Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 3: War games.
Episode 54: Sailor Moon vs. Street Fighter.

By Razor Knight
Last update: May 19, 2013
Last edited June 2, 2017

Training could actually be fun at times, but there were also times like this, when she knew something was wrong with her 'foe.' "That's not like you at all."

Hotaru looked up at her. "I just messed up, that's all, you won't knock me down so easily twice."

"Come on, I know there's something on your mind, Hotaru."

The pale girl stood up and sighed. The others were all busy with their own training, so she motioned Usagi to the far side of the room. Once they got there, she nodded. "I'm sorry, I should be focusing in training, but-"

"Tell me what's worrying you, perhaps I can help."

"I doubt it."

"Come on..."

"You shouldn't be worrying about me."

"Of course I should, we are friends."

Hotaru stared at Usagi for a few seconds, then smiled. "You're right. My problem is... About me and Kage."

"Huh? What happened?"

"He likes me, I like him, but... I realize I don't like him the way he does, and I doubt I ever will. I don't feel-" Hotaru paused for a second and then sighed. "I can't even say the word, how pathetic is that?"

"You're worried about hurting him if you tell him."

"Yeah, he is my best friend. I don't want to lose that."

"If you tell him how you feel, you may hurt him, but if you keep pretending everything's right, then it will hurt him more in the end."

Hotaru shook her head. "I wanted this to work, but-"

"There's more than one kind of 'love.' Since you said you weren't good at dealing with people, perhaps you confused the love one feels for a friend with the romantic kind."

"I hadn't considered that."

"And even if there's that kind of feelings, even then love can have different faces," Usagi said, looking at Yukiko, who was trying to fight Terry, and failing.

"You're saying that even if I don't feel the same way he does, it won't change the way he feels about me."

Usagi sighed. "I'm not an expert in those things, Hotaru, but I know hiding from your own feelings isn't good."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for the help."

"That's what friends do."

Hotaru nodded. "And a few months ago, I would have never thought friends could be such a good thing to have."

Usagi watched Hotaru walk away for a few seconds before she decided to follow suit. It was surprising, Hotaru had looked so cold, unemotional, unfriendly at first, but underneath that icy layer was a nice, friendly girl.

"Kage, we need to talk."

Kage noticed Hotaru's tone, and sighed. "Okay. I suppose it's not something you can tell me here."

"You suppose right. Let's go outside."

"What's up with her?"

Usagi looked at Mako. "She's just being herself."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about that," Usagi said. "Since Kage left, how about fighting me instead?"

Mako smiled. "Of course. I don't mind which friend I use as a punching bag."

"Assuming you can hit me at all," Usagi teased.

"... Hey now, don't go and turn into Terry." Mako muttered, causing Usagi to laugh.

Kage was worried, he knew Hotaru enough to know whatever she had to say was troubling her. "I'm listening."

Hotaru looked at him. "I once told you I didn't know if what I felt for you would go from like to... To love."

Kage waited and listened. It was strange for Hotaru to use that word, but he didn't want to give himself false hopes.

"But now I know... Kage, you're my best friend and I don't want to lose that, but I've been giving this a lot of thinking, and-"

"You want us to be friends, nothing more," Kage said, his face unreadable.

Hotaru stared at him. "Yes, and I don't want you to-"

Kage smiled. "I'm not mad at you, Hotaru. It hurts a bit, but... I'll be fine."

She noticed he was starting to walk away. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Home," Kage said. "I need to think about this, too."

"Kage, I'm sorry."

He stopped walking for a second, and looked back at her. "Don't apologize, you've done nothing wrong."

Hotaru watched him leave and smiled sadly. That was just like Kage, pretending not to be upset just so she wouldn't feel upset as well.

Mako sat on the ground, recovering her breath. "Shit, Hakko is right, your dodging is beyond 'good.'"

"And I've trained to improve it," Usagi said. "I-" she stopped as the elevator's doors opened, and saw Hotaru walk in. "Are you okay?"

Hotaru sat on a bench and looked at Usagi. "It went better than I thought, but that's not saying a lot."

Terry walked to them. "Hey, why the sad face? Where's Hiyama?"

"I... I think the correct term here would be that I 'dumped' him."

"Oh."

"What, no sarcastic remarks?" Hotaru said, her voice colder than she had wanted it to sound.

"It's no laughing matter," Terry said, ignoring her tone. "But you two get along, I don't think he'll be angry at you."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm not sure of what to think about myself right now."

Terry stared at her. "Let's fight."

"I'm not in the mood."

"Repressing anger, or any other hurtful feeling, will only feed them and make them stronger. When I'm angry or worried, I sometimes just grab a weapon and start fighting some imaginary foes. Trust me, you'll feel better."

"If that's the case, then I won't fight you."

"Why?"

Hotaru stood up and walked to an empty part of the room. "Because I've already hurt one of my friends today. Saturn Twilight Power."

Usagi saw Saturn summon her glaive and start swinging it around. "I hope she'll be okay."

Saturn kept swinging her glaive again and again, trying to let all her anger out. She kept fighting her imaginary foe for a few minutes, but suddenly stopped. The way she was swinging her glaive, and the speed she was using, if she could use those together with her magic then perhaps she could- Well, it was worth a try. "Saturn... Grim... Barrage!"

Usagi had been watching her practice, and was surprised to see that. Saturn had used the same motions of her Grim Wave, but had swung her glaive in a seemingly random pattern, unleashing several thin waves of death magic, instead of the normal, large one. "Don't tell me she just-"

Saturn looked at Usagi and smiled. "Now I know how you did it."

"Rage is a bad ally, but can be an excellent teacher," Terry said. "Or at least that's what Hakko told me."

Aiko appeared near him. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have detected multiple entities attacking the city."

"Another large army?" Usagi asked.

"No, there's not that many of them, but at the same time, they may pose a greater threat to you."

Terry sighed. "So, what is it this time?"

"Does the name Ryu Hoshi sound familiar to you?"

Terry flinched. "Oh joy, Street Fighter."

Aiko looked at the screen, which showed Ryu wrecking a car. "However, they aren't fighting civilians, just wrecking things."

Saturn looked at Aiko. "She sounds a lot more human now."

Terry nodded. "We've been working on that, but there's no true self-awareness there. I don't know what's missing."

"A soul. I can't sense any in her."

"Cool. Wonder if anyone knows how to program a soul."

"Should I contact the Hunters?" Aiko asked.

Terry smiled. "No, this is the perfect chance to see if all the training paid off."

Mako cracked her knuckles. "This will be fun."

Mars had been the first one to find the enemy, and couldn't help but smile as she thought about what his 'element' was. "I had to get the freakiest one."

Dhalsim was just sitting there, meditating, but suddenly floated up and opened his eyes. "I was wondering when one of you would show up."

Mars didn't bother answering, she simply rushed forwards, going for a straight to the face. Dhalsim, however, vanished and appeared right behind her, kicking her back and sending her crashing to the ground. "Fire Soul!"

"Yoga Fire."

Mars knew her attack would be blocked, but she used the small explosion as cover, rushing in and tackling Dhalsim, using a quick combination of kicks and punches to knock the man down. "Let's end this. Fire Tornado!"

"I agree," Dhalsim said and again vanished. "Yoga... Inferno!"

Mars tried to stand up, but her whole body hurt. She hadn't seen the attack, but it had been quite powerful. She saw Dhalsim looming over her and winced. "I won't lose, I..."

"Yoga..."

The Fire Senshi stood up quickly, fighting the pain, and grabbed Dhalsim's throat, stopping his attack. "Game over. Fire Tornado!" This time, Dhalsim was turned into a human pyre for a few seconds, and there was nothing left of him once the fire died out. Mars sighed and fell back down, the pain from his attack finally getting her now that the battle was over. Up to now, the enemies had been mostly too weak to consider them a threat, but this time around-

Mars winced as she realized something. Maybe that was Game Master's plan all along? Make your enemies think your army's weak, then send your best soldiers out when they are sure of their victory.

"Rei?"

Mars looked up at Yuichiro. "Hi."

The man looked at her and flinched. "The back of your suit's all burnt, what the heck happened?"

Mars tried to stand up, but only managed to sit up. "Had to fight a character from Street Fighter. They're tougher than they look."

"Need me to bring you to a hosp-"

"No." Mars said. "If I go as Rei, it will raise a lot of questions, and I can't just go there as Mars. Besides, we Senshi heal faster than humans. I need to help my friends, so-"

"You're in no condition to help anyone," Yuichiro said sternly.

"Hmph, you can't stop me from trying."

"You may heal fast, but that will still take a while. What help can you be to them like this?"

Mars gave him a short glare, then stood up... And fell on her back a second later, letting out a yelp of pain. "Damn it, why now?"

"Please, stop being so stubborn for once, Rei."

He looked really worried, and Mars knew he was right, no matter how much she wanted to help the others, she wouldn't be able to fight for a few hours, at least. "Okay."

"Come here, little girl!"

Mercury barely managed to dodge as the large man tried to tackle her. Fighting him at melee range wasn't an option, as his range was much wider than hers, and she could guess getting a punch from him would hurt a lot. "I'm no little girl."

She had been trying to come up with a plan while dodging, but couldn't find an opening. If Terry was there, he could- No! She couldn't depend on him to take the shots for her, she needed to win this one on her own. "Frozen Rage!"

Her foe, Zangief, moved too fast for something so large. He jumped over her attack, spinning in mid-air and hitting her with a backhand charged with energy, which sent Mercury flying back half a block.

"Okay, big girl, show me what you can do, 'cause that can't be your best."

Mercury staggered up, trying to focus. She couldn't keep on dodging, and her attacks had been deflected or dodged easily. And going melee was still not an option, as his reach- No, that was it, she had a way to win this.

Zangief grew tired of waiting and rushed in once again, but Mercury was expecting that. She summoned her tonfa, waiting until the very last second before she rammed both into the ground. "Ice Angel." A shower of ice and snow shot upwards from under Zangief's feet, and he was rapidly encased in ice. Mercury looked at the ice 'statue' and noticed it was starting to fall apart. "Not dead yet, I guess."

The wrestler broke free from his ice prison, and noticed Mercury was just standing there. "Hey, you giving up, miss? That's no fun."

Mercury smiled as ice blades longer than Zangief's arms came out from her tonfa. "No, I was just analyzing the battle, and figuring out a way to defeat you for good."

"Hah! Analyzing? That's boring, let's just punch each other until one of us drops!"

Mercury's smile vanished. "Okay." She started trying to slash at him, but the man dodged each swipe. After a minute of this, Mercury leapt back, and summoned her attack. "Frozen Rage!"

Zangief leapt over the attack and laughed. "That won't work, miss!"

"I know," Mercury noted, her smile a sound effect away from a chuckle. "Ice Angel! Ice Geiser!"

The first attack froze Zangief, while the second caused the ice to turn a deep blue. Mercury scanned it with her visor and sighed as she fall on her knees. "Finally."

"Mother, are you okay?"

Mercury looked at the image in her visor. "A bit bruised, that's all. What about the others?"

"They're still fighting. Mars is done with her foe, but got quite a beating, so she told me she would not be able to help. After analyzing what little data I could get from her fight, I must admit the abilities of these Street Fighter characters are far above what I expected."

Mercury blinked in surprise. Aiko sounded... Worried? No, it should just be her mind playing tricks on her. "This fight wasn't like the ones before," she finally agreed, "I guess Game Master was trying to lull us into believing his attacks would be always easily dealt with."

"Will you help the others?"

Mercury stood up and nodded. "Tell me where the closest fight is."

"Father is fighting someone five blocks north of your position."

"Got it." Mercury couldn't help but smile. Aiko had started calling them 'mother' and 'father', but that wasn't part of her programming. Perhaps there was a bit of self-awareness there, or perhaps it was a bug, but a part of her wished it was no bug at all.

"Oh my, I see I must face a beautiful one."

Venus looked at the masked man standing on top of a truck. Vega. That guy had always seemed creepy to her, but perhaps he wasn't that bad after all. "Uh, thanks for the compliment."

"Not as beautiful as me, though. Then again, nothing ever is."

Okay, so he was as creepy as she thought. "If you think you're pretty, why do you cover your face?"

"Because my beauty must not be harmed by anyone. It's a pity I'll have to harm yours."

Venus let out a sigh. 'Let sleeping beauties lie,' as the saying went. "So, besides looking at yourself in the mirror, what else can you do?"

"Glad you asked."

Venus barely managed to dodge as Vega flew at her claw-first, but the man bounced on a wall and leapt at her again, this time slashing her leg. "Damn, now I'm mad."

Vega smiled and leapt up, hanging from the side of a building with his claw. "I'm too fast for you, Venus."

"We'll see about that," Venus said. "Crescent Whip!" Vega leapt right over the light wave, but that was actually part of Venus' plan. She lashed forwards, wrapping her whip on the man's waist as he fell, and using his momentum to send him sailing past her, slamming on a tree behind her. "Hope that didn't hurt... Little."

Vega stood up, his mask falling to the ground as it had been broken by the impact. He had a thin line of blood running from his forehead, and he licked the blood before glaring at Venus. "You dare hurting my face? You'll pay for that!"

Venus would usually had been fast enough to dodge, but the pain from her leg was enough to slow her down slightly, and Vega's attack connected easily. The man had rolled on the ground, much like a ball, and slashed at her with his claw several times before punching her away with his other hand.

Her suit had stopped the claws from digging into her flesh, but she still felt the hits. She knelt on the ground, noticing Vega was preparing to repeat the same trick again. "There's no beauty in someone with a mind as wicked as yours."

Vega glared at her. "What? I'm the most perfect-"

"Shut up and fight, creep."

"Hmph. As you wish, oh fair lady," Vega said mockingly, then repeated his attack.

This time, however, Venus was ready for him. "Crescent Whip!" Vega couldn't stop his attack in time, and the wave smashed straight into him, knocking him back against the same tree as before, but this time with enough force to knock the tree down. Venus noticed Vega staggering up, and shook her head. "Don't know when to give up?"

Vega could only raise to his knees, and coughed up some blood as he tried to stand up. "Damn it, Venus, I'm going to-"

"Twilight V-Laser." The beam shot straight through Vega's chest, and Venus sighed as Vega fell to the ground, his body vanishing seconds later. She looked at her leg and flinched, it was bleeding, although not enough to stop her from walking. "I should have known, videogames always kick my ass."

A/N: The title of this chapter is a game I would play all the time, unless they let Moon keep all her tricks. "Press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, punch, kick and start to activate the Ginzuishou and kill everyone else."