Card the moon

Chapter 46 – Sailors assemble

Running, she hated running. She wasn't built for running and she had no problem admitting it. It was but one of the many things she and the youma did not have in common. The youma was made for running and its injury was not slowing it down.

She grumbled as she chased. Even though her mother wasn't around to be scandalized she couldn't bring herself to use 'those' words at high volume, even if she couldn't help them dribbling out her mouth between wheezes.

"Keeping up back there?" the youma taunted.

She was, barely, but it worried her how the youma kept looking behind it to see if she was still following.

It was clear early on it could have bolted and lost her if that were its purpose, but it didn't.

She was running head long into a trap. The nature of said trap wasn't clear but she had little doubt there was an unwelcome surprise coming up any moment.

Still, she kept running. Hermione Granger had a very strong sense of responsibility and despite her minor breakdown over Christmas, she was fully committed to the job, and that job meant chasing this stupid youma until she caught it.

She broke through into a clearing and stopped when she saw the youma standing their looking very smug.

"So—this is—your—trap?" she wheezed like an asthmatic smoker.

The youma just kept on grinning; it was an obnoxious sort of grin. The sort of obnoxious grin that said, 'I know something that you don't' and 'you're not gonna like it' and 'neener neener Neener'.

"Well—say—something!"

"If you really don't mind," said, 'not' the youma.

"Professor Jade!"

The handsome, nerdy man strode calmly from the deep shadows of the forest. The youma took a knee.

"I wasn't expecting you Miss Granger, I don't mind telling you."

"What?"

"Oh come now, I'm sure you've figured it out. Everyone says your quite clever, and if you went to all the trouble of chasing this one down, surely you must know now."

She did, and it only took her deoxygenated brain a moment to put the rest of the pieces together, "Jadeite."

Her history professor smiled, there was teeth in it, "You've heard of me. Well, that certainly makes this easier. Kill her."

The Gryffindor girls' eyes went wide at such a flippant command from someone she'd not have thought capable of killing a fly, but she was still ready to dodge when the youma lunged, clawed hand extended like a sword.

"Come, come, that can't be the best you can do," the man taunted as she skipped, hopped, and rolled past every assault.

"Stand still brat!"

"Stop trying to stab me then!"

It wasn't any kind of reluctance to give herself away that kept her from transforming, he obviously had that figured out. But the youma, as previously explained, was fast, too fast. She could feel her transformation device bouncing around in her pocket, but her attacker refused to give her enough space to grab it.

Worse still, her all too human, and by human we mean not magical girl enhanced, stamina was quickly running out.

"I'm getting bored," the man that was more than he seemed raised an idle hand, releasing a bolt of pure kinetic darkness.

The tree nearest her exploded, knocking her to the ground. It was only fortunate it was one of the biggest trees in the forest or the chunk he took out of it would have dropped it right on her.

The man sneered as his subordinate circled warily, awaiting orders, "For all the trouble you've caused me I expected more. Whatever, destroy he…"

His command came up short when he noticed the heavy fog curling around his feet. He turned to find an entire wall of it slowly coming his direction.

"What the?" was all he got before it was his turn to dodge.

A bolt of lightning shot out of the earthbound cloud and parted the air he'd just been occupying. In clear defiance of logic, the quick youma was not quick enough to dodge the unexpected lightning bolt.

Lighting up like a Christmas tree, the youma smoked, twitching painfully but refusing to break from just that. The follow-up fireball put such obstinance to the test and failed it; black dust fertilized the forbidden forest.

"WHAT? NO!" he screamed, "What is happening?"

"You mean you don't know?"

Hermione was back on her feet, smudged and dirty and looking ready to fight.

"Still bored, professor?"

The handsome man snarled and raised his hand, but the compact was already in hers.

"MOON POWER, MAKE-UP!"

The brilliant light of transformation blinded him, but he didn't need to see the sequence to recognize the girl after her wardrobe change.

"Damn you. DAMN YOU!"

The bolt of darkness came, she was ready for it. The lightning bolt and fireball followed; he was less ready.

The fire caught his sleeve ablaze as he danced around the lightning, foolishly turning his back to her.

"Moon, tiara, MAGIC!"

He fumbled a dodge that kept his head on his shoulders, but his new position on the ground made it harder to dodge the return and the magical frisbee opened an angry gash along his side.

"Go back to your Negaverse Jadeite. This is our world, and we are ready to defend it," the ghost of Shakespeare declared through the mouth of Sailor Moon.

The blonde man rose defiant, "You—you think you can make a fool of me?"

Dark power exploded like an electrical discharge, shooting around him in rampant, destructive chaos. A lightning bolt from the back glanced off this shield, newly erected, protecting the obvious weak spot.

"Ah, ah, ah, no backstabbing," he taunted, drunk on his own power, much to his detriment.

His back wasn't his only blind spot; the fog creeping further around them as the fight progressed. Eyes meant only for her never saw the fireball that came straight from the side, exploding across his head.

The explosion, coupled with the sudden loss of control of his power sent him tumbling through a large thorny bush, slamming him upright into a very large tree, since that seemed to be all there were in the forbidden forest.

"Quit stalling and finish him!" a testy voice shouted from the fog.

The tiara was still in her hand and she reeled back for another throw, but the last attack appeared to have shaken more than just his head. With one last growl, her history professor vanished.

His absence created a lull of anticipation. When nothing came to fill it, there was a collective breath of relief, followed by a drop in adrenaline, and a drop in Sailor Moon as she fell to her knees, fully exhausted.

"Well, that's not good. He knows who you are now."

It was a surprise, yet not a surprise to see Sailor Mars, a.k.a. Daphne Greengrass, strut out of the dissipating fog bank all the while chastising her. She didn't know the girl well, but it seemed like the sort of thing a Sailor Mars would do.

"Oh lay off," said Sailor Jupiter, Katie Bell, as she marched up with Sailor Mercury, Su Li, following timidly behind. "For being thrown together at the last minute we did damn well."

That of course begged the question, "How did you all know I was going to be down here anyway?"

"Ask her?" said Katie.

'Her' grinned smugly, and Hermione knew no matter what she had to say, she wasn't going to like it.