The four girls stood back, as Kuwabara willed a small amount of rei
ki to make his body glow. He closed his eyes to concentrate, blocking out
all the insignificant noises in the background. Mars, Mercury, Hinageshi,
and Saturn watched, and waited. Kuwabara finally opened his eyes. Resting on
a tree just beside the dojo was a deep eddy, which seemed to be about a
diameter in height of a tall ladder. He squinted his eyes, making out the
vile-looking creatures that were emerging from the unpleasant cavity.
	"I found it," Kuwabara informed them, as he pointed to the thick-trunked
tree. They jogged towards him, frowns creasing their features. Kuwabara knew
why. They did not see anything. The youkai that were able to pass through
the maelstrom were very low-classed. Kuwabara breathed a sigh of relief.
Things would have gotten more difficult and messy if A-class and S-class
youkai had gotten though.
	"How do we stop the youkai if we can't see the gorge?" Mars crinkled her nose.
	"I wish I were a better spirit guide," Hinageshi whined.
	"Ah!" Mercury lit up, bringing out her mini computer, and clicking on her
earring. The blue tinted visor materialized across the bridge of her nose.
"I'll be able to see it through these."
	"Oi, Mercury-chan," Kuwabara blinked curiously at the high-tech devices.
"Where did you get all those nifty gadgets?"
	Mercury let out a soft feminine chuckle. "It is one of my so-called
'gadgets' as a sailor senshi, Kuwabara-kun. The sailor senshi are not of
this earth, but from the moon. I am the guardian of the planet mercury,
senshi of the books and water. Sailormars is the guardian of the planet
mars, senshi of weapons and fire. Sailorsaturn is the guardian of the planet
saturn, senshi of destruction and death."
	Kuwabara looked skeptical. "C'mon! you're pulling my leg, right?" 
	Mercury laughed softly with amusement, and shook her head. "I'm afraid not,
Kuwabara-kun." 
	Kuwabara eyed the silent Saturn cautiously. 'She's a senshi of destruction
and death?? I'm sure glad she's on our side.' Saturn smiled gently, but her
glaive-staff looked ready to kill. Heck, it looked like that everytime! 
	"Don't worry, Kuwabara-san," Saturn said in the most gentlest of voices. "I
might have been an enemy a long time ago, but surely I am for the forces of
good now." That was a relief.
	"Sugoi!" Hinageshi breathed in awe. "You guys are really from the moon?"
	Saturn and Mars nodded. Mercury punched her fingertips vigorously on the
keys of her computer. She was picking up something! "Minna... be on your
guard. They know of our presence."
	Kuwabara eyed the tiny monitor. Geez, he did not understand a single thing
there!
        Mars took out a spirit ward, ready to make a move if someone... or
something... attacked her. Hinageshi brought out her oar, which was similar
to Botan's. She knew they knew it would come in handy, especially in a
situation like this. Saturn readied her staff, its pointed, sharp-edged
blade gleaming under the starry firmament.
	"REI KEN!!!" Kuwabara brought forth his spirit sword, a fiery weapon of
pure energy. He held it in his grip, prepared to face danger.
	And then they appeared. Monsters of different shapes and appreances stepped
into view. Numerous.
	"Eeeyaahh!! There're so many of them!" Hinageshi exclaimed.
	"We can take `em no problem!" Mars said conceitedly.
	"Or we die fighting!" Saturn added, her eyes turning to slits.
	"Hey, wait a minute now..." Kuwabara tried to say. Such brave girls. He
hoped they were not all talk. He never could stand seeing a woman hurt or
injured.
	"All right," Mercury finalized, closing her computer shut. "We have to stay
by that tree over there."
	"Ano... didn't I already say that?" Kuwabara asked, as a sweat drop rolled
down his temple. They ignored him, due to the fact that the youkai were
distracting them. The monsters surrounded the five youths, licking hungrily
on their chops, and surveying every inch of their human body.
	"Hey, sexy," Hooted a hideous faced youkai to Mars. "I'd just _love_ to eat
you up!" Mars felt insulted. This atrocious creature was actually making a
pass at her! Of all the nerve! She glared at it, her anger starting to break
though her calm barrier.
	"Come now," The youkai moved closer. Mars grimaced. The thing stank! "What
do you say you and me get together for dinner? You'd fit perfectly well in
my belly."
	That was it! She had had enough of this verbal abuse!
	"AKURYOU TAISAN!!!" She launched the spirit ward between her fingers,
throwing it at the blasted youkai. It laid itself on the thing's forehead.
The creature froze in place, a gurgle of complaint rising in its throat.
	"I-I can't move!" It said.
	"Of course you can't," Mars replied. She gave it a haughty smile. "Now...
FIRE SOUL BIRD!!!" Red hot fire sprung out from her forefingers. It blazed
wildly, as it took on the shape of a bird. A phoenix. Its tail was a
magestic trail of flaming feathers, and its wings were burning, lava-colored
sails of flight. It sped swiftly through the air, and hit its target. The
youkai gave a cry, as it disintigrated into ashes.
	Kuwabara charged briskly, heading for the horrid youkai, his sword at hand.
He yelled loudly, not hesitating to slice his ken across their demonic bodies. 
	Hinageshi's forehead furrowed, as she clutched the oar's handle tightly to
her bosom. She did not know where to start hitting. ...until a heavy-framed
youkai ganged up on Kuwabara from behind. "Don't you dare!!!" She shrieked
at it, and bonked it hard on the head with the paddle. The creature
staggered, trying to stay up on its two wobbly legs. Then a minute later, it
fell to the ground, swirly-eyed.
	Saturn giggled. "Way to go, Hinageshi-chan!"
	Hinageshi tittered back. "Thanks!"
	Everyone heard a 'plunk' of water bouncing off water. A shimmering liquid
of some sort rose to meet Mercury's gloved hands. "SHINE..." She rotated her
body dramatically, and raised her arms; her hands above her head.
"...AQUA..." Then, she hurled the glistening liquid at a horned youkai by
the shrine's steps. "...ILLUSION!!!"
	The blast scored a direct hit. The horned creature cried out. The
sparkling, crystal-colored liquid sprayed itself around the youkai. Its
cries died down, as the shining water froze; encasing the youkai in a
thick-layered chunk of glassy ice. Mercury waited. Very soon, the ice began
to crack. The huge mass of hardened crystalline water broke and shattered.
	'Too many of them,' Saturn observed, as she swung her glaive upward,
slicing an extremely tall, bean-pole-like youkai in half. 'If any more come
through the vortex, the world's Ningen population will decrease instantly.'
	"NITOURYUU!!!" Kuwabara hollered, as he swayed twin spirit swords in
opposite directions. Two youkai crumpled to the ground, as he went off to
deal with two more.
	Mars leaped into the air, aiming her heeled foot at a brown-colored youkai.
The demon gave a grunt, and stumbled back. However, it stood up again a few
moments later. Mars flashed an annoyed look at it, and tried for a
360-degree kick. It fell to its knees again, but managed to get up, much to
Mars' irritation.
	"Dah hah hah hah!!!" It laughed at her. "Try and get me, you---"
	*BONK!!!*
	"Nanda--?!" The puzzled youkai exclaimed.
	"Leave her alone!!" Hinageshi shouted, her oar solidly crashing down on the
dun demon's hard head. She did it again, and again, and again, and again...
	"Uh, Hinageshi-chan," Mercury interrupted ever so politely. "You can open
your eyes now."
	Hinageshi did so, and stared wide-eyed at the now bump-headed youkai lying
on the ground, with "# #" for eyes. It looked bunglingly stiff because of
its position; its clawed hands were closed, except for its thumbs, index
fingers, and pinkies.
	"Oh... I guess I did good again, ne?" She laughed merrily, leaning the
paddle on her shoulder.
	More youkai emerged from the whirling black hole of Makai. Mars was getting
fed up with this routine! She took fast strides, approaching them. Then, she
ignited her fingers once again, drawing a sphere of fire around her.
"BURNING..." The train of blazing fire separated into pieces, shaping
themselves into little balls of burning embers. They circled her, as written
characters appeared on them. She joined her wrists together, the balls of
fire subjecting to her whim. "...MANDALA!!!"
	The balls shifted shape, changing into glowing, hot stars. She directed
them towards several youkai who were running as fast as they could to avoid
the hellish attack.
        All stars had marked their targets. Mars placed a hand on her hip,
and smiled with approval. But then, more youkai started to come out of the
gateway!
	"Kusoo~!! They just keep on coming! We're going to lose all of out spirit
energy that way!" Kuwabara said, a twang of panic starting to flood over
him, like a wave of nausea.
	"This isn't good..." Mercury told them softly, as they backed up into each
other. The foul creatures had them surrounded!
	"What now?" Saturn asked worriedly.
	"We have to think of something, guys," Mars added. "Guys..."
	"They've outnumbered us," Hinageshi gripped the oar tightly, her hands grew
clammy. 'I wonder how Botan and the others are fairing off? Better than us,
I hope.'
	The youkai around them took lengthy steps towards them, and grinned evilly.
They licked their mouths hungrily, excited about their Ningen feast.
Kuwabara, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Hinageshi hoped they could think up of
a plan soon. And they needed it speedy fast!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope you liked it, coz
I sure had fun writing 
it! C&C's welcome, ok?
See yah next chapter!
^-^ Jaa ne!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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|//v |/                                                                    \
;\^_*/; ~ Chevalle, the trainee nature sprite ~                            |
"Why is it that ladies wear trousers, and men use pretty smelling cologne?"|
http://www.skyinet.net/users/kcmisa/UForest.htm                            |
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/3981/                                |
http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/carmelita/41/index.html               |
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