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Post by Sailor Earth on Dec 7, 2006 6:37:21 GMT -5
The Senshi immediately moved out of the way, Jupiter grabbing Mercury and holding her upright. She held her hand over the other girl’s wound to stop the blood.
Venus and Mars prepared to combine an attack and throw it at the deformed creature, but stopped when Sailor Earth stepped forward, blocking them.
“What are you doing?!” Venus shrieked at her. “Get out of the way!”
Sailor Earth shook her head, staring at Veridian. “Why can’t you people just stop all of this?” she asked, her voice thin. “What the hell is the point of it? There are always wars. There are always fatalities. The wars end. The people move on. Why can’t you do the same? Revenge is not going to bring your people back. Revenge isn’t going to bring your own life back. Revenge will only tarnish you even more.”
“Forget it, Sailor Earth, they just don’t care about that kind of stuff!” Jupiter called out.
Sailor Earth blinked, still looking at Veridian. “You’re right. We should have killed you. I should have let Umitaro finish you off. But then that would make me worse than you. I’m not a murderer. It doesn’t bring me joy to see others in pain. What brings me joy is seeing other people happy, living in harmony, loving one another. There is no use in your actions. So what are you going to do? Kill me? Kill your own creator? For without me you never would have existed.”
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Post by Zyppora on Dec 7, 2006 7:14:25 GMT -5
Veridian listened halfheartedly to Sailor Earth's words, all the while keeping in mind the devastating energy Umitaro held between his fingers. She hardly cared about her motives. She had what she wanted. The Caduceus. She held it up high over her head, shouting something in Greek. A faint blue aura surrounded her and began to heal her, to rectify the deformations in her figure. But then it stopped. She was halfway between the deformed shape she had and the human shape she originally started out with. The aura fainted. Veridian wasn't pleased. She tried it again, but the aura only barely appeared and had no effect on her physique. Why wasn't it working? She was a Mercurian, she knew that for a fact, and as such, she was able to use the Caduceus.
"You are as much a blessing to me as you are a curse, Illyria. Thanks to you, I'm here. I'm alive again. And thanks to you, I've become a blend of water, Mercurian and drywalker. Thanks to you, I'm as deformed as I am. Thanks to you, I can feel again." Her face remained more or less neutral as she spoke. "Thanks to you, I can no longer use the Caduceus."
Umitaro glared at Veridian. It was her that had killed Tarda. She was responsible. He hadn't been able to kill her, but he was able to kill the one person Veridian needed to survive: Illyria. Sailor Earth. Seeing Veridian stand there, holding the Caduceus, he knew he had to do something.
Veridian's eyes widened, and she liquified, leaving the Caduceus mid-air to let it drop to the ground with a clanging sound of metal on blacktop, and rushed over, past the Sailor Senshi, cutting through locks of hair and centimeters of skin on her way. She didn't care about hurting the Senshi, she had bigger problems to deal with. Namely the energy Umitaro held. It was about to hit the floor when she sprang inbetween like a sheet of paper.
The energy was unleashed, and Veridian's molecules froze up almost immediately. Her main concern was containing the blast. Illyria had to remain unfrozen. She wrapped herself up in countless thin slices, each successively being frozen by the blast. She was slowing it down, weakening its intensity, but she knew for a fact that she was not enough to contain it. Her pearl froze over and her conscience left her.
But the blast didn't flow outwards. Instead, it remained where it was. Umitaro had been pushed out of the way by some unseen force which now contained the explosion in a ball the size of a house. At first it was the size of a car, but the blast was so immensely powerful that it expanded, but as it gained size, it drastically decreased power. The blast had been contained. In the middle of the destroyed street now stood a sphere made of thick, concentrated ice. The density made it a pure white, hardly transparent at all. Something had contained the blast.
From the structure that stood next to the last building Veridian had destroyed, Tarda walked out. She looked exhausted. She'd managed to flee the crumbling building by taking down a weak wall and hopping over to the next building. In order to take down the wall, she'd had to drop the shield around Umitaro, thus resulting in both Umitaro and Veridian thinking she was buried in the debris. She looked at Sailor Mercury, which was surprising as she previously considered her an enemy. She had recognized Sailor Mercury as well, when she held the Caduceus.
She moved over, but kept her distance, as she knew how Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter probably thought about her. She began to speak in a weak but determined voice. "Sailor Mercury ... is not a drywalker." She hesitated to catch her breath. "She's a Mercurian, just like Umitaro. That's why she could use the Caduceus. Only pureblooded Mercurians can do that. But that's not all. Sailor Mercury is also our queen."
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Post by Sailor Earth on Dec 7, 2006 7:23:17 GMT -5
The other Senshi turned to stare at Sailor Mercury, who was still in pain from the wound in her shoulder. She hadn’t seemed to register what had just been said, until Jupiter shook her gently. “You’re their queen?!”
Mercury blinked, pulling free from Jupiter and walking slowly towards Tarda. “How can that be…?” she asked thinly. “I was re-born here, like all the other Senshi,”
“The blood still runs through you,” Sailor Earth said quietly, staring at Tarda then at Mercury. “It makes sense, the way you can use the Caduceus. It belongs to you, Sailor Mercury. You’re it’s rightful owner.”
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Post by Zyppora on Dec 7, 2006 7:38:09 GMT -5
Tarda picked up the Caduceus from where Veridian had dropped it, and walked over to Sailor Mercury, making sure she wasn't attacked by the other Senshi. She held the staff out to the bluehaired girl. "Use this to heal your wounds." She said. "Why did you abandon us, Sailor Mercury? The Imperial Guard could have protected us easily. Queen Metallia wasn't that big of a threat, was she?" She couldn't really believe that it was. Queen Metallia was an entity created by the sun. It wouldn't have taken more than Queen Serenity's powers to take it down. "What happened to take down the Silver Millennium?"
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Post by Sailor Earth on Dec 7, 2006 8:01:07 GMT -5
Sailor Mercury took the staff, her wounds healing instantly. She then turned to where Sailor Earth was barely standing. The Earth Senshi was doubled over from the terrible pain in her stomach. Mercury edged towards her and held out the staff.
Sailor Earth closed her eyes for a moment, and the ache suddenly subsided. She stood up straight, looking at Mercury. “What happened?” she asked thinly. “If there was such a threat, why wasn’t I woken for it?”
Sailor Mercury lowered her eyes. “I don’t know…” she said quietly.
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Post by Zyppora on Jun 21, 2007 9:04:23 GMT -5
"Because the earth wasn't in danger." A familiar voice called out. The little black Mau appeared from her hiding place in the rubble off to the side and approached Sailor Earth. "The earth was safe from Queen Metallia, as it was the base of operations. Aside from a few unlucky ones, amongst which the sage Beryl, the population of earth was relatively safe." She then turned to address Tarda. "The Imperial Guard was tricked by Queen Metallia. They were ambushed by their trusted ones and unable to assist in keeping the peace on earth."
Tarda was mildly surprised to see a Mau, but figured her faith must have been the same as Sailor Mercury's. "How do you know all this?" She asked in wonder. The hatred she had shown the Senshi earlier had all but dissipated.
Luna elaborated. "The Moon Kingdom felt it necessary to record as much of history as possible, for future reference. Though a lot of knowledge was lost during its destruction, we can still retrieve bits and pieces from the main libraries. The last records were of Queen Metallia manipulating many of the earthlings through Beryl. My guess would be that the Atlanteans were too strongwilled to be brainwashed and were ultimately dealt with by the massed Queen Metallia had collected already."
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Post by Sailor Mercury on Jun 23, 2007 21:53:03 GMT -5
Sailor Earth and the rest of the Senshi stared down at Luna, taking in this information.
Sailor Mercury looked down at the staff and frowned. “This is a useless battle you’re waging against us,” she said softly, looking up at Tarda. “Can you now see? We are not to blame, and neither is Earth, neither are the humans who live here. Can’t we just stop all this carnage and destruction?” she turned around to look at the mess surrounding them. Dozens of buildings, nothing but rubble in their foundations. Her eyes watered and she blinked, a single tear running down her cheek and clinging to her chin before breaking off and dropping onto the staff. “All we want is peace.”
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Post by Zyppora on Jun 24, 2007 4:42:29 GMT -5
Tarda shook her head slightly, trying to figure out how she would say this. They hadn't known about Metallia's possession. "We never wanted to cause harm to people who truly had nothing to do with our predicament. We had no idea they were so strongly possessed. We hadn't expected Queen Metallia to have had any kind of influence on earth. The sheer fact that Sailor Earth wasn't awakened, testifies of this." She sighed, the realization of their false assumption kicking in. Her shoulders slumped a bit. "But it's too late. Prince Umitaro won't back out now." She turned to look at the enormous ball of ice laying in the middle of the street. "And I doubt Veridian will leave things alone either." She sighed again, partly being frustrated at having held such an unjustified grudge for so long.
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Post by Sailor Mercury on Jun 24, 2007 5:28:00 GMT -5
“Then we have to work together to make them stop what they’re doing,” Sailor Earth said, a fierce note of determination in her voice. “Umitaro would listen to you, Tarda. Surely… and then we can defeat Veridian.”
“How?” Jupiter questioned, shaking her head. “She’s still alive because of you, and she’s not gonna give up that pearl in a hurry.”
Sailor Earth turned to the taller Senshi and smirked. “That’s where a little thing called ‘team work’ comes into play…” she looked back at Tarda, slowly stepping closer towards the Atlantean with an outstretched hand. “Well, how about it? Will you help us finish this once and for all?”
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Post by Zyppora on Jun 24, 2007 8:16:26 GMT -5
Tarda nodded and reached out, but instead of grabbing the hand in a firm shake, she did what Yali did as well when he met Illyria's father and friend: she grabbed the lower arm, allowing Sailor Earth to do the same. It was their way of sealing agreements. "I'll see what I can do. Umitaro is a stubborn one, we've all seen that." Truth be told, she wasn't sure if she could stop him. He had pretty much set his mind to conquering the dry land. And even if she could, if Veridian was still alive -and knowing Veridian, she still was- she would act as a catalyzer for his anger. They'd clash immediately.
She turned to look at the ball of ice. She was responsible for it. Thanks to her, it was there. If it wasn't for her intervention though, half the city would have been frozen over, including a large part that was not yet destroyed. Thousands of people would have died. She wasn't sure what to think of the ball though. Trapped inside was the most dangerous creature on the planet. Veridian. She briefly wondered how she would look, should she be able to break the ice and reform into a humanoid again. She imagined that little was left that could be called humanoid.
She then thought of her husband. She'd used the shield to throw him backwards to keep him from being frozen altogether by his very own attack. She hadn't paid any attention as to where she'd thrown him to. Where he'd ended up. "I'll go find him." She said. She didn't wait for an answer, but before she could make her first step in the direction Umitaro had flown off to, a loud crashing noise startled her. She could feel her eardrums resonating in protest. A crack straight across the ball of ice had appeared. 'Blasted creature.' She thought. 'Is there nothing that can kill you?' She sped off towards where she thought she could find Umitaro.
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Post by Sailor Mercury on Jun 24, 2007 8:41:45 GMT -5
The Senshi watched as the crack grew more in the giant ice ball. Sailor Earth narrowed her eyes. “Got ourselves a little problem, but that’s not hard to fix,” she turned to face Mercury, a steely glint of determination in her emerald eyes to match her tone of voice. “Combining our attacks, we should be able to keep that thing frozen.”
Mercury nodded and, still holding the Caduceus, moved forward with Sailor Earth towards the ball.
Sailor Earth held up her staff, aiming it at the ice. “Earth Hailstorm Freeze!” she called out.
Mercury followed suit with her own attack. “Double Shabon Spray Freezing!”
Her wave of icy cold water merged with Sailor Earth’s, shooting towards the ball and sealing the crack over.
“What now?!” Jupiter called out.
“Now…” Sailor Earth murmured, keeping her staff held high. “We hope to god that Tarda can get through to Umitaro…”
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Post by Zyppora on Jun 28, 2007 3:06:55 GMT -5
With another resonating sound, a second crack appeared, forking the first and diverting halfway the ball, away from the ice that the Senshi had used to seal up the first crack. It did little good. The ball of ice had been extremely dense, the power of a nuclear explosion being confined to a ball the size of a house. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Earth had only glazed the ice over. The seal wasn't nearly as dense as the ball, and it was far more transparent, even though it was reinforced because of coming from two different casters.
A third crack pretty much tore the ball in half. It could be seen being pushed apart in two halves. The seal was cracking up now. Melted ice was starting to run through the cracks that became more frequent, although smaller. The tiny chunks of ice that sprung off under the enormous force melted almost immediately, contributing to the resurrection of the entity inside.
---
Tarda had found Umitaro, but he was onconscious. He'd been tossed aside so roughly he'd met with a concrete wall head-on. If he wasn't a Mercurian his neck would have broken for sure. Hell, even a Mercurian would have surely broken -something-, just not this Mercurian. Not someone as strong and powerful as Umitaro. She was doing her best trying to get him back to consciousness.
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Post by Sailor Mercury on Jun 28, 2007 3:20:05 GMT -5
The small Senshi group watched in horror as the ice ball broke and melted away. Even the combined attacks from Sailor Earth and Mercury had been futile, much to their shock and annoyance.
“What the hell is happening now…?” Jupiter asked in a hiss, stepping up beside the Earth Soldier and staring straight ahead.
Sailor Earth tightened her grip on her staff. “I’m not sure I want to know…”
Mercury kept a firm hold on the Caduceus, but stepped neither forward nor back. She was curious to see just exactly was going on. “Sailor Earth,” she whispered after a moment. “Go and find Tarda to see how she’s doing. She might need your help. We can hold the fort here.”
Sailor Earth stared at the shorter Senshi incredulously. “To hell with that, I’m not going anywhere. If all hell breaks loose you’re going to need as much power as you can get to fight it off.”
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Post by Zyppora on Jun 28, 2007 3:39:03 GMT -5
The ball was falling apart now, both large and small chunks starting to break down around it. The smaller parts were melting faster and soon, in the midst of what was once a massive ball of ice, now stood a very pissed off Veridian. If looks could kill, her glare was the instant death for each of the Senshi. Her body had been completed again. The overdose of water had given her the opportunity to complete herself. Her pearl was still aching terribly though, and she still needed extreme concentration to keep from falling apart completely. Her eyes landed on Sailor Mercury, swiftly determining that she had the Caduceus. "Heal me ..." She commanded. She was definately in no-nonsense mode.
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Umitaro was only now starting to wake up. He groaned and grabbed his head as it throbbed before acknowledging Tarda's presence. He looked up at her and blinked, then started looking around. He now remembered the fight with Veridian. "Where is she?!" He demanded.
Tarda helped him onto his feet, supporting his mostly drained body with her own. "Frozen." She replied. "You certainly showed her who's boss." She smiled a bit as he relaxed at least somewhat. "I'm afraid it's over, Umitaro." She said. "I heard about what happened. It wasn't the drywalkers' fault." She elaborated as he grumbled in silent protest and started to tell him what she had learned from Luna.
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Post by Sailor Mercury on Jun 28, 2007 3:53:05 GMT -5
***
Sailor Mercury stepped back. “No…” she replied, in a stern tone that surprised even her. “We’re not going to allow this battle to continue. There is no use for it. It’s over, Veridian.”
Not wishing to take any chances, Sailor Earth stepped in front of Mercury to protect her in case Veridian tried something more vicious than mere words.
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