"Deflexio!" Negi yelled as streams of black energy converged toward him through the air, homing in on the little boy.
Bwom! A cloud of shadow briefly obscured the child mage as the missiles pounded against his shield, shattering the kinetic barrier while splashing dark power over his anti-magic shell.
"Evocatio valcryarum!" Negi shouted in response, throwing a hand forward as his staff took off in Jaedite's direction. All around him, glowing images of Negi riding his staff burst into existence, each one wielding a weapon of some sort. Negi veered off the attack as Jaedite fired a dark bolt that nearly plowed into him, but the images converged on the Dark General instead, weapons slashing wildly.
Jaedite snarled and seemed to slide along the ground at super-high speed, leaving after-images in his wake as he zipped around the attack path of the copy-Negis. To Negi's surprise, the images didn't disappear, but instead each raised their arms to fire bolts of energy at his copies.
Jaedite grimaced as he felt his energy reserves began to sag. As much as he hated to admit it, this annoying little whelp was engaging him in a full-on sorcerer's duel for which Jaedite was ill prepared. Oh sure, he outpowered the little boy by a considerable margin, but the little brat was proving extremely nimble, and kept trying to weave through his defenses instead of assaulting him head-on with his strongest spells.
Besides that, Jaedite had to admit that he was rather unused to this kind of battle, and certainly hadn't expected to fight one tonight. He had been planning to just run the Senshi over with a jumbo jet or something; they were hardly worth the vast energy expenditure that he had to deal with in order to fight the little wizard. He had already expended too much energy to make an instantaneous retreat if his battle went awry. And he had a strange, sinking feeling that this situation had gone to hell long ago.
Ranma ducked a swinging claw and then dashed toward the collection of semi-transparent Jaedites who were fighting several glowing images of Negi, forcing the large combat youma to struggle after him.
As much as he hated to admit it, the blasted thing had him on the ropes. So far he had avoided taking anything more than a glancing cut, but the youma was much faster than the ones he fought before, meaning he was mostly on the defensive. It also took hits much better than the others; landing a solid kick to its head merely prompted a snappy retaliation, rather than knocking it silly. If the situation remained that he couldn't hurt it because it was too tough and it couldn't hurt him because he was too fast, he had no illusions whose defenses would falter first as the fight dragged on.
But he had no plans to let that situation remain. Idly socking a Jaedite copy in the face as he passed by, causing it vanish, he jumped into the chaotic melee of mirror images, the youma hot on his heels.
The youma's first clue that the situation had changed was when a glowing boy on a stick passed by at high speed, smacking her in the face with a warhammer. As the attack was formed from magical energies, it hurt a bit more than one of Ranma's punches, and she staggered to the side, not noticing as she stomped over two of the copy Jaedites who were sniping copy Negis. Another glowing Negi passed by and missed with its short sword, but before the youma could slash at it, a copy Jaedite missed its shot at that same target, plowing a black bolt of lighting right in the youma's chest and sending it staggering backward.
BWAKOOM! The youma's arm vanished into chunks as a mortar shell landed on her shoulder, driving the creature to her knees (figuratively. Technically, as a quadraped, her knees just failed and let her body fall onto the ground).
Ranma had been fighting the slow-reacting mirror images of Jaedite while keeping an eye on his main foe, and grinned the moment he saw the thing stunned. Putting all his energy into a full-on sprint, he leapt into the air at high speed and aimed both feet toward the youma's disoriented head.
WHAM! The impact sent the battle youma's considerable bulk reeling, and Ranma drove its head over into the ground hard enough to plow through the asphalt of the tarmac and leave a narrow divot as the creature was dragged along from the impact.
When it stopped, Ranma hopped off the twitching youma's face, and then realized that he was standing in front of Orion and a trio of teenage girls, all of them staring wide-eyed at him and youma that had skidded to a stop in front of them.
"Hello," he said cordially. Then he pointed to the youma, assuming that these girls were the Sailor Senshi he had heard so much about. "Could ya take care of this thing? I gotta go help Negi. Thanks." Without waiting for an answer, he dashed off toward the fight at a speed that made him seem like a blur.
Mars blinked rapidly, believing that might somehow dispel the illusion that had suddenly crashed down in front of them. "What just happened?"
"You've been given a free shot at a weakened foe," Orion explained slowly, trying to mask his frustration. "Are you just going to stand there and wait for it to recover?"
Mars shook her head rapidly, though the others were still gaping. "Mars fire ignite!"
"GRAAAAUGH!!" The struggling youma screamed in pain as its much-abused body was suddenly hit by a fireball, and shakily rose to its feet as its remaining arm snapped about wildly, searching for targets. It had been temporarily blinded by the strike to its head, and its regeneration was now overloaded trying to heal all the various magical damage.
"Meep!" Sailor Moon jumped back along with Mercury, and she quickly took off her tiara. "Moon... Tiara... Action!"
The youma, already severely injured and in great pain, didn't even realize it was on the threshold of being destroyed until the tiara had already passed through it, the energies already spreading through its body and turning it to dust.
Jaedite was far too busy to bother noticing that one of his more capable pieces of cannon fodder had been dispatched. He had managed to destroy the annoying copy-wizards, but the annoying real-wizard had launched a number of light missiles that had annihilated his own copies and had given his shield quite a pounding.
Bwack! 'Speaking of 'a pounding,'' Jaedite thought irritably as his barrier barely deflected another of the pigtailed boy's powerful kicks. Summoning a sword of black lightning into his hand, he cut low at the fighter, only for the boy to jump over the slash while twisting into a kick mid-dodge.
Ranma was fairly unbalanced as his blows kept striking something invisible between him and his opponent, but kept lashing out against the softening wall while weaving around the magic blade. Luckily, while Jaedite was very fast, he didn't seem especially skilled at swordfighting; his attacks were strong, but failed to lead up into another one, or cover openings in his defense. Ranma could tell that he was used to his enemies dying in a single stroke, and he had no plans to indulge him.
Both Ranma and Jaedite heard the incoming whistle, and they both leapt back before a mortar shell detonated in the spot they had been fighting.
"Sagitta magica series lucius!" Negi panted, releasing another barrage of magical arrows that streaked toward the besieged general.
Jaedite growled as he slid to the side at high speed, though this time his after-images faded away as one would expect. Moving under the arrows, the light missiles curved down sharply to try and follow, but failed to adjust completely, raining over the tarmac and leaving waves of small craters everywhere.
The Dark General was breathing heavily once he came to a stop, eyes searching frantically for a way out. He may have been arrogant, fanatical, and surprisingly unskilled in tactics for a general, but he knew without a doubt that he was now fighting for his life, not victory. And that was just against these human whelps; the Senshi hadn't even shown up!
"Stop right there!" Sailor Moon yelled, running up and pointing at the Dark General.
"Son of a bitch!" The Dark General yelled, surprising the Senshi. He didn't really know what the expression meant, but he somehow found it appropriate for his current situation.
Sailor Moon coughed into her fist, flushing slightly, then continued. "Airports are for travelers and businessmen to commute to their place of rest and work! These planes carry not just people, but hopes and opportunities! For destroying this place of transportation, you will not be forgiven! I am Sailor Moon, and-"
"I DIDN'T DESTROY THE AIRPORT!!" Jaedite raged, interrupting Sailor Moon and startling her badly. "THEY DID!!" He pointed a trembling finger at Ranma.
Ranma, who had been wondering if they should hit Jaedite in the back while the Dark General was patiently listening to the Senshi lecture him, suddenly backpedalled. "What? No! It's all Sousuke's fault!" Floating above him, Negi nodded his head rapidly.
Still hidden amongst the bushes, Sousuke sweatdropped, wondering how the battle had suddenly turned into an argument, and if taking the opportunity to fire would violate some unspoken parley agreement. Wasn't the white flag universal? He'd have to ask Orion later.
Sailor Moon scratched her head, looking uncertain. "Oh, well..." she shrugged. "Well, you're a Dark General anyway, so I guess we don't really need another reason to fight you, huh?"
"Plus, he DID challenge us to a battle here," Sailor Mercury pointed out helpfully. Mars just cracked her knuckles, smiling at the sight of Jaedite furious and nearly exhausted.
"Enough of this!" The Negaverse General shouted angrily, suddenly floating backward a few inches off the ground at high speed. Slowing in front of a pair of cargo jets, he concentrated briefly, and then thrust one hand forward.
Very slowly, the jets started to crawl forward, seemingly of their own volition.
Jaedite smirked. He had no illusions that he'd be able to destroy all his opponents with this trick, but he should at least be able to squash a Senshi or two, and it would allow him time to escape and effect a full retreat. Beryl would be furious, possibly to the point that she'd kill him for this newest failure, but after he explained the appearance of a new fighting force acting alongside the Senshi, he just might be granted forgiveness while relaying important intel to the Negaverse.
_______________________
Orion winced as he saw the jumbo jets move up so that there was one on each side of Jaedite, and flattened himself against the ground with his paws covering his ears.
Being a military man (er, cat that is), he had noticed the gray blocks attached to the fuselages of the jets, and identified the remote-trigger fuses that they were armed with when he had passed by the planes briefly.
Unfortunately for Luna, Orion was covering his ears, so he couldn't hear her when she asked why he was doing that.
_______________________
Sousuke snorted when he saw the planes roll by on either side of the main target, and once again slipped the detonator out of his pocket before keying it to the right frequency. 'What kind of an attack is that? Amateur.'
He had to spend a moment to make sure that none of his allies were near the other planes around the airport; he had armed ALL of them, and decided to key them to the same frequency since he had expected the pace of combat to move much faster than it actually had.
Giving a salute to the enemy officer in an uncharacteristic display of humor, he pressed the button on the detonator.
_______________________
Luna and the Senshi were knocked right off their feet from the Earth-shaking explosion as every plane in the area suddenly vanished into a tremendous fireball. Ranma, being who he was and standing far enough away from the blast, managed to lean forward adequately to absorb the shock wave without falling down, though he slid backward a good half-meter. Negi, having no physical purchase and not possessing Ranma's excellent balance, was blasted off his staff by the wave of force and was sent spiralling helplessly to the ground. Luckily, Ranma noticed and caught him in time, but it was a near thing.
Jaedite's barriers, already weakened from fighting off Negi's magic and Ranma's attacks, collapsed damn near instantly. Jaedite himself barely managed to register the sudden, ear-piercing roar before he was annihilated.
Sailor Moon scrambled to her feet, afraid that the sudden explosion may have been a deliberate act on Jaedite's part.
Once she got up and stared at the huge, flaming crater filled with chunks of burning metal, she had to wonder why vaporizing himself would have been part of the Dark General's plan. Maybe a suicide attack? If that was the case, it was very poorly done. A quick look around showed that she and her friends seemed to be suffering from nothing more than surprise and a slightly rough fall.
From behind the confused Senshi, Orion trotted out in front of them, followed by a dizzy-looking and extremely disturbed Luna. Then he sat on his haunches, facing away from the Senshi. "All right boys, good work! Now c'mere!"
Ranma nodded and put Negi down, who quickly thanked the pigtailed boy and darted off to collect his fallen staff. Some shaking in the bushes revealed Sousuke, who was dressed in full combat gear sans helmet, and was carrying a mortar setup over his shoulder. Within moments, they were standing in front of Orion facing the Senshi.
"Orion, what is the meaning of this?" Luna yowled in obvious distress. "Who ARE these people?"
Rolling his eyes, Orion faced the Senshi. "Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, my name is Orion Halinjor, your military advisor. May I present to you and introduce..." he paused for dramatic effect, "Orion's Knights!"
He jabbed a paw at the cute, muscular boy wearing Chinese clothes, and looking fairly dirty from the fight. He was also smiling pleasantly with his hands in his pockets, looking completely relaxed. "Ranma Saotome, close-combat specialist."
Next came the adorable little boy with tiny glasses who had spiky brown hair in a bushy little pigtail wearing some sort of formal suit and cape that was lightly scorched from the battle. "Negi Springfield, battle mage in training. Though I have to say, he did quite well, holding his own against a Dark General for so long." Negi blushed fiercely and looked down at his feet timidly, and even Luna had to fiercely resist the impulse to run up to the child and cuddle him.
Finally, Orion gestured to the final boy, a sharp-looking young man with spiky black hair, a scar on his cheek, and the most serious, severe expression on his face that any of the girls had ever seen on a live human being. In contrast to the others, he was wearing combat armor and forest camouflage fatigues, and he was standing straight and firm, as if being inspected (which he was, really). "And this is my commando and demolitions specialist, Sousuke Sagara," Orion said.
"IT WAS YOU!!" Luna suddenly shouted, startling everybody BUT Sousuke, who didn't even flinch. "YOU'RE responsible for all this!" The black moon cat shoved a paw at the various flaming piles of debris that used to be an airport full of planes.
Sousuke blinked. "Incorrect, Ma'am!" He said firmly, long past the point of feeling ridiculous at addressing a cat as a superior. "To claim full responsibility for the destruction of the enemy would be to ignore Saotome and Springfield's considerable battlefield contributions, as well as the arrival of the Senshi, Ma'am!"
"I'm talking about the airport!" Luna snapped. "It's gone! Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to rebuild all this?"
Sousuke frowned. He found it irritating how people kept asking him that, as if estimating construction costs were part of a commando's job, or even a remotely related field. "Off the top of my head, I imagine the costs to replace all the assets destroyed in combat except that of the explosives themselves would be somewhere in the realm of five billion."
Luna managed to pale, despite possessing black fur. "Five BILLION yen?!"
Sousuke blinked. "No. Five billion US dollars. It tends to be the most stable currency available, so I'm used to calculating transactions that way."
Sailor Mercury nodded, and her eyes stared upward as she did some calculations in her head. "Ah, that makes sense. That would equal... nearly five-hundred and ninety billion yen."
Luna wobbled and quickly laid down, feeling dizzy.
Ranma noticed that the blue-skirted girl with the long ponytails also looked sort of queasy, so he waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. We don't hafta pay for it."
Luna felt not a little bit discouraged when Sailor Moon wiped some sweat off her forehead, clearly relieved by the admission. "What are these people doing here, Orion?"
"We're here to help you guys hunt monsters," Ranma said bluntly before the tomcat could answer.
"REALLY?" Moon squealed, running up and trapping the surprised martial artist in a gleeful hug. "That's so cool! And you're all so strong and cute!" She giggled as she pressed herself a little tighter against the pigtailed boy. 'Wow. He has some really hard muscles.' Blushing slightly, she moved on and scooped up Negi without warning, rubbing her cheek against the startled little boy's head.
"UNACCEPTABLE!!" Luna bellowed, once again startling everyone but Sousuke. "These boys aren't Senshi! What were you thinking, telling them about us and bringing them into this?"
"I was thinking that they can keep any of your magical girls from getting killed by an enemy who knows what he's doing," Orion said, shrugging unapologetically. "The Senshi have power. They don't have experience, training, or ordnance. I've provided that."
"They don't need that!" Luna said, not noticing when the girls cast each other doubtful looks. "They'll gain training and experience as they go! And as for your 'ordnance,' just look at what it's done!" She pointed again at the slowly guttering flames. Everyone else briefly spared a thought to wonder where the fire department was going to arrive, considering the airport had been on fire for a good two hours now.
"You mean besides killing most of the enemy troops?" The military cat deadpanned.
"That's beside the point, and you know it!" Luna shouted. "They're not Senshi, they're not descended from the Moon Kingdom, and they're not part of this conflict! They can't be trusted with our secrets, nor can we endanger them by putting them into the Senshi's battles!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Orion mumbled, having half-expected this reaction. He turned around toward the various humans. "Well ladies, since you're all technically the ones in charge of the Senshi's operations, as well as the ones with your lives on the line, the decision ultimately goes to you. Whaddya think? Can I run a support squad to back you up in battle, protect you outside of battle, and collect intel when you have lives to live."
Sailor Moon did not hesitate. "Yes!" She cheered, still hugging Negi against her chest like a stuffed animal, even while the little boy flailed helplessly in her grasp.
Mercury nodded, smiling. "It would seem a wise course of action. I don't think anyone can doubt their... efficiency in combat," she sweatdropped as she glanced at the huge columns of smoke wafting from piles of scorched rubble. "And we DO have tactical shortcomings. Orion's help and that of his Knights would be invaluable."
Sailor Mars frowned slightly, rubbing her chin. She was skeptical right away of this new team. For one thing, they were all men, and she had always had a bit of a feminist streak to her. Then again, they WERE all seriously cute, and it wasn't like she had romantic prospects lining up outside the shrine where she lived. Nor was she particularly trusting of military influences, and both Orion and Sousuke were clearly of that bent. On the other hand, the Senshi WERE a fighting force, and these people were clearly good at combat, even if one of them was apparently a psycho pyromaniac.
"Then it's decided!" Sailor Moon cheered, pumping one fist into the air while hugging Negi to her with the other arm, "Orion's Knights are officially part of the Sailor Senshi!"
"Hey!" Mars said, whipping around, "I haven't given my vote yet!"
"So? Me and Mercury said yes, so even if you said no, it'd still be two-to-one," Moon reasoned.
Mars' eye twitched. "I didn't know you were that good at math."
Moon's eye twitched back, and she turned away, sniffing disdainfully.
"What about me?" Luna shouted, totally dismayed. "Don't I get a vote?"
In response, Orion slapped a bandage over the crescent moon on her forehead.
Luna blinked several times. "Mrow? Meow."
Sailor Moon blinked, distracted enough so that Negi finally squirmed out of her grasp. "Huh? What'd you do?"
"I kept her from talking," Orion said simply, walking past everyone and heading for the trees next to the airport.
"YOU CAN DO THAT?!" The Senshi leader said, amazed and suddenly excited. It had never occurred to Usagi, ever since she had taken that bandage off Luna's head and allowing her to talk, that putting a bandage back on would keep her from talking.
Not that she would abuse that knowledge for her own convenience. Of course not. Not her. Nope. Honest!
"Yes, I can. Now somebody pick up Luna and so we can get a move on. The emergency response teams won't hide forever. We can talk more once we get someplace safe."
_______________________
Behind one of the empty hangars surrounding the tarmac the airport, Tuxedo Kamen sighed and leapt away unnoticed, disappointed that he had waited at the edge of the airport (and extremely glad that he hadn't waited in or on the airport) all this time and hadn't gotten a chance to make an appearance. His MO was to jump in and help the moment the Senshi got in a tight spot or were in dire need of rescue, but by the time they had taken any sort of hit at all - being knocked off their feet by the shock waves - all the enemies were dead. There were other non-Senshi people around that he didn't recognize, but even though he couldn't overhear the conversation (other than the shouting from the little black cat), he could tell that the young men were the Senshi's allies to some degree.
Oh well. There was always another fight.
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(Posted Sun, 19 Nov 2006 05:04)
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