Chapter five of book one of the Evil Moon Saga. Evil Moon is based off of a
concept by Megane 6.7, and the story's all me. We all know who Sailor
Moon&Co. belong to so that does it for the disclaimers so all that's left is
to remind you that;
Compliments warm the heart......
Criticisim Strengthens the Soul.....
Flames Shall Be Used As Target Practice.
--Komodo.
*********
The Arena was a circle of wrecked, burning cars with the cries of the
helpless echoing from inside.
Jupiter and Azarite faced each other. Had this been a western movie, music
might be playing as the wind blew tumbleweeds between the combatants. As it
was, the situation was just as tense.
Neither combatant moved, not a muscle twitched or an eye blinked. They might
have been as statues, carved in antiquity.
A shred of paper floated between them and as though it was a signal, Jupiter
attacked.
Inch by inch, she drove him across the arena with a hail of punches and
kicks. His defense was quite good, but she was faster, she was stronger, she
was a Senshi.
And he had grabbed her hands.
Snarling, she tried to push him back but he used the momentum to twist around
and shove her against the steel frame of a car.
"Funny thing about steel and water," He said as the water from a fire truck
began to hit them, soaking their clothes. "they're real good conductors of
electricity." Black lightning arced from his hands and into Jupiter, who
despite herself, screamed as the puddle she was standing in and the car she
was pressed against, conducted the voltage and fed it back into her. Azarite
of course, was not in any puddles, and immune to his own lightning, so he
felt nothing except for Jupiter's agonized writhing against him as he used
his weight to hold her against the car.
Which he kind of liked the feeling of.
But bisnuess before pleasure.
After a moment, he stopped generating electricity and examined his handiwork.
Jupiter was burnt, her skin blackened and her muscles twitching involuntarily.
Humming a tune, Azarite grabbed her by the collar and opened the car door.
After positioning her just right, he slammed the car door on her neck.
Turning, he found himself facing a girl, her hair up in odangos and a lethal
looking sword in her hand.
"Sailor Moon I presume." He said, putting his hands casually into his
pockets. Sailor Moon nodded, her eyes not leaving his for a second. Artimes
had oh so casually mentioned earlier that though Azarite wasn't the most
powerful, he was a socio-psychopath, and that alone made him dangerous.
It was something Jupiter might have liked to have known before going after
him.
"So you're Azarite," she said, hoping to get him talking and lull him off
gaurd.
"That's me," he said cheerfully. "Who are you?"
"I am Sailor Moon, enemy of Justice."
"Really? Fascinating. How much does it pay? I may want to switch careers."
Sailor Moon blinked and he was inside her defense, right in her face. "Boo,"
he said quietly as his knee collided with her midsection.
She gasped and then the world exploded in stars as the heel of his hand made
contact with her chin.
"I'm. . .going. . .to kill you!" she raged as she recovered, only to see him
standing safely out of reach.
"Promise?" he asked, grinning madly. "Can I have that in writing? Signed In
blood? Using your spinal cord?" Sailor Moon was fast losing her grip on her
temper and it showed on her face.
"Shut, UP!" she raged, taking a firm grip on her sword. He appeared to
consider her words.
"No," he said flatly. "I have," he continued in a more cheerful tone, "this
overwhelming fondness for the sound of my own voice. So I talk-a lot."
Suddenly, he was half crouched, dressed in green and black spandex. "And if
you don't like it, I got two words for you;" he pulled out a katana from
somewhere. "There can be only one."
"Two words? That was-" Sailor Moon started to say and then broke off as she
realized that he had gotten inside her defense like that the last time and
barely got her sword in place in time to block the overhand swing at her head.
"Aw nuts, you blocked it. Cheater!" He yelled, planting his foot in her
midsection.
"Says the guy who attacked my friends from behind!" Sailor Moon retorted,
slashing at his legs. The blade cut only empty air as he leapt over it,
landing lightly on his feet. But as he made contact with the pavement, it
exploded upwards, catapaulting him through the air to crash into a pile of
wrecked cars. What followed was not unlike watching a house of cards collapse
as tons of metal slid down to land on Azarite.
"Who?"
"You may thank me later," said a voice from nearby. Turning, Sailor Moon
found herself looking at a blond teenaged girl. She wore a black sailor fuku
trimmed in orange with blood-red ribbon on the chest and lower back.
"Who're you?"
"Let me give you a hint," the girl said, walking over to her, grabbing her
cheeks and pressing her lips to hers.
"Mina?" Sailor Moon asked, staring into the blue eyes in astonishment.
"You're Sailor Venus?" Venus opened her mouth to reply when there came the
sound of metal against metal. Turning to look, they found Azarite, back in
general's uniform and still holding the katana, shoving his way out of the
pile of wrecked cars and looking very unhappy.
"Alright!" he shouted, brandishing the blade. "Who booked that flight? The
food sucked, the movie was Star Trek Five, and I didn't get one peek down a
stewardess' blouse! I want my money back!"
"Crescent beam!" Venus shouted, and light leapt forth from her fingers as
Azarite rolled to his right, coming to his feet and leaping over the wall of
cars.
Sailor Moon, still enraged by Azarite's earlier taunts, went after him,
ignoring Venus' shouted warnings for caution.
Seconds later, a section of the wall of cars exploded inwards, belching fire
and smoke. Then Azarite, stepped out, dragging Sailor Moon's body with him.
"I think this is yours," he said, tossing the limp form at her. Crouching,
Venus looked Sailor Moon over. Her fuku had been ripped and shredded, and her
skin had taken on the consistency of raw burger meat.
"You. . ." Venus said, grasping for words.
"Heh. Chunky. . ." he said, grinning savagely.
"Just what the hell are you?" Venus cried, coming to her feet. His response
was laughter that seemed to grow louder and louder, threatening to destroy
her eardrums. Instinctivly, she shut her eyes and clapped her hands over her
ears.
Then just as suddenly, it stopped. Opening her eyes, she found herself
staring into Azarite's. He was grinning and his eyes were perfectly sane.
"I think I'll hurt you," he said cheerfully. "Badly."
"What?" was all she had time to say as his fist slammed into her abdomen,
forcing the air out of her lungs in an explosive gasp. She felt her herself
being grabbed by the hair and pulled upright. Blinking, she tried to force
her bleary eyes to focus on his face. He was no longer grinning and she
thought she saw a hint of pain on his face.
"Feel free to repeat this message to your friends when they wake up. I'm
making you girls my new hobby. I'll be watching you closely. Everything you
do, everything you say. If you're smart, you'll never put on those sailor
fukus again. But I get the feeling you're not very smart." So saying, he
swung her around, sending her flying across the arena to land on the broken
asphalt.
Grinning, he took one last look around and then flickered and vanished.
*******
"You're supposed to use other people's energy to fuel your attacks," Nephrite
said reprovingly as he watched Azarite float in the nutrient bath. "You're
lucky your power matrix didn't shatter under the strain of beating up the
Senshi and maintaining the illusion that you were perfectly fine."
"So I overextended myself," Azarite said, shrugging off how close to death he
had come. "They're running scared now and afraid of me. That's all for step
one."
"You have to stay in there for a while," Nephrite said, eying the readouts.
"Step two will just have to wait." Returning his attention to the monitor
again the Negaverse General could only shake his head at what they told him.
'Pain levels are a hundred twenty percent, blood pressure down forty percent,
seventy-two percent of his skin is burnt off and almost ninety percent of his
internal systems are damaged beyond repair." He allowed himself a small
smile. 'Beyond repair if he was still human that is.'
"I thought you said I was more or less invincible," Azarite said, breaking
the elder general out of his reverie.
"That was before you broke out of the tank," Nephrite said, irritated at the
memory. "You didn't make the complete changeover."
"I got bored."
"No matter, you won't be able to get out of that tank until you're fully
healed and in the process, you'll complete the change."
"Goody," Azarite said, closing his eyes. "Think I'll take a nap." Within
seconds, he was asleep.
"How is he?" Beryl said from the door.
"He will recover my Queen," Nephrite said, turning and bowing to her. "But it
will take time."
"Time is something we are growing short on Nephrite," the Queen said,
stepping up to the tank edge and looking down into the face of the Fifth
General. "I do not remember Azarite being that reckless and foolhardy."
"It's not Azarite, my Queen," Nephrite said quietly. She looked at him shock
and surprise on her features.
"But he looks and sounds just like him! He has his powers!"
"I know. I believe certain key aspects of our brother made it through the
millenia. But only the physical aspects. Mentally, he is a sixteen year old
earth boy. Albeit, one most unique." Nephrite did not mention that the forces
of Light and Dark hovered about the boy, held at bay by a sense of Justice in
its purest form.
"Then our brother is truly gone?" she asked softly. Nephrite nodded and Beryl
bowed her head, grieving for someone forever lost. "Who was he?"
"My Queen?"
"Him," she said, indicating the prone form in the tank. "Before he became
Azarite. Who was he?"
"I have the file in my office," Nephrite said, leading her out the door. As
he turned to shut it, his eyes fell on the tank.
'What are you?' he asked it silently. 'Friend or Foe?'