Chapter 4: Her Full Potential
Usagi arrived at school early the next day, without rushing at the last second like she usually did. She did not sleep at all during class, and she paid as much attention as she could during each class, even taking notes in some of them. Never before had she demonstrated such intense focus. In many ways, it was a bit scary how focused the girl was on schoolwork compared to her previous self, or even the other students. With any more focus, she would be as bad as Ami.
Immediately after hearing the bell signifying the end of classes, she ran through the front entrance gate and toward the main street. She saw the other girls standing beneath a nearby tree, and as she approached she sensed their lively conversation come to an abrupt end. She shuddered as two pairs of eyes, one pair intense violet and the other deep-ocean blue, locked onto her figure. However, she was not about to let that distract her as she had one goal: to get to Crown Arcade and begin her training, preferably before the others left for the attached fruit parlor so she could train in secret.
She arrived at the arcade five minutes later. Her shoulder bag shook slightly as Luna poked her head outside for some air and to tell her charge where she needed to go in order to find the secret room. Usagi spotted Motoki wiping down some of the arcade units in a distant corner of the room and gave him a pleasant smile and wave. Motoki returned the smile and wave and walked over to the pigtailed blonde. He had seen the other girls quite frequently but hadn't seen her in a few days and was curious about her well-being. Luna froze and sank deeply into the bag as Motoki walked toward them, pretending to be a stuffed animal.
"Hi, Usagi-chan! I haven't seen you in a while. Is everything alright with you?" Although his features were generally pleasant, his steady gaze that met her eyes immediately revealed his profound concern.
"Hi. Yeah, I've been… busy for a few days with school and stuff, so I haven't had the time to play games." It was a partially honest answer, and she delivered it forcefully enough to assuage the unassuming young man for the time being.
"Well, I'm happy that you're paying more attention with your schoolwork and all. Don't be so focused on school that you forget your friends."
Her eyes lit up. The entire point of her intense focus and training was exactly about her friends, though not to avoid forgetting them but so that they wouldn't abandon her. "Don't worry, I haven't," she replied. "Now I gotta go up to the fruit parlor. I'll see you later."
He nodded and, with one last grin, went back to cleaning while she walked toward the stairs that led to Crown Fruit Parlor. However, she didn't go up the steps but around them to a back room. She opened her bag and poked Luna, rousing the black cat out of its disguise.
"This is the place?" she whispered with confusion in her voice.
"Yes. Now come on, go in," Luna demanded.
Usagi opened the door and slowly walked into the closet, carefully closing the door behind her so as not to make any sound. It was completely dark and dank, and it seemed like it hadn't been used in years, not even for storage. She felt along the wall for a light switch but couldn't find one.
"Luna…" She was starting to get scared.
"Don't be afraid, Usagi. Just believe in yourself and you will find the room."
Usagi nodded then closed her eyes. About fifteen seconds later she felt a warm wind envelop her. The room began to light up a bright gold color and expand to many times its original size. When she reopened her eyes, she saw she was in a room that appeared to be light blue, almost white in color and very, very bright. It seemed that there were no walls around her for as far as she could see. She then heard a disembodied voice bellow out from above.
"Usagi, welcome to the special training room." The voice belonged to Luna, who was in a special control room invisible to the girl.
"Wow! This is amazing! But, it's all empty."
"That's because I haven't entered an environment yet."
"An environment?" Usagi walked around, looking in all directions in the vast expanse of nothingness.
"Yes. You need an environment loaded in order to actually do anything, for any of this to be meaningful. For example, I'm going to enter a forest environment."
The room started to brightly glow white, so bright that Usagi had to shield her eyes with her arms as her eyelids were horribly insufficient. When she uncovered them, she was stunned to be standing in the middle of a lush, lively, green forest. She heard birds chirping and squirrels ruffling through the foliage around her feet and in the trees. She looked up and saw a bright blue and cloudless sky. Her skirt fluttered about her and goose pimples appeared her arms and legs as a brisk breeze hit her. She walked toward one of the trees and extended an arm to touch it, not knowing what to expect. It was surprisingly solid, much like a real tree. No, it was a real tree. A loose leaf fell on her head, lightly tickling her scalp.
"What do you think?" the feline asked somewhat smugly.
"It's incredible!"
"Usagi, we are going to begin your training now. You're not going to do any fighting today, just basic training exercises. I'm going to change to a different environment." The room began to fill with light when Luna's voice sounded from the sky once more. "Oh, and I'd recommend that you transform right about now."
"Right!" She held her transformation brooch in the air, yelled her magic words, and in a flash of pink light transformed into Sailor Moon. When her transformation ended, she saw that the universe around her had dramatically changed. It had become excruciatingly hot, bright, and dry. She couldn't see a living thing no matter which way she looked. She was standing in what appeared to be rocky, hilly desert. Five prominent hills surrounded her, each one about fifty feet tall and foreboding with many rock outcroppings. On top of each hill was a pale rose-colored ball resting within a stone chalice. The hills themselves were about one hundred yards away in front, behind, and beside her, making the points of a star with her in the center.
"Usagi, I want you to bring the pink balls you see down from the hills to where you're currently standing," her advisor commanded from afar.
"Well, that sounds pretty easy."
"And you only have five minutes to do this. If you fail, you have to start again from the beginning."
"What?" She was not nearly as confident at that moment as she was a few seconds prior.
"Starting now." Almost as an afterthought, Luna added: "And don't damage any of the balls. That will cause the test to restart as well."
Usagi bolted to the hill in front of her and started climbing. It was much steeper than she thought, and soon she had to effectively crawl up the hill on her hands and knees. She yelled in agony every time her hands or knees hit a pointy rock, but she willed herself up to the top of the hill. There she found the ball within the chalice. She tried to lift the ball but found that it was much more solid and heavier than she expected. It was a glowing pink and translucent sphere of eighteen inches in diameter with a perfectly smooth, glass-like exterior that weighed about thirty pounds. This was the object that she had to bring down the hill in one piece. She lifted the ball to her chest with one arm and decided, despite how painful it appeared it would be with all the rocks, to slowly slide down the hill. She reached the bottom of the hill with scratches all over her thighs, back, and hands, but the ball was intact. She ran as quickly as she could back to the center of the star and gently placed the ball on the ground. As soon as it touched the ground it vaporized in a flash of light and reappeared at the top of the hill.
"What the hell?" she exclaimed, as her hard work seemed to be for naught. Luna's voice then boomed from the sky to deliver the bad news.
"Usagi, do you have any idea how long that took you?" the cat asked, slightly annoyed.
The pigtailed blonde had not been keeping track of time—not that she could have anyway, as there were no clocks or anything. Nevertheless, she had no answer.
"I could have had you move all five balls down, but I figured that, at ten minutes apiece, it would have taken you way too long and you look like you're pretty banged-up anyway. So I decided to be nice and stop the exercise now."
"Ten minutes?" It seemed beyond reason to her that it took that long just to move one of the balls. How could she have ever moved all five at one minute apiece?
"The reason it took you ten minutes to retrieve one ball is because you were thinking and behaving like Tsukino Usagi and not like Sailor Moon. Remember that you have far more power as a senshi than you possess as a normal girl."
"Well, what am I supposed to do?"
"That's something you're supposed to figure out on your own."
Usagi closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. What could she do? A soft gold halo of light began to envelop her. She sensed that she knew what she needed to do, at which moment she opened her eyes.
"Usagi, are you ready for your second attempt?"
"Luna, I'm ready."
She sprinted toward the hill in front of her and charged up it. Unlike the first time, when she had to crawl on hands and knees to ascend the hill, she was able to remain upright while mounting the hill in a series of skilled jumps. She reached the summit, lifted the glowing sphere above her head, and then jumped down the hill as adroitly as she climbed it. Once she reached the center of the star that was drawn by the quintet of hills, she gently set the ball down and sprinted directly to the next hill down the line. She continued this for the next four spheres, and upon setting the last sphere down, she sighed and looked up to the sky as if looking for Luna. The cat's voice boomed from the sky.
"Very good, Usagi. Now, let's do it again."
"What? Why?" The girl was absolutely dumbfounded, and rightfully so as far as she was concerned. "Didn't I do it well enough this time?" she asked herself.
"You did it much quicker, at five minutes and three seconds. However, the target was five minutes."
"Luna…"
"Usagi, are you whining?"
"No…" The princess—despite feeling nothing like one at the moment—closed her eyes and began to concentrate for a third round of training. The glow surrounding her seemed much brighter than before.
"Alright, ready?" Luna asked. The blonde nodded in reply.
She repeated the test for the third time, effectively bounding up the hills even more quickly than the second, and ultimately finished well within five minutes. She did it in four minutes and five seconds, to be exact. Luna was extremely happy at the achievement.
"Excellent job Usagi!"
"Thanks, Luna!" She was thrilled that she was able to succeed in this test. She doubted that she would have been motivated enough to complete such a rigorous and physical exam in previous days or weeks. However, now, she loved the sense accomplishment. Luna had her charge repeat the test a few more times, and each time the girl was able to complete it easily, with the time decreasing ultimately to three minutes and twenty-five seconds.
"You're doing very well, Usagi. Now, I have one last test for you."
"What is it?"
"I want you to collect all five spheres in under twenty seconds."
"What?"
Her dismay was understandable, for she had run as quickly as her body, in the guise of Sailor Moon, could move her, and her best time was just under three-and-a-half minutes. Luna's request effectively would have required her to teleport, which was something she could not do. At least, it was impossible without the aid of the other senshi, none of whom she wanted to be around, nor did they desire her presence.
"Remember, Usagi, you are Sailor Moon."
She nodded slowly and went into her deepest mode of concentration yet. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and let out a slight gasp, knowing exactly what she needed to do.
"Are you ready, Usagi?"
"Absolutely."
The instant the final challenge began, she reached up and grabbed the tiara from her forehead and held it in her hand, turning it into a small glowing gold disc. Unlike in her previous fights with various youmas, she didn't immediately throw the disc but instead closed her eyes and fell in to a trance. The disc initially held a golden radiance, but the longer Usagi was fixed in her contemplative reverie the larger it grew in size, and the glow soon changed in color to a mixture of pink and white. She then opened her eyes, yelled "Moon Tiara Action," and threw the glowing disc as hard as she could toward the top of the hill in front of her. It raced toward the apex of the hill and the targeted sphere, slamming right into it. But, instead of shattering, the sphere became physically attached to the disc. The gleaming mass then turned toward the next hill and the next, collecting the remaining orbs along the way. When the disc returned to her hand, the spheres detached from the tiara and slowly dropped to the ground, each of them completely intact. Luna's disembodied voice resonated from the sky once again.
"I am impressed, Usagi! I actually didn't expect you to complete this last test on the first try, but you did!" She paused briefly. "Amazing! Just nineteen seconds!"
Usagi beamed. "I didn't know I could even do something like that."
"Well, your tiara is actually more powerful than you expect, but it's also more useful than as a mere weapon of destruction. You should already know this. Remember when you used the tiara to heal all the people Jadeite brainwashed?" The pigtailed blonde nodded as she swiftly recalled that particular incident. "This is just another way you can use your tiara. Your Moon Stick is even stronger. All you need to do is work very hard to realize the full potential of your power."
Usagi sat on the ground, feeling exhausted from expending so much energy. "Then I'll be able to prove that I am not weak, that I can fight on my own and don't need to be protected all the time," she said. The desert soon disappeared to be replaced by the empty expanse that initially greeted her when she first entered the room.
"I think you're ready to start the next phase of training."
"You mean where I actually start fighting things?"
"Yep! Any sort of enemy the Dark Kingdom has thrown at us, and many others the Silver Millennium had encountered from battles in its more distant past, are all saved here and can be simulated in the training room."
"Cool." She looked around in confusion before turning her gaze downward. "Um… Luna?"
"Yes?"
"What time is it?"
"Ah." There were a few seconds of silence, presumably as her advisor searched for a clock. "Just past six-thirty."
Usagi sat with a pensive look on her face, her eyes steadfastly locked on a single point on the floor. Luna realized her princess was extremely anxious about something.
"What's wrong, Usagi?"
"I'm just wondering how I'm going to get out of here." That was a pretty big problem, given that the room extended infinitely in all directions except down as far as she could tell.
"Oh, that's easy. All you have to do is flip the switch on the wall behind you, then walk out the door."
"What?" Usagi looked behind her. Plainly evident was a giant wall that she swore was not there a few seconds earlier. Attached to that wall was a door, which she assumed either lead to the outside and the real world or to wherever Luna was located, and beside the door to the right was an ordinary light switch.
"Okay, that's strange," she said upon seeing the wall. "You did that, right?"
"Yes. At the end of the training session the room returns to its normal size and the exit door appears."
Usagi looked around and saw that the room was much smaller than before, so that she could actually walk toward and touch all four walls. So, her first question was pretty easily answered, but she still was obviously apprehensive about something else.
"Luna, do you know if the other girls are still there?" Her voice wavered. "I don't want them knowing about this place."
Luna brought up a screen on one of the monitors on her control panel. It was connected to the surveillance system of the arcade and fruit parlor. She looked through the various camera views and saw that the girls were congregated at the fruit parlor upstairs. They did not appear to be leaving anytime soon.
"Yes, they're here, but they're upstairs, so we're safe."
"Good." A bright light enveloped the senshi of the moon as she removed her transformation and returned to wearing her school uniform. The injuries she had attained from her first attempt at the test were healed with no scarring or other marks on her skin. She collected her shoulder bag, which was lying on the ground beside her and walked toward the door. She gave one last look around the room, flicked the switch, causing the room to become shrouded in darkness, and then walked through the door. On the other side she found Luna sitting in front of a trio of flat panel monitors and a series of buttons, switches, and keypads on top of a cabinet that was probably four feet long and two feet deep. That cabinet appeared to be the only thing that was controlling all the magic occurring on the other side of the door.
"So that's how you do it all. It's seems so complicated," Usagi said, looking at the relatively small setup, obviously impressed in its power.
"It's not really all that hard. Most of the training is automated, so all I do is set the starting parameters, then sit back and watch."
"Hmmm. So cool!" She then went toward Luna, picking up the black cat and placing her in the shoulder bag.
"I think I can get pretty used to this training," the blonde said with a smile. "Now let's go home, I have some homework to do."
Luna looked up at her princess and smiled. "I think I can get used to this new attitude," she thought contentedly.
