Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from "CardCaptor Sakura". They are all owned by the ladies of CLAMP who are much more talented than I. (smile) I also do not own anyone from "Sailor Moon". They are all owned by Takeuchi Naoko whose vision will live eternally. (smile) (Much to Elflina's dismay...) All other characters are my own. Feel free to steal them.
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I met my record high. Six reviews again! Including a first time (for me) reviewer. Welcome, To-cold-to-Love! I'm glad you are enjoying the story. Only 10 chapters to go after this. My, how time has flown! Considering this story took me over a year to write, that is. (smile) And greetings to Sakura Blossom-Cilla-85, aserene, Taeniaea, Mangaka-chan, and yaoifanboy. Yes, Sakura Blossom, I know she is technically a sorceress, but since Rei used magician, Sakura did, too. And I think the word might be the same in Japanese? I'm not sure. Hahaha, and I have a message from Ree (my Beta reader as some of you may know). She says to tell you that after waiting a month, she was VERY HAPPY to receive four pages. Like you, she would have been happier with more, but at least you only have to wait a few days. (wink) We know you were just teasing, hahaha. Four pages is actually about my average on this story, I think. And what do you know, this one is four pages, too. (smile) And since we have had several Sakura chapters, it must be time to fly back to Crystal Tokyo. Enjoy! - Raya
Moonlit Sakura
Chapter 32 – Building Confrontation
Diana watched curiously as Vital typed several commands into the remote for the main computer. Not wanting to disturb him, she bit back her questions and tried to figure out on her own what he was trying to do. It was a good way to distract herself from her pounding head and sore body.
Vital glanced out of the corner of his eye at the inquisitive cat that sat beside him. "There, that should do for a start," he said with a small smile. "I've managed to extend the telemetry and alarm devices a short way beyond the Doors. That should give us a little warning if something comes up. Now, the next thing we need to do is…" He paused in thought for a moment.
"Set up a view screen so we can watch the fight?" the little grey cat asked timidly.
Vital smiled as he shook his head. "No… I think the next thing we need to do is set up some sort of homing signal for Sailor Mercury. If our memory was overloaded, hers probably was, too." His voice became softer and more reflective. "If I were her, I would have set the system up to automatically resume collection. Now, the question is, how long was that overload, and how many turns were there during that time… And where should we set the beacon…"
"Diana, Vital-san, we're ready to leave." Celeste's voice through Diana's communicator made him jump in surprise. "Pallas says that there may be a telemetry alarm when we power up to teleport out and another when we actually leave. Just check and acknowledge them, okay?"
"Um, yeah, okay," he replied looking around uncertainly.
Diana chuckled a little, and then reached up to touch the bell on her collar. "We'll take care of it, Sailor Ceres. Good luck." Her voice became a little more solemn. "And be careful. Come home soon…"
"We will, Diana," Sailor Ceres replied in an overly cheerful voice. "After all, we can't leave you all alone with that good looking man too long, can we?" As Vital and Diana blushed, the laughter of the assembled Asteroid Senshi rang out of the bell. "See you later!" Sailor Ceres said as she cut off her communicator.
Diana looked over at Vital, who was suddenly very busy with the remote module once again, and sighed. "One day," she muttered softly. "One day, I'm going to be as good as Mother with snappy comebacks."
Vital smiled, still typing. "And in the meantime?" he asked, sensing that there was more she wanted to say.
Diana stretched gingerly, and then settled deliberately into her "guarding" pose. "In the meantime?" she purred with dancing eyes. "In the meantime, I think I need to come up with a good little revenge plan…" It was another good way to distract herself from the pain.
Vital chuckled as he linked the beacon he had created in the Palace with the telemetry data for Lady. 'A nice little scrambled dual-beacon loop, with Maiden set up as the primary. That ought to make her really happy…' he thought to himself, pleased, as the programming did as he wanted. 'Now, no matter where she is in this world, they can find their way to her.'
Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated, temporarily ignoring the people behind her. With her inner senses, she reached out to feel for Light and Dark. Around her astral form, ribbons of dark pink light extended from her body and caressed the two still figures. The Card Spirits gathered around her in a protective circle and watched curiously.
'Ah, so that's it,' she heard Cerberus say in her mind. Yue made a sound of agreement. 'Whatever change is going on and causing the merge takes a lot of energy from the Cards.'
"Will they be all right?" she asked a little fearfully as she opened her eyes to study the sleeping spirits once again.
'Yep. They're just kinda… hibernating right now. Once we get some energy back into them, they should be fine,' her sun guardian replied.
'But why are all of the others already awake?' Shaoran asked curiously.
Sakura felt Cerberus shrug. 'Don' know. It probably didn't take as much energy to make them merge or something.'
'Light and Dark are the two most powerful Cards,' Yue said quietly. 'And I sense that the one they call Serenity is very powerful herself, perhaps the most powerful of all of them. If she was the one who merged with Light and Dark…'
'It would have taken even more energy to make them merge,' Shaoran concluded thoughtfully as Sakura nodded solemnly.
'Wait, you think that white haired girl is the most powerful?' Cerberus asked in a disbelieving tone. 'I don't sense that at all. She's not the weakest, mind you, but the strongest? Why would all of the others be so protective of her then? That tall guy or the woman with the black skirt, now, they're strong.'
Sakura ignored the ensuing debate and concentrated instead on sending energy into Light and Dark. She began to worry when there was no perceptible change after several minutes. Around her, the Card Spirits shifted nervously and protectively as the senshi made their way towards her.
"Are they all right?" Serenity asked tentatively as she stopped outside of the circle. "Can you get them to wake up?"
Sakura turned to face her with a disappointed and worried expression. "No, not yet. Apparently, their power has been significantly drained. Kero-chan says that they're all right, but…"
"But you want them awake now," Serenity said with complete understanding. "It's always hard to wait for your friends to recover." She reached up to cup the jewel hidden underneath the bodice of her dress.
Super Sailor Mars caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, spun around quickly, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her hand away. "Don't you DARE," she growled menacingly. "If you even think about it again, I'll…"
Serenity blinked at her in surprise, and frowned irritably. "Ow. That hurt, Mars."
"Sorry," her best friend replied sounding anything but repentant as she let her wrist go. "But, I mean it, Serenity. You can't use the Crystal just yet."
"Yeah," Super Sailor Venus agreed as she gave her queen a stern look. "What if whatever drained them is still collecting energy? Do you want to bring it back? Or worse, have it drain you and the Crystal through them?"
"We don't need you to go exhausting yourself yet," Super Sailor Jupiter agreed with a slightly more sympathetic look. "We've still got to figure out a way to get home, and we'll probably need your energy, too, to do it."
Super Sailor Uranus shifted nervously as she glanced at Sakura, who had turned her attention back to the unconscious elementals. Super Sailor Pluto and Super Sailor Saturn looked on with neutral faces, while King Endymion, Artemis, Luna, and Super Sailor Neptune looked slightly worried.
Serenity frowned at all of her friends as they continued to frown back at her. "I'm not a child any more. Using the Silver Crystal doesn't drain me like it used to."
"No," Luna agreed with a serious look. "No, you learned a long time ago how to control it. But Venus has a point. What if they are bait for a trap? What if there is some sort of energy siphon?"
"If you start to give them energy using the Crystal," King Endymion added as the adviser paused to let her argument sink in, "and there is a siphon, the enemy could drain you dry before you know it."
Super Sailor Mercury kept her eyes on Serenity as the queen shook her head impatiently. "It is possible, Serenity-san. Kinomoto-san just tried to give them a good energy boost. Nothing happened. Their energy levels didn't seem to move at all. I can't get any readings at all on them, so I can't tell if there is a siphon or if they are just drained so low any improvement is hidden. That means we just don't know. If they aren't at risk…"
Serenity looked around at her friends as she thought over their argument. Finally, she sighed and turned to Sakura who was politely ignoring the argument. "I'm sorry, Kinomoto-san" she said, making the young sorceress turn around in surprise. "I know how you feel. I really do. But at the moment," she glanced at her friends once more and shook her head. "At the moment, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do to help. We would if we could," she added hurriedly as Sakura sagged a little in disappointment. "But…"
"It's okay," Sakura said reassuringly as she straightened up. "I understand. You need to save your energy for finding your way home. Don't worry. Kero-chan and Yue say that they're not in any danger. I just have to find a better way to get energy into them." She gave a concerned look towards her sleeping Spirits once more, and then rose with a small sigh. "Meanwhile, we should see what we can do to get you separated from my Cards safely."
"I know most of what has happened on our end," Super Sailor Mercury said quickly. "But it would be really helpful if I knew what happened here as well. Perhaps you can tell us your story from when things started to happen?"
Sakura cocked her head thoughtfully, and then nodded with a smile. "If you promise to tell your end as well. My friends and I are just as curious as you."
"Okay, ladies, this is it," Sailor Ceres said as the laughter died down around her. 'Lady-chan's expression was sooo cute,' she thought to herself as her friends became solemn and turned to face her. Directly opposite of her, Super Sailor Moon's face began to lose its blush.
"Are we going in without at plan?" Sailor Pallas asked softly.
Sailor Vesta and Sailor Juno snorted while Sailor Ceres and Super Sailor Moon gave her uncertain looks. "We've got a plan," Sailor Vesta said with burning red eyes.
"Yeah," Sailor Juno agreed with equally burning lime green eyes. "Cut his legs out from under him, string him up by his thumbs, slather him with honey, then stake him over an fire-ant hill in bear and mountain lion country. That ought to do for a start."
Sailor Pallas sighed and shook her head as the others turned to look wide-eyed at Sailor Juno. "Yeah, that does sound like a pretty good start," Sailor Ceres agreed appreciatively.
"Sailor Moon," Sailor Pallas said abruptly before her Sailor Vesta could add anything, "I don't know if you've noticed, but most of your attacks seem to get through." Her friends turned to look at her in shock. "I'm not sure why that is, but I noticed it when I was reviewing the old fight data looking for strategies. Therefore, it makes sense for us to shield you while you attack him."
"No," Super Sailor Moon responded abruptly. "You're not sacrificing yourselves for me the way Ami-chan, Mako-chan, and Hotaru-chan did. We'll take him by surprise and attack together. If we get that wand away from him, we might be able to do something."
Sailor Pallas shook her head, her light blue hair bouncing around her. "I agree getting the wand out of the picture is key, but I don't think we're fast enough. He has his shields up strong, he's cornered, and he's expecting us. On the positive side, he's hiding in a shrine to the moon goddess right here in Crystal Tokyo. There should be some additional power there you can tap into."
Sailor Ceres studied Super Sailor Moon's obstinate face a moment, and then spoke up. "I think Pallas has a good idea." As her princess' hot pink eyes glared at her she changed her tone to a reassuring one. "It won't be that easy for him to take us out. We won't be acting singly. It will be four of us against him, and we won't be wasting our energy with attacks. He hasn't faced our combined strength like this before, not defensively. It might even throw him a little off balance."
"No," Super Sailor Moon said, only to be interrupted by Sailor Vesta.
"Yes. That sounds like a real good plan," the red haired senshi said as she nodded to Sailor Pallas and Sailor Ceres.
"I agree," Sailor Juno said as she nodded also. She then turned to face Super Sailor Moon who was opening her mouth to protest again. "It's four to one. You can't win. Even if you order us not to, we'll do it."
"Trust us, Lady-chan," Sailor Ceres asked suddenly. "Please. Trust us to protect ourselves and you like we trust you to defeat him."
"But…" Super Sailor Moon replied as tears formed in her eyes once more.
"Please," Sailor Ceres asked again more softly, pleading with her medium pink eyes.
Super Sailor Moon looked around the group. Each time her sad eyes met her friends' determined, pleading ones, her heart sank a little lower. Finally, she lowered her eyes to the ground and struggled with herself. "Okay," she agreed reluctantly.
Around her, the Asteroid Senshi's faces brightened with joy and relief. "Thank you, Lady-chan," Sailor Pallas said with quiet restraint. "Shall we go?" She held out her hands, one to Sailor Ceres, and one to Super Sailor Moon.
"Mmm," Sailor Ceres said, nodding in agreement as she took the proffered hand and held her free one out to Sailor Vesta. Sailor Vesta accepted her hand, and the one Sailor Juno held out to her. They all looked quietly, with just a hint of sadness, at Super Sailor Moon who was still looking at the floor. Slowly, she raised her hands and her head, and completed the circle.
She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. "Moon Power," she said with abrupt strength.
Sailor Pallas smiled with pride and thankfulness. "Pallas Power!" she called strongly.
"Ceres Power!" Sailor Ceres called, echoing Sailor Pallas' strength and smile.
"Vesta Power!" Sailor Vesta cried more loudly, squeezing her partners' hands as she focused all her will.
"Juno Power!" Sailor Juno yelled, squeezing back, determined not to be out done.
"Sailor TELEPORT!" the five girls shouted simultaneously. With a flash of bright light, they disappeared from the main reception hall.