//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Aerial Assault // Story: The Five Heroes // by Phantom Shadow //------------------------------// The light of the moon illuminated the creature, as it slowly approached them. The body looked like a scorpion’s, low, long and a slick-black color. However, instead of eight legs coming from its sides, there were only six. Also, based on the moonlight shimmering off of them, the legs were metallic. It didn’t have claws like a scorpion, but it had a tail like one. Unlike a stinger that was usually at the tip, it appeared to be a regular pointed tail. In place of the claws, it had a long neck and head similar to that of a snake. Its eyes were like a fly’s, except they weren’t bulbous and jutting out of its head, but small and completely black with no signs of irises or pupils. Based on the moonlight, they also saw that other parts of the creature were metallic, like the tip of the tail and its long neck. The moment the moon shone above them, Sonic and Sailor Moon froze where they stood, staring at the creature that slowly continued to make its way to them. Because the eyes appeared to be all black, it was hard to tell if it was looking at them directly. However, judging by the fact that it crawled towards them, it was obvious that it was. Tears streaming from her eyes, Sailor Moon managed to let out a muffled “I’m sorry” to Sonic, cupping her hands over her mouth. Sonic didn’t say anything to her, focusing his attention at the creature that approached them. He had a stern look in his face and his fist clenched at his sides. As it was closing the gap between them, Sonic began to back away from it, lightly gripping Sailor Moon’s arm, motioning her to follow suit. She slowly began backing away with Sonic, trying her best not to lose her footing as she did so. “What do we do?” she asked in a hushed tone. “We need to get away from it,” he said, not taking his eyes off the creature. “What about the others?” “It appears that it doesn’t know they’re there. We need to lead it as far away from them as possible.” “How do we do that?” Sonic looked at the ground, searching for an answer. As he did, he saw the toys still on the ground. Then, he looked back at the creature with a knowing smile, an idea coming to mind. “Okay, here’s the plan,” he whispered, “I’ll distract it with whatever I can. When it looks away, turn and run as fast as you can. Head for the main square as quickly and quietly as you can. Once you get there, hide anywhere you can.” Sailor Moon nodded, her heart beating so fast that she could have sworn she felt it pound on her ribcage. She watched as Sonic positioned his foot on one of the toys, getting ready to kick it towards the creature. Then, he looked at Sailor Moon, nodded and said, “On three. One...two...THREE!” At three, he kicked up one of the broken toys at the creature, causing it to hit it in the face, making it flinch in surprise. When it did, it made a soft sound, like a growl of some kind. The second that it flinched, the two of them turned and began running down the street, trying their best to stay quiet as they made their way towards the main square of the town. As they ran, Sailor Moon managed to choke out, “How do you know we’ll lose it?” “Judging by its legs,” said Sonic, “It doesn’t look like it can run very fast.” “What if it’s like those hopper things?” “I highly doubt that. Its body doesn’t look like it’s able to jump with much distance like the other things did.” After running for what felt like an eternity, the two of them made it to the main square of the town. When they did, they ran towards the tall building in the center. As they approached the building, they could have sworn they heard a low sound in the sky, almost as if something had let out a bellow of some kind. Then, both of them froze in a heartbeat as they saw the creature fall out of the sky and land right in front of them. When they did, they saw that the creature had two large black wings, similar to that of a dragon’s, on its back, both of which were unfurled. In the split second that it appeared in front of them, they saw the tip of its tail open, as if it was a mechanized claw of some kind. Then, it reared its backside at them, causing the tail to reach out for them. When it did, it looked like its tail extended from its original length to accommodate for the distance that was between them. As the claw headed for Sonic, he used his arm uninjured to try and protect himself. When he did, the mechanical talon grabbed a hold of his arm, clamping down as hard as it could. The tips of the claw appeared to dig into his arm, causing small streams of blood to leak out of them. Sonic tried to free his arm from its grip but as he struggled to break free, he saw the claw began to gash his arm, creating deep cuts in his arm. When it did, he saw that the wounds that were being formed were similar to the ones that were on his other arm. Using his other hand, he tried to open the claw and free himself. “Hold on!” Sailor Moon said, gripping the tiara on her forehead. However, before she had time to help, the two of them saw the eyes of the creature beginning to glow a blue and white color. Then, they saw the body beginning to emit sparks, like it was conducting electricity from its body to the base of the tail. All of a sudden, the whole tail began flashing a white color, going from the base all the way to the tip, which was embedded in Sonic’s arm. Everything else that happened to Sonic was all a blur for the two of them. The last thing Sonic felt were large surges of electricity beginning to course through his body, causing every part of him to go numb. At some point, he could have sworn he let out an agonizing scream of pain before he blacked-out completely. Sailor Moon watched as Sonic’s body went completely limp, his eyes appearing to roll to the back of his head as he fell to the ground. Not wasting any time, she gripped her tiara and yelled, “Moon Tiara Magic”, before throwing it at the creature. The tiara clipped the tail of the creature before returning to her hand, causing it to disintegrate into moon dust. The moment it saw what was happening to it, the creature released the blue hedgehog and spread its wings, attempting to fly away. However, it didn’t even have time to lift itself off the ground before its wings slowly chipped away into dust. In the last second that it had before it wasn’t able to do anything, the creature lifted its head to the sky. When it did, the creature opened its mouth, a mouth that neither Sonic nor Sailor Moon noticed it had before, and let out a loud bellow. It had several small, jagged teeth in its mouth and two major fangs in the front, much like a snake did. Then, its neck and head went limp before it slowly disintegrated into a pile of moon dust. As the remains of the creature began blowing away with the small breeze, Sailor Moon rushed over to Sonic, kneeling besides him. She placed her ear on his chest, hoping to hear any signs of a heartbeat. Fortunately, he still had one, but it was very faint and weak. “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she said to herself as she tried to drag him to the others, “Hang on, Sonic, we’ll help you and...” Before she could finish her sentence, she heard low sounds beginning to converge around her. Looking up, she saw that the rooftops of the buildings around her had more of the creatures on them, all of them looking at her with their tails open. Her breathing began to become shallower as they all began making low moaning sounds, similar to the one that she heard before. Sailor Moon’s heart skipped a beat as one of the creatures spread its wings and flew over to her. When it did, she noticed that it didn’t have the mechanical legs that the other one had. Was this creature different from the others? Did certain types have legs while others didn’t? As if answering her unasked questions, the blonde-haired human watched as the six legs unfurl from the bottom of its body, as if it was curled underneath it, hugging the body in some way. When the legs were out, it landed in front of her, settling its wings on its backside and opening the tip of its tail at her. Unlike the claw, the tail seemed to be like a small satellite. Like before, a small, blue laser began scanning her like the other one had, except this one didn’t do it for as long. Then, Sailor Moon watched as the satellite tip retracted in itself, disappearing for a moment before returning. When it returned, she saw that the satellite was gone and in its place, was the claw that the other creature had. Something inside of her told her to run away from the creature, get out of there and hide until she was sure she was safe. She took a step back in an attempt to listen to herself when she caught a glimpse of Sonic out of the corner of her eyes. When she saw his body, lying completely still, she stopped moving, her thoughts racing in her mind. Sailor Moon knew she couldn’t leave him, but she didn’t have time to drag him to safety with her. It was then that she knew what she had to do. She had to stand and fight, fend off the creatures to, not only protect herself, but to avenge her fallen friend. Nodding her head to herself, she got in a ready stance, her eyebrows furrowing and her hand gripping the gold tiara on her forehead. When she did, the tiara turned into its white discus shape again, ready to be used to turn these winged beasts into moon dust. No turning back, she thought to herself as she bared her teeth at the creature. When she did, the black creature lunged at her, letting out a loud bellow when it did. The three of them awoke the moment they thought they heard sounds. In an instant, Kim, Twilight and Mew got up, all of them startled and completely taken off guard. The first thing they noticed was that Sonic and Sailor Moon were gone. The second thing they noticed was that the sound they heard was similar to that to screaming, as if someone was being injured. Not wasting any time, the three of them got up and left the small building, looking around for their missing cohorts. “Look,” said Kim, pointing down the road. They saw that faint flashes of lights were coming from what appeared to be a crossroad of some kind. “Let’s go,” said Twilight, as the three of them began making their way down the road towards the light. As they began making their way through the broken toys on the ground, they noticed that the flashing lights immediately stopped. “Now what?” asked the lavender mare as they continued to make their way down the road. Before anyone could answer, they heard the sound of a loud bellow in the distance, confirming that something was down there. “What in the world was that?” asked Kim as they rounded the corner of the crossroad. When they did, what they saw was beyond comprehension. On the ground, they saw Sonic lay unconscious. They could see Sailor Moon, using her tiara and any agility she had to avoid strange winged creatures that kept trying to get at her. One by one, the winged creatures would jump from the tops of the buildings and swoop down at her. They’d only struggle for a few seconds before the white glow of Sailor Moon’s tiara attack blasted them into dust particles. Many times, the creatures came close to getting the school-girl, but she had enough cunning and agility to stay clear of them. They didn’t have time to make out what the creatures were exactly or what had happened to cause this; they needed to help her in any way they can. Not waiting for an order, Mew flew ahead of them, his eyes turning indigo as they had before. Then, the pink beam that he used before fired out towards the creatures. The attack severed limbs off some of the creatures while completely obliterating others. Nodding their heads in response, Kim and Twilight charged at the creatures as well, hoping to help their teammates. “Sailor Moon!” Kim shouted as the two of them approached her, “What’s going on.” “They’ve injured Sonic,” she shouted as she threw her tiara at another creature, “Get him to safety!” “Alright,” said Kim, “Twilight, keep them off me while I get him out of here.” “Right,” said Twilight as her horn began glowing with its maroon aura. When the two of them got to the unconscious hedgehog, Sailor Moon and Mew engaging the endless wave of the winged creatures, Twilight used her magic to create a force field around the two of them, preventing the creatures from getting at them. Kim lifted the hedgehog on her shoulders and said, “I got him! Let’s go!” Releasing her magic, Twilight and Kim began running down the road as fast as they could, yelling out to the others to follow them. After fending off a few more of the beasts, Sailor Moon and Mew began following the others. As they made their way towards the ship, Mew would occasionally turn to fire its pink beam at the creatures, keeping a few of them at bay. As they neared the crossroad, they saw that a few of the creatures flew in front of them and began swooping towards them from the sky. Their tails were fully open and ready to grab at anyone it could. The moment she saw it, Twilight used her magic to levitate anything she could, namely the toys, to defend themselves. When she had a few of the broken objects in her grip, she flung them at the creatures, catching them off guard and causing them to move out of the way. When they regained their focus, they tried to get them again, all the while, letting out loud bellows in the night sky. “What do we do now?” asked Twilight as they rounded the corner to where the ship was. “We need to get to the ship!” Sailor Moon shouted, “They did something to it!” “What do you mean?” asked Kim, trying to keep her breath balanced. “Before they attacked, Sonic and I saw one of those...things...on the ship. It was doing something to it with its tail, almost as if it was...” Before she could finish her sentence, the four of them saw that the ship was beginning to rise off the ground, the boosters on the bottom beginning to power up. Then, it turned its back to them, facing the dead forest where they had entered. The moment they saw the purple and white energy beginning to come out of the nose, it was pretty clear to them what was happening. “It’s trying to strand us here!” Kim shouted, “Hurry!” Going as fast as they could, the winged creatures still hot on their trail, the four of them ran towards the wall of energy that was in front of them. As they neared it, they all shut their eyes and continued to run, praying that they would reach the wall in time. Mere seconds after they all squeezed their eyes shut, all four of them felt completely weight free; they knew that they were all falling again, just like they had the other two times. As much as they tried to steady themselves, they all fell to the ground, tumbling on what felt like hard pavement. They didn’t have time to look at their environment for long when they heard the sounds of mechanical moaning coming from above them. All of them looking towards the sky, they saw that the ship was hovering over them. In an instant, the ship backed away from them, almost as if it was ready to attack them again. Not wasting any time, Mew kicked himself off the ground and came face-to-face with the war machine. The moment he saw the silo doors on the top of the ship open, he used all his strength to summon the pink beam of energy and fired it at the ship. Instead of hitting the side, like he had before, his attack hit the lower section of the ship, destroying the silver boosters underneath it. However, the attack also took off a tremendous chunk of the bottom, causing the ship to emit an explosion before it was flung backwards, colliding with the ground and rolling in a ball of fire. Several shards of debris came right at the others that were on the ground, causing the two humans to flinch and hold their hands up to protect themselves. Using her magic, Twilight summoned a force field around them, causing any debris that came their way to be immediately deflected. After several minutes, when the debris had died down and the ship was completely motionless, the lavender unicorn removed the force field, breathing heavily as she did. All of them remained motionless, staring blankly at the sky in shock and relief. “That was close,” Kim managed to say, “Too close for comfort.” “I’m...I’m sorry,” said Sailor Moon, sadness in her tone and tears streaming down her face, “It was all my fault. I’m the reason they spotted us. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me.” “No point in beating yourself up about it, now,” said Twilight as she got herself up, “We have bigger problems to worry about. Look.” All of them looked to see that the majority of the ship was destroyed, making it completely useless to them now. “Great,” said Kim, “Now how are we supposed to get out of here? Where exactly is here?” All of them looked around at the environment and noticed that they were on a city street again, similar to that of Heatherfield’s. However, they didn’t need to look for long before they saw Kim’s eyes widen with horror. Immediately, she began turning and looking at every angle of the destroyed city they were in the middle of. After several seconds of looking at the remains of the city, she began to breathe heavily, falling to her knees and tears beginning to stream from her eyes. Immediately, she cupped her hands over her mouth, trying her best not to hyperventilate. “Are you alright?” asked Twilight, as she trotted besides her. Kim whispered something to her, but since her hands were over her mouth, it was hard to make out what she said. “What was that?” the lavender mare asked with sympathy in her voice. Lowering her hands and staring blankly down the road, she managed to say, “I...I know where we are. We’re...we’re...home.”