Panty and Stocking Season Two: The Legend of Judgement Episode 5: Closing the gap
Brief finally managed to hobble into Panty's room. He was so worn out that he didn't even bother taking of his shoes before collapsing face first on Panty's bed. He took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of the laundry detergent that he had used to wash the sheets every so often. But to him the smell also reminded him of something more: Panty. This smell had become synonymous with her and it made Brief miss her every time he laid in this bed. But right now, he simply pushed all of that out of his mind as he quickly fell asleep.
Next thing he knew, he was in the middle of Oten City, with only Judgment with him.
"Hello?" He called as he looked around.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps in front of him, drawing closer with each step. Suddenly, a figure walked around the building in front of him.
"Hello there, Geek Boy, fancy meeting you here" The woman with two tone red and black hair said.
"Stocking?" He asked in shock.
"Yep, that's me! I bet you're here looking to get Panty back together, huh? That's so cute! Too bad it's never gonna happen!" Stocking said.
Before Brief could even respond, a glowing blue striped sword was plunged into his abdomen, the tip of the blade coming out the other side, dripping blood.
"Hmph, DIE!" Stocking yelled as she twisted the sword in him and pulled it upwards.
"AAAAAAARGH!" Brief yelled before being split in two and falling apart.
"AAAH!" he yelled, as his eyes shot open.
He got up into a sitting position, legs swung over the side of Panty's bed, panting and covered in sweat. He was still alive, and still in Panty's room. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and tried to get his breathing under control.
"Oh my god, it was just a dream…but why did it feel so real?" he asked himself as he managed to get his breathing and heart rate under control.
Brief finally stood up as the memories of his dream blurred and faded away. As he took a shower, the only thing he could still remember was the sword being driven into him. That scene played over and over in his mind. He could still feel the cold steel entering him. It scared him a bit, but it also gave him determination to fight and get Panty back.
He turned the water off, dried off and changed before making breakfast and joining the Demon Sisters outside.
"All right Briefers, darling, you know the drill. Start with your warmups!" Scanty said with a sing song voice, while her sister looked on from behind her.
Brief nodded his head and began to do his basic warm up routine that Scanty and Kneesocks had had him been doing. It was your basic strike combos, stuff that Brief had managed to master quite some time ago. Strike, jab, swing, etc. The cycle repeated until he got through the normal set and turned to face Scanty.
"Again…" Scanty said to him with arms folded.
Brief looked at her confused. She had never requested him to do his warmups twice.
"What...why?" he asked.
"Because you were sloppy. You're trying to rush things and not putting in 100% effort. Now start again." Scanty said again, this time sounding much sterner.
Brief didn't object, and instead just did what he was told. He went through the routine once more before stopping to look at Scanty.
"Again" Scanty said with the same sternness.
This back and forth went on and each time he was told to repeat, his frustration grew more and more. Finally he reached a breaking point.
"Again" Scanty said.
"All right, what the hell are we doing? You said yesterday that we'd be learning how to unlock Judgment's power. Yet all we've been doing is wasting our time doing basic combos for warmups! You said you were gonna help me use Judgement, now make good on that promise!" he said to the two of them.
The demon sisters didn't respond, instead they simply turned and looked at each other. Even though a word was not uttered between the two, there seemed to be a mutual understanding of where things would be going from here. Scanty turned back to Brief.
"Fine, if that's how you want to go about things, fine. Just don't come crying to me if you get hurt!" Scanty snarled between bear teeth as she whipped out one of her revolvers.
Quicker than the blink of an eye, a searing pain in Brief's left arm was felt coinciding with the sound of a gunshot. The shock of the impact and his unreadiness for it nearly caused him to drop Judgment as he lost his balance and fell to one knee, gripping his arm.
Brief was stunned! He didn't even see her aim the gun. It was still pointed down at the ground like it had been a moment earlier. The only sign anything had changed was that there was now smoke seeping out of the edge of the barrel of the gun.
"Damn it, man! At least give me a warning! That freak hurt!" he said before a realization dawned on him.
"Wait…That hurt? How come it hurts? Demon and Angel weapons aren't supposed to effect normal humans…" he said as he looked down at his arm and saw the blood running from the wound.
Scanty smiled as Brief came to this realization.
"Look at you, using your brain. Yes, normally you would be correct" she started as she began walking towards him.
"However, Judgment has started to flood your body with it's Angelic energy. This means that demon and angel weapons can hurt you, and the more you train, the worse those side effects get until your body will act no different than those filthy toilet angels" Scanty finished as she stood inches from him.
Brief had not bothered looking up, he was too busy tending to his arm wound when he felt the gun barrel press into the top of his head. This action made him freeze up. He heard the distinctive click of the hammer of Scanty's gun being pulled back.
"Now why don't you use that brain one more time and THINK FAST!" Scanty shouted as she pulled the trigger.
Another bang rang out, but this time instead of brains being spattered everywhere, a smoldering hole in the ground was made. Scanty looked up and saw that Brief had managed to jump backwards, dodging the attack and saving his life. In all honesty, he wasn't entirely sure how he managed to do that. Landing back on his own two feet, he looked back at Scanty with a shocked open mouth that slowly turned into a smile.
"How's that for thinking fast?" he said with a slight laugh.
Scanty smiled too, both in surprise and in happiness that Judgment finally started to be doing some work on Brief. In this case, it was sharpening his battle instincts and reaction times.
"Good job. I'm honestly surprised you managed to avoid that attack. However, it will take more than fast reflexes to get out of this one!" Scanty said as she transformed her other pair of panties into her other revolver and opened fire on Brief.
"OH SHIT!" he exclaimed as bullets started whizzing past him.
He ran in a panic for cover, ducking behind one of the large oak trees in the lawn of the church. Scanty unleashed a volley of bullets into the tree, and Brief felt some of them fly past inches from him.
Meanwhile, Kneesocks continued to watch on, slightly concerned about what her sister was doing. Sure they needed to put Brief through stressful situations, the battle with Stocking definitely wouldn't be easy, but she felt like this was more along the lines of Scanty trying to straight up murder the poor red head.
Back with Brief and Scanty, Brief had to come up with a plan fast.
"Come on think! What would those guys in the Rambo movies do?" he asked himself before looking down and Judgment.
Suddenly and idea popped into his brain as to how to at least get out of cover a little and still be protected. He ran out from behind the tree, twirling Judgment at such a fast rate that it managed to deflect all on coming bullets from hitting him. This was again something he had never done before and was shocked at the speed at which he could move his wrist. But there was no time to contemplate these developments. He had something more pressing to attending to.
"Being on the defense won't allow you to win! You're going to slip up eventually and when you, I'll be there to capitalize!" Scanty shouted as she followed Brief, in and out of cover, guns ablaze.
He slipped in and out from behind the gravestones. Each time Scanty would shoot one to bits, Brief would already be on to the next one. Scanty continued to follow him behind trees and pillars supporting the bedroom where the Angels used to live. However, Scanty's superior speed meant that after a while of chasing, she managed to catch up with him and eventually corner him against the church. The two of them were panting from the exertion, but Scanty's aim remained as steady as ever, and Brief had nowhere to go.
"Well well, looks like you're out of places to hide…" she started as she closed one eye and made sure her aim was locked on.
Brief just stood there panting, seemingly no fear in his eyes as to what was about to happen.
"Looks like I win!" Scanty finished as she pulled the trigger and one final bullet shot out.
Suddenly, with reflexed as fast as Scanty's was earlier, Brief brought up Judgement and like a tennis ball racket, managed to whack the bullet right back at Scanty. The bullet impacted one of Scanty's guns and knocked it out of her hands. Momentarily distracted, Brief sprinted in at light speed and knocked Scanty's feet out from under her, causing her to fall to the ground on her butt. Brief pointed the end of Judgment towards Scanty's face and smiled.
"No…I win." He said to her, to which Scanty could only reply with a smile of her own.
Meanwhile, in Oten, Stocking stood on top of the tower she and Corset had been operating out of. She had been keeping tabs on Brief's progress through his energy signal, and today, that signal gained a great boost in power. This led Stocking to laugh maniacally.
"Looks like Geek boy is finally starting to get he hang of things…he might prove to be a worthy opponent after all."
End of Episode 5.