PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE

Chapter 25: Morning of Many Truths

Chibi-Usa and CereCere escorted the exhausted Midori to her apartment, then bid each other bonsoir for the night. The excitement had worn Midori out so much that she didn't bother changing into her nightgown; she just threw her shorts off, collapsed on her bed and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, the other two rejoined the three Yoeda sisters waiting for them, eager to find out the results of the competition. Chibi-Usa and CereCere's grim expressions caught them off guard, and PallaPalla asked, "What happened? Did you lose?"

"Not exactly…" CereCere frowned, then said, "Chibi-Usa wants to talk to Luna and Artemis about something."

"Huh? About what?" JunJun wondered.

"I'll tell you guys all about it."

"Thanks, CereCere," Chibi-Usa nodded and went to her bedroom. She really wanted to speak to the cats about what happened. She retrieved Luna-P from next to her pillow and pushed the button acting as the feline toy's nose, then aimed the projected image on a wall. To her surprise, neither of the feline advisers were on the other end to answer her call. Instead, a small grey-furred kitten with large red eyes and a crescent on its forehead stared intently into the screen.

The kitten gasped with delight and exclaimed, "Small Lady!"

"Diana?" Chibi-Usa asked. "What are you doing there? I thought your parents didn't allow you to play around the communications center."

"Ah… Well, I…" the embarrassed cat mumbled, and then pleaded, "Don't tell Mama and Papa about this, 'kay!?"

"Uh, that's going to be a bit of a problem. I want to talk to them about something important."

Diana offered, "I could chat with you, if you want!"

"Okay… But this isn't your average girl talk."

"You can tell me anything you want!"

"Well, this is what's going on…"

It wasn't until late in the morning the next day that Midori was awake enough to reconvene with Chibi-Usa and the Yoedas in their apartment. By now, VesVes, JunJun and PallaPalla were caught up with last night's events and sat around Midori on the sofa.

"So… She knows who we are," JunJun sighed and crossed her arms. "This is gonna get a lot more complicated now."

PallaPalla asked, "You think so? I think it's become a lot easier now."

"How?"

"Midori's always been in danger and worried about whether or not she would be rescued by us. Now that she knows, she can rely on us a lot more. And if we have some difficult problem that we can't overcome, we can ask her for any ideas."

"What 'difficult problems' could she possibly help us with? She's not a Sailor Soldier, so she can't fight with us," VesVes retorted. "I'd hate to put it this way, but she'd only get in the way during a battle."

"Hey, that's not nice!"

"No, she's right," Midori assured, then lied, "I would be little more than an encumbrance. That's why I always run away whenever one of those creatures appear."

"But even so…" PallaPalla sulked, then suggested, "Maybe we can ask for your opinions about stuff that's bothering us, such as that mystery Sailor Soldier."

"Hey, don't mention that!" CereCere snapped, but it was too late.

Midori curiously asked, "Mystery Sailor Soldier?"

Chibi-Usa sighed at PallaPalla's impetuousness, then explained, "There's a Soldier who's come from a different galaxy to help us fight the enemy, but she doesn't like interacting with us too much. She told me a little bit about herself; she's come from a tragic world where hundreds of Sailor Soldiers fight against each other for dominance, and our main enemy is responsible for all of it. She won't let us in on any more than that though."

"Did she not show up yesterday?" Midori feigned ignorance to see what the others would say.

"No. I thought for sure she would, but this is the first time she didn't appear."

"When does she appear?"

"Whenever there's an Erisian. She and I perform a duo attack to kill them."

"Then she must have trusted you guys to handle the Erisian yourselves."

VesVes exclaimed, "But there was one of Eris' direct subordinates! Wouldn't that have interested her more than your average monsters!?"

Midori couldn't refute that point. But since she needed to sway their attention away from her, she suggested, "Perhaps there was something else going on that required her attention."

"Like what!?"

"How would I know?"

"Hey, let it go already," JunJun chided. "Midori doesn't have anything to do with that Sailor Soldier. Don't go blaming her for every little thing."

"Hmph…" VesVes sulked and slumped on the couch.

Once Chibi-Usa felt that the tension had settled down, she said, "I tried to reach Luna and Artemis, but Diana answered. I told her everything that happened, and I'm hoping she'll tell her parents about it."

CereCere didn't look too impressed. "Perhaps you should try again. Diana has a bad habit of getting distracted."

"Hmm… You're probably right."

Midori asked, "Who is this 'Diana' you're talking about?"

"She's one of my friends at the pal-"

"Hey, hold your horses there!" JunJun barked. "You're not allowed to talk about that!"

Chibi-Usa shook her head and replied, "I thought about it during the night, and I feel that Midori should know everything. I trust her to not carelessly talk about it with other people."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Mama and Papa would want to talk to her, so she would have found out anyway."

"Well, I guess you have a point…"

Midori murmured, "Would you mind filling me in here? You still haven't answered my question yet."

"Oh, right," Chibi-Usa said. "Diana is my friend at the palace."

"Palace? You mean Crystal Tokyo?"

"That's right. Aside from being Sailor Chibi-Moon, I'm also Small Lady Serenity, Crystal Tokyo's princess."

Everyone fell silent as they anticipated what Midori's reaction would be. She just sat there and stared at Chibi-Usa with a blank expression for a few moments. Eventually, she whispered, "I see… So 'Mama' and 'Papa' would be Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion."

"Yeah."

Midori became silent again. None of this information was actually new to her since she already used her spying gadgets to glean that information from the palace. But for her, the golden rule of espionage was to only talk about what others had verbally told her, or about what she could reliably find from public sources like the news or the paper. She had to maintain a charade of ignorance and ask Chibi-Usa for definitive proof of her lineage.

"To be perfectly honest," she finally said, "I'm having a hard time believing your claims, what with everything that has happened."

"I understand," Chibi-Usa replied. "Maybe you would like to meet the palace's advisers and hear it from them."

"Are you able to do that?"

"Sure! Just a sec."

Chibi-Usa ran into her room and brought back Luna-P. The unusual toy baffled Midori, but Chibi-Usa paid no mind and created the projection on an empty wall. This time, the familiar black and white cats were present to answer the call.

"Ah, Chibi-Usa! We've been trying to get in contact with you!" Luna exclaimed.

"Sorry, Luna. There's been a lot going on here."

Midori blinked fervently. "Y-Your advisor is a… talking cat?"

"Hmm?" Artemis poked his head near the screen. "Who is that girl with you?"

"Ah!" Luna gasped. "Could that be the 'Inu' girl that Diana was talking about last night?"

"Right," Chibi-Usa nodded. "Diana and I had a long chat last night. She meant to say 'Inuken Midori', the name of my friend from the apartment next door."

"Inuken Midori… Hey, Chibi-Usa! Why are you allowing a citizen to see this!? You know it's expressly forbidden to-!"

"Sorry, Luna! I wanted to tell you what happened yesterday, but I wanted to have Diana tell you guys about it! She must have messed it up or forgotten a lot about it!"

CereCere giggled and muttered, "I should have guessed."

Chibi-Usa proceeded to tell the cats about the previous night's battle and Midori's discovery of their Sailor Soldier identities. After she was done, Artemis put a paw to his chin and murmured, "So that's what happened…"

Luna muttered, "I thought Diana was saying some weird stuff last night. We wanted to talk to you this morning about her odd behavior, but you weren't responding."

"I'm so sorry. It's been a huge mess here…" Chibi-Usa bowed. "Kunzite said he would talk to Mama and Papa in private about this."

"Well, that's okay. We'll make absolutely sure that word gets around, and we'll vouch for Midori as well. For you to have transformed in front of her must mean you trust her a lot."

"Thank you, Luna!"

"A moment please," Midori interrupted. "If I may be bold enough, I wish to ask for confirmation about something."

"What would that be?" Artemis asked.

"She claimed to be Crystal Tokyo's princess, Small Lady Serenity. Can you verify this?"

"Oh, absolutely. She is the one and only daughter of Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion, the rulers of this kingdom. As for proof, she and her mother are the only ones able to use the legendary Silver Crystal, which is passed through their family."

"Is that the same artifact that the Sailor Soldiers' enemies are trying to take?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I see. Thank you for the information. I feel I can believe Chibi-Usa's claims now. And I sincerely apologize for causing such complications."

"It's not your fault, Miss Inuken," Luna assured. "If anything, we should be the ones apologizing to you for getting you caught up in the Erisians' attacks."

"No, that is…"

"Okay, okay, enough with the guilt trip," VesVes stopped them. "What's done is done. We just have to be careful and keep Midori safe from now on."

"Yep! Easy peasy!" PallaPalla chimed in.

Artemis grinned and said, "You're right. If there's nothing else, then we'll handle things from here."