Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. It was made by a genius and I'm not that smart, though I might wish otherwise.
Chapter Eleven: Senshi Stuff
August 20, 6:30 am
Rei's Rooms, Hikawa Shrine, Manetheron, Earth
It was the morning of the next day and the Senshi were gathered in a private altar in the Hikawa Shrine. The compound was deserted since it was early, an hour before the Shrine opened, and the old man who owned and ran the place was meditating in the main Temple, something he did every day.
Rei was sitting in front of an unlit brazier, with legs crossed, lotus-style, and eyes closed. She was concentrating, preparing herself for what was needed. The other three girls were double-checking the surroundings for anybody – not that there ever was – who might be at the wrong place at the wrong time. After making sure the coast was clear, the three girls returned inside, grabbed a few cushions, and sat in a line a few feet behind Rei, imitating her position, and began their preparations as well.
Rei's private 3-room cottage (bedroom, dining/sitting/meeting room, altar room) was ideal for there were no other buildings nearby and the surrounding trees had thin enough trunks that a human being could not hide among them without being seen. All the other girls also lived with her and they all slept in the biggest room, ate meals and had their meetings in the middle-sized room while the smallest room had been converted into their private altar. The main priest approved of this since the girls led him to believe that they practiced the same religion as the priest and meditated every morning as well. While they did meditate almost every morning (save for mornings when they had to Contact the Queen – that was a different kind of 'meditation'), their meditation was of an entirely different 'religion' (for lack of a better word) than what Terrans were used to.
Closing their eyes, they began to meditate, concentrating on helping Mars augment her powers and, at the same time, creating a Psi Cover Shield which was a psychic shield that covered the room so that no one with psychic abilities would be able to Feel them. If a person with psychic ability were Looking for them, they'd probably Find the Shield but would not be able to penetrate it and it would alert them on the fact that someone was Looking for them. On the other hand, if a psychic person wasn't Looking and didn't know about them, they wouldn't be able to Feel a thing even if they were standing right outside the door. The augmentation of Mars' power was so that everything that happened in the room would come from the concerted powers of the four – and it was also done so that all four could See and Talk to the Queen. Mars acted as a conduit for all the powers combined.
Mars took a deep breath, held it for a second, and slowly, easily, let it out, pacing her exhalation. As she slowly exhaled, the pieces of wood within the brazier caught spark, flared slightly, and a lick of flame began to burn. At first, a weak and sickly flame; the girls all took deep breaths and followed Mars' lead and the flame grew until it was a healthy blaze that heated up and lit the entire room. There was nothing special with the fire, it was just your average ordinary fire, except that it was born of psychic powers and, though controlled by the wood and oxygen it burned, the flame's life was wholly dependent on the four women directing it.
Mars opened her eyes, held her hands in front of her and began a series of gestures, the accompaniment of the Summoning spell. In equal measures and cadences, she intoned, "Rin pyo tou sha kai jin retsu zai zen."
The flame grew higher for a second, a sheet of yellow-red that lighted the entire room and yet, somehow, didn't give off the expected heat a flame that big would've given.
Behind Mars, the other girls opened their eyes. They looked at the fire with intense looks on their faces.
Beginning as a glimmer, a spark of light at the center of each of the girls' foreheads intensified coalescence, solidified then dimmed, until a silvery shiny mark was left – the mark of their planets.
The flame dimmed… its heat lessened… then without warning, it roared up again, yellow flames dancing, undulating, then suddenly freezing. It was like looking into a clear, yellow pane of glass. Within the yellow now-frozen flames, hazy and indistinct at first but soon becoming clearer, came the face of Queen Serenity.
"Queen Serenity." The four placed all fingers of both hands on the ground and bent to touch their forehead to the ground, between their hands. After a heartbeat, they straightened.
"Hello, girls," the Queen greeted kindly. "How have you been?"
Taking their cue from the relaxed Queen – which meant that the Queen was alone wherever she was and they could talk freely – the girls dropped their formal mien.
"I hate this place," Mars grumbled.
"All these primitive Terrans," Jupiter sighed. "Why do they live this way?"
"Be nice," Mercury murmured. "They haven't had the benefit of being in contact with civilized people."
"You mean us, right?" Venus asked.
Mercury smirked at her leader and friend. "I was talking more about my people but I suppose you guys can count too."
The Queen smiled affectionately at them. "I've missed your bantering. The palace has been so quiet without you and the Princess around."
Venus spoke up, "Have the Outer Senshi arrived, your Majesty?"
"Yes. After searching their planets, they arrived to tell me that Serenity wasn't there either." The Queen sighed. "Not that we were expecting she'd travel all the way to their lands. I've sent the Outer Senshi to your lands to double check and they arrived yesterday empty-handed as well. We're all certain now that the Princess is there."
"Yes, well, we saw her yesterday," Mars offered.
The Queen stared at her. "You saw her? Yesterday? Why didn't you say so! Where is she? Tell us so we can have you all Teleported back immediately."
Venus cleared her throat. As the leader, she knew it was her duty to impart the bad news, but Mars beat her to it, speaking quickly as she hastily amended what she said, per their agreement the night before to 'lie' to the Queen, "I didn't mean 'see' as in 'saw with our own eyes'. We just heard, yes, we heard. That is to say, we've got a very strong lead on where we think she is and it seems that it is her, based on what we've heard and heard alone, and it's a very strong lead. Er… did I mention it was a strong lead?"
The girls schooled their expressions carefully, knowing that they could not give anything away that would make the Queen think they were hiding something. They really didn't want the Queen to know the truth about her daughter.
Even if Mars bungled her explanation royally.
"Are you certain it's her?" the Queen demanded. Obviously her worry for her daughter made her miss Mars' poor explanation.
Venus decided to interrupt Mars' babbling. "Quite. It could be no other." She began ticking off the 'proofs', "The girl in question is unknown to everyone here; she seemingly appeared out of nowhere to, um, live among them; she basically, uh, has no past." With her amnesia, Serenity certainly didn't have a past she remembered. "We think that she, well, used the Transformation Pen to disguise herself but, well, we're certain that, once we see her, Mars here will be able to discern if she's Lunarian or not by Checking the mysterious' woman's aura."
The Queen looked relieved. "That's great. That's the best news we've heard so far." She looked thoughtfully at them. "Do you need extra help? The Outer Senshi are all here and – "
"NO!"
The Queen looked startled at their shouted denial.
"That is to say, we've already been able to, um, fit in with the locals. If we introduce more strangers, they might start to suspect something," Jupiter quickly said.
"Mars can make them exude familiarity like she did with all of you and Mercury can fill in the blanks."
"Yes," Jupiter agreed, thinking fast. "But familiarity can only take us so far. We're debutantes now; we go to balls and mingle with the titled locals. It'll be harder to fit in if there were six or seven of us who looked familiar but nobody could remember our names."
Venus added, "Besides, with the popularity of balls nowadays, all the teenage girls all know each other. Or at least, have met each other at least once or twice. We had quite a trying time of it just last night trying to make it so that we can fit in. It'll be hard for our sister Senshi to penetrate the local customs."
"They could be merchants like Makoto was, or even tutors or additional non-titled persons," the Queen suggested though there was doubt in her voice.
"Yes, but it really wouldn't do any good," Mars quickly said. "The lady we spoke with said that the woman we sought was part of the aristocracy. Being part of the non-titled locals wouldn't really affect anything."
"Yes, I understand." The Queen sighed. "But you know how your older sisters are, especially Uranus. I've had to ask Neptune for help to hold her back and to calm her. She was perfectly willing to march to the Earth and search through every nook and cranny until she's found the Princess. I had to remind her that such an act could very well start a war."
The Inners, as they were sometimes called, could only smile weakly at the queen.
Though they loved their older Senshi sisters (aka Outer Senshi or Outers) dearly, they knew that Uranus was very fond of the princess and was protective to the extreme. Neptune and Pluto were protective too, even overly sometimes, but Uranus tended to put the whole protect-the-Princess-and-the-younger-Inner-Senshi to the extreme. She seemed to have internalized the whole protective-older-sister role. Many a suitor of the girls were firmly persuaded to settle their affections elsewhere if Uranus found them unacceptable, not that she found any acceptable. And a boy once played a trick on Venus and broke her heart – Uranus' reaction to that still made men quail in their boots. That was a good thing, actually, because of what Uranus did (the specifics of which, the girls never knew), the only males who approached the girls had pure intentions and nothing else. Of course, those men usually quailed under Uranus' watchful gaze (and, as Neptune once let slip accidentally, get-to-know-you questions) and usually gave up before even starting to seriously court.
On a good day, the girls would joke with Uranus saying that she was scaring off all their guys. While on not-so-good days, the girls would complain to Neptune that Uranus was scaring off all their guys and how were they to have boyfriends at all if she acted the way she did?
Still, Uranus had her good points. She helped teach the girls to fight, managed to teach Princess Serenity how to climb a tree (the Princess was terrified of heights… and practically everything else, come to think of it) and some rudimentary defensive fighting moves, gave them their first pets, and accompanied them all to their first ball.
In a way, Uranus was instrumental in helping make the girls a cohesive force and a power to reckon with. While they were already a few of the best warriors, Uranus simply made them the best. After all, that was part of being Senshi. Other planets had warriors, generals, leaders, military geniuses, but only seven women in the entire solar system became Senshi – Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. They have occasionally heard rumors of the much-feared Sailor Saturn but other than being told that she exists and her existence was a warning to all, they don't know anything else about her. Although a Senshi by birth (all royal children took Senshi training when they came of age), it took quite a bit of time and a lot of training before they could officially be Senshi and be worthy of that name.
The others, Neptune and Pluto, were of help also, but Pluto's duties as the Guardian of the Time Gate occupied most of her time and she was only called upon when needed. On the other hand, Neptune, who was rarely apart from Uranus, also taught and protected the girls to a lesser extent. In fact, she was usually the one who held Uranus back if the latter went too far in her 'guard duties' and the girls could tell Neptune things that they couldn't tell Uranus for Uranus' temper was quite explosive. Especially concerning the girls' happiness and well-being.
Something suddenly occurred to Venus. "Your majesty, if I may ask, has the Silver Crystal been doing anything… with regards to Serenity's disappearance?"
The queen frowned, absentmindedly lightly rubbing the center of her chest. "Not… really. Why?"
Venus shrugged. "I just wondered. After all, the Bearer is here on Earth, far removed from the Crystal."
"That's a good point, Venus. But in all honesty, though is still a bit about the Crystal that we don't know. And for all that Serenity is a Bearer… Well, unless something bad would happen to her, I don't think the Crystal would give any sign."
"So it's a good sign, then, that the Crystal is quiescent."
"Yes…" The queen looked thoughtful. "It is."
There was a sound of a door opening and closing.
"Are you talking to our younger sister-Senshi, your Majesty?" they heard a familiar voice ask and the girls looked at each other nervously.
"Why, yes, Uranus. We were just talking about you."
"Mars," Uranus called from outside their Sight in the glassy fire. "Move the Call to me; I want to Talk with you girls."
Nervous, but with no other alternative, the girls closed their eyes and shifted the focus of their Attention, seeking and finding the familiar aura of Uranus and subsequently Feeling her Acceptance. When they opened their eyes, it was to see the beautiful golden-eyed face of Uranus fixed in a black scowl. Her short wavy blond hair was, as usual, cut short in her trademark boyish style.
"It's not our fault!" Venus automatically said defensively.
Uranus' scowl flickered and she cast an affectionate glance at the four. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I know it's not your fault. I'm just very worried about the Princess." Her dark blond brows drew together. "You've found her, I assume?"
The girls all nodded. Quickly.
"Then take her home. I've got a few choice words I'd like to say to her."
"Pick a number," Mars dryly said, causing Uranus' lips to twitch but her scowl remained.
"Tell her I'm very worried about her and that she's disappointed me. Tell her that, to make me happy, she'd better not leave my sight for at least a year when she returns."
Venus raised an eyebrow at Uranus. "Do we want her to go back or are we trying to keep her away?"
Uranus laughed. "You're right. Telling her that would probably cause her to stubbornly refuse to go back, right? Then I'll be the one to tell her once you return."
"Uranus," Neptune mildly reprimanded. It sounded like she was standing near Uranus but since the girls hadn't Thought of her, she wasn't in the glassy fire.
"She worried and scared the hell out me. You know I hate those emotions." Uranus was obviously speaking to Neptune off-view.
"Nonetheless, I'm sure she had her reasons."
"Where's Pluto?" Jupiter wondered.
"She went back to her duties," Neptune replied. "You know she can't be away for more than a little while. She wants to be told when the Princess returns, though, or if anything of importance comes up."
"Can she See anything about what will happen to the Princess?" Mars nervously asked. If Pluto could See into time, she might tell the Queen about what really happened to the Princess.
Uranus shook her head. "You know she's forbidden to Look. Or even if she has Seen, she can't tell us unless it would greatly affect the Alliance. No matter how worried she is about our Princess, she'd never do anything to endanger Time and the Time Line itself."
"Duh," Venus muttered under her breath.
"Well," Mars said, beginning to feel the Fatigue that accompanied these Calls. "We'd better go. We've got a whole day to work on our plans in order to find the Princess."
"Good luck, then," Uranus and Neptune told the girls.
"Oh, girls?" Uranus called before they began the Closing spell. Uranus smiled at them sweetly, causing them to fidget nervously, for Uranus rarely smiled sweetly. "I love you all like sisters and the events happening now doesn't change that; but if Serenity isn't back home in a week, I will be going there. And I'm sure we all want to see what kind of a reunion that's going to be, right?"
The girls smiled weakly as Uranus' image wavered in the glass-like aspect of the fire until it became hazy and indistinct. The glassy characteristic of the flame flared out, the fire blazed once then lowered to a few sickly flames until it completely went out. The lighted planetary symbols on their foreheads flared once, in time with the flames, then went out as the girls slouched in Fatigue and fatigue.
Rei turned to face the others. "I call first dibs on getting my hands on our wayward Princess once we finally have her in custody."
"I'm the leader, I should have her first," Minako countered.
"Oh, that's not fair. Take a number like the rest of us, Venus," Ami said waspishly.
"Let's draw straws, all right?" Makoto suggested.
A polite knock had all girls' heads swiveling to the entrance.
The girls fixed themselves in more comfortable and Terran-like cross-legged positions as Rei cleared her throat and called out, "Come in."
An old man, small, bald, and with kind eyes, peeked inside.
"Grandfather," Rei greeted respectfully. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry to bother you and your friends, but it's almost time for us to open. Would you mind lighting up the smaller holy fires within the Temple?"
Rei looked at the old man in surprise then glanced outside at the brightness of the sun. "Wow, is it that late already? I'm very sorry, grandfather, we must've lost track of the time. I'll light up the fires, don't worry."
"Thank you." He turned to the Rei's friends. "Girls, would you like to help out again today in the Shrine?"
The girls glanced at each other before agreeing. They had nothing else planned for the day, anyway, and break times would give them a chance to be able to talk and plan.
'Grandfather' was a term Terrans used for old men to denoted respect and affection. The girls automatically called the Head Priest of Hikawa that. They had used Mars' powers and Mercury's Memory Device to convince the man that Rei was his blood granddaughter, whom he hasn't seen in a while, and who had come to visit with her friends for an indefinite amount of time.
August 20, 8:00 am
Solar, Silver Millennium Palace, Moon
"That was a good point that Venus brought up," the king commented to the queen in mild tones.
"Hm?" she replied, still distracted, as she had been ever since the Call to the Senshi.
"Did the Crystal really not do anything with regards to Serenity's disappearance?"
The queen frowned. "I've been trying to figure that out as well. I mean, as long as Serenity's life is not in danger, the Crystal certainly wouldn't made a fuss but… the Bearers have never been that far from the Crystal ever since, I would've thought that it'd make a sign or something."
"You didn't feel anything from it? Ever since Serenity's disappearance?"
"I would say no, but now that it was brought up… I seem to recall feeling a sort of jolt when Luna told us Serenity had disappeared. I originally thought it was just me, I mean what parent would want to hear that their child was gone? Not to mention that it was overlaid by the fact that I'm also a queen? But now… I'm not sure. Maybe it was normal parental concerns or just a queen reacting to the disappearance of her most important subject… or the Crystal? I really wouldn't know. Physically, though, there has been no change or no sign from the crystal, so… I really can't say."
Warning: Do not try this at home.
Author's Note: It was fun to plan this, to imagine it and stuff… and afterwards, I had a burning desire to grab three friends and try it out to see if it actually works. See, theoretically, it's supposed to, but one never knows unless one tries, right? And I'm not suggesting that you do try it since I certainly don't want to be responsible for any possible injuries sustained and neither do I want any of you to get hurt. Also, I know the girls have different heights in the manga and anime, and that sticking to the manga would be more 'true' since the manga is the original version, right? But I decided to stick with the anime version. It's much easier that way and I think more of us are more familiar with the anime version than the manga, yes? Anyway, here goes the girls' innovation:
August 21, 1:56 am
Northwest Wall, Gaia Palace Compound, Earth
That night, in a deserted area somewhere around the outermost palace wall, four girls in nondescript black clothing were lurking.
"Remind me again, why are we skulking around?" Mars grumbled in annoyance.
"So we can go in, find Serenity, and hightail outta here," Jupiter replied in a whisper.
Mercury reminded them, "You do know that the palace grounds are probably heavily guarded?"
"We'll have to chance it," Venus murmured. "We have got to get our Princess out of here and back home."
"And we've got her amnesia to worry about too." Mercury bit her lip.
Mars rubbed her fist. "Don't worry. I'll just hit her again and again until she remembers everything."
"What a novel practical treatment to a medical mystery that has baffled doctors for quite some time."
"Stow it, Ami." Mars scowled at her. "I don't need your sarcasm."
Venus sharply hissed at them to be quiet. They were near the walls and silence was imperative at this point.
The four girls studied the wall. It was quite tall, taller even than Jupiter and she was a full head taller than the other girls. Just for this night, the girls, Jupiter especially, reverted to their true height since it would be easier that way. Also, they relaxed some of the hold they had on their disguise, still keeping the way they looked (except for height) but returning some of their innate powers back. Nothing too extreme like their attack powers, but they certainly weren't as normal as Terrans that night. They brought no rope, no gadgets, because if they were caught, they would not be able to lie their way out of it. Besides, scaling walls was something of a, shall we say, hobby with them and they had all worked out a systematic method for going above and over any wall.
The palace wall was one of the easier types of wall to breach for while it was tall, it was also perhaps about a foot thick. That would mean that the girls could rest on the top before proceeding to the other side.
After ascertaining that no one was around and they couldn't Hear or hear a thing from across the wall, they began.
Jupiter walked forward until she was perhaps a foot or two away from the wall. She spread her legs and braced herself against the wall. Mercury and Mars took places behind Jupiter's back, standing to one side each, prepared to catch Venus if she fell. Carefully, Venus put her hands on Jupiter's shoulder for balance as she lifted her right foot and placed it at the bend Jupiter's torso and leg made. She lifted herself up then slung her other leg on Jupiter's shoulder, using that to haul herself up until she was sitting on Jupiter's shoulders. After a beat of ensuring she had and Jupiter had their balance, she placed one hand on Jupiter's head and the other against the wall and carefully climbed up so she could stand on Jupiter's shoulder. She planted her hands flat on the wall for balance then reached up and grasped the top of the wall.
"Who said that sneaking out back home was a complete waste of time?" Mars' smile flashed white in the night. "That's the only time we learn useful skills such as this."
Mercury absently hushed her, watching closely as Venus pull herself up and, with her hands settled on top of the wall and arms straightened, looked around on the other side of the tall wall. "Anything?" she asked Venus.
"None that I can see," Venus murmured, bending her elbows slightly and giving back Jupiter some of her weight. With a muffled grunt, she basically jumped up, her feet clearing off Jupiter's shoulders. She swung slightly, hooking her leg on top of the wall and pushed herself up until she was straddling the wall. She squinted in the darkness then glanced back down to nod at Mercury that all was clear.
Mars moved, putting her back against Jupiter's back, she spread her legs and bent down, forming a right angle with her knee joint and her thighs parallel to the ground. She lifted her arms in a mirror-image form of her legs, braced her weight, and nodded to Mercury that she was ready. Mercury reached and grabbed Mars' hands, took a deep breath, and used Mars as a ladder to climb up Jupiter's shoulders.
They looked a lot like cheer dancers forming a pyramid.
With their hands clasped, Mercury placed her right foot firmly on Mars' left leg, at the point where leg met torso, then hauled herself up and placed her foot on Mars' left shoulder. Then she swung the other leg and settled herself sitting on Jupiter's shoulders. Venus settled her weight more firmly on the wall then bent down to help Mercury. Clasping hands, Mercury slowly stood on Jupiter's shoulder and, once balanced, she slowly let go of Venus' hands and reached for the wall, lifting herself up in imitation Venus a while ago. She ended up straddling the wall and facing Venus. They shared grins, thoroughly enjoying the excitement of what they were doing.
Jupiter turned from the wall and faced Rei, who had dropped her stance and was facing the wall.
"Your turn, Mars," she said.
With one foot flush against the wall, she braced the other in front of her in a frozen lunge position, knee bent perpendicularly with her thigh paralleling the ground. She clasp her hands out in front of her, laying it in front of her, where leg met torso, and nodded at Mars that she was ready.
Mars took a deep breath then went forward. Her climb would have to be a bit faster than the other two since her climb depended more on speed and agility than on balance. She placed her right foot near Jupiter's knee at the same time that Jupiter raised her clasped hands slightly, just in time to catch Mars' other foot as she stepped on Jupiter's intertwined fingers. As if climbing a strange human staircase, she then put her right foot on Jupiter's shoulders, simultaneously reaching out to grasp both Venus and Mercury's arm. The two hauled Mars up until she was standing on Jupiter's shoulders. After a beat where Jupiter made sure was steady, Mercury and Venus grabbed Mars' arms and hauled her up the wall. She straddled it, rested for a while then nodded to Mercury and Venus. The two girls held on to Mars' arms and helped her climb back down until she was hanging on the wall by her hands. Mercury and Venus had shuffled closer so that they could get a firmer grip on Mars' arms, ready to catch her if she fell. Their positions secure, Mars bent her knees in a right angle and waited, her fingers tightening on the wall top as she readied herself for Jupiter's weight.
Mercury and Venus watched from where they were perched to see Jupiter take a few steps back, inhale deeply, and do a perfectly positioned handstand so that her legs would hit Mars' bent knees. Hooking her ankles on the angle Mars' knees formed, Jupiter lifted her hands off the ground and did an unbelievable abdominal crunch, hauling her upper body up until she could grasp Mars' legs and pulled herself up higher. Mars grunted and winced at the weight, but held on. Mercury leaned forward so that she could grip the hand Venus was holding and, once done, Venus let go of Mars and bent down, bracing her weight and reaching out for Jupiter. Their hands met in a strong clasp and, once the girls were firmly grasping hands, Mars straightened her legs and climbed back up with Mercury's help. She quickly shuffled to the side to give Jupiter some room, then bent down, grasp Jupiter's shirt and helped Venus pull Jupiter up. They let go when Jupiter was lying on her stomach on the foot-wide wall top. They shuffled backwards to allow Jupiter space to swing her legs and hook it on the wall. She pulled herself up and ended up sitting with her back to the outside and facing the inner wall.
The four girls shared grins, exhilarated.
"What a work-out, eh?" Jupiter grinned.
The girls turned to the next stage. Peering down in the darkness, they tried to guess at the height, for some walls had different heights from within and without. From what they could see, it was the same height as from the outside, which made things relatively easier.
Jupiter twisted and dropped until she was hanging on the wall by her hands, like Mars was when she climbed up. She made sure she was settled firmly on the wall then nodded at Venus.
Venus grasped Jupiter's body and legs and used those as a makeshift ladder to slide down. Using both hands to hold on to Jupiter's feet, she hung there suspended for a second before letting go and falling to the ground, which was just a few feet away, on quiet feet.
Eyes and ears alert, she took a quick look around and ascertained that no one was around, then looked up at her friends and nodded. They imitated her in going down, first Mars, then Mercury. When Jupiter was the only one up, the three girls did a quick check again with Mars using her powers minimally to Search out if anybody was around while Jupiter sat again on the wall for a breather. At Mars' nod, the girls quickly went to position.
Mars and Venus, because they were almost of the same height, stood against the wall, shoulder to shoulder. They braced themselves and nodded at Mercury, who looked up at Jupiter and gave her the thumbs-up. Jupiter squinted down and adjusted her position. Then she twisted until she was hanging on the wall with her hands and her feet landed on Mars and Venus' shoulders and she slowly let go of the wall. With her holding on to the wall, balancing her weight, she felt Mars and Venus take a few steps forward. Slowly, she let go but ran her hands along the wall for balance as she slowly bent down until she could reach the girls' heads with her hands. Bracing her hands against the tops of the girls' heads, she jumped off their shoulders and landed on silent feet. At this point, Mercury had her back turned for she was constantly looking around for anybody who might be around.
"I kind of miss Serenity," Mars admitted as she brushed off her shoulders and ran a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, it's easier to do this if there were five of us," Venus replied.
Mars looked sheepish. "Actually, I miss Serenity because she never stops complaining. We've never scaled a wall this quietly before."
"Where to now?" Jupiter asked, looking around. The girls had gone deeper inside the palace compound until they reached a groove of trees where they could hide so they could plan what to do.
"Well… do any of you know where the Imperial Garrison is?" Venus chewed on her lower lip.
Mars stared incredulously at the blond. "Let me get this straight. We climbed up a 10-foot wall that was supposedly heavily guarded but we were lucky enough and managed to get over it just fine. We sneaked inside, deeper in the palace compound where, with each step we take, our chances of getting captured increases as we near the heart of the Earth Kingdom, and now, oh glorious leader, you tell us that you do not know where the garrison is?"
"Sh," Mercury hissed, tilting her head to the side as she tried to listen. They did not know where the garrison was or how close they were to it, but using their powers at this point was chancy. If the generals were close enough, they would be able to Hear the Senshi since untrained psychic power were usually more sensitive when the person was sleeping.
"What is it?" the girls all nervously asked, looking around worriedly.
"I think I heard something but it could just be a bird."
Jupiter sighed. "I miss the familiar sights and sounds of the Moon. Or even our own homelands."
"Don't worry," Venus assured them. "All we have to do is get in, get her, and get out. In and out, that's it. No problem, right?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that."
The girls froze as a definitely male voice spoke up from behind. Trembling with trepidation, the four slowly turned around to look.
A dark male figure detached itself from the huddle of trees nearby and his shadow approached the girls. "You see, there's a wee bit of a problem with the fact that you're not supposed to be here but I'm sure you'll be able to explain yourselves very well, won't you, girls?"