Circuit Two: Love Rush!
When Rei finally awoke, it was because Minako was practicing her martial arts and she had lost her balance and fallen smack onto Rei. "Where is Makoto?" groaned Rei, this was not her ideal wake up call. She pulled herself up, bracing her arms against the wall, and Minako rolled off. The blond shook her head, un-chibi-fied and then she said, "She's down at the Go-Go-Mart around the corner buying some twine. Apparently the crypt has some extensive catacombs. We don't need to get lost."
"Catacombs? Where? It's a rather small room…" mumble Rei.
"The stairs hidden in the sarcophagus." Minako said quickly.
Half an hour later, the three girls were marching through the labyrinth and the way was lighted by a random miner's helmet someone had gotten somewhere. The air was stale, the area has been closed off for centuries and there was a rank smell of rot and dust. The walls had beautiful paintings on them, very well preserved and exquisitely worked. They were scenes from millennia past, and from just a few centuries ago as well. Neither Rei, Minako, or Makoto could figure out the meanings to these murals, but they admired them before continuing on.
"I'm cold, tired and just plan scared. This place is creepy!" groaned Minako after the foursome had been tramping around the catacombs for a few hours.
Makoto sighed and looked at the ball of twine, it was almost to its end. Fortunately she had gotten two more, so they wouldn't run out. All of them were grumpy and disgruntled, especially after Minako had gotten them off course several times. It was dark, and the light from the random miner's helmet was having trouble piercing the increasing gloom. The paintings on the walls were a little more deteriorated in this part of the tomb; the moisture had gotten to them. What the girls could see of them was still beautiful. Now the blond girl depicted in almost all of the murals was wearing a yellow gown similar to that from earlier paintings at the opening of the maze.
Suddenly Rei tripped over something and she shouted in surprise. Rei's out cry broke the silence and her companions turned around to help her up. Makoto focused the light from the caving helmet on the spot where Rei had tripped and saw that a rather large dent in the floor had tripped Rei up. Or was it the thick stone button in between the twin dents? Makoto looked at the others and then with a nod from her friends pressed it down firmly. A shout and a yank later, Makoto was sprawled on top of Minako and a large ladder was set into the floor, slanting upwards to a loft hidden in the shadows.
Crawling up, gun in hand, Rei went first. She brushed the sizable spider webs out of the way. "First down and now up! Someone was hiding something."
"It had better be topaz!" grumbled Minako.
"If it is topaz, I hope there are clues to find the other stones. We've spent six months alone trying to find Venus…"
"Hey you two down there, get you butts up here!" shouted Rei. "The murals continue on this ledge, and it looks like it's depicting a funeral! The end of the story!"
"Or the beginning considering these were the legendary Sailor Senshi, I remember from long ago…somewhere I heard…they were the eternally burning stars..." said Mako-chan.
"I remember that too, like a faded voice from a haze. Now that I think of it, I remember almost nothing of my childhood…my past." Sighed Minako wistfully.
"MARS DAMN IT! CAN YOU GET YOU LAZY ASSES UP HERE?" Rei was having a cow, quite obvious from her chibi form. After popping back to normal, Rei continued more calmly about what she saw. "There is a picture of who I'm assuming is Venus, and she is pointing to something in the shadows. Can you toss that miner helmet up here Makoto?"
Makoto tossed the helmet up to the ledge, and she winced as she realized that she had misjudged the distance and direction, as the helmet had smashed into the stone wall. The light flickered out for a moment, but Rei pressed the on switch and it blinked back on sleepily. "Nice going Mako! You could have busted our light!" she growled.
Rei didn't waist time putting the helmet on her head, instead she held it out to shine it's light in the direction the girl in the painting was indicating. Hidden by shadows, dust and a netting of cobwebs was an extraordinary gold statue in a style still known as classical. It sparkled dazzlingly in even the dim light, and appeared to be of the same girl that inhabited the murals. She wore the fuku of a sailor soldier, Rei knew that much. This had to be the statue of Venus. And as Rei's eyes worked their way up the statue, she say on its brow a golden tiara with a gem set in its center.
"Let me take the gem?" said Minako quietly.
Rei stepped back and replied, "Of course. You are the rightful heir to the topaz stone of Venus."
The blond slowly lifted her hands up to the tiara of the life-sized statue and lifted the stone from it's setting. She held it in her hand for a moment to feel its weight and sense the power and then glanced at the small steel socket in her right hand. Looking to the others for encouragement, she set the small ovular chunk of topaz into the plug. She closed her eyes for a moment, opened them, and suddenly they rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the floor.
When Minako awoke it was several hours since she had passed unconscious, and from a quick glance from between half opened eyes she saw dingy wallpaper and mildewed walls. A brownish spot was on the ceiling and the sheets covering the hard mattress were thin and rough. There was no sign of Rei and Makoto until Minako turned her head, and then she saw her friends on the mattress nearby, sleeping deeply. Minako sighed, as she looked at Makoto's threadbare cotton jacket and the stains and patches on Rei's khaki short shorts. Her own clothing, blue stirrup pants, a short white skirt and a too-small blue tank top, with brown leather hiking boots and some worn suspenders, was badly in need of replacement. But none of the girls had the equipment Ami kept in her little attaché case that was useful in the action of hacking bank accounts for some quick cash. And Ami hadn't been heard from in months.
As if on cue Minako's communicator went off. Only it wasn't Ami. Instead Rei's squashed face appeared on the tiny view screen and Makoto's snoring was emitted from the speaker. Minako fell over and sighed. Rei's head popped up from the mass of legs and pillows and sheets on the other bed as the thump from Minako's tumble awoke her. She pressed the little button on her communicator to stop the incessant bleeping and she sweat dropped.
"Minako. Your awake." Said Rei quietly so as not to wake up Makoto.
"Umm. Yhea, I guess so. How long have I been out?"
"Well I'd say about eight hours, because it took two hours for us to back track out of the maze with Makoto carrying you and then we've been resting for six hours, so…" Rei paused for a moment and blushed slightly, it was hardly noticeable on her darkish complexion. "What was it like to get your….well…we've all been waiting for that moment, and you're the first….what was it like to get your gem?"
"There was a sudden flood of images and words and sounds. And a sweet voice told me not to go into too much detail. I think it was a rush of memories being unsealed, I'm assuming you have to wait for your gems to get yours…I feel so selfish not telling you what I saw and heard; it was so exhilarating."
"It's okay. If we succeed, and we won't fail, we will all get a chance. Don't feel bad. We've been following instructions all along." Comforted Rei.
"Have we been too trusting? Following the words of everyone who claims to be on the "side of the silver crystal"? What if we are on the wrong path? How would we know if we are if all our memories are shrouded and dusty? What if we are only aiding this-"
But Rei cut her friend off quickly. "We don't need to worry about that now. We know one path and we must follow that. Worrying won't do any good."
"Your too calm and sensible!" moaned Minako.
Suddenly Makoto stirred and sluggishly rolled off the bed. She was tangled in sheets, but managed to stretch cat fashion on the floor. She sat up with a half awake glazed look on her face and began un-knotting the sheets from around herself. Minako stumbled into the bathroom muttering about a sharp pain all of a sudden. A bang and shriek later, Rei and Makoto had rushed in and saw Minako slumped against the sink counter and a burned hole in the shower wall.
"Umm...oops?" Minako gulped and looked at her hand. The gem in her hand was glowing brightly in the dim room.
"Come on gang! We have to check this out" shouted Makoto excitedly. The three girls promptly rushed outside, although Minako was being dragged more than she was running. Jumping into a little station wagon and hotwiring it took a couple minuets, but soon the girls had gotten pretty far out on the highway and they pulled over to the shoulder. Hoping out of the car, they dashed to the woods, and another bang and a shriek
later there was a small, precise hole in a tree.
"Don't make me do that again Mako!! It makes my arm tingle…"whined Minako.
"Or maybe it's because you set your communicator to vibrate…" said Makoto.
Rei had already turned her communicator on. Ami was on the video screen, which was fizzling out for some reason…
When Rei finally awoke, it was because Minako was practicing her martial arts and she had lost her balance and fallen smack onto Rei. "Where is Makoto?" groaned Rei, this was not her ideal wake up call. She pulled herself up, bracing her arms against the wall, and Minako rolled off. The blond shook her head, un-chibi-fied and then she said, "She's down at the Go-Go-Mart around the corner buying some twine. Apparently the crypt has some extensive catacombs. We don't need to get lost."
"Catacombs? Where? It's a rather small room…" mumble Rei.
"The stairs hidden in the sarcophagus." Minako said quickly.
Half an hour later, the three girls were marching through the labyrinth and the way was lighted by a random miner's helmet someone had gotten somewhere. The air was stale, the area has been closed off for centuries and there was a rank smell of rot and dust. The walls had beautiful paintings on them, very well preserved and exquisitely worked. They were scenes from millennia past, and from just a few centuries ago as well. Neither Rei, Minako, or Makoto could figure out the meanings to these murals, but they admired them before continuing on.
"I'm cold, tired and just plan scared. This place is creepy!" groaned Minako after the foursome had been tramping around the catacombs for a few hours.
Makoto sighed and looked at the ball of twine, it was almost to its end. Fortunately she had gotten two more, so they wouldn't run out. All of them were grumpy and disgruntled, especially after Minako had gotten them off course several times. It was dark, and the light from the random miner's helmet was having trouble piercing the increasing gloom. The paintings on the walls were a little more deteriorated in this part of the tomb; the moisture had gotten to them. What the girls could see of them was still beautiful. Now the blond girl depicted in almost all of the murals was wearing a yellow gown similar to that from earlier paintings at the opening of the maze.
Suddenly Rei tripped over something and she shouted in surprise. Rei's out cry broke the silence and her companions turned around to help her up. Makoto focused the light from the caving helmet on the spot where Rei had tripped and saw that a rather large dent in the floor had tripped Rei up. Or was it the thick stone button in between the twin dents? Makoto looked at the others and then with a nod from her friends pressed it down firmly. A shout and a yank later, Makoto was sprawled on top of Minako and a large ladder was set into the floor, slanting upwards to a loft hidden in the shadows.
Crawling up, gun in hand, Rei went first. She brushed the sizable spider webs out of the way. "First down and now up! Someone was hiding something."
"It had better be topaz!" grumbled Minako.
"If it is topaz, I hope there are clues to find the other stones. We've spent six months alone trying to find Venus…"
"Hey you two down there, get you butts up here!" shouted Rei. "The murals continue on this ledge, and it looks like it's depicting a funeral! The end of the story!"
"Or the beginning considering these were the legendary Sailor Senshi, I remember from long ago…somewhere I heard…they were the eternally burning stars..." said Mako-chan.
"I remember that too, like a faded voice from a haze. Now that I think of it, I remember almost nothing of my childhood…my past." Sighed Minako wistfully.
"MARS DAMN IT! CAN YOU GET YOU LAZY ASSES UP HERE?" Rei was having a cow, quite obvious from her chibi form. After popping back to normal, Rei continued more calmly about what she saw. "There is a picture of who I'm assuming is Venus, and she is pointing to something in the shadows. Can you toss that miner helmet up here Makoto?"
Makoto tossed the helmet up to the ledge, and she winced as she realized that she had misjudged the distance and direction, as the helmet had smashed into the stone wall. The light flickered out for a moment, but Rei pressed the on switch and it blinked back on sleepily. "Nice going Mako! You could have busted our light!" she growled.
Rei didn't waist time putting the helmet on her head, instead she held it out to shine it's light in the direction the girl in the painting was indicating. Hidden by shadows, dust and a netting of cobwebs was an extraordinary gold statue in a style still known as classical. It sparkled dazzlingly in even the dim light, and appeared to be of the same girl that inhabited the murals. She wore the fuku of a sailor soldier, Rei knew that much. This had to be the statue of Venus. And as Rei's eyes worked their way up the statue, she say on its brow a golden tiara with a gem set in its center.
"Let me take the gem?" said Minako quietly.
Rei stepped back and replied, "Of course. You are the rightful heir to the topaz stone of Venus."
The blond slowly lifted her hands up to the tiara of the life-sized statue and lifted the stone from it's setting. She held it in her hand for a moment to feel its weight and sense the power and then glanced at the small steel socket in her right hand. Looking to the others for encouragement, she set the small ovular chunk of topaz into the plug. She closed her eyes for a moment, opened them, and suddenly they rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the floor.
When Minako awoke it was several hours since she had passed unconscious, and from a quick glance from between half opened eyes she saw dingy wallpaper and mildewed walls. A brownish spot was on the ceiling and the sheets covering the hard mattress were thin and rough. There was no sign of Rei and Makoto until Minako turned her head, and then she saw her friends on the mattress nearby, sleeping deeply. Minako sighed, as she looked at Makoto's threadbare cotton jacket and the stains and patches on Rei's khaki short shorts. Her own clothing, blue stirrup pants, a short white skirt and a too-small blue tank top, with brown leather hiking boots and some worn suspenders, was badly in need of replacement. But none of the girls had the equipment Ami kept in her little attaché case that was useful in the action of hacking bank accounts for some quick cash. And Ami hadn't been heard from in months.
As if on cue Minako's communicator went off. Only it wasn't Ami. Instead Rei's squashed face appeared on the tiny view screen and Makoto's snoring was emitted from the speaker. Minako fell over and sighed. Rei's head popped up from the mass of legs and pillows and sheets on the other bed as the thump from Minako's tumble awoke her. She pressed the little button on her communicator to stop the incessant bleeping and she sweat dropped.
"Minako. Your awake." Said Rei quietly so as not to wake up Makoto.
"Umm. Yhea, I guess so. How long have I been out?"
"Well I'd say about eight hours, because it took two hours for us to back track out of the maze with Makoto carrying you and then we've been resting for six hours, so…" Rei paused for a moment and blushed slightly, it was hardly noticeable on her darkish complexion. "What was it like to get your….well…we've all been waiting for that moment, and you're the first….what was it like to get your gem?"
"There was a sudden flood of images and words and sounds. And a sweet voice told me not to go into too much detail. I think it was a rush of memories being unsealed, I'm assuming you have to wait for your gems to get yours…I feel so selfish not telling you what I saw and heard; it was so exhilarating."
"It's okay. If we succeed, and we won't fail, we will all get a chance. Don't feel bad. We've been following instructions all along." Comforted Rei.
"Have we been too trusting? Following the words of everyone who claims to be on the "side of the silver crystal"? What if we are on the wrong path? How would we know if we are if all our memories are shrouded and dusty? What if we are only aiding this-"
But Rei cut her friend off quickly. "We don't need to worry about that now. We know one path and we must follow that. Worrying won't do any good."
"Your too calm and sensible!" moaned Minako.
Suddenly Makoto stirred and sluggishly rolled off the bed. She was tangled in sheets, but managed to stretch cat fashion on the floor. She sat up with a half awake glazed look on her face and began un-knotting the sheets from around herself. Minako stumbled into the bathroom muttering about a sharp pain all of a sudden. A bang and shriek later, Rei and Makoto had rushed in and saw Minako slumped against the sink counter and a burned hole in the shower wall.
"Umm...oops?" Minako gulped and looked at her hand. The gem in her hand was glowing brightly in the dim room.
"Come on gang! We have to check this out" shouted Makoto excitedly. The three girls promptly rushed outside, although Minako was being dragged more than she was running. Jumping into a little station wagon and hotwiring it took a couple minuets, but soon the girls had gotten pretty far out on the highway and they pulled over to the shoulder. Hoping out of the car, they dashed to the woods, and another bang and a shriek
later there was a small, precise hole in a tree.
"Don't make me do that again Mako!! It makes my arm tingle…"whined Minako.
"Or maybe it's because you set your communicator to vibrate…" said Makoto.
Rei had already turned her communicator on. Ami was on the video screen, which was fizzling out for some reason…