Sailor Moon: World Rebirth -Part 3, Hope and Chaos
Episode 26 'Even More Unfinished Business'

Usagi began to feel the rocket go down rather than forward. She wasn't sure
whether she should be panicking or trusting in Ami's ability to get them out
of the situation. Ami was frantically pressing buttons and pulling switches
all over the place, trying desperately to find some way to get out of the
predicament. "Ami!!! What should I do? What are we going to do?!"

"Just hang on a moment Usagi, I'm going to find something. Actually I want
you to-" Ami was suddenly cut off as both of them were thrown away from
their seats. Fortunately they were both wearing seatbelts and didn't go
anywhere. The rocket was now moving in the opposite direction -up and
backwards. For a moment neither of them could speak from the shock.

"Ami, what happened?" Usagi asked.

Ami shook her head and regained her wits. "Just a moment." Ami flicked
through various camera images around the ship until she came to the one she
was looking for. The rear view. "Perfect! Just in time!" Ami exclaimed. "The
Sparrow has hooked onto the back of the rocket and is now pulling us in the
opposite direction."

"Huh?"

"Someone's flying Haiku's ship, and they saved us!"

The sparrow turned around and flew back to Dohilne island where it had left
from. As soon as it touched the ground Usagi tried to leap out of her
seat... -but the seatbelt was still done up. So after fiddling with the belt
buckle she leapt out of her seat and got out of the ship as fast as she
possibly could. Ami did it carefully and was still out of the ship before
Usagi. The pilot of the Sparrow had also gotten out.

"Prof. Rinkvle! Your timing is perfect!" Ami exclaimed. "Did you have any
trouble with the repairs?"

"It's good to see you too Ami," Prof. Rinkvle replied. "The repairs started
off slow, but once it was started it all came together. The new shields that
block the Command Points' attacks work perfectly. I saw the rocket heading
this way and you're just lucky that I got your signal in time to fly out
there and help you. Now, where are all of your friends? Do you need the ship
now?"

"That's exactly why we're here. We need the ship in order to complete our
plan against the beyonder. Unfortunately we were forced to leave most of our
friends back in Afkzo."

"Well you can tell me all about it on the way. Hurry up and get inside."

Ami and Prof. Rinkvle spoke of various things while they climbed aboard the
ship. Usagi just followed behind.(Silently, for a change! Guess she's still
in shock) Ami and Rinkvle sat in the two front cockpit seats while Usagi sat
right behind. Ami took the controls and took off. "Where are you going?
Rinkvle asked. "I thought you said that your friends were in Afkzo."

"They are. But Haiku went to the arctic region and we're going to need her
help to get the others out of trouble. I just hope that they can stay in the
fight long enough for us to return."

*****

Two robed figures moved silently through the alleys of the city. Although it
was daytime, a dark cloud hovered over the city creating the illusion of an
eternal night.

It was at least a day since Haiku and Hotaru had arrived in the Command City
of the Arctic region. Haiku had spent the time setting various signals,
encouraging the occurrence of unfortunate incidents, spreading rumors with a
wide variety of accuracy, etc. Hotaru just followed silently. At times Haiku
nearly forget that she was there or had to stop and look around in order to
find her.

At this particular moment Haiku was slipping through the side entrance of a
tavern and once again Hotaru silently followed. The two of them sat down at
a table near the back. "The other senshi are in trouble," Hotaru said
silently.

"I don't doubt the truth of your words," Haiku replied. "But there is
nothing we can do about it at the moment. We must all play our parts."

A roughly dressed man sat down on the other side of the table they were
sitting at with his back pointed towards the rest of the room. "Don't make
any quick or unwise movements," he said. "I have twenty men with fifty guns
pointed at this table."

Haiku was unaffected by his threat. "And if you, my friend, make any sudden
movements, by friend here will kill you and all of the people in this room
in a second with her mind."

This was risky business. With all of the things that he had seen, he wasn't
sure whether she was telling the truth or not. Haiku herself wasn't sure
either. "Ah, let's get down to business," he said. "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for a man," Haiku said.

"Any...particular...man?" the man asked acting uninterested.

"Yes; an aquantance of mine. I believe he passed through these parts
recently."

"There are many people who have 'passed' through here recently. What can you
tell me about him?"

"I happen to know that he has recently broken his back and that he likes to
wear a black tuxedo and a cape."

The man's eyes flickered a tiny bit of interest. But only for a
split-second. "That's not a whole lot of information to go on."

Haiku had had enough. "Can you help me or not?! I don't have time to play
your games. If you can't help me get out of here now before I kill you
myself!" When the man didn't give an immediate answer Haiku stood up from
the table while making a noticeable amount of noise and left the bar through
the door that they had come through. Hotaru left silently.

After they were well out of hearing range from the tavern Hotaru voiced her
thoughts. "What are you doing Haiku? How many meetings are you going to
close like that? He might have known where Mamoru is."

"Maybe so; but he didn't have any intention of helping us."

"Then how long is this round-about strategy of yours going to take?"

"Can't you read me?"

"No.... if I could I wouldn't be asking you."

"Well, I think my search is done," Haiku replied. Then to no one in
particular she called out, "Okay, you can come out now."

Hotaru was about to continue to inquire into what Haiku was doing when a
figure stepped out from behind a garbage dumpster. Two more appeared behind
him and another two dropped behind from above. The one in the front spoke.
"I believe, that we have some common goals."

"It's about time you guys showed up. You're a little on the slow side."

"Complications. Much has happened in the past few days. Come, follow me."

***

The lift slowly trudged its way down the deep, dark chute. The walls were of
dirt and stone, held in place by various pieces of metal and wood.
"Electronic elevators can be tracked by the Command City. This way,
everything is mechanical so they have no way of knowing that this lift is
here," the man said.

Not a word had been spoken as the man and the other fighters had led them to
an abandoned building and to a mechanical lift in the basement. All but one
of the masked fighters had remained in the city. "Who are you?" Haiku asked.

"My name is Donah," the man said as he pulled back the hood of his robe. He
was middle-aged with his hair just starting to gray. "But that is the
question I should be asking you."

"My name is Haiku."

"Hotaru."

"Ah, the gatherer you are. Yes, we know about you."

"Do you have my friend?"

Donah's light complex turned serious. "Yes, although he is still in bad
shape. Somehow his body has managed to basically heal his major wound's but
he is still unconscious and," the man paused for a second, "I believe that
his back is broken. If he wakes up he'll be paralyzed from the waist down at
the least."

"Yes, we know," Haiku answered. "That is why we're here."

Donah was about to say more when the lift reached the bottom. Donah led,
followed by Haiku and Hotaru, and closed with the masked warrior. "The
encampment is not too far away from the city itself. That is why it has
still not been detected. It is below the range of the city's geographic
sensors. We have been fortunate."

"No," Haiku said. "You've been lucky. The Creator knows that you are here.
It just chooses to do nothing. You're not a major inconvenience. And
besides, the Creators love chaos. And there's nothing chaotic about a city
that runs smoothly in political agreement."

"That is probably the truth but still not something that would be well to be
known. The hope that we are safe here is all that some of the people at the
encampment are clinging to."

"Ignorance only leads to disaster in the end."

"And my dear Haiku, is there nothing that you are ignorant of?"
To this, Haiku had no answer.

***

Hotaru lifted her arms from the still form of Tuxedo Kamen. "How is he?"
Haiku asked impatiently.

"Well, he seems to have some kind of natural healing ability which has
pretty much sealed up all of his exterior wounds. Unfortunately he has still
lost a lot of blood, and there's also the fact that his spinal cord has been
damaged."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yes, I believe I can."

Donah was a little surprised, although he knew that he shouldn't have been.
It seemed that anything was possible now.

"So just sit yourself down Haiku. I don't know how long this is going to
take."

"Fine." Haiku took a seat as Hotaru set to her work. It had barely been a
minute when she turned to Donah. "Ummm, is it just me or is getting a little
warm in here?"

"Now that you mention it something does feel wrong." Donah walked over to a
wall panel and switched on a screen. He flicked through a few views of the
underground and then of the snow plains above ground before settling on a
view of the ground right above their position. A dark red light was
emanating from the area. "Oh dear." Donah zoomed out a bit more, the
camera's position being on a mountain a couple kilometres away and now saw
that the red light was coming from the tower in the Command City. "Oh no,
it's preparing to fire. This is just how the city looked before they
destroyed it in a matter of seconds.

Haiku was on her feet now. "How far underground are we? Do you know how deep
the blast goes?"

"The blast will only affect the first few meters of ground. The problem is
that it will probably create a blastwave which will collapse all of the
caves."

"How many people?" Haiku asked.

"There are hundreds down here at least. Most of the caves are in the
targeted range. I'm sounding the alarm now."

"You go as well," Haiku said to him. "Get out of the blast radius."

"But what about you?" Donah asked. "How will you get out."

"Don't worry, we'll be able to escape. But you won't unless you get out of
here ASAP!"

Donah struggled with his conscious for a moment. "All...right. I'll go. You
three take care of yourselves."

"Don't worry," Haiku called to him as he ran away. "The final salvation is
near. Just try to stay alive."

Haiku watched the screen for a moment and then looked at Hotaru. There was
no sign that she would be finished soon. She returned her sight to the
screen. The red was lightening up. Suddenly there was a flash of light as
the beam of energy traveled down the red light and slammed into the ground.
A moment later Haiku began to feel the ground shaking. Time for business.
First she walked over to where Hotaru and Mamoru were lying and sitting. She
drew her sword with the ginzuishou embedded in its hilt and held it over her
head. "Time Crisis!" she shouted.

Although she didn't feel pain, she did feel an odd experience as two wings
burst from her back. They were the ones from her transformation, only
without the fuku. The ginzuishou continued to put a barrier around all three
of them just as chunks of the ceiling began to fall. "Come on Hotaru, we
don't have much time. I'd rather not get completely buried beneath the
Earth." More pieces of rock fell from the ceiling and some parts of the
cavern collapsed completely.

Hotaru opened her eyes to find Haiku holding up her sword and standing above
her. Hotaru needed no prompting as she stood up and shifted into Sailor
Saturn. Swiftly she picked up Mamoru and prepared for flight. Haiku called
out, "Moon Cosmic Power!" and a beam of light burst from the tip of the
sword and traveled upwards, creating a passage through the earth which
hopefully led all the way to the surface. With a combination of her wings
and magic she flew upwards, followed closely by Sailor Saturn.

The sides of the tunnel sped past them as the light of the sky became closer
and closer. Suddenly they rocketed out of the hole and just hovered in the
air, looking towards the Command City. Haiku turned around to find her ship
hovering in the air behind them. "Perfect timing." Unfortunately the red
light was already being flashed onto the ship and could fire at any moment.

"Haiku!" Sailor Saturn said as her friend turned to face her. "Here, take
Mamoru." Haiku did not protest. Sailor Saturn flew up in front of the ship
just in time. "SILENT BLOCK!" The barrier was formed just as the tower
fired. Haiku didn't waste any time in getting herself and Mamoru through a
new hatch on the bottom of the ship. Meanwhile the energy blast only lasted
for a few seconds and except for falling back a little Sailor Saturn was
able to hold it away. Before the tower could recharge and fire again she
pointed her glaive towards the top of the tower. "Silent Destruction," she
said as the top of the tower exploded. The red light disappeared and she
followed Haiku through the hatch. The ship turned and flew away, headed
towards Kaipo, the plains region.

Inside the ship Usagi was fussing over Tuxedo Kamen at the seats in the back
of the ship. He was finally just regaining consciousness. "Hey, I can move
my legs now," he said as he changed back into Mamoru.

"Don't worry, my ki-prince," Sailor Saturn said as she entered the
compartment. "Although I was unable to repair most of your injuries I was
able to repair your spinal cord."

"Wow Hotaru, I didn't know you were able to do something as great as that!"
Usagi exclaimed while leaping up to give her friend a hug. Although she
still quickly returned to Mamoru. "Don't worry Mamoru, I can heal up the
rest with this medallion..."

Haiku sat in the front of the ship with Ami and Prof. Rinkvle. She had
allowed the wings to disappear. "Ami, what's going on? Where is everyone
else?"

"We were ambushed in the Command City of Afkzo," Ami said as she fiddled
with a few more controls. "There was a shield preventing anything from
departing by sea so we had to use a rocket to get to Dohilne. Unfortunately
at various places we were forced to leave the others behind in order for the
two of us to escape. I just hope that we're not too late to return to help
them."

"I'm hoping that they'll already be helped by the time we get there," Haiku
replied.

end eps. 26