Chapter 7
Michiko slowly opened her eyes but saw nothing. It was dark, almost unnaturally so. Where was her brother? And Kasami? And Ceres? Michiko struggled to get to her feet, but to her terror, she discovered that her body would not move. Some kind of unseen force was holding everything but her head still. All she could do was lie there helpless, listening to the voices that muttered outside her cell.
"What? What do you mean you brought back the princess of Neptune?" The first voice was loud and very demanding. The second was much calmer and rational, almost submissive.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it wasn't intentional. When my serpent was killed, it returned back to me, bringing the Neptune princess with it."
"That's your excuse? What kind of pathetic creatures are you raising that they get killed by little children?"
"The Uranus princess had the Space Sword with her, it's a powerful weapon no matter who uses it. But in either case, we've captured the first of the Asteroid Senshi." There was a lengthy pause.
"I see. Well then, I see your mission was not a total failure. But the Neptune girl is a problem. She'll lead the others right to us if we're not careful. Get rid of her immediately."
Michiko gasped. Where they talking about killing her? Her frozen body began to shake with fear, which intensified as she heard footsteps coming closer and a voice that said,
"As you wish, sir." With that, Michiko heard the sound of a door swinging open, the first light to appear since she'd blacked out while fighting that monster. Upon glancing around, Michiko saw that she was in some kind of underground dungeon. A cell built with dank, decaying stone bricks, and a heavy mist that did not give way to any light. The silhouette who opened the door approached Michiko and she felt her pulse quicken more. He was going to kill her, and she couldn't even move to defend herself.
"Please, someone save me!" she thought as she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
Suddenly, Michiko felt the strange mist that surrounded her vanish. She could move her body again. She sat up and looked around to see that in fact the cell was much better lit than she originally thought. And in front of the now closed doorway stood a young man just slightly older than Akio, dressed all in black, with eyes and hair to match, a sharp contract to his almost deathly pale skin.
"You aren't... going to kill me?" Michiko asked nervously, not sure if she wanted to give him suggestions or not.
"I don't kill helpless kids," the boy muttered. "That's not my style." He walked over to the back wall and felt along the edges for a moment before giving a sharp kick to the stone closest to his foot. The stone broke to pieces, opening a path of sunlight.
"Your exit's there," he said to Michiko. "Follow it, and don't ever come back here." He knelt down so he was on eye level with the person he was speaking to. "Your friends are out there too?" Michiko nodded. "Keep them away from the palace," he said. "In a few days, Neo Crystal Tokyo is going to become a zone of destruction."
Michiko's eyes widened, her mind filled with so many questions. What did this guy mean, destruction? What was going to happen to their home, to Lady Serenity? Michiko wanted to stay and find out more, but the young man would not allow any more delays and quickly began to push her towards the hole he had made in the wall.
"Wait!" Michiko pleaded. "At least tell me your name." The young man turned his head, pausing before he quietly replied,
"My name is Maigokisha. Avoid it, if you want to live."
* * * * *
"Okay, people, walk in line with me now, ready? One. Two. One. Two."
Reika sighed exhausted as Sailor Pallas led her and her brother along with Ai in annoying march up a rocky terrain.
"Why did we have to come this way?" she whined to their energetic leader. "And why the heck are you turning it into another gym class?"
"Oh, come on," Ai said with a smile, bouncing from one rock to another after Pallas. "Miss Pallas is only trying to make it more interesting for us, and this is kind of fun." Ai giggled; she had Venus' personality alright.
"If you consider hiking up a mountain fun," Reika muttered.
"It's not just that," said Pallas, finally slowing down. "I also want to make sure the three of you are safe. It's your first time out of the protection of Neo Crystal Tokyo, and I'm fully responsible for what happens to you."
"You don't have to worry about us," Ryou assured her, giving his sister a help up. "We can take care of ourselves."
Pallas shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't hurt to be careful." Though she didn't say it out loud to the children, Pallas sensed a connection with them. Being the youngest of the Asteroid senshi, she had something to prove as well. She was a responsible guardian, a powerful senshi. And on her first time out of the protected city, she would show that both to the others and to herself.
"So, where do we go from here?" Ai asked, waiting for the others to catch up. Sailor Pallas sweatdropped a bit.
"I'm... not exactly sure," she admitted, seeing her dreams a leader flash before her eyes. "We came here to find clues about the Sailor Knights, so anything you see or hear that might give us a clue to what happened to them, that's where we should go."
"Hey," said Ai, snapping her fingers. "I heard that Sailor Mars was a psychic or something like that. Maybe Reika or Ryou can tell us where we should go."
Reika turned away nervously. "My mama had visions now and again," she said. "But I've never gotten any."
"Me neither," Ryou admitted.
"It's okay," Sailor Pallas assured the two young soldiers. "You have your own unique talents, all three of you. We don't need a psychic vision to find where to go. We'll navigate on our own."
As if on cue, the group suddenly heard a voice calling towards them. A girl's voice.
"Ai! Ryou! Reika! Is that you guys?"
Pallas looked up and squinted at the terrain as she tried to see where the voice was coming from. A small figure with short curly green hair quickly appeared running in their direction.
"Michiko!" Pallas asked in shock. The other children looked at each other in complete confusion. What was Michiko doing here of all places? She had started off in the completely opposite direction, hadn't she? As the little girl ran into Pallas, clutching to her as tightly as she could, Reika noticed she was shaking uncontrollably.
"Calm down, Michi, calm down," Pallas said, trying to use the same comforting tone Michiko's brother always seemed to use. It didn't work quite as well.
"We have to get back to the palace," Michiko cried, still holding to Pallas as if her life depended on it.
"Why?" Pallas asked. "What's going on at the palace?" Before Michiko could answer, Ryou sat up suddenly, holding his head as if in pain. He closed his eyes and he could see images, images of darkness and destruction, of the place they called home being ripped to shreds before them. What was this? Where were these pictures coming from? And why were they coming to him? Now?
"Ryou?" Reika asked, now more than a bit scared. "Ryou, what's wrong?"
"I..." Ryou stuttered. "I just saw something."
"Like what?" Reika asked impatiently. Just then, she too winced as if in pain. Ai watched the two siblings rather confused. Maybe they did inherit more power from their mother than they thought.
"Something's coming!" Ryou announced and as he said it, the sky around them grew dark. An evil laughter could be heard not far away.
"Sailor Pallas of the Asteroid Senshi!" a woman's voice announced. "I
have found you!"