The following day, the girls woke up happy but confused."How did we get into our sleeping bags and back here?!" All the girls had little time to notice the gigantic footprints around them as the original Sailor Seshi embraced them, weeping buckets!
"Usagi Small Lady Serenity!" Neo-Queen Serenity banged open the RV door, fixing her daughter with an icy glare! Chibiusa knew her mother would not be pleased with her missing almost all night, and the other parents' expressions had contorted into scowls too. "Do you know how long we were looking for all of you?! TWO hours! I stayed up all night, imagining all the awful things that could have happened to you or your friends, and I'm not the only one!"
"Mother, I'm sorry, but I'm not a child anymore. Plus, I was with my Neo-Sailor Senshi the whole time. So we're all fine; we knew what to do." Chibiusa tried to soothe her enraged mother.
"While I agree you are not a child anymore, you still make childish mistakes." Neo-Queen Serenity would've begun listing all the irresponsible things Chibiusa had done until Ami stepped in and spoke serenely.
"My queen, one thousand and one apologies for my interruption. I know how worried we were, but our daughters are safe and sound. So, they must have learned how to survive in the wilderness. At most, for a few days anyway. Isn't that what we were supposed to teach them?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we aren't-" Neo-Queen Serenity was cut off again by a softly smiling Minako this time.
"There's no reason to punish them. We're all stressed and angry. However, the girls didn't do anything wrong."
"Are you going to punish us for getting lost?" Christen made this sound as silly as she possibly could. She hoped to minimize the chance of getting in trouble.
"This time, Christen's right." Rei reasoned in a comforting voice.
As the girls watched their parents calm the queen, they wondered if they should mention the log cabin. Though they had agreed to be more truthful, this was a different level of seriousness. They kept quiet because they would not be helping avoid punishment if they mentioned it. Today they have ensured the girls know how to return from any point in the woods. It was eye-opening how little the girls had experienced this place, as they only traveled so far to find food.
While exploring, under the close eye of their parents, Star spotted something peculiar. "What's that?" Delicately, the pale blonde peeled away the leaves to reveal a 16mm camcorder! "Sweet! 1967 Cine-Kodak. It's damaged, but still should be able to get the film converted to digital."
"What's that, Star?" When Crystal noticed what it was, her expression turned to excitement.
"Can you ask your mom if she can convert this film?" Star knew THEY were supposed to be camping. Yet the original Sailor Senshi had already done camping and was under no orders to stay the entire time.
"Sure!" Crystal gently took the camcorder, just as eager to see what was on the film as Star was.
Of course, Ami was only happy enough to hold such an old piece of tech for any time so she could learn more about it. Despite 16mm being a professional camera, it only gives someone up to 45 seconds of grainy film, so transferring this would take very little time. Lacking a computer, Ami enhanced the film and put it onto a DVD instead, as they could play it in the RV!
What was on the DVD shocked and terrified them! Whoever owned this camera had caught ACTUAL evidence of Bigfoot ambling along a rushing river. However, when it noticed this person, the rapids did not matter for long as they jumped in and battered through the waves! Sadly-or perhaps, thankfully-the person dropped the camera, which cut out after showing Bigfoot chasing the man deeper into the woods, so no one knew if Bigfoot caught him or not!
"Can we PLEASE go home now?!" Alexis screamed in alarmed tears as Holly sprang to her side to soothe her.
"One more day...that's all we have left," Jewel replied, more to herself than anyone else.
"We don't leave until bright and early the morning after tomorrow." Ariel reminded them.
"Two more nights out there with big, bad, and possibly, our "missing link" ancestor? Until now, I have taken everything good I said back about this experience! I hate camping, adventures, and being with any of you for more than 24 hours!" Christen ranted.
"We get tired of you after thirty minutes." Holly joked if only to make Alexis giggle.
After this, no one spoke unless necessary because there was little to say. Now, the king and queen knew what was out there and the real danger the group was in. Thinking back to last night and why Bigfoot did not kill the girls in their sleep, they felt slightly safer about going out to scavenge. Stepping out of the RV, they gasped when they saw, tossed on the girl's sleeping bags, food that was not there before, primarily fruits, but some packaged things they had not brought!
"Looks like Bigfoot decided to fatten us up before eating us." Christen joked, not knowing if this situation was more funny or horrifying.
"Or maybe it wants to keep us out of its forest." Trisha also realized she would risk exposing herself if it meant protecting the Space-Time Door.
"So..these are peace offerings?" Haruka picked up a strawberry which Crystal cleaned off with her powers.
"Best to take it as such." Hotaru gathered the packaged food to store it inside the RV, hoping it had stayed the same.
While the food looked pristine, it was brought here by an ape-like human with possibly filthy hands, so best to be careful. Regardless of why it brought them food, they gratefully ate it. Due to being a Princess, Chibiusa felt she should somehow thank Bigfoot for his offering, but how to do it safely? He did not kill them when he could and is now feeding them. Well, it brought them food. So an offering of food back would be considered respectful.
They had more than enough fruits, fish, elk, quail, nuts, and mushrooms. If nothing else, Bigfoot, at least, would not say no to such a feast just for him. So, considering everything they had learned, the girls cooked the extra food and delivered it to Bigfoot!
"So, I should consider this the stupidest thing we've ever done, right?" Christen asked.
"You can shoot literal fire from your hands on a whim! So why are you worried?" Jewel reminded the pitch black-haired girl.
"We probably should keep those as a last resort as it can be seen as aggression," Chibiusa replied wisely.
Finally, the girls located Bigfoot's cabin and knew leaving the food there would be best. However, the bright lights shining from behind the house intrigued them! Keeping the same distance from the cabin, the girls moved around back. To their amazement, Bigfoot was standing in front of a portal!
"What...the...?" Mars's child was about to curse when Bigfoot stomped straight into the portal as if it had done this before and had no fear of where it might end up.
"That explains how an eight feet tall creature, weighing possibly thousands of pounds, is so elusive," Crystal stated.
"Chibiusa, what are you doing?! Heart Chain Constrict!" Gracie sent a chain of linked, golden hearts past everyone!
Seemingly hypnotized, the bubblegum-haired princess had walked towards the portal and would run into it had the redhead Senshi not stopped her! But, thankfully, it seemed the ability knocked the ruby-eyed girl back to normal, and the portal closed!
"I can't be the only one who felt that alluring pull," Trisha admitted, explaining Chibiusa's actions.
"I did too..." Emily confessed.
"Still, you don't go running into unknown holes after monsters. That sounds exactly like something Sailor Moon has done..." Holly recalled Neo-Queen Serenity's story about Sailor Moon and the Black Dream Hole.
"One thousand and one apologies. I didn't mean to alarm you girls." Chibiusa apologized.
"So...do you think we'll see it again within the next two nights?" Jewel questioned, genuinely uncomfortable.
"We shouldn't wait around to find out. Let's leave the food here and book it." Ariel dumped the elk she had been carrying, and the smoldering look in her amber eyes told everyone she was done with doing the heavy lifting for today!
Ariel is considered very beautiful and talented, but when she has had enough, she has had enough! Besides, Holly could do the heavy lifting too. So, the girls just dumped the food in a pile for Bigfoot and left. The girls enjoyed sleeping outside safely that night, and the next day passed just as pleasantly. They started to love the outdoors more as they could travel without worry!