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Senshi Kurai
Part 2: Friends and Foes
Jackie Chiang
Quick Copyright notes: This is a fanfic based on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, an anime/manga created by Takeuchi Naoko. Characters belong to her and all others associated with rights [Toei, Bandai, Kodansha, etc], but the storyline, ideas, and any other characters are created by me. 1996 - Jackie Chiang
At the end of the day, the bell rang. All the students poured out of the building, laughing and shouting. Usagi, Minako, Makoto, and Ami left the school together.
"Where are the others?" Usagi asked. She was in a pretty good mood. They were heading to Rei's temple, but not for sailor senshi business.
"Well," Ami explained, "Michiru-san is conducting a science experiment and needs to stay after school to finish it. Haruka-san and Hotaru-chan are staying with her."
"Oh," Usagi said, a little disappointed. She had looked forward to talking with the other girls some more.
Suddenly a scream pierced the air.
"That's coming from around the corner!" Minako said. They raced down the street. They stopped to see a man in gold attacking a girl from the high school.
"Henshin yo, minna [Transform, everyone]!" Usagi said.
"Hai [Yes; right]!"
"Moon Crisis Make-Up!"
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!"
"Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!"
"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-Up!"
In a matter of seconds, the girls were transformed from ordinary high school students into Super Sailor Moon, Super Sailor Mercury, Super Sailor Venus, and Super Sailor Jupiter- the Sailor Senshi!
He was draining energy from the girl. He finished and threw the girl to the ground.
"Hey you!" Sailor Moon shouted.
The man looked up.
"I won't let you get away for harming an innocent girl! I'm the pretty sailor suited solider, Sailor Moon! I fight for love and justice, and in the name of the moon-"
"In the name of Mercury!" Mercury yelled.
"In the name of Venus!" Venus shouted.
"And in the name of Jupiter!" Jupiter added.
"-We'll punish you!"
The man laughed. "I don't think so," he said. "I'm Phoebus of the Sun Quintet. And you're going to die! Solar Flare!" Rainbow fire shot from his hand towards the senshi. They dodged it.
"Whoa! That's a little too close!" Jupiter said as her ponytail was sizzled.
"Hey!" Phoebus said, angry that he had missed. "Dangit! Don't move!"
"What does he expect us to do?" Mercury said sensibly.
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Jupiter let loose her attack. Phoebus evaded it and released his Solar Flare. The Senshi managed to avoid getting toasted.
"Shabon Spray!" Mercury shouted. Hundreds of soap bubbles flew from her arms, creating a thick mist around Phoebus.
"What? What's going on?" Phoebus whirled wildly about. He couldn't see a single thing. He felt the fringes of fear crawling up his spine.
"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!" Super Sailor Moon yelled aiming her moon kaleidoscope at it. Phoebus screamed as he disintegrated into dust.
"Was that easy, or what?" Jupiter said, grinning. The four gathered together in a group.
"What the...?" Venus said, her eyes focusing on something. The others looked at what she was staring at.
A girl in red was standing several feet away from them. She had long black hair and was wearing a red outfit.
"...Is that Mars?" Jupiter asked, confused.
The girl looked like Mars, but there was something odd about her. She was wearing red high heels, a red mini skirt, and a white body suit, but that's where the similarities ended. Instead of a tiara, she wore a gold circlet with a red jewel in it. Her neck collar had the symbol of the planet Mars on it, but it was black instead of red. Mars's sailor collar with the white stripe was solid red on the girl. She wore a red cape down her back that reached her knees. The girl had no shoulder pads; instead, she wore the armor like ones that Sailor V had. The purple bow in front had another black Mars symbol in its center. The long purple bow in back of her outfit trailed behind her, blowing in the wind. She carried a whip in her glove, which also had none of the sailor rings on them.
The girl walked up to them slowly. She had a blank expression on her face.
"Sailor Mars?" Mercury asked questioningly. She moved towards the girl.
The girl's lips curved upward into a smile. Without warning she lashed her whip out at Mercury. It slashed the side of her body. Mercury cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground. The other Sailor Senshi immediately jumped back to avoid getting flailed.
"Who are you?" Sailor Moon yelled out angrily.
The girl's smile broadened. "I'm Ares of the Senshi Kurai. You're going to pay for killing Phoebus! Ares Destruction Flare!" Black flames shot out from her whip as she slashed it through the air. The flames struck Venus and Jupiter, sending them crashing down. The whip wrapped itself around Sailor Moon's body, effectively causing her to drop her moon kaleidoscope. The whip burned into her side, and she fell down as the it released her.
"She's...strong," Jupiter muttered, her face ashen.
"Much stronger than anyone else we've been against," Venus whispered.
Ares laughed, an odd, lunatic laugh. "This is going to be sooo much easier than I thought. Hecate was wrong. You Sailor Senshi are a bunch of wimps! Prepare to meet your doom!" She let her whip fly, while the Sailor Senshi closed their eyes and waited for the inevitable pain.
It never came.
The girls opened their eyes. Ares was holding her wrist, groaning in pain, her whip forgotten at her side. In front of her was a single rose... A single yellow rose.
"Tuxedo Kamen-sama?" Moon asked, mystified.
Everyone looked up. Instead of the tall man in a black tuxedo that everyone expected, there was a girl in yellow next to a tree. She had long black hair that fell past her shoulders. She wore a yellow sailor fuku, complete with all the little things that make them so grand. Her tiara had a yellow jewel in it. Her yellow collar had the familiar yellow star on it. She had two yellow bows, one on front and one in the back of her outfit. Her yellow miniskirt blew around her legs. She wore yellow high heels with ankle bracelets that had little star charms on them. However, she also had a yellow cape and wore a white mask on her face, an exact replica of the one Tuxedo Kamen had.
"How dare you attack the defenders of the Earth? You shouldn't harm young girls!" the girl said. "I'm the earth soldier, Sailor Earth! In the name of the Earth, I will punish you!"
Everyone gaped at her in shock. Venus almost fainted, Jupiter looked extremely pale, and Mercury was hyperventilating.
"Earth Rock Crash!" the girl hollered.
A stream of large rocks flew from her hands towards Ares. They hit the stunned girl, bruising and scraping her body. Ares fell to the ground for several seconds. Then she flew into the air, somewhat distortedly.
"You won't get away for this!" Ares screamed. Tears were streaming down her face. A hint of a whine came through her voice. "I'll be back, and when I do, you're all going to die!" With those words, she disappeared.
Jupiter and Venus managed to stand up. They went over to their leader and their official brain to help them up.
Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Luna, and Artemis ran up belatedly.
"Are you guys okay?" Neptune asked worriedly. Mercury was busy examining everyone's injuries.
"Yeah, just peachy," Jupiter groaned. She felt sore all over.
"You guys are a little too late," Venus added somewhat flippantly, even though she was in minor pain. "You missed all the fun."
Super Sailor Moon whirled around. "Where is she?" She scanned the area, looking for the mysterious girl.
"Where's who?" Uranus asked, looking above her towards the tree. "I don't see anybody."
"She's gone," Mercury added, not hearing Uranus, after a few moments of careful observation. Jupiter and Venus nodded in agreement.
Luna frowned, impatient. "Will you girls please tell us who you are looking for?" the cat asked, twitching her tail irritably.
Super Sailor Moon turned around slowly. "You better come with us to Rei's temple," she said. "It turns out that we have a new Sailor Senshi."
The others looked at her disbelievingly.
"You had better explain yourself," Uranus said grimly as Sailor Moon stared at the spot which had been recently vacated.
"Oww!" Ares whined as a kneeling blue haired girl applied alcohol to her scratches and cuts. "That hurts! I can't see why you just use your healing spells!"
A girl in a green version of Ares's costume sat sideways in her throne, her legs crossed over the arm. She gave her friend an exasperated look. "Look, Ares, you know we aren't to use our magic skills when there are less energy consuming ways of doing it. If you want Hermes to help you, quit your whining."
"Really, Ares," the blond in orange added. "It's bad enough that you failed to destroy those miserable Sailor Senshi, but if we have to tolerate your useless wailing for another minute..."
"Why do you always have to pick on me?" Ares started crying.
"Aphrodite," Hermes said, pausing in her labors to brush her blue bangs out of her eyes, "apologize to Ares right now. I can't help her if she keeps moving around."
Zeus stopped playing with her braid and intervened. "Ares, shut up. For Jove's sake, you're worse than Sailor Moon," the brunette snapped irritably, shooting the raven haired girl a killer look.
The girl immediately stopped her wailing. "Zeus! How dare you compare me to that, that, whiny little brat!" she shrieked.
Hermes rolled her eyes, obviously thinking it was a fair analogy. She finished applying the cloth to Ares's body. "There," she said, patting the last one, "that should do it." She stood up while Ares continued to break everyone's ear drums.
The last girl in the room finally spoke. "That's enough," she commanded.
The others looked at her. They knew that she was in one of her moods by the glowing black moon, which was identical in form to Sailor Moon's, on her forehead.
"Yes, Hecate*," they said. No one, not even Ares, dared to upset their princess.
Hecate stood up from her sitting position in her throne. The light black cat sitting on her lap tumbled off. Glaring at her, Cynthia** walked to where Ares was sitting. Hecate smoothed out the wrinkles in her long black dress, taking her time to think.
"Ares," the cat said, "you know that you're not ready to take on our enemies right away. Haven't Phoebe and I taught you anything?"
Right on cue, Phoebe*** entered the room. He was a handsome cat, all white except for the black moon on his forehead. "What happened?"
Cynthia rolled her violet eyes. "And where were you, Phoebe? Taking a nap?" she said sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact-"
Cynthia interrupted him. "It doesn't matter. Ares here just got beat up by the Sailor Senshi."
The white cat jumped up onto Aphrodite's lap. Aphrodite smiled and petted her pet. "I told you that she wasn't ready," he said arrogantly, as if it was Cynthia's fault.
The black cat glared at Phoebe. "I didn't send her; she left without telling anybody."
"But they destroyed Phoebus!" Ares broke in, wailing, attempting to defend herself. "He was my favorite of the Sun Quintet! Besides, it's not like any of the regular senshi defeated me! How was I supposed to know that a new one would show up?!"
"Ares, shut up," Hecate said, her voice firm and sharp. She pushed her long black hair off her shoulder as she walked past her. Her blue eyes connected with Ares's purple ones, and Ares did as she was told.
"You did an extraordinarily idiotic thing in sending Phoebus to gather unnecessary energy," Cynthia snapped. "I'd think you'd know that we have enough power to last us for several months."
"So they have a new Sailor Senshi," Hecate murmured to herself while Cynthia yelled at Ares, musing over the thought in her mind. She walked over to the crystal observer and watched it carefully. Lost in thought, she distractedly stroked the black crystal that she wore as a necklace. Suddenly she spun around. "Zeus!"
Zeus stood up immediately. "Yes, Hecate?"
"I want you to go see Poseidon. Have her see me at once in my throne room."
"I'm on my way," Zeus said. The brunette turned and went out the door.
"Now, Ares," Hecate continued, sitting back down, "I want you to go over everything you know about the Sailor Senshi that you fought. We need to prepare more if we seek our ultimate goal."
Ares, Hermes, and Aphrodite all smiled. "Revenge."
* Hecate is used in Greek mythology to represent the dark side of the moon.
** Cynthia is what Artemis is rarely called as a secondary Greek name. Since Artemis has been incorrectly identified with the moon (Selena was the true goddess), Cynthia would be a long stretch as a name.
*** Artemis is also known as Phoebe, and her brother, Apollo, who is connected with the sun, is also known as Phoebus. Quick note: Zeus, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hermes are the Greek names of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury, respectively.
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