2242/Black Moon Swing, Black Moon Strike

Black Moon Swing, Black Moon Strike
Date of Scene:	16 January 2025
Location:	Tokyo Dome
Synopsis:	It's a Yomiuri Giants vs Hanshin Tigers game at the Tokyo Dome, but when the Giants lose, Petz and Calaveras throw a fit. Considering a variety of mahou were here, though? It's a bad time for them. Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Charon, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, La Crima, and Amy Faust (as Sailor Chalcopyrite) are here to stand in the way of their cruel aims... though things get a lot odd, when purification gets thrown in.
Cast of Characters:	280, Norie Okana, Chibiusa Tsukino, Usagi Tsukino, Hotaru Tomoe, Amanda Faust, Makoto Kino, Mamoru Chiba, Molly Skyline
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Rabbit Hunt

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Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The Tokyo Dome!

The place to catch a baseball game in Japan, a historic indoor stadium that's been around since 1988 and has hosted Major League Baseball in Japan five times, located in Bunkyo City, Tokyo, and today, the crowds are gathered for a game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers!

The Yomiuri Giants are of course the biggest baseball franchise in Japan, and the Tokyo Dome is their home turf! The fans are excited for both teams and it's been a rousing game so far, with multiple homeruns on each team, some fantastic slides to get around being tagged out, and a number of truly phenomenal catches. There's been cheering, there's been singing, there's been concessions sold left and right!

Never before has a game of baseball been so exciting, probably.

And now, the game is wrapping up towards the end, the Yomiuri Giants a point behind. The bases are loaded, and all they need to do is get one more good, solid hit and race around the bases, and they'll eke out another victory.

The batter is at home, bat at the ready. The pitcher is doing a bit of light stretching, prepping to throw, tired at the end of such a long game but unwilling to surrender.

He pitches.

The bat swings - MISS!

Striiiiiike 1!

"COME ON," a voice roars, mostly lost amidst the other cries from the fans, "SWING FASTER, YOU CAN DO IT! DON'T LET THOSE LOSERS WIN!"

Well, now that's just rude. A few fans look sideways at the bellowing fan, a fairly short woman with dark brown hair pulled back into a severe bun and a golden bow at the back of her head. Aside from her gold-and-black Yomiuri Giants jersey, she's wearing a pair of black leggings and a golden choker.

It all fits surprisingly well with the upside down Black Moon insignia on her forehead.

"That's not very polite," someone says tentatively, and the woman - Calaveras, second eldest of the Spectre Sisters - turns in her seat to snap at her.

"Yeah, well who asked you?!"

The woman next to her - taller, with heir green hair swooped to the side and back in a shapely bun, wearing a black Yomiuri Giants jersey, with gold-outlined letters, shoots the interrupter a withering glance.

"You'd best pay attention to the game."

The person who had found their courage, has now lost all their courage, and is leaning back shrunken in place.

Back with the game, it's time for the second pitch! Swing, and a miss!

The Hanshin Tigers fans begin singing to celebrate what will almost certainly be a victory - and that's pretty rude, to be honest, but sports fans can be rude anywhere.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is in the stands, she's wearing a Yomiuri Jersey and is holding a corn dog, a big one, that's battered in corn and also french fries. She's been watching the game.

And her mood has gotten worse... and worse throughout as she seethes at her losing team. "YOU'RE LOSING!" she yells out into the field. "YOU'RE ALL LOSING AND IN FRONT OF MY CORN DOG!? TOO!?" she yells dramatically, as if this will effect the taste of it as she takes a bite out of it and nomnomnomomomoms and looks upset about it.

"I hate it here." she says dramatically as she sulks into the rousing of songs of the other team.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Baseball game! Chibiusa is here with her alt-universe family because her home-universe parents couldn't make it. Thanks for that, Black Moon Clan.

    It is, however, the end of the game. Small Lady has been here for a while and sitting still in uncomfortable bleachers for such a long time is tiring in its own way. She is cranky, it's crowded, and people are loud. She is grumpily munching on her light blue cloud of cotton candy with an actual vengeance.

    She's honestly not sure what team to root for. She was excited to come, but at this point she'll also be happy to leave. Still, aside from her very readable body language, she's not actually voicing any complaints.

    Her tiny red eyes glance in the direction of the singing. Was she supposed to know the song, too?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The day hadn't exactly started with intent to go to a baseball game, but when Usagi's mother had called, exasperated and sympathetic in turn, to say that her father, brother, and her brother's best friend had all taken themselves out by eating the leftover sushi she had told them to just throw out, and would she be able to use their tickets to the Giants vs Tigers game, well. Suddenly she was going to a baseball game.

Especially when Chibiusa left it slip that she'd never been to a game at the Tokyo Dome! A golden opportunity for Usagi and Mamoru to sweep in as cool parents! To have fun! It had been only natural to call Makoto and then get the four of them onto a train and then into the stadium.

...but now the game is almost over, and she's remembering why she isn't really into watching sports, because the seats are pretty uncomfortable and it's stuffy in this indoor stadium and the game has been going on for so long and everything kind of sucks. At least it's almost over.

"I don't really remember any of the songs," she says with a sigh, "But that's okay, Papa would be disappointed if we rooted for the Tigers anyway."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou was here! Was... not entirely sure why she was here! But she knew she was here! She remembered her daddy had like... one of the special box seats, years ago. But it had been like... one game, one time, and he'd left in the middle of it. So it wasn't like she was a huge baseball lover.

Both teams seemed to be having fun, though, so she was at least able to enjoy that and whenever the team she was in the stands of! She got the tickets because Michiru got the tickets from a fan and was going to attend... and then couldn't, she got pulled away. Admittedly... Hotaru was hoping to spend more time with the water senshi, alas...

She'd, admittedly, almost fallen asleep in her seat when, finally... her eyes narrowed on... wait, was that... She hmed. Picked up a piece of popcorn... And barely resisted the urge to throw it in front of Usagi's head. Would she lunge out and snag it from the air, like a majestic bird of prey of junk food? Perhaps...

But Yokina might miss and hit her head and that'd be rude.

So instead... "Usagi-sensei? Mamoru-sensei?" she called out. Then... "Chibiusa-chan?" She did sound a might more happy and excited when she said her name. Possibly imagination.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy somehow got swept along. Won a ticket and was going to give it away and mentioned it to Usagi and found out she was going too, maybe.

    "Well, it's been awhile since the last time I saw a baseball game, maybe... maybe I'll understand the appeal this time!"

    One way or another, another pair of red eyes in the next seat -- behind, Chibiusa is easy to see over -- are mirroring Chibiusa's expression, only slightly better at trying to hide it. She doesn't care about either team, she doesn't understand baseball strategy enough to appreciate whatever choices the players are making, she's not playing the game, and unlike watching a MeTuber or something the players aren't being entertaining personalities. So what is the draw? Why are people so excited?

    She, too, will be happy to leave.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto - who was rooting for the Tigers, and has rather gotten into the spirit - immediately looks guilty and settles back into her seat. "It really is too bad about the sushi," she says, in an attempt to be diplomatic about the fact that she's probably the only one of them who's really into the game.

Her eyes track across the stands towards where she heard raised voices a moment ago, before the singing started. Nothing really stand out, though - too many people. As long as no fighting breaks out, it's probably fine.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's got the good earplugs in today, and his gloves in one pocket and chibiusa's mittens in the other, and he's wearing black skinny jeans and a baseball jersey for... a team that's not playing today, and it's under his black leather jacket, and it's clearly a little small on him.

It's actually kind of tight on him, and definitely kind of short.

He's totally wearing his fiancee's jersey, isn't he.

"Do you guys want to dip early?" he calls over the noise, reaching -- and reeeeaching to get Mako and Amy too -- to touch hands one after another to give the idea by cheating if they couldn't hear him.

"You know, before everyone else decides it's time to bail and we have to deal with being squished in a crowd in motion--" He truly has been behaving himself. But he's also truly at the end of his cope. He hasn't been paying attention to the game -- he's been playing internet Scrabble mostly, and conversing, and eating unhealthy food, and also sometimes showing Chibiusa kitten gifs... he has no idea where in the game they even are, just that that crush of people got melodically louder.

He is wearing actual literal good earplugs, so he does not hear Yokina and turn around.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The draw, if you asked Calaveras or Petz, is in rooting for a team, and seeing them CRUSH THE COMPETITION. This is perhaps while they're not having fun, this time around. While the Giants are an excellent team, every team can be defeated, whether it be due to an off day or a poor strategy. Sometimes it just isn't your day.

Today is one of those days, for the Yomiuri Giants, because this time, the pitch is thrown - and the bat is swung -

And bat connects with ball in a loud crack as the fans quiet down in a hush -

And the ball soars, as the outfielders run, and there's a truly fantastic leap, while those on the bases run, third base hitting home - "AND THE SCORE IS TIED!" - and the player on second rounding to third, and -

The ball is caught in a gloved hand. The crowd goes wild.

"AAAAAND THAT'S A CATCH! BATTER IS OUT, AND THIS GAME IS OVER! HANSHIN TIGERS HAVE THE LEAD BY A POINT, THIS IS THEIR VICTOR- *BOOM*!"

Green lightning strikes the loudspeaker, destroying it in a shower of sparks and a scream of metal, the explosion echoing through the stadium as the crowd of cheering, screaming, and raging in turn fans all begin panicking, instead.

The attack came from the woman with green hair, of course, and as she launches herself from her seat and into the air, her clothing transforms from black jersey to a short green dress with matching leggings, the bodice forming a design like a pair of open eyes, white almond-shaped fabric edged in with thick gold trim, and pale green gems at the center. The dress is accented with a leather belt, and at her back are feathers in a wing-like pattern. At the center of her forehead is the Black Moon's logo.

"You've been making terrible calls all night," she roars, her voice deep and resonant, rich. "And this is the worst of them all!"

She holds up a gloved hand and shoots forth a blast of lightning towards the announcer's booth.

The panicked, screaming audience members are fleeing, stampeding over each other in an effort to get away from the impossible woman and her lightning bolts - especially when another woman - clothed now in golden armor and a short, pleated red skirt, floats up beside her.

"The Yomiuri Giants played too well to be disrespected by these mangy tigers!"

And she lashes out at the opposing team with the crack of a whip that sparkles with black energy. The Hanshin Tiger's pitcher yelp and throws himself back, narrowly avoiding the hit.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa hears a familiar voice behind her and it's Yokina. She smiles and waves, and also glances at Amy for a moment and... tries to put on a brave face? But there's clearly no energy behind it.

    At least Makoto likes the game.

    Mamo suggests that they ditch early, and Chibiusa says, "Fine by me." She's not going to argue. Especially if the fans are likely to be rowdy at the end. The last thing she wants is to be stampeded. Then again, she is still small enough to be picked up and carried, but even that would be easier if they could ditch early.

    Oh, too late. The game is over.

    Oh. Oh shoot. Now the speaker is over. The fact that it was lightning that took it out is really not helping Small Lady's nerves, either. She is immediately clinging to Mamoru with one hand and gripping Usagi with the other, while staring wide-eyed and frozen at the two Spectre Sisters who have apparently been here the whole time and have now turned violent.

    "It's them." she says in a tiny, strained voice.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is upset. Her corn dog is upset. It sucks when your team loses. She hrmphs dramatically, in mellodrama and is getting ready to leave, when explosions happen. And people start rushing past her. And maybe climbing over seats and that's when Norie frowns and she suddenly just melts downwards fast into the floor, into shadow and crawls down the side of the stadium field.... and reforms as La Crima on the other side.

"I knew I hated it here." she says angrily.

She looks as the team she dislikes it attacked. As the announcers speaker is attacked.

What.. what is even going on here. Are these women attacking because their team lost? She stares at them.

No energy draining... No evil plan. No youma that looks like a house with a giant red nose that says it's name. Just. Violence? W--what is this? She just stares for a good long few moments.

"Eh?" she says, blank with confusion.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It is hard to hear over the crowd.

    Mamoru gets a glimpse of a memory of sitting in the bleachers of another stadium. Mallory's mother's family was much more into sports, and sometime around college age he was dragged along to check out a game of whatever team it was they liked; He had an older cousin who was playing on their minor league team but they weren't there to see the minor league game they were there to see the major league team so Mallory really didn't see the point, and it dragged on a long time, and Amy was feeling much the same as she is now.

    The response to his query, though -- alongside the mental image of the five of them making their way through the bleachers while others keep watching the game -- is surprise, the others seemed so into it and she doesn't want them to leave on -- oh wait Chibiusa's not into it either and Mamoru and Usagi are here more for her, yeah, makes sense.

    Amy is certainly fine with leaving now but she's also okay with staying if it's almost over anyway and the others aren't all ready to go yet.

    It's wonderful how quickly you can communicate all this nuance with telepathy, isn't it?

    Amy looks around in wonder at the excitement of the crowd.

    And then there's an explosion.

    And it's not a terrorist, or a youma, but two women with black moons on their foreheads.

    Amy ducks behind Chibiusa's seat, there's a flash of flame, and then Sailor Chalcopyrite is standing there, telling the people in the bleachers behind them 'Get out of here! Get clear! Magical girl business!" Before standing up on top of the chairs with a missile launcher on her shoulder and firing a homing anti-tank missile at the green-haired woman.

    And then announces, "The players and the audience should be free to play and watch how they want, they're not circus animals dancing for you! Go back to the future! Wait, that wouldn't be good for the future..."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Almost immediately, Makoto is on her feet. She and Mamoru are at least tall enough to not immediately get trampled, but the rest of their group is in more immediate danger as the panicking crowd tries to escape the stadium en masse. A split second's glance around, and then Makoto moves to simply scoop Yokina up under her arm like an American football.

"Hang on," she says, "it's dangerous here!"

She hops up to stand on one of the seats, and her free hand digs into her skirt pocket for her Jupiter pen.

"Jupiter Power - Make Up!"

In the next moment, Sailor Jupiter leaps into the air, carrying Yokina with her out of the crush to a safer vantage point.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou turned towards the destruction. How dare--

Wait, Chibiusa! Was that... them?! She narrowed her eyes. HOW DARE THEY--

"Wait, huh?" she asked. Before eeking! Let the spirit of Haruka flow through you apparently! How, why, what?! Oh, hey, this was kind of cool. "Wow, I think I can see my house from here," she said, eyes wide and sparkly. "Also, hi Sailor Jupiter! Ummmmm..." Then blinked. Wait. Does Sailor Jupiter know who she is? "If... if you put me somewhere out of sight I can henshin," she whispered. Wait. No. It was Makoto. Of COURSE she knew who she was. What she was. "Also, you are very strong and look *so cool* right now... You just need an explosion behind you and you'd be like a super hero..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh, f--" Mamoru starts and everyone is screaming but he's positive Chibiusa can read lips so he doesn't say it, instead he puts one hand warm and solid atop Chibiusa's head and takes out his pocketwatch with the other.

"Earth Prism Power, Make Up!" he says, swift and to the point, biting the words out to keep his heart from beating right out of his chest. The watch vanishes from his hand as his hair and clothes turn into cosmic jewel-toned spacescapes and re-resolve into Tuxedo Kamen's henshin.

The masked teenager immediately produces his hat and FOOMPHs it down on Chibiusa's head, rapidly tucking her hair up under it and relying on her bunny odango to keep it from falling over her face. THEN he scoops her up. Lots of people are wearing black. Not too many have cotton candy for hair... either way, he crouches a little and moves like a normal .. panicking normal totally normal guy in formalwear and a mask and cape who is carrying a normal totally normal kindergartener in a normal large top hat ... he's trying to get them away from Chalcopyrite before they're spotted near her.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's almost over," Usagi promises, "Let's just see how it ends- oh! Hey, Yokina-chan, how are you?"

Usagi turns her head, just as the ball connects and misses the moment as fans cheer and start to lose their minds over the opportunity - and she whips around, to cheer with them, because she DOES love going with the crowd during high energy - and then.

They lose.

And the announcer loses too.

Utter pandemonium breaks out, as not one but two members of the Black Moon Clan reveal themselves, so dubbed by Chibiusa's shaking voice, and Usagi has never been so glad that her father was sick. If he, Shingo, and Junichi were here -

Not that she's happy her daughter is here. But at least her daughter is here with her parents. Mama's Not Happy.

Amy bursts up onto the scene as Sailor Chalcopyrite, putting her way too close to them and as Mamoru hauls Chibiusa up, she says - R
"You stay with Mamochan,", though she knows the little girl knows better than to mess around at a time like this. "Maybe he'll show you how to cape tank with style."

A little smile, a little tease, despite the worry in her eyes, a reminder of Chibiusa going swoosh with a cape before they talked business -

And then she's ducking under the seats and transforming.

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Sailor Moon stands and vaults up onto the top of chairs a few rows to the front, away from where Chibiusa and Tuxedo Kamen are fleeing. She's nearly sent flying by a group of running fans for her efforts, and flails a bit to get back into position.

"Creeps like you ruin the good name of sports fans everywhere! Losing goes hand in hand with winning, and it's pathetic sore losers like you who make the Giants look bad! GET OUT, or in the name of the Moon, I'll Beat You Up!"

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The chaos is real - the Tokyo Dome can hold over 45,000 people and today it had been pretty well full. Tens of thousands of people are trying to stream out the exits, packing them with bodies. There are the cries and screams of panic, the wails of frightened children, the shrieks of people who fall in the aisles, only to get stepped on or tripped over -

And then a loud screech of metal, as the loudspeaker's pole goes crashing to the ground, erupting in an even greater shower of sparks.

In all the chaos, Petz doesn't notice the missile that goes streaming towards her - not until it explodes against her back, anyway, and she shouts in... surprise?

Uh oh.

When the smoke dissipates, Petz looks as though she's barely been touched, a few feathers on her back-decor skewed from place, faintly charred. Nothing else, aside from the irritation on her face - which quickly turns into cruel amusement when she takes note of Chalcopyrite.

"They're less than circus animals," she calls coldly, "At least I like circus animals."

And then she thrusts her palm forward in Amy's direction, calling out her attack. ""DARK THUNDER"

The black lightning bolt splits into six forks, each striking towards Sailor Chalcopyrite one after the other.

Tuxedo Kamen manages to go unseen - but why wouldn't he, when he's trying to escape, and Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter have just presented themselves, alongside Sailor Chalcopyrite.

The justice speeches are regarded with disdain, and then Calaveras grips her whip and snaps it again, dark energy flowing through the length.

"Sailor Moon, die."

And in so saying, she flies right for Sailor Moon, before cracking the whip out towards her face.

"DARK STRIKE!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa releases Usagi and clings more to Tuxedo Kamen, holding the hat to her head. She mutters, "Abracadabra Pon!" under her breath, and her hairpin turns into a black cape, covering her a little bit more. If she can just stay hidden...

    Try not to think about it. Try not to think about what could happen to everyone else here, or what happened back home. Just focus on staying safe.

    She peeks over Tuxedo Kamen's shoulder at the chaos that they're leaving behind. That was a mistake. A second later she's ducking against his shoulder and holding the hat close to her hair. Yikes yikes yikes yikes yikes.

    At least this time she doesn't have the guilt of being the reason everyone's getting attacked right now. Aside from the obvious part where they're only here because they followed her.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima finally gets her bearings. Even she doesn't attack people she doesn't like openly.... pause. Okay, people that are not Hinoiri. She can't understand feeling so strongly about a baseball game though. So just as the pole comes down over the field and smashes where she is... a shadow creeps out from around the pole and up along the wall of the stadium again as the shadow sweeps along towards Petz, as the other one goes flying at Sailor Moon.

Snaeking up, reforming somewhere behind Petz, like a dark shade, like a slasher villan, she raises a clawed hand and attempts to strike downward across her back, like the world's most painful backscratcher, but way deeper.

"You made my corn dog unhappier somehow. For every corn dog of mine you have made unhappy, I shall kill you." she says angrily, just letting unfettered bad feelings flow through her, letting them empower her further.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Only after firing does Amy realize that she really should have moved away from Chibiusa, oops! Fortunately, Tuxedo Mask is on it!

    Un-fortunately, Amy has now attracted aggro, and... it's kind of hard to dodge lightning!

    ZAP!

    Amy screams, and gets ready to dodge the next

    ZAP!

    Okay she's turning pain off before she feels any more of that. She rocket jumps wildly, barely avoiding the strike that hits an empty chair, but with the lag she has trouble reacting before she hits the bleachers and

    ZAP!

    She stands up, glaring angrily with her launcher aimed at Petz, "F--"

    ZAP!

    A cloud of chaff explodes from the bleachers, catching and deflecting the final lightning bolt before a couple of shells fire out of the cloud in quick succession, exploding into shrapnel in the air in Petz's vicinity!

    Amy rocket-jumps out of the glittering cloud, seemingly healed -- her outfit repaired, her skin un-charred but still looking a bit red -- as she summons her artillery cannon in midair and fires another anti-tank round. "FUCK YOU, lady! So that's why you had a problem with post-scarcity utopia, they wouldn't let you treat people as less than animals!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter looks a little surprised for a moment. Then she laughs a little and nods. "Thanks!"

A second leap lands them in the nosebleed seats, clear of the crowd and - at this point - pretty well deserted. "This should be okay for you to transform," she says as she sets Yokina on her feet. "I don't know if you can make barriers, but if you can, it'd be a really great time!"

She doesn't stay once she's set Yokina down - there's work to done. As swiftly as she landed, she leaps again, soaring into the air to unleash a handful of electricity in a bright thin lance that crackles down toward Calaveras. "HEY!" Her voice carries, ringing loud and clear. "I want a rematch!"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou grins once she is put down and quickly pulls out her necklace, a small crystal on the end. Once she's got it... << Standby, ready! >>

It wasn't long before Sailor Charon was engaged! And Jupiter... had a point. Technically... she wasn't supposed to make barriers. But... if nobody SAW her make a barrier... then... they wouldn't know she did it, right?

"Okay, stealthy," she whispered to Luminous Titan. A moment later... all the civilians disappeared as a barrier erupted around the arena!

And a few moments later and she was on top of one of the poles in the arena. "Baseball may not be the most exciting sport in the world, but it IS a sport that people throw their hearts and souls into! Just because your team lost is no need to throw a hissy fit! I am Sailor Charon, Apprentice to Sailor Pluto, and I am here to remind you that even the smallest fan can appreciate a well fought game! Also, Pluto is still a planet, small things matter too! I..."

Pause. Blink blink. Blink. Bliiiiiink. "La Crima-senpai?" she asked, looking kind of shocked. "O-oh my gosh, is... is this a good guy-bad guy team up fight? Eeeeeee! Nobody told me! Get her, La Crima! You're the best! Break her in half! Eeeee!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
They stop to begin a teleport somewhere that people have finished fleeing from, and Tuxedo Mask hears 'Sailor Moon, die!' and instantly has a rose in hand, holding Chibiusa on his other side--

FSSSSSSSSS it flies through the air at a distressing speed, leaving a streak of jagged red light as an afterimage behind it, stem first, headed for exactly where physics says the tip of the whip, moving at the speed of sound, will be when the rose is slated to intercept it.

And then the teleport is complete, and there's no one standing in the space where the rose came from, and Mamoru and Chibiusa are suddenly elsewhere in the arena. There's cracked concrete where they are, and sand and dirt in the cracks, and Chibiusa can tell Mamoru's on the edge of a knife of anxiety and something a lot worse than dismay, but he's shaking his head and taking a breath.

"Okay," he says after exhaling. He takes his gloves off and places his fingertips on the ground (they can see the fight, they can see it, but they're in the shadows now, out of sight--)

"They're going to fight. They're good at it! We're going to try and keep people alive. Take my hand, Small Bun of Pink, and you can help me find them and help them. You ever do stuff like this with your dad?" He holds out a hand to Chibiusa, his blue eyes bright behind the mask.

And then the barrier goes up.

There's the smallest little hitch of a sigh, and if she takes his hand Chibiusa can feel his heart frozen in worry over-- something. He's trying to keep mental images from textbooks out of his head, and what can he do-- but there's a tiny hand in his, and he can be a grownup for a little while.

"Okay, so we'll do that later. Right now, we watch for openings, right? Here," he says and literally just hands the five year old a deadly weapon. It's pretty and smells nice though.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a woman coming right for her face. No, there's a whip coming right for her face. No, there's a woman with a whip coming right for her face, and Sailor Moon scrambles back, just in time for - a rose, to strike the very tip of the whip, knocking it off course and pinning it to a seat across from her. The sparkling crackle of Dark Energy halts, and Sailor Moon vaults up and over the seat, just as Calaveras collides with it.

"Whew, that was close," she breathes, and then summons the Spiral Heart Moon Rod to her hand, whipping it around - and feeling for the energy she usually channels to her tiara.

"Moon Spiral Heart Rod Action!

The length of the rod - as long as her forearm and hand combined - glows with cosmic light, white-pink-yellow-blue-red shimmers in pastel colors, as she swings the rod up and crashes it down onto the metal of Calaveras' back armor.

There's an explosion of light, and a crack of sound, like a cymbal being struck, but when the light fades, the armor is only dented.

"Ahahaha... whoops."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly has been out on patrol after a difficult day at school. Why was the day difficult? It was difficult. It just was. Sometimes days are just like that. So instead of doing her homework like she really ought to do, she's out looking for a fight to get into instead. Or, maybe not, maybe just out to fly around. At least when she's zooming along a few hundred feet off the ground it's a good place to clear her head, listen to music from her phone, commune with Starcrash, all that sort of stuff.

Oh but there actually is a fight going on, right over there, at... a baseball game? Really?

Star Devil changes course, banking sharply and making the best speed she can to get herself involved. On the way she brings up her battle visor, and asks Starcrash to charge up a spell -- Star Barrage, thirty barrets with homing. As she approaches, keeping her altitude for the time being, Starcrash helpfully labels the various combatants; friendly targets in blue, neutral targets in yellow, and some very obvious enemy targets in red. One of which just cracked a whip at Sailor Moon.

Well we can't have that.

"Fire!!" Molly levels her staff at Calaveras, and lets fly a torrent of glowing barrets at the obvious enemy who is donig obviously bad things.

No need to ask questions, just shoot the bad guy.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
There's plenty of aggression earned, and La Crima strikes at Petz's back with shadow-y claws of darkness that rake down her - unlike her sister - unarmored flesh. But Petz is strong - durable - and though she yowls with pain, it's the yowl of someone getting clawed by a cat, rather than someone getting torn up by a tiger, and she reels on La Crima and tries to backhand her... with lightning. Can a shadow be struck by lightning? We'll find out, in more ways than one!

Calaveras, meanwhile, rises up from her place smashed into the chair, murder in her eyes focused directly for Sailor Moon and she yanks on the whip - but the rose is still there, still pinning it, and she snarls with fury, jolting a bolt of dark energy through the whip that causes the rose to wilt and decay, before lashing out - at the shrapnel that Chalcopyrite launched!

The dark energy whip is quick to deflect the shrapnel, causing it to fall towards the ground.

"A utopia?" She laughs darkly, "Is that what you call a world ruled by an immortal witch, who'll never give up the throne, never let anyone else step up to lead the planet?"

And then, she's struck twice over, by the force of Jupiter's lightning and Star Devil's barrage of thirty barrets.

"Aaargh!"

She is not out, but she is down, for the moment.

"Calaveras!" Petz snaps, biting, and then she's bringing both hands together doublefisting lightning -

""DARK THUNDER"

Twelve bolts of lightning streak out from heer fisted hands, striking randomly around the field -

Where there's suddenly no screaming, because all the people have... gone.

"What -" Petz whips around, staring in disbelief. "What, did you kill them all??"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa looks up from hiding her face to see that they are now somewhere else, though still nearby.

    A tall gentleman is asking for her hand, and she offers it. Small Lady shakes her head and says, "Not very much. The only magic I know is what I do with Luna-P. I never could--"

    Now all the people are gone. Did they get away safely? Were they teleported? This is one of the parts of this world's magic that is unfamiliar to her.

    Well, whatever the crowd's problems are, at least now they aren't dealing with two dark generals running amok among them.

    Chibiusa accepts the rose in hand, gripping it like one would a dart. "Like this?" she asks. When she first came here, she used a gun that shot flowers. It didn't work. Then she used a gun that shot actual bullets, and that didn't help either. Now she has a rose that contains actual power in it, and she's at the very least handling it with care.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima gets momentarily distracted. 'Lacrima-Senpai'. She looks up at Sailor Charon with bewilderment. Does she... know her? She blinks a little in confusion at the elatedness on Charon's face. This stops her for a few seconds, which gives Petz an opening.

Can Lighting smash Shadow!? Well of course it can silly, but it's kind of like throwing a sharpened pencil at a piece of taught paper, instead of being smacked backwards it flies through her, leaving a gaping hole. And it hurts and she yowls in pain.

The barrier goes up. Lacrima will fight as she'd been fighting as she angrily charges forward to try to grab Petz. She doesn't need to touch her hard or anything. Just make contact, for a prolonged period, so she can just energy drain her. Steal her energy.

She has no answers for the question of did she kill them all. She's just kind of an angry vampire spewing nonsense.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to eat you like a corn dog and nothing can stop me. Not you, not these idiots, not your friend...!" she screams.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon is pretty sure La Crima has Petz. She's pretty strong. Which leaves... Calaveras. Who managed to just... shake off a hit from the sparkle wand of Sailor Moon's! Oh, that's... not good. She's strong, too. Well, they have an answer for that. More...

Oh. More dakka works too. Huh. You know what? Gonna help her senpai. Ex-senpai, she supposes.

She leaps off her tall thing, landing near Petz.. but not striking yet, giving the vampire room to work. She, instead, waited...

Only dashing in and striking her energy glaive out the next moment when Petz tried to unleash her lightning, attempting to strike and erupt it early, in her hands!

Also, wow... there's like a little mini-fate with them. Score. She can blame the barrier on THAT girl. And then she didn't make it. Perfect cover, like a boss.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The barrier is up. The civilians are out of harm's way, at least from the Black Moon Clan's attacks, which is as much as anyone can hope for at the moment.

Sailor Jupiter's focus lasers in on Petz, and her right hand curls into a fist that sparks and crackles with energy. "Pay attention!" she bellows from above--

--and plunges into a dive, hurtling towards Petz fist-first, trailing electricity like the tail of a comet.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Hitting her target with thirty barrets had... the desired effect. Usually it's not quite that easy. Well, and it wasn't, it took combined attacks from Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon, and... well she's not sure who else hit her. She's not really sure of much; she has no idea overall what's going on here, except for one thing: people she already knows are baddies are fighting her friends. So her course of action is pretty clear. And a barrier has gone up! So that helps! And she didn't even have to use her own mana on it.

"Alright!! Starcrash, lock on the other hostile target, and charge..." She pauses. What does she have that's the opposite of lightning?

Well nothing really.

"I dunno, what the hell. Overcharge Eclipse Beam, twenty-second duration, maximum thermal differential."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. ARMED AND LOCKED >>

Molly descends, getting to a better altitude to target Petz. She watches the little targetting brackets appear around her on her Battle Visor, and waits for a moment, to make sure nobody (well nobody friendly anyway) is going to get caught in her beam.

"Fire!!" she yells, and a crackling, unstable beam of freezing cold energy lances towards Petz, freezing what it touches solid (or at least, that's the goal).

While it's firing, Molly glances sideways out of the corner of her eye. "Hey Everyone!" she calls out, and wves with her free hand. The vents on her barrier jacket and staff both hiss, releasing a cloud of steam as her spell comes to an end. "What are these dweebs upset about this time?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru glances up and over at the battle in progress, then back at Chibiusa, in front of whom he is crouched. His eyes immediately crinkle at the corners when he sees the way she's holding it. "Yes, good," oh my god he looks bubbly for a whole ten seconds in the middle of everything.

One knee lands on the ground lightly and he flourishes another rose out of nowhere, then shows Chibiusa how to move her arm and where to put her weight. "--here, and, here. And this is the motion-- right-- right! Now do it faster, then faster and like you mean it, and then again but let go. Put all your mad into it and let go--"

Here Mamoru's come down to kneel behind and to one side of Chibiusa, and he sits on his heels and keeps one hand warm and wary on Chibiusa's back. To keep a teleport waiting, not an attack charged.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy doesn't see her attacks get deflected, she was still in her own chaff cloud.

    Now she's flying across the stadium in an arc. "If she actually does a great job, yes."

    And then all the civilians disappear -- and there's Charon, she must've gotten the barrier up -- as lightning strikes across the field. "No, we didn--"

    ZAP!

    It's a strange feeling: The boom of thunder is deafening at ground zero, a sound that loud SHOULD hurt but doesn't, and she feels her muscles briefly sieze from electricity, but there is no pain.

    "--nnnnnn't!" Copper-striking-fire nothing, she summons her artillery cannon and tries to do like she did with the Prinzessin, to just knock Petz out of the sky with several kilograms of metal in a decimeter-wide ball moving at several hundred meters per second.

    BOOM!

    Charon asks if this is a villain team-up, "Yup!" Amy nods. "Those happen sometimes! Feed on those two all you want, Tears!"

    Speaking of tears, Amy looks back to Petz, "Aww, what's the matter, upset you have no more powerless people to beat up? Is that why Sailor Moon's a tyrant?" She dismisses the cannon and makes an exagerated crying gesture with her hands over her eyes. "Wah wah, Queen Sailor Moon says it's bad to hurt innocents with our powers, she's so unfair!" Amy goes back to a stern tone. "Well if she'd given the throne to you, that would make her an awful ruler, wouldn't it!"

    She forgot to regenerate that time, so she's clearly been hit by the lightning and is apparently not bothered?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Dark Lightning lashes out, in random patterns - Sailor Moon ducks away from the bolts, scrambling around as the barrier goes up and sends civilians out of her path -

And then she's looking up, to see Sailor Charon in the middle of it all, and she winces because oh that's not going to go well. La Crima, Sailor Jupiter, Star Devil, and Sailor Charon, all going for the same target...

Instead of adding to the chaos aiming for that singular target, she gets closer to Calaveras, cautious, Spiral Heart Moon Rod at the ready... is she really unconscious? Well, better to purify her anyway, just in case.

A golden circle of light is carved, right next to Calaveras.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

All's fair in purification and love, after all.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
"So the corn dog can feel anger, and yet also be eaten?" At this point, Petz is absolutely puzzled - she tore a hole through the girl, but she's more worried about corndogs, and she didn't die - how fascinatingly weird this sideways distinct timeline is.

She ducks and dodges away from La Crima's attempts to grab her, comfortable in the air and ready to fight - and then there's a roar from above, a familiar voice, that everyone of the Crystal Millennium knows (younger, actually, a little more untested, but filled with just as much conviction).

The boom of thunder, from the Soldier of Protection herself. Sailor Jupiter, who last fell because all four of the Spectre Sisters united against her.

Petz is struck by that diving meteor fist, but La Crima grabbed onto her to drain her, but Charon got in the middle to strike when she tried lightning, but Star Devil launched icy power at her and she's frozen -

And the result is that unless they bail out, everyone's going down with Petz, all the way to the ground with a BOOM!

Sailor Moon's Escalation strikes Calaveras, and her body lights up with silver and red and black, lines of energy crawling and tracing, and she screams, bolting up, catching Sailor Moon by the throat and hurling her towards the baseball stadium.

She is alight with agony as the purification tries to tear away the Dark Energy integral to her being, and her power lashes out - not the whip she's been wielding so carefully, but her true power - that of a spirit medium, doused and soaked in Dark Energy, raised among the dead and corrupt and dying. A miasma spreads, a fog that swiftly grows and grows, filling the area of the stadium, reaching out to everyone still in the barrier.

And suddenly, it's like they aren't in the baseball stadium at all. They're in a world where the sky is distant filled with the impression of stars, clouded by thick mists, and it hurts to breathe the mist, it hurts the lining of your throat, it hurts the lining of your nose, it burns, it burns, it burns, your lungs ache from the inside out, and you cough, and cough, and cough.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Then you pick yourself up and keep trudging along, sore and aching, and your head spins because you aren't getting enough oxygen. You aren't getting enough air. Everything hurts, but you have work to do.

The ground is ashen grey and black and there's a reddish glow to the sky and from the cracks in the ground, the cracks that are tiny and numerous, but also large enough that you have to jump to get around some of them, and you are trudging along, coughing and breathing, with a pail of water. You have to be careful not to slop it out. You need it.

Every few steps, you bury your hand in the pail and you bring it to your lips, struggling to swallow it, soothed briefly when you manage.

There's something else in the air, besides poison. There's energy. And when you take a break, kneeling over a crack in the ground, the ruddy reddish energy flows up and you breathe in - and you let it in too. The Dark Energy, unlike the air, doesn't burn at all. You breathe it in, and it pours through you, and strengthens you. You still can't breathe. Your eyes still burn. Your lungs are still struggling.
ut your body is able to lift the pail again, and you walk across the earth, until you see the shadow of your palace.

(And if you are Mamoru:)

You realize with a sudden burst of relief that you can breathe, that you are not in this hellish place. You can't see the baseball stadium, but you are still standing on the Earth, on your planet, which means this is not real.

(And if you are La Crima:)

You are Shadow and Sorrow, you are as much Dark Energy as you are a soul, and you realize that this isn't the Dusk Zone, and that the Dark Energy you *feel* flowing through you is just a memory.

(And if you are Sailor Jupiter:)

You have just punted Petz to the Earth and her body is no longer beneath you, but the aftermath of lightning crawls through you, your own energy blowing through the wind, still connected to the essence of storm. The winds on this planet aren't Earth. You are somewhere else, but you know that you are actually still on Earth. Someone's messing with your head.

(And if you are: Sailor Charon)

There is so much wrong here. Nearly everything is dead, but still here. There has been death, but nothing after. There is only the stacking and stacking and stacking of deaths but there has been no rebirth. You don't know how you know. You don't think you'll remember this, exactly, later.

There is something inside of you and it knows that this isn't Dark Energy. It's just a shadow of it. Something is wrong. You are Hotaru Tomoe and you were just at a baseball game, and you can't really be here.

(And if you are Chibiusa, Sailor Moon, Star Devil, or Amy Faust:)

Everything about the world is wrong. It burns. It hurts. It tears at you, with all the rage that can burn through your body, because the entire world is wrong and you deserve better and you can have better if only you drink deep of the darkness and if only you live so you can take what you deserve.

You get back up and you plunge your hands into the pail and bring water to the your mouth, and swallow it greedily. It tastes brackish and thick, as all water does, as all water always has, but it cools you down.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Just how long has Molly been here?

The former hero feels like she's been here forever, wandering this terrible wasteland, with the air that sears her throat and this all important bucket of water. is it her only possession? Certainly the only one that matters. She has to drink, vile as the water might be, but it is the only fuel she has to keep placing one bare, ragged foot before the other as she walks.

She was somewhere else, once. Another time. Another life. Another place. Once she was an angel-- no, a devil. That was it. She had wings and armor and magic, and fought with a staff against villains and would-be gods. But not any more, now she's here... she's here. Will she ever leave?

She trudges along, until she has to stop. She can go no further.

But there is energy here.

Dark Energy.

But does it really matter, what it is? She needs it. She drops, pitching forwards to just put her face to the crack and drink it in, like she did the water -- the all important water, that in her clumsiness she's spilled. No.

No no no no no.

What will she do without -- she doesn't need it. The energy will give her everything she needs. But... No. Yes? Is this what she's supposed to do? It feels right, but feels wrong at the same time. She can't do this. This is not right. But she has to. But she mustn't.

And then, there in the wasteland of death, Molly throws her head back and screams.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter straightens up, still sizzling with the lingering charge of her attack. She coughs, she struggles; her stinging eyes seep with tears as she reels with disorientation in the terrible waste the world has become.

She stops. Her feet are on the ground, grounding, the wind moving around her, and she breathes in deeply in defiance of the poison her mind tells her is in the air. It makes her cough harder, but she squares her shoulders, throwing aside the heavy bucket, and she lifts her face into the wind.

"Enough of your lies...!"

Sailor Jupiter raises her hands and calls to the wind - the real wind, the wind of Earth, the wind that speaks to her in voices that don't resonate through her ears. Flowers bloom in her hands and around her feet, and she scatters them into the wind to swirl outwards in a spiraling vortex, filling the air (the stadium, she's in a stadium, she knows she's in the stadium) with sweet, soothing fragrance and tumbling petals.

"FLOWER HURRICANE!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Small Lady watches the violence happening in the baseball stadium below, hiding behind her Luna-P cape and clutching the rose in her hand. She has to lean around Tuxedo Kamen in order to see it, but she's very careful to stay mostly behind him.

    Back home, there wasn't a lot of opportunity to see combat, even from a safe distance. The fighting was too harsh, too brutal, and the destruction was too widespread. Once all that was over? Things were more or less peaceful for centuries. Aside from some brief nightmarish moments, Chibiusa had very little opportunity to even see combat back home.

    This world, by contrast, has fights all the time. It's something new to her. So, safe as she can be, she watches from behind Tuxedo Kamen and wonders: Is this what magic is supposed to be? Isn't she supposed to have powers like that?

    She grips the rose in hand. Small Lady has failed so far to wield her mother's powers, but maybe her father's might work better. She gauges the weight of the rose. The weight of a weapon, both heavier and lighter than one imagines.

    As he instructs, she practices the motions, holding the rose in a way that seems almost natural to her. She mock-throws slowly without releasing, then quickly, then more quickly.

    Yet as she practices, the world changes all around her. She's alone, now, with a pail in her hand where the rose once was. A pail of water, both strange and unusual and yet perfectly normal to drink. Small Lady trudges forth, towards her palace, towards her home, towards her goal. While the darkness whispers empty promises into her ear.

    She deserves it, really. Power. Her mother has it. Her father has it. She should have that power too. Mamoru believes in her, and so does Luna-P. Pluto tried to teach her how to use it, way back when. It's hers. Even if the Silver Crystal wont respond to her. It's her birthright.

    Chibiusa is angry and in distress. The more desperate she gets, the more something stirs deep within her. It's a shame that no one can actually see the crescent moon beginning to shine faintly on her forehead.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon went entirely still once they were suddenly... somewhere... else?

And everything was... wrong...

The dark energy wasn't right...

The death wasn't right. There could not be death without rebirth. Because then it was meaningless. Hopeless.

And inside Hotaru, there were so many conflicting emotions...

She fell to her knees, a hand loosely holding her device as Luminous Titan desperately tried to control the surge of strange energies within Hotaru. To maintain a balance.

The young device mage gasped, lifting her device up... then shuddered, dropping back down to her knees before letting out a scream. Trying to block out the weirdness, as the thing within her stirred once more. Dark energy... it was a mockery of it... but she could be... so... much... more...

"N-no... no no... s-stay... not... not here..." Sailor Charon says, her arms wrapping around her arms. "S-stop... don't... I won't..."

Turning this world into a wasteland like this would be the least she could do... if she could... just... be... let... out...

And a message would be sent out to the senshi, from Luminous Titan.

<< Emergency. Dark energy rising. Situation reaching dangerous levels. Attempting to compensate, but stability must be restored. >>

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's something wrong with the world and with everything around her but she can't stop to think about it because she can't breathe. Not really. Not properly.

It hurts. She doesn't think it should hurt. She doesn't think it should hurt like this, and yet it does. Even the water doesn't really help.

The Dark Energy fills her, and it makes her strong (it makes her sick), it makes her powerful (it makes her sick), she draws it in and lets it fill her, like the water.

She gorges herself on it, as though it were ice cream, or chocolate, or candy, or -

But what are those, anyway?

And then she can smell something, she can smell sweet and lovely, and it's a faint wisp, but -

Ah, but then it's gone, and she's back to the water. She chokes on it, and the energy, until she's on her knees, hacking, coughing, trying not to outright hurl.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima has managed to grab onto Petz and she's draining energy! She screams and then there's a shadow. 'Pay Attention!'. "Huh?"

La Crima probably gets suplexed along with Petz down into the ground, exploding into a pile of black goo and having to reform----

Then she just is, back in her normal, well as close to normal, human-like form. This looks like the Dusk Zone. Or some locale thereof. But it isn't. She squints and looks down to the pail. She feels compelled to drink from it. She doesn't have the same awful reaction others do.

It's kind of refreshing actually. It's strange, and tastes off. But it isn't unpalatable. But she better not spill it. She calls out. "Hello?" she calls out. Oh. Is she. Alone?

She doesn't know. She starts floating forwards. Better move. She doesn't know why.

"Nrg..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    What is that? Reflexively, Amy holds her breath--

    It's the End.

    But they have to keep going.

    They pull a cloth over their mouth and nose, or the collar of their shirt; it doesn't really help. They has to keep going, and if they wants to keep going, they'll have to rest.

    Thin fabric is no better at filtering out energy than it is at whatever's in the air.

    Her palace. Home, in a way nothing has been for a long, long time; like a twisted mirror of the feeling of Mamoru's healing.

    The world is wrong.

    He's been saying that for a long time, and feeling it even longer. Everyone else acts in strange, illogical, unreasonable ways, and they say Mallory is wrong but they won't tell him the rules. You try so hard to be good, you follow all the rules the adults can explain, and still they say you are wrong. School should be about learning, but instead it's about being forced to be around people who are awful, and when you get away from that and go to more school because you love learning, it takes that you love and it crushes it out of you and you are never the same.

    And then you learn your entire society is fucked. Bad people rigged it from the start, and pulled the wool over so many eyes that people won't stop it, they act like this is right and blame suffering on the victims, crying out that if they did something they might accidentally help a lazy person--

    And then you learn you were never broken, only different; And that people could have tolerated it but chose not to, they chose to hurt you and make you suffer, again and again and again year after year decade after decade and the world treats that as normal and expected--

    This. World. Is. Wrong!

    Live! Spite! Revenge! Show them all and take what you deserve!

    More, more, more power! When they have enough, they'll be able to change everything! To right everything! And it will be better... even for their enemies. Even for the ones who made it so wrong... if they don't stand in the way of making it better.

    If they do... then they deserve to die, for the good of all.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Mask reels, eyes wide behind his mask, and he... he can almost-- there's a pail, he's so miserable, he has to dr-- it's dark energy! He almost fucking falls for it but this is no more real than the things that Pyrite used to do, this is no more real than a prophetic nightmare, no more real than the little figures that danced in Takashi's grubby seven-year-old palm.

Because the Earth is here. He can breathe. He can wall this nonsense off, at least partway, maybe someday all the way-- but his feet are on his planet. And then he shuts his eyes and crouches, sending his awareness out into the ground, the ground that can't be lied to.

Out, bright strands of gold that can tell the difference between the living and the dead, and can see both-- out, web of connections to the people here, triangulating on the familiar-like-air signatures of Usagi and Small Lady, and seeing-- seeing the field from the field's point of view.

And there's Calaveras, the vortex of ghostly energy and spiritual wrongness, the source of all the ills that are currently trying to tempt them to drink dark energy "Hey, what the fuck--" he says, then bares his teeth and charges his laser. It's all in a rush, a second long, a second and a fraction:

"Tuxedo," he calls, pulling his free hand in toward his chest, eyes still closed and other hand still on the ground. "La Smoking--" he continues and flings his hand out to...

SLAP it on the GROUND!

"CRATER!!!"

There's an extremely local earthquake, and then the ground beneath Calaveras EXPLODES! in a wide circle of dirt actually.

He bellows across the space, "SAILOR MOON! NOW!"

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The ground on this planet - because this strange world, with red seeping from the ground, is most certainly not Earth, is far, far, far from the light of the sun, twisting and turning through space, that pale blue dot impossible to see with the naked eye - is dry and dark, ashen, terrible grey, and everything is tainted, toxic, twisted. It hurts, just to be, except when there's the dark energy.

To anyone who uses Dark Energy, it's like diet cola, compared to the real thing.

But to the rest? To those who haven't been able to realize this place is Wrong? It's almost like the real thing.

And then there's the Flower Hurricane, cutting through all of it - there's still the darkness, the ground, the sickly red light pouring from the cracks, but the miasma is blown away by a flower scented breeze -

Well, it's a breeze, only because the hurricane has struck something else - namely, Calaveras, sending her hurtling across the ground.

She's glowing from within, silver light striking across her skin, black light crawling under it, the Black Moon sigil on her forehead not - glowing, but seeming to draw in all the light around her, the dark veins of Dark Energy slowly drowning out the light, and she's bleeding actual, red blood, from the cuts across her skin, where petals have been flung razor-sharp through and across her skin, hurled by that extremely local hurricane.

And then?

Then the ground shakes, from an extremely local earthquake, and explodes out from under her, and she soars through the air, battered and bruised, her armor dented, and slams into Petz, who shrieks -

"Always with the ' ghosts, Calaveras!"

And then suddenly, everyone is still - they can still see the memory-sense-illusion, and Calaveras snarls, "It's not a lie, it's what I lived!"

But they are both tired. Battered. They could fight on, but they only came here to watch a baseball game and now it's become so much more and they've been battered down by all these enemies -

And then Tuxedo Kamen is roaring for Sailor Moon -

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
And Sailor Moon forces herself to her feet, swinging her Spiral Heart Moon Rod in a haphazard, furious circle, hearts swirling into existence -

"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

And the Pink Heart from Heaven races across the cracked and pitted ground, slamming into both villains. Fragments of pink sparkle across the ground, as the Heart sails on, an outline of both bodies broken into it.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
And Calaveras and Petz are gone - having teleported themselves out, leaving this battle that they hadn't intended on behind.
So is the memory-sense-ghost of another planet. They're all back in the baseball stadium, in the aftermath of a stampede that is still going on, outside of this barrier.