Usagi Quest (CK3/Princess Maker) (Sailor Moon)

Juban Public Middle School
After-School Study Session
Tuesday Afternoon

Three students sat in an otherwise empty classroom. Miss Sakurada's substitute had been happy enough to cede use of the room after school for study, which would otherwise go unused by the junior high school's clubs- even if two of the students in question would be coming in from off-campus after classes ended for the day.

Now, two long-haired girls bickered, with varying degrees of dignity, over translations in each other's English textbooks. Periodically, one or the other grew exasperated enough to appeal to the girl in the corner. On these occasions, the bluenette glanced up from her ongoing memorization of a borrowed college history textbook, descending from her own undisputed commanding heights to end the debate with a word or two- for about ten seconds, before the next round started.

The door clicked open, and the other two arrived. One, of ordinary stature, stooped, letting a cat out of her bag and shutting the door behind her. The other, rather less so, let a sheepish expression evaporate slowly from her face, clearly feeling out of place, but glad to see more friends.

Makoto's white-and-tan uniform would, in the normal course of things, stand out no more than Rei's sharp and tastefully accessorized black-on-grey. Perhaps less so, even- but there was a good deal more of her to stand out, and she seemed ill at ease at the unfamiliar school. Rei, by contrast, had approached everything about Juban Public with a certain bristly self-assurance.

Mako sighed, slumping into a chair. "One of the teachers looked at me like I was here from the Wrecking Crew…"

Naru shook her head. "I think it's the skirt. They say uniform skirts are short because gang members like to hide weapons under them…"

She frowned. "I don't like wearing them so short-"

"Even when…" Naru fluttered her fingers and struck a pose, smiling devilishly- the same that they'd all seen from Sailor Jupiter, at one time or another, when the lightnings of her transformation faded.

"That's different." But their friend was smiling back. "Besides, I look good in green."

Usagi hopped up, reflecting for only a moment that this was clear, objective truth. "So! Luna, did 'Artemis' leave a note?"

The Mau stretched slightly. "Yes. He took the beacon, and the note says he and Sailor V think they can work out the location they're after by Friday night and get things ready."

"That's great! I bet the Dark Kingdom in England won't be ready to meet all of us at once. All we have to do is be ready to go on Friday night..."

She glanced around. Mako was clearly listening more than thinking- happy to be here, caught up in the feeling, maybe. Rei was… uh-oh. Ami. Ami looked uncertain.

Usagi was rapidly growing to hate moments like that, because when Ami looked uncertain and didn't want to interrupt, it always meant she'd forgotten something.

Naru, bless her, knew what to do at moments like this! She beamed. "We'll need to plan for the time difference, of course."

"...Oh, right! Time difference!" Usagi laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. She remembered time difference. Of course she did.

I know what time zones are and how to- wait how do I I know no wait I think I no I don't AAAAAA-

The whispers and echoes of Usagi Tsukino's past life did little enough to calm her here. Princess Serenity would have left planning an expedition like this up to the princess of Venus. Exactly the person who was not here which was precisely the point.

Nor was her present life, in many ways more grounded than that ethereal existence on another world beyond the sky, helping.

Because planning a military operation was starting to look way too much like a math quiz.

Rei smiling. "So what is the time difference between here and London, princess?" Her gaze was just a bit needling. Usagi found herself imagining, enviously, a world where her new raven-haired friend didn't know to poke at her with that word. Even if it meant Usagi herself didn't know about her past life.

And besides that...

She KNOWS.

Time difference. Hard to calculate. Which way, let's see, England was west of Japan but the sun rises in the east and baaarghle...

"If I remember right, Tokyo time is nine hours ahead of Greenwich!" Ami said, smiling, for all the world as if that was helpful.

"Yes, and, ah…" Usagi paused, trying to stall for time.

Ami's face fell. "And… Greenwich is in London."

Rei's expression was a perfect picture, fit to be framed and captioned.

Suspicion, vindicated.

She knew.

I'm not... super happy with the update, but I've fallen out of the swing of writing, and I guess I need to ease myself back into it all.

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"I might have a way in." Inuyasha says, unzipping a long duffle bag he has been wearing this entire time. Then he stops, one hand snapping up and knocking the cap off his head. Instantly, a pair of canine ears popped up, and it was all that either Rei or Kimiko could do to keep themselves from gasping in surprise.

"Right, everyone around here has magic. Don't need to hide these anymore." The boy says, sounding finally relaxed. Then, with a single motion, he draws forth a sword. Not just any sword, no, the sheath sparks with light as a blade impossibly wide and long is drawn forth. Taking a step forward, the boy slashes at the air, and... for the briefest of moments, the blade and the air both seem to shimmer, but... beyond that... nothing.

Usagi stares at the air for a moment, "Try that again." She orders, and though the boy gives a 'Tch', he nods. He gives another mighty swing, to the same result.

Usagi slowly walks around to the other side of the boy, her eyes focusing first and foremost on Inuyasha's sword, but once or twice her eyes trail up to the two girls slowly following behind the group. The girl can't help but smile. Good.

Well, no. Not actually good. Rei might possibly be a reincarnation of someone from the Silver Millennium, but that didn't mean that it was right to draw the girl into everything happening. And it is much the same for the police woman as well. It would probably be for the best for the both of them to stay away from what is about to happen.

However, while that is true, Usagi has a feeling that neither of the two people would be willing to do that. Rei doesn't seem the type to back down from just about anything, and while Usagi doesn't know the Police Woman, for her to have magic strong enough that Inuyasha compared it to magic users of her own time...

Well that probably means something, but it suddenly occurs to Usagi that she isn't actually sure what spell casters are like in the half-demons time.

Regardless, spinning her through back around in a direction that is even the slightest bit helpful, Usagi knows that it would be far for the better if the two non-Senshi didn't get involved, but there is something about Rei that gives her the distinct feeling that leaving the girl alone would just end with the girl finding her own way into the battle. Probably dragging that other girl along with her too. And that means that they would be a lot safer and less likely to die if they are with the Senshi than without.

The girl might be able to convince them not to go with, but for some reason the girl just... doesn't think she'd be able to do that.

Inuyasha takes another swing at the shimmering part of the air, but it once more fails to pierce through. Usagi stops and stares at the air for a moment, trying to figure out how to get through. "Gah!" Inuyasha growls out, scowling. It's like my sword isn't hard enough to catch the edge."

"Hard enough..." Naru says from where she stands, back unknowingly to the pair following them. The girl's eyes light up, "I think I might be able to help!"

The boy blinks, but he doesn't immediately deny the girl, just raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not... Great, at my magic yet." Naru admits, but there is a hard glint in her eyes. "But I'm getting better every day." The boy continues to stare at the girl, but she doesn't back down. "The one spell I have makes things harder and sharper!" She says, and the boy thinks for a moment, before slowly holding the blade out.

"I know the flea said that my sword can accept new spells easily enough, but it's been sharpened by near enough everything known to man and demon, I doubt your spell can do much, but if you want to try..."
Naru steps forward, placing her hands atop one another, fingers splayed and palms faced down over the blade. She takes a deep breath, a long breath, and begins to focus. Usagi and the other two senshi can feel the magic starting to build up inside of the girl. It isn't much, but it is there, the energy building up higher and higher, before her eyes open, flashing like green gems in the dark of the tunnel. " ☊⍜⋔⌿⏃☊⏁"

Everyone, even Naru herself pauses as the strange and unexpected words slip past her lips. An amber glow forms around the girl's hands, the energy flowing like sunlight into the blade below her hands. More and more and more the magic continues to flow down and out of the girl, even as Usagi can see the girl starting to get paler and paler. At the same time, the blade in Inuyasha's hands seems to... almost... writhe. Strange vines of dark steel grow across the hilt of the blade, as flowers formed of literal gems begin to bloom one by one along the back of the blade, before all at once multiple things happen.

The gem stone flowers contract, closing in on themselves to become Ten separate gems placed along the back of the blade. There, right at the edge of the hilt is a glimmering ruby, then the second gemstone is a glistening Emerald, followed by a shining diamond. After that comes a shiny Tigers eye and a a garnet, then a glittering yellow sapphire. After that is a Lapis Lazuli, a pale blue Amazonite, then a purple Amethyst, and finally a piece of black Tourmaline. That is only the back of the blade, while a clear, shimmering crystal grows out, across the edge of the blade. Even as Inuyasha stands there, the clear of the blade near the hilt seems to fill with a deep red energy that flows like liquid inside of the blade.

At the same time that the blade changes, Inuyasha hisses in pain, his hand flinching back and nearly letting go of the sword, before he clenches tight, holding onto the sword regardless of the pain that he is clearly feeling. More worrying, is the fact that at the same time that all of that is happening, Naru goes even paler, before slumping over and starting to drop, as she was no longer conscious.

Usagi moves, vaulting over the still changing blade with nary a thought, her arm sliding around the collapsing girl and holding her up. "Naru!" The girl cries out, even as she continues to move, carefully managing to lift the girl into her arms in a bridal carry.

Naru groans, even as she curls closer to Usagi and her warmth. "-sagi..." The girl says as her body relaxes, before she gives a soft snore. The majority of Usagi's worries start to fade, but she is still left with a very unconscious girl, even as she starts to turn towards the other Senshi. Inuyasha idly twirls his blade, watching as the glowing red contained within flows and splashes like...

Like blood.

The half demon raises his blade, pointing it at the spot that he had tried to strike at once before. "I think I've got an idea." He says, before spinning his blade around once more, and stabbing at the spot in the air, with a cry of "Blood Reaver Blade!" As he stabs, the blade ignites, covered in a black flame that has a strange almost red shimmer across the fire, and there is a sound that can best be described as a glass shattering, only with the base turned ALL the way up, and the sword plunges, disappearing into the air, before he draws the blade down with great effort, slowly carving a hole into the very air itself.

On the other side of the hole is a great darkness, but it is not a perfect, nor an infinite darkness, but instead the kind of dark that you find in a cellar at night. There is just enough light to tell that you can't see anything clearly, but still enough light to be able to make out the slightest hint of shapes in the distance. Something large and rectangular, that might be a shelf or a table, or any number of other things.

Carefully, Usagi looks from the unconscious girl in her arms, to the demon boy, and the two untransformed Senshi, then carefully to the two following behind.

...Taking Naru in as she is now... that would be a very bad idea. On the one hand, it would be probably even worse to ask either of Neptune or Uranus to stay behind, and leaving Inuyasha behind is a definite no.

That means either taking the girl in as she is, or leaving the girl with the two followers.
[ ][Naru] Take Naru
- This is a bad idea, but having Naru with you means that you know where she is, and what is happening to her.
[ ][Naru] Leave Naru with Rei and the Policewoman
- This is a potentially bad idea. They just saw her use magic after all, but then she would not be in the middle of a fight while unconscious.