Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ What Worth a Leaf in a Storm? ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

There was a breathless pause, able to be described so as Sailor Jupiter couldn't hear a single breath in the meeting chamber. There was only a long, slow shuffling of hundreds of uniformed rears twisting about on cheap, vinyl-upholstered chairs. Some blinked vaguely in the senshi's direction, taking a while to process this turn of events even with their leaders dramatic declaration. Some other, quicker individuals broke the silence with startled curses, jumping from their seats. Though it would embarrass her to admit it later, Jupiter fell closer to the former, gaping out at the sudden exposure that had been thrust upon her and her companion. Thankfully for the both of them and their loved ones back home, Sailor Mercury was quicker on the uptake. Not bothering to even shout a warning to Jupiter behind her, she thrust her legs straight and launched them both backwards. One of the first and most important lessons Sailor Jupiter had learned in all her training was how to take a fall, so it was the work of a moment for her to land softly and roll to a kneel, her partner's actions startling her from her stunned countenance. Sailor Mercury's strategy became readily apparent as a pair of shaky bullets fired from surprised hands struck the walls in the short hallway.

"Run!" Mercury shouted, already scrambling to her feet. Jupiter didn't have to be told twice. They paused at the other set of doors to shut them, Mercury sealing them with a spray of thick ice to buy them time. There was no opportunity to do so from the other exits from the chamber, however, and they could hear heavy, booted footsteps dashing around, and see a few of the quicker ones spilling out another doorway within view.

"You remember the way?" Jupiter asked as they sprinted back the way they had come.

"Yes, follow me," Mercury replied shortly, a dark look on her face. As they retraced their steps, Sailor Jupiter's mind whirled with the sudden reversal of fortune. He had known. They had been expected. More than that, they had been welcomed. Led into a trap. It was as though she could see fate pointing its finger at her with a self-satisfied little smirk. Mercury stopped with a startled--though quite mild and unoffensive--oath, and Jupiter heard fate laugh aloud.

"Wha--"

"Listen!" Sailor Mercury said sharply. Jupiter did listen. She bit the inside of her cheek, hearing more heavy running, but in corridors leading opposite of the audience chamber. They were being closed in.

"Well?"

"This way." Jupiter watched Sailor Mercury dash off a side corridor and bit down desire to ask her to explain more. Beating down misgivings with trust, she followed her friend. Their boots and panting breath sounded unnaturally loud in the metallic corridors, and made it hard for a strained ear to pick up the sounds of pursuit.

"There's only the one entrance," Mercury said. Sailor Jupiter didn't have to ask the significance of that information.

"So what do we do?"

"We have to get through them, somehow."

Jupiter nodded. She had been hoping it wouldn't come to that, enemies or no. If ever there was a plan that Jupiter could say played to her strengths, however, this was it. Her arms and body felt better, too, given their light rest. She flexed her fingers and elbows as she ran, and decided that the soreness in them was nothing she couldn't work past.

"If I remember the layout of our path correctly, the best place for them to set up a block would be at the end of the hallway coming up to our left. There are other ways to get to the entrance hall, but they would take too long to get too. We'd have to fight our way there, through the people we've left behind, just to reach another detachment blocking the path anyway."

"Got it," Jupiter acknowledged tersely. Different scenarios played through her mind, various ways in which she could neutralize the approaching threat. She couldn't think of too many options left to her that wouldn't be very, very unpleasant for the people trying to capture them, but Sailor Jupiter ruthlessly suppressed her misgivings. At this point, their own safety was most important. And Sailor Mercury's safety was the priority, she added silently. They approached the turn cautiously. Jupiter had been ready to run out and take them by surprise at full speed, but when Mercury slowed to a jog, Jupiter followed suit, until they walked, gulping for air by the intersection.

"Maybe we can still get through without hurting anybody too badly." A desperate somberness sparkled in Sailor Mercury's blue eyes, "Not even by accident," she added. Jupiter watched her take a deep breath and cross her hands before her chest. "We have to get through here. The entrance is a short way past. We have to make it." Mercury seemed to be steeling herself for something, and her friend felt her stomach sink. Before she could so much as ask what Mercury planned, however, the Senshi of Intelligence leaped out into plain sight and released the attack she'd been preparing.

"Shabon Spray!" Cascading before her was one of the more powerful examples of this attack Jupiter had seen her use before, jetting from between her extended arms like pressured steam from a ruptured pipe. Coming the other way, however, were the sounds of gunfire and the heavy, horrible sounds of metal striking metal behind the exposed senshi.

"Mercury!" Jupiter left thought behind this time, and jumped forward. tackling her friend around the waist and rolling them around the other corner. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sailor Jupiter snarled, fear infusing her words with more ire than she meant. Her friend turned to her with relief stark in her face, raising a hand that trembled slightly to grasp Jupiter's arm.

"I'm still alive, then," she noted, swallowing. "That's good." Sailor Jupiter could scarcely believe her ears.

"What's that supposed to mean? When did you suddenly get a death wish?"

"I have no such thing!" Mercury said, taken aback at the accusation. "But I don't want to hurt anybody." Jupiter took a deep breath and steadied herself, resting her head on one hand.

"That's all well and good, Sailor Mercury, but it's not a good enough reason for me to go back alone. I'll personally take down each and every one of them before I let them touch a hair on your head." She growled.

"Jupiter, you can't mean that!" Mercury shoved herself up into a crouching position, looking fiercely into her friend's face.

"Every word. And why not?"

"We're Sailor Senshi! Fighters of love and justice. You heard him back there, what they think of us; are you going to go prove them right, use your power to wade through them like a storm through autumn leaves? Whatever we do, we can't kill. They're people." Mercury said adamantly, a heart-wrenching plea underscoring her determination.

"You're a people too, if you hadn't noticed. I don't have any intention of killing, but if it's the only way to keep you alive, I will. I wouldn't be much of a fighter for love if I couldn't protect somebody I love." If I couldn't fight for the one I love most, she wanted to say. She looked hard into Mercury's eyes, softened by her declaration but still stubborn, obviously refusing to consider using overt force against their enemy. Jupiter looked worriedly over her shoulder. Mist still poured out of the hallway Mercury had filled, obscuring everything. It was unlikely that the enemy was making any kind of advance, they had to be expecting their senshi opponents to be laying in wait to wreak a terrible retribution. Nevertheless, they still needed to make their way through.

"How do you propose we get through there, then? Work that mind of yours. If you can think of something that doesn't put you at unnecessary risk, I'll still follow you." Jupiter's lip twisted savagely, after she spoke, however. Jupiter didn't want to argue with her friend, but her expression was clear indication that her previous words had been no bluff. With that knowledge sitting squarely on her shoulders, Mercury cast nervous eyes over their surroundings, trying to find something--anything, that could get them through.
"Sailor Jupiter, how strong do you think those doors are?"

Jupiter cast an appraising eye down the hall they crouched in. "How hard to get off the hinges, or how much punishment they can take?"

"Both."

"I was hoping as much," the Senshi of Courage grinned. "This might work. Come give me a hand."

They jogged down the hall. "You think they're staying put?" Jupiter asked.

"I hope so. Chances are nobody wants to be the first to meet us. We do have a somewhat fearsome reputation around here."

"Isn't that lucky for us?"

They reached a doorway into another room.

"Aluminum." Mercury said, running a gloved hand along its surface. She turned to Jupiter and shrugged. "If it's good enough for airplanes...?"

"It's good enough for me. Chill the hinges?" Mercury did so, then they both backed up and ran, hitting it solidly with two shoulders. It snapped off cleanly and Jupiter caught it before it could fall over.

"Hmph. I'm glad this is a light metal," she grunted, hefting its weight. "Any better way to carry this around?"

"Not that I can think of, but I'll help."

Jupiter nodded glumly and they each took an end, carrying it back to the intersection. "Here's hoping," she said. "I wouldn't mind a little more smokescreen as we pass by, this things probably gonna blow some of the mist away. Mercury nodded. Holding their improvised shield--or battering ram, depending on your perspective--upright, Jupiter gripped the sides of the door and breathed a quick prayer that no shots were so unfortunate as to land on her exposed fingers. Then she ran. She hadn't expected running down a hall with a door to be very subtle, but the enemy picked up on their reappearance sooner than she might have hoped, and she started feeling shots rattling her shield within the first few steps. She also hadn't quite counted on how much those constant impacts would affect her inertia; going forward was more difficult than she might have thought. Suddenly, though, the fire stopped. Jupiter did not, and she heard a startled cry from ahead, followed by a few fearful moans. Jupiter grinned. Some things transcended language. Clearly, they weren't quite sure how they could all have missed, and were more than a little concerned at the sounds of the senshi still bearing down on them in the short hall. It was a little late for them, but fire started up again. Within seconds, however, Jupiter was among them, feeling somewhat larger, but more yielding, thuds upon the door. She felt a tightening in her throat and stomach, knowing that this was easily the most dangerous part of this ploy, now that they had enemies behind them. Plus, all the enemy needed to have done was kept a small detachment apart from the main force to give them more trouble than they really needed. Jupiter misgauged the distance to the end of the hall, easy to do given she couldn't see it, and she ran solidly into the wall. She shook a smarting hand about, the one that had been sandwiched between the door and the wall, but that was the worst of her injuries. Behind her Mercury blasted their wake with another Shabon Spray, obscuring their path again, and distracting the enemy somewhat with a cold mist driven into their eyes besides. Then her hand was in Mercury's and she was being pulled along, away from here. Towards the entrance, and freedom. A bullet winged its way against the wall just as she turned the corner, and she heard boots starting to beat on the floor again.

"They won't be as hesitant now, Mercury. Why would all-powerful senshi hit them with a door?" Jupiter noted, with a hint of accusation in her voice. She couldn't help but feel that a stronger show of force would have been much more effective, would have kept them safer, but she had said that she would follow Mercury if she didn't put herself in direct danger. Sailor Mercury didn't respond to that note in Jupiter's voice, instead saying,

"We're almost outside. We can lose them in the forest. I'll send a signal through the security system to open the door." Jupiter was surprised when she heard a hum and metallic creak, if faintly. She hadn't suspected they were quite this close. They ran through a room, cutting a corner through two paths, and of a sudden Jupiter saw a growing patch of light ahead. They were near the end of the entrance hall; Jupiter could see the side door far ahead, the one they had ducked through when first entering. The other thing she could see is that it was a rather long way to the exit. A very long, very straight way. The weighted patter of their enemies too close behind.

"Faster,' Jupiter said needlessly, though they both found themselves digging a little deeper for a final sprint after she had. The first few militiamen turned the corner. Amateurs, they began firing without taking the time to aim, sending bullets whizzing around the two senshi. It was the next group turning the corner that were more a problem, taking the time to steady their arms and breath before squeezing off their shots. Jupiter tried to calm her nerves and focus on running, knowing that if they were truly trained well they would be trying for torso shots, giving the two fleeing friends some amount of--

Thud! Jupiter's eyes widened and her breath left her explosively, feeling like a burly mechanic had swung a wrench against her ribs. She stumbled, but training kept her on her feet and she forced air into her lungs, one protesting fiercely, but she forced air into it anyway.

"Jupiter!" Mercury slowed, but Sailor Jupiter was already accelerating again and roughly pushed her concerned friend forward. Inside she cursed a few times, not wasting breath on making them audible. Padded and bullet-proof their fuku might be, but by god did that hurt. Neither of them could take many of those, she knew now, and she wondered how long it might be until a stray shot hit somewhere unprotected, or they got wise and started aiming for such unguarded areas. Their impressive speed had them nearing the exit at a remarkable clip, but Jupiter wondered if it would be enough. As if to add weight to her concerns, she was hit again, this time in the shoulder blade. Her back throbbed and she half-turned with the impact, her feet working but unable to stay under her. She caught herself with one hand, the same side as had gotten hit, and though her entire arm ached with it she pushed herself back up and tried to prevent losing momentum. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she saw Mercury ahead of her and wondered idly if most of the enemy was focusing on her as the bigger and easier to hit target. Feeling as though she could have screamed in frustration, Jupiter saw her friend stop on the cusp of the stairway leading out, and turn back. With an odd, rolling gate brought about by the ache in her back muscles, Jupiter was almost there as well, could smell forest loam heavy in the air. She wanted to yell at Mercury to get the hell out before she got herself hurt too, that she couldn't do anything. From the way she stood posed, Jupiter got the feeling that Mercury was about to try and make yet another obscuring mist to shield their retreat, but she was never able to. Mercury was turning, her profile facing Jupiter. The Senshi of Courage could see but one of her eyes, narrowed with determination. Then amidst the occasional clang and whiz of missed shots, there came a sickening crunch, and a wet thud. That determined eye flew open, blinded by a sudden pain, and Jupiter felt sick herself, seeing a splatter of read across the stairs and a pool swiftly forming around Sailor Mercury's leg, a cascade of brilliant red boiling down terrifyingly fast from a knee that looked nothing less than ruined.

It couldn't support her weight, and Jupiter watched helplessly as her leg buckled beneath her, as she fell inevitably upon the joint and cried out in pain. The sight and sound flooded Jupiter's senses. Sailor Mercury's pained breath sounded clearly to her, the sight of her pale face, every line of it, every lock of hair strewn about it, the way her jaw was set, all of it burned into Jupiter's eyes. Even the scent of Mercury's spilled blood seemed to come unnaturally clearly to her, heavy and nauseating to contemplate. To contemplate the fact that it was Mercury's blood, Ami's blood, the life of her friend spilling out onto this cold bastion of their enemy. The strangely sharp, metallic tone of that scent drove a copper spike through her mind and the bright red of it washed over Jupiter's view. Her muscles filled with a strange sense of power despite the abuse they'd taken. She slowed as she approached the steps and turned in front of her dearest friend. Fearlessly she faced her enemy, heedless of the killing intent they still directed at her. She was filled to the absolute brim with a rage that she could hardly recognize, but didn't care to argue with. She embraced it, let it fill her every cavity with white-hot heat. As she felt she would inevitably burst free of her own flesh with it, she released it.

"Supreme!" Jupiter clenched her limbs, raising her hands, forcing her internal power to begin its manifestation. The rod from her tiara extended, crackling in the air. "Thunder!" Snaps of electricity whipped from her into the walls around her, desperately seeking release. They stretched between her legs, her arms, her fingers, lightning arced even between her eyelashes.

"DRAGON!" A massive being came forth from the air before her, something almost too bright too look at. It was all crackling energy and a hungry, snapping maw, with wicked claws that hooked into the walls of the heavy metal hallway, tearing through them like paper. It sped down the hallway, pulling itself along by its claws, pressing forward with movements of arcing wings that left scorch marks in the ceiling and walls. No enemy was there to see this, however. Far before it had made it even a quarter of the way towards them, they had taken a page from the books of their more frightened or wise comrades, and were fleeing.

Sailor Jupiter, the Senshi of Lightning, fell to her knees in the hallway, silent but for the horrible tearing of the elemental dragon still seeking its prey. Jupiter somehow doubted it would find what it sought, its life would likely not continue much further than the end of the passage, but she wouldn't mind terribly if one of those fools had tripped. More surprisingly, perhaps, was the lack of malice she found in herself at that thought. She felt drained, tired beyond even the spectacular display of energy she'd performed, as taxing as that could be. Even her anger seemed to have been thrown out with that creature, and now she just heaved herself back to her feet by pure willpower, no anger left to fuel her. Her heart ached as she viewed again the source of that anger, but it was only sadness and pain that filled her now. Perhaps even guilt, as Mercury seemed a little less pained now, and looked at Jupiter with something that might almost have been fear in her eyes.

"Mercury, Ami-chan..."

"There's first-aid equipment back with our packs, let's go." Sailor Mercury said. Jupiter nodded, and held out her hand. They got Mercury to her feet and Jupiter got under her arm, holding almost all of her weight. The going was slow, with her injury. She could hardly hold her leg off the ground to prevent putting weight on it, it was more just dragging along the ground, causing her obvious pain, but Mercury didn't say a word, clenching her teeth to keep from crying out for all she was worth. Jupiter remembered where they had lain in wait and headed in that direction. They hadn't taken their packs this far, though, they remained back at their most recent campsite. Once they got to the cover of the trees, Mercury signaled a stop and she slumped against a trunk, heaving for breath.

"Have... to stop.... bleeding," she gasped. Jupiter had noticed the thin trail Mercury was leaving.

"Change back," Sailor Jupiter suggested. "You're clothes, we can make a tourniquet." That's what they did. A sleeve torn off of her shirt and made into strips wound its way around her upper thigh, mostly staunching the flow. She needed to get back to the campsite and get it dressed, however. Jupiter looked back apprehensively at the entrance to the enemy headquarters as well. How long until they stopped running, until somebody convinced them that they needed to go out into the forest, that they could take safety in the trees to attack? Hopefully, she thought fiercely, she'd shown them that the senshi were not to be trifled with. Perhaps none of them would want to be the first charred corpse littering the forest floor. She could hope, at least. For now, she turned her back to Ami and knelt.

"Grab on, hold onto my shoulders as tight as you can."

"You can't carry me the whole way," Ami protested weakly.

"I don't believe I asked you to argue, I believe I told you to get on. I'll try to be careful, but this won't be gentle." Ami didn't argue this time, and more fell onto Jupiter's back than climb. Jupiter felt arms wrap around her neck. Unseen to Ami, tears stung Sailor Jupiter's eyes, trickling down her cheeks. Her heart and body felt full again, but it wasn't rage this time. She wasn't sure what it was. She felt her own fatigue, and the draining aftershock of all that released rage. She felt the throbbing aches in her shoulder, and her ribs, She felt a sharpness where she only now suspected a rib might have cracked. She felt the adrenaline of their flight pumping through her blood. She felt sweat running down her face. She smelled acrid smoke wafting from behind her. And she felt Ami's arms around her, trembling with their own pain and fatigue. She heard Ami's shallow breath. She felt the cold sweat on Ami's arms, rubbing onto her jaw and cheeks. She felt all of this, and her green eyes cried. She caught her breath, however, and her voice was steady when she said, "I'm going." If Ami felt any of the tears that rolled down to touch her linked arms, she either assumed it sweat or refrained from commenting.

Sailor Jupiter broke into as swift a jogging run as she dared. Her legs burned, for she had been running for a while now. Even with all the endurance from years of training and all the inborn strength of a senshi, her legs burned. Entertaining a moment of bleak humor, she told herself that it had been a while since she'd felt this strong a fatigue in her muscles, she obviously needed to exercise harder. Ami bore the rough travel the best she could. Jupiter was tall enough that Ami had no fear of her injured limb dragging on the ground, and she tried to hold her thigh clear of Sailor Jupiter's running, both to avoid tripping up her friend and to avoid a painful kick. After what couldn't have been more than an hour but felt like days, Jupiter found their old campsite. She didn't dare bring Ami back into the brush that they'd hid themselves in, so gently eased her down against a tree and ducked inside to retrieve their belongings. When she emerged, she found Ami ashen-faced and immediately assumed the worst.

"Ami?"

"I can't..." the uninhibited fear in Ami's voice tightened Jupiter's throat, but she looked at the hand that Ami extended towards her. Clenched in a white-knuckled grasp was her Sailor Communicator, and on the screen of it was a field of static.

 

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Makoto ate mechanically, Ami mirroring her. Some color had returned to Ami's face during the day, though she ruefully admitted that her injury hurt far more now that the shock had worn off. The wound had been treated with antibiotics and bandaged as well as could be done, however, Ami giving her friend very detailed instructions on how best to do it. A light painkiller helped her somewhat, as did the knowledge that, properly tended to, her injury wouldn't be fatal. That alone was a sort of psychological painkiller. Makoto's bruises were well on their way to mending as well; senshi healing was a wonderful thing. Still hurt quite a bit, of course, but her muscles had loosened and she could walk normally now, and the sharpness she had worried was a cracked rib had receded. Whether the bone had mended quickly or it had been something else, she didn't know. They had made a few movements over the course of the day, trying to put some distance from the enemy headquarters, but their progress seemed pitifully slow. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of another human since their flight. The enemy could have been thinned by spreading out, unaware of what path their quarry had taken, or they might not have put together a pursuit. Ami hadn't spoken of Makoto's actions during their escape.

They also hadn't spoken much more about the state of their communicators. Jupiter couldn't begin to hazard a guess at what was going on with them and didn't want to bother Ami about things she couldn't grasp. Ami wrestled with the problem in her mind, but nothing came of it. That both hers and Makoto's suffered from the same problem came close to ruling out damage, but her mind shuddered away from contemplating what sort of knowledge the enemy need possess to possibly jam the signal. Then again, however, that leader of theirs had seemed eerily knowledgeable. He had known about the pair of them coming, had known when they had arrived. Had planned his meeting for their arrival, to lure them in, to trap them. He had known exactly where they were listening in. Besides the communicators, both senshi found their thoughts being drawn to that knowledge.

When they weren't thinking about that, they were caught by gloomy contemplation of their chances of reaching civilization again. They were days away from a highway by foot, and that had been when they were hale and fresh. It was likely longer to get back there now, and Ami had to consider whether it was more efficient to try and reach the highway and trust that a friendly passerby helped them before less friendly eyes, or cut through the forest for a straighter line to town. In the end, she decided on the highway. Not that it made much difference to their mood right now, weeks in the rainforest was weeks in the rainforest, wherever their destination.

With how they had patched Ami's leg, it was held slightly bent, so that she could walk, supported on Makoto, and keep her leg from dragging. This was how they passed their days for now, walking at their snail-like pace and settling in for frequent breaks and meals. Their rations were also becoming more of a worry. They had planned on being able to call in support after emerging, rather than having to hike back to a city or highway, and their slower pace meant they got less distance from each meal in any case. Deciding to be conservative now before it became a problem, their mood still wasn't helped by being a bit hungrier than either was comfortable with. Ami joked that she needed to diet anyway, after years of American food, but the humor was strained.

 

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A black rage filled the empty place in his chest, and somewhere he wondered about that. His dark eyes viewed those under his command with contempt, and he wondered about that. He remembered clearly a pride in his leadership, in his troops. A pride in knowing that he worked for a better tomorrow, but right now all that consumed him was a desire for pain, and death. A desire for the blood of his enemies. His troops balked at moving. They feared the power that had been unleashed; hearing of the authoritarian senshi's unnatural powers was one thing, being on the receiving end of them was another. Their confidence had been foolishly high when they had faced only ice and mist, only to be demolished when a creature of thunder and hunger and death had pursued them down the halls of their own base, screeching its rage and scoring their stronghold. They feared to face that again, no matter all the powers of persuasion and patriotism that he tried to lever on their souls. Gradually in his dark mind he perceived what must then be done. He cursed dark oaths, having wanted to keep this secret a while more, but for the sake of hunting his prey, and for restoring his people's faith in their own ability to wage war on the senshi and win, he must unleash this power. His followers he gathered once more, they shocked and guilty, he hiding his dark, smoldering anger underneath a mask of remorse.

"I underestimated the evil works of our accursed enemy, my friends. I take all the responsibility for your hurts, for your fears. I knew not what I sent you into, what depraved lows these so-called defenders of justice would sink to in their own souls to further their dark works. I had, on some occasion in the past, sought information about our enemy, though in the hopes I would never have to use it. I had hoped that our stalwart efforts would be enough to vanquish our foes, our strong hearts, but even the will of the bravest and truest cannot always stand against the gates of hell. So I delve back into the histories of our enemies. In all their efforts to bring the world under their control, there was always something that even the senshi feared, and had trouble vanquishing. Whatever their own agenda in those times--the histories of our 'benevolent' Crystal Tokian government would have us believe them evil, but can we trust the serpent to speak of evil?--the only force that ever could stand on equal footing against these Sailor Senshi were those known as 'Youma.' I sought information on these creatures, these Youma, but all were supposedly threats from outside our dimension, or outside our world. Whatever the veracity of this, it remained that no trace of them could be found on the earth. However, that did not stop my efforts. In the science that the new world order has funded have come remarkable advancements. These advancements, when coupled with the brilliant minds and true hearts of men of science, allied with us, have resulted in the most remarkable of innovations. No longer are Youma the things of the histories, instead they are creatures of our own make, under my own command, armed with the power to defend us against the senshi. Not only defend, but to eventually strike back! To reach a powerful hand into the heart of our enemy and jerk it out, and allow the stolen life of the Silver Millennium to flow back into our homelands. My people, I present to you the future nature of our conflict! Now, might we show our enemy that their unnatural power is no match for the genius and spirit of our hearts. Even as we speak, the first of our Youma goes through the forest on the fleetest of feet, tracking our enemy with the sharpest of sense. In what should be no more than a matter of a day should he return, carrying with him the evidence of his victory. We shall send to the Crystal Palace itself the ostentatious ornaments of their crowns, the symbols of authority, and in so shall we make them know fear."

A small smile stretched mirthlessly across his lips. A little crude, perhaps, but based on the reactions of the puppets before him, this declaration would work well enough. Still, that he might have had more time to craft more stirring words... it was all a matter of style, really, but the successful escape of those two meddlers had not been according to plan. One couldn't always maintain their poise when surprised, and surprised he had been. The one, the one whose every movement radiated with strength, she who was supposed to represent the fifth planet in this solar system, she had surprised the most. Such power she had unleashed; surely he had known about it inside her, seen the potential, but never in his own impressive understanding had it occurred to him that she might use it.

It was of no matter. Perhaps his hand had been forced early, but none would know it. His face, his motives, his intentions were all still an inky-black enigma to his enemies, and the odds were in his favor. His irritation would be cleared enough with her strong blood spilling onto the soil of his homeland, bringing this country the strength to stand up for justice.

 

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Their journey continued, slowly but surely. They both began breathed easier as no sign of pursuit evidenced itself, but there was plenty more to worry about in the meantime. Makoto's chief concern remained Ami's condition. Whenever she asked, Ami would claim she was fine, but Makoto could easily see the strain of travel in her. She'd sustained a serious injury and lost quite a bit of blood, she was on short ration, and she was being forced to exertion every day. After one particularly long and heated argument, she'd convinced Ami to take a larger portion of food and cut her own. Ami had refused stubbornly, right up until Makoto said she would cut her own share anyway, and throw what she didn't eat out into the jungle. It was a rash, irrational, emotional decision--and one she might not have been able to keep when she got hungry--but the argument served its purpose, convincing her intelligent friend that she didn't have a choice.

Some nights, too, they heard the sounds of unfamiliar animals. A strangled howl, a guttural roar, a jagged shriek; all sounded almost, but not quite, like the sounds of animals they knew well. Makoto wasn't one to assume she knew the cries of all the animals in the world, but Ami seemed especially troubled by these, insisting that there was nothing in this land that should be making a noise like that. Perhaps not in all the world, she would sometimes add, but Makoto just nodded, privately allowing Ami some degree of paranoia, after what they'd gone through. She might have been concerned about being attacked by a jaguar with a sore throat, but she wasn't going to start creating ghouls and monsters from nothing. Occasionally she would give thought to her own past, where such creatures had been the subject of her daily life, but that part of her history was gone; her enemies had been humans this time, nothing more, and the monsters could stay in the past where they belonged.

Unfortunately for her, the next day showed that she would have to turn more attention to this unknown creature. Previously they had only heard the strange cries in the night, when their blood would run most cold at the unearthly noise. The sun shone bright overhead now, however, likely only slightly past noon by her reckoning, and they heard it, this time with less a howl and more a screech, ending in a rough, clipped fashion, almost like a cough. It also sounded very close, though without knowing how loud it actually was they couldn't say how close. Makoto's heart thumped loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Ami's did as well. Her steps slowed, until they stood in the jungle. Ami took a moment to lean against a nearby tree.

"Mako-chan?" She asked.

"I think I'm going to transform," Makoto stated, eyes scanning her surroundings. "I don't want to worry about doing it later."

They continued after that, Sailor Jupiter feeling a little more steady now. She still kept a wary eye on her surroundings, and she often caught herself shaping her hands to the proper form for calling an attack. In one bizarre moment of irreverence, she caught herself wondering how well electricity cooked things, and how well jaguar tasted. The pangs in her stomach, meager lunch bare hours before but long forgotten, may have had something to do with that train of thought. It helped her pass the time though, until the cry came again. There was no ambiguity about it this time, it was close. She gently disengaged herself from Ami and faced the forest in the direction the scream had come. Within seconds, she heard an irregular thumping.

BUMP...BUMP-bump, BUMP...BUMP-bump, BUMP...BUMP-crunch, BUMP...BUMP-bump.

It came closer, and Sailor Jupiter's muscles tensed. This was not the gentle, padding stalk of a big cat, or the regular beat of booted feet. She had no idea what this was. It seemed to sway and jerk around as well, so that whenever she thought she had pinpointed the sound, and could watch the forest for its appearance, it would shift to the side and she would adjust her stance, feeling a spike of worry in her stomach, hoping that this enemy wouldn't burst out at her in a split-second of adjustment. She thought she spotted it, a hulking shadow, a brush of moment in the foliage, and followed it with her eyes as it made a jump to the side. She understood the occasional crunches in its gate, seeing bark fly from a tree. It was still mostly obscured in the brush, but she saw a hulking form with a shaggy coat of dark fur that almost seemed to shine with a purplish undertone in the sunlight. Ask questions later, she thought.

"Supreme Thun--" the call died on her lips as a horrific, deafening cracking, tearing sound erupted in the forest and a tree seemed to stand up and fly in her direction. She tried to dodge, but the bulk of it caught her across the shoulder and side and knocked her down, rolling across the forest floor until some thick brush provided her a gentle stop. Shaking her head once and calling on all the luck in the world, she levered herself up and looked back where she'd come. Ami had gotten herself out of the way, and was looking wildly over at her, to make sure she was okay.

"Mercury Cry--" Ami got no further than had Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter watched in horror as the full bulk of their enemy loomed behind Ami, as a massive, five-clawed hand gripped itself around her upper body, the tips of huge, yellowed nails almost touching, fingers wrapped all the way around both of her shoulders. Up, she was lifted, and then down she was driven, into the hard, unyielding earth. The monster let go, and she lay still, but that wasn't enough for it. Up the huge limb raised again, claws looking almost hungry, already tasting blood.

"Supreme Thunder!" A wicked bolt of lightning erupted from Sailor Jupiter now, arcing from the lightning rod on her tiara to blast the creature squarely in its unprotected chest. However, it did no more than straighten in some measure of surprise, the electricity diffusing across its fur. It paused to regard this other creature it had not considered a threat, and Sailor Jupiter got her first good look at it.

It's legs were ridiculously long, coiled with thick, ropy muscle and tendons. They bent back on themselves at the knee like a frogs until they were almost doubled in on themselves, and the creatures pelvis hung barely a foot above the ground. They ended in feet like a cats, seeming to be on tip-toes, but the claws that ended the toes were more like a dogs or bears, always extended and seeming worn with use, though still large enough to be a dangerous threat. The upper body that was supported on this frame was remarkably human, but for the thick coat of purplish fur covering it. They were the the narrow waist and broad shoulders of a remarkably fit human male, with stomach and chest muscles ripping just where they would on a person. The arms, too, were human-like, though much longer, the wickedly curving claws turning in about where the creatures pelvis was. Any insignificant semblance to humanity stopped very abruptly at the head, however. A savage canine muzzle wrinkled in a throaty growl was affixed to a more feline face, striped with jet-black fur over the deep purple that covered the rest of it. It's eyes were bright, acidic green streaked with a more sickly yellow, with narrow slitted pupils like a cats, or a snakes. Ears flapped up and down a few times, the interior a gentle pink that seemed out of place on this monster, but they came to rest flattened on its head, the ear canals closed. Jupiter couldn't say what that was for.

Its chest filled and emptied like a bellows as it consumed massive amounts of air. In fact, Sailor Jupiter thought it was breathing unusually hard, unless it had somehow run to them from far away and been so foolish as to run out and attack. Most earthly creatures knew better than that, but who was to say what this monster could, or would, do? To highlight that thought, it suddenly emitted a grotesque sucking noise, and a cloud of smoke--no, steam, shot out from its back, and it suddenly seemed to breath easier. Jupiter gulped. This thing was very alien, and it was standing over her dearest one, and she was alone. Fortunately, in a way, it seemed to forget the prey it had had a moment before, and stepped right over Ami, walking with a peculiar grace with its awkward legs. The thing stood about a foot over Jupiter already, with its legs folded, and about four times her width. She wondered that it didn't extend its legs, but perhaps they were only for jumping or swifter travel. Perhaps that would help keep it from bringing those to bear as weapons, she hoped, but she wasn't about to place any faith in that theory. Its eyes regarded her with nothing approaching intelligence, but they did shine with a purely animalistic cunning. Sailor Jupiter thought for a moment. Lightning had obviously been useless, but that wasn't all she could bring to bear in a situation.

"Jupiter Oa--" It's eyes widened hugely as she began her cry, and its legs fired unreasonably fast. There was no way something so huge could be fired off like that, but the evidence of it flew towards her faster than she had time to think. Not faster, however, than she had time to react. She ducked beneath its reaching, grasping claws. She turned to face it and saw it with its claws dug into a tree to stop it. She had no opportunity to try her attack again, as it came on her quickly. Quite obviously, however, she was no slouch when it came to physical blows either. She quickly ascertained that it was monstrously strong, as its frame might have suggested, and possessed inhuman speed. Well, it wasn't human after all. That much was glaringly obvious as her bare flesh contacted its fur, which was oddly rubbery. Might even have been some sort of organic rubber, giving it that frustrating immunity to her electrical powers.

The Senshi of Courage could hardly be called weak or slow, but she admitted that she was outclassed, twisting around and knocking away the monsters thrusting arms and grasping claw-hands. As she gazed into its increasingly frustrated, enraged eyes, she began to realize the only thing keeping her alive. Years of training had done more than given her a fit body, it had also shown her exactly how to use it. She knew just how far to move, just how much force to apply, to how far to extend herself to do what she needed. This creature was clumsy, she marveled. It was so fast that it hardly mattered, but her experienced eye could see that it was expending far too much effort and putting itself out too far for what it needed to do.

Even so, she was hard-pressed defending herself. It was all well and good knowing what was keeping her alive, but if that's all it was doing, she was hardly helped. As the fight progressed, she found herself giving ground more and more rapidly. She tired, and the monstrous force behind even blocked blows were enough to send her reeling. She thought it might be getting tired as well, as it started breathing hard, but once again that squelching sound came from its back and steam billowed out of it, and it came back on her with renewed fervor. Jupiter wracked what part of her brain wasn't focused on surviving to the problem of how to win.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" A rush of sparkling water burst from the side to contact the creature, literally freezing it in its assault. Sailor Jupiter watched as ice crawled over its shoulder and part of its chest, trapping the leg of the same side with it. The creature howled in frustration. Before Jupiter could even begin to consider how she could take advantage of the situation, however, the ice shattered with a massive, combined flexing of its limb muscles. Quick as a whip, it snatched a larger chunk of the ice out of the air and flung it contemptuously to its source, Sailor Mercury who had somehow managed to transform and try to get in on the fight, injury or no. The chunk, about the size of a doubled fist, hit her on her collar bone and she fell back, panting. It seemed the creature might forget its issue with Jupiter and switch focus again, but as it turned its back to her Jupiter took her chance and aimed a kick with all the strength she could muster at its exposed back. It howled, though whether in anger or pain Jupiter did not know, and turned back to her again, lashing out with a strong arm faster than Jupiter could hope to react this time. Jagged, razor claws sunk their way into her shoulder and the arm tried to drive its way down, seeking her heart. She put her arms up to stop its search, and with force of sheer, desperate will she tore the claws from her flesh.

"Sh-shabon... Spray!" Sailor Mercury cried weakly, again, and a finely focused stream of chilled, moist mist jetted straight at the monster, rather than spreading out in an obscuring screen. Tiny flakes of frost in the stream melted instantly against body-heated fur, and the creature was coated in wetness. Bewildered, the creature nonetheless turned to Mercury again, its current enemy forgotten once more in its mind.

"Jupiter, lightning, now!"

The creature stepped in seemingly casual form towards Ami again, heedless of the danger it had been put into. For all Jupiter knew, it hadn't been put into danger, and this wouldn't be any more effective than it had been last time. Ami was taking this, "I trust you" thing a little too far, Jupiter thought. But trust Ami she did, and her mind shuddered to think what would happen if this didn't work. The monster would make short work of her after this, and be free to pursue its torment of Ami at its leisure. Panting, and with blood welling from three deep tears in her chest, she raised her hands again.

"My guardian, Jupiter! Brew a storm! Call the clouds!" Overhead, clouds coalesced, darkening, combining their stores of rain. Thunder rumbled over the horizon. The monster, an quizzical, curious look on its face, turned its head upward to view this surely unnatural sudden change in its environment. "Bring down the lightning!" Lightning flickered among the thick, rolling clouds that now moved overhead, and a few stray pieces even came down nearby, falling unseen from where they stood. Hot thunder crashed all around from these stray bolts, and the creature actually let out a whimper at these noises, it appeared even this creature knew the dangers of nature itself.

"Supreme Thunder!" From above came a lightning bolt so large it dwarfed those other strays, and it came down right on top of the creature, bathing it in blue-white light. Sailor Jupiter watched, and saw electricity coursing over it, making a path through the conductive water coating it from Mercury's attack. The power had hardly anywhere to damage, as it was still coated in its unusual rubbery fur, but in seconds she saw smoke start to curl from around its nostrils, and ears, and the corners of its eyes. It thrashed about, Jupiter backing up a few careful steps, and she saw heavier smoke billowing from parts on its back which spasmed, six organic chambers opening and closing along it. Then the lightning was gone, though the creature was still not yet dead. Slowly, laboriously, it flailed about, screaming its hurt to the countryside. Thin smoke still curled from the same areas, vulnerable mucus membranes and entrances to its insides, and Jupiter wondered how invasive her attack had been. Whatever the state of the inside of the creature, though, it was still dangerous, and Jupiter could hardly stand to watch it stumble about in its suffering. She gulped with a dry throat, steeling herself for one last attack, and then she could rest.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" She twirled about and bright green leaves materialized from her, whirling towards the monster. They struck it, one after the other, heavy, exploding impacts that no natural creature could hope to withstand for long, and this creature appeared natural enough for that. The rain of hammer blows against it stopped, and it whimpered one last time, taking an unsteady step that ended with it toppling to the side. It lay on its front, one claw futilely sinking into the ground as it tried to crawl forward, or push itself up, or something. It breathed once, twice, and a third time, before the last exhaled, rattling from its lungs, and it moved no more. Jupiter slumped down, staring stupidly at the red stain spreading down her side, while somebody called to her, but that person sounded so far away.