All righty. If this doesn't work I'm admitting defeat and crawling off to
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Eclipse of the Moon 2: Purification Day
Chapter 6
What has gone before: Violence, sarcasm, and girls in short skirts,
everything that makes life fun.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: 6.txt
-- Desc: Chapter 6
It has been suggested by many that Kino Makoto was by
far one of the, if not the, best cooks in Juuban Middle
School. It has also been suggested that Kino Makoto was
also one of the most violent girls in Juuban Middle School.
Admittedly, those purporting the second view will accede
without argument, she apparently changed her ways. By the
time she and Tsukino Usagi became tight friends, the fights
that had plagued her early life were in the past and
appeared to be remaining there. Her culinary abilities had
not suffered any similar decline by her acquaintance with
one particular blonde. In fact, now that she had a properly
appreciative audience, her abilities in preparing
sustenance had excelled almost as if they were trying to
replace her prior behavior with something more people
considered lady-like.
Before her introduction and rapidly following
friendship with Tsukino Usagi she had still been an
accomplished chef. Similarly, afterwards, her fighting
skills had suffered no serious decline. They were merely
funneled towards different pursuits. Instead of being a
terror in the hearts and minds of those willing to subject
the less powerful in the schools, the unusually tall and
yet still decidedly feminine student's combative energies
had been reallocated towards the life and death struggles
she engaged in with those who wished to subject the world
to their dark whims. It was, all things considered, to her
a change for the better.
This is not to say she was not willing to reach into
her past and lay the proverbial and occasionally literal
smack down on someone who needed it, even were they not a
consummate servant of evil. Nay and nay again, for she
still possessed the ability and willingness to allow
certain habits and aptitudes of her past to resurface. To
the three boys who were fleeing from her in fear and
cowardice, this final statement was only too clear in their
minds. They departed the scene of West Snow Street Public
Park with a great deal of haste and a small amount of
injury, for sometimes it is necessary to demonstrate one's
ability to cause serious impairment to another to persuade
him, or in this case them, to depart and thus avoid
actually causing such injury.
In short, three wanna-be-bullies ran like hell, crying
for their mothers as Makoto snorted in disgust. "Sheesh.
The nerve. Picking on a little kid like that for just
seventy five yen. Not even greed, just being nasty."
Shaking her head in disgust, she reached down and assisted
a small child, some eight years of age, to his feet. "Are
you all right?"
"Yeah. I coulda taken 'em though." The boy, abashed at
his bleeding lip and nose, stared at the ground sullenly as
he tried to dig a hole in the sand with his shoe toe.
"I'm sure you could have. I apologize for
interrupting. Let's just say I was not protecting you, I
was just having a disagreement with those three boys."
Makoto, trying desperately not to laugh, bowed to the young
man.
"Yeah. But, man, now everyone's gonna say I'm such a
wimp. I needed a girl to fight for me, not the other way
around." Flushing in response to the expected slights, the
boy shrank a little farther back into himself and licked
the blood from his mouth and lips.
Makoto forced herself not to laugh again. It was
becoming a very difficult struggle, certainly much harder
than smacking a few kids four years younger then her once
or twice. They had thought themselves very tough and
strong, able to resist anything. That had ended when
someone actually told them forcefully enough to stop. "You
know, I don't see anyone around at this park. You could
just say I was just watching."
The child looked up excited. "Really? That would be---
oh wait. What about them?" The boy indicated four girls
standing not fifty feet away and smiling among themselves.
"I can assure you they won't say a word. Now run home,
you probably want to have that lip looked at."
The young man smiled once more, even wider than
before, and darted off, already beginning to swagger as he
decided how to tell his friends of his glorious victory.
With spring in his step, he disappeared around a corner and
was gone.
Makoto finally lost her battle of will and collapsed
into hilarity. A moment later, the four girls previously in
question made their ways over and joined her.
"You know, you could have stopped it another way,"
Rei, arraigned in white and red, scolded from smiling lips.
"Nah. They would have just jumped him the next day.
Besides, I didn't actually hurt them, just bopped 'em on
the heads one." Makoto had felt that a suggestion of
further pain to come would work far better as a deterrent
against future bullying than intimidation without backup.
The other girls were not quick to respond.
They proceeded along their walk, no destination in
mind, and it was not long before they found themselves
meandering through a public park. Given the season, the
trees were not in bloom, but the muted greens gave the
whole area a subdued look. Occasionally smaller children
would dart back forth through the foliage, locked in a game
governed by malleable and independent rules. The five
Senshi walked on.
"I think you're wrong about that last one," with a bit
of a frown across her face, Minako criticized Usagi. "A
true friend would not have a problem laughing at you if you
trip, but she'd be the first to help you up." She had
decided that morning that this was definitely a day for
contrast and was wearing a blue and gray top with black
pants. Her hair, unbound as usual, cascaded across her
back, making her face, hair, and hands appear brighter. The
moon hanging from her right ear and sun from her left kept
with the image.
"No true friend of mine would be laughing at me when
I'm hurt." Usagi shot the other blonde a dubious look.
Behind her Rei, Ami, and Makoto exchanged a glance and
whistled innocently.
"I'm not saying when you're really injured. I'm saying
when its just a bump." Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Minako
shook her head.
As the two debaters continued, the three who were
walking a bit behind settled into a companionable stride.
They did not have any particular desire to enter into the
other discussion though not for any real reason. As the
ground passed slowly under their feet, they relished the
sense of peace and order which profused their surroundings.
This was a day that in recent events had been all too
uncommon.
"Hey, Ami. Guess who I see over there." Rei nudged the
object of her address and pointed well to her left. Leaning
around her, Ami took a look.
Lying on his back, one hand attending to a kite string
rising from his side, Mitoru Ryan was nodding in and out of
the world of the waking. A small form, no more than six
years of age, was quietly moving an assemblage of miniature
cars and trucks around on mat a few feet away. At the open
invitation of her friends, Ami redirected her s e was
wearing, making sure everything was as it should be. It
was.
"Feeling fine. It's a beautiful day." Turning, he
addressed his charge. "If you hit me with that one more
time, no ice cream."
Inspired by thoughts of ice cream, Usagi abruptly
returned her attention to what was going on. She smiled at
Ryan for a moment before suggesting a few of them might
want to sally forth to the vendor of aforesaid snacks who
had set up shop not two hundred yards away. A half minute
later, Ami and Ryan were alone as the other had decided to
accept Usagi's wisdom.
"I'm surprised you're not studying. Did you not intend
to this weekend?" asked Ami as she idly picked blades of
grass from the ground and began to weave them.
"Sure, I intended too. As I recall, you did too."
She smiled for a second, shrugged and poked her tongue
out at him. Ryan smiled and returned to his prone position.
Ami sighed and sat down near his head.
The ten minutes of peaceful talking, bordering at
moments on verbiage which some might even consider
'flirting,' was something that both parties involved
understood to be doomed to an early ending. The ending was
not absent in its due time, as the others returned bearing
the fruits of their venture.
"I still say that a true friend isn't someone who'd
help you do something wrong. She'd look out for you and do
what's best, no matter what." Usagi was still pursuing the
previous topic, undeterred.
"No. If you really needed to do something, a friend
would be someone whom could be trusted. Someone to be
relied on," Minako countered.
"You're both wrong. A true friend is the guy banned
from your ICU for smuggling you a pack of cigarettes and
hitting on the nurse as a distraction while you light up."
As poetic and personable as ever, a man in black joined
them. "Now hurry up, I saw the big guy over- Who are you?"
Cyanide stared down at Ryan and his little brother, just
noticing their presence.
"Cyanide!" Ami, flushing bright red, admonished.
"This is Mitoru Ryan and his little brother, Katsi.
This is, uh, Cyan. He's a friend of ours." Makoto dove into
the pause that followed.
"Are they in the know?" Cyanide asked Minako.
Slightly flushed at both being put on the spot and
Cyanide's incredible lack of politeness, she shook her head
negative.
"You know, I am here. You can address me with your
questions."
Cyanide made a raspberry noise and waved his hand in
Ryan's face dismissively. "Whatever. Now come on. I just
saw Big and Nasty, and we'd best get away now."
"Excuse me?" Ryan was quite simply shocked. He'd never
personally encountered a level of rudeness like this
before. Looking around at the bright red faces of the
girls, he noticed they were also quite upset at this
tactlessness.
"Why are you still here? Go away and bring the runt
with you before all hell breaks loose. Girls, come on."
Cyanide turned and motioned them to follow him.
Ryan rose to his feet, indignation and insult mixing
in his eyes. He took a position immediately before the
trenchcoated man and retorted, "Excuse you, you ill
mannered buffoon! Would you--graa!" His tirade was abruptly
cut short as a gloved hand caught him on the side and
forcibly hurled him to the ground. He rolled to his back
and looked up as the sound of small arms fire detonated
through the air. The girls scattered.
Striding through the park, one hand already
unlimbering an assault rifle from a duffel bag, a tall and
ominous figure approached them. Foreign features and cold,
impassive eyes decorated the head, the only section of skin
visible under the leather jacket and pants. It had studded
leather gloves on its hands. Recognition was instant for
those who knew.
At that moment, Pyrite made his presence known through
a little fire magic. It hit the T-101 and knocked him from
his feet.
Leaping to his side, Ami hurriedly instructed, "Ryan,
you should definitely-"
"Run, you stupid fuck!" Cyanide deposited Katsi into
his brother's hands and violently shoved them away. He then
returned his attention to the developing fire fight.
Ryan had just enough time to exchange one panicked glance
with Ami before curling his body around his little brother
and fleeing.
The Senshi looked around. Everyone in sight either
already knew or was running like hell. Wasting no further
time, they transformed.
As sparkling lights danced through the air and bizarre
music emanated from the earth around them, each of the
girls rose into the air. Denuded and reclad, their forms
spun gently in the air as they collected the power of their
respective planets. Moving sigils of eldritch magicks and
echoing glimpses of places too ethereal to exist danced
through the air, omens and portents of that which was being
unleashed. The backlash of such arcane might created a haze
and fields of polychromatic insanity. It also had the
unfortunate effect of sending Cyanide into an acid
flashback, thus eliminating him from the events that
followed. Well, some people considered it unfortunate.
"Mars Flame Sniper!" Mars had recalled from her prior
battles with this thing that flame, while ineffective
against the armored innards, was capable of burning the
false skin from its exterior. Knowing that with its ability
to camouflage itself as normal human compromised the
machine would pose less of a threat, Mars attempted to burn
the psuedoflesh away. She was unsuccessful but did manage
to temporarily incapacite its vision as the flames caused
the clothing it wore to combust. Engulfed in a crimson
pyre, it continued to fire randomly.
Diving to his side, Pyrite was able to hit the ground
before a bust of nine millimeter rounds passed through the
space he had just recently occupied. Lying down while
waiting for his adversary to either run out of munitions or
cease its haphazard barrage of small arms fire, Pyrite
found himself next to Jupiter, similarly seeking refuge on
the ground. He spared a glance at her.
She met his eyes and held his gaze for a moment. It
might have been longer save the arrival of Moon. She landed
from an impressive leap directly between them and curled to
her knees. As she pulled her head down, a tree exploded not
thirty yards away. Flaming wreckage and splinters of what
had once been a mighty sylvan giant fell to the earth all
around them. The machine continued to fire, undeterred.
"Come on! Venus and Mercury are waiting by that
fountain. There are too many people around here, so we're
going to try to lead it away. Ready?"
"Sure. Say when." Makoto pulled herself up into a
runners crouch and peaked around, pinpointing where their
adversary was. It was not a difficult task. The immense
individual was striding slowly towards them, unceasingly
firing at any target which presented itself and a few that
did not. As it came closer, the three tightened themselves.
And Cyanide, still seeing things that were both not
there and probably better for it, stumbled directly into
its path. It took only a moment for him to be targeted
through the flames that encased the assailant.
'Yes!' Pyrite resisted the urge to leap into the air
and pump his fist. He considered it to probably be
unpolitic.
"No!" Moon's attention and intent instantly changed.
She was up and running in a heartbeat as Mercury funneled
her considerable occult aptitude into covering the area
with a dense cloud of azure mist. The terminator,
registering and correctly analyzing the sounds of Moon's
footfalls, turned and took aim.
Pyrite unleashed some lightening. As the amperage
coiled and wove around the machine, Moon grabbed the
insensate gunman and started running. Jupiter reinforced
their attacker's incapacitation with her own magic and
followed her leader. Pyrite, deeply regretting the probable
survival of Cyanide, muttered to himself and went after the
others.
Within moments, the park was empty.