And now -
"Uranus" and A*0-1 were facing each other over the field, lurking madness in both their eyes. A*0-1 was on her knees, battle aura raising, and a "Gate" was even now growing bigger and well defined right above Uranus's raised arms...
Hibiki Ryouga sighed. He'd had better days. Really.
Alright, in two more steps, the woman who'd called herself Sailor Pluto would be in hearing distance -
And it was at this precise moment that Pluto stopped swearing, and looked to the side.
Ryouga swallowed. The silence was eerie.
"Not yet, sweetie."
The Senshi who'd introduced herself as "Sailor Saturn" was blank-faced and empty-eyed. And that - thing - in her hand...
He'd seen such things, before.
Ryouga looked on unbelievingly as Pluto bent down and gave the younger-looking Senshi a peck on the forehead.
" - Not yet."
That sweet-looking girl was this System's Final Weapon Senshi?
"Saturn" sighed, then, emotion coming back into her eyes.
Ryouga swallowed again, and resolutely made himself walk forward. Twitching here wasn't going to do him any good, after all.
"Yo. You. Pluto-person."
Pluto and Saturn both jerked and looked at him. Ryouga groaned, feeling like a pinned bug or something.
"You seem to be the spokesperson here - can't you do something?"
Pluto looked at him, more then a little blankly.
"She wasn't supposed to be able to do that."
" - Huh?"
"No, I mean, I knew she could, theoretically, but I didn't know she knew how, or had remembered how, and - "
"Oh, you mean, um, 'Kina' and her TempGate."
Ryouga sighed, again. That name seemed to - "fit", for some reason, even though he couldn't remember just what "Kina" had been like. Some other incarnations of that particular person were much easier to remember, frankly, even if their paths had diverged quite a while back.
"Well, maybe she just remembered how to make one now?"
Pluto stared at him like he was the one who had grown two heads, then.
"I don't think so, it takes practice to do that kind of thing properly, even if you know how, and - "
Oh, right. Ryouga sighed. Though he did know from personal experience that it wasn't totally impossible to just remember those things and do them on the fly - it was not easy, that was for sure.
And that was the moment when things seemed to reach a tipping point.
"You...You..."
A*0-1 appeared to have reached her limit. She had rose to her feet, hands clenched, battle aura flaring crimson.
Uranus laughed, aura howling white and amber and blue.
"That's more like it - Come on then, Sailor Overhyped darlin'!"
And then there was - Light.
A*0-1 looked up at the starry skies. Or down. It was hard to tell, with no gravity to speak of.
"Hey, come on now, you can't remember how to generate artificial gravity? Really."
Kina. No, she was "Uranus" now, wasn't she.
And Uranus was looking at her, in a faintly glowing forcefield, coldly smirking. A*0-1 blinked, adjusting her forcefield. Damn but she was out of practice... Well, it was the first time she even got off the planet she lived on this time around, of course she was out of practice!
"Welcome to my planet's vincity, or the closest thing to it, then, 'Nike'. Or maybe I should just call you A*0-1 for the time being. Since it's not like I can remember 'Nike' all that well, and all. Unlike Ha'shel."
A*0-1 hissed. That name... That bloody hateful name with those bloody memories attached to it, even now clawing at the edge of her mind, trying to get in...
How. Dare. She.
"Call me what you like, then, Uranus. Whee. Artificial links must have been improved a lot, since I remember - you almost feel like a real Senshi or something, now!"
Uranus's smirk only got even bigger and colder, which made A*0-1 pause. Had she been missing something?
"Senshi powers usually primarily come from their Starseeds, A*0-1 dearest - I thought even you should have realized that by now, really? Even if extra power does come through the 'Link', it has to be funneled though one's Starseed anyway - Which does explain you a lot, now that I think about it..."
A*0-1 hissed. From when had Kina had been able to taunt her?
And what the hell was this nonsense she was sprouting? Senshi powers came primarily through their Links with their Celestial Bodies and such, everybody knew that!
"I mean, it does explain your - clumsiness regarding your Senshi powers, that is. Though you seem to be doing somewhat better, this time around. Your power-curves are much steadier, for one thing - Hmmm, practicing much?"
" - No, actually."
A*0-1 hissed through gritted teeth. She was the Senshi called Sailor Overkill, damnit, like hell she needed "practice", what did Kina think she was? A two-bit excuse for a Senshi like her?
And then she blinked. What? That was all wrong, practice and training were important, whatever you wanted to do...
Oh, hell, no time to think about something like that now.
Uranus in the meanwhile was giving a airy wave, in the general direction of the grey and green planet.
"It's a nice planet - Uranus, I mean - though there's no chance of it developing a viable eco-system in a million years, I'm afraid. I used to have a chain of satellites around it, though. It was nice to have some kind of Life System around, even an artificial one. - One does so miss life on one's linked planet, or around, it, anyway. There's this certain humm - Not that you'd know that, of course..."
A*0-1 shuddered, memories rising unbidden from the depths of her mind.
You're not a real Princess and you'd never be a real Princess, 'Sailor Overkill'. You have to be at the very least one of the Main Guardians of a Lifebearing Star System to be a real Princess.
- And black holes do not bear Life. Ever.
A*0-1 shook herself.
This was all wrong. All wrong.
Ryouga shook himself, trying to get the ringing out of his ears. The shockwave had rolled everybody there to the ground, and there was no sign of either A*0-1 or Uranus. However, the TempGate itself was still hovering above them, looking quite solid.
"Hey, you're right." Ryouga mumbled. "That's one well made TempGate..."
"That is not the point."
The younger Senshi with purple eyes - "Saturn", yes - snapped, and Ryouga recoiled involuntarily.
"Pluto - help me get a "fix" on them. The Gate - TempGate? - seems to be anchored in the Uranus forcefield, but if they're really going to go at it -"
"Oh, um, yes. Right."
Pluto blinked, and took up her Staff. Saturn turned towards the dazed Neptune, who was still staring blankly were Uranus and A*0-1 had just been, sitting on the ground.
"Neptune, come back here, Uranus needs you!"
"...Uh. ...Um. Right." Neptune blinked, bringing her hands to her face.
"What should I do? What can I do?"
"Um." Saturn seemed to think about this.
"Could you sort of make a "web" around where's there having their little - thing? I'll feed you some extra energy..."
"Alright, I'll try..."
And then the little girl was looking at him. "- Mister?"
"Um, yeah?"
Ryouga blinked. The girl was scary in some ways... And not just because of her power emissions or the Final Weapon Senshi business, either.
Well, at least she'd put that thing that looked like a glaive away...
"Could you help us, or at least not hinder us, please?"
Ryouga blinked.
"-Yes'm, ma'am... Err, I could try to "weave" with you folk and help find those -"
- Bloody idiots-
"People?"
"Oh, thank you!"
The girl dimpled. Ryouga felt somewhat better in spite of himself.
"But...I'm not sure I have enough energy..."
"Don't worry, mister, I'll feed you some extra, too."
Ryouga nodded. Alright, then.
"OK, then everybody - one, two -"
The Senshi and Ryouga clustered together. Ryouga ended up between Saturn and a still somewhat dazed Neptune, holding hands.
"-GO!"
And the sub-space bubble formed around them, as red as blood and sunsets...
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(Posted Sun, 27 Aug 2006 16:59)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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