Panic at the Market! The New Battle Is Met!
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � by
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� � � � � � � � � � �Akihiro
***Disclaimer: I 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
________________________________________
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.
The two cats exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously. "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 Queen Serenity's last
resort technique, Apollo 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 interrupt 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, especially when Ceres said Luna was Sailor Moon's guardian."
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.
"There are also senshi of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto but they
were unable to join us this evening," Ceres finished.
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 sending 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 shut down
and die in less than five minutes," Ceres explained.
"The dead old guy in the news!" Minako shouted.
"Correct," confirmed Ceres.
"Wait a minute!" Usagi interrupted. "You mean they have already killed
and you knew about it?! Why didn't you do something?! You could have
activated Naru-chan before or warned us at least!"
"It couldn't be helped," Ceres said sadly. "My reason will be clear
soon.
"Anyway. the one who's doing this managed to get three lights 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 about 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 like that," 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 Sailor 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 encounter them, I have
created you with enough strength to stand up to them."
The glow momentarily intensified then 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.
Naru looked into her friend's eyes. "Umino's father withdrew him from
school today and they leave first thing in the morning," she explained.
"I got to see him for a few minutes before classes started today and
they're leaving tonight. I won't see him again for a very long time, if
ever."
"Oh, Naru-chan!" Usagi cried sympathetically. "Please cheer up, I think
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 people I've cared deeply 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 go ask Umino for another keepsake. It
would give you an excuse to go see him again."
Naru smiled at that but said nothing.
"Well, you should at least wash that thing, it's filthy!"
"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 transformations 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
wasn't able to summon the star pen for her."
"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! Remember, if anyone loses their light, you have less
than five minutes to get it back to them."
The six senshi nodded at once then rushed toward the shopping district.
When they arrived, the market was over-filled with people rushing from
shop to shop purchasing all they could afford of their wants and needs.
Jupiter eyed the large platform loaded with posters and other such
souvenirs as she poke to the others. "I don't know, nothing looks out
of the ordinary to me. A little more crowded than usual perhaps, but
nothing really weird."
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 that this market is a little crowded, the extra
shoppers still don't deserve to die!" Sailor Moon shouted. "I am the
beautiful sailor suited warrior of love and justice, Sailor Moon. On
behalf of the moon, I'll punish 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 entire 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 its 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
and drew him toward its mouth. When the man was only a few inches from
its gaping maw, the oni rolled its eyes into its head then a blinding
beam of white light travelled from the mouth of the victim to that of is
monstrous attacker.
With no further hesitation, Mars ran to the side to look for a position
where the bystander wouldn't be at risk, then prepared her attack.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" The arrow of fire zipped safely past the
captured man and pierced the creature's left arm which 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 three sides simultaneously and staggered
to the ground. It immediately 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 jumped 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 succession.
"It's hypnotized Mars! She'll be like that until it is defeated!"
called Mercury reporting the information her visor's analysis had
provided her with. "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 their attacks,
then as they released she called hers. "STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY
KISS!!!"
The oni was assailed by the three senshi attacks, immediately followed
by Sailor Moon's attack. The resulting effect was the oni imploding on
itself leaving a pillar of white light where it had been standing. The
light rose from the ground and made an arc as though it were diving back
into the mouth of the dying man. At the same time, Sailor Mars
collapsed to the ground unconscious. The remaining senshi gathered
their knocked out friend and headed back to the shrine after making sure
the victim would be alright..
***
Mamono's eyes flared. "So you are more resilient the I gave you credit
for," he spoke with barely controlled rage. "But rest assured that the
next trial shall not be so easy."
________________________________________
Well, two chapters revised now. I hope you're enjoying them better than
the way they were (I sure am)! As always, all C&Cs are appreciated,
MSTs are enjoyed, and flames are extinguished. Let me know what you
think so far.
Sincerely,
Akihiro
TendouNabiki@webtv.net
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