Hello all!
^_^
Well, here we go again, right? As always, C&C is appreciated, cherished, and
usually responded to, barring system crash (don't laugh - it HAS happened).
And, without further ado, away we go!
**********
OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : Some of these guys aren't mine. The
Sailor Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned
by Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me. I'm
a student.
RONIN SUMMER : DARK CRUSADE
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over
by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)
Chapter Two : Desperate Times
Holts made a face as she examined the room she had entered.
Frankly, she had always found any room without a decent bed in it
utterly disgusting, and this room even more so. Her four catlike eyes
closed as she shuddered. Beside her, her brother grinned and stretched
his arms wide.
"Do you smell that?" He asked the petite redhead as she focused
on breathing through her mouth. "A glorious smell."
"Would you be referring to the decaying flesh," Holts gagged,
"or the rotting bones?" Thraw looked as though he might enjoy both,
in her opinion. He was at least two heads taller than she, and nearly
as broad as he was tall. His black pants were already coated with
a layer of blood and grease from entering the room, and the thick
leather belt he wore was covered with small metal hooks. Bare for now,
but Holts knew all too well the number of weapons he would hang there
before the day was out. His bare chest and arms were covered with an
intricate network of long, angry scars, and his left ear was missing.
"I refer," her brother snarled, "to Mother. You can smell her
essence here still, if you have the nose for it." He smiled, and Holts
noticed that he had taken to filing his teeth into points again. "Not,"
he added, "that you have ever taken an interest in this aspect of
our work."
"That's not fair," Holts pouted. "I've never taken an interest
in ANY kind of work, not just your repulsive trade." She waved her arm
in a gesture that indicated the nearest pile of skulls and ribcages,
a towering stack far higher than her own head. "Now start hauling these
into the centre of the room for me, would you, hon?"
Thraw smiled again, and picked up a tangle of leg bones,
tucking them under one arm and reaching for a few skulls. "Lazy sot,"
he chuckled, "you haven't done a day's work since Mother birthed you."
"Hey, I work just as hard as everybody else!" The young girl
replied hotly, crossing her arms across her chest as the jointed spines
that grew from her back rattled. "I'll have you know that I've been
awake for six whole hours! In a ROW!"
"A new record," the man grunted as he rolled a few more skulls
off of the piles that he was surrounded by and tossed some spinal
cords after them. A few shards of purtefying flesh still hung from the
yellowed bones, and Holts pinched her nose. "You must be proud."
"Be quiet," she hissed to her brother, "it's starting!" Looking
up to the ceiling, where she was pointing, Thraw's eyes widened. The
small channels and grooves were indeed slowly filling with a syrupy
red fluid that they knew all too well.
"He started early," Thraw groaned. "Pedri started the transfer
of her fluids." Gritting his teeth, he turned to Holts and bellowed.
"HURRY! WE HAVE TO GET THESE BONES INTO THE RING!"
The doors opened and Erdge rushed in. She was a direct contrast
to Thraw, a thin and supple girl in black leather studded liberally
with silver spikes. Her face was concealed behind a leather mask, from
which only her hungry eyes could be seen. "What is all this commotion?
You made me lose count, Brother Thraw!" Dropping into a crouch, she
fanned a handful of long throwing knives. "Do you have any idea how
hard it is to keep track of my treasures?"
"Silence, wench! Mother is preparing for transfusion!"
Erdge's eyes nearly popped out of her mask. "But the bones
are still... Oh, my. We have to move!" Her form blurring as she raced
past her two siblings, Erdge began grabbing and tossing arms, legs,
skulls, and ribs into the cleared middle of the room almost at random.
Cursing mightily, Thraw joined her in the task, hurling a pelvis like
a discus and rolling skulls like bowling balls.
The red goo slowly stretched down from the ceiling as Erdge
and Thraw piled their bones under the supervision of Holts. Soon, the
gelatinous pool had begun to creep across the floor, and Thraw quickly
backed away from it. Erdge, not noticing, was still reaching for
another armful of bones when her brother grabbed her wrist and hauled
her back to the door. Seeing the crimson slime nipping at her heels,
Erdge gasped and hopped with Thraw out of the depression in the floor
where their cargo had been deposited. Reaching behind her, the
leather-clad girl grabbed the long braid of blond hair that had been
brushing her ankles and pulled it out of harm's way as the burbling
ooze lapped against the stone edge that restrained it.
The three siblings stood in silence around the calm pool as it
did its work. Erdge wrung her braid in both hands and glanced nervously
at Holts, who barely restrained a yawn and began filing her nails on a
stray rib. Thraw stood as close to it as he could, his shoulders
rising and falling as he took deep breaths of the fluid's sickly sweet
bouquet. "Ahh..." He crooned, as the first skeletal hand burst through
the surface, followed quickly by thirty more. "Battle..."
***********
Anubis awoke to the smell of smoke, and the feel of fingers
around his throat. Balling up one fist, he lashed out and broke the
nose of his assailant, slightly disgusted by the foul smelling slime
that seeped from between its sodden black rags. Coughing violently,
the Masho of Darkness grabbed his unexpected opponent by the head and
slammed their skull against the stone wall until all he was holding
was a fistful of red ooze and a few shards of bone. Making a face, he
wiped the guck off on his white nightshirt and leapt out of bed.
Halfway across the room, another of the ragged black figures
lunged at him from the boiling clouds of smoke. Stepping back, Anubis
barely avoided its rusted blade and grabbed the stool he had thrown
his pants on when preparing for bed. Swinging it like a bat, he quickly
blocked the creature's blade and twisted the weapon out of its hands.
A backhand with the stool snapped his assailant's spinal cord and
silenced it forever.
Dropping the shattered remains of the stool, Anubis haphazardly
tucked his silk nightshirt into the waistband of his hakama as he
stumbled to his open door. He had just known that this would happen if
he went without his yoroi...
Entering the corridor, Anubis coughed and doubled over in an
attempt to stay below the smoke drifting about him. Another of the
strange figures in black lunged at him, this one armed with a short
spear. The pair locked arms and struggled for a moment, Anubis trapping
the creature's wrists in a grasp that could shatter rock. His opponent
gurgled angrily, and the Masho of Darkness felt a warm and slimy fluid
seeping through its rags. Trying to readjust his hold, Anubis lost his
grip on the creature's arm and gasped as it rammed the javelin it
carried deep into his side.
Anubis squeezed his eyes shut and raced forward, feeling the
barbed head of the weapon grate against his ribs with every step.
Clutching his enemy by its shirt, he slammed it into the window on
the far wall of the corridor. It released the weapon as it flopped
bonelessly after the the first impact, and Anubis slammed it again, the
familiar coppery taste of his own blood in the back of his throat. The
glass had cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and with his last rush,
Anubis was able to smash the window and hurl the black figure he held
to the courtyard below.
Clutching his side and growling, Anubis jerked free the javelin
and held it at the ready as he began to stagger back down the corridor.
Where was Kayura? He had to make sure she was all right. Then, he lied
to himself, he would able to rest for a minute and actually feel some
of what had been done to him. Just as soon as he found Kayura...
**********
Erdge happily reached into her sack and drew out a torch. A
quick search of her braid revealed one of the many matches she had
woven into the hairstyle, and she lit the brand. With a merry hum, she
hurled it against the far wall of the room she was passing by.
"Oops!" She said hastily and ran in after it, grabbing the
thick silk tapestry that hung near the burning embers. "Wouldn't want
something this nice to get damaged..." Tearing down the tapestry, she
rolled it into a tube and stuffed it into her sack. "Come to think of
it," she added thoughtfully as she looked around the room, "it really
is a shame that we should destroy something as nice as these
candlesticks... and that china..." Moving almost of their own accord,
the blonde woman's hands began to grab most of the contents of the
room and tossed them into the sack as well. Soon, she had begun to
move a little slower, and was dragging the bulging bag behind her.
"Ergh! Stupid torches," she groaned as she worked her way up
the stairs. "Taking up all the room for good stuff! I never should have
agreed to be the firebug on this mission... Next time, Thraw can burn
his own damned castles!"
"May I help you with anything?" The speaker was a rather
unassuming girl, dressed simply in a white cotton shift. Her long black
hair hung free, and she held a strange staff with golden rings that
clanged against each other with her every movement.
Erdge blinked as she looked down at the girl. Some little brat,
probably, judging by the sound of her tone. Although, she had to admit,
that was a very lovely ring on the girl's finger. It would of course
look MUCH better on Erdge's own slender digits, though...
"Tell you what, kid," Erdge whispered confidentially, glancing
left and right to make sure no other troops were nearby to hear her.
"If you give me that sparkler on your finger, I'll forget I ever saw
you. You can run for it, and I won't tell anybody. Deal?"
Kayura looked at the ring she wore. "Oh," she said calmly, "I
couldn't possibly give this to you. If you want, though, feel free to
come and take it."
With a sigh, the masked woman lowered her sack. "If you
insist," she said lightly.
Kayura stepped forward, rapidly jabbing the end of her staff
into the other woman's face. Moving in a glittering arc, the shakujo
then thudded solidly into the ankles of the woman and tripped her.
Shaking her head and blinking to clear her eyes, Erdge slowly
regained her feet. "Okay," she said, wincing behind her blank leather
mask, "first of all... Ouch. Second of all..." With a wordless screech,
the blonde hurtled down the stairs, slamming into Kayura's torso and
sending both women tumbling down the marble staircase.
**********
Rajura staggered back against the wall, gasping for air as he
watched Sailor Thunderstorm dispatch another of their faceless,
voiceless enemy with a crackling disc of electricity. The golden bow on
the front of her emerald fuku had been shredded into ribbons, and she
was coated in the crimson slime that these things used for blood.
Nearby, eight of the shadowy monsters were struggling to bring down
Takenoko, as the giant minotaur shook them off like gnats.
There was yet another flash of light, and Rajura turned to see
that Sailor Lightstorm had succesfully obliterated another of the
creatures, which had been sneaking up on his blind side. With a soft
curse at himself for being so lax in his guard, the Masho of Deception
waved his thanks. Lightstorm beamed, and waved back before disappearing
into the crowd.
With no warning, one of Kayura's Guard flew backwards and
clattered to the floor, his gutted armour already releasing the thick
black mist of his soul. The Spider Masho watched with growing
apprehension as a tall and muscular man walked forward, smoke still
rising from the axe in his left hand. He was bald, and missing one ear.
>From his belt hung maces, swords, javelins, nunchaku, and other weapons
Rajura had never seen before.
"I'm sorry," Thraw said with a fierce grin. "Was that one of
yours? I'm so clumsy with other people's toys. Mother is always telling
me to play more gently, but I just don't know my own skill." Without
looking, he unhooked a pair of bolos from his belt and hurled them
behind him, catching Sailor Icestorm by the ankles and throwing her to
the floor with enough force to knock her out.
"You'll have to forgive me," Rajura said, gingerly lifting a
section of his torn and bloodied shirt, "but I'm not really dressed
for the occasion. Could we possibly do this some other time?"
"Of course, where are my manners?" Thraw chuckled and spread
his arms wide. "Go ahead, my good man. Take your best shot, and then
I shall take mine. Fair's fair, after all."
"You're right," Rajura said, and kicked Thraw in the crotch.
"Fair IS fair." As the man doubled over, he felt the Masho's hands
gripping the back of his head, slamming his face into a rising knee.
"And I, to date, am NOT." Rajura raised his clasped fists over his head
and brought them down in a double blow on the base of Thraw's skull.
As the man fell to his knees, dazed, Rajura looked around the
battlefield. The crackles of elecricity down the hall told him that
Thunderstorm was still going strong, and two or three of Kayura's Guard
were still earning their pay nearby, but the minotaur Takenoko was
nowhere to be seen. To his surprise, a man in black hakama and a
stained red nightshirt stumbled around the corner and thrust a bloody
javelin through the chest of a figure in now-familiar black rags.
"Rajura!" The Masho of Darkness called. "Are you all right?"
"Nothing five days alone with that Pedri boy and a meathook
won't cure," Rajura responded, then glanced at his comrade with
concern. "What about you, Anubis? How are you doing?"
"I'm alive," Anubis groaned, "but I'm not too friendly. Where
are you headed?"
Rajura shrugged. "I'm headed for our yoroi. Upstairs. You?"
"I'm headed for our Empress." Anubis paused. "Downstairs."
"Well, shit." Rajura took a final glance around the floor he
was on. "Let's go," he said sourly, and began to follow Anubis to the
nearest staircase. "Nothing we do here will affect the outcome."
**********
Anubis and Rajura were halfway down the staircase when they
heard the sounds of a struggle. Rounding the bend in the stairs, they
saw Kayura in the grip of a woman dressed in black leather. Their
empress was being twisted backwards, and her head was almost touching
her heels. The woman had nearly tied the two of them into a human knot,
one leg pinning down both of Kayura's while the other foot was planted
in the small of her back, and was alternately pulling on her wrists
and shoving with her leg.
Anubis growled deep in his throat and stepped forward, raising
the javelin in his right hand threateningly. "Release our empress,"
he seethed, "and your death will be as swift as possible."
"You never let me have any fun," Rajura complained to his
fellow Masho. "I haven't performed the Hangman's Hundred Handed
Horrifier in decades! If I don't practice these skills, they're going
to atrophy, and THEN where will we be when you want a death long and
painful?"
"Wait a minute," Erdge interjected, "are you two goons saying
that THIS is your empress? I'd say that gives me the upper hand..."
"I beg to differ," Kayura said sweetly. "The Empress always
gets the upper hand. Observe." With a single, swift motion, Kayura
yanked on Erdge's braid with enough force to toss the woman over her
shoulder. One foot arced high, and the young woman dropped her heel on
the centre of Erdge's chest. There was a loud crack, and the blonde
shrieked in agony.
"Broken sternum," Rajura noted clinically. "Very clean break,
too, if the sound is anything to go by. She always was quite skilled."
Kayura stood up and swept her hair back. "I was wondering when
you two were going to show up," she said sternly, and the two
Masho flinched. "I was actually starting to get hurt by that woman.
Not to mention bored."
From the top of the stairs, a large and angry man with one ear
glared down at the four people below him. He was limping, and biting
his lip hard enough to draw blood. "You hurt my sister!" He bellowed.
"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"
"Uh-oh!" Rajura quickly swept Kayura in his arms. "Time to go!"
Cradling the empress, he and Anubis raced towards the front doors,
just as a battering ram shattered them and a tidal wave of enemy troops
burst through.
"Wrong way!" Anubis skidded to a halt, and all three began
running back along the main hall, Thraw and his troops on their tail.
Pulling ahead of the other two, Anubis kicked open the next door and
ushered them in.
"Oops," Rajura said calmly as he gazed around at the blank
stone walls of the kitchen, "dead end."
Anubis had barely begun to close the door when a large axe
smashed into it. "They're coming in!" He called over his shoulder as
he leaned against the shuddering oak. "What do we do?"
"Hold Kayura," Rajura replied as he handed the girl over, "and
follow my lead. I'm not out of tricks yet." Shaking his one arm, the
Masho of Deception produced what appeared to be three eggs. "Stand
away from the door, Anubis. We're ready for them."
"We are?" Anubis leapt forward, the troops broke in, and Rajura
threw his eggs against the stone floor, filling the room with an
explosion of purple smoke.
**********
"The smoke cleared," Erdge rasped, "and they were gone. We
still have no idea where they went, or how they could have escaped us."
Kneeling before her leader, she rubbed the still aching bone in her
chest. "Aside from those three, two hundred of the enemy were sent to
their reward, and we are holding several of the stronger ones for
ritual conversion to our forces. Thus ends my report, Brother Pedri."
The large tank behind Pedri burbled, and he cast a glance at
the statuesque woman floating naked within it. "I'm afraid," he said
absently, as he toyed with a long and narrow box formed of ebony,
"that Mother is less than pleased with you, Sister Erdge. She does not
like failure. She feels perhaps that we should teach you a lesson." He
opened the box, and Erdge shuddered.
The whip was long, and studded with nails. Pedri held it in
his gloved hands for a moment and contemplated it. "Mother says," he
whispered as he pressed the handle under Erdge's chin and lifted her
head up, "that all our troops must cease their extermination detail
and devote all efforts to finding those three. They are too powerful
to avoid detection for long. Mother says that we should hold our
prisoners for questioning, before they are converted in the bone room."
His eyes narrowed as he stared down at his sister. "And Mother says it
is time for your lesson, Erdge. Pay attention."
The tank almost burbled loud enough to drown out the screams.
**********
TO BE CONTINUED...
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