Chapter 5: Helping Friends

Azul laughed. "That's amusing, Sailor Saturn. If you try to destroy me, not only will I die, but you'll take the earth with it. And you can't hold that wall forever."

"She won't have to." Sailor Orion suddenly appeared to the side with her staff. "That's what I'm here for."

Azul frowned. "You again." He turned his attentions to the new senshi. "You keep interfering. Maybe I should just get rid of you first and then get the Sailor of Destruction."

Orion smiled. "Take your best shot."

Orion's appearance had given the senshi enough time to recover slightly and Saturn took down her Silent Wall. Azul was about to attack Orion when Mercury yelled out "Mercury Bubbles Splash!"

The whole area became covered in a very dense fog. Azul yelled, "What the hell?" Sailor Saturn was confused on why Sailor Mercury had used a very old and weak attack on such a powerful enemy. Suddenly, she felt herself being picked up. She struggled until she heard, "Shh. It's Neptune. Uranus and I are getting you and Pluto out of here." They cleared the fog and ran over housetops until they were safely out of Azul's way.

When the fog cleared, Azul found himself face to face with one smug Sailor and five very angry Sailors. Sailor Saturn was gone. Furious at being tricked so easily, he prepared to blast them all to oblivion when Orion said, "I wouldn't do that."

He snapped his head around. "Why not?"

"Because if you do, I have a clear shot at Rojo here who doesn't seem to be doing too well."

Rojo was on the ground at Orion's feet, barely conscious. Azul's face matched Rojo's hair but his voice was calm. "Very well, Orion. That is your name, isn't it?"

Orion nodded, keeping her staff near Rojo's head. Azul continued. "That's two you've won. Mark my words, you won't win again." And with that, he and Rojo vanished.

Sailor Orion sighed and let her body shake for a moment, involuntarily. Then she looked up and saw Eternal Sailor Moon running toward her. Orion held out her staff and Sailor Moon stopped. "What do you want?" Orion yelled.

Sailor Moon looked confused. "I wanted to thank you for saving us." She said.

"Thank me by watching over Hotaru. She is more important than you realize." Orion prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Sailor Moon cried. "Who are you?"

Orion smiled. "Hotaru's friend." Then, she disappeared.

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Amethyst roared in fury in his throne room. "You fool! Our goal is not to destroy the Sailor Senshi, but to get the Soldier of Destruction, Sailor Saturn. If the others are destroyed, it could have catastrophic repercussions." Azul kept his head down. He knew better than to question Amethyst when he was mad. Still, what would be lost by killing a few Sailor Senshi?

Amethyst looked up and saw the confused look on Azul's face. "Get out of my sight." He growled. Azul scurried out of the room. Amethyst plopped onto his throne and sighed. "Idiot. He doesn't realize that if we destroy Sailor Moon and her friends, Neo Queen Serenity will not arise and create the Neo Tokyo. And if Neo Tokyo isn't created, then my sister . . ." Amethyst's voice trailed off. His eyes clouded over, as if he was remembering some far off memory. "Then my sister doesn't have a chance."

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Akari wearily entered her little house and collapsed into a chair. She had practically flown to the battle, racing over rooftops to get there in time. She almost hadn't made it. She hadn't seen her necklace light up until some passerby had noticed her chest was glowing and so rudely pointed at it. She had been walking over to Hotaru's house, trying to get a chance to be with Hotaru so she could protect her when that man pointed at her and laughed. Pretending to be embarrassed, she ran into the bushes where she transformed and raced to the fight. "Akari," she said to herself, "the whole future depends on you. Don't screw this up."

"You might need some help." Came a voice from the corner. Akari jumped and grabbed her necklace. "Who's there?" she yelled.

A tall, graceful figure with long, pink hair emerged from the corner. Akari bowed deeply when she recognized the figure. "Princess Serena." She said.

The figure smiled. "Relax Akari. We don't have time for formalities. Things are getting worse and I decided to come help."

Akari looked offended. "You left her alone."

"Time is irrelevant when you've got Setsuna on your side. Hotaru won't even know I was gone."

"We can't risk you getting killed."

Princess Serena, once known as Chibi-Usa, left no question in her voice. "Hotaru is my friend and no matter what position I hold, I would gladly die for her." She looked at Akari; her pink eyes alight with determination. "I think I know who is after her."

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Usagi sighed as she hung up the phone. Minako looked at her questioningly. "Well?"

Usagi shook her head. "Haruka won't tell me anything." She slammed her fist on the floor. "How can we help her if they won't let us!" she said with frustration.

Ami reached over and patted Usagi on the shoulder. "Then we'll have to help her our own way."

"Yeah." Mako said with enthusiasm. "We'll find out who's behind this without the outer senshi's help!"

Luna sighed. "We really should be working together but since they refuse, Ami's plan is the best course of action."

Usagi gave a weak smile. "You're right." Then she sighed again. "I wish Chibi-Usa was here. She would be able to get some info out of Hotaru."

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Haruka hung up the phone. "That was Usagi. She wanted to help. I told her the best way to help was to stay out of the way."

Michiru smiled. "As usual."

"Haruka's right." Hotaru said, speaking up for the first time since they had arrived at the house a half and hour ago. They had immediately powered down and laid Setsuna on the couch. They sat in the living room now, waiting for her to wake up. Hotaru continued. "Usagi is the queen of Crystal Tokyo and indeed, our entire Solar System. We were assigned to protect her and the best way to do that is to keep her out of the dangerous situations. And like I said, we must protect her. She doesn't need to protect me. And as for the rest of the scouts, well . . ." her voice trailed off.

"The Inners take care of themselves and it's the same for us." Haruka finished.

"Exactly." Hotaru said.

"What about Sailor Orion?" Michiru asked.

"She's obviously intent on protecting Hotaru by any means." Haruka started. "She puts Hotaru's safety above everyone else's, including her own."

"So, she's not an enemy but we need to be careful around her." Hotaru said.

"Yes." Michiru and Haruka answered simultaneously.

The three lapsed into silence as it began to rain again. Hotaru's thoughts wandered to her new friend, Akari. I wish I could tell her what's going on, she thought. I need a friend right now. If only Akari was a Sailor Senshi, like Chibi-Usa. Then I could talk to her. I wish Chibi-Usa were here. Hotaru shook her head for a moment and repeated If only Akari was a Sailor Senshi . . . what if she is? Could Akari be Sailor Orion?