No Charm, No Choice

The sun dawns on yet another day in Juuban. Thedon was finishing up his usual morning routine, and then made for the kitchen. He had been receiving some strange visions during his meditation, and he somehow felt that the Negaverse was involved. He was also paying attention to the local news regarding the recent rash of disappearances. He tried to conduct his own private investigation, yet turned up nothing. The only solid lead that was known was that the disappearances all happened around the Cherry Hill Shrine. His visions in particular seemed to revolve around a girl that he guessed was the shrine maiden. 'What could these visions mean, and how does that shrine maiden fit into it?'

He put these thoughts out of his head for now and walked out the door. As he prepared to leave, he heard a cawing sound behind him. He turned around and saw two crows perched on the roof of the front porch. This normally wouldn't bother him since some of his relatives were involved in animal breeding and husbandry programs all over the world, but these two particular crows kept visiting for some time. He somehow felt like they were trying to tell him something, but what it was he didn't know. Thedon simply grunted, not wanting to think about that now.

As Thedon made his way to meet up with Serena and Amy, he took note of the police cars heading in the direction of Cherry Hill. 'This clenches it, the next chance I get; I'm investigating that shrine myself. Busloads of people are disappearing, and the missing buses are all from my mother's company. It won't be long until people start suspecting my family.' The sound of Serena's voice brought him out of his musings. "Hey Thedon, over here!" Thedon made his way towards Serena. "Hey Serena, how are you today?"

"I'm fine; did you notice those police cars? They were heading for Cherry Hill Shrine."

"A bit hard for me not to, what with all the disappearances of late. All of those vanished buses belong to Giscard Transport Incorporated, and my mother has been losing sleep trying to calm everything down. She can't even walk outside the house without being swarmed by reporters and journalists asking all sorts of unfounded and unrealistic questions. Even the police have confronted her about it."

"Well, we were just talking about paying the shrine a visit. They supposedly sell good luck charms."

"You don't say, well I think I'll go with you. I might just find some clues to this whole debacle."

They made their way to the Cherry Hill shrine, and while Serena was fantasizing about finally getting a boyfriend with the help of one of the good luck charms they sell, Thedon took notice of the flock of crows that were perched on the arch before the shrine. Two crows in particular made eye contact with Thedon, which held him back while Serena went on ahead. They stared at each other for several minutes as if sizing up the other, before the crows bowed and took off. "Strange, they don't normally do that to strangers." Thedon turned around and saw a girl about Serena's age with long black hair and wearing a priestess robe. "Normally they just sit there and watch as people go by. I'm Raye Hino, by the way. Can I ask who you might be? We don't often have guys coming here."

"I find that hard to believe with such a pretty girl like you hanging around. My name is Thedon Giscard, son of Nathan and Julie Giscard and heir to the Giscard conglomerate." Raye blushed at the compliment and gasped when he introduced himself. "Now, now, no need to get yourself all worked up. I'm not here to cause any trouble. But I'm sure you're aware of the recent vanishings of late?" Raye nodded in confusion at where this chat was going. "Well, the buses involved in these incidents were leased from my mother's company, and these recent happenings have been driving her insane. Now I mean no offense, nor am I pointing fingers at anyone, but I have to ask, do you know anything at all about these incidents?"

Raye was about to answer when she heard a ruckus coming from the shrine. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go before Grandpa gets himself into trouble."

"I understand, and from what I can see, the ruckus he's raising is over my friend." They both walked the short distance to the shrine and Raye started scolding her grandfather. Thedon went over to Serena and the other girls. "Serena, has he been bothering you at all?"

"Not really, no. I think he just mistook us for another group that just left."

Thedon was about to respond when he suddenly felt a pulse of evil energy. Raye and the crows seemed to notice it as well. 'I knew it; Jadeite must be here somewhere, but where?' Raye however, to a more direct action and brought forth a paper talisman and after chanting a prayer applied it to…Serena's forehead, which knocked her out. Raye started apologizing profusely upon realizing her mistake as Thedon rushed to her side. "Let's get her inside; she should wake up in a few minutes or so."

After several minutes Serena was still out cold. A blonde haired man came by with some bandages before leaving soon after. Molly made a remark about how attractive he was, which brought Serena back to consciousness and sitting bolt upright, looking around wildly for said cute guy. "Really Serena, I'm hurt. And here I thought we had something special going." Serena looked at Thedon with an annoyed expression. "We're just friends, Thedon. You know that." Thedon simply looked back at her with a look of mock disappointment and a smirk.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the door as it was flung open, revealing a middle aged woman, who started shouting at Raye about where her daughter was. Raye was about to defend herself, but Thedon beat her to it. "Ma'am I don't know who you are, but I do NOT appreciate when people come barging into someone's home without an invitation. Besides, you think you're the only one who lost someone recently? There are families all over Juuban who have lost someone to these recent troubles. I find it rude and absolutely disgusting that you would come into this shrine and start making unreasonable demands."

"Hey, you're that Giscard boy. Trying to cover up your family's mistake you insolent brat?"

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME, MY FAMILY, AND MY ENTIRE BLOODLINE WITH SUCH BULLSHIT ACCUSATIONS! These disappearances have my family just as worried as anyone else, and we have absolutely NOTHING to do with these problems. If you're in that much of a rush to find your daughter, then take your complaint to the police, and don't waste your time with accusing a shrine maiden of something she couldn't have done. Now get out of my sight and out of this shrine." The woman left in a rush, surprised and scared by Thedon's outburst. Thedon took a moment to reign in his temper.

"The nerve of some people. My apologies for that little tirade. My family has been running an honorable business since the late 80's. They ran into problems, yes; but they did everything in their power to solve said problems instead of pushing the blame on someone else. I'll see you girls later; I need to take a walk." Serena and Raye stared at Thedon as he left, both with a light blush on their faces for different reasons.

Thedon soon found himself in the forest near the shrine, and started attacking the various trees in anger. He didn't use his Rokushiki, or he would have been cited for deforestation. Again and again he attacked the trees, yet his anger never lessened; it only seemed to grow with every hit. He finally calmed himself down several hours later; his fists were bloody and full of splinters while the trees were covered by spots of blood.

Unknown to Thedon, Raye was watching the whole thing. She had grown concerned by his sudden departure, but returned to her duties. She heard the sounds of someone hitting something and decided to investigate. That was when she came across Thedon venting his anger of the trees. She started shedding tears, trying to imagine the pain he was going through. She turned back only to find him gone.

"You know, it's considered rude to spy on people."

Raye jumped in surprise as she found Thedon right behind her. She never saw him move, didn't hear a sound as he approached, nor did she sense his presence. She took a few minutes to collect herself before responding.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I heard some noises over here and thought something bad was happening, so I decided to investigate."

"No harm done, then. Sorry if I worried you earlier. Having someone just blatantly insulting my family enrages me like nothing else. Even before I started school I was known to be rather violent at times. My family has a history that goes back to even before the founding of America, and there were no shortages of hecklers in that time. But I don't want to bore you with my family's history, so I should be going."

"Are you sure? You want me to bandage your hands before you go?"

"No, I don't want to intrude any more then I have." This started a small argument consisting of Raye insisting on dressing his wounds and Thedon trying to decline. Sadly, he was overruled when Raye took hold of his arms and dragged him back to the temple. On the way there, they passed Jed, whom Raye said was a recently hired caretaker for the shrine. Thedon, however, had other ideas as to who he was. 'You'd think he would try to find a better alias since the police know his name. A little character dissection for later in my schedule.'

We now find Thedon and Raye sitting in the temple living area. Raye was busy cleaning the blood off of Thedon's hands along with removing any splinters she could find. Thedon looked over and saw, to his surprise, two crows. "Raye, not to be rude or anything but I have to ask. Why are there two crows in here with you?"

"You mean Diemos and Phobos? When I was just starting out as a priestess, I found an abandoned nest with two eggs in it. I took care of those eggs and they hatched into a pair of crow chicks. They've been my physical and spiritual guardians ever since."

"Interesting, believe it or not I think those two have been paying me a visit for the past few days." They continued with some small talk for a couple hours until his hands were bandaged, by which time it was mid-afternoon. After saying goodbye, he made his way home using his usual method of transport, which he dubbed the Kamisori. He took notice of a large group of girls waiting at a bus stop, all of whom had one of those lucky charms from the Cherry Hill shrine. He touched down on a nearby rooftop and watched as a bus pulled up. He also watched as Amy and Luna attempted to coerce Serena onto the bus unsuccessfully. He then watched as the bus full of girls rose into the air and disappeared through a black hole.

Thedon was stewing in his anger after seeing that. The Negaverse had the nerve to not only commit a mass kidnapping, but to steal his company property at the same time. 'This will not go unchallenged. They have insulted my family and now they owe me three pounds of flesh. I shall collect it tomorrow.' He then took off before he caused any property damage.

Thedon's anger was no less calmed the next morning. His vision was outlined in red and his knuckles where white from the pressure of his fists. He came across Amy and his anger was briefly forgotten. "Amy, what's wrong?"

"Thedon, Serena and Luna were taken by the bus."

"What do you mean, "Taken by the bus?""

"Yesterday we decided to investigate the rumors of the vanishing bus and found out it was true. I tried to get Serena on the bus, but she was too scared. I just saw her and Luna board the same bus, and now they're gone."

She finished her story and the anger in Thedon turned into a raging inferno. "Amy, I want you to get to somewhere safe. I'll take care of this." He was gone before Amy could ask any questions. His anger fueled his legs as he ran full tilt toward the shrine. He got there just in time to watch as Jadeite opened another black hole, which sucked Raye and the two crows in.

"Jadeite, you son of a bitch, this time you crossed the line. You owe me several pounds of flesh, which I will take great pleasure in stripping from your worthless hide."

"Oh really, and what of the girls taken by the buses? Will you forsake them in order to exact your revenge?" Sadly he was right. Thedon couldn't, in good conscience, leave those girls to rot for his own selfish reasons. Yet he couldn't leave without giving Jadeite some form of punishment. So he activated Temporal Fist, landed numerous kicks and punches on Jadeites immobile person, transformed into the Masked Star, and dashed through the black hole. His temporal fist ended when he was gone and Jadeite folded over in pain.

He shot out of the portal into a strange looking pocket dimension. He looked down and saw Sailor Moon confronting a Youma that looked like a failed attempt at combining human and reptilian DNA. But what really drew his eyes to the standoff was the fact that the monster had Raye in a chokehold. He let out a low growl and launched himself forward. Diemos and Phobos joined him in his charge, intent on protecting their mistress. "RELEASE HER YOU WORTHLESS EXCUSE FOR A HANDBAG!" The monster looked in his direction only to receive a boot to the face. The impact caused her to release Raye, who ran to Sailor Moon and Luna.

The monster got to its feet and stared in annoyance at Thedon. Although her master had warned her about his possible interference, she thought he was exaggerating in his description of this person's abilities. Now though, it seemed like he left more out in his explanation than expected. Her musings were cut short as she had to dodge several projectile attacks. "Hold still you worthless, cold-blooded coward! Rankyaku Tengu Claw!" He launched another projectile, which took the shape of a bird's talon.

While Thedon was attacking the monster, Raye made her way to Sailor Moon and Luna. A brief exchange of words followed which led to Luna revealing to her that she was Sailor Mars. Luna then gave her a rod like Amy's, the only difference was that while Amy's was blue, hers was red. The sound of the fight drew their attention to the fight between Thedon and the monster. "Shouldn't we do something to help him?" Rye got an answer, but not from where she expected.

"If you would be so kind as to join this fight, I would appreciate it. After all, I don't want to steal your glory." Serena was the first to recover and launched her attack.

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"

Thedon jumped to the side, but so did the monster. This caused the disk of light to miss its target, and it was caught by the monster on the return trip. The tiara then became a band of light which tied the monster up. Thedon then proceeded to shout, "Sailor Mars, hurry up and transform!" Raye gave a brief nod, and after some brief instructions from Luna shouted.

"MARS POWER!"

Raye stood there transformed in a flash of fire, just as the monster managed to free itself. Thedon decided to make a comment then. "Well, that uniform certainly compliments you, though I have my doubts about the high heels being any help on the battlefield." Raye's face was slightly red at this comment. However the monster was tired of being ignored, so she decided to attack. This had the desired effect of drawing everyone's attention towards it. Raye was getting annoyed at this, and voiced her disapproval.

"You messed with the wrong people. MARS FIRE IGNITE!" A fireball shot forth in a spiral path from her fingertips in the monsters direction, and it was soon joined by another attack.

"RANKYAKU CLEAVING PHOENIX!" Thedon launched a Rankyaku which took the form of a phoenix as it raced alongside Raye's attack, and became a blazing tower of white fire upon impact which incinerated the monster, not even leaving ashes behind. Jadeite growled in anger as the ball of collected energy in his hand quickly faded into nothing, which caused him to wince as he had yet to heal from the sudden beat down given to him. But while the heroes were admiring their accomplishment, another problem reared its head, as addressed by Luna.

"Everyone, this is no time to celebrate, the portal back to Earth is closing." His caused Serena to descend into a panic as the portal continued to close. Even Thedon was coming up short for answers, which in turn caused him to become stressed. Meanwhile on the other side, Amy was still at the same spot that Thedon had found her at. She didn't know what to do or if she could do anything, so in desperation, she started praying to the planet she represented. Unseen by her, this caused a small blue light to flicker into life, which grew into a shift of light that in turn kept the portal from closing.

Serena was overjoyed by this. "It's Amy! She's keeping the portal open!"

"That a girl, Amy." This was all Thedon said, and then he heard another voice.

"Hey Sailor ladies, going my way?" They all turned to find Tuxedo Mask in the driver's seat of a bus.

"Now you show up, tuxedo boy? You are either very lazy or have the worst sense of timing known to existence as a whole."

"How many times are you going to try to insult me before you become bored, Masked Star?"

"As many times as it takes to convince you to either step in and help, or get the hell out of the way."

Serena, Luna, and Raye were becoming extremely annoyed by the argument being had by both of them. Luna finally decided to jump in.

"Really now, this no time for petty squabbles. There are innocent lives at stake here, so for now stop this bickering and let's go."

Thedon was the first to acknowledge this fact. With a brief nod, he jumped on a bus, and used his Psychokinetic powers to fly it back through the portal while towing the other two buses behind it. Amy was still in the road with tears on her face. She absently noted that the sun had long since set. She was about to leave when she noticed a dark spot in the sky. This spot grew wider by the second. When it stopped growing, she watched as the three missing buses drove through the hole. The Masked Star sat on the roof of the first bus in a meditative pose. They soon came to settle on the road.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, we have now arrived at the last stop on this route. All passengers please disembark and don't forget to check the overhead compartments for personal items and carry-on bags. On behalf of Star Bus Inc., I thank you for riding with us and hope to see you again. Once again thank you and have a nice day." He jumped down from the bus after his spiel, followed shortly thereafter by Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. Amy was simply overjoyed to see them return.

However, while the girls were distracted, Jadeite was observing from a nearby rooftop. He scowled as yet another one of his plans was not just beaten, but annihilated by a bunch of human children. He was about to leave when he sensed a presence behind him. He turned around and saw Masked Star standing there.

"That's another of your contrived schemes shot down. I expect your dear queen beryl won't be very pleased with you."

"Gloat while you can, because the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."

"You took the words right out of my mouth. Although I doubt you'll get many more chances with your string of failures as of late. But before you go, here's a little parting gift."

A gold blade of energy grew from Thedon's staff, and he rushed forward. He swung out, and dug into Jadeites torso. "Solar Scythe." A large gash was left in his side, blood trickling through Jadeites fingers as he attempted to hold the wound closed. Jadeite grimaced in pain, silently cursing this human before him. He struggled to open a portal, but managed to do so and soon made his escape to the Negaverse.

With Jadeite gone, Thedon transformed out of his armor. He walked to the edge of the rooftop, seeing that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars were arguing over whether or not he or Tuxedo masked loved her. The end result was her crying, although these tears didn't get Thedon so angry.

'Don't worry girls, no matter how long it takes, when the time is right, I shall give you all the love that you deserve. But that time is not now.' With that final thought, he made his exit with Kamisori.