Chapter 20: Nora's Arc
"Hey hey everyone I hope you're ready to have a good day. Because it's gonna be nice and sunny!" The weather man said as his broadcast played through Nora's headphones.
"Sunny my foot!" Nora said in an annoyed tone as she held a book over her head to keep the pouring rain off.
She raced around the corner, determined to get back home before she got completely soaked. But she was running so fast she didn't realize another person was coming her way. She crashed into them and fell flat on her butt.
"Ow! Watch it!" Nora snapped.
"Oh sorry Nora I didn't see you there! Here let me help you up."
Nora looked up to see Jaune extending his hand out to her.
"J-Jaune," she said, blushing a bit as she took his hand.
"Hey since I have an umbrella and you don't let me help you home," the blonde young man said.
Nora nodded and they began walking back to her apartment.
"So I've been talking to Ruby recently, she says you're a really good cook. Is that true?" Jaune asked.
"Well you could say that. One of my good friends taught me how to cook. Honestly I don't think I'd be nearly as good without him. We even have plans to open our own restaurant some day."
"That sounds amazing. I can't cook anything," Jaune admitted.
Nora's eyes lit up and she dug into her bag for a pen and notepad, "hey why don't you give me your address and phone number?! Then you can call me and we can set up a time for a cooking lesson!"
The blonde young man thought for a moment before writing down his address and number, "great. I mean if you're sure it's not a bother."
"No of course not! In fact how about I see you tonight?!" Nora asked enthusiastically.
"Tonight?! But I-"
"Oh hey look the rain stopped, I'm gonna head home before it starts again. See you later Jaune bye!" And with that Nora scurried off.
Jaune sighed, "tonight I have a date..."
Just then he felt someone wrap their arms around his shoulders.
"Hey Jaune,"
The young man turned and found himself staring in the emerald green eyes of his girlfriend Pyrrha Nikos.
"Hey Pyrrha I was just thinking about you! Are you ready for our date tonight?"
Pyrrha's face fell, "I'm sorry Jaune but I won't be able to."
"They aren't making you work overtime again are they?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha was a researcher's assistant at a biology lab.
"No it's not that...I've been promoted."
Jaune smiled widely, "then that means you'll get to go to Vacuo just like you've always wanted!"
Pyrrha sighed, "yeah but we both know it means I have to move there for two years. I just don't know what I'm gonna do."
Her watch then let out a shrill beeping sound.
"Oh that's my alarm to head back to work. I'll call you later Jaune."
With that she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away.
———————————————————————
"Dark Crystal we command you! Show us another holder of the rainbow crystals," Roman said as the black homing crystal floated in front of him and Neo.
An image of Pyrrha appeared in the crystal's surface.
"What a beautiful lady. Too bad we'll have to destroy her pretty face to get our shadow warrior back."
Neo pouted, "Roman how can you say that about her? I thought I was the only one for you."
Roman summoned a red rose and handed it to her. "Of course you are my love."
Neo smiled and laid her head against his chest, "you're wonderful," she hummed, "now let's take back what's ours."
———————————————————————
"So Pyrrha's moving to Vacuo huh?" Oscar asked as he took a sip of his drink.
"Yep," Jaune said sadly.
He had been feeling down ever since his talk with Pyrrha so he had called Oscar to hang out in order to cheer himself up a little.
"So what are you gonna do?" The other young man asked.
"I dunno...break up I guess. Or maybe we can do a long distance relationship. Or maybe I can go with her to Vacuo."
"I don't think that's gonna work," Oscar said.
"C'mon Oscar isn't there anyone you've been madly in love with? Someone you know you couldn't live without?" Jaune asked.
"Not at the moment no," Oscar admitted.
"Well I know one thing. I don't wanna give up my relationship with Pyrrha. No way."
———————————————————————
Later that afternoon Nora was walking over to Jaune's apartment for their cooking class. Jaune had just returned from hanging out with Oscar, but still he wasn't really expecting the ginger haired young woman to show up so soon after talking that morning.
Nora knocked on the door and heard several loud bangs coming from inside the apartment.
Jaune cautiously opened the door, "hey Nora I didn't expect you to come by so soon. I haven't really had a chance to clean up."
Nora pushed past him and walked inside, "hey don't worry Jaune people always think their house is messy when company comes over."
However Nora was greeted to the sight of a giant mess of clothes, garbage, and dirty dishes covering the living room floor and part of the kitchen.
"Oh..."
"Yeah sorry..."
Nora punched her left fist into her right palm, "don't worry, you just get started cleaning the dishes and I'll start in the living room. I can't cook a thing if I know there's a mess around me."
She quickly found some cleaning products and got to work.
A little later Nora was mopping the floor when a picture sitting on a bookshelf caught her eye.
"Hey Jaune who's this in the picture?"
Jaune looked up from where he was folding clothes, "hm? Oh that. That's Pyrrha and me."
"Pyrrha? Who's that your sister? Didn't you say you have, what was it, four?"
Jaune blanched, "uh seven actually. And no Pyrrha is my girlfriend."
Nora felt as if she'd been slapped, "your girlfriend?! H-how long have you been together!"
The blonde young man thought for a moment, "a year I guess."
Nora forced a smile onto her face, "a year huh. Well how nice for you."
———————————————————————
The next day at school Nora was feeling absolutely devastated over what she had learned about Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Hey Nora don't drag your feet or you'll be late," Ruby said, running up to her with Zwei trailing behind. Then she laughed, "huh listen to me telling you to hurry up."
Nora growled, "not in the mood."
"Yikes what happened? The cooking lesson with Jaune go that bad?"
"Oh no it was great," Nora deadpanned, "until I found out he has a girlfriend!"
"What?!" Now it was Ruby's turn to be shocked, "and he never told us?! That would've been nice to know!"
"Why does it matter I thought you liked Tuxedo Mask!" Nora pointed out.
"I do," Ruby said, "it's just...he doesn't like me back. So I thought I had a chance with Jaune."
"Maybe you still do," her friend said grabbing her shoulders, "his girlfriend is leaving soon so maybe one of us will be able to snag him. I mean we're sailor scouts aren't we? That means we never give up. Isn't that what you're always telling us Zwei?"
The corgi's ears lowered, "oh no. Do not bring me into this."
——————————————————————
"Ok you wanna go in first or should I?" Ruby asked as she and Nora were standing outside the arcade later that day.
"I thought we could do this together," Nora said.
"You girls looking for Jaune?" Oscar asked.
Ruby turned to see the young man leaning against the wall, "so what if we are?" She asked.
"Well I'm sorry to tell you Red but he's not here today. He's helping Pyrrha pack for Vacuo. But maybe it's for the best, you two need to understand that he's just not interested. You better leave him alone before you embarrass yourselves."
"Since when do you care?" Nora asked crossing her arms.
Oscar shrugged, "I just don't think it'll be fun to watch is all."
Nora rolled her eyes, "c'mon Ruby let's find another way to get to Jaune."
——————————————————————
The next morning the girls put Nora's new plan into action. They scheduled another cooking lesson with Jaune.
"There's his apartment," Nora said pointing it out.
Ruby bounced a little on her toes, "oh I'm so nervous."
"Relax Ruby it's just a cooking lesson," Zwei pointed out.
Ruby looked down at her dog and gave him a look.
"Oh," the corgi said with an eye roll, "you aren't worried about the cooking class."
Nora rang the doorbell and Jaune answered with a big smile on his face, "hey girls c'mon in."
The two followed him inside and dumped their groceries on the table.
"I'm so glad you two could come over. And this is the perfect opportunity for you to meet my girlfriend," Jaune said.
The two girls laughed nervously.
"Ok let's get to work," Nora said before beginning to show Ruby how to peel and cut carrots. Though the dark haired girl was stealing a slice or two every once in a while.
"Ruby," Nora gave her a look.
"Don't move I'll be right there," they then heard Jaune say.
"Everything ok?" Ruby asked, sticking her head out into the hallway.
Jaune was hanging up the phone, "I think I need to go pick up Pyrrha. Can you girls wait here until I get back?"
"Sure thing," Nora said.
The young man thanked them before running out.
Soon a few hours had passed by and there was no sign of Jaune.
"I don't know Nora I don't think Jaune is coming back," Ruby said sadly.
"Something doesn't feel right," Zwei said from his position in Ruby's lap.
Just then the threesome heard a shrill beeping sound coming from Ruby's backpack.
"Ruby, your wand! It's the rainbow crystal alert!" Nora shouted.
The silver eyed girl quickly fumbled through her bag until she pulled out the crescent moon wand. Sure enough it was beeping and pulsing with a bright red light.
"We need to go. Now." She said.
She then touched her locket and Nora held up her power stick.
"Moon prism power!"
"Jupiter power!"
The magic items glowed and turned them into Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter respectively.
——————————————————————
"I won't tell you again," Neo said as she used her magic to make a wall of flames to prevent Jaune and Pyrrha from going anywhere, "Step aside boy."
Jaune stood protectively in front of his girlfriend, "I'm not letting you hurt her."
"Fine have it your way," she said as she used telekinesis to simply knock Jaune aside with a flick of her wrist.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out in horror.
"Now it's time to take what's mine. Come to me rainbow crystal!" Neo said as she held out the dark crystal.
Pyrrha's chest pulsated with light as the blue rainbow crystal was pulled from her heart.
She then turned into a humanoid covered from head to toe in golden armor.
"Free at last!" The monster cheered.
"Did you see that?" Sailor Moon asked as she and Sailor Jupiter ran up, "Pyrrha turned into a negaverse monster."
She pointed at the transformed Pyrrha and at Neo, "listen up nega-creeps. We are the sailor scouts! Champions of justice! We fight for love and on behalf of the moon we'll punish you!"
Pyrrha summoned a sword and shield and hurled the sword toward the two scouts like a javelin.
Sailor Jupiter barely had time to pull her friend to the side before she was impaled.
Pyrrha held her hand up and called the sword back.
"Thanks. That was close," Sailor Moon said.
Neo watched all of this unfold with an amused look on her face, "well I better be going back to Queen Salem with this crystal."
However, just then a cane knocked the crystal out of her hand and Tuxedo Mask caught it.
"Hey give that back! It's mine!" Neo shouted.
"No I don't think I will. It's mine now," he said.
Sailor Moon blushed, "he's just so perfect!"
"Can we talk about that later?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
Pyrrha began throwing her weapons at the scouts and calling them back in succession knocking the two girls around a bit.
"We need to get her to stop moving so you can heal her," Sailor Jupiter said.
She crossed her arms over her chest and extended her pinkies and pointer fingers upward, "Jupiter thunder crash!"
A bolt of lighting struck Pyrrha but somehow she was able to absorb it and send it back at the scouts.
The twosome ducked down as the electricity arced over their head.
"Ok that didn't work," Sailor Jupiter muttered, "and I can't just hit her again it'll make her even stronger."
"Can't you just, I don't know, turn the lightning off?" Sailor Moon asked.
Just then they heard a shout of "Mercury bubbles blast!"
Purple bubbles appeared around Pyrrha and when the bubbles popped they trapped her in a black shadowy fog.
"Sailor Mercury! Sailor Mars!" Sailor Moon said in relief.
"Sorry we took so long," Sailor Mercury apologized.
"Now that she's disoriented let's finish her off," Sailor Mars said, she clasped her hands together with her pointer fingers facing upward, "Mars fire ignite!"
A stream of fire engulfed Pyrrha burning the creature to a crisp.
"Sailor Moon your turn!"
Sailor Moon nodded and summoned the crescent moon wand.
She held the wand up before drawing a large circle of moonlight around herself, "moon healing activation!"
The circle of moonlight encased the shadow warrior inside it, destroying it but also returning Pyrrha to her normal self.
Meanwhile Tuxedo Mask and Neo were still in a fierce fight over the blue rainbow crystal.
Just as Tuxedo Mask was about to strike the villainess she dropped to one knee, "I surrender. I'm no match for you the great Tuxedo Mask. The crystal is yours."
Tuxedo Mask smiled and leaned down to pick the crystal up, but Neo blew a swarm of pink, brown and white flower petals into his face, distracting him and allowing her to grab the crystal.
Neo's laugh echoed in the hero's brain as she began to disappear, "the great Tuxedo Mask," she mocked, "done in by your own ego."
Tuxedo Mask tried to grab her but his fingers closed around air. He swore audibly. Now the negaverse had three crystals.
——————————————————————
A couple days later Jaune, Ruby, and Nora had come to the airport to see Pyrrha off. The two younger girls stepped aside to let the couple say their goodbyes.
"I'm gonna miss you Pyrrha," Jaune said, holding her hands in his own.
"Me too. But you're in my heart. Always," Pyrrha said.
An announcement rang through the airport announcing the final boarding call for Vacuo.
"I love you," Jaune said before giving his girlfriend a soft kiss on her lips.
Pyrrha gave him one last smile as she took her luggage and headed to the plane.
"Man...that's so sad. And so sweet!" Ruby said tearfully.
"Yeah," Nora nodded, but then she perked up, "well what do you say the three of us go get ice cream or something."
"Hey I thought we were done trying to date Jaune," Ruby said.
Her friend nodded, "we are. But I can still flirt. It'll be good practice for whenever I do get a boyfriend."
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top