Chapter Nine: Complications: The Senshi Unnerved

Author: StarlightMichi

Neptune returned to normal. To all appearances, she hadn't suffered at all. She went about her daily routine with her normal smile on her normal face, as she completed her normal tasks. It was Uranus that still wore the worried frown and crease upon her brow. The senshi of the skies seemed to follow Neptune everywhere, never letting the woman out of her sight. She was constantly ready to catch her if she fell. It was starting to annoy Neptune.

"I'm not going to break," Neptune stated in a not-so-polite manner. "I'm not made of glass."

Uranus' cheeks pinkened a little. "I know you're not, but I want to make sure you truely are better. What if you relapsed?"

Neptune heaved a sigh. "You got the orb, didn't you? I'm fine now."

"What if that wasn't it? What if it was something else? What if-"

"What if nothing. Leave me alone already, I feel like a child." Waving her hand dismissivly, Neptune watched Uranus sigh, stand, and stalk out of the room with an unhappy grump. She didn't like leaving the sea-senshi alone. The image of her lieing so still and weak on her bed was still to clearly imprinted in Uranus' mind. She refused to let it happen again.

For lack of anything better to do, she headed down towards the Dining Hall, deciding a snack might cheer her up.

"Uranus!" The familiar, focused voice called the soldier to attention. Turning, the blonde waited for Mercury to catch up.

"I think I've figured the Orb out," she stated at once, not waiting to be asked. Mercury launched into a tale of her trials and troubles figuring out the small, round object they'd found on the ocean floor. After a few minutes and a million complicated phrases later, Uranus was terribly confused and Mercury was out of breath.

"In conclusion," she stated at last, "I believe the Orb was designed to suck the energy of the planet into itself."

Uranus frowned as she picked up a small cake.

"That doesn't make sense, the planet was fine..."

Mercury shook her head, soft blue locks fluttering gently around her face.

"No, not like that. I meant... It was designed to suck the life out of the soul of the planet. And the soul of Kaiohsei is Neptune." Uranus pondered this information, her jaw tight. The pair selected a table off to the side that was more private. Popping a peice in her mouth, Uranus chewed as she thought angrily.

"So, they were trying to kill Neptune?" she asked, her voice tense, and forced.

Mercury winced slightly, ignorning her own plate for the moment. "No, well, I don't belive that it was their intention. I don't think they--whoever planted the orb--knew it would have this effect. It's schematics are set up so that it will run quietly, draining energy but not in a way that alerts people. It's meant to kill the planet from the inside. It just happened to suck it straight from Neptune. If left unchecked... well, Neptune would have died, and then Kaiohsei would have died."

This didn't seem to help matters. Uranus, who was not too tense and angry to finish her cake, thunked her fist down on the table.

"I won't give them a second chance," she stated fiercly. "I'm going to stop them."

Mercury shook her head gently. "Talk to Serenity-sama. Don't be rash..."

Although the Princess knew the reason Earth's council was still at the palace, it still concerned her. She didn't know all the details, just that it most likely had something to do with the strange planet floating on the other side of the sun, and the attack before the banquette.

However worried she might be, though, she couldn't help feeling happy that Endymion was still near. They'd had more time together than originally thought, and Princess Serenity felt just a hint of guilt. It was because her Kingdom was in danger that she got to see him.

She stood at her balcony, looking out over the palace courtyard with little interest in the goings on below. She was lost in her thoughts, traveling back to her meeting with Endymion. He'd seemed concerned, and a little ill.

Frowning, she recalled the paleness of his skin, and the circles under his eyes. Why hadn't she noticed before? He'd been stressed, and she hadn't said anything. What if it was serious?

Vowing to ask him about it next time, Serenity sank into a near by chair and lost herself in her day dreams.

Serenity never got the chance. In the dead of night, Earth's Prince and his four guardians were called back immediatly. Something terrible had happened, but no one on the Moon knew quite what it was. Only the Queen walked around with a look of knowledge and concern on her face.

Venus stared at her intently from across the dining hall, puzzling over her expression. "What if she knows about Endymion? What if Endymion's parents know, and that's why he was sent home?" she asked, her voice reaching a squeaky pitch.

Mars winced as she took a spoonful of hot cereal to her mouth. "I doubt that's it," she stated calmly, blowing gently on her breakfast.

Jupiter shrugged at Venus, though she did cast hesitant glances at the queen. "I don't think their love affair is a top priority right now, V," she said rationally. "I think it has something to do with Kaiohsei, or that dead planet."

Mercury was missing this morning, but it didn't surprise the four girls. The blue senshi had been missing a lot lately, caught up in her experiments on the mysterious orb. Though Neptune was normall once more, and Mars no longer felt uneasy about Kaiohsei, Mercury was convinced there was more to the orb that it's first purpose. The three senshi were learning to live without their fourth guardian until Mercury was satisfied.

"Well, whatever it is, I wish she'd tell us. It's driving me insane!" Venus pouted a bit, and turned her eyes away from the Queen and onto her own breakfast.

"She'll tell us when she's ready," Jupiter stated calmly. The three went back to breakfast, and talk of happier things.

Mercury had, indeed, been fast at work. After a few more days of endless experimenting, prodding, and poking, she was confident she'd learned all she could about the dark orb.

Clutching her treasure protectivly, she hurried down the hall way towards the Pearl Chamber, where she'd agreed to meet with Uranus, Pluto and Queen Serenity to discuss the Orb. Neptune was resting, as the palace healer, after looking her over at Serenity's request, decided she needed a bit more time off her feet. Furious, the sea-senshi had locked herself in her room, not speaking to anyone.

"Well," Mercury started, standing at the head of the table. "This is what we found when we went to Kaiohsei." She sat the orb down on the table with a soft clink, and glanced towards Serenity. They had informed Pluto and the Queen of their adventure upon return. Though at first upset, Serenity later thanked them for the action, as it had saved Neptune's life.

"It's a common object, really. It's nature is to suck up the life of anything around it--Don't worry, it's not working any more." She touched the orb gently with one finger, and it flared brightly.

"When activated, it is dark, sucking in all light around it. It collects the energy of the planet it is on--but it must be in contact with the surface of that planet. The closer to the soul of the planet, the better. This is why it worked so quickly on Kaiohsei--the depths of it's ocean allowed the orb to become quiet close with it's soul. Closer than the other planets would allow."

Pausing to catch her breath, Mercury continued. "All it does, is collect energy. Where it stores it or sends it, I cannot tell. It does appear to have released the energy when Uranus grabbed it, thus restoring Neptune to her normal self. Why this happened, I'm not sure. All I can think is that it is a crude device that must remain in contact with the planet to work, and must stay in contact at all times or it will lose it's energy."

Frowning, Mercury prodded the orb, which flared bright white, then died. "I haven't been able to turn it on. The most I've been able to do is get it to flare. I believe there is a unique way to set it off. Or, it simply dies after some time."

Finished, she sat down, allowing the other senshi to peer at the orb. Uranus looked tense, staring at the object, that had nearly killed Neptune, with death in her eyes. Pluto was more serene, regarding the orb with curiosity. Serenity looked concerned.

"How do we know that only Kaiohsei was attacked?" she asked after a small pause.

Mercury's mouth twitched. "Well, I can't be certain, but I think this was a prototype. Mars sensed it's difference when we were on Kaiohsei. None of us have been getting lethargic, and she cannot sense anything else. But... there's no way to know for sure. The best bet we have is to be on our guard, and on the look out for anything unusual happening to us, or our planets."

Serenity nodded. Standing, she walked to the end of the table and touched the orb. It flared red, and Serenity jerked her hand back, startled. Mercury, also, looked startled, and peered at the orb.

"It's never done that..." she stated. Reaching out, she touched the orb again. Nothing happened. A few more prods yielded the same results--nothing.

"I think it's truely dead now," she stated. Sighing a bit in regret, Mercury glanced around the room. "I belive Neptune will be completely better."

Uranus glowered. "She had better be. I cannot believe those savages attacked her planet!" Throwing her fist on the table with a loud thunk, Uranus stood and paced. "We have to do something," she stated sternly.

"We shall," Serenity replied, looking seriously at the three. "I want you three, along with Mars and Jupiter, to visit each planet. Make sure there are no more orbs."

With a nod, the meeting was over.

Neptune sulked. Her arms were crossed, her head was turned, and she stared at the wall angrily as Uranus tried to explain.

"She just doesn't want you to get hurt," she tried, uselessly. Throwing her hands up, Uranus walked to the other side of the bed, only to have Neptune turn away again.

"It's not my fault!"

"But you didn't speak on my behalf, did you?" Neptune asked, her voice frighteningly cool. Uranus shivered a little.

"Well, no..."

"So you're not faultless after all. Didn't you think I might want to go too? Didn't you think to ask me first? It was, after all, my planet that was attacked!"

Uranus just looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. I really am. I have to go though. We're heading out immediatly. Please don't be mad at me?"

Neptune grumped once more, but it wasn't in her nature to be upset for long. Turning, she gave Uranus a small smile. "Alright. But this is the only time I'm sitting out. Hurry up so you can tell me about it. I'm so tired of being on bed rest."

Surpressing a small grin, Uranus nodded and hurried out.

After an exhausting day of visiting all the Planets under the protection of the Moon Kingdom, the six senshi returned to the Palace with a total of seven new orbs. It had sickened Mars. She sat in a small chair, trying not to lose her lunch. It wasn't just the feeling of uneasyness she felt whenever an orb was near that had upset her. What had gotten to her was seeing that death-ball on the surface of her planet, carefully tucked away in one of the many volcanos. What if they hadn't found it? What would have happened to her? To her planet?

Venus wrapped an arm around her friend, trying to comfort her. It didn't seem to matter how many times Venus said "But we found them, so it's OK," Mars didn't seem to look any better for it.

Serenity exited the room with Mercury in tow. They each held an orb, though Serenity's was red, while Mercuries was black--like the rest they had collected.

"It appears we have them all now. Mercury will keep an eye on them, and has agreed to study them." Nodding, Mercury tucked her orb into a small basket where the others were. Serenity placed hers among them, allowing the blue-haired woman to hold all eight.

Mars and Venus left, Mars needing a little nap and Venus unwilling to leave her alone.

As the senshi split, Pluto remained with Serenity, worry on her face.

The end of Chapter Nine

A.N. Well, what do you think? Getting a little deeper into the plot, ne? Maybe there'll be another fight soon? (or maybe more fluff, eh? grin) Comment, and then wait to find out!