Taiana took in the scene around her. She was in a throne room, no doubt about that. The room was dimly lit by a series of candles. Sitting on the throne against the far wall was a woman who looked strangely like the Queen Beryl she had seen in her history books, the one the Sailor Scouts defeated. Amethyst and Rhodonite walked out from behind Sean and Taiana. Taiana looked over at Sean and they exchanged worried glances.
"Queen Chrysoberyl," Rhodonite started, "these children are Neo Sailor Venus and Night Warrior."
"Excellent Rhodonite," Queen Chrysoberyl praised, "take them to the dungeon. Put him in the Electricity Bubble so he can't transform and take away the girl's Pen."
"Right away, your Majesty," Rhodonite and Amethyst said in unison.
"Move," ordered Amethyst. Taiana and Sean did as they were told. They were led out of the throne room and down a long flight of stairs to a dark room lined with small cells. Rhodonite led Sean to a room containing a silver circular platform.
"On the disk," Rhodonite's gruff command left no room for argument. Sean stepped onto the platform. Rhodonite pushed a button on the base of the platform and a clear dome surrounded Sean. Sean began pounding on the glass and he looked like he was yelling, though Taiana could hear nothing. Sean fell to his knees.
Taiana struggled to get free. "Sean!" She yelled, "What are you doing to him?"
"Sucking up all his energy," Amethyst answered, amused. "This way, he won't be able to transform into Night Warrior." She turned away from the Electricity Bubble and faced Taiana. "Now, for you. Give me your Pen." Taiana hesitated, then realizing there was no use in resisting, dug the Pen out of her pocket and handed it to Amethyst. Amethyst cut her wrist restraints.
"Wonderful," Amethyst smiled and pushed Taiana into the cell next to Sean's, locking the door behind her. Amethyst walked over to the monster standing guard. "Guard this with your life." She handed it Taiana's Transformation Pen. Rhodonite joined Amethyst and they ascended the stairs, leaving Sean, Taiana and the monster alone.
Taiana crawled into a corner and pulled her knees up under her chin. Suddenly a million thoughts began to run through her head. I failed everyone,she thought. I failed Sean and I failed Jessie and I failed Laura and I failed the planet. Most of all, I failed the other Neo Scouts. She didn't know how long she sat there, half dazed and wallowing in self pity, or how long she would have if a voice hadn't cut through her thoughts.
"You're not a failure Tai." The voice washed away all her own thoughts. At first, she didn't recognize the voice, but as it continued, she finally realized who it was. The voice belonged to Mina, Sailor Venus from the past. "You have to believe in yourself and you can get out of this mess. Your thoughts are the key." The voice faded as quickly as it had come.
"My thoughts are the key," Taiana repeated aloud, "what does that mean?" Still in a daze, she turned over the phrase in her mind. "My thoughts are the key, thoughts are the key, thoughts are..." Suddenly, Taiana snapped out of it. "The key!" she shouted. The monster looked at her from across the room.
"What did you say?" the monster growled.
"I said theky," Taiana answered hesitantly, "it's an old word here on Venus for dungeon cell." The monster looked at her for a few more seconds, then turned away. Taiana sighed. She stuck her hand in her pocket and fished out the key to the shackles she had picked up after the monster dropped it back at the prison. She knew it would never unlock the cell door, but she hoped she could jimmy it open with the small key. Now all she had to do was wait for the monster to fall asleep or leave.
Taiana sat in the corner for hours, waiting for the monster to fall asleep and going over her plan of escape. Her plane was simple, after the monster left or fell asleep, Taiana planned to force the lock open with the key, get her Transformation Pen from the monster, defeat it, unlock Sean and get him out of the Electricity Bubble, then go to the throne room and defeat Queen Chrysoberyl. Of course, that was if she could get the cell door open.
She sighed as she watched the monster. It showed no signs of being tired. Taiana was getting impatient, so she decided to sing to pass the time. At first, her voice was just a whisper, but it gradually became a steady but quiet hum. As she sang, she noticed the monster's head began to droop. Back at the orphanage, she used to sing the younger children to sleep if they got scared at night. It seemed to be working on the monster, so she continued to sing. Before long, the monster's head was lolling on it's shoulder and it was snoring softly. Taiana sang for a few more minutes to make sure it was really asleep, then got up and walked to the door. She stuck her hand through the bar and slipped the key into the keyhole and jiggled it. In the back of her mind, she had expected the door to pop open right away, for her plan to go smoothly, but it didn't. Every time she moved the key and the door didn't open, she got more and more disheartened. She was just about to give up when there was a loud click and the door swung open an inch. Taiana's head snapped up and she looked at the monster, fearing the click of the lock releasing had awakened it. It still slept soundly as before. She pulled her arm back through the bars and pushed the door open slowly. About a quarter of the way open, it began to creak. Taiana stopped pushing it and decided not to try it. Instead she slipped through the narrow opening between the door and the doorjamb.
Once outside the cell, Taiana slipped quietly across the room to where the monster slept. It clutched her Pen in it's hand. Taiana grabbed the top of the Pen and tugged softly. The monster stopped snoring and shifted a bit in it's seat. Taiana drew in a breath then let it out as the monster resumed snoring. She gripped the Pen tighter and pulled harder. The Pen began to slip out of the monster's grasp. Taiana pulled harder and the Pen came free. Unfortunately the Pen leaving it's hands woke up the monster.
"Hey!" it shouted, "how did you get out of your cell?"
Taiana ignored the monster and raised her Pen above her head. "Venus Light Power!" she shouted and was instantly transformed into Neo Sailor Venus. The monster snarled and lunged at her. Taiana dodged it and it fell to the ground. She took a step back and waited for the monster to get to it's feet. It did and shot a block of ice at her. Before the ice reached her, Taiana yelled "Venus Crescent V Flash!" The beam of light broke the ice block in half and continued on. It went straight through the monster and turned it to dust.
Taiana hurriedly grabbed the keys off the wall and unlocked Sean's cell. She didn't know if anyone upstairs had heard the commotion down there, but she wasn't about to wait around and find out. She pulled the cell door open, but she didn't go in. She stood for a moment and stared at the Electricity Bubble with Sean inside. He was slumped down on the bottom, not moving. Taiana took a deep breath and murmured, "I hope this works." She took another step back. "Venus Lovechain Encircle!" Immediately a chain of hearts began to swirl around her. She pointed at the Electricity Bubble and the heart-chain left her body and spiraled around the Bubble. Seconds later it burst into a spray of glass. Taiana ran forward and caught Sean before he hit the ground.
"Sean," Neo Sailor Venus called. She shook him gently. "Can you hear me?" Sean groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"Tai, what happened?" he asked hoarsely.
"Don't worry about it," Taiana told him, "I have something to take care of, then I'll get you out of here."
"You're going to fight Queen Chrysoberyl, aren't you?" Sean asked.
"It's the only way to get out of here and save the planet," Neo Sailor Venus told him.
"You can't do it by yourself," Sean insisted, "I'm coming with you." He started to get up.
"No!" Taiana ordered, "All of your energy has been zapped. You're not even strong enough to transform. You definitely can't fight."
"But..."Sean started.
"No buts," Taiana told him, "stay here. Don't try to follow me." She laid him down slowly on the cold stone floor and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be back soon." She left the dungeon and headed up the stairs, towards Queen Chrysoberyl's throne room.