self-defense courses she'd occasionally taken. She wasn't very good at martial arts at present. But she generally still held her own against most people she'd trained with in the past.

At the moment, she was doing fairly well with those moves, considering the fact that several monsters were currently attacking quite a few people where she now was. Including herself, of course. Not the best, for sure. But she was still somehow able to fight and defend others who were less able to do so here, at least to a degree. She didn't yet know why, but she would in time, if she managed to somehow stay alive long enough for that to be the case for her in her life.

Her mother soon fell unconscious near her, which Serena quickly noticed. And that made her even angrier than she'd already been. So she realized that if she didn't do better with her current fighting here, she might also fall unconscious, like it or not. She mentally took the gloves off, so to speak, without changing her current facial expression, and redoubled her fighting efforts against the monsters currently wreaking havoc in and around Cats and Pots and More here. "Leave my mother alone, you beasts!"

Grabbing two of them by their hair, and kicking at a third, Serena quickly bashed two many-spiked heads together, and planted a fierce mostly backwards-aimed kick approximately where a human's stomach might be against that third monster. That monster thrashed about twice after flying twelve feet in the air and hitting a nearby fence, and then lay still, never moving again after doing so. The monsters whose heads she bashed together stayed stuck together, even while trying to separate themselves. And she finished them by grabbing up what appeared to be part of a now-broken easel's frame and impaling them both with it several times as quickly as she then could. 'It's either me and/or others or them, most likely. And I would very much like to stay alive, if I can,' she thought.

As she finished stabbing those two monsters with her improvised weapon, Terna leapt to the defense of yet another few civilians currently being threatened with draining or worse a quarter of the block away from where Serena was fighting at present. Three of them would eventually represent certain other worlds in the Sol System for the heroes, but she didn't yet know that, nor did many others, in any case. One was black-haired, one had multiple colored streaks in her hair, and a third wore bluish-green shoulder-length wavy hair.

The one with multiple colored streaks in her hair was the one of the three most in danger at present of falling unconscious, slightly in more danger than the one with black hair currently was. While the one with wavy hair was doing the best of the three young women Terna had just jumped to the defense of here, wielding a fishing net and what appeared to be some sort of harpoon or fishing rod or a combined harpoon/fishing rod, as far as Terna could then tell from about ten to fifteen feet away from that third young woman. All three young women appeared to be between 12 and 14, at present, but they were all still fighting as best as they could against several monsters of various sizes near them now.

Ten more civilians were drained to at least some degree near Terna before the various monsters that had just drained them of energy could be dealt with well enough somehow, at least for a while. Most of those, if not all of those, were ultimately rendered unconscious, if not put in potentially grave danger, before Terna and the others still fighting monsters near her were able to deal with the monsters then attacking them sufficiently well.

Blood and other substances periodically landed all over the place, and sometimes even on those who were fighting the monsters now attacking them and others around them at the present time. That often made things more difficult for those being attacked. But they mostly didn't yet know that in their respective lives, if they ever would, to be sure.

Terna avoided being hit by such things as much as she could, being already aware to a degree about a certain number of things related to them. But she still was hit every so often by them, while still fighting in defense of dozens of nearby civilians, unfortunately, just the same.

The black-haired girl moved quickly to her side and asked, "Are you okay?" when she saw Terna flinch and grimace at least a little after being hit by a flying blob of something from one of the monsters she'd just killed with what appeared to be a broken shovel handle.

"Just keep fighting! I'll be fine, if we can somehow survive this, miss! Here, take this!" Terna shoved a good-sized hand scythe that'd landed outside a nearby agricultural and garden supplies store into that girl's hands. "Use it as best as you can, and don't give any of these monsters any mercy needlessly!"

"Understood," said the girl, who appeared to be almost 14 years old now in her life, as she spotted another two monsters moving towards three children younger than even her at the present time. Leaping to their defense, just as Terna had already done for her and others near her and them, she quickly decapitated both monsters before they could even begin trying to drain those children of their energy, unconsciously moving her scythe in certain ways towards them before she could even think of doing so.

It wasn't long before she'd cleared a narrow path by killing other nearby monsters towards what appeared to be a snow globe, and she brought those three children into it briefly. Utaridi Knight had suddenly discovered the ability to make a snow globe that could protect those within it for a little while about half an hour after he'd joined the battle. But seeing as he was still unused to that ability, he'd not be able to make many during battles for quite some time, most likely. And they might not last for long, if placed under heavy enough attack at any time.

Utaridi Knight was about twenty feet away from her when she brought the children into the snow globe he'd just created, and they briefly caught each other's sight here. She made some hand signals to him, and he nodded, in acknowledgement, without even a single word vocalized between them. That told her instantly he'd do whatever he could to protect them for as long as possible, no matter what it might be.

So she ran off, and sought more monsters to fight here, in hopes that she could help save more people from possibly being drained or killed by them somehow. As she ran, several more monsters fell to her scythe, without prior warning, and several more civilians were protected in the area. And even some police officers who'd found themselves also drawn into the fight for yet-unknown reasons, among others.

It was at this time that Jadeite actively entered the battle himself, having spent much of it to this point in looking for Sun, seeing as he'd appeared quite a distance away from her when he'd led his current forces down to Earth this time. He hadn't seen her for most of the battle, but he finally was able to see her clearly enough, from about fifty yards away, down a nearby street somewhere near the Crown. That being the case, he decided to try and test her abilities more, for some reason not yet known to him here, and he suddenly sent several fireballs her way when her attention was otherwise diverted by a few of his monsters.

Before the fireballs could hit her, however, from an unexpected direction, Wanderer swooped in, transformed into a much larger form than usual, and shielded her from them, taking hits from them instead, much to Jadeite's displeasure. A few very brief looks between Sun and him told her that she needed to be more alert when fighting, if at all possible.

Sun soon saw where Terna and several others were then fighting, and Wanderer waved the wing that hadn't been hit towards them, as if to say that she needed to go help them now. He covered her movements, as Jadeite tried to continue attacking her with his fireballs, by sending many feathery missiles of some sort towards Jadeite at the same time from his own wings. That forced Jadeite to keep moving, and trying to keep his own personal shields up as best as possible, which also lessened the number of fireballs he was able to send Sun's way here.

On the way to where Terna and those near her were still fighting, Sun finally was able to unleash more of her ranged attacks, but not necessarily as strong of them as she might then prefer here, seeing as quite a few civilians were too near her to allow her to unleash full-strength ranged attacks at her targets. Three of those attacks at about thirty percent strength knocked several youma away from the girl with multiple colored streaks in her hair, and allowed Sun to move in and rescue her before bringing her to the snow globe still visible nearby, to be protected easier for the time being.

Terna saw that, and soon said, "Thanks, Sun. I couldn't have gotten there in time to help her," after Sun gave her a hand up. For Terna had been knocked down briefly by another monster that'd been trying to get at that girl Sun had just protected. The two of them quickly stood nearly back-to-back, with two others forming a protective circle of some sort around another two civilians, those other two being the girl with the scythe and the one with the net and harpoon/fishing rod-like weapon. The four protectors quickly escorted those civilians into the globe as well, before engaging even more monsters.

As they fought, they were finally joined by several other animals, and some members of the JSDF's ground forces and several local police officers in the fight. Additional reinforcements soon began whittling down the remaining youma nearby, but not yet at great speed. For Jadeite had brought almost 1,200 monsters with him this time, about a third of which were about the size of an average Terran canine. Most of the rest were smaller than those, except for nearly two dozen others which were at least human-sized, on average.

Hundreds of civilians, unfortunately, had been drained, to this point during the current attack. And at least thirty others had been killed either in the process of being drained, due to battle damage, or other potentially-related causes during it. While about half of the monsters that Jadeite had brought with him had either been killed or incapacitated, if not withdrawn, so far. Corpses of many monsters and even a good number of civilians were currently strewn all over the area that the battle had already covered, including under or near battle-related damage to buildings and other nearby structures there. Like fences, for example.

When reinforcements began coming in, and joining the fight, Sun and those she was now with soon saw Skyhorse and Pilgrim both heading their way, and Earth Knight also moving to try and assist Serena and others near her now. Skyhorse, with Pilgrim Knight's help, fought her way to Sun's side, although the Pilgrim had not yet had to take any lives, even in this battle, as Skyhorse and others had been forced to do here and at other times. He would periodically divert monsters' attentions, and he occasionally would take hits from them, so that the monsters would focus more on him than his allies, while Skyhorse and his other allies would make those youma pay for forgetting about them and for attacking him, whenever and however possible.

"How you holding out, Sun?" asked Skyhorse, as she slashed two monsters then seeking to attack Terna and a few civilians she was currently defending.

"Been better, and Jadeite took more shots at me, it seems. Fortunately for me, his fireballs didn't get to me, although Wanderer's taken some serious hits from him since then, if I'm not too mistaken here."

At that moment, Jadeite was currently battling Earth Knight, about five or six blocks away, as they were both leaping from building to building. For Earth Knight had jumped in between a fiery blast originally aimed at Utaridi Knight, that'd been knocked off-course by several feathery missiles from Wanderer, and that blast had been unintentionally redirected towards a young family of four. Taking the hit for the family, while still in the air, and shielding them with his cape, Earth Knight had seen who'd launched that attack, as Utaridi Knight dodged several monsters' attacks, and sent off some of his Utaridi Freezing Photospear Strike attacks back at those monsters. It'd been Jadeite, and after he was certain that the family he'd just shielded wasn't in any real immediate danger, he had gone in pursuit of Jadeite, and had quickly engaged him in the fight.

Both Jadeite and Earth Knight were now battling with swords and whatever else they could fight each other with here. Jadeite was doing slightly better at the moment during their fight here, but Earth Knight was still managing to inflict several hits and/or injuries on Jadeite's person during it. This battle between them both lasted for about half an hour before they found themselves gradually drifting back to where the majority of the battle action had been taking place, much to their considerable surprise. By the time they were near where the attack had begun, all but fifty of his monsters had either been killed, incapacitated, or withdrawn from the fight, which didn't please Jadeite one bit at all, quite naturally enough. Mostly killed, in truth, but not all, to that point in time. Most of the remaining monsters had withdrawn, either by choice or not on their respective parts, from the battle's coverage area, and all others had been incapacitated, ultimately.

On the other side of things, more than 900 civilians, plus at least 500 others, had been drained to at least some degree, by then in the fight, and at least 70 people, mostly civilians, had unfortunately lost their lives by then, although that wasn't yet known for sure by most. None of those already killed, however, were Serena's mother, for instance. Mainly because Serena was still fiercely defending those around her, whether they were currently conscious or not, to the best of her ability to do so, for sure.

Sun and Skyhorse worked in concert with the Pilgrim and Terna, and made sure Wanderer was able to take several civilians into himself for quick evacuation to nearby medical facilities as soon as possible. Several others entered him through his mouth as well, at Skyhorse's direction, to help watch over those other civilians he'd be taking to them. Although they couldn't believe they'd actually have to do that before they did it.

Once it was safe enough for him to fly away, off he went, and Skyhorse and Pilgrim, among others, covered his escape. "Wonder where they're going to end up, then, Skyhorse."

"No clue, Sun, no clue," said Skyhorse, as she destroyed another five monsters still present in the area with some rather speedy and unexpected close-quarters maneuvers against them all. "Hopefully all those now aboard Wanderer will have been whisked away in time to ultimately save their lives, of course, though!"

Just then, Sun's locket suddenly flipped open, and shot several lights out of it towards a number of the monsters then present. Noticing that was now the case, Skyhorse shouted, "Be careful, Sun, your locket's detecting more shards to your Crystal! We'll cover you!"

"Understood!" replied Sun, as soon as she noticed the shooting lights as well. She sent a few attacks meant to immobilize the necessary youma, while others covered her as needed. Once they were all sufficiently immobilized, she went right to work trying to retrieve those shards as quickly and as safely as possible while others covered her and all. It took her another ten minutes of searching for those shards and collecting them as needed before all of them were finally in her possession as necessary.

Once that was undeniably confirmed to be the case here, all of the required youma were quickly dealt with permanently. Nothing was left of any of them once they'd been killed and destroyed, for sure.

After they were all permanently dealt with, Jadeite realized that there was no longer any real reason to remain in the area of the battle for him or his still-surviving monsters. So he quickly began withdrawing every single monster he was still able to withdraw here, and completely destroying all the others who he'd not be able to bring back, before departing the area himself with great haste. For he most certainly didn't want to lose any more of the energy that'd been gathered during this battle than he absolutely had to.

He and his remaining monsters who were able to make it back to the Negaverse before it was too late departed the battle location just before midnight Tokyo time. Once they were gone, emergency medical personnel quickly moved in, to attend to those who were still not beyond any real medical hope in the just-ended battle's area. As for those who were unquestionably dying, and who wouldn't likely be able to be saved through normal enough medical procedures, they tried to ease their likely inevitable departures from the world as best as they each could, of course. Ultimately, the final official known toll of those hurt, drained, or killed would be more than two thousand, with nearly 130 known fatalities, due to the nature of this particular battle in Azabu Juuban, unfortunately. Most of those who had been attacked were civilians, as had most of those who had been killed due to the massive Negaverse attack that Jadeite had just led against Tokyo here been.

The heroes all did whatever they possibly could then do to help the emergency medical personnel with the unconscious, the injured, the dying, or the dead. But soon, they couldn't do anything more, much to Sun's great distress and all. And many others then there with her felt much, if not entirely, as she did here, for sure.

After all the survivors of the battle had been attended to as best as possible, where possible, by the police and the medical personnel, at least, Sun and several others were left alone again for the rest of the night, and found other things to do and other places to go, in time. Once Sun and certain others were far enough away from where the battle had just taken place, and in safe enough places to power down, they all did so.

---

Eryn held herself together long enough for the three teens to get back to her family's home before she lost control of her emotions. When she entered the house, she collapsed to the ground and began weeping uncontrollably. Sylvia pointed to the kitchen, and gave Rolando some orders. He left. She took Eryn in her arms and held her tight.

Eryn kept crying uncontrollably, even as Sylvia pulled her up into a standing position, before having Rolando carry her to the upstairs bathroom. Minutes later, they arrived there, and Sylvia soon sent Rolando away from her and Eryn, sending him to the kitchen until further notice.

Once he left, Sylvia began checking Eryn over for possible injuries she might have suffered during the battle or for things not from her that'd landed on her during it. Not much later, she had Eryn in the tub there, and began helping her clean herself up. For Eryn had finally managed to somehow get more emotional control over herself while Sylvia had been checking her for possible injuries or unexpected things on her body or clothes. Although it'd not been very easy at all for her to do so, even to a very small degree, at present. For that battle had been really hard for her to fight in. And a lot of people had also died because of what'd happened all throughout it, as well.

Eryn spent at least thirty minutes in the tub, with Sylvia near her, mostly without saying anything, but when she did speak, among the things she asked Sylvia was, "Why were they so brutal? Why did people have to be attacked like they were? Why did people have to die?"

"I don't know the answers to those questions, Eryn, truly. True, both our countries have seen much death needlessly for a long time, but most, if not all, of it, was due to how certain humans felt against others. In Israel's case, we have seen much innocent bloodshed between those who are Jewish, Christian, or Islamic, for example, for centuries, if not millennia. Whether it's in Judea or Samaria, we have seen far too much of it happen, for sure. In Ireland's case, it's mainly because of political and/or theological differences, if not entirely because of them, I think." Sylvia said that as she continued to try to help Eryn clean herself up as best as she then could here.

Minutes later, after Sylvia had done all she could here to try and help Eryn clean herself up here, she helped Eryn out of the tub, and began trying to patch up Eryn as best as she could, before wrapping a towel around her, and having her sit on the nearby toilet for a while. That done, Sylvia used the shower elsewhere in the bathroom, and was in and out within fifteen minutes. By now, Eryn had finally somehow regained control over her current emotions, and had exchanged the towel for a bathrobe.

Once Sylvia was out of the shower again, Eryn did for her what Sylvia had done for her some time before, as necessary and desired. It wasn't much longer before both were in bathrobes, and downstairs in the dining room sitting at the Kesells' table, about to have a few microwaved dinners for themselves that Rolando had warmed up from the Kesells' freezer while the girls were cleaning themselves up and all.

Rolando had also gotten cleaned up and all himself very quickly, after the girls finally came downstairs and let him do so as well. He hadn't suffered major injuries, fortunately for him, during the fight, at least of a physical nature, but the fact that many had lost their lives due to the attack in and around Cats and Pots and More still affected him quite a bit at the present time. He wasn't currently showing much of his emotions related to the battle. But in time, he'd also grieve and cry and all, of course, due to how brutal the battle had proved to be for many, including himself, once he was sufficiently alone for a while, no doubt.

If there was anything he was happy about in relation to that battle, however, it would most likely be due to the fact that he'd not yet been forced to somehow have to kill any other potentially sentient being during any battles he'd been part of in his life. Either as a civilian or as a superhero-type person, at that. He realized that he might be forced to kill other sentients in battle in the future. But as of the current time, at least, he was quite glad that he'd never had to do so yet, in any case at all here.

After they all sat at the Kesells' table, at nearly 1:45 in the morning, Sylvia asked, "Are you okay, Rolando?" She'd noticed that he'd not said much since returning from getting himself cleaned up as well.

"I'm trying to stay calm here for at least a little while longer as best as I can. We all had to see a lot of nasty stuff during this battle, you know, Sylvia. I'll do my grieving later, I'm sure, but right now, I think the best thing for me to do is to maintain control over my emotions as best as I can. Especially because we both are currently in another person's home, and all, of course."

"Point taken, Rolando," admitted Sylvia, as she glanced briefly at Eryn here. "Eryn, would you like to say a prayer over our food here, or should I?"

"Go ahead, Sylvia," said Eryn, almost tonelessly, still trying to piece through the events of the battle as calmly and as quietly as possible, without breaking into tears and all again.

Moments later, Sylvia had said a prayer, and all three began eating the meals that Rolando had prepared for them in the microwave while the girls were otherwise occupied. They weren't much, for none of them were quite as hungry as they might otherwise be, at the current time. But at least they were something for each of them, nevertheless. They didn't say much as they ate, either, for they all didn't feel like talking much then.

They finished their respective meals by 2:15. Rolando quickly attended to cleaning up. And Sylvia and Eryn went upstairs not long afterward, once Rolando was shown to the fold-out bed inside a couch in the living room, and had been given some blankets and a pillow to use while he was on it by Eryn.

Sylvia, for her part, once she was in Eryn's room with her, decided to sleep in a chair near Eryn's bed, using other covers that she'd borrowed from her. She put the chair not far from Eryn's bed, just in case she might need to potentially hold Eryn during the rest of the night because of nightmares or anything else that might cause her sleeping problems during it, for example.

After Eryn had fallen asleep in her bed, Sylvia prayed to God, "Lord Jesus, grant her a peaceful night of sleep, and ease her pain from what she had to see and do during this recent battle. Help her cope with the need to defend those who cannot defend themselves against those who are wreaking havoc here in Japan. Also, Lord, please look after her parents and siblings as You always do, and speed their recovery as You will. Draw them ever closer to You, and show them Your majesty and power. In Your Holy Name, I pray, Lord Jesus. Amen." After her prayer, Sylvia remained awake for a little while longer, as she still watched over her slightly older friend from the chair she now occupied. And she mentally reviewed her own actions and words from the battle as well. Before finally falling asleep herself, she mentally promised herself and Eryn that she'd try to do much better in the future, both in battle and in her civilian life, to protect and guide and be a good friend to Eryn in it, as best as she possibly could. Among other things she also promised by that time.

By seven, all three teens were up and about. First Sylvia, then Rolando, and finally Eryn. Rolando left Eryn's home for his family's home within ten minutes after waking up, briefly seeing Sylvia before he left, for she'd come downstairs to the kitchen by 6:15. Which then left only the girls still at Eryn's place at present.

Sylvia quickly prepared some breakfast for the girls to have before leaving for school. She didn't make a lot for their breakfasts or lunches, somehow knowing that Eryn wouldn't likely want to eat much, due to the previous night's events. But she did make at least some things that might hopefully help Eryn then regain her strength and energy better, even if she didn't eat a lot during the upcoming school day, in any case at all.

By the time she finished preparing their respective breakfasts and lunches, then, Eryn finally appeared downstairs. Her hair was a real mess, mostly from bedhead, apparently. And her emotions also seemed to be all jumbled up at the present time, along with some of her clothes being somewhat askew now in places. But she was still somehow holding it together at the current time. Although Sylvia couldn't tell just what thoughts and feelings were then running through Eryn's mind, to be sure, she knew that what'd happened the night before must have really shocked Eryn to her mental core, if she wasn't too mistaken about that. She hoped that the previous night's events wouldn't permanently affect Eryn or others around her for the worse. But not even she yet knew entirely what the future might hold for her and/or many others in Eryn's life and the lives of many other beings anywhere in the Universe. About the only thing right now that she might perhaps know well enough here was, whatever would come from all that which had recently happened, that it'd likely still have major impact for her and certain others for quite a while, as far as she could then tell easily enough.

After Eryn's arrival in the kitchen, they both talked very little to each other at the present time. Even as Sylvia quickly whisked Eryn into the nearest bathroom and helped get her into a more presentable state, at least appearance-wise. With that done, Sylvia quickly brought Eryn back to the kitchen, where they then had their breakfasts. Sylvia also stashed their lunches inside a cooler in her subspace pocket.

By 7:30, the girls had left Eryn's house and headed off to school, arriving about ten minutes before the first bell of the school day, and they remained together for as long as possible before ultimately parting to head to their first classes for it. After they parted, Sylvia hoped very much that Eryn would somehow be able to make it through the day, without totally losing control over herself, of course, at the very least.

Fortunately for all concerned parties sufficiently around Eryn during the current school day, it did go at least halfway decent for her, with no major incidents occurring during the day for Eryn or those around her. Not everything went as expected or as planned, of course. But, at least for the most part, there weren't any real problems or potential problems that showed up for Eryn or those around her during it. Seeing as most people, though not everyone, generally gave her as wide a berth as possible during it, once they saw that she wasn't really in the mood to associate with them if she didn't absolutely have to.

As soon as school ended, Eryn fled the school campus and headed straight for the hospital where her family members still were, as quickly and as directly as possible. Ten minutes later, after not being able to find her, Sylvia secretly paged Rolando, who ducked into a then-empty classroom. She asked him, once she was safely alone again, "Where do you think she is?"

Rolando thought for a moment, then said, "I can't be certain, just yet, mind you, but go to the hospital, just in case she's heading there. I'll divert your coach and others, and meet you there as quickly as I can."

"Please hurry, if you can, then, Rolando."

"Agreed. Now go!"

"Sure will! Sylvia out."

Quickly looking out a third-story window, she saw nobody anywhere where it'd normally be seen from easily enough. So she decided to exit the school through it. Before opening it, though, she made quite sure that nobody else was sufficiently nearby. Pulling back the window's curtains and opening it, she saw a tall oak tree fortunately within jumping range. Looking around once more, she still saw nobody within visible range of the window. Either from the ground or from it, so she climbed up on the ledge just inside it. After making sure she'd not fall, she briefly perched herself there just before jumping into the nearby tree.

Landing in the tree, she then ascended nearly to the tree's top, to unexpectedly find Wanderer there, not yet transformed. Climbing on his back, she quickly briefed him on what was currently happening here.

Nodding, Wanderer flew off, secretly extending an invisible shield around them both, speedily hiding Sylvia. Even while he headed towards the needed Tokyo-area hospital, Sylvia quickly transformed. As did he, once they were far enough away from the school. He soon dropped her off, and went on his way.

Skyhorse soon caught up with Sailor Sun, just over a block away from the hospital. A brief chat later, both girls soon powered down, and continued going to it. When they arrived at it, they both soon saw Terna unexpectedly talking with Eryn's parents. And she was telling them Eryn's siblings were still unconscious, but seeming to do a bit better than they'd been doing the day before, as far as the doctors could then tell here.

After some conversation with Terna and Eryn's parents, Sylvia and Eryn asked Terna to step outside her parents' room for a while, and into another nearby room, which was fortunately unoccupied at the present time, and would be a more secure place for them all to talk with each other. On the way there, they all encountered Rolando, and Terna said, "He should be with us when we talk here, I think, you two."

Once in that room, and absolutely certain that nobody who needed to know about what they were about to discuss would be able to hear, see, or even detect them, while they were all still there, in any conceivable way whatsoever, Sylvia asked, "Why, Terna?"

"Because, evidently, Sylvia, we have reason to believe that he will be in great danger quite often in the future. Also, I know that what is yet to come will require my attentions much more than it has to date, based on what I have learned of late. Not only from Hitomi, but from certain others as well. And not only that, I know that Eryn's family will still be in quite considerable danger for as long as these monsters are still appearing in the area, somehow," said Terna, as the four of them soon sat down in assorted chairs there.

"I see. Anything else?" asked Sylvia, as she pulled a few bottles of water out of her subspace pocket, and passed her current companions one each, keeping one for herself and opening it.

"As far as your performances in the battle of last night, you all did the best you possibly could, I am quite sure. Yes, I actually do know that you three here are the Pilgrim, and Sailors Skyhorse and Sun, by the way. And not just from Hitomi, either. Do not worry, however, for your secrets are safe with me and various others, you three," Terna said, while also trying to send Eryn as comforting a look as possible here.

Rolando asked, "What else have you, Hitomi, and others found out about our enemies and their plans?"

"From our spies in the Negaverse, at least, it seems that their General who has been leading all the attacks to date is not in good standing with their Queens and at least one other General. It is believed that if they do not start doing much better here on Earth than they have already done, on average, their standing, and maybe even their very existence, may be in serious, if not grave, danger either now or very soon. But we are not entirely sure about that at the current time, unfortunately, Volois. They may only have one more chance to perform sufficiently well when they come here again, if our sources are not too mistaken here."

"What is this General's name?" Eryn asked suddenly, with a very serious look on her face, and her hands fisting, as she also began looking for something, or someone, to perhaps hit at the current time, if she could.

"According to our sources, his name is Jadeite. I am not quite sure just how much you know of him, nor are many of those I have been associating with recently. But he seems to be the main Negaverse General leading their forces now, as far as we have so far been able to gather well enough of late, Kesell."

"Next time I see him, if possible, he's dead!" she promised, deadly serious when she said that.

"It may not be so easy to kill him, Kesell. And for some reason I cannot fully understand or explain right now, if you are able to kill him anytime soon, that may not bode all that well for your family's members, or for many others in and around Tokyo, if not also elsewhere in Japan. You may therefore not be able to kill him for a good while yet, as a result. And that may also be true of many of us at this point as well. It may take more than one fighter to take him out, or those who he now serves, at that," Terna said.

The quartet conversed for another hour, before leaving the room, one at a time. Terna left it first, then Rolando, Eryn, and finally Sylvia. Rolando left the girls alone, once they were all back in Eryn's parents' room, and then Terna left. Eryn told her parents whatever she could about things that'd happened for or near her since her last visit to them here. Of course, there was so much she couldn't tell them. But it couldn't be helped.

Theodora found Eryn and Sylvia still talking to Eryn's parents when she came in to check on them. A very brief chat near the door occurred between both girls and Dora, which Eryn's parents couldn't overhear.

Dora said, although she couldn't yet understand why, "Thank you both for trying to protect Tokyo again last night like you somehow did, along with so many of its inhabitants, including my dear daughter Justa."

"Justa?" asked Eryn, with a semi-perplexed look on her face at the moment.

"The daughter I told you about earlier, Eryn. She told me that many people fought alongside her and near her, and protected her, and her descriptions of two of them seem to look much like you two do. Although neither she, her friends, nor my husband and I, can understand just why that might now be the case here."

A look briefly passed between Eryn and Sylvia. And with a mutually-exchanged series of silent blinks that only they could see here, they secretly agreed to talk more later. The sooner, the better, at that.

Just before they left, Dora remembered something else Justa had told her earlier. She said, "I don't know if you'll understand this, but she also told me, just before leaving for school today, that she unexpectedly saw several unusual-looking animals near where the battle was fought last night, with at least two being felines of some sort, at least two days ago. And also what appeared to be several thieves stealing merchandise from a number of nearby stores, including various pots, for example, for at least a little while. I don't understand what she's talking about here, but that's still what she told me this morning."

The girls shared another secret look, before Sylvia said, "Thank you very much for the chatting, Sutilenia-san." That said, they soon headed back to Sylvia's home, after first secretly training elsewhere with each other again. Sylvia's parents and siblings were so glad to see them again, after which they quickly called it a night, for they were both wiped out. Especially Eryn, so Esther sent them right to bed.