Cyber Moon: Chronicles.
Act 5: Black Lady.
Episode 53: Triple Trouble.
By Razor Knight
Last update: July 6, 2007
"This is what I could see," Ami said. "Those crystals, whatever they are, are both generators of dark energy, and collectors."
"How does that work?" Karin asked.
"They send a small quantity of dark mana out, enough to cause a few civilians to start acting evily. Then the crystal feeds on the dark energy generated by their emotions, and uses part of it to boost the power of their 'dark field.'"
"So it's a domino effect," Hotaru said. "The more people gets angry, the more they feed the crystal. The more the crystal is fed, the more it can darken their emotions. Once someone is affected, it's just a matter of time before everyone falls."
Ami nodded. "However, after the crystal's broken, its effect on people vanishes."
"That's good to know," Usagi said, "but we should be careful, we could end up having to fight a crowd of humans."
"We'll just have to knock them out until we solve the problem," Karin said.
"I like your style," Mako admitted. "So... Anyone's got any clues on who Lilith is?"
"No," Hotaru, Ami and Terry said in unison.
"She'll tell us sooner or later," Naru said. "But I gotta admit her powers are quite... Useful."
"But isn't manipulating luck a bit like cheating?" Usagi asked.
"As much as it is to generate fire, ice or big rocks out of thin air, " Terry noted. "I bet she's got a limit to her powers, just like us. "
Chie walked down the street, with no real destination in mind. She was thinking about the last few months of her life, or last few days if she didn't count her trip to the Limbo. 'It's fun, but I think Pluto and the cats are making a big fuss over nothing. So what if I used my powers too much? What could happen?'
Just then, a truck rushed by, hitting a patch of water and soaking her.
"Oh, that." Chie muttered.
"Told you," Luna said.
Chie looked at the cat who was standing on a tree branch near her. "Bad luck to compensate for all the lucky sprees? I can take it."
"Don't be naive. The more you use your power, the more chances you have of them to backfire in combat. Always keep that in mind."
Chie cringed. It was one thing to have bad luck while she was just walking around, but she could see Luna's point. What if bad luck hit when she was fighting those Ayakashi? She could end up hurt, or worse. "I... I see. I'll be more careful. Still, the limit..."
"I know, sounds unfair, but you need to use your power better. Also, I thought Pluto had trained you to fight without it?"
"Sure did. I just don't think I'll try going melee on those elemental-throwing wenchs."
"Chicken," Luna teased.
"Hmph!" Chie walked away sulking, then turned to look at Luna. "Think fast."
Luna blinked in confusion before she noticed the branch was breaking. "Hey!" she managed to jump off the branch, but landed right in what was left of the water patch. "..."
"Isn't that unlucky?" Chie mused as she walked around the corner.
Luna hopped to the sidewalk and shook most of the water off herself, then she heard a scream. She dashed around the corner to help Chie, but started laughing as she saw her.
The girl was, right now, covered in... Cake. "It's not funny!"
A few stories above, a man in a chef suit popped out of a window, looked down and grimaced. "Sorry miss, it slipped."
Chie didn't bother looking up, she just stormed back they way she came, picking up a still giggling Luna as she did. "Okay, I see your damn point already," Chie said. "These powers are starting to not look so great anymore."
"Just like Usagi or the others, all you need to do is learn to use them better," Luna said. "Either that, or improve your dodging," she added then started giggling again.
Chie unceremoniously released Luna from his hands, causing her to land in another small puddle of water. "Shut up."
"I thought you'd learnt not to abuse your luck?" Luna snapped, annoyed at once again being wet. Hey, she was, after all, a cat.
"That wasn't luck, I was quite aware of the water," Chie noted. "Don't blame your dumbness on luck."
"She's worse than Usagi was," Luna muttered as Chie walked away, then cringed. "Something must be wrong with the Universe."
"You wanted to see me?"
Saffir nodded at his brother. "It's about the Wiseman."
"What about him?"
"I don't think he's doing this for our people."
"I don't follow," Dimando said. There was no reason to doubt the Wiseman, he'd helped them out of their dark world to the Earth, and helped them conquering most of the planet in only a few months.
"Think about it, brother. These Senshi we're fighting, they're the same from Crystal Tokyo."
"I know that."
"And Wiseman tells us the best way to destroy Crystal Tokyo is to corrupt those points."
"What do you..."
Saffir sighed in exhasperation. Dimando was a military genius, but time travelling wasn't his field, at all. "If we corrupt those points, Crystal Tokyo will cease to exist in the future." He noticed his brother was staring at him, so he guessed he'd figured out most of what he was about to say. "If Crystal Tokyo isn't there in the future, then what have we been attacking the last few months? Moreso, if the Senshi of this time die, they won't exist in the future."
"Which means no Princess."
"Which means we never followed her to this time."
Dimando growled. "If what you're saying is true, then I need to talk to the Wiseman."
Saffir nodded as his brother left the room. He wasn't sure what that monster was planning, but whatever it was, he could guess it wouldn't be good for either sides of the war.
Lunch time, the Senshi were sitting around the table, which kept on growing to fit the newcomers. "So, I estimate in a few weeks we'll all be able to stay in Twilight, and use more than one Twilight attack per day. Well, not counting the weapon ones."
Mako shrugged. "I like my weapon... Lets me feel what my attack does to my foes."
They felt silent as Chie walked by, until Karin spoke up. "Hi Chie. "
"Hi Karin. Hi guys."
"So, any more culinary accidents happen?" Karin asked with a small smile.
"... Screw you." Chie said and walked off.
"Maybe," Karin said mostly to herself.
"What was that about?" Minako asked.
"I saw Chie yesterday when I was coming home from Crown, she... Best way to say it is, she looked like a cake."
"How did that happen?" Usagi asked.
"Well, she was walking around and someone dropped a cake from a third floor, I think that's how it went. She was bitching about her lousy luck since then."
"Lousy luck..." Ami said, her mind hitting sixth gear.
Terry looked at Ami as she fell silent. He knew her well enough to know whatever she was thinking about, she'd come up with some weird results.
"Karin, you shouldn't make fun of her," Minako said. "It's not funny at all to have food thrown at your..." Just then, a handful of pasta landed on her head. "... Face," she finished. "Who did this?"
"Food war!" someone shouted, and soon the place was turned into a warzone, as food fled everywhere.
Ami's mind returned to reality as an orange bounced on her shoulder. "This is strange. I've never seen any food wars in this school."
Hotaru had her visor on, and looked around the room. "There's one of those dark crystals in this building."
Ami noticed everyone was too busy flingin food around to notice them, so she risked using her own visor. "That's right... But I'm getting another reading."
"Several blocks away from here," Hotaru said. "My best guess is, Crown is the place."
Ami nodded at that. "And also... Crap."
"What's wrong?"
"Black Lady is here," Ami said.
"Good, time to get ChibiUsa back," Usagi said. "Guys, split and break those crystals. Hotaru, come with me."
Hotaru nodded. "Sounds like fun."
And so, while the others split to destroy the crystals, Moon and Saturn got to where Black Lady was. She was standing on the school's roof, arms crossed, and looked at them with a bored look. "About time, you've always been a slacker, Rabbit
"Great, now she's calling me that..."
"Hyaaaaa!"
Black Lady leapt back, barely dodging Lilith's attack. "You again?"
"Yeah, I was about to say the same thing, pinkhead."
"There's no trees or trucks here," Black Lady mocked. "What are you going to do, roll a dice?"
Lilith shrugged and lunged forwards, hitting Black Lady in the face. "Don't think just because I'm not throwing energy beams around, I can't kick your ass."
Black Lady countered tackling Lilith into the wirefence surrounding the roof. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, lucky girl."
Moon and Saturn blinked as part of the fence fell off, causing Black Lady and her foe to fall down. As they looked down, they saw both fighters were struggling to stand up.
Black Lady stood up and saw three Senshi waiting for her. "I..."
"ChibiUsa, you don't have to do this."
"I don't?"
"No. What happened in the future isn't your fault. Please, don't let them control you."
"I..." Black Lady walked to Moon, her eyes watering. "Sorry about all this."
"It's okay..." Moon said.
Saturn growled and put her glaive's tip on Saturn's throat. "Stand back."
"Saturn!" Moon warned.
"Moon, don't be stupid. She's not back to normal, she's still being controlled by the enemy."
Moon's eyes widened. "You... My daughter is there, I know," she said turning back to Black Lady, "but you're not her. How dare you playing with my feelings for her..."
Black Lady leapt away and chuckled evily. "It's really not my fault you're so gullible, oh mighty Queen."
Moon frowned and rushed at Black Lady. She tried to punch her, but the woman deflected the hit and kicked her down. "How..."
"You're useless in melee, moongirl. And your attacks can't harm me after the upgrade Wiseman gave me."
"Who's that Wiseman?"
"You don't need to know, you're going to die right now," Black Lady snapped as her hands lit up.
Saturn had summoned her glaive before Moon attacked, and decided to use it. "Wraith's Cry!"
"Die!" Black Lady shouted as she unleashed her energy. She didn't realize Moon had summoned her disc until her blast hit it, bouncing back at her. From such a short distance, she had no way to dodge her own blast, or the death creature Saturn had summoned.
"Finally," Moon said as Black Lady fell. "I have to..."
Wiseman appeared in front of her, his red eyes glowing in anger. "Stupid Moon Queen, I thought my warrior could defeat you, but I see you're stronger than I expected. I guess I'll have to take care of you myself."
Moon glared at him. "You won't get her again!"
Wiseman laughed at that. "Too late." Black Lady vanished and he looked at Moon. As he did, however, he backed away. Moon had summoned her crystal, and it was shining with light. It hurt him, and caused him to scream, more out of surprise than pain, actually. "Damn you! It doesn't matter if you live, this little game is almost over, and I've already won!"
Saturn walked to Moon as the Wiseman vanished. "Are you okay?"
"You could've tried to attack him," Moon snapped. "Sorry, I..."
Saturn nodded. "I saw his power level, it's out of my league... Out of yours, even."
"For some reason, the Ginzuishou scared him off."
"Let's go see if the others need help," Saturn sugested.
A figure had observed the battle from the shadows, and walked off as soon as it was over. Black Lady and Wiseman were both strange cases. The woman had an energy like that of Sailor Moon herself, and Wiseman... His readings were similar to those of a youma.
It was time to go back to the base and let the good doctor figure things out for her.
A/N: Now don't tell me you didn't know it was Chie. And you now know how her power balances out.
