Chapter 2: “Tsukino Usagi Squared”
Last edit 5/29/08
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of this story with all rights being owned by the appropriate copyright holders; I make no claim of any ownership. Should you wish to distribute this story only do so freely and with proper attribution.
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“Zoicite, there recently was a large energy discharge in the Tokyo area. I want to you to check it out,” commanded the leader of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl.
After acknowledging the order, Zoicite teleported out of the throne room and to his quarters so as to prep for the mission. Arriving there, he fumed, I do not want to play recon boy as he thought about what Beryl had just asked him to do. I should be out looking for the Nijizuishou Crystals. Well she did not say that I couldn’t do both. And if I bring her back one of the crystals and info about that energy source, she will be very pleased, and so with things decided, Zoisite opened a portal to Tokyo.
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Wandering down the street, the pink haired child caught site of the two people that she loved most in the world, her mother and father. But, something did not seem right.
“Odango-atama try to keep better track of your shoes. I do not like being hit on the head by them. Though, I guess it is a bit too much to ask from someone like you,” an aloof Mamoru chided Usagi.
“Do not call me Odango-atama! Humph!” yelled Usagi as she grabbed her shoe back before stalking off in the opposite direction.
ChibiUsa was absolutely appalled by what she had just seen. This did not appear to be one of her parents’ normal fights. Even when Mamo-chan was actively avoiding Usagi last time, he still talked to her with respect. But here he talked down to her as if she was only a kid. Something must have happened to Mamo-chan’s memory again. This must be why Mama wanted me to come back to the past. Her past self needed an assurance that things would still work out, an assurance that I provided by just existing, ChibiUsa concluded and so knowing what she needed to do, she ran off after the disappearing Usagi.
“Usagi-chan, wait up!” called out ChibiUsa.
The older girl turned around to face the unfamiliar voice that had called out her name. As she looked at the owner of the voice, she was taken back by the striking resemblance of the young girl to herself. She even had her trademark hairstyle, though it could use a little more hair. “Yes?” she questioned the child.
ChibiUsa was a little puzzled by the sedate response she got, Usagi appeared to not even really recognize her. “Usagi what happened between you and Mamo-chan?”
Usagi was taken back by the familiar use of names that this young girl was using. She appeared to know who she was, but Usagi had no recollection of this young girl. “Who are you? And if you are related to the stuck up Mamoru-san you can just leave me be.” Usagi declared, but as she said her piece she saw a flicker possibly fear flash across the face of the child.
“Momma you don’t remember who I am. I am Tsukino Usagi, your daughter,” ChibiUsa timidly replied.
Even more confused Usagi replied “I am only 14, I can’t have a child. And Tsukino Usagi is my name.” That statement combined with the shock of the abnormal trip through time catching up with the small child finally proved to be too much for ChibiUsa and she broke down into tears. One thing that remained the same with Usagi throughout her life was her large heart. Seeing the tears starting to stream down the face of the child caused her to drop her cross-examination and to instead wrap the child up in her arms. “Don’t worry everything will be okay. I will help you find your Mamma.” Usagi tried to reassure the child while trying to do her best to ignore a awful smell that the girl had on her. Did some older kids do something to her?
“Usagi you are my mother. I am from the future. And I am called ChibiUsa here in the past,” the small child choked out. Then remembering the note that she had for her mother of the past, ChibiUsa reached into her dimensional pocket. Pulling out the letter she handed it out to the older girl. “Usagi-chan you gave me this to give to your past self before I left.”
Taking the letter, Usagi opened it and began to read. Maybe this girl is telling the truth, I do feel some kind of connection. And, that lady in the picture does kind of look like me. She does apparently know that I am Senshi and, looking unhappy at the bottom of the letter, about my poor grades in school. “ChibiUsa what does the ‘NQS’ stand for her at the bottom of the letter?”
This called the little child to give a little laugh. “Usagi no baka, it stands for Neo-Queen Serenity.” Upon seeing Usagi’s blank stare she added, “That is the name you go by in the future.” Usagi was about to laugh at the notion of her being a queen, but stopped upon seeing the sincerity in the little child’s eyes.
Unfortunately before their reunion could proceed any further, Usagi’s communicator began to beep. Taking it out, Usagi activated it, bringing Rei’s face up on the display. “Usagi-chan we have a youma running around the park.” Sending Rei an affirmative, Usagi switched off the communicator and was about to turn to tell the young child to wait for her while she went to fight.
However, before Usagi got the chance to tell ChibiUsa to stay put, ChibiUsa voiced her own plans. “Remember that I am supposed to train with you guys, I can henshin.”
And, so with that decided the two girls headed off to the park.
Upon arriving at the park, Usagi and ChibiUsa found Mars and Mercury fighting a monster that appeared to have a scissors fetish, given how various shears adorned its body and the large volley of sharp pointy objects that Mercury and Mars were currently being forced to dodge. Now having found their comrades, the two girls quickly located a secluded space. Removing their lockets from their blouses, they called out “Moon Prism Power Make-Up,” and moments later out stepped two pretty-suited warriors of love and justice, one in blue, the other in pink.
“Hold it right there!” called out Sailor Moon. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with scissors, you might hurt someone.”
“I think that was its plan.” commented Sailor ChibiMoon.
Ignoring the interruption, Sailor Moon continued with her preamble. “I fight for love and justice. I will triumph over evil, I am the pretty suited soldier Sailor Moon. And in the name of the moon…”
“And the future moon…” added ChibiMoon before they both ended with “…we will punish you.”
“NANI?!?” called out both Mars and Mercury at the unexpected helper that Sailor Moon had apparently brought with her.
However, while Mercury continued to pay attention to her surroundings even as she spun her head to look at Sailor Moon, Mars devoted all of attention to the new comer, a mistake the quickly made itself known when she promptly proceeded to run into a tree. The tree, unfortunately, was not at all forgiving of her momentary distraction and as a result Mars, momentarily stunned, slumped to the ground.
Seeing Mars hit the try, Usagi cried out, "Mars!"
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction provided by Mars running into the tree, the youma unleashed an attack at the new comers. However, to its disappointment, two Senshi saw the last attack at the last minute and with some awkwardness they were able to dodge of the way; though, just barely. Seeing this and realizing that they needed some cover under which to regroup, Mercury called out her Shabon Spray, covering the clearing in fog.
Regaining her footing under Mercury's bubbles, ChibiMoon attacked the youma with a “Pink Sugar Heart Attack;” though, she had to repeat her attack phrase twice before anything actually came out of her wand. Still confused by the fog, the impacting stream of pink hearts on its head further confused the youma, giving Mars the time she needed to pick herself up and to toss a fireball at the creature.
“Now, Sailor Moon,” called out Mercury.
“Hai,” Usagi replied before removing her tiara and then once she had charged it with her energy turning it into a discuss, she with a call of “Moon, Tiara Action,” threw it at the demon.
Impacting the weakened youma, attack was sufficient to turn it into a pile of moon dust. However, to the surprise of all present, a small glowing crystal, with an upturned crescent moon that quickly faded to dark, fell into the pile of dust.
“A new type of Youma?” questioned Mars “they have never done that before.”
Already moving to provide an answer, Mercury pulled out her computer so as to scan the remains of the youma. However, before she got a chance, ChibiMoon provided the answer. “It can’t be, they have been defeated,” the young girl gasped out as she began to visibly tremble before her courage ran out and she threw herself into the arms of her mother.
Noticing the fear on the child’s face, Usagi tried to calm her down. “It's okay muzume. I will protect you. Who or what is supposed to be dead?”
Stunned by Usagi's statement, Mercury and Mars's mouths dropped open as their minds tried to comprehend how or why Usagi was referring to this child as her daughter. However, before either of them could voice their confusion, the child of their questions answered Usagi’s question. “That was a droid and they were created by the Black Moon family. They were after me the last time I was here.”
Well that explains why it appeared to be substantially different from a youma. It isn’t one. Though, does that mean we have another enemy to deal with as well? And, what does she mean by the last time she was here? thought Mercury. Realizing the need to get some answers and the desire to move to some place quieter, she suggested to the others that they move to the shrine.
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--The realm of the Gate of Spacetime--
A weary Pluto took another look at the time-stream; the damage had finally been contained. Unfortunately, the damage was much more serious than she had initially thought. Initially it had looked like the damage was just a return to fluidity of the future in front of when Small Lady arrived in the past. But, now she realized that the damage had additionally managed to snag other travels that had traveled the stream both before and after this particular trip of Small Lady.
She could not yet tell who these other travelers were, only that they arrived within a month of Small Lady’s arrival in the past. She herself would soon need to return to linear time, to attempt to guide the flow back to an approximation of the future that it once ran towards. She might no longer know the future, but her powers, when in time, allowed her to get a sense of how time was flowing and where it was headed. She was quite versed with using those powers, as she never retained her full knowledge of the future when she entered into linear time. Though, this time she would be charting the full course of the future instead of just critical moments of history.
However, as much as she wanted to begin that effort, she could not yet leave her realm. The the time stream was still too unstable. It would require more work before she could leave it unattended for any length of time. But, she could astrally project herself into the past for a time and so with a course of action set, she set about preparing for that projection.
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--The shrine--
Luna regarded the child who still clung to Usagi’s body. When the girls had first arrived here that child had been clinging to Usagi as if she was her lifeline, which likely explained why they hadn't left the child behind at the park. Though, Luna was still not quite sure why they hadn't tried to find a police officer to leave the child with, as she was sure bringing her here back here was going to raise questions. She would have to find a way to separate Usagi from the child for a moment so that she could ask those questions as Ami and Rei did not know anything about her, which might not be so hard now that the child appeared to have calm down, she was only slightly trembling now.
Feeling Luna's gaze on her, Usagi looked up from the child she was trying to reassure and met Luna's eyes. Seeing the unspoken request, she softly asked ChibiUsa, “ChibiUsa-chan do you know Luna-chan?”
Looking at her mother's question, the pink-haired child twisted her body to locate Luna. Finding another familiar face, she felt a new found burst of energy and jumping out of Usagi’s arms she quickly closed the distance to and picked up the surprised cat up. “Hai, Momma and don’t you think that she looks so kawaii when she has something to say, but is trying to keep her mouth shut?”
A burst of laughter from Usagi showed her agreement, which caused Luna to scowl in response. Deciding to help her guardian out, Usagi said, “Luna-chan it is okay to talk with ChibiUsa around.”
Wanting to know who this child was and what her relationship to her charge was, Luna decided to go with her charge’s assessment of the situation. “Hello ChibiUsa-chan,” She said politely acknowledging the child.
"Hello Luna-chan," ChibiUsa said in response as she petted the cat before setting her back down on the ground.
Once down on the ground Luna took a moment to settle herself into a comfortable lecture position and then as she wrapped her tail around herself, the black cat began her questioning. “Okay Usagi-chan, who is she and why is she calling you Momma.”
Wanting to hear the answer themselves, Ami and Rei leaned in closely. Seeing this, Usagi prepared herself for the explosion she knew that was about to occur as she thought, well here it goes before responding with, “Well this is Tsukino Usagi, my daughter.”
“NANI?!?” yelled the two girls and one cat.
“How can she be your daughter; she looks to be around half your age?” Demanded Rei.
“If you would let me finish,” ordered Usagi with a force the others had not seen before, causing the others to quickly quiet down with sheepish expressions on their faces. “I am not sure exactly how, but she is from the future and she gave me this letter from my future self.” Then having said that she held out the letter to Rei and watched the three of them read it.
Luna for her part did not get past the picture of ChibiUsa’s mother clipped to the top of the letter. Instead, half remembered memories of her princess crowded into her mind. That woman looks so much like Usagi, but she has the crescent moon sigil on her forehead. She also looks a lot like princess Serenity with the white hair.
It was Ami-chan who first spoke, “Usagi what does the ‘NQS’ stand for”
ChibiUsa deciding to field that question answered, “Neo-Queen Serenity, it is what Usagi goes by in the future.”
“How can Odango-Atama be a queen, and her name is not Serenity,” challenged Rei.
“Actually, she will be queen and her real name is Serenity,” replied a voice from behind the group. This caused the three inquisitors to jump, startled by the sudden presence behind them. Turning they all saw a projection of a women appearing to be in her late-twenties wearing a sailor fuku and holding a large staff that resembled a key. Striding forward, the stranger knelt in front of Usagi before announcing herself, “My princess, future queen, I am the Guardian of Spacetime, Sailor Pluto.”
And, just as expected by Pluto, her future queen immediately protested the formality she had used. “Ahhh, don’t kneel in front of me.” And, then after a pause, the future queen continued with “You are a sailor Senshi? Are you a ghost?” The last question being added when she realized that the woman in front of her was not a whole person, but only an image and it was spoken with a trembling voice.
Laughing slightly, Pluto stood back up and continued. “You never change Princess Serenity. I am a Sailor Senshi and no I am not a ghost, however, this is only a projection of myself. My body is back at the Gate of Spacetime.” Turning to address the rest of the crowd, she continued, “The reason why I am here now is to explain some of what happened. Small Lady was traveling not to this time frame, but to one a little over a year in the future.”
Hearing that ChibiUsa suddenly realized why everything seemed off and why no one remembered her. She had not yet met them for the first time. However, she still did not understand why there was a droid running around. She knew her history and those things only were present while she was in the past. “Pu, why did I end up here and why did you dump me in that dumpster?” questioned the child.
“That’s why you had that awful smell on you, when I first found you,” stated Usagi as if she had just made the most important revelation in history.
“Sorry about that Small Lady. During your trip back, there was a burst of energy in the time-stream. Some travelers from another universe, not realizing the nature of the technology they were attempting to use to get home almost succeeded in destroying time for the whole megaverse. As it is, they did manage to severely damage the time-stream for this universe.” Seeing blank stares from everybody but Ami-chan, Pluto decided to skip the background reason and just hit on the major effect. “The end result is that the future is now totally fluid; I can no longer see it from the gate.”
At the sight of Small Lady’s features about to break, Pluto felt her heart go out to the child. She wished she could make this next part easier. “Small Lady your home, the future, no longer exists. You will have to stay here until the flow of time is stabilized enough that I can see the future through the Gate of Spacetime. Right now I can see the past, but nothing past the present that you are all living.” Taking a long breath, she continued. “I have to returned to the Gate now. Small Lady I leave the shaping of the future to your hands. And, take good care of your mother.” And, with that, her conscience returned to her realm.
Looking around her realm, Pluto wondered if she had made the right choice. All choices at this point were very uncertain. But, she felt Crystal Tokyo’s pull the strongest in the one she had just made. She also had felt, during her brief visit in linear time, the pulls of an evil that should not have yet been present in the flow of time. Well I guess that means that some of what was also caught by the discharge was not good. I will probably need to awaken Uranus and Neptune earlier this time.
That realization of enemies that her Queen was not ready to face coupled with what she knew Small Lady was going through caused Pluto to loose the war she had been fighting with her emotions. No longer able to ignore her frustration, an emotion normally foreign to her, Pluto slammed her staff down onto the “ground.” Feeling a bit better from the physical release, Pluto proceede to take a couple of calming breaths so as to regain her center before returning to her thoughts. I am going to need to return to linear time soon. Only when I am in it, can I feel the flow of time and its pulls. As long as I am here, I am powerless to carry out my duty to my queen. Her reign must come to be.
-End Chapter 2
