Raito began staring at the ground once more as awkward silence overtook the group once more. Was it possible Atsuiko was even more uncomfortable than she was? She didn't realize that was possible.

Raito tried to form words to break the silence but nothing came to mind and a lump began forming in her throat. She glanced over at the Princess for reassurance and then looked ahead down the street.

Mercifully they were almost at school. There was only about a block and a half left until they reached the building and could take a break from this oppressive silence.

Serenity suppressed the urge to sigh. These girls would be a challenge, that was for sure. The princess began to wonder if putting the girls together all at once was such a good idea after all. Maybe taking things slower would have been a better approach.

The girls' school came into view, and again Lady Serenity resisted the urge to sigh. Awkward silences seemed to be a common trend between these ladies. Seeing that Hikari's attempt to include Atsuiko sort of backfired, Serenity placed a comforting hand on Hikari's head. The poor kid was probably worried sick about her new duties as leader. It was a lot of responsibility to be on one girl's shoulders, especially since said girl was so young. Serenity would have to brainstorm some way to get these girls to feel more comfortable around each other - especially Atsuiko. Perhaps she could talk to Rei about it later during one of her lessons...

Remembering to stay optimistic, Serenity clapped her hands one time and smiled brightly. "Well, it looks like we've arrived! Have a great day at school, girls, and I'll see you all out here when the final bell rings! No flirting with boys!" The princess giggled and winked at Raito, waving good-bye to the girls. She hoped that over time, their conversations wouldn't be so silent and awkward.

After Princess Serenity saw them off to school, the day passed by as usual for them until classes were let out in the afternoon. Like she did in the morning, Serenity walked them back, but this time they went to the Palace instead of their homes. Inside, Artemis met them and led the group down to a hidden chamber. 

"This is the way to Palace Gymnasium," he explain to the new senshi as they walked through a metal hallway underneath the building. "It's fortified like a bunker and soundproofed down here, so don't worry about disturbing anyone or breaking the palace. If the Sailor Quartet haven't dented it yet, it's safe to say it's impenetrable!" he joked. 

They came to a metal door, and after Artemis typed in a code, it unsealed and swung open like a ship's hatch. Inside was a large, open space surrounded by white walls. It looked just like the gym at school, with hard floors and exercise equipment scattered around. Targets, dummies, and sandbags hung in a corner, and in a case, weapons like swords, staffs, and bows were stored. There were a few scorch marks and cuts on the walls and in the floor, but it was otherwise in one piece. 

"And here we are. As you can see, it's been through a lot of use since it was built. Even your parents occasionally use it for practice. I've cleared it for your own use for your after school training, but don't be afraid to come down here on your own time if you want. We won't be using this gym the usual way today though..." Artemis looked at Serenity. 

"Princess, do you mind staying here to help me demonstrate the new system? This will only take a few minutes to set up." He darted off to an elevator that led to the upper balcony of the room, and started tapping buttons on a long control panel above their heads.

 Atsuiko

Atsuiko spent the rest of the day in misery in her classes. Her only saving grace was that she was in a different class than the others girls, amazingly enough. Part of her had expected to see one of the girls that was her age in her classes now or her to be moved to theirs. She felt like such a failure after the disastrous conversation of that morning.  Why hadn’t she been able to answer a simple question properly? She had no problem speaking to her parents or her teachers, yet when it came to people her own age, she clamped up.
 

When they left school later that afternoon and returned to the castle, Artemis gathered them up and brought them down to the training dojo she had seen her mother and father use on several occasions. She supposed it made sense that they would need training, but the entire concept made Atsuiko nervous. She just wanted to go home and lock herself in her room. Meditating in front of the fire sounded like a really good idea right now.

Needless to say, Awaki had been happy when they finally arrived at school and all split up. The silence was so awkward and it made her anxious. The school day had seemed to gone by unusually slow, most likely due to the mix of excitement and anxiety that had been bubbling in the pit of her stomach. As per usual, she had sat atop the rooftop during lunch, and had tinkered around a little with her mysterious new goggles. Luckily no one had caught her in the act.

School had been let out, and Awaki bounced happily down the palace halls with the rest of the group. When she first laid eyes on the gymnasium, she could barely contain her excitement. Her smile stretched into a huge grin as she let out a giggle, and then quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She quickly tried to compose herself, make herself look more mature and dignified, and straightened her glasses and put on a more neutral face.

Hikari found it difficult to concentrate all through her classes. Her failure from the morning still hung like a cloud over her, and she still had no idea how she could get everyone to relax and talk like normal people. She didn’t even know why they were all so tense. Maybe she should figure that out. If she could find out the reason, then she could work on a solution. Yes, that was what she was going to do. Her mother always said that every problem had more than one solution. No problem was impossible to solve. Of course, Minako’s way of problem solving was often questionable, but the idea behind it was right.

She walked with the others to the Palace after school, and followed Artemis to a room she’d never seen before. As he explained where they were going, Hikari started feeling bits of excitement again. They were going training. They were actually going to get to use their powers!

As she stood before the vast room, she had to try hard not to let her mouth gape open. It had an impressive amount of equipment, and there were a vast array of weapons hanging in one corner. Trepidation crept into her. Artemis wouldn’t ask them to wield those yet, right? They looked… dangerous. And she had never heard the senshi fighting with actual weapons. She knew her mother had the Holy Sword, but it didn’t really get much use after they defeated the Dark Kingdom.

She could use this room whenever she liked? Hikari already knew where she’d be spending most of her free time from now on.

She looked from Artemis to Princess Lady Serenity as he said they wouldn’t be using the gym in the ‘usual way’, whatever that meant.

Beside her, she noticed Awaki practically bouncing with excitement. Ah, so something about this training excited her too. That was good to know. You have to know your allies better than they know themselves if you’re to be a good leader, another of her mother’s more sound advice echoed in her brain. Hikari made a mental note to observe the other girls as closely as possible to figure out their personality, aptitude, strengths, and weaknesses.

 Raito

The rest of the school day passed uneventfully as the training session seemed like a distant cloud. At lunch, Raito reflected on the walk to school. Atsuiko seemed to be even more apprehensive about speaking to people than she did. She felt sorry for the girl but couldn't think of what to say to her to even start a conversation, let alone bring up a mutual aversion to conversation.

Raito looked skyward as her mind drifted through these thoughts. She happened to the light reflecting off of a pair of glasses which pulled her out of her thoughts. She noticed Awaki sitting alone with her lunch on the roof. Raito was a little surprised that Awaki was eating alone up there, instead of at a table with friends or classmates in her own year.It occurred to Raito that Awaki may be lonelier than her confident, energetic appearance let on, especially with Ms. Mizuno working so many hours at the hospital. 

Raito experienced a sudden pang of sadness mixed with a twinge of guild when she thought about training instead of helping out at her mother's shop after work. She knew her mother was intensely proud of her activation and was more than capable of running the store by herself, but her mother was one of the few people she was comfortable around enough to always share her thoughts and feelings. On slow days, they would spend the closing hours talking about everything and sharing delicious snacks.
She burned with a selfish wish that her life would remain as such with her mother for a long while and immediately thereafter felt the guilt deepen as she knew she had a greater duty now. The bell tolled to signify the end of lunch so Raito packed up her things and slowly walked inside, a tempestuous mix of feelings.

After school, she made her way to the palace with the Princess and the others. The training room seemed intimidating but nothing out of the ordinary, from the days her mother had enrolled her in martial arts classes. If anything it seemed a bit crowded for using the elemental Senshi abilities with all the equipment. Her eyes widened slightly with apprehension when Artemis mentioned a special kind of training and ran off to a control panel above.

Lady Serenity went through her day attending her regular classes in the palace. She was a lot more attentive than her mother had been in high school, but the young princess still grew bored during certain lessons. Calculus was definitely not her favorite thing to learn.

After a long day of Shakespeare and ridiculous Punnett Squares, Serenity was finally free to grab some food and pick up the new senshi from school. As she walked, the princess munched on a muffin and thought about possible ways she could get the girls to get along better. She was glad none of them seemed to have a rivalry with each other, but she wished they would at least try and become friends. Atsuiko was definitely going to be a challenge.

Smiling, Serenity met the girls outside of their school, and together they walked back to the palace for the first round of training. Artemis met them and brought them to the Gymnasium. It felt good to be back in here, but odd at the same time. This time around, Serenity wouldn't be training with her Quartet - she would be teaching a new quartet.

Excited to begin the new training, Serenity smiled at Artemis. "Sure thing! Let's get this show on the road!"

"Alright!" Artemis said, but now his voice was coming through a loudspeaker system, so he could still be heard form the upper chamber. If the other girls looked up, they could see him in his human form, making a few adjustments on the console. "What I'm about to show you is the new simulator Mercury, Venus and I have been working on for the past year or so." With a hiss, a second, much thinner set of walls fell over the original walls making up the room, creating a slightly smaller chamber the senshi were now trapped in. The walls were a smooth, unmarked white, like a school's projector board. A disco ball shaped crystal lowered slightly from the ceiling, and lit up different colors. 

"Inside this area, I can create virtual environments that can be interacted with like physical objects. Think of it like...a giant video game. And using this game, you can practice fighting enemies in a safe, controlled way. You can all transform now, and I'll set up the first test." Artemis paused and started tapping more buttons. On the other side of the room, the floor opened up, and a plain looking, 6 foot tall robotic looking youma rose up on the hidden elevator. All over the robot's body, a red and white target marked its "vital points".

"We'll start off simple and figure out your abilities. Aim for one of the targets on the robot's body. If you hit it hard enough, it should light up. Would you like to demonstrate how it's done, Princess?"

This is the youma the robot is based off of. ^^:

 Raito

Raito felt her palms begin to sweat as the robot began to move. In her mind, she knew this was just a robot and probably not set to any horribly dangerous features for their first training attempt, but she grew nervous nonetheless.

She gripped the Jupiter Transformation Pen with both hands and pulled them tightly to her chest. The feel of the cool metal was soothing in a way. She instinctively began her breathing techniques and thought of her mother. When she felt centered, she opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!" she called with more confidence than she felt. She then look around at the others to see who had reacted to the training exercise and whether anyone had transformed while she steadied herself.

Awaki glanced toward Raito's direction, shocked that the nervous girl had already went and transformed before her. A unfamiliar feeling rushed through her, at the thought that she hadn't been the one to transform first, and she knitted her brows in slight frustration. She tightly gripped her transformation pen and raised it above her, "Mercury Power, Make Up!"

She felt a cool blast ripple through her body, and despite it normally calming her down, it fueled her body with even more excitement and adrenaline. She smirked up at the robot, her eyes glistening with a confident fire, "I've got this!" She rushed toward the mechanical being, and briefly closed her eyes, concentrating, trying to find what to say. She raised up her hand and shouted, "Mercury Arctic Bolt!" A set of thin, sharp icicles shot out of her hand and hit the robot in it's knee.

Awaki stooped down slightly, trying to catch her breath. She then turned around and placed her hands on her hips confidently, "I'm a natural."

 Atsuiko 

She had a really, really bad feeling about this. She kept her eyes trained on the training robot in front of her. Nope, she did not want to be here, she wanted to be home, safe in her room. She was already feeling apprehensive and all they were doing was training. How was she ever supposed to go out in the field and actually fight live creatures?
 

Suiko watched as Raito, and then Awaki transformed. When Mercury attacked, she looked natural, like she was meant to be a senshi. She had made it look so easy. Would her powers come forth like that when it was her turn? She frowned at the thought. What if they didn’t? What would she do then.

Hikari looked around to search for Artemis’ voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once before realizing he’d spoken into a microphone. She saw him in his human form now, fiddling with the controls. As another layer of walls fell around them, Hikari scooted away a little bit, a slight sense of claustrophobia kicking in. She knew she wasn’t actually in any danger—everything was just a simulation after all—but her heart still raced. You always take things so seriously, her mother’s lamenting voice echoed in her brain. I never understand where you got that from. Probably your father.

She forced herself to listen to Artemis again, lest she missed a particular instruction. They could interact physically with the simulation? Did that mean they could get hurt after all? Then she berated herself for being worried. Of course training would result in a few injuries. She couldn’t get better otherwise. It was just part of the process and to be expected.

Her mother was the one who was really good at video games. Hikari kind of sucked at everything involving fun, so she wasn’t sure she’d be any good at this.

She almost jumped when the robotic youma appeared—it might be fake, but it still looked kind of scary, and really tall, too. They were supposed to fight that?

If hitting the target was all it took for now, it seemed simple enough. Hikari looked at Princess Lady Serenity as Artemis asked her to demonstrate, but around her, the others were already transforming. Awaki actually ended up not waiting for the princess and immediately rushing toward the youma. Hikari blinked as Awaki shot icicles at it, hitting several of the targets. She seemed awfully confident and comfortable here, not at all like her more reserved mother. Interesting.

Hikari finally brought out her own transformation pen. “Venus Power, Make Up!” she called, and the bright lights and that burst of power filled her in again. It still took her breath away no matter how many times she’d done it.

Now standing as Sailor Chibi Venus, she actually felt more powerful, more confident. She could not be shown up here; she was the leader.

She closed her eyes briefly, tried to sense the words that she needed. You will know them instinctively, her mother had once told her when she’d asked how she would know how to attack for the first time. The answer is already in you.

And just like that, she knew them. Opening her eyes, she raised one hand and yelled, “Lovely Radiance!”

She did not know what to expect, not completely. What came out was a giant heart that blasted the youma, well, on its entire torso really, given its sheer size. Hikari blinked as several targets on the chest and stomach area lit up while smoke bubbled up from the impact point.

“I… had no idea it was going to be that big.”

Serenity was about to transform when Awaki beat her to it, transforming into Sailor Chibi Mercury and attacking the youma. Cocking one eyebrow, the princess looked up at Artemis and shrugged. Perhaps they didn't need a demonstration, after all.

But then there was Atsuiko.

Concerned, Serenity approached the girl, kneeling down so she was at eye-level. "Have confidence in your abilities. You are a strong young soldier - and even though you may not see it yet, I know there's great power in there," she said, lightly poking Atsuiko's heart. "Show them what you're made of," she winked. Standing back up, Serenity moved to the edge of the simulation, watching with interest as Hikari transformed and attacked the youma.

It was refreshing and exciting to see the girls all discovering their powers. Was it really so long ago when she had been standing in their position?

Artemis shrugged back at the Princess. Apparently some of them didn't need a push. The robot's leg shuddered slightly when Awaki's ice struck the target but it still stood tall.

"Hm... That's not the kind of attack I was expecting from her. Interesting..." Artemis mumbled, recording the video feed for later. None of the senshi knew what to expect in terms of attacks the Chibi Senshi would develop, but since Chibiusa had mostly stuck to Sailor Moon's usual moves (besides her Pink Sugar Heart Attack), they had assumed the other children would do the same. But after that display, he wasn't sure anymore. He could not recall Sailor Mercury ever using a move even similar to Arctic Bolt. Was there another factor in this? His thoughts were interrupted when the computer picked up a sudden spike in power. He looked back down into the training arena just in time to see a huge glowing heart crash into the robot. It tipped over with a groan, and hit the ground.

"W-woah...!" Another move that didn't match with the ones he was familiar with. Minako would want to see that video for sure. Hikari might have to practice to get better control of that Lovely Radiance, but it already looked powerful. But what about the other two? Raito and Atsuiko had yet to move.

"Alright, that was a good first try!" Artemis said through the speakers. He reset the root, and it slowly got to its feet again. "Atsuiko, Raito, you can try it out now. It's perfectly safe, don't worry..."

Raito gave a small, hesitant nod to Artemis in the booth. She wasn't sure exactly how the other girls had known what to call out for their attacks. Her mother had been vague about it, not quite having the words to explain where the attack phrases come from.

She clasped her hands while she contemplated what to do and heard a high-pitched sound coming from her gauntlets. Her first instinct was to thrust her arms toward one of the targets, but no bolt of electricity shot forth. Raito wilted a little, feeling tears appearing at the corners of her eyes, embarrassed that she had no idea how to discharge her gauntlets.

Artemis watched in anticipation as he saw Raito bring her hands together. What new attack would he see this time? Chibi Jupiter's Gauntlets were also a new accessory, and he was interested in what they were meant to do. He saw Raito hold her hands out...and nothing happened.

"Er..." Artemis could tell even from this distance that she was struggling with something. All of Sailor Jupiter's electrical attacks were projectile based, so why didn't her's work the same? Wait... gauntlets were physical weapons.

"Try punching the robot," he suggested. He hoped that got some reaction.

Within the Lunar Ladle, a humble diner positioned at the edge of Crystal Tokyo's downtown district, the afternoon shift manager was busying himself with cleaning the floors. Toshiro was a clean and kempt individual, almost to the point of excess; he clearly believed in keeping a sharp appearance and a tidy workspace, and his athletic build was enough to convice the Ladle's patrons that he did not neglect his own personal maintenance. 

Toshi's eyes swept over the dining room floor, taking appraisal of the tasks that were left to complete before the dinner shift was to begin.

Tables cleared? Check.
Floors cleaned? Check.
Satisfied customers? Double check.

A quick glance backwards to the kitchen reminded Toshi that one thing was out of place. His busboy was assigned to clean the dishes, and had not yet returned from his garbage duty. Toshi had instructed him to take the garbage to its designated bin outside, a job that would take no more than 5 minutes to perform. Fifteen minutes later, the dishes still wanted for attention.

Sighing inwardly, the manager walked to the rear end of the Ladle in search of his wayward employee. Fortunately, he didn't have to look far; the rear door was ajar. Upon stepping outside, Toshi's eyes lit up in surprise. The busboy was there, but standing admidst a large pile of scattered garbage. Did he drop the bag onto the ground? Why was he standing there with a slackened jaw?

"What's going on, Shinichi? We need to prepare the kitchen for our dinner guests."

The younger boy was shaken out of his daze, turning to face his boss with mixed feelings of anger and fear. He was visibly upset by the scattered refuse, afraid that this unfortunate event would make him unworthy of employment. "D-do you see this, sir? It's like someone forsook any notion of cleanliness. I've never seen anything like it before!"

After a moment of consideration, the older man shrugged briefly. "Calm down! Just.. think of it like flatulence. It's disgusting while it's there, but after a short time it goes away and you forget that it happened." He guided the young employee back into the building to retrieve their brooms. "I know it's not your fault, so I'll help you clean."

---

From beneath the disposal unit, a rat the size of a small dog twitched its whiskers. It was listening attentively to the disenfranchised worker and his manager, following each of their words and the emotive expressions associated with their speech.

This was no ordinary rodent. In fact, it was not even a rodent at all; it was a magnificent, shapeshifting creature filled with limitless potential. This amorphous mimic had been given a name by its creators, but had forsaken the designation when it was consigned to a garbage heap like the one it had rifled through for leftover scraps of food. It had recently awoken from a self-imposed slumber, burrowing out of its safe haven beneath the Earth's surface.

He had dreamed of becoming the ruler of this beautiful planet, forming and shaping humanity into greater things. Their dreams, hopes, and spirited personalities all fed him with strength! And if he was careful, he could ensure that the process would continue indefinitely. Though time had blurred the finer details of Wilbur's memories, that dream had ended with his defeat.

Once the restaurant workers left to retrieve their cleaning equipment, the enlarged rat scurried off into the city streets.

 Raito

Punching the robot?

Raito quaked at the idea. She knew she was able, but punching a moving target wasn't something she had done before. The martial arts experience she had had so far was mostly with objects like boards and punching bags. She didn't actually like to fight other people, even if this was just a training youma robot. 

Hesitantly, she moved closer. The robot didn't seem to take much notice of her, so she inched in and tried to aim for a target. Her fist missed and the robot swung toward her. She cried out, sliding out of the way and putting up her hands in defense. 

When the robot made contact, her gauntlets discharged, making a huge explosive sound like thunder. Raito was given such a fright by the noise the she covered her ears and curled into a ball, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn't care what happened to the robot or what it did to her now, her mind was running away in fear from the noise her own powers had made.

 Atsuiko 


Seeing Raito's amazing attack and her negative response to it, Suiko couldn’t help but be worried. The senshi of Jupiter in training had cowered on the floor and didn’t seem to care if anything came to attack her. What would happen if this happened on the field? It could literally put them all in danger. None of this made her feel very confident.
 
Raito had also struggled to activate her powers. What if that happened to her? What if she couldn’t get them to work at all? Would the others think she was a failure? Make fun of her? Tell her that she wasn’t worthy of taking up her mother’s mantle of the fiery senshi of Mars. The more she thought about it, the worse her thoughts became until Atsuiko was a trembling nervous wreck waiting for Artemis to call upon her to take her turn. 

Deeply invested in the ongoing training, Serenity watched as Raito stepped up to make her attack. The poor kid was struggling, but Serenity refrained from helping her. She had to discover her powers on her own - if she couldn't do that, then she would never discover her true power. The tremendous strength buried deep inside her that would only appear when a senshi understood what being a sailor guardian really meant. 

Just as Serenity had expected, Raito finally got her powers to work. There was a deafening sound of thunder, and out of instinct Serenity shrieked, covering her ears. 

She hated thunder.

Her lip trembling slightly, Serenity opened her clenched eyes and glanced around her. There was no storm. No rain, no lightning, no actual thunder. It was just...Raito. The senshi of Jupiter had created a sound so loud, so powerful, that it had actually fooled Serenity into thinking it was legitimate. 

Pretty impressive.

But it seemed the noise didn't only frighten Serenity, but also Raito. The princess couldn't stand idly by any longer. Her heart reached out to this girl who was so lost and so scared. Serenity knew what that felt like. 

Taking several steps forward, Serenity knelt down and placed a gentle hand on Raito's back. "I'll bet you one thousand yen that your mother could never make a sound so powerful," she said, doing her best to cheer Raito up. She wasn't lying, either. Yeah, Sailor Jupiter's abilities were outstanding and extremely powerful, but were they ever this...loud? Raito was just a beginner, and she was already shaking the room with her abilities.

 Raito

Blind terror was racing through Raito's mind. She was unable to form coherent thoughts or open her eyes. 

Suddenly she felt a warm, gentle touch on her back. Distantly, she heard the voice of the Princess as she began to calm down. Then she processed what the Princess had been saying.

Louder than anything her mother could make? Such a thing seemed impossible. She had never really seen her mother in battle as a Senshi, but she never imagined her abilities evolving in ways so unlike her mothers. The thought was both encouraging and terrifying.

She then realized she hadn't responded to the Princess. Wiping her eyes and sitting up slowly, she managed to choke out a "R..Really?"

Artemis winced in the glass booth as Raito's attack finally went off-and with a near deafening explosion of sound to go with it. After the ringing in his ears died down, he dared to look at the aftermath. Well, he was right about the attack begin physical, but it also seemed to have its drawbacks. 

The robot itself was twitching, its entire arm sparking from the discharge of electricity. Multiple targets were lit up, but it was clear that it was pretty damaged as well. With a flick of a switch, he disconnected the broken limb, and it fell to the floor with a clang. He could always attach a new one later. And as for the senshi...

Raito was almost in the fetal position, probably scared half to death by the sound of thunder. Artemis had forgotten about that fear she shared with the princess, and if it was still this bad, Raito would have serious trouble fighting. Lady Serenity was also startled, but recovered much faster, to his relief. And she was already moving to comfort Raito, so that was good. But Atsuiko seemed even more nervous after that display. 

"How about we take a little break before we continue?" he suggested through the microphone. "I think I'll need some time to fix the robot up anyway. We'll resume in 15 minutes." Maybe that would give them time to work out some of their fears and discuss what they had learned.

Hikari stepped back, slightly embarrassed, as Artemis seemed surprise by her attack. Clearly she’d have to learn to control it, though it manifested in a similar way as her mother’s Love and Beauty Shock. She eyed the ribbon around her waist, still yet to try the whip, but figured that could wait. The less reason she could give her mother to make naughty names about it, the better.

She watched as Raito tried next, but nothing happened at first. The green-clad senshi seemed about to fall apart. Hikari was starting to think that maybe this shouldn’t have happened so early. She was mature for her age, but they were all barely teenagers. Their mothers were a bit older than they were when they first discovered their powers. Maybe a couple more years would really help them not feel so scared and overwhelmed. Besides, it wasn’t as if they were terribly needed right now, what with the princess and the Sailor Quartet still around, right?

As Raito tried again, Hikari saw her punch miss and flinched, but then when the robot hit Raito’s outstretched hands, a deafening, thundering sound exploded. She jumped, her eyes widening as she looked around. What was that?

It took her a while to realize it had come from Raito. Who was now curling on the floor, terrified.

Princess Lady Serenity quickly went to comfort her, and Hikari sighed in relief. She looked back at the robot and noted that though it might have been an accidental attack, whatever Raito did was still pretty powerful. It could be scary, having such a great power at such a young age, but it could make her a great soldier, too. The only problem was, of course, that she was afraid of exactly her own element. How could Jupiter’s daughter be afraid of thunder? It was certainly a puzzling thought.

As Artemis announced break time, she moved slowly toward Atsuiko, who still stood alone. The last time Hikari had tried to make her feel better, she’d failed spectacularly, but she refused to give up. It was part of her responsibility to make sure her team functioned well and that everyone was the best they could be. She also wanted to be their friend.

“Well, that was nerve-wracking, wasn’t it? But I’m sure whatever you can do will be great, too,” she said, trying to sound optimistic. “It’s difficult to get right the first time for all of us, that’s for sure. But the point of this is to learn, so try not to worry too much, okay? I promise we’ll all help each other and be here for one another no matter what.”

Serenity laughed, "Of course! You even made me jump!" Her attempt at calming Raito down seemed to be working, and she was grateful when Artemis suggested a break. Serenity needed a moment to really gather her nerves after that terrifying clap of thunder, and by the looks of it, Atsuiko needed the break too. 

Taking a deep breath, Serenity went to the control room to meet Artemis. Looking down at the girls, it seemed like Hikari was doing a great job of helping out Atsuiko. Whether or not Atsuiko would see it as a gesture of friendship was beyond Serenity's knowledge, but she hoped that the poor girl would get over her shyness soon. 

"So, what'd you think of all that? Those girls sure pack a punch," Serenity said, laughing nervously.

Artemis retracted the damaged robot back into the chamber beneath the floor and sighed. One day in, and it was already busted. He hadn't expected that at all. Oh well, if they really were too strong for the training dummies, he could always ask Mercury to design more durable ones. Artemis looked up as Serenity joined him in the control room. 

"They sure do, more punch than we thought they would when we designed the equipment!" Artemis said, looking sheepish. It was incredible how different the new senshi were compared to their parents. "Not to mention unpredictable. From what I've been seeing, their attacks seem to be more individualized than I had first assumed. I expected Awaki to use something more like Bubble Spray, but she used Arctic Bolt instead. And I've never heard of Lovely Radiance until just now... " He typed a new command into the computer, and sat back in his chair.

"So far, I think that Hikari and Raito possess the most raw power, but they definitely need more training in control before they get into any real fights. And now I have no idea what Atsuiko may be able to do." 

On one of the room's monitors, the computer was already comparing footage of the newly recorded attacks to older data from the original senshi. "Well, this is definitely a learning experience for all of us!" he said with a laugh.

Serenity absentmindedly twirled one of her pigtails around her finger, silently thinking to herself. There was the possibility that as the generations continued, the powers grew stronger. It was a hypothesis, but Serenity thought it would be valuable to suggest.

"You know how the original Queen Serenity died when she used the Silver Crystal's power? Well, my mom's used it loads of times and she's still healthy as can be. So that would suggest she's stronger than her mother, right? And maybe I'll be even stronger than my mother when I ascend to the throne. So maybe the same thing applies with the chibi senshi. Although...maybe their fathers have a role to play, too. I mean...Hikari's powers are pretty extensive, and both of her parents are strong warriors who served my parents. I don't know about Atsuiko, since she hasn't displayed her powers yet, but maybe the same applies for her, since her father is also a shittenou. I'm not really sure how to explain Raito...but she's got lots of power built up in there."

"Hm..." Artemis furrowed his brows as he thought, and the video clips continued to play on the screens in a loop. "That's a possible theory. Mixing the bloodlines of the Earth and the Moon gave you access to both powers in a way, and your own crystal. The Shitennou have their own powerful star seeds, even if they aren't quite Sailor Crystals. That could very well have passed on something extra to their children too, to a lesser effect." Artemis pulled up another set of data, this time a sample of the energy outputs of the Silver and Golden Crystals. "But as you said, that doesn't fully explain Raito's and Awaki's abilities at all." Unless the man that Sailor Jupiter married and Awaki's unknown father also coincidentally had strong star seeds, then that couldn't be the answer.

"We watched all four of them very carefully as they grew up, to make sure there were no unexpected complications from being a child of a senshi with a regular Sailor Crystal, and nothing strange came up on the tests. We didn't even realize that they were able to transform at all until a few years ago. Luna and I happened to sense their star seeds changing, and we started building transformation tools right after. But it could just be the environment they were born in." Artemis showed her a diagram of Crystal Tokyo, and its many magical defenses. 

"Being...er... conceived and growing up in the center of the Silver and Golden Crystals' magic could just be making them stronger as a side effect. Crystal Tokyo is a massive energy conductor, convector, and radiator, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the answer."

As she listened to Artemis's theory, Serenity could see how it made sense. The Silver and Golden Crystals were extremely powerful, and it wouldn't be too surprising if they did collaborate in cases such as the chibi senshi. Serenity's mind wandered to Helios, and she wondered how powerful her kids would be if they ever were to have a child...

Blushing suddenly, the princess turned away from Artemis and pretended to be focused on the girls in the training room. "Maybe we should have Mercury and Luna look at the data and give us their assessments. I'm sure between the four of us, we can narrow down the possibilities. But one thing's for sure - these girls are a force to be reckoned with."

Even though their relationship wasn't all that great yet, Serenity felt confident that these girls would be able to protect her future child. It made her feel like the future wouldn't be so scary after all.

She knew Hikari was only trying to comfort her, and she didn’t want to be rude, but she couldn’t speak, the words unable to make themselves past the lump in her throat that had formed after Raito’s attack. Everyone was able to make something happen and Atsuiko was scared that she wouldn’t be able to, that she was a failure of a senshi and would be stripped of her Senshi-in-training title, thus bringing shame onto her family. Deciding that she needed to acknowledge the girls words in some way, Atsuiko nodded slowly. The fact that Artemis had told them they had a break nearly made her faint with relief.
 

“Excuse me,” she murmured softly, quickly heading towards the exit of the training area. She had to get away, she was suddenly feeling trapped and claustrophobic. She needed to get somewhere quiet where she could contact her spirits friends and find her center.