Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Future

Chapter 19: Interception

PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE

Chapter 19: Interception

A week had passed since the attack at Mizuno Clinic, and things had quieted down since. Life went on as usual for everyone at the apartments. However during that time, Midori managed to slip in one of her listening bugs within a figurine of all of Earth's Sailor Soldiers – which were popular gifts in Tokyo – that she gave as a present for PallaPalla's birthday. Midori then used her 'gift' every day to listen in on Chibi-Usa and the Yoeda sisters for any potential conversations regarding their previous battles. So far nothing had turned up other than some excitement about CereCere and a 'contest', but she figured she would get something worthwhile eventually.

Of course, she hadn't forgotten to listen for anything at Crystal Palace either. Some interesting developments were occurring in the computer lab this evening as she heard Sailor Mercury typing furiously on her keyboard. This had been happening for the entire week, but no one had yet asked her what was going on, which both puzzled and annoyed Midori. Tonight though, Neo Queen Serenity took the time to enter the lab and check out what her friend was doing.

"What are you working on, Mercury?" Serenity asked. "You've holed yourself up in here for the past week. Zoisite's worried that you aren't getting enough sleep."

"Tell him I'm sorry for making him worry, and that I'm almost done here. This is something that might help us combat the people who are leaving the Apples of Discord for us to fight. It might be a little difficult for you to understand, but it'll use the satellites we already have in Earth's orbit. I'm programming them with the energy emitted from an apple seed I found from our last battle. Hopefully the satellites will attack anything that emits the same energy signature. If we're really lucky, we could target Eris or her servants as well and force them to retreat."

"Wow, that's brilliant! I figured you would come up with something like this!"

"Well, it not really that big of a deal..."

"You're always so modest, Mercury."

Midori thought about the basis behind Mercury's new technology – using information in a computer database to locate someone – and realized that it greatly mimicked her research paper. She scoffed a bit and thought, So that must be why she wanted to photocopy my thesis last week.

The two women continued chatting for a bit, then Serenity left Mercury to continue working on her project. Midori was about to turn off the listening device when she heard the Soldier murmur something under her breath. Although difficult to discern at first, she figured out that Mercury had said, "It's really thanks to Midori..."

The girl paused, wondering what to make of this. It wasn't often that she got to hear such an indirect compliment. Ultimately, she just decided to leave it be. It wasn't like Mercury was plagiarizing Midori to get the credit for herself; she just wanted to make something useful that could help them fight the Erisians. Midori certainly wasn't going to complain about that. She just shrugged and turned her device off, then got ready for bed.

**

Two days later, thick clouds blanketed the sky and provided the people of Tokyo a brief reprieve from the scorching summer heat. It wasn't going to rain, so CereCere took Chibi-Usa out for a day of shopping (although it was more like 'dragged her along'). Earlier this morning, the duo had gone around asking their fellow tenants for makeup to borrow. CereCere wasn't ashamed of being so intrusive, but Chibi-Usa always apologized for the unusual interruption.