Minako said, "I can't believe that Uranus and Neptune said that Usagi wasn't the princess. They weren't there when the Gizinshou appeared."
Ami was busy typing on her computer. Rei and Makoto had angry looks on their faces. The white cat Artemis was lying down sadly.
Luna replied to Minako's statement. "After stealing Usagi's brooch that one time so she couldn't transform, I'm not surprised at anything those two will do."
Angrily Makoto said, "At least Usagi got the brooch back that time. If they take it from her this time, I doubt she'll be able to get it back."
A loud screeching noise came from outside. It sounded like someone scraping a cinder block across a concrete driveway at high speeds. A loud crack followed the screeching sound. The girls reached for the transformation pens and cautiously looked outside. In the middle of the stone courtyard, a sword hilt was sitting upright. The area around the crossbar was lined with spider-web cracks. A piece of paper was tied to the grip of the sword hilt with rubber bands. The pommel of the hilt had the symbol for Venus floating within. The Senshi stared at the sword hilt and then looked at Minako.
Minako asked, "Why does that thing have my symbol on it?"
Ami pointed her computer at it and did a quick scan.
Ami said in wonder, "It has your symbol, because it is your weapon. It's the Crystal Sword. You used to use it during the Silver Millennium."
Minako hesitantly walked out to the sword hilt and lifted it up. A light scraping sound was heard, as the sword was lifted free of the pavement. Once the point of the sword was clear, the sword softly glowed orange.
Minako looked at Ami in confusion. "How did it get here?"
Ami shrugged. "I have no idea. That loud noise we heard earlier must have been the sword being driven into the pavement."
Makoto asked, "What's with the paper?"
Minako removed the rubber bands and unfolded the paper. She was surprised when she read what was on the note. She handed the note to the other Senshi who read it.
=====Your friend Sailor Moon is very upset. This sword should help make up for her lack in your group until she calms down. After she does rejoin, it should help take some of the pressure off of her.
By the way, do something about the psychos.=====
Minako asked, "How did someone find out about Usagi? How did they get the sword?"
Luna replied, "I'm not sure. Whoever it was, decided to help us. I wonder why he or she didn't hand the sword to you in person."
Minako nodded at Luna and the sword vanished into a subspace pocket.
Rei said, "Someone knows who we are and about what happened yesterday."
Minako asked, "Why do you say that?"
Rei replied, "The last line of that letter is what makes me think that 'Do something about the psychos?' That is probably referring to Uranus and Neptune."
The other Senshi looked at each other and nodded. They went back into the shrine and resumed their conversation. The first to speak was Ami.
"I think the note told us something else as well. Usagi is fine, wherever she's at, and Haruka and Michiru haven't found her yet."
Everyone present felt relieved at that proclamation.
Luna said, "We have to find Usagi, before those two do."
Rei looked worried, "How am I going to explain that mess in the courtyard?"
Luna gave an amused snort. "This isn't the first time something involving the Sailor Senshi has damaged the place. It can probably be passed off as a monster attack."
Curious about something that had been bothering her, Makoto softly asked, "How did Usagi lose that fight?"
Luna gave a sad sigh. "She was still upset about what happened to Hotaru. Exhaustion from the battle with Pharaoh 90 probably also played a huge role in her loss. She also really doesn't want to hurt any of the Sailors, so she probably held back. She never fired a single attack at those two. Two on one with all that additional baggage? It is no wonder that she lost. If she won, those two would probably only see her as an equal, not as their superior"
Minako gave a disgusted snort. "I'm going to have to deal with them."
Rei asked, "You?"
Artemis answered for Minako. "With the exception of Sailor Pluto, Minako has been at this longer than the rest of the Sailor Senshi. She was acting as Sailor V for more than a year before any of the other Sailors woke up."
Minako pulled out a very odd looking transformation pen. "Yes. I still have it. This is the pen I used to transform into Sailor V."
Artemis leapt up and grabbed the pen in his mouth.
In a muffled voice, the white cat said, "You are not using this to do your homework for you again."
Minako smiled. "You silly cat. I was going to write some questions down and then have the pen answer the questions. I still have not figured out where that voice has came from though."
Still holding the pen in his mouth, Artemis countered, "It's a good plan, but the V-pen is not an oracle. You won't be able to find out who brought the sword here."
Minako sighed heavily and before the white cat could react, she snatched her pen back.
"Ouch. That hurt," Artemis said.
Ami asked, "That could do your homework for you? Our transformation pens don't work like that."
Flipping the pen over one-handed, Minako said, "Because I was on my own for so long, I had to have equipment to allow me to work better as a lone warrior. This pen was one of those items. I also have a compact that was used as a detector of evil energy. The Mercury Computer has a farther range and is more precise than the V-Compact. The pen also acted as an early warning beacon. When evil energy was near, it glowed or the voice spoke up and told me."
Ami blinked in realization. "So, that's why you were able to find the portal to the Dark Kingdom first. You had the equipment. But, why haven't you been using them recently?"
Minako pointed at the Mercury Computer. "Information and support are your roles. You needed to rely on yourself. I'm bringing up my past equipment now, because we are probably going to need them. You, Makoto, and Luna will form one group. Rei and Artemis will come with me. I'll set the compact to scan for the Gizinshou. I'm quite sure, you'll be able to do the same with the computer."
Minako looked at the stunned expressions on the faces of her fellow Senshi. She grinned impishly, as she pulled the V-compact out of subspace.
Holding the compact up, Minako said, "How do you think I found the Hikawa Shrine in the first place? I used the compact to hunt for Silver Millennium energy."
Rei asked, "Why did you divide us along those lines. I thought you'd have me go with Ami and Makoto with you."
"Makoto and myself are the best fighters. One fighter for each group. Ami has the computer that can be set for multitask searches. You, Rei, have training as a Shrine Maiden and can sense things that my compact might not be able to pick up," Minako explained.
Artemis said, "I keep forgetting that you were the leader of the Sailor Senshi back then."
A frown crossed Minako's features, as she whispered, "I had hoped to never take that role up again. I should have known better."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Disruptor
(Posted Sun, 12 Jun 2005 23:50)
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.