After Usagi had finished telling her friend the story about the city in the lake and about the weird, blue creature, Rei was sitting on the edge of her bed and frowned.
"This is all... very strange, Usagi," she finally said.
"You don't believe me..." Usagi muttered. "Well, I already thought so..."
Rei shook her head. "That's not it! I do believe you, that's what makes the whole situation so strange. If there really is a sunken city at the bottom of the lake, and you met a creature like that, it means there has to be some truth in those old stories from Grandpa's friend."
"Well, we could always go and ask him what else he knows," Usagi suggested.
"Good idea, but first, there's something else we could do."
"What do you mean?" the blonde girl asked.
"Well, Grandpa's friend also told us about some old ruins on top of the biggest hill around here... He said they're the remains of some old, feudal castle. Maybe we find some clues up there. If not, we can always ask Grandpa for details."
Usagi nodded. "Yeah, sounds like a plan to me. So..." Her face suddenly turned all worried. "You guys found any clues regarding Luna?"
"No, I'm sorry," Rei sighed. "At least nothing outstanding. Ami has found some weird hairs lying on the ground near the place where Artemis got knocked out, and she wanted to analyze them with the Mercury Computer. She said she wanted to call me as soon as she finds out more." She put an arm around her friend. "Don't worry! We'll find her, sooner or later."
"I really hope so..." the blonde murmured.
Suddenly, the voice of her mother interrupted their thoughts. "Girls, time for dinner!"
"Oh yummy!" Usagi shouted as she jumped up from the bed. "I wonder if we're gonna have those dumplings she brought from home."
Rei chuckled. "Well, good to see that all of this doesn't seem to spoil your appetite. You're still as gluttonous as ever."
"Rei, stop being a meanie!" Usagi grumbled.
----
The next day, the two girls got up early. They hurried to get ready and had a short breakfast before the rest of the Tsukino family. When Ikuko asked in a surprised voice where they were going in such a hurry, her daughter simply told her they wanted to go for a walk around the woods.
Ikuko seemed happy that her daughter finally seemed to perk up, now that one of her friends was with her.
The girls left the house and walked through the forest, until they reached the bottom of the biggest hill that was rising over the lake.
Usagi listened to the nice sounds of the wind and the birds, but then this idyllic orchestra got interrupted by a loud noise coming from behind the hill.
"What is that?" she shouted in surprise. "Sounds like machines."
Rei nodded. "Yeah, Mr. Moroto - Grandpa's friend - already told us that they are building an expressway nearby."
Usagi couldn't help but to feel anxious. "All of this noise... won't it scare the local animals away?"
"Well, there's nothing we could do about it. It looks like that construction company already got the permission from the local authorities. They still had to adjust the path for their expressway, because of the castle. From what Mr. Moroto said, I believe the people were worried that the construction works would endanger the old ruins. I can't say I'm too happy about it either..."
"I agree," Usagi nodded. "Aren't there enough expressways already? I mean, people could always come here by train."
"Well, as I said, there's nothing we can do about it," Rei said. "Come on, let's check out the ruins! I'm really curious what the old castle looks like from the inside."
----
After entering the ruins, they realized that not much of the old building was standing anymore, except for parts of the main building. They climbed into the big courtyard through a small chasm in the ruined wall around the castle.
"Um, Rei? Can we just go in here like that? I mean, isn't this ruin landmarked or something?"
"True, but as long as people don't leave too much garbage behind or do anything that would damage the old walls even further, this place is free to visit for everyone."
Usagi clumsily stumbled over a big pile of boulders. "Do you really believe that we can find something about the city I saw in here?"
"I think so," her friend nodded. "This is the oldest building around here. If there would be other clues around the lake, they probably have already been taken to some museum."
"Let's ask Mr. Moroto and your grandpa about that later," Usagi said. "Oh, wow! Would you look at those pillars? I wonder how old they are..."
They searched around the ruined place for a while, but couldn't really find anything that would help them any further.
"Well," Rei sighed. "I really didn't expect anything else. Still, it was worth a try... and seeing this place has been worth it anyways, huh?"
"You can say that again," Usagi nodded. "There aren't such things in the big city, that's for sure."
They walked back through the big hall of the castle (of which only two walls were remaining), but before they reached the courtyard, Rei suddenly stopped and pulled her friend behind a wall.
"What? What's up?" Usagi asked.
"Ssshhhh," Rei hushed. "There's someone there..."
The two girls carefully peered around the corner to take a closer look at the figure that was standing right in the middle of the courtyard... and luckily, it wasn't looking in their direction.
But they were surprised to see that this was not a human... it was a creature that looked even stranger than the bluish gnome Usagi had seen the previous day.
It kinda resembled a large rodent, about as big as a dog, with yellow fur and a striped back. It's tail had a strange zigzag shape, and there were two red patches on its cheeks. It sniffed around the air, but didn't seem to notice the two of them.
"That's one strange animal," Rei whispered. "But that's not the one you saw, right, Usagi?"
Usagi shook her head. "See? I told you there would be strange creatures living in these woods."
"I have to admit, this is amazing," Rei mumbled. "We've seen Youmas, Droids and all kinds of other monsters before, but this thing... it looks so gentle. Unlike all of the other non-human creatures we met."
"You think he's looking for some food?" Usagi whispered.
"Usagi... how would you know that it's male?"
"Um, I dunno..." She scratched her head. "He looks like it..."
The priestess sighed. "Never mind..."
Suddenly, the strange animal's head turned around, as someone else entered the courtyard. It was a boy, younger than Usagi and Rei, and he wore tattered jeans and a dirty shirt.
"That's that Ash kid I met the other day," Rei said in bewilderment. "What's he doing here?"
"It looks like they know each other," Usagi noticed.
She was right, the yellow animal was greeting the boy in some weird language neither of the girls could understand. Ash replied in the very same language, and then he gestured eastwards, where they could hear the noises from the construction site.
The yellow creature seemed to be angry because of something, because it growled, and for a short instance, Usagi believed she could see some sparks dancing around its cheeks.
The boy then said something in a harsh voice, which was accompanied with a resolute gesture. The creature lowered its head and nodded, then it walked over to a big pile of rubble.
Ash followed it, and then... they were gone.
Usagi blinked. "Huh? Did I miss anything? Where did they go?"
"I'm not too sure..." Rei mumbled. "But let's be careful anyway... They could still be around. And while that creature looked somewhat cute, it also seems to possess some strange powers."
They slowly tiptoed over the rubble-covered floor of the courtyard, until they reached the big pile of stones behind which Ash and his strange little companion had vanished.
Rei took a deep breath, exchanged a quick look with Usagi, and then the two girls nodded and stepped around the rubble.
And gazed upon the rectangular hole that was in the ground.
Usagi peered inside. "Wow, that's pitch black," she said. "I can't see anything. Not the boy and not his little animal pal."
"Who knows what's down there..." Rei muttered. "But still, if Ash knows something about those creatures, we should probably go after him. I'd really like to ask him some questions..."
"But it's so dark in there," her friend whined. "How will we see anything?"
"Calm down, you're not a crybaby, are you? Let's transform and I can use my fire powers to light the way. Ready?"
"O-okay," Usagi muttered and grasped her brooch.
"MOON CRISIS, MAKE UP!"
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"
And after transforming into their Senshi forms, they nodded at each other with determination and dropped through the hole in the floor, first Sailor Mars, followed by Sailor Moon.
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(Posted Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:56)
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