All standard disclaimers that I've 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 the next chapter of this story of mine here, if that's all right with you here, readers. Please do read, review, and enjoy, if at all possible, quite naturally enough, readers!
First Kisses?
AThe Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story
An Underground Cavern Below The Crystal Palace
Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon
November 15, 986 - November 16, 986
Moments later, they were all in an underground cavern. They soon came to a depression elsewhere in it, after Sentinel Serenity had made sufficiently sure that all her companions weren't having too much trouble passing through the cavern to it. This certain depression was in the middle of the part of that cavern that they were now in, by the time that they all got there.
She soon had all her non-feline companions place all their things on certain tiles in that depression. These tiles all had certain symbols on them related to each Moon Kingdom-held planet or world that her companions were from, at least. If not from elsewhere in the Sol solar system of the Universe's Milky Way Galaxy instead. However, Corona and Eclipse placed their things on two other tiles in that depression, as they'd each done at least one time before. They did this as Serenity had the Beta-level Scouts from Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto each basically do the same thing with their things as well, of course. Which meant, then, that the now-present Outer Scouts each put their various things on the appropriate tiles for themselves here, quite obviously enough. After everyone had most definitely put all their things on each of the necessary tiles in that depression, Serenity then had her cats and Serena join her on the tile for the Moon. She did this just before she had the rest of her companions stand on the appropriate tiles for themselves, in fact. Moments later, then she said, "Moon Star Web Power." And she was connected quite securely by several ropes to all her current Scout companions, not too long after saying that well enough here.
Then she began the necessary teleportation process that'd bring her current traveling party to the other side of the Moon, once all the required teleportation phrases were said by all the necessary Scouts here, of course. After she did so, a six-step teleportation process began, which soon brought them to the Rainbow Springs Palace. No more than about five or so minutes after it finally deposited them all there, she and all her companions got their respective bearings in it well enough. When they all did so well enough to satisfy themselves enough with how they'd done so, Serenity made a sound like that of a Terran chickadee.
An answering call like that of a Terran rooster soon echoed in the darkness of that place. And it did so just a few seconds, at the most, before Serenity and all her companions then heard a single voice in that very darkness. This voice soon said, "Hello, everyone. Please shade your eyes, or close them. For we'll be lighting up this place a bit more brightly than you may yet be ready for here." When they'd all heard that well enough here, Sentinel Serenity then deactivated her Moon Star Web Power. She did so just because she'd not likely need to use it for at least a little while longer with her Scouts here, in fact.
So everyone did so, as the owner of that voice began coming out of that darkness with a torch in her hand. They didn't see her until she'd lit several torches in nearby sconces on the walls of the room that she was now in with them and several other people. All of which were Scouts, of course. It turned out that the owner of that voice had been Neptune Alpha. Which meant that Poruzuka had just spoken to them there.
Neptune Alpha lit several torches on the nearby walls. As she did so, Uranus Alpha, Pluto Alpha, and Saturn Alpha did so as well. Eventually it was sufficiently bright in the room. After which Neptune Alpha then said, "Sentinel Serenity, I see that you've brought several other Scouts and your cats with you this time."
"Yes. I'm hoping that we'll be able to see Skyhorse here in the very near future. But until she shows here, Neptune Alpha, if she even does, at least while you're all together here, one member of your team of Scouts is to remain inactive at a time. At least in terms of actually competing in training against these Scouts that I just came here with, that is, so that both teams will have the same exact number of Scouts competing against each other in your various training sessions. Moon will be leading one of the teams here. And you'll be leading the other, Neptune Alpha. You'll then be practicing and training with each other here, even as you still compete against each other here. You'll have to pretend that the other team of Scouts here is actually from the Negaverse, at least to some degree, whenever you're training together with each other. And they'll have to do the same for your own team of Scouts, for that matter. You'll all not be able to use lethal or near-lethal force against each other here, for all the obvious reasons. I'll have to dampen all your attacks to a certain degree, so that we don't have to worry about any of you girls unnecessarily hurting each other somehow, if it can possibly be avoided at all. At least when it comes to you actually using them against each other. However, just in case any trouble shows up here, I'll also make it possible for the dampening of your respective attacks to be suspended for as long as it takes to take care of that trouble, if necessary, Neptune Alpha. Like if any Negaversers somehow manage to show up here and cause any trouble at all for any or all of you girls, for instance."
"How will you do that?"
"Come with me, once I account for all of my Scouts who are now in this palace, Neptune Alpha."
Serenity told all the members of Neptune Alpha's team of Scouts who weren't yet visible in the room to show themselves. After they did so, that allowed her and all the other Scouts who'd come to the other side of the Moon with Luna and Artemis to see those Scouts as well. Which meant, of course, that the Beta-level Scouts from the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter showed up there. As did the Gamma-level Scouts from the planets of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, before too much more time passed in that very room of the Rainbow Springs Palace on the other side of the Moon.
She talked briefly with each of those other eight Scouts, before she led all 23 of her Scouts who were now with her to another area of the Rainbow Springs Palace that she'd never brought them to before. For she'd never had any reason yet to do so. Even during the first visit of Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Corona, and Eclipse to the RSP quite some length of time before. Of course, Luna and Artemis tagged along with them to it, for all the obvious reasons.
As Serenity eventually led all her current companions to that room, she began catching up as much as possible with all the Scouts that'd met her and her other companions a while before. And she let all of the Scouts that'd just come with her and her cats to the Rainbow Springs Palace do the same. Not to mention, of course, the fact that she also let Artemis and Luna do that too.
Eventually, then, Serenity brought them all to that room. And she brought them to certain crystals embedded in a large round blue marble table in the center of that room. She soon had all her Scouts take up positions around that table in front of crystals that exactly matched their respective crystals as Sailor Scouts. Then she had them all place their right hands on those crystals, as she said, "These crystals match each of your crystals exactly. You're all to place each of your right hands on the crystal that matches your crystal exactly, as you each say your current Scout identity. Scouts, these crystals will dampen each of your respective powers anywhere between ten to thirty percent, wherever appropriate for each of you. But in any case, you'll all have to deal with a minimum dampening of your respective powers of ten percent. And they'll not be dampened more than thirty percent of them all, in any case, for any of you. That's so that when you compete against each other in your various training sessions, the grounds between both teams is as even as it possibly be, of course. If, however, you all need to be able to access your full powers, you can come here as needed to access the parts of your powers that'll be dampened when you say your current identities as Scouts with your right hands on those crystals. They'll hold at least a little bit of the parts of your powers in them until such time as you might need them, if that turns out to be the case while you're all still here."
She had all her Scouts say their respective current identities as Scouts in turn, when the need arose. And as they did so, several lines began glowing briefly, until they led to the exact center of the table now in question. As they did so, a large crystal that they'd not yet seen in the table began emerging from the exact center of the table, in which it had been hidden, under a sliding door of some sort. It began emerging from that area of the table when the sliding door slid to one side of the required opening in the middle of the table. The large crystal rose until it was halfway out of the table. Then it stopped rising. When it did, it began shining more and more brightly as power from each of the required Scouts flowed into it. It'd hold all that power from the Scouts they'd sent to it indirectly, at least until they needed it. It'd hold half the power that all Serenity's Scouts had just contributed to the table and all the crystals that they'd just touched. The other half of that amount of power from those Scouts would still remain in the crystals that they themselves had touched. If and when Sylvia ever showed up in the RSP on the other side of the Moon, she'd also have to touch one of those crystals in the table, and contribute part of her power to the table and the large crystal, of course.
Sentinel Serenity checked quite thoroughly, at the very least, in order to see that everything had taken place exactly as it should've just taken place, if possible. And she soon said, "The required power transfer is now quite successfully completed here. This table and the applicable crystals in it will now hold all your power that you just contributed to it, everyone. And it may even provide you with more power later on than it took from you just now. For it's been known to generate power in the past. And I've also benefited at least once because of that. I think that you may be all rather surprised with how much power it may, and often does, generate. If that's also actually the case for any, or each, of you before any, or each, of you access all your powers to their full capabilities at least once more in each of your own mortal lives, of course, in fact."
Moon asked, "Mother, do you know how it does so, whenever it does so, exactly?"
"No, Moon, I don't. But I do know that it has been known to do so, and that I've benefited from it doing so in the past at least once, if not more than that. I wish I knew, of course, how it actually does so. But I guess that it's not time for me to know how it does so here. At least not right now, anyway, in my own mortal life. Maybe before the end of our Silver Millennium, I will know. But at the current time, at least, I don't."
Serenity talked with all her current companions for at least a little while longer, before she eventually said, "Scouts, I'll have to go back to the Moon's Moon City side before too much more time passes for us all in our lives. And I'd honestly like to know if there's anything you all might really somehow want here with you that likely isn't already on this side of the Moon. Besides a visit with at least one certain Terran Prince and at least one certain Terran Princess. For I have a rather strong feeling that Moon's actually going to ask for Darien to be coming here with or without Sylvia, if I don't keep her from asking me to have them coming over here, of course, everyone."
"Mother, you know me too well, it seems."
"But of course, Moon. I'm the Moon Kingdom's Queen, and I'm your mother. I know you rather well, if not totally well, Moon. And I think I always will, for at least as long as we're all still here on the Moon, if not also elsewhere in the Moon Kingdom, of course. I'll most likely not go with you in the future to Earth, if I have to send you there. Or at least not in a physical form, anyway. But I'll still be part of you, and you'll still be a part of me. Even if you have other parents there, in the future. It may actually happen to break my heart very much to have to send as many, if not all, of you as I can to Earth to live in the future. But if that ever becomes necessary, I'll do whatever I can to make sure that you all survive, or at least as many of you as I can save. Even if it means I have to sacrifice our dear Moon Kingdom, I'll do it. For I'd rather see you all safe, if possible, than to rule the Moon Kingdom any longer without you girls safe and sound near me, if I didn't do so."
"You'd give up the Moon Kingdom for us, Mother?"
"Yes, I would, Moon. In a heartbeat, I would, if I could. Even if it also somehow meant my death, I'd do it. For nothing at all, and nobody at all, in my entire mortal life anywhere here in God's very own Universe, is as important to me as those people I really love very much in it. Other than God, of course. I'd even die to protect you all, or to protect as many of you as I could, Moon, if I absolutely had to. You're all so very important to me, and I can't imagine living without any of you, if I don't really have to. I especially don't want Serena and the rest of her royal Court to miss out on the chance to live a long life, if it can possibly be avoided. I've had my time, or at least I think I'll have had my time, by the end of the Silver Millennium, to do that. But for all of you girls, who aren't yet out of your teenage years, you haven't. I want each of you girls to be able to possibly get married someday, if you girls ever want to get married someday. And I want each of you to have the chance to become mothers after each of you do that. Especially my daughters, obviously enough. I may not actually be around when Darien and Serena get married, if they ever do. And I may not actually be around when they have Rini. But I hope to be around at least long enough to ensure the future of as many of the people from our Moon Kingdom as I possibly can. Yes, I know that by doing so, I may also do the same for many of our enemies from the Negaverse. But that is a chance that I'll most likely just have to take, if I actually do want to save as many of you as I possibly can from the Moon Kingdom."
"Rini who?" asked Moon.
"Rini Shields, of course, Moon. Don't you remember at all when you yourself actually wrote on several scrolls during your own rather prolonged christening ceremony?"
Moon thought back to then for at least a few seconds, if not at least a minute, and then said, for those that didn't yet know the whole story about her own christening ceremony, "I wrote on six scrolls during it, if I remember correctly enough here. And a very certain pink-haired girl was on one of them, come to think of it, if I'm not too mistaken here. I often tossed or pushed them off a table then. Of course, I later got spanked at least once or twice, if not more than that, for my acting up during my very own christening ceremony there, girls. And, come to think of it as well, I actually did deserve my later spankings for such behavior then. I could have acted much better then, but I didn't."
Neptune Alpha asked Moon, "And this pink-haired girl was Rini?"
"Yes, Neptune Alpha. Rini Shields was her name, and we were in a picture of Crystal Tokyo on the scroll in question then. I was with four other Scouts, Rini, and Darien in that picture. And it was a picture that I actually labeled as being of a scene in the 30th Century."
"And we're all in the 10th Century now?" asked Junior Sailor Venus. Meaning Mina, of course.
"Yes, I believe so, Mina."
"How is that going to be possible?" asked Venus Beta, who was also Mina's sister Aurora.
"It seems that many, if not all, of us, could very well be in globes or other kinds of containers, at least twice in our lives, Venus Beta. That's if we somehow actually make it to Earth sometime after the rather likely end of our Moon Kingdom. That's supposing, of course, that the Negaverse somehow ever forces Mother to sacrifice it and herself to save as many, if not all, of us that she can possibly save at all. If I can actually remember certain visions and/or dreams of mine that relate at least partly to our possible futures well enough, those of us who somehow then survive the long trip to Earth will be deposited nearly, or exactly, a thousand years from when we left the Moon behind. We would most likely never be able to return to it again by normal enough means, as well, if I'm not too mistaken here. Which'd mean that those of us who survive that trip then might somehow end up somewhere in the 20th Century, if I'm not mistaken, of course. And we'll then be transferred to Earth, I expect. Also, we'd perhaps spend either nearly one thousand, or exactly one thousand, years in a state of temporary dormancy. Maybe in some sort of suspended animation. I'm not exactly sure. All I can tell you about the trip to Earth at the current time is this here, though, I think. I think that we'll be spending close to, if not exactly, a thousand years asleep in our various globes or other kinds of containers that we might be transferred to Earth in."
"But that still doesn't explain the 30th Century reference," Venus Beta said.
"I know that, Venus Beta. And I don't really understand why I wrote that yet. I don't even know why I did. Maybe someday I'll know why. But at the current time, I don't know or understand why, I did so."
Then Serenity reminded her current companions that she'd have to leave them again, as she soon led them all back to the teleportation room. She had all the Scouts that'd come with her earlier that very day write out rather brief messages on several pieces of parchment that she provided to them. That was the case for them here only if they actually wanted to write to anyone who might be anywhere on the Moon's Moon City side, quite naturally enough. She then made quite sure, even as they were still doing so, that they didn't actually say anything in them that they weren't supposed to say at all right now. She did this at least a little bit here, in fact, just before she took them from any Scouts who actually wanted to write to anyone who was perhaps now on the Moon's Moon City side. Serenity soon stowed all those messages away in her things again. She did that here even as she also reminded them of all the things that they'd likely have to do while they were still where they now were. She reminded them all about just how to contact her, if the need ever arose whenever they were all staying on the Moon's Rainbow Springs side with each other. And about just how she'd contact them in any sufficiently similar situations from the Moon's Moon City side, if she ever needed to do that at all. Only a few more brief moments of conversation were then shared between her, her cats, and her Scouts. Including, of course, her goodbyes to them here, for all the obvious reasons. When she felt that she'd then talked enough with them for at least the time being, she prepared to leave again for the Moon's other side. And she put her things in the necessary area of the teleportation room. With that then done, she said, "Neptune Alpha and Moon, you're each in command of your respective teams of Scouts. Moon, you'll be in complete overall control of all the Scouts in my absence, if trouble to a sufficient enough degree arises while you're all still here. If Sylvia's able to come here to the Moon, I'll let you all know that somehow, if I possibly can. And if she's somehow able to come to you here on it, then I'll also let you all know how to make it possible for her to do so, if I can. God willing, then, I'll see you all again someday in the very near future. I love you all very much. Please try to take as good care of yourselves as you possibly can. Oh, before I go, I have just two or so other things I now have to mention to Moon, Corona, and Eclipse, so that I don't forget them here too easily. Come here, Moon, Corona, and Eclipse, so that I can whisper it into each of your ears, or tell you it through signing, well enough."
So Moon, Corona, and Eclipse did as Serenity asked them to do here. And she told each of them, in turn, from oldest daughter to youngest daughter, "Girls, I'm apparently with at least one child again. It appears that I'll be having at least twins, if not triplets or more babies, before too much more time passes for us all. You three are all not to mention this to any other Princess or Scout that you meet here, without my prior permission to do so, if at all possible. I don't have time to explain exactly why right now, girls. But I'll explain why sometime later, if I possibly can do so then. Only Luna, Artemis, your uncle Raphael, your father Daniel, and several of our royal physicians know this as well now, as do all the necessary maidservants of mine. This isn't yet public knowledge. And it won't be public knowledge either. At least while you're all together here on this side of the Moon for the time being, anyway. That's certain to be the case here for it only if you three girls don't actually share any or all of this information with any of your other companions who don't already know of it, of course. Serena, you most especially must not mention it. For if you do, it might hasten our Moon Kingdom's end, I fear. I can't explain how I know that yet. For I don't know how I do know it yet. Call it a feeling, though, if you must. But this information must not be revealed, at least not until I say otherwise, if possible, to any other person or animal who doesn't yet know it. Darien doesn't even know it yet, and he hopefully won't. At least not until I tell him, that is. I won't likely be showing until I'm at least in my third or fourth month, girls, if I'm not already at least that far along."
"Destiny, Bethany, and I may be having younger siblings?"
"Yes, Moon. You may indeed not be our only children."
"I hope at least one of them is a boy, then, Mother," said Moon.
"Yes. I think that at least one of them will be a boy, if not all of them. Supposing, of course, that I'm indeed with child again, Moon."
"All right, Mother. I'm sure that we'll all do whatever we can to make sure that nobody else who doesn't yet know that information learns it before it's the proper time for them to learn it. It may not be easy for us to do so, but we'll all try to do so. Even me, of course."
"Thank you, Moon."
She answered very quietly indeed any other questions that her daughters actually had for her here at the current time, in the proper manners, of course, before she had them all back far enough away from her here. That was so that she could leave the room in the required manner here, obviously enough. When they were far enough back from her in that room, she waved goodbye to all her Scouts and to both cats. And she did it only a few seconds before she said her necessary teleportation phrase again to allow her to leave it then in that very manner. She said it twice, in fact, for she was still in her Sentinel Serenity state as a Scout. Serenity then disappeared in a brief flash of light as she began the necessary process that'd eventually return her to the Moon's Moon City side. As she left, everyone else who was also in the room with her then prayed that they'd all actually be able to return there before too much more time passed for them all, as well, by the way.
Moments later, then, Moon and all her current companions soon transformed out of their respective Scout states, if they could do so, just because they all wanted to be just Princesses for at least a little while, if not longer. Several of those girls soon went to their respective chambers elsewhere in the RSP. And they then did whatever else they wanted to do in them. Serena and all the other girls that'd just come to that Palace with Queen Serenity, Luna, and Artemis then either took naps in them, or they did whatever else came to their minds in them. Serena, Destiny, Bethany, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina all soon crashed, in a manner of speaking, in their respective chambers. And they all actually took some naps in each of them. While Hannah, Alexis, Michelle, and Susan mainly tried to catch up as much as they could with their currently-present siblings elsewhere in the RSP.
I really do hope that you all have enjoyed the first two stories in this particular story series, and the first two chapters of this third story, if you've actually gotten this far. And that you'll all continue to read its related story series, of course, once I put even more of it up here. The other chapters of this third story in the series will be up shortly, if at all possible, readers, for your information. I really don't know yet just how long it'll still 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!