*Theme song: Never Surrender, by Stan Bush*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qual-Kehk: As you can see, our investigation of Nihlathak's dwelling and belongings seems to indicate that he had been searching for another of these Eternals even though he already had one.

 

Chris: Do they point out where the Eternal is, exactly?

 

Qual-Kehk: Yes, actually.

 

Qual-Kehk placed a map on the stone table that the Titans were gathered around.

 

Qual-Kehk: This is the Worldstone Keep, a temple that rests within Mt. Arreat, and leads to the Worldstone itself.  According to the readings given to us by your associate Oracle, we believe that the next 'Eternal' as you called it is located within it.

 

Miya: How long will it take to get there on foot?

 

Qual-Kehk: A week.  Nihlathak has more than likely already used his magic to get there faster.

 

Christine: Then we've got to use magic to our advantage, as well.  Malah, can you create a town portal to get us there?

 

Malah: I shall attempt to.  What do you plan to do to Nihlathak when you find him?

 

Chris: We'd like to bring him in for his crimes, but if he has the Eternal already, we may be forced to harm him.

 

Anna: Then let's transform and show this guy what happens when you mess with the Titans!

 

Miya: NEO CRESCENT POWER!!!

 

Out of Miya's heart brooch came three large hearts.  One heart descended down her body, and the other two onto her arms.  As the hearts passed over her skin, they formed the gloves of her Sailor outfit.  As the larger heart passed over her torso and slowly over her legs, forming the mini-skirt and the boots.  As the three hearts ended at her feet and hands, they shot up to her head and hit it, forming the tiara and earrings.  She stood in a pose with her making a smooching face.

 

Chris: ASTEROID BLAZING POWER!!!

 

A glittery silhouette of Chris appeared.  Asteroids shot around him, and several blasted into his chest, forming into the shirt and bow.  Asteroids then shot into his arms, exploding on contact, and forming into the sleeves.  Finally, the last asteroids shot into his legs, exploding on impact, and forming into the pants and boots.  The last asteroid shot into his face, forming into a halo.  He stood in a pose with an asteroid shooting at him from behind.

 

Christine: NEO CRYSTAL POWER!!!

 

The whole pink glittery thing happened with a silhouette of Christine.  She held out her transformation stick in front of her, and then the stick glowed with a silver brightness, and the silhouette slowly became covered in crystal.  First her torso was enveloped, then her arms, and finally her legs.  The crystal then shattered, forming her shirt, blue bows, gloves, gold mini-skirt, and boots.  She then twirled around, and her earrings and tiara with a blue gem formed out of nowhere.

 

Anna: LIFE PRISM POWER!!!

 

A silhouette of Anna appeared, and she twirled her transformation stick around her.  Lights shined from the ground underneath where she had twirled the stick, and they surrounded her, forming the gloves, boots, and shirt of the sailor outfit.  Five beams shot from around her into her torso, forming the skirt.  She ran her hand through her hair and the earrings and tiara formed.  She stood in a pose of her just standing there, smiling serenely.

 

After the three had finished transforming, Malah went to work.  She knelt down in prayer, and she began to glow a bluish color.  Shortly after that, a blue portal sprung up from the ground, sparkling and crackling with energy.  One by one, each Titan ran into it, traveling magically over a distance of several miles to Mt. Arreat.

 

Each Titan emerged from the other end of the portal with their wits about them and their arms ready in defensive positions.  The area around them was made of smooth yellow stone and rock, albeit it looked a bit cracked and worn out.

 

Love: Get ready, guys!  We don't know what he's-

 

A tremendous roar that reverberated throughout the chamber they were in interrupted sailor Love.  The Titans all readied themselves, keeping themselves in the defensive positions they were in when they first came into the Worldstone Keep.  Out of the nearby entranceway came about two dozen short, golden demons with wooden clubs with spikes in them.  And behind all of them was Nihlathak, who had a nasty glare on his face.

 

Asteroid smiled.

 

Asteroid: Ready, guys?

 

The Titans all smiled: they knew what Asteroid wanted to do, and they'd let him start.

 

Asteroid: All right, Nihlathak!  Your little misuse of the Eternals ends NOW!

 

Crystal: We are the agents of love!

 

Love: Agents of Justice!

 

Life: And in the name of our Guardians,

 

With what Sailor Life said, all the Titans pointed a finger at Nihlathak.

 

Titans: WE SHALL PUNISH YOU!

 

Nihlathak glared at them for one last moment, then said only one word to his demon hordes.

 

Nihlathak: Begin.

 

Nihlathak's command sent the demons, known as Enslaved, into a fighting frenzy.  They all quickly charged at the Titans, who smiled and ran right at the demons, as well.  If the Enslaved had been demons that the Titans had never encountered before, they might've had a slight edge.  However, these were the same demons that had been sent to kidnap the Titans originally when Argent had betrayed them.  They knew their limited skill and impishness were definitely shortcomings in battle.

 

Asteroid: ROCKET BLAST!!!

 

Sailor Asteroid's body erupted into fire, and he accelerated to mach 1 in one quick flash, annihilating a line of demons that had been running at him.

 

Life: SOUL LIFE!!!

 

Not holding back in the slightest when she was surrounded, Life spun around in a circle and launched several small triangular-shaped souls out her staff, each one flying into a demon and making them writhe in agony before they died.

 

Love: CRESCENT HEART CRUSH!!!

 

Instead of having her hearts close in on a target like they usually do, Love made four hearts move out in four directions away from herself, slamming and crushing a few demons running at her.

 

Crystal: CRYSTAL CRUSHER BEAM!!!

 

Crystal ran along a few demons, leaping into the air and using some gymnastic skills she learned on them.  She flipped from one demon to the next, crystallizing their heads as she used their heads as a balancing bar.

 

Before Nihlathak knew it, his entire demon force had been eliminated, and the Titans stood once more from where they had been, each of them smiling triumphantly.  Nihlathak gritted his teeth and growled silently, then smiled.

 

Nihlathak: All right, Titans: come and get me.

 

Love: With pleasure!

 

Love began running across the field of dead Enslaved and Nihlathak suddenly lifted up one of his arms, the hand growing a bright red.  Love's foot stepped into one of the demon corpses, and all of a sudden, it exploded!

 

Asteroid: MIYA!

 

The blast sent Sailor Love flying back towards the others.  Asteroid jumped into the air and caught her, landing gracefully back upon the ground.  Love winced in pain as she left her lover's arms and stood with them once more.

 

Asteroid: Let's back off, guys!

 

The group nodded and backed farther away from Nihlathak, who continued to stand in the same place he had been in before.  The Titans got behind a pile of rubble to discuss their next course of action.

 

Crystal: What did he do there?!

 

Asteroid: A Necromancer skill known as corpse explosion.  There's no way we can get near him like this.

 

Love: Maybe if we charged him all at once-

 

Asteroid: No.  Brute force isn't going to win this one for us.  Look at us!  Maybe we have lost our touch.  Even with the Eternal in his possession, we're still sitting ducks to some old guy with a few magic tricks.

 

Crystal: I don't believe that for a second, Chris!  In fact, I think I know a way we can beat this guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nihlathak continued standing where he was at, waiting for the Titans to either advance on him or retreat from battle.  However, their next move was quite unexpected: they merely stood in front of him for a moment, and then suddenly began moving like lightning!

 

Sailor Crystal shouted out, "Crystal Formation!" and suddenly a blanket of crystal appears all over the corpses.  Nihlathak gasps and immediately starts blowing the corpses up in an attempt to shatter the crystal.  However, Love's Crescent Heart Crush suddenly falls down on Nihlathak, immobilizing him briefly.  He taps into the power of the Eternal and breaks himself free of the hearts, however not before Sailors Asteroid and Life get across the temporary crystal bridge that Crystal created.

 

Using Rocket Blast, Asteroid releases volleys of kicks and punches all over Nihlathak's body, sending him tumbling to the ground in pain.  And to finalize it all, Life releases a small Soul Life into his brain to knock him unconscious.  When the Crystal bridge evaporates, the two remaining Titans run over to Asteroid and Life and smile.

 

Love: HA!  And you thought we were losing our edge, Chris.

 

Asteroid: Nah, we lost it, all right.  But this has just proven that we've gotten it back!  Titans Together-

 

Before Asteroid could exclaim his Victory Phrase, the wall to the side of them exploded!  The Titans were sent flying away into the opposite wall.  When they reopened their eyes, they saw a demon.  It was a colored a golden yellow, and out of it's arms and legs came thousands of tentacles, and its eyes were many and insect-like.

 

Demon: HA!  It seems you've done my work for me, Sailor Nothings!

 

Asteroid: And just who the hell are you?!

 

The Demon merely smiled and snaked a tentacle out into Nihlathak's clothes, pulling out a large diamond-shaped crystal: The Eternal.

 

Demon: My name is Osmoudon!  And this, my dear Titans, is mine.

 

Osmoudon left the way he had come, and before Asteroid could rise up and try to pursue the demon, he succumbed to the pain he was feeling and fell unconscious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be Continued...