Act Twelve - Missing in Action

A few minutes after she left, Shizu awoke to find Sailor Moon absent from the camp. Thinking that she might have gotten herself into trouble, Shizu quickly transformed back into Sailor Saturn and began searching for her missing cousin.

It was strangely quiet, the only sound heard being Goku's light snoring. Saturn dug into her backpack and pulled out a flashlight in order to see better in thedarkness, which seemed to have grown even blacker now that it was nighttime. Then she turned in the direction of a faint trail of footprints left on a thin layer of dust that covered the cement floors of the labyrinth.

"Chibi-Usa-chan, where are you?" she asked aloud, following the footprints. "This is no time to be playing games."

Coming toward a two-way intersection, she was surprised to see that the footprints abruptly came to a halt, almost as if their owner had disappeared into dead air. Apparently this part of the labyrinth was well kept because there was no trace of dust on the floor. She called out Chibi-Usa's name, hoping for an answer, but all that greeted her was a deafening silence.

Where could she have gone? Finding it completely useless to continue on the journey alone, Saturn walked back to the camp, extremely worried about her beloved cousin. What if something had happened to her?

"Katsuna-chan, wake up," she pleaded gently shaking her friend. "This is an emergency!"

"What is all the commotion about, Saturn?" a sleepy Katsuna asked as she rubbed her eyes. "Some people are trying to get some sleep around here, you know."

"Chibi-Usa-chan's missing and I can't find her anywhere. We have to wake everyone up and search for her. I think she's in trouble."

Katsuna yawned, then pulled her blanket over her head, determined to go back to bed. "You worry too much, Saturn," she mumbled. "Chibi-Usa-chan's probably just sleep-walking."

"I don't think so. She's been gone for at least half an hour. Besides, I've never know Chibi-Usa-chan to be a sleep-walker."

"Okay, okay. We'll look for her."

Katsuna transformed and helped Saturn wake up the other Neo-Soldiers, who were none too happy to be dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. But when they heard what had happened, everybody agreed that Sailor Moon's disappearance warranted an investigation.

Saturn led them to the spot where Sailor Moon's footprints had vanished. "This is as far as I went," she informed the scouts. "The tracks stopped when I reached this intersection."

"Maybe we should split up," Jupiter suggested. "We'll cover more ground that way."

Mercury shook her head. "Bad idea, Jupiter. It's too dangerous, and there's always the chance of one of the groups getting lost along the way."

"Then what should we do?" Diana asked.

Uranus turned to the left and began sniffing the air. The air carried the aroma of roses and vanilla. "Sailor Moon definitely went this way," he declared. "I'd know the smell of her perfume anywhere."

Feeling a tad jealous that her lover knew the scent of another girl's perfume, Venus rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, I think it's stupid to make a decision like this based on some perfume. For all we know, Queen Jade might like the same scent."

"Stupid or not, it's the only clue we have, Venus," Saturn replied, walking to the head of the group. "Let's get going. There's no time to waste. We have to find Sailor Moon before something terrible happens to her."

The Neo-Soldiers followed Saturn's lead as she ran into the darkness. The air grew colder with every passing step, causing her to shiver in fear. Everything was as still as death. Why would Sailor Moon come this way?

A distant bright light caused Saturn to stop in her tracks. The faint outline of a girl with long pigtails could be seen walking toward the light. It appeared she was under some kind of trance.

"Chibi-Usa-chan!" she shouted. "It's me, Shizu!"

The girl didn't even turn at the sound of her name. Whatever power was controlling her must be incredibly strong. Saturn started to run after the figure, but was pulled back by Sailor Neptune.

"Let go of me, Neptune," she ordered. "We have to save her!"

"You can't just run into things without thinking. It could be a trap. That may not even be Sailor Moon."

"But I know it her!"

Saturn managed to break free of Neptune's grasp and sprinted toward her cousin, despite of the warnings of the other Neo-Soldiers. Diana wasn't far behind. They had to rescue Chibi-Usa, no matter what the dangers were.

But it was too late. Just as she was about to pull Chibi-Usa back, a mysterious golden door appeared before them. Sailor Moon, still under the trance, turned the knob and walked inside, after which the door vanished as quickly as it had materialized.

"Chibi-Usa-chan!"

Where am I? Sailor Moon asked herself, finally coming to her senses. The last thing she remembered was a golden door. Though something inside her told her to stay away, she decided to enter the mysterious door, forgetting all about the beautiful music she had been trying to find.

Sailor Moon rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up. It was so cold and dark. She didn't like this place at all.

Observing her surroundings, Sailor Moon saw that she was in a large room, lit only by the dim glow of a crystal ball. All around her were shadows that seemed like they could come to life any minute, causing her to shiver in fear. It was like a scene from her worst nightmare.

"Who's there?" she asked, sensing somebody was watching her.

Out of the shadows, a pair of bright green eyes peered at her, laughing evilly. She recognized those eyes. "It's you!" she gasped.