Part Five: Birds and Battle
Animalia waved her arm across the mirror and
the image of Arachne disappeared. "Quickly, Sailor Pluto, we must go
back to Tokyo."
Animalia and Pluto brought their staffs together
and opened a portal back to Tokyo. The warriors landed on the grounds of
the Shinto Temple in defensive positions. "Animalia," Mercury
hurriedly asks, "Do you know where Arachne is going to strike?"
"When we saw her in the mirror, her thoughts
were masked by a great evil power. I was unable to sense specific details,
but she will attack within the next few days and it will be in an area
with many people." She pauses in thought and then speaks again.
"Sailor Mars, if I may, I would give a task to Phobos and Deimos."
"Of course, if they will help us find
Arachne," Mars replies.
The woman with jade-colored eyes moves away from
the group. She faces them once again and holds her staff in front of her
body. She calls out "Animalia Ribbon Metamorphosis ... swan!"
A gray ribbon emerges from the Eye on her staff
and grows in length and width. It surrounds her in a cocoon that begins to
glow and obscures her form. Suddenly, the cocoon breaks open and reveals a
beautiful white swan with the same jade eyes hovering in the air. The swan
spoke with Animalia's voice. "We will search the city
from the skies. Phobos take the North, Deimos the South, Faunus the East,
and I will take the West. All of you should look for clues on the ground.
If we find something I will contact you. If you find something, simply
call out my name, and I will come to you."
The senshi again took their normal form and
dispersed throughout the city, as did Phobos and Deimos. Makato turned
back, however, and saw the owl and swan hovering close in the air. The owl
spoke, "I wish... " but the swan interrupted softly and sadly,
"We do not have time for this, we must find Arachne."
She then began to fly to the West, but first the
owl touched her face with his own. The owl quickly turned and flew away to
the East.
Makato's eyes widened after she witnessed this
scene, but she too had a job to do so she ran to catch up with Ami.
Setsuna and Hotaru walk along a street lined
with stores. They come to a storefront window filled with TV screens. A
commercial appeared on all of them. "Come to the zoo this weekend for
the grand opening of our new exhibit ... rare Arachnids. Free refreshments
and door prizes will be available!"
They stopped and turned to each other. They
simultaneously whispered, "That's it!"
They walked around the corner into an alley and
called out Animalia's name. The swan quickly flew to their location and
landed next to Setsuna on a box. "What have you found?"
"We saw an advertisement for a spider
exhibit at the zoo this weekend," the young voice of Hotaru answered.
"We have not seen anything from the air and
we have covered most of the city. I think that the exhibit is a definite
possibility."
The swan glided to the ground and faced Hotaru
and Setsuna. "I have already sent Phobos, Deimos, and Faunus back to
the temple. I suggest we do the same."
In a flash of light the swan disappeared and
Kouken stood in her place. She closed her eyes and called to the minds of
the other senshi, Meet at the temple, we may have found the next strike
area. "I have contacted everyone else, so we can go now."
The group arrived at the zoo on Saturday
morning. A large crowd of people surrounds them. "Look at all the
people here today!" Minako exclaims.
Michiru worriedly adds, "It will be very
difficult to find Arachne in this crowd."
"We should start at the spider
exhibit," Ami states.
"Please, wait. I know a better way to find
out if that exhibit has been contaminated by her evil."
Kouken walked over to the first exhibit--a family
of giraffes. An adult giraffe came to the fence where Animalia stood. She
looked into his eyes as they communicated. She then turned back to the
senshi. "Most of the spiders were donated by an evil woman. The
spiders are not natural."
"Wow you got all that from a giraffe?!"
Usagi asked.
Kouken smiled, "Animals are more intelligent
than most humans think. They are able to sense evil no matter what the
outward appearance."
The large group began walking to the spider
exhibit. They passed a bird aviary when screams suddenly filled the air.
They came from the direction of the spider exhibit. "We can transform
behind those bushes," Mamoru spoke above the din of the crowd racing
out of the zoo.
Meanwhile, inside the exhibit, a mysterious woman
stood in the middle of a large room with glass containers holding many
different species of spiders. She was clothed in a large black cape with a
hood that obscured her face. She walked toward her favorite species, the
Black Widow. She opened the top of the case and placed a hand gloved in
red inside to pick up one of the arachnids. A young, male curator swiftly
ran over to the woman. "Miss, you can't just pick up the spiders.
Some of them are quite poisonous."
A deadly smile parted her red lips. "They
won't hurt me, I am their guardian, Sailor Arachne. You and all these
people, however, may suffer a different fate."
Fear crossed the curator's face and filled his
eyes. Arachne raised the deadly arachnid to her lips and gave it a kiss.
She then set it on the curators shoulder. He stood still so the black
widow would not become aggravated. Arachne laughed and pulled away from
the young man. She dropped the black cape that had surrounded her body. It
revealed her black dress and boots, and of course the eight black
"legs" that lined her back. "Rise my beautiful compatriots
and attack these foolish humans. Release their starseeds for my
mistress."
She laughed as the glass containers shattered and
freed the hundreds of spiders. The doors to the exhibit flew shut, so none
of the captives could escape. Men, women, and children fell to the floor
covered with spiders. As they lost consciousness, flowers bloomed from
their foreheads and revealed starseeds. Arachne circled the room to
inspect each of the seeds, when an arrow of flame burnt through one of the
doors. The Sailor Senshi burst through the doorframe. Arachne stood and
sneered. "Well if it isn't the annoying Sailor Moon and friends. I
really don't need you help right now so just...LEAVE! Arachne Leg
Attack!"
Six of her black legs detached from her back and
hurtled towards the warriors. Pluto, Saturn, and Animalia used their
weapons to deflect the flying weapons into the nearby walls. A spark of
light flashed in Animalia's jade eyes. "Move these innocents outside.
I will take care of Arachne."
She then jumped into the air and performed a
summersault over the unconscious bodies and landed close to Arachne.
Arachne pulled the remaining legs from her back, but unlike the others
these two are swords. "Oh look, a challenge," Arachne
sarcastically announced.
The clang of metal on metal filled the room as
the other warriors moved the people outside. When the room had been
cleared, Animalia began pushing Arachne towards the door where the other
soldiers waited. Just as they reached the door, Arachne realized she was
being lead to an ambush. She pushed Animalia away and jumped out the door.
She faced the senshi, "I am really not in a fighting mood today, so I
think I will let my many-legged friends take care of you. My friends the
Insects and Arachnids please stop these pestering senshi."
Creatures with multiple legs, eyes, and wings
swarmed about the sailor senshi. Arachne jumped into a phone booth and
disappeared. "I will use my waters to stop them," Neptune
yelled.
"No, please wait," Animalia, pleaded,
"They are innocent animals being controlled by Arachne."
"What do you propose we do," harshly
responded Uranus as she swatted the bugs away.
Animalia explained, "We can use their
natural instincts to override Arachne's control ... Faunus now!"
The owl led a huge flock of birds of many types
that he had freed from the nearby aviary. They swooped down through the
swarm of insects and arachnids. The creatures' survival instincts caused
them all to flee into the flora. The youths all stood tall as the many
species left. Animalia called to the sky, "Thank you my winged
friends, but now you must return to your home."
Faunus led the unusual flock back to the aviary.
The soldiers returned to their normal forms and began to walk toward the
exit of the zoo.
Animalia paused and looked back to where Arachne
had disappeared. She solemnly thought to herself, Sailor Senshi if you
only knew. The battle with Arachne, and more importantly her mistress, has
only just begun.