However, on the last evening, Chibiusa was unexpectedly awoken by someone softly crying! "What's all the commotion?" All the other girls were roused by it too.
"If you're all curious, let's check it out." Chibiusa chirped.
"No!" Gracie, Crystal, Alexis, Holly, and Emily exclaimed in unison.
Christen weighed her options before responding, "I'll go."
"Me too." Ariel volunteered.
"Me three," Trisha added.
"Our decisions will be the same as our princess." Star and the other three Dark Kingdom Senshi looked toward their blood-redhead leader.
"I agree with my sister." Jewel smiled sweetly at her pink cotton candy-colored half-sister.
"Votes are in. We're going." Dawn giggled.
Groans erupted from the girls, who did not want to go. Sadly they were outnumbered. Trisha lit the way, feeling Garnet Orb's light would comfort whoever was sobbing. Gracie did not like the energy she was receiving from the direction of the distress as her red hair started to stand on end! Ivy felt anxious, but she did not speak out against her princess. Instead, Ivy let her earth-brown, wavy locks hang loose at night, which looked nice occasionally.
When they located the origin of the weeping, they were stunned! It was a ginger-haired fellow roughly their age. He was curled into a ball underneath a large tree and trembling! He was dressed in camo with a camera around his neck, a rifle over his back, a small snack pouch, and a canteen. Looking him over, he did appear to be injured.
Chibiusa knelt in his crouched position, "Are you OK?"
Startled, the boy jumped and looked up with tear-filled hazel eyes, "Princess Serenity!"
"What are we?! Chop liver?!" Christen snapped.
"I recognized you as the Neo-Sailor Senshi since you're with the princess," the boy replied.
"What's your name?" Gracie asked.
"I'm Bradley," the boy introduced himself, and the girls did the same.
"Why were you crying?" Ivy questioned.
"I'm lost and concerned I'd run into Bigfoot," Bradley clarified.
"You don't have to be frightened with us around." However, Holly didn't feel that telling the boy Bigfoot went into a portal would make him less afraid.
"I'm not afraid! I don't know if my rifle would be enough to protect me." Bradley elaborated by patting the gun on his back.
"Um...You have the safety on, right?" Christen hoped this crybaby was not as stupid as he was spineless.
"Always, unless I'm hunting," Bradley said as though any idiot should know this.
Though the dark-eyed girl thought this boy would not be able to deal with her ill-mannered nature, he seemed to have an answer ready for anything she said. So, she smiled, knowing he might not be so bad to have around. As the girls searched for his camp, they encountered an injured, giant male deer! Without a second thought, Crystal rushed over to help. Gracie and Christen assisted with keeping the buck calm and using heat to draw out whatever might be causing him discomfort.
When they heard a click unexpectedly, Alexis screamed, "Don't shoot!"
Everyone looked over to see Bradley pointing his gun at the deer! "Out of the way, girls, before it gouges you with its antlers!"
"This buck is in too much distress to defend itself." Gracie tried to keep the bite out of her voice not to startle the animal.
Out of patience, Bradley fired! Unfortunately, he hit Gracie in the arm! Her scream terrified the creature. It resulted in him kicking, knocking Crystal and Christen on their backs. He sped off into the timbers, but it would not get far. Bradley seemed relieved that the deer did not hurt the girls. Unexpectedly Ariel sharply yanked the gun out of his hands!
"Hey! That's mine!" Bradley complained, trying to snatch it back from the taller girl.
"You can have this back when you learn to use a firearm appropriately!" Ariel mocked in a mom-like tone, but she was serious!
Abruptly, a familiar ear-splitting roar ripped through the air. Suddenly something massive charged out of the darkness at Bradley! Ariel, the Outer Senshi, and the Dark Kingdom Senshi barrel rolled out of the way. When Bradley saw what was coming to him, he screamed and ran. All the girls stood, dumbfounded and rooted to the spot, as Bigfoot was back! Crystal noticed the deer stumbling back out to her.
While Crystal and Christen continued to assist the deer, Bigfoot dismissed everyone except Gracie. He seemed to know how to help alleviate her agony with what the forest around them provided. Chibiusa felt conflicted. While Bigfoot's face did look like a cross between a man and an ape, which did not help matters when it acted violently, it was not malicious by nature. Gracie tried to be a good patient, letting the herbs relieve her pain as much as possible.
"She needs surgery," Trisha whispered to herself, but how would they get Bigfoot to understand that?
Bravely, Alexis walked over to try and communicate with Bigfoot as she was the least intimidating of the Senshi. "Bigfoot?" Neptune's daughter wanted to make sure this monster man would, at least, respond to its name.
Bigfoot looked down at the light brunette girl and grunted as his way of letting her know she had his attention. "Gracie needs a hospital." Alexis pointed at her green-eyed friend, then drew a red cross on the ground with her toe to see if Bigfoot recognized it as a hospital's symbol.
At first, Bigfoot did not grasp what Alexis was trying to convey. Then it dawned on him what she wanted. Picking up the wounded redhead, Bigfoot howled to get the others to follow him (the deer was done being treated.) Utilizing their abilities, the Senshi kept up with Bigfoot's much longer gait, and Bigfoot did not seem to consider their abilities a threat, which was a plus.
Bigfoot passed Venus's daughter to Ariel and Holly at the edge of the woods as it had learned they were physically the strongest. Bigfoot would not leave the forest, but the Neo-Sailor Senshi understood why and curtsied to him. Except for Ariel and Holly, who could not with Gracie in their arms, they just said it.
After checking Gracie in and giving the broad strokes of what happened, the girls settled down to recuperate from everything that happened. As Chibiusa's rose-red eyes slid shut from exhaustion, she dreamed about a little girl. She was similar to her, except she had four cone-shaped odangos and blue eyes!
"Who are you?!" Chibiusa demanded the unfamiliar lass.
"My name is Kousagi Tsukino. You nicknamed me Chibi. We're sisters from a parallel universe." Kousagi squealed playfully.
"How come you never appeared to me before now?" Chibiusa questioned.
"Well, I just recently discovered I can utilize portals! So I thought it might be cool if our teams met!" Kousagi chirped in excitement.
"OK. Will you be coming here or..." Chibiusa was still pretty exhausted.
"That's the thing. While I can control portals, I don't know where I'll end up! Yet Bigfoot's constant "universe hopping" allowed me to get through to you! So the next time he uses a portal, please visit us." Kousagi pleaded a longing look in her crystal blue eyes.
Before Chibiusa could promise anything, she slowly woke up to see her friends/teammates napping in the chairs around her. This gave her time to think. While Kousagi's request seemed genuine in most respects, Chibiusa did not trust carelessly anymore.
How could she be sure Kousagi was who she claimed? Chibiusa's eyes fell on her ruby-haired half-sister and softly smiled, seeing her serenely sleeping face. Jewel always had a good judge of character. Therefore, Chibiusa would ask her when they woke up.