I felt myself shooting forward with Uranus and Pluto by my side, intent on destroying the inner Guardians. Suddenly, it was like a switch had been flicked, and my mind cleared, and I was in control again. I stopped in my tracks, my head turning to Sailor Moon. Everyone landed gently on the roof. "She's calling to us." Venus said.
"Sailor Moon needs us." Uranus added, "All of us." I looked down as a light caught my eye. I lifted my Deep Aqua mirror. It started to shine, resonating with the wishes of Sailor Moon. I held it gently as the power flowed through my Talisman. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Uranus' Space Sword and Pluto's Garnet Orb started to shine as well, resonating in tandem with mine. They were all answering Sailor Moon's call.
"We give you our power." Pluto, Uranus and I chanted, "Sailor Moon!" We lifted our Talismans, our power flowing through them towards Sailor Moon. I watched as Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Chibi-Moon lift their hands to add to Sailor Moon's powers. The Moon chalice opened, and our power combined.
"Moon Crisis! Make up!" Sailor Moon shouted. I watched in awe as Sailor Moon transformed. Her skirt became white, which then became blue and yellow at the bottom, the bow on her back changed to have longer ribbons, and she gained a gold belt with a heart broach connected. She had frillier shoulder pieces and the white lines on her cape became yellow. I looked down at my chest as it shone. The broach that held my bow up changed and became a heart. A quick glance at Uranus and Pluto showed that theirs had changed too.
"Our broaches." Mercury muttered.
"They've all become heart-shaped." Venus added.
"Even ours?" I whispered.
"Sailor Moon…?" I looked over to Sailor Moon, watching her. "Is that...you?"
"It's Super Sailor Moon!" Chibi-Moon gasped.
"Super Sailor Moon?" Everyone else echoed. The two witches, Cyprin and Ptilol, I had overheard, gasped.
"No…I won't hesitate." Super Sailor Moon stated. "And I won't be led astray ever again!" She summoned her Heart Wand. "Rainbow Moon Heartache!" She shouted. The beam surrounded the witch twins and they were destroyed. Everyone rushed over to Super Sailor Moon as she landed.
"The Moon Chalice, the Legendary Holy Grail, did it do this to you?" Tuxedo Mask asked.
"No. The power came from all of you. It came through the Holy Grail and then it poured into me."
"Our Talismans gave their power to Sailor Moon?" Uranus questioned, inspecting her blade.
"They're resonance…" I trailed off. "It's something entirely unique, something I've never felt before."
"The Talismans could do this?" Pluto wondered as the three Talismans' shine faded. "I had no idea."
"Hold on." Uranus started. "But aren't the Talismans supposed to be the Key's to awakening-"
"Uranus!" I interrupted. "Shh!"
"I wished for all of our hearts to unite and become one." Super Sailor Moon said. "And that you would lend me your power." Super Sailor Moon put her hand on her broach. "For a moment, it came true. And our hearts did connect. We shared the same feelings. We all wanted to help one another and take down our enemies. It wasn't any one power, but the power of all of us that summoned the Moon Chalice and Super Sailor Moon. And that proves we can work together as a team. We're all different, but we're all Sailor Guardians. More than that, we're friends."
"You really…" Uranus trailed off.
"Think of us as friends?" Pluto added. I pressed my Deep Aqua Mirror to my chest. We resisted…so much, to avoid bringing our Princess into this conflict…our Talismans ignored our wishes, and gave Super Sailor Moon their power when she asked. Maybe…does that mean we should tell her and the others about our true mission? I looked back up to Uranus and Pluto, and it seemed as if we had the same idea. We nodded at each other, we would tell them. First, we had to assess the damage done to Uranus' apartment. We floated down into the condo, and looked around the destroyed rooms.
"Oh wow, looks like Cyprin really did a number on Uranus' place, did she?" I looked around the apartment myself, and sighed as I realised some of my things were destroyed as well.
"I'm scared to imagine all the repair bills." Uranus lamented. She started to count the things off her fingers. "The windows, plus the damaged furniture…" Uranus put her hand to her head. "I bet fixing it all will cost a fortune."
"Looks like an expensive place." Venus commented. "
Yeah, the rent here is one million yen a month."
"A-a million?!" Jupiter exclaimed. "How can you possibly afford that?"
"We've got patrons and sponsors, so we don't worry much about cash." Uranus said a tad snobbishly.
"What are those?" Super Sailor Moon asked.
"Ruka!" I scolded. "You don't even have to worry about it." I gently pat her on the arm. "My father will pay for it. But, onto the more pressing matter." I turned to the Inner Guardians. "Super Sailor Moon, or, Princess, rather. Uranus, Pluto and I all know what our Talismans are capable of. And we know what their true purpose is. We've seen it happen, only once, a millennia ago. You remember your previous life, yes? And you can recall what happened on…that day…the day Silver Millennium fell? During that time, us Outer Planetary Guardians were assigned to protect a different territory in the far reaches of space. We were tasked with staying there… forbidden from leaving our posts…but…" I closed my eyes. "I apologise to you, I failed my mission. I visited Uranus, I had fallen in love with her. I would visit her as often as I could, and it distracted us from our mission. However, none of us ever left the Outer Solar System…and as a result…we could only watch, in horror, as our kingdom, Silver Millennium, fell."
"Please…stop…" Super Sailor Moon breathed. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Tuxedo Mask wrapped an arm around the Sailor Guardian, drawing her close. "Even now, it breaks my heart."
"I'm sorry, Princess, but there is more." I opened my eyes to address her once more. "As we watched helplessly, our Talismans began to resonate in a way that we had never seen before in our thousands of years. Uranus, Pluto and I were called and brought together. At that moment, our Talismans awoke and summoned the Guardian from the Forbidden Planet. The last of the Outer Guardians, one who must never be called…Protected by Saturn, the outer planet of destruction, the guardian of Silence...she was Sailor Saturn. I knew…I think we all knew…that our time had finally come to an end. We could only watch as Sailor Saturn brought down her weapon, the Silence Glaive, a single blow, drained us of life…and Silver Millennium fell. When all three Talismans are brought together, they become the three keys that are the only thing to awaken Sailor Saturn. That is the true power of the Talismans. As the Sailor Guardians who protect the outer planets, it is our duty to protect these keys."
"When all three of us come together, and our three Talismans activate, it will cause the awakening of Sailor Saturn." Uranus said.
"If Saturn, the final Guardian, should again awaken, then the world as you know it would meet its end." Pluto finished.
"The three Talismans that will bring destruction!" Mars realised. "So this is what the dreams meant."
"Because the planets we protect are a great distance from each other, we would have never met under normal circumstances." I started. "But…I was selfish…I should have been punished. However, the universe decided to bring us together again. We were reborn as Humans here on Earth, Haruka and I met." I looked to Uranus. "And like Fate, I fell once more." I turned to Super Sailor Moon. "A fitting punishment for my actions. But…as we were reborn, the Guardian of Destruction was as well." I turned my mirror around to show the Inner Guardians Saturn when she was first awoken in the past. The image distorted to reveal her new identity on Earth.
"So you're saying...it's her?" Chibi-Moon muttered. "Hotaru is Sailor Saturn?"
"So that was Saturn's soul? Calling out for the Talismans?" Tuxedo Mask questioned.
"Saturn will awake sooner rather than later." I said. "I can sense it, her body is preparing itself, and Hotaru too is starting to feel it.
"Since all of you have been to the future, you know it already exists." Pluto added.
"Which is why, no matter what, Sailor Saturn can not be allowed to awaken." Uranus stated.
"So what are you going to do?" Venus asked.
"We must kill Hotaru. And then seal Saturn's soul away for good."
"Kill her?" Super Sailor Moon breathed. "How could you!"
"We don't know the three Talismans will activate!" Mercury said. "Maybe they won't."
"The Talismans resonated so much, generating all that energy to summon Super Sailor Moon, I can feel them overflowing with power." Uranus stated. "Just like back when Silver Millennium was destroyed. The day they activate, and call Sailor Saturn to awaken here on Earth, is near."
"But you're talking about murder!" Super Sailor Moon exclaimed. "There's got to be another way!"
"There's not." Uranus told her. "Besides, if we don't kill her now, she'll die soon enough. She can't live much longer, her body is already failing her. You've seen it Chibi-Usa. When she was eight years old, Hotaru was severely injured. She ended up in a coma, but miraculously, she woke up. Despite his brilliant mind, her father, Professor Souichi Tomoe, was kicked out of the academic community...Hotaru became the embodiment of his life's work. The Professor made her into a fusion of man and machine, as if she was a doll for him to play with. Her small body is artificial, and her fragile life is already slipping away."
"Isn't there any way to save her?" Chibi-Moon asked softly. "Does she have to die?"
"At this point, there's only one thing to save her body, or her life. She would need to awaken as Sailor Saturn. With the powers of a Guardian. However, we cannot allow that to happen."
"No, don't you see that it's wrong!" Super Sailor Moon protested. "You can't kill Hotaru, you just can't! Why isn't there just some other way? Maybe Saturn won't wake up, after all, the Future exists, you said so yourself, the world isn't going to end, we will all live through this. We can save everything, I know it, so please, she doesn't have to die!"
"That's exactly what we thought you would say." Pluto sighed.
"That is why we can't work together, Princess." I added as Pluto and Uranus turned their backs on the Inner Guardians. "It's why we can't be friends…no matter how we feel." I turned to follow them. You can hate us, curse our names as much as you want...but we won't hesitate to do our job." I turned a fraction to glance at them. "If you want to think of us as your enemies, that's fine by us."
"And the Death Buster, we'll get them too." Uranus said.
"Don't go!" Super Sailor Moon cried as we lept out of the condo. "Uranus! Neptune! Pluto!" The three of us headed to the Tomoe estate and hid in some trees so we could keep an eye on Hotaru. After some time just watching, there was a flash of pink as another figure appeared. We turned and saw…
"Wait, is that...Sailor CHibi-Moon?" Pluto questioned softly, her eyes wide.
"Hotaru!" Chibi-Moon gasped. She started to run towards the house, "Hotaru!" Hotaru sat up and turned to the pink-haired girl. The dark-haired girl's eyes held malice in them. There was a shockwave, and the glass broke. The shockwave was so strong it almost blew Uranus, Pluto and me out of the tree. When the wave had ended, my eyes widened as I watched Hotaru change. Her hair grew long. A black star appeared on her forehead as her body grew. Her clothes changed into a dark blue, almost black dress with chains across her arms. Some of her hair formed a hand, and shot at Chibi-Moon. It grabbed her chest and held her high. Tuxedo Mask leap up to try and save her, but was shot back. My eyes widened even more when the hand ripped Chibi-Moon's broach off her chest, and reverted her back to Chibi-Usa. Super Sailor Moon and Tuxedo mask rushed forward and grabbed Chibi-Usa, Super Sailor Moon's broach creating a protective barrier around the trio. The woman laughed maniacally, holding Chibi-Usa's broach in her hand with a pink orb hovering on top.
"Is that Sailor Saturn?" Super Sailor Moon demanded. "She's awake already!?"
"But our Talismans are quiet." Uranus pointed out.
"If that's not Sailor Saturn, then who is she?" I wondered, looking down at my Mirror. I concentrated for a second, before a name appeared in my head. Mistress 9.
"I finally have it!" Mistress 9 cheered, "I have the Legendary Silver Crystal! At last, I have awakened. Master Pharaoh Ninety, I'm here!" Mistress 9 cackled.