PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 17: Teamwork Symphony
After Chibi-Usa had received the distress call from PallaPalla, she hurried on her short legs as fast as she could towards the Mizuno Clinic. She knew where it was just by memory, but she was afraid that everyone there would be in serious trouble without her. The Sailor Soldiers still hadn't discovered an alternate way to destroy the Apples of Discord, so everything rested on Chibi-Usa being there at the right place and the right time. Unfortunately, it didn't work out this time.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Chibi-Usa thought it was strange. If Eris was leading an evil army against the Royal Family, why would it attack somewhere that she wasn't at? She was sure that Eris would be targeting her or her mother for the Silver Crystal, so this attack made no sense at all in that context. Was there something else going on that they didn't know about yet?
What are the Erisians trying to look for? She wondered as she kept running. Do they really want the Silver Crystal, or are they just looking to harvest as much discord from Earth's citizens as they can? Or could it be both at the same time?
She couldn't answer any of her questions, and it frustrated her. She had to keep focused and think about rescuing PallaPalla and the others.
Sailor Arsenic Hyena began the team's new strategy by somersaulting in the air and landing squarely in front of the creature. It opened its mouth to show off its heinous teeth, but she wasn't deterred. It tried to chew down on her body, but she jumped and grabbed its head to vault herself upon it, then jammed an arrow into the skin and injected it with her trademark poisons before jumping off. The poison coursed its way through the blood vessels, causing the inhuman monster to become disoriented. It struggled to find the girl who just caused this pain when it spotted a childish blue-garbed girl in the distance.
"HEEEY! Over here, over here!" Sailor Pallas taunted, slapping her buttocks at the confused monster. It howled and scooted toward her at a fast pace, intent on ramming her down. She cartwheeled out of the way. Zoisite stood way behind where she was and sent a large ball of energy directly into its mouth, exploding inside the trachea and spurting smoke out. It reeled for a few moments, but it absorbed the panicked energy emitted by the fighters and used it to heal the damage.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Sailor Mercury shouted in the distance, summoning her Mercury Harp to string a soothing melody with her graceful fingers. Blue sparkles turned into ice crystals, and further into a jet of cold water that streamed straight for the opened book. The Erisian was shocked that she would attempt to attack its source for warp holes, although she wasn't really 'attacking' it so much as freezing it solid with her magic. The book was encased in solid ice that wouldn't melt for a while, so the monster couldn't rip more pages out to create new portals.
While the beast was busy trying to sort this problem out, Sailor Arsenic Hyena directed her bow at one of the gaps and whispered, "Quiescent Hail."
Her fired arrow soundlessly split itself into hundreds of copies that traversed the portal and emerged through another one, shooting straight for another hole, then another, then another. The Erisian tried to jump through a free gap just to keep itself mobile, but Zoisite was ready with a barrage of icicles and hurled those into the same hole, creating the same jumping effect that Hyena's arrows did. Sailor Pallas faced another free portal and used Pallas Orb: Barrage again to send hundreds of balls into it as well.
Now there were three different streams of deadly attacks leaping through the holes in space and occupying them, preventing the Erisian from using any of them for jumping. The livid monster howled with a piercing shriek and regurgitated a wad of acid at the four warriors. They dashed out of the way in time, giving it the chance to fire acid at the three weapon barrages. They melted harmlessly, but that would prove to be a big mistake.
"Dew of Death," Hyena murmured, firing her explosive shot at the monster's back. It dug into the flesh easily and detonated with such force that chunks of meat were sent flying everywhere. It wasn't enough to kill it as it had to worry about regenerating its skin, but it clearly was in severe agony.
Mercury exclaimed, "Shabon Spray Freezing!"
This time it worked. The insectoid creature now felt the full chill of Mercury's arctic fog, and ice crystals quickly propagated on its body, invading even the injury that Hyena just caused. The Apple of Discord shone gold on the worm's head, and everyone could see the evil spirit fuming within it as it tried to fight against the intense cold.
"It ain't giving up without a fight, huh!?" Pallas raged.
"Not if I can help it," Zoisite grinned, creating lightning in his fingertips and hurling it at the apple. Since its protective barrier was made of gold, it could conduct the electricity easily and viciously burn the evil soul from within. The barrier was still strong, but the malevolent spirit was disoriented. It was at this time that they heard someone rushing to the opened doorway to the unusual parallel dimension world. To the warriors' greatest relief, it was Sailor Chibi-Moon.
"I'm here!" she yelled and brought forth the Pink Lady's Regalia. "Hyena!"
"Understood."
The two Sailor Soldiers jumped together and stood back-to-back with their weapons at the ready.
"Sweet Cupid Straight Shoot!"
The pink-and-silver projectile broke through the Apple of Discord's shell and pulverized the evil spirit inside into nothing, causing the worm-like Erisian to dissipate and the distorted dimension world to vanish. Ami's study room returned to normal, leaving the befuddled warriors standing around. Mercury noticed some small dark object in her vision and discovered an apple seed on the carpet that she knew wasn't there before.
"Thank goodness, I made it in time," Chibi-Moon sighed as everyone relaxed. She said to Hyena, "Your timing is as impeccable as ever. How do you know where the Erisians are going to show up?"
"That's for me to know," the green-haired Sailor Soldier replied, although in all honesty, she seriously had no idea. Chibi-Moon's question raised some suspicions about the enemy's movements. It annoyed Hyena that she still couldn't find any clues about Eris or her minions, despite knowing that their headquarters were not on Earth. The only thing she had to go on was the unknown image of some strange figure in Earth's stratosphere dropping Apples of Discord…
Now that the thought was on her mind, Hyena asked Mercury, "By the way, I want to ask you someth-"
She stopped herself.
"What is it?" Mercury asked.
I can't ask her! Hyena realized. She had silenced herself upon recalling that she had acquired that knowledge without Mercury or Endymion's knowledge, and she didn't ask anyone else about it. If she were to ask, "What did the person in the satellite photo look like?" then Mercury's question would inevitably be, "How do you know about that photo?" The barrage of questions would no doubt lead to her spying gadgets hidden within Crystal Palace, thus causing mistaken suspicion that she was an enemy spy. She couldn't risk it. It was impossible for her to know what the photo was by asking them.
"It's nothing," Hyena replied. "I should be going now."
"Hold on!" Pallas implored as the other girl walked towards the window and stepped on the pane. Chibi-Moon held Pallas' hand and said, "Don't worry. We made a promise to respect each other's privacy. She'll tell us everything when she's ready."
Hyena frowned. Apparently Chibi-Moon felt compelled to say that after her, "That's for me to know," statement. She thought the princess was sometimes a little too trusting. She wasn't going to complain about it if it gave her the needed advantage. With that, Hyena leapt outside and disappeared into the night.
"She certainly is a strange one," Mercury remarked, then asked Zoisite, "That's right. Midori is still downstairs, isn't she?"
Chibi-Moon answered in his stead, "I didn't see her when I was rushing upstairs."
"Could she have run away then?"
"I'll go check on her," Zoisite replied, transforming back into his Masuyoshi Shougo identity and running downstairs. The three Sailor Soldiers used this opportunity to morph back into civilian form as well. Shougo returned to the living room and found it empty, although the front door was wide open. He looked outside and found a tense Midori standing on the lawn and staring up at the study room.
"There you are. What are you doing out here?" he wondered.
Midori nervously admitted, "I came out here to see if there was something wrong. Is everything okay now?"
"Yes, we're fine. A bird just flew through the window, that's all."
"Perhaps you should consider getting a screen installed."
"I definitely should. I wouldn't want to hear a scream like that again. Let's get back inside – the nights are getting chilly around here."
Midori followed Shougo back inside the residence, confident that he didn't suspect she was the Sailor Soldier who just left through that very same window.
In Upala Acropolis, the headquarters of the Animus Syndicate, a piercing slap could be heard across the gilded hallways of the palace. Naja toppled backwards after receiving the blow from an irate Sailor Upala.
"You still haven't found the Silver Crystal!?" she raged.
The other three Camarilla wanted to help their partner to her feet, but she stopped them and got up on her own. She bowed and replied, "I'm terribly sorry, Your Excellency. Earth's Sailor Soldiers have proven to be more valiant than we realized."
"I don't care about that! I need the Silver Crystal in my hands now! You four are professional spies, aren't you!? Do whatever it takes to get it to me! You understand, don't you!?"
"Of course we do," Naja nodded. "We still have a few tactics to be tried out. If they don't work, then we will consider scaling up our efforts."
"Ugh, why not just 'scale up' your efforts now!? Make Earth's royal family surrender to me as soon as possible! Poison the water! Take hostages! Destroy everything and everyone they hold dear if you have to! I need them to understand that the crown of victory belongs to me – the strongest Sailor Soldier in all of Alkima! The Silver Crystal will all but assure my supremacy over Alkima and this backwards galaxy!"
Upala narrowed her eyes and glowered, "Then your planets will be saved as well. If I acquire the Silver Crystal, not only will I become Alkima's Queen, but I will salvage your worlds from the depths of ruin and promote them to become four of my most valued subservient worlds. That's the very reason you've all agreed to be my vassals, is it not?"
"Absolutely. We have faith that you will help our civilizations," Naja replied.
"Then I can't help you unless you help me, understand? It works both ways here. Go on, get out of my sight, and don't come back sniveling to me unless you have the Silver Crystal as an offering."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Camarilla left Upala in the courtyard and returned to their quarters in an angry and spiteful mood, especially Gyps.
"If only that witch Eris wasn't giving her so much power, I would have wrung that harlot's neck through my fingers until her head popped off!" the red-robed woman growled, twitching her claws in a sinister manner.
"This is bad," Apis frowned. "If we keep trying to apprehend Sailor Arsenic Hyena without concentrating on the royal family, Upala is going to become suspicious. Next time, we need to attack either Neo Queen Serenity or Small Lady Serenity if we're to produce any reliable results."
Varan admitted, "As loathe as I am to agree with Upala, she is correct about the Silver Crystal being able to save our worlds. I was not certain if Small Lady was near Hyena or not, which is an oversight on my part."
Naja rubbed her searing cheek and murmured, "I wish there was some way to get the Silver Crystal and keep it out of Upala's hands without harming Hyena…"
Gyps shook with anger and grabbed an Apple of Discord from a nearby vine, her mouth scowling viciously.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" Apis shouted.
"I've had enough of this underhanded business! I'm gonna do this my way!"
"I'm going to guess that you don't have a plan."
"Don't underestimate me, kid! Just because I'm pissed off doesn't mean I haven't got a few aces up my sleeve! Just you wait! I'm gonna solve all of our problems in one fell swoop!"
Gyps disappeared in a red flash, leaving the others stunned about her sudden exit. Varan asked Naja, "Is this wise? I can only foresee many issues if we are to leave things up to her."
"Not much we can do about it now," Naja said. "When Gyps gets like that, there's no stopping her. I figured she would act like that after seeing me get slapped anyway."
"If you insist."