The asteroid orbited dutifully above the exotic planet below. Its atmosphere swirled with different colors. This worried the senshi, but they were more worried about their dreadfully-ill companion. Daichi's recovery from her illness in the previous dimension had been short lived, for now she was confined to bed with the fever and chills. For now she slept, but it was clearly a nightmarish sleep from the way she tossed and turned. It reminded Geb of how the others had been after being attacked with Mei's staff.
The senshi all stood in the hall outside of the room where Daichi slept. They were all worried. "Surely we can't take her with us," Tucana said. "After what happened in the last dimension, no way!"
"But we can't just leave her!" Hikari protested.
"But we must," Ixtab said. "We can't take her to the planet, she would draw too much attention."
"She must remain," Anog Ite said, holding up her hand to stop Hikari's protests. "She is ill. To take her somewhere could make it worse. In her feverish state, she could draw unwanted attention to us. She is safer here on the asteroid, where someone can and will remain behind with her to care for her." The others looked at each other. Anog Ite had never sounded so... calm.
"I'll stay behind," Nebula said. "I more or less took care of her on Earth, plus I'm pretty much useless without my mace anyway."
"Unfortunately,you're right," Geb said. The others nodded.
"Don't worry, though," Tucana said. "We'll work our hardest to get your mace and Daichi's whip back, among other things, of course." Tucana winked and Nebula smiled.
'Perhaps it would be possible to find medicinal help on the planet,' Mei suggested. 'Perhaps, should we interect with the other senshi, they could help with Daichi.'
"Good thinking," Geb said. "Now, we need to go." Ixtab put her hands together, as she always did after discovering that it helped her focus. The group brightened, and then disappeared. Nebula sighed and quietly opened the door to Daichi's room. She peered inside and watched as Daichi tossed to her other side. Nebula sighed worriedly.
--
The surface of the planet was as beautiful as its atmosphere. The plants were lush and colorful, the air was clear and fresh, and the clothes were elegant and beautiful. What seemed to be missing, though, were men.
The senshi stayed hidden as they watched the inhabitants of the city walk along the marketplace. The shoppers were female, the vendors were female, and even the patrolling guards were female. There were no men to be seen anywhere. "This is very strange," Anog Ite said. "There are no men."
"We shall blend in well then," Ixtab said.
"They also do not walk in groups," Geb said. "They are all in pairs, no more and no less. Even the vendors do not go alone. We shall have to split up."
"I don't like that idea," Hikari said.
'We don't have a choice,' Mei said. 'I've been exploring the minds of the guards. They have their laws sewn well into their minds. Men are not allowed out of doors in the day, all individuals must be in pairs, and all must display the insignia.'
"Insignia?" Tucana looked down to a pair of vendors. One had white hair, and the other black. Both wore upon their left shoulder what looked like a badge. It was a diamond with a circle upon each corner and a four-point star in the middle.
"Is there anything else we should know?" Geb asked.
'Appearance seems to be important,' Mei continued. 'Hair must be restrained accordingly and jewelry is required.'
"Required?" Anog Ite said as she began to undo her hair. "Mei, you'll need to instruct us in how to make ourselves appropriate."
"We'll need to find clothing," Hikari said. She looked around from their little alley hiding spot and found many pieces strung high above the alley. "There!"
Geb and Anog Ite were about to protest to stealing, but Tucana interrupted them. "I see them," Tucana said with a devilish smirk. She ran at the wall and jumped. She kicked off of it, heading to the opposite one. She kicked off of it and reached for the clothes. She grabbed them by the armful. It took three tries, twice going back and forth, and the third as she came down. She landed gracefully. "I love it when things are easy."
--
Around and around, then down it fell. Nebula sighed and picked up the small disk and set it to spin again. Around and around... Suddenly there was a sound. Nebula picked up her head instantly and listened. There was movement, undoubtedly from upstairs. Nebula jumped to her feet and hurried to the stairs. She was met by Daichi, flush-faced with dark bags under her eyes. "Daichi, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I can't sleep," Daichi said quietly. "I keep dreaming... Something familiar... Somewhere..." Nebula watched as Daichi walked away. She shook her head, her mouth slightly hung open, before following her. This led Nebula to a set of stairs she hadn't remembered seeing on previous excursions through the castle-like building. Daichi went down them into the darkness. Nebula snagged a candelabra from the hall table before following.
"Daichi, wait for me," Nebula said. She hurried down the stairs, but she had yet to see Daichi appear in the candle light. "Dai-" Nebula gasped as Daichi suddenly appeared in the light right in front of her. She was still, and staring at the wall. Nebula looked and found a large painting. Nebula lifted the candle higher and found just a short distance away another painting. There seemed to be yet another just beyond it. Nebula turned her attention back to the painting Daichi gazed upon. There were three senshi, in uniforms not unlike those that Geb, Anog Ite, and Itxtab wore. The coloring was different, but the design was the same. "Are those, previous IPI senshi?" Nebula asked.
"Yes," Daichi said hoarsely. "It would seem." Her voice sounded haunted, or perhaps it was simply her illness.
"Do you think there are more?" Nebula asked. Daichi didn't respond. Her eyes were still cast upon the painting. "Daichi? What's wrong?"
"They..." She paused. "I know them."
"You do?" Nebula asked. She looked closer at the thee senshi. The one in Geb's uniform, presumably the leader, had golden hair in mountains of curls. She carried a staff, a circle with a cross in the center upon the top. The senshi was flanked by one with pink hair in pigtails and one with silver hair in two buns on either side and a trailing ponytail from each set. Nebula looked back at Daichi, who hadn't yet replied. Instead, she turned and moved onto the next painting. Nebula followed. She recognized the group in the next painting.
"Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn!" she exclaimed. Indeed, it seemed that at some point, the four senshi from one dimension or another had once occupied the asteroid. "I wonder if they were any of the ones we've met," Nebula said. She looked at Daichi, who had already moved onto the next painting. Nebula sighed and shook her head before following.
The next picture had Sailor Moon in the position of the leader, with an unknown golden-haired, violet-eyed senshi on her left and Sailor Mars on her right. They pair continued deeper down the dark hall, viewing paints of different sets of IPI senshi, mostly of trios but a few of four and more. Finally, they came to one that made them stop and stare for a long time.
"It's Mei and Hikari," Nebula finally said. In the painting were Mei and Hikari, along with a fierce-looking senshi with long red hair, a young white-haired senshi, an elegant blond-haired one in glasses... but no Daichi? "Where are you?" Nebula asked. In the spot which could only belong to Daichi was instead a woman with brown hair in a ponytail. She shared the leader uniform with the white-haired one.
"Clearly," Daichi said wearily, "I was not Sailor Daichi in that Dimension." Nebula was going to question this, but she instead heard a sound that sounded like shuffling, just beyond the glow of their candle light. Nebula extended her arm and saw a shadowy figure just at the edge of the light.
"Who has come?" the figure asked in a soft and young-yet-old voice. Nebula jumped a little. "You should not be here," the figure continued. "It is forbidden."
--
"This. Is. So. Boring." Tucana sighed, her arms crossed, as she walked alongside Kimi through the market street. The crowd was much thinner than it had been earlier.
"Honestly, must you complain so?" Kimi asked. "Perhaps we should have left you on the asteroid with poor Daichi and taken Nebula instead."
"Hey, I could say the same for you," Tucana said. "You are such a bore! At least with Nebula, my partner, I would have someone to talk to, in the very least!" She scoffed. "At least I can fight alongside her. How am I supposed to fight with you?"
"Ignoring the jab at my blindness," Kimi said, growing angry, "I would say any fighting out of you would be a nice change. We've yet to see you engage any opponents. At least with Nebula, she has an excuse. I fail to see your excuse."
"I depend on my partner," Tucana said. "My attack depends on someone protecting my body, and with her being untrained in hand-to-hand, she can no more protect my body than I can."
"Just what is your power?" Kimi asked. Tucana opened her mouth to answer, but all that came out was a sudden chorus of angry male voices.
Or, it seemed to come from her.
Tucana turned around to see a stampede of men coming down the market street. "Run!" Tucana shouted, grabbing Kimi's sleeve and pulling her hurriedly forward. She angled her run to a stall on the side, but they didn't make it as they were suddenly swallowed by the riot of men. Tucana lost her grip on Kimi as they were pulled apart. "Kimi!" she shouted. She was grabbed roughly by a man and shoved backward against the stream. As quickly as it had started, it was over, and Tucana was left to fall flat on her face in the street. There was a great commotion following the riot as a dozen or more female guards charged after them. Tucana didn't even bother getting up. She threw her arms over her head as the passed. They hadn't completely passed when a hard hand grabbed Tucana's arm and pulled her up on her feet.
"Are you all right?" a guard asked as the rest left. One other was with them, clearly the first guard's partner.
"I'm fine," Tucana said as she rubbed her arm, sore from the riot and now the guard.
"That is good," the second guard said. "Where is your partner?" Tucana gasped and looked around. Kimi was nowhere to be found.
"I- She- we got separated," she said. "She's gone!"
"I see..." Tucana looked back at the guards, who shared a worried look. "I'm afraid we must arrest you."
"What?!" Tucana shouted. "But I- I had no control over that!"
"We understand," the first guard said. "I'm afraid law still must be maintained, even under such circumstances. You must be arrested until overseen by a judge or until your partner is found and claims you."
"No, I-" Tucana shook her head and stepped back, then turned and bolted. The guards gave chase in surprise. Tucana charged down the slowly filling street, screaming for Kimi. "Kimi! Kimi, where are you?!" Her voice carried all down the street and into alleys. "Kimi! Ki- Oof!" Tucana suddenly met the ground, nearly blacking out at the force from being tackled by the two guards.
"You are under arrest," the second guard said as spectators gathered, "For occupying the market streets without partnership and for fleeing arrest." Heavy metal rings were clasped around Tucana's wrists behind her back. She was pulled up roughly.
"Kimi, hide!" she shouted. "Find help! Hide, Kimi!"
--
"This is so bad," Hikari whispered worriedly as she watched the guards pull Tucana down the street, kicking and screaming. "What's happened to Kimi?"
"I don't know," Tale said, beginning to chew nervously on a clump of her hair. "I don't know..."
"If Kimi is alone, she will surely be lost," Hikari said. "She can't just return to the asteroid, or she will strand us, but if she stays she will be lost and alone with no way of knowing where she is, much less where to go."
"We will have to rely on the others to find her," Geb whispered hurriedly. "We must focus-"
"You require assistance?" a voice asked. Hikari and Tale turned around to the vendors whose stall they had taken shelter at during the riot. "You seem distressed," the black-haired one said. Her hair was wavy and pulled up into a headpiece on the back of her head. She had a single strand of white hair on the right side of her head. Her partner vendor was the opposite, with white hair and a strand of black hair on the left of her head.
"Oh, uh, no," Tale said quickly. "We are well."
"We could help with your friends," the white-haired one said quietly. "Your lost friend, and your arrested friend. We could help." Hikari and Tale looked at each other as the two vendors motioned into the building behind them. "Please, let us help." Tale shrugged and she and Hikari followed the two women into the building.
--
"Hide!"
"This is so not good," Enapay said after she and Mei had witnessed Tucana's arrest from the landing of a second-story restaurant.
'Leave it to Tucana to be arrested,' Mei said.
"We must find Kimi," Enapay whispered as she hurried Mei down the stairs to the street. "She'll be completely lost, and if we don't find her first, the guards will!"
--
Kimi gasped as her knees weakened. She grasped the wall as she slid down to the ground, hidden away in the alley where she had been deposited by the riot. Tucana... what happened? Hide, find help? What had happened? Ixtab shook. She was alone, all by herself. She had never been alone. Even on her home planet, she always had one to five guards at all times, and at home she had her mother. But now... she was alone.
She sucked in her breath and pulled herself up she stepped from the wall and turned. She had no perception of where she was, or where to go. Everything sounded faint and foggy. She couldn't focus she was so panicked. Without any idea, she ran. She ran until she heard something even more frightening than being alone: Water. She couldn't stop herself in time, though. Just as the sound of running water hit her ears, so did the air from stepping off of land. She hit the water hard and was suddenly numb. She was completely lost now. She kicked and flailed, then she hit air. She gasped, yelled, then screamed as she felt herself slip below the water. She couldn't hold her breath and began to swallow. As she flailed, she could feel her hand hit air every now and again, until everything lost feeling and her mind went blank.
--
Tale gasped and grabbed her chest in pain. Hikari grabbed her quickly. "What is wrong?" the white-haired vendor asked from further down the underground corridor they had been taken to.
"Ixtab," Tale said. "Kimi, she's..." Tale couldn't finish. She didn't know what she was feeling, but it was bad, and it had to do with Kimi.
"Please come," the black-haired vendor said. She motioned forward and Hikari pulled Tale along, pulling her upright as they went. They were led to a dim, barely-lit room, and in an instant the two vendors were gone.
"Where-?"
"Who are you?" a harsh voice suddenly asked. In place of the two vendors appeared two senshi in uniforms of similar design, but different coloration. One had white hair, the other black, and both had a single strand of hair of opposite coloring.
"Who are you?" one asked again. "Why have you come to our planet, and who is the masked man?"
