#reignstorm

“Setsuna… please… I can’t…”

Suddenly, a rose scraped across Setsuna’s face, causing her to release her grip, allowing Usagi to roll out.

“All of you, please, come to your senses!” Tuxedo Mask pleaded.

“Oh, quiet, weak link.” Haruka said, backhanding Tuxedo Mask into a wall.

“MAMO!” Sailor Moon cried.

“You should be more worried about yourself!” Hotaru said as she slashed at Sailor Moon with her Silence Glaive, which the Guardian managed to just barely avoid.

Suddenly, Usagi heard Naru’s voice come from Haruka’s communicator, “I got the package, pull back for now.”

“Alright. Everyone! You heard the lady!”

And just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

“Package? What did she-” Usagi began to ask, before hearing a chime from her communicator. She flipped it open to see Venus, with dirt and several scrapes on her face, “Venus, what happened?!” Usagi asked, panicked.

“Naru, she… she took Ami…” The Guardian of Beauty said, defeated.

Usagi felt her stomach drop, “No… no no no no no. She… she’s…”

“Usagi, I know it’s a lot to take in, but we don’t have time to waste. Meet us at the arcade. Venus out.” 

With that, her friend’s image disappeared from the screen. Usagi turned back to normal and collapsed onto her knees, “She’s gone…”

…

Ami awoke slowly. Her entire body ached, her head was pounding. When she finally managed to open her eyes, her blurred vision kept her from fully processing everything around her. If she didn’t know any better it looked like she was in a… cave? As her vision cleared up, she was even more confused to find a small table with a cup of tea sitting in front of her.

“What the…?” She began before looking down at herself. She had been set down in a chair made of stone, which she probably would have noticed sooner if not for her already persistent body aches. What was more concerning, however, was that she was no longer transformed. She frantically began feeling around her pockets for her Crystal Change Rod, but quickly realized that it was no longer in her possession.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Ami heard from behind her, before seeing Reign walk into her field of vision, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure how you liked your tea.”

With a wave of their hand, Reign conjured a second stone chair and sat across from Ami.

“What did you do to it? Is it poisoned?”

“Miss Mizuno,” Reign began cordially, “why would I go through all the trouble to bring you here just to poison you? Oh, and also…” Reign continued, reaching into their cloak and pulling out Ami’s Crystal Change Rod, “I believe you dropped this on your way in.” They finished, placing the Change Rod onto the table.

Ami picked it up, and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. Originally she suspected it to be a fake, or that it had been tampered with in some way. However, upon examining it, this did not appear to be the case.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Ami asked, confused.

“Call it a show of good faith. Because, Miss Mizuno, I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition?”

“Yes, you see… I have a few components I need, and only a few short days to gather them.” Reign explained, “However, one of those components, arguably the most important one, is hidden beyond my reach.”

“And that would be…?”

“The Golden Crystal. Located in Elysion, the capital of the fallen Earth Kingdom.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I have no idea how to get there.” The blue-haired girl said, crossing her arms.

“Oh, I know.” Reign said, reaching into their cloak and pulling out a familiar object: Ami’s handheld supercomputer, “But this does.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Every drop of information possessed by the Moon Kingdom resides within this computer.” Reign explained, gesturing towards the device, “Some information is buried deeper than others, but it’s all right here. However, there’s one problem. The computer cannot be accessed without your password.”

“So you want me to unlock it for you?”

“If you could be so kind.” The masked figure said in their icy cold voice.

“Release your control over my friends, then we’ll talk.” Ami bluffed.

Reign let out a maniacal laugh in response, “Oh, but that’s the best part. I’m not controlling them. I couldn’t even if I tried.”

Ami was stunned, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, “W-what are you talking about? Ail and An-”

“The space elves were easy. Their connection to the tree made invading their minds child’s play. You Sailor Guardians, on the other hand, are much more unwieldy. So rather than attempt to control them, I instead opted to free them. I can influence them to an extent, but ultimately? Everything they’re doing and saying is courtesy of the darkest corners of their own minds.” Reign clarified with a sadistic glee in their voice.

“What about Naru?” Ami asked, still processing what she had just heard.

“Ah, the Osaka girl, she’s an interesting one. So much potential, I thought it was a shame that it was all wasted on a mere mortal. So, I opted to correct that.”

“You’re not making any sense.” Ami replied, frustrated.

“It doesn’t matter.” Reign said, dismissively, “The point is, I cannot undo something I’m not doing in the first place.”

“Then I guess I can’t unlock that computer.” Ami said, obstinate.

Reign let out a large sigh, before rising out of their chair and causing the table between them to disappear with a wave of their hand, “I just want you to know, Miss Mizuno,” They said as they placed their hand atop Ami’s head, “I truly didn’t want to do this.”

“Don’t- what’re you- stop! I- gaah!” Ami cried in pain as her body became flooded with dark energy. In an instant, everything went black.

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Yadda yadda, I'm not great with combat, you know the drill.

Apologies again for the long wait between updates, I am hoping to be better about that in the new year.

But what are Reign's plans for Ami? And what do they want with the Golden Crystal?

You all know by now, to find that out you'll have to keep reading (:

Come back next time for Chapter 10, and until then let me know what you all think! Comments, reblogs, etc. are very much appreciated!

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