If there was a word to describe the problems with the world today, it would have to be "shameless". The man in the tuxedo kept his back straight, but his face was crooked with a terrible sneer. It began with a simple piece of disrespect towards those that knew better. The young dressing in ways and manners intended to provoke a reaction from their elders. Once that reaction was obtained, they would become less inclined to listen. After all. What was the harm?
Not thinking of the future. Not thinking about how the world would come to perceive them. Not considering the possibility that society functioned entirely by building upon what came before, and yet changing it required respecting it. Understanding it. Learning from it. That was the Order of things. By being shameless in their actions attitudes and dress, the young provoked and fed chaos. Nurtured it. Eroded the Order of society. A grain of a brick at a time.
Which meant that ultimately it was up to him to set their path on the straight and narrow. Up to him and his allies... They may not necessarily agree on what it means to follow Order, but he could recognise their intentions for society ultimately aligned. Different paths with the same route.
So he calmed himself down. Took a few deep breaths, then twirled his cane and pressed it against a crystal door. It swung open and, rather than another crystalline room, led into an office. A grand office that managed to convey style, professionalism, but above all else Order. Everything was precisely located for maximum efficiency. The desk slightly to the left of the door, permitting the occupant the opportunity to quickly enter and exit. The desk itself was immaculately clean with no wasted space, although the same could be said of every other surface in the room.
It was almost like a showroom model. Untouched, didn't look as though it had actually been worked in, too perfect to be real. Yet it was real. It was, and the man in the tuxedo elegantly sat himself down at his desk while slotting his cane into a concealed compartment underneath the desk that was intended to hold it and keep it from sight.
"I had those observations about society what felt like a lifetime ago," he said, airing his thoughts to nobody in particular. "Shameless actions promoting disrespect, chaos and anarchy. All throughout society. Then, one day, that crystalline being came to me. Offered me this power..."
Power. Of course, being a rich man in charge of a fashion company he was well acquainted with what power meant. Yet even the wealthy had restrictions upon what they could do, not least of which involved the fact that there were many others out there wealthier and better connected. With their own interests in mind. Interests that may not coincide with his own vision of a better, more Ordered future.
But then, that crystal had offered him this power! Supernatural power. The power to work against agents of chaos that lurked in the shadows of this world! Agents that, apparently, also included the supposed heroes. The shameless, short-skirted Sailor Senshi...
So he quickly stood up from the desk, snatching his cane out of its compartment, and strode over to a particular wall which had, for some reason, two handles embedded in the middle of it. With a tug on both, he pulled it aside to reveal not a wall but a painted walk-in cupboard made to look like the other walls of the room. Within was clothing. Sensible clothing. Uniforms, suits, dresses. Professional outfits for the professionally minded that wanted nothing more than to get on with their work. Nothing remotely sexualised about it. Not those ridiculous "slutty" parodies of such outfits that seemed popular on All Hallows' Eve.
No. These were immaculately tailored, fit for purpose, the exact sort of thing an actual professional in their fields might wear. Doctors, nurses, office workers, firemen, teachers, schoolgirls, schoolboys, the list was quite extensive. But instead of any of them he reached out and lay his hands upon one in particular.
"Soldier," he said with a whisper, and then the uniform began to fill out. The chest puffed out. The sleeves became less flat and more circular. It was as if a person was actually putting those clothes on right there in front of him. And, in a fashion, you might say that was exactly what was happening.
Before long there was a handsome young soldier standing there at attention in front of him. An artificial construct that was tailor made for the clothes he was wearing. The clothes make the man. In more ways than one, it seemed.
"Here is your mission," he said to the soldier construct in front of himself. "You are to set up a 'voluntary' training day for youths to get them into shape. Naturally, they shall become healthier in mind and body by the time you are finished with them. Understood? If so, then you are dismissed."
"Sir, yes, sir!" the soldier smartly saluted, then spun in place and equally smartly walked from the room. The smart-suited man watched him leave. His air of authority should convince a fair number of youths to join up with him. No question about that. Of course, something that loud and obvious was bound to draw attention from the shameless servants of chaos. Which is why he would enact his real plan. Reaching into the wardrobe to draw out another uniform. He would not be able to animate any more for a little while after doing this many so quickly, but if it rid them of those persistent enemies then who was he to dismiss such an obviously solid tactical opportunity...?
<hr>
We must indulge once again in the realm of metaphor to explain what a certain perverted demon was thinking and feeling and experiencing, as once again those experiences are rather outside of normal human perception and must be simplified for the benefit of our comprehension.
Libra was pacing the floor in sheer heart-pounding anticipation. It was working. It was actually working! Those silly sailors were falling for it headfirst. They believed him. They trusted him! He could see it already. So clearly. The five of them standing in these very halls, dancing for both his amusement as well as each other's. Then when they were finished, he would...
Huh. Actually, that was a thought. He could only really properly interact with them through telepathy. That could prove problematic for celebrating once all five of their doors were wide open for him to traverse and manipulate at his leisure. Then again, who was to say he had to sort that problem out now? Once he had a little more control over their special little crystal, he would be capable of so, so much more...
"Which leads me back into the next phase of my plan," he said, metaphorically morphing into Sailor Venus while savouring the taste and texture of her particular powerset. "I need to talk to them tonight in their dreams. I need to seal the deal. I need to make them realise how much they need me and my services."
He shook off Sailor Venus for a moment, and shifted towards Mercury. He hadn't much the chance to access the genius of the group yet. But that would come too. In time. He summoned recollections of those two fights. The creatures utilised by their current enemy.
"One advantage I have," Libra sniffed, "is that I understand beings like this a little better than their other allies might. Even if their goals are nothing like mine... I can certainly understand the methods they are employing."
And now he closed his eyes to really think about it. Were he aware of such things, Libra might have compared his current situation to former thieves being hired as security consultants. Drawing upon their own expertise to advise on ways to counteract his former side.
"If I were to try and make the world a more lustful place," he mused, "I would delegate the task to a number of subordinates. Each with a different speciality. In my case a fetish, but for something centered around order... Perhaps different interpretations of order? Their instructions would be to create their own minions and oversee numerous schemes either to draw energy from the masses or use that energy to -"
And now Libra smiled. "To directly manipulate the minds of numerous people, so that they repress their lustful desires much less in future. And if I was confronted by beings like the Sailor Senshi... I would focus my attention into transforming them into nymphomaniacs."
In other words, much the same as he was trying to do now. Another enemy focused on promoting order, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be quite as nice about it. Instead that kind of enemy might resort to destroying them outright.
In which case... Libra's timing couldn't be better. He could play at being the hero for these foolish girls, all the while corrupting them towards his own purpose! Why, who knows? He might even enjoy just playing the role of hero. After all. Usagi was quite nice to him, wasn't she? He let out a laugh at the heart of the crystal, with his back turned to the doorway with the moon symbol etched atop it. The laugh echoed malevolently throughout the corridor, prompting each of the Inners to suddenly, without quite knowing why, giggle slightly and then dismiss the reaction as unimportant.
However, at the same time each of them felt something else as well that almost moved them to tears. They felt something like a cry for comfort, companionship and perhaps even friendship.
They also felt just a little bit turned on, but they each independently ignored that and tried to get on with their day.
<hr>
Speaking of, Minako was positively giddy as she skipped off home. Gosh, but it had been a while since she'd toasted a baddie all by her lonesome. Even so, she didn't remember feeling quite so excited afterwards. It felt like her heart was about to leap clear out of her chest, and then -
"Minako! There you are!"
"Oh," Minako said, stopping in her tracks. "Hey there, Makoto! Fancy seeing you here."
The tall brunette quickly looked around to check if anyone else was nearby and leaned down to whisper in Minako's ear. "Hey," she said, "So, how did it turn out? If you're out here, that must mean you beat the monster. Right?"
Minako felt herself beaming with pride while nodding her head. "Libra gave me a power boost," she said. Indeed he did. Transforming her ribbons into tentacles at the cost of her clothing. It was a little strange, now that she thought about it. How little it bothered her when she had -
"Say, Makoto," Minako suddenly said. She even surprised herself with her tone. "What did it feel like to you when you used Libra's power?"
There was no question that Minako was the most experienced of the group when it came to doing what they do. She had been Sailor V for quite a while before Usagi was found by Luna, which meant that she had to tackle all sorts of wicked monsters draining and brainwashing people all by herself with no hope of backup. One thing she had learned was to always watch the eyes. People give more away with the eyes than they probably realise.
In Makoto's case, Minako caught exactly what she was expecting to see. A glimmer of a thrill. Just before the much taller girl said a word, Minako already sort of knew what to expect.
"It felt weird," Makoto said. "But kinda nice too. It was sort of like I had this nice feeling flowing right through me from head to foot." Her eyelids fluttered, and Makoto didn't even seem to notice. Which was right when Minako caught herself biting her lip. She couldn't exactly disagree with that assessment. It had felt really, really nice summoning and controlling all those tentacles.
Actually, there was a devil on her shoulder telling her to transform just now to give it another try. After all, it reasoned, won't you need to practise that new power of yours? The same for Makoto as well. That was quite a lot of electricity that she was channeling. What if either of them hurt someone while trying to take on a foe that was too big, too dangerous for them to fight?
Of course, the devil whispered on, if something were to happen while the two of them were disrobed... If you caught a peek at Makoto's delicious body and she at yours... Would it really be either of your fault? You're both so pretty. Both so close. Both so deliciously powerful...
"Yo, Minako!" Makoto snapped her fingers right in front of the blonde's face. "Up here, eyes up here! Honestly, you're as bad as Usagi sometimes. You know that, right?"
"Wah! Sorry, Makoto!" Minako said, quickly backing off with her hands raised. "I was just thinking about that Libra and the power they're giving us! In particular... Do you really think they're on the level? I mean, isn't it a little bit weird that Libra should arrive like this just when we happened to need him?"
"I dunno," Makoto said. "I mean... This sort of thing does kind of happen every time we run into something too big and bad to deal with, right? Something shows up, gives us a power boost, and then we take them down."
Well. Yes, that much was certainly true. Except that something felt a little different this time. "That's not what I mean..." Minako said. She furrowed her brow and tapped her chin. "I don't know how to put this, but something... Doesn't quite feel right about this. I mean, turning our own clothing into power boosts? Doesn't that seem kind of perverted to you as well?"
"Yeah, it kind of is," Makoto said with a scowl. Oof. Even Minako was a little frightened by that expression. "You think maybe we should talk to him about that tonight? We're supposed to be getting full power-ups from him then, or something."
Full power-ups for the entire team? The image flashed by Minako's mind faster than she could stop it. All five of them. Standing on a rooftop. Their uniforms dissolving and turning into hugely powerful attacks, leaving them standing there. Naked. Next to each other. Rippling with amazing power. An amazing perverted power flowing through them all...
"D-Definitely," she said, slapping her blushing cheeks to bring her out of it. "We should definitely think of some questions to ask Libra about what's going on, especially if we're supposed to trust these new powers."
- Libra experiments a little with what he can do within the crystal now.
- Suddenly, one of the Senshi encounters the Soldier uniform!
- That night, the Senshi meet with Libra.
- Minako and Makoto decide to experiment with their new abilities.
- Something else
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