Chapter 66

Ryo was pretty sure it was time for a new job.

He wandered the woods aimlessly, hardly paying attention to his surroundings. All he could think about was Ami. The fact that he was here, in these stupid woods, while she was a sitting duck with the other Senshi at Nasuti's. Rei had been viciously attacked. Ryo still felt shaken when he remembered the sound of her screaming, how terrified she had looked in the aftermath. It made him want to run back to Nasuti's from here, make sure the Senshi were ok.

But here he was. Wandering around, hours away. For the sake of keeping up routines? He didn't really know anymore. What was the point of normal? Why had he ever picked this stupid job anyways?

If he was bad, Ryo was sure Shin had had a stroke by now. Rei had refused to let Suiko miss any more classes, insisting that he keep his education on course. Ryo didn't know how Shin had managed it. He imagined the generally calm, dependable Suiko must be on the verge of going nuts. He turned his wrist, checking his watch. Nearly time for the eleven a.m. call.

The only way the Troopers had given in was that the Senshi had promised to call every hour on the hour to confirm they were still ok, and that they would stay together at Nasuti's. It was a crappy system if you asked Ryo, but the Senshi hadn't wanted the Troopers to miss out on their daily lives. Ryo was pretty sure the Troopers didn't much care about that, but none of it mattered now.

Balancing normal life and verge-of-apocalypse life was hard.

He began making his way back to the ranger station, wanting to ensure that he'd be there on time to get Ami's call.

He was so busy feeling anxious about Ami he completely missed the threat right in front of his face.

Ryo had enough time to look up, feel shocked, and wonder how in the hell he'd missed the resurrection of Arago – albeit a much smaller version of him – but that was about it.

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Ami's eyes felt like sandpaper, but she wasn't going to stop what she was doing. She hardly wanted to let herself blink. Beside her, Nasuti worked with quiet determination, eyes teary, but face a mask of stone. Discreetly, Ami wiped her own eyes with her wrist to clear them.

Minako paced in front of the desk, in full Venus regalia, gesturing emphatically as she divulged her complete stream of thought on Elysion, their tenuous connection to it and its protection of them against this…thing, and how they could exploit it to take it down from the inside out. The Senshi of Venus' face was hard, and rage burned in the depths of her eyes. Beneath the anger, Ami could read the guilt and fear. She could see Venus questioning her ability to lead. Could see her friend blaming herself for not taking the Troopers' safety seriously enough.

Ami was working her way through a hefty dose of that herself. Nasuti had been warning them, and the Senshi should have been more insistent. It wasn't like she had anything to do all day – she could have shadowed Ryo. Or Touma. Or anyone. She should have shadowed someone. She was trying not to feel like an utter failure but it wasn't really working.

She wasn't particularly trying all that hard.

Ami firmed her spine and refocused herself. Failure or not, the Senshi were the only thing the Troopers had to get them out. She shot a sidelong glance at the diminutive form of the Empress of the Youjakai where she sat on the couch.

Maybe the Senshi weren't the only ones the Troopers could count on, but her mental jury was still out on calling in the Masho and the Empress. As the leader of the Senshi, that had been Minako's call, and frankly, Ami might be the strategist of their group but she had a feeling Venus had a trick or two up her sleeve to deal with traitorous allies.

She only hoped it didn't come to that. They didn't have the time or the bandwidth to handle that much at once.

The Troopers were missing – very probably taken by a monster that was of the blackest, vilest evils – and she had no idea how much time they had to save them, or if they even had time at all. Her eyes burned, and she blinked furiously to clear them, focused on translating Minako's stream of thought into actions they could use. Steps they could take.

While Ami had been more willing to entertain the Troopers' idea that there had to be some other way, Minako had been strategizing for their worst-case scenario. Thank goodness she had. Ami continued typing as Minako laid out her plan to get to the Troopers and then get them safe.

Goofy, flakey, light-hearted Mina-chan was gone. Cold, hard, cut-throat Sailor Venus was here instead. This was the woman who'd taken on the dark kingdom alone at thirteen. Who'd acted as decoy princess and guided them into becoming full-fledged Senshi.

And the leader of the Senshi had laid out a strategy that exploited all their footholds. Elysion would be the key to this rescue mission, and Ami hoped, in her heart of hearts, that they'd be able to finally see Helios and the Maenads again. That they were still alive, and ok.

She wiped at her eyes again, but never lost focus with the computer screen.

"Then this….Elysion is what? The opposite of the Netherrealm?" Rajura said quietly to Rei. Mars tugged at the red skirt of her fuku in agitation as she tried to think.

"No. Not….not opposites. I mean, Elysion is the land of sweet dreams, so I guess you could say that it's the opposite in that it's a sanctuary for the spirits of those who are still living? But it's….it's tied to our own Earth. Tied to the planet's strength and health. Tied to all the people who live on it. I'm under the impression that the Youjakai is an more like an underworld of sorts? Would the souls of those still living on Earth dwell there beneath its protection?" she asked, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand the situation.

"The Youjakai is a place where negative human emotions were able to gather and amass power. Now that the demon lord Arago is gone, we've floundered a bit. I wouldn't call it an underworld, but it does certainly attract its share of restless spirits," Kayura replied. The Empress was sitting next to a silent and sullen Usagi. Ami wanted to cast a worried eye over the Moon Princess but couldn't spare the interruption of her thoughts.

She left the girl to Rei and Makoto. And apparently, Lady Kayura.

Rajura, standing with his arms crossed and his eye closed, made a thoughtful sound.

"And this Elysion exists….in a crystal? A crystal that carries a connection to and the power of your Earth? Should you have rebirthed that crystal here? It seems to me like you have handed your enemy the connection they needed from the very beginning. You have played right into their hands. Did you not think that perhaps a crystal with such a strong connection to your own realm would cause harm here?" he said, his tone stark and disapproving. Ami frowned, but still refused to interrupt herself.

"Actually, all of us are connected to this monster, and Elysion is the only thing keeping us safe from it. And besides, any crystals still connected to that thing weren't rebirthed, so that's not even a valid argument. If it had a connection it could exploit through any of our crystals, we'd have been dead already. Why do you think it had to find a way in to begin with?!" Makoto snarled at him from her lean against the opposite wall.

"And if you're going to stand around telling us how we should have done things, maybe we don't need you here. Because right now, the Troopers are missing. I'll think about all the wrong steps I took that might have led here later," she snapped, her green eyes electric with restless anger and anxiety. The air began to smell a bit like ozone, Jupiter's dark green fuku casting a soft emerald glow.

Rajura raised a smug eyebrow at her. "I am merely attempting to unravel how you came to be in this position in the hopes that we can determine how to resolve the problem. It is of no concern to me why you fled your own dimension, only that you have made a poor choice, and now the Troopers are suffering and their realm and the Youjakai are in danger because of it," he sneered.

It wasn't Makoto that retaliated. It was Usagi. Before anyone knew what was happening, the angry snap of a hand meeting a cheek echoed in the room. The Moon Princess was glowing, pure white, the brilliant colors of her fuku invisible it was so bright. Her blue eyes were angry flames as she stared the Masho of Deception down at point-blank range.

"Don't you talk to them like that. Don't you ever talk to them like that. Like you know anything. It's so easy for you, isn't it? It's so easy when you don't care about hurting anyone else. When you don't have to think about billions of lives riding on your shoulders. I made a decision that I thought was best for my people. My Senshi. Hurting my Senshi over whether or not that was the right decision isn't going to help anyone now. If you want an alliance with the Troopers, you'd better believe that they're the same. We don't sacrifice – not one life, not ever – when it comes to the people we protect. If you think the lives of billions of innocent people aren't a good reason to make a decision, then maybe the Troopers don't need an ally like you," she snarled at him.

"You dare to assume…" Eyes burning with rage, Rajura raised a hand, threateningly. Without any gesture or sound on Usagi's part, the light from the silver crystal flared for a moment, and when it cleared, Rajura was outside the doorway, embedded in the hallway wall.

The Moon Princess turned then, uncaring that all activity had stopped and all eyes were on her. Ami tried not to feel intimidated as the woman made purposeful strides for the desk. This was Usagi she reminded herself. The rest of her was trying very hard not to gush with pride over the backbone of steel the woman had just displayed. Usagi liked to think she wasn't anything special. But a Queen lived inside her heart, and moments like these made that hard to forget.

"In any case," Ami said, addressing the room at large, "I think that Touma was correct in his assumption that whatever this is would have come for you even if we'd stayed in our own dimension, and that it probably was looking for the armors all along. Placing blame isn't going to solve this."

Kayura blinked at Rajura where he lay, but otherwise made no move to aid him. She turned instead to the Senshi.

"I don't pretend to fight Rajura's battles for him, but if you could refrain from incapacitating him until this is over, that would be ideal," she said in an even tone. Usagi tipped her chin up at the woman but didn't say anything else.

"Maybe he could keep the snarky comments to himself then," Venus muttered under breath. Rei merely scowled at he and the Empress.

"Ami," Usagi said gently, "where are we?" Ami cast a quick glance at Minako. The Senshi of Venus was still looking smugly satisfied as she glanced at Rajura's prone form in the hall. He seemed to be out cold. She turned at the sound of Usagi's voice, smirk fading to sobriety.

"That's about the end of my thoughts to be honest. Look. I know running and jumping blindly into battle is stupid, but we don't have a lot of time or options right now. The boys have been missing since yesterday afternoon, and so far the enemy hasn't taken any other actions. Honestly, I fully expected them to at least taunt us with their hostages, but they haven't, so that has me even more worried," she replied.

Ami agreed. Because if the enemy didn't plan to use the Troopers as hostages, that meant they were probably trying to take the armors. And do who knew what to the Troopers. Nasuti hadn't found something like a starseed in this realm, but that didn't mean that it didn't exist.

Her heart beat harder. Ryo was missing.

Panic crept up her spine and Ami ruthlessly squashed it. Because if she really let herself think about the fact that the monster that had tormented them for so long now had Ryo? She might go mad.

"—so Usagi and I will run diversion and Makoto will lead Ami and Rei and Kayura into the core, good? Artemis, how accessible is Elysion once we're inside this thing so to speak?" Ami made herself snap back into reality as she caught the tail end of Minako's statement.

"At this point, you're going to have to find Elysion using your heart crystals. I don't like this. It's far too risky. Tapping into the pure source of each of your Sailor Crystals makes you much too vulnerable to the enemy. You'd all be beacons of power too tempting to resist," the white cat said, anxiety riding his voice. "We don't know how well Elysion could shield you when you're tapping into the crystals directly.

Rei shook her head, crossing her arms. "Once we find the Troopers, assuming that our hunch is right and they are in fact inside this thing, getting them all the way back out is going to be an exercise in futility. I think we can get inside this monster once. If we haul the Troopers out and leave, we won't get a second chance to blindside it. Minako is right to consider Elysion a safe point for us. We'll have to drag the Troopers back to Elysion to keep them as protected as we can, and use it as a launch point for the second phase," she said firmly. "I know we haven't proven it yet, but it's very likely that Elysion is inside the Golden Crystal and this thing is connected to the Golden Crystal as well. Elysion is our strongest bet. Besides. We don't know what state the Troopers might be in. We might have to destroy this monster – sooner rather than later – in order to rescue them."

The rest of the Senshi nodded their heads in agreement.

"Let me help." Nasuti's voice was quiet, but determined. "I know Lady Kayura is going to use the power of the shakujo from the inside – and I agree that it should be this realm's powers we use to destroy the monster's core. But let me help. The jewel of life should be there. Lady Kayura, I don't think it's advisable for the same person to use both the staff and the jewel at the same time," she said softly.

Ami tilted her head, considering. When the rest of their assembled group's expressions demonstrated the level of reluctance they all had to let a sweet, innocent woman like Nasuti ride into the heart of darkness, Ami pushed the instinct aside and thought things through.

She thought hard about feeling so helpless and useless and insecure. She thought hard about how difficult it must be for Nasuti – losing dear friends but always taking a passive role.

She thought hard about what might be waiting for Nasuti anyways if they failed. None of the outcomes were good. But Ami believed strongly that Nasuti deserved to try. And everyone else was going to be too engaged to manage the Jewel of Life.

Hoping she wasn't making yet another mistake, Ami smiled wanly at Nasuti.

"I agree. The rest of us are going to be too tied up to manage the Jewel of Life. Nasuti is familiar with it at least. We know it's fully capable of protecting her. And if we're not successful on this mission, I doubt the Jewel of Life on its own, without any of the armors or any of the Senshi, is going to be enough to fight off something that all of us combined can't handle. I'd rather add its power to our own numbers now, and hit this thing with everything we have," she said softly.

Minako tilted her head thoughtfully, and then pinned Nasuti with a hard gaze. "You understand the risk? We'll do everything in our power to keep you safe, but we might not be able to," she said.

Nasuti met her gaze with a hard one of her own. "I know that. Please. I need to be part of this. The Troopers have sacrificed themselves so many times. I want to help them now, when they need it."

Minako nodded. The rest of the Senshi followed with varying degrees of reluctance. Kayura sighed, putting her fingertips to her forehead. "I don't approve of this, but the practicality of the plan has merit. I have never tried to use the staff of the ancient and the jewel at the same time."

"Ok. So this is our plan then. Phase 1: We're going to the Youjakai just on the other side of Point D to get at this thing and hopefully get inside it without being detected. We'll use the new tracking devices Ami and Nasuti built." Ami nodded. She had decided against using the Mercury computer since the monster would very likely recognize the signature and had overhauled their new technology to disguise that. Hopefully temporarily. Venus continued.

"Once we've located the Troopers, assuming that they are, in fact, inside this thing, we're going to rescue them. Once we have them, we're going to use our Sailor Crystals to guide us to Elysion. We leave them in the safety, hopefully, of Elysion. Maybe Helios. If it turns out Elysion is completely corrupted, then we'll need to revert to Plan B." The blonde huffed out a breath here and Ami agreed with the sentiment. She was crossing all her fingers and toes that Helios had survived. It would be devastating to discover he'd been another life lost to this monster.

"After the Troopers are in Elysion, we'll move on to Phase 2. Nasuti, Kayura, this is where you and the masho will come in. Makoto should be able to lead you close enough to the core for you to hopefully find it. Once there, you'll use the power of the ancient and the Jewel of Life to…..destroy whatever this thing is. However you have to do that." Venus' face suggested she didn't much care what they had to do to destroy it, and Ami was in full agreement there. Rei and Makoto didn't seem to have any qualms about it either.

"While you're doing that, Usagi and I will launch a distraction. It's pretty much a guarantee this thing still wants the Silver Crystal, so we're going to use that to our advantage and hold their attention. We'll put up enough of a fight to be believable. Once you begin the process of destruction from the inside, we can divert our focus to adding our strength by launching our own offensive from the outside. Any questions? Concerns? Last-minute problems?" the Senshi of Venus concluded, casting her gaze over each of them.

When the room remained silent, she nodded. Ami wanted to object. Splitting up the Senshi, using Usagi as bait, trusting Kayura and the Masho, letting a civilian get involved…this had to be the worst plan they'd ever had.

But she stayed silent, because they were out of time, and this was the only plan they had.

"Ok. We're committed. Lady Kayura, we'll meet you here after you complete your own preparations? Say in an hour?" Kayura nodded, and just like that, they all moved, quickly and with focus, to get ready.

Ami turned and began loading data into the new trackers they'd created, syncing up the communicators that Luna and Artemis had somehow miraculously been able to recreate. She wiped her eyes again discreetly, but promised herself she wouldn't be coming back here without Ryo.

They'd bring the Troopers back here.

Or they wouldn't come back.

There were no other alternatives.