Judging Evil by Moonlight!

[bachido]

Who| All the people that volunteered for this part of the plot
What| Pretty Legionnaire Sailor . . . America? The Legion's Moonlight Fight!
Where| The Azabu-Juuban neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan.
When| Through the Looking Glass
Warnings/Notes| TERRIBLE TEST SCORES whether you DESERVE THEM OR NOT!

This version of Tokyo appears to be a city overrun by fads. Every storefront has advertisements for All New love charms, The Latest beauty products, The New Craze that's Sweeping the Scene.

Plunked down in the middle of all this, a small Legion crew find themselves in school uniforms, each holding a test on which they've all done one degree or another of Bad.

Comments

[Around Town]

[bachido]

"You girls look depressed!" a saleslady chimes in, crowding the Legionnaires. "Smell this new fragrance, Eau de Dark Beyond, it's chemically guaranteed to lift your spirits!"

"Unlucky love life got you down?" another crows, flanking them from the other side. "I have just the thing for you girls, these bracelets are love charms that never fail! Those jewels are real Necrotite, the newest gemstone ever discovered, only found in one single poisonous volcano! Very new, very rare, very chic."

"No," insists a voice from behind, "What they need is to listen to this new CD by Black Heart Emotion! She's the biggest idol to ever hit Japan! Her songs make you forget all about your troubles, no matter how big they are!"

"I've got a Death Club Face Cream!" shouts another.

They salesfolk have all managed to overlook that at least one of the party is not a girl, but Kubo is too busy trying to figure out why he's suddenly about 8 years old to correct them.

He's also wondering why his hair's in two tails, and not likely to identify it as a consequence of being a Moon Princess's child in this particular story.

"I think I got younger," he points out, tugging on America's skirt, his squeakier voice confirming this.

[thedreamisdead]

America has seen hell. And it is retail. She leans back from the pushy sales people, though the items they're trying to shove at them don't alarm her one bit. Not in a world with Otto Sump's products still on the market.

"Looks like an antique version of Hondo-Cit." It was just a brief observation before she starts glancing at the party, then herself, to check out the changes. When had Kubo shrunk? Why was everyone clutching papers? She glances at the test in her hand and scowls. She'd never made a 30 in her life, what was this nonsense? When did she let her hair grow so long?

...

Why was she wearing a skirt to get tugged on anyway?

She's been here for all of thirty seconds and she hates this mission already.

[hallaifyouherd]

"What is this place?"

It reminds her of some kind of market place, the way these ladies are hawking their wares, and she's not quite sure about the paper in her hands -- something about a failed test? -- but the city itself appears strange. Foreign and sharp and unwelcoming entirely.

Not insignificant is the change they've all undergone. Kubo is smaller, younger, and...now a little girl? Well she's not here to judge. It's a little odd to look down and suddenly see herself with both arms, however.

It isn't real. None of this is real.

The mission. They have a job to do here. Time to focus in on the important matter at hand.

[ghost_bait]

"Tokyo!" Miku chirps. Someone is happy to be on familiar, 20th century ground. It's... it's very strange to have let her hair down, and she isn't sure where her hairpin is. (That is worrying in and of itself, but the big red bow is actually very nice against her hair.) Miku looked around, then added, "I couldn't tell you where exactly in Tokyo, though... but you can see the tower behind that building."

She motioned politely to the red-and-white radio tower off behind some buildings that - from where they're standing - dwarf it. Miku looks at the exam in her hands, and frowns. 27. She'd never gotten a 27 in her life. Are they making fun of her?

[onei]

The test hardly registers to Ina, since she's not entirely sure what she's holding or what the number is supposed to mean. The scenery...well, everything since she arrived has been odd, she can hardly start picking on all of that now. She's more distracted by her clothing, which is certainly nothing she'd have ever picked out herself, but -

"Tokyo?" She knows she ran into that when she was looking for the rundown on a few thousand years of history she'd skipped past. "That's...what they renamed Edo, isn't it?"

Doesn't look a thing like the Edo of the Tokugawa regime, but she knows that would be too much to hope for.

[bachido]

"It is?"

Kubo looks around, excited suddenly to be so close to where home used to be. Yes, the locals are speaking that same dialect Miku does, the signs and script are familiar.

But as he's looking around, a black cat with a patch on its forehead like a crescent moon suddenly uses Kubo's head as a launching pad to jump into America's arms, while a white cat with the same mark rubs up against Miku's legs rather more forcefully than most cats do.

"Hey!"

Meanwhile, the salesfolk are only becoming pushier, one going so far as to grab America's arm and tug her towards their store.

"Really, young lady, step inside -"