"And so, these stones draw in energy, and then are expanded to create those creatures, right Luna?" Mina asked.  This was starting to make a little more sense.
    Not much.
    Just a little.
    Artemis spoke up while Luna thought that over. "We still don't know if they can charge up like batteries over and over, or if they're a one use thing."
    "All that matters, is that their gone and we're safe." Serena said, nursing her black eye.
    Raye slowly paced. "So, who is summoning these things?"
    "Could be Ekomin," Ami said, "he did just get here, and he was trying to spy on someone through the fire.  Maybe he's trying to stop us," she observed.
    "Maybe he's from the negaverse.  What about that new boy and his brother?  They sure seem odd." Darien stated.  He wanted anything to get out of this meeting.  These girls could get rather petty.
    "It doesn't matter, what's done is done.  We have to get back to finding the Lucent Knight." Lita said, she still had a cold.  Maybe he was cute... or cool.
    "Why do you care all of a sudden?" Raye asked.  The same thing had clicked with her after he was first mentioned.
    "Because... he may look like my old boyfriend?"
    "You can't even see his face." Ami said, and then everyone stared at her.  "He wasn't very close."
    "Be careful, I suggest that you girls look into this thing that's happening at the mall..." Luna said.
    Serena squealed with delight.
    "The mall!" Mina clapped with delight. "Yeah let's go! Pronto!"
    "This isn't a shopping trip Mina." Artemis said, in a mocking tone. "You have work to do."
    Luna sighed, then continued. "Like I was saying, there seems to be this new spa at the mall.  I think it's a ploy."
    "Everything's a ploy now a days." Darien observed non-chalently.
    "Just do it... I've been doing some studies.  Something is happening at the mall, and the newest place that has opened there within the last month is the spa."  Luna spluttered, "It makes the most sense."
 
 

The Next Day:
    Mina and Raye walked through the mall.  Luna had finally given them a mission they would enjoy.
    "Wonder where Serena and Ami are doing, we were supposed to meet here an hour ago..." Raye said looking at her watch.
    "Don't worry Raye, they're probably fine."
 
 

    Serena hit the ground hard.  The spinning water spirit had completely drained the area of energy.  Ami and Serena still were looking for an opening to transform.
    Finally the water creature began calling in a massive amount of energy.  The huge wave was ready to crash down on them.  As it came bearing down on them, a streak of energy broke through the creature's concentration.  Thus, the wave fell harmlessly.
    Serena and Ami were soaked.
    "I hate to see you all wet," Lucent Knight said, twirling his gun, "but I think it's time to hang this guy out to dry."  Lucent Knight lay lazily on the side of the spa.
    Serena stared at the knight with hearts in her eyes.  He was small, and no one could see his face, but...
    "Serena!" Luna whispered to her. "Transform! Right now!"
    "All right.  MOON... PRISM POWER!!"  The circling crescent lights surrounded Serena as she changed to Sailor Moon, champion of justice.
    "MERCURY.... STAR POWER!" Ami shouted, the blue ribbon and fabric melded her into Sailor Mercury.
    A glinting blue light appeared near the Water Sprite.  Trevor laughed as he floated above the water.  "So, you two are those annoying girls that have been getting in my way.  I'll take care of you, Myself.  Water Sprite, take care of the other two."
    "Yes... Master." It responded, running to the door, Lucent Knight quickly stepped out, chasing the water sprite.  His cape covered his face.  He looked pretty stupid, and Trevor didn't even think to stop him.  He looked just like other little humans fleeing for his life.  He must not have noticed how out of fashion he looked.
    He probably didn't even notice the gun, either.
    Ami was having other thoughts.  'What other two,' she thought.  'He couldn't possibly be referring to Raye and Mina, could he?'

    Trevor floated in the air, then waved his hands.  He pulled three daggers from out of nowhere, all in one hand.  The were made of finely crafted, strong steel.  A rather powerful display of light danced off them.
    "So... my friends, who wants to die first?  I'm here to torture your souls for Mizzen.  He has had enough of your meddling in the future. It is important for you to know that you are not to be forgiven for your crimes."
    "How can you charge us with a crime not yet committed?" Sailor Mercury yelled at him.  He replied with a dagger thrown at her, which was knocked aside by a beautiful red rose.  She had dodged out of the way, anyway.
    "Sailor Moon, I think it's time you hung him out to dry, don't you agree?" Tuxedo Mask asked, standing in an open window.
    "You?" Trevor asked.  "Didn't you just leave?"  Trevor glared at the man.  He seemed twice as big as before...
    "No," Tuxedo Mask said puzzled. "I just got here."

    "VENUS... STAR POWER!" Yellow light circled around Mina Aino and in a flash of light she was the Sailor Scout of Love, Sailor Venus.
    "MARS... STAR POWER!" Flaming red lights slowly melded into the uniform of the Sailor Scout of the Red Planet, Sailor Mars.  Fiery energy danced around her hands.
    "I am Sailor Venus!"
    "And I am Sailor Mars!"
    "Together we will destroy you," they shouted in unison, pointing at the towering water sprite.
    "Oh will you? How?"
    "With a really big sponge!" Venus replied defiantly.  With that, the creature began its attack.  Balls of water slammed into the two of them, sending them flying left and right.  It knocked them down, leaving Venus coughing on some water.
    Mars forced herself to stand, wiping water from her eyes.  She charged her energy, and shouted, "MARS Fire IGNITE," A single ball of fire streaked towards the sprite.
    "VENUS, CRECSENT Beam... SMASH," came Venus's voice, the chain met up with the fire, and the fiery energy chain smashed into the water spirit.  Steam rose from where it was, and a blue stone fell towards the ground.  The fourth stone demon to be defeated.  All in days work...

    "Give up?" Trevor yelled at the three combatants.  Why did they continually come after him?
    "Give it up! I am all of your superiors!"  Trevor slowly drew more daggers.  Mercury spotted this moment of weakness...
    "Mercury, Ice Bubbles... FREEZE!" An icy blast encircled Trevor, his shield wasn't up, and he began to slowly lose altitude.  He fell to the ground.
    "Ah... you're more powerful then I thought."  Trevor made a motion with his hand and disappeared.  "But no more today!  The battle is yours, but eternal victory will be mine!"
 
 

At the Shrine of Cherry Hill:
    "Wow..." Raye remarked.  "That creature required both of our attacks.  I sense this won't be our last battle with Trevor."
    Mina thought that comment over.  It didn't take a genius to know that.
    Luna nodded in agreement. "Yes.  But could he know who you are?  This is the second time he attacked you without knowledge of your identities."
    "Maybe coincidence?" Artemis said, playing with a small ball of yarn.
    Ami ran the computer over the green stone.  She remembered the cut on her arm; the wounds seem to heal quickly during a transformation.  But it had hurt.  Who was Lucent Knight?  Who was Trevor? What was he up to?  Was he the leader? Or was he just a lackey?  Ami needed to know this.  It really bothered her not to know everything.
 
 

    "Another failure, Trevor?" Rochelle asked.  She counted four off on her hand. "That's four, that's all the elemental power you were given.  Going to have to use Slash and Spidra, I guess."
    "Rochelle, don't you have work to do?"
    "Unlike you, I succeeded at my work." The red haired girl replied.  "You know your new nick name in the future is General Idiocy?"
    "Shut up, I'll have that girl.  Then Sharon..."
    "I see, your fighting with your anger, Trevor. Tsk, tsk, you know you can't hope to win when you fight with anger.  Be like Rock; fight with no emotion.  You can't win like this.  Can't do anything for Sharon."
    "Go away Rochelle. Leave me in peace." Rochelle obliged; she had done her damage. "Slash, Spidra come and meet with me... immediately."
 
 

    Nick sat at Ami's apartment with Ami and her friends.  Raye, Mina, and Lita all were at Ami's house studying, and Nick had dropped by again.
    He secretly had a crush on Raye and Mina.  Raye could read his interest in her, and acted upon it. She constantly would flirt with him; sooner or later she hoped he would ask her out.  Mina on the other hand couldn't even comprehend the attraction, and the odd stare Nick glanced her way.  She simply kept talking and giggling with her best friend, Lita.
    Matt occasionally dropped in with some useful advice.  The door opened for him again.
    "You having trouble? Think it through a few times, you'll get it." He said.  Mina sure hated his round about way of telling them things.  She did think it through, once, then twice... finally thrice.
    "Can't you really help us?"
    "The shortest route between two places is a straight line." Matt said, showing them her geography book.  Ami almost spoke for him, but he held up his hand to silence her.  "If they don't get this, they won't get far.  Let them stand on their own two feet for awhile Ami."
    "Can I grab some of your cookies," Matt asked motioning to the cookies on the table.
    "Sure." Lita said, he bit into it, and smiled.
    "Superb.  Where'd you get these?"
    "I made them." Lita said.
    "Excellent job, maybe I'll stay longer, eh, Nick?"  He just shook his head.
    "Matt, you have work to do."
    "Nothing that can't wait."
    "Just go, I'll talk to you later about it," Nick said, lowering his eyes, impatient.
    "Just remember, the shortest distance is the one with the least amount of obstacles." Matt said, stealing another cookie on his way out.  Lita comprehended this and looked at her geography book.
    "A straight line?"
    Suddenly it clicked with Mina. "But on a globe, the line would curve!"
    "Exactly." Ami said.  Maybe hinting at things was a bit better then out right telling.
    "What does Matt have to do?"
    "Talk with a friend." Nick said.

    "Zentar, come to my hand." Matt said holding an open hand to the air.  The emerald laden dagger flew to his hand.  Zentar, one of his best friends.
    "What did you find out?"
    "...about the girl next door."
    "Pertinent," the young boy questioned.
    "Yes!  He's here!  And he knows something we don't."  The metallic companion said.
    "Well... I wish I were psychic at times."
    "No one really is, Matthias." Zentar replied.

    A shriek... pain... something charging... blades. Greg lay awake in his bed; the third time... the same vision.  Never, never before had this happened.  It scared him, thoroughly.  Maybe it was just a bad nightmare... but he wouldn't lie to himself.  The next day he'd meet them at the shrine to tell them about his dreams.
    Maybe Ami would be there... Greg's mind finally drifted off... to Ami.

    Trevor cursed his luck.  Finally, he had a mobilized attack team of spiders.  True, they were just small spiders, but they were an attack team.
    Unfortunately for him, not one of his targets was there.  His anger flared up. Maybe Rochelle or Rock were having better luck...
 
 
 

    "Ami..." Serena said as they walked along, "is everything ok?"
    "I, yes."
    "What were you going to say," Serena pressured her.
    She wondered honestly about Ami.  It had been a few days since their last serious conversation.
    "Just, I don't like these attacks.  There's something very sinister at work; we should be looking for resources, or research... not doing redundant studies on stones.  Something isn't right."  Ami was troubled at her sense of helplessness.  What was there to do, now?
    "Maybe... I'll tell Luna.  Good luck at studies."
    "Good luck at the arcade."
    "Ditto."
 
 

    After class Ami walked down the street, alone.  A silver haired man approached her.  He wore a familiar looking charm around his neck.  Finally he spoke to her. "Excuse me, are you Ami Mizuno?"
    "Yes, why?"
    "I was just curious..."
    That's odd. "May I ask your name?" Ami asked politely, though he'd probably brush her off.
    "Yes, you may ask my name."  A long silence followed.  "Are you going to ask my name?"
    "Oh," Ami thought that was implied.  Maybe he's weird. "What's your name?"
    "I am, Ekomin ve' Garris of the Mizzen Council.  We will meet again... in the future." With that, the man pushed her aside and walked down the street.  Ami was thoroughly scared.

    Matt slowly chewed on one of Lita's chocolate chip cookies.  He loved the food already.  But his mind wandered.  He was still but fourteen.  He didn't have to be serious all the time.  Well, now to serious things...
    ...It was just a matter of time before the enemy made their move.  Then he would make his.  Like mid game in chess, it was time to position his pieces.  Too bad he always lost at chess... even Zentar beat him.  Depressing really.

    "Artemis, do you get the feeling we've missed something," Mina asked her feline guardian.
    "No, Ami examined the stones with her computer and chemistry kit.  The monsters are dead."
    "Good... are there any more like them?"
    "Maybe... just be careful when Luna gives you something to do.  It may involve danger."
    Redundant information?  I think so.
 
 

Assault on Cherry Hill:
    Greg entered Raye's temple on Cherry Hill.  He was the last to enter.  But the sight amazed him.  The five girls were being overrun with... spiders?  Mina was in a corner freaking out; Ami was desperately trying to sweep them out, while the others stomped like there was no tomorrow.  Chad had come down stairs, and stared at the mess as well.
    Everyone assumed he was staring.  His hair was too long to be sure...

    Matt ran hard to the Shrine, wishing he had as much speed as his older brother, who was pushing himself as hard as he could.  Something different about the brothers made it apparent that they were out looking for trouble. Matt had plain clothes on.  But the most impressive thing that caused people to stare was the elegant weapon strapped to his side.  A long thin blade, a rapier, swung freely as he struggled to keep up with his brother.  A tie for his sentient dagger Zentar was released.  There was no dagger with him.
    Nick was dressed plainly, in clothes made of the same strange material as before.  The only difference was he too carried a sword.  Most people wouldn't call it a sword.  It was huge and placed in a sheath that was on his back. The sword was at least one-and-a-half times longer than the boy was.  The weapon was the cause of several arguments between the brothers.
    "Look!  This weapon is so much stronger!"
   "Well, a rapier is more elegant.  I don't get hot and sweaty from using it."
    Then the older brother would hit the younger and walk away.
    Now was no time for thinking of the past.  Sweat beads appeared on the younger boy's forehead, but the older one charged ahead, even with his load strapped to his back.  He wasn't sweating, but he was pushing his muscles to maximum strain.
    "Probably afraid that something might happen to Mina or Raye..."
    "Shut up!  I heard that," Nick breathed out, absolutely straining his muscles.
    Matt stopped.  He couldn't go on.  Maybe Nick was willing to run till he was exhausted, but Matt reasoned it out better.  They both knew that there was attack at the shrine, but what was the point in getting there with no energy whatsoever between them?
    Then again, what's the point in getting there and finding everyone dead?
    Finally he rationalized it was worth the risk.  Nick was already in the shrine when Matt arrived five minutes later.  He was stomping spiders with the rest of them.  A strange look on his face made it clear to Matt that he was angry.  He was probably thinking 'so this is the danger that Matt was talking about?'
    While Mina screamed in the corner, the girls stomped their way out, wanting to find an opening.  Chad and Greg stared at each other across the room. "Grab something!" Greg yelled to him.
    "Right! I'll go up stairs!" Chad ran up stairs and came face to face with a green skinned man.  But the man's arms were in long tubes connected to what appeared to be scythes.  He swung once at Chad, who dodged back, falling down the flight of stairs.
    "Slash! Slash!" It yelled, Chad rolling out of the way.
    "CHAD!" Raye yelled to him.
    "Don't worry Raye..." Chad said in an accent only Chad can get.  The creature swiped at him, knocking him to the side.
    On the wall were several weapons.  Raye had a pair of katanas.  One was cheaply made, while the other was sharpened to a pretty sharp edge.  Chad decided to use one.
    'Let's see,' he thought.  One of them was elegant and long.  It had bright edges and shiny curves.  The other was plain.  Chad at first thought the fancy one was the better of the two, but then he decided 'function before form,' or something like that...
    He drew a plain katana from the wall.
    "SLASH! SLASH!!" The creatures scythe like arms slowly turned a brilliant hot red. Hot enough to engulf on touch!  It made a vicious overhead swipe, but Chad moved, barely away.  It found itself stuck into the ground. Chad ripped the katana into the creature.
    "Wow... I did that... WAY COOL!" He danced triumphantly, as the creature knocked him back.  "Maybe I didn't..." He really wished that he was closer to the fire room with all the others...  Maybe they would help him.
    The creature came forward and brought his scythe down onto Chad.  He made a fairly good block considering that he knew nothing about katanas.  Another scythe came down at his side, but this time, the katana snapped in two.
    "Oops, wrong one..."
    He swallowed hard.

    Matthias went elsewhere in the temple looking for some Raid.  Meanwhile, Nick had gone around the side to stop the spiders from getting in, his strange boots not making a sound as he squished one spider after another out of existence.  Let him go he knows what he's doing.  Matt decided to go clear up the room with the people in it.
    Leaving his brother to his own squishing devices, the younger one went down a hall, getting a couple of stray spiders with his foot.  Finally, he opened a door and saw chaos.  Apparently, some of the girls had stayed to fight while others had taken refuge in the other room.  In addition, that guy who had been dangling from Ami's balcony was there.  Then he saw spiders... lots and lots of spiders.  There were more inside than his older brother was dealing with. One was ready to make a leap for Serena, a little spider, but it was dangerous.  They had sharp bites.  They apparently weren't normal spiders...
    A streak of silver speared it.  "Time for a RAID?" Matt yelled to the girls.  His rapier found its mark in one spider.  He was good with it... average, at least.  The attack was followed with a flash of compressed air that spewed deadly fumes towards the spiders.  The spiders fled.  The younger brother sincerely hoped that he had enough RAID to deal with the pest problem.
    Meanwhile, the older brother had stomped his little arachnid friends into nothingness.  The spiders took off.  They were at least half a foot in length.  They made strange squishing noises between other people's feet, but his boots made no sound, no matter how squishy this particular spider happened to be.
    Nick slowly followed the trail of spiders.  They were going after easier prey.  A slight trail of blood that was practically invisible showed that these parasitic spiders were getting nastier and nastier.  They probably weren't deadly, but getting bit on the leg was painful.  At least, so he thought.  The spiders that attempted to bite through his clothes found that it was unnaturally resilient.
    Then he heard a scream... MINA!  He ran around the corner and found that Mina was hiding from the spiders in the charm shop.  Apparently, Raye sold charms at the shrine.  Brushing that though aside, he ran into the room, and whipped out a large, massive blade.  It was longer than he was tall, and was impressive to say the least.
    A fine curve flowed up the entirety of the blade.  It was long, but thin.  The curve persisted nearly right up to about the tip of the blade, until it took a strange shape, almost a point.  The point was intensely sharp.  The hilt, a full seven feet down to the opposite end, was encased in a protective hand guard.  Within that, an incredible ruby of fiery red glowed eerily, emanating more than merely the sun's reflection.  The sharp blade cut hard through spider after spider, faster than seemingly possible.  The blade cut through almost too easily, making the blade seem sharper than any normal metal could be.
    'That's because,' the young swordsman thought gleefully, 'it's not a normal metal.'
    Then he saw more spiders... then a streak of golden yellow hair and a big red bow.
    MINA!
 

    Trevor appeared above the small group, causing the spiders to momentarily relent in their attack in favor of their 'leader.'
    "So... I see you're not doing to good?  Need some help?  Can't win without one of your guys saving you," he snapped.
    Greg stood between Trevor and the girls. "Who are you?"
    "Well, aren't you just a priceless view!  Move aside."
    Trevor made a motion with his hand. Greg grimaced, but remained fast.  What!  How could my blast have been... Ignored!  He must be amazingly strong... could he be the White Knight?
    "Spidra, come forth!"
    Trevor's eyes went wide with power as he felt the energy coursing through him.  An image of a large spider appeared in his mind as he slowly gave up some of his own health to grant the spider access to the area.  The raw power that he controlled would make quick work of anything he had to do.  He had control of legions of power that no mere human could possibly understand.  No one could comprehend the powers that he had in his mind.  No one could prevent his will from manifesting itself into a real occurrence and forcing his will upon others.  Trevor laughed at the power he wielded at the moment.
    Unfortunately, his aim was off.

    In the next room, Mina was screaming as Nick slashed up the floor.  The floor was ruined.  Spider blood was everywhere.  And now, unknown to Nick, a large vortex opened behind him, making no sound.  It disappeared, leaving a spider as tall as the sword Nick wielded, and several times longer.  Mina silently gasped in her corner.  She couldn't reveal her powers now that that moron Nick was here.  He was trying to help her, but now he was going to cause more trouble...
    Nick apparently didn't see the creature's large mouth things that were about to bite him from behind.  Mina, being completely out of her mind with fear did the only thing she knew how.
    She screamed.
    Mina's eyes rolled into her head... and she slumped over, in a faint.
    Where was Matt!  The older brother was clearly perturbed.  Not so much with fear, and not because he couldn't handle it, but because that lazy boy was probably sitting down eating cookies or some other silliness.
    Senses kicked in and the older brother spun around with more speed and grace than seemingly possible, his large curved blade coming around nearly twice the same speed.  It hit the creature's face hard, although it only made a deep cut on its mouth.
    It roared in a high-pitched spider scream of pain.

    Greg, Ami, Serena, Ray, and Lita all heard the scream.  They were dealing with their own problems while Mina screamed from the next room over.  Trevor was doing some sort of strange magical gestures, a silly embarrassed expression on his face.  Then, the sound of metal ringing out became apparent to all in the room.
    A high-pitched roar came out from the next room.  Then came the older of the two brothers, with Mina on his shoulder.  He quickly dropped her and turned.  From the large doorway came a huge spider.
    "Ah, Spidra, there you are.  I was wondering where you were off to..."
 
    Trevor cursed his luck.  What was that thing the boy was using?  It resonated towards him, injuring him, attacking him.  At least, that was what Trevor originally thought.  Then he realized that the sword was most magical, and was interfering with his concentration.  He lost his pattern in his mind, expelling involuntarily a great deal of energy.  He visibly weakened.
    "Cursed boy!  Death to you and your cursed sword for interfering.  Now you will die!"
    Trevor may be tired, but he could handle a large shot of energy.  Before anyone could react, the light in the room redirected itself towards Trevor.  All was black for a nanosecond before light replaced the darkness.  But that was all Trevor needed.  Pure light energy shot towards the swordsman at speeds equaling light.
    No one knew what happened except who was attacked.  However, it became apparent that the older brother was all right when he continued fighting, his ruby on his sword glowing even brighter.
    Trevor knew what happened, mostly from sense, since it was impossible for the eye to trace the path that the light, travelling faster than anything imaginable.  The beam of energy, which surely would have reduced the boy and his trinket sword to nothingness instead redirected itself to the gem in his sword.  The sword put out energy with every slash he made, injuring the spider more and more.  But even with the seven-foot long blade, the spider managed to press him back into the center of the room, taking little damage with its hard outer covering preventing it from taking damage.
    'Strange,' Trevor thought, 'that covering on Spidra is invulnerable to piercing, yet that boy and his cursed sword just did so...'
    Trevor cursed himself.  And apparently his light energy only gave the boy more killing potential.
    He readied himself to gather more energy and hit the little girls, but most especially his target.  Spidra would get him eventually.  His slashes were getting slower as his already tired muscles gave out.  He wasn't even that strong naturally.
 
    Meanwhile, Matt came into the fire room with several cans of spray... good thing Raye kept some around.  "Here!" He tossed one to Serena, who just pointed... and cried.  Matthias dropped the sprays and looked upon the massive spider.  "Maybe we'll need... Extra strength RAID?"  He knew that something very dangerous was going to happen.  Zentar was rarely wrong.
    "Matt!" Came a metallic voice.  Everyone stared as a dagger appeared in front of him.
    "Yes...?"
   "That's Trevor. The blue haired guy."
   "Oh... I thought he was Santa Clause! Of course that's Trevor," Matt said, his fist clenching around his rapier.
   "Enough!" A blast rocketed Matthias back with his little dagger.  Daggers don't talk. Several daggers appeared in Trevor's hand.
    "Maybe you should try mine on for size?"
    "I think they're a wee too small for my needs." Matthias said, taking his rapier from his sheath once more.
    "OK! Here she goes!"
    Trevor released one of his blades, speeding towards the younger brother.  The dagger was propelled by natural skill on Trevor's skill and some magical guidance.  One flew towards Matt, but passed through the fire.  It wavered, and luckily passed far off.  Lucky boy, very lucky boy.  These two brothers were getting to be too annoying.  Magical swords, magic daggers, and now a magic fire.
    The floating man was incredibly annoyed.  Incredibly annoyed...  He was even more annoyed when the other brother came running up towards him.  In all his years, he had never seen a more humorous sight.  It wasn't funny when his shield was nearly cut straight through.  Trevor was knocked back. No one had ever come that close to killing him.
    In pure anger, he unleashed his strongest manipulation of energy straight at the boy.  Once again, it passed straight into the boy's gem.  The older brother prepared to slice him again.  This time, the energy shield completely failed.  Luck favored Trevor, and he was simply pushed violently back.  He fell to the ground, unable to resist the effects of gravity.  His ability to summon energy was about depleted.
    Trevor stood near his spider, which now turned its attention to Mina.  Raye was desperately trying to revive her, and Ami just stared, scared out of her wits.
    "OK! Fine, Spidra," Trevor yelled, the rage building inside of him, "destroy them.  You know we can avoid causing you all pain, if you just surrender that Mizuno girl... that's all I want."
    "Why?" Came the question from Matt, Nick, and Greg.  They all looked at each other.  They all seemed to silently believe that Trevor was one strange guy.
    On a deeper level, a thought passed between the brothers... what was up with these girls?

    Greg made himself useful by swinging a katana from Raye's wall at the back of the spider.  It didn't hurt its massive armored body.  Nothing broke its hide.  The spider kicked Greg back, the weapon skittering helplessly to the far end of the room.  The spider turned its attention to another helpless girl that had just entered its line of vision: Ami.
    Ami saw the massive creature leaping towards it.  Probably a trap door spider... she thought.  She couldn't get herself to move... she felt it was going to end in one swift motion.  And it... went black, knocked aside, hard to the ground.  Scream, screeching.  Trevor laughing.  Then a shout of pain... only it wasn't Ami... but not Trevor either.  Greg!
    Greg was pinned to the wall by the massive creature.  It was preparing to eat Greg.  The spider's acidic bile dripped onto Greg, leaving slight burn marks.  The spider, larger than any other, suddenly tensed as a small red rose stuck into its back.  A hole in its thick hide had been breached.  The spider turned and saw a strange man near the ceiling of the shrine, another flower on its way.
    Perhaps it wanted an easier target.  Regardless, it turned to Greg and stabbed its massive front mandibles towards Greg.  Greg wondered if spiders even had mandibles as he ducked and rolled, escaping the spider's hold while it was distracted.
    Spidra didn't want to give up a meal so easily.  It was in the air and about to pounce Greg when Tuxedo Mask fell from the air, landing on the spider's head and driving his cane down hard.  The spider fell upon Greg, but didn't move at all.  Greg was trapped, the incredible weight however, was crushing him.
    All gave a collective sigh of relief.
    "He's collecting more energy," the younger brother yelled.
   Matt moved forward, ready to deal with the man himself.  They both knew how much more helpless he was without his mana-drawing abilities.  I really wish I had brought a weapon!  The rapier was coming closer and closer while Trevor retreated back.
    "Ugh!" Trevor said in disgust, the displeasure of losing now more obvious than ever.  "You'll never win! Murderers! You have twenty-four hours.  Handle it your way, or I will do it my way. Goodbye."
    Especially you, he thought at Greg.  The psychic suddenly felt pain ripple throughout his body, leaving no marks save mental anguish.  This really wasn't his day.
    While everyone stared, Trevor made his escape.  Trevor became nothingness as the last of his energies left him, leaving him helpless in his home dimension.  Tuxedo Mask also left while the getting was good.
    "Don't just stand there!" A hard, metallic dagger said. "Call an ambulance!" It shouted to Mina, who had just awoken.  Greg probably was hurt bad... not that anyone would believe this.
    "It talked..." And Mina fainted.
    There was little time to ponder that one.
    "SLASH!"
   Chad came barreling into the room, throwing the door closed behind him, then running to another door.  "Run while you can!  Whoa!"
    The door burst open as a large green man with two scythes came through.  "Slash," it said, with a little less gusto.  He eyed up two armed warriors and a large group of girls.  "Slash..." was the only word that came from its mouth, sadly lamenting the lack of helpless victims.
    Lita came to Ami's side.  "If it wasn't for the two brothers, we could have dealt with this by now.  But they seem to be handling this pretty well..."
    Ami had to agree.  Slash didn't seem to want to bother either of them.  But they both blocked him from the group.
    Then Slash saw his victim.  An unconscious girl with a ribbon in her hair.
    The older brother was the first to move, but he was too far to stop Slash.  He stood atop the girl and prepared to take her life.
    As the strike came down, Zentar came down upon the creature's blades and parried the blow.  Twice he blocked the scythes in such a way, until the emerald in his hilt became a duller green and the mystical dagger's movements became slower and slower.
    "SLASH!" was the creature's reply.  The dagger flew far to the left near the fire.  It slowly came to the air, but all of Zentar's abilities were gone.
    Ami, Lita, Raye, and Serena screamed.  They were all nursing wounds when Slash came, and none could do anything about it.
    "Secrecy isn't worth Mina's life," Lita muttered silently, preparing to retrieve her pen from her pocket.
    "NO!"
    Slash had to turn around and face his new adversary while Lita stopped her hand an inch from her pocket.  With two scythes, he blocked slice after slice by the older brother.  Much to Slash's dismay, he couldn't get into range to use his scythes effectively.  But, the boy slowly tired, fighting out of pure anger rather than skill.  Blow after blow was absorbed.  Then he changed tactics.  The brother went back and poked at his adversary.  It was much less tiring, and he appeared to have more control that way.  Slash was still in good condition, his unearthly constitution allowing him to continue fighting.  Then he stepped forward, into range, and the defender became the attacker.  The older brother's face was covered with sweat, and fear showed openly on his face.  His blocks became slower as his sword reflected less and less light from the fire.  Finally, his sword was completely turned to the side and Slash got his scythe past his guard.
    The boy stumbled back, taking a quick rest while Slash jumped up and down, repeating, "Slash! Slash! SLASH!"  He wiped a small trickle of blood from across his face.  Then Slash came at him again.  Before anymore damage could be done, the younger brother came charging forward.  The scythe came hard down at the young boy, who blocked about twice before both scythes made the rapier break into three pieces.
    Slash made his same dance as the younger brother made an intelligent withdrawal.  The older brother came upon the creature with murder in his eyes.  Slash saw it and put his scythes out in such a way to block the large curved blade from hurting him.
    The blade flashed brightly as the ruby gem lost a good deal of its red color.  One of Slash's scythes broke in half.
    Slash looked at the tube on his arm before dropping it and questioning, "Slash...?"
    "Lita, let's go get Mina," Serena suggested, a tear in her eye.
    Lita and Ami nodded.  Raye fetched the katana from the corner and kept close to them, hoping that the green skinned creature ignored them and stayed with the older of the two brothers.
    It did.  Now, Slash was the one who couldn't defend from the other, having lost his other scythe-arm.  The older brother smiled as Slash made a thrust at his heart.  He thrust his large sword to his left, knocking him to the side and then jumping back, bringing the tip of his sword down across the creature's face.
    "The fade-away," the younger one yelled.  Raye grimaced.
    Slash was visibly worried.  Now the boy was playing with him.  He was in control and Slash knew it.  He made a run for the door.
    Zentar made a slow path to the younger brother.  "Matthias, give me another emerald."
    Matthew grabbed the dull green gem from the dagger's hilt and replaced it with a bright, shiny one.  The dagger pulsed with new life.  "Yes, that feels good..."
    The dagger took off after the fleeing creature, holding it off by the door.  "Stay and fight.  You started it, now you end it!"
Slash avoided the door, staying away from the intelligent dagger.  The older brother waited for the creature to turn around.  It did, wanting to take as many down with him as he could.  The boy blocked again and again, his large sword no longer glowing from his red ruby.  The creature slowly tired.  Then, after a particularly hard parry, the boy turned his sword, slamming it hard into the scythe.  The creature spun ninety degrees to his left, not able to block the blow from the flat side of the older brother's sword.  Slash fell to the ground.
    "I think the problem is over," Lita noted.
    "Chad!  Get out here and clean up," Raye demanded.
    The boy slowly walked a circle to about ten feet away from the creature.  "Now, get away from here or die."
    Slash happily stood up and took two steps to the door, Zentar giving heed.  Within Slash's head came the undeniable command.  Kill them...
    Slash's eyes became a fiercer red rather than the cowardly hue they were previously.  He slowly turned and lunged at the boy.
    The older brother's face took a dark countenance as he turned the scythe to his left.  Slash's momentum took his past the brother's left side.  In one smooth motion, the boy jumped about four inches straight up and right in a tight clockwise circle, bringing his sword around, then through Slash.  In less than a second, Slash's top and bottom half divided themselves from each other.  With the exception of the older brother's face, everyone turned a horrified eye at the bloody spectacle.  Before hitting the ground, the creature became dust, then a dull black gem.
    The boy kneeled and said a quick prayer.
 
    "How could Spidra lose!  And Slash was the best warrior around!"
    Trevor shook as shock waves of anger coursed through his veins.  He would have released waves of manipulated life energy from his hands to destroy his preparation room had he enough energy to do so.
    Then, Rochelle made her appearance.  "So, now you're losing to little boys?"
    Trevor was in no mood now.  "Go, Rochelle.  This doesn't concern you."
    Then, to himself: "What is that swordsman doing here now!  Why?  Why!"
 
    A broom brushed the last of the last of the spiders outside the room.  Chad wiped sweat of his brow.  He pushed them far out where no one would find them and hoped he would have no more work to do for the day.
    "Raye, I've finished.  All the little spiders are gone!"
    Raye, inside, had finished cleaning the room of spider blood and decided to go to check on the charm shop on the other side of the shrine.  Ami was examining the newest stone that dropped.  The older brother had asked to keep the jewel, but Ami insisted on at least looking at it.  It appeared to be the same as the others.
    Lita, after seeing everything being taken care of, decided to get a snack for herself and her friends.  The younger brother decided to go with her.
    Serena anxiously awaited her snacks, giving Ami needless advice on gems and what should be done with them.
    "They are pretty, even if they are black.  Maybe we could make jewelry out of them!"
    Ami was shocked.  "They're evil, Serena.  We can't wear them around.  That's dangerous!"
    Serena spluttered.  "That's not fair.  Let's ask Mina.  She'll agree with me."
    Ami looked over at Mina, who was afraid of little buggies.  She absolutely couldn't stand them.  No one blamed her for fleeing the scene, especially since no one thought that things would be so dangerous. Currently, she was getting the bites from the little spiders taken care of by the older brother.  He was slowly and cautiously rubbing the small marks of blood off her long legs and rubbing some more disinfectant on the cuts 'in case of infection.'
    At about this time Raye found the spiders in the charm room.  She was angrier at the large, large cut marks on the entirety of the floor.  No one seemed to notice.
 
 Chapter 3: A regular few days.