Chapter XI-Final Answers
"Tsumbono-san…?"
The dark-haired scientist turned at the call, grunting under the weight of the glass case he was maneuvering.
"Could I have a minute of your time…?"
The man gawked ever-so-slightly at the young woman who had approached him. Elegantly clad, with rich, dark-green hair that fell down to her knees, she hardly resembled one of the workers he had hired to help with the closing of the flower show.
"Uhm…I'm a little busy now, see—hey!" he shouted at one of the men carrying a red blossom in a frail-looking crystal vase—"be careful with that, it's unique! I'm sorry…" he resumed, "I need to supervise everything myself…"
"It will only take a second, I promise."
"I don't know…" Tsumbono hesitated, his gaze moving from the encased plant in his arms to the young woman's amiable smile. "I, uhm, really have to make sure these are safe, but, maybe…"
"Great, I'll wait until you move it, then" she concluded in apparent delight.
As no further argument occurred to him, the scientist swallowed hard. In a few seconds, however, his usual aplomb returned:
"How about you give me a hand?" he suggested. He gestured toward the plant he was carrying: "This and that case over there are the last ones of my hybrids; I'm transporting them myself, just to be sure. If you can pick that up, we'll take both to my car and then I'll give you three a ride to the nearest coffee-shop."
With a small shrug, she moved to pick up the indicated glass case and followed the man to his car. Casually, she noticed the plant inside looked familiar: it was the same wispy brownish stem she had viewed before. That brought another topic to her mind:
"How did you handle the…incident…from a few days ago, doctor?"
Without stopping, he inquired:
"Are you a reporter, Miss? Looking for an interview?"
"Merely a curious admirer of your work…"
"Oh…so my words won't make the headlines then? Pity…" he joked, then seemed to become graver. "I wish I could get my hands on whatever creature wrecked my displays! Or" he continued as an afterthought, "on those so-called heroes who couldn't find a better place to fight their battle…"
As he walked ahead of her, he luckily missed her expression.
"It took a lot of work to replace the casings and rearrange everything…and I actually considered ending the show early. It was precisely the hybrids that took the brunt of the attack. My most recent and precious work…almost destroyed!"
While talking, he opened the door to his car and carefully strapped the glass casing on the backseat.
"It was precisely these hybrids I wanted to talk to you about" the young woman mentioned.
"Amazing, aren't they? And to think just a few weeks ago I was wasting my time with theories on biotope interactions…when this great breakthrough was so close…"
"Could—"
"So much damage…" he interrupted, taking the last container from her hands. "Take this plant for example…they broke the protective glass around it! It took almost two days to fix that!"
"You mean, buy a new one…?"
"Miss, obviously I bought a new casing—but that's not what I meant. It took two days to cleanse this area of the park of any spores that might have escaped the barrier."
She listened out of politeness—but suddenly, her interest seemed to soar.
"Spores?"
"Haven't read the displayed information too carefully, have you? This plant continually releases spores—although they require special conditions to serve their reproductive purposes. Still", the scientist added with a shrug, "I couldn't afford having bits of my masterpiece floating around in a public park, could I?"
She kept silent for a second, seemingly lost in thought.
"Anyway…what did you want to ask, Miss?"
She gave him a direct stare.
"I wanted to know—how is it possible for the hybrid to replicate the properties of the surrounding organisms?"
"Aah…I'm sorry, I can't reveal my secret…you're not competition are you?"
"Not really. Tell me then", she asked with a slight frown, "could this ability be…transmitted to any other organisms…maybe even human?"
Tsumbono's gaze suddenly showed a new respect, as he replied:
"No." His tone had lost its cheerfulness. "Trust me, Miss…I've asked myself the same question countless times. So much could be done…if only I could discover how to copy that ability. But I honestly believe it cannot be done. It is a property of this plant alone…"
She shook her head in disbelief.
"You have to know the mechanism! Otherwise, how could you have created the plant in the first place?"
The jovial countenance completely left the man. He opened the door to the driver's seat.
"As I said before, I cannot reveal my methods" he spoke in a cold tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Goodbye."
The young woman followed the car with a long, thoughtful stare. Then, she turned on her heels and looked back at the park, her eyes searching for something unseen.
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"I need to talk to you…"
Upon arriving back at home, Setsuna had gone up to her room with very few words to her friends. She wished to be alone for a while.
She was afraid.
She had felt fear before in her life, fear for her dear ones and for herself, for the world she lived in—or sometimes just out of—and for the people that inhabited it.
But never before had she felt the gut-wrenching panic that befell her at the moment.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
The day before, following the meeting at the temple, she had come up with a theory of her own. The missing connection between the upcoming confrontation and her nightmare visions. The whole night, she had spent thinking back on her millennia of learning—and she had remembered; she had known.
"It has very much to do with the creation of all Sailor soldiers…"
No one had thought of it in ages. The powers of each Sailor warrior came from their guardian planets. The Senshi had the innate ability to harness the energy of their planets, and their strength was proportional to the amount of energy the planet could offer. Sailor Moon was the most powerful, of course, since the Moon was the source that had awakened the entire solar system…
"The solar eclipse is affecting all of us, in a way I would have never thought possible…"
Changes effected by the eclipse interfered with the energy the nine planets granted their chosen defenders. For a short while, the eclipse stopped the energy flux towards Earth—and towards the Senshi—and sometimes even reversed it, causing the warrior's energy to decrease. All of them should have been experiencing that effect…
"But no other of us does!"
Normally, it would have taken tremendous—possibly even fatal—effort for a Sailor warrior to access her powers during that period. But during their life on Earth, the Senshi's abilities had, naturally, adapted to compensate that weakness. Even before they had been awakened, they had subconsciously learnt to preserve their energy during the many solar and lunar eclipses they had lived through.
"Except…I was never exposed, never had to learn how to do it. I can't protect myself against it."
Beyond the boundaries of space, the Gates of Time had protected her from any fluctuations in energy. None of the changes in the dynamics of the planets had ever affected her. Her powers had never suffered any changes, either upgrades or decreases. She had always been the same, for millennia.
"So what caused the nightmares…?"
"I did."
Long before, she had learnt about the source of the Senshi's energy, and the causes that could affect it. But those memories had not come to her in time. Subconsciously, she had sent herself a warning, in the form of the terrifying visions. Had she anticipated the effects the eclipse would have on her, she would have traveled back to the Gates for a short while…but by the time she realized the meaning of her dreams, it was too late. Unable to transform into Sailor Pluto, she could not reach Gates of Time.
"There's absolutely nothing I can do."
Michiru and Haruka nodded in understanding, silently thankful that they had not been affected in the same way on the verge of the new crisis.
"We'll wait, then…" Michiru spoke soothingly. "The eclipse will happen in less than two days; everything will come back to normal afterwards."
"We can't even try to seal the fissure before that, anyway" Haruka pointed out.
"As long as there are no other effects"—the aqua-haired girl paused a second, but Setsuna shook her head in a silent answer—"going without your powers for a short while…it can't be too bad…?"
She tried to put as much conviction into her words as she could muster. Yet, the upsetting images the mirror had shown her remained clear in her memory. She had seen her friend die...
Had it all been a warning, or a prediction…?
Suddenly, Michiru closed her eyes, a worried frown clouding her expression.
"The waters are growing restless again…"
"I feel it too!" Setsuna's voice was marred by anxiety and alarm. "The sands of Time are stirring… I feel them shifting to announce an event of tremendous gravity…"
At that very moment, the communicator watches on Michiru's and Haruka's wrists beeped. As they were the only ones who ever used the link, the two partners gave each other uneasy glances before answering.
"This is Luna! Mercury detected an immense energy release at the former headquarters of Muugen Academy! She thinks the portal might have become permanent! They're headed there to investigate, you have to go help them!"
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They perceived in fascination as the known reality ripped.
The unwelcome change was violent, illogical and panic-wreaking. Instinct dictated that fleeing to safety was the only option. In the middle of their twisting world, however, there was nothing recognizable left to be deemed as safe.
But when from the giant tear of reality came the vaguest familiar scent, they swarmed towards it.
One second—or perhaps an infinity later—their world lost its contours, and new surroundings shaped around them.
The familiar scent lingered, faint yet unmistakably known. They gathered in formation and, one after another, began their relentless march.
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AN: What's Tsumbono hiding about his hybrids? Will Setsuna stay out of the battle? And just what happened at the place where Mugen stood? What do you think of the story this far? You answer that last question and I'll take care of the rest;)
Preview of the next chapter:
"I saw you in the mirror, Setsuna. If you come now…it won't end well."
"Thank you for the concern…but I'll be fine. I promise."
…
"We're not going to try to stop you…"
…
"I know what drew them here."
"I'm going to try to prevent it from attracting any more…and pray you can handle the ones that came through this time."
Comments, questions, guesses welcome!
Myosotis