Well, for those that wanted it, here's chapter 2. Stay tuned afterward
because chapter 3 should come along soon too.
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Sailor Moon D, Chapter 2
"Panic at the Market! The New Battle Is Met!"
by
Akihiro & Vodka
***Disclaimer: We hold no legal rights to any of the characters created
by Takeuchi Naoko. They are property of those persons/companies with
legal rights and no infringement is intended. No profit is being made
from their use.***
{...} Indicates character thoughts
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The day after the insect monster attacked went by like any other. After
school, Usagi, Rei, Ami, Makoto, and Minako sat at the temple waiting
for the mysterious new senshi.
"So who was that Luna?" asked Usagi.
"And why did she have a cat like you two, I thought you were the only
ones left?" added Minako.
"Yes. I might be wrong since it was dark by the time we arrived, but
that cat looked like a typical siamese only with a crescent moon like
yours. And he definitely seemed to be speaking to her." Ami looked
intently at Luna and Artemis.
Artemis and Luna exchanged a glance and nodded simultaniously. "We
didn't want to tell you this before because we thought that she was
lost," Luna explained then looked to Artemis to continue.
The white cat took his cue and picked up the story. "You see, the
asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars used to be a planet but it was
destroyed in Queen Beryl's attack. The princess of Apollo had needed to
return to her planet not long before the attack commenced. As rumors
were already spreading that an attack might occur, she took her guardian
cat, Ceres, along with her."
"And we got back just in time to get sent off to this future," came a
voice from the door. "Good thing I recognized Serenity's last resort
technique, Apollo had almost attacked the bubbles that were our passage
to a new life."
Luna looked up and saw the siamese cat, a wide smile covered her face.
"Ceres!!!" She ran to him and started to nuzzle against him.
Ceres blushed a bright shade of crimson.
Artemis matched the color, but through slightly different emotions.
"It's great to see you Ceres, we thought you were dead," Artemis choked
out through gritted teeth. He silently added {Too bad dreams don't come
true.}
"So where's this 'Sailor Apollo' at?" asked Makoto.
"Don't interupt Mako-chan, can't you see that Luna's found a long lost
lover?" Usagi asked as she pointed at the two cats.
It was then Luna's turn to blush as she quickly moved a respectable
distance away from Ceres. "Not at all, we're just good friends that
haven't seen each other in a long time. Nee, Ceres?"
All eyes turned to the siamese cat who had a dreamy look on his face.
After a second the girls started laughing hysterically and Ceres snapped
out of his trance. "Uh... Apollo will be here in a second, she stopped
to get a drink."
At that moment, Naru walked in. "Hi everyone! What's up?"
"Uh... We're waiting for someone," replied Usagi. "What brings you
here?"
"I... I have a meeting," she stated a little too quickly. {I hope that
was convincing.} "So, who are you waiting for?"
"You, Sailor Apollo." At Ceres' words every mouth in the room dropped
open. "They are the others from last night."
Usagi's face lit up. "Naru-chan, you're one of us!" she cried happily,
but still surprised.
"Allow me to introduce everyone," said Artemis. "Usagi here is Sailor
Moon."
"I really wanted to tell you for a long time," said Usagi.
Naru smiled. "Don't worry, I understand. I kind of had a feeling about
it anyway."
Artemis walked over to the others, introducing each as he reached them.
"Ami is Sailor Mercury, Makoto is Sailor Jupiter, Rei is Sailor Mars,
and Minako is Sailor Venus."
"Formerly Sailor V!" Minako added energetically.
Everyone looked at each other, still somewhat in shock. After
recovering, the girls all exchanged stories of past adventures and how
they had discovered their powers.
As soon as the fanfare ended, Luna turned to Ceres. "So, what are we up
against?"
"How would he know?" asked Usagi.
"Ceres has the gift of foresight, he can see how our final battle
against whoever this is will go already. Nee, Ceres?" inquired Luna.
"Right, but this person is hard to see things about. He is sendng out
his devils or 'oni' to gather the lights of as many people as they can.
When he has enough lights..."
"Lights?" asked Mako.
"A person's 'light' is their soul. Without it their body will die
within five minutes," Ceres explained.
"The dead old guy in the news!" Minako almost shouted.
"Correct," confirmed Ceres.
"Wait a minute!" interupted Usagi. "You mean people are actually
dying?! These 'light' things being taken actually kills the victim?!"
"Yes, it does," answered the siamese cat. "He managed to get three last
week including the guy in the news, they just haven't found the other
two bodies yet. If enough lights are gathered, this being can easily
use the power from them to take over the Earth, and then the universe or
anything he chooses. We really must stop him." The siamese cat looked
carefully at each girl.
"Do you know how many oni he has to summon?" Ami asked attentively.
"He doesn't summon them, he _creates_ them. If we don't stop _him_,
they'll just keep coming." Ceres watched the reactions until Ami broke
the silence again.
"Do you know what he's called?"
"His name is Mamono."
***
After the meeting was over, Naru and Ceres walked towards the Osaka
home, many things ran through the mind of each.
"Why didn't you tell them abot the spell that Mamono is preparing?" Naru
asked.
"Can you say in all certainty that you could put out your best effort if
you had that kind of pressure on you... If you knew _that_ was going to
happen to you?" Ceres watched her for response and felt guilty when her
face fell.
"I suppose your right," Naru replied sadly. "I just don't like lying to
my friends."
"Try not to think of it," said Ceres. "I'll get together with Mercury
and Mars and see if we can figure out were he is so we can destroy him
before the spell can be completed. They still have a couple weeks
before they're really in danger from it." He looked her over and saw
that she was still worried. "If we can't find him within a week, then
I'll tell them, so don't worry about it. You ought to go home and get a
good night's sleep though, you have school tomorrow and an oni to defeat
about three hours after that."
"Another one of those bug things?" Naru asked in disgust. "I guess I
will need my sleep."
"Another oni," Ceres corrected. "Not necessarily the same as the one
you faced last night."
"Oh, Okay."
***
"So the Senshi have a new ally," Mamono spoke from his black throne.
"And her cat thinks he can find me and they can come defeat me. Well
I'll give them something to think about." The room was filled with
thunderous laughter as the shrouded figure stood. When the laughter
faded Mamono began chanting.
A bright glow appeared before him and his chanting ceased. "Go, my oni,
and gather as many lights as you can so I can speed up the process for
my spell," he commanded. "The Sailor Senshi will most likely be waiting
for you when you arrive, but don't worry when you enconter them, I have
created you with enough strength to stand up to them."
The glow faded immediately into nothingness.
***
Naru, Usagi, and Minako left school together the next day and went to
the Crown Game Center as Ami went to meet Rei and the three cats to help
try to locate Mamono's realm.
Usagi and Minako were flirting with Motoki as usual while Naru watched
feeling melancholy. Usagi noticed her friend's mood a sat down next to
her.
"Are you alright?" she asked. "You're thinking about Umino aren't you?
Well don't. You'll find someone else so fast it'll make your head spin.
Come on, go flirt with somebody. It'll make you feel better." Usagi
got up and pulled Naru along with her. As she pulled her friend, she
noticed that there was something hanging of Naru's bag. "You're about
to drop something there," she pointed out. "What is that, anyway?"
Naru pulled the dirty, but well kept piece of cloth from her schoolbag
and held it out to Usagi. "It's a piece of cloth that I've used to
bandage two peope I cared about. Umino was the second and he kept it to
remember me by, now that he's leaving he gave it back for me to remember
him by. He said he's kept everything else I ever gave him too so he has
plenty to remember me by."
{Oh my!} thought Usagi. {The cloth she used to bandage Nephrite! I've
got to get that away from her, she'll be depressed every time she see's
it. Especially now that there's two people it reminds her of.} Usagi
considered for a moment then spoke. "That thing looks kind of dirty,
maybe you should toss it and ask Umino for another keepsake. Or at
least wash that thing."
"No, even though you're probably right, I can't," replied Naru. "I'm
going to keep it, just the way it is."
{I'll have to ask Luna for some advice on how to get her to let go of
the past,} Usagi silently decided. "Anyway, weren't we going to go
flirt with some guys? Let's get moving!"
***
Two hours later the senshi all met outside the Hikawa shrine.
"Alright, everyone," said Ceres. "Let's get our game faces on."
"Right!" the girls shouted in unison.
"MOON ETERNAL, MAKE UP!!!"
"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"APOLLO POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
When the tansformations were completed, everyone turned to Sailor
Apollo. "Why don't you have a crystal power transformation, or at least
star power?" asked Venus.
Ceres answered for her. "She doesn't have crystal power because she
hadn't been awakened yet when the pegasus enhanced the senshi powers,"
he explained. "As for star power, when I gave her the henshin pen I
couldn't summon the star pen for her yet."
"Oh," Venus replied intelligently.
"So where is this thing going to strike?" inquired Sailor Mars.
"In the shopping district," replied the cat. "Get over there and stop it
as fat as you can! Remeber, if anyone loses their light, you only have
five minutes to get it back to them or they'll die."
The six senshi nodded at once then rushed toward the shopping district.
When they arrived, the scene before them was like something from a
nightmare.
"Enter now to win two tickets, including bakstage passes to tonights
Spice Girls concert!!!" called a voice over a loudspeaker. "But hurry
to enter because the concert is only an hour away!!!"
Jupiter eyed the large platform loaded with posters and other Spice
Girls paraphernalia and turned to the others. "I know we usually stop
the evil things as fast as we can, but can't we let it take out at least
a few of those people first this time? Or at least give it directions
to the hotel where the Spice Girls are staying?"
There was no time for a response as a bright flash appeared in the
middle of the crowd. People began to scatter and the senshi stepped
forward.
"While I do agree the Spice Girls are horrible, their fans still don't
deserve to die!" Sailor Moon shouted. "I am the beautiful sailor suited
warrior of love and justice, Sailor Moon. In the name of the moon, I'll
puish you!"
The crowd finally thinned out and the oni could be seen. It stood ten
feet tall on human legs with a pair of human arms extending from it's
torso and two horns protruding from it's head, but it's height was not
it's entre size. Without the arms and legs, this oni would still be a
forty foot long king cobra.
Sailor Moon gaped in awe as it lashed it's tail out to encircle a
running spectator even though he was a good twenty feet away from it.
The monster then held the victim of bad timing between itself and the
senshi.
Mars ran to the side to for a position where the bystander wouldn't be
at risk, the prepared her attack. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" The arrow of
fire zipped safely past the captured man and peirced the creature's left
arm. That served as enough of a distraction for it to drop it's prey
and turn to confront her.
As it did, Venus casually positioned herself behind it while Mercury
quickly took a position opposite Sailor Mars.
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!!"
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!"
The oni was hit by attacks from all sides simultaneously and staggered
to the ground. It immediatly regained it's feet however, and began
slowly swaying it's hooded head from side to side while it focused on
Mars.
"MARS FLAME..." as the fire arrow appeared, she faced Sailor Moon to
release. "SNIPER!!!"
Sailor Moon was unable to act as the deadly attack flew toward her
heart.
Jupiter quickly jumed in front of Sailor Moon. "JUPITER OAK
EVOLUTION!!!" The attack effectively stopped the arrow as well as the
three follow-ups that had been launched in rapid sucession.
"It's hypnotized Mars! She'll be like that until it is defeated!"
called Mercury reportng the information her visor's analysis had
provided her. "But it has amazing regenerative powers. Mamono made
this one so we couldn't immobilize it like Apollo did yesterday. All
wounds it receives, no matter how severe, will heal in mere seconds. I
have an idea though. Apollo, Venus! The three of us will hit it with
everything we can summon while Sailor Moon gets her attack powered up.
The combined assault should weaken it enough that Sailor Moon's attack
will finish it as long as it's timed right!"
"What about me?!" shouted Jupiter.
Sailor Mercury indicated the new barrage of arrows heading for Sailor
Moon. "That's what you do," she said simply. "Alright Sailor Moon,
remember to time it so your attack hits right after ours. Everyone
ready? NOW!"
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!!"
"POETIC MELODY!!!"
Sailor Moon watched as her fellow senshi wound up for there attacks,
then as they released she called hers. "STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY
KISS!!!"
The oni was assailed by the thre senshi attacks, immediately followed by
Sailor Moon's attack. The resulting effect was the oni imploding on
itself without leaving a trace it ever existed. At the same time,
Sailor Mars collapsed to the ground unconcious. The others gathered
their knocked out friend and headed back to the shrine.
***
Mamono's eyes flared. "So you are more resilient the I gave you credit
for," he spoke with controlled rage. "But rest assured that the next
trial shall not be so easy."
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Well, two chapters posted, four more to go (for now at least). We hope
you're enjoying them as much as we did writing them! As always, all
C&Cs are appreciated, MSTs are enjoyed, and flames are extinguished.
Let us know what you think so far and where you think it should go from
here, while we do have a plan, we are still open to suggestions for the
minor details.
Sincerely,
Akihiro & Vodka
TendouNabiki@webtv.net