Chapter Twenty-two: Coup de Main
VesVes could breathe.
The beast tamer parted her eyes. She lay on grass, on her back. Beside her curled her sisters, Hawk's Eye, and Tiger's Eye, all of whom stirred. Hadn't Opening Ball been set to whisk them underwater, where the rest of the Guardians had been killed? Grass wasn't underwater.
A lone oak tree towered before her. Strange for an oak tree to grow in isolation. Maybe VesVes was too used to the jungle, which she had faint memories of even though she had always been part of the Dead Moon Circus. She didn't have many memories from her younger years, of a mother or father. She remembered Queen Nehellenia, which was as close to a mother as VesVes and her sisters had. The queen had raised the Amazoness Quartet, so VesVes would do anything to please her. Which meant that VesVes and her sisters had to find the Golden Crystal.
VesVes sat up too fast; her head spun. Her sisters, Tiger's Eye, and Hawk's Eye were silent. A rarity for the boisterous Dead Moon Circus.
Before them stood Fisheye. He must've brought them to the grassy haven so they wouldn't drown, like the rest of the Guardians had. PallaPalla was ingenious, creating the Amazon Trio, especially one who could breathe underwater. She had indirectly caused the Guardians' death. Now, no one could stop them from freeing the queen with the Golden Crystal.
A brownish-green creature stood beside Fisheye, tall enough to reach VesVes' ankle.
"Good, you survived. Just goes to show how great of a job I did picking a resilient new army." A grin split the creature's face. "I am Plankton, your commander, your ruler, your—"
VesVes' hand shot out, grasping the creature that called himself Plankton, squishing him, his one eye bulging. "You're not the boss of us. Only that old hag, Zirconia, is. And our queen."
Plankton gagged, squiggling in VesVes' grip.
"PallaPalla thinks he's trying to say he's sorry," PallaPalla said. "Hey, PallaPalla can breathe. And she can talk underwater." She clapped her hands. "How cool is this."
CereCere patted the grass. "We're underwater, but we're sitting on grass. And there's water surrounding this…place. It looks like we're in a dome."
Plankton struggled more vigorously.
VesVes blinked at Plankton, whose body purpled. "Oh, right. Fisheye, do you think we should keep him alive? I'm guessing you're the only one who got to talk to this idiot on your way here."
"Sure did." Fisheye regarded Plankton with half-lidded eyes. "I suppose you should let him go. He'll probably be helpful to us. I'm not from this part of the sea. Trust me, this place is much different than my home was. We'll need him as a guide."
VesVes let go of Plankton, and Plankton tumbled onto the grass, the water-filled cup he wore jostling, knocking his head about.
Plankton righted himself, gazing up at the glaring Dead Moon Circus. Of course he was intimidated. "Uh, hi, giant human-like creatures. Believe it or not, this situation—you guys surrounding me intimidatingly—is déjà vu to me."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." VesVes had no patience for idiocy, dawdling, or cowardice. She wanted Plankton to show them where the Golden Crystal was. "Tell us what's going on here."
Plankton spewed words like he was barfing.
JunJun jabbed a finger into Plankton's mouth. "We can't understand a word you're saying."
Water spilled from Plankton's eye. Was he crying? Quite a thing to do, especially since he had acted tough. Laughable, a wiener trying to be strong when being small and powerful was nigh impossible in the beast kingdom.
If Plankton qualified as a beast, then VesVes could control him. She could make a lion suck its thumb, if lions had thumbs.
VesVes reached for the whip hanging at her waist.
CereCere grabbed her wrist. "Hold on," she whispered. "We need to find out as much as we can from this thing."
Plankton peered up at the Dead Moon Circus, bottom lip quivering. A little threat, and he broke. "I built these robots. Now, you have to admit, making these robots was a genius idea. But I forgot to switch my Duplicatotron to 'Obey,' and now the robots are rampaging around Bikini Bottom. Which is fine, but they're not doing my bidding. And I want them to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula."
"Krabby Patty?" Tiger's Eye said. "Does it have crabs in it?" He licked his lips. Tigers didn't often come in contact with seafood. The beast inside Tiger's Eye would be interested in eating Bikini Bottom's fish raw. Even though Tiger's Eye was a humanoid, he could open his jaw wide enough to swallow giant fish whole.
Speaking of giant, the group must've shrunk when they were transported here. Fish were ordinarily much smaller than humans.
Plankton swung his leg back and forth. "Er, I don't know what it's made of. I'm trying to steal the formula so I can duplicate it and make my chum the best food in Bikini Bottom. Heck, with my brilliance, I could enhance the formula to make it better."
"But you haven't been able to recreate it yourself," CereCere said. "What makes you think you can improve the formula at all?"
Plankton faltered, like he'd been crushed by a rock. "I am not deterred." He raised a fist into the air, his fear forgotten. "My dream will come true. No matter what, I will get the Krabby Patty secret formula."
The Dead Moon Circus exchanged looks, PallaPalla's mouth O-shaped, Hawk's Eye raising his eyebrows repeatedly, thinking he looked clever and subtle but just looking stupid.
People were willing to do anything to fulfill their dreams. With Lemures, the Dead Moon Circus could morph dreams into nightmares, enslaving others to them and, by extension, their queen.
Once they freed Queen Nehellenia, she'd have her own puppets, humans and possibly fish, to play with. She would be ecstatic with the Amazoness Quartet and the Amazon Trio.
"We can help you." CereCere softened her eyes, looking innocent when she was anything but.
Plankton's brow creased. "H-huh?"
"We can get the Krabby Patty secret formula for you. We owe you so much for bringing us here to save our lives. We wouldn't have survived without you."
Plankton rubbed his hands, hunching over and chuckling. "Then I still have my own army," he said softly. "Plankton is, indeed, a genius. I've proved you wrong, Karen."
JunJun opened her mouth, but CereCere put a finger to JunJun's lips. "Not now. Let him think he's smart. It'll make it easier to take over his dreams."
Plankton sunk. "Karen…" He straightened, facing the humans. Tiger's Eye scowled. Plankton shrunk. "Uh, if it wouldn't be so much trouble, in addition to you stealing the secret formula, I'd love it if you saved my wife, Karen, who's still inside the Chum Bucket. My restaurant's been taken over by robots. And she's a computer, y'see, so she's ripe for the robots to infect her with a virus or fall in love with her, stealing her heart from mine." He stroked his antennae. "No matter how irresistible I am, if those robots install a virus on Karen, then she could forget who I am. Or worse, her personality—a software program I created—could be installed on a robot. Then, if that robot is destroyed and that software lost…" Plankton's eyes grew distant. "I can't imagine life without her."
Plankton was a sucker for love, too. Another vulnerability. Despite his stature, he was full of energy. The queen would be pleased to have Plankton on her team. VesVes could whip the arrogance and annoyingness out of him.
"Look, we've already got the rest of the Guardians here." Fisheye pointed outside, to a heap of four floating Guardians who the Dead Moon Circus had fought in the tent. "I don't know if they're dead yet, but I brought them here so no one found them and kept them alive."
"Brilliant, Fisheye." CereCere turned to PallaPalla. "Creating the Amazon Trio was the best thing you've done."
PallaPalla twirled on the balls of her feet. "Thank you," she sang.
"Can't I get…a bit more credit?" Fisheye muttered. Well, Fisheye had been the cause of the Guardians' downfall, so that did call for some recognition.
"The Guardians are officially done for," JunJun said. "We have full reign of Earth and the moon. Reigning over the galaxy is going to be so much fun."
"Don't forget about me," Plankton said, bold now that he believed the Dead Moon Circus wouldn't hurt him. "I'm the one who kept you alive. And I'm your master, which means that I rule over the galaxy, not you."
VesVes reached for her whip. Plankton desperately needed to be lashed.
CereCere grabbed her wrist once more. "Not now."
"At the very least, we can rule together. But I rule at least eighty percent of the galaxy." Plankton flipped his hand like he was shooing them away. "You can split the rest amongst yourselves."
"How generous of you," JunJun said.
Plankton nodded twice. "That's right. Your praises do not fall on deaf ears. Not only is Plankton a genius, but he is also a generous genius. Hm, that has a nice ring to it. I'm not sure if I would like you to call me a generous genius or keep calling me your master. Tough choice."
VesVes could think of many things she'd rather call Plankton.
"For now, keep calling me your master."
"Gladly, Master," CereCere said.
"Ah, obedient lackeys. Beautiful. I wish my robots were behaving like you. Maybe a good talking-to is what they need instead of the Duplicatotron being switched to 'Obey.'"
JunJun turned toward the floating Guardians, who seemed like they weren't breathing. "I wonder if they're dead by now."
"Should be," VesVes said. "No one can survive for that long." The Circus and Plankton had been talking inside the dome for a long time, not counting the length of time that Fisheye had spent with Plankton. The Guardians had to be dead, even if they descended from the Moon Kingdom and lived long, almost eternal, lives. They were still mortal and human.
Maybe they should annihilate the Guardians with their Lemures, just to make sure.
Outside, the sky split open.
A giant green man ripped the sky open with his hands like the sky was cloth instead of…sky.
Sailor Moon; her boyfriend, the prince; and the rest of the Guardians rode a cloud out of the broken sky.
The green man waved goodbye and closed the sky like a curtain.
VesVes' mouth went dry.
Fisheye hadn't killed the Guardians.
The treedome fell silent. VesVes' sisters and the Trio had been rendered speechless, too.
She had no words.
Chibi-Usa couldn't believe that she had ridden on a cloud like she was in an anime. She had thought many things happened only in anime, but Bikini Bottom proved her wrong, with its physics-defying stunts.
Mamoru helped Chibi-Usa and then Usagi to the sand. Usagi was too stunned from riding a cloud, meeting a sea god, and traveling to the legendary Atlantis to complain that Mamoru had helped Chibi-Usa first. One way to keep Chibi-Usa and Usagi's rivalry for Mamoru's attention at bay.
The Guardians had been dropped off between Sandy's treedome and SpongeBob's pineapple. Chibi-Usa looked around to see if any more robots were around.
The Outer Guardians floated, entangled in ropes of white light near the treedome's walls.
If it could have, her jaw would've hit the sand.
The Outer Guardians' eyes were closed. No way could they survive underwater, not even Sailor Neptune, who was the Guardian of the Ocean. Unless King Neptune's blessing of the pressure not affecting the younger Guardians extended to the Outer Guardians.
Behind the Outer Guardians, in Sandy's treedome, stood Fisheye. And were those the rest of the Dead Moon Circus? And was that Plankton standing with them?
Every member of the Circus gawked at the Guardians, some blanching. They must've thought the Guardians were dead.
Here was a perfect opportunity to finish the Dead Moon Circus. One blow would be all it took. The younger Guardians had to hurry inside the treedome, bringing the Outer Guardians.
Sandy lassoed the Outer Guardians, her lasso tightening around the snakes of energy. Someone from the Quartet or Trio must be controlling the energy and, thus, the Outer Guardians' movement.
Sandy rushed to her treedome, pulling the Outer Guardians behind her, thrust open the door, ran inside the hallway, and then kicked open the second door. She pulled the Outers toward the inside of the treedome.
Fisheye jolted as though he had been awakened from a deep sleep. He tugged back an orb that he held in his hand, and the Outer Guardians were pulled back toward the ocean. Sandy tugged; Sandy and Fisheye were engaged in a tug of war.
Usagi hurried toward the inside of the treedome, moving faster than Chibi-Usa had ever seen, not only because she was no longer slowed by a bulky deep sea dive suit, but also because she wanted to save her friends, making her more athletic than usual. Usagi raised her Moon Kaleidoscope. Chibi-Usa ran to join Usagi; even someone as powerful as Sailor Moon couldn't defeat the enemies alone.
"Mama, we have to do this together," Chibi-Usa called.
"Okay." Usagi pointed her Moon Kaleidoscope toward the Dead Moon Circus, past Sandy. Chibi-Usa did the same with her Chibi-Moon Kaleidoscope.
Together, Sailors Moon and Chibi-Moon said, "Moon Gorgeous Meditation!" Rainbow light burst from their weapons, merging into one train-sized beam.
The beam engulfed the Dead Moon Circus. Their screams filled the treedome, quaked the sea. The beam decimated the grass and blew through the polyurethane that the dome was comprised of, shattering part of it, water pouring inside the treedome, the pressure returning. When the beam faded, the Dead Moon Circus and Plankton were gone, a brown trench left. Chibi-Moon and Sailor Moon hadn't been aiming for Plankton, so he should have survived, although he might be unconscious for a few days.
The Dead Moon Circus might be done for, but the Outer Guardians needed oxygen. When the Dead Moon Circus and Plankton had been blasted away, the ropes of energy surrounding the Outer Guardians had faded, and the Outer Guardians had fallen onto the grass.
Yet the Outer Guardians stirred.
Had King Neptune given them the ability to live underwater? His power must have extended to all humans who needed oxygen to survive, even ones who had not been involved in saving his Poseidome. Perhaps he believed that every human could save Bikini Bottom.
The Outers were transformed into their Sailor counterparts. Chibi-Usa hurried to her best friend, Hotaru, and crouched, grasping Hotaru's arm.
Hotaru opened her eyes. "Chibi-Usa-chan… I'm so glad we found each other again. I…I missed you."
Chibi-Usa found herself almost not being able to speak, choking on tears. "Me too."
The power flowed through Sailor Neptune.
The ocean, the fish, all the sea creatures called out to her, strengthened her. One attack would eradicate the Dead Moon Circus. The world would be peaceful again.
Her eyes shot open, pupils contracted. Focused. Rei, transformed into Sailor Mars, stood before her, recoiled at the look in Neptune's eyes. Sailor Neptune softened her expression, looking more like Michiru Kaiou than Sailor Neptune.
"Hello, Rei." Michiru sat upright. She wanted to unleash all her power on the Dead Moon Circus. She'd never felt so much power swell through her, ready to burst.
"Michiru-san, you're okay." Rei smiled the broadest smile Michiru had ever seen. Usually, Rei was stoic. Her relief at seeing her friend alive caused her to smile.
Michiru's surroundings—the brown patches remaining of the grass on which she sat, the oak tree, the blueness outside the domed field, her allies—were sharper than they had ever been in Japan, like she was seeing things for the first time through an ultra high-definition camera.
Michiru and the rest of the Guardians were inside a dome, a hole where Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon's attack had blown through, where the Dead Moon Circus had crashed through the polyurethane.
The other half of the Sailor Team surrounded Rei; so did the other Outer Guardians. Hotaru had awakened, sitting near Chibi-Usa. Haruka rubbed her head. Setsuna took in the environment silently.
Michiru looked around some more, almost smacking her head on a protruding pink stomach, a lint-filled belly button in front of her nose. A smell of roast beef, chicken, and pizza wafted into her nose.
She shot onto her feet, towering over the pointy-headed pink creature. Looked like a starfish with eyes.
The starfish standing on two legs gaped. "Wow, you're glowing green. You guys do some cool stuff. You gotta teach me how to glow. I'd love to glow in the dark."
Michiru didn't take her eyes off the starfish but, in her peripheral vision, she could see a reflection of herself in the remaining polyurethane. A cerulean glow surrounded her, and her hair rippled upward. Her eyes had lightened to a bright turquoise instead of their usual deep green.
"You sure do look mad," the talking starfish said.
The starfish was talking.
A walking sponge with round blue eyes and buck teeth stepped beside the starfish. So did a walking squirrel clad in a white suit.
Haruka stepped beside Michiru. "Two questions: Where the hell did the Dead Moon Circus take us, and who the hell are you?"
The sponge and the starfish gasped, scrambling backward.
"Ooh, you said a naughty word—twice." The sponge pointed at Haruka's chest. "I'm gonna tell your mama." He ran toward the door. Stopped. Turned around. "Uh, who's your mama?"
Haruka's expression darkened. Did not warrant a response.
Usagi walked toward Haruka and Michiru, waving down her hands. "Now, now, no need to be mean to each other. Michiru-san, if you don't mind, could you turn off your glowing? We're not trying to be scary."
The starfish, sponge, and squirrel would fit right into the Dead Moon Circus. Perhaps the Dead Moon Circus had transformed an ordinary sea sponge, starfish, and squirrel into humanoids. But the humanoids resembled a six-year-old's depiction of a starfish, sponge, and squirrel. If the Dead Moon Circus had meant these three to be fearsome, then they hadn't done a good job.
On the other hand, the Circus could be aiming to make their enemies unintimidating so that the Guardians didn't fight them seriously. The starfish, sponge, and squirrel could be capable of destroying the world, bringing down mountains, drying out oceans, brainwashing others. Michiru couldn't underestimate them.
Even if Usagi and the younger Guardians, who had likely been here longer than the Outer Guardians, seemed to trust the animals, the three creatures could be part of a scheme to get the Guardians to trust them before attacking. No matter how cute and innocent these creatures looked, Michiru could not let her guard down.
"I can't stop glowing." Michiru didn't want to. Couldn't show weakness in front of these too-adorable creatures. She didn't say she couldn't stop because her power threatened to explode. She wanted these creatures to underestimate her so that she could defeat them in one fell swoop.
Perhaps keeping them alive would work to the Guardians' advantage. They could learn the Dead Moon Circus' motives and weaknesses, about who lorded over them.
Maybe the younger Guardians had also realized that keeping these creatures alive would be better for now. They might have had gleaned information about the Dead Moon Circus from the creatures.
Michiru's glow reflected in the starfish's black eyes. "I don't want her to stop glowing," the starfish said. "It's way too cool. Not even Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy can do this. Unless I've never seen them glow before. They have to be able to glow. Right, SpongeBob?"
"Uh, right, Patrick," the sponge said slowly, looking Michiru up and down.
"I think I understand why Sailor Neptune's power seems to be amplified." An ocean blue glow surrounded Ami. "My power is feeding off of hers."
Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune controlled similar elements. Sailor Mercury controlled water in general while Sailor Neptune commanded the seas.
The blueness outside, the water pouring in through the treedome's hole, the pressure, the power…
"Are we underwater?" Setsuna said before Michiru could guess.
Sailor Mercury nodded. She explained that the younger Guardians and Mamoru had ended up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after Fisheye had opened a vortex to transport them here, expecting them to die, letting the Dead Moon Circus rule Earth. They'd been saved by SpongeBob, the sponge; Patrick, the starfish; and Sandy, the squirrel.
Perhaps the sea creatures weren't the enemy, or they wouldn't have saved the other Guardians. Leaving the Guardians to drown would've been easy.
After a wish from SpongeBob, or more accurately, a small creature called Plankton who Usagi had blasted away with the Dead Moon Circus (Usagi hoped he wasn't dead because he wasn't heinous like the Dead Moon Circus) had unleashed a robot army into Bikini Bottom. The Guardians were trying to save Bikini Bottom.
Makoto said a robot-constructed lab was under Goo Lagoon, a beach, and that there were likely more labs scattered throughout Bikini Bottom, where the robots were building robots out of the civilians, wanting to replicate the humans' power.
Minako explained that, thanks to saving the sea god's, King Neptune's, Poseidome in Atlantis, they had gained the power to breathe underwater and to survive on the ocean floor without succumbing to the pressure.
"It's a good thing you ended up near us," Usagi said. "Or else you would've died from not being able to breathe, but King Neptune probably made it so all of us could live underwater."
"The Dead Moon Circus would've left us for dead, too," Setsuna said. "They must've been planning on keeping us near them until we died. That way, no one else could save us like SpongeBob and his friends did." She smiled softly at the sea creatures and the squirrel. "You're heroes in your own right."
SpongeBob's eyes twinkled. "Really really?"
"Uh, yes." The sponge and starfish seemed childlike.
Rei straightened. "I'm sorry, everyone, but I still sense our enemies. They've survived somehow." Her eyebrows arched at Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon. "Even your attacks didn't defeat them."
"But how could they have survived?" Haruka said. "Sailor Moon's the most powerful, and when her attack combines with Sailor Chibi-Moon's… Does this mean that they're immune to our attacks?"
"Did King Neptune make it so they could survive underwater, too?" Ami said.
"Whatever's going on," Mamoru said, "we have to find them as soon as possible. I'm more afraid of them than of the robots."
Haruka crossed her arms. "So while we're down here, we'll be saving Bikini Bottom from not only the robots but the Dead Moon Circus, too."
"Sounds about right." Minako threw open her arms. "Hey, let's focus on what's gone right. We're together, everyone. It's something to celebrate."
Michiru allowed herself a fleeting smile. Although she was thankful that the younger Guardians were fine, they had much work to do to win the battle for Bikini Bottom.
Now, the Outer Guardians had joined Sailor Moon and the younger Guardians, could combine their strength.
The Sailor Team was complete.