Coughing a few times, her senses now thrown into their normal wack, Jurei-Jurei tried with no success to get up without having a dizzy spell hit. Playing it safe, she laid on the ground near-by her savior. Wide eyes stared at him through a-... wait, what happened to her mask!?!? Averting her eyes quickly with the head of her gloved palm, she coughed again and said, "T-Thank you, buddy! Next time I catch a sumo fight, I'll think of you!!" she said, crawling on her hands and knees to him. "Hey! Hey, buddy??" she said, peeking through her fingers.

"Again!" Argocite barked. Down in the rail car storage pit, Melvin sat on his knees cluthching his head. "Whoa, Joe, I think I may need to take a break for a second."
Argocite swept Melvin flat on the ground with his foot. "You NEVER call me that when I'm in uniform!" he thundered.
As Melvin tried to gather himself up, his mentor paused. This part of training was always tricky. Too much pressure, and little guy'd be too broken to be of any use. Not enough, and it wouldn't do the job.
"Pathetic. I'm starting to wonder what I saw in you to begin with. You couldn't stand up to those bullies in the arcade where we first met. Or that moron theater manager. And that masked man that trashed my first car... well, the less said, the better." Hurt, Melvin slowly turned his muddy head up to face his trainer. He searched furtively for an answer, for some defense, but the words simply wouldn't come.
Argocite sneered. "No wonder you like insects so much. You're just about as lowly, but even weaker. The guy who did in your collection probably did them a favor."
After that comment, for the first time in Melvin's eyes, a vicious flame sparked to life.

Tashande held up a hand, waving at her to keep back. He felt a trickle of warm blood dripping down his cheek. The only problem was that his blood was radioactive. If she didn't stay back she'd be coughing up blood in no time. He grunted as he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled against a wall. That was good. It let him stand even if he didn't have his balance all the way. He pushed himself up, his leather jacket scratching on the bricks, until he was upright against the wall.

His whole body was sore and his leg hurt like hell, but he didn't think anything was broken. Of course, that didn't mean much. He had noticed recently that his thoughts and reality had a tendency not to coincide.

Jurei-Jurei stopped at his wave, wondering why in the heck he would want to keep her from him... "Is it the way I'm dressed??" she said to herself, giving a mock grin. "Although I'm not the most flashiest floozy around, I guess I do a good enough job." Calling over to the man, she said, "Thank you so much! I guess I give new meaning to 'look before you leap', eh? My name is... Jurei-Jurei," she said, trying to decide whether or not she should add the sailor title in speech. *I'm only a court jester,* she thought, *so I guess I'm not really cut out for this sailor title... ah well!*

Zoisite snuggled back against Kunzite, enjoying the warmth of the other man's body through the thick cape that encompassed his slender form. At Kunzite's question, his eyes turned up to meet the platinum ones of his lover. "What would you suggest? We could always go hunt down a senshi or two. Beryl is probably wondering why we haven't made any progress..." he murmured, giving the rumpled bed a longing look.
Spending the rest of a rainy day entwined with Kunzite in his bedsheets would have been his idea of a perfect time, but if they weren't careful, Beryl-hime was going to start suspecting something. As it was, they were having more than enough trouble keeping it from Neffy-okami. "Or I suppose we could take a day off, even with that Argocite slinking around..."

"Yes, we could," Kunzite murmurred, pressing a kiss on Zoisite's forehead. "There is nothing I would like better than to cuddle in bed and listen to the falling rain. But I should first check up on Argocite and see what he is doing now. It should take but a few moments, then the rest of the evening will be just for us to enjoy."

Zoisite purred at the thought of getting baack here as soon as possible and spending some 'quality time' with Kunzite. Leaping to his feet, he blinked and dragged the cloak about him, blushing a bright red. "Perhaps some clothing would help..."
At the speed of thought, a steel gray uniform with emerald piping to match his eyes wrapped about his form. Handing Kunzite his cape back, his own cherry scent clinging to the material, Zoisite buffed the tip of one already shining black boot. Vanity above all things was his motto. Preening for a moment before Kunzite's mirror, he grinned at the ice king, extending an elegant hand. "Shall we?" His second motto was that if there was work to be done, Kunzite was the best person to do it.

Kunzite chuckled softly, throwing the cape over his shoulder and reattaching it to his own steel gray uniform's shoulders. Smoothing the lines on the cape, he took Zoisite's hand and bowed. "Yes, before I change my mind about leaving," he replied. With a thought, he teleported the two to Argocite's hide-out. His nose wrinkled in disgust at the smells, Kunzite stepped away from Zoisite and called out, "Argocite, are you here?"

"Gods of Darkness!" Zoisite muttered as he clapped a hand over his mouth and nose. Horrified disgust flowed over his feminine features, trying to keep the hideous scent and sights from assulting all his senses. Creeping behind Kunzite, he snagged the edge of the other man's cape to cover his own lips... anything to keep that smell out.

Feeling a tug on his cape, Kunzite turned and regarded Zoisite with a look that was part incredious and part adoring before covering it with his normal mask. With a sigh, he tugged the cape from his hand and replaced it eith his own handkerchief. "I know, the stench is awful," Kunzite said, turning back to look over the room. "You think he would choose a different place for a base. Let's see if he is here and get out of here. If I stay any longer, I'm going to have to take a bath." He walked across the room, calling out again for Argocite.

"Oooh, did I make you mad?" Argocite asked Melvin mockingly, "Well, what are you gonna do about it? Huh? What CAN you do--" Then he cocked and turned his head, swearing someone called his name.
That was the distraction Melvin needed. Steadily, his form changed. Under his glasses, his eyes split into two segments each. Then four. Then eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and upwards. His body hardened and switched shape into three shelled segments. Out of his back, four dragonfly-like wings sprouted out and grew to youth-size. His arms and legs turned black and spindly, and a third pair of limbs shot out to complement them. And what was left of his nose and mouth stretched out and fused into a long, needle-like extention.
And while Argocite looked around, this dark bug milked the cheap-shot opening, sprang forward in flight, and rammed his tormentor into a subway car with a loud BAM!

"Gods of Darkness," Zoisite whispered in a faint voice as he stepped out from behind Kunzite to stare blankly at Dark Bug. There was quite a few things in this world he disliked, and a bug that was *that* big and could toss a Dark Kingdom king about like a rag doll was quickly rising to the top of the list along with rats. Releasing Kunzite's cape from numbed fingers, all he could do was just watch as Argocite was slammed into the old subway car. Gaze moving back to Dark Bug with exquisite slowness, he found himself wishing more than anything that he had just stayed in bed with Kunzite, Beryl-hime's wishes be damned. Pressing himself up against the wall as the scent of this pig sty faded into the background, his eyes flicked to the door they had just came through, judging how long it would take him to be out it and teleporting out, his mind hoping desperately that Argocite hadn't placed anti teleportation wards on the main chamber since he didn't with the tunnels.

Kunzite blinked in surprise at the large bug, thinking for a moment that the cheap horror flicks about giant creatures in the sewers he loved to watch had a grain of truth in them. Shaking it from his head, he stretch a hand out and formed a large black dome around the creature, forcing it away from Argocite. He didn't know how intellegent the creature was, but he'd doubt that it would try to break the dome down. It was energy tight and would zap anything that tried to hit the walls. Turning to Argocite, he folded his arms across his chest and frowned. "So what is that?"

Pushing away from the rail car, Argocite recovered from Melvin's sucker attack. "You miserable little..." he started. Then he saw the energy dome around his creation, and the person who put it over him. "Kunzite?" And he spotted the general's paramour: "Zoisite?"
With that, he clicked his heels together at attention, brought his hand over his heart in salute, and bowed his head. "My lieges. I didn't expect you here."
The Dark Bug flitted about, wondering where the dome came from. He poked one part of it with his needle-nose, and arched back with a pained shriek. He focused on Kunzite and buzzed and clicked his protest: "Hey! Lemme outta here! What'd I ever do to you?" Looking back on his creation, Argocite answered. "And that is my associate Ace. Sorry, he's not quite himself right now... wait, yes he is. All I did was bring it up to the surface." Stopping in mid-hover, the bug spotted his reflection in a pool of water on the ground. "AACK! Joey, you mother-lovin'... what did you do to me?!?"

Zoisite eyed Argocite darkly, giving him the once over as he did all males, trying to decide if he liked him or not. Kunzite had mentioned that Argocite had a thing for kids, recruiting them or something. Coming to now real decision until he found out more about the other, Zoisite released his death grip on Kunzite's cape to study the captive in the dome better. "We really must talk about your choice of men, Argocite. That one is simply... different. Is it a youma or person?"

"Really?" Kunzite asked, an eyebrow quirking up as he regarded the huge bug. "You should expect us to show up at any time, especially since you are supposed to tell us of new additions to our forces. That praticular one looks very interesting. Can it do other things or is it just a bug?" With a wave he brought the dome down.

The Dark Bug buzzed back angrily at Kunzite. "It?! I'm a person! I don't like being a bug! J-- Argusite, whoever you are, change me back right now!"
To Kunzite, Argocite said, "With all respect, sir, you weren't particularly easy to find. And neither was I, I thought. I assumed secrecy was paramount." To the bug, shrugged with a seemingly perplexed smile and spread his hands. "But Ace, I didn't do this to you. You did this to you."
One of the Bug's arm feelers curled up into a tiny fist. Shortly after that, cockroaches came in from different directions, radiating around the dome's circle on the ground. A few tried to cross, and got fried, sizzling. The Dark Bug looked around at the new arrivals, as his dread and frustration gave way to wonder.

Zoisite eyed Argocite darkly, giving him the once over as he did all males, trying to decide if he liked him or not. Kunzite had mentioned that Argocite had a thing for kids, recruiting them or something. Coming to no real decision until he found out more about the other, Zoisite released his death grip on Kunzite's cape to study the captive in the dome better. "We really must talk about your choice of men, Argocite. That one is simply... different. Is it a youma or person?"

"Really?" Kunzite asked, an eyebrow quirking up as he regarded the huge bug. "You should expect us to show up at any time, especially since you are supposed to tell us of new additions to our forces. That particular one looks very interesting. Can it do other things or is it just a bug?" With a wave he brought the dome down.

The Dark Bug buzzed back angrily at Kunzite. "It?I'm a person! I don't like being a bug! J-- Argusite, whoever you are, change me back right now!" To Kunzite, Argocite said, "With all respect, sir, you weren't particularly easy to find. And neither was I, I thought. I assumed secrecy was paramount." To the bug, shrugged with a seemingly perplexed smile and spread his hands. "But Ace, I didn't do this to you. You did this to you." One of the Bug's arm feelers curled up into a tiny fist. Shortly after that, cockroaches came in from different directions, radiating around the dome's circle on the ground. A few tried to cross, and got fried, sizzling. The Dark Bug looked around at the new arrivals, as his dread and frustration gave way to wonder.

"It talks!" Zoisite whispered fiercely to Kunzite, keeping to the ice king's side for the moment. There was no way that he was getting near something like that. Glancing at Argocite, he smirked, "Only you could make a big bug... Just what can he do?"
At the surge of cockroaches moving across his feet as if to answer his question, Zoisite yelped and leaped up onto a nearby crate. Perching there, he stared down at the flood of insects with the same hatred a cat has for water. "That... is wrong."
Glancing up at the recently transformed Melvin, he frowned softly. Bugs weren't something he was overly fond of, and a giant one increased that dislike. A soft shudder of revulsion crept up his spine, nose wrinkling. Ordinarily, he'd suggest squishing it, but with Kunzite there, the last thing he needed was Argocite seeing him denied something. He's heard stories about that one and his whip... something that the sakura had no intentions on being on the wrong end of.

Argocite looked down calmly at the encircling roaches, and smiled a bit. "Yes! The gross-out factor WAS a good idea!"
Teleporting so he wouldn't step on any of the Dark Bug's new friends, he landed in the circle next to his new recruit. "Relax, ol' boy. Did you see that?" He thumbed to Zoicite on the crate. "You have power. You can move things. Being a man-sized insect is not a total unpleasantry!" He folded his arms, leaned back a little, and shrugged. "Now I suppose you could find a way back to being your old, humdrum self right now," he intoned unenthusiatsically. "Go home... make a sandwich... go to bed... next to your trashed lab... go back to school with all those cranial-rectal inverts tomorrow..."
He leaned forward. "Or... before you do, you can go topside, scare the droppings out of 'em, fire a few wild ones, and show my cronies here how to get a little payback. Strictly your choice."
The Dark Bug hovered a little. Then he nodded slowly. "Payback," he said in a soft, sinister, smiling voice.
Argocite stuck his hand out. The Dark Bug took it. They shook and kept the grip. "Coming, commanders?" the Dark Kingdom recruiter asked. "I think we can still catch the late show and an energy snack." And they teleported to the surface.

Jurei-Jurei re-adjusted her mask on her face when the ground shuddered, causing her to fall on her toosh. "Itai!!" she whined, a tear on the side of her rounded face, then returning to normal, covered in filth Jurei-Jurei. Upon hearing a noise like a buzzing, she slowly turned to look over her shoulder, then straight up.
There, standing there just as casually as you please, had to be the world's biggest cockroach. Super-deforming, Jurei-Jurei's eyes got as big as saucers as sounds stuck in her throat. "Ah... ah... ahhh...."

Tashande looked up, too, and his reaction was quite similar to Jurei's. His entire body was sore and his leg still hurt, but he could deal with it. Now he just had to do like he was taught, like he was trained.
"Knight Nuclear Strike!" he shouted out, and then vanished into apillar of thick white smoke laced with fire. The pillar rose up into the air, ending with a bulbous mushroom tip. Small streamers of smoke rose up around the central pillar. The whole effect was a nuclear explosion in extreme miniature, but was only an effect without any of the unpleasant side effects. Out of the fading smoke Tashande stepped, clad in thick black armor. The pieces of dark metal scraped against each other, letting out interrmittent hisses as jets of steam escaped it's joints. He reached to his side and drew his sword, a katana with a blade that glowed with green energy. He whipped it menacingly in a figure eight around his body while he waited for the gigantic bug's assault. And on the inside of his helmet he was sweating bullets.

A spiralling of sakura marked Zoisite's entrance onto the scene. Settling in midair, he crossed one slender leg over the other to watch the ongoing battle. Interesting to say the least. A wrinkling of his nose marked his displeasure at seeing the court jester again. There was just something about that girl that he couldn't stand. Tashande recieved a puzzled look. Here was one of the senshi and their guardians that he had yet to encounter. Lifting his fingertips to tap thoughtfully against his lips, he had to admit that the Knight had one of the more interesting ways of making the scene. Zoisite's head tilted thoughtfully, considering what the man underneath would look like in a Dark Kingdom uniform.

Kunzite appeared with little fanfare, floating to a rest on a lamppost. Regarding the senshi with a slight sneer, he folded his arms across his chest and waited for the show.

*Holy Sacred Raid Can, where for art thou?!* and many other thoughts went through the jester's mind.
"Ummm.... sit, boy! Sit! I'll give ya nice, sweet sugar cube chan!" she shouted up to it, wondering briefly if bugs had ears. In response, she threw her lance up in the air, and caught it, as it turned into a 30 pound cube of sugar... that was getting stickier as the rain drizzled.

After noting Knight Nuclear's transformation, the Dark Bug spotted Jurei-Jurei's super-size sucrose block. And the bigger block of sweetness holding it. But before he could buzz her way, Argocite caught the Bug by the shoulder. "Revenge is sweeter," he reminded as he jerked his thumb toward the movie theater.
Letting it go for now, the insect flew off and shrugged off the bad memories. His instructor followed, leaping highly.
It was the same-old, same-old there. The manager was at the snack counter counting receipts food sales. The hecklers howled their comments for an unreceptive audience. The mantis still stomped vehicles. The Dark Bug smashed through a glass window, making the ushers and counter guys look up. "Hey, ants!" he yelled. "Buffet time! Grab a plate!" Soon, ants swarmed all over the food, causing the workers to jump and scream. The manager got covered with the red fire variety, and gyrated with pain as the little crawlers bit him savagely. "Tonight at concessions, sirs, we have adrenaline in fear sauce!" Argocite brayed to his superiors. Then he sang the old movie jingle, "Let's go out to the lobby, and have ourselves a treat!" And he shot an open hand in the air and started sucking up life-force from the panicking staff.

Tashande followed, climbing after the bug through it's newly-created entry before jumping into the air and bringing his sword down on it.

Watching Argocite singing, Zoisite nudged Kunzite gently. "I takeback every insanity joke I ever made about Nephrite. He's not as crazy or tone deaf as that one, and he's got more style. Are you sure we can't just squash the bug and go home? I don't think I like something that controls all of the creepy crawlies in the area."

Jurei-Jurei had dropped the block after she realized that she was all alone. The three men had left, the bug had left, and that nice guy who had saved her had left.
"*Oh man!*" she whined, as a truck went by.
A few moments later, Jurei-Jurei dropped herself off at the movie theater, and, true to life, the bug was wrecking havoc in theconcession stand.
"All those people in there!!" she cried. "They won't stand a chance!" Climbing in the entry-way, Jurei-Jurei gulped and ran along the wall, then into one of the two 'plexes, which was showing the movie she had left only hours before. Racing up to the stage part, she leapt in front of the movie. "Hey, I didn't know this was a porn!" shouted a heckler. Jurei-Jurei glanced down, part of her fuku had been ripped in a slit all the way up to her hip. Blushing furiously behind her mask, she pulled some of her skirt towards her and shouted, "There's a monster out there, attacking the employees! Use the emergency exits and run!!"
There was dead silence from the people that were trying to watch the movie. Jurei-Jurei blinked, and tried again. "Don't you people get it?! Evil! Very Bad Evil Thing wrecking Movie Theater! Flee!" she said, making a walking gesture with two fingers.
"Who do you think you are!" shouted someone. "I'm just trying to watch a cotton-pickin' movie! First I get hecklers, now this bull! I'm outta here."
Jurei-Jurei's eyes widened. "But there really is a monster out there!"
"Save it. We hear enough about monsters from the sailors who fight in the city, we don't need any wanna-bes telling us what to do,"said a elderly man in the front, who got up and began walking towards the back of the theater. Jurei-Jurei stood there, dumb-founded, as the movie was played across her body.
"But... I'm a--"
A soda filled with ice beaned Jurei-Jurei in the chest, spilling out all over the rest of her fuku. She stumbled back a few steps in surprise, as the hecklers called out, "Get off the stage!!"
A sense of failure entered her mind, as her big, emerald eyes shone with tears, while muffled crashes and screams were drowned out by the show.

Kunzite shook his head slowly. "No, we'll leave the bug be. It might be gross, but there is some potential there. Argocite, on the other hand.." he frowned at the man, winching as he mangled a high note. "You're right. Nephrite isn't half as bad as him. At least he can keep a tune."

The Dark Bug, used to dodging big, mean guys all his life as Melvin, zipped back, narrowly avoiding the blade. Then with more speed than insects his size should have, he looped around, hit-and-ran into a soda fountain which sent a gush of carbonated water all over Knight Nuclear, and swung out past an usher into the 'plexes proper.
Argocite, overhearing his superiors' comments, was surprised that they didn't take some life energy for themselves. No matter. More for him. Besides, this was a mission, not a popularity contest. He figured Beryl would be a lot more receptive about the results.
He finished the drain, and the let the theater staff hit the tile floor in total exhaustion one by one. Then he took off after his creation, which had invaded Jurei-Jurei's theater, blocked out more of the projector's light, and cast a giant, dark shadow all over the screen. The crowd then saw and pointed bewilderedly, but still thought this was just part of the show.
"Hey!" buzzed the Dark Bug. "How'd you get here so quick?"
Argocite arrived, saw the audience still there with the teary Sailor Senshi, and instantly did the math. "Aww, poor thing," he doted dubiously. "No one taking you seriously? Y'know, maybe I should just turn around, go home, and tell everyone you beat us off and saved the day."
He took three seconds to mull it over. "Nah." He started vacuuming the audiences' life force now.

A sizzle accompanied a cloud of rising steam as the water evaporated off Tashande's armor. He followed Argocite, kicking down the door and bursting into one of the movie rooms. It was dark, incredibly dark for him. His sword glowed, casting him in a pale green light. He lowered it, tilting the blade down to give his eyes a chance to adjust.
*Shit* he thought. There was no way he could use his powers here. No way. At last he saw the ominous form of the Dark Bug and rushed it, again lashing out with his sword.

Sailor Thunder Dragon looked on as Argocite drained the audience's life force. *Good thing I didn't leave after all.* She then came out of her hiding place and attacked Argocite. "I hate to tell you this but there's one person who believes the girl. Even though she looks like a jester instead of a senshi," Thunder Dragon said. She then aimed her Thunder staff at him and several thunder balls shot of it towards Argocite. "Oh and evildoer, just for ya to know the name's Thunder Dragon."

Kunzite raised an eyebrow at the drained staff, then floated down to grab a tub of popcorn. In his opinion, they always put too much oil on it to truly appricate the taste of popped corn. Floating back up, he chewed thoughtfully on a handfull, holding the tub so Zoisite could help himself as well. "I love the special effects," he commented drily, a corner of his mouth quirking up, "But the lines are passe and the plot non-exsistant. The villans save the movie from stupidity, but the superheroes need to work on their lines. All and all I give it one and a half stars."

Jurei-Jurei's tears mingled as the bug tore into the theater, her legs rooted to the spot. The stinging pain of the uniformed man's words stung worse than her shoulder, and cut to her very heart.
*No one does take me seriously... not even that soldier over there,* she thought, turning her gaze towards the woman as she exchanged blows with the man. His clothes were that of the first few foes she had fought; dark gray it always was. And here... here was yet another monster.
She held out her gloved hands, sniffling. *What can _I_ do?! I can't stop these men!!*
A scream came from a child, as the gigantic bug picked it up. Jurei-Jurei's eyes flashed between her gloves and she growled, leaping up into the air as she thrust out her staff, then slowly pulled it back. The ruby on top suddenly began to swirl inside, an aura radiatating from Jurei-Jurei as she gave out a war cry.
With an overhead swing, Jurei-Jurei launched an energy ball that solidyfied into a huge medicineball, aimed right for the creature forehead.

Thunder Dragon's second thunderball smashed into Argocite's torso, breaking his concentration, and his energy soak. With that stopped, the crowd finally realized this was very real, and then leaped out of their seats and sprinted for the exits.
As the Dark Bug swooped up from Knight Nuclear's next lash and watched evacuees bump all around him like a pinballs into a pop bumper during multiball mode, he tried to calm down the screaming child he'd snatched from getting stampeded by the fleeing mob. "It's all right, bud, I'll get you outta--"
SMACK!! Jurei-Jurei's ball beaned the Dark Bug squarely on the noggin, making him release the youngster, who darted out the back to the parking lot. The insect shook the cobwebs off as best he could. "Now that was a cheap shot!" he clicked angrily at the Sensh clown princess.
Argocite levitated over the crowd, busy dodging Thunder Dragon's barrage.
"Hey! How about some air support?!" With that, the Dark Bug dove down, snatched a heckler from the last show, and tossed him right at the Draconian duelist.

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