Chapter 167
Back in Crystal Tokyo, the line was still holding. Sailor Saturn and Maverick were both standing in the control center looking at various readouts, camera views and other important information.
"According to Neo-Guardian Uranus, we have managed to not only stop Nehelenia's advance in Europe but, push her back some as well," Maverick said studying his readout.
"Yes, that is fortunate, she has had to draw troops away from this battle to sure up her lines."
"Uranus predicts that he'll soon have to stop pushing as he predicts even the three scouts on the scene will not be enough to push her back further," Maverick continued.
"What is the status of the southern Asian operation?" Saturn asked.
"Tactically it's working, but Saturn and Mercury tell me that Neo-Saturn has angered the resistance. His bloodlust has turned into a death wish and it's overriding his good sense," Maverick muttered.
"You have no way of knowing that once he got into the field he would let that happen."
"I should have sent Neo-Uranus instead of him," Maverick said.
"But you needed to send Mercury and Saturn down south."
"So? Neo-Uranus could have worked with them."
"And if you did, Neo-Saturn would have been were Neo-Uranus was and would Neo-Saturn be able to say that his advance should stop at any point? No he would continue until overrun."
"You have a point."
"I try not to speak unless I do," Saturn said.
"True enough, as for Neo-Neptune, New York was a false alarm, but we acquired a submarine."
"A submarine? What good will that do?"
"Well considering the fact that Neo-Queen Serenity decided we didn't need a navy, we now have one..and I know just how to use it."
"But what can one ship do?"
"Depends on the ship," Maverick said.
"And how is the Australian operation?"
"Nehelenia gave up a few days ago. The defense was too much for them. But she may try again, still..I'm thinking of moving the Green team up to join the Asian resistance, maybe Neo-Pluto can bring Neo-Saturn under control."
"Neo-Pluto isn't suicidal but extremely depressed, is that wise?"
"He knows what he has to do."
"Perhaps, but Maverick, are you even sure the Neo-Guardians are able to do the job you ask of them, their emotional states are fragile. Saturn and Pluto's especially. Neptune has become very spiteful as well..only Uranus maintains a clear head for now.." Saturn said.
"You don't think they can fight?"
"I think they can fight..I don't think they can follow orders."
"They have so far, except Saturn."
"Maverick, they are better suited for defending this city, where you can keep an eye on them."
"Saturn, we can't let the 20th century scouts wander around this 30th century world without guides, I know that I can trust the Guardians, I know that they may be unstable, depressed, spiteful and suicidal, but they will at least remain loyal."
"Can you be certain of that?"
"You're a Sailor Scout, you know about the loyalty that we have to each other."
"I know that loyalty has been broken on a few occasions, and for that matter, you know that three of our number no longer fight alongside us."
"Do not bring them up."
"I do it to prove a point. The four Guardians out there fight because they are loyal, but soon they may lose that, if something isn't done."
"And just what can we do?"
"You are their commander."
"So it's my responsibility...is that it? aside from defending this place, I've also got to solve the psychological problems?"
"It is called maintaining morale." Saturn said.
"Yeah..but when armies fight, one man isn't expected to do everything. It takes staffs and hundreds of people to make an army work. I can't fix their problems and protect this city. I never wanted responsibility, I wanted to take my sword find my parents killer and that would be that..but now..I realized that with the powers I had I couldn't just walk away while the Sailor Scouts fought, no I had to take on the added responsibility, then the Guardians came along, and there I was feeling responsible for their abilities, I never wanted that. I don't want to know that my mistakes can affect others..don't you see that?"
"Maybe..you are also in need of morale adjustment," Saturn said.
"How perceptive!" Maverick shouted. "Why don't you do something for a change..like actually use your powers!"
"You know why I don't!" Saturn snapped.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it hurts you...well guess what Saturn..everyone else is being hurt out there, but you hide in your reticence, hoping no one will notice, well I have! Criticize the Guardian Scouts all you want...but...it's time you did more than sit here like a little advisor, telling me what more I should be doing. Unless you've got something useful to say, shut up!"
Saturn turned and walked out.
Maverick punched the console.
"Don't act like your so surprised meatball head," Neo-Sailor Moon said sipping a drink behind the lines of attack.
"Well...I just didn't think of you as Sailor Scout material," Sailor Moon replied.
"And I suppose you're example of Sailor Scout material..is what..you?"
"Well..I do have the facial features for it."
"So a Sailor Scout is supposed to look like a walrus?" Neo-Sailor Moon said.
"That's it!" Sailor Moon said and leapt at Neo-Sailor Moon.
"Hey.girls..stop it..." Tuxedo Mask said pushing the two apart.
"Of course Tuxedo Mask," the two said in unison and then glared at each other.
"She insulted me.." Sailor Moon said.
"This is not the time for anyone to be insulting anyone else," Tuxedo Mask said. "You have to keep your minds on what we're fighting for."
"I know, I know," Sailor Moon said.
"Neo-Sailor Moon, can I talk to you?" Tuxedo Mask asked.
"Sure!" Neo-Sailor Moon said.
"What are you going to talk to her about?" Sailor Moon muttered.
"Don't worry," Tuxedo Mask said and the two walked off.
"Don't get any ideas!" Sailor Moon shouted.
Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune walked into the control center to find Maverick pacing back and forth.
"We did not want to leave our posts for very long..but we are concerned," Uranus said.
"Queen Nehelenia is not our only adversary," Neptune said.
Maverick turned.
"I know..they entered Earth orbit ten minutes ago and are slowly dropping down towards this location," Maverick said.
"They're here and you didn't tell anyone?" Uranus asked.
"I have been busy," Maverick snapped. "Now..I don't know what they're intentions are, but we should be ready for anything."
The two nodded.
"We will die defending this city if we have to," Uranus said.
"It is what we live to do," Neptune said. The two turned and hurried out.
Sailor Saturn walked in seconds later, strain was apparent in her eyes.
"I have some answers for you..." she said.
Maverick's eyes widened.
"Rini, are you sure that you should have done this?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "I mean...this isn't your fight."
"Darrien, I'm twelve now...you may have remembered me as this cute little munchkin when you met me before, but times have changed. I'm sick and tired of letting everyone else do the fighting," Neo-Sailor Moon said.
"But twelve is a bit young.."
"So what? I can do it..you've seen me do it, and you need all the help you can get."
"Yes, but..you're inexperienced Rini, this kind of power takes some time to get used to."
"I've been doing fine."
"But that could change Rini, I'm worried about you."
"Darrien, you can't stop me..my mom's in trouble, my father's missing...I've got every right to do this. Besides, when I was six they made me accept this danger, they made me...go back in time and try and evade all those troublemakers from the dark moon, I did it.."
"Rini, we almost lost you then."
"Darrien...I have to do this."
"Well all right Rini...but..you have to learn to stop insulting Serena so much..she's your friend."
"Everyone else insults her."
"But you really mean it Rini..Serena has enough problems without you being a brat."
"You think I'm a brat?" Rini asked.
"No..no..but..she does..and..that isn't good..Serena is very fickle Rini, we can't have her distracted by you."
"I don't see what you see in her anyway."
"Rini, she's going to be your mother, if I don't see something in her you don't get born."
"Uh...I guess you're right, that's just a little hard to take."
"I guess it can be sometime Rini, but you have to remember all the sacrifices she made for you. She cares about you, and you don't really let her know that you care back."
"Well...I've got other problems right now."
"So does she, so lay off okay?"
"Okay..but you have to understand that sometimes it just happens."
"I know, I know..but you have to try," Tuxedo Mask said.
"Fine, I will," Neo-Sailor Moon said.
"Well we'd better get back."
Neo-Sailor Moon nodded.
Meanwhile through the clouds dropped a ship, followed by another one. Soon a small group of them could be seen moving through the atmosphere and coming down towards the city. Many of the soldiers on both side looked upwards to see the sight.
"They've arrived," Maverick muttered staring at his view screen.
An out on the line.
"What are those things?" Sailor Moon said looking up. "Is it another attack."
"I don't think Nehelenia has space ships," Tuxedo Mask said.
"She doesn't," came Sailor Saturn's voice. They turned to see her standing there. "We don't know if their intentions are hostile or not, but it isn't Nehelenia. That is all I can say."
She turned and walked away.
"She came all the way out here just to tell us that?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Must have thought it was important," Tuxedo Mask said.
"She prefers to tell people things personally, even though she usually doesn't tell anyone anything," Neo-Sailor Moon said.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask just looked at each other. The ships descended and soon were hovering outside the energy wall about level with the tip of the crystal palace.
"What are they doing now?" Sailor Moon said.
"No idea," Tuxedo Mask said.
The group stood there looking up at the ships.
Nehelenia was wondering the same thing.
"Who are they?" She said angrily. "What do they want? Here I am with enough trouble from these humans and now they show up. This calls for a change in plans. I don't care who they are, I'm going to destroy them first..the humans can wait."
She then turned and walked out of the chamber she had created in the side of
a hill. She wanted to end the mystery.
"Where exactly are you?" Maverick asked into his console.
"In the briney deep of course.." Neo-Neptune muttered.
"Could you be more specific," Maverick muttered in reply.
"Yeah, we're sitting right off the Chinese coast, Nehelenia's got her navy in port, so we're going to take care of it, see what we can do to minimize casualties, you know and then she won't be able to get her troops out to Tokyo," Neo-Neptune said.
"Get it done fast," Maverick said.
"What's the rush?"
"Namely that alien fleet we've been expecting to show up."
"It's here now?"
"Yes."
"All right, all right, I'm on it," Neo-Neptune said and disappeared off the screen.
Maverick pressed some more buttons. Seconds later Neo-Pluto appeared.
"How nice of you to call," Neo-Pluto droned.
"What's your status?" Maverick asked.
"All quiet on the front..do you have something useful for me to do?"
"Get back here as soon as you can with the other scouts."
"Okay, we'll be there within hours," Neo-Pluto said.
"Good," Maverick said.
The image disappeared. Seconds later Neo-Uranus showed up.
"The aliens showed up didn't they?" he asked.
"Yes, ahead of schedule," Maverick said.
"Well we've got problems of our own...see..Nehelenia just showed up."
"She did!" Maverick shouted.
"Yes..we were going to call you, but we've been a little busy assessing everything..she didn't stay long, only long enough to blast all her troops and drain the energy out of them.." Neo-Uranus said.
"Why would she do that..I mean..you could just march in now.."
"I don't think she cares," Neo-Uranus said. "Me and the 20th century Uranus went in to check things out...Maverick..she's drained the energy out of everyone for ten miles...I'm not the tactician but I see it as one of two things..either she's setting a massive trap..or she's forgetting about the territory and she's going to try and break through on sheer power."
"I see..here's what I want you to do...keep pushing her..tell me the second you learn anything else..but I want to know how extensive this is," Maverick said.
"You got it," Neo-Uranus said.
"Good luck."
And Neo-Uranus vanished.
"It appears we may need good luck as well," Sailor Saturn said standing in the back of the room.
"Perhaps."
"What I learned gave me no insight into why she would make such a bold move, but I can guess that she is afraid of the aliens and is moving to destroy them," Sailor Saturn said.
"That seems to be her plan. But, in the meantime, she leaves herself open to attack doesn't she? I mean, if she felt she could have just drained away all this energy before, why didn't she?"
"Because like most entities, the mere acquisition of energy, is not enough to boost her own strength, she has to modify it to be compatible with her power, which means, that for a time period which could be mere minutes or perhaps much longer she will be without troops and without the energy," Saturn said.
"You're right..that is the most likely explanation..but if she has to collect it herself..wait..no she probably doesn't...when Nehelenia first began her attacks she used duplicates of herself to collect energy. That may be what these things are...just minions in her image..." Maverick said.
"That would make more sense then her exposing herself. She knows that in the open she can be defeated. She would prefer not to make a direct confrontation if at all possible."
"But she'll do it if she has to, still...either she's massing to attack us or massing to attack the aliens...either way...she's going to do some damage."
"Yes..that is certain," Saturn said.
"Uh..Saturn..listen..earlier...I may have said what I meant..but I shouldn't have been..so angry about it..I..think we all forget sometimes why we are all this way..and..I don't blame you for being cautious...but..I.."
"I do not need an apology, I can sift the true meaning from the false. I understand," Saturn said. "But I must attend to some other things right now. I will also inform the other scouts of the situation."
Maverick nodded and she headed out.
"I don't like this waiting," Sailor Moon said.
"Me neither," Tuxedo Mask said.
"We don't meet many aliens who actually come in peace," Sailor Moon said. "How long before they attack."
"We don't know they'll attack," Tuxedo Mask said.
"The way our lives work of course they will."
"Have you become a cynic on me?"
"No, no I couldn't have..could I?" Sailor Moon said. "No that's impossible..I..but you know how it is."
"Still Serena, they might just be misguided or something," Tuxedo Mask said.
"Regardless of their intentions will still probably have to fight a bunch of battles until we sort things out and we've got Nehelenia to fight too...by the way a cynic's a pessimist isn't it?"
"Yes Serena."
"Just making sure."
"Right Serena."
"Why do you keep calling me Serena anyway..shouldn't you call me Sailor Moon?"
"I guess I can call you anything," Tuxedo Mask said. "I mean when we're not fighting..it doesn't come naturally."
"Say I wonder how Pluto's managing to cover for the fact that we aren't around back on Earth," Sailor Moon said.
"There's a quick change of subject," Tuxedo Mask said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Sailor Moon said. "But you have to wonder what Miss H is thinking, I mean..with well..there's the five of us..., the guys, and Patterson in another dimension..so...ten people missing."
"I'm sure..Miss Haruna doesn't mind that you're gone."
"Well I don't know about that," Sailor Moon said.
"Let me put it this way if when you come back she let's out a cry of agony..then we'll know," Tuxedo Mask said.
"She doesn't think I'm that bad," Sailor Moon said.
"Let us attack Nehelenia," Sailor Uranus said.
"No.." Maverick said.
"Maverick, you know she's vulnerable, she must have expended energy to collect all the human energy she's open," Sailor Uranus said.
"We don't know for how long," Maverick said.
"That's why we have to go now," Uranus said.
"You don't even know where she is," Maverick said.
"We'll find her," Neptune said. "Saturn can find her."
"Saturn has already used her powers once today," Maverick said.
"We could at least ask her," Uranus said.
"The two of you would probably be killed," Maverick said.
"If she died or was wounded, it would give us a chance," Neptune said.
"Show some good sense Maverick, we're expendable," Uranus said.
"No one is expendable," Maverick snapped. "You two want to redeem yourselves so badly for what happened six years ago that you're willing to try anything, even a suicide mission. I won't have it!"
"You can't stop us if we choose to go," Uranus said.
"That's right I can't," Maverick said. "But I want you to think about it first..think about what a mistake you'd be making. We need you here."
"You sent the Neo-Guardian's away...now they're coming back. Neo-Pluto and his group just arrived, they can fill the gaps," Neptune said.
"No..it's too risky," Maverick said. "You both should know that..I'm sure Sailor Saturn will tell you the same."
"It's not about that, you just don't want anyone to fail on your watch .that's all...you don't want anyone hurt," Uranus said. "You're no different from us..you're also trying to redeem yourself!"
"You want to go...go..as you said I can't stop you..but I never agreed to it!
Go off and die!" Maverick said and turned away headed down the hallway.
Sailor Saturn meanwhile stood in front of the four Neo-Sailor Scouts as they held their defense wall together.
"So far we have managed to stop her attacks and we are continuing to stop her advances," she said.
Saturn could feel the voices of the Sailor Scouts in her head responding to her.
"Is there any chance of destroying Nehelenia yet?" Jupiter asked.
"As of yet, I don't think so.." Saturn said.
"What is this alien fleet here to do?" Mars asked.
"We don't know for sure, but I believe they are here on a non malevolent mission," Saturn said.
"What's your next move?" Venus asked.
"We are in the process of figuring it out."
"How are all of the scouts doing?" Mercury asked.
"So far they are managing to do what is asked of them," Saturn said. "I will not lie to you though...I fear for them...especially the guardians of this century..this war is very stressful, and while I trust their loyalties, some of them may be lead to do irrational things."
"Like what?" The four asked.
"Please do not worry about it.."
"We have to," The four replied.
"Well..it is out of your control and rest assured the scouts from the past are doing all they can."
Saturn turned.
"Saturn wait.." Mars said. "You have to tell us if something is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong...at the moment," Saturn said.
"Saturn, you're holding out on us," Venus said.
The doors slid open and Maverick walked in.
"Saturn...we have a problem," he said.
"Which is?"
"Sailor Uranus and Neptune are going after Nehelenia."
"Now?" Saturn asked.
"Now.."
"She may be too strong for them even if she is weakened."
"They know that.." Maverick said.
"Yes..I suppose they do," Saturn said. "We must hurry."
"Saturn!" the four girls shouted into her mind.
"I'm sorry..it will have to wait," Saturn said to them and walked out followed by Maverick.
"You felt no reason to say hello to them?" Saturn asked.
"I'm not in the mood," Maverick said. "Uranus and Neptune are going to get
themselves killed."
Meanwhile Nehelenia stood in her chamber and watched as the energy flowed into a crystal that sat in front of her.
"Yes, this is the energy I need," she said to herself. "This is the power.."
She leaned against a wall.
"But it does take something out of me.." she said.
Slowly the crystal stopped glowing.
"What?" she said. "Why is it stopping...I should be getting twice as much."
Nehelenia stood up quickly.
"Why..has it..stopped!" she shouted.
There was a loud crash and some yelling. She walked outside to see a group of troops lying on the ground, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune stood there. They both had fighting stances ready.
"I see..." Nehelenia said and readied herself.
CHAPTER 161 CHAPTER 162 CHAPTER 163 CHAPTER 164
CHAPTER 165 CHAPTER 166 CHAPTER 167 CHAPTER 168
CHAPTER 169 CHAPTER 170 CHAPTER 171 CHAPTER 172
CHAPTER 173 CHAPTER 174 CHAPTER 175 CHAPTER 176
CHAPTER 177 CHAPTER 178 CHAPTER 179 CHAPTER 180