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Five years.

It had been five years since Ilse first awakened as Sailor Deneb, the senshi of bubbles, and she had quite frustratingly failed to progress any further than when she had first started out.

'Good things come to those who wait,' someone had once said. but Deneb was long past the point of patiently waiting. She'd done her part to keep the peace in Destiny City, even if nobody seemed to notice or appreciate it- shouldn't she have been rewarded for her efforts by now? While Deneb didn't know the actual numbers, she was certain that new senshi were being awakened and surpassing her in power with each passing day. Even children were growing more powerful than she was, and it didn't sit right with Deneb. What had they done to deserve it that she hadn't? Hadn't she done enough already? While Deneb certainly wasn't going out of her way to singlehandedly achieve world peace or anything of the sort, the fact was that she had, in her opinion, done more than enough to merit a promotion, an upgrade in power.

But how, exactly, did she go about acquiring it? Etoile had long since left her, finally having found someone new to harass, and Deneb hadn't seen the cat that had awakened her, either. Not that she felt that any cat could give her a straight answer; if they were anything like Etoile, they were all too dumb and useless to be of any help.

Out on one of her usual patrol routes, Deneb felt the unmistakable aura of Chaos, similar to that of a corrupt senshi she had fought years ago, but stronger. While some might have opted for minding their own business and not going around picking fights with things that were very arguably much more powerful than them and had the very real possibility of inflicting some serious hurt, but Deneb couldn't care less. What better way to vent her frustrations as well as prove herself than to take down an agent of Chaos?

Setting her plan in motion, Deneb moved closer to the source of the aura.

Deneb wasn't sure what she had expected, really.

Well, no, it wasn't hard to imagine what Deneb expected, to be honest, and it was far more exciting than this. Starseed pulling, energy draining- hell, even something as mundane as littering or kicking small animals- anything opportunity to swoop in and play the hero, to win the glory and praise she was so desperately seeking these days. An eternal corrupt sitting on the ground and otherwise not doing very much, was, in fact not what Deneb had in mind for a challenge, and she paused, hand on hip.

Long past were the days when Deneb would opt to leave the dirty work to someone else, to avoid getting dirty herself. These days, she was far too less picky about when and where she picked her battles, content to take her frustrations out on whatever (whoever) crossed her path. And so, Deneb regarded Chrysocolla with a look of suspicion, and a look of contempt.

"Don't tell me," she began, thinking she had this all figured out, "this is supposed to be some sort of setup, to distract me into trying to help you out, while your buddies get the jump on me, now is that right?"

She was here for a fight, wanted to fight, would not go down without a fight.

"I want to fight, though," Deneb insisted, crossing her arms against her chest; why was it that when she finally came across a corrupt that looked like they had already pulled an all-nighter, let alone one who didn't want to fight? She scowled, hating her own misfortune.

"Do you know how long I've been doing this?" she demanded, though Deneb didn't necessarily expect an answer, "Five years- I've been doing this 'magical girl' thing for five years- and where has it gotten me? Absolutely nowhere."

"But meanwhile, people like you- people like yourself, are already a much higher rank, and in half the time- but why?"

It didn't matter that Chrysocolla wouldn't know. It didn't even matter if Deneb wouldn't find the answer tonight, tomorrow, or even next week. She was bitter and frustrated, and the corrupt's refusal to fight had set off a need to vent those frustrations out loud.

Why do you deserve it, but I don't?

Deneb didn't particularly fancy dying, but she also didn't particularly feel like gracing Chrysocolla with an answer to that, either. Instead, she listened as the corrupt eternal recounted her tale, of having to kill, of how the white moon apparently rewarded 'little girls' (young, rookie senshi, she assumed, unlike herself) for killing. It all sounded like a crock of lies to Deneb, who had never heard anyone mention anything about having to kill, but on the other hand, she was genre savvy enough to know that some sacrifices were necessary, and were inevitable along the way; she'd seen anime like Madoka, heard of similar anime... Deneb wasn't exactly naive.

Still, perhaps, Deneb contemplated, Chrysocolla's words held a ring of truth to them- what then, and what did it matter to her? Bitter and resentful, but not necessarily wishing to dirty her hands in such a way, the senshi of bubbles didn't necessarily offer a rebuttal, but instead an observation.

"Suppose I believe you and they do," Deneb began, playing out a hypothetical scenario in her head, "Isn't that, though, what the Negaverse does as well, killing people? A bit pot calling the kettle black, I would think."

Deneb wasn't interested, really, in hearing Chrysocolla's story, or hearing her excuses, and, yet, she made no move to leave, either. So was this how the Negaverse recruited people these days, by painting the other side as a bunch of cold-blooded killers? She didn't particularly believe a word the corrupt was saying, but at the same time...

It was possible the was a certain appeal to her words.

"Alright, alright, you've made your point," Deneb interjected, waving a hand dismissively, "So maybe you're not all entirely bad, yes, I get it- no need to continue on."

"But tell me, since you're obviously trying to spin this into a recruitment pitch: What, exactly, is in it for me, should I decide to go and join you?"

Deneb let out a small huff of frustration - whether Chrysocolla had intended her words to come off that way, it had come off as a recruitment pitch to her, and that was all she cared about.

However...

She listened as Chrysocolla actually did go ahead and talk about what Deneb could do for the Negaverse; in particular, what resonated with her the most was...

"I could get back at them," she mused aloud, pondering the possibilities, "I could get revenge."

(Oh, but there was a status quo to keep, with very defined roles. Who could ever imagine Deneb, protector of the peace, to go against that?)

"They like to say that they're only helping, that they're just giving advice, but it's all condescending, all insulting," Deneb chimed in; it may have just been her reading too into things, but every time she ran into a higher ranked senshi, it was always the same. What had once been limited to just her MMOs crept into her real life, too- once the senshi found out how long Deneb had been at this, they seemed to look down on her with scorn.

"... It's tempting," she conceded, mulling over Chrysocolla's words. Her raid static was on hiatus until 4.0, but she could always find a new one, find a new group. Outside of that, Deneb didn't have very many obligations, and even less people who she would miss. "But I'll need time, to think things over."

"Next week, then," Deneb agreed, "We'll talk more then."

She wasn't planning on agreeing to anything just yet, not just yet, but she would return, would listen to what Chrysocolla had to say. Maybe, just maybe, Deneb could be fully persuaded to switch sides. There was an interest, after all; it probably wouldn't take much, it just needed to be secured.

In the meantime, though, her quest for power would continue through her usual alternative ways, picking fights with things stronger than her.

"Until next time."

And with that, she was turning to leave.