A Little Company for Naru

(Grey)

Chapter 1: Flipped Scripts

For perhaps the first time, Usagi wished Ms. Haruna was still her English teacher. Terrifying as Haruna Sakurada always was, that waspish voice would help snap her to attention, as if awakening a primal instinct. But alas, Usagi was fast approaching the end of her third and final year in junior high. So instead of Ms. Haruna always breathing down her neck, keeping her alert, some guy approaching late middle-age droned on and on, as if to lull Usagi to sleep.

That was the last thing Usagi needed today. Last night, that little psycho PallaPalla had struck again, her Lemure minion callously devouring someone’s dreams. That fight seemed to drag on all night. Just when Usagi had thought Chibiusa would never get an opening to summon Pegasus, Tuxedo Kamen arrived at just the right time as usual, distracting the bad guys with some well-aimed roses. This let Sailor Jupiter grapple PallaPalla and chuck her through some plant store’s window, while she finished the job with Moon Gorgeous Meditation, saving the day yet again.

Only it brought them no closer to getting to the bottom of this business with dreams and Chibiusa’s pegasus. And in the short term, robbed Usagi of much needed sleep.

Her eyelids felt oppressively heavy, and Usagi was half-aware of how she was slouching over her desk, ready to nod off. Ugh, why do bad guys have to make their moves in the dead of night? Usagi thought to herself angrily, sheer willpower the only thing keeping her awake. Have they no courtesy? School’s hard enough without having to spend half the time teaching these weirdos a lesson...

Her willpower ebbing, Usagi’s head sagged forward, practically snoring already. She would have drifted off right then and there, but Naru, who was seated beside her, came to the rescue.

“Usagi, get it together!” Naru hissed through gritted teeth. She leaned over to shake Usagi’s shoulder. Soft as it was, it was just enough to snap Usagi back awake.

“Huh, whuh?” Usagi spat out, still woozy.

“Just because we’re not in Sakurada’s class anymore... C’mon, are you TRYING to land yourself in detention?” Naru asked softly.

Unfortunately, not softly enough to escape the teacher’s notice. “Ms. Osaka! Are you gossiping with your friend during my lesson, disrupting class!?” he roared.

“Wha!? N-N-No, sir!” spluttered, now sitting up straight at her desk. “I-I-I-I, errr, uh...”

“You can explain it to your homeroom teacher later today, when you spend the afternoon in detention, Ms. Osaka,” he said coolly.

Now, at last, Usagi was wide awake, racked with guilt over Naru getting in trouble because of her. This always seemed to happen. Granted, Naru wasn’t dragged into things every other week like when the Dark Kingdom was around, but occasionally she would still be a target of Sailor Moon’s enemies. Or in this case, get caught in the fallout somehow.

After their teacher went back to the lesson, his back turned for a moment, Usagi looked over to Naru. “Naru, I-I-I-I'm sorry. I-I-I-I was, uhhh, up late working with Ami and the others on something, a-a-a-and...”

“It’s OK, Usagi,” Naru said, though she was a bit curt. “I... figured it was something like that.”

Naru seemed to be taking this well. Still, the thought of Naru getting detention instead of her filled Usagi with shame. “Naru, there’s gotta be a way to make it up...”

Naru held up a hand, cutting her off. “Just be sure to tell Umino I’ll be held up. We were planning to meet after school,” she said with a tone of finality.

Naru had every reason to sound pissed with her, but some instinct told Usagi there was more to it than landing in detention. That suspicion grew after the bell rang, and Naru gathered up her books and left without a word to her.

Come to think of it, it’s not like I’ve spent as much time with her this school year, Usagi realized as she watched Naru stomp out of the classroom. She was tempted to run after her, but Naru made it clear she wasn’t in an amiable mood. Granted, between the Death Busters and these new creeps with the Lemures, not to mention getting ready for the entrance exams...

Then it suddenly made sense. More and more, she spent far time with the other Sailor Senshi and less with Naru. Did she resent them for that, or was her frustration aimed squarely at Usagi?

Considering she just got detention because of me, it’s probably me, Usagi reasoned, frowning as she shuffled out of the classroom. That adrenaline boost was already fading fast. But now, like Naru wanted, she had to find Umino and explain this whole mess. And maybe he could provide some insight into what was eating Naru. She desperately wanted answers. Bad enough they were getting nowhere with their new enemy, but was her job as Sailor Moon was straining her friendship with Naru all over again?

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Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the Dead Moon Circus, where the Amazoness Quartet gathered and hung out, three of them were picking up the pieces after last night’s debacle. Or rather, JunJun and VesVes were picking pieces out of PallaPalla’s hide. Namely, thorns from the cactus PallaPalla had slammed into after Jupiter smashed her face through a window.

“OWWWW!” PallaPalla shrieked as VesVes plucked another thorn out from her butt with tweezers. She writhed on the billiards table, forcing the other two to hold her down. “That hurts! Stop being so rough with PallaPalla!”

“Then stop getting your ass kicked and thrown into cacti, and we won’t have to waste a whole day plucking a bajillion little thorns out of your sorry hide!” JunJun spat back. Naturally, PallaPalla didn’t listen and just struggled more, but her two teammates kept her pinned.

“Worse, all of us got yelled at by that old hag Zirconia for YOUR screw-up!” cried VesVes. “I mean, so what if yet again it wasn’t the right mirror? It sounds like you had the Sailor Senshi on the ropes until you fouled up at the last second, and they wiped out yet another Lemure!

“Yeah! With them gone, you’d have something to show. and maybe the hag would stop riding our asses!” JunJun chimed in.

“Fine fine, whatever! Right now, PallaPalla just wants these thorns out!” PallaPalla whimpered.

“Then hold still and let us do our job!” sneered JunJun.

For some time, the three of them had been watched from the shadows. But now, CereCere, the final member of the Amazoness Quartet strolled out of the darkness. The other three hadn’t seen her yet, so CereCere let a low chuckle announce her arrival. “My my, PallaPalla,” said CereCere sweetly, and the three of them finally looked up. “I offered to take that job for you, I said my flower Lemures would be better suited to the task. Perhaps next time, you’ll be more open to reason.”

“Call me crazy, but I think the last thing PallaPalla wants to hear about now is plants,” VesVes sneered. Unfortunately, CereCere distracting her made it so VesVes was even less gentle than before. After plucking out yet another thorn, PallaPalla shrieked in pain, writhing about and even smacking VesVes’s face with her foot. “Ow, watch it! And I was on your side even!” VesVes spat, rubbing her aching cheek.

CereCere, meanwhile, just laughed to herself, ignoring how flustered the others were. JunJun didn’t take kindly to that. “Oh, stop acting so haughty, CereCere! It’s not like your Lemures have had any better luck against those Sailor dopes than anyone else’s!”

JunJun was too busy holding PallaPalla down to notice how offended CereCere looked. The trapeze artist could only glare at JunJun, who now paid her no mind. Deciding to give VesVes another minute to recover, JunJun took the tweezers and pulled out another thorn herself. “Geez, this is so ridiculous,” said JunJun, examining the thorn closely as she held down a whining PallaPalla. “Things so small shouldn’t be such a pain in the ass, LITERALLY in PallaPalla’s case!”

CereCere had been fixing to fire back at JunJun, but something about her words stuck in her mind. She’s right, something so small SHOULDN’T be much trouble, CereCere reasoned. And the other girls doubted the fitness of the Lemures under her dominion, did they? Well, there was one Lemure of hers with a little something CereCere was seeking to perfect. Granted, it was potentially dangerous, unpredictable even, thanks to how little they knew about these Sailor Senshi, even after all these battles. If this stunt were to work, it all hinged on so many factors. It was more or less a crapshoot, a shot in the dark. But if she could pull it off... And her comrades lamented how the Sailor Senshi kept getting in their way? Well, if this worked, they’d stop complaining AND be forced to eat their words!

And as if sensing CereCere was cooking up the perfect scheme, Zircon came fluttering in. The other three were still too wrapped up in thorn removal to notice the flaming eyeball with wings spat out a photograph. CereCere took the opportunity to snatch it up for herself. Only when CereCere had it in hand did PallaPalla realize she swiped a job right under their noses.

“Hey, give that to PallaPalla! PallaPalla’s got a score to settle with... AHHHH!” PallaPalla had tried to get off the billiards table to grab it, but aggravated yet more thorns still stuck in her. She toppled over, forcing VesVes and JunJun to catch her.

“Just sit this one out, will you?” said VesVes.

“Yeah, I know this look in CereCere’s eyes,” JunJun added. “She thinks she can show the rest of us up. Well, let her try. And then we can laugh our asses off when she slinks back from yet another pounding from those Sailor Senshi.”

“Hmph. I look forward to seeing you eat your words upon my return, when you realize how you all think too... small. Especially Cactus-Butt over there,” CereCere snapped back. The other three shot her confused, incensed looks, but CereCere paid them no mind. She grinned to herself as sauntered out of the break area, but it faded a little when she finally got a look at her target. “Ugh, not the most striking one we’ve gone after,” she muttered. It was some short, dorky-looking boy with gaudy glasses now suspected of harboring Pegasus in his dreams...

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It had been over a year since that pseudo-date with Umino, but Usagi remembered it as if it had been yesterday. Looking back, Usagi marveled at how things were simpler back then. Not all of the Inner Senshi had gathered yet, and youma attacks from the Dark Kingdom were nowhere near as frequent as these Lemures, popping up what seemed like every other day. Usagi didn’t learn much about the Dark Kingdom until later anyway, so whatever Beryl and her Shitennou were plotting was usually the furthest thing from her mind. And perhaps most importantly, she, Umino and Naru spent a lot more time together. How did that last part not register until now? It stung, realizing it took such resentment, however subtle, bleeding out in Naru’s voice to finally notice.

Usagi sat with Umino at a table outside a restaurant he had planned to meet Naru at, wrestling with these questions. Obviously, their date was on hold, so Usagi decided to wait with him, even more determined to figure out what was wrong. After all, their friendship wasn’t irreparable, right?

Thankfully, other changes over the last year or so worked in Usagi’s favor. For one thing, Umino no longer had a crush on her. Nope, completely devoted to Naru now, some might say fanatically so. So that awkwardness that oozed out of Umino when Usagi dragged him across the city that day was nowhere to be seen.

I guess you could say he’s matured, Usagi thought to herself. We all have, I suppose. Luna doesn’t harp on me as much, for one thing. Still, to think I’ve gotten a bit better at handling bad guys out to steal hearts or dreams or whatever, only to drift away from my best friend...

It was time to do something about that. Usagi looked up, to where Umino sat across from her. “Umino, you’ve... been seeing a lot more of Naru than me,” she said uneasily. “Does it seem like anything’s, well, bothering her lately? Besides landing in detention because of me, I mean. Like there’s something on her mind, but she doesn’t really want to talk about it?”

Umino looked up. Usagi could see the anxiety in his eyes, despite the thick glasses. “No, not really. N-N-Not from what I can tell,” said Umino.

Usagi stared at him for a moment. He seemed sincere, so perhaps he was just clueless. Yeah, that was it. Guys tended to be oblivious about a girl’s feelings half the time, plus Umino was usually distracted by geeky science stuff.

Or maybe not so much the latter. There was no mistaking the uneasiness in Umino’s voice. Was something weighing in his mind, too?

Well, if I want answers about Naru, I guess I can wait until I can ask her myself, Usagi reasoned. For now, maybe it’s Umino that needs cheering up. “Umino, is anything the matter? I mean, you and Naru seem to be doing just fine, right?” Usagi asked cheerfully. But then, a terrible thought came to her. “Or is there something wrong? I mean, that stuff that happened because of that creepshow a while back, is there still...”

“What? Oh no, no, nothing that that. That’s all in the past,” Umino said quickly.

That was probably true, but some instinct told Usagi there was more to the story. “Umino, please, I’m worried something’s troubling Naru and can’t shake the feeling I’m part of the problem. I’d like to at least know things are OK between you two.”

Umino looked at her quizzically, as if trying to figure out how she could’ve done something to hurt Naru. At length, he said, “Well, I... errr, that is... Maybe I’m just still kicking myself for not being there when that creep showed his true colors. I was just being useless, wallowing in self-pity when Naru was in trouble.”

“Oh,” was all Usagi could say. Here was more proof that she wasn’t spending enough time with her old friends. She could’ve helped Umino get over this self-doubt far earlier.

Umino went on. “And factor in how I couldn’t do anything when that other creature, the type that were yanking out people’s hearts...”

“Umino, wasn’t that thing after YOU, not Naru?” Usagi pointed out dryly.

“Doesn’t matter. At the time, I figured someone could’ve been after Naru again!” cried Umino. “I dunno what it is, Usagi, to be honest. I know the logical thing to say is that all those bad guys were WAY out of my league, but so many of these incidents piling up... I mean, well, sure, Sailor Moon always came along to pull our fat from the fire.” Maybe it was Usagi’s imagination, but she thought she heard Umino’s voice tremble a little at the mention of her alter-ego. “B-B-B-But what if there’s a time she can’t come? I-I-I mean, it’s the point I’m daring to dream this might be more than a fling in junior high school, Naru and I...”

It was difficult, hearing Umino beat himself up like this, not to mention the insinuation she might not be there as Sailor Moon. Still, if Umino was thinking this far ahead, to high school and possibly beyond, things were good between him and Naru at least.

Maybe I’m overthinking things. Even if Naru’s a little miffed at me, she’s happy with Umino, to the point he feels free to dream, Usagi reasoned. That comforting thought only lasted an instant as Usagi reflected on what Umino opened up about. Hold on. Beautiful dreams, Umino worried about Sailor Moon’s enemies... Uh-oh, couldn’t that mean...

As if fate itself was mocking her thoughts, a soft yet chilling laugh resounded in the outside courtyard. Turning to its source, Usagi’s eyes widened. One of the Amazoness Quartet, CereCere if she remembered right, was waltzing up to the restaurant, a smug look on her face. To make matters worse, she had already summoned one of those Lemures. She vaguely resembled an adult woman, albeit a bit bulkier and sporting slimy-looking greyish-green skin. The creature wore some sort of orange toga, but her most telling feature were the flowers sprouting out of the top of her head and shoulders. Usagi was no botanist, but it looked like those were lotuses.

“My apologies for disturbing your afternoon, everyone, but I have very pressing matters to attend to, and unfortunately, it involves a lot of collateral damage,” said CereCere, sweetly but coolly. Usagi looked to Umino, then back to CereCere. She was here for Umino’s dream mirror, Usagi was sure of it. Before Usagi could do anything, CereCere said, “PujePuje, if you would, please clear out the riffraff.”

“At once, milady!” chortled the Lemure. She smirked evilly as those lotuses on her shoulders angled downward. They started spinning, the petals making them resemble whirling fans. Before Usagi knew it, blasts of wind shout out of those flowers, along with what looked like seeds. Pedestrians and the restaurant’s patrons were blown away, and those seeds ripped through tables and windows, not to mention left what looked like bullet holes in solid brick.

“Not good not good NOT GOOD!” Usagi cried, grabbing Umino’s hand. “Umino, no heroics today please, let’s MOVE!” She yanked him away and ran. She had to get him away from here fast, hide him somewhere, then think of some excuse so she could go and transform.

But just as she feared, Umino was their target. She caught a glimpse of CereCere pointing at them. At once, PujePuje fired another weird wind blast. Blinding gusts forced Usagi’s eyes shut, and she felt herself get swept away and screamed. Worse, Umino’s hand slipped out of hers, and his cries were quickly muffled by roaring winds.

Usagi landed hard on her back on some boxed-up garbage in a back alley. She grunted weakly, her head fuzzy from pain. She was dimly aware of the sound of sirens, but it wasn’t quite enough to rouse her, at least not right away. Eventually, her eyes snapped open. Fighting through a haze of pain, she dragged herself off that stack of boxes, then hobbled back toward that restaurant courtyard.

It was as she feared. Usagi returned to her senses just in time to see CereCere’s ricocheting orb smack into Umino, exposing his dream mirror. Usagi could hear CereCere sniff in disappointment, even from this far away. And any moment, she would have that Lemure eat Umino’s dreams. Worse, a bunch of police cars and even a fire ambulance had shown up while she was out. Yet there wasn’t a sign of any cops anywhere. What looked like bullet holes riddling those cars, one of them partially ablaze as a result, offered a chilling clue as to why.

Hopefully they only got blown away, or had the sense to duck out and leave this to the experts, Usagi hoped. She ducked back behind the corner as she flipped her communicator on. “Everyone, we got a problem! The reddest of code reds!” she hissed into it.

“Lemme guess, you got detention again and need us to tape something?” came Rei’s waspish retort.

“Not now, Rei!” Usagi snapped. “Seriously, are none of you around a TV!? One of the Amazoness Quartet just showed up and trashed the place where Umino was waiting for Naru. And she and her Lemure already took out a bunch of cops and exposed Umino’s dream mirror while I was out cold!”

“Wow, that’s not their usual style,” Minako remarked. “These guys are usually way more low-key.”

“Minako’s right, this is too different from their usual tactics. Something doesn’t add up. It may not be just about finding the right mirror this time,” added Ami. “Usagi, please be careful until we can all make it over there.”

“Aren’t I always?” Usagi asked with a smirk. She swore she heard Rei and maybe even Makoto grumble a little over the comm. With a snort, Usagi shut her communicator watch. “OK, time to get to work. Hopefully I can clean this all up before Naru’s out of detention,” she told herself before raising a hand high. “Moon Crisis Makeup!”

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Naru was half-stomping down the street, swinging her school bag a bit forcefully as she trudged ahead. She stuck her neck out for Usagi, who over the last year or so seemed to spend less and less time with her, and look what happened! She was looking forward to having more time with Umino as well. Things were mostly back to normal after what that creep Tigers’-Eye tried to pull, and it was clear Umino dared to dream it could all lead to more. But no, Usagi had to go and ruin the rest of her day!

That’s not fair and you know it, Naru, she told herself. Usagi was clearly sorry for what happened, and I was rather... curt to her. Maybe she’ll still be there with Umino when I show. Maybe...

Naru had been lost in her thoughts, but was snapped out of it when someone pushed past her, rather forcefully. “Hey, what’s wrong with...” she began, but suddenly got shoved around some more as others rushed past her. As Naru struggled to avoid getting knocked down and trampled, she noticed what direction these panicky people were coming from: where she was headed.

“Oh that’s not good,” Naru muttered, now pushing past the people trying to flee. Finally, she made it past them and rounded the corner, and dropped her bag from shock. There were some police cars surrounding the place she was to meet Umino. Or at least, they had once been police cars. Most looked like they had been shot up by a minigun. Some of the police officers were still around, barely clinging to consciousness as they lay on the concrete, though thankfully none seemed to have life-threatening injuries.

But what drew Naru’s eye was Umino, slumped down on his knees. A mirror fluttered before him, just like what that creep Tigers’-Eye forced out of her. But instead of that guy, this time it was some little girl in a skimpy outfit, her pink hair braided up in some strange way, like looping rope. There was some monster with her, wearing a toga and sporting giant lotus flowers.

To Naru’s horror, that girl pointed at Umino, and suddenly the lotus flower on that thing’s left shoulder sprouted a drooling snout with razor-sharp teeth. Was it going to EAT that mirror? Naru couldn’t decide if that was worse than how Tigers’-Eye violated her, peering into her own. This girl simply didn’t care about Umino’s dreams!

That thing leaned over to let its flower-mouth gobble it up, and Naru was a second away from charging and smacking that creature with her bag, danger be damned. But then came a cry that Naru was never happier to hear: “Hold it right there!”

The girl and her monster looked up to the restaurant’s roof. Sailor Moon was glaring down at them, fists on her hips, looking angrier than Naru could ever remember seeing her. “To so callously tear asunder a young boy’s dreams of love, as he waited patiently for his soulmate!? And frightening away all the other couples who came to this place to celebrate their love, and attacking those pledged to defend them!? Oh, in the name of the Moon, I am SO gonna punish you!”

Wait, how did Sailor Moon know I was coming to see Umino? Naru wondered. She didn’t have long to dwell on it, however. Sailor Moon jumped down from the roof, then charged right at the girl.

“My, someone’s running on a short fuse today,” grumbled the girl.

The girl seemed quite nimble, backflipping away, but still got a boot planted in her face. “Sailor Moon Kick!” Sailor Moon shrieked. Before the girl’s backside slammed into a totaled cop car, Sailor Moon had removed her tiara. “Moon Tiara Action!” The blazing disk shredded that slobbering snout poking out of the lotus flower, and the monster stumbled back, howling. Naru figured this was her chance. She sprinted forward, aiming to get to Umino. Sailor Moon was way ahead of her, however. With the monster stunned, she ran to him and shoved that mirror back into his chest. “I swear CereCere, if Umino never wakes up, I’ll rip you limb from limb!” she screamed.

Unfortunately, by the time Sailor Moon had Umino slung over her shoulders, the monster had recovered. Its flowers were intact, and the ones on its shoulders spun, firing what looked like seeds. Worse, that girl was already back on her feet, walking over to her monster. Yelping, Naru ducked behind a different car, peering out from behind it.

As she feared, that thing had Sailor Moon pinned down. Sailor Moon danced around frantically to avoid getting her legs shredded into hamburger, and holding onto Umino wasn’t doing her favors.

That’s funny, it doesn’t look like that monster’s shooting to kill, Naru thought. As she kept watching, she overheard the girl and her monster, confirming her suspicions.

“Don’t make her swiss cheese just yet, PujePuje,” said the girl. Her tone was chilling, saccharine. “We still need to draw out the rest. Can you tell yet, can you feel as if this’ll work?”

“Yes, I sense a considerable... disquiet about the girl.” That monster’s voice had a gargling quality to it, yet had an eerie, calm flow like her boss’s which chilled Naru. “If it extends to the others, this gamble may yet pay off.”

Naru had no idea what they were talking about. All she knew was she had to do SOMETHING. After all, how many times had Sailor Moon saved her hide? She looked in and around the car for a weapon left by the police. For something, ANYTHING, that could get that monster off Sailor Moon’s back.

She was beaten to the punch. Naru heard someone shout something, then something crackled and the air suddenly reeked of ozone. Peering out from behind cover again, Naru saw electricity was crackling all over that monster called PujePuje.

Next, a flurry of roses and little glowing pink hearts came out of nowhere, driving the girl and her monster further back. Lastly, a cry of “Mars Flame Sniper!” rang out. A blazing arrow shot at the pair. They both ducked to avoid it, but it struck one of the damaged cars behind them. It promptly blew up and the two were knocked down. Naru instinctively ducked back behind cover, feeling the rush of heat, then scrambled over to peek out from the other side. There they were, all of the Sailor Senshi, arriving just in time like always.

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Her heart swelling with relief, Sailor Moon ran over to them, Umino still slung over her shoulders. Even Tuxedo Kamen was already here, not content to wait in reserve. “Wow, am I glad you guys are here. That was cutting it close!”

“Sure was. Those seeds were about a second away from shredding you into a Sailor sushi roll,” quipped Sailor Mars.

“Yeah, do you really need us for everything, you dummy?” added Sailor Chibi-Moon.

“Oh COME ON, you two!” cried Sailor Moon. “At least I kept that Lemure from gobbling up someone’s dreams this time!”

“Sailor Moon is right, let’s just focus on making this latest Lemure into tossed salad,” said Jupiter, pounding her fists together. The antenna on her tiara was already out as well, crackling with power.

By now, CereCere and PujePuje were back on their feet. Sailor Moon eyed them angrily. If they tried anything, they’d unload all their attacks on them, then bring in Pegasus to finish off that Lemure while it was on the ground, drooling.

Yet for some reason, CereCere didn’t seem the least bit daunted by the collective power she faced. In fact, she was smirking evilly, as if she had some trump card. But what? This newest Lemure was a pain, sure, but surely nothing the Sailor Senshi couldn’t handle as a team, right?

“So confident, and yet there’s obviously some disharmony in your ranks,” sneered CereCere. “PujePuje, it’s time. They’re all here. We can finally get them in one fell swoop.”

“So this was a ploy to draw all of us out! I feared as much,” said Mercury.

“Sailor Senshi, be ready for anything!” cried Tuxedo Kamen, a fistful of roses at the ready.

“Spread out!” cried Venus. “If this thing’s got something big, let’s not...”

But those lotus flowers... The petals were already spinning like fans again. And now, some weird blueish-green gunk was flowing out of them like smoke. Pollen, or some sort of poison gas? Whatever it was, it had already enveloped all of them. It had happened so suddenly, Sailor Moon couldn’t avoid breathing some of it in.

“Huh? I don’t feel like there’s something wrong,” said Sailor Moon. A quick glance at the others let her know they felt fine as well. She looked back to PujePuje through the haze of whatever-it-was, and could still make her out. Sailor Moon did catch, however, how her eyes were glowing a fierce orange-red, as if to bore into her soul. Meanwhile, Chibi-Moon had turned the Luna-P into a handheld fan, and blew the offending gas away.

“Ha! Whatever that stuff was supposed to do, it didn’t work!” cried Venus. “All this effort to draw us out for nothing!”

CereCere looked crestfallen for a moment, but then her face twisted into a haughty sneer. “Except it wasn’t. I can see it finally taking effect.”

Sailor Moon’s eyes widened, wondering if this was a bluff. She still didn’t feel funny or anything. She figured she could lob her tiara, so it trapped both CereCere and her Lemure, to buy time to figure things out. Of course, she’d have to set Umino down to free her hands. So she looked around for a table still standing to put him down on.

And THAT’S when she noticed something was wrong. There was indeed a table still standing at her right, but it looked... higher than it should’ve been? And wait, was it getting even higher the longer she looked at it?

Sailor Moon watched in horror as whatever was happening sped up. That tabletop was shooting up higher and higher, and soon it was looming over her head! Looking back to the other Sailor Senshi, she saw the terror in their faces as they saw the same thing happening to them! The tables and chairs strewn about were looming over them as well! Mercury was the first one to find her voice. “Oh no, this is impossible! We’re SHRINKING!”

Sailor Moon briefly looked over at Umino’s face, who was shrinking along with the rest of them, then at the jagged cobblestones of the restaurant courtyard coming up fast. Then, slowly, dread threatening to overwhelm her, Sailor Moon looked back up to CereCere. She loomed over them in the distance, like something out of a kaiju movie, and seemed to grow ever bigger by the second!

“Oh no no no,” Mercury went on. Despite how the distance between each Senshi just got a lot wider, from their perspective, Sailor Moon could still hear her, and the dread in her voice. Not to mention her furiously typing away at her computer. “According to these scans, we’ve, oh my goodness, had our heights reduced by a factor of more than twelve!”

Sailor Moon didn’t need exact calculations. Seeing the end results firsthand was more than enough. CereCere took a few steps closer, the clicking of her heels booming in all their ears. “Oh my, so this is what becomes of the mighty Sailor Senshi?” she taunted from up high. She took another step closer. Sailor Moon shuddered and backed up reflexively, that dumpster-sized foot now only a few car-lengths away. “Just goes to show not everyone thinks you’re the epitome of pure pureness, untouchable guardians of all that’s good. PujePuje, if they stray too far, open fire. I want to handle as many as I can personally...”

“What the hell did you do to us!?” Chibi-Moon demanded. Maybe it was just her, but Sailor Moon thought her voice sounded even higher than usual.

“We’ll figure it out, Chibi-Moon,” said Venus. Her voice echoed Sailor Moon’s own dread, but a bit of confidence still shone through. “She’ll tell us, because there’s still plenty we can do to her! Venus Love-Me Chain!”

Venus rushed past Sailor Moon, flinging her golden chain right at CereCere’s ankles. CereCere’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting them to get over their shock so soon. Mars and Jupiter joined in. A double-whammy with Sparkling Wide Pressure and Mars Flame Sniper struck CereCere’s face and neck, respectively. She teetered backward, her arms flailing as she screamed.

The courtyard floor rumbled a little when she finally toppled. CereCere hit the ground hard just as Sailor Moon backed away. That, plus snagging her foot in between two cobblestones, made her fall backwards as well, and she lost her hold on Umino.

“Everyone, scatter!” cried Tuxedo Kamen.“Maybe we can come at her from all sides as Sailor Mercury figures out how to reverse this.” As for himself, he rushed over to scoop up Umino, then moved closer to help Sailor Moon up.

“Don’t count on it, Cape Boy,” CereCere sneered. Sailor Moon looked up to see CereCere still on her back, but raising up that yellow orb of hers.

“Uh-oh, don’t tell me she’s gonna...” Sailor Moon began.

“Pellet Orb!” CereCere cried. She craned her neck up a little to watch as yellow marbles shot out at all the shrunken Senshi. But whereas before that attack just tripped them up, now those marbles were like wrecking balls. Sailor Moon winced as she heard her friends cry out in pain. She rolled aside to avoid getting crushed by one of those wrecking marbles, and Tuxedo Kamen barely got Umino away from it. Glancing back at the others, her eyes widened in horror upon seeing some of those balls had rolled onto the downed Senshi, pinning them to the cobblestones.

“That takes care of the riffraff.” Sailor Moon looked back ahead to see CereCere ripping off Venus’s binding. Soon enough, she was back on her feet, towering over them again. She glared down at Sailor Moon intently.

“Tuxedo Kamen, get Umino out of here! Move!” cried Sailor Moon, shoving him away. That brief delay cost her. When Sailor Moon looked back up, she saw CereCere’s foot coming down. Sailor Moon jumped back in fear, tripping again, and that let CereCere pin her to the ground. If she didn’t still have some of a Senshi’s durability, she would’ve been squashed instantly, even though CereCere was clearly toying with her, not pressing down with all her weight. Still, the pain was excruciating. Crying out in fear, Sailor Moon tried to push that sole off of her, but to no avail.

“Sailor Moon!” cried Tuxedo Kamen, before gazing up at CereCere in anger. He readied a rose, but CereCere leaned down to swat him away.

“Tuxedo Kamen!” shrieked Sailor Moon. From under CereCere’s foot, she could see him collide with a table leg. He slid to the floor, stirring a little, but there was no telling how badly Umino was hurt.

“Don’t concern yourself with your man right now, Sailor Dolly,” CereCere jeered. At last, that foot came off of her, only to be replaced by the sight of CereCere’s giant hand coming down, and she was in too much pain to get away.

She was scooped up, fingers as thick as telephone poles wrapped around her. Sailor Moon’s heart hammered as she was brought up to CereCere’s smirking face. Those huge, pinkish-red eyes stared at her coldly. “How the mighty have fallen,” CereCere said softly. “And what was that before, about ripping me limb from limb?”

Sailor Moon thought she was scared before, but now her mind went completely numb. CereCere brought her other hand up, her eyes narrowing at her quarry. Sailor Moon screamed as she felt two gigantic fingertips press against her arm. “Funny how karma works, doesn’t it?” CereCere asked as she pulled her arm forward. It felt like her arm would be torn from her socket any second. Again, if not for a Senshi’s durability, it just might have been. “You fancied yourself a savior, little girl. And that hubris will cost you an arm and, well, a leg.” CereCere let go of Sailor Moon’s arm, only to feel those fingertips clamp down on her leg and yank at it. Sailor Moon screamed and squirmed in CereCere’s grip, but it was no use.

“Sailor Moon!” cried some of the Senshi. Sailor Moon twisted around as best she could to look down. Her friends were still all pinned down by those balls, and Tuxedo Kamen was just getting up to check on Umino.

“You little psycho-bitch, let her go!” Chibi-Moon bellowed.

“Look who’s calling who little,” said CereCere dismissively. “But maybe you’re right, little lsdy. Enough games. Time to...”

The next thing Sailor Moon knew, she was all wet. As was CereCere, for a gushing blast of water splashed in her face, making her choke and gargle. Moreover, it made CereCere drop her. She hit the ground hard, landing on her butt.

“Wow, cutting it a little close Mercury, and...” Sailor Moon looked to the others. With CereCere distracted, they were able to roll those balls off of them. And Sailor Mercury only just pried the one on her off. Huh? If Mercury didn’t do that, who did? Sailor Moon looked up to see water still gushing, pushing CereCere back and soaking the courtyard. Sailor Moon brought her arms up to shield herself from huge, stinging droplets, then followed the water to its source. It looked like someone had screwed off a cap on a nearby fire hydrant to spray CereCere, but who?

“Come, Sailor Moon!” cried Tuxedo Kamen, grabbing her wrist with one hand, holding Umino securely over his shoulder with the other. “That won’t keep her at bay long.” He dragged her as he ran, struggling to keep his footing with all the water rushing by their feet. It looked like he was leading them toward the street.

“Yeah, let’s make a break for it!” cried Mars as the rest of the Sailor Senshi brought up the rear. “If we’re lucky, we can duck down a storm drain and lose them in...”

A hail of big black rocks the size of footballs rained down, ricocheting off the cobblestones right in front of them. They all skidded to a halt, then turned around. CereCere was angrily wiping water off her face as she strode forward with PujePuje flanking her, those flowers on her shoulders angled forward. They were both, from their perspective, a few dozen meters away, but they still seemed to loom over them all the same.

“Oh great, we forgot about the other one,” grumbled Jupiter.

“CereCere, we shouldn’t risk toying with them any longer,” said PujePuje frostily.

“I agree, but I still want them alive,” said CereCere, glowering down at them. “The other girls would just love to play with them like dolls, so...” Suddenly, CereCere looked up just as a strange, booming sound filled the air. Her eyes widened in shock and fear. “Oh, you’ve got to...”

Suddenly, a huge shadow fell over the shrunken Senshi as the very air around them roared, gusts swirling around them. It all faded as swiftly as it came. Then their view of CereCere and PujePuje was blocked by the back of a red ambulance. It kept going forward, smashing them through the restaurant’s window.

They all just stood there for a moment, gobsmacked. Eventually, Venus spoke up. “D-D-Did someone just d-d-d-drive an AMBULANCE over us!?”

“A-A-And rammed it into CereCere and her Lemure,” added Mercury. “I-I-It would appear so, yes.”

“B-B-But who’s out there w-w-who would,” Sailor Moon stammered, but then the driver’s door was kicked open and someone jumped out. From her vantage point on the ground, so far away, Sailor Moon couldn’t tell who it was. Whoever it was was running right for them, however. Sailor Moon froze all over again, paralyzed by the sight of something so massive coming right for them, booming footfalls rattling her ears.

The next thing Sailor Moon knew, something was plopped down right in front of them. She winced as stinging wind rushed past her face. It took a moment to realize it was a gigantic school bag, its flap opened, as if beckoning for them to jump in.

“Well, if you want to live, come on!” came a thundering voice that somehow sounded... familiar. “A hit-and-run isn’t going to keep them down for long, right?”

Sailor Moon craned her head up, and her jaw dropped. A girl in a short-sleeved Juuban junior high uniform was taking off a pair of sunglasses and an EMT worker’s cap... It was Naru! She was kneeling down, casting a shadow over them! She held the flap up with one hand, and held a huge wrench in the other. Despite this being her friend, gazing down at them with a pleading look, Sailor Moon shivered, intimidated by how she towered over all of them.

If the others felt the same way, they got over their anxiety way quicker. “You don’t have to tell me twice!” cried Jupiter. She leaped onto the bag and rolled into the space opened for them. Most of the other Senshi swiftly followed suit. Shaking her head, Sailor Moon hopped up to join them and crawled into the darkness.

Once they were all in, Naru snapped her bag shut, blocking out all light. Then their world lurched violently. The Senshi grunted and shrieked as they were tossed this way and that like toys. Well, that’s what we’re the size of now, Sailor Moon reminded herself.

As they kept being bounced around, the Sailor Senshi could hear Naru’s stomping footfalls outside the bag. “Wow, she’s really sprinting. Where’s she taking us?” asked Mars.

“As long as it’s far, far away from CereCere and her Lemure, who cares!?” cried Venus.

“Venus is right. Naru had the foresight to disguise herself in case CereCere saw her driving the ambulance. Hopefully, she won’t know who we escaped with,” said Mercury.

“True, so that’ll buy time for us to figure out how to reverse whatever’s been done and get out of this mess,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“Hopefully sooner than later,” said Chibi-Moon. “With us... in no condition to fight, the Amazoness Quartet will have free reign to rip apart as many dreams as they want.” Sailor Moon grumbled to herself. Their situation was bad enough without pointing out just how dire things could get. “Anyway, no sense dwelling on this in darkness. Luna-P, I need a lantern!”

Sailor Moon heard the Luna-P change form, and moments later, the inside of Naru’s bag was flooded with light from an electric lantern. Tuxedo Kamen set Umino down as gently as he could, but it was difficult. Despite being so small, the inside of Naru’s bag wasn’t a very wide space for them, barely wider than a closet.

Tuxedo Kamen and Mercury checked Umino over. “Doesn’t look like he’s suffered any fractures or a concussion,” said Mercury, prying one eyelid open to examine his eye.

“Good. Then the real challenge is making sure Umino doesn’t lose his mind when he wakes up to a world too damn big for him,” spat Mars.

Sailor Moon nodded in relief, then looked around. Naru hadn’t exactly had time to empty this space out for them. A few pens and pencils bounced around on the bottom, as big as overhead pipes in parts of the school. Over at the far end were a calculator, a makeup compact and a notepad all taller than they were, looking ready to fall over onto Jupiter and Mars. Looking down, Sailor Moon found she was sitting on a big eraser.

Everywhere they looked, there were unwelcome reminders of how tiny and vulnerable they were. Many of the others were obviously dwelling on the same thing. “Oh, I can’t believe this!” cried Jupiter. “I hate this! I hate feeling all weak and puny!”

“Me too!” chimed in Mars. “Chibi-Moon’s right. There’s no way we can fight like this! If Naru hadn’t come along, we’d’ve been cooked!”

“Seriously, at what point did we lose control of the situation back there!?” Venus asked. “We had them dead-to-rights, then POOF! Honey, We Shrunk the Senshi!”

“It is vexing,” Mercury agreed. “I-I-I-I mean, if these people had this sort of power all this time, they would’ve used it on us long ago. There’s something we’re missing, but I’m at a loss as to...”

Mercury stopped suddenly, and the others listened closely. The bag stopped shaking so much, and Naru’s footsteps no longer rattled. From outside the bag, they heard a loud hissing noise.

“That sounded like a subway door opening,” said Sailor Moon.

“Good. Even more distance between us and CereCere,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“But what’s Naru planning to do with us?” said Venus.

Sailor Moon said nothing. It was too surreal, how so many scripts had just been flipped. She and the other Senshi had saved Naru countless times. Now, Naru had swooped in to save the day. And Sailor Moon had planned on using this afternoon to patch things up with Naru, since they hadn’t been spending much time together. Well, it looked like the two of them would now be seeing a lot more of each other. Of course, there could be no attempts at reconciliation now, not unless she was willing to spill her secret.

“I’m more worried about surviving the trip,” Mars grumbled. “The subway at this time of day? With a crowd like that, a good chance of someone bumping into Naru and squishing us in here.”

“No need to be THAT pessimistic, Mars,” Mercury admonished. “I mean, we can trust Naru to be careful. The only thing we should worry about while she’s on the subway is...”

“HEY! Keep your hands to yourself, you perv!” Naru’s voice thundered from outside the bag. An instant later, their entire world lurched and turned upside-down. All eight of them were flung around every which way, crying and screaming as they banged into Naru’s school supplies, only for everything to settle down the next instant.

“If someone gets fresh with Naru, and she smacks him with her bag in a blind rage,” Mercury finished dejectedly, half-pinned under that calculator and some pens.

Chapter 2: Not-So-Little Secrets

Naru sat on the subway, clutching her school bag close to her chest. It had been a while since she unthinkingly bludgeoned that creep with it, but there were still too many people around. She didn’t dare open it up to check on her tiny passengers. That would have to wait until she had them safely in her room. She never learned all that much about this Dark Kingdom that Nephrite worked for, and she knew even less about whoever the Sailor Senshi were fighting now. They could have eyes everywhere, looking for anything suspicious, any sign of who whisked their enemies away.

So Naru sat there, silently cursing herself for her foolish mistake, waiting impatiently for her stop. It still felt so wrong. The Sailor Senshi were the ones always saving her, it shouldn’t be the other way around! And now, they were so tiny. To think, Japan’s greatest heroes, forced to hide in her school bag! It was still fresh in her mind, seeing that monster unleash some gas or pollen that made the Sailor Senshi and Umino shrink down. Nothing she’d seen Sailor Moon’s enemies do terrified her so much. Thinking back, it was a wonder she didn’t completely blank out from fear. Naru was just glad she mustered just enough courage to act at the last minute.

She looked down at her bag, shame-faced, just hoping they were alright. Naru was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she almost didn’t hear that the subway had reached her stop. Sighing, she got up to leave. At first, she still held her bag up to her chest. However, she realized that might look suspicious while she ascended the stairs to the street, so once topside she held it like normal. Naru would have rather spared them the indignity of being bounced around even more, but her first priority was to get them someplace safe.

Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a walk to the OSA-P. Soon enough, Naru was standing at the entrance of her mother’s jewelry store. “Just act natural, just be calm, don’t do or say anything funny,” she whispered to herself. She glanced down at her bag one last time, took a deep breath, and stepped through.

There weren’t many customers at this hour, which actually wasn’t all that good. With so few customers to focus on, her mother made a beeline for her the moment she saw her.

Oh no, could Sailor Moon’s enemies be here already? Naru wondered. It was all coming back, how the first time Sailor Moon rescued her was right here in this store, from a monster impersonating her mother. Could that happen again?

It didn’t look like that was the case. Mayumi scooped her daughter up for a hug, never going for her bag. “Naru, I was getting a little worried! Detention shouldn’t have kept you out that long,” said Mayumi.

“Oh, uh, no need to worry so much, Mama,” said Naru quickly.

“I’m sorry, Naru, but as a mother it just happens,” said Mayumi. “I mean, I don’t even feel all that safe here anymore. All the construction going on on this block, and a couple buildings slated for demolition... Why, I’ve heard stories about things like explosives and other construction equipment left around, unsecured! Those fools!” Naru was starting to breathe easy, feeling she could get the Senshi upstairs soon enough. But then her mother said, “And I just saw the news. More of those monsters the Sailor Senshi are warring with wrecked that place you like to go with that sweet boy Umino, and even hurt some police officers!”

Naru tensed as her eyes widened. “Uh, er, yeah, I-I-I-I heard about that on the ride home,” said Naru. “But the Sailor Senshi were on the job, right? Nothing to worry about.”

“Still, it’s just... something that reminds you how precious some things are,” Mayumi said sweetly.

“I-I-I guess so,” said Naru. “But Mama, I’ve got, uhhh, some homework I need to get the jump on. I’d, uhhh, better get to my room.”

“Of course, Naru,” said Mayumi, smiling. Naru watched her get back to work, and sighed in relief. If she was some monster in disguise, she would’ve taken her bag right away. That weird girl, CereCere if she remembered right, didn’t seem too concerned with subtlety.

Trying not to look as if she was in a rush, Naru went through to their residence in the building, then ran up the stairs and ducked into her room. Shutting the door, she ran over to the rolltop desk at the other end. She threw it open all the way and gently set her bag down on the left side, leaving her tiny passengers plenty of room to step down.

“You can come out now,” said Naru, opening the flap and holding it down for them. She was a bit surprised to see light pour out, but it quickly faded, yet none of them emerged. “Oh no, please don’t be hurt!” Naru cried.

Still, for long moments, none of them came out, and Naru feared the worst. Then finally, Naru saw the tiny Sailor Venus poke her head out. Her fearful gaze met Naru’s, then she looked around at her surroundings on the desk before looking up to her again.

Naru then realized she was standing, which must’ve made her look even scarier to Venus. She quickly sat down, hoping that would put Venus at ease. It seemed to be working. Venus crawled out of the bag, and after an anxious glance at Naru’s hand, jumped down to the desk’s surface. One by one, the other Sailor Senshi emerged to hop down. Maybe it was her, but Naru felt that Sailor Moon was trying to avoid looking up at her.

“Wow, I still can’t believe how small all of you are,” said Naru, just as Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen came out. Naru’s hands flew to her face to suppress a gasp, seeing how Tuxedo Kamen was cradling Umino close to him. “Oh no! Umino, p-p-please don’t tell me, because of me, h-h-h-he's...”

“Umino will be fine,” said Tuxedo Kamen. He managed to sound fairly confident, despite his predicament. “He suffered no serious injuries back there, and I managed to grab onto him when, well...”

“Here, let’s put him down on this,” said Mercury. She had gone back into her bag to pull out a travel pack of tissues. She dropped it down, and Tuxedo Kamen carefully set Umino down onto it.

Naru was relieved to hear Umino wasn’t hurt, but it still pained her, seeing him like this. For a moment, she felt a bit of anger at how Umino got dragged into this mess with the Sailor Senshi, but quickly quelled it. Sailor Moon had done everything she could to get Umino to safety. This wasn’t their fault.

Naru took her bag off her desk to give them more room to spread out. They must’ve felt so cramped and boxed in already, flanked by the sides of her rolltop desk. Still, several Senshi nervously looked up to her, but Sailor Moon still only half-met her gaze. “So now what?” Naru asked. “I don’t think CereCere or whatever her name was followed me here, so I guess you’re safe. But how do we get Umino and the rest of you back to normal?”

“You’ve bought us precious time, Naru,” said Mercury. “Hopefully after I crunch all the scan data I got of CereCere’s Lemure, I can figure out just how we were shrunk and how to reverse it.”

“But until then, we’re stuck like this, aren’t we?” Mars grumbled. It was clear that Mars loathed being so small, and Naru couldn’t blame her. Naru knew she would be scared out of her mind in her place. Just looking down at them now, seeing Japan’s heroes reduced to this, filled her with anxiety.

“Well, it could be worse,” said Chibi-Moon. “I mean, if not for Naru, we’d all be in the hands of the Amazoness Quartet by now. Could you imagine a giant PallaPalla playing with us like dolls? Brrrr...” Chibi-Moon shuddered visibly, and Naru saw some of the others repress shudders too.

“As much as it sucks, I guess we just gotta be patient and hang here until Mercury dopes out what to do,” said Venus.

“At least we’ll be the quietest houseguests you ever had, Naru,” said Jupiter, flashing an awkward smile. “I mean, you’ll barely notice we’re here!”

Naru forced herself to smile back. As weird as this was, as wrong as this felt, it could definitely be worse.

“So just who is this CereCere? She’s obviously in the same organization as that Tiger’s-Eye if they’re both after ‘dream mirrors’ people have,” said Naru, now trying to be serious. She still couldn’t easily forget that sense of violation, how that creep peered into her very soul. “It’s clear these aren’t the same people Nephrite worked for. So who are they, and what do they want with people’s dreams?”

The Sailor Senshi glanced at each other, as if reluctant to divulge such information. Resentment started to well up again. She just saved all their lives! Telling her who and what she saved them from was the least they could do, especially since they never fully explained what Nephrite’s Dark Kingdom was about.

Amazingly, it was Sailor Moon, silent until now, who finally spoke up. “Well Naru, Tiger’s-Eye and his Amazon Trio, who got replaced by the Amazoness Quartet which CereCere is in, have been looking for this person we only know as Pegasus,” she said, looking up at Naru strangely. “Supposedly, he has to hide in someone’s beautiful dreams...”

“So these creeps are systematically targeting people with beautiful dreams, in hopes of finding him and flushing him out,” Chibi-Moon added tersely.

Naru took a moment to let this sink in. “So, why do they want this Pegasus so badly?”

“Standard bad guy stuff, use his power to take over the world and all that junk,” said Sailor Moon.

Naru glowered at Sailor Moon, still feeling like they were keeping something from her. Mercury must have picked up on that, and quickly said, “That’s really all we know, Naru. Chibi-Moon can summon Pegasus to power up Sailor Moon’s attacks to finish Lemures, but beyond that we still know very little about him or his pursuers.”

Naru leaned back in her chair, deciding it was best not to push the issue. She and the Sailor Senshi continued to stare at each other awkwardly, and Naru almost didn’t notice Umino stirring.

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Umino’s eyes slowly fluttered open, everything a hazy blur. He realized part of the problem was that he didn’t have his glasses, so he couldn’t really make out his surroundings. Plus, his head was splitting, so it was a chore to piece things together from memory. He recalled some monster attacking him and Usagi as they waited for Naru, then everything was blank.

“Urgh, Usagi...” he muttered, trying to move. Just about every other muscle screamed in protest, though. “U-U-Usagi, w-w-w-where's...”

“Usagi got away, don’t worry,” came a somewhat familiar voice. “Umino, please, don’t try to move so much. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Yeah, trust me, you’re gonna want to take things slowly,” said another familiar voice. “There’s... gonna be a lot to take in. In more way than one.”

Opening his eyes again, he saw two shapes hovering over him. An outline of a girl in green and white, with brown hair, and another outline of red and white with long, black hair. It took a moment to realize who was talking to him. “Sailor Jupiter? Sailor Mars? D-D-D-Did you drive off that monster? Did you save Usagi?”

Mars and Jupiter looked to each other, then back down at him. “Well, we can’t take credit for getting the Lemure off everyone’s back this time,” said Mars.

“We’ll fill you in, don’t worry,” said Jupiter. “Just promise us you won’t freak out when...”

“My glasses,” Umino cut in. “Where are my glasses?”

The Senshi glanced at each other again. “Here, we’ll give them back,” said Mars, handing him something. “But again, promise you won’t lose it.”

Well if that monster was driven off, how bad could things be? Umino wondered as he took his glasses back. After putting them on, he could make out Mars and Jupiter clearly. It was quite bright out, but it didn’t look like sky above them, just a fuzzy expanse of dull white. “S-S-S-So, where did you Sailor Senshi take me?”

“Well, err, we were all taken somewhere, actually,” said Mars nervously.

“Let’s just say you’ll have an opportunity to be really close to Naru for a while,” added Jupiter.

“Naru? What about Naru?” Umino demanded, sitting up. Too quickly, as his sides suddenly ached. Mars and Jupiter both took a step back to give him some room. He looked up to Mars, who was still looking at him awkwardly, then noticed something strange right behind her. Was that... a giant mug!? With huge pencils and pens inside!? Umino frantically looked about him. The rest of the Sailor Senshi were there too, but... Oh no, were they all on top of some gigantic desk!? “Where the heck are we!?”

“With me, Umino. You’ll be safe with me,” came an echoing voice. Forceful, yet somehow sweet. Umino turned toward its general direction, and suddenly something monstrously huge slid into view. Umino looked up, and up, and his jaw dropped.

“N-N-N-Naru!?” Umino squeaked, awestruck by the sight of his girlfriend looming over him like some titan of legend. “H-H-H-How'd you get so big!?”

Naru frowned and shook her head. “Not me, Umino. CereCere's monster shrank both the Sailor Senshi and you. You’re all really small.”

Umino’s mind almost went blank again. He looked to all the Sailor Senshi, each one nodding glumly. Then he examined the ‘giant’ desk they all stood on. He recognized this was Naru’s rolltop desk. Naru had taken all of them to her room.

It took him some time to find his voice, to dare ask, “H-H-How did it happen, a-a-a-and can you Sailor Senshi fix it?”

“We’ll need time,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “Luckily, Naru’s bought us some.”

“Look on the bright side, Umino. You’ll be in good hands. Literally, the hands of the one you love,” said Venus, trying to cheer him up.

Umino looked back up to Naru anxiously, who sat down at her desk, smiling nervously. “It’ll be OK, Umino. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.” She slowly brought her huge hand forward, and Umino couldn’t quite suppress the instinct to back away. He wound up tripping over the tissue pack. He grunted, cursing his clumsiness, then looked back to see Naru’s fingertip was right next to his face. She hesitated a moment, then gently brushed his face with her fingertip. Umino forced himself to be still and calm. After all, it felt rather nice.

“OK, maybe this won’t be so bad,” Umino admitted, glad to see Naru smile a little. Still, he wasn’t completely at ease. So yet another enemy of Sailor Moon’s came along, and he was helpless to do anything. And now, he was worse than useless if they tracked the Sailor Senshi here. “Still, I mean... Geez, how small did we get?”

“Let’s find out,” said Sailor Moon. “Mercury said something about us being less than one-twelfth our normal size, but I was never a math person, so...” Umino turned to see Sailor Moon take a huge ruler out of that mug. She struggled to keep her balance, but managed to bring it over to Umino as he stood up. “OK, so we’re both... Oh wow, just a little over twelve centimeters tall,” she said, shuddering. Umino couldn’t help but do the same.

“Well, let’s get started on fixing that,” said Naru. “Mercury, I’ve got a computer here I hardly use. Do you think you’ll need it?”

“No offense Naru, but this one I’ve got has way more processing power. Plus, it never seems to run out of power, so...” Mercury began. But she trailed off when Sailor Moon started wailing. She was still having trouble hanging onto that unwieldly ruler, and teetered toward the edge of the desk, eventually falling off.

Mars facepalmed and muttered something to herself, while Chibi-Moon looked to the desk’s edge and shook her head. Naru looked down, her face full of concern, but they soon heard Sailor Moon croak, “I-I-I-I’m OK. The carpet broke my fall...” Naru began to lean down to pick up Sailor Moon, but a sudden knock at her door made her jerk back up.

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“Naru? Can I speak with you for a moment?” came Mayumi’s voice from the other side of the door. “I just got a phone call, there’s something I need to discuss.”

Naru forced herself not to panic. In her haste to check on the Sailor Senshi, she had forgot to lock the door. Any second, her mother would step in and her secret would be blown. She reached for the rolltop cover and yanked hard, but to her horror, it wouldn’t budge.

“Oh no no no. Guys, the rolltop is jammed!” Naru yanked at it again, but it was stuck fast. “Oh great, there’s nowhere for all of you to hide on the desk, and...” But when Naru looked down, she saw all of the Sailor Senshi had struck dramatic poses, and remained as still as statues. It took a moment for Naru to figure out their plan: pose as model figures.

That might work for them, but Umino was a different matter. Ignoring his cries of protest, she scooped him up. Naru looked around desperately for a place to hide him. But at that moment, her mother opened the door. Looking down, seeing no other option, Naru stuffed Umino down her shirt, into her cleavage.

“Do NOT get any funny ideas while in there,” she hissed dangerously. Thankfully, Umino seemed to get the hint. Naru had been afraid he’d squirm around and tickle her, but she could hardly feel him moving.

As Mayumi stepped in, Naru realized only one was unaccounted for: Sailor Moon. Naru glanced at the floor, and noticed Sailor Moon standing out in the open, near the side of her bed facing the door. She must’ve thought she could just hide under her bed, not realizing there were a lot of boxes stored under it currently, leaving her no space.

“Naru, honey, I’m afraid I just got an emergency call,” said her mother. “The board of shareholders I’m on for one company has called an impromptu meeting, and unfortunately it’s one not headquartered in Tokyo. I’ll be gone for a couple days.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that. That’s... too bad,” said Naru, only half-listening. She was still casting quick glances at the floor, now cringing. Mayumi wasn’t even looking down, and Sailor Moon had a look of panic on her face, clearly fighting to not scream in terror. Those high heels of her mother’s must have been frighteningly huge to Sailor Moon. They stomped ever closer to Sailor Moon as she headed back to the desk, desperately tried to stay ahead of them.

Even worse, carpet was proving very hard for a shrunken Senshi to run on. Sailor Moon snagged her foot and tripped, just as Mayumi was practically on top of her. Naru was ready to cry out, secrecy be damned, but luckily when Mayumi’s foot came down and stopped, Sailor Moon found herself under the arch of her pump. Naru couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon trembled, staring at the heel that came so close to impaling her, too terrified to utter a sound.

“I hate leaving though, especially after hearing about that latest monster attack,” Mayumi went on. “But you’re insisting you’re a big girl, so... Anyway, there’s no school tomorrow, but you don’t have to open the store if you’d rather spend the day catching up on schoolwork.”

“Uhhh, sure, OK. No problem, Mama,” said Naru quickly. Then Mayumi brought Naru close for a hug. Naru used that opportunity to look down at the floor again. Sailor Moon worked past her panic, scurrying out from under Mayumi’s pump to dart under the desk. One less shrunken friend to worry about. Then she remembered Umino. Hopefully her mother wasn’t hugging her tightly enough to squish him. It worried her a little, how she couldn’t feel Umino moving in there at all.

“That’s my good little girl,” said Mayumi. Naru snorted to herself. At the moment, Umino and the Sailor Senshi would hardly think of her as ‘little’. But this was actually quite good. With her mother gone, she would have free reign over the place, and wouldn’t have to worry about her shrunken houseguests being discovered.

Just as Naru thought they were in the clear, Mayumi suddenly said, “Oh my, what are these on your desk?” and let go of Naru. Naru just stood there, rooted to the spot, silently praying the Senshi on her desk could keep up the ruse.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Makoto liked to think of herself as rather disciplined. Sure, she wasn’t a super-genius like Ami, a diligent college student like Mamoru, or a Shinto priestess with spiritual abilities like Rei. Still, she was serious about her study of martial arts, and it did help with self-discipline and keeping her temper in check. Sometimes.

But now, seeing Naru’s mother approach the desk they stood on, while trying to remain motionless in this dramatic pose, taxed Sailor Jupiter’s self-discipline to its very limit. She thought Naru and CereCere looked huge, but Mayumi Osaka was even more monstrous! Worse, Mayumi leaned forward, now so close Jupiter could see the glint off her earrings and necklace. Jupiter cursed her stupid choice to face straight ahead. She felt cold sweat form on her brow as those gigantic eyes scrutinized her and her friends. She was too used to being the tallest girl around. It was so terrifying and humiliating, being this small! Still, Jupiter remained still, refusing to give in to fear.

“Naru, honey, what are these?” Mayumi asked. Jupiter fought the urge to cover her ears. It was clear Naru made an effort to speak softly before, because her mother’s voice sounded painfully loud in comparison. “I’ve never seen models of the Sailor Senshi like these before.”

Come on, Naru. Think of something think of something, get her out of here, Jupiter silently pleaded. Venus was the only Senshi whose face Jupiter could see, and her eyes mirrored her own anxiety and exhaustion.

“Oh, those? Well, uhhh, they’re a new line. I-I-I picked them up the other day,” said Naru.

“Is that so?” Mayumi’s face loomed even closer now! “I’ve never seen models with such exquisite detail before. I could almost swear these are real people.”

To Jupiter’s horror, Mayumi’s giant hand drew close to pick one of them up. Her, in particular! It got so close, Jupiter could see her face reflected in her polished fingernails! Just when Jupiter thought she would lose it and shatter the illusion, Naru reached over to pull her mother’s hand back.

“I’d... rather no one touch them,” Naru said anxiously. “As you can guess, these are top-of-the-line models, really expensive. Could hurt the resale value. I wore gloves when taking them out, and I’m even keeping the boxes in mint condition.”

Mayumi stood erect again and nodded. Jupiter had to fight to keep from sighing in relief. Slick move, Naru. Play on your mother’s business sense, Jupiter thought.

“Good thinking, Naru,” said Mayumi. “But I don’t see Sailor Moon herself among these. How come?”

Hopefully because she had sense to hide, Jupiter hoped.

“Well, errr, as you can imagine, her model is the one in highest demand,” said Naru.

“In that case, I’ll make a point of hunting it down for you while I’m away,” said Mayumi.

“Errrr, sure, I-I-I-I'd like that,” said Naru.

“Well then, I’ll be off. Love you, Naru. I know the store will be in good hands.” Mayumi pulled her daughter close for another hug, and then finally left the room.

The moment the door shut behind Mayumi, all of the Senshi on the desk slumped down to sit, breathing heavily. “Ugh, I thought she’d NEVER leave!” cried Mars.

“I hear you, Mars,” said Chibi-Moon. “I thought my arms and legs were about to go numb and fall off!”

“Yeah, I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” said Jupiter. “I can’t stand being this small, feeling so helpless.” She almost didn’t catch a strange look down at them from Naru.

“Oh believe me, Jupiter, I intend to get started now that it looks like there won’t be any unforeseen interruptions,” said Mercury.

“But Naru, what about Sailor Moon?” Tuxedo Kamen asked. “I sensed considerable distress from her.”

“Well, ummm, she had a close call, but she was hiding under the desk last I saw,” said Naru.

“Good to know,” said Venus. “And what about Umino?”

Naru’s eyes widened. “Oh I can’t believe... I almost forgot about him! I was worried, I couldn’t feel him moving a whole lot in there...” Naru reached into her shirt to carefully pull Umino out, and her face fell when she looked at him. “Oh. THAT’S why he wasn’t moving much.”

“What’s wrong, Naru?” Jupiter asked.

Naru said nothing, instead opting to lower her outstretched hand to the desk. They gathered around it to see Umino lying unconscious in her palm, his glasses askew, blood dribbling from his nose and a goofy look on his face.

“Yep, that sure explains it,” Jupiter muttered. She lifted Umino off of Naru’s palm and set him back down on that tissue pack. “Hey Mercury, think you could hit Umino with some ice water without killing him? That might be the only thing that’ll wake him up.”

Jupiter realized too late that Naru might not take kindly to a remark like that. When Jupiter looked back up to Naru, she was no long there. A moment later her gigantic form rose, and Jupiter saw Sailor Moon in her cupped hands, still looking a bit freaked out.

“So what now?” Naru asked as she lowered Sailor Moon back to the desk. “Things’ll be easier with my mother out of the picture, sure. But Sailor Mercury, is there anything I can do to help?”

“I-I-I'm not sure, Naru,” said Mercury. “I don’t really know where to begin with the scan data I collected earlier, and...”

Mercury was cut off by a grumbling noise. Everyone on the desk turned to glare at Sailor Moon strangely. Sailor Moon let out a nervous laugh. “Well, uhhh, it HAS been a while since any of us had lunch...”

“At least I can do something about that,” said Naru. “Give me a few minutes to see what’s in the fridge.”

With that, Naru turned and darted out of her room. Jupiter had figured Naru not being in sight would put her mind at ease. Now she realized the only normal-sized person who even knew about their predicament wasn’t even on the same floor now. It only made her feel more exposed and vulnerable, and Jupiter’s resentment grew.

As Jupiter leaned against the mug with pens and pencils, trying to keep her temper in check, she heard Umino groan. He was finally waking back up. Adjusting his glasses, he looked up to see Sailor Moon kneeling beside him. “S-S-S-Sailor Moon? Oh, you would not believe the dream I just had. I dreamed one of your monsters shrank us all down, and Naru had to hide us...” His words trailed off as he got a good look at what he was lying on. “I-I-I-It wasn’t a dream, was it?”

Sailor Moon shook her head. “Nope. As for where Naru hid you in particular... I STRONGLY suggest you never, ever speak of that again until you two are married and have about five kids.”

Umino’s face flushed all over again, but he wisely said nothing else. Meanwhile, Jupiter saw Mars was impatiently pacing around the desk, clearly as flustered as she was. Mercury sat down on the base of an adjustable lamp at the desk’s other end, and began typing away at her computer. One look at Mercury’s eyes told Jupiter she was feeling the pressure. She had to solve this and fast, before the Amazoness Quartet struck again.

Mercury was so absorbed in her work, she was the last to notice when Naru was hovering over the desk again, having returned with food. “You guys are in luck. Looks like my mother had some sushi for lunch today. And there’s some leftover rice curry I heated up for myself. You can all dig in, and I can cut up an apple, and...”

“It’s more than enough. Thank you, Naru,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

Naru smiled, but then exclaimed, “Oh! But what about something to drink? Hang on, let me go dig out my old doll toys. You can use the cups.”

So Naru set everything down on the desk and lumbered off again. Sailor Moon, naturally, immediately went over and plucked a chunk of leftover sushi. “Well that’s one of the few bright spots in this whole mess. We can all eat our fill!” she cried, right before scarfing down a huge bite. Mars glared at her with disgust.

By the time Naru returned a few minutes later with tiny plastic cups filled with water, the rest of the Senshi were digging in as well. But naturally, none of them would have an appetite like Sailor Moon’s, not after everything they went through today.

Still, Jupiter plucked some rice grains and vegetable chunks from the rice curry Naru was eating. It was quite delicious, but it did nothing to ameliorate how humiliated Jupiter still felt. She looked down at the doll’s cup at her feet. Having to use stuff made for dolls!?

But right now, it wasn’t just being too small to fight the Amazoness Quartet and their Lemures, or being mistaken for a toy. Cooking was always an outlet for her, her own little way of enriching the lives of her friends. Now she realized she was also too small for even that!

“Jupiter, you OK?” Venus walked up to her, munching on a juicy, dripping chunk of apple.

Jupiter sighed. “Just thinking that if I wasn’t stuck like this, we wouldn’t have to settle for leftovers, that’s all,” she admitted.

Venus put a hand on her shoulder, thankfully not the one sticky with juice. “C’mon, Mercury’ll figure out how to reverse this. I mean, we’ve bounced back from worse, right?”

Jupiter snorted, but still smiled. “Having a little trouble thinking of specifics at the moment.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” said Sailor Moon suddenly, in between bites from another chunk of sushi. “This is kinda a new one for us. I guess we’ve been spoiled since a lot of times, I was able to bust out the Ginzuishou to blow away a bad guy, or heal someone corrupted by dark power, or...”

Sailor Moon dropped her bit of sushi, her eyes widening. “Sailor Moon, what’s wrong?” Jupiter asked.

“Oh, I really AM a meathead!” Sailor Moon cried. Jupiter saw Mars raise an eyebrow. “Why didn’t I think of this before!? If this is some weird curse that Lemure put on us, maybe I can use the Ginzuishou to remove it!”

“You mean the thing Nephrite was trying to get?” Naru asked.

“Well, it’s worth a try,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“Perhaps we should get off the desk before she does, however,” said Mercury. “After all, if it does work and we all grow back while on this...”

But Sailor Moon, too anxious to see if she was right, already had her hands cupped around her brooch. It slowly opened, and a white, resplendent glow poured out as the Ginzuishou emerged. Jupiter glanced back up at Naru, who watched silently, that strange look in her eyes again.

“Moon Healing Escalation!” Sailor Moon cried, and bright light enveloped the entire desk. Jupiter heard Naru force her chair back as she yelped. When it faded and several seconds passed, however, Jupiter grumbled when it was clear none of them were growing back to normal size.

“It... didn’t work?” Sailor Moon said softly, clearly disappointed. “B-B-B-But it always worked on those people the Dark Kingdom corrupted, a-a-and...”

“Except when Tuxedo Kamen was under Beryl’s direct influence, remember?” Mercury pointed out. “So it stands to reason there may be something blocking the Ginzuishou’s purifying power.”

“Oh no, whatever the Lemure did to us, it’s THAT powerful!?” Mars asked fearfully.

“Hopefully not, but now I’ve got another set of scan data to pour over,” said Mercury. Sailor Moon and Mars had walked over to the overhead lamp’s base, both of them now looking over Mercury’s shoulder. “If I can ascertain just how the effects of Moon Healing Escalation were nullified, it could bring us closer to a solution.”

Mercury was trying to sound optimistic, but Jupiter’s hopes were fading fast. If even the Ginzuishou couldn’t dispel this shrinking curse, what could?

At least we’ve got a safe place to stay while we try to figure that out, Jupiter thought. When she looked back up to Naru, she noticed how she was staring at the trio at the lamp, that strange look still in her eyes.

“Sailor Moon, maybe we should leave Sailor Mercury to her work,” Naru said suddenly. “In the meantime, I-I-I-I'd, well... I’d like to talk with you. Alone.”

Sailor Moon looked up from Mercury’s computer to Naru, a little anxious. “R-R-R-Really, Naru? Why?”

“Well, we usually never get to talk,” said Naru. “Oftentimes, you and the other Senshi just fade into the night after you’ve gotten rid of a monster or whatever. There’s... some things I’d like to ask you.”

Sailor Moon still looked hesitant, and many of the other Senshi were clearly reluctant to let her leave their sight, Jupiter included. But in the end, Sailor Moon found she couldn’t resist her friend’s request.

“Uh, OK Naru. I guess I owe you that,” said Sailor Moon, nodding. Naru slowly lowered her hands to the lamp for Sailor Moon. Mercury and Mars anxiously moved back, but Sailor Moon stood her ground and hopped on. Naru carefully brought Sailor Moon up to her, cupping her hands against her chest to cradle the shrunken hero. But before Naru turned around to leave, Jupiter caught that strange look in her eyes, and it unnerved Jupiter more than ever.

“Was anyone else getting a weird vibe from Naru just now?” Jupiter asked once Naru left the room.

“Very much so,” said Mars. “I don’t what it was in the last few minutes that brought it on, but I sensed a lot of negativity set in in Naru’s heart.”

“Don’t you think you two are getting carried away?” Chibi-Moon scoffed. “This is Naru we’re talking about!”

“Yeah, she’s the nicest girl you’ll ever meet!” Umino chimed in. “And she hero-worships Sailor Moon, not to mention saved all your butts!”

“Still, I’d feel better if we followed her,” said Mars. “My instincts are seldom wrong in cases like this.”

Mercury shut her computer. “If you insist,” she grumbled.

“OK then. Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and I will go find Naru and Sailor Moon,” said Venus. “Chibi-Moon, you and Tuxedo Kamen just, well, make sure Umino stays out of trouble.”

“Hey! No fair!” spat Chibi-Moon. “Since when do I have to babysit!?” Umino looked a little incensed as well.

Ignoring her, Venus jumped down from the desk to the chair, then down to the floor. Jupiter admired how daring Venus still was in her current state. Sensing her trepidation, Mercury said, “We made leaps like this all the time when normal-sized, Jupiter. Besides, with less mass it means less force from acceleration due to gravity.” Then Mercury herself followed Venus’s lead. Jupiter and Mars briefly glanced at each other before jumping down themselves.

It was hard walking in carpet that came up more than halfway to their ankles. How a klutz like Sailor Moon avoided getting mashed while Naru’s mother was stomping around, Jupiter had no idea.

Even more daunting was just how big and ominous a simple bedroom like this looked from this vantage point on the floor. Everything from the bed to the desk to the slightly-agar door they were heading toward towered several stories over them. Jupiter didn’t want to think about what would happen if Mercury never found a way to fix this. It got even worse when the four of them squeezed through the crack in the door and got to the hallway beyond. That huge space stretched out before them, seemingly infinitely, and it almost made Jupiter dizzy.

“Are you sure this is necessary, Mars?” Mercury asked, sounding quite anxious herself.

“I can’t say for sure, but my instincts are telling me it’d be best to keep an eye on Naru right now,” said Mars.

“Then let’s find them fast,” said Venus. “Unfortunately, Usagi’s the only one who really knows this place well, and we have no idea where Naru took her.”

“Let’s get started, then,” said Jupiter, trudging forward despite the near-vertigo.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sailor Moon had stayed silent as Naru carried her through her home, not quite sure what she wanted. Despite her familiarity with this place, it was hard to figure out where Naru was going, cradled so close to her. But after craning her neck around, Sailor Moon saw Naru approaching what looked like the door to her mother’s private study. Sailor Moon hardly ever saw the inside of this room, what with its long bookshelves stuffed with books and several filing cabinets hardly being any interest to her. It wasn’t as brightly lit as Naru’s room, so Sailor Moon couldn’t make out much else. Naru, however, went right over to a large wooden desk and carefully lowered her hands so Sailor Moon could hop down onto it.

There was more space on this desk, and she didn’t feel boxed in by the sides of Naru’s rolltop desk. Still, when Naru sat down in front of the desk, Sailor Moon felt uneasy with her gigantic friend looming over her again. There was a strange weight to Naru’s stare as Sailor Moon looked up to her, and she began to regret agreeing to speak with her alone.

Come on Usagi, Naru wouldn’t do anything bad, not after how she risked her hide getting you away from CereCere, Sailor Moon told herself. Out loud, she said, “So, Naru... What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Like I said, we hardly ever get a chance to talk,” said Naru. “Usually, once you vaporize whatever monster is threatening Umino and I, you’re off.”

Sailor Moon nodded. “I’m going to take a guess. You want to know more about Nephrite?”

“Among other things,” said Naru. There was something about Naru’s evasiveness that gnawed at Sailor Moon.

“Well, he was part of a group called the Shitennou, along with that creep Zoicite,” said Sailor Moon. “Actually, they were all good once, but got tricked and brainwashed. It’s a long story, but as far as I know Nephrite alone managed to at least regain some of his goodness. You helped him do that.”

Nary nodded, taking this all in. “And you now have this Ginzuishou he was looking for. But you didn’t have it back then, right? Would it have been able to heal him if you had?”

“I-I-I-I... I think so,” said Sailor Moon, not sure what Naru was getting at. “I mean, I still feel bad about how we got there too late that night...”

Naru sighed, a sad look in her eyes. “But this Ginzuishou, if it has healing power... I bet it’s a relief to know it could help your mother Ikuko or your brother Shingo, right?”

Sailor Moon snorted as she turned her head. “Yeah, but good thing they hardly ever seem to be in the line of fire these days, although they also had run-ins with the Amazon Trio. I mean, the little brat even tried to play hero at one point, and...”

Sailor Moon froze, slowly looking back up to Naru. The weighty stare of hers seemed to smother her now, chilling her to the bone.

For long moments, neither of them spoke, but finally Sailor Moon managed to croak out, “H-H-H-How...”

“How did I know?” Naru finished for her. “I didn’t. At least, I wasn’t 100 percent sure, until you just told me.”

“So you aimed to trick me into...” Sailor Moon stopped when she remembered how Naru seemed to suspect something back when the Black Moon Clan’s crystal was engulfing part of the city. “B-B-B-But you’ve suspected for a long time, right?”

Naru nodded. “Too much today brought those nagging suspicions back. You knew I was coming to see Umino at that restaurant today. The way you freely admitted you’re bad at math, the way you went right for the food I offered, your klutziness with that ruler... It all screamed the girl who’s been my friend for a long time, but for some reason grew more and more distant.” Sailor Moon felt horribly boxed in all over again, despite the wide-open space she now stood on. Nothing in Naru’s tone was threatening and she didn’t even loom closer. She didn’t have to. The coolness of her voice, the palpable disappointment, that look of wounded pride in Naru’s eyes... It was all far, far worse than if she suddenly became hostile.

“And just now, seeing you, Mars and Mercury looking all serious discussing stuff... It reminded me of the time around when Mr. Sanjoin first appeared, and Rei would come over from her school to talk with you and Ami about something,” said Naru coolly. “And I would just hang back when I saw you three together, wondering what was up, and you’d later feed me some excuse. They’re Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury, right? And Makoto is Jupiter, Minako is Venus, Chibiusa is Chibi-Moon and your boyfriend Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen, aren’t they?”

“You know who ALL of them are!?” Sailor Moon cried, unable to stop herself.

Naru’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Do you think I’m stupid, Usagi?” she asked frostily. “Did you really think that after getting mixed up in so many monster attacks, I wouldn’t have even suspected? I even shared my suspicions with Umino. He thought I was nuts at first, but over time he could connect the dots, too.”

“Seriously!? How long ago? He’s been able to keep his mouth shut about it?” Sailor Moon demanded incredulously. “A-A-A-And other than when that giant black crystal appeared, you’ve never approached me about all this until now. What changed?”

Now Naru did lean closer, and Sailor Moon couldn’t help but stagger backwards in fear. “I was holding out hope that you’d come clean one day. Hoping you’d trust me,” said Naru. “And just now, I was feeling left out even after bringing you into my home in what’s perhaps your darkest hour. None of you really wanted to tell me about this Amazoness Quartet, just like how you never explained what Nephrite was part of until now.” She loomed over Sailor Moon just a little more. “Just tell it to me straight, Usagi. Why did you never tell me?”

It took a moment for Sailor Moon to find her voice. Her friend’s angry and disappointed face looming over her like a massive billboard, the hurt in her eyes... It was almost impossible for Sailor Moon to think straight. Anxiety and guilt swirled together, clouding her mind. “I-I-I-I didn’t keep it a s-s-secret from just you, N-N-Naru,” she got out. “No one in my f-f-family knows either...”

Naru’s hand slammed down onto the desk, and Sailor Moon was knocked off balance. Sailor Moon shivered when she saw that hand was only a few car lengths away. “You just admitted to me that your family was hardly ever in the middle of monster attacks!” Naru shouted. “For whatever reason, it was a different story with me! I think I deserved to know!”

Sailor Moon fought the urge to crawl backwards. That would only incense Naru further, she was sure of it. Sailor Moon already felt bad after realizing she inadvertently hurt Naru over the last year. And the hurt went deeper than she first thought.

Well Usagi, you were determined to make things right. Better figure out how FAST. Unfortunately, it was so hard to focus with Naru glaring down at her, cold dread further taxing her guilty conscience. Staring down that Beryl/Metalia hybrid again would’ve been preferable. “N-N-N-Naru, b-b-back when I first became Sailor Moon, I didn’t really know what I was g-g-g-getting into either!” Sailor Moon pleaded. “It might’ve looked like Sailor Moon was on top of everything, b-b-b-but half the time I had no idea what I was doing. Besides, I was always told I had to keep my identity as Sailor Moon a secret...”

“Really? By who?” Naru demanded testily.

Sailor Moon tensed again, wondering if Naru would swallow how Luna was a talking cat, and her guide during those early days.

Before she could decide, Naru shook her head. “I guess it doesn’t matter, Usagi. I guess when the others became Sailor Senshi too and the whole team was assembled, I just wasn’t important enough. You’ve even been doing all the entrance exam prep with them, right? More and more, it’s felt like I just don't matter to you anymore! The only reason we’re speaking now is because, this time, you NEEDED me!”

Sailor Moon’s mind was pretty much blank. She began to cry as it sank in, just how hurt Naru truly felt. Her mouth hung open as she cried, but no words came out. What was there to say? She had no inkling what she would say to Naru before this mess started, and after seeing how deeply it cut, keeping this secret from her...

But Naru’s narrowed eyes opened wide again when a voice called out from... the floor? “Wait, Naru! You’ve got it all wrong!”

Uh-oh, is that Sailor Venus!? Sailor Moon shivered again, fearing any chance of de-escalating this just vanished.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naru turned and looked down, seeing the four shrunken Senshi standing in the middle of the study. “Huh!? What’re you doing in here!?” Naru demanded. Sailor Mars forced down her anxiety and stood her ground as Naru angrily threw her chair back and stood up. “So, you didn’t trust me alone with her!? Even now, you have to butt in!?”

“You don’t seem to have the soundest judgment right now, to be honest,” Mercury said dryly.

“Everyone, this isn’t helping!” Sailor Moon shouted from the desk. “You’ll just make her madder! This is something I have to do myself!” Mars ignored her. Sailor Moon could still be so stupid and reckless.

“So, Naru, it sounds like you figured out who we really are,” said Jupiter.

Naru nodded, and Mars could see tears glistening in her eyes. “And I’d like to know why all of you felt you had to leave me in the dark, since Usagi can’t seem to answer,” she spat. “I thought I was your friend, too! But I guess I wasn’t important enough to you either, just like with Usagi!”

“Naru, it was never like that!” cried Mars. “There’s a lot to being a Sailor Senshi you just don’t understand!”

“So you thought I couldn’t handle the truth!? That you couldn’t confide in me!?” Naru snarled. “And because of that, I’ve been feeling shut out, like none of you care enough!” She took a couple steps forward, looming closer, but Mars and the others steeled themselves, not backing up in the slightest.

“Naru, this is Usagi we’re talking about!” cried Venus. “Of COURSE she still cared deeply for you! Whenever you got mixed up in a monster attack, she was always out of her mind with worry! And c’mon, whenever it looked like you and Umino were having trouble in your relationship, she’d always come to us for advice on how to help you two! She cares that much! You know that!”

“Not enough to trust us, though! The most important thing to happen to who I thought was my best friend... I was left out!” Naru’s voice echoed and thundered in her mother’s study, along with her stomp as she took another step forward, way too close for comfort. Mars had to admit she was getting scared. Naru seemed to be on the verge of hysteria. There was no telling what she’d do.

She wasn’t the only one who feared this. To Mars’s shock, it was Mercury who lost her head and lashed out in a panic just as Naru took another thundering step. “Shine Aqua Illusion!” she cried, and aimed her attack at Naru’s feet.

“What in the...” Naru began. Since it was hardwood floor in that study and not carpet, the water froze to form a slippery sheet. Naru slipped on it, losing her footing. She toppled, and the room rumbled as Naru smacked her head on the handle of a desk drawer. “OWWWW!”

“Uh-oh,” Mercury squeaked.

“You... USED AN ATTACK ON ME!?” she roared, rubbing her aching head. She stared down at the four of them, eyes blazing with anger. “I was right... YOU THINK THAT LITTLE OF ME!”

“Oh nice going, Mercury. You just HAD to piss Naru off even more!” Jupiter grumbled. But as Naru stood back up, Jupiter popped her antenna out, expecting trouble. A golden chain formed in Venus’s hands, and Mars formed her fiery bow and arrow, aiming to be ready for anything. Judging by how Naru looked madder than ever, they had to be.

But before anyone else could do anything, there was a squeaky cry of “Moon Tiara Action!”

“Wha!?” cried Mars, not seeing anything flying at Naru. She realized too late that the tiara was coming at THEM instead! The four of them cried out in confusion as the tiara expanded and ensnared them all. “Sailor Moon, are you NUTS!?” Mars spat.

Naru was just as surprised as they were. “Huh? Did you just...” she began, turning back to the table. She stopped when she saw Sailor Moon standing at the desk’s edge, pointing the Moon Kaleidoscope at her.

“All of you, that’s enough, so just STOP!” Sailor Moon shouted, her voice now full of hurt like Naru’s.

“Sailor Moon, feeling a big exposed, bound here on the floor with the pissed-off girl over ten times our size a few paces away,” hissed Venus.

“Naru’s not gonna hurt you,” said Sailor Moon flatly. “Right, Naru? I refuse to believe you’re angry and hurt enough to really want to hurt anyone.”

Naru remained silent for a moment, staring quizzically down at Sailor Moon. “But I’m assuming that weapon could seriously hurt me, right?” she asked dryly.

“Yeah, it could,” Sailor Moon admitted. “So that’s why...”

Mars thought they were in a bad spot before, but her eyes widened in horror as Sailor Moon’s body glowed. Tiny flower petals seemed to flake off of her, and when the glow subsided, there stood a tiny Usagi Tsukino on that desk. The tiara faded into nothingness, and the four Senshi got back into battle stances.

“You’d be surprised what a Sailor Senshi can survive, Naru,” Usagi told the giantess staring down at her in confusion. Usagi was clearly making an effort to force down fear, but still sounded confident. “But now, like this... You could kill me in a second if you wanted.”

“Usagi, seriously, what the HELL are you thinking!?” Mars demanded.

“That Naru’s right,” Usagi said simply, glaring down at them. “We should’ve trusted her long before this, so I’m choosing to trust her now.” Looking back up to Naru, she said. “You’re right, I don’t have a good answer for you. Maybe I was being selfish, feeling I needed someone ‘normal’ in my life with all the Sailor Senshi insanity going on. Naru, there are times I really hate being Sailor Moon. Seriously, if today’s shown you anything, a lot of times the job just plain sucks. I guess I felt was doing you a favor, not dragging you deeper into my problems.”

Naru just stood there, tears still pouring down her cheeks. But Mars at least got the sense these weren’t tears of pain and anger, but of sadness and regret.

Long moments passed in silence, until Naru finally said, “So, what now?”

“You get what you want, Naru. I’ll tell you everything, from when I first saved you here, to all this craziness with the Amazoness Quartet. Everything you’ve been dying to know,” said Usagi. Then she looked down to the Senshi on the floor. “And you’ll let me do it. Alone.”

Mars cast a furtive glance up at Naru before glaring up at Usagi. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

Even with Usagi so high up, Mars saw her eyes narrow at her. “I wasn’t asking, Rei.”

Mars was about to protest, but Venus put a hand on her shoulder. “Usagi’s right. Even if we didn’t owe Naru our lives, it was wrong to treat her like she’s a threat.”

“Yeah, we almost made things worse,” added Mercury.

“And Naru’s probably right about how we’ve monopolized so much of Usagi’s time over the last year or so,” said Jupiter. “Let’s just go back, give them the time they need.”

Mars still wasn’t sold, but when she looked back up to Usagi, she still had that steely look. She knew Usagi well enough to know when that girl was being too stubborn for her own good.

Thankfully, it truly looked as if Naru had cooled off, or was just too shocked from Usagi leaving herself vulnerable to stay angry. Tears still dribbled down her cheeks as she sat back down at the desk, no anger in her eyes as she gazed down at Usagi.

“C’mon, Mars. Time to go,” said Venus, tugging at Mars’s arm. Her tone of voice let it be known she wouldn’t hear any backtalk, either.

Sighing, Mars let Venus drag her out of the study. Before they squeezed back through the door, however, Mars looked back up to the desk one last time. “OK, this mess all started that one morning I had to stand in the hall after showing up late,” she heard Usagi say.

Chapter 3: Keeping Up Appearances

These summons by Lady Zirconia were always unpleasant. It was so tiresome, having that withered old hag constantly berate them when it was the fault of her minion Zircon, never finding them the right target! And just what was SHE doing all day, when it was the Amazoness Quartet venturing out, doing all the dirty work!?

So normally, it was easy to brush off Zirconia when she ranted and raved, and fire back with some zingers that would get her even MORE steamed. Tonight, though, was very different. CereCere was in no mood to be verbally dressed down, not while every muscle and bone still ached from getting rammed by an ambulance. And the way VesVes, JunJun and PallaPalla kept stealing quick glances over at her, suppressing giggles...

Oh crap, I bet I STILL have the imprint from that ambulance’s grill all over my face! CereCere fumed inwardly. She fought down the urge to feel her cheeks to check. Not to mention she could still feel where shards of glass had scratched at her back, nearly causing lacerations. Perhaps skimpy costumes that were fine for circus performances weren’t the best to wear into battle.

“So let me get this straight, CereCere,” said Zirconia. “While on the latest mission to find Pegasus, you drew out all of the Sailor Senshi, after finding a way for your Lemure reduce them to the size of toys?”

“That’s what I said, you sad sack of raisins,” CereCere spat back.

CereCere saw a vein throb in Zirconia’s forehead, but otherwise she brushed it off. “And yet, not only did you fail to find Pegasus, but even with those meddlesome Senshi in such an incapacitated state, you LET THEM GET AWAY!?”

“I didn’t LET them get away you old hag!” snapped CereCere. “The Sailor Senshi had help, an ally we didn’t know about.”

“And who might this mysterious ally of theirs be!?” Zirconia demanded.

“Gee, it was kinda hard to get a good look. Whoever it was had on sunglasses and a cap. And oh yeah, was driving AN AMBULANCE RIGHT AT ME!” snarled CereCere. She kept her gaze locked on Zirconia, ignoring how her three friends could no longer stifle their laughter.

Zirconia slammed her staff down, the echoing sound getting them to shut up. “NO EXCUSES!” she bellowed. “As much as I hate to admit it, that was a most ingenious plan to get rid of those Sailor Senshi. But unsurprisingly, CereCere, you found a way to botch the whole thing!”

CereCere took a deep breath, refusing to give Zirconia the satisfaction of seeing her lose her cool again. “Is that so, hag? It’ll be quite some time before the Sailor Senshi figure out just what’s happened, if they ever do. Until then, the Dead Moon Circus will have free reign! Now’s the chance to go and find Pegasus!”

Zirconia opened her mouth to yell again, but then closed it, stroking her chin. “You have a point there,” she said. She turned to the other three Amazonesses. “You three, when Zircon returns with another target, one of you set out immediately to retrieve his or her dream mirror.”

Just after regaining her composure, CereCere felt it slip away again. “Hey, that’s not fair!” she protested. “I was the one who...”

“And you, CereCere,” said Zirconia, turning back and pointing down at her, “will go and finish the job! Find where those shrunken Senshi were spirited off too and bring them back! Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter! Just make sure they won’t be able to interfere again!”

“I already looked before returning here, you wrinkly old bag!” CereCere snapped. “Whoever took them had too much of a head start! Maybe if you’d just have Zircon scour the city looking for THEM instead...”

“I cannot spare Zircon’s services to fix up a plan you botched!” Zirconia cried. “Queen Nehelenia is set to return soon, and we MUST have Pegasus in readiness for her! So go, make absolutely sure the Sailor Senshi can never again get in the way!”

Fuming, CereCere turned to storm out, determined to do just as Zirconia asked. Just so she could shove those shrimpy Sailor pests in the hag’s face, and make her acknowledge SHE was the reason they now had a clear shot at Pegasus.

Of course, the rest of the Amazonesses just HAD to get some cracks in. VesVes’s eyes narrowed as she gazed at her, grinning wryly. “Aw, c’mon CereCere. No need to let the old hag ‘drive’ you crazy!” she quipped.

“Yeah, I’m sure the perfect way to flush out those little pests will ‘hit’ you,” added JunJun, and they both laughed.

PallaPalla, however, rushed up to bearhug CereCere. “Please bring them back, CereCere!” she pleaded. “PallaPalla wants to see those cute little Sailor Senshi, give them a big hug right before...”

You rip one of their heads off, CereCere finished silently as she pried PallaPalla off. “Oh don’t worry, PallaPalla. Next time you see me, I’ll have those insufferable little twerps in a birdcage!”

But as CereCere stormed out to leave their tent, she had to admit to herself she had no idea where to begin. Perhaps that boy who got shrunk down along with them was the key. However, since her real aim had been to lure all of the Sailor Senshi into the open, CereCere hadn’t bothered doing the usual research and staking out that dorky kid. She knew next to nothing about him. She could spend some time to learn more now, but Zirconia had a point about getting her hands on them again as soon as possible.

“Very well, if I can’t find any solid leads in twenty-four hours, I’ll make them come to me,” CereCere whispered to herself confidently. “It’s probably too late to try it tonight, but tomorrow night the fireworks will fly...”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sailor Mars shuffled down the hallway with the others leading back to Naru’s room, grunting in annoyance as her heel snagged a carpet fiber yet again. She welcomed the frustration, though. It served to distract her. Because right now, it wasn’t things like that that made Mars feel so small, or the vertigo-inducing sight of the huge hallway stretching out seemingly forever.

No, what made Mars feel so small and worthless was learning Naru figured out the truth, and how badly it hurt her. How could they have been so oblivious to Naru’s frustration? How could SHE be, with her empathic talents? Through Usagi, she had gotten to know Naru quite well over the past year or so, or so she thought. Was Naru right? Did they just take her for granted, and figure she wasn’t smart enough to deduce the truth? Or just couldn’t be trusted with it? They were supposed to be guardians of love and justice. Now that Mars reflected on Naru’s outburst, perhaps they did act as if she wasn’t that important. Perhaps, on some level, they even believed it.

Mars looked to the other Senshi trudging back with her. Even Venus, normally the most energetic after Sailor Moon, mirrored her own shame and frustration. Jupiter and Mercury didn’t exactly look pleased with themselves, either.

They were more than halfway to Naru’s room, and the trek back had been a silent one. But suddenly, Mercury spoke up. “Do you suppose Naru was right?”

Mars turned to her, not sure how to answer. It was Jupiter who did. “About what in particular, Mercury? In mean there’s no denying, in hindsight, it was pretty stupid to think Naru would never suspect.”

Mercury snorted. “Yeah, it is stupid how we were all blindsided by this,” she admitted. “But it’s not just that. Is Naru right about how we, I don’t know, sort of hogged Usagi to ourselves ever since we awakened as Sailor Senshi?”

“Hogged Usagi to ourselves?” Venus repeated dubiously. “In what way?”

“Well not so much you I suppose,” said Mercury. “But Rei, Makoto and I... We were pretty lonely before Usagi came into our lives. And because of that, she came to mean so much to us... I-I-I-I guess we did sort of steal her away, and all this time we never considered how it affected Naru.”

So Ami is feeling guilty too, Mars thought. It took a moment to add anything, words catching in her throat. “Don’t feel too bad, Mercury. I’ve been beating myself up over this, too.”

“And me,” added Jupiter. “Mercury’s right. Given how isolated most of us were before, at least one of us should’ve considered how Naru would feel about her best friend suddenly finding a new clique.”

“Well, bad as we feel, that won’t fix anything,” said Venus brightly. “As the saying goes... Don’t be sorry, be better!”

Jupiter stopped in her tracks, looking shocked. “Wow, that’s... That might be the first proverb you’ve uttered that makes SENSE.”

Venus glowered at her for a moment, then said, “The point stands. We just have to resolve to make sure we spend more time with Naru is all!”

“Kinda hard NOT to for the foreseeable future,” Mars said dryly. “Until we undo this shrinking curse, we’re stuck together. Does that even count? We’re being forced to acknowledge we screwed up, not like, well, we’re voluntary making amends.”

“I guess we’ll see how well we’ve taken this lesson to heart after we’re back to normal,” said Mercury. “Besides, it’s not as if we could keep Naru out of the loop any longer.”

Mars nodded, not sure what else to say. Mercury was right about how, going forward, nothing would be the same.

At last, they reached the door to Naru’s room. They squeezed back through the crack in the door, and soon enough they were jumping up onto the chair, then back atop the desk. Chibi-Moon was leaning against the desk’s side, fidgeting with the Luna-P. She didn’t even notice their return at first. Tuxedo Kamen was another story. His body language gave away he had been ready to chase after them at one point. “Sailor Senshi, I-I-I sensed a great deal of panic from Sailor Moon for a moment, and then it felt as if she...” He looked behind him, to where Umino was sulking by the mug with pens and pencils. Far more softly, he asked, “Did she really undo her transformation?”

“Yes, and thank you for not rushing after us. We learned the hard way that’ll only make things worse with Naru,” said Mercury.

“And I guess there was no danger in Sailor Moon revealing her identity,” Mars added. “Naru figured it out on her own.” She looked over to Umino again. “And if I’m not mistaken, shared her suspicions with him.”

Tuxedo Kamen looked back to Umino again, and now Chibi-Moon looked up, suddenly looking interested and worried. He either didn’t notice they were back, or just didn’t really care. “So... What’s happening now?”

“Sailor Moon agreed to tell Naru everything,” said Jupiter. “Given how long it’s been since we left them alone, she might be wrapping up everything about the Dark Kingdom by now.”

“Is... that a good idea?” Chibi-Moon asked, walking up to them. “I mean, just like that, spill everything?”

Mars shool her head. “Chibi-Moon, you didn’t see Naru. All this time, she’s felt shut out. She was angry and hurt, and Sailor Moon clearly felt she should’ve told her sooner.”

“Not to mention, after how Naru stuck her neck out today, she’s earned it,” Venus added.

“Hey over there, if you’re talking about how Naru’s probably told Sailor Moon she’s suspected her identity all this time, no need to keep quiet.” They all looked to Umino, who was calling out to them from across the desk. “I figured that’s what all this was about.”

None of them said anything for a moment. With the distance between them, and Umino’s thick glasses, it was hard to tell if there was disapproval in his gaze, any resentment of his own. His voice wasn’t biting, or even dry, just matter-of-fact delivery.

Mercury was the first to speak up. “S-S-S-So, you know who were are as well?”

“Well, the more I thought about it, the more Naru’s suspicions made sense,” said Umino. He began to bridge the gap between them. “I always figured there was a good reason you guarded your secret, so I didn’t mind much, but I guess Naru did. I think I heard you mention Sailor Moon, Usagi... She’s telling her everything? I guess I’ll get the whole story from Naru later.” Umino laughed a little, but his demeanor swiftly turned serious. “But seriously, I guess I see what Naru’s problem was. You really thought I couldn’t hear or wouldn’t be paying attention?”

“Maybe they just figured your head is still fuzzy after it got smushed hard into second base,” Chibi-Moon said darkly.

Umino glared back at Chibi-Moon. “OK, first of all, I thought we weren’t going to talk about that. And second, aren’t you a little too young to be making those sort of jokes?”

Chibi-Moon arched an eyebrow. “Looks can be deceiving...”

Mars facepalmed. “Enough you two. Anyway Umino, yes, we admit it. We’re exactly who Naru suspected we are. Sailor Moon came clean, and so are we. Any burning questions you want to ask?”

Mars wasn’t sure what to expect after that, and Umino looked from one to the other, his expression still inscrutable. She dreaded he'd ask something silly, or extremely personal.

Eventually, he stopped at Venus, who suddenly looked flustered. “Y-Y-Y-Yees, Umino?” she asked.

“Sailor Venus, Minako... You were once Sailor V, right? Worked in the United Kingdom?” Umino asked. Venus nodded dully. “By any chance did you ever see Excalibur while you were over there? What were they like?”

Even when they were all expecting some bizarre question, that still caught Venus off-guard. “The m-m-mutant team, you mean? Nope, never ran into them,” said Venus, clearly baffled.

“Oh? Well, then I guess I got nothin’,” said Umino, shrugging his shoulders. As the Sailor Senshi exchanged confused looks, Umino added, “So please, continue with official Sailor Senshi business, so we can find a way out of this mess.”

“Obviously I should get back to crunching all this data,” said Mercury. “But in the meantime, we should see if we can get more help. Not that Naru hasn’t been a huge help already,” she added quickly, seeing Umino look at her strangely.

“I tried using my communicator on the walk back here, but the signal is too weak now,” said Venus. “So no contacting Artemis that way. Usagi’s house is closer, but no way I’m venturing out there at night to reach Luna. Not with CereCere no doubt stomping around looking for us.”

“Artemis, Luna? Aren’t those your cats?” asked Umino, baffled.

“Yes, Umino, and they talk. We get mission briefings from talking cats,” said Chibi-Moon dryly. “Considering we’re all toy-sized on your girlfriend’s desk, is that really the weirdest thing ever?”

“We’ll have to find another way to get in touch with them,” said Mars. “Or maybe it’s time to call in Sailor Uranus and Neptune...”

“Oh NO! No no no no no. No way in HELL!” Jupiter cried, waving her arms. Mercury and Venus, likewise, shook their heads and grumbled in disapproval.

“Yeah, I’m with Jupiter,” said Chibi-Moon. “Even if they actually bothered to leave any contact information... One, they’d never let us live it down. Two, the very thought of our lives in their hands is almost as bad as if PallaPalla got her grubby mitts on us.”

Mars opened her mouth to object. However, the mental image of Uranus and Neptune’s gigantic forms looming over her, smugly glaring down at her with naked glee as if thinking of all the ways they could mess with her, made her swallow her words. “Yeah, you got a point...”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“So yeah, Pegasus took the spirit of that creep who put the moves on you, and his two friends, and took them someplace,” said Usagi. Gazing up at Naru’s huge face, Usagi saw shock etched in her features. Along with, perhaps, happiness that Tiger’s-Eye had redeemed himself somewhat before the end, and ultimately found some measure of peace.

Then again, as Usagi went through just about everything that she had gone through since becoming Sailor Moon, Naru had looked penty shocked a great many times. She even teared up again more than once, especially when Usagi explained how she had watched her friends die right in front of her when going after Queen Beryl.

“But it wasn’t long until this Amazoness Quartet showed up to replace them,” Usagi went on. “They’ve gone from just violating you by peering into your dreams to straight-up having a monster eat them.”

“L-L-L-Like what CereCere’s was about to do to Umino’s,” said Naru tearfully. “Oh Usagi, I feel worse than ever, how I acted. You saved him in more ways than one, a-a-and I-I-I-I...”

Naru had laid her hands down on the desk, so Usagi ran over and knelt beside one, grabbing her finger. “Naru, it’s OK. You had every right to be upset with me,” said Usagi. “I’m just glad we’re talking now, and you at least understand. I mean, seriously, these buggers are some of the most neurotic we’ve ever faced. Please, don’t make me go into detail about when PallaPalla decided to play dentist...”

Usagi actually felt Naru’s hand shake, so she got the message about that. Still, as Usagi looked up to her again, there was far more sorrow and disbelief in Naru’s eyes than terror.

“OK, Usagi, I get the message. These girls are way more dangerous than Tiger’s-Eye and his friends,” said Naru. “B-B-But I’m gonna need time to let all this sink in. Time-travelling to a millennium from now, that whole mess with Sailor Saturn, I-I-I-I mean... U-U-U-Usagi, it’s amazing how you haven’t changed all that much. I think I would’ve lost my mind if I went through all that.”

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. “Sometimes I don’t get how I’m still ticking either,” said Usagi. “But I guess now you see why I wanted someone ‘normal’ to talk to all this time, and I didn’t want you always worried about me. Same with my family.”

“Still, with how hard being Sailor Moon is, I wish you would’ve told me earlier, if only to have another shoulder to cry on,” said Naru. There was no hardness to her voice now, no disappointment, just geniune concern for a friend. Then, without warning, Naru scooped Usagi up and nuzzled her against her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Usagi! You’re going through so much, and I had to make it worse!”

She was still shedding tears, which began to soak through Usagi’s school uniform. On top of that, though Naru was trying to be gentle, she was pressing Usagi onto her cheek just a little TOO forcefully.

“Ack, Naru! T-T-T-Too tight!” Usagi croaked.

“Whoops,” Naru said sheepishly. She pulled Usagi away from her face, gazing down apologetically.

It was still surreal, seeing the face of the girl she was always rescuing looming so large above her. But at least now, it didn’t fill Usagi with so much anxiety. On the contrary, she felt quite safe in her friend’s hands.

“So are we good now?” Usagi asked. “I mean, you wanted to know everything. About who Sailor Moon really is, what Nephrite was part of...”

Naru nodded. “Y-Y-Y-Yeah. I’ll admit, it was painful to talk abotu Nephrite again, b-b-but at least I know the whole story now. And I-I-I guess I’ll need time to process it, how my friend is really a reincarnated princess...”

“So did I,” said Usagi, laughing. “So maybe we should get back to the others?”

“Oh! Right,” said Naru. With that, Naru cradled Usagi against her chest once again. But now there was no apprehension on Usagi’s part, wondering just what was in store. This time, she just let herself enjoy the ride, even noticing the steady beat of Naru’s heart.

Soon enough, they were back in Naru’s room. Naru gently lowered Usagi down to the desk. After Usagi hopped off her hand, the others anxiously looked her over, then gazed up at Naru. Usagi looked up as well. Naru clearly regretted her outburst earlier, but was still wary of the other Sailor Senshi.

“Everyone, it’s fine,” Usagi said quickly. “I told Naru everything. She understands what she’s gotten herself into, but still wants to help.”

“I... suppose there was no avoiding it,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“So, what do we do now?” Umino asked.

“Besides me figuring out how to break this curse?” said Mercury dryly, looking up from her computer. “We may have other, more immediate concerns. My mother will be working all weekend, thankfully, but the rest of us will have family wondering where we all disappeared to.”

Jupiter sniffed. “Not me. I live alone, remember?”

“Likewise, my family out on business this weekend just like Naru’s mother,” said Venus. “I think Umino mentioned something similar.”

Just then, Usagi heard a phone ring somewhere else in the house. “I’ll get that,” said Naru, seeming a little too eager to get out.

Usagi noticed Mars watched Naru leave with a strange look in her eyes. “And my grandfather took Yuuchiro on a training retreat,” Mars added after Naru left. “If there’s a bright side to this, it’s that we’ve got time to figure this out before any of our families get wise. I mean, the only ones here who have anything to worry about is...”

As if to finish Mars’s thought, Naru stomped back into her room, holding a hand over a cordless phone. “Usagi, bad news! It’s your mother! I t-t-told her you and Chibiusa were staying over here tonight, b-b-b-but...”

“But what, Naru?” Chibi-Moon asked.

“But she’s calling from a payphone by a store only a couple blocks from here!” Naru cried. “She says she’s coming by to talk to you!”

“OK Usagi, how bad did you fail a test this time?” Mars demanded.

“Not the time, Rei!” snapped Jupiter. “Naru, talk to Ikuko again so she doesn’t get suspicious! We’ll, uhhh, well, we’ll think of SOMETHING.”

“What CAN we do!?” asked Venus. “Letting Naru in on our secret was one thing, but Usagi’s family will totally FREAK if they see her and Chibiusa like this!”

“Minako’s right. We’ve got to think of something!” cried Usagi. “If only we could make her think that...” The others looked confused when Usagi suddenly brightened up. “OH! I know EXACTLY what to do! Oh, but if only I can find it...”

“Usagi, she just hung up. I estimate we got ten minutes, if that, before your mother’s at my door,” said Naru gravely. “If you got a plan, let’s hear it now.”

Usagi didn’t respond at first, too busy feeling around her uniform. “Oh, C’MON! I know it’s here somewhere!”

“WHAT’S somewhere!?” demanded Chibi-Moon. “Seriously, Ikuko-mama's practically breathing down our neck and you’re...”

“GOT IT!” Usagi cried triumphantly, pulling out her Disguise Pen. She ran to the desk’s edge and held it up. “Naru, here, take this!”

Usagi could feel the flabbergasted stares from some of the other Senshi on her back. She ignored them as Naru tepidly reached down, plucking the Disguise Pen out of her hand with those huge fingertips. “W-W-W-What do I do with this thing?” Naru asked.

“Quick, hold it above your head and shout, ‘Moon Power, transform me into my good friend Usagi Tsukino!’” Usagi told her.

“Usagi, I seriously doubt this will work,” said Mercury dubiously.

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. “Why not? Venus used it to pose as me.”

“But I’m still a Sailor Senshi,” Venus reminded her. “Not only that, considering how the pen’s shrunk too, I don’t think...”

“Moon Power!” Naru shouted suddenly. “Transform me into my friend Usagi Tsukino!”

Usagi turned back around a moment after light washed over the desk. Plenty of things today had been beyond surreal. Yet it was still a trip to look up and see, after the light faded, a giant version of herself!

Meanwhile, Naru looked down at herself, not noticing any change at first. After all, Usagi’s uniform was identical to hers. Soon enough, though, Naru noticed her blond twintails. She grabbed one, scrutinizing it closely, eyes wide with shock and wonder. Then the desk shook as Naru thrust open a drawer underneath it, nearly making Usagi topple over the edge again. Naru looked into a mirror she pulled out, and had to stifle a scream upon seeing Usagi staring back at her.

“It WORKED!?” shouted Mars, Chibi-Moon and Venus.

“I-I-I-It really worked?” Naru said softly to herself.

“But her voice didn’t change, Usa-ko,” Tuxedo Kamen pointed out. “Your mother might still suspect.”

Usagi coughed obnoxiously, then sniffled. “Suspect what?” she asked sardonically. “There might be a bug going around, messing up people’s voices...”

“Oh PLEASE! Like your mother will fall for that!” spat Mars. “Besides, won’t she also wonder why her daughter suddenly has an Osaka-ben accent?”

Usagi glared at Mars. “Got any BETTER ideas, Rei!?”

Mars snorted as she looked away. “To be honest, no. But I’ve got a suggestion to make this idea suck less.” Looking up to Naru, Mars said, “Naru, undo the odangos and let your hair down.”

Naru looked bewildered, and Usagi couldn’t help but wonder how often she herself looked that clueless. “Well, uh, OK,” she said sheepishly, reaching up for one of the odangos. It wasn’t long before Naru was gritting her teeth in frustration. “Oh wow, Usagi! How do you put up with these things!?”

Naru was so frustrated, she lumbered around while trying to undo the odango. Usagi shrieked as she saw Naru’s hip come right at them. She backed up, but Naru’s hip slammed into the desk hard, nearly knocking everyone on it off their feet.

“HEY, CAREFUL!” Umino cried.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Naru said quickly. “OK, that takes care of the first. Now for the other one.” But as soon as Naru began fumbling with the other odango, the doorbell chimed.

“That’s her! Oh boy, whatever your idea is, Mars, I hope it’s a good one,” said Usagi.

At last, the other odango was undone. Naru let her new long, blond hair cascade down to her ankles. “Wow, having hair this long feels a bit weird,” said Naru, holding some of it in one hand. “OK Rei, what was the point of this?”

“With the hair down, Usagi can hide on your shoulder,” said Mars. “That way, if Ikuko asks you something only Usagi can answer, she can whisper what you need to say.”

“OK, that’s actually a good idea,” Usagi admitted.

“What do you mean, ‘actually’!?” Mars demanded hotly.

“Enough arguing!” Naru snapped. “Let’s just get Mrs. Tsukino off our backs!” Usagi steeled herself as Naru plucked her off the desk again, carefully lifting her up to her shoulder. It took Usagi a moment to steady herself on it, but almost fell off when Naru started moving, forcing her to grab onto hair to keep from falling off.

“Hey, watch it Naru!” Usagi squeaked in protest.

“Sorry, sorry!” Naru said quickly. Naru messed with her hair some more, to make sure the passenger on her shoulders was thoroughly hidden behind it. Usagi gripped the strands of blond hair even more tightly as Naru dashed down the stairs. The vibrations rocked through her tiny body. Naru ran to the door where Ikuko was no doubt waiting. Naru’s hand hesitated over the doorknob, and Usagi could sense her apprehension. The sound of Naru taking a deep breath howled in Usagi’s ears, and finally she swung the door open.

Peeking out from the curtain of blond hair, Usagi bit back a squeal upon seeing her mother looming so monstrously large before her. Ikuko was easily in the top five on the list of people she DIDN’T want to be in the hands of while stuck like this. As she feared, she looked none too pleased, but looked a bit confused as well. “Usagi, darling, your hair...” she began.

“Oh, that. Well, Naru was helping me style it is all, before you called,” Naru said quickly. She was making an obvious effort to pitch her voice higher, plus cover up her Osaka-ben accent.

Usagi shivered when she saw Ikuko raise an eyebrow. “And... what’s wrong with your voice, Usagi?”

Naru let out a little cough. “Oh, just a bit of a cold going around, I suppose. It hit hard during school today,” said Naru. “Chibiusa’s got a bit of it too, and we didn’t want to bring it home, and Naru said she was already getting over it so she’ll be fine, so...”

Usagi swallowed hard as she gazed out at her mother’s billboard-like face, fearing Mars was right to fear this wouldn’t fly. She certainly didn’t look all that convinced. Fortunately, in the end, Ikuko didn’t question what her eyes told her. “Well, alright Usagi, I appreciate your concern for us. Still, that doesn’t excuse not calling on a day like this, after another monster attack. And not doing your chores the past couple days.”

“Uh-oh, I forgot to take out the trash and scrub down the kitchen, I was so wiped out from last night’s monster attack,” Usagi hissed into Naru’s ear.

“Oh, the trash and the kitchen,” said Naru. “I’m really, really sorry, Mama. I just... haven’t got all that much sleep because, uhhh, studying for all the exams and all. I won’t forget again, I promise.” Ikuko didn’t look all that placated, and Naru no doubt picked up on that as well. “Was there... something else? That can’t be the only reason you stopped by.”

Ikuko’s eyes narrowed. “Actually, yes. The box you brought home with your father last week, which you were supposed to hang onto and keep safe, where is it? I went through your whole room, just to make sure you still had it, and couldn’t find it.”

Usagi’s eyes widened and quickly whispered, “Tell her it’s in Chibiusa’s room in the attic.”

“Oh, well, I gave it to Chibiusa. It’s in the attic,” said Naru.

Now Ikuko’s eyes widened in anger. “Usagi, how could you!? Some of those fireworks for his company’s celebration are incredibly dangerous! And I mean blow-your-fingers-off dangerous! How could you think of leaving them with someone so young!?”

Usagi was about to whisper something for Naru to say, but Naru said, “Well, you could argue Chibiusa, in some ways, is more responsible. So I figured I’d trust her with it, make her feel important, plus remove the temptation to do something stupid.” Usagi wondered if Naru heard her grunt in frustration.

Ikuko blinked in surprise. “I suppose that’s a good point...”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Naru went on. “I should’ve kept you in the loop.” Usagi growled again. Was this a subtle jab at keeping being Sailor Moon a secret until now, or how she was still keeping it from her own mother?

“At least I know where it is now, so Kenji can have it handy in a few days,” said Ikuko. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but don’t work too hard, Usagi. You and Chibiusa try to get over that cold before coming back home, you hear?”

“Sure thing, Mama!” cried Naru quickly, in near-perfect imitation of Usagi’s bubbliness.

It looked like the ordeal was almost over, but Usagi suddenly realized something. Her best chance to get in contact with Luna anytime soon was about to walk away. “Naru, quick, tell her to tell Luna that, well... To tell Luna I really want to see her tonight, but I’m stuck here for now.”

Naru relayed that, and Ikuko looked utterly flabbergasted. “You want me to tell... T-T-T-To tell your cat something?”

“Well, I was always get the feeling that cat misses me whenever I’m away from home too long,” said Naru. “It’s just... J-J-J-Just do me this favor, give me a little piece of mind.”

Ikuko still looked befuddled, but nodded. Usagi sighed in relief as she watched the towering form of her mother turn and lumber off. Naru let out a sigh of relief as well and shut the door. As she turned to walk back up to her room, Usagi couldn’t help but ask, “Naru, what was that back there?”

“What was what?” asked Naru, confused.

“Oh please, that was so a veiled jab at how I never fessed up until today,” said Usagi.

“Well, uhhh, I figured there had to be times Ikuko also wondered why you’re late or something, felt left out of the loop, so I tried playing on that,” said Naru. She sounded sincere enough, but Usagi couldn’t help but feel Naru wasn’t as over it as she first seemed.

Naru brought her back to the desk, kneeling beside it to let Usagi hop down. Then Naru handed Usagi back her pen, and in a flash of light, Naru’s disguise melted away. “Crisis averted,” said Usagi. “My mother doesn’t suspect a thing, and hopefully she’ll be relaying a message to Luna. Oh, and Chibiusa, for future reference, Ikuko knows the fireworks were in your room.”

“So we’re safe, for now,” said Mercury. “But while you were gone, we were discussing about how, well, we might not be safe here long-term.”

“What do you mean, Ami?” Naru asked. “CereCere doesn’t know who I am, has no idea you’d be brought here.”

“Not yet,” said Venus. “But considering that Umino was the one targeted for his dreams this time, that may change.”

“Our guess is that since CereCere’s top priority was to draw us out, she didn’t bother with the research and stakeouts that she and her allies usually do,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “But there’s a good chance she’ll consider Umino her only lead, and do some digging after the fact.”

“Yeah, once CereCere sees that huge poster with your face in Umino’s room, it’s all over,” Chibi-Moon added.

“HEY!” Umino snapped.

“Oh c’mon, Umino. Everyone’s dirty laundry is getting aired out today. Full disclosure,” Chibi-Moon shot back dismissively.

“Point is, it’s not safe to stay here,” said Mercury. “We have to go, and scrub any evidence we were here with you before we do.”

Naru’s eyes widened. “But you guys can’t go out there in this state!”

“Naru, we... W-W-W-We can’t ask you to come with us, not after your mother entrusted the store to you,” said Mars.

“No, I gotta see this through to the end, espeially after I was such a jerk,” Naru protested. “But if we can’t stay here, where can we go?”

“To my place,” said Jupiter. “I live alone and don’t have many other friends, so no one will come sniffing around. And hopefully, uhhh, CereCere’s digging won’t reveal any connections between us.”

There was a moment of awkwardness, this admission that an outside observer might not think they were close friends, but Naru didn’t dwell on it and simply nodded. “How am I supposed to get inside if your keys shrank with you?” she asked.

“The Luna-P can become a big skeleton key for you, easy,” said Chibi-Moon.

“We’d better get moving, and soon,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “No telling when CereCere might arrive on your doorstep.”

Naru still looked dubious, obviously doubting CereCere would just leave her mother’s store alone upon finding no trace of her shrunken quarry. Still, the risk of staying here and facing CereCere’s wrath was much greater, surely Naru would see that. At length, she nodded. “OK, we go. Let me just, uhhh, clean up in here and get a few things I’ll need if we’re staying at Makoto’s for a couple of days...”

Her gaze lingered over Umino for a moment, who seemed to wither for a moment, as if to make himself look smaller. Naru looked back down at him strangely, then rose to take the plates of food away. After she came back, Naru started digging in her closet for something. From her vantage point, Usagi couldn’t really see what Naru was doing.

Turning back to the others, Usagi said, “But if Luna gets that message from Mama, she’ll come out all this way for nothing.”

“Once we’re at Makoto’s place, we’ll have Naru call mine,” said Venus. “I’ve got my own line, in case I ever have to leave a message for Artemis.”

Usagi nodded just as Naru stepped back in front of the desk. A duffel bag was slung over her shoulder, and she held her school bag in her other hand.

“OK, boys and girls, time for another ride,” Naru said jokingly, holding the flap open.

“Oh boy, so looking forward to this again,” Mars grumbled.

“Quit complaining. Once again this is our ticket to getting the hell away from CereCere,” said Venus before jumping in. One by one, the other Sailor Senshi followed, but when Usagi was about to jump in, Naru reached over to block her.

“Usagi, since the ride may be... rough again, shouldn’t you change back?” Naru suggested.

“Oh! Oh yeah, good point,” said Usagi. “And you’d better change into Makoto, in case CereCere is already looking for you,” she added, offering the Disguise Pen again. After Naru took it, Usagi clutched her brooch, held it up, and yelled, “MOON CRISIS MAKEUP!” When the light faded, she was back to being Sailor Moon.

Naru stared down at her strangely, as if confused by finally seeing Usagi transform into her alterego for the first time. Then she looked over to Umino, who had yet to jump into her bag. “Hey! What’re you thinking, watching her transform like that!?”

“What d’you mean!? With all the light, I couldn’t see anything!” Umino protested.

“Sure you couldn’t,” Naru grumbled. She scooped them into the bag and closed it, trapping them all in darkness once more.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For this trip in Naru’s school bag, Chibi-Moon didn’t dare turn the Luna-P into a lantern. Now that night had fallen, faint light pouring out from the bag could easily be noticed. They also kept quiet for most of the ride. Now that Tokyo wouldn’t be so bustling after sundown, there was always a chance of being overheard. Even with Naru using the Disguise Pen again, they couldn’t take any chances. After what Naru pulled to get them away from CereCere, it was safe to assume she was super-pissed and looking for any clues, no matter how little.

Still, with all their precautions, it was a nerve-wracking ride, being rocked back and forth in crushing darkness, always worrying that CereCere could strike. At least this time, Naru had taken the time to clean up the mess in this part of her bag. So no risk of a calculator falling on them, or getting skewered by pencils.

Jupiter lost track of time in Naru’s bag, and the waiting was driving her mad. It was so humiliating, having to be spirited from one place to the next like this, almost completely helpless. What made it worse was how Naru was doing so while disguised at her, taking them to her own apartment! This day was just one embarrassment after another, and...

No, stop dwelling on all this, feeling sorry for yourself, Jupiter told herself. You’ll just prove Naru was right. That on some level, you believed Naru was beneath you this whole time, and this is something to be ashamed of. The others would tell you there was no way to expect this, and we owe Naru nothing but gratitude. Intellectually, it made perfect sense to Jupiter, especially after Naru made her feelings known. Despite that, in her heart Jupiter still felt useless, humbled. Well, maybe now you know how Naru always felt whenever bad guys attacked, she reasoned. She could fight even without the benefit of transforming into a Sailor Senshi, Naru couldn’t.

Jupiter had been so wrapped up with these thoughts, at first she didn’t notice the sounds of cars and trucks had faded. All she heard now, besides their breathing and her own thumping heart, was Naru’s footsteps softly echoing outside the bag, as if she here in a hallway. Suddenly, the bag’s rocking stopped, as did the footsteps.

The eight of them winced and hissed as the flap opened, letting in light. “Hey, we’re here,” Naru whispered to them. “I need that key.”

“Oh, right,” said Chibi-Moon, grabbing the Luna-P. “Luna-P, I need a big skeleton key for Makoto’s place!” There was a puff of pink smoke, and the Luna-P became a giant key, which Chibi-Moon clutched awkwardly. Jupiter noticed the other Senshi and Umino still had to make an effort to not jump back as Naru’s giant hand reached in for the key. Chibi-Moon held it up and Naru plucked it with her huge fingers. There was the sound of a door being unlocked, then swung open.

Jupiter felt the bag being gently lowered to the floor, then slowly laid flat so they could crawl out. The eight of them quickly did so, and stared up at Naru, still disguised as Makoto. Jupiter wondered if it felt weird to Usagi, to gaze up at a gigantic version of herself. It didn’t last long, however. Naru reached down to give Chibi-Moon back the Luna-P and the Disguise Pen back to Sailor Moon, and the deception melted away in a flash of light.

“Wow, I don’t think I could ever get used to that. No wonder you don’t use it as much these days, Usagi,” said Naru. “I mean, it was weird, it made me as tall as Makoto! The way a person’s height could change like...”

Naru stopped when she noticed all of them glaring up at her. “OK, good point,” she said sheepishly. “Hang on, let me go do a perimeter check, make sure we’re alone.” Naru pulled out the pipe wrench she used earlier from the duffel bag, clutching her only weapon like a life preserver. Jupiter watched her stomp away to inspect the apartment.

They all took a good look around Jupiter’s place, and started to walk around, taking it in. Jupiter herself was awestruck by how different her own apartment looked from their new vantage point.

Mercury echoed her sentiments. “Your apartment certainly looks different from down here, Jupiter. I mean, all the plants you keep. I can’t help but wonder if the ancient hanging gardens of Babylon looked like this!”

“Oh please, don’t mention anything connected to Babylon,” Mars grumbled. “Hey Usagi, that reminds me, did you even tell Naru about...”

Mars stopped when they heard Naru coming back, still clutching that wrench. “Looks like we’re in the clear,” she said anxiously. “So what now?”

“Now we finally breathe easy,” said Venus. “We’re as safe as we’re gonna be until this curse gets broken somehow.”

“I don’t feel like I can breathe easy,” said Umino. “I feel like all my muscles will be knotted up for weeks.”

“Yeah, you did take a pounding today,” said Jupiter. “A nice, hot bath could help in the meantime, for all of us. Too bad that’s not in the cards right now.”

Naru raised an eyebrow. “Who says it isn’t?”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Oh, you were right Makoto. This is JUST what we needed after all the craziness today!” Usagi cried. She slid down the side of the bathroom sink even further, sighing in relief. It was filled with just enough hot, steamy water to act as a hot tub for the six shrunken girls, and Naru cut up a white hand towel so they could all cover themselves.

“It’s certainly loosening up our muscles,” said Ami. “I just hope it can loosen up my brain. So far, the data I’ve gone over makes no sense. There’s no sign of a toxin, an allergen, or any residual signs of a curse that could cause this. I’m... at a loss.”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out, Ami,” said Usagi confidently. “You always do.”

“Yeah, and when you do, we go find CereCere and her Lemure and...” Minako began, but suddenly her gaze drifted up to the piece of cardboard set beside the sink. “UMINO! I’m sure I saw that divider move!” she shrieked, standing and raising a fist. “You BETTER NOT be trying to peek, or we’ll...”

Rei reached up to place a hand on Minako’s shoulder, pushing her back down into the sink. “Minako, calm down. Umino knows better,” she said.

“Yeah, Minako,” said Chibiusa. “Besides, even if Umino wanted to pull something, he should be more worried about what his giant girlfriend would do!” She pointed to across the bathroom, where Naru was taking a shower, hidden behind the curtains.

“Haha! Good point, Chibiusa!” cried Makoto, and the other girls joined in laughing.

Meanwhile, on the other side of that divider, Umino sat with Mamoru in a tupperware also filled with hot water. He sure didn’t find any of this funny. Like all of the Sailor Senshi, he was desperately trying to relax, and convince himself that this madness would resolve itself in short order.

If Mamoru had any such doubts and anxieties, he didn’t show it. In fact, he obviously picked up on how miserable Umino was feeling. “Umino, is there something wrong?” Mamoru asked. “I mean, there’s PLENTY wrong right now, but besides the obvious...”

“Mamoru, do you ever feel useless?” Umino asked, cutting him off. Mamoru blinked in surprise, not sure how to answer, so Umino went on. “I mean, you’re Tuxedo Kamen, right? The one always rushing in to protect Sailor Senshi, or at least that’s what Usagi always says. Are there ever any times, that, well, you fear you’re not enough to turn the tide?”

To Umino’s surprise, Mamoru laughed a little. “A fat lot of good I did today, rushing in with the others instead of hanging back in reserve like usual. And Umino, when Naru tells you everything Usagi laid bare, you’ll discover that there were plenty of times I was useless too. WELL before this happened. I got brainwashed, I got kidnapped and hauled to an asteroid of killer flowers, I had to stay behind to make sure Chibiusa didn’t die from having her pure heart ripped out...”

“Oh, that happend to her too?” Umino sighed, leaning back so his head hung over the tupperware’s lid.

“The point is, Umino, that there were times I had to rely on Usagi and her friends to pull my ass out of the fire,” said Mamoru. “It wasn’t always the other way around.”

“Still, at least you’re there when you can be, able to actually DO stuff,” said Umino. “Seems that whenever Naru and I get mixed up in all this, I’m worse than useless. And then there’s today, where I get taken out first thing and wake up to find myself...”

“Completely dependent on Naru, just like how I found myself dependent on Usagi more than once?” Mamoru pointed out. Umino looked at him, surprised. “Umino, I know it can be hard, this feeling that you can’t always help the one you love. But sometimes, it takes even more strength to admit you need help, and to just let the one you love provide it.”

“I... see where you’re going with this,” said Umino. “I appreciate how you’re trying to make me feel better. Still, you’ve got powers, and fighting skills, and...”

“DON’T think yourself as useless, Umino. Just don’t,” said Mamoru roughly. “You’ve got skills of your own. You heard Ami. Even Sailor Mercury is having trouble with this mystery. You might have an opportunity to help us out of this yet.”

Umino wondered if Mamoru really believed that, or was just trying to cheer him up. Before he could ask anything else, Naru’s voice rang out. “OK, I’m done! Umino, you and Mamoru keep behind that divider, you got it!?”

Umino wasn’t even tempted. He slid down in the tupperware so far, he was submersed up to his eyes. Once Naru finally shouted he was clear to get out, he almost didn’t hear thanks to the water surrounding his ears.

There were more cut-up strips of a towel to dry off with. Mamoru dried off quicker, and soon changed back into Tuxedo Kamen. Umino had to step back into his old clothes. Naru had swirled all their clothes around in sudsy water, then blasted them with a hair dryer. They almost burned to the touch.

As Umino hissed in annoyance, he heard the Sailor Senshi on the other side of the divider scream their transformation phrases. Umino still wasn’t sure how he felt about that, them being the Sailor Senshi all this time, but never telling him or Naru. Naru had clearly been more bothered by it. He wondered if she still was.

He couldn’t dwell on it long, however. Suddenly, the divider was yanked away. Umino looked up to see Naru smiling down at them, dressed in her pajamas and tying her hair back. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want get right to sleep, get a break from this insanity.”

“That’s... probably for the best,” said Venus.

“We might as well try to get some sleep, too,” Mars added.

“Well then, I’ll carry you all back to Makoto’s bedroom,” said Naru. She smiled again when her eyes fell on Umino. Umino gulped, not sure what was in store. “But you, Umino, get to travel first class.” He wasn’t given any time to figure out what that meant. Umino yelped when Naru’s hand came right for him. She plucked him off the bathroom counter, and when the vertigo faded, Umino saw she was about to drop him in her pajama pocket. He blushed hard when she did, realizing he was once again ridiculously close to...

Thankfully, it wasn’t a long trip to the bedroom. When Umino finally got over his embarrassment, he saw Naru had a small table set close to Makoto’s bed. There were socks and cotton balls on it, no doubt to serve as sleeping bags and pillows. Naru gently set the Senshi down on it, while leaving Umino in her pocket.

When she sat down on the bed, Umino heard Mars call out, “Naru, we’re going to take turns keeping watch throughout the night. In case Luna and Artemis show up, or if CereCere does find us.”

Umino couldn’t really read Naru’s expression when he looked up from her pocket, and all she did was nod. Then she got settled under the blankets, but remained sitting up and didn’t turn the lamp off. Instead, she plucked him from the pocket, then held him securely with both hands. Umino fervently hoped his anxiety wasn’t bleeding through as he was brought up to that huge, smiling face. It was still so scary, awakening to a world far too big for him, plus Naru being so huge was just surreal.

Naru’s beaming face helped ease his anxieties a little, at least. “So, how are you holding up, Umino?” she asked softly.

Umino blinked in surprise, not sure why he was befuddled by a straightforward question. “W-W-W-What d’you mean?”

Naru shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I got so wrapped up with talking to Usagi, and fussing about the Sailor Senshi, and then we were on the move... I haven’t given you enough attention, I’ve realized,” she said sweetly. Her smile still melted his heart, no matter how gigantic she was. “Usagi explained what would’ve happened if she hadn’t charged in when she did. Your dreams, literally eaten. It scared me, to think I almost lost you today. And the Sailor Senshi may not admit it, but they’re scared too, so I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.” She gently petted his hair with her fingertip, gazing at him adoringly.

Umino just lay there in her grasp and let it happen, not sure what to do or say. Then he remembered what Mamoru said, about when you needed help and someone you cared for was willing to provide it. Just go with it.

“I-I-I-I'm hanging in there, Naru,” said Umino, even chuckling a little. “I mean, I-I-I-I'm in good hands. Quite literally.”

Naru smiled again. “That you are, little guy. And y’know, right now, looking at you.... You’re like a cute, cuddly little hamster or something.”

Umino frowned. That wasn’t the sort of thing he needed to hear. Before he could voice any objections, Naru brought him closer. He yelped as she pressed him against her cheek, nuzzling him as one would a pet rodent. “My brave little Umino,” she cooed. She then pulled Umino away, only to bring him close again, her lips puckered up.

“Naru!? What’re you...” Umino began, but was cut off when his face was smothered by her lips. He and Naru had never kissed before, and he never imagined their first one would be quite like this!

It took a moment for Umino to realize he should be kissing her back, but by then, Naru had pulled away. Only to bring him back in for a few little pecks before planting another big, long one, giving him an opportunity to lick and bite at her lower lip.

Naru pulled him away again, giggling. “Umino, that tickled!” she squealed. For a moment, she just held him there in her hands, gazing lovingly at him. Umino was still at a loss for words, but as always, Naru’s smile put him at ease. Then her eyes narrowed, a wry smirk forming on her lips. “Heh, bet you never imagined your first kiss or your first time being in bed with a girl would be like this, huh?”

Umino’s face flushed again, far worse than ever before.

Naru giggled again, then lowered him back into her pocket before lying down. “Well, good night, Umino.”

Umino was still so flustered, it took a moment for that to register. Just as Naru was about to turn off the lamp, he shouted, “Wait! You’re leaving me here while you sleep!?”

He twisted around in her pocket to see Naru glaring at him. “Well you’re not going UNDER my clothes again, if that’s what you’re hoping.”

“What!? NO!” Umino protested. “I-I-I-It's just that, w-w-w-well... If you turn over in your sleep, what happens to me!? You’ll have to tie yourself down with rope or I’m as good as squashed!”

“And Naru, since there’s still a risk CereCere might show and we’d have to move at a moment’s notice, I’d strongly advise against doing that,” came Mercury’s voice from the table.

Naru made a pouty face, but relented and pulled Umino out of her pocket. “Oh, fine,” she huffed. She stood up and gently set Umino down, then walked off somewhere. Umino looked down the length of the bed, feeling crushed by its enormity, standing on this thing made for a titan. Plus all the plants Makoto kept in here almost made the place look like a jungle, too.

Umino snapped out of it when he heard the rumbling of Naru’s approaching footsteps. Looking up, he saw she had fetched him his own sock and cotton ball.

Chapter 4: It's All Fun and Games Until...

Sunrise was still about a half-hour away, and Tokyo’s streets and sidewalks had yet to grow unbearably crowded again. This was fortunate, as it gave Luna ample time to make her way to the OSA-P with minimal hassle. Still, despite the relative ease of her trek, Luna felt frustrated as all get out. All these hours running around the city looking for any clue of the Sailor Senshi’s whereabouts! On top of that, according to Artemis, Minako had also yet to return to their place. And no word from Usagi herself until her mother relayed some cryptic message about an hour ago, when Luna checked back in at the house!

Why get a message to me THAT way, Usagi!? Why not just use your communicator!? Luna wondered as she crossed a street, a car coming closer that she liked. She should’ve been more cautious, but frustration was overriding reason. Besides, the OSA-P was only about a block away, and Luna wanted answers. Honestly, that girl... Just when I think she’s finally matured, she lets me go out of my mind with worry! This was just a normal Lemure attack, right? The Sailor Senshi have toasted a score of these! Why would this attack be different!?

At last, there was only one last big street to cross. Luna looked up at the OSA-P's sign from the sidewalk, her goal in sight. Luna mused about how she hardly saw it anymore, probably because Usagi had to spend so much time with the other Sailor Senshi, with one new enemy after another popping up. Still, it looked the same as she remembered it, like a bright, resplendent beacon on this somewhat dreary block.

Yet as Luna gazed over at Naru’s home, waiting for the walk signal, she sensed something amiss. It should’ve instilled some caution, but it only made Luna even more anxious to get across. Her patience almost evaporated by the time the walk signal changed, and Luna dashed ahead of the humans waiting.

Don’t want to chance any of them stepping on my tail anyway, Luna thought. I bet Usagi doesn’t realize how hard it can be, stuck close to the ground... 

Once on the other side, Luna looped around the OSA-P to the front door of Naru’s home, only then realizing she wasn’t quite sure how to get in with the store still closed. Should she just make a ruckus until someone came to the door, hopefully Usagi or Chibiusa?

As Luna weighed her options, she heard loud footsteps approaching, just beyond the door. Furthermore, that sense of something amiss, it was getting closer as well.

Luna’s eyes widened. She was so wrapped up in her frustration with Usagi, she had missed signs of nearby evil. Hissing angrily, she ducked behind a trash can and some garbage bags beside the door.

She peeked out from behind the can just as the door slammed open. Luna’s paws flew to her face to keep from gasping. Out stomped CereCere! Luna thought SHE was pissed, but CereCere was clearly on the verge of exploding with rage.

CereCere slammed the door shut, then took a deep breath. Her eyes were closed, as if putting on a show of having it all under control. But then, the explosion came. She let out a scream that would’ve made Esmeraude look like she lost her voice, then ran over and kicked the trash can over in a fit of rage.

Luna shrieked in surprise, scurrying away. Thankfully, CereCere paid her no mind. She kept screaming and kicking at the trash can and the garbage bags, flinging them every which way. “THEY’RE. NOT. HERE!” she shrieked, giving the trash can one last kick. “This is where the girlfriend of that geeky kid Zircon pointed out lives! They HAVE to be here!”

“Geeky kid? Wait a minute... UMINO was their target this time!?” Luna wondered, peeking around the corner. “And who’s she looking for? Not the Sailor Senshi, certainly.”

CereCere was already calming down, her breathing steadying after her outburst. Still, the fact that CereCere lost it scared Luna. All their intel suggested CereCere was the most mature of the Amazoness Quartet. Of course, with them, ‘mature’ was a relative term.

“All that time figuring out just who that dork was... It was that girlfriend of his who made fools of PujePuje and I, I was so sure of it!” CereCere went on. “This was my only lead! And now it’ll take too long to figure out where else those Senshi brats could’ve been spirited off to! So might as well be ready for Plan B once the sun goes back down. They’ll come to me!”

Luna watched CereCere storm off before she seemingly faded into thin air, leaving her with more questions than answers. The Sailor Senshi were spirited off somewhere after rescuing Umino from a Lemure? Could it really have been Naru? And why was CereCere still looking for the Sailor Senshi even after failing to find Pegasus? Were the Sailor Senshi hurt, or worse?

No, take heart that you’re not the only one looking for them, Luna told herself. That means they’re still alive. Of course, just like CereCere, she had no idea where else to look. But with how CereCere mentioned some ‘Plan B’ to draw the Sailor Senshi back out, she had to find them fast.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The first rays of sunlight peered through the windows, washing over Jupiter’s many, many plants. Her shift had been the very last. She looked at all the plants basking in the life-giving rays. Mercury had a point about how wondrous and teeming all this plant life looked from her new perspective down here. Didn’t mean Jupiter wasn’t anxious to not be so close to the ground and pound a certain plant-creature.

For nearly two hours, Jupiter had paced back and forth throughout her apartment, watching for any signs of CereCere paying a visit. Nearly every time a plant rustled from a stiff breeze, or a machine buzzed somewhere in the distance, Jupiter’s heart would leap into her throat, fearing they were found out. But dawn had come at last, and that haughty, toweing brat hadn’t busted in.

Only now, with no more need for lookouts, did Jupiter’s nerves finally settle down. The familiarity with her own apartment certainly helped, even if she was seeing it all from a humbling new perspective. It was still so surreal, her own home now too big for her, looking like the dwelling of some giant in a fairy tale instead.

Get a grip, Makoto. That ‘giant’ in question is your friend, and you owe it to her to stop pitying yourself and be grateful, Jupiter told herself.

Taking a deep breath, Jupiter began her trek back to her bedroom to see if anyone was rising with the sun. The most direct route had Jupiter walking under a table in the living room, then cutting a corner around the couch.

A few moments later, Jupiter squeezed through a crack in the divider between her bedroom and the rest of the apartment. Indeed, the sun’s rays were slowly filtering through the windows in here as well. Soon enough, they would all be up. Jupiter walked up to the table her fellow Senshi were sleeping on, and with one forceful leap, she hopped up onto it.

None of them were awake just yet, and Jupiter decided not to disturb them. Given how most of them had broken sleep thanks to all of them standing watch at some point, best to let them sleep as long as possible.

As she walked across the table, Jupiter looked over them all, envying how peaceful they all looked while sleeping. Such apparent bliss belied their predicament. Just because Jupiter understood she shouldn’t be wallowing in self-pity didn’t mean that there wasn’t genuine danger, being stuck like this.

A sharp snort made Jupiter look down. She had just passed the sock in which Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon were all huddled together. Mamoru had his mask and hat off, Sailor Moon was at one side clinging to him, and Chibi-Moon on the other.

Naturally, it had been Sailor Moon who let out a little snore, plus she drooled a little. She also seemed to be mumbling something. Sailor Moon groggily grumbled, “C’mon Mamo-chan, w-w-w-we're the only thing between that kaiju and a city of two million people...”

Jupiter stood there for a moment, perplexed. “That must be one hell of a dream she’s having,” she whispered. “Bet it’d make a good movie, though I doubt it’ll be a while before I can watch kaiju movies again.”

Before Jupiter turned away, Chibi-Moon also talked in her sleep. “Y-Y-Y-Yeah. Y’see, McKenzie? THAT’S how you smash a building...”

“It’s gonna suck, Chibiusa, waking up to realize you’re not giant-sized, but quite the opposite,” Jupiter groaned as she walked off. She nearly reached the edge to jump off when another Senshi mumbled in her sleep.

This time, it was Mercury. “Hmmm, Urawa, c-c-c-careful,” Mercury muttered softly. “N-N-N-No, I do trust you. I-I-I-I know my life is literally in good hands.”

Wow, AMI’S having a romantic dream, of all people? Jupiter thought in amazement. But maybe it wasn’t a surprise that she was tiny in her dream as well, from the sound of it.

Jupiter wondered what that would be like, having a giant boyfriend and being in his hands. She had a bad reputation and was usually rejected by guys for being taller than other girls, but that hardly meant she’d want to swing to an opposite extreme. Still, the notion stuck with her. Jupiter supposed there was a romantic element to it, the idea you could put such trust in a guy. In the end, Jupiter decided it’d be better to have a dream like Chibiusa’s. Be big enough to pluck a cute guy off the street, and if he wasn’t scared out of his mind, see where it went.

“Naru’s more or less living that dream now,” Jupiter muttered, looking over to her bed. It was still weird, seeing Naru sleeping in her bed, now too big for her. And to Jupiter’s shame, she still felt a little humiliated about that.

Naru was still fast asleep, but with sunlight now peeking in, Jupiter could see that Umino was just rising. He groggily walked around the pillow. Naru’s face was turned to him, and he just... stood there, transfixed by the sight.

Go on, Umino, steal a kiss while she’s asleep. She planted plenty on YOU last night, Jupiter thought. Jupiter wondered what was going through Umino’s head. Was he still trying to get used to this, like she was? Or like Mercury in her dream, was Umino able to just go with it?

I hope it’s the latter, Jupiter thought. I saw how Naru handled him last night. Nothing but love and understanding.

Suddenly, Naru turned in her sleep, her arm about to come crashing down on Umino. With a shriek, Umino jumped back. He avoided getting squashed by her forearm, but was now teetering over the bed’s edge.

Jupiter jumped down from the table and ran. Umino managed to grab the bedsheet after tumbling backward, but couldn’t get a good grip. Jupiter dashed underneath him just as Umino lost his hold, and jumped up to catch him.

Umino stared up at Jupiter for a moment, still in shock. “W-W-W-Whoa, g-g-g-g-good catch,” he eventually got out.

“I do my best,” Jupiter said with a smile, hoping to put Umino at ease. Instead, even after Jupiter set him down, Umino kept looking up, more panicked than ever. It looked like he was trying to get some words out, but was too freaked out to speak.

“What? Umino, come on, what’s...” Jupiter began. Finally, Umino pointed up, and Jupiter’s gaze followed to see the sole of Naru’s bare foot coming right down at them!

Jupiter screamed, frozen in fear, but luckily Umino got over his. He tackled her, and they both tumbled underneath the nightstand, an awkward tangle of limbs. Still, Jupiter could feel when Naru’s feet slammed onto the floor. Shoving Umino off of her and looking back, she saw the heels of those huge, bare feet and shuddered. Perhaps a Senshi’s durability would let her survive getting pinned under those, but Jupiter would’ve rather not found out.

“Ugh, can’t believe I slept so well,” Naru muttered groggily from high up. “What about you... UMINO!?” The last word Naru shouted was even louder than her stomping feet, making Jupiter wince. Naru’s feet shuffled around, and Jupiter heard the sheets being ruffled, no doubt looking frantically for Umino. “Umino... WHERE DID YOU GO!?”

“Naru! We’re down here!” Jupiter shouted, slowly walking out from under the nightstand with Umino in tow. Thankfully, Naru heard her. The floor rumbled a little as Naru got down on one knee. She leaned down to peer at them, her face full of worry.

“Makoto, Umino... What’re you two doing under there?” Naru asked. Though, from her expression, Jupiter supposed Naru had a good guess.

“Umino, uhh, took a bit of a tumble when you rolled over in your sleep,” Jupiter said. “Oh, and just a safety tip, please be a bit more careful where you plant your feet.”

Naru screwed her eyes shut, her face twisted in shame and frustration. “Oh boy, the sooner we figure out how to undo this, the better.”

“You’ll get no argument from me,” Jupiter replied.

“Here, let’s get you two off the floor,” said Naru, reaching for the both of them. Jupiter was getting better at forcing down anxiety whenever Naru’s hands came for her. Still, she hoped she wouldn’t have to get too used to it.

Doing her best to relax as Naru’s hand closed around her, Jupiter watched as Naru rose and turned around, bringing them to the table with the others. The commotion had woken the others. All except Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon however, who dreamily clung to Tuxedo Kamen, even as he tried to rise from his ‘sleeping bag’.

Naru set Jupiter and Umino down on the table, then knelt beside it. “Is... everyone OK after last night? I mean, despite the obvious...”

“I guess we slept as well as can be expected,” said Mercury. “And I’m anxious to get back to work. Maybe now, I’ll actually get somewhere.” Jupiter suppressed a snicker. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mercury just wanted to forget about that dream.

“So asking for any help with schoolwork is out of the question, huh?” Naru asked.

She was smiling, but Jupiter wondered how much frustration and embarrassment still lingered from when they butted heads yesterday. Thanks to Sailor Moon being upfront with her, tensions had cooled. However, Jupiter doubted any lingering frustrations would just vanish overnight. Being all too familiar with the sting of rejection, Jupiter couldn’t blame Naru if that was the case.

Just then, Sailor Moon spluttered something, half-asleep still despite sitting up. “Y-Y-Y-Yeah Mama, b-b-b-b-blueberry pancakes sound good...”

Naru, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter couldn’t help but giggle. Mars, however, gave her a smack on the back of her head to wake her fully.

“ACK! The sake is under the elephant, I swear!” Sailor Moon cried. Now everyone giggled. Except for Sailor Moon, who just glared up at Mars, rubbing her head.

“Usagi did raise a valid point,” said Venus. “What are we going to do about breakfast?”

Any composure Jupiter had before nearly vanished. The realization of being in no shape to cook hit her all over again. Worse, they were now in HER apartment, where she should be whipping up some culinary wonders!

“Guess that’s on me,” said Naru. Jupiter couldn’t help but hang her head in shame, but then Naru added, “But Makoto, I-I-I-I... I could really use some help with that.” Jupiter looked back up, surprised. But the look on Naru’s face... She wasn’t doing this out of pity. Naru genuinely didn’t feel up to the task. “I’d like to make something special to make up for losing my head yesterday, but I’m not good with fancy cooking. But first... Ugh, I need to use the bathroom.”

“Naru, uhhh, so do I,” Umino piped up, embarrassed.

Naru looked down at him strangely, then picked up backed up as she rose. “C’mon, let’s go then,” she said as she walked off with him.

The Sailor Senshi watched her go, and Venus said, “Poor Umino. He’s always so nervous, trying to plan for everything. But I bet he never imagined his first time staying with Naru would be like THIS.”

“Yeah, but what’s going on between them can’t be as hard as, well, us and her going forward,” Sailor Moon pointed out.

That was unusually dour for Sailor Moon, often so optimistic, but perhaps it was small wonder that was still weighing on her mind. Jupiter’s own guilt, regarding how they hurt Naru by keeping their secret all this time, still stung. It looked to be the same for the other Senshi as well.

Not much else was said before Naru returned. They looked up from the table as she lumbered back over, leaning over to set Umino down. Then her hand went for Jupiter. Jupiter steeled herseld, determined to not show a hint of hesitation. Yet to her confusion, it was Naru who hesitated. “Makoto, you ready to whip something up?” Naru asked.

Well, at least she’ll still ask permission sometimes, Jupiter thought. She simply nodded, and Naru’s hand closed around her again. Instead of carrying her to the kitchen, Naru dropped Jupiter in her pajama pocket.

Naru plucked Jupiter from her pocket and placed her on the kitchen counter. Jupiter took a moment to look around. Not too far away was the fruit she bought the day before. Grapefruits as big as wrecking balls, and a watermelon nearly the size of a house!

She looked back up to Naru, who still had an uneasy look on her face. “So, got any ideas?” Naru asked. “It’s usually Umino who does the cooking. Hopefully he’s not too upset about me taking over this time.”

Jupiter snorted. “Naru, after how you smothered him with affection last night, he BETTER not be.”

Naru’s face flushed a little, but she still laughed softly. “No, I guess you’re right.” Jupiter laughed along, despite realizing it was a tad hypocritical, insisting Umino shouldn’t be upset when she had similar sentiments. “Come to think of it, it shows how ridiculous it is, the way some guys have a problem with how tall you are. I think he’s dealing with only making it past his girlfriend’s ankle a LOT better.” Jupiter laughed with her again, even though this one hit home harder. “But seriously, Makoto, what are we making for everyone?”

Jupiter scratched her chin. “How about I show you how to make some wicked good tamagoyaki? Plus it’s great for adding to bento boxes too, for when you want to cook for Umino again.”

Naru smiled, clapping her hands together. “Sounds good!”

“You’ll need to get all the ingredients for me, obviously. Good thing I did some shopping the other day,” said Jupiter.

She rattled off the list, and in short order, Naru got everything needed out of the refrigerator and arranged on the kitchen counter. Of course, from Jupiter’s vantage point, it took a while to take inventory. She had to walk among the ingredients to do so.

“Everything looks good, so go ahead and crack the eggs open,” said Jupiter. Naru nodded and did so. Jupiter watched the two egg yolks slide down into that gigantic glass bowl. “This first part’s tricky, Naru. You have to slice up the yolks a little with chopsticks and whisk them really gently, not mixing them around too much.”

Naru’s eagerness seemed to fade. “Do you think you could show me? I’m a bit of a visual learner when it comes to cooking.”

Jupiter gazed up at Naru with a blank look. “Naru, if I could do any of this myself, we’d be having breakfast ten minutes ago.”

“But you’ve still got to be strong enough to handle chopsticks, right?” Naru protested. “Makoto, please, I want to make sure I get this first step for when I try later.”

Jupiter sighed and relented. “Fine. I’ll need something to stand on, though.”

“Oh! Right.” Naru looked around, and a moment later she set a stack of cookbooks next to the bowl. Jupiter climbed atop them and looked down at the two massive egg yolks, but looked up when Naru handed her a pair of ceramic chopsticks.

Naru was right about easily handling chopsticks at her size, but Jupiter took a moment to get used to handling them. In the end, she had to secure the ends snugly under her armpits as she leaned over to begin. Still, Jupiter was amazed by how deftly she could use them.

“Like I said, you’ve got to have a light touch for this first part,” said Jupiter as she got to work. “As you might imagine, it took someone like me a while to get it right.” That elicited laughs from both of them. For a moment, Jupiter feared she’d mess this up for the first time in years, having difficulty gauging just how much force to use. Thankfully, everything was looking good, and the yolks were getting sliced up just right.

Jupiter spared a moment to look up. Naru was watching carefully, taking mental notes. But Jupiter caught Naru casting furtive glances right at her. She wondered if Naru also insisted she slice up the eggs so she wouldn’t feel useless. Naru had aspirations to be a nurse, right? Weren’t nurses trained to let their patients handle whatever they could on their own, encourage independence, as part of psychological recovery?

Naru mixed up the seasonings herself, though, and then added them into the eggs so Jupiter could gently whisk them together. “That’s it for the egg mixture,” said Jupiter. “Actually adding them to the pan and rolling the sheets, that’s all on you, Naru.”

“I understand, Makoto,” said Naru, taking the chopsticks from her. “But thank you for showing me how to start. You never cease to amaze. A super-strong chef. I mean, I wonder what other kitchen gear you can handle at that size!”

The chopsticks were a bit unwieldly, so Jupiter wasn’t itching to try handling gigantic kitchen knives. “I’d rather not find out.”

“Still, I’m really curious about how strong you still are,” said Naru. “Could I, I-I-I dunno, do a little strength test on you?”

Jupiter gazed up at her dubiously. She didn’t quite like the sound of that, but felt it was best to indulge Naru. She was, technically, a guest in her apartment. “OK, I-I-I-I guess,” Jupiter croaked out.

“OK, just try to push back,” said Naru. Jupiter understood what she meant when her finger came down right at her. Jupiter quickly grasped Naru’s fingertip and pushed back with all her strength. Amazingly, she flung Naru’s hand back up quite a distance.

“Wow, I felt my wrist twist there for a second!” Naru cried, impressed. “Let’s try again, but it’ll be a bit harder this time, OK?”

Once again, all Jupiter could do was nod. Naru’s hand came down again. Jupiter grabbed her fingertip like before, but this time Naru was applying MUCH more pressure, forcing Jupiter down into a squat. Jupiter could only push Naru’s hand back up a little bit this go-round, and the force required shoved her down onto the kitchen counter hard.

“Oh, Makoto! Are you OK!?” Naru asked, her voice full of concern.

“I’ll live,” Jupiter gasped as she slowly stood back up. “No more of that, though.”

“Agreed,” said Naru quickly. “Let’s finish up what we came here to do. I’ll heat up and oil a pan.”

Naru got to work doing just that. She looked over the stove, trying the gauge when the pan would be hot enough. Jupiter found that she didn’t mind as much now, that Naru had to do most of the heavy lifting. She was being such a good friend, despite everything, and it helped make Jupiter a bit more at ease.

Suddenly, Naru looked back to her. “I really mean it, Makoto. Y-Y-Y-You're amazing. And Usagi told me about the night you became Sailor Jupiter, a-a-a-and I can’t stop thinking about it...”

“Thinking about what, Naru?” Jupiter asked.

“I mean, that monster, you just straight-up picked it up and chucked it away, without a second thought,” said Naru. “Me? Back at that restaurant yesterday, I was so panicked I didn’t make a move until the last minute.”

Jupiter looked over to her, not sure what to say. “Naru, ANYONE with enough sense would’ve been scared back there,” she said reassuringly. “And back right before I learned I’m Sailor Jupiter, I was too worked up and angry to be all that afraid.”

“Still, what you’ve gone on to do...” Naru went on. “The way Usagi described it, new enemies coming around with new types of monsters, each out to visit some fresh hell on this city... It sickens me to think I got so bitter toward all of you, when you always had that to deal with. A-A-A-And I used to think it would be great to be a Sailor Senshi, but now I see I would’ve lost my mind.”

If Naru had sought to make her feel less useless, it was time to return the favor. “Naru, what about when you tried to protect Nephrite?” Jupiter said quickly. “And that mess in the graveyard? You attacked Zoisite head-on, right? Having someone you cared about helped you get over fear and act, just like yesterday.”

It looked like Naru had been about to shed tears, but she nodded, blinking them back. “And Naru, we may be reincarnated princesses that draw power from planets, but we’re not perfect,” Jupiter went on, encouraged. “I’ll level with you, Naru. Since we got shrunk, I started feeling resentful and sorry for myself, and it took a while to see how ungrateful I was being. Even after the sting of seeing how keeping this secret hurt you, it took more time to get over it and realize how thankful I should be that we still have a friend like you. I mean, that mess with Zoisite... Seeing how much Usagi cared about you made me realize I’d become part of something special.”

For a moment, Naru looked at her blankly, and Jupiter wondered if she said something wrong. But then Naru smiled. “Thanks, Makoto. I-I-I guess we both have some stuff to get over. I’d pick you up and hug you, but...” Naru wiggled her fingers. “Think I still got some cooking oil on them.”

“Good call,” said Jupiter. “That pan should be hot enough, by the way. What say we start pouring the first layer?”

“Oh! Right,” Naru said quickly. She grabbed the bowl with one hand and wiped her other off on a towel, before picking Jupiter up to take over to the stove.

Even with her durability as a Senshi and being a good distance away from the burner, Jupiter felt the heat. Jupiter ignored it and watched as Naru slowly poured the mixture. “OK, we need just a thin layer, and you’ll want to poke some holes with a fork in a little bit to release air...”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Whatever Jupiter and Naru were cooking, it sure smelled good. The scents wafted all the way into the bedroom. Sailor Moon made an effort to hide it and wait patiently, but Venus could tell the smells were making her hungry. She was getting a little hungry herself, to be honest.

Not to mention bored. Even if there was really nothing that could be done until Mercury figured out how to break the curse, Venus felt the need to move about, to do SOMETHING.

So in the end, Venus wandered out of the bedroom, deciding to take a peek at whatever Jupiter had Naru cooking. Besides, Venus hadn’t gotten a good look at the place from her vantage point last night before going to sleep. Mercury had taken first watch, wanting to work on a cure a bit longer, and by the time it was Venus’s shift, there was very little light.

So now, going through Jupiter’s home like this was quite a wonder. And not as intimidating as going down the halls of Naru’s home, since this was at least more familiar. The giant plants everywhere really sold it. In fact, there was one potted plant hanging close to the kitchen counter. What was essentially a giant vine dangling down to nearly the floor, as if inviting Venus to climb up.

“Tee hee, just like Jack and the Giant Beanstalk!” Venus cried as she jumped up. The end was a foot or so off the floor, but Venus still reached it easily. It wasn’t long before Venus climbed her way up into the hanging pot, and could then jump down onto the kitchen counter.

Looking to her left, Venus saw some grapefruit stacked precariously, along with a trailer-sized watermelon. Then she looked ahead, seeing Naru’s back was to her. Jupiter sat on her shoulder, saying something into her ear. From this distance, Venus couldn’t quite hear. But then Naru turned to the side a little, and Venus could see Naru carefully rolling something in a pan with chopsticks.

“Oh, you’re making tamagoyaki!? Sweet!” Venus cried.

This startled Naru so much, she whirled around and the chopsticks flew out of her hands. Venus instinctively ducked, but the chopsticks didn’t come anywhere close to her. Instead, they struck somewhere behind that watermelon, and a large cookbook that had been standing fell over. That, in turn, forced the watermelon forward, and also knocked all those grapefruit loose.

“Uh-oh...” Venus muttered blankly as grapefruit as tall as she was sped toward her like giant bowling balls.

She ducked and swerved around on the table, some of the grapefruit barely missing her. Venus breathed a sigh of relief as the last one passed, but then looked to see that gigantic watermelon was almost on top of her!

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Venus cried as she turned and bolted. But she was running out of countertop. Venus skidded to a halt at the edge, the watermelon still coming. Naru was moving to catch it, but it didn’t look like she would reach it in time.

Looking around, Venus noticed another hanging plant, just too far away to jump to. But with that watermelon a second away from steamrolling her, she had to move. After taking one furious leap, she shouted, “Venus Love-Me Chain!” The golden chain snared part of the plant spilling over the pot, and Venus swung back and forth like a pendulum. She was starting to get dizzy, but thankfully Naru came over.

Grabbing the bit of the plant her chain was attached to, Naru lifted it up so Venus came up to her face. “Uhhh, Minako, I know you’re probably getting hungry, but it might’ve been a better idea to wait,” she said wryly.

Venus couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Good thing she at least caught that before it hit the floor, otherwise... Fruit salad’s not the best with tamagoyaki, in my opinion,” Jupiter said from her shoulder. “Plus, it’d be one big mess to clean up.”

“Hey, I was almost a mess that needed cleaning up!” Venus protested. “Seriously Makoto, we need to talk about how you stash your produce.”

Naru brought a hand up underneath Venus. “Then I better keep you close,” she said, smiling. Venus smiled back, and let herself drop into her palm. Naru put her on her shoulder next to Jupiter and went back to the stove. Venus saw that Naru worked in seaweed and cheese into the tamagoyaki along with the usual dashi. Excellent touches, but Venus had an idea to spice things up more...

“Hey Naru, is it possible to make the log heart-shaped before cutting it up?” Venus asked. Jupiter shot her a look. Cooking was HER domain.

However, Naru glanced down at her, smiling. “Sounds like a good idea. Makoto, how would I do that?”

It wasn’t much longer before the final sheet was rolled over the tamagoyaki log, and as per Venus’s suggestion, in such a way that each slice was shaped like a heart upon being cut up. Naru then took some time to whip up a little miso soup to go with the tamagoyaki, though the Senshi would have to eat those big chunks of mushroom, tofu and other veggies with their hands. Naru beamed with satisfaction as she loaded everything on a tray to take back to the others, and her happiness warmed Venus’s heart in turn.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Breakfast was a bit awkward, naturally, when eating with eight shrunken people. Naru was just glad she had the foresight to dig out more doll stuff before their hasty flight from the OSA-P, like tiny plates and stuff. Yet despite knowing this wasn’t exactly the weirdest thing to ever happen to the Sailor Senshi, and how something similar happened at her desk last night, Naru still had trouble wrapping her head around all of it.

In the end, though, it was good that she was smoothing things over with her friends. Naru just wished it hadn’t taken such dire circumstances to make it happen. And there was some remaining tension, Naru could tell. Every furtive glance up from Sailor Moon or one of the others, a hesitant motion when going for a chunk of heart-shaped tamagoyaki. It wasn’t just the fear and anxiety from being so small. And she would’ve been lying to herself if she said she had entirely let go of her own frustrations. Naru had liked Venus’s idea for the tamagoyaki. To her, it was meant to symbolize their mended friendship, but there was a little further to go, it seemed.

And then there was Umino. Little surprise someone always so anxious, plus lacking a Sailor Senshi’s durability, didn’t look pleased. There was something else. The way he looked flustered when she said she had to prepare breakfast... Jupiter also fessed up to feeling useless, being unable to cook, but admitted to more. As to what else weighed on Umino, Naru had a good idea.

Naru wasn’t quite sure what to do about that. In fact, she wasn’t quite sure what to do at the moment, period. As awkward as breakfast had been, it still felt good, doing something for the Sailor Senshi. In turn, they answered a few more questions about themselves, letting her into their world a bit more.

But just as it felt they were all getting somewhere, breakfast was over and Mercury got back to work crunching data. Naru left her alone in Jupiter’s bedroom, where she could work in peace. Several times over the last few hours, Naru wanted to go ask how she was doing, but then remembered how frustrated Mercury seemed before and decided against it.

She peeked through a crack in the divider, seeing Mercury sitting on the nightstand with her legs dangling over the edge, furious typing away. Sighing, Naru turned and walked away. She kept her gaze angled downward, determined to not repeat her mistake upon waking up, plus she remembered how her mother almost trampled Sailor Moon without even seeing her.

When she reached the living room, the only ones Naru immediately spotted were Chibi-Moon and Umino. Umino stood in front of the television stand, looking up at Chibi-Moon, who was in the compartment with a Super Famicom. Even from this distance, Naru could see the smirk on Chibi-Moon's face.

“C’mon Umino, it perfect,” Chibi-Moon beamed. “There’s a two-player game already in this thing. Or are you afraid of getting your butt kicked by a little girl?”

Naru could just imagine the nasty look Umino shot back up at her. “Chibiusa, at the moment, ‘little’ is a relative term one shouldn’t be throwing around...”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Chibi-Moon shot back, still smirking.

“Oh fine,” Umino relented. “Push the controllers down and hit the switch.”

Her grin growing even more insufferable, Chibi-Moon did just that, though it took some effort to push the controllers down. After flipping the Super Famicom on, Chibi-Moon jumped down. After Umino pushed the controllers further away from the television, Chibi-Moon hit a button on a nearby remote. The title screen for a Puyo Puyo game blared to life on the television.

“At least Chibiusa’s still in good spirits,” Naru muttered. It was quite funny, watching the two of them play with controllers in theirs laps. “Hopefully it’ll take Umino’s mind off what’s bothering him...”

As she carefully made her way further into the living room, Naru spotted Sailor Moon and Mars close to the couch. “Maybe Chibi-Moon’s got the right idea,” said Mars. “Maybe we need something to distract us while we wait on Mercury.” There was no mistaking how Mars just wanted this fixed so she could go fry CereCere and her Lemure. THAT would be her idea of a fun game.

“Does Makoto keep board games anywhere?” Naru asked. Their heads jerked up in surprise, as if wondering how someone so much bigger snuck up without their noticing.

“Uh, over in the closet, I think,” said Sailor Moon.

Naru nodded and walked over to it, soon finding a whole stack. Walking back over to them with it and kneeling down, Naru said, “OK, let’s see, we’ve got chess... Good thing Ami’s too busy or she’d kick our butts in that. Then there’s Jenga...”

“Wow, THAT’D sure be awkward at this size,” said Mars. “Then again, Usagi would screw up on the first turn even at normal size. Ker-plunk!”

“I would not!” Sailor Moon protested. “I’d so win at that, big or small!”

“Let’s see, then!” Mars shot back. “Naru, would you mind setting up the stack so Usagi can bring it tumbling down on her thick little skull two minutes later?”

Naru sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Fine, why not?”

Soon enough, the huge stack of Jenga blocks was assembled. “Well Usagi, care to go first?” Mars asked mockingly. Sailor Moon didn’t hesitate to climb up the stack. There was just enough space between blocks to offer secure purchase, and thought it was awkward, Sailor Moon pulled out a middle block near the top.

Naru watched them pull out blocks for a moment, then turned away. “Was actually kind of hoping there’d be a game we could all play,” Naru whispered to herself. But as she was putting the games back in the closet, Naru’s eyes fell on the chess set again.

A thought came to her. Naru made her way back into the bedroom and walked in. Mercury was right where she left her, her nose still in her computer. Naru couldn’t see Mercury’s face, but the shrunken Senshi’s body language said it all. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea, but Naru had a feeling this could be one other way to help.

“Still no progress, Ami?” Naru asked hesitantly.

Mercury looked up, and Naru could see the frustration in her eyes. “Not much,” Mercury admitted. “I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t seem to find any link between that pollen PujePuje sprayed us with and our physical changes. There’s some weird residual energy, very faint, that I’ve detected, but I’m not quite sure it’s linked, and... Oh, I keep feeling there’s an answer, but it keeps slipping through my fingers!”

For a moment, Naru said nothing, just letting her friend vent. “Maybe it’s time to take a break, then? Let the batteries recharge?” Naru held up the chess set. “I found this in Makoto’s closet. Chess helps you unwind and focus, right?”

Mercury stared at the box. “I appreciate the thought, Naru, and I suppose I do need to take a break,” Mercury admitted. “But won’t playing chess at my size be a bit, well, awkward?”

Naru scowled at her. “Chibiusa and Umino are playing Puyo Puyo with controllers they need to lay on their laps. I don’t think a game of chess is physically beyond you.”

“You got a point there,” said Mercury. “Oh, might as well. Go ahead and set it up.”

Mercury stood and walked to the edge of the nightstand as Naru sat down on the bed, letting Naru unfold the chessboard and set it down. Naru arranged the pieces, with Mercury controlling the white pieces and her taking the black ones. She noticed they looked a lot bigger than pieces from most chess sets, plus they were wood instead of plastic, so they’d be heavier. The king and queen came halfway up Mercury’s torso, and even the pawns reached her waist. Still, Mercury was big enough to make walking among the pieces a bit awkward.

And so, the game was on. Since white always goes first, Mercury pushed a pawn two spaces ahead. Naru then moved one of her pawns to a spot clear of Mercury’s first one. Soon both had moved several pawns, and Mercury moved one of the bigger pieces. Some pawns were still in the way of her knight, though. So instead of pushing it in place, Mercury had to lift the knight and carry it to its new spot. At first, Naru feared it would be too heavy, but Mercury managed.

For some reason, seeing Mercury move those chess pieces amused Naru. She couldn’t help but giggle a little. Mercury stared up at her quizzically. “Is something funny?” Mercury asked tersely.

“Oh, i-i-i-it's nothing,” Naru said quickly. “It’s just that, well, even with you so small to have to move among the pieces, I can tell you’ve got a strategy brewing. I don’t know why, but it’s kinda funny. And cute.”

Mercury just stared back for a moment. “It certainly is a new experience, I’ll admit. I play chess often. Yet seeing the field of battle, as it were, from the vantage points of the troops I’m commanding, well...”

“Mercury, is something wrong?” Naru asked, concerned.

Mercury shook her head. “It’s just... I guess it’s important to see things from the point of view of those whom your decisions impact most,” said Mercury. “Another reminder of how we Sailor Senshi lost sight of that, when it came to you.”

Making any of the Sailor Senshi feel guilty again was the last thing Naru wanted. She reached over for Mercury. Mercury didn’t notice at first, her head turned, and had to fight the instinct to jump when she looked ahead.

“Ami, please, I don’t want any of you to feel guilty any more,” said Naru, gently brushing the side of Mercury’s head with her fingertip. “If there’s one good thing about all this, it’s how we’ve got an opportunity to put all this behind us.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Mercury, smiling. “Anyway, it’s your turn.”

“Oh! Right...” After taking a minute to think, Naru moved her bishop out, trying to get a plan in motion. She had studied some chess strategies, and knew damn well Mercury would have about five plans laid out in advance. Still, as the game wore on, Mercury effortlessly whittled away at her pieces, far more than Naru managed to capture. Good to see being shrunk didn’t diminish Ami’s brainpower any, Naru thought. But I wonder how Usagi and Rei are doing with their game...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Sailor Moon gulped, looking up at the wobbly stack of Jenga blocks she and Mars had been removing pieces from. It was now her turn to climb it again and remove another. She glanced over to Mars, and that smug face of hers made the decision for her. Sailor Moon carefully began another climb, the tower feeling even more wobbly than it looked. She didn’t know if she could risk going very high, lest it topple over even without removing a piece. So she plucked one out closer to the bottom, one she was sure wouldn’t bring it all down.

Once Sailor Moon was confident things were stable, she dropped down at glared back at Mars. “See? Easy.”

“Was it?” Mars asked coyly. She pointed up at the tower.

Sailor Moon looked back up, and saw that it was even more wobbly now. In fact, it looked ready to topple over, right on top of her. “Uh-oh...”

A moment later, it all came crashing down. Piece after piece, each almost as long as she was tall, rained down. Wailing in desperation, Sailor Moon ducked and hopped around to avoid getting clobbered by the huge blocks of wood. She turned and dashed away, then dove and skidded along the floor, hopefully clear of the falling blocks. But as she propped herself up, a block that must’ve bounced after it fell klonked her on the head.

Everything was a blur for a moment, but Sailor Moon could hear Mars laughing her head off. Seriously, she couldn’t remember the last time she heard the Shinto priestess laugh like that!

Grunting, Sailor Moon sat up, rubbing her aching head. As she looked up, she saw that at least she wasn’t the only one facing humiliation. Up on that television, a bunch of garbage blocks rained down on one side, and that player lost the game seconds later.

“BOOM! Five matches in a row!” Chibi-Moon did a little victory dance, then licked her finger and touched her hip, making a hissing sound. All Umino could do was glare at her.

Sailor Moon sighed as she walked past Mars, who was still laughing like a loon, head hung in defeat. She was so distraught, she didn’t pay much mind to where she was going. When Sailor Moon looked up again, she found she had wandered into the kitchen. Not like I can easily grab something and pig out, she mused.

A sudden, big thump from behind her snapped Sailor Moon out of it. She tensed, fearing that CereCere somehow found them and just jumped through the kitchen window. Slowly, she turned around, and found it was potentially WORSE!

It was Luna.

Sailor Moon stared back at the house-sized cat, dumbstruck, finding she really had no idea what to say to Luna if she finally arrived. Luna, understandably, looked even more bewildered.

Long moments passed in silence, the both of them far too shocked. Finally, Luna broke the silence. “T-T-T-This is what CereCere meant?” the cat stammered. “I wondered what she meant by ‘spirited away’... W-W-W-What did she do to you!? Are all the Senshi like this?”

“You saw CereCere!? Where!?” Sailor Moon demanded.

“Storming out of Naru’s place,” said Luna. “I went there after Ikuko dropped some cryptic hint late last night, and...”

“Phew, so at least you got my message after all,” said Sailor Moon.

“But why not use your communicator!?” Luna demanded.

“We tried!” Sailor Moon pleaded. “But they’re not working after what happened!”

“OK, OK, so CereCere has some Lemure that reduced all of the Sailor Senshi to this size,” said Luna as she shut her eyes, trying to process it all. “That explains a lot of things. Still, YOU COULD’VE PUT MORE EFFORT INTO REACHING ARTEMIS AND I!” Luna suddenly roared. Her sheer vehemence made Sailor Moon topple backwards in fear. “I was out of my mind with worry after none of you reported in! After that run-in with CereCere, I kept running clear across the city to all the other girls’ houses... My paws are aching, Usagi! Seriously, you made no other effort to...”

Sailor Moon was spared the rest of Luna’s tirade when Artemis sauntered up behind her out of nowhere. “Hey Luna, so you got the message too!” he cried, oblivious to what was going on. He probably hadn’t even seen Sailor Moon yet. “I’ve got some news. Oh, you wouldn’t believe what just happened! So, Minako wound up leaving a message on our room’s phone. Good thing I went back to see if she showed. Turns out...” He had to stop, unable to force down laughter. “Turns out the Amazoness Quartet’s latest monster shrunk them all down, smaller than dolls! So Naru had to carry them away and...”

Luna had been shaking with rage the whole time, but now it found a new target. Shrieking, she whirled around and whacked Artemis hard with her paw. He tumbled across the kitchen like a ball until colliding with the refrigerator.

Sailor Moon looked over to Artemis, then up at Luna, whose breathing was ragged. She thought carefully about to say to Luna next, if she was this mad.

Thnakfully, Sailor Moon was spared that dilemma. “You were right, Usagi. Minako’s kitty does wind up the scratching post too often,” came a voice from above. Sailor Moon and Luna looked up to see Naru hovering over them, arms folded as she leaned on the kitchen counter. She smiled down at them, but there was a bit of coyness mixed with menace in that smile. “So Luna, you’re the one who insisted Usagi never spill her secret, right?”

Luna looked completely befuddled all over again, clearly not prepared for this. She made some meowing sounds, but even those came off as anxious, betraying her sentience. Not to mention, it hardly masked Luna’s desire to smack Sailor Moon around for obviously spilling everything to Naru.

“Luna, cut the act,” Sailor Moon said darkly. “She knows. Everything. Better get used to it. Even after we figure out a way to fix our little problem, things aren’t going back to normal. As if our lives were ever normal...”

Chapter 5: The Best Laid Plans

Even knowing beforehand that Usagi and Minako’s cats were actually sentient beings capable of speech, it was still amazing to see for herself. This was despite all the weird stuff Naru had already seen, on top of suspecting there was something up with Usagi’s cat. Naru had played it cool when Luna and Artemis finally found them. Hell, she even used the opportunity to needle Luna a little. After all, she was the one who impressed upon Usagi the need to keep being Sailor Moon a secret.

Yet as Naru knelt by the small table brought in from the bedroom, on which the Sailor Senshi and Umino once again gathered, she couldn’t help but be amazed by Artemis and Luna, who also sat on it. The clear signs of intelligence as they talked with the Senshi, as they slowly digested their retelling of this whole sordid affair... These two cats did a good job of hiding their true nature until now. It served to remind Naru how deep she had been drawn in, that she was in way over her head.

“So after Naru gave CereCere and her goon a close-up view of an ambulance’s grille,” said Sailor Moon, giggling a little, “she got us in her schoolbag and bolted for the OSA-P.” For now, Naru was glad Sailor Moon left out how she squeezed the truth out of her. “After, errr, spending some time there, the others figured CereCere would soon find us.”

“And they were right,” Luna reminded her. “CereCere didn’t look happy upon finding no one home.”

Naru kept watching Luna and Sailor Moon. She couldn’t help but note Luna’s lingering frustration, but it couldn’t mask her concern for Sailor Moon. They had truly been through a lot, and bonded in a way Naru could never hope to understand...

Stop it! Naru told herself. You keep telling them it’s time to put aside any guilt. Put aside your own jealousy and frustration! 

“And you said CereCere’s got some plan to force us out of hiding,” said Chibi-Moon. “Any idea what it is?”

Luna shook her head. “No, she didn’t give any specifics. Just that she aims to do something come sundown.”

“Obviously we need to find a way to reverse all this before nightfall, then,” said Naru.

Luna looked up at her strangely, as if forgetting she was here. As Naru bit back something snappy, Mars spoke up. “So, Ami, hate to sound like a nag, but any progress on that front?”

Mercury had been typing at her computer some more, but now snapped it shut, teeth grit in frustration. “Not even close! I just can’t find any link between that pollen and our shrinking! I just know there’s something missing though, something right in front of my face, but it keeps eluding me...”

“Keep at it, Ami. We’ve still got plenty of time until dusk to find a solution,” said Artemis. Naru could tell, however, that Minako’s cat wasn’t as hopeful as he tried to sound.

“I hate to say it, but we may have to plan for what to do if we CAN’T get back to normal before night comes,” said Jupiter.

“CereCere hopes to lure us to her somehow,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “We’ll have to think of a way to counter that. Once she drops clues about where she’s waiting, we could then find a way to draw her out. To where WE want her.”

“You mean, get her in the right spot for an ambush?” Venus asked. “So we can all unload on her and her Lemure at once?”

“That could work. Plus, we’re so small that after the initial volley, we can easily use hit-and-run tactics in such a way they can’t easily strike back. And if Chibi-Moon can still call upon Pegasus once that Lemure is vulnerable, there might be a chance,” said Mercury. Naru wondered if she was thinking back to their chess game. Mercury easily beat her, and maybe it gave her ideas, moving her pieces to counter a giantess commanding from on high. “Still, not knowing WHERE they’ll be waiting makes it difficult to plan. And CereCere is clever enough to pick a spot that would afford us little cover or places to hide.”

“Or maybe not rely just on your powers,” said Umino. Everyone on the table turned to him, as if shocked he spoke up. Naru was surprised too. All throughout this mess, he’d been uncharacteristically reserved. “You’ve got to think up some traps you can rig and set up anywhere. I mean, Mamoru’s in college doing biological and chemistry research, right? Can’t he get Naru in, so she can access chemicals or something, or other equipment?”

“It’s a possiblity,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “And you’re right. We have to go in with as many tricks up our sleeve as we can muster.”

“Plus, like Umino pointed out, you have me,” said Naru, and they all looked up to her again.

Silence lingered for a moment. Then, Sailor Moon anxiously asked, “N-N-N-Naru, what are you suggesting?”

“Well, like Umino hinted at, I’d have to help gather materials for whatever traps and tricks you come up with,” said Naru.

“I got a feeling that’s not all you’re thinking of,” said Luna uneasily.

“I’m the only normal-sized person you’ve got right now,” said Naru. “There’s gotta be, I dunno, something I can do once the fight starts...”

“Naru, are you NUTS!?” Mars cried.

“Hey, I got the drop on CereCere and got you out of there!” Naru shot back.

“Because CereCere wasn’t expecting anything like that!” Mercury shouted. “Now, she knows someone’s helping the Sailor Senshi. And from what Luna overheard, she still suspects it’s you.”

“Plus, don’t you remember what Zoisite’s plant goon did to Nephrite!?” added Sailor Moon. Naru winced, not needing to be reminded of that. “These guys are WAY more powerful and dangerous than what the Dark Kingdom threw at us! You already know this thing EATS dreams, not just violate you by peering into them!”

“Usagi is right, Naru,” said Luna. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve already done, but we can’t ask you to put yourself in that sort of danger.”

“Any more danger than I’m already in?” Naru asked. “Like you said, CereCere knows who I am now. Why not help take the fight to her?”

“And you will, when the time comes,” said Luna. “But to put yourself in the line of fire is out of the question!”

“Naru, whatever happens, I’m glad there’s finally no more secrets between us,” said Sailor Moon. “But it’s just, I-I-I-I... Once t-t-t-this is over, I just want to know you’ll be safe.”

“You saved us, protected us, and even forgave us for lying to you for so long,” said Jupiter. “You’re a better friend than we deserve, Naru, and we don’t want you to throw your life away. I know you felt bad because you didn’t jump in until the last second, but there’s a big difference between being brave and doing something insane!”

Naru was about to fume at them, once again feeling shut out. But she took a deep breath, realizing they were right. She was in on their secret now, but it didn’t mean she could be part of everything in their lives as Sailor Senshi. It wasn’t just that she had no powers of her own, but the Sailor Senshi had battle-tempered experience on their side. She could help them prepare, but this battle wasn’t hurts to fight.

She sighed as she looked down, noticing Umino looked distraught as well. Small wonder the thought of his girlfriend charging a plant monster that could rip her to shreds in an instant didn’t inspire him. In fact, he looked even more sullen. Just like her, Umino realized he couldn’t be a part of everything the Sailor Senshi did. He was a total geek for science-fiction stuff, but now that he was drawn into something beyond his imagination and learned so much, he couldn’t DO all that much. On top of...

“You’ve made your point, all of you. And there’s not much more Umino and I can do right now,” said Naru sullenly.

“Naru, w-w-what're you...” spluttered Sailor Moon. “Please don’t be mad, we just...”

“Usagi, it’s OK,” said Naru. “You and Luna are right, there’s some things I can’t be a part of.”

“Naru, it’s not like that!” Venus cried. “We still welcome your input, any ideas for traps or...”

“No, you have a better understanding of what CereCere will and won’t fall for,” said Naru. “When you’ve got ideas you need my help with, come get Umino and I. Come on, Umino.”

Umino gasped as her hand closed around him, gently lifting him off the table. Naru rose and headed toward the bedroom as she cradled Umino close, feeling their eyes on her back.

“Were we too stern with her?” she heard Mercury ask.

“I hope not, but we had to make our point,” said Luna.

And they did, and Naru felt she could be at peace with all that it entailed. Besides, even as she dealt with her own tumultuous feelings, she had an idea about how to help Umino deal with his...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Umino stood near the edge of Makoto’s nightstand, waiting. He looked up at the huge lamp, sitting there like a lighthouse, and by it Naru had put a tape player a bit bigger than a dumptruck. Then he gazed over at the huge bed Naru slept in hours before. Looking at that still drove home the overwhelming size disparity between them whenever she wasn’t around. And when Naru WAS in that bed... More than once, Naru turned in her sleep, waking Umino and giving him the jitters. And of course, when he dared get close, she turned again and almost crushed him!

Still, in a weird way, it felt nice sleeping so close to Naru, even if she was too large to embrace. And her huge face while she slept had mesmerized Umino with its serenity, the silent beauty and being able to scrutinize every flawless detail. And though he hated to admit it, not only was he getting a little used to Naru handling him, it felt somwhat good, the gentle yet firm touch of her hands. And of course, when she planted huge kisses on him...

Umino’s face flushed. His heart swelled at the thought of Naru pouring such love out for him, but at the same time felt ashamed.  The whole time they had been together, he had prided himself on going above and beyond for Naru, to prove he was worthy. And now? What if the Sailor Senshi found no way to reverse this? How could he possibly expect Naru to keep him at her side if he no longer had anything to offer?

Questions like these dogged Umino as he waited in crushing silence. He strained to hear the Sailor Senshi and those cats speaking in the other room, but aside from the faint, unintelligible voices of the latter, Umino couldn’t catch anything. Besides, even if he could, what would be the point? Naru was right. There were some aspects of the Sailor Senshi’s world they couldn’t be part of.

Naru had begrudgingly admitted this, so she brought him in here, insisting their time be better spent together as the Senshi discussed strategy. And said she had something to show him.

Umino just kept staring at the stuff on the nightstand, wondering what it could be. It was sure taking Naru a long time to get whatever it was. Just as his patience nearly evaporated, eyeing the the lamp’s cord and considering climbing down it, Naru’s voice rang out.

“Umino, you’re not looking this way? Good. Keep it that way.” There was a singsong, mellifluous quality to her voice. Even though it echoed a little despite her speaking softly, another reminder of their size disparity, her voice stilled made Umino’s heart swell with warmth.

He still felt anxious about that, a bit ashamed, as he heard Naru approach. Umino could practically feel Naru’s looming presence despite not looking, felt the weight of her gaze as she stared down at him. There was also something else he could hear. A sort of rippling, rustling sound?

A soft shadow fell over the nightstand, and Umino instinctively hunched over. As if reading his thoughts, Naru said, “I know you’re feeling down on yourself, Umino. I don’t want you to. In fact, well before this, I knew something was up.”

Umino picked his head up a little. “Y-Y-Y-You d-d-did?”

There was a snort that belied how serene Naru had tried to sound before. “Umino, if I could figure out who the Sailor Senshi really are, what makes you think the boy who dedicates every waking hour to me can hide anything?”

Umino turned his head a little, but still couldn’t quite bring himself to look up at her. “I-I-I guess you have a point...”

“You push yourself so hard as it is, Umino, always convinced you have something to prove,” Naru went on. “And then I noticed a change after that monster which ripped out your heart, which you thought was after me. And then that whole mess with Tigers’-Eye who WAS after me... It’s like you’ve convinced yourself to need to be some big macho man, always there to protect his woman in order to stay in her good graces, Umino. With everything you’ve done, it is so hard to believe you already have?”

No words came to Umino as Naru’s sank in. Hearing something like this... He didn’t dare believe it, this notion that the love of someone as wonderful as Naru couldn’t easily slip away. That’s what fueled his drive, the fear of someday losing the best thing to come along in his life. But did Naru have a point? “N-N-N-Naru, you think I d-d-don't think I-I-I'm g-good enough? T-T-That...”

“Umino, turn around,” Naru said simply.

Anxiety still bubbled within him, but ever so slowly, Umino did so. At first, all he could see was a huge curtain of rippling fabric with a shade of seafoam green. He craned his neck up, and saw it was attached to a dress Naru wore! And an impossibly elegant one at that! A dull, golden sash adorned her waist. Naru leaned foward a little, revealing a rose was nestled right over the bottom edge of its neckline, over her bosom. A pearl necklace and earrings completed the look.

Umino stood transfixed, words once again failing as this towering, graceful goddess took in his befuddlement, her smile beaming from several stories up. If Naru had approached him looking like this only this time yesterday, Umino doubted if he could have resisted scooping her up. Now, he knew it was a matter of time before she scooped HIM up!

“I made sure to bring this, figuring I might need it to drive home a point. I’m glad you like it,” said Naru. “Actually, I haven’t worn this since that night I danced with Masato Sanjoin.”

Now words easily came to Umino. “W-W-Wait, danced with...” Umino began, but stopped himself. “H-H-Hold on, y-y-y-you mean...”

“Yes, Nephrite,” Naru said darkly. There was a hint of sadness in her eyes now. “He died fighting to protect me, Umino. Do you really think I’m eager to see something like that happen to you, because you feel the need to prove yourself worthy?”

The weight of Naru’s gaze pressed down on him like never before. “I-I-I g-g-guess when y-y-you put it like that...”

“When Makoto pointed out something similar to me, it’s why I backed off. And decided to focus on where I can make a difference: You,” said Naru. “I love you, Umino. You’re smart, earnest, selfless... It’s me who doesn’t deserve you.”

Naru had said such things to him before, but never with such earnesty. Umino felt like his tiny heart would burst.

“There’s no telling what CereCere has planned, or what we’ll need to do tonight,” Naru went on. “So for now, while we’ve got each other...”

Naru had been holding something in one hand, and brought it low. Both hands swept over Umino, and he fought the urge to cringe. He looked to where they were going, and saw Naru pop open the tape player, then put a cassette into it. She snapped it shut and hit play. At once, soft classical music began to play. Being this close to the gigantic tape player, however, the sounds reverberated through Umino’s bones.

So it took a moment to regain his composure and look back up. Naru’s lowered hands filled half of his vision, her fingertips practically brushing against his chest. “Care to dance, my love?” Naru asked sweetly.

Her smile went a long way to melting and soothing his anxious heart. So much so, that Umino could mostly get over their size disparity. Slowly, gingerly, he reached out to place his hands on the tips of Naru’s index fingers. They were so big, he could feel the ridges of her fingerprint whirls. Naru gently placed her thumbs over Umino’s hands. It wasn’t painful, but there was no way he could pull free. He wasn’t sure where Naru was going with this, but he wasn’t overly anxious about it anymore either.

With her grip on his hands, Naru swayed Umino left and right a little as the music picked up. Meanwhile, even with those huge hands blocking some of his view, Umino could see Naru swaying her hips a little, the fabric of her dress flowing like water in turn. All the while, Naru was still leaning over him, her smiling face now directly overhead. She gazed down at him, as if he was the most adorable, precious thing in the world.

It warmed Umino’s heart, that Naru thought so much of him. Yet as he looked back ahead, trying to take in the totality of Naru’s beauty, he still wished they could dance like a normal boy and girl. So he could pull her close, embrace her as they danced...

“You nice and warmed up, Umino?” Naru asked, snapping Umino out of his reverie. Umino could only nod. “Good, then it’s time to REALLY start dancing...”

“Wait, REALLY dancing!? What’re you...” All of a sudden, Naru let go of his hands and scooped him up in hers. Umino didn’t even have time to catch his breath before Naru pressed him against her sternum. Once again, not all that tightly, but there was no way to wriggle free. With the way she cradled him, Umino’s head rested halfway in her sternum’s notch, and he saw the pearls making up her necklace dangling closely overhead. Her head was also angled down, so Umino could still see Naru’s heartwarming smile. And when she spoke, her breath washed over him.

“I’m sorry Umino, but for the moment, I think it’s best I lead,” she said teasingly. And with that, Naru’s whole body began to move in time with the music, and Umino was pulled along for the ride. Naru pressed him against her in such a way that with Umino’s arm outstetched, she could still pin his hand between her fingertips. She swayed and twirled to the music, leaving Umino’s other hand free to press against Naru’s skin to steady himself.

Though he couldn’t see much of anything else, when Umino looked down and around, he saw Naru was holding up the hem of her dress with her free hand. There wasn’t a lot of room in Makoto’s bedroom with the divider shut, but it was hardly a hindrance to Naru. She twirled and glided about with such grace, yet somehow her movements didn’t nauseate Umino. Maybe he was just so overwhelmed and confused, his brain wouldn’t register anything else.

In time, though, Umino stradily became aware of something. He was pressed up against Naru’s chest so tightly, he could hear her huge, beating heart. No, not only that. Umino could FEEL its rhythmic beating reverberate through his own body! He was dimly aware at first, but as Naru danced on, it seemed to grow stronger and stronger, almost thunderous. On top of that, Umino could even sense the blood pumping underneath her skin, and Naru’s body heat began to envelop him.

It was all a reminder of how puny he was now, this way he was essentially subsumed into Naru’s being. Yet somehow, it served to assuage Umino’s anxiety. Her heartbeats seemed to drown out the music, the heart Umino knew was filled with love and concern for him.

Just as Umino let himself be lulled into a dreamy state, Naru pulled him away and up to her face. She was still smiling, and now that Umino was so close to her face, he noticed she had put on makeup just for this. Of course, Umino always insisted she looked beautiful no matter what, and meant it. Still, the shine from her lip gloss, the way the sparkle from her eye shadow dazzled...

“See, Umino? I can tell you’re almost letting yourself enjoy this,” said Naru, no doubt noticing how enraptured he was.

“Uh, y-y-y-yeah, I-I-I guess,” Umino stammered. “Y-Y-Y-You're, uh, very good at improvising dance moves.”

“Why, thank you,” said Naru. She brought him closer for a quick peck. Umino could feel a bit of stickiness all over the left side of his face. “Letting some else lead isn’t so bad, isn’t it?” she then asked.

“Er, n-n-n-no,” said Umino. But realizing he couldn’t lie to her, added, “You l-l-l-look so beautiful though, I-I-I just wish I could hold you, a-a-and...”

Naru’s brow furrowed, but she continued to smile, staring at him wryly. “What, you wish our positions were reversed, so you could hold me in YOUR hands?”

“What!? NO!” Umino cried, horrified at the suggestion. “Why would I ever want THAT!?”

Naru giggled. “On come on, Umino. I know you’d take good, good care of me,” she said teasingly. “You’d be so gentle when you hold me, you’d get me a dollhouse, sew up doll clothes for me to dress up in. Oh, and like you suggested, you’d tie yourself down to a bed nice and tight, so you won’t roll on top of me while I sleep on your chest, lulled to sleep by your beating heart...”

Umino was getting so embarrassed, he was sure his blushing face was nearly black. “N-N-N-Naru, come on, that’s ridiculous!”

Naru’s eyes narrowed, but she still smiled. “Is it any different than how you dote on me normally?” she asked. “Again, my point is you go above and beyond for me already. I know you’re taking this hard, Umino, that you feel useless. But is it so wrong I return the favor in your time of need? That I dote on the boy who’s aleady done so much?”

It took a Umino a moment to say anything, mesmerized as he was by those huge, piercing, questioning eyes. They bored into him from across what seemed a huge gap. “I-I-I-I g-g-guess not,” he finally admitted.

“Glad you agree,” said Naru.

Just as his anxiety started to dwindle again, it shot back up as he was lurched towards Naru’s face. Her lips was puckered for a kiss, and she planted a far longer one on him. Now his whole face was getting covered in sticky lip gloss.

When she pulled Umino away, she had a more serious look in her eyes. Perhaps one of concern? “But Umino, tell me... When that dream mirror got ripped from you, did it hurt?”

“It must have. The memory’s a blur because I pretty much passed out, remember?” Umino replied.

“I guess so,” said Naru. “I don’t remember it hurting that much when Tiger’s-Eye made mine come out. What was worse was the sense of violation when he looked in it.” She leaned a little closer. “If CereCere had bothered to look in yours, I wonder... What would she have seen?”

Umino surprised himself by getting a little huffy. “Come on, Naru. Like you said, you can read me like a book, right? You shouldn’t need a look into some magic mirror for an answer.”

Naru flashed that sweet smile again. “You’re right about that.” She brought him in for another kiss, and this time Umino just let it happen. He didn’t even mind the lip gloss smearing over him. He even kissed her back, again ignoring the lip gloss. Naru’s kisses were sweet and affectionate before, but this one, her longest ever, was something else. Warmer, more passionate, and Umino simply let himself soak it in.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Usagi, are you sure this is necessary?” Mercury asked as she followed Sailor Moon to the bedroom.

“You’ve said it more than once, Ami. Until CereCere tips her hand about where she’ll try to lure us, it’s hard to put together a plan,” said Sailor Moon. “We’ve got ideas, but can’t put them together yet. So in the meantime...”

“You feel we need to talk to Naru, reassure her,” Mercury finished.

“Let’s face it, we screwed up with Naru all over again,” said Sailor Moon. “We made her feel like an outsider yet again, even after everything she’s done! We should’ve gone after her the minute she stormed out.”

By now, the two had reached the crack in the bedroom’s divider. Mercury paused for a moment, wary about going in. But naturally, Sailor Moon charged in without a second thought. Sighing, Mercury followed her in.

“Hey Naru, we need to talk to you for a minute, about...” Sailor Moon began. But her words trailed off just as Merucry noticed this billowing, flowing mass of seafoam green SOMETHING twirling toward them!

Sailor Moon shrieked in fear, rooted to the spot, but luckily, Mercury pulled her away in time. They both hit the floor hard, and then saw a gigantic green heel stomp down not too far away.

Looking up, Mercury saw the hem of a huge dress cascade above them before who was wearing it stepped away. Soon enough, they got a good look at Naru’s titanic form towering over them, cradling something just below her neck. It didn’t take much deductive power to figure out what, or rather who. Mercury also became dimly aware of music playing softly in the bedroom. As if that wasn’t enough to clue Mercury in, Naru suddenly stopped her ‘dance’ and pulled Umino up for a nuzzle and a kiss.

“Ugh, like mother like daughter. What’s the deal with me almost getting stepped on!?” Sailor Moon cried furiously. But Naru didn’t seem to hear, completely oblivious to their presence as she began her dance with Umino again.

Mercury couldn’t help but notice that this dawned on Sailor Moon as she watched Naru pull away with Umino. That now wasn’t a good time to try and get Naru’s attention. However, as Sailor Moon kept watching Naru twirl around while cradling Umino, Mercury got the sense there was something else on Sailor Moon’s mind.

“Come on, Mercury. Now’s not the time,” Sailor Moon relented, turning to go. Mercury looked up at Naru one last time, who kissed Umino again. Her face flushed as she recalled some of last night’s dream, then followed Sailor Moon out.

“Sailor Moon, is there something wrong?” Mercury asked after catching up.

Sailor Moon turned to her, a sad look in her eyes. “It’s nothing, really. It’s just, well... When all the Senshi came together and Mamo-chan opened up to me, we started growing apart from Naru, not realizing that hurt her. But maybe she was already growing apart thanks to her and Umino getting together. You saw them back there, it’s getting serious. So even when we fix all this... I dunno, maybe Naru was right. Maybe we’re in two radically different worlds now, too different...”

Mercury didn’t know what to say. She knew Sailor Moon was taking it hard, this revelation that their secret-keeping had hurt Naru so much. At first, Mercury thought that Sailor Moon put them on the right path by telling Naru everything. But was it true, what Sailor Moon now feared? That they would have all drifted apart regardless?

Finally, they made it back to the table, where the others were waiting. After jumping up and pulling themselves up, Mars said, “Well, that was quick. How did it go with Naru?”

“Let’s... just say it wasn’t the time to butt in,” said Sailor Moon.

“Oooooooh, their love is blossoming,” Venus cooed.

“How will that work out long-term, though, it we can’t fix this?” asked Chibi-Moon. “I mean, at least physically?”

“True love finds a way, Chibiusa,” beamed Venus.

“So at least she and Umino are working things out, and Naru’s in for whatever plan we put together,” said Jupiter.

“But again, she CANNOT be on the front lines,” said Luna. “And truthfully, beyond having her gather whatever supplies we need, I’d rather not have her involved at all.”

“You didn’t see her earlier, Luna,” said Jupiter. “She feels really bad about not jumping in until the last-minute, and deeply regrets how she blew up at us.”

“Yeah, Luna. After shutting her out for so long, we need to make her feel like she belongs in the Sailor Senshi’s inner circle,” said Sailor Moon. But Mercury could catch the self-doubt in her voice, the nagging feeling it was too late for that. She was certain the others picked up on it, too.

“Truthfully, we won’t know WHAT we’ll need from Naru, at least not until...” Tuxedo Kamen began. But suddenly, the nearby television flared to life, drawing all of their attention. Nothing but static filled the screen, but moments later, CereCere’s face spraing up on it!

Mercury could sense the terror washing over the others, mingling with her own. Had CereCere finally found them out, despite all their precautions? But then Mercury noticed that CereCere’s wasn’t exactly looking down at them, but rather straight ahead. So it was more likely she was somehow broadcasting this on every television in the city, a suspicion confirmed when CereCere finally spoke.

“Greetings citizens of Tokyo, and especially the Sailor Senshi, who’re no doubt cowering in some hole after our last encounter,” CereCere said calmly. Mercury, however, caught the chilling undertones in her voice. As Luna said, the Amazoness was still seething after their escape.

“Like we had any choice but to get away, you cheating little...” Jupiter spat.

Venus put a hand on her shoulder. “Easy, Makoto. Let’s just listen...”

“You and your little friend did a good job, giving my Lemure and I the slip,” CereCere went on. “But if you don’t come out of hiding, I’ll have PujePuje do to all of Tokyo’s citizens what she did to you.”

Mercury’s blood froze, and she could sense the others’ horror. “C-C-C-Can she do that?” Sailor Moon asked fearfully. “S-S-S-She's b-b-bluffing, right?”

“I’m not sure, Usa-ko, but it’s a risk we can’t take,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“So here’s the deal, Sailor Senshi. Have your benefactor drop you off at the industrial park by Tokyo Bay, and show yourselves at this spot by 11 PM tonight.” CereCere’s face vanished, replaced by a map of said industrial zone by the bay, a flashing, red X indicating where she expected the Sailor Senshi to show. They said nothing as they stared at the map, indicating where they’d have to march like sheep to slaughter, but then CereCere’s face reappeared. “I’ll make sure the industrial park’s employees won’t be around to disturb us, and if you’re smart, you’ll keep your friend out of the fun we’ll be having!” she jeered. “So remember, show yourselves by 11 tonight, or everyone in the city’s gonna have a ‘little’ problem tomorrow!” She laughed evilly, and then the television shut off, leaving the Sailor Senshi with their frustration and horror.

“Well, gotta hand it to CereCere, she knew how to get our attention,” said Chibi-Moon. “Luna was right, she’s not playing around.”

“So she’s pulling a Jadeite,” Sailor Moon spat. “And like him, she also picked a bad spot for us. We’ll have the water on one side again.”

“And I know that industrial park,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “Like Sailor Mercury guessed, the particular spot CereCere picked is wide-open, offering almost no cover.”

“But at least you’ll know where we could lure CereCere and her Lemure, to improve the odds,” said Artemis.

“In any case, I’d better go fetch Naru,” said Luna.

Mercury watched Luna hop off the table and head to the bedroom. Did she think Naru had to listen in on their strategizing now? As Luna said, it wasn’t like they could have Naru in the thick of things. Maybe Luna finally got the hint about no longer shutting Naru out.

“So this is it,” said Jupiter. “We’ve got a few hours to think up some traps to even the odds, figure out where to set them up, then pray for a miracle.”

“Still, something’s bugging me,” said Mars. “How could CereCere’s Lemure possibly generate enough of that weird pollen or whatever to shrink everyone in the city?”

“She could be bluffing, as Usagi suggested,” said Mercury. But as she dwelled on it, something began to nag at Mercury as well. This whole shrinking affair had been a vexing puzzle, with her being no closer to finding a cure. And now, more than ever, Mercury feared she had been going about it all wrong.

“You don’t sound too convinced of that,” came Naru’s voice. The Sailor Senshi turned to see Naru walking back over to the their table, still in that dress and cradling Umino against her chest. As Luna hopped back on, Naru gently lowered Umino down so he could hop on as well.

“Wow, a bit of fragrance rubbed off and one could see the lip gloss you’re covered in a kilometer away,” Chibi-Moon remarked, smirking at Umino. “How heavy did it get in there?”

“Anyone ever tell you you ask way too many personal questions?” Umino snapped.

“One, Umino’s spot on about you Chibiusa,” said Sailor Moon, ignoring her future daughter’s glare. “And two... Yeah, Naru, we can’t sit by and hope it’s a bluff. We have to go.”

Naru knelt down, and her pleading, distraught face loomed directly above them. “Y-Y-You really don’t expect me to take you there, possibly to your deaths, and be fine with it!?”

“Rather run the risk of bunking in a dollhouse with Umino?” Chibi-Moon asked.

“This is bigger than just me!” Naru protested, probably unaware how silly that sounded from their perspective, with her looming over them. “I still haven’t made up for how I exploded at you yesterday, and nursed such bitterness before. And now, just as we’ve started patching things up, you expect...”

“Naru, let’s not go through this again!” Mercury pleaded. “You’ve done all you could, but this is something WE’VE got to do! So let’s put our heads together and hammer out a strategy! We’ve only got a few hours...”

“Still, I can’t help but wonder if it IS a bluff,” Mars cut in. “I mean, if this Lemure could really shrink everyone, wouldn’t she need to be on top of a skyscraper or something, to spread the pollen? That’s not happening all the way from the bay.”

“She must have some means of spreading it from the bay, then,” said Mercury. “Or maybe...”

The frustration from earlier roared back, her inability to figure out exactly how that pollen shrank them. As she considered Mars’s doubts, however, a possibility came to her. Perhaps it wasn’t the pollen at all!

Mercury thought back to when they first faced PujePuje outside that restaurant. After that bluish-green gunk washed over them, the Lemure had been staring at them, an unsettling glow in her eyes. Almost as if the monster was probing their very souls...

“Who cares how she plans to do it!?” Naru cried. “Just tell me what I need to do to help make sure she can’t!”

“You’ll get a chance to help, don’t worry!” cried Sailor Moon. “But you’ll need to stay safe when the sparks fly. I know you feel you still owe us, but it’s really the other way around, the way we kept this a secret for so long...”

Mercury looked to Sailor Moon, then up at Naru and back. Suddenly, it finally hit her like a meteor impact. But rather than feeling accomplished, Mercury felt like an even bigger idiot.

“I don’t believe this,” Mercury muttered. Then she screamed, “I DON’T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS!”

Everyone slowly turned to look at Mercury, dumbstruck. She hardly ever lost her cool like this, and NEVER swore, so they knew something was wrong.

Mars was the first one to speak up. “OK, Mercury, I’m hardly one who should tell others to calm down, but...”

“But you were RIGHT, Mars!” Mercury cried. “CereCere IS bluffing! She didn’t arrange a meeting on a skyscraper roof because it’s NOT PujePuje’s pollen that did this to us! It’s something else!”

“You’re... sure about this, Mercury?” Tuxedo Kamen asked.

“I’ve spent half a day trying to find a link between that pollen and our shrinking, and the reason I couldn’t is because there IS none!” Mercury snapped. “It was something else. Think back, everyone. Didn’t PujePuje have this weird glow in her eyes, one that made you feel uneasy?”

The Sailor Senshi took a moment to think it over. Sailor Moon then said, “Well, yeah, her eyes did look extra-creepy for a second. I just thought that was your typical bad guy thing.”

“But it’s part of what REALLY shrank us,” said Mercury. “The pollen was just a trick, so we wouldn’t suspect the true cause.”

“Well, uhhh, everyone makes mistakes, right?” Sailor Moon offered feebly.

“I guess you still haven’t read those assgined Sherlock Holmes stories for English class, Usagi,” Mercury snapped. “In those stories, Holmes can almost instantly sniff out whenever a blind is thrown up to distract him. But me? I fell for it hook, line and sinker!”

“Please, Ami, enough beating yourself up. We all fell for it,” said Venus. “So if PujePuje’s pollen didn’t shrink us, what did?”

“The answer was right in front of us!” Mercury insisted. “PujePuje had on an orange toga, much like Buddhist monks, and the lotus flower is symbolic in both Hindu and Buddhism of purity. But the biggest tell is her name. The Puja is a ritual in the Hindu religion as part of devotional worship to those gods, but it has a place in Buddhism as well, with lotuses often used as symbolism. And there are sermons about finding nirvana through the eightfold path...” Looking up to Naru, Mercury asked, “Naru, did you overhear CereCere and PujePuje at all during the fight? What did they say to each other?”  

Naru looked as flummoxed as the other Senshi, but still racked her brains. “Well, CereCere was asking her goon if her plan would work. And then PujePuje said something about, uhhh, ‘disquiet’ within one of you, maybe Usagi. So their ‘gamble’ would work, and maybe it extended to the rest, and... Wait, I don’t get it. What’re you getting at?”

“And then CereCere bragged about ‘disharmony’ in our ranks, and now I think I know what she meant,” said Mercury. She looked over to Sailor Moon, then back up at Naru. “Naru, please don’t freak out, but I think CereCere weaponized your frustration with us.”

Naru blinked in surprise, shocked into silence. “W-W-W-What? H-H-H-How...”

“Buddhism is all about eschewing things like desire and suffering to achieve inner peace, and the Asalha Puja is a celebration of that pursuit, but this Lemure warps such views,” said Mercury. “PujePuje could sense there was someone out there who looked down on the Sailor Senshi. In this case, someone who thought we now believed we were too good to spend more time with her, or even reveal our secret to. Plus, if we’re honest with ourselves, perhaps on some level we did think that.” Mercury saw Jupiter shift uncomfortably, suddenly not able to look up at Naru. “Maybe it created some weird spiritual positive feedback loop, and PujePuje could tap into that and warp reality. And suddenly, Naru is literally looking down at us. That’s why CereCere sounded so unsure at first, and her Lemure spoke of it as a gamble. She had no way of knowing if someone besides the Amazoness Quartet was that frustrated with the Sailor Senshi, not until her Lemure actually lured us out.”

“Wait a second, then how did Umino shrink too?” Artemis asked, pointing a paw down at him.

“I guess Naru got frustrated with me always thinking I may not be good enough for her,” said Umino. “Wouldn’t that create a similar feedback loop?”

“So at least now we know HOW CereCere did it,” said Venus. “So Ami, any chance you can...”

Venus was cut off by a loud sniff from high above. They all looked back up to Naru, whose cheeks now sparkled with tears. Her mascara was even running a little.

“Y-Y-Y-You mean, th-th-that monster used ME to do this to you?” Naru asked tearfully. “Because I couldn’t let go of... I’M the reason all this happened!?”

“Naru, you couldn’t have known!” Sailor Moon pleaded.

“Besides, you got us the hell away from CereCere, so that more than makes up for...” Jupiter began. But it soon became apparent their words couldn’t hold back the onslaught of shame and self-loathing Naru now felt. Tears still flowed, and her looming gaze begged for forgiveness.

“Uh-oh. A huge glomposaurus detected half a meter off the starboard bow,” Chibi-Moon grumbled. “All hands, brace for impact!”

And indeed, with dizzying speed, Naru scooped up all of her shrunken friends. Ignoring their startled cries, Naru hugged them close, sobbing.

“Oh Usagi, Umino, everyone! I’m so, so sorry!” Naru cried out. Mercury couldn’t say anything to assuage her, unable to draw a decent breath. It felt like Naru was grinding all her bones together.

Luckily, some of the others could, and tried to talk her down. “ACK! Naru, i-i-i-it's OK! It’s n-n-n-not your fault!” Mars pleaded.

“W-W-We still g-g-g-got a shot at undoing this!” Venus added. “J-J-Just LET UP ALREADY!”

Finally, Luna walked across the table and placed a paw on Naru’s shoulder. “Naru, please, for your sake – and theirs – don't be so hard on yourself.”

Craning her head up as best she could, Mercury saw Naru look over to Luna and sniffle. Then, at last, the pressure let up. Naru slowly lowered them back down to the table. Mercury, along with most of the others, gasped for air.

Just as Mercury felt most of her aching subside, Naru spoke up again. “B-B-B-But these last two days... We’ve put all that behind us, right? I-I-I-I set aside my anger, and you’ve let me into your w-w-world. So how come this curse is still in effect?”

“She’s got a point,” said Chibi-Moon. “Now that the root of the ‘disharmony’ between us all has been nixed, why didn’t we grow back?”

“Yeah! I mean, I even fessed up to Naru about a whole lot of things,” said Jupiter. “I really thought we came to an understanding.”

“It may not be so simple,” said Tuxedo Kamen. “Even when friends that broke apart for whatever reason reconcile, the pain doesn’t necessarily vanish overnight. True reconciliation takes time.”

“Time we don’t have!” Mars spat. “Please tell me this curse was at least weakened over the past twenty-four hours, so Usagi can use the Ginzuishou to break it this time.”

Mercury fished out her computer. After punching in some commands, things indeed look promising at first. But once some more data was crunched, Mercury sighed dejectedly. “OK everyone, good news and bad news...”

“Uh-oh, don’t like the sound of that,” said Artemis.

“Good news is, that residual energy I was looking into... Yeah, this curse has weakened somewhat as the day has gone by,” said Mercury.

“But the bad news... Let me guess, not enough for me to break it?” Sailor Moon asked dryly. Merury could only nod. “Awww, there’s gotta be a way!” Sailor Moon huffed. “If we’ve done all we can on our end... Oooooh, if only there was a way to make that Lemure feel some ‘disharmony’! Maybe it’d break her concentration or something!”

Mercury raised an eyebrow. When it came to plans from Sailor Moon, this was certainly one of her more plausible ones. She turned back to her computer and went over the data again. “Yes Usagi, it looks like that Lemure must maintain a certain amount of focus to reinforce the curse.”

“So we go with our earlier plan,” said Luna. “Lure them to a spot where we can use traps and hit-and-run tactics.”

“Still, it’s not like that would rattle PujePuje’s nerves, as she’d believe she still has the advantage,” said Mercury. “If only there was some way to mess with HER head. Some way to...”

Mercury looked back up to Naru. Her tears were still falling, and she just sat there silently, perhaps still too ashamed to speak up. But when she noticed Mercury looking up at her, she said, “W-W-W-What is it? I-I-I-Is there something I can do?”

“There just might be, Naru, but I don’t like...” Mercury stopped, then turned to Sailor Moon. “Usagi, sidebar,” she said. She grabbed Sailor Moon’s arm and dragged her to the far edge of the table, away from Naru and the cats. Mercury could feel the confused stairs of the other Senshi on her back. Sailor Moon wasn’t the one they would expect her to discuss strategy with alone. But Naru was her friend long before they entered the picture.

“What is it, Mercury?” asked Sailor Moon, clearly just as confused. “You said Naru could do something.”

“But it’d involve the one thing we swore we wouldn’t allow: put her in the line of fire,” said Mercury. “There just might be a way to screw with CereCere and PujePuje’s heads but good.” Mercury glanced over at the others, then whispered part of her plan in Sailor Moon’s ear. Sailor Moon pulled away, eyes wide with shock. “It’s insanely risky, I know, but it might be our best shot of breaking this curse. You’ve known Naru longer than any of us. Do you think she’s up to it?”

Sailor Moon said nothing as she thought it over. Eventually, she glanced back up at Naru, who still looked confused and despondent. Finally, Sailor Moon said, “Well, part of the reason we’re in this mess is because we all thought Naru should be kept out of the loop. If we’re serious about breaking this curse, time to nix the underlying problem. Ask her if she’s willing.”

“Good point,” said Mercury. She felt a little guilty for not considering Naru’s feelings first. Sailor Moon was right, things had to change for good from here on out. She and Sailor Moon walked back over to Naru, whose eyes were still full of sorrow and tears.

“Naru, Ami’s got an idea about how to mess with PujePuje,” said Sailor Moon. “But you’ll have to be on the front line. Are you up for hearing it?”

Naru blinked in surprise, shocked that they were considering her earlier offer to do more. “Y-Y-Y-You mean, you r-r-r-really want me to fight?”

“Not necessarily,” said Mercury. “But as it stands now, it’s the plan with the best chance of working.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Naru said firmly.

“Usagi, you can’t be serious!” Luna protested.

“Hey, it wasn’t my idea, it was Ami’s!” Sailor Moon pointed out. “I just figured Naru has a right to hear about it. Don’t shoot the messenger!”

“If we play this right, we can minimize the risk, Naru,” said Mercury. “But I won’t lie, what I have in mind is still dangerous, crazy even...”

“I don’t care,” said Naru. “Like you said, I’m the main reason this Lemure could do this to all of you, so I have an obligation to fix it. Besides, even if it wasn’t that pollen that shrank you, perhaps PujePuje really can lay this curse on a lot more people. It might not be a total bluff after all.”

“So what’s this master plan, Ami?” Venus asked. “What’s Naru got to do?”

“Not just Naru. We’ve all got a part to play, and it fits in with our earlier ideas,” said Mercury. “We’ve got a few hours left to hammer out exactly how we’re going to play this...”

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CereCere looked over her shoulder, through the window of the building behind her. The clock inside said it was only a few more minutes until 11:00. She was certain the Sailor Senshi would’ve shown themselves by now. While she had been bluffing about shrinking everyone in the city, not with the way PujePuje’s power worked, she could at least shrink a whole bunch of people in and around this bay area. Showing them off trapped in a birdcage on television tomorrow morning would show those Senshi she wasn’t fooling around.

And who knows, maybe some people here are looked down on, CereCere thought to herself. Plenty of the industrial park’s security personnel, plus cops assigned to patrol the scene after her threat, were all tied up next to PujePuje. They were all snoozing, courtesy of the sleep pollen from her plants.

CereCere had been careful not to sprout too many such plants, though. And even then, they had grown along the walls of buildings, not on the ground. It wouldn’t do to give those shrunken Senshi any cover. CereCere surveyed the area again. A lot of wide-open space, and not many hiding places in the buildings around them, all of which she made sure in advance that tiny people couldn’t slip into. Hardly anything like bushes in this part of the industrial park to provide cover, and even what trucks and buses were still here had been overturned. The bay’s waters were close by, something quite uninviting to anyone the Sailor Senshi’s size. Lastly, this industrial park was well-lit, so those shrimpy brats couldn’t count on darkness.

The advantage was theirs, CereCere made certain of that, so why did she feel so uneasy? When the Sailor Senshi showed, they’d have no place to hide. And they had to show soon. They were too much of goody-goodies to risk assuming her threat was a bluff.

PujePuje sounded even less certain. “I don’t like this, CereCere. It’s too close to the deadline, yet no sign of the Sailor Senshi,” said the Lemure. “Worse, I feel as if the curse I levied upon them has weakened. Perhaps they deduced the true reason they’ve been reduced in size.”

CereCere growled. She didn’t like being second-guessed by her underling, for one thing. “But is it still in effect?” she demanded. “I mean, if it’s not, they would’ve tried to fry us by now, since they know where we’re waiting.”

For a moment, silence from PujePuje, irking CereCere even more. When she looked up at her Lemure, she saw her eyes were shut in concentration, perhaps meditation. Finally, they slowly opened. “Yes,” she said simply.

“Then there’s no reason to worry. And they’re still coming. They have to,” said CereCere, more to reassure herself than PujePuje. After all the aggravation, the fruitless searching, the planning... The Sailor Senshi HAD to come out tonight! She wouldn’t go back to the circus empty-handed and have the others laugh at her!

“But what about their rescuer?” PujePuje suddenly asked.

“I think we can see any ambulances coming at us a mile away, PujePuje,” CereCere spat. “If that’s what it took for her to get the Sailor Senshi away from us, we have nothing to fear.”

“I understand that. I just figured you’d want payback against her as well,” said PujePuje.

CereCere grimaced. True, she would love to throw whoever that was in the path of an oncoming train, but she wasn’t sure it was that Naru Osaka anymore. Besides, the Sailor Senshi were her top priority, and they wouldn’t allow their mysterious friend to come to harm. Of course, she could always force answers out of them later, if she felt like it. Maybe PujePuje’s right, maybe I should’ve made that a condition, so...

CereCere’s thoughts were interrupted by the sudden, stinging pain of something scratching at her face.

“GYAAHHH!” CereCere shrieked, swatting away whatever had latched onto her face. After rubbing her face, feeling a little blood had been drawn, she looked down. A white cat with a golden, crescent moon on its head was glaring up at her. And it was even... sticking its tongue out at her? Another cat landed on the ground beside it, this one a purplish-black but also had that moon symbol. Looking to PujePuje, CereCere saw this mangy cat had slashed at her face as well.

When CereCere looked back to the cats, they were already taking off, and that white one kept looking back to stick its tongue out again!

Fury welled up within CereCere. All signs of that ambulance grille smashing into her face had finally vanished, only for these cats to mess it up all over again!?

“Why you two little... PujePuje, come on! After those cats!” CereCere grabbed her Lemure’s wrist and dragged her along as she chased the cats.

“But CereCere, they’re leading us away from where we wanted the Sailor Senshi to appear!” PujePuje protested.

“Then fire at those cats to stop them!” CereCere demanded. “Besides, you saw the moon symbols on their heads! They’re part of their team!”

Unfortunately, the cats had too much of a head start, and it took some time to catch up so PujePuje could unload her rapid-fire seeds. Still, those cats were agile enough to dodge what amounted to machine gun fire.

Worse still, just as PujePuje said, the cats had taken them far away from their preferred spot. They had run away from the water, the buildings were closer together over here, this area had some rows of bushes for cover, plus they were near a small patch of forest. Was PujePuje right? Did those cats lure them here? For what? Some sort of ambush?

CereCere looked about frantically, hoping to spot those shrunken Senshi if they were using cover. She now expected all of their attacks to lash out at them in unison. Even with their reduced power, that wouldn’t be fun. CereCere had already learned that the hard way.

“Great, the cats got away. Stellar markmanship,” CereCere grumbled as the cats ducked behind a building. “But why lead us here? For an ambush? Then where’s...”

CereCere’s words were drowned out by a deafening explosion that went off close by, perhaps right behind her. Not only that, a dazzling explosion of light surrounded them, disorienting her and knocking her down. Before it cleared up, she felt something splash against her skin, something hot. When she could see again, CereCere looked down at her arm and saw whatever slopped onto her was ON FIRE.

“Yaaaaah! Hot hot hot!” CereCere screamed as she sprang back up. She slapped at her arm to rub off whatever it was and douse the flames. It took a few seconds, but she managed it, though slight scorch marks remained. Turning to PujePuje, she saw her Lemure wasn’t so lucky. It took her a little longer to put out parts of her lotus flowers that had caught fire.

“Those weren’t like any of the Senshi attacks we’ve seen,” PjuePuje muttered, putting out the fire on one last petal. “This was... something else.”

“You got that right!” came an enraged cry, a voice CereCere never heard before. “That was a dirty trick you two pulled on the Inner Senshi, so they had to call in the reserves to make sure you’d PAY!”

“Who’s that!? Where are you!?” CereCere demanded.

As she looked around frantically, CereCere saw someone step through wisps of smoke blowing over from where some explosion erupted from the ground. Her eyes widened when she could make out the form of someone in a Sailor Senshi outfit! Impossible! PujePuje had shrunk them all!

But no, this wasn’t any Sailor Senshi she had seen before. The color scheme was different, her skirt and collar an eerie, violent orange-yellow. Sailor Venus? No, her hair was tied back with a hairbow, but it was a shoulder-length reddish-brown. The thing that set her apart from all the other Senshi, though, was this noxious, oozing glop slithering all across the exposed skin on her legs and arms, and even over her gloves! It glowed with the intensity of molten magma, yet didn’t seem to affect this Senshi at all! An intensity mirrored by the fury in her eyes.

“So, there was another Senshi waiting in the wings!” sneered PujePuje, her lotus flowers angled at their new enemy, ready to fire. “And just who might you be?”

“Sailor Io, full of volcanic fury, burning with a passion for justice!” she screamed, not the least bit intimidated. “And for what you did to my good friend Sailor Moon, I’m SO gonna punish you!”

Chapter 6: Theatricality and Deception

Careful what you wish for, so the saying goes. And now, Naru was learning the truth in that axiom the hard way.

When Sailor Moon burst onto the scene, so many other girls began hero-worshipping her, but Naru longed to BE one of them. The power to do so much good, to bring hope to everyone... Of course as more time passed and Naru began to suspect who they really were, she would’ve settled for them at least letting her in on their secret. Bitter disappointment began to replace her earlier adoration.

Now, in a way, everything Naru had longed for finally happened. And it took a supreme effort to not lose her mind from fear. If PujePuje’s gaze could let her see so deeply into your thoughts, your soul... All it would take was one brief moment of prolonged eye contact for PujePuje to realize this was all a ruse, and then it’d be GAME OVER.

No negative thoughts, no negative thoughts, Naru kept telling herself, fixing her gaze on CereCere instead. Gotta be confident. She squelched the notion that Sailor Moon merely projected confidence in battle, to hide her anxieties. Usagi HAD to have nerves of steel to do this, day in and day out. But right now, all that mattered was making the bad guys THINK she had their number. All I’ve got to do is rattle PujePuje so much, Usagi’s magic crystal thing can shatter the curse. And I just can’t let PujePuje look into my eyes too long, or launch any attacks themselves. Luna said the Disguise Pen will keep them from realizing it’s me and grant some extra durability, but I’m still not really a Sailor Senshi...

“Oh please, so there was one measly Sailor Sucker left in reserve,” CereCere sneered. Naru hoped her fear wasn’t showing. Actually seeing this girl was just fine after running her down drove home how tough the Sailor Senshi’s foes really were. Toughness that the Disguise Pen couldn’t quite emulate. “My Lemure faced down the whole lot of them, and look what happened! What makes you think the same can’t...”

“It won’t be as easy!” PujePuje cut in, sounding flustered. “There’s no disharmony surrounding her heart on the same level!”

I would hope not, Naru thought, ignoring the red glow of those eyes in her peripheral vision. Despite all the times Naru had been caught between the Sailor Senshi and their enemies, it was different now, being called upon to step into their high heels. No wonder Usagi never wanted to talk about all this, just focus on guys and manga and food instead. Tuxedo Kamen had said genuine reconcilation would take longer, but this was helping to speed it up.

“That’s right!” Naru cried. “You got lucky with that dirty trick you pulled on the others, but your luck’s run out!”

“Oh, so you’re feeling lucky, punk?” CereCere spat. “Then PujePuje, rip her to shreds with your little friends so...”

Everyone, be ready, Naru thought anxiously. Out loud, she bellowed, “Io Judgment Flare!”  She waved her arms, her hands making an upward clawing motion, just as those lotus flowers began spinning, primed to fire seeds. On cue, there was a thundrous explosion right under where PujePuje and CereCere stood. Not to mention blasts of intense, dazzling light.

Both of them screamed as they flew in opposite directions. Good, they sound rattled, confused, Naru thought. Her hopes dimmed, however, when she noticed PujePuje landed in the crater left by the first explosion. That was a problem. This ruse only went so far. There could be no more explosions there.

Luckily, thanks to her friends, Naru had other tricks up her sleeve. “Brace yourselves! You’ve only had a small taste of my righteous fury!” She ran right at PujePuje, amazed how easy it was to run in heels like the Sailor Senshi. Was that another benefit of the Disguise Pen? With outstretched palms raised, she cried, “Io Retribution Inferno!”

Just as PujePuje took aim, she was doused by what was essentially flamethrowers shot from Naru’s hands. The Lemure shrieked as her plant parts were set ablaze again. Good thing the Disguise Pen gave me fireproof gloves, plus a little protection against convective heat. Still, Naru was feeling sweaty and scorched, but she had to keep up appearances. They had to THINK she was a Senshi capable of frying them both.

For now, PujePuje was writhing and screaming in that crater, but there was still CereCere. Naru turned to see the Amazoness charging, eyes blazing with hatred. She glared at her for a moment, waiting until she stepped in the right area.

That’s it, a little closer. Closer... Then, Naru made a slashing motion with her arm. “Io Judgment Flare!” she shouted again. Another explosion went off underneath the concrete, along with a flurry of blinding light. CereCere was blasted against the side of a building, her head cracking against solid brick.

If only that would do it, Naru lamented, under no illusions that would keep CereCere down. Or that those flames would keep PujePuje at bay. In fact, when the Lemure climbed out of that crater and lumbered forward, some of her plant parts were STILL ON FIRE, even as her lotus flowers angled themselves at her.

Biting back a cry of fear, Naru made sure to keep her face stony, unreadable, even as lotus seeds shot at her like machine gun fire. Her friends prepared her for this, and she wouldn’t let them down. She ducked and rolled again and again, just like how Jupiter and Venus made her practice over and over. More than once, she felt some seeds rush past her, uncomfortably close, but made sure to betray no signs of fear.

“This one’s even worse than the others!” CereCere cried as she got up. She pulled out that yellow orb, and this time, Naru’s eyes widened with fear despite herself. “At least they have the decency to scream when they realize they’re...”

“Io Retribution Inferno!” Naru cried, aiming at both of them. She couldn’t run the risk of CereCere using that thing. Thankfully, CereCere had drawn close enough so that she tanked a good deal of that volley, screaming.

PujePuje, being partially on fire already, wasn’t affected as much as before. So after ducking under another volley of seeds, Naru charged and launched an uppercut into PujePuje’s face, then followed up with a couple body blows that had PujePuje clutching her belly.

The Disguise Pen also gave me gloves that’ll let me punch as if I’m wearing some wicked brass knuckles. Hopefully she’ll mistake it for strength like Jupiter’s. There was only so much longer Naru could keep this ruse up. But she had to as long as possible, in the hopes PujePuje’s confidence would be shaken so much, the curse could be broken.

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Meanwhile, the Sailor Senshi and the cats looked over the edge of the building closest to where CereCere and PujePuje had been lured. Despite how Sailor Moon told Mercury that Naru had a right to decide for herself, it was diffcult to put together this plan, knowing the danger Naru would put herself in. It was even harder to WATCH it play out. Sailor Moon dreaded that any second now, CereCere or her Lemure would get wise.

But so far, it hadn’t happened. And as Naru played her part, Sailor Moon was impressed with her performance. Whatever fears Naru still had, none were showing. She could almost believe that they were watching a newly-awakened Sailor Senshi go to town.

“She’s got the attitude down, that’s for sure,” said Sailor Venus. “No wonder CereCere still has no idea this is all fake.”

“The dynamite certainly isn’t fake,” said Jupiter with a smirk. “Just glad Ami remembered hearing Naru’s mother complain about how lax some of those contractors working on her block were being about their stuff. And that you, me and Mamoru still had enough muscle to haul it into the tunnels underneath the concrete you escavated with Crescent Beam.”

“Plus there’s the fireworks Usagi’s mother told her to keep safe, and Umino’s suggestion we use chemicals from Mamoru’s campus. Helped a little by the designs for Eudial’s Fire Buster that I still had in my databanks,” said Mercury.

“Speaking of which... Umino, detonate explosive batch A8, in three, two... NOW!” cried Tuxedo Kamen.

Naru’s cry of “Io Judgment Flare!” floated up to their ears. Just as Naru finished the hand motions, the explosives smuggled underground went off. Both CereCere and PujePuje were flung back a good distance as light from fireworks blinded them, toward where more explosives were hidden. But eventually, their hidden explosives would be exhausted, and the flamethrower the Disguise Pen worked into Naru’s costume would run out of fuel.

For the moment, though, things were going smoothly. As Tuxedo Kamen called out which section had to be detonated next, Sailor Moon looked back to where Umino was situated with the control console. Not that the shots needed to be called for him. Umino left nothing to chance. He rigged several cameras around this part of the industrial park to give him a live feed. Not to mention, Umino had been adamant about jerry-rigging that control console himself. He insisted that while Mercury was the smartest, and Tuxedo Kamen was already doing research in college, him being a hobbyist with lots of hands-on experience with electronics made him better suited.

Sailor Moon watched Umino scramble across the console, triggering yet another explosion. He didn’t even blink as the building lurched, laser-focused on his job. The look of determination on his face... Sailor Moon remembered what Umino said before this whole mess began, about feeling useless whenever danger struck. Now, he had an important part in getting Naru through this, and he wasn’t about to mess up.

Sailor Moon looked back down. CereCere and PujePuje were picking themselves up from a pile of shattered concrete, the latter’s plant parts still half-ablaze. It was a wonder she han’t been burned to a crisp yet, what with how Naru kept laying her flamethrower on them. And unlike Umino, PujePuje looked ratttled, as if she couldn’t believe her rotten luck.

“Gotta admit, a tad jealous here,” said Mars. “Naru lays down the pyrotechnics with some serious style.”

But is that enough to weaken this curse from the Lemure’s end? Sailor Moon wondered. Turning to Mercury, she asked, “Ami, any sign Naru’s act is hurting PujePuje’s confidence enough? Please tell me we can end this while Naru’s still ahead...”

Mercury, naturally, was already typing away. “Yes, it looks like it’s working.” Mercury sounded like she thought it was too good to be true. “Not enough to warrant trying the Ginzuishou yet. You set that off and it’s not yet time, the energy would surely draw CereCere’s attention and then it’s all over.”

And CereCere would realize Naru’s been faking it, Sailor Moon realized. Out loud, all she said was, “Fine, we wait a little longer.”

Mars, Luna and Chibi-Moon glanced over at her, possibly fearing she’d lose her cool and do something stupid. But they said nothing, for which Sailor Moon was thankful. It was frustrating enough as it was, being forced to let this play out. The longer this went on, there was a chance there’d be some slip-up, even before Naru ran out of explosives and fuel.

The fight was being taken to another spot after another explosion sent CereCere and PujePuje flying again. The Sailor Senshi ran along the building’s edge to where they got blasted. Even though there was hardly any chunks of upturned concrete over here for cover, there were still bushes, cars... Plenty of options if things went south and they had to step in while still tiny. Sailor Moon hoped it wouldn’t come to that, though, for obvious reasons. But mostly she wanted Naru out of the line of fire. “C’mon Naru, just keep it up a little longer,” she muttered to herself under her breath.

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So far, Naru was able to keep up the pace and stick with the plan. Get those two in range of a hidden dynamite sheaf, have Umino detonate it, and herd them toward another with her palm-mounted flamethrowers. Rinse and repeat, keep the momentum going, don’t give CereCere or her minion a moment’s breath.

But it could only go on for so long. So far, Naru had been able to goad them toward where dynamite was buried, but eventually she would run out. Not just the explosives, but also the fuel whipped up at Tuxedo Kamen’s campus. The tank was hidden under her fuku, behind her back. The weight made it dig in, but it was getting considerably lighter.

Don’t show it, don’t show it, just keep up the bravado, Naru told herself. For the moment, it looked like she could. Both of them were rattled to the core after being scorched and bounced around so much, and they were slow to pick themselves up. CereCere’s hair looked scorched, and though a good deal of PujePuje’s plant parts remained, half of her toga was burned away. Soot and dust covered their skin as they stood back up on wobbly legs, though Naru could tell it was more from bewilderment than physical pain. These creeps from the Dead Moon Circus were just too tough.

Good thing the goal wasn’t to defeat that Lemure physically, but mentally. “Alright, PujePuje. You got a choice. Either you lift that curse voluntarily and you slink back home with that glorified trapeze artist. Or we keep this up and I get to fertilize my herb garden with your scorched entrails! Your call!” Naru triggered a little ignited fuel to leak into her palms for emphasis, raising clenched fists covered in flames.

Unfortunately, CereCere’s Lemure still looked too angry to give up. That wasn’t surprising. From what Naru understood, the Sailor Senshi needed Pegasus to truly kill a Lemure. She was probably secure in that knowledge, despite being faced with an unknown Senshi. Still, Naru clung to hope. Come on, it’s got to be working by now, it’s got to be! Naru thought impatiently.

The standoff continued. Naru stared CereCere down, watching for PujePuje to try shooting those seeds or her boss to pull out that orb. She’d have to nudge them toward more dynamite with her flamethrowers. But Naru belatedly realized she made a mistake. Her gaze met PujePuje’s too closely, as she had been standing right beside CereCere, just as a little frustration and doubt went through her mind.

PujePuje suddenly looked shocked, and Naru feared the worst. “Something’s wrong!” cried PujePuje. “I sense unease in her despite her brave front. She is not what she appears to be, CereCere.”

Naru’s eyes widened again, but hoped she caught herself in time and narrowed them again. Just play along, go with it, she thought. “Oh please, those flowers of yours look pretty charbroiled to me! Need some more convincing? Fine! Io Retribution Inferno!”

Luckily, she still beat both PujePuje and CereCere to the draw. Flames engulfed them both. Or at least, she smothered PujePuje in them. CereCere sprang from the roaring flames, a grim, incensed look on her face, the face of someone not happy about being taken for a ride.

Frantic, Naru angled a flamethrower volley up at CereCere, but she was too quick, full of renewed vigor. She put her trapeze artist skills to use, rebounding off the building the Sailor Senshi hid atop of, thankfully still oblivious to them. But Naru had to worry about herself. CereCere was clutching her orb.

“Pellet Orb!” CereCere shrieked. Naru backed up nervously, and that proved to be a mistake, as she slipped on the tiny yellow marbles. The instant she was down, CereCere was on top of her, her knee pressing down on her chest.

“A real Sailor Senshi would have thrown me off in a second,” CereCere sneered. “PujePuje’s right, something’s not kosher here.” Desperate, fear now racing through her, Naru raised a hand to fry CereCere at point-blank range. But again, CereCere was too quick. She grabbed Naru’s wrist. After only a second of hesitation, she dug her hands into the glop over her forearm that the Disguise Pen generated to look like flowing magma.

“I thought so! I didn’t feel any heat rising from this stuff...” CereCere flung the glop away, revealing the tube for flamethrower fuel that it obscured. “A tube for some liquid? Fuel, perhaps? So, you’re no Sailor Senshi at all, and you tried to replicate their attacks with technology!”

“Look at this!” cried PujePuje. Naru turned in the direction of her voice. She watched in horror as she dug into a crater left behind by the dynamite, pulling out some wires. “Rigging for some sort of explosive! And casing for fireworks! It was all fake!” PujePuje sounded incensed, infuriated, as if a creature who subverted the tenets of the faith she symbolized had any right to be.

CereCere looked back down at Naru, grabbing her by the face. “I wonder, did those Micro-Senshi put you up to this? Somehow, I doubt you could’ve rigged this all on your own. You almost had us fooled. And I DON’T like being played for a fool. So TALK!”

Naru said nothing, meeting her gaze with stony defiance, and tried to bring up her other hand. The jig was up, but these flamethrowers still packed a punch.

CereCere stomped down on her hand with her other leg, while still keeping Naru pinned. “Nuh-uh, kiddo, no more playing with fire,” CereCere spat haughtily. “So, if you’re not a real Sailor Senshi, then just who are you? Could you be the one that ran me over? Oh ho ho, even if those Senshi Dolls don’t show, I’ll have you as a consolation prize...”

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“Oh no no no no NO!” Mercury cried in frustration. “We were so close!”

“Naru did her best,” Sailor Moon said, feeling defeated. All this planning, hammering out every little detail, only for it to unravel at the very end. But there was never any guarantee it would actually work, and it was with a heavy heart that Sailor Moon let it go forward. Now their sole focus had to be getting Naru out of danger.

“Time for Plan B,” said Chibi-Moon, echoing her sentiments. “We go in hot, get CereCere off Naru. She’s still got her flamethrowers and there’s still dynamite Umino can set off. If I can still summon Pegasus and PujePuje’s open, there may be a chance.”

“Shouldn’t we try Moon Healing Escalation, before PujePuje’s confidence fully rebounds, and...” Luna began, but stopped when Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon glared up at her. After all, Luna hadn’t wanted Naru to be part of the battle plan anyway. “Gotcha. Climb on everyone.”

Sailor Moon, Chibi-Moon, Tuxedo Kamen and Mars got on Luna’s back, while Venus, Mercury and Jupiter got on Artemis. The two cats jumped down from the building, effortlessly landing on their feet. The impact still rattled Sailor Moon, though. The cats then ducked through the debris strewn about as they charged.

PujePuje spotted the cats as they charged at CereCere and shouted a warning, but they were already firing off their attacks. Jupiter Oak Evolution and Mercury Aqua Rhapsody served to distract PujePuje, while Mars’s Fire Soul Bird clawed and pecked at CereCere’s face when she glanced over her shoulder. When she tried to swat it away, Venus Love-Me Chain shot out and wrapped around CereCere’s wrists like a bola snare, and she tumbled off of Naru.

They weren’t done. CereCere was pelted with roses and pink hearts, the aim to distract her as long as possible so Naru could slip away. Unfortunately, soon enough CereCere was back on her feet. Sailor Moon gulped as the titanic Amazoness rose, remembering when she had her pinned underfoot.

Gritting her teeth and hissing, CereCere ripped apart Venus’s bonds, just as Sailor Moon cut loose with Moon Gorgeous Meditation. CereCere cried and stomped backwards, her footfalls reverberating in Sailor Moon’s ears, but then pulled her orb back out.

“Aw crap,” Chibi-Moon muttered as CereCere used Pellet Orb. Luna was quite fleet of foot, making a hard left and dodging the hail of yellow marbles. Unfortunately, PujePuje was quicker on the draw with her hail of seeds. Some of them clipped Artemis’s side. As he howled and tumbled, the three Senshi on his back went flying.

“Oh no, Artemis and the others!” cried Sailor Moon.

“We’ve got enough problems of our own. Pissed Amazoness on our six!” said Luna. Sailor Moon looked to see CereCere stomping after them.

“PujePuje, cover the faker so she can’t spring any more surprises!” CereCere cried. Her haughty, aristocratic veneer had melted away completely, and nothing but rage remained. “I want to stomp all these Senshi Dolls into submission myself!”

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Naru watched CereCere chase after Luna, who had several Sailor Senshi on her back. When the Amazoness bellowed her order, Naru scrambled to her feet. The risks be damned, she still wanted to help. Her flamethrowers still worked, and were powerful enough to hurt PujePuje.

Which was why PujePuje wouldn’t give her the chance. The Lemure grabbed her from behind and whirled her around. An instant later, PujePuje grabbed both her wrists with one hand and her throat with the other.

“Go ahead, try using your little devices again,” PujePuje sneered, forcing Naru’s bound wrists closer to her face.

Tears welled up in Naru’s eyes, fear like nothing she’d ever felt before welling up in her heart. Then again, this was much like that first night Sailor Moon appeared, with that monster impersonating her mother trying to choke the life out of her. Paralyzed by fear, Naru couldn’t do or say anything, and of course wouldn’t dare use the flamethrowers now.

“Ha! You’re no Sailor Senshi, you’ve got no resistance to your own ‘attacks’!” PujePuje jeered. “You really thought a few hidden explosives and fancy fireworks could let you fill the void left after I reduced them to nothing, forcing them to own up to their own imperiousness!?”

Anger and shame suddenly eclipsed Naru’s fear, the reminder that SHE was the reason PujePuje could pull that off! Out of her peripheral vision, Naru saw some flashes of light go off, no doubt the shrunken Senshi fighting for their lives against CereCere. Even now, they were fighting to the last man. They were so brave, even now, and before all this Naru was looking down on them for such petty reasons, which led to this.

So Naru stepped up, tried to turn the tables on PujePuje. But it wasn’t enough, and now the Lemure was choking the life out of her.

How stupid was I to ever think being a Sailor Senshi would be fun!? Naru thought as PujePuje squeezed tighter. How did Usagi and the others not go bonkers, having to do this sort of thing every other day? 

“I wonder what’s on your mind, you little charlatan?” PujePuje sneered. “Come now, give me some idea, while you still can.”

PujePuje’s eyes began to glow red, so Naru shut hers tightly, even as more tears flowed. Besides, she was blacking out anyway. Strangely, she felt at peace with that. She knew full well she could die tonight, yet willingly took the risk if it meant fixing the mess she caused. But only now, after trying to step up as a Sailor Senshi and failing, Naru truly understood their burden. On top of that, she understood Umino’s dread about being powerless whenever the Sailor Senshi weren’t around. With her last thoughts, she forgave them all. And hoped they could forgive her for making such a mess of everything.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It looked like it was over. CereCere used that Pellet Orb again, knocking Sailor Moon and the others off of Luna’s back. Worse, she scattering them all. They had no time to put together a counterattack, and CereCere was enraged beyond all reason. No oozing a sadistic desire to toy with them, no bragging about keeping them as trophies. Now she just wanted them all dead.

That huge yellow marble had knocked the wind out of Sailor Moon, plus she snagged a jagged piece of concrete after tumbling off of Luna. By the time she was back on her feet, CereCere was already stomping toward her.

“YAAAAAAAH!” Sailor Moon wailed. For a moment, she froze as that towering mass barreled toward her, the sound of CereCere’s stomping heels booming in her ears. Mars tried Fire Soul Bird again, but CereCere swtted it away, never taking her eyes off Sailor Moon.

Panicking, Sailor Moon turned to run, but CereCere was already on top of her. Everything when black for an instant as CereCere kicked her from behind.

“Ow ouch owies ow ow ouch ow...” Sailor Moon grumbled. She skipped along the ground painfully, until finally colliding with another chunk of concrete.

Seeing stars, her ears ringing, Sailor Moon got back up on wobbly legs, knowing CereCere was likely to try stomping her flat next. Yet somehow, over the bells tolling in her ears, Sailor Moon could hear Mercury shouting in the distance. Sailor Moon couldn’t make out much, just the words ‘try’ and ‘healing’, the latter being in English.

It was enough to get the jist. Sailor Moon wondered why it was worth trying now while PujePuje clearly felt she and CereCere had the upper hand. But what was their to lose by trying? Sailor Moon brought her hands to her brooch, beckoning the Ginzuishou to come out.

Despite its brilliant light, Sailor Moon noticed a shadow falling over her. Looking up, she saw what she dreaded. CereCere lifting her foot high up as she loomed over her, ready to squash her flat. “Time I just exterminate you little cockroaches the old-fashioned way!” her voice boomed.

Here’s hoping you’re on to something Ami, Sailor Moon silently prayed, fighting to keep her nerve. Focusing, she willed the Ginzuishou’s power to come forth. “Moon Healing Escalation!”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Even with her eyes shut, some flashes of light registered through Naru’s eyelids. She had no idea how much time passed after she shut her eyes. The pain from PujePuje choking her wasn’t even registering anymore, perhaps it was too much. Naru just waited for it to all end...

But then, for some reason, PujePuje’s grip on her throat slackened. Naru’s eyes blinked open, washing away tears. Naru gasped when she saw PujePuje looked FRIGHTENED.

“How is this possible!?” PujePuje cried out. Naru had no idea what she was babbling about, but fought against her grip, hoping her hold on her wrists had slackened too. Unfortunately, PujePuje was too strong, and she couldn’t angle her flamethrower into the Lemure’s face.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to. A huge chunk of concrete came down hard on that scorched lotus flower atop PujePuje’s skull. There was a brief flash of green and white that accompanied that. Huh, Sailor Jupiter? But how was she strong enough to jump up with a chunk THAT big!?

Whatever was going on, it finally made PujePuje drop her. Naru hit the ground hard, gasping and panting. PujePuje had already recovered from getting concrete smashed on top of her dome, and glared angrily back down at Naru.

Fear made Naru freeze up again, but suddenly, she heard Venus cry, “Venus Love-Me Chain!” The golden chain wrapped around PujePuje’s knees, nearly making her topple.

Then, Venus cried out again. “She’s open! FRY HER!”

Shocked out of her stupor, Naru raised her palms and let loose. Searing flames engulfed PujePuje just as she snapped the chain, eliciting fresh screams. A genuine Sailor Senshi attack or not, it could still hurt PujePuje. Naru stood back up and advanced, forcing the Lemure back. The game was up, so might as well use every drop of fuel.

As Naru kept up the pressure, something clicked. Hang on, Minako’s voice sounded... louder than it should’ve. And the links in her chain... a bit bigger?

Naru risked a glance behind her. Jupiter and Venus were right behind her, but to her shock, they now came up past her knees, and steadily grew bigger! “W-W-W-Wait, the curse of broken!? B-B-B-But I botched everything, PujePuje learned the truth...”

Venus shook her head. “I don’t know what it was, but Sailor Mercury said the curse had weakened, only from OUR end. So she told Sailor Moon to bust out the Ginzuisho, and, well...”

By the time Venus finished, she and Jupiter had nearly grown back to full height. They smiled at her, and Naru couldn’t help but flash a smile herself. But just then, Naru heard the whir of PujePuje’s lotus flowers over her flamethrowers, somehow still not incinerated.

Jupiter heard it too. “Ugh, the flower lady still doesn’t know when to pack it in. Mind if we lend a hand, ‘Sailor Io’?”

The way Jupiter said that, the admiration and approval in her voice, made Naru’s heart swell. “By all means,” beamed Naru.

PujePuje was using her wind gusts to force back the fire, but Venus and Jupiter joined in with Crescent Beam and Supreme Thunder. Their combined onslaught were too much for the Lemure, and she was overwhelmed again, screaming bloody murder.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The flash of light from whatever last-ditch stunt that shrimpy little Senshi was pulling blinded CereCere for a moment. Having been balancing on one foot, she almost toppled as she brought up her hands to shield her face.

“GYAAAH!” CereCere shrieked, taking a step back. She also felt some strange wave of energy rush past her, yet didn’t feel any different. So that meant Sailor Moon’s trick wouldn’t work. “You little twerp! If dynamite going off in my face couldn’t stop me, what makes you think a... little light show... will...”

The light had been fading, and CereCere lowered her hands. When she looked back down at Sailor Moon, the little brat looked... a little bigger? CereCere blinked in surprise, and saw that Sailor Moon was indeed growing!

“Oh no no NO!” CereCere cried. She looked around, and saw Sailor Mercury quite a distance away, but CereCere could still see that she was growing back as well! Whatever the Sailor Snot did, it must’ve been some healing wave that shattered the curse when it was at its weakest!

CereCere frantically looked around, trying to spot the rest of the unshrinking Senshi. The sight that greeted her next was billowing flame, coming right for her face. The roar of the flames drowned out her screams. It was still smaller than what that fake Senshi had been dishing out. It had to be Sailor Mars, not quite fully grown again.

That means there’s still time, CereCere realized as the fire forced her back. Pulling out her orb, she willed it to spit out marble-sized pellets again. Instead of blindly lashing out with them, they swirled around and formed a barrier that sucked up the fire. “That’s better,” CereCere growled. “Now to...”

CereCere heard a squeaky cry of “Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!” in the distance. An instant later, CereCere was pelted by stinging blasts of freezing-cold water, one after another. Her concentration broken, the pellets she was about to redirect at the Sailor Senshi clattered to the ground. Then, out of nowhere, Tuxedo Kamen sprang up, just a little under half CereCere’s height. Using his cane to pole-vault up, he planted a flying kick right between her eyes.

As CereCere staggered back, that’s when she realized Mercury hadn’t been aiming just at her. Some of those watery tendrils struck the ground beneath her, forming a layer of ice. That, along with her own pellets, made CereCere trip and skid backwards along the icy sheet.

“Yow, that’s cold!” cried CereCere as her buttcheeks slid across the ice. When she reached the edge of the ice sheet, CereCere sprang back to her feet, coughing and shivering. But by then, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, Mars, Mercury and Chibi-Moon were already advancing, all back to their normal size.

“Another underhanded scheme foiled!” cried Tuxedo Kamen, pointing his cane at her. “You thought you could dig up our dirty laundry, use whatever ill will we’ve generated along the way against us. But you didn’t count on people being able to reconcile and move on.”

“If that’s the case, I feel sorry for you, CereCere,” Sailor Moon added.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, you little brat!” CereCere sneered, pulling out some seeds. “It’s still my job to haul all of you back to that hag Zirconia, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!” She threw the seeds down, which immediately anchored their roots through the concrete and sprouted. “Now that there’s no reason to worry about creating cover for you...” The sprouting plants soon rose higher the single-story building behind her, sporting snarling mouths with razor-sharp teeth from snapdragon flowers , ready to spew poison at them all.

“Cute, CereCere. Real cute,” Mars said dismissively. She even fake-yawned, the nerve! “As if I couldn’t burn your little pets to a crisp anyway.”

“Besides, hunkering down there might not be the best idea,” Sailor Moon added.

CereCere chortled. “Oh, and why is that?”

“Someone has a bad short-term memory,” said Chibi-Moon. “Think, our friend back there, the flamethrowers were on her person. But what COULDN’T be manually controlled by her in the field? And why’d Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen conspire to get you in that spot?”

CereCere felt this was yet another trick, but still considered the little brat’s words. Her face fell when it clicked.

Without warning, the ground beneath CereCere erupted, uprooting all her new plants and propelling her skyward yet again. “Oh COME ON, one last time!?” CereCere shrieked, her whole body racked with pain again.

As she started falling, she noticed Chibi-Moon bounce that weird black ball off the ground. It then turned into some sort of bazooka.

“CereCere, you latest evil scheme has been TERMINATED!” Chibi-Moon cried. She fired it straight ahead just as CereCere was about to land in the latest crater. Instead of a missile, out came a huge boxing glove, smacking CereCere right in the face. Reeling from the impact and sudden momentum change, CereCere barely realized she just got smashed through a window. But she did catch a glimpse of something inside before smacking into it. “Oh no no... YEEEEOWTCH!”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The three of them kept pouring it on, not giving PujePuje a moment’s breath. For the moment, it seemed to be working. The Lemure was unable to strike back or slink away. But then, Naru noticed her flamethrower blasts were sputtering out. A moment later, her fire died away. Looking down and flipping her palms upward, Naru saw only some sputtering sparks from where the flamethrower nozzles were hidden, and soon even those faded.

“Jupiter, Venus, I’m out,” Naru said glumly. She knew she’d exhaust her fuel eventually, but it had been nice to still contribute while it lasted.

“Then fall back,” said Venus urgently. “We’ll take it from here.”

Naru nodded, then reluctantly stepped back as Jupiter and Venus advanced, still pounding the Lemure with their continuous attacks. Unfortunately, with Naru’s flames gone, PujePuje was able to muster just enough strength to summon a gust. She swept Venus and Jupiter off their feet. They got slammed against a nearby truck so hard, the doors bent inward.

“Venus! Jupiter!” Naru cried, rushing to their side. Naru knelt down and offered her hands, helping to pull both of them up. She didn’t care if she should be out of the action. Whatever little things she could do to help, she would.

“Never mind them, you little fraud. Worry about yourself!” came PujePuje’s cracking, enraged voice.

Gulping, Naru turned to see PujePuje was lumbering forward, hunched over. Her plant parts were mostly charred husks now, what remained of her toga now blackened and shriveled, her skin scorched and covered in dirt and soot. It was like pure rage drove her forward, the opposite of the Buddhist monks she resembled at first.

Burned as they were, those flowers on PujePuje’s shoulders angled down again, primed to fire. Venus and Jupiter sprang in front of Naru. “Get out of here, you’ve done more than enough! We’ve got this!” Jupiter cried.

“Yeah, that’s right you little charlatan, you better RUN!” PujePuje shrieked. “Run like the coward you are, now that your bag of tricks is empty.”

“She’s got more courage than you’ll EVER have, you sad sack of mulch!” Venus shot back. “She had to conquer her own demons and doubts before stepping up to take our place!”

“And now, thanks to her, we’re immune to your little trick,” Jupiter added. Naru’s heart swelled all over again, while PujePuje just laughed evilly.

Suddenly, they heard Sailor Moon bray, “Don’t be so quick to laugh. We just forced your boss to split, so now it’s time to pull out some weeds!” Her eyes widening, PujePuje turned to see the rest of the Sailor Senshi and the cats advancing. Sailor Moon had her Moon Kaleidoscope out, pointing it at PujePuje, but suddenly turned her attention to Chibi-Moon. “And seriously, Chibi-Moon, you ‘terminated’ CereCere’s plan? Have you been watching those super-violent American movies with Tuxedo Kamen again? Is that why you dropped bad words the last time we ran into this creep?”

“At least I can watch those movies without subtitles, you dummy!” Chibi-Moon retorted. Then she stuck her tongue out at Sailor Moon.

“Will you two focus and finish her off before she can pull her gimmick all over again!?” Luna snapped.

“Oh. Right,” Chibi-Moon grumbled. But she smirked as she eyed the Lemure, holding up the Crystal Carillion. “Y’know, it seems the gang’s all here. But there’s one important guest missing, if you know what I mean...”

PujePuje’s eyes widened even more from fear, and aimed those flowers at Chibi-Moon. Sailor Moon beat her to the draw, already having her free hand on her tiara. “Moon Tiara Action!” she cried, hurling the blazing disk at her. It clipped PujePuje’s side as she tried to swerve out of the way. That gave Mars an opening. She jumped on PujePuje’s back and planted an ofuda behind her neck. Disoriented as she was, the ofuda’s power muddying her thoughts, PujePuje could still throw her off, but then Jupiter moved in. A couple body blows nearly made PujePuje double over, letting Jupiter grab her head and bring the Lemure’s face down onto her knee.

Snarling, howling, PujePuje swung blindly, but Jupiter was too swift, rolling out of harm’s reach. The same move she made Naru practice. Naru couldn’t help but feel she hadn’t pulled it off nearly as deftly as Jupiter. PujePuje tried to take aim with her flowers again, either to fire seeds or those wind gusts. She wasn’t given the chance. The watery tendrils from Mercury Aqua Rhapsody forced her back as roses sank through her charred skin. For good measure, Venus lobbed Venus Love-and-Beauty Shock at PujePuje, knocking her back further.

“Chibi-Moon, now’s a good a time as any!” Naru cried out. “Get Pegasus down here so we can finish this!”

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” PujePuje roared, finally managing to conjure up some wind gusts. All of them were blown back a bit, some knocked off their feet. Naru also noticed PujePuje’s eyes were glowing red again. “I rendered all of you helpless before, time to do it again!”

Her anger once again drowning out all fear, Naru rushed up and stood before PujePuje, ignoring Venus’s cry of protest. “Go ahead, try it again, I dare you!” Some instinct told her that THIS was what would leave her open, so Chibi-Moon could summon Pegasus. PujePuje didn’t know it, but SHE was what let her warp reality and reduce the Sailor Senshi to almost nothing. But now, she had forgiven them, and the Sailor Senshi realized they shouldn’t have left her out of the loop...

“Have it your way, faker!” PujePuje snarled. And then, there was a blinding flash of red light that enveloped them all.

Uh-oh, tactical error, Naru realized, shielding her eyes with her arms. There wasn’t a light show like this last time. Thankfully, she didn’t feel any different. When she lowered her arms, everything else looked the same, but PujePuje was nowhere to be seen! “Huh? Where’d she go?” Naru asked no one in particular.

Some of the Sailor Senshi and Artemis, however, stood near where PujePuje had been a moment before. So was Umino, who must’ve climbed down from the roof now that there was no point using the dynamite anymore.

Artemis looked up to Naru, chuckling. “Hey, Sailor Io, come take a look,” he said, barely able to contain his laughter. “If you figured PujePuje’s power would backfire and leave her open, well... You were more right than you knew.” Confused, Naru stepped forward, along with Sailor Venus. At first, she didn’t she anything, but then Artemis said, “Look down.”

Naru did so, and gasped, hands flying to her mouth. There, are their feet, was PujePuje, shrunken down to the same proportions Umino and the Sailor Senshi had been. PujePuje stared up at them, her face blank, perhaps too bewildered to be terrified.

For a few moments, silence hung over all of them. But then, Sailor Moon slapped a hand down on Naru’s shoulder, smiling at her. “Yknow, we’ve explained how it usually goes with these Lemures. We fight until the Lemure is wide open, Chibi-Moon summons Pegasus, and I finish the job with a souped-up Moon Gorgeous Meditation. But the last couple days, things’ve been shaken up quite a bit, haven’t they? I think you deserve the honors, Sailor Io.”

It took a moment to figure out what Sailor Moon meant by that, but when she did, Naru smirked back at her. “Gotcha,” said Naru, taking a step forward. PujePuje shuddered suddenly, probably knowing what was coming. “Now, what should I call this?” Naru asked herself, scratching her chin. “Oh I know... Io Reckoning Stomp!” she cried, raising her foot up high. PujePuje let out a high-pitched shriek, which was silenced when Naru slammed her high-heeled boot down. For good measure, Naru ground her into the concrete, just to be sure. When she lifted her foot, PujePuje’s flattened remains seemed to crack apart like glass, then shatter into nothingness.

Umino leaned over, scrutinizing the spot where PujePuje had been stomped flat. “So, i-i-i-is it o-o-o-over?”

“Yeah Umino, the battle’s over,” said Tuxedo Kamen.

“Unfortunately, our war with these monsters rages on,” said Luna. “Hopefully, CereCere has no reason to suspect Naru was involved, and will leave the both of you alone.”

“Guess I won’t be a part of that anymore,” said Naru. “I mean, PujePuje was right about this Sailor Io act being fake. It’s not like I’ll be needed after...”

Naru was cut off when Sailor Moon grabbed her, pulling her in for a big bear hug. “No, Naru! We’ve all learned the hard way to never, EVER take a friend for granted!”

“B-B-But Usagi, it was me who let PujePuje shrink you all in the first place,” Naru protested. “Some friend, some ally I was. Come to think of it, why did the Ginzuishou suddenly work in reversing the curse? Our plan to shatter PujePuje’s confidence was a flop.”

“It happened on our end,” said Mercury. “Around the time PujePuje had you pinned.”

Naru thought back to when the Lemure was strangling her. “I-I-I-I was, well, just thinking how hard life as a Sailor Senshi really is now that I was trying to be one. I understood why you’ve all grown closer together, and realized it was super petty of me to hold a grudge all this time...”

“So you fully let go of any lingering bitterness, forgave them,” said Luna. “That’s what weakened PujePuje’s curse. That took a lot of inner strength, Naru. I see now that Usagi was right to put so much faith in you.”

“But Naru, it was also wrong of us to not see you felt left behind,” said Mercury. “CereCere’s stunt was meant to capitalize on divisions, but... It’s quite ironic, actually. CereCere shrinking us down let us finally grow close together again.”

“You really think so?” Naru asked.

“We understand each other better now, and I can’t speak for the others, but I learned a lot about myself and what I have to work on,” said Jupiter. “I mean, sure, it was the weirdest sleepover I’ve ever had at my place, but looking back... Well, I’m kinda glad it happened, that we got to spend that time together and sort everything out.”

Mars put a hand on Naru’s shoulder. “So whenever we’re at the Hikawa Shrine or the Fruits Parlor Crown discussing strategy, come on over and join in. There’ll be no more secrets. After today, we’d be fools to not value your input or Umino’s.”

Naru laughed nervously. “I-I-I-I guess. But then again, this was all your plan. I just had to play the part...”

“Please, Naru, I don’t EVER want to hear you sell yourself short like that again,” Sailor Moon pleaded. “I mean, when this whole Sailor Moon business began I was always scared spitless. It took a whole lot of guts to do what you did. We owe you big time for this.”

“Yeah, Naru! You were awesome out there!” Umino cried. “I mean, I-I-I-I had cameras covering you from every angle! You looked every inch a Sailor Senshi!”

Naru looked down at the costume the Disguise Pen provided. The act was over, but looking back, it did feel good to, just one time, step up as a Sailor Senshi and make a difference. “You really think so?” Naru asked, smiling at him.

“Would I lie?” Umino protested. “You were magnificent out there! This beautiful, unstoppable titaness! This...”

“Oh, just shut up and kiss her already!” Chibi-Moon cried, shoving Umino forward.

Naru’s caught Umino and wrapped her arms around him. Taking a hint from Chibi-Moon, Naru planted one right on his lips. It felt good to finally do that properly. She felt rather than saw Umino blush furiously. He was stunned at first, but soon enough returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her in turn. And Naru felt rather than saw the Sailor Senshi, the friends she had reforged her bonds with, beaming at them with smiling faces.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, in the billiards break room back at the Dead Moon Circus’s tents, CereCere lay on her back on one of the pool tables, humiliated and defeated. Then again, it wasn’t by choice that she was lying there. PallaPalla and JunJun held her down, for her own good. As it turned out, as one final unintended humiliation, Sailor Chibi-Moon had knocked her into a huge cactus inside that place in the industrial park. Now she was in the unenviable position PallaPalla was in a couple days ago, having thorns plucked out of her by VesVes.

“Well now, you were so confident that your Lemure had a neat trick, could pull off something none of ours could,” VesVes jeered. She used her tweezers to pull out another thorn. CereCere recoiled from the pain, but the other two Amazonesses held her down. “Call me crazy, but it looks like your scheme came up... ‘short’.”

“Oh ha ha ha ha,” CereCere snapped back dryly. “Just tell me, how many more thorns to go?”

“Hmmmmm, hard to say,” said VesVes. “These things are so small. Hard to keep track of them all, y’know. They can just slip through your fingers.”

JunJun and PallaPalla laughed. What CereCere wouldn’t have given to toss some seeds to sprout vines to thrash them all around. Of course, that would mean pulling out all these cactus thorns herself.

“Aww, it’s so sad we couldn’t have had doll-sized Sailor Senshi,” PallaPalla grumbled. “We could’ve had such fun, become such good friends...”

“Please, PallaPalla, the last thing I need to hear right now is blather about friendship,” CereCere spat acidly.

“I dunno, maybe those Sailor Senshi were on to something,” said JunJun.

“JunJun’s right. According to the old hag, Nehelenia’s arrival is due any day, but those Sailor Senshi will be there to try mucking it up,” said VesVes. “We’ll have to work together, CereCere. No matter how we can sometimes be...” CereCere screamed as VesVes suddenly yanked out another one. “THORNS in each other’s sides!”

Her three fellow Amazonesses laughed again, and all CereCere could do was grumble to herself, stewing over her defeat.

END