Neo-Super Sailor Mars detected a series of ominous cracking sounds in the nick of time. Her heart raced as she looked down, only to see massive spikes erupting from the mountainside, hurtling towards them with alarming speed! "Look out!" she cried, her voice laced with urgency.
With Mars and Jupiter's help, Neo-Eternal Sailor Moon could dodge them. Still, Universe, her Senshi, Amphirite, Pacific, and Atlantic were not so lucky as they were slammed into repeatedly and knocked down onto the pillars below!
"Did anyone think to use their powers to clear these?" Chibiusa's now black-haired half-sister had Selina transform into her staff.
"While that may be an effective solution, it's not a safe option if we fall again." Nova pointed out sensibly.
"Landing on one of these isn't as comfortable as sand!" Eclipse snapped, sore from the rocks knocking into them.
"I think I've got it! Ivy Sprig!" Earth exclaimed, her voice filled with determination. Demonstrating her resourcefulness, she summoned a small plant, leaped onto it, and watched as it propelled her upwards like a spring. The triumph was palpable as she looked back at her friends with a triumphant smile.
"That looks fun!" Eager, Sun performed the same maneuver.
Laughing at how quickly this grim situation turned into an enjoyable, little experience, Amphirite and Pacific went next in quick succession.
"I'm not into fun..." Atlantic scoffed and used her shurikens to scale the cliffs!
"Nova, Eclipse, you go. I'll teleport." Sailor Universe turned into red-colored energy, scattering away and reappearing beside Neo-Eternal Sailor Moon!
These spires kept trying to get in the way, but the girl's sharp eyes and quick thinking kept them ahead of the curve.
"Even the EASIER way is treacherous!" Mars, a dark-eyed soldier, groaned in annoyance.
"Well, you can't say their home doesn't have some defenses." Jupiter smiled, her mood seemingly not dampened.
The other girls felt tremors inside the mountain and heard their friends' voices echoing through the cavernous space. They decided to leave Sara, who could deal with Adam herself, to see if they could alert their friends exactly where they were! Sadly, they had little energy left for their powers, and it was not wise to try and call through the rocks because of what the sirens would do if they heard it! While they were off, Adam arrived!
"Where is everybody?" Looking around, the man could not spot anyone but Sara.
"Don't fret. They are only exploring." Sara tried to keep him calm.
"Why are you not with them, then?" Adam asked suspiciously.
"I'm not the curious type. We talked last night, and I decided I've been foolish; I should marry you; it will be my best choice." Sara began her manipulation by cuddling against Adam.
Sara wanted to gag, as doing this made her feel gross inside, but she had to seem convincing. Adam sensed Sara was not entirely into this, but she just accepted his proposal, her heart heavy with the weight of her decision.
"Why do they want to take over bodies of water when they're more at home in the air?" Sara asked, her voice steady but her heart pounding with uncertainty. She was trying to keep her cool, but the tension in the air was thick, and she could feel Adam's gaze on her, his every word hanging in the balance.
"Why do they want to take over bodies of water when they're more at home in the air?" Sara asked, trying to keep her cool.
"For years, people have confused mermaids and sirens, and while our powers are similar, we are not the same race. We are tired of the misunderstanding, so one race has to fall, and it will be mermaids. However, if you and your friends play nicely, we will allow you and your kingdoms to live." Adam explained, his voice tinged with a mix of frustration and determination.
"I see..." Even if Sara knew her kingdom only existed in ruin, she worried for Seira, who could be mistaken as being from Sara's domain as they are both orange mermaids.
On the other hand, sirens might have trouble living underwater, but nothing is impossible if the Senshi could turn into mermaids!
"Come, we must prepare to become one!" Adam held Sara as he flew them to the mountaintop.
There, the Princess of the Gulf saw at least one nest per siren with her and her captured friends' pearls and the Senshi's pendants tucked into the branches! Thankfully, she spotted Karen and Noel, who appeared to be waking up and still in human form, their hair tousled and their eyes blinking sleepily.
"Good morning, Sara!" Karen greeted, and her adoptive sister nodded.
"Morning, Karen...Noel." Sara waved, relieved that her teammates had remained unharmed so far.
"I must admit, the Mediterranian and Arctic Princesses are lovely too," Adam smirked.
"Well, you're right about one thing. Thanks for the compliment." Karen's purple eyes flashed in confidence.
Noel blushed and turned her face away to hide it.
"What's wrong with her?" Adam pointed at Noel.
Karen cooed to soothe Noel.
"Noel spends more time caring for sick or injured animals in her kingdom, and she can't speak English very well as her native language is Russian. Hence, she is not much of a social butterfly." Sara cleared up the matter of why Noel is so easily flustered.
"Tristan will fix that..." Adam sounded like he did not like this Tristan.
"Who is Tristan?" Karen questioned defensively, her protectiveness over Noel evident in her voice.
"One of my brothers. He is not a social butterfly himself, but he gets by. Being a drifter, he gets into trouble too. Noel will like him; he's a gentleman." Adam rolled his brown eyes.
"In the girls' minds, they did not think any of these creatures knew how to be a gentleman by how they had been treating them. Speaking of treating them a certain way, the sirens dumped Emily and Trisha in the same cave as the other girls, and Lina and Coco were taken to the mountaintop!
As overjoyed as Seira was to see more of her friends, she worried about their remaining allies. Considering the captured girls are back to normal, their transforming tools must have been taken too! Before the sirens left, Crystal called out, "Wait! Do you girls have any paper and crayons or something? We're bored."
Everyone looked at Ami's daughter as though she lost her mind.
"Well...we don't have any right now, but we can get you some." One of the sirens, who had black hair and blue eyes, replied. From her tone, it sounded like she needed to improve at singing.
"That would be greatly appreciated, uh...name. please?" Mercury's defender asked politely.
"My name is Clef." Swiftly, Clef could use the magic in Emily's pendant and Lina's pearl to allow herself to survive underwater, and she would dive into the sea to get writing supplies.
After the sirens left and their friends came, Holly turned on Crystal.
"What are you thinking?! This is no time for arts and crafts!" Uranus's kid raged, her green eyes flashing in annoyance.
"Calm down, and I'll explain. We can't communicate with our friends through technology, and the sirens won't help us, so we'll have to go a little old-school, and what's more than writing letters?" Mercury's guardian smiled as she was proud of her own brilliance.
"Wouldn't they like to check everything we write?" Holly argued.
"We'll just have to act like we're drawing simple images like rainbows and happy things." Gracie gave the girls ideas on what to pretend to draw if the sirens asked.
"We can slip our messages through the rockslide cracks." Crystal finished laying out her plan.
Her friends could not help but hug the intelligent girl, for this might save them!
"What if our friends have already passed the rockslide?" Holly had to be the killjoy.
"Even so, we have to try." Trisha piped up, but still groggy from the fight.
Like her mom, Haruka, Holly disliked wasting time with unsavory plots that may not work out. Each girl, minus Holly, wrote a note expressing their feelings and fears and pleading with their friends to rescue them.
Alexis's letter explained why Holly did not write a message. Growing desperate to do something productive, Uranus's defender pretended to nap to hide the letters under her blanket from the sirens. This decision was going perfectly!
Luckily, Atlantic, who is moving slower than the rest of the group of free girls due to the way she is scaling the cliffs, notices slips of paper fluttering out from behind a pile of rocks just below her!
"HEY!" Atlantic shouts to get her group's attention, which the sirens had left behind.
Carefully making their way down and over to where Atlantic is, the girls start picking up the pieces and reading them, elated to see they are from their captured friends!
"Who is slipping the paper through the rocks?!" Neo-Eternal Sailor Moon peeked through one of the crevices to see a green eye peeking back out at her!
"Me!" This light and bubbly voice could only be Gracie!
"How the hell do we-" Mars began but was cut off by the mermaid's demanding voice.
"Stand back!" Atlantic, Pacific, and Amphirite started muddying a path with their water-based attacks to cause the boulders to slide down, clearing the rock slide!
Eutrophic, Gracie raced to embrace her superheroine friends, and it was not long before the others emerged out of the darkness to see why Gracie was making such a ruckus! This wonderful reunion was short-lived when those in Senshi form realized their friends could not transform.
"Oh, our items are in the sirens' nests," Seira remembered seeing them there.
"How do we protect our own pendants?" Amphitrite fingered her golden seashell necklace.
"We could stick them in our underwear." Mars joked.
"Mars!" Neo-Eternal Sailor Moon scolded.
"What? Those sirens wouldn't think to look there!" Mars tried defending her absurd notion.
"I might have a way we can conceal these..." Jupiter took off her pendant but clasped it so it was covered and attached to the bow on the back of her sailor skirt!
Amazed at how simple but effective this could be, the other girls did the same. Even worse, the sounds of their earlier reunion alerted the sirens and this time, their brothers joined in the assault!
"We've come so close, I'm not giving up now!" Mars and Jupiter used 'Electric Phoneix Strike!'
With that, the team members who could combine attacks and the battle in on!