Serenity in Battle (Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

(OOC: PM me or Jilak about it. We do ask you be fairly active, though. )

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"

The feminine shout could be heard for quite a ways in the forest. The animals had already left the area, the two fighters involved had created quite the havoc.

A pink haired girl known to her homeworld and fans as Sailor Chibi Moon had what resembled a sword pointed forward. It was rather stupidly fancy, made of pink, silver, and clear crystal. A bea of silver tinged pink energy had shot from it moments earlier.

A white haired pretty boy of a man in a white suit burst into what would probably best be described as digital distortions. Sort of a blurred mosaic tile effect. The attack passed through the energy before he regained his human form. He scowled at the girl, who seemed annoyed.

"Look, I was minding my own business..."

"You've killed people! I know this is another dimension and the power of the Moon Kingdom does not extend here, but as a Sailor Soldier it is my duty to protect all worlds!"

Chibi Moon let the Chibi Moon Kaledioscope dissappear in pink sparkles and began rushing at the white haired man. He narrowed his red eyes, preparing to jump out of the way of the impending kick... this girl was stubborn, he'd give her that. What was she trying to prove?

(OOC: In case you forgot, here's what Chibi Moon looks like right now (pink and red one, at the bottom): mangastyle.net/book5/v5-32.jpg)

[Jilak]

-Flashback(FOR GREAT JUSTICE)-
It was a simple job. Pick up the piece, and haul tail back to the ship. The Alliance would've never known. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan... then again, it never DID. But this was... this was worse. Mal had simply stopped to look at a few schematics of this 'portal generator' in the middle of the room. Didn't seem to be online yet. No trouble yet...

...until Jayne walked in.

"Gorram it, Mal, would you just pick the thing already? Wash says we've got Alliance coming, and I'm not staying here to-" He'd made a mistake, leaning on a nearby console. Mal was quick to pick up on it, but not quick to get out of range of the portal.

"JAYNE, DON'T TOUCH THA-" Mal had managed to yell before he was pulled inside. He didn't come out the other end.

"...least he left the piece."

-Dimensional Island-
Well, that wasn't as long a trip as he'd expected. The first thing he noticed was that the portal wasn't nice enough to drop him back on Serenity. Which was good. What it did drop him on, however, was dirt. Lotta dirt.

The next thing was two... oddly attired folk. Now, Mal wasn't a 'shoot first, ask questions later' person. He wasn't the hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne. He WAS, however, a 'pull gun out, ask questions, shoot' type of person. As such, he pulled free the pistol he was carrying from its holster, pointing it at the two in rapid succession. Might've looked a bit silly.

"Anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on here or how I missed Halloween?"

[mugenginga]

Zero and Chibi Moon both seemed extremely startled by the interference. It meant that the flying leap Chibi Moon had taken to kick the pretty boy didn't even get so much as a "Chibi Moon Kick!" shout. Zero sidestepped and she crashed into the bushes, rolling several times and showing that the suit piece of her uniform was more like a swimsuit that one might realize. Thankfully, because otherwise Mal would have gotten a pantyshot of a girl who looked thirteen on the generous outside. Not that it didn't technically qualify as one, anyhow.

Zero looked in the bushes Chibi Moon had rolled into and then down at Mal's gun. Why did people always have to use guns. He pointed at the weapon, "Would you put that thing away?" He seemed irked.

Chibi Moon jumped out of the bushes and gestured towards Zero, "Please get to safety! He's a dangerous monster!" she shouted. She would have said "virus", but that probably wouldn't have been taken well. So she went with monster, which was fitting enough.

Yeah. The pink-haired scantily clad pre-teen had just told the gun wielding ship captain to get out. A total implication that he was a mere bystander and would get hurt if he stayed nearby. The white haired man seemed annoyed at both the new arrival and the frilly skirted girl.

[Jilak]

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does my gun bother you? Well, the fact that I'm still in the dark about pretty much EVERYTHING right now bothers me as well. So the way I see it, soon as someone tells me where I am, and explains what just happened, I can put this here firearm back in its holster. But until then you both might as well be Reavers." Mal finished his miniature rant, still holding said pistol high. He didn't take into account the fact that he was probably the only person here to actually know what 'Reavers' were...

"'Safety'? The only place I'd call 'safety' is Serenity. And since the portal was nice enough to drop me in the middle of some... odd organic place, I dunno where she is." Mal continued. By 'Serenity', he of course meant his Firefly. Didn't stop the double meaning there from being humorous.

Another point to make is the fact that he was facing down a living virus holding a laser pistol. The author of this post isn't entirely sure how far Zero's powers extend, but... is pretty sure that it was a bad idea either way.

[mugenginga]

Chibi Moon blinked. Serenity? It wasn't a place, unless you counted Mare Serenitatis aka the Sea of Serenity. Which wasn't the seat of the Silver Millenium like in the distant past, but still functioned as an outpost of sorts. But somehow she didn't think he meant it like that. And the civilian, armed or not, was refusing to run. Which meant she'd have to protect him.

Zero scowled and the fingers on his left hand twitched, but he ended with a sigh, "You just got here, I guess. You're on Dimension Island, some screwed up nexus for the dimensions. You know, realities, the multiverse? As for what happened, I got sent here thanks to some glitching computer program. I don't know about the princess over here or what the hell a Reaver is. Would you mind putting that away now? I don't like guns. I'm also not nice towards them."

To make his point he let a large amount of digital distortions dance over both of his hands, making it obvious so the arrival could see. Chibi Moon glared at him as he called her "princess". Yes she was, but even her time didn't know that the crowned Princess Lady Serenity Usagi Tsukino was in fact the Sailor Soldier of the Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon. And if the man said the wrong thing, she quite feared for the civilian.

She ran in between Zero and Mal, holding her arms out to either side. In her right arm the Chibi Moon Kaleidoscope appeared in a flurry of sparkles. She turned her head ever so slightly so the man could hear her better, "Please just leave! This is not a place for civilians!"

Oh, this was just wonderful. The princess, obviously of some warrior culture with an odd taste in dress, was putting herself between Mal and the pretty boy who could do strange things on his hands. She had summoned something that looked to be best for bashing people over the head if it wasn't so delicate looking thanks to screwy pink sparkles. She had called Mal a mere civilian, as if being a princess didn't make her enough of a governmental figure.

This didn't seem like it was going to end well...

[Jilak]

"Oh, well then... thank you, sir, with your... well-lotioned hands." Mal noted, putting his gun back into its holster at the digital distortions. And then the oddly dressed girl with the odd hair oddly stepped between him and the odd fellow. Oddly.

"That's nice, young lady. But I'd actually like to talk things over with the fine gentleman over there. He seems to have his head on his shoulders, other than not knowing what Reavers are. By the way, those are basically people who went mad at the edge of the universe. Plainly put, if they catch you, they rape you to death, rip your skin off, and sew it into their clothing, if you'll excuse my language." And then a thought occurred to Mal. Something that hadn't exactly come up in conversation before.

"...even if I WERE to follow the advice of a twelve year old, where exactly would I be running TO? I don't know the terrain here. I'm more likely to fall off a gorram cliff than anything."

[mugenginga]

Zero was rather interested by this. The new arrival didn't seem startled by his threat. Not only that, he was choosing to ignore "Chibi Moon" thanks to her apparent age. It was rather humorous. He smirked and glanced down at the Sailor Soldier, "Yes, why don't you run along? This is a conversation for adults."

Chibi Moon scowled, "As you so blatently pointed out, I'm not just a kid! I'm Princess Serenity, heir to the Silver Millenium!" She turned to Mal before he could react to her introduction, "And despite my appearance I'm over nine hundred years old! That man is dangerous and he won't hesitate to destroy you if the whim strikes him!"

She hoped Zero wouldn't attack her in front of this man. The fierce look in her eyes actually supported her claim that she was not twelve. It was that of a warrior. She still had the odd weapon in her hand. It really looked like a glorified kaleidoscope set into an ornate hilt-like handle. With far too much pink for any real weapon. It didn't even look like it could be used to bludgeon with, as it seemed rather delicate.

[Jilak]

Wait, wait, wait... princess Serenity? As in Serenity Valley? Well then, it was time to b-wait, wait, wait. Did Serenity Valley even HAVE a princess? Mal didn't REMEMBER one. Nor a ruling family, for that matter...

And then there was the fact that she was, apparently, over nine hundred years old. At which point, he stopped suspending his disbelief. But Malcolm wasn't the type to say 'I don't believe you, shut up' or anything of the sort. Instead, well...

"Oh, so you're a princess? Should I have brought tea, for Governor Snufflekins? Do you take your pretty pretty kaleidoscope to meetings?" He asked, patting her on the head. Now, the fire in her eyes did say she was a warrior, yes.

But he was still pretty certain she was 12.

[mugenginga]

Zero couldn't hold in his reaction to that. He burst out laughing, and it seemed for a few moments tears were going to stream down his face. Oh, this was more priceless than some of the antic's he'd seen Susan pull. He didn't really know too much of the Sailor Moon franchise, but this man had totally just decided that the girl was playing dress up. In the words of so many online chatrooms, that was "epic win."

Chibi Moon's entire face twitched as Mal patted her on the head. He was treating her like she was five, not even the twelve he thought she was. She tensed up and a huge scowl spread on her face. She mentally told herself to relax. At least this man didn't know of her home world like practically everyone else on the Island. She pointed the kaleidoscope at Zero. He was laughing, she could get an attack in. And maybe prove to this irritating man that she wasn't a little girl playing a dangerous game of dress up. She probably startled Mal as she shouted.

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"

The kaledioscope all but exploded in fragmented beams of silver and pink light, which gathered on the tip of it and shot towards the still laughing Zero. It looked like a beam of silver energy with spiralling glass-like shards of pink energy. It advanced at an amazingly quick rate, comparable to the laser from a laser gun. Zero looked up as Chibi Moon finished shouting her attack and realized he wouldn't have time to dodge it. He tsked and burst into digital distortions. The beam of energy, which had finally left the kaleidoscope, shot past the distortions.

As Zero rematerialized with a huge scowl on his face towards the sailor soldier, the beam of energy she had fired off hit a tree a few feet behind where he had been standing. It crashed into the trunk and a sizable bit basically exploded off. A few remaining pink shards burst outwards and vanished in a series of sparkles as the bits of tree that had been blown off hit the ground.

All of this probably blew poor Mal's mind. The "pretty pretty kaleidoscope" had just fired off a fairly large blast of energy. To dodge said energy, the white haired pretty boy had burst into distorted reality comprised of small squares. Said pretty boy had rematerialized in the same spot none the worse for wear, aside from a nasty glare. And the pointlessly flashy beam had done some pretty significant damage to a tree, the gouge looked a good inch deep at the worst part.

"Serenity" was returning Zero's glare. It seemed that her action had gotten them refocused on each other.

[Jilak]

At this point, there was really only one suitable thing for Mal to say. I mean, really. He'd just seen a little girl fire a laser at a man that turned into digital distortion to avoid. A bit weirder than people who went mad at the edge of the universe...

"Da-shiong bao-jah-shr duh la doo-tze... did you just...? Did she just...?" Mal uttered, in complete shock. He'd honestly ducked, covered his head, and reached for his own laser pistol once the shot was fired. Took him a second to realize that it had fired from her kaleidoscope. At which point he slipped his weapon back into its holster, and slowly got up.

"Listen, ah... I believe you 'bout not being twelve and, all, but... from my standpoint, it looks like you just attacked this fine gentleman over here, unprovoked. Now, maybe that's how things are run here, but where I'm from, at that point we shoot the 900 year old warrior and invite the snowy headed gentleman onto your crew." Mal stated, backing away a bit. That... was unexpected.

[mugenginga]

"It was unprovoked," Zero almost growled, "She happened to catch sight of me and because of a little disagreement we had earlier decided she'd "punish me in the name of the moon'. I swear those are her words, not mine."

Chibi Moon had been about to give a rebuttal to Mal when Zero made his speech, "Little disagreement!? You're a destructive virus and you broke the heart of an innocent! How is that little!?"

Zero growled, "The point is you all but launched yourself at me when I was just minding my own business! How is that proper of a, as you put it "soldier of love and justice"!?"

They seemed rather busy with their own argument. But considering some of what Zero said Chibi Moon had stated, and no argument from her? Yeah. "punish you in the name of the moon" and "soldier of love and justice" - not helping her seem like less of a little girl, really. Oh, and she totally just called Zero a virus.

[Jilak]

Well that was an... interesting argument. Zero was apparently a virus. And as it turned out, Chibi Moon was starting to seem more and more like a little girl. And really, it WAS possible that she had a laser hidden in her kaleidoscope or something. Highly unlikely, considering what had happened, but the small girl being a 'soldier of love and justice' was even less likely. It did bring a question to Mal's mind, however...

"...now, when you say 'broke the heart of an innocent', how literal are we talkin' here? Maybe she/he said something bad about his parents when you weren't lookin'." Mal continued in rebuttal, waving his hands a bit. That whole 'run away' option was starting to look a bit better.

[mugenginga]

Chibi Moon could tell how badly this conversation was going for her. Zero found Mal's continued reactions amusing. Chibi Moon hesitated for a moment before turning to Mal, "That means he pretended to be someone he was not and betrayed the love and trust of a friend of mine!"

"Your 'friend' was a delusional crackpot of an otaku who needed a good wake up slap anyhow," Zero growled.

Chibi Moon seemed to be getting more frustrated, "You can't trust him! Please, I'm not saying this to be rude or trite. He is a computer virus capable of deleting people from existance!"

Zero said nothing, waiting for Mal's reaction to that. He did, however, keep his scowl towards the sailor soldier. It might work out that Mal abandoned any trust in the "little girl" without his intervention.

[Jilak]

And now Mal had pretty much decided that the young girl was delusional. Perhaps having a fun game of 'make believe'. But he didn't have time for this, as interesting as it seemed. He needed to get back to his firefly, so he could punch Jayne in the face.

"Such large words, for such a pretty soldier princess. Run along now, and fight the evils of hate and crime." Mal probably made a small mistake in patting her on the head again. But still.

The more humorous part? Back in his homeworld, Mal was harboring known fugitives. Not only that, but part of his job meant stealing things.

[mugenginga]

Chibi Moon would have growled, but she had to remember her position. Mal did not come from a world where the peace of the galaxy were protected by pretty suited sailor soldiers. He didn't know of the Silver Millenium or the beatiful Neo Queen Serenity. And Zero had a point. He really wasn't doing anything wrong at the moment. She sighed and shot a glare at Zero, who smirked in response. In a flurry of sparkles the kaleidoscope disappeared. She bowed towards Mal, "I will fight to protect you if it comes to that, but only because it is my duty as the heir to the Silver Millenium."

She straightened up and stomped off. Zero watched her go before taking a few steps towards Mal, "I apologize if she caused you trouble. She's rather annoying, isn't she?"