"Too bad your little crystal didn't see me coming," Phoenix said with false sympathy.
"You gonna fight me alone?" Crystal asked, preparing an attack even as she spoke. "Don't you think maybe you're a little out of your league? Ice Breaker!"
Phoenix jumped out of the way of the attack. "You know, fire and ice don't mix very well," she pointed out. But despite her self-assured declaration, Phoenix was always nervous about the extent of her powers. She'd grown more confident since training with Sailor Mars, but she still would've liked to have the others here with her.
But this time it was up to her, and she knew she couldn't let Tenshi or Puroko down. "Firebird Descending!" A phoenix of fire burst forth from her hands and hit Crystal dead-on. It also knocked over the table that held her prism and some other crystals. The prism fell to the ground and broke into two pieces.
"Look at what you did!" Crystal screamed at her. "That's my favorite stone." She narrowed her eyes at Phoenix. "Well, I'll just have to substitute one clear jewel for another. Death Freeze!"
Phoenix was surrounded by so much ice, that soon she was incased in a giant ice block. She couldn't move, much less try and attack Crystal.
"There, you see. Now you can be my little trophy. That almost makes up for it." She set the two pieces of the prism together and looked into it, trying to see what she could. When she saw with whom Jasper was fighting, though, she freaked.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Celestial Force!"
Jasper wasn't expecting the attack from Eryx as he fought against Night Angel. The force knocked him into the wall. When he recovered, Eryx had joined Night Angel's side to face him.
This gave him an opportunity to hit both of them at once. "HURRICANE BLAST!"
Night Angel shoved Eryx aside and took the full force, but Eryx had hit the ground with quite a bit of force and looked a little dazed as she got up too.
She tried to hit him, but her "Celestial Force" missed, and he got ready to send another power attack at her as Night Angel ran to her aid.
"Jasper!" Crystal called over the intercom. "If they're together, you can't win. Get the heck out of there!"
He had forgotten about the protection Eryx and Night Angel were supposed to have together, but with Crystal's advice, Jasper reluctantly ceased his attack to save energy and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Phoenix closed her eyes. There had to be a way out of this. She thought about her training with Mars. Rei had told her to believe in herself. The fire inside would be able to burn through any obstacle, as long as she just believed in her own powers.
As she concentrated, Phoenix realized that she did believe in herself. She'd studied with Rei and had gotten very good at her attacks. And hadn't her power just hit the target perfectly? Not to mention all those mud yoma that she was the best in the group at defeating. Why had she been so much in doubt?
She opened her eyes and realized that she was glowing red with the fire of Phoenix. The ice around her had melted away to nothing. "Next time you want to encase someone in ice," she suggested to the unsuspecting Crystal, "you should consider whether they're going to be able to burn through it."
Crystal did a 180, but it was too late. "BURNING�" Phoenix twirled around as a red staff of music coiled around her. "�CHORDS!" She finished the attack by sending the staff at her opponent, who it wrapped around and burst into flames.
Crystal screamed as the flames consumed what was left of her life. Phoenix had done it, all by herself.
Phoenix opened her communicator watch and called Night Angel. But when he answered, it was actually Tenshi. She looked miserable.
"Tenshi-san?! What happened?"
"It's over. Puroko's safe."
*Then why-?* Phoenix decided it was best not to press why Tenshi looked so unhappy. "Okay, I'll meet you outside."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi untransformed and ran over to Eryx. "Where's Puroko?" she asked urgently.
"Chibi took her away from the battle."
Tenshi relaxed. "Thank goodness." She turned her attention to Eryx. "Oh Koneko, you're going to have a bruise on your temple," she said softly as she reached up to touch where Eryx had hit her head.
Eryx couldn't help it. She instinctively leaned her head into Tenshi's healing touch. She allowed Tenshi to stroke her temple gently, erasing the pain with each moment.
Tenshi put her energy into healing Eryx's temple, and then when she felt she had succeeded, her hand naturally moved down to Eryx's cheek. She leaned in to kiss her. But as her lips touched Eryx's, Eryx suddenly jerked back.
"Don't!"
Tenshi hadn't even thought about it. It had just seemed natural to her, but now she remembered that Neko had broken up with her.
"Koneko�."
"I can't, Tenshi-kun. Gomen nasai." She pushed herself out of Tenshi's embrace and backed away. "We- we should go check on Puroko-chan and the others."
She turned her back on Tenshi and left the room, before she could respond.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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