Chapter 16: Water
Like the other three dogs had done, it was Fuyumi's turn to set up an activity for her Zodiac Senshi--Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Because they represented the water signs, she thought the best thing to do would be to take all three girls to the swimming pool that was on the palace grounds. To supervise and also to join the fun, Setsuna, Minako and Yaten came along as well. Though part of her had expected this, Fuyumi was still disappointed when she saw Melissa's bathing suit, which was yellow with a cute floral print.
"That really doesn't look like a good bathing suit for a Scorpio to wear. You at least should wear black or dark red," she sighed.
"Do you want her to take it off?" Minako teased, "Because that's the one she has right now. I thought we were going swimming anyway, not shopping."
"She doesn't need to get a new one now, just soon. She needs to learn how to be dark and mysterious, like a Scorpio should be," Fuyumi said.
"I don't care what color her suit is, as long as everyone wears goggles! That's because they're like glasses, for swimming!" declared Jasmine, who was, of course, was wearing her own pair. Veronica ignored the conversation the others were having and she charged past, taking a flying leap into the pool. Jasmine and Melissa giggled as they watched her make a big splash, and then they climbed in too, along with the three older Senshi and the dog.
"I just want people to do what they're meant to do. Like me, I'm a Laborador Retriever, so I like being in the water," Fuyumi commented as she did the doggie paddle. Suddenly some strong waves began to pick up in the pool, despite the fact that the weather wasn't very windy. Setsuna looked up at the diving board and she saw the source of the problem.
"Nadeshiko, this is enough. Come home now and quit trying to kill the Zodiac Senshi. I don't understand why you and the others are following this Bertha person anyway," she ordered. Nadeshiko, who was wearing an aqua-colored swimsuit, ignored her mother and dove gracefully into the pool. She began to spin around, creating a whirlpool around herself, and her seven victims were pulled in circles, faster and faster.
"Cancer Zodiac Power, Make Up!" shouted Jasmine, as she grabbed onto the railing.
"Scorpio Zodiac Power, Make Up!" Melissa spluttered; she wasn't as good at swimming and it was hard for her to keep her head up.
"Pisces Zodiac Power, Make Up!" finished Veronica, who grabbed onto Fuyumi and saved the blue dog from being pulled under. Nadeshiko stopped spinning and stared at the Senshi, and then she leapt out of the pool, landing on the side.
"You still didn't answer the question! Why do you want to hurt your mother like that?" Yaten demanded as she, Minako and Setsuna followed the Senshi out of the pool. Nadeshiko shrugged.
"I already answered that before. Chibi is much more suited to be the Queen than Serenity, who is too ditzy for a position of leadership. The Zodiac Senshi stand in our way, thus we shall fight them," she answered coolly.
"Small Lady will ascend to the throne when Neo-Queen Serenity is ready to give it to her. And she is not helping anyone see her as a competent ruler if she lets herself get involved with villains," Setsuna retorted.
"Yeah, Chibi-Usa wouldn't normally attack Hotaru for being 'overly perfect' or whatever she said that one day when Sailor Capricorn was awakened," Minako added, "Now wiggle out of that one! I think she's even more immature than she was before."
"And we wouldn't be fighting if you guys didn't start attacking us in the first place! Cancer Pumpkin Crunch!" yelled Sailor Cancer, hurling pumpkins at Nadeshiko. She leapt out of the way gracefully and dodged most of them, but when she landed back on the ground, one of the pumpkins rolled on her foot and she tripped.
"Please stop this! I'm sorry Cancer attacked you, we really don't want to be fighting the children of the Sailor Senshi. At least, I don't. I just came here as an exchange student from France," Sailor Scorpio pleaded, hurrying over to where Nadeshiko had fallen. Nadeshiko glared coldly up at her.
"You say that, but you still fight. Thus it is my job to protect Chibi from people like you," she snapped.
"But I don't want to hurt Chibi-Usa! I only fight because I don't want the Senshi to get angry at me!" Sailor Scorpio wailed.
"Her name is Chibi," Nadeshiko corrected, "She must not be associated with that ditzy mother of hers." She held up a hand and shot a water blast at Sailor Scorpio, knocking the pink-haired Senshi into the pool.
"Don't insult Neo-Queen Serenity!" Fuyumi snarled, and she lunged at Nadeshiko, biting her in the face with her sharp dog teeth. Nadeshiko screamed and shot another water blast, this time in an attempt to get the blue dog away from her. It worked, and Fuyumi was flung into the pool near Sailor Scorpio. Nadeshiko then struggled to get up, trying to push the heavy pumpkin off of her foot. Surprisingly, Setsuna came over and rolled the pumpkin away.
"That's enough, Nadeshiko Meiou. Come home and quit with this foolishness. I'm glad you support Small Lady, and that will be very good when she does become Queen in the future, but for now, you must stop this fighting," Setsuna stated firmly, but Nadeshiko shoved her mother away, stumbling to her feet.
"You are such a hypocrite. You're the one who awakened Sailor Scorpio. You told the Zodiac Senshi to attack me. You want there to be fighting," she spat before disappearing in a flash of aqua light.
"Is that true, Ms. Meiou? Did you give me that pendant just because you wanted me to fight?" Sailor Scorpio whimpered as she crawled out of the pool, her Senshi outfit soaking wet.
"Yeah, this is starting to seem like one of those situations that could've been solved if we just talked nicely to Chibi-Usa and our daughters," Minako agreed.
"Maybe. But remember that Chibi-Usa attacked us first," Yaten reminded them.
"That's easy for you to say, Yaten, none of those kids are yours. And you won't understand until you do have children someday," Minako retorted.
"What do you want us to do, then? Do you want us to NOT fight back if your kids attack again?" Veronica asked, confused.
"No, that's not what I mean," Minako said slowly. She sighed. "How about this? Try to only attack if you absolutely have to, if they won't stop otherwise. They may not listen to you, though, maybe we should try to talk to them."
"I have an objection to that plan!" Fuyumi exclaimed.
"What's that? You don't think that Minako and the others should talk to their kids? When I do something naughty, Mom talks to me and tells me what I did wrong, she doesn't hit me," Jasmine pointed out.
"How typically sweet of you, Jasmine, as a Cancer, but I wasn't talking about you. I mean Melissa. She's a Scorpio. She's supposed to have a fierce grudge and want to get revenge. You should let her get the revenge she wants by letting her fight your children," Fuyumi declared.
"But I don't want revenge! I don't like fighting!" Melissa whined.
"Stop it, Fuyumi. You're just confusing these girls with your silly ideas of how they should act. It's obvious that Melissa doesn't fit your idea of what a Scorpio should be, so don't try to force her. Otherwise," Minako smirked, "Maybe we should treat you like a normal dog and put you in a kennel when you misbehave like that?"
"I'm not a normal dog! You're so mean!" Fuyumi wailed, and she ran away, seeking out Serenity's warm comfort.
"I'm still confused about what we're supposed to do. Nadeshiko did say that they were attacking because you were awakening the Zodiac Senshi. And I think Aries might have been awakened before Chibi-Usa attacked in the first place, at least from what I heard. Maybe she was angry about that," Veronica pointed out.
"You're all forgetting something, and so was I. Bertha. There's someone named Bertha who is telling our kids to attack us," Setsuna said.
"That means she's the real enemy! It's obvious! We need to fight her!" Veronica exclaimed.
"We don't know where she is. But what we do know is that the Moon Kingdom may hold the secret as to Bertha's location. We may also need to question our children when they try to attack and find out where they are coming from," Setsuna decided.