Next chapter after a little break!
Time for the next party member to join the team.
Kensuke sighed as he was half listening to a lecture in class. His mind more occupied on the little encounter with Mamoru the other day. Suffice to say, he had fully intended to get to the bottom of his friend's odd behavior. What he got though...was...strange. There was no other way to say it.
"Alright, talk. Why the hell do you act like a dick each time you see Usagi?" Kensuke asked as he finally let go of Mamoru's ears after they were out of sight.
"...honestly...I'm not really sure myself," Mamoru eventually admitted, earning a quirked eyebrow from Kensuke. "Would you believe me if I said I was hearing voices in my head?"
Kensuke gave his friend a long look at that "I'm sorry… what?"
Mamoru groaned "I know how it sounds alright? But that's the truth, whenever I see her, there's this little voice whispering into my head."
"And it's telling you to bully her?" Kensuke asked incredulously.
"No… the opposite actually." Mamoru said, looking away with a blush of embarrassment "It's telling me to love her above all others."
Kensuke actually stopped walking at that, his brain needing a few moments "Wait… hold on, what?"
"I know it's weird alright?! The first time I heard it I just saw her walking through town and I got freaked out but I just thought it was the wind. Then I saw her again and I heard the voice AGAIN. I knew there was something weird, and you know what they say, third time's the charm. So after I saw her a third time, I went to see a therapist, hoping they might be able to help me identify the problem, but they were just as stumped as I was. So, I decided to try and ignore the voice as much as I could, but then one time I actually walked close to her and she looked at me and the voice was almost shouting at me, so I did the first thing that came to mind to try and shut it up and got a bit rude with her." Mamoru explained.
"A bit?" Kensuke repeated with a raised eyebrow.
Mamoru had the decency to blush "Alright, very rude. But it was the only way I could think of to make her leave fast and make the voice shut up."
"And how's that working so far?" Kensuke asked flatly, still pretty unimpressed.
"Its not," Mamoru groaned. "And yes, the delayed realization that I've been acting like a total jackass for basically nothing is setting in."
"That's a start at least," Kensuke sighed "Still, you've really fucked up, you know that? You could have just walked away from Usagi yourself without being a jerk."
"I… didn't think of that right off the bat." Mamoru admitted.
"Why am I not surprised?" Kensuke groaned. If there was one thing that he'd learned since becoming friends with Mamoru, is that as level headed as the younger man could be at times, when he made a snap decision, they were often as hairbrained as they come. "Well, what do you plan on doing about it now?" he sighed.
"For starters? I think I owe that Usagi girl a big apology," Mamoru sighed.
"That's for sure," Kensuke deadpanned. "But the next issue is what to do with those voices. They're obviously not going to leave you alone anytime soon."
"That...I'm not sure honestly…" Mamoru admitted.
"Well… is it sometimes saying something along the lines of making her happy?" Kensuke asked.
Mamoru hummed in thought "Yeah… I've heard that one sometimes… amongst other things." he finished with a blush.
"No details please." Kensuke said dryly "Anyway, we can work with that one, just try to become her friend instead."
"Would… would it really be that simple?" Mamoru asked, blinking a few times.
"Considering how much of an ass you've been to her? No, it's gonna take a LOT of effort." Kensuke shot back, with Mamoru slumping forward. "It's either that or avoid her for the rest of your life, and that's assuming the voice doesn't end up getting louder and possibly start driving you mad. At least this way if it doesn't work out, you can at least have a clear conscience. Not the best solution I know, but it's literally the best I can come up with right now."
"And what makes it worse, I literally can't think of any reason to go against that plan," Mamoru sighed wryly. "How is it you're always giving me the good advice?"
"It's basically my unofficial job with you," Kensuke said, punching him in the shoulder good naturedly.
Mamoru actually laughed at that. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. Though...any ideas how to help ease this in?"
"Only one I can give you is to straight up start by telling her you're sorry for how you acted and tell her about the weird voice, it's the only way she'll give you a chance." Kensuke said with a shrug.
"...okay, any suggestions how I can word that that doesn't make me sound like I should be in a straight jacket?" Mamoru added dryly.
"You'd be surprised what she's willing to believe ever since monsters started showing up," Kensuke sweat dropped.
After that, he'd talked a bit more with Mamoru up until his friend mentioned Usagi going to the Cinderella Caravan, with Kensuke doing a 180 and running back full tilt. So far it seems he hadn't run into Usagi again yet, though whether it was him trying to think of what to say to the girl or them just not running into each other...he wasn't sure which it was. If nothing else, he'd at least taken the time to sorta explain things to Usagi, so he was sure she'd at least listen...provided Mamoru didn't do anything boneheaded before that.
Speaking of boneheaded, he was broken out of his thoughts when the lecturer, a rather grouchy looking middle aged man who had a less than popular reputation among his students, chucked a piece of chalk at him when it seemed he wasn't paying attention. Of course...with his training (and a small mental nudge from Change Beetle), avoiding it was child's play, much to the impressed looks of his classmates, and the annoyed/disappointed dental click from his lecturer.
He went back to focusing in on his class, but not before thinking one last thing. He'd FINALLY been able to get a good look at Tuxedo Kamen...and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but notice how eerily similar Tuxedo Kamen looked to Mamoru. Still...he didn't have enough proof, so he couldn't exactly do anything just yet.
Usagi hummed as she looked through the scores for the recent mock exams for the whole school.
Well… at least she wasn't deadlast, she was actually amongst the average students by now, though she was in their own lower range.
Idly, she looked at who had the highest score.
"Ami Mizuno… a perfect 100… woah, she's gotta be a genius." she murmured in slight surprise.
"Guess the genius girl did it again," a few voices snorted.
"What do you expect? I hear all she ever does is study, even during break," another one said.
"Bet she thinks she's so much better than everyone. I hear she doesn't even talk to anyone," more voices snorted derisively.
"Wow, jerks much?" Usagi muttered as she overheard them all talking.
Idly, she glanced around, and noticed a blue haired girl standing near the windows, one who seemed to be trying to ignore the voices… and some stares… guess that was her then.
"Impressive isn't she? I hear she's got an IQ of 300. A certified genius," Umino said, suddenly popping up from...somewhere.
"...not even going to ask," Usagi deadpanned with a sigh. She'd finally gotten desensitised to the stuff he'd end up doing here and there.
"Really? Too bad, cause I was gonna talk about Crystal Seminar. Apparently it's a special tuition that can make any student great at their studies. I heard she was scouted specifically to join," Umino said.
"I also heard that place is REALLY expensive," Naru said as she came around, having heard the conversation. "But then, I also heard her family are doctors so they probably have the money."
"True, but she doesn't need it since I think she's there on scholarship," Umino added.
"Too bad she's got a bad attitude," one of their classmates said. "It's like she thinks she's better than everyone else."
"That type is the worst," Naru huffed.
Usagi however didn't say anything, instead looking back at the girl, and noticed the rather..lonely...look she seemed to have…
Usagi sighed as she was on her way back home after school.
"That girl… I don't think she has any friends… but I don't think it's her own fault either." she mused with a frown. However, her thoughts were cut off when she noticed something up ahead, namely a cry of surprise. "Hey...isn't that…" she blinked as true enough, up ahead was Ami Mizuno...and less expectedly was Luna, sitting on a divider as the girl scratched her under the chin, much to the cat's enjoyment. The sight caused her to smile a little. "Called it. She's not as unfriendly as everyone thinks. I should go talk to her."
With that, Usagi walked over, just as Luna climbed onto Ami's arm, and was soon on her shoulder, the girl soon petting her again. "Hello," Usagi said with a friendly smile, catching Ami's attention.
"Oh! Hello." Ami greeted with a nod "Can I help you?"
Usagi shrugged "Just making sure my cat wasn't bothering you actually."
"Oh, not at all," Ami shook her head with a smile. "If anything, she fell from the sky, so I thought she was an angel."
"Luna? An angel?" Usagi blinked. Not quite the first thing that would come to her mind regarding the moon cat.
Ami blushed a little at that, the two becoming silent for a bit, before Usagi broke it once again.
"You're Ami Mizuno from class 5, right?" Usagi said. "I'm Usagi Tsukino from class 1, and this is Luna. It's nice to meet you," she smiled as she introduced herself and the cat.
Ami seemed surprised, but soon smiled. "It's nice to meet you too."
Usagi smiled again, before a thought crossed her mind. "Oh, do you have some time?"
"Well...I've got some time before I have to go," Ami nodded.
"Then, do you go to the arcade?" Usagi asked. Now Ami just looked confused.
"Yo, Usagi." Kensuke said with a wave when he saw the blonde walk in, though with someone different from usual.
"Hey Kensuke." Usagi said, before noticing the look he was giving Ami "Ah, her name's Ami Mizuno, she's a new friend I made."
"I'm already your friend?" Ami asked with a bashful blush.
"Trust me, Usagi is probably the easiest person to befriend you'll ever meet." Kensuke said with a chuckle.
"I'm just that much of a nice girl." Usagi said with a grin and flashing a victory sign, while Luna jumped onto the counter Kensuke was leaning on.
"Heh, well I know what you're here for. There's an open cabinet right now. Better get to it soon before someone else does," Kensuke chuckled, pointing at the Sailor V games, one of which was open. That was the one that Usagi wasted no time in going for, and Ami following along to watch. Once they were away… "You wanted to talk?" he whispered to Luna.
She nodded as she jumped up to his shoulder, acting like she was just going to stay there for no reason "That girl with Usagi, Ami, I can feel a strange energy coming from her, though I'm not sure what exactly it is, as it doesn't exactly feel like a youma."
"Well… think she's one of the scouts?" He suggested the other likely possibility.
"It… could make sense, I'll have to observe her a bit more to figure it out." she mused.
"Which scouts ARE we looking for anyway?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Well, first, Usagi is the only one who uses a brooch to transform, the others have pens to change, and I have three on me, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter." she counted off.
"Hmm… I'm gonna take a guess and say there might be some basis on the roman gods for their abilities?" he asked, earning a nod "Right, then Mars is fire, of that I'm certain, just as Jupiter will be lightning, and for Mercury… I think it was water or ice?"
"Actually, the god Mercury wasn't linked to any elements, however, the planet itself is of a lower temperature than others despite being rather close to the sun. The link between Mercury and the element of water is something that just… popped up over the years in fiction from what I understand." Luna clarified.
"Huh. Interesting…" Kensuke mused, before looking at Ami who was watching Usagi play. "Ami Mizuno, huh?" he mused...before his eyes widened. "...if she is a scout, I'm gonna bet she's Mercury."
"What makes you say that?" Luna asked, a little surprised at the sudden words.
"...take her family name, and compare it to Usagi's," Kensuke said simply.
Luna hummed "Usagi is… the rabbit of the moon, and Ami is… beauty of water… I see where you got the idea now." she muttered.
"Not to mention it might be a pattern. A small one mind you, but if the pattern holds up, keep an eye out for people who have a similar naming concept," Kensuke frowned. "Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I'd say it'd definitely help to have a hint."
"Well, it's worth a shot, our biggest hint will however be if the mark of Mercury ever appears somewhere on her body." Luna mused "Though it's been a long time, I at least remember each scout bore the mark of their planet on them."
"Just hope it's somewhere visible. The last thing we'd need is the marks showing up in places were NOT supposed to see," Kensuke couldn't help but deadpan.
Luna chuckled weakly, understanding the general body areas he was referring to.
Back with the girls, Usagi was...not doing so well. She'd definitely gotten further than last time, but once again the game over screen blared in front of her. "Game over…" she sighed, right as Motoki came over, having noticed her.
"Yo, Usagi," he greeted with a friendly smile.
"Hi, Motoki," Usagi smiled wryly from her loss.
"Your friend?" he asked when he noticed Ami.
"My name is Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you," Ami said politely.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Motoki Furuhata," Motoki greeted in return.
"Ami, wanna try it?" Usagi offered, seeing as she was done with her turn.
"Eh? Ah...alright," Ami seemed surprised by the sudden offer, but accepted and was soon playing the game.
Usagi and Motoki both watched in interest as Ami started to play, and she seemed to be doing well for a beginner.
Then she got past the level Usagi was stuck on, and kept going a bit… and then a bit more… and then a bit MORE… and then even beyond that!
Curiously, Usagi glanced at the score count… and Ami was definitely the holder of a new high score at this point. By now she'd attracted a sizeable crowd of gamers all watching, and before long, a victory song played as Ami had just beaten the current highest score. "You're awesome Ami!" Usagi cheered, hugging her new friend. "You even beat the highest score!"
Ami blinked at that, almost like she had been in a trance and then came out of it "I did?" she said, before the results screen came up and she saw her score blinking at the top "Huh… so I did." she said, before entering her first name, what with the three letter limit and only in english.
Once she did, she was met with the sound of applause as the crowd cheered for her accomplishment. Ami stood up, looking around a little bashfully at the attention. Usagi noticed her smile, which made her own widen. "You look really good when you're smiling, Ami," Usagi couldn't help but say.
"You really think so?" Ami blinked, but looked happy. The sweet moment continued for a moment, before Ami blinked, remembering something important, and checked her watch. "Oh my, look at the time. I'm sorry, but I need to go."
"Is it to the seminar? Is Crystal Seminar nearby?" Usagi asked with an understanding smile.
"Yeah, I go there everyday now," Ami nodded.
"Eh? Every day?!" Usagi gasped in surprise.
"Yeah...I'm only good at studying," Ami said with a sad smile. "I want to be a doctor like my mom, so I need to study hard."
"You wanna be a doctor, huh? That's so cool!" Usagi said. "Then I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with your studies," she said with a wave.
"See you," Ami smiled in return, before turning to leave.
Back with Kensuke and Luna, the Rider was glancing at Luna's dropped jaw before he used a finger to push it back up "So… what's up?"
"Sailor V is a training sim we had installed to help the sailor scouts practice… and she just got the high score." she said slowly.
Kensuke blinked slowly "Ah… I see… yeah... "
"She… honestly, I'm even more inclined to believe she's a scout now." she admitted.
"Any help would be appreciated yeah," Kensuke nodded, turning to where Usagi was seeing Ami off.
However, that was when Motoki came over, and gave Usagi something. Once Motoki moved out of the way, they noticed it was a disk case of some kind. Curious, he went over, and noticed it was a floppy disk. "What's this?"
"Oh this? Motoki said Ami dropped this by accident, I'll go give it back to her," Usagi said, to which Luna walked up to her and soon climbed onto her shoulder.
"Okay, you'd better hurry then. She might need that for her seminar," Kensuke said as he waved them off.
"So, what were you talking about with Kensuke?" Usagi asked as she walked towards the seminar with Luna on her shoulder.
"Well…" Luna said slowly, considering telling Usagi, before figuring she might as well "I think Ami may be one of the Sailor Scouts."
Usagi blinked at that, stopping in her tracks "Seriously?!" she hissed out in shock.
"I'm not 100% sure yet, but yes, I think she may be one of our allies," the cat said.
"That's...that's...okay, I'm not sure if that's awful or awesome. On one hand I'd love one of my friends to be part of the team, but on the other hand...that means she'll have to fight Youma and Undead too…" Usagi sighed at the end.
"Yes, I know it's not exactly the easiest news to hear, but it is what it is." Luna said with a sigh.
Eventually they reached their destination. "So this is Crystal Seminar," Usagi mused. "Hm...seems if you use their Crystal Disks, it helps you study a lot," she read. "Must be this thing," she mused, looking at the floppy.
Luna frowned as she looked at the building. "Usagi, be careful."
"Something wrong?" Usagi asked.
"Something doesn't feel right," Luna said.
"Uh… hey." the two heard a voice say from their right, one that was familiar, making them turn to see Mamoru standing there awkwardly.
"Oh… you." Usagi said dryly.
"Yeah… me." he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously "Look, I… I really don't have any other way to say this other than I'm sorry. I was a jerk and I know it, I should have been a better person."
"Yeah… voices in your head is weird, but like Kensuke probably told you, you could have just ignored it." she said.
Mamoru wasn't surprised Kensuke told her honestly, and nodded with a sigh "Yeah… I probably should have done that."
"So… was that all? Came to apologize and then never talk to me again?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Surprisingly, he shook his head "No, I was… hoping to start over actually." he said, going up to her and then holding out his hand, trying to put on a smile "Mamoru Chiba."
Usagi looked at the offered hand, then to his face, before sighing and gaining a small smile and shaking his hand "Usagi Tsukino."
"Your parents couldn't resist could they?" Mamoru couldn't help himself.
"Kensuke said the same thing." Usagi said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, sounds like something he'd say too," Mamoru chuckled. "So...what are you doing here? Thinking of joining the Seminar?"
"Ah, no. I don't think my family could afford it and I don't know if their courses work on someone like me," Usagi sighed. "I'm actually here to give this back to a friend of mine. She dropped it earlier," she explained, showing him the floppy disk.
"That...might not work. I happened to check this place out once on a whim, and well...let's just say the security guard is pretty unfriendly to anyone going in during class times," Mamoru said with a sweat drop at the rather...rude reception he'd gotten once.
"That so…?" Usagi sweat drop, mentally picturing the security guard...who for some reason had oni horns and fangs. "...maybe I should give it back to her tomorrow…"
Mamoru frowned a bit at that. "How about I try to help you get in?" he offered.
"Eh? Really?" Usagi blinked. "But how would we do that?"
"Well… Kensuke's more of the gamer, but he's roped me into playing some games as well… ever heard of Metal Gear?" he asked, an idea in his head.
The security guard hummed a bit as he was reading his magazine, looking up every few minutes, especially when he heard the door opening. Case in point, he heard the door open, and looked to see who it was...and blinked when he didn't see anyone. "Damn pranksters," he frowned, before quirking an eyebrow when he noticed a cardboard box by the door. "Was that always there?" he blinked, before shrugging and going back to his magazine. When he looked up again, the box was there...though he could have sworn it wasn't where it was now. Shrugging again, he turned to his magazine again. Eventually he looked up again, and this time he frowned deeply cause he KNEW the box hadn't been where it was now. Walking over, he grabbed the box and lifted it up, glaring at the two people who had been hiding in the box.
"Um… hi?" Usagi tried weakly as she and Mamoru were crouched down and had been underneath the box.
Luna was mentally counting in her head after the two had gone in, and when she reached 5 minutes, she saw both them get thrown out, landing on their butts on the sidewalk.
"That...didn't go so well…" Mamoru groaned, before getting up.
"And here I thought we were almost home free…" Usagi sighed, to which Mamoru offered her a hand to help her up. She blinked, but smiled a little as she accepted it, getting up. "Well...it WAS a pretty good idea, so at least we tried."
Luna sweat dropped at the fact that the two of them thought this was actually a good idea.
"Well, guess no choice then. I'll have to give this back to her tomorrow," Usagi sighed.
"Probably for the best," Mamoru nodded. "I'll see ya around then, hope you can get that back to your friend without issue," he said, before waving goodbye and walking off.
Usagi watched him go for a moment before smiling a little. "Guess he wasn't so bad after all," she said softly, before sighing as she looked at the floppy disk she still had. "Talk about a lot of trouble for this little thing."
"Actually...I'd like to take a look at that," Luna said once Mamoru was away.
"Huh?" Usagi blinked.
"He tried to help you out huh? Good on him. I'm glad I managed to get through to him." Kensuke said when Usagi and Luna came back.
"Yeah, though it looks like I'll have to bring it back to her tomorrow. I checked the schedule and the seminar is still going on right now." Usagi said with a shrug as they were in the employees room at the arcade.
"So what's so important about this floppy disk that you wanted to check it?" Kensuke asked.
"Honestly? I'm not 100% sure, but something just doesn't feel right about it," Luna said as they loaded the floppy disk into the computer. Once the program was started, what came up were…
"...these look like normal practice questions to me," Usagi said as she looked at the screen.
"Maybe, but give me a minute," Luna said as she hopped into the table and started typing on the keyboard.
"You can do hacking?" Kensuke blinked. Seemed this cat really was full of surprises.
"Something like that," Luna nodded as she went to work on the program, and after a few minutes, the program suddenly changed, and a strange noise was heard.
"What is this?!" Usagi groaned as she and Kensuke were covering their ears. It was painful for starters, but then it felt like it was trying to grab their brains and crack them open, Kensuke relaxing when he felt Change Beetle exert some of his power from within the card, which glowed within his pocket, and noticed Usagi's face calming a bit when a small glow shone on her forehead for a moment, but he wasn't quite able to make out the shape.
"This is…!" Luna said in alarm before killing the program. Once the two humans could remove their hands from their ears, Luna explained. "That was a brainwashing program. Whoever made this must have been using them on the students that attend the seminar.
"Oh no! That means Ami is in danger!" Usagi gasped in alarm.
"Then we'd better suit up and get to work. Looks like we've found ANOTHER Dark Kingdom plot," Kensuke frowned.
"Is it bad that I'm starting to get used to sneaking and entering into places?" Usagi asked flatly as they in the alleyway next to the Crystal Seminar.
"I don't think I can or should answer that," Kensuke sighed. "Well, time for the usual," he said as Usagi pulled out her Disguise Pen.
"Moon Power! Turn me into a doctor who works at a university hospital!" she called out, and in a flash, her outfit had changed. It was… pretty much exactly what she had requested, wearing a white coat over a green dress with some short heels, her hair styled short and cut neatly.
"Smart move on not asking for anything flashy." Kensuke asked with a chuckle as he accepted the pen "Moon Power! Turn me into a doctor who works at a university hospital!" he called, figuring her idea worked and was inconspicuous enough, as the light changed his outfit and "Huh… kinda flashy." he mused as he looked down at himself. He was wearing the standard white coat, with a stethoscope hanging around his neck, but the outfit underneath consisted of a rather bright yellow shirt with the number 87 in pixels and bright magenta pants with green sneakers. He looked over everything he had, and found that, as usual, he had a hidden weapon, the stethoscope being able to extend like a flail.
"Your hair was even made all frizzy." Usagi said with a giggle as she ran a hand through it and messed it up further.
"Somehow I get the feeling I'm the odd doctor out in whatever university the Disguise Pen picked," Kensuke muttered before they went in, the guard buying their disguises as they included IDs.
Acting quickly, they looked for the class used for the seminar, and went in. "Excuse us, but everyone, please get away from the computers!" Kensuke said quickly, catching the attention of the students...or rather the zombie looking students. All except for one.
"Excuse me? We're in the middle of work at the moment." Ami said as she stood up, a confused frown on her face, apparently the disguise included a minor glamour effect because she wasn't recognising them.
Usagi blinked in surprise at that. "Uh...are you experiencing any weird symptoms from using the Crystal Disk?" she asked.
Ami blinked. "Oh, that? I...don't actually use them," Ami admitted sheepishly.
"Well, it's a good thing you don't. We've found that the use of these Disks seem to cause some strange health problems, as you can see with your classmates," Kensuke said, quickly following up on Usagi's line.
"What? Oh my, then we'd better inform the supervisor," Ami said in worry, now VERY glad the Disks made her head hurt so she never actually used them.
"Nonsense," a new voice said, as a woman entered the room from the back door. She looked like a standard lecturer, wearing a green suit and white shirt underneath, with a pair of glasses on her face and neck length brown hair. "The Disks are perfectly safe for use," she said.
"No they are not!" Usagi shot back. "Just look at your students!"
"They are simply applying their fullest into the program. Unlike someone," she said, glaring at Ami.
"Are they now…?" Kensuke mused, lifting up the stethoscope, before hurling it at the woman, the hidden weapon extending and forcing her to dodge, but cutting into her cheek in the process.
"You bastard!" she glared, her eyes gaining an inhuman look.
"So you're the Youma in charge of this operation!" Usagi said.
"Youma?" Ami blinked, but the two of them were already acting quick, figuring they were in disguise anyway, so this time it wouldn't make a difference.
"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
"Henshin!" "Turn Up!"
One flash of light and field of energy later, and Ami was now staring at what she was positive where the superheroes the rumors said were going about the city.
"Halt, evil villain! Geniuses are valuable because they help better the world and make it more peaceful! We won't let them fall into the hands of evil!" Sailor Moon started.
"We'll change the fates you had intended for them!" Blade added.
"In the name of the moon!" Sailor Moon started.
"And the azure dragon!" Blade continued.
"We'll punish you!" they finished.
The Youma chuckled, before she soon shifted into her true form. A red skinned Youma that sure fit the bill of a demon-like look. "I am the Youma of knowledge, Garoben!" she declared. "Now, the first question!" Garoben said as several papers appeared around her. "Why do apples fall from trees?!"
"You're kidding right? Everyone knows that's because of gravity!" Sailor Moon shot back, the papers vanishing at her words.
"Correct! Second Question: What is gravity? Explain in less than 50 words!" Garoben continued.
"The force that pulls things towards a celestial body like the Earth!" Blade quickly answered, charging forward and slashing at Garoben.
"Argh! Correct!" she shouted as she was pushed back.
"Hey, get away from here, it's dangerous!" Blade quickly told Ami who was still standing there from shock.
"R-Right!" the girl said as she made a run for it.
"I won't let you!" Garoben said as she surged forward, and grabbed hold of Ami.
"Coward!" Sailor Moon shouted indignantly, as with this, they couldn't attack her without risking hitting Ami.
"Final question of the Newton category: What is the Equation to Newton's Universal Law of Gravity?!" Garoben called out.
THAT made them (even Luna who was hiding) stop short. "Uh...er...okay uh...the larger the mass the stronger the force?" Sailor Moon guessed.
"Incorrect!" Garoben barked as the zombified students got up and started going for the two heroes.
"The equation is F = Gm1m2/r2!" Ami shouted. "With F denoting…!" she didn't get to finish as Garoben covered her mouth.
"That question wasn't for you!" Garoben glared, before pressing Ami's head against a computer screen. "Now, give your energy to our great leader!"
"I...won't…!" Ami shot back. "I may only be good at studying, but I do it to one day help people! I refuse to help you hurt people!" she shouted, and at that moment, a glow started to shine from her forehead, and everyone in the room could feel the energy welling up.
"Well… if that isn't a clue then I don't know what is." Kensuke said as he shoved away as many of the students as he could, trying not to hurt them too much in the process, while he saw the blue glow coming from Ami, and when Garoben lifted her head up, right there on her forehead, was the symbol of the planet Mercury.
"Moon Tiara Stardust!" Sailor Moon called out as she hit all the students that had crowded towards her with the magic, causing them to fall to the ground, the control lost. "That symbol, so she is one of us!"
"I don't know what this is, but if I can't have your brain energy, I'll just take your brain instead!" Garoben said...before the room started to shake. "What's going on?"
"Uh oh…" Blade gulped when he felt a familiar hot feeling.
"Uh oh? Please tell me that 'uh oh' isn't what I think it is," Sailor Moon gulped.
"Sorry but it is. An Undead is coming!" Blade reported, right as the shaking stopped...before a hole was blown through the floor, right next to where Garoben was, causing the Youma to stumble to the side in surprise, and from the hole, an Undead soon burst out and landed on the second floor. It was slightly hunched over with smooth brown armor covering its back. Its shoulders were also covered by a similar round plating with leather straps, and metal studs covering its biceps. Its forearms and hands looked like brown-armored claws, but despite the shape, both had black steel revolvers that had armored plating on them. The Undead's torso may have been thin, but it was also well armored, with the familiar Undead belt around its waist, and its legs were thicker with brown armored feet and bone claws for toes.
"What… is this?" Garoben muttered as she inched away from the creature, while Ami was looking at it a bit fearfully.
"Blade… which one is that?" Sailor Moon whispered.
"One I didn't expect to see so soon." he muttered "If I'm right, that's the Armadillo Undead, category 2 of Diamonds, and a pretty annoying one for me."
"Why is that?" Luna asked...right before a gunshot was heard, as a bullet embedded into the wall not far from her.
"That's why," Blade said flatly. "He's not called Bullet Armadillo for nothing."
That was the last thing he could say before the Armadillo Undead started firing almost wildly, fortunately not aiming for any of the downed students, clearly more interested in going after the able bodied combatants...or really whoever was still moving. Fortunately this time that included the Youma.
"Stupid creature! Don't get in my way! First question, mathematics: What is the square root of seven?!" Garoben said to the Undead...who responded with a growl and more bullets. "No attacking the question maker! Take these!" she shouted as she hurled razor sharp papers at the Undead, all of them either bouncing off its armor or being shot out of the air by it.
In the meantime, Sailor Moon and Blade quickly took this chance to crawl towards and get Ami to safety.
"Wh-what is even going on?!" Ami gasped when they got her away.
"Right now? A brawl between monsters, and a chance for us to get the students to safety," Blade said. "Let's go before either of those two decide to go for us."
"Is there anyway I can help?" Ami asked.
"Actually…" Luna spoke up, catching her attention.
"Wait...is that Luna? And she can talk?!" Ami gasped, now wondering if this was all just some nightmare.
Luna sighed, before doing a backflip, and from a trail of magic, a pen appeared. It was blue with a golden cap that had a ring on top with the symbol of Mercury on it. "This is for you. The truth is, you're actually one of the Sailor Scouts who can protect this world. That pen is your transformation item."
"I… wait… what?" Ami said, looking utterly lost as she held the pen in her hands.
"Did you have to give her the identity questionning NOW?" Sailor Moon asked in deadpan.
"Look, Ami, to sum it up, you're a superhero with the power to help, HOWEVER, the transformation is flashy, so let's get the other students clear first, because this battle will be destructive, alright?" Blade said to the girl, making her look at him.
"I… alright, I can do that." she said, still somewhat confused, but slipped the pen into her front pocket for the moment as she started to help drag the students out of harm's way while the two monsters were busy fighting one another.
Fortunately the fight was intense enough that while the room was completely trashed, they'd managed to get all the students out safely. Once that was done, Ami was once more looking at the pen, still unsure about this. "Is this...really supposed to be for me?" she asked again.
"Trust me, I wondered the same thing when I picked up Luna that day a good few weeks back." Sailor Moon said with an amused sigh.
Ami blinked at that, before something just seemed to click as her eyes were now truly focused on Sailor Moon "Usagi? You're…?"
"Guilty. And Blade is Kensuke, he's less obvious since he has an actual mask." Sailor Moon said with a grin while Blade gave Ami a two fingered salute.
"So don't worry, I know you can do it, and we'll have your back all the way," Sailor Moon smiled encouragingly.
"Usagi…" Ami said in surprise, but soon smiled back, seeing the faith she had.
The moment was soon ruined when Garoben was sent flying out one of the class windows, her body landing in a crumpled heap as she soon dissolved into dust. "And the brawl has its winner," Blade said flatly as the Undead stepped out of the room, its sights now on them. "Now or never Ami, cause HE wants to make us into swiss cheese!"
"Alright!" she said seriously… before looking sheepish "How does this work though?"
The other two heroes sweatdropped at that, before Luna hopped onto her shoulder and whispered it into her ear, jumping back down at Ami nodded "Right. Mercury Power, Make Up!"
A show of bubbles wrapped around her for a second and when it cleared, she stood in an outfit similar to Sailor Moon, except hers only had white and blue as the colors, with boots only slightly shorter than Moon's own, while the gem on her own tiara was, once again, blue.
When the transformation was over… "Eh? Is this me?" Ami, or rather, Sailor Mercury said in surprise as she looked herself over.
"Worry about the look later!" Blade said as he was busy deflecting shots from the Armadillo Undead. He was holding his ground, but the ranged weapon was making this very difficult for him.
"Okay, what do I do?" Sailor Mercury asked.
"Say 'Shabon Spray'! That's your special attack!" Luna instructed.
"Alright. Shabon Spray!" she called out, gathering a sphere of water in her hands, before releasing it in a mass of bubbles that soon covered the area in a thick mist. Strangely though, Sailor Moon and Blade both didn't have any issues seeing through it, but the Undead sure did, evident by how it was looking around, as if trying to figure out where its targets were.
Seeing the chance, Blade motioned to the two sailors to be quite, and mimed sneaking around it, earning a nod from both. The Undead though wasn't about to sit still as it started firing wildly, but the group managed to dodge, until Blade was in a good position and drew two of his cards, showing them to Sailor Moon, who realized what he was asking for. Taking a deep breath, she was about to let it out, before Mercury stopped her, and pointed towards a nearby fire extinguisher. Moon gave her an 'ok' sign, and moved in front of the object, and let out a shout. As expected, the Undead turned to the source and fired, but Sailor Moon jumped out of the way, the bullet hitting the extinguisher and unloaded its content right into the Undead's face. At that moment….
"Slash! Thunder!"
"Lightning...Slash!" Blade called out as he struck the Undead several times with his electrified sword, causing massive damage as the energy surged through it. The Undead let out a choked cry before falling over and exploding, the mist soon clearing to show the Undead twitching on the ground as its belt cracked open, revealing a pair of red diamonds and a '2' in the middle of the belt.
"No more playing with guns for you," Blade said as he drew a Common Blank and threw it at the Undead, which was soon sucked into the card, which returned to Blade's hand.
"That was certainly… an experience." Mercury said after a moment.
"Trust me, there's plenty more on the way, and they'll just get weirder and weirder." Moon said with a laugh.
"And we'll explain the weirdness that was this guy and the pile of dust tomorrow when you have time." Blade said, waving the new card which depicted an armadillo in a style similar to the one they had just fought, with the suit of diamonds and the number 2 in each corner.
"Considering I likely won't have the seminar anymore, I think my schedule cleared up." Mercury said with a laugh, earning some amusement from the others, before they quickly got away when they heard the security guard finally start to come upstairs, seems he was a normal human at least.
There was no doubt that the night had been fruitful to them.
And there's the chapter!
Also, it may be obvious to a few of you, but Kensuke's disguise was based on Emu Hojo, AKA, Ex-Aid, and we even gave him a modified version of his line about changing a patient's fate.
Anyway, see you all next time!
