OCWaGH: Chapter 6

About thirty minutes passed by after the Eds and the others left the apartment building to go into town. All of them were walking around downtown in separate groups. One group was Ed, Usagi, Hotaru, Haruka, and Michiru. The second group was Double D, Ami, and Makoto. And the third group was Eddy, Rei, and Minako; thanks to Minako's persistence and to Rei's annoyance. Ed's group was at a local grocery store. Double D's group was on one end of town, scouting for any enemies. Finally, Eddy's group was on the other side of town, also roaming around on patrol for any enemies, but they were mostly looking around at the shops and goofing off.

Author's Note: These two scenes happen around the same time as each other before converging at the very end of the chapter.

We could see Double D's group around the part of town where there were a lot of smaller restaurants and other eateries in the area. The local library was also in the area, which is where they decided to stop and rest for a short moment.

Double D was roaming around the section of the library that had all the history books; he wanted to try and find some books about Roman and Greek myths, 'Maybe finding a book or two about the topic can help me learn a bit more about this new power I have if that is at all possible,' he thought to himself.

He grabbed a few of the books off the shelf before walking back to sit down at a table to read the books he gathered. As he was sitting down, he could see Ami also coming over next to him with a few books of her own; her stack of books was even taller than his! Double D could see what kind of books she grabbed; a lot of them were about psychology and studies of the human mind.

"That's quite the stack of books you brought over, Ami," Double D started to say, "Is there any particular reason why they are all about psychology?"

"Well, since we've learned this new enemy is targeting people's emotions as a source of energy, I thought it would be a good idea to study a bit about how other people behave and act," Ami explained, "It could help us identify why they would do such a thing in the first place and who they would target, not to mention help treat the victims of the attacks to recover a little faster."

"I see!" Double D stated with a smile, "That does make sense."

Ami noticed the stack of books Double D brought over with him, "I see you brought over some books about mythologies, Eddward."

"Y-Yes," Double D replied as he opened one of the books in front of him, "I thought I would read up on this topic to see if it could help me understand anything about this new power I have."

Ami stared at him for a second before making a small chuckle, "I don't think there's going to be any books about the Silver Millennium, sadly. It's a forgotten era of the past, even to us. Most of the memories we have of it are still shrouded in a fog."

"Oh… I-I figured as much," Double D sighed a little, "But it still would be nice to freshen up my knowledge again on this subject. It's been a while since I've read stories about myths and legends."

"Fair enough."

The two sat there for a short moment before Double D thought about something important, "Say, Ami?"

Ami looked up from her book, "Yes? Is there something wrong?"

"No… Umm, I just thought of a question," Double D started to say, "How have you masked your identity for all of these years without anyone guessing who you are?"

"Oh, that? I believe it has something to do with the powers themselves; something about our powers masks our identities to both our enemies and other people," Ami explained, "The illusion only wears off if we directly tell anyone who we are or if they see us transform in front of them."

"Interesting," Double D mused a little in fascination.

"Honestly, there's more to this power that I never realized we had," Ami continued to say, "When my friends and I arrived here, we could suddenly speak and understand English; we became bilingual."

Double D widened his eyes, "Wait, really?!" he questioned with surprise.

"Yes. My friend Minako said this happened to her before when she was living overseas in England," Ami stated, "She told us that it's to help us adapt to where we are without much trouble. I assume we can also now write in English."

"That's amazing!" Double D replied before making a gasp, "Do you think my friends and I have that now as well if we go anywhere?!"

Ami smiled at his enthusiasm, "It is very possible."

The two teens then heard Makoto sit down across from them at the table; she had grabbed a few books about gardening, along with a romance novel that caught her eye.

"Seems like you two found what you were looking for pretty quickly," Makoto stated to them with a small smirk.

"Yes, I was hoping something here could help us with figuring out our enemy's motives," Ami stated to her before realizing something, "Oh, I forgot to grab a certain book a moment ago! Pardon me."

She got up from her chair to go back to the section of the library she was in before, leaving behind Double D and Makoto at the table.

Makoto could see Double D glancing back to where Ami walked off, "Wow, it really is love at first sight on Ami for you, huh?"

"W-What?!" Double D jolted in surprise at what Makoto said to him, lifting the book he had in front of him to hide the blush on his face, "I-I don't know what—"

"Kind of hard to hide your face when you make it so obvious. I've seen it many times from other people with a crush," Makoto stated to him, "Don't worry though, I'm not going to say anything."

"… You're not?" Double D meekly asked, peeking up from the book he held to look at her.

"Nope, I'll keep my mouth shut," Makoto chuckled, "I think that's something you should tell her on your own."

Double D was silent for a moment before making a sigh, setting the book in his hands back down to the table, "I'm not sure if I can," he started to say, taking out the blue medal from his pocket to look at it, "I have this power now, but I don't think I'm good enough to have such a gift. How can I protect both her and everyone else if I'm not strong enough to do so?"

"It depends on what you define as strong," Makoto replied to him, "Physical strength or strength of heart; it can be one or the other, but I know for a fact that both are important," she then made a wide smile to him, "How about this: I can help you train your body to be stronger if that's something you want to aim for."

"Really…?" Double D asked in surprise, "You would help me do that?"

"Of course!" Makoto stated, "I know a lot about judo and self-defense. It'll be no problem!"

Suddenly, there was a loud sound coming from outside the library that caught everyone's attention. The two teens could see a few people come rushing inside the library from the entrance, all of them in a panic.

"Someone, please call the police!" A person shouted as they came into the library, "There are all sorts of strange creatures attacking people outside!"

Makoto narrowed her eyes, "Guess that training is coming a lot sooner than I expected!" She turned to Double D, "Come on, we gotta help!"

"R-Right!" Double D replied with a nod of his head, clutching onto the blue medal in his hands as he got up from where he sat.

Double D and Makoto dashed out of the library, only to see what was going on. They could see about four or five monsters nearby, stealing the energy from people trying to run away. The monsters looked very similar to the green ones that Sailor Moon fought earlier, but now the monsters were blue.

Makoto could see an alleyway next to the library, which she quickly dragged Double D over to, "I didn't expect to see this many of them!" She stated with a heated sigh, "Sorry, we'll have to hold off on that training. Facing this many monsters might be a bit much for you."

Makoto then took out something from her pocket, it was her henshin stick that had the symbol of Jupiter on it. She held up her henshin stick to the air to shout, "Jupiter Crystal Power… Make UP!"

Double D was suddenly blinded a little by a flash of green light, lifting his arms to cover his eyes for a short moment before looking back at where Makoto stood; her clothes had completely changed!

Double D widened his eyes at the transformation, 'I guess this proves everything they said to us was true!' he thought, 'Not that I had any real doubts.'

Jupiter looked back to Double D, "Stay right here for now, okay? And maybe take some notes!"

Double D could only nod his head as Sailor Jupiter then dashed off to fight the monsters. He then looked back towards where the monsters were, only to see Ami had already transformed into Sailor Mercury when she was away from them. Double D could feel his heart starting to beat out of his chest as he watched the guardians fight with their powers. They seemed to be doing well in defeating the monsters so far, but he could not help but feel uneasy about something.

Double D looked down at the blue medal he held in his hand, the symbol of Mercury on it was shining even brighter than it was before, 'Oh dear, how do I even transform?! Do I need to shout out like how Makoto did it…? All this is still so baffling to me!'

Double D looked back up to see that both Mercury and Jupiter had finished defeating all the monsters! He gave a small sigh of relief for them as he could see them walking back towards where he was; they were quite a few yards away from him. It was while they were walking back over to him that he could see several icicles that suddenly jutted out of the ground, trapping both girls in a cage of ice, even the top was covered!

Double D widened his eyes in horror, "Oh goodness! I-I must help them!" he gasped. He narrowed his eyes in determination before looking at the blue medal in his hands, 'Please, Mr. Mamoru, let me help them! I beg of you!' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes, gripping onto the medal.

A sudden bright flash of blue light started to form around Double D and his clothes, changing them to something completely different. His outfit was very similar to Ed's outfit, which was Endymion's armor when he was alive during the Silver Millennium, but his colors were blue and white and not gold, silver, and black. He panicked for a short moment when he could feel his beanie was no longer on his head but then calmed down once he noticed something else. While his usual black beanie disappeared when he transformed, he could feel a blue masquerade mask on his face that also covered parts of his forehead; the reason he always wore his beanie was still being covered, much to his relief. With him not wearing his beanie, you could see his messy, light blond hair a lot more than usual.

Meanwhile, back over with Mercury and Jupiter, Jupiter was trying her best to punch and kick down the ice walls of this ice cage they were in, only to see it was not working, "Damn! This is going to be tough to get out of…"

Mercury takes out her minicomputer, putting on her visor for a moment to examine the surroundings. She scanned to see if there was a weak point on any parts of the cage, only to see a small indent high above their heads, "Jupiter, there's an indent up there! Maybe you can use one of your stronger attacks to break it open!"

Jupiter nodded her head, "Gotcha!" She started to form a ball of green electricity in her hands, "Sparkling Wide… PRESSURE!" She shouted as she threw the electric ball towards the indent that Mercury pointed out. It worked in making a bigger crack in the cage, "Alright, I should do another…"

"I don't think so, sweetie!"

Mercury and Jupiter both widened their eyes as they turned around to see who was behind them, only to see a long sword made of ice was now dangerously close to their throats. Holding the sword was a young woman in a blue uniform, she had long navy-blue hair and bright blue eyes.

"I suggest not moving from where you are standing if you know what's good for you," the young woman said to the guardians, "I have a few questions I need answered before I kill you. Where is the queen you are sworn to protect? My master wishes to see her."

Both Mercury and Jupiter glared at the woman holding them hostage, "Why would we tell you anything?!" Jupiter growled to her.

While Jupiter was bad-mouthing the young woman in front of her, mostly as a distraction, Mercury could hear something behind her; it sounded like someone was slowly climbing on top of the ice cage, right towards the indent that she pointed out earlier.

The young woman was starting to lose her patience with them, "Fine! If you won't talk about your queen, then I'll just—"

Suddenly, they all heard a loud crack and a small yelp above the young woman; the top of the ice cage almost collapsed on top of her! She quickly dodged out of the way in time, "What the—?!"

Mercury and Jupiter widened their eyes at what happened; it was Double D! He had transformed into Hermes to help them. He found the indent in the ice cage and used it to break into here! He also seemed a little out of it from the sudden fall.

"Hermes!" Mercury gasped as she and Jupiter came up to his side.

The young woman looked at the teen boy who fell through the ice cage; her heart jumped slightly before shaking it off, "Well, well, well! Why's a young boy like you trying to play the hero today? That's very amusing!"

The young woman then snapped her fingers, which proceeded to make the ice cage around them shatter into pieces, "Thank you for the entertainment, but I will get my answer from you all another time!" She started to say as a blue portal of ice appeared behind her, "My nickname is Rios, remember it for next time we play together!"

The woman named Rios then dashed into the portal, which quickly disappeared as soon as she did.

The three teens stayed there for a short moment before Mercury turned her attention back to Hermes, "Are you alright?" she asked as she helped him back on his feet from where he fell.

"Y-Yes, I'm quite alright, thank you," Hermes replied, still a little shaken from what happened.

They could all hear sirens nearby, "We should get out of here now!" Jupiter said with a gasp.

Both Mercury and Jupiter grabbed Hermes's hands before jumping very high to get away, much to Hermes's surprise, yelping loudly at the sudden act.

We could see Eddy's group in the part of town where most of the clothes shops were located, along with various other stores. The three teens were sitting around a local fast-food place that had a sitting area outside it, deciding to order some food after doing a bit of scouting. Rei and Minako had to buy Eddy's food since he did not have any money to do so and did not want him to work on an empty stomach, much to Rei's annoyance.

"Shoot, I forgot to fill my drink! Be right back," Eddy stated as he grabbed his cup to go to the soda machine inside.

Rei made a heated sigh, which was noticed by Minako.

"… Rei, you know I gotta ask this. Why are you being so rude towards him?" Minako asked, "You're not saying it out loud, but it's hard to not notice the scowl that's been on your face this entire time."

Rei made a small glare at Minako before sighing again, "I don't know, something about him just rubbed me the wrong way back at the apartments," Rei replied, shaking her head from side to side, "Not sure what it was, but… But it's also this whole situation! It's really been stressful; I don't need this kind of distraction right now!"

Minako glanced over to the fast-food place behind Rei's shoulder, only to see Eddy had not gone inside yet; he heard their conversation. He looked very disheartened before he walked inside the fast-food place to fill his drink.

'Ouch, that had to hurt,' Minako thought before making a little smile to herself, 'Guess it's my time to shine as the Goddess of Love to help out those who need love advice the most!'

Minako got up from where she was sitting, "Where are you going?" Rei asked.

"I forgot to grab some ketchup for my burger," Minako replied to Rei, "I'll be back in a minute!"

Minako walked inside the fast-food place and made her way over to the soda machine where Eddy was, "Hey…"

"Don't," Eddy started to say in a stern tone, not even facing her, "I had a feeling that's what was going on, but I kept pushing it aside," he made a sigh, "Guess she's not—"

"So that's it, huh? You're gonna give up just like that?!"

Eddy widened his eyes as he looked at Minako, "A whole day hasn't even passed by since we got here. There's still plenty of time to make a better impression and change her mind!" Minako continued to say, giving him a little peace sign with a smile, "I can give you advice if you want me to, as the Goddess of Love herself!"

"Wait, you can?!" Eddy questioned in surprise.

"Yeah!" Minako replied with a big smile, "Of course, it all depends on how much effort you put into making it happen! It's like what people say, 'Egypt wasn't built in a week'!"

Eddy stared at her for a second before replying, "You know what? You're right!"

Minako gave him a thumbs up, "That's the spirit!"

Eddy filled up his cup and Minako grabbed some ketchup packets before walking back to Rei outside. They could see she was almost done with eating her order. Eddy sat back down first before Minako did, to make it look like they were not in there talking to each other.

"Sorry it took so long," Eddy stated, "Didn't know what to really go for."

Rei stayed silent as she kept eating her food while the others started to eat theirs. Eddy kept glancing at Rei occasionally, still thinking to himself about what he could say or do to try and make things a little better and less awkward. Eddy was about to talk to her when he noticed she was finished eating until he noticed Rei perking her head up a bit at something, which also caught Minako's attention, "What is it, Rei?" Minako asked.

Suddenly, they could feel the ground rumble slightly before it stopped a second later, catching everyone in the area off guard. It was then that about five portals made of fire started to appear from out of nowhere on the sidewalk further away from where the fast-food place was, and out from the portals came red-scaled monsters: one came out of each portal.

"WHOA!" Eddy yelped as he and the people in the area got up from where they were sitting. The three teens could see the monsters rushing over to people who were trying to run away, stealing their energy as they did. Everyone else had either run away in a panic or went inside any of the nearby buildings to safety.

Rei and Minako narrowed their eyes at the sight as Rei noticed an alleyway nearby, gesturing for the other two to go there. The three teens ran towards said alleyway, hopefully without being seen by anyone.

"Why did so many have to show up?" Rei stated irritably before she and Minako looked to Eddy, "You might wanna stay back for now; I know you need training but there's too many enemies right now."

"Huh?!" Eddy was surprised to hear that; it almost sounded like she cared for a moment instead of being passive-aggressive to him, 'Probably because it's her job to protect people,' he thought.

"Don't worry, maybe you'll learn something by watching us do our work!" Minako said with a wink as she and Rei took out their henshin sticks to transform. They both held up their henshin sticks in the air to shout, "Mars Crystal Power… Make UP!" and "Venus Crystal Power… Make UP!"

Eddy was blinded by two bright lights for a short moment. He shielded his eyes before opening them again to see the two girls had transformed: both now wearing different clothes. He widened his eyes as the two guardians ran ahead to go fight the monsters, 'Holy crap, that was really flashy!'

Eddy reached into his pocket to pull out the red medal he had, the Mars symbol on the medal was pulsing more and more with a strange light, "How the heck do I even use this thing when I need to?" he questioned aloud before making a groan, 'Geez, why does everything have to be weird now?! I didn't ASK for this!'

Eddy glanced back towards the two guardians that were still fighting, it seemed like they were doing very well fighting them. They finished off the last monster a minute later.

"Huh, was that really it?" Mars questioned with a bit of a huff, "Those monsters seemed way too weak!"

"Yeah, they did," Venus replied before shrugging her shoulders, "Let's fall back for now."

Eddy sighed in relief when he saw them walking back over to where he was hiding in the alleyway… That is until all three of them heard a sinister chuckle that echoed a little around them. A wall of fire suddenly started to wrap around the two guardians in a big circle, trapping them inside the area!

Eddy widened his eyes at the sudden turn of events, "Oh geez, they actually need help!" he looked down at the red medal in his hand with a bit of a small panic, "C-Come on, you freakin' weird thing! I gotta help them! NOW!"

A sudden flash of bright red light started to form around Eddy and his clothes, changing them to something completely different. His outfit was very similar to Ed and Double D's outfits, which was Endymion's armor when he was alive during the Silver Millennium, but his colors were red, gray, and black. He could also feel a red mask over his eyes and face. He examined himself for a moment at the new attire, "… Well, the clothes could be worse. But this isn't the time for that!"

Meanwhile, back with Mars and Venus, both started to feel the heat of the wall of flames around them, "This isn't looking good, Mars…" Venus stated as they tried to stay in the center of the firewall.

Mars was looking at her surroundings a bit more before noticing the long part of a streetlight hanging above them, the pole of it was on the outside of the firewall, "Hey, Venus! You should use your whip attack to pull down that streetlight! We can probably climb our way out if you bend it down from here!"

Venus looked up to see what she meant by that, "Yeah, I see now!" Venus then started to form a chain of lights around herself, "Venus Love Me… CHAIN!" she shouted as she pointed upwards toward the light pole. The chain of lights then started to wrap around the extended part of the light pole. Both Venus and Mars grabbed onto the chain of lights like a rope, trying their best to pull it down towards them. It seemed to be working better than they thought!

But, as they were almost through with pulling it down, Venus could feel that Mars had suddenly let go of the chain, yelping as she did. Venus gasped as she turned to see what happened, only to widen her eyes a little.

Mars was now being held hostage at knifepoint by a young man with bright red hair and dark brown eyes; the hunter knife he held close to her throat was red and silver in color.

"Mars!" yelped Venus when she saw her friend.

"Stop right there, guardian!" stated the young man in a threatening tone, "I suggest you both cooperate with me and answer my questions, or else I'll take this lovely woman back to our base as a hostage!"

Both Mars and Venus glared at the young man, with Mars growling at the fact she could not do anything.

"Now then, the question I want to ask is really simple…" the young man started to say, "Where is the queen of Crystal Tokyo? We knew where she was once, but we lost track of her; you guardians are hiding her from our lord!"

Meanwhile, on the outside of the firewall, Ares could see that the light pole nearby was bent down towards the middle of the ring of fire. An idea came to his head, 'I should climb the pole to check on them from there!'

He quickly ran over to the bent light pole and began to climb it, sweating a little not from the height, but from the firewall that he was passing over from the top because it was now bent. Once Ares reached the arch of the bent light pole, he looked down to see the scene, only to widen his eyes in shock; Mars was being held hostage by someone. He narrowed his eyes; NOW he had to do something!

'Looks like they don't notice me…' Ares thought before swallowing his nerves, climbing a bit closer to them from the bent light pole. It was when he noticed he was at a good and safe height that he jumped down in the circle behind the young man's peripheral vision. He then forcefully pushed the young man away from Mars before grabbing her arm to drag her further away from the red-haired man, "Get AWAY from her!" he shouted.

"Ares?!" Mars gasped in shock.

"Ooof!" the young man yelped as he turned back to who pushed him, "How dare you do that to me, runt!"

"Like I care!" Ares retorted with a glare.

The young man also glared at Ares before making a growl in annoyance, "Very well… My nickname is Faris, remember it for next time I'll get my answer from you guardians!" He then formed a portal of fire behind him before he ran into it, disappearing as he did. The firewall around them also began to fade away, releasing them from the ring of fire that surrounded them.

It was after the fire faded away that Ares fell to his knees; they gave out from how intense that whole situation was; he was not used to this yet.

Venus came running up to Ares and Mars, "Are you two alright?!" she asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Mars replied, glancing down a bit to Ares, 'He actually helped save me…'

The three teens soon heard some very loud sirens close by, "Uh oh, that's not good! We gotta run!" Venus yelped.

Both Mars and Venus grabbed Ares's hands before jumping very high to get away, much to Ares's shock, yelling loudly at the sudden act.

Author's Note (November 9th, 2023): Hey there! Posted the last chapter a month ago... Oops. Well, I'll get back to this story, along with the other ones!