Minako scanned her surroundings. This part of the mall’s ground floor space included an empty food court, a deserted seating area, some unmanned stalls, and an obnoxiously large and noisy fountain. She knew that on occasion, the open space was used for performances and exhibitions, but there were no civilians in the vicinity. Given the uproar, people had obviously fled in search of cover.

As such, there were few obstacles for her enemies to hide behind and no potential victims that might be caught in the crossfire. She still wouldn’t be able to use her more powerful abilities without bringing the building down on herself, but the location was as good a spot as any for the fight.

Minako was resolute. In addition to the grotesque, dough-like Youma re-forming before her, three more enemies were about to converge on her location. She had to keep them busy here, while Ami continued with evacuation efforts.

“Mercury,” she spoke confidently into her communicator. “If they’re coming for me, it’s your opportunity to get people out. Don’t worry about me. Focus on opening holes in the barriers at the mall exits. You’ll probably find people gathered around them, conscious or unconscious, so the police will be able to start evacuating them. If I’m still alive when you’re done, support me without revealing yourself. If not…don’t be a hero.”

“Sailor V…” Mercury started uncertainly as if to object.

Minako removed her wrist device, let it drop to the floor, and stomped it beneath her fuchsia pump before her partner could finish. She took a breath and prepared herself. Within seconds, she sensed a new presence and turned to find a hulking Youma barreling down on her.

A stack of car tires in place of an arm was drawn back and ready to strike. There was no chance of blocking such an attack, so she had to dodge. Unfortunately, the enemy behind her had finished its reconstruction, and stretched a doughy limb around her right ankle to prevent her escape.

Minako reacted instinctively, severing the hindrance with a beam as she cartwheeled out of the way with less than a second to spare. The force of the tire Youma’s punch made her hair flap as if caught in a breeze, and its impact reduced a nearby pillar to rubble. As she created some distance, noting that this Youma was plainly a close combat-type, she was startled by a rapid crescendo of whirring from behind her.

Sailor V turned, pre-emptively adopting a defensive posture with her arms crossed over her chest, but the action was useless. She was blown away by an unseen force and sent spinning through the air until her back collided with a wall, and she was pinned by the powerful gale. Squinting, she caught a glimpse of her newest opponent. Its head, if it could be considered one, resembled a desk fan.

“Hold her there, Airhead,” boomed a deep voice before the tire Youma appeared again, using its massive arms to bound toward the trapped soldier like a gorilla on all fours.

As much as she tried, Minako couldn’t escape the wind tunnel that held her in place. It was all she could do to take a breath. The bulky monster was steps away. It was going to jump into the path of the fan creature’s horizontal twister, which would only make its punch more devastating. She watched helplessly as it jumped to deliver the blow.

Minako closed her eyes and braced herself, but the impact didn’t follow. Not the one she had expected, at least. She had dropped to the floor, no longer pinned to the wall by the constant air pressure.

“What’s going on?” she heard one of the Youma exclaim.

Upon opening her eyes, she was momentarily confused before realizing the power had been cut, plunging the mall into darkness. Grateful for what was surely Ami’s handiwork, Minako immediately seized the opportunity of the blackout to change location, feeling her way along the wall as her eyes adjusted. Behind her, she heard the unmistakable sound of the big Youma wildly smashing everything in reach.

After a minute, the lights returned, accompanied by the ringing of the fire alarm. Thirty seconds later, it was replaced by an automated voice message repeating evacuation instructions.

Minako grinned. Apparently, Ami’s efforts to gain control of the mall’s systems were paying off. From her new location behind the elevators, she chanced a look around the corner. The three Youma were wandering about, looking for her behind the closest potential hiding places.

“She couldn’t have gone far. Find her!” the booming voice spoke.

It was almost time to fight back. Before that, Minako needed to confirm the last Youma’s location. Where was it?

As if in answer to her thoughts, a new voice spoke with relish, “I see you, Sailor Soldier!”

Sailor V stepped forward and took a strong stance, craning her head left and right in search of the voice’s owner.

“Now, die!” it said maniacally.

Too late, she realized the Youma was hovering high above her and had fired twin, red-tipped projectiles. She dodged in time with a tumble but underestimated the blast yield. As the detonation knocked Minako off her feet, the fires across the mall suddenly made sense. This trigger-happy Youma was the one responsible for all the unnecessary damage—not counting the big one’s tantrums.

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Sailor V got to her feet and immediately broke into a run. As she had expected, the flying enemy had followed up with more explosive attacks. Blasts continued to go off behind her, but she pressed on, zigzagging back in the direction of the other monsters with a mix of cartwheels and somersaults. Spotting the tire Youma ahead and making a beeline for it, she chanced a quick glance behind her.

To her surprise, the flying Youma resembled a military helicopter, although its airframe was painted bright orange. Sailor V snickered despite her grave predicament. A Youma created using a real military craft would pose a significant threat, but this one had surely been made from another discarded toy.

That wasn’t to say the Youma wasn’t dangerous, of course. A direct hit from one of its missiles would mean certain death, but Minako knew everything now. One attacked from above with missiles, one blew wind from a distance, the big one was strong, and the doughy one stretched. Now that they had gathered, it was time to fight back.

Sailor V and the bulky tire Youma locked eyes, then leaped into the air on a collision course with each other. Her opponent had done so to deliver one of its deadly punches. She had done so to prevent the helicopter Youma behind her from opening fire in range of its ally. That gave her the window she needed to begin her counterattack.

Still in mid-air, hurtling ever closer to the rubber menace, Minako materialized her Crystal Change Rod in her outstretched hand, and cried, “Venus Crystal Power!”

She was bathed in a swirl of orange and yellow, momentarily resembling a giant firefly. Then, as the light dispersed, the fist of Sailor Venus emerged. Utilizing the force of the shockwave that always followed her unstable transformation, she met the enemy’s incoming punch with one of her own.

Before any of the other Youma could comprehend the meaning of the sudden, dazzling light they had witnessed, they were hit with its invisible recoil. Their tire-comprised ally, on the other hand, had taken a blow that would have finished most enemies, and crashed through the overhanging ceiling to the mall’s second floor.

Sailor Venus, her hair dancing wildly within the flickering, translucent cloak of energy that now surrounded her, presumed the monster’s bulky, rubber body would be capable of absorbing some of the impact. However, she only needed the dangerous and mobile close combatant out of the way temporarily. She would deal with the long-range fighters first.

As the flying Youma stabilized itself, found its target, and released a new spread of missiles in her direction, Venus spun and took aim with her index finger. “Crescent Beam!” she commanded, releasing her enhanced burst of compressed light. The broad beam swallowed the incoming projectiles and then their owner, the subsequent explosions of each barely registering within.

Some of the mall beyond was damaged but there was no time to think about that. Minako had to trust that Ami was clearing the remaining civilians, especially since the strain of the attack was already taking a toll on her body. She took a breath and resumed the battle, turning her attention to the distant, fan-headed Youma.

Focusing on her legs, Venus shot across the mall in a single bound, her cloak trailing like a comet’s tail. She hoped to close in on the enemy before it could attack. Unfortunately, the Youma reacted in time, its spinning propeller releasing a gale strong enough to halt her advance and launch her into the air.

“Plan B it is, then,” Venus said to herself with a smirk. She had accounted for this eventuality, of course. The success of a frontal assault against a long-range fighter was low, after all. Once she reached the right height, she thrust out her arm. “Love Heart Chain!”

Her glowing weapon extended from her hand and wrapped around the third-floor handrail over her opponent’s position, the taut support preventing her from being blown any further. Using her sailor suit’s anti-gravity ability, she took a sideways Skywalk step, allowing her to escape the wind tunnel and swing from her chain like a chimp on a jungle vine. With a few extra steps through the air, she rapidly descended at an angle to flank her opponent with a devastating flying kick.

However, with barely an inch between her heels and the protective metal frame of the enemy’s propellor-like head, Venus was inexplicably knocked off course and missed it entirely. She had no choice but to release her chain and make a clumsy and painful landing due to the velocity of her failed acrobatic assault.

Venus couldn’t understand it. Nothing had touched her, and she would have seen if the other Youma had intervened. She was certain that the fan Youma’s head hadn’t turned in her direction. She had moved too fast for that. What then, had interrupted her attack?

She got to her feet quickly, cursing herself for the wasted time and effort as the negative side effects of her transformation became evermore apparent. With a glance upward she realized the fan Youma was still close. Even with its wind power, at this range it wouldn’t be able to stop her. She lunged for it, her hands clasped over her head, ready to deliver a hammer-like blow.

It happened again. Inches from impact, an unseen power impeded her, only this time, she was held in place, unable to move at all.

“We meet at last, Sailor Venus,” a woman’s voice called out.

The fan Youma stumbled away from the soldier, who remained frozen in action, hovering helplessly just above the ground. It walked to the center of the mall’s open space, where a floating, blonde-haired man with an outstretched hand slowly descended from above. He was accompanied by a young woman with flowing red locks, holding an equally red jewel-topped staff that emited a faint aura.

“Thank you, Lord Jadeite,” said the fan Youma gratefully as its masters finally touched down.

Venus bit the inside of her cheek in frustration as the doughy Youma joined them, and the recovered tire Youma dropped down from the level above. She had missed her chance. Only one. She had transformed but only defeated one of them, and now they had been joined by Jadeite, who was apparently the one holding her in place, and a complete unknown.

Minako knew instinctively that had the pain of her energy cloak not been coursing through her body with such prevalence, the woman’s dimly glowing red jewel would have given her chills. Given its color and obvious power, its controller was surely responsible for the energy barrier surrounding the building.

The woman’s gem suddenly shimmered, turning the white marble interior of the mall scarlet. Then, with a bang of her staff on the floor, the mall seemed to shudder. “I am Morgan,” she announced, “daughter of Queen Beryl and rightful ruler of this planet. Relinquish the Silver Crystal to me or I will kill every human in this building!”