Thunderbolt Knight looked to Mark and shrugged. "I have no clue! We can't let these things get loose though. Maybe try a double team on them?" he suggested, hoping deep down inside that it would work.
Nephrite cursed as he attacks were healed in the manner of seconds. "I'm out of here." he said teleporting away from the gym.
Michiru's face went as white as a ghost as she dropped her communicator. A memory hit her hard...*I don't put any trust in your Benefactor...* the voice replayed over and over in her mind. "He knew.. he knew all this time... and never spoke a word." she muttered.
Mark nodded. "Worth a shot." He ran over to his friend, and held his weapon up in defiance. "Ready?" A blood youma was headed straight for them both. "You take the back... I'll distract it."
The Earth Knight had followed Misa to Jakurin and heard her on the crystal. "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?" he yelled as he stopped dead in his tracks and almost dropped his sword.
*~The man that gave me this power, changed my life, brought my soul peace. Now I must stand against him? This is most unfortunate, but I have friends that need me to stand by them and he's already hurt Jakurin. How can he do this to me? I must face him. What does not kill me, makes me stronger and wiser.~* he finished thinking and sending as he followed Misa. "Any idea where they're at?" he asked Misa as he caught up to her.
Jakurin just sobbed as she clung to Elizabeth. "My face, my face!! What happened to it?!" she cried, yanking on the taller girl's shirt. "I can't see out of one of my eyes and I can feel something pouring down! Is my nose broken- I can't even breathe right!!" she cried, gasping for air in between sentence and body-racking sobs.
Elizabeth hugged Jakurin. "Please calm down Jakurin. I will get you out of here," said Elizabeth as she looked at Jakurin. "You are going into shock Jakurin, you have to remain calm," she said and throw her jacket over Jakurin. "Come on. I will get you out of here," she said.
"I've no idea where they are, but everyone is running that way... so we should go the opposite way, " Misa said to Rikko. Finally entering the gymnasium, she couldn't believe her eyes. Everything was chaos, the blood youma, and her partners fighting. She looked for the Benefactor but couldn't find him. *Where is he?*
Quickly transforming in the dressing room, Sailor Creation was ready for the battle. Staff in hand, she was waiting for the best moment to attack.
Earth Knight nodded and then noticed Sailor Creation beside him. He looked around the gym and saw the other scouts at another entrance. "Need cover, Creation?" he said as he got ready to use his Earth Shield power.
Mark looked at Lucas hastily. "I'm guessing that's a yes!" he yelled as he charged right into the Blood Demon. As he had guessed, it was a brick wall.
And as his conciousness fleeted, the last thing he saw and felt was a big red hand on his head... *Crap.*
Lucas readied his attack as he watched Mark take on the demon himself. He stopped his attack as his ally fell and the monster over take him. He quickly changed his attack pattern and ramed his body into the demon, sending it flying away from Mark. "Come on man, we can't back out now." he said.
Guardian's eye rested solidly on the form, "The Bloodlust Curse," was all he muttered as he raised his sword and charged, bringing it crashing at the Benefactor.
The Benefactor watched as the Guardian charged and attacked. With his own sword he raised it and meet the Guardian's sword. His eyes burned with hunger. "Show me. Show me your life essence, your blood," he hissed.
Mark started to continue his descent into unconciousness, but fought back. "It's not like I meant to run into him..." he stuttered groggily as he pulled himself up. "Where is it? 'Cuz I want to smash it's head in."
Guardian twisted and launched his blade at his opponent, parrying and slashing, attempting to pierce the layer of defenses. He knew the battle would be far from simple, but he was prepared for that. Beneath the dark cloak covering his face he narrowed his eye, focusing on the battle at hand.
Lucas held Mark's arm and shook his head. "You're done. You should get out of here while you can. Get rested and then come back. You had the wind knocked out of you, you're fighting potential just dropped in half. And from the looks of these guys that's NOT a good thing." he said.
The Benefactor had a twisted smile on his face. He sword would meet with the Guardian's own sword. After a moment he would let the Guardian's sword go through his defense. Cutting his uniform and the skin underneth it. The red glow in the Benefactor's eyes started to intesify with each cut. "Yes! Let the blood in your body flow faster," he said with a growl.
The blood from the students' bodies around Dura wasn't flowing any slower. Despite all her sports medicine and first aid studies, she felt the kids croak one after the other. Between all the death, the terrified messages from her fellow warriors, and the fact the murderer was the Benefactor, it was a miracle she hadn't lost her sanity. Not that that would've been so bad right now.
Finally, after hearing how Jakurin and newcomer Mark got smacked across the block, enough was enough. Losing her student's pulse was too much. Extra 2.5 centimeters her rump!
"Amazon Earth Power!" The victim saw her change into a warrior.
"Dura..." he gasped... "Y-you're Sailor..."
And after he crossed into eternity, she fought off a tear, and ran to help her comrades.
Creation let her staff cling from her thin fingers. She couldn't attack. Not him. Not the man who had made her the senshi she was. Even if she was watching how he intended to hurt her friends, she was unable to attack. But of course, she wasn't going to sit and cross her arms. In a blink, she ran to Mark and, taking him from the shoulders, took him out of the gym. "Touch my staff. It can give you your energy back. Try it," she said, extending her staff to him.
Mark touched the staff, and was instantly better...he had even more energy and felt like his muscles were already toned up to fight. He turned to the girl. "Thank you..." and he ran back into the gym, right beside Lucas. "Alright, I'm okay now...Let's do this right this time." He twirled his weapon and assumed a ready stance. *I'm so...awake. This rocks!*
Lucas nodded his head slowly to Mark, not truly believing he was at full health, but then he decided not to argue the matter. There were more important things to worry about in front of them than Mark's health. If he felt he could do the job, then so be it. Lucas readied his attack. "Lightening!" he called and waited for Mark to start his attack as well.
"He's gonna kill us! HE'S GONNA KILL US!!" shrieked Jakurin, the pain in her face beginning to be unbearable. "HELP US!!" she screamed, now thrashing in Elizabeth's arms wildly. "I gotta get away, I can't fight him!!"
Ureshii heard the noise and scooted down the stairs instantly. "Is Jakurin picking up the phone, Umino-san?" she asked as she walked further down into the dimly-lit basement.
Elizabeth did the best she could to stop Kakurin from thrashing around. "Jakurin! I won't let him you. Please calm down," she said to Jakurin as she tried to calm her down. "Let go outside and get you some medical attention ok?" she asked. *I wish I had the power to help my friends!* she thought to herself.
Mark looked over and nodded his head. "I've got it. Go!"
Lucas finished it off. "Brigade!" A shower of lightning hit the ground around him and Mark, and impaled the enemy.
Mark grinned. "BAM!!!!" he yelled, initiating his Sonic Assault. The demon flew back into the wall with a splat. "...cradle rock style." he made a hand motion like a DJ spinning records and went into the typical "G hugg'n yo'self" pose. "Sucka." He laughed and looked at Lucas, and quickly went back to seriousness. "I could get to start to enjoy this."
"Major trouble!" Umino buzzed. "Jakurin says a crazed killer's on the loose at her school! Not the Negaverse this time... this is a human psychopath!" He flapped his wings at hummingbird speed and grabbed the phone. "Jaku! Jaku! Are you all right!? Talk to me!"
Barely managing not to vomit from the stench of death, Sailor Amazonia ran to the gym. ~Guys!~ she sent. ~I'm closing in on the gym! Just tell me what to do when I hit the dance floor!~ And she bolted for the doors.
Sailor Creation, who was still outside the gym after giving Mark some energy from her staff, saw Sailor Amazonia rampaging towards the battlefield.
Placing herself in the middle of the hall, and praying not to be smashed, she yelled. "Wait! Stop! Where are you going? Do you know who is in there?"
Guardian pulled back and let his blade slide into its sheath, it had been too many years and he had forgotten some of the tricks in facing this 'thing'. His body slid into a combat stance and he waited for his opponent to make the next move, no more blood for him though.
The Benefactor watched the Guardian as he put his sword away. The blood that ran down his arm and started to collect into his hand. The Benefactor then sheathed his own sword. "Something wrong?" he asked with a grin. Soon the blood in his hand started to collect even more.
Suddenly it began to glow.
He shook his hooded head and let his even voice fill the air, "Nothing wrong."
He kept his eye in focus and concentrated, when he made his next move he had to be ready.
The Benefactor was grinning. As he watched the Guardian the glowing blood in his hand started to form into a long shape like a sword. A handle formed and the blade formed along with it. The metal was red of blood. With the blood around the gym it glowed. "Do you remember?" he hissed.
Lucas looked to Mark and nodded. "There are others. We should take care of them before celebrating." he said. He was about to turn his attention to another begin when the blood from the creature started to glow. "This does NOT look good!" he said.
"Right." He said, a little bit embarassed. He looked over towards where Lucas' eyes were, and raised a brow. "I agree wholeheartedly." He glanced over at Lucas with a worried look, and saw the Benefactor with the glowing 'sword' in his hand. "And I think we know who's doing this... you have ANY clue what's going on, because 'Tail between the legs' sounds kind of like good right now..." He unsteadily raised his weapon to a defensive positition facing the Benefactor.
"But you don't understand, Eliza!" shouted Jakurin, shortening the other girl's name. "He's gonna kill us! ME! THEM! The other senshi!!" she said, her voice reaching higher levels as her mind began to unravel with the possibilities of losing more of the team. "They're going to end up like Blake!!"
Amazonia skidded to a stop, just short of barrelling into Sailor Creation. "Yeah! That's the guy who gave me my powers, and now he's gone completely flip-mode and is killing all my fellow students! He's caused too much pain alrea--"
That's when she looked in the gym and saw the tricks the Benefactor did with the glowing blood. And the blood minions.
Bracing herself, she saw a straight-forward bloodletting bash-a-thon was not the answer.
Then, sprouting she sent, ~Guys, I got an idea. Hang tough!~
And she dashed off to the biology class.
Guardian's voice never faltered from it calm deamenor of perfect monotone, "I remember well."
He stood and kept his focus, this would be one battle he had no idea on how to handle.
Creation watche Amazonia disappear in the distance.
~STOP!~ she sent out to everyone, ~This is not right! He suddenly starts acting weird and we all attack him without thinking it twice? Oh, please! It may be a trap. Maybe the enemies want us to kill him, for they can't. Please think about it!~
Lucas stopped. ~Miss Misa, Its not the Benefactor I'm worried about. Its these demons that he has set loose. I trust that the Guaridan knows what he is doing and will use his best judgement to get the job done with as little blood spilt as possible. Right now we have to worry about the safety of this school and the people inside it. I'm sorry if you do not agree. Please go rest, we might need your healing powers again before this battle is over~ he sent and stepped beside Mark. "We can't run. We have to find something in order to kill these things. If they get loose then the city will be in more danger." he stated.
Sailor Amazonia ducked into the teacher's lounge, which the teachers had fled some time ago. She saw a potted rubber plant, a newspaper, and a cigarette lighter.
"Perfect!" she whispered. "Sister Noshiko must be praying for us!"
And grabbing the stuff, she headed back to the gym.
Mark nodded. "Maybe someday I'll learn not to state the glaringly obvious."
He turned to his friend. "I don't know any other way to beat a physical manifestation of a demon, monster... whatever... except with something Holy or Good. These things aren't succeptible to physical attacks... I'm lost."
He shook his head. "Y'know, I know it's not the time, but this goes against everything I've learned... so I suppose I'll have to think secularly for a while... if you cut off the power plant, no one has electricity, so we need to take out jerkpants up there." He pointed to the Benefactor. "And if we can't do that, I don't know what else we can do. I dare not get in their way, but what else is there, Thunderbolt?" He was definetely worried. *God...Help me...*
Thunderbolt nodded slowly. "But, if we cut him down.." he stated thinking aloud to himself.
*Demons... if I could do something to shoo them, I would have already done something for myself.*
~I understand... but please don't hurt the benefactor till we find out what happened. And about those demonds... I'm sorry, I can't help. They are inmune to my powers. But my staff has some more evergy reserves if anyone needs it.~ Sailor Creation sent out.
Thunderbolt nodded at the message. ~Thank you, some of us might have to take you up on that after the fight.~ he sent back.
~Not if I got any say-so, guys,~ sent Sailor Amazonia. She rounded the corner and entered the gym where Benefactor and his blood demons were. After setting the plant down, the Earth Senshi struck up the lighter, lit the newspaper and set it ablaze like a torch.
The Benefactor looked twards Sailor Amazonia. A slow smile coming to his face. The sword that was in hand still dripped with blood. "I see your friend there is trying something out. I am going to enjoy watched what she does," he said with a grin.
Guardian moved like lightning, darting in at the Benefactor and bringing his fist towards his head, using his distraction to his advantage.
The Benefactor let the Guardian have his shot. He was getting tired of waiting for him to do something. Feeling the hit go across his face the Benefactor used that momentium The Benefactor soun around and throw a kick to the Guardian's stomach.
Milking the distraction for what it was worth, Amazonia tossed some Titan Soil onto the rubber plant, and said, "Fair tree, take me to your zenith!" And she held onto it with one hand.
The magic soil did its thing. The rubber plant grew instantly, rocketing to the gym's ceiling, carrying Amazonia all the way up, high above the Benefactor, Guardian, the blood youma, and the corpses of the poor victims in their pools of blood.
At the top, she then thrust the newspaper torch right into a fire sprinkler head.
With a bell alarm, water sheeted down from the ceiling, mixing and watering down the blood below.
With a hard kick to set of doors, Sailor IronStorm ran into the auto-body shop, and paused defensively as she considered her options. Students had left in a hurry, leaving equipment running, tools littered about. It gave the soldier of storms an idea.
"Yakigane Shuurai!" she shouted, raising her arm to a ninety degree angle. A black cast-iron poker appeared in hands as one end began to sizzle and spark.
Now properly armed, Sailor IronStorm began following the thoughts of the other senshi to navigate a surprise attack. She trusted this Benefactor as far as she could throw him; she was certain the senshi would have accepted her as Sailor Jupiter just as well as IronStorm.
Guardian let his gut scream as he hit ground and simply forced his way past the pain and back to his feet bringing his own feet around and under the Benefactors.
The Benefactor hit the ground as Guardian triped him down. Then he felt it. Water. Fliping to his feet the Benefactor looked around for a moment and then snarled as his blood youma started to slowly melt. Looking over to the rubber plant the Benefactor took out the blood sword. He then throw his arm back and threw the sword towards the base of the plant.
Lucsa watched the blood monsters melt. ~Nice idea, Amazonia.~ he sent with a small smile. ~Now what do we do about our Benefactor friend?~ he asked the other senshi, turning his eyes towards the towarding figure
~I have an idea. We can't hurt him just because, we need to know what's happening. Everybody, let's gather in the gym and face him.~ Creation sent out.
Entering the gym, staff in hand, her eyes met the Benefactor's. She was calm, as usual, and there was a thin veil of ice in her gaze, hiding her true feelings. She felt sorry for him, she was so concerned... but she wouldn't let him know.
"What are you doing? What's your aim? What's the point in killing students? Why are you doing this, tell us why!"
Sailor Amazonia felt pretty good about herself... for three seconds. Then the Benefactor's blood sword shattered the plant's pot and chopped the trunk in half, too. That was when she felt like the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk."
Quickly the towering tree toppled over. Amazonia's ego quickly followed suit. "Amazonia Stoneback... TIMMMBERRRRR!!" she screamed.
WHAM! A statuesque statue senshi lay flat in a crater, totally totalling the basketball court's floor.
"Ow," she simply said, as the bloody water trickled in.
Guardian turned and let his voice rise so that it boomed through the gym, "Get out of here, you have no idea on what you face and you have not a chance to deal with him. Leave while you can, I will finish this."
With the words released he leveled his hand into a sharp knife hand blow, aiming straight for the Benefactor's vulnerable jugular.
The Benefactor had took a quick scan of the area. Water was still falling to the ground. His blood filled eyes fixed themselves on the Guardian as he spoke. As Guardian attack the Benefactor took a quick side step, as he did he block up and then throw a back hand towards Guardian's head.
Mark watched the events with a disappointed look. "I should have thought of this...now what, Lucas? Guardian says leave, but he's getting smeared across the gym by this guy. I'm not looking forward to any more concussions or broken limbs..." He rubbed his head where the blood youma has ceased to move out of his way, and shrugged. "Less thought and more action would make this all a LOT easier."
Lucas nodded. "We can't leave him here to just get creamed, but then again he might have something planned out and we could just be in his way." he replied, looking at the puddles of blood and water around him. "We should get the Senshi out of here, and then return to help the Guardian. I believe that would be the best thing we can do at this time."
Mark looked around. "All Senshi over here. Do what the Guardian says and leave. No questions asked." He kept his voice calm, and although he was the newest member, he was expecting everyone to listen, not because of him, but because of the situation.

---

You heard Knight Vertigo! Let's get over there!.. or slink away.