"It's getting bad." Michiru said over the phone. "She's jumpy, anxious, and is too afraid to go to sleep. Mind you, Haruka's having a wonderful time scaring the living daylights out of her, and in a way I think Hotaru's happy afterwards that it's only Haruka, but still…" She sighed. Michiru was at her wits end. "I don't know what to do to cheer her up."
"Wow…I know Rei's been having bad dreams, but if Hotaru's
having them, too… and by the sound of it, hers are worse that Rei's by a long
shot." Usagi said. "We're all sleeping over at Rei's temple. Better if we stay
close, in case something decides to attack. If you guys want, you can come
over. I'm sure having Chibi-Usa close by will make Hotaru feel better."
"What's that about me??" Chibi-Usa inquired, with mock suspicion. "And who is this, anyway???"
"Chibi-Usa, can't you guess?" Michiru said with a laugh. Usagi was right. Chibi-Usa might be able to help Hotaru. "Anyway, since you guys are having a sleep over, you mind if Hotaru comes along? We need to find someway to keep her mind off of everything that's happening. You up to the job?" Michiru asked.
"Sure thing! You can count on me! I've been worrying
about her today, anyway. Send her right over! No, on second thought, I'll come
over to get her! We can stop over at the park, and get an ice cream, and do a
bunch of fun stuff! That'll get her mind off everything! Man, why didn't I
think of that? Oh, wait… I did… all right; I'll see you guys in a bit!
Ja ne!"
'Well, that takes care of that. I hope they don't get into trouble… aw heck, never mind, after what I've seen Hotaru and Chibi-Usa do, it's a guarantee ' Michiru thought. "Hey Haruka! Wanna make a bet?"
*****
Hotaru sat outside her house, all the stuff she'd need in her small bag, which sat beside her. She waited for Chibi-Usa to show up. 'I don't see why Michiru made me go. Not that I don't want to see Chibi-Usa, but I don't want to put her in danger of being around me.' She thought as Chibi-Usa suddenly darted around the corner and up the walk.
"Hey Hotaru! Wanna go get an ice cream in the park? And then we could go shopping on the way to Rei's! There's this one really cute store that just opened down the street, and it has the coolest clothes! We have a few hours, so we can go all out…" Chibi-Usa exclaimed, as she grabbed Hotaru's arm and proceeded to drag her out to the rest of the world.
'Where does she get all this energy?' Hotaru thought as she took one last look at her house. She saw Michiru looking out the window at them, smiling, almost evilly. 'Oh, how dare she push me into this! This is the last time I allow her to talk me into anything… '
"OW! Chibi-Usa, my arms gonna fall off! Chibi-Usa, slow down!!! "
*****
I sat down heavily on the park bench, dropping all my bags and parcels. Oh, but did my feet ever hurt. This was the first time in hours that I had had a chance to sit down, after all the stores that Chibi-Usa dragged me into. I must admit, I did have fun shopping with Chibi-Usa, and had gotten a lot of cool stuff. Chibi-Usa, after being to the future and all, had really good taste, I must admit. She knew every store in Tokyo, as well as where to go to get the best deals. It must be some Princess Radar she has. I smiled as Chibi-Usa bought her ice cream and walked over to my bench.
"You sure you don't want any ice cream?" Chibi-Usa asked me. I shook my head.
"Nope. It's got milk in it. You know I don't like milk. They were all out of Popsicles, anyway. Too bad, I would have liked one of those Solero Ice pops." I replied.
"He he, those were your favourite in the future, too…"
"Well, I must say, even though you've grown older, you're still the same, annoying, childish, messy, adorable princess I knew before." I laughed out as a drop of ice cream rolled down her chin."
"Aww, you know just what to say to make me feel loved." Chibi-Usa said, as she wiped the ice cream away with a napkin.
"Well, you know… it adds excitement to an otherwise dull and dreary lifetime." I said cynically. Chibi-Usa was the only one that could take my sarcasm with humour. Her and Haruka. "Have you noticed Haruka recently? She's changed a lot. Doesn't crack as many jokes as she used to." I remarked.
"Yeah, she always used to be kinda cold and heartless. Makes you wonder how many times Michiru had to knock some sense into her…" Chibi-Usa said, giggling.
Before I could reply, a cold wind swept over us. "Did you feel that?" I asked her, chills shooting down my spine. Before anything could be said, screams could be heard from the other side of the park.
"Oh no… Chibi-Usa, what should we do? There are too many
people around for us to transform! And I don't think I could, either!" I said,
panic lights flashing in my brain.
"Hotaru, we can't transform. Whatever that is, whether it's a youma or not, we can't let ourselves be caught. We just have to get out of here."
"But…" I started. What about all the other innocents? Couldn't we help them?
"No buts. We'll call the other soldiers, but we can't help in this fight. If it's looking for us, then we can't let it find us. Understand?" Chibi-Usa looked deeper into my eyes, and I understood the urgency in her voice.
"Fine. So what do we do?" I replied hesitantly.
"I'll call the others," as she pulled out her communicator, and quickly sent a message. "Now grab your stuff, and we'll see if we can lose him in a crowd until the others find us." She said as she put away her communicator, picked up all her shopping bags, and grabbed my arm. "And try to look normal." She said with a grin as she pulled me away from the scene. We quickly ran down the streets towards Rei's temple. I only turned once to look back at the scene, but as I turned away, I caught a glimpse of someone up on a rooftop. Setsuna looked down at us. I paused, looked up at her, and started running again with the same determination that I had used to run from Haruka and Rei. I hoped she would be alright.
*****
Setsuna, or rather, Sailor Pluto looked down at the 2
fleeing girls happy that Chibi-Usa could talk sense into Hotaru and get her to
leave ASAP.
"Sailor Moon and the others better get here soon. I don't know how long we can hold this many off." Neptune said as a dozen more appeared out of nowhere. "Did Hotaru and Chibi-Usa make it out ok?" She asked as she sent her Deep Submerge attack off at a group of youmas standing off to the right.
"Yeah, Chibi-Usa was dragging her off the last time I saw them. They're heading towards Rei's temple."
Pluto replied as she jabbed the butt end into the stomach of a youma that tried to sneak up on her from behind.
"These youmas aren't fighting right," Uranus said as she punched a youma down to the ground. "They're holding back." She said as she floored 2 more.
"What the hell could they be waiting for? A written invitation?" Michiru said, as two youmas ganged up on her, sending her flying back into a tree.
"Well, it doesn't matter, the cavalry's here." Said Sailor Mars as she helped Neptune up.
The rest of the sailor senshi arrived, followed by a slightly panting Usagi. Once she regained her composure, she stood taller, and waved her hands around as if she was bored.
"Alright, Nega-trash, or what-ever you are, I am Sailor Moon, yadi yadi yada, and I'll kick your butts back to wherever you came from." She said in a monotone.
The others just stared at her.
"Well, what??? I've beaten so many of these things that I don't even care about boring them to death with a little speech beforehand." She said, rolling her eyes.
The 12 youmas that were left regrouped and whispered something amongst themselves, something barely audible.
"There are only 8 of them…"
"She's not here…"
"I'm not gonna …
"…If there's no chance…"
"… Of catching the target…"
"I'm getting… of here…"
And with that, a black ball of light surrounded them, and they disappeared, the Sailor Senshi still wondering what the hell just happened.
"Um…" Ami mumbled.
"Yeah…" said Minako looking at the others with a bewildered look in her face.
"Maybe we should go find Chibi-Usa…" Rei started.
"… And Hotaru…" Usagi agreed.
"Ok… so what the hell was that???" Haruka said, looking dazed and confused.
Nobody could think of anything.