Confrontation with Mamono! A Battle Won and Lost.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 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
________________________________________
As the sun rose over Juuban, the sailor senshi gathered outside the
Hikawa shrine.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Usagi asked Ceres. "You guys don't have to
come with us."
"Yes," he replied. "We do."
"I think it best if we take his advice," Luna explained. "He told me
about his vision, and we may be able to help."
"So what did he see then, Luna?" Mako asked.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "But I promised I wouldn't tell. I agree
that it's best you don't find out yet."
"So weren't we supposed to go somewhere?" asked Mamoru as he and Masato
joined the ten girls and three cats.
Usagi ran to Mamoru and Naru ran to Masato.
"I'm glad you came back, Mamo-chan," Usagi said as she gazed deep into
Mamoru's eyes. "I just wish it were under better circumstances."
"I'm glad to see you again too, Usako," he replied.
Naru looked Masato in the eyes. "It's hard to believe that you're
really back. You've been gone for so long that I..." Tears formed in
her eyes and her voice trailed off as she turned her gaze way
momentarily. When she faced him again, she was bright and cheerful as
always. "I'm so glad your back, Nephrite!"
"Masato," he reminded her. "I've got to keep up a daily life just like
the rest of you now."
"Alright, Masato-kun," Naru replied with a smile.
"Anyway," Makoto interrupted as she pushed between Naru and Masato. "We
do have a battle to go win, so shouldn't we transform and get going?
We're all here now after all."
"Right!" shouted Artemis. "Let's do it!"
"MOON ETERNAL, MAKE UP!!!"
"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"APOLLO POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"URANUS PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"PLUTO PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
"SATURN PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!!!"
As the ten senshi finished transforming, Mamoru and Masato suddenly
changed as well. All faced each other then they formed three circles.
The outer-most circle consisted of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor
Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, and Sailor Apollo. Within that
circle was the second comprised of Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor
Pluto, and Sailor Saturn. The final and inner-most circle was made by
the two protectors, Tuxedo Kamen and Starlight Knight, between which
stood the three cats. All closed their eyes and concentrated their
energies together to transport themselves.
"SAILOR TELEPORT!!!" shouted Ceres, then they all disappeared.
***
When all opened their eyes, the saw what seemed to be a vast darkness.
At first glance the place seemed to have no light at all, but the team
soon realized that wasn't correct because they could still see each
other perfectly. Far in the distance, a faint red glow could be seen
like that of a fire.
"Let's go," said Ceres indicating the direction of the light.
The group began in the direction of the glow cautiously.
Sailor Moon rose to her feet and rubbed her sore backside for a moment
before joining the rest of the group. "Wait for me, everybody!"
"Something's not right here," muttered Sailor Mars. "Mamono isn't going
to just let us walk in and destroy him. If he can create any number of
oni he chooses, where are they all at?"
"She right," added Sailor Pluto. "I don't like it. This is far too
easy."
Ceres suddenly froze in place as his eyes glazed over. "RUN!!!" he
shouted.
Everyone immediately dashed in the direction of the distant fires as
countless spheres of light began to appear around them. The battle was
on as the spheres began to take on oni forms.
"Now this is the type of welcoming committee I was expecting! MARS
FLAME SNIPER!!!" shouted Sailor Mars as she brought down a large
minotaur oni.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!!!" The attack destroyed five nearby oni. "Hey,
you notice something?!" she shouted to the others.
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!" shouted Sailor Mercury as she defeated an oni
resembling Gojira. "Jupiter is right, there is something about these
oni! They're weaker than the others have been!"
"Maybe creating them in such large numbers has that effect on them.
WORLD SHAKING!!!"
"Dead Scream!!! I don't think so," replied Pluto. "I think Mamono just
wants to slow us down."
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!!!" The attack destroyed at least
dozen oni. Sailor Moon looked to check on Tuxedo Kamen but saw that he
and Starlight Knight had got separated from the rest of them.
"There's not time to worry about them now!" shouted Venus. "We have to
keep going! VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!!"
***
Mamono wasn't watching the nearing battle, he didn't even have his
view-screen up. Instead he was sitting in his throne with his eyes
closed chanting some incantation. Around the throne was an intricate
pattern of circles and symbols drawn with shadows which hovered over the
fire pit.
Artemis, Ceres, and Luna got to the edge of the pit and looked at each
other.
"So how do we stop him from completing the incantations?!" Luna shouted
to Ceres.
"We have to get over there to him somehow!" he replied.
"Alright," Artemis retorted. "How then?!"
"I'm working on it!" Ceres returned.
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!" they heard from not too far away.
"Good, the senshi are almost here!" Ceres shouted.
A moment later, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn appeared next to the
cats.
Sailor Pluto listened closely to the incantations being chanted by
Mamono. "How dare he! Time is _my_ domain!" She looked indignant.
***
Sailor Moon reached the fire pit and saw Mamono in the center. On the
opposite edge of the pit she saw Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, and Uranus.
She called to them as she was joined by the rest of the senshi. "We'll
all attack him together!!" She saw Pluto nod then they all went into
their attacks.
Mamono seemed to become partly transparent and the attacks passed
through him with no difficulty or effect. When he re-solidified, Mamono
opened his eyes and spread his arms to the sides, one toward each group
of senshi and emitted a black beam toward each.
***
"No!" Sailor Pluto uttered in a whisper as she saw the black beam
heading for them. She raised her key staff and a light emitted from the
Garnett Orb.
"Dark Dome Close?!" asked Saturn. "But you can't! You'll die!"
"If I don't, we all die," she replied in a smooth tone.
"And the others?" asked Uranus.
"They're outside the reach of my time bubble," she said sadly. "I can't
help them."
***
Sailor Apollo saw the black beam heading for Sailor Moon and quickly
jumped in its path trying to take the hit for her. When the energy beam
reached her, however, it passed straight through her as though she
weren't even there. She watched as Sailor Moon and the others were
struck by the beam and brought to the ground in agony. She quickly
turned to face Mamono. "Stop this! Stop it now!" she shouted.
Mamono entirely ignored the lone senshi.
Apollo looked back to the others and saw that Eternal Sailor Moon had
reverted back to the form of Super Sailor Moon. "No!" she shouted
turning back to Mamono. "You can't do this! POETIC MELODY!!!"
Mamono simply evaded the attack without having to interrupt his focus on
the spell. "Your weak attempts can't disrupt my spell now! Once I
finish with them, I'll destroy you with my bare hands!" he shouted.
Apollo again turned to her friends to see that Super Sailor Moon had now
disappeared and the others were now in their regular forms as well. She
watched as Sailor Moon was reverted even further; the crescent moon on
her tiara turning back to a jewel, her heart shaped locket turning to
the old round one. {I have to stop him!} she thought. She looked deep
within herself to find something... Anything that may be able to
interrupt this spell before it had run its course. Then she prepared
for her attack.
Both arms went behind her back as her feet positioned themselves with
the right pointed forward and the left pointed to the side. "POETIC..."
She thrust both arms in front of her with her wrists together and palms
forward as she bent slightly at the waist. "MELODY..." A musical note
flew from each palm and rapidly grew as they approached Mamono who began
to evade. "UNICORN!!!" she finished as the two notes combined and took
on the shape of a unicorn. One note formed the body, its tail becoming
the unicorn's tail, the other formed the head, the note's stem becoming
the horn and its tail fluttering behind like a pink ribbon drifting in a
breeze.
Mamono attempted to dodge, but every time he moved, the unicorn changed
direction to compensate. He then noticed that Tuxedo Kamen and
Starlight Knight had arrived and thrown their own attacks in his
direction. "Damn!" he muttered. Since he was actually in the casting
stage of the reversion spell, he was unable to phase through the
attacks, thus he was forced to cut his spell short so he could teleport
out of the path of the attacks.
The senshi collapsed to the ground as they were released from the spell.
Mamono appeared near-by.
Sailor Venus was first to rise and turned to attack. "VENUS LOVE AND
BEAUTY SHOCK!!!"
Mamono laughed at the girl's surprise when nothing happened.
"It seems he's reverted us back to our older forms!" Mercury shouted as
she too got up. "Try older attacks!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!" Jupiter shouted.
"The frightened screams of little girls have no effect on me," Mamono
said calmly. "I may not have reverted you back to before you were
senshi like I planned, but it's good enough for me to destroy you
without much trouble."
"WORLD SHAKING!!!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!"
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!!!"
The senshi exchanged looks of bewilderment and relief. At least the
other group had evaded the spell's effects somehow.
"FIRE SOUL BIRD!!!"
The girls all smiled as they saw the flaming bird come away from Sailor
Mars and head straight for Mamono.
"CRESCENT BEAM SHOWER!!!"
"SUPREME THUNDER DRAGON!!!"
"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!!!"
"POETIC MELODY UNICORN!!!"
"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!!!"
Mamono saw the nine in-coming attacks and new even he could not
withstand them all at once; even if most were powered down. He further
knew that he was too drained from the reversion spell; he could either
phase through the attacks one more time, or he could teleport away to
regather his energy. "YOU HAVE NOT WON, SAILOR SENSHI!!" he shouted
angrily then faded away.
All relaxed as he vanished from sight. The flames in the pit seemed to
extinguish themselves.
Sailor Moon examined the others and realized someone was missing.
"Where is Setsuna-san?"
"She used the Dark Dome Close to protect us," Saturn explained sadly.
"She's gone."
The senshi were soon joined by the protectors and the cats.
"We should get back," Ceres informed them. "It's not over and we've got
some preparing to do."
"But Pluto..." started Sailor Moon.
"Is gone," interrupted Ceres. "I know. But we can't help her now. We
have to resurrect the other three knights Beryl had taken and locate the
sixth and seventh knights or Mamono will destroy you anyways now that
your powers have been dropped so drastically."
"He's right," Uranus said to the group. "Your powers have been more
than cut in half. You have to find the other protectors or you'll be
destroyed and Pluto will have died for nothing."
"Okay," said Sailor Moon in a quiet voice. "Let's go home."
***
Usagi faced Luna as she lay in her bed that night. "Hasn't Setsuna-san
used that technique before?"
"I believe so," the cat replied. "Why?"
"Well, she came back that time, maybe we can bring her back again."
Luna considered. "Perhaps, but that is something we'll have to worry
about another time. Right now we need to concentrate on reviving
Jadeite, Zoicite, and Kunzite and finding the other two knights. The
battle will be a lot harder now that your powers have been cut down."
"I know," Usagi mumbled as she started to drift into sleep. "I know."
________________________________________
Well, yet another revision completed. This one closes the revisions for
the first story arc, "The Spell." The senshi have been retro'ed pretty
far, but they managed to make it through okay up until now. Now the
senshi will have to find the knights to help protect them since they're
pretty weak now. As always, all C&C/MSTs/etc. are welcome and
appreciated. Let us know what you think of things so far. How did you
like "The Spell" story arc? Thank you all for reading! Ja matta nee,
minna!
Sincerely,
Akihiro
TendouNabiki@webtv.net
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