[Day 5]
This had been a very bad week for Usagi Tsukino and the Sailor Senshi. Anything that could go wrong seemed to for her. Her teachers were complaining of her missed homework, her mother about her poor grades and being out so late with her friends, her power-levels had dropped below her original levels when she just started out as Sailor Moon, and now, to top it all off, she and her fellow Senshi had just been royally humiliated by several devil-hunters, one of whom was Rei's cousin. She could hear Rei's muttering to herself, somewhere off to her left.
Of course, she realized if she was honest with herself, this week was only a cumulation of the past six months.
Six months ago, give or take a few days, Usagi and the other four Senshi had been idly chatting together, when Makoto made the comment about maybe they should study Martial Arts to help them in their Senshi duties, only to be shot down by Rei dismissing such an idea as a waste of time. Makoto countered with the Urban Legend of Ranma Saotome, who had said to have killed a godling to protect his fiancee. The chat had quickly been forgotten and other matters discussed.
Out of curiosity, she asked her best friend Naru-chan about the urban legend of Ranma Saotome, and Naru-chan described him as if he was some modern-day Samurai manga character with a Ronin for a father and a sex-crazed mother. Umino-kun countered that this Saotome guy was worse then Mamoru-san, if that was possible. Why Mamoru-san could not be like Tuxedo Kamen-chan, she did not know. At least, Tuxedo Kamen was willing to help them find the Ginzuishou, unlike Mamoru-san who was a jerk most of the time.
She had to wonder if they had followed up on Makoto's suggestion, would they have been in the predicament they were in now?
Things were looking grim for a while there. Until Sailors Uranus and Neptune showed up five months ago. With their help, they were able to handle things for a time. Of course, Haruka and Michiru shared their tales of the Silver Millennium with the rest of them. Their tales were more shades of grey, bordering too much of the dark for Usagi's peace of mind, then the black and white tales that Luna told. Luna had painted a world that was Paradise on the Moon and implied that there was life on the other worlds. Haruka and Michiru corrected that, they informed the others, that the Moon Kingdom's population was smaller then Juuban Junior High School's and contained the Moon Palace and several orbital "palaces," which where space-stations orbiting around a Senshi's respective world.
Haruka and Michiru, both two years older and Freshmen at Mugen Gakuen High School, did not fit well with the younger Senshi. Where as Minako and Makoto merely talked of boys, they had actually been with some boys... and introduced the idea of being with girls. Haruka seemed to take great delight in teasing and insulting both Tuxedo Kamen-chan and Mamoru-san, though. While she agreed with several of those statements about Mamoru-san, she did try to get her to lighten up on Tuxedo Kamen-chan.
Four months ago, Sailor Pluto joined them. Setsuna was four years older and a Senior at Mugen Gakuen High School.
The Outer Senshi, as the High School Students called themselves, did not have much in common with their younger fellow Senshi. But they were there to help deal with a Dark General or three.
Three months ago, all four Dark Generals had attacked the Senshi. They survived only because the three Outers had summoned Sailor Saturn, the Senshi of Destruction.
Sailor Saturn, Hotaru-chan, was a surprise to the Inners. From the Outers' fears and paranoia, they had been expecting a monster. Instead, they got Hotaru, who was a year younger then the Inners, and went to the same private school as the Outers.
Of all the Outers, Hotaru and her Silence Wall proved to be the most help to the Inners.
Two months ago, all nine Senshi were working together and had begun pushing the Dark Kingdom back. Things were looking up for the Sailor Senshi.
Until now.
Makoto and Minako had wondered, and Haruka agreed after learning what the others had heard over the past week, how much more difficult a demon would be then the typical youma they faced.
Apparently, on the demon-scale, a youma rated somewhere between "tastes like chicken" and "chew-toy" with Dark Generals rated only a bit higher.
Within seconds, the demon they had found just trashed them.
They had started to get to give their Traditional speeches, but did not get past, "In..." Before the demon just squashed them. All that separated them from road-kill was Saturn's Silence Wall.
Fortunately, for them, a passing devil-hunter was able to use them as a distraction and filled the demon with mystical arrows. While the devil-hunter did not say it outright, it was obvious that he thought them amateurs.
Seeing how the demon took them by surprise, they tracked down another demon. This demon did not give them time to get into position, but Sailor Mars was able to get off a Mars Fire Soul attack, which took out the Demon's entire left arm and parts of its left side.
In retaliation, the demon shredded Sailor Mars's skirt and underwear with its claw, which resulted in several cuts over her left thigh and pubes. In the time it took to get Mars out the way, the demon healed all the damage and regrew its arm.
Only Mercury's Shabon Spray and Saturn's Silence Wall kept the demon at bay, until another local devil-hunter with a bo staff was able to defeat the demon. This devil-hunter thought them crazy, especially Mars/Rei who was ranting about perverted demons while what was left of her Senshi uniform started to disintegrate.
While the devil-hunter did not say aloud that he thought them crazy, the Senshi heard it just the same. They were determined to prove themselves equal to, no better, then any devil-hunter out there.
The fact that Mars could not de-transform back into Rei meant that the injuries she got where worse then they appeared, as her magic did not permit her to turn to her civilian form as a safety precaution. The Senshi did not know, or recall, this bit of Senshi magic, so all that passed where a few hentai comments from Uranus and Neptune. Sailor Saturn did wonder, out loud, if puberty would be as kind to her as it was to the naked Sailor Mars.
Therefore, the Senshi set out to find yet another demon, with Rei egging any doubters on.
And would not you know it, the third demon they came across was a Shikima, a sex-demon. The Shikima had tentacles and all. Within the first few moments of finding it, the Shikima shredded Minako, Haruka, and Makoto's Senshi outfits.
Once again, a devil-hunter had to come and bail the Senshi out.
The devil-hunter easily took care of the Shikima with her flame-sword. It was easy to do since the the sex-demon was too busy ogling the naked flesh of Rei, Minako, Haruka, and Makoto to notice its demise had come.
This devil-hunter decided to stick around after defeating the Shikima to lecture the Senshi on the dangers hunting monsters without the proper training. A naked Minako replied that they were the Sailor Senshi, warriors of Love and Justice, and they were not amateurs. That remark earned the comments like "all flash, no substance" or "all the power in the world is useless if you can't hit your target."
Worse, the devil-hunter seemed to recognize Sailor Mars as Rei Hino. Apparently, the two were cousins. Hikari Hino was the daughter of the brother of Rei's father. and the sixtieth devil-hunter in the Hino Clan. Taking over from Rei's father, when Rei felt that being a Sailor Senshi was more important.
Haruka and Makoto had to drag Rei forcibly away.
Upon entering the Hikawa Shrine, Ami and Hotaru set about healing those injured, while Rei found a corner to sulking alone.
"Usagi-chan," Makoto whispered.
Usagi looked down and saw Makoto kneeling before her. Haruka, Minako were there to support Makoto. She had the mental image of how the way the four of them was arranged, it was as if she was holding court, and Makoto came to petition her.
She was not wrong as Makoto began, "Usagi-chan, we have gotten by through powerful magic and luck." At the word 'magic', Makoto looked pointedly at her. She swallowed as she realized this past week; she had been more of a liability then help.
She nodded and finished for Makoto, "And our luck is running out, Ma-chan."
Makoto, Haruka, and Minako nodded their heads in agreement.
Usagi sighed and asked, "So where in Nerima is this Dojo?"
Cologne's desire for her Master's Lifestone, which was rested upon her collar, made Nabiki's blood boil. The thought of just using the torture curse, Cruciatus Curse, to run Cologne into insanity was very tempting. Afterwards, she could just mind-wipe what remained, de-age the body, and set her up as a whore somewhere. But they had decided that they would try to play it safe, and not piss-off the powers that be when they got home. Of course, they had made that decision based on the Wizardry Mathematics called Arithmancy, which she had calculated that they had only been gone from Nerima for only ten years, not the hundred or so years that they had lived through. Unfortunately, the formula appeared to have been flawed, since in actuality, only a month had passed.
As far as Nabiki was concerned through such unnaturalness as thrice-cursed Amazons should have been wiped off the face of the planet. A task she had taken upon herself to fulfill at every opportunity she had. It was the one issue that she and her Master disagreed on. But she did it for his own protection. Her Master being captured and used by Amazons as a mere breeding-horse was one of her top five nightmares. And she would be damned if she allowed any Amazon to live so that they had the chance to try.
To which end, she had developed several magical-viruses to eliminate any such unnatural cretins from the face of the Earth. Her Master did prevail upon her to give the little bitches a way to save themselves. All the little bitches had to do was live their lives in accordance with the Natural Order of Things, as understood by Nabiki Saotome Nee Tendo. Or accept her Master as their personal Lord and Savior.
Upon the five worlds, she had unleashed her virus upon, only a handful ever saw the light of her Master in time to save themselves. These intelligent animals, she referred to as The Evolved, having evolved from cursed animals into actual beings of sentience. It did warm her heart and womanhood to know that the Evolved dedicated themselves and their resources to spreading her Master's word as she did, and were counted among the most respected and powerful warriors, artists, and healers that their worlds had ever seen, thanks to their devotion to their Lord and his Powers. The Evolved included Drow, goddesses, demonesses, and other magic-girls, all of whom were fatally loyal and obedient to her Master, as it should be. Of course, Nabiki simplified her thinking by dividing beings into two groups: those that served her Master and the Dead/Damned.
She knew that Cologne thought of her as a mere child, not as the young woman, who was her equal in age and martial arts, and her superior in all else. So she was not surprised when Cologne felt might made right, and attempted to just grab her Master's Lifestone and return to the Nekohanten without anyone knowing what happened, as Cologne would be moving so fast, she would be a blur to the untrained eye.
But Nabiki had been trained, her eyes and body, by her Master. Although, of the same speed, she did have a longer reach and better conditioned body. So it was relatively easy for her to catch Cologne at an arm's length from her personage.
And since she was in physical contact with Cologne, it was a relatively simple matter to transfigure her from human to cat.
For someone of Cologne's caliber of Martial Artist, having her body swiftly changed like that, sent her into shock and unconsciousness.
Smirking, Nabiki remarked, "Poor, little kitty can't stand big, bad Nabiki."
Nabiki teleported herself and neko-Cologne to the Nekohanten. She recalled that Cologne had been studying a magic book to undo her sealing Shampoo's Jusenkyou curse, and was curious about it. So she summoned it and flipped through it. The book was easily over a couple of thousands of years old, and was bespelled only to allow one access accordingly to one's training and power-level. In addition to magical formulas, such as spells and rituals, there were sections on history, lore, traditions, and theory.
The book contained the origin of the Joketsuzoku Amazons, who started off as the concubines of a weak Emperor. After his assassination, they had fled to the mountains, to establish their own society. Those weak like the old Emperor were dealt with. Soon, weakness, which began to be associated with the Emperor, a male in power, eventually because generalized that males were the weaker sex. Those that would settle Mount Phoenix, were among those that rejected such erroneous thinking and left to lead a more scholarly lifestyle. A thousand years later, the Musk Dynasty was born from those that saw the Light of Truth, and established a more One With Nature society.
Nabiki realized that, while Cologne lacked the proper training to fully utilize the book, most of the schemes that she or Shampoo had used to ensnare her Master had come from the book. So it was not something she could just leave with Cologne.
She then summoned every magical item of any power from the Nekohanten, shrunk it and the book, and placed it all into her subspace pocket.
Just before she left, she changed the simple transfiguration she had placed upon Cologne to a curse, similar to one from Jusenkyou, with a few twists.
With a grin on her face, Nabiki left the Nekohanten and headed out to see her Master.
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