Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A few days later, Shingo found the coolest spell in the book. He could create a pocket dimension! It would be like his own secret clubhouse, but no one could bother him!

He held his crystal ball in his hand, feeling cool as he tried to focus. He had to focus on gathering energy in a spot for a while, which was difficult, and he kept losing track of it and having to start over. He almost gave up. But he was a super special superhero with powers! Superheroes never gave up! So he continued, and finally got enough mana concentrated in one tiny spot.

“Dimensional Realm!” The light in front of him seemed to spin and distort. Wind blew past him into the spot. It felt like forever. Then it stopped. His room looked exactly as it did before. He was somewhat disappointed, did nothing happen? He tentatively stepped into the corner of his room, what he meant to be the permanent anchor point of the dimension.

And he slipped, just barely not dropping his crystal ball. He could see nothing, not even himself. It was absolute darkness. The floor beneath him was slippery, but was the only thing there, or rather not there? The book didn’t make very much sense. It went on and on about existence and nonexistence and the fabric of reality and the dangers of ripping it or whatever, but he was just making a Shingo-only-no-sisters-allowed-clubhouse so it didn’t apply to him. He created an illusion of a lightbulb above him with a whispered “Illusionary Wave”.

It lit up the room, but not the actual room. He could see himself, but the rest of the room was still absolute darkness. It was darker than the blackness between the stars at midnight, so much so that he couldn’t tell where the edges of the room were.

He tried to stand up but couldn’t. It kinda felt like there wasn’t anything there, even though he was laying on it.

“So cool!”

He reached over to the entrance and pulled himself back into his room. He went outside to get some dirt to put on the floor of his pocket dimension. The book suggested wooden planks, but he couldn’t exactly cut a tree down. He hoped his parents wouldn’t notice the hole in their backyard. Luckily his mom was out with friends today so she didn’t see him carrying dirt into the house.

After putting the floor in, he spent the next few hours playing around in the pocket dimension, using illusions to decorate it and expanding it. It was when he left that he noticed a problem. The mana was gone.

Not completely gone, but mostly gone, to just above the levels outside. He had managed to use up more mana in a day than the entire week he had the book.

Shingo let out a word his mother would have punished him for. He had to fix this, or he wouldn’t be able to do magic anymore! He looked into his book, looking for a solution. It always had a solution.

Energy Draining

There are multiple spells to drain energy, but at their core they have one purpose; to make someone else’s energy yours. Energy draining spells are usually associated with criminal sorcerers, but more benign ones use them as well. For an average person who doesn’t use magic, they will not even be aware that they have mana, and at most will experience a slight feeling of emptiness at being drained.

Life energy is the exception, which can even kill people if they are drained enough, so into is suggested to only drain life energy if you need to cast a healing spell.

Because of the negative connotations, I would recommend keeping energy drain discrete. It can cause public panic when they learn about it.

He just got the best idea. It was so brilliant, he was sure no one had ever thought of it before, and would result in no suspicion on him. Whoever had this book last couldn’t have thought of it, because that was years ago. Which meant he had to be the first person to do this, so no one, if they were aware of magic, would ever suspect him.


First he had to set up his pocket dimension. Using Dimensional Alteration, he shifted where his realm existed and didn’t exist. He bent the edges to form four rooms with a small space between each one where someone could walk through.

He bent the edges of it to create four rooms, one of which would be his personal one. There was a small door between the sections, but he figured he could just use an illusion to cover that up. After all, “the only limit to an illusion is one’s imagination”!

It wouldn’t seem realistic without sound, though. Illusions were a lot easier to create in here than outside, but his first attempt at making sound just made a screeching noise. He covered his ears and quickly stopped it. “Owe!”

He tried again, but with less effort. It made a quieter screeching noise that varied its tone.

“That’s annoying,” he said to himself, then had a thought. “That’s annoying.”

He paid careful attention to how his words felt, then copied them.

“That’s annoying,” said the wall to his right in his voice. Aw yes! Nothing stops the great sorcerer Shingo!

He finished setting it up, then left his pocket dimension. He knew the perfect place to put the entrance.

The sun hung low in the sky when he reached the Game Center Crown arcade. He snuck past the owner and headed to the corner of the arcade, which was luckily unoccupied for now.

“Dimensional Anchor!” A glowing portal appeared in front of him. He looked around to make sure no one heard him. It was a temporary anchor point to his pocket dimension, “Illusionary Wave.” He created the illusion of a booth around the portal, labeled with large letters: Live Action Battles!

He walked in to wait for the first people.


“Motoki, is that new?” Mamoru asked his friend as he walked into the arcade. He pointed at the door in the corner that said “Live Action Battles!” but would just lead to the alley outside. Four laughing teenagers ran out of it, talking excitedly to each other.

“No. I mean yes. That shouldn’t be there,” his friend said.

“I’ll check it out while you close up,” Mamoru told him. Those enemies he kept being forced to fight… this felt exactly like something they would do. Even if he couldn’t control his powers, he couldn’t let his friend be targeted by them. Then again, they also weren’t exactly in the habit of leaving their victims unharmed.

“I’ll come with you. It’s probably a prank some kids pulled, they always give me a laugh.”

Mamoru didn’t think so. Those kids leaving it sounded like it was real. But her couldn’t argue that without telling him why he would think so. It probably wasn’t anything bad, anyway. Those targeted dozens of people at a time, not just a few. Still, he made sure to enter in front of Motoki.

They entered an all white room with four pedestals, each with a weapon on it. A sword, bow, whip, and staff. A booming deep voice came from the space around them.

“Choose your weapon!” It sounded a lot like someone trying to make their voice sound deeper than it was.

“This is pretty advanced stuff,” he said to Motoki.

“I definitely didn’t install this.” Motoki took the whip. “It’s holographic.”

Mamoru took the sword. It didn’t feel like anything was in his hand; though his eyes said it was there, his fist was closed around nothing.

“The evil wizard Boaron has been summoning monsters. You must slay them and restore peace to the land of sunrise!” The room changed from all white to empty plains with glass walls surrounding them. The pedestals disappeared. It was eerie how he couldn’t feel the grass brushing up against his ankles. The ground still felt like dirt, but unstable, as if it wasn’t going to slip at any moment. It was kind of like those virtual realities from sci-fi books. But this was real life. It had to be some sort of magic.

“Okay, this is weird,” Motoki said.

Sludge monsters started appearing from behind the glass walls, moving through them as if they were nothing. Mamoru cautiously swiped his hand through one; he felt nothing, but there was a sucking sound effect.

“You lost a life,” Motoki told him. Mamoru looked up and saw it: a red heart with a two inside of it. Motoki’s had a three. “This is kinda fun!”

Mamoru looked over to see Motoki swinging the whip at several of the sludge monsters, each one making a sharp sound and disappearing when he hit it. Mamoru hit the one closest to him with a shing sound.

“These sound effects sound like a little kid voiced them,” Mamoru complained. Maybe it wasn’t the Youma after all. They weren’t exactly in the habit of employing children. A rock fell on his head, which made him lose a life. “That is so unfair.”

“Can’t you have a little fun?” Motoki asked him.

“Someone came into your arcade, added a new room that doesn’t make sense, and you’re just playing it?”

“You’re right. I should charge people admission for this!” Motoki whipped the last blob, losing a life in the process. “If it is a prank, it’s the best one I’ve seen.”

“You have successfully defeated the Tainted Plains!” A door appeared on the glass wall. Motoki ran up to it and opened it, walking through.

“Be careful!” Mamoru shouted. He wasn’t convinced it was safe yet.

“Don’t worry so much! This is the most interesting thing to happen all year!” Mamoru could do with a little less ‘interesting’. Between his dreams, jewelry ‘borrowing’, and being summoned to defend a girl he didn’t even know, he had enough on his plate.

The next room was a forest, though all the trees were outside the glass walls. Giant spiders crawled towards them. One spit a web at Mamoru, which he dodged, and ran forward to slice it in half. In a swirl of movement he dodged the other spiders’ attacks and slew them all, leaving nothing behind.

“That was cool, dude! You’ve been holding out on me. Did you take fencing lessons?”

“No…” Mamoru looked at his hands. Even fake, he had no idea how he did that.

“You have defeated the Infested Woods. The evil wizard Boaron awaits on the Showdown Mountain!” A door appeared in front of them. They walked through.

Now the floor looked rocky, and dropped off beyond the glass door. It still felt soft like dirt. A boar standing on two legs and holding a staff roared at them.

“That’s Boaron? Who came up with this?” Mamoru complained.

The boar roared at him and started floating. Purple balls of magic shot out of its staff, aimed at both Mamoru and Motoki. They both dodged.

“How are we supposed to get it if it keeps flying in the air like that?” Motoki huffed. Mamoru wished for his roses before remembering it was all fake.

Boaron dropped to the ground for a moment. Motoki whipped it several times, but when tried to stab it, it hit him with the staff. His life went to zero and his sword disappeared.

“You have lost all your lives. You must start over to play again.” Mamoru rolled his eyes but kept his guard up. This was where the Youma would strike.

Without Mamoru, Motoki lasted only a minute.

“Game over!” Boaron disappeared and the room returned to white, except for a door appearing. They had to go through two doors before returning to the arcade.

“Maybe it’s some sort of state of the art holographic that they’re testing here,” Motoki suggested.

“Inside your shop?”

“Maybe. It’s a good disguise.”

“Without asking you? I think your prank idea was more likely.”

Mamoru frowned in frustration. If it was the Youma, he couldn’t report it to the police. Only Sailor Moon could defeat them, and he had no way to contact her. He would keep an eye on it, but was there anything else he could do?

Motoki walked over to the door to put a cost sign up when it disappeared. He waved his hands around and felt the wall, but there wasn’t no trace of it. “We didn’t imagine that, did we?”

“No. We didn’t.” That wasn’t like the Youma at all. If they’re changing their tricks, Sailor Moon was in trouble.


Shingo sat in his pocket dimension, feeling like he wanted to cackle. But only villains cackle! He was a hero, he was laughing in joy. He held up the ball of Earth mana he had collected from the adventurers, especially that last couple. He yawned.

He went to leave, then paused. If he fell asleep, he’d lose all this mana. So what was he going to do with it?

Chapter Text

It took a few minutes for Shingo to find the perfect spell to spend this mana on. He took the ball of mana floating in front of him and closed his fist around it, his other hand holding his crystal ball.

He squeezed the mana psychically and physically, focusing on solidness. “Mana Transformation Compression!” Then he felt something cold in his hand.

It was a yellow rock around half the size of his hand. Gold! He was rich! Shingo shrieked happily and ran into his room. He was going to make more! So much more!

He grabbed hold of the metallic mana around him and pulled it into a ball in his hand. “Mana Transformation Compression!”

He unfurled his hand, but it was not gold that lay there. It was silver but partially see through, like a mirror without a back. This wasn’t gold! He ran over to check the book.

Mana Transformation Compression

By compressing mana into an object, it will take on its object properties. For Earth* that is gold, an altogether useless metal. Do not think you can create great amounts of it either, for this is one of the most mana intensive spells known to us.

A weird starter, but he had figured it was just because it was so old. He skipped past the instructions to a note on the bottom of the page.

*Other planets can create other objects, most are just as useless as Earth’s. The most important two exceptions are the moon and Saturn. Any attempt as compressing Saturn’s mana will result in an explosion and the immediate death of the user, so should you somehow have the chance, do not try it.

The moon, on the other hand, has utilized this spell to be the dominant power in Sol. They create ‘silver crystals’ (not to be confused with the infamous Imperial Silver Crystal) which can store and amplify magic beyond the ability of gems. These crystals can even keep a spell cast without a sorcerer maintaining it. The Moon Kingdom hordes these crystals jealously, trading them sparingly, and to Earth, almost never. If you have the chance to create one of these, do so. The royal family pays generously for silver crystals.

Royal family? Like the emperor? Or some other country? But more importantly, he could keep spells going with this! No more waiting for hours in his dimension as people go through it, he could make it collect mana automatically!

More than the gold, this was awesome!

He created several more crystals in his house. The mana levels dimmed. He brought these with to his pocket dimension and experimented.

“Illusionary Wave!” He held a silver crystal in his hand instead of his crystal ball. The first room’s illusion sprung around him. He carefully placed the crystal down and withdrew his focus. The illusion stayed.

He repeated this process for the other rooms, then went back to the first room. He added the pedestals to the back of the room, but it would be one background the whole time now. A counter would count how many kills each player had, but he couldn’t figure out how to make the door only appear upon taking out ten, so it would have to be based on the players being honest.

He wasn’t quite alright with that, but wasn’t willing to spend more time on it. Work was boring.

When he finished with the insides, he left the pocket dimension. Now he just had to add the entrance in the arcade.


Usagi Tsukino bounced into the arcade. “Hi Motoki!”

“Hey Usagi. Back to play more games?”

“Yup!” She had just finished school, and came here to avoid Luna’s nagging.

“Didn’t mom say you shouldn’t be coming here right after school anymore?” Shingo asked from behind her, making her jump.

“Hey! She did not!” Usagi turned away from him and stomped away, right into the chest of a stranger.

“Hey Bun-head. I know you’re happy to see me, but you don’t have to give me a hug.” Mamoru looked down at her amusedly.

“You jerk!” Usagi stalked off in the direction of Live Action Battles. A new game!

“Don’t go in there!” Mamoru shouted at her. “When did it reappear?” he said much quieter.

“You’re just jealous that I’ll be perfect at it and win everything!” she shouted back. She went in.

It was a grassy room with four pedestals. She ran over to the bow and grabbed it. So elegant!

Her hands went right through it. The bow was carried along with her hands anyway. Sludge monsters started appearing at the edge of the room.

“Ah! Help!” She ran away from them, only for others on the other side to go towards her. She tried to run past them, but got hit by one.

She didn’t feel a thing. She blinked. It was all fake! Of course! She fiddled with the bow a little, getting an arrow to appear when she touched a little ornate design on the center. She took aim and missed.

Her vision turned brown as a sludge monster overtook her from behind. Then a loud, deep voice reverberated through the room.

“Game Over! You lose!”

“That’s not fair! I didn’t know how to play!” Nothing happened. She stomped out the door angrily. Shingo was standing there laughing.

“You lasted less than a minute! This guy was all ready to go after you, but he couldn’t even get there! Bun-head’s an empty head!”

That jerk Mamoru looked relieved. How dare he! But… Motoki was going to run in after her? How romantic!

“I’ll be back here. And you’ll be sorry when I beat it all by myself.” she told Shingo.

“You should focus more on your grades. If they’re anything like the one you threw at me you need it. Don’t bother going back to that game.” the jerk told her condescendingly.

“They’re fine!” she told him, then stalked out of the arcade. Only Motoki liked her! And Luna, of course. She should tell her about it! It could be good training for her Senshi duties.


Shingo giggled to himself as he left the arcade. Their mom didn’t actually declare no arcade for Usagi, but she was so easy to prank! Usagi was going to be so mad when she went home to find her cat gone. The stupid animal kept sleeping in his bed and scratching him, so he cast a spell on it to make it smell really bad. Mom kicked it out right away!

He ambled back towards his house. Usagi’s reaction would be hilarious. It seemed that he missed it though, because when he reached home it was quiet.

He shrugged. Mom probably told her off or grounded her when she complained. Then he saw it: the cat was walking out of Usagi’s room. He and the cat both froze.

It would take another two days for the spell to wear off. Since it already did, that meant one thing: enemy action. His enemies, obviously those monsters fighting Sailor Moon, knew about him! He was too powerful for them to fight directly, so they sent an agent in their place. A cat, to tear at his time and his flesh!

The cat slowly backed up into Usagi’s room.

“That’s right,” he taunted it. “Your days are numbered!”

“Stop being so mean to Luna!” Usagi came into the hallway.

“It’s evil!”

“No she’s not. See?” She picked up Luna and held it out for him. He cringed away. He ran out of the house.

“You won’t defeat me!” he called to it. “Mom won’t let you keep that beast!”


He went to the park to make plans. They were promptly derailed when he ran into his friend Mika, knitting a tiny skirt for one of her dolls.

“Hey Mika!” Shingo called to her.

“Hi Shingo! I haven’t seen you outside of school lately. What have you been up to?”

“Oh, you know, the usual,” he said nervously. He couldn’t reveal his secret identity, not even to her.

“Reading too much manga again?” Mika laughed.

“Er, yeah,” he said, looking down. He felt bad lying to her. He changed the subject to something he could be more truthful about. “My sister’s got this new cat. It’s really terrible and keeps messing up my room!”

“You really don’t like cats.”

“I’d be fine with a different pet.” One that wasn’t evil! Or a cat, but same thing.

“Maybe you can convince her to get a different pet. There’s a new pet store nearby.”

“That’s a great idea! You’re the best.”


As they walked into the pet store, a strong scent of perfume filled their noses.

“Doesn’t it smell good?” Mika asked.

“Yeah. I think it’s coming from the animals over there!” Shingo pointed at several cages. They had strange rabbit-like things in them.

“Hello. Are you interested in a chanela? Each of them emits a perfume.” A tall lady with red hair walked up to them. “Their scents are all different from each other.”

Shingo peered at one. It looked kinda strange. But it was so cute. His thoughts vaguely felt foggy. “I’m going to buy this chanela.” It was his voice.

“I’ll have this one. But they must be expensive.” Mika walked up with one.

“You can pay me whatever you’d like,” the very nice lady told them. As long as he had a chanela, there was nothing else he would ever need.


Shingo walked into his sisters room. Her cat walked up to him, but he just kicked the stupid thing. “For now on this chanela is my pet. Get rid of that cat.”

Usagi’s face broke. She fell to the ground and tears fell from her eyes. “Stop being so mean to Luna, Shingo!” Shingo felt a tiny strand of guilt, then remembered that all he needed was the chanela. He walked out of her room.

“Shingo, come have some tea,” mom asked him.

“Sure.” He sat down and played with the chanela on his shoulder while his parents made tea. Usagi was called down, Luna walking next to her.

“That new pet does smell nice,” his father said.

“It doesn’t need to be fed or cleaned up after either.” It was the best.

“That’s one economical pet!” His dad took another bit of a biscuit.

“I do admit it’s cute,” Usagi said, looking at chanela.

“Why don’t you keep both Luna and chanela?” dad suggested.

“No way!” Shingo’s slow mind searched for a solution. He started loving the chanela when he looked it in the eyes. So. His sister need to look it in the eyes!

He picked up the chanela and put it in Usagi’s face, eye to eye.

“Shingo, what do you think you’re doing? I, it’s so cute. Chanela.”

Shingo took his chanela away. It was his and Usagi wouldn’t have it! He ran away to his room and closed the door. Usagi would definitely be coming in any moment now to take his chanela.

He ran into his pocket dimension to hide. The chanela started to turn to dust.

“Chanela! What’s happening!” It disappeared completely and he blinked. The mana from it, as he forgot to turn off the mana draining spell for it, felt dark and slimy. He did not want it.

Except he did just a minute ago. It was brainwashing him! Enemy action! Superhero Shingo must go to the rescue and defeat whoever made them!

He ran out of his pocket dimension to go to the shop. He snuck out his house–his family were in their rooms now–and was on his way to the pet store when he remembered the other person who bought a chanela. Mika!


He knocked on the door. “Mrs. Kayama? Can I see Mika?”

“It’s awfully late,” Mika’s mom told him.

“Please?”

“Alright, for a few minutes since you walked all this way.” She let him in. He quickly walked to her room and closed the door behind him.

“Mika?”

“Shingo?” She was sitting at a desk, staring at a glowing chanela. It was draining her!

With Muscle Reinforcement still active, he ran forward, took his crystal ball out from under his shirt, and grabbed the chanela. He whispered, “Energy Drain,” and it crumbled into dust. He shivered at the slimy mana entering his system.

“Chanela! Wait, what was I doing? What did you just do?”

“No time to explain!” He ran out of the room and out of her house. He had to destroy that evil monster! He would save the city!

He ran up to Pet Shop Perfume. The lady that sold him the chanela was standing inside.

“The store’s closed. But I could make an exception just for you if you want to buy one of our chanelas.” Her voice was sweet and kind.

“I won’t buy another! I know what you’re doing! Brainwashing those poor and innocent people!”

“Meddling child. You have no idea what you’re up against.” The woman’s skin turned green and scaly. Her body enlarged and grew a tail, bursting out of her clothes.

“A dinosaur!” Shingo stepped back. The book didn’t have any advice on dealing with dinosaurs!

“I’m a Youma you idiot. I am Iguara, now die you pest.”

Shingo froze in fear. This wasn’t supposed to happen! “M-m-mana drill!” Nothing happened. He ran, the Youma right on his heels. “Sailor Moon! Help!”

“No one is coming to save you!” Iguara wrapped its tail around his body. He struggled weakly but held onto his crystal ball.

“Mana Drill!” He shot a ball of mana wildly, glancing off Iguara’s scales. Her grip on him relaxed for a moment and he slipped out, running away. She chased after.

“How dare you chase after innocent boys? In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!” Sailor Moon was here! Shingo ran behind a bench and peaked out.

Sailor Moon’s frisbee attack was spinning away past Iguara. She must have dodged it!

The Youma was running at the heroine, flexing her tail.

“Mana Drill!” Shingo stood up and went through the hand motions of his attack. Brown swirls in the shape of a drill appeared in front of him and spun, flying through the air and hit the distracted monster.

“Ah! You’re still here? I’ll destroy both of you then!”

Sailor Moon leaped over Iguara’s head, her frisbee moving towards her from where it landed. She turned around and threw it at Iguara. “Moon Tiara Action!”

It spun through the Youma, turning her to dust. Shingo cheered.

“We did it!” He ran towards Sailor Moon.

“Shingo? What are you doing here?” she asked.

“How do you know my name?”

“Uh.” She froze and turned around, facing away from him. “I know many things. Away!” She jumped onto the roof of the pet shop and ran away.

That was weird. What was her problem?

Chapter Text

“So there I was, fighting the Youma, dodging its tail, when Sailor Moon appeared! She threw her magic frisbee and it cut the Youma right in half!” Shingo made sound effects as he relayed the story.

“That’s so cool!”

Shingo was explaining the events of last night to Mika. She needed a little proof that he could really do magic, but he had plenty of that. All it took was discreetly levitating her an inch into the air, and boom! She believed him.

“Isn’t it? I’m like a superhero!”

“Do you think I can learn magic?”

“Sure! It is very difficult though. You need a lot of focus.” They reached the cross-section where they had to split ways.

“Bye Shingo!”

“Bye!”

Shingo walked into his house with a smile on his face. Usagi was already there, with the possibly-not-evil cat of hers.

“I’m surprised you’re home so early, lazy bunny,” he mocked her.

“I don’t always have detention!” Usagi argued.

“You said it, not me.” He walked past her.

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“Yeah?” What else would he say to her?

“Ow! Oh, nothing Shingo. I got to go.”

She sure was acting weird. He shrugged. Wasn’t his problem.



Shingo sat in his pocket dimension, grinding his teeth. The game kept changing stuff when he was away, mostly minor things like the sludge monsters looking like grass or Boaron forgetting to fly. Worst of all, he had no idea why! The book had no explanations on how to use silver crystals.

He projected the various illusion spells into his crystal ball to see them better, and fiddled with them to reset them. Some boys were playing it, but they couldn’t see him. His heart raced every time they stepped near him, but didn’t so much as glance over him.

The teens playing floated into the air and flew towards the entrance. Shingo stood up and looked around. A enemy! He looked around for whatever did it, but saw nothing.

“This place is a death-trap,” a female voice muttered from the entrance. Then she spoke up louder. “It was a bad idea to not put any safeguards on the crystals.” He peaked through his wall and saw a black cat there. Wait, was that Luna? He knew that cat was evil! It was his time to be like Sailor Moon and slay the evil!

“Mana Drill!” He formed mana in front of his hand and spun it into a drill shape, shooting it towards the cat. She jumped out of the way and countered with several small stones thrown his way. He ducked behind the wall. His eyes widened. That could have killed him!

He hid inside his main room. “Dimensional Alteration!” He began squeezing the entrance shut.

“You are to return all Silver Millennium artifacts to me. I don’t know how you got these, but they aren’t yours.”

“Silver what? I made everything myself!” He never stole anything! The monster alien cat was insane.

Luna jumped through the closing hole. “Shingo?”

“I knew you were a Youma!” Shingo shouted at her. “Mana Drill!”

She deftly jumped out of the way. “I’m not working for the Dark Kingdom. I’m fighting against them.” Her crescent mark glowed.

Shingo felt his limbs lock in place as he started to float. His crystal ball tumbled to the ground. “I don’t believe you! Help! Sailor Moon!”

“Shingo,” Luna wavered for a moment, “How did you get these crystals?”

“I made them. They’re mine!”

“How would you–oh. Of course. Shingo, the reason you could do that is Usagi is Sailor Moon.”

Shingo froze his struggles. “What?”

“The mana you must have used to create these crystals must be from her. As Sailor Moon, she is powered by the moon, so has the same kind of magic.”

“Usagi couldn’t be Sailor Moon.” Sailor Moon was cool and powerful! Usagi couldn’t even get to school without tripping and falling at least once.

“It’s hard to believe myself.”

“Luna! Why’d you go running off in here?” It was Usagi’s voice.

“Your brother,” Luna shouted back. Usagi came running over, eyes widening as she saw them both.

“I didn’t know you could make people float!”

“That’s not what’s important right now!”

“Shingo? Wait, you were the guy who helped me last time?”

“You really are Sailor Moon?” Shingo said like a question.

“Yeah,” his older sister said.

Shingo fell back onto his feet. Freed, he rubbed his arms. “I can’t really believe it.”

“Me neither, to be honest. Luna just showed up one day and was like, ‘Usagi here’s some magic powers go kill things!’ and I was like ‘Okay’, and then Tuxedo Mask saved me!” She got a dreamy look in her eyes. Ew.

“I do not sound like that.” Luna frowned. Her face was surprisingly expressive for a cat’s. “Anyway, you shouldn’t be doing this. During the Silver Millennium, stealing mana like this was a crime punishable by years in jail.”

“What’s the Silver Millennium?”

“A time thousands of years ago, when there was a kingdom on the moon. It was destroyed by the Dark Kingdom, which is inhabited by Youma. I was sealed away to reawaken now.”

Somehow, Shingo thought it was a little more complicated than that. But he didn’t really care about crusty old kingdoms. “Why does that matter for me? It’s not hurting anyone. Besides, I can help! Usagi can’t possibly defeat Youma on her own.” Even if she was Sailor Moon, she was still his sister.

“It’s true that Earth doesn’t seem to have very many magic users,” Luna deliberated, “and I don’t trust that masked man.”

“Tuxedo Mask is great!” Usagi argued. “He’s going to fall in love with me and we’re going to go on fantastic dates in fancy restaurants…”

“There is one thing fantastic about that.” Shingo rolled his eyes.

“It will happen!”

“Now there’s two of them,” Luna muttered. “Shingo, where did you learn magic?”

“This book.” He waved Terran Sorceries and Magics at her.

“A book on magic. There must be more modern day sorcerers than I thought,” Luna said.

“No, it’s really old!” Shingo protested.

“It’s written in modern Japanese,” Luna pointed out.

“Maybe my great grandfather was the last sorcerer in a long line, leaving me heir to all his knowledge and the most powerful sorcerer on Earth!” Personally, Shingo thought it was pretty likely. All heroes have that kind of backstory. Luna did not look convinced.

“Shingo, you can keep your mana stealing scheme.” Luna jumped and spun in the air. A metal rod with a screen popped into existence in her spin. She pawed at the screen for a bit then held it out to Shingo. “Use this on your silver crystals. That way only we will be able to access the mana in them. Do not tinker with the settings. And when you fight, you’re staying back. Do not get near the Youma. You do not have the physical enhancements that the Sailors have.”

“Okay.” He took the magic wand. “Wait, I do have physical enhancements! I have a spell for it.”

“Even the most efficient spell isn’t anywhere near as efficient as the Senshi transformation. Not to mention you don’t have nearly as much mana as she does, even newly awakened.”

“Prove it.” His sister had been stronger than him his entire life. He wanted to win for once!

“Moon Prism Power, Make Up!” Usagi’s clothes were replaced with Sailor Moon’s. She knelt down on the ground and held her arm out to arm wrestle.

“Muscle Reinforcement!” Shingo knelt in the same position and grabbed her hand. He pushed her arm down, reaching the floor. Victory! Shingo is the strongest!

“I wasn’t ready! No fair. Rematch!” Usagi yelled.

“Sure.” He smirked. He’d just beat her again! He grasped her hand again and pushed, but her arm didn’t go down. She slammed his hand into the floor.

“Ha! I’m still stronger than you, baby brother!”

“Hey!” This was no fair at all.



It was almost a week later that Shingo was finally brought in for a Youma fight. Apparently his sister fought a Youma over a cassette player and there was a car chase, which would be really cool, but forgot to tell him about it until it was over! Even as a superhero she was such a brat.

Apparently a celebrity called Mikan Shiratori was doing some sort of contest to help people like Usagi become famous. As if that was how being famous worked. Everyone knew all famous people had real talent!

So Usagi entered the contest, which also explained the weird noises coming from her room recently. Then everyone passed the auditions and started to act weird, which Luna took to mean it was a Dark Kingdom plot.

So now they were sneaking into Shan Shan Plaza before the show. He felt like a ninja, casually walking around somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be as if he belonged, all stealthy like

As they approached the stage, he noticed something strange. “Shouldn’t the audience be starting to show up?” They were only a few minutes early.

“I don’t think there will be one.” Luna points her paw at Mikan, standing by the other competitors. “I sense something dark over there.”

Someone broke the front door down. Several people wearing black clothes with golden buttons and holding staves with gold carvings ran into the room. “Hands up! This is the authorities! Mikan, you are under arrest for crimes of conspiring to commit mass assault. Cast no spells and come in quietly.”

Did those guys have magic spells? Where they sorcerers? Was there sorcerer police? What?! Why did no one tell him about this? He got the genre all wrong!

“Ahaha! You are fools to challenge me. I am Derella!” Mikan morphed, her hair disappearing and her skin turning green and shiny. Her dress tore only a little. All the competitors on stage dropped to the ground like the life was sucked out of them. She shot green web at the sorcerers, trapping one.

“It’s an evil spirit! Lethal force authorized. Seconds one through four, west point! Eight through eleven, east cover!” The man who first spoke up ordered the rest.

“Usagi, transform!” Luna hissed.

“I dunno, those guys look like they’ve handled it,” Usagi pointed out. They were pretty professional.

Four of them went right and were throwing small sheets of paper, flew through the air in such a way that they had to be using telekinesis. The four of them that went left put their staffs together and a golden beam of light shot out towards the Youma. Shingo strained, but didn’t catch any of the words they were shouting.

The Youma shrugged off the paper and dodged the beam, shooting one web that covered the left sorcerers and another that caught one near the center.

“No, they cannot handle it!” Luna admonished her. “Sailor Moon, you have to go!”

“Okay! Moon Prism Power, Make Up!” While Usagi was powering up, Shingo lifted up a special necklace under his shirt that Luna gave him. With a press of a button an illusion washed over him. To an observer, he got an extra foot in height and was now wearing a sailor’s outfit. An actual one, not the weird one with a skirt his sister had.

Usagi jumped onto stage. “How dare you ruin the dreams of all these innocent people wishing to be famous! I can’t forgive you. In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!”

“Sailor Moon! This is the last time you’ve meddled with the Dark Kingdom’s plans. I’ll kill you!” Derella shot web at her. Shingo hastily re-aimed his spinning mana drill at it, knocking it off course.

“Girl, run away! A battlefield is no place for you,” shouted the man. He held up his staff and chanted, “Spirit Banishment, Begone and Destroy!” Red circles radiated from his staff at the Youma. Derella shrieked in pain and spit web at him. A woman tackled him to the ground, making it miss him.

“Moon Tiara Action!” Sailor Moon threw her tiara at Derella, cutting her in half and turning her to dust.

“Ahem.” The man in charge was back on his feet. “I am Minute Saitou of Elysium, guardians of the Earth. While we appreciate your aid in defeating this unusually powerful rogue spirit, I would like to know just who you are.” The other sorcerers started cutting away the webbing around their trapped comrades and looking over the Youma’s remains.

“I am Sailor Moon, guardian of love and justice!” Usagi posed. Shingo remained hidden. Talking to people was exactly where his sister shined. At the cost of being bad at everything else. Saitou looked irked.

“I meant your name. I gave you mine, you know. It isn’t polite to keep secrets from your elders. But I do understand if you wish to keep it secret. We are, after all, probably unknown to you, and I’m sure your parents warn you against going off with strange men. But I can assure you that Elysium is affiliated with the government. We want nothing more than the protection of innocents.

“Which is why I would like to extend an offer to you. Reports show that you have already destroyed several of these recent spirit attacks, which is very impressive. I would like to offer to train you, so you can have the experience needed to be safe.”

“So you want to work together?” Sailor Moon asked. “That sounds like a wonderful idea!”

“I want you to work with us, yes. So it is agreed?”

Shingo felt a large drain on the silver crystals with him. He looked around in panic for what it was. Luna said no one should have been able to do it! A tall, teenaged girl with long black hair and wearing a dress walked over to Sailor Moon. When she turned to face him for just a moment, he could see a large crescent mark on her forehead. Was that Luna?

“No, it is not agreed,” Luna said.

“Luna?” Usagi asked. “I didn’t know you could–um.”

“Who are you?” Saitou asked gruffly.

“I am Sailor Moon’s advisor. The better questions are who are you really, why aren’t you publicly known, why haven’t you appeared until now, how did you know there was a Youma here, and just how out of depth here you really are.”

“I am Minute Saitou, part of Elysium, an organization that works to protect Earth. We are publicly listed as a government affiliated organization. If you’re asking why you haven’t heard of us, I imagine it is because most people barely care about magic until it affects them. We’ve been tracking sightings of evil spirits recently, and managed to find the dark aura of Mikan–I suspected she was being possessed or made a pact with a spirit, originally. Now who are you to be an ‘advisor’ to a young girl fighting for her life?”

“You do not have the ability to fight the Dark Kingdom. Youma are not ‘evil spirits’, they are powerful dark creatures. You can help Sailor Moon during fights by distracting Youma, without making her reveal her identity, or you can leave. You are a liability in anything else.”

“I’ve been fighting supernatural monsters since before you were born. With whatever power source allowed Sailor Moon to cast that spell, she won’t need to fight. And, might I remind you, vigilantism is illegal.”

“Oh, this isn’t vigilantism,” Luna casually said. “If I could handle this myself and not force her to fight, I would. But it isn’t an option.”

“There is always a choice. Sailor Moon, you don’t have to listen to her. Work with us and we can help you.”

“Sir, I’ve finished analyzing the remains. A woman walked up to Saitou. “It has no magical remnants left, but there is a very large amount of strange mana left on it. More than I could get in a week. They have some very, very powerful source of magic.”

“Sailor Moon, let’s go.” Luna started to pull her away. “I think they might be working for the Dark Kingdom, but are still humans.”

“I think we should work together. They don’t seem evil.” Sailor Moon let herself be pulled along anyway. “But if you’re sure.”

“Do not leave until you tell us where you get your power! This is a matter of national security, especially if it truly is the only thing that can destroy these Youma. Well?” The woman started marching towards them.

“Himura!” Saitou admonished, then turned to the retreating Sailor. “Sailor Moon. I see you think you have to fight alone because you have whatever power source it is. But power such as that is often dangerous, and we are the experts who know how to handle it.”

“What?” Sailor Moon shouted back at him. “Oh you mean the br–” Luna muffled her.

“We need to know!” Himura started chasing after them. “By running away, you are resisting arrest! Cease and you will be able to avoid legal consequences!”

Shingo bolted. He did not want that crazy lady catching up to him. He saw Usagi jump onto a rooftop carrying Luna, once again a cat, and away from Elysium.

As he ran, he vaguely heard what sounded like Naru shouting, but it must have been his imagination.