"One, two, three - go!"
The Crystal covering the Queen's body starts to waver and melt, only to reform in a slightly different shape.
" - Damn..." Venus mumbles, while the other Inner Senshi just shake their heads.
Neo Queen Serenity sleeps on, unmoving.
" - Guys." Jupiter whispers. "This - isn't gonna work, is it."
The Queen will not awaken. The Crystal covering will not come away. They all think they know why.
The Crystal Palace Inner Wards still function, despite the massive Dark 'energy sap' that is going on relentlessly. The Silver Crystal has gone missing, and yet the Regime staggers on, bloodied but still standing.
"So." Mars says, finally.
" - So." Venus murmurs. "So - we have no choice. Yes?"
"There is no such thing as 'no choice', in my humble opinion." Mercury says sharply, not sounding very humble at all. "Only better choices and worse choices. Though in this case, I agree with Jupiter's plan."
"...It's my plan now? No, no, alright, never mind..." Jupiter sighs. "So, we've agreed then?"
Venus looks at Mars and Mercury, who both nod back.
"Very well. We shall take 24 hours to clean up as many loose ends as we can, and then we shall encase ourselves in Crystal, standing guard around the Queen."
Mercury waves her hand. "There is just one thing - I do not wish to sound like a 'wet blanket', as they used to say, but I feel that I must mention that there is no guarantee that we will be able to supply enough energy to allow the Queen to awaken even if we do that, even if our theories are correct and the reason she does not is because she is powering the Wards herself."
"Yes, but at least, we'll be adding more energy to the Wards if we do that, as well as give Serenity herself an extra level of protection." Jupiter mutters, wiping her brow.
"True, that." Mercury allows.
"Alright, then - um, everybody?" Jupiter says. "Can you people try to get the Crystal to soften up just one more time before you go do stuff - I want to clean her up and make her look presentable. 'Kay?"
"I understand and concur." And Pluto does understand - the Inner Senshi's duties have been traditionally strongly centered around protecting the Princess or the Queen, after all.
"I knew we could count on you." Venus grinned tiredly on the Time Gate's screens.
"Mercury says that you should be able to have King Endymion connected up to the holo-system in a couple of days, so you should be able to talk with him about stuff, at least.
There're just a couple of things, though..."
Pluto nodded. "Is this about Small Lady? She is sleeping now for the moment, but - I am not sure of the best way to proceed, to be honest."
Venus sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. My feelings are that she actually might be safer back in the 20th century then here, frankly."
Pluto thought about that. That was a quite real possibility, especially since there was no sign of the Doom Tree Clan at all in the here and now. Of course, if this 'Black Moon Family' actually had access to some kind of time travel device, things could change very swiftly, but...
"We could tell her that she has a special mission now - she's supposed to go find the Silver Crystal of the 20th century, and bring it back here to help the Queen. We could even tell her that a girl named Tsukino Usagi had something to do with it, and point her in her direction - that way, she'd be sure to try to get close to the Tsukino household. Right?"
Hmmm. That might work.
"We're probably really going to need the 20th century Silver Crystal at this rate, aren't we."
"My thoughts exactly." Venus said, looking tired.
"And just one other thing..."
"Yes?"
"I don't think King Endymion should know."
Pluto blinked. What?
"I don't think it would be a good idea for anybody to keep any information about his daughters whereabouts from his Majesty once he wakes up, frankly?"
"What?" Venus blinked. "Oh, damn it, I'm tired and not talking straight. What I meant was that, I don't think that King Endymion should know about all our theories about just why the Queen isn't waking up - if she's still sleeping when you connect him up, that is. It'll be an entirely different matter if she manages to wake by then, of course."
Pluto thought about this. Oh, right, that did make sense.
Even if Venus had just made her life a little bit harder even then before.
"He's in bad enough shape as he is - what do you think would happen if he tried to give Serenity his energy as well? He's not dead at the moment, and I'd prefer he stay that way, and I'm sure Serenity would too, really. So, no telling him to he gets better, all right?"
Pluto nodded once more.
"I can not promise anything, but - I will keep what you say in consideration."
"Very well, then - Good luck and goodbye, then, Pluto. Venus ou - "
Pluto stopped her with a gesture.
" - Um?" Venus blinked.
"That should be 'Good luck and see you again', Venus."
Venus blinked again, and smiled.
"Ahh, you're right. Then - Good luck and see you again later, Pluto!"
"And likewise to you, Senshi Venus. Give my regards to all the others as well, please."
Venus nodded, and, with a little wave, cut off the connection.
And now - it was time to wake Small Lady up.
Setsuna blinked, looking away from dreams that weren't really hers. The small blonde child had woken up, looking around her and blearily rubbing her eyes.
"...Oh? Oh, hi, it's you - um..."
"I'm Mamoru." The boy introduced himself. The girl nodded and giggled.
"Yes, you're - you're Mamo-chan, right? And you..."
"I am Setsuna, Usagi-chan. Meiou Setsuna" Setsuna said. Oh dear, little Usagi was so cute...
"Setsu...Secchan!" Usagi smiled. Setsuna blinked. Oh, my...
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:56)
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.