1892... In a town in England...
The rain was pouring down on that afternoon. As the sweets shop was supposed to close, the old owner was cleaning up for the day. What other customer comes at a bad weather like this? He knows the rain won't be appealing to any customers and it happens every time that he doesn't get any. So instead, he'd rather be somewhere else.
But then the bell chime from the door rang and he looked at who it was: It was a brown-haired civilian 22 year old male named Charlie.
"Mr. Grace?" Charlie called out. "In here, old coot?"
"Laddie!" Mr. Grace called out with his Scottish accent from behind the desk after browsing some more wipes. "What is God's name are you doing here?"
"Oh... just coming around."
"It's not like a good time for coming around, lad. The rain is damn strong, and you're wet."
"At least I got here, Mr. Grace. Anyway, you got what I want?" Charlie's pattern of emotions changed to something serious in a quick glance from Mr. Grace.
Nonetheless, Mr. Grace went behind his desk just for Charlie. "Hold up." He muttered aloud, just before he pulled out a brown package.
"Come on, come on. I don't have all day." Charlie seems a little impatient.
And as Mr. Grace showed Charlie the brown package, he kept it held on his hand tight. "Lad, I have to ask: What exactly is inside the package?"
"Huh?"
"It's suspicious enough to have a pistol in it. You know how packages are treated these days, and you asked a favour from me to grab something that wouldn't go through authorities. And the way things are right now? Tch. I doubt you got any good things to tell me."
Charlie glanced away, not believing what he's hearing, before glancing back at Mr. Grace. "What are you saying, you grouchy old man?"
And the older fellow was surprised to hear that. "You'll know how to talk to your elders, lad. That tone just makes it rather very strange, so I won't give it. You'll have to find another way for this to get to your hands."
"I don't have any money, Mr. Grace."
"Then good luck getting the package yourself. If it has to be from my cold dead hands, so be it."
Charlie saw Mr. Grace turn around and walk back to his desk. As he glared at him from behind... 'So be it then.' His thoughts matched the way the sharp object appeared from his sleeve before he walked towards the old man and pulled his arm back for momentum before letting the tip of the weapon pierce through the back of his head. The blade was simply so sharp that it lodged in through the center of the skull to the other side out the forehead. The old man's eyes were still before they slowly went up thanks to his death. Charlie pulled the blade out suddenly before grabbing that package and see Mr. Grace fall down forward, limp and dead now. "Well, you said it." He smirked, before his eyes show a dark aura around them. "It'll be fantastic if you were still around, but a nuisance just comes and goes, you old coot. Farewell." Then, Charlie turns his back on the dead old man and walks toward the door, hiding his blade before he finally leaves...
Cosmos Sailors' HQ...
The nine girls from μ's are looking at a hovering white stick of a sort.
Honoka – When I heard from Melusine that we'll be examining an 'Extension' of a sort, I wasn't expecting to see a floating stick. Then again, it might be something else.
"Ladies?" Melusine put the girls' attention onto her. "Pay attention, please. The kind of thing you're seeing her is called an Extension... BUT... It has a specific name." Melusine took the hovering stick into her hands before a blue light spiralled onto the roundness of the white stick moving up to the top. It ended up with that same blue light leaving blue star decor trail on it. "See... Any Cosmic Sailor or Fairy who holds a Neutral-type Extension can make a desired theme. Like with mine, I made up a theme once I held on to it. Extensions, are just like the word itself defines it: They are a part of you. Another thing this could be called is a weapon of sorts. Our Extensions can shoot out reverse energy the Shadows make, making this a weapon for both our offensive against and defence from the Shadows. But this is a multi-purpose Extension, since I said it can shoot our reverse energy. I call it the Cosmic Baton... but maybe it's a little too harsh. I should call it the Cosmic Wand, or something. I haven't really decided the name of it quite yet."
"Question." Kotori gets attention of Melusine. "Can an Extension be unique for any of us?"
Melusine smiles. "That's a good question, since this kind of step requires your experience first..." And as she was about to explain something else, an alarm went off, and one of the computer terminals began to show a text: 'Time-Distortion Alert.' "Whoa, whoa... That's impossible!" Melusine then ran to the computer terminal and immediately shut off the alarm. Furiously, she was pressing keys all over the terminal's keyboard before the screen in front of her started to show some sort of map in space.
Honoka was observing this herself.
From the time I thought the Cosmos Sailors were protectors of their assigned multi-verses, we're gonna be making some sort of crash course towards another thing she hasn't mentioned... yet.
Melusine still furiously pressed buttons on the keyboard when...
"What's going on?" Eli asked from the group. "Something we should worry about."
"Ms. Ayase, it's a bit of a problem that I talk to you unless my focus is on you." And afterwards, Melusine focused on her problem before hearing soft beeps. "Ugh... Verdammt noch mal. (Damn it all.)" She muttered it before facing the girls again, breathes in and out before speaking. "Ladies, this is one of the cases the Shadow Lord rarely or sometimes does right now. You guys ever heard of time travel?"
"I've heard plenty of it." Eli replied. "First thing that's being messed up with, is the past, which should never be touched."
"That's what many people believe, Ms. Ayase, but you're right. It's better the past not be touched at all. Or better yet, the fate of one event now, is based on the fact someone needed to go back through time. All we know now is that the fabric of time hasn't been torn up yet, and that's good. And to prevent that, all that's outside HQ has been frozen in time, to prevent any further drastic changes."
"W-What?!" Honoka reacted. "B-b-but..."
"Try to listen first, Ms. Kousaka, because you may want to hear this well. A Time-Distortion Alert will permanently put the HQ on hold for the time being, from moving in time I mean. The whole place allows time and space travel, so teleportation in your assigned Multi-Verse is no problem. But time travel is something much more sensitive and should be done with almost no critical error on the one who sends the subject back. Let me tell you this: We've entered something inevitable. We have to decide from one, or some of us, who will go back to the past and stop whatever a Shadow minion is about to do."
"W-well..."
"Nervous, Ms. Kousaka?" Melusine smirked. "I thought so. This is something we need to handle as a priority call. But don't worry. It doesn't have to be you who could get there. It can be anybody else. Anyway..." Melusine turned to the terminal and typed a few things on the keyboard before the space map has shown itself, while zooming into a universe. "The Time Distortion Alert happened in Ambrogio Universe 12, in the Hyura galactic system, and in a planet with a name that's similar to yours: Earth. You know, most planets with human inhabitants call their planets 'Earth,' and it's something you should be relieved of. So... this is how it's gonna be." Apparently, the image changed from an animation of transporting from one universe to another. Then she pointed at a spot on the monitor. "This is where HQ is currently positioned: Universe 6, Milky Way galactic system. Do you all follow, so far?" She asked them, and they seem to have no questions. "Alright, follow me."
Apparently, Melusine led them back to the platforms from whence they came from before seeing the room of HQ in the first place. "These are the platforms you stood on, right? See these platforms right now? They got your preference colors already set up, along with the Kanji-character names you all had ever since you were living. Enough about that though. See... this HQ can do two things: One is that you guys can teleport to any universe in our assigned Multi-Verse. The other, is that you can both teleport, and do a Time-Distortion jump, or just Time-Jump for short. Simply stand on the platform your name is on, just to organize things, and the sender's gonna do the rest for you as you get a good ride to the destination time... and location. A simple teleportation to a place can work without a Time-Jump operation, so you can practically go anywhere. Big big space, huh? It's an advantage we have right now to locating Shadow's all over our assigned sector.
"Oh, and one more thing." Melusine crossed an arm over another as she glared at each of the girls with her. "NOBODY, in basis of just protecting or observing, must know about who you are. Until we can secure certain universes, only then we could. But for now, the universes that allow the Shadows to monitor our progress are still active, and we need to disable them. And for us to disable them, we must train. And with the meaning of training, we get stronger, before we face our enemies head-on." And as she ended what she needed to say about main objectives, she changed the matter. "Any questions?"
Kotori glanced at Honoka who glanced at her, then shrugged. She then glanced at Melusine. "Umm... What happens if we unfreeze time right now, while there's a Time-Distortion Alert?"
Melusine sighed. "A very good question. If we start to unfreeze time right now, all of the events from the past will take hold, and you never know that it would have already been a big step, since a lot of events can occur and can bring more power to the Shadow Lord, and his minions at the same time. You never know: Certain people at this current existence might not even be born. Governments might have ended up differently from then. Worse: Shadows could have established a bigger area of their own thanks to that missed event. You don't know the full consequences of this if we don't do something. That's why, we treat this as a priority call. But don't worry though. There's one thing we can do, just before we go on."
They all saw the Cosmic Fairy point her thumb towards the hexagonal fighting ring. "All of you must have some experience. Thanks to your being Cosmic Sailors, this is easier. But you can choose to train your own body for the worst without your powers, which is much more recommended if you aim for extra endurance and improving your body, of course. For now, I'll make it easy for you." And with a smirk she raised the white stick with her blue star trail them on it. "You'll have to hit me once... with the Cosmic Baton. Oh? Did I call it that now? And by the way: I'm fast. So don't take me as an easy target either." She giggled at them and left them behind while she checked the fighting ring, not knowing the girls weren't taking this easily.
That surprised everyone. Melusine is five feet tall, and she says she's fast, and probably organized in her movements.
Eli – I don't know if I could beat her. But I do know... there might be a way to outsmart her. I don't know... but I'm willing to try it myself.
And later... Melusine was in the fighting ring, while the girls are right outside of it. "So... which one of you girls is gonna lose miserably... first?"
"I don't know about losing." Eli said while coming out from the group. "But I do know I don't refuse a challenge. You challenge them... and you already picked a fight with me." The others were shocked of this: What's Eli doing? Eventually, Eli joined Melusine in the octagonal ring before the doors were closed.
Melusine smirked at Eli before she threw the Cosmic Baton at Eli, who just caught it afterwards. "So... The plan's simple: Hit me."
The baton's theme changed into a trail of yellow stars as she held it tight. "I'm sure you know: Not everything's simple." Eli smirked back before speed made her suddenly disappear.
"ELI!" Nozomi shouted in worry before seeing Eli just beside Melusine and swung her baton.
And although Melusine didn't expect it, she blocked Eli's strike with another white stick of her own: Another baton with her themed pattern on it. While she was holding well against Eli as she pushed with the same force as the other girl did. "Is this my match? Have I finally found it?"
Eli dared and closed her face to Melusine's and whispered: "Let's find that out, shall we?"
"Let's!" Melusine suddenly stepped back while Eli did the same before they charged at each other. "COME GET ME!"
"HAAAAA!" Eli shouted her battle cry together with Melusine as they clashed...
This turned from a summoning, to quite a fun time. I'll have to say: Melusine should have fun like I do.
"Prepping for Case 1 (part 1) – Chapter 2"
To be continued...