Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ “The Paragon of Animals” ( Chapter 28 )

The Fragility of Time
BOOK TWO: "Falling Towards Apotheosis"
Chapter 28 "The Paragon of Animals"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 11/16/02

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

Chapter 28 "The Paragon of Animals"

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

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Rubeus stood in a darken room in the basement of the Infinity academy. This room was Tomoe's secret laboratory where he had formally carried out his work for Pharaoh 90 and where he now worked on his new task of freeing the Wiseman. The room was quite large with various machines strewn about; some of them remaining from the accident and others, new ones the professor had created after the accident. This particular corner of the room contained a set of long tables upon which test tubes and beakers of foul smelling chemicals sat.

Back in the future he rarely if ever stepped into the laboratories on Nemesis. He was a soldier and had no need to understand the workings of science. He did what he was told and accepted the capabilities of the tools that he was given. But things had changed; he no longer had the luxury of just blindly accepting what he was given. Instead, now as the only remaining soldier of the Nemesis clan, the duty of supervising the work of this scientist fell to him.

Consequently, he was now in the professor's laboratory listening to professor Tomoe. However, even though he made an honest effort to try to follow Tomoe's excited words, he was still completely lost. Examining the purplish liquid contained within a test tube, which Tomoe had given him Rubeus patience with trying to follow Tomoe's words reached its breaking point and he asked, "So what is so special about this foul smelling liquid?"

Taking back the test tube, Professor Tomoe replied with a chuckle, "Just watch, it really is a marvelous process."

Using a pair of metal tongs to hold the glass cylinder, Tomoe placed it over the open flame of the Bunsen burner. Rubeus intently watched the liquid that the tube contained as the professor moved it back and forth through the flame evenly heating it. At first, nothing happened and Rubeus began to wonder what he was supposed to be seeing, but then he saw something. It grew quickly from nothing more then a speck till within a few seconds it was as wide as the test tube. But that did not stop its growth; instead, it kept growing, shattering the tube. It only stopped when it had reached its full size of just over three inches along its major axis and two and a half along the minor one.

Reaching out a gloved hand, Tomoe took a hold of the floating daimon egg. "This Rubeus-sama is what is so special about the broth that I have been brewing. These eggs have the power to possess objects, creating a creature whose one purpose is seeking out those with pure hearts and extracting them. And it is in those hearts that we will find the talismans. Society is so corrupt nowadays that finding the pure hearts that hold the talismans should be no problem."

"And why should you expect to find these talismans here in Tokyo? The planet is quite large you know." a skeptical Rubeus replied.

"I agree, however Mistress 9 could feel their energy and she was able to communicate to the being that had possessed me that they were located here in this city."

<Figures.> thought Rubeus as pondered the coincidence of both the talismans and the crystal city points being in the same location. He was no expert (or even that knowledgeable at all) on magic theory, but he guessed that it did make a certain amount of convoluted sense.

Producing a droid crystal, he was ready to begin his part of this little experiment. "Just by themselves, the warriors produced by these crystals are very formidable. They are responsible for the success of our struggle in the future. However, coupling that power with the added boost provided by your daimon eggs will create an opponent that the Sailor Senshi will be unable to defeat."

Rubeus reached out his right hand, into which Tomoe placed the daimon egg. Not quite sure what was going to happen, Rubeus then brought the egg together with the droid crystal that he held in his left hand. Sensing the presence of another object, the egg scanned the crystal before rising up. The egg then floated towards and into the crystal. The crystal then glowed white with energy as the egg began to affect its host, but the crystal also reacted feeding back on the changes that the egg was making. The end result was a crystalline egg.

Rubeus could easily feel the increased power that now lay dormant in this egg. <Now for the real fun to begin.> Rubeus thought with an evil smile as he imagined the havoc that this and future enhanced droids would create.

Turning to the other person in the room, he addressed her. "Of the professor's various assistants I believe that you are the one most suited and most worthy of this task to find the pure heart crystals. However, even though you have a powerful tool in this droid-egg, you yourself are not strong enough to face the Sailor Senshi. They are fierce warriors and it is only fitting that you should have the same power that the former Sisters had as well. Take this crystal shard and receive your gift from the Wiseman himself."

Rubeus removed a dark purple crystal from his vest and handed it over to Kaolinite. The red haired woman did not hesitate in grabbing a hold of the crystal and bringing it up to her chest. She could feel the power pulsing within it and greedily looked to having that power at her fingertips. With a pulse, her essence was pulled into the crystal.

Her astral body floated in a nothingness that was obscured by a dark purple haze, the same color as the crystal. Wondering what had happened, she looked around but could only see that haze, nothing else existed. Confused, she turned back around to look straightforward and came face to face with a hooded figure.

"You must be the helper that Rubeus has selected. I see that he made an excellent choice. You are perfectly suited for handling the great power that I am about to give you."

Kaolinite beamed at that acknowledgement of her superiority. Beneath his cowl, the Wiseman also smiled when he saw that. <These Tehrans are so easy to manipulate.> "Now prepare to receive the powers that are by right yours."

As the Wiseman talked to Kaolinite, his hands traced ever increasingly complex patters over his crystal ball. Before long, the dark energy of the crystal began to build and hover just off his body and the crystal ball. Then with a smile that sent chills down Kaolinite's back the spell was finished and energy began to snake off that crystal ball and towards Kaolinite. The energy wrapped itself around her body, binding her before it flared, blinding her vision, and with the sensation of being burned alive, penetrated her very essence.

When the pain finally subsided and she could return to her senses, she found that she was back in the laboratory again and could feel the cool air of the room against her skin. Bring her arms back down to her sides, she handed Rubeus back that mystical crystal shard. Knowing that it was time to prove herself, she picked up the crystalline egg from where Rubeus had placed it and turned to leave the laboratory.

"I shall get you your heart crystals" she declared as she walked out. It was only after leaving the laboratory that she looked down at her hands and saw the massive red and black burns in her palms that the crystal had caused. However, the pain was worth the power that she had been given. Later after she had returned she would also notice one additional change, her forehead now spotted a down turned black crescent moon.

Kaolinite stood on the roof of a low building overlooking the bustling streets below. While she herself had no idea how to tell a human with a pure heart crystal from one without, the egg that she held did. Releasing the egg, she followed it as it headed off towards its target. Leaving the streets, it headed into a park and there found its target.

Sitting on the bench sat Hiroshi, head administrator of an animal shelter here in the Juuban district of Tokyo. The egg approached to within five feet from behind and then stopped. Floating in the air there for a moment, it wobbled back and forth before the droid crystal activated.

The droid being an energy-collecting model (the only ones that Rubeus had expected to be on his ship) at first took the form of its target. However, then the influence of the daimon half of this beast kicked in and it took its demonic fighting form, though more demonic than normal. Stepping forward, this creature had a black star on its forehead. As it got close to the still unaware gentleman, the star began to emit a black light.

Makoto and Ami walked down the streets of Tokyo. Being a Saturday, they did not have school, which always made the brunette happy. Feeling a need to get out amongst the plant life this morning, she had decided to visit the local botanical garden today. With her direction set, she only needed to then round up a couple of friends to enjoy the outing with. That unfortunately, turned out to be not so easy. It seemed that everyone had their day already planned: Minako was playing in a volleyball tournament, Michiru had a concert and of course Haruka was with her, Rei was too concerned with meditating and Usagi and ChibiUsa were on an outing of their own. However the one friend that she had expected from the forthright to be busy wasn't. Ami-chan had decided without needing to be prodded at all that she did not need to study any further for the big test on Monday and instead had wanted to come and see the gardens and the "various rare and unique species of flora they contained."

And so, it was that they were walking down the streets of Tokyo together this afternoon with Makoto carrying a picnic lunch. By the time she had given up trying to convince the others to come with her, it was already late morning. And as a result, Makoto decided to pack a lunch for the two of them to eat at the park, which contained the gardens.

The two girls chatted about various things including school. Though for Ami it was worrying about being enough chapters ahead of the rest of the class, while for Makoto it was about needing to study for Monday's exam of which she had not studied at all for yet. Arriving at the park, they found a nice quiet spot to set down their stuff and began to enjoy their lunch.

"While I feel bad for saying this, it is so much more peaceful having a lunch without Rei and Usagi here." Makoto said between bites of her food.

"Hai, I know what you mean. Usagi and Rei do have a way of keeping picnic lunches from being completely peaceful affairs. Though you do have to give the two of them credit, as they have matured quit a bit since ChibiUsa arrived here in the past. Back before her arrival, they always seemed to be trying to one-up the other. Rei was even trying to convince me that I should support her as our leader instead."

Makoto nodded grimly as she listened to Ami's description of what things had been like. She pitied Ami for having to deal with those two in the early days. That thought of "the early days" caused her to laugh.

"What's so funny Mako-chan?" asked a perplexed Ami.

"Nothing really. It was just what you said and how I thought of that time as being the early days. However, we have only been Senshi for what, months now? Not even a year. And I found it strange that I would already be seeing the first month or so of it as the distant past."

"I can see what you mean." replied Ami as she also thought for a moment about how much things had changed during the months that followed that first one. In some ways, it now seemed like during that first month she was nothing more than a little kid pretending to be a superior hero in comparison to how things were now.

Their talk then drifted onto other subjects, as the two girls enjoyed the beginning of a beautiful afternoon. Unfortunately, a scream ended their lunch early. With reactions honed from scores of battles, the two warriors quickly shifted to squat on the ground while turning to look for the source of the scream. Finding a demon off in the distance, the two warriors continued their fluid motions to rise to their feet and quickly head for cover. As she jogged, Ami activated her communicator to summon the others before joining Makoto in transforming.

Now outfitted in their battle attire, the two warriors headed towards the demon attack. With her visor already deployed and computer out, Mercury began to scan the demon looking for any weakness or unexpected strengths it might have. Jupiter for her part scanned the area with her eyes for Rubeus, whom she knew would be lurking nearby. However, before she could finish looking for him, the extraction of a glowing crystal from the victim's chest got her attention.

"What is that?" Jupiter asked when the crystal had been fully extracted.

"I am not sure, however my scans are showing that all the life energy of that man has been transferred to that crystal. He is still alive, but without the energy contained in that crystal he won't survive for long." Mercury replied

Mercury's answer caused Jupiter to shudder. Till now their enemies only took a little energy at time from their victims, causing them to pass out. The only lasting effects of those attacks were symptoms similar to having had a few sleepless night. And, then within a couple of days they were fully recovered. But this time it was different. This time they were draining their victims completely dry.

Incensed, Jupiter yelled "Stop right there. How dare you steal the life of an innocent? For that in the name of the planet Jupiter..."

"And Mercury..."

"We will punish you." the two warriors ended together.

Kaolinite looked up at the interlopers, but their presence did not bother her, the droid had finished its task. "I think not Sailor Soldiers." then turning to address her servant she commanded it to "get them."

The creature immediately obeyed. Turning, the reasonably man-like creature regarded its pray. Anxious to please its master, the creature began to shimmer, and then as the glow fully encased its body, it leapt into the air towards the two Soldiers. Or rather towards a spot directly above them, for it passed about 10 feet above their heads.

Jupiter and Mercury braced themselves for an attack, however none came. Instead, with a blinding flash of light it split into five rays of energy. Arcing down to the ground, each of the rays formed one point of an equilateral pentagon. Where a ray hit a smaller demon was left, each one resembling an animal. Two of them were large dogs/wolves, there was an alligator, a large snake, the fifth spot revealed a pack of kittens.

"Something tells me that I am not going to like this." Jupiter said as she backed up against Mercury.

"This droid's energy signature show substantial differences from previous ones that we have fought before. I am not sure what it all means, but one thing is definitely clear, this one is far more powerful that any previous droid we have fought." Mercury said as she put away her computer and deactivated her visor.

"Great, just great." replied Jupiter as she nervously eyed the two dogs that were sizing her up. "Just hope that the others get here soon. Sparkling Wide Pressure."

The two demon dogs eagerly leapt at their pray, salivating at the opportunity to tear it to shreds. Thankfully, Jupiter had been expecting them to jump her, and as a result, her attack caught the dog on the left squarely in its chest and knocked it backwards. Normally Jupiter would then have jumped out of the way to avoid the second dog's attack. Unfortunately, the decision to back up against Mercury so that they would be watching each other's back prevented that option (she was not about to let the dog rip into her friends backside so that she could protect her own hide).

Instead, Jupiter did the only thing she could do: attempt to block the attack. Sacrificing her left arm, Jupiter winced in pain as the dog's teeth dug into it. However, it was better the arm than her side. Not letting the pain control her, she winced even more as she began to bring the arm down and to the side, pulling the demon dog with it. Then as the arm was almost to the ground, she let the pain fuel her right arm as she slammed a punch into the demon's head. Stunned for the moment it released her arm and dropped to the ground.

Released from the beast, Jupiter dropped one knee to the ground as the pain became almost too much to bear. She had only just dropped down when she felt a rush of air from something passing through the space where she had just been standing. That rush of air caused reality to snap back into focus for Jupiter. Ready to return to battle she forced her mind to ignore the pain of her left arm as she stood back up.

Deciding that the back-to-back arrangement was not a good one, Jupiter decided to draw her demons away from Mercury. Noticing that she seemed to have the undivided attention of the two demon dogs she flipped through the air to land a few meters away. Landing she was pleasantly rewarded with the approach of the two demons. Standing her ground, she let them approach closer before unleashing another lighting attack and then quickly moving to another position. This time she was not going to let herself be an easy target for those two.

While the luck of the draw had handed the two demon dogs to Jupiter, Mercury had three opponents in front of her. Quickly analyzing the threat that each of the three demons posed, Mercury decided to take care of the Alligator first. Putting all of her might into it, she cast a Shine Aqua Illusion at that demon. When the blue mist accompanying her attack cleared, she was pleased to see that she had fully incased the gator in block of ice.

The snake had not moved forward, instead also taking a moment to study its opponent. Feeling the chill of the Shine Aqua Illusion passing nearby it turned to see its partner encased in ice. While it was a demon and not really a snake, it had nevertheless inherited its cold-blooded nature, and consequently was now very weary of the blue haired Senshi, and decided for the moment to hold back and let the little pack of kittens attack.

Unlike the other participants in this battle, the demon kittens had not hesitated in rushing its opponent. Consequently, as Mercury regained her footing from casting her spell she found that this group of mini-demons had closed to within an arms reach. Preparing to leap out of the way, Mercury looked down at the kittens, analyzing how best to deal with them. Unfortunately, that was just what they were waiting for and as soon as Mercury made eye contact with them, she found herself hypnotized.

Now seeing them as being just very kawaii adorable kittens, Mercury dropped down to the ground. On her knees, she bent forward to pick up one of the kittens so that she could cuddle it. Thankfully for her, the demon kittens had yet to learn the virtue of patience and consequently they hissed as soon as she reached toward them, breaking the hypnotism. Free from the trance, Mercury halted her movements, but unfortunately, it was still too late, as they had gotten too close.

Mercury attempted to get to her feet and get away from these kittens, but as she stood up the kittens began lunging at her legs. At first, she was able to ignore them, but all too quickly, she began to stagger under the onslaught and was forced back down. Down on her knees she was even more vulnerable as the swarm began leaping at her torso and before long, she found herself flat on her back. Her arms and legs flailed as she attempted to free herself of this menace. But no matter how many she kicked away, froze, or just plain tossed off her body there were always more of them.

Kaolinite seeing the trouble that the two Sailor Senshi were having with the demon smiled. The Wiseman would be quite pleased to learn that she had dispatched two of the troublesome Sailor Senshi. All that was left was to collect this pure heart crystal, shatter it to reveal the talisman and then return. Unfortunately, the arrival of Sailor Uranus and her World Shaking prevented her from walking forward to complete that final simple task. Standing her ground, Kaolinite turned to regard this new nuisance and found two more Sailor Senshi standing up on a tree limb.

Uranus had been a bit surprised to see someone other than Rubeus controlling this demon, but that was a question for a later time. Putting aside her confusion, she announced herself, "Protected by the winds and guarding this system from without I am Sailor Uranus."

"And protected by the seas and standing the everlasting guard at the edges, I am Sailor Neptune."

"Well in any case you will soon be Sailor Charcoal and Sailor Ash." Kaolinite replied as she used for the first time her new powers. From her outstretched hands fountains of fire erupted. The flames quickly engulfed the tree that the two warriors of the outer solar system had been in only moments before.

Landing on the ground, Uranus and Neptune each moved in different directions before unleashing a counterattack of their own. Kaolinite also proved nimble on her feet and was easily able to dodge their attacks. Though as it was a two on one fight, Uranus and Neptune had the advantage. While Kaolinite was proving quite adapt in dodging their attacks, they were however able to deny her the time she would need to cast anything more than distraction spells. Consequently, it was only a matter of time before she became sufficiently frustrated and withdrew. Or that would have been the case, if Neptune while dodging one of Kaolinite's attacks had not glanced over at Jupiter and Mercury.

While Jupiter seemed to be managing for the moment, the same could not be said of Mercury who was being held to the ground by some kind of demon. Even though Mercury was in need of help, Neptune would have continued to fight Kaolinite if she had not also seen the second demon, which was slowly approaching Mercury. Whereas the first demon was just overwhelming the Ice Senshi, the approaching snake demon was dripping a very acidic venom from its fangs and consequently leaving a nicely scorched trail behind it. No matter how strong they were as Sailor Senshi, Mercury would not be able to survive a direct attack from that creature.

She and Uranus had accepted the necessity of having to make sacrifices in their quest to retrieve the Talismans, but at the same time, she was not about to make any more sacrifices than necessary. Her princess had managed to teach her that much during the short time that they had known each other this life. She had faith that Uranus would be able to hold out against Kaolinite and so she left the battle. Running towards Jupiter and Mercury, Neptune used a Deep Submerge to scatter the kittens away from Mercury. With the kittens clear, she was able to reach down and pick up the petite warrior without breaking stride. As soon as she had Mercury in her arms, she leapt up into the air to ensure that they got out of the demon snake's striking range.

Holding Mercury in much the same way that Tuxedo-Kamen would hold Sailor Moon when he rescued her, she landed on the rim of a fountain. Looking down at the petite warrior she was holding, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Hai, I think so" Mercury replied, upon which Neptune placed her down on the ground. Then as Neptune got ready to return to the fight Mercury added, "Arigatoo." Neptune's only response was a wink before she moved to engage the demons.

Taking a few moments to recover from the kitten swarm, Mercury remained at the fountain. Taking in the situation, she saw that Jupiter was not doing so well with her two demons while Neptune had moved to "play" with the kittens. Deciding to give the Thunder Senshi a break, she plunged the battlefield into obscurity before returning to the battle herself.

A relieved Jupiter took quick advantage of the opportunity to escape away from her two "playmates" and jogged over to Neptune and Mercury. Once there she said, "Like I said when this first started. This is not good."

"Hai." Agreed Neptune. "Since when did Rubeus start using five droids in the same location?" Neptune asked having not seen the original demon split into five parts. "This is reminding me too much of the night in which we had to fight three youmas and an two droids."

"Actually this is just one demon, it split itself into five parts." Mercury replied. "And as you probably have guessed, my scans indicate that this one is substantially stronger than any droid that we have faced in the past."

<Lovely, and I was hoping she was going to have some good news when she corrected me.> Neptune thought. With the thinning of the fog, their break was over and Neptune along with the other two reexamined the battlefield looking to where their efforts would be best applied. Also taking a moment to take in the Uranus-Kaolinite battle, the aqua haired warrior saw her love thrown to the ground hard. Stunned, the blonde haired warrior did not get back up and was now easy picking for Kaolinite who was preparing a final attack. Moving quickly Neptune fired off one of her own in sufficient time to intercept the fireball and prevent Uranus from becoming that Sailor Charcoal that Kaolinite had promised.

Seeing her attack doused my Neptune, Kaolinite addressed the aqua-haired warrior "Well I guess you decided to come back and play with me instead of my pets. However, it doesn't really matter as soon you'll both be dead along with your two friends out there."

"I don't think so." Came a voice that lifted everyone's spirits. "I will protect my friends to my last breath. I am the one known as Sailor Moon and in the name of the Moon I will punish you." Sailor Moon said from where she, Venus, Neptune, and ChibiMoon had just entering the park.

Not wasting any time the new arrivals instantly bounded up to where the action was. Giving Jupiter some help, Venus ensnared the two demon dogs together her golden chain. As they were in mid-leap when Venus cast her spell, the resulting bound bundle slammed into the ground beside the Jupiter. Glancing down to examine Venus's handiwork, Jupiter very glad that these two particular demons were out of the picture for at least the moment sent the blonde a quick smile of thanks before looking for something else to fight. Deciding that Mercury could use some aid in dealing with her nemesis, Jupiter proceeded to electrocute the demon kittens.

Mercury walked over to where the stunned kittens lay. Picking one of the up she examined it to make sure that it was really out of it for the moment. <Good now hopefully I won't have nightmares about these things tonight.> she thought to herself. <Now to take care of that snake.> Dropping the demon, Mercury turned to see the demon snake slither towards Sailor Moon.

She had not been the only one to see the snake, as Mars had also seen it and quickly tossed a fireball at it. However, from her point of view Mercury could see what was down range of the snake and cried out "Mars no!"

A perplexed Sailor Mars looked at Mercury wondering what was wrong. As Mercury feared the snake was easily able to avoid the fireball by dropping flat to the ground. Then as Mars watched the fireball continue, she realized the problem, but it was too late. The spell impacted the block of ice encasing the frozen alligator upon which the energy of Mars negated that of Mercury, unleashing one more demon.

"Oops" Mars at least had the grace to say as she slowly began backing away from the mess that she had just created.

Awaking from its forced slumber the gator was ready to join the battle. In examining the battlefield, its thoughts were on finding itself some lunch. Looking around the closest thing that looked like food was Sailor ChibiMoon. She was about the right size and seemed appetizing enough.

ChibiMoon had been surveying the battle to see where best to help when her eyes caught sight of the gator that was now moving towards her. Focusing on this threat, she tried to use her moon wand to attack it. While this time her attack did work on the first attempt, it did not have the desired effect. The string of surgery hearts that her wand produced where just gobbled up by the gator and due to their sugary sweetness caused it to move even faster as they just wetted its appetite for the main entrée. Seeing her attack fail, ChibiUsa was paralyzed by fear. But then at the last moment, Tuxedo-Kamen swooped down and whisked her out of harm's way.

"Tuxedo-Kamen-sama…" ChibiMoon called out in a happy voice until the two of them were suddenly pulled back down to the ground. Mamoru though he was a well-versed college student did not know much about alligators and hence did not realize that a 12-foot gator could jump up to 8 feet in the air. Which meant that even though he had leapt immediately after grabbing ChibiUsa, the gator, which had also jumped at that point, was able to grab a hold of his cape with its jaws. Thankfully, for him, he was at the edge of its striking range, and so only his cape got caught.

Falling to the ground, Tuxedo-Kamen with a torn cape rolled to a stop. ChibiMoon who had fallen out of his arms when he had been yanked back down fell to the ground not far from him. Getting to his knees, Tuxedo-Kamen shook his head and looked around. Unfortunately, things were not good at all, the gator was practically on top of them and the others were too far away to help at all. Hoping to fend off the beast, he attempted to use his extending cane. But the gator made short work of that idea, by snapping it into two.

"Uh Oh." was all Tuxedo Kamen had to say.

Thankfully for the two of them, Mercury had seen their plight. While she was too far away to help in the conventional way, she was not too far away to provide some advice. "ChibiMoon wrap your arms around its jaws in a bear hug. While it muscles can close the jaw with a force of a couple tons, the opposing muscles are very weak and cannot even lift a small child."

ChibiMoon hesitantly looked at the gator not quite confident in Mercury's belief that she would be safe. However, there wasn't really much of an option. Tuxedo-Kamen's stalling efforts against the gator was not going well. "Well if it's going to eat me, might as well face it head on." And with that ChibiMoon raced towards the gator.

"ChibiMoon!" Tuxedo-Kamen called out, having missed Mercury's explanation, as he was too busy at the time trying to keep all his limps attached and away from the jaws of that creature. He watched in horror as his future daughter wrapped her arms and legs around the mouth of that creature. Horror, which turned into amazement as he realized that it was unable to open its jaws back up.

<It's working!> ChibiMoon jubilantly thought as she realized that indeed the demon gator could not open its mouth. The demon was not too happy with this sudden change of circumstances and began to get very mad with not being able to open its jaws. While its arms were too short to reach the pray which had clamped onto its jaws, it was not without options. And so consequently, the demon began smashing ChibiMoon into the ground and any obstructions that it could find. ChibiMoon for her part just closed her eyes and held on for her life, knowing that the moment she let go that the creature would gobble her up.

While the rest of the Senshi had moved right away to engage the various demons, Sailor Moon stayed back. With her only attacks being finishing moves, she was at disadvantage until the others had sufficiently weekend the various demons. Though that had not always been the case, prior to her power up during the artic battle she had her tiara, which she could use. But this new form of hers lacked a tiara, and she couldn't handle the increased power that it gave her either. Consequently, it was hindering her more than helping her.

She could still have tried using the power of the Ginzuishou directly, especially in forming shields. However, still being a novice with the Ginzuishou and now being very wary of stretching her limits let she create another disaster like the tunnel, she did not want to even try that. All of which left her with just her moon scepter and good old fighting skills (which had improved a fair bit due to those martial arts classes that her father was making her take).

In deciding which of her Senshi to go help, Usagi happened to be looking in the right direction to see the two bound demon dogs begin to glow. Intrigued, she looked more closely and saw their glowing bodies overlap. When the overlap was complete, the two images firmed up into one larger and even more viscous dog. With little effort, it was able to snap free of the energy chain that bound its body.

Knowing where she was needed, Sailor Moon rushed towards Venus. Tackling the blond haired warrior, she pulled her down to the ground just in time to avoid being taken out by the new and improved demon dog. Rolling to her side a confused Sailor Venus looked up and saw the demon land on the other side of where she had been standing.

"Arigatoo, guess that this is not going to be quite so easy." Venus said realizing what would have happened had Sailor Moon not tackled her.

"Hai, unfortunately not." replied Sailor Moon.

Getting back two their feet, the two warriors had to immediately leap out of the way of another attack by the demon dog. Not having much patience for this demon, Venus blasted it with a crescent beam as soon as she landed. The beam hit it squarely in its flank and as it turned to growl at Sailor Venus, Sailor Moon gave it a resounding kick to its head.

Neptune and Uranus continued their face off against Kaolinite. The arrival of the full team, minus Pluto, had meant that the two of them no longer had to worry about the droid. Instead they could now concentrate all their efforts at recovering the pure heart crystal and maybe even getting lucky and taking out this lackey. They had not really expected much of an opportunity at that, as normally these lackeys would avoid engaging the Sailor Senshi themselves. And when they did, they would only do so with the bare minimum of effort and danger to their well being. But this lackey was different than all the others; this red haired witch was actually staying to fight the two of them.

Moving in an attempt to gain a momentary advantage, Uranus surmised that it was because this lackey was trying to steal a Pure Heart Crystal that she was still here. Unfortunately, that led to only one possible conclusion: that the enemy also knew about the Talismans and the Holy Grail. This was no energy gathering mission that could be replicated elsewhere, no the Pure Heart Crystal that they were fighting over very likely held one of the three Talismans.

Throwing yet another World Shaking, Uranus jumped out of the way of Kaolinite's counter attack. Landing on the ground, she had to drop down to the ground and roll to the side to avoid a follow-up fireball. Coming to stop by a park bench, she returned to her feet and saw that Neptune had thankfully gotten the witch's attention. Taking the much needed opportunity to catch her breath, she decided that the lackey was doing quite well in holding her own. Then moving to stand up, she caught sight of the Pure Heart Crystal.

Somehow in all of this chaos, she had managed to work her way over to where the crystal had been laying. Not getting up, lest she draw the attention of the enemy, Uranus reached out her arm to gently grab the fragile crystal and bring it back. Even though she had already seen one of these, just a couple of days ago, the beauty of the crystal still marveled her. Now peering into its heart she searched for the Talisman that it should contain.

Realizing that this one too was a dud, Uranus called out to Neptune, "This one does not contain a Talisman either."

Kaolinite heard Uranus's announcement as well. While she had no reason to take what one of enemies had said at face value, she decided that it would be best to concede this battle. They did have the crystal after all and looking over at the other battle, she saw Sailor Moon dust the demon dog.

Walking over to where Uranus was kneeling, Neptune reached offered the Wind Warrior her hand. As Uranus stood, Neptune said, "The enemy is indeed after the Talismans." having come to the same conclusion during the battle as Uranus.

"Hai, it would appear so. Pluto-san's warning about the magnitude of this threat is not without exaggeration."

"And our need to work separately from the others proven, for they would never approve of the sacrifices that will have to be made. But whether it be us or the enemy who does it, the lives of the Talisman carriers are forfeit."

"Hai." a sullen Uranus agreed. She like Neptune wished that they had never been given the task that lay before them. To kill innocents to retrieve magical artifacts chilled their souls. But they had to do it, as if not them, then the enemy would do the killing and then also be in possession of the most powerful artifacts in the galaxy, the power to bring around the end of the world. And it was better that they do this task and keep the blood off the hands of the others.

Reaching Hiroshi, the two warriors knelt beside the victim. Then Neptune slowly lowered the crystal back to his chest and the two of the watched as it was absorbed back into his body. Very quickly, the color of his skin returned and his breather became deeper. They stayed a few moments more as they waited to make sure that he was okay. Seeing his eyes flicker open, the two of them turned and walked to help with mopping up the rest of this attack.

Jupiter and Mercury had between the two of them the kittens and snake to fight, two opponents that were proving very difficult to get the best of, as in both cases their attacks did not seem to do much damage. The demon snake managed to dodge nearly every attack they sent its way and after that first attack by Jupiter against the kittens, they had been unable to get in a hit that hit them all. So instead of being on the offensive or at least on equal footing, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury were fighting a purely defensive battle, a battle that kept them moving less they be overwhelmed by the kittens or burned by the acid that the snake was now spitting.

At least the two of them had avoided falling victim to the kittens deadliest weapon, their "kawaii" attack, as Mercury originally had. Unfortunately, Sailor Moon was not so lucky. Coming over to assist them, she spied the kittens. Exclaiming, "How kawaii!" Sailor Moon ran headlong into the mass of demon kittens. Just before she reached them, she dropped down to the ground, resting on her knees, and reached out to pick up one of the kittens.

Bringing the demon kitten up, she was about to rub it against her face when Sailor Mars from the other side of the battle yelled out, "Odango-Atama! What are you thinking!"

Having seen the scene as well, Uranus and Neptune reacted along with Mars's exclamation by casting their spells. Fueled by the their mistresses' horror, the two attacks merged into one massive ball of energy that shredded the ground on its way towards Sailor Moon. Detonating just in front of the Moon Princess, it flung her like a rag doll backwards. Even Sailor Mars who was dashing towards her friend was knocked to the ground.

Not missing a step, Sailor Mars quickly returned to her feet and adjusted her course to head towards where Sailor Moon now lay. Reaching the silver haired warrior, she helped her sit up.

"Owiee" Sailor Moon complained as she sat up.

"Serves you right Odango-Atama for pulling a stunt like that. What were you thinking, or were you thinking at all?!" questioned a very irate Fire Senshi.

"What do you mean by that?" Sailor Moon retorted before suddenly whipping her head away from Mars to look at where her daughter was trying to manage the demon gator. Her head whipped around so fast, that her hair actually slapped against Mars's face. She watched in horror as Sailor ChibiMoon somehow managed to continue holding onto the gator's mouth while being repeatedly bashed into everything near the gator. Moving like the wind, Sailor Moon returned to her feet and headed towards the demon.

"Hey you there your play time is over." Sailor Moon called getting its attention.

Sailor Moon's challenge halted ChibiMoon's roller coaster ride. Tuxedo-Kamen who until now had been unable to help his future daughter, was finally able to get the Alligator's attention with his roses. For the gator, focusing on Tuxedo-Kamen was a fatal move, as it gave Sailor Moon the opportunity she needed to dust it with the power of her Moon Scepter.

Getting up ChibiMoon shook her body out. "Ooh that was not fun." She said knowing that she was going to have plenty of bruises when she got home tonight.

"Oops… I guess that was a bit much." Uranus commented after her attack knocked both Sailor Moon and Mars down. "Though it at least accomplished its task and maybe will encourage our princess not to let her guard down in the future."

Neptune shook her head slightly at her partners attempt to once again put overdoing something into a positive perspective. "Though next time lets try to avoid overdoing it."

"Hai." Uranus readily agreed, especially since she was feeling a bit winded from giving that much of herself into that last attack.

With the demon Alligator destroyed, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury were able to focus exclusively on the snake demon. Unfortunately, for them, it stubbornly clung onto its remaining life, refusing to die. The attacks of the Guardian Soldiers battered it, but by themselves were insufficient to take it out.

"What does it take to kill one of these things?" Jupiter asked out of frustration when another one of her attacks only managed to stun the demon.

The stunning did have a benefit though, as it allowed Mercury to finally catch the demon snake with her Aqua Illusion. And this time Sailor Mars, who had just joined the group, was not going to be so nice as to release it liked she had with the demon gator.

"Now that its on ice, its time for a planet attack." commanded Venus. The other three quickly gathered into a ring with her and they began channeling their energies. When it had built to a sufficiently level, they unleashed their combined power turning the demon into nothing more than dust. All that was left was a cracked crystal egg that quickly turned black before becoming dust itself.

"There are no more Droid signatures in the area." Mercury announced after scanning the park to make sure they hadn't missed one.

"Finally" was all Jupiter had to say as she let herself collapse to the ground while the rest of the group gathered around and also did the same.

"Is everyone okay?" Sailor Moon asked.

A chorus of yeses was returned, except for Jupiter who had to admit to having a nasty wolf bite on her upper arm. Thanks to the magic of their warrior forms she currently did not feel any pain, however she knew that once she returned to her civilian form she was going to be in agony. Plus the wound needed to be cleaned and bandaged. But right now while they took a breather, it was time to discuss the latest attack.

"Okay what just happened here, this is nothing like our previous battles. Is this a new enemy?" Venus asked.

"No that was a Droid that we faced, though a far superior version than previous ones." Mercury replied.

"And that new witch also has the same down turned black crescent moon that Rubeus has." Uranus said from where she reclining.

"That mark is the crest of Nemesis." ChibiUsa added.

"Well then I guess we can safely assume that this is indeed Rubeus, he has just found a lackey to carry out his missions. Now he doesn't need to get involved himself." Uranus said.

"Though considering the stronger Droid we just faced, it is very possible that she may be his superior or replacement. The succeeding Dark Kingdom generals we fought were each marked by an escalation of the conflict. And we were not the ones to finally defeat either Jadeite or Nephrite." Mercury suggested.

"That's true." Mars agreed, finding some comfort in the possibility of Rubeus having been eliminated. "In any case, it is a good thing that we resolved the situation with Ail and Ann when we did. Having this and those attacks still occurring…" The others just nodded their agreement with what Mars was saying, all realizing how overwhelmed they would have been.

"Where are all the people?" Sailor Moon asked. "Both Rubeus, the Dark Kingdom generals, and Ail and Ann all targeted busy areas for their energy gathering."

"Usagi's right." Mars agreed.

"This attack was directed against a single person, a middle aged man." Mercury explained. "They have changed their strategy. Instead of draining a large group of people slightly, they are now taking all the life force from a single person. My scans from earlier indicated that there is tremendous energy in the crystal that this creates, however it is lethal for the victim."

This explanation caused Sailor Moon, Venus, Mars, ChibiMoon, and Tuxedo-Kamen to all gasp with horror. "Is he …" Sailor Moon began to ask, having trouble bringing herself to say dead.

"Iie, Uranus and I were able to retrieve his Pure Heart Crystal and return it to him. He seemed to have fully recovered, I believe he quickly left the area after recovering while we were fighting those final few demons." Neptune replied.

"Pure Heart Crystals, interesting name for it, how did you come with that name?" Tuxedo-Kamen asked.

"Don't know, I guess some recovered memory from the Silver Millennium." Neptune lied. Unfortunately, she could not tell them the truth, as that would raise too many questions and get the princess and the Guardian Soldiers involved in her and Uranus's mission. And with the sacrifices that were going to have to be made, it was far better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Then seeing people begin to wander towards where they were sitting, Neptune added, "I think its time for us to make ourselves scarce."

"Hai," agreed the others. Mercury additionally added, "Also Jupiter needs to get her arm bandaged."

With a quick post-mortem of the battle taken care of the Soldiers quickly dispersed back to where they had been in the city. Jupiter headed to Ami's house to be bandaged up, while Mercury found some cover to return to her civilian form for a few minutes, as she needed to collect their picnic stuff before following. Unfortunately, for Makoto it looked like she was going to get to spend the afternoon having her arm patched up instead of visiting the botanical gardens.

Professor Tomoe looked up from his work as Kaolinite returned. The little light that existed in his laboratory reflected of his glasses making them look like they were glowing as he regarded his assistant. "I am guessing that you were not successful?"

"Hai, the Sailor Senshi managed to get the better of me. However, the Heart Crystal I had found was not a carrier of a Talisman either."

"Better luck with our next target then." Tomoe replied after, which he chuckled to himself. Then gesturing with his arm, he said, "And the loss of the tool is no problem, as we have plenty more. Next time, though I think I will have to make some improvements. Maybe some armor might help it."

End Notes:Well finally a nice short little chapter. Some simple clean action, no Hotaru almost blowing up the Earth or the like :). Now to just figure out ideas for the rest of the demons till its time to bring this adventure to an end. Had thought I was going to get this chapter out just a few weeks after the last one, as it was quickly writing itself. But then unfortunately real life intruded when I was wrapping up the chapter and well you can see the result. Though, on the positive note it was a series of interviews that caused the delay, now just to hope that one of them will become an offer.