What We've Lost And What We've Gained
Chapter Twenty One - The Travelers
Lead us into the unknown.
continue.
"Welcome, Sailor Senshi," called a voice from the darkness.
Though a murky, violet haze obscured their vision, the newcomers to the Gates of Time knew it could be only one voice.
"Long time no see, Sailor Pluto," answered Minako, the first to step forward. She added darkly, "Or perhaps it hasn't been too long for you and I."
"I wasn't expecting you this early," mused the green haired warrior, ignoring the barb, "But it is easy to lose track of the days in this place. Perhaps by another perspective, you're right on time."
Makoto inhaled, deeply and slowly, attempting to smother her tension. It irked her that, even in times of crisis, the Time Senshi managed to speak in riddles. They had barely clocked a single minute at the Gates of Time, and already she wanted to start yelling. But she had already promised to hold her tongue.
Luckily, Minako was far better at these things than she. Their leader replied deftly, "By my eyes, we're a bit late."
Pluto chuckled ever so slightly under her breath. "Shall we then?" The Senshi stepped back into the mist.
While her four companions followed Pluto through the unknown air, Makoto paused briefly, squinting into the suspicious vapor. A slender hand grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her forward. If not for their magical defenses, Rei's impatient touch might have burned into Makoto's skin.
The thick fog began to clear, as they walked into a new area. A single widened path stretched out before them. On both sides of it, lay a vast expanse of circular ponds walled off by sets of jagged blue rocks. The pools themselves varied in color and intensity, but they all exuded a similar sense of dread.
Usagi gazed at the still waters, fraught with uncertainty. "Pluto-san, what is all this?"
"Careful where you step," was all that came in reply. The mysterious Senshi led them further down the path. Inexplicably, she stopped. "Here we are."
The significance of the spot was indistinguishable to even Ami's analytical eye. The bluenette was quick to ask, "Where? Where are we?"
Pluto picked a seemingly random pebble off the ground and tossed it into one of the pools. Its sienna water began to ripple violently. Rei was the first to gasp, as the ripples began to take on an image. Within the murky liquid, she could distinguish the crimson skies and sickly clouds of the nightmare world she had foreseen.
"That's Nemesis, isn't it?" deduced Minako.
Sailor Pluto nodded. "I believe that is what you're looking for, correct?"
"Rei-chan?" Usagi turned to the troubled shrine maiden. "This is what you saw in your visions?"
"Yes, though I can't see the dark moon from this angle," affirmed Rei.
"Pluto-san?" implored Ami, "What can you tell us about Nemesis?"
"It is a place of great evil," spoke the old one solemnly. "Remnants of Chaos have been festering there for a millennia."
"Artemis said the same thing. How do we beat it though?" asked Minako.
"That I cannot say."
Rei's fiery glare narrowed. 'Cannot? Or will not?' she almost uttered accusingly. She bit her tongue for a moment before questioning, "Can you, at least, tell us how to get there?"
"The path lies in front of you," answered Pluto, "Just step forward."
The five women gazed down at the pool they surrounded. The ripples were beginning to dissipate, leaving behind another unassuming puddle. The horrifying world faded back into a rusty stillness, but the memory of its true picture echoed on.
"We're not really going in there, right guys?" asked Usagi anxiously.
"We kinda have to," shrugged Makoto. She looked towards Minako. "Don't we?"
Their leader nodded grimly. "We don't have much of a choice. We know where the youma are coming from and we have to seal their escape routes."
"Hold on, Mina-chan," protested Ami, "We don't have an actual plan. We can't just go in there blindly. For all we know, we could die the second we set foot on the planet. We don't know what we'll see."
"Pluto-san, you've been there before." Minako recalled Artemis's earlier admission. "And you've obviously lived to tell the tale. Is there a safe enough spot to land without getting mobbed instantly?"
"There are many paths into Nemesis. All hold their own peril."
A groan of exasperation escaped Minako's lungs in the form of a muted sigh. The whole 'spooky, mysterious thing' had been getting on her nerves as well, but she knew she couldn't show it. The air around her teammates was too fragile to break. She sensed Usagi and Ami's trepidation and could easily see the tension rolling off of Makoto and Rei.
She asked more concisely, "Can you send us to the least perilous part of Nemesis?"
"I believe I can."
The five Senshi exchanged surprised glances at the certainty of the answer.
"Then, we're going," resolved Minako with finality. She turned toward their hesitant strategist. "Ami-chan, I'm not raring to jump in either, but we have to do something."
"But we don't have any information!" argued Ami.
"Then, let's go get some!" blurted out Usagi. She took a step back, as the others stared, startled. Moments ago, she seemed afraid to press onward. But the initial apprehension in her eye was replaced by a sudden earnestness. "I believe in Pluto-san. She'll send us somewhere saf...okay. And well, we don't have to go around trying to kill a bunch of stuff, do we? Can't we just, I don't know, sneak around and see what we can find? And if we're in over our heads, we can just run!"
The other Senshi paused and considered. In her own way, Usagi managed to suggest a fairly reasonable plan. A fact finding mission. Try not to be spotted for as long as possible. Try to gather information on the planet and enemy. Return to the Gates of Time, when things go awry.
Rei looked to Ami instantly. "How long do you think you can maintain a fog?"
The inquiry caught the Water Senshi by surprise. "I-I don't know. I haven't tried it recently. I used to only be able to for a few minutes, long enough for us to get the upper hand. Now? There are, of course, a number of different variables, but if I had to put a number on it, maybe half an hour?"
"We may need every minute," mused Rei. "I'm not too proud to agree we should run if things get tough. We put up a fog and come back."
"Fine," confirmed Minako. "We won't directly engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary. But our primary goal is to find our way to the black moon."
The Senshi all nodded in agreement.
Minako turned towards Sailor Pluto. "We're ready."
The green haired Senshi tossed Usagi a key. "Keep this close to your heart. It will allow you to return."
Usagi clutched the key firmly in her hands. A pang shot through her, as she studied the familiar artifact. Someday, her daughter would need the same item. She had to keep it safe. Determination to stay alive for Chibi-usa's sake managed to quell some of her remaining hesitation.
"Here goes nothing," said Makoto, being the first to step into the murky depths. As soon as her shoe touched the water, she vanished in a trace of light.
Rei's jaw clenched at the sight. They had just agreed to be discreet and cautious, and here was Makoto impulsively rushing into danger as usual. The impetuous fighter was the first to die back then, but Rei wasn't going to allow it again. She stepped in quickly after.
"Thank you, Setsuna-san," said Usagi, following the two into the unknown.
Ami lingered hesitantly, until she felt Minako's hand slip into her own. The blonde gave a reassuring squeeze.
"Come on, Ami-chan. Let's do this together."
The pair met gazes and nodded before stepping into the void, hand in hand.
Sailor Pluto was left alone once again.
"Good luck, Sailor Senshi. I believe in you."
The five soldiers found themselves in what appeared to be a wooded area. Or at least the mangled formations seemed like trees. Eerie pink light cast down through the breaks in the strange, blackened growths. Enormous, gnarled roots littered their walking space, making it difficult to determine in which direction to proceed. The women were shaded in darkness. Hopefully, they remained unseen to any youma that would be traipsing about.
They hadn't really known what to expect when they stepped into the portal. But it certainly hadn't been this.
"Is everyone here?" whispered Minako. Her query was followed by four hushed confirmations from the shadows. Ami's hand was still in her own, so the bluenette was easily accounted for. The rest, however, she could barely make out.
"I'm going to take out my computer and run an analysis," warned Ami quietly, "It's going to let off a little bit of light."
The four women gathered around their strategist, trying to shield the light with their bodies and hide their position.
The bluenette typed as silently as she could. Her tiny palmtop scanned the area. The Senshi waited in tense readiness, until Ami let out a sigh of relief.
"It says there isn't a sign of life within fifty meters," she said at a normal volume, "Setsuna-san may really have dropped us off at the safest point in Nemesis."
Rei still kept her voice down, questioning, "Nothing at all? Are you sure?"
"Nothing moving, breathing, or giving off an energy signature except for us," confirmed Ami, "Just trees, if you can call them that. But beyond fifty meters, there could be any amount of youma."
"I don't like this place," said Usagi, nervously inspecting the spooky looking trees, "It's giving me the creeps."
"Better this than youma-ville," shrugged Makoto. She turned to Ami. "Can you get us out of here?"
"Give me a little bit more time to gather data on this plant life, and I'd be happy to," replied Ami. "Take a look around for yourselves. It's relatively safe."
Rei stepped out into the rose tinted light and studied her surroundings. The ground beneath her feet was rough and firm. She touched it and let the dirt run through her fingers. The gritty earth was similar enough to the dirt at home in texture, though it seemed to weigh slightly more. She picked up more and lit a small fire in her hand. The flame lingered, using the small amount of soil as fuel briefly before dissolving of its own accord.
The ground was somewhat flammable. Strange, but good to know.
Minako found herself entranced by the light. She summoned a small crescent beam and held it in within her palm. It, too, glowed pink instead of gold. She closed her fist, and the light dissipated.
Makoto remained in the shadows, watching over her friends with a cautious eye. Rei painted tiny flames along the terra firma, while Minako wrapped rose colored chain links around a tree root, testing its firmness. Usagi waited against a tree, clutching the Ginzoushou in one hand and the Time Key in the other. She held both items close to her chest. Ami's focus remained busy, eyes darting across the rapidly filling screen.
Green arcs danced across the fighter's fingertips, as expected. She put them away quickly, simply confirming that they were still there. As long as the lightning still raged within her, there wasn't anything else to do other than remain poised for an attack.
"There's a higher concentration of oxygen on this planet," spoke Ami finally. "It's in the ground and in the air, which will help make Rei-chan's attacks more effective. The air is obviously safe to breathe, but something in it's composition seems to bounce light a bit differently. I'm not sure how that will affect Minako-chan, yet. And the trees are positively ancient. They've appeared to have survived centuries on this planet."
"As long as they're not evil and trying to kill us," muttered Makoto.
"Mako-chan, these trees could be a link to the Silver Millennium," marveled the scholar in Ami, "This area seems to have been untouched!"
"So?" shrugged Makoto, who had trouble caring in the slightest about the damned trees.
"So, it means the entire planet wasn't affected by Chaos," noted Ami. It was an important discovery. "We may be able to travel for a little bit without running into anything evil, if we continue through neutral areas like this."
"At the very least, we have places to hide as we trek through this forest," spoke up Minako. "I prefer this to an open plain of youma."
"Which way should we head?" asked Rei.
"I'm not sure if cardinal directions will be of use here, but if I simulate Earth's poles in my computer..." Ami's fingers flew across the keyboard. She pointed in a direction. "Then, that is North. I'm getting faint energy readings East of here. It could be a youma, it could be the black moon. It could be an animal, if any exist on this planet. But we should head towards it regardless. It's the only lead we have."
"Let's head East, then," shrugged Minako. She climbed over a gnarled root and almost knocked her face into another, as she slid back down. She grunted in frustration. "It had be an obstacle course, didn't it?"
Rei followed her into the maze of knotted wood, idly considering burning it all to the ground. But in the interest of being discreet, as well as her respect for the ancient, she let that daydream float away. She heard a displeased growl to her right. Makoto glared at the low branches, swatting them away irritably. The fighter's balled up fists crackled.
The firebrand laid a hand over the brunette's tensed shoulder. "We have to remain hidden Mako-chan," she reminded, "If you blow up the forest, they'll see it from miles away."
Makoto grumbled something under her breath and let the arcs fade.
Rei picked up a thick tree branch off the ground and lit the top of it in a controlled burn. The makeshift torch helped them spot a slightly clearer path ahead of them.
The Senshi continued East in a cautious silence. The minutes seemed to stretch indeterminably.
Usagi considered asking Ami how long they had been walking, but the latter appeared focused only on the growing energy signature ahead. The genius's face appeared frozen in a portrait of grim concentration. After a mute eternity, the blue eyes finally blinked. Usagi stopped in her tracks expectantly, looking from her strategist friend to the path ahead.
There was a light in the distance. The forest was becoming less dense. Did they make it out so soon?
"It's close," revealed Ami, "Whatever the energy signature is, it's on the outside of the forest."
"Let's go, then," Makoto pressed forward with increased speed. She wanted to get the hell out of this place. The anxiousness was getting to her. As they reached the edge and the light became more apparent, Rei pulled her back by the wrist.
"Hold on," she said, motioning for Ami to proceed first. The bluenette, crept cautiously behind a row of trees and peeked out towards the clearing.
Minako, being the closest, was the only one to hear Ami's quiet gasp. She rushed toward the stunned bluenette and couldn't believe what she saw.