2405/Maidenless Behavior

Maidenless Behavior
Date of Scene:	15 March 2025
Location:	Tsukino Residence
Synopsis:	The Black Moon Clan are ready to make good on their threats against Usagi's family - with a trio of droids, meant to kill and replace them. Luckily, the Tsukinos aren't home alone... and a pitched battle ensues, between the Droid copies, Crimson Rubeus, the revived Spectre Sisters - and the Mahoujin who call Sailor Moon their friend. With her family in threat, Sailor Moon triggers a new power, and in her Moon Space, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Venus, Jadeite, Kunzite, Zoisite, Hope Blossom, Cure La Licorne, the Princess of Sarek, Rocket Girl Red, and Tuxedo Kamen can ensure the Spectre Sisters go down for good. And while the fight goes on? The genius Entrapta befriends an evil robot boy. It's a good thing programming can be rewritten, huh? Entrapta, Princess of Dril, will have plenty of new magitech to work with after all this is said and done.
Cast of Characters:	280, Usagi Tsukino, Hinoiri Kirara, 281, Haruka Tenoh, Mamoru Chiba, Minako Aino, Zoisite, Amanda Faust, Veronica Perenna, Jadeite, Madoka Kaname, Kazuo Saitou
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Rabbit Hunt

---

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Juuban Ward is pleasantly warm on March 15th, the blue sky patched with swaths of fluffy white and grey clouds, promising rain in the evening. In the busier market district, people bustle from shop to shop, trying the latest drinks in cafes, browsing sales options, and enjoying the good weather.

In the suburban area, on streets lined with single and two-story houses instead of apartments, children bustle home from their half-day of school, some of the younger children enjoying a walk home with their parents.

This is the case for one Shingo Tsukino, walking home in his school uniform alongside his parents, Ikuko in a cozy, oversized cream-colored sweater and navy blue pencil skirt, and Kenji in cream-colored slacks and a white turtle neck beneath a navy blue jacket. As they walk along the streets to their home, Shingo is chattering about the plans he's made for the short break between academic years, and sharing his excitement to be heading into his last year of elementary school - he's wondering if he should try and get into Radiant Heart, like his older sister, or if he should strike his own path for middle school.

In the air above the very streets the Tsukinos are walking, the multi-winged and multi-eyed familiars known as benotafraids fly under the command of their summoner, the divine chara Kamiko. For much of the last nine days, they have surveilled Juuban Ward, flitting over the streets and across the skys as they monitor the Tsukino and Aino houses for signs of trouble, ready to alert the mahoujin of Radiant Heart Academy at the first sign of trouble.

They're the first line of defense against what's coming: the promised violence of the Black Moon Clan.

It's been nine days since Calaveras' death at Hikawa Shrine - nine days since Crimson Rubeus and Blue Saphir revealed their success in capturing the identities of Kunzite, Jadeite, Zoisite, Magical Rocket Girl Red, the Princess of Sarek, Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Kamen, and Sailor Moon.

And these nine days have been characterized by silence. For the first time in months, Tokyo has gone more than a week without a violent encounter with the Black Moon Clan's vicious lieutenants - no attacks on innocent civilians, public places, or on one Usagi Small Lady Serenity, no strange conversations, no sightings at all -

And given how satisfied the Black Moon Clan had been to reveal their knowledge, it's a silence that can't possibly last.

Thus, the watching, from the benotafraids, from increased patrols, from Usagi and Minako spending some of their nights in their childhood bedrooms instead of their dorm rooms.

Thus, the evacuation plan.

On Monday, Usagi and Minako had surprised their respective families with the news that they had won a cruise! Three weeks aboard separate luxury cruise liners - one that would head from Tokyo to Hong Kong with Usagi's family aboard it, and another that would depart from Tokyo for Seoul with Minako's family. In truth, the tickets had been purchased with the combined resources of Mamoru Chiba and Setsuna Meiou, for the sole purpose of getting the biggest targets out of the country while the mahoujin went to work on their enemies.

- which brings us back to today, March 15th, that bright afternoon, with the patchwork sky of blue and white and grey. Minako's parents are already on their cruise, having boarded under (secret) guard just a few hours ago. The Tsukinos are due to depart in just a few more hours. Soon, the surveillance can come to an end, and the mahoujin will bee free to focus entirely on stopping their enemies, before their enemies can stop them.

...there's just one problem.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The Tsukino family now turning onto their driveway and walking towards their house... is not the only Tsukino family. Even as Shingo tells his parents about the games he's excited to play with his good friend Junichi later this month, the Shingo inside the house is checking and rechecking his backpack, making sure that he's packed all the handheld games he wants to bring on vacation.

The Ikuko inside the house is asking Shingo to confirm for the second-third-fourth time that he's packed enough underwear and toiletries. The Kenji inside the house is laughing and promising that worst case scenario, they can pick up more at one of the many ports of call, and asking Usagi if she's absolutely sure she doesn't want him to stay home, so she can go instead.

The Ikuko outside the house smiles at the Kenji outside the house, asking, "Do we think our Usagi-chan will come home this weekend?"

The benotafraids swoop far above their heads. For a moment, all three of the Tsukinos outside raise their eyes to the sky, clocking the shadow over head. Their eyes fix on the strange creature.

The Kenji outside the house smiles, shading his eyes. "I sure hope so, honey. It feels like it's been ages since our little girl came home."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino is standing in her childhood home, in the middle of her living room, helping helping her family pack, making sure they haven't missed anything. Some of her friends are in her house, helping with cleaning out the fridge for anything missed, anything likely to spoil, and some are in the area, patrolling the neighborhood. She'd gotten in touch with those she trusts most, and a few more besides have been notified of the fact that her family is potentially under threat, and that she'd appreciate people being in the general area in case the worst happens.

For nine days, the worst hasn't happened. She's begun to think she'll get away with it all, her family free to get safely out of town, her future daughter secure at Radiant Heart Academy, all of them free to handle this threat -

And then there's the sound of the front door's knob, turning. The door itself, swinging open.

Usagi straightens up, spine gone stiff, eyes gone wide, and calls, "I'll get it!"

She doesn't want to even chance one of her parents rushing for it. Not when no one should be letting themselves in -

When she rushes into the main entrance though, she stops short. There's - her papa. Standing there, in the doorway, hanging up a jacket. There's her mama, behind him, and Shingo, impatiently waiting in the doorway, eager to get his shoes off, each and every one of them exactly as familiar as the faces she's always known -

"P-papa?" She whispers, even though she knows it's a trap, and her Papa's kind, familiar face turns down into a scowl.

"Usagi-chan, you just had to skip school. Those middle school grades told a sad story of failure, but still - "

And then his hand splits apart to reveal a hole, and a black laser shoots from the spot his perfectly normal, perfectly human hand was.

Instinct makes her dodge, and anyone in the living room, anyone who had been helping, will see the laser blast a hole in the wall.

Everyone with Sailor Moon's communicator frequency - friends, allies, even the rare enemy - will hear the scream.

USAGI to EVERYONE: THEY'RE HERE. HELP!

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was one of the few sparkles they all knew who could actually drive (albeit, just a motorcycle), she was on the side of the road, opposite the house, leaning on her bike. Her helmet was on, gloves, jacket, talking to another biker... Haruka Tenoh.

Sooooon they'd be done with guard duty, and frankly it was a lot easier to be subtle on a motorcycle than it was leaping from rooftop to rooftop. And it allowed the two of them to catch up and discuss things...

In this case... "I saw your ra-- your 'teams' race on the 13th last month. That third turn? That was wild. I would have sworn your knee actually touched the pavement there, how close was it?"

Uuuuuunfortunately, it seemed the chatting was going to have to come to an end soon as the Tsukino's arrived home... interesting... They'd been here for a while and, as far as they knew, they hadn't left.

She'd dated a shapeshifter and done a few kidnappings in her time, it wasn't hard to imagine she knew what was up. And, well... the Tsukino's were good people. During the holidays they always opened the door to people like her, who didn't have any family... so the last thing she was going to do was let them get hurt. And... Oh, they were going in.

And as they started in, she dipped behind a wall and Cure La Licorne was there! And, about two seconds after they started to fire a blaster, a Pretty Cure landed behind them and tried to punch Usagi's Dad right in the smack of the back.

Whew. For a second she was worried they'd try and hide who they were, but nope! Made themselves nice, easy targets! "So, I'll be honest. You ever think about switching to 'Bad Moon Clan'? Cause like... you all are *really* bad at your jobs."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Sitting, testing her comm unit. That's what Entrapta was doing; she's been working on the first prototype of Rashmi's work. Surrounded by wiring and electronics and crystals and fish (don't ask) she's been building a 'thing'.

It lights up. She lights up to match, and blinks. "Thing wasn't even turned on yet," she grumbles. Magic, always running under its own rules. And what kind of message is that? Pleh, ereh er'yeht? Sheesh. No wait polarity is reversed. They're here, help.

Well, that makes more sense. Slipping out her door, the pigtailed polymath grabs a tool kit and starts to track the signal. Might as well be prepared, just in case something fun happens.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka laughed and put her hand behind her head, scratching the back of her neck. "Certainly closer to the pavement than Michiru would have liked. I think she prefers the car races for reasons like that." Haruka admits, laughing nervously. But then the time for discussion is cut off quickly.

    Haruka doesn't notice the additional people, the Tsukinos that shouldn't be there. But it's a stillness in the air, a feeling of something wrong on the wind, that intensity and dread. The two of them end up leaving at similar times; Haruka steps behind a low wall and pulls her henshin pen from her jacket.

    Sailor Uranus leaps over said low wall at top speed, skirt and blows flowing in that wind that seems to carry her forward at a speed greater than usual - more itense, more at stake, with so much energy - it's the fake Usagimom that she targets, when the woman doesn't react appropriately to the sudden blast from fake-father, converting her running speed as she spins near the woman and tries to deliver her a kick that cuts through the air with *such* force, and ideally, through the fake too.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Over at Mamoru's place, before Usagi even puts the APB out, the prince is henshining as quick as thought, eyes wide. "Earth Prism Power, Make Up! Autobots roll out--"

And he's grabbing Tamaki's arm and Physically Enouraging Him to Drop His Switch Onto Kazuo's Couch.

Then the two of them are there, in Usagi's living room, in full formalwear and his mask-- and Tuxedo Kamen says, "Jadeite you back up Usa, gimme a wall. Ikuko-mama, Kenji-papa, Shingo-kun, come on--"

And he takes off his mask, and his eyes are the same blue they always are, and his voice is steady, and he looks and sounds like he knows what he's doing.

What he's doing is trying to usher them out further back into the house to get them somewhere he has a little more time to evacuate them. Hustle hustle, his cape covering their backs and his tall head ducked because it's not covered by the cape. "Usako knows what she's doing and our friends are--" he hears fighting "--already arriving to help."

Minako Aino has posed:
Minako Aino was inside the house with Usagi, currently going over the contents of the fridge with Artemis to decide what could and couldn't stay in the fridge safely. They were currently arguing over a can premade cinnamon rolls in the can.

"I think this will be fine," Minako says while starting to place it back. "Plus I kind of hate opening these. The pop always scares me to death." Even though she knew it was coming it was just one of those THINGS that would set her nerves on edge.

Artemis looks over his shoulder questioningly when he hears Usagi go for the door. "Are we expecting more company?" The white feline pads to the doorway in time to spot the double which sets his hackles to raising. "Minako!" He calls out just before the blast occurs causing both to jump abruptly. The can of cinnamon rolls is dropped and forgotten in favor of whirling toward the front room while pulling out her henshin pen.

"Venus Power, Make Up!"

Venus is already dashing out into the livingroom to add in further blockade to getting to the actual family as Tuxedo Kamen and Jadeite arrive. The Love-Me Chain is already drawn between her hands with a defiant stare toward the black-hole-hand-guy.

"Attacking an innocent family, what cowards!"

Zoisite has posed:
Seemed like gaming was the current time waster preference these days, mainly with Tamaki. It doesn't bother him much as he enjoyed certain genres himself, but it did speak to the unfortunate circumstance the blond seemed to be in. None of it sat well with Izou, yet he genuinely had no real say in the matter. His own morality with families and dating was horribly shot to begin with--

So his attention was mostly focused on some of the feeds, along with tender little side glances towards Kazuo. It was nice watching the older Shitennou working, or seem to be working. There were moments he couldn't fully tell. That didn't matter though. His phone lit up with a little ding from epay, stating that he had fourteen minutes left on an auction of a some antique music sheets he could practice on.

Perfect. All he needed to do was set his price at the highest bitter and watch the rest of the poor sods wanting the same items cry their little hearts out. No one else deserved these but himself, of course.

That is, until he heard it. The sharp sound of the communicators going off, the startling flinch of his shoulders--the haste in which all of them seemed to change forms within seconds. The server room was nothing but lights.

"Earth Power, MAKE UP!!"

And the moment Tuxedo Kamen had taken Jadeite, Zoisite was quick to wrap his arms around Kunzite's as the rush of cherry blossoms whisked them to the same location as their prince. Unfortunately, maybe a couple of petals made it into someone's mouth along the way. Tsk, sorry Kunz--

Once in the living room, Zoisite was quick in taking a defensive stance next to Jadeite as their mission was to protect the princess.

Wait...

Ah fuck he wasn't going to win the auction, was he? Damn it--

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is helping think of things to pack and checking the fridge. She and Mio have a mini-fridge in their dorm, after all.

    She hears 'I'll get it!' before she processes the sound at the door. As it begins to open, she's realizing the doorbell didn't ring, and wondering why isn't the door locked, and out of curiousity also looks into the entranceway, and

    What the heck. Is it Usagi's family from an alternate dimension? Did they get sent back in time by magic shenanigans that haven't happened yet?

    No. He fires. She transforms and draws her pistol -- which is to say she holds out her hands and it appears -- and sights it at fake-Kenji's chest, but hesitates, for three quarters of a second that feel like much longer, because he looks like Usagi's dad and then she fires, and just keeps firing, she doesn't actually have a magazine she's just magically loading the chamber with a new rocket-propelled, non-explosive bullet each time, so no need to worry about conserving ammunition...

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica's family didn't require much safeguarding, already kept safe by living a few continents over, so as long as she kept her wits about her, she would have been safe enough. At least if she wasn't ambushed first or led into a particularly good trap, but neither of those had been the case.

She would have hung out frequently around the houses of her friends in henshin, adding a deviation to one of her usual paths at frequent and regular intervals to make sure everything was still in order.

Whenever she passed by there, she would have also glanced at the benotafraids. Partially because their presence was also a tell, but also due to their being an unusual sort of creatures, even if she had seen them before. Her curiosity reared up its head as to their workings, and she couldn't quite stifle it.

On the day of the departure, she would have been at Usagi's house as well to help with the packing, and also occasionally show a sleight of hand to Shingo if the kid had so been interested.

When Usagi's shout comes, she was checking the living room all over, and the brunette turns around by honed instincts, starting her transformation right away.

"Moonlit Heist, Phantom Thief Release, My Evolution!" Veronica calls out, snapping her fingers and summoning the Hallward painting's blessing. Glowing mist wraps around her, and her magical garments materialise, accompanied by feline ears sprouting from her scalp, and a swishing tail emerging behind her.

"The Princess of Sarek, with hope held tight, I leap through shadows to light up the night!" she sings the final verse, holding her cane tightly in her hand.

And she would have thrown herself at Usagi's 'mom', cane aiming for her shins. "Disguising yourself? Maybe you aren't that slow on the uptake."

The Princess of Sarek gives a chuckle at Hinoiri's comment. "That's a good one, La Licorne."

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki's stress video gaming (committing hilarious amounts of homicide on some mythical creatures with the power of friendship and this gun someone allowed a teenager a have) is abruptly dropped onto the couch as they're teleported, as he lands in the living room with Tuxedo Kamen and Usagi's family. He's met them briefly, he thinks - Mamoru knows them and can focus on them, he thinks -

(He should still feel sad, probably, but this is his duty,this is his calling, his need to protecct is cutting through the fog - )

He joins ZOisite as he raises a great icy wall in front of Mamoru and the Tsukinos - if Rubeus and his ilk want to cause trouble, they can get through a sheer foot of ice first.

"Do you two want me keeping the wall up or helping blast that moron to kingdom come?" he asks, eyes shining like sunrise on a glacier.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It has been a very long week for Kamiko.

    It's been a long week for everyone, really, because of the stress and the feeling of impending doom. The divine Chara is trying very hard not to be selfish about it, but she's been away from Madoka for the longest time she's been since back when she was Gretchen. At least the other minidokas drop by sometimes to give her snacks and company.

    Brai and Rens are with her right now, hiding in her Labyrinth and watching the feeds from the various benotafraids running around, each projected on to various distortion bubbles and tiny portals that operate as 'screens'.

    When the second family appears, there's a momentary confusion, and then a mass panic. They've seen enough sci-fi to have some idea of what's going on, and what the Black Moon Clan is intending. After a few moments of running around and asking, "Which ones are real?! Ahhh!" Kamiko has the bright idea of Witch Marking all of them and reading their minds.

    Within moments, the real family's marks vanish, and the Droid's Witch Mark remain.

    Kamiko transmits <<Everyone, the fakes have been marked with my Witch Stickers! Don't let them confuse you! There's something... really weird about these people's brains.>>

    As for Madoka, she's still in the distance, running her in a panic.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The ding from Izou's phone and the predatory hint to his eyes as he looked down on it were enough to pull a half-smile from Kazuo, even while his own attention seemed to be on the screens. The lazy lounge he's in is ruined a moment later, though, as he bolts to his feet so that Kunzite can meet Zoisite partway --

-- and arrive with floral decoration clinging to his cape. And in his mouth. Well. First thought: cherry blossoms are edible. Second thought: ... after they're prepared. Third thought: ... and not all species and one does not risk it where Zoisite is concerned.

Therefore it's in silence, at this particular moment, that he raises another shield, this one to keep friendly fire at bay, to preserve as much of the house and its occupants as possible.

He coughs petals out, and says to Zoisite and Jadeite, "Best to presume this is a diversion; be ready."

(The poor Tsukinos.)

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The laser fired through the wall - and through another, and another, leaving a smoking hole the size of a mandarin orange in every wall between the Tsukinos' front door and exterior wall. Ikuko Tsukino screams, and Kenji shouts, both of them having been out of the way, but utterly horrified by what they've just witnessed.

"USAGI-CHAN," Ikuko shrieks, her daughter's voice registering, but before she can get an answer, there's a man in her house, tall and in formal wear and wearing a mask, and another man with him, and the most formally dressed man she's seen in ages is stepping towards her and she almost jerks away but then he's ripping his mask off, asking with a steady voice and pleading eyes, and she gasps, "M-Mamoru-kun? What's going on -"

And Kenji is staring in horror and determination and says, "Shingo's upstairs. We have to get to Usagi -"

But Mamoru's encouraging them away, hustling with his cape, and there's the hurried rush of steps, as Shingo reaches the bottom of the stairs -

"What WAS that - WHOA!"

Another laser blasts through the house. It hits the ice wall Jadeite has summoned, where it had punched through walls, now it's like the ice was shot with a rubber bullet - it cracks but doesn't falter.

With the opportunity to complete their target infiltration, all three of the Tsukino Copies are opening for the attack. They knew the Tsukinos were supposed to be home; they just hadn't known Sailor Moon herself would be home, too. As light and ribbons snap into existence, transforming vulnerable Usagi into Sailor Moon, the thing that looks like her father tries to shoot again - only to be punched in what should be his kidneys from behind.

Should be.

Transformed as she is, Cure La Licorne is too powerful to bruise her knuckles because she punched metal... but also, she definitely can tell she just punched metal, especially because it gives a little, under her fist. The same is true for the copy of Usagi's mother, caught unaware and kicked in the back - her shoulders bow inwards, even as her jaw unhinges like a snake and a ball of crackling dark energy is fired at Sailor Uranus from her mouth.

Not!Kenji thrusts his hand out and fires a laser at Sailor Venus, even as his voice - sounding just like Usagi's father - says, "Now, now, Minako-chan, it's rude of you to go brandishing weapons! Especially in the house. You could put someone's eye ou-" BANG. BANG. BANG.

The shots Amy fired strike, and keep striking, metallic tings ringing through the air, as he staggers back under the momentum of the shots. Not!Ikuko is then struck in the shins with a cane, and hobbles back, kicking her foot up and another laser fires from the base of her foot, her shoe sliding open to reveal the blast area, even as the woman with Kamiko's Witch Kiss scolds, "How many weapons did you children hide in our poor house? This isn't safe play, you know."

The Shingo Copy is meanwhile crouching down, trying to get out of the way, his young voice a whisper - "Resistance meant, they were waiting for us!"

"Oh, really?" A female voice, young and viciously cheerful, responds. "How fun! That means we get to jump to the next part of the plan!"

Not!Shingo facefaults.

Inside the house, the real Shingo is snatched by his father and pushed towards Ikuko and Mamoru, his eyes huge as he takes in the unreal sights - the foot of magically appearing ice, the transforming girl with a gun in his kitchen, the sounds of battle ringing out - "What do you mean Usagi can handle this, Mamoru?! We've got to get her out of there, what - what is all this, what's happening -"

At least he's not fighting Mamoru. He's just a man, confronted with the impossible, terrified for his daughter.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
And then a hole is blasted through the roof, as a man wreathed in dark energy plows through from the sky with such speed even the benotafraids only just barely catch a glimpse of the motion.

CRASH!

It's Crimson Rubeus, in the center of a bubble of Dark Energy, and he's come down through the ice wall - well, through part of it, anyway, the sheer thickness of the thing having managed to stop him coming all the way through.

"Gotta say, I'm kind of glad this plan failed," he croons, "I was really looking forward to getting the job done myself. Smart of you to be keeping watch. Still, it's not like this is going to be enough of you to stop us from getting the job done."

"I'm losing my mind," Kenji Tsukino whispers. "A tackily dressed man just broke through an entire story of my house to mock my daughter's friends."

"Oh, old man, I'm not here to mock them," Rubeus laughs, and claps his hands together - a pulse of Dark Energy rattles through the house, shaking walls, causing debris from the roof and second floor to spill, dust and wall fragments in the air, shingles trickling down. Those that slope forward bounce off a shield of darkness.

"We're here to kill you."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Yawning, Entrapta checks her phone. She's in the general area, but only a fool goes -toward- the fighting.

"Think we can get a good visual of what's going on?" she asks nobody in particular. In response her phone lights up, then shows a hack of a nearby building's outdoor security cam. She watches magical girls and boys doing magical girl and boy things, and tries to zoom in.

"Ugh. Why do people buy these low quality cameras for their houses. Tell me my upgrades at the academy are better than this."

The phone beeps once, making Entrapta nods knowingly. That school is wired for bear, and she's almost proud of it at this point. But. "I'm going to have to go in person," she pouts. I hate going in person.

Why can't people be specific? 'Weird brains' is not a proper diagnostic.

"Sheesh. I'm on my way, try not to kill each other til I arrive.." Grumble grumble.

"No not you hon. You're doing great. Scan other devices in the area? Thanks a whole lot." She's talking to her celphone. It is a very nice phone.

"Ooh, new bid on the music sheets," she mumbles as she makes her way closer to the incident. "Hm.."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Thanks," Cure La Licorne said to Veronica before turning her attention and focus BACK on the trouble at hand and... Rude. He didn't even fire at her, just at Venus! And now... She just froze... "Sweet Sora," she said. "Listen, I get what you're going for!" she said before trying to grab Not-Kenji in a headlock from behind and kind of... twist it back in a way that would likely be... uncomfortable, if not dangerous, if he were human.

"Who I really can't take you seriously in those pants! Like, there's some style, some elegance that is supposed to go into this kind of thing! Well, that's not even counting what kind of loser goes after someone's family like that. If you're really supposed to be hot stuff, at least have the guts to face her head on." Then she tried to drop the Not-Kenji's head on the ground.

"Summary, you got no style, no talent and no flair, so we're going to kick your derriere. The quality of your enemies has *really* gone down, Moon. No offense!"

Jadeite has posed:
Ok. New enemy behind the ice wall. The quote-unquote final boss behind the ice wall. Cool cool cool fine cool. Zoisite can teleport and Kunzite can teleport, which means it's fine, and, Jadeite decides, it means it's his job to help Usagi shred these freaky clones quickly so she can join Mamoru in turning Rubeus into so much ash and sludge. "You two go with him. I'll keep backing up Usagi."

He slams his hand against the wall, healing up the crack created by the laser, before -

"Glory of the Snow!!" Two rotating ice-flower shields start rotating around Usagi, the kind that can be spun around to protect her from danger but won't get in the way of her sending out a Moon Attack.

He pulls up another for himself, too, so that if he has to dive into this melee, he can bounce attacks off rather than letting one of these clowns get through to back up Rubeus.

(And when people are ready to get THROUGH the ice wall, he'll open it up for them!)

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino transforms in a blaze of light only just barely identifiable as her henshin - it flickers over her like a strobe, vanishing civilian clothes and leaving fuku in it's place.

"Don't worry about me, Mama, Papa, listen to Mamochan!"

She doesn't have to see him to know he's here, to know he'll have them, that he'll be getting them back.

The copies of her family are stared at for only a split second before Cure La Licorne and Sailor Uranus are on the attack, and then Amy and the Princess of Sarek are on them too, and Sailor Moon's hand comes up, grasping her Spiral Heart Moon Rod as it appears from nowhere, trying to decide if she can fight something with her family's faces, even if they're trying to kill her -

And then there's a horrible crash from inside the house, and she goes running towards the sound of her parent's voices, just in time for the dust to clear and for her to see Crimson Rubeus, entirely too close to her family, shards of ice everywhere, and she thrusts the rod forward, shrieking -

"MOON HEART ATTACK!"

She didn't spiral. She didn't spin. A single, enormous pink heart appears and flies directly for Rubeus, a wall of pink that gleams like a sheet of glass, and Crimson Rubeus thrusts his hands out and with a grunt of effort and a slide through the air, stops it cold, before hurling it towards Tuxedo Kamen and the Tsukinos.

Sailor Moon screams, wordless, and the giant heart breaks apart into a hundreds of tiny, translucent hearts, passing harmlessly through Tuxedo Kamen and her family.

Who are staring at her.

"U-usagi?"

Minako Aino has posed:
So much was happening at once. Sailor Venus focuses on the one goal that they needed to focus on until the Tsukino's--The real ones--were safely away from here. Blockade so that Tuxedo Kamen could get them out.

"You don't have the right to call me by that name! I am Sailor Venus and I will protect my Princess and her family!" She blurts out instinctively, defensively, when the copy calls her Minako instead of Venus. While a knee jerk response there was still heat to her words with the emotion behind it.

The Love-Me-Chain wasn't the best weapon in tight quarters of the house though, which is why she improvises with a cry of, "Love-Me Hypnotic Spiral!"

The chain is held in hand but she spins one end in her grasp creating a sworl of hearts spinning and circling around in front of her like a shield. The glow of lit up hearts deflect the dark energy attack fired at her.

Upside of spinning rave-whip: Deflect attack! Downside of spinning rave-whip: Unable to deflect attack in a particular direction.

Luck is on Venus' side as it flings the beam up toward the ceiling shooting out a bit more of the debris that Rubeus' arrival had created. It's her turn then to throw her hand out, finger gun style, crying out a *real* attack. "Crescent Beam!"

A blast of light shoots out past the ice wall toward the fake Tsukino's.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A portal opens up behind Kenji, and while it would probably be easy for Kamiko to mind control Usagi's dad and force him through, it has been made clear to her that such tactics are a few steps beyond 'rude'. So instead the tiny fairy is appearing in front of him and pushing him through, with far more force than a tiny invisible fairy should ever have because she's actually warping space to give him a little shove.

    "I think you need to stay out of the line of fire for a moment. Don't worry! Your daughter will save you." Kamiko glances at the rest of the house as it becomes an increasingly bigger mess. "Um... you've got youma insurance, right?"

    If Usagi's dad actually manages to go through the portal, he's going to end up in next to a beach that honestly looks very pleasant and nice as long as he doesn't stick around long enough to notice all of the very friendly eldritch horrors in the sky, watching him, with eyes larger than the moon and...

    I mean really it's better not to think about that kind of thing, right? It's a vacation! Enjoy yourself while your house gets remodeled.

    Meanwhile, down the block, a panic-running Madoka is making her way towards the fight when a portal opens in front of her. She runs through, recognizing it as her Chara's.

    Another portal opens inside the house, right next to Rubeus, and Hope Blossom with bob-cut hairstyle and reading glasses that rest on the tip of her nose walks through. "I've already calculated the optimal method to disassemble your minions. Though I do have one experiment..." Hope looks at Not!Shingo and says, "This sentence is false."

    A moment later Hope Blossom whines and says, "Rens-chan, stop making me say weird things!"

    Suddenly dying of embarrassment, Madoka decides to target the nearest witness. A white gloved fist surrounded in glowing pink aura is aimed directly towards Rubeus's face, because that's how we roll around here.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"She can handle it!" insists their daughter's tall fiance. "She can-- LIKE THAT yes. Come on!

Then, "Zoi!! Shingo! Campus!" yells Mamoru, his mask ditched to the side -- Rubeus will see the naked face of the Young King in person -- "Ikuko-mama," he says and takes her hand, "it's going to be okay." Urgent, caring, earnest, and ignoring Rubeus.

And then the two of them, Mamoru and Ikuko, vanish into nothingness.

On the campus of Radiant Heart, Tuxedo Mamoru lets go of Ikuko's hand. "Please find Chibiusa-chan and make sure she's okay? Zoisite is bringing Shingo, I'm going to get Kenji, and then we're going to blow that guy up, and then Usako and I will join you."

He takes a step back and teleports back into the mess, 7 seconds after he left, looking for Kenji.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Metallic?! They sent fucking terminators?! They have terminators?!

    Amy is glad that her pistol is .51 caliber and also magic and does, thankfully, knock back even a combat robot some.

    That hole in the wall, and their metal bodies -- some part of Amy's brain notes this is a Mega-Damage encounter, not an SDC one, but she has no spare brain cells for ruminating further on this -- the fake Ikuko attempting to chastise her draws her attention.

    "I am the weapon." She holds her hand out towards 'Ikuko' and

    BANG

    Fragile objects near Amy break, the walls shake, and the element of high-energy physics tries to poke a hole in the droid's plating and spall burning metal all over its insides.

    Witch stickers are noted. Amy's brain starts processing others' actions. Why haven't they shot me yet? is the urgent thought of danger that she SHOULD be facing pressing on her instincts, where is

    Rubeus.

    "RUN, Tsukino-family! Go with Mamoru! Usagi will be safe! We'll explain later!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus' kick collides with metal and not human flesh, and she didn't know what she should be expecting, and it hurts a little bit but pain can be something she addresses later; when her friends' family and all of those who came to help them aren't at risk.

    She puts her arms up in front of her in an X shape to soak the hit, which sends her skidding back a bit and smoking, but she's tough. She can ignore the pain. She is about to just kick the android-youma-metal monster again but something about the way that her leg is still complaining so heavily, makes her think better. Alright then.

    She draws her sword from the subspace she hides it in - gripping a gleaming hilt that comes into existence seemingly around her glove and drawing it out, a brilliant blade of energy, condensed wind and solar wind, making up the rest.

    "First you, then the fashion crime." she says to Not!Ikuko, swinging her blade at her. It won't be metal on metal, it'll be energy on metal, and hopefully that'll work better than leg-on-metal did.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Shingo, gone. Ikuko, gone. Kenji ... is a father. Kunzite takes an instant to parse that - it's not as automatic for him as for most people - and then his shield dissolves and reestablishes itself, protecting Kenji, Kamiko, her portal. As for himself - he brings his cape in front of himself, blunting the effect of the dark pulse enough to leave him staggering back a few steps rather than more. Still not on the attack. Still conserving his energy.

Because Rubeus can swipe what he's got aside if Rubeus sees it coming. He needs to save it till it's going to hurt.

Zoisite has posed:
A small cringe forms as Zoisite notices his boyfriend spitting out some pink petals. "Kunz, I'm so sorry-- I should have told you to keep your mouth closed during teleportation. They tend to do that." They're not poisonous, thankfully. Just able to burst into flames at his command when it's needed. Burn scars are better than poison, correct?

Technicolors flash about as Usagi transforms right as the roof caves in--oh good. It's that good looking man that crack his spine last time. How nice. Very nice. Lips form a feral grin, all teeth as his eyes shine upon those black crystal earrings. Surely he cannot approach the man yet, but he would be able to at some point.

He owes this man the same kindness shown to him.

But first, he needed to follow his prince. get the boy--Shingo. Gods, he didn't have time to even consider the Moon Heart Attack or how it was swiftly disabled, no time to consider the absolute danger they were in. Just focus on evacuating his target. And this little shit will have the ride of his life as Zoisite warped in cherry blossoms next to the child and grabbed him. Then they were at campus where it was much safer. "Stick near your mom and don't touch anything!" Was all Zoisite said as he swiftly teleports back next to the chaos of the house outside of the ice shield and hovering in the air.

One leg crossing over the other, eyeing Rubeus as cherry blossoms spiral dangerously around Zoisite.

"Hey! You're terribly late! You owe me dinner, Rubeus!" Keep your eyes on me, pretty boy. "Especially on White Day. "

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The Princess of Sarek is about to hit Fake!Ikuko on the head when Rubeus makes his entrance through the roof, causing her tail to puff out in annoyance and her to fall back from the imposter to focus on Rubeus.

"Of course you aren't here to mock us", the moonlit thief addresses the new arrival. "You leave your wit on the staircase much too often. Also, I get this is a real concern with your track record, but would it have killed you to use the door?", she snarks at him with a scowl.

The only silver lining is they have plenty of time to get the repairs in order if they can still convince Usagi's family to get on that vacation after this. Please, let it be not too big an ask. They are absolutely going to try again.

With that pulse of dark energy, the Princess of Sarek moves towards Ikuko, cane pointed above her head while she lets the moonlight accumulate on her cane. "Prismatic Wall!" In response to her call, a barrier of moonlight blooms above Ikuko like lilies.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Not!Kenji gets snatched into a headlock, that would absolutely be unbearable for a human and which is honestly a bit unbearable for a Droid - oh wait. More than a bit unbearable - the neck creaks under her grip, metal buckling, and he fires off half a dozen shots with reckless abandon, peppering the iced over walls, two shots blasting at Amy, even as a panel in his back slides open and he fires point blank at Cure La Licorne.

The light is fading in his eyes, though. Whatever he is, it's not strong enough to withstand this many attacks.

Especially when Venus' Crescent Beam strikes, too. Not!Kenji is hit, right in the forehead, and a hole sizzles through, even as he's neck is crumpled.The body goes limp, heavy in Cure La Licorne's arms.

Not!Ikuko goes for a strike at Sailor Uranus, only for the sword to cut clean through her arm at the elbow and into her chest. The arm falls with a heavy clank, cracking the driveway pavement. Not!Ikuko stares at it for a split-second, looking stunned. "Now, that wasn't supposed to happen... W-would you help me with that?"

And then a dark laser fires from her elbow. How many places do these things have to fire lasers!

Amy's elemental attack strikes, burning a hole right through her back, and causing her interior to begin melting from the inside out. Her false skin burns away, revealing a finely made metallic structure.

When she screams in pain, it's with Ikuko Tsukino's voice.

Not!Shingo isn't exactly hiding, but he's currently trying to briskly crawl away - loyalty is not the better part of valor!

As the fight in the entryway and kitchen continues, the fight in the main areas of the house is only getting worse - but the Tsukinos are kept safe - a prismatic wall of light appears before Ikuko Tsukino, ensuring she the dark pulse doesn't so much as shift her, before her future son-in-law is tearing her away through space and place, until she's -

"Usagi's school?" He said it would be okay. He told that other young man to get Shingo-kun - she's panicking, visibly, until she hears Chibiusa's name, and it all snaps to focus. "Chibiusa-chan - is she in danger too?!"

In a swirl of flowers, Shingo Tsukino is dragged on the same whirlwind ride, and his eyes are huge when he lands beside his mother, who runs for him, clutching him close -

"Okay. Okay, Mamoru-kun, I trust you, please - please protect her - and we'll - we'll make sure that Chibiusa-chan is okay."

She's wide-eyed and scared, covered in white dust from the ceiling collapse, but uninjured, and her son is too, and they're both afraid - but with literal magic happening before their eyes, there's no choice but to trust the boy she's come to love as a son.

Rubeus' face splits with an ugly snarl as the two are taken away, and he dives for Kenji Tsukino, only to catch Madoka's fist to the face -

No. Only to catch Madoka's fist in a darkness-wreathed hand and throw the pink-clad Mahou at Amy, over in the kitchen, with all the force of a cannon.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you too, Veronica," he snarls, snapping at the girl. "You're only what, twelve, thirteen? I think that will make little Usagi-chan squirm, to know you died for her -"

And then he lunges for the shield Kunzite has put up, the force of one great fist coming down enough to cause the whole thing to heave and shudder -

"After I crush her dear Papa's skull."

"You leave my daughter alone!" Kenji yells, defiant - there's a portal in front of him, and a plea for him to walk through it, to safety, but that's his little girl, and that's a grown man taunting her, and even if there's magic and destruction and the house his family rebuilt after the war getting destroyed all around him, there's no way he can turn his back on her now. "Usagi, don't you listen to him! If there's one thing I'm not doing, it's dying because of some -"

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Kenji's cut off by another crash, as another form flies from the whole in the roof, striking out at the dark shield with -

A whip.

A whip, attached to a hand, and a hand to a body that's in gold armor, a red skirt, and a bright yellow bow.

Calaveras of the Spectre Sisters sneers at Kenji, who stumbled back when the shield wavered once more.

"Pathetic ants don't get to talk back," she sneers.

From the darkness, a voice echoes her comments, "That's right! Pathetic ants don't get to say such things about Rubeus-sama!"

The voice is young and furious and the owner flies straight for the Princess of Sarek, punching for the girl with a flaming fist. She's recognizable, but only at a double take - not quite the Koan they knew, but a younger version of around fifteen, instead of the more mature young woman they'd known.

"Dark Fire Fist!"

At the front of the house, a dozen whips of water fly for Sailor Uranus and Cure La Licorne, as Berthier makes her re-appearance and descends from the sky. "Dark Water!"

Joining the attack is a bolt of lightning as thick around as a tree trunk, dropping from the sky towards the heroes - "Crashing Thunder!"

Inside the house, Rubeus smirks.

"What, you didn't think you'd been making progress, all this time, did you? As if we'd let you be the end of the Spectre Sisters."

And he raises a hand, darkness filling the air above the house, creating a dome of darkness that begins to glitter and fall - and his fist is covered with darkness.

"I'm going to destroy your family and your pathetic friends, Sailor Moon. I'm going to destroy your home. And with these four here, I'm going to make sure you watch it all before it's finally your turn. But let's start with dear old dad, shall we?"

The darkness around his fist doubles.

"DARK -"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Attacks fly in a flurry, the copies of her parents going down with screams that will ring in her nightmares for years to come, the sound of her mother's agony something horrible - but Sailor Moon doesn't have time for trauma, not with her father refusing to go to safety to argue in favor of her -

"Papa! Just go, I'll be fine!"

But he's not listening to her, because there's -

A new voice, but not new, at all. The voice of Calaveras, who tortured the students at her old school, who tried to destroy Hikawa Shrine to get to Rei. The voice of Koan, pitched and younger, Koan who had been the first to die, Koan who had tried to crush Junichi's throat, who was trying to kill Veronica now, who was here in her house.

The walls are shaking. Pictures on the walls, falling, their glass cracked. Furniture damaged, thrown, damaged. Walls, creaking ominously, taking more damage -

They actually might have something like youma insurance. She's seen the pictures of the old house, before the war.

For a barely a snapshot of an instant, that thought lingers - that the house of her memories is only a photo, now, that there will be a new house, to replace this one. A before and an after in her life, all over again.

Rubeus swears that he'll kill her father.

Darkness falls, as his dark dome blocks the sunlight from entering through windows and the holes in the roofs, and his power crackles through the air, and in a single instant, she knows that he's going to get through Kunzite's shield.

She knows that he's going to get her father, as his fist comes down, as his lips move, as the attack is cried. She knows that she's going to watch him die if that attack connects, because she isn't fast enough to block him, because she isn't strong enough to stop him, because her attack did nothing and there is nothing and -

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
None of that matters.

She has to save him.

She wants to save him.

She will save him.

Sailor Moon's broach bursts open, the Silver Crystal shining with light like a torch in the darkness, cooling, refreshing, and she could swear she hears a voice singing. The words come to her mind, instant, and she thrusts her arms out.

"Moon Space Crystalize!"

tThe world changes in an instant, as a wave of light and color and energy rushes over them all, bursting out from Sailor Moon and covering everyone in an outward expanding burst of magic.

The house vanishes. The dark dome vanishes. Her father vanishes, whisked away, though the portal remains in front of him, an option of final, lasting safety.

The sky above is no longer patchy with clouds but a vibrant yellow-orange, like water color spread across the sky. The neighborhood is still there, but ever building has softened in shape, some of them off-tilter. Chimneys are wrapped giftboxes, windows are the in the shape of hearts and stars and moons and rising in the distance is a great blimp, with a detailed rose and a crescent moon at its nose, and the ground is softer, comfortable, padded, a bit, like being at the gym. In the very distance, large obelisks of crystal jut from the ground.

Sailor Moon is glowing, for a moment, as the bow on her back doubles in length, her blue skirt gone white with a double strike of yellow and blow, three stripes of yellow on her sailor colar.

They are definitely not in regular Tokyo, anymore.

""- DESTRUCTION!" Rubeus finishes crying, but in that instant of change, there's nothing to hit - Kenji Tsukino is gone, and the enormous of dark energy merely vaporizes a portion of the ground, that slowly pieces itself back together in patches of hearts and stars.

"What - what is this -"

The heroes are in their same positions, but with the house gone, they have clear sightlines on their enemies - and the attacks are still coming for them whoops, don't get too distracted now!

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus cleaves through the arm, takes a blast to her body again, face grimacing from pain she's otherwise ignoring - and then? She keeps on moving, past Ikuko-bot. Because she saw something - something that needs addressing. It's either Usagi's brother, lost in the fray, and needing help - or it's the third fake. She rushes after him to try to grab him - if it's the real Shingo she'd pick him up and away, with too-strong-a-grip, but that grip tells her it's metal instead and so instead she tries to whip the small but heavy and fake body around into the nearest wall.

    After she releases him, there's a rush of water followed by lighting, and after the attack ends - and she's standing, but uniform much more battle damaged and also highly annoyed at being drenched... any screams of pain at least muffled by the water. She can hear the Black Moon Clan laughing, the chaos, the dead talking. And so she rises back to her full height.

    "So you came back! So what! I did it too!" she yells. "But when I came back I still looked good, and when you come back you still look like the runway rejects you are."

    She's too far away to intercept anyone or anything now, even at her speed, with that pain in her leg, with the pain all over from soaking those hits. Damned if she won't try, though... wet and exhausted and in pain and angry as she is, still trying to move towards Usagi, towards the Princess, to cover her.

    It's halfway through her running movement that Sailor Uranus realizes they're not in Tokyo anymore. She stops, turning her head around, looking, wincing occasionally but... This place doesn't seem... bad.

    It's weird, but not bad. Moon Space. Alright. So this is on their side, she thinks. "Alright then... no civilians, no property?" She says, looking around. She's been in a Midchildan Barrier before. "Just leaves one question then." she says, looking up, water still tripping off her, damage clear on her body, but that smirk is there too. She raises her sword, gleaming, and points it at the 4 sisters in sequence.

    "Which one of you wants to be the first one to die twice?"

Zoisite has posed:
Oh, ignoring Zoisite are we? He couldn't help but giggle up until Calaveras tried whipping at Kunzite's shield. With Rubeus distracted elsewhere, and seeing this horrific looking excuse of a living being trying to cause harm towards his beloved set fire to his nerves.

And her earrings shined.

Ah~

Zoisite inhales a bit, knowing well that his prince's permission was as good as gold to go as wild as he wanted to. With every intent to shower both Calaveras and Rubeus with thousands of his cherry blossoms, fit to explode-- everything changes in a bright unwavering light.

New world. No one to accidentally hurt. No houses to destroy. Only their targets in front of them. Oh his grin couldn't get any wider seeing Rubeus' confused face.

"EVERYONE! AIM FOR THEIR EARRINGS!" And with a snap of his fingers, he aims his army of petals down around Calaveras' face.

"Sakura Conflagration!"

And they all explode around her head--

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
AND POINT FOR THE UNICORN! Unicorn versus robot, unicorn wins, HA! Okay, sure, she got... a laser to the chest, but you know what? She won. She stumbled back, had a bruise on her chest, but she was VICTORIOUS and she looked amazing. And if she had to choose bruised with her leather jacket or not-bruised and wearing Rubeus' knockoff military pants? She'd take the former.

She then glanced towards NotShingo. Okay, so she had to--

Oh. Oh dear. It was... wait. Didn't they beat these girls? She wasn't fully up to date, but she'd been getting tabs and...

She only had a moment to realize WATER! WATER NOW! She crossed her arms and-- Ow ow ow ow owwwwww. Okay, right, she was able to handle that. It's not like--

OH CRAP AND NOW SHE WAS WET! She shrieked, her body jerking as electricity coursed through her... And she gripped the wall, steadying herself.

Then, slowly, she took a deep breath. Before she began to laugh. "Oh. Oh wow. You know what?"

"Jupiter and Mercury did it better." Well, to be fair, Mercury kicked her in the groin after her attack, and that probably earned her some points. And Jupiter had suplexed her, so... yeah.

"And trust me, better people than you have tried to kill me and failed, you're not going to do ANY better!"

Behind her... SOMETHING was going on. Unfortunately, she had to focus on the jerks in front of her and couldn't be aware of just how close Mr. Tsukino was to becoming... gone.

Instead? Magic. So much magic. She could feel it, the purification washing away the darkness, the warmth and love of the sun...

"Yeah, the same thing happened whenever I fought Moonie Moon too. But you know what? I got *smarter* about it. How about I show you some *real* magic?" In that she, you know. Stopped fighting her. Also, SHE NEVER TARGETTED SHINGO! WHO DOES THAT?! THE PARENTS ARE BAD ENOUGH BUT SHINGO IS ADORABLE!

She ran at Berthier and Petz and then leaped into the air.

"Stellar aspirational EXPLOSION!"

She held out both her palms towards them before a massive orb of fire formed in them, then launched itself at them. Rather than a standard explosion, it would... kind of explode horizontally when it touched down, like the rays of the setting sun sinking behind the horizon. A setting sun made of purification magic.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
At the same time-- the very same time-- that Usagi's calling down an arena that's as Hug-a-Bunch Land as Wake Labyrinth but in a sort of acid-tripped dreamscape kind of way? And Mamoru's noticing the shift in what his feet are attached to-- at the same time as all of everything going on, the prince is whipping around to throw, with great prejudice, one of his fast-as-lightning steel-strong hurricane-strength roses stem first at the earring on his side of Rubeus, head-on.

This actually, however, ends up with him looking in Sailor Moon's direction, and... stops moving, uh, oops.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
It's not that Rubeus has nothing to hit. Kunzite's shield breaks under the impact, dissolving, and Kunzite himself drops to one knee with a hiss, hand finding the side of his head. There is a miniature rain of sakura petals for an instant as they slide from his cape and find the ground.

But that gives him a splendid angle.

With a hiss of effort, his free hand closing into a fist, he reestablishes a shield. Around Calaveras. Reflecting the half of Zoisite's explosions directed outward back at her. Adding a shimmer of silver to them, a tiny flurry of contagious-purification particles as he clears a little space in his reserves --

He needs the space. He has none to spare. And there should be a subtle, subtle energy there around her, somewhere. If he can keep her inside the bubble, can keep the darkness around her while Zoisite's explosions have her attention ... maybe he can absorb that.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta is wandering into the area, looking largely at her phone. She barely looks up as the world changes around her, and the moon (this is not the moon I know from textbooks) appears about.

Her hair stirs in the presence of so much magic, but she's got this other device in her other hand, and she's kinda doing tech things with it? Not helpful.

Then a laser blitzes past her. Yes she was coming from that direction. And she...pauses.

And freaks out a bit, arms going straight up in the air. Her phone and tracker both go straight up, and her violet eyes go super duper wide!

And she dives for what level of cover she can manage to find, throwing herself behind a gigantic heart emoji. Her voice can be heard, if anyone has time to hear it. It sounds something like random panicked ranting.

You know. Teen stuff. Entrapta on da moon, all.

Jadeite has posed:
The bad news is: Usagi's father is the target. The bad news is: all those dead henchwomen? Not so dead anymore.

Jadeite stares at Koan. Who set him on fire. Who tried to kill a little kid and made Mamoru and Usagi cry. Who called him a butler, which is a title he is wearing proudly and continues to wear, even though he has been DUMPED, even though his best was NOT OGOD ENOUGH, even though he still doesn't fully UNDERSTAND how to FIX THINGS -

He ought to throw up shields. Instead, he throws himself at the nearby Koan with a shriek, one hand in a fist barreling into her guts, the other reaching up to her head to yank her earrings off her physically. Because his attacks can't do that kind of specific focus. But. He. Can.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is caught and thrown at Amy, and she flails through the air for a few moments as she reconsiders her life choices. Melee attacks, she decides, are very much not her thing.

    Yet at the same time, something weird happens, and the space between herself and Amy stretches and widens and Hope Blossom ends up sprawled on the floor, landing in a manner that would hurt were she not in henshin.

    Kamiko took her focus off of Kenji for a moment to save Madoka's hide, but then her attention goes back to Usagi's dad. "Look I really admire the bravery in the face of danger, but now isn't the time! We need to leave now." Rubeus is striking and Kamiko is no longer asking. Witch Runes start forming around him as the Labyrinth starts to draw him in, but the process is interrupted as suddenly everything is different.

    Where did Kenji go? Maybe he's still left inside that house, or what's left of it, with a weird portal in front of him. Kamiko got drawn into Moon Space with everyone else, though a few of her benotafraids were far enough away to not get caught up. Without the watchful eye of their goddess, they are now free to misbehave, and they begin to scatter away.

    It's a good thing they aren't real Familiars. Otherwise there'd be new tiny Kamikos sprouting up in a few weeks.

    Hope Blossom picks herself up off the ground, adjusts her small reading glasses for a moment, and then turns around to frown at the newly arrived constructs. She looks at the now much younger Koan and asks, "Didn't I bury you? There was like... a eulogy and everything. Like you're supposed to be Gone Forever."

    Her branch bow appears in her hands, and she quickly charges a pink arrow and fires it into the air. It grows both in size and intensity as she continues to pour energy into it.

    "I guess if you're copies too, that explains a few things. I wonder... how many times? How many generations have their been of you?"

    The arrow splits into many, but this time their trajectory is different. They no longer move in smooth curves, but sharp angles, splitting and darting around chaotically and unpredictably. Yet Hope Blossom is still in complete control of them, and this becomes obvious as each little arrow eventually manages to focus on the earrings of one of the Spectre Sisters.

    Most of them are actually going after the young Koan, but every one of the baddies, even the Not!Tsukinos, gets a little bit of incidental fire going their way.

    Little Kamiko starts flying behind Hope Blossom. She knows, for a fight like this, she's going to get tagged in soon.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Kenjibot starts firing wildly, and the warning of seeing shots hitting the ice allows Amy to duck back into the kitchen as beams shoot centimeters away from her. "Their brains are in the head!" she calls out, information they can't assume about robots after all!

    Hearing Usagi's mom, the nice lady who hosted her and her friends for New Years, scream in pain sends a chill through her, though.

    Shingo, crawling towards the exit, comes face to face with a pair of red eyes in a soft, fuzzy face.

    The Incubator looks at him for a second, blankly and emotionlessly, before bounding off around the house to find a window to watch through. The abilities of the Black Moon Clan are worth observing for the purpose of estimating how much magic his contractees are likely to expend fighting them, after all.

    Amy is just stepping out of the entryway again when Madoka is thrown at her -- or, was going to be thrown at her, Amy's dodge reaction turns into a flinch as Kamiko demonstrates thinking with portals! Some part of Amy's brain notes to consider portal tactics later in this fight. She glances between Rubeus and Fake!Ikuko and notes but dismisses fleeing Shingo as less important. Ikuko will no doubt be finished shortly. Amy frowns at the mental visual of Rubeus killing Veronica, and crushing Kenji's skull. Kenji...

    Isn't going through the portal. Damn it, man...

    She changes her weapon to the heavier, .59-caliber scifi-looking rifle, and lifts it to sight on Rubeus--

    A whip. Fire. Water, the water that could drain her

    "They cloned them?!" Damn, the others were right the whole time, the spectre sisters were disposable clone soldiers, Amy should not have underestimated the Black Moon Clan.

    Thunder. Amy glances up and runs towards Kenji as thunder comes down behind her, so close, she has dodged four or five attacks in the past several seconds she does not like those odds for her near future--

    She looks up into Kenji's eyes as she runs to him, "I got this." And she holds out the gun, pointed sideways, to make like she's giving it to him but actually she's shoving him towards the portal, and Rubeus is monologuing and that fist is going to--

    Moon Space Crystalize!

    Amy stumbles, and dives as the floor where she just was is vaporized, weapon vanishing as she hits the deck and rolls and looks UP at Rubeus against the backdrop of Sailor Moon's Labyrinth(?!?!?!?!?!??!?!) The pistol is back in her hands, double-tapping before suddenly smoke explodes around her.

    There's a clattering sound as Amy's pistol skids across the floor out of the smoke in one direction. Amy runs out of the smoke towards Sailor Moon, looking up at her hopefully, holding out her corruption-tinged soul gem on the back of her wrist. "Purification. If I can keep getting hit with your purification I think I can reduce how much I use..."

Minako Aino has posed:
Sailor Venus clenches her stomach tight at the sight of Not-Kenji's head snapping back with a hole in it that she put there. It wasn't him. She could still hear Usagi's actual father somewhere behind her while they were all arguing and yelling to try and get him to safety. Somewhere in the back of her mind she's suddenly very, very glad her own parents have already been sent off to safety. Usagi must be frantic.

As the Specter Sisters reappear joining Rudeus (So rude), she peels her attention away from the remaining faux-Tsukino's as the others seemed to have them well in hand. There was another thought on her mind that made her refocus on Rubeus--A promise she'd made to Usagi awhile ago. One she hadn't been able to keep, and one that she had promised herself she would make up for.

She wouldn't let Usagi kill if she was there to do it.

Her heart ached knowing that Usagi was going to be faced with this choice again to save her parents if things kept up as they were. The Love-Me Chain is thrown straight up into the air sending a string of hearts looping up and around her with her hand opening wide. "Created to Protect my Princess, with the power of the Moon and Love, come to me! Holy Sword!"

Light ignites around her, the Love-Me-Chain vanishing in the brighter light, as the Holy Sword is brought forth and her fingers wrap firmly around it.

Without another word she lunges toward the back of Rubeus as the world around her changes with the power of the Silver Crystal. The Holy Sword is brought back over her shoulder as she leaps. It swings forward attempting to divest his neck of his head.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Are we on a first name basis now? I didn't realise, sorry, let me make it up to you. You can join me for breakfast tomorrow morning", she claps her hands together and bows slightly. "You know, we have a pretty solid conversion plan for villains that choose to apply for redemption. Wanna try? It's never too late", she goes back to a standing position.

And Calaveras shows up again, making Veronica grimace. Looks like Kazuo's hunch was right then. She should definitely tell him and Zoisite later. Even better if she can manage to repeat the latter's experiment like she promised.

She instinctively moves out of the direction Calaveras is facing, accounting for a possible attack and raises her cane to point the handle at the woman, her eyes looking for earring. "Nice place, Moon", the Princess of Sarek whistles with wide eyes when the new barrier shows up.

The gathering moonlight starts coalescing, but before that, there is Petz as well, coming at her with a flaming fist aimed at her face, and while she is unable to avoid the flames lapping at her face with the onset of a burn, she is barely quick enough to avoid the punch itself.

"Hey, Koan, did you miss me? I have updating my felinity lately", she swishes her tail and makes her ears twitch. "Are you going to settle for the hairdo again?", she quips at her. With Koan's punch dodged, a beam of moonlight is fired from the cane, aiming at her upper body from the front.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Kenji Tsukino stares at the little floating fairy urging him away, and then he jolts backwards as his daughter's friend comes towards him with a gun - but then they're all just gone, the enemies, the friends of his daughter, his daughter, his future son-in-law -

"Usagi?! Mamoru?! Minako, Amy, Veronica - where are you all?!"

But they're all gone. There's still that strange portal though, and his roof is creaking ominously, so he walks through it stubbornly, into a strange, dream-like world.

"Hello? Has anyone seen my daughter!"

As the world goes strange, the fake Shingo is snatched by Sailor Uranus and slammed into a wall - he promptly bounces off of it, injured and cowering. Lucky for him, that the heroine has more to worry about than little ol' him. For a moment, he stares at the strange, cat-like creature, but it wanders away, and then he crawls away, still terribly damaged, and ends up collapsing onto his side next to a cowering girl with hair that moves.

Not!Shingo stares at Entrapa. One of his cheek's is caved in, the 'skin' ripped away to reveal the metal underneath.

"Truce?"

The world is strange and different unfathomably so, and Rubeus can't say he particularly likes the entire world changing up around him. Koan may have experienced a barrier - the Wake Labyrinth, in fact - but none of the rest of them have.

Attacks fly Rubeus' way, first in the form of flower petals, and he sees a wild grin on the face of the one he'd crushed before, to get him away from earrings a second too late, and feral monster sees feral monster, and calls a bet.

Rubeus flashes away from the coming explosion in a bolt of darkness, disappearing in time to avoid Venus' furious strike as well.

Calaveras however, cannot disappear so quickly, and though she snaps her arm, whip obeying as though it were her limb, wrapping around Zoisite's wrist and hurtling him off his feet, as he calls a warning about the earrings -

But it's not enough to stop the Conflagaration. Calaveras screams as her skin burns, her hair ignites, and her earrings creak under the pressure she pulses dark energy to stop it - only for her own energy to meet Kunzite's, reflecting power back at her, only it's not just Zoisite's power but something glittering and bright that seeps and seeps and seeps and tears and -

She screams and sends Dark Energy crackling down the whip towards Zoisite, but Kunzite will feel it - the energy around her, faint and familiar from the previous experience. It's dimmer now than when it was animating her corpse, but it's still that same energy -

And as he takes, she slows, just a little, enough to not be able to avoid it when Sailor Venus' Holy Sword, which was meant for Rubeus, instead cleaves into her whip holding arm. ...which she no longer has.

"YOU WRETCH!"

Calaveras' blood - and it is blood, or at least something that seems indistinguishable from it - spatters across Venus as she hurls a ball of raw dark energy at the Soldier of Love.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
"You did?" The younger Koan asks Madoka, looking surprised at the news of her own burial and euology. "No wonder they couldn't bring me back like my sisters this time - Saphir-sama had to work so much harder, without my body! I'm even younger than my sisters now!"

She stomps her foot a little, pouting, but then there's the branch bow, that she doesn't remember. She raises her hands, and flames ignite in them, spreading up her arms as she blazes fire from her whole body.

"At least three," she answers, as the flames take out arrows - but there are so many of them firing, and some of them make their landing, pin-cushioning her arms and burning away, wounds cauterizing. "So we can't give up now. We won't."

...And then Jadeite punches her in the gut, and though flames spread across his jacket, she headbutts him in the head - because she's shorter and younger than him now. That punch hurt - but her head probably hurt his too, especially because her skull is metal. Ow.

But he does get a hand around her ear, before she ignites that head in flames - he can try to get her earring - but his hand is burning with every second he keeps it close to her.

Rubeus has appeared a distance away, and Tuxedo Kamen launches a rose at him - and he actually catches it.

The roses break magic, but if you catch them by the stem, and you've got enough strength - well apparently they have to hit to break the magic. He spins the rose on his fingers, then throws it back at Tuxedo Kamen, before taking off high into the air -

And four bolts of Dark Energy fly from him, striking each sister, strengthening them. It turns out villains can learn from heroes too.

This is good for Petz and Berthier - because just as they're strengthened, they're struck by Cure La Licorne's purifying attack. The fire - and the light rip through them, but Rubeus' darkness is giving them even more strength, so though they are as bruised as La Licorne, Petz goes charging in at her, lightning flying.

"We've had worse too! Come on, don't tell me you're as much a discount Moon as you think I'm a discount Jupiter."

And then the bolt strikes across the distance - but it's not as powerful as the first.

Berthier, meanwhile, sends another wave of water whips towards Sailor Uranus.

"I look forward to testing your resilience. Sailor Uranus was such a legend in our world."

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Koan is taking kind of a lot of stress here - she wasn't really expecting it! But - "You know, I don't actually remember you, but I love the ears!" She gets a blast of moonlight to the shoulder, wincing, and she flails a little - "Hey, you big brute, get off of me!" She yells to Jadeite. "Hey, look, the cute one -" she means Veronica, "If you get him off of me, maybe I'll hear out your conversion plan?"

She absolutely will not.

Rubeus calls down, "You know, I'm getting a great social circle from you all, but we're not that desperate, Veronica. But I mean, you're not as desperate as poor Izou Saitou over there, who wants a White Day gift from me of all people."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus starts to parry the water whips with her wind sword - deftly, at that. She's trying to move in, to look for an opening.

    "Come on, I'm a legend in this world too. Don't sell me short." she says, trying to move in. "While you... you're like... way down on the bottom of water-wielders I know. Past several really cool mermaids and two Sailor Soldiers." she tells her as she continues to try to find an opening. To Berther's credit, one's not easy to locate.

    But then she realizes... she's not in Usagi Tsukino's house anymore. She doesn't have to hold back. She doesn't have to worry about, say, testing the earthquake viability of the house.

    "Whatever your problems are... I won't let you keep threatening my people, my friends, my teammates, and my home. I'm a legend, remember?" she asks with a wink.

    And then she speeds up, she makes as though she's going to move in recklessly, then suddenly jumps back, floating through the air for a moment as she collects gleaming orange energy in her palm - a gleaming, multifaceted gem of Solar Wind that she slams into the ground with her callout as she finds a spot.

    WORLD... SHAKING! she calls as the orange sphere rips its way through the Barrier's strange ground and tears towards Bertheir - and at the same time, she leaps back into the air, sword raised high. Earthquake on the ground, windblade in the air, and both are for Berthier.

Jadeite has posed:
Ohhh his head hurts, his head is ringing from his head getting rammed into by something THAT metal and THAT hard - and there's fire flying across his handas he reaches for her earring -

And it hurts. But you know what hurts more? Usagi having to cry AGAIN because her family got hurt AGAIN. His friends being sad AGAIN. Everyone being miserable and having to go to the hospital because someone couldn't keep their flames to themselves -

"Your boss may be a necromance - but mine - doesn't have to wait until I'm dead to save me!" he snarls at Koan, an YANKS - and if he doesn't manage to drag the earring off her ear from sheer force, the amount he's crushing it with his hand might do the trick to DESTROY IT!!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon feels - strange. Maybe it's the massive amount of power flooding out from her, changing the very nature of the world, in a way she's never before done, and which the Silver Crystal has never tried.

Maybe it's her henshin, which flickers with light, before she finally stops glowing, and returns to normal, her skirt blow, the stripes gone from her collar.

But Moon Space still stands, and she kneels on the ground, hands clasped together before the Silver Crystal, praying for this to not end. This is the only way to protect what's left of her house, her father, and her neighborhood -

And if she did it once, she can do it again. If she holds this now, there will be no more Junichi's who she couldn't save - they'll be whisked away, out of danger.

"Thanks, Veronica-chan, I think I made it myself?" She calls in response to Veronica's compliment, and it's so much easier to believe, with all her friends fighting around her, with the world safe and contained.

Amy rushes to her side and - "I don't know if I can spare anything," she says, hones. But she can't turn her friend down either, not with darkness creeping up her soul gem, so she reaches out, with those clasped hands, and brings Amy's soulgem to the Silver Crystal -

and purifying light protects it.

Zoisite has posed:
A gasp, winded, flesh hurting but not enough to stop him. Zoisite pulls away quickly from the whip the moment it gives, watching the woman burn and roast by his flames and Kunzite's purification. It was a satisfying view for him. And hopefully, it gave Kunzite the needed energy.

Quickly approaching, Zoisite kneels down to kiss his beloved on the lips, offering a little more energy just in case. "You're doing amazing, Kunz." Whispers, even as his ears perk up at Rubeus' call.

Then he's back in the air, arms crossed as he watches Rubeus.

"Hm? You call that desperate? Says the man that can only keep the corpses of women around him. No real living being actually thinks you're that charming, Rubeus. But~" More cherry blossoms are summoned, some catching on fire as he grins.

Eyes on me. Keep eyes on me.

"How about you finish what you started, hm? Left me wanting more back there. Almost broke my back. So, so close. Too bad you weren't strong enough to rip my spine out." Taunts. "Poor poor lonely, pathetic Rubeus."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta's mouth opens. "You..are...adorable!" She leans over, looking at the damage. The look on its face. The sparking, the hurt.

Her mouth closes, in a firm like that has been taken by moms since time immemorial. And she steps forward, to get Fake Shinji to safety. "Yeah. I've got you. What happened to you? Don't answer that, I can fix this. I hope. Maybe. I don't know but I'm definitely going to try. Right."

As Entrapta is tug-tug-tugging the evilbot to safety, her phone is sitting there. On the moon. Taking pictures. And checking to see if there's a good internet signal up here, it's curious about how the moon differs from its implanted informational texts.

Ooh, this is interesting.

Tonight is a full lunar eclipse. Visible from earth, the moon will turn a blood red, the earth blocking out a large portion of the light from the sun for minutes! Expect to see it in the night sky above. Bring a telescope!

...

Still tugging, so much to do, so much to do! "So, what's your name? Do you mind if I work with your programming? These are some fun looking connections, I brought some tools with me. I think we can get started right away..."

Honestly. Did anyone expect literally any other response, right now?

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    As Kenji steps into the Wake Labyrinth, Kamiko is not there to greet him. Lydian and Brai, however are. The paint-splotched art chara Lydian speaks first, pressing her tiny fingers together. "Ummm... So like... There's actually a lot to talk about, but..." She hesitates. Where to begin?

    Brai puts a hand on her sister's shoulder and says, "Let's get him to the campus first. It's better if Usa-chan handles this."

    "R-right..." says Lydian.

    Kamiko, inside Moon Space, feels the new guest inside her Labyrinth. She commands the portal to close, and move towards the school. Some of her Familiars decide to play nice and follow along with it. Those that don't... soon find out that they can't actually exist without their creator's influence and vanish in a puff of wispy white smoke and a scattering of Witchscript.

    Don't worry about them. They'll respawn the moment Kamiko needs them again. You can't really die if you were never actually alive. As for Kenji, well... it's going to be a few minutes travel by space-bending Labyrinth and then he's going to be dropped off next to his wife and son.

    Inside the Moon Space, Hope Blossom is firing upon Koan, and the arrows aren't quite getting through. Madoka has finally noticed that Sailor Moon looks a bit different than usual and she says, "Um... Moon-chan? Did you do something with your hair?" Madoka's conversation is cut off, because she has to keep hopping, skipping, and jumping in order to avoid the attacks coming her way. "Is that a new henshin? I really like the shoulder things!"

    But then Moon is back to normal, and Madoka is focusing her attention back on Koan. "Last time we fought you, I had to go all out. This time I was trying to conserve my energy, but... Kamiko-chan? It's time now. Swap out!"

    Rens's leaves Madoka's chest, and Kamiko forms her own egg around herself and merges with Madoka. Hope Concept is here, her Aura is spread all over the area. She raises her Humpty Lock into the air and pours all the love and power of a Goddess into it, giving everyone a notable rainbow buff.

    Then she focuses her glowing yellow eyes on Koan and says, "Three times... so the real you is already gone? That's kind of sad but... it explains a lot." She releases the Humpty Lock, and it stays floating in the air trapped in a sparkling white bubble. Hope Concept pulls back on her branchbow, charging the bolt with immense pearlescent energy. The purifying power of the Locket, with all of Godoka's power, being poured into one single shot.

    She waits for Jadeite to go for the earrings. She waits for her opening and then...

    ... releases the arrow, sending it right for Koan's center of mass.

    Once again, Madoka is aiming to finish the job. Again. She's having weird feelings about the woman she killed having been a droid, and killing another robot version of her again, but she'll have to sort those out later.

Minako Aino has posed:
Sailor Venus grits her teeth with a look of sheer frustration as Rubeus teleports or jumps or does something to evade the swing of her sword. With him gone she's able to fully see the extent of what was going on with Calaveras holding onto the whip--Oh right! HER.

While the Holy Sword doesn't slice through it's intended target, this one is no less satisfactory as the arm goes releasing Zoisite in the process. She almost doesn't even notice the momentary exchange between the Shittenou lovers.

"THAT is for copying my attacks!" Of course, that wasn't the intent, but she would take the W where she could.

When Calaveras responds by throwing a ball of Dark Energy her way, she slides a leg back to brace with the Holy Sword coming up in front of her defensively, arms braced for impact. There wasn't time enough to dodge as close quarters as she was right now and the energy hits her causing her to cry out with pain as it impacts sending her tumbling backward keeping the sword out to refrain from accidentally falling on it herself.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    MEANWHILE, IN JAPAN

    Kyubey is exposed to unexpected novel information that he will need time to process. Someone that isn't a Witch just formed a closed space, and not one of those Device-user Barriers he's seen so many of. To summarize in Human terms: Earth continues to be full of surprises.

    Speaking of closed spaces formed by things that aren't Witches, there's a portal over there by that human. That is worth investigating, and so he tries to bound through the portal.

    BACK IN MOON SPACE

    "Nice Labyrinth, by the way. And nice outfit." Amy asides to Moon, and smiles with relief at silvery light surrounding her soul gem, and

    Everything is happening at once and Koan is insulting Jadeite -- "He's not a brute!" -- and Rubeus is talking about White Day and Uranus is dissing the scary ice chick.

    "They can still be real." Amy notes to Hope Blossom. "We won't leave bodies this time." And she waves her hand, conjuring a half-dozen mini-missiles around her which fly near to the reborn Belthier and airburst, trying to interfere with her attempts to dodge Uranus's attacks.

    Finally, Amy turns to Rubeus. He and the Black Moon Clan have stolen Usagi's life. And when she looks at it that way, she feels a twinge of revulsion to her core.

    STOLE HER LIFE. That's a hatred that even a Witch can feel and understand.

    "Killing us first... You know that's not how it works. If you kill me, I'll still fight you." She tells him, then adds with a growl, "And I won't allow you to leave."

    She doesn't say the part about how she can't be sure her Witch won't attack indiscriminately, and she has no confidence that once the Black Moon Clan are dealt with, she'd be able to hold herself back from lashing out at her friends, too.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A large dog-like benotafraid notices Kyubey's incursion, grabs him by the tail, and throws him back out the portal. Then it makes a noise at him as two words in Witch Runes appear around its mouth. If Kyubey can read them before being tossed out, they say 'no' and 'woof' respectively.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Maskless is staring at Super Sailor Moon, glowing, at exactly the wrong moment-- but he sees Rubeus move in the corner of his eye, and in the barest fraction of a second Rubeus has already caught the rose, and Mamoru's looking up after the rose has already been flung back, because he'd thought he'd missed, and he sees the rose and starts to lift his cape.

At the end of that interminably long half-second there's a bitten-off hiss and Mamoru yanks the rose out of his hand in one thorny pull, and he's grimacing as he leaps away, white glove rapidly turning red. He pulls the glove off quickly, too, eyes starting to irritatingly tear at the pain, and then he glances up, and Jadeite is holding Koan still and-- yes yes YES Madoka's got her, and Mamoru's voice cracks as he slams his injured palm (and the other hand too) on the strange moon-ground Usagi's built to keep it unreal.

"Tuxedo la Smoking Crater! Eat Mare Serenitatis you-- DEAD THING!!!" he yells at Calaveras. "You're a mid medium!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne landed with a light grunt, before lifting her arms up in an X, crossing them and taking the blast...

Owwwwww. Still, Jupiter did it better but that STILL hurt. A LOT! She took a small step back, ever grateful that Pretty Cure powers apparently kept things like 'balance' in check at all times. She barely had to focus on it. "Discount... Moon?" Cure La Licorne asked. "No. I'm not the moon. I'm the SUN!" Cure La Licorne yelled before punching her fists together... And had a moment where she really hoped Mamoru and his boys wouldn't take that personally. Their issues with the sun and all... Eh. She was a sun unicorn. Totally different from a sun demon cougar. Hopefully they wouldn't. Fire erupted around her and she flicked her hand, the heart rouge rod appearing in it... "And frankly, I think you need a tan."

"Scorching ray piercer!"

She applied the magic lipstick, before blowing out and... the rays of sunlight from the weird moon-realm rained down around her before changing form, becoming purifying swords of sunlight. Raining down on Petz!

Of course... she can FEEL it...

"Victory!" Cure La Licorne said with a cocky smirk, crossing her arms and a pair of sunglasses appeared on her head as she posed in a 'too cool for cure' moment... Before giving a light chuckle and making a heart with her hands.

EVERY! DANG! TIME! OH GOSH AND EVERYONE COULD SEE THE CRIIIIINGE! Even if she ended up saying no to the mermaid queen about erasing her memories of Sora, she might say yes to erasing the memories of doing that pose.

However, as the auto pilot was wearing off, she saw Tuxedo Mask... And her eyes went wide when she realized *ow*.

She almost started to head towards him, to cover him... Except she then reminded herself he had like five people here who were EXPRESSLY interested in him being okay. He'd be fine, he didn't need her help. She needed to make sure that Petz stayed down.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"So are you," Kunzite murmurs back to Zoisite, and his eyes are bright with the dust taken and renewed from Hikawa Shrine, and now flecked with sparks of firelight - his reserves full, overfilled.

Then Madoka's blessing races over them, and that warmed-silver glow becomes impossible shifting sparks and motes of color.

He lifts his hands - parts his shields for Rubeus' gift to Calaveras rather than risk them going down a second time. Then the bubble contracts. It doesn't press on Calaveras. No. It retreats over her skin and clothing, as if letting her go; it clusters around the place where her arm had been, a single bubble of blackness hiding the horror from view.

He'd been meaning to save this for Rubeus. But Venus is down; she might be able to parry a bolt with the Sword even from where she's fallen - but he's not about to take that chance. And he needs this one out of the way, before Zoisite's taunting of Rubeus gets results.

"CHROMATIC SAND CONFLAGRATION!"

That smaller shield fills, abruptly, with glowing silver dust, with Izou's blossom-scented flame, with Madoka's enhancing rainbows. All of which is sent in a single burning, purifying bolt into the wound.

It's not nearly as impressive as the Crater, especially from the outside. what it is is ... concentrated.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Now that is interesting news, and something she should really relay to the others once this is over, Veronica thinks when Koan fails to recognise her. The fact she is younger may be of similar importance then, and not a mere appearance switch.

"Suit yourself, the chance was yours, I was feeling kinda sorry for you you started using my first name. I get you must not have a lot of friends if you surround yourself with the dead", the Princess of Sarek shrugs to Rubeus, while keeping her focus on Koan.

She gives a wink at the young Koan. "Aww, really, is that why you are younger? I didn't know you had a thing for me. I am flattered, but coming after my friends kinda puts a damper on our relationship", she tells her with faux concern.

With the exception of the bit about coming after her friends. That was serious, and she fully intends on repaying them with the same coin. The Princess of Sarek starts calling out to the power of the fire ring, and the white light gathering through her scepter is set aflame, shattering into many colours before converging again in a single beam of fire to hurt Koan, at least. "Seven-hued Flame!"

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
"I'm adorable?" Not!Shingo repeats, looking puzzled, and then he's grabbed and then he's being pulled along, and - well, he's a Droid. His job is to trick Usagi Tsukino, and kill her brother. But her brother isn't around, and Usagi Tsukino is currently high above his damage clearance level.

And she says she can fix him.

As it turns out, there is internet here. How? Why? Magic. And also probably because Sailor Moon thinks it should be there, child of the new millennium as she is, and all. In the sky, high above, is a watercolor depiction of the water, amidst the orange-yellow water color sky. It's a lovely blue and green and white marble, that's lazily crossing the sky way too often to depict an actual rotation.

"I don't mind. My creator likes learning new things, and experimenting with new technology, so I don't believe he would mind either. We're supposed to adapt to do our job..."

This is happening now.

Berthier's water whips are expertly parried, but then, Sailor Uranus is paired with Sailor Neptune. Is it really such a surprise?

No. They'd had fun, fighting those two legendary Soldiers, in her time, on their way to the Earth - but this is different, just the two of them.

Berthier keeps striking Uranus and Uranus keeps striking Berthier and honestly, Berthier is finding a terrible time to finally understand why some of her sisters like fighting. Or maybe it's just understanding why some of them like beauty.

Either way, the World Shaking comes, and she leaps to try and dodge - and explosions ignite around her, and cries out, and trips forward - into the direct path of World Shaking, and the earth cracks around her, through her - and the sword comes down.

Berthier gasps a little, and then laughs.

"At the hands of a legend is far from the worst way I've gone."

And she is, in fact, gone.

Kenji Tsukino would love answers - but instead, he's being lead through a world, that shifts and changes, and then - he's in Usagi's dorm room, because a few minutes have passed, and that's where Ikuko and Shingo are, now, in Usagi's dorm room with Chibiusa and Naru.

"Dad!"

"Honey!"

"Our little girl... has so much explaining to do," Kenji says, and hugs his family - including Chibiusa, of course.

In a far less heartwarming scene, Koan screeches as Jadeite absolutely refuses to let go of her earring - and then it happens.

The earring he's grabbed is crushed beneath his grip. And her flames flicker, weakening. Sarek is talking with her, laughing a little, snarking, and she sags, already weakening, her replacement body losing its strength with her power unbalanced, her earring gone -

"You made friends with the people who will go onto hurt my family," Koan tells her, "But I guess that's why you killed me, and why I want to kill you."

Jadeite tells her that his boss can save him while he's still alive - and she frowns. "But he must have done the same, if he's your boss," she says, as her flames weakn, and the enemy surrounds her. "Because even we know this isn't your first go around. I guess he must have liked you more here, because he doesn't have uh... butlers, in our time..."

And maybe it's strange, for this moment of almost normal conversation - but she's realized she's going to die again.

There's a difference in the air - one that could only come from Hope Concept, and though Jadeite has third degree burns on that hand now - bordering on fourth degree, on the tips of his fingers - at least the fire isn't spreading.

She looks at Hope Concept, and then Sarek.

"I don't think anyone's ever buried me, before. So, thanks, I guess. I wish I was the one winning - but this can't be so bad."

And then the arrow sinks into her chest as the seven-hued flames spiral around her, taking her out, for good.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
"Berthier! Koan!" Rubeus calls their names, as the stream of darkness cuts off, as their lives end, and Zoisite will see a flicker of grief amidst the fury, and it's probably kind of worse that he actually cares about these four, Zoisite will suddenly be sure.

"Dead, living, at this point, what's the difference? The living stretch their lives for eternity, the dead refuse to stay down while our business isn't ended - but you're right."

And his eyes darken.

"I should finish what I started."

And then he dives at Zoisite.

Calaveras isn't going down with moments of almost satisfaction, not like her sisters - no, even missing an arm, she intends to fight to the bitter end, and as Sailor Venus is knocked flying back by her attack, she raises her remaining arm to the sky and screams her attack -

"Dark Beam Shower!"

Honestly, Venus could go for copyright infringement, if they both live through this - the dark energy that's fired, is launched up, before falling back to the earth, not as a single beam, but a dozen branching beams, spiraling to strike at everyone on the field.

Everyone.

They all take a hit of dark power, a beam of force that will knock everyone back a step - but even as she's raising her fist to strike again, there's the a sudden burning - stinging - agonizing flash of pain in - in her wound.

As Kunzite gets down to his gristly work, and the purification, fire, and general havoc set to work tearing her apart from the inside out, infesting her body from the stump in -

When the earth shatters beneath her, tearing the ground asunder, sending spikes and spears of the ground into her body, it's almost a mercy.

The ground where she stood is cratered, her body thoroughly, brutally damaged - and Moon Space slowly begins to heal the place that Mamoru cratered, sealing away Calaveras' body.

"Calaveras!"

Rubeus' shout, but he's in the middle of - oh he's in the middle of throwing Zoisite at Jadeite, having completed his earlier lunge. The throw is distracted, half-hearted, by the loss of another of his kind, and in a moment of realization, he cuts off his power to Petz, looking grimly for the bodies.

And Petz watches her opponent wobble, and realized -

"What, like you're Sailor Sun? I thought that was a myth - "

You really shouldn't mock opponents who are actually better than you - Petz is a difficult enemy to beat, but in Moon Space, with the heroes empowered and determined -

With that finisher launched her way...

Well, when Cure La Licorne strikes her pose and makes a heart with her hand, there's an explosion of light and sparkles behind her, like a fireworks show at New Years -

And Petz is no more. Not even a body remains.

Jadeite has posed:
She's dead she's dead she's DEAD -

And also, ow. His body hurts. His body is hurting in the kind of exciting way it hasn't since the first time he died, back on the moon, when Mars gave her all to defeat him. But Mars is not here, and Koan is not Mars, and Jadeite is not going to give her the satisfaction of a reaction before she dies.

"Well. The prince in your future made one choice. The prince in this one made another. What does what happened to another me matter? This MY life. Maybe I died in another time. Maybe the moon was made of pudding. Maybe there's a world, somewhere, where you make good life choices instead of repeatedly throwing yourself on a knife."

He's shaking a little - oh this is goign to SUCK and Mamoru will not be pleased with his injuries, but this seemed like the best way to stop her and, arrows in her chest, she seems thoroughly stopped. "Rest in piece and in pieces. Don't come back."

(Tomorrow, later, when he's not in shock from getting burnt to the bone, when he's had time for the adreneline to settle, he'll think on her words and her age and consider making a shrine or saying a prayer. But for now, he thinks of himself dying on the moon, and he thinks of the damage they both caused, and he thinks of how sad Usagi might be, to know that the cruel Koan was once as much a child as any of them. )

- But before he can think too hard on that, Jadeite comes soaring over and slams into him, knocking him over with him as a pillow for the landing.

"Oof!!" Jadeite says, pillowing himself with a pile of snow. "Zoisite, you had better have annihilated someone because my hand hurts like hell and I would really like a chance for a bandaid from Mamoru before we go chase that puppy kicking freakazoid."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Hopefully for everyone, it's also the last way you have to fall." Sailor Uranus says, her voice a little cold as she feels the sword sink in. To metal, to flesh - she doesn't want to worry about which. It sinks in to the body of an Enemy, of someone who'd hurt Princess Serenity, Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino, the one she is most responsible for protecting, and so this grisly work was her Duty.

    She raises up and pulls her sword away and give Amy Faust a salute for the assistance - and it's right after that where Calervas' dark beams slam into her. It's... one of a series of attacks the Soldier of Wind has taken today - many taxing attacks, compounding from the pain from the kick against what turned out to be a solid metal body. With so many of the enemies down and her Princess in brilliant power, Sailor Uranus drops to one knee and braces herself from falling over completely by sinking the sword into the not-ground. She's now more visibly gasping for air. Which of the attacks took it out of her? The impact from the droid's first or second blast that she aborbed, the combination from Berthier and Petz, or Calevaras' last attack now?

    It was truthfully likely a combination of all of them, plus spending the entire fight pretending like her leg was okay when it wasn't.

    She looks over at what remains of Berther. "Well. Could be worse." she coughs out and chuckles to herself as she slowly moves to sit down on the floor, lest she topple far less dignifiedly to it.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is still kinda in her feelings as Koan goes down. Before the youngest Sister fades away, Hope Concept promises, "I'll pray for your soul."

    Of course, the battle isn't anywhere near over yet. Calaveras's beamspam goes all over the place, and while Hope Concept can fade in and out of existence at will it's not like she can do that quickly in combat terms. She raises her arms to protect her face as the dark beams pelt her, and she grits her teeth to endure her closing shot.

    After a moment, it's over. Everyone is down except for Rubeus. Hope Concept takes a moment to survey the battlefield. It would be a nice place, kinda like her own Wake Labyrinth, if it weren't for the enemy commander here.

    "I feel like we fell down the rabbit hole..." she mutters.

    The tiny Guardian Chara Rens pops out from behind her and says, "Fascinating place. I wish I had more time to study it, but..."

    Madoka's golden glowing eyes go to Rubeus. "We don't have time. This is only getting started..."

Zoisite has posed:
Honestly, he was expecting something with a bit more flair instead of hands on, even if he could get used to manhandling. It wasn't so bad. Being grabbed, that is. But being flung was another animal and Zoisite was utterly offended by two things:

One, being that he was flung at all, at Jadeite of all people! Kunzite was RIGHT THERE you red haired donkey's ass!

Two, it was a distracted flung, nowhere near the power he felt when he was smashed against solid ground a week ago!

Was he looking to get his back obliterated? Of course not! What he actually wanted was some actual bite to the fight instead of--

His body connected with Jadeite's, and it was not nearly hard at all. There was cold, soft snow, and the blond underneath him. Blinks, looking up at his companion fussing about their prince and bandages and if he killed anyone at all.

Zoisite immediately pouted. "I was busy talking to the freak in question, never mind trying to annihilate someone! Do you really want him running off?? I was trying to distract him so you fools could take a hit on him eventually! Which, I might add--"

Sits up, but doesn't get off of Jadeite, green eyes wide. "He's distraught. He's distracted. He couldn't even throw me properly. We might have a chance to actually bring him down." The look on Rubeus' face spoke volumes to him. Like Saphir mentioned before... they were all friends. They were all together. These women were known and cared for.

Finally, he gets off Jadeite and pulls him up. "Thank you for breaking my fall, Tamagotchi. Come!--" Zoisite pulls the other along, in hopes of getting closer to Kunzite and share what he knew.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne stumbled back, skidding on the floor, when that blast hit her. And... huh. Well.... they... were like... zombies, or something ,right? They'd been defeated before? So.... she supposed... purification would vaporize them.

A shame, she wondered if there could have been something good in them. Something nice. Redeemable. Maybe... once. A few deaths ago...

Before she became this monster. Still.... she took no pleasure in it. She wondered if not for the others, would she have turned out like them? A monster who only wanted to spread hurt?

She glanced towards Uranus... Then Mamoru. As much as she wanted to stick around for the rest of this... After all of that? She dashed back to her side. "Before you say anything egotistical, about how you don't need any help, whatever... Moon and Mask have a whole squad of defenders. The rest of your gank squad isn't here," she said, before holding out a hand to her with a grin.

She remembered. That seagull never stood a chance. Better the more hurt ones lick their wounds, right? And as tough as she tried to play it... she had eaten a lot of attacks and she was a lot more spent than she cared to admit. After doing her finisher, she felt, frankly, exhausted.

Minako Aino has posed:
Sailor Venus fights the aches that spring forth from her tumble. The sting of dark energy that had crackled over her skin start to fade as she pushes back to her feet grasping the Holy Sword for balance as she does. Though she's moving slower than she'd like, she fights to regain her feet quickly while her gaze snaps up to focus on Calaveras.

On Calaveras who was currently roiling from some power internally coursing through her to tear her apart followed up by the shards of earth that tear through her entirely. It's over by the time Venus has regained her footing. It's not hard to guess where each of the attacks had come from. Her gaze sweeps over to Kunzite to nod at him a single time in thanks, and similarily the same goes for Tuxedo Kamen.

Then her attention shifts abruptly to swing her gaze around looking for another face. Another head of familiar hair to ensure she was all right amidst the chaos. A moment of panic clenches in her chest until she spots the familiar odangos.

Sailor Moon was still there, still all right. Her family was safe. They all were, even if they were injured. They were *winning* this time.

A fierce grin comes over her as she moves forward to rejoin the others with the Holy Sword raising up again.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
While she does get shot, it's the same as everyone else takes. And they manage to push through it, so she can. Can, and will. But still...oog.

Person needs to be shot once in a while, so they know what it's like. "It's okay, it's alright," she assures the robot. She knows that it's probably scared. Then her eyes go over the field.

Entrapta stands, walking out into the carnage. She takes a deep breath, then she starts to do her job. We call it work.

"I need some parts," her nasal, nerdy voice says. She gets Not Shingo out of the barrier, dropping him on Kyubey most likely, then goes back.

Her little form is visible, wandering around, pulling out wires. Grabbing pieces. Shopping. I need this, I could absolutely use some of those...

This can't possibly go badly. Can it? >.> Naaaaah.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Earthquake. Crater. Dark Beam Shower. On top of the headache from his first shield being broken. Kunzite pulls himself up from the ground, slow but steady, as if the slowness were merely taking time to consider the situation. Maybe that's even true.

(It is not the only truth.)

He's taken less damage than so many of them, though. So he lifts his hands, and glances to Venus - nods back to her - and looks for -

There. Darkness falls gently around Jadeite and Zoisite, protecting them as they move. Hm. That's heat? - ah. He can't repair the damage to Jadeite's hand. He can draw off heat from the burns, carefully. Keeping it from continuing to get worse.

And starting, with however small a dose, to refill his own reserves. At least he'll have plenty of space to absorb Rubeus' attacks.

Not enough space, granted. That ... may be a problem. Somehow he should've scraped out more time to study the works the miko let him copy. Too late now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
He gets a slam of dark energy to the chest and nearly overbalances, and coughs, and wants to scream. Rubeus is still there! Scrambling to his feet, his hand held to his chest as the bloodflow slows, Mamoru glances around-- instant visual triage-- and he locks eyes with Usagi for a second and just loves at her, through the connection between their souls. Then he beelines for his Shitennou, and Jadeite specifically, and he takes one look at that hand and says a little distantly, "You have charcoal for fingerprints." But just as he's looking up and over to Kunzite, the dark shield falls around them, and he understands, he understands. He loves at the white-haired boy, blue eyes fixing on him for a second, and he tilts his head a little and smiles as the back of his hand glows.

Then he looks up at Rubeus and sticks his hand behind his back, and he whispers:

"...tuxedo..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lets out a dramatic sigh of relief when Belthier slumps over dead, and she feels the reassuring aura of Hope Concept spreading out over the battlefield, like a warm fuzzy blanket.

    And then she remembers what happened last time, and jolts from relaxed to a firing position, a rocket launcher similar to an M72 LAW appearing on her shoulder. "This time, I'm making sure. Get back!" She fires, intending to not leave a corpse.

    Darkness rains from the heavens, and Amy's knocked back, that didn't hurt as much as she feared but it's a reminder of how much hurt could still be coming, if they don't take care of the others quickly--

    Rubeus... called out to them? "Oh, now you care about them?"

    "Well, it's too late. For them and for you."

    Despite her words, though, she's not actually sure how to pierce Rubeus's defenses.

    She considers every kind of attack she can do -- his damned magic can stand up to it all.

    ...But what if she used magic others can do?

    "Kunzite! It's time--" She looks over and sees where the glittering purification power was already used, to stop Calaveras and save Venus. Which is good! But also, so much for Plan A. "...Can you make it out of darkness to cancel him out?"

    That's not how it works, so much for plan B.

    But there's the possibility of a Plan C... She just needs a moment to think.

    The Puella Magi turns to Sailor Moon. "Thank you. I'll put the energy to good use."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Take that consolation then", the Princess of Sarek nods, as she commits the theft of a life. Was Koan tired of coming back to their vendetta again and again, the cat thief starts pondering. Her last words sort of felt like she was.

It's not pleasant, seeing Koan's life fade because of something she did willingly, and she wants to look away, but at the same time she cannot bring herself to, because it was necessary and she willingly did it. It is her responsibility to look at Koan till the last moments, and she takes deep breaths all the while. She is not sure if this death is definitive, but she can feel that grief in Rubeus' voice.

Will today make the Black Moon decide to leave them alone? Probably not, and Calaveras' parting arrows feel like they want to get that message across, strong enough to throw her down. But still Usagi's family is safe now, taken away from here, and even Rubeus floating in the air is not enough to erase the relieved smile from her face.

"I hope your parents were looking for an excuse to redecorate", the Princess of Sarek gets to her feet and approaches Usagi. "We can make it a group project, if they want to when they return from that vacation."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Outside, Kyubey is tossed out on his little white keister by a Familiar acting like an Earth dog. He doesn't really... react to that. After a pause, he makes his way up to what's left of the roof and curls up there like a cat. He will wait and observe who comes back. It will be important to know if any of the Earthling magic-users are defeated: They will be stretched thinner, less able to prevent him from recruiting Puella Magi, and Puella Magi will be forced to burn through their powers and become Witches sooner. Clearly, that would be the preferable outcome for the good of the Universe. u u

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Throughout the fall of the Sisters - again - Sailor Moon holds the barrier. It takes everything she has to offer, to do it, but she does. Because she has to, and she wants to, and she can feel the world singing with her, as she does.

It sounds like the voice of her Mother, the Moon Queen Serenity, who raised her, loved her, and died for her. It sounds like the voice of her mama, Ikuko Tsukino, who pushed her, challenged her, and sheltered her. It sounds like her papa, Kenji Tsukino, who's always, always tried to protect and encourage her, who's always said she was on her way.

It sounds like the voices of her friends, those here in the fight and those outside of it, and all their love.

It sounds like the world. Takuto was right. It wasn't a prompt - it's that this is everything snapping into place.

This is how they win. Working together, fighting together, and ensuring that their enemies are stopped here and now.

Veronica asks her a question that makes her giggle - and her smile returns, warm as the sun. She looks at her, and shrugs, "If they weren't, we're going too now. Good thing that cruise is going to give them plenty of time to think about it, right?"

A deep breath, and she looks to Mamoru, and her eyes are full of love enough that the Silver Crystal's glow brightens yet further.

"Everyone," she calls, and she's a little breathless, pushing out power without halt, without stop, every second, "We've got this. One more fight."

For her family, and for theirs. For their shared world. For their shared city.

They just have to keep going.

Around Entrapta, the world thins, narrows, forms a circle exit, the shape of the full moon. She can leave, and she can enter, as she pleases. Near Sailor Uranus and Cure La Licorne, a heart shaped exit appears, showing the world outside the barrier, if they would like to get to the real world and watch for any other coming threats.

It's not a conscious thing, but a subconscious awareness of this world that Sailor Moon needed and thus created - for her enemies to be IN and her allies to have a way OUT -

And for the allies yet to come, to be able to make their big damn entrances.