Shards of building scattered like bones of a giant's corpse, or fingers clawing upwards from the Earth. Areas riddled with bullets or scorched with flame. Areas burned to the ground and other areas looking practically new. Rubble and litter scattered everywhere.
An odd humming noise shifting between a low and a high tone like some strange heartbeat caused Genma to shift. "Incoming. Everyone down."
What Happosai beheld next was a thing of nightmare. An armored jellyfish of sorts, a gleaming metal dome from which long trailing metal arms dangled. It came around a corner and began looking for something.
Genma threw something which clattered in the street and then lifted a heavy metal pipe to aim it at the machine.
A fireball erupted from the end of the pipe, striking the machine squarely and exploding outward in a burst of flames.
Genma tossed the one-shot weapon to the side, and charged forward.
He struck fast and brutally, the machine responding in kind.
The machine went down while Happosai was still reacting to the surprising ferocity of Genma's attack.
"We'll have to hurry," Genma said to the others. "The drone may have gotten a signal off before I melted down the external antennae."
Happosai walked up to the "metal jellyfish" and saw the long trailing tendrils tipped with blades and saws. "So this is what is going around killing pretty girls?"
"Look, Master, that is a lingerie store, perhaps there is something left you could use," suggested Soun.
"Actually, we should be going - just in case," argued Genma.
The argument found deaf ears apparently, as Happosai led the others into the burned remains of the store.
Happosai's eyes wobbled with unshed tears as he looked over the scraps of burnt silk in the sale kiosk. "...the panties... how could it do something so... inhuman?!"
"Because it is inhuman," said Genma. "There are few bodies around because it apparently can use the raw materials. Compressed and processed into chemicals. That which it leaves behind is either too damaged or deemed worthless. Eventually its goal is to not only terminate all life on Earth but to convert everything into a part of itself."
"Not all, there was a gradeschool near my home where it hadn't bothered to collect the bodies of the children. That was where I found medical supplies," added Soun, watching the Master carefully.
The words and evidence around him did their work. Happosai straightened to his full (if still terribly short) height, clutching the single bra he had found still intact. Despite his distinct lack of tallness, he loomed over everything within through sheer presence. "This cannot be tolerated! I will avenge the panties."
"There's something coming," said Nodoka, speaking for the first time since they'd recovered the Master. Not that she'd spoken much since Genma had found her.
Instantly the two went to defensive positions as the sound of something moving down the stairs could be heard.
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(Posted Wed, 07 Jul 2004 09:30)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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