The desert valley was desolate and quiet. No movement could be seen, save for the dust that was occasionally picked up and scattered by the wind. Suddenly, the silence was broken by far off rumbling. It grew louder as the earth began to shake and one could see a huge cloud of dust coming through the valley. Three figures dashed in front of the dust cloud: a young man with orange sub armor, a girl with blond hair held up by a bright red bow, and a white cat with a crescent moon on its forehead. They raced desperately to stay ahead of the cloud, then a huge roar echoed along the walls of the canyon. A monster burst out of the dust and bellowed loudly in rage. It was as big as a rhino with three tusks on its head and a grayish-brown hide that blended in with the sides of the valley. It snorted as it ran, black smoke streaming from its nostrils.
Mina, Kento, and Artemis were sprinting as hard as they could. "Well, I think it's kind of mad at us," Kento commented sarcastically as they tried to keep beyond the monster's reach.
"You think?!" Artemis exclaimed, huffing and puffing.
Mina couldn't agree with her cat right now; she was so out of breath. She knew they couldn't keep this up forever, and that thing was intent on running them down. Then she had an idea. "I'll be right back," she called over to Kento and Artemis.
"What?!" Artemis looked at her as if she was crazy.
"See ya!" Mina began to pick up her speed. She gained some distance from the beast, her lungs and legs starting to scream from the work. Finally, she felt she was far enough away and spun around, kicking up dirt as she changed direction.
Kento was more than shocked when he saw Mina turned around and race back toward them. She's going to kill herself, Kento thought, alarmed. The distance between them was almost gone when suddenly Mina leapt into the air. She sailed over their heads as they rushed under her. Kento looked behind him to see her flip in midair and actually touch down on the monster's back. It skidded to a stop, rearing up on its hind legs.
"WWWHHHHOOOOAAA!!!!!!!!" Mina shrieked as she gripped the horn on its forehead for dear life. Wow, I actually did it, she thought in amazement. Now what, she wondered, realizing what she had just gotten herself into. Artemis and Kento abruptly came to a halt. They watched as the beast began bucking and kicking like a rodeo horse. Mina, for the most part, was actually hanging on all right. However, she was getting thrown around like a rag doll. Artemis was so worried that he didn't notice Kento step back and pull out a round crystal with an orange symbol glowing inside of it. He decided it was time to step in.
"Mina! Hang on!" Artemis shouted.
"I'm hanging, I'm hanging! Just get it while it's distracted!" she yelled frantically as she was flung around roughly.
At this moment, the monster bucked hard and Mina lost her hold on the monster. She was sent flying through the air straight toward the canyon wall, screaming as she hurtled toward it. Then something orange whizzed in front of her eyes and someone grabbed Mina. She immediately wrapped her arms around the person's neck and held on. They landed safely, but Mina still clung to her rescuer, trembling. "Hey, it's okay. I got you." She looked up at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Kento?" He set her down and Mina gasped in astonishment. He was clad in an impressive orange armor. It had two horns on the helmet that pointed up unevenly and a horn on each shoulder. In his hand, he held a three-section staff held together by a chain. One end had a sharp blade, the other a rod with spiked protrusions.
"How.....?" Mina spoke questioningly, staring at him.
Kento grinned. "Just call me Kento of Hardrock!" Then he remembered what was going on and focused back to the monster. It pawed the dirt and got ready to charge. "Not this time, buddy!" Kento connected his weapon into one part and raised it above his head. "Iron Rock," he shouted as he spun his staff in a fast circle, dust flying up and swirling around him. "Crusher!" He aimed the end of his weapon in front of him, blasting the dirt. An energy ball ripped through the ground and rammed into the monster. An explosion rocked the valley, making rocks tumble down all around. Artemis suddenly screeched in pain and Mina whirled around to see his tail was trapped under a large rock. "Artemis!" She rushed to him and strained hard to push the rock away. Finally, she managed to roll it off and she picked Artemis up.
"Mina! Move it!" Kento shouted.
"What....?" That was all she got out as she turned around and saw the ground break up under her feet. Still holding Artemis, she cried out in surprise as she began to fall down into the abyss............
The dust had settled down and the valley was quiet again. A mound of boulders lay piled up in the canyon, strew about everywhere. Four people gathered on the edge of the ravine and looked down upon the wreckage.
Cye's eyes widened as he surveyed the mess. It looked like the whole canyon had collapsed on itself. He caught sight of some kind of weird animal lying in front of the pile of rocks. He swallowed hard, nausea rising in his chest. It was not a pleasant sight, but the thing was definitely dead.
"What the hell happened here?" Sage asked, bewildered.
Cye turned away from the sight, feeling sick. "Probably Kento's doing," he said wryly. "He was probably trying to get that...that....whatever that thing was."
Jupiter made a disgusted face. "Geez, what kind of power does that guy have to do that?"
"Believe me, I've seen the armor of Hardrock do much more damage than that," Sage said. "I imagine that Kento could level a city if he wanted."
Mercury been searching around for Mina and Artemis, but she couldn't locate them. "Guys, I don't see Mina or Kento anywhere."
A horrifying thought entered Cye's mind. "What if they were......." He couldn't finish the sentence as a lump developed in his throat.
Mercury saw his distress and placed a comforting hand on Cye's shoulder. "We don't know that for sure." She activated her visor and began scanning. Three dots appeared on the screen, causing Mercury to let out a sigh of relief. "Good news! I'm picking up three life signs and one of them is undoubtedly Mina." She pointed down into the valley. "They're down there somewhere."
"Hurry! Let's go help them!" Jupiter leapt off the ledge and landed on the pile of rocks, rushing down into the canyon.
Sage, Mercury, and Cye all looked at each other and then hurriedly followed.
Kento grasped the chain part of his staff with one hand and held onto Mina's wrist with his other. She, in turn, was clinging to his hand while holding Artemis in her free arm. When the ground fell through, Kento had rammed the blade end of his weapon as hard as he could into the earth and went in after Mina. Now they were both hanging from his staff over a pitch black chasm. Several pebbles dislodged from the edge they were dangling on and fell into the pit, bouncing off the walls. The disturbing thing was that Kento never heard them hit the bottom.
"Okay," he said, glancing down at Mina and Artemis, "I probably shouldn't have done that."
Artemis sweat dropped, but he refrained from making comment on that. "How are we going to get back up?"
"We'll just have to climb up on at a time. Artemis, you're the lightest one here, so you go up first." Mina brought her arm up, allowing Artemis to crawl on her back. She winced slightly as he dug his claws into the back of her uniform as he climbed up. He made it all the way and hopped off Kento's helmet to solid ground.
Her other hand now free, Mina used it to grab hold of Kento's hand. "I don't think I can get myself up," she said, her arms aching. No sooner had she said that, Kento suddenly swung her back and then literally tossed her out of the hole. Mina stumbled onto her feet, and stood there with a startled expression on her face.
With her safe, Kento could concentrate on climbing. He began to pull himself up on his staff. He was almost there when the section of the ground that his blade was buried in broke off. With nothing to hold onto, he plummeted down.
"No!" Mina dove for Kento's hand, catching it as he fell. She hit the dirt front-first and tried to haul him up. But the weight of Kento, his armor, and his staff were too heavy for Mina to pull up. She was slowly being dragged back into the pit.
"Forget it, Mina! Just let go!" Kento insisted.
Mina ignored that, still straining to save him. "Artemis, somebody," she begged desperately, "help me!"
Suddenly someone snatched her ankle just before she plunged in and started to pull her back. "Need a hand?" Mina looked behind her in amazement to see Jupiter tugging on her ankle. She struggled to pull them both up, but couldn't quite do it herself. "Guys? Little help over here?!"
"Well, you ran off without us! You should have at least waited!" Mercury scolded mildly as she joined Jupiter. Two boys also appeared, wearing body armor similar Kento, only theirs were green and light blue. Mercury and Jupiter took Mina's left ankle, and the two boys grabbed her right ankle. Together, they were able to get her and Kento out of the hole.
Kento plopped on the ground, his armor vanishing. Mina held out her arms as Artemis jumped into them. "Whew! That was close," Kento said, relieved.
"What in the world did you do?" Sage demanded.
Kento glanced up. "Sage! So there you are!"
Sage became impatient. "Never mind that! What happened?"
Kento blinked, then scratched the back of his head as he thought. "Well, me and Mina and Artemis were walking, and we stopped to rest. I was leaning on a rock, except it wasn't a rock because it started to move. I guess I must have woken it up. Anyway, it was really grumpy or something, so it started to chase us." Kento grinned proudly. "Luckily, I thrashed it with my armor!"
"You are unbelievable!" Sage spoke in an irritated tone. "What were you thinking, using your Iron Rock Crusher attack in this place?! You're lucky you didn't bring the whole canyon down on you!"
Kento jumped to his feet, confronting Sage indignantly. "What was I supposed to do? That thing was going to run us over! And you sure have a nice way of saying hello!"
"If you weren't so hardheaded all the time, I wouldn't......."
"Hey, come on guys!" Cye stepped between the two, separating them. "This isn't the time to fight. We've got more important things to worry about."
"Cye!" Kento shouted happily when he spotted Cye, grabbing his friend in a bear hug. "Where've you been, buddy?"
Cye gasped for breath as his ribs were squeezed. "Kento...." he managed to squeak out.
"What?"
"Air!"
"Oops!" Kento quickly dropped Cye, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry!"
Cye panted heavily and wheezed, "No problem......"
"Kento? Do you know them?" Mina asked, tapping Kento on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Oh, right! That's Sage," he said, pointing to the boy in the green body armor. Then he pointed to the boy in the light-blue body armor. "And that's Cye, my best bud!"
"Charmed," Cye said in a good-natured tone, while Sage gave Mina a friendly nod.
Mina whispered to Jupiter enthusiastically. "Wow, these guys are all really cute!"
"Well, forget about the guy with the accent. Mercury's got dibs on him!"
"What?!" Mina turned to Mercury in astonishment. "You two are going out?"
"Uh, is everyone ok?" Mercury spoke quickly, avoiding the question.
Kento now noticed the two girls who were in the group. "Hey, who are those two? Why are they wearing those short skirts?"
"What?! You better watch it, pal!" Jupiter said heatedly. Mercury turned red, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.
Mina stifled a giggle as she explained, "Kento, these are my friends, Lita and Amy. But, um, right now you should call them Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury."
"Huh?"
"Come on, Kento," Cye said, motioning him over, "we'll fill you in."
Kento had given Cye and Sage a brief overview of what had happened, including the part about Artemis the talking cat. Cye and Sage thought he was trying to pull a joke on them, until Kento persuaded the cat to say a few words. Even then they couldn't believe it. Finally, after Artemis had to say all their names and recite several nursery rhymes including the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", they were convinced.
Then Cye and Sage explained things to Kento. Many, many times, until eventually he got it. "So, we're all stuck here with these other people who have powers like ours?" He gave Mina a questioning look. "So then who are you?"
"Mina, why don't you show them?" Jupiter suggested.
Mina was surprised. "Really?" She looked to Artemis, and though he was unsure, he relented, shrugging.
"Sure, it's ok."
"Cool!" Mina's transformation pen appeared in her hand and she lifted it in the air. "Venus Star Power!" The sign of Venus spun on her pen, her figure becoming a sparkling orange as her clothes vanished. A strand of connected stars poured out, circling her as she twirled around. The star strand fell from her pen to the ground, then burst up in a shining spiral.
Sage let out a whistle. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of that," he commented.
Cye would have given him a hard jab with his elbow if he hadn't been staring. Kento's jaw actually dropped down a few inches.
"I am the Sailor Scout of love and beauty, the first and original soldier of justice, I am...." Sailor Venus began self-righteously. Suddenly Jupiter came over and gave her hair a firm yank. Venus yelped and whirled around, clinging to her hair protectively. "Why'd you do that?!"
Jupiter had an annoyed expression on her face. "I hate to interrupt your little show-off session, but we need to go."
Venus became embarrassed. "Okay, maybe I got a little carried away."
Cye blinked, then promptly reached over and pushed Kento's jaw back up. "Yes, well, anyway, I'm sure the other Ronins will be glad to see us. And they'll want to meet our new allies."
"So will the other scouts," agreed Mercury, already activating her visor. "I'm getting Raye, Serena, and Reenie over there." She pointed in the direction of a huge mountain. The group started to walk away, but then Kento stopped them.
"Hey, wait! There's still something I don't get," Kento said, confused. "How did we get here in the first place? And why were we chosen to come?"
Everyone looked at each other for an answer, but no one spoke. Not even Mercury could give a reason. However, there was a good chance that they would be finding out very soon.
Sigh, the hard work of a fanfic writer. It's so hard to think of original ideas. Trust me, I haven't read too many fanfics, so if you see something that was in another fanfic, I didn't copy or anything. I just didn't know. I apologize to anyone who thinks that. Oh, well, stayed tuned for the next chapter!
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