Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 8
- Years
- Age 27
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen yesterday
The end of the game is fast approaching. I promise to finish this before Trickster Online takes over my life (for the third time in a row, actually)
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #12 - Prelude to Destruction[/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
Last time on Sailor Moon Another Story, we went into the past, beat up an amoral redhead and witnessed the Silver Millennium at its prime. (It was actually pretty rad.)
I wonder what happens if we try to go back to the Moon Kingdom now, though?
[A crowd of Silver Millenium-era soldiers run by, followed by Queen Beryl]
damn it beryl
"This is... The Silver Millennium's... Oh..."
Damn shame the Moon Kingdom had to go out like this, but oh well. Can't mess with the past or weird shenanigans start happening.
I mean, this is probably someone's last item before their house was destroyed... but it's mine now.
"I don't want to see this."
Again, it must be hella surreal to see your past life from hundreds of years ago.
[The old Moon Princess vanishes]
Luna says she can feel the power of the "Evil Black Crystal", so we immediately figure out that Prince Diamond's on the scene.
???: "Is that...!?"
[Prince Diamond teleports in]
"... No. Whatever you may say, Sailor Moon! Come to me!!"
What a creep.
At first I was confused as to what the hell is happening right here, but it turns out he's actually hypnotizing her. (Man that sure happens to us a lot in this story for some reason. If only illusion-resistant equipment was a thing, but alas).
Also, he could do this which might explain how he's hypnotizing her.
[He grabs Sailor Moon and teleports away with her]
Whoa, that's some serious bad touch territory going on there. This might also be a good time to mention that when he kidnapped Sailor Moon in the original anime, he put her in a completely different dress than her Senshi outfit, so... make of that as you will.
[Flash of light]
She did it, she did the thing - the signature scene of Sailor Moon that kick-started the entire series.
... And now she is dead.
"That was the Silver Crystal from this time."
This just... raises some massive questions. Like yeah, you depower the good guys, but isn't the Silver Crystal pivotal to Crystal Tokyo's creation? Do these girls not realize how horribly their plan can go wrong or are they that confident Apsu will fix everything for them?
What a dummy.
They keep musing about how the Silver Crystal will become powerless and repeat themselves before leaving, more or less.
[A man in blue pops in]
"My brother is confused. He is together with Sailor Moon in the basement of the Moon Castle. This is my wish… Just to let us sleep..."
Contrary to what you might think, this is not blue Mamoru, but instead Saphir of the Black Moon Clan. Yeah, he looks almost exactly like him for some bizarre reason. It gives me some ideas as to why this is, but it's just crazy speculation.
Saphir was an oddball among the Black Moon Clan because he suspected the Wise Man of actually being evil and didn't go along with his scheme. He gets fried for trying to save Prince Diamond, so there's that.
Luna tells us to go back to Rias to relay the plan to everyone, so...
Yeah, but we can't just let her get taken by that creepo guy.
The rest of the girls agree that shit would be terrible without Sailor Moon, more or less. I put up Mars, Uranus and Neptune's responses up because they're the ones who gave Usagi the most trouble when they first met... so it's extra heartwarming to hear them say this.
Hell yeah she's an important friend, she's like the heart of the show - she brought all of you together, for one. She's also the most defensive party member in the entire team so she's pivotal when it comes to support play.
... But as usual, I like Venus's response the best:
But yeah, we form the plan to go back to the Moon Castle Basement. Chibi asks "wait there's a basement" despite the fact Saphir literally just told you, but I digress.
Yeah, it flashes the location in case you needed to know what it looked like, which is nice I guess. (Hey, wasn't that inside of a fountain before everything blew up? Man, Beryl really did a number on this place.)
I like how Chibi-Moon is pretty much the de-facto leader when Moon isn't around - she really takes after her that way.
Anyway, I'm bringing Mercury, Mars, Uranus and Saturn for the highest damage output I can muster. Pluto would be good too, but i don't want to horribly break the game right now.
I'm in a generous mood.
I'm giving the White Rose to Mars because she needs that extra ten defense. In any other game this wouldn't be a big deal, but with how Another Story calculates damage this can actually save her life later on.
Also, I did some extra grinding before actually going back to the Moon Kingdom, so I hope Moon hasn't been messed with while we were busy.
(Friggin' Diamond and his wacky lust for the Moon Princess...)
Actually stepping on the Moon Kingdom Symbol teleports you and that's neat.
I'm now thinking of how much cooler the game would have been if Repel and Escape Rope technology was developed - the former would definitely make the dungeons less tedious.
[The team runs back to the teleporter]
... What the hell?
Yeah, no fucking kidding how. She's literally Chibi-Usa but evil! (
I didn't know they could clone people now?!
Blah blah, Apsu will gain a Rainbow Shard and Chibi-Usa will disappear. I'm just astonished Apsu was able to do this to begin with, because Black Lady and Chibi-Usa existing at the same time without causing a paradox must be amazing.
Name: Black Lady
HP: 32,000
Attack: 145 (!!?)
Defense: 52
Speed: 121
EXP: 15,000
Yen: 4000
Item Drop: Anklet (Equipment item, speed+9)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 39 / Act 23 - Covert Maneuvers - Wiseman
Holy shit she really is just Chibi Moon but older: just look at those jacked stats! Yeah, in Sailor Moon R, Chibi-Usa was turned into this after her feelings towards her family were twisted into hatred by the Wise Man (the main villain of R), so... you got me.
(
Poison Mist, I missed you - there's a lot of other scary attacks now, so it's refreshing to see one that's useless for once.
Damn, Chibi, why can't you be this tough? Instead she takes mortal damage standing from the back row.
You see what I mean about that attack stat? This is after we used the white rose on Mars and grinded a bit - I shudder to think how much more she would have taken if she were level 25 without the rose.
It's all good though, cause we finally start to break out the Toilettes!
(I still can't get over that name or why the effect is ??? on the menu. I'm just saying if you made it obvious it was the Megalixir of this game, it'd be more immediately valuable to whoever plays this game.)
Wow that's a lot of experience for a fight that nearly got us nuked. Good thing we had Mercury along otherwise this would have been miserable.
"Now is the time... To repent for opposing Apsu-sama..."
And then she just... disappears. Nobody comments on her existence much like what happened to Rubeus, we're just moving on. This was like the wildest character inclusion in the game and trying to figure out how it worked is just gonna give me a headache.
Existential nightmare for Chibi-Usa aside, we progress. I bet she's trying to figure out just what in the world happened.
The Moon Drop is an insubstantial healing item that only cures 60 HP, but it is nice to know that the Moon Kingdom Royalty likes to keep all their junk below the castle.
Name: Castel
HP: 8000
Attack: 95
Defense: 55
Speed: 95
EXP: 1550
Yen: 1200
Item Drop: Alarm Clock (Cures sleep)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Castor and Pollux (Red)
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic, episode 21
+
Name: Polks
HP: 7500
Attack: 97
Defense: 53
Speed: 92
EXP: 1500
Yen: 10
Item Drop: Pork Chop (Cures accidents - aka. petrification)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Castor and Pollux (Blue)
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic, episode 21
Oh wow, would you look at that?
Castor and Pollux were sister Youma under the loyalty of Nephrite. Their dynamic is that they're based off of the Gemini constellation and that they were Evil Sailor Mars and Mercury, essentially.
They used the power of friendship to become "several times stronger than the Sailor Senshi", which explains why they're the most powerful Youma in the game yet. In the show they could copy the attacks of the Senshi and throw it back at them, but they were defeated when they were tricked into arguing against each other.
I can't tell if these are leftover Beryl soldiers from the Moon Kingdom Genocide or they're resurrected like every other enemy, but they're still one of my favorite monsters from the first season. Like look at their sprites and their pose - they're looking pretty slick.
They sure hit hard, but it was Mars anyway. I guess she's just doomed to not have good defense, but oh well.
I'd rather hit super hard, though, because that ends the fights lightning quick.
"To stop my brother. I can't stop my brother all by myself."
We were already planning on doing that, mate.
Let me get some moon pudding before I commit fratricide though.
(What would Moon Pudding taste like, anyway...?)
Ooh boy, we actually get new equipment for Chibi-Moon! The ten points of attack don't matter, but she's arguably the first team member to break out of the double digits in terms of speed.
Can you imagine that that looks like in action? She must be zipping across the battlefield like nuts.
"It's a good thing I took it from them. Though it would've been alright with the Princess from this age."
Ew.
I was gonna say "how does Chibi not know" but then I remembered this is on the Moon in the distant past and not Earth in the far future.
[Saphir appears in front of Diamond]
"Brother, even if we do the same things again, it won't help. You want to make the Princess your own, but..."
[Sin teleports in behind Diamond]
[Saphir takes the blow for his brother]
Welp, there goes Saphir again - protecting his brother from death again.
[He crumples to the ground]
[His body fades out of existence]
The Wiseman must be cackling from beyond the grave now:
"It looks like the siblings have similar feelings."
I like this line from Sin for some reason.
But doesn't she like... hate him though? In fact, why did she revive Diamond and the Black Moon Clan if they ruined their lives? (Maybe it wasn't her directly and they just now figured out)
Okay we're just suddenly referring to each other in the third person now. Either way, bring it on.
[Current OST: Opposito Senshi Boss]
Name: Sin (1)
HP: 30,000
Attack: 105
Defense: 65
Speed: 95
EXP: 20,000
Yen: 11,800
Item Drop: Rias Topaz (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A
... How do you go from 145 attack and 32,000 HP to 105 and 30,000. That just doesn't make sense no matter how you cut it, but oh well. (Black Lady is that strong, I assume.)
Sin (otherwise known as Nanna) is the God of the Moon in Mesopotamian mythology, making her a perfect match as Usagi's evil counterpart. We've seen a lot of her all game, but now that we actually get to fight her she's... really tough, despite my complaint about the balancing.
Just taking the time to buff ourselves up because while Sin doesn't have the same power as Black Lady, she's still pretty dangerous.
Yowza, that's a lotta damage though.
... Wow, I must have been thinking about later when I thought about her being dangerous because that was easy.
She even gives more EXP than Black Lady despite being easier, so you got me there.
"It's no use… We must withdraw..."
[She walks up a few paces]
[Sin goes up to Diamond and attacks him, forcing him to the ground]
I know she's the villain, but it's so satisfying actually seeing her get revenge against the people that ruined her family to begin with.
[Sin teleports away]
He tells us to go to the future and even drops the Rose Crystal for us! Excellent.
Ah yes, we can finally bring back Mamoru to full health or something!
(Seriously, I don't think the Rose Crystal ever plays a major role aside from that because it's never referenced again after this.)
Luna rouses Moon awake and says this surprisingly meaningful line -
Even the Black Moon, huh? I do feel bad for them after being brought back to life only to be slaughtered when all they wanted was a good life.
Oh boy, and the LP chapter isn't even half-over yet! I'm a bit worried about where we're going.
"As was expected, we got one of the rainbow crystals. I wonder if fate will change..."
I'm curious as to what Kishar's relationship with Sin and Anshar is. Like yeah, it's pretty obvious that he's the Artemis of the Opposito but does he even talk?
"Please change the fate of the young man called Shingo Tsukino. He's the little brother of Usagi Tsukino. She is Sailor Moon, the one who has been opposing us."
Holy shit. This just got super real.
[Apsu coughs, with her and Sin facing away from each other]
"Lord Apsu, you don't have much longer either. I must get the Silver Crystal back to Lord Apsu..."
It sucks that Apsu is suffering from cancer but she's still pretty fuckin evil regardless.
No, it's a trap! Don't buy into its charms!
"I'm sorry... I made you worry..."
I would question why it took so long, but he did get hit with a combination attack from all five Opposito Senshi. Like even just Sin alone was enough to be a match for our entire team, so major, major props for Mamoru being able to live right now.
Jupiter muses how odd it is that they went after him instead of getting the Silver Crystals both Chibi and Usagi own, but Mamoru says that they could change destiny indirectly by killing him.
He goes on to talk about the dream he had at the beginning of the game, so hooray for continuity! The team continues to talk about destiny and how if we didn't do anything, things would have been FUBAR to cut a very long string of confusing conversations short.
Usagi is suddenly concerned about the status of her home and the other girls decide to check on their own homes as well. We get to have Saturn and Pluto come with, so at least we're not completely alone.
If anything happens we have to meet up at Hikawa Shrine and to top it off? Mamoru wants us to take care.
After the Battle, huh? I wonder why it's called that if the Opposito are still around.
We don't have much choice in terms of party members, so I'll have it set up like this for now.
Good, nothing bad seems to have happened inside the house... yet.
"Don't go into people's rooms like that!"
[The entire team comes out, only for Chibi-Usa to collapse]
Wait, what? No, my team composition!
[Current OST: Suspense and Illusion]
Sin's disembodied voice rings in and gives us a heavy deal – if we want Shingo back, we have to give her the Silver Crystal or else.
Holy fuck I'm loving where this is going. Not only is this dark but if I'm not mistaken this is the only time in the entire franchise where Shingo was part of the main plot and not just a random Monster of the Week victim.
In terms of evil counterparts Sin is fantastic as a foil to Usagi because of how manipulative she is.
Like no kidding. It works because I don't think a member of Usagi's family has been threatened like this before.
The girls wonder why Sin is doing this, and she tells 'em straight up that the Silver Crystal is directly opposing their idea of a world of no battles caused by the damn thing.
She brings up the Black Moon Clan's banishment due to them refusing the Silver Crystal's purification, as well as the Dark Kingdom searching for it being the catalyst of Sailor Moon Classic.
(Which makes the Death Busters stand out even more because they have little to no connection with the Moon Kingdom stuff aside from searching for the Holy Grail)
[Sin whisks Shingo away, leaving only Kishar]
Oh my god we're actually fighting the team pet of the Opposito Senshi.
[Current OST: Boss]
Name: Kishar
HP: 15,000
Attack: 87
Defense: 10
Speed: 110
EXP: 20,000
Yen: 5000
Item Drop: Life Water (Revives with 200 HP)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A
Whoa.
Kishar may look big and scary, but he's an absolute putz due to his outright disgraceful defense. I assume it was made like this due to Chibi's fainting messing up the team composition.
In terms of mythology, Kishar was the Sumerian Earth goddess to Anshar's sky god... which explains why they served as Anshar's pet in this game. (Plus it's pretty fitting because Artemis is named after a goddess despite being a boy cat)
Yeah, that's pretty grave for an attack from Sailor Moon. If she were in the center, it'd be even nuttier.
Amazing how Kishar gives even more EXP than Black Lady despite having 1/10th the difficulty - I guess this was just as a way to give these three some free experience.
Oh hey, I actually forgot Ikuko was in this game. Turns out her portrait did have a use after all.
[Hotaru paces around for a bit]
Nice save.
[Michiru and Haruka walk into the room]
Oh god that doesn't sound good. Looks like that destiny changing thing is actually working.
"Right now, even if I meet the enemy, I can't fight. Shingo is..."
Damn that went real badly, didn't it?
Luna, please.
... Nah, I don't feel like it. There's some more stuff to do around here that I have to show off before we get back to the plot.
If you take the bus to Harumi and go into one of the buildings, this guy will be waiting for you. He's actually the rare item vendor!
I'm not sure why his shop looks like this but he'll pay you $mega cash$ if you hand in the rare items. Trust me when I say doing this will be essential for us later on.
Yeah, Tokyo and everything else in the present will become off-limits. We are now stuck on the path the story wants us to take, so make sure you got everything you need while you were still there... cause it's lost forever otherwise.
[Current OST: Let's Go]
Of course it's going to be a trap, you dummy.
Reasonable argument.
But hell yeah we're gonna be reckless. To be fair, there's not really an alternative and we're probably strong enough to disarm any trap they have anyway.
… I'm positive Uranus said a similar thing a few chapters back, but what the hell. Sailor Pluto's going to take us to the future, so oh boy.
Oh jeez, another distraction?
Oh shit there he is.
It's Mamoru's lover boy.
So where do I begin?
Fiore is an alien from beyond the solar system that wound up crashing into Earth around the time Mamoru's parents had died. They hit it off as best friends, surprisingly enough, with Mamoru handing him a rose to boot.
That said, Fiore's hunt to hand Mamoru back a beautiful flower got him corrupted by the Xenian Flower, a world destroying parasite that was condemned to a comet before he picked it up. This turned him into the secondary antagonist of the Sailor Moon R movie, where he's more or less the carrier of the flower:
Like hot damn. I won't go into full detail about the Xenian Flower, seeing as she appears in the next chapter though,
Did I forget to mention he is intensely jealous of Mamoru having a relationship with Usagi? Because they make it super not subtle at all.
He's like the stalker boyfriend you don't want hanging around at this point, jeez.
With this in mind it makes perfect sense that the Dahlians and Campanulas were here earlier - they are the minions of the Xenian Flower and Fiore was planting their seeds.
Feeling pretty daring today, aren't we, Tuxedo Mask?
After all the shit we went through to bring him out of his coma? Of course I would do the same thing.
[Him and Tuxedo Mask clash]
"Don't get in my way, Mamoru-kun."
He better not or I'll get pissed.
[Current OST: Crystal Tokyo]
[The Crystal Palace distorts]
Oh whoa, that's not good.
"It seems to waver like an illusion."
Sheesh, if this weren't an optimistic show this would be beyond hopeless.
[An illusion of Usagi's brother appears in front of Moon, followed by the Opposito Senshi]
"That's unfair! Give us Shingo back right away!"
Sailor Moon arguing this is unfair is expected, but Uranus? Come on dude, you're the Senshi that practically lives on playing dirty.
These girls do know how to do a convincing deal, you gotta give them that.
[The illusions disappear]
God damn, it can't be that funny.
[The screen cuts back to the team, only for the screen to darken]
I wonder why they taunted us and left if they're going to continue boasting anyway.
Long story short, the Inners have been thrown into another illusion much like what happened during the start of the game (you know, the dream monsters) and the Opposito plan on winning without fighting.
[The screen fades to black]
"And mother too? What's the matter today? It's so rare that you two are together."
So… Ami's dream is that her parents are coming over to celebrate the anniversary of her wedding to her special husband who… doesn't have a name. This paints a surprisingly complete picture of Ami's life so I can see this winning her over if she wasn't so strong-willed.
Rei's dream is still swoozing over Mamoru and even makes a daring request to "check out his room". See this is why I'm always proud of her that she's not going after him in the waking world.
Mako's dream revolves around her "sempai" and well… it's nothing short of cute. He calls her huge (which is viewed as strange in Japan) and he promptly apologizes in the most enthusiastic way possible-
"But since I'm tall too, I like you."
Surprisingly adorable.
Minako's dream is a continuation of her previous illusion where she finally checks out the guy she's been eyeing for (only for, you know, him to not even know who she is) and hands him a love letter.
"I gave a love letter to Minami-sempai!"
Hikaru: "Did you get an answer?"
Hikaru: "Mina... what on earth were you thinking, really..."
And she calls Usagi the ditzy one. (Though to be fair, they're both not all there.)
[Cut back to reality]
"Now, let's stop the fighting."
Our girls remain unconvinced and are willing to put down their lives to stop this craziness. Like they damn well should.
Likewise.
It can't really be great if it comes from this much pain and suffering.
That "wahaha" seems strangely out of character for Nabu, given how she's pretty much Emo Mercury.
[The distorted space clears, with Moon walking in]
[They collectively wake up]
The girls say how despicable holding both Usagi's brother and the queen hostage is, and the rest of the team walks in (presumably after trying to break into the Crystal Palace).
Uranus brings up that the enemy can't have left traps in the Crystal Palace and questions what the plan of action is. This causes an argument among the group, but Mercury gives us a brilliant solution – split up.
Normally that would be a terrible idea, but there's enough Senshi to go around for once.
You know what? This brings up the excellent question of what the hell happened to Usagi's non Moon Kingdom-related family after Crystal Tokyo became a thing. Usagi's mom, dad and brother don't ever get referenced from that point onward, so…
Chibi decides to help out the future queen because… you know, she's her mother.
Hooo boy, we're really reaching the end game huh? Choose carefully because you will have to use every party member you have - if a team is full of underleveled people you haven't used all game, you're gonna be in trouble.
The Inners want to settle things with the Opposito while the Outers want to protect Chibi-Usa. Despite their insistence, you can pick whoever you want to go on either team.
… That said, I'm going with what'll work out the best thematically.
Sailor Moon gets a full Inners team while Chibi-Moon gets a full Outers team for proper symmetry. Let's rock.
"Chibi-Moon, be careful. Don't blunder!"
[The A-Team walks off]
One team has pretty much a perfect set-up while the other has Sailor Pluto. I think we're going to be just fine.
Luna goes with Chibi's team while Artemis goes with the A-team. Good thing we had just the right amount of cats for the job.
"But first, I must change my fate. If I don't, my life will be gone by morning, perhaps… But if I can change my fate… I can become the successor of the Mystic Silver Crystal. Holding those two powers, I can become an eternal Queen."
... See what I mean about Apsu being evil? She doesn't just want to live, she wants to rule.
[Sin walks in]
"It seems the Sailor Senshi are splitting into two factions."
Something I am still astonished by because he can't even beat a common monster without Sailor Moon's help. (Trust me he's tried.
This really is just tragic all across the board, huh?
Whoa, look at that. This game has some really trippy backgrounds sometimes, I swear.
Anyway, next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story we're going to storm Apsu's stronghold and see if we can do anything about the Crystal Palace's dimension warp problem.
See you guys then!
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Team Set-Up:
-
B-Team:
~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:
By now you're probably wondering - wow, Fiore looks real similar to the Makaiju aliens, even to the point of being associated with plants... but Ail and An aren't included even in this massive internal crossover game? What's the deal? Seems like a big cop out.
... As it turns out, the Sailor Moon R movie was meant to be a remake of the Makaiju arc so Fiore technically replaces Ail and An in every way. Shame too, because their characters interacting would have been super neat.