Chapter 2 – "Girls' Talk"
"Ghaw, what time is it?" Chibi Usa moaned sleepily as she felt the customary tug of Diana's teethes on her pajama sleeve. It was the day after her arrival home and Chibi Usa had a distinct desire not to part with her soft, cushiony bed.
"It's almost eight O'clock Small Lady! You need to get up!" Diana said as best she could while continuing trying to pull her mistress up with her inadequate grip.
"But Diana, I just came home yesterday, can't you let me sleep for another half-hour or something?" the princess groaned and pulled the bed sheet over her head.
"Small Lady!" Diana meowed helplessly when a knock was heard from the door.
"Mmm...who is it?" Chibi Usa asked from beneath her sheets.
"It's us Chibi Usa-chan" Cere-Cere's voice answered when the door flew open and the rest of the Quartet rushed in.
"Good morning Small Lady-sama!" Palla-Palla squealed delightfully as she landed on Chibi Usa's bed and almost landed on the princess' head.
Chibi Usa threw the bed sheet off her head and looked dazedly at the four girls who have just entered the room "What the-?"
"Oh, I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep princes! But I couldn't stop them from crashing in here." Cere-Cere said with a disdainful look at her sisters.
"It's all right Cere-Cere, I was suppose to get up by now anyways." Chibi Usa sweat dropped and smiled.
"See, I told you she wouldn't mind." Jun-Jun smirked at her pink haired sister "Unlike you the princess isn't a stiff old hag."
Cere-Cere crossed her arms and shouted "How dare of you to use such language in front of her majesty!" the leader of the Quartet retorted while Palla-Palla was playing and singing with Diana in the background. "We are senshis now, and because of that and the fact that we're living here in the palace, we have to be careful how we carry ourselves!"
"Oh please!" Ves-Ves waved her hand dismissively as she sat at the end of the bed while Jun-Jun laid down on her stomach on the feathery soft bed "Like you were acting like a lady last night. You scurried around half the time checking out every nock and cranny of our room and the other half of the time you kept on driveling on and on about how cool the place was. And let's not forget, you were snoring after you finally fell asleep."
Cere-Cere's face turned bright red as she screamed "You are so intolerable!" with that she turned around and made a determined face not to reach over and strangle her red haired sister.
Seeing this family drama play out before her Chibi Usa couldn't help but snigger. Another light knock on the door distracted the girls from their bemusement and all heads turned to see Neo Queen Serenity chuckling as she walked in.
"I see you girls are having a good time." The queen said good-humouredly
The Amazones Quartet scrambled to get up and bowed to their queen "Good morning your majesty!" they said in unison.
"Good morning to you as well Palla-Palla, Jun-Jun, Ves-Ves, and Cere-Cere." The queen greeted them each by name. Chibi Usa mean while, was trying to get out of bed and she looked at her mother with a head of messy hair.
"Morning Mama" Chibi Usa smiled
"Morning dear," she said as she looked around at the girls before her "Now, I came here to tell you I have arranged some basic classes for you to take here in the palace. Your teachers will be the older senshis. Your schedules will be handed to you after breakfast." Looking to her daughter now the queen continued "Small Lady, you will be joining them in class since you know more about the things they will learning from now. This will help to build up your teamwork and relationships with each other, but I dare say you have already started on that." The queen said with a grin.
Chibi Usa nodded but whispered to her mother "Mama are you sure it'll be okay for the senshis to take time out and teach? What about the palace security?"
Neo Queen Serenity grinned "Don't worry honey; the senshis are taking shifts between teaching and their regular duties. Besides, they all seemed pretty happy to get a break from their usual routine."
"I guess you're right, a break from the usual would be a blessing. I'll see you later." Chibi Usa sighed softly.
"Alright then, don't take too long. I'll see you in the dinning room." The queen leaned over and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she turned and left the room.
After the queen departed, the Quartet let out a long breath of relief. "Phew! I thought the queen was coming in here to yell at us." Ves-Ves said honestly.
"But Palla-Palla thinks Neo Queen Serenity-sama is very nice, she smiles a lot and even said 'good morning' to Palla-Palla." The blue-haired Amazones said as she held Diana in her arms.
Chibi Usa sighed "That's my mother all right, she has the biggest and kindest heart in the whole wide world. It doesn't matter if you're a senshi or not, she'll treat you just as nicely as her closest friend. But you guys should've seen her when she was young, you'd never think she could be Sailor Moon. She's afraid of heights and a hoard of other things and a renowned cry baby."
Cere-Cere said thoughtlessly "My, to think the queen was once a ditzy airhead...!" realizing what she had just said out loud Cere-Cere quickly clasped her hands over her mouth. Everyone laughed as Cere-Cere blushed hard, knowing she has just violated her own rule of proper behavior.
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(Etiquette with Sailor Jupiter)
"All right girls, as residents of the crystal palace you will need to know some basic etiquette that are very important when foreign dignitaries and representatives are visiting." Jupiter said to her class. The brunette wasn't in her usual sailor fuku, instead she was wearing a graceful sap green dress and a white apron.
The girls were seated before a long table covered by a pristine white tablecloth. In front of each student were a fine china plate, a fork, and some peas.
"On most occasions you'll see these dignitaries during a formal state dinner so today we will begin with basic table manners. Any questions before we start?"
Ves-Ves raised her hand and said uninterestedly, "Why do we have to learn how to use a stupid fork?"
Jupiter winked at the dubious Amazones "Because even though it looks simple, using a fork can be very tricky and it's very different from using a chopstick. Now, I want each of you to try and eat the peas on your plate one at a time using only your fork and no cheating, meaning no craning your head forward for picking them up with your hand. Whoever finishes first will get a special treat from me."
The girls looked at each other, and although they haven't gotten a taste of Sailor Jupiter's famous cooking, a reward is always good motivation. And so, they set their eyes on the bunch of pearl-like peas and began maneuvering the green pods with the fork.
Chibi Usa, having done this countless times before, had no problem with using the three pointed silverware in her hand, and had the fewest peas on her plate. She patiently rolled the peas to the center of the plate first, then one by one, scooted them to the raised brim of the plate and waited for gravity to let the pea roll back onto the fork. Then with exquisite grace, she balanced the fork and slipped the pea into her mouth.
Cere-Cere was also quite successful but every once in a while a pea would refuse to cooperate and roll off the end of her fork. "Darn It!" the pink haired girl would complain under her breath as she maneuvered the pea back in position.
"Come on..." Ves-Ves muttered as she took several seconds to maneuver a pea onto her fork before it sat gingerly between two prongs and she happily popped it into her mouth and started on the next one.
Palla-Palla at first looked a little confused and disgusted. As far as she was concerned it made no sense having to practice picking up icky green veggies using a fork. But nevertheless since everyone else was doing it, she tried it too and now her cute round face was covered with an intense frown as she persuaded a pea to site on her fork and swallowed the food with a grossed out look on her face.
Jun-Jun was another story. Not one pea from her plate has been eaten and there were even a couple of spilt ones sitting outside her plate. She tried what everyone else was doing but was constantly unsuccessful in the end. So on her tenth try, with her frustrated green eyes locked onto the matching peas, Jun-Jun steeled her focus to try again. She maneuvered it in a zigzag until she rolled it to the raised brim and finally the pea rolled onto her fork. But as she picked it up and brought the fork near her mouth the pea would suddenly wobble precariously before slipping off and landing on the table. Trying it again only produced the same result with the pea rolling off the fork shortly after she got it on.
Taking a quick glance at the others, Jun-Jun felt beads of sweat forming on her face as she watch the peas on everyone else's plates disappear steadily. I can't believe this, at this rate I'll loss for sure not to mention humiliated! Oh! Damn it, I am going to pick up this stupid pea and that's that!! With that steadfast resolve in mind, Jun-Jun glared down upon this one tiny pea in her plate, a fiery cloud of anger boiling behind her in the background.
She tightened her grip around the silver fork and eyeing the pea like a Tomahawk cruse missile, she rammed her fork down on the plate and everyone heard a loud crack.
After her hand stopped shaking, Jun-Jun saw she had just split the china plate in the middle and peas were bounced all over the table and a look of utter embarrassment was on the Amazones' face as she dropped her head in defeat.
Unsurprisingly the princess won the little pea eating contest and received a bag of Jupiter's specially baked cookies as a reward. Jun-Jun apologized for the destruction of the fine china plate but Jupiter said kindly that it was okay and that with practice she'll learn soon enough. By the end of class and on their way to the second course of the say, Chibi Usa split the bag of cookies with the Amazones Quartet.
"Here you go Jun-Jun" Chibi Usa said with a smile as she handed the girl two cookies. Still sore from the embarrassing display back in Etiquette class, the green haired girl reluctantly accepted the cookies.
"Sorry about the plate...guess I don't have an ounce of grace in me..." Jun-Jun said crestfallenly.
"Oh don't worry about it! When I was little I was just as bad if not worse. I even licked the tomatoe sauce off the plate during a formal dinner once." The princess laughed and blushed at her own misbehavior.
Ves-Ves slapped Jun-Jun on her back and winked "Yeah, don't feel bad about it, just think, you've made our first Etiquette class a real moment to remember." She grinned sheepishly at her sister and added "Just remind me not to sit next to you during dinner!"
Jun-Jun smiled and blew a raspberry at Ves-Ves which made everyone laugh as they walked into their second class of the day.
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(City Geography and sociology with Sailor Venus)
Sailor Venus' class was less like a class room and more like an idol's walk-of-fame as Chibi Usa looked around the room they were in. Posters of famous celebrities from different eras shared the wall with each other and memorabilia crowded the table and shelves. Venus herself was dressed in a tour guide outfit complete with a cap, the décor around her fitted Venus like a glove as she began the class.
"Welcome to my class everyone!" Venus shouted cheerfully. "Here I will teach you about Crystal Tokyo and its society so that you can become familiar with your new home. Today let's begin with the basic break down of Crystal Tokyo's many districts!"
Chibi Usa sweat dropped at Venus' flamboyant display as she pulled a map down and produced a pen pointer from her breast pocket. The Quartet were actually quite impressed with the blonde senshi's displays and their attention were rightfully focused on their "teacher".
Pointing to the center of the map with her metallic pointer, Venus explained "As you know the crystal palace is in the center of Crystal Tokyo and is the main focus of the entire city. That is why the area around the palace is called the central district and where the political atmosphere is the heaviest." Going in a circle around the rest of the map, Venus continued "the rest of Crystal Tokyo is divided into five zones with each zone having its own unique distinctions. My personal favorite is the shopping district in the yellow zone!" Venus sighed happily "It has the best stores and there are so many hot young actors and actresses there, it's just wonderful! Especially that three story Gucci story, it's totally the bomb!"
At this Cere-Cere's face lit up and she clasped her hands together and said hopefully "Really? I love Gucci! It was such a tragedy that I couldn't go check out any of the stores in old Tokyo while I was here!"
"Oh I understand!" Venus squealed and took Cere-Cere's hands "When I was young I couldn't go either because my mother wanted me to only study and have no fun! You know what," she gave the girl a teary look of compassion and a deep sniff "I will go with you tomorrow, I cannot stand to let this atrocity go unchecked and as the senshi of beauty, I will personally see to it that you have the most wonderful experience!"
"Yes! Oh thank you so much Venus-sensei!" Cere-Cere was positively crying and her eyes were the size of saucers as the two kindred spirits wept in each other's arms.
While this went on everyone else just looked at them with multiple sweat bead on their heads. Palla-Palla had an extremely perplexed look on her face while Jun-Jun looked like she was about to puck and Ves-Ves was trying not to laugh out loud. Chibi Usa just looked flabbergasted, the corner of her mouth twitching as the shopaholics celebrated their sorority. In the end they took the rest of the class time chattering between each other while the rest of class just gawked.
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(Basic Combat with Sailor Mars)
After the idiosyncratic session with Sailor Venus, most of the girls were glad to move on after a quick break before it was time for the next class. First they were asked to change cloth and each now wore a simple sweat shirt and shorts. Instead of a classroom, the directions on the schedule told them to go to the senshi's private training room. Walking in all of the girls except for Chibi Usa, who's been in the room before, marveled at the scoop of the place. The room was the size of a stadium, but was completely barren and was painted stark white. Sailor Mars stood in the center, the only senshi they have seen thus far in her senshi fuku.
"Good afternoon ladies." Mars nodded at the girls who slowly filed in and approached their mentor. "As senshis your duty is to protect, support, and defend the princess. This, although it might not look the part," she gestured with her hand "is a training room that is specifically designed to hone your skills to help you fulfilling that duty. Since today is your first day, I would like to personally test your skill level." The Martian senshi said that with a rather ironic tone.
The girls nodded and grinned to each other. Reading their looks, the raven haired senshi produced a grin of her own. "However, I'm not going to just let you come up and fight me like a mob. You'll have to find me first." With that the image of Sailor Mars disappeared and the lights dimmed as the ground beneath them began to rumble.
"What the-?!" Ves-Ves looked from side to side as the tremor grew. Suddenly the white floor right before their feet rose up block by block, forming obstacles and four crooked pathways as they elevated.
Finally the place stopped shaking and Mar's voice, broadcast over a loudspeaker, answered the question foremost on their minds. "As you saw this is no ordinary training room. The floor in this room can be programmed to transform itself into an obstacle course. The equipments here can also generate holograms within the structure to create a realistic simulation. The image you just saw of me was in fact a hologram. I was and am now at the end of the course and the objective is to take out as many holograms as you can by striking them and be the first to reach the end of the course. Small Lady, I want you to go up to the control room and keep track of everyone's progress for me. Now on my mark, ready, get set, GO!!"
"Come on, let's show her what we've got!" Jun-Jun rallied as the Quartet looked at each other and nodded confidently before splitting up. In the control room, Chibi Usa watched on the huge monitors as the Quartet dispersed. There were four colored dots and each color corresponded to the Amazones it tracked. As Chibi Usa watched the dots move over the thin hovering screen laying flat before her, the Quartet encountered their first barrage of holographic ghouls.
Jun-Jun was quick to respond as she ducked the first charging hologram and when it came back around, spun around and did a roundabout, kicking the ghost-like hologram with her foot. The fake ghoul faded and vanished and Jun-Jun was able to move on. A few feet away from her Ves-Ves was doing just as well. Two ghouls came at her at the same time and the red Amazones jumped up and landed smoothly on top a tall protruding block. The two holograms drifted through each other, turned around and came back towards her, one before the other. Ves-Ves jumped off the block with one foot forward and took out one hologram then landing on a lower block, leaped forward and struck the slower hologram with her fist.
Palla-Palla glanced around her and raced between a long white valley. Just then a hologram appeared in front of her and came zipping towards her. Caught off guard, Palla-Palla closed her eyes and raised her fist to hit the hologram. When she opened her eyes the hologram was gone but Palla-Palla whimpered when she saw her knuckles were red from having struck the wall in her blind assault. Having taken out a hologram with an easy swipe of her elbow, Cere-Cere looked around her. She could see the thin gap that was the end of the course and when she saw the coast was clear, she made a run for it. But as soon as she took her first step three holograms converged on her, trapping her. A kick took out one hologram and an elbow took out another. As she faced the last hologram, Cere-Cere grinned thinking she's almost done when a dozen holograms flooded around her out of nowhere.
Waiting patiently at the end of the course, Mars looked up when Ves-Ves and Jun-Jun simultaneously stepped out from the maze and flashed a triumphant smile at each other. After a few minutes Palla-Palla came out, still rubbing her sore hand. Lastly was Cere-Cere, looking somewhat haggard.
"What took you so long Cere-Cere?" Jun-Jun asked.
Cere-Cere gave her a look but when she didn't see sarcasm on her sister's face, she confessed with a heavy sigh "I got surrounded by a pack of holograms. Just taking care of them took up a whole lot of time."
Mars nodded "In battle you'll never know what or how many enemies you may come across. That's the first lesson of the day: as a senshi you got to be prepared for anything and everything."
At that time Chibi Usa came down from the control room and greeted her senshis with a big smile "You guys did great! Especially you Ves-Ves and Jun-Jun! Congratulations!"
Ves-Ves blushed and scratched her head bashfully "Eh, it was nothin' ha-ha" she laughed, receiving a sour look from Cere-Cere while Jun-Jun simple winked.
"All right don't get all flustered now. Chibi Usa's right, overall you guys did do pretty well despite the differences in time. The more you practice the more you'll learn; that's what this class is for." Mar said honestly.
"So does that mean that Palla-Palla can still be a good senshi even though she hit the wall?" the blue haired Amazones wondered.
Jun-Jun nodded "Yup! Even though we just started, we're all going to be great senshis someday!"
With that Palla-Palla smiled and the girls melted into a conversation with Mars as Chibi Usa thought to herself as she watched. The four Amazones were noisily but vigorously engaged in what they had to do and Chibi Usa had never seen a group of people, when their environment has changed so dramatically, has complied and adapted so quickly. Chibi Usa smiled softly life is going to be interesting with these four around...
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(Technology with Sailor Mercury)
The last class of the day was with Sailor Mercury who has invited them to come to her lab in the basement of the crystal palace. The girls approached the laboratory with a respectful degree of caution since Chibi Usa warned them that it was rumored that some odd things happen behind the closed doors.
Chibi Usa led the group and when they reached the end of the hall way and found the door with the many caution stickers, warning against radiation, corrosion, and any other number of hazards, the Amazones Quartet were having doubts if they should enter the place at all. The apprehension was even affecting Chibi Usa who had dismissed the rumors but decided to just press the call button and brave the unknown.
"Come in! I'll be done in just a moment." Mercury's voice answered from an unseen speaker above the door, making everyone jump. When the door opened noiselessly, they were greatly surprised by the sight that welcomed them. The hallway they had walked down to get here was lit only by a few sparingly spaced lamps, but now the hallway exploded in light as the filtered white light spilled over them. Everyone blinked; some raised their hand to shield their eyes. But once their eyes adjusted what they saw was actually very uninteresting and disappointing.
No monstrous machine or crackle of electricity greeted them, because the enigma behind the door was really a normal hallway. The white washed tunnel with a seemingly endless hallway that had many doors on both sides, each door marked with a label. Sailor Mercury, her elegant figure wrapped in a buttoned white lab coat walked out from one of these doors, closed it behind her and flashed a genius smile at the girls.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to finish making the buffer in the enzyme experiment I'm planning for later this evening. Follow me," she said and adjusted her glasses "I have something to show you."
The girls looked at each other, not knowing what to expect. So they followed the blue senshi's directions and stuck to her as they went down the hall. Mercury stopped in front of a door labeled "Comp. Engineering" and opened the door by looking into a small hole on the door that scanned her retina and allowed her in with a metallic click.
Inside this room was what looked like a development lab for electronics. On a large table in the middle of the room were many strange looking computers the Quartet have never seen before. There was only a floating glass monitor and a keyboard, no bulky CPU or drives were visible. Other smaller electronic equipment, from recognizable items such as what looked like a palm pilot to strange objects that the Quartet had no idea what they were used for littered the space between each computer. The walls of the room were covered by the same glass-like material that made up the computer screens and have been raised towards the ceiling, obviously unused. The Quartet assumed they were probably used to display and project images when lowered.
Once she was in the center of the room, Mercury turned around and picked up some object on the table, holding them in her palm. "I am here to teach you the basic computer skills you will need to be able to perform your duties as a senshi in Crystal Tokyo. However, I would like to give each of you something first as a present." At that she opened her palm and the girls stretched their necks forward to examine what was in the senshi's hand. Sitting prettily in her palm were what looked like earrings. Each pair perfectly matched the earrings the five girls were already wearing and they looked nothing out of the ordinary as Mercury gestured for them to pick them up and put them on.
"I didn't know you liked to make jewelry Mercury-sensei." Cere-Cere commented as she put on her new flower-shaped earrings.
"These are no ordinary earrings Cere-Cere. They serve as a communication device between you five and also as a tracking device in case you ever get separated. To talk to each other, all you have to do is press the earring and speak the name or names of the individuals you wish to speak to. With these you can talk to each other no matter which part of the planet you are on and have been specially protected not to be affected by magnetic storms which would normally cause some electronics to malfunction. Now there is only one last thing left and it's this little gadget right here." Sailor Mercury picked up a small white device that was round and no thicker than a pancake. She flipped the device open and it turns out to be a small compact computer.
"Small Lady, do you recognize this handy little device I'm holding?" Chibi Usa nodded and Mercury continued "This is a miniature hand held computer, much like the one I had. However this one has been greatly improved. It has the processing capability of a present day super computer, and can track your movements, project a holographic image, even hold all of the data in the Earth's database regarding History, Science, so on and so forth, just to name a few. I will be giving this to one of you," Mercury looked at the Quartet "however none of you are at a level where you are capable of using such an advanced device yet and so I wish to see which you four has the greatest potential to use it..." Just then the blue haired senshi noticed something strange. "Wait a second; there's should be four of you...how come now there's only three of you here?"
Chibi Usa turned and sure enough, only three members of the Amazones Quartet were standing beside her. "Palla-Palla...where's Palla-Palla?"
"I don't know; where did she run off to?" Jun-Jun admitted as she looked around the room.
"Palla-Palla is right here!" The short girl's chirpy voice answered from somewhere. The girls walked away from the table they were standing by, went into an adjacent room and saw Palla-Palla seated before a computer that was sitting alone in the room.
"What are you doing here and not listening to Mercury-sensei Palla-Palla?" Cere-Cere looked disapprovingly at her sister.
"Palla-Palla saw this interesting picture," the girl with the blue balls hanging from her hair explained and pointed to the screen floating in front of her. "But the picture looks wrong so Palla-Palla fixed it." The youngest Amazones smiled proudly.
Mercury gasped and her face turned pale "That's no picture! That's the 3-D simulation for the new palace auto-defense system that we've been working on for the last four years! I forgot to turn the simulation off when I left this morning!" she ran up to the computer and typed away on the keyboard before she shook her head "I can't undo the change, she's deleted the return option."
Everyone felt the breath in their throat clog up in their mouth as they looked in unison to Palla-Palla who seemed confused "What is it? Did Palla-Palla do something wrong?"
Ves-Ves slapped her hand over her face and dragged it down as the other Quartet member looked disapprovingly at their youngest.
"That was years of work you've just ruined, genius." Ves-Ves said under her breath.
Hearing this, Palla-Palla's round doll-like face turned into a sad sob "Palla-Palla didn't mean to, she just want to fix the mistakes on the picture!"
"Picture?! That's no picture, that's a highly classified blue print for-" before Jun-Jun could finish Mercury's surprisingly calm voice silenced her.
"Actually Palla-Palla's right; she did fix it."
A unanimous "Huh?!" filled the room at Mercury's statement.
"Well, upon closer examination that's precisely what Palla-Palla did." Mercury smiled at the girl in question who sniffed and gave the senshi a confused look. "There was a flaw in the design of the system we have been trying to adjust for the last few months but not even the best engineer in Crystal Tokyo has been able to come up with a solution." She pointed to the simulation running on the screen "But what Palla-Palla did, by deleting this and this section here, she has solved the problem with such simplicity that we never considered it. That was amazing." She sighed and looked to the girl with a new sense of respect.
Palla-Palla smiled and blinked away the tear that had began to gather by the edge of her eyes "You're welcome" She said modestly while everyone else looked on in shock.
"You've never had any formal training or operated such an advanced machine before, yet with a few taps of your fingers you solved a daunting problem. Because of that, I think I should give this to you now." Mercury reached into her lab coat pocket and took out the round computer which was now a pale blue color with an indigo colored star in the center.
"Thank you Mercury-sensei! Can Palla-Palla play nice games on this?" Palla-Palla asked, causing everyone else to sweat drop.
"Yes you can, but it will be very useful to you during your time as a senshi. So take good care of it." Mercury advised gently. Palla-Palla nodded and the two exchanged a smile, shared between two strangely like minded individual.
Class picked up where Mercury left off and she began to give an introduction to the computers and other technologies used commonly in the 30th century. Finally when class ended, the Quartet bid their teacher farewell and began to fill out of the computer room.
Chibi Usa went up to Mercury and tapped her on the shoulder. "What is it Small Lady?" the older woman asked.
Chibi Usa glanced to make sure the Quartet were out of hearing range and whispered "Are you sure it's okay to give Palla-Palla the computer so soon? How do you know that what she did was not just by chance?"
Mercury chuckled and shook her head "I'm surprised you'd ask. No, I don't know if what she did was chance or not, but I can tell that even though she may not look the part, Palla-Palla is a very intelligent girl." Chibi Usa raised an eyebrow at this remark and Mercury explained "Wisdom and intelligence isn't always measured by how many books you've read or what university you graduated from Small Lady. I can see a light in that girl's eyes as I explained things to her; she's watchful and willing to learn. I'm sure with the right education and training she will replace me as the Senshi of Wisdom one day."
Chibi Usa nodded slowly
Mercury patted the princess on the head "You should have faith in them, they are your senshis and you girls must rely and trust each other one hundred and ten percent if you are to work together. Get to know them, and then you will see the things you didn't see when you first met and you'll begin to learn to work as a team."
That bit of friendly advice ringed in Chibi Usa's head for the rest of the evening. After emerging from her bath late that evening, the princess looked at her room as she dried her locks of pink bubble gum colored hair. "Being friends with them means nothing if you don't trust them." she said to herself as her eyes drifted to the picture collage by her bed. The frame held photos of everyone she has known in the 30th century, all her friends and family were there, smiling back at her from that moment of happiness which was frozen in the frame of a camera. The person she wants to give the picture to taught her just how important trust is; even when you've given up on that trust, the other person can still believe in you, unwaveringly.
A thought occurred to Chibi Usa. She dropped the towel on her bed, and went to the door. But as she looked out into the dimly lit hallway she hesitated. Turning back she picked up the picture frame and finally left her bedroom. In a room a few corridors away from the princess' quarters, the Amazones Quartet lounged around on their beds in the large bedroom they shared together. The queen had offered them each a separate room, but the girls had preferred to stay together, since for as long as they could remember they had never slept separated from each other.
Jun-Jun plopped down on her bed, her hands behind her head as she yawned tiredly "Man, we did so much work today, even more than when we worked for Zirconia."
"Yeah, but at least we were doing honest work, not the dirty jobs ladled out by an old wrinkled squid." Ves-Ves replied as she sat down by the edge of her own bed.
Palla-Palla looked up from where she sat on her bed, the little computer given to her earlier in her hand and a thick book on her lap "Palla-Palla likes Mercury-sensei, she gave Palla-Palla this nice new toy."
"That's not a toy you silly, that's a piece of high-tech equipment for senshi use only. Be careful with it." Cere-Cere cautioned. Just then a light knock come from the door. The Quartet looked at each other curiously as Cere-Cere went to open the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me, may I come in?"
Recognizing Chibi Usa's voice, Cere-Cere hurriedly opened the door and gave her a welcoming smile.
"Please, come in Chibi Usa-chan." Chibi Usa smiled shyly as she side stepped inside the door and greeted the other Quartet members.
"Small Lady-sama!" Palla-Palla cried happily, preferring to address the princess by her formal name as she rolled off her bed, a doll hanging in the crook of her arm. "Lookie at what Palla-Palla made on the computer!"
Chibi Usa walked over to her bed and saw to her amazement a picture of Crystal Tokyo in full 3-D animation. "Wow, you did this today?" Chibi Usa looked at the blue haired girl who nodded.
"Mercury-sensei told Palla-Palla about something she called 'computer language'. She gave Palla-Palla a book about it. The book had no pictures but sensei said it can let Palla-Palla draw cool pictures and do other wonderful things on the computer if she reads it. Palla-Palla really wants to play with new toy so she read the book, and since Palla-Palla really like the palace she decided to draw a picture of it first!"
Chibi Usa smiled and looked approvingly at Palla-Palla "That's great, you really have a natural talent with these things Palla-Palla. We've all underestimated you."
While the short Quartet beamed proudly, Ves-Ves approached the princess "Did you need to see us Princess, we thought you'd be in bed by now."
"Nah, I'm actually quite a night owl, and besides" Chibi Usa put the picture frame in front of her "I was wondering if we could have a chat, you know, to get to know each other, if you guys aren't too tired that is." She added quickly.
The Quartet's eyes lit up at this and each of them smiled "Having a chat would be great; it'd be like having a sleepover."
"Woopy, sleepover!" Palla-Palla cheered, she grabbed Chibi Usa's hand and said "Princess can sleep on Palla-Palla's bed!"
"Oh no, I can't do that! I'm the one who just dropped in; I'd be imposing on you."
"But this is your house Chibi Usa," Jun-Jun argued "Technically we're the ones who are imposing."
"Alright stop arguing." Ves-Ves interjected as she grabbed her pillow and blanket, then tossed them on the ground "I say we all sleep on the floor tonight, how's that?"
The girls gave each other a look of agreement and each began to drag their bedding onto the floor. Chibi Usa went back to her room and brought her own pillow and blanket along. Soon the girls were seated in a circle on the floor. As Chibi Usa fluff up her pillow, Ves-Ves picked up the picture frame she had left sitting on her bed spread.
"Wow, that's a lot of people. Hmm, she looks familiar." She asked inquisitively, pointing to a Chinese girl with a purple cloth covered hair bun.
Chibi Usa smiled and took the frame from Ves-Ves' hands. The Quartet crowded in as she told them "That one there? Why she's Momo-chan, you've met."
Recognition flashed over Ves-Ves' face as she took a closer look at the picture "Oh, yeah huh. How's she doing?"
"Momo-chan's doing great, at least the last I saw of her anyway." Chibi Usa smiled sadly.
"...sorry...I didn't mean to make you upset." Ves-Ves whispered as the mood sobered in the room.
Palla-Palla crawled over and tugged the princess' sleeve, looking keenly at the teen's eyes "Palla-Palla know that Small Lady-sama misses her friends in the past from long, long ago, that's why she brought their pictures along. But Palla-Palla and Cere-Cere and Jun-Jun and Ves-Ves are here now. We're your friends, so you won't be lonely."
Sniffing back tears, Chibi Usa nodded and blushed slightly "haha, thanks..."
Jun-Jun ruffled the princess' loosened pink hair "Yeah, don't you worry. We're gonna be the best group of friends you'll have in this century and the next!"
Cere-Cere clasped her hands together, her eyes closed cheerfully "Well now, I think we should officially begin the sleepover party! What do you guys think?"
"YEAH!!"
As Chibi Usa laughed with the Quartet, she figured to herself that trust is something build up over time, but she knows that process has already begun.
A/N Hmm, not much to say except here's the second chapter. I know the description for the Inner Senshis might be a bit stereotypical and I apologize; I couldn't really make this chapter work without doing so. BTW if anyone sees anything wrong with what I've written, especially concerning computer, I'm sorry but I'm a computer baka. (sweat drop) Also, I'm traveling abroad right now so updating won't be easy since I'll be moving around a lot and a reliable and secure internet is hard to find.