Gaijin

Part 34

The Negaverse Strikes Back.

OoooOOooOO

Carrot was sitting on a bar stool with Yoshi beside him. He was expecting trouble, and chewing on the end of his thumb a bit as he thought about it. He'd lost all hope, and he had a funny feeling he knew what had tried to kill him a bit earlier in the day.

"Yes. I do recall a bit about a project along those lines actually. One of my associates was designing something to handle hazardous..."

"With big metal arms that attach on someone's back?" The boy belted his forehead on the bar between his arms.

"Yes. I wasn't involved, but we were in the same lab. How did you find out about that?" The scientist looked surprised. He was dressed in street clothes, a pair of jeans and a plain blue sweater over a shirt. His half full first drink was collecting condensation on the counter in front of him.

"How do you think? The same way it always does. Someone wearing it tried to kill me. It tried to pull me and a couple of cops into the sewers from under the concrete." The boy didn't pull his head off the counter top as he said it. He sounded a bit like he was crying.

"Um, are you all right?" The man put his hand on the boy's shoulder and looked concerned.

Spike was leaning in over the bar with interest.

"No. I've got a new asshole trying to kill me now. I barely have time to deal with the crazy idiots who are already after me." The boy pulled his head up a bit and sniffled. He wasn't crying, but looked very close to it. "This sucks."

"A new one?"

Everyone but the boy jumped as the girl sitting next to Yoshi spoke up. "What? I don't like being back there without you. I'm an outsider there now." Kei looked towards the door away from the pair. "It's boring anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. They aren't allowed to hurt you." The boy had his chin on the bar and was looking at the others in the mirror with a sluggish frown.

"I should remind you that I never promised to obey you. I'm just not leaving." Kei was smiling at him and didn't look worried about the look she was getting.

"Why not?" The boy snorted and glared at her. "Some idiot with a back pack with four ten foot metal arms attached to it is trying to kill me. I don't know who or why yet."

The Kunoichi paused and her eyes went a little wide as she worked her mouth for a moment. "Um...what?"

"Yeah. I know." The boy shifted a little as he somehow became more annoyed.

"Wow. Really? Could you tell me about it later?" Mei Lin was on the stool beside Yoshi that had been unoccupied.

"You're not supposed to be out." The boy put his forehead on the bar again.

"Hello. I was going to ask how the house was, but you seem to have other problems. Metal arms you say? Weird." Gia was next to her, with Hibiki already taking shots further down. Mei Lin's sister was frowning down the bar at how her sister was acting with him. Kei seemed to keep her calm and silent though.

The boy sighed and glanced over his shoulder making sure no one else was going to appear. The usual suspects were already around him and only a scattered few patrons dotted the tables. His eyes went a little wide and he turned back towards the bar. Zoicite was waiting tables about ten feet behind him.

He became very alert, Kei and Mei Lin's sister were the only ones who noticed it. He waved Spike over to him and the bartender walked up and leaned in. "What's up?"

"Who's the new guy?" The boy jerked his thumb back towards his shoulder.

"Name's Yamada or something. Workin out pretty good. He's got a drink everyone seems ta like. Sell quite a few, kicks ya right in da pants. Don't taste real strong though." The man shrugged and nodded towards a bottle. "We got lots of the stuff in da back. Goes down pretty smooth."

"Yeah. I bet." The boy nodded and hopped off his stool. He glanced over at Kei. "Come on. You guys make sure Yoshi makes it back all right. I've got something to take care of."

"I want that story!" Mei Lin called after him.

"Leaving so soon?" Gia seemed amused.

"Sorry, something came up." He shrugged at them as he stepped out with Kei.

As soon as they were out the door the ninja spoke up. "What's going on? Something is up?"

"Yeah. That guy waiting tables isn't human. I'm betting he noticed me. We're going to point our new friends towards this place tonight. I'll kill them if they wreck the place, though, I suppose there might be just a bit of damage. I doubt Jiro will mind, if he doesn't already know that is." The boy flipped open his cell phone, but closed it as a tall thin man with light brownish blond hair and feminine features stepped out in front of him.

"What? Not even interested in why I'm here?" Zoicite seemed amused at the lack of a reaction from the boy in front of him. It looked out of place on someone so young. The boy carried himself like an adult, and seemed to think like one. He was a little too clever. "I do wonder how old you really are. You're quite the busy one. We've been keeping an eye on your activities. You're a bit smart for such a young teenager."

"You're right. One bar is a bit small scale, especially considering the amount of business this place does. I wasn't planning on attacking you here if I could help it. What are you doing?" The boy remained calm, but locked his eyes on the man in front of him. Kei stood behind the boy watching with a curious but cautious expression. "I'm not interested in sharing my life story with you either. I'm kind of surprised you don't remember me. After all, you used to work for me."

"Well, I suppose I could tell you. My little drink was just to get my foot in the door so to speak. I've been waiting for you." The man paused and seemed to realize what had been said. "Wait. What do you mean?" He looked a little angry, but surprise was more evident. He'd almost raised his voice, but thought better of it at the last moment.

"What do you want? I'm not interested in doing your thinking for you." The boy growled as his patience started to wear.

"We have a mutual problem. Uranus has invoked the Final Protocal of the Outer Senshi." The man frowned at the boy and crossed his arms. He kept his eyes on both of them and kept his distance.

"Yeah. I noticed." The boy shrugged.

"This has created more problems than you realize. Uranus now wields Saturn's powers." The man smirked as if he'd said something that should effect the boy.

"So?" The boy wiped the bottom of his nose with his finger as his expression became rather vacant.

"Well, not the coward we once were?" Zoicite seemed to be talking more to himself. "Or perhaps you don't remember. I do know you. I remember not caring much for speaking with you."

"Yeah. She destroys the world and all that. Don't care." The boy shrugged. "That all you got? I got bigger thing to worry about."

"Well, I suppose you realize she's powerful enough to rival the Queen? If you do not act, she'll be ruling the world..." The man frowned a little as he became a bit frustrated.

"She'd take better care of it than you and your friends would. So what?" The boy seemed more relaxed and his friend was watching in silence.

"I see. Well, there's still the matter of what's been sealed inside of Saturn. Without her power to control it. She must be destroyed."

That got a reaction from the boy. His arms became unfolded and his eyes went wide. "What?"

"Ah, so you do remember then. Interesting. I believe you've already met what's left of Saturn." Zoicite took a step forward.

"Nine." The boy glared at the man.

"Yes. She's a problem for both of us." The general nodded once.

"Been getting in your way has she?" The boy chuckled. "I thought you'd been quiet lately. She's keeping you from operating isn't she? Metallia is a rival to her. She probably doesn't care much for competition."

"What?" The man's eyes went wide. "How do you know..."

"It seems one of my problems is keeping another under control. I see no reason to work with you. I don't trust you."

Zoicite was clenching his fist and looking more and more angry. "If you do not join us, you will be destroyed. This is your last chance boy."

"Nah. I can still kick your ass." Carrot didn't look worried. He was keeping a mantra of "Please work! Leave!" constant in his mind. He shifted his coat on his shoulders and cracked his neck.

Kei was moving back, keeping a watchful eye on what was going on ahead of her.

"Then, it cannot be avoided." Zoicite gave him a dark grin as anger filled his eyes as he raised his hand. A light had started to form in his palm. He wasn't expecting to get uppercut in the jaw, nor was he expecting the hundred foot air ride he'd gotten from it.

Carrot was standing frozen in his punch with his jaw hanging a little. "What the hell? Jeeze, do you weigh anything?"

Zoicite blasted up from his landing and charged by hovering over the ground. His hair had gone rather wild and he was crackling with energy.

"Uh oh." Carrot realized he'd just missed the perfect chance to leave. "Shit. I can't believe I was that stupid!" His senses exploded as the general took a wide curve as he released flower petals on his approach.

"Fool! Now you die!" The man almost appeared out of nothing behind the boy as the petals turned into ice spikes that shot out of the air at him from all sides. He blasted a beam of energy into what should have been his target's back.

Carrot was expecting a lot of pain as he ducked and concentrated at the last instant. The petals weren't changing into ice shards at the same time, and seemed to be adjusting their aim as they transformed. He dove forward at the opening the blast that had gone over his head created. He stretched himself out and rolled. He landed with a bloody cheek, a gash on his forehead, and a few more scratches on his arms and legs. He'd taken a small hit in his gut as well. He planted his feet onto the ground as soon as he was clear and twisted towards the General. He fired two web lines into the surprised looking man's chest and jerked his arms back before he had time to register what had happened to him.

Both of their skulls collided as Carrot gave him a ten foot trip into a head butt. It had been a really stupid thing to do, as it had hurt quite a bit, almost knocked him out, and kept him stunned long enough to miss another opportunity to escape. "Next time, punch him."

Zoicite levitated off the ground and upright without disturbing his posture. He did not look happy. "Who the hell are you?"

"Yeah. Scary, right." The boy was rubbing his forehead and doing his best to look unimpressed.

"It won't matter when you're dead!" The general screamed in rage as he picked up his hand and started blasting small and very fast fireballs at the boy.

Carrot managed to dodge the first few, but the general smirked as he paused long enough to move one of them into him like a homing missile. He took the shot in his chest and landed on the pavement hard. His shirt was blasted off his chest, and hung in tatters off his shoulders and gut. The skin on his chest had become pink. "Ouch." He looked up and froze in surprise as he realized the air was filled with hundreds of flower petals. Zoicite was standing with a malevolent smirk on his face, two fireballs waiting in his hand. "You're not getting out of this one boy."

"Shit." He could feel a threat from just about every part of his body. He closed his fist and jumped up as one of the fireballs landed in his position. The ice shards were darting by all around him, giving him a few more cuts. In his hands were two iron poles, the general's attention was on steering his next fireball into him. Carrot felt a few shards jab into his stomach and back as he heaved his arm downward.

Zoicite took the pole in his right shoulder, it plowed right through his arm completely. Shock appeared on his face as he screamed girlishly in pain as his eyes welled up with tears. His fireball veered away, missing the boy by a good distance. Carrot had a few shards in his gut, back, arms and legs. He hadn't taken any more since he'd finished throwing his weapon. He was spinning the other pole around himself and shattering the shards before they reached him with it. The length of metal was covered in frost as he landed, staggered and took out the last few with a few quick swipes. He turned to glare at Zoicite with a frown on his face. "You still can't beat me. Heh. Kunzite is a terrible teacher, you should have stuck with me. Fewer perks, but you wouldn't be such a prick. I'll be kicking his ass around soon too I'm sure." He was standing tall and doing his pest to not show how heavily he was relying on his pole to keep his feet. He had stab wounds, they weren't bleeding much yet, but they all burned and stung. He didn't dare take one of the shards out yet. If he had his way, they'd just melt until they fell out.

The general was shaking, looking at him with wide tear filled eyes, and clutching at his wound. "Enduran." He vanished in a flash of light and left a few vapors in his wake. He did not look pleased as he left as his features turned into a mask of anger.

"Holy shit! Are you kidding me?" Kei was poking her head out from behind a telephone pole with a somewhat dumbstruck look on her face.

He turned and looked at her. Blood seeped between his lips as he fell onto the pavement on his side and curled up. "Ouch! Fuck! Do you have any idea how much this hurts?"

The girl's shock turned into irritation as she rushed up to his side. "God damn it. Again?"

"Son of a bitch. Are you starting to get why it isn't such a good idea to stand right next to me all the time? It's nothing personal, but...I really can't take you with me..." He sounded a bit off edge again. She was lifting him onto her shoulder and to his feet as he spoke.

"Who's going to drag you back then?" She looked irate with him, but gave the spot the general had occupied a wary glance.

OooOOooOO

Rei frowned as she looked at the computer screen. Artemis and Luna were sitting next to her and looking on. The speakers on the computer put out the audio and she didn't need the headset. She didn't need to be discrete about what she was doing. It was a map of the city, and a big red dot was sitting in the middle of Tokyo Square. The monsters they were supposed to avoid appeared as different colors, and on occasion she could see a black dot that represented Usagi, but it didn't linger long.

This was something else, something they'd not seen in some time. Something new from the Negaverse. There was a television screen behind her tuned to local news. They were getting reports in, and sending cameras to the locations. She gasped as a lot of smaller dots started spreading from the larger one. "Girls, we have a problem. Ami, how big are these 'red dots' usually?"

The other senshi all had headsets on as they raced across rooftops with their shinobi escorts. Rei's guard had changed, he was another young ninja, he hadn't said anything and was resting on the wall nearby. His eyes were closed and he seemed relaxed. The one who had guarded her had rotated back to his group. She'd been told it was a duty reserved for the best students in the school. She understood it, as she didn't move around much anymore.

"I dunno. Four or five pixels usually." It took a moment for the girl to respond. "Why?"

"A pixel is one of those little tiny lights that make the image on the screen right?" Artemis and Luna were looking up at her. "Cause the big one in the middle is whole lot more than that, and about fifty of the ones you're talking about just came out of it."

"Great." Makoto grumbled through the speaker.

"I take it we'll be busy tonight then?" Aman chimed in, the shinobi were also communicating through the network.

"Seems that way!" Minako tried to sound upbeat. "Onward and upward!" She pointed skyward, Rei could just tell that's what she was doing.

"What the hell does that mean?" Mai sounded frustrated. Rei was starting to like her.

OooOOooOO

"What the hell?" Hito was looking at a vacant square. The place was trashed, overturned cars, small fires, and broken police barricades were all that could be seen. The place was silent, and neon lights blinked all around in an eerie mist that covered the concrete at knee height. That wasn't what had his attention though, his eyes, and the eyes of the group just behind him, were on the giant sphere of what appeared to be human bodies in front of him. He and his fellow shinobi were dressed in traditional uniforms with masks.

"Oh no." Venus stood at the front of the senshi group, they were beside the shinobi. "What happened?"

"What do we do?" Ami seemed disgusted and horrified. "You don't think, everyone here was..."

"It looks like it." Minako nodded and crossed her arms as she put her chin up. "Can we help them?"

"We're not sure what's going on here. I'm not sure it's a good idea to just walk up to it. The streets are clear in every direction. We should see if it does anything at a distance for now." Hito looked over at Minako. "There were a lot of smaller signals. Are they still there?"

Rei's voice reached the whole group. "Yes, about twenty yards ahead of you. None of them has moved."

"Careful girls, It's an obvious trap." Luna spoke up after her.

"Don't forget, if it is the people from the square, we can't just kill them. We've got to try and save them!" Artemis sounded worried and firm at the same time.

"Huh?" Mai and Aman spoke up at the same time.

"No casualties." Hito closed the matter. "Assuming we are dealing with the civilians. It seems likely, those bodies are wearing clothes. What do we do?"

"We quiz the waters!" Minako replied as she pushed onward into the fog.

Mai walked with Makoto and turned to look at her with confusion on her face. "How did she get elected leader?"

"We always let the dumbest one lead. Usagi's not around, so we have to settle on her for now. I'm not sure, but I think it's some sort of rule." The girl shrugged and continued to follow the group. The shinobi vanished from sight with a confused frown on her face.

"Those things are starting to move. The ones closest to you are trying to surround you." Rei sounded a little alarmed. They should start popping up.

Aman lashed out with his fist and punched a dead eyed looking salary man between his eyes. Groans started to surround them as outstretched arms started to appear in the fog around them. The people were crawling towards them, through the fog and standing up as they neared.

"Great. Zombies." Hito gave a heavy sigh. "I don't believe this."

"What do we do?" Ami's fist were covered in ice, it shattered each time she punched one of them away, but reformed right away. "We can't fight them all like this."

Makoto spun into a kick as one of them made a grab for her, her attacks seemed to work best. Every attack she threw also acted like a tazer. Two more tried to get her from behind, but Minako stepped in and planted the two of them on their rears by sweeping their feet from under them. She jumped back after she recovered and punched another one making a lung at her in the face sending it sprawling back into others. She spun her wrist and her energy chains appeared and belted three more across the head sending them down. The monsters were moving faster now, grabbing and punching at all of them.

Kenshi was staying in the middle of the group. "I'm not sure how long 'no casualties' will last if I get involved. We need to think of something."

Hito pointed to a small truck, still on it's wheels nearby. "Get on top of that!"

The group started forward. The zombies weren't running at them, but they weren't stumbling or shuffling either. They fought their way through the crowd to the nearby truck, each member of the group removing three or four from their way on the way. They helped each other climb on and knocked the climbing zombies back off the vehicle.

"Now what?" Minako looked towards Hito and frowned.

Ami spoke up. "Makoto! The fog! The ground is wet!"

Jupiter raised her hands over her head and a ball of electrical energy formed in her palms. "Ha! No problem!" She launched at the ground between a few dozen of them. Her features hardened as she closed her eyes and put up her fists, her hair blew about behind her neck as she opened her fingers wide and pointed her palm downward.

The zombies all fell to the ground twitching.

"That was great!" Rei cried. "Good thinking!"

Hito seemed a bit surprised and grinned at the short haired senshi. "Yeah. You figured out what I was doing."

"Well, keep it up then! There's a bunch more coming from the big one!" Rei seemed cheerful and relieved.

The group looked up at the sphere and gave a collective groan. Dozens more bodies were falling from the giant sphere. This time they stood up, and started running right away.

Makoto looked annoyed. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to take a while?"

OooOOooOO

There were helicopters flying overhead, spotlights shining on the hundreds of fallen bodies, some still twitching, a few larger piles in places. Two hours had passed and the group was standing right next to the sphere, it had shrunk down to a little larger than a van.

The group had worked up a sweat. They were surrounded, by fallen zombies. The ones they dropped kept getting back up.

Hito punched one ten feet away, knocking it away from Aman's back as the other shinobi planted the top of his foot across two faces.

Ami put an ice covered knee into someone's jaw and turned to see the last few bodies fall away from the center of the sphere.

Kenshi had the door of a car and shoved groups of them away with it to keep them back. He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "What is that?"

It looked like a giant eye, with three tentacles that lashed out and grabbed the burly shinobi, lifting him into the air. Kenshi grunted in surprise, but a pair of Sai stabbed into one of them as Mai appeared at his side and jumped back, putting her feet into the faces of two more Zombies.

Kenshi's arm was still wrapped up in one tentacle. He glared at it and grinned. "Finally, something I can kill!" He gripped the appendage and planted his feet onto the ground. He shifted his weight and tossed it over his shoulder laying it out across the pavement.

The monster shrieked and propped itself up with it's other tentacles. The shinobi punched it, sending the eye rearing back.

The monster lashed out with two of it's tentacles and hit the ninja in his chest, sending him flying back.

Hito had grabbed two cars on either side of him and stretched his arms back. His entire body became elastic as he caught his team mate and then fired him forward.

Kenshi growled as he put his fist forward as he shot through the air. "It's clobberin time."

A large shower of green goo rained down on top of him as they eye popped. The remains of the creature vanished.

"It's clobberin time?" Mai was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah! That was cool!" Minako cried. The zombies had all fallen over once the eye had been destroyed. None of the people were moving, and stayed sprawled out on the ground around them.

"I rest my case." The kunoichi gave a small snort.

Aman rubbed at his chin and nodded. "That was kind of lame. You should have said something like, 'Look at this' or 'read my fist'!"

"We aren't poets. We're done here. It's time to go." Hito frowned as he looked up at the sky. The helicopters were still there. Not all of them were police choppers either. "Damn."

"Great job! I'll see you when you get back!" Rei cheered from the network.

OooOOooOO

Carrot had bandages all over his body and face. He was on his back on a thick mat, with several pillows allowing him to sit up and read the paper. He was laughing, it was painful, but what he was seeing was quite possibly the funniest thing ever. Though, he wasn't really sure why.

Four embarrassed shinobi were standing at the foot of his bed with their heads hanging. They were expecting to be admonished severely.

The boy read the headline out loud. "Sailor Senshi team up with new 'Fantastic Four' to combat evil in Tokyo. Heh. Catchy, isn't it? So. I'm to understand you're the leader of this troupe then." He seemed to calm down and look at Hito.

"I am." He nodded once and got a glazed look on his face as he straightened himself up a bit more.

"I suppose that makes you Mr. Fantastic. Anyway, good job. Stealth is secondary to getting the job done. I'm not going to cry over a few pictures if that's what you're all worried about. I must have pissed them off when I beat up one of them earlier. They aren't able to operate much because of Nine. If the world finds out who all of you are I wouldn't bat an eye."

Mai almost gasped, but all of them were looking at him with wide eyes.

"Nine?" Aman's eyebrow perked up a bit.

"That thing Uranus has been fighting. Part of your job is to make sure those girls stay away from that thing. Don't let them go after it. Uranus can handle it well enough. It's a bit much for them." He nodded and looked a bit drowsy. "Look. I know you're ninja and all, and I expect you to at least try to be a little stealthy. This is a case where it's not always possible, and or necessary, to not be noticed at all by anyone. Hell, they've got a few shots of me too."

The group seemed to relax a bit, but still looked uncomfortable.

His head fell back as he started snoring.

"I thought he sounded a bit funny." Mai narrowed her eyes. "He's on some sort of pain killer I bet."

"Should we stand here?" Kenshi looked a bit worried for a moment.

Hito gave a small sigh. "No. He does have quite a few stab wounds Mai." He turned and waved his hand for them to follow.

"So what?" She looked away and pushed her lips into a half frown as she crossed her arms. "I've had worse."

"None of us has." Aman rolled his eyes. "He almost died. I had worse than you've ever gotten in that incident in Kyoto, and that wasn't as bad as he got it."

"Yeah. Again, big whoop. Some great hero he turned out to be." Kenshi didn't sound very impressed.

"I don't know what to make of him. He's not like any kid I've ever met. In fact, I'm not so sure he's really a kid at all." Hito rubbed on his chin as he thought about it. "Your brother is right though Mai. None of us has ever had it that bad. I'm sorry, but he's pretty tough from what I've heard. Master Hakage isn't certain if he could beat him himself. This isn't something we should take lightly."

"What? Are you siding with the hot air dispenser?" The kunoichi looked irate as she turned her glare back at him.

He looked quite serious as he nodded. "I'm afraid so. Kei told me of what she saw and heard when we first arrived back from fighting that...thing. I haven't had the chance to talk with any of you about it until now. The thing that did that to him, is who commanded that thing we had to destroy with those girls. It looks like a man, but used powerful and deadly magic. We should take what happened to him very seriously, and not because I think we should feel bad for him."

"Well, I say bring it on. It felt good to cut loose for once last night." Kenshi smacked his fist into his palm as his features turned into a hard glare and frown.

Aman stuck his hands inside his robes and nodded. "I'm relieved. I don't mind the girl, she seems nice enough, but guarding her is tedious at times. I never thought I'd miss being in the field. I can't believe how winded I was after. Now that she's at the school, the rest of the clan can guard her. I'm relieved he took my suggestion of rotating her guard. I'd have been next to useless in a few months."

"I'm surprised you put that much thought into something." Mai rapped him on the back of his skull.

"Now, give him credit. He's had a while to think about it." Hito smirked at the two of them over his shoulder as he kept walking with them towards their charges.

Aman wasn't sure if he should be pleased with what was said or not. Kenshi was chuckling behind him, and Mai seemed satisfied enough to stop tormenting her brother for a bit.

OooOOooOO

TBC...

Next time: The Terror of Tako-samma!