*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...