"Usagi, you're back!" Luna exclaimed as the four inners returned. "Where's Ami?"
"Well, you see- " The moon princess began.
"She's probably off with her boyfriend!" Minako groused.
"Ami's personal life has no bearing on the matters at hand, Minako." Usagi ground out through clenched teeth.
"I wonder if he's handsome. I mean Ami is pretty in a bookwormish sort of way, but really what kind of guy could she possibly get with her nose buried in a book?" Minako rambled on.
"My kapowie sense is tingling." Usagi muttered as she clenched her fist. "Minako, this has nothing to do with the fact that Ami has a boyfriend. These changes-"
"I'll bet she fell in with some hoodlum!" Minako exclaimed as Usagi began to twitch. "He's probably seduced our dear innocent Ami into a life of violence and hedonism! For sweet Ami's sake, I must separate them, even if it means I must shoulder the horrible responsibility of dating this hunk myself." Usagi's twitching reached earthquake proportions as Minako draped an arm melodramatically over her eyes.
"MEGA KAPOWIE!" The very frustrated defender of love and justice exploded with a fierce uppercut that left Minako insensible on the floor nearby. "Thank you Minako. I'll be sure to note your contribution. Ami has a boyfriend, as confirmed by Sailor Sol." Usagi nodded as she worked the pain out of her hand.
"Okay.... I'm gonna take a little nappy now." With that Minako passed out.
"Um... Usagi." Makoto asked "Where... where did that come from?"
Usagi groaned as she shook out her hand. "Gold Digger manga."
"You actually own manga of your own?" Rei asked in surprise.
"Yeah, you wanna borrow a few volumes?"
"Yeah, that'd be cool. Now back to the matter at hand."
"Right. Ami's back, she's got a boyfriend."
"She's skilled enough to hold her own against Haruka, and she's got a new transformation." Makoto provided.
"And there's a new Sailor, who goes by the name of Sol. She doesn't want to be a sailor and she made Setsuna back down from the creation of Crystal Tokyo." Rei added. "I think that's everything?"
"I think so." Usagi nodded.
"I think you should all sit down and start from the beginning."
***
"How are you feeling, Haruka?" Michiru asked, as the outers gathered in the steam filled bathroom.
"Much better, now." Haruka said from where she floated in the bath. "So what are we going to do about Sol and Mercury?"
"Sol Sama..." Hotaru smiled dreamily from her perch atop the sink.
"Someone's got it bad." Setsuna grinned as Hotaru blushed a brilliant crimson.
"Setsuna momma!"
"How can you joke at a time like this, Setsuna?" Michiru asked.
"Because right now it's all I can do. You didn't see what I did at the Time Gates."
"What did the Gates show you?" Haruka asked.
Setsuna was silent for a long time. "Sol and Ami... always in battle, tested in fire and bathed in blood... " A single tear slid down her cheek.
"Ami..." Michiru murmured. "What about Crystal Tokyo?"
"It still exists, but it's not the dominant timeline, and I doubt it will be again." Setsuna stared off into the distance. "And maybe it shouldn't be."
"What do you mean?" Haruka asked sitting up.
"Sol is willing to destroy this planet to stop Crystal Tokyo from coming to pass. Do you know what kind of determination it takes to destroy a world? What could she have been through that she would be willing to destroy everything?" Setsuna asked rhetorically.
"She's so warm..." Hotaru said, absently tracing a finger over her lips. "Why would she want to destroy everything."
"She doesn't." Haruka said. "If she really wanted to, she wouldn't have warned us, or given us an ultimatum. She would have just blown the sun and that would have been the end of it."
"Hotaru, you shouldn't get too hung up on Sol." Michiru mused quietly. "Even though she's a Sailor, she seems to hate everything we scouts stand for. She may want nothing to do with you."
"But... but the kiss-"
"It could have meant something. It could have been just to throw us off balance while she disappeared. Only Sol knows. But that kiss, Hotaru, how did it make you feel?"
"I-I don't know. I've never thought about a woman like that but Sol's kiss made me feel something like I never have before. I'm confused."
"It'll be okay Hotaru. We'll be right here with you. Setsuna, you said there were still some Crystal Tokyo time lines. What happened to Sol?"
"I'm not entirely sure. The existing time lines were... darker, shadowed somehow. And there was no trace of Sol."
"What about her real identity, Setsuna momma? Can the Gates show you that?" Hotaru asked.
"I'm afraid not, little one. Something about Sol makes her impossible to track in her civilian form."
"So you're saying that we have no clue what happens to her when she's not using her powers. Lovely." Haruka said. "So what do we do about them?"
"Nothing really to do." Setsuna shrugged running her fingers through her hair. "I may or may not be able to trace Ami's trip with the gates, but barring that the only source for information on our new and improved sailors... are the sailors themselves."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Archangel Bloodraven, Lord of Bloodraven Keep
(Posted Mon, 07 Feb 2005 04:05)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.