All standard disclaimers that I have already used so far with any of the various stories that I now have on fanfiction dot net will apply. For your information, all of the characters that you may not actually recognize well enough in this story are original characters of mine, unless otherwise stated, in fact. So please don't steal my original characters from this story or any others, for that matter.
Now without further ado, let's get on with the story once again, if that's all right with you here, readers. And I hope that if you've read the first six sections of this story here, you've enjoyed what you've read of it so far. More will come as time allows, of course. And I really hope to add all of the remaining chapters for this story at least, by the end of April, at the latest. That's so that all of you people on who've followed the story well enough, and often enough, will be able to eventually read the whole story here, of course. Please read, review, and enjoy, if at all possible, quite naturally enough, for all the obvious reasons, readers!
The Beginning of It All
A The Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story
An Underground Cavern Below The Crystal Palace
Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon
June 30, 986
Eventually, Sentinel Serenity brought everybody who was currently with her to the aforementioned underground cavern. And she allowed them to rest for a little while, for the obvious reasons. This she did, as she asked Luna and Artemis to watch her Junior Sailor Scouts for a brief time. This was because she wanted to get some food for them in a nearby nook of that underground cavern. And she couldn't get it while they were with her. For she also had to pick up a few other things on the way to that nook while she was getting food for her Junior Sailor Scouts. That was because those other things she had to get were between where she and her charges now were and the nook she'd be getting the food for them from. Those other things she had to get would normally allow them all to train in secret quite far away from the Moon City area, whenever they were able to do so. And those things were often used to make sure, as much as it was ever possible, that no unauthorized person would be able to raid the Moon Kingdom's emergency stores of food, clothing, and medical supplies. And somehow do so easily enough without also significantly alerting certain governmental officials from any or all of its various governments of their various raiding activities. Especially when it came to alerting Queen Serenity, for the obvious reasons. Due to her position as the Moon Kingdom's Queen, she periodically had to check each store of emergency supplies of food, clothing, and numerous medical-related items, at least on the Moon, if not elsewhere in the Moon Kingdom, whenever possible. That was according to the Moon Kingdom's established laws, for the obvious reasons. But this wasn't one of those times where she'd have to check at least one of her Moon Kingdom's emergency storage areas. Instead, she'd just get a few things for each of the Junior Sailor Scouts to use before she got some food for them to consume over the next few hours or so, at most.
So she eventually got a few things from a nook near the one where she'd be getting the aforementioned food for her Junior Sailor Scouts and her cats. She did this once Luna and Artemis had agreed to watch the Junior Sailor Scouts until she returned to them again in the underground cavern. Two of those things were sacks that she tied to her belt with jungle vines. Then she put several non-food items in one of those sacks. That done, she then went to another nearby nook. And she got enough food for all of them to bring with them while they were otherwise occupied elsewhere on the Moon. Of course, she put all that food in the other sack on her belt.
Then, when both sacks were full enough, she tied them both up. And she then returned to where the cats and the Junior Sailor Scouts were waiting for her to come back to them. That done, she then said, "Junior Sailor Jupiter, I'm giving you a sack here. And I'd like you to carry it until further notice. It contains food items that we'll be consuming periodically over at least the next few hours or so, if not longer than that, I believe. You're not to let Junior Sailor Moon get into it until I say otherwise. And you aren't to raid it either for at least that long. I'll carry the other sack that you all now are seeing me with here."
"Understood, Sentinel Serenity."
"Junior Sailor Moon, you aren't to get into the sack that Junior Sailor Jupiter will be carrying until I say otherwise. Otherwise, there'll be consequences you'll have to face later, after we get back from whatever we're going to be doing in very short order."
Sentinel Serenity then handed Junior Sailor Jupiter the sack of food items. And then she led everyone else to the middle of the part of the underground cavern they were now in, after handing them each a certain device from the sack she kept in her possession. Which meant everyone then entered a depression in the middle of that part of the underground cavern about forty or so feet in diameter, at the very least, with somewhat gently sloping sides. When they got there, Serenity had each of them stand on top of a certain large tile in that depression which had symbols painted on it, as appropriate for each of them. Symbols that normally would appear on their foreheads, if it was appropriate for any and/or all of them at all, during certain periods of great stress for any or all of them, most likely, in the future. That was, of course, if each or all of them survived long enough for each or all of them to do so at least once in the future. And that was also if their symbols weren't always on their foreheads, of course, as Artemis and Luna's always were.
As they did so, she stood on the centermost and largest tile in the middle of the depression. She was joined there almost immediately by Junior Sailor Moon and both cats. That meant that the other Junior Sailor Scouts each took one of the surrounding tiles in the depression everybody was now in. There were several large tiles inside the depression currently in question. But only six of them were occupied by other Junior Sailor Scouts, for the obvious reasons. Four of those tiles had the symbols for the planets of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. But due to the current absence of certain Sailor Scouts from those four planets, they were currently unoccupied by other Sailor Scouts.
Junior Sailor Mercury took the tile that had the symbol for the planet of Mercury on it. While each of the other three main members of Princess Serena's royal Court took the tiles that were appropriate for them to take in that depression. That then left Junior Sailor Corona to take the tile that had the symbol for a sun's corona on it, and Junior Sailor Eclipse to take the symbol for an eclipse on it, for the obvious reasons, of course.
Then Sentinel Serenity called out, "Moon Star Web Power," in very short order, in fact. Which then made ropes appear between the belts of all seven Junior Sailor Scouts and herself. One rope appeared between her and each of the Junior Sailor Scouts now with her and her cats. She was now in the approximate center of the group of eight humanoids in the depression when those ropes appeared between her and each of them. However, there were no ropes running between her Junior Sailor Scouts, so as not to unnecessarily tangle the existing ropes between herself and them, if it could possibly be avoided at all, for the obvious reasons.
That done, she then said, "Prepare to depart this cavern. When I tell you to, each of you is to say her Junior Sailor Scout name, and then the words 'Sailor Teleport.' After which we'll all teleport almost immediately to another place I recently programmed into the devices that I just provided you with moments ago. When I say, 'Sentinel Serenity, Sailor Teleport,' for the second time, we'll leave this cavern behind for at least a while."
So each of her Junior Sailor Scouts did as she told them to do. Then she said, "Sentinel Serenity, Sailor Teleport," for the first time. Then each of the other Junior Sailor Scouts said exactly what she wanted them to say, until it was time for her to say her current Sailor Teleport phrase again for the second time.
She then said that phrase again, of course. And that then made everyone depart the aforementioned cavern that was still below the Crystal Palace in Moon City for another location on the other side of the Moon. It only took about ten or so seconds for them all to bounce off the Moon's primary sun shield onto a certain mirror. Which then bounced them all off a space station currently above the Moon's North Pole, and past where the terminator line would actually be for the Moon if such a shield wasn't currently in use here. They all then bounced off another mirror easily enough here. And it then made them all bounce up to a communications/teleportation satellite, rather briefly, before it finally deposited them all in the place that Sentinel Serenity had just told Luna, Artemis, and all seven of her Junior Sailor Scouts about not long before.
It then took each of them at least a minute to get their bearings again after the six-step teleportation process between Moon City and the place they all were together in now. Which, as a matter of fact, was the Rainbow Springs Palace in Rainbow Springs. Rainbow Springs was the sixteenth-largest town on the opposite side of the Moon from Moon City in the Moon Kingdom. And deep in the heart of the Rainbow Springs Palace was one of the main training centers for Sailor Scouts on the Moon. But this training center was a very secret one. It was rarely spoken of anywhere in the Moon Kingdom. Especially off the Moon, of course. It might be spoken of by people on the Moon, of course. But it was extremely rare, if ever at all, for it to be spoken of by people who weren't on the Moon, for all the obvious reasons.
Only a very select few in the entire Moon Kingdom ever even knew of that training center. And they were always, or almost always, of royal blood of any known variety from anywhere in the entire Moon Kingdom. To this point, none of the current Princesses had ever actually been in the Rainbow Springs Palace before, for all the obvious reasons. Sentinel Serenity had, of course, and so had Luna and Artemis. For when she was still Princess Serenity, they'd been sent there to help her train as a Sailor Scout. A Sailor Scout of a different variety than Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, Mina, Destiny, and Bethany were now, as a matter of fact. She'd spent at least a year there training as a Sailor Scout, if not longer, until just before her parents had left the Moon. And she'd done it until just before her parents had left the Moon behind for the last time in their own mortal lives prior to their quite unfortunate deaths with various other people and animals from all over the Moon Kingdom. Just before her parents left the Moon, she left the Rainbow Springs Palace behind after having received as much training as a Sailor Scout in its secret training center as she could get there. Then she'd taken a ship between Rainbow Springs and Moon City back to Moon City. She'd been able to spend two Terran weeks or so more with her parents before they left the Moon for the last time in their respective mortal lives with many other people and many animals from all over the Moon Kingdom. They then left her in charge of things on the Moon, hoping they'd eventually be able to run things again on it. But their unexpected deaths made that quite impossible, for the obvious reasons.
As soon as Serenity had finally received the news of her parents' unplanned demise, she realized her childhood had just ended, if it hadn't already. And she quite soon afterward succeeded to the Moon Kingdom's throne, for the obvious reasons. She'd ruled the Moon Kingdom as wisely as she possibly could ever since, while often heeding the advice of any number of her various advisors. No matter who they were, for all the obvious reasons, of course.
Ever since leaving it just before her parents' unfortunate deaths several years before, she'd only rarely been back at the Rainbow Springs Training Center in the Rainbow Springs Palace, for the obvious reasons. Basically only whenever at least one Sailor Scout of any kind was about to leave it behind, in fact. Besides her, and the seven Princesses now with her, there were at least four to eight other Sailor Scouts that had been initiated as such and who were currently serving as such anywhere in the known Universe. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons. And four of them, of course, were currently not in the Milky Way Galaxy's Sol system. That was due to Queen Serenity's having sent them on a mission to another solar system in it, for reasons that were likely too numerous to mention in complete enough detail, at least as of the current time.
The four Sailor Scouts that were away on a mission to another Milky Way Galaxy solar system were the Sailor Scouts Saturn Alpha, Uranus Alpha, Neptune Alpha, and Pluto Alpha. And they were currently away from their planets on that mission. Which meant that their nearest sisters and/or cousins were, most likely, now having to try to protect their respective planets from unnecessary harm, for the obvious reasons, while they were still away from them. Their substitutes were often known, whenever they were in their respective Sailor Scout states of any kind, as either Saturn Beta, Uranus Beta, Neptune Beta, or Pluto Beta, of course.
And due to their current duties as temporary protectors of their respective planets, they weren't currently able to do much as temporary members of Serena's Court in the Moon Kingdom. Their older sisters or cousins had made them at least temporary, if not permanent, members of Serena's court just a while before their own departure on the aforementioned mission Serenity had given them. And when Saturn Alpha, Uranus Alpha, Neptune Alpha, and Pluto Alpha had all left the Moon to carry out their new mission, they'd also had to begin protecting each of their respective planets, once they were each close enough to them to do so.
One at a time, each of the Beta-level Scouts had separated from everyone else with them. And they'd begun protecting their respective planets. The last of them to separate from their planet's Alpha-level Scout had been Sailor Pluto Beta, for the obvious reasons. Hours later, all four of those Alpha Scouts had then left the Milky Way Galaxy's very own Sol System. And they did that so they could carry out their mission to another solar system in it that Queen Serenity had recently given them, to the best of their respective abilities, of course.
It'd been quite some time since they'd done so. And now Sentinel Serenity was about to begin training her Junior Sailor Scouts in the area of the Rainbow Springs Palace, with some help from both cats, for at least a little while. But she'd not always be around to help them train as Sailor Scouts, obviously enough. She'd actually train with all of them periodically, if at all possible. But they'd often still have to train themselves as Sailor Scouts when she wasn't actually with them in the area of the Rainbow Springs Palace. Whenever that was the case, the cats, at least, would be with them, for the obvious reasons.
Sentinel Serenity said, "Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Corona, and Eclipse, the cats and I often will be training you here in this palace of our Moon Kingdom on the Moon. I won't always be with you all, naturally enough. Other Sailor Scouts will periodically check in on you whenever I'm not with you. This place will be where you'll all do the majority of your training time as Junior Sailor Scouts. I've already assigned different chambers to each of you here in this palace. Whenever you're in residence here, you'll often be using them for whatever purposes they need to be used for, if you can't choose how else to use them as well."
Junior Sailor Moon asked, "You mean that we're going to be spending most of our time from now on here, at least for a while?"
"Yes, I do. That is, if you aren't needed on the other side of the Moon, or elsewhere in the known Universe, of course, Junior Sailor Moon."
"Does Darien already know about this place, Mother?"
"No. And I don't intend to let him know about it, if I don't have to. The same thing's true of your father, as well. He doesn't intend to let Darien know of it either, if he can possibly avoid it."
"If we're here, then, how will we know whenever Darien comes back to the Moon?" This question was from Junior Sailor Mercury, in fact.
"There'll possibly be a visit from me or at least one other Sailor Scout to let you know. Then you girls are to meet whoever comes here to let you know he's back on the Moon again. Whether they happen to be me or not, you're to meet them as each such situation will require you all to meet them here at this palace of ours."
Junior Sailor Mars asked, "Will we be able to come back to the other side of the Moon whenever we want?"
"Only under certain conditions as I'll tell all of you girls as I bring you all to your respective chambers here in this palace for the first time, Junior Sailor Mars. At least whenever you seven girls are actually training here in this palace. And whenever I'm not with you in actual reality. That is, of course, for all the obvious reasons here."
Junior Sailor Jupiter then asked, "If we're going to be training here, then I suppose we'd all better familiarize ourselves with all the weapons and items that we'll have at our respective disposals here, if we possibly can, Sentinel Serenity. Would you show us where they're all being kept here in this palace?"
"You have some of those things near you right now, Junior Sailor Jupiter. And so do I, but I'll still show you all where everything else is being kept here in this particular palace. I'll do this just so that you can all actually use those things whenever the need arises during times that I'm actually not with you all, of course. After I do so, I'll then bring you all to your respective chambers here, for all the obvious reasons."
"Then I expect that you'll be leaving us not long afterward, Sentinel Serenity?"
"Not for a few hours, at least, Junior Sailor Venus. This, of course, is for all the obvious reasons."
Then Sentinel Serenity began giving them all a grand tour of the Rainbow Springs Palace. And she also showed them all where everything was in it. Even where their respective chambers were in it, of course. With that then done, she soon brought them all to a large courtyard that was about 240 feet by roughly 200 feet in size. Which worked out to a size of about 48,000 square feet, give or take a few hundred or few thousand square feet, at most. This would most likely be where they'd do the majority of their training whenever they were in residence anywhere on the Rainbow Springs Palace's grounds, if at all possible, in fact.
With that now done, she then began distributing certain items to each of them, before she went to the nearest wall, and she found a barely-accessible, yet quite-hidden, panel behind several bricks. She then touched a shield on one of those bricks. And those bricks slid into a nearby recess for a brief time. That done, she began touching certain areas of that panel, so that a secret door would soon appear near her in that wall. Then she and her nine companions saw about six dozen large bricks slide to one side in that wall. When those bricks did so, a secret door appeared behind where those bricks had been. She then went to that door, and opened it. Then she entered a secret passageway behind it, and began retrieving some robots that she and a number of former rulers of the Moon Kingdom had most likely programmed with the necessary computer programs at least a few, if not many, long years before.
These robots, and many others, would serve as training devices of at least one sort for each and every single Junior Sailor Scout that'd now be residing anywhere at all in the Rainbow Springs Palace. At least whenever the Junior Sailor Scouts were in residence there, of course. Each robot that they'd be using to train themselves as Sailor Scouts, at least whenever they were in the Rainbow Springs Palace and on its grounds, would be able to be retrieved as Sentinel Serenity was now doing. Each robot, at least whenever it was active, and whenever it was in existence, would have at its very own disposal certain weapons, powers, and items. Not to mention an often very highly-advanced artificial intelligence that they'd have to find some way to defeat whenever they trained with them. And whenever one of those robots was active, the Junior Sailor Scouts would all have to be on their guards, for the obvious reasons. They'd often be quite powerful and intelligent, most likely. Which would often mean that they'd not easily fall to any or all of the Junior Sailor Scouts' various attacks and/or defenses, for all the obvious reasons. And while they were active, they might often surprise the Junior Sailor Scouts, if they weren't on their guards enough, of course. How they might do that, the Junior Sailor Scouts didn't yet know, if they ever would. Some robots, though, might just prove to be so tough to beat, that in order to render them inactive, they'd have to be destroyed by the attack of at least one, if not more, of the Junior Sailor Scouts. That might be the case so that the future Sailor Scouts would hopefully be able to fight against their yet-unknown enemy someday yet in the future. And all such robots that'd have to be destroyed in order to render them inactive had most likely been programmed long before Moon Princess Serena had ever been born on the Moon roughly ten years before the current date.
But none of those robots that'd actually have to be destroyed to render them inactive were among the robots that Sentinel Serenity was now retrieving from the aforementioned secret passageway. Sentinel Serenity then brought those robots to certain positions in the courtyard currently in question. And she then went back to where she'd been touching certain areas of the aforementioned panel. She touched a few more areas on that particular panel. And she then watched as each of the robots she'd just retrieved became active. When all of those robots were active and working well enough for her to be satisfied with them at the current time, she went to the door in front of the secret passageway, and closed it. Then she went back to her panel again, and made the necessary bricks come back in front of that door. Then she stepped away from the panel in question. And everyone then watched the bricks that'd actually been in front of it slide back into place to hide it again as much as possible.
She had each of the Junior Sailor Scouts spread out in the courtyard, for the obvious reasons. She then said, "Junior Sailor Scouts, prepare to engage these robots. Act as if they're your enemies. Use the things that I've just given you to fight them. They'll also help you call forth your various powers, as those certain powers might be for each of you. I'll watch you all engage them, of course. And if you still happen to need my help with them all here, I'll then give it to you. But they'll also be under my control, at the very same time."
Then Sentinel Serenity went to a nearby waist-high pillar that had a recess in its top for a suitably-sized console. This pillar was about four feet thick, and the console was in the middle of the recess in question. This console was large enough to allow Sentinel Serenity to control all seven of those robots now with her, the Junior Sailor Scouts, and the cats, in the aforementioned courtyard of the Rainbow Springs Palace. She then pressed a few areas on that console. And she made the robots begin to fight her Junior Sailor Scouts, as she also had those Junior Sailor Scouts of hers engage them.
Corona soon shouted out, "Corona Ring Blast." Which then made several large rings fly from her fingers toward one of the robots. These rings looked almost like coronas that'd appear during periods where a solar eclipse was in progress in a solar system. Especially when it came to solar systems with inhabited planets in it. The robot that she sent those particular Corona Rings toward hastily sent Ice Bolts her way, trying to stop her from sending any more of those Corona Rings of hers toward it. Corona then quite adeptly darted to one side, just barely in time to keep herself from then being frozen in place exactly where she'd been not more than a few seconds before.
Mars then used a Fire Catapult to attack one of the robots now opposing the Junior Sailor Scouts. She'd just loaded it with Fireballs she'd gotten with the help of the device that Sentinel Serenity had just given her. Which was a mirror of sorts, by the way. She'd put a torch near that mirror of sorts, and it had loaded the mirror with some Fireballs, as she'd opened a panel in the side of the torch. She'd opened that panel, and she'd then taken out a pair of gloves. A pair of gloves that were, as a matter of fact, in her current size. That done, she'd then slid that panel closed again. Then she'd put the torch back where she'd gotten it from. That was just before she'd quickly loaded the aforementioned Fireballs into that Fire Catapult two at a time with her hands. She'd put thirty Fireballs in her Fire Catapult just before firing it for the first time. And each of these Fireballs was about the size of a Terran watermelon.
About half of those Fireballs then landed within a yard of the robot she'd sent them toward, with three of them landing on that robot. But she only was able to damage it slightly with her Fireballs. For Sentinel Serenity had made sure that she'd not been able to be more accurate with them, for the obvious reasons.
For at least the next few hours, then, each of the seven Junior Sailor Scouts fought with all seven of the robots now with them, Sentinel Serenity, and the cats, for the obvious reasons. They didn't usually switch off between different robots, for the simple reason that the majority of the robots were immune to certain attacks from various Junior Sailor Scouts. Five robots were normally immune to any of the attacks from each of the Junior Sailor Scouts, depending on which Junior Sailor Scout or Junior Sailor Scouts were attacking them, at a particular time, for reasons too numerous to mention at the current time. Especially when the Junior Sailor Scouts whose attacks they weren't immune against weren't working together against them. Each Junior Sailor Scout was often able to damage two of the robots with her attacks. While she wasn't often able to do the same with the other five robots. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons.
Eventually, Sentinel Serenity felt that each of her Junior Sailor Scouts had trained enough for at least a little while. And she then sent some remote commands to each of the robots with them, so that they'd become inactive again. None of the robots had been destroyed by any of the Junior Sailor Scouts. Which made Sentinel Serenity quite happy, for the obvious reasons. However, a number of those robots had been at least somewhat, if not heavily, damaged by various attacks from any or all of the Junior Sailor Scouts, of course. Not too heavily as to not allow each of the robots to return to where she'd placed each of them in the courtyard with her, the cats, and all seven of her Junior Sailor Scouts, though. Which was quite fortunate, of course. As Serenity would likely tell all of her current companions in that courtyard later on.
Then she began gathering up each of those robots one at a time. And she began putting them away, for the obvious reasons. It took her about ten or so minutes to do so. And then after she did so, she had her current companions follow her to another part of the Rainbow Springs Palace. That was once all of her Junior Sailor Scouts had transformed back into their normal states of being, followed almost immediately by her, of course.
There, she soon allowed them to eat some of the food that she'd had Junior Sailor Jupiter take care of, so that they'd not have to go to bed hungry, of course. As they ate, she also did so. And they did so for at least thirty minutes, if not longer.
After all of them had eaten to their hearts' content, Queen Serenity then let them all get used to being in the Rainbow Springs Palace while they weren't currently in their respective Sailor Scout states of being. Even Destiny and Bethany, of course. That was if they wanted to do so at all after they'd eaten enough food to satisfy all their respective appetites for the same. Most especially Moon Princess Serena, for the obvious reasons.
Of course, once they'd transformed back out of their respective Sailor Scout states, Destiny was again blind, and Bethany was again deaf. So they were both soon escorted elsewhere in the palace as they also went to that place where Serenity and her other companions were going in it after the Princesses' first-ever training session as Junior Sailor Scouts. Especially Destiny, for the obvious reasons. Bethany followed the permanent members of Serena's Court that were with Serena, her mother Queen Serenity, and the cats. And she did this as she also guided Destiny to that place. Mainly by using a cord that ran between one of her wrists and one of Destiny's wrists, if not by doing so in other ways as well.
When everyone was finally done eating and drinking here, Serenity then let them all leave her alone where they'd eaten in the palace. Which happened to be a somewhat large dining hall in it. And she then let them do whatever they wanted to do in it. Within reason, of course.
Each of the Princesses then left her alone in it, one at a time. Except for Bethany and Destiny, for all the obvious reasons. Queen Serenity then asked Bethany to make sure that Destiny got back to her own chambers safely enough, before she went to her own. Of course, Bethany quite readily agreed to do so. And then she and Destiny soon left Serenity alone with Luna and Artemis.
Several minutes later, then, Bethany brought Destiny to her new Rainbow Springs Palace chambers, and soon brought her to her new bed in it. She spent about the next ten minutes taking care of Destiny as best as she could, before she then left Destiny alone in her own chambers.
Princess Bethany eventually untied the cord from her wrist that connected her to Princess Destiny, before she left her older sister alone again. Then she silently went to her own chambers for a while. And she began getting herself settled down to at least some degree in them.
I suppose that I'd better stop here now. For this will be where the next part of the story will take up from, in fact, readers. I hope that you have so far enjoyed the story, if you've gotten this far, and that you'll continue to read it, once I put more of it up here on fanfiction dot net. I don't know how long it'll take me to get each story in this series up fully on fanfiction dot net. But it might take a while for each story in this series, just the same, readers. Until later, then, this is "The Universal Storyteller" signing off here. Happy reading, and God bless, and all that, of course, readers! Over and out!