Appearance of a Terror! The Dark Kingdom is Tough!
A terrifying mass of sludge and limbs dashed through the streets of Tokyo, terrorizing citizens in its path. One by one, civilians were trapped in the creature's slimy arms, screaming as their energy was sucked from them.
High above the scene of carnage hovered a man dressed in black and chartreuse, hiding in a cloud and watching over the youma. It was almost humorous, in a horrible way, how the senshi had managed to kill three of the Shitennou so quickly. Only he and Kunzite were left now; the Dark Kingdom seemed to be fighting a losing battle. Still, Beryl seemed as confident as ever that they could succeed - her almost-blind confidence was as exhilarating as ever for Iblis.
The youma shrieked in rapture as another innocent fell at its feet, now a dry, empty husk that had been drained of all its energy. As the youma turned around to face a screaming child, Iblis smirked to himself. It wouldn't be long now before they appeared...and when the youma's sacrifice was made, he'd be there to make sure no more needless losses were taken.
Kohaku set her coffee cup down and groaned. It never failed. She took some time off for herself and a youma showed up. She had a date? Youma. An exam? Youma. A doctor's appointment? Freaking youma. Where the hell was Akemi?
She slapped down her money and turned on her communicator. After a thought, she ducked under the table like the rest of the remaining customers. "This is Kohaku," she said, "I was supposed to meet Akemi here. If you don't answer, Akemi-chan, I will use your hair to knit a sweater!"
The window above her shattered. The screams grew louder and the stench of oozing, slimy, youma billowed in. Kohaku covered her mouth to keep from barfing.
"Anybody in range? PLEASE hurry. I'm going to be ill and misery does so love company!"
"Why yes, I know my adoring public wants to see more of me," Akemi paused as she hopped around her cluttered room, grabbing a hairbrush from the pouch on the back of her closet door and digging a tube of lipstick from her laundry pile. All in barely two seconds. She hopped back to the closet, digging out another colorful top. "But I was thinking more in line of a comeback tour, maybe even a world tour! I've always fancied Italy..."
At the doorway, Artemis appeared. The piles of clothes on the ground were too high for even him to jump over. He shook his head. "Akemi, are you talking to yourself again?" The cat muttered, wrinkling his nose. "We are going to be late meeting-"
The top sailed in the air, landing on Artemis' very irate head. "Artemis, I'll be able to run and make it there on time! You worry too much, and on the wrong things. Because the more important thing to worry about is the horrible truth that I have absolutely nothing to wear! I wish I had more time, because I really need to go shopping." Akemi said with a sigh, finally settling on an orange and yellow floral outfit, better suited for a more dressy event than a Senshi meeting.
"Akemi, this isn't like you. Usually I have to chase after you when we are meeting a Senshi." Artemis' voice was still muffled underneath the shirt.
"I'm nervous," Akemi stretched the last word out as she quickly changed her clothes. "I just know Kohaku is planning something. I need to dress to impress."
"Which will be wasted if you are late," Artemis pointed out, having extracted himself from the shirt. "And you will be if-oomph!" His voice was cut off as Akemi sailed over the clothes pile, grabbed the cat, and ran out the door.
Being late often gave Akemi her best workouts, and this one was no exception. She nimbly avoided thirty six pedestrians, four cars, and one very irate bicyclist in her race to the coffee shop, only to stop cold. What was that awful stench? Please don't let it be evil related. For once, could a nasty stench be the fault of some stupid human and not a slimy youma?!
Sure enough, her communicator began buzzing right as the screams reached her ears. Akemi fumbled between cat and purse before Artemis jumped to the ground and she came up with the device. "V here!" She shouted, ignoring the crowd of people running past her. "Please tell me that isn't a slime youma again!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, dear," said Kohaku, "Hurry, please? If I'm going to die in the blushing years of my youth, I'd rather not smell like a cesspool at the ti--EYUGH!" A splatter of ooze managed to drip down under the table, causing the makeshift tent to reek unbearably.
"PHOBOS! DEIMOS! You filthy pidgeon-brained thieves!" Kohaku screamed, "Where are you?"
There was a fluttering sound and a pair of ravens, one white and one black, scurried under the tablecloth. The white one was trying to hide a spoon under a wing. The black one pecked distastefully at the stinking pile, only to come away with it clinging to her beak.
"If I find out she's been primping, I'll kill her," Kohaku grumbled.
"She seeks armor to hide her fear of you," Deimos intoned.
"Not that you aren't JUST as bad, Kohaku-chan," said Phobos.
"Just...Go flag her down!" sighed Kohaku, "And Deimos?"
"Yes, Kohaku-chan?"
"Were you planning on a snack?"
"Of course not!"
"Then drop the silverware!"
"Why does it always have to be slime youma?" Akemi groaned, fighting her way past the crowd. "Why can't it be a pretty youma made of candy? I need a candy youma in my life."
The swarm of panicked people dwindled to a few scattered but completely freaked out people as Akemi crossed over to the street the coffee shop was on. She regretted going down the street, because the horrific smell was so thick, she could almost chew it. "Yuck," she groaned, sliding up to the building across from the coffee house.
From the screams--and gross smell-- emanating from the shop, the monster was holed up inside.
"I'm across the street," She muttered into the communicator. "Where is the youma inside the shop? I can't see in at all, the windows are all covered with slime."
"In front of the door," said Kohaku, "but it broke through a window near the kitchen. If you hold your breath and go around the side, you can get in. Watch for the twins, they'll guide you in. I'm under the third table from the door against the far wall. I'm gonna need that thing looking the other way so I can transform. You go first."
A body landed beside the table. She reached out to check for a pulse. They would make it. They'd be unhappy, but they'd live.
The smell was less horrible now. Maybe she wouldn't have to barf on the youma to make it leave.
"Right," Akemi pocketed the communicator and eased behind a column. Her transformational device in hand, she scanned the area for anyone who might see her transform but saw no one.
"They at least have the good sense to run away from the stench," Akemi said, pausing to transform. The Holy Moon Sword was a comfortable weight in her hand. "But not me. I go right in."
The shop's exterior presented a new problem. It was a small shop, only a single story, but it was wedged firmly between two larger buildings. If she were to go around the block and come in the back entrance, Venus was afraid it would be too late.
She had no choice. Venus sprinted across the street, veering to the left at the last minute and using her momentum to jump on top of the shop's sign. It teetered forward slowly, giving her time to hurl the sword onto the roof and grab onto the roof's edge before the sign broke in half.
Venus hung from the roof, her boots kicking about for purchase on the slimed wall, before she used her arm strength to pull herself onto the roof. "When in doubt, go up," She grunted before grabbing the sword and sprinting to the back of the building.
As she had hoped, the back of the building faced a tiny alleyway filled with refuse bins. But there was no ladder to climb down with. "Well, I'm going to get stinky anyway, might as well do it sooner than later..." She closed her eyes and vaulted herself off the roof-- and right in the center of a large refuse bin.
"Ew," Venus tried not to think of the slimy refuge she'd just landed in, but it was hard to do when there was mysterious noodles covering her beloved sword. She managed to free herself from the bin, sliding on a patch of gooey coffee sludge, before she stumbled into the open back door, nodding at the two ravens as she whizzed past them.
The stench was overpowering, but she'd smelled worse. Maybe. "Best get this over with quick," She said, and pushed all the metal utensils off the racks. The clamor was so loud, it made her head ring-- but that could be from the stench, too "That ought to get slimey's attention."
But Venus didn't stop making noise, throwing more items on the ground and striking the metal racks with the blunt edge of her sword as she made her way to the front.
The youma howled, its voice like a chainsaw in a barrel of bees. It lurched towards the the kitchen, sending yet another wave of stink towards Kohaku. She waited until it had passed, then clambored out and transformed.
"Hey, Ugly!" she yelled, "Will you smell any worse if you're on fire? Fiery Strike!"
The two fireballs whizzed past, warping the mirrors on the wall and completely missing the youma.
It turned and lunged for her.
Venus burst through the shop's main doors to the kitchen, tearing off a glove with her mouth-- it never hurt to be prepared. She only needed a glance at the youma and Mars before she realized she couldn't hit him with Ravishing Crush Knockout at this angle without sending the slimey creature right on top of Mars. So, she grabbed a coffee cup and threw it at the monster instead. "Oh no you don't! Come after me!" Hopefully that got its attention. She picked up another cup and hefted it up to throw.
The youma wasn't sure which one to look at, the pink one throwing fire or the orange one throwing dishes. It roared and swung at both at once.
"Ack!" Mars ducked, wiped the sludge from her head and scrambled under the flailing arms towards Venus. "Ewewewewewewewewewewewew!"
Already grimed with garbage, Venus shuddered as her body became slick with sludge. She was totally, completely, utterly freaked out, even if most of the sludge had been caught with her sword. This was ten times worse than the last slime youma! She needed to distance herself from this youma, then it would be ok!
"Mars, I'll knock him down and you roast him!" She called out and, not waiting for Mars' response, quickly following with "Ravishing Crush Knockout!" Her aim was true, and it knocked the youma off its feet with a loud, gooey splat that sent more sludge every which way.
"Here goes nothing," Mars muttered, "Fiery Strike!" She threw the twin fireballs and got lucky. The youma roared as the smell of burning garbage filled the air. "Hit the dirt!" she yelled as a flaming tentacle whizzed past her head.
The burning youma began to shrivel, though it still roared and swung madly. Mars crawled away and got sick into the nearest trashcan.
"Why do you get to wimp out?" Venus demanded. Now that the youma wasn't flinging slime around, she was calming down. She was poised to hack at the disintegrating sludge to pieces, although the bare hand holding the sword was tinged gray.
"Take a breather, but I need you ready to go, soon, in case there's another of these things," Venus glanced over at Mars, wrinkling her nose at the added stench. "Did you get in touch with anyone on the communicators besides me?"
"Nobody who answered," Mars mumbled, "and I'm not wimping out. I just can't handle any more gross youma. Rats? I can do rats. Rats are sort of cute, but this obsession with sludge CAN'T be healthy!"
She grabbed a dropped napkin and wiped her mouth. Panting, she tried to compose herself, allowing the calm of her yoga training to wash the anxiety from her mind. "Okay," she whispered, "let's do this."
"I thought I was the one who fell apart around slimey things," Venus complained under her breath. It just figured that Mars would one up her in the drama queen department.
"I promise when this is over, I'll buy you something full of caffeinated goodness," Venus said in a voice that might have been soothing if it hadn't come out as a loud rasp. "And it looks like that's going to be pretty soon."
She nodded towards the rapidly disintegrating youma, in the midst of its final death throes. She did not inch any closer to it-- no sense getting within the slime hurling radius. Instead, she shook off more of the sludge from the sword's blade.
Slime didn't really suit a Holy sword.
Mars licked her lips at the thought of coffee. "It came in through that window," said Mars, "From the look of the, um, tracks, it came from that way, possibly from the park." She sidled around the puddles towards the door.
"Phobos! Deimos!" Mars called, "Scout ahead and see if you can find where it started."
"There will be no need to send your pathetic little feather-balls at me, Sailor Mars," a voice boomed through the cafe. "I was hoping you Sailor Senshi would show up eventually, and I was right to hope so."
In the next instant, a tall, muscular man in a black Shitennou uniform appeared, his black hair in a clean, thin ponytail. His dark green eyes glaring at Sailor Mars, the mysterious man had his arms folded rather coolly over his chest. Smirking, he continued.
"Iblis, King of the Four Kings, Commander of the Shitennou," he introduced himself, bowing his head slightly with a cold yet polite smile at his enemies. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sailor Mars. Sailor Venus," he nodded to the other Sailor Senshi, who was covered in the now-dead youma's remains.
Taking a few steps closer to the Sailor Senshi, Iblis didn't seem to care that slime was getting all over his boots. Actually, he seemed to enjoy the girls' squeamish attitudes toward his youma's nature. Cracking his knuckles as he walked, he stopped halfway between each Sailor Senshi, staring into space, as if he didn't care that two of his worst enemies were in his vicinity.
"I will not bore you with any more pleasantries," he shrugged, flicking some slime off of a nearby counter before leaning his hip against it. "The Dark Kingdom won't fall to a few middle schoolers in mini-skirts, anyway," he chuckled, looking now out of the window at the streets, covered in slime. Bodies now littered the streets, empty of their energy. It was good to see that they were making some progress, at least - even if the Senshi kept getting in their way.
"Middle-schoolers in mini-skirts?" The echo was dangerously low. Mars folded her arms and her lip curled with rage. "Y'know, I didn't like your little pal's attitude either. Maybe we ought to teach you a lesson in civility!" She whipped around, grabbing his ponytail and pulling as hard as she could. It was petty and childish, but maybe it would shake him enough to make a difference in the fight.
Venus groaned. They didn't know anything about this new villain-- she filled away the knowledge that there were Four Kings for later-- and Mars just jumps in? "Mars, get away from him!" She shouted, oblivious to the whine mixed in with the commanding tone. Mars might have taken out that nasty Jadeite, but this one too? Ha!
Without the other girls, their best option was to lay down Love is Blind and retreat from the slimed shop. But Venus couldn't cast it with Mars in the way...
Mars growled and let go. She could have FRIED him by now, but she would have gotten an ear nipped off for disobeying orders. "He's not so tough!" she muttered.
Barely suppressing a yelp, Iblis' eyes bulged in rage as his hair was pulled. So, the senshi were this careless? How had they gotten so far?
Whipping around just as quickly as Mars had grabbed his hair, Iblis grabbed her neck, squeezing just enough to catch her off-guard and make her suffer a bit, but not enough to flat-out strangle her. Her windpipe would be under pressure, but she would be able to draw shallow breaths. Besides, he liked seeing his victims squirm.
Chuckling, the King of the Shitennou taunted his prey. "So this is Jadeite's killer?" he raised an eyebrow, as if they were having some conversation over coffee. "Somehow I expected you'd be more...well..." Glancing over her figure briefly, he smirked. "Fit." Turning to face Venus, and hustling Mars around with him, Iblis continued to keep them in deadly anticipation of his next move. "Sailor Venus," he shouted at the leader of the Sailor Senshi. "You would do well to discipline your senshi further. You're lucky I'm an honorable opponent, unlike your friend here, and am willing to let this transgression slide."
His grip eased off of Sailor Mars' throat. "But surely," he began sarcastically. "The actions of the followers do not represent the decisions of a leader, yes?" Snickering a bit more, Iblis took a few steps in a circle around Venus, before standing between her and the door. "Sailor Venus, I will pretend Sailor Mars has not offended me if you are willing to negotiate a bit with me." Gritting his teeth and squinting his eyes, Iblis' tone had lost its playful malice, and only a grave demeanor remained. "In exchange for my charitable gift of Sailor Mars' life, I demand that you fight against me. It will be a duel, and it will be outside this cafe, in the streets of your own city."
Looking over at the senshi that was in his clutches, he grunted. "That sounds fair, doesn't it, Sailor Chubby?"
He did not just call me fat!, Mars thought, tears of rage and humiliation streaming down her cheeks.
"No!" Mars finally manged to wheeze, "Don't fight for me, Venus! I'm more expendable than you! Besides, I started it!" She coughed and rubbed her neck. "It's only fair for me to finish my own battles." She glared at Iblis.
"Don't try to talk, baka," Venus grunted, taking in the new adversary carefully. The Holy Moon Sword was still pointed towards him, unwavering. What to do? Really, there was only one option-- and Venus wasn't all that happy with it. But she was in no shape to take out a big bad, and if he had disabled Mars so quickly...
A lopsided smile graced her face as the blade shifted, the pummel's flat crescent pointed at the man's eyes. There was no humor in her eyes, and her shoulders drooped. "Alright..." She drifted off, staring directly at Mars as she spoke.
But instead of accepting his challenge, Venus shifted gears. "Love is Blind!" She called out. The sword's pummel radiated red aura for a brief moment before it burst out, streaking through the air right for the man's eyes.
She danced to the side, closer to Mars, knowing if the attack worked, she'd be invisible-- but staying in the place she'd been would make her attack worthless. Please let this work...
Mars tried to struggle free, prying and clawing at Iblis' hand. She kicked a little to try and get away.
Iblis slapped Sailor Mars upside the head, trying to get her off of his hand. However, as he turned to look at Sailor Venus, something took him by surprise.
That something was a blindingly orange light hitting him square in the eyes.
With a reluctant, short, but obvious grunt of shock, Iblis pinched his eyelids, flailing at the air with his other hand. How irritating! That obnoxious Sailor Venus had managed to catch him off-guard, and now she and her tubby little friend were probably getting away. This made him so angry he could...
"Hatred Sphere!" the King of Spite cried, summoning a ball of pure malice energy and tossing it toward the last place he'd seen Venus. Hopefully, this would at least slow the little teenyboppers down.
"Heads up!" hissed Mars, unable to speak above a whisper. Oh, he was going to PAY for ruining her voice. She hoped it wasn't permanent. Mars reached out and tried to pull Venus closer. She then dropped to her knees and began to chant, hands clasped in supplication.
"Great and holy spirits, by all sacred names I invoke you, come to our aid Shield us from evil, heal our suffering heart By the Star of Fire and by my faith, sanctify this space!"
The air around them filled with a pink and sweet-smelling fog. "Venus," she whispered calmly, "Warn me if you're going to do anything else or if we have to retreat. I'll try and hold this as long as I can."
"We are getting out of here," Venus whispered, gesturing towards the back door as she dropped down, too. "And quickly too-- I can't hold this up for too much longer myself." Already she was feeling weak-- but it could just be from crawling into the slime. EW. There was nothing like crawling into nasty, icky slime to ruin one's concentration or leader-ing.
Mars rose, the mist fading away and started backing away, ready to throw a few more fireballs. She nodded to the ravens. Phobos and Deimos flew out through the back.
Trying (and failing) to blink away this blindingly bright orange light, Iblis waved his arms madly, screaming as he did so. "Come out, come out, you cowardly little schoolgirls!" Oh, they would pay for this. Unfortunately, though, Iblis was having too much trouble seeing to pose any real threat at the moment. On top of that, this strange, calming feeling that he suddenly found himself immersed in was only slowing him down further. At this rate, they'd get away! But until these spells dissipated, there wasn't much he could do.
"Cowardly?" Mars spluttered, "Are we gonna let him get away with that? I'm gonna tear him a new one!" Mars started to head towards him, slowed down by the ravens grabbing her collar.
"Shut up, Mars!" Venus said, rolling her eyes. She swore those birds were the only things keeping Mars alive at this point. Foolish girl! "We've got to get out of here before this wears off. I don't like showing my hand this early," She waved her glove-less hand, then returned her hand to the sword. It was growing heavy-- they didn't have much time to get away.
"Come on, we need to go. We can always come back and kick him around later-- but right now, we need to retreat. Now." She pushed as much of her authority into the command, and hoped Mars wouldn't pick that moment to turn contrary.
Because Venus wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this attack going.
Growling to herself, Mars obeyed. But she'd get him soon enough. He wasn't going to get away with calling her fat!
"Okay," she muttered, "We're retreating. Don't say I never follow orders. But, we could have taken him, Venus!"
"Maybe if we hadn't just faced down a youma, but you can't deny that stench didn't weaken us." Venus winced, catching a good wiff of the dissolved youma as she moved passed a flipped table.
"Besides, if we don't have to fight alone, we aren't going to. We are stronger alone, Mars, but all of us together-- we are unstoppable. Don't ever forget that."
Finally, the spell was beginning to wear off...but that didn't mean that Iblis was in the clear yet. As his eyes adjusted, he continued swinging about madly, trying (and failing) to hit either of the senshi. Screaming in rage, he bellowed, "I'll get you yet, you tubby little sluts!"
With that, the King of Gravity disappeared, seeming to fall into the ground.
He cursed himself as he reentered the Dark Kingdom, appearing before Beryl with a scowl on his face. How could he have let them get away so easily? He must have underestimated Venus' abilities, a mistake he would not make twice.
Bowing before his queen, Iblis muttered, "Forgive me, Queen Beryl-sama, but I have failed you..." before beginning a long explanation of exactly what had happened in his "battle."
Those cowardly senshi would have to be alone some day, and when one of them was, Iblis would have his chance...
"Tubby! TUBBY! I AM NOT TUBBY!" howled Mars, "How dare he? Fiend! Pig! Camel-faced DUCK!" She continued to fume long after she'd reverted back to Kohaku. "Next time he shows up, I'll make a trampoline out of his KIDNEYS! That pig-dog!"
Venus was less quick to return to her normal self-- having a pointy sword was a fabulous security blanket, and she was cautious to believe their enemy had departed so quickly. But when nothing seemed to leap out and attack Hohaku, she reverted back to Akemi. Although the stain of the monster goo had left her skin, she swore she could still feel its ick on her body.
She shuddered. "Lets just get out of here; I don't want any of this goo to get on my fabulous clothes. And I'll buy you a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage?" She added, enticingly-- she didn't want Hohaku out of her sights too quickly. Especially with the girl in this foul of a mood.
Better to calm Hohaku down before the drama really did hit the flames. She could sent the girl for laps later-- right now, she just wanted out of there.
"Well, alright, then," Kohaku muttered, walking swiftly into the alley, "But the next time I see that piece of filth, I'll break him like a twig!"
She smoothed her blouse down over her waist and stuck her nose in the air. "Now, about that coffee..."