Chapter 26: Dire, Dire Docks

Basil Anderson screamed. One minute he had been in the Crystal Palace and then the next he had found himself floating in a bubble in what seemed to be a very deep lake with a scary-looking whirlpool at the bottom. Setsuna Meiou floated past him in another bubble. He watched as she walked in it--so THAT was how to move in here, he thought.

"Amazing. You must be endowed with the wisdom of Confusion, eh," he said, "Or is it the inscrutable esscence of egg foo young?"

"I think you mean Confucious. And he was Chinese, not Japanese," Setsuna corrected him, preferring not to even dignify his last remark with an answer.

"I get those mixed up a lot. They're pretty much one country, eh?"

"No, they are two different countries," responded Setsuna coolly. Basil was honestly surprised to hear this. The way he'd seen it on TV, Chinese and Japanese characters were pretty much interchangeable, so he always thought they were the same country, just different sections.

"I thought that they were both parts of the big country called 'the Orient,'" he admitted. Setsuna shook her head and shoved her bubble further away from him. As she neared the whirlpool, a green light flashed out of it and it began to move across the bottom of the giant lake, finally latching itself onto a hole in the wall. Setsuna and Basil were pulled towards it, along with 4 wooden chests.

"You need to transform. Something like this shows there's a monster around," said Setsuna, sounding surprisingly calm to Basil, who was flipping around, having lost control of his bubble.

"Licorice Power, Make Up!" After he transformed, a green energy beam shot at them through the middle of the whirlpool. It missed them, but smashed one of the chests to bits. Sailor Licorice began to panic, as he feared the pieces of sharp wood might burst his bubble. They shot upwards, then back down, and then the whirlpool stopped once they were in a new room. In the middle of the room, standing at the bottom of the second lake, was a girl in a bubble. Her features were difficult to make out, on account of the extremely bright green aura that glowed around her body.

"I hate you, Setsuna..." she whispered spitefully.

"What? Why? Because she's part of the Yellow Peril? But that was in the past, now the Oriental people are studious, quiet types. Although it is odd that she doesn't have buck teeth or wear glasses," Sailor Licorice commented.

"You fool. Clef told me that she's very dangerous. That if he hadn't been able to beat her, you Sailor Senshi would've destroyed Cephiro," the girl accused.

"Eh? Why would I want to do anything to a place I've never heard of?" asked Sailor Licorice.

"Fuu Hououji knows..."

"Who's that?"

"Basil, that's the girl's name," answered Setsuna, who was floating next to him, wondering how he was going to be able to attack without exposing himself to the possible-drowning-inducing water. Instead, Fuu floated up to her. Their bubbles touched, and then they joined so that the two of them were in the same air pocket. Sailor Licorice could see Fuu's mouth moving, and the jewel on her glove flashed, but he wasn't sure what she was doing. Setsuna kicked and punched her, but Fuu managed to grab the ex-Time Guardians' mouth with her hand.

"Balloon Inflation..." she whispered, and the deed was done. Fuu separated her bubble from Setsuna's as Setsuna's body began to expand into a ball shape.

"Stop it! Stop picking on her! All she ever did was defend herself against someone named Clef!" Sailor Licorice protested as he shoved his bubble through the water, aiming for Fuu. He wasn't sure quite what he was going to do to her, but he had to do something to rescue Setsuna, who gave him the magic powers so that he could finally have some strength and not be the pitiful weakling who was bullied all the time.

"Clef was our mentor in Cephiro. How dare she treat him like an enemy," Fuu smirked as Setsuna quickly became a ball of air with only hands and feet and her head sticking out.

"Clef? I don't remember any Clef. I do remember a dark Sailor Senshi who defeated me, however. The same one, incidentally, as the girl who appeared at the Palace and sent us here," Setsuna retorted. Sailor Licorice was amazed at how calm she was for her predicament. Luckily, it seemed like she wasn't going to expand any further, otherwise she might have exploded.

"You are a liar. Clef told me about it, and he tells the truth," Fuu sneered as she neared Setsuna again, this time with her sword pointed out.

"That was a fake Clef! Someone was tricking you!" shouted Sailor Licorice in a panic when he saw the Magic Knight's deadly dagger of wind. Fuu ignored him, as she was busy chasing Setsuna, who, because of the air inside her, was floating quickly to the top of the lake.

"Now I shall end your existence..." Fuu whispered dangerously.

"Dead Scream!" Fuu had no time to escape the blasting energy ball that hurled at her through the water. The shockwave from the attack threw Setsuna, Fuu, and Sailor Licorice out of the deep lake. They crashed on the wooden pathway that wrapped around the lake, their bubbles gone.

"Emerald Typhoon!" Fuu called as she stood back, blowing Sailor Licorice across the pathway away from her and the air-bloated Setsuna. She moved to pierce Setsuna's skin with her blade, but she was stopped when a large green box hit her in the head, thrown by Sailor Licorice.

"Dead Scream!" That attack came again, but this time she was ready and she ducked. It hit the green box behind her and dozens upon dozens of metallic hats came flying out. Most of them fell into the lake and sank to the bottom, but some of them were scattered along the pathway, mostly behind Fuu. The blond-haired Knight picked up the hats and began flinging them at Sailor Licorice who was charging at her. In the process of dodging one of the flying hats, he crashed into Setsuna. He rolled over her, shoving her forward and bouncing down the pathway like an out-of-control beach ball.

"Emerald Typhoon!" called Fuu again, and the wind blew Setsuna back the other way, knocking both her and Sailor Licorice into the water. He swam over to her and tried to grab onto her spherical body so he could float on the surface too. But she was much too big around, and he slipped off. Setsuna caught him with her hand, holding him above water.

"You saved me. I should be the one rescuing YOU, I'm not the one who's a helpless ball," he whispered tearfully.

"Actually, it's because I'm filled with air now that I CAN float. It's something I have against Fuu, who needs to be able to swim. That will be difficult with her heavy armor," Setsuna explained.

"But doesn't it hurt?" asked Sailor Licorice.

"Yes, it is quite uncomfortable, but I have been through worse as a Sailor Senshi," Setsuna replied, remembering that the last time she battled, it was only to be temporarily killed by Uranus and Neptune who had joined Galaxia.

"Wow, you're so stoic. Just as I imagined Oriental people to be..." Sailor Licorice's admiring comments were interrupted as Fuu leaped into the air with a yell, coming down with her sword pointed at Setsuna. Sailor Licorice screamed and closed his eyes, not wanting to see a person explode. There was a loud "BANG" and then he was hurled through the water by the force of the waves. When he looked back, Setsuna was gone, and there was only a bit of fading green sparkles.

"Eh? Where's the body?" he asked as he reached the edge of the lake, hanging onto the wooden ledge.

"That's what I would say too. There should be bloody bits of her all over the place," added Fuu, treading water.

"But that's so sad! There's nothing left for a proper burial!" he sobbed.

"The same will go for you! Balloon..."

"Dead Scream!" Sailor Licorice shouted, and the energy ball smacked Fuu in the face before she could utter the second word of her incantation. She began to sink, mostly on account of her armor. But she was not without a plan. She swam over to Sailor Licorice as fast as she could and grabbed onto him in an attempt to take him down with her. He kicked and struggled, but she was stronger, and she was winning.

"Dead..."

"Shut up," Fuu burbled, and she stabbed Sailor Licorice with her sword. She smiled when he, too, disappeared from the realm. But this quickly turned to horror as she realized that she had forgotten about the whirlpool. She was sucked down into it, blacking out, spiraling to oblivion.