Test 4: Skyline! Jeditaro's final plot
"Naru, did you see the news today?" Shinobu Maehara had ran into the living room of Hinata House, a mansion-like complex where three very special girls and two other people (including a male landlord) were currently living. Shinobu wasn't as quiet as usual today, because she tended to be loud when there was something exciting.
Naru Narusegawa, on the other hand, was always loud. But she waited patiently for Shinobu to tell her and the other girl in the room, Mutsumi Otohime, about the news, since it must be important to get the quiet girl riled.
"The local airport had an incident earlier today. All the crew and passengers were put to sleep, but luckily the pilots woke before landing. Some of the people on board were taken to the hospital, unable to wake up."
Naru couldn't keep silent any longer. "That sounds like the work of Jeditaro! But he is being bolder than usual."
"It's obviously a trap." Tama, the little turtle who was the advisor of these three girls, said the obvious answer.
"But we can't let him continue this!" Mutsumi replied. "I say we catch a flight, and beat him at his own game! We outnumber him three to one!"
"Let's think it through first. We can't rely this time on the help of on again, off again allies like this new guy, Ronin Mask. And I won't be able to help this time, I fear."
"Although, Tama, you could fly by the plane," Shinobu suggested. The girls giggled.
"We also have to make sure no one else we know is on board, in case that gas attack hurts the other passengers. You can transform to protect yourselves, but most likely the other passengers will faint again."
"We'll go secretly," Naru told Tama. "Kitsune is too busy watching game shows to even know we have left. As for Kei... our landlord, I doubt he could afford a ticket."
"And how will we then?" Shinobu asked.
"Um, I know someone who works there," Mutsumi spoke up.
"WHAT?" Everyone yelled.
From another room, Mitsune Konno's voice rang out. "Quiet down out there! They are playing the Plinko game now!"
The rest of the plan was layed out in words closer to whispers.
"That should draw their attention," Jeditaro said to himself. The next plane was ready. Who would suspect one of the pilots who were knocked out as being the cause of the attack? And of course there would be more. However many it took to lure the Sailors into his trap.
"Time to set up the final gauntlet."
The three girls boarded the plane, thanking one of Mutsumi's many relatives, who just happened to work there.
"You have some odd luck, Mutsumi," Naru told her.
"Um, I suppose it is only what you call 'Networking?'"
Naru laughed, "Good one."
"Good what?"
"Never mind."
The plane took off. At the point of highest elevation, a voice came over the intercom. "This is the captain speaking. Please prepare for some turbulence."
Some of the passengers put on the oxygen masks, but when Naru saw people who did so faint, she told the others. "Those must be full of the sleep gas too." Suddenly the vents began to let out large amounts of smoke. The three girls moved into the bathroom section so they wouldn't be seen.
"Hina Mars Power!"
"Hina Mercury Power!"
"Hina Moon Power!"
Jeditaro look with amusement at the struggling passengers from where he stood on the wing. The air streaking through his hair felt great. And soon he would be free, free of the pests. The side door of the plane opened, and he greeted his guests, who had jumped onto the wing to meet him. "Greetings, Sailor brats, Enjoy the view while you can. This will be your last trip, one-way."
"You can't beat us, Jeditaro! We won't lose to the likes of you! For we are soldiers of justice! I am Sailor Hina Moon!"
"Hina Mercury!"
"Hina Mars!"
Jeditaro chuckled. "Yeah, but you're in my air space. Say hello to my Wingmen." Two figures appeared, one off each wing of the plane, shaped like humanoid fighter jets. "Oh, and make sure not to damage the plane. I wouldn't want the plane to crash before I finished you personally."
"Mercury, Mars, you take the first wingman. I can handle the other."
"Be careful, Moon," Hina Mercury said as Naru jumped to the other wing of the plane to battle the second minion. Jeditaro look on in amusement.
Although the wingmen had missiles and sharp wings, Shinobu and Mutsumi were nimble and able to avoid the attacks. "Kotatsu Heatwave!" A blast from Hina Mars vaporized the first wingman.
Naru fought hand to hand with the other, not daring to use her retribution attack for fear of hitting the plane. When the wingman charged at her, Hina Moon ducked low.
"Hina Ascend Punch!" She uppercut the minion off the side, but it exploded in midair nearby. The force of the explosion shook the plane, and the sailors almost fell off.
"Aah!" Jeditaro screamed as he fell off the wing. The girls watched in horror as they saw him fall out of sight.
"The plane!" Hina Mercury motioned to the angle at which the plane now tipped. The sailors rushed back in the open door and rushed to the cockpit. There was no pilot!
Through quick use of the manual that all planes have, the sailors were able to set the plane down safely at the next airport. But as they entered the hangar, a loud voice chuckled, and the hangar door slammed shut. The girls exited the plane, only to be attacked by a dark energy blast from above. They were all knocked in different directions.
"Never underestimate your opponent," Jeditaro taunted them from above. He was floating in place, using a jetpack. He shot more dark energy attacks at them wildly, and they dodged as best they could in the near darkness of the hangar.
"Let's lighten up this room!" Hina Mars held a flame in her hand. "Kotatsu Fireball!" She blasted a large hole in the roof, missing Jeditaro but letting in the light from the starlit night outside. The half moon also had risen overhead.
"The light won't save you," Jeditaro sneered. He blasted Hina Mars across the room, then aimed at Mercury. She deflected most of the attack, but fell to her knees.
Naru charged Jeditaro, but he was too quick. He grabbed her outstretched arm and flung her across the room. She tried to stand but couldn't, so she put her hands together and closed her eyes.
"Saying your prayers, little girl?" Jeditaro mocked.
"No," Hina Moon whispered. "Gathering power." A white light began to engulf her, and suddenly Jeditaro knew why. The power of the mystic moon. He tried to stop her, but this time his attacks were depleted by the growing light.
"Hina Moonlight… Redemption." Her whispered attack filled the room with the white light, though she didn't know what she was saying until afterwards. Jeditaro screamed, and fell to the ground. The light healed the injuries the sailors had taken, but it wasn't pain that Jeditaro was crying out from. It was due to his dark powers seeping out from every pore, the evil dissipating, and his memories of his master being wiped away. He was becoming human again. "My… powers…" He said before he fainted. His appearance took on the form of his human disguise, Kentaro.
"So that is his true form," Mutsumi said, as the heroines returned to their usual selves.
"I think he is beaten. We should go before he wakes up," Naru suggested. "I would venture to guess that he will never remember what he has been through, so he can live a normal life."
"But who put him up to it?" Shinobu asked.
"I'm sure we'll know eventually. Something tells me this isn't over."
"Kanako-sama. Jeditaro was defeated by the soldiers of Hina."
"I know. But his loss will not be for nothing. He has shown us the strengths and weaknesses of our enemies. And that should be more than enough for such a skilled warrior as you, Tsuruko, or should I say, Nephlitaro?"
"Indeed. But only if they get in the way of our plans. I would hate to sully my blade with their blood unnecessarily."
"Do not go easy on them, Nephlitaro. They already have cost me one of my four generals. I don't want to lose another because of carelessness or underestimation."
"That won't happen. The stars are in our favor."
"That may be so, but the moon's alignment is in theirs. Don't forget that."
Nephlitaro's eyes gleamed in anger. "Never."
"Then go and prepare."
"I heard Kentaro was a passenger in that second plane incident," Keitaro Urashima told the tenants of Hinata House. "I haven't heard from him since he came to the party I held here."
"Yeah, I hear he as transferred to another school, but even then he was skipping classes," Naru said. She didn't want Keitaro to know the truth, naturally. Or anyone else for that matter.
"But the plane attacks stopped. Maybe the culprit was captured?"
"I hope so."
"I'm not sure I'll ever want to take a flight now, though."
"Me either, Keitaro."
Shinobu was about to speak up, but stopped. This was the second time Naru had called their landlord 'Keitaro' without picking a fight with him, so she decided not to mention it.
"Poor Shinobu, you need to learn to speak up when you want something. C'mon, try it," Naru prodded.
Shinobu tried to make something up. "Okay. How about we go out to eat for once?"
Keitaro chuckled nervously, realizing he'd have to pay the bill. And it would be expensive with five people in the house.
"Can we afford that?" he asked.
"About that," Shinobu continued. "I have a relative who happens to run a restaurant…"
"WHAT?" everyone yelled.
"You two have some interesting relatives," Naru told Shinobu and Mutsumi.
"What about you, Naru?" Shinobu asked.
"Well, I do have a little sister…" she said quietly.
"I see. What about you, Keitaro?"
"Um, let's see. I do have a stepsister, but I haven't seen her since she went to see Grandma Hina."
Tama listened closely to this, but obviously didn't say anything in front of Keitaro and Kitsune, who was also present. She knew that the Hina family was the source of the powers of the sailors. But what did that make Keitaro? Or his stepsister? She would have to investigate further.
"And what about you Kitsune? A family of foxes?" Mutsumi teased.
"I'm not telling."
"Motoko, you have trained well. But you are not yet ready to fight your sister. You must seek the aid of my soldiers. They will give you a stronger power."
"Yes, Hinata."
"And tell them the true name of their enemy. And when the time is right, I will tell you and the others the whole history of this war."
"I don't care about that. My sister is my only concern."
"Be careful that you don't hurt innocent people while lost in your own battle."
"I understand. I'll follow your orders, and I will become stronger."
Extra Credit Preview! Trouble comes rumbling in! A new enemy, a new ally, and related to boot! The Thunder Blade Hina Jupiter is here, and will definitely make herself known. And the past will begin to catch up to the soldiers of Hina as well! Stay tuned!
End Test 4