Welcome everyone, to yet another chapter of Trump of the Moon.
As you obviously saw with the last chapter, we're covering what happens in the anime.
Why?
Because more character development chances that way.
Seriously, compare the original anime to the manga and crystal, 14 acts for the Dark Kingdom, and almost 50 episodes in the original anime.
That's a LOT of time to put in character development.
So yeah, deal with it people, the story is going to be LONG.
Kensuke hummed lightly to himself as he stepped out of the shower in his apartment, a towel around his neck as he was dressed just in a pair of pajama pants, which made sense since it was the middle of the night.
He may have classes in the morning sometimes, but there were nights he just couldn't sleep, so he would try several different tactics.
Which included drinking some warm milk while listening to the radio, all after taking a hot shower.
Hey, if all that worked for kids, it could work for an adult.
Though, he suddenly blinked in confusion when the radio switched to it's midnight airing… and it wasn't the same one as a few nights ago.
"Welcome once again everyone, to Midnight Zero." spoke a smooth male voice.
Kensuke raised an eyebrow, before looking at the radio schedule he had pinned to his fridge along with the TV airings and his calendar.
Midnight Zero was NOT the program for the start of the next day.
"After our first airing last night, we received plenty of love letters that you all wanted us to read outloud, so, one of you ladies will be our lucky first winner and receive their flower brooch by the coming morning." the announcer continued.
A show that reads love letters huh? And the first airing was last night at that.
Idly, Kensuke grabbed the daily newspaper and flipped it to the radio's page.
Yeahp, still no mention of Midnight Zero.
"And our first letter is…" some light rummaging could be heard from the radio "Ah, a letter that a woman wrote to her husband, a man who works in the night. Very touching."
Kensuke blinked at that, though he did smile a bit despite how strange it was, the announcer was right, it WAS touching. After a few more letters were read, the host of the show, one 'J-Dite', said that for all the people who's letters he had read, they would be receiving a special gift in the form of a flower brooch by mail in the morning. With that the show was over. "Huh...interesting show," he mused, though with how things were so far, he had a feeling it wouldn't be as innocent as it seemed to be. Probably should talk to Usagi and Luna about it first chance he got.
The next morning soon found him in class...and in an odd situation, namely that class should be starting, but the teacher was nowhere to be found. "Strange… Mrs. Kenzaki is never late," Kensuke mused as he looked at his watch. She was late...by half an hour already. Normally she was in class a good 10 minutes AT LEAST before it was time to start.
Even the more tardy students had time to arrive before her.
He frowned, getting up as he decided he should look into this.
Especially since in the back of his mind, the first letter that had been read last night, he was positive that was Mrs. Kenzaki, despite the fact it was one of the few letters to not be signed.
Her husband worked a night shift after all, as a security guard in one of Tokyo's museums. Still...he couldn't exactly jump to conclusions without...proof?
As if on cue, Mrs. Kenzaki came into the room...looking like she wanted nothing more than fall to the ground and go into a coma.
"Mrs. Kenzaki? Are you alright?" Kensuke asked as he went up the dark haired woman in concern.
The woman let out a yawn "Y-yes, yes I'm… fiiiiiii…" she said, getting slower in her speech, before tipping forwards, and Kensuke caught her just before she started tumbling down the steps, finding that the woman has just suddenly fallen asleep.
That aside, he also found something else. She was wearing a flower brooch on her chest, one he knew she hadn't had before. In short, he'd just found the proof for his suspicions right there. The letter, the flower brooch that the show had promised to send, and the normally perky woman looking like she hadn't slept in a week. "...wow, they really aren't subtle at all," was all he could say under his breath as this had 'Dark Kingdom' written all over it...in neon paint. "Someone call the nurse, I don't think she's waking up!" he said to his classmates who quickly did just that...though not before he took a few tissues and used them to bundle up the flower. Last thing he wanted was to touch these things with his hand and end up having HIS energy drained.
For now though, he'd try to look into this on his own.
No need for Usagi to have to deal with every little incident and get little to no amount of sleep.
"You're positive?" Kensuke asked seriously.
"Absolutely sir, we've never started up the Midnight Zero show, nobody even knows what exactly is going on." the security guard at the front gates of the radio station building told him.
"I see… thank you for your time." he said with a nod before turning and leaving.
It had already been a day since his teacher was hospitalized, with no doubt more joining her in a land of eternal dreams.
As it stood now, he was suspecting that the Dark Kingdom was hijacking the airwaves when the clock struck midnight.
After all, who would be dumb enough to just broadcast from the building itself?
Either way, for now, he simply got on his motorcycle, the camouflage version of his Blue Spader, which took the simple appearance of a blue dirt bike when he was untransformed, before putting his helmet on and heading off into the city to try and find any leads.
Later that night, once again the Midnight Zero show was playing on the radio, having read more love letters, promising more flower brooches. Among the listeners, Usagi had a dreamy look in her eyes. "I'd love to have a flower brooch like that," she said, thinking about how they supposedly helped make love come true. Probably just a catch line to make them sound more special, but the thought was still a pleasant one in her opinion, especially when she started fantasizing about Kensuke and Tuxedo Kamen each giving her one, so much so she didn't really notice when Luna came into the room. "Maybe I should write a letter too," she mused. "But then...who to address it to…?" she mused until…
"Usagi!" Luna raised her voice, finally breaking her out of her little daydream.
"Eh? What is it, Luna?" she blinked.
"I've been calling you for a bit already and you didn't respond," the cat huffed. "At any rate, shouldn't you be going to bed soon? You don't want to oversleep, right?"
"I know," Usagi said. "I just wanted to listen to that Midnight Zero show everyone was talking about," she said.
"Well, alright. Just don't forget that you already have issues waking up normally, so don't make this a habit," Luna said.
"Right, well good night then," Usagi said, before getting into bed, Luna curling up on the bed as well, before the lights were soon turned off.
The next morning though...Usagi managed to wake up, albeit a bit later than she'd have liked, and after a rush, managed to make it to school on time...but their homeroom teacher wasn't present yet. "Huh? Where's Ms. Sakurada?" Usagi asked.
"It's pretty strange for her to be late," Umino agreed.
"Aww...does that mean I could have gotten a bit more sleep?" Usagi deflated, yawning a bit. Maybe staying up to listen to Midnight Zero, romantic as it was, wasn't such a great idea after all…
However, just as she said that, the door open and in came their teacher...looking like she was running on empty if how she was swaying, dropping some of the things she was carrying, and even tripped on the way to the teacher's desk, though she managed to catch herself before she hit the ground.
Usagi and Naru glanced at each other as they saw the state the teacher was in.
Yeah… something was up.
Though, Usagi idly noticed that her teacher had a purple flower pinned to her vest.
'So, that letter last night WAS her.' she thought in realisation.
"Alright everyone, I'll begin taking roll…" she trailed off as the book fell out of her hand. "On second thought, today's going to be a self study. I'm just feeling so…" she was soon snoring on the teacher table.
"Uh...Ms. Sakurada?" Naru asked, getting up from her desk and lightly shaking her teacher. No response.
Everyone blinked at the sight, before Usagi got up and walked up to their teacher. "Naru...cover your ears. And if this works, please help make it not so bad for me…" Usagi sighed, before taking a DEEP breath, puffing up her cheeks...and for a bit nothing happened, but they could swear her face was turning red before… "YAAAAAAHHH!" Usagi shouted right over the sleeping woman, a loud sound that some of her classmates swore could wake the dead. In fact, it was so loud, the nearby classrooms stopped short, wondering what the heck was that. However despite it all...Ms. Sakurada still wouldn't wake up.
"...someone call an ambulance…" was all Umino could say, as if THAT didn't wake her then something was DEFINITELY wrong.
The class was silent as they watched the paramedics bring the still sleeping teacher into the ambulance. She didn't stir even once as they were moving her.
"You know...come to think of it I think I heard about this in the news," Naru frowned. "It's some kind of sleeping sickness that's been going around. Apparently you never wake up from it."
"Scary…" Usagi frowned. As much as she liked sleeping, she didn't want to be asleep forever. "I wonder what's causing it?" she mused.
"They've been trying to figure it out, but so far nothing has come up. It's like the victims just don't have the energy to wake up," Umino said.
"No energy…?" Usagi blinked, before a thought crossed her mind. 'Could it be…?' she thought. It sure SOUNDED like one of their plots. She'd be sure to ask Luna later when she got home.
Later, once school was out, Usagi was walking next to Naru, still deep in thought, trying to understand what the Dark Kingdom's scheme may be, and so far… she didn't have much.
'People are falling asleep and not waking up, but what do they have in common besides that… I had to ask Umino if he could find out anything about that, and he DID find something, all of them are women, but besides that, there's not much.' she was so deep in thought, she didn't hear Naru tell her that someone was right in front of her till Usagi walked right into them.
"So sorry about that I didn't watch where I was going!" Usagi said quickly as she bowed and apologised.
"Well, apologising to telephone polls now Dumpling Head? Maybe you need some glasses." a familiar and unwelcome voice snarked, making her look up to see a telephone pole, before she glanced to the side… and yeah, same jerk that was in front of Osa-P the other day.
"You want a piece of me Mr. I-Wear-A-Tuxedo-in-the-middle-of-the-day?!" Usagi shot back crossly.
"Nah, but it was a good laugh," he said as he walked past her with a laugh.
Usagi was still fuming as she glared at his retreating back, wanting nothing more than to kick his butt.
"Do you know him Usagi?" Naru asked, as while the man was handsome, it was clear Usagi had issues with him.
"I met him in front of Osa-P the other day, the discount incident, I was throwing away my exam in frustration and then he ticked me off by talking about how I wasn't very smart if I got such a low score." Usagi muttered just loud enough for her best friend to hear.
Naru winced at that "Well… I hope you don't see him again then."
"That makes two of us," Usagi said in annoyance. At least Tuxedo Kamen and Kensuke weren't like him. Speaking of which…
"Huh? Oh, hey Usagi, hey Naru," came Kensuke's voice as he took off his helmet, having been riding his motorbike when he happened to see the girls.
"Oh, hey Kensuke, fancy seeing you here." Naru said in surprise, honestly not expecting to see him, especially not on a motorcycle.
Usagi stared at the motorcycle a bit, now understanding why he called himself a Kamen RIDER. Though she quickly looked back at his face "Hi Kensuke, I was actually looking for you, something I needed to talk to you about regarding my lessons." she said.
Kensuke looked at her, nodding in understanding, it was a bit of code they had come up with should they need to talk about anything Youma or Undead related and their friends were around "In that case, how about I give you a lift back home and you tell me more back there?"
"Aww, a bike ride, how romantic~" Naru said, mostly to tease Usagi, which worked if her blush was any indication… still no reaction from Kensuke though other than a raised eyebrow.
"A-anyway, we'd better get going," Usagi said, getting on quickly and putting on a spare helmet. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naru!" Usagi said, waving to her friend as they soon rode away, much to Naru's amused smile.
Once they were far away enough, he took a deliberate wrong turn and they soon stopped at a small park that they knew they could talk without interruption. "So...what did you find out?" he asked once they'd stopped and taken the helmets off.
"Have you heard about those strange cases of people falling asleep and not waking up? It actually happened to my teacher this morning." Usagi told him.
Kensuke frowned at that, before sighing "Yeah, my own teacher was one of the first victims. I thought it was weird so I started investigating, thought I could give you a break on this one and handle it myself."
Usagi smiled a bit "Thanks for the thought, but if we do this, we do it together."
Kensuke nodded after a moment, smirking lightly "Right, so, first off, I thought that the new radio show, Midnight Zero, was pretty weird, especially since it's not listed at all, and even at the station itself they have no clue what's going on."
"Hey, now that you mention it, when my teacher got the sleeping sickness, she was wearing a flower brooch," Usagi said. "Just like what J-Dite promised to anyone who's love letters were read."
"Did it happen to look like this?" Kensuke asked, taking out a thick ball of tissue and unwrapping it to reveal the flower brooch he took from Mrs. Kenzaki recently.
"That's the one!" Usagi said in alarm.
"I took it off of my teacher to help with some digging, and well, turns out there's absolutely NO flower that matches, trust me, I even went to a botanical garden to have them help me out. So, likely that this J-Dite, possibly an anagram or something, is an agent of the Dark Kingdom and fabricated these to steal energy from people." Kensuke said seriously.
"Then we have to find wherever they're broadcasting the show from and stop them!" Usagi nodded.
"That's the only problem. I can't seem to pinpoint where they'd likely be broadcasting from," Kensuke frowned.
"Do you think they could be in the radio station?" Usagi mused. The two of them were silent for a moment...before laughing out loud. "Naaah, they can't be so dumb as to actually broadcast from the very station they say they're in, right?"
"Yeah, you'd have to be PRETTY stupid to put your illicit scheme exactly where you say it is," Kensuke laughed as well.
Meanwhile, the Dark Kingdom's residents were having a sneezing fit.
With their quick discussion over, Kensuke soon brought her back to her house and dropped her off, while he went to continue investigating however he could.
When Usagi entered her house… "So… who was that?" her mother asked with a light teasing grin.
Usagi blushed a bit "Just a friend who works at the arcade, he gave me a lift back home since he has heading through here anyway."
"Really now? He just happened to already be taking a path that took him right in front of our house?" her mother continued with a knowing smile.
"Yeahp, totally it." Usagi said a bit loudly, trying to hide her embarrassment with a rather fake laugh.
"Of course," Ikuko chuckled, making it clear she didn't buy it one bit, but wasn't going to make a big fuss about it.
"A-Anyway, I'll be going to my room, gotta go feed Luna. Bye!" Usagi was up the stairs VERY fast.
"So you and Kensuke think that Midnight Zero might be one of the Dark Kingdom's schemes?" Luna frowned after Usagi explained what had happened, before nodding. "I agree. This sleeping sickness is too much like that of someone having their energy drained to be a coincidence. However, we'll have to double our efforts to find the source. If we can't do that, we'll be unable to stop the scheme."
"Right," Usagi nodded. "That's why we'll be listening again tonight. Maybe we might hear a clue."
"We might even be able to tell if there are any potential victims near us. We might just be able to stop them from falling victim to this scheme," Luna said in addition.
With that decided, Usagi quickly took care of everything that remained for her to do today, before waiting until midnight rolled around, and when it did…
"Once again, we welcome you back to Midnight Zero, I'm your host, J-Dite."
"Here we go again." Usagi muttered, making sure to listen closely.
"The first letter we will read is from Naru who lives in Juban," J-Dite said.
Usagi and Luna both froze at that, before slowly turning to each other… and then they proceeded to freak out.
Meanwhile, with Kensuke, he wasn't faring any better, as he spat out his drink "What the shit Naru?!" This was bad. VERY bad. He just hoped Usagi could get to Naru before she put on the brooch that was no doubt coming for her. If not...well...he had a feeling he wouldn't want to be J-Dite when Usagi got her hands on whoever he was.
The next morning…
"Good morning! Good bye!" Usagi shouted as she grabbed a piece of toast, her lunch, and her bag and was soon out the door before her parents could say anything.
"...but she's not even late today…" Ikuko blinked, wondering what on earth had Usagi in such a hurry.
"I'm more worried about what had her so upset. I swear, she looked like she wanted to beat someone to a pulp," Kenji said, honestly shocked at seeing an expression like that on his daughter's face.
"Well, whatever's got her this upset, I'm glad I'm not them right now," Shingo sighed. His sister was usually a nice and gentle girl, but when she really gets angry, she gets ANGRY.
Back with Usagi, she was running at full tilt towards school, before Kensuke rolled up to next to her and she silently hopped on, the boy not even questioning her as he simply gave her a helmet and sped off towards her school, knowing they needed to be fast.
When they reached the building… let's just say Kensuke didn't care if he caused a disturbance as he rolled onto the school grounds, screeching to a halt right in front of the doors while Usagi threw off her helmet and ran up to her classroom.
However, when she reached her class, she was met with the sight of Naru and several other girls looking at the flower brooch, Naru just about to put it on. "Naru! Nooo!" Usagi shouted, trying to stop her friend, but too late, as she had pinned it on her clothes, just as she turned to see Usagi. Instantly, the flower glowed for a moment, before the light in Naru's eyes grew dim and she slumped over onto her desk.
Everyone had turned to Usagi at her entrance, before snapping back towards Naru when her head fell onto the desk "W-what happened to her?" one of her classmates asked in surprise.
Usagi… actually growled as she pulled a tissue from her bag and pulled off the flower "This thing happened, that's what! My friend has been looking into these flowers and they're poisonous when they get close to a person's heart! If any of you find these in the mail or wherever, just burn them!"
School was the LAST thing on her mind right now, as she was there when the Ambulance came and she'd insisted on coming along, with Kensuke saying he'll pick up Luna before meeting her at the hospital. Once at the hospital, she refused to leave Naru's side until Naru's mother managed to arrive having heard the news. Helping to console the hysterical woman for a bit, she soon left the room to let her stay with her daughter. Once she was out, she turned a corner to find Luna and Kensuke waiting for her.
"We need to figure out where the broadcasting is coming from," Luna said, voicing their thoughts.
"Let's think back first about what we know. All the victims are the ones who contracted the sleeping sickness. They contracted it through the Flower Brooches that they received in the mail, with said brooches being 'prizes' for those who have their love letters read by J-Dite on Midnight Zero," Kensuke frowned.
Usagi folded her arms, thinking hard with them. There had to be a clue to where they broadcast was coming from. Thinking hard, she thought about the details they knew. The victims were decided based on the love letters. That meant that they would need to be somewhere they could get access to the love letters, and with how things were presented, the love letters from the unwitting victims would be sent to…
Like a switch, it all clicked into place, and Usagi realized where the broadcast was coming from, as well as something else. "Oh my god...they ARE that dumb," she gasped in realization.
"Huh?" Kensuke and Luna blinked.
"They're picking targets based on love letters. Where would they have to be to get access to ALL the letters that are sent?" Usagi said.
"They'd have to be at...the address the letters are sent to…" Luna's eyes widened in realization.
"They're in the goddamn radio station. The very place we overlooked BECAUSE it was too obvious," Kensuke face palmed. "You're right. They ARE that dumb."
"How the hell did we lose against them the first time?" Luna muttered under her breath in shock at how… idiotic the Dark Kingdom was if they were actually in the most obvious place possible.
"Well… let's deal with them tonight." Usagi said, before punching her palm "Their going to pay for hurting Naru."
"Agreed, but before we go in guns blazing, we've got another issue," Kensuke frowned. "How do we get in without being noticed? We can't exactly barge in as Sailor Moon and Blade, seeing as I'm PRETTY sure most of the staff are still human. If they were in cahoots, they wouldn't have acted like they had no idea about the show."
"Leave that one to me," Luna said with a small smirk.
"Okay, here we are. FM no. 10. So now's a good a time as any to pull out that trick up your proverbial sleeve, Luna," Usagi said as they were currently near the station at night. They figured it'd be best to get in near midnight to make sure they catch the Youma responsible for this.
"Right," Luna nodded before she did a backflip, and the trail of magic formed a pen, which soon fell to the ground. "Use this," she said, as Usagi picked it up.
"This is…?" Usagi blinked as she and Kensuke examined the pen.
"The Disguise Pen, just call out 'Moon Power' and say what kind of disguise you want and it'll give it to you." Luna instructed.
"Would it work with me as well?" Kensuke asked with a raised eyebrow.
Luna nodded "It would yes… though it'll be the first time a man uses it."
Kensuke looked at her dryly "If I'm suddenly wearing a skirt, someone's getting dunked in ice cold water."
"Duly noted…" Luna gulped thickly. "Just to be safe then, please specify the gender if necessary."
"Right, let's get this over with then," Kensuke said, taking the pen from Usagi first. "Okay… Moon Power, turn me into...a cameraman!" he said, keeping his eyes closed as the sparkles and everything came, and when they cleared, he hesitated in opening his eyes "Am I wearing a skirt?" he asked fearfully.
"Nope, you're good." Usagi told him, making him open his eyes to see he had a pair of shades on his face, before looking down, seeing he was wearing, a green coat over a simple striped shirt and a pair of jeans, with a heavy looking camera at his feet.
He let out a sigh of relief as he picked the camera up "Oh thank the lord." he said, handing the pen back to Usagi while he tried to see if the camera had anything special about it. He got his answer when he pressed a switch...and a roll of film shot out which soon wrapped around a nearby telephone pole. "Huh...that could be handy," he blinked, right as Usagi used the pen to transform into a 'pretty newscaster'.
"...was the pretty part really necessary?" Kensuke and Luna sweat dropped, while Usagi just laughed mischievously, as she was now dressed in a dark pink dress and short red skirt with white high heel shoes, while her hair had become neck length now.
"Well now, shall we go?" she chuckled as she put on the sunglasses on her person and started walking into the building...actually playing the part quite well...save for when she nearly fell thanks to the high heels, though Kensuke managed to catch her. Suffice to say she was a LOT more careful after that.
Once they were in, it didn't take long for them to find the room they were looking for. Peering into one of the recording rooms, they heard the sound of a man beginning the Midnight Zero show as normal, the voice being J-Dite. "So that's him, huh?" Kensuke mused as they got a good look at the mysterious host.
"He's… dressed like a freaking general." Usagi noted as his outfit honestly looked like military garb of some sort.
"And everybody besides him and that woman are asleep." Luna added as she noticed how everyone was unconscious.
"Well, how nice of them to make it painfully obvious who gets to bite the dust. Literally," Kensuke mused.
"We'd better stop them then," Luna frowned.
"No wait, we shouldn't do that yet," Usagi said.
"Hm? What do you have in mind?" Kensuke asked.
"Back me up if things get...messy," she sighed, before opening the door and barging in, much to J-Dite's surprise, as she sat down before him and started talking. "Sorry to interrupt your program, but this is an emergency news flash," she said, much to the man's annoyance. "We have learned that the flower brooches that have been sent from this program are very dangerous!" she said. "Do not touch them if they are sent to you!"
"What are you saying?!" J-Dite demanded in outrage at his plan somehow being found out.
Usagi wasn't deterred in the slightest as she kept talking. "Everyone, think about it! A love letter means nothing if you do not give it to the person yourself!" she said, before hitting a button to kill the broadcast. By then J-Dite was glaring at her.
"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded.
"Someone who's going to kick your butt for hurting my friend." she said darkly, and much to his surprise, she punched him right in the nose, sending him down on the ground as he clutched his face.
"Insolent girl!" the woman, whose body started shifting into something more monstrous, was about to lunge through the glass and at Usagi, before she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her turn around to see Kensuke who was giving her an evil smile, as he hit a button and a roll of film shot out of the camera, wrapping around her and tangling her up. With that taken care of, he opened the door. "Let's take this somewhere more spacious!" he suggested, earning a nod from Usagi, who kicked off her high heels (no way she was running in those) which hit J-Dite and the woman who was probably a Youma in the process while the two ran out of the room.
Good thing too, as the woman had transformed into her Youma form, and broke out of the film, followed by shooting some kind of energy blast from her mouth, causing the hall they were in to be covered in smoke from an explosion.
"Time to transform!" Luna shouted, and they didn't argue at all.
"Moon Prism Power, Make up!"
"Henshin!" "Turn Up!"
Once they got their footing back, they turned to see J-Dite and the Youma step out of the room, to which Sailor Moon pointed at them. "Trying to ruin girls' dreams of love is abominable! In the name of the moon…!"
"And the Azure Dragon...!"
"We will punish you!"
"So you're the ones who have kept interfering with us," J-Dite smirked.
"Yeah, and now that we've got one of the bosses in front of us, we're gonna turn you into a little pile of dust like all the other Youma you sent!" Blade countered, pulling out his sword.
"As if I'd just let you." the Youma smirked.
"Well, I mean, 2 for 2 so far, I think we've got good chances of making that 4 for 4 today." Usagi shot back tauntingly.
"Don't let your previous victories get to your heads," J-Dite said. "I am Jadeite, one of the Shittenou! I will not lose to the likes of you! Flau, destroy them!"
"With pleasure! Engarde!" the Youma, Flau, said as she lunged for them with her claws ready, but instead of using them, she released several more blasts from her mouth, causing the hall to be filled with explosion after explosion, forcing the three of them to dodge like crazy, before one shot opened a hole in the roof to which they all jumped out of.
"Okay, this should work better for us," Blade frowned. At least here they should be safer from the explosions.
"We have to take her out fast before she demolishes the station!" Luna said.
"Right!" Sailor Moon nodded as she removed her Tiara, turning it into its ready form. Right when Flau jumped out of the building to chase after them, she made her move. "Moon Tiara...Action!" she called out as she hurled the tiara.
"Not gonna work on me!" Flau laughed as she somehow adjusted her position in the air, evading the Tiara, before lunging for them.
"You're finished!" she laughed, striking with her claws...only for Blade to block them.
"You really think so, huh?" he said and she could hear the smirk he had under the helmet.
"Don't get cocky! You can't move right now and I just need to open my mouth!" Flau glared.
"Good point, but see...you've never seen how that attack works," he chuckled. "Here's a tip. It comes back to Sailor Moon as if it were a boomerang," Blade said simply.
Flau blinked, as if not fully understanding what he meant...before realizing much to her horror, that Sailor Moon was standing right behind him. She also realized it too late as the tiara came back and struck her in the back.
The sight would probably have been gruesome if she had been normal, since she was cut into two pieces, before falling to the floor as dust.
"Well… she wasn't very bright." Sailor Moon said as she caught the returning tiara.
"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, time for the bigger fish," Blade said as they both hopped down to where Jadeite was. "As promised you're next blondie!"
"Oh?" Jadeite smirked. "You actually intend to fight me? You'll find me a lot harder than the Youma."
"Take 3 guesses how many cares we give on that. If it means these crazy plots stop here if we beat you then we're all for it!" Blade countered as he ran forward, sword at the ready. However Jadeite raised his hand and a barrier came up, blocking Blade's attack, pushing him back a little. "Huh, not a bad defense. In that case…" he unfolded his sword and drew one of the Rouse cards, before scanning it. "Kick!"
He flipped in the air as he went for the attack, his foot impacting the barrier, and while it held up, Jadeite was clearly putting some effort into it. The clash lasted for a few moments, before eventually Blade was repelled. "Fool! Did you really think that would work?" Jadeite laughed.
"Nah, I just thought I'd soften the barrier a little," Blade smirked.
"What?" Jadeite growled.
"For everyone you've hurt in your schemes! Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon called out as her tiara soon impacted the barrier, causing Jadeite to have to put more energy into maintaining it, the magic in the tiara more potent than normal as it reacted to Sailor Moon's anger and her wish to see the insanity of these plots end. As a result, the barrier was straining, hairline fractures appearing on it, but still it wasn't enough.
"If that's all you can muster, I have nothing to fear!" Jadeite smirked. However…
"Slash! Thunder!" As the two images were absorbed into Blade's armor, he ran forward once more. "Lightning...Slash!" he called out as he struck the tiara with his attack, the force of his strike and the electricity mixing with the tiara, driving it into the barrier, and with a loud crack, the barrier broke.
"Impossible!" Jadeite gasped, before shouting in pain as the Tiara caught him in the arm, leaving a gash in it. Gritting his teeth he jumped back, vanishing for a moment before appearing in front of a dark portal, clutching his arm. "I'll remember this!" he growled before vanishing into the portal.
After he disappeared, Sailor Moon and Blade remained on guard for a few moments longer, just in case he was tricking them.
Eventually though, they relaxed "I guess he's really gone." Sailor Moon said, releasing a sigh.
"Yeah…" Blade said, before turning his head slightly "How long were you planning to just watch?"
His words confused Sailor Moon, before she followed where he was looking and saw Tuxedo Kamen standing on top of a fence.
"I was merely waiting to see if you would be in need of my assistance, but it seems I was mistaken. The two of you grow stronger with each battle, you especially Sailor Moon." Tuxedo Kamen said, and of course, Sailor Moon's face lit up at being complimented suddenly.
"That's nice and all, but do try to give us a more active hand rather than be our cheerleader next time." Blade snarked at the man, still not getting a good look at his face, but his voice sounded familiar to him.
In response, Tuxedo Kamen merely laughed "We shall see. But for now, goodnight to the both of you, and until we meet again!" he said, before leaping away and laughing grandly.
Blade stared at his retreating form, and all he could say was "Man that guy is weird with a capital W."
"He's so cool and mysterious though." Sailor Moon sighed dreamily, with Blade shaking his head with a sigh.
Meanwhile…
"Damn that Sailor Moon, and that Kamen Rider Blade," Jadeite growled as he reappeared inside what appeared to be a castle/cavern of some kind. Focusing some of his magic, he quickly healed the injury, but the sting to his pride was still there.
"That's what you get for underestimating your opponent," came a new voice.
Jadeite turned to the source of the voice as out from behind a pillar stepped a man with slicked back black hair, wearing a formal attire with a coat over it, glasses covering his golden eyes.
"What do you mean by that Kujaku?" Jadeite asked crossly.
"Exactly what I said. You thought that the two would be weak compared to you, but as you just saw, the emotions of a Sailor Scout can affect her magic, thus making her attack stronger because of her anger towards you. It's clear your schemes have affected people close to her already. As for Blade… well, the source of his power is strong, as strong, if not stronger than I am, and the more in tune he becomes with it, the stronger he in turn becomes… and we both know between you and I, who is stronger." Kujaku explained casually, all while getting on Jadeite's nerves.
"Bite your tongue!" Jadeite glared. "Perhaps I did simply underestimate them, something I will make sure doesn't happen again!"
"Make sure you don't. The Queen's mercy can only go for so long," Kujaku chuckled as he turned around and soon vanished into the darkness, leaving Jadeite to stew in his recent defeat.
And there's the chapter!
So, did you all catch his teacher's family name? It's a bit of a reference, no plot significance, so don't look into it.
Also, angry Usagi is not something you want on your ass.
And just who is Kujaku? Well, obviously Timeless and I know, but you guys don't.
Or maybe you do?
If so, please, keep quiet and let the others try and figure it out.
But for now, see you next time!
