As usual, it was a lovely morning. The sky was clear with only a few traces of yesterday’s clouds in the sky, while a gentle breeze stirred the leaves of the trees that occasionally dotted the sidewalks, each only meticulously planted in its own special patch of earth surrounded by concrete and asphalt. A car or three or four would pass by, as usual, since this particular street wasn’t a very busy one at this time of the morning. And, as usual, Usagi was running for all she was worth to keep from being late to school.
However, the fact that Makoto and Ryoku were running alongside her wasn’t.
Furthermore, the fact that Ami was also running alongside all three of them was quite rare indeed.
“How could this happen?” Ami lamented as she ran. “I’ve never been late to school in my life!”
“There is a first time for everything, Ami-chan,” Ryoku said calmly as he ran. “It’s not our fault our enemies decided to get an early start on their day. Not that we can use that as an excuse for our teachers, though….”
Once that was said, all three suddenly surged forward with a burst of speed, leaving Usagi behind. “Wait up!” she cried out as she sped herself up, dashing into the school building a few seconds behind the others.
“Tsukino-san?” Haruna called out as she reached her name on the attendance sheet. “Tsukino-san?” No answer. “Tsukino-san’s late again?” she remarked as she was about to mark off Usagi for being late yet again. Just as she was about to do so, Usagi burst through the door.
“Here!” she called out cheerily as she walked into the room and waved. “Yes, Tsukino Usagi’s here.” Her entrance was ruined as she accidentally stepped into a small metal bucket that was sitting in the back of the room. That led to her tripping over her own bucket-clad foot, which led to her crashing into the metal cabinet that the bucket was sitting next to, which led to her falling to the floor, which led to the cabinet falling to the floor as well, since she had knocked it off balance when she crashed into it. Of course, Usagi making a big mess and a lot of noise was commonplace in this particular classroom, so the students and teachers in the adjoining classrooms paid it no heed, knowing that Tsukino Usagi had arrived late yet again and grateful that they didn’t have to deal with it, while at the same time, they felt sorry for Sakurada Haruna for having to deal with it. At the same time, the students in her own classroom merely sweatdropped at seeing Usagi make yet another mess just by her general clumsiness.
No matter how hard I try, she’ll still mark me late, Usagi thought despairingly as she pushed herself up from the floor.
“Tsukino Usagi-san, it’s very nice that you’re energetic… but please come into class a little quieter,” Haruna said after she had walked up to her.
“Uh… okay,” she replied uncertainly as she blinked in confusion.
“Then, let’s continue with roll call,” Haruna said as she smiled, turned and headed back to the front of the class.
What’s the matter with Haruna? Usagi thought to herself as she stared after her in confusion. She looks so upbeat.
Some time later, Haruna headed over to the school’s front office to pick up some papers for the lessons she had scheduled for the next few days. For the first time in a long while, she was feeling really good today. So what if Tsukino-san was late again? It didn’t really matter today.
“Sakurada-sensei, phone for you,” a man called out as he held out the phone toward her.
Haruna smiled again. She had a feeling she knew who it was. “Thank you,” she said as she put down her papers and took the phone. “Hello, this is Sakurada.” Her smile widened as she heard the voice she was hoping to hear. “Oh, Koichi-san? I’m all set for today’s date. Once school lets out, I’ll be right over….” She paused as he gave her the bad news. “You have sudden business and you can’t come…?” Her happy mood burst and disappeared faster than a pricked soap bubble. “I see. No, it’s fine.” Her expression began to turn dark as she began to clench the phone tightly in her hand. “Sure. Bye.”
The man who had handed Haruna the phone jumped back in surprise as she slammed the phone down with almost enough force to break it. As she snatched her papers and stormed out of the office, he glanced down at the phone and sweatdropped as he noticed a small crack lining the middle of the phone receiver.
He made a small mental note to avoid her for the rest of the day.
Back in the classroom, all the students were out of their seats and talking with one another. Haruna was in such a good mood that she had given the class time to wander about the classroom freely as she left for the office. However, both Natsumi and Usagi were semi-conscious for two separate reasons.
I’m starving…, Usagi thought hungrily.
I want energy…, Natsumi thought wearily.
As the students were chatting away, Haruna stalked in and slammed a book on the podium in the front of the class, startling everyone.
“Quit chatting and get back to your desks!” she snapped. The entire class immediately took to their seats, puzzled by their teacher’s sudden mood swing.
Haruna immediately started her English lesson. Normally, this was her favorite class, but right now, even this couldn’t cheer her up. She picked up her book and a long pointer and began to walk up and down the aisles of desks, staring down at her students as they stared into their English books while trying to translate the words into their native Japanese.
“Now, can somebody translate that sentence?” she asked as she turned around in the center of the mass of desks and glanced around, looking for volunteers.
As Haruna’s back was turned, Usagi quickly snuck out her lunch and began to eat it while keeping her English book standing on its covers in order to keep it from falling over.
Haruna’s gaze went over the entire class until it rested on a familiar pair of blonde odangos. “Tsukino-san!” she exclaimed, as she turned toward the girl, ready to make up for letting her off so easily when she came in late.
“Eh?” Usagi mumbled and froze as she heard Haruna call out her name. Suddenly, she realized what a bad situation she was in as Haruna’s pointer tipped over her English book, revealing her lunch and the pair of chopsticks in her hands.
“Very courageous of you to eat lunch early in my class, Tsukino-san,” she said in a flat, icy tone.
“Well, you see…,” Usagi began in what she knew to be a futile attempt to halt her impending doom.
Haruna would have none of it. “You’ll stay after school!” she declared as she pointed her pointer accusingly at Usagi like a judge passing sentence.
“Oh no!” Usagi cringed miserably. Not again.…
Haruna had already moved on and was now glancing over at Natsumi, who seemed to be staring vacantly at nothing in particular. “Then, Ginga Natsumi-san,” she instructed as she stepped over to her desk.
Natsumi glanced indolently at her. “Sure,” she replied almost curtly as she picked up her English book. “Eskjanroh inncaqupo zixotpawmyul bodfegav.” She then set down her English book with a smug look on her face.
There was silence, then everyone sweatdropped all at once.
“What are you saying?” Haruna demanded angrily.
“You asked for a translation, so I translated it to my planet’s language,” she explained indifferently.
“Stop kidding me!” Haruna exclaimed as she banged her hands on Natsumi’s desk. “You stay after school, too!”
“Fine,” Natsumi replied indifferently.
“Are you positive they didn’t suspect?” Seijuro asked as he gripped the chain link fence surrounding the roof of the school building. School was over for the day and Seijuro and Natsumi had met up on the roof to discuss their plans for gathering energy as well as the event that took place in Natsumi’s class that morning.
“I’m sure it’s okay,” Natsumi replied.
“Be more careful in the future,” he admonished, still slightly upset at her slip.
“I understand,” she said wearily.
“We have no choice, then. I’ll have to carry out the plan to take energy by myself.”
“This and everything else is the Sailor Warriors’ fault,” Natsumi seethed.
“That’s true,” Seijuro agreed as he smirked and presented a hand of cards to Natsumi. “Be sure to choose a Cardian powerful enough to defeat the Sailor Warriors.”
“Right,” Natsumi agreed as she lifted her hand and reached toward the hand of cards. Just before she could pick out a card, Usagi suddenly burst onto the roof.
“Natsumi-san! Natsumi-san!” she shouted as she ran up to them. Seijuro had already hid his hand of cards and was looking toward the two girls with some bewilderment.
“There you are!” Usagi continued as she grabbed Natsumi’s hand and started dragging her after her. “Haruna’s starting the after-school class.”
“Wait!” Natsumi exclaimed in confusion but Usagi has already dragged her to the door leading down into the school proper.
“If you don’t hurry, she’ll dump more work on you!” Usagi continued to explain.
“Sure, but don’t pull me,” Natsumi retorted as the two girls left Seijuro’s sight.
“How beautiful,” he murmured as she continued to stare after Usagi long after she had left. “Usagi-san, I will take your love.”
“I see,” Minako said from her seat on the Sankaku Park fountain. Rei and Makoto had opted to remain standing, but Luna and Artemis had chosen to sit beside Minako. “So Usagi-chan’s staying after school?”
“She ought to be more serious about everything,” Rei remarked as Makoto nodded confirmation.
“But then, we were on business first thing in the morning,” Makoto added.
“She might deserve some sympathy,” Luna replied.
“And Ami’s gone to cram school,” Artemis added, then paused in thought. “Say, where’s Ryo-kun?”
“Ryo-chan?” Makoto repeated questioningly, then grinned. “Oh, he’s going to cram school with Ami-chan now,” she told them. “I think he said something about keeping up with her academically.”
“So, today’s meeting is no go,” he stated.
“Then, why don’t we go see a movie?” Minako suggested as she stood up.
“Seconded!” Makoto agreed as she raised a hand enthusiastically.
“There’s a good one playing right now,” Rei offered.
“No, not on a school night,” Luna said sternly.
“We’ll see,” Minako said as she opened up her bag. “There you go,” she said as she picked up the two cats and put them in the bag and zipped it up over them. “Well, shall we go?” she asked as she turned to the others and grinned.
Back at the school, Haruna had already handed Usagi and Natsumi their detention work and was outlining everything she wanted them to do before they could leave.
“You two aren’t going home until you finish those problems,” she finished as she walked down the aisle between their desks. “Don’t worry,” she added, almost sullenly. “I’ll stay with you until the end. After all, I’ve got all the time in the world.”
After a short time had passed, a man opened the door and poked his head inside. It was the same man that had given her the phone that morning. He was slightly nervous as he poked his head inside, but he did his best not to show it. He devoutly hoped that Haruna had calmed down since earlier. After all, he didn’t want to take any chances.
“Sakurada-sensei, phone for you,” he told her and hoped for the best.
“Oh, okay,” she said as she brightened instantly. “You two, keep on working.” She turned and began to follow the man, who was infinitely relieved that she wasn’t as upset as she was earlier.
The man lead her to the office and picked up the phone, pressed a button, then handed the phone over to her, all the while hoping that she wouldn’t get angry again like she did this morning. The poor phone wasn’t built to take such manhandling.
“Thank you for waiting,” Haruna said after taking the phone. “Oh, Koichi-san?” she said happily when she heard his voice on the other end. “No, I wasn’t mad at all,” she lied as she grinned broadly. “Right now? Sure, I’m on! Okay, I’ll be right over.” She gently hung up the phone – much to the man’s relief, since he wasn’t looking forward to buying a replacement phone – and brought out her purse.
“How could he keep me in suspense?” she said to herself as she dug through her purse and immediately began the application of make-up.
She never gave Usagi and Natsumi a second thought.
Almost an hour after Haruna had left Usagi and Haruna doing time in detention, Usagi began to become restless as she stared at the clock in the back of the classroom.
“Haruna’s late, isn’t she?” she observed as she looked back down at her papers on her desk. She was almost halfway done, but since it didn’t seem likely that Haruna would return….
“All right,” she declared as she began to pack up her things. “I don’t have time for this. I’ll hurry and meet Mamoru-san on the way back from school! Attack, attack!”
“Tsukino-san,” Natsumi said suddenly, interrupting Usagi’s packing.
“What?” she replied as she turned to look at her.
“You haven’t given up on Mamoru-sama yet?”
“Why should I?” Usagi replied heatedly as she stood up. “Mamoru-san and I are tied with destiny’s red string! Why should I give up?”
“How unreasonable of you,” Natsumi said as she frowned. “Fine, I’ll challenge you.”
Usagi blinked. “Challenge?”
Natsumi held up the papers that they had been working on for the past hour. “Let’s see who’ll finish these problems first,” she told her. “The loser must give up Mamoru-sama. How about it?”
“Fine with me!” Usagi agreed as she quickly sat back down and tackled her work with renewed vigor and purpose.
On top of one of tall skyscrapers in downtown Tokyo, Ail stood staring out at the whole of the city of Tokyo. It seemed like an appropriate enough place to start the collection of human energy.
He picked out a card of his own and flung it out into the air, then raised his flute to his lips. “Come forth, Cardian Amanjou!” he declared as he began to play his summoning song. Slowly, the card stretched and expanded, forming into a female Cardian that seemed to vaguely resemble a bee with short bluish-silver hair and a yellow and black outfit with ridges on her gloves and boots.
“Amanjou, take energy from those in this city!” Ail ordered as he gestured toward the city below. As he looked downward, he happened to spot Mamoru walking along one of the streets below. That’s Chiba Mamoru…, he thought as he glared at him. If only he wasn’t around… Usagi-san would be mine.
He looked back up at the Cardian, who was still hovering before him. “Amanjou, take energy from that man!” he shouted pointing directly at Mamoru. “Drain his energy and kill him!”
Without saying a word, Amanjou leaped straight up, then irreverently pounced on Ail’s head as she left… in the opposite direction that he had ordered the Cardian to go.
“Wait!” Ail ordered as the Cardian left. “Why is it ignoring my commands?” he wondered in bewilderment. “Where is it going?”
Another half hour had passed and neither girl had yet to finish their detention work. Usagi was steadily making some progress, but Natsumi was too weak from a lack of energy to do much of anything.
I feel dizzy…, she thought to herself as she rubbed her head, hoping that would clear her blurry vision. Must be from a lack of energy. If I had energy, I could solve these problems right away and make Tsukino-san give up. She glanced over to Usagi and grinned slightly. But, I have a source of energy nearby, don’t I?
“I don’t understand this,” Usagi muttered as she scratched her head with her pencil while pondering one of the more difficult problems.
And if I drain all her energy and kill her, Mamoru-sama is all mine! she thought as her eyes began to glow and she began to change back into Ann. Two birds with one stone!
Halfway through her mock exam, Ami took the opportunity to glance over at Ryoku, who was sitting next to her, apathetically going through his own mock exam. She smiled as she looked at him. She knew that the real reason that he was taking these classes with her was not scholarly in nature. He just wanted to be with her, even if it meant going to classes he didn’t really care about, or taking tests that he didn’t want to. Of course, he never said that was his reason, but she was sure that it was.
Her smile widened slightly as she turned back to her mock exam. It wasn’t an easy exam, but she knew that he wouldn’t have trouble with it. Even if Ryoku denied it whenever people said that he was a genius, his intelligence was definitely close enough to genius level. Not that he would admit it, though. His humility was just another one of his endearing traits.
As the exam continued, a sudden loud knocking at the wall at the front of the class caught her attention. As she looked up, she could see several cracks had already formed on the wall. Just as she turned toward Ryoku to see if he had noticed that as well, something suddenly burst through the wall, sending rubble flying out in front of it.
“What’s that?” someone exclaimed after everyone had already taken cover. As the class slowly came out from hiding, they began to stare at what had broken through the wall.
“Cardian!” both Ami and Ryoku exclaimed at once.
The Cardian suddenly leapt up toward the back row and grabbed two students at random. After draining the two students, the Cardian flung them aside and darted toward the window. The remaining students watched as the Cardian burst through the closed window and fell toward a truck that was parked below. She bounced off the truck, then vanished.
The students who had rushed to the window to see what had happened to the Cardian all exchanged confused glances. “What was that?” one student asked.
Ami and Ryoku both glanced toward each other and nodded significantly. Ami quickly brought out her minicomputer as Ryoku brought out his communicator and contacted the others. Minako was the first one to answer his call.
“Minako here,” she said as soon as her face appeared on his communicator. “What’s up?”
“This is Ryoku,” he replied. “Ami-chan and I just saw a Cardian.”
“Really, Ryo-kun?” Minako asked in a hushed voice as Makoto broke her gaze away from the movie playing on the theater screen. Since they were way up in the back row, they didn’t need to stare up in order to watch the movie – which could become slightly uncomfortable at times. That also meant that they could answer their communicators without worrying about anyone staring down at them from the row about and wondering what they were doing.
“Where?” Makoto asked. Rei’s gaze was still fastened to the theater screen, which was playing a movie of the romantic sort… much to Artemis’ dismay, as he was the only male in their movie-going group.
“At the cram school Ryo-kun and I go to,” Ami told them as she appeared beside Ryoku on the communicator screen. “But it flew away heading northwest.”
“Got it. We’ll join you,” Minako told them as she shut off her communicator.
“Come on,” Makoto told Rei as she put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. “Let’s go, Rei-chan.”
“Eh?” Rei said absently as she reluctantly tore her gaze away from the movie. “But the movie’s just getting interesting,” she pouted remorsefully.
“Hey, hurry and move it!” Luna chided from her seat inside Minako’s bag.
“I know,” Rei replied as she got up and followed Makoto out of the theater. Luna and Artemis followed as well, but Minako suddenly stopped as the male lead actor caught her eye.
“He’s just like Alan…,” she sighed longingly.
“Minako, move!” Artemis ordered as he grabbed onto her skirt and began to tug on it insistently. With a great reluctance, Minako turned away from the screen and followed everyone else out of the theater.
Ann carefully crept up behind Usagi, who was so engrossed in her work that she never noticed nor heard her come up behind her, and tentatively began to stretch a hand out toward her head. All she had to do was touch her and her energy was hers to take. Her hand crept closer….
Closer….
Usagi suddenly sat up, causing her to hastily withdraw her hand. Did she notice her? She hadn’t turned around yet, so maybe she didn’t notice that she was in her normal form. Her mind all but stopped at that thought. She was still in her normal form! She was so surprised she had neglected to change back into Natsumi. She was about to change into Natsumi when she noticed that Usagi was still staring out in front of her.
“I still don’t understand,” she muttered in frustration as she bent back down over her work and started writing some more.
Ann let out a breath she hadn’t even noticed she was holding. And she was worried that Usagi would notice her. Not likely. Now that she was single-mindedly working away at her detention work again, she had another chance to drain her energy. She wouldn’t miss it this time. To hell with sneaking around. This time, she would just grab her and drain her before she had a chance to struggle.
Ann stepped forward and quickly lunged at Usagi, intending to grab her head with both her hands. Just as she was about to grab her, Usagi accidentally knocked her eraser off her desk. When she bent down to pick it up, Ann missed grabbing her head. To make matters worse, because of her weakened state, she had overreached her mark, tumbled over Usagi’s desk and fell onto the floor. Fortunately for Ann, she had unconsciously changed into her Natsumi disguise as she tumbled over Usagi’s desk.
“What are you doing, Natsumi-san?” Usagi asked angrily as she stood up.
“Just stretching my legs for a moment,” she explained as she stood back up. “One, two…,” she said as she walked back to her desk as she stretched out her arms.
Usagi stared after her for a moment, blinked in confusion, then sat back down and went back to work. After all, she had a challenge to win.
Ail was growing slightly frustrated. Amanjou still hadn’t bothered to listen to a word he was saying. Sure, the Cardian was draining energy, but it was from people at random. Normally, Ail would be content to just let the Cardian loose to drain victims as she would, but the fact that she had ignored a direct order….
“Wait, Amanjou!” Ail ordered as the Cardian finally came to a stop and stared at him from her position on top of a jungle gym in one of the various small parks in the city of Tokyo. After chasing Amanjou around the city at random, he wasn’t sure where he was exactly, but that wasn’t important at the moment. What was important was the fact that now that he had Amanjou’s attention, he had to make sure the Cardian knew who was in charge.
“Your target is…,” he began, but Amanjou had suddenly leapt away again.
“What is going on?” he grumbled irritably. “This Cardian is not taking my orders. It’s impossible!” But, impossible or not, the Cardian was ignoring his commands. All he could do was chase after Amanjou and try to exert control over her.
All he had to do was catch her.
Maybe it was better to leave the job of choosing Cardians to Ann….
After waiting for a short length of time, Ann felt that enough time had passed for her to make another attempt. She would go back to sneaking up on Usagi, since she was sure that another reckless charge would be disastrous.
I won’t give up so easily, she thought to herself as she snuck up behind Usagi once again. She was just about to reach out to touch her head when the blunt end of Usagi’s pencil jabbed her in the nose as she yawned and stretched.
“Ouch!” Ann yelped in pain as she clasped both hands over her nose and quickly changed back into Natsumi before Usagi could look.
“Sorry,” Usagi said sympathetically, then frowned indignantly. “But, it’s your fault, Natsumi-san. You shouldn’t stand behind people’s backs.”
How unlucky I am today, she thought to herself as she continued to hold her nose.
Usagi sighed as she sunk her head down onto her hands on her desk. “What happened to that Haruna anyway?” she muttered, momentarily pondering the reasons behind her teacher’s continued absence.
As the sun began to set, Haruna and her date strolled through one of the lamp-lit paths through Shiba Park. Haruna sighed contentedly as she held onto the arm of her date, thoroughly happy at how her day had gone. However, something had been nagging her for the past few minutes.
“I know I forgot something, but what was it?” she said as she tried to search her memory for the answer. After a few seconds, she just shrugged aloofly. “Doesn’t matter. It can’t be all that important.”
Out of nowhere, Amanjou suddenly appeared behind Haruna and her date. When Haruna spotted the Cardian, she and her date both dropped to the ground as the rogue Cardian leaped over them without giving them a second glance.
As Amanjou leaped away from the frightened couple, Ail appeared overhead, glaring at the Cardian with a great deal of frustration and very little patience left.
“Fine, I don’t care who,” Ail said as he struggled to hold onto what little patience he had left. “Just take energy from any human. Okay, Amanjou?”
The Cardian gave no indication of agreement or even the fact that she had even heard him as she performed a couple of backflips and jumped backward into the pond among a group of duck that were peacefully paddling their way around the water. When she came back up to the surface, Amanjou grabbed a couple of the ducks and started draining their energy as well.
That was the last straw.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ail exclaimed in exasperation as he began to glow in anger. “I do not need the energy of puny birds! Human energy! Human!!!”
“Stop it!” a voice interrupted suddenly. From behind Ail, all of the Sailor Scouts appeared, minus Sailor Moon.
“Not only early in the morning, but late at night as well!” Venus shouted angrily.
“How dare you appear twice in one day!” Mars added.
“To make a second attempt at stealing energy without giving us a break is unforgivable!” Knight added.
“You’ll pay for disrupting the peaceful lives of birds!” Jupiter declared.
“We’ll stop you!” Mercury added.
“In Sailor Moon’s name, we’ll punish you!” all five declared at once.
“At last, the Sailor Warriors,” Ail said with a smirk as he turned toward the errant Cardian. “These ones are different. Get them, Amanjou!” he shouted as he pointed toward the Sailor Scouts.
Amanjou promptly leaped out of the pond and jumped toward the Sailor Scouts… or so Ail thought. The Cardian once again impertinently hopped on Ail’s head and left as the Sailor Scouts stared in disbelief.
“Again?!?” Ail growled furiously, then disappeared as he proceeded to chase after Amanjou yet again.
“They’re gone,” Mars stated in bewilderment.
“Did we win?” Venus asked, also bewildered.
“By default, I suppose,” Knight suggested with a puzzled shrug.
“What was that all about anyway?” Jupiter asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied as he folded his arms and frowned.
“One more to go!” Usagi exclaimed cheerily as she turned toward Natsumi. “How are you doing, Natsumi-san?”
“Fine, somehow…,” Natsumi mumbled wearily as she sat at her desk with her head lying on her arms.
“All right!” she exclaimed as she bent down to write some more. “I can’t slow down!”
Tsukino-san is worthy of being considered my rival…, Natsumi thought tiredly as she considered the blonde girl sitting at across from her. She hasn’t shown any weakness.
“Natsumi-san, are you okay?” Usagi asked as she got up and went to check on her. “You don’t look good.” She took a quick glance down at Natsumi’s papers. “You haven’t worked any of the problems, either.”
“I am quite fine,” Natsumi told her wearily. “I’m just tired.”
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Usagi asked with slight concern.
“A victor’s mercy, is it?”
“I’ll do anything I can,” she said earnestly.
Natsumi gave Usagi a considering look. She hadn’t been able to drain Usagi’s energy at all, but now she here she was, practically offering herself to her. Things were beginning to look up.
“I remember a fable of this planet about a race between a turtle and a rabbit,” she told Usagi. “As I recall, the tale had a similar development….” She trailed off significantly as she watched Usagi.
Usagi blinked, slightly uncertain of what Natsumi was talking about. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Then, will you help me?”
Usagi nodded almost imperceptibly. “But, no help on the problems or giving up on Mamoru-san!”
Natsumi grinned slightly. “I had something else in mind,” she explained. “Would you mind closing your eyes for ten seconds and staying still?”
Usagi blinked, then smiled. “That’s all? Ten seconds? Sure.” She sat down and closed her eyes. “There.”
“Thank you,” Natsumi said as her grin widened and she changed back into Ann. She reached out with one hand and placed a finger on Usagi’s throat. You will sleep forever, Tsukino-san, she thought as she began to glow red. Usagi slowly began to glow red as well as her energy slowly drained away from her body.
“I feel weird…,” she murmured wearily.
A loud crash from behind startled Ann and Usagi, causing Ann to quickly change back into Natsumi. Usagi opened her eyes in time to see Amanjou fly across the classroom from the hole it made when it broke through the wall and burst through the window.
That’s a Cardian! Usagi thought as she rushed to the window and watched the Cardian tumble down to the ground below.
As Usagi watched the Cardian, Ail appeared inside the classroom, surprising Natsumi. “Ail?” she said out loud, then clasped her hands in front of her mouth as she realized that Usagi could’ve heard her. Fortunately for her, Usagi hadn’t heard.
The Cardian isn’t taking my orders, Ail told her telepathically as soon as she reverted back into Ann so Usagi wouldn’t overhear.
That’s impossible! Ann replied in disbelief.
Then, come with me, Ail replied as he and Ann disappeared.
Meanwhile, Usagi watched from her vantage point at her classroom window as the rest of the Sailor Scouts caught up with the Cardian.
“Now you can’t run!” Mars declared as she prepared an attack. “Fire soul!” she shouted as she fired her attack at Amanjou. The Cardian easily dodged the attack.
“Supreme thunder!” Jupiter shouted as she fired her attack at the Cardian. Once again, Amanjou effortlessly dodged the assault.
“Crescent beam shower!”
“Earth thrust!”
“Shabon spray freezing!”
Amanjou easily dodged each attack as they came. Before the Scouts could prepare another attack, Amanjou began to draw upon the energy she had collected and sent to Makaiju. Once she had drawn enough power, the Cardian rushed all of the Scouts, knocking all of them back at once.
“Such power…,” Luna said worriedly as she and Artemis watched the Scouts slowly recover from the attack. “At this rate, we could get beaten.”
As Artemis glanced upward, he spotted Usagi watching the battle from the window of her classroom. “There’s Usagi-chan,” he told Luna.
“I’ll go get her,” Luna said crossly as she sped off to go get her.
On the roof, Ail and Ann watched as the Cardian continued to attack the Sailor Scouts. “Has the Cardian returned to my control?” Ail said curiously.
“A Cardian cannot ignore our orders,” Ann stated matter-of-factly.
“I suppose so,” Ail agreed as he and Ann turned to watch the battle between Amanjou and the Sailor Scouts.
From the window of her classroom, Usagi watched as Sailor Knight tried to deflect Amanjou’s rushing attack with a rushing attack of his own. Unfortunately, the attack failed as Knight was knocked back into the other Scouts.
“Fight hard, everyone!” Usagi said weakly as she turned away from the window and started for the door. She had to go help them.
“Don’t just stand there,” Luna scolded as she burst into the classroom. “Transform!”
“Luna?” Usagi said, blinking in surprise. She glanced around the room and blinked again when she noticed that the only other person that was in the room with her, wasn’t in the room with her. “Where’s Natsumi-san?”
“I don’t know,” Luna said quickly as she turned to leave. “Hurry!” she shouted as she gave her an urgent look over her shoulder.
“Leave it to me! Moon crystal power, make up!”
“Everyone, thanks for waiting,” Sailor Moon said as she leapt out her classroom window and landed near the other Scouts. Luna had quickly ran through the building and was now rushing over to where Artemis was waiting.
“You’re late!” Mars scolded. Beside her, Jupiter was leaning on Venus, while Knight was helping to keep Mercury on her feet.
“Now, now,” Sailor Moon said as she brought out her Moon Scepter and raised it toward the Cardian. “I’ll finish the thing off, so don’t get mad.”
Before she could perform her usual finishing attack, Sailor Moon suddenly slumped forward and stumbled slightly. “That’s weird…,” she murmured wearily. “I don’t have any strength….”
“What’s wrong, Sailor Moon?” Luna exclaimed worriedly.
“I must’ve studied too much…,” Sailor Moon murmured weakly as the Cardian began to rush at her. She was so weak that she didn’t even flinch as the Cardian was about to strike her.
Just moments before Amanjou could strike her, a white rose flew through the air and struck the concrete below them, slicing the Cardian’s arm in the process.
“For a hideous entity, a hideous world is suited,” the Moonlight Knight stated from his vantage point on the roof of a different building. “Begone from the view of the moonlight.”
“Moonlight Knight!” all of the female Scouts exclaimed at once.
“Sailor Moon, are you all right?” Knight asked.
“So, Sailor Moon, do it now,” the Moonlight Knight told her.
“Right,” Sailor Moon agreed as she raised the Moon Scepter once again. “Moon princess halation!” she shouted as she waved the scepter in front of her, ending with it pointing at the Cardian. A stream of light emanated from the scepter and struck Amanjou, destroying her and leaving nothing behind but a smoldering card stuck into the ground.
“Got it!” all of the Sailor Scouts exclaimed triumphantly at the same time.
“The Crescent Moon is surpassed only by the beautiful Sailor Warriors,” the Moonlight Knight said as he turned to leave. “Farewell,” he said and vanished.
Sailor Knight grimaced. “And I’m chopped liver,” he added, performing a small, flippant bow toward where the Moonlight Knight had stood.
“Now, Ryo-chan, we all think you’re beautiful, too,” Jupiter said jokingly as the others began to laugh.
“My heart overflows with joy,” he replied dryly.
“I’d better get back to the classroom,” Sailor Moon said suddenly. “I don’t want Natsumi-san to become suspicious.” With that, she ran off back toward her classroom leaving everyone to stare after her in confusion.
“She’s back to full energy all of a sudden,” Jupiter commented.
“We just can’t beat her recovery rate,” Venus added nodding.
“It’s almost unnatural… in a good way,” Knight remarked with a slight half-grin.
“That’s our Sailor Moon,” Mercury agreed with a smile.
“We should go,” Mars suggested suddenly. The others nodded and started to follow Mars as she left the scene of the Cardian attack.
“We have failed again,” Ann observed from the roof.
“Curse the Sailor Warriors!” Ail growled fiercely.
“I must return to the classroom, or Tsukino-san will become suspicious,” Ann said as she vanished.
Ail glanced over the edge of the roof down at the ground where Amanjou had stood before she was destroyed. “Something is happening,” he said ominously. The way the Cardian had momentarily rebelled like that…. But it had returned to his control, hadn’t it? “Or is it about to happen?”
He turned around and stared up toward the stars above.
“Or, has it already happened…?”
“Yes! I finished!” Usagi cheered as she leaped out of her seat with the completed group of worksheets.
“I see,” Natsumi replied evenly from her seat at her desk.
“Natsumi-san, when did you get back?” Usagi asked as her cheering instantly cut short.
“I just finished it myself,” she stated as she held up her group of completed worksheets. “This is nothing when I get into it.”
“Hey, let’s go home, Usagi-chan,” Makoto said as she, Ami and Ryoku all walked into her classroom.
“You did a good job,” Ami commented.
“We’re all proud of you,” Ryoku added with a nod.
“Yeah,” Usagi said as she turned toward Natsumi. “Then, Natsumi-san, I guess today’s a draw.”
“Sure,” Natsumi agreed. “We should let Mamoru-sama decide.”
“All right, I’m not going to lose no matter what!” Usagi stated as she followed her friends out the door. “Bye!” she said and waved as she left.
After Usagi left, Natsumi sat back in her desk and grinned darkly.
Me neither.…
To Chapter 54: Wrath of Makaiju