A quick note a line in the previous chapter has been revised to “Shingo is off to college and Usagi is on her honeymoon and set to move in with Mamoru. It's just me and Kenji now.”
Now, without further ado, chapter two!
Chapter Two
Good things come in Fours
“You've failed!” shouted the lead Wiseman, standing over a groveling Father Iscariot. “You were supposed to bring us back the girl and instead you return to us empty handed.”
“But, my lord, I have identified the target!” said Iscariot.
“What does it matter to me what you have identified when it is not placed before me!?”
“You believe this 'girl' to be the one we have been searching for?” asked the second Wiseman, flipping through images of Chibimoon's battle with Iscariot.
“When I moved in for the kill there was a blinding white light,” explained Iscariot, “followed by a great surge of power that broke the hold Chaos had placed on the others. Who else could it have been?”
“Our vision showed that the Soldier of the Cosmos will come from the moon,” said the third Wiseman. “It is possible that she could have been this 'Chibimoon' before becoming Sailor Cosmos.”
“So, she finally stopped running,” said the lead Wiseman.
The second Wiseman leaned in to listen to the whispers of the cloaked individual on the throne before looking back to the others, “The High Priest wishes for this girl to be brought to him immediately. Even if she is not the one, a guardian of the future moon can make a valuable bargaining chip.”
“Then you will capture this girl for us, Iscariot,” said the lead Wiseman.
“Yes, my lords!” replied Iscariot. “I will not fail you again!”
“See that you don't,” warned the lead Wiseman.
****
Chibiusa was sitting at the desk in her room working on her Pink Moon Stick while the door was slightly pushed open by Diana to allow herself to slip through the crack and enter the princess' room.
“What are you doing, Small Lady?” she asked.
“Close the door!”
Diana closed the door the same way she opened it before jumping up onto Chibiusa's bed to get a closer look at what she was doing.
“Are you sure it's a good idea to have that out?” asked Diana.
“I'm working on it.”
“Whatever for?”
Chibiusa looked over at Diana with a hint of surprise on her face, “Are you serious?”
Diana continued to look on with an innocent and ignorant expression on her face while Chibiusa went back to work on her wand.
“You said this new enemy was able to control your actions?” asked Diana.
“Un huh,” answered a distracted Chibiusa.
“I don't like this. I think we better call the others for help–”
“Got it!”
“Huh?”
Chibiusa stood up from her chair with the wand in hand.
“Pink Sugar Heart–!”
“Small Lady, you can't fire that in here!”
“Attack!”
To both of their surprise a stream of hearts unleashed out of the end of the wand with little to no difficulty. The future princess erupted in cheer as she could hardly believe she actually got it working.
“I did it! I did it! It's working!”
“That's great–! AHH!”
Diana jumped down onto the floor from the bed and hid under it as the stream of hearts sped past her former position on the bed and shattered the glass of the nearby window due to Chibiusa turning. The Pink Moon Stick refused to shut down even at the command of its wielder. As Chibiusa continued to turn, the hearts blasted her work desk before slamming into the wall and rebounding off the wall to the floor.
“Diana, stop this crazy thing!”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Chibiusa, what's going on up there!?” called Ikuko from the floor below.
Chibiusa's eyes widened in panic as she tried desperately to get the wand to stop firing, going as far as to hit it a couple of times until finally, as luck would have it, the stream of hearts came to a halt and Chibiusa hid it under the bed. That didn't really matter as much after she saw what a wreck the room now was in the wake of the wand's outburst. Knowing she had no other way to explain this, the future moon princess hurried over to the door to lean against it to keep Ikuko from opening it.
“Chibiusa?” asked Ikuko from the other side of the door, “are you okay in there?”
“I'm fine! Everything is fine I was just... exercising.”
“Well be more careful!”
“I will be!”
Chibiusa slid down the door and into a sit as a sigh of relief escaped her lips at the sound of Ikuko heading back downstairs.
“That was too close,” said Chibiusa.
“I think now might be a good time to call the others,” said Diana.
“Good idea.”
Chibiusa stood up and walked back over to the bed and taking a seat before pulling out her wristwatch communicator to call the others.
“Guys, this is Chibiusa. Come in.”
But there was no answer.
“Guys, come in. We have a new enemy!”
Still no answer.
“Why won't they respond?” asked Chibiusa.
“Maybe we should check their houses,” suggested Diana.
“All right. Let's go!”
Chibiusa stood up and raced for the door until Diana spoke up again, “Princess, wait!” causing Chibiusa to come to a screeching halt and turn back around to face her cat.
“What?”
“Don't you think we should clean up this mess first?”
Chibiusa looked around the room that was recently trashed by her wand and laughed nervously.
“I'll get the broom.”
****
Meanwhile, in the deepest and darkest pits of the cave of Mt. Fuji, Father Iscariot isolated himself from his brethren to think about what his next move would be. The words of the There Wisemen continuing to repeat themselves in his head.
“You've failed,” Iscariot repeated bitterly. “I was doing just fine until that
girl managed to break free and heal the others.”
He stared into the black abyss and pressed his hands together before closing his eyes. A quiet chant exited the man's lips and energy flowed through his body and to his hands. Firing out from his fingertips and into the empty space in front of him. The energy came together and created a knight whose armor possessed the same darkness that surrounded him, as if he was born from the shadows themselves. The only light coming from his eyes that sparkled like the stars in the heaven above. The knight was in a kneel before Father Iscariot who was now looking his handy work over, pleased with the results.
“You will seek out the one called Sailor Chibimoon and bring her to me!” demanded Iscariot.
“Yes, my lord,” replied the knight.
****
Chibiusa held down on a button on the speaker against the outside wall of Ami's apartment and spoke into it, “Ami-chan? Ami-chan are you there? It's me, Chibiusa.”
Just like on the communicator there was no answer and Chibiusa was starting to get worried.
“She's not home. She's not answering her communicator. Where could they be?”
“Let's try Rei's place next,” suggested Diana.
Chibiusa nodded in agreement and headed over to the nearest bus stop. There she waited on the bench until the bus drove up and she got on. The bus door closing behind her and took off down the road until it reached its designation and Chibiusa got off with a couple of other girls in front of the familiar steps that led up to the Hikawa Jinja. Chibiusa headed up the many quantity of steps, always a good workout, and stopped at the top where she could see the shrine up ahead. A short bald headed man was at the shrine being overly friendly to a couple of the girls there. Chibiusa recognized him as Rei's grandpa, a fun prankster who could always make you smile but knew when to be serious.
“Ohh, now I haven't seen you in a long time,” said Rei's grandpa as he greeted Chibiusa. “You've grown into a pretty young lady. Can I interest you in a part-time job at the temple?”
“Uh... no thanks,” replied Chibiusa. “Is Rei home?”
“No. She's on a cruise with Yuuichirou.”
“C-cruise!?” said Chibiusa surprised
“She had an extra ticket she couldn't let go to waste,” explained Grandpa.
“You wouldn't happen to know where the others are?”
“Hmm, I know Ami is studying abroad. Don't know much about the others.”
“Thank you. That's all I needed to know, I'll be on my way.”
“Care for a good luck charm?”
Chibiusa looked over to the charms and decided to take one in light of recent events and the growing lack of help she had from the others. But before she could take another step she remembered the backpack on her back and the content inside.
“I almost forgot.”
Chibiusa took off the backpack and opened it to reveal the magazines Usagi had borrowed.
“I think Rei is going to want these back.”
Grandpa took the magazines and helped himself as Chibiusa went on her way down the stairs and back to the bus heading for the Aino residence.
Chibiusa walked up to the front porch and knocked on the door. The door came open halfway, held by a chain lock allowing the older blonde with blue eyes to get a look at who was standing outside her door.
“Who is it?” the blonde asked.
“It's Chibiusa. Is Minako home?”
“Minako doesn't live here anymore.”
“Do you know where I can find her?”
“Last I heard she went off rock climbing with her friend Makoto and won't be back for the rest of the week. I can give you her home address in the meantime.”
“That won't be necessary, I won't be staying that long. Thanks anyway.”
“You're welcome.”
Mrs. Aino closed the door and Chibiusa returned to the pavement with Diana at her side. Only having one more place left to check. She went to the outskirts of town and to a large house that resided there. Approaching the front and looking through a window to peek inside, seeing how dark it was on the other side. There was a chance that nobody was home but Chibiusa decided to knock on the door anyway and wait. But alas there was no answer and she was forced to face the cold harsh truth of the situation. She was alone.
Chibiusa headed back into town, nothing but silence between herself and Diana until the guardian cat decided to finally break the silence once they returned to the shopping district.
“Don't worry, Princess, we'll think of something. Princess?”
Diana turned to see Chibiusa staring through the same window that she and Ikuko looked through the other day, the window that had the beautiful pink dress Ikuko was wanting to purchase for her before everything went to hell. The dress was gone. A sold sign hung on the dress stand indicating its purchase.
“Someone must have purchased it after everything calmed down,” said Chibiusa.
“You can get another one.”
“Yeah...”
Chibiusa chose to say nothing more and continued down the pavement, passing by the familiar arcade doors of the Game Center Crown. She saw familiar figures through the glass window of the arcade and stopped to take a second look. Going over to the entrance of the doors that opened automatically as she approached, her eyes going over to one of the arcades to the right to four familiar women in pink, blue, green and red. Cerecere, Pallapalla, Junjun and Vesves. Chibiusa was reminiscent of the first time she met the four before finding out they were their new enemies. It was nice to see them all again. Chibiusa did a double take when she saw what game they were playing.
'Sailor Moon?' she thought.
It was obviously a new game as it was something she'd never seen before. The game had up to five players and she could see Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars on the screen fighting different monsters who appeared to the left and right of the screen. Occasionally a quick animation of the Senshi attacking would appear. Chibiusa wondered what the girls made of this game. She knew Usagi had always wanted to be animated.
“Ooh, pretty animation,” said Pallapalla.
“Vesves, behind you!” said Junjun.
Chibiusa watched as the game's difficulty proved to be a match for the old Sailor V game as the monsters became too much and the health bar for all four Senshi went down to zero. They each expressed a sound of disappointment at the game over screen as Chibiusa chose that time to approach the four.
“Need a hand, ladies?” she asked.
“Chibiusa!” the four exclaimed.
“Spare token?”
Chibiusa was handed a spare token and then entered it into the slot, joining the others in the game as Sailor Moon.
“Do we have time to play games?” questioned Diana but her question went ignored as the five became invested in the game. Diana's attention then went to the glass door as she saw people running by in a panic. Curious, Diana exited the building and looked down the road to see a large knight made of black shadow slowly marching down the street not making so much as a whisper. Diana quickly ran back into the arcade and over to where Chibiusa was.
“Small Lady, there's an–”
“Diana, you're not supposed to talk when we're in–!”
The automatic doors came open, this time allowing entry of the Chaos Knight who's eyes now looked towards the only five girls in the arcade. Bringing up his sheathed sword and slowly brandishing it in front of them.
“Public...”
The five stepped away from the Sailor Moon game and looked towards the knight that was now threatening them.
“What is that?” asked Cerecere.
“It eyes are so pretty,” said Pallapalla.
“Who you trying to scare?” asked Vesves. “I've tamed scarier beasts than you.”
“What are you doing!?” yelled Junjun.
The knight gave no response and raised up his sword, bringing it down in a horizontal swing at the five who were quick to get out of the way causing the sword to slice the arcade game in two. Chibiusa looked around at the other people in the arcade, and lack of places to go to transform. To make matters worse the knight was blocking the entrance of the building so they couldn't retreat to the streets.
“We need to get these people out of here,” said Chibiusa.
“Don't worry about it,” said Vesves.
“You just leave that to us,” said Cerecere.
Chibiusa looked at the two in confusion before looking over to see Pallapalla was already in the process of distracting the knight. Leading him over to the wall on the right-hand side while Junjun unplugged one of the nearby arcade games and brought the cord around the knight's ankles without his knowledge. Once the knight tried to take a step forward he lost his balance and crashed hard into the ground.
“This way, everyone!” called Cerecere to the crowd of people as she and the rest of the Amazoness Quartet led the people to safety, while trampling on the knight in the process.
“Hurry, Small Lady!” said Diana.
Chibiusa looked for a place to transform, her eyes wandering over to the counter and jumping over to the other side to ensure the knight couldn't see her change while he was getting up. Diana hid behind one of the arcades and watched as the knight made it back to his feet and started heading for the exit before Sailor Chibimoon jumped up on the counter behind him.
“Stop right there!” she demanded.
The knight turned around to be in full view of the Sailor Soldier.
“A beautiful girl plays beautiful games. To be pulled away from such a world of fantasy, I can never forgive you! For love and justice – Sailor Chibimoon – in the name of the moon, I'll punish you!”
“Sailor Cosmos,” spoke the knight at last.
A confused Chibimoon looked to the left and right before looking back to the knight and gesturing to herself. And the knight responded by charging full speed ahead at the Senshi, his sword at the ready. Chibimoon went over the knight, grabbing his shoulders and lifting her legs over his head as if she was jumping a vaulting block before landing on her feet behind the knight.
“I think you have me confused with someone else,” said Chibimoon.
The knight spun around and swung his long sword at Chibimoon who moved to the left and right to avoid its sharp edge before leaping back completely to get out of arm's reach of the knight. When the knight closed in again, Chibimoon rolled out of the way of his charge and watched as his sword collided into another arcade game and it proceeded to electrocute him for his troubles. Chibimoon drew her wand and was about to launch an attack of her own, but the knight bounced back quicker than one would have expected and reached out to grab Chibimoon by the throat, lifting her up off her feet and into the air to find...
A fake doll copy of Chibimoon in her stead. At the top of the doll's head was a fuse growing smaller, and smaller until the fuse burnt out and the doll exploded right in the knight's face. The Quartet had returned just in time to pull the old switch-a-roo on the knight as Chibimoon now stood among them.
“You did all that?” asked Chibimoon.
“The explosion should have been bigger,” said Junjun.
“Who asked you!?” said Vesves.
“Look out, it's regenerating!” screamed Diana.
“Told you it should have been bigger,” said Junjun.
Chibimoon took a step forward and held up her Pink Moon Stick before crying out, “Pink Sugar Heart Attack!” Launching the ever so familiar pink hearts at the knight, who unlike past enemies, ran head long into it and repelled the hearts with his sword while cutting the distance between the two, forcing Chibimoon and the Amazoness Quartet to retreat to the outside of the Game Center Crown and onto the streets.
“What do we do now?” asked Cerecere.
“I don't know,” said Chibimoon.
The knight lunged through the air, sword over his head and coming down upon the heads of the girls who jumped out of the way in the nick of time, Chibimoon, Junjun and Vesves jumping to the right while Cerecere and Pallapalla jumped to the left and the knight crashed in the spot they were standing on as his blade created a crack in the ground. The knight turned in Cerecere and Pallapalla's direction and charged towards them, causing Pallapalla to start crying and suddenly...
A blue diamond shaped female symbol appeared on her forehead.
“Pallapalla!” cried out Cerecere, who threw herself between her friend and the knight, unbeknownst to her of the similar symbol on her own forehead only it was pink and shaped more like a hook. She also didn't noticed the barrier that had grown around the two blocking the knight from harming either of them.
“Pallapalla! Cerecere!” said a concerned Chibimoon, Junjun and Vesves in unison.
“What's happening to them?” asked Junjun.
“It looks like...”
Chibimoon turned to face the others and saw a green and red matching symbol on Junjun and Vesves' heads. The former having seven points extending from the top in a star burst and the latter being the most unique of all with a slight curve line up top and two V's stacked on each other, the bottom of which stretched out a little in a straight line at the left and right of it. Diana came out of the arcade to see what was going on and came to a realization.
“The Asteroid Senshi!” she exclaimed.
Jumping up into the air, and spinning around through it, four henshin sticks matching the colors of the Quartet touched the ground underneath after falling from her. Diana landed from her jump and called out to the others.
“Hurry! Take these and transform!”
The knight caught wind of this and began making way for Diana.
“Diana, look out!” yelled Chibimoon.
But it was too late, the knight reached Diana and smacked her across the air and into the nearby building wall.
“DIANA!” screamed Chibimoon.
The others gasped as a wounded Diana shook on the ground. Chibimoon's eyes closed, threatening to burst into tears as her body trembled in anger before she opened them again and held up her Pink Moon Stick.
“I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!”
Through her anger, Chibimoon released an even more powerful version of her Pink Sugar Heart attack that the knight was incapable of combating, sending him flying through the air and crashing into the front of the Game Center where he exploded into shadows. Chibimoon and the Quartet ran over to Diana's position to check on her, Chibimoon dropping to her knees and gently taking Diana into her arms.
“Diana, are you all right?” asked Chibimoon.
“I'm fine,” said Diana weakly.
Chibimoon let out a weak smile, happy that Diana wasn't seriously injured. While she was tending to the cat the shadow warrior she thought dead began to expand over the surface of the Game Center Crown, turning into a large mass of black which began to emerge from the front of the arcade. The Quartet looked up in shock at the horror that was growing from such a peaceful shop before looking back down at Chibimoon.
“Chibimoon!” they said in unison, alerting the Senshi as she looked up to see the warrior herself.
“Transform,” said Diana, again weakly. “You have to transform... Help Small Lady...”
The Quartet picked up the henshin sticks and looked at the others unsure of what to do.
“Hold up your sticks and say the name of your asteroid,” explained Diana. “The rest will come to you...”
The Quartet nodded and then raised their henshin sticks in the air.
“Ceres Power!”
“Pallas Power!”
“Juno Power!”
“Vesta Power!”
“Make up!” they all said near the end in unison.
The customary blinding bright lights surrounded the four as their clothes vanished, flowers plopped up all over Cerecere's body and sprouted to form her sailor fuku of white and pink, white puffed sleeves, white gloves that went to her upper-arms with pink edges at the end, matching knee high boots with pink V-shaped borders and five-pointed star at the top. Pink choker. A gray bow with another pink five-pointed star in the center and a light pink bow at the back. A single vine took the shape of her tiara before forging into such and creating the pink gem at the center.
The more traditional ribbons wrapped around Pallapalla's body to form her fuku. Light blue where Ceres were pink, with a dark blue front bow and pale blue back bow.
Junjun was covered by peacock wings which then transformed to a green and white sailor suit with a brown bow on the front and light green bow on the back.
The henshin stick in Vesves' hand started to burn up until the sacred flames burst forth from the stick and surrounded her body, forging the red and white sailor suit onto her with a black front bow and back light red bow as the four now stood before the monster.
“Sailor Ceres!”
“Sailor Pallas!”
“Sailor Juno!”
“Sailor Vesta!”
“The Sailor Quartet!” the four exclaimed in unison as a pink, blue, green and red explosion erupted behind them as they posed. Chibimoon couldn't believe her eyes, the four people who started out as enemies and turned into friends were now her fellow soldiers, her guardians.
“Where did the explosions come from?” questioned Pallas, looking behind them at the colored smoke now drifting through the air.
Vesta looked over to Juno, “Big enough for you?”
Juno laughed nervously.
“Guys, look!” said Ceres, the four looking up to see the now large shadow creature opening its mouth and giving out a terrifying roar that shook the area around them.
The four came together and held up their arms as if they all had arrows, charging up their power and crying out, “Amazoness Jungle Arrow!” before releasing a massive beam of power head first into the shadow warrior who screamed as soon as the attack hit.
“Now, Sailor Chibimoon!” called Ceres.
“Right!”
After making sure Diana was safe, Chibimoon joined with the others and held up her Pink Moon Stick at the wounded monster with the support of the Quartet.
“Pink Ladies Freezing Kiss!”
A flash of pink light appeared at the battle cry and the shadow warrior froze in place, as if somebody pressed the pause button on its life before the shadow's body cracked and shattered into a million pieces that fell on the ground and dispersed. Upon the monster's defeat the five cheered and came together. Diana smiled at the five, knowing that the princess has finally found her guardians and they were safe. She looked up to the sky and to her surprise she saw what looked to be a woman with wings, pigtails flowing freely through the air atop her head with a trail of golden sparkles following behind her line of flight, and the glow of the sun making her look like an angel looking down from the heavens. Diana didn't know who or what it was, and couldn't make out much more due to how far up they were, but seeing her gave the cat a great sense of...
Serenity.