Chapter 305
In an open field within the city limits of Tokyo.
The scouts stood at one end of the field. Gala's forces stood at another.
Guardian Mars and Guardian Jupiter stood ready. Coardite stood opposite them.
"Be prepared for your imminent destruction," Coardite said.
"I doubt it," Mars said. "I mean Maverick can beat you in a fight, what we afraid of?"
"I also beat Mars to a pulp," Maverick muttered.
"You will find me to be very dangerous," Coardite said.
"Whatever," Jupiter said. "Let's just get this over with."
"Hah!" Coardite said and drew an energy sword.
"Well if you insist," Guardian Mars said and drew his own energy sword.
"What background does he have with a sword?" Sailor Jupiter asked Guardian Venus.
"None," Venus replied.
The group all sighed.
"We got a plan here?" Mars asked.
"You keep him busy, I'll sweep around and attack vulnerabilities," Jupiter said.
"Works for me," Mars said.
Coardite shot forward and swung his sword unleashing energy attacks. The two scouts jumped out of the way. Coardite grinned.
"Be careful," Jupiter said. "He's up to something."
"I guess that," Mars snapped.
"Don't let your ego leave yourself open."
Mars grimaced.
"Well come on!" he shouted.
Coardite stood there in a fighting stance grinning.
"What is he doing?" Guardian Neptune muttered.
"Intimidation.." Guardian Uranus said. "Those two are wondering what he's thinking."
"Enough of this! Mars...Star Laser!" Mars began to set up. Coardite slid forward unleashing an energy barrage. Mars tried to jump out of the way, but was clipped and he landed awkwardly.
"Jupiter Star Inferno!" Jupiter shouted. Coardite slid by the attack and charged.
"Pitiful.." Maverick muttered.
The group all nodded.
Guardian Mars leapt up sword in hand and charged at Coardite limping as he did so. Coardite turned away from Jupiter and blocked a very unregimented sword swing all the while firing bursts at Jupiter who could only jump out of the way. Coardite smashed a sword into Mars' hands, his sword dropped and he cried out. Coardite blasted him back across the field with a burst of energy.
"Jupiter Star Inferno!"
"Uh uh," Coardite said and jumped over the attack firing bolts at Jupiter. Jupiter once again leapt out of the way to avoid the attacks, but was now pursued fully by Coardite.
"Well this is disappointing," Sailor Mars muttered.
"How have they ever won a battle?" Sailor Uranus muttered.
"We usually fight as a team of three," Guardian Venus snapped. "Besides there was different circumstances. We usually tried not to meet an enemy head on."
"Good idea," Guardian Neptune said.
"Mars is back up," Sailor Jupiter said hopefully.
Coardite was bombarding the ground around Guardian Jupiter heavily with bolts. A barrage of red energy flew at Coardite. He was hit and staggered forward. Guardian Mars leapt forward still feeling the pain from his legs Coardite grinned and turned firing dead on into Mars attack.
Mars was blasted back across the field landing in a heap. The evil side cheered.
"Yeah that'll teach em!" Sailor Iron Mouse shouted.
Green energy exploded into Coardite from the front as Jupiter began firing.
"Please," Coardite said and erected an energy shield. The energy bounced off.
"How arrogant," Sailor Uranus said.
"Still..it is very useful for him to use such an energy barrier if he has the energy to do so," Sailor Neptune said.
"Jupiter Star Inferno!"
Coardite fired. The attacks smashed into Jupiter and knocked him to the ground.
"I think we're done here!" He shouted.
"I don't want those two getting hurt anymore," Sailor Moon said. "You win."
"Sailor Moon you sure?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"We'll win the next round," Sailor Moon said.
"That wasn't a fight at all," Coardite said. "I want Maverick!"
"You already won Coardite," Gala said. "It's time to rest."
"No..I mean it..Gala..I'm doing fine. Just a few sword blasts," Coardite said.
"Fine, fine," Gala said. If he beats you we can leave.
"Come on!" Coardite said.
Maverick said nothing dropped several smoke pellets to the ground and leapt onto the battlefield.
"Ehh..what?" Coardite said.
"Siren! Make sure none of the other scouts are sneaking into the battle!" Gala said.
Siren leapt into the air and glided backwards.
"All clear!" she shouted.
The smoke cleared. Coardite staggered back and collapsed. The evil side looked on in amazement as Coardite staggered up, to one knee before letting it buckle.
"Cheater.." he said.
Maverick grinned.
"YAH!" Coardite shouted swinging forward with his sword. Maverick slid his own sword off of it, back flipped and dug his sword straight into his foe. Coardite let out a shout. Maverick withdrew his sword and slid back towards his own lines. Coardite fell to the ground.
"Well that wasn't the least bit entertaining," Gala muttered. "You're an idiot Coardite."
"That's one for us!" Sailor Moon shouted.
"Get up Seiya," Maverick muttered to Guardian Mars and headed back to the group.
Mars just pounded his fist into the ground.
"I hate you," he said.
"What are we going to do about Setsuna?" Michiru asked.
"She needs help, especially now," Haruka said.
"But..this is so strange. Why would she let herself go like this?"
"I don't know," Haruka said. "But she did. Why is unimportant."
"It is though," Michiru said. "Something that would drive Setsuna to do that..we have to find out what's bothering her too."
"One thing at a time," Haruka said. "We've also got a war to fight."
"Yes, but we need to get her treatment," Michiru said.
The door opened and Setsuna staggered out.
"Ouch.."she said. "Coffee."
"Setsuna.." Haruka said not knowing what to say next.
"So you found me out," Setsuna said slumping into a chair. "Yeah..pass judgement, I don't care anymore."
"Setsuna, what's the matter?" Michiru asked. "Why do you see the need to do this?"
"You do what I do for long enough and you'd be lucky to have held out this long," Setsuna said.
"But Setsuna you've always been.." Michiru said.
"Whatever I've been has lead to what I am now," Setsuna said. "So bad example."
"Setsuna you need to get some help," Haruka said.
"I get help, every evening," Setsuna said.
"That's not what we mean," Haruka said. "I think you're addicted!"
"YAY!" Setsuna shouted. "Setsuna has an addiction!"
Michiru and Haruka looked at each other not sure how to
proceed.
Later that night.
"So how's the project coming?" Serena asked.
"Doctors Tomoe and Richter are insane," Darrien said. "And the science professors are all a little busy with the fact that the building's been trashed, other then that fine.."
"Don't sarcastic with me," Serena said with a smile. "I'm the light of your life."
"Oh..okay.." Darrien said. "Are you feeling better?"
"A little. I got Gala to stop sneak attacking us."
"You think she'll live up to it?"
"I don't know, but the time she does is time I don't have to fear anything. The dark moon and negaverse generals are watching out for any strange activity."
"That's nice of them."
"Well they've gotta do something right?"
"Serena, I talked with your friends..they said you were.."
"Upset..yeah..I guess I've been holding a lot in. I guess I can't help but feel sorry for some of those creatures I killed. Who knows what they may have been like."
"Yeah..I guess that's something you don't think about..but you have to move on," Darrien said.
"I have," Serena said. "Maybe because I believe some day if the universe is peaceful all this would have meant something."
"It does mean something. And you've protected billions of people with what you do, even if there are some low points."
"I know..I think I'll be okay," Serena said. "You know I keep telling myself, but they were evil..but how evil? I mean..I guess I'm obsessing a little. But isn't it a tragedy when good people go bad, or bad people just exist? To that the point that you have to destroy them.."
"It's tough to think about. Takes away your innocence I guess," Darrien said.
"Yeah," Serena said. "I wonder..though..maybe..they can all come back someday."
"What do you mean?"
"Well..the generals came back, the dark moon family kinda did..what if we could bring back all those creatures we killed somewhere..." Serena said.
"I don't know.."
"It's possible isn't it?"
"I guess anything is possible now."
"Then that's what I'll do. Somehow..when this war is over, I'll bring back all the lives that have been lost. I don't know how, or where, or..anything..but I know it's possible. I guess that's whats made me feel better. Because if I don't win this battle, I can't bring anyone back. I will fight and heal as many people as I can and then see what I can do."
"It's good that you're showing the will to try," Darrien said.
"I know maybe it won't work. But..if it could, I could do it. And...I had to do what I did. I had no choice. But maybe I can make up for it," Serena said.
"Good for you Serena."
"Now..Darrien..we've got another hour left in our date."
"You've been keeping track?"
"Of course..take me somewhere really nice."
"Uh..okay.." Darrien said.
Elsewhere.
"That was not our finest hour," Seiya muttered.
"Not yours," Yaten said.
"I thought he would be easy," Seiya said.
"I don't know why you insisted on us being the first to fight anyway," Taiki said.
"We still have a lot to prove," Seiya said.
"We also haven't fought a battle in months," Taiki said.
"You should have spent some time training rather then jumping right in," Yaten said.
"You guys didn't seem to have a problem with it," Seiya said.
"Sure we did, but you were so busy showing off to Lita about how you would with honor, we didn't get the chance to bring it up," Yaten said.
"Agreed," Taiki said. "And now we've embarrassed ourselves in front of everyone."
"Whatever," Seiya said. "I'm going to the club."
"That's a good idea," Yaten said. "Hide from your troubles there."
Seiya spat and headed out.
"Sometimes I wonder what's going on with him," Taiki said.
"Isn't it obvious? He's an idiot,"Yaten said.
"Not much scientific basis to your observations there."
"You don't need to be a scientist to see what I see."
"Very true," Taiki said.
And at S.D.F. Headquarters.
"Ah..Hotaru, good to see you again," General Patterson said.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Ah I see."
"I have the information you wanted. I'm guessing you were worried that this strange sword fighting girl transfer student might be some sort of negaverse operative or something right?"
"Correct," Hotaru said.
"Well she's real," Patterson said. "We have her birth date, she has two parents. In fact they're both in the military."
"They are..I see.." Hotaru said. "Where are they stationed?"
"They're in the navy so it varies," Patterson said.
"Japan has a navy?"
"A common misconception..yes we do," Patterson said with a nervous grin.
"I see..so it would make sense for her to be enrolled at Juuban High School."
"Yes."
"Did you by chance contact her parents to check on that."
"Hotaru it would be the careful thing to do, but it wouldn't seem right to just call them up and as do you know where your daughter is?"
"I suppose not," Hotaru said. "Is that all?"
"Yep. I wouldn't worry. She's just a normal human girl."
"Any girl capable of battling your former nephew to a standstill is not normal," Hotaru said. "Human I'll accept," she said and walked out.
"How right she is," Patterson said.
"Another day, another concert," Steve said.
"This is getting a bit repetitive," Rick said.
"Almost to the point of not enjoying it?"Steve asked.
"Not necessarily," Rick said. "Why you feeling that way?"
"I just would like to do something new," Steve said.
"Guys, that isn't what a tour is all about. The joy of it is being able not to need to come up with new stuff that often," Mike said.
"Mike pay attention to what you say and how you say it," Rick said.
"Food for thought," Mike said. "But I'm serious gentlemen. This is the easy part."
"Couldn't we just play one song differently or something?" Steve asked.
"I'm up for that," Rick said.
"This is the kind of thinking that broke up the beatles," Mike said.
"What?" The other two said.
The door opened and Chad walked in.
"Hey! Guys now that we're rock stars I thought I'd get us some women..you up for it?" he asked.
"No," The three said.
"Oh..okay..then I'll keep them myself," Chad said.
"You do that Chad," Rick said.
"Okay," Chad said and headed out.
"Every day he has more women and he keeps trying to give them to us," Mike said and sighed.
"Yeah," Steve said snidely.
The two looked at each other.
"What are we thinking!" they shouted and raced out the door.
"Fools," Rick said.
"Gala are we really going to go along with this foolish system that the humans have set up?" Metalite asked.
"I set it up too, and yes Metalite. It is in our best interest. The scouts are right about one thing. There are very few plans we could come up with that they couldn't counter," Gala said.
"I think you're underestimating us," Metalite said.
"Perhaps," Gala said. "However, I have to believe that Maverick, Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Pluto, and Guardian Saturn are too smart to be caught in just any trap. If this doesn't work..we will try another method."
"It won't work. That I'm sure of."
"Well then..shut up about it," Gala said.
"Whatever you say," Metalite said.
"I don't care if they are the opposition band, I'm going to see them," Raye said getting dressed.
"I'm all for it," Mina said. "They have their moments of greatness, and their live show can get interesting sometimes I hear."
"That is true," Lita said. "Especially when they mess up a song like they've been known to do."
"For some reason their fans don't seem to care," Mina said.
"It's because it gives them an opportunity to improvise," Raye said. "Each time they blow it they play the song differently in order to make up for it. They've gotten better though and that's happened less and less."
"Yeah, but if it does happen watch out," Lita said. "Say are you two planning to go as you are?"
"Why?" the two asked.
"Well..you are Raye Hino and Mina Deveraux, idol stars, if you hadn't noticed," Lita said.
"We had," the two said.
"And for one thing..you guys usually have to go out in the street in disguise. And now you're going to go to a big crushers concert?"
"So?" The two asked.
"Well you're sort of the enemy remember?"
"Oh.." the two said.
"Stop doing that Mina!" Raye snapped.
"Doing what?" Mina snapped.
"Saying everything I do!"
"I'm not, you're saying everything I'm saying!"
"IT's not my fault!"
"Oh quit trying to be so perfect! You make mistakes too!"
"Even if I did, this wasn't a mistake!"
"Whatever! Just let's skip it!" Mina snapped.
"That's how you get out of this kind of stuff all the time!" Raye shouted.
"What? Liar!"
Lita sighed. They're doing fine. She thought.
"Setsuna, can't you see why we're worried about you?" Michiru asked.
"Yes, this is not the way to handle your problems," Haruka said.
"Easy for you to say," Setsuna said. "You don't have to be on call 24 hours a day, as if the time was even stable. I have to be ready to hop through time, visit other dimensions, and all the rest. So..don't tell me it isn't the way. I know it isn't. But what do you suggest huh! I work overtime, do I get paid for it! No..it's just a job I do. You don't even know the things I've been doing."
"Setsuna please we're your friends, we want to help," Michiru said.
"I know that," Setsuna said. "But you can't help. You can't solve my problems for me."
"Neither can the bottle," Haruka said.
Setsuna stood up.
"I'm trapped girls..don't you see that. I can't..get out of this. I'm needed everywhere..I can't just stop doing my job..but..I..what am I supposed to do?"
"We'll find a way for you," Michiru said.
"That's right. We'll make it our top priority," Haruka said.
"You have other priorities," Setsuna said.
"So we'll keep them, but we'll handle this too," Michiru said.
"We're pretty capable ourselves," Haruka said. "But right now we have to get you off of the booze."
"Like that's going to be easy," Setsuna said.
"I hear it isn't," Haruka said. "However..Setsuna we have to try and get you back on track."
"Good luck," Setsuna muttered.
At the Anderson Patterson Thomson House.
Greg stared at a computer screen wondering what he should be doing.
"Michiru said I should start here. And write what comes to mind..I guess I'll try."
He typed a sentence and stopped.
"Hmm..I don't know about that..." he said and backspaced.
"All right..let's try it again."
He typed another sentence.
"That's a little better. Let's see what I can do with that."
He began typing again.
"So what do you think?" Raye asked.
Lita stared at her and Mina. The two were wearing disguises of a kind. Mina wore a black wig that dropped down to about her shoulders, before trailing into her blond hair. She had draped strands of the blonde hair over her shoulders and donned black sunglasses. Raye's disguise was a little more elaborate. Her hair was arranged into two bulbs at the back of her head, and the dark hair trailed down in two strands.
"About your hair Raye.." Lita said.
"No one would suspect I would wear such a ridiculous hairstyle," Raye said.
"Uh..that's good thinking there Raye," Lita said unsurely.
"Let's go, Rick saved us some seats," Mina said.
"Okay," Lita said. "Should we get the others?"
"Serena's out with Darrien, and Amy said she was going to watch out for trouble," Raye said.
"Then it's agreed," Mina said.
The three headed out.
Crowds of mostly men and boys were filing into the concert hall. The occasional tough looking girl was intermixed in it. Raye, Mina, and Lita were lost in the shuffle and went unrecognized. They were soon sitting in their front seats.
"Wow..this'll be great," Mina said.
"This crowd looks dangerous," Raye muttered.
"Like the three lights don't attract some shady people too?" Lita asked.
"But they don't.." Raye said.
Lita grinned.
The big crushers came on stage and the music began. The crowd started yelling.
What has Raye done to herself? Rick wondered trying not to be
too distracted as he sang the opening song.
Outside on a nearby rooftop.
"You really shouldn't be so hard on the three lights," Sailor Mercury said standing on a nearby roof top.
"I've moderated towards Taiki and Yaten, you know that," Maverick said.
"Yes, but you and Seiya also got into repeated fist fights during the time they were staying at home."
"I don't like Seiya. There's little more to it then that."
"But you're enjoying not liking him."
"Guess so."
"But you don't enjoy anything..why this of all things?"
"Good question," Maverick said.
"Okay..well we kinda messed up some notes there..heh heh.." Mike said. "So..uh YAH!"
He began to beat on the drum very quickly. Steve and Chad cut in with some guitar and the crowd went wild.
"They really do like it when they mess up," Mina said.
"Takes the pressure off doesn't it?" Lita asked.
"Guess so," Mina said.
"Say Raye?" came a voice.
"Rick..what are you doing down here.."
"Well they'll just be rocking for a bit..what did you do to your hair?"
"Disguise..now get back up on stage you fool," Raye snapped. Rick grinned and leapt back up onto the stage.