Crystal Tokyo was in chaos.
It had begun all so innocently. About a month ago, VesVes had gotten it into her head one morning that it would be a good idea to mess with CereCere's makeup drawer, replacing everything with various food condiments (PallaPalla had helped). The leader of the asteroid Senshi had been unamused, and quickly returned fire by lining all of Ves's bed sheets with itching powder.
Sailor Vesta, typically, had responded by setting fire to Cere's flower garden.
It had spiraled out from there, with JunJun being drawn into the conflict after meeting Cere's new flower golem instead of Ves during a midnight bathroom trip. Chibiusa and Hotaru of course hadn't missed a beat, declaring war on all parties by noon the next day when the lemonade balloons began to fall.
No one was really sure who had drawn the elder Senshi into the fight, but once that barrier had been breached, the conflict had swept through the Crystal Palace like wildfire, drawing everyone in irreversibly. But even then, things might have been okay. Things might have eventually petered out as the various players got tired, or bored, or just ran out of ideas.
Unfortunately, Minako happened, and the conflict had become a self-sustaining whirlwind of pure unrelenting chaos.
The Senshi of Venus currently lay hidden within a dumpster near the street corner, peering out through the top, a pair of binoculars stuck to her face. This was to be the culmination of a solid week of preparation. Any moment, the ever-elusive King Endymion would make his daily stroll down the street across from where she currently was. She had managed to get just about everyone else (repeatedly!), but Endymion was…difficult. Between Official King Business and his obsession with his computer room, the king was rarely ever in a position to be taken down a peg. But she had had the chance to study his habits meticulously over the ages, and especially over the past week. She knew when the king went on his walks and where—and when he was a hologram or not (she suspected the real walks were Serenity's doing). The King's reliability was about to be his undoing. An evil grin spread across her face. Any moment now. Any moment.
Minako was so focused on her objective however, that she almost didn't hear the sound of a garbage drone backing up towards the side of the dumpster. Realization slowly and quietly dawned on Minako. There was beeping. But…pickup on this street wasn't until Thursday. It couldn't... Minako turned her head away from the binoculars and towards the drone, just as the dumpster shook, causing her to lose her footing and fall into the trash heap. Her eyes widened in horror as the dumpster was lifted up over the drone, and then began to turn over. Surprise gave way to rage as she realized she had been had.
"Wait…no. No! NO! YOU SUCK, MAMORUUUUUUU!" Minako screamed, as she was thrust head-first into the garbage pit, with more following behind her.
Deep within the bowls of the palace, King Endymion rested his nose over his folded hands, a slight grin forming over his face as he watched the garbage drone speed off down the street on his screen. Seconds ago, his counter-operation had been a complete success. Minako was good, no doubt, but Endymion was the King. He had all the surveillance the city had to offer at his fingertips, and if he wanted trash pickup to come two days early, then goddamnit it was going to come two days early.
The King made a mental note to shake up his routines more. It was one thing if Minako figured it out-but it would be quite another if someone more unsavory followed in her footsteps.
But regardless, the King celebrated his little victory, grabbing the cup of tea Makoto had delivered just a few minutes before and putting it to his lips.
…
That was NOT tea. Old, flat, warm soda, perhaps?
Endymion put the cup down, his expression stony. "…Mako" he breathed. Something would have to be done about the Sailor Senshi.
Neo-Queen Serenity was many things: living goddess, devoted mother, former superhero, beloved monarch. What she was not, however, was good at pranking.
Bless her heart though; she tried her best every time. She had spent most of last week trying to convince anyone and everyone to shake her hand, after discovering that she could turn her entire body into a joybuzzer through the power of the Silver Crystal. Most had been able to duck out of her way, but poor Endymion had been forced to acquiesce. Repeatedly.
Before that it had been the whoopee cushions. And before that, snakes in a can.
At present, the Queen had in her possession a large water gun almost the size of her arm, trying (in an exercise in futility) to stealthily sneak through the palace into one of the labs where Ami was currently working. In her mind she had crept in like a ninja—she only hummed her own personal spy music for half of the way down this time!
Serenity poked her head around the corner, sighting Ami sitting in front of a computer screen, her back to Serenity.
"…Chance" the Queen muttered to herself confidently, an impish grin the size of her gun plastered on her face. She rounded the corner in one swift movement, aiming the gun at Ami's head before shouting in a sing-song voice, "HI AMIIII~III!"
Ami spun around, unsurprised by the encounter, to which Serenity paid no heed as she was way too far into the moment for that. Laughing madly, she pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
"…What?" Serenity asked in surprise, before she continued to pull the trigger, becoming more and more frustrated as nothing continued to happen. Why wasn't it working?! It worked when she tried it!
"Just…just stay right there" she told Ami, before putting the gun down and peering into the barrel to see if anything was stuck.
To her credit, Ami did just sit there, but it was mostly because she was having a small moral dilemma. Should she? Serenity DID sort of deserve it, but…it would be kind of mean. But then, had Serenity not been so loud coming down here, Ami probably wouldn't have known and her equipment would be ruined right about now.
…Yeah, hell with it.
Ami released her mental hold on the water in the gun, allowing the full force of the weapon to unload right in Serenity's face. Ami giggled as the now-sopping-wet Queen spit out a mouthful of water, her eyes glaring at her friend.
Ami sighed, "Usagi, I told you. This is a no-prank-zone. You'll ruin the equipment."
Serenity huffed, "I'm queen. I can buy you new equipment!" she added with a bit of manic gleam, "…I can buy you BETTER equipment!"
The Senshi of water blinked. She decided to ignore the fact that her equipment was *already* beyond state-of-the-art, "...And my research? My experiments?"
"…Fine, fine. I'm sorry, Ami" Serenity sighed in resignation, slinging the gun over her shoulder, "You're no fun, you know that?"
Ami smiled, "Why don't you go hunt down Mamoru instead?"
The Queen's expression turned to a conspiratorial one for a moment, before she turned around and bounded out of the room, a large smile on her face, "Oooh Mamo!" she called out cheerfully, to no one in particular. Ami just shook her head and chuckled, before getting back to work, feeling only a twinge of guilt at once again aiming Typhoon Serenity at her husband.
Minako closed the door to her chambers and sighed, leaning against the door as she reflected on her recent defeat, tossing a chunk of dirt out of her hair as she did so. She smelled herself, and was immediately revolted, "Ugh. "
So close. So goddamn close. Getting Endymion would be the final and most glorious capstone to her campaign of chaos. Virtually everyone else had already fallen before her might. Ami had been first, who after coming home from an assignment in America to find her entire library rearranged to be sorted by size and color.
Man, Ami was PISSED.
Rei had been equally annoyed when the sacred fire had suddenly acquired firecrackers.
Haruka never saw the beehive coming.
Makoto was a nice two-for-one. She had removed the palace kitchen's entire food supply and replaced it with instant ramen—including Mako's personal hard-to-acquire ingredients. This had evidently caused Mako to break down into a semi-catatonic state, where Serenity found her in a fetal position about an hour later while looking for a snack…and promptly joined her in a fit of panic.
But Serenity. Oh, Serenity. She had been the crown jewel so far. It had actually taken everyone's help to pull it off, by teleporting the sleeping queen out of her room and into a perfect replica of her room from when she was a teenager that they had built. Combine this with a voice synthesizer to simulate her mother, they had actually managed to convince Serenity that she had either somehow flown back in time, or that everything had been a dream. She had gotten halfway down the hall in a school uniform, utterly convinced she was late, before realizing something was awry.
Everyone unanimously agreed it had been completely worth being forced to clean the entire palace by hand.
A loud throat clearing broke Minako out of her train of thought. Looking ahead, she saw Artemis walking towards her.
"…Artemis? Why are you here?" she asked, making her way towards him.
The white cat seemed annoyed, "So. The mousetrap in the litterbox."
Minako chuckled nervously, knowing exactly what Artemis was talking about, "Oh…right. I had forgotten about that one" she shrugged, "…What?"
Artemis glared, "Yeah, about that. Luna's not happy and is half convinced it was my doing. So, thanks for that."
She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Oh come on Artemis, it was just a joke."
Artemis walked past her towards the door, "Yeah, well, I hope you enjoy mine. It's on your bed. I'll show myself out."
Minako sighed again, and idly wondered how big the mouse corpse was as she wandered into her room to clean it up.
Endymion opened the door to the royal chamber, and was promptly met with pizzas. Hundreds of pizzas. Hundreds upon hundreds of pizzas.
"…Usako" the King whispered to himself, his fingers pressed against the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to stave off a migraine. The Queen, for her part, was currently passed out in the back in a state of post-pizza bliss, the water gun plan long forgotten. It might have been a bit like egging your own house, but she couldn't argue with the results.
"I declare the first official meeting of the Minako Revenge Squad open"
Makoto sweatdropped, "Um…don't you think that's a little overboard, Rei?"
The two of them and Ami sat in Makoto's living quarters, each situated around the living room table. Ami sat perched near the window, keeping her attention on her book as the other two debated. For her part, Rei seemed absolutely livid, but was making a point to try and stay calm and friendly.
"…Overboard?" she asked, "Overboard was when she RUINED MY HAIR!" as if to make her point, Rei dangled a lock of her newly-bleached hair at Makoto. The brown-haired girl put up her hands in defense, laughing nervously.
"You know it'll grow back, right?" Mako asked timidly, not really wanting to invoke the wrath of Mars.
Rei seemed to be a boiling cauldron of rage just under the surface, which she was doing her best to keep down, "But do you have any idea how long that will take?" she seemed to get a bit more hysterical, "I'll have to cut my hair! I haven't ever had short hair! Not in a thousand years! And whatever she did, dying it black again doesn't work! I'm going to *murder* her!"
"Revenge only perpetrates the cycle" Ami replied calmly, "Anything we do will only cause Minako to hit back even harder."
"You're saying we should surrender?" Mako asked, a bit incredulously. Even if she wasn't quite as gung-ho about it as Rei, she still wanted a bit of payback. It had been several days, but Here!Curry boxes still haunted her nightmares. She had been lucky Rei had claimed them before Mako had gotten the chance to set fire to the kitchen.
Ami put her book down and looked towards the others, "Perhaps the only way to win is simply not to play."
"Bullshit" Rei replied, "I am *NOT* giving Minako that kind of satisfaction. I want victory!"
To this, Mako snorted, "Seriously, Ami? Aren't you the one who hyper-cooled Minako's plumbing after she messed up your library?"
Ami blushed slightly at the memory, "That um…"
"And then let a torrent of water carry her down the stairs one day?" asked Rei.
"Er…"
Mako chimed in again, "And then had me add a ton of hot sauce to her meal?"
"And then there was the time you—"
Ami cut in, "Okay! Okay, I get it" she exclaimed, embarrassed at herself…though revenge had been sweet. It had taken days for Ami to arrange her collection back to the way it should have been, "So….what do you propose?"
Mako shifted in her seat; whatever was about to happen, she knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Rei seemed to sit in contemplation for a moment, but just a moment, "We need to raise the stakes. We need something that will force Minako to ask for a cease-fire. We need a war-ender."
Mako's eyebrows furrowed in concern, "…This isn't going to end with us in jail, is it?"
"Mako" Ami said softly as she turned a page in her book, but the tone was unmistakable, "Crystal Tokyo doesn't have a penitentiary system, and we are its governors."
Makoto gulped. Uh oh, she thought.
Uh oh.
The loaded balloon flopped awkwardly in Haruka's hands as she rounded the corner. Michiru was likely finishing up her painting for the day, the perfect time to strike. But as she snuck into the studio, she realized it was empty.
Wait, what?
Haruka's confusion was quickly swept away however, as she sensed someone coming up from behind and her fight or flight instinct overtook her for a split second. She spun around to see Michiru standing a few feet away, arms crossed, her eyes narrowing into slits of annoyance.
"I hope you weren't planning on using that balloon on me" she said calmly, though Haruka could easily detect the tension that lay underneath, the part that told her she would be finding somewhere else to sleep very shortly.
Haruka laughed nervously, "Ha, of course not. This is…a um…"
Michiru continued to just stand there as Haruka stumbled over her own words.
"…for you!" Haruka said, getting a sudden burst of inspiration, "I figured you could use…another prop for your paintings."
Michiru continued to stare.
"See, 'cause it's…round, and has um…depth."
Michiru continued to stare.
A bead of sweat streaked down Haruka's forehead, "And if you turn it like this, the uh…the water moves with it, and it would be cool if you could uh…"
Michiru continued to stare.
"And you could do a bunch of balloons! I have…I mean, I could get more and we could place them in a…um…"
Michiru continued to stare.
"'Cause, y'know, I've always really admired your talent and I thought work on something…together…"
Michiru continued to stare. Just a little bit more…
"I…could pose with the balloon!"
Checkmate.
Michiru's mouth moved to that of a smile as she graciously took the balloon from Haruka, "Thank you, Haruka, for the wonderful idea. I appreciate the thought, and I agree. What do you say nine am tomorrow?"
"…Nine?" Haruka asked sheepishly, her hand scratching the back of her head. Her stomach dropped; she had dug herself a hole and now she was going to lay down in it…and Michiru knew it. She could tell-it wasn't a gracious smile. It was a wolf's smile. Goddamnit, why couldn't she keep her mouth shut for once in her life?
"Nine it is. Every day this week" Michiru nodded, before grabbing Haruka's arm and leading her to the door, "Now I need to get back to work. I'll see you tonight, hm?"
"Uh…yeah" Haruka said, dumbfounded, before she was unceremoniously tossed out the door.
"Haruka?"
"Hm?" asked Haruka, turning back but subconsciously bracing for yet another blow.
"I was worried. I'm glad you, at least, are above this silly prank war."
"I…of course. Ha ha. Ha…" Haruka descended into nervous laughter, her hand still in her hair.
The Senshi of wind slumped down onto the floor after the door was shut. Posing at nine am. For hours. Every day. And she hadn't even gotten the satisfaction of throwing the balloon.
"…How *does* she do it?" Haruka sighed to herself, looking up at the ceiling.
Michiru closed the door, a smug look of satisfaction plastered across her face, before a giggle escaped her lips. She tossed the balloon in her hand, a gleeful expression growing now as she headed back into her study, basking in complete and utter victory, acquired without even ever firing a shot.
"It's like living in a castle full of children."
Some days Kensuke regretted his job. Not his profession, no, never. He loved being a gardener. But when he had acquired the job here at the palace, he had expected a nice calming occupation—one where he tended to flowers so that others could enjoy their beauty. He didn't, however, expect everyone in the government to be absolutely INSANE.
Well, the monarchical branch anyway. Surely the civilian branch of the government was more sane…right? Right?
And it was the weirdest thing, too. Some days the Senshi and the royal family were all business-minded hyper-competent demigods, the ones who had allowed Crystal Tokyo and Japan as a whole to rise above the Great Cataclysm centuries ago and had led all of them into an unparalleled golden age. But just as it seemed that that was how they were, a breath of utter craziness would sweep in and make Kensuke question his own sanity. Like that time three or four years ago, when the Queen had decreed every Wednesday to be doughnut day, which lasted for a few weeks before the King managed to talk her out of it. Or whenever one of Sailor Mercury's experiments…er…got out of hand. They were still cleaning up lab six, almost a year later. He wasn't really sure what had actually happened, and no one was really willing to tell the story, least of all Mercury.
Then there was the current batch of crazy which had been going on for a solid month now. Just last week someone had released five wild boars, greased up and each painted with a different number. One, two, three, and five had been accounted for, but four was still on the loose. Kensuke was pretty sure Four didn't actually exist and was part of the prank, but his superiors were still quite convinced it was out there…which was why Kensuke was currently searching the main cafeteria hall for the umpteenth time.
Suddenly Kensuke heard a snarl…but it didn't sound like any pig he had ever heard. He turned around, and for a moment he did nothing, dumbfounded. A moment later however, he did what any rational, sane person would do when confronted with Sailor Venus riding a Utahraptor, charging right at him, a twisted, hellish version of a Valkyrie on her steed.
He screamed.
"Trapped in a crevice."
"…has merit, but how would we get her in position?"
"Give her enough time, she could just teleport out anyway. Not practical."
"Set her clocks twenty minutes early."
"Pass."
"…Static electricity?"
"You did that already, Mako. Thanks, by the way. My hair stood on end for the next three days" Rei brushed her hand through her annoyingly blond hair, as if to make her point. Mako smiled sheepishly.
The three Senshi wandered around the palace's Grand Hall, continuing their search for the perfect game-ending prank. Luckily for them, here in the midafternoon the hall was mostly empty, with just a few people coming and going to their appointments, leaving the Senshi to muse at their leisure. They had been moving from room to room, in an intense search to find the perfect place to fuck with Minako.
"If we attune the palace's crystalline structure to a particular frequency, we could cause it to vibrate. The results on Minako's mind may be…enlightening."
"Yeah, hers and everyone else's" Mako replied, a little surprised at Ami.
Rei's eyebrow shot up as she looked at Ami, "Wouldn't that…y'know, do bad things to the structural integrity of the palace?"
"…Not if we're careful" Ami replied, a little bit quieter.
Makoto decided to cut this particular one off at the pass, "Uh…let's put a pin on that one, hm? Good for a backup, but I think we can do better."
"We could always rig the stage during Minako's next performance" Rei mused, glancing over to the far end of the hall, were a small but wide set of stairs led up to a higher platform used for events. Her hand rested over her chin and mouth in a thinking pose.
Mako looked over at her, "…What did you have in mind?" she asked, much relieved that at least Rei was being a bit more…even minded, about this, even in the midst of her single-minded rage-fueled objective.
Rei shook her head, "I don't know. Itching powder smoke, embarrassing baby pictures on the megascreen…Nothing sounds like it would be big enough. I hate to say it, but maybe the crystal idea isn't so bad."
Uh oh. Mako's mind raced for something, anything to steer the train of thought away from the possible destruction of Crystal Tokyo.
As if to answer her prayers, the area directly in front of them suddenly bent and split, space-time itself rending apart as a large, ornate doorway appeared, obscured by smoke and mist. Then just like that, space-time folded back in, leaving absolutely no indication anything had ever been awry…except that now a six foot sailor Senshi with a large staff stood where the temporal hole had once been.
"…Pluto?" asked Mako, blinking in surprise.
"What's up?" Rei added, her hands now on her hips. Pluto never made entrances like this unless it was important, usually appearing more away from public areas and with more discretion. She looked very unhappy. This was a business call.
"Where is Minako?" she asked, distress barely leaking through her even tone.
Mako smirked, "What, she got you too?"
Pluto glanced over at Mako, "She's taken a time key. I'm not even sure how she did it, but she has engaged in unauthorized time travel."
"Can't you just track her down through the Gates of Time?" asked Mako.
Pluto shook her head, "Space is large, and time even more so. It would take a great amount of effort to track down a single person, and time is of the essence. I must put a stop to it before she damages the temporal stream irrevocably."
Rei's eyes widened with a sudden burst of inspiration, but only for a moment. It vanished as soon as it had appeared, an evil malicious grin taking its place as she rubbed her hands together, "Hell~o, opportunity."
Serenity had seen and done many things over the centuries. For a girl who learned to teleport and shoot magical attacks at the age of fourteen and had fought aliens and monsters for a decade before ascending to the position of living goddess, she was pretty comfortable with Odd Things happening. That said; one could easily picture her expression of utter confusion when she got reports of a dinosaur on the loose…currently in the Royal Gardens. At first she had thought it was another prank, but the cameras had convinced her…and yeah, she did indeed feel a lifeform she didn't recognize through the power of the crystal currently inside the Palace.
This wasn't good.
Serenity teleported into the gardens in a brilliant flash of light, deciding that time was of the essence. She didn't know that much about prehistoric animals, but she HAD seen Jurassic Park. She knew how this worked.
…Unfortunately for her, in typical Usagi fashion, she had teleported in directly in front of the beast. The Queen released a guttural scream of terror and, at speeds faster than that of sound, had scurried backwards into the wall, her chest pounding in fear. While ruminating on her imminent demise, she noticed Sailor Venus on top of the monster, riding it…with a saddle.
…Why a saddle?
"…Mina…Minako?" she asked, catching her breath, "What…what are you doing!?"
Venus waved at the Queen enthusiastically, "Hey, Usagi! Not much, just enjoying a lovely garden stroll. What's up?"
The Queen blinked, then pointed "I mean…the saddle. And the dinosaur. And…where…"
"Oh, that" Venus waved dismissively, "Don't worry about it, I just borrowed a time key from Diana."
Serenity's eyes widened, "Mina! We can't do that! The time keys are dangerous!"
"Oh come on, Usagi. What's the point of having them if we can't have a little fun? It's not like the Mesozoic's going to miss this guy if he's gone for a couple hours. What's the worst that could happen?"
Serenity's posture took on a more serious and regal one, one that said that we were done with light-hearted jokes, this was serious business, "Minako. Pluto said they were dangerous, and I trust Pluto. You could trigger the Butterfly Effect!"
Minako blinked, "…Do you even know what the butterfly effect means?"
The Queen's eyes became somewhat more petulant and annoyed, "Of…of course I do! I'm Queen! If you don't return that dinosaur, we'll be attacked by giant weather-controlling butterflies from beyond time and space!"
"…weather-controlling butterflies" Minako repeated in a disbelieving even-toned manner.
"Yeah, y'know, one flaps its wings and suddenly we're dealing with a typhoon! And there'll be thousands of them. Millions, even, raining down from the heavens! And I don't want to have to defend Tokyo from the endless hoard of time-butterflies! If we get hit by time-typhoons, I'll…I'll never forgive you!" Serenity rambled on, becoming more and more passionate and less and less coherent as she went on.
Minako blinked, then sweatdropped. "Um…" she shook herself out of her dumbfoundedness, "You have my word and my vow as Sailor V" she said solemnly, putting up her right hand, "Butterflies will not 'rain down from the heavens' in an apocalyptic swarm. This guy will be back home before you know it."
Serenity looked at her skeptically.
"…Trust me?" asked Minako innocently, though her tone was anything but.
Serenity exhaled, knowing she was probably going to regret every iota of following conversation, "…He's...not going to *eat* anyone, is he?"
"This guy?" Venus laughed, petting her steed, who actually seemed to like it, "Don't worry about it. I fed him before we left. Now, hi-ho Silver, awayyyy!" she cried, snapping the reins on the reptile and causing him to race off into another part of the castle.
"Wait…Venus!" Serenity called after her, but she was already gone. The Queen fumed, "No one listens to meeeAAAAUGH!" she screamed and flailed as a small, blue butterfly flittered past her, "IT'S STARTING!" She dug her hands into her scalp, "IT'S STAAAAARTING! MAMOOOOOOO!" she cried running out of the gardens, mentally prepping for war.
"This is ridiculous"
"Come on, Setsuna, have a sense of humor" Rei said, while taking a good, long look at the Great Hall's layout. Everything had to be perfect.
"Minako is causing an anomaly in space-time, and you're treating it like a joke" Pluto replied. She was quickly becoming cross with the other Senshi; why weren't they taking this seriously? Perhaps she would have an easier time talking to the Queen.
Mako put her hand on her shoulder, "Relax, Pluto. We gotta catch Minako first, and teach her this isn't something you do in a way she'll understand. Otherwise she'll just keep doing it because she thinks it's funny."
"But present her with a crisis, and Minako will drop her façade as she realizes the gravity of the situation" said Ami. She was currently sitting cross-legged on the floor, messing with mathematical data on a small crystalline laptop, "Then we can fix whatever's wrong."
"Besides" Rei spoke up, turning to Pluto, "Didn't you tell us that time is relative? As long as we fix whatever she did at the time that she did it, we're fine. And much better than cleaning up after her as she goes."
Pluto sighed in resignation, "Yes, that's…true, but…"
"Just leave it to us!" Mako replied enthusiastically, slapping her hand on Pluto's shoulder. Pluto did her best not to wince.
"I've got the frequency" said Ami as she closed the laptop and stood up, "I just need some help moving the equipment from the lab."
"Oh, this is going to be glorious" Rei replied, rubbing her hands with manic glee.
Minako's head peeked around the corner into the Great Hall as the others left through another exit. "Oh my, it's a good thing I kept tabs on my victims. Isn't that right, Mr. Silver?" she pointedly asked her erstwhile reptilian companion, whose head was also peering around the corner. It let out a snort.
"Oh, I agree. We'll have to teach them a lesson in trying to one-up Minako, hmm? After all, as they say, you mess with the horns, you'll get the bill!"
The dinosaur seemed confused for a moment, but quickly lost interest and began sniffing the walls of the hallway they were in, casually walking away.
"…Everyone's a critic" Minako sighed to herself, before turning to follow it.
Haruka looked over the wide amount of equipment Ami had plucked from various labs and brought into the center of the room. Various machines littered the ground in front of her; she had no idea what any of them did, just that they looked dangerous.
"This is insane" she muttered under her breath. She had found the others after being tossed out of Michiru's study, and had sort of reluctantly tagged along, needing to get her mind off things.
Mako carried another device into the room, "Y'know, if you don't want to help, you don't have to."
Haruka shook her head and shrugged, "Nah. I owe Minako, both for the beehive and for filling the gas tanks of all of my antique racers with cranberry juice" her expression instantly turned from ambivalence to pure unrelenting malice, but directed at no one in particular, "Do you have *any* idea what that does to a car?" Haruka willingly ignored the fact that she had just called her old cars antiques. Being functionally immortal really messed with your perception of time, and Michiru already did a damn fine job of making Haruka feel absolutely ancient. One could say it was one of her favorite pastimes.
How old was she now? 1,019? 1,020? 1,120? And did the century and a half she spent frozen count? She could look it up of course, but she had long since lost the ability to recount off the top of her head, sometime back in the six hundreds. Oh well. It was probably for the best.
Mako almost dropped the device instead of just placing it in the pile, "…Oh, y-yeah" she suddenly said, suddenly a little jittery and no longer willing to make eye contact with Haruka, her face reddening, but the wind Senshi was too wrapped up in her own thoughts now to really pay attention, "The cranberry juice thing was *totally* Minako…" she trailed off, before clearing her throat. For her part, Rei simply arched her eyebrow as Ami passed by out of the room to go grab the last of the equipment.
"It's too bad we couldn't get Chibiusa's team in on this" Rei said, changing the topic, "They'd be a big help in making everything look legit."
Mako seemed very eager for the change in conversation, "Yeah. They won't be back from their mission until tomorrow though. Unless we want to wait for them."
"No" Pluto said simply. Not an opinion, not a suggestion, not an order, it was just stated as a fundamental fact. Pluto wasn't going to let this drag on, and it was clear she was already reaching the end of her patience just letting this charade carry on as long as it had. "This needs to be ended now."
"We can do it without Chibiusa anyway. We'll just have to make do" Rei added. She threw herself off the lab counter she had been sitting on and moved over to the door to see if she could see Ami, "How much more equipment do we need?"
"I still can't believe the Queen's letting them off on their own missions" Haruka said, arms crossed as she leaned against the wall, "They're only fourteen."
Mako shrugged, "When we were fourteen, we were fighting evil queens, alien trees, and saving our future selves. Or…I guess they'd be our past selves now, but future to our past…or are our younger selves past-past selves? Or did they save us? Or them. Except the timeline shifted, so our alternate…Er…"
Rei interrupted Makoto's stream of consciousness, "No. Stop. Bad Mako. You know the rule about time travel tense discussion."
"Yes, please. Let's not" added Pluto, clearly at her wits end with the entire situation.
"Oh. Right, sorry" Mako scratched the back of her neck in mild embarrassment. After a particularly intense debate over temporal tenses during the 2450's that had left everyone bitterly angry at each other and confused (after a particularly complicated and equally confusing paradox crisis), the Queen and King had both decreed that only Pluto was allowed to mess with that stuff; it was just better for everyone's health, "Anyway, best way to learn is on your feet, and Chibiusa's been doing this since she was like ten, remember?"
"Yeah, but supervised" Haruka replied, but willing to concede the point. They were well within reach of allies anyway. And at that moment Ami returned, ending any further discussion of that topic.
"That should be everything" Ami said as she brought in the last object and placed it in the pile. "Ready?" The others nodded. The five Senshi held hands, encircling the pile.
"…Cranberry juice?" Rei silently mouthed to Mako incredulously as they grabbed each other's hands.
Mako's only reaction was a reddened face and a suspicious cough. A moment later the five women were engulfed in a bright flash of multicolored light and vanished, reappearing simultaneously back in the Grand Hall.
It was time to end this war.
Endymion sighed. It was one of those days: trade negotiations with the EU had stalled again, petty crime rates were on the rise for the third consecutive month (which never made his wife happy), and there was some sort of territorial tiff between Kinmoku and one of the Makaiju offshoots which his wife was apparently not having much luck in mediating. And to top it all off, Serenity had broken into his meeting with the chief of police about an hour ago, raving about the End of Days and the Butterfly Apocalypse. It had taken a good half hour to get her to settle down and explain that, no, while Minako's actions were dangerous (he'd contacted Pluto, who had only said it was 'being handled'), monster butterflies were not about to eat everyone.
Some days he wondered why he had elected to become King.
He now sat in his computer chair, with a somewhat melancholy Serenity taking up residence on a counter behind him, who was evidently somewhat embarrassed by her earlier bout with insanity. And when Serenity wasn't happy, the world always seemed a little bit dimmer.
"So what's wrong?"
"Hm?" asked Serenity, idly.
Endymion pressed the question, "You're pouting."
"I'm not pouting!"
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not!"
"Usako" Endymion said, with a firmness that indicated he wasn't going to play this game today.
Serenity sighed and leaned back against the wall, "…I don't know. Between the whole thing with the crime rate, the Kinmoku incident, and Chibiusa off doing her own thing…"
Ah, so that was it; a few setbacks coupled with a bit of empty nest syndrome. "You're not inadequate" her husband replied, still occupied with his computer.
"I didn't say I was!" she bit back, slightly annoyed at the accusation. Or…counter accusation. Unaccusation? Whatever.
"You were thinking it."
"No I wasn't!"
"…Usako" Endymion again said firmly as he looked at her, finally turning away from his computer. She just crossed her arms and huffed. His voice softened as a small reassuring smile appeared on his face, "It's just a slump. It happens; we can't control it, that's just life. You know that. And Chibiusa's fine because we taught her well. You shouldn't worry"
Serenity regarded him for a moment, before leaning back again and looking up towards the ceiling, the tension in her body evaporating. She sighed, "I let Minako run crazed around the palace with a dinosaur" she said with a deadpan voice.
Endymion struggled not to laugh, "You know how Minako is when she gets like that. Pluto said she's dealing with it."
Serenity just continued to look up at the ceiling, lost in thought. This called for drastic intervention.
"I think you need a breather" the King said, after a moment of silence. Then he paused, "…I think *we* need a breather" he added, realizing they both probably needed the break from duty before they simply drowned in negativity. He pulled his chair back and stood up, before walking over to his wife and pulling her up to her feet by her hand. She simply gave him a slightly confused but 'I'm listening' expression until he continued, "You feel like getting even with the others?"
"…I haven't exactly been hitting the pranks out of the park either" she said a little dejectedly, her free hand rubbing against her upper arm as she looked aside at the floor.
Her husband's face smile grew wider as he nudged his forehead against hers, "Oh, I'm sure we could come up with something if we put our heads together."
Serenity finally broke into a smile despite herself, "…Oh? And what did you have in mind?"
Endymion thought for a moment. Then slowly, inspiration began to crawl inside his mind. They were two of the most powerful beings this side of the galactic core; surely they could pull *something* off. Yes, perhaps they COULD do something. Something awful.
Perhaps it was time to end this war.
Minako kept tabs on the security footage in the Grand Hall. The others were setting up stuff; she didn't know what each individual piece of equipment did, but she had overheard the prank while she had been just outside the hall, and knew the general gist of the plan. She *was* a bit surprised Haruka had decided to join in though, but it was of no matter. The more the merrier. If anything, they had committed a grave tactical error by all gathering together where she could crush them in a single crippling blow.
"I guess everyone wants a piece of me. Far be it from me to deny them my glorious presence!" she sighed dramatically, brushing her hand through her hair. "Come, Silver! It's time to teach everyone about what it means to oppose the Goddess of Love!" with that she grabbed the reins of her steed and led it out of the security sub-office she had been occupying.
It was time to end this war.
"So, problem" Mako said suddenly after a period of silence as everyone had been busy getting everything into place. Everyone glanced over at her, standing near Ami with her arms crossed as the latter sat on the stairs near the end of the hall, working on getting everything ready to be activated on her personal computer.
"What's wrong?" asked Rei, plugging in another device in a hidden corner several feet away.
Mako looked at her as latter stood back up, "So we've got all this set up and ready…but how do we get Minako here?"
Rei rubbed her chin. That WAS a problem; Minako was a slippery one, and one wrong move on their part could tip their hand. They didn't want Minako suspecting anything.
"That won't be a problem" Ami said, looking at her computer, "I'm detecting her energy signature heading this way" she stood up.
"We ready?" asked Haruka, making her way from plugging her own machine in. She dusted off her hands to signify her completion of her task.
Ami nodded and closed her computer, "It's time."
Sailor Venus rode into the Grand Hall on her valiant prehistoric steed. She noted he location of a couple of the devices as she passed them by, nodding to herself. They had certainly gone all out for this round, but she had an ace up her sleeve: she knew exactly what they were planning. Now it was time to make them eat their words.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Venus cheerfully called out as her dinosaur skidded to a halt just a few feet away from them.
"Minako, what…what are you doing here?" asked Ami, trying hard to sound a bit off-footed Venus's arrival.
With arms crossed, Rei walked up to Venus and eyed over her companion, "So Pluto was right" she said in a deadpan, though her voice quickly filled with genuine anger, "Of all the things you've ever done Minako—and there is a LIST, believe me—this is one of the dumbest, hair-brained—"
"Do you guys hear a hum?" asked Mako, looking around, though no one paid any mind as Rei's ongoing ranting kept all attention on her.
"—irresponsible, childish—"
"No, seriously, I think there's a humming sound."
"—never think about the consequences of—"
"GUYS!" Mako shouted at the top of her lungs, causing everyone to freeze and look at her, "Humming sound. Anyone else hear that?"
Everyone listened. Sure enough, there was an increasing hum…everywhere, with no discernible source. They all looked up for the source of the disturbance, but it really seemed to come from anywhere and everywhere all at once.
"It has begun" Pluto said simply, with an eerie calmness that only she could display. She stood across the front of the hall from them, at the top of the stairs near the front throne complex.
"…Pluto?" Rei asked uncertainly. Venus eyed her; they were sure putting all their effort into the acting. Kudos.
Pluto looked Rei in the eyes, "The timeline has begun to shift. We are all at the mercy of the ebb of time" she then looked at Venus, a deadly serious expression on her face, "You have wrought this, with your disregard for the protocols of time."
Venus glanced at Silver, then back at Pluto, "What, him?" she asked, pointing at the Utahraptor, "Nah, that probably didn't do it" she reached over into a bag on the side of the saddle that no one had really paid attention to up to that point. Venus pulled out a…oh god, it was the mask of Tutankhamen. "This probably did, though" she said, waving the artifact cheerfully in front of the others.
Everyone's eyes widened in very real terror. "Minako!" Ami gasped, her hands going to her mouth in legitimate fear, "What have you done?!"
Venus however, was too busy pulling more out of her bag. More artifacts came out; among them were the Magna Carta, the Hope Diamond, and the Japanese constitution, "I figured you could use these for your collection, Ami. You're always going on about how much we lost in the Calamity, but now you don't have to hunt around in old archives! We can just take source material from the past. They'll never miss it!"
"Oh…oh my god" Ami whispered. She had become incredibly pale and seemed ready to either faint or vomit. She stumbled and was caught by Mako who was just as shocked, "Minako! What have you done?! Are you INSANE?!" she yelled, betrayal evident in her voice.
Venus did her best offended expression. "Me?" she asked, putting her hand to her chest, "I'm just being awesome. What's wrong with all of you? I've just solved all our historical record keeping problems!"
The humming continued to get longer, so much so that the room had begun to shake, but no one was really paying attention anymore; all eyes were trained on Sailor Venus. Inwardly, Venus smiled. Everyone was panicking. Their united front crumbled before her eyes. She was winning. Victory was hers.
Almost, anyway. Rei's left hand gently pressed a small device she had kept hidden from view, making sure to keep her attention on Venus, who had thankfully failed to notice Rei's slight of hand. The signal found its way to Haruka, currently hidden from view in one of the side alcoves, who was currently on her knee next to one of the devices. When the small pager in her hand began flashing red, she knew Phase One had failed; Venus was on to them. Whether or not Venus's counter move was legit and those artifacts were real or not was inconsequential; it was time for Phase Two, especially if the artifacts WERE real and reality was about to dovetail fast.
Haruka did as Ami had instructed and flipped a switch.
Back in the main hall, the hum had reached a fever pitch; to the point it was beginning to give Venus a headache. Not that that was what was foremost on her mind as complete victory was imminent. Then, in an instant, it was all undone. The succeeding moments played out almost in slow motion for Venus. Mako had shouted in surprise, and looked down at her hands. At first Venus was confused; she didn't understand what was happening. But as she realized, her stomach fell through the floor.
Mako's hands were vanishing. This wasn't part of the prank. She had listened to the plan; it had only dealt with Ami causing the crystal in the palace to vibrate, and later on some pyrotechnics would be shot off to further the illusion. Her mind flashed back—first to their second run-in with Queen Nehellenia when Chibi-Usa began to fade from reality, and then to the 2457 Time Paradox Incident, which had been even worse in many respects.
No. No no no no no. What had she done?! Most of her loot was fake; props she had lying around—some from her acting days, some collected 'just in case' for a situation such as this. But the Utahraptor…but how could a single dinosaur—destined for extinction, cause the erasure of Crystal Tokyo?
"…What?" she croaked out, as Ami and Rei both began showing signs of fading as well. "No…"
The air inside the palace began to swirl and crackle with electricity. Within seconds a temporal maelstrom had filled the hall, howling and drowning out the humming crystal.
Rei glared at Venus, "I'll *never* forgive you for this" she spat with as much venom as possible as her body faded from reality. Venus leapt at her, but her body evaporated as she closed in, soon followed by the other two. Tears formed in her eyes as she turned her attention to Pluto, "Pluto!" she shouted helplessly, running up to the Senshi of time, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean this! We have to fix this!"
Pluto shook her head sadly, before pointing to her staff which was already beginning to fade, "I'm afraid it's already too late. I am being erased as the time stream rearranges itself; I can no longer affect the timeline. I am sorry"
"No…" Minako dropped to her knees as Pluto vanished from view, the storm getting stronger and stronger. "No…" her mind shattered. In one swift movement she had ruined everything; everyone. Her friends, her family, were gone, and there was no getting them back. And it was likely in a few moments she would be gone as well…not that she really cared anymore.
"NO!" she screamed, slamming her fists into the floor. "NO NO NO NO NO!" she continued to beat into the tile, tears freely pouring down her face. She kept beating until her arms tired, at which point she simply doubled over, sobbing. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…what have I done…"
It was glorious. Everything was glorious. Rei sat watching the video feed from one of the nearby conference rooms, her hands resting under her nose, her elbows on the desk.
"Checkmate" she said, her voice full of smug satisfaction. Then her smile began to fade as Minako doubled over in emotional agony. She was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. Had she gone too far this time?
"…You think we went a little far?" asked Mako, leaning over, her hand on Rei's shoulder. She watched Venus's broken form sobbing on the ground, "We should stop" she added, more forcefully, "We've done enough. This…this isn't funny anymore."
Rei sighed, her heart finally winning over, "…Yeah. Yeah, you're right" she pressed a button on her holographic headset. Each of the Senshi were wearing one, it was what allowed for their holographic doubles to appear in the Grand Hall. "Hey, Haruka? Yeah, go ahead and turn it all off. We're done."
Mako looked over at Pluto, "Go ahead and call off Chronos Typhoon" she said quietly. Pluto nodded silently and made a small wave of her staff. She made absolutely no indication if she approved or disapproved of the situation, but that was fine. Mako was hating herself enough as it was.
Outside the storm cleared—not that Venus had really noticed. Each of the girls pulled their headsets off, leaving them on the desk as they headed out into the main hall.
"You just going to lay there all day?"
Venus blinked. She had heard Rei's voice. She had heard REI. Not even daring to hope, she bit her lip as she sat up, looking to where the voice had come from. She was surrounded by everyone. "…Wha?" she croaked out, utterly confused, but so relieved it really didn't matter. She dried her eyes as Mako gently pulled her up by her hand.
Rei stood, arms crossed, with the must smug expression she could possibly show. Right now, she was friggin' god and all was right with the world. Victory was hers, "So. Ready to surrender?"
"Wha…? How…"
"It was a prank" Ami replied, her hand on Venus's shoulder, "A fairly elaborate one at that."
"You…how…" Minako's brain still wasn't functioning properly, having been pulled out of abject despair so suddenly, it was like she had lost the ability to process new information. Nothing was clicking in her mind.
Ami shrugged, "Holograms. Misdirection. Chronos Typhoon. We figured you'd catch on to our first prank, so we had to plan for multiple levels."
Venus's hand went to her forehead as she bent over a bit. She felt nauseous as she digested the information, her brain having finally rebooted itself, "You…wow. Okay, you got me" she said quietly. Mako and Ami led her over to the stairs and let her sit back down. A moment later, Venus began to laugh, a mixture of relief and genuine appreciation for the prank, "You got me! Well played!"
"Ready to call this all off?" Rei asked, outwardly still basking in the glory that was her, but inwardly highly appreciative that it didn't seem like Minako had taken this too personally. She mentally sighed a breath of relief.
Venus thought for a second, then nodded, "…Yeah. Yeah. I think I've had enough excitement for awhile. And I guess I did go a little far, messing with time and all. I'm sorry."
Ami spoke up, motioning to the pile of artifacts on the ground several feet away, "Then could you please replace everything before we really *do* have a crisis?" her voice was soft, but had a certain level of urgent panic to it.
Venus giggled, "Those things? Don't worry, those are just props. Old acting gigs and stuff like that. I've collected over the centuries in case I needed them for something. Though I guess I *do* need to take Silver back."
"I'll take care of him" Pluto said, walking over to them, carrying Silver's reins in her staff-free hand. The rein hand opened in front of Venus, "The time key please?"
Venus pulled the key out of her skirt pocket and handed it to Pluto. Venus smiled sheepishly, like a kid caught doing something bad, "…Sorry."
Pluto simply shook her head disapprovingly and turned. With a wave of her hand, the Gates of Time reappeared in the Grand Hall, space-time unzipping and folding back as they did. "…Do you happen to remember from when you took him?" she asked, her head turning back for a moment.
Venus scratched her head, "Er…"
Pluto sighed. It was going to take *forever* to hunt down the correct timestamp, "Very well. I shall see you all when my business is attended to" she closed time and space behind her, and made a mental note to talk to the King and Queen about time key security. She definitely needed stricter consequences for breaking the rules.
Serenity watched the video feed on her husband's computer as Pluto and the Utahraptor were swept away by time and space. The minor time crisis was passed.
"…Now?" she asked her husband, with a manic gleam in her eye.
Endymion nodded with a grin on his face, his hands resting on his wife's shoulders, "Now."
Neo-Queen Serenity lifted the Silver Crystal up to her eye level and began to channel her will into it. It pulsed with a warm, pink light that washed over everything…
"Sorry if we roughed you up a bit there" Mako said, still supporting Venus as they made their way to the hall's entrance. She was really beginning to feel guilty about all this. Seeing Venus broken like that…that hadn't been all that funny. "We...kind of got away from ourselves. We went further than we should have."
Venus shook her head as she brushed her hand through the front of her hair, "No, that was well done, and I *did* kind of deserve it" her voice got a little softer, "Just…no more, okay?"
"Deal" Mako replied, hugging her a bit tighter. The two flashed each other a smile as the five women headed outside.
Suddenly, the main doors locked…followed by all of the other doors.
"What the—" Haruka immediately threw herself into a defensive pose as her instincts took over, waiting for an enemy to strike.
Mercury had transformed in an instant, her visor out and exploring her options, "We've been completely sealed in."
"How?!" Rei demanded to know. Then she felt it; the familiar warm, loving energy that had swept into the room. "…Oh no" she muttered, a growing dread rising in her stomach.
"Serenity" Venus whispered.
Mako's eyes widened, "No one told Usagi the war was over."
Rei raced over to the door and began pulling as hard as she could, but the doors would not budge.
Mercury's attention however, was elsewhere. Her visor had picked up life signs….lots of life signs, all converging on them. "…Everyone. Transform, now" she said evenly, but with an undercurrent of urgency.
"Why?" asked Mako.
Mercury was about to reply, but suddenly the walls themselves spoke for her. It started out with just a few, but soon a torrent of thousands, millions, billions of spiders began pouring out of every vent and crevice in the hall. At first their feeble minds hadn't been able to comprehend what was going on, only registering a moving mass of specks emerging everywhere. But soon, with horrific realization, they knew. A second later, the rest of the girls had transformed into their Senshi forms and all had backed up into a defensive circle.
"Everyone keep an even perimeter. We can't let them through" Venus ordered, before bringing up her hands, her fingers pressed together, "Crescent Beam!" Her laser sliced clean through the spider vanguard as it approached. Not that it mattered; there were many more right behind them.
"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"
"Space Turbulence!"
"Shatter Thunder Lance!"
The attacks flung at the spiders of course annihilated any of the arachnids in their path, but the numbers meant they only kept coming; an implacable foe that could not be defeated by attrition or tactics. The Senshi would run out of power or room eventually—and the spiders would march irrevocably.
"Sacred Barrier!" Mars shouted, throwing up a massive wall of flame in front of her, before pushing it forward into the spider onslaught. She turned to her teammates, "We need to teleport out!"
"We can't!" Mercury replied, panic rising in her voice, "The time it would require to set up would allow the spiders to overrun our position! Mercury Ice Cutter!" she flung a blade of hyper-cooled water at her opponents, keeping them at bay just a bit longer.
"Venus Chain Explosive!" Venus flung her love-me chain into the ground, causing the floor tile to shatter and cave in, creating a depression in the floor as the shockwaves reverberated out towards the enemy, "We can't keep them at bay much longer!" she cried out.
"Anyone got any bright ideas?!" Jupiter screamed in complete and utter panic, before unleashing a Supreme Thunder Dragon into the room. It combined with Uranus's World Shaking, slamming another wave of the spiders into oblivion—but as before, the path they carved vanished just as soon as it had appeared. The room was almost pitch black now, and moving and shifting of its own free will; all except the small area the Senshi had managed to carve out—but that area was getting smaller and smaller.
"Burning Mandala!" Mars glanced at Jupiter out of the corner of her eye. Her voice was low and full of rage and hate, her face twisted into a snarl, "Yeah, one. If we survive this, I'm committing regicide"
The King and Queen sat in Endymion's chair, with Serenity cuddling in her husband's lap. The two kissed each other as the battle continued to rage in front of them, their friends and teammates screaming for their lives as their position was slowly but surely overrun-they had in their haste for battle neglected the walls and ceiling after all, and their lines quickly collapsed as it began to rain spiders.
"I love you" Serenity whispered to her husband, as their lips parted, her hand caressing his cheek.
"I love you too" he replied, his voice just as low, before their faces leaned in again and returned for another kiss. The blood-curdling screams continued unabated in the background.
It was good to be the King and Queen.
-ONE DAY LATER-
With a flash of light, six Sailor Senshi appeared in the middle of one of the CrystalPalace's main transport pads.
"Okay, that was awesome" Sailor Moon shouted, a wide smile on her face, "We are awesome!"
"I still can't believe you bluffed the evil overlord like that" Saturn laughed, high-fiving her best friend, "You had him eating out of the palm of your hand!"
"Acting lessons with Minako and Dad paid off after all" the pink Senshi replied gleefully, scratching the back of her head. She turned to the others, "So, anyone else hungry?"
"PallaPalla is!"
"Hell yeah" Vesta added, a wide grin on her face as well, "Hey Cere, what's up?"
Ceres seemed preoccupied, looking around the otherwise empty pad, "Um…wasn't someone supposed to meet us? I mean, I know we've been at this for a few months now, but…isn't there usually someone waiting for us?"
Moon blinked, "Hey, yeah. Where's mom? Or dad?" the elation of victory diminishing in the face of confusion.
"…Or anyone?" Juno put her hand on her hips as she looked around, just as confused as everyone else.
"Uh…guys?" Ceres said. Everyone turned to her, then to where she was pointing. The Crystal Palace could be seen a few blocks away, towering over the city. But it was different than usual. It was draped over with something…
…Toilet paper?
The entire Palace was covered in toilet paper!
"…Are you kidding me?" asked Vesta in disbelief, "They're still going?"
"…I completely forgot about the prank war" Juno said, surprised, "Wow. Too busy fighting and busting heads, I guess."
"…Do we have to go back?" asked Vesta, sighing in resignation, "I…don't really want to. It was getting a bit crazy even before we left, and now…"
"PallaPalla doesn't want to go back either."
The six Senshi looked at each other, an expression of uncertainty and doubt on each of their faces.
"So…Kinmoku?" asked Saturn after a moment of silence, as the team glanced at both each other and at the castle, contemplating their fates.
Vesta shook her head, "Nah, they got that tree problem right now. I'd rather not mess up *another* interstellar incident" Ceres nodded in agreement.
"Elysion?" asked Moon, a twinge of hope in her voice.
Pallas's face lit up, "PallaPalla wants to ride the horsies again!"
Saturn's face turned to one of disgust as she looked at Sailor Moon, "Eugh, really?"
"Oh come on" Moon replied, a bit annoyed at her friend, "Helios isn't that bad. Dad trusts him, and he likes me."
Saturn rolled her eyes.
"Uh, what about us?" Juno asked, motioning to the other Asteroid Senshi, "Your horse friend doesn't exactly like us."
"Oh, right" Moon said, her fingers rubbing against her mouth as she thought, "Um…"
"Aereon" Ceres said at last, "Y'know, the place we saved from the space pirates about two months back? They said we could drop in anytime" Inwardly she smiled at the memory; they had been *literal* space pirates, eyepatches and all. Such was their life.
Moon's face brightened, "Oh yeah! They had good food."
"All right!" Juno shouted, punching her fist in the air, "Vacation!"
The six girls grabbed each other's hands, and in a moment and another bright flash of multicolored light, they were gone.