Out Of The Darkness (Chifu) [Awakening]

There was another message from Chifu. This one found it's way into the Araceli girl's phone during class. A request to meet up after school was over inside the gymnasium. After their sleepover, it was back to reality. Well, mostly. Things at home were about as peaceful as she could hope. Thankfully, the damage was rather limited this time around.

Her parents, it seemed, found their way up to their bedroom in a far more efficient process than was typical. Akemi had fun with her cousin and they had stayed up late into the night, reading manga and watching TV.

Back in school, Akemi had checked her phone only to spot another cryptic message from her cousin. In the back of her mind, she was wondering if it was an invitation to the debut of yet another character. It seemed rather likely, actually. The only question was what this character would be. She supposed she would just have to wait. Classwork came first, after all!

---

The pony tailed Araceli strolled over to the gym. With most of the students heading home or to some other club activity, things were fairly empty around the gym. Not entirely unusual. With bag slung over her shoulder she opened the door and entered...

---

Inside the locker room a voice addressed a certain girl.

"So...you are the Princess' guardian?" the voice belonged to that of an iguana. Of all things. The green lizard sat on a bench and tilted it's head as it looked the girl over, "And THIS is your plan to awaken her?"

It was about the only way he could express his disbelief. After months of searching, he had finally tracked down the reincarnation of Princess Alexandria. His first contact had been with the dachshund that served as the guardian to the Senshi charged with her protection. So far, the only thing he was finding out was that this was a very odd situation.

And it didn't seem like it was about to approach anywhere near normal. Which was a very strange notion for a talking lizard to have.

So the dark warrior of justice hadn't been able to bring the long lost princess of Scorpius back from her long slumber. Tripping on the stairs and getting the name wrong hadn't really helped her case, though, and the atmosphere hadn't been quite right for making her remember. At least it had resulted in a fun night together consisting of reading manga and watching their favorite kinds of programs on TV. Through it all Chifuyu hadn't dared to so much as try to reach over and put an arm aronud Akemi. Affectionate for her cousin though she was, the gesture might be misinterpreted as an attempt to cinch a headlock. Every day that passed brought further possibilities of some dark entity locating the dormant princess and striking her before she was capable of truly combating them. Each of those days also denied Chifu the full woman she had fallen for in two lives. Today would be the day at long last where Akemi realized her true identity and destiny.

Everything had been set up for this to go just right: lights had been rigged to go out at the command of a button, the strobes were back with purple covers to give an eerie feel and somehow she'd gotten the drama club to find some dry ice for her. She stood in the locker room decked out in a black Lolita dress with a frilly purple underskirt and arcane logos stitched along the regular black hem. Purple and grey striped stockings, grey gloves and boots and a wide brimmed had completed her ensemble. Her lovely brunette locks were wet enough to be suitably stringy and therefore creepy looking. A tribute to another character from their favorite manga as well as a legend of their chosen career's industry. All she needed was for Akemi to set foot in the gym and the show would start with a bell ringing.
Then suddenly she heard a voice and spun around to face the interloper. Nobody was going to stop her from finally awakening her beloved princess and at last confessing her undying love. Not Ultimo Diablo, not the Shockmaster and certainly not a talking iguana. Wait.. a talking iguana? Chifuyu's eyes darted around the room as she tried to identify any alternate source of the voice. A talking dog was one thing but if a lizard could speak that had to mean there was another senshi around her somewhere. Or that iguanas had evolved, could speak and were now just a couple steps away from trying to take over the world. One of those two. Fists clenched she stepped closer to the iguana with hellfire in her eyes (because she had to stay in character).

"I am, and I don't take kindly to talking animals knowing about her.. it could be dangerous. I am her champion, her most dedicated follower and the arbiter of her enemies' demise. Nibiru lives, but anyone who would dare to threaten her will not live to see her transform. I'll make them.. rest.. in.. peace," she responded with a gravelly voice before reverting to her usual tone, "Yes.. this plan caters to her interests and will speak to her in a way that just a talking animal guardian wouldn't. Assuming you're here for her to awaken and not to try and hurt her."

Then Chifu turned and smiled, "She's here! It's showtime!"

"Why, of course!" answered the the lizard, "I am Marius. Guardian to the Princess of the Scorpius Constellation. And I have been journey--"

While his introduction may have contained far more elegance and formality than one might typically attribute to an iguana, Marius was cut drastically short when the strange human girl announced the arrival of the very princess in question. He stiffened up and looked around. All of this was happening too fast. How was he supposed to prepare for such a momentous occasion? This was very serious and he had to talk this girl out of this ludicrous plan. Surely, this was no way to awaken a princess!

"Now, hold on!" he beckoned, raising a foreleg in protest, "We must devise a strategy!"

---

Akemi's footsteps echoed around the empty gym. She was on time (punctuality being one of her many strong points as she would tell you), so that couldn't be it. But, no sign of Chifu.

"I was correct." she informed herself, "It's a new character. Not that I had any doubts. I know my cousin and I know when I'm right. Which is pretty much all the time, anyways."

She gave a confident nod to no one in particular and set her bag down on the ground. With a grin, she crossed her arms and waited for the show to start.

The iguana was indeed the guardian of her beloved princess after all, which was all well and good since she wouldn't have to lay the smack down on him. Beating up a lizard wasn't exactly something that she had much experience in. No matter how much eloquence he introduced himself with Chifu had stopped paying attention after the 'I am' part since her cousin had arrived. Awakening her princess was far more important than anything this talking reptile might have to say. He could've given her the secret access code to a vault where the World Heavyweight Championship belt was stored and she wouldn't have paid heed to it. She took a deep breath, flexed her arms and started walking slowly toward the locker room door for her big entrance. Marius' protests fell on deaf ears as she went into full 'dead girl' mode in order to get into character. Akemi needed to believe that she was really the character, and somehow that would cause her to awaken.

She was about to it the button to switch the lights off in the gym when suddenly they went off of their own accord. Odd, that. Still she had a show to run and there was no way a little thing like unexpected malfunctions were going to scare her off. No sir. Unaware of anything else going on in the gym she flipped on the strobes and unleashed the dry ice so there would be fog. After a few moments of letting the fog drift out, she switched the audio on and the whole gym reverberated with the sound of a large bell tolling. BOOOOONG! With that she strode out slowly into the gym, methodical and purposeful while her creepy music played. Yes, this was a brilliant strategy!

This girl was impossible! She refused to listen to any words of wisdom he may have had to offer. Before he knew it, she was carrying out whatever crazy scheme she intended to execute. But then...Marius felt something. These girls weren't alone in the gym.

"Ah! Wait!" he cried again, but his protests fell on deaf ears, once again. The girl marched on and the iguana was left in the locker room. But, not for long. Marius leaped into action and made his way as quickly as possible after the odd girl who thought that she had figured out how to awaken the princess. He just hoped he wasn't too late...

---

The lights cut out and Akemi looked around. Suddenly swarmed by darkness, she couldn't see a thing. Her eyes needed to adjust. But, soon music played, preceded by a loud "BONG" of a bell. Akemi grinned to herself. She could see where Chifu was going. This would be rather fun!

As she waited, she was unaware of the figure that had silently entered under the cover of darkness. Cold eyes spotted the Araceli girl. Through the strobe lights and the fog, he waited. It was time to finish what he had started...

When the lights finally came back a figure would be standing behind Akemi. Tall and imposing, he wore a full face luchador mask that bore the Oni Mask Design. The grinning visage was static and unmoving on the black material of the mask. It left one wondering how it was even possible to see out of such a thing.

Standing near 7 feet tall, he was dressed all in black. Long black tights, knee high black boots and kneepads. Elbow pads and gloves, both black, adorned arms that were similarly crossed as were those of the girl who stood before him. Akemi hadn't even spotted him yet, but the chill that suddenly ran down her spine told her something was very wrong.

Ultimo Diablo was here.

Things started off swimmingly enough as the brunette trudged her way out from the locker room, eyes locked on her cousin from beneath her wide brimmed hat. Organ music that would've been more in place during a Halloween party blared from out of the gym's sound system. Fog drifted in from the limited quantity of dry ice that her friends had been able to get her for the event. All the while the weird talking lizard was just barely audible in the background as she approached her target. Were this a wrestling match she would have stopped at the ring steps, raised her hands to lift the darkness away and then entered the ring in full creature of the night gear. The familiarity of the character would establish a comfortable atmosphere in which Chifuyu could then cut a promo just for her princess and reveal her true identity. That would be just about the perfect result: her princess safely awakens, remembers the loyal and loving guardian who'd just brought her memories back. This would of course be followed by hugging and a big kiss, just as Chifu had played out in her mind several times over by now.

The easiest way to have it go down wasn't at all what occurred of course. Important things are rarely that easy in real life, and they were also rarely easy in kayfabe if the characters were important enough. What the gothicly dressed girl hadn't anticipated though was the arrival of the most nefarious villain in the world, the being who had embarrassed and hurt her amazing uncle. The disreputable demon who had stolen uncle Adan's mask! As the lights went up Chifu's dead girl eyes went wide in shock at seeing the giant standing there. Then without hesitation she ran over and shoved Akemi out of the way of the enemy grappler. No way was she going to let her princess get into danger when she was here to offer protection. For some reason she got her characters mixed up and stared up into the devil's eyes with a salacious grin on her face.

"What have we here? The so-called greatest heel in the squared circle? Let me tell you somethin', and I want you to listen real carefully, punk.. you're nothin' but a two-bit loser who gets off on hurting people.. but you've never looked into the mouth of madness... you bit off more than you can chew! Nibiru's gonna snap into a pocky! Oooooooh Yeeeaaah! Dig it!" Chifu threatened her nemesis, using her body to shield Akemi. If she had to transform, she would do so on the spot. All while thoughts of awakening the princess had fled her mind.

Akemi spun around to see that familiar mask. She had spent so much time thinking about it, focusing on it, that she that when the time came time seemed to freeze. For agonizing seconds that felt like hours she stared at the mask. This was what she had been waiting for. A chance to get her hands on Ultimo Diablo.

Before either one could move or speak, Akemi was shoved out of the way. She slid along the floor and looked up at Chifu, as she confronted him.

This wasn't right. Chifu wasn't supposed to be a part of this! Sure, they had talked about it before. But, right now, Akemi wanted to get Chifu out of the way. Taking on this masked fighter could lead to injury! And she couldn't bear to see that happen to her cousin.

The fighter in question regarded Chifu with silence. Slowly, he tilted his head as she spoke. The expressionless mask gave no indication to his reaction.

Akemi wouldn't allow him to respond. She popped back up to her feet and wasted no time. A quick dash around Chifu and Diablo brought her behind the masked villain and Akemi jumped to wrap an arm around his neck. The Luchadora kicked her feet out from behind and tried to build some momentum to bring the tall man down down on the back of his head in a reverse DDT.

Or at least that's what she would have done, if her plan worked. But, as Chifu had already learned, sometimes things didn't go according to plan. Try as she might, she couldn't use her own weight to throw Diablo off balance. He bent back, but soon returned to his full height. With almost a shrug, he jostled Akemi loose and held her across his shoulders. Commonly referred to as a fireman's carry, he had the Araceli girl trapped. Akemi struggled in the hold, so Diablo had to move quickly. It seemed almost too easy, how he was able to lift her up further and toss her away.

Akemi sailed through the air and landed with a harsh impact against the ground behind Chifu. She rolled with the landing, trying to minimize the damage, but the surface remained fairly unforgiving.

The self-crowned DCW champion could only watch in horror as her cousin defeated her attempt to leap to the rescue. Previously she had only heard stories about the nefarious Ultimo Diablo and imagined all sorts of potential appearances for the ultimate heel. Short and wiry with a diabolical speed about him, tall and broad shouldered maybe. Huge, silent and intimidating just by sharing the same space as you hadn't been in consideration before this. Even more reason for the awakened guardian of the princess to step forward and do the fighting in the royal's place. A good warrior was going to fight to the end in defense of their liege, let alone their love. Things went painfully slow as her cousin attacked the enemy with a fury seldom seen in the daughter of the Golden Caesar.

For a brief shining moment she had the monster set up for a move that would have shaken his spirit if nothing else. Instead of a head smashing DDT the villain reversed her attempt and lifted her up as if she were nothing but a rag doll. Before the Yule Cat could react her beloved cousin was flying away from Diablo; he was far more powerful than even the stories had made him sound. Chifuyu tensed up as Akemi hit the ground, eyes wide in terror at the thought of the girl having been seriously injured by the attack. She spun around to tend to her cousin, worried that the worst may have happened and fought back tears. Not again.

Not another strong enemy they couldn't defeat no matter how strong they were or how well the worked together! Flashbacks played out in her mind, terror filled mental images of the attack on their previous home. A kingdom in flames, its great leaders and champions felled as its princess fought a desperate losing battle against chaos itself. In the midst of it all a terrified guardian threw herself into a fray she hadn't been prepared for, hoping against hope that somehow she would be able to save at least her princess. All had been for naught as that girl had been laid out by a much more powerful adversary, bleeding out as she watched the girl she loved fall in battle. Not this time. Chifuyu had just found her princess again, been reunited after tragedy conspired to rip them apart. With the power she held there was no option but to use the full extent of it against this evil creature who stood before her.

"Stay back, Kemi. You can't do this alone, he's far too strong for just a one on one match. We need a handicap match.. and I'm your tag team partner for life. Never forget that, I'm never going to leave you," Chifu told her cousin, then held up a faded golden star brooch. One she had claimed was given to her by her aunt, but which really had arrived with her pet, Dwayne.

"I don't have a choice.. my princess needs me.." she whispered, then grinned at Akemi, "Don't worry princess, I'll take care of this brute!"

Then she held the brooch up and shouted, "Nibiru power, make up!" and was surrounded by swirling golden light accentuated by flashes of lightning. Her gothic cosplay morphed into the familiar shape of a senshi's fuku, bearing the colors of the now-lost Scorpius kingdom. Anger filled her heart, rage her eyes as the light dissipated and she stood there not as the Yule Cat or the Undertaker, but as Sailor Nibiru! Her bat appeared in her hand, decorated with lightning flashes.

"Riddle me this.. riddle me that.. is the Devil afraid of the big.. black.. bat?" Nibiru asked as she appraoched with her bat pointed right at the luchadora.

That kind of strength was not something she had anticipated. Sure, Akemi knew that this was going to be a fight that would take every fiber of her being. It was going to be one where she would leave, a changed person. Fighting Ultimo Diablo, the man who almost ended the reign of the Golden Caesar, was not something she had ever taken lightly. But, still...the way he had just thrown her off his shoulders.

It was as frustrating as it was awe inspiring. This opponent was going to be a long fight...and now Akemi knew just what she was going to be up against. Her body had begun to ache all over, by the time Chifu reached her side. She smiled at her cousin and was trying to get back to her feet, when she was stunned into immobility.

The two had grown up together, but she had never been called "Princess" before. She was always a luchadora! A fighter, just like her father! Never a princess. But, even that wasn't the reason she didn't move. No, that distinction belonged to the light show that made her look away. And when she looked back, her jaw nearly hit the floor.

Chifu's whole outfit changed. It was nothing like the gothic character she had been imitating, before. This was new. She even had a baseball bat.

The dark luchador, also gave pause to the enterance of this Sailor Nibiru. The appearance of a Senshi was not one that seemed to be apart of his plan. Although just what his plan was, was anyone's guess. His head tilted, again, this time in the opposite direction from Chifu's first interruption.

Silently, he straightened back up and raised a hand to his neck. With his thumb, he drew a line along his throat. Even if this was an unforeseen element, he didn't appear to be at all intimidated by the Senshi. Akemi was only up to one knee, as she watched the scene play out.

"Chifu..." she spoke, her voice oddly quiet (and for Akemi, anything quiet was considerably odd). Diablo raised both arms in front of him, as he settled down into a fighting stance. He was patient, and waited for this Sailor Nibiru to make the first move. Things, it seemed, were about to become more interesting.

---

Meanwhile, in the halls of the gymnasium, an iguana was cursing his short limbs. His princess needed her! Dark energy was afoot! And Chifu's transformation had also registered with his senses. That could only mean one thing. If Akemi hoped to have any chance of surviving this encounter, he would have to get to the girl before she did anything stupid.

Like trying to fight Ultimo Diablo before awakening her powers...

No longer was this simply Chifuyu Kanzaki playing some character or other in kayfabe, this was the warrior within who'd been agonizing over protecting her princess. In the face of a cosmic invader with tremendous powers she'd stood and fought, then died in defense of the most important person in her heart. Given the gift of new life she was determined that this time it would end differently. Victory would be achieved that would allow the two to at long last be together without fear for an attack ripping them apart. Grim determination powered her passion as she stood before her gigantic masked foe and prepared to go to war.

Ultimo Diablo was suitably unimpressed by the sudden transformation into a senshi, just tilting his head as if perplexed rather than fearful. This suited Nibiru just fine. Her eyes burned with anger and hatred for someone who would dare to harm her princess in any fashion. Doing so after staging a sneak attack while she'd been trying to awaken Scorpius just further angered the guardian. The bat in her hand crackled with electricity as she glared at Diablo and tightened her grip around its end. When the giant signaled that he was going to take her down Nibiru growled and swung her bat for good measure. Clearly it was her move first, so she should try and hit him with something really strong. That would wipe the smirk off his face, assuming he had a smirk there to begin with.


"When a maiden's heart is full of deceit, it burns up, dies and a dark shadow falls over her soul. From the ashes of a once great warrior has risen a curse. A wrong that must be righted.. we look to the skies for a vindicator, someone to strike fear into the black hearts of the wicked. The battle between good and evil has begun. Against an army of shadows stands a dark warrior, the purveyor of good with a voice of silence and a mission of justice," she recited a monologue as she stepped forward slowly. With her bat held back she finished in fury, "This. is.. NIBIRU."

She then launched herself at full speed towards the giant foe, electricity again crackling off of her black metal bat. A full on frontal assault was madness but this wasn't Nibiru in her best mental state. Enraged by everything that had happened before, by her inability to protect the person who meant the most to her, she wanted to utterly obliterate her enemy. Just before reaching Diablo she leapt into the air with her bat raised over her head. Then she swung down as she descended with the full intention of whacking the luchador in the face with her electric bat.

Normally, Akemi was always happy to listen to Chifu cut promos. She could listen to those all day. But, things were just too strange for the luchadora, today. First, her family's greatest nemesis made his appearance and now Chifu was...well, just what was she?

Actually, weren't there girls who had get-ups just like Chifu's? They had been on the news, before. She was pretty sure of that. But, that still didn't explain Chifu. What was her cousin going to do? The baseball bat crackled with energy. Whatever she had up her sleeve, Akemi guessed it was more than chalk dust.

Still, there was something oddly familiar about all this...she just couldn't quite put her finger on it.

With the opponent closing in, Diablo followed her movements. It only took a quick moment to decide on a course of action. The masked fighter suddenly jumped and met Nibiru in the air. His feet shot out in dropkick, aiming to pick her off before she could make the initial hit.

Sailor Nibiru swung her bat down towards the luchador's head anger flowing through her veins as she tried to scorch the mask right off of his face. Unfortunately this meant that she really wasn't paying much attention to what Diablo himself was doing in reaction to her. Before she could complete the downward swing of her lightning stick the wind was knocked out of her with extreme force. The dropkick landed square in her chest, intercepting her assault while sending her flying back from the point of assault. She hit the ground right in front of her Princess, landing awkwardly on her left shoulder with enough impact that it caused an injury to her. As she struggled to her feet again it was clear that Nibiru's left arm was more limp than before, but instead of stopping she just went right back on the offensive.

Bat clutched in her right hand the brunette started channeling lightning into the bat for a stronger attack. So the luchador was good at countering attacks? Time for a different plan than just charging him at full speed. She glanced back at her cousin before attacking again. Her anger faded for a moment as a happy-if-goofy smile crossed her face; her cousin was just as pretty and just as awesome as ever. Nibiru absolutely had to protect her beloved princess no matter what, even if she had to fight the powerful Diablo by herself. The brunette turned back to her opponent and pointed the bat at him while lightning still continued to be channeled into it. This man, this demon, would be stopped before he could get to the Golden Caesar's daughter.

"Don't worry, Scorpius.. I won't fail you again," she called back to Akemi.

Then it was time to attack, "Diablo.. you end here. Time for a Hot Rod!" With that her bat glowed with golden energy as she tried to circle around the masked man and then attack his knees.

Akemi winced as Diablo connected with the dropkick. The scene played out in slow motion. Her cousin leaped into the air and seemed to hang up there for a little too long. That was when the masked heel interrupted the attempted assault with the dropkick. Chifu landed, rather harshly, on the floor in front of her. Before she could hold the other girl back, she was back into action again. That girl always pushed herself and she certainly seemed to be more injured than she was willing to let on. Or than she was aware. Just a goofy grin and a remark with another weird name.

Chifu was back on the attack, circling around and searching for an opening. The bat swung low, when one appeared to present itself. But, with Chifu going low, Diablo took to the air. The vertical leap took him up and over the injured girl's head. Landing on his feet, he ensnared his arms around her waist and brought her up into the air.

As this happened, Akemi saw the fight with her father all over again. She seethed with anger and took a step forward. Akemi took a step forward. To hell with her own safety, she wasn't about to let Chifu get hurt on her account. But, before she could intervene, a voice caught her attention.

"Princess!" it called out, "If you wish to help your guardian, you must listen to me!"

She looked around and spotted a lizard on the ground, looking up at her. The lizard continued, "I am Marius. And you are the reincarnation of the Princess Alexandria of the Scorpius Constellation! Sailor Scorpius! Take this hair clip. You can use it to access your power. And with that, you will be able to truly face this adversary. Take it and say the words..."

Akemi picked the hair clip off the ground and looked it over, skeptically. Well...Chifu seemed to be able to access something like that. And everything was sounding more and more familiar. It felt as if history was repeating itself. And it wasn't just like what had happened to her father.

As instructed, Akemi gripped the clip and gave a commanding "Scorpius Power...MAKE UP!"

A sudden surge rushed through her veins. Memories from a time long passed flooded her head, colliding with everything that had happened here in the present. Whatever all this information meant, could be sorted out later. Right now, though, she had one mission. The sailor fuku seemed to set off explosions that echoed in the gymnasium as it took form on Akemi. Her transformation completed with the black and gold mask covering her face and smoke wrapped around her, mixing with the remnants of the fog machine that Chifu had been using, earlier.

This even caused the masked menace, that was Ultimo Diablo to pause as he held firm his grip on Sailor Nibiru. Whatever was happening was something else that had not been anticipated. Out of the fog and smoke stepped a black and gold clad warrior. A gold skirt and collar over a black leotard. Black and gold covering her arms and a black and gold luchador mask covering her face. Her pony tail spilled out from the back and a steel chair was clutched firmly in hand. It was Akemi's turn to grin. Quite broadly, as she stared down the masked villain.

"Wooooooooooooooo!" she hollered, cupping a free hand to her mouth as she tilted her head back.

"Oooooh, now you've done it. Now you have. Done. It!" Akemi looked her eyes on Diablo, "Buddy, you just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? First it was my father and now, you've gone and hurt my cousin. Well, I ain't having it! Because guess what? I'm not a bystander, anymore! Woo! No sir! Now, I'm stylin'...profilin'! Noooow! Now you've gotta go toe to toe with reinvigorated...Woo! Reinstated! Woo! REINCAAAAAARNATED! SAAAAAAILOOOOOOOR SCOOOOOOORPIUUUUUUUS!!!! WOOOOOOO!"

As she spoke, the chair seemed to glow brighter and brighter. What came next, came on instinct. She yelled out, "Scorpius Chair Shot!" and hurled the chair and from it's folded up legs, twin propelling flames jetted out and sent it on a one way course towards the heel. The impact landed in the midsection and drove the tall adversary backwards, loosening his grip on Chifu to allow for a clean get away.

Anger fueled the princess' guardian as she attacked the heel, but it wasn't doing very much to prevent her from getting into trouble. She of course felt no pain from her shoulder injury due to her disorder but there were certain clues that something wasn't right. Such as that the arm in question wasn't responding to command prompts of any sort. Attacking Ultimo Diablo with one arm was possibly just as suicidal as a full on rush attack but there wasn't much time for strategizing in her mind. He had dared to threaten her princess and nothing was going to stop Nibiru from fighting to her last breath in the lady's honor and defense. Granted that was going to be a heck of a lot harder now that he had countered her assault and lifted her off the ground with such ease. Another nasty move was coming, Nibiru knew it and was fighting the best she could to free herself from the tight grip of the enemy. It was proving to be too much for her though, he was too strong and she too weakened to squirm out of his grip.

Just as she was about to resign herself to being slammed or tossed again something miraculous happened. There was an explosion of light that not only distracted the villain but also his intended victim. Smoke swirling about a familiar form as the daughter of the Golden Caesar finally remembered who she had once been. Nibiru's expression filled with a smile of pure joy as suddenly her princess stood before them with the same confidence that had filled her with pride in their past lives. It had happened! Scorpius, after a long slumber, stood ready to attack the masked fiend who had dared to attempt a split of the family by injury. Her speech was very much a promo, but it was perhaps the most exciting one the girl had ever heard. Though she looked different now her great love had returned in full capacity! When a flaming chair slammed into the heel, Nibiru slipped out of the baddie's grasp and landed on her feet behind him. There was an opening!

"Let me tell you something, devil! You come out here with your stupid little mask and your sneaking around in the shadows and ill intent. You come here thinking that you're going to destroy the most wonderful princess in the universe because you hurt her daddy real bad. You do all this but never thought you'd be facing the princess of Scorpius and her guardian, her champion. Not just hers but the one and only D. C. W. Champion!" she went into her own promo, "So watcha gonna do, Diablo? Watcha gonna do when the DCW Champion, the holiday monster, goes wild on you? You've been a bad boy.. if you SMEEEEEEELLLL what the YULE CAT.. is cookin' for breakfast!"

As she spoke she charged her bad again and then swung it right at his back, shouting, "Hot Rod!" once more.

Marius watched Akemi, as she jumped on to the offensive. The girl had taken the time shout. A lot. And mostly nonsense. While he couldn't make heads or tails out what Sailor Scorpius was saying, it seemed to take the masked foe off guard, as well. And to that end, it seemed like a fairly sound strategy. Was this girl that good? That she was able to generate such a plan off the cuff like that?

Akemi was merely glad to see that Chifu was able to escape that hold. Whatever Diablo had planned next, it certainly wasn't in her best interest. He would likely target that already injured shoulder. And that injury had Akemi concerned enough, as it was. As the chair drove him back, Sailor Nibiru had recovered enough of her wits to let loose with another shot. This time, she struck him in the back.

The dark luchador was sandwiched between both weapons, with Chifu driving him forward and the chair driving him backwards. This left Ultimo Diablo stuck in the middle. The jets from the chairs legs sputtered to a stop and Diablo fell forward, on top of the steel object.

"Guess this wasn't the walk in the park, you were looking for." Akemi stepped forward to the fallen opponent, "That's what happens when you run head on into the greatest tag team this country has ever seen! No...The UNIVERSE has ever seen! And guess what...Scorpius 3:16 says 'I just whooped your a--"

There was a sudden rush as Diablo sprung up from a prone position. The speed was sudden and caught Akemi off guard. He hit with a clothesline and knocked the newly awakened Senshi off her feet. This time, there was no careful waiting. Ultimo Diablo desperately needed to create some space.

Akemi didn't stay ground for long. Since transforming, she had felt quite the sudden rush. Even the effects of her previous tumble had faded. Akemi dropped back to Chifu's side. She collected her chair and locked eyes with Diablo, once more.

"Still got some fight in you? Alright, we're just getting started. Right Nibiru?"

Blood pumped through Nibiru's veins as her long lost princess got right back into full swing. That was the Scorpius she remembered - always throwing herself right into the battle with passion and determination. It was so very easy to get caught up in the speeches the masked senshi made, her natural charisma just energizing her guardian further. They would surely make Diablo pay for his evildoing in the name not only of the Golden Caesar but of the Scorpius kingdom! Nibiru flexed her right hand around her bat's grip, readying another strike as she tried to identify why her left wouldn't respond to commands. Pain was alien to her but nonresponsive limbs were a different matter to a degree. Kind of made things hard when the hand you needed to do them with didn't do anything more than sit there unhelpfully. Usually she needed to have her cousin help her treat an injury because she just wasn't aware that she had one. What was this one? Somehow she got the feeling that she would need both arms functional to face the devil who had challenged them.

Just as she realized it might be that her arm was out of place, she saw Scorpius go tumbling after the masked heel hit her with a clothesline. Frowning in displeasure at this the brunette worked a little faster to fix her problem. Thankfully she felt no pain so reaching over with her right arm and starting to push her injured shoulder back into place caused no discomfort. It was rough but she managed after a couple of tries to get it in position. Though it responded a little slowly the arm was functioning again and that was all that she needed. Grinning once more she nodded at her princess' words while barely containing her fury at the luchador who was trying to harm her beloved cousin.

"You're in deep trouble now son.. you think you're real hot stuff don't you? Well let me put it real simple so even you can understand. We are the combined might of the Scorpius Kingdom, and you're just some masked villain who gets off on hurting people," Nibiru explained as her bat continued to crackle with energy, "So in the name of common decency.. in the name of Scorpius, we're going to kick your butt."

With that she formed a javelin of lighting and hurled it at the villain with the shout of, "NIBIRU BOOOOOLT!"

As much as she wanted to help her partner, Scorpius knew that taking her eyes of their nemesis would lead to danger. Even if only for a minute. But, the girl never felt any pain. That was something that would always cause her worry...especially now that they were faced with an unusually strong foe. Not that she was about to show any of this. They had Diablo on the ropes!

Nibiru managed to get herself together enough to launch one more attack at the fiend. As she formed her lightening javelin, Akemi leaped into the air. She felt a surge of energy building up just behind her, "MISSAL DROPKICK!" she shouted. The explosion that erupted propelled her downwards. Feet first, she sailed on collision course with the masked menace.

Ultimo Diablo looked a little wearier than when he first arrived. Clutching at his chest he could see the next attack would not fair any better. This was not a fight he was prepared for. The two girls had proven to more powerful than he anticipated. Victory would have to be postponed as a strategic retreat was called for.

He jumped backwards, the blackness of his clothing seeming to stretch across his entire body. Soon, he looked little more than a shadow, save for the Oni design of where his mask was. It faded into the background and the fiend managed to live to fight another day.

The ground cracked and splintered beneath her feet as the bolt unloaded by Nibiru sailed over her shoulder. At first, she was annoyed. That big jerk just interrupted her and Nibiru and now he slipped away! Scorpius scowled as she stood back up. The next time she saw him, she swore to herself that there would be no escaping.

"Nibiru!" her expression shifted, as she rushed over to her cousin's side, "Are you alright? Can you move your arm?"

At the end of it all the battle turned out to be the initial confrontation of a feud meant to build interest for a huge main event to come. When and where that main event would unfold was anybody's guess but clearly this wasn't just a one-shot encounter. The grim specter of Ultimo Diablo had been hanging over the family for too long for this to just be a flash in the pan. Eventually the Amazing Akemi, Princess Scorpius, would do battle with Ultimo Diablo once again. When that time came the two had to be ready and capable of bringing the behemoth down, then getting the three count and claiming his mask. A tall order in more ways than the obvious but Nibiru had total faith in her princess that victory would be assured. Together they'd topple the seemingly invincible demon who had shamed Akemi's father. Already they'd shown he wasn't as unstoppable as fears might have made him seem; teamwork was the key to defeating him once and for all.

In the meantime she had the one thing she had been wishing for every waking moment since awakening to her true nature. Well, one of the two things. Scorpius had awakened and was once again ready to fight by her side against all comers. Her beautiful princess had fully returned! Somehow the girl seemed even more awesome than ever before. Maybe that was the influence that wrestling had had on her prior to her reawakening. Regardless the senshi was charismatic, powerful and immediately had Nibiru's loyalty. Hope of sharing her life with her princess wasn't so far-fetched now. All that remained was finding a time to confess the feelings which had built up over the course of so many years. The perfect time to look into the warrior's eyes, smile and thank her for everything just before finally kissing her. Hopefully that kind of boldness wouldn't get her put into a scorpion death lock. The moment Akemi was at her side the brunette blushed a bit and shook her head without words as a first response.

Then she regained some of her confidence and added, "I'm perfectly fine, my princess! Are you alright? Awakening isn't easy on everyone, and it's surely a shock to find out that you've lived before in another part of creation. You can rest assured that your guardian will stand by you and act as your shield every day from this to the end of time. Nibiru submits to Scorpius."

She went down on one knee to make her pledge, but hopped right back up as she grinned in a more usual fashion. Nibiru even moved her arms about to show that she was in fact in good health. For the most part at least, probably. Then she threw her arms around Scorpius and exclaimed, "It's so wonderful to have my princess back in full! It's been so long! Well.. not exactly, but still! This is what I was trying to bring out all those times I debuted new characters!"

Just then a little mutt trotted in, looking utterly bewildered when he spotted two senshi hugging. His tail wagged nervously as he glanced over to see Marius nearby, figuring this must mean that the black haired girl had a guardian animal too. Lizards didn't just appear like this in a gym. Then he realized that the danger may have passed, which made him give a little doggy sigh.

"I got here as fast as I could.. it's over, isn't it?" he asked, while Nibiru, true to form, ignored his presence.

Marius stood as still as could be. Between the Scorpius princess' earth shaking hit and the wild lightening bolt sailing over his head, he realized that he was just a little TOO close to all this action. Iguanas just weren't meant to take the sort of punishment that was being tossed about, so recklessly. Something would have to be done about that...at some point.

There were a million thoughts that were swirling around in the masked Senshi's head. Memories from that life she had lived long ago swirled around. Nibiru, even back then, had shown incredible loyalty. In both the peaceful times and through those dark hours when they faced Chaos. It was hard to make sense of it all. But, at least she had her cousin.

Instinctively, she threw her arms back around Nibiru and returned the hug. With all of the pageantry of her cousin's pledge of loyalty over, it seemed that things could return to relative normalcy. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you!" she said, "I just wished I could have figured it all out sooner."

But that wasn't important now. Now their efforts had to be concentrated on Ultimo Diablo. They would face that foe again. And the next time they did, Akemi was sure that they would reclaim the Araceli family's honor. As they shared a moment, a little dog wandered into gym.

"Yes." replied the lizard, "For now, at least. The fiend escaped! But, Sailor Scorpius has finally awakened! Now, I think that --"

"Say!" Scorpius interrupted, surveying the damage they had done, "I think we might want to leave. I don't think the school will really like the mess we started here. Plus, I want to make sure Nibiru's arm is OK! Don't want to aggravate an injury like that, somewhere down the line. Lizard, Dog! Follow me! We're going...uh...back to Nibiru's place, I guess?"

Had there been cause for the pair to continue battling Nibiru certainly would have carried on the fight for her cousin's sake. As the princess' champion she would go any length to help out. Her left arm had recovered enough that she was no longer concerned with it. Granted that could mean that it was still injured or in danger of reinjury but so long as it didn't flop around uselessly she didn't care. Straight ahead at the problem was the most efficient way for her to handle a situation involving a fight. Plus her dedication and skill was sure to impress her cousin even more! Not too long after such an effort she'd surely have the opportunity to get the long-delayed kiss she'd been waiting for.

With no enemy in sight she allowed herself to relax and take stock of their surroundings for the first time since Diablo's sudden appearance. Safe from the swerve fate had thrown at them she could tell that they'd actually caused some damage to the gym. None of that had been intended when she set up the debut of her new character earlier so this was rather unfortunate. Escaping before someone came in and realized that the facility had been harmed was probably the best advised course of action. Getting some nice private time with the awakened Scorpius would be well worth the tactical retreat as well. Only then did she realize that Dwayne had arrived and was speaking to, oddly enough, a talking iguana. Already used to the idea of her mutt speaking it wasn't all that weird to hear a lizard speaking as well. So Nibiru returned her attention to her princess instead, giddy just to be in her presence as they took in their small victory over Ultimo Diablo.

"We'll get him next time, princess, I promise. There's no escaping what we're going to do to him, we're going to unleash a fury no mortal man has ever witnessed. Then when it's all settled we'll have his mask and you'll get the 3 count on him once and for all," she vowed to Scorpius before grinning, "We should probably transform back just so that we don't attract even more attention to ourselves while we relocate. You know, since monsters or stuff might detect us and attack for no reason other than to be inconvenient."

"I see, it's fortunate the princess has awakened! Nibiru was at wit's end trying to figure out how she could awaken the girl. Now if only she'd call me by my real name.. I'm Armin-" the dog began to explain before, of course, Nibiru cut him off.

"Dwayne! Lizard I haven't met! Let's go! Onward, to auntie's place! Cheese puffs await!" Nibiru proclaimed before glancing back to Scorpius, "Remember what I said, we're tag team partners for life. I've always got my princess' back."

True, Nibiru had regained control of her arm. In all likelihood it wasn't actually in too bad of shape. She just wished she could tell what had happened, that way she could put her worries at ease. Until she figured out what was the matter, Scorpius couldn't help but be concerned. For as long as she had known the girl, she knew that she would never give up. Even if it would be in her own best interest.

Certainly, it was an admirable quality, but Scorpius didn't want to see her guardian get hurt like that. And if they were going to be a tag team, she didn't want her partner forced to sit on the sidelines! She would just have to make sure that she looked out for her physical well being to make sure she wasn't doing any permanent damage without realizing it.

"Yeah...you might be right about that." she said, as she looked down at herself. In all the chaos of the fight, she never got the chance to see just what had happened to her, after she took the hair clip from that talking lizard. It appeared as if someone had smashed a wrestling outfit into a sailor fuku. Which to her, meant that it was a pretty awesome design. If only her school's uniform actually looked this cool.

"Excellent!" she declared, scooping up the lizard and propping him up on her shoulder. Marius looked surprised, but didn't offer much in the way of complaint. Truth be told, he was rather exhausted after all the action and the running around he had to do. Not that he was going to admit that.

"Of course!" she looked back to Nibiru, "And I've got your back. No matter what!"