And we're finally back to this one after almost a full year.
... to be fair we try to rotate which story we work on, and my sleep schedule has just been fucked these days, so it takes us a while to get one out, which is why it took us a while to get back to Blade here.
But, we're here now, and we're reaching the climax of the Rainbow Crystal arc soon... with everyone's favorite one-off cat.
Hope you enjoy!
"You know, when I signed up for this, I knew there were likely going to be strange orders, but the Brass is out of it if they really think we should be trying to collect more of these things," Shin sighed as he walked into the lab where the V1 System was stored for maintenance and continued updating.
"Well…it IS a potential energy source, plus the criminals want it for some reason so they could be thinking that it'd be better for us to collect them," Aki said from where she was working.
"Yeah well, I don't think potentially getting into conflict with the ones who've been stopping these guys is a good idea," Shin said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well…doesn't matter. We're still too slow to respond as is. The fact we caught them on that first time was already really good," he sighed, seeing as they'd quickly found that their scanner system still had a few bugs in it, as evident by the recent incident that they only got a signal shortly before the signal ended, meaning it had probably been resolved.
"Ah…about that…" Aki said sheepishly.
"...you managed to improve the scanner, haven't you?" Shin sighed.
"Well, the higher ups really want to keep showing V1's value, and seeing as the suit itself is already working well…they had me devote time to work on the scanner first," Aki sweat dropped.
"Great…Here's hoping their gung ho attitude doesn't cost us potential allies," Shin groaned. "Am I at least gonna be able to move normally?"
"You can jog a little at least," Aki said. At least that was something.
"Had a rough morning?" Kensuke asked with a wince as he sat down at the fountain next to Luna.
"You can say that again." she said, wincing a bit in pain as she dipped the tip of her tail in the water "How the heck was I supposed to know there was a territory dispute going on between all those stray cats?"
"You wouldn't have been able to. Let's just chalk it up to bad luck, and that I think you might not want to go around by yourself around here for a while," Kensuke said sympathetically.
"Hopefully I can do that," Luna sighed, seeing as she may well need to go off on her own again.
"At any rate, we're just glad you managed to get away," Ami said from where she had been focusing on her computer.
"Speaking of which, how's the new program coming along?" Kensuke asked.
Ami would have answered but before she could…
"Sorry for the wait," came Makoto's voice as she came over with a bag of soda cans in hand, having gone over to the nearby vending machine to grab a few drinks. "I wasn't sure what everyone wanted, so I got a few regular flavors. I also made sure to get a few colder ones for Luna," she said, putting one particularly cold can near Luna, no doubt for her tail.
"Uh…much appreciated," Luna sweat dropped a bit, but used the can as an ice pack for her tail all the same.
"Glad I could help," Makoto smiled before she sat down next to Kensuke, the girl feeling a little awkward with a small blush. She was trying to act normal, but thinking about recent events…yeah, it was definitely something not only moving in with him, but knowing he was into her. Either way she tried to keep her mind off it for now as she passed the drinks around.
"Thank you, Makoto," Ami smiled.
"Sorry to have you grabbing the drinks for us," Kensuke said.
"Its no problem at all," Makoto chuckled. "Speaking of which…I wonder what's taking Usagi and Rei…"
"We're here!" came Usagi's voice as she and Rei jogged up to them, the two girls panting a bit.
"There was a bit of a hold up," Rei said as the two quickly caught their breaths.
"That's fine, as long as both of you are here," Ami chuckled.
"Someone's still missing though." Makoto said, looking around for Kelch even as she passed some sodas to Usagi and Rei.
"Ah, Kelch said he couldn't make it today, going on a date with Minako." Kensuke said.
"They sure know how to rub it in by accident." Usagi said with a sweatdrop. "Anyway, kinda the same thing for Naru, but it's just she's working today and I think Nephrite went to help her, meanwhile Shingo's catching up on homework."
"Its a good thing we finished up our homework already," Ami chuckled.
"Yeah, thanks again for the help," Usagi said sheepishly.
"Anyway, will this plan work?" Rei asked.
"It should," Ami nodded. "With the Rainbow Crystal we have, and considering that only one more remains, it should be possible for us to narrow down where the last Rainbow Crystal likely is."
"Not that I'm complaining, but its kind of a shame we're only getting this now that there's one left," Makoto mused.
"Well, we'll still likely need it for when its time to steal back the Crystals that the Dark Kingdom took. With luck, maybe their base is in the city somewhere," Kensuke shrugged.
"Is that…really a good thing though?" Rei frowned. "Their base being right here I mean."
"...that's a very good point," Kensuke sweat dropped. "Anyway, how's it going?"
"Just a bit more and…I think I've found it," Ami said as her computer showed a map of the city before narrowing down to a nearby location. "Its not too far from here at that."
"In that case let's go. We gotta get it before Zoisite does," Usagi said, everyone nodding in agreement and quickly downing their drinks as they got moving.
The location led them to a house not too far away. A rather nice looking family home with two floors. "Is this the place?" Kensuke asked.
Ami double checked and nodded. "Assuming the scanners are accurate, yes, this should be where the last Rainbow Crystal is."
"Good enough for me. Let's start searching," Usagi said, earning nods of agreement…until Luna looked at a window on the second floor of the house and stiffened.
"...I think I'll wait out here," Luna said.
"What brought this on?" Makoto blinked.
"Let's just say it's to do with this morning. Please don't make me go in there," Luna deadpanned.
"Well…I suppose it won't be a problem," Rei frowned a bit.
"Careful of any strays out here." Usagi said as they headed towards the house, leaving Luna there on the road.
"I'll keep that in mind," Luna sighed.
As they reached the home, Ami went up and knocked on it, waiting for a little bit before the door opened up, the group seeing a little girl standing there… holding a fat, seafoam green colored cat in her arms. "Yes?"
"Ah, are your parents home?" Ami asked politely.
"They're at work." the girl answered, looking at Ami, and the others behind her, in a mix of curiosity and worry.
The group couldn't help but sweat drop at how…awkward this just got. And to make it even more awkward, the Moon Stick started to react. "Okay, so we got a hit…" Kensuke frowned.
"So that girl is the Youma? Its almost hard to believe…" Makoto frowned.
"Well…several others were 'hard to believe' too. I'm still wrapping my head around the part where my own Grandfather was one," Rei pointed out.
"Let's…try to find a way to not look like creeps so we can get the Rainbow Crystal before Zoisite shows up," Usagi sweat dropped.
However, before they could come up with anything, the cat in the girl's arms suddenly tensed, and frantically pulled itself out of her arms, suddenly running down the street, which naturally led to the girl chasing after the cat as she called out its name of…
"Who… names a cat Rhett Butler?" Kensuke asked in deadpan before they started running after the girl quickly.
"A fan of Gone with the Wind?" Rei answered awkwardly.
The group kept running, losing sight of the girl for a bit, until they suddenly heard a scream come from an alley up ahead, one that sounded a lot like that little girl "That can't be good!"
"It's probably Zoisite then! Come on!" Kensuke said as he took his belt and card, the group transforming quickly as the rider and scouts ran to the alley… and… well…
Zoisite snorted as he floated in the air in the alley, the little girl unconscious on the ground "I believe this is when you humans say 'I wish I had a camera'." he said with a laugh, as the group had made the mistake of all trying to step in at basically the same time… and looked like a bunch of sardines in a can, elbows against each other's faces, only being able to make a few jilted movements… Blade's head shoved down a bit as Mars leaned over his shoulder, pushing him right into Jupiter's chest and making the girl blush a bright red.
"Zoisite! In the name of the Moon, we will punish you!" Sailor Moon declared, moving her arms in the usual motion (that she hadn't done in a while now that she thought about it)... and elbowed the others as she did.
"Of course you will." Zoisite snorted "I have more important things to do." he said, before vanishing away, confusing the group.
"...okay, what are we missing here?" Blade blinked.
"We'll figure that out…just as soon as we get out of here," Sailor Mars said, the group proceeding to try and get themselves unstuck. A few awkward moments later, the group had managed to get into the alleyway without getting stuck, and were examining the girl.
"She seems alright," Sailor Mercury said. "But…why didn't he take the Rainbow Crystal?"
"He wouldn't have…" Sailor Mars frowned, before a thought crossed her mind. "The Moon Stick, is it still reacting?"
"Huh why would it…" Sailor Moon blinked as she took out the Moon Stick…which was NOT reacting. "...stop reacting?" she blinked.
"Wait if the Moon Stick isn't reacting then that means…" Sailor Jupiter gasped as they all reached the same conclusion. "This girl ISN'T the Rainbow Crystal holder?!"
"But if she's not the holder…then who is?" Sailor Mercury wondered.
"Let's worry about that later. We need to get her to safety first," Sailor Moon said, to which the others nodded in agreement.
"The weather is really nice today, isn't it?" Minako said with a smile as she and Kelch exited the movie theater.
"It is," Kelch agreed. "Perfect for enjoying it in a cafe," he added.
"Oh you," Minako chuckled, but clearly liked the idea. The two soon shifted to a nearby cafe, enjoying a pair of parfaits while enjoying the weather as well.
"Hope you're enjoying yourself," Kelch chuckled.
"With you? Always," Minako smiled as the pair enjoyed each other's company. However, after a little bit, Minako's expression became a bit more serious, the girl checking around to make sure nobody was listening in. "Hey, Kelch?"
"Something wrong?" Kelch blinked.
"Nothing WRONG per say. Its just…I've been thinking," Minako mused.
"Should I warn Artemis of impending doom?" Kelch teased, earning a snort from Minako.
"Real funny." she said, shaking her head "No, I just mean, I'm thinking I can stop being the ally in the shadows. Things are starting to get serious so I should step into the open."
Kelch paused at that one. "I…honestly I don't know what to say to that. I mean…I get what you're trying to get at…but if you do…they'll be gunning at you like crazy," he frowned, clearly not liking the idea of that.
"They'd have started gunning for me sooner or later," Minako said with a wry smile. "At least this way we'll all be able to work together."
"Well…I can't say I'm fully okay with this, but I guess we always knew it was going to happen sooner or later," Kelch sighed. "Alright then, all I can do is support you…'Princess Serenity'," he said, though winking a bit at the last part.
Meanwhile, someone else was having a decidedly LESS enjoyable day.
"Why me today…?" Luna grumbled. The reason for her displeasure? Literally seconds after she'd stayed outside, a mob of stray cats were after her. Again. Then she ended up getting rescued by that fat cat named Rhett Butler. Again. Now she and Rhett Butler were trying to find their way out of the sewers.
She would take knowledge of this day to her grave. That much she swore.
Glancing at Rhett Butler, she couldn't help but wonder why he even went out of his way like he did "Why even help me in the first place?" she wondered as the fat cat looked at her… before he blushed and glanced away, causing her to deadpan "You're kidding…"
Groaning, she opted to focus on moving forward first. She could deal with this later. Oh don't get her wrong, she appreciated the help. He just wasn't her type. That and really…she didn't have time to think about relationships what with the thing with the Dark Kingdom going on.
However, any further thoughts were put on hold when she heard something. Was that…squeaking? A LOT of squeaking at that. Turning to the source which was coming from behind them she saw a figure coming out of the darkness. A familiar figure that soon revealed to be Zoisite…and he was being chased by something.
"What the…?" she muttered… before her eyes went wide when she realized he was being chased by a massive swarm of rats "We're going!" she said, pushing Rhett Butler to move, spotting a storm drain and shoving him into it, something a bit hard with how fat he was, but she managed to get him inside after a moment and rushed in after him to push him forward, Zoisite right behind them… and the rats still on his tail.
"Hold it right there! I'll be getting the Rainbow Crystal yet!" Zoisite said, laughing a bit to himself.
"Wait, YOU'RE the Rainbow Crystal holder?!" Luna asked incredulously while Rhett Butler naturally had no idea what she was talking about. Either way they kept frantically trying to get out, Zoisite doing his best to catch them…until the rats caught up to him and he was swallowed up in a tidal wave of fur and squeaking. That just made the two cats move faster, eventually finding themselves out in the open again…followed by the veritable flood of rats.
And as it so happened, Kelch and Minako had been nearby when that happened, causing Minako to let out a shriek of both surprise and disgust as she jumped into Kelch's arms. And frankly, Kelch couldn't blame her. That was a fucking plague's worth of rats.
"There's no way that's normal." he said with a twitching eye as he watched the rats chase Luna and the fat cat from a distance, deciding to follow after a few moments, Minako still in his arms.
Back at the girl's house, the group was looking down at Ami's computer as she tried to pinpoint precisely any traces of the energy from the last Rainbow Crystal "Without a doubt… The girl has been in contact with the crystal holder daily, so some of the energy has rubbed off onto her on a level that's traceable."
"But her parents are working apparently… I don't think they'd be around enough for that, yeah?" Rei asked after a moment.
"No, it'd have to be someone who's around her practically all the time." Ami said thoughtfully.
Kensuke hummed at that… before he stilled, his eyes wide, "Hey… Luna never said that the holder HAD to be human, yeah?"
"Uh… I don't think she did?" Usagi said, trying to think back.
"Wait…" Makoto said, her eyes wide as she caught on "You don't mean…"
"What is it?" Rei looked at the two with a raised eyebrow.
"The cat! It was around when the Moon Stick picked up a signal, yet now it's gone and we're getting no reaction!" Kensuke explained.
"That…that makes a LOT of sense," Rei said after a moment.
"But if the cat has the Crystal, where did it run off to?" Usagi asked.
As if in response to her question, their communicators went off, and it was obvious who it was seeing as only one of them wasn't present.
"Kelch? Sorry to rush this, but where are you? Because odds are you're where the last Rainbow Crystal is," Kensuke said quickly.
"Well that explains some things…still leaves a lot of questions," Kelch said, but quickly relayed his location. With that received they quickly ended the transmission, the group quickly heading out. There was no time to lose.
The sound of a siren rang through the streets as the Victory Trailer drove through. Inside, the team was already making preparations as Shin was decked in the V1 armor minus the helmet. "Are we sure the signal wasn't off?" Shin asked half incredulously.
"Unfortunately, no. For some reason the signal was coming from the sewers, though based on the map its now in a nearby storm drain," the technician monitoring the scanner said.
"I officially don't want to know what goes through the heads of these criminals," Shin grumbled. "How long before I deploy?"
"We're close enough. You can deploy just about any time now."
At that Shin just grabbed the nearby V1 helmet and put it on. Quickly getting on his bike, it wasn't long before he V1 was riding through the streets.
Luna was really sick and tired of rats at this point, she and Rhett Butler still running from the huge wave of them, before they then just… flowed around them to get in front and settled into a tower-like shape "What even is this day at this point?" Luna said in deadpan.
She got her answer when she heard Zoisite's laugh from within the tower of rats, the vermin parting a bit to reveal his eyes "When dealt a bad hand by fate, turn it around to your advantage." he said, the rats all scattering with a short burst of power from him. "Now, I'll be taking that Rainbow Crystal." he said as he summoned the Black Crystal.
However, before he could use the crystal, his senses flared up, but not in time to avoid the energy arrow that hit the black crystal, causing it to fly up into the air, though he lept up quickly and caught it… and twisted out of the way in time to dodge another attack, a beam of crescent energy he was quite familiar with at this point "Alright, I've just about had it with that one! Show yourself already!"
"I have no intention of hiding!" came Minako's voice, as Zoisite turned to the source, seeing a figure standing on a nearby lamp post. The figure was that of a Sailor Scout, but upon closer look, Zoisite realized it was a new one. However her outfit was a bit different than the others. Mainly he could see she wore shoulder protectors, a dark blue skirt with a red trim, red bows, a white choker with a golden crescent moon around her neck, blue high heeled shoes, a red mask around her eyes, and visible on her forehead was a crescent moon shape rather than the usual tiara. "The Dark Kingdom will never gain the Silver Crystal, not as long as I'm here!" she declared.
"Tch! I've had enough of you Sailor Scouts! Zoi!" Zoisite growled before sending forth several sharpened crystals at her, aiming to skewer her. However…
"Crescent Beam!" she declared, firing a blast of light from her fingertip, which hit one of the crystals…before rebounding and hitting another and another, and within a second, all of the crystals had been destroyed.
"What?!" Zoisite gasped in surprise, a gasp that ALMOST made him unable to evade as Chalice had fired another arrow at him.
"Aren't you just spry," Chalice tsked in annoyance. "Well it doesn't matter. Between me and Sailor V, you can't evade us forever. The Dark Kingdom will be down to one General once we're done with you," he said, pulling back and manifesting another arrows.
"And after you're taken care of, the last general will be our next target." Sailor V added, ready to fire at him again.
Zoisite grit his teeth at that "If you think I'll let you even ATTEMPT anything to Lord Kunzite, you're sorely mistaken!" he said, before holding a hand up, creating a dark portal, from which a familiar mass of mold fell out.
"Dammit!" Chalice cursed as he saw the Mold Undead start to shamble out of the main mass. Acting quickly he tried to fire another shot at Zoisite, but a Mold leaped into the air, and took the attack. The others quickly shambled over to the pair, forcing them to get to a more stable position.
With an opening established, Zoisite didn't waste any time. Quickly searching the area, he located the two cats, with Luna trying to sneak Rhett Butler away. "You won't escape!" he growled and charged forward, Black Crystal already at the ready. As such, there was nothing either of the cats could do as the waves hit Rhett Butler, causing him to yowl in pain as the Rainbow Crystal within him was extracted, revealing a violet colored crystal. "The Rainbow Crystal is-!" he was about to say in triumph…until something shot through the air, and snagged the crystal, immediately reeling it away from Zoisite.
"If there's any place this crystal does NOT belong, its with you, creep!" came V1's voice as he caught the crystal he'd reeled in with his grappling hook, quickly storing it away in his armor again.
"You again!" Zoisite growled in anger as V1 stole another crystal from him, before having to dodge away from a bullet "Well, no matter, you're about to have bigger problems, and I'll get that crystal back!" he said, as Rhett Butler seemed to be in pain, before his body started growing out "Come, Great Youma Bakene! Rip these fools to pieces!"
The burst of energy ensued, and where once was a cat, was now a beast-like Youma. Its form would easily make one think of a wereanimal of some kind. It had pale green skin with dark purple fur on its back, with a face that was feline in nature, with a necklace of some kind around its neck.
"Wait, cats can turn into monsters too now?" V1 blinked.
"Apparently they can…that's worrying…" Aki couldn't help but agree from where she was watching the fight.
Any further conversation was stopped when two things happened. One, Sailor V fired a Crescent Beam, hitting a Mold that was trying to blindside V1, and Bakene abruptly turned around…and lunged at Zoisite.
"What?!" Zoisite gasped as he quickly evaded Bakene's attack. "I told you to attack them, not me!"
"Okay, I'm a little confused now," V1 blinked after shooting down a Mold, even if they were quickly recovering.
"This is new even for us, so we're right there with you," Sailor V blinked.
Zoisite growled in rage, fists clenched, before he jumped back again as he disappeared. He knew better than to try his luck right now.
With him gone, Bakene stopped the attacks, but soon set on a new target. The Molds. Needless to say, the ensuing attacks threw the molds into disarray.
"Okay, this is officially the weirdest fight I've had," Chalice blinked.
At that moment, the rest of the scouts along with Blade chose that point to arrive, all transformed already… only to pause at the sight of V1 firing on the Molds, Chalice doing the same, a brand new Sailor Scout helping out… and a Youma attacking the Molds and tearing them to ribbons, standing protectively in front of Luna.
The group stared at the scene for a long moment, before Mars summed up what they were all thinking "What did we just walk in on?"
"I really don't know, but I think it's gonna be a headache." Blade said, before drawing his sword "Let's just take care of the Mold then maybe we can get some answers."
What followed was well…it was a slaughter. Not surprising as the Molds were up against 5 Sailor Scouts, 2 Riders, V1, and a Great Youma. They REALLY didn't stand a chance.
"Bubble Freeze!" Mercury called out, freezing the remaining Molds, which were quickly destroyed.
"And that's all of the Molds," Blade sighed.
"Now I assume you'll be dealing with…er…that?" V1 checked, pointing at Bakene who'd opted to sit on his haunches and…scratch his ear with his leg.
"...I know we correctly guessed it was the cat, but that's still weird," Sailor Moon sweat dropped. Either way she took out her Moon Stick. "Moon Healing Escalation!"
Bakene did not shout out 'Refresh' this time seeing as he seemed incapable of speech, but either way, it wasn't long before a passed out Rhett Butler was now on the ground.
"And hopefully that's the end of this long day," Luna muttered, making sure to keep her voice low so that V1 wouldn't hear her.
"I'll have to admit…for my second sortie it was a LOT stranger than I expected," V1 commented.
"Its weird even by our standards," Chalice shrugged.
"Seriously, what did we miss?" Mars asked incredulously.
"We'll tell you later," Sailor V sighed.
There was an abrupt pause as the girls finally noticed her what with the chaos of the battlefield earlier and well… "Oh my god, its Sailor V!" Sailor Moon was the first to speak up, not surprising seeing as she'd always looked up to Sailor V, so seeing her here right now…yeah.
Sailor V chuckled a bit awkwardly at that. "You just noticed now?" she sweat dropped.
"Again, we'll explain later," Chalice sighed. "More to the point…" he said, looking towards V1.
"Oh right, almost forgot about this," V1 mused, opening the compartment on his armor to reveal the Rainbow Crystal he'd snagged.
The two Riders glanced at each other, before Blade decided to step up, holding a hand out "Thanks for making sure Zoisite didn't get away with it."
"Of course." V1 said, passing the crystal over.
"Shin-" Aki started to say, but he already knew what she was going to speak up about.
And he wasn't going to go along with it.
"I… lied the other time." V1 said, even as he handed the crystal to Blade "My superiors wanted me to bring the crystal in so we could analyze it." he said, hearing Aki sigh over the radio. "Personally I'd much rather hand it back to you."
"I'm… surprised you'd admit that." Blade said with a blink of surprise as he took the rainbow crystal.
"I may be a police officer, but even I know better than to tamper with powerful magical forces, thinking they could be used for our personal advancements. I've seen plenty of movies where doing that goes horribly wrong." V1 said with a snort.
"Glad to know you realize how dangerous playing with things you don't understand can be," Chalice chuckled.
"As for the other Crystal…" V1 mused.
"Actually…I think it would be okay if the Police held on to it for a little bit longer," Sailor V spoke up, causing the others to look at her in surprise, to which she explained. "This way the Crystals are even more split up, meaning the Dark Kingdom can't easily gather them up."
"So you're thinking we can use this chance to get the Crystals they have back first then we can get the one the Police have?" Sailor Moon blinked.
"That or at the very least, with the crystals separated, they can't easily steal the full set," Chalice sighed before turning to V1. "Sorry to say, but I recommend tightening security around the Crystal. There's really no telling when the Dark Kingdom will come for it, or whether they'll go for our Crystals first or yours."
"Then of course there is the one that Tuxedo Kamen has." Sailor Mercury added.
"I'll let him know to be careful, just like we will." Blade said with a nod.
"Its safe to say our conflict with the Dark Kingdom's going to get rougher now that all the Crystals have been found," Sailor Mars frowned.
"In that case, we'll be sure to show them that we aren't to be underestimated," V1 said grimly as they all nodded in agreement.
And up on a nearby rooftop, Tuxedo Kamen stood, watching over the group, a serious look on his face. Things were about to get a lot more hectic, but he'd be sure to help them whenever they needed it.
They'd all have to work together to get through this.
And there we go!
A few... big changes.
Namely, Minako still using the Sailor V persona rather than straight to Venus, and revealing herself earlier than she did in the original anime.
Yes, this is what all those early attacks were leading up to.
And another thing is Shin deciding to inform the heroes about the police holding one of the crystals.
As you can guess we're having him be a straight and narrow officer who while he respects and upholds the law, he also has a working brain.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you all next time!
Rouse Card Count:
Blade:
Spade: Ace, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
Club: 3, 7
Chalice:
Heart: Ace, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8
Diamond: 2
Garren:
Diamond: Ace, 6
Rainbow Crystal Tracker:
Dark Kingdom: Red, Green, Indigo
Sailor Scouts and Kamen Riders: Yellow, Violet
Tuxedo Kamen: Orange
Police: Blue