Lunar Expedition

Chapter 12: The Cacophony of Chaos

Chibi Usa ran through the Time tunnel, gasping for air in the too-thin atmosphere. She thought that she would be safe once she got through the gates. She thought she would have plenty of time to get through the tunnel and find Usagi waiting on the other side. She was even stupid enough to think that while she was gone from Crystal Tokyo, the youma would be defeated by her parents and this whole mission would turn out to be a vacation in disguise.

Or so she thought, until the first youma snuck up behind her and yanked on her braid.

She'd forgotten about the braid: the therapeutic move Sakura had performed to soothe her after the party, had become her enemy's weapon. She'd barely gotten away from that first enemy and now there was a horde of them chasing her through the tunnel until her lungs burned and her legs ached. Many had been lost to the tunnel, distracted from the path by sounds and sights they were too curious to ignore. Others stayed close to her heels, reaching out for her hair and ankles when she least expected it.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she gasped as she pumped her legs, ducking behind a fallen column to catch her breath. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, breathing through her nose in a desperate attempt to slow her ragged gasps for air. After a few minutes of this, she peered around behind her. There were no flashes of color or maniacal laughter, although that didn't mean anything.

She wearily unfolded her legs from beneath her body and peered around the corner, letting more of her head show as she searched for danger. Her backpack tugged her down, nearly toppling her as she remained poised on her knees, waiting for something to attack her. After a few moments of eerie silence, she exhaled and stood.

"Lost them," she muttered as she turned back down the path. And ran right into something hard and fell backwards. "Ow," she groaned.

"Oi, watch where you're going, woman," an annoyed voice said. She looked up... and up... at perhaps the most handsome man she'd ever seen in her life. She felt her jaw drop when he leaned over her, showing off an impressive amount of skin and well-defined muscles – he wore no shirt, only an open black vest – and let the charms of his necklace smack her in the forehead. "Hey, you okay? You're not like... demented, are you?"

"Huh?" she said stupidly. The more he stared at her, the dumber she felt. His shoulder length wild blue hair hooded sharp blue eyes and his bronze skin was better suited for a Greek god on a hilltop instead of a strange man in the Time tunnel.

She took a closer look at the charms dangling in front of her eyes and squinted. They weren't just baubles one would pick up at a street fair – these glittering crystals shone even in the near-complete darkness of the Time tunnel. He had his back to the oppressive wind and barely seemed to feel its pressure. And he had fangs.

"Oh..." Chibi Usa said as the blood drained from her face to settle somewhere in the pit of her stomach as she trembled. "You're a youma."

"Yeah," he said, tilting his head. "Duh. This place is crawling with us right now. What I want to know is what a human, such as yourself, is doing in a dump like this. Why aren't you still in the Crystal Palace? Didn't you look outside before running headlong into a crowd of youma? An idiot would know that it was dangerous outside."

"U-Um," she said, thinking quickly. He didn't seem to recognize her... how was that even possible? Every youma who had ever attacked the palace knew who she was on sight. Either because she had a sign tattooed on her forehead or they sensed something she didn't – the bottom line was the youma always recognized – and often tried to kidnap – her.

"I thought the people in Crystal Tokyo were always rounded up and hidden somewhere when youma attack the city. Did you lose your way or something?" he continued on as if oblivious to her stunned expression. "I thought I heard that somewhere... they do hide you people, right? Thought it was a safe place for humans... did you get separated from your ma?"