Payback: Part 4

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        Back at Mia's house, everyone was putting in some hard training. There was a mood of tension and determination as they prepared to fight Talpa and Queen Beryl.
        Sage noticed one of Amanda's arrows flying towards Kento. "Heads up, Kento!" Kento dodged it, and it went flying into the kitchen window. Mia screamed as it broke all the dishes on the shelf above her head.
        "Oops" Amanda slinked away to train somewhere else as a very angry Mia came out of the house. Much to her surprise, Mia was headed for Rowen. "Sucks to be him." Amanda decided to find Erica and train with her.
        "Ami! Dont you have any good attacks?" Tracy ducked the pillar of ice that Amis attack shot at her. "How are you ever gonna beat Beryl?"
        "What do you mean?! I could beat you any day!" Ami jumped up and kicked Tracy. Tracy followed through with a couple of punches. Her sword hit Ami in the knee and caused her to fall to the ground.
        "Hey, are you alright?" As Tracy bent down to help her up, Ami blasted her with water.
        "Good going Ami!" Lita was fighting with Kento who, at the moment, was losing very badly. The moment she paused to call to Ami, he found his chance to come back. He swung his naginata and it hit her squarely in the torso. She fell to the ground cursing, and clutching her stomach.
        Kento walked over and helped her up. "Sorry, Lita. Maybe if you were wearing more than that skimpy outfit you would be a match for me." She glared at him and answered his comment with a punch to the face. He was sent flying backwards. "Man, she's strong." He looked behind him and noticed Cye and Candice walking towards the house. "Hey, Cye! A little help here?"
        "Sorry, Kento, but were going into the house to get some water for everyone." He grinned devilishly at Candice, and she returned it. "Besides, I'm sure you can handle her." They continued on their way to the house.
        "Cye!" Kento was interrupted when a tiara hit him in the head. "Ow, stupid Sailor Scouts." He grabbed the tiara and proceeded to break it in half.
        "Oh no you dont!" Serena kicked him in the chest and grabbed her tiara back as he paused from shock.
        In the backyard, Danielle and Ryo were exchanging blows in a sword fight. It amazed Danielle that his Wildfire swords could stand up to her lightsaber. "Hey, youre pretty good, Ryo. But not good enough." In one fluid motion, the force of her lightsaber knocked both of his swords from his hands.
        "Loser..." Just as Ryo was going to pick up his swords, a pressurized stream of water blasted him in the face. He looked over to find Candice and Cye standing over him, grinning as they pumped up their SuperSoaker3000s.

        "You look parched, Ryo. Care for some refreshment?" With this comment, Candice took aim and poised a threatening finger on the trigger.
        "You guys are supposed to be training!" Ryo pushed the drenched hair from his face and scowled at them.
        "Oh, but we are. I think Cye needs to work on his aim." She reached over and tapped Cye on the shoulder. "Rei looks awfully lonely over there. Maybe we should pay her a visit." With that, they ran away giggling toward their next target.
* * * * *
        Elsewhere, Mina, Rowen, Amanda, and Erica were exchanging hits and putting in some intense training. Rowen notched an arrow, "You'll pay for getting Mia mad at me, Amanda! Im grounded from sugar for a week!"
        "Oh gasp, I hope youll survive." Amanda snickered as she stepped aside and allowed the arrow to fly past her and into Ericas sheath.
        "Hey, thats custom made!" She was getting ready to blast Rowen with her gunblade when a portal appeared to her left. "Hey, whats that?"
        Mina got into a battleready position. "That is what weve been waiting for." Much to her surprise, a single soldier clad in gold, stepped out of the portal. He did not appear to be in a fighting mood. He walked over to them and began to speak.
        "I bear a message from the great Lord Talpa and her majesty Queen Beryl. They have requested your assistance in delivering the gems to them. You will give them up, or suffer the consequences!"
        Amanda began to laugh uncontrollably. She fell to the ground and shook with giggles. "D..deliver them?! Ahahahahahahahahahahahhaah!!! Thats hilarious! You must be joking! Now you go tell your masters to get off their lazy butts and come face us themselves!" She slowly recovered as she got up and stalked toward the soldier.
        "No one shall defy the word of the Masters! You shall be annihilated, in the name of the Dynasty!" He swung his chain as it glowed yellow and knocked Amanda into Rowen. The soldier was about to attack again when Mina came up from behind.
        "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" A chain of orange energy hearts flew towards the soldier and wrapped around him. He struggled with it for a moment and then broke the chain.
        "Wow, he sure is powerful for a Dynasty soldier!" Erica charged up her gunblade and pointed it towards the soldier. "Fireblast Explosion!" The blast of fire just missed the soldier as he jumped out of the way.
        "Give up now, you can't defeat me!" He was about to attack once more when a flash of white light appeared. Then the soldier was knocked down by a blast of black energy.
        Tred and Nathan stepped through a portal. "Get away from them!" Nathan shot another bolt of energy at him.
        The soldier got up from the ground. "I see you are still alive, traitor. I'll just have to bring you back with me too."
        "You shall never bring him back under Talpas control!" Tred opened up a portal from behind the soldier. "And be sure to tell him that!" Tred sent a huge amount of energy towards the soldier, which caused him to stumble back into the portal. As he closed the portal, Tred turned towards the group. "Are you alright?"
        Mina eyed Tred suspiciously. "What did you do that for? I really wanted to beat that guy!" She crossed her arms and looked away.
        "We dont have time to waste on him. That wasnt even one of their best soldiers." Tred turned and began walking toward the house. "Training is over for today. You can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't involve fighting."
        Everyone had disappointed looks on their faces as they trudged back to the house. Nathan stuck by Tred. He wasnt yet sure about them, even though Tred had assured him that they would be nice. He ran a hand through his orange hair, and realized for the first time just how different he looked.
        "Tred, I really shouldnt be here. I feel like every little thing I do is wrong..."
        Treds glare cut him off. "Trust me, they are really tough to get through to. I havent even accomplished it yet. Just stick around for awhile, they'll get used to you."
* * * * *
        Candice sat at her window, staring at the stars. She shared a room with Amanda and Ami, but they were sound asleep, so she had no one to talk to. She had always had trouble sleeping, but tonight she could feel some evil presence and her insomnia was worse than ever. As she stared, clouds began rolling across the sky, and pretty soon rain fell and came through her window. She shut it and turned toward her bed, ready to attempt some sleep.
        As she lay in bed wide awake, she saw a very light, reddish haze float across the ceiling. "Thats odd..." Suddenly the haze brightened and changed shape. Soon, a dozen red figures were attacking her from all directions. She tried to make it across the room to where her gem was sitting on the table, but the creatures would not allow it. She started to scream, but her mouth was blocked by one of them.
        Ami stirred, and opened one eye. When she saw what was happening, she jumped out of bed and shook Amanda awake. "Quick! Go find the others! Ill stay here and fight them off!" Amanda nodded and dashed out the door. Ami grabbed her wand, and held it up. "Mercury Star Power!" Her pajamas were replaced with her sailor uniform. She ran to where the red things were. "Get away from her! Shine Aqua Illusion!" A powerful beam of water struck the beings, and about half of them screamed in pain as they melted away.
        The remaining enemies seemed to bond for a moment, and began to rapidly circle Candice and Sailor Mercury. They couldn't see as layers of painful, red dust was piled on them.
        Amanda came through the door with Rowen and Sage. "Damn! We might be too late!" She quickly grabbed her gem, and transformed. She notched an arrow, and concentrated for a moment. "Sonic Arrow Blast!"         Sage lifted his nodatchi. "Thunder Bolt Cut!" The two attacks combined and struck the circle of dust people, but it didnt seem to do anything. Amanda was ready to try and pull Candice and Ami out, but Rowen stopped her.
        "Youll be caught, too, and then we'll be minus three allies."
        "I guess youre right, but we cant just stand here while they take our friends!" Amanda grabbed Sage's nodatchi and slashed it through the side of the circle, being careful to avoid hitting Candice and Ami. This attempted attack did nothing, and a moment later the room flashed red. Candice and Ami were gone.
        Amanda slammed her fist against the wall, and stormed out of the room. Rowen and Sage exchanged worried glances.
* * * * *
        Amanda ran down the hall toward Kento, Ryo, and Cye's room. 'I've got to warn everybody so we can save Candice!' This was the only thought she had. It ran over and over through her mind. She approached the room, and there was a sign that read, "Please knock before entering." Every door had one of these, since Mia was so weird about privacy. Amanda knocked lightly, and when there was no response she proceeded to pound on it. Finally, footsteps were heard, and the door opened a crack. She pushed it open, and Kento was knocked to the ground.
        "Hey, what gives?" Kento watched as Amanda shook the other two awake. Cye rubbed his eyes, and slowly stumbled out of bed. When Ryo refused to wake, she grabbed a nearby cup of water, and poured the contents onto his face.
        He coughed and opened one eye. When Amanda observed that everyone was awake, she spoke up. "Sorry to wake you up guys, but this is important." She saw that she had everyone's attention, and continued. "Candice, ... and Ami, have been captured! One minute I was asleep, and then Ami woke me up, and then she told me to go find someone, so I got Rowen and Sage, and then we came back, and there was this big swirl of red dust, and they were caught in it! So, I tried to attack it, but it was too late! And then, there was this big flash of light, and they were gone!" She looked at their faces. Kento was stunned. Ryo was still trying to absorb everything she had just said.
        "Candice... gone?" Cye was in shock, and it looked as if he was ready to cry. The room was silent for a minute, but then he spoke up. "Come on! We have to go wake up the others! Who knows what could be happening to them right now!"
* * * * *
        Nobody had slept that night, since Cye and Amanda had made sure to wake them all. They sat around the kitchen table, discussing their next move.
        "They had to be from the Negaverse. Ive seen Queen Beryl use them before." Nathan was talking about the strange red dust creatures that Amanda had described. He looked around the table to see what kind of response he was getting.
        Erica glared at him. "That's convenient. You probably saw them when you were helping Beryl come up with a plan to capture us!"
        "Erica! I told you that you could trust Nathan."
        "So what, Tred? How do I know that we can even trust you? Ever since we met you our lives have been in danger!"
        Danielle nodded. "She has a point. You haven't been giving us too many answers. You kinda just showed up and told us to save the world."
        Cye looked like he would beat up everyone there if he got the chance. "Come on, you guys! When do you ever stop fighting! Nathan says those things are from the Negaverse, so we're going to the Negaverse! Is there anyone who thinks this is a bad idea?" Everyone stared at him blankly, shocked that their shy friend would talk to them like that. "No? Good. Come on, then. Let's get going."
        They all filed out of the room and into the yard. Tred created a portal, and slowly, one by one, everyone went through it. Once in the Negaverse, no one really talked to each other until Danielle broke the ice.
        "Cye's right. Let's not fight anymore. Our main goal here is to get Candice and Ami back. You guys are being so quiet, come on, I hate this!" Danielle was getting angry. She usually was only comfortable when everybody was talking at once.
        Amanda blinked. It wasn't every day that Danielle said something useful or intelligent. "Okay, I agree with Danielle!" She walked over to where Rowen and Sage were standing. "Hey, guys, howz you're day goin'?"
        With that, everything was fine, and they all began to search for a clue as to what they would do next.
        Rei glanced around. "Hey, Nathan. Don't you know where Beryl's place is?"
        "I'm not sure I remember, but let me think." He put one hand on his purple chin for a moment and looked very thoughtful. "Hey wait a minute! Now I remember!" He created a weak portal, since he was new at that kind of stuff, and motioned for them to go through it. "I know you guys have been using these an awful lot, but it should take us directly to Queen Beryl's kingdom."
        Cye brightened. "Great, let's go!" He jumped through the portal and was followed by the others. 'We've got to find Candice,' He thought as they soared through the portal.
        When they arrived on the other side. They were standing in a city of dark blue and gray. Darkness hung over it, and a castle could be seen in the distance. Tred turned to address the group. "This place will be nothing like the Netherworld. Queen Beryl has more than soldiers at her command, and I can sense that she is more powerful than ever before. We must be careful..."
        "Yeah, yeah. We've heard it before." Kento walked farther into the city. "Are you guys coming or what? I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what these Negaverse idiots got in store for us!"
        "Yeah, can't wait..." Cye ran to catch up with Kento and everyone began to make their way toward the castle.
        Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and before them stood two of Talpas warlords, Cale and Sekhmet.
        "You may have beaten Natanya, but she was child's play! Let's see how well you fare against us!" Cale sneered and pulled out his nodatchi.
        "Cale! I should have expected you to be in a scum hole like this!" Sage and the other Ronins started attacking the Warlord of Darkness, leaving the rest of the group to fight Sekhmet.
        "Yikes!" As Serena jumped out of the way to avoid Sekhmet's katanas, the blades hit the earth and began to burn it. "Those blades must be poisoned!"
        Sekhmet smirked behind his face shield. "What else would you expect from the Warlord of Venom? You puny girls shall fall in the name of the Dynasty!"
        Tracy, Danielle, and Erica surrounded Sekhmet. Tracy yelled to Amanda and the Sailor Scouts. "Go help the Ronins fight Cale! We'll take care of snake-face."
        "All right! Rowen, I'm coming to save you!" Amanda rushed to where the Ronins were fighting.
        "You have just made your last mistake, girl. You didn't have much of a chance to beat me before, but now you shall never defeat me! Snake Fang Strike!" As his attack rushed toward them, all three released their attacks.
        "Seismic Slash!"
        "Angle Light Strike!"
        "Fireblast Explosion!"
        The forces of energy collided and knocked all four of the fighters to the ground. Only Sekhmet didn't get back up.
        "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Danielle walked up to the unconscious Sekhmet and nudged him with her boot. "Oh, poor Sekkie. Did you fall to a bunch of puny girls?" She started to giggle, and then turned toward Erica and Tracy. "So should we go help the others?"
        "Nah, let's go and try to find Candice and Ami. I'm sure that Cale isn't much stronger than this wuss." Erica walked off toward the castle, followed by her friends.
        "Wait a minute!" Tred approached them with Nathan close behind. "You're not going anywhere by yourselves, so were coming with you." It seemed that Tred was just looking for someone to hang out with, but nobody said anything.
        "Fine, then lets go already!" Danielle urged the group onward, leaving the others behind to finish up the fight.
* * * * *
        Elsewhere, Rowen and Sage were taking turns at Cale, while the others waited just in case they started having a disadvantage in the battle. This, however, was not the case. Cale was losing badly, and if he didn't do something fast, he was going to end up like Sekhmet.
        Cale reached up, tapped his helmet, and mumbled something. He then continued fighting, and nobody seemed to notice this action but Amanda. "Weird... Could he be communicating with someone?" She looked around to make sure no one had come to back him up. She walked over, and whispered to Lita. "I think you guys should go stand watch. I swear he just called someone."
        "Gotcha." Lita winked, and went to tell the other scouts. They walked farther away from the battle, and Amanda continued to observe the ongoing fight.
        Cale got his second wind, and began attacking the two Ronins harder. The other three and Amanda then decided to join in the battle. Cye brought back his yari. "Enough of this! We have to save Candice, and we don't have time for you! Super Wave Smasher!" He thrust it in front of him, and a beam of water shot at Cale, knocking him backward.
        Kento took this chance to attack. "Iron Rock Crusher!" He swung his naginata, and then struck the ground. Tons of rock were sent flying at Cale. Since he was just recovering from the last attack, this one hit him hard. He was again knocked to the ground, and struggled to get up.
        He was ready to come back, but Rowen decided to finish him off. "Out of our way, blue-haired freak!" He suddenly realized what he was saying, but chose to ignore it. "Arrow Shockwave!" His supercharged arrow struck Cale in the chest, and much to Rowen's surprise, he wasn't yet beaten. He again stumbled his feet.
        "It takes more than that to defeat me! Black Lightning Slash!" Blackness surrounded everyone, as they were struck with beams of power. Their power slowly began to drain into Cale. "Ah-hahaha!"
        Rei saw this out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to the other Sailor Scouts. "I think they might be needing our help right about now. What do you think?"
        "Let's go!" Mina began to run toward the others, but stopped when she heard an unfamiliar voice from behind her.
        "Where do you think you're going! Web of Deception!" The Ronin battle appeared to get farther and farther away. He had isolated them in order to save Cale, who really didn't need the help at the moment.
        Lita looked around for their hidden foe. "Who are you?"
        "Hahaha! I am Dais, the Dark Warlord of Illusion." He appeared in front of the Sailor Scouts. "And I am your death!" He started to laugh again as a whole army of soldiers appeared around the Scouts.
        "No! Not more of the tin cans!" Serena felt like crying.
        "Toughen up, Serena! I highly doubt that Tuxedo Mask will save you here." As Rei knocked down one of the Dynasty soldiers, five more took its place. She was getting fed up with them. "Mars Celestial Fire Ignite!" The attack took most of them out, but more soldiers quickly filled their places.
        "There are too many to fight. Try to attack Dais!" Lita looked around to locate the warlord. He was just standing there, leaning against a nearby tree. "Jupiter Thundercrash Zap! A ball of lightning shot toward Dais. It passed through him and the tree lit on fire. Darn it, that must have been an illusion!
        Dais appeared right behind Mina. "Are you ready to give up now?" He sounded a little bored.         "Never! Venus Love Chain Encircle!" The chain of energy hearts passed through the illusion and headed toward Rei. She noticed it too late. "Rei!" Mina rushed to her fallen friend.
        "This is too easy, I shouldnt be wasting my energy on you! Web of Deception!" Instead of creating an illusion, the attack sent out webs that ensnared the Sailor Scouts. Dais sent waves of energy through the web, rendering them unconscious. He gathered them up and teleported away.