Sailor Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse nodded in response to her sister's question. "Yes, we should go too." She smiled then. "They were so nice to accept us and offer us a place to stay. We can't say no when they are in trouble!"

With the attack and disappearance of those famous senshi, it almost felt like a dream to remember those kind words that the Queen had spoken. The offer to help both she and her sister, it was more than she had ever dared to hope for. And there was no way that Solar Eclipse could remain idle while those same people were in trouble!

"Come on, let's catch up!" And with that, Solar Eclipse zipped away, a small tiny blur. Her size and ease of flight made it easy to catch up to the main group of gathered senshi.

~~~

Sailor Bellatrix

Bellatrix had yet to say anything, but she followed after Enyalius without hesitation. She didn't know these other senshi, but she knew that their were all here for the same thing she was. It had been a long time since she had shared a common goal with other senshi beings. It was kind of surprising to realize that she had missed it.

Getting used to the gold wings while not dropping her spear was taking more concentration than she had realized - especially now that her dazed effect was beginning to wear off. The wings were no longer being quite so easy to handle.

So she focused mostly on staying caught up with the rest of the group. Soon, she had a rhythm and method figured out. Once she had stopped fighting against the idea that she had *wings* of all things, their usage became more natural. Everything felt a little better once she stopped freaking out a bit inside.

Breathing in and out in a slow and controlled way, Bellatrix finally fought off the lasting effects of the daze that had brought her here. She felt more calm and in control, and that was something that comforted her more than anything else.

She turned her attention onto the senshi around her, feeling like there needed to be some sort of conversation going on. It was easy to see that they were all, more or less, strangers. Conversation would help bridge that gap.

"So, what's our plan?" Bellatrix asked out loud to any who cared to listen.

Enyalius glanced back to the orange-yellow suited sailor soldier to place her in her mind's eye before returning her gaze to the trail ahead. She answered, "Follow the trail to its end and destroy whomever is pulling the strings," her voice was confident and determined, though inside she was perhaps not as sure as she outwardly appeared. She knew what she and Achelois could do, but the others were a mystery - their strengths, their weaknesses, their personal styles; for this rescue to work, they needed to perform like a team. She needed to know more about them to form a plan. She glanced away from the glittering trail and slowed down just a moment, so that she was pretty much even with the main group of senshi, keeping her spacing far enough to leave room for any clumsy maneuvering. It seemed that she and Achelois might be alone in their ease of flight, but then they, too, seemed to be the oldest and the only ones who had left their planets voluntarily for an extended period of time.

"What's your name, and what can you offer?" she probed in matter-of-fact tones, asking the tall warrior who had spoken first, her eyes catching the faint blue speck of a planet in the quadrant "beneath" them; it was the eighth in the system - not too much longer until they faced the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud of the Solar System. Glancing back behind her, she decided to take it slower to accommodate their new flyers, whom at present seemed to outwardly be doing fine. A field of proto-planetary debris would be a test even for seasoned interstellar travelers, let alone greenhorns.

Arch, decided to ask the paladin, Enya, for a role in ground combat. "Ma'am, they call me Arch, the purple fuzzball beside me is Rayden. I'm one of the last Dragonborn, I can do wonders with my voice by shouting these words of power. Which got me thinking, once we find the Enemy's Stronghold, will I able to use the shout I learned from Queen Serenity? She did not teach it to me, directly, but it revealed itself to me as I was facing her."

Rayden then quipped, "He is still learning the Way of the Voice. It's a long story, his shouts can make him breathe fire, and knock enemies back. That sorta' thing."

Enyalius's brows furrowed as someone behind her answered the question she had meant for the newcomer beside her. When glancing back to see that it was the same person from before who chose to give a speech rather than answer a direct question, she couldn't help the small scowl of annoyance pulling at her lips, but did not interrupt - he was part of the team, now, and she needed to know what each person brought to the table. She listened to his introduction, long as it was, and attempted to follow along, but with the strange vocabulary - Dragonborn? - peppered in, she only really caught the general gist. His powers, as she interpreted them, did not come from within, but rather were inspired by others. Her scowl deepened - was he stealing their planetary energy when using such "shouts", as he called them? And did he really need to shout the phrase? 

In the back of her mind she had already accepted that there would be vocalizations attached to attacks - with such young senshi, the chances that they all were able to internalize their abilities and command them without verbal invocation was low; even she was yet unable to call her only attack completely without sound - Achelois seemed almost unique in that respect - but with the mission ahead possibly requiring stealth, she wanted to see how many she could count on being able to attack effectively and quietly.

Regardless, his attacks, should the even smaller creature be believed, sounded like they could be useful in large-scale battles.

Without knowing many of the details involved in the small commander's abilities, she tried to answer with her best guess. "I have no experience with your type of magic; however, if you do attempt to use your new ability, I would prefer you choose a time when none of our lives are dependent upon its success."

She turned back to the other senshi, signaling that her request of the newcomer was open to all, now.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus was surprised to find that she had no problems keeping up with the rest of the group. She had never flown before, but she seemed to know how to use the tiny decorative wings in a way that provided satisfactory results. As they continued on, she gazed outward and around at the beauty of vast space. It was comforting, somehow: the dark void and the brilliant stars felt safe and warm. She was reminded of her mother's beautiful dresses, the dark fabric sparkling with the flash of jewels.

"Mother... where are you? Do you know that I'm thinking of you?" she wondered silently, gazing up into endless space.

Her focus quickly returned to Sailor Enyalius, the clear leader of their group. Sailor Nocturnus was determined not to become a hindrance, even though she had no idea what she would be able to do. She had never used her powers until the moment she had gained wings. She only knew of sailor soldiers from stories. It was clear, however, that the other soldiers--with the exception of the fairies, perhaps--were well-acquainted with their own abilities. She hoped to learn from their examples.

Io approved of Sailor Enyalius's suggestion. It was important to know what tools were available for use in a combat situation like this one, it made strategies easier to create.

"I'm Sailor Io, and my powers are focused on energy waves," she offered. "I am mainly focused on electricity, magnetics, and sound waves, and I admit that most of my attacks are not directly offensive by themselves." She also suspected that she had seismic wave abilities of some kind, but she had yet to test them for fear of setting off a quake or eruption, something that was very possible in Japan. It wouldn't be smart to rely on it, so Io did not mention it at all.

Sailor Andromeda

This was certainly a thrilling experience. A bit strange, and nerve-wracking, but also exciting. Kira didn’t know what kinds of danger awaited her, but she knew deep in her heart that what she was doing was right. She had learned to trust her instincts and she wasn’t going to stop now. The question that came from the guardian she had mentally labeled the unofficial leader broke the silence, and she had to think about how to answer that question. What could she offer? What made her special or in any way worth something to these people? She had powers, but she was certain they did too. She had never had to compare her power or worth to anyone else before. It was easy to be the hero back home when there was nobody else, but here…? She couldn’t help but feel like she was out of her league.

Nevertheless, she gathered her courage and spoke up. “My name’s Ki—Sailor Andromeda,” she corrected quickly, not at all used to being called by her title since everyone back home knew who she was. She had never had to go by her guardian name as, in fact, the citizens still called her ‘Princess’. “As for what I can offer… well, my powers came from the ocean. But I also have some control over metal. I can conjure chains that can immobilize an enemy long enough for someone to take them out, among other things.”

Energy waves, water, and immobilizing metallic chains... Enyalius took in all of the offered information, carefully matching each power to the senshi's appearance and fuku, tagging their names in her mind but knowing that she'd prefer to see a person and remember their abilities than remember a name and ability set without an appearance to match it to.

Arch had a gun and could attack with his voice; short, but stocky -- but then his pet(guardian? she wasn't too sure of their relationship) was rather small and could be used in tight situations.
Io, wearing orange, purple, and white in the Solar Senshi fashion had the bright helmet and could send energy out in waves - sound, electricity, magnetism.
Andromeda, in turquoise and gray, had shackles on her wrists (a question for later, perhaps?) had oceanic powers and could immobilize with metal - perhaps those chains?

Her mind worked quickly to commit the information to memory, and paused, waiting for others to add their repertoire to her mental list.

Sailor Bellatrix

It took her a moment to figure how best to explain her abilities, and so Bellatrix remained quiet as others filled the silence to tell of their own powers. They had only heard from a few, and already it seemed that their group was full of an huge range of different specialties.

How would they all find coordination with one another?

As a bit of silence took over, Bellatrix found the words she wanted to say. "My name is Sailor Bellatrix, and I don't have any elemental powers, or anything like that," she said. She then gestured towards her golden spear held tightly in her hand. "My Murzim Spear is my only means of attack, and I have certain powerful maneuvers which I can perform, but nothing more than that. But I am quick and agile, despite my size."

She paused before adding, "If I become too angry or too emotional, I can slip into a berserk rage, which adds to my strength, but I lose myself to it." Another pause. "I have learned to control it to a great degree, but if I do go berserk, I expect you to stop me at all costs."

Feeling as though there was nothing much else to say, Bellatrix turned her attention back onto flying.  

Sailor Solar Eclipse

It was so exciting to hear of all of these different powers that the group had! Who knew that there could be so many different senshi with such varying abilities? When Solar Eclipse had imagined the other senshi, even her wildest dreams couldn't have conjured up such a wide variety.

She was beginning to feel a little more certain and more confident about her own powers.

After listening to Sailor Bellatrix finish her introduction, Solar Eclipse decided it was her turn to speak up. "I am Sailor Solar Eclipse," she said with a smile towards Enyalius. "I am not very adept with my own powers right now, but I have some control over plasma and heat. But my powers seem to come in bursts, so I can't fight for extended periods of time."

Achelois hung close to Enya and listened as the other Senshi filled her in on their powers.  There was such an assortment of powers that Achelois giggled to herself.  Energy, water, chains, a gun, plasma, and spear maneuvers were what she had heard so far.  Even though she didn’t like that people have been kidnapped she felt delighted to be able to see so many different abilities on display.  Having been alone for so long on her planet before Enya came along she had come to relish her time with other beings, especially Senshi like herself.  It will be interesting to see how the group dynamics work out.

There was such a diversity of powers and abilities. Sailor Skaro had a feeling that if she had been in civilian form, she would certainly have felt more wonder than she did. But she supposed that it was time to introduce herself. "I AM SAILOR SKARO, SOLDIER OF THE DALEK RACE," she explained. "I EXTERMINATE ENEMY LIFE FORMS." She wasn't quite sure how to describe her power. Yeah, she shot lasers at enemies, but she didn't really feel like that would be an adequate description. Better to just let them see what she could do when the time came for it. She kept a steady pace, mostly staying towards the middle of the pack.

Enya offered Bellatrix a smile - a warrior, like herself. If silence were essential, the two of them could use their weapons to take down the enemy quietly. One of the small fairies spoke next, the twin with the gold and black accents on her tiny fuku, and immediately piqued Enya's interest and incredulity - such a small thing, small enough to fit in the palm of Enya's hand, she and her twin were admittedly new with their powers, and yet she was eager and willing to use them to help. 

The strange voice (and accompanying blinking lights) from the metallic-clothed senshi startled Enya for a moment, causing her to veer off course momentarily. She was not expecting that. Recovering, she nodded, wondering exactly how the senshi 'exterminated' enemy lifeforms, but she supposed she'd just have to wait and find out. 

With the young senshi new to the entire business, she was just waiting on the responses from the remaining two - the red twin and the first senshi introduced at the party - Splash, she recalled. 

But with the Oort Cloud approaching, the front line of the protoplanetary objects visible at the edges of their field of view, the girls would have to talk fast, or save their abilities for after they make their way through the field.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus listened closely as the other sailor soldiers explained their powers, but she had no idea what to reply. She didn't know what her own abilities were. She had only ever transformed. It had happened in the final moments with her mother before she found herself wandering through Time-Space, guided only by the item that had been bestowed upon her. She didn't know anything else about herself or her powers, and she didn't really feel comfortable admitting it among so many other sailor soldiers... but maybe, with the cloud ahead, she wouldn't have to.

"Ok, Senshi, this cloud field's gonna be rough," pointed out Arch, "single file formation, please."

On his flight mask, he pushed a button and played Human Cannonball by Webb Wilder from the album Hybrid Vigor. He, of course, was the only one who can hear it, since there's no way to play it back to the senshi for guidance, because as the laws of nature are concerned, there is no air in space.

Rayden was the only exception, since his flight mask's radio was synched to Arch's. "While Arch is listening to some Country Rock," Rayden directed in Arch's stead, "I must warn you, visibility in the Oort Cloud is very poor. I advise that we all stay close, and follow the Paladin. I've been getting reports that the cloud will flash with lightning strikes. This exercise will test your navigation and courage. If possible, use whatever powers you have that may help you navigate this zone. Any questions? And please, be quick, we have only 50 seconds left before we hit the cloud."

((At this point, each question means a 10 seconds spent towards to the cloud. Rayden will now field five questions. It's first come, first serve, only one question per character, it can be about the mission or about the Duo. Use this opportunity for your Otaku to learn about mine.))

Taking his meaning of 'the paladin' to be her, Sailor Enyalius reclaimed her position at the head of the group, knowing his suggestion to be a valid one. She and Achelois had traveled through thousands of debris-fields just as these; they had passed through this one not too long ago. If the rest followed her in single-file, they could move exactly where she moved, dodge what she dodged, and should make it through okay. As she passed Achelois she gave her a look that suggested she move to take her position at the rear of the line, her position there giving her a view of everyone in front of them, able to break off an help if need be.

She took Arch's words about lightning strikes to be a metaphor - the Oort Cloud was named as such based on the cloud-like appearance the too-close rocks made, and gas particles were spread far too far apart, and much too cold, to be excited enough to jump to the plasma state and create 'lightning strikes'; she assumed he meant something along the lines of the chaotic nature of the orbits of the planetismals, of which the new senshi should be made aware. "Watch your wings when maneuvering; too big a movement at this speed will send you careening off course. Think small and controlled." Attempting to get new flyers back on course would take time, and with the glitter trail weakening before them, they might not have that kind of time to find them again. Thinking of the small commander with his floral hang-glider, she turned to him not with a question, but with an order. "Do not fire your weapon when travelling through this field - the momentum will throw you too far in the opposite direction," which might send him even faster into a rock, or faster into another section of the Cloud, else tear the fragile hang-glider. 

While that realization came to her quick enough, a solution for the new-found problem of redirecting the Dragonborn did not hit her as quickly. Without the use of his gun, how could he change direction? The only experienced flyers, to her knowledge, were she and Achelois; she wouldn't want the extra mass to complicate the others' movements. With Achelois having a full-time job watching for anyone who might fly astray, she, Enyalius, might need to guide him personally. "If none can think of anything else, I'll drop back before hitting the field. Grab my ankles and hold on tight; I'll maneuver for you."

Oh, physics.:

Achelois made eye contact with Enya, holding a quick conversation before breaking off.   Normally passing through a field like this was not difficult for either herself or Enya now that they had journeyed so far together but for the new flyers it could prove difficult.  The single file suggestion was a good idea as long as each flyer would be able to react quickly enough to the one in front without crashing into anything.  As Enya took the front and Achelois dropped to the back of the line she was reminded of their first excursion through an asteroid belt together.  She had lost sight of Enya when an asteroid three times her size nearly collided with her.  Before she could get a shield up the asteroid burst into specs of dust leaving only Enya with her sword drawn and a tense look on her face.  Achelois fell in behind the group and smiled gently at the precious memory.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus quietly took her position behind the other soldiers, near the end of the line. She was glad that she had successfully escaped the questioning. The young girl kept her mouth closed and avoided drawing too much attention to herself. With all the debris they'd be flying through, she was suddenly even more glad of the small size of her wings.

With her dark-coloured uniform, dark hair, and dark skin, Sailor Nocturnus worried that the group might lose sight of her in the debris field. Hopefully her golden accents would reflect enough light to keep her visible. This was already significantly scarier than she wanted to admit that it was, and being alone would make it so much worse!

She found her thoughts wandering to the nobility and sailor soldiers they were trying to rescue. Were they okay? What was happening to them?

The soldier snapped her attention back, quickly. This was no time to worry. She had to stay focused!

Taking Enya's advice, Arch weaved around the cloud formation in tandem with the other senshi.

"We'll do fine, Arch," Rayden only proclaimed, "it's nothing more than a bunch of rocks and dust."

Sailor Bellatrix

Sailor Bellatrix nodded in response to Enyalius's explanations. Small and controlled. Well, small was not something a six foot woman was used to thinking, but control was something Bellatrix had trained herself to have an abundance of. Controlled she could do. She moved into a empty slot in the group, and waited for further instructions.

But then, remembering the tiny little senshi that were with the group, Bellatrix turned towards them. Their size would work against them. Even the smallest bits of debris could be a potential problem for someone their size.

"You two can hang on to me, if you want," Bellatrix said to the faerie senshi specifically. "You both might be speedy, but this debris sounds pretty dangerous, and doubly so if you are that small. It might be best to hitch a ride, and I don't mind."

Sailor Solar Eclipse

It was a little worrying to hear about all of this debris that they would be going through. Solar Eclipse glanced over towards her sister, wondering what she thought about all of this.

Though she felt better hearing Enyalius's voice, Solar Eclipse couldn't help but to feel a little anxious about what was coming next. She had always been confident in her flying skills, but this might prove to be more than she bargained for. If this turned out to be as bad as what everyone was saying, then it could be very bad for both her sister and herself.

Solar Eclipse was taken by surprise when she heard Sailor Bellatrix's offer to shelter them. She smiled then, trying to keep it warm and polite, and not show any hint of trepidation. "Thank you!" she said in response. "Come on, Zelena, let's go."

She flew over to the gold and burgundy clad senshi, and settled onto her shoulder, clinging to the fabric there.

Sailor Andromeda

Kira listened to the other senshi around her each say their piece of introduction, and she found herself feeling more and more awed by the variety of abilities and in fact, everyone’s size. Because not all of them seemed human. There were two little guardians who she had completely missed at first due to their size, but now she was just taken aback at how size apparently did not matter. What could these tiny guardians do? She was very curious to find out.

Sailor Bellatrix, who definitely looked imposing, explained that she might not be able to control her own powers, and that worried Kira. How were the rest of them supposed to fight against their own ally? At all costs? She sure hoped not. Maybe it wouldn’t come to that. Once again, she felt like she was in over her head and had acted impulsively when she answered this call. But she was here now, and there was no way she was turning back. She was not a coward; she had looked death in the eye and conquered it. She could do it again.

The exclamations of Sailor Skaro surprised her, and Kira was left wondering what exterminating method the senshi used. She was one of the few who also seemed a bit inhuman. Looking around again, Kira hoped she could get everyone’s names straight in her head. But soon memorizing everyone’s names turned out to be the least of her problems, and definitely not what she should be concentrating on. Following the leader’s—she still hadn’t caught her name—instructions, Kira tried to focus on not making sudden jerky movements. She fell in line behind another senshi clad in black accented with beautiful golden stars who, up until then, had not said a word. Kira wondered why that was. She wanted to talk to someone, but she was also afraid of breaking people’s concentration as they navigated the difficult path, not to mention this wasn’t exactly time for chitchat.

Perhaps… after… if—no, when—we survive this… I could make some new friends…?

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus was relieved to see one of the taller sailor soldiers offer shelter to the two tiny winged soldiers. They were so cute and tiny. She would have been horrified to see either of them hurt in any way, but she wasn't confident enough in her own navigation ability to trust herself to help them. Sailor Nocturnus was pleasantly surprised to see how welcoming and kind everyone had been. They had no reason to trust each other, but somehow they were all united just by their sailor soldier status.

She had been afraid to speak up because she knew so little about herself and her abilities, but she really wanted to be a part of the group. It was a privilege and an honor just to be in the presence of so many practiced sailor soldiers!

They reached the leading line of debris, each senshi in position and ready to face whatever hurtled towards them (or, rather, whatever they hurtled towards). At first their section was clear, and Enyalius took the chance to drop back to give Archibald an opportunity to grab her ankles before the challenge began. She rushed back towards the head of the line, stretching her feathered wings as far as they could go to exaggerate her movement for the new flyers, and threw both arms, outstretched, out in front of her to give herself a means to check her steering, and to make herself as small as possible in two dimensions. 

She made as many of their twists and turns as gradual as she could; were their path marred by a large space rock, she would start to turn up, down, left or right far before they ever got there, choosing their path carefully and with an experienced eye, always aiming for the path with least resistance.... But she hadn't counted on a nearby collision sending large, car-sized chunks of rock into their immediate path. "Watch out!" she yelled in surprise, dipping her wings to tuck neatly underneath the danger, her mind whirling - does she slow down to regroup? Does she stop completely? What would the others do - how would they react?! How would they find each other again if their speeds or trajectories changed?! 

Ahead of her now the field was populated with tighter clusters of rocks - they had reached middle ground of the Cloud and had found themselves unwittingly surrounded by an area of active collisions, one after another, creating smaller and larger rocks as the planetismals danced their gravitational dance. Behind them had been relatively empty; on the other side of the upcoming mess the path should clear again. If they could make it past it shouldn't be too hard to find everyone "Keep going!" she yelled and immediately slowed her pace. She came to a halt as quickly as she could, careful of her passengers's momentum, and immediately started scanning the area, moving quickly to look around the bodies that had altered her original course. "Archibald, was it?" she asked, turning to face her companion, amazed that she had remembered the name along with his description. "We might have lost some of our number - please keep an eye out for any one in trouble. We'll try and regroup once we're sure the area is clear."

OOC:

Sailor Nocturnus

When the rocks collided dramatically in front of Sailor Enyalius, it jolted Sailor Nocturnus's concentration. The small sailor soldier drifted out of line, having halted her progress in a poor response to the startling influx of massive rocks. Once outside of the formation, rejoining it became increasingly difficult. When one of the enormous rocks drifted towards her, Sailor Nocturnus narrowly avoided being hit, and but doing so dragged her even farther from the original line of sailor soldiers.

When she glanced up and saw the distance between herself and the other uniformed soldiers, she felt scared. Tears welled up in her eyes. How would she get out? She had never done this before! What if she got hurt? Her initial reaction was to head back the way they had came, exiting the cloud for safety. She turned to look over her shoulder... and remembered the look of kindness in the pink-haired princess's eyes. No, she didn't want to run away!

Sailor Nocturnus tightened her resolve, took a deep breath, and slowly proceeded forward.

OOC:

Everything was going smoothly until the debris from a collision near them through some of the Senshi off course.  Achelois quickly dodged in and out trying to not lose the rest of the group but to no avail.  Before she had lost the group she had seen some of the Senshi lose the group; the little one in particular worried her.  She kept her eyes open and continued on, making it past the collision that had thrown them off course.  So far she could only see Enya and the dimensional being.  “Do you think we should wait or go looking for them?”

OOC:

Sailor Io followed the line of senshi into the Oort cloud's maze of old comets and debris, wary of the many obstacles they seemed to just barely miss. She hated having to deal with unpredictable things, and the erratic movement of the rocks make her more high strung than usual.

So when the car sized comet shard came directly at the group, Io's first reflex wasn't to dodge it like Enyalius and Achelois did. She wasn't that confident in her flying abilities yet, but she was very used to deflecting things. Without even thinking of the consequences in her panic, Sailor Io held out her hands and released a great burst of magnetic energy. The metals in the rock caused it to slow down, and then reverse its momentum. Io was sent flying in the opposite direction by the rock's far larger mass, possibly serving as a other hazard for the senshi still behind her.

Sailor Splash saw the approaching mess of whatever it was quickly approaching. She wasn't sure if she could muster enough Gem of Aqua power to completely shield herself from the debris due to the fact she was ready to pass out from flying. If she was lucky, she might be able to reflect one or two blows she wasn't able to dodge, but the rest was up to her ability to maneuver around the floating maze of danger.

Before entering the horror awaiting her, she slowed her pace and felt the silence of space across her skin. It was an eerie feeling. She traveled before, yes, but never directly beyond the boundaries that surrounded the planets. Regardless of how slow she was now flying, it didn't slow the pace of the approaching matter. Before Sailor Splash could realize it, she was dodging old pieces of whatever one right after another. 

She lifted her left arm out in front of her and mustered everything she could to shield herself from whatever she was too weak to dodge. Unfortunately, a rather large piece of a comet was hurling too fast for her to maneuver around. She was caught off guard as it hit her shoulder where her wings attached causing her to fly the opposite direction. She scowled in anger thinking she was going to be unable to stop herself from flying aimlessly through the Oort Cloud, but before she knew it, Sailor Splash was able to fly against the pulling. Her wings were still intact.  She should have realized it before. Her wings were simply composed of energy, they were holographic.

Sailor Andromeda

Their leader’s warning shout snapped her to attention, and with horror Kira saw the huge chunks of rock flying across their path. How was she supposed to maneuver her way out of this? She had only started flying today! She had expected to navigate around stationary obstacles—challenging, perhaps, but possible. But now they had rocks flying all over the place and… she had to clench her hands and tried not to have a panic attack. It would be anticlimactic for her to get her head bashed in and die here of all places. She’d also braked immediately so that she was just floating uncertainly in her spot, not at all in a rush to enter the death trap in front of her.

Some other senshi had also broken ranks already, by accident, she suspected. If she continued forward, she could technically fall back in line, but she was too afraid to move. She had lost sight of the black-clad senshi in front of her, too, which didn’t help. She could only barely see the ones who’d made it further getting smaller and smaller in front of her. Bracing herself, she made her way slowly but surely, cutting it too close a few times. It was hard not to make sudden movements when great hurtling objects were flying toward you. One time she dodged too quickly and ended up way too far out of line. As she spiraled out of control, she tried to regain her trajectory and kept floating in the opposite direction. Eventually she acted on instinct. She raised one of her bracelets, and sent out a chain that shot out, wrapped itself around the nearest rock, and kept her in place. There. The rock’s far superior weight was stopping her momentum and she could stick in her spot for the time being.

Heaving a deep breath of relief that she hadn’t hurtled straight into space, Kira barely had time to thank the gods before another senshi whizzed past her in an alarming speed. It was the one who’d introduced herself as Sailor Io. Again, reacting on instinct, she raised her other hand and shot out another chain to catch Io’s leg before she got too far. The rock she’d chained herself to—the irony was not lost on her—was keeping them both in place just fine. “Hey, you okay there?” she yelled to the other senshi.

Io was jerked to a stop mid-flight, the chain around her boot holding her in place.

 "Y-yeah, I think so..." she yelled back, getting her bearings again. She twisted around and grabbed Andromeda's chain with a hand before she started using it to pull herself to the rock the other senshi was anchored to. "Do you know where everyone else is? I lost track of them."

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus's progress through the debris was slow, but steady. Unfortunately, she was feeling less and less sure that she was headed in the right direction. She could no longer see the sailor soldiers that she had separated from.

When she heard familiar voices nearby, she turned towards the sound. Approaching cautiously, she saw two that she recognized as Sailor Io and Sailor Andromeda, both of whom appeared to be chained to a rock. Sailor Nocturnus fluttered over, her dark hair seeming to blend into the blackness of space as it streamed behind her.

"Oh no, are you hurt?" she exclaimed as she approached.

She didn't understand how there could be chains attached to the two women. Had they sprouted from the rock? Was it an enemy, trying to capture them?!