Sailor Europa

After letting Enyalius and Achelois enter the cloud first, Europa moved to follow them. Making sure that Soul was right behind her, Europa dove towards the cloud cover, picking up as much speed as possible while she was transformed. Entering the clouds so suddenly was like being dipped in a frozen lake headfirst, but she only wavered a little. Her cloak was keeping her pretty warm, but soon she wouldn't have that to rely on. As she adjusted to the temperature, she saw the bolts of lighting flash below and braced herself.

In a burst of energy just as cold as the air around her, Europa dropped her transformation, and she was now free falling in her school uniform, her long green hair streaming behind her. It was even colder now that she was less covered, and she was almost forced to close her eyes to protect them from the wind. It took some willpower to not give in to the urge to transform back for her own safety, but this was still a better alternative than being shocked. She would have to place her trust in Soul to make sure she didn't spiral off course.

At hearing Enyalius talk about how cold the clouds were and the potential lightning, Zorya began to felt a wave of anxiety settle in. She still wasn't very use to these wings, and worried that she might mess up and get herself hurt. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, Come on Danica, you defeated an agent of Chaos! A little storm cloud can't stop you. She stored away her lyre and spread her wings, diving right into the clouds. She flapped them at a fast rate, trying to get through them as quickly as possibly.

She let out a sigh of relief as they passed, and she landed on the planet's surface, although her landing was slightly rocky. Zorya pressed a hand against her chest, trying to catch her breath and calm her nerves. She quickly scanned the area, surveying the environment; or rather, the lack of. It was so dull, barren, lifeless. It held a somber and depressing mood, and the tall building in the distance was rather unnerving. She brought her lyre back out, prepping herself for any dangers that they might soon encounter.

Aktypris looked on excitedly towards Enyalius as she continued holding onto Shadow's arm, her senses expanding at him. She was intrigued to get a general sense of...communication with people? Well she couldn't make any guesses about that, it was too vague! So she continued sensing him, though she had to pause it when Enyalius began her dive towards the surface of the planet. She gave a little laugh and flew forwards after the leading senshi, still holding onto Shadows arm. She admittedly felt some apprehension as they approached the clouds, dark and tumultuous, with flashes of light as the electric bolts arced through the vapor.

She gulped but continued falling downwards, guiding Shadow through the clouds. The coldness hit her like a ton of bricks, and she found herself clinging tightly to Shadow, perhaps a bit inappropriately, though the cause was obviously innocent in nature as she almost instantly began shivering hard from the coolness rushing past them. Her wings did provide some radiating warmth, but not enough to offset the chill of the atmosphere. It was with great relief and some mild terror that she broke through the clouds with him, and never felt more relieved to see solid ground. She opened her wings fully to catch the air, acting as a sort of parachute to slow their descent. She hovered, letting Shadow land on the ground before she lighted down as well.

She swiftly wrapped her wings tightly around her body like a blanket of energy, shivering hard still from the coldness of the clouds. It certainly felt warmer down here on the ground, but it still wasn't good enough. She had a sneaking suspicion she would spend the duration of this mission being too cold, and found herself dearly wishing she could enjoy a good hot sun bath. Her teeth chattering still, she took a look around at the landscape and her heart fell at the...bleakness of it all. This was not going to be especially fun at all, though at least she had a large group of people for company.

When Enyalius and Achelois led the way, Panacea and the others followed. The difference in temperature was tremendous. Indeed, she was familiar with colds and storms but the huge difference between the atmosphere and the former place made her shiver for a moment. Just like Panacea her guardian shivered as well. But not because of the cold – more because he was afraid. She petted his head and said calmly, “Don’t be afraid, okay? I’ll take care of you! Our landing will be slow and without any turbulences. Just make sure that you hold on for dear life.”
 
After years of meditating Panacea exactly knew what to do to keep calm. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and hit the road. They flew straight into a black cloud, so that she couldn’t see anything. But she was fine with it; now she could focus on the flight without any distractions. Panacea beat her wings slowly and smoothly to make her companion feel better. “See? No turbulences.”
 
As time went by Vulpix got more and more relaxed. He stopped shivering and just closed his eyes. This will make it easier, he thought. Meanwhile Panacea flew from one cloud to another and until then she didn’t see any lightening. Admittedly she was not afraid of lightenings but she didn’t like them either. I just hope the others are okay. We need as much people as possible to complete the mission.
 
While Panacea prayed that everyone is fine, they entered the final cloud. It was definitely the darkest of all and a lot of energy flowed there. Please, no lightenings! But how could things be any different, after passing this cloud she saw lightenings…many lightenings. The purple-white thunderbolts reminded her of her home planet – when Chaos arrived and destroyed it. Oh no, is Chaos in power? Or might it be a new evil source? Maybe an even more powerful?
 
Panacea got worried but she shouldn’t hang on to things which aren’t proved yet. So she focused on the landing and looked for the others. When she saw Enyalius and Achelois on the surface she directed herself towards their direction.
 
The landing proceeded smooth and she was glad she was on firma terra again. “You can open your eyes now,” she said to Vulpix. “We arrived.”
 
Panacea didn’t notice before but the surface was way warmer compared to the atmosphere. How is this possible? Looking for an explanation, she did a 360 and observed the planet. It was barren and depressing. And the whole planet was almost black. What might have happened here?

Instead of answering Leviathan’s grown up question, Andromeda just smiled. She noticed Varuna looked downcast and put her hand on her shoulder. “She’s right; no need to apologize. But we’re literally at the beginning of this mission. Trust me; there will be plenty of opportunities to prove yourself.”

Nodding at both to signal that she was ready, she turned to follow the others as they flew toward the planet. The clouds loomed in front of her, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. Leviathan had this. And if for some reason she didn’t, Varuna would. Making sure to wait until both senshi were within grasping distance of herself, she then shed her transformation, returning to the casual clothing she’d worn before. It was just as well that she hadn’t been in her princess dress considering that definitely had accessories made of metal too. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d donned the royal garb, actually, especially not lately that she’d been in so many adventures…

She fell quickly through the freezing clouds, and waited for someone’s hands to catch her.

This is like trust exercises: extreme edition.

She smiled at Europa reassuringly. She wasn't as heavy as Ganymede, so she'd have no problem taking on her weight. As they moved into the atmosphere, Soul could feel how cold it was. She didn't envy anyone who had to detransform. It was cold with their senshi powers. She stayed close to Europa as her transformation dropped. There wasn't much she could do to protect the younger girl from the wind, who was now wearing her school uniform. 

"You ready?" she called as they began to break through the clouds. She grabbed Europa underneath her arms, bringing them up so they were slightly more horizontal than the vertical decent they had been, slowing them down so Europa could transform again and steady herself on her own wings. 

Looking at the others who had had to trust the newer senshi to guide them, Soul thought they were braver than her. She wasn't sure she would have been able to trust them to do something like that and not drop her.

Lightning flashed overhead, the booming thunder echoing mutedly as though muffled behind layers of cloth. The brief flash did nothing for the landscape below, the light seeming to scatter so much in the thick clouds that it could not reach the ground with its normal sharp relief. She wondered, briefly, how any radio signal could make it off of the planet under such heavy cover.... 

Enyalius's brows raised slightly, giving Achelois an amused look as she watched several of the company burst out of the clouds, slow down, and land straight away rather than hover above the landscape with them. "Well," she commented slyly, "At least we know now that the ground doesn't feel poisonous." Her mouth broke open in a smile, "And that there aren't any giant underground worms in the area that react to tremors on the surface."

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus pulled her long hair close to her face and shoulders, still shivering from the descent. She nestled into the dark locks partially for warmth and partially for comfort. This place was so... desolate. She couldn't even see the stars through those thick clouds; that was what made her feel the loneliest. Her constant companions and guardians, suddenly blocked from her sight. For the first time in a while she truly felt like her mother was gone.

"No," she reminded herself. "Mother is strong. Sarastro won't defeat her."

This wasn't the time or place to be thinking about that. She needed to keep her focus here and now, where Enyalius and Shadow prepared to give more orders.

What would they find in this strange, barren place?

If Sailor Andromeda looked up in the chaos, she would see Sailor Leviathan diving toward her like a speeding torpedo. Oddly enough, her wings were completely absent. Would Sailor Varuna have to jump in to save the day?

Sure enough though, Leviathan grabbed onto Andromeda's back, pulling her arms up under the other's arms and allowed her wings to reappear again. It was rather like a parachute effect, allowing the two to glide gracefully down toward the ground.

They came to a safe but rather rough landing as Leviathan allowed Andromeda to gracefully step onto the ground, but then the ignorant senshi headbutted her from behind when she touched down. It seemed she was a great flier, but even she could make mistakes.

As she got herself together, Leviathan looked about at the barren wasteland and the building before them.

"Wow, this place sure is boring," she said. She looked around to make sure that the others were OK.

She briefly noticed a fluffy creature with the sailor scout she knew as "Sailor Pancreas." Her wides eyed as she took the little ball of fur in.

"Is that... a Pokémon?" she muttered to herself.

Sailor Europa

When she and Soul broke through the other side of the clouds and leveled out, Europa nodded to her and twisted out of her grip.

"Europa Moon Power, Make Up!" Her body was wrapped in blue and green light and the cold air seemed to pull itself around her as she transformed. She spread her wings and caught the air, regaining control of her fall again. She caught back up with Soul and the rest of the senshi wainting, hovering over the ground. The planet was quiet and dead looking, something Europa didn't like at all. It was unnaturally still here...

"So I assume it's the building we're interested in."

After observing the barren, dark planet, she looked for her fellow senshi. All of them seemed to be fit and well. Thank goodness! No need for any healings yet…but: Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!, she reproached herself.
                                                      
Panacea waited for Enyalius' next instructions when she noticed that Leviathan asked her about her guardian. “No, he is a polar fox. But funnily he’s named after one – you know Vulpix, the fox-like Pokémon?,” she said and smiled.
 
“You’re Sailor Leviathan, aren’t you? Nice to meet you, I’m Panacea.”

Freefalling was both as terrifying and not quite as terrifying as she thought. Perhaps it was because of the great height—the way she understood it, some Earth people did this for fun—but there was a point when she actually felt a bit weightless. Definitely still falling, though. But soon she felt someone’s arms around her, after which her descent began to slow down.

She was supposed to transform again once they broke the clouds and resumed flying on her own, but Leviathan didn’t let go of her until they landed—which was, nice?—and Andromeda didn’t want her to get a mouthful of wings on her face if she did transform without warning. So she let the other senshi glide them both to the ground. She was stepping off rather safely before she got hit on the back of her head all of a sudden.

“Ow.” She turned around and rubbed her head, but it seemed to be an accident. “Thanks.” As Leviathan looked around, Andromeda took the opportunity to re-transform.

“Andromeda Star Power, Make Up!”

Clad in her senshi fuku once more, she looked around herself. There really wasn’t much to see, though. Better wait til everyone was there…

Enyalius laughed at Achelois's response, the sound travelling quickly through the thick air; she covered her mouth to quiet it, careful of how easily sound traveled here - if she could hear the faint conversations happening in hushed voices below, they, and who knew what else, could definitely hear her, even from their impressive height. Her eyes still alight, she began to descend, "Are you suggesting I brought them to us?" She scoffed playfully in an argument they had held many times before, "Can you be so sure that they weren't just eager to be betrothed?" she teased, crinkling her nose at Achelois before descending faster.

When she was a mere ten meters (~3 stories) above the ground, she projected her voice outwards, "The first rule for landing on an unknown planet is not to land." Her voice was stern, but had a friendly tone to it, her expression still hanging on to the laughter of moments before. "We know nothing of the surface composition or any possible planetary denizens, and while the place looks practically deserted we have no idea what could be lurking beneath the soil. You could have stepped down and the surface beneath your feet could have suddenly erupted with thousands of spiders, or you could have been eaten by a desert worm, and that's never a pleasant experience." She landed softly, a smile tugging at her lips, "So in the future, look before you land." 

She put her left hand on her hip, her bodyweight shifting to her right side as she continued, "Now, as you can see from the building behind me, this mission has changed from seek and find to an actual rescue mission. Someone in there needs help." She paused, consideriing her options. She knew what she wanted to do to find the caller in the fastest manner possible, but she also felt like she should give the team a chance to offer and debate suggestions before she went forward with what she had in mind. Internally she rolled her eyes at the thought - she didn't ask to lead a training mission, this wasn't classified as a training mission, yet there she was, mimicing her old Captain's style of field-school. She was not a teacher, she would not be a teacher, and yet her mouth opened and the request came out anyway. "Anyone have any suggestions?" 

If Achelois teased her about this later, she'd sock her in the arm.

Soul landed softly on the ground, not wanting to disturb anything or land hard enough that any predators in the area would come running. Who knew what was out there. After Zenar, she honestly couldn't be more careful. When Enya opened her mouth and asked the group for suggestions, Soul wisely kept hers shut, not wanting to accidentally laugh. It was amusing seeing the gruff senshi acting like a teacher to the new senshi they had on their team. 

She couldn't help but wonder though if this mission really was the best place to do field teaching. She guessed they would have to wait and see.

Achelois’s cheeks took on a faint pink hue and she laughed a low laugh, after seeing Enya attempt to quiet her own, in response to Enya’s verbal flashback to a previous experience.  She floated behind Enya as she lowered herself to just a few stories above the ground and began, instructing the others? She didn’t want to take away any authority by laughing at her in front of the others but she took note of the teacher tone.

She listened as Enya gave instruction, keeping her tone light but still retaining her authority.  When she spoke about being eaten by desert worms she couldn’t help but whisper, “Speaking from experience?”  Achelois watched as she continued with the teacher directive and asked the others what they thought would be a good idea to rescue their distressed caller.  She raised her eyebrows in amusement and felt relief that she was not the one in charge here.  As much as she wanted to joke and play she didn’t want the others to get the wrong idea and take her leadership lightly; that could lead to problematic behavior later.  However she was going to get her later when the others couldn’t hear.  A grin spread across her face as she thought of all the things she could say.

Varuna stayed beside Leviathan, keeping her wings folded in order to maintain a fast rate of descent. The air grew frigid, causing Varuna to shiver uncontrollably as she desperately tried to keep her eye on Andromeda. Her limbs felt frozen, and the temptation to close her eyes was almost too overwhelming. But Varuna forced herself to stay alert, keeping her eyes open and head clear. 

Thankfully, they were finally free from the freezing clouds and into the storm. Varuna liked this environment much more than she liked the last one. Feeling more relaxed, but still shivering, Varuna noticed that Leviathan didn't have her wings. Shocked, she prepared herself to grab Andromeda and Leviathan, but before she could move any closer, Leviathan's wings had returned and she was holding Andromeda. Breathing a sigh of relief, Varuna turned her attention on the ground that was growing ever-closer. She could probably support herself and another senshi with her wings, but two? That was definitely impossible.

Finally, the group of senshi passed through the storm and officially arrived at their destination. Confidently, Varuna extended her wings and flapped them repeatedly, slowing down her speed so she could land softly. Surprisingly, she was much better at landing than she was at maneuvering in the air. The planet itself gave Varuna chills. She had thought she'd seen some ugly landscapes before, but this place was far beyond in unattractive qualities than she had ever seen. There were no colors, no liveliness, no life. It seemed...abandoned. 

The thought caused a pang of sadness. Silently, Varuna wondered if her planet looked like this. She wouldn't know - it had been ten years since the rebels had destroyed her kingdom. Looking up at the storm-ridden sky, Varuna wondered if her parents were doing okay. Or if they were even alive.

She snapped herself back to reality when Enyalius's voice rang above her. Varuna listened carefully before turning to the large building that was not too far away. What kind of building was it? A refuge center? A prison? A secret base? As far as Varuna could tell, it was the only building in sight. How many beings were inside? There were so many unanswered questions, and there didn't seem to be many solutions. Varuna had never really been one for taking risks, and so she decided to suggest a safer option:

"Perhaps we could investigate the outside of the building first? Perhaps there will be something that can help us. If whoever sent us the distress call is in true danger, then bursting in through the doors may not be the wisest option."

Sailor Leviathan nodded to Sailor Andromeda and then looked up at Sailor Enyalius with a rather grump face. How was she supposed to know not to land on the possibly toxic planet? In her mind, she figured that Enyalius was just waiting to see what happened to them before she came down.

The ignorant senshi's eyes widened when Sailor "Pancreas" actually responded to her vocal thought.

"Its name is Vulpix?" she asked. "You must really be interested in Pokémon. Let me show you mine."

Taking a cue from Sailor Pluto in their previous mission. Leviathan took out what appeared to be a 3DS from her infinite skirt pocket. It was a custom model that looked strangely enough like Sailor Mercury's computer device, but it was clear it was only a replica. Was she a huge fan or something?

"I've got a shiny Hitmonlee and some other rare ones. Man, I love vintage games. Nothing beats pre Crystal Tokyo Earth games."

Leviathan was very distracted.

Panacea watched how Leviathan took a game console out of her skirt pocket. It looked very similar to Mercury’s high tech computer. What is she doing? The point got moot when Leviathan eventually showed her a Pokémon game and the Pokémons she already caught. Is she making fun of us or does she just like the show as well? She didn’t know what to make of this but she rejected it as irrelevant when she heard how Enyalius asked them something.
 
She looked over to her side and noticed a building right behind her in the middle of nowhere. As far as she knew Enyalius asked for any suggestions. Panacea wanted to answer her question but Varuna got ahead of her.
 
“I agree with her,” Panacea finally responded to Varuna's suggestion. “Breaking the door is a too obvious and too easy possibility. And I can’t remember a mission being that easily. I think, we should investigate the outside of this building first,” she said soberly.

Shadow turned his full attention to the task of landing as Sailor Aktypris began to carry him through the clouds. The chilling air of the clouds was somewhat mitigated by the presence of his prior weather experiences, his jacket, and Aktypris's energized wings. Overall, Shadow was pleased to have her assistance; burning himself out on the trip was rightfully deemed a counterproductive venture.

A flat expanse of dark dust was the greatest singular feature offered to the knight's keen eyes. Shadow remained quiet while Enyalius addressed the senshi, continuing his silent vigil. Of particular interest was the large, single-story building that swept across the horizon directly behind the senshi of war.

Shadow remained close to Aktypris, but otherwise made no move to acknowledge or comfort her apparent issues with the cold storm clouds. There was some truth to Enyalius's cautionary tale. More importantly, he had begun to occupy himself with the ambient sounds and sights of this seemingly deserted rock. Who had placed the distress call, and what was out there to threaten them?

Aktypris felt a little guilty and a little scared at Enyalius' light admonition. She glanced at the ground, rather relieved that such a thing hadn't happened, then began looking around. As people began mentioning the building, her attention was drawn to it. She definitely kind of wanted to get inside it, because then perhaps with all of them in it, it would help to warm things up. She listened as suggestions was requested from Enyalius, and Varuna provided one. She was momentarily distracted, privately giddy that Shadow was actually remaining near by her instead of walking off somewhere else. Was there some kind of hope? She bit back a happy giggle.

Then she was struck with an idea and looked up towards Enyalius, even though she continued to shiver. She instantly took notice of Achelois, she could feel the happiness and amusement positively radiating off the woman. What was so funny? “Can anyone sense...ya know, people? Maybe when we're searching the outside, someone could go around the perimeter with a group and see if they sense anyone inside. Maybe the person who gave out the distress call WAS there, but isn't anymore. Then maybe we wouldn't have to waste time going inside.”

At hearing Enyalius's cautionary words regarding the surface, Zorya couldn't help but jump back slightly in surprise. She rubbed the back of her head, her face burning red with embarrassment. She continued to gaze out into the open, at the large imposing structure. What if whoever made the distress call wasn't even there anymore? What if this was all just some elaborately planned trap for them all to end up falling into? She cleared her throat and echoed what everyone else had been saying, "Yes, I think it'd be best if we scope around outside the building before thinking about going in."

Enyalius's brows raised appreciatively at Varuna's suggestion and Panacea's and Zorya's seconding, and would have replied directly to them were it not for Aktypris's comment. She pointed briefly at the braided blonde, her demeanor remaining casual, "That's the determining factor, isn't it?" she addressed, "The signal is still being broadcast, but we're not sure if anyone is still standing by to receive assistance. If we had anyone with us that could sense life at that kind of distance," she paused for a brief moment, eyeing Achelois curiously -- she could sense some lifeforms, sometimes, but would she be able to here? She continued a little less determinedly, as though waiting to be interrupted by her, "We could..." she trailed off, her whole attention having turned to the blonde, "... Listen, do you think you could sense them? My plan had been use use the sensor," she removed her hand from her waist to jiggle it a bit before planting it back down, "to figure out where they were from above and then crash through the roof, save them, and bounce back out solve the problem quickly, but if they weren't actually near whatever is sending the signal that could be problematic." She motioned back towards Varuna, "If that's the case we'll go by her suggestion and check out the rest of the building for alternate entrances."

Sailor Nocturnus

"I will!" the little soldier volunteered, perhaps a bit too hastily and perhaps a bit louder than she had planned to be. "Um, I mean, if I can assist in any way."

She hadn't meant to sound so enthusiastic, but she did have a fondness for Achelois. The blonde soldier had been so nice to Sailor Nocturnus during their time against the Collector. And the child basically hero-worshiped Enyalius, their Valkyrie leader. How could she not nominate herself to accompany them, given the choice?

Enya chuckled at the touch of sarcasm in Achelois's remarks and jumped skyward, her wings beating to keep her aloft. At Nocturnus's eager volunteering, she smiled broadly and motioned her aloft. She'd keep an eye on her to make sure nothing bad happened during the operation. "Let's go then; if Achelois senses life near the point of the distress call, we'll go ahead and break in," she commented, "If not, we'll be back shortly to find an alternate way to enter the building while she scans for life elsewhere to give us a general idea of where we should be heading."

She glanced at Andromeda by way of invitation, but otherwise left it up to each person as to who would follow. She motioned for Achelois to follow and took off towards the building, flying high and keeping her attention on her wrist and the device. Being so close to the origin source for the strong waves, it took a bit of back-and-forth quick flying to precisely pinpoint its location, but eventually she was satisfied that she had found the place. "Here," she called, pointing directly below her. "Don't land," she cautioned, "They might hear us and ruin the surprise."

Andromeda listened and acknowledged Enyalius’ advice that they shouldn’t have landed. Unfortunately, being that she was dependent on Leviathan, she didn’t actually have a choice in the matter. It was nice that their landing didn’t trigger anything, though. She wasn’t looking forward to encountering more unpleasant ways to die.

She raised an eyebrow with surprise as Enya asked the group about suggestions to approach. All the newer senshi offered something and they all actually sounded like sensible plans. It was amusing to watch this turn into a classroom, though. It was new. Enya never did this with them in the previous missions. She wondered what had changed.

Andromeda watched her discuss the strategy with Achelois, eyeing the building in front of her and thinking what sort of horrors awaited them in there. When Achelois asked for volunteers to help them while she looked, Nocturnus immediately volunteering surprised her.

She was worried for the young senshi, and Enya's look was the only invitation she needed. She followed suit, taking off behind the group. She told herself it wasn’t her irrational desire to court danger that made her so eager to do so.

Sailor Nocturnus

Nocturnus could barely suppress her glee at being approved to accompany Enyalius and Achelois. The welcoming gesture from the armored warrior seemed to the sailor soldier-in-training like a grand acceptance. She maintained a calm demeanor, and her focus had not deviated from observing the surroundings and waiting for additional information to be detected, but she felt giddy with excitement. She followed their leader at a careful pace, seeking to neither stray nor crowd, and waited for further instruction at the determined location.

Quote :

Achelois uses Extrasensory Ability for 3MP.
She senses 2 life forms below her.

Enyalius hung back, watching as Achelois adroitly folded her legs and got into meditating position, hovering far above the surface of the building. Minutes passed as she mentally searched, and Enya kept quiet to let her concentrate. She eyed the roof below critically; it seemed to be made completely out of rough-hewn, dark metal, patched together roughly and nailed into place. For a building this massive, it seemed to have been constructed rather quickly and shoddily, despite its sturdy materials... it shouldn't take too much to break through... She'd prefer a swift kicking entrance, to land while the element of surprise was still strong...

Enyalius rolled her shoulders at Achelois's report. "All right," she smiled expectantly, "So here's the plan: We'll break in and apprehend both of them, just in case. Try not to hurt anyone to begin with; when we sort this out we'll decide what to do with them." She thought critically for a moment, "I'll break through; Andromeda, follow me in - get your chains ready, okay?"

She waited a moment for everyone to compose themselves, "Ready? One... Two..."

DM Note wrote:

Okay! If you want in on this frontal assault get up there and prepared! XD I'll give people a little time and then have Enya start the break in!