SailorStar9: You ladies wanted this chapter, so here goes. This is Chapter 24 of this fic; and please be a dear and review.
Disclaimers: I do not own the animes. But I do own the pairing, I hope.
Chapter 24: Sunny Skies After a Storm! A Friendship Dedicated to Hotaru
Time passes...
"How about this?" Mamoru presented Chibi-Usa a rabbit backpack.
"It's cute!" Chibi-Usa gushed. "Mamo-chan, thank you!"
"Why is Chibi-Usa the only one getting all the stuff?" Usagi pouted.
"I can't help it." Mamoru replied. "It's because she has a picnic."
"Yeah, yeah." Luna agreed.
"Why are you agreeing, Luna?" Usagi fumed, squishing the cat.
"Sheesh, it's no use taking such a petty thing out on Luna." Chibi-Usa chided as she tested the backpack.
"That's right." Mamoru agreed, adjusting the bag on Chibi-Usa's shoulders.
"I'm not a backpack..." Luna struggled for breath.
"I know, Mamo-chan!" Usagi beamed. "Let's go on a picnic too! Just to the two of us! Oh, come on! Come on!"
"No fair!" Chibi-Usa whined. "Me too, me too, me too!"
"Let's go, Mamo-chan!" the two 'Rabbits' hung on him. "Let's go, Mamo-chan!"
"Hey now..." Mamoru chided. "Alright, alright." he relented.
"Oh, Hotaru!" Chibi-Usa noticed the Senshi of Destruction. "Wait, Hotaru!" she ran after Hotaru as the dark-haired girl walked off. "Don't run away. We're friends, right?"
"Friends?" Hotaru echoed.
"That's right." Chibi-Usa agreed. "We are, right?"
"Chibi-Usa." Hotaru started and ran off.
"That girl..." Mamoru mused. "She must have some big reason behind all this."
"Hotaru..." Chibi-Usa muttered.
Elsewhere...
"Release my powers." Mistress Nine's body instructed. "Hurry. Can you not hear the voices of time calling for me?"
"Let us hurry." Tomoe declared. "Using the 'Pure Hearts' of humans." before the doorbell interrupted him.
In the Tomoe residence...
"You are?" Kaori opened the door.
"Um..." Chibi-Usa started. "Please, give this to Hotaru." she handed the rabbit backpack to Kaori. "Goodbye." she bowed and ran off.
In the house...
"Kaori, that?" Hotaru looked at the backpack in Kaori's hand.
"It's that girl again." Kaori informed as Hotaru snatched the backpack. "She told me to give this to you, Hotaru."
"'Hotaru, let's go on a picnic tomorrow.'" Hotaru read the note attached. "'I'll make plenty of lunch! So, Hotaru, you come with this backpack! From Chibi-Usa.'"
"So selfish." Kaori remarked. "She knows that you're a frail girl too."
"How wonderful." Tomoe cut in.
"Papa." Hotaru blinked.
"Since I can't spend much time with you with all of my research, you go and have as much fun as you want." Tomoe replied.
The next day...
"We're going now!" the two 'Rabbits' chorused.
"Is this all food?" Mamoru wondered, opening the boot as Usagi struggled with the basket.
"Yeah, I got up early to make it all." Usagi replied.
"Will it fit in the trunk?" Mamoru sweatdropped as Usagi stuffed the basket in.
"Hotaru didn't come after all, I guess." Chibi-Usa sighed, seeing no sign of Hotaru.
"Chibi-Usa!" Luna winked.
"Hotaru!" Chibi-Usa beamed as she saw Hotaru leaning against a light post. "You can come to the picnic!" she pounced on her. Hotaru smiled ans showed her the backpack.
In the rose garden...
"This place is huge!" Chibi-Usa gushed, the four arriving to a grassy field. "Woohoo! Hotaru! Usagi! Hurry, hurry!"
"Wait for me, Chibi-Usa!" Hotaru called.
Aside...
"Hotaru's recovering quite well." Ami remarked, as the Solar royal family and the three Outers watched Usagi, Chibi-Usa and Hotaru frolic.
"Are you saying that she has something to do with our enemy, the Death Busters?" Setsuna asked her Queen.
"I"m not sure." Ami admitted. "But ever since I forced the evil entity out of her body and she awoke as Saturn, I have a bad feeling about this. I can still feel the presence of something tremendously evil."
"From the Tomoe house?" Thomas turned a sharp look at her.
"Underground." Ami replied.
"But, it looks fun." Aurora looked on enviously.
"And I'm sure Small Lady did that on purpose." Eos sweatdropped, seeing Chibi-Usa land on Usagi's back as they played leap-frog.
By the greenhouse...
"A graduate of my school works here." Mamoru supplied. "He's a botanist, with his lifework being his research on roses."
"Wait, Chibi-Usa!" Usagi hollered, chasing after a fleeing Chibi-Usa.
"Catch me if you can, Usagi." Chibi-Usa taunted. "You're slower than a tortoise!"
"You did that on purpose, did you?" Usagi accused.
In her laboratory...
"Yes, Professor?" Mimete picked up the call.
"Mimete, what is your favorite color for roses?" Tomoe inquired.
"Oh, my!" Mimete gushed. "If I could have any, it would be a million red roses."
In his laboratory..
"Improving and breeding of roses is a job that requires good sense and patience." Tomoe stated. "There apparently is a botanist with good results in that field, I take it?"
In her laboratory...
"That must be an owner of a 'Pure Heart'." Mimete concluded. "The target has been determined." she replied as a picture of Kurebayashi Yoshiki came on.
In his laboratory..
"Alright, let me make a Daimon most suited for that man." Tomoe placed the pot of modified rose into the Daimon-making oven. "I'm counting on you."
"U-Baulla!" the Daimon declared as she was formed.
Grabbing the suitcase from the conveyer belt, Mimete headed out.
In the greenhouse...
"Amazing..." Chibi-Usa and Hotaru gushed. "It's beautiful!"
"There are so many of them." Usagi agreed.
"Yo, is that you, Mamoru?" Kurebayashi looked up from his work.
"Sir!" Mamoru greeted. "How've you been?"
"You've still got beautiful women with you." Kurebayashi joked.
"Still...?" Usagi glared.
"It's a joke." Mamoru protested. "Sir!"
"Papa!" the brood of children ran over to their father. "Mama' lunch!"
"The main dish is a croquet?" Kurebayashi guessed, taking a sniff.
"You're right!" the children chorused. "Correct!"
"So many..." Usagi gaped.
"There's even more of them." even Mamoru was stunned.
By the greenhouse...
"Oh, Professor!" Mimete fumed. "You have to use proper sense to choose the targets."
"And stop." Kurebayashi stopped by the greenhouse, Mimete quickly hiding behind a wall. "From here, you will help Mama back home."
"Okay!" the children chorused.
"Don't trip!" Kurebayashi advised as the children ran back.
"Bye bye!" the kid took off.
"You're kidding!" Mimete sweatdropped as the brood ran past.
"It's a croquet!" Kurebayashi opened his lunch box, the group settling in for lunch.
"How goes the research for new type of roses?" Mamoru wondered.
"Oh, I think I'm almost there." Kurebayashi replied.
"Hotaru, don't be bashful and eat up." Usagi prodded.
"Okay." Hotaru replied and handed a plate to Luna.
"Chibi-Usa, you have to eat the bell peppers too." Usagi reminded.
"Mamo-chan isn't eating them, either." Chibi-Usa pointed out.
"What was that?" Usagi glared. "Mamo-chan! Eat! You have to eat!"
"But, you know..." Mamoru sighed.
"EAT!" Usagi's glare intensified.
"Alright, I understand!" Mamoru relented.
"Now, it's your turn, Chibi-Usa." Usagi turned back to Chibi-Usa. "EAT!"
"Alright." Chibi-Usa relented. "Hotaru, you don't think the lunch is yummy?" she wondered at Hotaru's downcast look.
"It's not that." Hotaru replied. "I was just thinking how I haven't eaten like this with Papa in quite a while.
"There are times when adults are hellishly busy." Kurebayashi placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder. "It's more fun to spend that time playing with your friends than to complain about it. Right?" he gave the girl a slight push, causing Hotaru to knock Chibi-Usa over. Luna wailed as she was flattened underneath.
"What are you doing, Chibi-Usa?" Usagi chided.
In the rose area of the greenhouse...
"Better!" Mimete flushed, focusing on Mamoru. "That guy is much better. Appear, Dai..." she paused when she recalled Tomoe's words. "Professor..."
Commercial Break
SailorStar9: Prepare for the biggest epic crossover ever made. In a world ruled by magic and sorcery, a war is about to be fought...
The scene shows a familiar village, as a woman wearing a magician robe walks in. She has green hair and red eyes, and is carrying a long staff shaped as a key.
SailorStar9: ... And the destiny of the planet will fall in the hands of a peasant girl.
The scene shifts to the green-haired woman talking to a Halfling that looks disturbingly like Usagi. The woman shows her a golden tiara with strange symbols drawn around it.
SailorStar9: But the girl won't be alone in her journey. Several other heroes will join her along the way, and help her defeat evil.
Now the scene shifts again, this time it's the battle inside Moria's Mines. We can now see several other characters along with Usagi and the green-haired woman. Two halflings that look just like Ami and Minako, a dwarf that looks disturbingly like Mako, sword-wielding, armor-clad versions of Naru and Rei, and finally, Mamoru wearing an elven archer suit.
SailorStar9: Their journey, however, won't be easy at all.
Several scenes from the 'movie' are shown: "Legolas" firing a hundred arrows at a group of enemies and missing them all, the green haired woman (who, by the way, looks just like Setsuna, if you hadn't figured it out yet) standing on a rocky bridge, facing a massive Balrog that looks a lot like Jadeite... A Gollum that looks disturbingly like Zoicite following the heroes around, and finally, Beryl in a Sauron outfit giving Usagi the 'evil eye' glare. Finally, we see Usagi tossing 'The One Tiara' at a troll and vaporizing it.
SailorStar9: Lady of the Tiaras. Coming sooner than you'd want it to. (Evil laughter ensues as the camera goes black.)
End Commercial Break
"Almost every variety of rose growing in Japan are planted in this greenhouse." Kurebayashi said.
"Amazing, and they're so beautiful." Chibi-Usa gushed.
"Are you tired?" Mamoru asked.
"No." Hotaru replied.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Mamoru inquired. "Other than these, any different types of roses have been grown thanks to improvement made to them."
"Improvements..." Hotaru echoed.
"It's hard to believe that and old man like him improved these." Usagi stated, before laughing nervously at Kurebayashi's glare.
"It would be better to just let it go free, and let it bloom wherever it wanted to bloom." Hotaru remarked.
"Hotaru..." Chibi-Usa muttered.
"There are tropical plants." Kurebayashi led them deeper into the greenhouse. "Come over here."
"Let's go!" Chibi-Usa tugged at Hotaru's sleeve.
"I'm tired, you can go on ahead." Hotaru replied.
In the tropical area of the greenhouse...
"Um..." Mimete showed Mamoru a plant. "Can you tell me the name of this flower?"
"Oh, I don't know." Mamoru blinked, as Mimete pushed Usagi aside.
"You should ask the researcher over there." Usagi fumed.
"Oh, I totally thought that he was the researcher." Mimete remarked and pushed Usagi aside. "You looks so intelligent. If you don't mind, how about we have a conversation in private?"
"I'm sorry." Mamoru apologized. "But I'm here to spend time with my family." and pulled the two 'Rabbits' to him.
"Oh, are they your sisters?" Mimete blinked.
"No, they're my future wife and child." Mamoru replied. "Now, excuse me."
"What was that?" Mimete fumed. "Fine, I will have to take the 'Pure Heart' by force."
"The future wife..." Usagi gushed. "Wife... wife... wife, is it?"
"It's not something to be that thrilled about now, after all this time." Luna reminded.
"I'll be with Hotaru." Chibi-Usa decided.
"Yeah, be at her side." Mamoru agreed.
"Yeah." Chibi-Usa nodded and ran back to Hotaru.
In the rose area of the greenhouse...
"I should go back, before anything happens." Hotaru stepped out of the greenhouse.
Meanwhile, the rain suddenly came, forcing the visitors to run for cover.
In the tropical area of the greenhouse...
"What is this?" Kurebayashi wondered. "It's hailing out of season?"
"It's coming down pretty hard." Mamoru noted.
"Oh no, this is bad." Kurebayashi remarked as the lights went out, the glass panels on the roof threatening to break under the heavy hailstorm.
"Oh no, we have a problem." Luna gasped.
"Let's help." Mamoru suggested.
"Yeah!" Usagi nodded.
In the rose area of the greenhouse...
"Hotaru!" Chibi-Usa slid open the door. "Hotaru...! AH!" she screamed in fear as lightning cracked across the sky.
In the tropical area of the greenhouse...
Kurebayashi hammered in a wooden plank, doing damage control when a window panel was broken. "Dammit! Thanks." he looked over at Hotaru who had helped him keep the plank in place.
"It's alright." Hotaru replied.
"I have to protect these saplings, if nothing else." Kurebayashi stated, hammering in the plank. "I was able to make a species that was strong against illness."
"Strong against illness?" Hotaru echoed.
"Improvements aren't just about making it beautiful." Kurebayashi pointed out.
Just then, a boomerang flew in, knocking Kurebayashi and Hotaru off the ladder.
"Are you alright?" Kurebayashi cushioned Hotaru's fall. "Hold yourself steady. Who is it?" he demanded, hearing a foot shuffle.
"Work is work." Mimete stated. "The path to the chief executive is more important than romance. I'll take the old man's 'Pure Heart'. Appear, Daimon!"
"U-Baulla! Baulla Baulla!" the Daimon manifested from the suitcase.
"Petals with no luster." Kurebayashi looked at a petal. "Too much fertilizer."
"Shut up!" U-Baulla snapped.
"Hurry up and finish your job." Mimete retorted.
"What are you doing?" Kurebayashi gasped when U-Baulla grabbed his shirt. "Hey, stop it!"
Opening her mouth, U-Baulla sucked his 'Heart Crystal' out of him and swallowed it.
It's a Daimon! Chibi-Usa peered in and shut the door to transform. "Moon Eternal Power, Make Up!"
"Those who don't take good care of flowers, that's the type of people who will ruin Earth!" Chibi-Moon declared. "For love and justice, an apprentice to a pretty Senshi in a Sailor suit, Chibi-Moon! In the name of the future moon, I'll punish you!"
"A pesky little girl!" Mimete fumed. "U-Baulla!"
"U-Baulla!" the Daimon approached Chibi-Moon. "Baulla! Baulla!" and tossed four yellow roses at Chibi-Moon, stalk-first.
"Attacking with a rose is a move that I use as a last resort." Tuxedo Kaman's rose intervened."I am troubled by copycats.
"Damn you!" Mimete cursed.
"It's too early to be so angry." Tuxedo Kaman jumped beside Chibi-Moon. "The main event finally appears."
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Moon declared after Tuxedo Kaman flourished his cape. "For love and justice, the pretty Senshi in a Sailor suit, Moon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
"U-Baulla, kill every last one of them!" Mimete ordered.
"The Red Rose Of Passion!" the rose on top of the Daimon's head grew in size as thorns grew from her body.
"Shining Heart!" Chibi-Moon trapped the Daimon inside an energy heart which then vanished.
"What are you doing, losing to a little girl like that?" Mimete fumed.
"Beautiful roses are full of thorns!" U-Baulla declared, using her vines to capture the two Senshi. "Embrace Of Roses!" she reeled them in.
"Give them a good squeeze." Mimete told her.
"Oh no!" Tuxedo Kaman leapt into action. "Take this!" he smacked the vines away with his cane. "Are you alright?" he helped Chibi-Moon up.
"What are you doing?" Mimete demanded. "There's no way you would lose to girls like them!"
"Damn you!" the Daimon cursed and grew out her roots, impaling them into the ground. "Jealousy is the meaning behind yellow roses!"
"What is this?" Tuxedo Kaman was entangled by the roots that came from underground.
"Oh, Tuxedo Kaman!" Moon exclaimed, before she too was caught by the roots.
"This hurts!" Chibi-Moon winced, trapped by the roots.
"I did it!" Mimete grinned. "I finally did it!"
Amidst the trembling, Hotaru awoke.
"Daimon!" the Senshi of Death gasped. "Eternal Saturn Power, Make Up! Death..." the tip of her weapon glowed at bright purple. "Legion!" a horde of wraiths charged at the Daimon's back, absorbing her energy.
"I'm withering!" the Daimon gasped as she died up when the wraiths returned to Saturn's body.
"What's wrong, U-Baulla?" Mimete was stunned before she decided to flee.
"Now, Moon!" Saturn told the Moon Senshi after the trio were freed.
"Yeah!" Moon nodded. "Rainbow Moon Heartache!"
"I am already withered!" the Daimon gaped at the large heart closing in. "Baulla! Baulla!" she squealed when the huge heart crashed into her. The single stalk of rose dropping to the ground, the Daimon Egg emerging from it and split into half as Kurebayashi's 'Heart Crystal' floated harmlessly above.
"That's why I wasn't too thrilled about doing this." Mimete pouted and fled.
After the battle...
"Papa, are you alright?" the children clamored around their father.
"Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine." Kurebayashi assured. "But, did I have a dream?"
"It was a terrible storm." Chibi-Usa remarked. "But let's come here again." she told Hotaru.
"Yes." Hotaru agreed, the group looking up at the rainbow.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review. In the next chapter, everyone begins to learn more about the outer soldiers through Mamoru's story.