A Straightforward Approach

Chapter 4

A Brief Set of Interludes

I don't own Sailor Moon. This is admittedly a bit late and shorter than the last chapter, but I mostly wanted to show what was going on with some of the other major players in this story.

Sailor Pluto Interlude:

She stared at the girl curiously through the Gates. Naru Osaka. She wasn't supposed to be involved, and yet there she was. The girl was a deviation from the timeline that was expected, but her presence did not harm the future of Crystal Tokyo.

Perhaps that was why she let Naru Osaka continue as things were. She wasn't negatively impacting the creation of Crystal Tokyo, which was one of the causes to which she was dedicated. The girl was a novelty, of sorts, in a sense, someone going off their preassigned script, yet matching the flow perfectly, giving a reasonable balance that almost seemed to be keeping things on course. Simply put, Naru Osaka had somehow made herself almost essential to the timeline being kept on course, in a way that Sailor Pluto could not define.

And then there was Sailor Moon, herself. Her presence was something that was supposed to be, as she was herself, after all, but her methodology had changed in a way that was not in line with how she resolved issues in the predicted path, but was also not causing problems that would prevent the creation of Crystal Tokyo or the birth of the Little Lady.

Then there was the entertainment value of it all to take into account. As the one who monitored all of time and space, something new that didn't cause issues was a rarity, and that made it something she had immediately taken an interest in. Sailor Moon had managed to deviate from the standard path, but her end result was the same, which meant that it was a net zero in terms of changes.

Perhaps she could let this continue a while longer. Things seemed to be progressing towards the correct conclusion, after all...

Sailor V Interlude:

"You know, when most girls your age go to Paris, regardless of why they're there, they tend to get excited and see the sights..." the white cat noted dryly.

"We're only here because the Negaverse is here," Sailor V replied flatly, "Once the mission is done, we're heading out again."

"You know, you used to love sightseeing."

"Fine. When we're done with everything and the entire Negaverse is destroyed, we'll travel all over and do some sightseeing, alright?! Now, can we just get the mission done so we can get on a plane and go?"

"Now I get it..." Artemis nodded sagely.

"What's there to get?" she asked.

"You saw your little friend through the window when we were passing that airplane terminal and you want to bail out as soon as possible to avoid that confrontation, don't you?"

"What? No!" she protested quickly, "And why would Hikaru even be in Paris instead of London?"

"The same reason she was in Madrid, Berlin, New York, Boston, and Tuscany," he answered, "You left with only the world's second worst goodbye note as a farewell."

"Here we are," she quickly changed the subject, "Now, stay back."

"You're going to use the sulfuric acid attack again, aren't you?"

"Obviously," she replied, "Then I'll wipe out whoever comes out of the wreckage with a Crescent Beam Shower."

"Remember when we used to fight evil?"

"Remember when Phantom Ace turned out to be Danburite and how well I took that revelation?"

Artemis shuddered at the memory of her really dark days. "Fair point. Go do what you've got to do."

And that was when the horror show began in earnest.

Tuxedo Mask Interlude:

He had to admit, it would probably benefit him if he did add more tricks to his repertoire. He had gotten away with just throwing roses this whole time, but that was just the one rose, which meant that he wouldn't have any attacks on-hand after that. Perhaps a cane would do...

He probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was actually enjoying watching Sailor Moon work a bit more these days. There was a certain level of joy in her work that she hadn't had before, a spring in her step that had been diminishing for a while prior to her change of tactics. It had just been her with his minimal assistance for so long. This Sailor Mercury seemed like she would be helpful, even if she did seem a bit intense. Her presence was just the breath of fresh air Sailor Moon probably needed, all things considered.

Similarly of interest to him was his friend Usagi Tsukino. Much like Sailor Moon, Usagi seemed to have regained some sense of purpose that had started to go missing as of late, which showed itself in the form of how their conversations had started becoming lackluster for a while before she was returning the banter with an enthusiasm that he hadn't seen in a while. He'd have to ask her about that at some point. Maybe it had been that exams were coming up at the time...

Jadeite Interlude:

Jadeite was tired. Every few days, he had to come up with new youma, a new scheme, a new fake business, and every time, Sailor Moon would promptly destroy it in a brutally efficient manner. As of yet, Queen Beryl was tolerating his failures for reasons he couldn't even begin to fathom, and she continued to send him out to steal energy and battle Sailor Moon.

And these situations couldn't even be called battles, these days. The last time they met face to face on the battlefield, she threw kerosene on him and nearly lit him on fire! And so this endless monotony was his lot in life until either Sailor Moon finally killed him or Beryl did.

Maybe he could try an American styled restaurant this time...