Chapter 4

Talking Statues

A few days later Amy, Lita, wal;ked with Serena to her house to do a little study session. They were laughing at a joke that was told in class before the bell had rung.

"I can't believe you fell for that Serena!" Lita giggled.

"I can't help it!" Serena laughed. Amy only chuckled quietly to herself. It was really funny. "I'm hungry."

"Okay, why don't we go to the fast food place across from the arcade then hit a few games before we subject ourselves to studying."

Amy put her foot down, "Nope, we are going straight to Serena's house to study for finals."

"I can't believe they moved it up to next week!" Serena exclaimed.

"I know, this catches me way off guard," Amy replied.

"Well, we are as best off as possible, with you around Amy," Lita sang out. Serena giggled, her mother liked to sing out that she got shade when parking. It's so funny when people sing what they are going to say. It's cute.

"Well, thanks!" Amy replied. "I think you're mom will have something cooked for you anyway, Serena. She always does." Serena nodded, it was true. Her mom was so cool. Always making her food.

"Mom, I'm home. I've got Amy and Lita here for the study session, remember?" Serena called as they walked through the front door.

"Yes, sweetie! I've made pancakes for you guys!" her mother called back. Serena paused, Rini loved pancakes.

"Serena, are you okay?" Amy asked looking at her face. "You look a little troubled."

She nodded, "Fine."

She led the girls to the kitchen for their serving of food, "Thanks, Mrs. Tsukino! This is great!" Amy and Lita chimed together.

When the girls finished their food they thanked Serena's mother again and headed up the stairs and into Serena's room. They sat down on Serena's bed and opened their books. They all agreed to read through the chapter and then discuss it together. After half an hour Lita and Amy decided to check on Serena's progress, they had both been done for fifteen minutes. Lita glanced over Serena's shoulder since her back was to them. She was still on the first page! Lita glanced at the girl's face and tried to suppress a laugh. Amy was not going to be happy about this, but Amy noticed Lita's private struggle and decided to see what was so funny. She stood in front of Serena and saw that she was sleeping! Not to mention that her book was still on the first page and it was upside down.

"Serena!" Amy raised her voice to rouse the meatball head. " I can't believe you. We are supposed to be studying for our finals. How can you sleep at a time like this?" Lita sat back and sighed. Amy was so strict when it came to this stuff.

"Amy, cut her some slack, please," Luna leaped onto the bed from the windowsill. "The poor girl just hasn't been getting much sleep." Luna glanced at her with concern.

"Oh?" Amy's face relaxed from her "angry face," if that was even possible. Lita didn't think she really had an angry face. Her visage was always so calm. Even when she yells at Serena about her grades her voice is still soft and her features still placid. "What's wrong? It's the enemy, isn't it? I've tried to collect data with my little computer. I haven't been able to get anything. She really must be on mars like we suspected. If she was on earth, I'm sure I would have pin pointed her location by now."

The other two nodded and sat thoughtfully. Lita gently woke Serena so that their leader could listen in on the conversation. Serena awoke and started rambling.

"I wasn't sleeping Ms. H! I was relaxing my eyes…" she blinked, "Oh, hi guys. Heh, I thought I was in school." she gave a sheepish grin. "So, what are we on now? Math?"

Amy shook her head, "We are talking about the foe."

"Oh, good," Serena nodded still trying to focus.

"How are you Serena? You have been really tired lately, more so than usual," Amy asked.

"Me? I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be? You know me, I'm always tired!" the others glanced at each other, but didn't feel it right to push.

"Okay, if you're sure you want to keep it from us, but remember, we are here for you if you need someone to confide in," Lita said. Serena nodded appreciatively.

"So, about the enemy," Serena continued.

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"I think I shall send them some more play mates to get a better feel for her fighting style," she threw in more particles of the dark crystal and laughed maliciously. "Soon, very soon."

She thrust her arm into the fire and let the flames scorch her. She withdrew her arm and examined it. "I haven't been able to feel pain for a long time. The dark crystal has done a good job of that."

She smiled to herself. She was crying again, however. Why do I cry? It's been so long. All I need is my revenge, and it will all end. This pain the dark crystal can't get rid of. This pain in my heart. Shuichiro…She let out a cry of anguish. She tried to compose herself. This pain will stop. She raised her eyes. They were flaming red again. Most of the time they were red. She could hardly even remember what her true eye color was. She was always so angry.

"Neo Queen Serenity, your present will not exist for you. You will not be able to hurt me. I am going to take away your past."

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"Serena, do you need a Kleenex?" Mina asked. "You keep sneezing."

"I'm okay, I think some dust may have just tickled my nose."

"I'm getting hungry, let's go get a smoothie!" Raye suggested.

The other four girls all agreed and headed for the nearest place and ordered what they wanted. They sat down and decided to talk a little before heading back to the temple.

"Hey, look! It's one of those statue people!" Serena called out.

"Oh, how cool, I have never seen one of those before. I wonder how they stand so still." Mina remarked.

"Hey, I dare you to kiss him!" Lita challenged Mina.

"No! That's not going to happen," Mina stated.

"Sh, you guys, I think he can hear us from here," Amy whispered.

"Really? Creepy. You can't even tell if he's listening or not, he just stands there," Raye remarked. "That's a lot of paint, he should save that money instead of wasting it all on silver stuff.

Amy agreed, "I think that would be very practical."

"Oh well! Whatever floats his boat!" Serena chirruped. She glided over to the man, pretending to be a statue, and gazed into his dark sunglasses. Not even a twitch of the mouth. He's good. "Hi, how do you stay like that for that long without even moving?"

As she expected, he did not move an inch. He was like one of those guards in front of Buckingham Palace. They never moved an inch, according to Mina, anyway.

"Well, so, how is the job coming along? Where do the people put their money? I don't see a hat or anything. Oh, in your pocket?" she leaned over and looked into his jacket pocket. "Nope, oh, I see! In your briefcase!" I don't think that is an obvious place for a money slot. People might put it in your pocket or something." She gave his pocket a poke.

"Okay, I can't stand it. Please, step away," Serena jumped and fell back a good few steps. He talked! How scary!

"Sorry!" she bowed a little and rushed back to her friends. They all laughed at her.

"How creepy!" Mina giggled.

"Tell me about it, I almost had a heart attack!" Serena was huffing from the shock. "I'm never doing that again."

The girls finished their smoothies and started to head off. Serena kept a wary eye on the "statue." He twitched a smile at her. She jumped again. So creepy, but it was kind of funny.

"Do you sense that?" Raye stopped and asked, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah," Mina said. The others echoed the same response. They looked about themselves.

"Over there!" Serena yelled.

A few hundred feet, above the living statue, was a group of enemies produced by their leader. "Come on!" Serena called. She led them to an empty ally and they all transformed.

"Hold it! I am Sailor Moon. Champion of Love and Justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil! In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

The women just laughed. The other scouts joined Sailor Moon on the roof she was standing on and prepared their spells, ready for attack. Just then the group lunged at them all at once.

"Mercury Bubbles Blast!"

"I can't see anything!" yelled one to the foes.

"There are about ten, according to my calculations," Amy stated.

"Right," Sailor Moon replied. "Let's go!"

They all jumped off the roof and straight into the mist, leaving Sailor Moon to watch for any of them trying to make an escape.

"Mars Flame Arrow!"

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

"Supreme Thunder Crash!"

Several fell from the air. As the civilians realized what was happening above them they began to panic and run all sorts of ways. Serena used the Moon Scepter on the fallen five and they disintegrated before landing on a few frightened people. Five more left.

One of the adherents came out of the cloud of fog and rushed straight at her. She dodged it gracefully and turned to make a punch. She managed to make a clean cut on the right cheek. No blood spilled, it was replaced by dark purple ooze that fell slowly. The woman didn't seem to notice, however, and threw her necklace at her. As it flew through the air it turned into a spear. Serena realized this right as it was about to hit her. She tried to jump out of the way, but it had taken a good chunk out of her arm nonetheless. Blood spilled out of her arm, staining her white glove. She placed her left hand over it to try and slow the bleeding.

Sailor Moon looked up, but the lady adversary was gone. Serena tired to look around without causing much more pain than necessary to her injury. A sudden and sharp pain hit her back as she fell off the roof. The opponent had gone behind her and kicked her with both feet at the same time— full force. Serena fell off the roof and tried to breath. The force had knocked all the wind out of her. As she almost hit the ground, a man caught her.

"Tuxedo…" she tried to thank him but still could not breathe.

"Sh, it's okay," he tried to set her down on her feet, but she collapsed to a sitting position. "Are you okay? Can you still fight?"

Serena tried to say yes but was only able to manage a nod. Darien let her catch her breath before helping her to her feet. Then he helped her leap back up to her former position. The lady was waiting there, laughing. Serena had had enough. This was not going to happen. She would not be defeated by some lackey! Serena made a charge at the enemy and punched her in the stomach. Then kicked her hard in the side of the head. The drone fell back groaning.

"Moon Scepter Elimination!" she called with an angry force. "You're moon dusted!" with that the enemy turned into a pile of ash and disappeared.

The others had already weakened the remaining opponents and were ready for Sailor Moon to finish them off. She repeated her magical spell, leaving no trace of any remaining foes. Serena fell to her knees once again and breathed heavily. That wound and blow to the back were much worse now that her mind was not distracted. The other sailor scouts had their own wounds as well, but Serena seemed to have it the worst. They stumbled over to her and they all decided to go to Amy's house instead of the temple because it was closer.

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"It's so annoying that they can float," Serena said, touching her sore back gingerly. "If they couldn't, I would not have had been hit by both feet! At full force any way…"

"It's okay Serena," Raye said sitting next to her on the sofa.

Amy came in with a first aid box and started to tend to Serena's wounds.

"Amy, why don't you take care of your wounds first, they look bad," Serena said trying to get her to stop fussing over her.

Amy winced from her own pain. "Mine are not my concern at the moment."

Serena sighed and let Amy bandage her up. Darien sat a little ways off so that everyone could be tended to. He looked around at all the girls. Mina looked pretty hurt too. Her face had many cuts and her lip was bleeding.

"Could I do anything to help?" Darien asked a little uncomfortable just sitting there, completely capable of helping.

"Sure, you could help out one of the other girls with their wounds," Amy suggested with gratitude.

Darien headed over to Mina since she seemed to have it the worst. "Owwwwwwww!" she cried out in pain as he put some anesthetic over her

various cuts.

"Oh, come on now, I know you can handle this," he said.

"Heh heh, sorry, I can't help myself, it hurts," she replied.

Darien chuckled to himself and covered the wounds securely. He looked up at Serena and saw that she was leaning back, probably sleeping, even though Amy was still not done dressing her wounds. She sleeps too much. Darien thought to himself, worrying a little again.

When he was done with Mina he moved on to Raye who seemed a little better off than Mina had. Raye didn't make a fuss either. Amy finished up with Serena and headed to Lita, but Lita refused. Saying that she was fine and could do it herself. She wanted Amy to take care of herself. Amy was worse off than Mina had been. She was so concerned for the others she forgot her own pains.

Amy sat on the couch and decided to tend to her wounds. Lita took some medicine and applied it on a cut. "Ah! My skin! It turned pink!" she cried out.

Amy laughed, "Don't worry, that's supposed to happen."

"Oh," Lita took a closer look at it. "Fuuuuun."

She gleefully applied more to the rest of her cuts, and was laughing at her "tie-dyeness." Darien sat back down next to Serena and put his arm around her shoulder. She didn't notice, all she did was let out a snore. The others let out a tiny sweat drop and then let it go.

"This enemy is getting serious," Amy said after a period of tired silence.

"I agree, we had better get this over with soon," Lita concurred.

"Do you think we are ready for that though? I mean, we are all sitting here, weak and injured, just from these cultured women of hers." Mina questioned.

Darien sat up and nodded, "I agree with Mina. This is the second time Serena has been injured pretty badly by only one of these things. Her heart just isn't in this fight. Whatever is bothering her is hindering her skills."

The others looked at the sleeping girl. Darien was right. Serena was usually a klutz and careless, but she usually didn't get this hurt by only one enemy. Raye shook her head, her poor friend. She was going to help her out anyway she could, no matter the cost.