Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Knight's Work Is Never Done ❯ Floran the Viper ( Chapter 7 )

A Knight's Work Is Never Done

Chapter 7: Floran the Viper

 

By: GINSAN

 

 

Ami walked down the empty sidewalk, absently thinking about her visit with Jordan.

 

The lights on the lamp posts had just flickered on and were casting shadows everywhere. She didn't even notice when one of those shadows started following her.

 

She did notice, however, when the shadow jumped out in front of her.

 

"What?"

 

Standing before Ami, was what was obviously a Soul Devourer. Nothing else in creation could be that distorted.

 

It was just about Ami's height and looked like a deformed bush. Unfortunately though, most bushes didn't have hissing snake heads for leaves.

 

Almost every leaf was actually a small snake head. Venom oozed from their mouths, and Ami watched as a small drop started to dissolve the sidewalk. The heads were a dark green color with little black splotches. The bush thing started hissing at her before it began to unfold.

 

Slowly, a head, arms, and legs formed out of the round bush shape. The head looked like a large snake head, but it had leaves for scales. The arms were long, and flexible, with claws at the ends. The legs were nothing more than coils of the little snake head leaves.

 

Reacting purely on instinct, Ami dodged to the left as one of the arms launched at where she had been standing.

 

Before it could attack her again, Ami ducked behind a convenient bush and drew her Transformation Pen. She held it up over her head as she called out its activation phrase.

 

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

 

A swirl of blue and golden light surrounded her to fade away a few moments later to reveal her as Sailor Mercury.

 

She took up a defensive stance before the monster as it slowly started to circle her. "Stop right there monster."

 

The Soul Devourer gave a laughing hiss and its head twisted into a smile. It continued to circle her, though it no longer tried to attack her.

 

Sailor Mercury remembered what Jordan had said about Devourers being weaker when they first show up and she didn't recall hearing about this one before. She quickly activated her visor and looked for a weak spot. At the same time, she sent out a general alert to the others. With luck, she could handle this Devourer by herself, or at least hold it off until the others could show up. If not... She didn't want to think about what would happen if she couldn't handle it.

 

Her visor finished scanning it, but the results did not encourage her. As far as the scan could read, it didn't have a weakness. That in itself made no sense to her. Everything had a weakness.

 

While she was distracted by her scan, the Devourer struck.

 

Before Sailor Mercury could defend herself, the Soul Devourer launched itself at her and wrapped its arms around her. The force of the attack knocked her to the ground as it slowly started to constrict around her.

 

Mercury cried out in pain, frantically trying to think of a way out of this. As the thing continued to tighten around her all she could think about was how incredibly strong it was.

 

After a few minutes, she couldn't breath anymore and she could swear that she heard her ribs starting to crack. She slowly started to sink into unconsciousness. All she could think about now, was that if help didn't arrive right now it would be too late.

 

The Soul Devourer suddenly screamed out in pain, and Mercury found herself free as the arms from the Devourer twitched on the ground around her. It took her a moment to clear her foggy brain, and realize why they were on the ground. They had been cut off. Readily apparent by the smoke still rising from the twitching limbs.

 

As she slowly sat up, fighting off a wave of nausea, she felt someone walk up behind her. "Are you all right?"

 

She looked back to see Phaeton standing behind her. He held his energy sword in his right hand and was keeping his gaze on the injured Soul Devourer. His helmet kept her from seeing his expression. Though from the position of his body, she could tell that he wasn't very happy.

 

Mercury slowly nodded her head yes. "I-I think so. I'll be fine in a minute."

 

Phaeton walked past her and towards the Devourer. "Good. Stay back. this could get... messy"

 

He stepped in front of the Devourer, who had apparently gotten over the shock of loosing both its arms.

 

"I hope you're ready to go back to the Void." Phaeton had his sword pointed at the creature.

 

The Soul Devourer started to shake violently as both Mercury and Phaeton looked on. It suddenly screamed out, as two new arms sprang from it in a mass of leaves and greenish-black liquid.

 

Phaeton barely had time to dismiss his sword and raise his energy shield, as the Devourer spit something at him. It impacted the shield harmlessly, but as soon as it touched the ground the grass began to wither and die. Within a few seconds even the dirt beneath the grass began to dissolve.

 

"Nice trick." Phaeton looked at the Devourer as it hunched down, obviously getting ready for another attack. "Don't think so. Not gonna let you do that again."

 

Phaeton launched himself at the monster hitting it in the head with one of his gauntleted fists. Mercury could hear the impact from where she still sat on the ground. The Devourer flew into the trunk of a nearby tree and slumped to the ground. It wasn't down long though.

 

From the ground, it launched itself at Phaeton only to run into his shield. The shield crackled and the Soul Devourer cried out in pain as arcs of energy began to race across it's body.

 

As soon as it slumped to the ground, Phaeton rammed his fist into its chest causing it to scream out in pain. The scream died quickly though as the Devourer dissolved into glittering dust.

 

"What the hell?"

 

Phaeton remained bent over, examining the ground and searching through the few remains of the Soul Devourer.

 

Confused, Mercury walked up next to him. "What's wrong?"

 

He looked up at her, gesturing to the pile of dust. "I can't find the damn Soul Gem."

 

As he continued to search, the Sailor Scouts finally showed up. They all took up their dramatic poses and Sailor Moon was about to say something when Phaeton interrupted her.

 

"You're too late. The fights over."

 

A dejected Sailor Moon lowered arm and started to pout. "I didn't get to say it."

 

Sailor Mini-Moon patted her on the back and tried to sound consoling.

 

Phaeton had had enough as he stood up. "Knock it off already, Damn it. I can't think with all that idiotic dribble. Something is very wrong with this attack, and I'm not talking about the fact that Mercury would be dead right now if I hadn't shown up." Everybody shut up as Phaeton looked back at the little pile of dust one last time. "What ever it was that attacked, it wasn't a true Soul Devourer. There's no Soul Gem."

 

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes before Serena piped up. "So what exactly does that mean?"

 

Phaeton looked at her. "That this was just a copy. Maybe even a puppet. The real Devourer is still out there somewhere. And probably laughing its head off." He pointed to the assembled group as he let himself change back to normal. "You all might as well go home now."

 

The Scouts changed back and they began to drift off, going back home. Some seeming to be more disappointed than others about missing the fight.

 

As Ami was about to leave, when Jordan grabbed her arm to make her stay. "I'm walking you home. You've been marked now and you are in as much danger as my sister is. It's not a good idea for you to walk home alone right now."

 

Ami thought it over for a minute, before nodding her head in agreement. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to walk home alone.

 

They left the battle scene and Jordan followed behind Ami. The walk was remarkably quiet, since Jordan didn't seem to want to talk much. And every time she glanced back at him, he was looking off in some other direction. Seemingly searching the shadows for possible enemies.

 

His behavior had her baffled. He wasn't quite acting like a jerk any more. And earlier in the day, he had seemed almost civil. Now, he was quiet and seemed to be holding himself aloof. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he did something that totally altered her theory. And it didn't help that she still knew next to nothing about him, and that she had no memories of what he was like in the old days.

 

That thought brought up a question that she decided to ask him. However, when she turned around to do so, all she could do was stare.

 

Jordan was still following her, but he was no longer looking at shadows. Instead, it looked like he was having an argument with his amulet. He was holding it up in his right hand, and seemed to be cursing at it. He really did look as though he was arguing, since afterwards he paused a moment before yelling out loud.

 

"Mind your own business old man, or we'll see how talkative you are when I toss you into the Marianas Trench."

 

At this, she just couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Um, Jordan? Who are you talking to?"

 

He looked up at her, and realized what she had been watching him. And that he had been rather loud with his last comment.

 

He quickly put the amulet away, and tried to smile reassuringly at her. "No one. Just a pest that won't leave me alone." Quickly trying to change subjects, he looked around at where they were. "So, are we almost to your place?"

 

Even though she knew what he was doing, she decided to drop it. No sense destroying what little progress she had made with him so far, by prying into something he obviously didn't want to discuss. "Almost. About another block." She started walking again, before stopping, and turning back to him. "Thank you for coming and saving me."

 

Jordan shrugged and went back to looking at passing shadows. "Don't worry about it. Just consider it thanks for you saving me."

 

Ami nodded her head, not quite knowing what to say to that.

 

They finally arrived at Ami's apartment complex and Jordan looked the place over.

 

Ami started walking towards the front door when she noticed that Jordan had stopped. "Do you want to come in?"

 

Jordan shook his head. "No. You're safe now. There are too many people around for a Soul Devourer to try and come after you. It might be a good idea though to have someone take you to school in the morning. At least until I can track down the real Devourer that wants you. I could swing by if you wanted."

 

Ami shook her head. "No thanks. I'll call Amara, and Michelle and ask them for a ride in the morning."

 

Jordan shrugged her shoulders, and before she could say anything else, Jordan walked off and around the corner of the building. She didn't know why but she felt slightly hurt by the abrupt way he had left. Then again, she didn't know why she expected him to be nice all the time.

 

* * *

 

"No Serena. Other than a few sore ribs I'm fine."

 

Ami had been on and off the phone for the last few hours, trying to tell people that she was indeed all right and that there was no permanent harm. Luckily, Serena was the last one to call and Ami could finally go to bed after talking to her. So far though, Serena was being dense as usual.

 

"Are you absolutely sure? You looked really trashed when we showed up."

 

Ami sighed and took a deep, calming breath before answering her. "Yes, I'm absolutely sure that I'm fine. If you ask again, I'm going to hang up on you."

 

She could hear Serena whine and say something she couldn't make out. "I won't ask again." A pause, as tried to think something up that could eventually lead back to how Ami was feeling. "So. What was Jordan's house like?"

 

Ami shook her head as she answered her. "It was big." Everyone else had asked the same question and she was tired of answering it as well.

 

"Just big?" Serena sounded disappointed.

 

"Just big. I have to go Serena. It's late and I need to get some sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow at school. Good Night."

 

She waited just long enough to hear a mumbled good bye from Serena, before hanging up the phone.

 

"Finally. Now, where'd I leave that book?"

 

Ami found her book and crawled into bed. She read for about half an hour. Just long enough that she was too sleepy to read anymore. She set the book down, careful to mark her place, and tucked herself under her blanket. She reached out and turned off the small table lamp next to her bed as she rolled over and got comfy. She was asleep by the time her eyes closed.

 

* * *

 

Ami knew she was dreaming. It was obvious from the fact that her surroundings were destroyed over a millennia ago. At the same time, she also knew that this was a long dormant memory.

 

She was standing in a section of the Moon Palace. One that she could remember well. It was one of the Ambassador Wings, where the visiting members of the Royal Families stayed, or those Ambassadors sent in their places.

 

She found herself walking down the large hallway, smiling and nodding to various people that she could no longer remember. A brief glance in a mirror showed that this memory was older than she thought.

 

The image was that of a very young girl, probably no more than four or five.

 

As far as she knew, this was the first time she had recovered a memory this old. And if the others had ever had one, they had never said anything.

 

The young Ami continued down the hallway, finally stopping at a set of rooms. The symbol above the door was unfamiliar to Ami until another, smaller memory was drudged up. It was the symbol for the planet Phaeton. This set of rooms obviously was reserved for the Phaeton Royalty then.

 

She peeked in the open door, to see servants and Noblemen running around all over the room. Many of the servants were gathered around various Noble ladies, that looked to have fainted.

 

She snuck into the room as she heard some one screaming their head off in a side room. She made her way to the room and noticed that it was the one for the children of which ever set of Ambassadors was visiting at the time.

 

She didn't know which set it was, since her parents had dragged her to the Moon Palace without any warning. When they had arrived, she had been told to go and find the other Princesses and to stay with them until they were summoned. Since that was the case, she hoped that the Prince of Phaeton might be the one currently using the room.

 

As she peeked in, she saw that she was indeed correct, but that his four cousins were also in the room. A quick look also revealed that the four girls were unconscious, with very worried doctors looking over them. At the back of the room, the young Prince was in a corner. Yelling and screaming at the servants and doctors who were trying to attend him, or anyone in general who got too close.

 

One of the doctors noticed her, and rushed up to her. "Princess Amira! Am I glad you're here. Maybe you can do something about the Prince."

 

The curious Princess looked up at the doctor, grateful that she wasn't in trouble for sneaking in. "What happened?"

 

The Doctor shook his head and sighed in frustration. "We don't know. The five of them were playing some game or another, and suddenly the girls collapsed into some type of trance, and Jorowyn started screaming. Several of the other Nobility have passed out or are complaining of migraines. We've managed to stabilize the Princess's, but Jorowyn won't let anyone near him. Could you try to calm him down a little? We need to see if he's alright."

 

Princess Amira slowly nodded her head as thought over his words. "I'll do my best, but I don't know what I can do. I don't really know him that well. He usually stays on Phaeton. He's rarely around the Palace."

 

The Doctor nodded encouragingly at her as she slowly approached the Prince. "Jorowyn? Jorowyn, it's Princess Amira. Can you hear me?"

 

The slightly older boy looked up at the sound of her voice, but he continued to sob to himself and tried to squeeze even further into the corner. Even going so far, as to try and claw at the walls a bit.

 

"Come on Jorowyn, what's wrong? What's happened? The Doctors need to check on you, but they can't if you won't let them. Can you at least tell me?"

 

The tear streaked face of Jorowyn looked from her, to the Doctors as he paused in his scratching. After a few minutes of quiet sobbing, he nodded that the Doctors could come closer.

 

Amira carefully took one of his hands to get his attention, so the doctors could work. "Come on Jorowyn. What happened? Why are you crying to much?"

 

Jorowyn sobbed, and looked at her with slightly haunted eyes. Hollow eyes that didn't belong on a child of only eight years.

 

When he finally answered her, it was barely more than a croak filled with deep sorrow. "He's gone. They're all gone."

 

This startling reply stopped the Doctors momentarily, and made Ami even more confused. Even a bit afraid. "Who's gone Jorowyn? And what happened to them?"

 

He gulped, and swallowed back a few tears. His sobs slowly stopping as he responded. "Father." At that, the Doctor's became very nervous. "Father's gone. And so is the Palace." As he continued talking, his eyes glazed over slightly and he looked off into space. "It all blew up. A big explosion. It's all gone. And so is Aunt Sherie, and Aunt Trina, and ..."

 

As he continued on, the Doctors exchanged quick glances before the original doctor turned to Amira. "Princess? I think you should go find your friends. I'll let you know how Jorowyn is later. I think he needs some rest while we sort this all out."

 

Taking the hint, and looking for an excuse to leave, she quickly left the room. In fact, she all but fled the hall altogether, hoping to find her friends, and that they knew what was going on. Hoping to find someone who could tell her why little Jorowyn looked like someone had died.

 

* * *

 

Ami awoke with a start, not sure where she was for a moment. She quickly noticed the familiar walls of her room and sighed with relief. She'd never had a memory dream that was quite so disorienting before. Or clear.

 

She quickly got up, and started getting ready for school. She'd have to talk to Luna bout that dream the next time she got a chance.

 

She finished getting ready for school and headed out. She left the apartment complex and was halfway to school, before she remembered that she was supposed to have gotten a ride today. It was very nearly, the last mistake she ever made.

 

* * *

 

"Darn. I forgot to call Amara and Michelle for a ride this morning." Ami realized her slip up as she passed by a small park on the way to school. "Between the phone calls last night and the dream, it totally slipped my mind." She continued on though, oblivious to the fact that park was eerily empty. "Oh well. I'm almost there, and nothings happened. I'll be fine."

 

As she continued walking, several shadows separated themselves from the nearby park. Without warning, a huge vine whipped out from one and quickly wrapped itself around Ami, pulling her deeper into the park. She managed a strangled scream, before the tentacle wrapped around her mouth, preventing any further sounds.

 

She was quickly dragged into a small clearing, surrounded by large shrubs which effectively cut her off from the site of anyone who might happen to pass by. Her eyes widened in horror as she was confronted by her captor.

 

It stood about seven feet tall. It had a humanoid look to it, though it was clearly not human. It's arms were green vines, one of which currently held Ami. Her legs had a jagged, plate-like look from large leaves that ran up her legs. Her body was covered in a mix of greenish-black scales and similarly colored, sharp looking leaves. Her shoulders had sharp spines ticking out in a myriad assortment of sizes, and angles. Her head looked much like that of the Devourer from Last night, only much more human. It had actual ears, made from leaves, and which were themselves tipped by small spines. From it's back, sprouted two large pods which Ami could only begin to speculate about.

 

The creature drew her closer, until they were face to face. "Greetings oh great champion of justice."

 

Ami couldn't miss the fact that the thing's voice was just dripping with sarcasm, nor that it's breath was oddly pleasant. Almost like cherry blossom's, but with an undercurrent of something else. Something slightly intoxicating. Ami felt herself getting sleepy, and the Devourer started to spin before her eyes.

 

"Don't worry little one. I, Floran, Greatest warrior of the Void, shall claim your Soul Gem. But not just yet. No. I still need you as bait. For now, you will sleep until I can set my trap."

 

Ami's head slumped, as she finally succumbed to the effects of Floran's breath.

 

* * *

 

Lita and Serena were sitting in their usual spot under the large oak tree in the school's courtyard. They were chatting together about one of their teachers when a large shadow loomed over them. They stopped abruptly to see what this intrusion was.

 

"Have you two seen Ami?" Jordan stood over the two, a slightly angry look on his face. "She wasn't in First Period, and I've been up on the roof waiting on her for twenty minutes."

 

Serena and Lita exchanged a quick look, before looking back at Jordan.

 

Lita spoke up first. "I haven't heard from her since I spoke with her over the phone last night."

 

Serena nodded her head in agreement with Lita. "Same here. I haven't talked to her since she hung up on me. And she was supposed to talk to me about something."

 

Jordan was silent for a moment. "Do you know who was supposed to bring her to school today?"

 

Lita and Serena shrugged their shoulders.

 

Jordan was starting to look really agitated now as he bent down next to them. "Then I want you to contact everybody and find out if they know."

 

The expression on his face decided them. Something was really wrong if Jordan was upset about something. Upset, and actually asking them for help.

 

Several minutes of talking on their communicators turned up zilch. That changed however, as they managed to finally contact Michelle.

 

"I think I saw her walking to school this morning when I was taking Hotaru over to Rini's. Why?"

 

"Damn it!" Jordan's abrupt exclamation caused both girls to jump and Michelle to start asking what was going on. "She was supposed to get a ride this morning. I knew something was going to happen."

 

Before anyone could do anything, Jordan was gone. Not gone, as in running off. Just gone. One second he was there and the next, he had vanished into thin air.

 

"Lita, I think something really bad has happened to Ami."

 

"No kidding." Serena looked from the blank spot where Jordan had been standing, then down to her wrist communicator. "Michelle, I think we have a problem. Contact everybody and tell them that Ami's missing."

 

* * *

 

Several hours later, the girls still hadn't managed to find any trace of Ami. Everyone had gathered at Rae's temple, trying to figure out what happened.

 

"Her Mom hasn't seen her all day. Not since she left for school this morning anyway." Lita sighed wearily, as she relayed the news. "The guy in the lobby said she looked fine when she left, and it looked like she was taking the straight path to school."

 

The others all sighed dejectedly. They'd been searching for Ami all day and they had even skipped the rest of their classes to look for her. With no luck.

 

"I don't know where else we could look. I stopped by the Arcade, and Andrew said he hasn't seen her." Rae was even starting to sound frazzled, instead of her normal, calm self. "Any ideas?"

 

"Yah, we start by tracking her."

 

Everyone turned at the sound of Jordan's voice, as he entered the overly crowded room. He dropped a pile of Ami's school books on the small table in the middle of the room.

 

"I found these in a park, between her apartment and the school." His nose scrunched up as he looked at the books. "And they reek of Soul Devourer. This is the exact reason why I told her to get a ride with someone."

 

Everyone looked up at his furious expression, and none of them could think of what to do next.

 

Luckily, Jordan had already solved that problem. "I also found this." He held up Ami's little mini-computer. "You should be able to program it to track the signal from her communicator."

 

He handed the computer to Serena, who opened it and set it in front of Luna. The little black cat started typing away on it, working as fast as she could.

 

Serena looked up at Jordan. "So why didn't you program it to do that?"

 

Jordan scowled down at her, before mutter something under his breath.

 

"What was that?" Amara who was sitting right next to him, and heard what he had said couldn't help herself.

 

"I said, because I don't know the password. She's changed it from what it was back in the Moon Kingdom." He gave Amara a disgusted look as he turned back to the diligent Luna. "We don't have time to play around. Have you located her yet Luna?"

 

The industrious black cat looked up at him and nodded her head. "Just finished. It looks like she's in the old garden center, across town. Maybe we should..."

 

Jordan abruptly disappeared again, before she could finish her sentence.

 

"...all go together. Great. Well, I suggest that the rest of you get over there as quickly as we possible."

 

Everyone nodded their agreement, and headed for the garden center. It wasn't that far if they took a few shortcuts.

* * *