All standard disclaimers that I have already used so far with any of the various stories that I now have on 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 any further ado, let's get on with this story again, if that's all right with you here, readers. And this part of the story is actually going to be the twelfth chapter of this second story here, in fact, readers. That's so that all of you people here who've followed the story and its related story series well enough, and often enough, will be able to eventually read the whole related series of stories, of course. Please do read, review, and enjoy, if at all possible, quite naturally enough, readers!

Meeting the Menace

A The Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story

South Garden In The Crystal Palace

Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon

September 16, 986

Meanwhile, while Serenity and others were getting back to Yoshimo's house, or sleeping there, Prince Raphael was in the Crystal Palace's South Garden. It was about two or three hours before local midnight. And he was now sitting on a bench near the main gates of that garden. He was quite alone there. And he was now trying to figure out how best to run things in Serenity's absence. That was because he didn't really know what his older sister would do right now, if she were actually in Moon City now. He was Serenity's youngest sibling, and her only surviving one. For three of their siblings had perished when their parents' ship's hyperspace engines had exploded many years before. And three others had died before they were eighteen years old. That'd happened when they'd all caught a very rare strain of something that was at least a little bit like Terran Smallpox or Tuberculosis, if not both. But not completely like either or both of those kinds of Terran diseases. And this specific strain of the disease that'd earlier killed three of their total of six siblings was very rare, yet very deadly, whenever it struck someone. So, of their immediate family, only he and Serenity were left of it. Their three siblings who'd died on board the M.K.S. Crescent, along with so many others, had been the Princesses Allina and Carmen, as well as the Prince Harold. And their other three siblings, in order of their own births to Serenity and Raphael's parents, had been Parsetia, Nelissa, and Trelto. With their brother Trelto being a Prince, and their other two siblings, who were, of course, sisters to them, being Princesses. Between Serenity and Raphael, in order of their siblings' respective births, there'd been Allina, Carmen, Harold, Parsetia, Nelissa, and Trelto. Their three youngest siblings to them both had all died within five years, at most, after the M.K.S. Crescent had unexpectedly been destroyed by the explosion of its hyperspace engines. That explosion had destroyed the M.K.S. Crescent just as it was about to leave the Milky Way Galaxy's Sol system. And leave it on a diplomatic mission of some importance to the Moon Kingdom, in fact.

Prince Raphael was just about fifteen or so years younger than Serenity, who was now in her early forties, at most. So that meant he now was, of course, about 25 or 26 Terran years old. Give or take a year or two, at most, either way. His birthday hadn't yet come to him in the current year. And it'd not come to him until mid-October. He was a rather attractive man with mostly shoulder-length black hair. And he was quite popular with the ladies around his age in the Moon Kingdom. He was now about 5'9" and roughly 145 pounds, more or less, for either characteristic for him. He wore a small moustache and small beard on his face, and they weren't currently connected to each other. His beard was more like a goatee than any other kind of beard, currently. Though he was trying to make it a beard that covered most of his face. At least right now, anyway. He was somewhat physically fit. But he probably wasn't what most women and girls might call drop-dead handsome. He even had a scar just below his lower lip on his chin. He'd gotten it when he'd gotten scratched by a small bear. Or bitten by at least one baby bird native to the Moon that'd been born with several small teeth, not long after they'd begun learning to fly in the nearby Lunar skies. Which it was, he could hardly remember anymore. For it'd happened when he was, at most, only about five years old. And while he'd been on a trip to the zoo nearest Moon City on the Moon with the rest of his own immediate family there. But it was mostly covered up by part of his beard now. So it wasn't very easily seen by people most of the time. If not all of it.

What mainly attracted various ladies, who were about his age, to him were his stories that he'd often tell to people he knew well enough in his life. And the fact that he was often quite kind to them, whenever he could possibly be kind to them, at least. And if there weren't any other main reasons why he was quite attractive to a lot of ladies about his age in the Moon Kingdom, for that matter.

He'd often traveled between any and/or all of the various inhabited worlds of the Moon Kingdom, ever since he'd turned eighteen or so years old, at the very least. If not longer than that, in his life. And he'd often done the same whenever he'd visited other worlds in the known Universe. He'd often spent at least a month on each such world before he'd left it for somewhere else in the known Universe. And he'd had the good fortune to make a lot of friends whenever he'd done so. At least most of the time, if not all of it. Though he didn't know if and when he'd ever return to those worlds again, he'd generally still remember whatever time he'd spent on them. Whether or not he ever returned to them at least once more. Even if they weren't actually part of the Moon Kingdom, he'd still generally be able to remember whatever time he'd spent on each of those worlds, if at all possible for him.

He didn't always speak the exact truth about all those worlds and the people he'd met on them, for the obvious reasons, of course. But he did often tell stories set on any number of those worlds. By doing so, he'd started to become rather well-known for them, all over the Moon Kingdom, at the very least. And people who heard his stories often enjoyed them. They were often quite entertained by them. For they were often quite exciting and interested by them, whenever he'd tell those people such stories. Often for reasons too numerous to mention at certain times.

He didn't like the idea of himself someday ruling the Moon Kingdom. More than once, he'd seriously considered abdicating any claim of his to the Moon Kingdom's throne once and for all. And not just because he and Serenity were the only surviving children from their parents' marriage to each other. Though that was a rather major factor in his quite intense considerations on whether or not he should abdicate any claim of his to that throne once and for all. At least at the current time, it was, anyway. He also didn't like the thought of possibly having to fight anyone in a war in his life. For he was mainly a peace-loving person, whenever he possibly could avoid fighting with anyone at all in it. But he realized that he might very well have to fight other sentient beings in his life, if enough of Serenity's visions and/or dreams that she'd had for quite a while, at least, were sufficiently accurate in their respective natures. And he might not actually be able to avoid doing so. Even if it'd most likely mean his death, by him doing just that. He hoped that if he had to fight, though, he'd somehow manage to survive any war that the Moon Kingdom might ever have to fight in the future. Though he didn't yet know if that'd ever be possible for him, of course. He really hoped that it'd eventually come to pass if the Moon Kingdom eventually found itself in a war that it hadn't wanted to come to itself at all, just the same.

He was now trying to figure out what he and any number of Moon Kingdom military personnel, who were now under his control, should do, in the very near future, if his sister didn't return somehow to the Moon in the meantime. And if she didn't, also what he and those military personnel should have all the other Moon Kingdom's inhabitants do in the meantime, as well. He eventually decided to have as many of the military personnel now under his control start to train quite intensely, as much as they possibly could. Just in case his sister and any number of other Moon Kingdom inhabitants didn't return to it anytime in the very near future. He decided this by the time that it was local dawn again in the Moon's Moon City area. After which he then retired for several hours, due to the fact that he'd just been up for at least the last 18 hours straight.

Prince Raphael eventually left the Crystal Palace's South Garden for his own Crystal Palace chambers. He then spent at least the next eight to ten hours straight in them. If not even longer than that. Most, if not all of that time was, of course, spent quite asleep in his own bed there. He didn't leave his chambers again at least until local dusk that very day, if not even later than that.

When he did, after he got his evening or night meal, he quite soon had all the Moon City-area military personnel on the Moon, at least, start to train quite intensely. That was whether or not he had all the Moon Kingdom's military personnel who were elsewhere on the Moon or were elsewhere in the Moon Kingdom do that as well, of course. But he still did that then as he actually saw fit to do that, just the same. And he had all of the necessary personnel do so even more intensely than they'd recently been doing of late, for that matter. He made this standard procedure for as long as he'd still be in control of them, at least on a temporary basis, of course. He made as sure as he possibly could right now that they'd all be training at least twelve to sixteen hours per day that he was still in control of them. If not even more than that.

Prince Raphael didn't stop doing that until he was as sure as he could possibly be that all those people would do as he'd then told them to do. At least as of the current time, anyway. No matter what it was, at least as long as he was still in control of them. He didn't quit making sure that was the case until he was as sure as he could then be that they'd do anything and everything he told them to do. All while he was still controlling them in all the necessary manners, at the present time, of course. At least to the best of his own abilities to do that now, he still did that here.

And that didn't happen for him well enough until just about an hour before local midnight in Moon City's area. That was obviously due to the thousands of Moon Kingdom military personnel then in the area that he'd needed to be sure about well enough, in fact. But eventually, he was able to quit doing that, and retire to his chambers again for the rest of the night of September 16, 986. Which he then mainly spent in his bed, so that he could wake up again when it was about local dawn in the Moon's Moon City area. Just before he went to bed, though, he most certainly did pray for the safe return to the Moon of all the missing people who were currently from it here. Especially the return of his sister, her daughters, her cats, and the rest of Serena's current Court. Meaning at least Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina. If not also Hannah, Alexis, Michelle, and Susan, of course.

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've all so far enjoyed the story, if you've gotten this far, and that you'll continue to read it, once I again put more of it up here. I don't know yet just how long it will take me to get each story in this series up fully here. 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!