Chapter 14 Behavior Crystal Jupiter spun and threw a kick towards Crystal Mars' head. Mars ducked and threw out her leg to Jupiter's other one. Jupiter jumped and landed behind her oppent. Anticipating the move, Mars pushed off the floor with her hands and into the air, she clapsed her hands together into a fist and brought them down on Jupiter's head. A ways away, Crystal Mercury and Pluto were fighting as well. Mercury ducked as Pluto jabbed with her left fist. Mercury grabbed her arm and counter punched her in the jaw. Pluto gritted her teeth and swung her leg up, bringing the blow to Mercury's head. Mercury fell to the ground, striking the matt. She flattened herself against the matt, then arched her back, bringing her legs up over her head. She caught Pluto by the neck with her legs. Mercury locked her ankles behind Pluto's neck and flipped her down to the mat with her. Three weeks had passed since coming down underground and already the Senshi were showing signs of improvment. Even Mercury was catching up with the others. Queen Serenity watched them from the viewing room above the training room. Her hands were pressed against the glass wall in front of her. she thought. Something in the far corner of the room caught her eye. Zukmaori and Adonis were sparring against each other. Serenity had also noticed the closeness Zukamori and Adonis shared. Ever since regaining her memories, Zukamori was a different person. She hardly talked to anyone, except Adonis. Serenity had seen them talking about something late one night. The looks on their faces as they talked reminded her of herself and Edymion when they were younger. A smile found its way to Serenity's face. she thought. ---------- "Okay!" Kyoko shouted, clapping her hands once getting everyone's attention. "That's enough for today!" Everyone powered down and began to leave the room. Except Zukamori and Adonis. They stood on the mat watching the others leave. Rei saw them. She turned and asked, "Aren't you two coming?" "We'll go later!" Zukamori answered. Rei just shrugged and left. When everyone was gone Zukamori turned to Adonis. "Ready?" "Yes." ---------- ~*~ Mist encircled Chibi-usa. She looked all around her. she thought as she slowly began to walk forwards. "Chibi-usa...." Chibi-usa jerked her head towards the sound of the voice, but no one was there. The voice was familiar. She was sure she knew who it was, but for some reason the voice was slightly distorted enough to where she could tell... "I'm sorry, but I have to do this..." Chibi-usa thought. Suddenly she was in the infermery of the Palace. "You're almost there! One more!" a voice shouted. Ami's voice. "Ami-chan?" Chibi-usa said, looking for her. When she saw her, Chibi-usa was surprised to see her mother and father as well. From the looks of things, her mother was in labor. "Here it comes!" Serneity gasped. "Mom?" Chibi-usa said, stepping closer to the three. Crying reached her ears. A baby's cry. Ami cleaned the baby, then said to the new parents, "It's a boy." Chibi-usa saw that the couple were both hapy and surprised. Then, as soon as Serneity had her new baby in her arms, the other Senshi came into the room. "Well? What is it?" Rei shouted. At that point, everything became blurry and faded into a large room. There was a massive crystal in the center of it. "What is that?" Chibi-usa said, walking towards it. Footsteps reached her ears. She turned to see a boy behind her. The same boy from before. The one that had called her 'sister'. "You," she whispered. The boy was moving towards the crystal. A voice filled Chibi-usa's head, saying, "Terry, son of Serenity, come closer. Closer." "'Terry'?!" Chibi-usa gasped, looking at the boy. "You're Terry?!" Chibi-usa suddenly had the uneasy feeling that something bad was about to happen. And all she could do was watch the tale unfold... ~*~ ---------- Hotaru quietly opened the door and stepped into the infermery. Helios jerked awake upon hearing the door opening and looked up from his place beside Chibi- usa. "Hi," Hotaru said, she spoke as quiet as her footsteps were, making her way to the other side of Chibi-usa. "Hi." Helios followed her gaze to Chibi-usa face. The girl's head jerked every now and then, the expression on her face one of confusion. "It started?" Hotaru asked Helios, not moving her eyes. "Just a few minutes ago. Xanatos did his best to stop it for as long as he could, Hotaru-san. But he failed." "You can try as much as you like, but no one can't hide the truth," Hotaru raised her head and looked at the preist. "This is the only way to save her.....and Terry" ---------- Rei sighed tiredly as she rubbed the back of her neck. "As much as I appreciate this training their giving us," Rei groaned to Minako, who was walking beside her, "I wish my muscles would agree." Minako tried her best to keep from smiling at her friend's remark, though she did agree. "You have to admit," Minako said, "we have gotten much better. More than we could on our own." Before Rei could reply, fighting sounds reached their ears. It was coming from the training room. Rei glanced at her watch. 11:43. "Who would be there at this hour?" she wondered outloud. "Everyone else is asleep--" She stopped short when she rememebr seeing Zukamori and Adonis staying behind when the training ended earlier. "That was over three hours ago!" Rei gasped. She quickly ran to the room with Minako following. Rei grabbed at the handle of the door and jerked it. To her surprise, it wouldn't move. She rattled it. Same result. "What is going on?" Minako asked, reaching Rei. "I don't know!" she responded. "I going to the viewing room to see what they're doing! You try to get the door open!" Minako nodded as Rei rushed up the steps. The blonde yanked the the handle as she hear Rei's footsteps fade away. Mianko bit her lip as she pulled on the door. It was like the door was glued shut. "What is up with this thing?!" she yelled banging on it in an atempt to loosen it. "Minako-chan! Get up here!" Rei voice travled from the stairs. Confuse at why Rei would suddenly want her up there, Minako ran up the steps. When she reached the room, she saw Rei standing at the very front of the room. Her violet eyes were staring down into the training room. Minako could only see her profile, but from that she could see Rei was shocked at what she saw. "What?" Minako said, coming to her side and looking also. She gasped at what she saw. Below them, in the training room, they saw two people fighting one another. The first they recognized as Adonis, but they couldn't make out who his opponent was. The girl was dressed in a Senshi fuku, much like theirs. Her skirt was silver and white, her collar also silver, the crystal heart on her chest was white and glistened with power, her wings had a silver appearance. She held a glaive in her hand, the staff part was decorated with silver and gold steaks curving around it. Her hair was past her shoulders and was colored a bright, blazing white that glittered. The Senshi lept into the air above Adonis and swung her staff down towards him. Adonis ducked and brought his leg up to strike her arm. She flipped to get behind him. That was when Rei and Minako saw her face. In that instant, they recognized her. "Zukamori!" they gasped together. The hair on the back of their necks stood up; someone had just entered the veiwing room. The two on-lookers wirled around and came face-to-face with Ruri and Kyoko, each with a calm, if not over serious, look on their face. They stepped up to the glass and peered down at the two. "Well?" Ruri said, turning to Kyoko. "What's she thinking?" Kyoko shook her head slowly, saying, "I can't get through. She's concentrating hard on training so I can't focuse on why." She met Ruri's gaze. "She knows something and won't let us find out what it is." Ruri narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. As if suddenly realizing Rei and Minako were in the room, she shot a side glace at them, then looked at Kyoko. Kyoko spoke in Ruri's mind. She waited a minute, reading Ruri's mind. she didn't finish her sentence. The two Lost Senshi turned and exited the room, leaving Rei and Mianko to wonder about what was going on. "What's up with these Lost Senshi?!" Rei said to no one. "It's like they don't want us to know what's happening!" "They don't." Rei stopped and looked at Minako, whose eyes were on the open door. "They don't want us to know what's really happening until our two months are up. Though it doesn't explain their strange behavior or Zukamori's even stranger behavior. But time will tell....time will tell..." ---------- NEXT: Minako says time will tell what's going on, but time is almost out as the battle draws ever closer. With the Palace closed off, Nemesiss has used all his power on his henchmen, raising their abilities to the max. Can the Senshi meet their level or beat it? Next Time: Tick, Tock, Watching the Hands of the Clock...