Drops of Starlight

Chapter 25: Encounter

Sailor Moon realized he wouldn't have a clue how many guardians he was truly up against, as there had just been three the first time around. It gave her a boost of confidence. She touched the crescent moon on her forehead, drawing forth her tiara.

"Release the woman now!" Sailor Moon commanded. She wound her tiara back.

Nephrite smirked. Even under the harsh streetlights, he managed to look smooth and collected, handsome even. He dropped the hapless civilian, who collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The last vestiges of energy he had collected from her body swirled in a luminous ball within his palm. With a calculated movement, Nephrite clenched his hand shut, causing the energy to vanish, presumably absorbed into his own being. As he closed his eyes, his thick waves of hair began to hover above his shoulders. Sailor Moon's eyes widened as his feet lifted six inches off the ground.

"You think you're stronger than me now? Just because you've made more allies here? I'd like to see you try," Nephrite barked in his gravelly, booming tone. "You're no match for me, never were."

"We'll see about that!  Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon hurled her tiara with all her might. The glittering disc sliced through the night air.

Fighter cried out an attack, "Star Serious Laser!"

A blinding beam of light shot forth from Fighter's new star yell, colliding with Sailor Moon's tiara. Their combined attack transformed the tiara into a sizzling band of supercharged light headed directly toward the former general.

In a breathtaking display of agility, Nephrite leaped nearly a story high, narrowly evading the tiara's trajectory. The tiara arched back around, but Nephrite easily sidestepped it again, his movements fluid and graceful.

With her weapon soaring back toward them at lightning speed, Sailor Moon felt panic bubble up to her throat.

"Stop, tiara!" she cried. To her relief, it obeyed, clattering to the ground a few feet in front of them before vanishing.

"For someone who's claimed victory over Chaos, I expected to face a more formidable opponent," Nephrite bellowed. He floated back down, his feet barely a few inches above the ground. With his arms crossed, he observed Sailor Moon with interest, as though seeing her for the first time. "Perhaps this won't be as much fun as I had anticipated after all."

"What do you want, Nephrite?" Sailor Moon shot back.

"Isn't it obvious?" He ran a finger across his throat in a mocking gesture, the smugness on his lips infuriating her to the core.

"And how do you think Naru would feel about this? She loves you! I don't know what kind of mind-meld trick you played on her, but you know she would never want you fighting for the wrong side!"

"You want to label me as the enemy? Yet, Sailor Moon, you and your guardians just stood there and let me die, right before Naru's eyes! You call yourself a guardian of love and justice? I saw no justice in that. You two are so alike."

Sailor Moon shook her head. "No... That's not true! You've got it all wrong!"

"You're nothing but a pitiful excuse for a guardian," Nephrite continued to taunt. "It's no wonder that Fighter fell for someone equally pathetic on this planet too."

Heat flashed in Fighter's eyes. "Don't speak to her like that!" she shouted.

"I've just about had enough of you both!" Nephrite thrust an open palm outwards. Jagged beams of electricity scattered in their direction.

"Look out!" Fighter dove at Sailor Moon, shoving her out of the way as a cackling purple lightning bolt scorched the sidewalk where the blonde guardian had been standing moments before.