Sailormoon Long Drabbles: sm_monthly challenges
Magic, ain't like the old days...
by blue
Well, Tsukino Usagi was really at a loss for words at the sight before her. Behind her, she could hear her friend and ally, Sailor Venus cursing under her breath and saying things like: "I knew I never should have trusted--" and "This is what they do during their free time--?"
It all started innocently enough. Minako and herself had discovered they had more than blonde hair in common. They had, also innocently enough, giggled over their magical pen and compact whenever they could sneak away from their guardian cats to really slack off and have fun, do their homework (especially English) flawlessly, and play random dress-up with manga and fashion magazines that they snuck from Minako's mother. Until, one day...
"M-Mina-P!" Usagi looked aghast. "Am I going blind?"
Minako squeaked in equal dismay behind Usagi and they turned to look at each other in horror. "What did you wanted to be, Usagi-chan?" Minako whispered hoarsely as they eyed each other's outfits cautiously, too thunderstruck for words.
"To be like Ayumi-san," Usagi half wailed when she could no longer deny the ugly, bright orange and green velvet jumper she found herself in. Her hair was a deathly greenish yellow and the make-up was more like a horror show during that American holiday she heard of - Halloween.
"How could this be?" the two blondes wailed and hugged each other in dismay and horror. They had quickly swacked their magical stick and compact a few times to see if there was something wrong. By Monday, when they got their horribly graded English homework back, they knew something was wrong...
...but what?
Well, as luck would have it, Sailor Venus woke the groggy Usagi up this night and demanded to know if Luna was still home. "Mina-P, if she found out you used our communicators for this..." Usagi trailed off and half fell back to sleep before Sailor Venus popped through her window and dragged the disgruntled blonde out of bed.
"Wake-up!" Sailor Venus shook Usagi silly. "We must continue our Top-Secret Op to discover and destroy all those who dared to mess with the heroines of love and justice!"
"I want more sleep... Okaa-san!" Usagi murmured but was wide-awake once she found herself dragged in her PJs, through her window, and out into the Tokyo night.
"Mina-Pee--!" The rest of Usagi's wail was muffled as Sailor Venus bounded all the way to the Crown Arcade with a disgruntled Usagi flailing in her arms. "Wah! If you wanted to play the new Sailor V game, couldn't you wait until tomorrow?" Usagi demanded once they landed in front of the store.
"SHHHH!" Sailor Venus hushed her, blue eyes so intense they shone unnaturally under the street lamp. "Don't you want to know who messed with my compact and your magic pen?" Venus asked in such a loud and fervent whisper that she might as well not have been whispering. Usagi hushed, grumbling that she'd rather be sleeping since Venus had woken her from her wonderful dreams with her Mamo-chan and a bunny field in ice-cream land... or something like that since the memory of the dream was slipping from her mind rather quickly.
But what was supposed to be an innocent escapade - at least, for PJ-clad Usagi - turned out to be a plot against her royal guard and the Princess of the White Moon herself! Inside the dark cavern of the Crown Arcade...
"Look Luna, this one should really teach 'em!" Artemis giggled, which was a surprise in itself since, well, at least Usagi had never heard Artemis giggle. What was even more surprising was that Luna was also giggling and they were looking over some of the ugliest costumes Usagi had ever laid eyes on. Then, to her utter horror, she saw Luna reaching for her magic pen. Then before her dark-cat guardian could finish the crime...
Luna got up, walked over to a leaf-like weed and started to play with it. She rolled around, giggling and hiccupping from lack of oxygen intake, before trouncing around the room chasing her shadow and her tail. Artemis watched her impassively for a few moments before a leering smile came over his lips and he turned towards what both blondes recognized immediately to be Minako's compact. "Oh no!" Sailor Venus gasped when they saw which page of the magazine Artemis was on...
Usagi clutched at her broach to change, but realized that she had left it at home. But she might as well have saved her breath as Sailor Venus raced passed her in a blonde blur and entered the room with a bang. "I am Sailor Venus!" Usagi heard her friend shout out, stopping the activities in the room dead. "And in the name of love, beauty and blonde magic girls everywhere, I will punish you!" At the end, Venus turned back and winked knowingly at Usagi.
Artemis looked at Venus blankly for a few moments before he began to giggle again. Luna paused for even less but, to Usagi's horror, began to head in the direction of her magical pen again. Usagi, watching the blood-vessel pulse in agitation at Venus' temple, prayed that her girlhood heroine will be in time to save the day...
"Venus Love-me Chain!"
Or, at the very least, Usagi prayed she wouldn't have to be around to explain the damages to Motoki-san in the morning...
