Silver Moon Step.003 First Trial
LEIK OMG IT TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH THIS THING. It's so long too...20 pages on Word!!!! o Errr, yeah, so things that got in the way: 1) PMS Period 2) Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and 3) iRO xDDD
Anyone wanna play iRO with meeee??? :) If so, message Tsumikusa on Loki server! I'm a level 32/24 mage gonna become a sage. XD Oh I 0wn j00 all!!!
Anyway, expect the next chapter to also be loooong...maaan, I don't know what I'm going to do...maybe I'll split it into several more chapters. ;;; Oh well, have fun reading this!! Let's see what I come up with next
Morning had come too soon for the poor future Sailor Senshi. They all were given to wear similar clothing, a light shirt and short skirt, not very revealing but perfect for battle. During the night everyone but Serenity's signs disappeared, making them look like normal people except for the fact that their hair was abnormal. They were all extremely tired, but that did not stop the fight from the night before to continue.
"Pass me the butter please," Neptune asked Uranus, who to her distaste was sitting right next to her.
Uranus continued to chew her food, gracefully cutting the eggs up so she could eat them. Neptune waited a few moments before slapping the table lightly, "I said pass me the butter PLEASE!"
Uranus looked at her, disinterest in her eyes, "No."
"What did you just say?" Neptune slammed her fist on the table.
"Sorry, little spoiled princess, but I'm not passing it," Uranus looked away, "It's too far away for my royal hands to reach."
"PASS me the butter PLEASE." Neptune stood up in anger. She was ready to take out this bitch that looked exactly like her ridiculous brother any time, any day.
"Little Saturn," Pluto said enthusiastically at the youngest of the girls present, "want me to teach you a little trick?"
"Yeah!" Saturn nodded with a smile.
"Let me see your spoon," Saturn did as she was told. "Now we put the natto on it. I put some kikurage on my spoon. Now we bend the top back and on the count of three let it fly to the person sitting in front of us. One…two! Three!!"
The two hit their targets. They began shouting, trying to get their least favorite food off of their body.
"I'm sure all of us would appreciate it if you would SHUT UP," Pluto shouted at them.
"Yes," they said in unison, heads bent.
Mercury giggled softly while Venus started laughing at them, rattling the table as she fell face forward, "You guys are so weird!"
Uranus and Neptune glared at her in unison and then at each other.
"You know," Neptune remarked, "With a brother like that, I'm sure you're the one who sought out to embarrass me so."
"I think you do a pretty good job of that yourself," Uranus retorted.
Jupiter scratched her head, sighing, "Will you two cut it out? I'm really tired and this food sucks but you're not helping."
"You think it's bad?" Princess Serenity asked her, sitting at the head of the table, with Mercury and Mars at her sides. "I don't think so, especially since I've been eating it all my life."
"Oh, it's terrible!" Princess Jupiter went on, "I think I should go teach these so-called cooks how to really cook…"
"You can cook?" Mercury asked, a small smile on her face.
"Of course!" Jupiter said proudly, "I refuse to eat anyone's food but my mother's and mine back home. Here I'll just go with it…but this is just plain bad."
"Hmm, you're right," Mars agreed, "I've had better."
"What's this? Be quiet! Shut up about the food!" everyone stopped and blinked, not knowing where the voice came from just as a small black cat jumped on the table.
"Arrrg, one of the reasons why I dislike cats for pets!" Mars exclaimed shooing the cat away, "They always jump on tables and get fur on your food. Even if it's not very good."
"Can we stop about the food?" The cat hissed.
"A talking cat?" Jupiter was a bit taken back.
The cat sighed, "Fine, I'll show you."
Poof! In a flash of smoke, sitting on all fours was none other then Luna. She wore a light yellow shirt and skirt, perfect for what she needed them for later. Everyone stared at her besides Serenity, all extremely surprised. Luna stood up, her back to their Princess, and pointed at them all, "What's this going on during this morning! Stupid small talk! Tons of arguing! Even food fights?! How very ladylike and Princess-like of you all! Listen, the first step to become a Sailor Senshi is to get along! If you can't do a simple thing like that, you aren't worthy of your name."
Luna hopped down from the table, tapping her foot impatiently, her arms crossed across her chest. "Hast thy royal highnesses have ANY clue what time it is? Princess Serenity, you forgot to tell them what time their classes begin!"
"Oh," Serenity dropped the cup she was about to drink out of. A dark liquid splattered across the table. She scratched her head sheepishly, "I forgot."
"Unforgivable!" Luna grabbed one of Serenity's odango-shaped piggy-tails, "Listen, when you become queen you can't forget little things like that!"
"Ara?" Serenity stared at Luna's hair.
"What? Do I have a piece of food in it from being on the table or something?"
Serenity shook her head, "Luna…you have cat ears."
Luna blinked and reached to the top of her own head, still keeping a firm grip of Serenity's hair. She felt around until she felt an ear that stuck up like that of a cat's. She screamed like a cat would and instantly became a cat in mid-air. Luna fell to the ground, breaking the cats-always-land-on-their-feet rule.
"You're supposed to be a guardian?" Venus yawned as the maids began scurrying in clear the tables.
"Shut up!" Luna shouted as she leapt over to the door, her fur sticking on ends, "It's time to go to your lessons! Now!"
"Okay," they all said in unison and stood up, following Luna to the special training room that had been used for centuries.
The girls filed into the room and looked around. The room was like a stadium, with an area for developing different abilities throughout the room. Taking advantage of everyone taking in the details of the room, Luna leapt up to Artemis' shoulder, who was standing in a corner, waiting for them all.
"What's wrong? Why are you a cat?" he asked her.
"I think I gave up too much of my power," Luna whispered, "You get them started and I'll instruct."
Artemis nodded and stepped out of the shadows for them all to see, "Welcome young Senshi. I am Artemis, and I, along with Luna, shall be instructing you until you are ready to become Sailor Senshi. So, here's a question of the heart, who thinks they are the strongest?"
Uranus looked at Neptune who showed a sly smile. Pluto sighed and raised her hand, "I do not think, I KNOW I am the strongest."
Uranus stared at her, "I can beat you any day, fortune-teller lady!"
Pluto raised an eyebrow, "That so?"
Luna and Artemis sighed in unison. They knew who would win off the bat anyway. No one who had not received any of their training already would be able to Artemis clapped his hands to break it up.
"Well then, for our first exercise, why don't we watch a battle between Sailoruranus and Sailorpluto?" Artemis pointed at a set of weapons, every kind imaginable sat there, waiting for a person to choose the weapon that suited them most. "Choose any weapon you like and only one. Then you two can begin your battle. The rest of the Senshi please stand by me."
Uranus and Pluto both already knew the weapon meant for them. Uranus chose a long bladed sword while Pluto chose a staff that was nearly her height. Doing as Artemis continued to instruct to them, they stood a pretty good distance away from each other. Pluto had a very calm aura around her while Uranus breathed heavily, it was obvious she was getting pretty annoyed by all of the events that had happened recently.
Artemis raised his hand into the end. "Begin!" His hand dropped and immediately Uranus began running at Pluto. Pluto gripped her staff in both hands, her face determined.
Over on the sidelines, Neptune laughed haughtily to herself, "What a fool."
"What do you mean?" Venus asked her.
"Don't you know? Pluto's nearly all done with her training. No way some idiot like her can beat who you can consider a real Sailor Senshi." Neptune grinned, "This is going to be great."
Their chosen weapons met. Pluto was slowly pushing Uranus back. Uranus clenched her teeth as she brought her sword back and started to swing again, only to be deflected by Pluto.
"Too slow!" Pluto shouted, "I'll make this easy on you and finish you off fast."
Two more clashes until Pluto was able to deflect a low blow. When Uranus brought the sword back, Pluto swept the Senshi of the wind of off her feet. As she began to fall backwards, Pluto struck the staff into Uranus' chin, making her fall on her back. After the quick win, Pluto picked up Uranus' weapon off the ground and put them back where they belonged.
Neptune continued laughing, "Thank you so much Pluto for teaching her a lesson. A ha ha ha!"
Uranus rolled over, coughing into the ground. The blow had knocked the wind out of her. Uranus clenched her fists, enraged. That woman full of riddles beat her! Why? Neptune's laughter began ringing in her ears. She glared at her and began standing up, "Shut up!"
"Neptune, stop it!" Luna said, sighed, "Okay, this isn't working. You must all learn to trust each other. Now."
Uranus walked over to the group and plopped herself on the ground next to Saturn. Saturn smiled at her and Uranus gave her a funny look.
"Sorry Uranus," Saturn told her, "But considering Pluto's almost done with her training, we knew you were going to lose. You put up a pretty decent fight though."
"Is she really?" Uranus sighed, "I didn't know that…Damn. Now I just made a fool out of myself."
Saturn started giggling as she turned her attention back to Luna and Artemis.
"Artemis, get that out," Luna instructed.
Artemis stood there for a second, not exactly knowing what "that" was. He just assumed it was the mini-maze.
"Now," Luna continued, "You see this? You all are going to zapped so you're small enough to fit in this thing! You'll choose your partners for pairs and there will be stopping points where you change who your partner is…"
"Say," Venus poked Jupiter, completely ignoring Luna, "Why is your hair that color?"
"Yeah, I know," Jupiter sighed, scratching her head, "I wish it was more like brown…"
"I wish mine was black." Mars stated, crossing her arms over her chest, "This color red is just so eww."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!" Luna ran over to the middle of their little group, growling, "If I have to repeat myself again, there'll be big trouble!!"
The girls stopped talking and sat up straight.
"Anyway, continuing," Luna stood by Artemis, her cat eyes glowing, "Pluto does not have to participate in this, as I have another drill prepared for her. I shall choose the pairs now."
Luna silently walked through the group. As she looked around, she was considering the personalities of each girl. Of course, one pair was a given, but the rest would have to be blindly chosen. Luna sighed and just decided to choose at random, "Serenity and Mars. Mercury and Jupiter. Venus and Saturn. And of course, Uranus and Neptune."
Uranus and Neptune looked at each other, not believing what had just happened to them at all. Then noticing the other's look, they started glaring.
"If you just do as I say we'll get through this fine," Uranus told her.
"Freak no!" Neptune's voice nearly cracked.
"SHUT UP," Luna jumped in-between the two, "How many times do I have to say be quiet? This is the very important first step to becoming a Sailor Senshi. Work together or suffer the consequences!"
Uranus and Neptune stared at her, dumbfounded. This cat had the biggest mouth ever. Or was it just cat PMS? Neptune giggled at that thought.
Luna sighed an exasperated sigh and jumped up Artemis' shoulder, "Let's just begin already but I get even more upset!"
Artemis chuckled, "All right everyone, close your eyes."
Everyone did as they were told.
Serenity and Mars opened their eyes at the same time. Serenity jumped up from her sitting position and ran around, "Woah! Cool! I never knew we had something like this in the castle!"
"Be quiet," Mars remarked, standing up and brushing her butt off, "Let's just get out of her. The atmosphere feels really icky."
Serenity nodded and they began making their way through what could have been a never-ending maze.
"I feel like a mouse," Serenity babbled, trying to keep a conversation between her and Mars going, although the fiery girl gave no response to her.
As they walked Serenity watched her, noticing how tense she always was while they were in here.
"What's wrong?" Serenity asked her innocently, "You look so tense."
Mars did not respond and Serenity sighed, giving up. She looked to the right and felt her foot catch on something. Before she knew it, she was on the ground, flat on her face. "Owwww! That hurt!"
Mars sighed, "So you're a clumsy princess, hmm?"
"No I'm not!" Serenity stood up, "At least I know how to have and start a conversation!"
"What do you mean? Who wants to talk about all those stupid things you kept on mentioning?"
"Ohh, you're so mean!! What I used to try to start a conversation was not stupid!"
"Or maybe you're just stupid?"
"How dare you!" Serenity pouted, stuck her nose in the air, and continued on walking. Mars followed behind her, sighing. When they got to the fork in the road, they both stopped and stared at it. Serenity looked at both ways too, "Hmm, which way do we go? Hmm…when in doubt, go left!"
She smiled and pointed, laughing to herself and her brilliance. Mars stopped behind her, causing Serenity's happiness to fade away as she looked back at the Senshi of fire. Mars sighed as she looked down at her feet.
"When I was little," Mars began, "A close friend of mine and I were trapped in a forest-like maze. We could not figure a way to get out. It was my fault that we went, since I asked her to go with me inside. We lost our way and it took us nearly two days to get back home. We were terrified out of our wits the whole time…since then I promised to myself never do anything that had to do with mazes ever again…we almost got killed. We ran into a wild monster and all we had to defend ourselves was a stick…it was horrible…"
"Mars…" Serenity put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
Mars shook Serenity's hand off, "It's okay now though. We won't get lost for sure!" Mars smiled and took out what looked like a piece of paper with strange characters on it. Mars placed it in front of her face, "Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, ZEN!" She pointed to the tunnel on the right. "This way!"
Serenity blinked, oblivious to what Mars had just done. Just smile and nod, that's the way to go! "Okay, let's go then."
They raced through the right tunnel, seeing bright line ahead.
"That must be our exit!" Mars said, glad to finally get through part of this horrible maze.
Serenity nodded, smiling at Mars, "Thanks for working with me!"
A small smile appeared on Mars' face, "No problem, Princess!"
They made it through the door, noticing how the two people who had made the most trouble out of all of them so far were waiting for them.
When Neptune had finally opened her own eyes, Uranus had already stood up.
"It took you long enough to open them," Uranus said, her back turned to Neptune, "Let's get going. I want to get out of this situation as much as you do."
Neptune stood up, brushing herself off, "For once I agree with you."
They began their long journey through this maze, following its twists and turns. The two were silent, each hoping that this would be quick and they would not have to deal with each other. Neither was really in the mood for arguments now.
"Say…" Uranus said slowly, trying to pick the right words so not to anger Neptune, "What do you have against me?"
"You're related to that idiot brother of yours," Neptune replied calmly, "For that I cannot stand any of your family."
"Don't blame us for what that fool did! Especially me!" Uranus tried to keep her voice down, but could not resist it being raised.
"You embarrassed me and hurt my family! I will never ever forgive any of you Uranians for doing so! I hope you all disappear!"
"You're such a spoiled brat. I had nothing to do with it, how dare you blame me!"
"You're strange anyway! Why don't you grow your hair out so you don't look like your stupid brother? Maybe then I'll accept you!"
"I hate long hair, it doesn't suit me! If you knew anything you probably would have realized that!"
"Well I don't know anything about your planet except that the great racer and pianist Haruka Tenou comes from there! Other then that, I don't give a flying duck."
Uranus raised an eyebrow, her look changing from an angry one to a surprised one, "H-Haruka Tenou?"
"Of course! Are you jealous of her or something?"
"Who would be? I don't care about that person!" Uranus stopped, shouting at Neptune, "Why did you have to start this conversation anyway?"
"Bull shit!" Neptune stopped also, "You're the one who started it! With your hey why do you think I'm stupid when it's pretty obvious why!"
"What was that? At least I don't look like a helpless little pretty, pretty princess who can't do a thing without a man!"
"Arg, be quiet! You're giving me a headache!" Neptune stomped her foot into the ground and looked ahead, "Oh, look, two ways to go."
"Let's go right!" Uranus instantly said.
"No, I think left would be best."
"Who says you're right?"
"Because I have a great sense of direction!"
"Oh so you're part mouse looking for the cheese?"
"Shut up! We're going left!" Neptune grabbed Uranus' arm tightly and dragged her off to the left tunnel.
"Hey, let go of my arm! That hurts! Owwww..." Uranus complained, giving in although trying to make it seem like she did not want to. She had to admit that Neptune was pretty.
The light from further down the tunnel almost began blinding, although Neptune still held her grip on Uranus' arm. It was really beginning to hurt now that she had been holding onto it for a while, cutting off Uranus' circulation. Uranus was beginning to feel like her arm was going to fall off, "Hey, umm, you can let go of my arm now…"
"Eh?" Neptune looked back at her hand still holding Uranus' arm and immediately let go, a blush forming across her face, "Ah, sorry…"
They finally made it to the light.
"See? I told you this was the way," Neptune said, a light grin on her face.
"Yeah, yeah," Uranus said. She was about to say something else when their next partners showed up to them.
"Pluto, sit over here," Artemis offered her a chair.
Pluto took it graciously and sat. A table that seemed to grow out of the ground appeared before her. Artemis took out a deck of cards and began to shuffle them. He then dealt them on the table, putting them in a specific order. Pluto watched as the order seemed to take the shape that was similar to that of a building of some sort.
"It may not look like much, but this shall be your final test," Artemis told her, "In order to become a true Sailor Senshi, your heart must be strong and be able to see through illusions. As Sailorpluto you must know where everyone is and know the flow of everything. These cards are not any old ordinary cards, as they were given to us by Chronos himself, so you should be bale to feel your power flowing through them."
Pluto nodded and Artemis flipped the first card over. It revealed a picture of the gentle Princess Serenity, smiling softly as she sat in a field of flowers.
"Choose the card that best suits the picture on the card using your powers," said Artemis, his blue eyes narrowing, "The God Chronos shall then decide if you are ready or not by how you choose the cards."
Pluto nodded again and stared into the glittering eyes of Serenity. She was such a precious girl, Pluto felt that she would die for her, but she knew that was her duty anyway. Carefully she raised her hand and flipped a card over. It revealed a picture of the Earth. Pluto's eyes widened and she looked at Artemis. He had no reaction on his face whatsoever.
"Say, can you see the pictures on these cards?" Pluto asked Artemis.
He shook his head, "Only you can."
Pluto nodded as Artemis took the card out of her hand and flipped the next one over. It had a picture of Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune. Uranus was holding a sword to Neptune's throat while Neptune looked terrified. Pluto gulped as she flipped a card over that said "death" upon it. That was not good.
The third was of Serenity and Prince Endymion, embracing each other and almost looking as if they were about to kiss. Pluto flipped over an image of a cruel woman with beautiful red hair and dark eyes that you could easily get lost in. She held the throat of Princess Serenity, the bodies of dead people lying around her.
Artemis hesitated in flipping the fourth one over, noticing how tense Pluto looked and the look of shock on her face every time she flipped one on the table over. He knew that something was not right, but the fourth he flipped over was a picture of Uranus. The one Pluto flipped over displayed a picture of the obvious expression of Uranus longing for Neptune while she gave Uranus the cold shoulder.
Pluto stood up, sliding the chair back further then it would have normally gone, "That's enough!"
"Pluto? What's wrong?" Artemis asked, running after her as she ran towards the wall.
Before her eyes, the entrance to the Gates of Time appeared and opened for her. Headstrong she ran in, stopping just inside. She was surrounded by light smoke. It was there to confuse anyone who somehow managed to find a door to get there. It was also used to make sure people got lost and could not find the other Gates of Time, thus taking them to another time and dimension.
"Chronos!" Pluto shouted, her voice echoing in the silence, "What is this, a joke? What are you trying to tell me? Are you just showing me the future? Or do you want me to fix this? If those images are a joke, they're horrible!"
Pluto looked around, her teeth clenched. She squeezed her fists together but heard no reply, "Answer me!!"
"…I think you know which ones I want you to fix…the others are just the future…" Pluto was in a daze as she spoke what Chronos wanted her to say. After he had finished speaking through her though, Pluto shook her to head to get rid of the weird feeling she had in her head while speaking his words. She rubbed her eyes, turning around to go through the doors again. When she reopened her eyes, Artemis and a human Luna were awaiting her.
"The Queen wishes to speak to you," Luna told her, rubbing her cheek like a cat.
Pluto nodded, not looking back as the gate remained behind her as she left the room.
Mercury and Jupiter were silent as they walked, not knowing what to say to each other. Mercury was just too shy to think of anything to say to the girl who had a strong aura about her, while Jupiter was just thinking how much she would like to get out of this place. When they came to their fork in the road, with three tunnels this time. Jupiter looked at Mercury, "So, which one shall we take…?"
Mercury looked at them both, peering at the darkness within each tunnel.
"Well," she began, "if only I had my computer here we could figure this out easily…"
"Since we don't, why don't we just pick randomly? It'll be fun!"
"But could that be safe? What if Luna and Artemis decided that it would be fun to have some kind of monster and it attack-"
"Ah who cares? If there's a monster, we'll fight it off, easily!" Jupiter grabbed Mercury wrist and ran through the right tunnel.
"Wait! Are you sure this is safe? I don't think we should just charge into a place like th-"
"I don't think Luna and Artemis would make us fight just yet!" Jupiter laughed, although that quickly ceased when they came to a dead end.
"A dead end…?" Mercury sighed, "Guess we should go back."
"Ahhh, what a waste of time," Jupiter turned around and trudged back to the entrance of the tunnel they were currently in, hoping the other two did not consist of the same thing.
Lucky for them though, their second guess resulted in the end of the tunnel.
Princess Saturn sighed. Ever since they had started, Venus had been talking about everything and anything she could think of to make sure there was not silence between the two. To Venus' questions, Saturn just usually shrugged or gave a small answer that was never very satisfactory for Venus. Then the question came where Saturn had to give a longer and more serious response, "What do you think of all of this Senshi business?"
Saturn stopped walking and started at the ground. She had the worst feeling about it all and she did not like the dreams she had been getting ever since she was young. They all featured death and destruction, sometimes deaths that were going to happen soon in the future, although those were pretty rare. Princess Saturn hated it all, her mother had even told her she was not allowed to be carefree because that was not the personality of the powers she would end up inheriting. Because of that, she had stayed away from people all her life. No one could understand her, she figured, because they did not have to go through what she had to go through. But could she tell Princess Venus or the other princesses? They would understand, right? Or would they?
"I think," Venus interrupted her thoughts, "That this is going to be so much trouble and yet so much fun! Think of all of the adventures we're going to have! And all of the trouble we can get in…you look like a little troublemaker! Hey, why don't we have some fun together after this?"
Saturn blinked and stared at Venus, she shook her head in disbelief, "I do not think that getting in trouble would be the best thing…although I do think this will be fun." Saturn was barely able to spit that last word out, "I can't wait until I become a Sailor Senshi…I think we should hurry up and get out of here!"
Saturn clenched her fists and began to run, not taking a second to look back or call Venus to follow. She heard Venus utter a cry of confusion as she ran after the little girl, but Saturn did not turn around. She ran into the fork in the road, not even noticing there were two paths.
"Hey, wait!" Venus cried as she ran after her. Had she angered Princess Saturn? She could not figure it out.
When Saturn finally looked up again, she smiled. She had found the end.
Neptune and Mars walked in silent, both of them with their noses in the air. They just wanted this whole maze thing to be over and done with.
"You know," Mars said, breaking the silence, "I don't see what you have against Uranus. You're just randomly picking a fight with her."
"She has a bastard brother and has an evil aura around her," Neptune rolled her eyes, "I think that is enough to be said about the matter."
"She so does not have an evil aura around here," Mars stopped, "You know, I kinda wanna be friends with Uranus. She seems cool, unlike you."
"What did you just say?" Neptune stopped and glared into Mars' eyes, causing Mars lose her composure a little.
"I…said…oh never mind, let's go!" Mars continued forward, feeling the hot gaze of Neptune's eyes on her back.
They finally came to their next opening. Mars looked around the room in shock. Dozens of tunnels were everywhere. Neptune walked up behind her and sighed.
"Oh, well, well, well, where shall we go?" Neptune smiled sweetly as Mars looked back at her, "Shall we flip a coin? Or guess randomly?"
"No," Mars has a strong tone in her voice, "I know exactly what to do." She put her hands in front of her face, as if she was going to begin praying. "Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, ZEN!… That way." Mars began to walk in the direction that the powers she had always unknowingly possessed had told her to go.
Neptune raised an amused eyebrow, "And what makes you think that direction is the right way?"
"Don't ask questions, let's just go," Mars ran ahead, not looking back to make sure Neptune was following her.
Neptune sighed and followed her. After what seemed like an eternity of running through the winding roads of the tunnel, Neptune stopped when she saw the dead end. She stifled a chuckle as Mars ran into the wall blocking their paths, but she did not want to start yet another fight. She had already had enough of everyone and their foolish behaviors. No one seemed to act like they had any idea as to what they had gotten themselves into.
"Well then," Neptune yawned, "You brought us to a dead end. Seemed your chants were very right indeed."
Mars clenched her fists and started shaking, tears welling up in her eyes. Her power was wrong about which way to go? How could that be? It was right back when she was with Princess Serenity…
"Let's go back and have me give it a try," Neptune turned around and started walking, the heels she was wearing clacking loudly against the floor and bouncing off the walls to whirl around in Mars' head. Mars began to feel dizzy as she took a step forward.
"Wait," Mars began to breathe heavily, her dark memories whirling around in her head.
Neptune stopped and looked back, her eyes searching for what was wrong with Mars. It was very obvious something bad was happening to her, because Mars' body was beginning to sway back and forth as she held her head, her eyes closed in pain.
'Rei! It's a monster… What did you think you were doing?… AHHHHH! Watch out! Run!!… Foolish little girls… I'll hear none of it, Mars, you better not ever fail again… You're bringing shame to us!… What would the Queen think?… Do not go near that girl ever again… What's this? What do you think you're doing?… Princess, please listen to me, don't do this… How dare you defy me! SLAP…'
Mars covered her eyes and fell to her knees. "Go away…please…" Tears fell down her cheeks.
Neptune watched Mars, a distant look in her face.
"I was wrong," she said quietly to herself, "We must all the same…"
Neptune walked over to Mars and knelt down, holding her softly. Mars was shaking more then ever, her hands down by her knees as she looked up at the ceiling.
"I want to get out of here…"
Neptune nodded and stood up, offering her hand, "Let's go then."
Mars took it and clung to Neptune's arm. It was so warm. Mars leaning on her shoulder, Neptune led Mars back to the center and through a path completely different then the one Mars had chosen. Mars had not even though about how Neptune had known it was this tunnel, she just wanted to get out of this place. Slowly but surely they made it to one last area that in the time it took one single person to take a breath of air, they were brought back up to the surface.
After Mars and Neptune had left them, Princess Serenity had immediately bowed to Uranus. Surprised, Uranus bowed automatically, a sweat bead lining the brim of her face. When Serenity was back up to her original height, much shorter compared to that of Uranus', she clapped her hands and held a huge grin upon her face. Uranus blinked and smiled shyly. Was this girl trying to seduce her?
"Sh-Shall we go?" Uranus offered her arm to the princess without thinking. Just as she was about to put it back down Serenity eagerly grabbed onto it and giggled.
"Let's have fun! I hope you'll talk to me more then Mars, I'm scared of dark places like this," Serenity's grin seemed to have grown wider and Uranus' sweat drop larger.
"T-That so?" Uranus could not help but smile. If Serenity was always like this, she was going to like her. A lot.
Serenity hummed lightly to herself, her smile had faded a little bit. The tune she was humming sounded slightly familiar to Uranus, although she could not remember where she had heard it before though. Uranus reached for the earring in her right ear and began to play with it out of nervousness. She had never been this nervous before around anyone, but maybe it was because she was so close to the person whom she was destined to share her soul to in order to protect. This person could say to go jump off a building and she would have to do it, without protest. Man, that sucks.
"Uranus, what are your hobbies?" Serenity smiled happily to her.
She ruffled her short blonde hair slightly, trying to think of a good answer, "I guess…sports and piano. If you could call that my hobby, since I'm kinda forced to do it…"
"You play piano?" Serenity's eyes brightened in the dark cave.
Uranus blushed slightly, looked away, and nodded, "I guess I'm pretty good, since I've been playing it since I was really young."
"Fuuum," Serenity sighed, "I wish I could play an instrument of some sort like that…one that can become very popular… Say, have you ever seen Haruka Tenou play?"
"A-Again with the Haruka Tenou?" Haruka muttered and sighed.
"Did you say something?"
"Uh, no. But I guess you could say I have seen her play before…"
Serenity had a confused expression on her face but shook it off and gasped, her mouth opened wide in shock. When Serenity had stopped, Uranus looked where she was looking and looked uneasy. They were surrounded by tunnels.
"Ohhhhh shit," Uranus said without a second thought.
"Let's…go?" Serenity dragged Uranus to the nearest tunnel.
After a few moments, they found the dead. Back they walked to the center and into another tunnel they went. Of course, this ended up being a dead end. And the next one they tried and the one after that. It was pretty painful to be Princess Serenity or Princess Uranus at that moment. That is, until they tried the tunnel in the center, just for kicks. They came to the end and Serenity started jumping up and down for joy, "Yay! Yay! We're out of here! Finally!"
Serenity ran ahead without hesitation, laughing for joy. Uranus sighed, glad to be out of that hellhole.
Pluto was kneeling down on one leg, her head bowed. Queen Serenity stood in front of her, her eyes narrowing as she watched Pluto.
"Chronos has informed me that you have passed the final test," Serenity said firmly, no emotion in her voice. "Which surprises me, because you completed it so quickly. I'm also surprised you came to me so fast without even knowing for yourself if you have passed or not."
Pluto clenched her fists and teeth, resisting blurting out what she wanted to say.
"So, I shall give you your transformation pen," Serenity raised her arm and opened her palm. In midair brilliant colors of dark light created patterns, a light so bright that Pluto could not resist looking up. The sign of Pluto appeared in the center of what looked like an atom and continued to move faster and faster in its pattern. Finally, an explosion of light occurred. A pen with a ball in the center of it fell into Serenity's hands.
"Tonight," Serenity said, "You shall transform and—"
"Please my Queen!" Pluto interrupted, desperate, "Chronos has told me to fix something in time. If this disturbance is not fixed it can be the beginning of a huge war, causing many deaths! Please, give me time before I must leave to try and fix this!"
Serenity's expression changed, thoughts of Serenity and Endymion crossing her mind. If Pluto were her answer then she would allow her to stay for as long as she needed, "Does it have something to do with my daughter?"
Pluto shook her head, "No, but it is something equally as important!"
Serenity nodded, "Then you have one week."
Pluto stood and bowed, "Thank you, your Highness! Thank you."
"You are excused." Pluto bowed to the queen again and ran out of the room. She had no time to waste, no pun intended.
Venus was making noises that sounded an awfully lot like she was determinedly watching something. It was beginning to annoy Mercury. A lot. This girl had seemed really hyper all through the time Mercury had to watch her, as she was the one who was always in the action, it seemed. Based on all of the information Mercury had learned from her classes and studying, Mercury had concluded that they were very, very wrong about Princess Venus' attitude. Maybe they were all talking about the wrong person and talking about Venus' mother, because Princess Venus was definitely not a calm, composed, and sincere girl. No, she was the typical boy chaser and gossiper. The type Mercury could not stand. They always had the worst things to say about her when they thought she was not listening. Luckily for her though, whenever she got so angry the sweet feeling of ice would cool her off. Mercury had always been alone in school, unlike this happy-go-lucky girl who was probably surrounded by people who loved her very much all the time.
These thoughts caused Mercury to continually stare down at the ground as she felt sorry for herself. She blocked out Venus' chattering, which were all out of her being nervous about being around yet a second person that did not speak that much. She disliked such silent people, because they seemed like they always were hiding something from her. When they came to the center of their own circle of tunnels, Venus started shaking Mercury to get her out of her thoughts. Out of annoyance Mercury yelled at her to stop. Venus had a hurt look in her eyes as she looked around at the tunnels, "B-But…we need to decide which way to go."
Mercury blinked and looked around, thoughts and calculations racing through her head. Venus watched her as Mercury zoned out.
"Uhhhh, hello?" Venus waved her hand in front of Mercury's face.
Mercury instantly slapped it away, "I'm trying to think!… According to what I've seen so far, I think one of the three tunnels to the north is the way we need to go due to the fact that I doubt there's no way out to our right or left."
Venus stopped, taking in all of this information. She sure did not look it, but Mercury seemed pretty smart and aware of her surroundings, "Okay! Random guess time. Which one do we take first?"
"Why not just go left to right?"
"Okay!"
They silently crept into the tunnel, both freaked out because it suddenly got a lot darker then it was before. They had been many torches with lights along the way, but it seemed there was none in this tunnel. Venus clung onto Mercury's arm, looking back and forth at their eerie surroundings.
"What's wrong?" Mercury asked her.
"I'm afraid of the dark," Venus told her, "Especially when I'm not holding onto anyone hand."
Typical, Mercury though, of course she'd be afraid of such a thing since she was a golden child.
Up ahead, it started getting lighter.
"The exit?" Without thinking, Venus grabbed Mercury's hand and pulled her forward, "Let's get out of here! I can't wait!"
Venus laughed and skipped happily as she swung Mercury's arm behind. Mercury was trying not to trip as she attempted to keep up with Venus, becoming annoyed to the extreme. She wanted to free her hand, but Venus' grip was too strong. Mercury was never the strong type of girl. Her troubles were over pretty quick though, because they made it to the warp pretty fast, both earning their way to the world they know.
When they first came face to face, Saturn smiled lightly at Jupiter. Jupiter could not help but smile back, noticing how adorable the girl was.
"I'm Princess Saturn," Saturn bowed her head slightly to the girl who was older then her.
"Jupiter," she patted her on the head as they both began to make their way out of the area. Jupiter had raised her arms behind her hand. It looked like she was trying to scratch her back.
"So you like to cook?" Saturn asked, a curious look in her small round eyes.
Jupiter nodded, grinning, "My mom let me help out in the kitchen when I was really young and now I do all the cooking by myself. I hate to eat anyone else's cooking besides my own and my mother's. It's how I grew up."
Saturn giggled, "Sounds like a nice childhood."
"I guess you could say so," Jupiter's smile faded into a sad look and her shoulders dropped. Jupiter sighed and swayed side to side, giggling when little Saturn began to do the same thing.
"I want to learn how to cook!" Saturn exclaimed running on ahead, "It looks like so much fun."
Jupiter nodded, "It is!"
Saturn turned around and stopped. Her face scrunched up so it had a weird look on it, although it was obviously a look of confusion.
"Wow…" Jupiter lowed her arms and blinked.
Saturn looked to her left and was immediately captivated by the tunnel. The darkness seemed to be sucking her in…
"Which way do you think we should go?"
"That…way…" Saturn pointed and began walking towards the tunnel, not caring whether or not Jupiter was following her or not. If she went into this tunnel, she knew she would be happy all her life…or would she?
Jupiter followed her cautiously, noticing how odd the younger girl was acting all of a sudden.
"Saturn…are you all right?" Jupiter asked as they continued, although she had received no reply.
Deeper and deeper they went and the tunnel got darker and darker. Jupiter began to get goose bumps as she followed, noticing how it was suddenly getting cooler. They had finally reached the dead end, and Saturn absent-mindedly plopped herself down on the ground. Jupiter did not notice her sudden disappearance to the ground and tripped over her, following face-first into the dirt. With a growl of annoyance, she sat up and began shaking Saturn.
"Heeey, what are you doing on the ground? Stand up and let's go back! It's a dead end."
The shaking snapped Saturn out of her daze, as she immediately began squeaking in fear, forgetting how she had gotten there. Jupiter finally got her to calm down and they left in a hurry. Back in the center, Saturn looked around again.
"They all…are calling to me because they are so dark…except that one," Saturn pointed at one of the tunnels.
Jupiter took Saturn's raised hand in her own and turned towards it, "All right then, let's head in that direction."
Saturn fidgeted with her hands as they walked there, wondering why she had felt so strange towards all of the tunnels. Was this a test of her power? Was it supposed to be normal? Saturn sighed as they made their way to the light, her hands slightly shaking as they walked in. She was glad to be out of that place…or was she?
Luna, finally having enough strength to be in her normal human form, was tapping her fingernails loudly against the side of the wall she was sitting on. She sighed as the last two finally appeared. It did not go as well as she would have wished, and Pluto too. There was something wrong with the way she stormed out the way she did. It was strange. Something was going to happen and she wished she knew what it was. She looked at Artemis longingly, her face showing that of a slightly confused face. Artemis was showing his usual serious face as he looked up at Luna. She hopped down without a hesitation and looked at the future Sailor Senshi.
"Everyone," she said slowly, "I think you all did very well. Although a few of you need some help with how you behave with one another, that can be fixed easily…I hope. And so, I think that is enough for today…you are dismissed."
Luna turned around from the girls as she heard their eager murmurs and giggles as they left. Artemis put a hand on her shoulder, "Shall we tell the Queen?"
"Yes…although I fear what she shall think."
Artemis nodded as the two followed after the girls, a loud creak and bam followed their exit as well as pure darkness in the room.
"Serenity did well, Mercury did well, Mars did okay, Jup-" Luna said out her observations very seriously to the Queen, Artemis standing right next to her. Both wore their serious face and stood up straight.
"What happened with Mars?" Queen Serenity asked, a look of boredom across her face as she sat upon her throne.
"She was haunted by past memories…and failed to choose the right tunnel when she was with Neptune, although when with the Princess she did it perfectly." Artemis explained and bowed deeply.
Serenity nodded, "Good. I only care about how the four girls react towards my daughter. The other three do not matter."
Artemis looked at her skeptically, "What do you mean?"
Serenity sighed, "Oh, nothing in particular."
Luna and Artemis exchanged glances and Luna faced forward again to continue, "Jupiter did well for her abilities, but this was not enough to show her true skills. Venus…did not do well at all. She was immature through the whole thing, laughing and giggling."
Serenity rubbed her eyes, "We cannot have that…I shall have a talk with her later. Continue."
"Uranus and Neptune are still having problems, but otherwise they got through it together."
"Good," Serenity interrupted and nodded again.
Luna bowed and continued, "And Saturn…did something I have never seen anyone of Saturn do…"
Serenity stood up, "Well, sounds like they did well enough for their first-"
"But don't you care to hear my observations about Saturn?" Luna bowed deeply to apologize for interrupting.
Serenity narrowed her eyes as she looked at her and turned away, completely ignoring Luna, "They did well for their fast day. You are dismissed."
Luna and Artemis looked at each quizzically.
"But my Quee-" Luna protested.
"You are dismissed." The tone in Serenity's voice told them that it was a command and if they did not obey there would be consequences.
Artemis nodded to Luna and they bowed.
"Excuse us," they said in unison as they turned around to leave.
When the door shut with a creak behind them, Serenity sighed and sat down again, slouching. She began to breathe heavily as she grabbed her head, chills running up her spine.
"Saturn," she breathed, grabbing the side of the chair and squeezing the hard detailed marble until her hands turned white, "cannot stay…"