Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing the Moon ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Chasing the Moon

 

Chapter 9

 

AN: please note, I'm basing most things off the manga with a mix of anime in it, but all of things I've changed. Hence the AU note in the summary. If anyone needs any clarification, please please please don't hesitate to ask! Leave an email and note or an AIM SN (or ask for mine, I'll give it out!).

 

 

Soft taps accompanied by nearly inaudible grunts played counterpoint to the sharp snaps of ribbons and capes as Senshi and Generals raced across rooftops. A senshi in ice blue with darker blue accents (1) was in the front as she led their direction based on the information from her computer.

 

“Two blocks, a right and then we should be on top of it!” she shouted to the others behind her.

 

“Can you get any readings on the youma itself, Mercury?” a senshi in pale yellow with orange accents and a jeweled chain around her waist(1) asked as she pulled even.

 

“Not without being closer, Venus,” the ice senshi replied. “What about you, Mars? Can you pick up on anything?”

 

A senshi in sharp red with softer purple accents (1) pulled up closer to the two senshi in lead.

 

“Nothing definitive, but something is restless and something else is… waiting, I think,” Sailor Mars frowned, trying to decipher what she was “picking up” on.

 

“Something else?” a smooth baritone interjected. Mars and Venus shifted their positions to make room for Tuxedo Mask. “There is more than one youma there?”

 

“I don't think it's another youma, but I don't know for sure,” Mars replied hesitantly. Her eyes grew distant as she focused her attention inward.

 

A General, dressed similarly to Tuxedo Mask but in a light shade of grey with a darker red cape lining and piping along his suit's hem, came up behind Sailor Mars and gently steered her around obstacles she didn't notice in her trance-like state. He pulled hard on her arms when the group stopped but she didn't. The abrupt halt jolted her out of her trance and she focused on her surroundings.

 

Five stories below the Senshi and accompanying Generals was a shroud of silence and bodies. In neat circles that formed an aerial target were unmoving and carelessly sprawled civilians. There was no sign of the youma. Venus gave a signal and the senshi split into pairs and spread out around the perimeter of the block, sticking to the rooftops for a better view of the land. Venus and Pluto remained where they were, Mercury and Jupiter moved to their left side, Mars and Neptune moved to their right and completed their triangle formation. Generals Jadeite and Zoisite separated to join their counterparts while Tuxedo Mask remained with Venus and Pluto. With the group as strategically placed as possible, being short three members, they all dropped to the ground and began to enter the first ring of bodies. When all three groups confirmed that the civilians had pulses (though faint and a little quick), they began to search for the elusive youma they all could feel somewhere in the vicinity.

 

A loud roar sounded but echoed confusingly among the buildings, before everything fell silent again. All the trios held their breaths in the eerie quiet. If they hadn't, they probably would not have noticed the faint scraping sound. Mercury, Jupiter, and Zoisite quickly backed into an alley where Mercury dropped to one knee, pulled out her computer and visor, and began scanning the area for the disturbance. At the same time Mercury's computer beeped a response at her, Mars let out an involuntary yelp from across the block. Neptune and Jadeite quickly responded with simultaneous roundhouse kicks to Mars' assailant.

 

“No powers!” Mercury cried out. “It's the civilians! They're being controlled!”

 

The first ring of bodies that they had passed through - and now had at their backs - rose up and stood with the boneless look of a marionette. En ma they all lumbered towards the trios, attempting to pull them down into a suffocating dogpile. The senshi pulled many of their hits not wanting to injure the innocents, but with so many of them coming in wave after relentless wave, they began to grow anxious. There came another great roar and all the bodies stopped instantly and stood in docile positions. The senshi and generals froze in their defensive positions, all of them looking around warily. Jupiter and Zoisite moved back to Mercury's side, and with a sharp nod from the nearby Venus, Mercury dropped down to one knee again to scan the area. A low staccato growl filled the empty air and everyone - excluding the intent Sailor Mercury - tensed at the sound.

 

“Your tiny gadget will not find me, Ice Brat,” a gravelly voice growled out. “Then again,” the staccato growls began again, “I'm not the one you'd want to be looking for!”

 

Mercury froze for a second as her computer began to frantically beep. Her eyes widened and she shouted a warning to the others as she dived into an alley.

 

“Move it!” she screamed.

 

The other began reacting when they noticed Mercury's unease, but were too far from protection. A sudden blast hit the ground a handful of yards from the scattered group, knocking them down and away, crashing into people and buildings. The possessed civilians seemed unaffected by the blast, the few knocked down by the affected heroes merely stood back up and waited. Mercury threw out a quick “Shabon Spray” and a thick foggy mist quickly filled the block. The senshi got to their feet and grouped around Mercury, who was again scanning for the youma. The men, fewer in number though they were, stood protectively in front of the Senshi.

 

“There's one directly ahead, about fifty feet. Large, but it has a weak energy signature,” Mercury whispered. “I can't find any others.”

 

“Any weak points?” Neptune asked in the same tone. Mercury was silent as she continued typing.

 

“Its body heat appears to be drastically low, so intense heat may be effective. However, it appears to have some form of armor on that theoretically would prevent such an exploitable fault.”

 

“Is the armor vulnerable then?”

 

“Try the joints,” was the hesitant reply. “There's one directly down the center and two on the sides. Those appear to be the weakest parts.” Venus and Tuxedo nodded and then the men went out on the offensive. Venus turned to the Senshi behind her.

 

“Pluto, I want you to hit it first. Neptune, I want that thing drenched. Jupiter, zap it. Hopefully that will have weakened the armor enough that the guys can break it off. Mars, once that armor falls, you and Jupiter fry the thing. I want it extra crispy!” Venus commanded.

 

“HAI!”

 

“Go!”

 

Venus and Mercury stayed back as the seven attacked the distantly visible form of the youma. When the mist cleared away to reveal the battering attacks of the Generals, Venus shouted a quick “Back!” as Pluto's first attack ripped by the backed-off Generals. The Generals and Pluto battered the youma with attacks; although it gave off several impressive hits itself, it was cumbersome and slow to move. When the Generals and Pluto backed off, Neptune stepped up and thoroughly soaked the youma with her “Deep Submerge” attack. Then Jupiter hit it with her “Thunder Zap” bolt. The youma appeared to short-circuit and then began to smoke. It gave off that staccato growl that it passed off as laughter, a final message growled out before its armor broke off and Mars fried it.

 

“I'm not the one you should worry about!” and then it disintegrated. From its ashes rose a black mist that began to quickly cover the ground. Everyone backed away from it, wary of letting it come close, let alone allow it to touch them. Mercury was again using her computer to scan everything, but nothing besides the group and the possessed civilians were registering on her visor screen.

 

“Mercury, what is this stuff?” Zoisite called to his lover. At the first sound of his voice, the first sound to have broken the silence since the youma was dusted, the black mist stopped spreading instantly.

 

“What the hell?” was the consensual remark by all. “Mercury?”

 

“I don't know; it's not registering all at!”

 

A soft laugh whispered through the area, followed by a dark figure walking out of the mist towards the Senshi. The form was short, and as the light fell upon it, looked to be a child with curly light brown hair in a Lolita-style dress. She was carrying a toy bear's head in one hand and the bear's body in the other. She flashed a charming, innocence-laced smile at the stunned group, a sweet child's voice coming from her direction though her lips never moved.

 

“This? This is the stuff nightmare's are made of!”

 

The child-youma cocked her head to one side and the mist shot out at the nearest person, Sailor Pluto, covering her head-to-toe. There was silence for a moment and then her screams rang out from her black-shrouded form, her thrashing struggles clearly visible and obviously futile. The child-youma giggled, delighted with the effects.

 

“Pluto!” Venus screamed. Venus rushed towards the giggling child-youma, calling out her “Crescent Smash” attack. The youma cocked her head to the other side and a civilian suddenly appeared in front of the attack, shielding the child-youma. The person didn't make a sound or even flinch as the attack sliced through. “Oh my goddess!” The civilian wilted and black mist began oozing from the wound in place of blood.

 

“That wasn't very nice of her, was it Mr. Bear?” the child lifted the bear's head to eye level and shook it side-to-side. “If they're not going to play nice, neither will we!” She dropped her hand off the bear's head, which remained floating in place, and then it turned to face the Senshi with evil red eyes and a fang-baring grin. Pluto's screams and thrashing grew more violent as it's mouth opened and began sucking in all the mist, dragging Pluto's covered form with it.

 

“Mercury!”

 

“I don't know! Nothing's registering!”

 

Unnoticed tendrils of black mist snagged the legs of the three Generals and the nearby Senshi, Mars and Jupiter, pulling them to the ground and dragging them towards the bear's head. The child-youma clapped the bear's hands together, giggling excitedly and bouncing on her feet as she watched everyone struggling against the shadow-bonds.

 

“Light of Revelations!” An unfamiliar voice called out, followed by a burst of blinding light that literally burned away the black mist, leaving smoking grey ashes in its place.

 

“Ahh! What have you done! Mr. Bear, Mr. Bear!” the child-youma sounded suitably upset, standing over the ashes of what was her toy bear's severed head. “Who did this? Who did this!” she screamed, eyes beginning to glow red.

 

“I did.” Everyone turned towards the voice. Silhouetted by a ray of sunlight in the otherwise grey and gloomy atmosphere, was an unrecognized Senshi. As she recited her introduction, she stepped forward, revealing her appearance. “I hound the heels of Darkness,” gold, knee-high laced boots shined in the light, “bringing the Light of Truth and Justice,” bare legs covered with a matching gold mini-skirt attached to a white, iridescent fuku (body suit) was next. “Shadows do not exist,” white gloves with gold piping half-covered arms crossed in front of a chest adorned by a white bow and jewel, “in the presence of the Sun. I,” her face was determined, a gold tiara with a glowing gold gem at the point, “am Sailor Sun!” Her hair was a rosy gold color, braided into four strands and held in two pigtails, two braids in each. Sailor Sun's eyes shifted between a rosy pink to a dark golden yellow, with bare hints of sunset blue. (2)

 

“Sailor Sun, is it?” the child-youma snarled, its voice no longer so sweet sounding. “Even the sun can be covered by shadows!” She thrust the bear's body toward the new Senshi and the black mist burst out of the gaping head-hole.

 

Sailor Sun didn't budge from her position even as the mist converged upon her. When she was fully covered and concealed, the child-youma began cackling. She stopped when cracking filled the air and beams of light shone through the tears in the mist. The shadows exploded and dissolved into ash as Sailor Sun stood in her stance, arms cocked on her hips now, and glowing a bright, sunny gold.

 

“Well then,” Sailor Sun raised a hand and snapped her fingers, a small marble-sized ball of light forming above her opened palm. “One turn deserves another, doesn't it?” she asked rhetorically before flicking the light at the child-youma.

 

Everyone remained motionless as they watched the light soar through the air to bounce against the youma's forehead and settle onto her hair. The light shone brighter and then seemed to melt over the youma's body, covering her completely. As the light covered her eyes she began screaming, clawing at the insubstantial light. The Senshi and Generals stared in shock as the youma freaked out over the light covering her body.

 

“The Darkness cannot abide the Light. Use it to your advantage, Sailors, Generals.” Sailor Sun nodded to each group - who stared at her blankly, still shocked - and she leapt away, disappearing into a beam of light they couldn't look into.

 

“Light!” Mercury exclaimed, the first to figure out the meaning and snapping out of her daze. “Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Jadeite! Your attacks!”

 

As the others shook off their shock, the aforementioned turned questioning gazes to the Ice Senshi.

 

“Your attack elements all produce the most light! If the four of you all attack her, it should dust her!”

 

“Alright, you heard her,” Venus said strongly. “On three!” They all stood up and prepared. “One, two, three!”

 

Four attacks rang out, combined, and hit the obliviously screaming youma. She stopped screaming for an instant and then exploded into ash. Everyone let out sighs of relief before jumping to the rooftops.

 

“Tomorrow, 2 PM,” Venus said quietly. “There's much to discuss.”

 

Everyone nodded, then separated into pairs or singles, dropped into different alleys to dehenshin (3) and went about their day as though nothing happened. In the street below, the possessed civilians all came out of their trances and continued their business, never aware of any change in their lives.

 

Unseen on a nearby rooftop, Sailor Sun stood with two other Senshi.

 

“They need a lot of work,” Sailor Sun said.

 

“They have to be ready,” the tallest added.

 

“They will be,” the third interjected. “It'll just take time.”

 

“Time's not your forte, Crescent,” the tallest shot back, amused.

 

“Thank goodness,” Sailor Sun snapped back, “you two are the very definition of tardy!”

 

“Hey!” they shouted, giving chase to a laughing Sailor Sun.

 

 

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A young woman in priestess clothing kneeled before a roaring fire, murmuring chants under her breath as she focused her mind. A few feet away in matching priest robes sat a young man staring intently into the fire. Behind the pair, in two even rows sat ten people: two men and three women in each row. A young woman with long pale blonde hair opened her mouth to speak just as the fire in front of them suddenly flared out and turned white. No one moved away from the flames despite their heat and extreme closeness. When the fire settled to normal, the pair in front sighed and turned to face the group behind them.

 

“What did you see?” a woman's voice asked from a shadowy corner of the room. As everyone turned to look at the newcomer, two felines walked out of the shadows and into the light cast by the fire. A solid black cat with dark blue eyes walked over to a younger girl with shoulder length black hair and dark violet eyes, sat down in her lap, and repeated, “What did you see, Rei-san?”

 

“Luna-san,” Rei nodded to the dark feline, “the Great Fire was vague. It showed three figures, each cast in shadow, but their silhouettes suggest a Senshi's uniform. The sun rose and the figures vanished.” Rei stopped abruptly.

 

The other feline, pure white with green eyes, got up from his place in the blonde's lap.

 

“What is it?” he asked.

 

It was Rei's male companion who answered.

 

“The sun rose in the shape of your marks,” he nodded at the gold upturned crescent moons that adorned the felines foreheads. “Do you know what that could mean, Artemis-san?”

 

Luna and Artemis exchanged looks.

 

“No, Jadeite,” Luna answered after a moment. “We've not heard of such a sign before.”

 

“Was there anything else you saw?” Artemis added.

 

“Before the fire… changed,” Rei started, “there was a great covering of darkness,” Jadeite added. “Then a hard wind started, and things grew hot, and then the light burst,” Rei finished.

 

“Wind, heat, and light?” a young woman in the back row piped. She made a gesture and a mini computer bearing the sign of Mercury fell into her hand.

 

“Is there something important about that Ami-san?” a woman with long, wavy aqua hair and matching eyes politely inquired.

 

“Elements,” Ami muttered. “We all have elements that define our unique abilities. Min is ice, Michiru-san is water, Setsuna-san is time and space, Mina-chan's is light and emotion-based, Rei-chan is fire, Mako-chan is storms and nature, and Hotaru-san is… well she's Saturn, so silence could be considered her ability.”

 

“So these other elements…?” Setsuna prodded.

 

“The only one that makes any sense to my computer is wind. Uranus.”

 

“But the one we met claimed to be Sailor Sun,” Mina pointed out. “And the heat could easily be caused by Rei's powers. The light could be any of us, really.”

 

“So this new Senshi isn't in your database at all?” Michiru questioned. Ami shook her head negatively.

 

“Generals, you've been very quiet about all this,” Artemis spoke up. “Any thoughts?”

 

“If she is not in Mercury's database, is she actually a Senshi?” a chestnut haired, brown eyed man asked from the second row. (4)

 

“I agree with Nephrite,” a long-haired strawberry-blonde next to Ami said. “The Mercury Database covers everything. If this `Sailor Sun' person isn't listed in the first place, how could she be a Senshi?”

 

The other men nodded in agreement.

 

“A good question, Zoisite,” Luna said to the blonde. She then turned to Ami and asked, “If you could please, bring up the list of every known Senshi for this Solar System?” Ami nodded and started typing. “Thank you.” A short moment later and a hologram of the system popped up. Above each planet was a picture of each Senshi; Ami above Mercury, Mina above Venus, Rei above Mars, Makoto above Jupiter, Hotaru above Saturn, Setsuna above Pluto, and Michiru above Neptune. Uranus, the Sun, and Earth remained empty. “Not everything,” Luna murmured. She shook her head free from past thoughts and thanked Ami again. “Until we learn more about this Sailor Sun, treat her as a neutral element but don't engage in any battles against her. She's already shown she's powerful.

 

“Now, this enemy youma you had mentioned disturbs me. They don't fit the pattern type. Beryl is far more flashy and uses human hosts… these are much more independent and subtle.”

 

“It could be someone new, then,” Rei said.

 

“That would explain a new Senshi in our territory, too,” Setsuna added. “The Gates showed me a merging of two, but not who. If we are dealing with another enemy as well, maybe this Sailor Sun has followed them from their original location.”

 

“If she's that powerful to antagonize them into relocation,” Makoto said seriously, “I don't think we should cause trouble with her.”

 

“No one is to engage this foreign enemy,” Mina stated, looking at everyone. “Avoid them if you can. If you must - and I mean absolutely must - engage, defensive maneuvers first. If Sailor Sun is on the heels of this new group, then she should be the one to engage in the battles.”

 

“Draw her out,” Hotaru exclaimed. Mina nodded.

 

“And if she doesn't show?” Michiru asked.

 

“No less than three Senshi are to engage in offensive maneuvers. Darien, I don't know if you want to include your Generals in this or not. That's your decision,” Mina replied. Darien nodded at Mina and the men.

 

“I agree,” he said simply.

 

“If that's everything, I think we can be adjourned,” Luna said. She stood, nodded at the group, and then bounded out the door before anyone could comment.

 

“There's something she's not telling us,” Kunzite spoke for the first time that night. His words left everyone quiet.

 

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(1) Senshi's uniforms: I'm altering the Senshi's uniforms. I want them to be more manga based than anime based, so I'm actually going to write out a description of each Senshi's uniform and post it as a separate chapter (it'll be the new “chapter one” so to speak). I probably won't go into much detail about the uniforms in the actual chapters after they've been described once unless I use a specific part of the uniform in some way. Confused? Let me know and I'll try to clear things up more. Leave an email address and I'll get back to you personally.

 

(2) Sailor Sun: in case it's difficult to imagine, try this - Saturn's boots in gold with white laces, a matching gold skirt and collar, her chest and back bows are both white and so is her chest jewel. Her tiara is a darker shade of gold than normal and has a gold gem at the point on her forehead. Her hair is in two pigtails on the top of her head, like Serena's; each pigtail has two braids, her hair goes down to her waist.

 

(3) dehenshin: detransforming, untransforming, dropping the transformation, whatever you want to call it.

 

(4) Generals: information on the Generals' appearance was very hard to dig up. I will be going by the descriptions I found in Takeuchi-sama's artbooks (I think it was the Materials Collection) and they will also be listed in detail when I do the Senshi's uniforms.