It was night in Sunny Kingdom. But for Pokota, there would be no rest tonight. The more he'd heard of the Fortune Teller Erika, the more excited he got. No small part of him imagined that, just as Hime-chan was Erika's duplicate on Earth, so too was Erika Erika's duplicate, and he strongly suspected that this Erika would be his key to getting home. As the night wore on, his thoughts wandered to Hime-chan, and how she was doing. For a brief moment, he envied her connection to Daichi. They at least could see each other whenever they wanted. Pokota could only see his love, Pink-chan, when Himeko was invited to the Magic Kingdom.
When he finally did fall asleep, it was to dreams of being with Pink-chan. Fine and Rein didn't bother to wake him, they just quietly stuck him in the depths of Fine's hat and left Jewel Castle for Aurora Town, home of a certain shrew-woman. Of course, before they had left, they had sent messages to the other kingdoms - they had originally planned for all the princesses to meet up at Aurora Town in the late afternoon for a festival, but that was before they had the whole Missing Poomo problem to deal with. So, instead of meeting up at the town itself, they were meeting up at the Castle of the Moon Kingdom in the morning, would meet with Fortune teller Erika, and from there would head to the Aurora Town Festival.
------
Himeko opened her eyes. She could smell the dust of the abandoned house, and recognized the relative softness of the couch in the map room. The first voice she could recognize was one similar to her own and Erika's. "...really, though, if I'd known that Mercury would go berserk like that, I'd have asked for someone less... volatile."
Another voice - the voice of the ice-witch that attacked her - sounded a little hurt. "Now hold on, Nyanko-san, how was I supposed to know that Nonohara wasn't going to hurt anyone?"
A deep, older voice tried to intervene. "Mercury, Nyanko, cool it, my headache's back. I'm sure there's a completely understandable and perfectly innocent reason that a witch would have a monster in her care."
"I'm not a monster-poomo, I'm a poomo-type fairy-poomo!"
Mercury's voice again. "Maybe so, but I still find it suspicious that nobody's going to tell us what's going on."
Himeko decided to answer this time. "It's not their story to tell. Besides, our memories will get erased if too many people find out about our secrets." She sat up and looked from Daichi to Poomo to Aiko to the huddle of Magic Kingdomers off to the side. "Thanks for not telling, but what if they attack again? I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me."
"You're pretty much my only way home-poomo, I can't abandon you now-poomo."
"We're sisters, and it's thanks to you that me and Hasekura were able to have such a wonderful time. If I don't stand up for you now, he'll never remember anything."
"Nonohara, when you died that time, I was devastated. There's no way I'm gonna let you risk your life again if I know I can prevent it."
Aiko looked at Daichi, then to Himeko, but left the question unasked. Himeko smiled. Kamilu, Robelia, Kanro, and Arisaka were still standing off to the side. Kanro poked Kamilu. "Hey, ain't there somethin' familiar about th' green-haired one?"
Kamilu nodded. "She looks like Amora from the book in Granny Riley's shop."
Pluto visibly flinched at the name. "Granny Riley's still got that? I thought she got rid of it."
Mercury just boggled at her. "Just how old are you, anyway? Or are you supposed to be at the gate of time right now?"
Arisaka also boggled at Pluto. "How in the worlds do you know about Granny Riley?"
Pluto sighed. "Remind me to keep my mouth shut at times like that. I swore not to tell anyone about the court of King Johannes Vulcan unless they already knew about it."
Kanro nodded. "Sei here is one of his grand-daughter's suitors."
Arisaka tried to bop Kanro weakly. "Was. I was one of the suitors, but I set up that whole scheme to get her father to break it off, remember?"
While that conversation was going on, the only person that noticed that Himeko, Daichi, Aiko, Hasekura, and Poomo were leaving was Nyanko. For a brief moment, her eyes caught Himeko's, and with a silent nod promised that she wasn't going to say anything. She wasn't sure why, but she felt a special connection with her.
Not five steps out, they walked into Erika and Chappy, the magical broom. Hugs were had by all. "Erkia, why're you-"
Before Himeko could finish the question, Erika was already answering her. "Granny Riley told me that I should be here right now, and Papa wanted me to come collect Robelia and them."
Aiko pulled Hasekura forward a little. "Can you fix his memories?"
"Right now, no, but I'll ask Papa if he can help with it."
Daichi pointed at the house. "I think that the other people in there already know about the Kingdom of Magic. Is it safe to tell them about the ribbon?"
"Maybe, maybe not. I'll find out if it is, and we'll go from there... oh, right, I almost forgot!"
Himeko looked at Erika with a silly little grin on her face. "Wait, let me guess, answering 'hai' to anyone calling my name ends the spell?"
Erika giggled. "No, not this time; Ren - Aiko, that's my adviser - said I should tell you to keep an eye open for the cats Daichi saw in Juuban."
"Some of the Sailor Senshi came from Juuban, they're talking with Arisaka and them right now." said Daichi. "He didn't tell you this last week, did he?"
"Himeko, Granny Riley said that she may be able to help Poomo get home." Erika was talking a little louder, and acted like Daichi hadn't said anything other than that it was the Sailor Senshi. "Well, as long as Sailor Pluto isn't one of the ones that's in there, this shouldn't take too long."
Before anyone could warn her that Sailor Pluto was, indeed, inside, Erika and Chappy were inside the house.
------
They had arrived at the Pokota hadn't expected that he'd be dealing with a handful of what Himeko would have called "Petting Zoo People", but then again he wasn't exactly on Earth or in the Magic Kingdom. Of course, they were all princesses, but since everyone here where he was seemed to be royalty, this didn't exactly surprise him.
"I'm Princess Sophie of the Windmill Kingdom." An energetic girl with long, floppy rabbit-ears bowed.
"I'm Princess Mirlo of the Waterdrop Kingdom." A very soft-spoken girl with short, stiff dog-ears bowed.
"I'm Princess Lione of the Flame Kingdom." A kind-sounding girl with lion-like ears bowed.
"Babu ba, babu bai babu ba, babu ba babu babui ba babu bai" Said a very young girl, not much larger than Pokota, that was sitting on a floating star. She pointed to a tall woman wearing a large moon on her head. "Babu ba, babu-bu babu babui bai babu ba bai babu bai babui ba babu ba." They both bowed.
Pokota frowned. "I'm sorry, what?"
Fine laughed a little. "She said, 'I'm Princess Milky of the Moon Kingdom, and this is my mother, Moon Malia.'"
Pokota turned to Fine. "You can understand her?"
"Me and Prince Shade and Moon Malia can, but I don't think anyone else can. She's almost using the right number of syllables now, though, so it shouldn't be too long before she starts using words that the others can understand. Everyone, this is Pokota, friend of... wait, was it 'friend of Erika, Princess of the Kingdom of Magic'?"
Pokota sighed. "Close. I'm 'Pokota, friend of Himeko Nonohara, who is the exact duplicate and item-tester for Erika, the Princess of the Kingdom of Magic'. But that's too much of a mouthful to say, so just call me Pokota."
Everyone nodded, and the new people (except for Moon Malia) started to ask Pokota about the Kingdom of Magic. Moon Malia motioned to Shade. "Is that the one from the prophecy?" She was talking low enough for only Shade to hear.
"I believe he is, yes. Prince Bright seems to think so too. Fine and Rein were planning on paying Fortune Teller Erica a visit before heading off to the Aurora Town Festival tonight, I'll ask her while we're there."
"Last time you asked that mouse something, I didn't see you for a month. Are you sure it'll be alright?"
"Now, now, it's all part of the plan. The more of us there are to 'help', the sooner she'll call the price paid. That's why I suggested that all the Princesses come today."
"I... interesting. Are you sure you're not a villain, Eclipse?" Joked Moon Malia.
------
Somewhere in the gap between dimensions drifted a mass of black crystal. It had been banished from its latest victims, yet its time had not yet been. Somehow, it knew that it was soon to be in the right place.
Near the crystal, a rift opened in the non-space. A small piece of the crystal broke off and fell through it, to land in a dark forest near the palace where Erika dwelt. With this, the crystal was content.
Its time would come, its time would come...
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(Posted Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:08)
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