Written by BHart
May 31, 2009

Act CII
Converging Paths

Vlaad's group was running down a long hallway curving to the left.

"We should be at the main chambers soon." Bartinax pointed to a door on the blueprint.

"Are there any traps along the way?" asked Rykel.

"We only know the basic architectural design of this place from the blueprints."

They saw something in the corner of their eyes while turning around the bend. Sailor Ophelia was standing in the middle of the hall.

"Oh shit! Just what we need, another moon princess to fight," whined Rykel.

"Looks like it's up to me to take out the garbage," said Ophelia, sighing.

"Our thoughts exactly," replied Rykel.

"We've come too far to stop now. Get ready to fight," ordered Bartinax.

The sailor senshi's group was following Sailors Hydra and Nix.

"The council's chambers are down this hall, around the right bend," informed Sailor Hydra.

"I can't wait to put an end to their insanity. It's long overdue," said Sailor Miranda.

"I never thought any of you would've made it this far." Sailor Umbriel appeared.

"Yours will be another council corpse to add to our list," threatened Sailor Triton.

"We could easily say the same."

"You bitch!" Sailor Ares missed hitting her with a fiery blast.

"So hostile; it will be fun to see you all die."

Sailors Cordelia, Lysithea, Larissa and Portia were in a secluded room. There was a small portal, about half the size of a golf ball in the room.

Sailor Lysithea raised her hands at the portal, enlarging it to three times its size. A power surge filled the room with an illuminating blue light. The surge gave them the power to transform into moon princesses.

They saw blue paths out in black space. The paths led in many different directions.

"I always look forward to these power surges," remarked Sailor Cordelia.

"The time will come when we'll always have this kind of power flowing through us without having to recharge every few days," said Sailor Larissa.

"Patience ladies; we'll soon have access to that enormous power source. It won't be long from now," promised Sailor Portia.

Omatase, Erewan and Bartinax were casting their highest level spells at Sailor Ophelia. She conjured up a couple of blue, spiral tubes, sucking the magic into them.

Ophelia constricted them with red coils, bound tightly around them.

Rykel ran up to fight with Ophelia to distract her. Vlaad freed the taru tarus by breaking the red coils with his paladin's blade.

Ophelia easily avoided Rykel's swings at her. A petrified branch appeared in her hands. She used this as a sword to block Rykel's dark blade strikes.

The taru tarus' magic was ineffective as long as those spiral tubes were there. Vlaad destroyed the tubes with his vorpal blade technique.

Ophelia knocked Rykel back with her branch.

She plunged at the taru tarus with her branch.

"Get out of the way!"

Erewan barely got nicked in the foot with her branch of despair. Erewan lied on his belly, twitching uncontrollably, and slowly losing consciousness.

Bartinax cast Nuke-aga at her, burning her with a hot, nuclear blast.

Ophelia was badly injured and on her knees. She dropped the branch. She transformed into a moon princess and was slowly recovering.

Sailor Umbriel was whipping the sailor senshi's group with her very long, thick hair.

Her hair grew longer, filling up most of the hallway. They were stuck in it. The hair around them tightened, cutting off their circulation.

Sailor Triton conjured sea shears to release them. She cut right through it, being careful not to cut anyone.

Sailor Hydra's tentacles sprouted out of the palms of her hands. Her tentacles ended up getting tangled in the hair. Sailor Nix was helping her untangle them.

They freed themselves from the hair with Triton's help.

Sailor Umbriel's hair grew back. Sailor Triton leapt into the air, cutting through it again with the shears. Umbriel knocked her aside, striking her with a whip made of braided hair.

"Let's see it grow back after this." Sailor Ares blasted her with a stream of volcanic heat which burned through the hair, catching Sailor Umbriel on fire.

Sailor Umbriel conjured an umbrella. She opened it over her head. Cold ice water poured all over her, putting out the flames. Her hair started growing back again.

"No way!" said Sailor Ares, in frustration.

Sailor Triton got behind Sailor Umbriel and strangled her with her own whip. "Die!" Sailor Triton pulled tighter.

A light generated within Umbriel, throwing Triton off her. Umbriel transformed into a moon princess.

Vlaad, Bartinax, Rykel and Omatase were at Erewan's side. "What happened to you?"

Erewan continued shaking without being able to mutter any words.

"What did you do to him, you awful bitch?" yelled Bartinax.

Their attacks were repelled by her moon princess power.

Ophelia ran at them, wielding Katherine's mallet of depression. Vlaad protected everyone with his shield. It enlarged to 3 times its normal size. Ophelia struck his shield with the mallet, causing a strange reverberation throughout the hallway. It shattered Vlaad's shield and cracked Rykel's armor.

Omatase cast blizzaga. She dropped the mallet.

She attempted to retrieve her mallet and branch.

"Don't let her get those!" ordered Vlaad.

"You take one, I'll take the other," said Bartinax. Omatase and Bartinax destroyed the mallet and branch with high level spells.

"What have you done?" said Ophelia, angrily.

One bucket appeared in each of her hands. They were Hamnet's pails of sorrow. Dark clouds of energy overflowed from the tops of them.

She threw the contents of a pail at Erewan. Rykel snatched him out of the way just in time.

A slow running, black ooze slithered across the ground.

"Stay away from whatever that stuff is," warned Vlaad.

She continued flailing her pails about, splashing the black ooze inside them everywhere. The pails refilled themselves with the black ooze when they got empty.

"If I could only get close enough to her," said Rykel.

"You can stop her?" asked Bartinax.

"Maybe; it's worth a try. At this rate, we'll end up dead," replied Rykel.

"We'll do our best to distract her. Be careful," said Bartinax.

Rykel summoned darkening shadows around him. He turned darker and darker until he blended in with the shadows. When he saw his chance to get close, he ran up behind her, grabbing her around the neck and head.

His hands filled with dark power, absorbing her intelligence and mind. She threw him off her.

She dropped her pails on the floor, staggering across the room.

"What did you do?"asked Vlaad.

"I've drained a lot of her mental abilities, she can't think straight," answered Rykel.

Ophelia slipped on the floor, falling into the black ooze. The ooze entered her body, filling her with sorrows and deep depression. She reverted back to a sailor senshi. She put one of the pails over her head, spilling more ooze over herself. Since the pails always refilled themselves when emptied, she eventually drowned in her own sorrows by suicide.

Erewan's situation wasn't improving. "Is there anything we can do for him?" asked Rykel.

"I don't know. Let's take him with us for now," responded Bartinax. Vlaad carried Erewan over his shoulders.

"I'm really tired of her gray granny hair growing back," remarked Sailor Miranda.

Sailor Charon attacked her with a dark mist, but it got lost inside Sailor Umbriel's hair.

Her hair grew six feet in length. Spiked split ends grew on the ends of her hair.

She stabbed Sailor Triton with her hair, drawing a lot of blood. Sailor Triton groaned, falling to her side on the floor. The blood covered split ends disappeared.

A beautiful, curly lock of hair grew in its place. This lock of hair was called Arabella's raped lock. It wrapped around the sailor senshi's group, squeezing tightly around them.

Three hydra heads grew out of the top of Sailor Hydra's back.

"Are you sure it will work?" asked Sailor Nix.

"Have to try."

The hydra heads spewed out a hydro-acid breath weapon. It burned through the hair lock, releasing them.

The Arabella's lock of hair slowly grew back.

"That's my prized lock of hair! You'll suffer for that!" Her hair stiffened up, with spiked split ends ready to slice them apart.

Sailor Nix used her powers of negation, stopping the hair in its tracks. The aura of negation also prevented Umbriel's hair from growing. "Somebody better do something quick while this effect lasts," said Sailor Nix.

Sailor Triton, who was behind Sailor Umbriel, stood up, throwing a large sea anchor attached to a long chain at her. The chain wrapped itself around the lock of hair many times. The large anchor, known as Davy Jone's anchor, was so heavy that when it hit the floor, it made a large hole through it and kept falling.

"I'll see you in hell!" yelled Sailor Triton. She held tightly to the chain, making sure it wouldn't unravel.

The anchor pulled Sailor Triton and Umbriel down with it. The hole went through the bottom floor of the castle and through the ground. "Wow, how deep do you think it went?" asked Maybel.

"Probably to the depths of the ocean; to the abyss graveyard," answered Sailor Charon.

"We won't forget your sacrifice," said Kousagi, crying.

"You must be strong, no time to mourn now," said Suhya.

"Stop saying that. I don't want to lose any more friends. There should be no sacrifices," yelled Kousagi.

"That's not how the real world works. I'm sorry," replied Suhya.

"We're almost there," said Bartinax.

"Stop! I think I hear something," said Vlaad.

They heard footsteps coming towards them. "Get ready to fight," ordered Vlaad.

They put Erewan on the ground behind them where he would be out of the way of any potential danger.

They could see the door in front of them just around the corner. "If we wait here quietly, we can surprise attack them," said Vlaad.

The footsteps stopped. "Is this where we're supposed to go?" asked Mittens.

"Yes, right through these doors," answered Sailor Nix.

Vlaad's group put their guard down, walking towards the sailor senshi after recognizing their voices.

"Vlaad! I wasn't sure if we'd see any of you again," said Oona.

"What's the matter with Erewan?" asked Sailor Parallel Moon.

"We don't know. One of those moon princesses back there did this to him," replied Omatase.

"Let me see him," said Oona.

.. to be continued..