*Hey, guys, long time, no see. I've started a new page because it's been such a long time since the last page. This is old material, begining on page 16 of my comp. book. It has been sightly edited since then but is basically the same. Please enjoy!*
Gundam Moon S - Page 3
�There it is,� Mina breathed.
�This is clearly the source of the evil,� Rei stated. They heard footsteps behind them.
�Hey, guys!� Serena called. Sailor Neptune, Sailor Chibi-Moon, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Pluto were running towards the inner scouts. They were drenched. There was, of course, a reason for this. The scouts (now all ten of them, originally just the inner scouts), were standing at the base of a huge, black castle. Six feet away from each surface of the castle raged a storm unmatched by any other storm. The castle was dry. Six feet above it, the rain stopped falling down and decided to fall sideways, as if there was a giant, invisible umbrella over the mansion.
�Sailor Moon!� Sailor Chibi-Moon called.
�No time for greetings. All of you transform already!� Haruka ordered.
�Right!� the inner scouts yelled.
�Mercury Star Power Makeup!�
�Mars Star Power Makeup!�
�Jupiter Star Power Makeup!�
�Venus Star Power Makeup!�
�Cosmic Moon Power Makeup!�
Sailor Pluto couldn�t watch the others transform. She felt as if she were been watched, and that feeling made her uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around as she searched for the observer. Then she noticed something.
�Look,� she whispered as she nudged Sailor Uranus, who was closest to her. Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn followed Pluto�s gaze.
The drawbridge was lowering.
Sailor Pluto wondered why she hadn�t noticed the fog dusting her boots. How odd - fog during a thunderstorm. In any case, it was thickening, obscuring her feet and whisking around her knees. She removed her focus from the fog and looked again at the drawbridge. It was completely lowered. Just for a brief moment, Pluto could have sworn she saw a caped figure holding a candle.
�Did you see it?� Saturn whispered. Neptune and Uranus nodded. It occurred to Pluto that they were referring to the caped figure. She nodded.
�We�re ready!� Sailor Moon yelled eagerly.
�Okay,� Uranus said, looking grim. �Let�s go.�
�Wow,� Chibi-Moon breathed. Apparently she hadn�t noticed the drawbridge before or hadn�t gotten a good look at the castle. Pluto held the child�s hand.
�Come, she encouraged. The scouts broke into a run, with Neptune and Uranus in the lead.
Neptune asked Uranus as they entered the castle, �Do you think we can defeat whoever is the cause of this?� The hallway they were running down was darker and colder than outside. It was drier, but the fog that had been knee-high outside came up to their stomachs. Chibi-Moon was completely covered by it. The hall was made of black stone and was lit by torches hanging in cast iron brackets on the walls.
Uranus responded, �I only hope so.�
Neptune gasped in surprise. Her friend usually had such confidence in the scouts�well if not all of the scouts, at least the two of them and maybe Pluto. But as Neptune looked at Uranus�s hard frown, she felt a wave of panic and fear fall on her. If Uranus was afraid of this battle, they probably would not survive it.
They continued to run. The hallway opened into a room that was circular and similar to the hall. Another open door was on the other side of the room. They ran though it. After a tiny amount of hallway, which turned so they were facing the way they had come in but were on the other side of the wall, they entered another room. It was solid blue. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all the same color. It was lit by blue-tinged lights in blue glass balls hanging from the ceiling. So it went on- a little hall, a room, and another little hall. Some rooms were lit by black lights. They were painted black but had weird, glowing graffiti on all surfaces. One room had the ground painted on the ceiling and the sky painted on the floor. Sailor Mercury noticed that the fog was closer to the ground in this room and less dense, as if it was clouds in the upside-down sky. Another room, which had the least amount of fog of any of the rooms they�d been in yet, was exactly like the inside of a cave, although Mercury was certain they hadn�t gone underground. In fact, if they were going anywhere, it was up. The hallways had been gradually slanted upwards. No, someone had taken the time to carefully sculpt stalagmites and stalactites out of rock.
A different room had a glass maze in it. I, the author, carefully counted how many times the scouts whacked their foreheads on a wall they had thought wasn�t there. Mercury, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Pluto, and Mini-Moon � never. Jupiter � once. Mars � twice. Venus � five times. Moon � twelve times. Back to the story...
�I�m sooooooo tired,� Usagi moaned as she limped along.
�We�ve been in here over an hour,� Rei fumed. Chibi-Moon whimpered.
Haruka scowled and continued to stride down the hallway they were in. This was the longest they�d been in since first entering the castle. It turned around a corner and she stormed out of sight. The other scouts sighed in exhaustion and rounded the turn.