Chapter 10
When Reni finally woke up, she was in the same room on the Darkmoon but decorated differently. It was still dark in the room but the walls were now painted in a dark fuchsia color along with dark pink outlining the trim. Her bed was queen sized with a fuchsia comforter and pink pillows and curtain. It was obviously made with Serenity in mind because she happened to like the color pink.
She woke up with a humongous headache that felt like it should belong to a blue whale. Reni realized that she had pushed back the darkness before she passed out but she didn't feel like it was gone; just waiting for the right moment to strike. As long as she's giving me a break, Reni thought. As soon as she was in a sitting position, Diamonds appeared beside the bed, looking very concerned.
"Are you alright, dearest?" asked Diamonds. As he said it, though, she felt the need to puke out whatever was in her stomach but hid that impulse with a reassuring smile.
"Yes, I'm fine," Reni replied, "Just a little quesy."
"I could kill those warriors for what they did to you." When he finished, she felt the need to warn the warriors of the danger. No, Reni screamed in her head. Oh, yes, affirmed the dark Serenity as she overtook Reni once again.
"Rest assured they will pay for what they did," Serenity began, "but they will be expecting a quick retaliation."
"Oh," he said questioningly, "and just how do you know that?"
"Do try to remember that before I became the better person that I am, I was once a warrior of the moon and know how they work."
"So what do you suggest we do about it then?"
"I suggest we bide our time for a while; make them fall into a false sense of security. Then when they least expect anything to happen, we attack them, full force." Diamonds was silent for a few seconds before he broke out in a full out grin of evil.
"You, my dear, are the most brilliant person I've ever known." He then picked her up and kissed her. No, Stop! yelled Reni. Serenity quickly stomped down on that part of her and kissed him back. After a few seconds, they broke apart and he left her room. She knew that then she had to prepare herself for the powers of the warriors before they turned her back into a wimp.
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"It's a good sign," said Mars, "that she called for help. That means that we haven't completely lost her to the darkness."
"Truly, it is indeed a great thing, but Diamonds could easily turn her even more against us, making it harder to reach her the next time," said Mercury.
"You have a point there, Mercury," said Venus. "If we want her back, we'll need the help of the outer warriors."
"Yeah, but how do we call them?" asked Jupiter.
"I think the answer lies is in our memories," said Mars. "I think if we concentrate hard enough, we can find the means to communicate with them."
"I think that's a good idea," stated Venus. "Come let's gather around in a circle and concentrate." All the warriors clasped their hands together and searched the inner reaches of their memories to find the way to communicate with the other warriors. As they searched their countless memories, they came across one memory in which they had needed to call them.
"We're in big time trouble, we need help!" yelled Jupiter over the blasts of power, destroying every building in sight.
"Right," said Venus. "We need to call the outer warriors. Everyone gather round." They quickly formed a circle, and raised their arms to the sky, and called out, "Warriors from the outer realm, help us in our time of crisis. Help us protect what we love the most."
The warriors began to glow their respective colors. The colors swirled together then shot out into the air, beaming their SOS signal to each of the outer warriors' planets.
'That's it!' They thought simultaneously. They cam out of their trance and called out the now familiar phrase, "Warriors from the outer realm, help us in our time of crisis. Help us protect what we love the most." As they called out the last sentence, they all began to glow their respective colors. The colors swirled together very slowly at first, and then the colors shot straight out into space like a comet towards the outer planets. But this time instead of going towards the planets, like it did in the past, it went directly to the warrior of that planet to call on them.
After the blast had shot out from the inner warriors, they stopped glowing, sat back, and waited for the others to come. Almost as fast as they had begun to sit down, four colors, navy blue, aquamarine, purple, and black, shot down from the sky to appear in front of them. The colors glowed very brightly, pulsed once then began to fade. As the colors faded, they began to take shape and show the outer warriors who had come to aid them. Like the other warriors they wore the same style of tops with their respective colors: dark blue and yellow for Uranus; aquamarine for Neptune; purple and white for Saturn; and black and garnet for Pluto. Unlike the inner warriors, the outer ones had been given weapons.
The purple light showed Saturn. Saturn, Estrella, was the youngest warrior, but no doubt one of the smarter ones. She stood proudly at 5'0", with straight purple hair that went down to the base of her neck and deep, mysterious purple eyes you could fall into like a black hole. She was the quietest one in the group, but one of the happiest when around her friends. She wore purple, mid-thigh length shorts that was covered with a sheer white skirt that had stars etched in that went down to her knees. Estrella had two weapons that could combine to make one; a short staff and a shakram.
The navy blue light formed Uranus. Uranus, Urania, was the tom boy of the group; also one of the most protective of the princess. She was a tough girl standing tall at 5'10½" with dirty blond hair cut so it looked as if the wind had played in it and dark blue eyes that told people that she was a straight forward girl who acted first, and thought later. She wore dark blue, form-fitted pants that were tucked into blue and yellow knee high boots. Her weapon was a medium length curved sword.
The aquamarine light showed Neptune, Aqua. Aqua was the counterpart of Urania. Where Urania was an all action girl, Aqua was the culture girl. Aqua was 5'9" with wavy aquamarine hair that looked like it pulsated like waves in the ocean and aqua eyes that welcomed you to paradise or destruction. She wore loose fitting aqua pants that seemed to ripple down to cover most of her light green calf-length boots. The weapon she was given was a rod that was curved like water with a peridot stone placed on top.
Lastly, the black light showed Pluto, Chronia. Chronia, the oldest of the warriors, was also the most secretive when it came to revealing the future. She was also the tallest standing at 6'0" with forest green hair that was so dark it looked black and dark garnet eyes that held the secrets to the universe. She was the mother figure to Estrella and Serenity and loved them as her own. She was wearing layered pants; the outer layer had four slits per leg and was colored garnet while the inner layer flared slightly at the bottom and was black in color. The weapon she was gifted with was a staff thinly carved into the shape of an hourglass with a garnet stone place in its center an on the top of the staff.
"Hello, fellow warriors," said Pluto. "We have heard your cry for help and are ready to fight our enemy."
"We thank you for coming so quickly," said Mars. "We have awful news to tell." Mars hung her head.
"Come now, it can't be all that bad," said Uranus. Mars gave her a look of sorrow and desperation, showing that it really is as bad as all that.
"What has happened?" said Saturn. "Where is the princess?"
"I'm afraid that is why we have called you," Mercury said solemnly.
"Yes, the princess has been captured and turned to the Darkmoon's side," stated Earth Warrior with such a furious gleam in his eyes that it shone in the dark night.
"Well it seems as if we have no time to be wasting here," said Neptune. "We must form a plan of action to get her back safely."
"Right!" shouted everyone.
"Let's go to my place," said Uranus. "It's not that far from here." They left quickly for Uranus' apartment where they could come up with a plan that would bring their princess back to them. When they arrived at the apartment, they changed back to their original forms. They, then, began to talk about what course of action they should take. They sat there for hours and hours and hours; coming up with a plan, rejecting it, then coming up with another and rejecting that one as well, when finally at 4 o'clock in the morning, they found their plan of action.
They decided that, in order for the plan to work, they needed to get Serenity alone. They would then have four warriors distract and contain Prince Diamonds while the other four tried to gain Serenity's attention. Once they had Prince Diamonds contained, they would then, disarm her then form the circle of compassion and love, which needs all nine warriors for it to work. Hopefully, by giving her back her memories through this circle, she would turn back to the princess they knew and, together, they would defeat Prince Diamonds once and for all.
"This will work if everything goes according to plan," said Aqua.
"Yes, and we'll have our sweet princess back," said Estrella.
"What do we do now?" asked Terra. "We can't do this until they show up."
"We'll just have to wait until they do," Urania said grudgingly.
"Chronia," said Ariesa, "you've been quiet the entire time we've been talking." Chronia looked up.
"What do you think our chances are that we'll be able to retrieve the princess?" Everyone turned towards Chronia, who had her head down and eyes closed. "Being the Keeper of all Time and Space," she started in a low voice, "puts one in a position to be quiet on things such as these." She paused. "As much as I would like to give my input on this particular subject, I cannot because whatever I might say could change the outcome of the future in ways even I cannot see. The only thing I can say is that the plan you have chosen is a wise one, so do not stray from it and believe in it." She said no more.
"All that's left for us to do," Estrella began, "is to wait and hope our plan succeeds."
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Three weeks later.
Reni was at her wits end. It had been two weeks ago when she had received a message through her dreams.
Reni lay asleep on a cold stone ground, shivering; hoping o find some warmth.
"Princess, Princess," crooned a soft, feminine voice in the darkness. Serenity rolled around towards the voice and opened her eyes. A first she saw nothing as she peered into the darkness.
"Who's there?" Reni asked the darkness, sensing déjà vu. Instead of answering, the woman slowly appeared out of the darkness. The woman was tall with long flowing hair that swayed gently with her every step. When she stood a few feet away, Reni gasped.
"Nia! Is that you?"
"Yes, little one," Chronia smiled at Reni. Reni got up from the stone floor and ran into Chronia's welcoming embrace.
"I'm so glad to see you, Nia," Reni muttered into Chronia's chest.
"It has been a long time, little one," Chronia gave Reni a final squeeze before moving her back to arms length. Chronia wiped a tear from Reni's face. "There are no time for tears now dear one."
"Yes," Reni agreed, "you are right." Reni wiped the remaining tears away from her face. "So, Nia, what are you doing here?"
"My dear one, it seems as if you have a bit of a problem."
"Yeah, you could say that."
"Do not fret, little one for there is something that can be done." Reni looked up at Chronia with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.
"Do you mean it Nia? Is there really a way?"
"Yes. Do you remember the last time you were able to regain your control?" Reni furrowed her brow and thought about the last time.
"The last time I had been watching the fight and saw the returned attack come at me and my other self." Reni paused then continued. "While I didn't feel the attack, I felt whatever was suppressing me lessen enough for me to surface. However, when my other self had regained her strength I found myself back in the darkness."
"In other words, your other self can't take a strong hit."
"Yes, I suppose so."
"Little one, I want you to listen carefully." Reni turned her full attention to Chronia. "This 'other self' is merely a reflection of your darker feelings."
"What do you mean; my darker feelings?"
"Ever since that night that the Earth attacked, all the darker emotions have been storing up within you. Slowly, they have been simmering beneath the surface ever since that time, waiting for a moment of weakness." Pluto paused to let that sink in before continuing. "That day came when you entered your first battle alone. You where outmaneuvered and your confidence weakened. When that happened, the dark feelings found their moment to surface and when you were hit with the dark energy it was given strength and power enough to push you down and out."
"I didn't realize that it was because of that night."
"Yes, however, as I said there is a way to defeat the darkness."
"How would I do this, Nia?"
"To defeat her, you must answer this question: what is your greatest fear?" Reni looked shocked at the question. When she opened her mouth to answer, Chronia stopped her. "Do not answer now. I want you to think carefully about it for it will unlock the chains that bind you." Chronia framed Reni's face in her hands and placed a feather-light kiss on Reni's brow. She then stepped back and looked at her little princess.
"I must leave you now, but know that I love you and I know you will find your answer, my little one." Reni gave Chronia a watery smile.
"I love you too, Nia."
"I will never be far away from you my princess." With that, Chronia left Reni in the darkness once again but this time the darkness was more like a warm blanket instead of bitter cold.
Ever since that time, Reni had been going through her memories and analyzing her thoughts, trying to find the answer to Nia's question. Nothing she came up with seemed to feel right and it was beginning to grate on her nerves. She felt that she was close to the answer yet it kept slipping away from her like water from a sieve. She knew she had to figure it out soon because her other self was planning something and she wasn't sharing it with her. The plans had been set in motion and soon the Warriors would be nothing more than dust in the wind, thought Serenity. And there is nothing you will be able to do about it. Reni glared into the darkness. We'll see about that, thought Reni.
"My dear," said Diamonds, "it is time for us to make our move."
"Finally, I will rule this planet and make those warriors kneel at my feet." It was said with such a sinister tone, it made Reni shiver with fear and dread.
"Yes," he said, "I will rule this universe the way it should have been ruled thousands of years ago; with Serenity as my queen, and the warriors groveling at my feet."