Chapter 25: Pure Heart Crystals
Nabiki threw the DVD across the room, and it hit Andromeda in the head.
"Quit fooling with me! You are NOT the dark, spooky anime girl! You will never measure up to Fighter Jennifer!" she shouted. Andromeda smirked at her, despite the bump on her head.
"I beg to differ. Or do you want me to hurt you to find out?" Andromeda picked up the Crystal Animal Fighter Rosaline DVD and opened the case. To Nabiki's horror, she took out the DVD and tried to break it with her bare hands. Being weak, Andromeda was not able to break it, but then she grabbed a pair of scissors, intending to scratch the delicate underside. Nabiki screamed and lunged at Andromeda, shoving her to the floor.
"You will NOT hurt that DVD! I am Sailor Chibi Neptune, protector of anime, and I will punish you! Neptune Twinkle Power, Make Up!" she shouted. Andromeda stared up at the younger water warrior, still smirking.
"Try your worst, I can always freeze your attacks." She was about to transform as well, but then a big mass of orange fur obscured her vision.
"Stop fighting! I just came here to see Celestia, and I found you two trying to kill each other!" Andromeda then heard Yayoi shrieking, and she then realized that Karinka's little Pomeranian dog, Aphrodite, was on her face. Aphrodite started licking Andromeda vigorously, and Andromeda yelped in surprise as the puppy's tongue went right up her nostrils. Meanwhile, Sailor Chibi Neptune had grabbed her precious DVD back, making sure that it was not scratched.
"She started it! She came in here and started bragging about how she was a better dark, spooky character than Animal Fighter Jennifer!" she accused, though she also detransformed.
"She's the one who threw her DVD at me, though, so since she gave it to me, I can do whatever I want with it," Andromeda protested. Now she could see Yayoi, since Aphrodite had climbed off of her face to go sniff around Nabiki's room.
"Please don't ruin Nabiki's DVDs. Those are very special to her. How would you like it if she went and ripped up your horror novels?" Yayoi chided.
"She better not! I'll kill her before she does that!" Andromeda shouted, sitting up suddenly.
"Then you understand how precious her anime is to her," Yayoi said gently, taking Andromeda's hand. Andromeda shoved Yayoi away, but then fell over with the effort, nearly landing on the tiny redhead.
"You idiot. I want to hurt people, to see them suffer. I know she likes those DVDs, that's why I want to ruin them," Andromeda snapped. Tears filled Yayoi's eyes.
"Why are you so cruel to everyone? I never understood that, why you like to hurt people," she whimpered.
"Because she's evil," Nabiki stated simply, "The thing that confuses me is why she's even a Senshi in the first place. I thought Senshi are supposed to be pure-hearted. At least, Senshi aren't supposed to like to hurt people. Now I know I'm not nice, but at least I don't purposely go out of my way to make you little peons suffer."
"Maybe she's possessed by Mistress 9," suggested Karinka, who had wandered into the room, looking for her dog.
"Maybe I am. And I will Silence this world and destroy you all!" declared Andromeda. Nabiki rolled her eyes.
"Do you seriously think your sister is possessed by Mistress 9?! Because if that's true, then she's just as bad as our enemies. And anyway, if she was, then the Death Busters would've said something about it when they were coming back," she pointed out. Karinka shrugged.
"I just thought of that because Hotaru's her mother. Maybe Mistress 9 never really left Hotaru, and it was passed on to Andromeda," she explained calmly.
"But Hotaru is your mother too!" Yayoi protested.
"True, but why would Mistress 9 want to possess someone as stupid as her? Obviously I'm the better sister to Silence the world," Andromeda bragged.
"If you think you're so great, then go ahead and Silence me. I'm sure one little person is easy compared to the whole world," Nabiki smirked. Yayoi whimpered, but didn't speak, would Andromeda really do that?
"Tau Ceti doesn't have the power to Silence you or anyone right now! I need the energy of your pure heart!" Andromeda roared, lunging at Nabiki's chest. Nabiki shoved her away with a disgusted look.
"You are such a fool. You are too weak to be able to really hurt anyone," she snapped.
"I'll freeze you first! Mercury Sparkle Power, Make Up!" Andromeda yelled, turning into Sailor Chibi Mercury.
"Please stop it, you two! We're supposed to be a team!" Yayoi pleaded, rushing in between Nabiki and Chibi Mercury.
"Maybe you should let them fight. Andromeda's too weak to hurt Nabiki anyway, just like she said," Karinka commented.
"You're cruel too! That's your sister you're talking about!" Yayoi shrieked; she was beginning to panic. Karinka also shrieked, but for a different reason--Sailor Iron Mouse had appeared and shot out her heart crystal. Chibi Mercury stared at Iron Mouse in shock.
"I want that! Give me that heart crystal so I can become Mistress 9!" she shouted, "Mercury Frigid Fusion!" Iron Mouse was startled as her legs began to freeze, and she dropped Karinka's heart crystal on the floor.
"I need to save her too. Healer Prism Power, Make Up!" called Yayoi.
"Neptune Twinkle Power, Make Up!" added Nabiki, who didn't want Iron Mouse or Mercury to steal the crystal. She made a dive to grab the crystal at the same time Chibi Mercury did, and they crashed into each other headfirst.
"Get out of the way! Or I'll command my frozen servant to take yours too!" Chibi Mercury snapped, though she was lying on her back, knocked down.
"I'm not your servant, you stupid Sailor Senshi. Galactica Crunch!" Iron Mouse shouted, and she clapped her hands together as if she were imitating a giant alligator mouth. From her hands flew a biting, snapping monster mouth that bit Chibi Neptune in the face, causing her to drop Karinka's heart crystal again.
"Please stop it! Star Sensitive Inferno!" Chibi Star Healer cried; she was the only Senshi left standing since Chibi Mercury was too dizzy to sit up and Chibi Neptune was fighting off the monster mouth. Since Iron Mouse's legs were frozen, she wasn't able to get out of the way, and she was hit. Unfortunately, the green flames not only burned her skin, but they also melted the ice. Iron Mouse fell over, trying to roll the fire off of her. Chibi Star Healer took the chance to grab Karinka's heart crystal, and she replaced it in the silver-haired girl's body.
"I wanted to eat that..." Andromeda moaned, she had detransformed and was still lying on the floor.
"Are you okay? Did Nabiki really hit you that hard?" Chibi Healer asked her, concerned. Andromeda glared at the tiny redhead.
"No, it's just that I'm cursed with weakness like my mother. If I eat a heart crystal, I can be strong, though," she retorted.
"Don't give her one! Hotaru wouldn't want that!" Chibi Neptune shouted as she finally threw the monster mouth off of her and destroyed it with a Neptune Tsunami Waterspout blast. Meanwhile, Iron Mouse shot her heart crystal-stealing beam again, but this time, she missed and hit the wall instead. Karinka stared at her, pouting.
"Why did you do that to me? Venus Sparkle Power, Make Up!" she called, and she turned into Sailor Chibi Venus.
"I can still get you as a Senshi!" Iron Mouse jeered, and she shot her beam a third time.
"Venus Sparkling Beauty!"
"Star Sensitive Inferno!"
"Neptune Tsunami Waterspout!" The three attacks combined and knocked Iron Mouse's beam back at her, destroying her.
"You didn't let me get to eat a heart crystal!" Andromeda whined from behind the three transformed Senshi.
"Of course we didn't. Now I'm going to tell Ami what happened before I change my mind and decide not to help you at all, you brat," Chibi Neptune snapped before returning to Nabiki and running off. Yayoi looked sadly at Andromeda, she didn't understand why she was so evil.