Chapter Fifty-three: Fractured Identity

Instead of focusing on the spreading flames threatening to burn down the forest, Chibi-Usa glared at the sky, where Zirconia had orchestrated the havoc reigning on the ground. Couldn't see the hag now but, surely, she was watching.

Chibi-Usa had listened to JunJun more closely than her own parents. JunJun's memories were too neat, gapless. Artificial.

Perhaps JunJun didn't want to face the fact that her memories of encountering Queen Nehellenia in the Amazon were fake, that her adopted mother was using and didn't care about her. If she did, then her life would be upended. JunJun would have to convince her sisters that all they knew was a lie. They'd think that Chibi-Usa had penetrated JunJun's head.

JunJun looked around. Chibi-Usa's eyes softened. The Guardian had grown up surrounded by love. Had not only her parents, but also the older Guardians protecting her, a confidante and sister in Puu. Even though she was bullied, Chibi-Usa lived a great life. Hadn't realized how good she had it, especially compared to others, like the Amazoness Quartet. As far as they knew, their lives had begun when they were barely teenagers, not with their parents hugging and kissing and playing with them.

Chibi-Usa balled her hands. She could never forgive Zirconia or Queen Nehellenia for taking away JunJun and her sisters' precious memories, memories that would've revealed who their parents were. Joyful memories of spending time with family, not scraping by in a forest teeming with tigers, lions, snakes.

All so Queen Nehellenia could expand her kingdom, preventing Sailor Moon from filling the world with peace and love. Just so the queen could bring dread instead of the hope that the Moon Kingdom promised.

Did the queen want to destroy others' lives because hers had been destroyed? The queen had likely brought her destruction upon herself. Sailor Moon didn't seal people away for no reason.

JunJun ground her teeth. "I have to put out the fire somehow."

If only Sailor Mercury were around to douse the wall-like fire separating the two from the rest of the world. Couldn't see beyond the concrete-like fire and smoke.

Chibi-Usa ran in search of water. Didn't know where she was going, but a lake had been near Kelp Forest's entrance. Had to be another one somewhere.

A resource, ready and willing to help, stood behind her. Even if she didn't like the Guardian, she could temporarily unite with Chibi-Usa for the common purpose of saving the forest.

Chibi-Usa skidded to a stop. "You're familiar with forests." At least Zirconia and Queen Nehellenia had been. "You should know where water'll be."

"Yeah, I should." JunJun was frozen. Her voice quivered. Unsure.

Maybe whether she was able to track down a body of water or not would prove where her upbringing had been.

In a way, Chibi-Usa was manipulating JunJun. For the greater good, but she was doing the very thing that she'd condemned the Dead Moon Circus for doing.

No time to become ensnared in soul-searching.

"Um…" JunJun glanced at the growing flames. She sniffed and then wrinkled her nose. Must've thought that she'd be able to smell water.

"Maybe there's something in your memories."

JunJun scowled. "You just said that my memories aren't real. Are you messing with me?"

Chibi-Usa raised her hands. "No. I mean, there might be a bit of truth in those fake memories. Maybe the queen and Zirconia knew how to find water in forests."

JunJun cursed under her breath. "We don't have time. This fire's gonna burn everything." A note of distress laced her voice. Kelp Forest must truly remind her of home, no matter how fake home was.

JunJun started to run, only to collapse onto the ground.

Chibi-Usa rushed toward her. "What happened?"

"I, I can't move." She struggled about, like she was being crushed by a boulder. "Feels like something's sapped my energy."

Trees bent down, their branches reaching like hands and scooping JunJun up.

Chibi-Usa quickened. Was Zirconia behind the tree suddenly coming alive, or was Bikini Bottom being Bikini Bottom? Was the forest itself angry that humans had unleashed chaos?

Chibi-Usa and JunJun may have to fight both Zirconia and the forest.

Chibi-Usa wasn't an acrobat, but she'd learn to be one now. She took to the air.

The tree wrapped its branch around JunJun, lifting her toward the sky, where Zirconia's glowering face reappeared. The stress, her anger made her look like she'd gained hundreds of wrinkles during the short time that Chibi-Usa had last seen her.

Chibi-Usa aimed her Kaleidoscope toward Zirconia. "Moon Gorgeous Meditation!" The light from the forest was sucked into the Kaleidoscope, shot in sheets toward Zirconia. The hag reached out a hand, caught the light like it was no more than a baseball. She threw the light back at Chibi-Usa.

Again, the Guardian aimed her Kaleidoscope toward the light. The light was sucked into the Kaleidoscope, blanketing the forest in darkness, save for the light from the flames below.

JunJun reached Zirconia, and the hag snatched the limp JunJun from the tree. Snarling, Zirconia shook her.

Chibi-Usa wasn't flying fast enough. The tree blurred, and Chibi-Usa was flying the wrong way, pain erupting all over. She cried out.

She had been hurled toward the flames, to be burned alive.

She opened her watering eyes, aimed her Kaleidoscope at Zirconia one more time. If she could shoot another wave of light, then she could save JunJun.

Perhaps Chibi-Usa was being foolish. She should save herself; she was going to lead a kingdom. JunJun was not. But JunJun had a purpose, too. Who was Chibi-Usa to say that the Dead Moon Circus member's purpose wasn't as important as ruling a kingdom?

Chibi-Usa shouted a wordless plea for her attack to be powerful enough to defeat the menace above. Light careened from her Kaleidoscope, brightening the sky, showing every detail of the pain lining JunJun's face, every bit of anger on Zirconia's, through the hag's grinding, chipped, stumpy teeth that almost resembled fangs, her creased forehead.

Chibi-Usa barely felt the flames lashing her back. Focused only on Zirconia, whether her attack had made it.

Zirconia raised a hand once more. The hand holding JunJun.

The flames and smoke enveloped Chibi-Usa, and she could see no more.


That damn hag had stolen JunJun's energy.

Hadn't tried to hear JunJun out before commanding the trees to pick up JunJun. Then again, JunJun doubted that the hag wielded enough power to control things in Bikini Bottom. The way the tree had delivered JunJun to Zirconia, though… Zirconia had gained too much power.

Power that could overwhelm anyone. Like Chibi-Usa.

The pink-haired girl had tried to save JunJun. Had possibly sacrificed her life to save JunJun, falling into the flames while launching yet another light beam.

JunJun had wanted to save the Guardian. Whatever had happened before wasn't an anomaly. JunJun's desire to save Chibi-Usa seemed to be here to stay.

Chibi-Usa's efforts yielded only failure. Now Zirconia was holding JunJun up to be crushed by the train of light.

JunJun barked a laugh at the irony and tragedy of the situation. Chibi-Usa had tried to save JunJun, sacrificing her own life. Instead, Chibi-Usa might have vainly killed herself and JunJun, while the hag would keep making babies cry with her crusty, ugly self.

JunJun didn't let herself close her eyes. She would see the end. At least she wouldn't have to answer to Zirconia or the queen. Yet. Maybe in hell, she would.

"My queen…" Zirconia pointed a finger toward the light, but the light kept coming just as fast. Crashed into JunJun. Felt like she was being crushed by a stampede of elephants. She gave Zirconia the satisfaction of hearing her cry out. Light enveloped her vision, the rainbow beautiful despite her pain. A beautiful death.

The light continued.

And kept flashing.

Shouldn't she have died by now?

The flashing slowed and grew fainter until stopping. Everything was too bright, bathed in a rainbow glow.

JunJun was still held in Zirconia's hand. Breathing in Zirconia's scaly palm. The hag's freezing hands were so dry that they probably cried tears of blood for lotion.

"Why did you let me live?" The hag must've weakened Chibi-Usa's attack.

"Because the queen told me to. That's all." Could those below hear Zirconia's and JunJun's conversation? "I'm not as merciful as her. You'd better be glad." Perhaps the hag liked and wanted to help the queen. Perhaps the queen had promised Zirconia power. Finding out Zirconia's motives wasn't JunJun's job, though. Zirconia was not on her side.

The anger ran like an undercurrent under Zirconia's voice. Life-threatening. Zirconia wouldn't kill JunJun, but she would gladly kill Chibi-Usa. Perhaps Chibi-Usa was dead. If JunJun was connected to Chibi-Usa, then she might have felt a sudden hole when Chibi-Usa perished, like she felt once Tiger's Eye had been murdered.

Even though Chibi-Usa could be dead, the hag was full of anger mainly toward JunJun. She had to quell the hag's anger while keeping Zirconia on her and her sisters' side, convincing the hag that she was still working for Dead Moon.

Which she was, of course.

Growling, Zirconia pressed her repulsive face into JunJun's lovely one. Trying to rub her ugliness on JunJun? "What were you thinking?"

"I'm trying to get them to trust us so they'll give us information."

If Zirconia had hair, she probably would've pulled it. "I told you to follow me. Not your own instincts. You let that little bastard live."

She's not a bastard. My sisters and I are. Their memories did seem too neat, and Chibi-Usa seemed genuinely concerned about JunJun, unlike the hag and even the queen at times.

The difference was striking.

To be cared about felt…nice. JunJun cared for her sisters and vice versa, but they were family. Having a friend was different.

Chibi-Usa was not and would never be her friend, no matter how many visions infiltrated her. They were planted by the Guardians to make JunJun protect Chibi-Usa. A last resort to save their future queen.

Did the rest of the Guardians care for one another like Chibi-Usa had shown JunJun?

She shook her head. Had to clear her mind of the mushy stupidity. Most importantly, she had to stop doubting. If the queen was watching, she'd know. She'd take away her sisters and then Hawk's Eye and Fisheye.

"There's a better way." Zirconia jabbed a clawlike finger at JunJun. "Listen to me, you fool, and stop thinking that you're smarter than everybody."

JunJun crossed her arms. "I don't think I'm smarter than everybody. Just you." Hopefully, Zirconia hadn't noticed the bravado that JunJun was putting on.

Zirconia flushed crimson, a feat, considering her gray skin. "Just listen, damn you. Close your trap and listen." She rubbed her head. "I thought CereCere and VesVes were bad, but you…" She rumbled, cementing her as some species that had never been discovered. "The Guardians are not out for your best interest. They will kill you."

"They didn't kill PallaPalla when they captured her. Or CereCere and Fisheye."

"They killed Tiger's Eye."

JunJun winced. Sailor Mars had been defending herself. The Guardians only seemed to kill when others threatened them. Another difference between Dead Moon and the Moon Kingdom.

JunJun was misunderstanding. The queen said that Dead Moon's mission was to retake the universe because the Moon Kingdom had stolen what was rightfully theirs. That the Moon Kingdom would enslave humans.

Filling the world with nightmares wasn't a noble cause, though. The queen wanted to enslave humans, too, trapping them under their nightmares.

She had to stop being wishy-washy. Dead Moon was good. The Moon Kingdom was bad. That was all.

"But they haven't killed anyone else," JunJun said. Defending them for her own and her sisters' survival. "Besides, I can take care of myself." Forcing a scowl, she tucked her hands more tightly under her arms. A gesture that looked defiant instead of like she was trying to shrink into herself, keeping the hag from feeling JunJun's sweating palms. "Why are you so concerned about my being with the Guardians?"

"I already explained it to you. Are you slow, too?"

Not as slow as she was. "And I already told you, I can take care of myself."

The hag let out a breath. "Because, I-I'm worried about you. And your sisters. And your pets. I don't want them to kill any of you."

Perhaps more out of worry for Zirconia's own well-being. "You sound scared."

"The queen will destroy us all if you're killed. Your sisters, Fisheye and Hawk's Eye, everyone. The queen's worried about you. She thinks about you all the time. She's thankful that you're out there risking your life for Dead Moon's sake."

Strange, considering that the queen had never thanked JunJun, her sisters, or Fisheye and Hawk's Eye. Why was the queen telling Zirconia how grateful she was for JunJun and the others instead of telling the group directly?

"They killed Tiger's Eye, and the queen did nothing." Had stayed in her mirror, powerless, as they were supposed to believe. "Was she even angry or sad?"

"She almost clawed her way out of that mirror, she was so overcome with emotions." The words tumbled over one another.

"Right." By the way Zirconia looked at her, with pleading, shaky, filmy eyes searching JunJun's face… JunJun couldn't tell whether she sounded convincing or not.

JunJun couldn't turn her head to see if Chibi-Usa had perished in the flames. "If she's still alive, let me stay with her and the rest of the Guardians. If she isn't alive, well, the others saw me save her. I can convince them that I'm on their side. Then I can pinpoint their weaknesses. Infiltrate from the inside." CereCere would be proud of the JunJun's logic. Perhaps more so at her manipulation. "Seriously. I'll be fine."

Zirconia's face twisted. "I will not." Her voice quaked the forest, and clams flew out of the bushes. If only JunJun could fly.

As a Guardian, perhaps she could.

Tried to shake her head of the thought. If "Sailor Guardian" was in the dictionary, a photo of JunJun would appear under the antonyms.

The other Guardians must've heard Zirconia, JunJun's impending doom. Maybe they would rescue her. A life for a life.

Then again, JunJun might've failed to rescue Chibi-Usa. If the Guardian had survived, she'd be burned severely, rendered unable to fight.

A heaviness weighed on JunJun's heart. Where was this sudden caring for Chibi-Usa coming from?

"Please," JunJun said. "I saved her because, because I thought it'd be better than letting her die. I figured that if I could gain their trust, then we could beat them faster. Then, we'll rule over the Moon Kingdom ourselves. Yourselves." Even though JunJun and her sisters were doing the grunt work while the hag sat around, looking ugly, the sisters wouldn't be rewarded with a lick of power in Dead Moon's kingdom. After being trapped in a mirror for centuries, the queen would hoard it all. A sad fate, but one that JunJun would have to learn to be content with. At least she and her sisters would be safe forever.

Maybe.

Pushed the thought away. These stupid mind games, all because she defied authority.

"You went against our plan, you fool," Zirconia yelled. No longer caring if the Guardians could hear. "We never discussed anything as stupid as saving one to get their trust. It's easier to let them die." Her face contorted further. JunJun wouldn't be surprised if her eyes started bleeding because of Zirconia's grotesqueness.

"I never brought it up because I knew you'd shoot it down. You think you're so great when the rest of us are talented, too. You don't give us a chance to prove it. Just give us busy work."

"I have given you many chances. With your circus. You were supposed to root out the Guardians. They came to you instead. They figured out who you were before you figured out who they were. You had two chances to kill them in Japan. Fisheye tried and failed."

JunJun bit back a response. How could he have predicted that the Guardians would survive on the bottom of the ocean?

"You failed to kill the others, right in your home base, where you had all the advantages of your circus. Hundreds of people around, under your control, primed to be used, but you were so concerned about your own pride, about looking good in front of mere humans—hypnotized humans—that you didn't get their help. Even when it was clear that you were losing. Instead of facing the Guardians, you tried to run away."

"We tried to get them to the bottom of the ocean. You'd know that if you were actually watching."

Zirconia balled her free hand so hard that blood pooled to the surface of her skin. "I wish the queen would've never chosen teenage idiots to help her. She should've let you stay asleep." Her pupils contracted.

JunJun's eyebrows shot up. "Asleep?"

Zirconia pursed her lips, tried to look JunJun in the eye but averted her gaze. Thinking of a lie to cover her slip of the tongue. "I mean, you all were sleeping when she first saw you from a distance."

JunJun squared her expression. Maybe trying to look like she believed the hag would be best. If JunJun revealed her doubts, the queen would let Zirconia kill her. "She didn't wake us up and try to help us then."

"She was…watching you. To see if you could handle what she was going to task you with. Stealing everyone's dreams is a mountainous undertaking. When she watched your prowess in the jungle, your survival skills, how you could manipulate the animals—for the most part—she decided that you'd be best."

Her lies were cementing JunJun's doubts into facts. "Then she wasn't trying to save us because she liked us. She only wanted to use us."

"She liked you from the beginning." Zirconia's eyes darted left. "She wanted to save you. She wasn't sure you could survive with Dead Moon. If the Guardians found our hideout, she didn't know if she could protect you. She needed people who could hold her own against them. Which you can."

"Yeah." Bottom line was, JunJun and her sisters had been sleeping when the queen found them. Perhaps had ordered the hag to awaken them from wherever they'd been sleeping.

Maybe JunJun and her sisters had never been sleeping in a jungle. With JunJun's vision… Maybe they'd been sleeping in space. Near the moon.

Who'd put them to sleep for centuries?

Maybe their sleeping had to do with the Guardians not awakening themselves for centuries after the Moon Kingdom's fall. Without the Guardians, specifically Chibi-Usa, around, JunJun and her sisters hadn't had any reason to live, so they'd been put to sleep. Or had gone to sleep of their own accord, to wake themselves when the Guardians awakened.

JunJun had a lot of investigating to do. She could show her sisters the evidence she'd gathered so they could work through whether their duty was to serve the Guardians or Dead Moon.

She smiled tightly. "Makes sense. I still think that you should let me go with the Guardians, though. I could find out some great things."

Zirconia sighed. "There's no changing your mind. We could keep arguing and get nowhere." Maybe until the hag turned into dust from old age, which might be eons.

"Or you could trust me." JunJun didn't trust Zirconia to take care of a mouse.

The hag shook her head. "I can't. Let you go with the Guardians, I mean. I trust you, but your talents are needed with Dead Moon, and the queen would be devastated if the Guardians killed you instead. With them, you're outnumbered. They might be able to overwhelm me and keep me from saving you."

Disappointment opened in JunJun's stomach. More from not being able to spend time with Chibi-Usa than anything.

She opened her mouth to argue once more, but before she could utter a word, the world blew alight.


Chibi-Usa opened her eyes. Of course she wasn't in the forest. She'd been enveloped by flames. Destiny couldn't protect her from human fragility.

She stood in the restored Moon Kingdom. People walked about, talking to and laughing with their friends and family. The shops bustled with customers looking at their glass cups and kaleidoscopes and snow globes, eating their ice cream and parfaits and stews. The light of the moon lit their smiles.

She wouldn't mind staying here for eternity.

Some people greeted her.

As queen.

Chibi-Usa gasped. "I-I'm the queen?"

The young man in front of her creased his brow. "You've been the queen." He placed a hand on her forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I am. Yes." She was trying to convince herself more than him. "Sorry to make you worry." A queenly thing to say.

The man blinked at her and then shrugged. He went on his way, taking a bite of his sandwich.

If Chibi-Usa was queen, then her parents were dead. Maybe this heaven wouldn't be as heavenly as she thought.

Based on the way she had to look up at everyone, she was still a little girl. Queen already. May be 900 years old but was filled with naivete.

"My queen."

Before she could turn and see whoever was bowing in front of her, the world exploded into flames.

Definitely not heaven.

People screamed. Dropped their wares. Men shielded women. Some women shielded men. Many scooped children into their arms and ran from the geysers of flames that had burst throughout the moon.

"Your Highness!" The familiar female voice didn't belong to any of the Guardians.

Chibi-Usa was tackled onto the ground. She parted her eyes as a train of fire roared above her. Smoke clouded her savior's face. Chibi-Usa coughed and kept coughing. Couldn't stop. Just like her parents. She couldn't let the curse overtake her, or the Moon Kingdom would have no one to protect it.

The smoke enveloped her and then faded. She lay on a wave of water, and the sky stretched above her, the flames filling the sky with smoke. Had already filled the forest, the vines stretching yards above Chibi-Usa.

"Sailor Mercury?" The smoke made Chibi-Usa's voice hoarse.

"Not a mere human." Who was that? "The conch has rescued you and will save this forest from destruction."

Below stood a fish clad in a ranger's uniform. He held a conch shell to the sky, white-knuckled, like his life depended on it. Perhaps it did. Chibi-Usa's had.

Whatever had happened in her vision, she was glad that Bikini Bottom's physics and rules had finally worked in her favor.

Above, JunJun cried out. Chibi-Usa turned her attention to the hag stretched in the sky, making Kelp Forest darker. Zirconia had squeezed JunJun more tightly.

Not a ruse.

The jet of water on which Chibi-Usa sat began to lower to the ground, thanks to that conch shell. Whatever was going on, Chibi-Usa didn't have time to figure it out.

Chibi-Usa aimed her Kaleidoscope at Zirconia. "Take me up there."

The ranger placed his hands on his hips. "Address the magic conch shell properly, young lady."

She could've pulled her pigtails out and flung them at the fish. JunJun was fading before her eyes. "What's 'properly' mean?"

The ranger gazed at the conch shell. "Ooh, mighty, almighty, mystical conch shell, will you please allow me to take that rude lady up to where the frightening old woman is?" He pulled something on the shell. A string?

Was that thing a toy?

"Yes," came a female voice from the shell. Thank goodness it had granted permission to save a life.

"Thank you, Your Majesticness." He raised the conch shell, and the wave of water lifted in unison, toward Zirconia.

Chibi-Usa gripped the Kaleidoscope hard enough to suffocate. Light swirled inside her Kaleidoscope, but another light joined her. Beside her flew Super Sailor Venus.

Chibi-Usa gaped. "Mina-chan?"

"The one and only. Unless I look completely different to you in the half an hour or so that we've been separated. Which might be the case, the way Bikini Bottom's treated us." Her hair was singed black, and soot covered her face.

"Wh-why are you…?"

"Helping you and, thus, helping our enemy? Because I trust you." Minako's jaw hardened. She did not trust JunJun. Would likely kill the acrobat at any slip-up.

Zirconia's eyes shot to Chibi-Usa and Sailor Venus approaching her. She aimed a finger at the two, and the world grayed, energy being sucked from Chibi-Usa, light flying from her Moon Kaleidoscope, spreading into and illuminating the forest. She flopped upon the wave while Sailor Venus plummeted past.

A Tarzan-like yell came from below, grew closer. The ranger was approaching on his own wave. Minako fell behind him, water splashing.

Zirconia's eyes intensified into a more piercing red. She aimed a finger at the ranger, but the ranger held his conch shell to Zirconia. The tip of Zirconia's finger gleamed. The ranger kept yelling. The wave didn't falter.

Had that conch stopped Zirconia's power?

The Sailor Team couldn't stand against Zirconia, but a toy could.

Lightness filled Chibi-Usa, and she laughed for the first time in what felt like years.

Zirconia roared, a primal noise that shook the trees. Perhaps the woman had descended from a gorilla.

The waves kept moving toward Zirconia. A lasso wrapped around a vine to Chibi-Usa's left, and Sandy threw herself onto the wave, landing on her feet. She outstretched her arms like she was surfing at the beach instead of moving toward a deadly force. Tugging her arm, she unwrapped the lasso from the tree and lassoed the air, aiming toward Zirconia.

"Leave this to me." Sandy smirked. Confident.

Ami, Sandy, Minako, they trusted Chibi-Usa enough to risk their lives for the possibility that their enemy was, in fact, their friend.

Sandy threw her lasso toward Zirconia. The hag pointed to the squirrel, and Sandy flopped onto her back but kept lassoing, gritting her teeth.

Zirconia gasped. Her grip laxed on JunJun, enough for JunJun to heave in a breath, replacing her pallor with tan. Chibi-Usa let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

Sandy threw her lasso toward JunJun, the lasso whistling through the air. Releasing another roar, Zirconia loosed a beam from her finger. Sandy jumped, and the beam shrieked under her, the lasso wrapping around JunJun. Sandy pulled herself toward the Dead Moon Circus member.

Energy trickled back into Chibi-Usa. Had started when Zirconia had loosed the beam. Perhaps, when Zirconia focused her energy elsewhere, she couldn't keep others weak.

Chibi-Usa clambered onto her feet and then flew, wobbling from the lack of energy. Had to save JunJun.

Sandy landed on Zirconia's index finger, part of the hag's grip on JunJun. Sandy karate-kicked the fist, and Zirconia yelped, letting out a string of curses, questioning why a squirrel could hurt her. Zirconia's fist laxed slightly but gripped JunJun once more.

Chibi-Usa reached JunJun.

Once more, Sandy kicked. The grip laxed, but not as much as before. Chibi-Usa gripped JunJun's shoulders and pulled, slightly pulling the acrobat from Zirconia's hand.

Another kick. Another lax. Another pull.

A golden beam—Sailor Venus'—sliced through the air. Toward Zirconia's throat.

Eyes bulging, Zirconia used her other hand, about to bat the beam, only for a jet of water to crash into her free arm. She winced, reached toward her throat with the hand holding JunJun, with Chibi-Usa near it, Sandy upon the fist.

They'd be in the line of fire.

"Magic conch shell," Chibi-Usa found herself yelling, "please." Unlike her calls for Helios, the toy answered her pleas.

A pause. The ranger must be pulling the thing's string.

"Okay." The faint voice lifted Chibi-Usa's spirits.

"What should I do?" the ranger implored of the shell while three lives hung in the balance.

Another pause. This time, the roar of the beam drowned out the conch's response.

The ranger chirped like a bird, and clams dove from the sky, struck Zirconia's arm and head. Moved her arm just enough.

Part of the beam sliced the bottom of her fist, where her thumb and forefingers were, and Zirconia dropped JunJun. Chibi-Usa caught the tightrope walker and flew toward her friends and the licking flames that, thanks to the conch's waves, had been mostly quenched. Sandy jumped, lassoing a vine at the last minute to keep from splatting onto the ground. Landed on her feet.

The rest of the beam ripped the top of Zirconia's throat. Blood sprayed, splattered on the vines and the grass, so dark that it looked like viscous black liquid. Good for the innocent fish.

Zirconia shrunk into a dot. Retreating.

A light sparked where Zirconia had been. The hag was gone. For now. No doubt she'd return with a better plan to defeat the Guardians.

Chibi-Usa ground her teeth, straining with carrying JunJun. The weight lessened. Minako and Ami had slung JunJun's arms across their shoulders. They lowered JunJun to the ground. Let her lay and rest. Gave her the chance to attack.

JunJun blinked slowly, staring at the Guardians. "Why?"

Minako didn't soften her expression. "You saved our friend, so we saved you. But just because we saved you doesn't mean we trust you completely."

JunJun bit her lip, breaking her gaze from Minako.

The ranger joined them, polishing the conch shell. The waves were gone, too.

"Where did all the water go?" Chibi-Usa said.

"Back to the forest's lakes, where they belong. Thanks to the magic conch shell, we were able to harness the power of the forest and scare that cretin away." He shook a fist at the sky. "She'll be in bigger trouble if she shows her face again."

What a powerful toy.

JunJun stood. Minako's sword-wielding arm twitched.

JunJun raised her hands. "You saved my life. Why would I hurt you?"

Minako darkened. Chibi-Usa didn't blame their leader for not trusting their enemy right away.

Sandy was tense, too. Stood a bit farther back than Ami and Minako from JunJun. Confident while fighting, but not when facing PallaPalla's sister.

Chibi-Usa smiled for everyone's sake. "We have a long road to travel. We haven't even found Mrs. Puff's campers. And there are plenty of robots still around."

"I'll stay in front," JunJun said. "So you all can watch me." She walked ahead.

Side-eyeing the conch shell, Minako said flatly, "Where do we go from here, O mighty conch shell?"

"Forward."

Chibi-Usa fell into step beside JunJun. Moving forward was all they could do.