Since they weren’t exactly sure where on the asteroid they were going to land, the Sailor Scouts had instead reappeared floating through space, surrounded by a small light-blue, spherical atmosphere created by their combined powers. Everyone stared upward toward where Sailor Knight was pointing his sword. Wherever he pointed, that was the direction that they would travel in.
Mercury mentally activated her visor and started scanning for the asteroid. “There it is!” she exclaimed as soon as she picked it up.
“Right,” Knight acknowledged as he pointed his sword toward the asteroid. As soon as they reached it, he began to lead everyone in a large circle around the whole asteroid, searching for the best entry point.
“Looks like there’s no way in,” Venus commented.
“Find anything?” Mars asked Mercury.
“I’m still searching…,” she replied as she continued scanning the asteroid.
“Look!” Jupiter exclaimed, staring directly at the top part of the asteroid. “The asteroid….”
“It’s opening?” Sailor Moon asked, perplexed.
As Knight lead them away, they watched as the asteroid split four ways from the top and slowly opened up like a flower blossoming in the sun’s morning light. Inside the asteroid were hundreds upon thousands upon millions upon billions of flower blossoms identical to the one they had fought earlier that day. There was no place anywhere in the asteroid that was not blanketed with those flowers.
“This… is not good,” Knight murmured. “This is very not good.” With a slight grimace, he led the others down toward the asteroid in search of Mamoru… and Fiore.
“To think that this many flowers are blooming…,” Venus murmured apprehensively.
“If they all came down at once…,” Knight added ominously.
A sudden flashing in Mercury’s visor snagged at her attention. “Something is approaching from behind!” she shouted warningly as she glanced behind them.
“What?!?” Knight exclaimed as he looked back as well. A flying creature similar to the one they had fought back on Earth was speeding directly toward them. “Hold on!” he shouted as he swung as sword hard to the right, causing them to pitch hard to the right. The creature buzzed past them, just barely missing the Sailor Scouts. As she charged onward, she slashed at one of the rocks sticking out from the flower field below, cutting straight through it. The separated piece was lifted up from the base and began to fall toward the oncoming Scouts.
“Heads up!” Knight shouted as he shifted his sword around to a guarding position. The rock smashed against the light-blue sphere surrounding the Scouts and splintered away as if it struck against a wrecking ball.
“Damn it,” Jupiter growled angrily. “It’s back again!”
The creature began to turn around and charge straight at them again. Knight scowled darkly as he shifted his sword back to its original position. “So…. You want to play that game, do you?” he snarled quietly as his eyes narrowed.
“Everyone, let’s do it!” Venus shouted, her expression turning to one of determination.
“Okay!” the others agreed quickly. The creature started to laugh as she unsheathed her blades from within her arms.
“Sailor planet…,” Venus began as Knight shifted his sword again, pointing it straight down in front of him. As they began the attack, they quickly began to build up speed. In return, the creature began to accelerate as well.
“…attack!!!” all of the Scouts shouted at once as Knight quickly swung his sword back up to its original position, leading the direction of the combined attack. The Sailor Scouts gained another short burst of speed, then collided head on with the creature, creating a huge explosion of light-blue energy. The force of the attack blasted the Sailor Scouts apart, causing them to flip through the air and land gracefully on the carpet of flowers below… except for Sailor Moon who landed flat on her behind… again. The creature crashed some distance away from them, burning from within a light-blue flame caused by the explosion. She tried to stand back up again, but she disintegrated from within the blue flame.
“You lose,” Knight said in satisfaction as he and the others watched the creature break apart. Sailor Moon just sighed in relief.
Mercury quickly brought her minicomputer and started inputting all the data from the creature’s readings that she had received during the collision. As she was busy inputting the data, Knight and Jupiter both walked over to where she was standing. Knight had his sword out and was trying to watch all directions at once, while Jupiter was staring out toward a distance structure ahead of them. “What’s that?” she asked.
“Hold on…,” Mercury said as she continued typing away. “I’m checking….” A short time later, some readings displayed on her visor.
“What have you found?” Knight asked, glancing toward the structure as well.
She gasped as soon as she spotted a familiar figure in the middle of the structure. “It’s Mamoru-san!”
“What?” Knight exclaimed in shock.
“Mamo-chan!” Sailor Moon shouted as she started running toward the structure.
“Wait!” Jupiter shouted, holding an arm out to keep her from running any further. “It might be a trap!”
“Right,” Knight added. “Remember what happened during our last battle with the Dark Kingdom? Any reckless actions or decisions could be very dangerous here. Remember what we’re up against!”
“But…,” Sailor Moon began.
“There’s no need to worry…,” a voice called out to them. “I would never use Mamoru-kun as part of a trap.” The Sailor Scouts glanced around them, searching for the speaker, but with all the echoes, it was hard to actually pin down a location.
“Where are you?” Venus shouted.
In response, a circle of light suddenly appeared within the field of flowers a short distance in front of them. From that circle, a pillar of flowers rose from the ground. In front of their astonished eyes, the flowers settled into a man-sized form, then fell away to reveal Fiore; his Kisenian flower was still covered with the flower blossoms that had covered him.
“To think that you would chase us here…,” he said, his voice showing some indication of being impressed. “Did I underestimate you?” he mused to himself as the flowers fell away from the Kisenian flower.
“Return him!” Sailor Moon demanded. “I want Mamo-chan back!”
“Don’t worry,” Fiore replied calmly. “I will return him to Earth. But… I cannot yet.”
“What do you mean?” Mars asked.
At his feet, a flower suddenly opened up, allowing three glowing seeds to float upward where they began to hover near Fiore’s face. “Do you know what these are?” he asked quietly. “These are my flower seeds. When this asteroid gets close to the Earth all the flowers will send these seeds to Earth simultaneously. The seeds that reach Earth will create blossoms, covering the entire planet with my flowers.”
All the Scouts stared at Fiore in horror at the scenario his was describing. “If that happens, all humans…,” Mercury began.
“That’s right,” he replied as a flurry of flower petals began to whirl around him. “All the humans will have their energy drained and die.”
“We won’t allow it!” Mars exclaimed as she prepared a fireball. As she shot her attack at him, he quickly vanished, avoiding the attack.
“Damn it!” Jupiter shouted. “Where’d he go?”
Suddenly, Mercury gasped as her eyes widened in shock. “What’s wrong?” Venus asked.
“Everyone, watch out!” Mercury warned. “Those creatures have surrounded us!”
“Great,” Knight grumbled. “We have to fight an untold number of these things? I just hope they’re not as strong as the ones we fought before.”
“Where are they?” Venus asked as she and the others continued to look around them, watching for the first attack.
Knight calmly walked over to Mercury and glanced down at her computer. “They’re everywhere…,” he murmured concernedly, then blinked as he noticed something. “Uh-oh…. That can’t be a good sign….”
“This can’t be…!” she whispered. “They’re multiplying! There’s so many of them!”
An ominous growling sound slowly started to grow louder and louder as the creatures closed in on them. However, they still could not see anything approaching them. Suddenly, the sound cut off abruptly.
“Can it be…?” Venus said as she looked down at the ground, then looked around her.
Not too far away from them, between them and the structure Mamoru was trapped in, a single flower creature sprung up from one of the flowers.
“Now, it begins,” Knight muttered as he tightened his grip on his sword. “Get ready.”
Laughter began to echo as flower creatures began to pop up by the dozens and the hundreds, in front of them, behind them, and all around them. Each of the Sailor Scouts began to back away from the creatures until they were all backed up against each other, surrounded by the flower creatures.
“Sailor Moon,” Venus said calmly as she glanced toward Sailor Moon, “purify this asteroid with your Princess Halation. That’s the only way.”
Sailor Moon nodded as she brought out her scepter. “Got it,” she replied confidently.
“Everyone, help Sailor Moon,” Venus continued. The others nodded and readied their attacks.
One of the creatures suddenly grinned, showing her huge fangs, then screamed loudly. After she screamed, all of other creatures suddenly began to charge the Sailor Scouts.
“All right, let’s do it!” Jupiter shouted as she prepared her attack. “Supreme thunder!” she screamed, allowing her lightning bolts to fire straight from her tiara, instead of flinging them as she usually did. This allowed her to sustain her attack, which quickly struck down a whole group of flower creatures. As most of the creatures were destroyed, a few began to take their place, but not as many as before.
“So,” Knight said smugly. “Multiplying yourselves to such an extent thinned out your powers, did it?” He crossed his arms over his chest, then uncrossed them over his head, forming a mass of small stone spikes between his hands. “Avalanche barrage!” he shouted, thrusting his attack out toward a whole group of creatures, plowing down a whole mass of them.
“Crescent beam!” Venus shouted, moving her beam of light energy down a row of creatures, destroying each one as soon as the beam touched it.
“Shine aqua illusion!” Mercury shouted, firing her strongest attack at a huge mass of flower creatures, smashing all of them with her arctic cold water.
“Fire soul!” Mars shouted, flinging a huge flowing ball of fire at a large gathering of creatures, burning all of them with incredible ease.
Now that the others had taken down a huge number of the flower creatures, it was Sailor Moon’s turn to finish the job. “Moon princess…,” she began, waving her scepter in preparation for the attack. “…halation!” A huge beam of white energy emitted from the scepter, running clear to the edge of the asteroid. With one clean motion, Sailor Moon slowly swung her scepter in a huge arc, allowing the beam to sweep the asteroid. Not one flower creature was safe from the power of her scepter.
Above them, Fiore looked down at Sailor Moon and frowned. “This is no good,” he murmured patiently. “At this rate, all my flowers will wither….”
All of the remaining creatures quickly began to fall back. “Everyone, be careful!” Mercury warned as her visor began picking up some strange energy readings from the retreating creatures. “The enemies are combining at nine o’clock!”
“Combining?!?” Knight exclaimed as he and the others whirled toward the indicated direction. All of the remaining flower creatures had converged onto one point and were now moving as one giant mass. Mercury deactivated her visor as she and the others stared in astonishment while the combined mass grew larger and larger, towering over them.
As the huge mass began to descend upon the Sailor Scouts, Mars and Knight each grabbed one of Sailor Moon’s arms, lifted her off her feet and threw her backwards, away from the others. Sailor Moon yelled as she began to roll down the slope behind them, as the wave of flower creatures slowly began to close around the others. When she stopped at the bottom of the slope and looked back up, she was in time to see the huge mass of flower creatures slam down around her friends with a huge, ground-shaking crash. Once the ground settled, the mass of creatures changed to that of the ground around them, sealing the others off from the outside, leaving only what seemed to be the top of a small flower-covered hill.
Sailor Moon stared wide-eyed at the place where her friends disappeared in shocked disbelief for a moment, then slowly stood back up and ran over to the hill to search for any signs that her friends were still alive. When she reached the spot where Mars and Knight threw her out of the way, she tossed her scepter down to the ground and fell to her knees, desperately searching through the flowers for her friends.
“Rei-chan…,” she called out as she searched. “Ami-chan…. Mako-chan…. Minako-chan…. Ryo-kun….” Tears slowly filled her eyes as she stopped searching. They hadn’t answered. They weren’t going to answer. They were…. “Don’t die…,” she whispered mournfully as she began to cry.
“Coward,” Fiore said disdainfully as he stared down at the wailing Sailor Moon. At hearing this, she stopped crying and looked up at him.
Fiore stared down at her with another pack of flower creatures waiting behind him, also watching her. “To leave your friends, just so you can live….”
Sailor Moon angrily snatched her Moon Scepter from where it laid beside her and swung it toward him. “Moon princess….”
“Wait!” Fiore shouted as the ground between them suddenly cracked open. A huge plant vine began to emerge from the ground, carrying each of the other Sailor Scouts bound unconscious within it.
“No…. Everyone!” Sailor Moon exclaimed in horror when she saw her friends held captive.
“Sailor Moon,” he began. “Drop the weapon that hurts my flowers… or else….”
A violet electrical arc suddenly appeared at the top of the vine holding the other Scouts. The spark then grew into a huge jolt of electricity that traveled down the vine, shocking each of the Scouts awake and making them scream out in pain. The torture lasted for only a few seconds then ceased, allowing them to recover from the treatment. Sailor Moon stared up worriedly at the others, concern for their safety foremost in her mind. “Everyone….”
“If you hurt my flowers more, then your friends will be in deeper pain,” he warned coldly as he folded his arms. “If your friends mean anything to you, drop the weapon.”
Sailor Moon glanced at the scepter in her hands, torn between letting her friends suffer and letting Fiore win.
“Sailor Moon…,” Mars moaned weakly as she came to. “You understand, right?”
“Fight, Sailor Moon…,” Venus added.
“You can’t let him win…,” Knight added.
“Only you can save Earth…,” Mercury added.
“Defeat… the enemy…,” Jupiter added.
“What will it be?” Fiore demanded. “Will you abandon your friends again?”
In reply, Sailor Moon threw down her scepter and stared down at the ground with her fists clenched at her sides. “I give up,” she said quietly as she raised her head. “I’m sorry, guys,” she said apologetically when she saw their disappointed faces. “I can’t fight. I care about all of you.”
“You… weakling!” Mars shouted as tears formed in her eyes.
“You must!” Knight cried out. “We don’t matter! You must save Earth!!!”
“But… I can’t stand to watch you guys in pain anymore…,” she said as she began to cry again.
Fiore stared at Sailor Moon in astonishment and put a hand to his head in confusion. Slowly, the creatures behind him began to fade away in small groups until there was just him. The vines binding the others began to unravel and disappear, allowing them to collapse freely to the ground below.
“Everyone!” Sailor Moon shouted as she ran to her friends.
“What… are these people?” Fiore muttered to himself as his confusion temporarily held him in place. “This feeling…. What is this?”
“Fiore, don’t be fooled,” the Kisenian flower said as she looked up at him with her glowing eyes. “Sailor Moon is a sly girl who wants to steal Mamoru-kun away from you.”
“Yes,” he murmured as he glanced up at Sailor Moon, he eyes beginning to flash red. “I won’t be fooled….”
“Fiore, I will lend you my powers,” the Kisenian flower told him as a lavender fog began to emerge from the blossom and encircle him. “If you defeat Sailor Moon, Mamoru-kun will remember his friendship with you.”
Sailor Moon looked up to see a light lavender mist roiling around Fiore, then quickly collapsing into a dark, red burst of pulsating energy. Sailor Moon quickly shielded her eyes from the blast of blinding light, then looked up to see Fiore wrapped with brown-colored vine-like tentacles around his waist, arms, and shoulders, while the white cloak he was wearing before was now gone. One of the tentacles around his left shoulder had a hand at the end of it, showing how far he had now bound himself with the Kisenian flower.
While Fiore was changing, Mamoru had been trying to break out of his crystal enclosure. No matter how hard he pushed or pounded against the crystal wall, it didn’t seem to crack in the slightest. Undaunted, he gave the wall one last effort, putting all of his strength into cracking the wall. Finally, it began to crack. When he pushed on the crack some more, the wall shattered, allowing Mamoru to spill out of the liquid-filled chamber. As soon as he hit the ground and all the liquid had finished spilling around him, he slowly pushed himself up off of the ground and turned to looked towards where Sailor Moon was about to face Fiore. “Usako….”
Fiore raised one hand and fired a blast of energy, which flung Sailor Moon smashing back into a rock a short distance behind her. As the rock crumbled down behind her, Fiore leaped through the gray smoke and grabbed her from behind while entangling her in a multitude of small, brown tentacles. As the rock finished crumbling to the ground and the smoke cleared, Fiore had put one arm around her neck and the other on the top of her head, leaving her completely immobile.
“I’ll take all of your energy!” he said as he glared at her. A small column of light shot straight up from the ground beneath them as dozens of hands identical to the Kisenian’s hand popped out from underneath the ground around them. Sailor Moon cried out in pain as she felt her energy being drained out of her. From each of the multitude of hands surrounding them, each shot out a spray of flower petals straight up into the air.
“My flowers are happy because they are receiving your energy,” he told her as he continued to drain her. “Yes. I won’t let the liars, who left me and Mamoru-kun all alone, live….
“Loneliness,” he spat angrily. “You don’t understand the loneliness that Mamoru-kun and I felt. You don’t know what loneliness is!”
Mercury slowly woke up and weakly glanced over toward Fiore. She could remember what loneliness felt like….
“Look over there,” a girl murmured to a friend of hers as the group stared at her sitting by herself at her desk, reading. “Mizuno-san is reading a textbook again by herself.”
“She rubs our noses in the fact that she’s smart,” the other girl replied snidely. “I don’t like how she acts.”
She looked up from her book and glanced back at them, but they had already turned to leave. It was obvious that they didn’t care if she had overheard or not. It wasn’t fair; just because she was smart, why did she have to be so alone…?
“You never felt that it was unfortunate that you were even born,” Fiore continued. “What would you know?”
Jupiter sat up, giving him a hard stare. She could remember feeling that way once….
“Did you hear that she injured someone in a fight again?” a girl said to her boyfriend as they saw Makoto lounging outside under a tree. She was chewing angrily on the stem of a plant she had just picked a short while ago as she folded her arms behind her head and leaned against the tree.
“She’s getting expelled for sure this time,” the boy agreed. “Just like her brother did before her.”
“Nobody would ever approach such a violent person like her…,” the girl added.
Makoto glanced over toward the pair, but they had already turned to leave. So what if she had a reputation for being a violent person? It didn’t matter, as long as she could be with her brother again. But still, was her brother going to be the only person in her life that wouldn’t be afraid of her violent reputation? Why did she have to be so alone…?
“Do you know how lonely it is not to have friends or comrades?” Fiore asked.
Venus slowly stood up and looked over a Fiore. She could remember a time when she had no friends of her own….
“Aino-san seems pretty stuck up,” one girl mentioned as she and her friend watched Minako leave.
“Yes, she always says she has something she has to do…,” the other replied.
“Oh, I know!” the first girl said. “She’s probably doing that heroine of justice Sailor V thing!”
Minako stopped and glanced back over her shoulder when she heard the other girl laughing. “Oh, gimme a break!” she exclaimed as she and the first girl began to laugh. “No way.…”
Minako sighed as she turned back around and kept on walking. If only they knew how right they were. It wasn’t fair, though; just because she was charged with such an important duty, why did she have to be so alone…?
“You’ll never understand how lonely it feels for others to not understand who you are!” Fiore told her.
Mars slowly took one step in front of the other as she continued to watch Fiore. She knew how it felt for others to not understand her….
“There she is,” a girl whispered to her friends as she pointed out Rei. “That girl.” Rei was kneeling in the middle of her shrine’s courtyard, feeding her pet crows when the group of girls came up to her shrine.
“That’s the psychic girl?” another girl whispered.
“Yeah,” the first girl told her. “She can rattle off where lost rings and wallets are, one after another.”
“Sounds kinda scary,” the third girl said.
Rei glanced back behind her at the three girls. When they saw her looking at her, they quickly continued on their way. She sighed to herself as she went back to feeding her crows. It wasn’t right; just because she had abilities that the others didn’t, she was branded some sort of freak. Because of her abilities, why did she have to be so alone…?
“Do you even know what it is like not to have anyone to love you or care about you?” Fiore insisted.
Knight halted in his steps and stared hard at Fiore, his eyes narrowing to small slits. He could remember a time like that, long ago….
“Did you hear?” a boy said urgently to his friends. “The principal is calling for a shrink for Kino-san!”
“A shrink?” another boy exclaimed as he glanced out the open window and looked down at Ryoku sitting by himself on one of the benches outside the school building. “What for?”
“You don’t know?” the first boy asked in surprise. “I heard that the principle thinks that he’s suffering from some kind of deep depression. I heard that years ago, he saw his girlfriend fall to her death from one of the bridges in Tokyo. Ever since then, he just ignores any girl who tries to approach him. I’ve heard that he’s even tried to commit suicide a few times before his sister made him stop!”
“You’re joking?” the other boy said as he glanced back down at Ryoku again, noticing the empty, emotionless expression on his face. “Then again, I think you may be right.…”
A psychiatrist? Did they think a psychiatrist would help him? No one could help him. It was impossible; Keiko was dead and gone, leaving only her memory, to be remembered and treasured as he would the very air he breathed. They didn’t understand; they couldn’t understand. No one could ever understand how alone he felt without her! Why did he have to be so alone…?
Fiore continued to drain Sailor Moon until he couldn’t drain her anymore. He then allowed to light column to dissipate and released her from his grasp, allowing her to fall to the ground.
“And this will be the end…,” he stated as a bunch of sharply pointed tentacles whipped out from behind his back and pointed straight at her. “Die.”
“Stop!” Sailor Venus shouted pleadingly. “Please…,” she begged as she fell to her knees, “don’t take her away from us….”
“She’s someone who means a lot to us…,” Jupiter said as she continued to walk toward him.
“Usagi-chan is a girl who that gave all of us something incomparable…,” Mercury told him as she came to a stop near Jupiter.
“What are you saying?” Fiore asked warily. “This girl is a liar. She doesn’t give anything.”
“You don’t get it at all,” Mars said as she took a step forward. “If we hadn’t met Usagi-chan, we all would’ve been alone.”
“She has given us something of great value to each of us,” Knight told him as he came to stand between Jupiter and Mercury. “The gift of her friendship. Now, we are no longer alone, for we have each other.”
Fiore slid his gaze from the others to Sailor Moon, lying lifeless on the ground. “No!” he said in denial. “You are all being fooled! All of you and Mamoru-kun are being fooled by her!
“Sailor Moon…,” He continued as his stare turned more fervent. “I can not let you live. Die!!!” He threw his arms back and shot forth hundreds of razor-tipped tentacles at Sailor Moon.
“NO!!!” Venus screamed at Fiore.
“STOP!!!” Jupiter shouted fiercely, demanding that he stop.
“Usagi-chan!!!” Mercury and Mars yelled, hoping that Sailor Moon would move before she got skewered by Fiore.
“NO!!!” Knight shouted as he flung his Star Sword at the oncoming attack as hard as he could. The sword only managed to slice through a few before the others knocked it harmlessly out of the way.
Just before the attack reached Sailor Moon, something struck Fiore, causing him to completely miss Sailor Moon. The Scouts stopped holding their breaths are they saw that although the attack reached her, they only struck the ground around her. Not one tentacle had even touched her long ponytails stretching out from her head.
The Scouts glanced from Sailor Moon to Fiore and saw that a red rose was sticking out from Fiore’s chest, right between the Kisenian’s thumb and forefinger. This flower…, Fiore thought in pure disbelief as he stared down at it. He looked from the flower out, following its travel path, right to where Mamoru stood, still in his Tuxedo Kamen garb, minus the eyemask. “Mamoru-kun…,” he gasped in utter shock, seeing his friend had attacked him.
Mamoru still had his arm outstretched, held as he had just thrown the rose, as he slid weakly down to his knees. He was still slightly weak from just being healed and had very little strength.
“Mamoru-san…,” Venus said in concern as she saw him fall to his knees. As soon as his legs collapsed under him, he toppled over and fell to the ground on his side.
“Impossible…,” Fiore gasped as he stared back down at the rose again. As he stared down at the rose, his chest began to crack, as if it was mad of some kind of glass or crystal. Light began to pour out of those cracks as he put one hand over the fissures in his chest. Immediately, the tentacles surrounding Sailor Moon disintegrated and snapped back toward Fiore. He began to stagger backward as the light in his chest continued to brighten and grow stronger. The light continued to consume him until it finally broke the binding he had with the Kisenian. He screamed as it shattered the tentacles and other wrappings like glass. When it was done, the rose broke off from his chest and Fiore fell backward to the ground, staring at Mamoru in astonishment.
“What’s wrong, Fiore?” the Kisenian flower asked as it looked up and saw his expression. “Be strong! I’m with you!”
“I can’t…,” he gasped, recalling the face of the young boy he remembered from long ago. “Because… Mamoru-kun… threw a flower at me….”
“Fiore…,” Mamoru murmured as he watched Fiore with a regretful expression on his face.
“Even Mamoru-kun is leaving me all alone…,” he lamented. Slowly, all the flowers beneath him began to fade away, leaving only bare, gray rock beneath him. The fading spread throughout the asteroid until the whole asteroid was completely barren.
“The flowers…,” Venus said as she and the others glanced at their empty surroundings.
“…all disappeared?” Jupiter finished questioningly.
Mercury lost the last of the strength in her legs and began to fall down, but Knight caught her before she fell all the way down. “Earth… has been saved,” she said weakly as Knight gently lowered her to the ground.
Knight was about to say something when the whole asteroid began to shake. “Now, what’s wrong?” he exclaimed as he glanced around him. The other four sections of the asteroid broke free from the main section of the asteroid and slowly started to drift away as the main section began to move faster.
Fiore laughed as he stood up again. “This asteroid has changed its course,” he informed them. “It will soon fall on Earth. All of you no longer have the power to escape as well. Yes…,” he said with a maniacal grin. “I won’t give Mamoru-kun away to anyone. All of you will burn up here, with me!”
“That’s right, Fiore…,” the Kisenian flower said encouragingly. “Even if you die, I will get back at all the Earthlings.”
“I won’t let you,” Sailor Moon said as she slowly sat straight up again. The top of her locket lifted and faded away, revealing the Silver Crystal inside. All of the other Sailor Scouts gasped in shock at seeing this, since they knew what this action would herald.
“Don’t!” Venus shouted urgently.
“Don’t use the Silver Crystal!” Mars yelled pleadingly.
Sailor Moon ignored them as she stood up and held her arms outstretched down at her sides with her eyes closed in concentration.
“You can’t do this…,” Knight said worriedly.
“If you use the Silver Crystal…,” Jupiter began.
“…you’re gonna die!” Mercury finished.
Their desperate pleas fell on deaf ears as Sailor Moon continued to gather power into her Silver Crystal.
“Please stop…,” Mamoru pleaded with her.
Sailor Moon opened her eyes and lifted her head, but did not look back. “The only way for everyone to survive is to use the Silver Crystal,” she explained, then turned back to look at him with a confident smile. “It’s all right. I won’t die.
“Let’s go back to Earth together, okay?” she said as she turned around and raised her hands and put them around the Silver Crystal.
Sailor Moon was interrupted as Fiore’s hand reached out and grabbed the compact as it lay on her chest. Everyone’s eyes widened as they heard Sailor Moon gasp in pain.
“So, you’re trying to change the asteroid’s course with the power from this stone?” Fiore growled fiercely. “I won’t allow that!” He squeezed harder, causing her transformation to waiver between Sailor Moon and Usagi. He began to chuckle as he saw the ribbon trails leading from the compact in his hand. “You’re going to die with me….”
As he continued to squeeze harder, his eyes widened in surprise when he felt her hands touch his arms, but not in an attempt to pry his hand free. “What are you afraid of?” she asked him. “It’s all right…,” she said as she smiled up at him. “You’re not alone….”
“That’s a lie!” he insisted. “You’re just trying to fool me by pretending to be nice!”
She winced in pain again as he tried to squeeze harder. A light began to issue forth from the compact in his hand, growing until he hand to shield his eyes with his other hand just to keep from being blinded….
A young Mamoru sat on the bed, crying. He had been crying for some time, so it wasn’t hard to find him, since he could be found by following the sound of his crying. As the young Mamoru continued to cry, a small hand on top of his caught his attention, causing him to temporarily stop his crying. He looked down to see a little blonde girl lay her head consolingly on his hand. She didn’t even have to bend; since she was small enough to come to the top of his mattress without bending or kneeling slightly. It was odd; he didn’t know this girl, but her very presence was a comforting balm to him.
“Who are you?” he finally asked.
“Don’t cry,” she answered back as she smiled at him.
“Soon, a dear friend is going away…,” he told her as he looked away. “But, I can’t do anything for him….”
“Hmm… let me see…,” the little girl said without taking her head off of his hand. “Starting today, I’m going to be a big sister. My mom had a baby and I brought this as a gift,” she said as she held up a bouquet of roses. She picked one out of the bunch and handed it up to him. “Here. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he said as he reached out to take the single rose.
The flashback paused as Fiore stared at the scene in front of him. “Sailor Moon gave Mamoru-kun a flower…,” he said to himself as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle. He gasped in sudden realization. “Then that flower….,” he said as he remembered the flower Mamoru had given him, “…was from Sailor Moon…?”
Fiore stared at Sailor Moon warily after the light from the Silver Crystal subsided a bit. “Who are…?” he began as he slowly lifted him hand from the compact on her chest. Instead of just the Silver Crystal, he saw a crystalline flower sitting within the compact. “A flower…?”
“Fiore!” the Kisenian flower warned anxiously. “Don’t be fooled! Don’t be…!” She cut off as she saw the pained, penitent expression on him face, accompanied by the tears forming in his eyes. “Fiore!” she cried out one last time before the power of the Silver Crystal blew her away. With the Kisenian gone, the Silver Crystal began its healing on Fiore, consuming his body in a sparkle of brilliant light which faded into nothing.
Mamoru and the other Sailor Scouts merely stared in wonder at Sailor Moon as the asteroid drew closer toward the Earth. It was now caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull and was slowly accelerating toward the planet.
Once again, Sailor Moon placed her hands around the Silver Crystal, closed her eyes, and concentrated. It wasn’t long before she quickly opened them again, ready to use the Silver Crystal to save the Earth. The crystal flower floated out of the compact to a point where she had to fully extend her arms to keep her hands around it. She then, lifted it overhead as the ribbons flowing behind her rapidly rushed back around her and clothed her in her old Moon Princess gown from the Silver Millennium.
“Usagi-chan!” each of the Sailor Scouts shouted, one after the other, trying vainly to get her to change her mind, but to no avail.
“Usako…,” Mamoru murmured quietly, knowing that there was no way that she was going to change her mind now that she had committed to it.
“I will protect everyone!” Usagi said determinedly as she brought the crystal flower back down to where it was directly in front of her.
The asteroid was now starting to enter the Earth’s atmosphere. A sharp, white beam of light quickly burst out of the Silver Crystal and cut through the thick heat being generated by the friction of the asteroid’s entrance into the Earth’s atmosphere. As the light beam bent backward to cover one portion of the asteroid, another beam shot out of the crystal and followed suit. A third shot out, then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and more until the whole front part of the asteroid was covered by a shield of white beams of light generated by the Silver Crystal, making the asteroid into a bright comet falling toward Earth.
The strain of holding together such a force was physically showing on Usagi. Her eyes were almost squeezed shut and her knees almost gave out on her once. “Please… Silver Crystal…,” she pleaded, “…lend me more power! Power to protect everyone…. Power, so that nobody will be alone!”
A hard, determined expression formed on Mamoru’s face as he slowly pushed himself off the ground and stood. His Tuxedo Kamen guise faded into that of his old suit of armor and sword from the Silver Millennium, when he was the Earth Prince, Endymion.
“Everyone,” Venus shouted toward the other Sailor Scouts as she stood up, “we must help her!”
“We must support Usagi-chan with our remaining power!” Jupiter added as she stood up.
“No matter what happens, we will see this through to the end, together!” Knight shouted as he stood up.
“Right!” Mars added as she stood up. “We won’t die!”
“Let’s go back to Earth together!” Mercury exclaimed as she stood up.
As the light coming from the Silver Crystal slowly chipped away at asteroid, the other five Sailor Scouts marched forward in a straight line toward Usagi. Pieces of the asteroid were breaking off so quickly that some of them were flying toward her. She quickly ducked away from a few as she fought to maintain the power of the Silver Crystal. A hand touched her left shoulder as another one held up her right arm. She glanced over her right shoulder and saw Mamoru staring at the Silver Crystal, helping her to maintain her control over it. When he saw her looking at him, he looked at her and smiled.
Behind them, the five other Sailor Scouts kneeled down, in line from Mercury to the far left, to Mars, to Knight, to Jupiter and to Venus on the far right, grasping each other’s hands after Knight plunged his Star Sword into the rock beneath him. Each one of them was watching Usagi strain to keep up the power of the crystal, even though she knew it would eventually kill her. And each one had a small memory of her that they held very dear to them….
It was a warm day when Usagi, Ami, Rei and Ryoku all decided to take a day off from their Sailor Scout duties and go to a island resort just outside of Tokyo. When they all hit the beach, Usagi and Rei were both enjoying the waves while Ryoku watched and tried to get a small tan as he played lifeguard, and Ami sat underneath an umbrella and read a book.
“Hey!” Usagi shouted as she snatched the book away from her. “When it’s time to play, you have to play!” she insisted.
“I guess so,” Ami agreed with a grin. “Then, let’s get to it!” Usagi looked surprised for only a second, then immediately grabbed her hand and dragged her out to the water where Rei was waiting.
“Usagi-chan…,” Mercury sobbed softly.
Rei sighed tiredly as she sat down against one of the pillars that held up the roof over her patio. She had worked hard for a great deal of the day doing some needed maintenance on the courtyard and other areas of her shrine and was now taking a much needed rest.
“Wow!” Usagi commented as she knelt down beside her. “Rei-chan, you’re one hard worker!”
Rei was surprised to hear that from Usagi. After all, it was just all in a day’s work for her to maintain her home. But, hearing it from her.… “Oh, you finally realized this?” she asked with an impish grin, getting a chagrined laugh from her.
“Usagi-chan…,” Mars cried sadly.
Ryoku stood staring into the fountain in the middle of Sankaku Park, his face a picture of desolation.
“So, you’re just going to let her go, just like that?” Usagi asked as she came up behind him. “Ami-chan is going to leave for Germany and you’re not going to try to stop her?!?”
“It is her life, Usagi-chan…,” he began as he turned around, but stopped as she pointed a finger right under his nose.
“That is no excuse!” she exclaimed firmly. “You haven’t told her how important she is to you or what she means to you.” Her expression lightened as she smiled gently at him. “A girl may know how a boy feels about her, but she needs to be shown how he feels about her, too.”
“Usagi-chan…,” Knight whispered quietly as his expression became solemn and crestfallen.
“Wow!” Usagi exclaimed when she saw Makoto’s lunch. “Those rice balls look delicious!”
Makoto glanced at Usagi in surprise. Since it was her first day at this school and everyone had heard of her reputation, she expected everyone to be scared of her. “You’re not scared of me?” she asked, slightly amazed.
“Huh?” she asked. “Why?”
Makoto merely looked at her in amazement. She must’ve heard about her and yet, she wasn’t scared. In fact, she was the first one that actually treated her like a friend.…
“Usagi-chan…,” Jupiter murmured quietly as a few tears fell from her eyes.
“I can’t believe it!” Sailor Moon exclaimed excitedly as she met Sailor Venus for the first time. “My idol, Sailor V-chan, is standing right here in front of me!”
Sailor Venus smiled as she flipped her hair and struck a pose. “Tada!” she said as she smiled. It felt so good to have someone admire her like she was doing. For the longest time, she had wanted to be an idol. In her eyes, she was one.
“Usagi-chan…,” Venus cried out sadly as tears fell from her face.
As everyone lent their strength to Usagi, the power of the Silver Crystal grew. Large pieces of the asteroid began to break off and crumble as the power continued to wear away at it. Behind the Sailor Scouts, the rear end of the asteroid simply collapsed from the strain and broke away as well, leaving behind a piece of the asteroid large enough for everyone to remain standing on.
That’s right…, Usagi thought to herself. Everyone lends me their power all the time… and their courage. The Silver Crystal and I can become stronger!
“I won’t leave anyone alone ever again!” she stated resolutely.
“Mercury star power!” Mercury shouted, channeling her power into Usagi through Knight’s Star Sword.
“Mars star power!” Mars shouted, also channeling her power through Knight’s sword.
“Jupiter star power!”
“Venus star power!”
“Knight star sword power!” Knight shouted, channeling his power into his sword. The combined powers surged forward into Usagi, who took them into the Silver Crystal.
“Moon crystal power!” Usagi shouted, combining her own life energy with that energy she had gained from the other Sailor Scouts into the Silver Crystal. A warm violet light began to gather into the Silver Crystal, slowly gathering until it surrounded the entire remaining piece of the asteroid. When the asteroid was completely engulfed, it began to slow down and alter its course until it was no longer traveling straight toward the Earth, but it was now starting to orbit it. The power generated by the crystal was so intense, that it caused the crystal to shatter… taking Usagi’s life force with it.
The Earth was saved, but at a very high cost.
Back on the Earth, Chibiusa, Luna and Artemis sat on the roof of Usagi’s house, watching the skies. It had been hours since they had watched the Sailor Scouts teleport toward the asteroid and they were starting to become slightly worried.
“I wonder how everyone is doing now?” Luna said, partly to herself.
“I hope they make it back all right…,” Artemis added without looking away from the sky.
“It will be all right,” Chibiusa said certainly, causing the two cats to look up at her. “I’m sure she will protect everyone.”
“Chibiusa-chan…,” Luna said as she looked up at her. Chibiusa smiled as she glanced back up toward the sky. She knew that Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts would be all right. She was sure of it.
To the others, it felt as thought the asteroid had stopped moving, even though they were still moving at the same speed as they were before. It was just that they were now traveling along with the Earth, instead of traveling toward it. However, at the moment, very little of that mattered.
After the tremendous feat that Usagi had pulled off, the Silver Crystal had shattered and she had reverted back into her Sailor Moon form, lifeless. Everyone had quickly gathered around her; Mamoru, back in his Tuxedo Kamen outfit, held her in his lap, while Mars was shaking her, trying to get at least some slight response from her.
“Usagi-chan!” Mars shouted, her voice pleading for her to answer. “Usagi-chan! Wake up, Usagi-chan! Usagi!!!” She stopped shaking her as she realized that it was already too late. “Liar…,” she murmured despairingly as she looked down at the ruined compact on Sailor Moon’s chest. “You said that you wouldn’t die!”
“There’s no point if we’re the only ones who survive,” Mercury said morosely as she held onto Knight’s left arm, hugging it sadly as she began to cry on his shoulder.
“How can we say we succeeded, when we have failed this badly…?” Knight asked miserably as he tried to stroke Mercury’s head consolingly. His face showed absolutely no emotion, but his voice and his eyes were completely empty and lifeless.
“Please, open your eyes, Usagi-chan…,” Jupiter pleaded entreatingly with tears running down her cheeks.
“We lost the thing most dear to us, after all…,” Venus lamented as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
Mamoru held Sailor Moon in his arms and stared down at her, his eyes full of pain and hurt for the one he loved with all his heart.
“Mamoru-kun….”
Mamoru blinked and jerked back in surprise as he saw Fiore kneeling down and looking at him and Sailor Moon. “Fiore…,” he said, surprised to see him again.
“Thank you,” he said gratefully. “You and Sailor Moon have saved me again.
“Mamoru-kun, now I will fulfill that promise…,” he said as he held out his hand and offered the blossom of a beautiful white flower. “This is a flower of life,” Fiore said as he faded into a younger version of him; the one that Mamoru remembered from long ago. “It contains the sum of all my energy,” he continued. “Give the nectar of this flower to Sailor Moon.”
Mamoru nodded as he sipped some of the nectar from the flower and bent down to kiss Sailor Moon, while allowing the nectar to flow into her mouth. As she drank the nectar, the compact on her chest rebuilt itself and the Silver Crystal reappeared just as it had been before. The others merely stared in wonder as they hoped for her revival. Mamoru then slowly moved back to look at her and see if she had recovered. As he moved back, Sailor Moon opened her eyes and gazed up at him.
As everyone was watching Sailor Moon, Fiore gathered himself up and slowly began to drift off into space, to begin a new journey. He knew now that as long as he had his friendship with Mamoru, he would never truly be alone.
“Mamo-chan…,” Sailor Moon whispered as she looked up at him. “Everyone…,” she said as she glanced over at her friends, “I told you… that I would protect everyone.”
Mamoru nodded as tears of relief and happiness began to roll down his face. The other girls began to cry in relief as well, while Knight merely sighed in relief and nodded as he hugged Mercury tightly to him. After a while, it was too much for all of them to bear. Everyone lunged forward to give Sailor Moon a huge hug with a joyous cry of “Usagi!”
“You gave us quite a scare, Usagi-chan,” Jupiter said with a small grin. “But, at least it’s over. We can all go home now.”
“Home…,” she said with a nod. “Chibiusa must be worried about us.”
“I wonder where he’s going…?” Knight suddenly said quietly to himself.
“You mean, Fiore?” Mamoru asked.
“Yeah,” Knight replied. “I thought I saw him floating away just before Usagi-chan awakened.”
“He was responsible for bringing her back to us,” he said. “I owe him thanks.”
“I wonder if he’ll find Ail and Ann out there?” he wondered aloud.
The others looked at him in surprise, followed by expressions of realization. “Of course!” Mars exclaimed. “I thought he looked a little familiar….”
“You think that Fiore’s from the same alien race as Ail and Ann?” Venus asked.
“It’s very likely,” Mercury said. “They all share similar physical features.”
“If that’s true,” Sailor Moon began, “then I do hope that he finds his way to wherever they are. That way they can all be one family again.”
The others nodded their agreement as they all stood up and prepared to leave. Mamoru had to steady Sailor Moon, but she had just enough strength to stand with some aid. The others took their places as Mamoru stood with Knight in the center and placed his hands on Knight’s shoulders. With one last glance at the view of Earth spread before them, they each called upon their powers and teleported home to the Earth, where they had friends waiting for them.
To Chapter 74: Lost in a Nightmare