“That
was delicious, thank you for inviting us Dr. Mizuno.” Rei said simply,
as she out down her fork.
“I’m
glad you enjoyed it. Luna, Artemis, I’m afraid that the tuna was not the
best quality when I bought it, but I hope that it was still fine?”
“Of
course, Som…” Luna yelped when Artemis stomped on her foot, and stopped
at the glare that came from his grim eyes.
“…Dr.
Mizuno.” Artemis hastily finished her sentence.
“Thank
you Luna, Artemis, now ladies and gentlemen, perhaps I will get to the
point then, of why I invited you here tonight.” Dr. Mizuno began.
Mamoru
coughed and murmured to himself, “that’d be a change.”
“Excuse
me? Chiba-san?” Seeing that he had no further comment to add, she continued,
“Luna and Artemis already know who I am, I am the real mother of Ami Mizuno
and the mother of Princess Mercury from the Silver Millennium.” She paused
for a moment, just to let the thought sink in, “I am Queen Mercurius.”
“But
I thought you were dead!” Usagi blurted out, “at least that’s what everyone
says, even Princess Mercury says that.”
“Usagi-chan,
how can you say something like that! I am very disappointed in your manners.”
Luna reprimanded, then clearing her voice she nodded at Artemis and announced
in a royal court manner, “Houji joouheika kyou za koutaishihi kigakiku
kyou kenmei, za saishokukenbi, hyou sono suisei, Someieichi-kou!”
(“Presenting her Majesty the Queen, the Crowned Princess of sensibility,
wisdom and prudence, the gifted Queen of intelligence and beauty, representing
the planet of Mercury, Someieichi-kou!”)
“That’s
enough Luna and Artemis, I’ve never enjoyed the Court announcement of my
titles. Ami is bound by secrecy, as is everyone else who knows that I am
alive, whom are your parents, all the Kings and Queens of the planets.
Ever since all of you were twelve, you have been facing tests, numerous
amounts of tests to help you grow and develop into the ladies that you
are, or that you were; to develop compassion, leadership, individuality,
independency yet companionship to each other. I became the creator of these
tests for your well-being, the little known legend, myth if you so call
it, Someieichi-kou. Being the planet of intelligence, it would be too obvious
to the Kuriverse to realize that the Queen of the planet would be the lady
to train the senshi, so each Queen of Mercury ‘retires’ and returns as
the mistress of the King. The legend is like wool over their eyes, the
Kuriverse becomes intent to look for an invisible figure, a Godesses of
some sort, their concentration will no longer be on finding a person of
position on Mercury, and even if it was, I had no position.
“When
Crystal Tokyo begins and the time comes, my daughter will follow my footsteps,
your children will never know her as anything more than the secluded lady
of Mercury, only her child will know that she continues to be. I work with
the cooperation of SailorPluto, whilst not all future is destined, there
are certain steps which must be taken to ensure that all of you grow into
the suitable people that Crystal Tokyo will require.
“I did
not remember this past of mine until three days ago. Three days ago, I
was told that my daughter would disappear, that she was a special character
in this world, yesterday evening when Chiba-san found me on the bridge,
I had fully recover my memories, of everything, the structure of the tests,
my obligations.”
“Wait
a minute!” The forever sharp Rei said, “if you only remembered three days
ago, then who set up this test for Ami?”
“Princess
Mercury is always the first of you all to go through tests, when the Silver
Millennium ended, you were sent to Earth as young children once again,
and all those who had survived as well. The Someieichi-kou is not a fighter,
she is only a trainer, and only allowed to watch, as all of you were defeated.
When Queen Serenity sent all of you, she set a time lapse for both myself
and SailorPluto, for me to formulate the real tests of your characters
which would enact itself when time came. After that, I was brought onto
Earth without memories, but it seems that now, the tests have begun and
I have regained my memories.”
“So
if you are Ami’s mother now, then what about our parents? Our parents here
can’t all be from the Silver Millennium as well! I distinctly remember
Queen Mars, Venus and my mother to still be alive, and Usagi’s mother is
hardly Queen Serenity!”
“I regret
to say that all of your parents either died prior to or during the final
battled waged against the Moon Kingdom by the Negaverse. I am here because
Ami needed a mother.”
“What
about me? And Rei? Our mothers on this Earth have died, didn’t you think
that we would require a mother’s care as well?”
“Everything
has a reason, Rei needed to return to her origins and you are the pillar
of strength. But all of you lack something, and that is what this final
test that I need to formulate for you will be.”
“What
test?”
“That
is for me to know and you to find out.” Dr Mizuno said as she left the
table, gathering the empty plates which had been set on the tray, while
the other girls stared after her in stupor and Makoto with her mouth open
after the one on one banter.
Urawa
Ryo was not in a happy mood. He could not understand why Dr Mizuno
would stop him from helping the girls. As much as he understood that the
girls were supposed to deal with it in their own time and learn something
from it, he still couldn’t see how taking Ami away from the rest of the
world would achieve that.
He was knocked back from
the ground he stood on all of a sudden. His insight into the future
had not prepared him for this, well… it did not prepare him for Dr Mizuno’s
revelations either, but still… sometimes, a warning beforehand would be
nice.
He had to work on his entrances a little bit more, this time he was trying
to no cause such a great scene by concentrating hard to not emit a glow
of light when he appeared, but in preparing for so, he had forgotten about
the people that he might be landing on. As he looked at the figure sprawling
on the floor though, he chuckled, his aim had not been so bad after all,
the landing perhaps. Holding out his hand, he hoisted the boy to his feet.
“Excuse me for that. I was actually hoping to bump into you on your way
home, although not quite so literally.”
He felt eyes examining him, “I’m afraid we have never met, I am Urawa Ryo,
nice to meet you.”
He was taken aback at the hand that was flung to him for a handshake, when
he looked down, he saw that he was wearing the same ridiculous pale blue
suit again, and blushed. “Er… yes, Mercury, Deus Mercury.”
He stared
at the man in front of him and shook hands. “YOU are Deus Mercury?”
“Yes.”
“What
do you want to see me for?”
Feeling
his arm being pulled, he willingly followed Deus to a bench that he had
gestured and was now walking towards. “I came here to talk about the instructions
that Someieichi-kou gave you.”
“She
said that I wasn’t allowed to divulge the future.”
“And
she said that I can’t mould nor see into the future… I understand her motives,
but I don’t want Princess Mercury away from this earth for anymore time
than she has to be. I was thinking of getting some cooperation from you.”
“Look,
I am not going to break the rules, she told me what she was going to do.”
“Is
it as bad as mine? I loose my powers and have to start living in this earth.”
“Hey!
I live here and its not half as bad as my punishment! She is going to banish
me from this earth and put me into a parallel universe, without the Senshi,
and I will look like a wacko cartoon character.”
“So
we’re even in terms of the consequences. I’m not thinking of breaking the
rules, just bending them. I’m not allowed to change the future, it makes
me pretty helpless, but if you tell me what the future is, then I can feed
it to Princess Mar’s fire, that means that they will know what is going
on.”
“Deus,
my sights are not entirely accurate, we could be giving them the false
information.”
“Well,
it’s better than nothing, I’m not just going to sit around, and as much
as I trust Princess Mercury’s ability, I don’t want her to be in a vulnerable
position.” Deus said simply, with that, he disappeared into the thin air.
She sighed,
she should have known that Deus Mercury would try something like that,
she had been warned by her predecessors how much he liked bending and breaking
the rules for someone that he cared for. Urawa Ryo was too easy a person
to manipulate, she decided, and sat down on her desk to pull out a piece
of paper from a scroll of yellow-beige paper. Turning her hand, a bright
twinkle appeared as a feather quill pen sat on her hand, dipping the pen
into some special ink, Someieichi-kou began to write yet another chapter
in the test. Once she was to send them to Pluto, they would be enacted
to her full instructions. She had yet to finish the test for SailorMars,
but this was more important, she had to stop Deus Mercury and Urawa Ryo
from disrupting the test that the her daughter was to face. And the
easiest way to do that would be to stop Urawa’s visions, and only gave
them the visions that were required for the rest of the senshi to act as
SailorMercury wished for her to pass the test.