Sailor Moon 1. A Soldier Is Drafted

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, now? This author's tastes are so 90s.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
A Soldier is drafted

_The first paragraph is best read as though narrated by the Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future._

**[1.]**

Thousands of years ago, before the Egyptians constructed their pyramids through sensible building techniques that our arrogant modern society could not imagine possible, there was the Silver Moon Kingdom ruled by the benevolent Queen Serenity. This Kingdom, perfect in nearly every way, existed to help the people of Earth advance into a fine, long-lived society like their own where they would know no war, no strife, and join the larger universe that waited for them, and all was well… until Queen Metalia erupted from the sun and spurred the Earth to bite off the hand that fed them. Everyone died, and the sole survivor, Queen Serenity, used the last of her strength to ensure that all that was lost would be reborn again in the future, including her daughter, whom with her last breaths she entrusted with finishing what her kingdom had set out to do…

Ten Thousand years later, fourteen year old Usagi Tsukino sat in front of the television, watching her favorite television series ever. Trapped in a burning ruin, her hero Kamen Raider was in a pinch. However, having seen it a hundred times, she knew exactly what he was going to say and do next.

"If you give up, then all is lost," she said with the mask and scarf wearing hero, "Look hard enough and you'll find a way to succeed!"

The heroic theme began to play, as Usagi giddily watched her hero smash his way out of the burning ruins along with his partner, right in time to take on the monster of the week. Usagi threw her fist into the air and jumped to her feet. "Go get him, Raider! Bring upon him the might of justice!"

She began throwing punches and kicks, perfectly mirroring the motions of the henshin hero on television as he delivered a **Level 3 Old School Beatdown** on the monster. "Ha! Hi-yah! Take that, you bastard!"

In her enthusiasm, she kicked her Father in the face, and dropped him on his back like a raging wolf. "Oh… oh crap, sorry Dad!"

"Usagi-chan… why can't you watch normal television shows for a girl your age?" Her exasperated Father asked. It was a reasonable question, teenage girls did not normally watch thirty year old live action shows aimed at ten year old boys.

"A better question is why are you watching your old tapes when you should be going to school?" Her mother demanded, causing Usagi to jump.

"I needed to get psyched up, Mom! We have tests today!" Usagi pleaded as she quickly paused and ejected the tape. "I can't go into that without the support of Kamen Raider!"

"And what would Kamen Raider say of you being late for school?" Her mother noted.

In a split second, Usagi was out the door and running down the street, leaving a trail of dust behind her and flipping up the skirt of her next door neighbor and best friend Naru Osaka as she raced by. Naru sighed; there she went, in a blind hurry when she seemed on time for once.

"I won't be late I won't be late I won't be late I won't be late!" she kept chanting as she rounded the corner from her street and prepared to make the final charge uphill for her school. Just as she was about to let the VTEC kick in, a desperate and loud meow stopped her in her tracks. She immediately turned around, and saw in front of the local gas station a group of kids tormenting a cat. She frowned at this, and began walking over.

From the second she awakened, Luna knew her mission and its absolute importance: Finding Sailor Moon, the other Senshi, and the Silver Crystal, and defeating the lurking evil of the Dark Kingdom before Metalia reemerged and swallowed the Earth. With that in mind, she searched Japan high and low for her first and foremost objective: the girl who would become Sailor Moon. Being a cat, though, it was only a matter of time before she ran into trouble, and that was in the form of a trio of delinquents who seemed to have nothing better to do than torment a poor animal.

"What a stupid cat, why does it have a Band-Aid on its face?" One of the kids laughed as he poked Luna with a stick, his well-learned yet psychotic accomplice immediately corrected him.

"It's an adhesive bandage," he noted.

The third youth looked over as he tugged on Luna's tail. "A what?"

"Band-Aid is the name of the brand, not the device itself. The actual name is adhesive bandage. Now gimme that rock, I wanna crack its head open and post the pictures on 4chan to make those mouth-breathing Americans rage," the future serial killer and troll said, grossly unaware of what thunder he threatened to call down on himself. He'd never know, because Usagi kicked him in the back of the head, driving his face into the other boy's. "OW!"

"Leave it alone, you future serial something or others!" she yelled as she whacked the third boy with her bag, knocking out one of his baby teeth. All three immediately scrambled away from Usagi.

"Oh no, it's that creepy Aryan girl!" one of the boys yelled. Taking offense to that, Usagi picked up a rock and threw it at him.

She smiled when the rock hit its mark and the boy began bawling. "That's right; make way for the Homo Superior!"

As the children fled, Usagi reached down and gingerly picked up the cat. She examined her and hummed. "An adhesive bandage, huh? Who would put that on a cat's head, it seems cruel."

Very carefully, she removed the bandage from Luna's forehead and examined it. "A yellow crescent mark on an otherwise darkly colored cat, how unusual."

Staring Usagi came to a conclusion that Luna did not expect. "You're a magical cat, aren't you?"

Luna stiffened and stared at the girl wide-eyed.

"Yes! That must be it! And our meeting must be destiny, and I'm really supposed to be a real magical girl, with the power to save everyone's smiles!"

Baffled at Usagi getting it in one, Luna continued to stare before she noticed the passer-bys who'd begun gawking at Usagi talking loudly to a cat. Usagi seemed to notice this as well, as she put on a big smile. "Or I'm just a crazy teenager talking to a cat in public."

She looked at the staring pedestrians, before her expression darkened. "Hey! Do I stare at you when you're acting like a lunatic?"

The crowd was consumed by an awkward silence, before Usagi pointed off to the side, her eyes shut and her shoulders hiked. "Get out of here…"

As she pointed, Luna sprung from her grip and stared at her before running away and just past Naru's feet as she walked over. "Hey Usagi, is um… everything alright?"

"The nerve of some people…" Usagi grumbled before she noticed Naru. "Good Morning, Naru!"

"You were talking to a cat; did you take anything out of your parents' medical cabinet again?" Naru asked.

With an entirely straight face, Usagi shook her head. "No, my Dad's Vicodin prescription ran out two days ago." At Naru's perfectly aghast look, she gave her a flat look. "I was joking, Naru-chan."

Naru went from aghast to skeptical. "I can't tell with you, Usagi…"

That seemed to offend Usagi down to the core. "I do not pop vics!" She crossed her arms indignantly and looked away. "I prefer Loritab."

Naru gave Usagi a scrutinizing look as they began walking. "You're still joking, right?"

Usagi stared back. "Of course, now come on."

As the two departed, Luna peered from around a corner and watched the girls go. In her Mau heart of hearts, she desperately hoped that strange, frightening girl was not who she sensed it was.

* * *

Usagi Tsukino's madness was a well known subject at the school. She was a teenaged girl who watched tokusatsu, picked fights with boys twice her size (and won them), and regularly went off on tangents that could be described as incomprehensible at best. Being Usagi's best (if not only) friend and caring for her deeply, Naru had only her best interests in mind when she tried to rein in or cover for her behavior. Naturally this had no effect whatsoever.

"Did you hear that Tsukino beat up some grade school kids and ranted about magical girls to a cat today?"

"Not surprising, she does do drugs from her parents' medicine cabinet."

Overhearing the gossip machine revving up for the day, Naru quickly turned to the girls who were already going over the morning scandal. "That's not what happened! Those kids were trying to kill that poor thing and Usagi just made a joke about magical animals!"

One of the gossipers shook her head. "No way, that sounds entirely too reasonable for Dango-head."

"She probably tried to eat the cat after." Another girl said. "She's unhinged like that."

Naru tried to argue otherwise, but Usagi–seated at her desk with her head down on it–stopped her with a tug on her skirt. "Oi, you shouldn't try to cover for me, everyone knows I'm dangerously unstable."

Turning to face her, Naru pouted. "But Usagi, they just talk about you all the time!"

"Meh, let them… it's not like the opinion of _whores_ ever mattered to me," Usagi said loud enough for the gossip folks to hear it, and turn piercing glares that bounced off her thick armor of "I don't give a shit".

Naru sighed. "I'm your friend, I want to defend you."

Usagi smiled. "And for that I'm grateful, but don't stick your neck out too far for me okay? I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

"Yeah, lard-ass doesn't need her little lapdog bitch to try to cover for her," one of the aforementioned whores noted.

Usagi sat up and pointed at the whore. "Whore, you will meet me behind the equipment shed so I can educate you proper."

The whore snorted. "Bring it, bitch. My boyfriend is a serious gangster in Roppongi, you macho dyke!"

Usagi let out a dismissive snort. "I'll beat him over the head with you."

Naru stared. "I thought their opinions didn't matter."

"Their opinions of me don't matter, but once they mess with my friends then they're dog food." Usagi stared at the offender. "Now if you don't mind, I have to go beat up a whore, beat up her boyfriend, and take over his gang."

"Like hell you will!" the whore snapped.

While touched that Usagi would stand up for her like that, things were escalating. "Usagi, don't do it, you already have enough trouble keeping up on your schoolwork, you can't just go run a gang. Besides, that'd make you a criminal."

At that moment, Umino Gurio reared his nerdy head and produced the random useless fact of the day. "But you can't argue that Yakuza related activities are extremely profitable, and there seems to be an uptrend in successful organized crime operations run by women, with one notorious example being Russia's Hotel…"

"Don't encourage her, Umino!" Naru exclaimed.

"It's what the data says, and schoolgirl gangs are up and coming in Japan…" Umino kept going despite the clear and present threat to his well-being.

"Umino gets me." Usagi said. "Thanks Umino, for understanding what I'm trying to go for here by taking over this whore's boyfriend's gang."

The whore sputtered in disbelief at Usagi's candidness. "You yanki bitch…"

"Usagi, Umino is a greasy, perverse deviant." Naru said, every word driving a stake into Umino's pure and honest heart beyond the notice of everyone else.

Bored of the thought of violence, Usagi latched onto the new subject exactly as Naru planned. "Well yes, but that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Umino didn't know if he felt insulted or not. Naru quickly reminded him. "Yes it is!"

Usagi's rebuttal was classic deranged Usagi. "The only thing that makes it seem shameful is this illusion that we Japanese have moral standards that need to be upheld, when it's clear we're just a bunch of perverts waiting for the gun to sound to commence the orgy." Everyone stared at her, and she narrowed her eyes. "And you all know it's true."

It was, but they all had their pride. Naru cleared her throat. "Excuse her; she hasn't had her Vicodin today."

"Loritab!" Usagi corrected, before she captured a bottle of said pills tossed by another student. "Thanks, and thank you for proving my point."

Naru sagged. "Why do I defend you?"

"Because you're my friend and you love me," Usagi said. "Don't worry Naru-chan, I'm not using drugs, I sell them."

Naru buried her face in her palm as Usagi smiled and winked to the studio audience and cameras in her mind. "Usagi-chan says: 'Drugs are bad, unless you can make a profit'!"

Umino followed her line of sight, and then looked back to Usagi. "Who are you talking to?"

"Shut up." Usagi replied, still smiling.

* * *

Tests taken and a whore beaten behind the school's gym equipment shed, Usagi and Naru walked towards the direction of home, the former sighing deeply as she wiped the blood from her hands. Usagi looked over to Naru and let out a wistful sigh. "Naru-chan, why do you suppose I act out like I do in school?"

Naru stared at her, and a solid thirty seconds passed before Usagi gave in. "Fine, why do you suppose I act out in general?"

"I couldn't tell you maybe you really are insane?"

"Maybe… maybe…" Usagi said before she looked down at her blood-stained hands. "I know the Martial Arts classes aren't helping."

"No they're not." That poor whore would have to tell her parents she fell down some stairs; mouth first… about a dozen times. "Who knows, maybe you're so insane that none of this is real, and that I'm just another figment of your delusions."

Usagi smiled. "Nonsense, if I were, then I couldn't do this!" She flipped up Naru's skirt, revealing bunny-print panties for the world behind her to see. "Huh, you got kind of a Freudian thing going on there, Naru-chan."

Naru forced down her skirt. "Usagi!"

"Relax, no one saw except for me and the pervert stalking us." She looked back at the greasy, filthy otaku armed with a cell phone camera. "You get a good shot there, Dracula-san?"

The pervert gave a thumb's up, and Usagi promptly broke it with a kick before descending upon the rest of his person with an unholy beating that cannot be described for the sensibilities of the readers. With blood all over her right leg up to mid-thigh, Usagi wiped the sole of her shoe off on the man's tattered and stained Rei Ayanami T-shirt. "That Naru-chan is how you break your foot off in a motherfucker's ass."

"Thanks I guess," the ever sympathetic Naru said as she offered Usagi a handkerchief. "You know, maybe you act out so much because you're restless."

Usagi hummed. "Restless?"

"Yeah, you have all of this energy, and you want to put it towards something, but when you do it's not enough. You want to be something bigger than you are now… but you don't know what it is."

That actually made a lot of sense to Usagi, and that said a lot about a girl who thought in the most abstract ways imaginable simply to entertain herself. "That makes sense, and it kind of depresses me at the same time. What if I never find what that thing is?"

"Aw, I didn't want to make you feel bad. I'm sure that one day you'll find that calling." Naru took Usagi by the arm. "Come on! I know what'll cheer you up, let's go to my jewelry store and ogle the wares."

Usagi brightened at that. "Sure, just let me get some cash first."

Looking around, Usagi walked over to the beaten otaku and began to rifle through his pockets, scoring a few hundred thousand yen, his credit cards, and his expensive cell phone. The pervert stared up at her. "You're a monster-"

"-Said the man taking up-skirt pictures of teenage girls." She smiled sadistically. Once she acquired her funds, she stomped on the man's genitals and dropped the bottle of pills she got in school into his hand. "Thank you very much, shit head!"

She walked over to Naru, who is not as horrified as one would expect the sensible best friend to be, and took her arm. "I hate perverts. I always wear shorts under my skirt just to avoid them." She looked to the audience in her head again. "Usagi-chan says: 'The worst perverts will sexualize anything and attempt to slake their disgusting lusts on the innocent. Beat them and rob them, it's what God demands'."

"You know," Naru said as they kept walking, "I don't know why you do that."

Neither noticed the completely horrified cat watching them.

* * *

The crowds at Osa-P Jewelers set off a flag in Usagi's head as they reached the store, as did the signs denoting prices from fifty percent to ninety percent off all jewelry in store. She was no economist, but she knew that generally when sales like this were going on, a store was either opening or going out of business. Braving the crowd, Usagi and Naru entered the store. There were women everywhere, happily trying on the jewelry and showing off to their friends and total strangers who repaid the gesture in kind.

"Oh wow!" Naru said as she pulled Usagi over to the front counter. "Look at the display she's got today, isn't it wonderful Usagi?"

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "Material possessions are merely filler for the empty soul."

Naru stared at her. "You say this. You, who owns every incarnation of Kamen Raider except for Shin Kamen, says this?"

"Kamen Raider transcends materialism!" Usagi vehemently retorted, before Naru's mother came over. "Hello Osaka-san."

"Hello Usagi-chan, Naru-chan!" Naru's mother cheerfully called. "Enjoying the sale?"

"Yes!" Naru replied excitedly. "You said there was going to be a sale but I had no idea that it was going to be this big, it's just crazy!"

Usagi looked at a price tag for a reasonably valuable diamond ring. Crazy was kind of an understatement. "Osaka-san, are you really only offering twenty thousand yen for this diamond ring?"

Naru went wide-eyed and looked. "It's only twenty thousand yen?!"

All Hell broke loose when the other patrons heard Naru's exclamation. Before she or Naru could react, a very large woman knocked them over, setting off the entirety of the LA Riots inside Osa-P as dozens of bling-batty women tried to grab the cheap but shiny. Watching the melee go on in front of her, Naru's Mom smiled darkly as the rampant energy expended by the crowd left them through the cursed jewelry samples they wore and fed into the gorgeous necklace she wore around her neck.

An unspecified distance away, in a dark cavern, a blonde pretty boy in a military uniform held out his hand and smiled as the energy drawing to Naru's Mom began to collect in an orb above the palm of his hand. The pretty boy, a General of the Dark Kingdom by the name of Jadeite, watched through the swirling vapors the riot going on in the store.

"Very good Morga, continue to gather energy at this pace and the Dark Kingdom's revival will come much sooner than expected," he said via a telepathic link to his youma.

The dark smile Osaka's Mom wore became downright sinister at that. Just before the fattest chick in the store went up and over the counter, kicked by Usagi. "I SAID GET OFF ME YOU FAT BITCH!"

Osaka's Mom watched as the woman went spilling to the ground behind the counter, unconscious and with a sizeable bruise on the side of her head. Panting, Usagi rubbed her neck. "She was… standing on my neck…"

Naru got up. "I think it's kind of too hectic, maybe we should go Usagi?"

Usagi nodded as she shoved another bleating, money-waving sheep away. "Yeah, I need to get home anyway and show Mom my test scores."

It was a good idea, and Naru had homework to do herself. "Let's get out of here!"

With Usagi leading, the two girls quickly broke out of the melee and escaped the store. Osaka's Mom looked again at the unconscious fat woman, and then back out after the girls. Through his youma's eyes, Jadeite was intrigued. "What an unusual girl, and what a kick."

It was a shame he couldn't get Morga to place some of the cursed jewelry on her, that girl had a lot of raw energy going through her. Nevertheless, he'd reach his quota by nightfall, and then it was on to the next scheme.

* * *

Outside and on the walk home, Naru decided to bring up the test. "How did you do on the tests anyway?"

Usagi reached into her bag and pulled out a series of papers. "Let's see, for science I got a twenty seven, for Japanese Language I got a seventy-four, for English I got a hundred, for math I got a seventeen and for art I got a fifty."

Naru did the math in her head. "So on average you got a fifty-four, just a point short of what your Mom required of you."

"It's not my fault math blows!" Usagi replied as she began to crumple up the math test. "Besides, what she won't know won't hurt her."

Naru shook her head. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

"I'm delaying until Friday for the makeup test–which I will most assuredly pass with help from Umino," Usagi replied. She'd have to wear something cute for when she went to ask him to give her his notes.

As they passed a garbage can next to a hobby shop's front door, Usagi tossed the balled up test haphazardly over her shoulder, believing she'd hit the mark. She would have, too, if not for the tall and imposing man who stepped out and inadvertently blocked the shot with his sunglasses–which fell off his face and to the ground. Mamoru Chiba looked down at the paper as it began to uncurl from its crumpled state, and picked it up.

"Wow, I don't think even idiots could fail this badly at math."

Usagi stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face Mamoru. Naru immediately turned red in the face, more struck by the man's looks than anything else.

Usagi was not afflicted at all. "Excuse me, douche bag?"

"I guess you didn't understand me. I'm calling you a dumbass, dumbass," Mamoru replied, causing Usagi to recoil.

"Whoa, wait, what the Hell? You're calling some random teenaged girl on the street a dumbass?" Usagi asked.

Mamoru flipped the paper around to show her. "The stats don't lie, do they?"

Naru blinked in disbelief at the man's glib retort. Usagi was immediately in his face, or rather at his chest level, man he was tall. "Who the Hell do you think you are in your designer clothes, your fifty-thousand yen Ray-bands that I just," she stomped on the already damaged glasses, "Smashed to pieces, and your bag of Gunpla?"

Wait, Gunpla? She looked down at his bag and her eyes went wide. "Wait, that's not even Gunpla! Resin statues, of Nanoha and Fate?! From A's no less?!"

Mamoru pulled the bag from her, she'd already destroyed his sunglasses, which were actually just a thousand yen and from a convenience store. "Hey, don't touch the merchandise; I spent a lot of money on these."

Usagi laughed derisively at him. "You watch Nanoha, you filthy otaku!" She stopped. "Wait, what's wrong with that? Nanoha is badass."

She folded her arms. "Very well, I'll forgive you for your transgressions if you give me the Fate statue."

"No, get a job and buy your own, Dango-head," Mamoru retorted with a cool and unfettered smirk before turning around and walking away. For some reason, that insult coming from him did more to stoke Usagi's anger than it did coming from anyone else.

"Fuck you, asshole! Lose all your hair and die cold and alone with only your statues and shit to console you!" She yelled after him. Naru stared at Usagi, and her flushed expression, she then brought a hand to her lips and giggled. Usagi looked over. "What?"

"Nothing…" Naru replied as she giggled again.

* * *

"Stupid tall, handsome, rich otaku… think they're better than me because they're all hot and I'm all underage. Fuck him. Yeah, fuck him hard… for days…"

Usagi's mother, Ikuko Tsukino, overheard the most unexpected things from her daughter nowadays whenever she came home from school. She peered out from the kitchen at her daughter. "Usagi-chan, how were your tests today?"

"Oh, I aced them all."

"Really, because Haruna-chan said you failed your math test with a seventeen."

"Damn it."

"No computer for a week."

"Damn it!"

"Plus another week for trying to lie."

"DAMN IT!"

Were Ikuko a less liberal parent, she would've added another week for swearing. "Pass the retest and your punishment is revoked."

Usagi raised her hand in salute. "Jawohl, mein _Führer_; I'm going to lie down, let me know when dinner's done."

"Yes, Usagi-chan."

Trudging up the stairs, Usagi walked into her bedroom and flopped onto the bed, her book bag discarded in a quickly forgotten corner of her room. Facing the window, she rolled away from it and let out an irritated sigh. "He was an ass, but man…he had an ass."

She stopped let out a lamenting groan. "Beat a whore, fail a test, get grounded, and worst of all… get shown up by some spoiled trust-fund suckling jackass."

Sighing, Usagi rolled onto her back. "What I wouldn't give to kick his ass…" She licked her lips. "Or give him a nice hard spanking… mm…"

"By Queen Serenity's ghost, you're deranged."

Usagi froze, and then slowly rolled over to face the person who spoke. She did not see a strange woman who broke into her bedroom to state the obvious, only a little black (dark purple?) cat sitting on her bed, a very familiar little black (dark purple?) cat.

She stared at it. "Kitty did you just speak?"

Luna stared back. "Hello Usagi, my name is Luna."

Usagi slowly sat up in the lotus position, smoothed out her skirt, and then cleared her throat. "Holy fucking shit, this fucking cat is talking to me."

Luna nodded. "Well, you're taking this well."

"Yes, I'm taking it as well as Sasha Grey takes the dick," Usagi retorted. "Really though, I'm actually freaking the fuck out because there's a fucking talking cat fucking talking to me."

Luna's ears folded back. "Do you mind watching the language just a bit?"

"Talking cat right in front of me, you should be happy I've just turned off the limiter on my profanity… fuck."

"You seemed fine with the concept earlier today." Ah, so it was the same cat from before, though the crescent shaped mark already confirmed that.

"I was just joking then, you know, being whimsical?" Usagi said. "This shit is so real Martin Lawrence had to point it out."

Luna sighed. "You're Japanese, why are you even referencing that?"

"Because I can appreciate the finer points of Michael Bay films," Usagi replied.

This girl was truly a rare one, the Mau decided then.

"Okay, the initial shock has passed. Lay it on me talking animal friend. What is my mission?"

Ah, Luna could finally cut to the chase. "All right, I'll give it to you plainly. You are the reincarnation of a protector from an ancient magical kingdom that fell thousands of years ago to the forces of darkness and now that same darkness is resurfacing and aims to threaten the world again. You must call upon your ancient powers and transform into the Sailor Soldier, Sailor Moon the Defender of Justice!"

Usagi was now standing besides her bed, performing strange poses.

Luna put on as much of a grimace as her feline visage would allow. "Are… are you having a seizure?"

"No, I'm trying to transform, how do I do it?" She went through a variety of Kamen Raider-esque poses. When those didn't work, she tried for Ginyu Force. "Transform! No. Transform! No. Transform! No, let me try it in English… Henshin! No…"

Luna shook her head. "Look, you cannot transform without the means to access your power, here." Before Usagi's eyes, Luna jumped and flipped; leaving a trail of light that swirled and exploded to form a brooch. "Here, use this to transform. First you need to say…"

Usagi snapped it up and once again posed. "Henshin!" Nothing happened. "Oh, come on! How does it work?"

"Listen Usagi, you have to say the right command. It's 'Moon Prism Power, Make Up', do you understand?" Luna instructed. Usagi stared at her.

"What? But 'Transform' is a classic!" she argued.

Luna immediately deadpanned. "Hey, this power is thousands of years old; rethink the term 'classic'. Now raise your hand into the air and call it out."

Usagi let out a petulant snort, and then shot her hand to the ceiling. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

And that's when everything went awesome. Her clothes immediately seemed to burn away, as the broach found itself at the center of her chest, before unleashing a torrent of cloth that wrapped around her torso, forming the white sailor fuku and its accompanying blue skirt and red ribbons at her chest and the small of her back. The cloth snaked down her legs and ensnared her feet to her knees, becoming a pair of surprisingly sturdy but at the same time comfortable boots. The cloth reached her arms, wrapping around her arms to the elbows and forming a pair of gloves that felt and weighed more like armored gauntlets. Finally, atop her hair and forehead, red covers appeared on her odango-styled hair and the tiara appeared, before being joined by a pair of cute earrings.

She looked down at her new duds, and then looked over her shoulder. "Holy shit, I'm not dreaming, aren't I? This is really happening, isn't it?"

"It is, and from this day forward your life is going to suck," Luna warned.

The transformed teen turned to look at Luna. "Like shit it is! I am a Superhero now… there is only one thing to do with this power!" She clenched her hand into a fist. "Those who have power must use it to defend those who cannot defend themselves! This is what Kamen Raider has taught me!"

Luna gaped at the girl. "Huh?"

She stared back. "What, you think I think this is a game? I got a world to save; I can't be fucking around with this."

Perhaps this wasn't going to be as bad as she feared. The cat nodded assent before turning to the window. "Very well then, we have to hurry quickly. There is an enemy out there, and they might be using-"

"… The Osa-P jewelry store?"

Luna stopped and looked back at Usagi, clearly surprised. "You… you have good instincts," she admitted, before turning to the window. "Let's go."

* * *

At that very jewelry story, Naru Osaka was in a pinch. After her mother hadn't come home well past the normal closing time for the store, she had gone back and found a horrid scene: all of the women shopping before were unconscious! When she confronted her mother about this terrible turn, she found herself attacked and pinned to the wall, the youma that took the form of her mother strangling the life out of her.

"M-mom… what's gotten into you? What are you doing?" To her horror, the youma shed her disguise, becoming the jaundiced and corpse-like Morga before her eyes.

"Your mother is not here, little girl. Now, give me your energy!" Morga snarled, as she tightened her grip on the girl's throat. Desperately, as she felt her airway begin to close off, Naru began to fight back, weakly kicking and clawing at the youma's arm in a panic that was only hastening her demise. "Yes, yes! Struggle, give up the last desperate gasps of your life to the Dark…!"

"WAIT!"

Morga turned her head one-hundred eighty degrees to face the voice that called out. Standing in the doorway, her body cast in silhouette with her arms folded, a mysterious newcomer made her entrance. Her grip relaxed on Naru's throat, allowing the girl to breathe and see the unexpected arrival. "W-what the…?"

"Diamonds are many things, unbreakable, a girl's best friend, forever… but they are above all else beautiful. Such beauty, like that of innocent maidens, must never be tarnished, not by conflict, not by greed, and definitely not by darkness! So then, youma, it's time to pay for your crimes!"

Morga released Naru, and turned to face her, a snarl escaping her lips. "Who on Earth are you?"

The mood of the lighting seemed to change at that, the darkness encasing the girl lifting to reveal her form as the Guardian of Mankind, Sailor Moon, who leveled a hostile glare as she made her retort plain and to the point.

"You don't deserve to know my name!"

[To Be Continued…]

* * *

A/N: Any author's biggest critic is himself. Therefore and thusly, enjoy the new and improved Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon.


	2. The First Battle: Sailor Moon Arrives!

Disclaimer: Make no mistake, this story is going into the gutter

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
The First Battle: Sailor Moon Arrives!

_Usagi Tsukino is a very dangerous young woman_

**[2.]**

Usagi awoke in her bed, feeling like she'd been trampled by a mob of brainwashed women and slapped around by a walking corpse. Letting out a grunt and a groan, Usagi rolled over and pushed herself up into a sitting position before stretching her hands high above her head. The weariness was fleeting, and she let out a yawn. No, she hadn't been trampled or slapped around, she just had a really, really good night's sleep after what had happened.

"Oh man… I never slept that good before." She admitted as she swung her legs out of bed. She stopped midway when she saw Luna curled up in the corner of her bed, still fast asleep.

Leaning over, she reached over and poked the top of her head, and got no reaction, before she began to lightly pet the Mau. After a few strokes, she smiled when she heard the unmistakable sound of a purr. "Ha, she's still a cat."

Luna's eyes cracked open, and she looked up at Usagi, and really wanted to bite her for that remark but hey, being pet felt really, really good. "I am awake you know."

"Good morning then, Luna. Do you like dry or canned food?"

"I prefer dry for practicality, as it keeps my teeth in shape. If I want something with a little meat I can always hunt, I am a Mau after all."

"So Mau are like, what, alien cats?" Usagi asked.

"The result of convergent evolution combined with the law infinite probability, a sentient species not-unlike the common house cat." Luna said as she rose and arched her back to stretch. "We Mau and your Domestic and Feral Cats aren't too different, actually. Were circumstances a little different in their history, they'd be exactly like us."

"Wow, that's kind of heavy." Usagi got up out of bed. As she got on her feet and began to stretch, she stopped when she noticed yet another addition to her room, the single rose sitting in a glass vase on her desk. She smiled warmly at it, before going to her closet to get her uniform.

Luna looked at the rose, and then turned back to Usagi. "About that, do you think it is a good idea to let that man just run about? He already knew who you were."

"He was kind of hot," Usagi replied as she set her uniform on the bed. "Plus, he helped me out, so I'm not going to hold it against him."

"Yes, he did help you, but he's still an unpredictable variable. He could be trying to ingratiate himself to you so he can stab you in the back." Luna's eyes narrowed. "It's what I'd do."

"You read The Prince?"

_"__You_ read The Prince?"

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "My pastimes are as unpredictable as I am." She grabbed a towel. "I'm taking a shower; I'll be out in a minute and then it's off to breakfast and school."

Ten minutes later, Usagi surprised her entire family by appearing at the breakfast table on time for once. Well, everyone but Ikuko, who learned to set her watch to Usagi's general unpredictability rather than her predictability a long time ago. "Good morning Usagi-chan, I made you extra toast."

"Wow, thanks Mom! It's just what I was hankering for," Usagi said cheerfully as she picked up the toast and buttered it.

Her dad, Kenji Tsukino, looked to her Mom in disbelief, he still hadn't quite grasped the concept of predicting Usagi's unpredictability, but then again he'd cut his losses with her and invested in Shingo, who at least appeared mentally stable. Boy was he going to be disappointed in a couple of weeks.

Shingo, whose attention was diverted between his breakfast and the morning news on his expensive and fancy touch-screen phone, looked over at Usagi. "You know, Naru's store got trashed last night."

Usagi slowed down the chewing on her toast. "Huh? What happened?" She asked, despite knowing damn well what happened.

"Armed robbers tried to hit it, and ended up holding a ton of people hostage until some crazy vigilante showed up and defeated them before the police could get there. Half the store got destroyed but no one was hurt," Shingo said in summary.

Usagi couldn't help a smile. "A vigilante saved the day, huh? Did they get a description?"

Shingo nodded. "Witnesses say it was a man in a tuxedo, top hat, and mask."

Bullshit, fucking bullshit. Usagi sagged a bit, and then shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, well no one was hurt I guess, so cool."

Inwardly, she was throwing a fit. After all that, he got the credit? All he did was throw a fucking rose! God, if he wasn't so hot and mysterious and knew how to play Latin Guitar–the ONE instrument that got her motor running–she'd be hunting him down and kicking his perfect ass for stealing her thunder. But he was all of those things, so she'd let it go.

"I've heard of that guy, he's been running around for a while now, leaves a rose as a calling card. We in the business call him Tuxedo Kamen," her Father noted.

"Huh, his name's Tuxedo Kamen, huh?" Interesting, she at least had an ID on him now. Finishing her toast and grabbing up the extra slice, she headed for the door. "Well, I'm off to school! I'm not going to be late for once!"

"Have good day, Usagi-chan, and don't forget you have practice at the dojo today," her mother called after her.

Usagi nodded and poked her head back in the dining room to wave. "Thanks Mom, bye!"

Turning around and heading for the door, she slipped on her shoes and dashed out, only to smash right into Naru as she was approaching to knock. "Oof! Good morning Naru! Surprised I came out on time?"

Wearing what appeared to be a turtleneck t-shirt under her uniform to hide the bruising around her neck, Naru smiled to Usagi. "Hey Usagi-chan, I guess I kind of am." She then grew a little serious. "Hey, can we go somewhere and talk really quick, somewhere alone?"

Blinking, Usagi stared at Naru. Wait, she hadn't figured it out, had she? "Um, okay we can go talk… come on…"

It turned out that Naru had figured it out, given the first words out of her mouth after she led her down the street, into an alleyway, and made sure they were absolutely alone with no chance of anyone listening in.

"_What the fuck Usagi__?_ When were you going to tell me that _you were a fucking superhero__?_ You fucking came into the store, fucking quoted Rom fucking Stol out of the blue, beat up all those fucking women and _fucking manhandled and killed a monster what the fuck__?"_

Naru dropping F-Bombs all in this bitch, and it both shocked Usagi and turned her on a little. "Whoa, Naru… I didn't manhandle it; I mean…Tuxedo Kamen helped a little…"

"You. Kicked. It. Through. A. Building. You. Are. A. Fucking. Superhero." Naru had to carefully emphasize those words as she gripped Usagi's shoulders. "When were you going to fucking tell me?"

Usagi squirmed free. "Look, this is kind of new to me! That cat I rescued yesterday? A magical alien cat from outer space! She said I'm apparently some reborn guardian of the Moon and I have to do this or we're all doomed, okay?"

Naru stared at her. "You know, it's really sad that even if I hadn't been throttled half to death by a monster yesterday, I'd believe every word out of your mouth because it's too insane to be made up… even for you."

Leaning against the wall, Usagi sighed. "But yeah, there you go. I am a Superhero, just… you know, keep it a secret?"

Calming down, considerably, Naru took several deep breaths and nodded. "Okay, okay… I'm sorry for blowing up on you, but you did kind of wreck our store, you know."

Usagi let out a laugh. "That was me not knowing my own strength, sorry."

"Yeah, you were really strong…" Naru smiled. "Hey, you know maybe I could be like your sidekick, like in Kamen Raider?"

"I don't know, all of Kamen Raider's female sidekicks mostly died. Horribly."

"Well, I could be the civilian sidekick who protects your identity, acts as a shocked witness to your amazing power, and helps move the plot along when you or the author is in a pinch."

Now that actually sounded like a good idea. "Wow, you would do that for me? Thanks!"

Naru laughed. "Oh, what are friends for, Usagi?"

"A free lunch!" Usagi replied happily.

At that, Naru developed a wise smirk. "Oh yeah, speaking of things friends are for. You're going to help clean up the store, or I'm gonna take the damage you did out of your ass."

Usagi laughed. "You know, you're absolutely adorable when you curse."

"I'm being serious, Usagi!" Naru said in a tone that was entirely not.

Arms over each other's shoulders, the two girls left the alley with smiles on their faces. Stealthy as the cat she resembled, Luna watched the two from a rooftop and let out a sigh. Who Usagi revealed her identity to was really her business, but Luna preferred if she kept a low profile about it. Hopefully, she took enough from her silly television shows to know the importance of maintaining her secrecy.

* * *

An undisclosed distance away, Jadeite sat on the steps of an icy cavern, his face buried in his palm. Morga was dead, and all the energy she had gathered was gone. What the Hell had happened? The one moment he turned away from the situation, something or someone had killed her and dispersed the energy just as he reached his quota. Beryl was going to be pissed, and he had nothing to show for it.

"I heard you lost Morga." The voice, soft like a gently flowing stream, belonged to only one person. He looked up at the somewhat sad woman with long blue hair standing over him. "That was a shame; she was one of your best."

Jadeite raised his head. "Beryl's going to notice that I didn't meet quota, and she's going to tear me a new one. I need to find out what happened."

Thetis nodded. "If you like, I can convince one of Beryl's youma to pick up the slack. If all she knows is that Morga was killed, as long as quota is met, she won't care."

Jadeite felt flattered. "Thetis, thank you."

"It's nothing." Thetis replied before she turned into a swirling spout of water that evaporated away. Once she was gone, Jadeite lowered his head again and smiled. It was nice to have someone in his corner.

"Shit, I hope Nephrite gets back soon." He murmured.

* * *

Walking onto the schoolyard, Usagi and Naru stopped when they noticed a commotion going on, and found a cheap black sedan parked quite illegally on the sidewalk leading to the steps and blocking them. The whore from yesterday was standing in front of it, along with some twenty-something gangster, complete with tattoos, painfully bleached and spiked hair, and a colorfully flamboyant jacket and shirt… like he was trying to be a Kakihara wannabe.

Anyone who can guess that reference will prove to be as big a loser as the author.

"There she is, baby, the bitch who did this to me!" The "this" Usagi did being the beating that resulted in her wearing a neck brace and a cast on her right arm. She also sported numerous bruises, two black eyes, and several missing teeth.

The whore's boyfriend pushed himself off from the side of his car and spread his "Absolute Don't Fuck with Me" Field that kept the other students of Juuban Junior High School at a safe distance. He looked Usagi over, and let out a huff. "This is the girl that kicked your ass?"

"She's a butch dyke! All I did was call that ginger bitch with her a bitch and she flipped the fuck out on me!" the whore yelled, as she pointed between Usagi and Naru. "Teach her a lesson, baby!"

Naru recoiled. "Ginger?!"

Usagi stepped forward, and gave the man a look of slack-jawed apathetic detachment. "How old are you, like thirty or something?"

The thug snorted. "You calling me old, brat?"

"You're calling me a brat, when you're fucking a girl younger than me?"

It was true; Usagi was older than the whore by a month and a half.

"And now you're coming into a rich neighborhood like you run it, to beat up a girl in broad daylight? Are you retarded?"

Usagi looked over to the whore. "He's the big time gangster in Roppongi, huh? He's probably not even qualified to scrub the toilets in a third rate Soapland."

The gangsta boyfriend put on his best impression of a crazy smile. "You've got a mouth on you; don't you know who I am? I control the streets of Roppongi; I've stood in the same room as my boss with thirty other badasses and was the only man to not shit his pants. Little girl I've made men disappear, and turned tougher bitches than you into working girls, if you know what I mean. You have the nerve to beat my girl, and insult me to my face?"

Usagi stared at him. "You're a cheap Kakihara wannabe."

That really set him off. "What did you call me? Oh you little… when I'm through teaching you a lesson, you and your little friend are coming with me! We're going to a little place in Roppongi you might like."

Usagi rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Naru-chan, this man is a moron."

"Yes, yes he is," Naru replied.

"I think I might kill him."

"Yes, yes you might."

Usagi sighed and then turned to the man. "Listen to what I am about to say carefully: You just threatened a dear friend of mine. When the police show up, they're going to arrest me for what I did to you."

Laughing aloud, the idiot made his nth mistake of the morning, and pulled out a knife. "Bitch, the only thing coming to get you is a hearse!"

Seeing the weapon, Usagi's flat expression turned into a genuine lunatic's grin. "It's now self-defense."

* * *

The night before, and Usagi as Sailor Moon was face to face with Morga, who had released Naru to let her fall to the floor before turning her body to completely face her. Well, this was unexpected, a human girl in a fetishized Sailor Fuku coming along claiming to be here to stop her? Oh well, just another bit of fodder for Jadeite. She looked to the unconscious women, and then grinned. "Kill her."

Like zombies, the women rose to their feet, their lifeless eyes focused on Sailor Moon. She tensed up, and then backed away as the women advanced on her. "Well… this is going to be inconvenient…"

As the mob attacked Sailor Moon, Morga returned her attention to Naru, who had gotten up and was crawling for the alarm system of the jewelry store. She had almost reached it, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth from the injuries incurred by her near strangulation, when Morga grabbed her by her leg and dragged her back. She let out a hoarse cry, and quickly tried to kick free.

"Let go of me! Let go!" She pleaded.

Morga chuckled and began to dig her fiendishly sharp nails into her leg as she easily took the weak blows. "You're going to have to kick a lot harder than that to hurt me, little girl!"

"Okay."

Morga turned around, and saw Sailor Moon in the air above her head, with her right leg raised high. It came down, and when it hit Morga it drove her face through the floor and into the tiled floor up to her shoulders.

Freed, Naru crawled back, and stared in disbelief at the scene: all of the women were scattered about the store, slumped over displays or sprawled out, as though on the receiving end of a whirlwind of blows.

"Who… who are you?" Naru exclaimed as she stared directly at Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon just smiled and then hopped back from Morga as she rose to her feet, furious. "You're going to pay for that, you little tramp!"

Raising her hand, Sailor Moon beckoned for the youma to bring it. Morga did, extending one of her arms to grab the girl, only to whiff it as Sailor Moon ducked under the limb and running up to kick her hard into the wall, cracking it on impact. Naru, now safely clear, gasped in amazement at the force of the blow.

Morga was not down yet, pushing herself up, she lunged at Sailor Moon in an attempt to out-speed her and catch her on her flank. To her surprise, her target moved first, moving to her unguarded left before driving a roundhouse kick into her back and smashing her through a display case. She had not even hit the ground beyond it when Sailor Moon grabbed her face and smashed her into a wall.

"Come on!" Pulling her back by her hair, Sailor Moon smashed her into the wall again. "You want me to hit harder? I can hit harder!" She smashed her face into the wall yet again. "Don't die on me! You can't break now!"

Morga managed to shove Sailor Moon back. When she swung at her with an elastic appendage, the youma was missed. "You little…!"

She charged forth to rake her claws through Sailor Moon, and again missed pathetically. Landing with hands on Morga's head, Sailor Moon twisted her head seven hundred and twenty degrees on her neck before springing off. Landing on another display, and barely even budging the glass, she waited.

Morga twisted her head around twice, and faced her opponent. "I'll make you regret making light of me!"

She lunged again, and Sailor Moon again mocked her with a swift hop over her head to snap-kick her down into the case, shattering it. As she sprung off her, however, Morga's arms extended and grabbed Sailor Moon before swinging her down and through another case. "GOT YOU!"

With her hands around Sailor Moon's throat Morga got up, and prepared to reel the warrior in… when a rose, thrown like a dart, suddenly cut across her face. Hissing in pain, she dropped Sailor Moon to palm at the cut. "Ah! My face!"

Looking up Sailor Moon heard the gentle strum of a Spanish Guitar before she spotted him sitting in a windowsill, a man in a tuxedo and top hat, a white mask over his eyes, and a guitar in his hands. Staring, a single thought ran through Sailor Moon's mind:

_"He is so sexy."_

"Please excuse my intrusion Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Kamen said as he played. "But don't you think you've played with this one long enough?"

Sailor Moon looked back to Morga, and then smiled. "Stranger, you're quite right."

With a hard, fast rhythm, Tuxedo Kamen began to play as Sailor Moon began walking towards Morga. Snarling the youma attacked first, lunging with claws ready. She then extended her arms like rifle shots, and ended up hitting only the wall behind where Sailor Moon stood.

Her eyes wide, Morga didn't even have time to turn around as Sailor Moon kicked off a wall behind her and then threw herself into a flying kick that smashed the youma through the wall in front of her, and through the walls of the businesses Osa-P shared the building with. By the time a wall finally stopped the youma, it was dying.

"…What … are… you…?" Morga weakly gurgled, before she turned into dust.

Posed three-point style with one hand on the ground, Sailor Moon rose and dusted her hands clean.

"Courtesy of Raider 1, youma." She said, before looking up at the window. "Thanks for the fight song, stranger."

"It was my pleasure, Sailor Moon." With a final strum of his guitar, Tuxedo Kamen tossed another rose to Sailor Moon and quietly departed. After watching his flowing cape follow him out of view, she looked down at the rose and heaved a wistful sigh. Her first day as a superhero, and she was already in love with an ally.

"SAILOR MOON!" Luna roared, snapping her from her teenaged fancies. "What on Earth did you do!?"

Jumping, she turned and looked down at the frazzled Luna. "What did I do? I killed the youma! That's what!"

"Yes, that's all well and good but…!"

She was cut off by Naru, who had already assessed the damage. "… You destroyed my family's store, you maniac!"

Sailor Moon looked over to Naru, and huffed. "Rebuild it, that's all you can do."

"Rebuild it?" A baffled Naru replied. "But the jewelry, the diamonds, they're all ruined!"

Sailor Moon turned away from Naru, and looked towards the open doors of the store before walking towards them. "Material possessions are merely filler for the empty soul. Such things can be replaced, lives cannot."

No way. Naru's eyes practically popped out of her skull when she heard those words, and she slowly rose to her feet. "U-Usagi, is… is that you?"

Stopping at the door to allow Luna to jump onto her shoulder, Sailor Moon glanced back at Naru, before she departed into the night. Naru watched her go, completely baffled. She didn't even notice the door to the basement finally burst open and her bound and gagged mother stumble in after her hours long struggle to get to the showroom floor.

* * *

The whore who brought a wannabe gangster from Roppongi to her Junior High School to beat up Usagi Tsukino was just one of the many stunned students staring at what had transpired. The man was now slumped against the side of his trashed car, its windows having been broken after repeated blows from his bruised, swollen face, while his clothes were torn and stained in his blood, which ran in rivulets down his arm and dripped off his fingertips.

Standing behind him, firmly gripping his hair in her hand, a still psychotically smiling Usagi slowly pulled his head back and then let go, causing him to fall onto his back. She had a single mark on her, a cut in her uniform top where he had tried to slice her with his knife, the only attack he had managed to get in. Lowering her blood-stained hand as the school bell chimed, she turned and walked over to Naru.

"Sometimes I don't know if I should be flattered or terrified at what you're willing to do for me." It was the only thing Naru could say.

Usagi smiled "Naru-chan, I would burn down the entire world for you."

It was one of the reasons Naru was Usagi's friend. Beyond being loud, funny, and at times frighteningly nonsensical, she had moments where she was a different person, a frightening almost untouchable figure that was so many things at once. Some days, Naru saw a brilliant intellect, other days there was an indomitable strength, and on others still, like now, she saw a fearsome loyalty to those that cared she cared for.

"Like I said…" Naru stopped and shook her head. "Oh well least you let him attack first; I don't think anything else will justify what you did."

"Exactly, he cut me." She lifted her shirt, showing off the thin line across her stomach. "I feared for my life, so I acted accordingly."

Could that cheap thug have actually done anything? Who knew, but Usagi was not to leave anything to chance, especially when he threatened Naru. "Hey, Naru, help me wash the blood off my hands, okay?"

Naru smiled. "Sure thing," she then added under her breath, "Sailor Moon."

Usagi laughed and nudged Naru as they went into the bathroom. "Hey, hey…"

A few minutes later in class, Haruna Sakurada let out a depressed sigh as she spoke on the phone with her older sister, the successful Superintendent-General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police that made her job as a teacher just another one of her regrets. "I know, I know, but she's actually a good girl otherwise and she only does things like this when she feels people close to her are threatened."

Her sister responded, and Haruna rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I've already talked with her family about her behavior and there's nothing there that indicates some sort of abuse at home. Her father is a writer for a respectable newspaper and her mother is really good at reining her in. She may be disturbed, but she's definitely no delinquent."

More talking and Haruna opened her drawer to reveal the flask of twelve year old whiskey singing her name like a siren's song. "You can go talk to them yourself, but you'll only get the same thing we were told: 'Usagi-chan is an ally of justice, if she beat someone up then they deserved it'."

This applied especially to the gangsta being loaded into the back of an ambulance in handcuffs–not even counting the criminal record and the slew of charges he racked up today alone. "Besides, it's not like you have any witnesses, right? So what makes you think she even had something to do with it?"

Indeed, no one seemed to have noticed what happened during the assault with excessive force that happened outside despite half the student body being at the scene of the crime during it. Not even the gangsta's girlfriend, whom after seeing someone else on the receiving end of an Usagi Tsukino-brand beating decided that maybe heterosexuality was overrated.

Finally, her sister relented and bid her a farewell before hanging up the phone. Looking down at her whiskey, she picked it up, popped the cap off the flask and took a swig from it. She immediately thought of a friend from her Teaching College. "I wonder if Tanizaki-sempai goes through days like this."

She'd emptied half of the flask when Usagi walked in with Naru. Picking up her notebook, she walked over and promptly whacked her on the head with it. "Usagi! What did I tell you about fights at school?"

"To do them behind the gym equipment shed where no one can see?" Usagi asked.

"Exactly! My sister is starting to get nosy about this shit! Do you realize who she is and what she does?!"

Usagi took the flask from her and took a hit. "The Glenlivet, aged twelve years? You have expensive taste, Haruna."

"It was a graduation gift from my seniors." Haruna snatched it back and stuffed it in the drawer. "Just keep a low profile for a while okay? No beating up people or causing mayhem, if you can do that I'll go easy on you with your homework."

Naru smiled. "You're way too lenient; you should at least let her stand out in the hall with buckets or something."

Other students began to file in and Haruna let out a laugh. "And let this little barbarian get stronger than she is? Just be cool, Usagi."

"Jawohl, Hauptmann!" Usagi replied as she went over to her desk, feeling quite proud of herself for her victory today. Combined with her newfound powers, she was feeling pretty invincible right now, no one could touch her!

* * *

Later that afternoon, at the "Running Dragon School of Indiscriminate Grappling", a third rate dojo located a few blocks over from Osa-P and entirely unrelated to certain other schools of Indiscriminate Grappling, Usagi was performing her stretching routine when her sensei, a part-timer who also taught gym at an academically demanding school elsewhere in the Metropolitan area, walked in and waved.

"Good afternoon," Sensei said cheerfully as she gestured to the door at her side that led to the dojo's locker room. "A new student just joined the school, so let's make her feel welcomed okay? Mako-chan, you can come out now."

Usagi, now with one foot stretched above her head, stared as the girl introduced walked in. Good lord, she was a giantess, she was even taller than Sensei! She had to be at least what, a hundred seventy two centimeters tall? Jesus Christ kicking the shit out of a Child Molester!

As Usagi went through a mental tirade over Makoto Kino's height, Makoto bowed to the group. "Hello, I'm Makoto Kino; I hope you will treat me well."

Sensei continued. "She's a second rank black belt and will soon be on her way to achieving a third. So even though she's new, do treat her with some respect okay?"

She was a second rank black belt? Usagi was intrigued as she folded her arms and gave Makoto a scrutinizing look. "Black Belt rank doesn't mean much, except for that you're set in your ways."

Makoto blinked. "Excuse me, but what did you just say?"

"I mean, so what if you've got a pretty black belt. It doesn't mean that you're any better than some of the no-ranks here," Usagi replied. "If you want to be respected then show us something worth respecting."

Sensei hesitated when Usagi made her declaration, and she nervously looked over to Makoto. "Mako-chan, you don't have to do it. Usa-chan is a bit rowdy."

Thankfully, Makoto was clearly above such baiting. "That's alright; I don't need to show off any to prove myself. It's unbecoming of a martial artist."

Usagi was not going to be having any of that. "Is that a fact, Miss Tokyo Tower?"

Right on the mark, dead amidships, where Usagi's verbal Mk 48 ADCAP exploded underneath and broke the keel of Makoto's temper. Her brows twitching, Makoto stared down at Usagi. "Excuse me but did you just-?"

"I said it."

Makoto stepped right up to her, a scowl on her face. "It wouldn't take me more than thirty seconds to destroy you."

Usagi grinned up at Makoto, feeling invincible. "Oh yeah? Prove it, show me what you got."

Shrugging her shoulders, Makoto stepped back. "Okay, you asked for it."

"You really think that?" Usagi retorted confidently. "Let's just see what a second rank black belt can-"

Thirty seconds later, Usagi was face down in a slowly spreading pool of blood.

"You were saying, Dango-head?" Makoto asked Usagi, who let out an indecipherable moan before she pushed herself up, the blood dribbling from her nose and mouth.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… you're really, really good… I regret insulting you and I will never be rude to you again…" Usagi could barely hear herself over her acute case of tinnitus.

Watching from the side, Sensei shook her head. "I think you gave her a concussion."

"How can you tell?" Makoto asked as Usagi got to her feet and rubbed her head.

"I don't have a concussion, and can someone make that ringing stop? I can't hear what Colonel von Stauffenberg is saying and it sounds important." Usagi replied.

Sensei shook her head. "To be honest I wouldn't know. I am impressed though, that skill of yours is much better than that of a Second Rank Black Belt."

Makoto smiled a bit as Usagi began saying "Yes Colonel" over and over. "I'll admit I'm not the only one who's more than she lets on."

Usagi then collapsed to the floor, mumbling something incoherently about Operation Valkyrie. Sensei and Makoto looked from the now semiconscious wreck to the each other, before unanimously deciding to call her mother.

Once she recovered from her mild case of "Got knocked the fuck out" and got home with her mother, Usagi headed up to her room and flopped onto the bed. What a busy day it was. She beat up some thug, got her ass handed to her by a new girl she was certain was going to be her friend by the end of the week, and made it home without having to fight a youma or some shit like that. Speaking of that shit, Luna hopped up onto her bed and walked over to sniff at her face.

"You are very cat-like," Usagi stated as she reached up and began to pet her.

"And deranged does not even begin to describe you." Luna replied curtly before slipping from under her hand and evading another attempt at being petted. "Goodness, is this how your day goes every day?"

Usagi chuckled and sat up. "This is actually a slow day; I usually beat up way more people. They call me Minato's Akane Tendo for a reason."

"Who is that?" Luna asked.

"Don't worry, just another one of my crazy references that goes over your head," Usagi replied.

"Don't you think your energy is better suited on more constructive pursuits?" Luna chided.

Usagi laid back. "Ugh, you're not my Mom. You can't tell me what to do."

"I guess not, but my advice is helpful."

Rolling over to put her back to Luna, Usagi picked up a remote and pointed it at the stereo on her bookshelf. "It really is, and if there's anything you can teach me, I'll gladly and graciously learn it. Now hush, my show's starting soon."

"Your show…?" Luna asked before some English rock song suddenly began blaring through the radio.

"… And welcome back to Depths of the Strange, we are your hosts Hakushi and Marik," The latter of the duo announced in a snark-riddled deadpan over the music. "It's Cool Music Wednesday, where we showcase a little bit of awesome to offset the crap we have to put up with. Today's selection comes from Heroes of Gunstar, off their new album His Finest Hour. The track itself is called 'The Ballad of Honest Ed'."

"Well it's the last five minutes of the show," the former replied much more energetically. "We've already covered the strange, the weird, and bizarre around the world but now we're going to bring it a little closer to home and leave you with the new weirdness that's cropped up in the last few days."

Marik replied, "This is going to be a good one too."

"The Worldwide Road Roller is in the news again." Hakushi announced.

"The strangest girl in Tokyo is living up to her name, huh?"

"During the weekend, she and her still yet to be named beau got into it with The Golden Pair of Martial Arts Figure Skating. The beating the Golden Pair received was so violent that the International Skating Union declared today that Martial Arts Figure Skating events worldwide would be banned."

"We really ought to do an exposé on this stuff, I just found out today that there's Martial Arts Watching Paint Dry over in Shibuya."

Usagi went wide-eyed at the news. "Holy shit, no way. The Golden Pair were my faves."

"Well, I guess there's always roller derby for the Golden Pair, right?" Marik asked.

"Right, if they can ever hope to walk again," Hakushi replied. "There's a fresh one out of Minato too. If you folks remember, last night we did a breaking news update on the Osa-P jewelry store robbery that was foiled by Tuxedo Kamen. Well if you go to our webpage, and click on videos you'll find that there's a little more to the story than a simple robbery."

"A lot more."

"From what these exclusive security tapes from the store show, it wasn't so much a robbery as it was a monster trying to kill everyone in the store. Even weirder still, it wasn't Tuxedo Kamen who saved the day, but a hot little number in a cute little sailor fuku."

"Hot little number? She looks young enough to be your daughter, Haku."

"Anyway, we don't have a name on this one, but you gotta watch the tapes. There's just so much that we can't convey to you on radio."

"Yeah, like the part where she kicks the poor son of a bitch through six walls. Yikes."

The outro music began to play for the two, as Hakushi laughed. "Anyway, the music means that our time is up and the Late Night Sex Line… err… Midnight Zero is about to start. Remember you can check out the video at HakuMari dot JP, just click on the videos button. And if you can at least give us a name or something on our fuku-wearing vigilante, you may get a prize."

"And don't forget we still have tickets for the Heroes of Gunstar Concert at Tokyo Big Sight, and that show is only right around the corner. Concert tickets will be given out during the day, remember to listen for the prompt and be caller number twenty and if you can demonstrate your Natalie Adams trivia prowess, you will get those seats," Marik added.

Luna looked over to Usagi. "See what happens when you lack subtlety?"

"Well it can't be helped, even if I didn't go absolutely balls out crazy on that youma, I would've been caught on tape anyway," Usagi argued.

"Well at the very least you could've gone back and gotten the security tapes."

"Why didn't you think of that, oh wise advisor?"

Luna indignantly swiped at Usagi's face. "Shut up."

"Ow!" Usagi picked up Luna and tossed her out the window. "You bitch!"

"Revenge will be mine!" Luna yelled as she went out the window.

Content, Usagi laid back and looked back over to the radio, as the DJ began speaking. "Hello, this is Midnight Zero and I am your new host, Jade Eyes…"

Usagi pulled a pillow under her to get comfy and smiled dreamily as she listened to the speaker speak. He had such a sexy voice. "… Tonight, we're doing something a little different. The authors of the sexy letters that I've received are going to get a very special gift. I won't tell what it is, because we value the anonymity of the writers of our lovely submissions."

"Ooh, a special gift? Maybe I should send a letter in," Usagi mused aloud as she settled in to listen to some steamy narration.

At the radio station the youma Flau licked her lips as she listened to DJ Jadeite speak. "God, he's so sexy."

Next to her in the control booth, Thetis was in complete agreement as she eyed one of the special gifts that would be going out tonight, a simple flower broach.

"Our first letter comes from a young woman who only wants to be known as 'Spring Gardener'…"

[To Be Continued…]

* * *

Usagi: Apparently a reviewer complained about there being no "Sailor Moon Says" last chapter, so from now on, there's going to be one!

Luna: Really now?

Usagi: Anyway, fighting is very bad. You should not do it unless you absolutely must and for the right reasons! Don't fight to prove you're strong, and don't fight to harm others. Your strength should be used to protect the innocent and weak in the name of justice, and that's all that matters. This is what Kamen Raider has taught me.

Luna: Wow… that's, really actually a very good lesson.

Usagi: Sailor Moon Says! (Annoying Giggle)


	3. Chapter 2 Extra: Midnight Zero

Disclaimer: This is supplementary material, written mostly by Andrew Joshua Talon. He is truly bro-tier. Also, I apologize to the cast of Megami33's Sailor Moon Abridged… among obvious others

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Midnight Zero

_Things are about to get a little… steamy._

**[2.5]**

"Our first letter comes from a young woman who only wants to be known as 'Spring Gardener'…"

Bouncing where she sat, Usagi wish she had something to snack on as Jade Eyes began to narrate. God, he had such a sexy voice!

_Dear Midnight Zero,_

I have red hair I keep in perfect flowing condition, an athletic figure with frequent exercise, and beneath my demure demeanor I'm more than willing to push my boundaries. But every date comes up empty. I think that men my age are indifferent to a woman at my age, soon to be a lonely Christmas cake. But every day I feel the adoring, lustful gazes of my male students and I can't help but think about the possibilities. I know it's wrong, but as I see more and more of them blossom into manhood, and know that in their beds at night it's me their fantasize about, I can't help letting my imagination wander into forbidden areas.

The fantasy starts like this: I enter the classroom; shoo the female students out (including one in particular-she'd just get in the way) and I sit on the desk. I then cross my legs, and give them all a little smile as I announce to the male students that if they get perfect grades on this exam, they can have anything they want from me. I would note the blushes and drooling as the same thought, the same hope went through their heads, and would lift my leg up just a little, giving them all a little more incentive.

I'd let the papers get passed out and move among them while they did the test, lightly touching a shoulder, or giving a warm look, or brushing my fingernails over the backs of the necks of a few of them–all just to stoke the flames. I could feel the sexual tension in the air as I went about, until finally I would take my seat back upon the desk and announce for them to pass them forward.

I would read through the papers, slowly, reading silently but in reality just giving them some hint as to what my mouth could do. I would then set them down, look up at them and smile. I'd say, 'Well, well, well… it seems you all did it, perfect scores. Now it's my turn. Name whatever you want me to do… and I'll do it. Any. Thing. At. All.'

I would expect a moment or two of silence, and then they'd all get up, head over to me, and take hold of me. Maybe they'd force me to my knees and make me service them. One at a time, two, three, it wouldn't matter, I'd do them all. Or they could just rip my clothing off and take me, all at once, every hole, over and over. And I'd love it, every moment, teaching them how to become men with me.

Maybe the principal would catch me, but I wouldn't care. I'd just lick my lips and smile at him, and with a stretch of my spine I'd purr and say 'Maybe I am a Christmas cake… but I come with frosting.'"

"Oh my… Spring Gardener, it would seem that you have some of the brightest students in your school if your letter's any indication. It makes me long for my school days again."

Usagi stared at the radio. "Holy fuck, that was hot."

Luna sat at the foot of the bed. "How is this even able to get on the radio?"

"Because it's late night, duh, all of the kids are asleep."

Luna sniffed. "Not all of them."

"Do you want to go out the window again? Because Jade Eyes is talking and I can't hear him over your whining."

"Our next letter is from 'Driven Mad with Love'."

* * *

_Dear Midnight Zero,_

My job has few perks, carting people around the city on a bus. The majority of them are unattractive businessmen or frumpy housewives, too busy to even say hello or thank you. However there is a young ronin who stands out in my eye. He's a little sad looking, very much on the soft side and not strikingly handsome, but he's exceptionally sweet and kind. Every morning he greets me and strikes up small conversation, nothing ever too heavy enough to distract me as I drive but enough to keep me talking with him about any old thing. I don't know how he does it, but he always seems to captivate me with even the littlest things, like he's speaking directly to my heart-of-hearts and it's listening intently.

I think I'm in love with him, I'm not sure; I've never felt so strongly for anyone like this before. But every time I try to get beyond our idle chats, his stop comes and off he goes. With every day I see him, my heart's place for him grows, and my thoughts and fancies grow more intimate. Some days, I wish that we could be the only people on the bus, so perhaps we could go past our friendly conversations, and into deeper, meaningful talk. I wish we could just drive off together, he and I, with only the road ahead of us and true love our destination.

For now, I suppose I'm content with simply being in his company. But I don't know, Midnight Zero… maybe that road will finally call us.

"I wish you the best on your travels, 'Driven Mad with Love'." Jade Eyes said. "Don't give up on your feelings, and put all your energy into them."

Thetis smirked at that, while Flau tried not to openly laugh. On the other end of the broadcast, Usagi looked to Luna. "See? It's not all smut–that was exceptionally romantic."

Luna circled around at her spot in the corner of Usagi's bed. "It was, but did it have to follow that horrid raunchiness from before?"

Jade Eyes' voice wafted through the speakers again. "The next letter comes from 'Keystone Heart'," he chuckled, "A self-described 'Lonely Upholder of Justice'."

"Ah, someone I can sympathize with." Usagi sagely noted.

* * *

_Dear Midnight Zero,_

We all heard the rumors about him. How some dark avenger in a mask and cape had begun appearing around Tokyo, striking down criminals left and right, making it so every punk in the prefecture was afraid, deathly afraid, that he was around. At first like the others I was incredulous–A man in a tuxedo? Striking terror into thieving bastards? It's impossible. No one could be that scary, or that crazy.

Well, I learned soon enough this was not the case. A patrol of mine almost ended up being my last–traffic stops in gang territory when they're agitated is dangerous for any policewoman, and this group thought I'd stumbled onto something big. They dragged me into a nearby building, knives glinting in the dark. I had no weapon, I was defenseless, but I resolved to be stoic as I could, to not give them any satisfaction.

Then, he came in. He swooped down like an avenging angel, cape flaring around him like wings, his face set in fury. He moved like a hurricane, striking all of them down so fast-It was as though he wasn't human. Oh, but I saw he was human, wonderfully human. I drank in every detail, the adrenaline and excitement combined with him made it absolutely, unbelievably erotic, I must say.

When it was done, he asked if I was all right. I managed a nod and a thank you, before he vanished into the darkness again, as though he was never there to begin with. All that was left was a rose, which I picked up. It's against police procedure, but then the Superintendent has always been different when it came to Tuxedo Kamen.

Since then, I like to fantasize about things that night going very differently. When he would ask me if I was all right, I would nod, and walk over the unconscious thugs to him. Looking up into his face I would say thank you, and with a blush gracing my cheeks I would ask if I could do anything to repay him. With a smile, he would sweep me into his arms and take me away, onto the rooftops. They say he can fly–well, I wouldn't be surprised if he can, and me in his strong arms, well, I would feel no fear whatsoever I must say. He would spirit me away into the night. His roses that can cut through stone would slice my uniform from my body, leaving me exposed. He would spread his cape out onto the rooftop, and draw me down into his embrace, and underneath the moon we would make love, over and over again, until I passed out in bliss.

I'd wake up wrapped in his cape, the sun shining down on me. Might be a little embarrassing getting down and back home, but oh… I wouldn't care at all.

"Oh my God that…that was the best letter of them all oh my God!" Usagi squealed. "Tuxedo Kamen is such a _HOTTIE!"_

Usagi's mother slammed open her bedroom door, and immediately spoke something in the ancient tongues of incomprehensible beings older than the darkness from which all things came. Petrified, Usagi nodded, and then plugged her headphones into the radio after moving it from her bookshelf to her night stand.

Her ears flicking, Luna settled into the bed and began to clean; at least she didn't have to listen to anymore of that obscenity.

"Our final letter is from "All Work", a lovely young woman with a penchant for horror." Jade Eyes reported, before he began to narrate.

_Dear Midnight Zero,_

Lately with the stress of the office and my boss overworking me, I've taken to reading hentai doujin to take the edge off. It's gotten so bad I've begun to sneak the comics into my cubicle, and read late at night. I think I especially like the tentacle monster ones. With my bad luck with men, a monster would be an improvement, a mindless beast of lust stalking me and taking me without any hangups, psychological issues or cultural mindset conflicts: Just a monster out to have his way with me and make me his.

I would be sitting in my cubicle, hard at work, my back to the door. The light of the computer monitor would be hurting my eyes, and I'd close them, pushing my glasses up in order to rub them clear. Suddenly, I'd feel something strong and serpent like wrapping around my wrists and my waist, pulling me away. I'd be turned around and before I could cry out, a tentacle would be shoved into my mouth, silencing me. I wouldn't be able to see anything in the dark hallway, just the tentacles as they came around me, slipping underneath my clothes and tearing them right off. First my jacket would be torn apart, then they'd slip under my blouse, popping the buttons one by one on their way to my breasts. Then my skirt would go, torn to shreds, before they slipped into my panties, two of them.

I would struggle at first out of instinct, but as they all went to work thrusting in and out of me, the other tendrils snaking and caressing around my body, any sounds I would make would be those of pleasure. All night long the monster would drive me to new heights of ecstasy, over and over again until I couldn't stand it. I'd scream until my throat was raw or I passed out, whichever came first under the monster's assault. They'd find me in a puddle of juices, my own and those of the monster, with the biggest smile imaginable on my face as I slept away the morning.

Not all monsters bring bad dreams.

Usagi laughed, and shook her head. "This lady hasn't met a real monster yet, I'm definitely sure."

She looked over to Luna, who was curled up and asleep, as cats were wont to do. "Such a cute one, you are Luna."

Jade Eyes was speaking again, as the outro to his show began to play him out. "Well, that's it for Midnight Zero; please stay tuned for a next program. Remember, ladies, keep sending your letters in and you too may win a very special gift."

Usagi let out a hum. "Maybe I should send a letter in?" She laughed. "Yeah right, like I have anything resembling a love life going on right now."

She chose that very moment to pull the jack out of her stereo, the worst moment to do it.

"HEY GUYS THIS IS CRAZY TOM! I'M CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!"

Usagi quickly scrambled to shut the radio off, and just managed to. However, it was much too late. Even before she saw the shadow of her mother looming over her, she could already hear the ominous Latin chanting.

"… Uh oh…"

* * *

A/N: Just because.


	4. Destroy Midnight Zero!

Disclaimer: I'm serious, this story? It's going to go straight into gutter town, better bail while you still can. Oh yeah, something about me not owning this crap, either.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Lonely Hearts in Peril: Destroy Midnight Zero!

_Dear Naoko Takeuchi, I never thought that this would happen to me…_

**[3.]**

At the Minato Line bus depot, twenty-three year old bus driver Ruki Minase finished putting on the finishing touches to her uniform and her makeup before admiring herself in the mirror. Unlike many of the other bus drivers who worked for the line, she thought it best to go that extra mile for her appearance, so that her riders would have something pleasant to welcome them on their journey to work. It was quite effective, as she had quite a fan following among her riders to the point that she was considered Japan's "Bus Driver Idol".

Of course, she had her own selfish motive to looking so nice. Despite her well-paying career as a bus driver, Ruki's love life had been suffering since she graduated from college and even though she was forming some very meaningful friendships, the bus driver gig was lacking in romance. Why all the exposition? Because her love life was what led to her earning a nice little trinket that was going to join her uniform ensemble, a flower brooch she received in the mail, express, following the reading of her love letter on the Midnight Zero program.

"This will be the perfect addition," she said aloud to herself as she put the brooch on her jacket and posed with it. "Yosh, it's absolutely adorable! Okay, Ruki-chan, heading out!"

With all the energy of a wildcat high school girl, Ruki boldly strode off to her bus. Today was going to be a great day!

About fifteen minutes later, Ruki Minase's bus lost control after she suddenly lost consciousness at the wheel. Rolling downhill, it passed through a red light and T-boned an armored car, causing it to overturn and spill tens of millions of yen in the street. While there were injuries, no one was killed; however a good amount of dirty money was lost to passers-by who descended upon the accident.

Cue Usagi Tsukino's arrival to class some ten minutes late, her book bag bulging conspicuously. "Oh man you guys, the strangest thing just happened today on my way to school!"

Naru looked over to Usagi. "Oh? What happened? Also, you're late."

"I know, but there was a car accident, a bus plowed straight into an armored car running money around town, there was yen everywhere and it was awesome!" Usagi said with a big smile. Naru stared at Usagi and then down at the bag.

"And that would mean that's…" Naru trailed off.

Usagi grinned and patted the book bag. "My new car when I get my license!" She stopped and looked around. "Wait, I'm late? Where's Haruna? I know it's too early for her to hit the bottle, she doesn't start that until around nine am unless it's a special occasion."

Cue Umino, who popped in. "Hey, did you girls listen to Midnight Zero last night?"

Naru immediately coughed and blushed. "Who would listen to that smut? I mean, it's practically pornography and…"

"Oh man, I totally listened to it last night." Usagi immediately said. "Did you hear that one from Spring Gardener talking about being gangbanged by all of her students? That was freaky out the ass! I can't believe they let someone say that on radio!"

Umino looked around conspiratorially. "Well guess what, I think that Spring Gardener is none other than…"

Usagi raised her hand. "Say no more, I've come to the same conclusion. Who else could it be? Our Haruna is beautiful, lonely, and surrounded by handsome boys who are always undressing her with their eyes. Of course she'd fantasize about being banged by all of them at once in all holes multiple times."

Naru rolled her eyes. "Come on, Haruna-sensei isn't like that."

Usagi grinned. "Au contraire, little one, for you see that even our most prim and proper public faces hide incredible deviance, with the exception of Mr. Rogers."

All of the students in class immediately place their hands over their hearts and look up fondly. "Mr. Rogers…"

Returning her attention to Naru, Usagi continued her trail of thought. "I'm quite upfront about my deviancy, and so is Umino, the disgusting pervert."

"Hey!" Umino protested.

Usagi grinned. "And I know of your perversion, Naru-chan."

At that, Naru blushed deeply and then looked away. She then let out a cute little giggle as Usagi leaned close. "I know all about your thing for older men… and your desire to be penetrated with a big, fat, throbbing…"

The door slammed open and Haruna stumbled in, interrupting Usagi's grotesque whispers and sending all the students scrambling to their seats and taking on the very image of orderly and compliant students. Like the aforementioned and unfortunate Ruki Minase, she too was wearing a brand new flower brooch… and looking like the dead.

"All right roll call, raise your hands if you're here." She stopped and yawned. "You know what? Fuck it; I don't see any empty seats."

Haruna dropped her notebook on the table unceremoniously, as the flower brooch began to draw in more of her energy. "Today we're going to… shit; I'm too tired to think…"

As she began to trail off into nigh-incoherent mumbling, Usagi was concerned. She looked over to Naru. "Does she seem hung over to you?"

Naru leaned over. "You'd think having you as a student would build up her tolerance to alcohol. I don't think it's a hangover, I think she might be sick."

Usagi noticed the new addition to Haruna's ensemble and her eyes narrowed a bit. She then raised her hand. "Hey Haruna, you mind if I kick out the jams and make out with Umino in the back of the class?"

Umino looked towards Usagi, sparkles appearing before his spiral-patterned glasses as he smiled big at this sudden change for the better. Haruna, who would've definitely told Usagi off for getting the poor letch's hopes up like that, just shrugged her shoulders. "What the fuck ever, I don't care."

That tore it. "Something is grievously wrong with my beloved, and I do not like it."

And on that note, Haruna passed out, thumping her head on the desk before spilling to the floor on her back, unconscious. Gasps went around the class as Usagi got up and rushed over to Haruna's side. Naru rose from her seat. "Usagi is… is she all right?"

Usagi reached down and checked her pulse and breathing before looking over to the rest of the class.

"Call 119."

A few minutes later, Haruna's students were gathered outside as Haruna was carted off by paramedics to a waiting ambulance. Near the back of the crowd, Usagi watched the scene carefully as she held in her hand Haruna's flower brooch. Naru, reaching her, looked down at her ill-gotten bounty.

"Usagi, did you take that from her?" She asked, before Usagi dropped it and promptly crushed it underfoot.

"Naru-chan, there is something rotten in the city of Minato," she said as she felt the pull on her very life-force cease with the trinket's destruction.

On the way back from school later that afternoon, Naru and Usagi were joined by Luna, who ran up and hopped onto the latter's shoulder and immediately let out a sigh. As long as Naru knew that Usagi was Sailor Moon, there really wasn't much of a point in keeping her own secret hidden. "I saw what happened in class today, Usagi."

"Yeah, do you think it's the enemy?" Usagi asked as Naru stared in amazement at Luna. Sure, being told about a talking space cat was one thing, seeing it was a whole different bag of tricks.

"You were right her energy was drained by that brooch," Luna declared. "We need to determine the point of the brooch's origin and destroy it. There may be more than one."

"Wow… that cat really talks." Naru said, completely missing the dialogue.

"I am not a mere cat!" Luna hissed.

"Well of course, those are an entirely different species altogether." Usagi replied, unable to resist. Luna immediately clawed her face. "Ow!"

"You are a horrible person for that and you should die," Luna snapped.

Usagi agreed, that was the worst pun, and it didn't even work right in Japanese. "Well, figuring that out should be no problem. If the brooches affect others the way it did Haruna-chan, we just pinpoint who became victim to them and then correlate a pattern."

Both Naru and Luna stared at Usagi, who returned the stare, confused by their expressions of amazement and disbelief. "What?"

"That… that's actually a good idea," Naru said in a quiet voice.

Luna nodded in agreement. "How did you figure this out on your own? Are you smarter than you let on?"

Usagi picked up Luna off her shoulder, and promptly threw her over the adjacent fence they happened to be walking alongside. "Fuck you, both of you."

Jumping back up on the fence, Luna hissed at Usagi as she caught up with them both. "Forgive me for mistaking insanity for stupidity but from what I've seen so far you're adept at blurring the lines!" She regained her composure. "Well then, oh great detective, how will we go about this information gathering?"

"It's simple my dear Luna." They had reached Usagi's house. "We will use the power of the internet."

On cue, the door opened and out emerged Shingo Tsukino, little brother and straight foil to Usagi's madness. Spotting her and the brave girl next door who willingly became and stayed her friend, he raised his hand and waved to them. "Hey Naru-san, hey Dango-head…"

"Hello, Mutant," Usagi said darkly as she walked over. Naru, now holding Luna in her arms, smiled and performed a brief bow in greeting. Spotting Luna, Shingo cringed a bit.

"Uh, nice cat…" He said as he averted his eyes from it back to Usagi, who had a look that was screaming "I need you for something". "What do you want?"

"You're the nerd of the family," said the girl who watched thirty year old tokusatsu. "I need you to look up something for me."

Shingo produced his fancy little smart phone and opened up the browser. "What do you need to know?"

"Search for incidents of people falling suddenly ill from exhaustion for me. I'm solving a mystery."

Shingo glanced up at Usagi, and then down at his phone as he hit a few prompts on his phone. "A mystery?"

"Yes, a mystery."

Shingo nodded and began his search. "All right we have a total of four cases. One of them involved a bus driver falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a yakuza money courier. Another was… Haruna?"

"Go on, give me the other results." Usagi hummed.

Shingo nodded. "One was an office lady who nearly died after she fell down some stairs. Another was a police officer found unresponsive at her desk. All of them are recovering at various hospitals, there's no explanation for the similar cases."

"Huh, well thanks mutant." She then gave him some scrutiny. "Where are you headed off to, anyway?"

"My computer club, remember? I go every Thursday," Shingo replied before a sports car pulled up in front of the house.

Looking over at the convertible, Usagi froze when she saw its driver. Seated in the driver's seat, and glancing over towards them was that tall black-haired jackass from the other day.

Fury and lust colored her features a brilliant scarlet. "Hey, that's…! You're friends with that asshole?"

"Huh?" Shingo looked over as said asshole recognized Usagi the same. "Yeah, Mamoru-san is a friend of mine."

Usagi, pointing at Mamoru as he watched with amusement, gawked at Shingo. "You're friends with that greasy, old, bald otaku lolicon creep!"

Shingo looked over towards Mamoru, and then back towards Usagi. "He's not bald."

"I said he's bald so he is, you little fuck!" she snarled back.

Naru and Luna looked at each other and watched with raised brows as Usagi made a damn fool of herself.

Usagi whirled around and glared at Mamoru. "I'd better not find out you're into little boys too, or I'm going to end you with fire! You hear me? END YOU WITH FIRE!"

Mamoru grinned with perfect teeth that only made Usagi flush even more. She wanted to knock them out of his sharpened jaw and bust up his perfect, oh-so-kissable lips. "Don't worry your pretty little Dango-head; my preferences are completely heterosexual, I adore women."

"You mean little girls, you disgusting otaku! Go home and masturbate to your resin statues!" she screamed with all the violent love in the world.

Mamoru smiled. "I bet you'd like to see that too."

Oh God yes, she would, and so would Naru–who was covering her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. Usagi, furious at his comeback, eschewed words for a very loud middle finger before she turned and stormed off into the house and straight for her room, desperately needing a pillow to scream her rage into. Watching her go, Shingo was amazed.

"That's the first time I've ever seen Usagi that attracted to anyone," he said in awe.

Naru laughed as she went to follow her in. "Yeah, isn't it cute?"

"I'll say!" Mamoru agreed.

* * *

Several hours later, Usagi peered from around the corner of the radio studio FM Number 10 and carefully scrutinized the entrance. Hopping up to her shoulder, Luna peered out as well. Following her cool down, Usagi and Naru went over the evidence and came to the same conclusion, Haruna, a bus driver, a police woman, and an office lady… all of them were subjects touched on Midnight Zero. It was an odd coincidence, but something at least worth investigating before any other conclusions were jumped to. To Usagi at least, it made the most sense.

"There's just one problem with me trying to investigate a radio station for suspicious activity," Usagi said as she clutched in one hand an envelope. If there was something indeed going on, it would be the key to determining it for sure.

Luna looked from the station's doors to Usagi. "Getting inside?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a convenient magical artifact for tactical espionage action, would you?"

"If by that you mean a cardboard box then no I do not. However, I do have something much better."

She jumped, flipped, and a pen fell from the sky as she landed on Usagi's opposite shoulder. Catching the cute pink pen with its jeweled end, Usagi beheld it in wonder. "How much can I hock this for on eBay?"

"I would advise against letting this fall into the wrong hands. What you hold is the disguise pen, an extremely powerful and therefore very dangerous artifact." Luna warned.

Usagi stared at it, and then looked to Luna. "How dangerous are we talking?"

"It allows you to take any form you desire, so long as it is not a specific person," Luna explained. "So no, you cannot turn yourself into Solid Snake."

Usagi was disappointed. "I can't turn myself into Solid Snake?"

Luna barely repressed a laugh.

"Huh, but I can still transform into like, a police officer, or a scientist, or–wait, it's like Cutie Honey's transformation ability, isn't it?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, that would be a good way to describe it."

Staring at the disguise pen, Usagi smiled big. "That is awesome."

"It's a personal favorite of mine. Now come on, get in there!" Luna excitedly ordered.

Usagi held up the pen. "Moon Power, change me into a cute Radio Station Intern!"

A flash of red light that quickly turned bright white enveloped Usagi, and when it cleared she was no longer a short teenager with long twin-tails, but rather a tall twenty-something with shoulder-length auburn hair. Her clothes were entirely different, gone was her pink skirt and jacket, replaced by a pair of blue jeans and a gray sweater. Looking at her reflection in a convenient window, Usagi gaped.

"Wow… this is totally awesome!" she gasped.

Luna, now at Usagi's feet, looked smug. "Like I said, it's a favorite of mine."

Nodding, Usagi gave herself one more look in the mirror before nodding. "Okay, I'm ready to do this."

With a smile and a wave to Luna, she headed off to the front doors of the radio station. No more games, it was time to crack a mystery.

In the office pool of FM Number 10 the man known as Marik, co-host of "The Depths of Strange" rotated his shoulder as he approached his desk. "Glad that cold snap is finally over, damn."

The thirty-something was an easily recognizable fellow, commonly wearing dark-colored suits and fedora. Some claimed the blonde resembled Hazama from BlazBlue in style and appearance. Those some were often told to shut the fuck up.

One of those people often told to shut the fuck up was Hakushi, a slightly balding and bespectacled man in his forties who otherwise appeared non-threatening except for the revolver he was cleaning at his desk.

Marik stopped, and stared at Hakushi cleaning the revolver. "A Colt Single Action Army, it's not my birthday and I didn't sleep with your wife, so what's the occasion?"

"Oh, I saw it online and I could not pass it up, it just arrived via Amazon. Isn't it a beauty? Six shots… more than enough to kill anything that moves," Hakushi said as he picked up the empty revolver and pointed it at Marik.

Letting out a snort, Marik headed over to his desk and sat down. "Well while you were living the dream, Ocelot-san, the producers and I were having a conference call with Heroes of Gunstar. They gave us a huge glut of passes for the October show, so we can extend the contest for another two weeks."

Hakushi set the revolver on the table and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God, the response to the promo is huge."

"Speaking of huge responses…" Marik gestured over towards a pile of letters sitting on the desk of the new host for Midnight Zero, Jade Eyes. "… Looks like newbie's a hit with the eighteen to thirty-sixes."

Hakushi just tsked and shook his head. "It's because it's pretty much radio porn, sex sells and either the audience will get tired of it or Jade Eyes will cross a line and get yanked off the air."

Marik smirked. "Just like last time?"

Hakushi nodded. "Just like last time."

Peering into the office pool, Usagi gawked at the hosts of her second favorite radio program and couldn't help feel a little star struck. She reined it in, before looking to the letter she held in hand and then over to the desk. She had to get it there, scope out who was in charge, and deduce from there, easy right? She could do this.

"Can I help you?" Usagi squeaked and turned to face an extremely pale red-haired foreign woman, gazing back at her expectantly. "Are you lost?"

_Wow, she's really, really pale. Does she sparkle in the sunlight?_ Usagi first thought as she stared at the concerned woman. Slowly, she shook her head and then held up a letter. "I have a letter for Jade Eyes, boss."

_Great, another brain damaged intern._ Contemptuously rolling her eyes, the disguised Flau pointed at the desk. "Then stop staring at me like I'm some soul-stealing monstrosity and put it on Jade Eyes' desk, you twit."

Before Usagi could comment on the twit barb, the man himself stepped up and she actually had to pull a double-take. Tall, blonde hair, and eyes as exotic as his moniker suggested, the very sight of Jade Eyes took Usagi's breath away as he reached over and rested a hand on Flau's shoulder. "Frau, don't be rude."

_What? Ah, huh… oh shit…_ Usagi's thought processes restarted at the last restore point. _My God Hotness I wanna BANG YOU!_

As she mentally listed all of the increasingly erotic and depraved things she would do to him given half the chance, Jade Eyes turned his attention to her and smiled. The innocent blush that crossed her face concealed perversion beyond his wildest comprehension as she handed him the envelope. He took it from her and read the front.

"From Gingersnaps…? That's a cute name." He sniffed the air, and then brought the envelope to his nose to sniff the perfume wafting from it. "And it even smells like gingersnaps, I'm definitely putting this at the top of the pile. Thank you."

"You're welcome, perfect sexy man," Usagi replied, as she began to drool.

Flau rolled her eyes. "Hey moron, if you're done basting in your panties, head down to the mailroom and grab more letters!"

Letting out a squeak, Usagi turned and fled the office pool. After they watched her spill out of the doors in her flight, Hakushi looked to Marik and shook his head. "What a bitch."

"I know," Marik replied as he narrowed his eyes a bit at Flau. She stared back, but it was only because of the hosts' seniority and status in the station that she didn't try to extend that bitchiness to them. Still, Jade Eyes rested a hand on her shoulder again to catch her attention.

_"Don't be too aggressive with these people, i__t draws attention,"_ Jadeite warned her telepathically.

Flau looked to Jadeite, and nodded slowly to him. _"Sorry, I'm still upset about Morga. This is how I've been coping."_

Jadeite removed his hand from her shoulder. To the spectators Hakushi and Marik, it looked like the former was merely giving her a disapproving stare. Hakushi looked over to Marik and smirked a bit at the subtle implication, and his co-host just rolled his eyes before muttering something about lame off-air drama.

Outside, Usagi fled the radio station and bolted from the premises. The second she was certain that no one was around she abandoned her transformation and joined by Luna as she kept running. "Did you plant the letter?" She asked.

"Of course I did, now let's get the Hell out of here!" Usagi snapped back, her face bright red.

Luna stared at her as they ran. "What happened in there?"

"Nothing happened!" She replied quickly. "I just saw a really, really hot guy and I really want to get home. I have a date with the handheld shower head!"

Luna let out a hum. "Are you already being unfaithful to your bald dream boat?"

"I will punt you, bitch!"

"Call me Queen! Ohohoho-EEP!" Luna ran much faster as Usagi charged her.

* * *

The very next morning at school, Usagi was on time for once. Not that Haruna was there to marvel at this feat, as she was still at the hospital. Usagi was waiting for Naru to arrive, as much so she could tease the Hell out of her for the letter "Gingersnaps" sent in to Midnight Zero as confirming their speculation about the radio station. She didn't have to wait too long, though, for there was Naru, rushing in to the classroom and slamming an unwrapped package down on Usagi's desk.

"Is this your gift?" Usagi asked after she looked up at Naru.

Naru nodded. "It's addressed to 'Gingersnaps' and everything."

Usagi looked down at the package again. "Awesome." Smiling, she looked up at Naru. "Interesting letter, by the way…"

A bright blush colored Naru's face. "I made that up solely for the broadcast! You wanted something that would get read, and I delivered!"

Usagi began removing the colorful paper around the box. "… 'Dear Jade Eyes, I'm a student who has an unruly classmate who also happens to be a girl'…"

"Shut up."

"… 'I care for her deeply as a friend, but sometimes I just want to put her in her place'…" Usagi looked up at Naru, as she got the paper off the box.

Naru buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "Oh my God, shut up."

Usagi was smiling a depraved grin. "… 'I often fantasize about putting her over my lap and spanking'…"

"Just open the damn box!" Naru finally shouted.

Usagi laughed and then opened the box. "Just writing what you know, right Naru-cha…?" She trailed off, and stared into the box. "Oh shit."

Naru looked down at the box. "What is it?" She looked down into the box. "Oh shit."

Sitting in the box was a brooch perfectly identical to the one Haruna wore. Reaching down to it, Usagi picked it up and raised it up between them, and almost immediately began to feel the pull of her life force into it. Naru looked from the brooch to Usagi. "Is it the same, Usagi?"

Usagi answered her question by turning and whipping the brooch into a wall, where it shattered into pieces and startled the students who were beginning to make their way into class. Slowly turning back and resting her hands on the table, Usagi clenched them into fists. "No one messes with my Haruna. Tonight, Midnight Zero goes off the air."

Struck by Usagi's sudden determination, Naru gave a quick nod to her friend, and both girls promptly rushed out of the classroom. There was no time for school, today.

* * *

It was less than ten minutes to midnight, and Usagi, Naru, and Luna were loitering in the shadows of an alley around the corner from FM Number 10. Since they had left school, they had been doing a lot of work and planning, all for this moment, their attack. Naru pulled out her cell phone and checked the time before quickly closing it to extinguish the light source. She looked to Usagi.

"All right, The Depths of Strange is going to be ending in five minutes and then there's a minute and a half ad slot so the hosts can switch out. During that switch out, you're going to crash the station and do your thing. Try not to destroy the building, okay?"

"I won't, relax. I know what I'm capable of now, so I'll do my best to keep this surgical." All day had been spent not only planning, but Sailor Moon had been working on testing her limits of physical strength and control, so FM Number 10 didn't meet the same fate as Osa-P Jewelers.

Luna spoke up, "Like we planned, use the Disguise Pen to perform your infiltration. You can quick-change from your disguise form to Sailor Moon in case of need, plus it will preserve your identity."

Usagi produced the Disguise Pen, and twirled it in her hand. "All right, and I think I have thought of the perfect disguise to raid the place with."

Naru was curious. "What do you have in mind?"

With just a smile, Usagi held up the pen. "Moon Power…!"

A flash of light ensued, and when the glow faded, Naru and Luna gazed in amazement and disbelief respectively at Usagi's new transformation.

"… It's been good having you with us, and we'd like to thank our contest winner Masato Sanjouin for correctly answering the Natalie Adams trivia question of the show 'Who was Natalie Adams' last boyfriend?' He correctly answered Todd Ingram, and will be winning backstage and meet the band passes for the Heroes of Gunstar Concert in October," Hakushi said as the music played him out.

"Remember that the contest has been extended for two weeks. So between now and the Friday after next, keep calling for your chance to win," Marik added. "This is The Depths of Strange, and we are out."

As the ad service began to play, Marik rose from his seat and removed his headset. "And we're done. Hey Hakushi, want to go drinking? Its Friday night, you know what that means."

Hakushi smiled big. "Drunken Teacher karaoke, I'll call the wife to meet us at the usual spot."

Marik grabbed his fedora off the nearby hat rack and nodded. "Righteous."

As they opened the door to head out, they found Jade Eyes waiting with his stack of letters. Marik gave him a polite yet short nod as he edged around him, while Hakushi gave him a slap on the shoulder and then back as he rounded him. "Knock them dead out there, newbie."

The force of the blows almost made Jade Eyes stumble over, and he turned to give them both a weak smile. "Ah, thank you Hakushi-sempai."

"Have a good night," Marik said with a tip of his hat to the disguised Thetis, Jade Eyes's producer, who returned a gentle smile to him.

"Good night, don't drink too much," she said to both hosts, before a racket sounded from down the hall, making everyone stop. Thetis stared at the stairwell, where the racket was coming from. "Huh?"

Flau's voice came up from the stairwell. "You cannot come up here; we are in the middle of broadcasting! Hey! Wait!"

"Bitch, I'm money! Don't tell me where I can't go!" the very loud response made everyone listening stop.

A second later, the source of the shout emerged. It was a Japanese man wearing a huge white fur coat, no shirt, black and pink striped pants and a heavy platinum chain with a gold, diamond encrusted "USA" hanging from it around his neck. The man was wearing an oversized, diamond-studded cowboy hat over his blonde-streaked black hair, and carrying a half-drunken bottle of some sort of champagne in his hand.

Marik stared blankly. "The fuck?"

He looked at Thetis, who had said it at the same time, as she looked back at him.

Hakushi, however, was on the ball as he rushed for the office pool. "I need my camera, now."

Thetis, playing the role of producer for her disguise, stepped up. "Can I help you… uh… sir?"

"Course you can help me. A nigga wants some mothafuckin' airtime in this bitch! I been callin' yo shit for six hours straight tryna get in but y'all niggas keep puttin' a nigga on hold! Fuck you think this shit is, bitch?" The clearly intoxicated and potentially dangerous man said as he brandished his champagne bottle.

"Um…" Thetis was at a loss for words, as she looked to Jadeite for some kind of guidance. Sadly, he appeared as baffled as she was before she looked back to the man. "I see. Who exactly are…?"

"Yeah, it's yo boy G-Money USA representing East Side motherfucka!" The man announced as Hakushi began to film.

Overwhelmed somewhat, Thetis slowly nodded. "And you want…" A CD was shoved into her face. "… What is that?"

"What you think this is? Nigga this my mix tape, I'm tryna to get some play up in here!" G-Money USA shouted back.

"But that's a CD…" Thetis, being completely alien to the world of Hip Hop of any nationality, responded innocently.

Flau quickly tried to speak up, "Sir, get out of here before I call security!"

"Bitch shut the fuck up 'fore I cap your Edward Cullen ass!" G-Money USA yelled back at her before shoving his way past Thetis and into the recording booth, taking Jade Eyes with him. Thetis rushed to stop this, but then Hakushi held an arm out.

"Hang on, hang on, this could be awesome!" He said to her quickly as he pointed the camera into the booth.

"But…!" Thetis pleaded.

Marik was all smiles at this development himself. "Relax, it's not like you can't continue Midnight Zero after this, Crazy Tom doesn't give a fuck if we go into his slot."

Thetis paused. "Wait, he doesn't?"

"Of course not, he's crazy," Hakushi answered.

Well, that was a game changer. Thetis waved to Jadeite, grabbing his attention.

"Jade Eyes, go with it, we can take Crazy Tom's slot, he doesn't care! It means you can read more letters!" she whispered.

Jadeite nodded and then turned to the boorish man. Behind Thetis, Flau immediately relaxed too, if this were the case. "All right, all right, you win. G-Money USA-san, you're free to make whatever statements you like."

Before G-Money USA could say a word, Jade Eyes raised his hand and spoke into the microphone. "Good evening, listeners. Before we continue with the show, we have an unexpected guest who wants to say a few things. I promise to make it up to you by giving you three extra letters tonight." He lowered his hand, and then nodded to G-Money USA. "You have the floor."

"BITCH I'M MONEY!" G-Money USA shouted, and outside the radio station Naru Osaka was trying her hardest to contain her hysterical laughter as she listened.

"It's ya boy G-Money USA on the air, niggas! I wanna give out to all my real niggas livin' big in Minato! To all my niggas in Nerima, west side baby where you at? And to all my niggas in between, you know what I'm sayin. Get money, fuck bitches!"

"Wisdom." Marik and Hakushi said together. Marik was covering his face with the brim of his fedora, but his smile could be clearly seen, while Hakushi was dying with laughter on the inside.

G-Money USA continued. "Yo I'm droppin' this mixtape, the Chronicles of G-Money, it hits the streets Tuesday pick it up, download it, run up on a nigga and thief that shit I don't give a fuck! Bitch, I'm money!"

He popped the CD into the player. "But on some real shit, I got somethin' to say." He slammed his bottle on the table, and stared directly at Jade Eyes. "I'm onto yo' shit, nigga."

Jade Eyes stared up at G-Money USA, surprised. "Excuse me?"

G-Money USA nodded slowly and suddenly dropped all pretenses. "I know what those brooches do. Nigga who you trying to kid?"

Thetis's eyes shot wide, as Flau recoiled from where she was listening in, the adjacent soundproofed booth. Marik and Hakushi exchanged confused looks, and gave the scene their attention. "Every person who got those brooches ended up in the hospital, and the only reason you're letting me talk, is so you can send out more."

Jadeite slammed his hands down and stood up. "What are you talking about?"

G-Money USA smiled before speaking to the radio. "Man… shit… this nigga think I ain't figure out those brooches are the reason bitches be faintin' in this city."

Hakushi and Marik immediately stepped away from the door, in shock. Thetis, knowing better than to reveal herself, feigned the same shock. Jadeite glared at the hip hop artist, the jig was up. "Who… who the Hell are you?!"

The CD G-Money USA loaded, began to play some suitably dramatic build up music. G-Money USA smiled as he reached for his hat. "On some real shit? Yo, check it."

Hakushi tightened his grip on the camera. "Oh my God…"

"Earlier today, I was an Intern. Right now? I'm the realest nigga that ever lived. But at all times…?"

Tightening his grip on the hat, he suddenly drew it and the rest of the disguise away, revealing his… or rather her true identity. "I am the Guardian of the Earth, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!"

"Sailor…" Hakushi gasped, as he realized that it was the Osa-P vigilante herself.

"… Moon…" Marik finished, impressed by her dramatic entrance.

Jadeite narrowed his jade eyes at Sailor Moon. "You're the one who killed Morga!"

Usagi adopted a fighting stance. "And you're next, youma."

Jadeite stepped back from the desk, and then smirked. "I'm no youma, but she is."

Usagi quickly looked towards the soundproof glass as it began to warp, before the energy blast Flau fired from her mouth burst through it and destroyed the booth in a small explosion. Marik, Hakushi, and Thetis quickly fled from the doorway, as the blast surged from it. Dropping his camera, Hakushi pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Jadeite as he emerged from the smoke.

"Not so fast, newbie! What the Hell have you been up to?" He demanded.

Jadeite smirked and then raised his hand. His eyes began to glow. "Go ahead and try sempai."

The radio host didn't hesitate for a second, squeezing off all six shots in rapid succession. Behind him, his co-host stared in amazement as the bullets impacted harmlessly with a circular, blue-hued force field and dropped to the floor. From behind it, Jadeite laughed. "I suppose it's too bad for you I didn't move."

He soon wished he had. The wall at his side gave way and Flau came bursting through it like a missile, crashing into him and sending both through several more before coming to a stop in an empty studio. Jadeite was up first, coughing.

"What the Hell?" He looked to Flau, who was slowly getting up, before turning to the holes made by their bodies. "Did that girl do this…?"

He found out soon enough in the worst way possible, when Sailor Moon suddenly powered through the dust, trying to land a punch on him. As he had said, he was no youma, and easily sidestepped her punch. He looked down his nose at her. "You're too slow-!"

Sailor Moon hadn't missed a step when she missed and twisted around to deliver a high kick into his chin that blasted him through the ceiling and the roof beyond it. Thrown into the air above the rooftop, Jadeite recovered quickly and began to levitate, shaking his head in disbelief at the power from that hit. He could taste blood in his mouth.

Leaping up through the hole in the roof, Sailor Moon watched as he floated to the opposite edge of the roof. She cracked her knuckles and smiled. "So, afraid of being beaten up by a girl or are you just shy?"

"You're cocky for such a little girl, but don't for a second think I'm going to go easy on you because of that."

Sailor Moon readied to fight. "Big talk, bring it on!"

Jadeite smirked. "You're right it's nothing but talk, big, time-consuming talk."

Glowing cracks suddenly appeared in the roof beneath Sailor Moon's feet before another mouth blast from Flau created another explosion that engulfed her. A moment later, the youma emerged from the smoke, scanning the area. "There's no way that would've killed her."

Jadeite quickly pointed to her left. "Flau, she's over there!"

Flau whirled around and fired another mouth blast. Sailor Moon ducked under it, baseball sliding under the beam before springing up to land a kick to her throat. She kicked again to separate herself from the youma, and landed as Flau fired off an energy blast from her hand, and then from the other.

"Whoa!" she shouted as she dodged the blasts to the left and then right, which kept coming at a higher and higher rate.

Breaking free of Flau's bracketing blasts, Sailor Moon ran across the roof with the explosions from the impacting energy bolts quickly catching up to her. Roaring, Flau sped up her fire, her arms becoming blurs as she hurled more blasts before she finished with another powerful mouth blast that took off the corner of an adjacent building after tearing through the smoke and explosions.

Then from the cloud Sailor Moon appeared in mid-leap, completely unharmed, before she landed feet first on Flau's head and stomped it into the ground. Springing off the youma's face, she performed a graceful spinning flip and landed at the base of a water tower. Jadeite was pissed.

"She's making a fool out of me!" he growled as Sailor Moon divided her attention between him and Flau. Unbeknownst to him, the self-proclaimed guardian of Earth was having a dilemma.

_All right, I'm strong as both these guys if not stronger head-on, but they have energy blasts and stuff!_ She needed a weapon and fast if she was going to tip the balance in her favor.

Water from the tower above her head began to trickle down on her head. She attempted to ignore it, but before she even knew it the trickle was a torrent, engulfing and suddenly seizing her in a whirling current.

Both Jadeite and Flau looked on in surprise at the turn of events, before both realized what was going on and smiled. In front of the sphere of swirling water that took shape around the struggling Sailor Moon, Thetis emerged from the cracks in the roof as a mass of water before taking her youma form.

"You tried, little heroine, but sometimes good Samaritans should just keep their heads down," Thetis chided as she held her hand out and began to close it into a fist.

_"I can barely move… the pressure is intense…!"_ Sailor Moon thought as she struggled to hold her breath under the torrent. It was like an entire ocean was sitting on her, and the pressure was getting worse.

Jadeite called out to Thetis, "Excellent job, finish her quickly so we can get out of here."

Thetis nodded, but something was wrong. A normal person, even a youma, should've been a fine mist by now. This one, she was still struggling! "I don't get it! I'm pushing five hundred atmospheres! How is she still alive?!"

Jadeite stopped. "Wait, what did you say?"

Before she could answer, Thetis's face was cut by a fearsomely sharp projectile, a rose that embedded itself and cracked the concrete rooftop on impact. Snarling, she lost her focus and the sphere of water dissipated, freeing Sailor Moon from her prison.

The rapid strum of a guitar immediately caught the evildoers' attention. Looking up as well, Sailor Moon's eyes sparkled when she saw Tuxedo Kamen, playing a charming tune on his guitar.

"Oh wow…" She murmured.

Jadeite swept his arm angrily, and then clenched his hand into a fist. "Who the Hell are you?"

"I'm just a wandering musician," Tuxedo Mask replied as he continued to play.

As Sailor Moon began to get up, Luna joined her side. "Thank goodness you're all right, Sailor Moon!"

"Thanks." Wringing the water out of her rapidly drying hair, Usagi glanced to the cat. "Do I have any weapons?"

Luna nodded. "Your tiara, remove it and then call out 'Moon Tiara Action', it should be enough for these youma!"

Nodding, Sailor Moon called out to Tuxedo Kamen. "Hey! Can you play me a tune?"

Tuxedo Mask reached up and tipped his hat to Sailor Moon. "As you command, my lady, I obey."

He immediately began to play, and Sailor Moon began her counterattack, rushing straight for Thetis, who let out a snort. "Drown, little heroine!"

The water all over the roof came to life, surging towards Sailor Moon from all sides. But before it could reach her, Sailor Moon suddenly disappeared. Thetis went wide-eyed. "What!"

Sailor Moon appeared at her right, much too fast for Thetis to defend against the kick that connected with the side of her head and launched her like a missile off the roof, across the street and completely through another commercial building.

"Thetis!" A shocked and furious Jadeite roared as Flau immediately attacked. Sailor Moon turned her attention to the second youma, and reached for the tiara upon her head.

"It's time to return to the darkness, youma," Sailor Moon declared as she removed the weapon and let it levitate upon her open palm. Rapidly, it began spinning and glowing until it resembled a discus of light. Without hesitation Sailor Moon threw it.

"Moon Tiara, action!"

Flau saw the attack coming from a mile away, and dodged the projectile the second Sailor Moon hurled it at her. "You shouldn't give your attack away by shouting its name!" She yelled as she closed in fast to ensure her next attack would not miss.

"Flau, behind you!" Jadeite yelled, but it was too late.

The spinning tiara had corrected its course, and closed in like a missile before striking Flau in the back and sawing into her. Her eyes wide, Flau let out a shriek as the discus ate through to the other side and completed cleanly bisecting her. It was over quick, with the youma's shriek tapering off into a dying gurgle.

"M-Morga…!" Flau gasped her last before she turned completely to dust.

Frozen, Jadeite watched as Sailor Moon caught her tiara and then focused her attention on him.

"That's impossible…w-what the Hell are you?" He gasped in horror.

Sailor Moon removed her tiara, and it began to spin up again. "I already told you! Moon Tiara, action!"

She threw the weapon at him, and it bounced harmlessly off his barrier before returning in its inert state to her forehead. Seeing this, Jadeite sneered. "Still not enough to get through my barrier, is it?"

Sailor Moon huffed at that, before she removed her tiara and threw it again, this time unpowered. Okay then, try this! Moon Tiara…!"

It bounced off and away from his barrier before she suddenly attacked herself, driving a punch towards Jadeite. "Psyche!"

The blow was stopped completely by his barrier. He glared down at her. "A feint won't work! You can't get through!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand to fire his counterattack. At this range, he was certain to get the kill. Sailor Moon just smiled at him, and then called out. "… Action!"

Jadeite froze, as the falling tiara suddenly lit up, changed direction, and homed in straight for his neck. Turning to acquire it, he jumped back… but not fast enough for the deadly weapon to slash across his face. His blood splattered across Sailor Moon, as he staggered back, yelling in pain. Tuxedo Kamen stopped playing his guitar, and watched the scene intently.

"You…!" He brought his hand to his face to cover the wound as his composure finally began to come apart. "… You fucking-!"

_"Jadeite…"_ Thetis's plea brought him from the brink, and he shook his head. No, he couldn't let this become anymore protracted. Glaring at Sailor Moon, he rose to his feet.

"This isn't over," he declared angrily, before teleporting away to recover the injured Thetis and get the Hell out of there.

Usagi turned and looked towards where Tuxedo Kamen had intervened, and found he was gone. "Damn, didn't even get a chance to thank him this time."

Padding over, Luna surveyed the damage and sighed. "Sheesh, look at the mess you guys made, and I hoped we could avoid it."

"Well, it couldn't be helped," Sailor Moon said before she reached down and picked up Luna. The police were already on the scene, given the flashing lights from the street below. "We should be going before…"

"Police, put your hands up!" several policemen declared as they arrived on the roof, their weapons actually drawn. Sailor Moon looked back at them, and the officers hesitated, with one of them speaking up. "What the…?"

Sailor Moon turned away from the officers, and then leaped into the air, jumping clear across the street to another rooftop before rushing off into the night. The baffled cops could only watch as she took off, before another asked.

"Was that Sailor V…?"

* * *

Later, Usagi, Luna, and Naru were safely in Usagi's room and getting ready to go to bed. Naru was spending the night, largely to maintain the alibi as to where they had been off to. Naru sighed. "So, Jade Eyes was an agent of the enemy all along? So much for Midnight Zero…"

"The Depths of Strange will always be the better show, in my opinion," Usagi declared as she let down her hair. Luna jumped up onto the bed.

"Well the enemy knows who you are, so we all should be on our guard for any new tricks they could pull," Luna warned.

Usagi and Naru nodded, before the former spoke. "You don't have to tell me twice. Next time I see Jade Eyes I'm kicking him, hard."

After she climbed into bed, Naru joined her and picked up the Disguise Pen to marvel at it. "Usagi, what was it like to be a boy?"

Looking over to Naru, Usagi smiled and settled in. "It was kind of weird, but kind of fun too. I didn't even know the pen could do that…"

"Neither did I. Funny how you bent it to your perverse whims like that." Luna began to knead at the blankets. "But powerful items like the disguise pen are necessary for an enemy as strong as ours."

Usagi immediately thought of how powerful Thetis's attack was, and how easily she withstood it. After a few moments, she didn't even feel like she was going to drown. "Yeah, I have a feeling these guys are going to need every bit of our strength to defeat."

Luna curled up at the foot of the bed; Usagi's awareness of the gravity of the situation was a great relief to her. "You should be fine, though. You're strong."

Usagi smiled, and immediately quoted Kamen Raider. "As long as there is evil, I will stand ever vigilant to protect the innocent."

Exhaustion claimed her only moments later, and she drifted off to a much deserved sleep. As Usagi began to snore, Naru stared at the Disguise Pen, the glittering jewel at its end reflecting in her half-closed eyes.

* * *

Usagi: Fantasies are a wonderful thing, an excellent escape when you have nothing better to do.

Luna: Your grades seem to show that you don't care much for your schoolwork, then.

Usagi: Shut up. However, you mustn't let fantasy stand in the way of your aspirations, for what you can achieve in reality is grander than any fiction! This is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Naru: Oh my, that was wonderful, Usagi!

Usagi: Sailor Moon says, tee hee!


	5. She is the one Sailor Moon!

Disclaimer: This one goes out to all of the sophisticated, humorous, and edgy fanfiction readers out there.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**She is the one named Sailor Moon

_The following story is__ rated M. It is intended for mature audiences only._

**[4.]**

"Well, when I first realized what was happening, I was bound and gagged. By the time I went upstairs, it was already over and she was gone," Mayumi Osaka, her face hidden behind a mosaic to hide her identity on television, spoke.

The caption, reading "Woman A", then changed as the scene did to "Man A", revealing the very pixilated face of Marik as he spoke with a modulated voice. "You heard the broadcast right? She introduced herself as Sailor Moon, but came in disguised as a man. It was a pretty good disguise, definitely magical."

The scene then changed to a "Woman B", who was completely shadowed out and her voice altered. "When I woke up, the doctors said that I had passed out from exhaustion, I couldn't believe it. I had gotten a good night's sleep and gone through my morning routine, so there was no way it could've been just that. But then, the night after I heard the Midnight Zero broadcast, and I couldn't believe it! I took the brooch that I received and tossed it into an incinerator right away."

Poor quality security camera shots appeared in sequence across the screen, showing only passing glimpses of the self-proclaimed Guardian of Earth. The reporter covering the story narrated, "Who is this Sailor Moon? Just from the poor quality security images alone, it's clear to see that she is of terrible physical strength, but who is her enemy, and what is their ultimate goal?"

In a dimly lit, lavish apartment, the short-haired woman watching the broadcast developed a scowl. "Sailor Moon, huh?"

"Some, like the host of the Depths of Strange, who has eschewed privacy to make his statement, believes this is the start of a new legend," The narrator continued.

"Forty years ago, the legends appeared, and then before we knew it they were gone, leaving us with only stories. Ever since Tuxedo Kamen began appearing and the Malice Spike, I've been convinced that things beyond our scope of comprehension are happening and this little lady, Sailor Moon? She's stepping forth to stop whatever it is," Hakushi, who proudly allowed his face to be seen, explained to the off-screen reporter from his home office.

"Do you think that this may have something to do with those… legends?" The reporter asked.

"I don't know, I don't think there's anyone who possibly knows except for Sailor Moon and whatever evil she's fighting. But I think… no I'm certain she's a hero." Hakushi replied.

The young woman sneered. "She's a brat who has no idea what she's getting into."

"Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the strength that Sailor Moon possesses means she can be either a God or a Devil, this reporter can only hope that she chooses to use that power for the sake of all of us…" Lifting her remote, the short-haired woman snorted and shut off the television.

"God or Devil, who do they think they're comparing her to?"

* * *

Standing in the living room of her home, Usagi bounced from one foot to another as she stood next to Naru, who was likewise doing the same. Both were wearing shirts that displayed their names in kanji. Behind them, the CD player was on a timed delay, giving them a moment to get ready.

In front of them, Usagi's mother sat on the couch, patiently waiting for her daughter and her friend to begin. Next to her, Luna sat near the end of the couch, pretending to be a normal cat and wearing a look of utter disdain. As Usagi noted before, she was good at being a regular cat. The CD player suddenly began to play its music, and then Naru turned to Usagi.

"Shut your fucking face uncle fucker!" she exclaimed in English song, as Usagi recoiled. "You're a cock-sucking ass-licking uncle fucker. You're an uncle fucker yes it's true, nobody fucks uncles quite like you."

Usagi suddenly fired back, breaking into a dance. "Shut your fucking face uncle fucker! You're the one who fucked your uncle, uncle fucker. You don't eat or sleep or mow the lawn, you just fuck your uncle all day long."

It should be noted that none in the room except for Luna had a proper grasp of English slang, which was why Luna was trying hard not to blow her cover by laughing, while Usagi's mother was clapping. As the song began to go into the most obscene solo ever composed, Usagi turned to Naru.

"Naru, what did the altar boy say to the catholic priest?" She asked.

Naru scratched her head. "I don't know, what did he say?"

"Nothing, he knew it was rude to talk with your mouth full!" Usagi replied, and both broke into hysterics. Naru then snapped her fingers.

"Speaking of perverts, the other day a man offered me five thousand yen to give him a tug," she said as she made the appropriate hand-motion.

Usagi gasped in shock. "So, what did you tell him?"

"I said to him 'Five thousand yen? If you're going to insult me, then at least offer me ten thousand!'" Naru exclaimed, in a matter-of-fact tone as she reached behind her back.

Usagi laughed and then stopped. "So then what happened?"

Naru brought up her hand and slapped her with ten thousand yen. "What do you think?"

Both broke into giggles and danced around each other, changing sides. Usagi then spoke. "Okay, no more sex jokes. Here's something more tasteful! A Muslim walks into a bar and-"

"BOOM!" Naru yelled out, popping an air-filled paper bag for emphasis.

Usagi delivered a swift but non-damaging chop to Naru head. "Idiot, you just don't deliver the punchline like that!"

"Ah, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Naru repeatedly pleaded as she bowed her head. "It's just that when I hear those kinds of jokes, I tend to blow up."

Usagi's mother was laughing to tears, while Luna was curled up with her paws over her head to muffle her laughter. Naru then took her turn. "Speaking of blowing up, did you hear about the man who abused his wife?"

"We live in Japan, you never hear about that!" Usagi replied.

Naru slapped Usagi with her money again. As the song finally ended its extended chorus and began to build up to the next verse. "And you told me not to ruin the joke, you uncle fucking son of a bitch!"

Both sang together. "Shut your fucking face uncle fucker!"

"Uncle fucker," Naru spoke.

"You're a boner-biting bastard uncle fucker." Usagi continued.

Naru countered. "You're an uncle fucker I must say!"

Usagi shot back. "Well you fucked your uncle yesterday!"

Both draped their arms over each other's shoulders. "Uncle fucker that's U-N-C-L-E!" Both flip off their audience. "Fuck you! Uncle Fucker…!"

The song ended, both girls posed, and then Naru added. "Suck my balls."

"Oh that was simply wonderful, Usagi!" Her mother declared. "Your show has been getting so much better. You'll win the Cinderella Caravan with no problem!"

"I hope so; getting the lyrics right for this song was really hard." Usagi turned off the CD player. "C'mon Naru, let's hit up the Crown and grab some food, my treat for an awesome rehearsal."

Naru beamed and pulled a sweater over her name-emblazoned T-shirt. "You are paying for lunch? You're being so generous, Usagi-chan!"

As they got dressed in normal clothes and left, and Usagi's mother went off to do whatever she does when she's not being a housewife. Finally alone, Luna buried her face in a pillow and laughed her furry butt off.

* * *

Fruits Parlor Crown, located upstairs of Usagi's second favorite place to go–the Game Center Crown–was slow today. Both stores were relatively slow, which was a relief for Usagi as she and Naru sat down over parfaits and their plans for the upcoming talent show. As Usagi began scooping her tasty treat into her mouth, Naru mused.

"Do you think our act might be too offensive?" She asked. "The 'F' word is supposed to be really bad in context, or so I've heard."

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "It's just for the act, it's not like we use it all the time."

"Well what about…?"

Cutting her off, Usagi pointed her spoon at Naru as she spoke. "G-Money USA was just an offensive, over the top stereotype I used to get my way that night. He is in no way indicative of my frequency of use of that word."

Naru nodded. "I guess, but what about our audience?"

"Screw them; we're just doing this for fun, aren't we?" Usagi pointed out.

"Okay then." Naru paused to take a bite as Usagi waited expectantly. "What if we actually win, can you be famous and Sailor Moon at the same time?"

Usagi shook her head. "Of course not, I can only be one or the other and I'd much rather prefer to be the latter. If we do win, we'll pass the contract off to the runner's up. That's what it means to be in it for the fun."

"What about the prize money?"

"Well of course we'll keep that."

Usagi and Naru broke into light laughter, and it died as they began stuffing their faces with yogurt-based foodstuffs. As their conversation wandered to other subjects, neither noticed the thin young woman making her way over with a confident stride and a determined look on her face until she reached them.

"Hey Usagi, hey Naru!" she greeted them eagerly, surprising both. They turned to the strange girl, their height with very short brown hair in messy curls and stared. "How are you two?"

Usagi blinked. Naru just stared at her, both tilted their heads. The strange girl stared back. "Well, don't you recognize me? It's me [REDACTED]."

Both stared at her, baffled, as though they just witnessed an act of plagiarism. Naru then realized it. "It… it is you, [Nameless]! What happened?"

Usagi's eyes went wide as [Too lazy to make up a name] went arms akimbo and pushed out her chest in a confident pose. "It's so awesome, I wanted to lose some weight for the talent show, and Haruna-sensei showed me this new addition they had for her gym! After only one day the pounds melted off me and they didn't come back!"

And there went the warning bells in Usagi's head as [To be honest I just can't think of one]'s story sank in. The skinny as a rail girl, one of their classmates, once tipped the scale at seventy-two kilos. That was the last time Usagi saw her–only two days ago. Naru gasped. "Really, that's… that's miraculous! And you haven't suffered any ill effects?"

"None, it's so cool. Boys have actually been asking me out on the street! I look as good as I've always felt!" [F-it, her name's Jun] declared giddily. "The gym is offering free memberships to people who suggest friends, so I came to tell you about it–not like either of you need it, but it never hurts to stay in shape, right?"

"That's right. As Raiderman once said, 'a healthy body is every bit as important as a healthy mind'. Thank you very much Jun-chan," Usagi happily responded to her friend.

Jun produced a pair of passes and handed them to her friends. "Give it a try; the process they used on me was called the Shape Ray. Anyway, I gotta get going, I have a date tonight! Can you believe it?!"

With that, Jun was off, leaving the parlor and her baffled classmates behind. Naru looked from where she went to Usagi. "Okay, how many things were wrong with what just happened?"

"Naru-chan, these guys are either really bold, or really stupid." Usagi hoped it was the former. They both looked down at the passes, with Usagi letting out a hum after a few moments. "Before we jump to conclusions, though, let's go give it a look-see."

Naru looked up and then nodded. "You got it, Usagi."

* * *

Days before, far away from teenage girls and their superhero alter egos, Thetis awoke lying in a comfortable bed and aching from head to toe. What an odd contrast, to be in such comfort–it was even warm in whatever room this was–and yet to be in such physical pain. Movement from the corner of her vision brought her gaze over to a doll-like youma dressed as a mockery of seventeenth century royalty. She knew this one; she was one of Jadeite's best.

"Murid…?" She asked in a weak voice.

Murid gave a relieved smile to Thetis and then produced an apple for her. "Here, eat this."

Reaching up, Thetis took the apple and almost immediately felt the energy stored within begin permeating her skin and enter her system. The pain from her injuries sustained from being a youma wrecking ball began to fade as the potent life-force quickly healed them. In no time, she not only was entirely healed, but left feeling refreshed and full of life.

"Wow, Murid… how much energy did you use?" Thetis asked as she swung her feet out of the bed and stood up.

"Jadeite had me collect quite a bit, but it took me a while because he didn't want me to attract attention, so I'm sorry you had to languish so long in your state. You're very lucky to have held on long as you did, you were in bad shape."

Oh, Murid had no idea, but that wasn't important. "I assume Jadeite made it out of there, but what about Flau?"

Murid's smile disappeared as her gaze lowered. "I'm afraid she didn't make it. That Sailor Moon killed her."

That shocked Thetis. Flau was an offensive powerhouse, capable of going toe to toe with Beryl's youma like herself. First his best collector bit it and now his best fighter was gone. "Where is Jadeite?"

Murid shook her head. "He's been working on a few different projects at once now to make up for the failure to meet quota. Beryl's really upset that you were nearly killed."

Thetis grimaced, and then began to seek out Jadeite's presence within their secret base. "I should go talk to him."

Reaching out, Murid rested a hand on Thetis' shoulder. "You really ought to not. He doesn't want anyone involved with his next scheme; he said he doesn't want to lose another one of us."

"At least until he makes his quota." Thetis added, though sounding more derisive of Beryl than Jadeite. "This girl, Sailor Moon… who do you suppose she is, or where she came from?"

Murid shook her head. "The rest of us are actually a little afraid of her. If she could take out Flau, the rest of us are kind of hard-pressed to stand a chance against her if we get caught out by her. Ramua thinks she can take her though, Garoben too."

"Ramua specializes in Time Magic; she might stand a chance, is she up to anything?"

Murid let out a contemplative hum. "Not that I know of, do you have an idea?"

If Thetis had a mouth in her youma-form, she'd be smiling. "As a matter of fact, I do!"

With that, Thetis dissipated into a mist and vanished, leaving Murid alone in the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Murid gazed down at her apple, and then looked up at the ceiling of the room.

"Sailor Moon is pretty strong," she said aloud to herself, before she really got to thinking.

* * *

We return to the present, and Jadeite as he peered out the window of the Gym Shapely and out at the line of women waiting to get in. He pulled a bit of a smirk as he watched the envy on their faces as they saw others, dangerously thin; stroll past on their way out with the illusion of beauty radiating from them. These women, so pathetically vain and obsessed with their self-image, each and every one of them deserved to be drained bone-dry. He checked his watch.

"The current batch should be done in a bit; it's time to get this show on the road," he said to himself.

He left the window and exited his office, before making his way down the stairs for the gym's entrance. In the last three days, he'd not only met Flau's quota, but made up for Morga's loss too. Beryl was pleased, but rather than leave it at that she simply raised the ceiling of his quota. So long as there were no hitches, he was confident that he could make that mark in no time.

At the bottom of the stairs, he was greeted by a human personal trainer, brainwashed like the others in the gym to do his bidding. Also like the others, they were at the peak of human ability, to serve both as his security and potential shields against the likes of Sailor Moon. "Boss, the most recent set of clients have finished their session in the Shape Ray, we are ready to let in the next group."

"Let them in, and reset the devices."

The personal trainer nodded and headed for the door as Jadeite mentally recited his introduction to his clients. Not a second after a group of five disturbingly thin women passed him on their way out, the doors open and the fresh crop of victims walked in. "Welcome to Gym Shapely, ladies. I am the manager Jyou."

He smiled to all of them. "I hope you all are ready to get thin and fabulous!"

"Yes Jyou-san!" all of the girls except one called back cheerfully. Naru, among the crowd, turned to that silent girl.

"Wow, he's so hot." Naru stopped when she saw the look of anger on Usagi's face. Was that anger, or was it constipation, she couldn't tell, she never actually saw Usagi righteously angry. "Uh, Usagi…?"

The rage encompassing Usagi's thoughts raised the air temperature around her. _Who in Amaterasu's golden glorious visage does he think he is?!_

Naru stared as Usagi began to hyperventilate, and quickly offered her a paper bag. "Use this, what's wrong?"

After taking a few deep breaths into the bag, Usagi calmed down and then shook her head. "I am angry, forget their special treatment let's hit the exercise equipment, now."

"Ah? But don't you want to check it out?" Naru asked as Usagi turned and made a B-Line for the exercise equipment, away from the other girls. Naru followed, but rather than anyone complain, the trainers let two more in to take their place and Jyou led the group off.

"I don't need to. I already know exactly what this is."

* * *

Nearby the Game Center Crown, Luna walked along, still laughing to herself. It was the reason she had to leave; her incessant giggling had alerted and freaked out her mother so out of respect to the woman and the need to preserve her cover she quickly made an escape.

"If only I could let her in on it all, I bet she'd be fine with it too, she seems so easy going… she's a lot like Usagi, just less… insane I guess?" Luna mused.

If only she could, then she could learn some embarrassing stories about Usagi to use against her when she got uppity. Maybe she could use her human form and strike up a conversation? No, that takes up too much power for her to use for very long. Perhaps she could contact them via the internet? Yes, that actually had a bit of merit to it, the moment she could find a computer and some privacy to use it, she'd do just that.

_It's been a while since I checked my portfolio, and I can catch up with Artemis._ She stopped and looked up when she heard a jingle, and laid eyes on the owner of the Game Center Crown as he emerged to sweep the front of the store. _Oh my…_

Hearing a soft chirrup that trailed into a short meow, Motoki Furuhata gave a mild start and looked down. "Oh, it's a kitty cat." Smiling, he knelt down as Luna stared up at him hesitantly and let out an uneasy meow. "Don't be scared little lady, I'm not going to hurt you."

Luna stared at the easy-going blonde, startled by his good looks and enticingly gentle presence and scent. She wanted to curl up on his lap and let him pet her for hours!

She meowed at him and purred loudly as he began to pet the top of her head, before looking past him and into the store. He was loaded as well! Computers and Wi-Fi! Dare Luna say it, but she was in love!

"My, you're a really friendly one, are you hungry?"

At that, Luna perked up. Free food and internet, this was a dream come true! _Oh you know how to get straight into a girl's heart, don't you?_

"Come right this way then," Motoki said as he opened the door for Luna, and she happily padded inside. The Game Center Crown was mostly empty, a slow day given the time of the year. That young man that Usagi hated was here, along with her younger brother, they were playing some sort of Step Game that involved ninjas.

Mamoru looked over from watching Shingo rush through the arcade game's highest difficulty setting, sweating bullets with every movement that could be his last. "Hey Motoki, you get a new girlfriend?"

Laughing, Motoki looked down at Luna, who was a step behind him and meowing eagerly for some food. "I happened upon the little lady while I was about to sweep, she looked a little hungry so I thought why not?"

"It's weird how animals seem to flock to you. Maybe I should call you Snow White." Mamoru said, eliciting a laugh from Motoki, before Shingo let out a frustrated groan. "Ah? You died again?"

"It's that stupid third set of maneuvers," Shingo grumbled before he loaded in a few more yen.

Mamoru nodded. "Well, keep working until you get it right, you won't get second chances doing the real thing."

"I know…" Shingo muttered before he shot into action on the game. Hopping on a table as Motoki went upstairs for something for her, Luna turned her attention to one of the computers in the gaming café, two neat little rows of them waiting for her to pick.

_The one in the middle on the right will do._ She padded over to mark it with an innocent pat of her paw and a nuzzling. She would come back later tonight, and then she could get to work.

* * *

Running on a treadmill, Naru watched as Usagi did the same on the machine adjacent to hers, at a much higher pace than her own. There were no personal trainers around, granting her and Usagi freedom to talk among themselves. "So wait, he's the same guy?"

Usagi nodded, as she looked down at the display showing her progress. "I'm certain of it, same eyes, same hair, same face…"

"… Same overwhelming desire to bang him?" Naru teased.

"Yeah that too, why are all the evil ones gorgeous Naru-chan?" Usagi lamented, sparking a giggle from Naru.

With the cessation of their exercise run, the two headed to the gym's weight training area, with Naru picking up some modest two-kilo weights and began working on them, while Usagi laid down on the bench press after setting up a total of fifty kilos.

"So what's the plan now?" Naru asked while she watched Usagi begin performing reps effortlessly. It never ceased to amaze her how strong Usagi was.

Usagi let out a snort. "A simple one, I'm not even going to bother with facing him head on."

Naru stared, watching her pump iron with a dangerously focused expression–Usagi was up to something. "What are you planning, Usagi-chan?"

"A little something the Americans like to call 'Shock and Awe', babe."

Well, that wasn't ominous at all. Following their weight escapade, Naru was holding steady a punching bag as Usagi laid into it with various punches and kicks–her long tails waving about wildly behind her as she bobbed and weaved before delivering her strikes.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask about these bad guys. What if there are more bad guys than him and each one is worse than the one before?"

Usagi punched the bag especially hard, and Naru shook from the impact. "Well, that depends. If I'm a credible threat and they were smart, they'd attack me all at once with their best before I became a problem they couldn't handle."

She punched the bag again. "I've gone out of my way to display my credibility and this joker's idea for a new disguise is a Unit-01 colors sweat-suit and a pair of stupid glasses. I'm fairly certain these guys are morons."

"Then why aren't you destroying their operation now?" Naru asked.

"Two reasons, this gym is packed full of people and I feel insulted at this guy's lack of intelligence and slash or respect for his opponent." Usagi punched the bag especially hard, and with a loud "Oof" Naru spilled onto the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Naru just looked up and laughed. "I felt that in my boob, Usagi! You punch too hard."

Usagi smirked. "Now Naru-chan that was only a weak punch, this is a hard punch!" She punched the punching bag with considerably more force, and her fist tore through the sand-filled bag and wound up halfway embedded inside. "See?"

"Are you sure that's a third-rate dojo you go to?" Naru asked.

One swift scene change later, and both girls were in the gym's sauna. Naru was wearing a modest, green towel, while Usagi had eschewed modesty entirely in the sauna. She was at the moment examining herself meticulously. "Hmm… I think I'm going to go up a size soon."

"With all the working out you do? I'm surprised you're not completely ripped like some disgusting muscle fetish girl." Naru teased.

Usagi huffed at that. "I balance my physique very carefully, thank you very much! I need to stay in shape, but I also want gorgeous, sexy curves. That requires discipline, especially with my body still growing," she lectured, as dreams of being a DD-cup danced in her eyes.

"You know, I heard sex helps with that."

"That's not true, constant stimulation is said to, though."

With a glint in her eyes, Naru snuck up on Usagi. "Oh is that so?" She reached under Usagi's arms and groped her playfully. "Maybe I should massage them for you?"

"Ah! Naru-chan, hey…!" Usagi playfully shrieked, before she let relaxed and let out a low purr. "Oh my… you have such naughty fingers, Naru-chan~!"

Her attack thrown back in her face, Naru released her and backed away, her face red in embarrassment. With victory assured, Usagi glanced back at Naru and smirked. "I had no idea your feelings were so strong, you must barely contain them!"

Naru's blush remained as she let out a laugh. "You wish." She very, very quickly changed the subject. "Do you think there are more magical girls like you out there to help you if there are more bad guys?"

"I'm certain of it; I mean Sailor V is a dead giveaway, but I've no way of contacting her, so… you know."

"Yeah…" Naru looked at her fingers. "I'm beginning to prune, let's get out of here."

"Oh? Are you sure you just want to leave because you can't control yourself anymore?" Usagi emphatically ran her hands over her herself as she gave Naru a suggestive smile.

Naru huffed and looked away, her face reddening. "You're so shameless!"

Usagi laughed and picked up her towel. "You love me for it, though. Let's get out of here."

In minutes, the two were dressed and on their way towards the doors and the crowds still waiting to get outside. Jyou was happily greeting more customers, his routine in full effect. Naru looked to Usagi. "So what is 'Shock and Awe' then, and how much property damage are you going to inflict?"

As they neared the crowd, Usagi casually reached over and pulled the of the gym's convenient fire alarms, sending a shrill siren ripping through the gym and the crowds into a panic. Surprised by the noise and lights, Jyou and his trainers went to work quickly organizing the scene and rushing the gym's visitors to the emergency exits. Amid the chaos, Usagi and Naru left the crowds and walked to the opposite side of the street the gym was located on.

It took less than thirty seconds to get everyone, including trainers and those who had been in the Shape Ray, to clear the building and escape down the street on either side to the corners. Naru looked over to Usagi, who observed the evacuation procedure with great scrutiny. "Usagi…?"

Satisfied, Usagi turned and walked away. "I'm doing it tomorrow. I'm going to need your help for it Naru-chan, big time."

Looking from the gym and back to Usagi, Naru nodded before hefting her gym bag and following.

* * *

As Usagi laid in bed and mulled over tomorrow's battle, Luna was at the closed Game Center Crown, perched in front of the only lit computer in the rows of machines that sat silent in the dark. Her forehead glowing, she manipulated the cursor on the screen with mere thought and the keyboard in front of her the same way.

"Everyone has some sort of social media page these days, it should not be too hard to find Usagi's mother." She murmured. "Ah, perhaps she's on Twitter?"

As she began searching Twitter, she checked her email. Luna was a master of multitask. There was one new message, and it was from Artemis! "Oh thank goodness he's finally gotten back to me."

She opened the email, and mumbled its contents to herself aloud. "Finished eliminating Dark Kingdom elements in Brazil with Minako, on our way to… Ministry of Magic… Interpol…Nazi Vampires…?! My goodness Artemis what have you gotten yourself into with that girl?!"

There was more information however, that troubled her. The Dark Kingdom's activity was far more extensive than expected, with all sorts of wicked elements working for them in the Americas and Europe. While Artemis and Sailor V were adept at dismantling these operations, their extent said it all.

"They've been doing this for years. There's no telling how much energy they've collected by this point," Luna realized aloud.

Since the world wasn't ending, it was safe to assume that it was not enough. Still, it made Luna glad Usagi was so aggressive. "Still, we'll have to begin gathering the other Senshi together soon."

She quickly began rattling off an email to Artemis, narrating as she wrote. "Artemis, hurry with your mission in England. I'm going to try to find the other Senshi here."

With that email sent, she turned to finding out more about Usagi's family in general, particularly Ikuko.

It didn't take her long to find something related to her.

Or for the Mau equivalent of a blush to spread across her face.

"O-oh… oh my…"

* * *

The next evening as the sun was setting on the Tokyo Metropolitan area, Naru met with Usagi in front of a closed construction project–a skyscraper in the process of soaring towards the sky. She was already transformed into Sailor Moon, and had an ungloved finger extended towards the sky, checking the wind conditions. Luna hopped from Naru's shoulder to the wooden fence keeping the latter out of the construction site.

"Sailor Moon, what is your plan?" She asked before Sailor Moon lowered her arm.

"I'm going to smash it up, but I don't want casualties. So I need you to get everyone out of there before I attack." Sailor Moon looked to Naru, who quickly understood.

"You want me to pull the fire alarm, don't you?"

Sailor Moon nodded as she pulled on her glove. "When you do and everyone's out, I want you to get out of there and use this."

She tossed Naru a cell phone. "Hit one and it'll call mine." She held up one of her own for emphasis. "That's when I'll strike."

Naru nodded. "What if I get caught, though?"

Sailor Moon nodded at that very real concern and tossed something else to her, much to Luna and Naru's surprise as the latter caught the Disguise Pen.

Luna turned to Sailor Moon. "But she can't use the Disguise Pen!"

Sailor Moon looked from Naru to Luna. "Why not?"

Luna opened her mouth to answer, and then stopped. "Actually… I don't know if it will work for someone other than a Senshi." She looked to Naru. "Give it a try, Naru-chan!"

Holding the pen in her hands, Naru stared in awe at the glittering jewel that sat at its end before looking back up to Sailor Moon. "A-are you sure?"

Sailor Moon nodded. "I trust you with my identity, life, and with the lives of the people we're fighting to save. So of course I can trust you with that. Besides, it will keep you safe and that is what's most important to me."

"Sailor Moon…" Naru whispered; those words had moved her deeply. She clutched the pen tightly and nodded as she smiled big. "I won't let you down, just watch!"

She thrust the pen up into the air and called out. "Moon Power, change me into a pretty self-defense master!"

The red to white flash that followed grew from the pen and enveloped Naru, leaving in her place a young woman a little taller than Naru with long black hair, amber eyes, and dressed in a navy blue track suit that hugged her curvy frame just right. Both Sailor Moon and Luna stared at the new Naru, impressed by how good the transformation looked. Naru looked down at herself, and let out a gasp of awe.

She looked up at Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon, this…this is awesome!"

"I know, right?" Sailor Moon asked. "Quick, quick, quick what's your alias's name she needs one!"

Naru hummed, and then snapped her fingers. "Shino! I was always partial to that name for some reason, how's that?"

"It sounds good to me."

"Shino it is!" Naru declared before throwing some punches and then performing a high kick to test out her new martial arts prowess. "Ha… I think I could get used to this."

Luna was impressed. "It may not be another Sailor Senshi, but this is superb!" She looked to Sailor Moon. "Good thinking, Sailor Moon!"

"Naturally! Now go with Shino-chan, Luna. Help her if she gets into trouble."

Luna nodded. "I'll keep her safe!"

Sailor Moon smiled, and nodded as Luna hopped off. Together, she and "Shino" rushed off into the encroaching night and for Gym Shapely. As soon as they were both gone, Sailor Moon looked to her right from the crane and towards the pile of I-Beams that sat next to it, destined to become part of the building's skeleton.

"Okay, here we go," she said as she began a countdown in her head.

Jadeite was not happy after yesterday's little fire alarm prank. Because of it and the sheer volume of people they had going through the doors, the gym had to be closed for the rest of the day while the cause for alarm was investigated. In the end, it had been just a false-alarm, precious business and energy lost because some asshole decided to be an asshole! Worse still the scare hit into the crowds today, which were not even at half from yesterday, despite assurances to the media.

"Typical, one thing goes wrong and all of a sudden it's a deathtrap," Jadeite muttered as he surveyed the smaller crowd from his office window. If he ever got his hands on the prankster who did this, they would regret it. With a huff, he headed down to check if there'd been new business.

For Luna, for any Mau, stealth was an instinct and not a skill, so getting past the crowds of people in the gym was a cakewalk. She had gone ahead of Shino, hoping to do some reconnaissance, and wanted to find Jadeite before Sailor Moon arrived. Reaching the stairwell that led to the Shape Ray, she peered around before venturing down it and into the basement of the gym. There, she found a rather clean and orderly facility, with six long tanning-beds set up in the room. They were all currently empty.

_This is the Shape Ray? I was expecting something a little more explicitly evil…_

She could hear someone coming, and quickly darted under one of the beds. It was Jadeite, hands in his pockets and looking pensive about business today. Seeing the empty Shape Ray terminals didn't improve his mood. "I hope tomorrow will be better."

Luna watched Jadeite's feet as he walked past her hiding spot. She then went perfectly still when she heard a rush of water and witnessed a waterspout materialize on the floor in front of where Jadeite was standing. Jadeite stepped back in surprise. "Thetis, you're on your feet."

"Murid didn't tell you?" She asked as she assumed her human disguise. "I guess she wanted it to be a surprise."

Jadeite looked around for signs of eavesdroppers, before he tightly hugged Thetis, surprising her.

"J-Jadeite…"

"I'm just glad you're okay…" He pulled back. "You shouldn't be here though, if Sailor Moon shows up and you get hurt, Beryl will have my head."

Luna's eyes shot wide. _Beryl?!_

Thetis let out a brief laugh. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her, which is why you should cut and run while you're ahead."

Jadeite snorted. "I can't, not until Morga and Flau's lost quotas are met. If I can have one more day, maybe two, I can meet it and be all right."

Thetis rested a hand on Jadeite's shoulder. "I just don't want you to run yourself ragged doing the work for two youma on your own. You're still in bad shape from Sailor Moon; your face hasn't even healed properly."

Reaching up, she ran her fingers over the white scar that now crossed the bridge of his nose, and then caressed his face.

He turned away from her. "I'm not letting it heal… not until I get her back for what she's done."

"So you want her to come after you?"

Jadeite tensed, before he slowly nodded. "I won't lose next time."

Thetis embraced him again, smiling warmly as she brought her face close to his. "This is exactly why youma line up to work for you."

He didn't pull away this time, his hands resting on the disguised youma's hips. "You get things done more efficiently if you give a damn about the people work for you."

"I wish I was one of yours," Thetis admitted in a soft voice.

Luna peered from under the tanning bed and up at them. The romantic in the Mau couldn't help but be touched by the intimacy shared between the two of them–despite their being evil.

"Hello? Is there anyone who can help me?"

Jadeite and Thetis had been an inch away from kissing, when the voice called from upstairs. They both looked towards them, before back to one another.

"You should go," Jadeite whispered.

Thetis nodded before she quietly disappeared–mouthing "We will resume this later" to him with a smile as she vanished.

Going the bottom of the stairs, he looked up and saw Shino staring down them. "Can I help you?"

Shino stared at Jadeite, and agreed with Usagi's lamentation that it was always the gorgeous ones who were evil. She put on a demure smile. "Oh, yes… I was perhaps wondering if you could show me to the Shape Ray."

Luna sighed silently in relief, as Jadeite smiled and gestured to Shino. "Please come right down, I'd be happy to show you."

"Okay. I was curious about how it worked." And with that Shino came down the stairs, smiling warmly to Jadeite as he led her to one of the tables. Glancing past him briefly to Luna as he explained the process, Shino winked when he looked away from her and Luna wasted no time–darting up the stairs and straight for the doors of Gym Shapely.

"… And when you're done the excess fat is converted to energy and removed, not only lowering your weight but giving you an added burst of energy to continue your day. It's extraordinarily effective wouldn't you agree?" Jadeite finished explaining to Shino as she examined the bed she was about to climb into.

"That's all so much over my head." Shino replied, and that was the entire point. "It sounds so… science fiction."

She turned to him. "And it's perfectly safe?"

Jadeite rested his hand on the tanning bed and patted it. "It's most certainly safe, I assure you. I tested it on myself after all."

He paused when Shino embraced him from behind, pressing her breasts into his back. "Excuse me, Miss?"

She was feeling him up, from his flat stomach to his chest. "It's certainly done a good job, Jyou-san."

Jadeite looked back, what was this woman doing? "Excuse me, Miss but this is harassment."

Shino looked up at him, her eyes gleaming. "Yes, and this is assault."

She grabbed Jadeite by the back of the head and slammed his face onto the raised hatch of the bed, before she shoved him onto it and closed the hatch down on him. Turning it up to full power so it would drain the most out of him, Shino cackled and bolted up the stairs, yanking down the fire alarm as she went.

"He's all yours Sailor Moon, gift-wrapped for your enjoyment," she said under her breath as she rushed out the door, speed-dialing Sailor Moon.

* * *

Across the street Luna was tense with excitement as the patrons of Gym Shapely began evacuating. There was no way it was going to be this easy, was it? As with before, the crowds quickly crossed the street and clear of the building to avoid interfering with the en route fire department. Shino was out before any of them, sprinting across the street and ducking down behind a car to abandon her disguise discreetly.

"Naru, you did it!" Luna said, more in disbelief than anything else. Naru was panting in excitement but otherwise unharmed as she looked up to the cat. She had shoved him, a bad guy, into his own trap and got away! And she had gotten away scot-free to safety! It was, without a doubt the biggest rush of her life.

"Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God!" she chanted before she let out a squeal. "Luna! I did it! I knocked that Jade Eyes guy into his Shape Ray!"

Luna's tail rose up in approval. "Excellent job!"

She looked around. "Now where is Sailor Moon?"

Naru looked towards the direction they left Sailor Moon, beyond the buildings on their side of the street. Atop the construction site, with Gym Shapely in her sights, the cell phone on Sailor Moon's belt had rung and she smiled big as she hefted up into the air straight up a single I-beam. "Ha…!"

She tossed it up, and then caught in both hands to lift it as one would a giant javelin. "Excellent job Naru-chan, I'll take it from here!"

Rearing back with the makeshift weapon, she took precise aim at Gym Shapely, a targeting reticule in her mind's eye drifting over it before locking on and giving her a steady tone to signal firing. Letting out a loud yell, she threw the I-Beam with all her might, and sent it hurtling towards the gym like a missile.

On the street, a whistling sound that quickly began to build up caught Luna's ears, then Naru's. "Wait, what is that sound?"

Inside Gym Shapely, Jadeite managed to blast the top of his bed with the remaining energy he had left, and stood up. "That woman, what was that for?"

He then heard the fire alarm and looked up the stairs. "That prankster again, she's dead!"

At that instant, the I-Beam plowed through Gym Shapely with all the terrible might of a Kinetic Energy Penetrator–smashing through the walls and floor of the gym and plowing straight for Jadeite. His eyes widening in horror, he teleported purely on instinct as the I-Beam destroyed the tables and triggering an explosion as the beds and the energy they stored was released.

Naru's jaw fell, as did Luna's and the entire crowd went fleeing in terror as the building began to come apart, the sheer force of the impact and the explosion underneath completely bringing it down as if in a controlled implosion.

"Sailor Moon…" Naru gasped. Luna just buried her face in a paw.

On the nearby rooftop he had teleported to Jadeite was horrified, as the energy exited the collapsing ruins in a blue, ethereal flame, and began to dissipate into the sky. Thetis appeared suddenly at his side, stopping and staring in disbelief.

"Jadeite, what happened?!" She asked, before she sensed a presence behind them. She looked back, and her eyes widened

"Jadeite…"

Jadeite slowly turned around at her frightened tone. Sure enough, he found Sailor Moon staring at them, her arms folded across her chest, the light of the unnatural flame casting an eerie reflection off her jewelry and eyes.

He clenched his teeth and clenched his fist. "Sailor Moon…!"

Sailor Moon only smirked, as rather than fight, both he and Thetis cut their losses immediately and vanished into thin air. Walking to the roof's edge, Sailor Moon let out a satisfied hum as she stared at Gym Shapely and the fire that consumed it.

* * *

"Well… today was a win all around," Luna said as she paced back and forth on the end of the bed later that evening. "We foiled their plot and released the tremendous amount of energy they were collecting, gained valuable intelligence on our enemy, and not a single person was hurt."

Naru was sitting on the bed, stifling a giggle as Usagi held a hand over her own face. Luna raised a paw, and flexed her claws open and shut. "Still… a billion yen in property damage, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi lowered her hand, revealing a roadmap of crisscrossing cat scratches. "I said I was going to smash it up! What part didn't you understand?!"

Naru didn't bother stifling her laughter this time. "Especially if doing that kind of damage hurts them financially."

"Well money doesn't mean a thing." Luna replied. "Financial losses like these are negligible at best. Bear in mind, this is an enemy as old as the Moon Kingdom."

"So this Beryl chick you mentioned, how bad is she?" Usagi asked.

Luna folded her ears back at the very mention of the name. "You're looking at the sole person responsible for the fall of an entire civilization."

"So she's the woman who sold the world?" Naru asked.

Usagi snapped her fingers. "Nirvana, right?"

Luna glared and lifted up a paw threateningly. "Bowie."

Usagi backed away from Luna, who turned her nose up at her. "Testy… sheesh…"

Hopping from the bed, Luna went to the window and hopped onto the sill. Staring out at the night sky, she sighed before looking back to Usagi. "Still, Usagi, keep this up and we'll win. Just don't destroy the world in the process, all right?"

Usagi smiled. "Thank you, Luna."

"You don't have to worry about that, I'll keep Usagi in check," the same Naru who aided and abetted in destroying over a billion yen in property said happily. If she could smile, Luna would. Turning back around, she hopped out onto a tree branch.

"I'm going to hunt for some dinner, good job Usagi-chan." And with that she was gone.

Usagi immediately let out a long sigh and lay on her back with her arms spread out across the bed.

"Seriously Naru, you pulled that off perfectly," She congratulated her friend before looking at her. She was holding the Disguise Pen again.

Naru looked over to Usagi and set the pen aside. "Thank you for your praise, but I have a question Usagi-chan. At what point were you going to tell me that you intended to throw an I-Beam at the gym?"

Usagi blinked. "Ah? What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if I had gotten in trouble, and called you… and you still threw the I-Beam?" Naru asked in a saccharine tone.

At that, Usagi let out a hum. "Well, I suppose I didn't think of that. But hey, it didn't happen so I guess it worked out in the end-"

"No Usagi-chan." Naru said, growing a little more serious. "You can gamble with my life, but not like that. Just like you, I trust you with my life and I know you were confident I'd be fine. But when I think about how it could've gone wrong… it scares me."

Usagi frowned, and bowed her head. "Oh man… I'm sorry, Naru-chan."

"Usagi…" Naru's smile returned as she took Usagi's hands into her own. "…I'm not mad, okay? Just put a little more thought into things like these when you do them. Okay? And communicate with me, I really appreciate that."

"Oh Naru-chan… can you ever forgive me?" Usagi closed her eyes and smiled back, in usual happy fashion. Then she felt metal close around her wrists and the familiar ratcheting of the closing mechanism. Opening her eyes, she stared at the handcuffs on her wrists. "…Where did you get these handcuffs from?"

"Your mom," Naru replied before she shoved Usagi onto her back and raised the Disguise pen. "I'll forgive you when I've punished you properly."

Naru's smile gained an entirely different character, becoming almost sinister as she raised the Disguise Pen above her head. In a flash of light, she transformed, becoming a handsome male counterpart to her usual appearance.

Looking down at the handcuffs, and then up to the male Naru's almost-sinister smile, Usagi gulped. "I'm going to lose my virginity tonight, aren't I?"

Naru's smile grew. "Yep."

Usagi could probably resist, or something, but she was a young lady who took her punishment for any shortcoming with her head held high and a smile on her face. "… Be gentle, okay?"

She wasn't, and Usagi was fine with that.

* * *

The television screen showed the remains of Gym Shapely, now a smoldering ruin. "One point seven billion yen in damage done to the newly reopened Gym Shapely, caused reportedly by am I-Beam hurled through the front of the store at incredible velocity. While no one was injured in the blast, the owner of the Gym has been missing since its destruction. The story only becomes stranger, when tumors of what went on at Gym Shapely begin to surface–a miraculous weight loss device that seemed to be the target of the attack."

The short-haired woman smirked as she watched the news report. "Weight loss by converting body fat into energy for whoever wanted it, that's very clever."

"Some witnesses reported seeing Sailor Moon in the vicinity of the attack, which only raises more questions about her mission, and the lengths she's willing to go to achieve it. While many, such as Hakushi of 'The Depths of Strange', are certain that she had a good and just reason to destroy the Gym, many of its patrons–especially those denied a chance to use the Shape Ray, cannot help but express anger at Sailor Moon for depriving them of-"

Changing the channel to Kamen Raider, the woman leaned back and smirked.

"I think for now," She said as Kamen Raider lifted a truck over his head and hurled it through the enemy's base, "I'll consider you a God, Sailor Moon."

* * *

Usagi: A person's image is only as good as how a person sees themself. If you cannot like the you that you are, no one else will!

Naru: So take care of yourself, not to impress others, but to impress yourself. That means good hygiene...

Usagi: ... Good studying...

Naru: ... Good behavior...

Usagi: ... And lots of exercise. If you can't do it alone, take a friend with you to be your support and to give support in return, it makes all the difference! The key to a pure body is a pure spirit, that is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Usagi/Naru: Sailor Moon says, tee hee!


	6. Usagi Teaches A Lesson!

Disclaimer: I do not apologize for being a shitty writer; I just blame others for my shortcomings.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Usagi Teaches a Lesson: Don't be Stupid

_Or Usagi will hurt you._

**[5.]**

Breakfast at the Tsukino table was incredibly awkward that morning. Usagi's brother, her father, even her flighty mother couldn't help but give the two starving young women at their table looks that ranged from morbidly curious to horror beyond comprehension. It wasn't because of the volume of food both girls were packing away, which was a rarity for Naru, but what had clearly led up to it. The walls of the Tsukino home, while thicker than one would expect of a Japanese home, did nothing to muffle the loud, rough, and kinky sex that came from Usagi's room the night before.

"Mm… I love western style breakfast! They're so filling!" Naru admitted cheerfully as she poured herself some more orange juice, they had gone through quite a bit of it.

"Pass me the syrup, Naru-chan," Usagi requested, and she happily received it before pouring it on her pancakes. "Thanks!"

Kenji silently wept as he tried to figure out where he went wrong, while Ikuko graciously accepted Naru's praise–even she was unsure how to take her daughter's sudden, bizarre, and violent (very violent, given the racket) sexual awakening.

Shingo wished that he could die. His room was directly next to Usagi's and by either design or God's cruel intention the walls were thinnest between their rooms and he heard everything that went on for well over two hours in Usagi's.

The only person more mortified than any of them wasn't in the room, and wasn't even human. Luna had come back in on the hour and twelve minute mark of Naru and Usagi's happy fun-times and witnessed something that could only be described as physically impossible without years, and years of stretching and promptly left again with her fur standing on end. She had not come back since. But when she returned, she was going to let Usagi have it, with all the violence in the world that she could bring to bear.

And no, she would not like it, at all.

"Oh man I am stuffed!" Usagi said after a very loud and pleased belch.

"I bet you were–are." Ikuko blushed under the glare her husband gave her.

Usagi got up. "Quick Naru-chan, we're gonna be late for school!"

Getting up, Usagi removed the pillow she'd been sitting on from under her and limped for the front door, while Naru followed with a spring in her step. As she slipped her feet into her shoes, Usagi called back. "Breakfast was great, bye Mom I love you!"

"Love you too, Usagi-chan…" Ikuko waved with cheer regardless of the awkwardness.

Both girls left and silence fell upon the remaining Tsukino Family. Hit by inspiration, Kenji ceased his weeping and sat up in his chair before looking to his son, to his brave, noble, and willing to take one for the team son. "Shingo, my son, it is time for you to become a man."

Shingo snapped out of his despair-induced stupor. "What?"

"Become Naru's boyfriend; seduce her away from Usagi, by any and all means necessary," He commanded.

Shingo laughed, loudly- "No."

"I am your Father and you will do this!" Kenji roared, in a vain, vain attempt to assert himself.

"Dear, it's not that serious. I'm fairly sure it was just them experimenting," his wife tried to reason.

Kenji turned to his beloved Ikuko. "Did you hear any of that? That was no mere experimentation. That… that was…" He stopped when Ikuko suddenly gave him an unusually smug look.

"… Familiar?" She asked with a smile.

Kenji whirled upon Shingo. "I will raise your allowance. Twice what I pay you!"

"No! Five times, Naru is a _freak__!"_ Shingo shot back.

"So is your mother but we're happy!" Kenji let slip.

A piece of him screamed internally and died. "Oh my God, the mental image is in my head."

"We'll give you five times your allowance," Ikuko offered in an effort to end this before her son suffered any permanent psychological trauma and became a serial killer or worse, Governor of Tokyo.

Kenji raised his hand. "No. No, Shingo, we will pay you three times your allowance, and I will not tell you about the night you were conceived."

Ikuko almost immediately turned on her son. She was saving money for a vacation, after all. "Oh! You mean the night we went to that swinger's party, got really drunk and…"

"THREE TIMES IS FINE!" Shingo screamed.

Money was paid, parents were happy, and Shingo stopped by the store on his way to school to invest in some high quality noise-canceling headphones with his bribe. Just for this morning, he wasn't going to get in the way of Naru and Usagi's new pastime.

Meanwhile, with Usagi…

"YOU PERVERTED, TWISTED, DEVIANT GIRL, I'LL KILL YOU!" Luna screamed as she dropped from a tree and onto Usagi's face like the furriest, cutest sentient blender that ever attacked a human being.

* * *

Mikan Shiratori, idol singer, model, voice actress, all around sweet girl and kind-hearted soul, was feeling down lately. Her precious little sister had met an unfortunate manhandling at the hands of a terrible tomboy in the Nerima Ward, and it had actually ignited a scandal! Now Martial Arts Figure Skating was banned and her poor little sister's boyfriend was undergoing painful physical therapy. With the Cinderella Caravan in full force, she couldn't even find time to visit her, and that was the worst thing of all. Still, the competition was almost over, and when it was she'd be able to do more than just talk to her sister over the phone.

"Just one more contest then a whole month to us, Azusa-chan," she said to herself as she brushed her hair in the mirror of her dressing room.

There was a knock at her door, prompting Mikan to rise and walk over to the door. "Yes, who is it?"

She opened the door, and found herself face to face with a mostly bald, blue colored youma who smiled at her. "What's up?"

Mikan didn't have a chance to even scream. A few moments later, Jadeite appeared in the room and surveyed Derella's handiwork. She had already taken the form of the now petrified idol singer, who had been stashed behind a privacy blind, and was brushing out her hair as her victim had been a moment before. "Good, you didn't cause a commotion."

"I'm not stupid, Jadeite," Derella caustically snapped back.

He grimaced, Derella was a bit new, a transfer from Zoisite's group, and understandably bore the hallmark of his attitude. Oh how he disliked Zoisite.

"Just remember what we discussed. Don't go overboard, don't hurt anyone, and more importantly, if you run into Sailor Moon, do not fight her," Jadeite firmly reminded her.

Of course this only seemed to incense Derella further. "Why do you act like I didn't hear what happened the last few times you crossed paths with that bitch? I have an idea, why don't you back off and let me work? I've got this."

Oh, how he disliked Zoisite. No discipline among any of his youma. Pulling a smirk, Jadeite folded his arms. "Just be sure not to be late coming home from the ball, Princess."

Derella twitched and immediately threw her brush at Jadeite, who vanished from its path. Sneering, she got up and retrieved it before resuming vigorously brushing her hair. For all she cared, that asshole could have a fatal experiment with autoerotic asphyxiation. "Forget him, it's not my fault he's a total weakling."

The show was set for seven o'clock, plenty of time to have a bit of fun ruining this preppy idol bitch's career while making up for Jadeite's incompetence.

* * *

"Why is it that I was the one who got plowed stupid last night, but Luna didn't attack you?" Usagi asked as she and Naru sat on a bed in the nurse's office, the latter applying cotton swabs of peroxide on the roadmap of scratches all over Usagi's face. Luna had gone quite nuts, but at least left with good news when they were done: she had gotten a fix on what could be another Sailor Senshi, and was investigating it.

"The Disguise Pen is yours and you did let me abuse it." Naru explained as she finished with the peroxide and began to apply gauze to cover up the scratches. "Besides, you're way tougher than me."

Usagi conceded to that, but she still didn't like that her face got mauled. Still, Luna was within her right to react as she did. "I wonder who the possible Senshi she found is."

"Probably somebody we don't know, if Luna didn't elaborate beyond that she found her." Naru chuckled. "Or maybe she didn't tell us because we'd traumatize her."

Offended by the notion, Usagi huffed. "Traumatize? What on Earth would give Luna the idea that we'd traumatize her? Oh! Maybe she's Sailor Earth!"

"Maybe…" Naru then took Usagi's hands, and she didn't seem to notice. "Is it even a planet theme? Maybe it's a Tarot Theme?"

"So, like Sailor Sun? No that sounds silly, or Sailor Death?"

Naru giggled. "Would that make Jotaro Sailor Star Platinum?"

Usagi imagined the renowned whale biologist and bizarre adventurer dressed in a Sailor Fuku, and broke into hysterical giggles. "Oh man, I so want to party with that guy!" She calmed down. "Whoever she, or he, or maybe even it is… I just hope they'll be strong."

"Oh, they will be." Naru smiled to Usagi. "They have to be if they're going to keep up with you, Usagi-chan."

Usagi smiled herself, and then raised her hands to give Naru a hug. "Thank you Naru-chan-?" She looked at her hands, now bound in gauze. "Ah…?"

She was pushed onto her back, and suddenly she noticed the Nurse's office was conspicuously vacant. Naru had crawled over her, and was wearing the same frisky expression that she wore last night. "Naru-chan…"

"We're all alone… and I've always thought about doing it in school before. Like in those romance books of yours."

Usagi's smile returned and became coy. "Ah, naughty, naughty Naru-chan…"

Naru lightly slapped her cheek, eliciting a moan from her. "You made me naughty, Usagi-chan. Look how perverted you are, liking it when I slap you."

Pouting at Naru, Usagi replied. "It's because you hit me just right, Naru-chan."

Naru cupped Usagi's chin in a tight grip, licked her lips in anticipation, and leaned down to kiss her mouth off.

Their makeouts hadn't even gotten sloppy, though, when the door opened and froze them solid. The sound of a book bag falling to the floor followed and both looked towards the blue-haired girl staring at the girls in shock.

"Oh, oh my God I am so sorry," Ami Mizuno, her face painted a bright red, quickly said as she realized what she had walked in on. She gathered up her bag in a hurry. "P-pardon my intrusion, I'll leave you two alone!"

Just like that she was gone, leaving Usagi and Naru bemused. Naru sat up, and stared at the door. "Was that… a new girl?"

"I haven't seen her before." Usagi tore off the gauze binding her hands and sat up as well. Seeing this, Naru pouted and whimpered.

"Oh come on, Naru-chan… you can have me during lunch. I'm still a little tender anyway."

Naru beamed, and both girls quickly headed out after the new girl.

Luckily they didn't have far to go, a bunch of boys were gathered outside of the classroom, trying to get a look in on the flustered new girl. Reaching the back of the crowd, Usagi placed her hands on her hips and huffed in annoyance. Among the crowd, information on the new girl was flitting about, giving an opportunity for both Naru and Usagi to pick up on it.

"So who is that girl?" A student asked.

"Take a deep breath, and try not to shit yourself but that is Ami Mizuno, the real deal," Exposition-san, an unfortunately but aptly named student whispered,

Another student looked over in surprise. _"__The_ Ami Mizuno, the Goddess of Knowledge herself is in our school?"

"Goddess you say?" Usagi asked unnoticed.

Exposition-san nodded. "Rumor has it that she had been ejected from entrance tests for Mugen Academy, and because her mother wasn't available to schedule a retest in time, she was forced to come to our lowly school because it was the closest."

"Poor girl stuck having to come to the same school as that psychopath, Tsukino." The lament prompted Usagi to rest her hand on the commentator's shoulder. "Huh?"

"You know the old saying, speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives," Usagi said in a chilling tone. The moment the boys realized Usagi was behind them, they scattered like rats caught in the open, allowing her and Naru to enter the class.

In the classroom, trying to ignore the crowds outside and the curious glances from her classmates, Ami was gazing silently out of the window and trying to get the image of what she saw in the nurse's out of her head.

_My first day of school here and I walk in on a couple of girls making out. That's going to do me no favors; they were probably lovers in secret and they'll try to silence me or something._

That just made Ami miserable. _This is your fault Ryo Urawa; I will never forgive you for this._

The door was slammed open by Usagi and Naru, the former loudly proclaiming their arrival. "What up, bitches?"

Ami looked at Usagi, and went deliriously pale. _OH GOD THEY'RE IN THE SAME CLASS AS ME!_

Umino looked over. "Oh, hey Usagi, Naru, we got a new student in."

"Oh, I know, she walked in on Naru and me experimenting in the nurse's office."

Naru would've admonished Usagi for outing them both so nonchalantly, if not for the look on Umino's face being so utterly hilarious when what she said registered in his pubescent teenaged mind. He collapsed to the ground a second later, blood spraying from his nose. Usagi turned to Naru.

"What a Melvin, am I right?" She asked.

"Totally," Naru then gave Usagi a light elbow and whispered to her. "Just like that you out us?"

Usagi scoffed a bit and whispered back. "It's par for the course. Besides, it's not like people don't think we mash clams already. Now let's traumatize the new girl some more."

In an instant, Usagi was standing over Ami, smiling down to her. "Welcome to Azabu-Juuban High School, I'm Usagi, let's be friends."

Ami stared at her in disbelief. "… You're not angry for me walking in on you?"

"Nonsense, why would I be? Besides, Naru-chan already wore me out last night so I was a little too tender for that stuff." Poor Umino, he had just gotten back up.

"Last night?" The imagery flashed through Umino's head and off he was again in a fountain of nose blood.

Ami stared at the young man and wondered why no one was helping him, before Usagi pulled her attention to her again.

"I think you're going to like it here, and if you have any trouble with anyone, don't be afraid to come to me for help," Usagi gaily continued.

Ami stared at Usagi, whose big smile and bright eyes held equal parts genuine kindness and madness, and passed a glance to Naru, who offered a small but assuring smile. Ami managed to smile back. "Thank you…"

It was at that moment that Haruna walked in and saw Usagi in close proximity to the shiny new prodigy student she had to fight tooth and nail against the other teachers for the right to have in her class. Damn it, she had to get stitches for the knife wounds from that whore from Class 5, she wasn't going to let Tsukino corrupt her, not now! Not so soon!

"Oh it's no problem; it's been forever since we've had a new student that worked out-!" She screamed as Haruna tackled her to the ground, yelling incomprehensibly about corruption of the innocent. Ami looked down at her new teacher, and then over to Naru, who was trying very hard to rein in her exasperation.

"Tsukino-san made her like this, didn't she?" She asked Naru, who nodded reproachfully.

"She's actually a really good teacher, once she's had some alcohol in her," Naru assured her.

Ami looked down at Usagi, now bound and gagged with duct tape at the foot of a grinning Haruna, and let out a long, dejected sigh. _Ryo Urawa, I will end you one day._

* * *

At lunch, Usagi was rubbing her mouth from ripping the tape off as she sat with Naru at a far removed table from the rest of the room. The latter was browsing the internet for updates on the upcoming Cinderella Caravan via her phone. "Haruna completely lost it today, can't believe it."

"Well, she is the new student, and you are you. Also, according to her Twitter, she had to put three other teachers in the emergency room just to be able to have her in the class," Naru noted.

"Someone has ambitions for the highest grade average in the school."

Naru's right eyebrow rose as she read a blog post covering the Caravan. "You can't blame her for being overprotective of the new students, you do remember the last time we had a new student, right?"

"Transferred out after second period to Norway, I know. What are you reading?"

"Mikan Shiratori's posting nudes of herself."

Usagi was suddenly at her side, staring at her phone's screen. Her eyes went wide in disbelief at what she was seeing. "That's career suicide, why would she do that?"

"I have no clue whatsoever…" Naru said before she saw another picture. "… Did she just fit her entire fist…?"

Usagi's eyes flew wide. "…The fuck?"

Naru quickly browed for Mikan's Twitter, and boggled at what she was reading. "This… this isn't right. She had to have been hacked or something, 'I just drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?'"

"Mikan's straight-edge though."

"'I want to find some black guys and make a sex tape'? Usagi, this is horrible, if the mainstream picks this up…"

Taking the phone and eliciting a protest from Naru, Usagi began to scroll through the previous posts, her eyes darting over every line in an attempt to find where it went crazy stupid. "Naru, something weird is going on. At eight-thirty am Mikan was tweeting about her sister Azusa. At eight-thirty-five she was tweeting about opening for Heroes of Gunstar. At eight fifty-five she expresses her excitement for the Cinderella Caravan. Ten minutes later, she starts tweeting about how Chinese men are better endowed than Japanese men."

She lowered the phone. "Bitch has gone crazy."

"Sure they can say it was a hack, but it's kind of hard to explain away the timestamp she wrote on her left breast right there!" Naru said in a hushed tone.

Usagi stared down at the picture and narrowed her eyes. She then turned to her. "Naru-chan, call it a hunch but either Mikan Shiratori has gone completely psychopathic, or there's treachery afoot. And I'm willing to bet my ass that it's not a ride on the Crazy Train."

Looking from the phone to Usagi, Naru smiled. "Even if you are right, Usagi-chan, I'm having your ass anyway."

She reached over and groped Usagi's backside for emphasis, when they heard a moan and a thump, and looked back to find Umino unconscious on the floor, blood dribbling from his nose and a small stain on the right hand side of his pants. Usagi just shook her head at the unlucky young man.

"He's never getting laid if this is how he's going to be."

Naru began to stuff her face. "Let's finish lunch and excuse ourselves to get to the Cinderella Caravan early. If it is treachery, then it could be…"

Usagi narrowed her eyes. "… Yeah, I know."

* * *

Saitou Sugao was a powerful man, an influential figure in the world of idols–be they singers, models, or even voice actresses. He was a man whom every day created stars, turned them into supernovas, or saw them burn out. However, he was not a cruel or petty man, merely a businessman… albeit a flamboyant one. His first priority was his clients, because their well-being translated to a profit for him, so when one of his biggest clients suddenly and shockingly began acting horrifically bizarre, he dropped everything and rushed to investigate the matter.

"Amachachi, please tell me that what I saw at Mika-chan's blog was not real!" he fretted as he entered the auditorium where the Cinderella Caravan was being held. Already contestants were showing up, and despite his best efforts at damage control rumors were beginning to spread about the fiasco earlier in the day.

Next to the exquisitely dressed manager, his bespectacled, younger and humble assistant was browsing through his touch-screen phone's screens. "We've been able to take down her blog and close her Twitter account, but the pictures have already reportedly shown up at two-channel."

"This is a disaster! Mika-chan was hand-picked by Natalie Adams herself to open for Heroes of Gunstar! Do you have any idea how much money that is?" Sugao gesticulated wildly to the air as he ranted.

"Two hundred-fifty thousand tickets sold," Amachachi quickly said.

Sugao cut him off with a dramatic wave of his hand. "That is half of a _Comiket_, and somehow our little Mika-chan is going to be a part of it all." He whirled around on his assistant before lifting his hand to his face and dramatically yanking off his sunglasses. "I do not want to have to fire her, not today, not ever!"

Turning away, Sugao draped the back of his hand over his eyes and let out a miserable sigh. "I can only hope and pray, that there's a completely rational explanation for this, and that it can be swept under a table."

They reach the dressing room of Mikan and open the door. They saw something that threw all form of rationality out of the window. Quickly Sugao shut the door and slumped against it as he let out a long, sad whimper. Amachachi just continued staring at the door in disbelief.

Amachachi sputtered. "W-was she blowing a-"

"Amachachi, if this gets out we're _ruined__!"_ he moaned in horror.

"Where did she even get it…?" The young assistant tried to ask, before Sugao grabbed him by his collar. "Ah!"

"Mika-chan has gone completely insane. Why, why would she do this when she's on the verge of becoming the biggest star in Japan?"

Amachachi let out a sigh. "At least she has a future in the AV market…"

Sugao shook him violently. "I. Have never. Had an Idol _sink so low__!_ I will not start with my rising star!"

The door opened, and both Amachachi and Sugao jumped back against the opposite wall as Mikan emerged from the room in a bathrobe. Amachachi just stared again, past her and into the dressing room, and the dog that barked at him. Sugao's eyes were fixated on Mikan.

"Mika-chan, why are you doing this?" He asked slowly.

Amachachi blinked. "That's a big dog…"

Mikan, her normally cheery and bubbly expression twisted to one of perverse amusement, huffed haughtily. "It's because I can, you queer."

Sugao recoiled, his already frayed composure crumbling. "You… you… this is suicide! You're destroying everything we worked so hard for, and for what? Why?"

Mikan laughed, and ran her fingers through her brown hair to toss it. "I don't have to answer to you."

"Yes you do, I'm your manager! I am responsible for you!" Sugao quickly argued.

Grabbing his suit by the collar, Mikan pulled him close and grinned cruelly. "Yes, and if I go down I'm dragging you and your little company with me. Here's what's going to happen. Today I'm going to host the Caravan, have a Hell of a time, and then I'm quitting this business."

Sugao's eyes flew wide. "Y-you can't…!"

"Oh, and if I don't get my way, 'Mikan Shiratori's Dog Time' is going to be a big hit on all over the net." Mikan let him go, and then turned to go back inside. "Get my people ready, the show starts in an hour, doesn't it?"

"You… you're blackmailing me, after everything we've been through…" Sugao whimpered as Mikan walked back into the dressing room and slammed the door shut.

Amachachi grabbed Sugao's shoulder. "Boss, we have to do as she says… we… we can think of something later…"

Sugao looked up to his assistant, a broken man. "My life is over, Amachachi… there's no way that we can survive this scandal."

"We'll think of something… don't… just don't give up hope, boss." Amachachi said as he led his weeping boss away. "We'll get to the bottom of this, and try to spin it… somehow…"

As the two left, the fake Mikan leaned against the door and waved her hand to a corner of the room, past the dog and the video equipment that had been set up, dropping a privacy screen and revealing the frozen Mikan still staring in shock towards her. Folding her arms, the fake walked over to original and rested her hand on the glass that contained her.

"Oh, how horrible it must be to be able to see all the little things I'm doing to your name and you being helpless to stop it. Are you enjoying the show? Not as much as I am, I'm certain." She reached up and smacked her hand twice against the glass over Mikan's cheek, and she smiled when she saw the slightest twitch of her eyes.

"You want to look away, but you can't." She then drew her fist back. "Would you like me to end it for you and shatter you like a glass slipper?"

There was a firm knock at the door, and the fake lowered her fist. "Hah, like I would let you off so easily. I want you to live to enjoy your new life after today."

Raising the privacy screen back up, Mikan went to the door and opened it. "Can I help you-?"

Jadeite's hand closed around her throat, the General of the Dark Kingdom was disguised as the Master of Ceremonies for the Caravan, and he did not look at all pleased with the youma in front of him. He immediately tightened his grip, causing Derella's disguise to fall as she reached up and tried to pry his arm off.

_"What the fuck are you doing?"_ He growled. His eyes were burning with fury.

Derella squawked and continued to try to break free of his grasp, but it was too strong, stronger than she had expected of the man. At her struggling, Jadeite only tightened his hold, causing her to writhe. "Don't go overboard. I implicitly told you not to do that. Why are you disobeying me?"

He relaxed his grip just enough for Derella to speak. "… Get… y-your hand off me… Jadeite…"

"That's not an answer. I value my youma and will go beyond what is expected of me for them, but that only extends as far as their obedience to me goes. A disobedient youma is worth trash to me, and if you cannot follow simple instructions I will incinerate you myself."

Releasing Derella, he allowed her to return to her disguised form. "Do I make myself clear?"

Derella, now Mikan, looked up at Jadeite scornfully. "Zoisite was right about you, you're just no fun."

"I'm sure Zoisite's definition of fun is every bit as depraved as he is. Focus on your damn job, and when we're done here I don't want to see your face again." He turned and walked away, heading for the auditorium. As he went along, he brought a hand to his face and buried it in his palm.

_The chance I have to pull this off and it's ruined by an idiot. I knew I should've called in one of Nephrite's youma._ His thoughts were jostled when he bumped into a plus-sized woman in her mid-thirties dressed in a black sweater and skirt wandering through the backstage. Stumbling back, he stared at her in surprise.

"Excuse me, Miss… can I help you?" He asked politely as the auburn-haired woman reached up and adjusted the beret she wore.

The woman stared at him, her eyes widening before she put on a sultry smile. "Oh yeah, you can show me where the snacks are, Twinkie. Or… can we just go to your dressing room so I can lick out the cream filling?"

Jadeite backed away a pace, somewhat put off by the woman's come-on. "Um… refreshments for the contestants are over by the stage, near the fire escape…"

"You can call me Bun, cute-stuff." The woman said as she advanced a pace and a half, staying inside Jadeite's comfort zone.

"B-Bun-san, yes…" Jadeite tried to back another step, and found himself against the wall. "…Are you a contestant?"

"Mm… yes, are you a judge?" Bun asked. The full-figured woman got even closer, pressing her chest to his as her bright-eyed gaze roamed over his face and then down to her large breasts. She let out a soft hum before looking up to his face.

"N-no, I'm just the host. Ma'am please, this is _highly inappropriate__."_ Fortunately, telling her that he was not a judge did the trick, and Bun drew back from him with a pout.

"Oh, and here I was hoping to get some favors. After the show, though… we should have a little _fun."_ Her sultry tone somehow managed to pierce even his staunch professionalism. Smiling to him, she turned away.

As she headed off for the refreshments, Jadeite watched her go with a blush splashed across his face. He spoke to himself. "Oh God that was hot."

Realizing what he just said, he slapped himself hard. "What the Hell…?"

* * *

It was show time, and tensions were high as the show prepared to start. Despite Sugao's best efforts, he couldn't even get a taped delay of the showing, which was to air live for all of the Tokyo Metro Area to see. His miracle workers at the agency had not let him down, however, and much of the scandal involving Mikan was under wraps for the moment.

All they had to do was get through the show, and then he could–with great anguish–sever her from the company once and for all. Taking his seat with an excited audience complete with family members of the contestants among the paying crowd, he looked over to Amachachi, who gave him a hopeful look back.

"Saitou-kun, is that you?" A familiar voice drew Sugao from his despair, and he turned to find a woman he knew too well standing over him. "Oh my goodness, it is you!"

Immediately, his mood brightened. "Ikuko-chan, _you're _here?"

He rose to his feet and clapped his hands together fabulously. "It has been so long–and will you look at you? You're as vibrantly beautiful as you were in college!"

Ikuko was here to wish her daughter well and cheer her on, but she had not expected to run into an old friend from her school days. "Oh and you are still just fabulous~!"

Taking each other's hands, the two shared big smiles before Ikuko continued. "I'm here to support my daughter, Usagi-chan. She's a contestant in the competition."

Sugao went wide-eyed and raised a finger to his mouth in a scandalized gasp. "Your daughter, oh my… Ikuko-chan you've a family now?"

"Why yes, I have two lovely children and I'm married to Kenji." That seemed to shock Sugao more, as he laughed.

"You're still with that wolf?! Goodness, running into you has been the best thing to happen to me all day." He grew forlorn. "My Mika-chan has become a prima donna and I will have to cut her off tonight after the show…"

Ikuko gasped. "Cut her off, but isn't she…?"

"Yes, my rising star…" He looked over to the stage, where he could see Mikan speaking with the host. All looked fine, but just moments ago the girl had exploded and had fired almost all of her staff while calling them the vilest of names. "Darling, believe me when I say that isn't even the half of it."

"Oh, Saitou-kun… you have my condolences." Ikuko was a fan of Mikan, herself, and was well aware of her rising stock.

Sugao sighed as the host introduced himself and Mikan to the audience here and at home. "I… I just wish I knew _why_ this was happening."

Backstage, the door to Mikan's dressing room opened, and Naru crept in wearing a pair of large sunglasses and black turtleneck with the collar pulled high to cover her face from the nose down. With her was Luna, who looked at the wrecked room with disgust, and the two of them were in search of evidence to anything heinous going on.

"So this is how Idols live…" Naru whispered as she held up what appeared to be a used condom in a pile of several. "Yuck."

"Stay vigilant, Usagi said she saw that Jade Eyes fellow, but we need more evidence of how deeply he's involved here." Just as she said that, Naru peered behind the privacy screen in the corner and then looked to Luna.

"Do you need anymore than this?" She asked as she pulled the screen down, revealing the imprisoned Mikan.

Luna let out a gasp. "By the Queen, how does she know these things?"

* * *

Back out on stage, Mikan was at least staying in character as she cheerfully addressed the audience. If she tried to ruin this, Jadeite likely would've gone out and killed her. "Thank you everyone for coming out today! Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, the lowly girl who magically became a lovely princess. Well this is your chance, to come from being an absolute no one to become a shining star! That is the purpose of this Cinderella Caravan? Which of you out there is a Princess waiting for her chance to go to the ball?"

The crowd cheered, and Mikan looked at her card. "Well I hope you're ready then. Our first contestant is a comedienne, who goes by the stage name Bun-baachan! Everyone let's give her a hand!"

More cheers followed, as from stage right Bun emerged and walked towards the center stage. Smiling to the crowd, she waved before turning to Mikan and bowing politely. Turning to Jadeite, she gave him the same suggestive smile from before and winked to him before stepping up to the microphone as the host and the star stepped stage left.

"Yo Minato, how is everyone doing today? Good? Great, how about I change that for you?" She asked as she took the mike off the stand and then kicked it over.

Off to the side, Jadeite and Mikan both stared as Bun walked to the edge of the stage and scanned the crowd. "I'm going to start with a disclaimer: I'm a vulgar insult comic. That means I get up here on stage, single people out, and then make fun of them for your amusement. It's going to generally be funny, until I make fun of you."

Bun chuckled as laughter went through the crowd. She then looked off to the side at Jadeite. "For example, look at this faggot right here."

Jadeite froze and then looked at Bun in shock. Parts of the audience were a little taken aback as well, particularly Ikuko and Sugao.

"Oh my…" The former gasped.

"I mean, look at him. He's got the poofy blonde hair, white suit, pink tie, and a walk that screams 'I wanna take you to a gay bar'." The audience laughed at the flustered look on Jadeite's face when he got caught out. Bun continued. "Buddy, if you looked anymore gay, you'd be making Hard Gay look like a polygamist with nine wives."

More laughter ensued, as Bun turned back to the crowd. "That or he'd be a member of Malice Miser. If he were that, then he'd have a little more talent than the tart standing next to him, am I right?"

Mikan's eyes widened and some people in the crowd showed a slightly negative response. "No, no, I take that back. Mika-chan here is far more talented than that. I mean, for all the dicks he had to suck he's only an MC. Imagine what she had to do to get where she is."

The laughter of the audience far outweighed the booing aimed at the desecration of their Idol. Bun however gracefully strode through it. "What? No one is safe on the stage don't you know? I'm an equal opportunity asshole."

She looked to Jadeite. "You know, kind of like you."

Jadeite's embarrassment turned into indignation as Mikan laughed at his expense. Seeing Mikan take the jokes in stride began to loosen up the crowd, as Bun turned back to them. "You know what the funniest thing is though? That this guy actually thought he could pull a fast one on me after the last two times I wrecked his shit."

The crowd became confused.

"Wrecked…?" Sugao asked as Jadeite's eyes went wide.

Mikan looked from Bun to Jadeite. "What's that cow talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Let me clue you in!" Bun raised her hand to the beret atop her head. "Once I was a Hip-Hop artist, and today I am an insult comic. But at all times I am and always will be…!"

Jadeite's indignation became a truly intense fury and dread. "… No."

The beret was thrown into the air, and the audience gasped in amazement as the disguise disappeared with it, revealing Sailor Moon. "… The Guardian of Earth, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!"

She then struck a pose and pointed at both Jadeite and Mikan. "The game is up you two! I suggest we drop the pretenses and get right to the part where I beat the crap out of you!"

The spotlight falling on him and Mikan, Jadeite tensed as he got ready to bail out. "Damn… how does she keep figuring out who I am? Derella, we're getting out of here!"

Mikan, however, just laughed. "That's her? That's the _big bad_ _Sailor Moon_ who's gotten you scared, Jadeite?"

Sugao stood up from where he sat, Amachachi rising with him as Mikan stepped forward towards Sailor Moon with her hands on her hips. "She's just a little girl."

Sailor Moon got into a fighting stance, her eyes narrowed at Mikan. "Youma, reveal your true face so I can tear it off."

"A youma… that Mika-chan is an imposter! I knew my Mika-chan couldn't have fallen so far!" Sugao breathed, overcome with both relief and dread. If that wasn't Mikan, where was she?

Mikan rolled her head from one side to another, popping her neck from one side to another before raising her hands and crossing her arms in front of her face, revealing her true form as the ice-blue glass youma Derella. The moment her hands came down however, Sailor Moon was swinging a kick for her face.

Derella dropped back, the youma twisting to swing a kick into the opening Sailor Moon created with her missed blow. Suddenly twisting herself around, Sailor Moon blocked the blow and landed on the stage, between Derella and Jadeite, who had abandoned his disguise as well.

"Don't fight her, she's out of your league," Jadeite warned.

Derella laughed. "Damn right she is!"

She disappeared from sight and appeared above Sailor Moon, and fired a spray of liquid to encase her in glass as she did Mikan. However, the liquid glass only hit empty stage. "Eh?"

Derella hit the wall above the auditorium exit near the stage an instant later, driven into it by a kick from Sailor Moon. Seeing the youma hit the wall, Jadeite swore and pointed his hand up at Sailor Moon while she was falling from the attack. "Damn it!"

Spotting him too late, Sailor Moon crossed her arms as the blast hit and threw her into the curtains of the stage, sending her ripping through them. There was a crash from backstage, before a blur parted the curtains and she reappeared driving an axe kick down onto him that he barely blocked with a barrier.

The audience went crazy with that, breaking into loud cheers as Jadeite and his barrier were pushed back by the blow. _This is bullshit!_

Sailor Moon quickly glanced back, fast enough to see Derella closing in on her fast. She spun into a roundhouse kick to deflect Derella's blow, before spinning and ducking under another swing. Falling to her hands she launched a high kick into Derella's stomach before she sprang above another invisible force blast from Jadeite.

"How did you find out?" Jadeite asked as he evaded a punch from Sailor Moon when she got close and used a barrier to block another. Despite the barrier reinforcing his hand, when her fist smashed into it he still felt it. "Damn…!"

"I never kiss and tell." When Jadeite recoiled she leaped and kneed him in the chin, sending him flipping onto his stomach.

As she hit the ground however, Derella's liquid glass engulfed her feet, and quickly immobilized her. "Whoa, what the…?"

Jadeite looked up at Derella, who let out a laugh as she finished spraying her liquid glass. "Didn't I tell you I had this? It must suck to be of so little faith."

Sailor Moon plucked her tiara from her forehead and tossed it over her shoulder at Derella. "Moon Tiara Action."

Derella's eyes went wide as the tiara lit up and homed in straight onto her neck like a youma seeking missile. "What the fuck-?"

The discus sliced her head off cleanly, leaving it to fall to the floor with a thud. Wide-eyed, Derella's head stared at Sailor Moon as it and her body began to turn to dust. "J-just like that…?"

As the audience broke into more cheers and the tiara prepared to come around, Jadeite saw his chance, raising both hands, he aimed them at Sailor Moon. "You're dead!"

Sailor Moon's eyes widened and she quickly caught the tiara from mid-air to hold in front of her. Jadeite's energy blast smashed into the tiara, and washed over it to tear up the floor beneath and behind Sailor Moon before creating a ring-shaped impression in the wall. Letting out a growl, Jadeite let out a growl and increased the output of his blast, the tiara glowing brighter to try to block the blast.

_Holy shit… he's cutting loose…_ Sailor Moon realized as she found herself focusing as much strength to keep from being overwhelmed. As long as her legs were imprisoned like this, it would be impossible for her to counterattack. _If you're in the crowd, Tuxedo Sexy, I could use a bit of help!_

A single rose, like a razor, cut across Jadeite's chest and the pain from the wound caused him to recoil and kill his attack. Staggering backward, he looked up towards the upper level seats of the auditorium, where another spotlight suddenly shone on Tuxedo Kamen, sitting on the edge and slowly strumming his guitar.

"Hey sexy!" Sailor Moon called out, before turning her attention to Jadeite, who was clutching at his chest.

"Good evening, Sailor Moon. How about wrapping this up? I'd like to watch the rest of the Caravan." Tuxedo Kamen asked as he continued to play his guitar. Jadeite looked at the blood on his hand, and then up to Sailor Moon.

"Damn you…" Jadeite growled before Sailor Moon became a blur, and was suddenly above his head, swinging her leg down towards him. He didn't even have a chance to teleport, when the kick connected, smashing Jadeite through the stage below and down into the floor beneath it, creating a sizeable hole.

Landing with the falling splinters at the edge of the hole, Sailor Moon stared down at Jadeite lying in the bottom of the pit, his body locked in spasm. When she looked back to Tuxedo Mask, he tipped his hat and vanished into thin air, guitar and all. When she looked back down, she caught just a glimpse of Jadeite as he pulled it together enough to disappear. Turning to the crowd, she smiled when the spotlights fell on her and she struck a pose.

"Wherever there is evil, and wherever demons and their ilk appear, I, in the name of the Moon, shall punish them, for I am the one and only Sailor Moon!" she loudly declared, and the audience went nuts, delivering a standing ovation.

* * *

It was sunset outside of the studio, and Sugao was in tears of joy as he embraced Mikan, who was likewise crying happily. Standing to the side, Amachachi and Ikuko watched with relief as their boss and good friend respectively expressed his relief that it was not Mikan who had done all those wicked things, but an imposter. Elsewhere in the crowd of paramedics, police, and civilians, reporters were interviewing excited witnesses who all had something to say about the latest appearance of Sailor Moon. On the roof of a nearby building, Naru and Luna stood with Sailor Moon as they looked down on the scene.

"Luna, the magic my transformation has prevents people from connecting Sailor Moon to Usagi unless someone witnesses me transform or I give it away in obvious fashion, right?" Sailor Moon asked.

"That's correct. Why do you ask?" Luna looked up to her from where she was cradled in Naru's arms.

Sailor Moon nodded. "I take back what I said about them being stupid. Jade Eyes just doesn't realize that I can see through his disguise. This could be used to our advantage."

Naru nodded. "If he hasn't caught on already and decides to stop getting directly involved in collecting energy."

There was that, but Sailor Moon was confident that whatever came next she'd be able to thwart it. "Everything seems under control now. Let's get going."

"That is a good idea, Sailor Moon. Now that we're done, I have more news for you. I have determined that the new Senshi is that of the planet Mercury," Luna announced.

Dropping her transformation as she fell into step with Naru, Usagi's eyes widened along with her best friend's. Both asked. "Sailor Mercury…?"

Luna nodded emphatically.

"So it's a planet theme, then…" Usagi mused, and Naru let out a small laugh.

Wondering what they meant, Luna shook her head. "Yes, and while we're still on a roll, we must find her and enlist her to our aid so we can ensure that we can win."

In a high-rise apartment elsewhere in Minato, Ami set down a pencil and held up a sketch pad to appraise the creation on it. Lowering it, she looked at the image on the computer in front of her, a paused news report with amateur video of Sailor Moon posed on the stage. Looking down at the paper, Ami smiled at the perfect likeness of the image on paper.

"It's perfect," she said in admiration as she flipped to the next page, showing a picture of herself dressed in Sailor Moon's uniform and similarly posed.

* * *

Usagi: Professionalism is an important key to success. If you can't treat your job with professionalism and competence, then you're going to lose it right away! So remember, if you have a job to do, exceed your limits to get it done but remember to be professional about it!

Luna: That coming from you us ironic.

Usagi: What are you talking about? I do my job with absolute professionalism; I just play hard as I work! Enjoy life, but always be ready to work for it! That is what Kamen Raider has taught me!"

Luna: Oh brother…

Usagi: Sailor Moon says, tee hee!


	7. The Second Soldier

Disclaimer: I will distract you from my weaknesses with fanservice!

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
The Second Soldier

_Cool, cool Mercury_

**[6.]**

Jadeite was brooding, pacing back and forth in his personal chambers. One more failure of this magnitude, and Beryl would want to have words with him. He was well below quota and slipping into the red. Worse, he got another General's youma turned to dust–he wasn't going to hear the end of it. On the plus side, he came to a few understandings about his opponent. Sailor Moon was highly destructive yes, but she was far from reckless. In all the incidents where he faced her directly, she made an effort to avoid getting people hurt, be it kicking him away from those radio hosts, evacuating the gym before leveling it, and focusing his and Derella's attention on her rather than risk endangering the people in the audience. With that weakness, he found possibly another: Tuxedo Kamen.

In every instance he faced her and seemed to gain the upper hand, that well-dressed bastard would show up, throw a rose, and the momentum of the battle would shift straight back to her. "Deus Ex Rosa" as Thetis humorlessly referred to it. If Jadeite could somehow use that against Sailor Moon, he'd have a chance to take her down–she was strong but she was not invincible. He'd need a plan and a strong youma, no… two strong youma. He didn't want to have to rely on Thetis, however…

_"__Ohohoho__…"_

He immediately tensed as he looked back and found an effeminate youth with wavy blonde hair floating in the shadows of his chambers, reclined with one leg crossed over the other. "Don't think too hard, Jadeite, you might hurt yourself."

"Don't you have places to be?" Jadeite asked.

"My, my, aren't we annoyed? Since I've been so _far_ past quota recently, I decided to drop by and see how my good friend Jadeite was doing. I can see for myself that you're not doing so hot so I was wondering if you could use a little more help."

The condescension in Zoisite's tone annoyed Jadeite even further. "Your help is neither wanted nor appreciated, buzz off."

Zoisite pouted. "Hey now I loaned you a youma, you lost it, and I'm still willing to help you! You should be a little more grateful."

"Derella was an idiot who couldn't get any energy," Jadeite shot back.

Zoisite stared at Jadeite, and then his eyes widened. "Oh! That was its name? Oh man, I never remember that kind of stuff. Thank you, I couldn't think of it and it was kind of _awkward__~."_

Sneering, Jadeite looked aside. "Don't know how you can manage to get nearly as much energy as Nephrite with your attitude towards your youma…"

Zoisite smiled. "Oh it's quite simple; I don't waste my time with overwrought plans like you or through divination like Nephrite. The best way to collect life energy is to release it all at once, after all."

"Psychopath…" Jadeite hissed.

"Queen Beryl said we had to make quota, how is irrelevant. You do remember what we're gathering energy for, right?"

"Discretion in our operation has its benefits. A body count attracts attention. Especially now that we have to deal with Sailor Moon interfering."

Zoisite immediately waved dismissively at Jadeite. "Oh shut up you fool. If you were actually good at being discreet, you wouldn't be here. I can see that even now, you're weighing your options on taking that little skank out, but your resources are running low. You only have a handful of youma left, Nephrite's method of producing them doesn't help you, and Kunzite has none of his own to lend. Worse yet, because Thetis got injured, Beryl's wary of letting you anywhere near her stock. You're desperate for a breakthrough so you can go back to your precious status quo."

Once again Jadeite was seething as Zoisite proved himself right on all counts. He turned away from the other General, who immediately teleported directly behind him and rested his hands on his shoulders before leaning close. "I can loan you another youma… I have quite a few to spare."

Zoisite rested the side of his head against Jadeite's, and he felt his shoulders tense up. Zoisite began to rub them. "I can't promise much in the way of gathering you energy… but…"

Bringing his lips to Jadeite's ear, he whispered. "It's better to chance it than having to explain to Beryl why you can't kill a _single… little… girl__~."_

Jadeite lashed out at Zoisite, who teleported away back to his previous position, laughing derisively down at him. As Jadeite glared up at him, he finished. "I'll let you use my plant trio."

That changed things considerably. "You mean Housenka, Grape, and Suzuran?"

"You know if you know their names you should really write them down and give the list to me. I really hate having to say 'Hey, you' all the time. They give me looks." Zoisite replied. "Yes, I'll let you use my youma…"

Jadeite immediately narrowed his eyes. Of course, making a deal with Zoisite meant… "… For a price."

"What do you want?" Jadeite asked, knowing he would regret doing so.

Zoisite's often present smile darkened, as he grabbed Jadeite's behind roughly. "…Oh you know what I want."

* * *

At the "Running Dragon School of Indiscriminate Grappling" Usagi was trying something new. She was facing against five lower ranked students, all wearing protective gear, as her Sensei and Makoto watched from the side. Over the last few days she had been hitting not the mat but the books, studying combat against multiple opponents in particular. Today was going to be Usagi's first attempt at implementing what she's been studying.

"All right, are you ready?" Sensei asked, and all students involved bowed to one another. "Begin!"

Usagi gave no warning, rushing forward and grabbing a student's arm before kicking him first in the stomach and then in the back. Turning around, she threw the student to the ground as another attacked. He swung a punch at her, and missed–only to be punished with several rapid-fire blows to his stomach and groin before Usagi hooked a leg behind his and threw him to the ground.

"Wow." Makoto said as another student grabbed Usagi's long hair tried to pull her down by them.

Leaning back and twisting her body as she turned around, Usagi went with the pull and drove her shoulder into the attacker and spear her into the ground. As she lay there, she delivered a quick punch to her throat before rolling back up her feet and kicking another attacker first in the knee and then the groin before getting quickly to her feet and elbowing the side of his head, throwing him onto his back.

The final attacker lunged at Usagi with a prop knife to the back of her neck, but she was seen coming. Turning around she grabbed the knife and guided it away from her before twisting her opponents arm to relieve her of the blade, taking the knife into her other hand deftly, she guided her controlled opponent around and then brought the knife up to her neck before pretending to slice her throat with it.

"And finish!" Usagi called out, and the other students got up, their reinforced padding having protected them from Usagi for the most part. She still hit like a man twice her weight and muscle build. Makoto and Sensei, as well as a number of other witnesses, broke into applause.

Sensei was particularly impressed. "That was amazing, Usagi-chan! What was this art called again?"

"Krav Maga, it's an Israeli thing!" Usagi cheerfully replied.

Makoto nodded. "I've heard of it. It's less of a martial art and more of a self-defense skill. It places a lot of emphasis on survival, and is generally not meant for show."

"I see. I do have to wonder, Usagi-chan, why the interest in crowd fighting? You're the sort who likes to make an example in one-on-one," Sensei pointed out.

"Crowd fighting is a weakness of mine. Akane Tendo can clear a crowd of a hundred guys in seconds; I want to be able to take on at least a handful at once."

Makoto let out an amused sound. "I think the best way you can avoid that kind of aggro is to change your attitude."

"Eh?" Usagi placed her hands on her hips. "Are you saying that _I'm_ the problem?"

"If you have to fight, then fight, but always prefer a peaceful solution." Makoto's tone hardened a little bit. "You can't win them all."

Usagi gave Makoto a different look with that. "You speak of experience."

"Afraid so…" Makoto then stepped onto the mat. Seeing this, Usagi got ready to fight.

"Is it a sad story?" Usagi asked.

"A frustrating one, maybe if you can land a hit I'll tell you." With that, Makoto bowed.

Returning the bow, Usagi grinned. "I always enjoy hearing a good st-"

Thirty seconds later, Usagi was a crumpled heap by the wall that Makoto had thrown her into. Raising a trembling hand, Usagi gave a thumb's up to both her and Sensei. "Keine Sorge, ich bin in Ordnung. Ja mein Generalfeldmarschall, Ich informiere die Panzerregiment Die Alliierte Bewegungen. Heil Hitler."

Her arm fell limp, and Makoto turned to Sensei. "Did you understand that?"

Sensei shook her head. "I am no good with German. Like this one time, my friend and I were going out and she was bragging about her English skills when this foreigner…"

"Shouldn't we get her help?" Makoto gently interrupted.

"Her mother said this happens all the time," Sensei replied.

* * *

Usagi left The Running Dragon, her head wrapped in a bandage and looking like she'd seen better days. Even with a new fighting style at her disposal, Makoto manhandled her pretty effectively. She could counter every attack she tried, and even took her down in the middle of a takedown. Sensei was right about her, that skill belied her rank.

"I wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with her frustrating story…" Usagi mused aloud. As she rounded a corner, she came face to face with Ami, book bag in hand. "Oh, hello Ami-chan how's it going?"

Ami looked at Usagi, surprised by her sudden appearance. "Tsukino?"

"Usagi's fine, we're classmates after all." Usagi looked at her bag. "Didn't school end like hours ago? Where are you headed?"

"Cram School, the entrance exams for Mugen Academy aren't for another few months so I have to get ready for them in advance."

Usagi nodded. "I can hear that. So how did you fail the entrance test anyhow?"

Ami gave a quiet start. "Who told you that? I got ejected from the test."

"Exposition-san, but yeah why'd you get ejected?"

In the few days Ami had gone to her new school, Usagi had shown no hesitation to be sociable with her. It was something Ami wasn't exactly used to but Usagi was unconditionally friendly at least. It made it easy for her to respond to her, even for all her readily apparent eccentricity. "Well, it was all over an eraser."

"An eraser?" Usagi repeated, not unlike one of the more solid species of snake.

Ami nodded. "The boy next to me had lost his, so in a lapse of good judgment I loaned him mine. The proctor saw me and ejected me from the exam."

From that day forward, Ami vowed to hate that boy forever, she neglected to add. "So here I am a student here at Azabu-Juuban."

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "This school's fine. Haruna's an amazing teacher and Mugen Academy is full of nothing but wannabe mad scientists, gothic lolis, high school lesbians, and sometimes a mixture of all of that. The uniforms are also pretty heinous."

"It's not that bad. Sure the uniforms leave a lot to be desired, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, it's the Toudai of primary through high school education. Just because it's a public school doesn't mean you should be so dismissive… it makes you come off as kind of a snob."

Ami recoiled slightly. "I meant no such offense!"

"I know, but sometimes people want to perceive the wrong things because of their own insecurities." Usagi smiled. "But I'm not so quick to judge."

Ami smiled to her. "Of course you're not, nevermind that you just generalized my educational aspirations."

"Wait, what?" Usagi waved her hand. "Oh, I guess I did, didn't I?"

Letting out a small laugh, Ami reached into her bag and pulled out her phone to check the time. "I'm going to be late to my class if I stick around any longer, but it was nice talking to you." She looked from her phone to Usagi. "Would you like my phone number?"

Usagi smiled. "Sure! Just tap it on over to my phone!"

She held up her own phone, and Ami tapped her phone to hers–exchanging contact information. "That's one of the newer touch screen models, where'd you get it from?"

"I robbed a pervert who was using his phone to take upskirt shots of me and my friend." Usagi replied.

Ami's answer was surprisingly nonchalant. "Good job."

Usagi watched Ami as she waved and went on her way. How strange, this girl adapted pretty well to her flagrant promiscuity and delinquent ways. Kind of like Naru, she realized. A smile came to Usagi's lips. "She's interesting."

"Yes, I'm actually impressed that you haven't terrified her." Luna said as she emerged from around the corner.

Usagi looked down at Luna. "I don't know, she seems like the type who's seen it all before. I wonder what to make if it."

Bending down, she picked Luna up and allowed her to clamber to her shoulder and perch there. "Who knows, maybe she knows someone like me."

Luna's ears folded back. "The remote possibility that there could be two of you out there terrifies me to the center of my being."

Usagi scratched under Luna's chin. "Shut up."

* * *

In an empty classroom at the Crystal Seminar cram school, the youma Garoben spun a flash drive on the end of her finger as she sat perched on the end of her desk. It had been a few weeks since Murid put her to work on this plan and she was finally putting in good returns, having met both Morga and Flau's energy quotas before beginning work on her own. However, over the last few days she hadn't been able to report any of that news because Jadeite had been missing since shortly after the disaster involving Derella. She, like his other remaining youma, was worried for him, especially since now she had a problem.

"Perhaps Beryl just got sick of his failures and iced him," the disguised youma lamented. That would do her no good, but it was ultimately mooted when Jadeite appeared in the room. "Jadeite you're-"

She stood up and stared when she saw the state Jadeite was in. He looked as though he had been tortured–with dark rings under his eyes and bruises and bite marks on face and neck respectively. He moved stiffly to a desk to rest his hands and prop himself up. Bringing one hand up to his face, he ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath.

"Zoisite." He turned his head slightly towards her. "Don't say another God damned word about it."

Garoben nodded. "Right, I wanted to report to you that I've made Morga and Flau's quotas. You're not in that hole anymore."

Jadeite paused, and then looked at her. "You did what?"

"Murid made these." She held up a flash drive. "They collect energy from students working this cram school. I've been doing it since we lost Flau. But yes, I've been making huge gains on it but I have a problem."

"What is it?" Jadeite asked, feeling agitated that he went through that torment with Derella when his own youma were pulling their weight spectacularly. Garoben tossed him the flash drive, and he caught it. "Huh?"

"One of my students isn't affected by the thing, I've talked to Murid about it and she says that it's impossible, she made them to suck the excess energy they burn studying." Garoben explained.

Jadeite examined the flash drive, and narrowed his before he tossed the flash drive back. "Do you still want a shot at Sailor Moon?"

Garoben's eyes widened, and then she smiled big as she caught it. "You bet your sweet ass, I do."

"All right then, here's what I want you to do." Jadeite stood upright. "Set the flash drives to drain these kids into the red, and make a fuss out of it. If I know Sailor Moon, she'll come running at the first sign of something being up, if she already doesn't have her suspicions."

"I see. Then what happens?"

"Sailor Moon shows up, and then you get your shot."

Garoben's smile became predatory. "Oh yes…"

Jadeite nodded, before adding. "Keep in mind, however, that I have enlisted some help from Housenka, Grape, and Suzuran to keep the odds firmly in your favor. Work with them, and they'll make it easy."

That surprised Garoben, and she let out a whistle. "Disciples of the DD Girls… Zoisite made you pay up the ass to use them, didn't he?"

She regretted saying that with the intense glare Jadeite leveled at her. "Right, don't talk about it, sorry."

Jadeite softened his glare, and prepared to leave. "Be careful."

"You don't need to tell me, but there won't be trouble. Moon bitch is going down."

Now smirking, Jadeite began to fade away. "Do what you do best, Garoben."

* * *

Opening the door to the Game Center Crown, Usagi was already counting her money as she headed over to a machine to convert it into tokens. Luna was still on her shoulder, which caught the attention of Motoki from where he stood behind the counter. Like Naru, he was well used to having Usagi and her antics, and he shared in her unconditional love for all things Kamen Raider. To Usagi, Motoki was both like a big brother and her supplier of all things Kamen Raider.

"Hey Usagi-chan, is that cat yours?" He called over, catching her attention. She looked to Luna, who put on a pleased expression, before turning to him.

"You know her?" She asked.

Motoki nodded. "Yes, lately she's been hanging around here looking for a free meal. I don't mind her at all; she's a very friendly kitty."

Usagi reached up and scratched Luna's chin with a finger. "So this is where she disappears off to, the freeloading harlot."

Luna bit her finger. "Ow."

Motoki couldn't help a laugh as Luna leaped from her shoulder and bounded over to his counter to hop onto. He began to pet her. "So what's it going to be? I stocked the crane and capsule games today, and got a couple of new cabinets in, including Kamen Raider vs. Kamen Raider Next Extreme Gaiden Plus."

Usagi rolled her eyes. "Another add-on game, when are they going to just make a sequel?"

"Why would they? Besides, you're still going to play it," Motoki pointed out.

Indeed, she was already getting her tokens ready. "Oh God, I am."

As she headed over to the cabinet, she stopped and pulled a grimace when she saw Mamoru playing Vs. Next Extreme Gaiden Plus. "Ugh… you have some disinfectant, Motoki? I'm going to need it after that guy is done playing."

His eyes not leaving his thrashing of some enemy mooks, Mamoru raised his head up. "Haven't seen you around lately dango-head, I thought you'd finally gotten thrown into juvie."

Usagi bristled at the man. "I'm sure you were looking for me too, ass."

"I was genuinely curious; it's hard for someone as loud and obnoxious as you to just disappear." Mamoru fired back as he began to deliver a spectacular beating on the final boss.

Usagi turned to Motoki. "Can you throw him out, please? I hate him and I want him to die."

Motoki raised his hands in apology. "No can do, I'm afraid Mamoru is a bro."

Usagi looked absolutely betrayed, while Mamoru pulled a smirk. "He's a bro? You're friends with this bald pervert?"

"I'm not bald," Mamoru interjected.

"Have been since we were kids, and he's also the biggest investor in the Crowns. So… yeah…" Motoki went on.

"Investor? You mean to tell me that this pervert has money?" She turned towards Mamoru, who was halfway to creaming the boss.

Motoki put on a bit of a smug look. "You know it; neither my store nor my parents' café would exist if it weren't for him."

Suddenly, Usagi found herself torn. Game Center Crown and the Fruits Parlor Crown were her favorite places, but they existed thanks to the one person in the world she wanted to see spontaneously combust into flames… that burned away only his clothes… well, except for his boxers–or maybe they were briefs? Oh man, she hoped so, an ass that fine needed some tighty-whities wrapped taut around it… no, not white. Black, yes, black briefs clad around that perfect ass–son of a bitch!

_Damn it Usagi, stop being distracted by his sexy!_ Usagi huffed. "Is that the case? Well don't think for a minute that you being Motoki's friend and benefactor changes things, you're still an asshole and I hate you."

Mamoru had just finished utterly ruining the Final Boss's shit and was entering his name. "Well I still think you're a psychotic delinquent and I enjoy getting a rise out of you."

"I bet it gets you off, you pig-disgusting freak!" Usagi railed before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look towards the hand, and was immediately given a kiss on the lips by a cute boy in her school's uniform. Motoki stared in surprise, and even Mamoru was taken aback by the audacious move.

Breaking the kiss, the red-haired boy nuzzled Usagi's face before whispering low. "Usagi-chan, are you letting that mean old bald guy get you worked up?"

Usagi, her face cutely flustered, immediately realized it and whispered back. "Naru…?"

"I'm just testing out the limits of the Disguise Pen," Naru replied and he kissed her again unashamedly. He then pulled Usagi into a possessive hug and gave Mamoru a mock glare and smile. "I don't care how hot and rich you are. You can't have her, she's mine."

"Oh thank God, you actually have a boyfriend," Mamoru said as he dumped in a few more tokens. "Here I thought you fed into my teasing like some bad Tsundere."

"Tsundere? Oh screw off you trust-fund baby otaku! I would never be attracted to a loser like you!"

Naru then whispered in her ear. "You're a bad liar."

When Usagi tried to protest that, he groped her backside and she let out a squeak. "H-hey…!"

Motoki scratched the back of his head and then looked over to Mamoru, who just shook his head. Luna ignored it and curled up on the counter.

Pulling away, Usagi took Naru's hand and led her towards a door at the back of the arcade. "Motoki, I'm going to do some karaoke, okay?"

"Have fun then, Usagi," Motoki said as he waved after the two. When the door shut behind them, he let out a sigh and looked to Mamoru. "He's kind of grabby for a kid his age, you know?"

"Please, I remember someone hitting his first homerun on his twelfth birthday," Mamoru teased, prompting Motoki to blush. "Speaking of, Reika's coming back to Tokyo soon isn't she?"

Motoki put on a pleased smile. "Yes, could you take care of the Crown for me that weekend? We don't want any interruptions."

Mamoru made a face as he lost to the first boss on his run and went to slip in more tokens. "Sure, why not."

"You know, I think the Disguise Pen is having an effect on you," Usagi said as she laid on the couch in the soundproof and spacious private karaoke lounge. Her head was in Naru's lap, the other girl's disguise dispelled as she stroked one of her long tails, smiling down on her.

"I don't know what it is, Usagi-chan." Naru replied as she moved from stroking her hair to caressing her face.

She lightly slapped her, and Usagi moaned. "I think I'm in love with you."

Usagi smiled and lightly bit down on Naru's thumb. "Or maybe you just like to make me scream."

Naru laughed. "The disguise pen really has turned me into a pervert then."

"Or it just freed the pervert within." Usagi squeaked when Naru slapped her cheek again. "You know I'm right~."

Laughing again, Naru began to toy with the bandages around her head. "The training isn't going so well, is it?"

"It's going fine. It's just that I can't beat Kino. She's like some sort of superhuman."

"Oh, you got beaten by that girl again?" Naru mused over it. "Hey, what if she's a Sailor Senshi? That would be awesome, wouldn't it? She's already freaky-strong; imagine what being a Senshi would add to that."

She snapped her fingers. "Oh! What if she's Sailor Mercury?"

Immediately a vivid picture of Makoto all dolled up in a sexy sailor fuku just like hers came to Usagi's mind. "That would be so awesome. Those legs would go on forever, and those breasts would look _perfect._ Except that Makoto's not the new Sailor Senshi."

Naru blinked. "She isn't?"

At that moment, Naru felt a buzzing in the pocket of her skirt, and pulled out her cell phone. Usagi looked at it. "Is it your mom?"

"No, she has a ring you know that. I have it set for alerts regarding police, fire, or medical emergencies and it just caught one." She read the alert. "Report: Unresponsive students at Crystal Seminar Cram School. Multiple ambulances are required."

Usagi stood up. "Come on, Crystal Seminar is where Ami is!"

Naru jumped to her feet and readied the disguise pen. "You got it!"

* * *

The scene in front of the Cram School site was pure chaos. There were no less than a dozen ambulances, with more on the way as medical personnel either helped students out or carried them out on stretchers. The police were performing crowd control to keep everyone a safe distance from the building as a precaution. As Usagi and Naru arrived, they immediately spotted Ami among the ambulances, and both slipped past the barricade.

"Ami-chan!" Usagi called out, grabbing her attention. "Are you all right?"

"Usagi… Osaka-san…" Ami looked over towards the school. "I'm fine, you don't have to worry. Everyone else just collapsed at their desks from exhaustion."

A flag went up in Usagi's head, Naru's too as the latter passed a concerned look to the former. Usagi nodded. "Tell me, Ami… have you or your classmates been fatigued lately?"

Ami shook her head. "I haven't, but I guess some of the other students have been complaining of being tired lately–but not like this."

Up went another flag, and Usagi began to scan the crowds for anything suspicious. Almost immediately, she caught sight of who appeared to be the seminar's distraught teacher, speaking with a police officer. Ami began to wonder. "Why do you ask, do you know what might be going on?"

Usagi looked back to Ami. "I'm just curious. Stuff like this has happened before."

"Happened before…?" Ami then remembered the big fuss over the brooches, and her eyes widened. "Do you think they had their energy taken by those bad guys?"

Naru looked back and forth between Ami and Usagi, wondering if Usagi was about to go as far as reveal her identity to the girl. Turned out she had no cause for concern as Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it is. Ami… is that teacher new?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Ami asked.

Something was off, and Usagi could feel it. They're not this stupid, especially after their last disaster. This was bait to lure her in. Seeing the awesome focus that came over Usagi after she answered, Ami tilted her head. "Why, Usagi?"

Usagi looked back to Ami and smiled. "Don't worry about it, okay Ami-chan? Just be careful at your next class."

Ami blinked. "Next class, I don't think they're going to have another after this…"

"Oh, they will." Usagi patted Ami on the shoulder, before she abruptly turned and walked away. "Naru-chan, let's get out of here."

Naru turned to follow Usagi, confused with her directness, before looking back to Ami. "Ah, see you at school!"

Ami stared after the two girls, and was about to call after them when she heard her mother frantically call for her. Outside the crowd, Naru caught up with Usagi as she walked briskly away from the commotion.

"Usagi, don't you think you gave a little too much away back there?" Naru asked.

"It's fine. The Dark Kingdom is trying to lure me into a trap."

Naru looked back at the crowd. "They are?"

"You bet." Usagi smiled to Naru. "I'm going to give them exactly what they want, but I have a plan."

Usagi having a plan sent a thrill of excitement through Naru as she gave her a smile. "What is it?"

"Keep an eye on the Crystal Seminar. If it opens another class anytime soon, which it should in the next few days, I'm going to bust it up and I'll need both you and Luna."

And so, two days later, Luna walked up to the front of the Crystal Seminar joined by a woman dressed as a teacher…

* * *

The strange encounter after the incident at the Crystal Seminar weighed heavily on Ami after that. Usagi asked those oddly specific questions and just walked away, leaving her wondering why. What bugged her even more was that despite what happened, it was glossed over fairly quickly, and more classes were rescheduled for only two days later–just as Usagi had predicted. When she asked the manager of the cram sessions, she found that it was the teacher in charge, the new one, who had insisted on going back to it. After all, the students who had all fallen ill had mysteriously recovered–just like the victims of the brooches.

Usagi knew something, and Ami was almost certain that she was connected to Sailor Moon, but for the life of her Ami couldn't determine that connection. It felt like the answer was right there, but it was just out of her reach to the point of absurdity, like two plus two equaling East Los Angeles. The mental block that weighed on her head frustrated her, driving her to her other passion outside the pursuit of knowledge, art.

_Lately my muse has been on fire._ She'd been hitting on said muse ever since she was ejected from the exams in fact. Even now, as she sat at her computer in the cram course, her focus was on drawing a doodle of a redheaded pigtailed girl she encountered a few weeks ago.

She stopped and stared at the picture, the girl was in a sailor fuku like Sailor Moon's. Almost immediately she soured and crumpled the paper into a ball. "That's just stupid."

"Is there a problem? You seem a little distracted, Ami-chan," the teacher asked in a saccharine voice. Ami frowned a little bit, recalling Usagi's interest in the woman.

She shook her head. "No, I am fine."

"Are you sure? Something appears to be on your mind."

Ami looked up at the brown-haired woman's face and hid her discomfort at the nonchalant cheeriness she possessed. Usagi's suspicion had infected her well, and certain things about the woman had come to Ami's attention. She seemed artificial, like she was poorly acting a ruse.

"Not really, just done with my work."

Garoben smiled. "Would you like a little more work? Every little bit of studying helps, doesn't it?"

Ami looked down at her sketchpad, and then at the computer. "I guess a little more work wouldn't hurt."

The door slammed open, and in entered a teacher, a beautiful black-haired woman with a hime-cut stormed in. "Who is in charge of this class?"

Garoben looked up from Ami to the woman, surprised by the unexpected intrusion. "I am, and who exactly would you be?"

The woman didn't waste any time. "I think you know who I am, youma. But I'll fill you in case you don't…"

Garoben's eyes widened behind her glasses as the other teacher reached up to grasp the inside of the jacket she wore. She was not in shock; however, she was completely overjoyed as she bared her fangs at the woman posturing in front of her. Ami stared at the woman, and then over at her teacher, and she immediately grew worried as the woman's fake expression became monstrous. She was a youma, which meant…!

She looked back to the woman, ready to fling off her cloak. "Once, I was a…"

She immediately trailed off and ducked down with a shriek of terror as Garoben suddenly extended her arm. As it shot towards her, it immediately transformed into an axe that slammed through the wall, showering her with plaster.

"You were saying?" She asked as she wrapped her hand around Ami's neck and gripped it. "You really ought to not make a silly speech when you're facing an enemy, it'll get you killed!"

Drawing back to her hand as she took on her tall, hideous form, Garoben gestured to the other students in the classroom, whom until this point Ami hadn't even noticed were strangely quiet.

"Take good care of her." On her order, like puppets on the end of slack strings, the students rose up and began to shuffle towards where the interrupted interloper was getting back up.

"By all means, transform and let's get this over with Sailor Moon. But I'm sure you won't mind having to slaughter your way through these innocent people to get to me, will you?" Garoben taunted before she looked down at the struggling girl in her grip. "As for you, why not join them?"

"Let me go!" Ami protested before her face was shoved up against her computer monitor. Immediately, the monitor began to flash as the contents of the flash drive worked their dark program.

Garoben chuckled. "You're still resisting, that's cute. However, I've improved this Energy Collector, so stop resisting and give up all that delicious energy you've been storing up! Give it, bitch!"

She looked over towards the still disguised Sailor Moon, who the slowly advancing mob now had completely cornered. However, despite the pinch she was in, she appeared calm… amused even. Immediately, Garoben realized that something wasn't right, that realization was cemented when the computer suddenly and angrily beeped. She looked down and found that not only was Ami still conscious, but the computer was failing to drain any of her energy.

"This thing could drain energy from Kunzite!" She held up Ami, and found a curious symbol glowing on her forehead. "What the Hell is this?"

"Looks like she was right, Luna." "Sailor Moon" said when she saw the symbol on Ami's forehead.

Garoben snarled. "Who was right?"

At that very instant, the window to the classroom shattered violently. Garoben didn't even have time to turn her head before Sailor Moon's kick plowed into the side of it. The youma went sailing into the wall and through it to the hallway outside with a violent crash as Sailor Moon landed on the top of a desk, above the surprised Ami.

"S-Sailor Moon…" She gasped in surprise as Garoben got back up, injured by the force of the kick but still very much intact.

"You bitch… if you're Sailor Moon, then who are…?" She took her eye off Sailor Moon to look towards the other woman, and regretted it as Sailor Moon lunged for her and slammed a punch into her stomach, lifting the much larger youma off her feet. Flipping onto her hands, Sailor Moon sprang upward to slam both feet into Garoben's face, sending her flipping backward to crash face first into the opposing wall of the hallway.

Landing on her feet, Sailor Moon dusted off her knees and stepped back from Garoben before looking over to Naru, who had played her part as the bait perfectly. "Get out of here, I'll be fine."

"I kind of can't!" Naru replied as she struggled against the grabby hands of the students. At least, however they weren't trying to beat her to death. "Um… Sailor Moon, I think they misinterpreted her command."

Sailor Moon smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, at least they won't kill you."

Naru squeaked as one of the students ripped open the blouse she wore. "Oh… oh boy…"

Garoben's laugh pulled Sailor Moon's attention back to her, and she readied for combat. "So youma, where's your trap? I was expecting one."

As she spoke, the youma Grape materialized in the air behind her outside the very window she had entered dynamically from. As Garoben smiled towards the window, Sailor Moon instinctively turned back, but it was too late, as the vines from the blonde youma wrapped tightly around her body before she was yanked through the window and swung through the air before being slammed into the side of another building across the street.

"Sailor Moon!" Naru cried out before a female student dragged her deeper into the human pile.

Bound tightly in the vines, Sailor Moon looked up at her attacker as her sisters Housenka and Suzuran appeared at her sides. She struggled against her bonds and they began to break. Seeing this, the other two youma wasted no time, with the green colored Housenka unleashing a sonic blast as the multi-colored Suzuran fired off a barrage of bomblets, the former's sonic waves accelerating them into their target as both hit, creating a large and destructive blast that shattered the windows of every adjacent building.

Ami shook in disbelief as she fell against her desk. "Oh God… S-Sailor Moon…"

She looked from her feet to Garoben, as the Youma rose to her feet. "And while that is taken care of… I guess I'll have a little fun with you, human."

Ami stepped back from Garoben, growing terrified as the youma raised her axe hand. Luna however intervened, slashing Garoben's face as she leaped past, landing on the ceiling she bounded onto the top of a computer. In her mouth, she carried a blue transformation pen.

"Ami Mizuno, hold this up and call out 'Mercury Power, Make Up', quickly!" Luna ordered after she threw it to her.

Ami looked at the clearly talking cat, the strange magic wand she held, and the monster in front of her gripping her face in pain. In an instant, it all fell into place, and the normally quiet and reserved girl felt an exhilaration like no other fill her body. Holding the pen upward, she twirled it and called out.

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

In an instant her clothes vanished, replaced by a swirling blue light that quickly wrapped about her entire body, covering her hands, feet, and torso before flashing to reveal her sailor fuku and its corresponding jewelry. A rush of cold air spread from her like ripples on a pond, revealing the Guardian Sailor Senshi, Sailor Mercury. Staring down at her new form, Ami took a few deep breaths as she tried to take in what she was experiencing.

"I… I am a Sailor Senshi…" She looked up at Garoben, who was staring at her with two parts disbelief and three parts horror.

"No, not another freaking one…!" She moaned in dread. Nevertheless, she readied her axe arm, and rushed Sailor Mercury. "I can't let you live for a second longer, DIE!"

She swung the axe, and chopped through Sailor Mercury, neatly beheading her.

Garoben grinned as she watched Sailor Mercury's body fall from beneath her head, and that grin disappeared as both parts of the newly formed Senshi began to disappear, breaking off into particles of light before they completely vanished. As Garoben stared, Sailor Mercury materialized, intact, in the same fashion directly behind her, her leg raised for the kick she swung into her with all her might.

Garoben took the kick, and plowed through the rows of desks and computers before she crashed through the wall of the school and went hurtling outside. Setting her feet on the ground, Sailor Mercury crouched only slightly before she vanished into thin air. As Garoben fell towards the ground, Sailor Mercury fell upon her at incredible speed and grabbed her face before smashing her head first into the street, the ensuing explosion turning over nearby parked cars and sending onlookers running for their lives.

From where they hovered, Suzuran looked down at the explosion. "What the Hell was that?"

Grape could feel it in her vines as she stared into the smoke. "She's still alive! She just broke out-!"

Like a missile, Sailor Moon smashed forehead first into Grape, the shockwave from the impact blasting all three masked youma away in different directions. As Grape went flying, Sailor Moon grabbed the vines trailing behind her before she swung her around into Suzuran, the two youma going through a billboard an instant later.

Housenka recovered in midair, wide-eyed as she watched her sisters go through the billboard. "What the Hell is that girl?"

She looked down at Sailor Moon, who had landed on the street, and unleashed a sonic blast on the girl. The street exploded, but Sailor Moon was already coming at her with her arm extended in a perfect lariat. As Housenka was caught by the lariat, Sailor Moon spun around, before throwing the Youma through the roof of another building, which she went through every floor before reaching the ground floor, missing every person inside as the dust from the impacts poured through its windows and doors.

Falling through the air, Sailor Moon landed on a street lamp, and flicked her hair before looking towards the wrecked billboard. As she was greeted by the sight of onrushing vines fired by Grape, she plucked her tiara from her head. "Moon Tiara Action!"

Like a saw, the tiara slashed through the vines, and nearly took off Grape's arm had she not detached the vines at her fingers and leaped clear of the weapon. As the tiara came around for a second go, it was struck by a barrage of bomblets from Suzuran, sending the weapon flipping away and back to Sailor Moon's hand. Realizing she was in a bad position to take further attacks from these three, Sailor Moon leaped back to the rooftops, and began hopping from roof to roof.

Housenka suddenly flew up after her, firing another sonic blast in an attempt to bracket her, creating a pair of trenches on either side of the roof around her. As the smoke rose from that rooftop, Sailor Mercury stepped out of the crater she left the disintegrating body of Garoben in and stared at the battle going on above. Luna landed next to her, a little overwhelmed by the property damage but trying not to focus on it.

"Talking cat, do I have any attacks?" Sailor Mercury asked.

"My name is Luna and yes, you do! Just think about it and it should come to you!" Luna responded before more explosions sounded from the rooftop. "Hurry!"

Atop the roof, Sailor Moon grimaced as Grape's vines wrapped tightly around her arms, legs, and torso tightly. Grinning as she held Sailor Moon in place, she channeled a great deal of energy down her vines, the pulse hitting her and sending shockwaves out from her feet that cracked the roof. Combining their attacks again, Housenka and Suzuran completely shattered the rooftop with the ensuing explosions as they hit home with terrible force.

When the dust settled, Sailor Moon was trembling, wisps of smoke rising from her body as she stared with a defiant smile of her own at her attackers. Grape smirked, though it was unseen behind her mask. "You ready to give up and die?"

"They sent three of you just for me, I'm flattered. Still, I'm going to turn you all into dust!" Sailor Moon responded. It was at that moment that Sailor Mercury leaped over the roof, soaring above the heads of Sailor Moon and her opponents. Crossing her hands in front of her, she immediately targeted the battlefield.

"Mercury Sabão Spray!" The sphere of light that collected before her crossed hands shot forth, expanding into a barrage of rapidly spreading bubbles that encased the rooftop.

"What is this?" Grape asked in surprise before the fearsome cold of the mist struck her. All three youma sisters, chilled, began shivering violently.

"It's s-so cold…!" Housenka cried.

Suzuran looked over. "Quickly, use your Sonic Waves to blow it away before…"

It was too late, and Sailor Moon's foot found a nice home right in Suzuran's throat. Kicking off her face, she vanished into the mist before Sailor Mercury performed her own kick, slamming it across Housenka's eyes and driving her into the ground. Stepping back, Grape could only watch as her sisters fell to the ground.

"Where the Hell did this other Senshi come from?" She sputtered before she bumped into a caped figure standing behind her. Slowly she turned around. "Huh?"

"Forgive me but I forgot my guitar today."

In a flash of steel Grape fell, a nasty gash sliced into her chest. The Sabão Spray cleared as Tuxedo Kamen sheathed the blade hidden inside his cane with a soft click. He then looked to Sailor Moon. "Good day, Sailor Moon, it seems you've gained an ally."

Sailor Mercury was star-struck. "It's really you, Tuxedo Kamen!"

"Hey sexy, you're classy as always," Sailor Moon purred as Tuxedo Kamen tipped his hat to the two Senshi.

"And you ever as lovely and energetic," he replied, causing Sailor Moon to squeal giddily. He turned his attention to the downed youma. "I believe now would be the proper time to strike-"

All three were suddenly wrapped in swirling cherry blossom petals, before they vanished. Zoisite's grating laughter filled the air, and the Sailor Senshi and their black clad ally looked up to find the General floating in his swirling petals. "Maybe I was a little hard on Jadeite; you little skanks are quite formidable."

Sailor Mercury blinked. "Did… did he just call us skanks?"

"Who the Hell are you?" Sailor Moon asked as she folded her arms.

_"__Ohohoho_… I'm an enemy, that's all you need to know. You've gained another ally, but don't get cocky. After all Jadeite is a bit of a pussy compared to the rest of us," Zoisite taunted as his cherry blossom petals appeared around him. "Ta, bitches."

He vanished into thin air, leaving the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, and a ruined street behind. Despite the destruction wrought, no one was injured in the insanity of the battle, just crowds of people stared in disbelief at the material losses. Surveying the destruction, Tuxedo Kamen let out an amused chuckle.

"I think you girls need a Dividing Driver or something if you're going to keep this up," he said as he headed to the roof edge.

Sailor Moon snapped her fingers. "Now that would be awesome!"

Sailor Mercury turned to Sailor Moon. "What about your friend? We should go check on her."

"Oh crap, I almost forgot about her! Thanks Tuxedo…" He was gone. "… Figures. Let's go!"

The two leaped across the street and back into the wrecked classroom of the Crystal Seminar. Inwardly, both hoped for the best and prepared for the worst but were greeted with… exactly what Sailor Moon had expected to find. Sailor Mercury actually stopped and stared in total disbelief at what had become of Naru and the other students. "Oh, dear God!"

"Wow… they are fucking the shit out of her." Sailor Moon said before she called out to the center of the gangbang. "Na-chi you okay in there?"

"Why is this happening?" Sailor Mercury asked.

"I think this could be summed up as par for the course," Luna replied before Naru waved from the nexus of the orgy. "You okay?"

Naru finally managed to call out, her mouth had been full. "Oh I'm fine, Sailor Moon, I'm really fine… this is _awesome…"_

Naru's mouth became full again, and Sailor Moon turned to Sailor Mercury. "She'll be fine. We'd better go."

"But…!" Sailor Mercury stopped, stared, and tilted her head when she got a better view of what they were doing to Naru. Suddenly, all reservations vanished from her mind. "…I need my sketch pad _now__."_

Sailor Moon followed Mercury's line of sight and gaped. "Wow."

"You guys, we gotta go!" Luna interrupted.

"All right, fine we're leaving! Come on, Mercury." Sailor Moon took Sailor Mercury by the arm and dragged her for the hole blasted in the wall, as she desperately tried to commit the sight before her to memory.

* * *

An hour, a transformation, and a much needed shower later, a wobbly-kneed Naru entered Usagi's bedroom to find her and Ami waiting. Aside from the weak legs and the smile locked onto her face, she seemed otherwise fine. Waving to both girls, she walked over to Usagi's bed and fell facedown into it with a relaxed sigh. Luna looked down at the girl before turning to the Senshi.

"I can't help but think of how doomed we'd be if the Dark Kingdom used sex-themed youma."

"Pfft, like a youma could get us to screw around with them." Usagi looked towards Naru, showing concern. "Naru-chan, are you okay?"

"I'm great! My butt is a little sore but… yeah… hehe… I'm great…"

Ami was blushing brightly as she quietly drew in her sketch pad. Luna looked to Usagi. "You could've gotten her out of there."

"I didn't want to leave~," Naru replied drunkenly.

"Again, how doomed we'd be."

Naru rolled onto her back. "I am a complete and total pervert. I enjoyed that way too much."

Ami spoke up sheepishly from behind her sketch pad. "C-can I call you senpai?"

Naru seemed to purr at the request. If she'd not been so worn out, she'd probably be trying to get Ami to call her a lot more than that. "Sure."

Usagi raised her hand to call order. "All right ladies, we know for sure that our enemies are numerous. After today, we're going to have to be less reactionary and more proactive. We need to find more Sailor Senshi."

Naru looked to Usagi after propping herself up. "Well, if there's a planet theme then there's nine Senshi in total right?"

"Eight." Ami corrected, and received the mother of all hostile looks from Luna.

"Nine." Luna spoke bluntly, and said no more on the subject, the fearful looks both Usagi and Naru had told the girl that it was a point not to be argued over.

Ami acquiesced without a fight. "R-right… Nine Senshi…"

"We already know that Sailor V is a Senshi–the planet theme makes her Sailor Venus by default. That leaves Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto."

"Ha, 'Your Anus'." Naru received a similar look from Luna that Ami had, and likewise shrank. "So how do we find them?"

"The same way I figured out Ami was a Senshi." Usagi replied.

"Yes, about that. How'd you figure that I was a Sailor Senshi?" Ami asked.

Luna nodded. "I would like to know too. Even I had thought that Mercury was that Kino girl."

Usagi smiled broadly. "It's quite simple. Ami was a new girl who stood out, with noticeably unique personality traits and characterization. How could she have not been a Sailor Senshi?"

The sound glass shattering filled the air, with all of the girls and Luna jumping from the sound. Ikuko's voice then sounded from downstairs. "Oh poo, I broke a casserole dish!"

With everyone sighing in relief, Luna glared at Usagi. "Do that again, and I will hurt you."

"Sorry." Usagi brightened up. "Still, it's something to go on. We need to find a girl who 'stands out'. When we do, we'll certainly find our next Sailor Senshi."

* * *

Crows, dozens of crows cawed and fluttered about the street where the battle between Sailor Senshi and Youma took place. The countless birds disturbed the emergency personnel and clean up crews still on the scene; after all… according to some myths the birds were associated with death and misfortune. However, they dare not try to drive the animals away, because that act was a misfortune onto itself.

"Evil forces are definitely at work here," the miko sent from Hikawa Shrine, with long hair black as the birds overhead, said to Superintendent General Natsuna Sakurada, who had personally come down to survey the damage incurred from the battle. "The spirits themselves have been banished, but their taint remains."

The miko gestured to the gathered students, still under the effect of the late Garoben's brainwashing. While harmless, they were still little more than mindless zombies. Natsuna looked to the miko. "Can you help them?"

"Of course!" The miko produced a series of ofuda tags, and threw them to the foreheads of the students with rapid and supernatural precision before holding up a final tag. "Evil spirits begone!"

The tag held in her fingers went rigid, and those on the students flashed brilliantly before wisps of pale light surged from them to dissipate harmlessly into the sky. In response, the cacophony of the crows grew as though they were in applause. Staring nervously up at the murder for a moment, Natsuna looked at the now recovering students and then to the miko. "You do impressive work, Miko-san."

Lowering the burnt tag, Rei Hino bowed to the Superintendent General. "Thank you, Sakurada-san. Now… for this service to the city, may we discuss a donation to the shrine?"

"Of course, of course…" Natsuna replied, suffering a sinking feeling that if she tried to decline those crows would become a lot less friendly.

* * *

Ami: Ah…this is my first day doing something like this, so please wish me luck, okay? No matter what you do, never talk during an exam. Even if there's a chance getting ejected from the test will allow you to meet wonderful people who can become lifelong friends.

Usagi: I'm sensing issues…

Ami: S-Sailor Mercury says, ah… heh?


	8. Of Senshi and Apples

Disclaimer: How far can I go before I run out of shock material? Let's find out!

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Of Senshi and Apples

_Or how a phone brought a city to its knees…_

**[7.]**

Ami, as Usagi learned, was of considerable wealth as she discovered when she came by the other girl's house for a mandatory study session ordered by Haruna the moment she found that Usagi was on friendly terms with the new student. Sure, she lived in an apartment like the majority of urban Japanese, but her apartment took up two floors that normally held eight apartments apiece. Oh, and it was the top two floors of a thirty-story high rise and the rent was measured in a number of zeroes that bordered on the obscene. The blue-haired anime chick was _loaded._

"What does your mother do again?" Usagi asked as she walked around the spacious living room of the apartment.

"She's a doctor," Ami closed the door behind them as she answered.

Usagi whistled. "Is she Tony Stark's personal physician? There are some High Profile CEOs who couldn't afford something this swanky."

Smiling gently and suppressing the urge to boast about her mother's abilities as a doctor, Ami gestured for Usagi to follow. "I know she was good enough to get a job that always has her away. We communicate by text message and tweet more often than anything."

Usagi's smile dimmed a little at that. Nice as it was to be able to provide for your daughter, being there for her was just as important. On the other hand, her mother was always around, so she couldn't understand what that was like. "So, when you and your Mom are together it must be fun. What about your Dad, is he around?"

Ami stopped smiling, and it told Usagi it was time to change the subject. "So! Where's your bedroom?"

"Come this way." A relieved Ami turned and headed for the swanky spiral staircase in the corner of the living room. Usagi was right behind her.

"The lower floor is my mother's area and the upstairs is mine."

"God, you're so rich it hurts. How about helping a sister out?"

Ami laughed softly as they exited the stairs and entered Ami's domain. When she reached the top of the steps and looked around, Usagi could only stare in amazement at Ami's true passion. "You… you're an otaku!"

The stairs had come up into Ami's bedroom proper, which was filled from floor to ceiling with ergonomically stored, meticulously cleaned, and extensively cared for collection of all things anime and manga. Side by side were shelves of figurines, dolls, models, DVDs, video games, and visual novels. Posters of anime old, new, popular, and obscure were mounted on the walls and ceiling, from which spaceship and robot models were suspended. In one corner was her bed, which had sheets with cute male characters on them, and at the desk next to it was Ami's desk, where a sleek and sophisticated computer sat with a drawing tablet and a small stack of books.

"Danny Choo ain't got shit on you."

Ami laughed again. "Oh no, Danny's got much more stuff than I do."

"Wait, you know him?" Usagi then noticed a picture on one of the shelves. It was of Ami cosplaying as a Zeon soldier from Mobile Suit Gundam, smiling next to a Star Wars Storm Trooper. "Wow. So, is this all you do in your spare time, study and cosplay?"

Usagi picked up another picture, of Ami modeling after a famous blue-haired anime chick. "You're a convincing Rei."

"Thanks." Ami sat down and produced her study materials from her bag. "And yes, my mother wanted me to pick up a hobby and well… here I am."

It was an incredibly lonely hobby, and that issue continued to put Usagi off as she walked back over towards the bed to sit on it. She stopped when she noticed the stack of books on the desk. Picking it up, she examined the cover, which featured a pair of cute girls cuddling on the cover. Noticing the "R18" label on the cover, Usagi smirked a little bit and began to read through. "So, you even collect the dirty stuff, too?"

Ami looked up from organizing her notes and saw what Usagi was reading. "Uh, Usagi I don't think you should read that…"

Usagi was still in the midst of browsing. "Why? What is so bad…?" She browsed ahead to later in the book and dropped it like it was hot, "HOLY SHIT!"

She looked at Ami. "The fuck is wrong with you? Do you seriously like guro?"

Ami hesitated. "Ah… No."

"Then why do you have it?" Usagi asked.

"I drew it." Ami gestured to the books. "I'm an artist."

Well, that explained her constant scribbles and doodles… and her desire for a drawing pad back when Naru was getting in touch with the deepest recesses of her perverted mind. "Oh… so you just draw it…"

"Yes, I get paid quite a bit for doing the really disgusting stuff. It doesn't appeal to me at all really, except that it's a good chance for me to study anatomy." And ways to destroy it, going by the level of detail involved.

Usagi calmed down. "I see…"

"I have less extreme stuff if you want to look at it later, but right now we should study. Haruna-sensei was pretty ardent about your grades." Ami scooted over on the bed so Usagi could join her. Taking a seat, Usagi was smiling again as she opened her book.

"You know what, Ami? I think we're going to be great friends."

Ami flushed a bit before she teased. "You're just saying that because I'm rich, smart, and you can study off me."

She then learned that when Usagi hit back, she hit back hard. "Well, that and because I think you're really cute."

Usagi happily went about studying, as steam practically rose from Ami's head from the intensity of her blush.

The session went surprisingly well, with Usagi's problem being pretty much her lack of proper application. By the end of their study group, Ami was confident that progress was being made and hopefully she could get Usagi's average up to a point where Haruna wouldn't attempt to strangle her every test.

"So why don't you apply yourself?" Ami asked as they rode the elevator down to the apartment lobby.

"I'm happy with where I am academically. I can pass my tests if I try, I don't really see the need to overachieve. It'll lead to stress." Usagi reached above her head to stretch. "And if I'm going to be saving the world, I can't be expected to commit to higher education. What if Sailor Moon's missing while I'm taking an important test? What if an important test is missed while Sailor Moon is fighting evil? It'd be pretty moot don't you think?"

She had a point, but Ami wasn't convinced. "Well, I guess there's that. But what about me, should I give up my academic pursuits because of Sailor Mercury?"

Usagi shook her head. "No because learning is your passion. Don't let being a warrior interfere with your life… let me shoulder that burden."

"You shouldn't martyr yourself like that."

"Being Sailor Moon is something I want to do, and I'm ready to do it before anything else." Usagi put an arm around Ami and hugged her. "I'm going to tell you like I'll tell every other Senshi when they join: be a little selfish. Pursue any dream you may have, because this? Being Sailor Moon, a warrior for justice, is mine."

Ami smiled at that, and hugged Usagi back. "What if I told you that being you was mine?"

She didn't expect Usagi to give her a peck on the lips. "I'd be flattered, and I am."

The elevator doors opened as Usagi pulled away. Smiling back to Ami she crossed the threshold. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

Fighting off her flush, Ami quickly nodded. "Y-yes, don't forget your notes Usagi!"

"Sure, sure…" Usagi waved and walked out of the door, leaving Ami to lean against the elevator interior as the doors closed. She brought her hands to her cheeks, which were still warm.

"I can see why Naru-chan is so attracted to her…" The bluenette whispered.

As Usagi strolled outside, she heard a beeping from her pocket and pulled out her ill-gotten cell phone, which was complaining about a firmware update. "It's updating? Well fine I guess."

The phone began updating; the progress bar sliding across the smooth touch-screen, and the second it completed, the screen went dead. Usagi stared at the phone. "What?"

She pressed the power button, and there was only a flicker before it went dead. "Are you kidding me…?"

She tried restarting it again, nothing. "No."

She removed the battery pack and then slipped it back in before starting it again. It flickered and died once more. "No…"

In a fit of desperation, she removed the phone's SD Card, ran to an outlet inside the lobby and tried to restart it while plugged into the charger. Nothing at all happened. Usagi stared down at her phone, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Usagi came home and flopped onto her bed, looking absolutely morose, something that Luna had never seen in the girl before. Sitting up on the bed, she stared down at Usagi with all the wonder in the world, before leaning down to sniff her face. Usagi brushed her away and buried her face into the mattress. Undeterred, Luna climbed up onto her back and began to knead at the back of her head.

"What's the matter Usagi?"

"My phone died." Usagi's answer was muffled by the blanket.

Luna's ears folded back. "Oh, you mean the one you stole from that man you put in the hospital?"

"I was justified." Usagi argued before she sat up and held up the device. "It was brand new, too. I just got all my music and my contacts on it and it just _bricks__."_

She then dropped the phone grabbed the sides of her head. "Ugh, and all my notes for the next test were crammed into it! This sucks!"

Luna sniffed the phone and rested her paw on the screen. It was quite dead, even her magical computer wizardry couldn't seem to revive it. "It would appear that a bad firmware update killed it. There's nothing that can be done, the registry is all kinds of dead."

"God damn you Symbian!" Usagi cried to the heavens. "Well, there's only one thing to do."

"Assault another pervert and steal his cell phone?" Luna asked.

"No… I'm going to take the money I've saved up and buy a new cell phone first thing after school tomorrow, duh." Usagi lay back down and held up her phone turned paperweight. "And hope that I can get my data recovered from this thing and transferred over."

That sensibility would've been considered out of character to Luna, if the money Usagi was referring to hadn't been stolen from the aforementioned pervert or copped from a turned over armored car.

As it turned out, the firmware update that killed Usagi's phone was making headlines the next morning. One in three cell phones in Japan were experiencing a similar bricking as the result of a shoddy firmware update, leaving the phones little more than fashionable paperweights. Suddenly millions of people were without what amounted to their link to the larger world, and the outcry was immense. For the youma Ramua, stage one of her plan could not have gone better.

"Stage one is complete," she said as she watched the news from the back of her shop in Harajuku. "It's now time to open up shop."

* * *

The next day, Usagi was joined by Naru and Ami in Shibuya as they walked through Harajuku, an area in the city named after the station it surrounded. Usagi was somberly dressed, carrying a small white box with a black ribbon on it, the resting place of her cell phone. She was in mourning over the loss and she was not alone, many people were similarly dressed and carrying either their dead phones or black bordered pictures of their phones.

"How awful, so many people affected by the bad firmware update… though it is a bit melodramatic don't you think? I mean, you doing it I get, but everyone else?"

Usagi scoffed at Luna's complaint. "Well our phones are an extension of us, our means of being connected."

"Yes, I understand that. But most people aren't deranged like you are," Luna retorted.

"She has a point," Ami added.

"In my defense and the defense of others, this is harmless, non-perverted, and admittedly a little fun."

Luna immediately hushed up, partly because she was not going to argue with Usagi's logic there, and partly because Makoto appeared. Like the girls, she was in search of a phone vendor, and she immediately caught the group's attention. Usagi called her over. "Hey! Mako-chan, what are you doing here?"

When Makoto looked over, both Ami and Naru gave a start at how tall Makoto was, while Usagi bounded to her. "Oh hey Usagi, did the update kill your phone too?" When Usagi held up her phone's box in confirmation, Makoto sighed. "I had mine for almost three months; surely it was good for another three or four."

Usagi smiled. "Well, we can at least send them off together. Come on, I want you to meet my friends. This is Ami and this is Naru."

Ami just stared up at Makoto, feeling so small in comparison, in more ways than one.

Naru let out a laugh. "It's nice to finally meet the only person in Japan who can beat Usagi-chan."

Makoto humbly brushed off the complement. "Come on, I'm sure there are others, like everyone in Nerima for one."

Naru giggled, and Usagi actually felt that one sting a little. Makoto didn't hesitate to go forth. "It's nice to finally meet Usagi's friends, though I was expecting something a little more…"

"… Yanki?" Naru asked.

Makoto nodded.

"I guess you'd expect that if you've only met her," Naru said with a smile.

"So tall…" Ami whispered, still in awe of Makoto's height and poise.

Makoto looked down at her. "Huh?"

"W-will you model for me?"

Makoto, taken aback, stared at the blue-head. "M-model?"

Usagi cleared the air quickly. "We'll discuss later. Come on ladies, I know where they sell these phones, maybe we can get a discount off a replacement."

So the group now four plus one cat carried on and they soon found a large crowd in front of the cell phone shop that was the largest in Shibuya. To their surprise, however, the crowd was not gathered to get in there. Following where the line went, Ami was first to see where it led.

"They're all going to…t he Apple Store?"

Usagi whistled. "Those are popular, too."

Makoto, not quite as savvy electronic-wise as her peers, looked over at the posters all over the Apple Store, which had been set up on what had once been a clock store. "That plan would explain it."

"That's easily half the usual price, no wonder they're flocking here," Ami said as they found themselves in the rapidly moving crowd. Usagi took note of the offered plan.

"I'm no economist, but isn't that selling at a huge loss?" Usagi asked.

Ami nodded. "It is. It must be a promotion to take advantage of the bad firmware release."

"Those Americans sure jump onto an opportunity quick," Naru said, the convenience of the deal playing with her suspicions as they were with Usagi's. It couldn't be, could it? Just exactly what were they getting at, if it was them?

Usagi hummed. "Let's go check it out. Just to get a look, if they offer a good plan then I'll go for it."

Inside the Apple Store, the mind-controlled servants of Ramua were hard at work pitching the corrupted phones and doing a fantastic job of it. Customers were only present for at the most a minute before they left with a shiny new iPhone. The fact that the phones were cheap and imbued with an infusion of dark energy was most certainly a deal-maker in that regard.

The instant Usagi and Naru entered the store, Luna felt that something was off, but she couldn't place her nose on it. Usagi had not taken two steps in when Ramua herself shoved one of the trendy little devices in her face. "Welcome customer-san, has your cell phone been afflicted by the tragic firmware update?"

Usagi held up the box containing her dead phone. "Yes."

Ramua promptly took the box and tossed it into an industrial power shredder set up behind the counter. "Kiss that piece of trash goodbye and buy an iPhone. Be an individual on the cutting edge of technology and functionality! Need anything? This phone has an app for it!"

"My phone…" Usagi mewled over the loud whirring and grinding of her phone being torn to pieces.

"You remembered to remove the SD card, right?" Ami asked. Usagi held it up. "Good, that would have sucked."

"Ah, an SD Card, I see? Sadly the iPhone 4G is not compatible with SD Cards but does come with a reader to allow easy transfer of data!"

"iPhone Genesic 3G…" Makoto snickered, an image of a courageous hipster robot coming to mind.

Usagi stared at the phone and then hummed. "I don't know, I only came here out of curiosity. I still have my plan with DoCo, so I'm not sure if I want to commit to a new phone and new plan…"

"Nonsense, nonsense, with this phone, you can switch to your old plan at no additional cost. But if you want to save money, be my guest and grab yourself an iPhone!" Ramua continued to push.

Makoto stepped up. "Well I'm sold. My income's tight."

Ramua turned to her, almost leaving Usagi in the cold as she handed the phone to Makoto. "Go right over to the counter and you'll be on your way!"

Turning her attention back to the others as Makoto went off, she attacked Naru and Ami. "Would you ladies like some new phones?"

"Mine is fine, but thank you," Ami said as she held up her own phone.

Naru nodded. "Ours run Linux, we didn't get a bad update."

Damn Linux and damn these whores, Ramua had no patience for window-shoppers. "Well if you're not going to buy, kindly get out. For the next ten minutes! All phones are fifty percent off the listed price!"

In a scene reminiscent of the Osa-P store, the crowd crush that followed literally squeezed Usagi, Naru, and Ami out of the Apple Store and onto the side of the street. As they watched mob mentality descend on the crowd, Naru and Ami looked down to their leader for guidance. Adopting a cross-legged position on the ground, Usagi huffed. "It's a weird coincidence, so let's keep an eye on things for now, all right ladies?"

"Sure," Ami said as they waited for Makoto to escape the crowd.

With some of her martial arts prowess she managed to. A dozen people had to go to the hospital, though.

* * *

"Phase Two went better than I had hoped," Ramua reported to a resplendently recovered Jadeite as they chilled in the back of the Apple Store later that day. "I sold out of the first batch within the morning and blew through the second and third by dinner. I think in a few days, we'll meet the new posted quotas and exceed them. Of course by then, Sailor Moon will catch on. I'll be waiting for her with Phase Three."

Jadeite gave Ramua a pointed look. "Thetis and Murid expressed a great deal of confidence that you can pull it off. However…"

Ramua cut him off. "Yes… even with Housenka, Suzuran, and Grape we were still crushed. There's another Sailor girl too. Don't worry though, I have no intention of failing."

"And if you do?" Jadeite asked.

"Then I won't die!" Ramua resolutely replied. Jadeite smirked, prompting Ramua to blush. "At any rate, I should start preparing for when Sailor Moon comes knocking. She'll catch on to this one pretty quick."

Jadeite nodded. "In the meantime, I'll be meeting with Nephrite. He's been reviewing the last few incidents and has ideas."

Ramua brightened at that. "Oh! I look forward to seeing what you put together."

Rising from his seat in the back office, Jadeite began to teleport out. "I can't stress this enough. Be careful, Ramua."

Ramua's smile remained. "I won't go the way of Garoben, trust me."

* * *

In Japan, the cell phone was a coveted thing. For some, it made life easier, and for others it was their life period. A fixation on one's phone was not an uncommon occurrence, but there were times where use of a cell phone was considered taboo even in a country where it was as common to own one as a television. In just three days since the Apple Store's big boom, car accidents shot up nearly eighty percent as determined by the data Ami had begun collecting at Usagi's request.

"Distraction is the primary cause. Nearly all of the accidents involved the responsible party not paying attention to his or her surroundings," Ami said as the girls stood around Usagi's desk before the start of class.

Usagi folded her arms and sat back in her seat. "Did any of the reports you glean mention the cause of the distraction?"

Ami was manipulating the touch screen of a white and blue phone she had received from Luna shortly after their visit to the Apple Store. It was a relic of the Moon Kingdom, a palm sized supercomputer whose abilities were pretty much magical. Giving it to Ami, Luna assured herself, was the most logical and responsible option she could take. Usagi seemed to agree, given that she gave no fuss about the computer when Ami received it.

"Roughly eighty percent of the police reports reference the driver being distracted by their phone. Emails sent to the Superintendent General have already made the correlation between the accidents and the type of phone used." Ami reported.

"Were they caused by iPhones?" Naru asked, amazed at Ami's casual hacking of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

"Yes, the Government is already in the process of filing complaints to Apple," Ami replied.

Usagi huffed. "I freaking knew it."

Ami put away her phone. "Yes, you did. So now what happens?"

"After the last time, they know to expect us. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got something especially nasty planned. Naru-chan, you're going to sit this one out."

Naru smiled and then whispered. "I'm still a little sore from last time, so I'm fine with that."

The door opened, heralding Haruna's arrival. Of course, she had her eyes glued to an iPhone as she sat down. The class representative quickly sent everyone to their seats, but within about ten minutes everyone was up and around again, and another school day was quickly wasted by Haruna's fixation on "Doing her stocks".

"You know, even if we didn't have Ami to do all this probing for us, we could've figured something was up via Haruna," Usagi observed.

Naru nodded. "Yeah, she's like a meter for weirdness."

* * *

Standing in front of a Light Gun game at Game Center Crown a day later, Shingo rapidly blasted the heads off various monsters as they lumbered towards him, the game was no ordinary shooting game, it was a simulation designed to closely mimic the look and feel of an actual gunfight (albeit against horrific aliens) with the gun even hitting him with servo-driven recoil with every pull of the trigger. Over his shoulder, Mamoru watched with approval. "You know what, Shingo? I think the time spent down at the range is paying off."

"I hope so. When are we going back to doing all that cool stuff, anyway? I miss the skydiving and rock-climbing," Shingo said.

"Well, how are your grades?" Mamoru asked.

Shingo blasted the limbs off a monster before taking off its head. "I'm at the top of my grade level."

Mamoru smirked. "We'll go sky-diving this weekend, then."

"Awesome."

"Hello!" Mamoru and Shingo looked over towards the door, where a gorgeous, healthily tanned auburn-haired woman around the former's age appeared. "Guess who is back from Africa?"

"Reika, you're back!" Mamoru said cheerfully as he left Shingo to shoot up monsters and walked over to her. He had just reached her when she threw her arms around him and gave him a near bone-crushing hug that took him off his feet. "Oof! R-Reika…"

"Mamo-chan, oh goodness I've missed you so much!" Reika Nishimura declared before she set the taller man down before she looked him over. "You've still managed to grow a few inches since I've been gone."

Mamoru smiled. "And you've gotten a tan and gotten a little stronger."

"Aid work in Africa is a lot of hard work, but it's so rewarding. Plus, I learned how to fire RPGs and heavy machine guns."

Shingo glanced over towards the conversation. What kind of aid work was she doing?

Reiko then remembered something and reached into her bag. "Mamoru, I got something for you. I brought a ton more souvenirs but they're back at Motoki's."

She pulled out of her bag a necklace made of lion's teeth and put it around Mamoru's neck. "Authentic lion's teeth, I got it from one that tried to kill me, but I got it first."

Mamoru looked at the necklace. "You killed a lion?"

"It was self-defense, but apparently if you kill a lion with your bare hands it's a big deal. So I guess I'm part of the tribe over there now. I have the whole pelt back at Motoki's."

Shingo was now staring. Was Motoki's girlfriend some sort of action hero? No wonder Mamoru spoke so highly of her. Reika then looked around, moving Mamoru from side to side to look past him. "Speaking of the devil, where is Motoki? He didn't come get me at the airport and he wasn't home."

Mamoru paused. "He didn't?"

Reika shook her head, "I didn't even get a reply from him when I sent him a text that I was at the airport. His sister had to come and get me."

That was strange; Motoki had been looking forward to Reika's return forever now. Mamoru looked towards the back of the Game Center Crown. "That's weird; he got a new phone and everything. Hang on."

Walking to the office of the Game Center Crown, Mamoru opened the door and looked inside. He froze when he found Motoki sitting at his desk, playing with his newly acquired iPhone. "Motoki, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, I'm just checking my stocks," Motoki said in a monotone that was definitely not fine. "

What stocks? "Motoki, you don't have a portfolio… though I have been on you about creating one. Anyway, Reika's here. Why didn't you get her text?"

"I was busy," Motoki responded, and Mamoru immediately knew something was wrong. Motoki not excited to find his girlfriend outside the office and hotter than ever? It tripped every "Bro Flag" that Mamoru had set up, and all indications pointed to the same conclusion. Evil was afoot in Tokyo.

"Motoki!" Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled out a rose and threw it into the phone, knocking it out of Motoki's hand and pinning it to the wall. Almost immediately a black pulse erupted from the phone as it died, and Motoki blinked and shook his head before looking at the phone and the rose embedded in it.

"What the…?" He looked from the rose to Mamoru. "…Mamoru, what just happened?"

"I think we found the cause for all the incidents going on in Tokyo over the last few days, Motoki. You got that phone from Harajuku, didn't you?" Mamoru asked as he produced another rose.

Motoki stood up. "Yes, the Apple Store there. So it was a front for the Dark Kingdom after all!"

Mamoru turned around. "Keep me connected, I have a feeling Sailor Moon is on her way to bust these guys too."

"Oh boy…" Motoki said as Mamoru ran out of the office and straight for the doors of the Game Center Crown, leaving Reika and Shingo to stare after him.

Rushing out the door, held the rose out and sent it flipping into the air, where it transformed into a top hat. Catching it in midair, Tuxedo Kamen rolled the hat along his fingers and rested atop his head as he landed atop a street pole. He looked down below him at the street below and smirked. He didn't normally transform in broad daylight, but a crisis was a crisis.

"Okay, let's go…" Leaping from the light pole, he shot off towards Shinjuku his cape flapping through the wind behind him.

* * *

Much nearer the Apple Store, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury landed atop a train that would take them straight to the Harajuku station. A blue visor across her eyes, Mercury was hard at work doing some important info gathering. "It's the middle of the workday, so the crowds are at their minimum. However, there are still people around the store and in the general vicinity that need to get clear."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Can you somehow evacuate them? I have a feeling that this is going to get messy."

Sailor Mercury looked to Sailor Moon. "You're going to do something terrible, aren't you?"

"Can you do it?" She pressed.

Sailor Mercury pulled a small smile and began to hit some keys. Soon, emergency sirens began to blare from the vicinity of Harajuku Station. Sailor Moon smiled. "Sweetie, you go and introduce yourself, I'm going to bring the heavy artillery."

Rising up from her kneel, Sailor Mercury calculated her trajectory to her target, and then nodded to Sailor Moon. "Don't take too long, I might just beat the youma up before you even get there."

A message indicating to "Jump Now!" flashed inside her visor and Ami crouched before she leaped through the air and towards the store, her takeoff creating a dent in the roof of the train.

At the Apple Store, Ramua heard the sirens and smirked. There was no Earthquake, and no message associating the sirens with a test, which meant that a disaster was coming straight for her front step. Looking around the room, she snapped her fingers and the people in the store were suddenly teleported away, Jadeite did say no body count. It wouldn't do to make the Senshi really angry, after all. Besides… using human shields wasn't her style, they were never an indication of power.

"Door's open, Sailor Senshi… come right on in." Ramua said, before the entire front wall of the Apple Store was blasted in by the impact of Sailor Mercury smashing through it. The dust that filled the store was joined by a chilling mist, Mercury's Sabão Spray.

"Forgive me, youma, for not having any of Sailor Moon's flair. I am the Soldier of the Planet Mercury, and I will be taking your life," Sailor Mercury introduced herself as she walked out of the mist.

Ramua licked her lips, and then pushed herself from the counter she had been leaning back against. With a wave of her hand, she revealed her pale-skinned but hardly monstrous youma form, and brought the back of it to her chin to laugh at Mercury. "Really now, care to back up that threat?"

The second Sailor Mercury disappeared she jumped up and over her, as the Senshi's punch crashed through the counter, destroying it and the expensive electronics it contained. Flipping over and twisting around, Ramua teleported before she landed and then appeared behind the counter as Mercury pulled her fist from the wrecked case.

"Fast…" Ami muttered before she suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Ramua to slice through her with a kick. To her amazement, Ramua dodged the blow and landed atop another case. "Strange…"

Ramua folded her arms and then smiled. "Sailor Mercury, before we destroy all the merchandise, could I interest you in an iPhone? I'm sure a Sailor Senshi could find a use for them. After all, I can."

Several iPhones appeared in the air around Ramua as she spoke. Sailor Mercury quickly began to analyze them and came to a quick conclusion: Sailor Moon was right to search out heavy artillery. She immediately prepared to fight as Ramua grinned.

"For example, have a pesky Sailor Senshi you want dead? Guess what? There's an app for that." The faces of the phones began to glow red, before they fired a barrage of beams that instantly converged on Sailor Mercury and ripped through her. As with Garoben before, Sailor Mercury faded away in a shower of lights as she reformed above Ramua in mid flip to drive an axe kick down upon her head.

The impact blew out any window and door still intact after Mercury's initial arrival just as Tuxedo Kamen landed on a nearby rooftop. "Looks like I'm late to the party again."

Sliding backward across the floor, Sailor Mercury used her high speed movement to evade another barrage of the lasers as they tore up the ground where she had stood. Leapfrogging over a counter between her and Ramua, she swung around into a kick that Ramua evaded despite her approach being literally unseen, she landed on a wall–her hands and feet punching dents into it on impact.

_Something is off… I should be hitting her…_ She thought as she stared at Ramua and her phones, surrounding her like a swarm of bees around a hive. _She can't be that fast, can she?!_

Suddenly a barrage of beams was striking her, pounding her into the wall. The force of the blast was enough to put her through it and onto her back in the office on the other side. What in the Hell just happened?

_That attack… it happened instantly, I didn't even get a fair warning…_ Ami tried to get up, but suddenly the phones were in position around her, their glowing screens aimed for her vitals. The time it would've taken for them to get into position, even with teleportation, she should've seen them move, unless…

_She can stop time!_ Behind the phones, Ramua licked her lips.

"Goodbye," She said to Sailor Mercury as the yellow gem choker around the pale youma's neck began to glow. Before she could stop time to attack, Tuxedo Kamen's rose slashed across her face, stopping her cold. "AHH!"

She looked back to Tuxedo Kamen, as Sailor Mercury knocked the phones away and jumped to her feet. "Tuxedo Kamen!" Both exclaimed.

"No guitar?" Ramua asked as the yellow gem glowed again.

"Be careful, Tuxedo Kamen! This youma, it can stop ti-!" Sailor Mercury's cry was cut short as Ramua ceased the movement of time. With a wave of her hand she ordered her phones into position around the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen.

Ramua raised her hand. "… Activating shit storm in three, two, o–now!"

The beams from the phones lashed into both Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen, sending the latter smashing into a wall and putting the former into the ground. Letting out a laugh, Ramua ran her fingers repeatedly through her hair, messing it up.

Sailor Mercury lay on her back, smoke rising from her body, and brought a hand to her face. "…me."

Getting up, Tuxedo Kamen reached up and dusted off his shoulders. Aside from said dust, there was not a scratch on him. "Well… that was annoying."

Ramua stopped, and then looked between both her opponents. "Wait, you're not hurt…?"

Sailor Mercury got back up again, looking more agitated than anything, especially seeing that the attacks Ramua unleashed didn't affect Tuxedo Kamen anymore than they did her. "Why would I be? It's going to take a lot more than some useless hunks of plastic and rare metals to hurt me."

Ramua snarled a bit and held up a phone. "Need to put a smug little punk in her place? Don't worry; we have an app for that-!"

A derelict subway car crashed through the roof of the Apple Store, smashing into Ramua and crushing her under its weight while causing the store itself to partially collapse. Sailor Mercury could only stare, as the dust settled slowly from the impact. Though she couldn't see him through it, she most certainly heard Tuxedo Kamen's laugh.

"It's nice of you to join us, Sailor Moon," he said as she dropped through the hole made by the train and landed next to Sailor Mercury, who just shook her head.

"You threw a fucking train." She could not help herself as she said this to Sailor Moon.

"I wanted to be thorough."

The sound of metal being punched through caught everyone's attention, and everyone turned to find Ramua slowly wrenching the wall of the vertically standing train car open. Stepping out, she glared at the two Senshi, as her phones appeared around her, and then more of them. Her lips turned into a grin, as more and more of the phones joined her.

"Excellent… now that you're both here I can go all out!" she declared as she held up the phone, the red glow from its face turning blue, as did the other phones.

* * *

Leaving the Harajuku station, Makoto was tinkering with her iPhone as she walked down the street towards the Apple Store. For some reason it hadn't been working right for her–it'd flash a few times and then just give off a blank screen with nothing going on, and then it'd shut off. It was growing troublesome that she paid for this thing but she was still using payphones to call her probation officer.

"I hope I can get my money back…" Makoto said before she looked up and noticed people running for their lives, some screaming, while others jogged backwards, taking pictures with their working cameras and phones. "What the…?"

She then looked down the street, and saw the Apple Store. "…Is that a subway train car sticking out of the roof?"

She then saw Sailor Moon run out of the building, followed by a blue Sailor Moon, Makoto guessed or something, and that Tuxedo Kamen guy. Wait. They were _running__?_

A sound, not unlike the mechanical morphing and twisting noises from the live action Transformers movies filled the air, before something massive smashed its way through the front of the store. Makoto dropped her phone.

"What."

Standing at about thirty or so feet tall, was a mass of iPhones linked together through messes of wirings, screens, and other internal bits to form a giant robot. Looking from left to right through its alien face made up of many flat screens and a graphic denoting a very angry smiley, the mechanical monstrosity roared before the unhappy face was replaced with Ramua's.

"I didn't want to do this, but it looks like I have no choice now do I?" She asked from where she was seated within the monstrosity. "I promise to give you a Hell of a fight before I kill you with this iRobot!"

"Oh my God, we get it, it's a bunch of Apple junk!" Sailor Moon yelled as she threw her tiara.

Raising its hand, the screens along the robot's arm lit up, and the Tiara stopped in mid-air, before it was shot back at Sailor Moon, who caught it in hand. "Mercury, you said it could mess with time, right?"

"Yes, it can-!" Time stopped, and then resumed for Sailor Moon and Mercury to be smashed into the ground by the robot's fists.

Stopping time again, Ramua went to town, viciously punching both Senshi into the ground where they lay, driving both deeper and deeper into the street with every blow. "I'm doing it… I'm actually doing it. I'm beating the shit out of Sailor Moon and her little friend!"

Raising her hands as she resumed time, she stopped it for the shockwaves created by her multiple hits to drive them even deeper into their holes before she opened the robot's hands and pointed numerous glowing emitters down at them. Sailor Moon and Mercury, still conscious, looked up at Ramua, before she stopped time again and began firing blast after blast down at them.

"This is for Morga, and Flau, and Garoben!" Ramua roared with every blast. "This is for Thetis too! And all of the pain and suffering you've put Jadeite through you whores!"

Time resumed again, and Ramua stepped the robot back from the melted street that both Senshi were now buried under. The asphalt that she had melted around the Senshi was red hot; there was no way anyone could survive that.

"At last, it's finally over…" she said as she turned away from the melted street and found Tuxedo Kamen lying further up the street, staring in disbelief. "And now that they're all gone…?"

Raising the robot's arms, she directed all of the dark energy powering the machine to its weapons. "I'll send you to join them in a second!"

The instant she fired her weapons, time stopped. Ramua, who could perceive the frozen time, gave a surprised start. _Why can't I move? Why can't I-?_

"You have violated taboo enough today. No more will be tolerated," a haunting voice echoed.

Ramua looked around again. "Who the Hell are you-?"

"Dead Scream."

A violet light enveloped the robot and incinerated it before it exploded violently, the explosion knocking Makoto down and blowing Tuxedo Kamen's hat off. As time resumed, the hat flipped through the air, righted itself, and came to a perfect landing back on his head as he looked at the smoke filling the street. In front of the cloud, he immediately saw a long-haired Sailor Senshi holding a staff at her side.

"That's Pluto," he realized as she looked back at him.

In an instant she was gone, and Tuxedo Kamen shot to his feet. "Three… there are three now. Or has she always been here?"

Movement in the smoke alerted him, and Ramua slowly got back up, smoke rising from her singed body. Somehow, she had just managed to survive the explosion, and looked at Tuxedo Kamen. What the Hell was that just then, who had attacked her?

"Damn, there's no way I can tell Jadeite about this…" She looked at the molten street, and smiled. "Oh well… at least they're dead."

The melted street then began to bubble, like something was beginning to stir from it. Ramua stared at it, and then stepped back as the bubbling began to resemble a volcano ready to blow. No…it began to look like something was coming up.

"No…no…no, no, no, NO, _NO__!"_ She screamed as Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury slowly emerged from the magma-like asphalt, completely unharmed, standing straight, and their arms crossed over their chests. Even Tuxedo Kamen had to do a double take at what he was seeing.

Makoto, lying on the ground to avoid being caught up in anything else, gaped as well. "A-amazing…"

Ramua fell on her ass, trembling in complete terror at the two Senshi. "_MOTHERFUCKER__!_ NO! NO! NO! NO! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!"

Sailor Mercury smiled as she looked to Sailor Moon, who just let out a snicker. "You done goofed."

Completely overwhelmed with terror, Ramua could only let out a whimper and soiled herself before she vanished into thin air. No more, she was not dealing with anymore of this!

As she vanished, Sailor Moon dropped her hands to her side and turned to Tuxedo Kamen, who had regained his composure. "Hey sexy, sorry it took us. We were deciding on an appropriate entrance and just decided on Diebuster."

Tuxedo Kamen smiled, and walked over to the Senshi. "You two… I don't think I can really put into words how glad I am to see you're okay."

Sailor Moon smiled, and stepped closer to Tuxedo Kamen. "Then show me with a hug?"

She hadn't quite expected him to take her up on that, but there she was, lifted off her feet and into Tuxedo Kamen's strong embrace. "Ah?"

Sailor Moon genuinely blushed, as Tuxedo Kamen squeezed her. "You stay unstoppable, Sailor Moon."

He set her down and then produced from his jacket a rose, which he handed to Sailor Moon. Smiling, he then leaped up onto a rooftop, and then away from the scene, leaving her and Sailor Mercury again in the middle of a war zone. Turning to Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon grinned.

"So is solved the case of the energy stealing phones!" Sailor Moon declared over the roaring sirens.

Sailor Mercury nodded. "That's nice and all, but who defeated the youma's robot, Tuxedo Kamen?"

"We can find that out later." Sailor Moon heard sirens. "We'd better go."

Taking to the rooftops as Tuxedo Kamen had, Sailor Moon and Mercury rushed off for Minato. Standing up, Makoto just shook her head, before she too turned and left before the sirens got closer. Those guys, those Sailor Senshi, she had to change her opinion of them.

"… You really do know what you're doing. I underestimated you," she whispered to herself.

* * *

Gathered in Usagi's room, both Senshi, Luna, and Naru were now seriously studying the fallout of the most recent battle. The scope of their fights was growing, and they needed to rectify the situation before it got really out of hand.

"Outside of that time power, that youma was really weak. But what if they have more like that?" It was Naru who presented the question, and Usagi gained a stormy expression as she mulled it over.

Luna hummed. "We need to work on strategy, and be ready for whatever tricks the Dark Kingdom may unleash.

Usagi nodded. "Good. We also need to determine who the other Senshi are."

Luna then raised her tail. "Yes, I'm still on the lookout, and I think I have a potential lead. Give me a few days and I'll zero in on her."

"That's great!" Naru exclaimed.

"In the meantime, we should try to make contact with the allies that we have. The more damage we do, the more pressure we put on the enemy, and that means the more force they'll bring against us. We cannot have that, so we need every helping hand."

Usagi nodded, and then folded her arms. "So then, now that this is out of the way… can we try shopping for a phone again, please?"

Luna then slid over a supercomputer similar to Ami's. "Oh for the love of… here, take this."

"Wait, you have more of these?!" Usagi gasped, feeling betrayed.

"Of course I do," Luna said as she summoned one for Naru as well.

Usagi had forgotten all about her indignation as she checked out the features. "Ooh, can I go online?"

Luna looked to Ami, who began hitting keys even as Usagi accessed the internet. "Yes, it can do anything a normal computer can, but…"

"Hey! What the Hell is this 'Family Settings' crap?" Usagi cried out indignantly as she was immediately blocked out of the first porn site she tried to access.

"Ami is the Administrator and in charge of the settings on all the computers," Luna said smugly.

"That's bullshit!" Usagi announced, as Ami and Naru broke into laughter.

* * *

Ami: Driving while using a cell phone is dangerous, whether it's talking or texting.

Usagi: Your attention is important, so if you have places to go, get your important calls done before you leave or after you arrive. It will save lives, including yours!

Naru: If you must use your phone, invest in a hands-free set, but never get too careless!

Usagi: Pay attention to the world around you, for in the blink of an eye, you can lose everything. This is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Usagi/Naru/Ami: Sailor Moon Says, TEE-HEE!


	9. Miss Murder

Disclaimer: How far can I go before I run out of shock material? Let's find out!

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Miss Murder

_It's not an AFI reference._

**[8.]**

Rei Hino was, by the description of others, a dark, weird girl who had kept to herself since the death of her mother when she was little. Her mother's death, her Father's minimal presence in her life, and the fact that she was a Miko at the Hikawa Shrine where she also lived played a huge role in her social isolation. She was a girl with next to no friends, save of course the countless crows that called the Shrine their home.

The Hikawa Shrine atop Sendai Hill hadn't always been known for its crow population until around the time of Rei's birth, when two of them had taken up residence in a tree by the main Shrine. By the time Rei turned three, that number had swelled to the hundreds, and they were irremovable by the time she was five, resisting all efforts to drive them off. Rei of course, didn't mind their presence at all, and as she grew older they became her sounding board, something to talk to and confide in when there was no one else.

"I don't hate my Grandpa; it's just that I'm worried about him! He's getting on in years and he might be going senile. Then there's the cape he wears, and the fact that he pervs all over the girls that visit the shrine and he doesn't do anything about the guys who try to perv all over me." Rei lamented, depressed, to her crows as she swept up along the steps of the Shrine.

A group of nearly two dozen crows was gathered around her, with a little one even sitting atop her head as she continued venting. "It's not that I don't like you guys, I really do, but sometimes I want to be able to confide in things with Grandpa but he's not all there, you know?"

She stopped to wipe some sweat from her brow. It was really warm today. Noticing this, some of the crows began cawing among each other, Rei paid it no mind. "Of course you wouldn't know… you're just birds, you don't even understand what I'm saying."

She wiped the sweat off her forehead again. "It's not like I could, I don't know, ask you to get me a juice and you'd do it."

Their caws grew enthusiastic and loud, before several of them took to the air, rising above the treetops and racing off. Staring up after them, the crow atop her head following her gaze, Rei stared in confusion before she resumed her sweeping. Only moments later there was a rustling of feathers as they returned, with one holding a packet of juice in its beak.

Rei's eyes were wide as she stared at the bird and its unopened bounty. When it hopped up and tried to shove the juice packet into her hands, she jumped back. Seeing this approach fail, it stopped and set it down in front of her. She looked from the juice box to the crow, and then back again, before reaching down for it and picking it up.

"Is… is this for me?" She asked.

The crows all stared at her. She looked at the juice again. Where did they get it from? Did they steal it from someone? Wait, did they actually listen to her? She then looked back to them. "Open your wings, if you got this for me."

The crows all opened their wings and cawed assent, even the little one atop her head. Rei looked down at the birds, and then at her juice packet–it was even her favorite flavor. Tearing off the top, she took a sip of it, before addressing the birds.

"Can you bring me a bag of chips, too? A big one, so I can share," she requested.

They obeyed without question.

* * *

One year later, and Usagi, Ami, and Naru were on the case. A rash of mass disappearances was gripping Minato in fear. Entire busloads of young women were vanishing into the night, with no trace, no motive, and no word from the kidnappers. While the discussion in Japan was accusing everything from Otaku to North Koreans, Team Sailor Moon was focused on the only culprit that could pull it off.

"A week and two days ago at 18:12, the bus leaving the Five Slopes at Sendai Hill vanished shortly after taking on passengers leaving the shrine." Ami was reviewing the incidents as they disembarked from a bus. "Six days ago, at 18:43, a bus vanished, again with a full load of passengers."

The two rounded a corner, and continued walking towards their destination, the location of the first disappearance, the vicinity of the Hikawa Shrine. "Three days ago, a bus leaving the five slopes, again with a full load, vanishes after rounding the corner at 18:05."

"Every three days, a full bus load of people mysteriously vanishes, all in the vicinity of the Five Slopes, and with no explanation," Usagi grumbled.

"All of them loaded with young women between the ages of thirteen and forty-five," Naru added to the review.

"The police don't want to cause a panic, so they've only allowed the news to report one missing bus with no information about the passengers or where it was going." Had it not been for any of the girls keeping an ear to the ground for weird activity, they probably would not have found out about the unmentioned disappearances or their pattern.

"It can only be the Dark Kingdom, but there may be more to it than this. It doesn't feel like their modus operandi," Luna said

"It could be a new enemy…" Naru trailed off, as they came upon a most puzzling scene. A car with foreign plates was being vandalized severely by a murder of crows, a fairly organized murder. "Huh."

They were scratching their claws all over the body of the car, struggling to bend and twist its antenna, and some where even trying to peck through the sunroof of the luxury sedan. The three girls and their animal companion just stared, as several crows came along and dropped rocks onto the sunroof from a considerable height, shattering the glass and allowing several birds to get in and do unspeakable things to the car's interior.

"Well, that's definitely new to me," Usagi said.

"I hope that upholstery's been treated," Ami added.

Luna looked between both girls. "You are going to stop them, right?"

"My car!" a foreign diplomat yelled in his native tongue. "What the Hell?!"

"Now I'm not," Usagi said when she saw the birds seemed to be more interested in demolishing the car than harming its owner. "Act of God, obviously, and he doesn't seem to be in danger."

"How strange, your car is being vandalized by a group of crows in broad daylight for no reason," said Rei Hino as she walked onto the scene, fully decked out in the traditional attire of a Shrine Maiden.

When the man turned to her, she bowed. "I am a wandering Miko, you needn't worry sir. I will get to the bottom of this."

"I don't believe in that crap, just help me get these birds away from my-!" He was silenced when Rei held her hand to his face and glared at the birds. Usagi, surprised by the appearance of the Miko and impressed by her good looks, watched as Rei produced an ofuda tag and held it to her forehead. After a moment of concentration, she lowered the talisman.

"Sir, did you commit a crime recently?" She asked the man.

"O-of course not, what are you implying?" The diplomat asked.

Rei looked towards the crows. "Evil forces are not at work, but a god is furious. Did you steal a donation left at a shrine?"

The diplomat paled at Rei's accusation, and then he looked at the car and the crows. The birds were now staring pointedly at him. He looked back to Rei, who folded her arms. "Whatever you did you had better correct it, this is only the beginning of the god's wrath."

Together, the crows began cawing angrily, and sure enough the man reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of cash, and shoved it into Rei's hand before running for his life. Almost immediately, the crows took flight and circled around. Rei smiled in satisfaction. "That'll teach you to steal from the donation box."

She held out her arm for one to land upon it. "You guys performed excellently. Now get home before someone sees… you…"

She saw Usagi, Ami, and Naru staring at her with Luna perched on Naru's shoulder. An awkward silence immediately fell, with Rei's face turning a bright red throughout its duration, before Usagi finally opened her mouth. "Ah-"

"I was not talking to the crows just now," Rei immediately denied.

Ami spoke, "We didn't think…"

"I'm not crazy, just so you know!" Rei quickly overrode her.

Naru attempted to get a word in edgewise. "No we just thought that-"

"I have to go, bye!" Rei turned and fled, the crows scattered with her, flying off in different directions as the strange girl ran for the Hikawa Shrine. In minutes the street was empty save the girls, their cat, the wrecked car, and some feathers.

"What an odd bird," Usagi noted, and she was immediately smacked on the ass by Naru. "Ow!"

"That was terrible." Naru gave her a squeeze next, causing her to squeak.

Ami checked her computer. "Rei Hino, resident Miko of the Sendai Hill Hikawa Shrine. She's our age and goes to the St. Bacchus School for Girls."

"Wow, big money." Usagi looked to Ami after slapping Naru's hand off her bottom. "Why didn't you go there, bourgeois?"

"Because I didn't want to go to a Catholic School, you know what those places do to girls. I've heard the song." Ami replied.

"The Chili Peppers, right?" Usagi asked.

Luna was impressed. "I think she meant Zappa, but I am impressed you even know of that one."

Usagi turned her attention to the Shrine. "Well, the Hikawa Shrine is now a little more interesting. Let's get going, ladies."

Reaching the top of the Shrine's steps, Rei rested her hands on her knees and doubled over to catch her breath. How embarrassing, to be caught talking to the crows by total strangers. It was bad enough that the girls at school talked about her behind her back, and people who saw her amongst the crows at the shrine found her creepy, but to out and out make an idiot of herself in public?! She was going to die from embarrassment!

A crow landed on her shoulder, Deimos, one of the two earliest crows of the murder to appear at the Hikawa Shrine along with her sister Phobos. Reaching up and patting the bird on the head, Rei sighed. "You still did great."

She reached into her haori and pulled out a piece of cooked bacon to offer the crow, who accepted it graciously. "Now don't go showing off to the others, or I'll get mobbed again."

"Man, I'm not going to get used to that."

Rei jumped again when Yuuichirou Kumada, an apprentice of her Grandfather spoke from where he had been sweeping near the Shrine's steps.

"Ah! What is it with everyone sneaking up on me today?!" Rei exasperatedly cried out as Deimos took her prize and flew off. Yuuichirou let out a laugh as the flushed girl stormed off towards the shrine's main building. When Rei reached the shrine, she found her Grandfather once again flirting with a trio of girls from another school.

"How lovely you girls are! Are any of you interested in being part-time shrine maidens?" He asked rather bluntly as he slid up to them.

One of the girls stared down at the little old man and immediately recoiled in fear. "Oh my God, it's that disgusting old lecher I heard about!"

Another girl gasped, as Rei's Grandpa was struck by the accusation. "You mean the legendary underwear thief?! We gotta get out of here!"

"We have our charms, run!" the third shrieked before they all fled.

Rei's Grandpa was horrified. "What? No! I'm not that old guy! He's been dead for years, girls! Wait!" The girls were already running for the stairs. Clenching his fist, the old man cursed to the heavens. "Damn you Happosai, because of you, we old timers can't have nice things!"

Rei's fist came down on the old man's noggin. "What do you mean by nice things?! Grandpa, you can't go around trying to get up girls' skirts!"

"I can and I will, damn it Aho-chan! I'm an old man, let me have my fun!" Her Grandpa roared back.

"Of course you can, but can you be a little more dignified about it?" Rei stopped and looked down towards the stairs the girls had fled. She could sense it again, the evil presence that had been hanging over the temple for the last few days. Only this time there was something mixed in, a lecherous, lustful intent that seemed to assault her senses.

The old man saw Rei's apprehension. "Aho-chan, what is it?"

"There it is again, the evil presence that's been weighing on me, and it's brought friends!" Quickly, Rei produced an ofuda tag. "You're not getting away this time! Evil spirits begone!"

She hurled the ofuda tag, which sailed like a dart despite being a slip of paper, narrowly missing Yuuichirou as he jumped back in surprise from its path. At that very moment, Usagi, Naru, and Ami had reached the top of the steps, and the tag struck Usagi square between the eyes. Rei stared.

"The girl from earlier…?" She asked.

Usagi blinked and stared at the tag as it began to make a sizzling sound. "Uh, what the Hell is this?"

The sizzling grew, before it became a very loud pop as the tag ignited like a bolt of lightning.

"Motherfucker…" Usagi's slurred voice trailed off into a gurgle as she fell backward. Ami and Naru quickly leaped to catch their leader before she fell down the stairs.

Rei stared; she could no longer sense the evil presence. "Wow I… guess I got it."

Yuuichirou whistled. "You got her all right."

Rei's Grandfather peered down at the three girls from the top of the steps. "Well, better get her inside and rested."

"Yes, thank you," Ami replied as she and Naru helped the dazed Usagi along. As they brought her inside, Rei, watched and grew concerned. The evil presence had vanished after she hit her, this was highly suspicious.

* * *

Usagi regained consciousness under a thick blanket on a comfortable futon in Rei's room. At either side of her, Naru and Ami sat, while Rei was off to the side with her arms folded and a small frown on her face. As her vision focused on the ceiling she heard the door open, and a man's voice call out.

"Hey, I brought some water and towels," Yuuichirou called to Rei.

Rei nodded. "Thank you, leave them here." She looked back to Usagi, and saw that she was waking up. "Are you all right?"

"What happened to me?" She was still feeling discombobulated.

"I struck you with an Evil-Dispelling Charm. Normally it doesn't affect people like that, so what exactly are you?" Rei asked.

Usagi hummed. "So I was hit by a purification charm, dispelling all evil intent and spirits from me?"

"Yes," Rei responded.

Usagi immediately reached from under the blankets and up both Ami and Naru's skirts to and panties to grope their backsides. Naru moaned appreciatively, while Ami squeaked and reflexively hit Usagi with a book. "Usagi!"

"Worth it," Usagi mumbled from under the book.

Rei flushed. "Could you not do that in my room, you pervert!"

"I'm sorry; I just wanted to make sure my lust for cute girls wasn't just the influence of an evil spirit."

"L-lust for cute girls…?" Rei asked as Usagi removed her hand from under Ami's skirt. Naru seemed content to keep Usagi's hand under hers. "Please stop fondling your g-girlfriend in my bedroom!"

It was bad enough she had to put up with the melodramatic girls-love atmosphere at school. Not that she thought it was a bad thing, Rei thought it was very pretty and even romantic at times, it was just very distracting. Usagi relented at Rei's request and sat up.

"Sorry, lately Naru-chan can't help herself." Usagi mock lamented, frankly she liked Naru having hands like an octopus. Naru giggled, as Usagi looked to Rei. "So, why did you hurl a tag at me like that?"

Rei closed her eyes and sighed. "Lately, there has been suspicious activity around the Shrine. Just as you were coming up the hill, I felt an evil presence and I tried to tag it, but I hit you." She opened them and gazed pointedly at Usagi. "But after I hit you, the presence was gone."

Usagi was struck by the insinuation. "Time out, I'm not evil!"

Naru nodded. "Usagi may be wild and flippant, but she's definitely not a bad person."

"A pervert yes, but we all have our quirks, and Usagi's harmless," Ami likewise testified.

Rei relaxed somewhat, and then let her arms to her sides. "I'm sorry; it's just that with all the strange things going on, I've been on edge."

Usagi puffed her cheeks out. "No harm, no foul, don't you worry about it. But what do you mean by strange occurrences?"

Rei quickly turned her head aside. "Lately, an evil presence has been hanging over the Hikawa Shrine. It comes and goes, but it's been growing stronger with every appearance. I know it must sound strange to you…"

Usagi, Ami, Naru, and Luna all traded affirming looks. The source of the evil was coming from the Shrine, or at least they hoped. Ami returned to Rei and then asked. "Do you think the evil presence might have something to do with the crows?"

"No! The crows have nothing to do with the evil presence!" Rei vehemently said, surprising all three of the girls and their cat. "How dare you implicate innocent crows like that?! No matter how smart they are, they'd never steal buses or kidnap people! They wouldn't know what to do with them!"

Silence fell on the room, as Rei realized what she had said and turned bright red in embarrassment. She then raised her hands, waving them nervously. "I mean, there's no way the crows had anything to do with it, they're just dumb birds right?"

She coughed. "I just know they're not the cause of the trouble here."

But something was, and with a little luck, zeroing in on it would uncover the face of what was behind it. Usagi smiled to Rei. "Ne Miko-chan, what makes you so sure of it?"

Rei pouted. "Because I'm the priestess of this shrine and my spiritual power is off the charts! As you witnessed for yourself, if I may note."

Folding her arms, she laughed boisterously and once again, Usagi and her cabal traded affirming looks. The moment was interrupted by the door opening and a woman storming in. "Who is the head priest here?!"

Rei looked over. "What is it?"

"My daughter has been missing for days!" the woman yelled at her. "They say that the Head Priest may have something to do with it, and he has a reputation for preying on young women! Out with it, where is the old man!"

Rei immediately got up. "How dare you?! My Grandfather has run this Shrine for decades and has not caused a single problem! Sure he flirts with girls, but he's harmless!"

"I'm sure he is, in the eyes of his Granddaughter!" the woman retorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Rei demanded. Usagi, Ami, Naru, and Luna looked from her to the woman.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he has you in on it, whatever you're doing to these women! You've probably been feeding them to your filthy crows!"

Rei promptly punched the woman in the face, sending her back against the door frame. Usagi and Naru were immediately on their feet, as Rei pointed at the shocked woman. "You don't come into my home and say those kinds of things about my Grandfather and my crows! I am sorry your daughter is missing, but coming here and yelling baseless accusations at me or my Grandfather isn't going to bring her back!" The woman stared at Rei, who clenched her hand back into a fist. "Now unless you have more nonsense to spew, get out of my house you crazy woman!"

Getting up, wide-eyed, the woman quickly retreated, swearing that she would call the police. Rei lowered her fist and sighed. "That wasn't even the first."

"So, Miko-chan, they're _your _crows?" Usagi asked as Ami stood up, holding Luna in her arms.

Rei flushed and turned to face them. "Did I say they were my crows? No! I meant, you know, the Shrine's crows… I don't own them that'd be silly! Owning wild birds, what will people think of next?"

The girls looked again amongst each other, and smiled. Naru then spoke up. "But earlier, you were…"

"Oh! You're on you're feet that's great you should be going now!" Rei got behind all three girls and quickly ushered them out of her room. "The door is down the hall, thank you for visiting and please come again! Oh, and I'm not crazy!"

She slammed her bedroom door shut, leaving the three in the hallway. Acquiescing, Usagi and the others left. Ami looked to Luna, who nodded, and then to Usagi. "Is she-?"

"Oh man, she totally is," Usagi said before letting out an amused laugh.

Naru giggled. "I'm glad, she's just so cute! I wanted to give her a hug."

"Just a hug…?" Usagi asked. When Ami looked to Naru, she blushed when their non-Senshi ally smiled lustfully and licked her lips.

Back in her room, Rei sighed and sat down on her bed. What an exasperating day, first the police showing up, then those weird girls, and now people actually coming around pointing fingers. This was the worst.

As she lay back onto the bed, she noticed a hint of gold peeking from under her pillow, and she reached over to pull it out. "What's this?"

It was a red pen with a gold cap, at its very end it had the symbol of the planet Mars. "Did they leave this here?"

* * *

Leaving the Shrine's steps, Ami let Luna hop to Naru's shoulder and looked over to Usagi. "If she really is Mars, then why didn't we just confront her ourselves? I think we'd save a lot of time if we invited her to join us."

"The odds are just as good that she isn't Sailor Mars. Leaving the pen with her is the safest bet," Usagi responded.

Luna agreed. "If she isn't, and I have my doubts that she is, then it won't work for her and I can easily summon it back to me."

Usagi let out a laugh. "Come on, she's too weird to _not_ be a Senshi!"

There was the sound of something shattering, and everyone looked to the source–a flower pot that had fallen off the balcony of a building across the street. Luna glared at Usagi. "What did I tell you?"

"… That you'd hurt me?" Usagi replied.

Luna prepared to pounce straight for Usagi's face, when Ami gasped. "You guys, what time is it?"

Phones were out, and all three checked the time, it was 18:00 on the dot. Usagi's eyes went wide. "Oh, shit! We have to get to the bus stop!"

Usagi broke into a run, charging up the hill towards the bus stop, where she saw an ominous sight: A single bus and a line of passengers, all women, orderly boarding it. Quickly, Usagi scanned her surroundings, and finding it clear, raised her hand mid-sprint.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

In a flash, she was Sailor Moon, but the bus was already moving. "Damn!"

Sailor Moon leaped for the bus as it rounded the corner, but fell short. As she landed in a skid, she stopped in time to see it flying through the air and into a void in the sky. As soon as the bus passed through it, Sailor Mercury landed with her and stopped.

"What the…?" Sailor Mercury asked as the black hole vanished. "A portal, straight into another dimension, that's why the buses have disappeared into thin air!"

Sailor Moon clenched a fist. "We're not letting this go on any longer."

Sailor Moon screwed up once, but she would not do it again.

Within the warped space, Kigaan tilted up her hat and looked back towards the busload of helpless, unconscious young women, and then out at the several others that occupied the pocket dimension. Sitting back in her seat, she let out a smug huff.

"Good thing Zoisite doesn't know about this," she joked.

Murid appeared. "Don't go jinxing it now, Kigaan, there'd be little we could do to stop him if he did find out. Did you see Sailor Moon?"

"No, and I doubt she or Mercury are a part of this batch. One more run should bring them in, though.".

Murid nodded. "Then everything is going according to plan."

Producing her apple, Murid set it down on a seat, and then looked to Kigaan. "Go get ready."

Kigaan nodded, and both youma vanished. The left behind apple began to glow, and draw in the energy of the bus's victims.

* * *

Police cars were gathered in front of the Bus Depot, with dozens officers searching every bus as they came in. Hiding in the shadows on a nearby rooftop, Tuxedo Kamen watched the scene with great interest. The media was being blacked out over the disappearance but it had not escaped Motoki's ears.

"Electronic Surveillance of the stop in question shut off precisely between 17:45 and 19:15," Motoki said over a radio in Tuxedo Kamen's ear as he obtained this information, "There weren't even any buses scheduled to stop there just in case. There were even notices posted on TV and online."

"After this, they're going to keep anyone from going near that bus stop by force." Tuxedo Kamen said.

"Indeed, they've already ordered all of their current drivers on paid leave while they investigate. What I don't get, is how do the victims all seem to randomly show up at that stop like clockwork? What could be drawing them there?" Motoki was at his computer in the office of the Game Center Crown. Behind him, Reika was balancing various throwing knives at another desk.

Tuxedo Kamen turned away from the bus station, there was nothing for him there. Jumping, he opened his cape and began to soar above the rooftops. It didn't take him very long to land atop the arch of the Hikawa Shrine, the shadows of the trees concealing his presence.

"You think the Dark Kingdom's operating out of the Hikawa Shrine?" Motoki asked. Tuxedo Kamen scanned his surroundings. The trees were full of crows, all were asleep. "Yo TK, are you there?"

Tuxedo Kamen jumped from the arch to land atop the Shrine itself. "Yes. There are just a lot of crows around here. It just creeps me out, that's all."

He fell quiet when he heard the doors to the Shrine open, and out emerged Rei and Yuuichirou, the former looking extremely pensive. "I'm worried they'll start suspecting something really is going on down here. Punching that woman earlier didn't really help."

"No but that crazy woman had no right just barging in, you know?"

Rei sighed. "She talked about the crows, I just lost it."

Yuuichirou nodded. "Still it's not a good idea to get so up about the crows, or attract attention don't you think? The police have been here like twice, and soon it could start attracting worse."

"I guess." Last thing Rei wanted was someone trying to take revenge by damaging the Shrine, or worse, hurting the crows. "I'll do my best to keep quiet."

Yuuichirou patted Rei on the back, making her blush. "Good. You should go to bed; you got school tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yes, of course." Bowing to Yuuichirou, Rei turned and walked for her house, while Yuuichirou went down the steps of the shrine towards his lodging. Soon as they were gone, Tuxedo Kamen emerged from hiding and looked towards the house Rei went into.

"So, it brought you here, too." Tuxedo Kamen quickly drew a rose and threw it behind him with flourish. It was quickly caught between the gloved fingers of a young woman dressed in a black cape and hood, with what appeared to be ninja attire underneath. Tuxedo Kamen quickly drew another, but she held up her hands.

Getting a good look at her, Tuxedo Kamen grimaced. "A Spoiler costume, really?"

"Better than a tuxedo, top hat, and domino, you look more like a thief than a vigilante," the woman replied in a deep voice.

"And you're straight out of DC." Still, being able to just catch his rose like that, she wasn't just some amateur. Tuxedo Kamen narrowed his eyes, he recognized her now. "A new costume, but you're Mifune."

"Call me whatever's convenient," Mifune said as she looked down at the shrine.

Tuxedo Kamen nodded and returned his attention to the shrine below. "It's here. Whatever is the source of the disappearances is."

"What makes you say that?" Mifune asked.

Tuxedo Kamen smirked. "A hunch."

"No detective work? If you're trying to be Batman, you're not very good." Tuxedo Kamen then turned his attention to the shack where the Shrine's shop was located and jumped over to it. "Hey, wait up!"

Mifune leaped after him, but could not keep up with his glide to the roof of the shop and landed on the ground. Looking back, Tuxedo Kamen watched with and impressed hum as Mifune jumped again, joining him on the roof. She was strong, to be able to do that without injury.

"A good detective always has an idea of what he's looking for, and a hunch is a start." Tuxedo Kamen explained as he scanned the area. Finding it clear he jumped down. "The Shrine's popularity has seen an upsurge recently, just before the disappearances."

Mifune nodded and followed. "Yes, so is there a connection then?"

"Yes. The shrine's recent popularity is because of a specific thing." Tuxedo Kamen reached into his pocket and pulled out an odd key which he inserted into the shop door's lock. A turn of the key unlocked the door.

"It's been selling special charms to young women, supposedly able to grant them good luck in life and love." Tuxedo Kamen walked in and peered around the darkness. His domino mask immediately intensified the light for him, allowing him to see perfectly. Mifune was a step behind him and alert to any danger.

Spying the charms, Mamoru held one up, and immediately frowned. He could feel it through the glove, dark energy imbued these charms. Nodding, he slipped it inside his suit jacket. Behind him, Mifune folded her arms and asked. "So what does that have to do with the disappearances?"

"The police have not released this information to the media. But all of the victims who've disappeared are women."

Mifune stared at Tuxedo Kamen, her face and its shocked expression hidden by her hood and the black mask. "All of them, on both buses?"

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "Yes. The buses that have disappeared are only the two that have been reported. Two other buses have vanished."

Mifune gasped. "What the Hell is going on? There's just no way that two hundred people just…"

Stopping, Mifune surprised Tuxedo Kamen with her realization. "This is the work of a youma, a monster… like in Harajuku and the Cinderella Caravan!"

Tuxedo Kamen walked past her for the door. "So you've been following her, too?"

"Sailor Moon, yes." Mifune grabbed one of the charms, and hid it on her as she followed him out. "Have you seen the trail of destruction she's left fighting these things? It's some kind of miracle that no one's been hurt yet! She threw a fucking train through a building!"

"I know. I was there." Tuxedo Kamen couldn't help a small smile. Mifune regained her composure, and let out a huff.

"She's good at fighting those things, I'll give her that. But she's way too reckless." Mifune said to him.

Tuxedo Kamen kept smiling. "She'd never let anyone get hurt though, no matter how destructive she gets."

Mifune let out another huff. "You know the tuxedo is bad enough, but you're really making it hard for me to take you seriously, with your fan-girl attitude."

Tuxedo Kamen suddenly grabbed Mifune and leaped straight up and into the trees around the shrine. Some forty feet off the ground, a startled Mifune stared at Tuxedo Kamen in disbelief, before she saw what had caused him to move so swiftly.

"I thought I heard something." Rei said, before she looked up towards the trees where Tuxedo Kamen and Mifune had vanished. Seeing nothing, she turned and walked over to the shop; its doors had been closed and locked again.

"The Miko…? Mifune stopped when Tuxedo Kamen raised his hand. The Miko checked the shop, and then walked around to its front. Another person appeared, walking around the corner from the far side of the shack.

"Jadeite…" Tuxedo Kamen whispered.

Rei smiled, "Was there any trouble?"

"No," Jadeite said. "You've been doing well for yourself with the charms. Soon we should have enough energy for the next phase."

Rei laughed. "That idiot Yuuichirou doesn't even know the difference."

"It wasn't just mine; Nephrite was the one who helped me formulate it. Pretty soon, the Sailor Senshi will figure out what's up. So one more run ought to be enough, how many charms did you sell today?"

"Business is down because of the disappearances and the buses being rerouted. I was only able to get eighty or so out," Rei replied.

Jadeite nodded. "Sell what you can; Kigaan, Murid, and Ramua will have extra buses ready. We're going to close up shop after this and move on to the next plan."

"Yes Jadeite," Rei bowed to Jadeite, and in an instant he was gone. She let out a small laugh and began walking towards her house. As she stepped inside, Tuxedo Kamen nodded to Mifune.

"Jadeite, he's the guy who's summoning the youma, the man from the radio station, and at Cinderella Caravan." Mifune asked.

"Yes." This greatly troubled Tuxedo Kamen. "The youma's been working here all along, handing out charms and the evil energy that runs through them compels their victims to report to the bus stop to be abducted."

He brought his hand up to his earpiece. "Did you get all of that?"

"Yes." Motoki radioed back. "So in three days, a lot more people are going to vanish."

"I have an idea." Tuxedo Kamen turned to Mifune. "I'm going to need your help."

Mifune pulled out the charm she had swiped. "You need to know when to move, I presume?"

Tuxedo Kamen nodded.

* * *

Usagi was sleeping over at Naru's house tonight. Partly because she was in the mood to get past her failure to catch the bus earlier, and partly because her parents and Shingo were wary of having Naru sleep over. No one got any sleep when Naru Osaka visited nowadays. Naru was more than eager to please, and Usagi was feeling much better when her communicator flickered to life, and a hologram image of Ami in pajamas appeared over the night stand.

"Usagi! I think I've made a breakthrough and-" Ami saw what her friends were doing and her eyes bugged out.

Usagi smiled to Ami as Naru–transformed to a cute boy by the disguise pen–waved. Blushing brightly, Ami buried her face in her palm. "You two…"

"Focus, Ami-chan. You're the one who called us. What is it?"

"I was looking for information on the victims of the disappearances, and it led me to one of them. Here, both of you look at this!" Ami pressed a button off-camera, and the hologram switched to CCTV footage a woman shopping for groceries. "This is one of the victims, at exactly 17:45 on the day she vanished, this happened."

Usagi and Naru watched as the woman suddenly dropped her groceries, turned and walked straight out of the store. Usagi spoke. "She just walked out…"

Ami appeared again, nodding. "After I found this, I've been looking all over for more possible sightings of the victims, and I found a lot. All of them dropped whatever they were doing, and headed for the Five Slopes at exactly 17:45."

"It gets better. On the day of the disappearances, nearly all video surveillance equipment in a two hundred meter radius of the bus stop began to malfunction at exactly 17:45, which is why there is no video of the disappearances, just eye-witness accounts!"

Naru snapped his fingers. "Oh! That must be why the disappearances occurred at different times! Wherever the victims were, it took different times for them to get to the stop for the bus to pick them up!"

"Exactly, this means that next time we can intercept the buses!" Ami crossed her arms and smiled. "I really like this detective stuff, Usagi-chan! It's really challenging."

Usagi nodded. "Well, we have a problem this time, don't we? The police have likely figured out the pattern too, and they're going to try to intervene on their own."

"That is what they're going to do." Ami said. "The Tokyo Metro police are going to enact a sting operation on the suspected Mass Kidnappers. All the buses in Minato are going to be driven by undercover officers, and at exactly 17:45, they will stop and track down any bus that is still moving with drones borrowed from the Self-Defense Force."

Usagi nodded. "We'll definitely have to succeed this time."

Naru pumped his fist. "I'm ready to do all that I can!"

"We should work on a plan right away, Usagi-chan." Ami suggested.

Usagi looked to Naru, and then Ami. "I've already got one. But we'll discuss it tomorrow, okay?"

Ami went to cut the connection, when Usagi called over. "Ne Ami-chan don't be too hasty."

"Huh?" Ami blushed when Naru embraced Usagi. "What are you two…?"

"You draw sexy comics, don't you? Would you like some inspiration?" Usagi asked suggestively.

Ami stared at the two, incredulous, but then softened as her blush grew. Bringing up her hand to cough, she spoke in a very small voice. "I'll go get my sketchpad."

Usagi giggled, and Naru whispered in her ear as Ami left the shot. "Ami-chan's a closet pervert, huh?"

"No, she's just a regular pervert like us," Usagi whispered back.

Naru developed a sinister, naughty smile. "… Like us, eh?"

* * *

The buzz of a motorcycle interrupted the peace of the neighborhood of Azabu-Juuban, as a high powered sports bike tore up the street after leaving a red light. Weaving through traffic as it went; the bike hit an intersection and smartly swept around the corner, its rider leaning with the turn. Passing narrowly through a yellow light down a busy thoroughfare the motorcycle slowed down and came to a stop light, right next to a bus picking up passengers.

Pulling her sleeve back, the female rider checked her watch, it was 17:35. "The suspense is killing me, you guys."

Atop Tokyo Tower, Sailor Moon looked through a pair of binoculars at one of the Self Defense Force Drones already in the air surveying the bus route. "Biker-chan, take it easy, just ten more minutes and we move."

The light turned green and Naru, disguised as a Pro Motorcycle Racer, took off.

Sailor Mercury was roof-hopping, keeping a close eye on large concentrations of people moving about Roppongi. Luna was with her. "The Police are everywhere. This could go really bad. Dial it back a bit, Biker-chan."

"I know the motorcycle laws, I'll be fine." Naru said as she brought the bike to a stop waited at another light.

They weren't the only ones on the road. It was not unusual to spot expensive cars on the streets of Minato, but the Lamborghini Murciélago that was out on the prowl was turning heads at every stoplight. Sitting in the passenger seat of the expensive car, Motoki was staring at a GPS tracker, while Reika was at the wheel, having misgivings about the plan.

"If I had my say, we'd be using something less conspicuous." She said to Motoki.

"We're driving it because it is conspicuous." Motoki said. "If the police pull us over for anything, we'd just be on a joyride in one of Mamoru's cars."

Motoki checked the time. "17:40, show time starts soon."

He quickly called Tuxedo Kamen, who was waiting with Mifune in a hiding spot near the Hikawa Shrine. "You guys ready?"

"Yes, we're all ready here." Tuxedo Kamen replied. "Don't call back until 17:45, out."

"Roger." Motoki hung up the phone.

Tuxedo Kamen looked at his own watch, and then over to Mifune, who watched the police as they patrolled the Five Slopes stop. "So, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Mifune asked.

"Why did you suddenly stop?" Tuxedo Kamen clarified. "You were doing an amazing job cracking down on the Yakuza; you turned the entire underworld upside down but then you vanished. Why?"

Mifune shook her head. "It couldn't be helped. Things happened, and I had to stop. I only put together this new outfit because of the mass kidnappings, but I'm retiring again soon as it's over."

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "So… what happened?"

"A bitch with half her face burnt off played me for a sucker, and found out my identity. She forced me to retire, on pain of being exposed."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Tuxedo Kamen smiled. "You know, I wanted to make you part of my team but you vanished before I could track you down. I'm honored to be working alongside you for this."

If Tuxedo Kamen could see her face, he'd see Mifune smiling. She looked to her watch. "Strange, it's 17:45."

Tuxedo Kamen froze. "What?"

Mifune quickly pulled out the charm, and to their surprise they found it was glowing. "This is too weird."

Tuxedo Kamen looked towards the Shrine, and then checked his phone. It wasn't working all of a sudden, that's why Motoki hadn't called! "Something's going on, let's go!"

Mifune nodded, and both leaped into action.

* * *

At the Hikawa Shrine, Rei was sweeping the steps of the now desolate Shrine. There were hardly any visitors today, with the rumor mill driving nearly everyone away over the last three days. Yuuichirou came up the stairs, looking a little forlorn, and she noticed him.

"Sup Rei, are you doing all right?" He asked her.

Rei shook her head, and kept sweeping. A single crow, the small bird from before, swooped down and landed on her head. "I'm used to the Shrine being full of people, and my Grandfather being out and causing trouble this time a day. Not that I condone it, or anything."

She looked up at the crow on her head. "You're the only guys who're sticking around."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Yuuichirou said indignantly. He reached up and ran scratched his scalp through his wild hair. "I mean, I may not be much, but I believe in you and your Grandpa. There's no way all this mess is your fault."

Rei blushed at his encouragement and then looked up at the Shrine. "Thank you, Yuu-kun. Actually, I've wanted to do a fire reading, just to be sure that the evil isn't here. Would you like to help me with it?"

Yuuichirou blinked. "Wow, you want my help?"

Rei nodded. "If you want to, I'm only asking because you know, Grandpa's usually too tired around this time of day and I trust you and stuff." She then quickly waved, her face growing redder. "Don't get the wrong idea, now! I mean… yeah…"

Laughing, Yuuichirou patted Rei on the shoulder, making her jump and her blush brighten. "I'll help you, just tell me what I have to do, okay?"

At that Rei sagged in relief, and smiled. "Thank you. Now what we have to do first is…"

The evil presence suddenly appeared, and it was headed straight for them at a high rate of speed. Surprised, Rei quickly shoved Yuuichirou back and drew several ofuda. "Get back! It's here, the evil presence!"

She hurled them towards the trees. "Evil spirits begone!"

The charms were neatly sliced apart in mid-flight, and Rei barely avoided the projectile that did it, a single red rose. "What the…?"

She looked up into the trees, and her eyes widened when she found Tuxedo Kamen and Mifune staring down at her.

* * *

Through her binoculars, Sailor Moon scanned the crowds below Tokyo Tower, looking for anything unusual. Putting her foot down after pulling over, Naru raised her visor and scanned a crowd of people. Meanwhile, Sailor Mercury was multi-tasking between observing the crowds of Roppongi and spying on Police channels as they began the bus stoppage. At exactly 17:45, a woman carrying shopping bags suddenly dropped them, and Sailor Mercury quickly zeroed in.

"Guys, we have one," she said as the woman walked away from her bags, her eyes glazed. She was walking for a nearby bus stop.

Luna could sense it. "Yes! There is the presence of evil coming from her!"

Jumping onto her shoulder, Luna held on tight as Sailor Mercury took off in pursuit.

"I'm on my way," Naru said before she a bus suddenly passed her. "Scratch that, I just spotted a bus in motion!"

Revving up her bike, Naru pulled a burnout as she turned around and shot after the bus.

At Tokyo Tower, Usagi spotted several women converge from different directions, and begin walking towards a fairly isolated bus stop several blocks away. "Guys, I've done you one better."

She looked ahead, and saw more women gathering at the stop. "I found its stop!"

Setting the binoculars down, she crouched and jumped into a ballistic arc for the bus stop.

* * *

"Tuxedo Kamen, but why is he here?" There was no doubt about it to Rei's senses; the evil presence was coming off him. She looked to Mifune, who was cracking her knuckles. The evil presence was coming from them both. "Who is that…?"

Yuuichirou got up. "Tuxedo Kamen in broad daylight, I don't know who the chick is, though."

She let out a cry and jumped back as Mifune leaped from the branches and dove for her to deliver a punch. It missed, but the blow shattered the step that she had been standing on. Behind her, Tuxedo Kamen called out. "Wait! Don't be too hasty!"

"What are you doing?" Rei cried out as she scrambled back from Mifune. Quickly, Yuuichirou got in her way.

"Run for it!" he called to her as Mifune quickly advanced. "You're going to have to go through me to get to her, buddy!"

Mifune shoved him aside with little effort and ran up after her. Further up the stairs, Rei saw this and ran faster, the little crow clinging to her head. "Help me! Help me! Weird people in costumes are chasing me! Help! Everybody! Help me!"

Tuxedo Kamen joined Mifune and as they reached the top of the stairs, mere paces behind Rei, they began to hear it, the caws of hundreds, upon hundreds of very angry crows. Their black bodies and spread wings blocked out the sun overhead.

* * *

"Reika, the Police Scanner!" Motoki said quickly as Reika rounded the same corner for the fourth time in their patrol. "They said an unknown bus is rolling!"

"About time, where is it?" Reika asked. She was worried that Tuxedo Kamen hadn't called them or answered his phone.

"It's heading up the street at the next light up ahead. Make a left." Soon as Motoki said that, a bus barreled past, pursued by Naru on her Motorcycle, and then a police cruiser in pursuit. "…Follow them."

"All right, time to cut loose." Triggering the super car's launch control system, Reika revved the Lamborghini up and then shot from the light, rounding the corner and catching up with the high speed chase very fast.

Naru spied the Lamborghini behind her and looked ahead to the speeding bus in front. "Sailor Moon, I got the bus, and a car pursuing it!"

Still in mid-fall, Sailor Moon spied the bus in question. "I see it! Fall back to a safe spot!"

Naru nodded and then turned right, diving into a narrow alley and losing the cop. Seeing the motorcyclist ditch, the police car sped up and pursued the rogue bus. Behind them, Motoki caught a glimpse of the motorcyclist.

"Hey! Who was the chick on the bike?" Motoki said in the instant they passed.

"Focus, Motoki!" Reika said as she saw the bus making a turn. Beyond it, they saw flashing lights coming up the road, police zeroing in on the rogue transport. "It's too hot. We have to break."

Slowing down, Reika also turned, down a street parallel to the bus.

* * *

Followed by Phobos and Deimos, Rei closed and locked the doors leading to the fiercely burning Sacred Fire. Dark forces were running rampant, and they were targeting her! She had no time, she needed to find the source of the evil and sever it before it was too late! Falling to her knees in front of the fire as Rei began praying.

"What is the source of this darkness? Show me what has brought evil to this place!" Rei heard the barricaded doors shake from a heavy impact. "Show me!"

The doors shattered as the fire obeyed her, and Tuxedo Kamen and Mifune quickly entered after having successfully struggled their way through the murder. Tuxedo Kamen spotted her first as she turned to face them in fright, with Mifune quickly lunging for her on sight.

"There's no escaping now!" Mifune declared, before Tuxedo Kamen stopped her. "What?"

Rei quickly rose and turned to face the two, a look of disbelief on her face. "It can't be."

Mifune looked to Tuxedo Kamen, who then produced a rose. "What, what's going on?"

Tuxedo Kamen was staring at Rei's white haori, where he could see a transformation pen sticking from it with the symbol of Mars at the end. _She's not a youma…_

In their moment of hesitation, Rei struck, quickly drawing several ofuda. "Don't take a step closer! Evil Spirits begone!"

Mifune quickly jumped clear to avoid them, only to see all three tags sail narrowly between them and reach their intended target. Tuxedo Kamen and Mifune both looked back, and saw Yuuichirou standing in the smashed doorway, holding one of the rigid ofuda between his fingers as the others burned away at his feet.

Rei gasped, as Phobos and Deimos began cawing angrily at him. "Yuu-kun… you… you're the source of the evil here!"

"He is?" Mifune asked, before Yuuichirou burned away the last ofuda and rested his hand against his face. Letting out a laugh, he pushed his messy bangs up above his eyes, revealing not the brown Rei was used to seeing, but an icy blue.

"I'm afraid the secret's out… and after all the trouble I'd gone through to throw you off." He said, before he ripped away the disguise, revealing none other than Jadeite. "No matter, I've already got what I wanted out of it."

"What are you talking about?" Mifune demanded.

Tuxedo Kamen realized it immediately. "They knew we were spying on them, so they put on an act to set up the Miko as the youma."

Tuxedo Kamen quickly went for his cane as Mifune assumed a fighting stance. He looked to her. "Protect the girl! This guy is out of your league!"

Mifune looked from Jadeite to Rei, and then stood back. As she did, Tuxedo Kamen attacked Jadeite head on with the cane, thrusting it for his chest and striking his raised palm.

Staring back at the well-dressed crusader, Jadeite spoke. "I was hoping that in your zeal you'd kill the Miko, believing she was the youma. But killing you all myself is fine too!"

"We'll see about that." Tuxedo Kamen replied and he attacked much faster, this time forcing Jadeite to defend with a barrier. The force of the blow pushed Jadeite into the wall opposite of the doorway leading to the Sacred Fire.

"Huh… you're strong…" A surprised Jadeite growled.

As they struggled, Mifune looked back at the terrified Rei. "Wait, who was the girl from the other night?"

Rei looked to her, before she noticed water seeping up between the wooden planks on the floor. Tuxedo Kamen noticed the water too, but it was too late before a massive geyser of Thetis's water completely demolished the room, and part of the Shrine itself.

* * *

Sailor Mercury, with Luna on her shoulder, landed atop a tower overlooking the bus stop where the group of women was waiting. "There!"

"Get there, quickly!" Luna said before Sailor Moon crashed down onto the street below, right in front of the oncoming bus. Behind her, Naru narrowly avoided several police cars and skidded to a halt as she watched the drama unfold. Reika and Motoki pulled up a little further up the street, and immediately stopped when they saw Sailor Moon.

"Oh God, this isn't good." Motoki said when he saw Sailor Moon.

Reika looked at the spiraling situation, the police, the bystanders, the street lined with buildings. "This is no place for her to throw down here."

Facing the bus as Sailor Mercury and Luna joined her, Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes at the driver of the bus. "Ready, Mercury?"

"Yes!" Sailor Mercury replied as the bus sped up. "Let's catch us a bus!"

Behind the wheel, Kigaan grinned and slammed the pedal to the floor, ignoring the police cars attempting to block her off and barreling straight for the Sailor Senshi. "All aboard, bitches!"

The bus crashed into Sailor Moon, who carved two trenches into the street with her boots as she stopped it with both hands. Its tires squealing in vain, the bus struggled against the titanic strength of the Sailor Senshi, who looked up and grinned at the driver.

"Yo, youma, the best you can think is to run me over with a bus?" She asked Kigaan as Ami prepared to attack.

Kigaan was still smiling herself. "I think I can do much better."

At that moment, the ground disappeared from beneath her and Sailor Mercury. To their shock, and those of the onlookers, the same black hole that the buses had disappeared into before swallowed the Senshi, their cat, and the entire bus itself. Climbing off her motorcycle, Naru stared in disbelief.

"Impossible!" she cried out as the black hole then vanished, leaving only the gouges made by Sailor Moon's boots.

"W-where'd they go?" Motoki asked Reika, who shook her head.

* * *

Lying outside of the Shrine after having been washed out by the deluge, Mifune slowly got up and shook her head. She quickly spotted Rei lying on the ground next to Tuxedo Kamen, and then turned to find Jadeite floating just above the ground, joined by Thetis, whose Rei disguise melted away as she laughed. Shaking her head, Mifune rose to her feet and faced the two. The water had ripped her hood off and tore away part of her mask, revealing her eyes and forehead.

"Who on Earth is that?" Thetis asked of Mifune.

"She's ineffectual, just a human in a costume. Ship her off to Kigaan and the others." Jadeite ordered.

Mifune snorted. "I'll show you ineffectual!"

She charged both and then suddenly felt weightless as Thetis obeyed Jadeite's command and opened a black hole that began to suck her in. "Wait, what the Hell?!"

Mifune's scream as she was drawn into the black hole awoke Rei. She looked over to Jadeite and Thetis, and her eyes widened in fear. "They're y-youma…"

Thetis looked at Rei. "Shall I ship her off too?"

"No, I'll deal with them. Go assist Kigaan," Jadeite said.

Thetis nodded, and vanished into thin air. Turning his attention to Rei and Tuxedo Kamen, he approached them "Your ability to sense evil and your meddling in general is too dangerous."

He raised his hand, and a ball of energy formed in it, before Deimos and Phobos suddenly attacked him. "Damn it!"

Then suddenly, crows were everywhere, cawing, pecking, and clawing at Jadeite in an effort to protect Rei. Seeing this, Rei quickly pushed herself up.

"No! Don't attack, he's dangerous!" she cried out.

The murder didn't listen, and continued their attack, surrounding Jadeite as more birds joined in. Rei was on her feet. This could only end badly. "You have to stop! Get away from him!"

"Get off me you filthy vermin!" Jadeite roared, and suddenly the crows were sent flying in every direction, blasted away by a burst of energy. Horrified, Rei could only watch as the birds fell to the ground around her.

As the birds fell away or fled in fear, Jadeite lowered his arms and grimaced. "Filthy rat-birds…"

He then turned to face Rei. "You should be thankful I was so merciful to them. These vermin got off easy compared to what I'm going to do to you. You're far too dangerous to live."

Jadeite paused, and his eyes widened when he saw something glowing brightly on Rei's forehead. He stared at it. "What… is that…?"

The glow faded just enough for Jadeite to make out the symbol of Mars, and he froze in terror. "No."

* * *

The pocket dimension that Sailor Moon and Mercury fell into was a strange one, a dark blue void lit by strange green crystals that floated throughout it. The other buses were also present plus two more, all floating peacefully through the darkness like suspended balloons. Both Senshi landed safely on one of the crystals, and looked around the pocket dimension.

"Oh look, the worst place they could've possibly taken us." Sailor Moon said to Sailor Mercury and Luna.

"To us or them?" Ami asked before she looked up. "Bus!"

Kigaan's bus smashed into the crystal they had been perched upon, smashing it to pieces and blowing the bus apart. Falling through the void, Sailor Moon and Mercury landed on what felt like solid ground, as Kigaan landed in front of them. Quickly abandoning her disguise, the youma laughed before pointing to the two.

"I've been waiting to see you two! After hearing all the shit you've pulled, my blood's been boiling for a fight!" Kigaan declared.

Sailor Moon let out a brief laugh. "Funny, the last time we met a youma eager for a fight, she pissed herself and ran away!"

"Fuck you, Sailor Moon! You're not getting out of this one alive!" Ramua suddenly called out from atop one of the full buses.

"Indeed," Thetis said as she and Murid appeared on the other buses.

Sailor Moon folded her arms. "This is your plan? Fight us no holds barred and try to overwhelm us with numbers?"

"Not so!" Thetis replied smugly. "You see, your only opponent is Kigaan here. We're just here to watch the beat down, because frankly you're too strong for us!"

Sailor Moon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I'm flattered, thank you. Since I'm going to be killing you all soon, how about telling me what your big grand scheme was?"

It was Thetis's turn to laugh. "Cute. If you must know, the plan was never about collecting energy at all. This was all an elaborate trap to lure you in for this fight."

"You went through all of that to lure me to a fight? Why not just issue me a challenge? I would've accepted."

"There's no doubt that you would. But you see, we had to achieve a few objectives to make this all come together, and the abductions were one of them, just not the key one. You see our other objective was to separate you from Tuxedo Kamen, who was having trouble with Jadeite last I saw."

Sailor Moon's smirk disappeared and she immediately got serious. There was no guarantee she was telling the truth, but there was no proof she was lying, either. Sailor Mercury and Luna also tensed.

Thetis nodded. "I struck a chord, didn't I? The key objective was to bring you here, for Kigaan to fight to her heart's content. She's actually fairly weak for a youma on her own, even weaker than Morga, but she is a magnificently skilled hand to hand combatant."

"That doesn't help you," Sailor Moon pointed out.

"Ah, that doesn't but _this_ does. Meet Murid." Thetis gestured to Murid, who held up her apple. "She's best at illusions, but she's skilled transferring and absorbing very large amounts of energy into the apple you see there. Like the combined energies of three hundred people that she's giving to Kigaan right now."

Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury stared as a ray of energy shot from Murid and into Kigaan. The emaciated, jaundiced youma suddenly began to change: her almost skeletal arms began to swell with muscles, her skin grew livelier, turning from a greenish brown to a gleaming bronze, and her ghoulish face became youthful and vibrant, beautiful even.

Her long red hair waving behind her, Kigaan let out a laugh and flicked a few strands from her face. Her voice, once scratchy, was now smooth and sinister. "Ha… Sailor Senshi, are you ready for a real fight?"

Sailor Moon's kick was already homing in on the side of her head, while one from Sailor Mercury was closing in on her side.

A large explosion soon followed, and the other three youma cheered as Sailor Moon went into one of the crystals while Sailor Mercury tumbled along the ground before coming to a stop next to Luna.

"Mercury, are you all right?" Luna asked as Sailor Mercury got up.

Sailor Mercury looked back at Kigaan, who gestured for her to come and then nodded. "Yes."

Disappearing, Sailor Mercury came to a sudden stop in front of where Kigaan had just stood; the blow she slammed into the youma had sent her flying. A mile away, a crystal split in half, and another behind it exploded from the force of Kigaan hitting it. Sailor Mercury disappeared again, her rapid approach barely visible before she delivered another hit that completely destroyed the crystal.

"Oh!" Thetis held a hand up to where her mouth would be, and then laughed as the smoke cleared to reveal Kigaan blocking the axe kick that Mercury had slammed down on her.

Sailor Mercury kicked off Kigaan's arm, but was caught in midair with a punch to the gut. Sailor Mercury barely had a chance to cough from the hit before Kigaan struck her with a one-two combo before following it up with an uppercut that launched her high into the air.

As Sailor Mercury went flying, Sailor Moon came down on Kigaan, swinging a swift kick down on the youma that was quickly evaded. Undeterred, she pressed her attack, springing after the super-charged youma and striking with kicks that were quickly dodged or parried, and punches that were blocked or evaded with simple movements of the head.

Luna grew tense as she watched Sailor Moon barely keep up with Kigaan. "This isn't good… Sailor Moon's not skilled enough for this opponent."

Sailor Mercury landed on another crystal. Shaking the cobwebs out of her head, she stared in shock when Kigaan blocked one of Usagi's strikes and then elbowed her in the face. When Sailor Moon's head snapped back from the strike, Kigaan grabbed her by her twin tails, and began to swing her around like a throwing hammer.

"You're fast and strong, but you completely lack finesse!" Kigaan yelled as she threw Sailor Moon, sending her hurtling towards Thetis. Laughing, Thetis summoned a blast of water that smashed Sailor Moon into the ground far below.

As Kigaan dusted off her hands, she saw Sailor Moon's tiara lying on the ground, and stepped back in surprise. Laid out on her back where she fell, Sailor Moon grinned.

"… Action!"

The Tiara suddenly shot off the ground, homing in on Kigaan's neck like a flying guillotine. Kigaan leaned back, the tiara barely clearing her face before it whipped around to come for the return pass. Narrowly, Kigaan evaded the weapon, and it came around once again, homing in on her at Sailor Moon's will.

"Mercury Sabão Spray!" Sailor Mercury's bubbles quickly descended on the battlefield, obscuring Kigaan's view. The tiara cut into the mist, and by the time Kigaan turned to face it, it was much too late. The blade sliced her head clean off.

Sailor Moon stood up as the mist cleared, and shook her head as the youma turned to dust. "How's that for finesse, bitch?"

"Sailor Moon, look behind you!" Luna yelled.

Sailor Moon just started to look back, when Kigaan's fist plowed into her jaw, sending her tumbling across the barren ground of the pocket dimension until she struck another crystal with explosive force.

Sailor Mercury stared in disbelief. "But the tiara it…!"

She then looked up at the buses, and then immediately towards Murid. Thetis had said that she was an expert at illusions! "She created the illusion of the tiara hitting Kigaan to buy her an opening…"

These youma were a lot more dangerous now that they were organized. "Luna! We're at a disadvantage here!"

"You think?!" Luna snapped back before Kigaan came down on Sailor Mercury, punching her through the floating crystal she had been standing upon and sending her crashing into the ground.

"Hey!" Kigaan yelled to Murid and Thetis. "Knock it off with the assisting!"

"We're sorry Kigaan~!" All three of her comrades sang back.

Sailor Mercury sprang back up to her feet, and gritted her teeth. She was getting banged up, but so far she'd yet to be badly injured. She looked over to Sailor Moon, who was sitting up and expressing her frustration at her inability to hit this particular youma.

She looked over to Mercury. "If we could hit this bitch, we'd win!"

"We need to attack two on one, then. Together we should be able to do it," Sailor Mercury replied as Kigaan attacked again.

Sailor Moon immediately performed a spin-kick that Kigaan blocked. Before the youma could retaliate however, Mercury hooked her arms under her shoulders and held her in place. "Free hits!"

"What the-!" A crippling blow to the stomach cut Kigaan off, followed by another and another as Sailor Moon began delivering full power hooks into Kigaan's body. Mercury could feel each blow through Kigaan's back and travel through her own body.

Jumping back for room, Sailor Moon leaped, and drove a flying kick square into Kigaan's chest and sending her through Mercury, who exploded into a shower of light. Landing, Sailor Moon kicked off with all her might, dashing underneath the airborne youma and coming to a stop under one of the crystals as Mercury reappeared under it ready to spring off.

Their gazes meeting in an instant, both Senshi threw themselves at each other with a flying kick.

"DOUBLE!" Sailor Mercury yelled.

"RAIDER!" Sailor Moon shouted after.

"KICK!" They both screamed as their kicks met Kigaan at the exact same moment, twisting and warping the powerful youma and sending her spinning as they passed.

Sailor Mercury landed, with Sailor Moon landing next to her a moment later. Kigaan hit the ground in a twisted heap, as both prepared to attack again. Kigaan laughed. "Well, you hit me. But it's not quite hard enough."

Bones cracking and popping as they reset themselves, Kigaan got up and thrust her chest out in defiance. "We can do this all day if you like! I've got energy to burn!"

Sailor Mercury looked to Sailor Moon, and then back to their opponent. "We need a plan; we're not doing enough damage. I'm not sure how long we can fight a battle of attrition."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Okay, time to finish this before… huh?"

Kigaan pointed her right hand at the two Senshi. Sailor Moon's eyes went wide. "Oh fuck."

Luna watched, in fright, as Kigaan fired a massive energy blast at both Senshi that raced across the pocket dimension and off into infinity.

* * *

Back outside, Jadeite took a frightened step back from Rei, as the furious miko began walking towards him. Tears were pouring down her face, and her hair was rising upward just slightly, as the symbol of Mars burned on her forehead. Just seeing the injured crows and hearing their cries of pain only made her angrier.

"You… you played with my heart… you pretended to be my friend…" Rei said angrily. "But worse, you hurt my crows, my best friends! I won't forgive you for this!"

Jadeite quickly summoned a blade to his hand and lunged for Rei. "I can't let you live!"

Rei's eyes widened as she watched the blade plunge for her heart. Tuxedo Kamen, however, struck at the last instant and blocked the sword with his cane.

* * *

Thetis, watching Kigaan's beam fade, let out a laugh when she saw there was nothing left of the Senshi after the powerful blast. Ramua let out a whistle, while Murid called out a "Bravo" to their champion. Kigaan herself, however, was not in a victorious mood. Someone had intervened at the last moment, tackling both Senshi out of the way.

"You made a big mistake interfering, stranger," she said to Mifune, as she lay atop both Moon and Mercury.

"Wow, nice save." Sailor Moon said to the costumed vigilante.

Mifune stood. "I can't watch this anymore, you two are attacking all wrong. Stop with that flashy shit and just get in close!"

Luna's tail rose when she looked at Mifune. "Hold on…"

Kigaan was suddenly behind Mifune, her arm already a blur as she prepared to strike her down. Mifune then strong-armed the blow, the force of the strike blowing her cape back. Unaffected by the strike, Mifune let out a yell and drove a palm thrust into Kigaan's stomach, launching her like a rocket away from her and the Senshi.

Ramua couldn't believe it. "Who the Hell is that chick?"

Thetis had a bad feeling about this. "I don't know…"

"Holy shit…" Sailor Moon said as she got up. When Mifune turned to face her, her amazement turned into a big grin. "Holy shit!"

Sailor Mercury stared as well. "N-No way…"

Luna ran up to the girls, and then stopped. "I don't believe it!"

Mifune stared at all three. Wait, did that cat just talk? "What? What is it? Is there something on my face?"

All three nodded, as the Symbol of Jupiter shone brightly on Mifune's forehead.

* * *

"Listen to me, Miko!" Tuxedo Kamen ordered as he held Jadeite back with his cane, blocking another wild and powerful sword strike. "That gold pen you have!"

In the Pocket Dimension, Luna jumped and flipped, a sparkling light appearing in her trail and transforming to a green transformation pen that quickly went to Mifune's hand. Catching it, Mifune stared at it in surprise. "What is it?"

"Hurry, hold it into the air…" Luna and Tuxedo Kamen instructed.

"… And call out Mars Power, Make Up!" Tuxedo Kamen said as he blocked another strike from Jadeite.

"… And call out Jupiter Power, Make Up!" Luna instructed as Kigaan rose to her feet again, coughing from the hit.

Mifune and Rei both looked at their pens, and their respective opponents, and did not hesitate for an instant. Their pens went into the air.

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make Up!"

Jadeite froze in fear, as an intense heat washed over him. In the Dimensional Pocket, Thetis, Ramua, and Murid recoiled in horror as lightning struck from the sky and wrapped around Mifune, vaporizing her costume. Rings of Electricity surrounded her entire body, like the rings of the atom symbol, before they flashed away, revealing in all her glory, the tall, busty, and bushy pony-tailed Sailor Jupiter.

An immense blaze erupted from Rei's pen, burning away her hakama and haori in an instant and leaving numerous rings of fire that surrounded her from her head to her toes. In a burst of light they were gone, leaving the positively gorgeous Sailor Mars, looking like the wrath of the God of War himself as she stared at a petrified Jadeite.

"A-another one…?" Ramua squeaked. "No… not another one! Where do they keep coming from?! It's not fucking fair!"

Staring down Sailor Jupiter, Kigaan looked up at Thetis for guidance. Thetis quickly nodded. "Get her before she can come into her powers! Go!"

Sailor Jupiter stared down at her gloved hands, and then at Sailor Moon and Mercury, before she closed her hands into fists. She smiled as electricity crackled across her body. "As I was saying…"

Kigaan had gotten in close, and was swinging a kick for Jupiter's back. Sailor Jupiter ducked, and raised her leg, catching Kigaan's leg and knocking it away, As Kigaan gave a start at the move, Sailor Jupiter's other leg came up and smashed her across the face with a crescent kick. It hurt, harder than any hit Sailor Moon had delivered.

"What… the… fuck…?" Kigaan looked to see Sailor Jupiter coming and quickly leaned back, expecting her punch to miss her face by inches. It plowed into her mouth head on. Sailor Jupiter was then upon her, catching her with precision punches and kicks that caught her before she could evade or outright smashed through her attempts at defending.

Punches, chops, palm-thrusts, and finger jabs struck across Kigaan's body, each blow unleashing a burst of electricity through the youma's body, stunning her while just adding to the damage. Finally, Sailor Jupiter grabbed Kigaan's head and kneed her hard in the face. An antenna rose from the Senshi of Jupiter's tiara.

"Don't waste your time with flashy moves! Just hit vitals as hard as you can, and as fast as you can and never stop!" Sailor Jupiter instructed as she threw Kigaan high into the air. "Only when they're weak do you finish them off with something flashy!"

Lightning erupted from the antenna, shooting into the void above Kigaan and causing the other youma to shield their eyes. Raising a finger to the sky, Sailor Jupiter let out a booming yell.

"BREAK!"

Ramua, Murid, and Thetis could only watch helplessly, as a massive beam of electrical energy came down from the heavens, completely incinerating Kigaan instantly. Arms akimbo, Sailor Jupiter nodded. "And that's the lesson for today."

"Let's… let's get out of here." Thetis said in shock as bolts of electricity crackled in the air around them.

Jadeite was quickly knocked back by Tuxedo Kamen once more. That man was stronger than his ridiculous look let on. But worse, Sailor Mars was now awake. He needed to get out of here, quickly, but before he could try, several ofuda stuck to his body, freezing him in place.

"I can't… move…!" His energy had been neutralized.

"Youma, I will not forgive you for what you've done!" a tearful Rei yelled out as she put her hands together, pinky, ring, and middle fingers interlaced while the index and thumb were pointed out.

"Mars… Fire… SOUL!"

Jadeite's eyes widened as the wall of fire Rei unleashed raced to and consumed him. The ofuda tags across his body also ignited, unleashing a purifying flame that became hotter than anything he could imagine. His clothes were incinerated in seconds, and then his skin began to follow. Consumed by the fire, Jadeite let out a piercing, horrified scream.

Tuxedo Kamen, hearing Jadeite's scream, froze. "… J-Jadeite…"

Then, in an instant the fire burned away, leaving nothing but the remains of the white-hot burning ofuda. Panting, Sailor Mars stared at the scorched, glassy concrete where he once stood, and then quickly turned to look around for the crows. "Oh no, you guys…!"

She then stopped, when she saw all of her crows gathered around her, seemingly unhurt and staring up at her curiously. "Huh? You're all… okay?"

The crows began to caw, flapping their wings and hopping up and down. Tuxedo Kamen looked from the birds to Sailor Mars, and folded his arms. "Maybe they knew you were Sailor Mars, and faked it to make you angry enough to awaken your power?"

Sailor Mars quickly held her arms out for Phobos and Deimos, who landed on her left hand and right shoulder respectively. "Wait, how did _you_ know I was… wait, I'm Sailor Mars? As in, Sailor Moon Sailor Mars, I'm a Sailor Senshi?!"

"What else would you be in that cute fuku?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

Sailor Mars looked down, especially at the really short skirt she was now wearing, and let out a squeak of embarrassment as she tried to tug it down lower. Tuxedo Kamen tried not to smile at her cute reaction. "I saw your transformation pen. Whoever gave it to you must've figured it out too."

Sailor Mars immediately remembered that feral delinquent girl, Usagi. "No way…"

A ray of light appeared in the sky over the Five Slopes stop, and Tuxedo Kamen did smile. He had a feeling he knew what it was. "Well, come on, let's go meet them."

* * *

The police and press on the scene at the Five Slopes could only stare in wonder. Emerging from a black hole, one bus after another emerged, their passengers all in good health despite their ordeal. Sailor Jupiter was behind the wheel of the lead bus, towing the others behind it. On the roof of the lead bus, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Luna greeted the crowd.

"Look, there are three of them now, a green one!" a spectator called out as Naru, sans disguise, emerged from the crowd to see the victorious arrival.

"A green one?" Naru asked before she caught sight of Jupiter as she stepped off the parked bus. "Oh wow."

Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury hopped off the roof of the bus, and joined Sailor Jupiter, who smiled nervously to them. Sailor Moon patted Jupiter on the shoulder. "You did great out there, stranger! We're definitely going to need someone like you in the future."

"Uh… thanks…" Sailor Jupiter replied as she caught sight of cameras. "…No one can recognize us, can they? I feel exposed."

She tugged at her ridiculously short skirt in a vain attempt to make it go lower. "… Really exposed."

Sailor Mercury reassured her. "It's fine. Unless you reveal your identity or get caught transforming, no one will be able to make the connection between you and your civilian appearance."

Sailor Jupiter looked down at the skirt. "Is it because no one would think my civilian form would be caught dead fighting crime in a miniskirt that doesn't completely cover my ass?"

"Yeah, it's pretty much that," Sailor Moon said.

Sailor Mercury shook her head. "It's actually very powerful magic. Your identity is safe, so enjoy your moment in the spotlight."

At Mercury's assuring smile, Jupiter smiled herself and waved to the crowd of people. "We're not going to stick around for autographs are we?" She turned back and found that both Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury were gone, having leaped up to a nearby roof. "Hey, wait for me!"

On the sidelines, Naru wiped the line of drool from her mouth as she watched Jupiter go. "Just. Wow."

On the roof, Usagi stopped and then smiled when she found Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mars waiting for them. "So, you guys made it out okay too. That's good to know."

Sailor Mars looked at the group and flushed adorably, in Sailor Moon's opinion. "Um, hello… I'm Sailor Mars, but you probably knew that before I even did."

"Certainly did, you were a dead give away," Sailor Moon said. Something probably broke, but no one could hear over the cacophony on the street below. "Now that we're all together, we can form a stronger front against the enemy."

"I agree, but I think I killed that Jadeite guy," Mars revealed.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury stared at her in surprise. "Wait, you did what?"

"She burned him alive where he stood." Tuxedo Kamen said. "I was there, it was pretty bitchin'."

"Wait… you _incinerated_ one of the _Generals_?" Luna asked.

"Well, he attacked my crows! I mean, sure they were faking it and stuff to make me unload on him, but he was asking for it so I torched his ass!"

Sailor Moon stared at Mars, who flushed deeper under her scrutiny. "Oh my God… you are just adorable."

"Huh?" And then Mars was grabbed in a hug, Sailor Moon nuzzling the side of her head affectionately as she squeezed her. "Eek! Personal space! Personal space!"

"Ah, you're so warm and cuddly!" Sailor Moon cooed as Mercury and Jupiter watched with exasperation. Tuxedo Kamen quietly noted that it was quite… hot.

"Focus, Sailor Moon! If Jadeite is dead, that means another General is going to take his place!" Luna advised.

Sailor Jupiter hummed. "Let's just hope they don't decide to just wipe out the entire city to get us."

"I agree," Sailor Mercury said.

"Nah, that'd waste far too much of their energy. I think I've got these guys pegged, at least for the moment." Sailor Moon assured them as Mars kept struggling to get free. "After all, the only energy they were willing to expend on us so far was energy taken from the people they kidnapped for this fiasco."

Sailor Mars finally just sighed and just let Sailor Moon continue to cuddle her. It was kind of nice, she admitted to herself.

"Well I guess we can discuss this more later. But we really should vacate the area," Luna suggested.

"Right." Sailor Moon turned to Tuxedo Kamen. "Care to hook up with us later, sexy?"

He was gone, to no one's surprise. Usagi let out a laugh then said. "Holy shit, he really is Batman."

Jupiter, looking among the other Senshi, frowned, and then turned away from the group. The other three noticed this, and Sailor Mercury called after her. "Sailor Jupiter, what's wrong?"

"Uh… it's nothing. I just have to get going."

"Right, meet us at the Hikawa Shrine tomorrow afternoon, but in your civilian attire next time, we'll all be there. Knock on the door of the house and we'll let you in"

"Wait, why my house?" Mars asked.

"Because your place is the most accessible, is the least conspicuous, and your bed was really comfy." Sailor Moon replied, and Mars' face bloomed into blush again. This once again got her affectionately nuzzled. "Ah! You're so cute when you're blushing like that!"

Jupiter grew visibly uneasy, but smiled and nodded. "Uh, sure… I'll meet you all there."

Walking to the edge of the roof, Jupiter gave a final look back to her fellow Senshi, before she leaped off into the growing shadows of the city.

As she left, Luna looked over to Sailor Moon with her own uneasiness about her. "She's not going to be there tomorrow, is she?"

Mars and Mercury looked over to Sailor Moon, who shook her head.

"No. She isn't."

* * *

Rei: Ah… hello I'm Rei, the new Sailor Senshi…

Makoto: And I'm Makoto, but you already know me.

Rei: Um… I'm so nervous…

Makoto: Sheesh, Look, despite the dangers involved with youma and the occasional hijacking, Public Transportation is actually one of the safest, efficient, and environmentally friendliest forms of transportation out there. More people riding buses, trains, and other forms of mass transit means fewer cars on the road, and fewer accidents and harmful emissions.

Rei: Oh, absolutely. It's not just us who need clean air, think of all the crows!

Usagi: Yes, so give your car a rest and ride the bus. Who knows, it could become an adventure! Travel with care wherever you may go, that is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Everyone: Sailor Moon Says!

Usagi: Tee Hee!


	10. Infinite Justice

Disclaimer: This chapter contains thirty percent less hilarity and a hundred percent more Black Lagoon.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**Infinite Justice

_Support your local vigilantes._

**[9.]**

It had taken Mifune only weeks to dismantle the Washimine Clan after she had dealt a heavy blow to the Kousa Clan that saw its under-boss and half of its employees sent to prison. Yukio Washimine, the daughter of the Washimine Clan's ailing leader, Ryuzo Washimine and ally to Mifune's cause, made a simple request: dismantle her Father's group so that he could be relieved of its burden. Tonight would be the final blow to the Washimine Clan, the under-boss and his subordinates were meeting to discuss choosing a successor.

"A dock yard at night, could you be anymore cliché?" Mifune, asked herself as she oversaw the arrival of the under-boss of the Washimine Clan, Tsugio Bando and two of his enforcers, a Kakihara-wannabe looking fucker and a much more professional-appearing young man. Others were arriving, the Second Lieutenant of the Washimine, and the leaders of the gangs they governed. There were twelve men in total including their most skilled bodyguards.

Twelve men and no doubt armed. Mifune would have to hit them faster and harder than usual. This would be a piece of cake. She had come to their meeting place literally ready for a war, complete with body armor, helmet, and balaclava. She resembled more a special operations soldier than a vigilante, but prudence had always been her M.O.

"I don't like being here like this," one of the gang leaders remarked to Bando as they walked to where they would be meeting.

Bando, who had a Zen-like tranquility about him, turned his head to the man following him. "There will be no chance of trouble. Only a fool would attack us tonight."

A fool did attack, when Mifune fell straight into the center of the group and sent several men flying in a flurry of punches and kicks. In the instant it took Bando and his two bodyguards to turn around, Mifune had already dispatched four men. The Kakihara-looking fucker grinned wildly, as Bando's more professional bodyguard positioned himself in front of his leader.

"Aniki, stay behind me! Chaka, don't get too close to her!" he ordered as he drew his pistol.

The Kakihara-wannabe fucker laughed as he reached into his pocket. "It's her, that no-name bitch who thinks she's the fucking shit!"

Another enforcer drew his gun to fire at Mifune, but couldn't get a shot off before Mifune smashed him in the face with a tonfa. Another opened fire, the bullets hitting Mifune's body armor and failing to stop her as she barreled into him and brought him down with a blow to the face.

Chaka stayed back as ordered, but he was eager to dive in. "Fucking military grade body armor, where did she get it?"

Yet another man went down, leaving Chaka, the other body guard Yoshida, and Bando to face Mifune. Turning to face Chaka, she wasted no time in charging him, her free hand drawing a stun-baton from her hip. At the last instant, however, Chaka drew a revolver with incredible swiftness and pointed it at her face.

"Bitch!" He yelled as he fired the pistol. He missed Mifune, having ducked under the line of fire before he even squeezed the trigger, and she swept him off his feet with the tonfa before jabbing him in the crotch with the stun baton.

Yoshida grimaced as Chaka screamed in pain before going limp. Kicking his gun away, Mifune rose and began to approach them. Yoshida remained tense, ready to fight, when Bando spoke. "You've caused us a lot of trouble, woman."

Mifune kept walking towards them, not responding. Bando snorted. "You don't even care about the consequences of your actions do you?"

Mifune said nothing and Bando shook his head. "You're just an idealistic, naïve fool. Fighting for justice and shoving criminals off to jail like that will solve the world's problems."

"Shut up, don't spew your nonsense at me," Mifune spat back.

She then heard footsteps coming towards her from behind, fast. Turning around to face the threat, her eyes widened when she saw the gleam of a katana as it swept towards her. She jumped back with only an instant to spare, but the damage was done, her tonfa had been cut at the handle, and her stun baton had been cleaved as well.

Mifune stared at the swordsman who struck at her in shock; he wasn't supposed to be here! "Ginji!"

She looked past him, and she paused when she saw Yukio Washimine emerge from around the corner of a warehouse. "Yukio-san? What is going on here?"

Blinding lights suddenly came on, spotlights bathing Mifune in a high-intensity beams and revealing how dire her situation truly was. She was surrounded on all sides and heavily outnumbered not by Yakuza, but heavily armed and equipped soldiers! Mifune quickly assessed the newcomers, they definitely weren't Japanese, and their equipment was… Russian? What was going on here?

"Yukio-san, what is this?" She asked.

Yukio bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Mifune-san, but this has to stop."

Another person appeared, a tall woman in a business suit with a large coat hanging from her shoulders. Mifune saw her face as she entered the light and immediately recognized the horrible burn scar that covered half her face. "… No way…"

The woman said something, it was in English, but Mifune could barely understand it. Yukio, however, translated it for her. "The only reason you're not dead, is because your friend convinced me to spare your life. However, that is the limit of my mercy; I don't want you interfering anymore."

Smoke from the cigar held in her lips trailing behind her, the woman walked up to Mifune as Ginji stood aside. Yukio was a step behind her, to provide translation.

Mifune was struck, as she stared up at the cold, stoic woman. It was like she exuded a presence of pure terror that gripped the young vigilante, leaving her helpless to do anything but tremble as she whispered her name. "B… Balalaika…"

The woman then reached up and unhooked her helmet, before pushing it off her head. Calmly, but without hesitation Balalaika removed Mifune's equipment undoing it and letting it fall to the ground. She said something, and again Yukio translated.

"She's impressed at your practicality. No ridiculous costume or anything of that sort."

The body armor came off, and then Balalaika began to remove the clothes she wore beneath it, patting her down before tearing off her jacket, which was followed by the undershirt, and then her pants, pulled down to her ankles. Stepping back, Balalaika removed her cigar and then issued an order, which Yukio translated.

"Remove the rest, and do it quickly." Yukio was unable to look now at Mifune.

Mifune stared at Balalaika and the latter nodded. Bowing her head in shame, fear, and anger, Mifune complied and removed first her sports bra and then–with hesitation–her panties. Balalaika said something, but Yukio didn't translate it. Finally, Mifune stepped out of her boots and removed her gloves, before standing at attention.

Balalaika then gestured to the only article left, Mifune's balaclava. Clenching her teeth briefly, Mifune rolled up the balaclava and then removed it, drawing a gasp from Yukio as she finally saw the identity of the Washimine's scourge.

"M-Makoto-chan, you're Mifune?" She asked Makoto Kino, as she turned her fear and shame into a hateful and furious glare towards her.

"Why?" Makoto asked.

Yukio paused, and then bowed her head. "I had no choice, I'm sorry. Father, he found out that I was working with Mifune against the Kousa Clan. He and Hotel Moscow, they didn't want you interfering, so I had to… it was this, or they were going to kill you, I swear!"

"It would've been better to die not knowing I'd been betrayed," Makoto snarled at her.

Yukio had no response for that. Raising a digital camera, Balalaika immediately snapped a picture of Makoto's face, startling her. She then began to speak, for Yukio to translate.

"She says…" Yukio began, her voice cracking slightly, "… If you interfere again with your vigilante nonsense, she'll expose your identity. You and everyone you love will be marked and you'll never know peace again. Moreso, if she needs you for anything, she will find you and you will serve her… you're too useful to just let go."

Gathering up her clothes and her helmet, Balalaika stepped back from Makoto and blew some smoke into the air. She then spoke to her some of the little Japanese that she knew.

"_Walk home, girl."_

* * *

Makoto clenched her fist and then opened it as she sat in front of the desk of her probation officer, an overweight, buzz-cut sporting, and slovenly man with a perverted streak born from years of dealing with cases like hers. Makoto hadn't made it home that night, in her haste to find clothes she had been arrested and charged with indecent exposure that put her in juvie for six months and probation until she was twenty.

"It's been three months since you've gotten out of Juvenile Detention. Have you found a new school yet?" Koujiro Nagase asked Makoto. Makoto stared at her hands, ignoring the man. "Mako-chan, Mako-chan… did you hear me?"

She looked up at him. Because of her arrest and incarceration, she had been thrown out of her school, an expensive one that the inheritance left by her deceased parents had been paying for. That was fine by Makoto; if she saw Yukio Washimine in person again she'd likely lose all control.

"No, I haven't," Makoto said to the man, before she looked at her hands, the same hands that killed a monster with lightning that she could control. She still couldn't believe that it happened, that yesterday that was her.

"Well, you need to find a school or employment by the end of the month or you're going back to Detention. Also, your therapist called, you missed your six o'clock yesterday."

Because she was killing a monster and saving hundreds of lives, one missed therapy session was a small price to pay in her book. "It's not like I need therapy."

Koujiro smiled. "Of course, you can tell me all of your problems. Have you had any inappropriate urges, lately Mako-chan?"

"Fuck off," Makoto snapped at his leering smile, oh how she hated this guy. She was just glad that he didn't harass her like he did some of the other cases–she was "too young" for his tastes.

"At any rate, I'm going to submit an application for you to enter Juuban Junior High School. It's a good school, despite its reputation. Supposedly there's a bigger delinquent there than you, except she's in good with the Superintendent General's sister."

"Oh, how nice…" Makoto just wanted to get out of here. There was so much to be done, so much she wanted to explore. "Look, is there anything else?"

Koujiro noticed Makoto's impatience, and nodded. "There is, you received another letter from your friend from your old school, Yukio Washimine."

"Burn it like the rest." Makoto got up and grabbed her bag. "I'm out of here."

"All right, see you Mako-chan." Koujiro's farewell fell on deaf ears, as Makoto quickly left the office. Sitting back in his chair, the man sighed and snorted as he opened the aforementioned letter and pulled out the handsome amount of yen that had been inside it. "Suit yourself."

Once outside the probation office, Makoto broke into a run, racing in the direction of her apartment as fast as her legs could carry her. She arrived in no time, slamming her door behind her and locking it before pulling the blinds in all the windows shut and running to the bathroom. It was there, with that door locked for good measure that Makoto pulled her transformation pen from her pocket and gazed upon it.

She had resisted even looking at it since she came back from her first battle against the Dark Kingdom, and had gone an entire day without glancing at her bag. But now, as she held it up, she could feel its power flowing through her.

Sailor Moon could demolish buildings with I-Beams, and throw train cars. She could survive being dipped in boiling asphalt and shrug off hits that could flatten a mountain, and that power was Makoto's. There just was no limit now to what she could do, as said in one of her favorite shows, Mazinger Z… this was the power to be a God or a Devil.

Holding the pen up higher, she looked past it and at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She was a Sailor Senshi, and unless she gave her identity away carelessly it was ironclad. Everyone who witnessed Mifune's unmasking that night could look her dead in the eye as Sailor Jupiter and never make the connection between her and Makoto.

Yes and there was nothing a single one of them could do to stop her either. Not the Washimine, not Ginji, not even that burned bitch. They could defeat Mifune, but there was nothing any mortal man, woman, or half-burned mutant could do in the face of a Sailor Senshi and her power. And there was no better time than the present to demonstrate it.

"Okay, let's give this a shot." She held the pen up high. "Jupiter Power, Make Up!"

* * *

"So, you can totally talk to them and everything?" Usagi said as she scratched the back of Phobos' head. Or was it Deimos? Both crows seemed to answer to either just to confuse her, the little smartasses. She, Naru, and Ami were gathered in Rei's room and Rei was kind enough to bring snacks for everyone, though it all looked hastily brought from various stores.

Rei nibbled on the edge of a cookie. "Yes, they're very smart and Phobos and Deimos are able to read though I don't know where they learned. Since I learned they could understand me, I've been teaching the others how to read too."

Ami, who was drawing Sailor Moon with the two birds, was fascinated. "That's incredible, have you seen any results?"

"Some, but I'm not really good. I still need to figure out a proper lesson plan." Rei replied, before she saw Ami's eyes begin to sparkle. "Huh?"

"Oh please, can I help?" Ami's eager request amused Naru and Usagi. "This is really amazing, to be able to educate an entire different species. Think of what we could learn from sentient crows!"

Rei stared at Ami; she was a little taken aback by her excitement. "Um, sure you can help me I guess…"

"Great, I can help you construct lesson plans and establish a curriculum!" Ami said as she set down her drawing pad and pulled out her super computer to begin compiling data. Naru looked over to Usagi and laughed, while Usagi just shook her head with an amused smile.

"It's a rare thing to see Ami so worked up over something. Just go with it." Naru assured Rei, who nodded back.

Naru looked over to Usagi. "So what are we going to do about Sailor Jupiter? Do you think we scared her off?"

"No, it's something else. Sailor Jupiter was Mifune, you know, that vigilante girl who hit yakuza? She stopped because someone revealed her identity and blackmailed her. She's going to be shy about giving her identity away after that."

Naru hummed. "Wait, where'd you hear that?"

"Tuxedo Kamen told me last night."

Naru let out a laugh. "Having secret meetings without our knowledge, Usagi-chan?"

"Well, I had gone out looking for him to thank him for all his help. When I did run into him, it turned out he was looking for me, and he told me some interesting things about Sailor Jupiter that she told him."

Rei was stuck on the "Thank" part. "Thank him? How'd you intend to do that?"

Usagi smiled lecherously, and Rei broke into a blush. Naru laughed.

Ami didn't like where this was going. "She might use her powers to go back to being a vigilante, and with that much power at her disposal, no one could stop her."

"I have nothing against a fellow warrior of justice," Usagi said, "But the Dark Kingdom is one thing, and a bunch of regular jack-offs are something entirely different."

Ami nodded. "So then, what do we do if she starts going after yakuza?"

Usagi folded her arms and let out a comical sigh. "Don't you worry; I just need to talk with her and everything will be fine."

Putting her arm around Ami, Naru smiled and nuzzled her. "See? There's nothing to worry about."

"Hey… Naru-chan you're in my way…" Ami, a blush on her cheeks, held up her arms so she could continue working her computer. Naru didn't let go, but instead adjusted her hold on Ami so she could comfortably work. Ami didn't protest further, and went back to working, and Naru winked to Usagi. Rei, staring at the two girls, wondered if Naru was making a move on Ami.

Ami's computer began to buzz, denoting an incoming call. "It's Luna."

"Wait, how is Luna able to use a phone?"

Phobos and Deimos shrugged their wings as Ami answered. "What is it, Luna-chan?"

"Hurry quickly! I've found Sailor Jupiter!" an alarmed Luna reported.

Usagi got up, and then turned to Naru. "Wow, sooner than I thought. Naru-chan, I'm going to need something from you."

* * *

Outside a Gentlemen's Club in Roppongi, a pair of Washimine Enforcers was sitting in their car, one of several Washimine vehicles parked outside the club. In one of the cars was Chaka, spinning the loaded cylinder of his revolver before locking it back in place, only to open it and spin it again. The man next to him looked over and smacked Chaka upside his head.

"Damn it, Chaka, don't just play with your gun like that, it's still daylight!" The other enforcer scolded.

Chaka shrugged his shoulders. "Man, it's not like nobody knows. They see the cars; they know this is a Washimine spot, and even the cops know that the boss himself is here, bless his bad heart."

Grumbling, the other enforcer gripped the steering wheel. "This is a bad situation. The Boss is still in a bad way despite his operation, if something goes wrong because of some dumb shit, he could keel over and die on the spot! Would you want that? Keep your idiot head together, and put away the damn gun, absolutely nothing can go wrong."

Both then noticed something across the street, and looked over to see Sailor Jupiter standing at the edge of the curb. The enforcer, seeing the outfit, was completely perplexed. "What the Hell is…?"

"Oh man, look at that hottie!" Chaka cried, pushing his partner's face up against the driver's side window in his effort to lean forward and get a closer look. "Damn, that skirt is short; I think I can see her panties!"

Arcs of plasma then crackled across her body, and both Yakuza froze. Chaka's eyes widened. "Wait… wait… that's…"

More arcs of electricity suddenly began to flash around her, and both men immediately realized that they were staring at the worst possible scenario.

"Oh shit."

* * *

_When I was a little girl, there was an accident that killed my parents. They were just unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time when a man decided he wanted to end his life. There were few survivors, and I was one of them._

_It turned out that the man owed the yakuza ten million yen, and his inability to pay it up pushed him into a corner he felt he couldn't escape, so he took the easy way out. Many lives were needlessly lost because of him, and his bad dealing. I found this out when I turned eleven, and when I did something just clicked in my head._

_I was strong, really strong. It was the only reason I had survived the disaster. I realized that with this strength I could do something to prevent this from happening again and bring justice to those it had happened to._

_It was foolish thinking but I had nothing to lose. I was an orphan and my extended family wanted nothing to do with me. I was shunned from the other kids and was often rejected by families looking to adopt because of silly things like my height or my headstrongness. I had nothing to live for, but justice._

_I began when I was twelve, I already had been practicing martial arts since I was five, and I never stopped. Learning to apply it to the real world was easy enough, getting a hold of quality body armor and weapons were harder but doable. My campaign started small, smashing up low-life gangs and moving on to the stray Yakuza who crossed my path was easy. When I began to make a name for myself, and got better at it, the thugs started coming to me. _

_In a few months, I had sent fifty people with hefty warrants in jail, and the police looked the other way. I had no name, but the internet was kind enough to brand me Mifune. It was my fault, I'm a big fan of his and whenever I was asked a name when in costume, I'd always make one up like the ronin in Mifune-san's movies. _

_Then I met Yukio and Ginji, her bodyguard. The Washimine Princess had fallen in love with the romance of the vigilante and she sought me out. Her father was ailing, and their group was small, she wanted reduce the Washimine to ruin, so that it would no longer weigh on his already poor health. I warned her that it would mean him going to prison but she responded that it would be fine._

_Ginji would have no part of it, but he was loyal to Yukio above all else as her protector. He probably knew the ambitions of two idealist girls was futile all along, and stepped back to watch it run its course. Whatever the case, we unleashed our combined strengths onto the rivals of the Washimine Clan, the Kousa Clan, and smashed them._

_No one knew who Mifune was, who she was working with or how she could do it. For a while, they actually thought there was more than one of me. I could barely imagine their reactions if they found out they'd been beaten into the ground by a thirteen year old girl. I destroyed half the Kousa Clan's manpower in a month, and sent some of their biggest names to jail._

_My victory over the Kousa had made me overconfident, and stupid. I never anticipated that they'd go so far but apparently I was that good. Wrecking the Kousa Clan suddenly freed up territory, and the Russians were dying to fill it to gain a foothold. The Washimine begged them for help with Kousa territory as their payment, and the Russians sent in that burnt-faced woman, and the rest is history. She found the connection between Yukio and Mifune before I had even finished with the Kousa, and she let me do damage to the Washimine to free up a little more space before she brought the hammer down._

_I don't know why I'm still alive, or what Yukio said or did that kept that woman from killing me where I stood, but it was a mistake. Now I'm even stronger, and there's no way to connect Sailor Jupiter to my real identity unless I give it away._

Staring out the window of his apartment, Mamoru weighed on what Sailor Jupiter had told him, after the two had left the other Senshi behind. He took a sip of water from the bottle he held in hand, and let out a hum.

"So you're going to get revenge," he said to himself, echoing his words as Tuxedo Kamen.

_This isn't revenge, it's just continuing what I had always intended to do. _

Mamoru rested his arms across the couch and stared at the ceiling, memories of a brilliant kingdom, its ruination, and a beautiful princess flashed through his thoughts. He repeated what he said to Sailor Jupiter.

"There are more important battles to fight as a Senshi."

_But this is my war._

Mamoru kept staring at the ceiling, and sighed. "Suit yourself."

His cell phone, situated perfectly on the coffee table in front of him, buzzed loudly and Mamoru picked it up. "Chiba, what's good?"

"It's me, Reika. You have to get to Roppongi, fast, Sailor Jupiter just steamrolled the Washimine Clan."

Mamoru's eyes widened, and then he closed them to bring his fingers up to the bridge of his nose. "Okay then, let's see what your war is like."

* * *

The doors of the Gentlemen's Club were blown off their hinges, and both clients and employees were fleeing for the fire exits as Sailor Jupiter walked in, electricity crackling in the air behind her. Running to meet her were several Yakuza, all of them quickly producing handguns.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" One of them yelled as she stared at them.

Another looked to the man who shouted. "Aniki, isn't she a Sailor Senshi?"

"I don't care if she's the fucking Superintendent General! Protect the boss!" the first man yelled as he opened fire on Sailor Jupiter. The others joined in, but the bullets never reached Sailor Jupiter, the electricity that surrounded her body vaporizing the bullets instantly.

She walked up to the men as they ran through their magazines, and they realized their guns were having no effect. Grabbing one man by the arm, she electrocuted him with a non-lethal jolt and let him fall to the ground before she waved her hand and struck the other two, hitting them both with the power of a police-taser.

They said that the boss was here, what luck. She looked past the main stage and up to the second level of the club that over looked it. The mirrored windows of the VIP room were in plain sight. From the antenna sticking from her tiara, a burst of electricity shattered them, revealing a room full of Yakuza with weapons raised and ready to fire.

Sailor Jupiter leaped through the window effortlessly, and found Tsugio Bando and his right hand Yoshida standing protectively around an older man who appeared amazingly calm despite the situation. The other men in the VIP immediately opened fire with everything from pistols to a submachine gun, and the results were the same as before. In almost the same instant she dispatched them with a burst of electricity, dropping all but Bando, Yoshida, and the older man.

"Aniki…" Yoshida sputtered to Bando, who remained collected as Sailor Jupiter turned to face them.

"Ryuzo Washimine, I am the Senshi of Jupiter, and like the God for which it is named I wield the might of Lightning. This is the end of the road for the Washimine Clan."

"You bitch!" Yoshida snapped at her. "Who do you think you are, declaring that?"

"Yoshida!" Washimine snapped, quickly silencing the younger man. "There will be no need for that."

He looked up at Sailor Jupiter. "So, it has finally come to this."

Sailor Jupiter nodded, and Washimine stood. "When word first began to go around about you girls, we all feared this day would come… when you would grow bored with your monsters and attack criminals. I see however that you have a sense of mercy. You have not killed any of these men."

"It is not my place to execute criminals. I only make them regret their life choices. You and all yakuza like you have built your lives off the pain and suffering of others. You espouse a self-serving code of honor, but in the end you're nothing but bandits and murderers who devour lives solely for your selfish benefit. That is the very definition of evil."

She pointed to him, electricity crackling up her arm to the finger she leveled to the stoic man. "Were I a lesser person, you would be a dead man where you stand."

Washimine stared back at Sailor Jupiter. "You're so young, but you carry so much pain."

Sailor Jupiter let out a snort at that assessment. "My 'pain' has nothing to do with this."

"You're someone who has lost something dear, because of the Washimine Clan, yes?" He cut her off. "That is why you're here, attacking us. Or is it yakuza in general?"

"I have no personal vendetta against you; I'm only doing what I must."

Washimine nodded, and then sat down, cross-legged. Sailor Jupiter drew her hand back. "You call yourself an agent of regret. There is not a man here who is unfamiliar with it. Mine is that my daughter cannot even bring herself to look at me anymore."

"Boss, what are you doing?" Yoshida called out, but was stopped by Bando. Sailor Jupiter paid the outburst no mind.

"She is a brilliant, beautiful girl; she loves philosophy, I can always find her in books on the subject. For her I built a lavish home, sent her to the best schools, and gave her all that she could want."

"All of it with dirty money." Sailor Jupiter did not waver; she let him speak simply to buy time for the inevitable arrival of the police.

"Yes, every yen came from this business. And for it I'm hated by the one thing that I did it all for, that is my solemn regret in this life," Washimine explained to Sailor Jupiter as he began to remove his jacket.

Sailor Jupiter snorted. "So?"

"The same hatred, I see it in your eyes. So allow me a chance to offer my life in apology."

"Boss!" Yoshida cried out, horrified. "No, don't do it! Not like this!"

"Silence, you fool!" Bando snapped at him.

Washimine rolled up his undershirt and produced from his discarded jacket a tanto, which he unsheathed. He then looked up to Sailor Jupiter. "The Washimine Clan will die with me, and it will be no more."

Sailor Jupiter stared at the man and his tanto, and then closed her eyes before she knelt down and snatched the blade from his hands. Holding it tightly in her grip, she clenched her teeth. "No, I didn't come here to watch an old man die and call it justice served."

Bando held back his emotions at Sailor Jupiter's cruel retort, and he restrained Yoshida before he could further tirade against the Senshi. Taking the Tanto by the blade, she whipped it into a wall behind her. "Your life is worthless to me."

Hearing sirens outside Sailor Jupiter turned away. "Live with your regret, and suffer old man. Yours are nothing compared to the regrets of the lives you've destroyed. Reflect on that while you're in prison."

"How dare you?!" Yoshida finally managed to yell. "He offered you his life in atonement!"

Sailor Jupiter headed for the VIP room's exit, but stopped as Yoshida continued. "Do you even realize the enormity of that you stupid bitch?!"

"I did not come here looking for anyone's apology," she answered without looking back.

Sailor Jupiter left the room. Yoshida struggled to his feet and rushed for the door. "Come back here you bitch!"

Bando got up. "Yoshida, don't throw your life away and escape!"

Yoshida looked back as Bando knelt down to help their boss to his feet. "We need to escape here through the secret passage before…"

Washimine rested a hand on Bando's arm. His free hand was clutching at his chest. "Bando, you escape as well…"

Bando looked to Washimine. "Boss, what is it?"

"That girl… she was certainly something else," Washimine said with a smile before he let out a cough. Bando quickly realized what was happening. "I can only hope that Yukio's hatred is that strong…"

* * *

Sailor Jupiter hadn't stuck around, leaving the immediate vicinity and roof hopping a fair distance away. She leaned back against a stairwell wall atop a considerably high up roof, panting softly. She had done it, the Washimine were done for. All of their leaders at one spot, and she had only intended to make a statement. Letting out a laugh, she stretched her hands above her head and looked up at the sky with a satisfied smile.

"Ne, Sailor Jupiter."

She looked over to Sailor Moon, who was leaning against the corner. "I saw what you did back there, nicely done."

Sailor Jupiter smiled back to Sailor Moon. "Thanks, look I'm sorry for not hanging out with you today. I'm just really sensitive about giving away my identity."

"It's all right, Tuxedo Kamen told me about it," Sailor Moon replied.

Sailor Jupiter pushed herself from the wall, in shock. "What? When did he-?"

"Tuxedo Kamen and I talked yesterday, after you told him your story. He told me about your war on the Washimine and how Yukio betrayed you. I understand how it can be hard to trust anyone, after that." Sailor Moon walked over to Jupiter, and patted her on the shoulder.

Sailor Jupiter sighed, and turned away. "Yes, it is. She was my friend in school, you know. Well, she was more just my senpai who tutored me, but… as Mifune we were equals, comrades almost."

She looked back at Sailor Moon. "I'm glad you understand."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Usagi Tsukino, that's my real name."

Her eyes widening, Sailor Jupiter stared at Sailor Moon in disbelief. Just like that, the spell that prevented the connection between Sailor Moon and Usagi disappeared, and it suddenly couldn't be more obvious. Sailor Jupiter's jaw fell. That violent yanki girl at the Running Dragon who she beat the crap out of regularly, she was Sailor Moon?!

Why did she not realize this sooner? "Why would you tell me that? You're an idiot!"

"I trust you. The other Senshi know who I am, you should too. You still don't have to tell me yours."

The more Sailor Jupiter stared at her counterpart, the more and more it just made sense. It was still hitting her hard. "Thank… thank you."

She then reached up and gripped right arm just above her elbow with her opposite hand. "You know, it makes perfect sense now. You're just so over the top."

"Hey, if you got it, flaunt it. Though lately I've wanted to dial it back, it's like every battle against the Dark Kingdom keeps getting wilder. The collateral damage I've caused is now in the billions of yen."

"So that's your reason for smashing a youma and everything within a half mile of it, huh, because you can?" Jupiter asked.

Sailor Moon nodded. "Yep, it sure is! But that's okay; youma can take it–humans, not so much."

"If you're worried about that, I've got plenty of control. I only used enough power to incapacitate them. I know my limits."

Nodding, Sailor Moon agreed. "I know, but we live in a very fragile world now. Even when we know our limits, something can break. Attacking yakuza like that, it'll only be a matter of time before something goes wrong. It's the reason I don't do it. I can't help myself sometimes."

"I understand… but…" Sailor Jupiter sighed. "I'll tell you like I told Tuxedo Kamen. I've made this my war, and I'm going to continue fighting it. I can't do it as Mifune, but as Sailor Jupiter I can do so much more."

Reaching into the collar of her uniform, Sailor Moon pulled out the Disguise Pen. "Sailor Jupiter should stick to fighting youma, but that doesn't mean Mifune can't come back."

The pen was offered to Sailor Jupiter, who took it and examined it. "What is it?"

"It's a disguise pen. It can disguise you however you like, and it has a few extra perks in it, like giving you the abilities of what kind of person you disguise yourself as, like a fighter pilot or a lawyer. But more importantly, no one will know it's you unless you give away your identity."

Sailor Jupiter stared in amazement. "So I can use this however I like?"

"It even changes your gender. Trust me, I've tried it."

Amazing, so this was how she became G-Money USA and that Insult Comic woman. The possibilities were already running through Sailor Jupiter's mind. "Incredible…"

Sailor Moon let out a small laugh. "So, continue your battle Mifune, and if you're in a bind just call down the thunder as Jupiter. I was a little worried when I heard what you were up to, but…"

Sailor Moon smiled big. "You're a warrior of justice worthy to fight alongside Kamen Raider."

Sailor Jupiter smiled back, and they both shared gentle laughter. Then, Sailor Moon turned and began to walk away. "Well then, I'd better be going then. When you're done with the pen, just bring it to the Hikawa Shrine and drop it off there."

"Actually… I can give it back to you next time we meet at the Running Dragon." Sailor Jupiter called. When Sailor Moon looked back, Jupiter took a deep breath. "It's me, you know, 'Miss Tokyo Tower'?"

It was Sailor Moon's turn to be surprised as it all clicked. "No way… Mako-chan? Oh wow, this… oh my God… why didn't I realize it sooner?"

Sailor Moon buried her face in her palm and laughed. "Of course you'd be a Sailor Senshi! Why didn't I realize it when I came up with my oh-so-brilliant way of figuring out possible Senshi? You're the only girl I've ever met who's beaten me in a fight! I should've had you figured out on the spot!"

Folding her arms, Sailor Jupiter smiled smugly. "Just like how I should've realized a nut-job like you would be a nut-job like Usagi."

"Well then, now you're definitely meeting with us tomorrow at the Hikawa Shrine. I don't want any excuses!" Sailor Moon quickly declared.

Remembering her conversation with her Probation Officer, Sailor Jupiter's smile turned into a big grin. "Oh, you're definitely going to see more of me really soon. I'll see you tomorrow, Sailor Moon."

The two Sailor Senshi, exchanging farewells, quickly took off in different directions. Sailor Moon hopped across a few rooftops before she landed next to a large air conditioning unit. Hiding behind it, present but out of earshot the entire time, was Tuxedo Kamen.

"Thanks, sexy," Sailor Moon said as she looked to him.

"You didn't tell her to stop, did you?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

"You and I aren't in any position to tell her to stop. We're all warriors of justice."

Tuxedo Kamen conceded to that, and turned to leave. "You're right. Well then, I'm off. Take care of yourself."

Sailor Moon called after him. "Wait, Tuxedo Kamen, before you go…"

He turned his head to look back, and was immediately kissed by Sailor Moon. It was brief, but she made up for it by being very aggressive with it, and when she pulled away Tuxedo Kamen was speechless. Licking her lips, Sailor Moon smirked.

"That's my gratitude for all your help, see you." She turned and leaped off into the approaching night.

Tuxedo Kamen watched her go, then pulled the brim of his top hat over his eyes and let out a chuckle. "God damn… she's even an amazing kisser."

* * *

Sailor Jupiter had returned home and sat down on the bed in her small apartment. Lying back after transforming back, she held up her transformation pen in one hand, and then looked to the disguise pen in the other before letting both hands fall to her sides. She could be a disguise master now, like Cutie Honey or Sokichi Banba. Her options were completely unlimited, but more importantly… she had allies now, people she could maybe call friends.

"Sailor Moon… Usagi Tsukino…" She smiled. "I thought I had a good feeling about you."

There was a knock at the door, and Makoto sat up quickly. The only person who knew where she lived was her Probation Officer, who'd be at her door at this time of night? Quickly stashing away both pens, she got up and rushed to the door before securing the chain lock and slowly cracking the door. "Who is it?"

She froze when she saw a giant of a man standing out in the hall. Unlocking the door, she opened it to find Ginji standing in the doorway. "… How the Hell did you find this…?"

"Makoto-san…" Yukio Washimine then said from behind Ginji. "… I'm sorry to disturb you so late, but…"

Gripping the door, Makoto prepared to slam it in their faces, when she saw that Yukio appeared worn out, emotionally exhausted. Gripping the bottom of her school uniform's shirt, Yukio sighed. "I just wanted to tell you that the Washimine is no more. A Sailor Senshi attacked during a meeting and Father…"

Makoto stared at Yukio, dreading exactly what she said next. "… And the shock was so much that he had a heart attack, and died. It's all over now; you have nothing to fear from us anymore."

Her green eyes growing wide, Makoto stood frozen in the doorway, as Yukio politely bowed and turned to leave… her bodyguard nodding to her and following him.

* * *

Far, far away, removed from the drama occurring in Tokyo, there was darkness, only darkness and the familiar sound rushing water. Eyes cracked open, and their owner realized that he was submerged in it and it was swirling around his body in unnatural ways, with currents going in entirely opposite directions across his body. The velocity of the water and its pressure held him in place but it wasn't distressing. He felt safe here, like he was wrapped in a warm embrace. His eyes drifted closed again.

"Jadeite…"

They then shot open again, and Jadeite found himself staring at Thetis. She was in her human form and suspended in the swirling water directly in front of him. He realized that she was also entirely nude, and so was he. He opened his mouth to speak, and found that he could. "What's happening? Where am I?"

"You were incinerated by Sailor Mars, you almost died. But Nephrite saved you at the last moment." Thetis responded, her voice echoing in the water.

Jadeite didn't remember that, he couldn't remember a lot of things, only up to the day of the first disappearance. "I can't remember…"

"That's understandable; there was a lot of damage." Thetis embraced him, and Jadeite realized that despite the fire he was perfectly fine.

"My body, it's intact."

Thetis nodded. "I was able to heal you by giving you my energy. I've been weakened quite a bit because of you."

Jadeite was in disbelief at the enormity of Thetis' sacrifice. To bring him back from the verge of death very well could've killed her. "Thetis…"

His arms circled the youma's waist, and he pulled her closer to him. The water's temperature seemed to increase with the blush that spread across her face, and she looked down at his chest. "Jadeite, there is something we should discuss."

Jadeite hummed. "What is it?"

"Murid, Ramua, and the others, we don't want to lose you. We came very close to this, and after Kigaan was defeated we realized that we can't beat the Senshi. They're too strong. So… we want to switch sides, and we want you to lead us."

Jadeite stared down at Thetis, and tightened his hold on her. "I should kill you for even thinking that, Thetis. Treason is unforgivable."

"Yes, but you care much more about your subordinates than you do for your superiors."

Moment passed, and Jadeite rested his chin atop her head. "I'll put together a plan for the defection, and then I'll cut my own ties to the Dark Kingdom."

Thetis smiled, and then nodded. She dispelled the water and Jadeite found that he was sitting atop a pedestal that the water, in the form of an orb, had been suspending him. He looked to the base of the water where he found Murid, Ramua, and his other remaining youma Balm, Iguara, and Kyurene waiting expectantly. Beyond them, leaning against a wall in the chamber, was another General of the Dark Kingdom, and his comrade, Nephrite.

"Nephrite…" Jadeite said as his relieved youma gathered around him and Thetis. "… Thank you."

Nephrite cut him off. "Don't thank me just yet; I've only pulled you out of the fire to put you back in the pan."

Jadeite and the other youma froze, as Nephrite revealed the last thing any of them wanted to hear. "Queen Beryl wants to have a word with you."

* * *

Usagi: Going out and fighting bad guys is fun and all, but it really should be left to the professionals, those that do it for a living.

Makoto: So support your local Fire, Police, and Medical services and don't forget those who serve in the armed forces.

Usagi: These people don't have cosmic powers of massive destruction, but they courageously put their lives on the line every day nevertheless. Those that put the lives of others ahead of their own are the true heroes at the end of every day. This is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Everyone: Sailor Moon Says!


	11. Relations Ship

Disclaimer: I'm bringing funny back (Yeah!)

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Relations Ship

_The Lust Boat~!_

**[10.]**

Properly cleaned up in a new uniform and everything, Jadeite entered the heart of the palace of the Dark Kingdom, a fortress that was currently lying beneath the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at a location human authorities have labeled as D Point. The heart of the palace was a massive chamber that held thousands of youma that had been drawn from all over the world to the dark force that rest here. At the center of the chamber lay the tomb of that dark force, Queen Metalia, and atop that tomb was the throne of her champion, Queen Beryl.

He teleported, traversing the youma horde instantly and appearing directly before the throne and suddenly the room felt much smaller like it was just him and her now. Beryl was on her throne, fiddling with a tablet PC.

"This era's technology seems so primitive compared to the old days," Beryl said in an aloof tone. She seemed a stark contrast to the well-dressed Generals and the gaudy, exotic attire of the youma, the Queen of the Dark Kingdom was dressed like an office lady on casual Friday.

She noticed Jadeite, and sighed. "But, it's still useful and that's important. Hello Jadeite, it's nice to see you're well, I was worried about you."

Jadeite bowed his head. "Thank you, my Queen. How may I serve you?"

Beryl set her tablet aside and steeped her fingers. "I'm going to go straight to the point, Jadeite. Lately your operation has been getting manhandled by Sailor Moon and your inability to deal with the threat is painfully obvious. To be frank, she's kicking the shit out of you and by extension us."

It was true; Jadeite didn't even bother to defend himself. Beryl continued. "But you're not alone at least. Our North American operation was smashed to bits and Adonis was killed, and now that Sailor V chick is giving Nephrite trouble in Europe. This is just from _one_ who seems to be very adept at making powerful allies wherever she goes. You're going up against four, maybe even five, plus their helpful and handsomely dressed boy-toy."

Jadeite looked up from his bow. "Wait… Adonis is dead?"

"Well, yeah," Beryl replied as though it was a minor thing she forgot to mention. "He couldn't pull it in this organization and that's what happens to those who can't. That's also why I had Nephrite pull you out of the fire when you were given the Richard Pryor experience."

Jadeite stared at her. "What?"

Beryl let out a groan. "I forgot, I'm talking to a man reborn as Japanese. I had your life spared because you can do something Nephrite, Kunzite, and especially Zoisite can't. You can gather energy from large amounts of people in a non-lethal fashion."

Jadeite nodded, and Beryl went on. "I can't have scores of people dying left and right where they shouldn't be. The American Southwest I could get away with, Mexico covers up things nicely, Europe with its Wizards, Nazis, and Vampires can also be swept under the rug, and the Middle East speaks for itself."

"You, by comparison, have a cleaner and much more difficult job that makes you an invaluable asset. However, because Queen Serenity–the whore–had one Hell of a sense of humor and decided to have four of her strongest soldiers be reborn as fucking Japanese, we've been hit right in our soft underbelly."

Jadeite was… a little offended. "It's really more a case of bad luck, than anything else, my Queen."

"I know that, I'm just frustrated and I needed to vent," Beryl replied after an annoyed sigh.

"I had expected the Senshi to reappear where the battles were fiercest. Where lives were actually being lost wholesale and they could be brought down quickly by experienced and battle-tested youma like Zoisite's."

Jadeite nodded and finished. "Instead, they appeared in the one place you didn't want them, where they could fight against youma in no condition for an actual battle and gain experience and strength."

Beryl clapped her hands. "That's right. This is our problem and now we must rectify it."

"Do you intend to send stronger youma?" Jadeite asked.

Beryl shook her head. "I'm going to send a stronger general to deal with the Senshi while you continue your work. Nephrite is going to be reassigned to Japan and focus solely on destroying the Senshi."

This was good, and bad. On one hand, Jadeite and Nephrite were good friends and he could probably avoid any suspicions, but on the other Nephrite was cunning himself and had a great deal of experience. This was going to complicate his plans. "I see, thank you my Queen."

Beryl picked up her tablet PC and began messing with it again. "However, given how your last schemes have gone, I'm going to have to step in personally on your next one."

"What?" Jadeite froze. How was she going to get involved? This was even worse…

"Oh don't look so trepid, this isn't an episode of 'Undercover Boss'; I'm not going to actually take part. I just happen to have a plan you can use to gain the maximum amount of energy to fill your current quota."

Jadeite stared at her, and Beryl groaned. "I lost you at 'Undercover Boss' didn't I?"

"Yes, my Queen."

Beryl buried her face in her palm and sighed. "Why did you have to be Japanese? I found Kunzite in Toronto. Toronto! I didn't even have to drive that far!"

She lowered her hand. "Jadeite, do you know what humans expend the most energy on in their lifetimes? This is an easy question, with an easy answer."

Even Jadeite knew the answer to that one. "That's an easy one, courtship."

Beryl clapped her hands together. "That's right, and what better source of energy than hundreds of people desperately wanting to get laid?"

With a wave of her hand, she levitated the tablet PC and floated it over to Jadeite for him to look. "Nephrite the rich son of a bitch, managed to purchase a cruise liner for my plan. It's very simple, you host a singles party on the ship, use some 'Libido Enhancement' to ramp up their baser desires, and then collect all of the delicious energy they're going to expend in the process."

That was actually quite brilliant. Why didn't Jadeite think of that? Nevertheless, it actually gave him and his youma the perfect way out. "It's an excellent plan, but why don't we kill two birds with one stone?"

"I'm all ears." Beryl replied.

Jadeite took the tablet out of the air and began to examine the details of the plan. "Why don't we lure the Sailor Senshi onto the boat? We bring aboard some youma, charge them up with the collected energy and then put the Senshi in a situation where they're handicapped. They can't expect to go full-power on a boat full of people in the middle of the ocean, can they?"

Beryl mulled over this, and hummed in approval. "Fund it! If anything does go wrong, it can be written off as a disaster at sea, maybe even blamed on the Senshi! Jadeite, this is why I kept you around, you can make a good plan better."

"Thank you, my Queen." Jadeite said as he bowed reverently.

"Take Nephrite with you, and any youma you think you'll need for the mission," Beryl said, before someone called out.

"Oh! Can I help?" Jadeite's blood ran cold when he heard Zoisite's voice.

Beryl looked over to Zoisite, floating in the air surrounded by his pretty little cherry blossom petals. Jadeite was swearing in four different languages in his mind all at once. Zoisite continued. "My plant trio has been looking for a little payback against Sailor Moon."

It went up to six different languages when Beryl began to hum in actual consideration. Jadeite's rage almost boiled over when Beryl decided why the hell not. "You know what? Sure! Zoisite you get out there and tear it up. However, Jadeite's in charge of the operation and Nephrite's second in command, you don't do anything unless they tell you to."

Zoisite pouted in annoyance. "Fine, I guess. I'll behave, but once any fighting starts I won't be held responsible for my actions~!"

Jadeite raised his hand. "My Queen, reconsider. Zoisite isn't the right one for this mission, he-"

"Has three youma that were trained by the DD Girls at his command. I want every base covered, and there's no such thing a bad redundancy in a crucial operation."

Still she was sure he was going to still bitch about it, so just in case, Beryl turned to Zoisite. "Zoisite?"

"Yes, my Queen?" Zoisite asked before Beryl raised her hand and suddenly blasted him with a beam of dark energy that knocked him out of the air. Jadeite watched, as the dark energy that she struck Zoisite with spread out and then began to gather around his neck, forming a black, collar-like ring around it.

She then turned to Jadeite, and snapped her fingers. A small crystal dropped from the air and came to float in front of Jadeite. "If he or his youma misbehave, simply use this and Zoisite will be punished accordingly."

Jadeite took the crystal, and looked at it. "Punished? What can this do to him that Zoisite isn't already into?"

"You'd be amazed," Beryl said as Zoisite got up, not at all looking happy with his new predicament. "There are things even a twisted little deviant like him can't stand, we all have our weaknesses."

She stared pointedly at Jadeite. "… And I know all of yours."

Jadeite couldn't avoid her gaze, and when he saw her red eyes he was consumed with an all encompassing fear. Those unnatural eyes, filled with wrath that burned like the surface of the sun, there was nothing more terrifying than to look Queen Beryl in hers. Seeing his reaction, she smiled and nodded.

"Now get out of my sight. I don't want to see you again until the mission is complete." Beryl ordered.

"Yes my Queen!" Both Jadeite and Zoisite vanished in a flash, and Beryl summoned her tablet back to her. Opening up a program, she sat back on her throne and sighed.

"… It's been forever since I've been laid." She pulled her stylus out of the PC and began to manipulate the cursor. Tapping the stylus on the screen, she hummed. "You know what? I think I should go out tonight."

She looked out to her court of youma. "What do you guys think?"

A chorus of "Yes" and "Sure, why not" sounded. Beryl tossed her tablet behind her throne and got up. "Forget Farmville, then, I'm going to go get some dick!"

* * *

"A Scooby Doo villain wouldn't fall for this trap." In a booth at Fruits Parlor Crown, an indignant Usagi was seated with Ami, Naru, and Rei. Rei and Naru were on one side, and Usagi and Ami were on the other. They were going over an unsettling promotion that began to air several nights ago for a Singles Party aboard a luxury cruise liner.

Ami set her computer and played the advertisement again. Shots of a luxury cruise liner, its interior and related imagery began to appear as Jadeite narrated. "Are you single? Are you hungry like the wolf? Or are you looking to add a third, or fourth, or even eighth to your complex relationship? Well Stanton Cruise Lines flagship, the M/S _Maxfield_, is hosting a Singles Party on an all night excursion. Once we cross into International Waters, there's no telling what we'll get up to."

"That's really him… that Jadeite guy," Rei said in disbelief when she saw Jadeite, dressed as the captain of the ship, standing side by side with Thetis in her human form. "How'd he survive?"

"He probably bailed at the last second," Usagi suggested over Jadeite's voice as he talked about all of the features the cruise had to offer. "You'll get him next time."

Puffing up her cheeks, Rei pumped a fist as fire flashed in her eyes. "You're damn right I will!"

Usagi nodded in agreement before she leaned back against the booth. "You'll have your chance when we take up Jadeite on his little cruise."

"Wait. We're going into his trap?" Rei asked. Next to her, Naru removed her shoes and began to kick her feet idly.

Ami nodded. "We have no choice. Either we face him head on or he makes off with energy from scores of people."

Usagi smirked. "It's less of a trap and more of an open challenge when you think about it, and who are we to turn down a challenge? I mean, I'm never running from a real fight."

Naru looked over, and then smiled. "Speaking of real fights, here's your favorite."

Usagi followed Naru's gaze and sure enough there was Mamoru entering the restaurant from the stairs with Shingo and Reika in tow. As they walked past, in the middle of conversing among themselves, Usagi petulantly remarked. "Ugh, that's just what I need, some garbage to walk in and ruin my appetite."

Mamoru looked down at Usagi and smirked. "Huh, you're in a bad mood, did you get dumped?"

"That's none of your business." She looked to Shingo. "Why do you hang out with this guy?"

"Because we share mutual interests, and Lord knows I need an older role model who isn't a psychopath. Also, I think your friend there's had a meltdown."

Everyone looked to Rei, who was staring up at Mamoru like he was the most beautiful thing to ever have walked the planet. He was, at least in her and Mamoru's opinions. "So handsome… so tall…"

He even had hair as dark as a crow's feathers. Yes, he was definitely her type of guy. "H-Hi! I'm Rei, are you single?"

Usagi pointed at Rei, horrified. "Treason!"

Ami sighed. "Here we go…"

Naru only smiled and watched the exchange, while she raised her feet off the floor beneath the table. A moment later, Ami jumped and then looked at her in surprise.

Rei, realizing what she said, quickly backtracked. "I mean, I didn't mean to intrude. Just a guy who's really handsome like you has to have a really beautiful girlfriend and stuff I mean unless you're not into girls and you have a really handsome boyfriend–but I don't mean any offense! I was just saying but if you're not seeing anyone I guess that's fine too, not that I was asking or anything…"

Rei buried her face in her hands to hide the blush that had erupted across her face over the course of her babbling. "Oh God I did it again."

Shingo just stared at Rei, in seven kinds of disbelief. Reika held fingers to her lips to stifle her giggle. Usagi and Mamoru had the same expressions on their face as they beheld the blushing Miko.

_So cute…_ Usagi thought.

_… I want to hug her and tell her everything will be okay…_ Mamoru thought. He snapped out of it and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not offended. I'm actually very single and I am amazed that one of the Dango-head's friends can be this cute."

A soft wisp of steam rose from the top of Rei's head as she peeked up over her fingers at Mamoru. Her face was completely flushed now. Steam was coming Usagi too, from her ears and nostrils as she got up to her feet and into Mamoru's face.

"Make another pass you bald-headed creep! If you so much as think about Rei-chan with that suave, sexy as ell look on your face again I'll show you a world of pain God only knows, you got that?!"

Mamoru just smirked as Usagi glared at him with all of her hate. Rather than escalate, Mamoru chuckled and turned away. "Let's go find a table, you guys, hopefully on the other side of the room."

Reika let out a pleased sound and followed happily, while Shingo grumbled something about Mamoru and Usagi shutting up and screwing already. Thankfully, Usagi didn't hear it. "Yeah, walk away… sexy bitch."

She sat down next to Ami and sighed. "Anyway… we should totally try to get hold of some tickets and infiltrate the ship."

"But Usagi-chan," Naru seemed amused by something as she talked. "The cruise is already sold out, isn't it? And besides if it wasn't it's age restricted and we only have one disguise pen."

Usagi grinned. "You mean one disguise pen and one cosplay artist skilled in the ways of makeup and dress-up."

She turned to Ami, as if to indicate her, but found that she had her head bowed down and she was gripping her computer in one hand while the other was clamped on the edge of the table. Her face was as red as Rei's was a moment ago, and she was taking deep, steadying breaths. "Uh… Ami-chan, are you okay…?"

Usagi stopped, looked down at Ami's lap, and then to Naru, who was sitting directly across from Ami. "Ah. If uh…you two want to go finish up in the girl's bathroom we can wait."

Ami quickly nodded, and moved to get up. Both Rei and Usagi got up to let them out and both girls quickly retreated off to the ladies room. Sitting back down Rei innocently looked after both girls and then to Usagi. "What just happened? I don't get it."

"You're adorable Rei. How about I get you some ice cream?"

"Oh, all right I guess" Rei replied, and Usagi raised her hand to call the waitress.

* * *

A little while later, the four girls left Fruits Parlor Crown. Rei figured out what had happened fairly quickly when Ami and Naru had returned with the former's hair tousled up and her clothes slightly askew. She wanted to go on a mini-tirade about such lewd behavior, but she had long since meeting Usagi and her friends accepted that this was them. Furthermore, her mouth was full of hot fudge brownie sundae; it would've just been rude.

"My legs are still shaking…" Ami purred as she leaned against Usagi for support as they walked towards the Hikawa Shrine.

Usagi looked to Naru, who had a sunny smile on her face. "You've completely given yourself to madness, haven't you?"

Naru was without a hint of shame. "You're an awful influence, Usagi-chan. I should punish you later."

A crowd was building in front of a small convenience store and the banners quickly explained it. They were having a contest for the few remaining tickets available to get on the boat. Usagi let out a hum. "Hey, it looks like we have a way in."

Indeed, for even as they watched Makoto was trying her hand, spinning the box and hoping for a gold marble to come out. Unfortunately, a red marble rolled out and Makoto was handed some complimentary soaps. "Darn… well, so much for that."

Taking her soaps, she turned to go to the back of the crowd when she noticed Usagi and the others. "Oh! Usagi-chan, how's it going?"

"Fine, uh…" Usagi stopped when she saw Makoto was in a black formal dress. "… Just get back from a funeral?"

Makoto nodded. "Yes, actually, Ryuzo Washimine's funeral was today."

Usagi nodded. She had heard about his death from a heart-attack induced by Sailor Jupiter's sudden appearance. It had shaken Makoto pretty badly, but the old man was in poor health anyway. Any severe shock could've taken him down, it was just bad luck it had to her.

"Wow, and you went?" Ami asked.

Makoto recalled stopping Yukio as she left, and inviting her and Ginji in for tea. By the end of the night, some of the old wounds had been mended; enough that she chose to attend the funeral. "I wanted to."

"That's so kind of you," Rei said as she stared up at Makoto. She had known her for a few days now but still couldn't get over how larger than life she was… in all ways.

Makoto smiled to Rei and then looked over to the contest. "Thanks. Anyway, have you guys had any luck finding a way onto the ship?"

Usagi shook her head. "Unfortunately no, we might have to sneak on."

Rei looked at the contest and hummed. "Let me try."

With that, Rei left the group and headed over to the stand. After paying the man to play, she stepped up to the box and gripped the handle. Usagi, Naru, Ami, and Makoto all watched as she raised one hand and began to focus her energies. Then, with a single quarter-turn of the handle, Rei watched as the golden ball rolled out and onto the tray.

Makoto stared. "No way, just like that?"

"That's amazing!" Naru and Usagi called as the man running the contest happily announced Rei as the winner. Receiving her tickets, Rei bounded back over and held them up. Usagi immediately caught Rei in a hug.

"Rei, how did you do that?" She asked as she looked at the two tickets.

Rei smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I just used my powers to locate the gold marble. It was just a simple turn of the handle after that."

She then held up the tickets. "But at least now we have a way in!"

Ami looked at the tickets. "There are only tickets for two of us, though. What do we do about that?"

Usagi hummed and then snapped her fingers. "I have an idea and it's going to be awesome."

She looked to Rei and Ami. "You two take the tickets and get on the ship when it sets sail."

She then turned to Makoto and Naru. "The two of you, are going to come with me. We're going to need a few things."

Makoto hummed. "Like what?"

Usagi grinned. "Like a helicopter."

* * *

The next evening, the M/S _Maxfield_ was riding at anchor and in the process of boarding. Already present on the ship was Mamoru, who went straight to his quarters and rattled out a text message to Motoki and Reika. _"I'm aboard the Maxfield and in my quarters. I'm sure they won't act until we're far out to sea."_

He waited a few moments and a text came back from Motoki. _"You keep us posted, and be careful out there, Mamoru."_

Mamoru cleared his phone's messages and pocketed it. Since nothing was going to go down until they left, he may as well go out and mingle. Maybe he'd get some action out of it, it'd been a while.

After handing over their tickets and showing proof that they were above the age limit, Ami and Rei were in with the crowd heading up the steps to the _Maxfield_. Rei was nervous about getting on a boat with so many people, and she was having difficulty hiding it as she held on to Ami's arm.

Ami looked to her. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not." Rei was just loud enough for Ami to hear. "I'm beginning to wish I had gone with Usagi and Makoto had gone with you."

"Usagi picked us because we both don't attract attention. As long as we stay out of the way, no one will notice us and we can move about the ship as we please before we have to act. You can do this, all right? Let's just relax and enjoy ourselves."

"Enjoy ourselves…" Rei then heard cawing, and looked up to its source. A group of crows were perched on a crane nearby, flapping their wings and making a general racket to see her off. "Oh, you guys…"

At the top of the steps they were greeted by the handsome captain and his officers, all who happened to be gorgeous women. Jadeite immediately nodded to the next group of boarders and repeated the greeting he had performed several times before. "Welcome aboard the M/S _Maxfield_, I am your Captain Jun Taitou. Tonight we're going to have a lovely cruise out into Tokyo Bay. The weather will be clear with calm seas. The ball room, restaurants, and other recreational areas are located on the A through C decks, but feel free to explore the ship yourselves. Please enjoy your stay aboard the _Maxfield_; we will take good care of you."

Rei wanted to transform right there and incinerate the guy. That was definitely Jadeite. Still, she maintained her composure as she, Ami, and the other guests with them bowed graciously before him.

As the group went off, Jadeite brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I accept that this is the role I must play but damn it, this is monotonous."

"I agree. It wasn't as fun as when we first got the boat and sailed it here." Balm, a rather unfortunate looking youma who was quite beautiful in her human form, said aside to Jadeite.

The other youma giggled as they recalled the trip to port. Jadeite pulled his cap down over his eyes to hide the flush spreading over his face. "Any of you mention that again and I'm scrubbing the plan."

The youma Kyurene said as she held up a touch-screen phone "I guess it would be bad then if I pointed out it's already on the internet."

Jadeite snatched the phone from her and looked in disbelief. "You filmed it?!"

"Why not, you and Nephrite were having so much fun" Kyurene said. "Not every day I…"

She cleared her throat and then spoke as though she were speaking through an auto-tuner. "Get to use my auto-tune~!"

"I hate all of you." Jadeite grumbled, though he didn't mean that at all. His youma all laughed again. "Now shape up, we have a cover to protect."

"Yes, yes, we'll never forget that we're on a boat." Murid taunted before Jadeite pulled her cap down over her eyes. "Hey!"

"I'll never live this down." Jadeite was resisting the urge to smile himself, though. The doors opened and the next crowd came aboard, regaining their composure, Jadeite and the crew performed their greeting.

Up on the bridge of the _Maxfield_, Nephrite was with Thetis and Zoisite, overseeing the operation from above. Thetis, who was using her magic to operate nearly every aspect of the ship, received a report from below. "Nephrite, we are nearly at capacity. We'll be setting out in due time."

Nephrite nodded. "Good. Have the final arrangements been made?"

"Of course, nearly everything from the food to the drinking water has been laced with the appropriate amount of… encouragement." Thetis couldn't help her giggle. "This is going to be quite the party. Are you planning on joining it when it gets underway?"

Nephrite shook his head. "I don't want to be caught with my pants down when the Senshi arrive, so no thanks."

"Oh, then can I go play?" Zoisite asked.

"No," both Nephrite and Thetis quickly replied.

"Kunzite would let me have fun, damn it!" Zoisite yelled.

"Kunzite isn't here. We want people's energy, not traumatize them with your sadomasochistic kinks. You're here to kill the Senshi, and no one else. Remember that," Nephrite warned.

Zoisite huffed petulantly. "You're holding a buffet right in front of me and telling me I can't eat! I'm starving, Nephrite, starving!"

"He's going to be like this all night, isn't he?" Thetis asked.

Nephrite nodded and took a sip of wine from a quietly summoned glass. "What an annoying little bitch."

"Just for that? One of these days I'm going to kill you," Zoisite snapped at Nephrite.

* * *

In no time, the _Maxfield_ departed and began its excursion out into Tokyo Bay. Many miles away, at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Sailor Jupiter was expressing her disbelief at where Sailor Moon's plan had gone. "Okay, Sailor Moon, when you said a helicopter, I wasn't expecting this, I really wasn't."

"For a mission of this importance, nothing short of a full blown military helicopter can do!" Sailor Moon replied as she and Jupiter walked up to the Maritime Defense Forces helicopter that would be taking them out to the _Maxfield_. Sitting in the pilot's seat was Naru, taking the form of a female Maritime Defense Forces chopper pilot with the required skills.

Climbing aboard, they found Luna waiting on the bench with a pair of noise-cancellers on her head. Sitting down, both Sailor Moon and Jupiter donned similar headgear, and the former called to Luna. "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course I am! This is so exciting, let's go and do this already!"

Sailor Moon looked up to the front. "Naru-chan, we're ready when you are!"

Looking back, Naru nodded and winked before she lifted off and flew the helicopter in the direction of the _Maxfield_.

* * *

Rei had never been on a boat before, and it showed with how she tried to keep her footing on the gently rocking vessel. Ami, who had plenty of experience on the water, could only watch with amusement as Rei leaned against a wall to keep from falling over. "Ami, why do people like this stuff? Can't they just have a normal party in a hotel as far away from the ocean as possible?"

"Don't give the enemy ideas. Maybe you'll do better after we've eaten."

"Eat?" Rei turned to Ami. "I wouldn't eat any food on a ship controlled by the enemy, it could be poisoned! Or it could turn us into youma! Or what if the boat suddenly sinks and I have to swim? I could get a cramp!"

Ami covered Rei's mouth when people began to stare at the panicking girl. "Easy, Rei-chan, don't attract attention! If there's anything harmful in the food for human consumption, anything at all, then my computer will detect it."

"I can't help it, I'm afraid of the ocean," Rei admitted, before she quickly retreated from her statement. "I mean, I don't like being on boats."

Ami was surprised. "You're afraid of the ocean…?"

"No I'm not!" Under Ami's scrutiny Rei gave up. "Okay, I am! But the ocean is hundreds, thousands of feet deep and it's dark, and there are sharks and giant squid and jellyfish and Godzilla and pirates! Pirates Ami! And not like Jack Sparrow or the Straw Hat Pirates! I'm talking about the mean pirates who shoot RPGs and take their hostages to Africa!"

Ami lightly slapped Rei. "Snap out of it! You're overreacting!"

Rei slapped Ami back, not as lightly. "Don't slap me!"

Grabbing Rei by the shoulders, Ami let out a long sigh and shook her head. "Rei-chan, this goes against everything I stand for, but I think you need a drink before you cause a scene and get us thrown off the boat."

Rei paled. "Thrown off? They can do that? Make you walk the p-plank?"

She was completely clueless about cruise lines, which Ami could use to her advantage. "Yes. So let's go to the restaurant and get you a drink to calm you down."

"O-okay, I'm so sorry Ami… I'm just not used to being around so many people, and on the ocean no less…" Rei lamented as they got away from the crowds on the deck overlooking the sea and went to the interior of the ship.

_I thought this would be the easy side of the job, but now I realize that I'm the one watching the socially inept miko whose best friends are crows._

"This is so embarrassing, so embarrassing…" Rei grieved as they approached the restaurant, Ami pushing her along as she buried her face in her hands. "I wish I could just transform now and… oof!"

Neither had been paying attention, and they had bumped into someone waiting in line to eat. Rei immediately looked up, her face flushed. "Oh no, I'm so sorry I… eep!"

Rei's apology had died on her tongue when Mamoru turned to look down at them, and her blush spread almost entirely across her face. "Ah! Y-you're the guy that Usagi hates!"

"Sure she does," Ami quietly said.

Mamoru stared at the two girls, and then smiled. "Ah, you're the cute girls who joined Dango-head's gang. How's that working out for you?"

"Great! I mean, the gang's okay but–no! We're not a gang!" Rei was already overwhelmed; Mamoru was just too good-looking for her to maintain any sort of composure.

Seeing this, Ami intervened. "That's right, I'm classmates with Usagi and Rei is a mutual friend. My name is Ami, and yours?"

Ami blushed when Mamoru turned his smile onto her. "My name's Mamoru, and Dango-head and I just have this weird mutually antagonistic thing going on. We don't really hate each other; at least I don't think we do."

Both girls nodded in understanding, before Rei asked. "So… uh… what brings you aboard?"

Mamoru made no intention to hide his intentions. "The same thing everyone else here wants."

Rei actually swooned, while Ami covered her face to hide her blush and mask her giggle. "You're a dangerous man, Mamoru-san."

"I'm not that dangerous." Mamoru assured before the restaurant's greeter called to him.

"Sir we have a table for you, party of three?" The young woman asked.

Mamoru looked to both girls and then gestured to them. "Care to join me for dinner?"

Now that they were out to sea, they couldn't waste time flirting, Ami reminded herself. Rei, however, was completely taken in. "Of course we can! Come on, Ami!"

"Wait, what?" Ami asked before Rei enthusiastically dragged her after Mamoru and their server. "Rei!"

Mamoru glanced back at Rei briefly and then focused on the mission at hand. His mind was at work as he praised the providence of running into Sailor Mars. _If Sailor Mars is here, that means the Senshi must be keen to the plot at hand. It has to be that, I'd expect nothing less from you, Sailor Moon. I'd better stick around with her_

Ami just let out a sigh as she was dragged along; she may as well go with it. Hopefully the Dark Kingdom acted soon.

* * *

"Some folks are born made to wave the flag, ooh they're red white and blue!" Sailor Moon sang along to the music in her headphones as she sat at the machine gun position on the helicopter, which skimmed the waves of Tokyo Bay. "And the band plays 'Hail to the Chief' ooh they point the cannon at you, lord."

Seated on the bench, Sailor Jupiter was playing air guitar as Luna nodded her head and joined Sailor Moon in the chorus. "It ain't me! It ain't me! I ain't no senator's son, son!"

"It ain't me, it ain't me!" Sailor Jupiter joined the other two. "I ain't no fortunate one, no!"

In the front seat, Naru let out a laugh when she heard their voices over the music in her ears. So this was "Helicopter Flying Music" as Luna called it. "Luna! We're approaching the _Maxfield_; I'm going to bring us up to pass in front of its course in five minutes!"

"Okay!" Luna called out before rejoining the singing.

Guiding the helicopter in a gentle turn, Naru began to make the approach. Their part of the plan was simple. Naru would drop Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter in front of the _Maxfield_ so they could swim for the ship and board it.

From there, all Naru and Luna would be able to do is watch and hope everything went perfectly. She had to admit though; this was way too much fun. Sitting back and raising the helicopter just a little higher over the water, she kept aware of the instruments and the sky in front of her as she joined the others. "It ain't me, it ain't me! I ain't no millionaire's son no, no! It ain't me, it ain't me! I ain't no fortunate one, no!"

* * *

Back on shore at Motoki's apartment, Motoki was lying in bed checking his phone. "Mamoru hasn't checked in. Knowing him he's already fighting."

From beyond Motoki's bathroom door, Reika called. "Or he's trying to pick up some girls and enjoying himself before he decides the party needs to get a little crazy."

Motoki laughed. "Yeah it's probably that. He's gone a while without a girl now."

"How long is a while?"

"Six, maybe seven months now, I haven't seen him with anyone since he began doing the Tuxedo Kamen thing." Motoki said. "He doesn't want anyone else on the outside getting too close, you know? I mean, there are already three of us who know his identity."

Reika let out a gentle laugh. "Or maybe he just hasn't found a girl because his tastes are too strict. He's still fond of delicate, cute girls isn't he?"

Motoki laughed and immediately thought of Usagi. "Aside from one glaring anomaly, yes those are his type. I can't blame him, though."

"So, you mean to say you prefer fragile girls too?" Reika opened the door, and revealed herself to be in not so much bed clothes as going to end up on the floor in the next thirty seconds clothes–Motoki's reaction considered.

"Not at all," he said with a growing smile. "I prefer fearsome women."

Reika smiled and walked over to the bed. "Good answer, Motoki-kun. Now stop worrying about Mamoru, okay?"

"Yes dear." Motoki said as he tossed his cell phone aside.

* * *

"Is that a helicopter out there?" Zoisite asked as he caught sight of running lights out ahead. Jadeite looked over to the other General, who was using Housenka, Grape, and Suzuran as a chair.

As a person who valued his subordinates for qualities other than their functionality as furniture, he truly wished Zoisite would die horribly.

"The Maritime Defense Forces and the American Navy run helicopters throughout the area. Ignore it," Nephrite said. He knew full well where Zoisite was going with this.

Zoisite grinned. "Come on, it's just one helicopter. No one would miss it… except maybe the families of the deceased."

Nephrite looked to Jadeite, who just shook his head. He wasn't going to yank on Zoisite's leash unless he had to. Accepting this, Nephrite turned his attention back to Zoisite. "That was your final warning Zoisite. Don't even insinuate harming anyone but the Senshi."

Petulantly, Zoisite stuck his tongue out at Nephrite before he called over to Balm. "Hey, hairy bitch, go get me an Appletini!"

Balm, possessing the patience of a saint, nodded gracefully and departed. "Yes sir."

Thetis, who had been in deep concentration to control the aspects of the ship, opened her eyes when she felt something amiss. She looked to Jadeite. "I think we have boarders."

Zoisite brightened and sat up. "Is it them?"

He got up from his youma chair and leaned over Jadeite's shoulder as an image appeared of the suspected entry point on the CCTV monitor, the stern of the ship. Nothing could be seen, however. Frowning, Zoisite set his feet down and huffed. "This is boring! Can I go investigate?"

"No, you will not. Jadeite can search it out just fine," Nephrite ordered.

Jadeite nodded, and teleported. Closing her eyes again, Thetis let out a sigh of relief. If she hadn't looped that particular camera's tape at that moment, Zoisite would've seen Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter entering the ship. Hopefully, when he encounters them, they won't try to kill him.

* * *

Down in the restaurant of the _Maxfield_, Rei and Mamoru were learning something shocking about Ami Mizuno: She could eat. Not in the sense of a normal human being, though. Her method of eating, her speed, and the sheer quantity of food that she could put away was nothing short of staggering. But what amazed Mamoru and Rei the most was her cleanliness and her manners! She ate like a tiger gorging on a fresh freshly killed buffalo, but she was a tiger with class!

"Where… where does it all go?" Rei asked with a quiet, subdued horror in her voice. "Does she have a black hole in her stomach?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad I'm not paying for her food," Mamoru said. Ami's was a bill already approaching the hundreds of thousands of yen.

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, Ami actually stopped to breathe. "I've always been a big eater; my mother likes to say because my brain has a ridiculous energy requirement."

Mamoru whistled. "Can you even taste the food?"

"Yes! It is very delicious!" Ami said happily.

Rei took a sip of juice, she had calmed down considerably since they'd started eating–Ami's predatory eating habits aside–and was feeling a little relaxed. "So, uh… what do you do? You seem well off, not that I'm specifically interested in that."

Mamoru let out a gentle laugh. "Most of my money comes from good investments my family made on money I had gotten into when I was younger. I'm well off enough to retire now, but I wouldn't know what to do with myself, so I'm currently going to college for business and economics."

"Oh! So you want to be a big time Bank CEO?" Rei asked.

Mamoru smirked. "I've always wanted to try out a golden parachute."

Rei's eyes were full of sparkles. A bank CEO! With that kind of husband, she could buy her crows their own house! Even better, a castle! She'd call it the Rookery! Yes, they'd love that. "Wow, I wish you all the best in your efforts."

"Thank you. What about you ladies, what are your aspirations?" Mamoru asked.

Ami smiled. "I want to be a Doctor like my mother, but my passion is art."

"An artist, what do you draw?" Mamoru asked.

Rei quickly spoke for her. "She does all kinds of things. She's really good, she could be a professional!"

"I'm not that good…" Ami humbly denied, though her ego was purring like a kitten.

"What about you, Rei-chan?" Mamoru asked. "What are your plans for the future?"

"A veterinarian, I really like animals, especially birds. I wouldn't mind taking care of them for a living…"

Ami had resumed eating as Rei and Mamoru talked, but her focus remained on Mamoru. Ever since yesterday in the Crown's bathroom sex had been one of the top subjects on her mind, well below official business as a Senshi, but still there. Now, after spending a fair amount of time with this charming man, it was almost all she could think about. She was getting worked up and he was a prime candidate to do something about it.

Clearing a plate, she set it aside and slowly swept her tongue across her upper lip when she caught Mamoru glancing towards her. His eyebrow briefly quirked, but he gave no other sign. With a smile, she sat back and looked to her side at Rei.

Rei looked from Mamoru to Ami, when she noticed the silent exchange. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Ami leaned back in her chair and stretched with her hands high above her head. "I'm feeling a little full."

"I'm afraid to find out how much you eat when you're really famished," Mamoru joked.

"I still want to know how you do it." Rei said as she reached down and patted Ami's stomach. She gasped. "It's not even bulging!"

"Chew every bite with care, that way you don't fill up as fast."

Rei rubbed Ami's stomach, and Ami let out a soft moan. "Still, you took a lot of bites."

Ami smiled gently to Rei, and both girls laughed.

Their booth suddenly seemed a lot cozier, as Rei cuddled closer to Ami and continued to rub her stomach, it felt nice, and Ami had no problem with it. When Ami put her arm around her in a hug, Rei sighed and rested her head on the other girl's shoulder. Mamoru's brows rose as both girls became a lot more relaxed.

Rei was enjoying herself immensely as she returned Ami's embrace. She was feeling it too, warmth from arousal and affection that she was eager to return. Her face was flushed completely red, like Ami's, as she nuzzled her cheek. "I feel really hot, Ami-chan…"

"Me too." Ami replied. It was strange, but she had gotten no warning from her computer. She turned to look at Rei's face. "You know, you're really cute, Rei-chan. I like when you blush, best."

Rei giggled shyly as Ami caressed her face. "Thank you, Ami-chan."

Still staring at Rei, Ami leaned forward and tilted the other girl's head up to kiss her. Mamoru's eyes widened as he watched the pair's lips draw close.

At the last moment, Rei stopped Ami. "Ah, no…"

Mamoru screamed in his thoughts, and he felt as though someone had brought him a puppy… and then killed it.

Ami looked confused, and disappointed, before Rei skittishly and repeatedly glanced towards Mamoru and carefully forced her words out. "I really want to, but I… I want my first kiss to be with a boy."

Mamoru was suddenly a deer in the headlights as Ami turned her attention to him. Rei looked at him as well, out the corner of her eye. Smiling, Ami turned back to Rei and nodded.

"Mamoru-kun…" Ami purred in a voice that left Mamoru's mouth dry and his heart racing. "We should go somewhere private, our quarters or yours?"

* * *

At the stern of the ship in an unused guest room several decks down Sailor Moon shook the water out of her hair. "I think a shark tried to bite my ass."

She reached behind her and pulled a cracked tooth from a great white shark out of her skirt. "Huh, it didn't even pierce the fabric."

Sailor Jupiter let out a laugh as she used her electricity to dry herself off, before doing the same to Sailor Moon. "So that was why you fell behind, it probably mistook you for a fat old seal."

"A 'what' seal?" Sailor Moon retorted. Jupiter only laughed before both looked around.

"So, what happens now?" Jupiter asked.

Sailor Moon opened the door, and peered around before spotting a security camera. "Can you knock out the security cameras?"

A zap of electricity did just that, knocking out nearly every security camera on the ship. Sailor Jupiter smugly turned to look back to Sailor Moon, who nodded her approval. "I'm pretty sure they know we're here now, but they'll have a hard time tracking us. Go to the starboard side of the ship and make your way up. I'll go from here. If you run into trouble, do whatever you like."

Sailor Jupiter nodded, and the two Senshi went their separate ways. As she continued on towards the bow, the lights in the corridor flickered and she stopped.

When they flickered again, she closed her eyes and smirked. "So, you did want to talk to me alone."

Jadeite was directly behind Sailor Moon, with his back to hers. "How much have you figured out?"

"You're not stupid, you figured out I could see through your disguises and put together that nifty one at the Shrine. Did you make that one up, or did you kill someone and steal their face?"

"I assure you he was made up," Jadeite replied.

"I just wanted to make sure. As I was saying, after that you pretty much go on TV and say 'Here I am, Sailor Moon, come tear me a new asshole while you fuck me in my current one'. You don't want a fight, you want to talk, so what is it?"

Jadeite chuckled. This was why they were being defeated by her so consistently. "My youma are terrified of you, and because of that want to serve you."

"Really?" Well, this was interesting.

"Yes you, they have no interest in dying at your hand, and the best way to avoid that is to fight alongside you, rather than against you," Jadeite explained.

Sailor Moon nodded. "What about you?"

"I care for my youma, ever since I began working for the Dark Kingdom they've served me loyally, so if they're going then I'm going with them. They're important to me," he answered.

Sailor Moon huffed. "That's a tough sell. What assurance can you give me that this isn't a trick?"

"I don't have anything to assure you. You're just going to have to trust me. Whether or not you take me up on my offer, you're going to be facing a much stronger opponent soon. It'd be better to have all the help you can."

Slowly, Sailor Moon nodded. "And you came to me for the sake of your youma?"

"Yes."

"Then you have a deal, Jadeite. I'll accept you and your youma as my allies."

"But…?" Jadeite asked.

"But nothing, we have a deal so we have a deal. Do you trust me?"

Jadeite smirked. "I have no choice, do I?"

"So let's go by that mutual trust alone." Sailor Moon looked up. "So! Is it just you running this shindig, or is there a fight waiting for me?"

"Zoisite, the General who attacked you with three youma at once when Sailor Mercury awakened, and Nephrite, he has been chosen by Queen Beryl to battle you next. He is considerably stronger and the quality of his youma is much higher."

"Are they expecting me?"

"Of course."

"Where do we settle this?"

"The main ballroom at the bow, the plan was to lure you there to finish you off."

Usagi grinned. "I'll meet you there."

Jadeite nodded, and teleported out, leaving Sailor Moon to break for the stairs.

* * *

Sailor Jupiter was in a poor mood as she made her way towards the upper decks. She had heard the entirety of Jadeite and Sailor Moon's exchange over their hands-free communication and objected to the idea of allying with the enemy even if they were defecting. There was no guarantee that they'd stay loyal to them in the long run. Had Sailor Moon's previous actions and battles not shown her otherwise, Jupiter wouldn't trust her judgment on this.

_Don't be wrong about this,_ she thought as she finally made up to the populated decks. Opening the door to peek out, however, she stopped and her eyes went wide. "What the Hell?"

She closed the door and leaned against it, a bright blush across her face. There were people, passengers, doing everything from making out to outright having sex in the hallway. "What kind of crackpot scheme is this?"

Sailor Moon heard her exclamation as she made her way upstairs. "Ne, what is it?"

"Perverts, the whole deck here is a full-blown orgy!" Sailor Jupiter quickly replied after she took a peek to confirm what was going on.

Sailor Moon whistled as she reached a doorway. "This party's getting crazy."

Before she could issue the order "Let's Rock", Sailor Moon opened the door and found essentially the same scene that greeted Makoto. She stopped and stared. "Okay, really crazy."

On the plus side, people would probably be too interested in screwing to get in the way of any battle. On the downside, they'd probably be too interested in screwing to get out of the way of any battle. Worse still, Ami and Rei had been aboard for a while now, what if they had succumbed to whatever was affecting these people to this level of depravity? On one hand, it'd be pretty hot, but on the other hand this was a battle.

"Game face, Sailor Moon…" She reminded herself as she pulled out her communicator and contacted Ami's with a text message. "You're just going to have to believe your friends are stronger than their desires."

Putting the communicator away, she looked down the long corridor of the first-class cabin deck of the _Maxfield_ and then broke into a run, maneuvering around and over the various people almost mindlessly slaking their lusts. None of them even seemed to pay Sailor Moon any mind, even when she vaulted over a couple who had decided the middle of the deck was good a place as any.

"The walk of shame after this one will be one to be filmed." Sailor Moon joked before a heavy wooden door opened in front of her. If Sailor Moon had been expecting it or been moving along a little faster, she likely would've gone clean through it. But she wasn't. "OW!"

She rubbed her face. "Wait. Ow? That didn't even hurt."

Sailor Moon looked up as the person who opened the door and she froze. There was Kenji, wearing only a pair of hastily put on boxer shorts. He was looking to another group further up. "Hey, I've got a couple of ladies in here who want to play with a few more people, you guys interested?"

"What," Sailor Moon blurted before she covered her mouth.

A familiar voice called from the room, though not the one she was expecting. "Ken-kun, hurry up! Hurry up! Are they coming?"

Sailor Moon peered around the door, and sure enough there was Haruna, naked as the day she was born, lying on the bed with an equally naked Ikuko. Sailor Moon's mother was entirely too busy attending to her teacher to say anything.

Several people, men and women, had happily answered Kenji's call and made their way over, prompting Sailor Moon to hide until they all went back inside and the door was shut. Seated against the wall, Sailor Moon just stared at the opposing wall for a moment, before she snapped out of her completely understandable reaction and let out a laugh.

"Oh I get it, this is karma for letting Naru nail me in my bedroom and freaking them out. I accept this spectacular defeat," she said graciously before she got up and bolted for the ballroom.

"I'd just better not get another little brother or sister out of this."

* * *

Nearby, Mamoru wasn't sure if he was going to be able to make it to their cabin. Ami, eager to get on with it, had pushed him up against the wall next to their door and began kissing him as Rei tried to find the keycard to their door.

"Where is it…? Did I leave it at the restaurant?" Rei looked to Ami, and saw she was sucking on Mamoru's tongue. "Hey… I wanted to kiss him."

Ami let out a moan that said "You'll have your turn", when Sailor Jupiter bounded by the adjacent corridor, something that Mamoru caught a glimpse out the corner of his eye. At the exact same moment, Ami felt her communicator buzz in her skirt pocket, and both were pulled just enough from their amorous states.

Both pulled away from each other, though they really did not want to. They stared at each other, and realized that neither knew how to get away from the other without raising suspicion. Mamoru then had it. "Do… do you girls have condoms?"

Eureka, that was it! Ami quickly replied, "No! I mean, no I don't think we do, can you go get us some? We'll be waiting for you."

Yes, they would be waiting as soon as they killed every single monster on this ship. Mamoru smiled. "All right, I'll try not to keep you waiting too long."

Yes, he would not keep them waiting once he killed every single monster on this ship. As Rei found her keycard, Ami grabbed it and opened the door. "Mm, see you soon then."

She then ushered Rei in as Mamoru turned and bolted. Once the door was closed, she looked to Rei and quickly pulled out her disguise pen. "Rei, let's go."

Rei nodded, and drew her own pen and both raised them to the ceiling. Out in the hallway, Mamoru rounded the corner as he drew a rose from his jacket and held it out to trigger his own transformation.

* * *

Opening the doors, Sailor Moon entered the ballroom of the _Maxfield_, and found it empty. She looked up at the main chandelier that hung overhead, and then across the interior of the room at the large windows near the ceiling. Turning around, she looked towards the stage where the band would play, and the drawn curtains. Almost on cue, the lights went out, and a spotlight illuminated Jadeite at the center of the stage.

He gestured to Sailor Moon. "Welcome, Sailor Moon. This has been a long time coming."

"It certainly has." Sailor Moon said before more spotlights illuminated the ballroom, revealing Nephrite and Zoisite. "Three of you now, I'm flattered."

"About time you showed up skank!" Zoisite called out to her from his cushion of swirling cherry blossom petals.

She looked from him to Nephrite, who quietly returned her scrutinizing stare. Three Generals in the same room, this was looking exciting. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Let's get this over with."

Sailor Moon heard the sound of something rushing through the air and jumped out of the way of Grape's vines before they impaled the floor where she stood. She quickly rushed backward in a series of flips to escape more of the vines as they ripped up the floor in her wake.

As she came to a stop, Suzuran's bombs rained down on her and engulfed her in several explosions that shook the ship. When they cleared, Sailor Moon was gone. Clinging on the ceiling of the ballroom above Suzuran's head, Sailor Moon kicked off and drove a kick into Suzuran that bounced the youma off the polished marble floor with such force the floor cracked ten foot radius.

Sailor Moon hadn't even reached the ground, when Housenka attacked, her supersonic wave attack slamming her painfully into the wall and denting it deeply. Grape's vines followed to impale Sailor Moon, but missed as she jumped over them.

"You can't win without surprise!" Sailor Moon said as she removed her tiara and threw it. "Moon Tiara, Action!"

Grape quickly evaded the deadly projectile, which quickly homed in on Suzuran in the middle of getting up. Spotting the tiara, Suzuran used her bombs to blast herself clear of the Tiara, which came around and returned to Sailor Moon's hand. Teleporting, Suzuran rejoined Housenka and Grape as Sailor Moon put her tiara back on her forehead.

Zoisite pouted. "Hey, she's actually pretty good for a skank."

With a smirk, Zoisite summoned several crystals in Sailor Moon's blind spots before launching them straight for her. Had Sailor Moon not been keeping her head on a swivel, she would've never seen them. She jumped above the crystals and landed before more crystals appeared and shot towards her like a barrage of bullets.

"Whoa!" Sailor Moon dove away from the crystals as the embedded themselves in the floor. As she got up more appeared in the air and fired after her, embedding much deeper into the floor than Suzuran's vines had.

Housenka appeared above Sailor Moon, and unleashed a blast of Supersonic Waves, the attack stopping Sailor Moon in her tracks. Grape and Suzuran prepared their attacks as Zoisite aimed more of his crystals. Jadeite tensed as Zoisite grinned and waved his hand, giving the order to fire.

"Bye, skank!" Zoisite called out as his crystals shot towards Sailor Moon with the youma attacks.

A blinding light filled the room in the form of Sailor Jupiter's lightning crashing down on the projectiles and the Plant Trio youma. When the light cleared, Sailor Moon lowered her arms and smirked as she looked back to Sailor Jupiter.

"Being fashionably late doesn't make you a hero, you know," Sailor Moon chided.

Sailor Jupiter laughed. "I was just letting you have your fun. Can we get serious now?"

Sailor Moon nodded. "Sure."

Zoisite stared at Sailor Jupiter. He was completely taken aback by the new arrival. "Damn, her tits are huge!"

She heard that and looked to Zoisite, who went rigid with mock fright at her glare. "Hey, can you clean up here? I'm going to go kill that guy."

The Supreme Thunder attack had done a lot of damage, but Grape, Housenka, and Suzuran had managed to survive. All three looked towards Sailor Moon, and only caught a glimpse of her before she suddenly slammed a kick into Suzuran's head.

As Suzuran went into an adjacent wall, Housenka jumped back while Grape fired her vines. Dodging them, Sailor Moon grabbed the bunch and then yanked Grape around into the path of the supersonic blast Housenka fired at her. As Grape went flying past, Sailor Moon jumped and kicked Housenka in the stomach before performing a somersault kick that put Housenka into the ceiling up to her waist.

Zoisite looked down at Sailor Jupiter and smiled, as his youma got the worst of it from Sailor Moon. "'Kill' me, is that what you Japanese are calling it these days?"

He suddenly teleported, leaving his cherry blossom petals to be incinerated by Sailor Jupiter's lightning. The instant he reappeared, he teleported again to avoid another blast, before he appeared behind her with an energy blast aimed at her back.

Right as Zoisite fired the blast, however, Sailor Jupiter knocked the hand holding the energy ball clear, sending the shot smashing into the wall behind her as she drove a charged punch into Zoisite's stomach that threw him backward.

"Ah! You bitch!" he yelled as he teleported to evade the burst of lightning that followed. He summoned a barrage of crystals and sent them after Sailor Jupiter, only to watch as the Senshi not only evaded them, but even destroyed those targeting her vulnerable blind spots.

Nephrite watched this with interest. _I wonder how she's predicting his movements._

Zoisite appeared after avoiding another lightning blast and glared at Sailor Jupiter. "Hey! Nephrite! Jadeite! A little help would be nice!"

"Very well…" Nephrite said before he and Jadeite unleashed energy blasts straight for Sailor Jupiter. Looking towards both attacks, she snorted in indignation as both blasts were deflected off into the wall beyond her by her electricity.

"She's using her lightning to create a magnetic field, brilliant." Nephrite realized before Sailor Jupiter pointed to the ceiling and fired a blast of electricity that danced off the ballroom's chandelier and then came raining down on all three Generals, forcing them to teleport clear of the attack.

Zoisite appeared in the air above Sailor Jupiter and growled. "What the Hell! Why the Hell is she so freaking strong!"

Sailor Jupiter just smirked and charged up to attack before a gigantic sphere of water crashed into her and smashed her into another wall, denting and cracking it. Flashes of light were prelude to the water exploding away from a rapidly drying Sailor Jupiter. In front of her Thetis, in youma form, narrowed her red eyes at her as she was joined by Murid and Kyurene.

On the other side of the ballroom, Housenka caught Grape and both hit the wall hard before Suzuran unleashed a bomb attack that Sailor Moon evaded with ease. Using the explosion to propel her forward, she grabbed Suzuran by her shoulders and flipped, throwing the plant youma into her sisters.

Immediately Balm and Iguara appeared in front of the three sisters. Shuffling a deck of tarot cards, the former drew five and threw them at Sailor Moon like razors. When she evaded them, Ramua suddenly descended from above, aiming a spear for Sailor Moon's back.

At the last moment, Sailor Moon sprang out of the way and slid back away from the armed youma. "Ha!"

Raising her apple, Murid joined Kyurene and Thetis in firing a combined blast at Sailor Jupiter, which she only managed to barely block before she leaped out of the way and joined back to back with Sailor Moon.

Jupiter looked back at her compatriot. "I can see why you enjoy yourself so much for sure, now."

"Being a Sailor Senshi can't be beat," Sailor Moon replied as they were surrounded by Jadeite's and Zoisite's youma.

Jadeite looked to Nephrite and Zoisite briefly. Turning back towards the standoff, he clenched his teeth in anticipation.

With the battle most certainly going on, Naru brought the Helicopter in close. With the youma in battle and everyone else screwing like crazy, the ship was drifting off course. Skillfully hovering over the bridge Naru looked over to Luna as she prepared to jump out. "Are you sure you can control an entire ship, Luna?"

"I have no choice but to try, now do I?" Luna called out. "I just pray that those girls don't blow a hole in the boat or set it on fire! Good luck, Naru-chan!"

With that, Luna jumped from the helicopter to the bridge, allowing Naru to get clear. Bounding through the window, Luna found the bridge silent and empty, the numerous systems running the ship unsupervised. Walking over to the helm, Luna sat down and her forehead's crescent moon symbol began to glow.

"Oh… oh my… this will be much easier than I thought. Thank goodness for that," she said in relief as she quickly began to understand the aspects of the ship.

She then looked towards the security cameras, and saw the drama unfolding in the ballroom. "Oh dear, where are Mars and Mercury?"

"My, my, the little skanks are in a pinch," Zoisite taunted as Grape, Housenka, and Suzuran prepared their attacks with Jadeite's youma. Nephrite watched the Senshi carefully, cornering them only made the situation more unpredictable; this had to be done in one fell swoop. Jadeite was tense and silent, as he too awaited the next move; the ball was now in the Senshi's court.

Sailor Moon, staring directly at Thetis, adopted a fighting stance as the water youma raised her hand and summoned another sphere of water. Thetis cast a quick look to Murid, who parted her lips and breathed out just as a window overhead shattered. Nephrite, Zoisite, and the Plant Trio looked up in surprise, but it was too late.

"Mercury Sabão Spray!" Sailor Mercury yelled out before she filled the room with mist. Right behind her, Sailor Mars took aim at the Plant Trio.

"Mars Fire Soul!" she yelled out, the intense flames sending the three youma scattering in fright. Housenka leaped upward to escape the mist. However, Sailor Mercury appeared behind her, and punched her straight into a wall. As Housenka impacted it, Mercury kicked her into it, causing her to vomit into her mask before a second kick shot her through the wall and sent her hurtling to sea.

Suzuran produced several bombs as she jumped back against a wall, and prepared to throw them when Sailor Jupiter's lightning danced among the bombs she held, setting them off in a tremendous explosion. It was then followed by a blast of lightning that blew her through the wall and off the boat.

Grape, realizing quickly that she was alone, immediately launched her vines at the shadow of Sailor Moon in the mist to her side. "I got you!"

The vines reached their target, and revealed it to be nothing but a shadow cast in the mist before Sailor Moon's hands shot from the mist directly in front of Grape, and Sailor Moon brought her head down on the youma's face in a vicious headbutt that likewise knocked her out through a pair of doors and overboard.

Sailor Mercury's mist cleared, revealing just the Sailor Senshi and Jadeite's youma. Ramua, gripping her spear, gulped as she stared at the four of them. She then looked to Thetis, who only nodded and prepared to attack. Murid and Balm readied their respective weapons, as Iguara and Kyurene growled and prepared to attack.

Nephrite smirked, and then began to clap his hands. "Well done, Sailor Senshi, well done, you're as formidable as I've observed and then some."

"Thank you. We're going to kill you all, now."

"Bold. However, I'm afraid this is going to be the end for you here. We've lured you in, and now it will be us who finish you off."

As Nephrite spoke, Sailor Moon turned her attention back to the youma, particularly Thetis.

"Is that so?" When Sailor Moon retorted, Thetis nodded, but in an odd upward fashion. Sailor Moon glanced up, and saw the main chandelier of the ballroom.

"Yes. Like the buses before, the energy we've collected tonight is going to be used for one thing, destroying you," Nephrite revealed.

Zoisite then piped in. "And if you don't take your beating like a proper ho, we're just going to kill everyone on the boat."

Sailor Moon smiled in amusement. "Fine, we'll fight it out, oh Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter."

"Yes, Sailor Moon?" The two Senshi asked.

Before Nephrite's eyes, Sailor Moon pointed directly up at his trump card, the main chandelier of the ballroom, where all of the energy collected to be used against the Senshi was stored. "Destroy that chandelier."

Nephrite froze, as both Senshi launched their attacks to do just that. "What? No!"

Fire and lightning crashed into and shattered the chandelier, unleashing a blinding light as the stored energy of hundreds was released all at once. Zoisite and Nephrite covered their eyes to shield themselves. Jadeite did the same, but behind his raised arms, he was grinning like a madman.

"Impossible… how did they know?!" Nephrite growled before a silhouette suddenly appeared before him. His eyes widened as that silhouette turned out to be Sailor Moon, swinging a kick down on him. The force of his body hitting the ballroom floor below actually caused the ship to list slightly to starboard.

As Nephrite lay in a rather deep hole, Zoisite quickly began to surround himself in his cherry blossom petals. "Oh nice one, bitch, but now you're wide open!"

He raised his hand, as though to launch an attack, when Tuxedo Kamen's rose impaled it. Zoisite hissed in pain and clutched his wrist. "Oh God, that hurts!"

Tuxedo Kamen then swooped down on him, with his cane raised. "Hello Zoisite."

Before Zoisite could do anything, Tuxedo Kamen bashed the young General in the head, sending him crashing into a window and hurtling out into the ocean. Descending, Tuxedo Kamen landed next to Sailor Moon and tipped his hat to the Senshi. "Good evening, ladies, enjoying the cruise?"

"So sexy…" Sailor Moon moaned to Tuxedo Kamen before she and the others looked towards Thetis and the other youma. Tuxedo Kamen prepared for battle, when Sailor Moon raised her hand to stop him. "It's good."

Thetis relaxed and nodded. "Thank you for giving us the benefit of the doubt. We've been kicked around enough."

Ramua, still uneasy being around the Senshi, nodded. "Yeah, so uh… we want to become good guys… or at least not be your enemies."

"Can we join your club?" Murid said, mocking the awkwardness of the moment.

Tuxedo Kamen was surprised, and even more so when Jadeite joined the youma. He looked between them and the Sailor Senshi. "They want to defect?"

"Yes, and I'm okay with this," Sailor Moon said to Tuxedo Kamen. She then turned to Jadeite and his cadre. "But if you're going to be allies of justice, you're going to have to prove it to me."

Jadeite nodded. "I have to keep up appearances, but I will be leaving the Dark Kingdom soon myself, and doing so in an appropriate blaze of glory. I trust that you'll assist me with that?"

"One faked death coming up." Sailor Moon replied. "Just don't involve as many people in your swan song, okay?"

"I'll try not to, this plan wasn't quite how I'd envisioned it going… but this was a plan Beryl formulated. I fear she may do so again next time. So be prepared." Jadeite warned.

"Okay" Sailor Moon then looked back at Nephrite, still out of it. "What do we do about this guy?"

Murid smiled. "I've taken care of him, don't worry."

Sailor Jupiter snorted. "We could just kill him here."

"There's no need for that." Both Tuxedo Kamen and Jadeite said together, before they stopped and looked to each other in surprise.

Jadeite then narrowed his eyes at Tuxedo Kamen, and looked to Sailor Moon before he explained. "Nephrite is a good friend of mine; there may be a chance to convince him to defect as well down the road."

Sailor Moon scrutinized Jadeite. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely!" Jadeite quickly returned. "Nephrite is loyal to the Dark Kingdom, but he's also the sort who can be swayed, he just needs time to come around."

Folding her arms, Sailor Moon hummed. "I've trusted you so far, so I'm going to give you a little more leeway. If you can bring him home… then we won't kill him."

Sailor Jupiter stood down with that. "This had better not blow up in our faces."

"If it does, then it's on me," Sailor Moon replied.

Jadeite bowed deeply. "Thank you, so much. You should leave, now, you've won here."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Okay, good luck and see you for the final act, Jadeite."

The Sailor Senshi, a bemused Tuxedo Kamen, and Jadeite's youma quickly left. After they left, Jadeite pressed his hand against his chest and fired a weak energy blast that blew off part of his shirt and burned him, before he fell to his knees and shook his hair into a mess.

On hands and knees, Jadeite crawled over to where Nephrite lay, as the other General was getting up. Blinking awake, Nephrite saw the injured Jadeite. "Jadeite…"

Looking past Jadeite, he saw Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen standing over the disintegrating remains of Jadeite's youma. All were looking towards the two injured Generals. Jadeite, blood seeping from his mouth, let out a single, raspy word.

"Run." Jadeite then collapsed onto Nephrite, who caught him as he rose to his feet.

"Jadeite! Jadeite!" He called out. "Hang on… I'll get you out of here!"

He looked back at the Senshi, all an illusion of Murid's, and then teleported out with Jadeite, cursing them as he vanished. "You'll pay for this!"

The moment he left, Sailor Mercury peeked in through the door of the ballroom, and saw they were gone. She then turned around and gave a thumb's up to the other Senshi and the youma. "He fell for it!"

"He'd better have, I gave my all for that illusion!" Murid said indignantly.

"This is just surreal," Tuxedo Kamen said as the youma quickly assumed their human forms.

Sailor Jupiter was in agreement. "You're telling me."

Sailor Mars stared at the now disguised youma. "Wow… they're so pretty…"

She covered her mouth. "I mean… for youma!"

Sailor Mercury patted Mars on the shoulder and sighed. Thetis stepped up to Sailor Moon, and then extended her hand. She smiled. "So… shall we shake on it?"

Sailor Moon responded with her fist… held out at arm's length with a sidelong look towards Thetis. Staring at Sailor Moon's fist, Thetis' smile grew and she held up her own fist. "Fine, fine…"

Their fists met, and Sailor Moon nodded. "Yeah, I think we're good."

"Attention passengers, this is the First Mate speaking," Luna's voice then came over the intercom. "The time is now 23:00. The seas are calm and the skies are clear. We will be rounding the Miura Peninsula and continuing onward towards Yokosuka. The bars and restaurants, and other recreational areas are still open, but the ballroom is regrettably closed due to renovations. Thank you and do continue to enjoy your evening aboard the M/S _Maxfield__."_

"Wait… Luna's controlling the ship now?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"How does she do it without hands, this is a legitimate question!" Sailor Mars demanded.

Thetis looked out towards the shoreline of the Miura Peninsula. "This is where we get off I suppose. It was nice partying with you girls."

"It'll be nice not getting pummeled by you girls next time we meet on the battlefield." Murid said as the youma began to teleport out. Ramua, her face flushed a bit, stuck her tongue out at Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury before they were gone.

Sailor Moon stretched. "Well… now what?"

Sailor Jupiter shrugged her shoulders. "Go to the bridge and relax until we reach port?"

"Sounds good to me, we can sing 'I'm on a Boat' on karaoke!" Sailor Moon said, before she turned to Sailor Mars and Mercury. "Will you be joining us, or do you have plans?"

"Actually… yes…" Sailor Mercury said. "Mars and I… we're going to um… go back to our quarters."

Sailor Moon gasped, and looked at Sailor Mars. "I was just teasing! Honest!"

Sailor Jupiter blushed and smiled. "Well, have fun I guess?"

Sailor Moon sighed as Mars and Mercury, their faces now as red as the former's uniform, quickly turned and headed back to their cabin. "No fair, I wanted Rei's cherry…"

"You're terrible," Jupiter quipped.

Sailor Moon then brightened. "I know! Tuxedo Kamen, would you like to…?"

He was gone.

"God damn it!" Grabbing Jupiter by the arm, Sailor Moon stormed off in a huff. "Come on, we're gonna pig out and get drunk and have our own party! With blackjack! And hookers!"

"Wait. What?" Jupiter asked as she was pulled along.

"Forget the blackjack and the hookers then! Let's just eat good food, get drunk, and party!" Sailor Moon yelled to Jupiter and the night above.

* * *

Having transformed back, Mamoru was wondering if he forgot something as he made his way quickly back to Rei and Ami's cabin. Pure willpower and the magic of his transformation had prevented him from succumbing to the lust that was burning in his blood, and with the battle out of the way he was ready to give in.

Reaching their door, Mamoru knocked and waited impatiently, and as he waited for it to open he remembered exactly what he forgot. "Damn, damn, damn…"

The door opened and Ami stood in the doorway with a bath towel around her. Mamoru stared for a moment, before he cleared his throat. "I uh… couldn't find any protection…"

Ami held up an entire box of condoms and tossed over her shoulder for Rei to catch, so she could grab Mamoru and drag him into the cabin with such speed his shoes were left behind outside the quickly slammed door.

* * *

The next morning the M/S _Maxfield_ came into Yokosuka and its passengers were disembarking, some happily, some in shame, and some with a noticeable limp. Naru, Usagi, and Makoto were waiting on the wharf for Ami and Rei, but Usagi especially wanted to catch one couple in particular coming off the boat.

"Ah… I haven't had that much fun in years!" Ikuko declared as she hung on the arm of her husband. "You spoil me, Ken-chan~!"

Kenji let out a laugh before Ikuko looked past him to Haruna and addressed her. "Haruna-chan, we need to do this again."

"My place is always free if you ever want to come over and play," Haruna replied, before all three noticed Usagi waving slowly to all three. They kept walking however, all still wearing happy faces, and they walked right past Usagi, Makoto, and Naru.

"She's not here," Kenji said aloud.

"No she is not," Ikuko added.

"And if she or her friends were, they'd never mention a word of this to anyone, ever," Haruna put in thirdly.

Naru was just dumbstruck as she watched the three walk past. "Usagi… was… was that…?"

"Yes."

Naru turned to watch them go. "Were… were they…?"

"Yes."

Naru looked at Usagi. "Together?"

"Ménage à trios."

Naru turned back. "I want to party with those guys."

"You've ruined this girl," Makoto said to Usagi.

"God I did," Usagi said, not sounding as ashamed as she ought to.

Mamoru came strolling down the ramp; he was wearing a pair of sunglasses and looking like the smuggest motherfucker who ever walked the Earth. Spotting him, Usagi bristled. "What the Hell is that bald asshole doing here?!"

"Obviously he was trying to get laid. It's also pretty obvious he's succeeded," Makoto said as she watched him stroll by.

Usagi snorted. "He probably has something, I feel sorry for the poor woman he did it with."

"Hi guys!" an entirely too cheerful Ami and Rei immediately called out, making Usagi jump into Makoto's arms.

"Oh, hey, did you enjoy yourselves?" Makoto asked.

"Yes, we had a good time." Ami turned to Rei. "Didn't we?"

"Yes, it was wonderful!" Rei chirped.

Naru glanced back towards the direction Mamoru went, and grinned. "So! What all did you two do during the night?"

Ami blushed cutely. "Ah, well… we just bummed around and spent time together, it was nice."

"Very nice, it was entirely platonic and most definitely did not involve hours of torrid, headboard-grabbing, bed-shaking, knee-weakening sex."

Rei stopped, and blushed brightly as she looked down and scratched the back of her head. "I mean… um…"

She couldn't help herself and giggled. "Well…maybe a little? Oh God this is so embarrassing!"

Hands on her cheeks, Rei burst into giggles as she swayed from side to side giddily. Usagi, in one of those rare moments of lucidity, was staring at both Rei and Ami in complete horror as it all began to piece together in her head. There was no way.

She looked back in the direction Mamoru went, and then turned to Ami and Rei. "Did… with him…?"

"Oh! No! No-no-no-no…" Rei trailed off under the scrutiny of Usagi, Makoto, and Naru. She then giggled again and broke down. "Okay, yeah. We both did! Together, at the same time, with Mamoru-kun, and it was wonderful!"

Her hands clasped together at her cheek, Rei bounced up and down on her feet. "My first time was with a really handsome boy! I'm so lucky!"

Ami sighed and shook her head. "She just can't keep her mouth closed."

Makoto shook Usagi. "Hey, you okay?"

"My Rei-chan, no…!" A limp and pale Usagi gurgled.

Naru sighed. "Drama queen"

Ami laughed. "She'll get over it. Come on, we should go before people realize there was technically no one in charge of the ship."

"You're right. Stop dying and let's go, Usagi." Makoto agreed, and the group melted off into the crowd.

Sitting on the bow of the _Maxfield_, and wearing a nautical-themed top hat and Pashmina Afghan, Luna watched the Senshi and Naru leave, and then stared out at the sea as she sang.

_"__Shawty. Shawty. Yeah, yeah, yeah__…"_

* * *

Murid: In this chapter Jadeite and Zoisite demonstrated first-hand how differently they treat those who serve them. A good leader is one who respects and cares for his subordinates, but can still get the best out of them.

Thetis: So if you are ever in a leadership situation, always remember to lead with respect and care, and those who follow will give their all in return.

Usagi: Alone, Leadership and Friendship are strong, but together they are invincible! This is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Jadeite's Youma: Sailor Moon Says! Hahahahaha!


	12. Tokyo's Longest Night

Disclaimer: To all you readers, who praised and criticized alike, thank you.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon**  
Tokyo's Longest Night

_Sailor Senshi, this is war._

**[11.]**

Jadeite, his injuries patched up, stood in front of Beryl's throne, Nephrite at his side and a room full of a silent youma behind him. Atop her throne, Beryl was unhappy as she read Nephrite's report on the operation and its disastrous result: Six youma were gone, three were badly injured, and three of her Generals were hurt too. On top of that, the energy collected for the mission was lost, precious energy necessary for the next phase.

After a moment, she hummed deeply in contemplation. "You know what? Fuck it."

She set down her tablet and stood up. Looking down at Nephrite and Jadeite, she spoke. "No more energy gathering schemes, your mission is now solely the destruction of the Sailor Senshi. Draw them out, and cut them down like the dogs they are."

She narrowed her eyes. "We need to deal with them before we can move on with our operation. Soon, we will have the energy necessary to form the Black Crystal and go to the next stage. I'd like to have the Senshi handled before then."

"Yes, my Queen," both Nephrite and Jadeite responded with bows.

Beryl nodded. "Is there anything you'd like to say?"

Jadeite did. "I have no more youma and I'm not as skilled as a fighter as the others. Still, my youma were my comrades and I lost all of them. Let me avenge them somehow, please."

Beryl stared at Jadeite, and then shook her head. "Jed, of my four Generals, you're more a thinker than a fighter and it shows. If I let you go out and try to get revenge, the only thing that's going to happen is you're going to be splattered all over Tokyo."

"But I've outlived my usefulness, don't you think? Thanks to the Senshi, I have no more experts at mass gathering, and we're moving towards the next leg of the scheme, aren't we? My talents weren't going to be necessary for much longer."

Nephrite turned to Jadeite, not surprised by his declaration, but still hurt by it.

Beryl nodded. "You're right, as soon as the Black Crystal was created; I was going to relegate you to finding the Seven Great Youma."

Jadeite nodded. "Let me pull one last stunt. There's a big chance it might fail, but the worst that'll happen is that I'll die."

Beryl hummed. "And what is the payoff?"

"I'll kill at least two of the Senshi."

Beryl smiled at that, even killing one of the bitches at this point in the battle would be a morale booster to the youma. Plus, if Jadeite's plan could be repeated, they'd have a means to take the others down too. "Very well then, I'll let you run your last plan. But don't you dare die on me, Jadeite."

"I won't." With that, Jadeite vanished.

Nephrite, tense, vanished after him, and Beryl was free to sit down and go back to her tablet. When she looked up from it, though, she found Zoisite with his head bowed standing in the spot the other two Generals vacated, the collar Beryl put on him still in place. "Huh? What do you want?"

Zoisite looked up to Beryl with a serial killer's grin.

* * *

It was late in the day when Mamoru arrived at the Game Center Crown. He had spent the entire day sleeping since he'd gotten home from Yokosuka. Motoki was sitting at the counter, keeping an eye on some kids playing some video games when he saw Mamoru walk in. "Hey there, enjoy the cruise?"

Mamoru smiled and patted Motoki on the shoulder as he walked for Motoki's office. "I need a beer."

"Oh, okay." Motoki got up and followed him, calling to one of the other employees to keep an eye on the counter as he and Mamoru went to the office.

Closing the door behind them, Motoki walked over to the fridge behind his desk and opened it. "So, what all happened?"

Mamoru sat down and caught a can of beer Motoki tossed him. Opening it, he took a sip and explained. "Sailor Moon got one of the generals to defect to her side."

Motoki stared at Mamoru in the midst of popping his own tab of beer, the hiss of the carbonation the only sound in the office before he gathered his wits. "What."

"One of the generals and all of his youma, they got tired of being kicked around by Sailor Moon, so they defected to her side. I am entirely serious."

"No way that sounds almost too good to be true."

Mamoru nodded. "It does, but Jadeite was always the sort to put others before himself, especially those who served under him. After losing his subordinates and seeing others get hurt, he realized that he needed to pull out before he lost anymore people he cared for."

Motoki didn't like that. "So he switched to the winning side, a guy like that can't be trusted."

"No, and I think the Senshi realize that too; at least I hope they do. His youma have already faked their deaths, and now he's going to go out in a blaze of glory to join them. I'll find out where he stands after that, if it works out like that." Mamoru took another sip of his beer.

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then I kill one of my closest friends from another life."

Motoki nodded slowly. "Let's make sure it doesn't come to that then, Mamoru."

"Yeah."

As Mamoru took another drink, Motoki smiled and decided to change the subject. "So… did you get any _other _action last night?"

Mamoru stared at Motoki over his can, lowered it, and let out a chuckle. "I did."

"Oh?" Motoki leaned forward a bit.

"Two."

"Two?"

"At the same time."

Motoki set down his beer and began clapping. "Bravo, sir. Bravo."

* * *

At the Tsukino home, Usagi was in the process of brushing her hair in preparation for bed and mulling over the night before and its aftermath. They hadn't been contacted by Jadeite or his youma yet, but she was sure it was going to be sooner than later. The wait, combined with the possibility of it all being a trap residing in the back of her mind left her stuck in front of the TV, watching episodes of Kamen Raider for guidance.

Luna, who had been observing Usagi's change in behavior since their return, wondered what had brought it about. "Is something wrong, Usagi-chan?"

"Not at all, Luna, I'm just getting myself psyched up. Things are going to get crazy from here on, so I wanted to be prepared."

"So you prepared by watching your tokusatsu shows?" Luna asked, puzzled.

Usagi nodded. "If I'm ever feeling the slightest bit unsure of myself, I watch Kamen Raider to remind myself to never give up, even when things seem their worst."

That gave a bit away about how Usagi was feeling, and Luna was intrigued. "Are you worried about Jadeite's sincerity?"

"I'd be stupid if I didn't have the slightest concern, but I'm confident that he's serious about it" Usagi set down her brush and walked over to look out the window. Though fall was right around the corner, it was still warm enough to leave a window open at night.

Luna nodded. "I hope he is. How do you suppose he'll have the big finale play out?"

Usagi smiled. "Well if I were him, I'd make it a grand spectacle, with fire and brimstone and something everyone sees."

At that very instant, a projection of Jadeite appeared over Minato, prompting Luna's jaw to fall agape and Usagi to let out a whistle. "It would be something like that, yeah."

"Sailor Senshi, I am Jadeite of the Dark Kingdom and this is my challenge to you." Jadeite said in a booming voice that woke up most of Minato. "You will meet me at Haneda Airport, Runway F at sunset. If you do not answer my challenge… then I will burn this city to the ground with you in it. This a formal declaration of war, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter!"

With that, the image of Jadeite vanished, and Usagi looked to Luna. "Talk about melodramatic."

"Total drama queen," Luna lamented.

* * *

The next day, the hot topic in Minato was the challenge issued by Jadeite, which was making even national headlines. While many tried to find an explanation for what occurred, and how it could have been done others, particularly those following the exploits of the Sailor Senshi knew that something big was going down and the threat to the city was very real.

In his home office, Hakushi checked his microphone, before he began his podcast. "Almost forty years ago, a broad shadow cast itself over Japan, and every day we lived in fear of the darkness. But then, out of that same shadow, heroes appeared and banished that darkness and saved not only Japan but the entire world from evil."

All over Minato, fans of The Depths of Strange were tuned in, either from their PCs at home or via their phones or other personal devices at work or school, or on the commute to it. "Since then, all we've had are stories and questions, and many–even those who were there during that time–wonder if it even really happened or pretend it didn't."

"A quote often misattributed to Mark Twain goes 'History doesn't repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes'. Whoever coined that saying is right on the money; forty years since it began, and over twenty since it ended, we've experienced the Malice Spike, and a new darkness has fallen on Japan and there's no denying what we've seen, what anyone has seen.

"But like before heroes have appeared. A new generation of young heroes neither armored cyborgs nor transforming gynoids, but they fight for justice and the protection of life, just like the legends of the past, and tonight they've been challenged for a final battle against one of their leaders.

"To Sailor Moon, and your friends, I wish you the best of luck out there in battle. To you, our loyal fans, and those who happen to be listening to this: Stay away from the Haneda Airport tonight. Offer your wishes and your prayers to our new heroes, but don't go to there and be a burden on them."

Sitting at the back of the class, Usagi closed the podcast on her handheld computer, and looked to both Ami and Naru. On the screen of her computer, Rei's face appeared, she had taken the day off to prepare and was at home on her phone slash computer device. "Everyone's warning people not to go there, but you can bet some idiots are still going to show up."

Naru nodded. "If things go wrong, they could end up in the crossfire, hurt or worse."

"I don't know… I guess I could have my crows keep people away or something, would that help?" Rei suggested.

"That'd be great, actually," Usagi said.

Rei smiled brightly. "Good! I'll tell them to drive away anyone who gets too close to the airport. But it won't work too well if there are police, they have guns and I don't want any of them hurt now!"

"If things heat up, the coppers will know to run the other way."

Looking over to the side, Ami frowned. "What about our more diehard fans, Usagi? Do you think they'll be as easily discouraged?"

"What diehard fans?" Following Ami's pointing finger, Usagi stared in disbelief at a group of students, including Umino and Jun, gathered near the former's seat, talking excitedly about going to the airport to watch Sailor Moon fight. They were all wearing headbands or sashes denoting them as members of a Sailor Senshi fan club.

"Okay, how did I manage to miss _that?"_ Usagi asked.

Ami rolled up a study notebook and tapped Usagi on the head with it. "You're an idiot."

Luna, who was with Rei, spoke up. "Do your best to discourage them."

"No shit, meeting adjourned." Usagi got up.

At Umino's table he, the president of "We Are Fanatical Fans Enthusiastically Needing Sailor Senshi", was discussing their plans to go out to the airport to witness the fight.

Jun, the vice-president, was especially eager. "After seeing those pictures of the war zones Sailor Moon made before, I really want to see it, just so I can say that I did!"

"Do you think this will be the final battle?" Another candidate for a tragically short life asked.

"Oh no, that Jadeite guy is definitely only one General. I bet after this, even more bad guys are going to come out of the woodwork to battle the Sailor Senshi," Umino declared.

Another dead man walking interjected. "Maybe when they defeat him, the real invasion will begin, and monsters will overrun Tokyo like in Yoroiden Samurai Troopers!"

"If that happens, do you really want to be anywhere near that fight?" Usagi asked as she walked over. "You guys are going to get yourselves killed."

Umino stared at Usagi, as did the rest of his club. "You mean you're not going?"

"I figured you'd love to go," Jun said.

Usagi shook her head. "Nah, I know better than to interfere with the duties of a warrior of justice. Kicking the crap out of lowlifes and bureaucrats is one thing, Sailor Moon and her stuff is a whole other level."

"Well still! Our organization, 'We Are Fanatical Fans Enthusiastically Needing Sailor Senshi' will be going to Haneda Airport to support our favorite girls"

Usagi stared blankly as Umino and his club performed one of Sailor Moon's poses. She was still stuck on the name of their club. "Waffen… SS…? Uh, guys, I really think you should reevaluate your naming scheme."

She was about to offer alternatives to their club's unfortunate name when Haruna slammed open the door. "Like hell any of you are getting yourselves killed out there!"

"Thank the Fuhrer, someone who agrees with me!" Usagi said.

"Do you even realize what's going to happen?! This is Sailor 'Can't walk two steps without leveling a city block' Moon!" Haruna sharply lectured.

"Preach it!" Usagi called out.

As the students looked at Usagi in confusion, Haruna snapped their attention right back. "The girl throws trains around like they're toys, just being within a mile of any kind of fight is a health risk!"

"Hell the fuck yes!" Usagi quipped.

"If you have all this excitement, you can burn it off by studying!" Haruna finished.

"I agree!" Usagi then declared, and everyone, even Haruna, stared at her. "What?"

Haruna stared at Usagi, and then walked up to her before pulling out a penlight and shining it in her eyes. "No, they're not dilated. Usagi, did you take any strange pills before coming to school today?"

Ami and Naru hid their giggles as Usagi recoiled in indignation. "Hey! I don't accuse you of hitting the sauce like the fist of an angry God when you decide to be nice for once!"

"Yeah you do," Haruna shot back.

Spectacularly served, Usagi prepared to unload on Haruna with a barrage of insults not heard since the heyday of Statler and Waldorf, when Makoto called out. "It's nice though, that Dango-head is trying to be a voice of reason, isn't it?"

Everyone looked to Makoto, who walked in wearing Juuban Junior High's uniform. Those who did not know Makoto marveled at her height, while those who did marveled that she was here. Usagi, grinning, bounded up to her. "Mako-chan, you're going to school here?!"

"Surprise!" Makoto said as Naru and Ami joined Usagi around Makoto. "I didn't think I was going to get in, until word got around that I can keep you in your place, Usagi."

Usagi looked back to Haruna. "Hey, whose cock did you have to gobble to get her in class?"

Haruna promptly decked Usagi, and walked to her desk to fetch her flask. She looked over her shoulders to Makoto. "Keep Usagi-chan in line, Kino."

"You can count on me!" Makoto said before Haruna pulled out a flask. "Uh, Haruna-sensei?"

"Don't. This is how she functions with me as a student," Usagi warned.

"Ah." Makoto totally understood.

Having had her swig of liquid kindness, Haruna ordered everyone to their seats to introduce Makoto and begin the long day for the Senshi.

* * *

"It's only my first day, but I like this school way more than my last one." Makoto declared as she, Usagi, Naru, and Ami were gathered for lunch on the school's roof.

Ami was in the middle of contacting Rei as she replied. "I have to admit I was really disappointed that I couldn't get into Mugen Academy, but when I heard that teachers actually fought to have me in their class I was really flattered."

"Whoa, Haruna is a fighter?" Makoto asked. She never would've noticed.

"She's less of a fighter and more an alcohol-fueled berserker. I heard that she shattered Sakizaki-sensei's leg in six places with a crowbar," Usagi said.

Makoto stared at Usagi. "Six places?"

Naru added to the mythos herself. "I heard that she was a pretty brutal delinquent herself back in the day, and the only reason she decided to become a teacher was because she started reading GTO."

Makoto was in awe. "If this is true, I'm definitely going to do my best for Haruna-sensei."

"Do it even if it's not, she's a pretty awesome teacher," Usagi commanded.

"Mako-chan, you're going to Usagi's school too? I feel so left out now." Rei complained.

Makoto looked over and went wide-eyed at the tiny hologram projection of Rei sitting atop Ami's phone. There was a nest atop her head with a crow sitting in it.

"Whoa… that's pretty cool." Makoto paused. "Why is there a nest on your head?"

"I'm helping hatch the chicks."

When Makoto continued to stare, she got a little defensive. "Don't judge me!"

Makoto quickly waved her hands. "I wasn't, I swear!"

Naru tapped her chopsticks against her thermos, calling the meeting of the Sailor Senshi (and their civilian sidekick) to order. With everyone's attention, Usagi addressed the audience. "Girls, in a situation like this, something will go wrong. We need contingencies."

"Like if it's a Dark Kingdom trap, right? Problem is, they can pull anything and we wouldn't know what to expect. That Jadeite guy can be pretty clever when he wants to be," Makoto said.

Usagi shook her head. "He's always clever; it's just that he has phenomenally bad luck, which is another thing we need to prepare for if it turns out this isn't a trap."

Rei agreed. "Yeah, I can see how bad luck can factor into this. It's like the better things are going for him, the worse they come falling apart."

"And seeing that this is technically his scheme, either something already has or invariably will go wrong." Ami concluded.

Makoto folded her arms and sighed. "So what do we do when everything goes wrong?"

"I haven't thought of anything because, well, there's no telling exactly what will go wrong. I say for now we wing it, and see what happens," Usagi declared.

Rei quipped. "Just wing it?"

Usagi smiled. "We can't predict the future, so we can only meet it head on."

Ami, Naru, and Makoto nodded in agreement, while Rei just sighed and shook her head, the crow on her head mimicking her. "You know, _I_ can predict the future."

Everyone stopped and stared at her, Rei pouted. "Well I can. I just need a lot of focus, and I can divine if there's something we need to look out for. It's not very precise, but it'll come in handy, don't you think?"

Silence ensued, and Rei became self-conscious, like she'd done something wrong. "What?"

As usual, Usagi blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I'm skipping school so I can go to Rei's house and make sweet love to her. This is awesome."

"Wait, what?" Rei asked, before she waved her hands frantically. "Whoa! My Grandpa's home, he might hear us–I mean no! That's inappropriate!"

"That said a lot," Naru said.

Ami cleared her throat before she said aside to Usagi. "Just be gentle with her, Rei-chan is very delicate."

"Ami!" Rei yelled at her. Naru and Usagi broke into giggles.

It was Makoto, her face a little flushed, who got the meeting back on track. "It's agreed then, right after school or as soon as we can otherwise, we go to the Shrine and Rei performs her divination. Depending on what we find out, we plan accordingly, all right?"

Usagi, Ami, Naru, and Rei all nodded. Makoto folded her arms and smiled. "Good."

* * *

It was near sunset, the last of the sun's rays melting beneath the horizon, when a white and black Gulfstream V business jet with video game themed art across its fuselage and tail approached Tokyo. In the cockpit, the pilot sighed as he finally received instructions to reroute to Narita. What was another half hour in the air after almost nine flying from Vancouver? The pilot looked back to the cabin of the privately owned business jet to its passengers.

"We just got rerouted to Narita International Airport; we'll be landing in about an hour," he reported.

Reclined in her seat, the front-woman for the Canadian Mega-Band "Heroes of Gunstar", Natalie V. Adams, let out a frustrated sigh at the delay. "Why are we going to Narita? Our stuff is waiting for us at Haneda."

**Natalie V. Adams  
26 years old  
Rating: 120%**

On the other side of the plane's cabin, the drummer of Heroes of Gunstar raised the headphones from her ear when she thought she heard something stupid. Kimberly Pine hated stupid. "Wait, what?"

**Kim Pine  
25 years old  
Warning: Will eat your face**

"It can't be helped, there's a terrorist situation going on at Haneda so it's shut down," the pilot replied apologetically.

"… And they have the decency to inform us _now?"_ Natalie asked as got up and went up to the cockpit, Kim raising an eyebrow as she went. Behind her, the other members of Heroes of Gunstar were asleep, listening to music, or playing around on the internet, with video games, or reading books.

Reaching the windows, she looked down over the nose at distant Tokyo below, the lights at Haneda most definitely out. "I need to call the crew, find out what's going on."

"So much for a flashy entrance, I guess," Kim flatly complained.

Even as Kim lamented their plight, far below in the city Tuxedo Kamen swooped into an empty skyscraper's window overlooking the closed down and dark Haneda Airport. Present were Motoki and Reika, who were dressed for the occasion, wearing a style resembling a 20s era couple complete with white domino masks like their leader. They also wore a rose from Tuxedo Kamen, Motoki in his suit pocket, and Reika in her hair, which worked to conceal their identities.

"Impressive look, you guys. Should I call you Bonnie and Clyde, or Isaac and Miria?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

Motoki snorted. "Call me Speakeasy, and this is Flapper Girl. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Cooler than mine… damn it." Tuxedo Kamen sighed and looked towards the airport. The JSDF had been mobilized, with helicopters circling overhead and armored vehicles rolling up and down the tarmac to dissuade any hostile act. "Full deployment of soldiers, armor, and helicopters, the JSDF isn't taking this lightly. Nice and all, but they're only getting in the way."

"We're in no better shape, you know." Motoki pointed out. "All we can do is support you from back here."

Reika then lifted up a very large case and opened it, revealing the pieces to an equally large rifle. Tuxedo Kamen stared at it. "What is that, Reika?"

"Well, a while ago this Russian kid made a working coil gun and called it the Nucleus System. I did some looking around and I was able to recreate it so I built it around this Anzio rifle I picked up while in Africa."

Tuxedo Kamen and Motoki both stared at her. The former asked, "Reika… what exactly did you do while you were in Africa?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of curious too," Motoki said.

Reika smiled. "I was catching up with you guys. Now give me a minute to put this thing together, okay?"

As she began assembling the rifle, Tuxedo Kamen shared a look with Motoki and both smiled. She definitely was the latter's ideal woman.

"Well, this is it huh?" Motoki asked.

"This is just the finale for the first act." Tuxedo Kamen went to the window and prepared to leap out. "Bad as it is, it's only going to get worse from here."

Motoki nodded. "I know; be careful out there, Mamoru."

Tuxedo Kamen smiled to Motoki and Reika, before he leaped out the window and flew off into the twilight.

As he soared through the shadows towards the airport to evade detection, spectators on roofs and in the top floors of buildings were eagerly awaiting the action with either phones or recording equipment. In one building, despite the promise of pain from Haruna to any of them, the WAFFEN SS were out in force on the closest inhabited building near the airport. Also present were a large murder of crows, whose presence deterred people from actually going up onto the roof for the best view, as was the case of many of the other close buildings

"Dang it, I can only see soldiers patrolling around!" Umino complained. "It's almost sundown, something better happen soon!"

Jun was setting up some expensive looking camera equipment. "Hopefully, even if it gets dark, we won't miss the action. This camera has night-vision and everything!"

"I'm certain that when things go down, it'll light up the sky so bright, you won't need it," Umino confidently boasted. "I can't wait any longer; this is going to be amazing!"

"I knew you idiots would be here!" Haruna yelled out as she pushed past the other spectators setting up.

"Oh no, it's Haruna-sensei!" Another member of the poorly named club cried out.

"How'd you find us?!" Umino demanded.

Haruna held up her phone, showing Umino's twitter page. "When I was your age delinquents didn't tell everyone what they were up to on the internet."

"Well when you were our age, there was no such thing as computers," one of the cheekier members of the club shot back.

The glare Haruna gave the young man caused him to lose control of his bladder and bowels from complete terror. The other members of the club, who had managed to avoid direct eye contact, were paralyzed–except for Jun, who had been looking through the viewfinder of her camera.

"Hey! Something's happening down at the airport, it's weird!"

* * *

Just moments before, a nervous JSDF was met by Murid, who quietly appeared atop the airport's tower. Looking down over the airport, she took a deep breath and blew out her untraceable mist over the soldiers and their armor.

The JSDF Soldiers, falling under the mist, dropped their weapons or abandoned them on the airfield, and began walking in neat queues towards the terminal, where they'd be relatively safe and out of the way. The only problem was the helicopters still in the area and now making a bee-line for the airport. As the observation and attack helicopters began to train their sights onto the airport, Jadeite appeared in the intersection of two of the airport's runways.

"There are people everywhere, Jadeite." Kyurene reported as she circled over the airport and its vicinity high overhead. "Spectators are on the roofs and streets outside the area quarantined by the JSDF."

"They want a good show." Jadeite watched the helicopters circling the airport. "We'd better give them one."

"Break a leg out there. We're going to be ready in case anything goes wrong," Kyurene said before she turned into a scattering flock of bats.

With her gone, Jadeite paid the helicopters targeting him no mind and spoke. "Well here I am, Sailor Moon."

"You showed up early. That's very sweet of you." When he heard her voice, he turned and his smiled a little when he found Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter near the end of the runway.

Smiling herself, Sailor Moon folded her arms over her chest. "We ladies don't like to be kept waiting."

"I work with enough women to know when exactly to arrive," Jadeite replied. His youma, hidden but observing every moment, immediately giggled amongst themselves.

Sailor Moon laughed. "You're a bad boy. But let's get serious, Jadeite. This shit is about to go bad."

Jadeite froze. "What do you mean?"

It was at that moment, that Nephrite appeared, and Sailor Moon charged forward to perform a high kick that stopped the sword he'd swung for Jadeite's neck. Jadeite quickly jumped clear, as Nephrite teleported away from Sailor Moon to a slightly safer range.

"Your bad luck strikes again, Jadeite," Sailor Moon said as she lowered her leg.

"Nephrite…" This was bad; Nephrite looked pissed and had attacked him before anything else. That could only mean…

"Colluding with the enemy, you traitor?!" Nephrite accused.

Damn, how'd he find out? Jadeite looked between the Senshi and Nephrite, and then narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't even try to play innocent; Grape had heard your youma's deal with the Senshi, and your desire to quit," Nephrite revealed, causing Jadeite to swear under his breath.

Sailor Moon was annoyed; they should've dusted those three when they were fighting them and made sure of it. A tragic oversight, but really, why was she letting this dramatic showdown continue? She should be taking advantage of Nephrite's insistence on exposing Jadeite as a traitor in front of the very people he was switching sides to-

"FIRE SOUL!" Thank you, Sailor Mars.

Nephrite, however, managed to evade the burst of flame via a short teleport into the air, and raised his hand to fire his own energy blast at the three Senshi. "Stupid girl, don't call out your surprise attack."

Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Thunder smashed into him and carved a long trench down the airport's tarmac before smashing him into an abandoned tank, which exploded spectacularly. Landing in a crouch, Sailor Jupiter stood up. "Sound advice."

Jadeite looked to Jupiter with alarm. "Hey, don't try to kill him!"

"I didn't even use half my power with that, relax," Sailor Jupiter replied with no small amount of reservation in her tone.

Sure enough, Nephrite got up, largely unharmed, and dusted himself off. Why did that one hold back her attack, when she could've killed him with ease? What the Hell was Jadeite up to? "Why, Jadeite?"

"You should know better than anyone," Jadeite shot back.

Nephrite did, and it annoyed him that it would be something Jadeite would do. His youma were afraid of the Senshi, and out of his overwhelming compassion he decided to throw in the towel to protect the last of his subordinates. Of course, that presented a new problem he probably overlooked.

"Jadeite, I don't think you understand the miscalculation you've just made," Nephrite said.

"I know Beryl won't be happy about it and there will be retaliation, but this is the decision I've made and I'm standing by it for the sake of my youma."

Nephrite shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? Beryl's not even upset."

Jadeite gave pause, as he and the Senshi stared at Nephrite. "What?"

* * *

Zoisite was taken aback at Beryl's nonchalant declaration of "I'm not even mad", when he oh so happily revealed Jadeite's intention to defect to the side of the Sailor Senshi. "Y-you're not angry?"

"Why should I be? Actually I'm impressed!" Beryl cheerfully replied.

Zoisite was confused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on, Zoisite! You have to admit that lying to my face takes a pair bigger than my tits!" Beryl placed her hands under her breasts and raised them up for emphasis, they weren't always this large, but who needed cosmetic surgery when you had magic?

Zoisite… could not resist. "So he used a spell to increase his courage?"

Beryl blasted him through a stone pillar. "Ow."

"At any rate, Jadeite leaving is actually a good thing for us. He was always kind of a pussy, and he said so himself… his usefulness was going to be limited soon." As she spoke Beryl waved her hand and levitated Zoisite back over to her before dropping him roughly onto the floor.

As he got back up, Beryl issued her decree. "Zoisite, I want you to kill him."

Any protest Zoisite may have had about being blasted through a stone pillar vanished and he looked up at Beryl with a big smile. "Really?"

"Yes, go and kill Jadeite and his little youma too." Beryl said.

Zoisite's smile grew. "Oh thank you Queen Beryl? How shall I go about it?"

After a moment of contemplation, Beryl grinned. "Surprise me! Go crazy out there, kiddo. Hell, burn their little city to the ground while you're at it. Show those immodestly dressed sluts that Queen Beryl doesn't fuck around, got it?"

His face red, Zoisite's eyes rolled back and his tongue lolled from his mouth as he let out a shuddered, aroused sigh at the unspeakable destruction he was already imagining unleashing. Wrapping his arms around himself, he shivered and licked his lips.

"Queen Beryl… you spoil me…" He purred as his cherry blossom petals swirled around him.

He vanished, and Beryl summoned her tablet to check her Facebook page. "Little faggot gives me the creeps."

She had not noticed that Nephrite was still in the room, having long since made it a habit to spy on any of Beryl's meetings with Zoisite and Kunzite. His hands clenched into fists, Nephrite vanished to hunt down Jadeite.

* * *

"I came to take your life before Zoisite does, even a traitor doesn't deserve that!" Nephrite declared as he waved his hand and brought a rain of energy blasts down on the Senshi and Jadeite, forcing them all to jump clear.

Sailor Moon landed outside of the barrage and frowned. Jadeite was right about this guy; somewhere in there was a person who could possibly be convinced to switch sides.

Nephrite crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh stars, give me your power: Starlight Attack!"

He unleashed a powerful blast that tore up the ground as it raced for Jadeite, who teleported out of the way before Mars and Jupiter's attacks converged on Nephrite in retaliation. When he evaded the attack by jumping clear, Sailor Mercury suddenly appeared in front of him and performed an uppercut that he quickly blocked.

Undeterred, Mercury flipped over to kick Nephrite backward and into a hold from Sailor Moon. Before he could break free, Sailor Moon jumped straight into the air like a rocket, flipped over, and threw him straight for Sailor Jupiter, who performed a fearsome uppercut that connected with his stomach, folding him in half and causing him to cough up blood.

Sailor Jupiter let him fall to the ground and stepped back. Sailor Moon and Mercury landed as Mars joined them in surrounding the downed General. Jadeite again was not too receptive of the rough treatment of his former comrade. "You guys don't know how to turn it down, do you?"

Sailor Moon snorted. "We are turning it down, thank you!"

The Senshi were intolerably strong, he hadn't expected them to actively protect Jadeite like this. Coughing, he slowly pushed himself to his feet and glared at the Senshi and Jadeite. "You should've let me kill him. Zoisite's going to destroy this entire city just to get him now, you as well."

Sailor Moon nodded. "There was going to be a big response no matter how it went down. The only difference is that you know he's on our side."

"Don't talk down on us like we don't know this is a war!" Sailor Jupiter added.

"Yeah!" Sailor Mars shouted, if only to be included in the dialogue.

Nephrite stood up, and wiped the blood from his mouth as he stared pointedly at Jadeite. "Beryl's going to get serious, I'm warning you. You can still save this, somehow."

Jadeite shook his head. "I want to save my friends. You're welcomed to come with me, Nephrite. We don't have to fight!"

Before Nephrite could speak, Zoisite called out. "Oh, by all means please! I would have an excuse to end your worthless life too!"

The party involved quickly looked around for the source of Zoisite's voice; in annoyance he gave them a hint. "Hey, up here bitches."

Looking up, the Senshi, Jadeite, and Nephrite saw a projection of Zoisite standing in what looked like a maze of girders in the sky over Minato. They weren't the only ones, either, like with Jadeite's broadcast the night before, the entire city's eyes were cast skyward at the sinisterly smiling face.

"Haruna-sensei, look at that!" Jun cried out as the WAFFEN SS and the other spectators in their building pointed fingers and cameras upward.

Haruna looked up and frowned. "This can't be good."

She had no clue how right she was. Nearby the airport Naru and Luna watched Zoisite's broadcast with apprehension. Things were going completely wrong.

"That's three Generals out now," Luna said.

"It's just like Rei predicted, the creepy one came out," Naru whispered.

On the roof of another building, Marik pointed his camera up at Zoisite as Hakushi gave the projection careful scrutiny. "Where's he broadcasting from?"

It was not limited to the people on the ground, the JASDF fighter pilots patrolling Tokyo's airspace turned their F-15J and F-2A fighters to report the image over the city, while aboard the private jet of Heroes of Gunstar; the pilot's cry of "What the Hell" brought both Natalie and Kim to the cockpit, where they stared in amazement at the projection.

"I take back what I said about flashy entrances," Kim deadpanned.

Back at Haneda, Sailor Moon and the Senshi got ready for anything as Zoisite smiled down on them. "Now that I have your attention, I have a few demands that I want you all to hear before this gets ugly."

"Mercury, trace his location," Sailor Moon ordered aside before addressing Zoisite. "What are your demands?"

"Well, first, I would like for you to kill the traitor right there. Jadeite's outlived his usefulness and needs to be disposed of. Do it yourselves or let Nephrite do it, I don't care how it's done." Zoisite requested.

"Fuck off, you freak!" Jadeite snarled back.

"Hey, chill out," Makoto said as she held a hand towards Jadeite while keeping an eye on Nephrite.

"My second demand is that you reveal your identities to me," Zoisite then said.

"FUCK OFF, YOU FREAK!" Sailor Jupiter roared.

"Sorry, but we can't do either of those things," Sailor Moon quickly replied.

Zoisite sighed. "Are you sure?"

"We're pretty sure, yes!" Sailor Mars shouted back. Sailor Mercury was still triangulating but she was getting weird readings in the ambient energy in the area.

Zoisite pouted. "Fine then, I'll just kill everyone in this city."

The projection went from pouting to ferocious as he held out his hand, pointing it at the airport below. "ZOI~!"

A wave of dark energy radiated from his hand and crashed down like a pillar onto the airport, weighing down both the Senshi and the two Dark Generals before it mercifully faded and then cleared away. When finally it did, nothing seemed to have occurred.

"What… what just happened?" Mars asked as she looked around.

"Nothing good," Sailor Moon said, before she saw movement out the corner of her eyes. When she turned to face it, she saw that one of the abandoned Type 74 Main Battle Tanks pointing its gun at her. "Well, shit."

The tank fired and Sailor Moon leaned to the side, as she watched the Armor Penetrating dart it fired sail past her and straight for the Senshi behind her, Mercury. The dart passed right through Mercury, who dissolved into fading light before she reappeared above the tank and slammed a kick down into it, smashing it in half.

She hadn't even taken her attention away from her supercomputer. "Dark Energy readings are through the roof! Every vehicle in the vicinity of the airport's likely been possessed!"

How inconvenient, Sailor Moon realized as she, Mars, and Jupiter placed themselves between Jadeite and Nephrite, and looked around at the tanks that were coming to life and rumbling towards them.

Zoisite called out. "Nephrite, you'd better get out of the way, or else you'll get caught up in the… crossfire!"

Nephrite quickly teleported back as the tanks opened fire on the Senshi and Jadeite, who all swiftly scattered to avoid the converging shells. Spinning through the air, Sailor Mars immediately went on the counterattack and unleashed a Fire Soul blast that heated up one of the tanks red-hot before its ammunition exploded with devastating force.

As she landed, another tank fired at her, the armor penetrating dart narrowly missing her. The tank pursued her, firing again and again as Mars fled from it, before she pulled out several ofuda.

"Evil spirits begone!" she yelled as she threw them at the tank. Sticking to its hull, the charms immediately generated a powerful charge that warred with the dark energy, paralyzing it. Another Fire Soul melted parts of the tank before it exploded.

Another tank charged Sailor Mercury with its main gun blazing faster than it ever normally could. Moving faster than the untrained eye, Mercury ran up to the tank and grabbed it one-handed under the front of its hull before flipping it up and onto its back. Grabbing the inverted tank by the barrel, she turned and swung it into another one targeting Jupiter, smashing both into wreckage.

"Thanks!" Sailor Jupiter yelled back as she used her electromagnetic field to bend the paths of several AP darts away from her. Jumping into the air, she channeled her lightning powers through her body and fell upon a tank clustered with two others. With a great yell, she slammed both fists down on the tank flattening it into the ground and creating a shockwave that flipped the other two over.

Sailor Moon and Jadeite quickly found themselves back to back as the last four tanks converged on them. Sailor moon looked over her shoulder to him. "Well, this could've gone worse, at least!"

"I'm surprised it hasn't." Jadeite quickly erected a barrier that stopped the AP Dart fired at him, before Sailor Moon reached up and caught another fired at the side of her head. Swinging it, she slapped away another of the supersonic traveling darts before Jadeite fired an energy blast at the fourth tank before it could fire, destroying it.

As the tank blew up, Sailor Moon pulled off and threw her tiara. "Moon Tiara, Action!"

The deadly discus cleaved clean through the tank in front of her, and then zipped around back to kill the one in front of Jadeite, before he turned and fired another energy blast that melted through the last tank. Sailor Moon caught her tiara, as Jadeite blew away the smoke rising from his palm.

Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter rejoined the two, and all looked back up at Zoisite, who shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, of course, some possessed main battle tanks are no match for you."

"Well, yeah!" Sailor Mars called back.

"I said I was going to burn this city to the ground, didn't I? So I should get around to it, but I'm going to need some firepower," Zoisite said, and when Sailor Moon looked up, she saw exactly what he meant.

More rays of dark energy rained down, striking the helicopters that had been circling the scene, both the lightly armed observation helicopters and their more heavily armed attack helicopter companions. Despite the struggles of their pilots to maintain control, the helicopters fell under Zoisite's sway, and turned around to face the buildings outside of Haneda Airport as an ominous red glow emanated from them.

"The controls aren't responding!" the pilot of one yelled as the helicopter's targeting systems trained their weapons first on the abandoned buildings, and then onto those further back packed with spectators.

"That son of a bitch!" Sailor Jupiter yelled as she prepared to fire off her Supreme Thunder at the helicopters.

"No! Damn it, don't fire!" The gunner of the same helicopter ordered, before a round crashed into its tail rotor, and sent it plummeting towards the ground. Another gunshot rang out, and another helicopter was hit.

Zoisite recoiled in surprise as yet another helicopter was shot down in quick succession. "What's this?"

"Motoki, there are three left! Reload!" From her firing point, Reika quickly ejected the spent magazine of her tripod-mounted Anti-Material Rifle and allowed for Motoki to quickly slam in the next box. Chambering the next round into the modified weapon, Reika aimed and fired, hitting the next helicopter.

The two remaining helicopters quickly sought out the firing point at Zoisite's command, but one was quickly shot down by Reika just as the other found her and Motoki and fired off two missiles at their position

"Shit-shit-shit-shit-!" Motoki yelled as the missiles leaped off their rails. Undeterred, Reika quickly stood up with the heavy rifle, aimed, and fired two more shots, intercepting the missiles to Motoki's amazement.

"Holy shit, Reika what was that?" He asked.

"Reload!" Reika just yelled back as the helicopter lined up for another shot.

There was no need, however. Sweeping down like a hawk from above, Tuxedo Kamen dove through the rotors of the helicopter and sliced the rail rotor off. Landing in a crouch on another rooftop, he sheathed his cane sword as the helicopter fell to the ground.

"Damn it… their blood's on our hands." Tuxedo Kamen snarled after he heard the crash of the chopper's impact.

Over at the airport, Sailor Moon was not pleased. "Mercury, find him."

Sailor Mercury nodded and got to work. Overhead, Zoisite was not happy with the outcome. "Son of a bitch, I bet it was that masked tuxedo guy!"

He then looked down at his opponents, and the burning wreckage around them. Holding up his hand, he slowly closed it into a fist. "Let's try something else then."

"It's about to get worse," Jadeite said, and right as he finished the wreckage of the tanks began to shift and move about under Zoisite's control. The Senshi and Jadeite were then forced to evade the wreckage as it all converged to a single point and started to combine and transform.

"It's worse." Mars squeaked as the combined tanks now towered over the Senshi as a giant robot youma.

"Worse?" Sailor Moon asked. "It's just a bigger target now."

The giant robot, looking like something out of a Michael Bay Transformers movie like the last Robot Youma encountered by the Senshi, quickly transformed its right arm into an eight-barreled one hundred five millimeter cannon, which began to spin at high speed before it fired on the Senshi and Jadeite, who all scattered to avoid the rounds, both armor-piercing and high explosive anti-tank.

"This is wasting our time!" Jupiter yelled before Mercury unleashed a Sabão Spray attack to create a fog of battle.

As the youma robot stumbled through the mist, Jupiter's Supreme Thunder crashed down onto it, and engulfed it in explosions. From the explosions, however, came lengths of tread fired like harpoons straight for Jupiter, which she narrowly avoided with a few leaps back.

Mars' Fire Soul then struck the youma robot next, followed by a full-powered blast from Jadeite that only caused it to stumble backward and out of the Sabão mist. Sailor Moon followed it out, kicking it with such force that it tumbled end over end across the runway and off the airport into the bay.

Jadeite looked to Sailor Moon. "Is this turning it up?"

"I'll let you know when we crank it up," Sailor Moon replied.

Geysers shot from the water and were followed by an ominous whistle before shells exploded all around the Senshi and Jadeite. The robot threw itself from the water and high into the air before coming down with a mighty crash that threw Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter back. As they all landed, the robot changed configuration, with four very large cannons sprouting from its hunched back and its arms transforming into missile launchers.

"Wow, it looks like a Monster!" Mercury called out as it opened fire on them.

"Stop being a nerd and get out of the way!" Mars yelled at her as the shells and missiles converged on the group.

When the smoke cleared, the Senshi and Jadeite were laid out in the torn up ground. Seeing this, Zoisite let out a pleased hum. "So far, so good I wager."

Rolling over next to Mercury, Sailor Moon tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Mercury, you find him?"

Mercury looked to Sailor Moon. "It's hard to pinpoint where he is. There's too much dark energy all at once going on. Frankly, I'm amazed at how powerful he is to be able to do all this."

"Keep working then, best as you can." That was going to be tough, all things considered. The robot had transformed again, its arms now connected to form a giant hammer to crush them with. Before it could attack, a single rose struck the robot youma between its eyes. It did nothing but distract it, but that was fine.

Tuxedo Kamen needed a second to slice off its arms.

"Sexy!" Sailor Moon exclaimed as she jumped up. "I was wondering when you'd show up!"

Tuxedo Kamen landed next to her, and sheathed his cane sword again. "I hope you have a plan, Sailor Moon."

"I have most of one, but where the Hell can I find a ship big enough to shove up the pretty boy's ass?" Sailor Moon said as she pointed upward at Zoisite.

"Silly girl, I never bottom. Ask Jadeite," Zoisite shot back.

Everyone looked at Jadeite, and his face turned bright red. "Let's focus on the matter at hand, please!"

"I agree!" Sailor Jupiter said as the youma robot was reassembling and transforming again.

Repaired, the robot aimed its arms, now both transformed into rotary cannons at the Senshi and opened fire, the shells tearing apart the airport's main runway as the Senshi narrowly evaded the gunfire. Sailor Moon landed and snorted. "We can kick and slice it up all day, but it'll just regenerate."

Sailor Mercury put aside finding Zoisite, she had an idea. "What if we burn it all up at once?"

"I don't have enough fire for that!" Sailor Mars noted.

Sailor Mercury gave Mars a thumbs' up. "You will in a second!"

Sailor Moon grinned. "You have an idea, don't you?"

"I sure do!" Sailor Mercury then crossed her arms and generated a tremendous amount of power. "Mercury Sabão Spray!"

The stream of bubbles crashed into the youma robot, filling the air around it with dense mist. "Jupiter, use your lightning!"

Jupiter's Supreme Thunder crashed down and electrified the cloud. As it cleared around the robot, Sailor Mercury observed the particle concentrations immediately around the robot and then looked to Sailor Mars. "Do it, now!"

Sailor Mars nodded. "Right! Mars Fire Soul!"

The robot had prepared to fire again, when the fire soul hit… and ignited the air full of pure oxygen and hydrogen that Sailor Jupiter's lightning had separated. The massive flare-up that followed sent a pillar of fire straight upward that could be seen for miles in every direction.

The tornado of fire, controlled by Sailor Mars, spun around the robot, which let out a dull roar as it was incinerated to ash. As it burned away, leaving nothing but glassed earth and a few piles of cooling slag, Sailor Moon looked towards Sailor Mercury, who was pleased as punch with herself.

"What… what the Hell was that?!" Jadeite yelled.

Sailor Mercury put her hands on her hips and thrust her chest out. "Science!"

Sailor Moon then leaped and hugged Mercury, startling her. "I am going to bang you so hard when this over, Mercury. Just you wait."

Sailor Jupiter shook her head as Mercury toppled over with a squeak trying to get free of Sailor Moon. "Guys, can we save the celebration for when the city isn't destroyed and innocent people aren't killed?"

"No, keep going this is hot," Zoisite piped in as he watched Sailor Moon nuzzle Mercury affectionately.

Sailor Mercury grimaced, before her computer's visor beeped and flashed at her. "Hey, I think I found him."

The other Senshi looked over. "Where?"

Sailor Mercury carefully examined the data, and then nodded. "He's using Tokyo Tower to amplify his power!"

Snorting, Sailor Jupiter lamented. "It's always Tokyo Tower, isn't it?"

"On the bright side, if we take Zoisite out, the attacks will stop, he's the source power the possessed vehicles are relying on."

"Or we can tear the tower down," Sailor Moon and Jupiter suggested.

Sailor Mars vehemently objected. "No! We are not destroying Tokyo Tower!" When everyone looked at her she blushed. "I mean, it's one of the crows' favorite hang out, they'd be crushed."

Sailor Moon looked towards Tokyo Tower. "Fine then, we'll just take out Zoisite, can't be that hard. Sailor Jupiter, do you know what a fastball special is?"

Jupiter looked to Tokyo Tower. "I think I can make that throw."

"What's a fastball special?" Sailor Mars asked.

Sailor Jupiter raised her hand and Sailor Moon leaped up to balance precariously on it it. As Jadeite fired another blast at the youma robot and was backed up by a blast of flame from Mars, he looked back. "Whatever you're planning please do it!"

"We're already on it!" Sailor Moon yelled. "Fastball…!"

Sailor Jupiter reared back, and sent a charge of electricity down her arm before throwing Sailor Moon at Tokyo Tower with all her might. "SPECIAL!"

"Oh, so that's a fastball special!" Sailor Mars called out.

Watching Sailor Moon hurtle through the air towards the tower at hundreds of miles per hour, Tuxedo Kamen couldn't help but laugh. "You're all unbelievable."

* * *

Zoisite gave a start when he saw Sailor Jupiter throw Sailor Moon, and then seconds later noticed out the corner of his eye a white and yellow blur that suddenly turned red. Raising a barrier, he blocked the kick Sailor Moon had swung on him, but her overwhelming momentum shattered it and her kick connected to drive him into the main support of Tokyo Tower, fracturing it.

Sailor Moon landed on another beam in a crouch and shook her head as she came down from the rush of flying through the air so fast. "Damn Jupiter, we're doing that more often."

She stood and looked up at Zoisite, who was sitting in the large dent he made, rubbing his face. Removing his gloved hand from his cheek, Zoisite grinned and pushed himself back up to float in the air. Sailor Moon's expression went from amused to stoic, as Zoisite's cherry blossoms began to materialize around him.

"Since you came all this way," he said before he vanished.

He just as quickly reappeared, thrusting a blade for Sailor Moon's throat. "Let's dance!"

Parrying the blade, Sailor Moon grabbed Zoisite and threw him into another support. He disappeared before hitting it, and was suddenly in multiple places at once, moving with increasing speed in various poses to throw off Sailor Moon. Staring at the afterimages, Sailor Moon suddenly dove to avoid a stab and swung herself around the beam to avoid slashes first above and then below it.

She performed a handspring off the beam and evaded a cut that sliced it in two. Landing on the underside of another girder, she parried another strike and kicked Zoisite back before gravity claimed her and she began to fall down the internal framework of the tower.

Twisting and flipping to avoid the other girders and crisscrossing obstacles in her way, Sailor Moon watched as Zoisite teleported in and out of sight around her, his predatory gaze never leaving her as he sized her up for attack. Twirling around to avoid another bar, she suddenly twisted the other way, kicking his blade out of his hand when he had brought it to bear.

When she tried to follow it up with a second kick Zoisite teleported and caught his sword before teleporting again and thrust the blade for her face as she tried to right herself. She turned her head at the last second, sending the blade glancing off her tiara before she connected a vicious blow to Zoisite's gut.

The wind was knocked from Zoisite, and he quickly teleported clear of her as Sailor Moon landed on the roof of the tower's main observation deck. He reappeared again, on the opposite end of the deck his feet barely touching the roof. A thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth that he slowly and lewdly licked up.

"God damn, I am so hard right now."

He really shouldn't have told her that, for in the next instant Sailor Moon raced up to him, grabbed his shoulders, and kneed him right in the crotch. The hit lifted Zoisite off his feet and he slumped against Sailor Moon in agony.

Gasping for breath, he looked up at her. "Please Ojou-sama, can I have another?"

Tightening her grip on his shoulders, Sailor Moon reared back and brought her head down on his, sending him face-first through the roof of the observation deck, through its floors, and out its bottom, shattering every window on the deck.

"Wow, this guy's a freaky one," Sailor Moon muttered as she stepped back from the hole in the roof.

Zoisite reappeared in front of her, clearly in pain but looking like he enjoyed it more than anything. "Oh yes, you are definitely my favorite opponent. Not even Kunzite hits me that hard, and I really try to get it out of him."

Blood dripping from his mouth, he grinned. "When can we move on from the foreplay and fuck already, Ojou-sama?"

"Ah, you're a masochist. That explains everything." Sailor Moon folded her arms. "If you're going to get off on it then no, I'm not going to hit you anymore."

Zoisite's face fell. "Oh come on! Just a few more good knocks, come on~!"

Sailor Moon only grew more obstinate, looking away. "No!"

Zoisite pouted and a single razor sharp crystal appeared in front of him, aimed at Sailor Moon. "Well now you're no fun. Die."

The crystal accelerated, and Sailor Moon easily dodged it by leaning to the side. When she glanced back, she saw that there were now dozens of the crystals surrounding her from all sides, all primed to strike. Holding up a hand, Zoisite smirked and snapped his fingers, sending them all straight for her.

Zoisite grinned as the deadly blades closed in on her, but at the last second Sailor Moon disappeared from sight and every single blade missed, embedding itself harmlessly into the roof and surrounding beams. "What? Where did she go…?"

He then saw the hole that he had made after being head-butted, and then looked directly beneath him. "Clever girl."

Sailor Moon burst through the floor and connected an uppercut to Zoisite's crotch, launching him like a rocket through a number of support beams and sending him smashing into the tower's upper observation deck.

Sailor Moon shook her hand. "I keep touching this guy's junk. It's kind of gross."

"Wow… just wow."

Sailor Moon looked up at him, arms akimbo, and watched as he teleported from the dent he made to appearing in front of her again.

"I think I'm in love," Zoisite said as the other Senshi joined Sailor Moon, as well as Tuxedo Kamen and Jadeite.

Sailor Mercury cracked her knuckles, as Mars and Jupiter powered up their attacks. "Spare us."

"Oh that's entirely the wrong tone, trollop," Zoisite retorted before he pointed his hand down at the group, and the entirety of Tokyo Tower began to glow in a dark red light.

"Oh Hell, guys I think this is a-" Sailor Moon stopped when a black dome suddenly appeared above them, and the floor beneath them turned black as well. "Oops."

Zoisite let out a laugh. "Afraid so, bitches. Fact of the matter is, you're far too strong for me to fight straight on like this, Jadeite was right on that count, but that just meant I had to get creative. Now that I have Jadeite, I guess that leaves for you to show me your civilian identities, and I won't burn this town to the ground."

Sailor Moon responded by trying to punch the barrier with all of her might. There was a loud thump, followed by a much louder one when she attempted to kick it. To everyone's uncomfortable surprise, it did no damage, and got smaller. Sailor Moon stepped back. "What the Hell?"

Sailor Mercury was already analyzing the barrier. "It's meant to contract when struck from the inside."

"So the more you struggle, the tighter the fit, until… well… I think you've all seen that once scene in Akira," Zoisite taunted.

"Which scene, I haven't read it all yet," Sailor Moon said.

Zoisite paused. "What? There's a book?"

"I think he's talking about the movie," Sailor Mercury said.

Sailor Moon nodded in understanding. "I've never seen that. How's it compared to the manga?"

Jadeite and Tuxedo Mask together let out an "Eh".

Zoisite seemed confused. "What are you talking about?"

"What's Akira?" Mars asked.

Now that just made Zoisite angry. "You're Japanese and you don't know what Akira is?!"

"It's some old manga that ended before we were probably even born." Sailor Jupiter explained.

"Oh!" Sailor Mars replied.

"You're all idiots and philistines!" Zoisite yelled at them.

Sailor Moon laughed. "Nah, we're just fucking with you. Seriously though, we're not giving away our identities, so you can fuck off and die."

Zoisite pouted and floated down to their level. "Well then, if you're going to be rude about it, I guess you've forced my hand."

Raising his hand, a large orb of dark energy formed, and all of Tokyo Tower began to glow before it launched beams in every direction.

"Great, now what's he aiming for?" Sailor Mars asked.

Tuxedo Kamen gritted his teeth as he tracked the beams. "He's after the planes patrolling over Tokyo!"

* * *

At Haneda Airport, where she and Naru had been hiding out on the sidelines, Luna could sense the ominous turn the battle has taken. "The Senshi are in trouble."

Naru looked to Luna. "Is there anything we can do to help them?"

"I'm not sure." Luna answered sadly.

Naru gasped and covered her mouth. "No…"

The beams raced into the night sky, homing in on the fighter jets in the air over Tokyo and striking them, imbuing them with dark energy, while some managed to avoid being hit once the pilots saw the beams coming.

Out over the Pacific, the pilot of the Heroes of Gunstar Gulfstream V was also able to see the beam and called out to the passengers. "Everyone hang on!"

He pushed the stick forward, and the sleek business jet dove underneath the beam that had been racing for it, while throwing its other occupants to the ceiling and then the floor. Sitting up, Natalie shook her head and stared out another window at the beam as it went off into the night sky.

"… The Hell was that?" She asked.

Aboard the fighters, the pilots were shocked to find their controls suddenly not responding, with one F-15 pilot warring with his controls even as the complex systems in the cockpit began to fail in sequence. "I have no control, I… I'm ejecting!"

Pulling the ejection lever, the pilot was blown clear of his plane as were his wingmen. As he left the plane and his parachute began to deploy, he could see his aircraft beginning to undergo a bizarre transformation in midair.

"What's happening to it?" He asked in horror.

Twisting and warping as it began to fall through the air, the plane completed a grisly metamorphosis into a sleek, and deadly-looking winged demon, which let out a piercing wail before its engines, now mounted on its back, fired and sent it hurtling through the air at impossible speeds.

One of the fighter pilots that avoided the beams quickly scanned the sky and called into the radio. "We've lost six planes!"

His base was quick to radio back. "We are diverting assets to reinforce the airspace, locate and attack the target."

"Understood, control!" The pilot received an alarm. "What? I'm being targeted!"

He then saw what was targeting him and screamed, "What is that thing?!"

An explosion and a trail of fire then lit up the sky, shocking the spectators on the ground from Haruna and her students to both Marik and Hakushi. The latter looked to the former and both shared a grim look before they turned their attention back to the battle at the airport. The trail of fire was also visible to Natalie and the others on her plane.

"Oh my God, we're going to die," Kim said when she saw what had caused the explosion, and saw other ominous shapes darting in the airspace around the plane.

Letting out a loud screech, one of the youma jets opened fire, its missiles racing towards a pair of F-2s that escaped the beam attacks. Launching flares, both pilots quickly reorganized and turned to engage.

"Quickly, draw the new enemy away from the city!" One of the pilots ordered as he fired his cannon at the youma. The youma, more a demonic creature than an aircraft now, evaded the burst and pursued after both F-2s blew past it.

"Check your three and six!" An F-15 pilot who also escaped radioed as he fired a missile at a youma attacking from the F-2s' right side. The missile homed in on the youma, which sped up and turned away; fleeing the rapidly closing missile, it suddenly turned and shot it down with an accurate burst of its own cannon.

"Unbelievable, those moves are inhuman!" The F-15 pilot declared before he unleashed another missile. The youma fired its own missiles back at the Japanese Eagle, which broke into a turn away from it, firing off multiple flares. One of the missiles was fooled, but the second ignored the high intensity balls of light and heat and homed in, exploding just behind the twin-engine jet.

"Gah, I'm hit!" The pilot managed to recover the plane a bit, but found himself still pursued. "I need some backup!"

The youma bore down on the damaged F-15, but then found itself under attack from one of the F-2s, which had split from his wingman to support. As the youma broke off, the F-2 pilot radioed his wingmate. "We'll cover you; make an emergency landing at Haneda!"

"Understood, be careful!" The F-15 pilot replied as the brave F-2 pilot turned his attention to the youma.

"Come and get me, you monster!" he yelled as he pushed the throttle to full afterburner.

The other F-2 pilot, maneuvering wildly to avoid the being locked onto by the other youma, went into a hard, tight turn to avoid another missile, while launching flares. "I can't shake this one!"

The youma itself suddenly grabbed the F-2's wing, and jammed its claws into the single-engine fighter's back. Immediately the plane went haywire. "It got me, I'm ejecting!"

As the pilot bailed out, he caught a glimpse of his own plane beginning to transform into a monster as well, and wondered to himself what kind of evil they were up against.

The remaining F-2 had drawn itself away from the damaged plane, and was racing out over Tokyo Bay, when the ground control contacted its pilot. "Don't go out too far; you're approaching the Narita corridor!"

"Damn it…!" The pilot turned away and went into a dive, launching more flares as it plunged towards the sea. His radar was painting an unpleasant picture, there were now six of those monsters, and they were all converging on him.

"Send back up! I can't take them all on!" He warned before one of them opened fire, shredding his plane's tail. "I'm hit, bailing!"

He did at the perfect moment, leaving the plane before another youma impaled the cockpit from below and beginning its transformation into another monster.

* * *

"It is total chaos, sources inside the JSDF are reporting that several fighter jets have been hacked by an unknown presence and are attacking other patrolling aircraft in the vicinity despite the pilots having successfully bailed out. The situation is becoming so grave, that officials are requesting assistance from American bases in the country…"

The radio was ignored as Haruna and her students watched the increasingly desperate air battle overhead. Aboard their plane, Natalie kept a camera on the action as best she could. Next to her, Kim was wondering why the monsters hadn't attacked them.

"What do you think they're going to do now?" Marik asked as he watched the damaged F-15 attempt an emergency landing.

Hakushi just shook his head. "I think all we can hope for is a miracle and believe in the Sailor Senshi."

Even as he said this, Naru and Luna looked up to see the damaged F-15 pass over their heads before performing a rough landing on damaged runway. The poor condition of the runway caused its landing gear to collapse, and it slid across the base, leaving a trail of sparks behind it before it came to a stop on the grass. As the pilot leaped from the damaged plane, Naru looked from it to Luna. "Luna, I have to help them somehow."

Luna looked between Naru and the plane. "What are you going to do?"

She was right, but there was a chance. Naru pulled out the Disguise Pen. "Luna, can the pen transform vehicles too?"

"I don't know, I've never tried it for anything like that!" Luna answered before Naru broke into a run for the plane. "Naru, wait!"

Reaching the plane as the pilot headed towards the airport terminal, Naru climbed up onto the wing. Crawling across the top of the fighter plane's wing, she made her way to the cockpit and then dropped into it.

_If we don't know it'll work, there's only one way to find out. I have to believe that it can, and that I can do this!_ she thought before she held up the Disguise Pen.

"Moon Power…!" Naru called out over the plane's winding down turbines, catching the attention of the pilot. They turned and stared in surprise as the F-15 was consumed in the growing ball of light. As cameras of all type were pointed at the light, Luna stopped and stared at the end result of Naru's use of the pen.

"She did it!" Luna gasped over the now growing sound of twin engines.

* * *

Back at Tokyo Tower, Zoisite laughed as he sensed the defeat and transformation of the remaining fighters in the immediate airspace. He turned to face his prisoners. "Typical useless Defense Forces, am I right? It's only because I'm being entirely reasonable that they haven't gone after much more valuable targets. So what do you say? I can make this all go away if you show me your identities."

Sailor Jupiter bristled at the idea. "No! You're insane if you'll think we are that naïve! Nothing's stopping you from just attacking anyway!"

Zoisite shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, have it your way." He looked out towards his gaggle of youma. "Destroy the city, and shoot down any plane you see, not just the Defense Forces!"

Sailor Moon punched the barrier again, causing it to contract more. Tensing up, she called at Zoisite. "You're only making this worse on yourself!"

"I could say the same to you. I think they found a victim, you can still turn this around~." Zoisite taunted.

Sailor Mercury was hurriedly still trying to find a weakness in the barrier. But there seemed to be nothing that could help them from inside. Sailor Moon remained defiant, like the others. "No deal!"

Zoisite's shrugged his shoulders, and he went to it. "Have it your way, then." He contacted his youma. "Kill them."

Sailor Mars looked at Sailor Moon. "But…!"

"It'd be pointless to give away our identities. They'd just use it against us; we'd never be able to beat them if we rolled over like this."

"But those people!" Sailor Mars tried to plead.

Sailor Moon bowed her head. "I know…"

Out over the Tokyo Bay, the youma were closing in on their victim, the Gulfstream V. The pilot, seeing the threatening lights all closing in on the plane, looked back at his passengers. "Everyone hang on!"

The plane performed a hard turn away from the pursuing monsters, its airframe trembling as it was subjected to forces it was not designed to endure for very long. It was a useless maneuver, with one of the youma quickly closing in alongside the plane and readying its claws. Looking out a window at it, Natalie and Kim's eyes widened when it turned its head to look at them with murderous intent.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…!" Kim chanted as the youma began to veer towards the helpless plane.

Natalie looked away and tightly hugged Kim. "Kim!"

The explosion and trail of fire that fell from the sky could be seen from Tokyo Tower. Sailor Mars covered her mouth in horror, and Sailor Jupiter just looked away as Jadeite this time struck the barrier, causing it to shrink more. He yelled at the other General. "ZOISITE!"

Sailor Moon took a deep, shaky breath, and just rested her palm against it the barrier, when all of a sudden Zoisite spoke out. "What the Hell?"

"Look!" Tuxedo Kamen called out, as another fireball appeared. Sailor Mercury turned her computer onto the sight, and found that the hapless plane was still flying, and it was two of the youma that were going down.

"That's not right; they took care of all the fighters!" Zoisite complained, before he saw a brilliant trail of light approaching the remaining youma and the Gulfstream at incredible speed. "Wait… what is that…?"

All eyes in the air and on the ground turned to the trail of blue fire that seemed to rise from Haneda Airport like a rocket. Sailor Mercury zoomed in and enhanced the image of the craft inside her visor, and she stared in disbelief. "What."

Marik lowered his binoculars, and blinked before he looked through them again. "No fucking way."

"Umino, please tell me you can see this," Jun said as she took picture after picture of it through her expensive camera.

Umino was staring through his own high powered binoculars, and nearly dropped them. "It's a Valkyrie."

He had a nerd orgasm, a nerdgasm if you will, right on the spot. "IT'S A FREAKING VALKYRIE!"

Accelerating past the speed of sound the Valkyrie, a VF-1S to be precise, left a deafening boom behind it as Naru, its pilot, targeted the youma that remained. "Let's go!"

Letting out roars, the remaining six jet youma roared angrily and fired missiles on the formerly fictional fighter aircraft. Quickly, Naru rolled over and dove, drawing the missiles and the youma that fired them after her.

As the missiles hurtled through the sky towards the VF-1S, she manipulated the foot controls, throttle and stick, and the VF-1S flipped backward, bringing its belly-mounted anti-air lasers to bear on the incoming missiles. The instant Naru locked onto them, the lasers fired and sliced apart the missiles, while she launched her own at the oncoming youma.

The youma scattered in different direction, as the six missiles split up and pursued them across the night sky. Two were shot down by their targets, a third and fourth were successfully evaded by violent maneuvers on their part, a fifth lost its arm to a missile, while the sixth was hit dead on, and blown out of the sky. As its missiles worked, the VF-1S's engines fired up and the fighter accelerated into a climb, passing close enough to the Gulfstream for those aboard to watch it from the windows.

Zoisite snorted. "It's just a particularly gifted pest."

He pointed at the plane. "Why don't you join the winning team?"

Tokyo Tower began to glow again and a beam of dark energy shot towards the Valkyrie. Spotting it, Naru suddenly performed a barrel roll, going up and over the beam and escaping it. Zoisite let out an annoyed huff and more four more beams fired from the tower, racing to overtake the fighter as two of the youma caught up as well.

Naru ducked and dodged the first and second beams, before turning towards the second two and rolling the VF-1S on its side to pass between them. When the beams cleared, one of the youma attacked Naru from the direction of the tilted plane's belly with its claws raised. Before it could impale the jet, the engines swung down and spewed fire into its face, before the Valkyrie transformed into its GERWALK mode, and aimed its gunpod at the burning youma's face.

A half second burst did it in, the exploding rounds tearing the youma apart and sending it crashing to the bay below. The second youma struck from above, firing several missiles down at Naru as it closed in. Spotting her new attackers, Naru completed the transformation, changing the famed plane to its humanoid battle mode, and using its head-mounted lasers to shot down the missiles and while her gunpod did the youma in.

Zoisite recoiled when he saw the full transformation of the aircraft. "W-What's this Robotech shit?"

"Who is that, and where'd they get a variable fighter from?" Sailor Mars asked as a call came in from Luna.

"Naru-chan transformed a fighter jet into a Valkyrie!"

Sailor Mercury blinked several times. "Wait, it can do that?"

"It's not supposed to, but she did it anyway and I don't have any clue how, but it's amazing!" Luna responded.

Sailor Mercury, being the intellectual she was, had a long slew of problems with what Naru had done. But then again, given that she was single-handedly protecting all of Tokyo by doing what is supposed to be impossible, she was not going to bring them up.

"Well, since we have a breather, Mercury, focus all your efforts to trying to get us out of this barrier!" Sailor Moon said confidently.

Sailor Mercury gave a determined smile. "Right!"

Zoisite, hearing the banter down below, let out an agitated growl, and looked up at the plane. "Of course, you would be a friend of the bitches!"

He fired another blast at Naru's plane, using Tokyo Tower to amplify his power. This time, the intention was to purely shoot it down. When Naru evaded the beam, it suddenly changed direction, and came back after her. Transforming back to fighter mode, Naru went into a dive with the advancing red light right on her heels.

"Whoa, it's a homing laser!" Umino cried as he and everyone with a camera filmed the distant light show.

Accelerating to twice the speed of sound quickly, Naru pulled out of the dive skimming Tokyo Bay, Zoisite's attack keeping up with her and closing in. When it began to get too close, she suddenly snapped into a climb, opening the lead on the beam that widened as the thinning air allowed the VF-1S to accelerate to mach three.

Zoisite–like the coyote chasing the road runner–gawked and dropped his hand, causing the beam to dissipate, as he watched the ascending trail of light from the plane disappear into the sky. "… Holy shit that's fast."

There was then a sonic boom, and another, before Naru suddenly came roaring back, and performed a high speed pass on another youma, blowing it out of the sky. Zoisite fumed. "That's just bullshit! That's all bullshit!"

"Hey Zoisite, hey Zoisite!" Sailor Moon called.

Zoisite looked down at her. Sailor Moon put on an ear-to-ear grin. "You mad?"

Zoisite glared at her, and then smiled. "I ain't even mad."

He reclined in midair and laughed. "I think you're missing an important detail, skank."

"Oh, and that would be?" Sailor Moon retorted.

"I'll give you a hint." Without looking, Zoisite aimed and fired another beam blast, this time at a nearby building, blowing a hole clean through it and out the other side.

Oh, he could use the tower to hit any target in Tokyo. The urgency of the situation rapidly returned, and Sailor Moon clenched her fists. It was Zoisite's turn to grin like an idiot. "You mad?"

When Sailor Moon didn't reply, he contacted his youma. "Don't let that little setback throw you off, finish the pest off!"

Sailor Mercury continued working, but the barrier appeared to be perfectly unbreakable from the inside, unless… wait a minute. She looked to Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon, you should keep hitting the barrier."

Mars, Jupiter, Jadeite, and Tuxedo Kamen looked over to her. Jupiter looked up and around the dome. "It'll just get smaller, and we'll be crushed to death."

Mercury smiled. "Will we? Or do you honestly think that this barrier is more durable than we are?"

Sailor Moon walked to the center of the barrier, and knelt down. "Jadeite, Sexy, you get in the center with me. Girls, hold up your arms and brace yourselves."

When everyone got into position, Sailor Moon raised her fist, and punched the floor of the barrier, causing it to contract again, towards the backs of the other Senshi. As she continued to punch, Jadeite and Tuxedo Kamen both hoped that they were more durable than the barrier.

* * *

Letting out shrieks, the last two youma ignited their engines and blasted towards the oncoming VF-1S as it closed in for another pass. Naru was already locking onto them, as she contacted Luna. "Luna, how are the Senshi doing?"

"They have a plan, but you'll have to buy them time and keep Zoisite from destroying the city!" Luna replied.

Naru nodded. "I can do that!"

She let fly a large spread of missiles, eight of them homing in and converging on the two youma, who had no chance to escape the barrage and multiple explosions indicated their defeat. As the Valkyrie flew through the smoke and flames left by the falling youma, she came up along the Gulfstream V, now practically skimming the water, and wagged its wings.

"That's an F-14, right? It looks kind of like a Veritech," the pilot said before Naru radioed him.

"Make an emergency landing at Haneda now, on runway two, runways one and three are bombed out."

The pilot nodded. "All right, I'm going to turn to approach, can you cover us?"

"I'll do my best, good luck you guys," Naru replied before she pulled into a climb and began to turn towards Tokyo Tower. And not too soon, she immediately heard alerts that enemies were approaching her. All eight of the youma had returned, having regenerated their damage.

"Oh no, they're back? Fine then!" Naru declared as she quickly turned and charged them. Locking onto each youma, she unleashed every remaining missile she had as their own closed in on her.

The two clouds of missiles narrowly passed through each other, with the youmas' projectiles quickly falling prey to Naru's anti-air lasers and brief bursts of her gunpod, while her own were far more accurate, homing in on and pummeling all eight of them with their high-explosive warheads.

Through the smoke trail of the missiles, the VF-1S emerged in battroid mode, unleashing a point blank gunpod burst on one of the youma, setting off numerous further explosions.

Turning her head after saw another monster come at her from her side, Naru turned to meet it and punched it in the head with enough force to rip through it, boosting back before it could claw her, she let out a yell and fired her gunpod down the youma's neck, setting off an explosion inside its aerodynamically curved torso.

She transformed the plane back to fighter mode and accelerated, with another youma right behind her, trying to tag her with bursts of cannon fire. Left and right, Naru rolled, avoiding the red glowing shots before she used the plane's vectored thrust to flip the plane backward and suddenly change direction.

"Go down!" she yelled out as she squeezed the trigger a brief instant before they passed, and after they cleared one another, the youma exploded.

"I'll take you all on!" Naru yelled out as the remaining five youma attacked her from all sides. She narrowly dodged the claws of two, and the missiles of a third, before she transformed to GERWALK and danced around number four to tear it in half with a particularly long burst of her gunpod.

Fully transforming to battroid, she used the butt of the gunpod to crush the head of another youma before kicking it away. When one attempted to lunge at her, she thrust the barrel of the gunpod into its chest and fired through it to hit a youma behind it, blowing apart both.

Naru then saw her ammo counter, and found it painfully low. "Uh oh…!"

The last mostly intact youma attacked again, and Naru met it, stabbing it in the chest with the gunpod as she had before, before emptying the last rounds she had into it, defeating it as well. The explosion that followed, however, severely damaged the VF-1S's arm.

Zoisite let out a laugh. "I think that's it. Out of ammo and it looks like her little veritech is damaged."

Which was bad news for Naru, for down below, the youma were rapidly regenerating again, becoming good as new despite her abuse. There was even one more now, as the halved youma simply regenerated from both parts. Seeing this for herself, Naru let out a growl and did the only thing she could do.

"Come on, come and get me!" she yelled as she transformed the Valkyrie back to fighter mode and shot into a climb. The youma didn't hesitate, all nine launching missiles as they all raced after her.

* * *

The trails of light ascended into the sky, and Zoisite laughed before looking down at the imprisoned Senshi. Tokyo Tower began to glow ominously as he spoke. "This is your last chance to play along, because frankly Beryl wanted me to teach you a lesson anyway–wait, what."

He saw that the barrier was now much smaller thanks to Sailor Moon's strikes, forcing it to strain against the monumental strength of Sailor Mars, Mercury and Jupiter as they braced themselves against it. Almost immediately, he realized what they were doing, and he wasn't having it. "Oh no you don't, don't think you bitches are getting out of this that easy!"

Before he could try to stretch the barrier out, a torrent of water hit him, knocking him across the roof of the observation deck. Jadeite saw the water torrent, and shook his head. "Thetis!"

Zoisite recovered just long enough to get smacked across the back by Iguara's tail, the blow throwing him towards Ramua, who along with Kyurene and Balm unleashed energy blasts that blew him back into Tokyo Tower's main support.

"We can't stand idly by, Jadeite," Thetis said as the youma all joined together between Zoisite and the barrier. "We are your comrades too, and this is our fight."

Zoisite sniffed, and then smiled at the youma. "This just gets better and better. Beryl told me to make sure to get rid of you things too!"

He began to glow along with the tower, his hands overflowing with dark energy that he immediately blasted at the youma. "ZOI!"

"NO!" Jadeite yelled in horror as Thetis fired back with a torrent of water that blocked the beam for only an instant before it was evaporated. Thetis managed to evade the beam, as Ramua raised her spear and threw it at Zoisite, who effortlessly batted it away.

Iguara suddenly got in close, moving like part ninja, part wild animal to rake at him with his claws before slashing at him with her tail. Zoisite evaded it with a teleport and appeared on her other side. "Please."

Iguara looked back, before she was suddenly impaled on numerous crystals. Balm did not take kindly to this. "You bastard!"

Her hair wrapped around Zoisite, imprisoning him, as Kyurene unleashed a hypersonic blast at him from above. Kyurene only hit Zoisite's afterimage, before she too was stabbed with a crystal. Before Balm could counterattack, Zoisite sliced off her head cleanly, and turned to face both Ramua and Thetis, who regarded him with rage.

"You're dead!" Thetis screamed as she summoned as much water as she could and fired it at Zoisite, who promptly evaporated it with another dark energy blast. As Thetis stared at the steam cloud, Ramua went wide eyed and shoved her aside, taking for her the energy blast aimed for Thetis' chest through her own.

"Ramua!" Thetis could only watch as Ramua fell to the ground, before Zoisite appeared above her, aiming a ball of energy at her.

"Trash disposed," he said cheerfully, before Ramua's spear entered his back and exited his chest.

Thetis then disappeared from in front of him, and he blinked in realization. He had missed one, a very important one. "… Oh you are fucking DEAD!"

He turned around to see Murid happily waving to him before she disappeared completely.

Balm reappeared in the air above Zoisite and threw down a barrage of razor-sharp tarot cards that either narrowly missed him or cut across his body, drawing blood. He fired an energy blast up at her, but missed as Balm vanished. A hypersonic scream from Kyurene blasted him downward. Iguara then flipped down from the bars above, slamming her tail onto him and causing the floor under his feet to buckle and crack.

Ramua then appeared, jumping and kicking her spear, sending it further through Zoisite and bringing him down to his knees. As he coughed for breath, and looked back at his attacker with all of his anger, Thetis' water suddenly enveloped him again in a high pressure sphere of water like she had done Sailor Moon.

"You might want to hurry!" Thetis called back to the Senshi. "There's no way I'm holding him!"

Inside the barrier, the Senshi were all feeling the strain now, as they held back against it with all of their might. On the plus side, the barrier was beginning to weaken, as Sailor Mercury discovered. "The barrier's almost broken, just a little more!"

Sailor Jupiter groaned. "I don't know… if I can hold on!"

It was Mars who wasn't the downer this time. "We don't have a choice but to!"

Jadeite only had his eyes on the fight, as his heart raced with worry for his youma. Zoisite loved pain as much as the next sick freak, but like Hell was he going to get off on these insects. His anger boiling forth, the water around him began to do the same, before he exploded out of the water prison, and sent a wave of energy that blasted away Jadeite's youma.

"FUCK YOU ALL!" he screamed as he and the tower now turned light into day in the immediate vicinity of Tokyo Tower. He was wounded and angry now, and at the rate the Senshi were going, he wasn't going to have his fun either way.

"That does it, that's it! THIS CITY IS HISTORY!" He screamed is a pillar of red light rose from Tokyo tower, visible for miles in every direction.

Climbing out of the landed plane, Kim and Natalie, along with the rest of their band, looked up at the ascending pillar of light in amazement. Across Minato, spectators at home and abroad watched as night turned to red-hued day. From her vantage point, Luna just shook her head and hoped for more miracles.

Hakushi and Marik shielded their eyes from the light and the heat coming from the tower, in awe of the spectacular display as were many others.

"This is the stuff of legends…" Hakushi declared.

Motoki and Reika, watching from a street nearby the tower, had to shield their eyes from the light. The former shook his head. "Oh man…this is what we're up against!"

"This is their power!" Reika confirmed as the air temperature became noticeably warmer for them as well.

Nephrite, floating in the shadow of another building, scoffed at Zoisite's methods. "Is this what you wanted, Queen Beryl?"

The Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, and Jadeite stared at Zoisite, as he raised his arms and spread them outward. Sailor Moon punched the barrier again, and let out a cry as it contracted and pushed the other Senshi against her and the two men with them. "This isn't my idea of a sandwich, girls!"

"Just a few more…!" Sailor Mercury declared, though in her heart she knew that even then there wouldn't be time to stop him.

"Sailor Mercury, where is he?" It was Naru.

Sailor Mercury blinked. "What? Why?"

"I think I can take him out, if not for good, then to buy you some time!" Naru was somewhere high in the stratosphere, and circling around to come back towards Tokyo Tower. "I can't see him because of all of that light, so designate him for me so I can hit him! He won't even see it coming!"

It was a hopeless situation for Naru. She was out of weapons, her lasers were having little effect, and those youma were waiting for her to come back down to fight. Still, she had a single option left, and she wasn't going to waste it on them.

"You're in no condition!" Sailor Mercury pointed out. "You don't even have any weapons!"

"I have one. It's a one-off thing, so if it misses, that's it. But I won't miss, not with everything on the line like this!"

Sailor Mercury realized immediately what she meant. "No, that's crazy!"

Sailor Moon looked up. "What's crazy?"

Naru looked at the light as it kept growing brighter. "It's our only shot, and I believe that we can pull this off!"

Looking back to Jadeite, Sailor Mercury nodded. "Good luck, Naru-chan."

Naru then said something that chilled Mercury to the bone. "Thank you, goodbye."

Sailor Moon didn't need to hear it; the look on Mercury's face told her everything. She stopped hitting the barrier, and looked up towards the lit sky above. "Naru?"

A single marker appeared on Naru's heads up display in the VF-1S, showing her the distant target that was Zoisite. Making sure her helmet was tightly affixed; she licked her lips and took a deep breath. Down below her, the gauntlet awaited, but she was ready. She pointed the VF-1S's nose down towards the awaiting jet youma.

"Banzai," She said, before she threw the throttle forward and blasted straight downward, quickly surpassing mach one, then two, and then three, the needle quickly racing into dangerous territory as Tokyo Bay quickly came up to meet her.

The youma pounced on the speeding plane, quickly firing missiles that quickly lanced towards the VF-1S. With sheer speed preventing any possible chance at maneuvering, Naru took a deep breath, and began to rock the plane from right to left gently, the immense closure speed allowing her to swiftly and narrowly pass the oncoming missiles before they had a chance to explode and outrun even the shockwave of their explosion.

Seeing their weapons fail, the youma roared in anger, and readied their claws to attack, when suddenly they detected missiles seemingly from nowhere, and several were hit. In the distance, a pair of American F-22s arrived in Tokyo's airspace.

"Three bandits hit, unknown bird is currently in a dive towards the deck." One of the American pilots replied.

"Do you see that?" The second Yankee asked as he indicated the rising pillar of light.

"Roger on that, holy shit," the first pilot said before Naru blew past the remaining youma, the sonic boom from the VF-1S knocking them aside.

Descending faster and faster, Naru pulled back on the stick, lifting the VF-1S's nose up and coming out of her dive, aimed straight for Tokyo Tower. The shockwave behind the Valkyrie kicked up the water below dramatically, as it closed in on the tower at thousands of miles per hour.

The light from the tower turned a darker red, as Zoisite fully charged his attack, his own body matching the tower's glow. Looking down at the Senshi, he let out a laugh and pointed a hand at them and began to generate a very large energy blast.

The VF-1S slashed over Haneda Airport, the sonic boom causing Natalie and her band to dive for cover as windows were shattered by the pass.

"Queen Beryl sends her regards," Zoisite said, his voice echoing with his power.

Sailor Moon raised her fist and swung her hand down with all her might, hoping that this would be the last hit. It would be unnecessary.

Out the corner of his eye, Zoisite saw something, and turned his head to look. Time froze with the VF-1S, traveling at a whopping two thousand, seventy-one miles per hour, pointed directly at him, and only handful of feet away. In the instant it took for Zoisite's eyes to widen, it impacted with him.

The result was nothing short of catastrophic. With all the energy of a kinetic energy penetrator the plane smashed into Zoisite and through Tokyo Tower like a knife through butter, going up in a large explosion as it went. The tower–literally sheared in two by the impact–wobbled once, and then came crashing down on the Sailor Senshi as their barrier broke from Zoisite being unable to power it.

Marik and Hakushi, Haruka and her students, and pretty much everyone watching the dramatic scene were now staring with their jaws on the floor, in complete horror and/or disbelief at the destruction of Tokyo's most recognizable icon and the large cloud of dust illuminated by surrounding lights that replaced it.

Luna, watching the tower collapse, gulped. "Oops."

* * *

As the sirens of emergency services approached the still billowing cloud that spread away from the site of the former Tokyo Tower, Nephrite appeared, and floated down towards his prey. Jadeite was lying underneath some very dense and twisted wreckage, but for all intents and purposes, he was intact.

Nephrite pointed his hand at Jadeite, and a crystal appeared, ready to impale him. Jadeite opened his eyes and looked up at Nephrite. "Well?"

Nephrite tensed up and then closed his hand, the crystal disappearing. "You're dead. If I ever see you again, I'll make doubly sure."

Jadeite's eyes widened, and then he closed them. "You can leave too, you know."

"No. I am a General of the Dark Kingdom, and my loyalty will remain with it," Nephrite replied.

"Why?" It was Sailor Moon, she and the other Senshi surrounded him.

Nephrite turned to Sailor Moon. "Queen Beryl intends to restore mankind to its rightful place."

"No matter how many innocent people die?" A furious Rei asked.

Nephrite paused, and then shook his head. "Those that die before the new rise of mankind weren't worthy to begin with."

Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes. "That's bullshit and you know it."

Nephrite then spoke as he began to disappear. "The next time we meet things will be different, Sailor Senshi."

He was gone, leaving Jadeite free to push the wreckage off him and float up to join the Senshi. He looked amongst the girls, and then his youma and Tuxedo Kamen, who joined them. "It's over."

"Yes, but now what happens?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

Tuxedo Kamen spoke up, "I'll take care of things with Jadeite, we'll meet later."

Sailor Moon turned to face him. "Where?"

"Sky Tree, if that's all right."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Yes, that's fine. When?"

"Is one week from now all right?" Sailor Moon nodded in response, and Tuxedo Kamen returned the nod. "Good, see you then."

"Right…" It was only then that Tuxedo Kamen noticed that Sailor Moon seemed… numb. He stared pointedly at her, and then noticed Sailor Mercury seemed the same way, no, both were on the verge of breaking down. He'd never seen either of them like this.

"What is it?" He asked, and Sailor Moon bowed her head. He then realized it, as had Mars and Jupiter.

"She…" Sailor Mars looked up, tears forming in her eyes. "No…"

Sailor Jupiter closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Uh, guys? Can you help me down from here?" Naru called out.

Sailor Moon quickly looked up and around, and then found Naru, still in her disguise, suspended off the ground by her parachute, which was dangling from one of the overhanging pieces of wreckage high off the ground. A big, relieved smile on her face, Sailor Moon jumped up and threw her tiara, slicing through the ropes and catching Naru when she fell with a surprised squeak.

"You bailed out at the last second?" Sailor Moon asked.

Naru, a little tired, and winded from the action, but shockingly intact all things considered, smiled and lifted the visor of her helmet. "Of course, there's no way I'd go all the way, this isn't Imperial Japan or something–oof!"

She was hugged tightly by Sailor Moon, and with a happy sigh she returned the hug. "Sorry if I worried you."

Sailor Moon grinned. "Next time you plan something big like that, be sure to remind us that you don't intend to die."

Naru was going to get hers for being melodramatic like she was, but Sailor Moon was more happy to have her safe and in one piece. "How did you do that, anyway? I didn't know the disguise pen could do that."

"Well…" Naru pulled back from the hug and stared at Sailor Moon. "… I just thought to myself 'What would Sailor Moon do' and well… I just did it."

Sailor Moon rested her head against Naru's and nuzzled her. "Well, let's get out of here before the magic wears off, there's no way doing all of that won't have consequences for the pen."

"Considering the other things you've done, I'm pretty sure they'll be minor. The authorities are almost here. We'd better go," Sailor Mercury suggested.

Sailor Moon nodded, and didn't even bother to look for Tuxedo Kamen, he and Jadeite and the youma were already gone. "Let's get back home then. Tonight's gone on forever."

"I agree; it feels like we've been fighting for months," Sailor Jupiter said as the Senshi quickly began to leave the area.

Sitting down on their rooftop perch, the shock passed and replaced with a distinct ambivalence, Hakushi looked to Marik. "You know what, man?"

"What?" Marik replied.

"Forty years from now, I will punch anyone who says that tonight never happened," Hakushi replied.

Marik stared at his old friend, and snickered at the thought of an elderly Hakushi punching out some young skeptic. "I'll make sure the camera's rolling for it, all right?"

Both radio personalities shared a laugh, and continued to stare at the dust hanging over Tokyo's skyline.

"Do you think that brave pilot bailed out?" A student asked Umino as the WAFFEN SS exited the building under Haruna's steely gaze.

"I'm sure of it, in fact. I wouldn't be surprised if another Sailor Senshi was piloting it! They have the power to do the impossible after all," Umino boasted.

"They're like the Dai-Gurren Brigade, but girls!" Jun cheered.

Haruna was not as cheery. "You guys, show some respect! After what happened, do you have any idea how many people were hurt, or killed? Tonight… tonight's a huge tragedy!"

"But it could've been worse!" Umino said. "That light, I bet that guy was planning to blow up the city or something!"

"A lot more people could've been casualties, including us; the Sailor Senshi saved all of Tokyo!" another student replied.

They would have no idea how right they were, until the next morning, and Tokyo awoke to news even more shocking than the battle itself…

* * *

"Zero."

Beryl had spoke with a voice colder than the air in her throne room. Nephrite, stared at Beryl in shock, while next to him a severely weakened and heavily injured Zoisite's left eye twitched.

"What? No… not even from the JSDF?" Zoisite weakly asked.

"Not a single soul was hurt during that battle." Beryl replied. "No deaths. No injuries. Nearly a billion dollars in property damage… but not a single casualty."

She lowered her tablet PC, and peered over it pointedly at Zoisite. "How the Hell, did you manage to pull THAT off?"

Before Zoisite could answer, Beryl waved her hand and he went flying into the far wall of the throne room with a loud thud. "Don't speak; I should've let Nephrite handle it from the start." She looked to the other General. "I underestimated you, Nephrite, didn't think you'd murder your best friend."

"The ties that bind are easily severed by betrayal. Jadeite was dead the moment he thought he could flee the Dark Kingdom and joined its enemies," Nephrite said to Beryl with an entirely straight face, too straight.

Beryl narrowed her eyes at him, and slowly nodded. "Yes. Well then, I leave the Sailor Sluts to you. Don't disappoint me, Nephrite; you have no more friends here."

Nephrite nodded. "Understood, Queen Beryl, I've already devised a method to use their own out of control strength for our benefit."

"Good, put it in writing and present it to me. I look forward to being surprised again."

Nephrite left and Beryl looked over at Zoisite before she let out an annoyed huff. Fool Beryl once, shame on you, fool Beryl twice, shame you're fucking dead. "Zoisite."

"Y-yes…?" Zoisite enjoyed far too much the pain he was in after being flung across the room.

"I'm going to take Housenka, Grape, and Suzuran for a while. I'm also removing you and Kunzite from your current posts."

"Why, Queen Beryl?" Zoisite asked as he got up.

Beryl looked down at her tablet, her brow furrowed. "We'll be moving to the next phase much sooner than previously expected."

"How can we go back to normal after this?"

As Hakushi spoke on his podcast, workers were already dismantling the remains to Tokyo tower.

"The truth is we can't. The die has been cast, and the truth is out. This is the new reality, how things are going to be."

In the office of the Superintendent General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Natsuna Sakurada nodded repeatedly as she was yelled at by her superior from the National Police, who slammed his hand down repeatedly on a facial composite sketch of Sailor Moon lying on her desk.

"The latest enemy of mankind has appeared, and it will likely do everything it can to have its way. Last night, Tokyo Tower was destroyed in a battle that likely would've destroyed the entire city, if it weren't for the Sailor Senshi."

Her TV a blank blue screen, the short-haired woman from a few chapters back instead listened to Hakushi's podcast, as her roommate, a woman with wavy sea-green hair, practiced on a violin.

"Maybe it was luck, a testament to the power of our new heroes, or something else entirely, but there was not a single reported casualty in the aftermath of last night. However, Tokyo's miracle can't be taken lightly."

Standing in the window of her hotel room, Natalie Adams stretched and looked over the remains of Tokyo Tower, before turning away and taking a sip of coffee.

"We were lucky this time, but this is war, and we will have to be vigilant if we're going to survive. So, my loyal listeners; stay on your guard and if you see something strange going down, get clear and make noise about it. Leave these monsters, this Dark Kingdom, to the Sailor Senshi."

Seated around Ami's computer, Usagi, Naru, Rei, Ami, and Makoto all shared a nod of assent as they listened to Hakushi.

"This is your weirdness reporter Hakushi, signing off."

* * *

Footsteps echoed in some very empty office space in one of Tokyo's many high-rises. Jadeite had arrived at the location specified by Tuxedo Kamen, with Thetis at his side, both in disguise. The floor was unfurnished, with no furniture or even a carpet. The blinds in the windows cast an eerie darkness, leaving both in near-silhouette.

They stopped, when they found Tuxedo Kamen sitting at a single desk in a door-less office on the other end of the empty office space. Jadeite nodded. "Tuxedo Kamen."

"You showed up, I think that says a lot," Tuxedo Kamen said as he stood up. He was without his cape and top hat, as he rounded the desk and walked out the doorway.

"We don't have anywhere else to go," Thetis pointed out.

Tuxedo Kamen nodded, and then reached into his jacket, and pulled out a pair of domino masks like his own. "You won't need anywhere else. Jadeite, there is a lot to discuss, especially in regards to what we're doing and how this all relates to the Sailor Senshi. But before any of that, I have two rules about this place that you and your girls are going to have to follow if we're working together."

He handed the masks to Jadeite and Thetis, and Jadeite put his on as Tuxedo Kamen spoke. "The first is: You must always wear a mask when you're in this building. And the second…"

Tuxedo Kamen paused. From the office, Motoki and Reika emerged in full costume and masks. A third person emerged, a boy dressed in a white suit and hat evocative of Michael Jackson in Smooth Criminal. Lifting the brim of his hat from his eyes, Shingo Tsukino nodded to Jadeite and Thetis.

"… We dress in style."

Jadeite smirked and nodded. "That sounds easy enough to follow."

"Well then Jadeite… welcome to the Masquerade."

* * *

Usagi: Even when things seem their bleakest, the smallest role can play a big part.

Naru: So never expect the worst from your friends, because when all seems lost, a friend can come from nowhere and save the day.

Usagi: And you should be ready to be that hero for your friends when they need you too. Be a Big Damn Hero for your Big Damn Heroes, that is what Kamen Raider has taught me!

Naru/Usagi: Sailor Naru says, tee hee!


	13. The Princess Of Tennis

Disclaimer: Sweet Christ, how am I supposed to dial it back after that last chapter?

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**The Princess of Tennis

_This show's Incidental Characters/Victims of the Week suck. I mean, how the HELL am I supposed to care for these idiots who show up for one episode, have some sob story, and then just happen to be a victim for some villainous plot only to be thrown away like they never existed after? It's lazy, predictable, and formulaic out the ass. It's even WORSE when they don't even try to have fun with it, or subvert it, or deconstruct it. I mean sure, it's the bread and butter of kids' shows, and even Samurai Jack did it but Samurai Jack at least had some fucking class, and NO STOCK FOOTAGE like this fucking filler show. Fuck, I hate this shit._

… _Not as much as I hate Naruto, though._

**[12.]**

Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest structure in all of Japan, and still incomplete, loomed over quiet Sumida. Near the top of the incomplete tower, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury were seated on a catwalk, while Mars and Jupiter stared out across the impressive view. This was the first time any of the group had come out to see the tower. Frankly, Sailor Moon couldn't wait until it was done; this was the perfect place to take pictures of them making cool poses.

"He's here!" Sailor Mars declared, before Tuxedo Kamen suddenly flew up past her. She watched him soar up and over her head with her mouth agape in awe of his stylish entrance.

Sailor Jupiter hummed. "He's got moves like us, but he can fly like the Generals."

"That's bugged you too, hasn't it?" Mercury asked as Sailor Moon jumped up to join him.

Sailor Jupiter nodded, before the other three Senshi joined Sailor Moon. Jadeite had appeared alongside Tuxedo Kamen, as had Thetis.

Sailor Moon was as cordial as ever. "Hey sexy, been a while."

"Yes, doesn't that bother you?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

The mirth evaporated, as Sailor Moon nodded. "Yeah, those Dark Kingdom guys aren't making a peep, or aren't trying to."

"That's because Beryl's put Nephrite in charge. He's good at gathering a great deal of energy from his victims, but at a terrible price. He operates by inserting a youma's essence inside an object of a particular person and causes them to focus on that object, normally in relation to a task," Jadeite explained.

Sailor Mercury nodded. "So when they put all their energy into that task, the youma steals all their energy…"

Jadeite went exactly where she was dreading. "Yes, and this kills the victim."

"Is there anything else we can work with, any tell-tale traits to look for?" Jupiter asked.

Jadeite nodded. "A victim of Nephrite usually undergoes a noticeable personality shift because of the influence of the youma, becoming aggressive and cruel while in pursuit of their craft. The more aggressive they are, the closer they are to the peak."

"And how long should it take to reach the peak?" Sailor Moon asked.

"It can take anytime from a few hours to a few days, depending on the victim."

Sailor Moon folded her arms. Well this didn't make things easier; frankly anyone in Japan could be one of these victims–that is if they even decided to stick around. "This is an entirely different style we're up against. We need a way to properly track these guys"

"There is a way; Nephrite uses a very particular method of determining his victim: Astrology." Jadeite revealed.

Thetis added. "He uses the stars to divine his victims, and works from there, it's highly efficient, but I imagine that it can be exploited by us."

Sailor Moon looked to Mars. "Your area of expertise, I wager."

Fire burned in Sailor Mars' eyes. "It sure is! Just give me one chance and I'll out-predict that phony psychic!"

It was Sailor Jupiter that asked the sixty-four million yen question. "So, they're gathering all this energy, but for what?"

Thetis and Tuxedo Kamen looked to Jadeite, who frowned at their scrutiny but answered. "Beryl's planning to resurrect an entity called Queen Metalia that caused the fall of the Silver Kingdom of the Moon, and the Gold Kingdom of Elysium ten thousand years ago."

Sailor Mercury blinked. What was all this about? Kingdoms on Earth ten thousand years ago, why weren't there any records of this? Where did all the physical evidence of these so-called kingdoms go? "Wait a minute-"

"Don't even start," Luna warned.

Everyone looked at the cat, and wondered how she got here.

"And all this energy is going to resurrecting this Metalia thing, right?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"Not precisely. The energy is actually going towards the creation of the Black Crystal, a special gem that can find the Seven Rainbow Crystals." Jadeite said.

Sailor Moon stared at Jadeite, and then raised her hand up. "Seven Rainbow Crystals…?"

Jadeite sighed. "Allegedly, back when the Silver Kingdom fell, Beryl's previous life utilized seven extremely powerful youma to destroy the Silver Kingdom. These seven warriors had their powers sealed in seven crystals which were scattered across the world. Beryl wants to resurrect these guys to remove you from the picture permanently, and then find the Silver Crystal."

"More crystals?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

Sailor Mercury hummed and mused aloud. "A society that heavily utilizes crystals… sounds like something a conspiracy theorist would make up."

"Zecharia Sitchin?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

Sailor Mercury bristled. "Yeah, that dumb fuck."

"The Silver Crystal is the artifact that Metalia desires in order to return to life. I don't know much more about it, I'm afraid, other than that Beryl needs to acquire the seven Rainbow Crystals before she can get the Silver Crystal," Jadeite explained.

"So wait, does this mean that when you guys started, Beryl was expecting us?" Sailor Moon asked.

Jadeite nodded. "She had hoped that you all would appear scattered all over the world, not here in Japan all at once. But she always has a plan for when something doesn't go her way."

None of the Senshi or Tuxedo Kamen liked this; this Beryl woman was just turning out to be more and more dangerous by the minute. Sailor Moon nailed it on the head. "So it's likely that Beryl never expected any of your previous attempts on us to succeed."

It certainly explained why Jadeite had been given so many chances, up until he defected. When Jadeite nodded in confirmation, Sailor Moon turned and looked out over Tokyo and stepped to the edge of the ledge she was upon.

"Yep, it's just like I suspected, now that we've dealt with you, this is getting serious."

"Um, Sailor Moon? Last time, we ended up destroying Tokyo Tower. I think this was already serious about then!" Sailor Mars said.

Sailor Jupiter quipped in. "What about the cruise ship orgy? That wasn't as serious?"

Sailor Mars' face turned bright red, and she turned away, tapping her fingers together. "That… that wasn't that serious…"

Thetis then noted. "What about the bus hijackings, those were plenty serious."

"I guess… but I was new then." Sailor Mars felt weighed down by that point.

Sailor Mercury then pointed at Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon threw a train at a youma during Jadeite's plot before the bus thing."

Thetis nodded. "Yeah, Ramua's still kind of pissed about that."

"I wanted to be thorough!" Sailor Moon defended.

Tuxedo Kamen tapped his cane, bringing everyone to order, much to Luna's gratitude. "Let's worry about the bigger picture later as it opens up. For now, let's focus on finding Nephrite's potential victims and heading him off."

"In the meantime, we should work on a means of finding the Rainbow Crystals, too." Sailor Mercury suggested.

Luna looked to Mercury. "When the time comes, we'll be ready for that, don't worry."

Tuxedo Kamen looked amongst the Senshi and Luna. "We'll keep in touch from here on out. You don't mind if we go through Sailor Mars, do you?"

Sailor Mars nodded, remembering that Tuxedo Kamen knew her identity. "Um… I don't mind, no..."

"And if we need to contact you, how would we go about it?" Sailor Moon asked.

Tuxedo tossed her a card with the same flourish he would a rose, and she caught it in hand. She and the other Senshi looked at it, and found it was entirely blank save for a number in the bottom right corner. When they looked up, Tuxedo Kamen, Jadeite, and Thetis were gone.

* * *

Usagi and Naru, several days later, were walking through a park, appreciating the first change of the leaves in the trees in the park. It was a date by Usagi's own admission, as Naru really needed the cheering up. She had been feeling a little left out since the climatic battle with Zoisite–the Disguise Pen had refused to work for anything since then. Ami had given a positive prognosis on the pen, but without the utility of the pen, Naru was unable to contribute like she had before.

Just as bad, she couldn't change into a handsome boy and bang Usagi (or Ami) into a gooey, happy mess. Usagi had to admit, she missed that too.

"It's going to take another few weeks to return to normal. It's only good for writing until then," Naru lamented as she looked at the pen.

Usagi took it from her and examined it. She then nudged Naru with an elbow. "Don't know… I bet we could still use it as a sleep aid."

She gave the red jewel at the pen's end a lewd lick, and Naru blushed brightly. "Usagi… you've been a lot more aggressive since I've been unable to use the pen."

"I'm the leader, I should be aggressive! You and the other girls are all my bitches!" Usagi declared, and Naru let out a giggle.

"Mako-chan seems good at making you hers," Naru pointed out.

"Well, she's a work in progress. But she will submit to me," Usagi retorted. Nevertheless, her cheeks were a little red as well now. Deep down, she liked Makoto manhandling.

There was a crowd by the tennis courts and with it the sound of a fearsome battle between players. Noticing it, Usagi tugged on the sleeve of Naru's shirt. "Ne, check it out."

When both girls saw that there was a media presence as well, they quickly gravitated to the crowd and wormed their way through it. The crowd sounded as though they were in shock.

"I can't believe it…" One spectator said.

"This… this is the level the champions play." Another added.

"I don't get it, where are the flashy lights, the asteroids, and the dinosaurs?" One child in the crowd asked.

Ignoring the yammering, Usagi and Naru reached the group, where they found Rui Saionji, one of the youngest tennis champions in the world, playing her heart out on the court. Naru gasped when she saw here. "Rui-nee!"

"Who?" Usagi looked to Naru, who provided exposition.

"Rui was a long time friend of mine before you and I became friends." Naru said. "A little after you and I started hanging out, she moved away. She was always really good at tennis, but wow…"

Usagi, however, had stopped paying attention when she saw who Rui was playing against. Naru noticed this lack of attention. "Usagi, you're not… paying… attention…"

Rui, sweat dripping from her face, let out a yell as she smashed the ball, sending it over the net in excess of a hundred miles per hour. Her opponent, moving like a barely-perceptible blur was there the second the ball bounced off the court, and fired back across an instant later.

Overextended from her smash, there was no was Rui could catch it in time, it bounced off the court on her side of the net, and then went out of play unanswered. The crowd gasped in disbelief, a champion felled flawlessly by a never before seen amateur–one who Naru and Usagi knew extremely well.

"Jun?" Usagi was in disbelief as the impromptu referee called it a game between the two opponents.

"Jun, our Jun," Naru whispered.

Yes it was that Jun they realized, the same Jun who was almost morbidly obese before she stepped into Jadeite's gym plot and had all her excess fat melted from her body. The same Jun that became immensely popular with all the boys for being a cute, easygoing girl not under the sway of Usagi like Naru, Ami, and Makoto were.

Rui, graceful in defeat as she was fierce in play, smiled and walked over to the net as Jun giddily skipped over. She extended her hand to the victor. "That was incredible, have you been playing for long?"

"Well, not really, I just started playing but I'm a really big fan!" Jun said as she eagerly shook Rui's hand.

Rui was surprised at this. "You're an amateur? I couldn't tell with the way you outplayed me! You must be a genius!"

Jun laughed. "I guess, but I'd never be able to handle the pressure of big events like you can! That's what separates girls like me from the champions!"

Usagi smiled. "Still ever so humble, it's good to see that her change hasn't affected her personality too much."

"Yes, but…" Naru looked around and leaned closer to Usagi. "Is this a good thing? I mean, she didn't become thin naturally, and there have to be side effects for what that did to her."

"I look at what happened to Jun as being a new lease on her life. I think she sees it the same way, and she's desperate to stay the way she is now."

Naru looked back to Jun and agreed. If she had spent the most of her life being picked on for her size, she'd do everything she could to stay this way too. "Don't you think it's a little worrying though, that Jun feels she has to face tennis champions to stay in shape?"

Usagi let out a snort at that. "What's wrong with aiming for the top?"

Opening her mouth to reply, Naru quickly caught Usagi's reference and laughed. "You're such a nerd."

"Hey, you got it too," Usagi pointed out.

"Usagi-chan! Naru-chan!" Jun called when she spotted them in the crowd. I didn't see you guys; want to come with us for lunch!"

"Free food!" Usagi cheered as she jogged over.

Rolling her eyes, Naru quickly hurried after, eager to reconnect with her old friend.

As the four girls commenced conversation and the crowd began to disperse, a man named Masato Sanjouin watched the group closely. Adjusting the expensive sunglasses he wore, he quietly turned and walked away from with the crowd.

* * *

At the Fruits Parlor Crown, Naru and Usagi were seated across from Jun and Rui, the former amazed by the revelation of the latter's past with Naru. "Wow, childhood friends and everything?"

"Yes, we even took baths together," Naru said teasingly.

"Naru-chan!" Rui cried out in only slight embarrassment, before she decided to tease back. "Yes, I've been friends with her since she wet the bed."

Naru was sufficiently served, as Jun and Usagi broke into giggles. Rui then said to her longtime friend. "What amazes me though is that Naru made friends with Usagi-san."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "What's so amazing about that?"

"Well, I never thought sweet and gentle Naru-chan would become so close to a wildcat girl like you. But I'm glad you did, she's a lot more playful because of you," Rui said.

Usagi looked to Naru with a wry smirk; this girl didn't even know the half of it. She looked back to Rui. "I'm glad you approve of me, and I thank you for your blessing. I'll make her into a fine wife."

Naru blushed and Rui and Jun both giggled. Neither knew how literally Usagi took that vow, though. Rui then asked Usagi, "How did you two meet, anyway?"

"Well you see," Usagi began as the Crown's door chime heralded the arrival of a customer, "It was about five years ago when my mother realized that I wasn't really making any friends in grade school."

"She kept beating kids up and everyone was afraid of her, I was too," Naru said.

"So, she tried to arrange a play-date with Naru's mom to get me to socialize better. It was a disaster from the start." Usagi shrugged her shoulders as she giggled at the memory in hindsight.

Naru then added. "I kept calling Usagi a rabbit demon and running away from her whenever she got too close. I got in trouble though, because I ended up running into these boys who picked on me because of my hair."

Jun snorted, being of curly red hair like Naru, she knew exactly what that was like. Rui was mesmerized by the story. "So then what happened?"

Naru finished the story. "Well, they started picking on me, when Usagi showed up to protect me. They were all bigger than her, and they knocked her down. But when they were started making fun of her for trying, she got up and yelled at the top of her lungs 'No matter what, I will protect her!' and she beat the crap out of all of them and made them apologize to me."

Usagi put an arm around Naru's waist, making her squeak. "And that is how I won Naru-chan's heart."

"That's amazing!" Rui declared.

Jun chuckled; she recognized the quote Usagi used in her little back story. "You were into Kamen Raider even back then?"

"You bet. I've been watching it and collecting tapes ever since I was five! I know every series by heart!" Usagi was more than proud to boast.

It was at that moment, that someone approached the table, and the four girls paused to look to the person. All were struck to find a tall, handsome man in expensive clothes and sunglasses. Masato Sanjouin nodded to the girls, before removing his sunglasses.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but I really wanted to speak to the young lady who played against Rui Saionji during that little exhibition match earlier," Masato said to the girls before looking at Jun.

Jun, her face went into a bright blush. "You wanted m-me?"

Naru covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, while Usagi continued to stare at Masato. He continued. "My name is Masato Sanjouin, I am an entrepreneur and investor, and I was wondering if you had any interest in pursuing a tennis career."

Jun surprised, began to stammer. "Ah, m-me? But I'm just an amateur who just started playing a few days ago, I c-could never go p-pro…"

Rui looked to Jun. "Are you kidding? You're easily as good as me, and I'm a champion!"

"She's right; it'd be a shame to the world to see such a talent wasted. With training and experience, you could become the best in the world, and I'd be more than happy to sponsor you," Masato insisted.

Rui looked from Masato to Jun. "Wow, already people are looking to sponsor you! This is so big!"

Usagi narrowed her eyes a little as she stared at Masato, but just as quickly she brightened up and looked to Jun. "You should at least give it consideration, but just don't jump right in. You're still young and you don't know if you're all in for this tennis stuff."

Masato agreed. "Yes, your friend is absolutely right. Here."

He pulled out his card, and handed it to her. "If you decide you want to give professional tennis a try, just give me a call and we'll discuss something. Until then…?"

"Ah!" She realized she hadn't given her name. "It's Jun! Jun Seto…"

"Very well, Seto-san, until then." With that, Masato turned and walked away. Usagi watched him go, her eyes narrowed again.

"Ah he was so cute!" Jun squealed, and Naru and Rui joined her in their giddy banter.

Seeing this, Usagi realized that she was the only one put off by that strange man's presence, and she decided to keep her suspicions for herself. At least until she could discuss business with Naru in private.

As Masato walked outside to the multi-million dollar sports car awaiting him, he noticed Mamoru and Shingo admiring it from the curb. He called to them. "It's nice, isn't it?"

Both Mamoru and Shingo looked to Masato, and watched as he walked past and climbed into the car. The engine started, and soon the car was off down the crowded thoroughfare. As it pulled off, Shingo looked to Mamoru.

"You don't see cars like that in Japan," he said.

Mamoru shook his head. "No, you don't."

* * *

It was later in the evening, and Naru was walking with Jun towards the latter's house. Over the course of the day, Usagi had completely won over Rui with her charm, and the two girls had gone off together when Jun needed to get back home. Naru, liking that two of her best friends were getting along so well, opted to walk Jun home and rejoin them later so the two could get to know each other one on one.

In hindsight, Naru mused, that was probably a mistake.

"Say Jun, are you going to go for it?" Naru asked as they walked underneath the long line of streetlights leading to her house.

Jun shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, it's a really big step for me, and I only took up tennis because it's good exercise."

"About that, why did you even play Rui? If you just started, don't you think it was a little bold to go after a world champion?" Naru asked.

Jun looked down, and then pulled her tennis racket from her bag to look at it. "I guess I wanted to push myself as hard as I could. When I saw that Rui was practicing, I leaped at the chance to give it everything I had."

So much like Usagi, Naru noticed. Jun let out a sigh. "Naru-chan, I don't want to be fat again."

"Huh?" Naru stared at Jun, and found she was squeezing the handle of her racket tightly, her gaze returned to her face and she saw it twisted with mild angst.

"Back before I took those Shape Ray treatments, I tried everything: Exercise, special diets, and even homeopathy. None of those things worked, and except for you and Usagi everyone picked on me for weighing as much as both of you combined."

Naru nodded, there wasn't a time where Usagi didn't have to choke a bitch who dared made fun of Jun in her presence.

"Even my own Dad poked fun at my weight. He never meant anything malicious from it, and he even helped me try to lose the weight, but… you know… it still hurt."

So there was no surprise Jun would've been as ecstatic as she was when she found them at the Crown that day. Jun lowered the racket and looked up at the night sky. "So I want to be as intense as Usagi, she's always doing everything a hundred twenty percent. If I can keep that up, and always go over the top, I'll never have to step on a scale in shame again!"

Naru nodded. "Just don't push yourself too hard; a hundred ten percent is fine too. Usagi is an out of control beast."

"Yes she is, remember when she beat up that Roppongi Gangster? I think he's still in the hospital."

He was, and when he was getting out, he was going straight to jail. Naru chuckled softly. "Oh yeah."

They reached Jun's doorstep, and Jun gave Naru a hug. "Thank you for hearing my sob story, Naru-chan."

Naru returned the hug. "I'm your friend, Jun-chan, so I'm always going to listen. And if I were you, I'd give Sanjouin-san a call, and see about that sponsorship. It could be fun, and you'd definitely get a lot of exercise."

Jun nodded. "Thank you Naru-chan, good night."

Entering her house, Jun quietly bid her parents good evening and headed upstairs, carrying her bag with her to her room. Setting her bag down by her bed, she sat on it and pulled out Masato's card. Naru's advice was really good; she'd have no choice but to stay in shape if she actually competed.

Jun set the card on her nightstand, and began to change for bed. She'd decide by the morning.

As she began to walk for home, Naru yawned and pulled out her phone before sending a text message. Much as she wanted to hang out with Rui and Usagi together, she was tired, and would meet Usagi at the Shrine for their usual meeting with the girls.

Usagi's phone buzzed in her skirt pocket, but the message went unread. Usagi was in a bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Next to her, Rui was cuddled close with her head on her shoulder, and a bright blush across her face.

"That was… that was just incredible." Rui purred as she nuzzled Usagi's neck.

Usagi looked over at Rui, and then back up at the ceiling with a smirk. "I know."

* * *

The next day, at the Hikawa Shrine, the Senshi and Naru were gathered around the table in Rei's room. Rei looked positively exhausted, Usagi was looking sleepier than usual; Ami was staring at her computer, compiling data, and Luna appeared annoyed

"Okay guys, what the Hell happened last night?" Makoto asked as she looked between her friends.

"We had a setback. Rei tried to divine Nephrite's next target all night and got nothing," Ami said.

"Oh, well that sucks." Makoto looked to Rei. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Rei. You did your best."

"Yeah, but I still failed." Rei said as she drew circles on the table with her finger.

Makoto shrugged her shoulders. "You'll do better next time."

She then looked between Usagi and Naru and decided it was none of her business. "So, what's our next move then?"

"We wait for something to happen, or for Rei's divination to get sharper." Usagi said. "It's all we can do short of finding the Dark Kingdom's hideout and dealing with them in person."

Usagi let out a long-winded sigh. "Even Kamen Raider had to wait days for the enemy to move sometimes. You can't expect a bunch of stuff to happen within a single half-hour like on the TV."

"I know, but the more we wait, the more we risk someone being in danger. I really can't bear that kind of thing," Makoto said.

"None of us can," Luna said.

Naru's phone rang, and she immediately answered it. "Oh? Hello Jun!"

The girls all looked to Naru, who gasped in surprise. "That's great!"

Usagi raised her eyebrows, as Naru listened to Jun on the other end of the line. "That's just… wow, I really hope you do your best! Okay, I'll talk to you later!"

Ending the call, Naru looked to Usagi. "Jun accepted the sponsorship, and she's going to be playing an exhibition match against Rui at the big tournament this week! We should definitely go!"

"What day and time?" Makoto asked.

Naru replied, "The exhibition match is on Monday at five o'clock."

Makoto frowned. "I can't make it; I've got an appointment with my court-appointed therapist."

"I'll be performing divinations," Rei lamented.

Ami was out as well. "I have dinner with my Mother that day, it's the first time in weeks I'll have seen her."

Usagi, however, was all for it. "I've got nothing going on, so I'm down to ride."

Naru squealed and hugged Usagi. "Thanks, Jun can really use the support, and you being there will really fire her up!"

With a laugh, Usagi hugged Naru back.

On the other end of the line, Jun pocketed her phone and wiped the sweat off her brow. She was at the tennis court in the park, and across from her an older player lay on the ground next to a broken racket, clutching her wrist in pain. Seeing her handiwork, Jun looked at her own tennis racket and smiled as her eyes gave off an eerie red glow.

Across the street in his unbelievably expensive car, Masato nodded slowly before pulling off down the street.

* * *

At Tokyo's Ariake Coliseum, tennis enthusiasts, players, and sponsors alike were gathered for the yearly tournament held at the start of October. Among the crowd near court level was Masato, impatiently awaiting the arrival of Jun, while on the other side of the court Rui's supporters–including members of the local tennis club she was first discovered in–were atwitter over the rematch.

"Seto may be talented, but that won't save her against a pro like Rui-senpai!" a cheerleader boasted.

"Yeah!" The rest of her supporters cheered.

"Rui-senpai is going to mop the floor with Seto!" the cheerleader declared.

"YEAH!" the other supporters agreed.

Up in the stands, Mamoru and Shingo waited for the match to begin. Over the last several days Tuxedo Kamen–performing his regular vigilante duties–was on the trail of a new problem. Over the last few days, tennis players had been assaulted by a monstrously powerful individual. This mystery player would challenge them to a game, and then quickly overwhelm them, using enough force to break limbs with a tennis ball.

Leads were thin, as the player had taken to disguising their identity, but Mamoru had himself a hunch that this mysterious fellow would be here. Shingo was along for the ride, and enjoying octopus balls as he waited for a chance to see Mamoru in action for himself.

"So if this stalker is here, what do you want me to do?" Shingo asked.

"Don't do anything, unless it looks like I'm in real trouble. I wouldn't want you to risk your debut on something like this," Mamoru replied.

Shingo nodded. "Whether or not I'm ready for my audience, if things go bad, I'm going to jump in."

In the locker room, Rui had finished changing into her tennis clothes, when the door opened and Naru and Usagi graciously let themselves in. She looked to the two girls and smiled to them. "Hello Naru-chan, Usagi-sama."

"Hey Rui-nee–wait, what?" Naru asked.

"We came to wish you and Jun good luck out there, and to have a lot of fun!" Usagi quickly declared to Rui, who smiled as a blush colored her cheeks.

"Thank you, I was hoping to see you a little bit sooner before the match, but I've been really busy getting ready for this. Losing to Jun lit a fire under me, so this time she's going to have to work extra hard to win!" Rui replied.

Usagi raised a fist. "Yes! This is great; I can't wait to see it too! Two worthy athletes testing their limits to the absolute fullest! That's what all sports should be!"

She folded her arms and huffed. "It's just the pure thrill of competition, unmarred by money or performance enhancing drugs."

Rui laughed and looked to Naru. "She gets fired-up so easily!"

"Oh you have no idea, and once she starts she can rarely stop," Naru replied.

Rui's blush darkened and she let out a dopey-sounding giggle. "… I never want her to stop…"

Naru blinked. "Huh?"

Snapping out of it, Rui coughed and cleared her throat. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Well, that just confirmed everything. Naru was going to have to have a long talk with Usagi about bedding the girl who was like her older sister and not asking or immediately telling her about it. Yes a long talk as soon as the Disguise Pen was fully charged and Usagi had a weekend free.

"So," Naru changed the subject, "Where is Jun?"

Rui shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't seen her; I wanted to engage in some playful smack talk too, to get her fired up as much as I am."

Fire burned in Usagi's eyes. "Rui I love you, you're the best!"

Her words seemed to hit Rui right in the heart, as the girl immediately swooned. The doors opened, and all three turned to find Jun walking in. Naru brightened. "Oh, there you are… Jun…"

Jun was different, and all three could feel it just from looking at her. There was an air of malice about her that seemed a stark contrast to the pristine white tennis uniform she wore. Almost ignoring Usagi and Naru, she walked up to Rui and smiled.

"I wanted to wish you luck before the match," Jun said, as she extended her hand to shake.

Rui looked at Jun's hand, and hesitantly shook it. When she looked to her face, she regretted it: Jun's eyes seemed filled with hatred, or bloodlust, or some horrible combination of both and it was directed at her. Jun firmly shook Rui's hand and looked at it.

"Saionji-senpai, which arm do you play with most, left or right?" She asked.

Rui was confused by that question. "I'm right-handed, so…"

Jun let go of Rui's hand. "Good, I was just making sure."

She immediately turned and headed back for the door. "See you out there, Saionji-senpai."

Jun left the locker room, and Rui shivered. "That was weird, is Seto-san usually like that?"

Naru, as shocked by Jun's behavior as Rui was, shook her head. "N-no… she's never like this."

Usagi's reaction was perfectly muted outwardly, but in her head it was all beginning to click together.

"_A victim of Nephrite usually undergoes a noticeable personality shift because of the influence of the youma, becoming aggressive and cruel while in pursuit of their craft. The more aggressive they are, the closer they are to the peak."_

Naru looked over at Usagi, and saw that she had set her jaw. "Usagi?"

"Jun's not like this at all. Let's go, Naru," Usagi said before she turned and bowed to Rui. "Good luck with your match and be very careful."

Rui was bothered by Usagi's change as well, but not as much. "All right, Usagi-sama, and thank you."

As they left the locker room and headed for the stands, Usagi pulled out her phone and rattled off a text message to the other girls. Naru was right at her heel. "Usagi, do you think…?"

"Yes," Usagi replied.

"Are you going to do something?" Naru asked.

"Yes, the youma's going to steal her energy during the match. I want to be ready for it." Usagi replied before she turned her head. "Let's go."

Naru quickly nodded. "Okay!"

Light applause filled the Coliseum as Jun and Rui entered the court. On the sidelines, television cameras and commentators in multiple languages were ready to quietly offer a play by play for the exhibition match. The loudest people in the room were Rui and Jun's respective supporters, cheerleaders, family, and friends alike.

"Rui-chan, show them you're champion for a reason!" Her mother called to Rui.

"Jun-chan! Aim for the Ace!" Jun's father called from the crowd as Naru joined the noisy supporters.

The Chair Umpire looked to the stands. "Can the people in the stands please refrain from making too much noise? The match is set to begin."

Rui took a drink of water from a water bottle offered by her coach and looked across the court to Jun, who was conversing with Masato. She took a deep breath.

* * *

Back in the stands, Mamoru's eyes fell on Masato, as Shingo spoke. "That's the rich guy with the Veyron."

"I did a background check that guy, his name's Masato Sanjouin, an entrepreneur and investor from America," Mamoru said.

"He's pretty young to own a car for Mid-Life Crises, right?" Shingo asked.

Mamoru nodded. "He's a billionaire thanks to money left to him by his parents."

Shingo snorted. "Lucky."

"Not really, given the circumstances. They were victims of a mass-shooting in Miami. A man walked into the restaurant they were eating at and killed twenty-five people with a rifle."

He could empathize with Masato on that, losing parents to tragedy. Money was small comfort when something like that happened.

Shingo visibly soured at that. "Did they at least catch the guy?"

"He went down in a hail of bullets with police; no one's really sure why he even did it. He was a happily married father of three with a good job and plans for the immediate future that didn't involve random mass murder," Mamoru replied.

Shingo stared at Masato. "Unlucky."

Masato said to Jun as she stared back at Rui. "You've been practicing a great deal, but remember that this is a champion; she won't hold back, even if it's an exhibition."

"I know, I have no intention of holding back." Jun tightened her grip on her racket, and then called to Rui, "Saionji-senpai, do you care to do the honors and get this underway?"

Rui, still feeling a little intimidated by Jun's look, nodded and stepped up to serve. On the sidelines, members of Rui's club watched expectantly. One member turned to another. "Do you think she'll use 'that'?"

"You mean… _that_ serve?" The other club member asked as he watched. "I have no doubt. If Saionji-senpai wants to make a statement, she'll use _that_ serve."

Naru took a deep, calming breath as Rui dribbled the ball, while Usagi focused her attention on Jun, ignoring everything else.

Rui threw the ball into the air, rolling it off her fingers to cause a particular spin to the ball. Immediately the club members gasped in excitement. "It's _that_ serve, the very same made famous in America, the Twist Serve!"

Rui hit the ball with all her might. The ball curved through the air, and Jun stood stock still, her eyes widening as she watched the ball move.

"Wait, why isn't she moving?" Jun's father asked as the ball suddenly hit the court and bounced towards the outside right.

From the moment the ball bounced, Jun was moving, positioning herself directly in front of the ball to smack it back with equally surprising force straight for Rui. The move surprised Rui, but not enough to catch her off guard, as she showed her skill was easily up to match to Jun's talent firing back towards the Jun's left.

Jun was after it, grinning as she hit it back over the net with a loud crack from her racket. Rui, wide-eyed, just barely intercepted it before it bounced out and launched it over the net. Watching the ball sail towards the net, Jun charged straight in, racket ready.

"She's attacking the net!" the first club member gasped.

"Seto… she's so fast!" the second said in disbelief.

Before the ball could fall to the court, she smacked it back hard sending it towards the opposite side of the court Rui was. Rui hesitated, expecting the ball to bounce on, when she saw something strange.

The ball had bounced into a high arc slowly, back towards Rui. There were muted gasps all around, as Jun looked visibly shocked by her error. On the sidelines, the tennis club members were shocked.

"She put a bad spin on it!" the second of the two said.

"What an amateur miscalculation!" the first said.

Rui was of the same thought as she positioned herself under the falling ball and fired back a strike towards Jun's unguarded side. _She's right handed just like me, so if I lob it over her left while she's this near the net…!_

The ball went up and over, to hit the left side of the court and score Rui the point. However, as the ball approached Jun her shock melted away, she tossed the racket from her right hand to her left and leaped straight up.

"What?!" Both club members gasped.

"She switched hands!" Naru gasped as a spike of excitement raced through her.

"Slick move," Mamoru said.

Rui was stunned. _Impossible!_

In the brief instant before Jun struck the ball, her eyes flashed red, and Masato narrowed his eyes. The swing was so fast that it was a blur, and the ball became one too before it rebounded off the court at speeds barely traceable. So fast it was that Rui had to dive to her left to avoid the projectile, which continued on and hit the wall behind her. There was an audible pop, and everyone turned to look back at the ball in surprise.

"The ball… it broke," Naru murmured as the crowd went into cheers.

Usagi stood up. "It's time, I gotta go."

Naru looked at Usagi. "Wait, what?"

Usagi nodded. She had seen that flash from Jun's eyes. Turning, she made her way down the aisle and quickly towards someplace where she could transform in privacy. Looking back towards the match, Naru watched as a visibly shaken Rui got up and tried to shake off the near-miss.

"Are you all right, do you need a moment?" The referee asked.

Rui shook her head and received a new ball. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

She looked to Jun, who looked almost serene as she waited for the next serve. Something was wrong with her; this wasn't how she was in their previous match. Every time Rui hit the ball back, it was like hitting a ball fired from a tennis ball machine at full power and then some. Then there was that last hit Jun had made.

_Was she aiming for me?_

Naru tensed with trepidation, as Rui dribbled the ball again. Jun, her smile returning, began to shift her weight from one foot to another. "Are you sure you don't need a minute, Saionji-senpai?"

Rui caught the ball, and stared at her. "I said I was fine, let's continue."

Jun licked her lips. "Good, show me the skill of a champion!"

_Nothing fancy, keep the rally short, serve and volley._ Rui tossed the ball up and fired it over the net to Jun's left.

Jun went right after it and sent it back over the net in an arc at high speed. But Rui was in front of it before it could hit the ground and smashed it towards Jun's feet. She had made doubly sure to put a backspin on it.

Jumping back two paces, Jun avoided the ball, and had been prepared to lunge to send it back when it simply bounced straight up, a perfect opportunity to lob it to Rui's unguarded left. This was a mistake, because there was Rui at the net, volleying the ball with another smash aimed right over Jun's head.

"There's no way she can hit that!" the second club member cried out.

They were right, the ball bounced in, and then went on out. Rui had scored against Jun, sending the stands into cheers.

"Go Rui-chan!" Her parents cheered. Her club was even more ecstatic, seeing that Rui had drawn first blood against the amateur who had beaten her before.

"Yay Rui-nee!" Naru couldn't help herself, and covered her mouth when Jun glanced towards her. When their eyes met, Naru gasped. Jun looked absolutely furious. "Oh… oh Jun…"

This was the youma's influence. Hopefully, Sailor Moon arrived and stopped this before something terrible happened. Even as she hoped, however, Usagi was having trouble finding a private place in such a crowded coliseum, and finally spotted an unoccupied janitor's closet at the end of a hall and ran for it.

Jun's smile slowly returned as Rui got ready to serve, but now there was nothing but malice present in it. "The next point's mine, Saionji-senpai."

"We'll see!" Rui declared as she served the ball.

Jun ran out and hit it back, and Rui was right on it, jumping and smashing it back like she had before. The ball bounced hard off the court and Jun ran to catch and shoot it back. Up and over the net it went where it was volleyed by Rui, but Jun was constantly moving, speeding up to volley it back.

Rui quickly doubled back across the court, and volleyed it back, sending the ball high towards the baseline. Jun ran under and ahead of the ball, before performing a backhand swing that connected mightily. "Come on!"

This was it! Rui rushed the net as the ball headed towards her, and spun it up into a high arc, where it fell for Jun's side… right next to the net. Talent was one thing, and Jun caught her off guard before, but in the end it was experience that decided the outcome of a match. She'd need to be superhuman to get from the baseline to the net that quickly.

But then suddenly Jun was in front of the net, poised to counterattack, leaving Rui in disbelief. "W-what?"

Her eyes glowing red once again, Jun swung violently and smashed the ball with such force that it disappeared from sight for all of a split second, before a very loud impact and a sickening crack echoed in the silent coliseum.

Supporters on both sides of the court stared in disbelief, as the ball bounced to the ground in front of Rui. Her fellow club members were horrified, as was Naru as she stood up from her seat. "Oh no…"

Mamoru also stood up, as had Shingo. "… The fuck?!"

Rui's racket fell from her hand and to the ground with a clatter, as the young woman stood paralyzed where the ball had struck her. Droplets of blood soon joined the racket, the red liquid running in rivulets down her right arm from beneath the sleeve of her shirt–which was staining red at the shoulder. She couldn't move, the sheer pain had overridden her basic motor functions.

"Don't just stand there, idiot, call the point," Jun then called out to the Chair Umpire, who was stunned as everyone else.

Rui managed to slowly turn her head, and looked at her arm and the rapidly spreading red stain on her shirt. Her hand was twitching and jerking of its own accord, and when she grabbed her arm at the wrist to stop it, she realized the arm was numb, save for the unbelievable pain that rated from where her shoulder shifted. It was only then that she finally screamed.

"Rui-nee!" Naru cried out as she and others ran to her. Officials were already rushing to her, to administer first aid.

Jun watched as people began to crowd the court, and her anger surged to new heights. "Hey, we're in the middle of a game! Get off the court!"

"Are you insane? Rui-senpai is hurt!" one club member yelled at Jun.

"You did it on purpose! You should be disqualified!" another shouted.

Rui had fallen to her knees, tears spilling down her face. "It hurts! My arm! It hurts! It hurts!"

Jun's eyes twitched before she brandished her racket. "The Hell is this?! Stop screaming and get up! Don't tell me this is the limit of a champion!"

"Wow, she's losing it," Shingo said, before an ominous light began to shine from Jun's racket. "Oh crap, Mamoru!"

A medical professional managed to cut away Rui's sleeve, and almost vomited in her mouth when she saw the extent of the injuries. "A tennis ball did this?"

The other paramedic shook his head. "The bone is completely shattered and she's losing a lot of blood, get an ambulance in here!"

Jun raised her racket, and the air began to swirl around her. Behind her, Masato stood up and stared at his aspiring star as she completely lost it.

"NO! I WON'T LET YOU INTERRUPT OUR GAME!"

She swung the racket, creating a large blast of wind that sent nearly everyone on their feet on Rui's side of the court tumbling to the ground. Only quick thinking from the paramedics saved Rui from further harm, as they shielded her from the wind blast with her bodies.

Among the people flung, Naru sat up and stared at Jun. She had to do something, anything to stop her. "Jun, stop! This isn't like you! Get a hold of yourself!"

Jun, her eyes a solid red now, reached out and suddenly summoned the tennis ball to her hand. Rui looked up at Jun, and she gasped at the malicious presence hanging around her.

"PICK UP YOUR RACKET AND PLAY!" She screamed as she served the ball, sending it straight for Rui's face at the same speed as her smash before. The ball, traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, was suddenly stopped–caught in Sailor Moon's hand.

"Sailor Moon!" Shingo cheered with the rest of the crowd.

"Sailor Moon!" Naru gasped in relief.

Masato tensed, and frowned. "Sailor Moon…"

The Chair Umpire, however, was not exactly enthusiastic. "Oh God, she's actually here."

Crushing the tennis ball in her hand, Sailor Moon dropped the remains and pointed at Jun. "Game Set Match, youma, you lose!"

Jun's eyes widened and she raised her racket to fire another blast of wind at Sailor Moon, but she was just that faster on the draw, throwing her tiara straight at Jun.

"Action!"

In a flash of light, the racket was sliced in two, the head clattering to the ground as Sailor Moon caught the tiara. Looking at the remains of her racket, Jun trembled and then let out an enraged scream. An aura of dark energy enveloped her, as a black shadow erupted from her chest. Twisting and writing as it left Jun to collapse in a heap on the floor, the shadow leaped into the air

Swirling about, the shadow formed a flat disk in front of the tennis net, before the form of the youma Tesuni emerged feet first and set her feet on the ground. Sailor Moon, frankly, was surprised at the size and stature of the youma. This one had to be at least seven feet tall and built specifically for fucking people up.

Ah well, a bigger youma meant she wouldn't have too much difficulty connecting her hits. Without taking her eyes off Tesuni, she called behind her. "Get away from here; this is going to get ugly."

The Paramedics wasted no time, quickly and carefully getting Rui off the court as the others, including Naru, got up and fled. Up in the stands, Shingo realized Mamoru had already left and called out to the spectators. "Hey! You heard her didn't you? Or did you all forget what happened the last time she fought these guys!"

And the coliseum began to empty, people rushing for the doors, as Sailor Moon stared up at Tesuni. Sailor Moon spoke. "So then youma, let's start the match!"

Suddenly she was in the air swinging a kick for Tesuni's neck. Her boot connected with a racket made of flame, and Tesuni threw Sailor Moon back over the net. Recovering in midair, Sailor Moon spun gracefully and landed on her feet before attacking again low. She vaulted towards the net and then sprang up to kick Tesuni in the chin, sending her flying into the wall at the back of the court.

Sailor Moon landed right over Jun, and knelt down to quickly check her vitals. Good, she was still breathing. Tesuni pulled herself from the wall, unhurt by the kick, but Sailor Moon didn't hesitate to continue the attack, rushing her head on and springing into several flips before launching herself up and over Tesuni's head.

Tesuni turned around and blocked the kick aimed at her head with her racket. Sailor Moon just twisted her body and kicker her across the face with her other leg, sending the youma staggering to the side.

As Sailor Moon set her feet down Tesuni finally counterattacked–forming an energy ball and firing it at her. Instantly, Sailor Moon crossed her arms to block the hit, knowing that there were innocent people trying to escape behind her. This turned out to be a mistake, as the energy ball hit, and in a flash, Sailor Moon was enveloped in a giant tennis ball.

"Wait, what?" Sailor Moon yelped as she looked down at herself, only her head and legs were sticking out of the giant tennis ball. She looked to Tesuni. "Seriously, this is what your big attack does–WHOA!"

Tesuni had waved her hand and sent Sailor Moon flying into the ceiling of the coliseum, bouncing her off it and down into the court face first. "Ow!"

Laughing, Tesuni began to bounce Sailor Moon around the court, making sure that she hit the ground face first as many times as possible. "You have such excellent form, girl!"

Sailor Moon did not find it funny. "Ow! Ow! Hey! Ow! Quit it! Ow! This is annoying!"

As Sailor Tennis Ball went flying over her head, Tesuni let out a boisterous laugh. A rose cutting across her face, though, shut her right the Hell up. "Gah! You…!"

Up on the chair umpire's seat, Tuxedo Kamen was pantomiming playing a guitar on a tennis racket, and looked down at Tesuni. "Hey look, I'm Roger Federer."

"Ah! Sexy!" Sailor Moon cried out before she was bounced again. "Ow!"

Tesuni rubbed her face. "I wouldn't be too cocky, boy! If you even try, you'll end up like her!"

Tuxedo Kamen hopped from the chair, and held up his cane. "Oh really, care to wager your life on that?"

Tesuni laughed, and swung her racket at Tuxedo Kamen firing another energy ball at him. Tuxedo Kamen, however, leaped straight up over it and past the still airborne Sailor Tennis Ball.

As he slowly passed her, Sailor Moon glanced back at Tuxedo Kamen and smirked. "Ne, thanks for the hand, sexy."

"I'll get the girl out of here; you do what you do best," Tuxedo Kamen replied before they fell away from each other. Landing over Jun, Tuxedo Kamen finished sheathing his cane sword.

As Tesuni turned to face him, she heard a pop and looked back to find Sailor Moon, free if the tennis ball, positioned on the ceiling, ready to kick off it towards her–with a most frightening grin on her face.

"You've been defaulted, youma," Sailor Moon said, and the instant Tuxedo Kamen leaped away with Jun, Sailor Moon kicked off and turned herself into Sailor Missile, smashing head first into Tesuni and creating a sizable crater in the middle of the court.

As Tesuni, her body twitching in pain, tried to get free, Sailor Moon, her face buried right in her solar plexus, lashed her arms right around the youma's waist.

"Moon Tiara…!"

Tesuni's eyes widened in horror. "No! No!"

"ACTION!" Sailor Moon yelled.

Landing up in the stands, Tuxedo Kamen turned and looked at the beam of light that shot from the crater, as Tesuni let out a dying scream. He smirked. "Good job, Sailor Moon."

Inside the crater, however, Sailor Moon stood up and stared down at Tesuni. Something was wrong. Instead of turning to dust, the youma was bathed in a dark blue fire. "Wait, what the…?"

Her scream trailing off to a death rattle, Tesuni went limp as her body burned away down to a skeleton, and both it and the fire vanished. That was a new effect and kind of weird too. "First time that ever happened."

"Sailor Moon!" Sailor Mars and Mercury had arrived, better late than never

"Oh, hey guys!" Sailor Moon got up, and gestured to the hole in the court. "Don't worry, I got it."

"Good, we were worried because of all the traffic outside." Sailor Mercury said.

Sailor Moon cocked her head to one side. "Traffic?"

"Police cars! Dozens of them! There are SAT trucks and even helicopters!" Sailor Mars said. "It's crazy out there!"

Sailor Moon rolled her eyes and laughed. "Wow, I guess these guys wanted to be on top of this, didn't they?"

The rumble of footsteps then filled the coliseum, and policemen spilled into the stands and onto the floor, uniformed officers with their guns drawn, and tactical-suited SATs with assault rifles and submachine guns surrounded the Senshi on nearly all sides. Quickly going back to back, the Senshi looked around in surprise as every gun in the house was leveled on them.

Sailor Moon looked around at all the barrels pointed at them, and raised her hands. "Okay. What."

"Sailor Senshi, I'm sorry," A voice called out from the stands and Sailor Moon looked up to see the older sister of their teacher, Natsuna Sakurada. "I am hereby placing you all under arrest. Please do not make this difficult and surrender peacefully."

Sailor Mars looked back towards Mars and Mercury. "What's going on? I-I don't understand, why…?"

"I guess they finally got sick of our messes," Sailor Moon said.

Sailor Mercury nodded. "I'm not surprised; Tokyo Tower must've been the last straw for them."

Sailor Moon looked to Mercury. "Sabão Spray."

Mars was shocked as Sailor Mercury nodded affirmative. "Wait, what?"

Sailor Moon looked up to Natsuna. "Sorry, but we can't do that."

And then the entire court was filled with a dense, cold mist. It took just short of ten seconds for it to clear, and when it did the Senshi had vanished. Seeing this, Natsuna folded her arms and shook her head. "Girls, don't make this harder than it already is…"

* * *

The Senshi had made it to the roof of the coliseum, and fled faster than the helicopters or the cops outside could hope to catch. With the trail left cold behind them, all three found a safe spot between two buildings and quickly transformed back to their civilian alter egos. The moment they did, Rei looked between both Usagi and Ami.

"Why are the police after us?" Rei asked, still in shock over the strange turn of events.

"Destruction of property is still a crime, and all things considered we've racked up quite a lot of damage. All of us," Ami said.

Rei pointed back in the direction of the coliseum. "But-but we saved the city! No one's gotten hurt! Isn't that what's important?!"

"To the people we save, it is, but this is Japan. Bureaucrats over in Shinjuku are probably having coronaries over the repair costs." Usagi shook her head. "Whatever, by doing this, they just fucked up badly."

Ami nodded and spoke grimly. "This is probably going to be a coup for the Dark Kingdom."

Rei quickly realized it. "If they find out that the government is against us… they'll use that, won't they?"

Usagi nodded. "Oh yeah, that's just what we need."

"So then what, now what do we do? We can't fight the cops too!" Rei asked.

"We're not going to." Usagi looked towards the direction coliseum and sighed in annoyance. "In the end they may be the law, but they're only mortals. I don't like to look at it like this, but they have no chance of catching us provided they don't find out our identities."

Ami looked to Usagi. "We're not going to turn ourselves in as a gesture of trust to the people?"

Usagi grew only more annoyed. "No way, we do that and then what? The Dark Kingdom will know that we'll roll over the second public opinion turns against us. We can't afford to make useless gestures like this. This is war!"

Ami gave a curt nod. "Good answer."

"We have way more important concerns right now, like Jun and Rui. So let's split up and meet later, okay?" Usagi asked.

Both Ami and Rei nodded, and the Senshi quickly scattered, with Usagi heading back towards the coliseum.

It was a day later when Jun woke up in her hospital bed, her parents sitting on one side of the bed, and a police officer standing guard by the door. She sat up and looked around, confused. 'What… what happened? Where am I?"

The last thing she remembered was going to bed after talking to Naru, like it had happened the night before. Seeing her awake, Jun's parents were overcome with relief and embraced her. "Mom? Dad?" Why am I in the hospital?"

Jun's father pulled back from the hug and stared at her. "You don't remember anything from yesterday?"

Jun stared back, bemused. "What? Of course I do. I came home last night after talking to Naru-chan and spending the day with her, Usagi, and Saionji-senpai… right?"

Her parents stared at her, and the weight of dread began to form in her chest. "… R-Right…?"

In another part of the hospital, Usagi and Naru sat in the waiting room of the hospital with Rui's friends and family. Usagi was staring at her feet, and Naru was watching Rui's parents and coach as the surgeon explained the situation to them.

"I'm sorry, but the damage done to her shoulder was catastrophic. We were able to avoid amputating the limb, but the combination of blood loss and nerve damage means that even if her shoulder heals properly, she will have severely diminished mobility and function of her right arm."

Naru looked down and heaved a heavy sigh, as Usagi rested a hand on her back in consolation. Naru leaned against Usagi, and sniffled. "I'm not blaming you Usagi, so don't blame yourself."

Had Usagi been a little faster, she probably would've stopped Jun from destroying Rui's arm but…

"I won't, blaming myself for it won't change what happened, I know that. All I can do is not make the same mistake twice. Next time I see him, I'm going to beat the shit out of Nephrite, let Jadeite bitch about it," She whispered to Naru.

Naru nodded in agreement.

* * *

Far away, Beryl was laughing herself to tears as she read the news out of Japan to her three remaining generals and her court of youma. "In response to the excessive damage caused by the Sailor Senshi over the last month in the city of Tokyo, the Japanese Government has begun openly discussing the wholesale destruction caused by these girls and the monsters they are fighting. Some, including the Governor of Tokyo, are taking a proactive approach and attempting to bring the Sailor Senshi into custody before the next battle causes more than just expensive property damage."

She lowered her tablet PC. "Ladies, gentlemen, and abominations of indeterminate gender: We've won. Public opinion is wavering and it's beginning to lean against the Senshi. "

She tossed her tablet into the air, laughed, and caught it. "I honestly don't know what's better, this or the fact that it was the Senshi who gave us so much energy this time!"

Zoisite recoiled. "Wait, what?"

Beryl sat down on her seat and kicked up her legs. "Yes, for you see Nephrite is the only one of you that actually uses his brain."

Nephrite nodded, as both Kunzite and Zoisite turned their gazes to him. Beryl laid it out for them. "Not only did the youma take the peak energy from that sap of a girl, but the energy Sailor Moon wasted beating the shit out of the youma was absorbed by it too. When the energy overloaded, the youma was incinerated and all that energy…"

She held out her hand, and a large ball of blue flame appeared above it. "It all came right to me."

Kunzite raised his hands and clapped. "Magnificent, Nephrite."

Zoisite pouted and looked away. "I could've done that, and when are you going to get this damn collar off me?"

Beryl blasted Zoisite across the room. "Never."

She looked to Nephrite. "Keep up the good work Nephrite, and my world will come closer to reality."

Nephrite placed an arm across his chest and bowed. "You needn't worry about a thing, Queen Beryl. I've already selected new victims all over Minato. The Senshi will have no choice but to respond as they begin to near their peaks."

Beryl narrowed her eyes at Nephrite just a little. "Yes, everything is going as planned."

* * *

Nephrite: Hello, I'm Nephrite, and I'm going to be taking over end of chapter duties for the entirety of my arc.

Zoisite: You mean we are.

Nephrite: *Sigh* Yes. We are. Now then, let's move on to the lesson for today: For all of our actions there are consequences, for good or ill there will always be a result of the decisions we make so be prepared for whatever may come–even those unforeseen.

Beryl: Queen Beryl says! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Nephrite: Wait, why is it named after her?


	14. Rei On Fire

Disclaimer: Sailor, Sailor, Sailor SWAG!

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**Rei on Fire

_Art is a Blast!_

**[13.]**

Mamoru made his way up the steps of the Hikawa Shrine. It had been a couple of days since the battle at the Ariake Coliseum, plenty of time for the news of what happened there to spread across all of Japan, and the fallout left the atmosphere charged. People on the street were confused by the move Tokyo made against the Senshi, none more than him.

It was understandable if they wanted to prevent further destruction to the city, Mamoru could agree with that wholeheartedly, but making a move like trying to arrest the Senshi sent the wrong message to the girls and the right one to the Dark Kingdom. This was an enemy that was genre savvy, dangerously so, and they were poised to exploit this.

As Mamoru reached the top of the steps, he noticed that there were some kind of festivities going on, and a banner had been put up over the archway leading towards the shrine reading "Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine".

This intrigued him. "Hakurei?"

"Donations please, this is a shrine you know! You can't just come here and not give a little money to keep it running!"

That was Rei's voice, Mamoru recognized.

He hurried a little and reached the top of the steps where he found a crowd in a large semi-circle in front of the Shrine. Some were standing, some were sitting, and quite a few people had various cameras, taking pictures and recording the scene in front of them. Rei was running around the edge of the crowd, holding a donations box and excitedly demanding donations, which were graciously offered to the box she held.

Mamoru stared at her; she was dressed in a perfect cosplay of Reimu Hakurei from the Touhou Project series, one of his favorite games to play on his down time. "Wow… -so cute…"

She went up to a particularly intimidating person in the crowd and held up her donations box. "Hey, old guy, you came to see the fall leaves, didn't you? It costs money to keep these trees healthy, you know? Support your local shrine!"

A gentle laugh called from behind her. "Reimu-chan, are you bullying people for donations?"

That was Usagi's voice, and she was sitting on the front patio of the Shrine. Mamoru chuckled; of course, she'd be cosplaying as one of the strongest characters in the series, Yukari Yakumo.

"Reimu" looked back at "Yukari", and huffed. "Well, the shrine's upkeep isn't cheap, especially when you demons keep showing up."

"You mean when you keep inviting us demons." Yukari opened a fan to hide her mouth as she laughed at Reimu's indignant reaction.

"Hey! I do my best to be courteous but you always come and eat my food, or sleep in my bedroom, or convince me to throw parties!" Reimu accused.

Yukari looked away. "And you're always eager to throw them."

Reimu pouted and then marched right up to Yukari and sat next to her. "Well then, as long as you're here, how about giving to the Shrine?"

Turning to look at Reimu again, Yukari looked down at the box, and then up at her. She then leaned closed to Reimu and opened the fan, to hide their faces as she kissed the priestess cosplaying as a priestess. Jumping, Reimu stumbled back from Yukari and stared at her in disbelief.

"Y-you kissed me!" She screeched in a voice that almost sounded out of character.

"I decided to give my love." Yukari teased.

Reimu then turned away, covering her face in shame. "Kissed by a demon, I'm ruined for marriage."

The crowd laughed as Yukari lowered her fan. "Oh now stop being so melodramatic. If you'd like, you can be my wife."

Reimu stopped, and then pointed at Yukari. "I'd never marry a Christmas Cake!"

Yukari recoiled. "H-hey, I'm eighteen years old, thank you very much!"

"Yes, eighteen is the last two digits of your true age." Reimu snidely shot back as she paced away from Yukari, still smarting over the embarrassing kiss.

Yukari recoiled further, as though struck with a blow to the gut. "You… you…!"

She looked to the crowd. "Don't listen to her! I'm not as old as she makes it out to be!"

"No, she's older," Reimu quipped, and Yukari fell over, as though hit with an arrow to the back.

Mamoru laughed with the crowd, and wondered exactly which one of them were the straight man and the fool. Yukari huffed, and snapped her fingers. Two black-clothed stagehands draped a purple, eye-dotted curtain over Yukari and whipped it away, revealing nothing behind it.

The crowd applauded the magical trick, and even more when the same two stage hands raised the cloth again next to Reimu and pulled it away, revealing Yukari. Reimu turned to face Yukari, who got in her face.

"You shouldn't be so disrespectful, especially with my generosity in consideration," Yukari advised.

Reimu turned away. "I suppose I should respect my…" She slowly turned and grinned at Yukari. "… Elders."

It was like another punch to the face, but Yukari maintained a placid façade… that did very poorly at hiding her unbelievable fury. "I ought to put you over my knee for that impudence, young lady."

Reimu prodded Yukari's nose with an ofuda. "Old~ Lay~ Dee~."

That tore it. Yukari jumped back. "That's it, I challenge you!"

Reimu cracked her knuckles. "Okay, what'll it be, Spell Cards or Good Old Fashioned Fisticuffs?"

"Neither!" Yukari snapped her fingers, and a pair of microphones went whipping through the air for both to catch. "We shall duel via duet!"

"Ha! Then prepare to face a lyrical defeat!" Reimu retorted as the music began to play.

As both girls got to singing for the crowd a well-rehearsed musical number, Mamoru noticed a familiar head of blue hair at the front and center of the crowd, filming the two with an expensive looking camera. With a small smile, he walked over and leaned down to look over Ami's shoulder and plastic wings–she was cosplaying as Cirno the Ice Fairy.

Ami felt his presence and looked back, when she saw it was Mamoru, she immediately blushed. "Oh Mamoru-san, hello…"

"Hello Cirno-chan."

"Well I'm just cosplaying, I'm not in character." Ami zoomed in on Usagi and Rei as they spun around and continued their lighthearted song and dance number about the friendly animosity shared between priestess and demon.

Mamoru nodded and watched their song, his attention especially on Rei. "Not that I find this weird, but what brought all this on?"

Ami glanced into the viewfinder as she explained. "This was all Usagi's idea. Some friends of ours are in the hospital, so she thought she'd film this show for them to help cheer them up

She then fully turned her gaze to Mamoru. "What brings you here? Looking for Rei?"

Well, he had, but with Ami here too it felt kind of awkward. Mamoru scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, I was actually coming to pray for some good luck…"

Ami saw clean through his lie and returned her attention to the song. "Hopefully the Gods will bless you again then."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow, and briefly wondered if Ami meant what he hoped she meant.

Elsewhere in the crowd, another photographer aimed a very expensive camera at the two girls, and took several pictures, each one with Rei filling the lens. The young man, with hair in different shades of brown, looked at the screen beneath the view-finder and examined the high definition pictures.

"Amazing…" He whispered as he scrolled through the pictures of Rei.

After the performance, as people began lining up to the donations box, Rei sat on her porch away from the crowds. It was just a small break, before she had to jump back in character and mingle with the donors. This was very hard for Rei, given her shy and quirky nature, but it was for a worthy cause and she was going to give it her all for it.

"I just need to remember that this is for Usagi's friends, and I can do this," she said to Phobos and Deimos, who were enjoying some plates of chopped bacon next to her.

As she took a sip of the water she was enjoying, both crows looked over towards someone approaching, that someone being Mamoru, who greeted her. "Hello, Miko-san."

Rei's eyes widened and she spat out her water when she heard his voice. "Ah M-M-Mamoru, h-hello!"

Her face nearly as red as her dress, she quickly stood up and bowed to him. "W-what are you doing here…?"

"Well, I came by to see you," Mamoru said, and he could've sworn that if it were dark Rei would be glowing.

She turned away from him, her hands on her cheeks, embarrassed and overjoyed at the same time. She had tried not to think about the cruise–okay that was a lie she thought it was the best night of her life and regretted nothing that happened before or after the battle–but she didn't expect that this super handsome, super rich guy in college would want to come by and see her, a dopey miko who spends all her time talking to crows and crazy girls when she's not being a super heroine.

Mamoru chuckled, this was really too cute. "I didn't expect to find all this, but I admit I like the look."

Rei turned around. "Really, you do?"

"It's very cute on you."

Rei turned her back to him again, her hands over her mouth to muffle her excited squeal.

_He thinks I'm cute, he came to see me and he thinks I'm cute, this is the best day ever and will never be surpassed and he thinks I'm cute!_ Rei thought to herself before it hit her. What did she do now? Did she ask him out on a date? Did she give him her phone number? Did she ask him to sneak into her room for a repeat of the cruise night?

Wait, what was she thinking? She still had to interact with the visitors. Maybe she could ask him to stick around and when everyone was gone they could steal away and have some crazy wild lovemaking down by the fire. Wait, no Grandpa would have a coronary if he caught them doing it in front of the sacred fire. Oh no! Grandpa, would he approve of him? Well he was rich and successful, maybe he'd overlook that. Oh, but what if Grandpa tried to force Mamoru to take responsibility for deflowering her? Would Mamoru be okay with marrying her? She would be fine with it…

"Ah… Rei…?" Mamoru asked.

Rei, realizing that she'd gone off on an internal tangent again, quickly turned around and said the first thing that popped into her head. "W-we should have sex, right now!"

Mamoru recoiled in surprise, as Rei froze in horror. What did she just say? The red drained from her face, replaced by an eggshell white as she quietly repeated herself in shock.

While surprised, Mamoru wasn't against the idea at all. "Well, sure, but don't you think we should get to know one another a little more, Rei?"

Rei blinked and snapped out of her sudden blue-screen. "Eh?"

"I'm saying I'd like to date you," Mamoru said.

Then suddenly, Rei was in a field of flowers, a church bell was ringing behind her, crows were cawing their joy, and a formation of F-15Js trailing bright red smoke flew over her head. Sparkles in her eyes, she took Mamoru's hands in her own and looked up at him. "Of course I'll date you! I'll be the best girlfriend ever, just you watch Mamoru-sama!"

Genre savvy as he was, Mamoru wondered if he had accidentally tripped a yandere flag. It was too easy to picture Rei, with dull eyes, standing over him with a knife in her hand and angry crows cawing for his blood… far too easy.

"Easy, easy, Rei-chan, let's start small okay? Maybe we should have dinner sometime? Is this weekend okay?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes, that would be just fine! Just let me get your phone number and stuff!" Rei quickly replied as she dug around in her costume for her phone.

"Ne, Rei who are you… oh God it's you." Usagi glared at Mamoru when she found him and Rei together exchanging numbers.

Mamoru smiled, it had been so long. "Ah, hello Dango-head, I hope you don't mind me stealing away your friend."

Rei quickly waved her hands emphatically. "Please don't mind, I want him to steal me!"

Usagi looked to Rei. "Really, with this bald loser?"

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Mamoru asked.

"I want to, yes! I want to be his girlfriend and go out on dates and spend time together with him, and cuddle, and have dirty, wild sex, and then cook him breakfast in the morning in nothing but an apron!" Rei stopped, and buried her face in her hands from embarrassment.

Usagi turned and stared at Mamoru, who was staring blankly at Rei. "This is what you're getting, God help you if you squander it."

She then grabbed him by his collar, and stared him straight in the eyes. "Seriously, I will ruin you if you break her heart."

"Usagi, it'll be fine!" Rei pleaded, though she was deeply touched by Usagi's vow, and happy of her approval.

So was Mamoru, who was surprised that she seemed fine with this. "Wait, that's it? You're going to let me date her?"

Usagi let him go, opened her fan and held it over her mouth. "Rei is her own woman, and though I hate the concept of your existence, I won't let that get in the way of the heart of my friend. I'll just destroy you if you do _anything_ to hurt her."

She had closed her fan and gave him a potent glare with that.

Mamoru smiled at that, and nodded. "You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll take good care of her."

"You'd better." Usagi turned to look at Rei. "Are you ready to meet your public again?"

"Yes!" Rei said excitedly. After becoming Mamoru's girlfriend, nothing could possibly get her down.

"Ah, excuse me, Reimu-san," another young man called.

Usagi and Mamoru looked over to find the two-tone haired photographer from the crowd. Rei immediately turned to him and bowed. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'll be right over…"

The young man bowed back politely. "Sorry, I just wanted to have a word with you. My name is Kijin Shinokawa, I'm a professional photographer."

Mamoru had never heard of him, but was he calling himself a professional, really? He had to be no older than the girls. Usagi, however, recognized the name and snapped her fingers. "Oh! You're that genius award-winning photographer! You've been to China, Southeast Asia, and even to the Korean Demilitarized Zone in search of dramatic scenery."

"Thank you, exposition bunny," Mamoru mumbled, and Usagi shot him a glare.

"Uh… yes, that's me. But that was back when I was ten. Nowadays, I find all the scenery I want here."

Usagi nodded to Kijin. "And you've found some with my Rei-chan, ne?"

"Me?" Rei asked.

Kijin quickly nodded. "Yes! I saw your performance today, and when I was taking pictures I saw how you seemed to just come alive for the camera. You're very photogenic, so I was wondering of you would like to be a subject in my photos?"

"A Model… me…?" Today just didn't want to stop being awesome for Rei.

Usagi stepped in. "Whoa, hold on there Yamazaki."

Kijin stared at her. "Are you a photography buff?"

"No, Usagi is just Usagi," Rei quipped.

"Rei-chan here is shy, socially awkward, and tends to do something only if she's absolutely comfortable with it or excited about the prospect." Like dating an incredibly sexy Jackass, Usagi added inwardly. "So please don't pressure her, okay?"

"Actually, I'd like to be a model!"

Usagi turned back to her, surprised. "Really?"

Rei nodded and then stepped up to Kijin. "My Grandpa always says that I'm pretty enough to be a model, and I'd love to try being a subject in your photos."

Kijin smiled. "Oh, thank you. Do you have your phone; I'd like to give you my contact info."

Rei nodded and pulled out her cell phone. "Oh yes!"

Usagi and Mamoru both looked to each other, as Rei eagerly saved the info to her phone, and bowed in gratitude to Kijin, who was equally grateful to have a new subject. Both agreed that some girls had all the luck.

"Hey Rei! Usagi! Hurry it up, we gotta wrap this up, and I have to get to work soon!" It was Makoto, who like Naru was one of the stage hands for their little performance.

"Oh, right!" Rei bowed again to Kijin, and then hugged Mamoru. "Come on Usagi!"

As the two girls left to join their friends, Kijin let out a long hum as he looked over the girls. "There are a lot of cute girls in this part of town."

"Yes, and they're all crazy." Mamoru put on a pair of kick-ass sunglasses and walked away. "Have fun with that."

* * *

"Superintendent-General, the Governor will speak with you now."

Natsuna Sakurada was in a pretty bad mood. In the days since the botched arrest attempt, she and her entire department had been barraged from all sides in the press and in the political arena for her move against those girls. There were even calls for her resignation! From a public relations standpoint, this was becoming a disaster bigger than the ones the Senshi actually committed.

She found herself yearning for her little sister's teaching job, where the most she had to worry about was a psychotic delinquent girl. At least that psychotic delinquent didn't have super powers!

After bowing to the secretary who called to her, Natsuna entered the office of Tokyo's Governor, and bowed politely to him. "Good afternoon, Ishihara-dono."

"Ah welcome, Sakurada-chan," the elderly Governor of Tokyo looked up and smiled to Natsuna from his desk.

This old, grandfatherly-looking man, he'd been Governor of Tokyo for over ten years, and a major figure in its politics since the fifties. His experience alone was worthy of respect, but given that he was the one who personally came down on Natsuna to go after the Senshi for malicious destruction of property of all things, she wondered if he was finally going over the hill.

Asserting herself, Natsuna went straight to the point. "Ishihara-dono, I take it you've read the incident report?"

"Yes, I have. The Sailor Senshi escaped unopposed. The police could not even attempt to pursue them."

Natsuna nodded. "I don't understand why, Ishihara-dono. The Malice Spike two years ago showed we could work with irregular elements against forces we couldn't handle. Now I'm out there doing the exact opposite of what my teacher did, and the public is after our blood."

Ishihara nodded, and then reached into a drawer at his desk. "It was only two years ago, Sakurada-san, I remember it vividly. For all of that Task Force's success, the cost in good officers and innocent people was extremely high. Even your teacher, Aki-san, acknowledged that… it's why she gave you her position after it was all over."

At that, Natsuna conceded with a nod.

"The situation we're in now, with forces far more aggressive and destructive than before, requires an entirely different approach."

He handed Natsuna a vanilla folder, which she opened and examined the contents.

"What's this?"

"It is a plan drawn up with help from friends in the defense forces, for dealing with the Sailor Senshi and this Dark Kingdom."

Natsuna read the file, and her eyes went wide in disbelief. She looked up at the Governor. "Ishihara-dono… this is insane."

Ishihara nodded. "It is rather extreme, but we do not have the luxury of moderation in this case. It is only a matter of time before this fighting claims life, and I wish to mitigate that inevitable cost. What I need for that to happen, is for Tokyo's police to be ready to act accordingly, and with all other levels of national defense."

Natsuna stared at the folder again, trembling. "But you're asking me to-"

"What I'm asking is can you do what is necessary for Japan, or must I replace you with someone who is capable?" Ishihara asked levelly.

Closing the folder, Natsuna took a deep breath, and then nodded. "I can do what is necessary. But I'm doing this by my way, like Inspector Aki would."

Ishihara's smile returned. "Then I entrust the safety of this city's people to you, Natsuna Sakurada."

Natsuna bowed. "Thank you, Ishihara-dono."

Turning around, Natsuna briskly walked out of the office, the hand she held the file in trembling. As she left, Ishihara chuckled to himself.

"The girl is overcome with excitement."

* * *

The day after their benefit show for Rui and Jun, Usagi, Naru, and Rei were in Roppongi, addressing a problem of Rei's. She had next to no variety of clothes. Even now, she was wearing a pair of bright pink overalls and a plain white shirt. While cute, it was just unbefitting of a future model. Neither Naru nor Usagi could believe that Rei owned so little.

"Well, I'm a miko at a shrine and I go to an all girls' school with a strict uniform policy. I never felt much need for having more than I need to wear." Rei admitted.

Naru smiled. "Well you're going to need to get a whole new wardrobe, not only for the photo shoot, but so you can have something to wear when you go out with your boyfriend too."

Rei's face turned red. "Well… yes, I guess…"

"And you're going to need some cute underwear too. I don't think the bastard's going to be impressed by plain white panties, .unless he's into that sort of thing," Usagi teased.

"Don't call him a bastard!" Rei snapped at her, before she reined it in. "Ah… um…"

Usagi smiled big. "Yes…?"

Rei hiked her shoulders and tapped her fingers together. "Back on the cruise, Mamoru-sama said that he liked the bikini-cut panties Ami had brought for me. C-can we get those and some bras that go with them?"

She put her hands on her cheeks to cover her intensified blush. Usagi and Naru looked to each other, before the former patted Rei on the back. "I'm going to do you one better than that."

Usagi held up a card for Rei to see, and when she saw it she blushed. "That… that's a card for…"

"Yes! The finest lingerie shop in Roppongi, my mother is a… preferred… customer…" Usagi trailed off as suddenly some very traumatic mental imagery returned to her. Just as suddenly, she loudly and forcefully laughed to purge it from her thoughts. "As I was saying: My mother has built up a lot of credit with them over the last fifteen years and let me use her card!"

She smiled to Rei. "So we're going to buy you a lot of sexy things to leave all over the bastard's bedroom floor."

Rei was flattered again by Usagi's supportiveness. "Oh, thank you Usagi… and stop calling him a bastard!"

"No."

Naru sighed and allowed the girls to back and forth over Mamoru as they reached the lingerie shop, which happened to be across the street from one of those trendy Maid Cafés that attracted lonely young men with no social skills. Usagi had just happened to glance towards it, when something caught her eye.

"Huh?" She did a double-take, and then grinned. "Oi, Naru, you can help Rei with the shopping, ne?"

She turned and handed her card to Naru, who raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Yes, but why…?"

"I just saw something amazing, I'll catch right up. Help Rei pick out things and don't seduce her." Rei did her own double-take at that.

"Wait, what?" She asked.

"Well, unless she wants it, just remember she has a boyfriend. I'll be back!"

Naru saluted. "Okay!"

Rei looked at Naru. "Hey!

Usagi bolted across the street as Naru ushered Rei into the lingerie shop, and went into the Maid Café. Like a woman on a mission, she walked right past the bemused greeter and across the lobby, straight towards a particularly tall maid in the middle of taking orders from a pair of foreign tourists.

"Hey Meido-chan what kind of panties are you wearing?" Usagi loudly asked as she flipped up the Maid's skirt, revealing very sexy black panties and thigh high stockings. Usagi stopped and stared. "Wow."

That hesitation proved to be a mistake, as the maid promptly kicked Usagi in the chin with enough force to send her sailing through the air and then sliding across the carpeted floor to come to a stop at the feet of another shocked maid.

Lowering her leg, Makoto stared in surprise at Usagi. "What the Hell, Usagi?!"

"Die alliierten haben Berlin erreicht, Galland hatte recht!" Usagi replied.

Usagi then looked up the skirt of the maid she had slid under. "Gehört die Reizwäsche zur Uniform?"

The maid squeaked in embarrassment and kicked Usagi in the head. But it was a minor tap compared to Makoto's hit. Still hurt, though.

A few minutes later, Usagi and Makoto were sitting at a booth by the window, with Usagi all over this scandalous discovery. "Ne, why are you working at a Maid Café, anyway? And aren't you a little young for this?"

Makoto sighed. "The manager is a friend of my probation officer, and because of my looks he said I could swing looking sixteen. Much as I don't want this job, it pays well enough."

Usagi hummed. "Don't you have your parents' money to fall back on? What about relatives?"

"That money I can't touch until I'm eighteen, and my family's relatives don't hold me in high regard. You see, my Father and Mother got together against their respective families' wishes and… well, yeah," Miracle Maid Makoto explained.

Usagi understood what that could be like. "Bastards, all of them are. My family's the same way, something about hating my Dad for stealing my Mom from her fiancé."

Makoto stared at Usagi, wide-eyed. Usagi clarified. "My Dad is a very persuasive person, you see."

"Yeah, I got that after the whole cruise thing."

Usagi laughed. "Man that was fun, wasn't it?"

Makoto blushed. "Yes, it was…" She then changed the subject. "I've been meaning to ask, about Rei and that Mamoru guy. Is it a good idea to just let that happen?"

"Well, I'm not going to stop her from doing what she wants, but I will be there to help her the second there's trouble. It's kind of like you, except with a rich older guy instead of your _other_ part-time gig."

"I see." Makoto nodded. "I guess it doesn't seem inappropriate to you, does it?"

Usagi stared at her. "Is it inappropriate to you?"

"It just makes me uncomfortable. Rei is very, very naïve and new at all of this and I think it's a little too soon for her to be hooking up with a guy. What if he's taking advantage of her?" Makoto asked.

Those were valid concerns, Usagi agreed. "I made it as clear with the bastard that if he did anything to hurt her, I'd destroy him. But, much as I hate him he seems to be a genuine human being, enough that my little brother hangs out with him."

Yeah, about that… "I wonder, Usagi, do you even really hate him? I mean, it's more like you're trying really hard not to throw him down, rip off his clothes, and mount him whenever you see him."

Usagi blinked. At that moment, outside, a twenty-something man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sporting a mostly shaved head walked by the Maid Café, glanced in the window at Usagi.

"What do you mean by that?" Usagi asked.

The man outside did a double take and turned red with fury.

"Well, whenever you two interact, he turns you into a mess of unquenchable rage and lust. He's the only person who gets a rise out of you like that," Makoto pointed out. As she did, the man suddenly ran for the door of the café.

The door was then slammed open, and everyone, customer and maid alike turned their attention to him. Trembling in his berserk state, the man pointed at Usagi. "You WHORE!"

Usagi and Makoto stared at the man as he launched into a tirade. "You... you nearly killed me, wrecked my car, and made me look like a punk bitch! I've been all over this fucking city trying to hunt you down!"

Makoto spoke to Usagi, not taking her eyes off the man. "How many people am I going to meet with that story, Usagi?"

She looked to Usagi and found that she had lost interest and was eating a parfait. "Eh, I don't know who this guy is."

Makoto looked back at the man, who was practically foaming at the mouth now. "Who do you think you are? Trying to brush me off after what you did to me, you cunt?!"

Usagi took a bite of her parfait and praised its flavor with a moan. "I don't know what did I do to you?"

"You beat me up! You dislocated my shoulder, fractured my skull, broke two of my ribs, ruptured my spleen and gave me catastrophic internal bleeding! I almost died!" He yelled.

"Jesus Christ, Usagi!" Makoto gasped.

Usagi was licking her spoon. "Ah, but you survived. You're worthy to be my underling, you can call me Aneki."

"I CAME TO KILL YOU, YOU DEMON BITCH!"

Usagi was holding a spoonful of the parfait up for Makoto. "Ne, ne, Mako-chan, try this, it's good."

Well that kindly tore it for the man, who promptly pulled out a very large knife. Usagi saw the gleam of ambient light off the blade and then remembered. "Oh! Now I remember you! You're that one whore's boyfriend who came to my school wanting to beat me up and sell me into sexual slavery."

Makoto went from concerned about the knife to stone-faced anger. Usagi ate the bite she had offered to Makoto and called to the man. "On second thought nevermind, I have no use for a weakling that can't even beat up a tiny little girl. Shoo, shoo."

"You're fucking dead!" The man charged straight for Usagi to stab her with the knife, hopefully until the blade broke off in her.

Usagi looked to Makoto. "Go right ahead, it's legally self-defense now."

She took another bite out of her parfait, and in that same instant, Makoto was in motion. By the time Usagi pulled the cleaned spoon from her lips, the man was spinning through the air, struck with a powerful kick from Makoto. Hitting the ground, the punk barreled out the door, and onto the sidewalk outside.

The other customers and employees stared at Makoto, who adjusted her maid uniform before reciting one of the rules of the café. "A guest at our establishment will be polite and courteous to both staff and fellow guests, or they will be removed from the premises."

Everyone broke into applause, as the authorities were quickly called on the would-be knife-wielding maniac. Sitting back down, Makoto looked to Usagi. "Did you really do all that he said you did?"

"Probably, I never bother to follow-up on the people I beat up."

Makoto sighed. "I think I should hang around you more, just in case more people come after you for revenge or something."

Usagi smirked. "Think you need the practice outside the dojo?"

Try as she could, Makoto couldn't hide her own small smile. "Let's not call it that specifically, alright?"

Back across the road at the lingerie shop, Rei marveled over a pair of panties with a cute crow print on them. "These are the best panties in the world. I want to buy eight of them."

She then saw more examples and squealed in joy. "They come with different prints! I am going to buy eight of them!"

This was going better than Naru thought it would. Rei was enjoying herself, and not being a spaz. "Alright, but remember to get something that Mamoru might like, okay?"

Naru quickly nodded. "Of course I will, don't worry!"

She then spotted some pajamas and headed for them. "Oh! Those look cute."

She began to rifle through the collection, with Naru joining her side. "Hey Rei, can I ask you something?"

"Huh? What?" Rei lowered a pajama top she was examining. It was just her size.

"Not that I think it's a bad idea, but why did you decide to accept that Shinokawa person's offer? It took everything you had to perform in front of the crowd for Rui and Jun's benefit–you did very well by the way. So, why jump at this? Your face is going to be all over the place, if it's an award winner like Shinokawa."

Rei had been holding the pajama top to her chest and imagining herself in it as Naru spoke. She hummed as she contemplated the answer. "Well, I think I can do it if you all are supporting me."

Naru stared at Rei. "Oh?"

"I mean… before I met you guys, I didn't really do anything except go to school and tend to the shrine. Oh, and occasionally scare people who wronged me with the crows. The boldest thing I ever did on my own was join my school's Avian Enthusiasts Club."

She then smiled. "But since I became Sailor Mars, I've been on a cruise, fought monsters, saved the day like a superhero, met a really nice guy who thinks I'm cute, and showed people that I was a really good singer and dancer. I couldn't have done anything like that by myself."

Rei paused. "Well, maybe the fight monsters part. It is the duty of a miko to cleanse evil wherever it may be, but… all that other stuff I couldn't have done. So! I'm going to give being in pictures a try, because I know if anything happens you'll be there. Just like Usagi said to Mamoru-sama."

"Aw!" Naru was touched, and she gave Rei a hug. "You're so sweet Rei! You're also absolutely right!"

Rei hugged Naru back. "Thank you, Naru-chan."

"Now then…" Naru held up a pair of very risqué panties. "You should try these on; I think Mamoru will like them."

Rei stared at them, and went wide-eyed. "I-I think he would too."

As the two girls rushed to the changing rooms, neither noticed a crazed Kijin Shinokawa on one of the televisions in the lingerie shop, announcing auditions for his next photo series during a fashion program.

* * *

"The Prince Park Tower is a pretty swanky place; this is where he wants to hold an audition?"

It was only two days later, and Naru, Usagi, Rei, and Ami were walking towards the upscale hotel. They weren't the only ones who were here for a photo shoot. The lobby of the hotel was packed with people, waiting for Kijin to make his announcement. Rei looked a little crestfallen at all the women who had crowded around to take part in the auditions.

"Look at this. Where did all these people come from?"

"Ah, there's the problem. Apparently two days ago he announced a huge photo shoot and anyone with a vagina was invited." Usagi said as she did the sleuthing on her computer this time.

"And this many people showed up?" Naru did a double-take when she saw Haruna in the crowd. "Haruna-sensei?"

"Ah, just what we need to make the day interesting." Usagi said before she looked to Ami and Naru. "Since it's an open invitation, you want to take part?"

"No thanks, I have no time to prepare," Ami said.

"I'll pass as well. This is Rei's time to shine," Naru said.

Usagi nodded. "That's right!" She then looked to Rei. "How may we assist you in securing your path to glory?"

"Um… you don't have to do anything." Rei was looking as though she had second thoughts. Especially when she saw how many other pretty girls there were. "In fact I think we should just go home…"

Usagi would have none of that. "What? No, we can't go back now! You only made it this far!"

Rei hiked her shoulders, and began messing with some of her hair nervously. "But, what if I'm not even noticed…? I mean, look at all these girls…"

"Yes, but he picked you out personally! I think you have an edge over every whore here."

Naru pointed. "Even your mother?"

"Especially my–wait, what?" Usagi looked, and there was her mother… dressed as a race queen. "Okay, what the Hell?"

"You did say everyone with a vagina was invited," Ami noted.

"Alright, now this is gone right into the uncanny valley," Usagi said, before Kijin, who had now stepped onto a stage in front of the crowd, addressed them all.

"ART IS A BLAST!"

The crowd cheered, while Usagi made a Naruto joke that was lost in the din.

"Now, everyone receive a number from the reception desk and go to the room assigned to you. I don't want no peeping as I am taking photos for the audition, so you will be called down when I am ready for you!"

Usagi frowned. "He seemed a lot nicer when we last saw him."

Rei noticed this too, but more importantly she could sense darkness coming from the young man's soul. "Usagi… let's go to the room right now."

The other girls looked to Rei, who turned and headed for the reception desk. Looking back to one another, the girls nodded and followed.

Up in the hotel room reserved for them, Rei quickly sat down on the floor and began to meditate, as Ami, Naru, and Usagi all sat on one of the two beds in the room. Rei began to focus and it didn't take her long. "Yes, I'm certain now, there's a great evil hanging around Kijin Shinokawa."

"A possession?" Naru asked.

Usagi was not interested in having a repeat of Jun's possession, with people getting hurt. "Okay, it's go time."

Rei got up, along with Ami, and the two pulled out their transformation pens as Sailor Moon thrust her hand upward.

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

* * *

Downstairs, both Haruna and Ikuko had met up at the reception desk and were on their way to get their pictures taken first. The curiosity behind the sudden gathering of women was not lost on them, which they discussed on their way to the pool.

"Fun as this is, don't photographers looking for subjects normally go through talent agencies for these shoots?" Haruna asked Ikuko as they headed for the doors to the pool.

"Normally, but sometimes photographers don't want to go through the trouble. Besides, he's just a boy, maybe he wants a lot of pretty girls to look at." Ikuko explained.

Haruna snickered. "Pretty huh? I saw a few back there that wouldn't get their pictures posted on milk cartons."

Ikuko laughed. "If they did, it'd curdle!"

Both women broke into laughter, and entered the pool. Kijin was there, having just finished another shoot and was checking the photos on the monitor of his camera. Looking up, he smiled in a most unnerving way.

"Good! Good! You just arrived; you're much better looking than the last girls." He quickly said before pointing to a backdrop. "Stand over there and pose sexily! Hurry! Go!"

Haruna was offended by the pushy young man. "Now listen here, you may be an artist but that's no way to treat your subjects!"

"Ne, Haruna-chan, calm down. He's an artist, he's eccentric," Ikuko pleaded and successfully stopped her from going into full authoritarian mode.

"Yes, and I'm a teacher. I don't put up with that from my students, and I won't put up with it from him," Haruna hissed back as Ikuko led her to the backdrop.

Kijin didn't even hear it. "Yes, be angry. It suits you. Show me ferocity, fury, be the kind of woman that men want to make into their bitch!"

Haruna glared at him, and he saw it all through the viewfinder. "Yes, just like that!"

Ikuko giggled. "He likes you when you're angry."

"Yes, just wait until I hulk out."

"Oh, just go with it. It can't be as bad as with Usagi."

Kijin had begun snapping pictures. "No talking! Pose!"

The two women began to pose, and Kijin continued to snap pictures. With each click of the button and the snap of the shutter, he could feel it again, the rush of excitement he felt ever since he ran into a gentleman who gave him pointers for his scenery shots. What was his name again? Sanjouin?

"Yes… that's it… beautiful! Show me the peak of your beauty!" He declared as he continued to snap pictures.

Initial discomfort aside, both Haruna and Ikuko began to get into it, moving from demure to sexy poses rather quickly. Each one was snapped by Kijin, who loved every shot he took.

"I can feel it… an explosion of energy with every shot, each time it gets higher and higher. I come closer to the climax. Art isn't a blast; it's an impact, an epoch shattering event!"

Haruna stopped and stared at him. "Wait, what?"

"MY ART IS AT A CLIMAX!" He screamed as he took a final picture, and a beam of light fired from the lens.

Haruna and Ikuko had no time to react. The beam struck both in the instant the button was clicked, and both disappeared.

"Yes… yes…!" Kijin began to laugh, as an aura of energy manifested around him. He held the camera above his head. "I am a genius!"

The camera was plucked out of his hands, and Sailor Moon smacked him on the head, dropping him like a sack of bricks. "Stop that."

Sailor Mars then threw an ofuda at Kijin's camera. "Evil spirits begone!"

The ofuda tag hit and Sailor Moon dropped the camera as it let out a loud hiss. "Whoa, perfectly called, Sailor Mars!"

Stepping back, Sailor Moon joined Mars and Mercury as a thick black smoke rose from the camera, and took the form of the weirdest youma yet. Pale blue skin and green hair like Thetis, but… well… her shoulders…

"Wow, what's with those shoulders?" Sailor Moon said as the youma Cameran finished her entry.

"Sailor Moon, you're going to pay for what you did to Tesuni," Cameran declared.

Sailor Mercury, as Cameran boasted, analyzed the youma with her computer. "Her arms are funny-looking because they seem to be modified, be careful for whatever she may have up her sleeve-!"

As Sailor Moon turned her head to chastise Sailor Mercury for the pun, Sailor Mercury suddenly disappeared from sight in a flash of light. Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars had little time to react in any dramatic fashion–they had to avoid another shot from Cameran's palm-mounted laser.

"Sailor Mercury!" Sailor Mars shouted after she landed, only to move again even faster to avoid another shot that reflected off the pool behind her.

"Without your speedy little friend, you don't have a chance!" Cameran mocked as she fired another blast. Rei avoided it before it left the youma's hand.

As Cameran aimed another shot, Sailor Moon kicked her into a wall cracking it from the floor to the ceiling. "Stay moving!"

Cameran growled and pointed her hand at Sailor Moon. "You, impudent girl, say 'cheese'!"

She fired again, but Sailor Moon had evaded, closing the distance and kicking Cameran in the stomach, knocking the youma through the wall and outside

Sailor Mars joined Sailor Moon's side. "Sailor Moon, what happened to Mercury?"

Sailor Moon didn't want to think about it, and wouldn't. "Focus on beating her. But don't kill her."

Sailor Mars nodded, before Sailor Moon leaped into action, rushing straight for Cameran. The youma raised her hand, pointing the camera eye at Sailor Moon. "Keep your eye on the birdie!"

Sailor Moon did not, jumping up and then crashing down on Cameran with a stomp that cracked the sidewalk underneath them and caused a minor tremor that wobbled the windows of the hotel. Spectators witnessing the violent impact quickly turned and fled, while some contacted the authorities.

Jumping off Cameran, Usagi landed at the end of the sidewalk and faced the youma as she got up. Smirking, Cameran shrugged off the hit. "You're holding back, how strange for someone powerful as you."

Cameran's smirk grew. "Is it because I have your friend?"

Sailor Moon got ready to attack, but Cameran waved her finger. "Now… don't get ideas. You wouldn't want to lose your friend forever, would you?"

When Sailor Moon hesitated, Cameran opened her hand. "You flinched."

And then Cameran was on fire.

Mars' Fire Soul cleared mercifully, but only so that Sailor Moon could strike her with a right-hook without being burned. Sailor Moon didn't stop, using the Dempsey Roll and knocking Cameran from side to side with the force of her strikes.

"I'm… not… going… easy… on… you!" Sailor Moon yelled before she grabbed Cameran by the back of her head and slammed her into the ground with enough force to bury the youma up to her hips in the concrete.

She jumped away and landed next to Sailor Mars, who unleashed another incinerating Fire Soul on the youma's exposed lower body. When she stopped, Cameran's legs were kicking in the air.

"Do it again," Sailor Moon, her eyes hidden by her bangs, said to Sailor Mars.

Sailor Mars nodded. "Mars Fire Soul!"

The flames engulfed Cameran again. When the attack ended, Cameran was kicking harder and trying to uproot herself.

"Do it again!" Sailor Moon commanded, her fists trembling.

Sailor Mars looked at Sailor Moon, and then back to Cameran, before she fried the youma again. When the flames cleared, her legs were charred and smoking, and now weakly kicking.

Sailor Moon walked back over to Cameran, and then stomped the ground, crushing the youma underneath. As Cameran thrashed harder, Sailor Moon leaned down. "I'm going to continue to hurt you, until you give back my friend. Only then, will I actually kill you."

She then grabbed Cameran by the legs and yanked her from the ground. Lifting her into the air, she shook her out like a blanket, before swinging her face first into the ground, leaving a Cameran-shaped imprint in the ground, screwed up shoulders and all.

"So give…!" She slammed Cameran down again.

"Her…!" She did it again.

"…BACK!" She did it even harder than the three previous times, creating a very large crater in the ground.

Cameran lay very still, before she began to stir. Sailor Moon promptly stomped on her back over and over–each hit deepening the hole.

Sailor Mars was wide-eyed. Sailor Moon was suddenly a different person, her irreverence was completely gone, replaced with an almost frightening fury. This was what she became when her friends were in danger?

Raising her leg up high, Usagi slammed it down onto Cameran's back a final time, causing the steep sides of the pit to collapse onto the youma, burying her. Sailor Moon stared down at the mound of Earth covering Cameran.

"Give her back." Usagi's tone was frighteningly level. "Or I will just make what's left of your life even more unpleasant."

Cameran's hand suddenly shot out of the dirt, like a zombie clawing from its grave. Moving almost as fast as Mercury would, Sailor Moon jumped out of the hole and narrowly evaded the beam Cameran fired into the sky.

As Sailor Moon landed, Cameran pulled herself back up to her feet, and let out a deep laugh. "You're holding back too much, Sailor Moon. I thought you wanted to hurt me!"

Sailor Moon kicked the ground again, kicking up a cloud of dust between her and Cameran. As the cloud grew, Sailor Moon rushed through it in a zigzag pattern before she swung a kick for Cameran's head. Using one of her weirdly shaped shoulders, however, Cameran blocked the hit and was sent flying to the side, where she tumbled along the ground.

Spotting her, Sailor Mars, quickly raised her hands. "Mars Fire…!"

She hesitated when she saw Cameran's opened palm pointed at her. Just as the shutter at the center of the eye opened to fire its laser, however, Sailor Moon imposed herself between Cameran and Mars, allowing the beam to strike her. In a flash of light, Sailor Moon vanished.

"Sailor Moon!" Mars screamed, as Sailor Moon vanished into thin air.

Cameran was as surprised as Sailor Mars. "What?"

She looked at the spot Sailor Moon had been standing, and then at her hand. "I got her?"

The youma smiled. "Well! That was anticlimactic."

She then looked back towards Sailor Mars, who for all intents in purpose was frozen. Immediately, Cameran's wits returned to her. She had to get her too before… wait.

Cameran tried, but for all of her effort she could not move. There was something else, too. "Is it… getting hotter…?"

She heard bubbling, and then looked down to see that the sidewalk under Sailor Mars' feet had not only melted, but was red hot. She looked up from Mars' feet, to her face, and saw that Sailor Mars' expression was entirely blank… even as the ends of her hair and the hem of her skirt caught fire.

"Youma, give me back my friends," Sailor Mars said, her voice dripping with anger.

Cameran's left arm was then twisted, and snapped loudly like a dry twig right at the middle of the forearm. The youma howled in pain as the ends of the torn open limb burst into purifying flame.

Cameran trembled from the pain and tried to raise her right arm. However, the moment she attempted to move her hand, it was wrenched up and out, the limb twisted beyond its limit and her palm pointed to the sky. Cameran howled in pain.

Ignoring her cries, Sailor Mars raised her hands and began performing hand seals. "Rin! Pyo! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!"

Each syllable Mars shouted, Cameran felt something vital inside her body from the neck down either snap into two, twist asunder, explode, implode, or ignite. It was by far the most horrific pain the youma ever experienced, and with the cry of "Zen", the youma vomited blood that dribbled down her chin and splattered onto the ground.

Sailor Mars lowered her hands, revealing the whites of her eyes were now the color of roaring flames. "Give me back my friends… and I will let you die."

"Nephrite…" Cameran managed to gurgle. "…Get me… out of here… Neprhite… Queen Beryl… anyone… help me…"

"_Do as she says, you have completed your mission. I will see to it that you escape." _Nephrite responded in an assuring voice, to Cameran's relief.

Cameran's weapon began to glow, and back by the pool Haruna, Ikuko, several other girls, and Sailor Mercury reappeared unharmed. Outside, Sailor Moon reappeared as well.

Sailor Moon looked around. "Where was I just now?"

She then saw Rei, and stared. "Whoa."

Rei's hair had turned bright red, with most of it from the shoulders down enveloped in flame. Her skirt, gloves, and the ribbon the chest of her fuku were also on fire.

"Holy shit, Mars."

"Good. Now die," Sailor Mars said as she lifted her right hand palm-up. Cameran was lifted into the air at the command.

"Nephrite… hurry… please… I don't want to die here!" Cameran pleaded.

There was no answer.

"Nephrite?" Nephrite!" Cameran screamed.

Sailor Mars closed her hand into a fist, and Cameran burst into a white flame as bright as lightning. The fire burned for only seconds before it died away, leaving nothing but dust to blow away in the wind.

Satisfied, Sailor Mars lowered her hand. The flames across her body died away, and her red hair reverted to black. She looked to Sailor Moon, and smiled. "Sailor Moon, you're okay…"

Her eyes rolled back into her head, and Sailor Mars fainted backward right into Sailor Mercury's arms. Sailor Moon quickly ran to them. "Sailor Mars!"

Sailor Mercury quickly checked her over, and then looked at Sailor Moon. "She's fine, don't worry. But I think we should get out of here to give her time to recover before…"

Mercury trailed off, and Sailor Moon looked back to see why. It was Natsuna Sakurada, alone, no SATs, no uniformed cops, no guns pointed everywhere. Looking around at the rather minimum damage this time around, the Superintendent-General sighed in relief and addressed the two conscious Senshi.

"Get out of here. We can talk later… but there's something I have to tell you. Meet me tonight, at Haneda Airport, I'll be alone."

Wondering what this was about, but more concerned about Mars, Sailor Moon nodded and took Mars from Mercury. "Let's go then."

Sailor Mercury nodded and both Senshi leaped away. Natsuna watched them go, and then looked around the damage. "This went much better than last time."

* * *

A little later, Sailor Mars woke up, back in the hotel room, with a concerned Usagi sitting next to her, fidgeting about. Ami had transformed back to her civilian identity as well, and had been soaking another rag to place over her forehead. "Oh… I passed out."

She sat up, and transformed back as well with little fanfare. Just as quickly, Usagi all but pounced on Rei, bringing her back down onto the bed. "U-Usagi, hey!"

Usagi was hugging her and nuzzling her face. Rei blushed brightly. "I'm sorry for worrying you, could you please let go? You're crushing me."

Usagi stopped nuzzling. "Ne, I'm not that heavy."

Both girls sat up, and Usagi was her smiling self again. "Rei that was so cool! What was that? Your hair changed color, and you were on fire, and you were like Phoenix and it was awesome!"

Rei shrugged her shoulders. "When that youma zapped you, I got really mad, just like you did when it zapped Ami."

"No, you got even madder, when I got pissed off, my hair didn't change color and I didn't burst into flames," Usagi said.

"It was like you went Super Saiyajin, my computer couldn't keep up with your increase in power," Ami added.

Rei's eyes sparkled at that as she could only imagine how she looked. She hadn't bothered to look at her reflection, after all. "S-Super Reiyajin…? Next time, someone take a picture."

Usagi nodded. "Sure, but doing all that knocked you out for like three hours. I wouldn't be doing it all the time."

Rei recoiled. "It's been three hours?!"

"Yes, but don't worry, I booked the room for as long as we needed," Ami assured.

"God bless the bourgeoisie," Usagi said as she pulled Ami into the group hug.

Ami happily returned the hug, but Rei hugged the two of them the tightest, as she spoke. "You guys, I'm glad I met you all. Even though we really just met not too long ago, and we go to different schools so we can't be together all the time… you're my best friends. And if you're ever in trouble again, I'm going to do everything I can for you, like you have for me."

"Well duh." Usagi kissed Rei on the cheek, making her squeal.

She then stood up. "We're more than just friends! We're comrades in victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, sickness and in health, and even beyond death!"

Usagi raised a fist to the ceiling. "What we have is an inseparable bond, and it will only grow stronger."

Makoto, who was in the doorway of the hotel room with Naru, spoke up, "Riveting speech, but were you going to repeat it to us later, or just have the minutes passed along?"

Naru held up a pizza she picked up from one of the hotel's restaurants. "Since the photo shoot was a bust, let's just have a party and celebrate our victory."

Usagi pumped her fist. "Hell yeah!"

Ami quickly got up and went for the remote. "I'll order some movies for us to watch."

Rei yawned. "Just no scary ones, I'm still tired."

The girls climbed onto the bed with Rei, Naru setting down the pizza. Usagi then spoke. "Well, try to stay awake a little longer. We have to discuss our plans, for whatever the police want with us now…"

The other girls all nodded, and dug into the pizza.

* * *

In her lair, Beryl had to wear sunglasses to shield her eyes from the bright orb of energy Cameran's death had yielded. Holding it up, she presented it to her generals and her youma, before banishing it away.

"Nephrite, you got me twice the energy you did last time. You are now fit to worship my feet." Beryl raised a pantyhose-clad foot for emphasis.

Zoisite rolled his eyes, while Kunzite shot a brief glare at Nephrite, who was not really keen to the reward. "Ah… thank you… I guess."

Beryl lowered her foot. "We're now ahead of schedule, but don't get complacent. We still have much work to do."

"Yes, Queen Beryl."

Beryl then turned her attention to Zoisite. "Hey, bitch boy. I have a mission for you, and if you can pull it off without fucking it up, I'll let you have an even better one after."

She got up, and floated down from her chair and past her generals. "You and Kunzite meet me in my quarters. Nephrite, go fuck off and do whatever, you earned the night off."

As the two followed Beryl out, Nephrite wondered exactly what Beryl wanted from them, but he had a feeling it wasn't just to scratch an itch.

No matter, it was already time to seed another victim with a youma, and if he recalled correctly, the stars had a perfect victim set up.

Teleporting from Beryl's lair, he entered the interior of an old, dusty mansion hidden somewhere within Tokyo.

"Goro," He called out, and a beautiful red-skinned, black-haired, and bikini-clad female oni appeared.

The youma folded her arms, and glared at Nephrite. "Let me guess, you want another corpse to throw at the Senshi."

Nephrite snorted. "It's not like that at all."

Goro narrowed her electric blue eyes at her master. "Oh? Then why didn't you save Cameran like you did the traitor?"

Turning away from Goro, Nephrite let out a snort. "She was beyond help. Now prepare yourself, you'll like this target. She's a drummer like you."

Goro wasn't swayed. "Don't try to butter me up, I want a guarantee I'm not just going out to die."

Nephrite walked away from Goro, entering the shadows of the derelict home. He called back to her. "You're not going out just to die. In fact, I'm choosing you because I heard you're strong."

He stopped and looked back at her. "Prove to me you're strong, Goro."

The youma snorted, and spoke as arcs of electricity danced around her body. "Oh, don't worry about that."

* * *

In the office of the Masquerade, Mamoru, Motoki, and Jadeite were sitting in an expensively furnished lounge–a "Man Cave" if you will–watching the news of the latest battle involving the Senshi and the resulting damage.

"Something's bugging me," Mamoru said.

Jadeite and Motoki, the latter in the process of cleaning a pair of pistols, looked over to Mamoru. The leader of the Masquerade elaborated. "Nephrite's a cunning person, isn't he, and he knows you're still alive."

Mamoru had looked to Jadeite as he spoke. "Why hasn't he changed his strategy, when it's obvious that letting you live would make his mission a liability?"

Jadeite lowered the drink he'd been enjoying, and hummed. "That's a good question."

One that Mamoru hoped they found an answer for soon, but that went without saying. His phone, which sat on the desk next to Motoki's pistol components, began to buzz. Looking at it, he found that it was Rei sending a text message.

Motoki saw the name on the screen before Mamoru picked it up. "Miko-chan?"

"It's this girl who works at a shrine. I met her on the cruise." He read the message, Rei wanted to meet sooner than they planned.

Motoki nodded. "Oh…"

Jadeite rolled his eyes. "You know, Batman remained single for a reason."

"Much as I wish I was, I'm not Batman," Mamoru said as he replied to her. Sure he'd meet her. "Besides, this relationship is as much business as pleasure."

Both wondered what Mamoru meant by that, while Mamoru got a most enthusiastic reply from Rei. Smiling, he turned and looked back at the TV, where a roundtable group was debating over the hard-line stance the police was taking against the Senshi.

* * *

Elsewhere still, Kijin Shinokawa sat in his bedroom at his desk, looking at his damaged camera. He had taken it apart and put it back together twice, but it seemed to be lost and with it the pictures he'd taken today. Setting the camera down, he looked to the screen of the PC on his desk and then took up the mouse.

Opening a folder, he scrolled through numerous files until he came to his most recent pictures, the series of Rei doing her act as Reimu.

"She's perfect, really," he said before he picked up the phone and dialed a number. When a voice answered on the other end, Kijin spoke.

"Hello? Hey, I found another model for you. She's a miko at the Sendai Hill Shrine. She's pretty naïve; I think you can use that against her." Kijin listened to the man on the other end of the line, and began dropping Rei's pictures into a folder to email to him. "I'll send you some shots of her, and try to keep in touch with her."

The man on the other end of the line said something else, and then Kijin smiled. "Don't worry about that, naïve as she is, she already seems to be kind of a slut."

* * *

Beryl: Sometimes, things are just too good to be true. The allure of fame, fortune, and love can sometimes blind you to the fact that those who offer it only want to use you.

Nephrite: Beware of the thieves and exploiters who seek to drain you dry be it body or bank, and do so by remaining vigilant of who your true friends and loved ones are.

Beryl: Queen Beryl says! MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!


	15. The Wonderful World of Kim Pine

Disclaimer: I demand a picture of Rei with a small crow on her head.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**The Wonderful World of Kim Pine

_There's no kill like Crossoverkill._

**[14.]**

_Earth…_

_The blue, green, and white gem in the sky may as well have been gold to the Princess who watched it from the flowering gardens of the Moon. Reaching up to the colorful orb, the Princess opened her hand set her palm just beneath it. It amazed her how such an immense place could seem so small._

_She closed her hand, eclipsing the Earth with her fist, and laughed at the absurd allegory of her gesture. Lowering her arm, the Princess jumped when a pair of strong hands rested on her shoulders, but she relaxed just as quickly when she recognized that strength. She turned and looked up at the face of her Prince, the man who represented all that she loved about the Earth._

"_Endymion!" she gasped, surprised that he would journey all this way to see her._

_The Prince's hands left her shoulders, and gently caressed her face and tilted her chin upward. "Serenity… "_

_The Princess embraced the Prince, her heart pounding in her chest as he returned it. Their lips met in a gentle kiss, but gentleness was quickly discarded in lieu of passion. In a moment, the Princess was laying amongst the flowers, her Prince over her._

_Breaking the kiss, she stared at him her face flushed and panting with desire, as he smiled dangerously. Whether she asked or not, he was going to continue, but he wanted to hear her, and she knew this._

"_Endymion… p-please… " She only began to say._

_And then a gunshot rang out._

"AHH!"

There was a thud, and then a moan of pain that woke Luna. Looking to the source of the racket, she found that Usagi had fallen out of her bed and walked over to the edge. "Well this is new; normally sleeping is the only staying still you can do."

Groggy, Usagi sat up and stared at the Mau. "I had a weird dream."

Luna let out a huff. "Moaning like that? I'm not sure how it's different from your usual dreams."

Usagi's brow furrowed as she tried to remember it, but couldn't. "Huh, I usually remember my dreams. It didn't feel like one of my usual dreams, either."

She climbed back into the bed and under the blankets. Luna settled back down to go back to sleep.

"I'm going to be up all night thinking about it. I won't be sleeping tonight."

"Well you should, tomorrow's your little pre-show thing, isn't it?" Luna asked.

Usagi's loud snore was her answer. Rolling her eyes, Luna curled up and shut her eyes to sleep.

* * *

"It feels weird coming back here after the battle we just had. There are still police investigating the scene," Naru pointed out to Usagi the next day as the whole team sans Ami arrived at the Prince Park Tower Hotel for another adventure.

Usagi agreed. "I know right? I almost never go back to the scene of the crime."

"There are some you can't go back to even if you wanted," Rei said as she gestured to a big empty space in the skyline that was once Tokyo Tower.

Makoto was still feeling kind of bummed that she missed the fight altogether. "Court-ordered therapy sucks."

"You'll shine next time," Usagi said as they reached the doors and found a crowd bigger than the one for Kijin's photo shoot.

Seeing the line, Rei frowned. "That's a lot more people than last time."

"Well, it's Canadian Lady Gaga and her merry LGBT band compared to some kid who's good with a camera, why wouldn't there be a bigger crowd here?" Usagi asked before she looked to Makoto. "Mako-chan, you know what to do!"

Makoto cracked her knuckles and limbered up. "Everyone get behind me."

In the Convention Hall of the Prince Park Hotel, Ami was waiting amidst the other fans and press covering the pre-show conference with Heroes of Gunstar. Ami, who was a fan of the band, had managed to get Lifetime VIP Passes for every Heroes of Gunstar event, and distributed them to her friends.

"I hope they got in okay," she said as she looked around the large crowd.

There was a commotion behind Ami, and she looked back to see the crowds behind her being shoved left and right by Makoto, who stood taller than most of the crowd. Behind her, Usagi, Naru, and Rei brought up the rear, pretending to conga line behind Makoto.

"Move aside, VIP pass holders coming through," Makoto said as she shoved her pass in the face of another security person. Usagi, Naru, and Rei held their own up on as they passed in line.

Ami rolled her eyes and smiled to the others as they reached her. "Makoto, have you considered being a bouncer?"

"I'm too young for that," Makoto replied.

Usagi looked around at the crowd. "I'm still amazed that you got us down to the floor like this."

Ami nodded. "My mother got these from her current client."

"How is that all working out anyway?" Usagi asked.

Ami sighed. "Let me put it like this: these passes are an apology."

Usagi cringed. "Oh."

Naru looked around. "I wonder if my Mom and sister are down here yet."

"They're probably with the band already, and going to come out with them," Ami said.

Naru nodded. "Yes."

Ami looked back towards where Heroes of Gunstar were supposed to be showing up. "Oh, I wish I could be her."

"Hey Ami, you jelly?"

"Yes I jelly."

Naruru Osaka, Naru's (unoriginally named) younger sister was a bigger fan of Heroes of Gunstar than Ami, and had won the contest hosted by The Depths of Strange radio show to not only see the show, but spend the next few days as the band set up and did public appearances before the big show. Ostensibly, the girls were here to hang out with Naru to watch this meet and greet. However, the ever savvy Usagi brought up an important point regarding their last run of Nephrite's victims.

"_The first time it was Jun, who was making a huge racket on the Tennis Courts with her skills. Kijin was chosen next because he's a big shot camera guy. If I were Nephrite, I would totally be casing out a band about to perform in front of thousands of people live, and millions more worldwide. We'd better keep an eye on them."_

The lights went out, and the audience began to cheer as it meant only one thing. A ray of red light illuminated the Convention Hall's stage, before Natalie Adams, dressed in an eccentrically designed but sexy red dress and a black cape, slowly walked from the center of the light with a keyboard held over her shoulder.

As the crowd broke into louder cheers and cameras flashed like strobe lights, the ray of light became a swirling orb, before exploding outward in all its surreal glory, revealing the other members of the Canadian Super Band Heroes of Gunstar posed with their instruments raised.

Ami looked like she was about to explode. "Natalie Adams, Kim Pine, Stephen Stills, Stephanie Nordegraf, Joseph [REDACTED]. They're all really here… I'm looking at them in person."

Naru looked from Ami to Usagi. "She's going to have an orgasm."

"WE ARE HEROES OF GUNSTAR!" Kim yelled at the top of her lungs to the crowd! "WE ARE HERE TO GRACE YOU WITH OUR PRESENCE AND MAKE YOUR PATHETIC LIVES APPEAR VALIDATED!"

With that, Natalie jumped and seemed to fly over the six man deep row of photographers and news reporters hoping to get a shot of her. Landing in a crouch behind the press pit, she stood up, her cape slipping from her shoulders to the floor, and hugged the first person she saw, who just happened to be Ami.

"Thanks for coming out," Natalie whispered into Ami's ear before she pulled away and patted her on the shoulder.

Ami just nodded, her entire face red, and tilted over a little in a bow. "T-thank you… oh thank you… I love you…"

Natalie smiled to Ami, and patted her on the shoulder again before going deeper into the crowd. Naru covered her mouth and laughed as Ami fainted right on the spot into Makoto's arms. Makoto was wholly impressed by Natalie's leap.

"They say Canadians are something else… but that was quite a jump," she said to Usagi.

"Yes!" Usagi shouted enthusiastically as she looked back after the redheaded front-woman. "Natalie Adams is renowned for her leg strength. She once kicked some bitch across a nightclub, bounced her off the ceiling and everything. It was some crazy Nerima shit."

Rei gasped in amazement, before she felt deep, dark presence that alarmed every one of her senses. "G-guys, I'm getting some bad vibes…"

Looking around frantically, Rei acquired Kim, the freckled redhead making her way through the crowd. Unlike the band's flamboyantly dressed front-woman, the miniskirt and sweater-wearing Kim didn't seem much interested in interacting with anyone, given how she shoved aside a man who got too close, and clamped her hand over and breaking the lens of a camera that was pointed at her face.

"Don't make any sudden movements, lest you wish to have your face eaten," Ami warned as she approached them with her hands in the pockets of her sweater and her drumsticks hanging haphazardly out the right-hand sweater pocket.

Kim walked right through the middle of the group, and brushed past Rei. On contact, both looked at each other from the corners of their eyes, and Rei felt a shiver run up her spine.

"Sorry," Kim said as she kept going to keep up with Natalie.

The rest of the band followed, and the crowd surged to gather round them, leaving the Senshi behind. Everyone looked to Rei, who acted as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Rei, what is it?" Usagi asked.

"That woman… she is scary."

"Huh, is she possessed?" Makoto asked.

Ami then quipped in, "Actually, guys that's just how she is, surly and misanthropic. It's part of her appeal."

Rei confirmed it. "Yeah, I didn't sense an evil presence other than her herself."

Makoto, clearly the odd one out on this band, was perplexed. "So wait, she's a horrible person, and people like her for it?"

"That and she's an amazing drummer," Ami said.

"Well so is Neil Peart and he's the nicest guy you'll ever meet," Makoto said.

Usagi stared at Makoto. "Rush? Really?"

"What's wrong with Rush?"

Rei stared between the two girls. "You're Japanese teenaged girls, why are you discussing this?"

Ami then noticed Naru was missing. "Naru-chan?"

Naru emerged from the crowd. "Guys get over here, the band's about to perform a quick set!"

* * *

"WE ARE HEROES OF GUNSTAR! ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"

Moments later, the lights were down and Heroes of Gunstar were on a small stage, in the Convention Hall, performing one of their songs from their album. The whole band was in force, and blowing away the crowd with their music. Near the front of the crowd, a camera crew was filming a documentary chronicling the band's Japan tour, and had stopped at Makoto, who was staring at the stage in awe.

"This band… it's amazing!" Makoto gasped when the camera man asked for her opinion over the music. "The musicians are all so talented, and Natalie's voice is so beautiful."

Ami muscled in on the shot, enthusiastic. "I love Natalie Adams!"

The camera guy thanked both and turned to a couple a few persons down, one Ranma Saotome and one Akane Tendo. The camera guy called to them, "Hey, I'm filming a documentary for the band; can you give us a reaction?"

Ranma looked to the camera, and then looked away, as if embarrassed to be seen on camera. "They're kinda cool."

"They're kinda awesome you mean, Ranma," Akane said as she nudged Ranma.

The cameraman pointed the camera at an older couple who was with Ranma and Akane. Scott Pilgrim, the man Natalie was singing about, pretended not to notice the camera. "I totally had sex with her back in college. It was awesome."

His girlfriend, Ramona Flowers, was not about to let him get away with that boast. "And she dumped you so hard you mentally blocked it out for years, dude."

A fifth interviewee, Shampoo, shrugged her shoulders. "She sound like Lady Gaga to Shampoo."

The cameraman went to Naruru Osaka, who had stars in her eyes as Natalie sang right in front of her. Her mother was standing right behind her. "Hey, prize winner, your thoughts?"

"This is the greatest day of my life!" Naruru squealed, despite it being all but drowned out by the music.

Going to another part of the crowd, the cameraman came upon a man drinking from a bottle of soda. "Any thoughts on today's event?"

Lowering the bottle, Masato Sanjouin turned to find a waste bin, and looked back at the camera. "No comment."

He walked away for the doors, and threw the bottle into a recycling bin on his way out.

* * *

"That… that was just amazing, I can't tell you enough just… wow!" Makoto certainly couldn't–she'd been like this since the three song set ended twenty minutes ago. She was acting like she'd never been to a live show before. The girls were all hanging off to the side of the Convention Hall away from the core of the crowd, as the band was taking interviews straight from the stage. Naruru and her mother were on the stage with Natalie. Naru was with them and trying not to freak out anymore than her sister that she was on stage with a superstar.

"And this is just a meet and greet with the band, her body's not ready for the actual concert," Usagi sad.

"Makoto, do you need a minute to step outside and breathe or something? You're wound up worse than Ami and it's scaring me because you're so tall and stuff," Rei pointed out.

Ami was keeping their eyes on the band, using her supercomputer to analyze their vital signs. There were a few beeps, and Ami looked to Usagi. "The scans show nothing particularly wrong with any of them, except that Kim has to go to the bathroom."

Rei looked at Ami. "You can tell with that thing?"

"This computer is ridiculous–Tricorder levels of ridiculous," Ami replied. At that moment, Kim got up from her drum kit and quietly excused herself.

Usagi headed after her. "I'm going to follow her to keep her out of trouble. Continue to keep an eye out for anything unusual, okay?"

"Roger," Ami said.

As Usagi left for the doors after Kim, Natalie was being asked another question.

"Is there any artist here you'd like to collaborate with?" A young man asked.

Natalie hummed and then grinned. "I'd love to do a song with G-Money USA. I hear he puts on an amazing show."

Usagi looked back as the crowd cheered and applauded Natalie's choice of collaborator.

"So you're a fan of Sailor Moon?" Naruru asked.

"I'm going to declare that I'm her biggest." A declaration that got Natalie many more cheers. "I want to thank her personally for her and her friends saving our lives back during that whole thing at Haneda Airport, and if she catches this in the news or something, I have something special for her at the concert and I want her to be there."

As cheers and applause filled the convention hall again, Usagi slipped through the door and closed it behind her. When she turned away from the door to face the bathrooms down the carpeted hallway, she jumped and hid behind a large potted palm tree adjacent to the door when she saw that Kim hadn't gone into the bathroom. She was standing in front of the door to the ladies' room, with a young Canadian man with wild brown hair, and an exotic looking foreign girl.

Usagi's eyes widened when she recognized him. "Hey, that's…!"

**Scott Pilgrim  
25 years old  
Not the hero of this story**

"Well, well, well… the legendary Scott Pilgrim finally reveals himself to his long lost friends." Kim sounded extremely agitated as she stared down Scott. Her gaze moved over to his lady-friend, and then back to him. "Really though, what is it exactly with you and underage Chinese girls?"

Scott looked over to his violet-haired companion, who just shrugged her shoulders.

**Shampoo  
17 Years Old  
Chinese-built engine of destruction**

"Oh, uh… we're staying with Shampoo while we uh… lay low for a bit."

"Shampoo? What is it with you and underage Chinese girls with weird names?"

"I don't know really, I guess it's a family thing…" Scott trailed off before smiling. "So, how have you been these past… uh…?"

Kim gave him a blank look. "You're kidding, right?"

Scott blinked. "Huh?"

"You haven't called, texted, or given the slightest hint you or Ramona were alive in… I don't know, almost a freaking _year?"_

At that, Scott reached up and scratched the back of his scruffy head. "Oh… that… wow has it really been a year?"

"Yes, a year. It's the year 2010 going on 11. You and Ramona said you were going down to New York City for the weekend and the next time anyone even hears from you is a drunken phone call to Knives from Las Vegas of all places three months later."

However, he rose to defend himself. "Whoa, hey, it's not like you all have been suffering while I've been gone, unless forming an internationally acclaimed rock band is just how you cope."

Kim narrowed her eyes slightly. "Natalie needed a drummer, and I just happened to be available since the guitarist in my band suddenly dropped everything and _disappeared without warning."_

Usagi was glad she followed her out, even if nothing else happened, this was some juicy drama.

Shampoo felt it merited repeating, "Wow, you're a dick."

"Dude," Scott snapped at Shampoo, before addressing Kim. "Look, you're doing better than you ever would have with me, aren't you? Why are you being so sore about it? Everyone else was happy as Hell to see me–well, except Joseph, because he's a prick–but still!"

Kim shook her head in frustration. "I'm being sore about it because you just left me alone again, asshole!"

Usagi let out a soft "Ooh!" at this revelation. This was better than her soaps!

Scott looked confused at Kim's outburst. He was long used to her anger being much like how she displayed it in public: a brooding, sarcastic contempt for all things that she always had a tight lid on. "Uh… Kim, are you alright?"

He reached out and cupped her cheeks, surprising her, before he began looking about her head. "Your head hasn't been giving off strange lights lately, has it?"

Kim violently shoved him back. "Don't touch me! I just told you! Everyone else was doing their own thing then, and you just vanished into thin air. You and Ramona were pretty much my only people in my circle and then you were gone, like that!"

Scott tried to play it off. "Come on, it wasn't that bad…"

Kim's glare suggested otherwise. "I'm done with this, you ass. Why don't you and your concubine go fuck off somewhere?"

Shampoo's expression was surprisingly placid, but Usagi could sense the spike of murderous intent from where she was down the hall. "What did you just call Shampoo?"

Knowing what he knew, Scott was certain that Kim's answer would very well determine whether she was going to live or die in the next five seconds. He quickly tried to defuse the bomb about to go off in his face. "Shampoo she's just angry she didn't mean-"

Kim cut him off. "I said fuck you, jailbait."

"Dead," Shampoo said as she swung at the woman's face.

Shampoo's hand stopped before her swing could connect and tear her face off. The displaced air from the blow actually knocked Kim back against the wall, the impact causing her drumsticks to slip from her pocket and clattered onto the floor. Scott had grabbed her hand, his own movement completely unseen.

Usagi gaped in amazement. "That was crazy fast."

Scott admonished Shampoo in a whisper. "Are you nuts? Do you have any idea what would've happened if you had hit her?"

"I don't take shit from any bitch; I don't care how mad she is," Shampoo replied.

Scott let out an incredulous groan. "But you wanted her autograph!"

"Sorry, I'm fresh out fucks to give," Shampoo retorted.

Taking her by the shoulders, Scott led her away. "I'm sorry, Kim… I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Kim watched the two go, stunned at first, but then her anger resurfaced and her cheeks reddened. "Whatever, Pilgrim."

As she turned to the Ladies Room, a voice called from behind her. "Miss, you dropped these."

Looking back, she saw Masato standing there holding her drumsticks. Staring down at them for a moment, she suddenly snatched them from his open hand and retreated into the ladies room, slamming the door shut behind her.

With a muttered "you're welcome" Masato turned and headed back, giving a passing glance to the still-cowering Usagi as he reentered the convention hall. Standing up, Usagi watched him go until the doors closed behind him.

_That guy, he's the one who scouted out Jun…_ She turned and walked towards the ladies' room. Giving another look back towards the convention hall doors, she opened the bathroom door and walked inside.

When Usagi opened the bathroom door, the first thing that greeted her was one of the bathroom stall doors lying on the floor, having been kicked off its hinges. Cautiously, she stepped further into the bathroom, and turned towards the hand-washing sinks to her right. The mirrors over them had been shattered by one of the automatic hand dryers, which had been ripped off the wall mount and now sat in a sink.

Taking a few more steps forward, she stopped and looked to her left. Kim was in the stall, sitting on the floor in front of the toilet with her knees drawn to her chest, and glaring at her. Usagi raised her hand. "Ah, hi."

"Go away."

Usagi didn't, she walked over to the stall and leaned against the doorway and took a look back around the room. "I have to admit, this is the fastest I've ever seen anyone wreck a hotel bathroom and I've seen some real talents in my day." She looked back at Kim. "Do you at least feel a little better?"

"No."

Usagi then crouched down to Kim's level. "Do you want to talk about it, then?"

Kim bristled at the notion. "No! I said go away!"

Usagi shook her head. "'I cannot turn my back on someone in pain', Kamen Raider Z-3, episode 2. You, my friend, are someone who was pretty badly hurt."

The bitter redhead glared at the chipper blonde for a few moments more, before she accepted that the girl was only trying to be nice. Her expression softened and she crossed her arms over her knees to draw them closer.

"Your friend back there, he's an idiot, huh?" Usagi asked.

"The biggest," Kim replied without looking up.

"He's pretty impulsive, prone to really fucking it up too, right?"

Kim nodded.

"I know exactly how that is, my friends call me an impulsive idiot, too."

Kim peeked up at Usagi. "At least you're aware of it."

Usagi nodded. "Yeah, but even then that self-awareness comes and goes. That's where friends come in, to be there when it goes."

"It didn't seem to help out there."

Usagi didn't even try to sugarcoat it. "Well, you were pretty belligerent out there. Instead of looking for a fight, you should've just told Scott flat out that he hurt you."

Kim rolled her eyes and got up. "God, I don't need some twelve year old telling me… wait." She stared as Usagi stood upright as well. "How do you know his name?"

"I ran into him a while back; he was fighting some robot guy trying to kill him," Usagi explained.

Kim let out a huff. "That's really nothing new for him."

"I got that vibe." Usagi chuckled. "But you know what? I also got a vibe that he's a good person who cares about his friends and worries about them when they don't seem well. I mean, he didn't even hesitate to protect you from that crazy Chinese girl, right?"

At that, Kim looked down at that, as remorse began to eat at her a bit. "I guess… I had missed him so much. He and Ramona were the only people I could talk to after he cleaned up his act and got his crap together. Then they vanished and they didn't even say a word… he didn't even tell me."

She clenched her fists, and then unclenched them with a sigh. "But… I should've been happy just to see my friends again."

"Yeah, that's about right." Usagi stepped up to Kim, and then gave her a hug. "But hey, it's not too late to make up, is it?"

As Usagi pulled back, Kim sighed and relented from her anger entirely. "I guess not, no… " She shifted a bit, with a slight awkwardness to her movements. "Thanks."

"I'm an ally of justice, think nothing of it," Usagi said cheerfully.

Kim headed over to the door. "I'd better get back out there, the band's waiting." She took five steps, performed an about face, and went into the nearest intact stall. "… After I go to the bathroom!"

* * *

As the two went back in, Natalie was taking yet another question; this one however was for Naruru.

"Do… do I want to be an idol?" Naruru blushed at that. "Well sure! I sing karaoke all the time, and I'm in my school's light music club. I'm nowhere near as good a singer as my Mom, though."

The crowd's attention shifted to Mayumi, who blushed. "Ah? Oh my, I'm n-not that good…"

"Nonsense, you sing all the time and it's beautiful." Naruru looked from her mother to Natalie. "She really is, she's the other reason why I love music."

Natalie hummed and looked to Mayumi. "Can you sing something for us, then?"

Put on the spot, Mayumi's blush brightened. "Ah? Me sing…? In front of everyone?"

Natalie smiled and held up her keyboard. "Sure, you'll even have band accompaniment." She spied Kim making her way back. "Kim, get up here!"

The warm crowd cheered and offered their encouragement, especially Naru, Ami, Rei, and Makoto. Naruru quickly jumped on this encouragement. "I'll sing with you, we should do our favorite!"

Bowing under the encouragement of everyone, Mayumi's blush cleared up some as she finally gave in. "Okay, I'll do it!"

She turned to Natalie and Ramona, as Kim got to her drum kit. "Have you ever heard of the song 'Wings to Fly'?"

Natalie nodded. "Oh! The Susan Boyle song? I love her!"

She went over to her keyboard as the crowd cheered once more and cracked her knuckles. "Hey Kim, we're doing Wings to Fly."

Kim nodded and picked up her drumsticks, as Usagi joined the rest of the Senshi and informed them that everything went better than expected.

After adjusting the settings of her keyboard, Natalie began to play her keyboard and nodded to Mayumi, who took a deep breath and began to sing.

_Want to spread my wings and fly  
Away into the sky  
How I dream to be so free  
No more sadness no more pain  
No more anger no more hate  
How I dream to have those wings and fly into the sky_

The crowd became quiet, surprised by Mayumi's singing. A little amateurish, but her voice was beautiful. Even Masato, who had regarded much of the show with disinterest, suddenly turned his attention to the stage.

_If now, I could grant my wish  
I'd wish to have those wings_

Mayumi looked over to Naruru, and smiled as the girl smiled back, before she continued.

_Those wings just like the birds_

_That fly up in the air_

"Wow Naru's Mom can sing so prettily."

Usagi smiled. "Oh yeah, Naru's pretty talented too."

_So high up in the air_

_With feathers bright and fair_

The crowd broke into applause as she finished the chorus, and Mayumi had managed to fight down her blush as Naruru took a microphone handed to her by Stephen Stills.

"That was amazing, care to continue?" Natalie asked.

"Um… okay…!" Mayumi looked to her youngest, who nodded, and both began singing together.

_No wealth nor power can make  
My heart filled with such joy_

When the next chorus began, the crowd joined in, singing aloud and filling the Convention Hall with song.

_Want to spread my wings and fly  
Away into the sky  
How I dream to be so free  
No more sadness no more pain  
No more anger no more hate  
How I dream to have those wings and fly into the sky… the sky…_

The audience, swept up in the music, joined in.

_Want to spread my wings and fly  
_

The crowd was clapping with her, as were the members of Heroes of Gunstar not on instruments, and the members of the press covering the event.

_Away into the sky_

As everyone sang along Masato felt something twinge in his chest, and winced a little.

_How I dream to be so free_

The crowd–some holding up glowing cell phone monitors to mimic candles and others with their arms over the shoulders of the strangers next to them.

_No more sadness no more pain_

_No more anger no more hate_

_How I dream to have those wings…_

_And fly into the sky_

The crowd broke into uproarious applause, as Natalie left the keyboard and gave Mayumi a hug as she thanked the crowd for supporting her. In the audience, Usagi whistled as Rei wiped a tear from her eye, and Makoto and Ami clapped as loud as they could.

Masato Sanjouin, however, had left the building.

* * *

The next day at school, Usagi was drumming her fingers on her desk during lunch, having already finished her food. Seated around her desk, Ami, Naru, and Makoto dined at a much slower rate… well Ami appeared to be eating at the same rate because she had five times Naru and Makoto's food combined.

"I still don't know where that all goes," Rei's projection whispered as it sat atop Ami's phone. She was currently in swim class, given her current attire.

Bothering Makoto more than Ami's ravenous appetite was Usagi's inability to react to the image of a moe-moe girl in a school swimsuit. "Usagi-chan?"

Letting out an annoyed hum, Usagi drummed her fingers faster on the desk and closed her eyes. She stopped with a single pound of her fist, drawing everyone else's attention to her.

"Usagi?" Naru asked.

Ami had a pastrami on rye sandwich stuffed in her mouth. "Mff?"

"It is easily the biggest and best mark in the world. Any member of that band would do, they all give 200 percent on that stage at every show. What kind of energy sucking monster wouldn't go for that kind of raw power?" Usagi whispered.

Makoto quickly glanced around. The other students were, as usual, observing a fifteen foot exclusion zone around Usagi as they were known to do at the first given opportunity. Satisfied no one would be dumb enough to try to listen in; she returned her attention to Usagi. "Maybe it's too obvious?"

"Too obvious was a world-class photographer. Too obvious was a tennis amateur who bested a world-class champion. You can set a watch to this guy, I freaking swear it…"

Rei frowned. "I didn't sense any evil, well aside from Kim-san, but she's just really negative."

So was that Joseph guy, but when she tried to get a read on him, he just stared at her disapprovingly and it was super awkward.

"Even if he didn't go for it because it was too obvious, why wouldn't he? That's like a half-dozen prime targets for the Dark Kingdom and he's going to let them slide because of why?"

Makoto hummed. "Please, consider the following-"

Ami finished her sandwich and drew a line in her sketchbook. "And cross that reference off the list."

"Maybe Nephrite set the first two victims up like he did, so we would assume that the band is the next target. While we grow fixated on dealing with whatever youma pops out of them, he's free to take any target of his choosing."

Usagi wagged a finger. "A reasonable consideration, but if I may offer a rebuttal: If this were the case, why hasn't he just gone off to some other part of the world where we can't stop him?"

Makoto blinked. "Point noted. But bear in mind we live in Tokyo, where his attacks would go unnoticed in the larger weirdness that wraps this city up daily…"

"Yeah, except I can sniff out weirdness like you can sniff out bullshit, Mako-chan. Jadeite learned that the hard way so many times I'm still kind of curious as to why he didn't just pick up his ball and go home."

"Pride, revenge, and an odd dedication to duty?" Ami suggested and went unanswered.

"Furthermore aside from gathering energy, destroying us is his objective too and the band would give him the best shot at that. Nephrite is going to target the band exactly because of that, and if he doesn't I'll turn in my tiara and surrender myself to Queen Beryl with arms wide open," she declared.

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "You're that certain about this?"

"Come on Mako-chan, it's just like with you, Ami, and Rei–a bunch of important people we've never seen before start showing up and being important. How are they _not_ the targets?"

The sound of something crashing to the ground outside made the girls jump. Getting up and peering out the window, they found saw that a couple of students eating their lunch on the front steps of the school had dropped their lunch boxes, water bottles, and electronic devices and were staring in shock at the front gate.

Following their shocked gazes slowly, they too grew surprised at who they saw strutting onto the school grounds like they owned the place.

"What do you suppose they're doing here?" Makoto asked as the front woman for Heroes of Gunstar, its drummer, and Naruru strolled up to the front steps of the school, expensively dressed in black and wearing bitchin' sunglasses.

* * *

After dealing with Usagi for over a year and a half, Haruna had come to expect a great many things that could possibly interrupt her class. Fights, sloppy makeouts, debates on Germany's recent parliamentary measures, military intervention… but really an internationally acclaimed rock band deciding to peacefully show up and sign autographs for everyone who wanted one was probably at the bottom of the list.

That it was still on the list at all though was a testament to Haruna's in-depth understanding of the chaos that was Usagi Tsukino.

As she watched the school's principal walk by with sparkles in his eyes and a signed copy of one of Heroes of Gunstar's albums in his hands, she let out a relaxed sigh and sat back in her chair. At least this meant that she wouldn't have to resort to drinking today.

"Naruru-chan thought it was unfair that she got to hang out with us, so here we are," Natalie explained to Naru as she finished signing another mesmerized fan's autograph while sitting atop her desk.

Naru looked from Miss Adams to her younger sister, "Naruru, you really didn't have to do this for me!"

"You're the one who told me to not give up trying to call in, and if I had I would've never won," the younger Osaka replied with a bright smile.

Overcome, Naru grabbed Naruru in a hug. "You are such a sweetheart!"

"She really is, I want her to be my little sister," Natalie joked.

Naru hugged Naruru to herself. "You can't have her, she's mine!"

"Then can I be your big sister, too?"

Across the room Makoto hummed. "She's so nice. I can't believe she once had her ex-boyfriend and her then-current boyfriend fight to the death in a supermarket."

"All rock stars go through that phase, man," Usagi said as she observed the small entourage that had followed Naruru and Natalie into the school. Kim was on the other side of the classroom, demonstrating an advanced drumstick twirling technique for some students.

Ami was discreetly checking out Kim with her supercomputer and feeding the data in real time to Rei, who was currently sound only due to being in her pool's changing room. "You're not reading anything at all?"

"Just like Natalie there's nothing. If anything she seems less evil than she was before…" Rei replied. "I want to go to your school, interesting things always happen there. Me? I'm stuck with girls being in angst with each other all the time. It's pretty and all, but it's super boring."

"Boring? With a name like St. Bacchus, you'd think it'd be livelier," Ami mused.

Ami could hear the pout on Rei's face. "Not as lively as your school…"

"Being interesting goes both ways, things might be fun now but I'm damn sure the other shoe's going to drop any minute now," Usagi said as she watched Kim closely.

Makoto hummed in amusement. "Come on Usagi-chan, stop acting like you don't live for that shit."

"You're right, it gets me wet."

Kim was still smartly twirling her drumsticks, her maneuvers becoming faster and complicated until, to the amazement of her small audience, the sticks had vanished altogether and she rested her hands on the desk. One of the students, Umino, adjusted his glasses.

"W-where'd they go?" He noticed the other students staring at him. "What?"

"Behind your ears," a girl murmured in awe.

Umino reached up and sure enough, the drumsticks were on his ears. He quickly removed and stared at them in amazement. "That was amazing!"

Kim took them back, twirled them, and smirked. "I know."

"Rei's right… this is a hell of an improvement over yesterday," Makoto said of the formerly dark and dreary drummer–now merely an antisocial but cool drummer.

Usagi tilted her nose up smugly before she loudly declared, "Well I did offer her some kind words."

Hearing her, Kim looked her way. "Oh, hey there Ally of Justice."

Usagi waved. "Nice to see you're in a better mood than yesterday."

"Yeah, about that… I hope you're willing to take responsibility. People are disturbed by the fact that I'm capable of emotions other than hate, because of you."

Usagi looked up and to the left as she shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? I just have that kind of effect on people."

The classroom door slammed open violently, revealing that whore Usagi beat up a few weeks ago, the one with the Roppongi Gangster boyfriend that Usagi similarly destroyed the very next day. She looked different, very different. Her formerly black hair was dyed a stark blonde, she wore noticeably heavy makeup, and she looked like she may have gotten a tit job in the month or so it had been since she had last been seen at school.

Everyone in the classroom, students, teacher, and rockstars alike, turned their gazes onto her as she kept hers locked on Usagi and burning with hatred.

"Case in point," Usagi said as she recognized her.

Naru also recognized her. "Oh my God… w-what happened to you?"

"And who did your makeup? Because they need to be dragged out into the street and shot for their crime against mankind," Natalie added.

Haruna sighed and began rummaging through her bottom drawer.

The whore ignored them in lieu of pointing at Usagi. "You bitch! I got thrown out of school because of you!"

Usagi blinked several times as she processed that. "That's an even better question, what are you even doing here?"

"Who is she?" Ami asked.

Makoto shrugged her shoulders. "Someone from before we showed up, I guess."

"I'm here for revenge!" the whore answered Usagi.

The entire classroom went quiet again, before the students all went back to fawning over their rockstar guests. Speaking of them, they were the only ones who seemed somewhat concerned.

"Does this happen a lot?" Kim asked Umino. "I have some serious déjà vu going on here."

"The stories I could tell you," the nerdy boy answered.

Haruna could not find her flask of whiskey, and began looking in the other drawers. Had she misplaced it?

The sounds of engines roaring, tires screeching, and horns beep-beping drew everyone's attention to the windows. Outside, a brightly painted and ridiculously customized van with some anime girls drawn on it crashed through the front gate, followed by over twenty cars of various make, model year, customization, and bass boost.

Out of the van even otaku would be ashamed to be in the presence of, jumped that idiot boyfriend of the whore's. He then held up a picture of Usagi before turning to the guys getting out of their cars.

"YO! FIND THIS BITCH AND KILL HER!" he yelled, prompting cheers from most of the guys who showed up.

"I take back everything I said about wanting to go to your school," Rei said.

"I told you."

Kim looked to Natalie. "Is there seriously a rapacious mob of losers about to smash their way into this school to kill a girl?"

Natalie pulled out a phone and started typing out a text message. "After flying into a transforming robot battle I don't think I can be surprised by anything this country throws at us." She finished sending the text and looked around. "I just contacted my security detail and the police, what do we do until then?"

"You've got nowhere left to run and nowhere to hide! Now my boyfriend's going to kill you!" the whore declared as she jabbed her finger in Usagi's direction.

Haruna reached into the top drawer of her desk and brightened when she found her flask, sparkles and bubbles appearing in her eyes and in the air around her.

"When he and his boys get here, I want to see you cry and beg!"

Popping open the top, Haruna knocked it back to take a sip… only to find nothing inside. Looking down at it, Haruna's sparkles faded away into the dark miasma of despair.

The whore laughed. "In the meantime, I highly recommend pissing yourself followed by a course of praying to your impotent G-"

Haruna whipped the flask at the girl's head, silencing her. "We're not doing that anymore."

As the girl crumpled to the floor unconscious, Haruna turned back to her desk, sighed, and promptly flipped it before standing up, the crash of it going over causing everyone to jump. Everyone.

"Oh shit," Usagi said in amazement as Haruna rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. The onrushing stampede of sneakers and boots could be heard down the hall, amidst the battle cries of men with too much time on their hands.

"Usagi and Makoto, you will accompany me into the hall." Haruna's command was immediately and obediently followed, both girls joining their teacher in the hallway as students and faculty fled for cover.

"Haruna-sensei, you're not really going to fight them, are you?!" Umino asked among other students who gathered at the doorway.

Haruna looked off to the side, her expression wistful. "When those Gunstar Heroes walked into my classroom, I thought that today was just going to be an unusual yet peaceful day. But here I am, about to face down a horde of corpses endangering the lives of my precious students."

She sighed. "Even then, I thought I could just have a nip and behave like a functional human being. Resolve things peacefully, nonviolently…" Her voice then changed, becoming rougher, deeper, and full of bloodlust that sent all the right shivers through Usagi. _"… But I was wrong."_

One of the idiots suddenly came around the corner and pointed at Usagi. "There's that motherfucker right there!"

"_So, if I can't have a proper drink to get me through today…" _

Usagi and Makoto both stared at Haruna, completely mesmerized by their teacher as she raised her hand to her face. Natalie and Kim had managed to worm their way around the other students to the doorway with Naru and Naruru to get a better view.

The Roppongi Gangster's gang came pouring around the corner behind the guy who spotted them, running straight up towards the teacher and her students.

_**CRACK!**_

They stopped dead in their tracks when Haruna swung her hand from her face to the wall, creating a large web of cracks that reached to the floor and ceiling.

She stared at the hooligans, her eyes dull and glazed over. _"… I'm just going to have to drink your blood."_

Natalie pulled out a composition notebook and pencil. "And suddenly I have an idea for a song."

The bloodlust that dripped from Haruna stayed the invaders for a moment; a few intrepid young men overcame their hesitation and charged with yells. The first one to reach Haruna attempted to shove her aside so he could get his hands on Usagi. Within seconds of laying hands on the teacher, he was crashing to the floor with both his arms broken in multiple places.

Another landed on him, screaming about his leg bending in a way it was not supposed to.

Grabbing a third guy, Haruna elbowed him in the face, breaking his nose and dislodging most of his teeth before she discarded him like a used rag. When one attempted to flank her, she grabbed his arm and tripped him, sending him face first into the ground before wrenching his arm in the wrong direction with a loud, wet crack.

"_Girls, you're not seriously going to let me have all the fun, are you?"_ Haruna asked as she got up and dislocated another's shoulder before kicking him back.

Makoto and Usagi looked to one another and nodded.

"Then let some of them by, you crazy bitch!" Usagi shouted as she ran forward and uppercut a guy attempting to attack Haruna from the side.

As Haruna caught another man's desperate attempt at a kick and twisted his leg five hundred forty degrees, Makoto moved up and hammered another man with several punches.

Knocked back, the punk spat out some blood and put up his dukes. He attempted a few strikes of his own, but Makoto weaved around them and put him down with a well-aimed punch to the jaw.

One man took a swing at her with a crowbar. When Makoto ducked under it, Haruna plucked it from his hands before Makoto lifted him off his feet with a punch to the gut.

"She's got a weapon," Umino said before Haruna used it to grisly effect on another hooligan. "Oh my God."

"MY FUCKING LEG!"

"Gordon Freeman would be proud," Kim said.

Natalie's pencil was leaving a trail of smoke as she wrote in her notebook. "I swear this song is writing itself."

A particularly large man more at home on the MMA circuit than a school brawl suddenly fell upon Makoto, easily parrying her strikes before scurrying around her to grab her in an arm lock. "Gotcha bitch!"

On seeing this, Usagi jumped onto the adjacent wall and kicked off it, twisting herself to slam her foot down Sailor Moon style atop the fool's shoulder with an oh-so-satisfying crunch.

As Usagi sprang off the injured man, Makoto broke free of the hold and threw him into the growing circle of bad dudes surrounding them.

Haruna lifted the bloodied crowbar to her lips and licked some of the excess from the curve of the improvised weapon. _"I don't give a fuck; I'll kill all of you bastards."_

Usagi suddenly found herself envious of her parents.

"Enthusiastic as you are, there are way too many of these guys," Makoto noted.

"Akane Tendo could eat these guys' breakfasts and then take their lunch money after!" Usagi argued.

"Yeah, but none of us are Akane Tendo, now are we?!" Makoto blocked and countered an attacker, as Haruna severely damaged another's reproductive capabilities with the crowbar.

Usagi kicked a guy so hard in the face he soiled himself, before she had to spring back from several more lunging for her. "Okay, that's a fair point!"

Several swift blows from the crowbar brought them all down, before Haruna used it to keep the crowd back beyond its reach. _"Numbers or not, we don't have to beat them all just keep them busy."_

The revving of a chainsaw caught the ears of all three defenders before Haruna suddenly blocked a swing from the weapon aimed for her head. As sparks flew from the crowbar, she looked at the hockey-mask wearing idiot wielding the weapon. _"Seriously, a chainsaw?! Do you want to go to jail forever?!"_

"Nobody makes a fool outta Chaka's boys! I'm gonna cut that bitch up right after I cut you up, and then I'm gonna cut up every motherfucker in the school!" the lunatic said.

Makoto hesitated and glanced towards the chainsaw wielder. "Did he say Chaka-?"

She was bashed over the head with a folded chair, and stumbled back several steps more annoyed than in pain. "Oh what the hell?!"

With a whine, the chainsaw sheared through the crowbar, and a few more swings finally had Haruna on the defensive. Behind him, the others were cheering at the top of their lungs as Haruna skillfully put herself between the chainsaw and Usagi, using both halves of the crowbar to parry the weapon as sparks flew.

"_So this is what a day in Nerima is like…"_ Haruna blocked the chainsaw again before kicking her attacker back.

Usagi grabbed Haruna and yanked her back when the maniac was handed a second chainsaw by one of his friends, and he began dual wielding them like he was some kind of Jedi Bruce Campbell. _"Now we're going into Roanapur territory."_

Laughing gaily, the chainsaw guy lifted both of the weapons above his head and swung them down with all his might for Haruna's head. "CUT YOUR GUTS!"

Both stopped, chain and all, caught on Natalie Adams's boot. Holding the chainsaws above her head with a very high kick, she finished writing down in her notebook. "Cut your guts… I'm saving that one for my inevitable metal phase."

She spun and kicked through both chainsaws with her other foot, shattering them into pieces. Still spinning, she drilled her heel into the masked man's face, sending him into and through the wall Haruna had weakened with her earlier slap.

The cheers the other invaders diminished into silence with the ease at which one of their strongest and scariest men had been dispatched after looking so promising.

Landing in a crouch, Natalie got up and flicked her hair aside. "Are you guys okay?"

"So okay," Makoto said after getting a glimpse of Natalie's fancy leg work.

Haruna stepped up. "Oh, I didn't know you could fight. Well I did, but I was under the impression you didn't want to cause a scene or ruin your makeup or something."

"Actually, I wanted to tell you that-" Some shouting caught everyone's attention, and they looked back to see bodies being tossed into the walls and ceiling at the back of the horde of invaders. "My security is here."

Kicking a guy and embedding him into a wall was Scott Pilgrim, sporting a navy blue t-shirt with "SECURITY" emblazoned across the front in yellow. "I can't believe I missed getting an autograph from Shigeru Miyamoto for this."

**Scott Pilgrim  
25 years old  
Still not the hero of this story**

Alongside him was a short girl with red hair done up in a pigtail, also sporting a security t-shirt. Looking every bit as annoyed as Scott, Ranma Saotome easily dispatched three of the hooligans before they could reach her with a single kick. "I didn't think people this dumb existed outside of Nerima."

**Ranma Saotome  
16 years old  
Gender: Currently Female**

Charging through the crowd of gangbangers, Ranma was a blur of hands and feet, before she came out of the front of the brawl, sliding to a halt in a combat stance. After a brief second, more then ten of them collapsed to the ground unconscious or in pain. "It's pretty embarrassing."

Scott pummeled another opponent in the face, his own fists moving like blurs before he performed a spin kick that scattered more of the attackers like bowling pins at the end of the lane. One such human projectile went end over end toward Haruna, who caught him by his baggy shirt and threw him over her shoulder and down the hall.

Usagi eyed Ranma with interest, as she picked up a dude and began juggling him with hands that moved almost faster than she could follow. "Who is she; I need to give her the sex."

As Ranma punted the now human pretzel over their heads, Natalie smirked. "She's taking all your kills."

Haruna wouldn't have any of that, and grabbed both Makoto and Usagi. _"Get in there and fight to your heart's content, girls!"_

She shoved both into the melee, Makoto tearing down one of the ridiculously dressed gangstas with a lariat, while a laughing Usagi used the momentum bestowed upon her to break a man's face with a rolling kick.

Recovering from the kick, she ducked under a punch and hooked her arm around her attacker's waist and swung around him twice before throwing him against a wall. As he bounced off it, she fired another kick like a bullet from a rifle into his chin. When he slumped off it again she lowered her leg, before slamming her fist back into the jaw of a brawler trying to grab her from behind.

"Nice!" Scott complimented her smooth backhand as he tossed another unconscious body on the pile behind him.

Bones breaking and screams signaled Haruna's return to the fight. When Usagi looked over, she spotted her teacher grabbing the arms of a kid dual-wielding nunchaku at her, before painfully forcing his elbows to bend in the wrong direction before she kneed him hard enough in the groin to ensure he'd be pissing blood for days.

She looked over at Natalie, who kicked another dude so hard he bounced off the walls and ceiling several times each, and then at Ranma as she smoothly danced around another opponent before her hands and arms vanished and he was pummeled by a hundred punches.

"God I love redheads," she purred.

"Said everyone ever," Makoto playfully added, as she finished leaving another five opponents lying on the ground, quietly pleading for the sweet release of death that would not come for them this day.

As natural selection continued to do its grisly but necessary work on the human gene pool, the smarter and more certain to successfully reproduce members of the mob finally grasped the futility of trying to kill this particular junior high schooler, and were fleeing for their lives and health–much to Haruna's chagrin.

"_You're leaving already? But you just got here! Don't go, you might actually hit one of us if you believe in yourselves!"_ she taunted after them.

"That's e-fucking-nough! If you bitches don't stop and do exactly as I say, I'm going to cut this bitch's throat!"

The fighting stopped on the spot, as everyone still standing and not running for their lives turned their gazes over to the Roppongi gangster himself holding Naruru at knifepoint.

"Sorry guys, I was trying to get a good picture for my scrapbook," Naruru lamented.

"Everyone get down on your knees or I'll really do it, I mean it!" He had hoped for horror, shock, and reluctant acquiescence. All he got was everyone laughing hysterically at him.

"_Are you serious?"_ Haruna asked.

"He completely is," Makoto replied.

"I swear to God, I'll cut her!" Something was wrong. He was supposed to have had these bitches right where he wanted them, and they were _laughing?!_

Scott was laughing so hard he was on the verge of tears.

Usagi snickered. "Oh, and what would you have us do?"

Ranma had her hand over her face, and just shaking her head.

Natalie hummed. "Maybe he wants us to submit to his gang, like in those porn books."

Haruna groaned. _"No imagination whatsoever."_

"I'd say the same for you, 'Spring Gardener'," Usagi quipped.

Haruna made a mental note to leave Usagi speaking German for the rest of the day for that one.

Not even Naruru was afraid after glancing back at her captor. She looked to her older sister. "Naru-nee, get a picture!"

Naru snapped a picture with her supercomputer. "This is definitely going in the scrapbook."

"Is this all a big joke to you people?!" The Roppongi gangster backed up bumped into someone, and slowly looked back. Standing there, with her arms folded, and also looking pretty damn amused … was Sailor Mercury.

He stared at the Sailor Senshi.

The Sailor Senshi stared back.

Beads of sweat began marching down his face and neck, double-time.

Smiling pleasantly, Sailor Mercury waved to him briefly.

The knife fell to the floor with a clatter, as the gangster's face changed all manner of color before deciding on eggshell white.

Overcome with an air of serenity, he let go of Naruru and dusted her off with great care, and bowed in apology to her. Turning back to Sailor Mercury, he bowed deeply to her as well… then dove screaming in terror out the nearest window.

Imagine his disappointment, or perhaps relief, when he landed in the arms of two police officers who had just arrived on the scene.

Seeing him leave, Sailor Mercury looked to the others and winked before she disintegrated into glittering lights that faded away.

"I think Japan is now my favorite country," Natalie declared on the spot.

"And this is now my best day ever, or at least in the top five," Usagi said.

"At least someone is having a good day."

Haruna abruptly exited her murderous state, as all eyes went to the end of the hallway, where an exasperated Natsuna Sakurada was standing with an entire squad of SAT officers kitted out for what they had feared was some kind of terrorist act. Instead, they found her younger sister splattered in blood, and fifty poor schmucks who walked into the wrong meat grinder.

"Oh, hello Miss Sakurada," Natalie said before she looked back and forth between the sisters. "Huh, I really should've noticed that sooner."

Natsuna sighed. "You and I have to have a little talk about you running off without the police escort I assigned to you."

That piqued Usagi's interest, as Natalie amicably complied and headed over to the Superintendent General.

* * *

As police and paramedics rounded up the gangsters and parents came to pick up children, Natsuna and Natalie were sitting on the bleachers by the edge of the PE Track behind the school. For the last few minutes, they were going back and forth about what Natalie had done–run off with Kim and Naruru to Azabu-Juuban Junior High without consulting anyone, especially the police, about their whereabouts. Directly underneath the bleachers, undetected, Usagi was quietly listening in on their conversation.

Natsuna sighed. "Why are you making this difficult?"

"I could really ask the same of you. Since we got here you've been treating each and every one of us like we were US Presidents, and while it's marvelous for my ego it's exhausting."

"It'd be completely unacceptable if something were to happen to you, especially as a consequence of the crisis we're going through right now. The precautions we take are imperative for your safety and the safety of your friends and fans. You doing things like tearing off in the middle of the day make that hard for us."

Natalie slowly nodded. "I get that, but what's the point really? I'm not knocking you or your police, but if the Dark Kingdom is really gunning for us like you think, what can you do to stop them?"

Usagi's eyebrows arched up. _They think they're after the band, too?_

"Our primary objective is protecting you during any such attack. But if we do have to fight them, we're not completely helpless."

"Neither my band nor I are completely helpless either."

Natsuna nodded. "Yes, I know exactly who you hired for your security."

Though Natsuna was a bit perplexed by all that, she had been told the aforementioned "Who" was a young man.

This was all well and intriguing. The police had not only noticed the pattern but they were preparing for it too all on their own. Usagi had to hand it to them; she expected them to be considerably less savvy about all of this, even with Nephrite making it so obvious.

_Then again, this is Natsuna we're talking about…_

Concentrating so much upon the conversation, and confident as she was in her hiding spot, she was completely off her guard right up to the point that someone quickly tapped on her shoulders. Jumping in surprise, she hit her head on the underside of the bleacher seat directly above her.

Hard headed as she was, by some miracle Natsuna and Natalie didn't notice it.

Rubbing her head, Usagi whirled around to quietly berate whoever had snuck up on her, but stopped short when she saw that it was Ranma, investigating her investigation.

Folding her arms, Ranma looked around before she quietly asked, "What are you doing here?"

All but forgetting what she was doing here herself, Usagi's eyes roamed lewdly over the cute and curvy redhead before she scanned the area around them both and smiled.

"Ich werde dich um meine Finger wickeln."

Ranma didn't understand a lick of German. "Wait, what did you just-?"

Usagi rested two fingers on the redhead's lips and leaned close. "… Just nod your head and say 'okay'," she purred.

Making their way over to the PE field from the front of the school were Scott and Kim, the latter twirling her drumsticks idly while the former was nervously rubbing his forearm. The two of them hadn't talked since yesterday, even after Natalie had assigned him and Ranma to her security detail. Now, here he was, smack dab in the middle of the awkward zone and here she was being… friendly?

"I'm pretty surprised, Pilgrim… you didn't screw it up like you normally do."

… Or maybe he wasn't. Surprised, Scott turned his gaze over to Kim. "Well, if it's beating someone up I can always do that right."

"No you really can't, but you get it right when it counts so there's that."

Scott took whatever he could get. "Thanks… I think."

Pulling a smirk, Kim stopped twirling her drumsticks and pocketed them. "Is something wrong, Pilgrim?"

"No!" he lied through his teeth.

Kim stared blankly at him.

"Well… actually… kind of?" Scott looked away nervously. "It's just that you're being nice and normally you're not."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm not, and that's why I wanted to talk to you."

Scott's mind was racing. What was Kim planning? How was she going to get revenge? Did… did she have a weapon on her? Was she going to call Simon Lee from out of nowhere to exact his revenge once and for all? Was… was she going to try to make out with him and sabotage his relationship with Ramona?

"Look, I've been thinking about it, and I really want to-"

"Before you start, Kim, let me warn you that Ramona and I are very serious right now and I have no intention of cheating on her," Scott said, effectively cramming both his feet into his mouth.

That won him another blank stare from Kim, before she shook her head. "When I said it was never going to happen again, I meant it. I wanted to talk about us, and what happened yesterday. I wanted to say…" Kim took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Scott stared at Kim, and then scooted away from her. "Are… are you dying?"

Kim looked up at the sky, asking whatever was out there for strength, and then sighed. "I shouldn't have acted like a bitch yesterday. That was just a big mess, a year's worth of me being angry over nothing, really."

Scott was looking at her as if she had turned into some kind of monster. "W-who are you and what did you do to Kim, you body snatcher?!"

Kim's expression returned to its perpetual scowl, but it was a little softer than usual. "Don't make me rip open your skull so I can punch your brain in the face."

That seemed to convince him.

"Wait, so you're actually… apologizing?" He looked around quickly. "This isn't some kind of prank, is it?"

Or not.

"Jesus Christ, do you want me to be a bitch to you, because I will!" Kim yelled at him, before she realized it. "Heh, I've got you trained, Scott Pilgrim.

Scott bowed his head. "Damn you, Pavlov."

Kim let out an amused snort.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled some to Kim. "… You're my best friend, and I'm just glad you're not upset anymore. I almost can't believe it."

"You are right though, we were better off without you," Kim said. "I mean, you left and we all became successful beyond our wildest dreams."

At that, Scott put on the smuggest look on his face. "Don't care, I got Ramona."

Kim did something that Scott swore hadn't happened in like ten years, she let out a laugh. It sounded a little rusty and kind of creepy, like she was getting used to the reflex, but it was a genuine laugh. Her smirk turned into a small smile. "Yeah, you got her all right and all the baggage that comes with her. But I'm glad for you, and I'm glad you're here."

Scott became freaked out again. "You're smiling… you're actually smiling! W-what happened to you?"

"You should thank Usagi, she said that even though you're an idiot, a spaz, and a jackass, you still care… and I should be happy that we're still friends."

Scott just looked even more helpless than he normally did. "Who?"

"The crazy blonde girl those assholes you beat up were trying to kill? She said she ran into you the other day…"

At that Scott shook his head. "No way, the only crazy blonde girl I ran into since I got to Japan was-"

"H-HEY!"

Kim and Scott stopped at the bleachers, and Natsuna and Natalie looked down from them in surprise when Usagi was sent tumbling out from under them and came to a stop face down with her backside in the air. Sitting up onto her knees, she rubbed her behind to soothe the kick that had been effectively applied to it. Oh well, at least this time she hadn't been hit in the head.

Following her out with a bright blush and pulling down her t-shirt back into place; Ranma came storming out after Usagi. "I have a girlfriend, you pervert girl!"

A seductive grin appearing on her lips, Usagi sat up and looked back at Ranma. "So do I, let's call them up and make this a party."

Ranma's blush grew brighter, before she stomped away to put some distance between her and her newest fan.

Kim looked from her to Scott. "Scott, meet the crazy blonde girl."

Natalie was writing down another song title in her notebook, as Natsuna sighed and shook her head.

* * *

Opening night arrived and Tokyo Dome City, the sprawling entertainment complex that surrounded its arena centerpiece, was alive as crowds of fans, critics, and even protestors swarmed around the entrances as spotlights waved beams of bright white light above their heads.

Backstage inside the Tokyo Dome itself was chaotic, as the show director informed the band and staff that it was less than ten minutes to show time. Instruments were being tuned, lines were being rehearsed, and most importantly the security detail was being reviewed again by Natalie and Natsuna.

"So you've finished moving your units outside?" Natalie, who was half-dressed and sporting a hair-style identical to Sailor Moon's, asked.

"Yes, security inside the arena itself will be handled by your staff. But we'll be on alert to move in if things get too out of hand."

Natalie nodded. "And if the Sailor Senshi show up?"

"We won't try to apprehend them, so long as they keep the situation from getting out of hand themselves."

"I promise we'll behave," Sailor Moon declared from the doorway leading to backstage.

Natsuna and Natalie whirled around as the other staff momentarily paused in surprise at the appearance of the fugitive hero herself. The latter smiled and walked over to her.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person," she said before taking Sailor Moon into a hug.

"Same here," Sailor Moon replied as she returned the hug. "And it's so nice of you, Natsuna, to not make this a big old farce to attempt arresting us."

"Public safety is my priority here tonight, not arresting you. Don't do anything to endanger the public directly, and I won't be bothered too," Natsuna replied.

"Ah, so tonight is a truce then?" Sailor Moon asked.

Natsuna nodded.

Sailor Moon beamed. "That's good! In exchange for your leniency I will give you some helpful information: You were absolutely right in what you're doing out there, the Dark Kingdom's going to try something here tonight."

Natsuna frowned. "What?"

"You were right as rain to think they'd do something to Heroes of Gunstar, the whole point of this thing is to draw us into a battle. But we don't have to worry about that." Sailor Moon winked. "I appreciate the consideration, Natsuna."

"Not too considerate, we had to bar people from the floor seating. No one was happy about that," Natsuna lamented.

Natalie smiled. "But those people are getting a very special performance as an apology."

Sailor Moon nodded. "I'd like to be part of that show, too!"

"You're always welcome at my shows." Natalie then remembered. "Oh! There's something I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot," Sailor Moon replied.

"… Is there a Sailor Venus?"

A strange question to ask, but Sailor Moon nodded. "Yes, there sure is, though she's on assignment elsewhere."

Natalie pumped her fist. "Yes, that's perfect!" She looked over towards Joseph, who was tuning a guitar. "There is a Sailor Venus, I told you!"

"Damn," the bearded misanthrope growled. Well, that was a ten-thousand dollar bet he lost.

Natsuna frowned. "You're going to go on with the show?"

"Of course, can't have a good show without a fight to extend the set."

"Yes you can, we're just used to it," Stephen Stills called out.

Natalie looked off to the side. "Well… yeah, that too."

"I see…" Natsuna looked to Sailor Moon. "I would like to talk to you about something. Can we go somewhere private?"

"Of course, lead the way?"

Nodding, Natsuna and Sailor Moon headed towards the door, the latter looking back. "See you during the show!"

"Sure, I have to get into the rest of my costume anyway." Natalie gestured to her largely incomplete outfit.

Both Natsuna and Sailor Moon excused themselves, and Natalie clapped her hands to gain the attention of the rest of her band and staff. "All right guys! We're in the eleventh hour, let's hurry this up!"

Natalie headed to her dressing room, one of several set up by the refreshment table for the staff. Standing beside the table, Scott Pilgrim and a currently male Ranma Saotome watched Sailor Moon leave with the Superintendent-General.

"Sailor Moon's really short." Ranma had expected someone taller, not someone hardly taller than his girl half.

Scott smiled. "I guess, but it's kind of hard for me to notice the difference, what with me being _so tall."_

His expression going blank, Ranma turned his head and stared up at the Canadian. "You know, you're not that tall, for a foreigner."

"I'm tall enough and that's what matters!" Placing his arms akimbo, Scott threw back his head and laughed mightily–before Ranma quickly elbowed him in the stomach. "OOF!"

Ranma chuckled, before Scott grabbed him in a headlock and began grinding his knuckles against the top of his head. From there, the two began roughhousing as one of the dressing room doors opened and Kim walked out. Seeing the two, she shook her head and smirked.

"Reliving the glory days of high school, huh Scott?" She asked.

Scott, now stuck in a headlock of his own, looked up at Kim, who was now wearing a mostly white Gothic Lolita gown that seemed almost too elaborate for a drummer to wear.

"Uh… isn't it a bit much to drum in?"

"It doesn't stop Visual Kei drummers," Kim replied.

"Most Visual Kei drummers do it on keyboard, though," Ranma said.

Kim smirked. "Good thing I'm not most Visual Kei drummers." She twirled a drumstick and tapped Scott on the nose. "Wish me luck?"

Scott blinked, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Um… good luck?"

Kim smiled. "Thanks."

Grabbing a bottle of water, Kim waved and walked off to join the other band members. Ranma looked at Scott. "Isn't she a face-eating monster?"

"Yeah, about that…" Scott elbowed Ranma in the stomach to escape the headlock and looked back in the direction Kim went. "I think something's wrong with her."

Ranma rubbed his stomach. "What do you mean?

"She apologized for exploding at me the other day… it was so weird."

The door to Natalie's dressing room opened, and Natalie poked her head out to follow Kim's departure with her eyes. Looking over to Scott and Ranma, she called out to them. "It is."

Both young men turned to her.

"Scott, Ranma… keep an eye on her okay?" For the first time since Scott first ran into her after touching down in Japan, Natalie looked genuinely worried.

"Jeez, to think there'd be drama over someone not acting like a miserable jerk," Ranma muttered.

Natalie gave him a look. "I'll forgive you because you don't know any better… but Kim's always been…"

"A miserable jerk because of Scott dicking her then dicking her over?"

Scott was affronted. "Dude!"

"Yes actually, but there was a lot more than that. She's never had it easy in life. Ever since she met Scott, people have gone out of their way to just screw her over. And it wasn't even because they didn't like her or she did something to deserve it. People would just do stuff and not care that it hurt her."

Natalie stared at Scott pointedly as she said this, and he got even more defensive. "We worked out our issues."

Ranma whistled. "Is it really that bad?"

"Whenever she got to a good or stable place, something happened and she would be forced to start over. Even in the band, she's got this fear that something's going to happen and it's all going to come crashing down around her."

Ranma held up his hands behind his head. "Well, now she's in a good mood right? What's the problem then?"

"That's exactly it, the moment she's happiest is when something terrible happens. So keep an eye on her okay, in case anything goes wrong."

"You got it," Scott replied.

Ranma nodded assent. "It's the least I can do; a Martial Artist always repays his debts."

"Thanks, you guys…" Natalie smiled to Ranma before looking to Scott. "He's good people, Scott, even if he's just a kid."

With that she turned and went back into her dressing room, closing the door behind her.

As Scott and Ranma looked to one another and shrugged their shoulders, Naru narrowed her eyes after overhearing the exchange from Naruru's partially opened dressing room door.

* * *

Hidden in the lights suspended from the ceiling, the Sailor Senshi were careful to stay better concealed this time, with the tens of thousands of people waiting for the concert to begin below. Sailor Mars in particular was trying not to freak out, with so many people around them, while Jupiter was surprised at the dramatically reduced attendance. The floor seats, which would normally be set up on the rest of the baseball diamond not occupied by the stage, were completely absent aside from pieces of audio/visual equipment set up to take advantage of the new space.

"If something happens, we'll have plenty of room to fight at least."

Though, all of the Senshi would prefer it if a youma didn't appear. Then they could enjoy a free concert.

Sailor Moon suddenly shot up and landed atop the structure holding the lights with the other Senshi, causing Sailor Mars to let out a yelp. "I'm back!"

"So Natsuna didn't try to arrest you?"

"Nope, it's exactly like I thought: even they've got Nephrite figured out like a two-piece puzzle on this one." Sailor Moon folded her arms and looked back down at the empty field as she recalled the advice given to her. "But even with all this space to play around in, we've never done a gig in front of a crowd like this."

"So we're going to be a bit more defensive, then?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

Sailor Moon nodded. "First chance we get, though, we hit her all at once and hold nothing back, got it?"

The other Senshi nodded resolutely to Sailor Moon.

In the arena's Press Box, taken over by the police and acting as their command center, Natsuna entered and was surprised to see the Governor himself overseeing the show with his hands folded behind his back. "Ishihara-dono what are you doing here?"

"I just came to oversee how things were going," Ishihara replied with a small smile. "And see what's so interesting about this particular foreign band."

Natsuna nodded. "Well, everything's ready for when the battle starts."

"That's very good. Are they here as well?"

Natsuna blinked. "Yes… they've been here for a while now. They've agreed to fight on the terms we've set, so any fight shouldn't be too bad."

Ishihara nodded, as the lights went down. "Then this will be quite the show."

The stadium soon plunged completely into darkness, as Nephrite watched from one of the gates, his arms folded. A single light shone on the stage, revealing Mikan Shiratori, and the crowd's cheers intensified as she held up her hand.

"Hello, everyone!" she called out into her headset microphone. "It's me, the fabulous Mika-chan, your MC for tonight's show! I hope you're all ready for a great show, the greatest show!"

She held out her arms, as hologram projections of colorful flowers and sparkles appeared over her, wowing the crowd. She then clapped her hands together. "But first! We have a very special guest, honorary band member and all around super cute girl, Naruru Osaka! Let's hear it for her, everyone!"

Another spotlight appeared on Naruru, who emerged despite her nervousness at being in front of so many people, and walked quickly over to Mikan, who exchanged a bow with her. Resting a hand on Naruru's shoulder, Mikan turned to the crowd again, as hologram projections of lights, like glass twinkling in the sun, began to appear around them.

"Naruru-chan, it's true that you're a big fan of Heroes of Gunstar, yes?"

"The biggest!" Naruru replied happily.

Sailor Mercury snorted. "I would've won that contest were I not failing that test…" Just another thing to blame on Ryo Urawa, she supposed.

"Is there any other music you like, any particular idols that you also listen to? Hm? Hm?" Mikan asked.

Naruru thought about it. "Well… there is one artist I listen to, but it's kind of embarrassing."

"Oh no, don't be embarrassed. I'm sure we all know who it is!" Mikan insisted, while looking a bit smug.

"Oh, if you insist, I do really like G-Money USA!"

Sailor Moon laughed, as the rest of the audience laughed and cheered. "I'm so glad I released that mix tape!"

"You know, it was really good," Sailor Jupiter admitted.

Sailor Mars tapped her fingers together. "I don't think I'll ever understand hip-hop."

Mikan looked a little stunned, and annoyed, as more of the sparkles appeared. "G-Money… USA…?" She sounded angry.

Naruru looked up at Mikan, when she heard her tone shift, and then stepped back as the idol turned a nasty glare onto her. "G-Money USA!? You mean Sailor Moon, right!?"

"Uh… ah… what?" Naruru stepped back, as Mikan walked towards her, her expression becoming meaner as the sparkles intensified.

"Thanks to that stupid girl, I lost my head! Do you have any idea how much that hurts!?" Mikan roared at her.

Sailor Moon stood up. "What?"

Naruru tripped and fell back, as Mikan held out her arms, and the sparkling lights surrounded her, and flashed away… revealing the form of the youma Derella.

Derella grinned down at the girl, as the audience freaked out. "Well I hope she's watching this, because I'm about to lop off yours!"

She raised her hand, ready to strike Naruru, when the lights all went out again, leaving only Derella lit up. Looking around, Derella growled. "Now what?"

There was a tremendous, billowing red explosion behind the stage, and a solid beam of light shot up. A single figure began to appear from within it, and the crowds stared as a booming voice spoke.

"Preying on the defenseless is what you youma do all the time, this is nothing new. How about I teach you a new trick?"

Derella looked towards the glowing light, and the figure that began to emerge from it. "Who… who the hell are you now?!"

The figure replied, as her booming voice became more distinct and the light receded to reveal her identity. "I am the unrelenting force of good and justice in the universe! Where there is evil, I will be there to meet and obliterate it!"

The light faded to reveal Natalie Adams, dressed in a red, white, and black, stylized rendition to Sailor Moon's outfit, her long red hair done up in a similar style of long tails, though sans the odango. "I am Sailor Gunstar!"

Naruru sat up, gasping. "A Sailor Senshi!"

"A dead Sailor Senshi!" Derella yelled as she opened her mouth and unleashed her glass spray attack. Crouching, Sailor Gunstar leaped above the attack and high above the stage, before flipping and landing behind Derella. When Derella looked back in disbelief, Sailor Gunstar comically booted her in the backside, sending her falling to her face.

Derella got back up, looking indignant. "Who do you think you are?!"

She lunged to attack Sailor Gunstar, but was held back at arm's length by a hand on her face as she flailed ineffectually. The audience broke into applause, as Sailor Gunstar looked back and shrugged her shoulders.

Shoving Derella back, Sailor Gunstar helped Naruru onto her feet and dusted her off. "You okay?"

"Yes!" Naruru said excitedly, before Derella got back up. "Oh no, the youma!"

"Oh yes, the youma, and I'm going to rip you to shreds!" Derella roared.

Sailor Gunstar laughed. "Not so fast, you don't know it yet youma, but you're not just facing Sailor Gunstar!"

Sailor Gunstar then performed a series of Kamen Raider-style poses and pointed to the sky. "Heroes of Gunstar… ASSEMBLE!"

Some truly heroic music began to play, as more beams of light shot to the ceiling. From the beams, the members of Heroes of Gunstar began to emerge. Stephanie Nordegraf, Stephen Stills, Joseph, and finally Kimberly Pine stepped from the light and staring death straight at Derella.

"Oh my God, this is awesome," Sailor Moon said as she all but drooled at the display of special effects in front of her.

Sailor Gunstar held her hand out, and from a trap door below her, her alter-ego's keyboard is ejected for her to catch. The band's other instruments; Stephanie's bass, Stephen Stills and Joseph's guitars, and Kim's drum kit were raised much more slowly, for their wielders to take up.

Sailor Gunstar joined her band mates, with Naruru at her side, and set up the keyboard's stand. Derella took a step back, clearly nervous. "Wait, hold it…!"

As Stephen Stills proceeded to dive bomb on the whammy bar of his guitar, Sailor Gunstar called out. "It's time to banish you once and for all, youma… with the power of rock!"

Spinning her drumsticks, Kim raised them above her head and counted it out for the whole damn arena to hear.

"WE ARE HEROES OF GUNSTAR!" She slammed her drumsticks together. "ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"

The music exploded from the speakers, as the band unleashed their opening song, an instrumental known simply as the "Anthem of Scott Pilgrim". The music buffeted Derella, whose scream of agony was drowned out as she disintegrated, leaving a smiling Mikan who turned to the crowd and urged them to give it up for the band as the sparkles of the Derella hologram scattered across the arena, joined by multi-colored rays of light, and pixilated stars to the audience's delight.

Up in the lights, the Sailor Senshi were as amazed by the light show that was happening around them as they were by the upbeat and blood pumping music being played on stage. As a few pixilated stars whipped by them, Mars looked over to Sailor Moon. "This is amazing!"

"I know, right?!" Sailor Moon called back.

Mercury was trying her hardest not to head-bang to the music, when a call signal appeared in her visor. It was a text message from Naru, which she quickly opened and began to read. Her eyes widened. "Sailor Mars?"

"Yes?"

"Get your ofuda ready, Naru-chan's figured out the target."

On the stage, the song was rapidly approaching its climax, the audience already at a fever pitch as the band played to their fullest, no more than Kim, whose drumming seemed to stand out over the others. She was on fire, note-perfect, playing better than she had in months, even better than the dress rehearsal yesterday.

The song drew to an end, and the hologram projections settled into a starry sky on the arena's ceiling, as a recreation of the Toronto and Tokyo skylines appeared behind the band.

"TOKYO!" Natalie called out as she picked up a microphone. "HOW ARE YOU?!"

The audience roared back, the sound of cheers, applause, and stomping feet causing even the lights where the Senshi were sitting to sway.

"I see that Tokyo's got a monster problem, but that's being handled, huh?" Natalie asked as she paced down the stage's runway, eliciting even more cheers.

"You know who I'm talking about yeah? Let's hear it! Come on!" Natalie held up her microphone, as the whole house began chanting her name.

"SAILOR MOON! SAILOR MOON! SAILOR MOON! SAILOR MOON!" SAILOR MOON!"

"That's right, let's give it up for her! It's been years since Tokyo's seen a Hero of Justice, hasn't it!?" Natalie asked the crowd.

As the crowd of thousands cheered, Kim sat back at her drum kit and took it all in. She felt… good, like a weight had been lifted off her head and shoulders and now that it was gone she could appreciate it all better now. She was playing for a sold out crowd of thousands, loved by millions of people she didn't even know, but that wasn't just it.

"… I deserve this," Kim said to herself.

The years of being dumped, treated like crap, cheated on, and used for nefarious schemes that turned her into a cold, mean person felt behind her. She glanced out the corner of her eye, towards where Scott was watching, and began to smile. She had her friends, her fame, she had it all.

An ofuda charm then tagged her right in the forehead.

The music stopped and everyone on stage looked at Kim in surprise, while Kim stared cross-eyed at hissing and cracking charm.

"Huh?" Kim asked.

"Kim…?" Natalie whispered.

Before anyone could react, a blinding light erupted from Kim. Shielding her eyes from it, Natalie slowly backed away, as its intensity slowly ebbed. She could see Kim sitting limp at her drum kit, her head tilted back as the light–shining from her forehead–began to change shape, as if something was beginning to emerge from it.

"Oh man!" Scott gasped as Ranma assumed a fighting stance.

To everyone's fright, the light fully transformed into a female figure that slipped from Kim's body and began to rise above the stage. The light faded faster, revealing the red-skinned, tiger print bikini-wearing youma Goro. Several arcs of electricity shot up from the black-haired youma's back, before transforming into a ring of tomoe-marked drums that gave off sparks of dark-colored electricity.

Goro opened her eyes, and looked down at the stage below, and at Natalie, Naruru, Mikan, and the other members of Heroes of Gunstar staring up at her. The thunder youma stared down at them, and felt nothing but contempt for the very idea of their existence. She raised her hands, and in a flash of plasma, a pair of silver drum sticks appeared in her hands. She was going to reduce these stupid humans to shadows burned into the stage.

The youma heard something and looked up, just in time to see Sailor Moon's leg swinging down to meet her face. The kick connected, launching Goro like a missile towards the stage. Before she could hit and completely trash it, however, Sailor Mercury struck from below with her own kick, launching Goro straight up to the ceiling of the dome.

Before she could impact it, Sailor Jupiter caught her in the stomach with an elbow, before she lifted her foot and dropped it on the youma, sending her crashing down into the open floor of the arena in front of the stage.

Landing on the edge of the stage, Sailor Moon let out a huff. "Damn it! Of all the people the world Nephrite sticks the youma in; it's the one person who actually gets _nicer_ when she's possessed!"

The Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter landed beside her, as the latter asked, "Why do you suppose that is?"

"Negativity," Sailor Mercury answered quickly as she activated her computer.

Sailor Moon quickly got it. "I see…"

The youma rose to her feet, entirely unharmed by the attack.

Sailor Moon blinked. "Well! This is going to be one of _those_ fights."

Goro huffed. "Sailor Moon, you and your friends have killed a lot of youma, even defeated Zoisite and Jadeite. Your run ends tonight."

She twirled a drumstick in one hand. "I'm far stronger than any youma you've faced before, and now I'm stronger than ever."

"Thanks to all that negative energy you ate, right?" Sailor Moon asked.

Goro paused. "You caught on that quick?"

"I have to admit, putting the youma in a girl who already is a major bitch? Pretty sneaky, but it's not going to change the outcome of this fight for you." Sailor Moon posed and pointed down at Goro. "Negativity or not, you're still going down for snacking on that girl's energy!"

"It ate Kim's energy?" Natalie then looked over to Kim, who had fallen from her chair. Without hesitation, she ran to her. "Kim!"

In the stands, Nephrite narrowed his eyes, as Goro let out a laugh, her voice echoing among the clamor from the audience. "I was able to drain that miserable little cunt dry, and with all of her dark, dark energy, I'm going to fry you until you're nothing but free particles!"

"Yeah… no," Sailor Moon said as she crouched down and shot forward to kick a hole through Goro. The youma ended up no-selling the hell out of the kick. "What the…?"

Millions of volts of electricity immediately struck and sent her smashing into a wall. When the electricity disappeared, Goro herself punched Sailor Moon in the stomach, creating a large crater in the wall, which was then illuminated by another burst of millions of volts.

Goro drew her hand away, to punch her again, when Sailor Moon socked her in the jaw, knocking her back. With a few cracks and pops, Goro disappeared. As Sailor Moon stepped out of the hole she made, she realized it.

"She's got moves like fucking Enel-" A bolt of lightning struck her, driving her into the ground.

Above her, Goro raised her drumsticks, as electricity arced between them. "You're not fast enough to beat me, Sailor Moon!"

Sailor Moon got up, smoke rising from her body and a little unsteady, but more or less intact. "Oh shit, I think she boiled my blood for a bit there."

Goro snorted and held her drumsticks above her head as the ring of drums lit up, charging an even stronger lightning bolt. Sailor Moon looked up, and then held up her hand. "This one's more your speed."

The lightning bolt came down, just as Sailor Moon vanished, replaced by Sailor Jupiter, who met Goro's lightning blast head on in an incredible display of light and sound, before the bolt was grounded harmlessly. Steam rising from her body, Sailor Jupiter smirked up at Goro.

"Lightning elemental, now what?!"

Sailor Mercury reappeared on the stage, setting Sailor Moon next to Mars. "You okay?"

"I need a few seconds to… recharge." Sailor Moon brought a hand to her mouth to avoid vomiting from her bad pun.

"Okay, I'm gonna go back over there and kick the crap out of her then," Sailor Mercury said. "Sailor Mars, stay with the band and protect them in case the youma tries to attack them."

Sailor Mars nodded affirmative, before stopping. "Wait, but you're a water-type!"

Mercury looked back at her. "What does that have to do with anything–ohh… don't worry I'll be alright." Mercury looked towards Goro and smirked. "I know Extreme Speed."

Sailor Moon actually vomited this time. "You guys are killing me worse than the youma."

Goro backed from Sailor Jupiter once again, her electricity pushing the Senshi back considerably. "What's the matter Sailor Senshi, afraid to fight back?!

Goro moved behind Sailor Jupiter instantaneously and lunged to stab her in the back with one of her drum sticks, when Mercury parried the strike. Goro grinned and her drums collected electricity. "Water conducts electricity you know."

Sailor Jupiter suddenly turned and lunged through Mercury, scattering her into particles of light as she uppercut Goro to the ceiling. Goro flipped over to set her feet onto the ceiling and crossed her arms to block Sailor Mercury's punch as she reappeared in front of her.

Electricity crackling around her body, Goro attempted to fry Mercury, but the swift Senshi slipped away from the burst of lightning. Goro watched as Mercury stopped, also standing upside down on the ceiling, and grimaced in annoyance. "Cameran was right, you have to go first!"

She attacked Mercury, becoming a bolt of lightning that shot after Mercury as she disappeared from sight.

As flickers of light shone from Mercury and Goro's high speed engagement on the ceiling of the Dome, Natalie was leaning over Kim, checking for vital signs. They were there, but she was barely breathing, and her pulse was weak. Scott and Ranma were at her side, having gotten there when Natalie did.

"Kim, wake up!" Natalie whispered as she gently shook her.

Scott shook his head. "We have to get her to a hospital, or get a health pack or something!"

"Yeah, trying to leave in the middle of a monster fight," Stephen Stills said as the other band members watched Mercury and Goro's clashes all over the arena.

"We're all going to die here," Joseph lamented in annoyance.

"Shut up, Joseph!" Natalie, Stephen Stills, Steph, and Ranma shouted at the bitter bearded guitarist before Goro and Mercury's fight had returned to the floor of the arena.

A bolt of lighting tore up the floor and Sailor Mercury's disappearing afterimage as both youma and Senshi exchanged blows all over the open floor. Reappearing with a line of images trailing behind her, Goro swung her drumsticks as if she was hitting the drums on the ring on her back, and each drum fired a lightning bolt that homed in on Sailor Mercury from different directions.

Mercury managed to dodge three of them with ease, but the forth cut close, singing her hair, while the fifth curved in to hit her dead on. Sailor Jupiter, however, slid between them with a burst of electricity-boosted speed and again grounded the lightning bolt with the antenna from her tiara.

"Shit…" Jupiter growled as smoke rose from her singed body after tanking the hit. She looked out the corner of her eye to see Mercury suddenly vanish from her side. "Can we get an opening already?!"

Sailor Mercury reappeared, her kick being blocked by Goro's punch before they disappeared again. "Coming up!"

When they reappeared, they were behind Jupiter, with Mercury twisting her body to avoid a lightning slash. "Get ready!"

They disappeared and reappeared again, Mercury recoiling from the headbutt she crashed into Goro's nose, before disappearing again when she missed the follow-up kick.

Another barrage of lightning bolts hit the ground around Jupiter as she moved to avoid them. Charging up as the lightning crashed around her she looked around rapidly before she disappeared. When she reappeared Goro was all but impaled on the punch she rammed into the youma's gut.

Pulling her fist away, Jupiter performed a somersault kick that launched Goro up, and got clear as Mercury kicked off the ceiling and landed on Goro with enough force to create a ten meter deep crater that almost reached the edge of the stage.

Sailor Mercury jumped out of the hole. "Jupiter! Your turn!"

Goro slowly tried to get up from the hit and looked up to the edge of the pit to find Sailor Jupiter held a steel girder in her arms.

Tossing the girder into the air, Sailor Jupiter leaped up after it and drew her arm back as electricity crackled up and down it. "Go! Jupiter Sky-Burning Javelin!"

She punched the girder straight down at Goro, accelerating it to supersonic velocity within fractions of a second and leaving a trail of superheated plasma behind it. The ensuing impact deepened and widened the crater, and left Goro impaled on a pillar of molten slag.

Sailor Jupiter landed next to Sailor Mercury, who had activated her computer again and was quickly running through hundreds of thousands of calculations.

"What now?"

"Now we murder her with science!" Sailor Mercury looked back at Sailor Mars. "Quickly, use your Fire Soul! Sailor Jupiter, follow up!"

Impaled in the pit, Goro just let out a growl as she tried to remove herself from it. "You think… this is going… to stop me?!"

She looked up, and saw Sailor Mars in the air above her, fire in her eyes and her hands clasped together. "MARS FIRE SOUL!"

The blast of flame shot into the pit, as Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Thunder followed, creating a magnetic field around flames that got very hot, very fast. Holding her hands out, Jupiter drew her hands together, her electric field compressing the flames tighter and tighter around Goro as the ball lifted out of the crater and became brighter, turning the dim arena into high noon in the desert.

Sailor Moon stumbled over to Sailor Mercury's side, staring in amazement at the ball of light. "Did you just make a fucking ball of fusion?"

"I want to be thorough!" Mercury replied proudly. "Finish it off, Sailor Moon."

"With pleasure!" Sailor Moon removed her tiara, and it too began to shine brightly. "Moon Tiara, action!"

She threw it straight into the miniature sun burning in the arena, and the golden discus sliced clean through it, leaving two halves that erupted into a bright flash.

Mars and Jupiter landed with Mercury and Sailor Moon, as the tiara returned to her hand and was replaced on her forehead.

Sailor Moon looked over to Mercury. "Did we kill it?"

Sailor Mercury scanned the area with her computer, and grew wide-eyed as the dark energy and Goro's electrical signature began to reemerge, much more powerful than before. "N-no…"

"Are you kidding me?!" Jupiter demanded as Goro reconstructed herself from stray electrons and the dark energy that wreathed her.

Nephrite scowled at the sight of Goro simply manifesting herself out of thin air. How much energy did that negative drummer girl have?!

"You don't get it, do you?" Goro asked. "When channeled properly, emotional energy is one of the strongest forces in the universe!"

She held her hands out, the dark energy mixing with her electricity, intensifying it and causing her body to become firmer and more muscular as her red skin adopted an orange tone to it. "This negativity is the best! Her anger, despair, and outright hatred for everything, even herself… it has magnified my powers by a thousand fold, maybe more!"

As Goro declared this, Sailor Mercury was measuring the youma's skyrocketing energy output. "She's not bluffing!"

Sailor Moon looked over. "Mercury, what does the computer say about her power level?"

Mercury read the numbers. "The output is increasing exponentially; it's already over nine times higher than when we first started slapping her around and not showing any signs of stopping!"

Sailor Moon was relieved at least that Mercury didn't make the obvious reply. "So… in layman's terms we're fucked?"

They were, as Goro swung her staff downward, sending a tremendous lightning bolt crashing down on the Sailor Senshi. As before, it was immediately drawn to Sailor Jupiter, and when the bolt went through her into the ground, the ensuing blast of force knocked all four Senshi back into the front of the stage.

"Fuuuck… having your blood boiled and living through it is _not_ _cool!"_ Sailor Moon groaned as she tried to get up.

Sailor Jupiter, coughing, tried to get back up on her feet, as Sailor Mercury shook her head.

"She officially hits harder than that bus youma…" The blue-themed Senshi moaned.

Up in the press box, Natsuna couldn't believe it. "Are… are they actually losing?"

Ishihara just hummed, and waited patiently.

* * *

Back on the stage, Scott stared down at Kim. She looked strangely peaceful despite her grave condition; her lips were even turned up into a small smile. He was a spaz and an idiot, but this was one of those few things that clicked perfectly in his head. Kim's growing niceness had been because of the monster literally eating all of the pain and misery that made her into such a cold, angry person.

"Her being happy was just something hurting her," He realized aloud before he got up and looked towards the youma, now wrapped in a bright ball of pure plasma as she continued to transform.

Over her bikini-clad body, a gold-tinted, lacquer-like armor appeared and spread across every inch of her skin, as her drum ring transformed, becoming an ornate, lightning themed ring of bronze that gave off blue flames rather than just simple lightning. Goro's drumsticks turned into staffs, which she combined to form a single long pole that she held above her head.

"I am no longer a mere youma! I am a thunder GOD!" she yelled as she unleashed a massive bolt of lightning that Sailor Jupiter once more stood to ground like the others. When it struck, Sailor Jupiter actually yelled in pain as her own energies were overpowered by the youma's.

"Sailor Jupiter!" Sailor Mars yelped, as the other Senshi fell to her knees, coughing.

"Ishihara-dono, we have to get out of here!" Natsuna shouted as she tried to pull him away from the Press Box's windows. Ishihara just held his hand out, stopping her.

"The tide is about to turn," he simply said.

"Stubborn aren't you?!" Holding her staff above her head, Goro grinned down at the Sailor Senshi, and created a massive orb of dark, electrical energy at its end. "Be as stubborn as you like! Nothing can defeat a Thunder God!"

In the arena's shadows, Nephrite opened his eyes as they flashed red.

"Even the gods are ruled by the stars."

At that instant, a strange crest appeared on Goro's forehead, first shining blue, and then a dark red before black and red bolts of lightning suddenly shot across her body, causing her to scream in pain.

"The fuck…?" Sailor Moon asked as Goro threw her head back and screamed, the dark energy suddenly shooting from her and through the ceiling of the arena. To Mercury's surprise, the energy count began to decrease rapidly.

"She's venting energy and getting weaker!" Sailor Mercury happily reported.

"Why is this… what's happening?!" Goro screamed as more power left her.

"_This energy is not for you, but I'll leave you just enough to deal with the Senshi while they are weakened,"_ Nephrite contacted her.

Goro fell to the ground, still in her transformed state, but her golden lacquer armor was already cracked and peeling in some places. Getting up to her feet, she panted and wobbled as she felt another burst of energy leave her, and then another. "Nephrite, damn you… I was going to defeat them with that…!"

"_You're still standing, aren't you? Go, defeat them and show me your strength," _Nephrite ordered.

Sailor Mercury looked to Sailor Moon. "She's weaker than when she first came out, and stabilizing. She's a little higher than the last youma, but be careful with her electrical tricks."

Sailor Mars couldn't help it. "It looks like she blew a fuse!"

Sailor Moon let out a groan in agony.

Steeling herself, Goro looked up at the Senshi and gripped her weapon in both hands. "Tch… I'm still going to defeat you! I've more than enough power to take care of all of you on my own!"

Sailor Moon snorted. "Care to bank on it?"

Electricity flickered across Goro's body, and to the ends of her staff. "Let's go-!"

A fist slammed into Goro's face. Wide-eyed, Goro looked down the arm to the person who had landed the punch. "The fu-?"

She was launched backward, and slammed into the back wall of the converted baseball field by the overwhelming force of Scott Pilgrim's punch.

Sailor Moon's eyebrows rose. "Well!"

As Goro pulled herself out of the crater she made in the wall, Scott pointed at her. "You bounced around in my friend's head, feeding off her like a parasite! I'm going to kick your ass you evil… evil… sexy bikini thunder demon!"

In a flash, Goro leaped out of the hole she made in the wall, and spun her staff. "Who the fuck… do you think you are?!"

She all but teleported to Scott, swinging the staff to cut clean through him with the electricity surrounding it, only to miss as Scott narrowly ducked under it and countered with an uppercut that lifted her off her feet. Jumping up, he flipped and stomped on her chest with both feet, sending her bouncing off the ground.

As the young man landed on his feet, Goro stopped and slowly got up, her golden lacquer now missing in places. "No, he's just a human…" She got back up. "There's no way a human's going to get the better of me."

"Too late, I am so much better than you!" Scott shouted back.

Goro snorted. "No."

She zapped over to him, and swung down at him with the staff… only to miss again. As Goro's eyes widened in disbelief, a kick connected with the side of her head. Slamming into the ground, the youma tumbled along the ground and was struck several more times, accelerating her roll before Ranma finished his rushing chain of hits by stomping her into the ground with both feet.

Jumping off her, the teenaged martial artist prodigy landed next to Scott. "Oi… you know you're pretty big dumbass for jumping into a Sailor Senshi fight, right?"

Scott snorted. "What's that make you?"

Ranma grinned. "An even bigger dumbass."

"And I'm the biggest dumbass of them all," a furious Natalie said as she hopped off the stage and walked over to the gathered Senshi and the new challengers.

**Natalie Adams  
****Age: 25  
Rating: MAD AS HELL!**

"Sailor Moon take five, I want to kick this bitch's face in for messing with my band!"

Sailor Moon couldn't help herself and laughed. "Well, well, well! I defer to you, Miss Adams!"

Goro got up, letting out a growl of frustration and created a blade of lightning at the end of her staff. "I will kill all of you!"

She shot towards the nearest target, Ranma, and thrust the spear for his chest. Ranma was quick, however, and parried the spear away so he could clock Goro in the face with a headbutt, knocking her over again with pieces of lacquer and the bronze from her ring clattering behind her. As the lightning youma got up, Sailor Moon called out to her.

"Hey Thunder God! You look like you're having a bad time, there!"

Goro's eyes became bloodshot at the taunt. "When I'm done with them, you die first!"

A ball of plasma surrounded her, sending out a wave of heat that buffeted the three above-average humans. Channeling the energy to her palm, Goro roared and fired it as a solid beam of energy that all three avoided. As her plasma barrier faded, she looked up in time to see Natalie fall upon her Sailor Moon style, twisting her body to drop her with flying roundhouse that hit like a speeding truck.

"I really like her form," Sailor Jupiter admitted.

"Is this a good idea?!" Mars asked.

Sailor Moon nodded. "Let them, we'll mop up."

Goro got up, huffing angrily before she screamed and attacked Natalie wildly. Her swing left her open to a kick to the face, that Natalie followed with a high kick that sent Goro stumbling back.

Scott and Ranma passed Natalie on either side, Ranma elbowing Goro's stomach as Scott kneed her in the nose, shattering all the lacquer on her face and breaking part of the ring above her head.

Natalie panted as Goro struggled to stand on her feet. She looked back towards Kim, and then at the lightning youma. "Bitch… you pissed off the wrong front-woman!"

As she said this, Ranma looked to Scott and held up his fist. Nodding, Scott pounded his to Ranma before he called out to Goro. "It's time to get what's coming to you, sweet combo style!"

Goro took a deep breath, and let out a berserker's scream as she fired lightning from her remaining drums and her open palms, creating a single large beam aimed at her attackers. "I'LL SHOW YOU THE STRENGTH OF A THUNDER GOD!"

Natalie responded by raising her foot above her head and swinging down, the tremendous force of her kick splitting the beam down the middle, all the way back to Goro.

Sailor Jupiter was simply awestruck now. "I have got to learn her technique.

Frozen in disbelief that her attack could be countered, Goro stared dumbly at Natalie before Ranma ran up to and punched her several times in the stomach, chest and finally face, knocking her back. "Hey, you're up!"

Scott caught Goro by the back of her head and yanked her down to knee her in the back. As Goro howled in pain from the hit, he punted her back towards Ranma. Stopping her with a kick to her throat, Ranma somersault kicked her into the air, lobbing her back towards Scott before rushing after her.

Recovering in mid-flight, the youma lifted up her spear and thrust it straight for Scott as he waited for her. "DIE!"

At the last second, Scott twisted his body to dodge the spear and backhanded her in the face, smashing the last of the lacquer covering it.

Turning back around Scott nodded to Ranma as the dazed Goro began to fall back to the ground. Returning the nod, Ranma skidded to a halt, and both unleashed hell, raining a barrage of punches all over Goro as their arms vanished. Up on the arena's jumbotron, the word "HIT!" with a rapidly increasingly counter appeared, counting every strike Ranma and Scott struck the youma with.

As she watched Goro lift off the ground, held aloft by the punches, Natalie felt Sailor Moon rest a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, is that five?" The Senshi asked.

Natalie looked to Sailor Moon, and nodded. "Yeah, this is a wrap."

The counter kept going, ascending past 100, then 500, and then finally stopped at 997 as Scott and Ranma drew back their steam-emitting hands. Suspended in the air for a moment, Goro limply fell forward… and right into the double uppercut that sent the counter to 999 and Goro flipping head over heels straight up towards the ceiling.

As she flipped, she could catch glimpses Sailor Moon grinning up at her as she got ready. _"Why… when I was so close?"_

She got no response.

"_Nephrite? Nephrite?!"_

Silence.

"Ready!?" Sailor Moon shouted as she drew her leg back. Natalie nodded, and jumped. With a gleam in her eyes, Sailor Moon swung her kick, which Natalie landed upon and used to launch her straight for Goro. "Moon Natalie, Action!"

Goro went wide-eyed when she turned over again to see Natalie reach her, with her foot extended in a classic flying kick. "Nephrite you-!"

Her yell became an unintelligible, gurgling scream as Natalie shot past her like a bullet. Goro's ring of drums shattered, as her head was severed from her neck, the youma's entire body bursting into flames immediately after.

Reaching the apex of her flight, as the jumbotron flashed "1000!" repeatedly, Natalie nodded and let herself fall. "You just got kicked to the curb, bitch."

She fell, plummeting towards the stands below, and landed rather unexpectedly into the many arms of her fans in the upper levels. She sat up and looked around; not a single person had tried to leave the arena so they could watch Sailor Moon kill the fuck out of another youma.

"Shit, you guys are the most loyal fans on Earth. I just wish you were mine," Natalie said in exasperation as they crowd-surfed her to the edge of the upper seats. Thanking them, she jumped and landed in a crouch as Scott and Ranma rushed to join her.

"That was the coolest thing I've seen in like, two weeks!" Scott declared. "You did a Fastball Special Flying Meteo Inferno Death Blow that was SO SWEET!"

"Are you okay?" Ranma asked as Natalie stood.

"I'm fine; I think I got demon blood all over my leg though." Natalie looked down. "Yeah, I did."

"That's an occupational hazard," Sailor Moon said as she walked over.

"If it's all the same I'll stick to music." Natalie's eyes widened, when it all swiftly came back to her. "Oh no Kim, is she alright?"

Sailor Moon smiled, and looked back. "She should be okay."

They looked over to see Kim sitting up, rubbing her head. Sailor Mars had gone to her and was gently rubbing her back. She could feel strange warmth emanating from her palm, returning her strength gradually.

"God… what happened… where am I…?" She then turned her head to see Sailor Mercury smiling at her. "Holy shit, you're that red Sailor."

"Y-yes, I'm Sailor Mars. Can you get up?"

Kim nodded and rose to her feet. She rubbed her forehead. "Did… did a monster really just pop out of my head?"

"Like something out of FLCL, yes," Sailor Mars replied.

"Huh, I always thought that'd be more a bassist thing," Kim said. "Well, is it dead?"

Sailor Mercury nodded. "Yes, your friends killed it," She said just before Scott and Natalie pretty much tackled her, knocking her back down onto the stage. "And they're really glad you're fine."

"I couldn't… tell…" Kim groaned as she was cuddled by the two. She didn't struggle though; she just felt none of that old misanthropic charge she was used to. "God, I expected Scott to be like this, but Nat?"

Natalie hugged her. "I've seen enough band members die at gigs, I'm glad you're safe."

Scott nodded. "What would we do without you to point out our flaws and hate us for being idiots?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, hang out with Julie?"

"She's gonna be okay!" Scott tearfully exclaimed as he nuzzled Kim's face.

Up in the press box, Ishihara turned and headed for the exit. "Sakurada-san."

"Yes, Ishihara-dono?" Natsuna was dreading the next words to come out of the Governor's mouth.

"Well done."

Natsuna blinked, and stared at the old man. She was relieved out of her gourd but… just like that? Before she could say anything, Ishihara gave her a wizened smile, and Natsuna dropped it then and there. "…Yes sir."

Ishihara nodded. "I'm going to go get something from the concession stand, is there anything that you'd like?"

Natsuna blinked again, and then held up her hand. "A beer, if possible!"

"…Good choice."

* * *

"So what the hell happened out there?" Sailor Jupiter asked as the band started picking up their instruments, and a quick test of the systems went underway.

Sailor Moon folded her arms and nodded slowly. "I would like to know that. The Dark Kingdom used energy from their victims against us before, and this was probably their best shot. Then just like that–poof."

Sailor Mercury analyzed the data. "The youma had more energy than she could handle, so naturally once she tried to use too much of it, it all fizzled out of her."

"What about that sigil that appeared on her forehead, though?" Mars asked.

Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter stared at Rei, who blinked. "Y-you didn't see it?"

"I'll review the data more in-depth later, we should get going since everything's beginning to wind down," Mercury suggested.

"What, and miss the rest of the concert?!" Sailor Moon asked.

"What concert? "There's a big old hole in the middle of the floor, there's rubble everywhere, and I think the structural integrity of the ceiling's in question," Jupiter noted.

"Sound check!" Stephen Stills called out, and the band began tuning their instruments.

Sailor Moon smiled. "I guess that answers it."

"What about Kim? They can't play without a Drummer!"

"Oh, she's fine now!" Sailor Mars declared proudly. "I gave her some of my energy; she should be okay for the rest of the show."

"You can do that?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I guess I can? I mean I thought I'd try it, and I guess it worked…?" Sailor Mars shyly looked to Kim. "Did it?"

Kim nodded and dusted herself off. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Crazy-ass Canadians…" Jupiter muttered with a smile.

"Are we really so different?" Ranma asked before he gestured to the Senshi. "I mean… look at you guys! Look at me!"

"Yes, yes, look at you!" Sailor Moon purred at the boy.

Ranma hesitated a bit, and then took a step back when Sailor Moon sidled over to him with an amorous edge to her tone. "I really liked those moves of yours out there. Want to show me some more after the show?"

Putting his hands up, Ranma quickly shook his head. "Ah… no…" He smiled nervously. "I have a girlfriend, you see!"

Sailor Moon couldn't help herself. "Is she cute? Call her up and let's make this a party."

Ranma paused and blinked as he clearly remembered hearing something like that before. Before he could point this out, Sailor Jupiter grabbed Sailor Moon by her long streams of hair and hauled her back. "Down girl."

"Sailor Moon," Natalie called as she ran over to her. Both Naruru and Mikan were at her side, now that it was safe. "You're not leaving, are you?"

"No, no-no-no, in fact we wanted to stay for the rest of the show!" Sailor Moon replied cheerfully after freeing herself from Jupiter's grasp.

"Great!" Natalie took Sailor Moon's hand, and led her to the front of the stage, and the cheering crowd, a bit thinned due to all the running around caused by the battle but no-less enthusiastic. Seeing two of their idols together, their cheers grew to a fever pitch.

"Greatest show on Earth, am I right!?" Natalie called to the crowd, as Mikan and Naruru joined the two, Naruru looking up at Sailor Moon in awe.

Natalie looked over to Sailor Moon, as Kim performed a few rim shots on her drums to make sure she was up to snuff for the next song. "A few days back I said I had something for you."

Sailor Moon brought her hands to her cheeks. "Come on, Nat-chan! You're making me blush! I don't need anything from you, protecting people is a reward in itself!"

"I know, I know, but me and the band were thinking, that if you're gonna be a hero, you're gonna need a few things! A bunch of badasses backing you up, a sick-nasty villain to kick the shit out of, but most importantly… you need a theme song! And while you have the first two down pat, Heroes of Gunstar is here to supply the music!"

And with that, the sound of a bell tolling began to sound from the stage's speakers. Stepping back, Natalie called out.

"WE ARE HEROES OF GUNSTAR AND SHE IS THE ONE NAMED SAILOR MOON!"

The band hit it, starting up with Stephen unleashing the opening guitar chords, a sharp sting that led to the intro to the song that sounded vaguely like a hard rock version of an old nineties J-Pop song, Moonlight Marinade or something, Sailor Moon could not be bothered to remember for how cool it sounded. As the intro played, the skyline of Tokyo appeared via projection behind the stage, with a stylized crescent moon above it, it was with the completion of this transition that Natalie began to sing.

_Fighting evil by Moonlight_

_Winning love by Daylight_

_Never running from a real fight…_

_She is the one named Sailor Moon!_

Natalie pointed to Sailor Moon for emphasis, and Sailor Moon oh, so humbly smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

_She will never turn her back on her friends_

_She is always there to defend_

_She is the one on whom we can depend,_

_She is the one named Sailor…_

The lights then turned orange, as the astronomical symbol of Venus appeared in place of the Moon, and Mikan and Naruru joined Natalie.

_Sailor Venus!_

The symbol for Mercury appeared next as the lights turned blue.

_Sailor Mercury!_

It became Mars as the lights turned red.

_Sailor Mars!_

The lights turned green, as the symbol became Jupiter.

_Sailor Jupiter!_

Natalie then stepped forward.

_Powerful and unstoppable, she is the one named Sailor Moon!_

Stephen Stills cut loose, unleashing a brief but positively smashing guitar solo. Standing close to Kim's drum set, Sailor Mars tried not to explode from embarrassment, Sailor Jupiter maintained a cool composure, while Sailor Mercury recorded the song for her ringtone.

Up in the lights, where the Senshi had been, Jadeite looked to Motoki and Tuxedo Kamen, the latter of whom just smirked and nodded as he continued to air guitar in tune with Heroes of Gunstar's guitarist, who was wrapping up his solo with a reprise of the intro. Natalie took it from there, putting an arm around Sailor Moon's shoulders, which Sailor Moon returned.

_Fighting evil by Moonlight_

_Winning love by Daylight_

_With her Sailors there to help fight,_

_She is the one named Sailor Moon!_

_Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon!_

_She is the one…_

She, Sailor Moon, and everyone on stage raised their hands to the air, as the audience did the same and called out together.

"_SAILOR MOON!"_

* * *

As the greatest concert in Japan's recent memory raged on well into the night, Nephrite appeared in the lair of Queen Beryl, who was watching the concert on her tablet as she held an orb of energy just above her other hand that was significantly smaller than the energy Nephrite had previously gathered. As he finished materializing, her eyes went from her tablet to him briefly before returning to it.

"You did pretty good, Nephrite."

Nephrite bowed deeply.

"Once again, you've exceeded my wildest expectations."

"Thank you my Queen."

Beryl looked at the ball of energy. "But…"

Nephrite didn't rise up from his bow. _Of course._

"… We've proven it fool-proof and effective; we can now raise the quota."

Nephrite looked up. "Raise the quota? Why?"

Beryl dismissed the orb of energy and rubbed her chin. "Remember a while back when I said that Adonis was dead? Well, he's dead and so is his entire operation. Kunzite can't even gather energy like he used to because that Sailor Senshi and her friends are a half-step behind him ruining his operation, and Zoisite is trying to help Kunzite kill that other Senshi."

She adopted a condescending, if relaxed expression. "So yeah, if you could take on the quotas of three generals and meet them by the end of November… that'd be great."

Nephrite recoiled somewhat. "My Queen, I can get the energy I need, six or seven more operations and-"

Beryl smirked before lowering her tablet. "Nephrite, you know how savvy those girls are. You've fooled them three times, but they're catching up, and pretty soon they'll know full well what you're doing… and not just them."

She suddenly swung her hand to the side, smashing a spider that had been crawling on the armrest of her throne.

Nephrite grimaced.

Beryl wiped off the back of her tablet. "You need to work fast, you need to work hard, but above all else… you need to work smart. So get out there, champ and show me what knots you can tie those bitches up in." She then shooed Nephrite away, the tremendous force displaced by her hand buffeting and pushing him back slightly. "Now get out of my sight."

His expression tight, Nephrite quietly vanished from Beryl's throne room. As he left, Beryl returned to watching the stream of the concert on her tablet. When the camera showed a close-up of Kim performing a drum solo, she smirked with pride.

"That's my little cousin…"

* * *

It was hours later, well after midnight, when Usagi opened her bedroom door and crept inside. The rest of the concert and the after party had taken a lot out of her, it was easily the longest she or any of the Senshi remained in their forms but it was worth it. Lives were saved, a youma was defeated, and everyone had a great time.

"I saw the show online, you were amazing out there!" Luna said from the end of Usagi's bed.

Usagi smiled to Luna. "Thanks."

"Artemis and Minako thought so too."

Usagi blinked. "Minako, you mean Sailor V?"

Luna nodded, and Usagi sighed.

"Sailor V's been doing this longer than the rest of us, did she offer any critique?" Usagi asked as she began stripping from her clothes.

"Well, Artemis was impressed that you were able to figure out Nephrite's plan like you were and Minako said that 'Moon Natalie Action' was pretty cool."

Usagi finished buttoning up her pajamas and looked at her animal advisor. "How does she deal with youma, anyway?"

Luna's ears briefly folded back. "Messily."

The more Usagi heard about Sailor Venus, the more she wanted to party with her. "I hope she wraps up that Millennium nonsense soon and comes back, we're going to need all the help we can get." She climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up.

"We will." Luna settled in to go back to sleep, and closed her eyes.

"Get help, or we will need it?"

"Both. Now get to sleep, after a long day like that you must be…"

Usagi was already snoring. Rolling her eyes, Luna moved up to Usagi's side, and curled up alongside her to fall asleep as well.

* * *

_The gunshot echoed across the luscious garden, and then silence fell over it. Her eyes opening cautiously, the Princess sat up, and looked to her Prince, who appeared as bemused by the sound. It wasn't an enemy; they would've fired again by now, wouldn't they?_

_A young woman's laughter then made them freeze, and the lovers turned to find its source standing over them, a young woman in elegant yet very functional attire, twirling a small handgun in her gloved hand. Upon sight, the Princess's eyes narrowed._

"_What's wrong, Rabbit, did I scare you and the Animal King over there?" She asked in a taunting voice._

_Getting up, the Princess hitched her shoulders and began marching straight towards the woman, who lowered her hand and the gun she held. Behind her, the Prince stood and tried to call after her, "Princess, wait…!"_

"_No, let her come, I want to see what the pampered bunny thinks she can do," The woman said smugly._

_The Princess stopped in front of the Gunwoman, her fists clenched. The Gunwoman leaned close. "Well, go ahead, do whatever you think you can, Rabbit."_

_The Gunwoman was rather surprised, when the Princess grinned, cocked back, and punched her straight in the face._

With a jolt, the woman dreaming awoke and looked around groggily. She was lying on the deck of a heavily modified, WWII vintage PT Boat. Shaking her head, she brought a hand to her face and rubbed her nose, it still felt sensitive. "Fuck, did I bump my face on something?"

She looked over to a Japanese man, sitting on the edge of the boat with a line cast into the clear and beautiful ocean, the sandy floor only a few meters below them and teeming with fish. "You know, I had the weirdest dream while I was out."

"You were a pacifist advocate for non-violence and gun control?" The man asked.

He was swiftly kicked in the side, painfully. As he whimpered and rubbed where she struck him, the woman lit up a cigarette and took a drag from it. "It was weird; I can barely remember it now. I was in space, or on the moon or something, and there was this chick… who punched me in the face. I fucking hated her."

Her companion stared at her with a completely baffled look on his face. It was obvious he was looking for words, any words he could possibly say, he finally found them.

"Revy… did you take any strange pills before we set out?"

"Fuck you, Rock."

* * *

Beryl: Your friends are their own people, with their own lives, they come and go, but as much as you are a part of theirs, they are a part of yours.

Nephrite: So respect your friends, or lose them forever.

Zoisite: Or you could just make new friends, rich ones.

Beryl: Shut up. Queen Beryl says! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


	16. City of the Dolls

Disclaimer: A story written by me is dead when _I_ say it's dead, or when they say _I'm_ dead.

**Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon  
**City of the Dolls

_This is not a chapter about barbiturate abuse._

**[15.]**

_Six months ago, an annoyed Shingo watched as his older sister repeatedly kneed a high school student in the stomach in an alley of their affluent neighborhood, each blow lifting him off his feet before she threw him to the ground. As the older boy fell, Usagi turned and drove her fist into the jaw of a second high school kid, dislodging several of his teeth that scattered about as he crumpled to the ground. Stumbling back, the third and last of Usagi's targets raised his hands._

"_Please no! It was just a joke! We were only joking-!"_

_Usagi nodded. "Oh improv! I'm good at that, check out this mean Chuck Norris!"_

_Jumping, she kicked off a telephone pole, and roundhouse kicked the third boy as he tried to turn and run, the force of the blow slamming him against a wall. Landing on her feet, panting loudly, she walked over to the boy she had kneed and kicked him onto his back. "Pretty funny, huh? I was working on that one since you called me."_

_The boy just coughed, and Usagi gave him another swift kick before she leaned down to stare at him. "For my next joke: What did the the idiot who tried to hold a ten year old boy at knifepoint to force his older sister do humiliating things for him and got his shit destroyed forever, say to the girl who destroyed his shit forever?"_

_The boy coughed again. "I-I'm sorry?"_

_Usagi nodded. "Well yes, but that's not the punchline I had in mind."_

_The boy whimpered. "W-what?"_

_Usagi kneeled down and swiftly punched him in his face._

_The boy clutched his face. "My nose! You broke my nose!"_

_Usagi got up. "There it is! Heh heh, get it?"_

_Unceremoniously, she went through the pockets of all three delinquents and quickly absconded with whatever money and valuables they had. "Not a bad haul, but this is definitely not top billing. I'm sticking to the comedy clubs, these street acts are back alley robbery."_

_She grabbed Shingo by the wrist and led him away from the group. Giving them a passing look, he sighed and looked up at his sister. "I don't like being caught up in this kind of stuff, Usagi."_

"_Well unless you start manning up, you're going to keep getting caught up in it," Usagi replied without looking back at him. "Mom paid for self-defense courses for you, and I heard you were really good at it."_

"_And what should I do, beat up everyone who picks on me?"_

_Usagi looked back at him. "Hey, it worked for me."_

"_And how many friends do you have?"_

"_One that matters. How about you?"_

_Shingo yanked his arm from Usagi's grip and stood back. "What if I just don't want that?!"_

_Usagi stopped and looked back at him. "Eh?"_

"_Everyone at my school knows who you are, and they act like I'm some kind of monster too!"_

_Usagi let out a huff. "Then what are you doing about it, you little shit?"_

"_Not what you do!"_

"_And how's that working for you?!" Usagi shouted down at him._

_Shingo recoiled, and then stormed past Usagi. "Better than you! I may have no friends, but at least I don't have one I had to scare into becoming mine!"_

_A kick to the back of his legs brought Shingo down, and Usagi placed a foot on his back._

"_Get off me!" he shouted._

"_If you're content to let people walk all over you, why shouldn't I?" Usagi asked. "The reason you don't have friends is because you don't have the balls to make them! You care too much about what other people think and that makes you an easy target."_

_She ground her heel into his back. "Stop trying to carry the cross like it'll make you the better man, idiot! We dropped that shit miles ago."_

_Usagi removed her foot from his back and began walking. "I'm going back home, call me if you get in anymore trouble."_

_Shingo lay on the ground and took a deep, resigned breath. As he stared at the sidewalk, he heard a car pull up to the curb beside him._

"_Hey kid, are you okay?"_

_He turned his head and looked at Mamoru, who sitting in the driver's seat of a bright red convertible, a Maserati. "I'm okay."_

"_People lying face down in the sidewalk usually aren't okay."_

"_I'm making a political statement."_

_Mamoru folded his arms on the car door and rested his chin on them. "And that would be?"_

"_Older sisters should be outlawed."_

_Mamoru laughed, and Shingo looked away. As he stared at the ground, he heard the car's engine shut off and its driver climb out. As Shingo continued to lie there, he heard Mamoru walk over. Turning back, he found him also laying face down on the sidewalk next to him._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_When more than one person makes a political statement, it becomes a political movement." Mamoru looked over to Shingo and gave him a stupidly cheesy grin and a thumbs-up. "Right, comrade?"_

_Shingo stared blankly at Mamoru._

_Mamoru remained frozen with his thumbs-up and grin._

_It took a minute, but soon Shingo's laughter spilled out of his mouth in a torrent._

* * *

Tightening the grip on his school bag and adjusting the collar of his jacket, a high school student made his way towards the Akihabara train station. He had just finished a long day of studying at a web café, but it was now dark so he was in a hurry to get home and not get robbed.

Ahead of him a group of four girls, also in high school going by their uniforms, talked and laughed among themselves innocuously, and the high schooler boy relaxed. Maybe this part of town wasn't so bad, if high school girls could be so carefree.

His tension eased, he slowed his pace and lowered his guard as he reached and walked past the girls. As he strolled past, unsuspecting, one of the girls suddenly stepped in front of him. Caught by surprise, the boy barely had a chance to apologize before another girl shoved him into the first, sending them both to the ground.

"Hey, what was that for-?" He stopped when he noticed he was lying directly atop the girl he'd been knocked into.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't-"

The girl took a deep breath and promptly screamed as she began punching him. "Help! Get off me!"

Quickly the boy tried to get away from the screaming girl, who grabbed and pulled him back down to hit him several more times. As the two struggled, the third girl of the quartette quickly grabbed his school bag and the bag holding his laptop before getting out of the camera shot the fourth girl took of the struggle. As soon as the flash went off and the picture was taken, the girl punching him finally shoved and kicked him away.

"This kid is loaded, he's got a laptop and cash!" the girl who robbed him declared.

"Quick let's go!" the girl who assaulted him advised as she got up and ran.

"Hey! Give me back my-!"

For his troubles the boy was kicked hard in the crotch by the third girl in the gang, as all four broke into a run.

Looking back the fourth girl laughed. "Don't go snitching or the cops will see the pics of you forcing yourself on my friend, pervert!"

She held up her camera phone mockingly for the horrified high school boy to see just before a projectile knocked it from her hand and sent it falling to the ground.

"What the-?" The girl and her posse stopped when more of the projectiles, white roses, struck the ground in front of them, one of them piercing and destroying the phone.

"Beating up a guy, robbing him, and blackmailing him. High school girls are aggressive."

The girls looked up, following the young voice, and found a boy about ten or eleven, wearing a white suit and tie ensemble with a matching fedora and cape standing on a streetlight. In one hand he twirled a white cane as he looked down on them, his eyes hidden behind a white domino mask.

"Who are you?" The girl leading the gang demanded as the boy dropped down, landing smartly in front of them.

He ignored their question. "I'm only going to tell you once. Give back everything you took and apologize, or the cops see this."

He held up a white camera and flipped the screen for the gang of girls to see themselves initiating their robbery.

The girls all recoiled in disbelief, before the leader pulled out a balisong knife and brandished it. "Give me that camera!"

The masked boy snorted and put away the phone. "You're going to have to do better than that."

She attacked him, whiffed the slash entirely, and pitched forward as the boy tripped her and pushed her down flat onto her face. As she hit the ground, the boy swiftly twirled her balisong closed before he pocketed it inside his white jacket.

"As I was saying, give him back his stuff, or you can try it her way, whichever you want," he said to the other girls.

They responded in kind, quickly rushing to surround and overwhelm him with numbers. To the hapless victim's surprise, the stylishly dressed kid dispatched the girls with the same swiftness and hardly any effort. When it was all over, all four girls were down on the ground, and the boy in white had recovered the older boy's belongings.

"Are you okay? The police are already on their way, they should be able to sort this out," the little vigilante said as he handed the victim back his belongings. Behind him, the leader of the girl gang got up, and pulled a second knife from her jacket pocket.

"I'm fine but-" The older boy grew wide-eyed, "Knife!"

The vigilante in white pointed his cane at the ground in front of the girl and fired a gun hidden inside it, stopping the girl dead in her tracks in front of the bullet hole made in the ground. She looked up and immediately put her hands in the air fearfully as the smoking end of the cane was pointed in her face.

"Never bring one to a gunfight," the vigilante said as he took her knife.

The High Schooler boy was impressed."Wow, that was pretty cool. But…"

He looked down at the kid. "Aren't you a little young to be running around doing the vigilante stuff?"

"I don't know, aren't you a little dumb walking around with over fifty thousand yen worth of electronics at night?" The kid replied as he handed the older boy the memory card from the camera.

The young man coughed. "Good point…" He spared a look at the girl gang laid out around him. The one was still trembling in fear, while the others were unconscious.

He looked back at the boy. "Who are you anyway…?"

The street was empty save for the patrol car approaching the scene. As the boy scratched his head in confusion, the sole conscious yanki girl looked down at where the vigilante shot the ground, and blinked in surprise when she saw a single white rose sprouting out of the hole made by the bullet.

Shingo Tsukino, in his guise as The Moonlight Knight vaulted over a rooftop, springing from the edge to a streetlight. Catching it, he swung himself up into a crouch and surveyed the skyline. He looked up to the top of the nearest building, and saw a tall figure standing with a cape waving dramatically behind him. Adjusting his hat, he leaped from the rooftop and soared, ascending to where Tuxedo Kamen stood, and landed next to him.

"That was a bit aggressive for you," Tuxedo Kamen noted. It had been a while since he'd been taking his protégé out on rounds, and until tonight, he'd been a lot more cautious in dealing with situations solo.

Moonlight Knight frowned. "I didn't hurt any of them too badly."

"I know, you did very good. It's just that this is a surprise from you."

Tuxedo Kamen thought about it for only a moment. "So, what happened?"

"Eh?"

"What happened that's got you finally going a hundred percent?"

Moonlight Knight let out a sigh and sat down on the edge of the roof. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Tuxedo Kamen sat down next to him. "You'd be surprised how much talking about a problem helps."

The boy gave his mentor a reluctant look, but ultimately caved in. "It happened today at school. There's this girl who likes me…"

Tuxedo Kamen was suddenly less enthusiastic. "Oh boy, girl drama."

Moonlight Knight grew offended. "Hey man, I have to deal with the youma going all harem comedy on each other over Jadeite, Motoki and Reika's Mr. and Mrs. Smith act, and I'm sure people would love to hear about the billionaire with the junior high school girlfriend. You were curious so you're going to listen to me complain about my 'girl drama'."

Tuxedo Kamen conceded. "You're right, carry on."

"As I was saying. The girl, Mika, she gave me a gift."

"Oh?"

"Yes, she hand-makes Bisque Dolls." He let out a sigh. "Anyway, she gave one she made to me in front of the entire class, but…"

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "But?"

"The other kids in the class started teasing, and I got angry and I accidentally broke it trying to hand it back to her."

Tuxedo Kamen sighed. "I'll forgive you for bowing to peer pressure and making an entirely foolish gesture because you're still a kid. But you at least apologized, right?"

Tuxedo Kamen shook his head when Moonlight Knight looked down. "I can't forgive that, sorry."

"She started crying in front of everyone, and I just took off. I panicked."

"Well, you'd better go to her and apologize. You're deep in the wrong, and as a man it is your sole duty to bow and beg for forgiveness," Tuxedo Kamen replied.

The boy in white appeared to cringe, and Tuxedo Kamen could see that for whatever reason, he was reluctant to follow that sage advice. "I see it like this; you can apologize to her as soon as possible, or your sister can find out about the injustice you committed and I don't think she'll grant you any quarter."

"I'll apologize to her!" He shook his head. "Besides, Usagi doesn't even know what school I go to. I don't think she's that heavily invested in my social life."

The very next morning, Shingo was awakened from his bed by Usagi delivering an elbow drop to his stomach. Before he could even cry out, Usagi grabbed and tossed him across the room and into the wall, causing him to bounce off it and land in a heap in the middle of the floor. He leaped back up to his feet rather quickly, however.

"What the hell was that for?!" he yelled, more agitated than hurt by the surprise attack.

Usagi folded her arms. "Mika Kayama is a member of the Kamen Raider fanclub I joined a few weeks ago. This morning I check the club BBS and what do I see? Some little asshole who will not be named Shingo Tsukino broke not only a gift she made for him but her heart as well."

Shingo would've blanched in horror at the beating he knew was coming were it not for his surprise. "Wait, you're part of a club?"

Usagi promptly had him in an armlock, which he desperately tried to squirm out of. "This isn't about me! What are you going to do about it? You'd better apologize to her!"

"Fine! I'll apologize! I'll apologize!" he screamed in agony.

Usagi released him and stood up. "Good! You'll do it today too, or I swear to God I'll-"

"You'll what?" Ikuko asked as she loomed over her daughter's shoulder like an evil spirit. "Beat up on your little brother even worse than you are?"

Usagi froze, and let out a nervous laugh. "Um…"

Ikuko grabbed Usagi by her ear and pulled. While it did not appear to do much, Usagi immediately went stiff like a kitten grabbed by the nape of her neck. Shingo winced at the expression of fear and pain on Usagi's face as she struggled to get free of their mother, to no avail. Ikuko looked from her daughter to her son. "Shingo, regardless of how stupidly violent she is, do as your sister says or you'll be in trouble too."

Shingo nodded quickly, fearfully. "Y-yes Mom!"

"Good." Ikuko left the room, leading a very subdued Usagi behind her. "As for you, young lady…"

As his door swung closed, the gut-wrenching terror ebbed from Shingo's system and he bowed his head. Climbing back into his bed, he pulled out his smartphone from under his pillow and looked at his message inbox. There were thirty unread messages since after school. Sighing, he didn't even need to read the messages to know what they all essentially said.

"Bastard," he muttered.

He deleted the messages and looked at the clock. It was Saturday, he had all day to find the courage he needed to apologize to Mika. But first, he needed to sleep off the pain and the guilt… and maybe switch phone numbers again.

* * *

Later that afternoon, as Shingo put on his jacket and left home, Usagi, Naru, and Makoto were gathered in Usagi's room. Usagi was paying the price of exacting justice upon her little brother, she was grounded for the next week. No going out for anything other than school, no family PC privileges (luckily Usagi didn't need it anymore with her supercomputer), no television, no video games, BUT she could have friends over for two hours a day, thus, Naru and Makoto.

"Wow, your Mom actually does put her foot down. I figured she was one of those really bad Moms, no offense," Makoto said in awe of the punishment meted out.

"I'll forgive it because you were kind enough to hang out with me today."

Naru smiled. "Ikuko-mama doesn't play around. When Usagi crosses the line, she punishes her for it swiftly."

Makoto nodded. "My mother was very strict too, but I didn't get in trouble as much as you did." She smiled some. "So, why did you get punished?"

"I beat up Shingo this morning, but he had it coming."

"Why? What did he do?" Naru asked.

"He made a girl who liked him cry."

"He's what, ten now? Pretty soon he's going to be making all the girls cry, you can't hold that against him," Makoto pointed out. While she had no interest in younger boys, especially preteens like Shingo, she acknowledged he was handsome and in a few years he was going to be a chick-magnet like his sister.

Usagi flopped back on her bed, arms folded. "Yeah, except he made this particular girl cry by breaking the gift she made for him right in front of her and their classmates. It doesn't get more inexcusable than that."

Makoto recoiled. "Huh! I'd have hit him myself."

"He didn't even have the nerve to apologize, and pretended like it didn't happen. If it weren't for Mika-chan being in my Kamen Raider Appreciation Club, I never would've found out," Usagi lamented.

Naru and Makoto stared at Usagi in surprise. "You're in a club?"

"Why is everyone surprised at that?" Usagi asked with a tone of annoyance. "It's a club celebrating the greatness and legacy of Kamen Raider, you should be more surprised I _wasn't_ in one."

"I'm sorry, it's just that you and a social function that doesn't involve grievous amounts of bodily harm or property damage are two things I find hard to mesh," Makoto admitted sheepishly.

"That is exactly what I was thinking!" Luna, who was sitting at the end of the bed, said.

"And you rarely do anything without bringing it up with me," Naru added.

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that is out of character for me, huh? Well, I was too excited to actually find people who share my excitement for Kamen Raider that it slipped my mind to tell y'all."

Rolling over onto her stomach, she let out a sigh and rested her chin on her folded arms. Naru immediately sat on Usagi's butt, while Makoto took a seat on her back. Usagi didn't mind it at all, she loved being "Covered in bitches".

"So, is Shingo going to apologize?" Naru asked.

"He'd better if he knows what's good for him," Usagi grumbled. "That girl really likes him, and he's got so few friends as it is."

Makoto felt terrible. "Aw, because you're his sister right?"

Usagi frowned, as Naru became a little solemn as well. "You could say that."

Their change of tone was easily detectable to Makoto. "What do you mean by that?"

"What does that mean? Well, do you want to hear a dark story with a bittersweet ending?" Usagi asked.

* * *

A bus ride away, and Shingo was across the street from Mika's house and grimacing at the size and splendor of the home. His family was very well off, but it was clear from just a first glance that the Kayama family was absolutely wealthy. Oh great, like he needed anymore reason to feel terribly awkward.

"Get ahold of yourself, and just go over there, idiot," he muttered to himself as the bus pulled away. Steeling himself, he walked up to the front gate of the house and took a deep breath before hitting the intercom. _Please let Mika answer it, please let Mika answer it._

"Yes?" It was her mother.

He cursed under his breath. "A-ah… is Mika-chan here? I'm a classmate of hers, Shingo… Osaka. Shingo Osaka."

"Oh, a friend of Mika-chan's? Hold on, I'll let you in." The gate opened, and Shingo sighed in relief while reminding himself to apologize to Naru for appropriating her name. That would be easier than this, at least.

As he walked up the long driveway, he looked up at the ornate western-style home and sighed. _Just go in, apologize, beg for forgiveness, and pretend that the last forty-eight hours never happened._

Stepping up to the front door, he prepared to open it when the door opened and a woman with short dark hair greeted him. Yoshiko Kayama, Mika's mother, smiled kindly. "Hello Shingo-kun, come in and make yourself comfortable. Please don't mind the mess, I'm preparing for an auction next week."

Shingo bowed politely, while struggling to maintain a cheerful facade. "Thank you, Kayama-san."

As Yoshiko headed upstairs, Shingo shuffled his way over to the couch in the living room and had a look around the expensively decorated but extremely cluttered room filled with boxes of dolls and their accesories. Mika's talent in doll making came from her mother, who designed and created beautiful Bisque Dolls and sold them online or at auctions for hefty sums. All of their wealth came from that talent, and many said Mika was already eclipsing her mother, Shingo certainly thought so.

He looked to the side. Over the home's fireplace were numerous awards and pictures, belonging to both Mika and her mother. Right on the mantle were both Yoshiko's Bisque Dolls and Mika's exquisitely crafted creations. Getting up, Shingo walked over to the mantle and hummed in amazement at the dolls before he noticed Yoshiko's diploma for the Tokyo University of the Arts dead center over the mantle. "She went to Geidai, too?"

He looked at the year, and dread overcame him. The year Yoshiko graduated from Geidai was the same as his mother's.

"Ah, Shingo-kun. Mika-chan isn't feeling well, so she won't be taking any visitors today," Yoshiko said as she came back downstairs.

Shingo's heart sank, and he nodded as he turned towards Yoshiko and the door. "I apologize for any inconvenience, Kayama-san."

As he walked to the door. Yoshiko joined him, and rested her hand on the doorknob. She didn't open it, however. When he looked from the door to her face, he gave a start at the intense look she was giving him.

"I know you're Ikuko's son," she revealed.

Found out. Trying not to look like his heart had been ripped out of his chest, and failing, Shingo bowed his head and nodded. "Y-yes."

"You need to stay away from my daughter." She opened the door. "Leave and never come back here."

Shingo didn't protest, he quickly left the house and headed towards the gate, not even bothering to look back as the door closed behind him. As he walked out of the gate, he pulled out his phone. There were another dozen or so unread messages that he quickly deleted.

He then dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. "Hello, Murid. It's me, is the boss around?"

"_He's on a date with Rei-chan. Is something the matter? You sound terrible,"_ the reformed youma replied.

Shingo took a deep breath, and wiped his face. "N-no, just tell him I have to talk to him when he's done." He sniffled, and hoped Murid didn't hear it. "I'm fine don't worry, okay?"

Murid did hear, and she didn't buy Shingo's lie for a moment._ "I'll send him the message. Do you want to come over?"_

"No, I have stuff to do at home," he lied again. "I'll talk to you later."

He ended the call and put his phone away. As he pocketed it, Masato Sanjouin's Bugatti rounded the corner and pulled up to the front gate of the Kayama residence. Shingo watched as the gate opened for the car, until he saw Masato take notice of him. Shingo quickly looked away, and paying it no further mind, Masato pulled up the driveway for the gate to close behind his car.

"What's he doing there?"

* * *

Shingo didn't take the bus back, and with his slow pace it was almost an hour before he made it back home in time to see Makoto and Naru leaving. Naru was giving Usagi a hug, while Makoto appeared distant, as if lost in deep contemplation. When she saw Shingo coming up the path to the steps, her expression lit some.

"Want us to come by tomorrow?" Naru asked.

"Bring Ami too, if you can. I need to copy her notes," Usagi replied as Makoto stepped off the porch to meet Shingo.

"What, are visiting hours already over?" Shingo asked, before Makoto caught him off guard by giving him a surprisingly tight hug. "Eh?"

He wasn't complaining about the hug, though. Of Usagi's recent explosion of friends, he liked Makoto the best. She seemed more mature and level-headed than the others, at the same time he often wondered what kind of person she was really like, or if she knew anything about Usagi at all.

Makoto pulled away and gave him a reserved, caring smile. "If anyone gives you trouble tell me, okay? I'll handle them."

Shingo froze as Makoto waved goodbye to Usagi. When she and Naru left, he quickly followed his older sister into the house. "What did you tell Makoto?"

"The whole story," Usagi casually replied.

Shingo gasped. "You told her _everything?!"_

"Why not? She's not an idiot like most people."

"You've only known her what, a few weeks?"

Usagi stopped at the steps and looked back at him. "So? She's my friend, and she's worried about you. So it's cool."

Shingo hiked his shoulders and glared at her. "It's so easy for you to just say or do whatever, because you don't even care."

Okay, Usagi was changing the subject now. "Did you apologize to Mika?"

"No," Shingo said as he tried to muscle past her. He failed, when Usagi wrapped her arm around his neck in a headlock. "Ah! Let me go!"

"Why didn't you apologize to her?" Usagi asked sweetly.

Shingo squirmed in her grip and tried to elbow her, but she easily resisted. When he wasn't going to get out with force, he grimaced. "Her mom threw me out when she realized who I was. I didn't even get a chance to see her."

"And you just left?" Usagi asked.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Did you at least explain why you were there?"

Shingo fell silent, and Usagi ground her knuckles into his hair. "And this is why you're so miserable lately! What's wrong with you?!"

"Ahh let go!"

"Not until you stop acting like a God damn spineless martyr!"

Ikuko grabbed Usagi by the ear, stopping Shingo's torment and beginning hers. "That's another day grounded, Usagi-chan."

Freed by their mom, Shingo glared back at Usagi, before he headed for the stairs. Held in her grip, Usagi glared back at Ikuko. "Way to ruin my point, Mom."

"Did I beat you into coming out of your shell?" Ikuko asked.

And just like that, Usagi felt like a heel. Her eyes darted to the side. "No…"

Ikuko smiled warmly. "Shingo-kun will come around. After all, you did didn't you?"

Released from her hold. Usagi folded her arms and nodded assent. "Yes, you're right… but you have no idea how frustrating he is."

"I'm your mother, I understand more than you'll ever know."

"Enough to forgive my transgressions and ease my sentence?"

"You're still grounded for another day."

"Damn."

* * *

The weekend went by painfully slow for Shingo afterward. The only respite he received from it at all being a long patrol with Tuxedo Kamen, where he foiled three break ins, a carjacking, and a sexual assault. It was enough to bring him back to a level resembling normal, at least. He was still bitter about his visit to Mika's home, but it was a manageable bitterness.

_I'm just going to be very respectful and apologize to her,_ he reasoned to himself. Then he could pretend they were always strangers and she never put herself through the trouble of trying to be friendly to him.

"Ah Tsukino, are you and Mika-chan still broken up?" Shingo had just finished changing his shoes and was putting away his jacket when he heard the voice. He looked over to see a much bigger kid wearing a perfectly immaculate version of their school uniform, and flanked by a skinny kid with thick glasses, and a short girl with long braids. Tenzo Ito was the son of a Diet Member, extremely bright, class representative of Shingo's classroom, and a popular student who had over eighty percent of the students as his loyal followers who would do anything for him without question.

He also looked down on everyone lower than him as being trash, even his two underlings Shigeru Takagi and Hikari Nagumo, but only outwardly showed his contempt to the likes of Shingo.

"Leave me alone, Ito." Shingo wasn't in the mood to dealing with this.

The three surround Shingo, Shigeru letting out a slimy chuckle as Hikari gave him a haughty sneer. Tenzo took up point, backing him up against his locker. "Since you made Mika-chan cry, we're going to give you a real taste of Hell this time."

Shingo tapped the back of his head against the locker and rolled his eyes. "Just leave me alone, Ito. I'm going to apologize and I don't want to be harassed today." He held up his phone for reference, and the new barrage of unread messages left on it.

Tenzo narrowed his eyes. "Or what, are you going to have your big sister come beat us up?"

"No." Shingo pushed past Tenzo and began down the hallway towards his classroom.

"What, is that freak tired of wiping your ass?" Tenzo called after him.

Shingo ignored it and walked into class, where he found almost every eye in class on him. The other students regarded him with looks ranging from indifferent to cool to downright hateful. The harshest came from a small group of girls near his desk, at the desk directly in front in fact. They were all standing around the only student who did not regard him at all, a sad-looking girl with vibrant auburn hair. She was seated at her desk, drawing a new doll design with a pencil.

She was the only one Shingo was concerned about. "Mika-chan."

He heard the flips and slides of phones being opened around him, followed by machine-gun rapid taps and clicks of messages being sent. Looking around, he saw nearly every student in class with their eyes and fingers glued to their phones.

_Bastard!_

_No one wants you here, die!_

_Freak!_

_Your mother's a whore!_

_Pervert!_

_Criminal!_

_American Redneck!_

Shingo sighed and glanced back at Tenzo and his lackeys as they followed him in. The fat jerk had his phone out and was rattling off a text one-handed while giving him a smug, self-satisfied grin.

His phone buzzed again, and he looked at the message.

_Go kill yourself, Tsukino._

Muted laughter from Hikari and Shigeru returned his gaze to Tenzo, who was showing off his message to other kids.

Ignoring them, he walked over to her desk. "Mika-chan…"

She looked up at him, her expression becoming somewhat expectant. "Yes?"

The mood changed almost instantly from one of cruel mockery to outright malice, as a girl picked up a book and threw it at him. Seeing it hurtle towards him out the corner of his eye, Shingo turned and caught the book out of the air. No one was impressed by the display of reflex.

"Leave Mika-chan alone!" the same girl shouted at him.

A boy joined in. "Scum like you doesn't deserve to even breathe the same air as her, much less talk to her!"

Other kids began throwing their books, balled up papers, and writing utensils at Shingo while Tenzo let out laugh. "Just take what you deserve, idiot! Freak!"

As Shingo moved away from Mika and used the book he caught to defend himself from the other projectiles, Mika stared down at her pencil, her grip tightening until it finally broke in her hand.

Movement out the corner of his eye alerted Shingo, and he looked out the window as a blue and white figure drifted down from the sky and landed on the grass outside the window with a slight slide forward. The other kids noticed it too, and the barrage of bullying stopped as everyone began to stare in disbelief at it.

Shingo blinked several times. Being an avid watcher of children's television shows, there was no mistaking the six foot tall Gundam standing in the schoolyard. The other kids recognized it as well.

"Look, it's Exia!" a boy shouted.

"Is it some kind of cosplay?" Another asked.

Tenzo tilted his head. "It doesn't look like a costume."

It didn't Shingo realized as the Gundam suddenly unfolded its weapon, a large sword mounted on its right arm, and pointed it at the school. Its green eyes flashed brightly, it began to emit green particles of light from its back.

Shingo immediately reacted, grabbing Mika and pulling her behind him as he moved back from the window. "Everyone get back!"

Rushing forward, Exia burst through the window as the students scattered. Stumbling backward over a desk, Shingo pulled out his cellphone and quickly dialed a number as Exia stood up and slowly looked around the room. It immediately focused on Tenzo.

"Exia, objective identified," the Gundam spoke.

Tenzo recoiled in fright. "W-what?"

Exia raised its blade, the GN Sword. "Determining that Tenzo Ito is a cause of suffering."

The boy grew pale. "I… I didn't do anything!"

"Exia will dispatch the target."

Exia lunged for Tenzo, smashing through every desk in its path as it raised its sword to cut through the rotund youth. At the last possible second, Shingo tackled Tenzo out of the way of the attacking Gundam. There was a shearing noise and the class rep looked up in horror at the GN Blade embedded in the wall of the classroom.

Out in the hallway, the class's teacher, on her way to start the class, fell back on her rear in shock as she stared at the blade sticking out of the wall before the human-sized Gundam withdrew it and turned around to look back towards Tenzo.

_Get here, get here, get here,_ Shingo thought to himself as he positioned himself between Tenzo and Exia. "Attacking a little kid, what's wrong with you?!"

"All sources of of suffering must be eliminated."

Shingo glared at the Gundam. "Have you considered that killing this kid is only going to cause more suffering?!"

"No," Exia replied before it grabbed Shingo and shoved him aside.

Hitting the floor, Shingo quickly sat up as it walked towards the other terrified student.

"This kid–Tenzo Ito–is not even human!" Exia lunged to attack again, but was stopped by a pressure wave that launched him back out the broken window he came in.

As the other students were buffeted by the wave's displaced air, Shingo looked towards the source of the pressure wave. There was a man leaning against the wall where Exia's sword went in, wearing a custom black suit and jacket combo, with a bright red tie, a white-trimmed fedora pulled down over his eyes, and a long white scarf draped haphazardly over his shoulders.

Shingo sagged in relief. Jadeite and his Dark General powers was a Godsend.

"Is everyone all right?" Jadeite asked calmly.

"Yeah, but that thing's after the kids!" Shingo quickly said.

"Then I'll handle it." Jadeite tilted his hat up and looked to the teacher, who had slammed open the door. "Evacuate your students someplace safe, but do _not_ take them outside."

With that, he teleported, appearing outside and unleashing another pressure blast that buffeted and then threw Exia backwards into the wall surrounding the school. Setting foot on the ground, he grabbed and adjusted his scarf before pointing one of his black gloved hands at Gundam.

"Take another step towards these children, and I promise I will kill you."

Exia pushed itself from the wall and stepped towards Jadeite. "Any obstacles defending the target will be-"

The next blast was far more focused, and reduced the top half of Exia's torso to mush with the consistency of chunky salsa, which splattered all over the crater in the wall made by the Gundam's body.

"I promised." Jadeite lowered his hand, and narrowed his eyes at the mess left behind by the attacker's body. Those definitely weren't human remains splattered all over the wall, or youma for that matter. It looked like melted plastic of all things.

The plastic bubbled before it suddenly leaped back to the lower half of the Gundam's ruined body. It struggled to reform itself before simply electing to take on a more monstrous shape with with a maw of razor-sharp teeth and long arms that ended in long serrated claws.

Jadeite snorted. "Are you trying to impress me?"

The monster lunged, and missed Jadeite by feet as he teleported into the air and then battered it with numerous weak energy blasts that beat it into the ground. As the monster attempted to stand up under the assault, Jadeite unleashed a much larger blast that completely liquified it.

"Durable trash, but trash nevertheless."

Four long red streamers of the plastic goop erupted from the puddle, sharpening into blades as they extended towards Jadeite. Deflecting the first two with weak pulses of energy, he physically deflected the third with an open palm before tilting his head back to avoid the fourth, which managed to only knock off his hat.

Looking down at the reforming monster, Jadeite's gaze lifted upward before he disappeared and reappeared on the ground with his back to the monster. The monster growled as it recovered its mass, and transformed into an even more monstrous form, barely resembling its original form and now taking the shape of a spike-covered horror.

"I will destroy the distortion!" it roared as Jadeite pulled his gloves tight to his hands.

Jadeite said "No, Gundam. You are the distortion."

He reached up and caught his falling hat just as Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Thunder crashed down onto the monster, which let out a final roar as it was reduced to ash almost instantly. As the blinding flash faded, Jadeite turned to find Sailor Jupiter standing over the now inert pile of burning ash. "Thank you, Sailor Jupiter."

"That wasn't even a full power burst," Jupiter noted. "Definitely not a youma, what was it?"

"That was a golem," Jadeite replied.

Sailor Jupiter looked from the ash pile to Jadeite in surprise. "Golem?"

"A construct created from unformed, lifeless material. In this case, plastic. This one was sculpted to look like a Gundam and kill those kids for whatever reason," Jadeite said as he looked back towards the damaged school.

Sailor Jupiter recoiled. "You're not serious! Is anyone hurt?"

"No, everyone got out safe with just some minor cuts and scrapes," The Moonlight Knight said as he arrived on the scene. Seeing him, Sailor Jupiter frowned.

"Who's the kid?" She asked.

The boy tipped his hat to Sailor Jupiter. "The Moonlight Knight, member of Tuxedo Kamen's Masquerade, at your service."

Sailor Jupiter nodded back to Moonlight Knight, and out of respect to the situation at hand decided to not ask where The Masquerade got a kid from. "So what exactly happened? All I got was a call from Luna to get here as fast as I could."

"This thing shows up wanting to kill a student. We arrived on the scene in time to stop it," Moonlight Knight said.

That was convenient, but again she respected the gravity of the situation. "If someone made this thing, there's bound to be more out there."

"It's definitely not Nephrite's work, I'm not sure if this is even Dark Kingdom work, it wasn't after energy at all," Jadeite said.

"Then what was it after?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"Tenzo Ito, a kid whose only crime is being a dumb kid," Moonlight Knight replied.

Moonlight Knight looked back towards the school and the other students watching from the windows.

"You should alert the other Senshi. We'll try to gather some clues here, get out of here before the Police show up," Jadeite advised.

Sailor Jupiter nodded in understanding. "Call Luna for when and where you want to meet."

With that, she leaped off to the roof of another building and took off back towards her civilian life. As she left, Jadeite gave Moonlight Knight a pointed look. "We have a lead, at least."

"I hope so," the boy replied.

Emergency personnel began spilling into the school from nearly every entrance. Seeing this, Jadeite decided it was time to go. "Let's regroup then."

He placed his hand on Moonlight Knight's shoulder and both teleported away.

* * *

"What."

Contrary to her nutty and lascivious nature, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and especially Naru all enjoyed being in Usagi's company as often as they could. They liked her, she was their friend and there was never a dull moment when she was around. However, with this meeting of the Senshi regarding the attack earlier in the day, they found that rare moment where they did not want to be anywhere near her and were thankful they were not.

They had expected her to throw a conniption fit, to start breaking things, or to just generally explode when Makoto revealed that a monster that looked like a Gundam had attacked a bunch of kids in her little brother's class. Instead Usagi just sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at her supercomputer, and devoid of any outward reaction.

"Jadeite said it was a golem, a puppet created by someone or something to carry out a task." Makoto was grim as she was tense explaining it. She knew Usagi's lack of reaction from experiencing it her own on several occasions.

Usagi flopped onto her back, as if she had been slugged in the chin. "And its task was to kill this kid." She sat up. "That's not how the Dark Kingdom rolls."

"Maybe he has something they want?" Rei suggested.

"Then they would've taken it and not gone through such a weak effort," Makoto noted. "This is something else entirely. Who knows, it could've just been a one-off thing."

Usagi tapped her finger against the side of her head. "Or it could be just the beginning of something, and another golem is on the way somewhere." She pounded her fist into her palm. "Stay alert girls, if whoever went after the kid really wants him dead, they'll attack again."

"Usagi, do you have people upstairs?" Ikuko called from downstairs.

"No, Mom! I'm just talking to myself like a crazy person!" Usagi called back.

"Cut it out."

"Okay!" Usagi looked back to her friends. "Keep me posted via text, I gotta go."

"Right, sorry," Rei said quietly as she went to end the call.

Makoto stopped her. "Wait Usagi-chan, how is Shingo doing?"

Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "He's not in shock if that's your concern; his Sugar Daddy should be along to pick him up soon. The bald bastard will probably spoil him with some video games or wine or something and he'll forget the whole thing ever happened."

"That's pretty nice of Mamoru, though. You have to admit," Rei protested. "Except for the wine part! He's not that kind of pervert!"

Naru raised an eyebrow at Rei, while Ami chuckled at "that kind of pervert."

Usagi nodded assent, to everyone's surprise. "It is nice of him; Shingo and I, there are barriers between us you know? I love him, he's my little brother, but I'm too crazy for him. He needs a cool big brother more than a crazy big sister, especially after something like this. So, I'm grateful for him doing that much."

Makoto smiled sadly. "All right. We'll come over tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, it's getting too cold to hang out and talk turkey during lunch," Usagi lamented. "Curse this Fall weather. Later girls."

The call ended with an exchange of farewells and Usagi laid back on the bed. Luna jumped onto the bed and padded over to her side. "The only hope for the planet, grounded. It's a good thing the others are so good at what they do, or we'd be in trouble because of your impulses."

"Bear in mind that I am still an impulsive and emotional teenaged girl."

"Yes, that means you'd better avoid being grounded like this in the future; the fate of all life on Earth depends on you to be able to freely move about." Luna really didn't want to lecture her, and judging by Usagi's suddenly tired expression, she didn't want to be lectured to.

Usagi closed her eyes. "Shingo needs some sense knocked into him. Letting people hate him and martyring himself won't make life easier for him. He's gotta stand up and be better than that."

Luna's ears folded back and she gave Usagi a half-lidded look. "Like you?"

"Precisely like me."

"That's dubious."

"He can choose to be mocked and hated to his face by people who he doesn't even know, or he can break a few faces and be quietly talked about behind his back like every other Japanese person."

Luna hopped up on Usagi's chest. "That doesn't matter if he already knows everyone hates him. That'll just mean more people will have an excuse."

Usagi opened her eyes and started petting the Mau. "People have had an excuse to hate Shingo from the moment he was born."

The doorbell rang, and Usagi set Luna aside. "That would be baldy, I should go harass him."

"Sexually, I'm sure," Luna taunted after Usagi as she got up. Usagi flipped the Mau off as she headed out the door and down the stairs.

"I'll get the door, Mama!" Usagi called.

"Not one step over the threshold or it's another day grounded," Ikuko warned from the kitchen. "And don't think I won't know!"

"Fine!" Usagi opened the door, and there was Mamoru.

"Bastard," she curtly greeted

"Psychopath," he tersely replied.

Usagi leaned back to call into the house. "Shingo! That asshole you hang out with is here!"

"You know, you can try all you like, but you won't get a rise out of me," Mamoru coolly pointed out.

She turned her attention back to him. "Is that what you think this is?"

Mamoru smiled a bit. "It's what I know it is."

Out of respect for Rei, Usagi refrained from dragging him into the house, beating him up, and then making out with him. "You smug, confident, jerk."

"Does that mean I'm right?"

"I didn't say you were."

Placing one hand on the doorway, Mamoru leaned forward, and made his towering height over Usagi all the more apparent. "I think it's cute you try, though."

A reddish tint appeared on Usagi's cheeks, before she grabbed his face and shoved him back. "Shingo!"

"I'm coming, hang on," Shingo groused back as he walked up to the door. "Hey, Mamoru."

Mamoru smirked at Usagi, before looking to Shingo. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Shingo said before he called to his Mom. "I'm leaving, Mom!"

"Okay, see you tomorrow sweetie!" Ikuko called from the kitchen. "If he gives you any trouble don't hesitate to bring him back home, Mamoru-san."

"He's never any trouble, sometimes I wish Dango-head could be as well-behaved," Mamoru called back as Shingo walked past.

"You can leave now!" Usagi growled as she shoved Mamoru back.

"That's another day!" Ikuko warned.

Usagi stopped and looked down, one foot was indeed beyond the threshold. "Damn it."

"Think of it as an opportunity to reflect," Mamoru teased as he turned to follow Shingo. "I do miss having you around, though. So try to be good?"

The flush brightening as she glowered at him, Usagi huffed. "I'll think about it as another day without having to see your face, you bastard!"

She slammed the door, and Shingo shook his head. "Only around you, she gets like this."

"So I've heard, it's great." Mamoru and Shingo climbed into the car, and the moment it started, the former got serious. "Are you okay?"

They pulled off from the curb, as Shingo sank into his seat. "I'm feeling better, thanks. Jadeite and Sailor Jupiter saved everyone back there, I couldn't really do anything."

"The only choice you had was to stand your ground or run off and leave people to get hurt. You did the right thing delaying that golem even for a second," Mamoru replied. "If you hadn't acted at all, someone would've died."

Shingo slowly nodded. "I probably would've been able to handle the monster by myself if I had a chance to transform."

"I know, but you did fine without it. Think about what is more important for the situation at hand, whether The Moonlight Knight is needed, or Shingo Tsukino."

Shingo sat back in his seat and watched the buildings pass them by as they drove towards the hideout. Glancing towards him, Mamoru smiled some.

"Besides," he said, "You threw yourself in harm's way to save some fat asshole who hated you, without even thinking about it. What would've looked better, that or you running away for Moonlight Knight to show up?"

Shingo hummed at that.

Mamoru's phone then began ringing loudly. He quickly drew it from his pocket. "What's going on?"

"Hey, Tuxy!" It was Motoki, currently under his guise of Speakeasy. "We're done talking with the Ito kid's Dad."

That came as a surprise. "Already?"

"It wasn't too hard to find him, his office is literally across the road from the hideout."

"Okay, what did you find out?"

"Nothing of any particular use to us. The only enemies Tenzo Ito has are his classmates; his father acknowledged his son was a spoiled brat who liked to throw around that his old man was in the Diet, but no one would go after his son over him far as he could tell."

Mamoru frowned. "That's all?"

"Unfortunately yes, we had Murid hypnotize him and everything to get as much info as we could." Indeed, on the other end of the line Speakeasy and Flapper Girl were standing to the side as Murid continued to wave her hypnotic mist around Tenzo's equally overweight father.

"Well, this wasn't going to be solved overnight," Mamoru lamented.

Shingo looked out his window at the intersection Mamoru pulled to a stop at, and his gaze immediately focused on an unusual sight literally flying up the adjacent street. It was a pair of young girls, probably nine or ten years old. One, a reddish brown-haired girl, wore a mostly white dress, while the other was a blonde-haired girl in mostly black.

Shingo blinked several times, and shook his head. "… Oh no…"

"What?" Mamoru asked before he followed Shingo's gaze and watched the two girls cross the street in front of them. "Okay."

"What is it?" Speakeasy asked.

"Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa just flew by us," Mamoru said as he drew a rose from inside his coat.

Speakeasy hesitated for all of a moment to let that sink in. "Wait… what?!"

* * *

Flying at streetlight height and ignoring the commotion they were creating below, Nanoha and Fate looked to one another and then ahead as they approached their destination, nearby Chiyoda City. In their hands, their staves Raising Heart Excelion and Bardiche Assault were tightly held and ready for what awaited them… and any diversion along the way.

"_Protection,"_ Raising Heart suddenly spoke.

"_Defenser!"_ Bardiche shouted simultaneously.

Both girls stopped as Nanoha's pink and Fate's yellow barrier stopped Tuxedo Kamen and Moonlight Knight's respective roses from striking the girls directly. Fate looked up to the her right, and spotted Moonlight Knight standing on the edge of a tall building's roof, while Tuxedo Kamen stood on the cellphone tower of another building to Nanoha's left.

"I wish this was some kind of joke." Tuxedo Kamen was not happy about this. Under any other circumstances, his favorite fictional magical girls running around in real life would normally have him acting like a the biggest fanboy. But after this morning…

"Why did you attack us?" Nanoha asked.

Fate glowered cooly at Moonlight Knight as she moved a bit closer to Nanoha.

Hearing Nanoha's voice, Tuxedo Kamen hesitated slightly.

"Don't get suckered, they're golems!" Moonlight Knight warned.

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "I know that… it just pisses me off more that someone would create golems out of these two!"

Nanoha looked confused. "Golems?"

Tuxedo Kamen took advantage of Nanoha's hesitation, quickly closing the distance between himself and the girl and quickly drawing his cane sword to slash her. At the last moment, Fate rounded Nanoha and blocked the slash with Bardiche before swinging back against the sword and shoviing Tuxedo Kamen back.

"Nanoha-chan, I'll hold them off, we can't waste time here!" Fate advised.

Nanoha looked to her friend and nodded. "Right, be careful Fate-chan!"

"_Accel Shooter,"_ Raising Heart spoke.

"_Plasma Lancer,"_ Bardiche toned.

Orbs of light appeared around Nanoha as several arrow-shaped bolts materialized in front of Fate, aimed at Moonlight Knight. Both girls then called out their commands.

"Shoot!"

"Fire!"

Tuxedo Kamen took off, shooting upward like a rocket to avoid the homing energy beams. Moonlight Knight shot left, avoiding the Plasma Lancers at first.

Hefting Bardiche in her tightened grip, Fate shot off after him. "Turn!"

The Lancers stopped and reacquired Moonlight Knight, before accelerating towards him. At the last second, he dove beneath them and looped upward towards the sky as the bolts changed direction again at her command to turn.

"I don't believe this…!" Moonlight Knight growled as he suddenly produced his white cane, spun it, and pointed its end down at the approaching projectiles. Gunfire erupted from the end of the cane, sending rounds into the bolts and causing them to explode. Spinning the cane again, he blocked Bardiche as Fate swung it like an axe for his chest.

Tuxedo Kamen was equally unnerved by these two, as he threw several roses to counter the Accel Shooter bolts. "These things even have their powers!"

As the bolts dispersed, he spotted that Nanoha rushing away as fast as she could. "Oh no you don't!"

Breaking Fate's block, Moonlight Knight fired his cane twice more at the girl, her Defenser barrier blocking both shots. As he withdrew from her, a cylinder in the cane swung out and ejected six spent cartridges, before Moonlight Knight produced a speed-loader with six more rounds ready and loaded them in.

"Who would've thought of this? The first monster I fight and it's a copy of the same thing that inspired my cane."

As he snapped the cylinder back inside the cane, Fate swung at him and forced him to block again. The force of the blow caused him to grit his teeth, but he endured it. "Who sent you, what are you after?!"

Fate frowned. "If you don't know that, why are you attacking us?!"

Breaking away from one another, Moonlight Knight and Fate spiraled around one another higher into the sky, passing close enough for one another to cross cane and staff before breaking off to attack at range.

Defenser blocked Moonlight Knight's cane gunfire as Fate repressed her frustration. "Load cartridge!"

"_Load cartridge,"_ Bardiche repeated before a piston on the staff fired twice and the yellow gem at the end of it began to glow. _"Halberd."_

Raising the weapon above her head Fate charged Moonlight Knight as Bardiche changed configuration and ignited a bright yellow energy blade, evoking the image of a pole axe.

Letting out a "Tch" Moonlight Knight narrowly avoided a slash and put distance between himself and Fate. He had to end this fast, he wasn't too keen to find out how accurate these recreations were.

_Of course, with a fight this crazy it's only a matter of time…_

Only just barely crossing from Minato into Chiyoda, Nanoha stopped and used Raising Heart's Protector spell to block a powerful blow from Tuxedo Kamen's cane, the force of the strike knocking her into a billboard atop one of the buildings that flanked the thoroughfare below. Dazed by the force of the blow momentarily, Nanoha looked up at Tuxedo Kamen.

"Why are you attacking us? I don't understand!" she pleaded with Tuxedo Kamen.

Tuxedo Kamen scowled at her, suppressing everything that even remotely hinted at trying to convince or hear her out. He only wanted answers. "Who sent you and what is your reason for being here?"

Luckily he was dealing with Nanoha, who was never above talking out a conflict. "We were sent by the Time-Space Administration Bureau, to apprehend a powerful rogue Mage, Kenji Tsukino. Please try to understand we're not your enemy, and we're not trying to hurt anyone!"

Tuxedo Kamen glanced back towards the flashes of light where Moonlight Knight was dueling Fate, and then returned his gaze to Nanoha. Well, that dismissed any remote possibility that these weren't golems. Gripping his cane in both hands, he shot straight for Nanoha, who grew wide-eyed with surprise at the speed of his closure.

On the street below, pedestrians and police who quickly joined the chase stared up at the explosion that erupted from the building's rooftop, and the beams of light that shot from the smoke. Ascending from the top of the smoke cloud, Tuxedo Kamen resheathed his cane sword as Nanoha ascended with him.

She again tried to reason with him. "I don't want to fight you if we don't have a reason to!"

"You really ought to shut up." Tuxedo Kamen drew from inside his suit jacket five roses and then tossed them out into the air. The five roses oriented themselves in the air and aimed stem first at Nanoha, before becoming red rays of light that shot at her at high speed.

"_Protection,"_ Raising Heart spoke before the roses impacted with its barrier, each hit knocking Nanoha further back across the sky.

"I don't understand." Nanoha wished she could decipher this man's hostility.

"_Behind you, my Master!"_ Raising Heart warned.

Quickly Nanoha raised her fist behind her, and sparks flew as Tuxedo Kamen's sword struck against it. "Please…!"

"_Load Cartridge."_

A burst of magic buffeted and threw Tuxedo Kamen backward and into the sky. As he recovered, he saw Nanoha standing atop a platform of magical symbols and aiming Raising Heart at him.

"Oh fuck."

"At least just tell me…!" Nanoha called out.

"_Divine."_

"… Why we have to fight!"

"_Buster."_

* * *

Landing on a broad rooftop, Moonlight Knight looked at the cuts and scorch marks on the sleeves and shoulders of his white suit and sighed in annoyance. He looked up at Fate, who landed and extinguished Bardiche's energy blade.

"For people who ask a lot of questions, you don't seem to care about any answers you get," Fate said as she kept her distance and stayed on her guard.

Moonlight Knight opened his cane's cylinder, ejected the cartridges, and produced another speed-loader to reload it. "Because you won't tell us the truth. That all is irrelevant though, you're here to hurt someone, maybe even kill them, and I'm going to stop you."

He gave the cane a quick twist, snapping the cylinder back into position, and spun it quickly to aim at Fate. "So dispense with the talking, unless you're going to tell us who really sent you."

Fate narrowed her eyes and similarly reloaded Bardiche, complete with twisting the staff to replace the cylinder.

"_Load cartridge."_

She broke into a run for Moonlight Knight, the cartridge system firing three times as she closed in.

Moonlight Knight aimed and fired several times at Fate's face, the rounds blocked by blur-like swings of Bardiche.

"_Zanber."_

Swinging the transforming Bardiche to block another round, Fate swung once more as the fully transformed staff ignited a blade taller than two of her.

Moonlight Knight did not hesitate, and jumped over her horizontal slash. As she raised and swung down a vertical blow, he got in close and blocked the energy blade by stopping the hilt of Bardiche.

She was much stronger with more magic flowing through her, but Moonlight Knight held his ground as their weapons scraped and sparked against one another.

"You're strong," Fate admitted as she tried to push the masked boy in white to his knee, and met only immovable resistance. When he tried to push back, she dug in and felt her footing slip slightly.

"If there is one thing I can do right…" Moonlight Knight growled back as he felt Fate slide back further. "It's be strong!"

Before he could force Fate to her knee, the flash of Nanoha's Divine Buster distracted him just long enough for Fate to lift up her foot and kick him as hard as she could, launching him off the edge of the roof and towards another building.

As he went backward, he smirked. "But what I do best is be sneaky."

Fate went wide eyed before she noticed white roses blooming in the sides of Bardiche, where all the bullets she deflected had hit the weapon. When the last rose opened, all of them gave off a bright glow and exploded, the concussive force throwing Fate off the opposite edge.

Turning over, Moonlight Knight let the wind catch in his cape and soared off straight for the beam that flickered into the evening sky. "You had better be alive. Getting killed by Chinese Bootleg Magical Girls is not the way I want to remember you!"

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen was in fact very much alive, intact, and angry as he knelt on a roof clutching his cane. His cape and top hat had not survived the Divine Buster blast he had narrowly avoided, however.

"So, this is Vita's anger," he muttered. He liked his hat and cape, and regenerating both would take a while.

Seeing him hatless and capeless, Nanoha immediately recalled the very same anger. "I'm sorry about your hat!"

Tuxedo Kamen was not made of stone, try as he might. From the very first episode he was a big fan of the girl the golem was based, and it being completely identical to her in even her gentle and compassionate personality was breaking his heart and making him want to especially kill her creator.

_I cannot let this distract me, I have to end it now before I start trying to convince myself that she can be made real._

He stood up, as a smoky golden light began to appear around his right hand. _I guess I'll have to win by brute force._

Nanoha blinked when Tuxedo Kamen gripped his right forearm as the glow began to intensify. "What?"

"_Master, there is a powerful magic!"_ Raising Heart warned.

Before she could respond to that threat, another fell upon her from above, and she narrowly blocked Moonlight Knight's cane as he swung it down upon her head. Two more strikes shoved her downward before she broke away from him.

Tuxedo Kamen swore as his partner suddenly fell into his shot, and banished the glow around his hand. As he jumped to join into the fight, a yellow-trailing blur shot past him and straight for Moonlight Knight. "Moonlight Knight, look out!"

Spotting Fate approach, Moonlight Knight aimed and fired his cane at her, only to miss as she rolled out out the path of the bullets.

"_Load cartridge. Sonic Form."_ With Bardiche's words, Fate's outfit transformed, the skirt and stockings vanishing as her top transformed into an athletic track suit and shorts combination. When Moonlight Knight swung at her, his cane went through a trail of afterimages as Fate swiftly circled around to his back.

"Crap!" Moonlight Knight said as he looked back at Fate, who raised and swung down Bardiche to club him atop his head.

A great torrent of flames that shot down between Fate and Moonlight Knight put an end right to that. Pushed forward by their heat and intensity, Moonlight Knight looked up and towards the source of the flames with a smile on his face.

"A wise man once taught," Sailor Mars said from where she stood, in front of a flashing billboard surrounded by her cawing and flapping crows, "That the only way to defeat a Golem… is to burn it!"

"Sailor Mars!" Moonlight Knight and Tuxedo Kamen both exclaimed.

"_S-Sir…"_

Moonlight Knight looked back, and recoiled in fright when he saw what the flames had done to Fate. Bardiche was badly melted and bubbling, as were Fate's arms from the elbows down as she stared in horror at the damage done to her body.

Her eyes wide, she shook her head as she watched Bardiche fall apart into a rapidly cooling, warped pieces of modeler's plastic. "W-what is this…?"

Moonlight Knight stared at Fate, and the look of fright and disbelief across her face, before he realized just how exact these golems were.

Sailor Mars jumped from the rooftop, spun through the air, and brought her hands together. "Mars Fire Soul!"

Paralyzed as she was, Fate stood no chance as the flames engulfed and rapidly consumed her, melting her down before evaporating the liquefied plastic away.

Sailor Mars fell to the rooftop Tuxedo Kamen stood upon, landing neatly in a crouch. She looked over to him. "I made it in time! Are you guys okay?"

Tuxedo Kamen was staring at the sky. "Not for long."

Sailor Mars blinked. "Not for long, why?"

The sky lit up into a very bright shade of pink. Jumping at the sudden change in the sky, Sailor Mars looked over towards the light and blinked. "… What's happening now?"

The glow was coming from Nanoha and the large orb of energy hovering in front of her. The golem's eyes were blank and pouring tears as she looked at the bits of ash and dust that were all that's left of Fate. "Fate-chan…"

Even as she was grieving, she was loading cartridge after cartridge into Raising Heart, changing magazines to continue raising her magical output.

Sailor Mars gulped. "I… I never watched this show… what's she about to do and how do I stop it?!"

Tuxedo Kamen looked to her. "Attack her, full power!

Sailor Mars complied, and put her hands together. "Mars Fire Soul!"

The torrent of fire surged out at Nanoha much like it did Fate, but before it could reach her it dissipated against the barrier around her, and the ball of light grew brighter. Around them and in the streets below, streetlights and even the headlights of cars began to shut off.

Tuxedo Kamen grimaced. "It's that attack… it's just going to absorb energy in the surrounding area before she fires it!"

He, Sailor Mars, and Moonlight Knight attempted to move back, but found themselves held in place by rings of light around their wrists and ankles. Tuxedo Kamen swore. "A bind spell… she's going to make sure we don't get away!"

Raising Heart announced her successful mode change. _"Starlight Breaker."_

Nanoha lowered the weapon, aiming it at Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mars. "I won't let you… I won't let you get away for killing Fate-chan! STARLIGHT… BREA-!"

Her voice caught in her throat, and the bright glow became unstable before it suddenly dispersed harmlessly. Stock still, Nanoha tried to move, but her body felt like it was stiff, frozen. "… K… kkeh…"

The bonds seizing the three suddenly faded. Directly behind her, Sailor Mercury had both her hands jammed into Nanoha's back, as her ice cold mist began to swirl around the golem, freezing her solid from head to toe. Her eyes closed behind the Mercury computer's visor, Sailor Mercury took no joy in what she was about to do.

"I'm so sorry, Nanoha-chan," she said softly to the frozen golem, before she wrenched her in half down the middle. Holding the two halves of frozen plastic shaped like Nanoha apart at arm's length, Sailor Mercury quickly brought them back together with tremendous force, shattering Nanoha and Raising Heart into hundreds of pieces.

Seeing Nanoha break and Sailor Mercury fall away, Sailor Mars wasted no time and unleashed another Fire Soul, incinerating the chunks of plastic into harmless ash that blew away with the wind.

Moonlight Knight, still shaken by what happened up there landed along with Sailor Mercury. "Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury… thanks…"

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "Your timing is always fantastic."

"I'm just glad we got here in time," Sailor Mars said before she looked to Sailor Mercury, who was analyzing a piece of plastic she had recovered from Nanoha.

Tuxedo Kamen looked to Moonlight Knight. "You were amazing up there as well, Moonlight Knight."

"Y-yeah thanks," he replied rigidly.

Tuxedo Kamen frowned a bit, before he looked over to Sailor Mercury. "Any clues?"

"Well it's weird," Sailor Mercury said. "This is plastic, like Jadeite said."

Sailor Mars was surprised. "Really?"

"A specific type, too. It's the stuff used to make Gunpla and action figures."

"It's like that then, golem maker is making action figures and model kits come to life, and gives them their abilities, too," Tuxedo Kamen said.

At the very idea, Sailor Mars grew horrified. "This could get bad very fast! What if they make a Goku golem, or a Sagittarius Seiya golem, or a Kamina golem?!"

Sailor Mercury huffed. "Kamina sucks, we'd kill him in a second."

"Did you find out why they were here? I got nothing from Fate," Moonlight Knight asked Tuxedo Kamen.

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "She said the TSAB assigned them to apprehend someone named Kenji Tsukino, a rogue wizard."

It took everything Moonlight Knight had to not react to that name. Sailor Mercury was as cool as Tuxedo Kamen, while Sailor Mars bit her lower lip as she quietly looked back and forth nervously.

Already, Sailor Mercury was gathering information on the man. "He's a journalist at the Daily News, which isn't far from here. He's got no criminal record or has been involved in any unlawful activities… aside from some citations from over ten years ago…" Sailor Mercury scrolled through the list of citations. "… A lot of citations…" Her eyes grew wide and a blush covered her face as the list kept going. "… Oh w-wow."

"Is there any connection to the first victim?" Moonlight Knight snapped at her.

She quickly compared the names of the two would-be victims and found a connection. "He's the father of one of Tenzo Ito's classmates, and that's about the only tenuous connection between them."

She clapped her hands together. "Well! We have a lead at least, right?"

"That's right," Tuxedo Kamen replied.

_Why does this feel so awkward?_ Both wondered.

A spotlight illuminated the roof and the four looked up at the police helicopter now circling overhead. Tuxedo Kamen shook his head. "You know, the longer we stay here…"

"Yes, we should be going," Sailor Mercury said. "Contact Luna if you can find anything new, I'll be working on our end!"

"It pains me that we have to constantly part ways under these circumstances," Tuxedo Kamen said before the two teams of heroes quickly vacated the roof and escaped the oncoming police presence.

* * *

It didn't take long for Tuxedo Kamen and Moonlight Knight to evade their pursuers and return to the car. Dismissing their fashionable attire, Mamoru leaned against his car and shook his head. "Before anything else I want to say that I don't think you're responsible for this."

Shingo nodded. "That's good, because I'd have to kick your ass if you did."

"Someone has a very warped idea of helping you with your issues," Mamoru said as they climbed back into the car. "Is there anyone you know who could possibly be doing this?"

Shingo mulled it over, and shook his head. "There would be no one who would know. I mean, yeah they'd know about the bullying thing… but I love my Dad and I never told anyone aside from you about all of that."

"If they're after you then they're going to go after people close to you. We'll help keep an eye on them but for now, I think you should start looking for the leads at your school."

Shingo nodded and leaned back in his seat. "You think Motoki and Reika can handle the patrol for the rest of the night? Fighting those golems…"

Mamoru nodded. "Yeah, they won't mind."

"It's okay? You're sure?" Shingo stopped when Mamoru focused on the road and resumed driving. His mentor and boss looked pretty bummed out too.

"They had no idea they were golems, did they?" Mamoru asked Shingo.

Shingo looked down at his lap, and shook his head. "They didn't realize it until the end. In that sense… they were victims too."

Mamoru nodded. "When we run into whoever's behind this, I'm hitting them extra hard… for them."

Shingo wholeheartedly agreed with that.

Walking from the alleyway where they had transformed back, Ami and Rei headed for the nearest bus stop that would take them to the Hikawa Shrine. Rei slid her hands into the heavy coat she wore, while Ami looked at her supercomputer's screen.

"How are we going to break this to Usagi-chan?" Rei asked as Phobos landed on her shoulder and Deimos perched herself atop her head.

"We'll call her when we get back to the Shrine, but for now we have to figure out the connection."

Reaching a crosswalk, they began to cross when the car at the very front of the queue honked its horn. Looking over, both girls saw Mamoru and Shingo, the former brightening up and waving to them as the latter rolled his eyes.

"Huh, what a helpful coincidence," Ami said as Rei let out a happy squeal and ran over to Mamoru's side of the car.

* * *

Later that evening, in the Kayama household, Yoshiko was on the phone as she headed up the stairs to her bedroom. "I saw it on the news yes, it's a good thing the Sailor Senshi were there this time before anyone could get hurt, Mika-chan is still shaken by what happened at school."

Reaching the top of the stairs, she turned out the lights downstairs and made her way to her daughter's bedroom as she listened to her friend on the phone. "Really right by there?"

Yoshiko stopped at Mika's door. "I'm glad no one was hurt, bad enough after what happened at school." Yoshiko reached the door. "Just a moment."

She opened the door and peered inside. "Mika-chan, it's time for…"

Stopping, she stared at Mika as she set down a completed Kamen Raider model on dresser next to her desk. The little girl looked back at her mother. "I will go to bed soon, Mom."

"Ah right…" Yoshiko looked to the model. "You've been building a lot of gunpla, what about the doll you made for the competition? I want that to be part of my exhibition, you know."

"I gave it away."

Yoshiko raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What?"

Mika did not look back at her. "It's okay, I made a lot of dolls over the last few days. That old doll was trash compared to them."

When did Mika start thinking like that? "Trash? Mika-chan what are you talking about? That doll was a work of art!"

"It was trash, Shingo-kun didn't like it."

Yoshiko lifted her phone to her ear. "I'm sorry, I'll call you back." Ending the call, she walked over and took her by the shoulders. "Mika-chan, we talked about this, you promised you'd stay away from that boy so I wouldn't change you out of that class, and now you gave him that doll you poured your heart into?"

Mika lowered her head. "I made it for him."

She reached up and removed her mother's hands from her shoulders. "But that doll was trash, so I made even better dolls, dolls that he will love when he sees them, and they will give him the love he deserves."

Yoshiko took a step back from her daughter. "Give him love? Mika…?"

Mika turned away from her mother and walked over to the desk. "I just need to make a few more dolls, I should be done by the exhibition. I'm about to finish one right now."

As Yoshiko paused and began to retreat towards the door, Mika turned her head to look back at her, revealing a bright red glow in her eyes. A pair of wooden doll's hands hands materialized out of thin air emerging from Mika's back before they shot forward and grabbed Yoshiko around her neck, causing her phone to fall to the floor with a clatter and dial the number she had just been speaking with.

"Yoshi-chan? Hello?" Ikuko's voice called from the phone. "Yoshi? Are you there?"

As Yoshiko was lifted off her feet, Mika reached down and picked up the phone. "Hello this is her daughter, Mika. I'm sorry, but Mom can't talk, she's helping me make a doll."

"Oh, okay then. Good bye, Mika-chan."

"Bye."

Mika ended the call by crushing the phone in her grip. The Sailor Senshi foiled the second part or her plan, she would just have to add Shingo's parents to her collection later than sooner.

Looking back at her desk, she smiled at the parts laid out for another figure.

It would be worth the wait.

Shingo-kun was worth it all.

* * *

Ignoring the emotional trauma of a human-sized mecha marching into class to try to kill people, most kids in Shingo's class were actually pretty happy to have a few days off from school as the damages were repaired. However, those scant few days flew by quickly, and soon Shingo was again at his locker, putting away his jacket and getting ready for another long day of social ostracization.

Oh well, at least he had a mystery to take his mind off it; a few mysteries, in fact. In addition to people going after his bullies and his family, there was the sudden silence from his phone. The messages and calls of harassment had stopped.

Shingo seriously wasn't complaining. He looked forward to a day of sitting down without being harrassed. It would let him think at least, even if he had already been doing a lot of it.

_This is beginning to drive me bored. No Dark Kingdom, no golems, even the crime rate's gone down._

To be fair, it was hard to be a petty crook in Minato these days, seemed like one couldn't even litter without being kicked in the face and left for the cops to arrest with irrefutable evidence indicating them of their crime.

_Bored is bad though because if there's nothing going on then there's something going on and you don't know what it is._

As he reached his classroom and placed his hand on the handle, he sighed. _No wonder Usagi insists on living such an exciting life._

She'd probably wouldn't have joined that Kamen Raider fan club if she was a little less spastic, which meant that she wouldn't have found out about-

"Mika?" Shingo asked after he opened the door and found her standing on the other side dressed elegantly in a white 19th century style dress not unlike those of her dolls.

"Hello, Shingo-kun!" Mika said happily as she took his hand. "Come in, come in, we've been waiting for you!"

Shingo blinked. "We?"

He looked over and found the entire class lined up by the chalkboard with their backs to the wall and their heads bowed. Everyone was elegantly dressed, the girls in dresses like Mika's except all black and the boy's in handsome black tailed suits. On seeing Shingo, all of them properly bowed reverently to him.

Mika eagerly led him over to the students. "After what happened, Tenzo-kun gathered us all together and we talked about how you saved everyone by standing up to that monster. We all owe you our thanks for being so brave… and they all owe you an apology for being so mean to you."

Honestly, Shingo could not believe this was happening. After putting up with their crap, they had finally seen the kind of person he really was, and they were owning up to their bullying?

Mika looked over to Tenzo, who rose from his bow and nodded before he smiled and reached up to scratch the back of his head bashfully. "Well, yeah… I mean even after we all… er… I treated you like shit… you could've run away or let that monster kill me, but you didn't. I don't even understand why."

A bad side of Shingo wanted to rub it in his face, but he simply shrugged his shoulders. He was better than that. "Well, bad as you were, you don't deserve to die so I couldn't let that happen."

Tenzo looked aside, his face flushing in embarrassment. "Jeez, even after all I said and did… you'd think that?"

Shingo folded his arms. "Sure, it's what any good person would do!"

Tenzo nodded and returned his gaze to him. "Well, as class representative I speak for the class, when I say that we all want to be good people too… and we're sorry for everything."

The other kids looked up, all adding their own apologies anyway.

Shingo hesitantly took this, before he smiled back to Tenzo. "I forgive you guys!"

Tenzo laughed before he put an arm around Shingo's shoulders. "Come on, have you had breakfast yet? I had my Dad cater some for everyone, but Mika helped me pick out stuff you might like…"

As Shingo was led away from her, Mika smiled pleasantly after him and looked to the other students. Her eyes flashed red and they all turned their own wide, fearful eyes to her. Her smile broadened and grew wicked, as the red glow faded and the fearful gazes of the students vanished.

Today was going to be a wonderful day. No one was going to pick on or be mean to her Shingo.

And by the end of it, no one was going to ever hate Shingo again.

* * *

_Raider Rabbit: Has there been any break in the case?_

_Mifune0538: This is the eighth time you asked and the answer is still no. Are you that bored? Also. Raider Rabbit? You keep changing your screen name. lol_

_Raider Rabbit: I haven't even gotten there yet and I am that bored._

Usagi stared at the screen of her supercomputer as she rode in the backseat of the family's car. It had been almost a week, and out of the goodness of her mother's heart Usagi could be taken out of the dog house… if she could be perfectly behaved while taking part in a family function. Given that Usagi could be good if she applied herself, it was no Sisyphean task. However, the family function was going to Yoshiko Kayama's Bisque Doll Exhibition and Auction, which promised to be as entertaining as watching paint dry in Shibuya.

_Mifune0538: Besides, nothing happening is a good thing. It means that no one's attacking you or your family._

_Raider Rabbit: It also means that they haven't attacked yet._

_Mifune0538: Well don't worry if they do, I'm here._

_Raider Rabbit: You're the best._

_Mifune0538: I know. ~_^_

Sailor Jupiter was waiting on the roof of the Art Deco-styled Teien Art Museum. Between her chat messages, she was watching out for anything unusual. Aside from the wealthy guests waiting in the museum's garden for the exhibition, there wasn't anything going on.

_Mifune0538: So how was Shingo-kun's first day back to school?_

Usagi looked up from her phone and over to Shingo, who was trying not to fidget too much in his excitement. She smiled some, seeing him in high spirits, and went right to typing.

_Raider Rabbit: He's been on cloud nine since Mika and he made up. Turns out selflessly saving the biggest bully in class made him everybody's hero, and she and all the kids got together to throw a big thank you party for him._

Sailor Jupiter smiled herself, when she got Usagi's message.

_Mifune0538: Good! More than anything he needs people who can see him for who he is as a person, and not who his family is._

_Raider Rabbit: It's so cute that you're holding this torch for him, but if you keep it up, you'll give people the wrong idea, especially him~_

Sailor Jupiter chuckled.

_Mifune0538: Usagi-chan, that's too much!_

_Raider Rabbit: Keep an eye out for trouble, we've arrived._

"Usagi-chan, could you put away your phone? We're here," Ikuko asked as Kenji parked the car.

Nodding, Usagi did as commanded as Shingo quickly got out of the car. She climbed out the other side, and watched him wait impatiently for their parents to get out. "I've never seen anyone so excited to attend a boring bourgeois bash like this."

Shingo turned his nose up a bit. "Well Mika said she had made some dolls for me, and she was going to show them off at the exhibition."

Usagi raised her eyebrows. "Eh? Mika's here too?"

"Yeah, she makes dolls too."

"I… did not know that." Why did Usagi not know that?

"Aren't you two part of the same club?"

"I know that Mika is a big fan and scratch-builds sweet-ass Kamen Raider figures, but I didn't know she did the doll thing."

Ikuko looked over to Usagi as they walked along towards the entrance of the museum. "Yoshi-chan taught her everything she knows about doll making. She's already better than Yoshi-chan though, and has won a lot of awards."

"Yoshi-chan?" Usagi asked.

"Her mother," Shingo replied.

"Ah, the bitch who threw you out when you went to visit Mika."

Ikuko gave Usagi a more pointed look. "Bitchy as she is, Yoshi-chan is an old friend of mine so be nice, Usagi-chan."

"I'm going to." Usagi frowned. Suddenly she felt as if she had missed something big, like a soldier looking for a sniper who had somehow missed the tank sneaking up on him.

_Let's review, shall we?_ Usagi thought to herself as they walked through the doors of the museum and down the main hall. _Mika Kayama is Shingo's classmate, tries to give him a gift but he breaks it when other kids pick on him. Mika is the daughter of one of Mom's friends from her older, wilder days…_

Usagi eyes grew, as it all began to fall into place. The Tsukino family were met by the curator of the museum, who bowed politely to Kenji and Ikuko before leading them to the auction hall, where Yoshiko was expecting them.

_Mika is the only person in Shingo's class who tries to reach out to him and be friendly. Thanks to being Mom's friend, Mika would probably know a lot about us… maybe too much._

"Is this right?" Ikuko said when they saw that the doors to the auction hall were locked with no signage denoting it as the auction site, and with all the other guests waiting outside in the garden, it was eerily empty in the museum.

"The Curator said that this was the right room…" Kenji quietly said.

_Mika makes dolls and scratch-builds models and action figures._

Usagi stopped as Kenji grabbed the door handles.

_And she's famous… oh son of a bitch._

The doors opened, revealing every student in Shingo's class, two lines of children facing each other flanked either side of the aisle between the rows of chairs set up for the auction. When the doors opened fully, the elegantly dressed, dolled up students all turned their heads in unison to stare at the Tsukino family with glazed, empty eyes.

_Son of a bitch!_ Usagi thought again when she saw Mika and her mother standing on the stage, behind them was another Gundam Golem, this one the successor to the Exia, a fully equipped 00 Raiser Gundam. Like the students and Mika, Yoshiko was dressed like a doll, and had the same doll-like gaze as the former.

Shingo was white as a sheet. _Oh no…_

"Welcome Shingo-kun," Mika said as she left her mother and the golem on the stage and stepped off it. She walked down the aisle and stopped midway to them before holding her arms out in a gesture to the other students. "Do you like them?"

Ikuko and Kenji looked from Mika and the surreal scene before them to their son, who was trying to maintain his composure even as his thought process was "Oh Shit" being repeated over and over. "Mika-chan," he asked, "what did you do?"

"I made you these dolls, do you like them? They took a lot of work, but I'm very proud of them." She walked over to Tenzo, and patted him on his shoulder. "They took a lot of time and effort, but they are almost perfect… if only they weren't made from trash."

She tightly gripped the rotund boy's shoulder until Shingo could see wet, dark red stains spread in the fabric around her dug-in fingers. Tenzo didn't even flinch, but Shingo could see his eyes twitch as if he wanted to scream in pain.

It dawned upon Shingo. _He's still conscious, he's trapped inside his own body!_

"This is twisted as fuck," Usagi whispered before she looked back and noticed that all the guests for the exhibition, and the museum's elderly curator were standing by the doorway, blocking the exit. Much to her chagrin, they all had the same glassy-eyed expression.

"It's not quite done yet though," Mika admitted. "I still have more dolls to make before everything is ready, but it shouldn't take too long."

"Mika-chan what are you talking about?" Shingo demanded.

"These are only the start. The collection isn't done yet." Mika let go of Tenzo and bowed politely to Shingo. "Please bear with me, when it's done it will be the most magnificent doll collection ever made. You'll love it, and it will love you."

Usagi moved partly behind her parents, and pulled out her Supercomputer as Shingo shook his head. "But I'm already loved-"

Like a switch had been flipped, Mika's expression flipped from unnerving serenity to bestial anger. "You are _not_ loved! These people do not love you, Shingo-kun! Not this trash and certainly not them!" She pointed at Kenji and Ikuko.

Ikuko immediately took offense to that. "Shingo is our son, of course we love him!"

Mika responded to that with a piercing, hysterical laugh that echoed in the room. "What do disgusting perverts like you know about love?!" She pointed at Usagi. "And you! You're a monster and everyone hates Shingo-kun like he is a monster! What kind of love is that?!"

Usagi finished her message, and then pocketed her phone. "Oh _hell_ no."

She rounded her parents and pushed past Shingo to march towards Mika. "This is your only warning, you yandere little shit. Let my family and these people go or I will hurt you in creative ways."

Usagi folded her arms and glowered down at Mika, while Shingo became reasonably alarmed. "Usagi, don't provoke her!"

Mika smirked. "Your parents are disgusting, but they can be fixed. I'm fixing them right now."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I've been making them my newest dolls since they walked into the room."

Shingo looked back at his parents, wide eyed. "What?!"

"Do you remember the first golem?" Mika asked, reclaiming his attention. "Exia… thanks to it I was able to make that trash into proper dolls… and now this golem will do the same to the entire city."

Shingo grew wide-eyed as he remembered the realistic GN Particles that poured out of Exia, and how 00 Raiser was putting out so much more just standing there. "The particles!"

Mika nodded. "Thanks to Exia and I was able to transform that trash into perfect dolls, and with Raiser, I'll change everyone. They will be able to understand how wonderful you are, and you'll never get picked on again!"

Usagi grabbed Mika by her collar and lifted her off her feet. "Creativity's wasted on you, I'm just going to punch you in your sick little head until it starts working again."

"You're worse than trash, though. I don't want to make you into a doll. I just want you to die." She looked back at 00 Raiser.

At her unspoken command, 00 Raiser unfolded its GN Sword III and leaped for Usagi. "Eliminating the target!"

Wide-eyed, she let go of Mika and ducked under the slash that would've decapitated her, and then scrambled away from the Gundam. Turning to follow her, it raised its sword again and lunged this time to stab her as she tried to crawl back. It came to a complete stop when Shingo imposed himself between the golem and his sister, however.

"Shingo-kun, get out of the way," Mika advised.

Shingo shook his head. "No, I'm not going to just let you kill my sister!"

Mika shook her head. "Just like with all of the other trash, you're defending them like they'll appreciate you for it, but they won't!"

"You're wrong!" Usagi shouted as she got back up on her feet, but a pair of arms grabbed Usagi's from behind and quickly held her back. Looking to her new assailants, she found they were her parents. "Eh?"

Ikuko was straining as she tightly held onto Usagi. "Mika-chan… stop this…!"

"I'm not doing this, Usagi… my body is moving on its own…" Kenji whispered to her through clenched teeth.

Mika laughed. "You know what, Shingo-kun? I'll give you a much better family, a perfect one! This trash can all die!"

Grabbing Shingo and throwing him into the arms of two other students, 00 Raiser raised its sword and walked towards Usagi, Ikuko and Kenji as it raised its sword to cut through all three. Held back by the other kids, Shingo tried to break free but their grips were like iron. He couldn't even break free enough reach into the nice jacket he wore to get to the white rose hidden inside.

_No-no-no-no-no-!_

Electricity whipped through the students, who all went stiff and then collapsed unconscious, before Sailor Jupiter kicked 00 Raiser back to the stage and through the curtains draped over it.

"Ah, Sailor Jupiter! Hello!" Usagi said cheerfully.

Sailor Jupiter nodded and then fired another bolt of electricity from the antenna extending from her tiara, this time for Mika. The girl however raised her hand and a ghostly doll's hand materialized in front of it, blocking the bolt.

Mika looked to see 00 Raiser getting back up and then back to Sailor Jupiter. "I won't let you stop me!"

She reached pulled from a pocket of her dress the Kamen Raider figure, a man in a black and green bodysuit with, and wearing a grasshopper-like motorcycle helmet. Holding the doll out in her hand, Mika's eyes begin to glow as the wooden hands appeared once more and circled around the figure, which soon was enveloped in the same glow.

The hands then clapped together, smashing the doll between them, and in a flash of light, Kamen Raider 1 stood in front of Mika, his helmet's normally red eyes glowing yellow.

Usagi was livid. "You're just going to keep crossing lines with me, aren't you?!"

"Someone like you, who terrorizes people for fun and causes Shingo-kun to suffer… and you call yourself a fan of Kamen Raider? An 'Ally of Justice'?! You disgust me most of all!" Mika shot back.

Mika pointed at Sailor Jupiter and Usagi. "Kamen Raider-san, please help me! These enemies of justice are tormenting someone precious to me!"

Kamen Raider nodded and leaped into action, rushing straight to attack Sailor Jupiter. Behind Kamen Raider, Mika smirked as her eyes flashed red again.

"Oh no you don't!" Sailor Jupiter replied as she parried his punches and then knocked him back with a quick backhand to the face. As she prepared to unleash the thunder of her counterattack, however, Yoshiko jumped between the two, forcing the Senshi to pull back. "Ah!"

Yoshiko dove to the side, allowing Kamen Raider to kick Sailor Jupiter in the chest and send her flying through the wall to her side and to the gardens outside. In the chaos, Mika turned and ran out another door, her Gundam Golem quickly following her.

"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry," Usagi lamented before she broke free of her parents and knocked them both out with elbows to their faces. "It's better than being trapped in your own bodies as puppets, I guess."

She looked for Shingo, but he was already out the door after Mika. She was about to go after him, when she stopped and realized that she finally had some alone time. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy the _hell_ out of this."

Usagi then lifted her hand to the ceiling. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

* * *

Sailor Jupiter rolled along the ground after smashing through several statues, hedges and only stopped before she could go through the wall surrounding the garden. Getting up on her feet quickly, she slapped away several quick punches from Kamen Raider and slammed a palm thrust into his face, knocking him back.

Electricity flaring from her tiara and across her body, Sailor Jupiter went on the offensive, lashing out with several kicks that the golem barely avoided with quick ducking and weaving before he finally caught the third and flipped her into the air. As Sailor Jupiter went up, Kamen Raider jumped as well.

"Raider Jump!" he shouted before he flipped and dove towards the Senshi with his kick. "Raider Ki-!"

Sailor Jupiter caught the golem's foot, and used the momentum of his kick to swing him into the ground with tremendous force. Holding onto his leg, Sailor Jupiter glowered down at the golem before she unleashed her Supreme Thunder on it at point blank range. As the electricity crackled around both, however, Kamen Raider swiftly kicked her in the chin with his other foot.

Thrown onto her back, Sailor Jupiter curled up and sprang back up to her feet in time to stop a diving punch from Kamen Raider. Deflecting a cross from his other fist, she took his arms and swung him around to toss him up against the wall.

_My Supreme Thunder didn't work like before!_ she thought as Kamen Raider leaped off the wall and fell towards her with a flying kick. When she raised her hands to block, the golem suddenly twisted himself in midair and kicked her in the side, sending her into a roll across the garden.

As she got up, Kamen Raider fell on her to club her on the back with a hammer blow. When Sailor Jupiter went into the grass, he raised his foot to bring down onto her back, but Sailor Moon connected a kick with the golem that launched him like a missile into another statue, smashing it into pieces.

"You okay?" Sailor Moon asked as she took Jupiter's hand and pulled her to her feet.

Sailor Jupiter nodded. "Yeah, the golem wasn't affected by my Lightning, and it's very strong."

"Ah, this one must have some rubber in it."

Sailor Jupiter groaned as the golem got up. "Of course."

She then looked around. "Where's Shingo?!"

"He went after Mika, I was on my way but you looked like you needed a hand." Sailor Moon pointed in the direction she saw Mika leave when she ran out the emergency exit. "Be careful, this is definitely Nephrite's work."

Sailor Jupiter gasped. "What? A youma possession can do all of this?!"

Sailor Moon nodded. "It's just like with Kijin and his camera, and Jun going crazy with her racquet. Get going, I need some words with 'Kamen Raider' here." Sailor Moon glared at the golem. "Go save your man, Jupiter-chan."

Sailor Jupiter rolled her eyes and broke into a run, only to have her path blocked by Kamen Raider. Before he could attack, there was Sailor Moon, tackling him to the ground and both rolling clear of Sailor Jupiter, who charged ahead.

Tumbling along the ground, Sailor Moon and Kamen Raider broke off and both jumped onto their feet to face one another. Staring at the golem, Sailor Moon assumed a fighting stance as he did the same. "Okay, Kamen Raider… let's talk."

* * *

Further into the garden, Mika stopped and looked back at her Gundam Golem. "Go, before they can stop you!"

The golem nodded. "Setsuna F. Seiei, 00 Raiser, commencing final mission."

Particles pouring from its large shoulder equipment, 00 Raiser lifted off into the sky and accelerated upwards at incredible speed. As it ascended, it turned and narrowly dodged a lightning bolt before a green field appeared around it and blocked another bolt. Gasping, Mika whirled around to see Sailor Jupiter turning her attention from the Golem to her. "Y-you!"

Without a witty retort, Sailor Jupiter unleashed another bolt of lightning, weak enough to again stun her. But like before it was immediately stopped by one of Mika's wooden hands. Clicking her teeth, Sailor Jupiter unleashed even more, that converged and struck the girl. This time nothing emerged to protect her, but the lightning did no harm whatsoever to her.

As the attack stopped, Mika let out a laugh as the red glow in her eyes intensified. The senshi, she realized, was still trying to stun her, and it wasn't working! "What's wrong, Sailor Senshi? Are you afraid to hurt me?!"

Sailor Jupiter gave Mika a deadly serious look that froze the girl like a deer in the headlights. "Nope."

"Huh?" Was all she managed to get out before Sailor Jupiter's fist was inches from her face and closing in. There was a loud crack and the sound of splintering wood, and Mika was thrown backward from Sailor Jupiter, still wide eyed as the wooden hand disintegrated between them. As she watched the splinters fade away, Mika blinked and Sailor Jupiter was gone.

Her eyes darted around, and finally she spotted Sailor Jupiter as she swung down the heel of her boot straight for the top of her head. Another wooden hand appeared to catch the axe kick, but it quickly shattered and Mika was again propelled backward from her attacker. Stumbling to a stop, Mika stared in disbelief at Sailor Jupiter.

"You… you're just bluffing!" she gasped.

Standing to full height Sailor Jupiter charged up and began generating a tremendous amount of electricity. "Nope."

The next blast of her Supreme Thunder went straight for Mika as the forearms the wooden hands were connected to emerged to defend. As they began to splinter, the upper arms appeared behind them and Mika placed her hands against them to brace herself. When the forearms disintegrated and the upper arms took the hit, Mika was pushed backward, her feet stripping the grass and leaving two trails of mud all the way until she hit a statue.

As the remains of the upper arms vanished, Mika looked at the steam rising from her hands and then at Sailor Jupiter. "Y-y-you…!"

Sailor Jupiter glared darkly at the girl. "Do you really think that because you're a little kid that I'm going to excuse what you've done, what you're trying to do?!"

"You… you wouldn't…!"

Sailor Jupiter held out her arm, and electricity traveled down it until her entire forearm was covered in a shimmering, crackling sheath of electricity. "I will."

She charged forward, a trail of light coming off her arm as she closed in on Mika. When she swung her arm to impale the girl on her hand, her attack was stopped again by another pair of wooden hands. Even as the electricity coating her hand began to burn away the wooden limbs, they pushed back, repelling Sailor Jupiter further and further as the forearms materialized behind the hands and then the upper arms. Then, like a spirit rising from her body, the head and shoulders of a doll-like woman with short dark hair emerged from Mika.

Sailor Jupiter smirked. "There… you… are!"

The Senshi of Thunder kicked the youma Jumeau in the face, knocking her head off her shoulders and straight up into the sky. As the youma's head went hurtling up like a football, Sailor Jupiter aimed and snapped off a burst of electricity, vaporizing it.

As the youma's head burned away to stray ions, Sailor Jupiter looked back at Mika, who was gasping for breath as she stared at her. "Mika…"

Mika fell to her knees and lowered her head as she struggled to catch her breath. Sailor Jupiter took a step forward to check on her, but instinct took over immediately and the Senshi of Thunder jumped straight back, avoiding a projectile that had been aiming for her neck from her left. She hadn't even stopped when she ducked her head to avoid another of the bullet fast projectiles.

Spinning around, Sailor Jupiter's eyes rapidly searched the area for the attackers or their projectiles. Another came at her from head on, and she narrowly twisted herself away from it before dodging another by ducking. From her bow, she jumped into a backflip that became an axle to avoid three more of the projectiles.

"So fast…!" she hissed before she fired a bolt of lightning at one of the near-missing projectiles. When it exploded, she went wide eyed as she caught a glimpse of one of Jumeau's wooden hands disintegrating in the blast.

A beam of red energy struck Sailor Jupiter in her back, knocking her down to her hands and knees with a yelp. As she quickly got up to look back, she was forced to roll out of the way out of a cascade of beams that rained down her from different directions and angles, tearing up the ground where she had laid until a burning, jagged crater was left.

Getting up, Sailor Jupiter blinked when she felt an odd draft on her back. "W-what the…?" She reached back to where the beams had struck her, and grew-wide eyed when she realized the beam had burned a hole right into her Senshi Uniform. _Not even that Lightning Youma's attacks did this…!_

She heard Mika laughing hysterically, and looked to the young girl as the arms, hands, and upper torso of Jumeau gathered to her, hovering just above her head. To Sailor Jupiter's dismay, the youma's head finally materialized and floated into place, before her eyes opened and her lips turned up into a small, dainty smile.

Sailor Jupiter clenched her fists as electricity once more arced across her. "So this is your game, youma."

Hidden behind a nearby statue, Shingo pocketed his phone before he peered back around at Mika and the youma that possessed her. He was barely able to contain his anger. "Mika-chan…!"

* * *

While lightning flashed and thunder rolled, Sailor Moon and Kamen Raider ran towards one another at full sprint, before leaping at one another with flying kicks. As another bolt of Jupiter's lightning flashed from behind the building, the two landed and turned quickly to face one another. Kamen Raider, eyes glowing red, assumed a fighting stance once again, until his left shoulder's armor cracked. He quickly reached up to grip it.

"Impossible!" Kamen Raider spoke in disbelief, before looking at Sailor Moon. "Even though you're just a young girl, you have a dangerous strength!"

Sailor Moon huffed. "I never wanted to be acknowledged by you like this…"

Kamen Raider attacked again, running close and opening with a kick Sailor Moon quickly ducked under. As she came back up, she parried his punches before catching one of his fists and throwing him to the ground. Kamen Raider landed on his feet, and quickly swept Sailor Moon off hers before kicking her into the air. Crouching he jumped up after her and performed a front flip, landing on the roof of the Art Deco museum as Sailor Moon hit it in a tumble.

Getting up, she quickly rushed him low to the ground and dove past him into a tumble, before jumping and launching several kicks to his face and neck. With a cyborg's precision, the golem avoided every kick before he lunged to strike her in the throat with a chop. Sailor Moon avoided it at the last second and the two began circling one another, parrying or dodging one another's fists even as their fists became so fast that to normal eyes they were merely white and green blurs.

Sailor Moon broke the stalemate first, catching Kamen Raider's fist in her crossed hands, before somersault kicking him onto his back. When she followed up with an axe kick, Kamen Raider rolled out of the way and onto his feet.

She didn't let up, reengaging him with a spinning backhand he blocked. He brought his leg up, kicking her in the lower back and then across the shoulders, sending her stumbling forward. As she regained her footing she used a roundhouse kick to hit him in the chest as he came after her, launching him off the roof and to the ground in front of the museum just as the first police unit arrived on the scene.

As Kamen Raider got up and saw the police officers emerge from their vehicle, he held his open hand to them. "Get back, it's dangerous!"

Up above, Sailor Moon stopped just as she was about to jump off the roof and continue the engagement. "Huh?"

The two officers looked to one another, the driver of the car in disbelief. "Rider 1?"

His partner shook his head. "No, it's from the TV show, see? The outfit's all wrong…"

Sailor Moon dropped down from the roof and Kamen Raider immediately turned his attention back to her. Seeing _her_, the two officers didn't think twice and quickly got back into their car, the driver flooring it in reverse to put some good distance between them as his partner radioed it in. "All units, this is Car 16, we have confirmed that there is a Sailor Senshi engaged in a battle at the Teien Art Museum and we are pulling back to a safe distance."

As the patrol car retreated, Kamen Raider prepared to attack again, but his his opponent was acting strangely. She stood before him, with her arms spread out wide. "What are you doing?"

_If what Ami and Rei said is right, I can talk to this guy,_ Sailor Moon thought. "Kamen Raider, my name is Sailor Moon and you are not my enemy."

Kamen Raider didn't buy it and attacked, leaping for Sailor Moon and swinging a punch straight for her face. To the golem's surprise, not only did his blow connect, but his target made no effort to defend herself and went tumbling backward into lefthand base of the arch of the museum's entrance. As Sailor Moon got back up, Kamen Raider hesitated.

"… You didn't defend yourself."

Sailor Moon nodded as she stood upright. "Because I saw when you told those police to flee, when you could've attacked them. You are not my enemy."

"You are mine. Even if you claim to battle on the side of the innocent, you protect those who cause suffering to them. That girl you protected is making a young boy suffer-"

Sailor Moon shook her head. "That girl I protected is my comrade and she would die for that young boy, as would I!"

Kamen Raider stopped at her sharp retort, and allowed her to continue with a curt nod.

"Even now, she is trying to save him and the little girl who called on you to attack us. She is possessed by an agent of the Great Enemy, and the Enemy plans to bring suffering to this entire city!" Sailor Moon pointed up at the green, sparkling light in the sky. "Up there, that monster intends to turn the entire city's population into dolls, trapped inside their bodies as playthings for the Enemy!"

Kamen Raider looked up quickly at 00 Raiser, and then back at Sailor Moon, who once again held her arms out. "Kamen Raider, I am pleading with you to beli-"

Kamen Raider immediately attacked once more, closing in faster than before. This time however his punch came to a perfect stop against her nose, the displaced air of his punch blowing her hair back. Still, she did not budge from where she stood.

"-eve me," she finished.

For several moments Kamen Raider stood there, his fist against her face, before he nodded again. "If what you say is true, how do we stop it?"

Sailor Moon sighed in relief. "First thing's first, we kill the monster possessing that girl."

* * *

Now that the cat was partially out of the bag, Sailor Jupiter was learning several important things about it. Jumeau's methods of attack involved either launching her individual body parts at high speed, the edges of each wooden part sharp enough to slice clean through stone without stopping, or fire beams of energy from the body parts–effectively giving her the ability to attack at all ranges. The most important thing Sailor Jupiter realized, however, was that this youma was refusing to completely leave its mentally unstable host from the waist down.

_So… if it has a weak-point, then it is somewhere on its lower body, because I've already destroyed each of these other parts!_ Sailor Jupiter thought to herself as she moved quickly from side to side, back and forth to avoid the pieces or the beams they fired.

Jumping to prevent several beams from converging on her, she landed atop one of the remaining intact statues in the garden and called down the thunder, her lightning bolts incinerating the attacking pieces and leaving only Jumeau's head as it hovered above Mika's.

Eyeing the Sailor Senshi's frustration, the little girl laughed haughtily at her. "You're still hesitating, Sailor Trash! Come on, you really had me going before! Where's that killing intent now?!"

Sailor Jupiter set her jaw and fired off another massive bolt of electricity into the sky overhead. Looking up, Mika grew wide-eyed as the clouds overhead began to crackle with lightning themselves, before a massive bolt of electricity came down on her, striking Jumeau's parts as they all rapidly converged on her before she was thrown onto her back by the blast.

Lying on her back and coughing as smoke rose from her body, Mika slowly tried to get up before Sailor Jupiter grabbed her by the front of her singed dress and hauled her to her feet. As Mika stared up at her, Sailor Jupiter swiftly punched her in the face–only for one of Jumeau's hands to immediately block the punch. A forearm arm piece appeared directly above Mika's head, and fired a beam straight for the Senshi's chest. Forced to let go, Sailor Jupiter jumped aside, the beam burning away part of the green ribbon on the front of her uniform.

Mika, as Jumeau rematerialized above her, saw the damage to Sailor Jupiter's uniform and the most malicious smile spread across her face. Sailor Jupiter conversely frowned when Jumeau's parts began to glow in preparation to fire.

"Oh she had better not be thinking to…!" Sailor Jupiter said before all the pieces fired at once. She managed to dodge the beam, which went on to completely vaporize the statue that she had stood on before, and everything for fifty meters behind it.

As that beam faded, more narrower beams suddenly fired around her from above, each beam barely missing initially before they swung across her body. Sailor Jupiter managed to avoid direct hits, but the beams still grazed her, leaving the unmistakable smell of fabric burning as parts of her gloves, the shoulders of her uniform, and the hem of her skirt were incinerated.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…!" Sailor Jupiter growled to herself as Mika laughed.

"I hope you don't mind fighting me naked Sailor Trash, because that's what'll happen if you can't beat me or run away!" Mika taunted.

From his cover, Shingo shook his head. _This is completely different from the other youma, it knows Sailor Jupiter can't use her full strength, but why isn't Sailor Jupiter switching it up and trying to force the youma out? Is… is she waiting for something?_

It then clicked, when he remembered watching the last battle on television, and how it had begun. _Wait a second, that's what she's doing!_

Though at this rate, Sailor Jupiter was going to have a serious wardrobe malfunction if she had to wait any longer. Steeling himself, Shingo reached inside his coat, but stopped.

"_Think about what is more important for the situation at hand, whether The Moonlight Knight is needed, or Shingo Tsukino."_

Shingo nodded, as an idea formed in his head. "Yeah, this is a job for Shingo…"

Taking a deep breath, he stepped from behind the bushes and began walking towards Mika. "Mika!"

Mika immediately ceased her attacks, and looked over towards Shingo. "Sh-Shingo-kun?"

Sailor Jupiter tensed up. "No, stay away from her she's dangerous!"

Shingo held up his hand. "Shut up, Sailor Trash!"

That took Sailor Jupiter aback. "Huh?"

"Mika, you can stop this now, you don't need to fight this trash or anyone else. Not for my sake at least," he said to her.

Jumeau's expression soured as Mika did the same. "I can't stop, not now… I'm so close to making everything perfect for you!" She looked up. "It's only a matter of time, 00 Raiser will reach the proper altitude to broadcast. It will spread its particles over the entire city, and then everyone will become a doll… perfectly obedient and enslaved to my will. Not a single person in the city will dare say or do anything cruel to you, you will be worshipped like a King! Like you deserve to be!"

"I don't want any of that!" Shingo shouted, silencing her. "Mika, please listen to what I have to say…"

Hesitantly, Mika slowly nodded and Sailor Jupiter narrowed her eyes as she quickly realized what was going on. _Goodness, is it something in their blood that makes them crazy like this?_

"Since I can remember, people have always looked at me funny and treated me like I was something that shouldn't exist and for the stupidest reason." Shingo reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. "For a long time, everyone looked down on my family. Not just me, but Usagi and my Mother and Father too…"

He lowered his hand. "We all were treated like crap. By our relatives, our neighbors, everyone. But Mom and Dad had each other and us… and they got over it. Usagi met Naru, and stopped caring about anything else. And me… I…" He sighed. "… I'm stupid."

"Stupid?" Mika asked.

Shingo resumed walking towards her. "I'm embarrassed by my family and what people think about them even when they don't care. I try to get people to see that I'm better than my family, but everyone still treats me like crap."

He stopped right in front of her. "Everyone but you, Mika-chan."

Mika-chan immediately blushed, and suddenly Jumeau's expression shifted from smug to decidedly uncomfortable.

"You're the only one who ever cared about me, and I was so stupid trying to get everyone to see that I was a good person when I should've just listened to my sister and accepted that I only need one friend that matters."

"Your sister told you…?"

Shingo lowered his head and nodded. "Yeah, Usagi got mad at me when she heard I had broken your doll… she beat me up and told me to apologize to you… and I haven't done that yet, have I?"

Mika shook her head. "No, no, no! You don't have to apologize, I understand if you hated the doll-!"

"I didn't hate it, it was beautiful! I thought it was your best work yet!" Shingo shot back. "I was a complete idiot to break it like that, and I'm sorry I did!"

The girl recoiled, as if struck right in the heart by Shingo's words. The blush on her face grew brighter, as she began to stammer. "Y-you really mean that? It was beautiful?"

Shingo nodded. "Yeah… and I was so wrong to break it. I should be the one making it up to you, not you doing all this for me." He then let out a snort. "Besides, you made _Tenzo_ into a doll. I don't want that guy as my friend even if he had to be at gunpoint!"

Jumeau went from uncomfortable to glowering, directly down at Shingo. Noticing this, Shingo took a step back from Mika, who glared up at Jumeau in turn. "Jumeau, stop!"

The youma tensed up, and sneered at Mika before a tag suddenly struck the bag of the girl's head. Growing wide-eyed as the charm began to crackle, Jumeau looked back to see Sailor Mars standing there, her hands progessing through the necessary signs.

"Rin! Pyo! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!" Sailor Mars called out as the energy crackling from the charm grew brighter. "Evil Spirits, begone!"

The resulting burst of energy blew both Shingo and Mika off their feet, then there was a loud clattering as the entire body of Jumeau went clattering to the ground a short distance away. Sailor Jupiter wasted no time to attack, unleashing a tremendous bolt of lightning down upon the youma's parts, which immediately scattered in every direction to escape.

Getting up, Shingo shook his head and immediately spotted Mika lying on the ground unconscious. "Mika-chan!"

As he scrambled to her, Jumeau's parts converged and whirled around like a tornado of body parts, before reconnecting into the youma's complete body. Tilting her head from side to side, the doll youma looked over at Mika and let out a grumble. "That stupid girl, and I was so close to peak energy…"

She turned her attention to the Sailor Senshi and grinned. "Oh well, looks like I'll have to supplement that."

Sailor Jupiter looked back at Sailor Mars. "Be careful, this one attacks by launching her body parts, and they can fire beams that can-"

"Burn our clothing?!" Sailor Mars finished I horror as she stared at Sailor Jupiter's mostly exposed back.

Rolling her eyes, Sailor Jupiter focused on Jumeau. "Focus on her lower body, her weak point is somewhere there!"

"Just like any other girl's, right?" Jumeau teased.

Electricity crackling across her again, Sailor Jupiter leaped and swung with a lightning assisted kick. Only to miss as Jumeau's torso separated diagonally. Undeterred, Sailor Jupiter attacked with more kicks and chops, her attacks barely missing as Jumeau's parts separated and shifted out of the path of her blows while otherwise standing in place.

Jumping back, Sailor Jupiter unleashed a point blank lightning blast that the youma's parts all scattered from. As they reassembled, Sailor Mars attacked from above. "Mars Fire Soul!"

The flames engulfed Jumeau's top half, incinerating it as her legs jogged away before scattering in different directions like a barrage of wildly fired missiles. The thigh sections immediately oriented themselves like gunbarrels and opened fire, the beams blasting the ground at Sailor Mars's feet and sending her flying back. "Eek!"

Sailor Jupiter's lightning destroyed one of the pieces, before she dodged beams fired from the fingers of Jumeau's hands as they and her head reappeared. "Run, run little Sailors~."

Side-flipping to avoid another barrage, while Sailor Mars ran past her with arms flailing as she chased by the parts attacking her, Sailor Jupiter fired a sweeping blast of lightning at the three pieces, which evaded in turn before reuniting with the other revived parts in a whirling tornado.

"What are you, stupid?!" Jumeau taunted before the tornado shot towards Sailor Jupiter like a drill. Crossing her arms, Sailor Jupiter blocked the attack and was pushed backward until the the hands suddenly gripped her arms, and the parts of her arms and torso attached themselves to her as Jumeau's head withdrew from her.

Jumeau let out a hysterical laugh. "Guess what else my parts can do?!"

More lightning shot from Sailor Jupiter to Jumeau, but it wasn't the Senshi's attack… purely her energy. Feeling the drain, Sailor Jupiter groaned and tried to summon more lightning to burn away the parts clamped to her–only to feel that energy siphoned off. _She's trying to suck me dry…!_

As Jumeau greedily absorbed the Senshi's energy, Sailor Mars was already taking aim. "Mars Fire…!"

Jumeau looked back and smirked, before the parts clamped to Sailor Jupiter all exploded violently and sent her flying in a smoking arc through the air, just before the Fire Soul engulfed and incinerated Jumeau's head.

Sailor Mars put her hands over her mouth in horror. "Ah! Sailor Jupiter, are you okay?!"

Sailor Jupiter sat up. "That… is exactly why… I do not… call out… my attacks!"

As the Senshi of Thunder stood, she noticed the Senshi of Fire was now staring at her with eyes wide as pie-tins. "… What?"

"Y-your outfit…"

Sailor Jupiter looked down and saw that her uniform was now a two piece. Her miniskirt was burned even shorter, and her midriff was exposed right up to the undersides of her breasts. She quickly covered herself up and looked towards Shingo, who was respectfully looking away even as he dragged Mika away by her feet. She quickly turned towards Jumeau, who was laughing herself to tears.

"Now I'm mad," Sailor Jupiter growled as she sheathed her entire body in electricity.

"You might want to be careful powering up, you might burn away what clothes you've got le-" The vast majority of Jumeau's body was vaporized by the massive lightning bolt that dropped down on her from above.

When Jumeau attempted to materialize again, she was immediately vaporized. When a single hand appeared, another massive bolt vaped it, when even a pinkie finger materialized within thirty meters of Sailor Jupiter, it was consumed by millions of volts. Stepping back, Sailor Mars winced at the roar of bolt after bolt of lightning crashing down on the garden. On the bright side, none of the remaining intact works of art were getting struck by the accurate bolts, at least.

"And now I'm not _as_ mad," Sailor Jupiter said as she looked around. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

"No fair, you're supposed to think I'm dead until I dramatically reveal myself," Jumeau cooed from behind Sailor Jupiter. A lightning bolt subsequently destroyed her head. The rest of the doll youma wrapped itself around Sailor Mars, who let out a squeak of surprise.

"H-hey!" The parts then began to glow brightly. "Oh no."

While the explosion buffeted Sailor Jupiter, it failed to dislodge her from her feet. Sailor Mars hurtling into her like a cannonball certainly did, though.

Regenerating and drawing her parts close to together, Jumeau laughed at the two Senshi as they got back onto their feet. "This has been fun, but I think it's over." She looked skyward. "00 Raiser has reached the optimal altitude. My spores will be released into the atmosphere, ensuring complete… city… saturation. And once they're all my little dolls… I guess I'll just have them all kill themselves or something."

Sailor Jupiter bristled. "You wouldn't dare."

"I would. In fact I'll have the first batch do it right now." Jumeau held out her hand. "But I'm reasonable, I can be convinced otherwise."

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars looked to one another, and then back to Jumeau. Before they could say anything, it was Sailor Moon who called the doll youma out. "If you think that threat is going to get us to stop from killing you in ways you can't comprehend, then you must be dumber than I thought."

Jumeau turned her head around to stare at Sailor Moon as she walked towards her. "Do you think I'm bluffing?"

"Do you think I care?" She shot back.

Jumeau huffed. "I guess you don't at all." She looked up to the sky. "Do it, Trans-Am Burst!"

High above, 00 Raiser began to give off a red glow, as it called out. "TRANS-A-"

It was promptly blasted at point blank range by Jadeite, the explosion of smoke and fire engulfing it. As the Gundam golem fell back from the smoke, it was quickly engulfed in a sphere of water that quickly grew in size and density.

Adjusting his scarf, Jadeite shook his head as Thetis materialized beside him. "Yeah, it wasn't cool the first time. It's even lamer this time." He looked to the clouds above.

Tuxedo Kamen flew down from the clouds next and shot past the water sphere and came to a halt below it, sheathing his cane sword. "I enjoyed that way too much, for some reason."

Inside the sphere, 00 Raiser's over-sized shoulder binders detached, before the rest of the golem split into smaller pieces. In an instant, it all was crushed into a hunk of plastic no bigger than Thetis's dainty hand as she clenched it into a fist.

Jumeau stared as the green glow of the destroyed golem diminished to nothing, before she slowly looked over to Sailor Moon, who was wearing an inquiring look. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars had joined her, the former scowling as electricity crackled across her body, while the latter covered her chest with her arms while glaring at her.

For her merit, Jumeau just put on a sickening grin. "I guess this is where you try to kill me once and for all, huh?"

"We're not going to try-"

"Oh good, that'll make this easy for me," Jumeau quickly cut Sailor Moon off before she threw her head back and screamed. As she screamed, Yoshiko, Kenji, and Ikuko were teleported in front of her, the three standing at attention and staring at the three Senshi. As she stopped, her eyes and theirs began to glow a bright red. "Let's finish this silly fight, Sailor Trash!"

She immediately broke into pieces and scattered, the parts swarming around the Senshi, changing directions and rapidly maneuvering in random directions before they opened fire on the Senshi.

As Sailor Mars quickly jumped out of the way of several beams, she was attacked by Kenji, who made no sound as he lashed out at her more like an animal than a man. Sidestepping the attack, Sailor Mars was immediately hit in the back by a barrage of beams from several of Jumeau's parts. "ACK!"

Yoshiko went straight for Sailor Jupiter, attempting to tackle her off her feet. With ease, she dodged the attack, but stopped when she saw several of Jumeau's parts targeting her human puppet. "Damn it…!"

She stopped mid step, and grimaced as she took the beams for Yoshiko as the woman stumbled from her missed lunge. As the beams faded, one of Jumeau's hands struck her across the face, and the youma let out a cackle.

Sailor Moon dodged several of Ikuko's strikes, and caught her hand before spinning with her, dodging several beams before sweeping her off her feet and onto her back. A trio of parts, two forearms and the torso, collided with before driving her back and smashing her through a statue. As Sailor Moon broke them apart, her wrists were grabbed by Jumeau's hands before her right foot pressed against her face.

"Kiss it, bitch," Jumeau taunted as the limbs began to draw energy from her target.

Sailor Moon opened her mouth and bit through it and she smashed the hands into kindling before Jumeau's torso portion smashed into her and exploded, sending her tumbling back. Jumeau let out a laugh and summoned several more parts fire to a full barrage of beams that tore up the ground as the powered towards Ikuko, who stood up and held her arms open to take the full brunt of the blast.

"What will you do now, Sailor Moon?!" She demanded, before a blur grabbed Ikuko and leaped away from the path of the beams. Jumeau blinked in surprise, as Kamen Raider set Ikuko down onto the ground, and turned to face her. "What? The golem?!"

"Using these innocent people as your puppets and shields… threatening to turn the entire city into your playthings…" Kamen Raider assumed a fighting stance. "I will not forgive that!"

Jumeau laughed and gathered her parts. "Do your worse, you scratch-built hunk of plas…" In the next instant Kamen Raider was in front of her, hand raised above his head. "… tic?"

"RAIDER CHOP!" With a single swing of his hand, the golem cut Jumeau's head and torso in half, the displaced air shattering her remaining pieces and scattering them.

Behind him, Jumeau's hands and arm pieces materialized and rapid-fired on the golem. To the dismay of her rematerializing head, the beams passed through Kamen Raider's afterimage as he turned to face them, while other afterimages flicked in and out of existence between the beams before the hands and then the arm pieces were shattered by powerful strikes. Before Jumeau's head could move, Kamen Raider grabbed the back of it.

"Eh?" Jumeau managed to blurt out before Kamen Raider crushed her head.

Kamen Raider then dodged another beam and landed besides Sailor Moon, watching her parts once more regenerate. "The head isn't the weak point, then what is?"

As Jumeau's parts began to reform, Sailor Jupiter zapped Yoshiko back into unconsciousness and slowly turned back to face her as she quietly counted off the parts she'd destroyed so far. "Head… left hand… right hand… right arm… left arm… torso… left leg… right leg… right foot."

She scanned the body of the doll youma, and narrowed her eyes. "Two right feet." She looked over to Sailor Mars, who was tagging Kenji in the face with an ofuda while apologizing profusely. "Sailor Mars!"

"I'm so sorry, I really am so-!" Sailor Mars stopped and looked at Sailor Jupiter. "Ah, yes?"

"Throw as many of your charms as you can, all over the place but target the youma!"

Sailor Mars looked over. "You want me to do what?"

Jumeau blinked. "You want her to do what?"

Sailor Moon grinned as she immediately caught on, and gave Kamen Raider a quick nod.

"Just do it! Everywhere, but target the youma!"

With a hesitant nod, Sailor Mars drew one charm and fanned it out to just over a hundred, before she jumped into the air. "Evil Spirits… begone!"

She spun around, throwing her ofuda in every direction, the majority of the charms struck the ground and burst into flames, while all that were thrown at Jumeau immediately homed in on and stuck her disembodied parts, surprising the youma. "What's the-?!"

They all began to burn away, sapping her of her strength, but with her tremendous energy, it was nothing. "I don't know what's funnier, the fact that you think this will do anything, or that you're so confident it did!"

The smile she wore then fell right off her face, when Sailor Moon removed her tiara and held it out. "Moon Tiara, ACTION!"

She turned and threw the discus of light straight for her target, the left foot of a bronze statue of the former resident of the Museum in another day and time, Prince Yasuhiko Asaka. In the place of the left foot of the statue, was a wooden foot covered in a large cluster of Sailor Mars's ofuda.

The glow in Jumeau's eyes grew, as she waved her arm. "Oh no you don't!"

At the last second, the foot hopped off into the air and shot towards Jumeau, leaving the tiara to slice through the base of the statue and send it toppling forward. The rest of Jumeau's body quickly materialized with the foot, joints appearing and connecting the disembodied youma's limbs, torso, and head into a complete mannequin-like figure.

"You trash…" Jumeau growled as energy crackled across her body. "That's it! No more fucking around!"

Sailor Jupiter suddenly shot straight for Jumeau, sheathed in lightning. "It's about time!"

Reaching the youma, Sailor Jupiter went into a baseball slide straight for Jumeau's left foot, forcing the youma to flip to the side to avoid it. As she landed, a torrent of flame tore up the ground as Sailor Mars attacked, Jumeau teleporting out of the way of the attack before her hands rematerialized and bombarded the Senshi of Fire with beams from the fingertips.

Both hands were destroyed by a jump kick from Kamen Raider, before Jumeau reappeared in her entirety, her hands regenerating to good as new. The second after they finished, Sailor Moon's own spinning kick cut the youma in half at the waist, the lower half vanishing to avoid Sailor Jupiter's followup lightning bolt.

Sailor Moon swore before she looked to Sailor Mars. "You okay?"

Sailor Mars got up, much of her uniform torn up by the beams. "I'm fine… but my poor uniform!"

Jumeau reappeared, laughing. "You don't get it, do you? Now that I am complete, I am unstoppable. My left foot was storing half of my full power!"

Kamen Raider pointed at the indicated foot. "The half of power that keeps you alive, right?"

Jumeau laughed. "Even if it were, there's not a single way any of you can kill me, especially you, you hunk of plastic!"

To demonstrate, she fired a beam that struck directly into his chest and burned clean through.

"Kamen Raider!" Sailor Moon gasped.

Staggering back from the hit, Kamen Raider reached for his chest, before he saw a gaping hole full of melted plastic and nothing else. He looked back up at Jumeau as he clutched at the wound.

"See? You're nothing but plastic given life by a precocious little shit with way too much free time!" Jumeau once again began crackling with energy, ready to melt the golem into a puddle of goop with her next attack. "Trash made by trash from trash!"

"What I am made from is irrelevant, as long as I am alive all that matters is my purpose…" Kamen Raider declared. "And that is destroying you!"

"Oh shut up with that TV Show Speech already!" Jumeau screamed before she fired a powerful blast from her mouth straight for the Raider.

The golem, however, was ready and leaped up above the beam. "RAIDER JUMP!"

As energy began to surge around him, Jumeau swung the beam up to catch him with it right as he dove towards her with a flying kick.

"RAIDER… KICK!" Like a ship's bow through a wave, Kamen Raider's foot parted the beam all the way down to drive his heel straight into Jumeau's mouth, surprising the youma before the backed up beam blew out most of the back of her head and neck.

Heel still firmly planted in her mouth Kamen Raider let out a snort before performing a quick spin to completely decapitate the youma. Landing, Kamen Raider grabbed Jumeau and stamped down on her left foot as he held the rest of her in place.

Jumeau's head reformed and she quickly struggled. "You…!"

"You said that I was trash created by trash from trash… then that means I am disposable!" Kamen Raider looked to Sailor Moon. "With all your might, destroy this monster!"

"You didn't have to tell me twice!" Sailor Moon called back as she drew her tiara and grabbed it by one end. "For everything that she's done, for what she was going to do… this bitch has it coming _EXTRA HARD!"_

Sailor Jupiter charged up and let out a yell as she unleashed a blast of lightning so powerful the recoil pushed her back, while beside her Sailor Mars threw her hands together.

"MARS FIRE SOUL!" The torrent of flame merged with the blast of lightning to create a tremendous beam of light that washed over both Kamen Raider and Jumeau to push them up and into the air as Jumeau's body began to blacken and Kamen Raider began to melt.

"Moon…" In Sailor Moon's hand, the tiara began to glow. "… Tiara…!" It then transformed, growing from a simple tiara to a golden boomerang as large as she was tall with a red jewel set in its center. With all her might, Sailor Moon swung the weapon and let it fly like a gigantic sawblade. _"ACTION!"_

The tiara circled around the beam of fire and lightning in its high speed ascent, before cutting into and riding it up straight up into its target–carving through Jumeau at her left foot, through her body, and then completely through Kamen Raider's.

"… I really lost…? But Nephrite… you said…" Jumeau whispered just before the flames and electricity overcame her.

Coming back around the tiara shot straight to Sailor Moon, who caught it and was promptly pushed back and spun around several times before she came to a stop behind and with her back to the other two Sailor Senshi.

"Thank you, Kamen Raider," she said quietly before a tremendous explosion of energy lit up the sky above.

Buffeted by the blast, Tuxedo Kamen, Jadeite, and Thetis endured it with ease. As the shockwave passed, leaving an unearthly glow in the sky, Tuxedo Kamen looked back and forth between his associates and smiled. "It must be nice to not be on the receiving end of this sort of thing anymore, huh?"

Thetis smiled. "I'll say!"

Jadeite just let out an amused snort, and adjusted his fedora.

On the ground below, as the victims of Mika's control regained theirs, Mika herself stirred and awoke to see the sky painted in different colors by the powerful blast. Blinking in confusion, she looked over to see Shingo sitting beside her, also looking skyward. "Shingo-kun… where are we?"

Shingo looked down at her and smiled in relief. "The Teien Art Museum, are you okay?"

"I'm… tired… and um…" She stopped when she saw her clothes. "Why am I dressed like a doll?"

Shingo stood up, and took her hands to pull her up into the sitting position. "That's not important right now. What is, is that you're safe and I'm glad you are."

Looking at Shingo's hands as they held hers, Mika broke into a warm blush and looked away in embarrassment, before she looked back up at the glowing sky. Letting go of one and tightening his hold on the other, Shingo too looked skyward and smiled as it continued to shift through colors like an aurora.

* * *

"Hey Strangers, it's Marik sitting in for Hakushi on this podcast. He's still busy cleaning the walls of the studio off after yesterday's throwdown at the Teien Art Museum, and he'll be gone for a while still."

Atop a building nearby the Art Museum, Sailor Mercury's hand was over her mouth as she looked in disbelief at the disheveled appearances of the other Sailor Senshi after their bout. Sailor Mars and Jupiter were entirely aghast at their appearance while Sailor Moon had to admit… she liked the all revealing look.

For her taste, Sailor Jupiter punted her off the roof.

"Last night, as the extent of the battle started coming out there was some debate on our BBS regarding a simple question: Is it worth this?"

Stepping out into the garden where the battle took place, Natsuna looked down at the curator of the museum who was on his hands and knees, sobbing loudly. She then looked out at the complete devastation to the garden. Statues destroyed, sculptures shattered, and the trees and bushes that made it a garden in the first place either on fire or smoldering from the fire that burned them black.

"There are no such things as dumb questions, but there are plenty of stupid answers out there and the stupid answer for this question would be 'No, it's not worth it'."

With a shrug of her shoulders, Natsuna patted the curator on his, before she went back to help with the witness statements.

"When this all began and it was little more than a curiosity, very little was said about the material costs of these battles. But since the Battle of Haneda Airport, stupid people who feel that they should be heard have been raising their voices about the scale of the destruction and what can be done to prevent it. Saying silly things such as 'How can they be protecting Japan if they destroy a piece of it every time they fight' and the like."

Ikuko and Kenji, dazed, sore, and recovering from their ordeal, graciously accepted blankets and cups of water from some paramedics as they waited in the lobby of the museum.

"These people are full of shit, and have no place in any conversation regarding the Sailor Senshi."

Entering the room, Usagi and Shingo immediately spotted their parents and all but tackled them where they sat in their rush to embrace them.

"We're spoiled by these girls. In all the battles we've had, the only casualty has been a tennis pro's arm. They've been too good to us, too good for us. A hundred billion, two hundred billion, who cares how much it costs?"

Riding away to the hospital aboard an ambulance, Yoshiko sat on a bench holding her exhausted daughter's hand as she lay on a stretcher. She wore a look of relief, as Mika slept soundly despite the rocking and turning of the ambulance.

"What's important is the number of people who have died because of these girls: Zero."

Walking into his bedroom after returning from his adventure, Mamoru looked over to his nightstand and smiled sadly at his figures of Nanoha and Fate, posed smiling to one another as they held hands.

"We should all be grateful, because as long as we're still alive we can repave roads, rebuild towers and create even greater art… there's nothing the dead can do but lay in the ground and rot."

Masato looked out the driver's side window of his Bugatti and across the street at the OSA-P jewelry store. His hands tightened their hold on the wheel, while watched Mayumi speak animatedly with a customer, before he shook his head and started up the car.

"This is Marik signing off, stay strange, Strangers."

Looking from the customer, Mayumi blinked in curiosity as she just caught the tail end of the million dollar sports car pull away.

* * *

"It's so nice to finally have you visit, you know. I was worried that you would be shy after what happened," Ikuko said to Yoshiko as they sat at the latter's kitchen table with mugs of coffee in hand.

"Iku-chan, I'd never turn down a chance to see you again. It's just the last few days have been so busy, fretting over Mika-chan and getting her into her new school," Yoshiko said before she let out a sigh. "She really didn't want to leave."

"Yes, to think that she and Shingo-kun had been in the same class all this time…" Ikuko shook her head and smiled. "So how is Mika-chan getting used to her new school? You sent her to Tokyo's best, right?"

Yoshiko nodded. "I had already been eyeing transferring her there, but with everything that happened it was only natural to move her on. But they were so accommodating, despite the waiting list they allowed her right into the entrance examination, considering her circumstances."

"Because she was a victim of the Dark Kingdom?" Ikuko asked.

Again, Yoshiko nodded. "They have a charity going on for child victims of the attacks. It's really so kind of them…" She then gave Ikuko a pointed look. "Speaking of, what about Shingo-kun? He was being bullied pretty harshly, Mika really hated what they were doing to him…"

Ikuko stirred the coffee in her mug and smiled. "Shingo's actually been doing very well since then. No one messes with him anymore."

That brought a smile to Yoshiko's face. "Really? I guess they were all pretty grateful for him helping them."

The Tsukino matriarch's eyes immediately rolled to the right. "Well…"

* * *

Standing beside his desk, the first day of school since the fiasco at the museum, Shingo stared at the insults, bad words, and threats written all over his desk in permanent marker. Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh and turned around to face Tenzo and the other students, who all glared sharply at him.

"Kayama at least had the sense to leave, but you're so stupid you can't even realize where you're not welcome!" Tenzo snapped at him, before he smirked. "Well, now that she's gone there's no one else here that can help you, so we're all going to give you a real taste of hell, Tsukino."

The other children similarly began smiling as they pulled out their cellphones. Letting out a sigh, Shingo walked up to Tenzo. "Ito."

Tenzo got up in his face. "Yes, freak?"

Shingo leaned back, and then smashed the top of his forehead into Tenzo's nose breaking it in a spray of blood. As the tubby young man recoiled, Shingo grabbed him by the front of his shirt and held him still.

"During the last few days something finally sank in," Shingo said as the other kids backed away in fright. "I'm never going to get any of _you people_ to see that I'm not a bad person, but you know what? I don't need _you_ to acknowledge me. I already have amazing friends, my Mom and Dad love me, and my sister, the scariest person in Minato, respects me. So here's what's going to happen from now on."

He pulled Tenzo's blood-splattered face close to his, and put on a smile Usagi would be proud of. "You and all your friends are going to leave me the hell alone, or this will keep happening:"

Shingo proceeded to punch Tenzo repeatedly in his fat face, with just enough force that it hurt, and that the extra layers of fat cushioned the impacts to keep him from losing consciousness. After eight good hits and a half dozen passable ones, Shingo let Tenzo collapse to the ground, clutching his face and bawling his eyes out. Looking down at his blood-covered hand, Shingo grabbed Hikari by her braids and yanked her over to wipe Tenzo's blood off on her face and, finding it insufficient, then he grabbed Shigeru and smeared some on his, dislodging his glasses.

Looking at his hand and finding it satisfactory, he stepped on Shigeru's glasses and looked around the room. "You all keep asking me if I'm going to call my Big Sister to get you for picking on me. Well I won't. Do you want to know why?"

He then ran his fingers through his hair, turning it into an unruly blonde mop with red highlight-like streaks all over it. He smiled even broader. "Because I can be just as bad as her."

The rest of Shingo's classmates immediately screamed in terror. Outside the school, watching from the street, Usagi beamed with pride and walked away, while Makoto shook her head and followed close behind.

* * *

Yoshiko took a sip from her coffee and gave Ikuko a flat look. "He beat them up, didn't he?"

"Oh no, not at all. But somehow, the boy that was giving him trouble the most fell down the stairs mouth first… about a dozen times. At least that's what everyone else who saw it says…"

Ikuko and Yoshiko shared a laugh at that, before Ikuko gave Yoshiko a meaningful look. "You know… it's funny. All these years we hadn't spoken to each other, and our children were in the same class and friends no less!"

Yoshiko's laughter ebbed slowly, and she looked down at her coffee cup. "Yes, isn't that an interesting coincidence…"

"You know, if we're going to be hanging out more, you should bring Mika-chan! It would brighten up her day, and Shingo-kun's." When Yoshiko grew hesitant at Ikuko's suggestion, the Tsukino matriarch raised her brows. "Is there a problem with that. Yoshi-chan?"

Yoshiko tightened her grip on her coffee mug. "Actually… there is."

Ikuko tilted her head slightly, bemused. "What is it?"

"I think it'd be best if they stayed away from each other…"

Ikuko was a little offended by that. "Why is that? my son is a good boy and a perfect gentlemen, and he really cares for Mika-chan."

Yoshiko shrank underneath her old friend's stern tone and shook her head. "It's not Mika-chan I'm worried for."

Puzzled, Ikuko shook her head. "Goodness Yoshi-chan! What happened wasn't Mika's fault, she was under the control of that monster, it was making her act crazy like that towards Shingo-kun."

Silent, Yoshiko stared right down into her coffee. After a few moments, Ikuko grew a little nervous. "… Right?"

Sitting on a bench in a luscious green space, Mika sighed dejectedly as she looked upon her latest creation, a scratch-made doll modeled precisely after Shingo dressed in green plaid pants and red blazer that matched her plaid and red school uniform. It had been days since she had first transferred to her new school, and she had hardly spoken to anyone. She didn't really want to… there was really only one thing she did want.

"Shingo-kun," she breathed out before she hugged the doll to herself. "I was so close… even after what I did you were still kind to me."

She bowed her head and began to rock back and forth slowly. "… No one… no one will ever be able to understand or appreciate how amazing you are… there is no one else good enough for you."

Turning the doll around to look at its face, Mika smiled and whispered, "Only me."

* * *

Beryl could not be paid to be happier, as she beheld the energy Jumeau's sacrifice had gained. "This is twice the energy the little Drummer Youma gave us! You've outdone yourself, and to think you were worried."

Standing before the throne, Nephrite nodded to Beryl, while avoiding all eye contact with Zoisite, who was giving him the smelliest stink-eye ever. "Thank you, my Queen."

"We are nearing the end of this phase. What happens in the next phase is entirely reliant on the endgame here. Make doubly sure you meet the quotas, and if like what I see I will assign you to lead the Rainbow Crystal hunt."

Zoisite's stink-eye became a full-blown hateful glare. "What?! I had that position on lock!"

"Yes, but then Nephrite showed he was actually competent. Meanwhile, you got your ass beaten by a _Catholic Priest,_ and not the way you're used to."

"He was a magic priest! He stabbed me with like a million knives! I almost died!"

Beryl huffed and the collar-like band around his neck darkened. As Zoisite suddenly gasped in horror, she continued. "If it's that hard for you, remember that things aren't just handed out, they are earned. And if you can't earn it…"

The collar faded back to its original state and Zoisite visibly calmed… to an extent. Slowly nodding to Beryl, Zoisite surrounded himself in petals and left.

"'My Queen…"

"Yes, my Nephrite?"

Nephrite narrowed his eyes as he watched the last petals vanish. "I don't think Zoisite contributes to our goals in any meaningful way, especially now that I can collect energy from the Senshi."

Beryl slowly nodded. "It's easy to think that, isn't it? All I've done lately is send him to be abused by Sailor Venus and the biggest badasses Western Europe has to offer. However, he still has a part to play in our plot, just like you… just like Kunzite, so I expect you to stick to that part and to not get _distracted."_

Grimacing, Nephrite bowed his head. "Rest assured, nothing will make me stray from what we have all sacrificed so much for."

Beryl smiled. "Good, dismissed!"

With a much more formal bow, Nephrite vanished and Beryl sat back in her chair before she let out a chuckle. "Sailor Trash… I gotta remember that one."

Appearing in the study of his abandoned mansion beneath a large round stained glass window, Nephrite found Zoisite sitting at a table, running a thin crystal back and forth against the palm of his gloved hand and clearly looking like he didn't give a fuck. Upon noticing him, Zoisite began tapping the flat of the blade against his wrist and let out a laugh.

Of course, Nephrite was not happy about this at all. "Is this what you've really reduced yourself to? Coming to kill me after you embarrassed yourself?"

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you. Beryl would kill me if I did, and not in a sexy way. No, I'm annoyed Nephrite."

Perhaps Nephrite underestimated Zoisite's grasp of empathy. "About what?"

"It just drives me crazy that as big and public as your fights are, you're not even making the most of them."

Or not. Nephrite scowled. "I do not need a body count to achieve my objectives."

"No, you don't… but it looks awfully a lot like to me you're keeping your options open, rather than keeping to the point."

"How it looks to you doesn't matter to me."

Zoisite stopped and smirked at Nephrite. "You're right, it doesn't."

He threw the blade for Nephrite's left eye, but the other Dark General caught it between two fingers without even flinching. He stared down at Zoisite, ignoring the three other crystals that hovered around him aimed for his throat, his heart and his lower spine.

Zoisite let out a chuckle before he stood up and walked towards Nephrite. "But if it looks suspicious to someone like me, Nephrite… you really ought to wonder what Beryl's thinks about it."

Nephrite followed Zoisite with his eyes until he walked past, but remained still even as Zoisite reached up and gripped the crystal pointed at his back. "Because they sure didn't have a problem welcoming Jadeite to their side with open arms, did they?"

The two men stood frozen there, Nephrite still not turning his head to look at Zoisite but more than well aware of the danger he was in. Even if he could not kill Nephrite, Zoisite was never a fan of just letting someone off that easy to begin with.

Zoisite pulled the blade back and began to grin, but before he could sink the it into somewhere exceedingly painful, a torrent of fire blasted him into the wall. When the flames passed, the scorched and smoldering blonde looked up in disbelief. "That attack!"

"Mars Fire Soul!"

Another stream of flame this time hit a barrier Zoisite raised. As he stared wide-eyed into the shadows, he shook his head. "No way, how did…?!"

"Mercury Sabão Spray!"

A torrent of freezing bubbles then struck, hammering into Zoisite with such density that thick, strong ice began to form around his torso before it spread to his limbs and up to his neck. When it finally stopped he was completely encased in ice up to his chin. "… Impossible…"

Nephrite relaxed as the remaining crystals vanished and two attractive young women stepped from the shadows. One red as Goro but with gray colored hair, a long prehensile tail and a dark red two piece outfit, and the other identical to the first, but blue in color with a dark blue outfit. The twin youma Castor and Pollux entwined their long tails around one another, and sneered down at Zoisite.

"You have some nerve attacking Nephrite-sama!" the twins said together.

Nephrite looked to the two girls. "So, you two have finished your training."

Both nodded as they looked to Nephrite. "The Girls are harsh, but it was well worth it."

Pulling a smirk Nephrite looked back to Zoisite, who went right back to scowling as he began to teleport away. The moment he was gone, he looked to the beautiful twin youma. "It's time to get a reading done, care to join me?"

The two youma smiled. "Of course, Nephrite-sama."

As the two followed Nephrite towards the stained glass window, the Dark General placed a hand over his face to hide his grimace.

_Yes Beryl's a lot smarter than you, Zoisite, but as long as I keep giving her what she wants I can still have my insurance._

* * *

Nephrite: When it comes to bullies and bullying, fighting is never the answer. Your first recourse should always be to find an adult who is willing to listen and intervene on the situation. No shame could ever hope the match of endless torment at the hands of others.

Beryl: Ah, but Nephrite in the real world there will not be always be an adult to come rescue you from your torments. Even if it's a losing prospect, stand up and stand your ground. The cruel invariably prey upon the weak, but show them that you're strong and they will show how cowardly they really are.

Zoisite: And then it's time for a little payback! *Blasted* AHH!

Beryl: You're not allowed to do this anymore. Queen Beryl says! MWAHAHAHAHA!

* * *

"Excuse me."

Mika jumped and then turned to her head towards the girl who spoke to her. The dark-haired girl, dressed in the same plaid skirt and red shirt that Mika was, took a step back. "Ah… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to startle you. It's just… you started coming here, you've always sat alone, with that doll."

Blinking several times, Mika looked down at the doll, and then back up at the girl. "Oh, well I just started school here and I don't really know anyone." She rocked a bit. "So I was just making this doll…"

"You made it? By yourself?"

Mika nodded to the astonished girl. "Yes."

The girl took a seat next to Mika on the bench. "That's incredible, does he have a name?"

Mika blushed a bit. "Ah… his name is Shingo-kun… after a boy I know."

A smile appeared on the girl's face, and she giggled. "Your boyfriend?"

"N-no!" Mika sharply gasped, before she looked away and hugged the doll closer. Boyfriend? No, he was something deeper, greater than that in her eyes. To call him something so… uncouth…

The girl laughed at Mika's dramatic reaction and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry I was just teasing. But you made that doll, that's just amazing. Do you think you could show me how?"

Wary, Mika eyed the seemingly friendly girl before she eased down and looked at her doll. "I guess I could…"

"Great!" the girl said brightly. "Ah… what's your name?"

"Mika Kayama…" A smile finally found its way onto Mika's face as she gave it to the strange girl. "And yours?"

"Tomoe, Hotaru Tomoe…" The dark-haired girl smiled to her newfound friend as a red light flickered in the center of her violet eyes.

"… I hope we can be good friends."

* * *

A/N: Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon lives.


End file.

Sailor Moon, Adventure, Humor