In the last chapter, the Negaverse and its rather strange beings began to make their move toward Earth and several places on it, in fact. That was if they'd not already done so by then, obviously enough. Just how, when, and where they moved to on, under, and around it, though, you had to read on to find out well enough. For I didn't really want to spoil the last section of the story here, if it could have been avoided at all, before you'd had a good enough chance to read it.
In the next chapter, several Peruvian Monitors and their current Scout associates will converse for a while with each other in a Peruvian Imperial Palace garden about certain matters of considerable importance to any or all of them at all. In order for you to find out what they'll all say during that conversation there, though, you'll just have to read on to find out well enough, of course. For I don't really want to spoil this next section of the story here, if I can possibly avoid it, before you have a good enough chance to read it.
Now, without much, if any, further ado, if we may, readers, let's get on with the next chapter of this story here. If you like what you see, or feel the need to do so, then please don't be afraid to read, review, and enjoy my related story chapters here, readers. I await your rather clean, rather courteous, and rather constructive, comments about this story and its related parts, and about its related series, as well. Supposing, of course, that any of you all would ever feel the need or the desire to put up any reviews for any or all of my various stories. Remember, people, all the standard disclaimers will still apply here, if and whenever necessary. However, I'd still hope and prefer that you all not steal my own original characters and settings here. For I've spent many hours working on them for quite a few years, in fact. Now, let's get on with the story here again, everyone. And I really do hope that you'll all continue to read and enjoy it, readers! Now on to the story!
A Rather Hostile Takeover
A The Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story
Rainbow Garden In The Imperial Palace
Cuzco, Peru, Earth
February 15, 987
A few days later, at the very most, while the Negaverse was beginning to establish itself on Earth's surface to the best of its ability to do so, word of its activities finally reached the area of Cuzco, Peru. And it did so while Queen Serenity and the rest of her crowd were still spending a little time with some of their Peruvian friends in the Imperial Palace's Rainbow Garden there. And it reached there while they were all in their respective normal states of being there. They soon learned of the Negaverse's activities when several other Monitors came there to meet with their fellow Monitors Mara, Ginkya, Yazmis, and Zardiz, for a while.
Among them was the Monitor Firehawk, who'd then been trying to keep an eye on General Tucariono and a number of his people with a number of other Monitors, for a while. She and those other Monitors had done this here after Mara and her cousins had asked her and several other Monitors to do so. Firehawk told Mara and her current companions of several thousand strange beings, at least, if not more of such beings than that, who'd apparently established a base of operations elsewhere in Peru's territory, within the last few days or weeks, at most.
Mara soon said, "Describe them to us, Firehawk."
So Firehawk and at least two other Monitors did so, to the best of their respective abilities to do so. And Mara soon said, "I was afraid that they'd be here eventually. I think that we're going to have to evacuate as many of our people from Peru as possible, then, Firehawk. Please tell the Emperor and Empress, as well as my parents, at least, that I and my cousins now rather strongly suggest that we have everyone who can do so easily enough soon begin entering as many of our underground caves as they can. And that we recommend that everyone who can do so easily enough should quite possibly start heading toward other lands that we know of through them. Or that they should quite possibly start hiding out there for some yet-unknown length of time. Our enemies are most likely going to be trying to blockade our ports that they're not in control of at the current time, I believe. And they'll most likely be watching the skies as well. And if I'm not mistaken, they'll be moving toward our cities which they don't already control with their land forces. But they might not expect us to try to hide from them underground. That's if they haven't already begun to do any or all of those things here on Earth, I believe. However, I think there's a very good chance that they've already started to do at least one or more of those things I just mentioned to everyone else now here with me in this garden. Believe me, everyone, if I'd been on a new world long enough, and if I had nasty designs on it and its inhabitants, I'd probably do at least one of those things just as soon as I possibly could. If not more than one of them. After having first come to a new world like they've just apparently come to Earth now, I'd probably do so, if I could, and if I were actually wanting to conquer and/or destroy it, anyway. Of course, I could be wrong here, Firehawk. But I really hope that I'm not."
"Why don't you four want to do it yourselves, Mara?" asked Firehawk.
"We'll have to do other things at the current time, I think, Firehawk. If you need to use other Monitors besides those of us who are already here in this garden, then so be it. Just try to be sure that you can relay all the necessary information to the required people here in Peru, if at all possible for you all. It may not be very easy for you to do that, though. But at least you'll have to try to do that here, Firehawk. That's so if the need actually arises for us to try to do so here, we can then try to evacuate as many of our people from Peru as we possibly can. And that's if our enemies are actually too strong for us to somehow defend ourselves easily enough, as well."
"Even if some of our citizens and military personnel are lost?"
"Yes, even if that's the case, we all have to do whatever we possibly can for any or all of our people, no matter what the cost, Firehawk," said Yazmis.
Another Monitor, a Monitor named Fadra Kilala, who had the Caracas Crystal for the Monitors, and who had the Monitor name of Sacala, then said, "This may not work, Yazmis."
"I understand that, and I'm sure that my cousins do too. But we still have to do what we can for our people, no matter what, Sacala."
Firehawk said, "Of course, there's also the possibility that our enemies may find out about our underground caves and tunnels, anytime in the near future, people."
"True enough, Firehawk," said Zardiz. "But that's most likely a risk that we'll all probably have to take here, if we really want to do the best that we possibly ever can. And hopefully be able to do so in order to protect as many of our people as possible from any harm that might be caused by our enemies. And some of us may even be lost, of course. I hope not, obviously enough. But if they're intent on ruining our nation, then any number of us, other Peruvian personnel, and/or any number of Peru's people could be lost because of them. I really don't like the idea of that possibly happening at all, of course. But it still might come to pass, if they're a very strong group of strange beings."
Another Monitor named Geline Yodasan, or simply enough, Enisangob, then said, "If the Zone of Darkness we saw earlier is any indication, I expect that there are thousands of beings, at least, if not more, in it. And I expect that it might continue to spread quite rapidly, if it's not checked whenever possible. We could really have a lot of trouble from them, if that Zone of Darkness has at least as many strange beings in it as we all suspected that it now has in it."
Mara then asked, "Where's this Zone of Darkness now, Enisangob?"
"The nearest edge of it is currently running from somewhere near Tacna northeast to about Rurrenabaque. And then it runs from there southeast to about Corumba's local area. After which it runs roughly south toward somewhere in the local area of Asuncion. Then it runs roughly southwest to the Pacific Ocean near Valparaiso. They now apparently hold the area from there to about Tacna, from what we could gather easily enough with the help of our Crystals, all along the coast. And all the land between all those places now seems to be under their very firm control. We tried to get even closer to all of those places. But we really couldn't get closer to them all than about 2,000 yards either in the air or on the ground without taking the chance that they might see, hear, or detect us as we patrolled in the area. Even while we each tried to keep at least one eye on General Tucariono and/or any number of his people that we were all trying to watch for you all some length of time ago. We all got back here just a few hours ago, at most, Princess Mara."
"So this area is rather large, it seems, if what you're telling us is accurate enough."
The Quito-born Firehawk, who was also Sonir Adera, and who was the holder of the Quito Crystal for the Monitors, then said, "Yes, it is, Mara. It may be rather difficult for us to evict them from our lands, because they seem to be very strong, and getting even stronger as time goes by, I think. If it's not already too late, then it may not be too much longer before they get too strong for us to kick them out of our nation easily enough. Supposing, of course, that we're somehow ever able to do just that at all in our lives here in our own nation on Earth's planetary surface."
Serena then said, "The Negaverse won't give any of your people mercy if they refuse to aid them, or submit to their control. Whether Monitor, civilian, sailor, or soldier, they'll not give any of your people mercy if they encounter them. That's if your people refuse to aid or submit to them and their control, when they're trying to wreak havoc anywhere in the known Universe that they can do just that in it, I think. So if you encounter them, then you must all be prepared to fight or die, if you don't want to aid or submit to them and their control. Believe me, we've faced them at least once before in battle. And this is how I know this, girls. And they'll eventually come to the Moon, I fear. And then they'll wreak just as much havoc on it, when they do so, as they possibly can. But only after having first gone after all the other Moon Kingdom-inhabited places anywhere at all that they can actually find and get to easily enough, it now seems to me here."
"How do you know this, Serena?"
"I see such things in my dreams and visions quite frequently, Firehawk. That's one reason I know what might happen for us back on the Moon after a few more years, at most, pass for us all in this solar system of ours, if I'm not too mistaken about such things. Of course, I won't like it at all, if and when it happens. And I'm quite sure my fellow Moonites and others I know in my life well enough won't like it either. But I'm really afraid that such things might eventually happen for us all back on the Moon someday. If they do happen, then several of us, if not all, of us might find ourselves likely taking a one-way trip to the Earth from the Moon. I'd love to spend forever on the Moon. And I'm sure a lot of other people from our own Moon Kingdom might too, Firehawk. But I really don't think that we'll be able to do that easily enough. Or at least not for quite a while, if we all somehow survive easily enough for a long enough time."
"Do you have a problem with living on the Earth in the future, Serena?" asked Sacala.
"No, of course not, Sacala. But I think that I'd rather be on the Moon in my life, if at all possible. Don't get me wrong, my honey is from the Earth. But I often love being on the Moon."
"Because you've spent virtually all of your life on it, Serena?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, Sacala."
"And you're afraid that if and when the Negaverse comes to your Moon Kingdom, not one stone will likely be left on another by the time that they finally get done with ruining it, Serena?"
"At least a little. But by then, I don't think that I'll be awake to see it, if my visions and dreams that I've had for a number of years are sufficiently accurate in their respective natures. I expect that most, if not all, of us will be asleep before then. Including me and Darien, of course. If not lost, because of them, Sacala."
Queen Serenity then said, "And if that's the case, then I'll likely have to try to save as many of our Moon Kingdom's current inhabitants as I possibly can, of course, Monitors. Even if it means I too fall asleep somehow. I won't leave the Moon behind in a physical sense when they come. And I'll still be there after I lock them away for a time. I believe that I eventually will fall asleep somewhere on the Moon. And then I'll soon be left alone on the Moon for quite a while. I'll likely be the last humanoid awake on the Moon, before everyone I was able to save somehow then begins heading toward Earth, and what'll hopefully be a new future for them all. At least once per Moon Kingdom inhabitant that I was able to save somehow, if not more than once, supposing that I'm not too mistaken about such things, of course."
"Will you be lonely, after they all leave you behind, if they begin leaving before you fall asleep, Queen Serenity?"
"I won't likely have time to feel lonely, Enisangob. For I'll likely be falling asleep not too long afterward."
"Asleep like in dead, Queen Serenity?"
"You might say that, Enisangob."
"I see. Well, what if they come back to bother those who you were able to save somehow, Queen Serenity?"
"I expect that Luna and Artemis will know what to do, then. For I've been preparing them both for such a prospect at least once each per person who might ever be a Sailor Scout for us in the future. Whether or not they're Sailor Scouts of any currently-known kind right now in our known Universe, which God created so long ago, out of pure nothingness."
Firehawk, Enisangob, and Sacala soon left the rest of their current companions behind, so that they could try to relay the needed messages to the required people anywhere in Peru who weren't currently under Negaverse control anywhere at all on Earth. And everyone else they'd met with in the Rainbow Garden for a time either watched or heard them leave it behind, if not both, of course.
After Firehawk, Sacala, and Enisangob left them behind again, Mara said, "For some strange reason, I think that we'll have our hands quite full with the Negaversers now on our world. I have this hunch that we'll not be able to beat them easily enough to evict them from it at all. Even if we have to fight what essentially might be delaying actions, so that as many of our people can survive as we can get safely enough away from them here on Earth somehow."
Raye then asked, "Mara, I have a question, if I may ask it of you?"
"Yes, Raye?"
"That question is this, 'What is the current strength of your people's Monitor force of female warriors?', Mara."
"As far as I know, about 20,000, give or take a few hundred or so. at most. I could be wrong about that, though, of course, Raye."
"How long will it likely take you to mobilize them, then?"
"At least a week, I fear, if not longer. Quite possibly at least two weeks, I believe."
"How many Monitors are in this area at the current time?"
"About a dozen Monitors, plus or minus, I think, about three or four Monitors, at the very most, including all four of us, Firehawk, Sacala, and Enisangob, of course. If we split up, it'd likely take us at least a day to get to all of the required areas of our Peruvian Empire that aren't currently under Negaverse control, if not longer. Even if you Sailor Scouts helped us out, that'd still likely be the case for all of us here in our Empire. There are considerable distances between several of our cities. And it often takes a while for our people to get between them on foot and/or by using other modes of travel. We often don't like it. But it's still often the case for those of us here in the Peruvian Empire."
"And if they're coming here from elsewhere in the Universe, they might still do so, unless, of course, they're kept somehow from doing so?"
"Yes, I believe that'll be the case for our Negaverse enemies, Amy."
"So what you're saying here is that if we don't somehow stop them, and also evict them from our own world, they'll probably use it as a base of operations to attack the Moon and other Moon Kingdom-inhabited places, Mara?" asked Sylvia, at least a few seconds later.
"Correct. Now I'm not really familiar with your part of Earth or with Darien or Rolando's parts of it. But I still think that'll actually be the case, if we can't kick them somehow off our world, Sylvia."
"Which might prove fatal to the various inhabited places in our solar system that are currently under Moon Kingdom control. Such as Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as well as all their moons and space stations, as well, quite possibly?" asked Sylvia, after Mara had just answered her moments before.
"I suspect so, Sylvia. Then that'd likely leave just our own world inhabited here in our own solar system, of course."
"And if we don't take care of them here eventually, somehow, they might have control of, or they might destroy, this whole solar system someday, if I understand what you're saying well enough, Mara."
"Yes. And that's something that we really can't afford, for all the obvious reasons, of course. That's if it can possibly be avoided somehow by us, Sylvia."
"Understood. No matter what, then, they must not be allowed either to control or to destroy this whole solar system of ours. At least one inhabited place that they can't get to must somehow remain free of their presence, if at all possible. Even if they send us back to the Stone Age, in a manner of speaking, technologically, at least. They must not infect our whole solar system with their foul stench and other forms of evil pollution from their wicked Negaverse."
By now, it was about 1:30 pm on February 15, 987. At least in the Cuzco, Peru, area of Earth, anyway. Mara and her fellow Monitors soon decided that they needed to do certain other things elsewhere on the Imperial Palace's grounds. So they soon parted from the Scouts that had been visiting with them while they were out of their respective Sailor Scout states of being. Serena didn't want them to leave. But Mara soon said, "We have to leave you all now, everyone. We don't really want to, of course. But if your previous enemies are here in our own land, we have no real choice in the matter. Supposing, of course, that they're anything like you've already told us that they are, based on your previous battle with them."
Serena soon said, "From our previous experience against them, they're like that, Mara. Quite like that, Mara."
"Then you can understand why we must leave you now. Even if we don't really want to do that, Serena."
"Yes, I suppose that I must admit that, Mara."
"Well, feel free to try to enjoy yourselves here for a while longer, if you so choose to do so, everyone. We'll try to find out more about our new common enemy, if at all possible, in the meantime. Of course, we'll try to do so in a safe enough manner. Though we won't guarantee that we'll be able to do easily enough, without letting them know that we know what they've been doing in our nation, obviously enough."
"May God keep you all safe, then, until we meet again, if it's His will for Him to do just that. And may you also find out enough useful information about our enemies safely enough, if at all possible, of course," Queen Serenity soon said. After which all of her companions besides the Monitors soon said generally the same thing to her, in their own special ways of doing so in their respective lives.
After that was then done well enough to suit everyone who was actually still in the Rainbow Garden and still close enough to Queen Serenity here, Mara and her fellow Monitors quite reluctantly left their new associates behind in the aforementioned garden. Everyone else who was still there then watched or heard them leave it. After which Serena eventually said, "Just what we need, Mother. More trouble from our enemies in our lives."
"I'm not happy at all about that either, Serena. But we'll still have to face them many more times in the future, I believe, whether we like it or not. And we'll all probably have to do it, no matter what the costs of doing battle against them are for us all in the Moon Kingdom, at least. If not elsewhere in the known Universe as well."
"I never wanted to have to fight the Negaverse again, Mom."
"I know that, Serena."
"I hope that if they really wreak great havoc on the Moon someday in the future, that you're able to save us all, of course, Mom."
"I'll certainly do my best, as you all very well know by now, my dear Serena. But even I may not be able to save everyone, of course, if they're too far away from where we'll most likely meet them for the last time on the Moon, Serena. And of course, we all know about what might happen for you and Darien in the future, if they come to the Moon to conquer or destroy it, Serena. I really hope that it doesn't, quite obviously enough. But I strongly feel that it may very well come to pass for any or all of us, Serena."
"What if we have to face them in battle while we're on Earth?"
"Then we fight them to the death. And we do whatever we can for our new associates, if at all possible, Serena. As well as for their people, if we possibly can do so, of course."
"And if they're still too strong, Mother?" asked Bethany, just after she'd seen her mother sign those words a few seconds before.
"Then we have to try to escape from the area as well, if at all possible, while also trying to help out others as much as we possibly can, at the very same time. If any of us fall, we must not abandon them as we make our retreat, if we can possibly avoid it. Whether Scout, Monitor, Peruvian soldier, sailor, or citizen, if we can possibly avoid it, we aren't to abandon them if and when we have to retreat from the area in which we'd just engaged them in battle. That may not be easy, of course, Bethany. But we must try to make sure that any of us who might fall in battle don't get left any particular place where our enemies might be able to access our bodies easily enough. If we must leave people behind, we may need to dispose of their bodies as we make our retreat in whatever ways that we possibly can dispose of them, if the need arises."
"And if we may have to use people's bodies as a barricade to buy us some time to get away from wherever we were fighting our enemies at such a time, Mother?"
"Then we may very well have to do that. Even if we may not actually like the idea much of us doing so at all, Destiny. I don't know how large these tunnels or caves might be that the Monitors mentioned to us some time ago. But they may be rather small at times, of course, Destiny."
"Should we expect any reinforcements here from the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity?" asked Raye.
"I don't think so, much less anywhere else on Earth, besides anywhere else in the Peruvian Empire, Raye. If we fight them, as I suspect that we'll eventually have to at least once here on Earth, then I don't think we should expect any increases in the size of our forces here on Earth. Or at least not for a long while."
Alexis said, "We could engage them, if we knew where they were, Queen Serenity, and if we knew exactly how strong they really are."
"Alexis, I do know that you're often quite aggressive in your life. But there's no logical sense in us engaging them before we're as ready to fight them in battle as we possibly can be, if it can be avoided at all, somehow. Granted, you may actually have a good idea, Alexis. But now's not the proper time for us to attack them, if it can be avoided at all. Maybe later, we can explore the idea. But right now, at least, we aren't yet ready to fight them here, if we'll ever be, Alexis."
Michelle then said, "I feel like we could take them, Queen Serenity."
"I understand you might feel that way, Michelle. But it's not logical to expose our people to danger, while we're still not ready to fight them. And it's also not logical to do it while we still don't know just how strong they are, if it can be avoided at all. Don't you remember how they took out a lot of natives of Ozotov IV when we went there quite a while ago?"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything, Queen Serenity?"
"If those natives hadn't been on our side, by fighting against beings from the Negaverse, we'd likely not be here today, Michelle. If we faced them without help, what do you think would happen to our Moon Kingdom?"
"It'd be destroyed."
"Why, Michelle?"
"Because it wouldn't have us leading it, and our Moon Kingdom needs our leadership, if we don't want the Silver Millennium to end before a thousand years have passed in it."
"Correct. Sure, my brother and others in my government may be rather intelligent. But there are a lot of people who'd love to see us completely out of the way, no matter what the cost. Especially for those of us who are actually from the Moon. I trust my brother, of course, but I don't trust a lot of our other people."
"People like Prince Caliterios, Queen Serenity?"
"Exactly, Raye. If he didn't have as much support as he does in your mini-system, he'd likely be out of my government very soon, if I had my way with him. I'd probably banish him from the Moon, at least, if I could. But because he's a rather powerful official from your own world and its mini-system, I can't do that very easily, of course. To do so would likely cause even more trouble for us that we may all not be able to handle well enough for quite a while."
"And that might jeopardize our joint project with Darien's own Earth nation, I suppose, by logical extension?"
"You could say that, because I feel that if sufficient enough trouble arises in any of our Moon Kingdom's inhabited places, it may very well force us to spend our money and resources elsewhere, instead of spending it on other things related to our joint project sufficiently enough, Raye. Like on dealing with such trouble in those inhabited places of our Moon Kingdom, for instance. Every single bit of money or resources that can be diverted from wherever it should go for us certainly puts our Moon Kingdom at even more risk from any or all of our enemies, Raye. And if, somehow, too much money and/or resources are wasted needlessly, then the chances of my saving as many of us as we can may be quite significantly reduced, for obvious reasons. I really don't want that to be the case. And I don't think the rest of you really do too, either. Most especially Destiny and Bethany, who, I quite strongly believe, aren't often in most people's dreams and/or visions of the future. Or at least up to this point in each of our mortal lives in God's very own Universe, that is."
All the Moonites and their Terran friend Sylvia soon decided to leave the Rainbow Garden behind again. After which they all split up with each other as needed, so that they could go to their current Peruvian Imperial Palace chambers, in very short order. Serena returned to her own chambers with her sisters and Sylvia not too much later, after she and Raye had both given Queen Serenity back their lockets again here, of course. She then did this by about 2 pm local time.
Then she and her sisters, as well as Sylvia, soon decided to take naps for a while. And when they each did so, they all soon fell asleep in their respective sleeping areas in their current chambers, of course. They all napped in them, then, for at least two or three hours, if not longer, until they all eventually woke up again in them. While they each napped in their designated sleeping areas in those chambers, they all often dreamed of what might happen for them all in the future, if and whenever such a future might ever come to pass for them. That was supposing, quite obviously enough, that it'd ever somehow come to be the case, for any or all of them in their respective lives. Of course, their dreams might never come to pass, if and when the Negaverse came to the Moon Kingdom. And most especially to the Moon, in each and every single one of their lives. But then again, they might come to pass for any or all of them, just the same.
A Rather Hostile Takeover will still take a while to put up here, readers, quite possibly. Until later, then, this is "The Universal Storyteller" signing off here. Happy reading, and God bless, and all that, of course, readers! Over and out!