Special Thanks: "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl for editing, good ideas and
                comments, and providing me with Sailor Moon stories to
                enjoy! Thanks Will!

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi and all terms, names etc associated
            with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha.
            The Guardians and everything pertaining to the Star Kingdoms are
            MINE!

                   Sailor Moon: Guardians of the Star
           Chapter 10 CounterStorm: The Outer Senshi Strike!

Arilith studied the lot carefully. Surrounded by a wooden fence, the lot
in question contained an assortment of garbage and an abandoned twenty
story building, slated for demolition. "Well?" Uranus demanded
impatiently.  Arilith turned a glare on the fidgeting Outer Senshi, to
quell her.  Despite her diminutive stature, she stood only 4'5" tall,
something about THIS Dragonkin intimidated the Outer Senshi, and Uranus
forced her impatience down. "Sorry," she muttered.

Arilith smiled at her. "To answer your question, this IS the site we're
looking for," she explained quietly, "The entire lot is under a shield."
Uranus frowned thoughtfully. "Can we get through?" Arilith nodded
slowly.  "Yes, but we'll be detected the moment we pass through the
shield!"

"Any other way in?" Sailor Pluto asked. Arilith shook her head silently.
"Then we go in the front!" Uranus said, smiling grimly, "I always
preferred the direct approach anyway!" The five moved along the fence
until they stood in front of the entryway onto the grounds.

After studying the area through the entryway, they moved through the
shield and onto the lot. Each of them felt the tingling sensation as
they passed the shield. By unspoken agreement, they moved towards the
building cautiously. The air around them began to shimmer when they were
halfway to the building. "Back to back!" Uranus shouted as the
shimmering forms began to solidify, "Arilith, in the center!" The Senshi
backed up, facing outwards in four directions and keeping the tiny
Dragonkin behind them, as the shimmering ceased, to reveal that they
were surrounded.

Arilith took one look at the warriors surrounding them and groaned, "Oh
my Goddess!" The creatures were seven feet tall, had tusks protruding
from their lower jaws, and wore black armor with a red star sigil on the
breast plate.  "What are these things, Arilith?" Uranus asked tensely as
the creatures readied their weapons. "Warriors of the Killanki Clans,
from the Dead Lands north of the Shieldwall!" Arilith replied nervously,
"Morgoth has brought Black Legion troops with him. That means we're sure
to face Kashalkanite elves!"

"Why...?" Saturn began, when with guttural cries, the Killanki charged.
The Outer Senshi exploded into action. Uranus ran forward and raised her
hand. "WORLD SHAKING!!" Throwing her hand downwards, the power struck
the ground and rippled towards the charging warriors facing her. The
Killanki shrieked as it slammed into them, destroying them utterly.

Neptune raised her hands, streamers of water radiating from them. "DEEP
SUBMERGE!!" Pointing her hands at the onrushing enemy, a wall of water
left her hands to overwhelm her opponents with crushing force. Saturn
calmly pointed her Silence Glaive at her foes. "DEATH RIBBON
REVOLUTION!!" Black streamers emerged from her weapon and sliced into
the soldiers, disintegrating each one it touched until none were left to
oppose her.

"Dead scream." Pluto leveled her staff and the energy blast obliterated
the warriors facing her. She turned to Arilith with a smile that turned
to horror. "Arilith! RUN!!" she cried, abandoning her customary
detachment as she ran to the tiny Dragonkin. The others turned and
seeing the danger, broke into a desperate run, knowing they would be too
late.

During the fight, they had gone farther from Arilith, and each other,
than they had intended. Somehow, four Killanki had gotten past them and
were rushing with drawn weapons, towards tiny Arilith, who stood facing
her attackers calmly. She glanced briefly at the approaching Outer
Senshi, and smiled grimly. <Think I'm helpless, do they? We'll see about
that!>

She shimmered, and where a tiny girl had once stood, now stood seventeen
feet of snarling Dragonkin. The Killanki tried to pull up at the sudden
change when Arilith attacked. Leaping into their midst, she slashed out
with her foreclaws, dispatching two Killanki. A third was disposed of
when she wrapped her tail around his neck and threw him against the
building with crushing force. Before the fourth could flee, she seized
and crushed him in her powerful jaws. As she dropped him, his body was
already turning to dust, that blew away on the breeze.

The Outer Senshi came to a halt, staring at Arilith in shock. They had
just seen someone they thought helpless, dispose of FOUR Killanki
warriors in less than that many seconds. "Uh...that was, er..pretty
good, Arilith," Uranus said dazedly. Arilith took one look at the
stunned expression on Uranus' face and a deep chuckle rumbled up from
her throat.  "Didn't think I had it in me, did you?" she returned dryly.
Uranus shook her head wordlessly. "Let this be a lesson for you all!"
Arilith said sternly as she met each Senshi's eyes, "NEVER judge by
appearances.  You may get a MOST unpleasant shock, if you do."

"THAT lesson I, at least, should have remembered!" Pluto said, disgusted
with herself. "So should we all," Neptune agreed wryly. She turned to
Arilith. "Tell me, Arilith. Have you ever trained warriors?" Arilith
dropped her jaw in a Dragonkin grin and nodded. "My brother and I, while
we ARE young, train warriors for the Kin Guard. Old habits die hard, I'm
afraid!"

"Arilith?" Saturn asked softly, "Why does the fact that these Killanki
were here mean we'll have to face Dark Elves?" The others immediately
were attentive. This was something they wanted to know as well. "These
warriors wore the armor and sigil of the Black Legions." Arilith
explained, "The Black Legions are commanded by the Kashalkanite Elves.
If Black Legion troops were here, their Dark Elf commanders will be here
as well!"

Approaching the door cautiously, they stopped and waited as Arilith
scanned it with her Sight. Sensing and seeing nothing, she shifted to
her human form and opened the doors to peer inside. "How...predictable!"
she commented with a sigh, "Just once I wish they'd do something
different." The others followed as she entered the lobby of the old
building, curious to see what had prompted that comment.

Their eyes widened incredulously as they looked around. Walls, floor,
and ceiling were stone and flicking torches hung from brackets on the
moss covered walls. "It looks more like a dungeon than an abandoned
apartment complex!" Uranus remarked in surprise. "This is Kashalkanite
work," Arilith said as she looked around grimly, "They like to alter
their surroundings to suit them!" She turned to look at the Senshi. "We
MUST tread carefully. There will be traps and possibly ambushes on our
way to our destination!"

"You know where we need to go?" Saturn queried. "Calm your minds. Let
them drift and open your senses!" Arilith instructed. She waited as the
four Senshi followed her instructions. She smiled as all four
immediately looked upwards. "Just so!" she remarked, "We must find
stairs and go up, since that's where the evil is."

"Well, let's go then!" Uranus said as she started down the right hand
hallway. "Uranus, wait! Watch for traps!" Arilith called after the
impulsive Senshi. "Nothing I can't handle, Arilith!" she returned
confidently. Arilith muttered to herself. They all froze on hearing a
sharp click. Neptune reacted instantly, tackling Uranus and sending both
of them painfully to the floor. Something buzzed spitefully through the
air where Uranus had been, sinking into the stone wall with a dull THUD.

A crossbow bolt, covered with a slimy green ichor, quivered in the wall
as the Senshi stared at it in horrified fascination. Uranus looked
visibly shaken at her close call, and Neptune was trembling.

Arilith let out a bloodcurdling oath that brought their heads around to
stare at her in shock. She pointed at the barely visible pressure plate
in the floor, that Uranus had tripped. "Traps!" she snarled furiously,
"I TOLD you there would be TRAPS! Are you so willing to die that you
ignore the voice of experience?! You MUST learn to work with others AND
accept advice from others as valid!" "But..." Uranus began.

"But NOTHING!" Arilith cut her off, "Do you think you will go after
Morgoth alone? The Inner Senshi and the Guardians will be there too! In
fact, the Inner Senshi are more experienced than you in this. They have
fought Morgoth before! It is their fantastic teamwork that allows them
to prevail, despite incredible odds! And what they have already
mastered, you must learn if we are to succeed!"

Uranus thought a moment and then nodded. "Hai, Sensei," she said,
subdued, "Neptune and I are used to working alone, but we'll try!" She
turned to Arilith. "It's not because we don't like them that we've tried
to keep the Inner Senshi out of things," Uranus explained a bit
sheepishly, "It was to protect them, especially the Princess." "True,"
Arilith replied with a nod, "And that was your mistake. The Inner Senshi
are WARRIORS, not wall flowers in need of protection. Remember also that
Sailor Moon is the most powerful of you all. Saturn can destroy a
planet, but only Sailor Moon can HEAL one. Now, let's see if we can
locate those stairs. CAREFULLY, this time!"

After about ten minutes, and carefully avoiding two more traps, they
located an archway, through which they could see stone stairs heading
up.  Arilith looked up the stairs cautiously. "Well, I don't see any
traps," she remarked, "so we might as well start up." Uranus moved
determinedly to the fore. "Hai, Sensei!" she said with a nod, "And I'll
take point, carefully!" She smiled at Arilith, who smiled back and
nodded.

After climbing slowly and carefully, they reached a landing with an
archway.  The stairs, however, ended in a stone wall. "Huh?" Uranus
questioned, "This building has twenty stories. Why end the stairs here?
This is only the tenth floor!" Arilith moved to the Archway and peered
through. The area beyond was dimly lit and she could see little. "I'm
going through first," she said, turning to face the others, "Ready your
powers and follow me through." Assuming combat postures, they looked at
Arilith, who nodded in approval and stepped through the Archway. As soon
as she was through, the Archway wavered and vanished.

Arilith stood frozen, her back against the wall where an archway had
once been. Facing her, stood the first Dark Kindred she had ever seen.
She shimmered and assumed her Dragonkin form as the Dark Kindred spoke.
"Well, well, well!" she said mockingly, "What have we here? A LITTLE
Dragonkin looking to be stepped on! I am Ubatama of the Dark Kindred.
Ready to die, Tiny One?" Arilith regarded her thirty-two foot long foe
with derision. "I see Dark Kindred can still talk better than they
fight!" she snorted sarcastically, "You going to fight, or are you going
to talk me to death?" Ubatama shrieked in fury and flung black lightning
at her diminutive opponent. Arilith dodged the blast and returned the
favor with her fire. <Oh oh!> she thought apprehensively as Ubatama
dodged the return strike, <This one is very skilled! I may be in trouble
here!>

"SENSEI!" Uranus cried as she rushed to the wall and pounded on it with
her fists. "Ari-chan!" Saturn whispered as she looked at the wall in
shock. Pluto and Neptune rushed to the wall and began to search for a
way through. Saturn shook her head fiercely as she got hold of herself.
"EVERYONE, STAND BACK!" she cried. The others moved behind her as she
raised the Silence Glaive. "DEATH RIBBON REVOLUTION!!" The deadly black
filaments emerged from the Glaive and struck the wall....and were
absorbed.  "I can't believe it!" Saturn breathed as she stared at the
impossible.  "Believe it!" Uranus snarled, "And if YOU can't get
through, WE sure won't!" Pluto turned from the impassable wall and
gasped. "Look!" she said, pointing behind them. The others turned to
look and stared in shock. Where a blank wall had been moments before,
stairs now ascended. "If we want to help Arilith," Pluto said urgently,
pointing up the stairs, "then THAT'S the only way." The others followed
her up the stairs reluctantly. Saturn looked back at the stubborn wall
one last time, a tear in her eye.

Arilith drifted in a red haze, every part of her body screaming in pain.
The Dark One had caught her in the side with a lightning blast, knocking
her to the floor. Lacking the strength to rise, she drifted,
semiconscious.  Sharp stabbing pain came from her wounded side with
every shallow breath she took, a sure indication of serious damage.
Ubatama moved wearily over to where Arilith lay. This little insect had
been tougher than she had thought. "Well? Still think I talk better than
I fight?" she taunted the fallen Dragonkin mercilessly as she readied
the death blow.

Arilith brought up an image of Princess Serenity in her mind,
concentrating on it with her whole heart and soul. She had dreamed of
the day she would be able to swear her loyalty and service to the Moon
Princess. With all the stories the younger Kin had heard from the Eldara
about her, Serenity had achieved a legendary stature to the young ones.
Knowing she would die before she could give her oath was more than she
could bear. Keeping the image firmly in her mind, she drew strength from
it. She raised her head unsteadily and glared at the mocking Dark
Kindred. Feeling her despair and hatred welling up, Arilith directed it
all at Ubatama as she cut loose with a mind destroying mental shriek of
pure fury.

On reaching the top of the stairs, Uranus cautiously approached the
archway and peered through. A huge room lay on the other side. The far
side was hidden in shadow, but by the light of nearby torches, she could
see that there was nothing nearby. Waving the others silently to follow,
she entered the room. As soon as the last Senshi entered, the archway
wavered and vanished. "Arilith was right," Uranus sighed, "They are
rather predictable!" The Senshi came to a halt when torches on the far
side of the room flared up, to show that the room was VERY occupied.

A large Dark Kindred stood on one side, a dreadful hunger in his glowing
red eyes. Three Shadow Demons stood on the other side, flexing their
wings and talons. In front, stood what could only be a Kashalkanite elf
in black chainmail. He smiled, and unlike Tari, his smile WAS a threat
when his fangs were bared.

"Welcome, Ladies!" he greeted them with mocking courtesy, "So glad you
could join us!" Uranus took a threatening step forward, her fists
clenched.  "What have you done with Arilith, you black slime?!" she
demanded furiously. "Zwart, would you do the honors?" the Dark Elf asked
politely, turning to the Dark Kindred. Zwart agreed with a cruel laugh
and turned to regard Uranus from burning red eyes. "She had a date with
my dark sister, below," he said with vicious glee, "Knowing Ubatama as I
do, your little Dragonkin companion should be worm food by now!" He
laughed again.

Saturn felt a wave of grief overwhelm her. She had really liked that
little Kin and had hoped to know her better. She fought the grief off
and let a darker emotion take its place, vengeance. Knowledge poured
into her receptive mind and she prepared her attack. Before anyone else
could move, she leveled the Silence Glaive at the sneering Dark Kindred.
"You, at least, will beat your sister to Hell!" she snarled coldly,
"MOLECULAR DISRUPTION!!" A pulse of searing white light erupted from the
tip of the Glaive and struck Zwart. As he screamed in agony, the
terrible light spread out from the point of impact, until his entire
body was glowing with terrible energies. With a last cry of despair, he
imploded with a blinding flash, as every particle that made up his
substance was disrupted and ceased to exist.

The Dark Elf stared at where his most powerful ally had been, in
disbelief.  "You'll pay dearly for that!" he raged and he turned to the
Shadow Demons, "DESTROY THEM!!" A black light blast struck Saturn in the
abdomen and hurled her against the wall with crushing force. She
collapsed, dazed, as the Glaive went spinning out of reach.

The three Senshi still on their feet attacked in a fury, their need to
avenge their gentle young teacher unlocking their lethal new powers.
Uranus raised her fist skyward. "WORLD ERUPTION!!" She thrust her fist
downwards and the power struck the ground and disappeared, to reappear
when it blasted upwards at the Shadow Demon's feet. It was followed by
razor sharp stalagmites which erupted from the floor to impale the
Shadow Demon. He exploded into dust with a shriek of impotent fury. One
down.

Neptune raised her hands over her head, streamers of water radiated from
them. "DEEP FREEZE!!" She thrust her hands forward and a wall of water
left them to strike the airborne Shadow Demon with the force of an
express train. At the moment of impact, the water froze to absolute zero
in the twinkling of an eye. The ice encased demon crashed to the floor
and shattered into a thousand gleaming shards that turned to dust. Two
down.

Pluto raised her staff over her head, as the garnet pulsated with power.
Leveling it at the last demon, she screamed, "TEMPORAL VORTEX!!" A
glowing whirlwind erupted from the staff and engulfed the demon. Its
form twisted and distorted in the rapid fluctuations of Time within the
Vortex. Unable to bear the Time distortions, it shrieked once before
exploding into dust.  Three down.

The four Senshi, Saturn had regained her feet, her wits and her Glaive,
turned to the Dark Elf who was backing away in shock. At seeing the
wrath in their eyes, he held out a hand and a small device appeared.
"Hold!" he cried imperiously, "One more step and I'll activate this
device!" Uranus took that step. "You'll have to do better than that,
scum!" she snarled menacingly. He grinned smugly. "This device will
activate a timer in the basement of this building," he explained with a
mocking laugh, "In sixty seconds, the hostages down there will die and
so will we, IF I activate this. Now, BACK OFF!"

Gritting their teeth in impotent fury, the Outer Senshi reluctantly
obeyed and backed away. The Dark Elf watched them closely as a swirling
black gate appeared. "Fools," he mocked when the gate was fully formed.
He activated the device and tossed it aside. He turned to enter the
gate, laughing, when a wall of flame engulfed him. As his shrieking form
was reduced to ashes, the Senshi turned to see where the flame had come
from.

Arilith stood there, smoke curling up from her nostrils. She trembled
violently and her blood dripped to the floor from the dreadful wound in
her side where Ubatama's lightning had struck. Saturn rushed forward
with a cry of dismay. "Ari-chan! Let me heal you!" she cried. Arilith
shook her head unsteadily. "No time!" she whispered in a pain filled
voice, "I must 'port to the basement and try to deactivate the timer."
Saturn's eyes filled with tears as the other Senshi ran up. Arilith
looked into Saturn's eyes and nodded. "There is a way, but we must be
quick!" she wheezed as her breath grew labored, "Hop on! You can heal me
on the way!" Saturn hesitated only an instant and then placing the
Glaive in her subspace pocket, she mounted. She gripped Arilith's neck
with her legs and placed her glowing hands on Arilith's neck as she
transferred healing energies to the dying Dragonkin. Arilith turned to
the others. "Follow as fast as you can!" she ordered, her breathing
already easing due to Saturn's efforts. She winked out. The three
remaining Outer Senshi joined hands. "SAILOR TELEPORT!" they chorused.
They flickered and vanished.

Arilith and Saturn appeared in the basement and Arilith looked around
cautiously. She spotted the captives at once, the Ainos, Sailor Venus'
folks. She also Saw the remains of a Shield spell around them that had
obviously failed when she had slain the Dark Elf. The Ainos shrank back
at sight of her, though she WAS pleased to note that Mr. Aino remained
in front of his wife, to protect her.

"Mr. Aino, I'm a friend," she told him, her voice gaining strength as
Saturn continued her healing, "I'm here with some of the Senshi, to get
you out." She looked around urgently and spotted a computer in the
corner. She rushed to it and examined it carefully. <Dark Empire Tech,>
she mused, <A mix of science and magic. This could be tricky!> Noticing
with alarm that one of the screens showed the timer at thirty seconds,
she sent her mind into the computer, searching for the power core in
order to disable it. Saturn dismounted and leaned wearily against her
Kin Sister. The healing was complete and only time would heal the blood
loss.

The Senshi 'ported in and after looking around to orient themselves,
Pluto and Neptune went to Venus' anxious parents to explain things,
while Uranus rushed to Arilith and Saturn. Seeing that Arilith was
tranced, she turned to a weary Saturn. "Will she be all right?" she
asked worriedly. Saturn nodded. "The wound is healed," she answered,
"The blood loss will take time to heal. If I weren't feeding her energy,
she'd be unconscious now." Uranus cast a sharp look at Saturn. "You're
at the end of your tether!" she snapped as she placed her hands on
Arilith's neck, "I'll take over!"

When the timer reached five seconds, the computer erupted into a shower
of sparks and went dark. Arilith sighed heavily and shimmered into her
human form before collapsing. Uranus caught her and lifted her. "Let's
get out of here!" she said impatiently.

They were approaching the entrance, when the walls wavered and returned
to their normal appearance. "Well, it looks like everything is back to
normal," Pluto remarked as they exited the building.

"Mr. Aino, could you....?" Uranus asked, holding Arilith's sleeping form
out to Venus' father. "Of course, Sailor Uranus!" he replied as he took
the tiny form tenderly in his arms, "She saved us all!"

"OK, let's go to Hikawa Shrine and hope the others were successful!"
Uranus said as they all linked hands, the Ainos and Arilith in the
center.  "SAILOR TELEPORT!" They flickered and vanished, leaving no sign
that they, or anyone else had ever been there.

End of Chapter 10

NEXT: Chapter 11 Fire and Ice: Inner Fury

Hijinks at the Docks, Mars and Mercury's fury, fierce battle! BE THERE!!