TWO WRONGS
Chapter 5: The Search
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Sweeping into the infirmary was King Endymion. Having just checked on his wife, the monarch was now checking on the state of his daughter. He found Rei sitting in a chair next to the teen's bed, while Ami monitored her condition from a holographic computer display on the other side of the bed. Ami glanced at him as he entered.
"Any change?" he asked. Ami shook her head.
"That's a good thing," Rei spoke up softly, as if afraid her full voice might damage her favorite girl. "It means the sutra is holding."
"You didn't find anything to lift this curse?"
"I tried a few things," Rei admitted. "This Keika is strong. I couldn't break the familiar's hold on her." She glanced at Endymion. "Any luck finding her?"
"Candide gave me a location," Endymion said. "I'm going to go after her. I'd like the Senshi to come along."
Rei reacted like she'd been stricken, then turned away. "I can't. I have to be here. If the sutra gives out, she could die in minutes."
"I understand," Endymion nodded. He looked at Ami.
"Please don't ask me to choose between a patient and duty," Ami asked anxiously. "Especially this patient. And Serenity may need me as well."
"It's not a problem," Endymion assured her. "I'll ask Makoto and Minako. Or I'll go it alone if I have to."
"I'm certain they'll be willing to accompany you," Ami offered.
Just then Endymion's watch started buzzing. He brought the device to eye level and pressed a stud. The monarch began to scowl.
"What is it?" Rei asked.
"It's a proximity alarm from the aeropad surveillance drones," Endymion softly fumed. "Saturn and the Asteroids are teleporting."
"I asked her not to use her powers," Ami frowned. "They must have learned Keika's location. Pallas no doubt read it from your mind with her telepathy."
"Maybe it's better this way," Rei mused out loud, a hint of a smile on her face.
"I didn't want them involved in this," Endymion replied. "You said it yourself: This woman is strong. Youthful enthusiasm can only take you so far. And they're all too emotionally involved, particularly Saturn. They could be walking into a buzz saw."
"It's what I would have done," Rei said with admiration, "if it was Serenity in the clutches of that familiar. And I think you're a little emotionally involved, too."
"They have three years of experience, Endymion," Ami added. "They've faced countless adversaries and triumphed."
"With Usa," Endymion countered. "And remember who you two faced three years into your tenure - - and what happened." The King turned and headed for the door. "Computer, location of Minako Aino."
"Minako Aino is in her quarters," the computer responded.
"He needs to trust them," Rei stated.
"It won't hurt anything if he adds his own abilities to the search, as well as those of Makoto and Minako. Perhaps he'll even call in Haruka and Michiru."
"I'm not disagreeing," Rei said, checking the sutra on Sailor Moon's chest again, "except maybe for Minako. But he still needs to trust them."
"He is right to worry about one thing," Ami assessed. "They will be very emotionally involved in this and it could affect their judgment."
"And he isn't?" Rei asked.
Teleport energy swirled around them. As the Senshi felt solid pavement underneath them, the swirling energy around them dissipated and died away. The five teens looked around. Though the surrounding architecture was oddly designed and alien to their eyes, each one could grasp that they were in an industrialized, technological city. Several buildings towered over them, reaching into the heavens. Others were lower, more intimate and utilitarian. The structures were a mix of metallic exo-skeletons and walls made of a substance that, if not its cousin, was concrete. There were roads dividing the clusters of buildings into grids, the pavement black like asphalt but denser. On the roads were vehicles that propelled on some sort of thermodynamic cushion and gaseous rear expulsion.
And they were right in the center of an intersection. The vehicles stopped. Pedestrians, all basic humanoids with unusual to them dress, skin and hair affectations, stared in surprise at the five Senshi. Some were wary, almost fearful. Others seemed to grow more belligerent as time passed. The operators of the vehicles blasted at them with air horns that made a low, ominous sound.
"Um," Ceres said loudly to the on-lookers, "sorry!"
["What are they?"] one of the beings in the crowd gasped.
"What are they saying?" Vesta growled.
"Not everybody speaks Portuguese, Vesta," sighed Juno.
Just then, several humanoids began pushing through the crowds. The sight of them caused many in the crowd to give ground. Each humanoid was wearing the same orange tunic and brown pants. They all had a sunburst tattooed around their right eye and each was carrying a large metal tube three inches in diameter and eighteen inches long.
"Uh oh. Cops," Vesta grunted.
"How do you know?" Ceres demanded.
"I got a sense about these things! We need to get out of here!"
"Maybe a quick teleport to a more secluded spot would be advisable," Juno agreed.
After shouting their power phrase, the five Senshi were enveloped in a swirling ball of energy. The panicky crowd fell back even further while the advancing security agents stopped. When the ball dissipated, the strangers were gone.
Reappearing on a river bank outside of the city, the five Senshi took stock of their situation. Immediately Pallas noticed Saturn.
"Miss Saturn-Ma'am! Are you sick?" Pallas cried.
"A little dizzy," Saturn whispered as Juno braced her. "Mizuno-Sensei warned me not to do too much."
"Maybe you better sit down and catch your breath," Juno suggested. She eased Saturn down to the grassy bank, not noticing that the "grass" was a blue-green rather than the green of Earth. Kneeling down next to Saturn, Juno felt her forehead. "Your head feels OK."
"This is a pretty big place," Ceres judged, surveying the outskirts of the collection of buildings and dwellings near their location by the river. "Could be bigger than Tokyo. And we've got to find one person in all of this? So where do we even look?"
"Might help if we could communicate with some of the locals," Juno suggested. "Maybe help us narrow our search, if nothing else. It'd be nice if there was a pill for that."
"Ooh! Pallas knows!" Pallas exclaimed. "Pallas can hear one of the kookie men's thoughts! And if she listens long enough, she can learn how to talk like them! And then she can think it to all of you!"
"You mean we could all end up talking like Pallas?" Ceres asked, making a face.
"You got a better idea?" grunted Vesta.
"Looks like you've got a job, Pallas," Juno grinned. Pallas nodded enthusiastically, then clamped her eyes shut and began concentrating.
"How about I take an animal form and start scouting around," Vesta suggested. "Maybe I can spot a lead."
"Aren't you going to stand out?" Ceres asked her. "How do we know there are any Earth animals or birds in this - - whatever it is?"
"Chance I'm willing to take," Vesta replied.
"And maybe it's too risky a chance . . ."
"Look, I want this woman!" Vesta snapped. "This may be the only way to find her! And if you'd just stop being a Priss, you might realize that!"
"Vesta!" fumed Ceres. Then she waved dismissively. "Oh, go ahead! Get your head shot off! You're going to anyway!"
Transforming into a falcon, Vesta launched into the air and was out of sight in seconds.
"I see she still hasn't learned what the word 'team' means," Juno sighed.
"I doubt she's learned the meaning of the word 'cat'!" scowled Ceres. "How are you doing, Saturn?"
"Feeling better," Saturn replied. "I'm sorry for being weak."
Juno and Ceres exchanged looks. Despite having more raw power than the four Asteroids combined, she still thought of herself as weak and sickly.
"Pallas is ready now," Pallas announced. "Pallas better think it to you before she forgets."
Each of the Senshi's heads snapped back, struck full force by the thought blast from Pallas. Instantly they could speak this alien realm's language as easily as they spoke their native tongue.
"Thanks, Pallas," Ceres said, rubbing her temple, "I think." She looked around. "What kind of a place is this, you suppose? It looks almost as advanced as Crystal Tokyo."
"And did you notice the language has so many terms for wealth and position," Saturn observed. "But no word for poor. It's like their entire society is built on the accumulation and maintenance of wealth."
"Wish there was a way to know if Keika is just hiding here or if the locals granted her some sort of asylum," Juno mused. "I'd hate to have to fight a whole city to get to her."
"I wonder," Ceres mumbled. She knelt down to the grass-like plants on the bank and waved her hand over them. Then she closed her eyes.
"She's probably going to be at that for a couple of minutes," Juno commented. "Maybe we ought to use that time to decide what we're going to do once we find her. If she's as powerful as she's supposed to be, how are we going to take her down? Sailor Moon could probably take her down. But she's not here."
"Miss Rei-Ma'am would know," Pallas said.
"I don't know a lot about sorcery," Saturn frowned. "But I assume you have to consciously direct it, maybe even recite a spell to get it to work. So I imagine we have to render her unconscious."
"Pallas could tell her to go beddie-bye with her head!" Pallas exclaimed.
"Or I could hit her with a water globe and cut off her oxygen until she passes out," Juno suggested.
"Or Ceres could hit her with an anesthetic plant powder," Saturn nodded.
"But what if she uses those demon snakes on us?" Juno asked.
"She can't hit us all at once," Saturn stated. Then she grew unsure. "I think."
Ceres exhaled. "I asked the plants if they knew of anyone in the realm who was new and didn't belong," she explained. "All they could come up with was us."
"So I guess we'll have to wait for Vesta," frowned Saturn. "I know! Pallas, you can get clairvoyant visions! I remember Sensei talking to you about them! You can try to see where Keika is!"
"Pallas is sorry," Pallas said with some embarrassment. "It's very hard for Pallas to see other places when she wants to. They just come to her - - unless she can touch something that's connected to who she's trying to see."
"Well," Saturn thought out loud, "um, do you have to be touching the object right that moment? What about her snake familiar? You touched it. Can't that connect you to Keika?"
"Pallas doesn't know," frowned the Senshi. "Pallas never tried it that way before." Her face began to scrunch up. "And Pallas doesn't really want to think about the scary snake again."
"And I wouldn't ask you to," Saturn appealed to her, "except that it might be the only way we can help Sailor Moon."
Pallas looked down, making a face like she'd just tasted something incredibly sour. She took a deep breath.
"Pallas will do it for the Princess," she said.
"We'll guard your back, Pallas," Juno smiled proudly.
Sitting in the soft grass by the river bank, Pallas closed her eyes. Her face slowly lost all expression as she cleared her mind of everything except the sensation she had when her mind touched Keika's snake familiar. Thinking of that caused her to grimace. Continuing to think of it made her heart beat faster and her insides to churn. Touching the snake, even just with her mind, was repulsive to her. It was naked evil, cold and serpentine and unnatural. Pallas found herself breathing faster. She wanted to stop thinking about it, but tried to persevere. Her Princess and her friend needed her, so Pallas tried to be brave.
In the end, it proved to be too much. Conscious thought snapped back into her brain. Her eyes flew open and looked around, the eyes vivid with paranoia and fear. She could feel herself shaking, her skin covered in sweat and her chest heaving. And she could feel the eyes of everyone on her, hopeful and expectant. Pallas looked down.
"Pallas is sorry," she squeaked.
"You did your best," Ceres offered.
"Did you get anything?" Saturn asked.
Pallas thought. "Pallas could feel her - - behind Mister Scary Snake. She wanted to wait so she could see where the Witch Lady was, but she couldn't. She was too afraid."
"Would it help if I was with you?" Saturn inquired. Pallas didn't understand. Neither did the others. "I touched the snake, too. That means I'm connected. Maybe together we can get something." Saturn smiled. "And together means you won't have to face it alone. Think that would work?"
Pallas looked down again. It was obvious she didn't relish trying again. But eventually she nodded her head.
Sitting up straight, Pallas again closed her eyes. Her face calmed until she seemed completely devoid of thought. Then her hand reached out absently for Saturn. Saturn grasped the hand and her head instantly slumped forward.
"Look at that!" gasped Juno. "Out like a light!"
"I hope this works," Ceres sighed. "I hope we can find out where Keika is, get her back to Crystal Tokyo and get the spell lifted from Sailor Moon quickly."
"Missing your skinny artist already?" Juno smirked.
"No!" Ceres fumed. "Yes. And don't you start calling him skinny, too! Sure I want to be back in Crystal Tokyo feeling him next to me. Floral Stimulation," she said and waved her hands in a circle around her. Plants sprouted in between the grass and bloomed in seconds, surrounding Ceres with a patch of beautiful flowers. She reclined on the grass as the flowers surrounded her. "But I'm also afraid that the longer we stay here, the more likely something is going to go wrong. Just once I'd like to have a mission without having a fire fight."
"Wouldn't we all," Juno sighed.
From her position reclining amid the flowers, Ceres noticed Pallas was grimacing again. She pointed Juno to it. Pallas seemed as anxious and uncomfortable as before, but not nearly as animated. Saturn was still unconscious.
Then they saw Vesta swoop in. Juno extended her arm and Vesta perched on it.
"You find something?" Ceres asked hopefully.
"Yeah, but not what I was looking for," Vesta the falcon said. "There's a squad of those cops headed our way."
"Vesta, that's not necessarily a bad thing," Ceres cautioned her. "Just because you were Public Enemy Number One back in Sao Paulo . . ."
"Dry up!" the falcon snapped.
"Now that we can speak their language, we can assure them we aren't a threat," Ceres continued. "Maybe we can even get some help from them."
Getting up - - reluctantly - - from her flower bed, Ceres headed up the bank to meet the squad of six orange-uniformed police approaching.
"Get your head caved in by one of those sticks, you mean," muttered the falcon.
"Oh, go lay an egg!" Ceres shot back. Juno snickered.
Approaching the squad of officers, feeling Vesta's eyes boring holes in her back, Ceres extended her hands to show she wasn't armed. When she was in speaking distance, the Senshi smiled sweetly.
"Is there a problem?" Ceres asked.
"Are you and those other females the ones who suddenly appeared and then disappeared in an intersection of city grid 22 x 76?" the lead officer asked.
"I apologize for that," Ceres replied deferentially. "We were in a hurry and landed a little recklessly. I hope no one was injured."
"Exactly where are you all from?" the lead officer asked.
"Earth," Ceres said after considering her answer - - and after noticing two of the officers were slowly bracketing her. "I don't know if you're familiar with it."
"And why are you here?"
"We're looking for someone," Ceres answered, "on behalf of King Endymion and Lady Candide."
"Lady Candide!" gasped the officer.
"You know her?" Ceres asked, sensing a means to impress. If she could bolster her clout in this officer's eyes, she could manage to avoid any trouble she and the others might be in and even enlist their aid.
But before she could follow up on her plan, the air was pierced by a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone turned in shock to it. Ceres could see where the scream came from.
It was Pallas.
Continued in Chapter 6