“WHAT!?” Haruka wasn’t sure what surprised her more: the news of zombies or Ami’s paraphrasis of Samuel L. Jackson. “Back up. How did this happen?”
Mercury’s eye began to twitch. “You really expect me to stop in the middle of a losing battle against a horde of relentless monsters to explain how I got into the very mess out of which I’m trying to get?”
Haruka was impressed. The girl had almost flawlessly matched Michiru’s “dangerous rhetorical question” tone. “Almost” being the operative word, as it failed to dampen the blonde’s sarcasm. “If you had time to get out that sentence…”
The other girl responded with a glare befitting her element. “I despise you sometimes. Here’s what happened:”
Transformed, Sailors Mercury and Neptune returned from the fire exit in time to see the last traces of Dominus enter the sand mummy they’d been admiring. The dried corpse shuddered and, with a sound like sandpaper on Velcro, raised its arms. Slowly, it brought down the withered limbs. The resulting boom attested to the force behind them.
“It’s plexiglass,” noted Mercury. “We should be safe.”
The next blow formed a spider web of cracks along the display window.
“Or not,” the bluenette nervously amended.
The third blow sundered the thick plastic. The possessed mummy began the arduous process of climbing out.
“At least we have plenty of time to charge attacks,” noted Neptune. She held the Deep Aqua Mirror aloft. “SUBMARINE REFLECTION!”
The blast sent the shuffling corpse crashing into the back wall of its display. Then, something curious happened. The body seemed to swell, losing its beef-jerky texture in favor of a literally fleshed-out tone. Where once there was a desiccated cadaver, there now stood a muscular and, as Mercury blushingly observed, quite healthy man. His eyes, orbs of inky darkness, were his only feature that hinted at his true nature.
Dominus laughed mockingly. “Fools! I come at you with a man who died from thirst and you attack with water! What next? Will you bury me in a feast?”
Neptune sneered. “The other end of thirst is drowning. SUBMARINE REFLECTION!”
If anything, this seemed to worsen the situation. The humanoid frame shifted to a more reptilian one, a lizardman with sharp claws and teeth. Much to Mercury’s relief, it no longer had external genitalia.
The Senshi of Ice determined now would be a good time for the inaugural run of the upgraded Mercury Computer’s high-speed scanner. She had the results in a fraction of a second. “I realize this is obvious by now,” she reported, “but the creature can absorb water-based attacks. Unfortunately, that includes my more ice-oriented ones.”
“We have to contact the others!”
“Tsk tsk.” The reptilian being waggled a finger. “We can’t have that. You’d ruin all my fun. Rise, my minions!” At this, the museumgoers who’d passed out after Domnius drained their energy rose anew. The glazed eyes, slumped posture, and moaning made it clear they weren’t getting up under their own power or volition.
Further clickery was heard from Mercury. “Each has a particle from the cloud entity within his or her cerebellum. It’s controlling their movements.”
“Can we extract them?” asked Neptune.
Mercury shook her head. “We’d need one of Sailor Moon’s purification attacks, or at least a spirit ward.” She shrugged helplessly. “Or a lobotomy.”
“Then we take them out the old fashioned way. DEEP—!”
“Wait!” The other Senshi jumped between her teammate and the horde. “These are still innocent people! We can’t harm them just because—Gak!” The Ice Senshi’s sentiment was cut short as a zombie grabbed hold of her collar and pulled.
“DEEP SUBMERGE!” The shambling masses were scattered, leaving a winded Mercury, whose resistance to watery spells left her minimally affected by the attack. “It’s a nice sentiment,” said the Outer, “but we’ve got to survive as well. Come on.” She led her Inner comrade away.
The lizardman chuckled. “After them!” he cried. “I’m off to get more recruits.”
“‘More recruits’?”
Mercury nodded, “The number of zombies we’ve faced has definitely and decidedly increased. My theory is—”
“We can theorize later,” Haruka interjected. “The point is you’ve got a bunch of zombies and a monster who absorbs everything you two throw at it. We’re on our way.”
The genius Senshi gave an appreciative, if weary, nod. Haruka put away her Communicator and called, “Alright, let’s head out!”
“But Setsuna-mama…” Hotaru said hesitantly.
“Can you tell what’s wrong with her?”
The cute harbinger of destruction shook her head. “It’s not any sort of injury. She just seems exhausted.”
“Then we’ll leave her to rest.” Haruka turned to Motoko. “Sword girl, you find your amulet yet?”
“Almost,” grumbled the kendoist.
“Join us when you do. Come on, little firefly.”
Two henshin phrases later, the two Outers dashed up the stairs. Motoko bitterly muttered something about short skirts, unreliable magic crystals, and disorganized archeologists.
Ryoga sighed and sank to the ground. Really, what was the point of going on? Akane had chosen Ranma, and with his curse stronger than ever, the odds of him seeing Akari any time in the next decade were slim to none. He might as well just sit here for the rest of his life.
“Hey!”
He looked up. The face he saw was oddly familiar. “Strong Bad?”
The other person blinked in surprise. “Who, Big Nose? No. I’m Stinkoman!”
Ryoga looked more carefully. The wrestleman he’d met definitely didn’t have boots like those. Or blue hair, for that matter. And the Lost Boy distinctly remembered Strong Mad having thumbs. “Huh. You look a lot like this other guy I know.”
“Yeah, I’ve met him. Nice guy, but not much of a challenge.”
Ryoga paused at this. “A challenge? You fight?”
The unusually shiny fellow nodded eagerly. “Oh, totally sure! Fighting challengers is my main activity!”
The cursed boy grinned. If anything could distract him from crushing depression, a fight could. “How about a spar?”
Stinkoman returned the smirk. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you asking for a CHALLENGE!?”
“SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!” Another bunch of mindless museum patrons was sent sprawling. “Where…are…the others?” Sailor Mercury asked between breaths. She knew she was on the verge of collapse
Michiru, who was both physically and magically exhausted, gave no response, as she had passed that verge a few minutes ago.
“That’s enough!” The stream of bodies ceased its flow towards the fatigued superheroines. The reptilian Dominus strode in like a king amongst his subjects, a toothy grin plastered on his face. “So, my dear, ready to give in?”
The Ice Senshi glared at him. “Never.”
The villain snorted. “Please. You barely have enough energy to maintain your transformation. You don’t have the mana reserves to even cast that cute little bubble spray of yours, and goodness knows you’re useless in actual hand-to-hand combat. I’m offering you a chance to keep your life here.”
“I have died before. I am not afraid to do so again.”
“Ah, but you don’t have your Princess around to resurrect you. No magic, no backup, and no deus ex machina in a tuxedo to save you. Surrender, and you get to live. You may even get to keep your free will…if I’m feeling generous.”
“Such a tempting offer,” Mercury replied flatly. “Still, I’m afraid you’re mistaken about one thing.”
Since his body was reptilian and therefore hairless, Domnius had no eyebrow to raise, but he performed an impressive facsimile of the action. “Oh? And what would that—”
“SPACE SWORD BLASTER!”
Mercury had to duck so the monster didn’t smash into her in his flight. “I do have backup.” She then happily succumbed to the blackness of unconsciousness.
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(Posted Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:23)
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