And a new one!
Sorry this one took longer, we tried to work on another story, but felt blocked in it, so we switched gears to this one.
Anyway, another instance of double episode chapter, so enjoy.
The sound of gentle piano music filled the air, as Usagi and Naru (and Luna) were enjoying the music in the latter's room. "Naru, this is a good song," Usagi said softly, not wanting to break the magic that the music's calming tone had.
"Isn't it? That's why I highly recommend it," Naru smiled.
"This is Jazz, right? It's really calming," Usagi said.
"I know, right?" Naru nodded, while Usagi picked up the CD case.
"Hm...so this was composed by Yusuke Amade," Usagi mused. She may not have been a big fan of the music industry, but even she'd never heard the name before.
"Isn't he great? He's probably a wonderful and mature man," Naru said dreamily, her face blushing a bit. "I'd like to go out with him."
Usagi laughed a little bit at that "He might be too old for you though for all you know." she said, before smiling "Though… if we're talking about mature guys…" she trailed off with a blush.
"Kensuke obviously." Naru said knowingly with a light grin.
"I never said that!" Usagi said frantically.
"You didn't have to~" Naru teased, and couldn't help but laugh as her best friend frantically, and very badly, tried to disprove her.
Where she was curled up, Luna had to fight hard not to snicker at what she was seeing.
A few hours or so later had Usagi outside of Osa-P, umbrella in hand. "It sure is pouring today. Can't believe it's STILL raining so heavily," Usagi frowned.
"I know they say spring showers are long, but this is crazy," Naru agreed.
"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. I can't exactly stay over just because of some rain," Usagi sighed as she and Luna walked away a bit. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Have a safe trip home," Naru said as she waved and watched her friend leave, only going back in once she was out of sight.
Once Usagi and Luna were far away enough…
"Talk about a bad day to be out, huh?" Usagi couldn't help but say.
"Yeah, but at least the night air feels good after the rain," Luna said, right as they were passing the game center, which was still open.
"Hm...maybe I'll play a little first," Usagi mused as she looked at the poster for the Sailor V game.
"Isn't it a little late for that?" Luna asked in deadpan.
"I can just tell my parents I stopped to chat with Kensuke, besides, it's not really a lie." Usagi said as she waved at Kensuke, whom was currently sweeping the floors and waved back at her.
However, before anything else could happen, Luna noticed a man running down the street...headed right for… "Watch out!" she shouted, but too late, as the man ran into Usagi, both of them tumbling to the ground.
Usagi shook her head after falling, propping herself up… and noticing the state of her outfit "Oh come on!" she groaned "At least I wasn't wearing full white." she added while muttering and getting back up.
"Who has the balls to attack my friend!?" Kensuke shouted as he ran out of the arcade… swinging a broom around like a weapon.
The man got to his knees...then saw the two glaring at him before screaming in fear and going into a crouch with his hands over his head. "H-Help me! Don't kill me!" he shouted in absolute terror, much to the confusion of the three who sweat dropped at the rather...extreme...response.
"Um… we weren't going to kill you mister." Usagi reassured the man, despite her confusion, making him look back up at them.
A few minutes later…
"Seriously? You're being targeted?" Usagi gasped as currently she, Kensuke (after getting permission to leave a little early), Luna, and the strange man were all walking together, Kensuke having gotten an extra umbrella for the man.
"Yeah, and you both probably won't believe me but…" he trailed off.
"You'd be surprised at what we can believe lately," Kensuke couldn't help but say dryly.
"Well...alright. Truth is, the thing that's after me...is a monster," he said.
"A monster?!" Usagi gasped.
"Yeah…" he frowned, remembering how he'd met the monster and since then it had been stalking him. Eventually… "But honestly...with how crazy it was, it was probably just my imagination…" he sighed, before looking at them with an apologetic smile. "Sorry for making you listen to such a silly story," he chuckled awkwardly before stopping and attempting to give Kensuke the umbrella back. "Here is fine."
"Huh?" Usagi blinked in surprise.
"I've got a job at the music club up ahead," the man explained.
Usagi looked like she wanted to ask more but…
"That monster you thought you saw...what did it look like?" Kensuke asked.
"You actually want to know?" the man blinked.
"Like I said, you'd be surprised what we can believe," Kensuke said flatly.
"Well...okay. I remember seeing a LOT of bats before that creature attacked, but I'm also positive that I saw a woman before the bats appeared," he said. "And that's about it, really. Oh, that reminds me, dry cleaning money," he said as he rummaged around his pockets. "Sorry, I don't have any money on me right now, but please, call me at a later date and I'll be sure to compensate for the trouble I've caused," he said, giving them both his business card.
Usagi looked at the card she got. "Yusuke...Amade?" she blinked...before it clicked in her mind. However by then he'd already run off. "Huh...could he be the same Yusuke Amade from the CD?" she blinked.
"That's not really important right now," Luna pointed out.
"She's right, from the looks of it he's being targeted by a Youma," Kensuke said. "...which is actually not so bad, since when he said bats I honestly for a second thought the Bat Undead was after him for some reason."
"What power does that one have?" Usagi asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Scope, meaning it gives a rider better accuracy when it's card is rouzed, but it also means the Undead itself is essentially a sniper." Kensuke explained as they started following after the man.
It didn't take them too long to reach what they assumed to be the music club "Looks like the place."
"We have to make sure the Youma isn't in there with him." Usagi said with a nod.
"Indeed… though I don't think they let underage people in." Luna said as she glanced at Usagi.
"Not a problem," Usagi grinned...and pulled out her Disguise Pen.
"...that works," Kensuke and Luna nodded.
It wasn't long before they were in front of the Club, and without any hesitation, "Moon Power, turn me into a cool grown-up musician!" she called out, and in a flash of light she'd once again changed.
The result made Kensuke and Luna stare at her for a good long moment, because… "That's… too much skin." Kensuke said, glancing away with a faint blush.
Usagi blinked at that, before looking down at herself. She was wearing a short white top that… honestly just barely covered her chest, along with a short black skirt, a pair of purple stockings with what she assumed was a garterbelt peeking below her skirt and clipping onto them, a red jacket over her shoulders, a pair of red heels, her hair now green, straight and reaching down to the small of her back with a few red stripes at the front… and she was showing off a LOT of skin.
She blushed at that, trying to close up the jacket, but to no avail, before grabbing the pen "Gimme a second." she muttered, and used it again, this time with a bit more precision in her words, and now… well, at the very least her stomach wasn't exposed anymore and the jacket could close up.
"Better," Kensuke nodded, before taking the pen. "Better use this too so he doesn't recognize me. Any suggestions?"
"How about a jazz connoisseur?" Usagi suggested, remembering that Amade was a jazz musician.
"That works," Kensuke nodded. "Moon Power, turn me into a male jazz connoisseur!" he said, as he was covered in the light and when it was done, his outfit had also changed. His outfit was more like a tuxedo with a necktie, a pair of sunglasses, and a bowler hat on his head. He stopped as he looked himself over, before raising an eyebrow "I look like one of the Blues Brothers. Oh well, considering you look like a punk rock singer, I guess this works." he said with a sigh, grabbing the hat to look it over, and blinking when he saw the rim of the hat glint in the light "What is it with the pen and giving me hidden weaponry?"
"Maybe its reading off your abilities and skills?" Luna offered with a shrug. "Perhaps it realizes you are a warrior and acts accordingly."
"...eh, fair enough," Kensuke shrugged. "Guess we should go in now."
A few moments later had them sitting inside the club, though they now had a bag with them, one where Luna was in as they had used the pen one more time to get that for Luna to use. Currently they were just keeping an eye on Amade, while enjoying the music...and munching on some snacks as when the waiter came over, Kensuke had been sure to quickly order some water and snacks.
"Well, he's definitely got talent." Kensuke mused with a light grin.
"Yeah, me and Naru were listening to one of his CDs earlier." Usagi added.
"So that's why you know his name, he's gotta be pretty famous then… maybe that's why the Youma is after him?" Kensuke wondered.
"I dunno about famous, since Naru didn't even know what he looked like, but yeah. He must have something if a Youma is after him," Usagi mused.
"At any rate, we can only wait and see how this goes," Kensuke mused. "...come to think of it...what are you going to tell your parents?"
Usagi blinked before paling slightly "Uh… think they'll accept I was super tired and you let me sleep over?"
"That depends. Is your father the overprotective type?" Kensuke said flatly.
"Uh...kinda?" Usagi sweatdropped.
"...try to think of a better excuse. I like living," he responded dryly.
However, before they could continue on that line of thought…
"Uh...guys?" Luna whispered, and true enough they realized that the music had stopped...and Amade wasn't there anymore.
The two blinked awkwardly, before quickly scrambling to see if they could find him.
Looking through the club, they didn't find any sign of him...till they heard something that shouldn't have been there. It was the chittering of a few bats.
"Those are…!" Usagi gasped.
"They're probably from the Youma. We'd better follow them!" Luna said, earning nods of agreement as they all tailed after the bats. They soon went out a fire escape and were going downward until they could see a parking lot, just in time to see Amade on the ground, a woman with a swarm of bats flying around her as she picked up a cassette that had fallen to the ground.
"I think it's safe to say we found the Youma...and it found Amade," Kensuke frowned, already reaching for his buckle. However…
"Mister!" Usagi shouted in worry without thinking...and managing to catch the Youma's attention.
"Need to work on her situational awareness." Kensuke muttered to himself, before grabbing his hat "But first..!" he mumbled, before throwing the hat right at the disguised Youma, managing to hit her in the cheek and leaving a cut on her skin as she glared at him.
However, instead of retaliating, the Youma instead sprout wings and shifted into her true form...which honestly gaven Kensuke the mental image of a vampire of some kind, before she leaped away and flew out of the area. Acting quickly, the three of them quickly jumped down, and ran towards Amade.
"Hey, you okay?" Kensuke asked.
"M-My tape…!" he groaned as Usagi looked to the side and noticed an empty cassette casing with a note that said 'Waltz for Akiko'.
"Why would the Youma steal a tape?" Kensuke wondered as the disguise magic from the pen finally wore off, not that Amade noticed, too focused on the loss of his tape.
"I don't know, but that Youma must want to do something wicked using that tape," Luna said, before quickly taking on the role of a normal cat now that Amade was starting to focus again.
The two quickly made sure he was okay, but his mind was fully focused on the tape so...a few minutes later had them tearing through the streets inside a car, Amade driving like crazy as he was hot on the trail of the Youma (based on the direction they pointed him at).
"Jeez, good thing the roads are pretty much empty at night." Kensuke said with a sweatdrop at how much the man was tearing up the road.
"H-Hey, mister! You're driving like a maniac!" Usagi said in fear while Luna clung to the seat, fur standing on end.
"I won't let anyone have that tape! Not anyone!" Amade said, eyes fully focused. "Not even if its a monster!"
"What the heck is on that tape?!" Kensuke finally asked/shouted in exasperation. If he was going to risk death by car crash, he'd like to at least know what they were risking death for.
"That wasn't just an ordinary demo tape," Amade said.
"You made that for Ms. Akiko, right?" Usagi said with a knowing smile.
Apparently she hit the nail on the head as Amade blushed brightly. "H-How did you know that?" he asked, his voice actually becoming a bit more...squeaky.
"I might not look it, but I'm pretty mature too," Usagi grinned.
"That and with a title like 'Waltz for Akiko'...yeah, in retrospect it's pretty obvious," Kensuke added.
"It's only a crush," Amade said. "I know it must be funny at this age…"
"Not really. Lots of people find love at various ages," Kensuke said.
"He's right, age has nothing to do with it! Love is love!" Usagi nodded in agreement, Luna meowing her own agreement too.
"Speaking of which...why ARE you two following me after that monster anyway?" Amade asked.
"Well, can't just let it do whatever it wants right?" Kensuke said, glancing away, knowing that was a shitty excuse, but it was all he had.
"That's right, we're on the side of those in love and on the side of justice," Usagi said, Luna and Kensuke sweat dropping at the choice of wording.
"Right, I get it!" Amade said with a smile, causing the sweat drops to grow bigger.
With the rain stopping, it was easier to see the Youma, as Kensuke and Usagi helped navigate by keeping an eye out for the Youma. It wasn't long before they reached the location the Youma had landed, a studio called 'JAM Records'.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Amade asked.
"No doubt about it," Kensuke nodded.
"...this is bad. Akiko and the others are inside," Amade said, eyes widening in horror.
"No time to waste then!" Usagi said as they ran as fast as they could.
When they reached a room where they could hear the chittering of bats, they saw a woman with red hair, no doubt the Youma, seeing as she was the only one awake while everyone was asleep. They also noticed the Youma was about to load the cassette into one of the machines. Of course, before they could think of a plan…
"Akiko!" Amade shouted as he threw the door open, drawing the Youma's attention. Fortunately, Luna acted quickly and with a hiss lunged for the Youma, knocking the cassette out of her hand, to which it slid on the floor, right into Usagi's waiting hand.
"Stop right there!" Usagi demanded.
"You…" the Youma growled before facing them, the bats soon gathering as she revealed her true form, which again, reminded them of a vampire of some kind. "Give me back the tape!"
"Huh?" Amade blinked at the odd statement...before he looked at the tape. "Wait...that's not my tape!" he said in surprise.
"Huh?" Usagi blinked.
"Then why the hell were we after it then?!" Kensuke snapped at that.
"How could I know it was the wrong one?! Akiko herself gave it to me!" Amade snapped back.
Any further arguments were cut off when…
"Hit the deck!" Usagi shouted as the Youma extended its claws, intending to impale them, but she managed to push them out of the way.
"Thanks for the save, Usagi," Kensuke groaned.
"Don't mention it," Usagi sighed. However, by the time they recovered, the Youma had her hands on Akiko, claws extended threateningly.
"Hand over the tape, or she dies," the Youma threatened.
"Well that's just dirty," Kensuke growled, seeing as they didn't really have many options now.
"Akiko!" Amade said in worry.
"Yu!" Akiko said in response.
"Alright!" Usagi shouted. "You can have the stupid thing!" she said...but not before glancing at Luna who nodded, Kensuke noticing the gesture and realizing what they were going for. At that, Usagi threw the cassette, the Youma's attention on it. When that happened…
"Akiko!" Amade shouted, right as Luna acted, and in a blur of movement, he got Akiko to safety, while Luna got the tape. And for good measure, once both were safe, and the Youma confused, Kensuke shoulder checked her away. Then to add insult to injury, once Luna was on the ground, she promptly smashed the tape with her paw.
"Its over!" Luna said, glaring at the Youma who was just recovering, and just saw what she'd done.
The response she got was for the Youma to let out an ear piercing shriek, before breaking through a window, trying to escape.
Kensuke and Usagi looked at the retreating Youma, before looking down from the broken window.
At least Amade and Akiko weren't in view of them for this… considering the two youths just jumped out the window with their transformation items at the ready.
"Henshin!" "Turn Up!"
"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
Landing was… surprisingly easy, as Sailor Moon landed on a street lamp and then jumped onto a roof, while Blade landed on the Blue Spader as it sped under him from out of nowhere, the bike revealing its true form when he landed on it.
"Let's go! We got a Youma to take out!" Blade said, earning a nod from Sailor Moon as she jumped down and landed on the back of the Blue Spader, as Blade gunned the engine, the two taking off after the Youma.
"By the way, is this a new bike?" Sailor Moon asked as they rode, having not seen the bike transform.
"Nope, it's my only bike. Don't ask. All I know is that this was modified using the same tech in the Rouzers and Buckles," Blade said.
"Huh… that's neat." she said, before they continued to speed off.
Minutes later, the Youma landed down in a stadium, looking around "I seems I lost them." she said, a grimace on her face "I can't show my face to Jadeite again with the tape destroyed. Curse that cat!"
However, any further thoughts were put on hold when she suddenly heard the sound of electricity sparking and thundering, and for some reason...it was getting closer. In fact, if she was right it was coming from...right behind her. She quickly turned around, just in time to see a motorbike wreathed in lightning clear the wall of the stadium, and crashing right into her, sending her flying into a wall.
"Using music for evil, such a cruel thing makes the father of music, Bach, angry!" Sailor Moon started.
"Using a hostage to further your plans just makes everyone else angry as well." Blade added.
"In the name of the Moon…"
"And of the Azure Dragon…"
"We'll punish you!"
The Youma glared as she pried herself out of the wall. "Again...again someone keeps getting in the way!" she roared, before spreading her wings, and out came a blast of high frequency sound.
The two of them (and Luna), dodged the attacks several times. Sure the attacks were easy to avoid, but the Youma was near constantly sending it out, so they couldn't get closer. "Not good! It's some kind of high frequency sound wave!" Luna said.
"And here I forgot to bring my earplugs," Blade half snarked.
"There's gotta be a way to stop her from using that move all the time," Sailor Moon frowned as they looked around...right as her eyes landed on a microphone on a stand. "Idea!"
The other two looked where she was looking, saw the microphone and the speaker placements...and grinned. "That's brilliant!" they nodded.
"Die!" the Youma roared as she launched another wave at them, but by then Sailor Moon had grabbed the microphone, switched it to on, and thrown it towards the soundwave. The microphone was destroyed in the process, but the damage had already been done, as the attack was channeled into the large speakers, amplified...and fired right back at the Youma, who gasped in surprise as she was hit with her own attack...at several times strength.
"Not so fun when you're on the receiving end, huh?" Blade smirked.
"Sailor Moon, do it now!" Luna shouted.
"Right! Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon called out, throwing the tiara towards the Youma, who barely had time to recover from the literal reversal, as the attack hit her in the gut. The flash of light happened, and soon the Youma crumbled into dust.
"And that's the end of that." Blade said with a smirk beneath his helmet.
"Too bad you didn't get to do a lot tonight." Sailor Moon said teasingly.
"Meh, who cares about that?" Blade said with a shrug as he started walking back to his bike so they could go back to the studio.
Once there, they snuck back up to the floor they were on earlier, listening in as Amade and Akiko talked.
"That was so crazy Yu. What would you do if this had gotten worse and you wouldn't be able to play the piano anymore?" Akiko said in worry as she bandaged up his leg.
"I know…" Amade sighed "But, if something had happened to you instead, then I REALLY wouldn't have been able to play anymore." he told her with a smile, causing her to blush as her eyes widenned in surprise.
Meanwhile, Usagi and Kensuke were listening to them from around a corner, smiling as they nodded to each other with matching grins, happy about how things were going.
"Hey Usagi, did you hear? Yusuke Amade is actually getting married soon." Naru said with a sigh as about a week later, Usagi was once again hanging out with her friend while listening to music.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Usagi said with a smile as they listened to Amade's new song.
"I'm so devastated, I had a crush on him." Naru said sadly.
"Well, he IS nice and rather brave." Usagi said with an amused smile.
"You almost sound like you know him?" Naru asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I met him the other day when you made me listen to his CD, I actually saw him propose to his fiance." Usagi shot back with a grin.
"Really?! You're so lucky!" Naru whined, pouting a bit.
"I guess I am yeah." Usagi said teasingly as she looked at the CD case, the front cover having the picture of a girl on a crescent moon, the song being titled Moonlight Lady.
She then grinned a bit as the song drifted off, and a more upbeat tune started, as she flipped the case over, showing the silhouette of a man standing inside an Ace of Spades, titled Man of the Ace.
Amade had more than one inspiration that night after all.
A few days had passed since the Bat Youma event as Usagi and Kensuke had called it, and currently, the blonde girl was sitting in class, and she was glad her classmates had finally stopped giving her weird looks for being there early, because that had gotten annoying real fast. Speaking of which, she idly noticed Naru just came in, a bit later than normal but still on time. "Woke up a bit later than normal?" Usagi asked.
"Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm. Good thing mom noticed I hadn't woken up yet," Naru sighed. "At least I managed to get here on time."
However, before they could talk further…
"Hey, check out what I got," Umino said, suddenly coming up and holding up a poster.
"Oh hey, I saw that poster earlier on a window in a drug store." Naru blinked.
"I hope you didn't do anything you weren't supposed to," Usagi said, giving Umino a slightly suspicious look. Sure she didn't think he'd actually do it, but Umino has done some...questionable things...in the past.
"Of course not," Umino deadpanned. "I got it from an online store selling it for cheap. And yes, I made sure it was legit."
"That's...Mikan, isn't it?" Usagi mused, having heard about the girl before.
"Oh yeah, I heard she got scouted a while back," Naru said.
"That's right. As you know, Mikan Shiratori was from Juuban Municipal Junior High just like us. She may only be 17, but she's already starred in 8 commercials, popular ones at that. In fact, according to this data, her monthly income is 2,000,000 Yen," he reported after looking the girl up on his laptop.
"Hold up, how much?!" Usagi asked in shock.
"You could buy all the clothes you want with that." Naru said with wide eyes.
"I heard about that. Wasn't she scouted while walking on the street?" one of their classmates said.
"Yeah, she was really lucky," another said.
"Yeah, if I were lucky like her I bet I could have become a star too," Naru laughed a bit.
"I can't believe those scouts never spot us," the first one said. "They just don't know a good thing when they see it."
"But wouldn't scouts who look at hundreds of girls every day know what they're doing? If so, doesn't that just mean they knew what they were doing when they ignored them?" Umino couldn't help but say...to Usagi and Naru...in a whisper. He may be blunt at times but even he knew what would be suicide when he saw it.
Meanwhile, in one of the streets in town, a crowd had formed.
"Here, please watch my show!" Mikan smiled as she gave out another autograph, while surrounded by a crowd of fans.
However, among the crowd wasn't just her fans. Among them was a certain blonde haired general in disguise.
Looking at the humans gathered, and feeling the energy in the air, Jadeite smirked. "I can use this energy," he mused before turning to leave. However, little did he know a certain rider noticed him.
"Blonde hair...that hairstyle…" Kensuke frowned, before discreetly tailing the man. He didn't get to do it for long, as when the man turned a corner, he checked and found the alley empty, with nowhere he could have gone normally. Frowning, he quickly left. He had a feeling he'd just stumbled upon another of Jadeite's plans.
"What?! Singing together?!" Usagi gasped.
"Wouldn't it be awesome? We could become idols together." Naru said with a grin.
Usagi considered it for a moment "Well… I guess it could be interesting."
"That's the spirit!" Naru grinned. "Let's take the entertainment world by storm!"
With that agreed, Naru set up the music and the two started. The only problem…
"Okay, who let a dying cat into the house?!" Shingo said when he opened the door to the room. Suffice to say, the song the two were practicing...wasn't very pleasing to the ears.
Luna let out a small mew of agreement as she was currently on the ground, ears folded and paws held over them.
"Hey! It's not that bad!" Usagi said in indignation and threw a pillow at her brother, who quickly ducked out of the room.
"Some people just don't understand art," Naru huffed in agreement. Meanwhile Luna had a HUGE sweatdrop at the girls' reaction...and how they couldn't seem to notice just how bad and off tune that was…
"Anyway, let's take it from the top," Usagi said, as the two began singing again, Luna having ducked under the bed to try and block out the noise. The new problem this time though was...the two accidentally hit each other...a few times...with neither noticing.
"Hey watch it!" Naru winced from a foot to the toe.
"You be careful first," Usagi winced from an accidental knock to the arm.
"Okay...maybe we should have actually planned this before we started," Naru admitted.
"Yeah...both of us were kinda...doing whatever came to mind…" Usagi agreed. "Alright, first we gotta plan the choreography then work from there."
"Good idea. What do you think we should use as our main theme?" Naru mused.
"Well, I like Moonlight Legend, what about you?" Usagi asked.
"It IS a pretty good song." Naru admitted. "Okay, we'll use that as our main song. Now what should we use as the main style of our choreography?"
"Well…" Usagi mused as they began to brainstorm.
The next day…
"The Cinderella Caravan?" Usagi blinked at the newest bit of gossip going around.
"They're basically looking for the next Mikan through the caravan." One of her classmates said.
"Oh yeah, I heard about that this morning, apparently Mikan herself is helping to look for the next star, so it's guaranteed to get someone good." Naru said in remembrance.
"Well, in that case, want to try it out after school Naru?" Usagi asked her friend.
"I don't know if we're good enough yet, but it can't hurt to try." Naru admitted with a smile.
Meanwhile, at the current location of the Cinderella Caravan, a crowd was gathered all looking to see what this is about as well as learn more about it. However, across the street Kensuke was watching from a nearby cafe, frowning as he looked at the event. So far it seemed pretty normal...until he noticed the police officer and the man in a suit who seemed to be talking to Mikan. That wasn't the weird part. The weird part was where they suddenly began doing things you'd expect to see in a talent show, Mikan clapping at the 'acts', which while good, weren't exactly what he'd consider as 'star worthy' (he may not know much of the life, but he was pretty sure it would take more than just that).
"This is looking more and more like this is his latest plot," Kensuke frowned, before paying for his drink and leaving. Today may be one of the days he didn't have classes, but he didn't have forever. The hard part of having a civilian life. No freedom to pursue investigations as long as needed.
Later, after school, Usagi and Naru were walking down the street, headed to the location of the Cinderella Caravan to apply. "Let's show them what we can do," Naru smiled enthusiastically as they walked.
"Yeah, let's do our best to knock their socks off!" Usagi cheered in agreement. However, before they could go further, they were interrupted with the sound of a cat. Turning to the source, they saw Luna sitting at the side of a railing. "Huh? Luna? What are you doing here?" Usagi blinked.
Luna let out a meow, and walked over to a corner, but not before looking at Usagi one more time.
"...give me a minute," Usagi said a bit apologetically to Naru before going after Luna. Once they were alone more or less… "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened," Luna shook her head. "Though I need to ask, are you serious about this?"
"What do you mean?" Usagi blinked, though she had a feeling she knew what Luna was talking about.
"This Cinderella Caravan," Luna clarified. "I thought this was just a little break, but if you keep this up you're serious about being a star. You know that's only going to make things harder for your mission, correct?"
"I'm not THAT serious to be honest, I'm mostly doing it for Naru, she's just so gung ho about this I can't say no." Usagi admitted.
Luna blinked at that, thrown for a loop "Well…" she trailed off, humming in thought "I… suppose you can try then." Besides, if their 'rehearsal' was any indication...she highly doubted they'd get accepted anyway.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my other job. Still don't really like it much, but then...what sane person enjoys a life of having to fight monsters?" Usagi chuckled.
"That's true," Luna admitted with a wry chuckle. "Alright then, I trust you on this one."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Usagi chuckled before rejoining Naru. "Sorry I took so long."
"Its fine. Though...what did your cat want?" Naru asked.
"Oh, you know, cat stuff, I think she just wanted to see me." Usagi answered easily as the two of them walked on, going pass a corner store as it's doors opened.
"Well if it isn't meatball head." said a voice that Usagi was REALLY not in the mood to hear.
"Oh god not you again." she said as she turned around, looking at the black haired boy who seemed to have made it his life's mission to annoy her.
"So, you going to the Cinderella Caravan?" he asked in amusement.
"What if we are?" Usagi shot back, while Naru decided to stay out of this.
"Just that someone like you probably needs to enter with a comedy routine." the boy shot back with a smirk, while Usagi could feel a vein getting ready to pop on her forehead.
She didn't get the chance to blow up at him though.
"Mamoru…" a MUCH more welcome voice spoke, seeing Kensuke walk out of the corner store while holding onto a bag of chips, while giving the black haired boy, who she guessed was named Mamoru, a disapproving look.
"K-Kensuke?" Mamoru asked in a mix of fear and confusion at the look he was receiving.
"THAT was strike three, you're out of the frying pan and into the fire now. I don't know what the hell has gotten in you these days, but turning into a bully with one of my friends is NOT the way to go." Kensuke said, and actually started pulling Mamoru away by his ear, stopping halfway and looking at Usagi "If you girls will excuse me, I need to go talk some sense into my idiot friend, have a good evening." he said, before continuing to walk away while pulling on Mamoru's ear, the black haired boy wincing and letting out the occasional mutter of pain.
"...well...that happened," Naru blinked.
Usagi on the other hand watched for a bit, and once they were out of sight, held a hand to her mouth, and it wasn't long before Naru noticed she was fighting hard not to laugh up a storm in the middle of the road.
Naru let her have her mirth, no doubt from the sweet catharsis, an amused look on her face. Eventually Usagi calmed down.
"Sorry, you just have no idea how satisfying that was to watch," Usagi said between giggles after that.
"I can imagine," Naru sweatdropped. "So...shall we continue?"
"Right, let's go," Usagi nodded. However, once they were gone, a good 30 minutes later, Kensuke came barreling back.
"Dammit, I was so focused on what the heck was wrong with Mamoru I completely forgot about that Caravan," he cursed. He just hoped he could get there in time.
"...Naru?" Usagi started.
"Yeah?" Naru asked.
"Weren't these things supposed to be...I dunno...harder?" Usagi frowned.
"...Maybe this is just the preliminary?" Naru suggested lamely at the sight of literally every applicant so far being given the passing grade by Mikan. And by every applicant, that included the applicants who, while certainly had some amusing acts...they were hardly what most would expect would cut it on the big stage…
"...okay, now I'm conflicted…" Usagi admitted. "On one hand we're here, on the other hand…" she trailed off.
Naru looked conflicted as well. On one hand she definitely wanted to try, but...well...the last few 'incidents' she'd been in came to mind…
Before she could make a decision however, someone came up to them "Oh thank god I got here in time." Kensuke panted as stopped next to the girls.
"Huh? Kensuke?" Naru blinked. "And what do you mean by 'in time'? Are you applying for this too?"
"No, not really," Kensuke shook his head once he got his breath back. "Its just...I think this might be another 'incident' that's been going around town," he said.
"What makes you say that?" Usagi asked, partly to keep up the ruse, and partly cause she also wanted to know.
Kensuke simply pointed at two particular contestants. A police officer who was happily doing handstands despite already having his turn, and a man in a suit going on about his 'V Balance'. "Need I say more? Also, I did some digging when I saw those two 'apply' earlier today. That guy in the suit? He's supposed to be Mikan's AGENT."
The two girls stared for a moment "Right… let's get out of here." Naru said nervously, not wanting to get caught up in another incident AGAIN.
"Seconded." Usagi said with a nod, as the trio turned back and started to leave, but not before hearing about how there was going to be a show at Shan Shan Plaza next Sunday.
"Thanks for the save, Kensuke," Naru sighed. It was starting to get worrying how often these things seemed to happen to her. "I REALLY don't want to add 'professional victim' to my list of achievements in life," she chuckled weakly.
"Just be glad I happened to see this when I did," Kensuke sighed.
"But...if this is another plot from those monsters...why is Mikan in on it?" Usagi asked, before the answer hit her, and she face palmed. "Duh...that's not Mikan. This is the same thing they did to Naru's mom."
"My thoughts exactly," Kensuke nodded. "Odds are another of those monsters is posing as Mikan, so whatever plan they got...they'll be pulling it off next Sunday," he frowned.
"Wow, you two sound like you've been investigating these things," Naru couldn't help but say seeing the interaction between Usagi and Kensuke. She followed it up with a small chuckle at how silly that sounded...but then she noticed they weren't laughing. "...you actually are doing that?" she blinked.
"Well… someone needs to you know? Me and Usagi look into it, and then we try to get that information to Sailor Moon and Kamen Rider Blade, it helps because I found that there's a spot they like to meet up at, so I leave notes there for them that has information." Kensuke said on the spot what he thought was the most believable thing.
"And not to mention…" Usagi sweatdropped, quickly thinking of something to add. "We...kinda keep ending up nearby or involved in an incident so...call it turning bad luck into something good?"
"Somehow that sounded kinda messed up...but I understand," Naru scratched the back of her head. "But...why didn't you tell me?"
Usagi looked guilty. "I wanted to, but...after the last few times you ended up becoming a victim I didn't want to possibly put you in the line of fire. These monsters don't joke around when their cover is blown…" And it wasn't a lie. The Youma could be absolutely vicious when they felt they had nothing to lose. The only part she left out was that those times they'd been transformed. She'd...rather not picture what would happen if a civilian were to face down a transformed Youma…
"But still...you should have told me. I'd have helped," Naru said.
"Wait, what?" Kensuke and Usagi blinked.
"You heard me. I want to help. These monsters have been hurting people, using their faces to do evil, like that one who used my Mom's face," Naru said. "I can't just leave things be, so if I can help in anyway, I want to."
Kensuke and Usagi looked at each other, unsure what to say to this. Eventually though, seeing the determination on Naru's face...they conceded. "Alright," Usagi nodded.
"If you're that sure about it...how can we say no," Kensuke agreed.
"Thank you," Naru nodded. "So...what's the plan now?"
"For starters, let's leave a note on where the event is going to take place. Next...I say we see if we can find the real Mikan. If this is anything like the last time, the real one should still be alive...I hope…" Kensuke gulped at the end.
"Let's...not go down that train of thought," Naru gulped, feeling more than a little afraid.
To say the atmosphere became heavy after that would be an understatement. Eventually Usagi shook her head. "Okay, enough of that. Where do you think she would hide the real Mikan?"
"Well… Naru, where was your mom hidden again?" Kensuke checked just to make sure.
"In the basement, she was tied up, gagged and locked down there." Naru answered, a bit of anger in her tone as she remembered it.
"Alright, so chances are, Mikan is still where the switch happened, which would mean her home or apartment… wherever that is." Kensuke mused "Question is, how do we find that?"
They all thought on it a bit, before Usagi snapped her fingers "Oh hey, Umino might be able to figure it out."
"You know, it's REALLY convenient you got someone like him close by," Kensuke chuckled. "How many times has he accidentally tipped us off again?"
"Not THAT many, but I get your point," Usagi admitted.
Talking to Umino had been….exceedingly easy. He never even asked why...and the girls decided they didn't actually want to know how he knew where Mikan lived AND the places she frequented. They had a feeling the answer would either creep them out or make them deck him in the face.
"Well...here we are," Kensuke mused as they were now at the apartment. Ringing the bell though...no response. "...I have no idea why I thought that would turn out any other way…" he deadpanned to himself.
"...now what?" Usagi sighed. Normally they'd just walk away and that's that, but well…
"Something I never thought I'd have to do ever again," Kensuke sighed...and pulled out a lockpick.
"...sooo many questions, so few answers we'd like," Naru and Usagi deadpanned as Kensuke started picking the lock.
"Remind me why we can't look for a window or something," Usagi groaned.
"We're in a highrise," Naru deadpanned.
"Right. That…" she sighed.
Eventually though, Kensuke managed to pick the lock, and they soon went in. "I feel like a crook…" Kensuke sighed...a feeling he was getting a bit too often lately. "Let's just…"
"Found her!" Usagi called out.
"Well… that was fast." Kensuke said after a moment of silence. He and Naru went over to where they heard Usagi...and saw the bathroom. "Whelp, I'm stepping back," he said simply.
"Smart move," Naru chuckled as she walked in. A few minutes later, she walked out. "Anything around here we can use to break glass or crystal?"
"...it says a lot that I don't even question requests like that anymore," Kensuke sighed as he went around, and found a convenient cane. Probably to be used as a weapon in case of a break in. "Will this work?" he asked, sticking the cane into the bathroom. The cane was taken, and a few minutes later the sound of something breaking was heard.
"It did!" the girls reported. "Now back off!"
"Got it!" Kensuke nodded, quickly walking back away and covering his eyes. He did NOT feel like ending up a peeping tom by accident.
A few minutes later had them in Mikan's bedroom, the girl now properly dressed in a bathrobe and lying on her bed. But she wasn't waking up.
"Okay...I'll admit this time the monsters were pretty smart," he admitted, as they'd taken a wet cloth and wiped it over her face to see if the cold would rouse her. No dice.
"Why isn't she waking up?" Naru frowned.
"Maybe whatever did this to her made sure she wouldn't wake up at all until they were done," Usagi suggested.
"Makes sense. It would kinda break the plan if the victim woke up and called for help," Naru admitted. "But what do we do now?"
"Now? All we can do is make sure nobody comes in here while she's out then hope Sailor Moon and Blade finish the job on Sunday. Odds are she's not waking up as long as that fake Mikan is around," Kensuke sighed.
The two girls thought about it and realized that yes, that was all they could do right now. "...does this feeling of helplessness when you find out so much but ultimately can't do anything always feel this bad?" Naru sighed.
"Yes, yes it does," Kensuke sighed. Sure it was a half lie, but the fact remained, until Sunday, they really couldn't do anything.
The next couple of days…
"Does it ever get easier?" Naru asked as she and Usagi were sitting on a bench with Luna, watching their classmates on the verge of tearing each other apart on who would be the next big star, all of them bearing the stamp of approval from the Cinderella Caravan.
"So far no, and I'm afraid of if it does," Usagi admitted, Luna giving her a sympathetic look when she thought Naru wasn't looking.
"So all we can do is wait and hope things don't get worse?" Naru sighed.
"Pretty much…" Usagi sighed. "We should stay away from the location on Sunday. The last thing we want is to end up hostages. Or worse, pulled into the scheme."
"Right…" Naru nodded with a sigh.
Sunday couldn't have come sooner as both Kensuke and Usagi were looking at Shan Shan Plaza. "No audience? They're really confident nobody will notice," Kensuke frowned.
"At this point, they may as well have won as far as they're concerned," Luna said as she was with them. "Still… are you sure it was wise to involve Naru?"
"Well, maybe not the best idea, but we're making sure she's staying away from danger at least." Usagi said with a sigh as they walked inside, looking around carefully to be sure they didn't run into any traps. What they found was…
"Okay, so aside from fraud, identity theft, using people, and other stuff like that, they're officially violating the sanctity of art in ALL forms," Kensuke groaned as on the stage, literally everyone was doing their act at the same time. By themselves...they might have been amusing. All together...it was probably the worst show in the world. "Here's hoping they don't remember this. I think they'd die of embarrassment."
"And there isn't even an audience," Usagi and Luna deadpanned as the only person in the audience was the fake Mikan...who suddenly got up, then twisted her head 180 degrees, her face now VERY much inhuman, if not straight up demonic with its bluish green skin that looked more like some kind of crystal, its blood red eyes, and its ears that made them think of goblins from RPG games.
"You saw me, didn't you?" the Youma said.
The sight was so jarringly hideous all of them let out an involuntary scream, and ran back through the door.
"Heart attack dammit!" Kensuke panted.
"I think I lost a few years off my life," Usagi panted as well...right before an arm smashed through the door, causing them to shout in alarm.
"Find some place to transform! We can't risk any Youma seeing you two transform as Jadeite might be watching!" Luna said.
The two nodded, before starting to run again, till eventually they reached the toilet rooms "Huh, kinda makes your feel like Superman." Kensuke said before he and Usagi both ran into their respective correct room.
Five seconds later…
"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
"Henshin!" "Turn Up!"
Meanwhile, back with the Youma, it had settled back down into it's seat after the interruption, and continued to watch her victims perform, till they started to drop unconscious, a cruel smile on her face.
However, suddenly the disco ball above stopped, as the phantom audience she'd made vanished and the flow of energy with it. "What the?! What's going on?!"
Suddenly the curtains closed and a new voice rang out.
"The villains who gave fake glass shoes to the girls dreaming of being Cinderella." the voice started, before another continued.
"Such foul trickery won't go unpunished by those who seek justice."
"Who's there?!" the Youma growled, as the curtains opened, revealing two figures.
"We are the warriors of love and justice! Sailor Moon…" Sailor Moon started.
"And Kamen Rider Blade!" Blade continued.
"In the name of the moon…!"
"And the Azure Dragon!"
"We will punish you!" they finished together.
The Youma growled and jumped upward, losing her disguise and revealing her true form. Which looked like she was wearing a towel around her body rather than a dress for some reason, said body being made out of glass, while she had a long tuft of green hair on the back of her head… and not on the top for some reason.
"Jeez, did you get lost on your way out the monster machine?" Blade couldn't help but quip.
Whether the Youma cared much for his comment or not...was brushed aside when she lashed out with a stream of liquid crystal from her mouth, forcing them both to dodge.
"You won't escape!" the Youma smirked, before unloading a barrage of the crystal, forcing them to evade again, as everywhere the crystals hit was soon encased in it.
"Okay, that's one BIG 'Nope' in my books," Blade gulped.
"We need to find an opening to counter!" Sailor Moon frowned, but as it was they were pinned down. Blade couldn't get closer without risking being turned into a statue and no way this thing was going to wait for her to throw her tiara.
"Both of you will die here!" the Youma smirked, before something flew through the air, and embedded right into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Perfect timing," Blade sighed, already knowing who it was.
All combatants turned their attention to the source of the rose, and unsurprisingly, Tuxedo Kamen was standing on one of the railings.
"It seems I was right to come here in case you two needed my assistance, due to a lack of powerful long range moves on the two of you." He spoke, his tone one of light amusement.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." Blade waved it off.
"Thanks for being here!" Sailor Moon said gratefully.
"Out of my way!" the Youma growled as she shot her crystal spray at him, but instead of evading, Tuxedo Kamen threw some roses forward, which suddenly exploded into a flurry of petals, catching the attack and soon freezing. Tuxedo Kamen then channeled his will into them, and sent them flying towards the Youma, who hastily brought up her guard as the projectiles cut into her, causing her to fall to the ground.
"And now for the finish!" Tuxedo Kamen said as he leaped into the air, drawing more roses as he spun in mid-air. "Tuxedo La...Rose Illusion!" he called out as he spread the roses, which burst into petals. The youma barely had time to recover as it was covered in a veritable blizzard of rose petals, letting out a shout as when the storm was over, the Youma was now completely grayed out before crumbling to dust.
"Huh, that was pretty impressive," Blade admitted.
"Thank you. I must say, I rarely get a chance to show off like this." Tuxedo Kamen said in amusement as he landed on the stage.
"You were so cool!" Sailor Moon cheered, a blush on her face and practically having stars in her eyes.
Tuxedo Kamen chuckled at that "Thank you, now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going, good luck to the two of you." he said, and walked through the curtains of the stage, which soon rose up, showing him to be completely gone.
"...how the heck did he do that?" Blade blinked.
"That just makes him even cooler, don't you think?" Sailor Moon cheered, much to Luna's and Blade's amusement. However, under his helmet, Blade soon frowned. He'd finally gotten a decent look at Tuxedo Kamen, and if he was right... he may just know who Tuxedo Kamen really was.
End of Chapter!
So, yeah, a few things were set up here.
First, yeah, mamoru got in trouble, and we're going to deal with his dickish personality.
Second, Naru has been partially pulled into the fold, as she will now keep an ear to the ground for any strange things going on in town.
Thirdly, yes, we made up an attack for Tuxedo Kamen, to make him seem a bit more competent, and we even allowed him to off the Youma.
Finally, yes, Kensuke has a good hunch and WILL investigate it, don't worry, we follow up on plot points here lol.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and we all know what happens in the next chapter, where we meet a nerdy cutie.
She isn't my favorite scout, but she's in the top 3 at the least.
Anyway, see you all then!
