Chapter 3: A new friend for Pallas? Fushigi Tsuki graces the scene!
Omoukawa Michishirube graced the halls of Juuban High School with her presence, walking with her eyes closed as she headed towards her first class. She attracted several glances and looks as she walked past silently, the same thought going through everyone’s minds. She seems so foreign… so mysterious…
She walked into her homeroom silently and made her way towards her desk at the back of the room. Shinmamoru Chiba was already there and nodded in greeting as Michi sat down. Michi nodded back then turned her gaze towards the door as Tomoe Hotaru walked in. Michi’s eyes narrowed slightly… she recognized those violet eyes somewhere else, but from where?
Masurao Eitai walked in shortly after Hotaru had and greeted Michi and Chiba with a small wave, and then headed over to them. She collapsed in her desk with a sigh.
“I can’t believe it took me so long to get here!” she said huffily. “People kept getting in my way… I nearly used my Ar-”
“Shhhh!” Chiba snapped, suddenly serious. She said something to Eitai, which no one else but Michi could understand and attracting a few stares, and Eitai nodded. She sighed heavily as Hime Kazeno walked in, the same emotionless expression on her face as she slipped in her desk silently and cast a confused look at the serious Chiba. Michi muttered to Kazeno quietly, who nodded and busied herself with finding her homework.
The distant-sounding bell rang throughout the grounds of Juuban, just as Chibi-Usa and Hotaru skidded inside, panting heavily. The teacher scolded at them as they flopped into their desks and shuffled around their bags hurriedly. The teacher sighed heavily, then walked over to the two girls and laid one of her hands on either girl’s desks.
“Tsukino Usagi, Tomoe Hotaru, explain yourselves! Why is it that you’re always late?” she asked Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, a scold playing upon her face.
Hotaru flushed a pale scarlet and looked at the desk, muttering. “We are very sorry Ms. Hinata. It won’t happen again.”
The teacher nodded gravely to what she had said, then stood up straight again. “Do not be late again, you two, or it will be a detention. I swear, you are like two of my old students…” she drifted off. She sighed heavily again and got to beginning the lesson, droning on about Feudal Japan.
--
The bell rang a few hours later, students rumbling down the hall with the clicks of heels and the chatter of voices. Only one student, a girl with long, bright red hair pulled up into a high ponytail was quiet, her own heels silent. Her deep crimson eyes stared blankly ahead of her, always glazed-over and emotionless. Her ears hand a hint of a point, although they were always hidden under her hair, and her hands had a hint of gracefulness, although they were always gloved. Come to think of it, no one had ever seen her hands out of those plain brown gloves, no one at all.
Boys stood in awe of her beauty as she walked by, her hair shimmering in the mixed light of florescent and sunlight. Her eyes flickered for a moment, but went back to their dull glaze, an impenetrable barrier into her thoughts. She stepped outside, but hid herself deep into the shadows cast by the school building, waiting and watching.
Hime Kazeno stepped out a minute later, just as the mysterious brunette girl decided to head back into the building. They bumped shoulders, and for a moment Kazeno’s deep green eyes met with the glazed-over blue of hers.
“Very sorry,” Kazeno said. “Didn’t mean to bump into you.”
The brunette nodded silently. “You would not want to bump into Fushigi Tsuki again…” she drifted off, and then headed back into the fluorescent-lit halls. Kazeno glared after her… she seemed familiar, but from where?
--
“So, how long have you lived in Tokyo?”
Michi and Hotaru were walking together again after school, tailed closely by Chibi-Usa and the Quartet, who tried to keep themselves relatively hidden as not to attract attention to themselves. It seemed that their attempts were working, as Michishirube paid them no attention, although she knew that they were there. Humour them, she thought to herself, smiling mentally. She turned to look down slightly to the black-haired girl’s question.
“A while,” she answered vaguely. “I live more on the outskirts, really, away from the hustle and bustle of the main city. I would take the bus or the train, but I find it to be a very… relaxing walk.”
Hotaru nodded up to the blue-haired girl next to her. “Sounds nice. I live in the suburbs with some friends of my father.”
Michi’s eyebrow rose slightly. “What happened to your father, Hotaru-chan?”
Hotaru sighed heavily and her eyes darkened. “He died, a good time ago. He…” she stopped herself quickly. An awkward silence ensued.
Michi made a move as to grab Hotaru’s shoulder, but thought better of it. “Well, I must be going Hotaru-chan. I am meeting some friends of mine up ahead, and if I remember correctly this is where you left last time.”
Hotaru nodded and glanced back. “Yeah, sure. I’ll see you later Michi-san.” She ran off, and Michishirube spotted Chibi-Usa and the Quartet coming out of their hiding place to swarm Hotaru with questions. She smiled to herself, then turned back and met Eitai, Chiba, and Kazeno up ahead.
“Took you long enough,” Chiba said, tapping her foot impatiently, her arms crossed.
Michi swept her comment away with a small wave of her hand. “Patience, Chiba. You don’t need to get so mad about something so small.”
Chiba scoffed silently, but the clearing of Kazeno’s throat turned both Chiba and Michi’s attention away from each other.
“Might I remind you two that we have something extremely important to discuss? Come, we must get back to the house.” She said, a touch of impatience gracing her own voice.
Chiba rolled her eyes, but followed along. They walked silently towards the farthest outskirts of Tokyo, until they reached the old, battered-looking house standing alone in the middle of what looked like a storm of sakura blossoms. They walked up the rotting steps, the wood creaking under their feet, across the deck and opened the ashen-gray door.
None of the four girls seem to find it peculiar that inside, the house looked brand-new, while the outside made it look like no one had lived there in decades. Eitai walked over to a window and opened the shutters, revealing a sakura blossom-ridden sunset.
“We should be going soon,” she said quietly, which the echo of the house magnified. “It’s almost night… she’ll be out soon.”
Kazeno nodded emotionlessly, then reached into the pocket of her blouse and pulled out a pastel blue, diamond-shaped broach with a pair of sparkling jade wings coming from the center. She threw it in frount of her a few feet, where it spun silently in place.
“Power of Ouranos… Revive Me!”
In one swift movement, Kazeno was raised from the ground and a sort of solid wind rushed to cover her, turning into a whirlwind, hiding her entirely. Suddenly, a pair of gigantic, shining copper wings appears on either side of the whirlwind and snap shut, causing it to disappear and covering Kazeno entirely. The wing-cocoon explodes in a rain of feathers, and Sailor WindAngel lands with a click of her heels and a large light grey and copper boomerang clutched in her hand.
Sailor FireAngel turns to Chiba. “Well, we’re still waiting on you.”
Chiba waves the comment away half-heartedly, then reaches into her bag and pulls out a forest green, diamond-shaped broach with a pair of bronze wings coming from the center. “Fine, fine. Don’t need to rush me.” She threw the broach in frount of her, where it spun in place like Kazeno’s.
“Power of Gaea… Revive Me!”
In a sort of sped-up growth, soil and hundreds of plants creeped up Chiba’s body to cover her entirely, hiding her from view. A pair of giant, shimmering bronze wings appeared on either side of the earthen cocoon and snap shut, causing it to fly everywhere. With a short spin, the wings disappeared and Sailor EarthAngel landed haphazardly with a dull click of her heels.
“There, you happy now? Let’s go.” EarthAngel said, without waiting for an answer. She gripped her hammer tightly and walked out of the house, then jumped away towards the innards of Tokyo.
--
Ah… another avatar… Nyx thought, her blade shining dimly in the moonlight. Another scroll for me to snatch… maybe those meddling avatars won’t get in my way this time either…
She jumped down silently behind the woman below on the bustling sidewalk in downtown Tokyo. Grabbing her, she jumped back up to the tall building beside her before anyone below even realized she had been there. She landed silently on the tar-covered rooftop, the woman starting to struggle in her grip. She let the woman go for a moment and struck her down, causing the woman to fall onto her back, looking terrified.
“What do you want with me? If it’s money, take it… please, I have two children!” The woman said breathlessly as Hecate advanced on her.
“Silence, avatar.” Nyx said, then placed her gray-gloved hand onto the woman’s chest and started to chant quickly and quietly to herself. The woman’s eyes opened wide and a scream escaped her as she started to glow. Hecate slowly removed her hand from the woman, and a shining scroll bound with a length of silvery ribbon followed suit. With a bright flash, the scroll came out entirely, and the woman fell limp, her skin pale and eyes blank. Hecate smiled to herself.
“Ah, so this one is Aphrodite’s future avatar…” she said, looking at the emblem on the end of the ribbon, a shining golden symbol of Venus. She smiled to herself wryly, and a different silvery ribbon appeared in her other hand, the symbol of an eclipsed moon on the ends.
“Hm… I might not need Danihe after all… curious.” She said to herself. The silvery ribbon disappeared slowly, and Nyx jumped into the night, the scroll clutched tightly in her fist.
--
“Damn it!”
FireAngel raced towards where the scream and burst of light had come from, knowing very well that Nyx had found yet another avatar. The light died down and the scream faded, ringing into the night. FireAngel strained to see a dark, blue-clad figure stand next to its victim for a few moments before it jumped into the night. She landed on the top of a building nearby, and then turned back to her three companions.
“WindAngel!” she yelled, pointing towards Nyx. “Try and stop her!”
WindAngel nodded and landed on the same building. She jumped off incredibly hard, flying higher then she had been, and threw her giant boomerang towards the dark figure flying ahead of her.
The boomerang whistled as it rushed to capture its prey, shimmering in the moonlight. It hit its mark, knocking the scroll out of Nyx’s hand and bringing it back to WindAngel, who caught it gently.
Nyx landed and glared behind her, seeing the shadow of WindAngel catch the scroll and her boomerang. Her brow furrowed in anger as she jumped backwards off the building, flipped a little bit, then landed and jumped back to where the Elemental Angels stood. As she neared the building where all four rested, she raised the shining silver blade above her head, crackling with energy, and brought it down swiftly with a yell.
A wave of darkness headed towards the four Angels, who jumped out of the way and scattered in different directions, confusing Nyx. WaterAngel flew behind Nyx, bringing her trident above her head. She brought it down, and with a yell a giant cyclone raced towards the goddess.
Nyx barely dodged the attack, and headed straight for WaterAngel. EarthAngel came up from the side and brought her brazen hammer down hard upon Nyx’s back, causing her to go flying into the concrete below, cracking it.
--
PallaPalla staggered as she barely avoided a girl crashing into the sidewalk, causing it to sink in slightly. She narrowed her eyes, looked around a bit, then ran into a nearby alleyway and pulled out her henshin pen.
“Pallas Star Power, Make Up!” she yelled.
SailorStarPallas ran out of the alley a minute later, armed with a long, silver spear. Four new senshi landed near the first, whom had gotten to her feet and was readying an attack.
“Nyx Darkness Engulf!” The dark senshi yelled, aiming for a tall, dark-haired senshi who managed to dodge it. Instead, the attack hit the girl behind her, dressed in green, who screamed in pain and collapsed.
“EarthAngel!” A blue-haired senshi yelled to her comrade. She turned back to Nyx and jumped towards her, the prongs of her trident ready to tear away at the dark senshi. Nyx grabbed the trident and threw it to the side, it’s owner flying with it. She skidded a few feet before stopping, her shoulder bloodied up badly.
Pallas ran towards the dark senshi, but before hitting her with the end of the spear dug it into the ground, pole-vaulting over the senshi. She turned quickly once she had landed and brought the spear-handle down upon the senshi’s head, causing her to stagger in surprise and fall, seemingly unconscious. Dropping the spear, she rushed over to the green-clad senshi.
“Are you ok?” she asked quietly. The senshi nodded slowly, then slowly pushed herself up, wincing. A red-clad senshi rushed over to her.
“EarthAngel, come on. She won’t be ‘asleep’ for much longer.” She said.
EarthAngel nodded, then followed the red senshi over to Nyx, who still lay on the concrete where Pallas had left her. Pallas just sat there as she saw the four senshi each lay a hand on Nyx and start to chant. Nyx glowed slightly, but her eyes snapped open. With a strangled yell, she jumped away into the darkness, becoming one with the shadows.
“Damn it!” The blue senshi yelled, her shoulder still bloody. “We can never keep her down long enough, can we?” She sighed heavily. The other three senshi nodded, and Pallas was seemingly forgotten.
The tallest senshi picked up a scroll from the ground that Pallas didn’t notice before. “I suppose we should get this back to her, eh, FireAngel?”
FireAngel nodded gravely. “Fine, I’ve had enough for tonight.” With that statement, she jumped away.
One by one, each senshi jumped away, leaving Pallas alone, standing there with her spear. The last senshi to go, the one called EarthAngel, stood for a moment. For a split second, Pallas’ blue eyes met with EarthAngel’s gold ones, then she jumped away and melted into the shadows.