Chapter Twelve
Gloria
awoke the next morning feeling strangely refreshed. She stretched and then
spied some clothes laid out for her. She slipped into them and then raced down
the stairs. The Queen was waiting for her. She opened her arms and hugged her
grandchild.
"Hello,
little one. Feeling refreshed?"
Gloria
nodded, "Yeah, do I get to look for Annika?"
Alina
smiled. Her daughter's child was very loyal. She shook her head. "You'll need
all the power you can get. I'll show you have to unlock the force of Venus in
your blood."
Gloria
nodded excitedly. She would need power, she needed power, and she wanted power.
"When
do we start?"
Crystal
Tokyo
Rini
sighed. She had a few weeks left of school but the other girls had been off for
a time. They had a few summer projects but nothing really intense. She couldn't
wait until school was out. Then she could help all day. She had done it for
that one week but they had found nothing.
Raye
and Chad were a mess as were Mina and Asai. Rini saw her mother was breaking.
Serenity was pulling out all the stops to find the two girls but they had
turned up nothing. Raye was so hysterical; Amy had threatened to put her on
force-feeding if she didn't start eating.
"Rini?"
The
pink haired Princess turned as her mother opened the door. Rini smiled as her mother sat down by her on
her bed.
"How
are you doing?"
Rini
shrugged. "I'm alright. Hope, Ariel, and Madelyn are a mess. Faith, Daisy and
Maggie are coping better but they're all worried. And I can't seem to find
anything."
The
queen hugged her daughter. "We'll find them."
Rini
nodded. She and her mother talked a few more moments and then Rini knew what
she needed to do.
"Mom?"
"Yes,
Darling?"
"The
Silver Crystal. Tonight, let me borrow the Silver Crystal, please."
The
queen considered and finally nodded, "All right, Sweetie. But take care of it."
"I
promise."
That
said, the queen took her daughter into her bedchamber and removed the sacred
stone. Pressing it into her daughter's hands, she cautioned,
"Don't
use too much power, darling."
*
* *
Magellan
Castle, Venus
Chibi
Venus ran along the course the people of Venus had laid out for her. She had
been training for nearly two weeks but was still no closer to finding Annika or
getting power. She needed power like her mother and the other soldiers. The
Chibi scouts received their power from outside sources. Even Annika's fire was
drawn from outside first and then channeled through her fingers. Her mother
said when they powered up; they would receive powers that came from within,
like her Chain of Love or Jupiter's discus of lightning.
The
senshi of love leapt up and ran across a wooden frame. It was fairly high up
and over an ice-cold lake. The thought of that water made her think of Annika.
It made her heart ache and throb.
"Annika,"
she whispered. The empty wind and the pain in her heart was her only reply.
"Go
for it, Neo-Princess Gloria!"
"You
can do it, little one!"
Gloria
smiled. She easily dodged the first few youma used for training. Then one
knocked her off the frame and into the ice-cold water. It burnt like fire and
made her shiver uncontrollably. She knew now what Annika had felt. She could
not believe she had done this to Annika. Her heart ached with pain. She let the
tears come. Softly, she thought,
"I'm sorry Annika. I'm
sorry, if it took my immortality I'd reverse that."
Soon after that she heard,
"Princess!"
Gloria
forced her head up and as she was pulled up, her pen shimmered. It changed,
becoming a heart with her symbol. She stared at it and then lifted it high,
"Venus
Celestial Power! MakeāUp"
Two
circles of stars, overlapping each other, sprung around her and then exploded,
leaving her in a new fuku.
It
was white, with shimmery sleeves and two strips of color on the bottom of the
skirt, one, the thinner one, was orange and the thicker one on the bottom was
navy blue. Her ribbons were the same, longer and with two strips across the
bottom. The center bow was made of a white shiny material and connected to an
orange heart in a darker orange star. Her shoes were the same, only white and
with higher heels.
Super
Sailor Chibi Venus felt the warmth of the powers of Venus rushing through her
blood. She pointed her palm straight up and called out,
"VENUS
HEARTBREAK CHAIN!"
An
orange chain made of connected hearts and stars flew out and connected to the
frame above her. She swung upward.
She
had awoken the forces of Venus.
