Chapter 21: Summer
Sailor Cancer, Sailor Leo, and Sailor Virgo all were standing in an empty, sandy beach. Before them, the ocean seemed to stretch on into infinity.
"Hey, how did we get here? This is a beach, not the Moon Castle!" Sailor Cancer exclaimed.
"Perhaps Bertha turned the Mare Serenitatis into an actual ocean?" Sailor Leo suggested.
"Who cares, I've always wanted to go swimming naked and now is the perfect chance! No one here is going to tell me it's illegal!" Sailor Virgo declared, and then she undid her transformation, turning back into Sparkle O'Brien. Sparkle then started taking her clothes off, throwing them down onto the sand.
"That looks like fun! We can just play on the beach and wait for the others to show up," Sailor Cancer agreed, and she ran towards the water with Sparkle, still wearing her Sailor Senshi uniform. Sailor Leo watched but didn't join them, though she did wonder if the Sailor Senshi uniform was waterproof.
It wasn't long before Sparkle and Sailor Cancer were splashing and playing in the water. However, while they were having fun, they did not notice the pair of glowing lights that appeared overhead, one green and the other orange. The two lights then turned into Niji Aino and Shirahime Tenou, who floated in the air above the water. Niji scowled at Sparkle and then shot golden bolts of lightning at her.
"That will teach you to be so crude," Niji scolded as both Sparkle and Sailor Cancer screamed in pain, the salty water conducting the electricity so that it hit both of them. Shirahime floated over to the sand and landed gently next to Sailor Leo, but she looked up and addressed Niji instead.
"You know, Niji, are you really sure you want to continue following Bertha?" she asked.
"Of course I do! She gave us our powers and a beautiful, elegant Moon Palace to rule from. The least we can do is defend Bertha and our Princess Chibi from crude foreigners," Niji replied.
"You're the ones who started attacking in the first place!" Sparkle shouted as she and Sailor Cancer charged back to the sand. Niji noticed the lime green star pendant that was laying next to Sparkle's discarded clothes and realized that must be what she used to transform. She started to go grab it, but Sailor Leo stepped in front of Sparkle's clothes, blocking her.
"Please do not take what is not yours," Leo said calmly, "And why do you consider us to be the aggressors in this situation?"
"Because Bertha said so! And a crude girl like her doesn't deserve something that beautiful," Niji snapped, shoving Sailor Leo aside, her hands crackling with electricity.
"Yes I do!" Sparkle growled, and she charged at Niji, knocking her down into the sand and away from the Virgo pendant, which Sparkle then grabbed and used to transform, with a call of "Virgo Zodiac Power, Make Up!" Lime green lights swirled around her, and her Sailor Virgo outfit appeared on her body. Niji was privately relieved by this, because she was glad to see that girl finally put some clothes on, even if it meant she could use her Senshi powers now.
"Wait, Niji. I know we have a duty to follow Bertha and Chibi, but what about our parents?" Shirahime spoke up.
"What about them? They're the ones who are trying to get rid of us and Bertha by sending the Zodiac Senshi to attack us," Niji accused.
"Only because you turned evil and they told us to turn you good again!" Sailor Cancer argued back.
"What makes you think we're evil? All we want is for Chibi to be Queen. If Neo-Queen Serenity would just step down and let her take over, then we wouldn't have to fight. I certainly would rather not have to risk my good looks in battle," Niji said.
"But our parents said that Chibi isn't ready to be Queen yet and that she will be Queen eventually. Why can't we just be patient for her to grow up more?" Shirahime pointed out.
"Because if she's Queen now, then Bertha can create the ideal world for us that she promised! Quit arguing with me and help me fight those three Zodiac Senshi!" Niji demanded, annoyed at Shirahime for questioning their mission.
"How would Chibi-Usa being the Queen allow Bertha to create your ideal world?" Sailor Leo asked. Niji paused, uncertain how to answer that question, but then she gave a different response in the form of an electric jolt that shot out of her hands and hit Sailor Leo, who was unprepared.
"Quit trying to distract me, all of you! None of you can understand the beautiful world that Bertha is going to create for me!" she raged, shooting more lightning, not only at Sailor Cancer and Sailor Virgo, but also at Shirahime.
"I don't think I'd like your world, it's probably full of prudes like you! Virgo Prism Halation!" Sailor Virgo retorted, jumping back up and shooting her own rainbow energy beams at Niji, who tried to block them with her electric bolts, creating a burst of energy in mid-air that knocked both of them back.
"Now you're just being selfish, Niji. When Bertha said she would create a better world, she meant it to be for all of us, not just you," Shirahime scolded.
"Then why are you trying to stop me from helping her create that world? The Zodiac Senshi are standing in her way and you won't let me get rid of them!" Niji shot back, getting back up and now focusing her anger on Shirahime. Meanwhile, Sailor Cancer had noticed something interesting that distracted her. When Niji had zapped her and she fell down in the sand, she felt herself land on something hard and round. While Niji was arguing and fighting with Shirahime and Sailor Virgo, Sailor Cancer picked herself up and found that the hard thing she landed on was a glass ball sitting on a pale blue base, similar to a snow globe but it was filled with sand, shell pieces and water to make a beach scene.
"Look what I found! It looks like a beach snowglobe but with sand instead of snow," she said, holding it up to show the other Senshi.
"So what? It's not as beautiful as me," Niji bragged, shooting another electric bolt at Sailor Cancer, who dodged it, dropping the sand globe in the process. The electric bolt hit the globe instead, shattering it in a burst of light that seemed to light up the entire beach. When the light faded, Sailor Cancer was surprised to see that she was now standing next to an indoor swimming pool, and Sailor Leo, Sailor Virgo, Niji, and Shirahime were all in the pool room with her.
"What did you do?! You just ruined the beautiful beach illusion that Bertha had prepared for your defeat!" Niji accused.
"I didn't do anything! You were the one who shot that lightning bolt at me!" Sailor Cancer shot back.
"Did you just say that the beach we were on was an illusion created by Bertha?" Sailor Leo asked.
"Yes, she set up four rooms in the Moon Palace ruins and told us to fight you Zodiac Senshi in them. This is the Summer Room, and there are rooms for each of the four seasons," Shirahime explained.
"Why did you just tell them that?! Why aren't you doing your job anymore?!" Niji demanded, continuing their argument from before.
"Because I'm not sure I want to trust Bertha anymore. It doesn't make sense that she turned us against our parents," Shirahime said.
"How did you meet Bertha in the first place? Did you meet her on your expedition to the Moon Castle?" Sailor Cancer asked.
"Yes, and she promised us that with Chibi in charge, we could have a much better and more beautiful world than one ruled by Neo-Queen Serenity. I told you that before," Niji said, "And you are getting in the way of that beautiful world!" With that accusation, Niji shot another lightning bolt at the 3 Senshi. While it didn't hit any of them directly, the electricity went through the puddles of water on the floor and shocked their feet, causing all of the Senshi and Shirahime to cry out in pain. Niji prepared to shoot another electric bolt at them, but this time Sailor Virgo was ready.
"Virgo Prism Halation!" she shouted, and she was not the only one who shot rainbow-colored energy beams at Niji. Shirahime did as well, and the combined attack sent Niji flying backwards, where she ended up landing in the pool.
"There's a door over there. Let's go through it and then we can confront Bertha and I can find out if she's telling the truth," Shirahime said, pointing to a door that was partially open. The three Senshi decided to trust Shirahime and they all started to head for the door.
"How dare you! Come back here and help me defeat the Sailor Senshi!" Niji demanded, treading water in the pool.
"I was told that I need to decide if my duty to Bertha or my parents is more important. And I have made my decision, and you helped me make it with your selfish behavior, claiming that Bertha will make the world that YOU want, rather than one for all of us," Shirahime replied, and she and the three Senshi left the pool room together.