Kunzite took no time in getting to the moon and locating the cavern in which Rinko and the other scouts were located. He knew that no one had yet sensed his presence in the dark corner of the cave. This gave him ample time to gather his thought and devise a quick plan.
As he suspected Rinko was digging her greedy little claws in Endymion’s emotional energy. He wasn’t in pain, and neither was the Moon Princess. He silently sent op a prayer of thanks that Eathia had found his stone before Rinko did. If it had been the other way around disaster would have surely struck.
He looked over at the orb that Rinko held and saw the circles that were emitted from it and surround his prince and the princess. It seemed as though all of her concentration was focused on keeping the circles stable. If he ran up and took it, even managed to destroy it their physical bodies would be destroyed. The death of the princess would kill Rinko but in turn Endymion’s lose would cause great pain to Earthia. He took notice of Nephrite, Zoicite, and Jedite who stood tiredly against the sidewalls with the senshi of Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. It seemed that the only pair that hadn’t gone up was the senshi of Venus, and Kunzite knew that there was no way it hell that would happen.
He felt himself weaken a bit and came to the conclusion that Earthia was having another attack on her power. He had to act fast. With a quick route plot in his head her gathered all his thoughts and held onto the power he had left. In a flash he phased out with great speed heading towards Rinko and the orb that decided the fates of everyone.
****************
Minako saw it happen all too fast. A blur ran past Rinko and took the orb with it all before she could call out a warning. The thing phased out again before she could get a clear view of. Usagi and Mamoru cried out in pain, as their bodies seemed to fade and she panicked again. She didn’t think she could live if Usagi disappeared again.
“Kunzite!” Jedite yelled. Minako’s head whipped around in every direction, then she finally looked up. Speak of the Devil. There he was in his gray general uniform holding the orb. He was in great concentration, not even paying attention to them at all. Zoicite held out his hand, using what energy he had left, to form his blade, but it looked more like a dagger. Ami grabbed his hand and shook her head.
“Look, Usagi and Mamoru-san are coming down,” she said. Makoto immediately rushed to Usagi, shaking her. Kunzite looked at them and breathed a quick sigh of relief.
“Kunzite what the hell do you think your doing?” Nephrite yelled up at him. “You almost killed-”
“Quiet!” Kunzite yelled. He held up the orb. “I got what I came for.”
“How dare you betray our prince this way? Aiding the enemy!” Jedite accused.
“You always did jump to conclusions Jedite.” He carefully eyed the bunch and figured that they were all too tired to fight him, which was definitely good thing. “This time it is you who are wrong.”
“Give the Silver Crystal back,” Makoto demanded.
“You don’t know what you are doing Kunzite,” Ami pleaded. “Why don’t you join us, and stop-”
“Shut up!” Kunzite held the orb out to show them. “Too bad you didn’t get all your facts straight. This isn’t the Silver Crystal.” Almost everyone stood in awe and confusion. A shot shattered the silence and clipped the side of Kunzite’s face. He flinched, but it was barely noticeable.
“Drop it Kunzite!” Minako yelled. He glared at her and Gaia’s word rang in his head. “Don’t let yourself get sidetracked,” it said. Minako’s eyes stayed set on him as she aimed her ankle gun at his chest. Ever since her first day as a police officer Minako had carried a spare gun wit her in case of emergencies. Now she was glad that Makoto had retrieved one for her from her trip too earth. Neither wavered.
“I’d apologize,” he said holding up his had. “If I were sorry.” With that Minako took another shot but he had already established a shield and the lead bounced off. She cursed. Kunzite, relieved that no one else would try and stop him, he prepared to leave.
Rinko phased in behind him and he turned quickly, sensing her energy at the last moment. He cursed as he narrowly dodged a blast from her hands. He quickly tucked the hand-sized sphere into the inside of his jacket. Rinko, powered by pure anger fired a silver ray towards him. He threw up his hand to shield the blast but didn’t have enough power to sustain it. He was blasted back, but collected himself quickly, jumping off a sidewall. He attacked, black electricity in his hand, aiming for Rinko. She barely escaped the blow, but without receiving a slight cut on her shoulder.
“I’m not letting you take my power!” She screamed and fired her ray again. Kunzite moved and came up behind her with a solid punch to back.
“Forget it. Earthia will not allow you to destroy everything, and nor will I.” He hit her again with an energy blast, but she had recovered too quickly. She came up on the side of him grabbing his coat. She held up her hand sent a ray through his arm and he cried out in manly pain. She then reached inside his coat, taking hold of the orb and pushing him away. Kunzite came down to the ground, just barely getting a hold of his own footing. She stumbled and came down on one knee, glaring up at her. She laughed menacingly.
“Now what?” Zoicite asked, exasperated and confused. By this time Usagi and Mamoru had aroused in a drowsy state.
“Rinko?” Usagi whispered. She rubbed her eyes. “Rinko what are you doing?”
“Ah Hime, it’s a shame you couldn’t stay asleep. It would have been easier that way. Easier for you al lest.”
“You’re not going to…” Makoto couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Destroy everything?” Rinko finished. She laughed. “I’m afraid it’s true Lady Jupiter.” Kunzite cursed and got up again, but Rinko shot another, faster ray at him. He fell back again, his head and arm bleeding.
“Damn you…”
“I wouldn’t move if I were you Kunzite-san. “Next time I won’t be so kind.”
“Rinko, what the hell is going on, what are you doing?” Rei yelled in anger.
“Oh it’s simple.” She held up the orb. “It’s true that this is not the silver crystal like I said before. This is a power orb and it collected energy. With this I have the power to destroy the entire universe.”
“WHAT!” everyone said at once.
“Oh Hime, do not fret. I wouldn’t be fool enough to destroy myself. I plan to recreate the Moon Kingdom, without the presence and interference of others. Oh!” she snapped her fingers and a pink light came down on Usagi.
“God, NO!” Mianko yelled rushing towards her friend. Touching the pink light gave her a strong shock and she screamed in pain. Usagi banged weakly on the sides reaching out for anyone.
“Usako!” Mamoru held onto the pink pillar, ignoring the feeling of death creeping upon his tired body.
“I can’t destroy you Hime.” The pillar vanished and so did Usagi along with it.
“N… not again… not again… I… I…can’t…” Ami’s eyes became dilated and her hand shook. Zoicite held her shoulder shaking her as she zoned out.
“Ami! Ami get a hold of yourself. Ami!”
“Bring her back!” Makoto screamed. Her tired body tried to charge forward but Nephrite held her back. Rinko just cackled.
“Do not worry. Without the recreation of Earth, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and even the stars you will not have long to suffer.”
“How could you? How could you do this after we trusted you?” Minako screamed. Rinko eyed Minako with suspicion.
“I know you didn’t trust me Lady Venus.” Minako flinched. “Am I right? I am. Too bad you didn’t act on your thoughts. I was worried about that, you being the sister planet of Earth and all.” Minako cursed. Rinko smiled sweetly at Kunzite.
“You won’t get away with this Rinko!” Rei called out. Jedite had come to Kunzite’s side and nodded.
“Be happy minna. Your princess will live a new happy life that will not be plagued by tragedy and despair. You should be glad for her,” she said, and just like that she had vanished into the air.
“Kunzite are you-” Jedite’s question was cut off when Kunzite smacked his hand away.
“You bunch of fools. You trust so easily,” he hissed.
“How were we supposed to know she was feeding us lies?” Rei asked heatedly. She marched up to him as she stood. “And where were you all this time? You didn’t feel the need to get us out of here, and maybe feed us some info?”
“We were looking for the power orb which was still suppose to be at the bottom of the sea of serenity!” he snapped.
“Where did he take her Kunzite?” Mamoru asked bellow a whispered. Everyone quieted; casting weary glances at both Mamoru and Kunzite. Kunzite held his head up, showing no guilt or regret.
“I don’t know, but Earthia dose,” he said quietly.
“Kunzite.” Nephrite let go of Makoto and moved forward. Kunzite seemed to read his mind.
“We attacked the moon many times, but greatly underestimated the strength of the senshi and generals combined. Finally we decided to retrieve the power orb to buy us some more time. We couldn’t get into any kind of contact with you.”
“What are you talking about?” Makoto snapped and stalked over, tears in her eyes. Nephrite steadied her with on hand. “We were on Earth a few days ago.” His confused look answered her question.
“She’s… gone. Rinko will…” Ami shuddered and Zoicite held her gently as she slowly began to calm down. A pang of jealousy over came Kunzite. He turned to Mamoru, holding his arm.
“She didn’t get all of your energy Endymion-san, but she’s still dangerous. I have to stop her, and I’ll bring the princess back to you.”
“I’m going with you Kunzite,” he said, ignoring the pain in his body. Kunzite didn’t have the heart to tell him that it would be impossible to save the princess and stop Earthia, for if you killed one then you would kill the other. He simply nodded.
“I’m going too.” Makoto piped up. Ami and Jedite volunteered to go along with Nephrite, Zoicite, and Rei. Kunzite was too tired and too weak to argue with all of them he just nodded and they all filed out of the underground cave. Kunzite groaned and held his arm. He hurt like hell and all he wanted to do was sleep.
“Kunzite…” came a lone whisper behind him. He turned to see Minako. She had her back to him and she seemed to still be gazing at the spot the princess had just been. She seemed so sad; he could see her slumped shoulders and her voice breaking.
“What do you want?” she asked. Kunzite wanted so badly to say that he wanted to hold her and wanted her to help him.
“Earthia’s wants to revolutionize the universe with the energy, but that would mean that she would have to destroy the planets and recreate them. Then Gaia wants to use the power orb and it’s energy to remerge with Earthia.”
“What about you?”
“I want what Gaia wants.”
“Right…” she turned and stalked past him muttering. “We gotta get Usagi back, I failed once but I won’t fail again.” She stopped and turned towards him. “And you’re going to help me.” Kunzite lifted a brow in question. She had the shine in her eyes, the shine of determination, that he loved so much. She had been holding back tears but her face had turned a soft pink color. Was she blushing?
“What are you talking about? I’m going back to Earth and leaving all of you behind.” He tried to leave, but she stepped in front of him.
“I thought you’d do something like that.” Then she held up the small gun and held it to his head. “How fast can you get a shield up Kunzite?” He stood stock-still. He wasn’t ignorant of the technological advancements of Earth, and he didn’t have enough strength to fight her. Yet despite all of that, this is what he wanted. However her close presence wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more. He wanted to kiss her and hold her, but now was not the time.
“Lucky for you Lady Venus, I don’t think I can do much.” He eyed her. “What are your demands?”
“I want you to take me to Earthia then Gaia, then take me directly to Rinko, and don’t think about ditching me because I’m going to keep my eye on you until I’m done with Rinko.” Kunzite complied and soon they had vanished for the caverns of the moon.
--Author’s Note—
Surprised? You should be. Yes, as it seems Rinko is the evil one after all. I hope that it was exciting enough for you. Yes I know it was short but it’s the best I can do while Finals are going on. In the next chapter you’re going to see Kunzite and Minako at their best. –Giggle- they’re my two favorite characters. Anyway, I hope that you’ll all read my next chapter as the story begins its spiral course to a climatic ending. Yes, there will be more fighting ^_-. Keep Reading! Keep Writing!
