Chapter Sixty-nine: Relief
They'd returned the snails to their senses, but they'd lost the battle.
Minako panted alongside Ami, the Guardians floating above Kelp Forest. The ranger, Mr. Krabs, and Sandy remained on the ground. The only ones left from their battle against Dead Moon.
Even with their Super forms, Ami and Minako had been overwhelmed by the robots and snails, keeping them from saving Chibi-Usa.
For the second time, Minako had lost her friends to the enemy. Still didn't know where poor Billy was.
Inexcusable.
The snails lay in heaps below, electricity crackling around them. Hopefully, Dead Moon's modifications wouldn't hurt them more.
Regardless, the Guardians couldn't stand around, moaning and groaning. Had to rescue Chibi-Usa.
First asked the ranger's mysteriously all-knowing magic conch shell.
"Mighty conch shell, where are Chibi-Usa, JunJun, and VesVes?" Minako pulled the string.
"Another dimension." At least it hadn't said, "Somewhere."
"Maybe they're in Dead Moon's headquarters," Ami said.
Minako's expression hardened. "Exactly what I was afraid of. O, mighty conch shell, how do we get to this other dimension?" Pulled the string.
"Somehow."
Minako ground her teeth. If the magic conch shell didn't know, then it didn't know. It knew about the Golden Crystal, so it had to be telling the truth.
She turned toward the entrance. "Let's head back. The others can help us."
"I shall remain here." The ranger straightened his hat. "Kelp Forest is my charge, and so is the magic conch shell." His pupils dilated at the shell, and he rubbed it, whispering soothing nothings.
"Let's go." Minako was in no mood for Bikini Bottom's weirdness.
As they flew, Minako and Ami carried Sandy together, leaving Mr. Krabs with the ranger's craziness. Kelp Forest lightened into Bikini Bottom's plaza where the movie theater, Krusty Krab, and Chum Bucket stood. Mustering some modicum of self-control, Minako lowered herself, Ami, and Sandy to the ground. With no modicum of self-control, she rushed to the rock enclosure. Usagi, Mamoru, Makoto, Michiru, SpongeBob, and Plankton were crowded inside, asleep.
If she kicked one of them awake, would the dream world be destroyed and, thus, kill them, too? Or would they startle out of their dreams, awakening them?
Minako's leg twitched toward them. A nudge?
Sandy stepped beside Minako. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Dunno what could happen."
"Dreams are breeding grounds for Dead Moon," Ami said. "Our enemies could be in that dream world too. Since it's not their individual dreams but a whole dream world they're sharing, I'm afraid of the consequences."
"They're probably fighting their way out right now," Minako said, more for herself than for her friends, the ones she was supposed to stay strong for. "Maybe we should wait."
Ami's eyes widened. "The 'W' word."
Minako shuddered. "I know." Artemis would have a fit, spouting some nonsense about her finally maturing. Took her only a few years after becoming a Guardian.
"We gotta rest, anyhow." Sandy stretched. "Kelp Forest took more out of me than the milk a cow pushes out of its udder."
Minako stuck out her tongue, and Ami scrunched her face.
"Weird simile? Sorry."
"All your similes are weird." Minako gagged. "That one, that was just gross."
Sandy turned up her nose. "Well, excuse me for being poetic."
"You do have a point buried under that…interesting comparison," Ami said. "We should get some rest."
Minako's eyes softened at her friends lying in the rock enclosure. As their physical bodies were idle, did they truly rest?
If only Minako could bring her friends to rest. They'd been fighting for over twenty-four hours. They were Guardians, but humanity and fragility were buried under the supernatural.
How could she rest when her friends weren't?
Minako sat as close as she could to Usagi, who lay near the enclosure's edge, without touching the rocks. Regardless of the risk of being pulled inside the dream world, of contracting her curse, Minako took Usagi's hand.
"Usagi, I'm sorry. For everything you've gone through." She smiled sadly at each of her friends. "For everything everyone has gone through. None of us deserved any of this. We're only trying to protect our homes and families." She looked to the sky. "I wish we could be up there, in the Silver Millennium, spending time with each other, not worrying about wars. Being ordinary teenagers for once." Why was she pouring out everything in front of Ami and Sandy? "I can't wait for peace to come."
The world darkened, the blackness overtaking the cloudless sky. So much for peace.
Lightning struck. He was coming.
Another bolt of lightning struck inches from Minako, but she resisted the urge to jump. One, she'd been around Sailor Jupiter too long to fear lightning strikes. Two, she refused to show him weakness. He relished in weaknesses instead of trying to strengthen others, like a true god would.
Within the flash of lightning, a silhouette appeared and then lightened into King Neptune.
He crossed his arms. "Well, well, what have we here?"
Letting go of Usagi's hand, Minako stood. He would not have his way with them. "What do you want?"
King Neptune snarled. "Watch yourself, girl. The only reason I haven't zapped you for being insubordinate is because I am merciful, and you clearly need mercy."
Minako bit her lip, trying to suppress words that angered the god further, but blurted, "I don't need your mercy. I've done nothing wrong." She was a teenager. Being mouthy was part of the job description.
The storm upon King Neptune's face intensified.
Ami and Sandy stepped in front of Minako.
"You're interruptin' our rest, Neptune," Sandy said. "Cut to the chase so we can get some shut-eye."
"You're cranky because you haven't gotten any sleep. Small wonder." Lightning struck within his pupils, indicative of his anger. "Mayhaps I shall let your idiocy go." He clasped his hands behind his back, bowed his head. "After all, you've been fighting almost nonstop for what, twenty-four hours? I am a god with unlimited strength, but I can sympathize."
"Sure, and I'm a cow with four tails," Sandy muttered.
"You had the courtesy to notice, but you still bother us," Minako said.
Neptune waved his hands dismissively. "Your soap opera monologue, you mean."
Minako's turn to snarl. "Soap opera…!" Stomped her foot like a little kid. "That came from the heart, damn it."
Ami raised a finger. "It was a little over the top, Mina-chan."
"Even you, Ami?"
"You have the nerve to ask me why I'm interrupting you, and here you are, getting caught up in a little phrase." Neptune regarded the three through half-lidded eyes. "Believe it or not, I've come to help you." He looked at the group lying inside the rock enclosure. "They've been transported to a different dimension. A dimension that might take them a while to fight their way out of."
"Fight their way?" Ami said.
"Of course. You don't think it's as easy as pinching yourself to get out of the dream realm, do you? Where they are, that's an artificially induced teleportation to another dimension, not as simple as going to sleep at the end of a long day." He rubbed his bicep. "Not that I've ever slept, being a god and all."
Minako rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the reminder."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"Why don't you save us the trouble and take them out yourself?"
His eyes softened. "Because I want to see."
Ami blinked. "See what?"
"None of your business.
"Uh, excuse me, but it is our business," Minako said. "It involves our friends."
"No, it involves me. Maybe I'll tell you. Maybe I won't. Leaning toward not telling you, with all the `tude you're giving me."
With Neptune being insufferable, she may never be able to keep her mouth shut.
"Bottom line is," Sandy said, "you'll take us to the dream world?"
"Not there, oh, no. They must fight their way out of that dimension themselves. Gods can't interfere too much, you see, or the world will become off-kilter. However, this 'other dimension' that you speak of, where Dead Moon is? I can take you there."
Minako's eyes lit up. "You can?" Chibi-Usa might have wound up in Dead Moon's lair.
"Seems like your `tude has done a 180 since I offered to help you. Funny how that works." He stroked his mustache. "Humans," he spat.
Minako snorted. "Like you're an angel."
"There's the lip. It was only hiding until you could get what you wanted out of me."
"You haven't done anything for us but cause trouble. Excuse me if I have an attitude because you gave my friend powers she never asked for, couldn't control, and made her destroy the Chum Bucket."
Lightning crashed within Neptune's eyes. "Her destroying that rusty waste of space was her own fault. It's her problem that she wasn't prepared for my blessings."
"First of all, that 'waste of space' was Plankton's home." Her vision blurred. "He doesn't have a home anymore."
Ami stepped back. "M-Mina-chan."
Was she yelling at a god? "Second of all, she never asked for those 'blessings.' She was perfectly capable on her own. You were jealous, so you wanted to prove that you were better than a mere human. Let me tell you something. If you're as good as you claim, you wouldn't feel the need to prove yourself to anyone."
Lightning lashed, and Minako slammed onto the ground, writhing.
King Neptune pointed a smoking finger at Minako. "No more mercy."
MInako peered up at Neptune. "You're the weakest in Bikini Bottom."
Another bolt sent her seizing on the ground.
When the fit ended, she said, "Is that the only way you respond when you're upset, striking things with lightning?"
King Neptune jabbed two fingers toward her, electricity crackling at their tips. The hairs on the back of Minako's neck stiffened. She kept glaring. He may be a god, but he was no better than she.
Prone to emotional outbursts, what kind of god was he? One who she was glad she didn't live under, under his whims.
King Neptune folded his hands at his chest, trying to look big and bad but looking like he'd folded to a barely sixteen-year-old girl. Which he had.
He laughed when nothing was a laughing matter. "I like your toughness, girl. Well-played."
Minako placed a hand on the ground, pushed, struggled to stand. King Neptune gestured upward. Energy burst throughout Minako, like she could run a hundred marathons in a row, and she was lifted onto her feet.
If what she'd experienced was what Michiru was feeling like, she wanted to bottle that energy and sell it.
"Do I regard you as an equal?" King Neptune boomed out a louder laugh. Fish and robots alike scattered. "Of course not. You're a human. You may be a smidge smarter than these fish, but you're not equal to a god. Regardless, I would like to help you more."
Minako bit her tongue, cutting off a retort of, "If that's what you call 'help,' then we don't need it." To save the sea creatures, she couldn't be fried into bacon when their own god refused to help for his own entertainment.
"I've decided." King Neptune clapped his hands, and the sky ripped open, revealing darkness.
Dead Moon.
"This 'other dimension' that they speak of, I shall take you there."
Minako perked. "Really?"
King Neptune nodded. "I am a god. I can take you anywhere. Heck, I live in another dimension."
"Excuse me, King Neptune," Sandy said. "If you don't mind me asking, and if you don't mind answerin', why didn't you take us to the other dimension before? If you knew where our friends and Dead Moon were, we could've gone straight to their hideout, beat their behinds, and then taken care of the rest of the robots. Our job would've been a heck of a lot easier."
King Neptune scowled at Sandy but for a moment, offended by her questioning his limitless wisdom and unyielding mercy. "I don't expect you mice to understand, but things must be done in a certain way. If us gods went around fixing everything willy-nilly, why, the world wouldn't be as grand as it is today. No one would be truly living, experiencing the exciting drama of this rollercoaster we call life. You'd be mindless drones, waiting on gods to wipe your butts."
Sandy winced. "You. Wipin' my butt. A visual I coulda done without."
King Neptune's explanation made sense. Even though fate dictated much of her life, Minako enjoyed what little freedom she had.
"I do have one request, sir," Ami said. Soft-spoken compared to Minako and Sandy. Perhaps King Neptune would respond better to someone who was seemingly submissive. Few knew the viciousness underlying her powers. Most who did had perished under her hand. "Can you please let us either wait for our friends to come back or bring our friends here? We can't fight our enemies alone."
King Neptune rubbed his chin. "A fair request." He'd want their friends to fight their way back to Bikini Bottom, not whisk them home in a convenient tornado. "I will let you wait for your friends. If they're not back by sundown, I will take you to the heart of your enemies by yourselves, without the rest of your friends, so you can fight to the death. Whoever wins, wins." He chuckled. "See how merciful I am?"
Minako bit off a retort of, "Very." She sat beside her friends and held Usagi's hand. Ami and Sandy joined her.
They waited. Watching. Hoping.
So maybe Haruka wasn't better than the younger Guardians.
She had searched hard, not caring about leaving her friends with the unconscious monkey man-horse hybrid. Not caring about the chaos the ninth dimension must be embroiled in, without a dictator. Almost unleashed her powers upon Bikini Bottom, she was searching so hard, threatening to upend the gravestones within the Dutchman's graveyard and blow up the Dutchman's ghostly ships. All because she was trying to prove herself to her juniors.
Losing Hotaru was the first time she'd failed.
Hotaru was her daughter. She lived with Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna, had grown up under their love and teaching. Haruka was Hotaru's papa by principle. Haruka's job was to protect Hotaru at all costs, the opposite of her past relentless pursuit of Hotaru, to kill the younger Guardian. Sure, Setsuna was with them, but Haruka was supposed to be the head of the household. (Some would argue that the lady of the household, Michiru, was always the boss, and they'd be right, but who counted the fine details of their relationship? Haruka. And Michiru. Mostly Michiru.)
As Haruka flew through the graveyard's green, hazed sky, she slowed. Her saving Hotaru was more about her own ego than for Hotaru's well-being.
She stopped. Clenched her hands.
She'd been separated from Michiru for only an hour or two, but damn, she missed her girlfriend.
"Missing her?"
Haruka swiveled around, aimed the palms of her hands, light growing within, readying to vaporize Setsuna.
She lowered her hands, another wave of shame crushing her.
"Making yourself feel bad," Setsuna said. "Even worse."
Haruka kept her big mouth shut. Setsuna was one of the few truly wise people, having lived through eons, centuries, millennia…basically, really long times. Knew human nature inside and out.
Setsuna was going to do to Haruka what Haruka had done to Makoto. Quiet yet brutal, Setsuna may be gentle with her Small Lady, but not with Haruka.
They hovered in the sky. Staring at each other. Was Setsuna waiting for Haruka to speak first?
So Haruka said, "You found me." Like an idiot.
Setsuna chuckled. "I followed you, actually."
Haruka cringed. How easily their enemies could've tracked them down because of her foolishness, her recklessness, her ego. "Was I easy to follow?"
"Yes."
Haruka sighed. "Thought so." She found herself vomiting words that, at one point, she would've never let anyone but Michiru hear. "We're not supposed to be like them, Setsuna."
Setsuna regarded Haruka.
"At least change your facial expression. Gimme something to work off of."
Setsuna's lips quirked.
"That didn't help."
"We're not supposed to be like the younger Guardians?"
"Well, yeah." She scratched the side of her head. "I sound like a kid."
"Like you thought the younger Guardians did."
Haruka flinched. "How do you know exactly what to say to me? We haven't known each other that long."
"Watching humans for so long, you figure out how to analyze them quickly. We all fit into a certain type, as much as we like to proclaim our uniqueness. Even you, Haruka."
Haruka fit into no one's stereotype. "Are you calling me a cookie-cutter cardboard cutout?" Another cringe. When did Haruka start sounding stupid when she was angry?
"No. I'm calling you human. You don't think you are, but you are, just like the rest of us."
Haruka scoffed. "I guess I am like you mere mortals."
"You are."
"Do you have to be so matter-of-fact?"
"You don't like what you do to others, done to yourself?"
"All these good questions…"
"I'm a scientist. It's my job to ask good questions. You have to stop beating around the bush, Haruka. You're honest with everyone but yourself. You keep interrupting me, trying to make light of what I'm saying to make yourself feel better and distract me, but it isn't working. If anything, you're making things worse."
Haruka opened her mouth.
Setsuna raised a hand. "Just listen."
Haruka closed her mouth. She did talk too much. Hardly listened to anyone. Except Michiru, on rare occasions.
"You have to start being honest with yourself. You're not perfect, I'm not perfect, and none of us ever will be. We try to stay strong for the younger Guardians, but it's best if we show them our vulnerabilities. Then they can be strong in our weaknesses."
"Yeah, yeah," Haruka said, partly because she was tired of these rah-rah talks, partly because she hated tasting her own medicine. "I mean, I understand. It's time to swallow my pride." She looked out into the abyss of the graveyard, desolate of their daughter. "Let's go find her."
"Hotaru is the Guardian of Destruction. If anything, she's holding her own as we speak. It might be best if we go back to where we agreed to meet in Bikini Bottom so the others don't get worried."
What would Haruka say to the others? They'd return as failures. No better than the younger Guardians.
The point wasn't to be better than them. The point was to work together. To complement one another.
"Let's." Alongside Setsuna, Haruka flew to Patrick and Rei, both waiting near the entrance. Patrick crawled on his hands and knees, sniffing the area like a dog. Rei flew around the area, searching the ships. The Flying Dutchman reclined in an EZ-chair-shaped haze, painting his fingernails green.
Blood threatened to rupture Haruka's veins. How dare the Flying Dutchman relax when one of their friends was in danger? Surely, Setsuna, Rei, and Patrick had told the Dutchman about Hotaru.
He simply didn't care.
Setsuna placed a hand on Haruka's shoulder, shaking her head. Knew Haruka too well.
The two landed beside Patrick.
"No luck?" Setsuna said.
"I think I'm picking up on some sort of scent." Patrick kept pecking at the dirt.
"But…you have no nose," Haruka said.
Patrick put up a hand. "Don't question the expert here, buddy. I'll have you know that I have a lot of experience as a detective. I became a detective for one day to investigate the identity of the fiend who threw a peanut at Clamu. And then I discovered that it was…" He gasped. "…me." He crossed his arms and nodded twice. "A brilliant deduction."
"Uh-huh." Haruka was resigned to pretending that Patrick's stupidity never happened. She called for Rei.
Sailor Mars landed on her feet beside the pecking Patrick. "I'm guessing you haven't had luck either." Ice laced her voice. Not a fan of how Haruka treated her. Understandable.
Haruka gripped Rei's shoulder, nearly averted her gaze, but she wasn't one to not look others in the eyes.
Neither was she one to apologize, but here she was. "I'm sorry, Rei. For treating you the way I did." Made herself say, "Like an idiot." She made sure others admitted their mistakes candidly. Had to do the same for herself. "Truth is, you're really smart. I've learned some stuff. Actually, I've learned a lot from you guys." She cupped her hands behind her back. "It wasn't fair of me to dismiss you. Both this time and other times. So I'm sorry. Again. However many times I insulted you."
Rei kept her expression blank. Forgot how good she was at being an ice queen. Forgot how mature the younger Guardians were. Just because they were younger didn't mean that they were immature. Hell, countless older people were immature.
Rei smiled. "Apology accepted."
Haruka punched the palm of her hand. "Great. Now let's stop this drama crap and keep moving."
Rei looked at a ship floating on the horizon. "Where do you want to go now? Should we keep looking for Hotaru?"
Haruka turned toward the Flying Dutchman. She may have buried the hatchet with Rei, but she never would with the lazy ghost. "Let me guess. No help?"
Rei shook her head. Patrick kept sniffing around, more like a pecking chicken than a dog, much less a detective.
Haruka looked from the Flying Dutchman, who now snored in the sky, hands tucked under his head; to the pecking Patrick; and back. The sight of the sleeping Dutchman almost made her eyes bleed. The sight of the hen-like starfish almost made her pluck him from the ground and see if he'd laid an egg. Neither was good for her sanity. "Let's get out of here." As soon as possible.
"What about the ninth dimension?" Setsuna said. "We shouldn't leave them alone."
Squidward popped up from behind a green haze of a bush, hiding from the unconscious monkey man. "Why, I have a wonderful idea." He gestured sweepingly, only to point toward himself. "Ican be the ruler of the ninth dimension. I'd make a great king. With my orderliness, filling the world with my beautiful paintings, my heart-wrenching clarinet music…"
Haruka snorted. "Heart-wrenching for all the wrong reasons."
"You know nothing about beautiful music. You're a human, for goodness' sake. What do you know about music?"
She imitated his nasally voice. "You're an octopus, for goodness' sake. What do you know about anything?"
Squidward's pale face flushed into red.
"Besides, you didn't try to help us find Hotaru, even though we saved your pale ass a million times in the past hour."
Squidward's mouth mawed open in a wordless roar. Froth bubbled in the corners of his mouth.
Good job, Haruka. You've reduced him to a primate. A sickening pride and guilt filled her simultaneously. The strangest but most convicting feeling Haruka had felt.
Setsuna placed a hand on Haruka's arm. "That's enough. We're supposed to be focusing on how to help the ninth dimension, not our egos."
Only the octopus was egocentric, but Haruka kept quiet. She'd made too many barrels explode today. She nodded toward the hybrid laying on its back, legs curled upward, like a dead fly, under one of the Dutchman's ships. "I'm guessing he didn't wake up at all." Gestured toward the Flying Dutchman, almost with her middle finger. "The ghost didn't help, either?"
Rei shook her head. "The monkey stayed sound asleep. And the Dutchman was busy giving himself a manicure most of the time."
Setsuna aimed her Garnet Rod toward the hybrid. "We can't let him roam free. We may not have time to decide how exactly to handle him, but we do have time to keep him from doing any more damage. Garnet Ball." A black ball expanded over the hybrid, trapping it within, lightning sparking on its outside, like the dome version of an electric fence. The hybrid remained unconscious. "We can come back for him once we take care of our more pressing matters."
Squidward cleared his throat. "Since he's safely trapped in a dome of lightning, can I please be charioted to the ninth dimension?" His eyes sparkled. "A grand entrance will make it clear that I've come to rule. I mean, make peace."
"You're worse than Plankton," Haruka said. "The people there might eat you alive before they let anyone else rule over them. It'd be safer if you came with us." She winked at Setsuna. "I have a feeling that the people in the ninth dimension are getting on just fine. Besides, nothing can hurt them anymore. They're probably celebrating."
"I suppose," Setsuna said. "We don't have an easy way to get back to the ninth dimension, anyhow." She wrung her hands. "I'm not fond of using tapioca to teleport to another dimension."
A chill rocked Haruka. "An experience that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy."
Rei, Haruka, and Setsuna took to the air. Setsuna cast out another black dome, swooping up Squidward and Patrick.
Reaching toward the ground, Patrick said, "Hey. I'm not finished yet. I was close to getting the clues."
"Right," Haruka said. "The nonexistent clues." Rei was rubbing off on Haruka.
"At least take me back home," Squidward said. "I've had enough of you for a whole lifetime."
Haruka scowled. "Do you hear yourself insulting us to our faces?"
"You do the same thing."
Her mouth snaked into a smile. "It's different when I do it. Others usually deserve to be insulted to their faces. I do not." Not true, but Haruka liked messing with people too much to be truthful.
"I've had enough of being in danger all the time. I've been in nothing but danger since you all came."
Fair point. "We'll drop you back off at your house, where you'll be safe."
Squidward pointed to Patrick. "Where this robot version of this barnaclehead almost ripped me in half? I don't think so. Everywhere I go, there's nothing but robots."
"Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine."
"I'd kindly appreciate it if you two shut up," Setsuna said. What a polite way to ask for them to be quiet. Squidward said nothing more, and neither did Haruka.
The group passed through the graveyard's green fog, into the cerulean vibrancy of Bikini Bottom.
Haruka heaved in. She could breathe again. The Dutchman proclaimed that he took pride in his graveyard's appearance and cleanliness, but it reeked of suffocating B.O. Haruka hadn't realized how terrible the rancidness was until they returned to Bikini Bottom. Based on how Rei, Patrick, Squidward, and Setsuna took deep breaths, they had smelled the rancidness, too.
Tugging at her shirt, Haruka led the group toward the rock enclosure.
Above Minako, Sandy, the rest of their friends—and girlfriend—floated King Neptune. Haruka's blood curdled.
First the Dutchman, now this bastard. She couldn't take two powerful, indulgent idiots in one day.
Next thing she knew, she'd shot to the alleged god.
"You son of a bitch." If he was wearing a shirt, she would've grabbed it so she could get a better aim for his whole face, but she settled on slamming her fist into his eyes.
King Neptune flew backward, like a character out of a shounen anime. Wonderfully satisfying.
"With all your god powers, you couldn't predict my punch?" She dashed to the god. One she wouldn't serve if he threatened to zap her into ashes. "What kind of god are you?" Couldn't predict anything. Couldn't fix anything. Didn't care to help those who couldn't help themselves. They'd been given these powers to help others, not to fan themselves and live in luxury.
Bolts of lightning struck Haruka. The world flashed, and rain deluged her. More lightning struck her, sending her into a writhing fit.
Maybe the god was as strong as he proclaimed.
"If you had kept your mouth shut and your hands to yourself, you would've discovered that I offered to help you."
The lightning stopped, and Haruka flopped on the sand. Embarrassing way to go, but she didn't care. "All the crap we've been through, that your precious worshippers have been through, and now you decide to help us?" She growled. "You hurt Michiru when you didn't have to. Just for your own ego. What the hell kind of god are you?"
Clams startled into the sky. King Neptune hovered above her, arms crossed.
"I offered to take you to your enemies. Right to their source."
"Will you help us beat them?"
"That's yet to be determined."
"You're an uncaring, stupid, selfish god. I bet the people in Atlantis serve you against their will, not because they actually like you. Go ahead, zap me again. That's all you do—hurt the people who are serving you." Even though Haruka wasn't serving him, the point had been made.
King Neptune blinked at her. Opposite of the flared nostrils from earlier.
He hovered over Haruka's sleeping teammates. Minako was staring, hands limp as she held Usagi's hand. Ami and Sandy gawked. Haruka had moved so fast that no one had been able to stop her.
Haruka hadn't greeted her friends, taken the time to be thankful that they were well. Instead, she'd attacked a god who didn't give a rat's ass about them.
Pursing her lips, Haruka turned toward her friends. "I'm sorry. I'm glad you all are doing okay." She nodded toward her sleeping allies "How's everyone else doing?"
Minako shrugged. "We don't know. They look like they're sleeping peacefully, but who knows what could be happening in that dream world?"
"True." Setsuna looked to the ocean's surface. "The sea seems calm from above, but when you're here, you realize that it's full of chaos. I wonder if it still looks calm from above ground."
"If we don't know how they're doing," Haruka said, "I say we find out." Time to beg once again. Her pissing people off always seemed to bite her later. "Is your offer still on the table, King Neptune?"
The god looked at each of her friends through half-lidded eyes. His gaze lingered on SpongeBob. He may not like Haruka and her friends, but he liked the sponge.
"It is." King Neptune spread his hands and then curled his fingers.
Usagi and the rest of Haruka's allies in the enclosure jolted awake.
"What happened to Fisheye?" SpongeBob's eyes darted about. "Are they still in the dream world?" He shut his eyes. "I have to go back."
Mamoru reached for SpongeBob and then, remembering his curse, drew back, settling on words instead. "Don't go back by yourself, SpongeBob."
"They're probably fine." Usagi, forcing a smile once again.
"Why do we care about them?" Haruka said. The first thing to come out of her mouth after seeing her friends survive another dimension. Good job, Haruka. Might as well keep going. "Am I the only one who remembers that they're our enemies?"
SpongeBob rocked himself upright, and Plankton, who had been laying on his tie, tumbled to the ground. "But they're good enemies."
"Hey, hey, hey," Minako said, "let's not get pissy with each other. We have to figure out a plan." She grinned. "Besides, I'm glad we're all together again. We should celebrate one small victory. Heck, it's been ages, and we haven't even said hi to each other."
"More like, not a victory at all," Haruka muttered. No need to start celebrating when she'd failed. "I lost Hotaru."
"We lost Hotaru," Rei said.
Michiru couldn't keep her face impassive, gaping instead. She was right there, to be held, to hold onto.
"We're gonna get her back." Haruka cracked her knuckles. "Wherever she is."
Minako glared at the ground. "We lost Chibi-Usa."
The silence nearly crushed the group. Losing one person was terrible on its own, but two? A part of Haruka felt less guilty, like she wasn't the only one who lost people to bad guys. Hell, she wasn't so ineffective that she lost two of her friends in less than twenty-four hours. Another part of her was angry without a right to be.
Usagi grew paler, and her eyes glistened. Minako wrapped her arms around Usagi. Usagi was so weak, she couldn't mumble anything about her curse, using her curse as an excuse to keep others from seeing her tears.
Mamoru balled his hands, veins protruding from his fists.
"Anything could've happened to her." Usagi's voice broke.
Mamoru rubbed the back of her hands. "We'll save her before they do anything to her." To Minako, he said, "Do you have any idea where she ended up?"
"Likely with Nehellenia," Minako said. "In Dead Moon."
More color drained from Usagi, and Mamoru became a bit paler.
Before anyone else could freak out—they hadn't had their mushy, gushy reunion yet—Haruka said to King Neptune, "You can take us to Dead Moon, can't you?" Hotaru might be with their enemies, too.
"I can." King Neptune grabbed the air and ripped it open, revealing darkness.
A dark world beyond could only mean that Dead Moon lay on the other side of the bright Bikini Bottom.
SpongeBob jumped onto his feet, white-knuckling his bubble wand. Mamoru and Usagi climbed upright. No one could stop a mother and father's love.
Plankton jumped onto Michiru's shoulder, and Michiru softened. They must've reconciled in the dream world.
Haruka summoned her sword, and it materialized in her hand. Her friends stood around her, for her to protect, for them to protect one another as they faced Dead Moon all together.