When the girls realized they had to track Charolette further than ever, they stopped to consider a few things. They'd traversed several pretty, twisted paths in equally dark, mysterious woods. Consequently, they needed to halt and think before heading any further down the leaf-covered trail.
"There's no way Charolette built her base along the path like a normal individual! Her last operation was at a candy shop, for Serenity's sake! Hence, she's not going to be predictable! How are we going to follow her trail in an overgrown forest? We won't even be able to see Alexis's signal above us!" Christen ranted angrily. She even stomped her foot like a child having a tantrum.
"Should we transform now or wait?" Chibiusa knew Christen had made an excellent point. If they're transformed, it might make trekking through these creepy as hell woods easier. The other girls seemed to be in silent agreement with Christen's suggestion.
"This is a voodoo witch we're talking about. We couldn't beat her on our own last time, remember? Even combining our powers didn't work! So I bet she used our friends' energy to soup herself up!" Christen raved, her midnight locks flying madly about.
"Even if she's gotten more powerful, we're stronger too after our first and second victory over her." Emily reminded them. Everyone looked at the tan-skinned girl for a moment. They took a moment to reflect on her words.
"We haven't defeated her yet. That remains a fact. It is also a fact that we did defeat our doppelgangers. Therefore, I don't doubt we'll succeed." Trisha gazed into her Garnet Orb as that seemed to help calm herself.
"Hey, Trisha, can you see the future in your Garnet Orb?" Holly questioned off-hand.
"I suppose I could choose to, Holly. However, I have only used it to see if someone will die or not. Even if I don't like what I see, I must not disrupt time to try and change it." Trisha replied a bit glumly.
"That's...dark," Shadow remarked quietly, a bit disturbed.
"We all have burdens that come with our powers." Trisha was correct. Every Senshi had a cursed drawback from their blessings, so they had to be extremely cautious when utilizing those incredible capabilities.
"Let's try not to think about death and concentrate on returning our friends' energy." Jewel had a heated bite to her voice. The group chose to overlook her tone. As everyone knew, she was worried sick about Elizabeth.
"Maybe I should stay out here. I don't want to mess up our chances of winning. I'm probably better as a lookout, anyway." Crystal suggested timidly. She hadn't overcome her flaw. Thus, she felt more ashamed when she yielded against her doppelganger. Which just proved how much of a disappointment she felt.
"Crystal, I'm sure your mom and dad have told you to have courage. Has anyone told you before that courage doesn't always roar?" Chibiusa questioned the adorable brunette.
"If it doesn't, what does it do?" Crystal figured she might as well play along if she was going to learn something.
"That's what you have to figure out, and the only way you're going to do that is to get some!" Chibiusa drove Crystal through the brush. This ended up forcing the others to transform to keep up!
If what Christen declared was true, the girls would have to get hopelessly lost even to have a chance at finding Charolette's base! Luckily, getting lost remained something the Neo-Sailor Senshi seemed to excel at ever since they were little! Suddenly, a familiar sound caught Sailor Universe's ear, and she got an idea!
"Hey, Mercury, I hear running water! What was it you said about running water?"
"It flows towards civilization." Neo-Sailor Mercury replied, not knowing how this mattered.
"So...if running water heads toward civilization, if we follow it upstream, it should lead to a watermill, which would be a great place for Charolette's base as she can use some of the water to survive, right?" Neo-Sailor Saturn turned toward her blue-eyed friend for the confirmation of this theory.
"I guess that would make sense." Neo-Sailor Mercury agreed with a small smile.
"We would have never figured that out without your help, Crystal. You are so clever!" Neo-Sailor Venus hugged her light brunette companion.
"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Neo-Sailor Mercury caught on quickly!
"Yes, but there's some truth behind it. Do you feel better now?" Neo-Sailor Mars reasoned, trying not to be too snappy.
"Yes." Neo-Sailor Mercury smiled, but it was half-forced.
While Neo-Sailor Mercury did feel happy she helped, she did not want it to be a set-up to make her feel important. Quietly, the girls tracked the water upstream and eventually found a hidden Y-split! Slipping past the attempts to hide it, the girls uncovered the watermill!
"How do we sneak in?" Sailor Universe questioned her teammates.
"Why do we always have to sneak in?! Why can't we bust in and take what is rightfully ours?!" Neo-Sailor Mars snapped. After all the battles they'd been in, she would instead go with the direct approach for once.
"Because I won't let you in, you'll get caught. Shouting doesn't help much either," a sweet voice sounded behind them. The teenage girls whirled around to see a tall, young, voluptuous woman with flawless skin, long, silky, dark hair, and a well-defined body!
Neo-Sailor Moon was about to ask this woman who she was when...
"AQUA ILLUSION!" Neo-Sailor Mercury attacked in a fury!
"Mercury...!" Neo-Sailor Moon was about to scold her friend until she noticed the soldier had her visor on: Something was wrong. As the woman got up, Neo-Sailor Mercury screamed, clapping her hands to her eyes and tearing her visor off! Neo-Sailor Moon ran to her side.
"Oh, my eyes...my visor went haywire. All I could see was a blinding, white light..." Neo-Sailor Mercury moaned to her leader.
"That woman is Charlotte!" Neo-Sailor Neptune cried as everyone looked at her. She held her Deep Aqua Crystal Mirror to show the woman's true reflection!
"How?!" Holly asked in shock.
"I figured you girls must have grown stronger since we last met. So, I decided to level the playing field a little. Since my doppelganger dolls didn't work as well as I thought they would, I instead took the energy they did manage to gather to rejuvenate myself. Which would make defeating you deluded youngsters effortless." Charlotte clarified with a wicked smirk.
"Easily?! What was effortless about facing you back at the candy shop?!" Neo-Sailor Mars screamed exaggeratedly.
"I was frankly more vulnerable and frail then. You weren't as strong at that time either." Charlotte retorted back at the hothead beauty.
"I hate you." Christen deadpanned.
"We want our friend's energy back...now." Sailor Nova growled, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.
"I'm afraid that's not possible as I absorbed it." Charlotte shrugged nonchalantly.
"Then, we'll have to take it from you." Sailor Nova, Earth, and Sun surrounded Charolette, preparing to drain her.
For some reason, Shadow had not inherited this energy ability. Also, the fact that Charolette looked entirely indifferent by this alarmed Salior Universe. But before she could warn them, Charolette's arms shot out and extended, knocking into Sailor Earth and Sun and pinning them against trees! Next, like Kalonite, her hair attempted to strangle Nova!
"You'll die a slow, painful death first for pulling that energy stunt against me last time." Charlotte walked closer to Nova, who was already suffocating!
"Holy Stone Sword: Blade!" Neo-Sailor Venus dashed over and cut Charolette's hair, saving Nova!
Christen and Holly rushed over to cut and burn Charolette's hands to free Earth and Sun! Next, Charolette threw small, shimmering, spiked purple balls at Neo-Sailor Venus and Sailor Nova!
"Barrier Shield of Silence!" Neo-Sailor Saturn swung her glaive to encase Neo-Sailor Venus and Sailor Nova in a spherical barrier. Not only protect them but whisk them securely to her side!
Charlotte turned to attack Neo-Sailor Uranus and Neo-Sailor Mars with bolts of dark magic!
"How about a taste of your own medicine?!" Sailor Eclipse created a barrier around Neo-Sailor Uranus and Neo-Sailor Mars, which reflected Charolette's attack on her!
Due to her younger body, she could dodge out of the way, "Nice try, but not good enough. Let's see you stand against THIS!" In a way, Charlotte never actually attacked, just glowed, and the girls found themselves immobilized and unable to attack! They struggled and strained, but it was no use, and Charolette was slowly approaching Neo-Sailor Moon, who was holding Neo-Sailor Mercury!
"How can we stop her?!"
"Don't touch the Princesses of the Moon and Mercury, you witch!" A strong, loud, unkind male voice echoed out of nowhere!
Everyone's eyes darted about, but they could not find anyone! Where did that voice come from? Who did it belong to? How did it know what was going on? These questions are quickly answered as Quartz falls onto Charolette's face and starts clawing, forcing her to lose concentration! Thus allowing the girls to move and regain access to their powers again!
Seething, Charolette pulled out a flute, which, when played, not only mind controls the girls and Quartz but also forces out their Dream Mirrors! For a minute, Charlotte felt she would win. Yet she had seriously miscalculated. Bringing out Chibiusa's Golden Dream Mirror only gave the group another ally, Pegasus! Nudging Chibiusa's hand, she gazed down at him with no recognition. Then, a spark of remembrance flickered in her eyes, filling them with memories, and a sugar-pink horn began to form where the Golden Crystal used to be! Using her birthmark, Chibiusa snapped all her friends back to normal as Pegasus retreated into her Dream Mirror!
"RUSH REFLECTION!" Neo-Sailor Neptune used her Deep Aqua Crystal Mirror to disarm Charolette by making her flute disappear in a flash of blue-green magic!
"Give it up, Charlotte. No matter what you dish out, we'll 'return to sender.'" Chibiusa referenced in irreverence.
"What is she talking about?" Quartz asked.
"'Return to sender' is what post offices stamp on mail without the proper address, and it is returned to the person trying to send it. I don't blame you, Quartz. In the age of cellphones, this age-old info isn't well known." Jewel explained to the confused kitty.
"Having to explain exposition makes a reference less clever." Neo-Sailor Mars pointed out disparagingly.
"Having to explain a joke makes it less clever." That's not exposition, anyway. It's an insightful explanation." Neo-Sailor Jupiter corrected.
"While I enjoy a good conversation about references as much as the next person, we are in a fight." Charlotte snapped.
"Oh, that wasn't just a conversation. That was a distraction." Neo-Sailor Mars pointed to Sailor Earth, who had managed to swipe Charolette's Chi Bottle of stolen energy!
"NO!" Charlotte made to snatch the bottle, but Ivy smashed it. Which immediately sent all the energy back to who it belonged, and Charlotte began to age rapidly until she looked as old and weathered as she had before!
Certain Charolette was back to square one again, all the girls and Quartz joined Chibiusa as they called out, "Sailor Teleport!" Still needing to be more experienced in this, the girls sprawled about the Crystal Palace grounds!
"We need to work on that..." Chibiusa groaned, rubbing her head.
"Chibiusa!" Turning her head, Chibiusa was overjoyed to see Comet ready to leap into her princess's arms!
"Jewel!" Behind Comet, Elizabeth came barreling down the hill to catapult into her friend's arms!
Looking around, "Where's Selina? Everyone, am I going crazy? Did Liz speak...without Selina?"
"Mom and Dad adopted Liz, and their powers combined to grant her a wish." Asteroid walked over with Rose and Diana.
"Her wish was to be able to speak!" Diana clarified.
"I'm so happy, Jewel! We can finally have deep conversations together and understand each other." Elizabeth purred to comfort her owner as Jewel began to cry and cuddle her kitten in euphoria.
"Thank you for saving us back there, Quartz." Chibiusa turned to the stray.
"You saved them?" Comet looked surprised at the older, fluffy, white male.
"No one else was coming for them; they needed help. If I didn't, who else was going to do it?" Quartz tried to avoid looking Comet in the eye as it made him nervous.
"If I were conscious, I would have," Comet replied.
That's why I admire you, Comet." Quartz admitted, making Comet blush.
"You admire me, huh?" Comet got in Quartz's face, so he could not look anywhere but straight into her ruby eyes.
Not one to back down, Quartz rubbed noses with Comet! From then on, Comet and Quartz started giving each other hints that they loved one another, like buying gifts and rubbing against each other. Asteroid and Rose were still dating, too. Diana and Elizabeth were still a bit too young to have boyfriends. All seemed well, but a few things still need to be revealed.