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Sailor Moon: Holy Knights of Valor
Chapter 3 - Zoicite vs. Ben
By A-kun
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Nephrite knelt before Queen Beryl.
"Queen Beryl, here is the energy that we've managed to gather in just the last three days." Nephrite said.
Queen Beryl smiled widely as she noticed the amount of energy that they had collected.
"Excellent work, Nephrite. This will be a great aid to our plans. Since you succeeded where Jadeite failed, you may select a reward of your choosing." Queen Beryl announced.
"Thank you, your majesty. If it wouldn't be too much to for, I'd like to continue working with Zanis." Nephrite said.
Beryl frowned.
"Very well. But remember that your loyalty lies with me." Beryl told him firmly.
"Yes, my queen." Nephrite responded, bowing deeply.
"Zoicite!" Beryl bellowed.
Zoicite appeared in a twirl of petals. He was about as tall as Nephrite, with blond hair that was tied by in a ponytail. The oddest thing was that no one could really tell what gender Zoicite was save for those who knew Zoicite for a REALLY long time or were close to him.
"Yes, your majesty?" Zoicite asked in a feminine tone that Nephrite still found disturbing coming from a man.
"Since Nephrite is continuing to collect energy for the great Metallia, I want you to search for the seven Nijizuishou." Beryl commanded.
"As you wish, your majesty." Zoicite said, bowing.
"Nephrite, since your skill at tracking is the best, I want you to create a device that will aid Zoicite in his quest." Beryl commanded.
Nephrite grew ill at the idea of helping Zoicite in ANYTHING.
"Very well, your majesty." Nephrite said, feeling bile rise in his throat.
"Well, Nephy, looks like you'll be working with me." Zoicite commented, before giggling.
Nephrite nearly barfed before growling and disappearing. Zoicite giggled more before vanishing in another swirl of petals.
"Kuuuuuuuunziiiiiite." Zoicite called before entering Kunzite's domicile.
Up in Kunzite's bedroom, Kunzite burst awake. The silver-haired, blue-eyed general recognized the call of his lover, Zoicite.
"CRAP! Zoicite's here!" Kunzite cursed before grabbing Elvira and Elvira's clothes which laid strewn across the room.
Elvira began to wake up.
"What's going on?" Elvira, Mistress of Darkness, asked.
"Zoicite's here! You gotta get out!" Kunzite said, tossing Elvira her robe and throwing her out the window before leaping back into bed and pulling the covers over himself.
Zoicite entered the room and sniffed.
"Kunzite! You just can't stop thinking about me, can you?" Zoicite asked.
"Of course, Zoicite, you're my one and only." Kunzite fibbed.
Zoicite fell for the fib, hook, line and sinker as he leapt towards Kunzite.
(The rest of this scene will be ignored as the author, though wanting to keep the original names and genders of the characters, does not want to write this scene any further because he doesn't want his rep bruised with a lemon. For now. He hopes you understand this and accept it.)
****Flashback****
"Galus. GALUS! Galus, you get back here right now!" came the yell of Pluto.
"Gotta catch me fir-ACK!" Galus yelped as he noted that Pluto was now in front of him.
"It's time for your history lesson, Galus, and I'm NOT going to chase you around the Serene Gardens again." Pluto told the young Knight-in-Training.
"Haha! Galus got caught!" Tress laughed as he and Princess Serenity took the oppurtunity to race into the Serene Gardens.
Pluto cursed something in a language that Galus couldn't understand.
Then, Galus realized that Pluto was distracted and took the oppurtunity to cast a spell. Pluto cursed again as she realized that Galus had put a 'Rope' spell around her, pinning her arms and hands next to her. She couldn't cast a counter-spell. Galus ran off. Pluto chased after him, yelling at him, "Undo this spell immediately or I'll make sure you never become a Holy Knight."
Galus screeched to a stop. Becoming a Holy Knight was his dream. Like heck was he going to let Pluto stop him from being one. He sighed and chanted the counter-spell. The rope vanished and Pluto smiled evilly. Galus paled as she tackled him and cast her own 'Rope' spell, binding Galus so his arms and legs couldn't move. He cursed in Southern Continental Martian as Pluto chased after Princess Serenity and Tress.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, SENSHI PLUTO! WHETHER IT'S A TICKLE-SPIDER DOWN YOUR FUKU OR IT'S A HORDE OF WATERFISH IN YOUR BED, I'LL GET MY REVENGE!!" Galus yelled.
"You're a few thousand years from accomplishing THAT, oh foolish Knight-in-Training." Pluto yelled back, laughing as she entered the Serene Gardens.
****End Flashback****
Ben burst awake as his alarm clock blared into his ear. He pounded the 'Sleep' button before disabling the alarm clock with a pull of it's cord. The cord and alarm clock separated, it would remain in said state until Ben finally decided to reassemble it. After school.
On the way, he met up with Shigeru and Usagi and the trio hurried for school. Throughout the day, Ben found himself planning to get revenge, but on who, he didn't know.
Shigeru watched as Joe threw another basket directly through the hoop. He sighed and shook his head as he walked over to the stands for a drink of water as sweat ran down his face. Joe tried to shake his hair dry, but failed.
"Damn, Joe. You're good." Shigeru commented, gulping down a cup of water.
"Heh. Must be a talent of mine." Joe replied.
"You wanna hit the arcade?" Shigeru asked.
"Sure, what the heck? I could always use a few more UFO catcher dolls fo my sister." Joe said, laughing.
"How you keep winning that catcher game, I'll probably never know. Come on, the sooner we shower, the sooner we can breathe through our noses again." Shigeru said, fanning out his armpits.
"Too damn true. Geez, I never knew a human could MAKE this smell." Joe commented after taking a whiff of what was under his arm.
"But, damn, are we going to kick ass tomorrow over those damn Tigers or what?" Shigeru asked.
"KICK ASS!" Joe shouted.
With that said, Joe and Shigeru went to shower.
Ben opened the door to his house and saw an odd sight in his living room. A little girl with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes carrying an overly-stuffed cat. When it moved to look at him, he was sure that it was possessed and was sorely tempted to transform to kill it.
"Oniisan!" the little girl cheered.
Then, Ben's memory clicked. His cousin, Mariko, was visiting. He hadn't seen her in eight months. Well, not much as she had been struck with a severe case of anemia. The little bundle of cute was taller than she was when he last saw her. About 3'8", with her cute blue eyes and light brown hair that ran down to her mid-back.
He knelt down and picked her up as she let the cat go to hug him weakly.
"Hey, it's oneechan." Ben said, smiling as he continued their brother-sister-like relationship.
"Wai, it's oniisan! Oniisan's home!" Mariko cheered, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Ben chuckled as he carried her up the stairs to the guest room where she was staying.
"So, kiddo, how ya doin'?" Ben asked.
"Okay. Mariko is happy oniisan is home!" Mariko said bubbling with infectious good cheer.
"You hungry?" Ben asked.
"Hai!" Mariko replied.
"Okay, I'll get you something to eat. Wanna a sandwich or a Cup-O-Ramen." Ben asked.
"Oniisan still can't cook!" Mariko laughed.
"Yeah, yuck it up. Which is it gonna be?" Ben asked.
"Mariko wants Cup-O-Ramen!" Mariko cheered.
Ben chuckled to himself about her cheerfulness and energy despite her physical weakness. He passed the giant cat on the way down the stairs. Entering the living room, he saw his dog watching CNN, like it wasn't supposed to be doing. Not after those six counts of insider trading and being placed under house arrest. His dog tended to ignore most other animals unless they were doing something that she thought was interesting.
"Shiva, dinner?" Ben asked his dog.
Shiva looked up and cocked her head.
"Dinner?" Ben repeated.
Shiva began panting while grinning widely. That meant "YES!". Ben turned to the cat.
"Hmmm, Mariko, does your cat have a name?" Ben asked.
"Hercules!" Mariko replied.
"Hey, Herc, want something to eat? I think we might have some fish..." Ben commented.
Hercules stood up and looked at him.
"Then again, you probably need a better diet. Will you take celery instead?" Ben teased the cat.
"Mrow?" Hercules asked.
"Guess not, huh? Aw well. Time to get dinner for Mariko and Shiva." Ben said, opening the refridgerator door.
Hercules leapt in suddenly, grabbed a whole fish that was on a plate and raced out the nearest open window before Ben could yell at it.
"Darn cat. Mom's gonna be pissed when she hears about this." Ben commented, before deciding he couldn't do anything about the situation and returned to the task of making dinner.
"Uhhhhh...." came a groan from the stairs.
"Priestess Rei, there appears to be an injured man laying on the steps to the Temple. What course of action do you want me to take?" Rockman asked.
"Um, why don't you bring him up here so I can tend him?" Rei asked.
"Very well, Priestess Rei, however, it is in my directory of operations to take any action necessary to subdue the gentleman in question if he should react violently to any form of stimuli." Rockman said before heading down the stairs to grab the black-haired mystery man.
"I should ask Ami to reprogram him so he doesn't talk so much." Rei commented before helping Rockman bring the person into the temple.
Luna paused, causing Usagi to turn.
"What is it, Luna?" Usagi asked.
"I think I felt the pull of a strong energy reading... yes, I definitely feel another Sailor Senshi!" Luna exclaimed excitedly.
"You do?! Where?!" Usagi asked.
"Over.....there." Luna said, indicating a tall young girl with brown eyes and brown hair. The young woman's hair was put up in a ponytail that flowed down to the middle of her back.
"That's Kino Makoto, one of the newest students at my school." Usagi commented.
"Yes, well, she's a Sailor Senshi as well." Luna replied.
"I'll approach her..................Luna, get on my darn shoulder already." Usagi told the cat.
"I thought you were going to approach her." Luna replied.
"Yeeeeesssss, but I need you to be there for assistance if I need to prove to her that she's a Sailor Senshi!" Usagi replied.
"I don't think you should go up and say 'Hi, I'm Tsukino Usagi and I'm also Sailor Moon and my talking cat, Luna, says you're a Sailor Senshi too'. Just make friends with her until we can get her comfortable enough to tell her the secret." Luna scolded Usagi as she hopped onto Usagi's shoulder.
Glaring at Luna for a few seconds, Usagi grumbled, composed herself and headed over to talk with Makoto.
"Wow. I never thought I'd get swindled into paying for dinner." Ben said.
"That's because oniisan set the timer for too long and the ramen exploded!" Mariko said, giggling.
Ben sputtered.
"Yeeeeeeesssssss, but I don't want you blabbing it, okay? Just tell mom that I decided to treat you to some takeout." Ben replied.
"Hai! Wai, wai! Okonomiyaki! Waaaaiiii!" Mariko cheered before taking a hardy bite out of her okonomiyaki.
"I'm just glad that the Ucchan delivers to this part of Tokyo. Though, why that poor young girl wearing that sign costume crashed into the front lawn while delivering it still makes me wonder." Ben said.
"Tsubasa-chan said Ukyou-sama gave her a job delivering. Maybe Tsubasa-chan flew." Mariko said.
Ben chuckled.
"Yeah, not unless the Ucchan had a cannon and Tsubasa-chan was a Human Cannonball. Or maybe if Tsubasa-chan was incredibly light and they had one of those circus Strong-Men throw her....hehehehe! That's something I'd like to see. Well, maybe not with a girl, but maybe someone like Al Gore or Andrew Dice Clay." Ben commented.
"Wai! Gratuitious violence! Waaaaiiii!" Mariko cheered.
Ben paused to wonder who had influenced Mariko these past three years.
"Yeesh, Joe, can you CARRY all those UFO Catcher dolls?" Shigeru asked, trying to shuffle the five bags of UFO Catcher dolls that Joe had won.
"Yeah, but I'd rather that you do it. My sister loves to talk with you." Joe replied, shuffling his three bags of UFO Catcher dolls.
"Yeah, I know that. But, did you HAVE to spend ten bucks getting all of these?" Shigeru asked.
"Hotaru-chan loves them." Joe replied.
"That reminds me, what is your dad doing knowadays?" Shigeru asked.
"Oh, he recently got a deal with a megacorporation that's giving him a huge science grant. I think you know of it, Mishima Heavy Industries." Joe answered.
"Oh yeah. I think the paper mentioned something about that. Hope he's doing all right. I hear M.H.I. has some rigorious standards." Shigeru stated.
"Yeah, once he catches up to the point where Professor Natsume left off before bailing with his son and the prototype." Joe responded.
"HOLY CRAP!!" Shigeru cursed, dropping the bags of UFO dolls.
Joe frowned and was about to scold Shigeru before he noticed what Shigeru had. An icy dagger of fear lanced into his heart as he saw his house on fire.
"HOTARU!!!" Joe yelled, dropping his bags and running to his house, hoping that maybe, just maybe, his sister was still alive.
Ami turned to corner, heading to her cram school, to see the house on fire and the two teens running for it. She raced into a nearby alleyway and transformed into Sailor Mercury before hurrying to the burning building.
Joe and Shigeru cursed as the locked gate kept them from entering.
"AW, F@#K! I LEFT THE KEY IN ONE OF THE BAGS!" Joe cried, running back as Sailor Mercury leapt over the fence.
Ami had never seen a fire like this before and had never tried to use her powers to stop one before. She hoped that her powers could stop it.
Joe shifted the dolls as quickly as he could before finally finding the key and snatching it up. He raced back to the gate and opened it just a cry from the top story sent another icy dagger into his heart.
"HOTARU!!" Joe yelled, terrified that his sister was going to be killed.
Something hit Ami as well. Never before did someone's life depended on her before. An urge filled her. She focused on it.
"SHABON SPRAY!" Ami cried.
The thick fog that formed began heating up causing the moisture to start raining down, cooling the fire somewhat.
"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!" Ami cried.
The fog formed, only this time, the fire wasn't hot enough to overpower it. The fire on the outside of the house died out completely. However, a good deal of the fire was on the inside. Ami raced inside, however was quickly cut off as fire surrounded her.
"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!" Ami cried again, this time feeling a bit woozy from the use of her energy.
All the fires within sight faded and died. Ami raced upstairs and found another corridor with fires still raging.
"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!" Ami cried, now feeling really tired.
The fires died. Then, Joe and Shigeru arrived.
"Most of the fire is finished." Shigeru told Ami.
"My sister!" Joe cried.
The trio each raced to a door and opened it. Almost all of the rooms were without more fires, save one, but luckily no one was in it, so a simple 'Shabon Spray' was all that was necessary. Ami finally found the room where Hotaru was sitting, curled up in a ball, crying.
"Are you okay?" Ami asked Hotaru.
"H-hai." Hotaru replied weakly.
"Hotaru!" Joe cried, racing into the room.
"JOE!" Hotaru replied.
Joe hugged his sister desperately. Then, Hotaru recalled something.
"Father! He was in his lab!" Hotaru cried.
"He and I will go check it. You two get out of the house." Ami said, before motioning for Shigeru to follow her.
"My father's lab is downstairs." Joe yelled after them.
"Why do you need me?" Shigeru asked as they raced down the stairs.
"He may be hurt and I might not be able to carry him out by myself." Ami replied.
Shigeru continued to follow the senshi.
Outside, Joe laid his sister on the ground and looked back at his house. However, a feminine laugh interupted his thoughts.
"Worried about someone else? Well you should worry about yourself." Zoicite laughed.
Joe turned to face the Dark Kingdom General, who was currently floating in the air.
"Who are you?!" Joe demanded.
"My name isn't important. All that IS important is that you give up the Nijizuishou that you're carrying inside of you." Zoicite replied.
Joe didn't know what the heck a Nijizuishou was, but if this....person meant Hotaru, then Joe was ready to die than let a weirdo like Zoicite get her.
"You can't stop me from getting it, boy. ZOI!" Zoicite commanded.
Joe felt an energy wave smashed into him, but he ignored it as best as he could.
"Oh, yeah, well take THIS!" Joe replied, throwing a psionic wave back at Zoicite.
Zoicite cried out as he flew backwards into a tree. He looked up and realized he was now in a tree in the city park. Zoicite growled and teleported back to where Joe and Hotaru were.
"YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME THAT EASILY!" Zoicite snarled.
"Maybe he can't, but I can." Rockman stated.
Zoicite turned to see the robot aiming his plasma cannon directly at Zoicite's face.
[It's a good thing Rockman can detect evil energy. I might never have realized this was happening if he hadn't informed me.] Rei thought.
"I am Sailor Mars! Back off, Dark Kingdom Scum, or you'll wind up like Jadeite!" Rei told Zoicite.
"Ha! You can't defeat me! Z-" Zoicite began to say before a blast from Rockman's blaster knicked his shoulder.
"That was a warning shot. The next one will be intended as fatal." Rockman informed Zoicite.
"Curse you!" Zoicite snarled.
Zoicite turned back to Joe.
"I'll be back." Zoicite told him before vanishing.
Shigeru and Ami carried Dr. Tomoe out of the house and set him down next to Joe and Hotaru. The tall, white-haired scientist began waking up as Ami, Rei and Rockman left.
When Ben heard Mariko's cry, he dropped the tape of Totoro and raced upstairs to see Zoicite apparently trying to grope Mariko.
"YOU F#^KING PERVERT!!!" Ben roared, lunging at the Dark Kingdom General before the General could react.
Zoicite found himself landing back first against a hard object for the second time that night. Of course, the first time, there wasn't shards of glass to jab him in the back.
"MARS KNIGHT-IN-TRAINING!" Ben roared, transforming.
Zoicite cursed his luck. Two groups of magical warriors in one night. Though, he did like the transformation. However, when Ben grabbed him and proceeded to pummel his face, Zoicite began trying to get up.
"ZOI!" Zoicite cried, his energy wave throwing the Holy Knight backwards into a wall.
"SWORD OF FIRE!" Ben snarled, pulling himself out of the mini-crater in the wall.
The sword of fire appeared in his hands as the Holy Knight leapt at the Dark Kingdom General.
"Usagi! Usagi, come in!" Ami's voice said, interupting Usagi and Makoto.
Usagi pulled out her communicator.
"Yeah? What is it, Ami?" Usagi asked.
"Wow! That's neat. Where did you get one?" Makoto asked.
"Umm, my dad got one at a flea market." Usagi replied.
"Usagi! There's another Dark Kingdom General on the loose! He just attacked one of Shigeru's friend and I think he's after Ben!" Ami said frantically.
"WHAT?!" Usagi and Luna asked in unison.
"Th-th-th-th-THE CAT TALKED?!" Makoto asked, looking at Luna.
"There's no time to explain the details now, just head over to Ben's house!" Ami said, "And Usagi......this one seems to be stronger that Jadeite."
"Crap! Luna! We'll need all the help we can get!" Usagi said, turning off the communicator.
"Right!" Luna responded, doing a backflip and producing a Sailor Pen for Makoto.
"It just pooped out a pen!" Makoto babbled in shock.
"Here! Say the words 'Jupiter Power, Make Up!'" Luna instructed.
Makoto nodded while taking the pen in her numb hands.
"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!" Usagi cried.
Makoto decided to just let her fantasy go wild and went with the flow. After all, might as well go insane now and enjoy the ride.
"Jupiter Power, MAKE UP!" Makoto cried.
Zoicite was NOT having fun. The Holy Knight of Mars had just pummeled most of the living snot out of him, causing bruises, cuts, at least a multiple concussion and Zoicite could swear that one of the eighty-two Holy Knights he was seeing was the real one. That or the Holy Knights could create energy doubles of themselves.
Ben wasn't having fun either. In fact, he was pissed as all hell and was going to make sure this pervert didn't live to see daylight. At least on this roof, passerbys couldn't help Zoicite, should the weirdo decide to act 'helpless'.
"I don't have time for this! ZOI!" Zoicite cried, extending his right arm.
Just as Ben slashed at him. Ben was knocked backwards by the attack, but his sword severed Zoicite's arm. Zoicite screamed in pain and clutched his shoulder where his right arm had once been. Ben leapt forward to cleave the Dark Kingdom General in half, but Zoicite managed to focus enough for a simple teleportation. Fortunately, the shock wave made by the teleport would keep the Holy Knight from killing him.
"Ku-kunzite...." came a weak voice.
Kunzite opened his door to see Zoicite minus an arm with numerous other injuries.
"ZOICITE!" Kunzite cried, picking up the injuried general.
Rei, Ami, Usagi, Makoto and Rockman arrived at the scene a few minutes later. Ben was smiling grimly. The senshi approached him as Rockman approached Zoicite's arm.
"Well, I didn't get 'im, but he's going to be hurting for a while." Ben said, banishing his sword.
"Indeed. The general classifies under my circuits as 'Zoicite'. He is a class 8 threat according to my data. Of course, the youma that we usually fight are of class 11-12, so Ben has done an impressive feat." Rockman commented.
"What happened?" Ami asked.
"I caught the pervert doing something to my cousin. I might've jumped to conclusions, but I wasn't about to let that weirdo do freaky things to MY cousin." Ben replied.
"Oh, I almost forgot. This is Makoto Kino or Sailor Jupiter. She's the newest scout." Usagi said, introducing Makoto.
"Um....hi." Makoto said.
"Nice to meet 'cha. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got quite a bit to clean up back home." Ben said, leaving abruptly.
"So, you wanna go get some ramen or something?" Usagi asked.
"'kay. I wish I could've been a little more helpful, though." Makoto commented, glancing after Ben.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to go check up on Joe, Hotaru, Dr. Tomoe and Shigeru." Ami said, leaping off.
The remaining three scouts left to eat as Rockman headed back to the temple.
As Ben arrived at home, he looked up at Mariko, who was looking down the stairs at him.
"Oniisan?" Mariko asked.
Then, Ben recalled that he was still transformed.
"Um, no," Ben said, trying to cover up, "Your brother will be home soon, though."
"Oniisan!" Mariko cried, running up to Ben smiling.
Ben sighed and decided to just drop the disguise before his parents came home.
"Listen, Mariko, you can't tell mom and dad, okay? They'll flip if they find out." Ben said, picking Mariko up.
"WAI! WAI! Oniisan is a superhero! Waaaaiiii!" Mariko cheered, hugging her brother.
He chuckled despite himself and carried her up to her room. Then, he started to take note as to how much damage was done. Maybe if he singed the edges and covered it up with tarp, he could claim it was from lightning. Then, they could get some insurance to cover it.
"Wow, I would never have guessed that you two were the Sailor Senshi. It's kinda cool." Makoto commented as the girls sat they sat in the resturaunt.
"Yeah, I guess it is. The monsters are a bit annoying since they can attack at all hours, but otherwise, it's great." Usagi said, before gulping down more noodles.
"How'd you get Rockman anyway?" Makoto inquired.
"Long story. If Ami were here, she could explain the technical stuff better...." Usagi commented before beginning the story.
"Damn RPG players." The waitress commented under her breath.
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