On to chapter 4. Five will be along in short order.
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Sailor Moon D, Chapter 4
"Battle at the Shrine! The Fight to Return Lost Loves!"
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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"So how are we supposed to do this?" Sailor Mars asked indignantly.
"Well," replied Luna. "I'm not exactly sure. Ceres?"
"Why?" Artemis asked. "He's never done this before either, and he said
himself the his precognition is messed up."
"Artemis!" Luna shouted. "That's not very nice!"
The white cat looked hurt at her scolding, but said nothing.
Ceres grinned as he walked past Artemis. He then turned and came to a
stop in front of Sailor Mercury. "Do you have your computer with you?"
Artemis looked like he was about to explode, but somehow managed to
contain himself.
She pulled out the mini-computer, opened it up, and placed it in front
of the cat.
Ceres began entering various commands, codes, and passwords into the
device that the others had never realized were there until finally a
large antenna extended from the middle of the unit nearly to the
shrine's ceiling. He walked a few paces from the computer and turned to
Sailor Mars. "Would you please stand here, Rei-san?"
Rei silently complied to the request.
Ceres returned to the mini super computer and walked an equal distance
in the opposite direction. "And you here please, Sailor Moon."
The cat proceeded to line up Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Apollo on
Mars' right side. He then lined up Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn
to her left so that all of the girls together formed the shape of an 'H'
with Mars as the center. "Alright now, I'll need you all to join hands
to join hands, close your eyes, and try to focus your energy on Mars;
try to pass it on to her. Mars, I want you to use your spiritual
training and abilities to accept their energy, combine it with your own,
and send it all into the antenna on Mercury's computer. The computer
has an energy amplifier in it which is going to boost the power one
hundred times then send it to Sailor Moon."
"That much energy?" Luna asked worriedly. Won't she be hurt?"
"As long as things go as I have seen, she'll be fine. A bit drained,
and she might have a few minor aches and pains, but she will be just
fine after some rest," replied the siamese. "Anyway," he continued.
"What you have to do, Sailor Moon, is get the powered up energy signal
from the computer then channel it through the Ginzuishou into the clothe
while focusing on thoughts of returning Nephrite."
"Alright!" Sailor Moon shouted energetically. "Let's do it!"
***
"So they've begun the ceremony to return the first knight," Mamono spoke
quietly from his shrouds as he watched the events unfold on his
intangible view-screen. "And yet another oni has failed. It seems that
I may have underestimated these children just as my predecessors have.
An error I plan not to repeat."
The cloaked figure settled into his throne and conjured a glowing sphere
in the air before him.
"You will interrupt the ceremony," Mamono informed the luminescent ball.
"Hopefully to the point of stopping it. You will at the very least slow
it down while I get the last of the lights I need."
The sphere's glow intensified for a fraction of a second before it faded
from view.
"Soon," Mamono said thoughtfully. "Soon there won't be any sailor
senshi to underestimate."
***
As the eight girls concentrated their energy on Sailor Mars white
tendrils of psychic energy could be seen forming between them in an
intricate web-like pattern. At the center of this web, Mars absorbed
the energy, melded it with her own, and focused it into the antenna
before her.
A moment after he energy reached the antenna, a beam shot from the
computer screen at an upward angle which made it hit right at the base
of Sailor Moon's neck. As the surge of energy first connected with her,
every muscle in her body seemed to contract at once. She instantly
transformed into Princess Serenity and the Ginzuishou shot forth from
her chest like a missile. As she further refined the energy and added
her own to it, her body started to relax and the crystal came to a halt
hovering above the tattered piece of clothe two meters in front of her.
The Moon princess extended her arms to her sides with her palms up.
Slowly each palm began to fill with blinding white light until the light
entirely obscured her body from view. Serenity quickly brought both
arms forward and all of the light focused into a beam. The beam was a
meter in diameter where it left the princess' hands but it condensed and
focused even more until it was only a millimeter wide where it
intersected with the Ginzuishou. As the beam became more compressed,
the glow also became intense until it seemed to exceed the brightness of
a sun one-thousand fold..
No one but Ceres noticed the glowing sphere that slowly began to
materialize above the Ginzuishou. "Luna-chan! An oni!" he indicated
with his paw.
"We have to break up the ceremony!" Artemis shouted. "They'll all be
destroyed if we don't! Mamono makes these things stronger every time."
The energy level started to dim a small amount as the girls heard
Artemis.
"NO!" Ceres yelled. "Keep focusing girls. If you stop now you'll lose
Nephrite for good. Focus all of the energy you can. Try to finish
before it's fully appeared, but don't stop. If you do I can guarantee
it will be the end of the senshi! That I _can_ see!"
The energy glow re-intensified back to and beyond its original level as
the oni's sphere continued to grow larger.
The increased energy output seemed to take its toll on Princess Serenity
as her forehead started to bead with sweat and her body began to shake.
"Please," she spoke softly. Please, Ginzuishou, give me the strength to
finish this and the speed to do it before its too late."
As the oni completed its materialization two things became apparent.
First that the creature held the appearance of a fifteen foot tall
humanoid bat with three foot horns atop its head making it all the more
menacing. The second thing that was made clear was that not all things
can be rushed.
The bat dove at the princess but stopped in mid-swoop as a red rose
embedded itself into one of the beast's horns.
"Thank the kami," Ceres said without turning from the oni. "Endymion is
back."
"Tuxedo Kamen!" Luna shouted excitedly.
"Interruptions are one of the most common, yet least excusable evils,"
spoke the young man in the tuxedo. "How dare you intrude upon this
ceremony to return a lost loved one!"
Tuxedo Kamen met the oni in combat, the beast with an advantage in size
and its ability to fly.
As the battle maintained a frenzied pace only a few feet away from
Princess Serenity, she managed to keep her focus. Suddenly the piece of
clothe raised from the floor until it was at nearly at the same level as
Serenity's head. The fabric began to fill out and something started to
materialize within it. As the object solidified and took shape, it
could be seen to be an arm. Slowly a whole body formed from the arm
until Nephrite stood before the Sailor Senshi, the piece of clothe
around his arm just as Naru had tied it a lifetime ago.
Serenity opened her eyes and looked at Nephrite. "Someone has been
waiting for you," she said quietly then she fell to the floor. As she
landed, she reverted to the form of Eternal Sailor Moon.
Not far away, the oni saw Sailor Moon on the ground and saw the
opportunity to rid his creator of this nuisance once and for all. It
quickly lashed out at Tuxedo Kamen with a devastating series punches and
kicks which it followed up with a flap of its wings that created a gust
of wind so strong it sent the young man through the wall on the opposite
side of the room. The monster vanished into thin air and reappeared
standing next to the unconscious Moon Senshi.
"WORLD SHAKING!!!"
The oni quickly turned and brought its wings forward creating another
gust which sent all of the senshi sprawling on the floor. The beast
then wrapped itself in the wings, the attack hit and reflected back at
the group of girls. The attack exploded as it connected with Sailor
Neptune who had dove on top of Sailor Uranus to save her.
Still dazed from the ceremony and from being thrown to the floor by the
oni's wind blast, the girls tried to collect their wits so they could
battle the creature.
Saturn was first to recover as she charged to beast with her glaive
ready to strike. The creature successfully dodged the swing and
retaliated with a backhand strike that sent the child head first into a
wall.
"We need a strategy!" Sailor Mercury shouted.
"We don't have time!" Jupiter replied as she charged the oni.. "It'll
kill Usagi!" she yelled over her shoulder.
Jupiter tried to force the monster onto the defensive by going into a
series of punches and kicks. The beast defended perfectly then returned
the assault. She was able to keep pace and block each blow, though
barely as the beast had unimaginable speed and its blows were so hard
that bruises were already forming on her arms from blocking. Sailor
Jupiter saw that the creature was preparing to flap its wings for
another gust attack. As the wings started to come forward, she dove to
the side but was met with a kick as the gust preparation had turned out
to be a feint.
The bat creature picked up the unconscious body of Sailor Jupiter and
threw her at the others knocking all to the floor once again. It once
again turned its attention to Sailor Moon who still lay unconscious in
the same spot as before. As the oni started to reach for the young
warrior a javelin pierced its arm pinning it to the floor. The monster
looked up in shock to find a young man dressed in robes of the deepest
blue with a pendant that looked like the night sky right down to the
white dots that seemed to twinkle in the room's dim lights. Only half
of his face could be seen, from the bridge of his nose up, as the lower
part was covered by a clothe that matched his robes in color. His eyes
were the same hue as well, and he could be seen to have a mane of long,
flowing brown hair.
"You will not destroy Sailor Moon or her friends," he announced calmly
but in a firm tone. "I, the Starlight Knight, will see to that." In
one fluid motion, the Starlight Knight flew forward, grabbed his
javelin, and forced it through the center of the oni and back into the
floor again rendering the creature immobile. He turned to the senshi
who were starting to come around again. "Come get rid of this rodent
before it can work free of its trap!"
Sailor Moon was awakened moments later and finished the oni with her
final attack. After the beast imploded into nothingness, the javelin
floated into the air and then back to the hand of the Starlight Knight.
Sailor Apollo stepped forward. "Nephrite?" she asked, half afraid this
was but a dream. "Is it really you?"
In response the young man pulled down the clothe mask to reveal that he
was indeed Nephrite. "Yes, it is me, Naru-chan."
She immediately ran to him and took him in her arms. "Oh, Nephrite! I
missed you so much! Don't do that to me ever again!"
"I don't plan to," he replied with a smile. "And as for the name, I'll
need a human identity just like all of you do so you should get used to
me being Sanjouin Masato again."
Naru nodded wordlessly as she continued to embrace the man she loved.
***
"So they succeeded in awakening the knight Nephrite," Mamono growled
thoughtfully. "I can't risk the rest of the knights being awakened
before the senshi come to confront me just in case they can overpower
me." The shrouded figure considered for a few moments as he observed
the senshi on his viewer. He watched all revert to human forms, then as
the guardian cats came out from their respective hiding places an answer
presented itself. "Alright, have a look at this, cat!" he said with an
evil laugh.
***
Ceres was about to join the others in the celebration when he suddenly
froze in his tracks. The siamese cat's eyes glazed over and his face
was covered in a look of horror. "NO!!!" he screamed. "NO, THE SPELL
CAN'T BE COMPLETED NOW!!! WE'RE NOT READY YET!!!" The cat collapsed
bonelessly to the floor.
Naru released Nephrite and arrived at Ceres' side at the same time as
Luna. The siamese looked up at Naru with tears coming from his eyes.
"Mamono has enough lights, the spell will be completed twenty-four hours
from now," he said weakly. "We have to face him before then, with or
without all of the knights, or else it's all over."
Luna turned to the group of girls who had stopped celebrating out of
worry for Ceres, and themselves after his outburst.. "I suggest that we
call it a night," the black cat recommended. "We should all go home and
get a good night's sleep then meet here at first light to go face
Mamono."
"Is Ceres gonna be alright?" asked Usagi.
"Ceres?!" Rei demanded. "What about us?"
"I don't know what he saw, but lets not worry about it," Luna said
soothingly. "At least not for now. For now let's all go get rested up
for this battle." The cat turned to Usagi. "I'll be going with Naru
for the night to help tend to Ceres and see if I can find out more about
his visions, please be sure that you're on time."
"Okay, Luna" Usagi said in a worried tone that seemed entirely out of
place in her usually cheerful voice. "I'll see you then."
"I'll be going with them as well," Artemis informed his charge. "Will
you be alright without me for the night?"
"I'll be just fine," Minako replied. "It's good to see things are
settling down between the two of you."
"Yeah right," the white cat muttered under his breath. "I just won't
stand for him being alone with Luna."
"Excuse me?" Minako asked suspiciously.
"I said 'That's right, it would be grand to go along with Luna'," he
lied.
After a few more 'good night's were exchanged, everyone headed their
separate ways to do as Luna had recommended.
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Well, another chapter posted, finally. Sorry about the delays, but we
had to take care of some things. Anyway, we the next chapter will be up
soon after this. Thank you all for your patience, we really hope that
our stories are (and will continue to be) worth the wait.
Sincerely,
Akihiro & Vodka
TendouNabiki@webtv.net