Mature Content Warning: Detailed combat scenes, extensive swearing, and general adult scenarios. Please be advised.

Author's Note: This chapter is only part of the whole chapter. I decided to break it off at the end of this part because it would have been over 10,000 words long and it had a natural stopping point.

If you see the word, "Youma" anywhere, please let me know. My old files just called the enemies in this story by that term, but Fiend is now the official term as of this reboot. I think I got most of them, but as this is basically one long fight scene, the word came up frequently.

Also, the original chapter title is "A Pain in My Ass."

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Pirouette wandered around her lab attempting to piece together the latest tidbit of information that she had discovered about Scott. The hospital at her behest, and a lot of legal pressure from various sources in the guild, had sent over his test results after being rendered unconscious twice in a month.

She looked the data over while tried to piece together what she had changed. The first set of statistical scores was from the time that he had been hospitalized after that Fiend battle. They showed a high-level magical energy drain. It was like he had suddenly dumped all of his mana in a single action. She guessed that such a thing would have been done as a last ditch effort to save himself.

She was not surprised at such a finding. It mirrored the report given to the government. At present the thought was that he had somehow destroyed that Fiend Demi-Human. The term Demi-Human was being used loosely. They found no trace of DNA evidence that the creature was a Demi-Human. Most of the creature had dispersed into the ether after the battle, but what was left behind was strange and completely inhuman.

No, what concerned her was the shift in his etheric pathways afterwards. He showed a slightly different mapping from the ERI they'd taken right after his last mission. It was as though his entire spiritual matrix had realigned into a new and unfathomable formation. She had never seen anything quite like it.

What bugged her even more was the sharp incline in black mana resonance. If she didn't know better, she would swear that he had somehow managed to cast a powerful black magic spell. That should have been impossible. The black band resonance factors excluded the usage of white or elemental band frequencies.

A creature with as much elemental and white mana resonance as Scott had should not be able to use the black band at all. The black band and white band could not mix. Elemental band frequencies can exist alongside either, but not both. Yet, his bizarre new spiritual matrix held them all in balance. It was quite perplexing.

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Chapter 13: A Pain in My Ass

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Scott wandered down the aisle of the local general store. The small mountain town store had a little of everything, though, relatively little of anything worth having. Still, the owner looked so hopeful that someone would buy something that Scott figured he would have to do just that.

He eventually came across a small section labeled camping supplies. He was confused though, as all he saw where small snow globe like things with miniature tents and houses inside them.

He smirked at the novelty nick-knacks then checked the price tag. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Thirty-five thousand credits, each!"

The store owner was over in a second with a, "Why yes, sir! I knew someone of your distinction would appreciate such fine quality camping supplies. Most people pack away those standard modular tents that take forever to set up, or even those cheap knock off Manawarez tents that only have a single use."

Scott looked at the man. His helmet masked his confusion. Camping supplies? Were these snow globes supposed to be camping supplies? Then it clicked. These must be some sort of magical item!

The single-use tents that the man had mentioned were sold in Oldtowne. The came in the form of a small coin shaped item that summoned the tent.

The concept reminded him of those tents and houses from the final fantasy series, or those capsules that were used in the Dragon Ball Franchise. There was no way someone could carry around ninety-nine full sized tents in a normal backpack. Of course, his pack stored items in a specialized containment unit so he really could not say much against fantastic storage capacity.

"I'd imagine you're surprised to have found such a good deal on them, but... well with the recent rash of kidnappings business has been very slow. Just in the hopes someone would come along and buy one I had to mark them down at half off." said the man sadly.

The younger man nodded at the middle-aged shop keep then checked his account. After all was said and done, and he had split the earnings from the last two missions, he had had around eighty thousand credits to his name. It was roughly the equivalent of eight hundred bucks back home if the costs for general items were similar.

Scott considered that and realized that he needed to do more money gathering types of missions. His growing harem will require a lot more funds to maintain. Sure, the modest pay increase from the guild would be nice, but he still had a week until they sent his next pay allotment.

A tent would put a serious dent in his pocket, but the idea of a continually reusable tent that automatically set itself up was a good one.

The little cabins and houses caught his eye too. There was quite a nice little variety here.

Eventually he settled on a quaint little cottage and noticed the tag read forty-seven thousand GSC.

"Tell me more about this one?" He pointed at the tennis ball sized cottage in question.

"Ah! Excellent choice, sir. That cottage is the days of yore model. It comes with the same standard wards, magical aids, and protective enchantments as any of the others. There are three rooms, a small work shed, and a basement." said the man smelling a possible sale.

Scott nodded. It sounded like his kind of thing. "Does it come with some kind of pamphlet that details what all these mystical perks might be?"

The man nodded excitedly, "Of course, sir!"

The younger man smiled at the eager looking shop owner and said, "Wrap it up for me then would ya."

"Oh gods bless you! It's been two weeks without a decent sale on anything but rope and jerky." The man nearly squealed in excitement before racing off to fetch a cabin from the stock room. The one on display was merely meant to be viewed and not purchased.

Scott wandered out of the shop about fifteen minutes later. He had purchased a few more necessities such as potions and light stones for use at night when the store owner returned. He walked toward the other side of the street while reading his pamphlet. Apparently the cabin was rechargeable at most magic inclined shops in the country, and had nine uses before needing to be recharged.

At the time of the pamphlet's printing last year, the known cost for a recharge was a thousand per use, or five thousand for a full charge. "Not as permanently useable as I had believed. Still, I could see plenty of use coming out of this little fella. Especially if I get a mana-charger like this thing suggests."

His musings were interrupted a moment later by a manly shriek of pain. He snapped his head around to the sound's origin and saw something that really ruined his day.

A small group of people were falling to the ground limply while a blue skinned chick performed an all too familiar energy draining attack. His first instinct was to run get the girls, but there was no time. He would have to try and help as much as possible despite knowing that he probably would not amount to much. Scott raced over towards the war zone, after putting his newest toy inside his belt pouch.

He hoped to catch the creature from behind. Scott launched a brutal overhead attack that slammed forcefully into the web-fingered chick. All he accomplished for his efforts was an irritated spinning backhand from the Fiend that knocked him on his ass, a slight dent on his helmet.

His vision swam for a second before he found himself lifted into the air in another familiar scenario followed by a nasty cry of, "Give me your energy!"

Scott regained enough mental coherence to kick out at the creature, but could not manage nearly enough force to harm it. Worse yet, he had thought that he had kicked a brick wall. The creature was extremely tough.

The Fiend shook him violently, and continued demanding his life energy. The rattling around began to make the man nauseous.

"Stop right there!" exclaimed a familiar voice from behind them. Scott mentally sighed in relief.

"Who the hell are you?!" snapped the creature while she continued to shake our mighty hero.

"I am a soldier of love, call me Ceravi! The Vi is for victory!" Nina made a peace sign with one hand stretched forward, and then rapidly opened and closed her fingers.

"You gotta be kidding me." The creature snarled in annoyance before tossing Scott aside dismissively. She had a bitch to smack. The man slowly got to his feet as the so-called soldier of love and the current monster of the day squared off.

"Kidding?! Jokes and laughter are for people with good hearts! In the name of joyous hearts everywhere I will punish you with my whip!" exclaimed the girl somewhat heroically. At some point she might figure out the formula for decent fight dialog.

"Bring it on blondie!" snapped the creature. On a personal note, the cute but hellish monstrosity idly wondered why everyone in this crazy town seemed to be a hormonally addled pervert. Seriously, what kind of person wants to punish someone with a whip when they have never met before?

"Uh, me too!" exclaimed Makina. She had come at the same time as Ceravi. She did not have anything to say till now, but did not want to be left out.

“Quiet you!” The Fiend snarled angrily then made a forward motion with her hand. A column of water shot out of the ground then hurtled toward the Balvulf. Makina narrowly managed to dodge the high-pressure assault. The water strike slammed into a car across the road and hit with enough force that the car was lifted partially off the ground. The side windows had instantly shattered, and the passenger door had been crushed. It was pressed inward as though it had been hit by a cannon ball.

Apollo ran over to where Scott was, looked at him curiously for a moment, and then settled in to watch the fight. Ceravi wasted no more time in powering up for an attack. She sent off a quick Ero Beam attack that hit the blue skinned monstrosity dead center. It was knocked back several feet and it staggered around a little.

Sadly, though, it did precious little else but annoy it. "Oh, you little bitch!"

The creature raised her hand and sent out an energy draining pulse that sucked more life out of the unconscious people. It even seemed to draw a bit of the fire out of Makina's spirit.

"What, I feel so weak.” said the Balvulf before she started to wobble.

Scott ran over to at least distract the blue-skinned freak, only to get casually swatted away like a gnat once more. "Stay down you...”

He did accomplish his mission though, in that the momentary distraction Ceravi was able to fire off another powerful beam of high-yield plasma at the creature. Though, if you asked her it was the power of love, or some such.

Having taken a little damage this time, the creature became enraged and said, "Enough of this!"

A sinister black and green aura erupted around her. She raised one hand to the heavens palm up then pressed the other hand palm down towards the ground.

With an inarticulate scream of rage, the creature brought them crushing together a moment later. Massive pillars of freezing cold water rose up with explosive force from points all around her. Ceravi’s eyes widened comically when these pillars bent forward at the Fiend's command. Several dozen extremely high-pressure spiraling waves of water rocketed toward her in a wide-area attack.

The blond super heroine tried to dodge, but she was not quick enough to avoid that many moving targets. She lessened the blow by moving with the force of the water, but she was still hurled backward with incredible force. She slammed into a nearby metal utility pole. A sharp cracking sound was followed by half of the pole, and the entirety of Ceravi, falling to the ground.

"Had enough blondie?!" The monstrosity cackled loudly as her water pillars disappeared. The unconscious people all around moaned as more of their energy leaked out to replenish what the evil bitch had spent with that attack.

Makina screamed in utter outrage. How dare she do that! Her inner fires reignited, she threw off the draining effect and raced toward the monster. Her enhanced speed and strength proved far more effective than Scott's and soon the two were in full on slugfest.

The pissed off Balvulf actually managed to land several solid combinations and used her strongest current attack, upper cut. Her body flashed brightly as she launched her fist upward into the blue skinned creature’s jaw with the force of a wrecking ball. A normal human would have had their entire head turned into a meaty pulp by the force of that strike.

The fiend was knocked flat on its ass from the force of the blow, but sadly it showed little if any damage and it immediately sent out a wave of energy draining force.

Makina gasped in pain and fell to one knee. She tried desperately to fight off the effects, but she had no protection against that type of dark energy attack.

Scott knew he had to do something but had no clue what. His physical strength was still too low. His sword did squat, and the best he could do was provide a distraction. “Damn it! If only I could use magic!”

Then it hit him. Sure, he had no idea if it did anything at all besides look really cool and suck the life out of him. Still, he did know that at least once he had caused 'something' to happen.

With determination he began to focus on his mana. The seconds fled by as Makina tried her damnedest to break off the effects of the energy drain, to no avail.

When his power reached its peak Scott thrust his hands out to try and mimic what he did a few days prior. Please, let this do something. It did not matter what happened to him, he had to try.

~Darkness is calling...

The soul cries out...

The spirit’s willing...

It’s ready to shoouuuut!~

"BLACK METAL!"

Everything stopped. The movement of the world and all things in it became impossibly still. Black lightning surged out of his body then converged at the space before his hands. Power, indescribably intense energy crackled and whirled. Intense pressure built within that sphere and the darkness intensified. Currents of blue-electrical energy began to arc around it and when the pressure became too great to control, it rocketed outward.

The extreme backlash from that magical attack threw Scott backward with great force. He slammed against a brick wall then fell to the ground with a disturbingly loud thump.

The creature, not expecting a magical attack from its flank, was thoroughly unprepared when a high-pressure sphere of black ball lightning crashed into it with brutal force and the sound of a wailing electric guitar.

Zwaaaahn-Waa-arooowne!

The dark energy attack slammed into it with brutal force, hurling it into the side of a small bus. A thunderous crashing sound, like an incredible car wreck, was generated. Windows shattered instantly, the bus’ side caved in a bit, and the monster fell to the ground limply, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. No one could tell if it was damaged at all, but the attack had definitely had effect.

Scott panted heavily as he lay on the ground where he had fallen. He desperately tried to rise up to his hands and knees but his strength had completely left him. Once again, it was like his very life had been ripped out to use that attack.

However, things were a little different this time. The draining effect slowly faded. Scott managed to force himself upright. He leaned his aching body against the partially shattered wall and panted. Man he felt beat.

He was sitting straight across from the Fiend. The damage caused by that attack had been immense, for the bus at least. Scott hoped that he had defeated the creature, but he was worried. Her body was still intact. He raised his hand and placed it to the side of his helmet. He tried to use his scanning sensor but received only an error message. That tiny little dent had apparently damaged that part of the helmet's interface. That did not bode well for the future.

He smiled when he saw Makina start to get back on her feet, but his eyes widened in horror when he saw the field began to stir. Unless Nina managed to get back up, he knew he might have to try and use that whatever it was he just did again. The problem was that he was so drained that he didn't even know if he could use it.

Makina managed to get back to her feet, and immediately staggered toward the Fiend. The creature had not gotten up yet, and the Balvulf took a few seconds to pummel her with punches.

Scott watched her lash out with countless strikes before something changed. The girl began to glow with an electric-blue light.

She cried out in a loud voice. “Spinning thunder strike!”

Normal looking lighting arced around the girl and she struck out at the Fiend with a ferocious punch that unleashed elemental lightning. A bright flash of light erupted outward upon contact. Scott knew what she had done, now. Spinning thunder was one of the natural lightning techniques that a Balvulf had access to, just as the Firvulf could use fire.

Briefly he had thought that the girl had succeeded in finishing off the creature, but he had been wrong. He had been incredibly wrong.

Her physical attacks, though exceptionally powerful, did little to the monster but annoy her into full wakefulness. The lightning based attack had hurt it a bit, just as the spinning fire strike had hurt Creamy. It was damage readily healed, however. The Fiend kicked out with both feet and knocked Makina away roughly before flipping back into a standing position.

Scott noticed that it seemed to favor its arm and side a bit, possibly showing that it had at least been affected by his attack. 'If only I could keep using it.’

"Playtime is over!" snarled the monster, just before a shot rang out.

Two Firvulf and an Officer stood at the end of the block, which was not too far away. "Hold it right there! What's going on here!?" Where exactly had they been all this time? It wasn’t like Verdant Falls was a big city.

The creature, seeing new targets immediately shrieked something about wanting their energy, and raced over to drain the hapless Demi-Humans. Half way to their position, a beam of high-yield plasma slammed into her back, courtesy of the now awake Ceravi.

"You, again!" snapped the creature as it righted itself. It had taken very little damage from that attack last time, and this one was even weaker. Apparently, the drenched and extremely cold soldier of love was not doing as 'hot' as earlier.

"I said hold it!" snapped the police Demi-Human. What was wrong with these people? Did they not see the badge! Hello, police Officer with a gun here.

Scott could not understand how the Fiend was still up going. It had taken three Ero beams, a massive amount of Makina brand whoop ass, and whatever it was he had done. Yet, it had barely seemed to notice! Was it like this in a normal magical girl style universe? Geez, no wonder normal people were screwed when they were forced to fight these things.

"Shaddap you!" said a male voice from a nearby alleyway.

All eyes turned to see a man with a decidedly evil smirk on his face stroll out of the shadows. He had a Demi-Human at his side.

A wild douchebag appears!

It took Scott a moment, but then he registered. "You! You, fucking asshole!”

"I'm sorry tin man, do I know you?" asked the man curiously, a dangerous glint in his eye.

"What's going on here!" snapped the Officer while she grew more and more irritated. First, all of the recent kidnappings, then the creatures in the woods, and now some idiot tamers were having a duel in the middle of the street? Oh hell, no.

The new comer smirked at her then casually said, "Nothing much, just world domination... starting with this town."

Scott stared at him for a moment and then it dawned on him. There was only one reason that the douchebag he had hated since day one would be acting so cool in this situation.

Normally, he would have not said anything out loud, but his exhaustion and shock got the best of him, "You work for the fucking Dark Empire?!"

Apollo and Ceravi stared at Scott shock. Several other pairs of eyes fixated on him for a moment, too.

"Oh, so you've heard of it?" said Henry in a casual manner.

The Fiend was beginning to get annoyed. She wanted energy, energy damn you!

"Hmm, that’s enough witty banter. My new 'pet' seems to want to continue her play date. Go ahead precious. That's a good girl." Henry spoke to the Fiend using cooing babyish tone of voice.

An incredulous expression arose upon the Fiend’s face. She sighed softly then said, “I just had to get sent to work with an idiot.” Oh well, energy!

The Dark Empire bred monstrosity raised its clawed hand and sent out a powerful wave of energy draining force. The Officer opened fire on the creature, but the bullets were once again ineffective. They did not enough force to harm a Fiend.

The officer and her Firvulf partners fell to their knees. The gun-wielding girl decided to take a pot-shot at the Fiend's supposed tamer, but to her horror the bullet simply pinged off of him after coming into contact with a rapidly spreading green and black aura that erupted out of the man.

He was now a creature of the Empire and as the supposed master of this particular Fiend a bit of the energy she collected went to him. It was like the normal bond with a Demi-Human, except less hot and even more perverted.

Makina fell over in exhaustion, barely awake. The Firvulf dropped not long after, and the Officer moaned softly before it was all over for her as well.

Scott, Ceravi, and for some reason Apollo, were all that stood between current civilization and the newly forming douchebag empire.

"So, now that the peanut gallery is out of the way... Let's take care of you heroes shall we.” Henry’s eyes flashed darkly and his expression shifted to an obnoxious sneer.

"Take care of this!" snapped Ceravi; she'd been through way too much today to deal with ranting wannabe super villains.

"Ero Beam Smaaaasha!" shouted the girl. Another beam of raw energy lanced out of her to nail the smirking man dead center.

He may have been empowered by the life force of ten average people, and an equal amount of Demi-Humans, but he was definitely not a Fiend. That attack lanced into him with incredible force, hurling him back and away. That single attack had cracked several of his ribs and left him gasping in agonized pain.

Ceravi sighed tiredly, feeling drained. She had been using her attacks too often, too close together. When you added in the brutal assault that she had just woken up from, she was nearing exhaustion.

"Master!" snapped the witch, Charlene. She raced to his side. Seeing her moaning in pain caused her to lose her shit, as the cool kids say. She started tossing out his D-Balls left and right. Soon, an Amazon and an angel Demi-Human were standing with her in the defense of their master.

The new girls had glassy-eyed expressions as though they were in a trance. Though the angel seemed a little less under the influence of whatever was happening since she was slowly looking around. Neither girl seemed to be interested in moving, however. The Witch screamed at them to attack, but they did not. She was not their master.

Scott backed away in concern. There was no way they could win this fight. One team member down, two nearly exhausted, and the strongest opponent was barely injured. When you added in her new backup the outcome was official. They were well and truly fucked.

He glanced up at the angel and his heart began to break, the girl he had wanted to rescue from dark jackass over there had apparently been brainwashed.

"Cerene.” He said with a lump in his throat. He could not help but think that he was going to fail her once again.

-----

She had been called from her ball, but immediately felt a strange shift in her thought processes. The world seemed like it was full of mists and shadows. She could see, but it was like what she figured the inside of a fishbowl would be.

She took in all the people on the ground, her master's new Demi-Human that creeped her out, and the two people that seemed to be battling her.

What got her attention though was the black armored figure that suddenly whispered her old name. It sent a trill of emotion along her spine. Even with the minor voice modulation from the helmet, that voice had sounded so familiar. So safe.

As the battle raged around them, she had only eyes for the one in the black armor. Something about that limp figure across the way. She felt something strongly about it. Why, though? Why would she feel that strange sense of familiarity from a faceless man lying against a wall?

She watched as that man struggled to rise up. A soft trill of excitement ran through her body when he managed to make it onto his feet. Why did that make her happy? What were these strange sensations?

Then it clicked. A name arose within her fog-shrouded thoughts. ‘Scott?’

Was this the man that had tried to save her all those months ago? It couldn't be. He was half a world away.

"Fools! Give me your energy, or die!" snarled the Fiend. She raced over to the only three creatures outside of her so-called master's group that seemed to dislike giving her energy.

The man in black armor clipped her on the side with his sword, doing little more than annoy her. The distraction brought them a moment of opportunity, though. The blond girl cried out a few words that Cerene did not hear clearly. She whipped her chain out and it moved in a slick triangle motion and trapped one of the blue skinned girl’s legs.

"Oh no you don't, blondie!" snapped her master's alpha, before she sent a manabolt flying in the blond girl’s direction.

The possible super heroine was only able to slightly avoid the attack because she did not want to risk letting go of the chain. She took the hit in stride, crying out in pain, but she did not drop her weapon. The damage was done though as it gave the creature a moment to grip the weapon wrapping her leg. The power coursing through that golden weapon caused incredible pain to the Fiend. The flesh of her hand began to smoke and crackle.

Enraged, the beautiful monstrosity tugged powerfully on the weapon forged by the power of love, and snatched its owner toward her with great speed and force. Nina was taken by surprise due to having just received that manabolt. She was stopped short by a brutal clothesline style attack, followed by a near-instantaneous double fist smash to her chest while she was in mid-air. The force of the blow sent her crashing into the pavement with enough force to a series of spider-web cracks to form around her landing spot.

Cerene heard the armored man cry out a name, "Nina!"

The panic in his voice caused her heart to skip a beat. She immediately thought, 'This is wrong. They, they obviously care a lot about each other. This shouldn't happen!'

A light began to softly shine from the necklace that she wore. The gaudy looking bauble had been in her family for generations, and surprisingly Henry had let her keep it when her parents had sent it to her. She hated the man with a passion, especially since coming to this town. Yet, sometimes he had seemed to have a touch of simple decency about him.

A whimsical melody began to play. She saw the monster rear back and kick the armored man powerfully in the chest when he attempted to attack her. 'No!' Cerene screamed inside her mind.

The poor man flew backwards several feet and lay limply on the ground. He seemed to struggle feebly a moment later, but not much.

The blue-skinned girl leapt atop him. She started slamming her fists down on his face, cracking his visor in the process. A few more ruthless attacks, amidst the laughter and catcalls of her master's witch, left his helmet as little more than a messy ruin.

"Let's open this can up and see the worm!" cried the creature as she twisted, tugged, and pulled at the helmet. Eventually she broke the clasps, and narrowly avoided snapping his neck.

The helmet came off, and even amidst the bruises the angel Demi-Human could clearly see who this was... Her heart raced. Her blood pounded in her ears. Time seemed to stand still as the blue-bitch reared back a clawed hand and started to say something.

She had been right. He was that man, someone who had acted solely to help her on the worst day of her life.

"Scott!" screamed the angel. Her gaudy looking ancient necklace flared brilliantly with a blinding white light that erupted outward across the battleground. The water-fiend screeched in pain, and lunged into a nearby shadow in an attempt to avoid the horrible, horrible, light.

Scott hearing his name called so loudly snapped awake. Despite his immense pain he rolled to his side. His answering cry erupted from his lips a brief second later, one hand reached towards the girl, "Cerene!"

Apollo gasped in kitty fashion as he saw something that he had desperately hoped would happen. A miracle! On the forehead of this Demi-Human with the funky necklace was a shining diamond symbol. He didn't recall any of the Selenite guardians having that particular symbol in the past, but apparently there was one. His memory wasn't what it used to be, but the power signature she was giving off was pure Selenite!

He raced over towards her and shouted, "Transform!"

Charlene blinked stupidly at the little fur ball, as her master's least favorite slut seemed to have a conversation with it.

"Trans... wha...?" asked the girl in confusion. She was at a loss. What had just happened was instinctual. She still did not know what was going on.

"You're a soldier of the Selenite Empire! Transform! Your necklace is probably the key!" exclaimed the cat anxiously. Scott in the back ground had started to get to his hands and knees, while gazing in concern at her.

"R-right, what?" Cerene asked nervously. The energy surrounding her was starting to freak her out.

Apollo sighed and then it occurred to him. The Serene mind-meld; it was their only hope. He pulled his fabulous hair back and revealed a heart shaped symbol on his forehead. It began to emit a soft light towards Cerene, but it was cut short a moment later as a manabolt slammed into the poor feline.

"Apollo!" screamed Scott, before rocking back onto his feet. A surge of adrenaline returned strength to his battered form; that kind of hit could have killed the little moon cat.

A softly spoken, "Apollo...” came from behind him as Ceravi tried to get up. She was struggling weakly; she was possibly in worse shape than Scott at this point.

To his right another soft feminine voice could be heard, this one coming from the slowly waking form of Makina. Without the energy draining effect of the Fiend her regenerative capacities were slowly kicking in.

"That little hairball shouldn't touch my master's toys!" snapped the Witch.

The angel slowly began to cry upon seeing the unconscious and badly burned cat. It had seemed to think she could help somehow, and now it was hurt by trying to help her realize her ability. She needed to... to transform like he said.

Now though, she needed power. Her necklace, he said it was the key.

She lifted the strange locket and opened it. Inside rested the little crystal that had always been there. The locket’s soft melody began to play once more.

As she gazed at the prismatic light she asked it, pleaded with it to give her power. She needed the power to help the only person that ever seemed to care about her. She needed the power to stop all of this fighting, and to end this nightmare.

What was she? She was a soldier a selenite? What was that about Selenites? Her little crystal locket, what power did it hold?

Love soldiers, Selenites, crystals, and power... she couldn't figure out how to relate these things together.

That is until she whispered them aloud questioningly, "Love soldier, Selene, crystal, power...?"

She could feel a strange pulling sensation, almost as though something had tried to shift... to change... transform.

Scott staggered towards her, ignoring the witch and said, "Believe in yourself, Cerene! You can do this."

The witch seeing this interaction between the two snarled and sent a manabolt racing across the street to easily knock the man on his ass once more. This time his armor, as battered as it was, prevented him from being severely injured. He was definitely feeling the pain, though.

"Scott!" Cerene suddenly found determination and chose to do exactly as he asked. She no longer cared if she was saying or doing the right thing. She would only focus on her desire to become strong enough to stop this and to save one of the only people in the world who ever gave a damn about her.

She screamed out the first thing that came to mind. "Selene... Crystal... Power!"

Once again a brilliant white light flared out and a perky, upbeat, musical score began to play in the background. In the confines of the alleyway, her body seemed to move and dance on its own. Her naked body became outlined in light as though she radiated it from within. Her twin braids flew out like a helicopter and a moment later an ancient style of armor began to form around her.

The armor first solidified in ribbon-like bands of red and white, forming a shape that looked like a swimsuit. Her chest ribbons hardened then became a silver and white chest piece that accentuated two of her better physical attributes.

A skirt of ribbons formed then hardened into a silver and right thigh armor that looked like descending scales. Fire engine red knee-high boots appeared next, followed by silver and white gloves. The locket and the crystal within shifted down to her chest and a bright red ribbon launched outward in an X-shape. It melded with the chest piece that further accentuated everything quite nicely.

The dance routine slowed down as silver and red beads appeared in her hair that tied her twin ponytails tightly. Finally, a silver and gold tiara appeared on her forehead, a silvery-colored diamond set at the center of the device covered her forehead symbol. The diamond began to glow with a pure and vibrant light.

The light show died down and she blinked. “Whoa. No way, I look like some kind of warrior princess.”

Strangely her wings had disappeared, but as she could summon and dismiss them at will before she wasn't particular freaked by that.

She raced over to Scott to check on him, as he lay prone on the ground. The two girls with him staggered over and nodded.

Makina tiredly nodded and said, "We need to get him and Apollo out of here...”

"Yeah, but I don't think they want us to leave," said Ceravi nervously.

"No one's going anywhere!" snapped the Fiend, after having finally gotten over the shakes. If this was mentioned later it would be referred to as a tactical withdrawal.

The would-be heroes of love and justice were arrayed on one side, and the forces of douchebaggery were arrayed on the other. Shit was about to get real, son.