The Crystal Palace was easily visible in the far distance. That was their destination, where they would finally save Chibiusa’s mother.
“Please.… Everyone, please.… Save my Mama!”
The Sailor Scouts all ran straight for the palace ahead, sparing no time for talk or planning. They knew what they were here to do.
Just above the palace, a small flash of light descended upon it like a shooting star. When the light struck the palace, a huge pillar of light and fire rose up from the ground, engulfing the entire place and destroying it. Time seemed to slow as a giant crack tore open the ground before the palace and spread out toward the Scouts, who had halted in shocked disbelief. The split in the ground seemed to race toward them faster than seemed possible, reaching them in mere seconds, where the ground erupted beneath their feet with a violent blast, overwhelming them before they even had a chance to react.
“Everyone!” Chibiusa shouted in horror as she witnessed the attack and heard their screams. The six Scouts hovered in the air before her, motionless and gravely wounded.
“Sailor Mars! Sailor Mercury! Sailor Jupiter! Sailor Venus! Sailor Knight! Sailor Moon!”
It couldn’t be.…
They were her only hope. If they were gone.…
“No…,” she murmured as gust of wind created from the force of the blast that leveled the Crystal Palace blew across her face. “No!!!”
“No!!!” Chibiusa screamed as she sat up in her bed. She placed her right hand over the key she constantly wore around her neck as she tried to calm herself. Her hand closed around the key as she worked to ease her labored breathing.
Tomorrow was the day. They would all go to the future to save her mother.
But was her dream a sign? An omen of things to come?
Sleep was a very long time in returning.
It was almost time.
Chibiusa stood in front of the fountain in Shiba Park and gazed down at the key in her hand. The key to the Time Gate. With that key, she could return home and bring the others with her in order to save her mother, but her dream last night….
I thought that as long as we go to the future, we could save Mama, but… there is a chance that Sailor Moon and the others will be defeated.
Her hand closed upon her key in despair as she raised her head. “Mama, what should I do?”
“Chibiusa.”
She turned around at hearing the familiar voice behind her. “Mamo-chan!”
“What are you doing here?” Mamoru asked. “You’re going to the future, right?”
“Yes, but…,” she began uncertainly as her gaze fell away, but she couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Chibiusa, you’re going to save your Mama, right?” he said as he knelt down in front of her. “Running away won’t solve any problems. Have confidence in yourself. Believe in your powers and those of the others.” She stared down at the ground in front of him as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s all go to the future. I’ll protect you.”
She looked up to him with worry still evident in her eyes. “Mamo-chan….”
“All right?” he asked with a reassuring smile.
Chibiusa found herself smiling as well. “Right.”
“Chibiusa-chan’s late,” Sailor Jupiter said as she, the cats, and the other Sailor Scouts waited on the pier of Shiba Park’s pond for Chibiusa to show up.
“Sailor Moon, didn’t you leave the house together?” Mars asked.
Sailor Moon glanced over her shoulder from where she was kneeling and pensively studying the water. “She asked me to go ahead,” she told her as she stood up. “She said she had something to do.”
“Do you think something’s happened?” Mercury supposed.
“That’s a possibility…,” Knight said thoughtfully as he folded his arms.
“I’ll go look for her,” Venus said as she turned to go.
“I’ll go, too,” Jupiter added as she and Venus both started to leave. They only took a few steps before Tuxedo Kamen leaped into view and landed in front of the pier.
“There’s no need,” he stated as Chibiusa’s Luna Sphere floated past him. He flipped his cape out from in front of him to reveal Chibiusa holding onto his leg. “I’ve brought Chibiusa.”
“There you are, kiddo,” Knight said as he unfolded his arms. “Everyone was starting to get worried.”
“Chibiusa, what took you so long?” Sailor Moon asked.
“I have things to take care of, too!” she retorted after she released Tuxedo Kamen’s leg.
“Now, is everyone ready to go?” Artemis asked, his expression resolute.
“Chibiusa-chan, please go ahead,” Luna added.
“Right,” she agreed as she and Tuxedo Kamen moved to join the others with her Luna Sphere following.
“Guardian of Time!” she declared as she raised her key overhead. “Part the heavens and open wide the Gate of Time for me!” As she spoke her litany, a strong wind began to pick up. Everyone’s hair began to blow skyward as the wind grew stronger. “I call your name, God of Time, Chronos, father of the Guardian! Guide us beyond the clouds and watch over us!” A light shone forth as the clouds began to part. “Shine forth the path of light!” she finished as the light bathed the group in its luminescence. A second, stronger light blazed up from underneath the group and the waters in the pond roiled as if in a miniature storm. Once the group had disappeared in the light, the water and wind calmed back down to normal as the light faded away.
Sailor Moon appeared by herself in a cloud of mist. Nothing was visible, but from the look of her current landscape, there was nothing to see anyway. No vegetation, no wind, no color except for the same dismal gray everywhere. Her uniform had the only color in the entire place.
“Is this the future?” she said aloud as her gaze took in the desolate view. Her voice seemed to echo for some strange reason. “Where is everyone?” she asked as she took a step forward and glanced around. She was alone.
A small breeze blew past for a second, then died just as suddenly. Before she could take another step, a large shadow slowly faded into view a short distance in front of her. The shadow had a distinctive shape to it, almost like a very large door.
“That’s…,” she whispered to herself as she headed toward it.
“Halt!” a voice echoed commandingly. She halted as she glanced in the direction of the voice. A shadowy figure stood holding a staff in one hand and stared directly at her. From the sound of the voice, the figure sounded female. “I shall eliminate anyone who breaks the taboo and approaches the Time Gate!”
The figure leaped forward and swung her staff at Sailor Moon, who jumped back to avoid the attack. She swung her staff again at her, but was blocked as another figure leaped out from within the mists and shoved Sailor Moon out of the way.
Sailor Moon glanced up from the ground and watched the two figures fight, filling the air with the sounds of a metal staff clanging against a sword. So that meant that the other figure was Knight. But, who was the other figure? She must be the Time Gate’s guardian, but why was she attacking them? Maybe she didn’t know it was them?
“Wait!” she called out. “Wait, we’re….”
The figure managed to sweep one of Knight’s feet out from under him, but she only managed to offset his balance, rather than knocking him to the ground. Still, his guard was down for the moment.
“Say your prayers!” she yelled as she raised her staff overhead and prepared to bring it down on Knight’s head.
“Not yet!” Knight retorted as he regained his balance in time to swing his sword up to meet the staff. The two weapons met with a loud crash as both fighters struggled to overpower the other.
“Puu!” Chibiusa’s voice cried out as she ran out from within the mists and hugged the figure’s legs. As Sailor Knight warily moved back from the figure, the mist thinned slightly to reveal the figure’s identity.
“Small… Lady?” Pluto said in surprise as she gazed down at the girl hugging her legs. Her gaze then slid to the others. “Sailor Knight? Sailor Moon?”
“So…,” Knight said as he allowed the blade of his Star Sword to retract before putting it away. “It is you, Sailor Pluto.”
“Sailor Pluto?” Sailor Moon repeated as Sailor Knight helped her to her feet. She turned around to see everyone else standing behind her. “Everyone!”
Pluto gave Chibiusa a slightly questioning look. “Small Lady?”
“I’m sorry,” Chibiusa said penitently. “I broke my promise and brought them here with me. But they might…. They might be able to save my Mama!”
“Small Lady…,” Pluto said quietly with a neutral expression as she raised her hand. Chibiusa flinched and squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for Pluto to strike her for breaking her promise, but she relaxed when she felt her hand rest gently on her head.
“Puu…. You’re not mad?” she asked as she looked back up at her.
“You’ve grown up enough to the point where you can now use the key to the Time Gate,” she informed her with a small smile. “You’ve grown so much,” she added with a small measure of pride.
“Puu…,” she murmured gratefully.
“Yes, we’re all proud of you, kiddo,” Knight added with a slight nod of his head and a proud half-grin. The others smiled as well, each one just as proud.
Pluto turned to the others and bowed her head apologetically. “Please forgive me. I was about to bring harm to all of you who have accompanied Small Lady.”
Knight waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry about it. You were doing your job. If you are going to insist on it, then you are going to have to forgive me for fighting you when you attacked Sailor Moon.”
She smiled faintly, then turned her gaze to Sailor Moon. “It seems that you are always giving me problems,” she said cryptically.
Sailor Moon blinked in confusion for a moment until she heard the sound of muffled snickering coming from her left. She glared at Knight as he tried to feign innocence.
“It’s time to open the Time Gate,” Pluto stated as she turned around and faced the doorway behind her. The Time Gate resembled a fancy-looking double doorway with a white marble column on either side of the door and a semicircle carved with various symmetrical designs and an overhead on top. The doors themselves had the five phases of the Moon going in opposite directions. The left door started with a new moon on top, then went to a waxing crescent, to a half moon, to a waning crescent, and finally to a full moon on the bottom. The right door started with a full moon on top then reversed the order, ending with a new moon on the bottom. In the center of the doorway, a pair of brass door handles shone pristinely.
She raised her key-shaped staff into the air with the handle end up, then twirled it overhead as the jewel on the handle started to glow. When she stopped twirling the staff and raised it overhead again, the jewel began to emit several spheres of different colors, each of which floated into the small keyhole in the handle of the right door. Once the light disappeared from her staff and the last sphere entered the keyhole, the twin doors swung inward simultaneously, revealing a glowing blue light inside.
“Now, the gate is open,” Pluto announced as she lowered her staff and turned toward the others again. “Please make your way to the future.”
“Thank you,” Chibiusa said.
“Now, everyone join hands,” she told them. Everyone took the hand of the person standing next to him or her. Jupiter was on one end followed by Venus, then Mars, then Mercury, then Knight, then Sailor Moon, then Chibiusa, and finally Tuxedo Kamen. The two cats held onto Tuxedo Kamen’s shoulders, while the Luna Sphere just floated by Chibiusa.
“Sailor Moon, you must never let go of Small Lady’s hand,” Pluto warned her. “If you do, you may be trapped for eternity in the Time Corridor.”
“Sailor Pluto, won’t you come with us?” Mercury asked.
Pluto shook her head. “I cannot leave here. Please take care of Small Lady.”
“Sailor Pluto…,” Artemis said as he glanced back at her.
“Puu… I’ll see you again,” Chibiusa said with a smile, then leaped through the Time Gate along with the others. Pluto watched as they left with a slightly concerned look in her eyes.
“I remember Queen Serenity telling me about her,” Luna said as they floated further away from the Time Gate. “A lonely warrior destined to guard the Time Gate through eternity, never knowing what lies beyond the gate.”
“A forgotten…,” Mars began sadly.
“…lonely warrior?” Jupiter finished, just as the doors to the Time Gate closed, leaving Pluto on the other side.
“Her eyes seemed sad,” Venus remarked.
“She has the look of one who knows her duty and is resigned to it,” Knight told them. “She must have known her fate the moment she first stood watch over the Time Gate.”
“This is the Time Corridor,” Chibiusa announced as the group reached a circular hole in the sea of blue light. Inside the hole, they could see a corridor of clear, reflective, mirror-like crystal with pillars similar to the columns bordering the Time Gate lined up along the edges. “Everyone, be careful.”
The moment their feet touched the ground, a strong gust of wind started to blow past them, blowing their hair up over their heads. The wind seemed to push them back, as if trying to blow them out of the corridor.
“What is this pressure?” Mars exclaimed as she squinted her eyes against the wind’s blowing.
“This is the Time Corridor?” Mercury asked.
“This is the second half of our journey,” Knight stated seriously.
“We have to move on,” Tuxedo Kamen added as he held onto his hat with his free hand. As one, everyone began to walk forward, pressing against the relentless pressure from the Time Corridor.
A small chiming sound caught Saffire’s attention. He turned toward the source of the noise – a medium-sized black crystal ball – and frowned at the eight white blips that had just appeared as he folded his arms.
“Someone is traveling through the old Time Corridor, instead of the one that leads to Nemesis,” he concluded.
“It must be the Rabbit,” Emerald said as she appeared behind him and smirked behind his back. Saffire merely glanced at her from out of the corner of his eyes, not bothering to turn his head.
“This is not one presence,” he told her as he turned his gaze back toward the crystal ball. “From the energy I feel, there are several of them.” Emerald stopped smirking and glanced at the crystal ball herself.
“A visitor to that planet,” Prince Diamond said from his vantage point across the room. “How strange.”
“The time has come,” Wiseman declared as he rose up from beneath the floor with his usual flash of light. From within his purple robes, he brought out his own crystal ball and waved his hands over it. An image of the Sailor Scouts, Tuxedo Kamen and Chibiusa walking through the Time Corridor appeared.
“Now is the time to obtain the Silver Crystal and the Rabbit, so we can destroy that eyesore of a palace,” he stated.
Emerald dropped her fan and stared at Wiseman. “Capture… the Rabbit?” she repeated quizzically.
“If we feed the powers of the Black Crystal into the Rabbit, she will provide us with a tremendous power,” Wiseman explained with the slightest hint of anticipation in his voice.
Prince Diamond stared intently at the crystal in Wiseman’s hands, or rather, at the image of Sailor Moon showing in the crystal. “Those eyes…,” he murmured quietly, mesmerized by the image. “I see…. She is Sailor Moon. Beautiful….”
Saffire took a step toward his enraptured brother in shock. “Brother?” he exclaimed with great concern.
“Capture the Rabbit,” Wiseman stated urgently as he sank into the floor.
Prince Diamond turned around and turned his gaze toward Emerald. “Emerald, go and capture the Rabbit,” he ordered. “Bring Sailor Moon back alive.”
“Sailor Moon?” she repeated with incredulity.
“I want to look at those beautiful eyes at length,” he murmured almost absently.
This time, both Saffire and Emerald frowned disbelievingly. “Brother!” he said almost warningly, but Diamond paid no attention.
“I’m counting on you,” he said as he turned and left, disappearing after he took his second step.
“Wiseman…,” Saffire growled. “That suspicious old bastard. He arrives without warning and worms his way into my brother’s graces with his clever talk and prophesy.”
Emerald picked up her fan from off the floor and began to dust it off. “Speaking of which, it was that bastard that gave Prince Diamond the idea about the Silver Crystal.”
“I will unmask him someday,” he muttered in a whispered fury.
She grinned slyly as she watched him from behind her fan. “What’s more important now is to do away with Sailor Moon, now that she has captured Prince Diamond’s thoughts,” she said, then gave a small laugh in anticipation for when that time would come.
“What an incredible force!” Jupiter grunted as she and the others continued their push forward through the Time Corridor. “It feels like it’s crushing us!”
“I can’t stand it for much longer!” Sailor Moon grunted as well, her eyes squeezed shut against the raging winds that pushed relentlessly against them.
“Don’t give up, Sailor Moon!” Tuxedo Kamen called out encouragingly.
“Right!” she replied as she turned her head toward him.
Chibiusa glanced up at Sailor Moon worriedly. She can’t even stand this.… Can Sailor Moon really save Mama? If she can’t help her.…
“Chibiusa, are you all right?” Sailor Moon asked as she noticed her pensive expression. “Chibiusa?”
Her hand slowly began to slip out of Sailor Moon’s grip, but Sailor Moon quickly readjusted her grip on Chibiusa’s hand.
What am I thinking? I have to have faith in Sailor Moon. She’s all I have.
A loud burst of laughter suddenly sounded from overhead. “Welcome to our territory!” Emerald greeted as she appeared hovering upside-down overhead. The fierce winds and pressure hardly seemed to affect her, other that the blowing of her long green hair. Even then, it was only a slight ruffling of her hair.
“Emerald!” Sailor Moon exclaimed in recognition.
“I’d like to give you a formal welcome,” she said and began laughing again as she waved her feathered fan in front of her, sending a ball of black and green energy hurtling toward them. The sphere struck the floor in front of them, but the force of the impact with the floor was enough to fling them off their feet and into the air, tearing everyone away from each other in the process.
“Damn!” Emerald growled as the others disappeared into the darkness. “I lost them in the Time Corridor.” She turned right-side up and floated down to the ground. “Giwax!”
A pale, blue-haired Droid appeared a short distance to her right, her hands pressed together in front of her chest as if in supplication. A large, bejeweled tiara adorned her forehead. “You called?” she asked obediently.
She turned her head toward the Droid. “You can move freely in the Time Corridor. Find them and destroy them.”
“Yes.”
“However,” she continued as she turned around, “the Rabbit must be kept alive.”
“The Rabbit,” Giwax repeated, then disappeared into the Time Corridor.
“Oh, my. I forgot to tell her about Sailor Moon,” she said with mock-concern lacing her voice. “I suppose there is nothing I can do if Giwax kills Sailor Moon.”
She laughed again.
“Is everyone all right?” Mars asked as she stood up. It was dark where they had ended up, and she couldn’t see everybody, so she had to ask to make sure.
“Chibiusa, Tuxedo Kamen-sama, Luna, and Artemis are gone,” Sailor Moon told her.
“Where are we?” Jupiter asked as she glanced around her.
“It’s likely we’re in a temporal gap in the flow of time,” Mercury told them.
Knight nodded. “I think we must be somewhere near the outskirts of the Time Corridor,” he added. “I don’t think we were blown very far by the attack.”
“That means if we don’t find Chibiusa-chan…,” Jupiter began worriedly.
“We’ll be lost here for eternity,” Venus finished.
Knight nodded again. “Without her, we won’t know how to reach the future.”
Sailor Moon’s face fell contritely. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let go of her hand.”
Mars placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. “There’s no time for that. We have to find Chibiusa and the others.”
“But…,” she began as she turned toward her.
“We’ll think of a plan together.”
Without warning, the top of Sailor Moon’s brooch suddenly lifted up and disappeared, exactly like it did whenever she used it to transform. A violet light began to flicker from the Silver Crystal as it slowly began to emanate enough light for them to see at a short distance.
“What?” Sailor Moon said in surprise as she and the others stared at the crystal in bewilderment as it slowly brightened and dimmed back and forth. “The Silver Crystal….”
As the others continued to stare at the crystal while trying to figure out why it suddenly acted on its own, Knight quickly glanced around, searching for anything that might have caused the reaction. “Look,” he said, pointing behind him as his eyes caught something flashing in the distance.
“That’s…,” Jupiter began.
“What’s that light?” Venus asked.
“It looks like it’s resonating with the energy of the Silver Crystal,” Mars stated.
“Perhaps that’s the future’s Silver Crystal,” Knight reasoned.
“Maybe the future Silver Crystal and Sailor Moon’s Silver Crystal are trying to communicate?” Mercury supposed.
“At least we now have a direction,” Knight said.
“Let’s go that way,” Sailor Moon stated.
“Right, there’s no point in staying here,” Venus agreed.
“Let’s go,” Jupiter added as the six Sailor Scouts headed forward with Sailor Moon in the lead.
“Where are we?” Tuxedo Kamen asked as he took in his strange surroundings. He seemed to be hovering in the air, surrounded by what looked like misshapen globules of light. The two cats were there with him as well, but Chibiusa was nowhere to be seen.
“What an eerie place,” Luna remarked.
“This is bad,” Artemis muttered. “We’ve lost the others.”
“Then, what’s going to happen to us?” Luna asked worriedly.
“We must find the others,” Tuxedo Kamen told them. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.”
Tuxedo Kamen halted before he could take a second step. The voice seemed to come from out of nowhere.
“Who are you?” he inquired.
“You must not go that way. Come this way. Hurry.”
Tuxedo Kamen whirled in the direction that the voice was calling from. There seemed to be no difference from the direction he had been facing from the direction he was facing now, but he had a good feeling that this direction was the one the voice had indicated.
Artemis shared a concerned look with Luna. “What should we do?”
“It could be a trap,” Luna pointed out.
“Let’s go,” Tuxedo Kamen said as he started forward. “This voice sounds very familiar to me.”
“Everyone, where are you?” Chibiusa called out as she ran through the desolate landscape with only her Luna Sphere to keep her company. Skeletons of trees dotted the red, arid surroundings, adding a sense of impending doom to the atmosphere.
“No one’s here,” she murmured sadly after she stopped running. Her Luna Sphere quietly hovered over to her, so she could hold it in her arms comfortingly. “I’m all alone again. Mama….”
She gasped quietly in surprise as she noticed a vague shape somewhere in the distance. It was very obscure with all of the red smoke clouding her view, but the shape was familiar.
“It’s the door to the future,” she realized. “Beyond that door, lies the future. I’m home.” She hugged her Luna Sphere sadly. “But, I can’t help Mama all by myself. Mama….”
“Poor child….”
She gasped again in shock as she dropped her Luna Sphere. That voice….
“Poor child…. My dearest one….”
A figure appeared in the dark, red clouds before her. Her expression lifted as she recognized the figure as her mother’s.
“It’s all right, now,” she said as the smoke lifted and her back was now visible to her.
It was her. She wasn’t trapped anymore. She was all right, now. “Mama!” she cried out happily.
Her mother turned around to face her. “Let’s go home.”
“Mama!” she cried again as she happily ran toward her mother….
But there was something wrong.
Her eyes…. They weren’t dark gray. They were blue.
“No!” she shouted as she halted abruptly. “You’re not my Mama! Who are you?”
“Your Mama, Rabbit-chan.”
“No!” she retorted. “My Mama wouldn’t call me Rabbit.”
The imposter’s disguise slowly began to rot away. “You’re a clever girl, Rabbit-chan,” she said as her form coalesced into her true form, then teleported over to where she was a couple of meters in front of her. Chibiusa recoiled in surprise as Giwax suddenly appeared in front of her.
“But sometimes, there are things you are better off not knowing,” the Droid added as she raised her right hand and her fingernails grew into long, sharp points. “It will only hurt a little.”
Chibiusa slowly backed away as Giwax approached her. This is it, she thought fatalistically as the Droid drew closer. I’m sorry, Mama. I won’t be able to see you anymore.
“Chibiusa, you’re going to save your Mama, right?” she remembered Mamoru telling her before they left for the future. “Running away won’t solve any problems.”
Mamo-chan.…
She looked up to see that Giwax had drawn her hand back and she was about to strike.
I won’t run.
“Luna Sphere!” she summoned, causing the ball to surge forward and smack the Droid in the face.
“Luna Sphere, change!” she shouted as she bounced her ball into the air, where it changed into a slingshot. She then snatched it out of the air, drew back the pouch, and let go. Several small bursts of light went off in front of Giwax, a couple of them exploded in front of her face.
“I did it!” she exclaimed excitedly, but her excitement cut short as the smoke from the bursts cleared, showing that the Droid was unaffected by the attack. In fact, she was laughing.
“I understand your feelings, but if you’re going to attack, you should use something better,” she taunted. “I shall have to punish such a naughty girl. Prepare yourself!”
With a shout, her pale blue hair suddenly began to grow and writhe as if it was alive. Several strands of hair surged forward at Chibiusa like a snake about to strike its victim.
“Hold it!”
Giwax’s hair quickly retracted back to its original length as she and Chibiusa both turned to see who had spoken.
“As long as we’re here, you won’t lay a single finger on her!” Sailor Moon declared.
“I’m amazed you actually escaped the labyrinth,” Giwax remarked as she stood up and faced the Sailor Scouts.
“We’ve got luck on our side,” Sailor Moon countered confidently. “I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon! On behalf of the Moon, I’ll punish you!”
“I guess the Rabbit can wait,” Giwax said. “I’ll have to kill you first. Take this!” She reared back and flung both hands out in front of her, sending out a pulse of energy.
“This is an attack?” Knight said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s moving so slow.” He brought out his Star Sword and stepped forward to block it. Once the pulse hit the sword, it spread out, striking all six Sailor Scouts at once. They all raised their arms over their faces to protect themselves from the attack, but once the pulse hit them, it disappeared.
“What was that?” Jupiter asked questioningly.
Giwax laughed. “I shifted the flow of time,” she explained.
“What?” Mercury exclaimed as she pressed her left earring to lower her visor and began scanning the area for shifts in temporal flow.
“Shifted the flow of time?” Knight repeated as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. “What could that possibly do to…?”
“So what?” Mars scoffed. “Burning….”
“Wait!” both Mercury and Knight shouted simultaneously, but it was too late.
“…mandala!”
The attack slowed to a halt just before it reached Giwax. As she raised her hand, Mars’ attack suddenly reversed its course, heading right back for her.
“What’s going on?” Mars exclaimed in bewilderment as she leaped out of the way of her own attack.
“Just as I thought,” Knight muttered as he bent down to help Mars to her feet.
“What is it?” Mars asked him.
“She made time flow backwards,” Mercury explained while she typed away at her minicomputer.
“But she only made it affect your attack,” Knight continued as Giwax laughed smugly. “That’s what that first pulse was for.”
“Venus, let’s go!” Jupiter suggested. Venus nodded her agreement.
“Wait!” Knight shouted, a little too late.
“How’s this? Sparkling wide pressure!”
“Venus love-me chain!”
“It’s useless,” Giwax said as she raised her hand again and sent the two attacks back to Jupiter and Venus.
“Look out!” Knight shouted as he tackled the two Scouts, with the attacks just grazing the bottom of his ponytail as the three hit the ground.
“As I was about to say, all of our attacks will be affected by that initial energy pulse,” Knight told them.
“Oh,” they both replied sheepishly.
“I got it!” Mercury announced as her visor completed its scan. “Immediately after she uses her power, the flow of time returns to normal for a moment. That’s our chance.”
“How long does it last?” Knight asked.
“A couple of seconds.”
“We’ve only got one chance,” Venus said.
“After that, she’ll know that we know her weakness,” Knight added.
“We’ll have to gamble on the Sailor Planet Attack,” Mars stated.
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Jupiter agreed.
“But… how do we make her use her power?” Sailor Moon asked.
“Me!” Chibiusa declared as she pushed her way forward. “I’ll do it!”
“Chibiusa!” Sailor Moon exclaimed.
“It’s too dangerous!” Mars shouted.
Knight glanced down at her with a considering look. “Are you sure, kiddo?”
“Sailor Knight!” Sailor Moon exclaimed, but he ignored her.
“Leave it to me!” she insisted. He nodded once, and she was off running.
“I know what you’re going to say, but how else can we get her to use her power?” he said calmly as he glanced over at Sailor Moon. She grimaced, but nodded.
“Now what are you up to?” Giwax asked unconcernedly as she watched Chibiusa charge her.
Mamo-chan, I’ll believe, she thought as she ran. I’ll have faith in them!
“Foolish child,” Giwax smirked. “But they do say that the cuter the child is, the more foolish the child is.” She raised her hand and extended her nails out again. “I’ll take care of you.”
Just before she could strike, Chibiusa quickly dived to the side, under her swipe and twirled around in mid-air so that she was now falling with her back to the ground.
“Everyone, now!”
They were already in place for the Sailor Planet Attack.
“Mars star power!”
“Mercury star power!”
“Jupiter star power!”
“Venus star power!”
“Knight star sword power!”
“Moon crystal power!”
Giwax whirled around to glare at Chibiusa behind her. The young girl stood up and raised her slingshot as her inner power began to surge forth, The crescent moon appeared on her forehead as she drew back her slingshot and let fly a shot that struck her dead in the face.
“You…!” Giwax growled as she began to raise her hands in the air. “Giwax power!” She fired her energy pulse at Chibiusa, but missed as Tuxedo Kamen leaped over to her and scooped her up in his arms, then leaped away before she could be hit.
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama!” Chibiusa sighed in relief as he carried her away to safety.
“Now!” he yelled down to the Scouts, who were finished preparing for the attack.
“Sailor planet attack!” all six shouted at the same time as the colored light surrounding each of the Sailor Scouts converged onto Knight, standing in the middle. He then raised his Star Sword into the air. The combined power of all six Sailor Scouts rose into the air, then converged onto Giwax as he pointed his sword toward the Droid. The combined attack stuck her, shattering her skin to pieces, leaving only her figure in crystal, which disintegrated into a pile of powder. The jewel with the upside-down black crescent moon turned from a bright emerald green into a dull lifeless gray.
“We did it!” all six shouted triumphantly.
“Chibiusa, you did a great job,” Tuxedo Kamen told her as he put her down.
“Yeah,” she agreed as she gazed up at him.
“Everyone, I’m sorry we’re late,” he added as he and the two cats turned toward the others.
“Better late than never, as the saying goes,” Knight said casually with a slight half-grin.
All at once, the Scouts gathered around Chibiusa, praising her for doing such a great job.
“Now we can go to the future!” Artemis declared.
Knight nodded and turned to Chibiusa. “Would you please show us the way, kiddo?”
“Sure!” she nodded eagerly and started off with the others following close behind. Once they reached the door, the two doors opened with ease, displaying their destination before them.
But the future looked bleaker than they had ever imagined.
“No…,” Sailor Moon gasped in complete disbelief. Her shocked and dismayed expression was completely mirrored by the others, except for Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Knight, who were both completely expressionless. Knight’s hands were clenched very tightly and were quivering almost imperceptibly at his sides.
The entire landscape was in ruins. Buildings were leveled, pieces of shattered crystal lay everywhere, and there were huge craters dotting the area here and there. There was a huge mountain-like palace of crystal in the center of the razed destruction, but it seemed to have survived most of the destruction, even though it did look quite battered.
The atmosphere exuded desolation and defeat, yet the palace of crystal was the only thing that kept that feeling from being absolute.
“This is the future?” Sailor Moon breathed despairingly.
To Chapter 82: Revelations of the Future