Senshi: the Gathering of Five Part Three
They gathered beneath the old railway bridge, just as both had previously agreed on. The gangsters looked on in surprise at the two younger girls and their taller companion who was waiting there patiently for them.
"Do you really think she's going to be able to protect you?" the boy who looked to be their leader loudly scoffed
The taller woman's voice came out as a dangerous purr, "Stop trying to shake down the girls and just walk away. This is the only chance I'm giving you."
"Shut up," the leader cried angrily, running at her and getting ready to punch her out.
POW!
He never saw the blow coming, she was that fast. He hit the ground hard, obviously not planning on getting up any time soon. She seemed to disappear, reappearing in the middle of the gang, striking out swiftly and efficiently. A punch and sweeping kick, and three more boys hit the dirt even as the others backed away from her slowly.
"Wait a minute," one boy looked at her wide eyed, "there's a story about a girl who doesn't belong to any gang and fights only for money and the challenge."
"She can punch right through a man's chest," another said fearfully.
"They say that she's the strongest girl in Japan," another quietly offered.
"This can't be," a third looked at her in fear, "Makoto Kino?!"
Makoto grinned evilly, "Well, looks like my reputation's finally spreading." The brown haired woman cracked her knuckles loudly into the stunned silence and offered them a dangerous little smile, "So who's next?"
The young men exchanged worried glances, then looked over at the confident young woman who was standing in front of them. Almost at the same time they all turned tail and ran away.
"Come back here," Makoto roared out as they ran from her. She sighed softly, "Not even a good fight." Walking over to where the four unconscious boys lay she pulled their wallets out, quickly emptying them of all their cash and producing quite an impressive pile of yen bills. "Busy little boys, weren't you?" she murmured.
"Makoto-sama?" one of the girls had stepped forward and was holding out an envelope, intending to pay her with what was inside it.
"Don't worry about it," Makoto waved it off as she casually pocketed all the boy's money. She smiled at them with a surprising gentleness, "Give me a call if they try something again. You've got my pager number."
Noticing Makoto's discontented expression one of the girls shyly asked her, "Is something wrong, Makoto-sama?"
Walking away from the girls they could hear Makoto answer them quietly, "Just wishing I could find a fight that's worthy of my strength, I guess."
"Sorry," Ami smiled over at Rei, "I had assumed Usagi had already told you."
"Haven't had much time," Usagi gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.
"Well then," Ami pushed up her glasses, taking on a lecturing tone, "over the past few months, there have been a rash of killings around the campus."
Rei's eyes widened, "I heard about that. The police couldn't seem to find any trace of the perpetrator, though."
Ami nodded, "Usagi was visiting the campus a few weeks ago, and discovered the cause. She slew the youma, and in the process saved my life."
"But the master of the youma," Usagi said quietly, "Zoisite escaped me through what looked like a kind of hole in space."
"Some of the equipment in my lab picked up on the energy the portal used," Ami explained, "so I offered to try to create a tracking device to follow the portals back to their source."
"So what do you mean, it's too complicated?" Usagi leaned forward intensely.
Ami met her eyes calmly as she took out what looked like a modified laptop and sat it on the desk. "The tracking system should work," Ami said quietly, "but interpreting the data will require a great deal of expertise. Skills I doubt you and your new ally have."
"This could get very dangerous," Usagi finally said, "and I'm nervous enough having to pull Rei into this fight. I don't need to have to watch out for you, as well."
Ami gave her a gentle smile, "I don't see that you have much choice."
Luna looked up at Usagi, "She may have a point."
Rei felt a sudden chill in her bones, almost as if someone had walked over her grave. "What was that," she shuddered visibly.
Usagi turned to her, "Is something wrong?"
"Just a bit of a chill," Rei blushed.
"Where would you say it's coming from?" Luna stood up from her relaxed position on the desk to ask her softly.
Without really thinking about it Rei found herself answering, "From the west, I think."
"We'd better go check it out," Usagi smoothly got out of her chair and walked to the door.
"Just because I felt a chill?" Rei scrambled to her feet even as Luna leapt down off the desk.
Usagi smiled slightly, "You're a miko as well as being sensitive. Now that you've encountered the youma, I bet you can sense their presence."
Ami nodded thoughtfully, grabbing the laptop and some silver metallic capsules from off the top of her desk. "That's why you need her with you, to find the disguised youma," she said softly.
"But," Rei stammered as they walked down the hallway, "I thought your sword could detect the youma. It found Jadite easily enough."
"It only works if I'm near them," Usagi explained, "otherwise I can't find them magically." She looked at Rei intently, "How does it feel?"
"Worse," Rei said honestly as they neared a stairway.
Usagi's sword began to glow softly, and she drew it out almost silently. "Looks like you were right," she murmured to Rei. She looked over at Ami, "Please stay back."
"Right," the professor nodded.
They entered the stairway, and looking down saw a young man and woman standing close together, seemingly kissing. But there was something... off about the picture. The boy didn't look like he was enjoying himself, it was as if he was in pain.
"Stop what you're doing," Usagi cried.
The woman jerked back, her face revealed to be strangely monstrous. "You?" she looked up at Usagi in surprise even as the boy slid bonelessly to the floor, "what are you doing here?"
"Stopping you," Usagi said coldly. "Who are your masters? Where do they come from?"
"You'll find out soon enough, little princess," the woman laughed, an odd hiss in her voice. The laugher trailed off into silence as she saw who stood beside Usagi, and she softly murmured, "The seer of fire? The wise woman of frost?"
Rei frowned slightly, the words seeming familiar to her, somehow.
"You can not be allowed to gather the five," the youma hissed as it's form continued to change, becoming strangely snakelike. A clawed hand was flung towards them, stretching out to reach all the way up the staircase.
Usage moved like the wind, her sword moving so swiftly it disappeared. The creature howled in pain as it's sliced arm hit the floor, but Usagi was still moving.
Ami pulled two of those silvery capsules from her pocket, tossing them at the creature with a surprising amount of force. They struck it on the chest and bust open, spilling a fluid on it that rapidly froze it where it stood.
"Can't move," it growled, then looked up with wide eyes to see that Usagi was upon it.
The katana sang as it cut through the air then almost as easily sliced through the frozen creature's body. It crumbled where it stood, breaking down swiftly into an odd ooze.
"Oh god, oh god, oh gosh," the boy repeated weakly, eyes wide with shock and fear.
"What do we do about him?" Ami asked softly.
Luna leapt down the stairs, her form shifting from cat to human. She knelt down by the boy and cupped his face in her hands looking into his eyes. "Forget," she murmured, a soft glow shining from her brow to light up his forehead.
"Forget," the boy echoed weakly.
"You had an perfectly ordinary day," Luna said softly, "you didn't feel well, and had to go home. Do you understand?"
"Home," he agreed. He rose to his feet, straightened out his clothes and left.
The two women watched him go in surprise, the turned back to see Luna back in her cat form and sitting comfortably on Usagi's shoulder. "I'm not quite sure how it works, but it does," Usagi shrugged, bouncing the cat slightly.
Rei was giving Usagi and Luna a curious look, "The seer of fire, wise woman of frost, what did it mean by that? It sounded like it was talking about Ami and I."
"Yes, it did," Usagi agreed. She looked over at Ami, "After what you've just seen, do you still want to come along, Prof. Mizuno?"
"Ami," she corrected her, "and I wouldn't miss it for the world."
To be continued...
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