Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury
Chapter 54
Ami Mizuno finished reciting the math formula, then slumped in relief as the judge nodded.
"Well done, Ami Mizuno!" the judge smiled. "Naru Osaka!" they continued, then gave her a math problem too.
Ami waited at her station, her thoughts drifting a bit to their overall situation. The hard math problems were another sign something was going on, in her opinion. It made for boring TV... so why do it? Why not something silly and entertaining, like making them do skits or something.
"Well done, Naru!" the judge congradulated her, then moved on to a young man.
"Mizuno-san. It's been awhile," Naru said quietly as they watched the third player, also facing a math problem.
"It has," Ami agreed a bit ruefully. Naru looked more mature than she had before. And a lot more smart, though Ami felt guilty for thinking that. But yeah, like Usagi, Naru hadn't been the sharpest one...
Naru gave Ami a wry look, as if she guessed where her thoughts had gone. "We have things to talk about.. but probably not here where we could be over heard," Naru added. Clearly she also thought this whole contest was... off.
"All right," Ami agreed. She hesitated a moment then added, "I am sorry for just disappearing on you after what happened. I had a lot of things going on, but that's no excuse."
"No, no excuse," Naru said a bit harshly. "After all, we were all their friends."
Ami winced.
Before Ami could reply, the whole stadium structure seemed to ripple oddly. It was almost like a local earthquake, but it also triggered all the magical senses that Ami had developed over the years. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural.
"What was that?" Naru yelped.
"I don't know," Ami muttered.
"Not this stuff AGAIN...," Naru added, having been caught up in magical girl stuff before.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"oh SHIT," Nyanko Suzu muttered softly.
Jadite, her recruit and theoretical ally, heard her muttering and moved nearer. "Problem?" he asked softly.
Nyanko looked very reluctant to say, but finally sighed. "The containment on the monsters is failing," she admitted.
Jadite pointedly did not say 'I told you so.' Instead he took a breath and quietly asked her, "How bad is it?"
"Hard to say. The creatures are putting increasing pressure on the dimensional pocket, but I don't know exactly when it'll rupture," Nyanko admitted.
"Oh lovely," Jadite muttered. He thought about it a moment then asked, "Can we stun the monsters, somehow?"
"Attempting that would likely also rupture containment," Nyako said flatly.
Jadite tried to consider what other options they had, then had a idea. "Can you let it rupture elsewhere?" he asked.
"Huh?" Nyako blinked.
"If it bursts open here, we're screwed," Jadite said, "can you sort of push it out into the city? Let it open away from us and the event?"
Nyako brightened, "THAT, I should be able to do."
Aluminum Siren watched the two talk, taking in their frowns. "Do you think there's a problem?" she asked Lead Crow
"Maybe," Lead Crow shrugged, "but if so, it'll only get HER in trouble, not us."
"Lead Crow!" Aluminum Siren scolded, "We're teammates."
Lead Crow gave Siren an exasperated look. She was well aware that Tin would HAPPILY sacrifice any of them for her own survival. Or even just for amusement. Still... "If she asks for help, I'll consider it," she told her.
"Good!" Aluminum Siren beamed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, shit," Sailor Star Healer muttered as they saw space ripple oddly.
Her two teammates were in the 'Best Students' contest, along with most of the other Sailors, so Healer had decided to patrol. If something else happened, it would be a good idea to have someone out here to deal with it.
THIS wasn't what she had in mind.
The 'rippling' had started near the event site, but then moved a few blocks in the city. Interestingly, normal folks didn't appear to sense whatever it was... they literally walked right through the ripple effect.
Healer activated her communicator, "Setsuna? You there?"
"I was about to call you... we felt a physical disruption in space-time," Setsuna said tersely.
"It looks like it started out at the contest, and is now moving away," Healer reported. "Any idea what's happening?" she asked.
"I think someone has done something very stupid..." Setsuna mused.
Back in the control room, Nyanko sneezed.
"Someone talking about you?" Heavy Metal Papillion drawled.
"That's just a silly Earth myth..." Nyanko waved that off.
Outside, in the city, Healer summarized Setsuna's explaination. "So you think it's going to pop open and vomit out monsters," she said.
"... I wouldn't put it so crudely, but yes," Setsuna agreed.
"Well, unless there's only a couple," Healer said, "and this ripply thing is pretty big, so I;m expecting a lot. I can't handle this on my own."
"Sadly, we're surrounded by cameras and crowds. Slipping away is going to be challenging," Setsuna sighed.
"Thanks for waiting for me!" Iron Mouse complained as the smaller woman reached Healer's side. She looked at the shimmering pocket of space, "Oh shit."
"You got that right," Healer agreed.
They caught Iron Mouse up on the conversation. "Set fire to the event, use that as cover as you escape?" she suggested.
"Innocent people could be hurt," Setsuna scolded her.
"Innocent people will be hurt if monsters rampage too," Iron Mouse pointed out dryly.
"Sometimes I'm not sure you GET the whole 'magical girl' concept," Setsuna sighed.
"We could call out Usagi and Hotaru," Iron Mouse suggested.
"That would leave our princess unguarded," Healer said tersely.
The dimensional pocket pulsed unnaturally, expanding and contracting. Then it drew in... stopped, and rapidly exploded outwards.
"FUCK." both Healer and Iron Mouse yelped.
DOZENS of creatures left over from schemes by various being exploded out of the pocket of space time, in the process wrecking anything nearby. One or two monsters materialized partially IN various objects, and promptly exploded in bursts of blood and slime.
"Get us help as soon as possible," Healer barked, then hung up.
"We need to get the civilians clear!" Iron Mouse yelled as people started screaming. She rapidly darted into the mob of attacking monsters, then yanked people clear.
'She's braver than I gave her credit for,' Healer admitted as she swiftly raced in, grabbing two people and leaping away.
"MY CAR!" the man yelped as it was crushed.
"Better your car than your life," Healer dumped them on the ground a few streets away.
"Have you seen my car?" he added indignantly, but at that point Healer was off.
"Earthers," Healer shook her head in disgust.
Iron Mouse was talking with some local police, who started assisting getting folks away from the monsters. She reached Healer as she explained, "I asked them to direct people away from the monsters AND the contest. I think more will be happening over there too."
"Safe bet," Healer agreed. The monsters were starting to spread out in their rampage, which was probably NOT a good thing.
Iron Mouse also noticed. "We both could try our special attacks on the whole group, make them chase us?" she suggested.
Healer gave Iron Mouse a look, "Are you TRYING to get killed?"
"Do you have a better idea?" Iron Mouse said a bit defensively.
Before either could reply, they felt a powerful presence. Turning, they saw a gorgeous redhead in an outfit resembling the Sailor Stars.
"Like a shooting star, I bring justice to the worlds!" she declared as she posed. "Sailor Star FIREBALL!"
"Chibi-Moon and Saturn are here too!" Chibi Moon added.
"What." Iron Mouse blinked.
"That would be our Princess," Healer also looked stunned. "Star Fighter and Star Maker are going to have a cow over this..."
To be continued...
