Storyline Name: I've Taken A Viking To You
Creator(s): Sailor Saturn and Puns
Forum: Casual
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary: On a research mission, the two felines have found their way to an old museum in search of an ancient Viking artifact. They've heard that this artifact was once said to bring healing to those whose hearts are pure, but the powers emanating within the museum are dark and sinister. A heart of evil, it appears, has had their way this artifact. Bolstered with this information, the two have decided to find the artifact themselves before more harm can be done.

The problem is that the dark powers are making it hard to keep track of where they've been. Had they already checked this section? Had they just come from the right or the left? The confusion makes the search harder, but they'll have to figure out how to get past their clouded thoughts in order to find their artifact!
Details on any necessary information:Your setting is in a museum! Feel free to take the plot in any direction you wish, twisting and adding to it as you see fit, and you can decide if your characters have been working together up to this point, or have only just run into each other (or any other variation), but your main goal is ultimately to find the artifact! How you accomplish that goal is up to you guys! Have fun!! <3
Restrictions: Characters listed below only!
OOC Thread: Link!
Member to Character List:
Artemis played by Light
Lunette played by Meganekko

The dark power emanating from this place made him shiver. To think that a sacred item like this had turned into a source of such evil...

He had to find it fast. And it probably would have been far faster with Mina by his side. But, it was far less likely for a cat to be arrested for burglary to a museum. It shouldn't be too hard of a misison anyway - Sailor V would be better off staying on the lookout to thwart the next plan of the Dark Agency.

The problem is, he could feel the dark energy messing with his head already, making feel disoriented... Hadn't he already seen that Drakkar before? He wasn't entirely sure. Where should he go? And which way was the exit anyway?

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

If one were to ask how the Pink Kitten knew to come to the Viking Exhibit, no clear answer would be given. Her methods of getting intel about the artifact was unknown; Kousagi would have simply assumed that she just knew and Lunette want about to reveal her methods of how she got her information. The kitten enjoyed the thought of being viewed as omniscient—or something along those lines, anyway.

However, for all of her cleverness, the tiny advisor couldn't have foreseen get current predicament.

She had been scoping out the Viking Exhibit in the Tokyo National Museum, the pure energy of the artifact calling to her, when suddenly the entire museum changed. She was still in the Viking Exhibit, but the museum was different—and the energy was different. The artifact’s presence was no longer pleasant; it was ominous and dark.

What happened? Lunette wondered, bewildered by the sudden change in atmosphere, her ears falling back against her head. She felt uneasy in this new place. She also felt disoriented. Maybe she was still in the museum in Tokyo? She couldn't have been! Or could she?

Lunette shut her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. As she opened her eyes, they fell on a white feline, who seemed just as frazzled as she. Cautiously, she approached it. The white cat seemed familiar somehow, but with the heavy fog in her head, she couldn't place why.

“Excuse me!” she called, feeling rather unlike herself, but the situation had become rather strange.

The voice caught him by surprise. Was he caught? What would they do to him? They wouldn't throw a cat to prison, but that was not his only worry. What about animal control? Would they think he is a stray?

No matter - he could still outrun them for sure. And outsmart them. He glanced towards the source of the voice, ready to make a run for it...

And the only thing he saw was a small kitten with the familiar crescent mark on her forehead.

What in the world? Artemis was certain that he and Luna were the only such felines on Earth. And even Luna had only recently awoken too. Who was that cat?

"Y-- you can talk?" Artemis inquired, startled. "Who are you?"

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Lunette had never really thought about the oddity of being a talking cat. Most cats that she had met didn't seem to care, but this cat reacted a bit like Kousagi had when they first met. It seemed a strange reaction for a cat.

“Yes, I can!” the pink kitten answered with a smile. She bounded towards the other feline. “It's nice to see that you can, too! My name is Lunette. Who are you? You—you look familiar…” The kitten’s blue eyes squinted at the tom. Where did she know him from? She paused in thought. She couldn't think of where she had seen him before, but she supposed that wasn't too important. It would only be rude if they had met and she had forgotten, right?

So she was Lunette... And he looked familiar to her?

Well, talking cats from Mau - she had to be one too - aren't exactly all that common on Earth. They should know each other! But he could not say he recognized her at all. Just... just who was she, really? The name obviously did not do much to collect more information.

"Uh, name's Artemis," he replied. Would that sound familiar to her too? "I haven't really seen many of my kind around here, so this is surprising... What are you doing here, actually?" Could it be that the Boss had recruited more for their mission against the Dark Agency? But she looked way too young to be involved in things like that...

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Suddenly, it clicked and the kitten's eyes grew wide with disbelief. “The Artemis—advisor to Sailor V (later Sailor Venus, leader of the Inner Senshi)?! What are you doing here?! Aren't you retired?!” the little cat asked, perplexed.

All of the senshi had retired. Weren't their advisors, too? They should be. After all, they weren't spring chickens anymore, and Chaos was long gone. No one had heard anything of it in… forever. Heck, before Lunette was even born!

But now that she looked at him… This Artemis looked rather young. Lunette furrowed her brow. “Wait, where are we? And what year?” she asked cautiously. There's no way she could have possibly slipped through a portal and slipped into a different time stream?

Artemis perked up at the admiration implied by Lunette's words. Indeed, he was the Artemis. What would Sailor V be without him, anyway? It was nice that his efforts were acknowledged by someone! That was no easy task, considering how carefree and careless she could be. And, she, too, ought to respect him a little bit more, really!

But his pride soon gave way to confusion as she said that she thought he had retired? "Retired? Why would I have retired already? We've barely gotten started - and the way my charge is going, we still have a long way to go," he grumbled.

The year? The little kitten's questions were becoming more and more odd. Was the dark aura affecting her as well? And, quite likely, even worse than him. "Well, we're in a museum at Tokyo. I'm looking for a certain artifact - once blessed, now it has become a source of dark energy. Come think of it, this could be a plot of the Dark Agency as well," he mumbled, more to himself, but loud enough for the other feline to hear. "Maybe I should have asked V to tag along too."

"It's 1991... Don't worry, the dark energy might be affecting your thoughts too. It'll all come back to you soon, I'm sure. Do you remember what you're here for?"

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Barely… gotten… started. Great. How had she managed to pass through a time portal? Probably because Setsuna is retired, Lunette thought with a sigh. Without the Senshi of Space-Time guarding the Door, portals could pop up. Couldn't they? Lunette supposed that she had some other research to do when she got home—if she could get home. How was she going to get home?

Her eyes simply grew wide at the thought. How was she going to help Kousagi become the princess she was destined to be if she couldn't get home? How was she going to help the Parallel Senshi fight?

One step at a time, the Pink Cat instructed silently.

She had barely registered what Artemis had said, but had heard enough to hear his statement about an artifact and the Dark Energy it was exuding. Could the Dark Energy somehow have brought her here? How? The kitten thought for a moment.

“I'm looking for an artifact that should be located in the Viking exhibit here,” the kitten explained. If the Viking artifact had become corrupt in this time, maybe it was somehow affecting the versions of itself in other times and dimensions!

"Hmm, maybe we're on the same mission then," he determined. Had her charge sent her here too? ...Who was her charge, anyway? He found Sailor V, and Luna was supposed to find Sailor Moon. Was this little cat tasked with awakening one of the remaining Sailor Senshi?

One thing at a time. First, they had to take care of the mission at hand. They would have all the time in the world to exchange information later.

"We need to purify the sacred artifact as soon as possibly -- the problem is, we have to locate it first! This is a big museum as it is, but the dark energy makes me feel disoriented. I'm not sure where to go next... Have you seen anything?"

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Lunette was glad that the tomcat didn't pry further about her or where she had come from. It would be particularly difficult to explain that her charge was Sailor Moon’s daughter from either a parallel dimension or from the future. Lunette didn't want to make a mess of anything. If she did, she was certain she'd hear it from some version of Sailor Pluto, except for the one from her reality… maybe.

“It's very possible!” the kitten added in agreement. “Though, I think I might have been sent here to help you specifically,” she added after some thought. After all, it was dangerous to try to bring things from different timelines and dimensions into one's own. Nothing ever good happened when one tried.

“I did have a schematic of the exhibit, but I think the layout has changed,” she replied with disappointment. But maybe it was just the Dark Energy making it seem like the schematic was wrong?

The kitten pawed at her collar and a projected floorplan of the museum appeared. It zoomed into an area of the museum, various articles of the Viking exhibit labeled.

“I don't know if it will be any use, but maybe it could be of some help.”

Help him? Specifically? Surely, he could use the help, but what did she mean by that? The more the little kitten was revealing, the more he was getting confused.

And what followed made things even more bizarre. She tapped some sort of button on her collar and a map projected itself on the floor?? Their base at the Crown Arcade had quite some advanced technology, and even he hadn't ever seen something like that.

Well, if anything, one thing was for sure. He was glad Mina did not insist on him wearing a collar.

He examined the map carefully. The items were labelled too... That's right! He couldn't even remember what exactly he was looking for due to this sinister aura, but his head cleared up a little bit once he saw it - the viking's helmet. It was thought to be just a regular helmet, located in the exhibit with other items of viking armor and clothing, but no one knew its true power.

"The helmet, that's what we're looking for," he pointed with his paw. "We're here, by the drakkar, and the helmet is there... We should probably head this way," he pointed as he made to move.

"Anyway, that's... That's really useful. Where did you get something like that?"

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

The helmet! As soon as Artemis said it, Lunette felt the fuzziness in her head disperse—a little. Remembering their prize certainly helped the pink kitten, but she hadn't anticipated Artemis's question… Where had she gotten the collar? She couldn't tell him the truth. That would only create more questions… Who was it that Artemis and Minako-san answered to during their Sailor V days?

“It's a prototype… from the Boss,” the kitten said at last.

“Come on! Let's find that helmet!” she added quickly, before Artemis could ask anymore questions.

The Boss? The Boss had given that to her? Why would the Boss not tell him that there were more like him and Luna out there?

And more importantly, why would the Boss not give him the prototype?!

But before he could protest or ask more questions, the little cat interrupted his thoughts, reminding him of their current mission. Right. First things first. He supposed he would just have to take it up with the Boss later.

He dashed through the exhibit, but it did not take long for the dark energy to confuse him again. How far was it? Had they already passed it? Did they have to take a turn to reach it?

"Um... can you open that map thing again?" he requested. "This energy is too much. We'll probably have to take it slow and steady."

ooc:

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Lunette breathed a sigh of relief as she walked hastily in the direction that Artemis had indicated before the projection disappeared. She was thankful that he was so single-minded in regards to things and didn't think to badger get more as they walked. They didn't manage to get far, though, before they started feeling disoriented again.

The pink cat complied to the tomcat's request and pulled up the projection again. She studied the map before saying, “It should be right… there!” The small feline pointed eagerly at the large, gossamer helm that loomed on display just a yard before them. It done with a dark radiance—or at least that's how Lunette felt it portrayed itself.

How were they going to purify the helmet without the aid of a sailor senshi? Was it possible?

“What exactly do we do now?” she asked the senior advisor with genuine curiosity.

OOC:

The little feline activated her built-in map once more, and they were able to finally locate the helmet. The sensation given off by the corrupt energy could not be mistaken. That was it.

Well, locating the helmet was only the first part of the mission. It was not over yet.

"We need to purify the helmet," the white cat replied to his pink counterpart. "Luckily, I have what we need." He jumped high, and as he flipped his body in mid-air, a crescent-shaped item appeared beneath and fell to the ground.

Artemis grabbed it with his paw. "It's called the Crescent Compact. It's um, another prototype. The Boss gave it to me too."

He was still just a little bit bitter that this kitten had received such a great item over him, honestly. She didn't have to know that it was technically V's item that he borrowed, right? It's not like she could find out, either.

"Okay then, time to do this." He raised the compact high in the air, in the direction of the helmet. "Moon Power!" he yelled. The compact gave off a radiant light...

Before fading back to nothing.

Artemis sighed. Well, there was probably a reason Sailor V was the one using it. He glanced at Lunette. Well, she was like him too, right? Chosen by the Boss, carrying their signature crescent moon mark... There was magic in her too, for sure. He couldn't do it alone, but...?

"Perhaps we could try this one more time, together?" he suggested.

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Lunette was glad to see that Artemis had a plan. However, she wasn't expecting the Crescent Compact to appear. How has he managed to get ahold of that? Didn't Sailor V need it—or, even more importantly, Sailor Moon? Lunette decided not to ask any questions, as he hadn't pried at her too much. It was hard to hide her smile, though, when he fibbed about it being another prototype from the Boss. She didn't think Artemis to be the jealous type.

She couldn't stop from gazing admirably at him as he called “Moon Power!” Her anticipation rising to see an advisor activate the brooch. The compact began to glow, but then nothing happened. A small, disappointed “oh” escaped the kitten's maw before she even realized it and she quickly clamped her mouth shut, hoping the white tom hadn't heard her.

If he had noticed, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he looked at her and suggested they try using the compact together.

“Okay,” she said with a strong nod. “Together!”

She watched the tomcat carefully. If they didn't say it in unison, she doubted it would work.

Artemis nodded back at Lunette. "Okay. Here - place your paw on the compact too and focus as deeply as you can. We'll go on the count of three!"

He hoped it would work. He wasn't entirely sure they could do it without V, but he was positive that the compact's magic, along with their own, could do the trick.

"One... Two... Three! Moon Power!" he yelled again.

The light was far more powerful this time, and it enveloped the helmet for several seconds before fading out. Once it was over, he could no longer feel that dark aura. The helmet itself seemed to shine somehow differently.

THE PINK CAT/LUNETTE

Lunette followed Artemis’s instructions and put her paw on the Crescent Compact. She could feel the warm, soothing energy radiating from the compact. It made her feel giddy. Could she really help activate its sleeping energy and help Artemis restore the artifact? She glanced at the white cat. She hoped she could help him.

Artemis started the count. Lunette quickly readied herself.

“Moon Power!” the Pink Cat called in unison, her form shifting from cat into a pink-haired little girl. She felt the Moon Compact’s energy pour into her. As the onus ominous presence of the dark energy dissipated from the museum, the pink-haired girl also vanished.

After the light that encased her disappeared, the kitten found herself alone in the museum, standing in front of the Viking helmet. It no longer radiated any kind of energy—negative or positive. The energy she had felt coming from it before must have been energy for a portal.

The Moon Compact must have sent me back home! she thought in awe. Hopefully, the helmet from Artemis's time proves useful to him. she thought with a glance to the helmet before turning and heading back to Kousagi's house.

As the light intensified, Artemis could have sworn he saw the little kitten's shape change into that of a little girl, even though he could not make out details. There was a mysterious aura surrounding her... Just who was she?

The light faded, and Artemis looked at the helmet. Its energy had gone back to normal! "We did it!" he exclaimed.

"You, however, owe me some explanations," he told the pink kitten. "Who is your charge? You say the Boss gave you that map thing, but..." he turned to face her.

But she was no longer there.

"What..."

What in the world had happened?

Was she possibly some sort of guardian that came to help him? Could guardian cats even have their own guardians?

Or perhaps she was just another hallucination caused by the helmet's dark energy, gone now that it was restored?

Artemis shook his head. There was nothing he could do about it now. He could ask the Boss, but somehow, he had a feeling they would not know anything about her either. If anything, the mission was successful. He would leave it at that.

Now, it was time to continue his work with his main mission. Train Mina into a capable Sailor Senshi and worthy leader of the ones Luna would awaken.

Compared to that, today was a breeze!