Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of the Past ❯ The Final Showdown ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hello, all! It's me again! (I can hear the people running screaming from
the room now) Anyway, I'm writing about characters which aren't completely
mine. Some are, but the rest are owned by Naoko Takeuchi and others, who are
too countless to name.
I'm almost finished with this story, you can get off the edges of your
seats now. I've been told that at some times I romanticize too much and at
other times not enough. I hope that you all can forgive this considering that
this is the first time that I've released my stuff on a wide band. Now, I'll
get on with it. I've also been considering writing it so that I have to
lengthen it out to one more part. This would only be used if the need arises,
so don't get your hopes up.

Shadows From the Past
By: M. H. Torringjan

Part Eight: The Final Showdown

Rubeus looked up from his work. He had been preparing the subjects for
the transformation into the Super Shadow Warrior. His plan would have to take
place soon. The Scouts were wising up to him, and they'd probably do everything
in their power to stop him. With that new and improved Mars, they might not
have much of a problem, too. He really hoped that they would.
As Rubeus began to mutter a spell, a servant Droid knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Rubeus said.
"We have someone here to see you," the Droid said mechanically. He threw
one of the Carriers in, the one called Greg. Greg looked brave, but Rubeus
could sense the fear in the back of his mind.
"I'd like to offer you an agreement. You let us go, and the Scouts won't
kill you. I have seen the future and what it holds for us all. If you let us
go, I'll probably be able to convince the Scouts to not kill you," the
spokesperson said. In the back of his mind, he thought the phrase, "As if I'd
need to."
"So, you think that begging and plea bargaining will get you out of
dying?" Rubeus said with a maniacal grin on his face. He directed a small flow
of dark energy towards Greg, sending it through his body in the form of pain.
Greg screamed out in a display of how dominant Rubeus was over the boy's mind
and body. Rubeus laughed as the servant Droid returned and removed the
quivering pile of flesh and bones that was Greg.
"Hmph! The thought of me bargaining with my own prisoners," Rubeus
grumbled as he turned back to his desk. There was another knock at the door,
and a sentry Droid entered.
"Master, we destroyed a probe a couple of minutes ago. It was demolished
before it could send its information back," the sentry said.
"Good. Notify me if another one begins heading this way. I have a plan."

Michael awoke early, before Rigel. That was an odd occurrence,
considering the fact that Rigel usually woke him up. He reached over and shook
the dog to wake him up. Rigel just mumbled something about the darned cats and
turned over for some more shut eye.
Michael decided to follow the old adage and let Rigel lie. He went down
stairs and went into the kitchen for some breakfast. His parents weren't out of
their room yet (but they must have been at some point, because his lunch was
already fixed), so he just got a bowl of cereal. He went back into his room and
turned his music on. It didn't wake Rigel up because he wasn't in the room
anymore. Michael took this to his advantage and did some things that Rigel
never gave him a chance to do any these days. He sat down at his computer and
began writing a story.
He mostly liked reading these days, but Ms. Haruna didn't like him doing
it. Where he had lived, his Math teacher had let him read whenever he had
wanted, as long as he got good grades on the tests. He spent most of his time
at his computer playing games and listening to his music when he was at home.
He hadn't watched as much TV since they had cancelled his favorite show.
He put on his new uniform and felt like retching. He didn't like this
feature of Japanese culture. He couldn't hardly use his cool clothes with this
crap. Maybe it would help if he got out more. He probably would be doing just
that now that he had met Mina and the rest. They really were the only things
that he liked about his new home.
He missed his old friends sometimes, the ones from his old school.
Especially Eustace, a hot-tempered, drug-adict friend of his with a speech
impediment, Kirstey, the former member of his "group", and Mikey, the slow-
tempered, quick-witted one of the group. He wouldn't miss, though, the rest of
the people of the bus. He wished that he had been old enough to own a car.
Well, to drive it, at least.
He would miss Bob, his friend from Boy Scouts, and Angie, a girl whom he
had had a crush on after he had broken up with his first girlfriend. But, that
was all behind him now. He had other priorities now; Scout priorities. It was
tough having to deal with those priorities while maintaining a normal life. He
wished that he could tell his parents so that he could just have done with it.
As he listened to the radio, the DJ called out a contest with the prize
being a couple of passes to a music concert of a band that both Michael and Mina
liked. Luckily, the questions were of a subject which he knew very well, the
Sailor Scouts. He called up the number and was the eighth caller.
"Can you tell me the color of the bow that is always seen in Sailor
Venus's hair?" the DJ asked him. Michael answered red. Mina always wore that
bow, but it got on his nerves. "What Scout has the bubble attack?" Michael
answered Mercury. Two questions down, three to go. "Who is the newest Scout?"
He answered Europa. "What new item does one Scout have which was used in
battling a monster the other night?" He answered that Mars had a new suit of
armor. "All right, for the final question, what is the name of the caped figure
who comes to get the Scouts out of a jam from time to time?" Michael paused for
a moment. He hadn't met this person before.
"Tuxedo Mask," Rigel said from the door. Michael relayed the answer to
the DJ and was given the prize. The tickets would be delivered later that day
to his parents. "What are you thinking? Do you have time to go to that
concert?" He hadn't known what Michael was on the radio for.
"I think so, Rigel. It's not like you won't be able to reach me or
anything. You know where that place is, or at least the others do. If anything
comes up, you can just call Mina on the communicator."
"Michael, I've been very disappointed with you of late. Before we moved,
you would do what I said like you're supposed to. Now, you have done nothing
but spite me. You are to fall in line now! It might help if I was to ban you
from going to that concert."
"No, Rigel, it will not! I am very capable of taking care of myself and
my Sailor business, and I am going to that concert! That's that! No more
discussion, so there!"
Michael stormed out of his room to get his books and his lunch. He
slammed the door on his way out and walked down the street, grumbling to himself
as he went. On his way, he stopped at a sports store. Mina's birthday was
soon, and he would have to buy her something nice. It was a small store, with
not much of a selection. He decided to come back when he had some money. Even
better, he would bring Mina there to let her pick out her own gift.
He got to school with five or so minutes until the final bell rang, so he
went around to try and find Serena and Amy. They would probably be together if
Serena was actually on time today. He doubted that it was the case, though. He
just went to sit down and do some reading until the bell rang.
He didn't feel like taking a test in geography, but he had to. If he
didn't, he would get a bad grade. That would not be cool, he thought to
himself. He wondered what his mother had fixed for his lunch, and he peeked in
his bag. There was a tuna salad sandwich and some chips with a couple of
cookies for dessert. Not exactly the most nutritious meal, but it tasted so
good. He just hoped that Serena wouldn't ask for some.

The phone at Lita's apartment rang and Jennifer answered it. It was the
arcade, and they wanted her to go to work that day. Good, she thought,
something to do.
She hung the phone up and got ready to go out. She had been looking
forward to working with Chad and Andrew since she had met them the other day.
The arcade was nice, too. Raye would probably have liked the job herself.
Jennifer walked out the door, locking it behind her and leaving a note for Lita.
She arrived at the Arcade after a long bus ride and a short walk from the
bus stop. Andrew and Chad welcomed her into the place as though she was family,
which made her job more enjoyable. Of course, her workplace being an arcade,
all she had to do was hand out prizes, tokens, and make sure that no one got out
of order. Andrew had worked at the Crown Game Center before it had been trashed
a couple of days before. He had gotten fired by his own relatives and was
forced to go to the Tiara center.
The day passed slowly, as it always did, with only one or two fights
taking place in front of the change machine and the claw game. Andrew had
handled them, showing the two trainees, neither of who had worked at an arcade
before, how to handle that situation.
She was talking with Andrew at lunch time, and he somehow deduced that she
knew the Sailor Scouts.
"Don't worry," he told her after noticing her nervousness. "I know who
they are, too. Lita told me not to tell anyone. Like I said, I worked at the
Crown Game Center, and that's where I found out."
"Oh, that's nice!" Jennifer said. "I'm Raye's mother, and I found out
just recently, too."
"I thought that I heard once from Raye that her mother was dead," Andrew
said.
"Well, I'm here, so you must have heard wrong. Now, get over it and let's
get back to work." She thought that she heard Andrew mutter something about
knowing where Raye got her attitude from while they clocked back in.

Serena sat eating her lunch when she saw Rigel sitting in the brush where
he usually was at about that time. The thing about it was that he usually had
bad news when he was there. She walked over to him to make sure that he wasn't
being Mister Bringer of Bad Tidings.
"Serena, why are you coming over here?" Rigel asked.
"I just want to check in with you," Serena answered. "Make sure that
nothing's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong with me. I'm just here to make sure that nothing goes
wrong with you all."
"I think that we can take care of ourselves without you watching over us.
Luna never did it, and we were fine. Why don't you just go off and do whatever
it is that dogs do when their owners aren't around."
Rigel grudgingly complied, grumbling something the whole way that he went
about Michael and his friggin' individuality complex that had shown itself that
morning. Serena wondered what he was on about, so she went to see if Michael
knew.
"Michael, is there something wrong with Rigel? He went off in a bad
mood," Serena said.
"Well, not much. We just got into a fight this morning when I won a
contest on the radio for free concert tickets," Michael replied.
"I heard that on the radio. I was laughing about it all the way to
school. Imagine, the coincidence that someone would use us in their trivia
questions."
"Yeah, well, he said that I didn't have enough time to go to the concert,
and I yelled at him because I just wanted to go. I was going to take Mina to
it."
"When is it?" Lita asked.
"It's tomorrow night."
"Are you sure, though that we won't have any action?"
"You can call Mina's communicator. By the way, I still want one of
those."
"If you're going to be doing this sort of thing often, then it might be a
good idea to give you one soon," Amy said.
"But anyway, let's talk about something more interesting. How do you
think that you did on the geography test?"
"I think that I did well on it, except for the fact that I didn't study,"
Amy said.
"You didn't study? Were you sick last night or something?" Michael asked
with a laugh.
"No, I just didn't have the time to."
"I didn't do too well," Serena interjected.
"Yeah, and did you study?" Lita asked.
"I got a little in, but I mostly couldn't because Rini and Sammy kept on
bothering me. I ended up literally tossing them out of my room."
"I studied, even after my tennis game with Mina," Michael said. "I just
got to bed at about midnight. That's another thing that ticked Rigel off at me.
That I wasn't budgeting my time efficiently enough. I was doing fine, though, I
thought. As long as I get everything done that I had to."
"Amen to that," Lita said. "I'm the same way. I had things to do last
night, and I was up late doing them. I was hardly able to stay up during
class." She yawned demonstratively. As she looked around, she came face to
face with Melvin. He was there to talk to Michael.
"Hey, Mike, how did you do on the test?"
"I think that I did fine," Michael replied.
"Yeah, I did well, but I wasn't doing as well as usual. But that's not
why I came over. I was wondering if you would help me study for the next
algebra test." His words sounded forced.
"Wait, YOU? Asking ME to be YOUR tutor? Oh, this is rich! Everyone,
this has been declared a national holiday! Melvin needs a tutor!" He thought
that he heard a couple of rogue laughs from the surrounding classmates. He
always drew attention when he started acting (up).
"You know, Michael, you don't have to rub it in. It's my parents' idea.
I don't want a tutor, but my parents say that I've been performing below their
standards in school of late."
"Sorry, I get carried away with myself at times. Sure, I'll be your
TUTOR. When do you want the first session to be?"
"How about tomorrow night?" Melvin whispered, as if he didn't want anyone
else to know that he was being tutored.
"Sorry, Mel, but tomorrow's not good for me. I've got some concert
tickets that I intend to use with my girlfriend."
"How about tonight, then?" Melvin suggested.
"Let me check with my secretary. Lita, do I have anything planned for
tonight?"
"How should I know?" Lita asked. "I'm not your secretary, either."
"I was kidding. I can handle tonight. How does five sound?"
"Sounds good to me," Melvin said. He walked off in the direction that he
had come.
"That boy's too self-conscious. He needs to lighten up." They continued
talking amongst themselves, until Ms. Haruna called the class in to the
classroom.

"Central, come in!" Luna said as she, Artemis, and Rigel sat in the
communicator room, waiting for an update on the situation. A reply came a
couple of moments after Luna sent the request.
"We're here, Luna. We've been sending probes out all day long, and only
one was able to send back information, and that was a couple of minutes ago.
The Super Shadow's coming your way, and will be there in approximately five
hours. You've got to have the Scouts at the remains of the Temple at that time.
We think that you'll be able to go into the portal before it closes and get to
Rubeus's base."
"What about the Droids? With those odds, we'll be toast within ten
seconds after we get there."
"We've found a way for you to get in without being noticed by the guards.
It'll take skill, though."
"Well, that leaves Serena out of the strike force," Rigel said. He
quieted down after receiving a nasty look from the other two.
"No, Rigel, all of you will be required, even Tuxedo Mask," the reporter
said.
"Who is this Tuxedo Mask, anyway?" Rigel asked. "I've heard of him, but
I've never met him. Sure, he's the one who always helps you guys out of jams,
but where has he been in the past couple of days?"
"We haven't been in any jams, as such, now have we?" Luna said. "We'll
get him there on time."
"Good, now, on the subject of the Planet Crystals, that is your next
mission after finishing off Rubeus. We'll need those, because they'll give you
that final boost that you need to complete your mission, or defeating the
Negaverse for all time."
"Yes, well, I for one think that the Scouts are ready for it!" Luna said.
"They've come a long way from when they first met. Serena doesn't whine as
much, Raye doesn't fight with Serena as much..."
"And yet, Lita still sees every guy as her old boyfriend," Rigel said.
"Look, if you're not going to contribute anything to this meeting, then
go away," Artemis sighed.
"I'll hush," Rigel said. "It's just that these Scouts are nothing like
what they're supposed to be like."
"And what are they 'supposed to be like?'" Luna asked.
"They're supposed to be more dedicated to being a Scout than shopping or
boys. They're supposed to get along with each other. They're supposed to be
the bravest beings in the solar system, if not the universe."
"You haven't been with them long enough to know them inside and out," Luna
said. "They're everything that you just described, it's just that they
sometimes don't show it. They can do anything that you tell them to, and then
some."
"I give up," Rigel said, storming out of the communicator room.
"He just doesn't get it."
"Stupid dog," Artemis grumbled as he turned back to the screen. "Central,
is that all?" Artemis asked.
"That's it for now," the reporter said. Artemis turned the communicator
off as he and Luna went off in search of Rigel. They would have to set that dog
straight. On second thought, it could wait until they had finished their
mission.
Behind them, they heard a loud barking sound. They turned and came face
to face with a rapidly-advancing pack of dogs, led by Rigel. The instant that
they saw that the dogs weren't there to retrieve a stick that had been thrown,
they ran for the nearest tree. They got up it just in time to avoid being
ripped in half by a blood-thirsty dog.
"Rigel, what are you doing?" Luna called down as the dogs began barking up
the tree at them.
"I'm showing you who's really in charge of the Guardians. You two aren't
coming down until you say that I'm in charge!" the enraged Rigel called up after
them. Luna barely heard what he had said over the racket caused by the other
dogs. Artemis hadn't caught a word that the dog had said, and Luna explained it
to him.
"We're gonna be up here for a while," Artemis said. "There's not any real
leader of the Guardians, and he wants to be it. Any plans to get out of here?"
"Sorry, but there's not anywhere that we can jump to from any of the
limbs, so we're gonna be up here for a while," Luna replied nervously.
"So, does that give you any ideas?" Artemis asked wryly.
"Only ones that that involve getting out of here and getting to the
Scouts," Luna replied coldly. "Let's try this," Luna said. "We both jump down
at the same time as far away as we can, then we make a run for it. If we're
lucky, then the dogs'll start chasing one of us, and the other can go to the
school to catch the Scouts when they come out."
"But this is just in theory," Artemis surmised. Luna nodded
acknowledgement. "It's the best idea I've heard to get us out of here."
"It's the only one that you've heard," Luna said skeptically.
"Details, details," Artemis droned. "Let's do it."
Luna moved to the other side of the tree, where she would jump off at.
Artemis moved to the left side of the tree. "On three," Luna said nervously.
"1, 2..." She paused.
"Well?!" Artemis yelled impatiently.
"I don't want to do it."
"Shut up and jump!" Artemis yelled, leaping from the protective limbs of
the tree. When he landed, he risked a look back. He saw that he had been the
only one to jump from the tree.
"Thank you for sacrificing yourself for the good of our mission," Luna
yelled as the dogs started following Artemis. Luna jumped out as had been
planned and began running towards the Scouts' schools.
"What in the...?!" Artemis yelled as he began running from the mob of
bloodthirsty dogs. "Rigel! Can't we talk this over like civilized beings?!"
"What's to talk over? We're gonna pulverize you!" Rigel yelled back.
Artemis would have to find a better tree to climb up soon, or he would be cat-
sausage. After he got away, Luna would pay for this.

At Serena's school, The group was waiting tentatively while the clock
ticked its last few minutes away. She was hoping that Haruna wouldn't assign
homework for that night. She never did after the bell rang. Serena would have
a free night if she didn't have any homework. She needed some time to relax
because she hadn't had a good rest in about a week.
"And your homework for tonight..." Haruna said as Serena thought about
what she would do that night.
"Nuts!" Serena sighed upon hearing Haruna assign homeowrk.
"Is there something wrong, Serena?" Haruna asked. She had heard Serena's
expression of despair.
"Oh! No, nothing Miss Haruna," Serena said sheepishly. "Man, I don't
think that I can take much more of this," Serena thought to herself. "Well, as
long as we don't have to fight any Nega-monsters..."
She looked out the window, longing for the outside world. The classroom
was getting constricting, and Serena was getting energy pent up in her. Michael
was getting the same thing for the exact opposite reason. He wanted to fight
something. Either that or go out on a date with Mina. He would get the latter
the next night, so he figured that he would stick with fighting a monster or
stopping a crime, something. He got such a power rush when he used his powers.
The bell rang, and Michael and Serena were the first ones out the door.
When they got outside, Luna was waiting for them.
"Hey, Luna! What's up?" Serena asked.
"There's big trouble," Luna replied urgently. "The Super Shadow is coming
our way, and we've got to hurry. Where are the others?"
"They'll be out in a minute," Michael said. "Hey, where's Artemis and
Rigel?"
"They're busy," Luna said.

At that minute, Rigel was catching up to Artemis. By that time, the other
dogs had tired of the chase and lost interest. Artemis had taken a wrong turn
and was trapped in a blind alleyway.
"Now, cat," Rigel said ominously, "Are you going to turn control over to
me, or do I have to get mean?"
"Look, dog, we Guardians don't have a leader, we just do what Serena or
Central Control tells them to so that we can complete our mission." As Artemis
tried to reason with Rigel, the dog lunged for the cat. Artemis jumped over
his head, barely missing the jaws of the dog. He made a run for the street and
was followed closely by Rigel. He turned a corner and saw Darien walking down
the street. He ran to Darien, hoping that Darien could provide some protection
from the dog.
As he ran, he tried to get Darien's attention. "Darien!" yelled Artemis.
They and Rigel were the only ones on the street at the time. Darien looked as
Artemis ran up to him and made a jump for his arms. Darien caught the cat and
looked at him.
"What's wrong with you, Artemis?" he asked.
"That brute of a dog is chasing me," Artmeis responded. "You might not
know him. He's our new Guardian pet, Rigel. Just calm him down so that we can
get to Raye's school."
As the dog came closer, Darien held out a foot to try and stop him. The
dog wasn't able to stop in time and ran into Darien's foot.
"Good one, Darien. Way to calm him down," Artemis said sarcastically.
"Sorry, but at least he's not attacking you," Darien replied.
Rigel shook off the blow and looked up at Darien and Artemis's lofty
perch. He wanted to know why the cat was talking to the human.
"Who's this shmuck?" Rigel asked.
"Darien, a.k.a. Tuxedo Mask," Darien answered. "And I assume that you're
Rigel."
"Didn't your little kitty friend tell you that?" Rigel said. "Look, we
need you for this big mission that could turn the tide of the whole War with the
Negaverse, so if you wouldn't mind, come with us." Rigel paused. "And I don't
suppose you'd consider dropping the cat, would you?" Darien shook his head.
Darien followed the dog to Raye's school, where she was just getting out
for the day. They greeted each other and Artemis told her of the situation.
"Yeah! We're finally gonna take out Rubeus!" Raye said, excited. "Where
do we have to go?"
"The Super Shadow's coming out at the Temple. We're going to take it out
and then go through its portal so that we can get to the base. It'll be a tough
battle, but we think that you can all do it. Well, most of us do anyway,"
Artemis said, shooting Rigel a nasty look. Rigel stuck his tongue out at
Artemis.
They left to go to Mina's house, where she would be by then. Artemis knew
that she would be sympathetic for him about the little incident with Rigel,
unless her feelings about his owner clouded her mind about the dog.

"What's up, Luna?" Amy and Lita said as they got outside the school,
noticing the cat sitting there with Serena and Michael.
"We've got to hurry to the Temple. The Super Shadow's going to strike
now, and we're going to stop it. This'll give us an opening on Rubeus's base,
so we're going to take it."
"The base? But what about the droids?" Amy asked.
"They will be taken care of, or at least that's what we've been told,"
Luna said. "We've got to go now, or we'll be too late."
They rushed off in the direction of the Temple, hoping that they would be
able to get there in time.

"Mina!" Artemis called as he entered his owner's room. She was in the
middle of doing her homework.
"What's up, Artemis? Is there trouble?" Mina asked.
"Nothing gets past you," Artemis said. "We've got to get to the Temple
NOW." Artemis went on to explain their plan and how they intended to pull it
off. "We've got to hurry. If your clock's right, then we've only got about
fifteen minutes." They ran outside to where Darien, Raye, and Rigel awaited
their return, and the whole group rushed down the street at top speed.
The sky was already beginning to get darker, as if it knew what was about
to happen, and everything was quieting down, including the traffic. By the time
that they got to the Temple, the others were there and a small black point had
appeared in mid-air where the Shadow Warrior would emerge to give the city a
taste of its power. The world was silent, calmly awaiting its fate.
"Scouts, transform!" Luna commanded as the portal widened.
"Mercury Power!"
"Jupiter Power!"
"Venus Power!"
"Europa Power!"
"Mars Power Transformation!"
"Moon Crystal Power!"
The Scouts stood and watched as Darien donned his cape, tux, and mask in
preparation for the coming battle. He smelled a rose to pass the time waiting
for the Shadow Warrior. Moon stood by him in anticipation. She wished that he
hadn't broken up with her for so many reasons, being able to work together being
one. It pained her so to have to love him from a distance.
Then, the portal was large enough to let the Shadow Warrior through. At
first sight, it was like nothing that the Scouts had ever seen. It was as tall
as the Juggernaut, had large ears, was wearing a blue shirt and red pants, and
looked like what Serena remembered the creatures from the movie "Gremlins"
looked like. It took one look around the battle field and ran straight for the
Scouts.
"I've got the first lick in," Mars called out. "Mars Explosion, Blast!"
The resulting explosion threw the Shadow Warrior to the ground on top of what
had been the Sacred Fire Room in the Temple.
"I'm next," Europa said. "Europa Earth, Drop!" A ball of earth fell on
the grounded creature, pinning it momentarily. It just pushed the earth off of
it and pointed a finger at the Scouts. From that finger shot a series of energy
blasts that could rival Jupiter's best on a good day. The Scouts were knocked
backwards and only stopped when they hit something stationary.
"Europa, that didn't seem like a good idea," Venus said. Before anyone
could do anything else, the creature picked up a large boulder from Europa's
attacks and threw it at the Scouts. Europa waved his hand, and it disappeared
before it hit anyone.
This didn't seem to make the monster very happy, so it ran full tilt, with
all intentions of crushing the Scouts. Mars tried to defend them, but was
knocked out of its way. Its main target was Moon, who was knocked out of the
way at the last instant by Tuxedo Mask. It was instead him who was put under
the giant foot of the monster. When the monster realized that it had the wrong
one under its foot, it moved its foot to go for Moon again. Tuxedo Mask wasn't
badly hurt, but he needed a short break. Rigel took out the black transporter
box which had been given to him by Central Command and used it. Tuxedo Mask
disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Sailor Moon!" Luna called out. "Use your healing power!"
"Moon Crystal Healing, Activation!" Sailor Moon called out, her brooch
opening to reveal the Imperium Silver Crystal. The force hit the creature, but
did nothing to it. "It's too strong!" Moon yelled back to her feline friend.
"Europa, some help there!" Rigel suggested. Europa grabbed onto Moon's
shoulders.
"Try it again," Europa suggested to Moon.
"What difference will it make?" Moon asked.
"I'll give you a power boost, and we can combine our powers to heal more."
"Moon Crystal Healing, Activation!" The force hit the creature, and this
time, an arm fell off. Before it hit the ground, it turned into an unconscious
Loni Lenai. Mercury rushed over to get her away from the fray.
"Gross!" Moon exclaimed as she saw the arm fall off.
"It comes apart at the seams!" Artemis exclaimed. "Keep bashing away at
it!"
"Jupiter Thunder Dragon, Zap!" Jupiter said, letting loose with an
electric dragon that hit the monster, sending it falling towards the ground.
"Do it again, Moon!" Venus yelled.
"Moon Crystal Healing, Activation!" Europa gave her a power boost, and the
other arm fell off. When it hit the ground, it became Hercules the cat. Moon
did it one more time, and the right leg came off, turning into the priest. Moon
was too tired to heal any more at that moment, and the others took up with the
efforts.
"Venus Electrobolts, Slam!" Venus yelled, attacking with her electricity
attack. The creature was stunned for a moment as it recovered. It was hopping
around on one leg now, and every time it jumped, it sent a tremor through the
ground.
"Venus! Jupiter!" Artemis said, summoning them. "You two use your dual
attack, the Super Shocker."
"Super Shocker!" the two Scouts exclaimed at the same time as their two
electric attacks combined to form a large ball of energy which flew towards the
large creature. The creature stood as the wave of pure electricity washed over
it. It had adapted to the attacks and was only pausing momentarily.
"Quick, Moon! You've got to do something!" Mercury called out. Venus and
Jupiter had been sapped of their energy and were skulking off the battlefield
for a short rest. Sailor Moon took out the Moon Scepter and looked at it. She
couldn't use it on the Shadow, or it would kill the Crystal Carriers. She would
just have to do some more healing, then.
"Moon Crystal Healing Activation!" When the force hit the creature, the
second leg fell off and reverted to Game Machine Joe. Europa rushed to get him
off the battlefield as Sailor Moon prepared to do another healing. She hoped
that she would be able to carry on like that for three more healings. As if he
sensed her need for help, Tuxedo Mask reappeared and was at her side, offering
her his hand. Moon felt her heart leap as she thought that it might be him returning to her.
"This doesn't mean anything," Tuxedo Mask said. Serena's heart sunk at
those words. "It's just for purely professional reasons. Use the attack
again."
"Moon Crystal Healing Activation!" This time, the lower torso fell off,
changing into Grandpa. Moon felt as if the energy required for the attack
hadn't been taken from her. When Tuxedo Mask staggered slightly, she realized
that it had been taken from him. She did it one more time, leaving only the
head, Grandpa, and Andrew's girlfriend on the battlefield. Tuxedo Mask ran as
fast as he could in his weakened condition to help the two out of the way of the
battle.
"Luna, we need some help out here!" Sailor Moon called to her friends in
their hiding places. All three guardians came out of the bushes where they had
been hiding and their crescent moons started to glow. A white light filled the
battlefield, refreshing everyone and injuring the head, which was obviously
Greg.
"Thanks, Luna!" Venus said as she and the other Scouts rejoined the
battle. "We've got one final thing to heal! Take it, Moon!"
"Moon Crystal Healing Activation!" The head was hit by the healing power
and was knocked to the ground, where it stayed for a couple of moments before
exploding and sending Greg flying through the air. Greg landed against the side
of a building, where he hit and fell to the ground, unconscious. Mercury rushed
over to him and turned her visor on to check him to be sure of his health. His
skull had a major lump on it, but nothing that couldn't be healed with time.
"Mercury! We've got to go!" Luna exclaimed as the others prepared to go
through the portal to Rubeus's base. Mercury decided that Greg would be fine
where he was for the time being, and joined the others as they stepped through
the ever-shrinking portal.

End of Part eight

Coming soon: Rubeus's Fun House

Well, I didn't want to have to do it, but I've forced myself to do so. I
need another part to the story. I think that you can understand (can't you?).
If not, or you just want to talk, then E-mail me at: jmh6187@uncwil.edu. I'll
be writing until next time, so bye!