Chapter Six
The Enemy Finally Appears! Mizumi-chan's Infatuation?
"Ooh! Look at this! Isn't it beautiful, Mizumi-chan?" Usa pressed her face against the glass of the window and peered inside, an envious look on her face. The tall blue-haired girl slowed to a stop, peering over her friend's shoulder and into the store.
"What? Oh! Wow!"
"What are you two staring at?" Moriko leaned around them and her eyes widened. "Wow...I see."
Aikin brought up the rear, struggling to walk without falling as Nakomi and Umina each pulled on one of his arms. "No," he said loudly, "I already told you, she said-"
The three stopped short as they saw Usa, Mizumi, and Moriko staring into the window with rapt fascination. Nakomi and Umina released him so quickly he nearly toppled backwards into the street, but after moving to stand behind them he whistled softly and said, "Whoever made this is incredibly talented. It looks just like you Usa-chan."
She blushed and murmured, "I don't think so, but Mama and Grandmother look fantastic. So," she added as an afterthought, "does Queen Serenity. I'm surprised anyone was so inspired by her. Most look to Grandmother as the Messiah now, and don't see Queen Serenity as anything but her mother."
"It's uncanny," Mizumi murmured, "the artist has every detail perfect, including facial expressions and the dress styles! This must have taken forever!"
Sitting on a swath of dark blue velvet, the sculpture depicted the royal line of Serenity, beginning with the silver-haired Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium. Standing towards the top, under rocks with a silver sheen to them, Queen Serenity, her beautiful hair cascading down her back like two rivers of moonlit silver, held the ginzuishou over her head, looking up at it with determination but also with a wistful sadness.
"I think," Nakomi said softly, almost unwilling to break the solemn silence, "that she was about to send everyone to the future there. Look how sad she looks. She knows it will be the last time she ever sees anyone in that form again."
The others nodded thoughtfully. The next woman was sitting a level down from Queen Serenity and on rocks that looked like they were made of clear crystal. Peering into a large swath of silvery water that stretched through the middle of the piece, a length of her golden hair had slipped over one shoulder and trailed into the pool. Neo-Queen Serenity, wisdom clearly shown on her face, was looking down at her reflection, which was a younger version of herself, who looked decidedly more unsure than her regal counterpart. One hand was reaching down into the water, just as the reflection of Princess Serenity was reaching up. Between their two hands, the ginzuishou hovered, glowing slightly.
"That one is a nice bridge between the past and the present. I'll bet that's just how Princess Serenity looked in the Silver Millennium."
Usa nodded slowly. Across the pool, Neo-Princess Selenity was on rocks of black crystal, looking down into the water. However, instead of wisdom, there was nothing but sadness on her face. On hands and knees, she peered into the water as if she had dropped something. Tears from her face had caused ripples across the water, and one hand had been scratched and was slowly trickling blood into the silvery depths.
Aikin, who could see over all of them and had a slightly overhead view of the piece, softly said, "I think the ginzuishou is at the bottom of the pool. There's something shining down there."
Mizumi, the second tallest, nodded in agreement and added, "I think he's right. There's just a faint shine of light down there."
The final figure was at the bottom of the piece, and was kneeling, her dress being pulled back by what must have been a fierce wind. Her dark hair spun out behind her like two swaths of midnight, and her arms were outstretched in front of her, the ginzuishou glowing between her slender hands. A look of intense determination shone brightly in her eyes, and the golden crescent moon on her forehead glowed softly with a silver light. Across from her, was an empty swath of silvery crystal, which she was kneeling on.
Moriko spoke up. "That look she has on her face is the exact way you looked when we fought the Divine One. I've never seen you look that way before or since then, but that is the look."
Umina said, "We should go and see how much they're asking for that. It would look so beautiful in the palace, and I'm sure Neo-Queen Serenity will pay for it when she sees it."
The others nodded, but stopped short and turned when they heard a voice shrill with tension loudly exclaim, "What kind of idiot do you take me for? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" A pale hand whipped out and pushed a layout of cards onto the street. Then, the girl who has yelled, who looked about seventeen, whirled around, her nose in the air, and stormed off, short black hair shining indignantly behind her. The owner of the cards stood up from his chair and knelt down on the ground, gathering his fallen belongings.
"Let us help you!" The others close behind her, Usa began gathering fallen cards, her friends doing the same.
"Ah," the owner said, his back to them as he picked up cards, "Thank you. I want to hurry and get them before the wind picks them up and tosses them all over the place."
Mizumi paused a moment, a gold-backed card in her hand, and lightly traced the design, a dragon unfurling its wings in front of a half moon, with one finger. Distractedly, she reached down for another card and froze when she felt warm fingers brush her own. She looked up slowly, and thought she was going to faint.
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Shiko clutched her bag tightly and walked as quickly away from the fortune-teller as she could. She ducked into the nearest alley, tears welling up in her violet eyes, and slid down the wall until she was crouched with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head buried in her arms. She angrily brushed at a tear with a shaking hand and snapped, "What does he know anyway? Stupid! I never should have asked. I was an idiot for thinking anyone would have the answer to my problem..." Tears welled up again, and she buried her head in her arms.
Unbidden, familiar but terrifying images played themselves across her mind. The tip of a black blade, eyes narrowing at her, a black star inscribed on a woman's forehead, a strange fire ball shooting towards earth, an explosion, a glittering cluster of crystals, a woman with a large gem at her throat laughing cruelly.
"What do they mean?" She whispered softly.
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Eyes and hair the same color. With warm, chocolate eyes, he smiled at Mizumi, both of them still holding the card. She blushed, but didn't let go. The fortune-teller turned his hand slightly, forcing Mizumi to do the same or drop the card. Turning, the face of it became visible. The blue-haired girl's eyes widened as she saw the image, and she dropped it as if it had burned her hand. The stylized gold letters adorning the bottom of the card gleamed and winked in the sunlight, and he softly said, "The Lovers. Must be destiny." He winked at her and smiled again, laughing as he did so.
Mizumi, a dazed look on her face, nodded slightly and murmured, "Uh-huh. Destiny..."
Nakomi, who looked slightly flushed, declared, "I love destiny! I want to know everything about it. Past...present...and future!"
Aikin looked at her out of the corner of his eye and handed the remaining cards to the fortune-teller. Getting to his feet, he said, "I don't think we got your name..."
The other got to his own feet and said, "How rude of me! My name is Unmeino Ryuu."
Mizumi, still on the ground, murmured, "Unmeino Ryuu..."
Aikin nodded and said, "Aino Aikin. This is Kaiou-Tenou Umina, Tsukino Usagi, Barano Moriko, Aino Nakomi, and Ameno Mizumi."
"Ameno Mizumi, what a beautiful name," Ryuu murmured, reaching down to help Mizumi to her feet. She blinked out of her daze at his touch, and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
"Thank you," she said softly, blushing and not looking at him.
Nakomi, sensing that she was losing her free fortune-telling session, danced over to Ryuu and looped his arm through her own, singing, "How a-bout it, Ry-uu-sa-ma? Will you tell my fortune?"
Moriko nodded vigorously and chimed, "Yeah, do mine too!"
Umina, laughing, pushed Aikin forward and said, "Do his first!"
Usa looked around and added, "Well, if everyone else is having their fortune told," she smiled brightly, "I want mine done too!"
Mizumi's face darkened for an instant, but it quickly cleared into one of resignation. Ryuu fended them off with upraised hands while laughing quietly at the same time.
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The alleyway was empty, a shopping bag laying forgotten on its side. Next to it, traced in the grime, was a strange symbol that looked like a lowercase "h" with a line through the top of it.
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"Okay! Okay! I give up! I'll do all of them." The girls cheered, but he continued with, "Not right now though," he gestured to the crowds walking by. "Right now, I have to do some legitimate work."
Nakomi released him, her face falling. Almost immediately after, she smiled again and exclaimed, "No problem! We'll just come back later. We planned on-"
A giant purple bird of energy swept down on them from above. Throwing themselves to ground moments before being struck, the senshi were missed. Ryuu was thrown back into the wall as a tail feather clipped him in the head, and Mizumi snarled, jumping to her feet. A stylized blue pen with a golden diamond engraved with the symbol of Mercury on the top of it appeared.
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make-up!"
Close behind her, other hands holding similar pens flew into the air.
"Silver Moon Power!"
"Neptune Planet Power!"
"Jupiter Planet Power!"
"Pluto Planet Power!"
"Venus Planet Power!"
"Make-up!"
In whirling colors and flashes of light, the Sailor Team transformed. The bird was already circling for another attack, and as Mercury stood over the unconscious Ryuu,
Guardian Pluto lifted the Time Staff.
He flung his left hand back, keeping the right firmly on the Time Key just below the Garnet Orb. A ball of mauve energy gathered in his hand, and he grabbed his weapon with both hands. The energy in his left hand traveled up and down the length of the metal, and the Garnet Orb burst into light. Aiming at the bird, he shouted, "Shrieking Epoch!" Several balls of mauve energy shot from the Garnet Orb, and its light slowly dimmed.
Every ball hit its target, and the bird screamed and started to spiral crookedly. Venus and Neptune, in an uncommon show of cooperation, looked at each other and nodded.
Neptune extended her index and middle finger together on both hands and circled them around each other directly in front of her chest. Two separate, cerulean, streams of water trailed at the ends of her fingers, and they slowly combined together into one ring of water circling in the air around her hands. She slowed down gradually, and pulled her hands farther apart. The ring formed into a ball of vivid blue water, which she pushed away from herself with both hands, fingers splayed.
"Iridescent Tide!"
In perfect timing, Venus was performing her attack, and moments after Neptune finished, she shouted, "Golden Kiss Glitter!"
Side by side, the two attacked raced for the already wounded bird. With a final wounded scream, it crashed into the ground and faded from sight. Sailorjupiter shook her head and said, "Not much of an enemy, was it?"
Sailormoon shook her head and said, "I wasn't even needed..."
Sailormercury was trying to wake up Ryuu. Sailorvenus ran over to Pluto and exclaimed, "That was soo cool! I wish I had that Staff!" Her eyes gleamed slightly, and Pluto, recognizing the look, held the weapon where his sister couldn't reach it. She shot him an exasperated look, but stopped short when a voice from overhead spoke.
"Well, well, well. Could it be that the half moon has occurred already?" Bright red eyes glared at Ryuu with hatred and the young woman slowly drifted towards the ground. Her soft-soled shoes made no sound as she settled on the road, and she tossed a shaggy ponytail over her shoulder and placed her hands on her hips. Wearing a red skirt that hugged her hips and flared at her calves, the bottom decorated with the black circles, and a tight fitting, red, off-the-shoulder top, the woman sneered at Ryuu disdainfully.
"Why she lets trash like this come with us, I'll never know." Her eyes brightened for a moment, and she smiled secretly, adding, "I could fix that right now before she ever found out. If I blame it on the senshi, she'll have no way to pin it on me." She laughed and clapped her hands excitedly. "I'm such a genius!"
Sailormoon exchanged glances with the rest of the senshi, who looked utterly baffled, and finally, clearing her throat, said, "Um, are you talking about Ryuu-san?"
"Huh?" The woman stopped clapping and looked at Sailormoon with surprise, apparently seeing her for the first time. Quickly regaining her composure, she tossed her head and replied, "Of course. He's trash. As first phase dancer of the Caravan, I'm taking it upon myself to remedy the mistake of bringing him along with us."
Sailormoon hesitated again, unsure if they were faced with an enemy. She wasn't used to talking with them before fighting. Sailorjupiter nudged her ever so slightly, and Sailormoon took a deep breath and said, "As the protectors of this world, we won't allow you to harm him! For love and justice! I'm the pretty-suited soldier, Sailormoon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
"What?" The woman laughed and exclaimed, "Don't worry! I'm doing you a favor! Don't you understand? He's one of us! Part of the Caravan! He's helping to destroy your world, you know." She stopped laughing abruptly and said, "Now get out of the way."
Sailormercury gave her a black look, and Guardian Pluto stepped in front of both Mercury and Ryuu.
"Sailormoon told you that we wouldn't let you hurt him. Now leave, before we have to send back to where you came from."
The woman frowned, looking dangerously annoyed, and with narrowed eyes, opened her mouth to reply.
"Decimating Voltage!"
"Iridescent Tide!"
The woman jumped away moments before being hit, her face twisted with fury. "You dare to attack me? For this I'll kill all of you!" She spun around once and kicked a leg into the air, sending a stream of red ice towards Sailormercury and Ryuu, who still wasn't moving.
"Shimmering Frostbite!" A layer of frost, ice, and snow encased them, but there was a scream as the red attack hit them anyway. The frost and snow faded, leaving Sailormercury on her knees and panting heavily.
"Mercury!" Sailormoon took a step towards her fallen friend.
"You're fighting them without me!" A new voice said petulantly. Space shimmered next to the dancer, and an identical woman in shades of yellow appeared. She was holding a black and light yellow tambourine in one hand and had the other on her hip. She tapped a foot angrily, and the dancer cringed.
"Sorry! I looked everywhere for you! But I could sense a new tear in the reality and wanted to see how much the creature could accomplish. Amazingly," she smirked, "Look who else I found."
The yellow-haired woman looked to where the dancer was pointing and smiled cruelly. "Is it that time of the month again already?"
The redhead nodded sadly, "I suppose so, and just look at the condition he's in! It was just too much of an opportunity to pass up!"
The yellow-haired woman nodded and said, "I suppose you're right. I would have done the same thing."
"Unfortunately," the dancer pouted, "I was attacked! Those senshi are protecting him!"
"What? Are they out of their minds? Why protect an enemy?"
"I don't think they believed me when I said he was one of us." The yellow-haired woman looked at the senshi and said, "Believe us! As second phase musician of the Caravan, I swear that my partner is telling the truth!"
"No. It's our duty to protect the innocent and helpless," Sailormoon gestured to where Mercury was struggled to get back to her feet and protect Ryuu, "and we will always accomplish our duty."
The musician shrugged and said, "Very well. Die with him."
Her partner sent another stream of ice in their direction, and the yellow-haired woman hit her tambourine. A thick streamer of yellow fire shot from the instrument, and interrupted the attacks the senshi were struggling to perform.
Sailorvenus shrieked as she tripped and landed on her face after dodging a fireball that came dangerously close to her head.
Sailorneptune was struck by ice, and Guardian Pluto by fire. Sailorjupiter went down by a double attack as she got uncomfortably close to breaking through the defenses of the two. Sailormercury hung back; if she moved, Ryuu would be killed, and she knew there was very little she could do to help the team in her weakened state.
Sailormoon, seeing her friends fall around her, held up her hands. The Lunar Blade appeared above her , and she grabbed the hilt with both hands.
"I told you that I'd stop you, and you've given me no choice but to destroy you."
The two women looked at each other and began to laugh.
"You've got to be kidding," the musician said.
"You actually think you can beat us with that thing?" The dancer threw back her head and cackled.
Sailormoon, the Lunar Blade in her right hand, spun in a circle once, bringing the sword up near her chest.
"Oh no you don't." The dancer took off the numerous gold bracelets she was wearing and threw them at Sailormoon. The jewelry froze in mid-air, and by the time it reached Sailormoon, was solid ice. The bracelets circled the senshi repeatedly, streamers of ice coming off of them and encasing her in it.
"Stop!" The sword fell from her frozen fingers, and the ice was coming dangerously close to covering her face. The dancer shook her head mock playfully and said, "Sorry. You were going to destroy us, so we're simply returning the favor."
"It wouldn't be polite to do otherwise," the musician added. The dancer twitched her wrists, and the bracelets spun faster. Sailormoon gasped as her skin froze and shook her head wildly from side-to-side.
"Don't..."
The musician started to laugh, but her mockery quickly turned into screams as razor talons raked her face. Silver wings flashed in the sunlight, and Eclipse screamed a challenge at his mistresses' attackers. She screamed again and swung wildly with her tambourine.
"Splitting Confusion!" A beam of star-shaped, indigo energy struck the dancer, and the bracelets fell to the ground.
"Hypnotic Flames!"
"Heaven Strike!"
The ice around Sailormoon was delicately hit by a ball of fire and at the same time struck from behind with golden energy. Her bonds shattered, and Sailormoon fell to her knees. The two women vanished for a moment and then reappeared in the air over the senshi.
"More senshi," the dancer said, "I wondered where the rest of you had run off to hide."
Sailorsaturn shook her head calmly and said, "We weren't hiding. We simply weren't with the others when you decided to plan your ill-fated attack."
"Ill-fated?" The musician, with a snide smile, responded "Why is that?"
Uranus Knight smirked and said, "Because it ends here."
The dancer shook her head and replied, "I don't think so." The two women looked at each other for a moment and nodded on some unspoken single. They both raised their hands into the air, but froze when a voice shrieked, "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? GET BACK HERE! NOW!" Both cringed, whimpered and then looked back down at the senshi arrogantly.
"Don't think this is over," the dancer said disdainfully.
"We've only just begun," the musician added contemptuously.
The two laughed simultaneously and vanished.
Ryuu groaned weakly, and Mercury shimmered slightly, once again becoming Ameno Mizumi. She knelt down at his side, and resting his head in her lap, murmured, "Ryuu-san? Are you okay?" Slowly, his warm eyes opened, and Mizumi found her insides melting again. She opened her mouth, choked on the word, cleared her throat, and softly repeated, "Are you okay?"
Ryuu groaned again and slowly sat up. Putting one hand to his forehead, he murmured, "What happened? I thought I saw..."
Mizumi shrugged lightly and replied, "You collapsed out of nowhere." In a playfully scolding voice, she added, "We were worried about you!"
He blinked groggily and said, "There seems to be a lot more of you than before."
Mizumi laughed and replied, "We have a habit of conveniently getting together at just the right moments."
Ryuu looked slightly confused, but he shrugged and didn't say anything else. After a silent pause, he shook himself and slowly got to his feet. Mizumi followed, and the others drew closer.
Nakomi approached slowly, and hesitantly said, "Ryuu-san, do you know anything about the half-moon?"
He froze, and there was a moment of incredibly tense silence. Finally, he shrugged and replied, "Sure. I use it as my guiding phase. When the half-moon is in the sky, my readings are the clearest and most accurate. Actually," he looked up towards the blue sky, "I think yesterday was the half-moon." He shook his head ruefully and added, "I've been sort of out of it lately."
The others began to chatter, but Tensei, Hotaru, and Ame-chan hung in the back.
"This could be nothing more than a coincidence," Hotaru said softly, looking at Ryuu out of the corner of her eye. "He could be telling us the truth."
"He could also be a liar," Tensei said grimly, "He might be trying to lure us into a sense of false security."
"Whatever the case," Ame said seriously, "We're going to have to watch him carefully. The enemy was obviously targeting him, whether or not to trick us is arguable, and they might try it again. If they do, we have to be ready to face them again." The other two nodded seriously.
"We have to keep an eye on that one."