Strongest of the Senshi part 4
Makoto
realized soon after that nothing was happening.
Oh shoot! I'm not Sailor Jupiter! I forgot I
couldn't transform! Damn!
"That's right, gals." A voice said above the two
senshi. It was Sailor Pewter Fox, one of the sailor animates! "Ya can't use
your little superpowers, not here anyway. So, you see, this is the real
power of strength! Let's see how tough you guys are without your stupid
shields. Guess ya weren't listening to Zoicite earlier." She gave them an evil
smirk, and then dissolved into the air.
Now how am I supposed to win? Ami
thought, and then sighed. Makoto is much better than me in physical combat!
I guess…I'm useless without my powers. All I can do is runaway, and…she
recalled her new power. Heal! But…wouldn't that be cheating if I healed
myself? She sighed again. I've got to be strong! I'll figure this out!
Makoto felt stupid. She should have remembered
that she couldn't transform into Sailor Jupiter! Ami would have remembered.
She's always prepared for stuff like this. I guess I'm always pressuring myself
to win…Sometimes I feel like everyone just expects me to win…ever since people
found out my reputation of getting kicked out of school for fights. Because I'm
strong, straightforward, and don't take crap from everyone. But, Amichan…she's
always so determined, so hard working. It would be awful if she lost, cuz
everyone just thinks she'll lose. I know she's stronger than that though…
Ami gazed over at Makoto. What was she doing? It reminded her of Usagi daydreaming. Getting back to work at her strategy plan, Ami decided the only way to go was agility and brains. She'd have to dodge every offensive move Makoto made, then try to trick her and attack. Probably with jump kicks; Ami wasn't strong at punching, but she had strong legs from all her swimming. It would be a long, hard battle. Ami knew she was probably the most intelligent and best strategic planner of all the inner senshi (of course she wouldn't openly admit it!), but Makoto was so strong! She had trained in martial arts surely, and was probably fast too. Ami was uncertain her attacks would do much damage, but trying was the important thing!
Ami breathed deeply and paid close attention to
Makoto. This was it. The battle was on!
"Hiya!" Makoto shouted with a loud cry. She lunged
towards Ami with great speed and a powerful chop.
Ami darted to the side, just missing the attack.
Ami took a brief sigh of relief, but then went back to concentrating. Letting
her guard down would mean losing!
Makoto scowled. Ami's quicker than I thought!
She then turned a did a double spin kick.
Ami's eyes widened. Makoto is so good at this!
Maybe I should have taken karate lessons with Rei instead of chess…?
Ami dodged, and dodged. My strategy is getting
old. She decided to herself. I need more offensive power!
After another double kick from Makoto, Ami sprung up into the air and slammed Makoto down.
However, physically Ami wasn't as strong as
Makoto; Her attack hit, but didn't really slam Makoto. On instinct, Makoto did
a high kick, which hit Ami and caused her to fall on her side on the arena's
floor.
I was totally vulnerable to that attack! Ami thought, sides aching. I screwed up…my strategy failed…how silly I was to think I could actually hurt Makoto, she's so strong! So much stronger than me…
Suddenly Ami realized
what she was doing. She was putting herself down! Making herself weak! The
healing powers came to her mind and she quickly focused on them. In a sparkle
of crystal blue light, Ami was back to normal, with only a few bruises.
"Wow, Ami!" Makoto
cheered, smiling. However, she blamed herself again in her thoughts. "Damn…"
she muttered under her breath. She felt very stupid not to remember Ami's
healing powers. "Oh well. I can't blame her. I'll just give it all I've got."
The familiar spiral of
the delicate cheery blossoms filled he air, with Zoicite in the midst of them
once again. He scowled at Ami before saying, "I don't really think you're
playing fair, Mercury." Motioning his hand, the blue glimmer from the Mercury's
guardian faded, and in its place a dark light flashed. "Healing yourself just
seems like cheating to me…" he let out a slightly annoying laugh, "So I've
temporarily disabled them." Winking, he said, "Remember, no spells allowed. I
wanna see a good fight." Before the girls could protest he disappeared in
another whirl of petals.
"Damn him," Makoto
growled.
"That's okay," Ami
shrugged, feeling only slightly disappointed. "I would feel like I was cheating
if I had kept using them."
Makoto shrugged.
"Whatever," she replied, rubbing the spot where Ami had hit her. "Let's get
this over with!"
After blur of fighting,
with Makoto usually serving up the hits, and Ami dodging them, the battle was
still not won. Ami had taken about 3 hits, Makoto, 2.
I could finish her, probably. Makoto thought, studying her opponent. Using some of my best uppercuts and whirlwind kicks. Yeah, that would work, but…can I really stand beating her? Maybe Rei or Minako, but Ami…it just doesn't seem right.
After a moment, Ami
confidently strode over to Makoto. She breathed deeply and said, "Makoto, I
could never stand beating you…" she looked up at Makoto. "I'm not giving up,
but…" she looked beyond Makoto now, "I'm not afraid to lose. I have to admit I
can't compete with you this way. The battle is yours."
She said with a slightly
increased volume, "You are the strongest senshi this round."
Makoto sighed. "Amichan,
you are so mature!" she looked at her friend, "You are obviously the strongest
senshi. However, I think this match comes to tie."
"Tie!" Makoto cried out
to the crowd. "It's a tie!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Zoicite sighed, staring
out at the senshi in the balcony for the sports announcers and other onlookers.
"I wanted a real battle," he stared over
towards Jedite, "Not some stupid tie."
Jedite scowled. "Yeah,
yeah, but at least we'll have all the senshi's identities now…and their powers.
It's worth it." He snickered, "Besides, it's cool to watch the senshi almost
kill each other!"
"Yeah, when they actually
fight." Zoicite remarked, twirling a piece of his long hair between his
fingers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"It wasn't really a fair
match anyways," Minako commented, "You're equally matched."
"We both win this way
though," Ami smiled, "We deserve it."
"It was cool fighting you
though," Makoto said to Ami with a wink, "You were pretty good. In round three,
we can be a team."
Suddenly Rei ran up to
them. "Hi, guys!" she greeted, "I think I'm up next!"
"Really?" Ami asked,
"Against who?"
Rei looked distressed.
"I'm not sure! You have all paired up. The outer senshi will probably fight
against the starlights, Chibiusa against ChibiChibi…"
"Hotaru then?" Minako
guessed, counting off the senshi.
"No," Ami replied, the
outers pair in teams of four against the starlights. And Sailor Kakyuu will be
with the starlights, making their team come to four senshi."
"Then the only one left,"
Makoto finished, "Is Mamoru-kun."
"Oh, great." Rei
muttered. "How am I going to fight the guy I had a crush on?"
"It's cool," Makoto
assured her, "You always said how much better you were at martial arts…"
"Yeah," Rei replied,
"I'll beat him. He's just a guy, after all."
With that, Rei walked off
towards a secluded area away from the bleachers to train.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh, Mamochan!" Usagi
awed, examining her hot boyfriend with glee, "It will be so amazing to see you
battle! You are an excellent warrior!" she drooled.
"I guess, Usako…" he
began, doing some warm up exercises, "But fighting a girl makes me feel
awkward. Maybe if it was one of the starlights as male, but Rei?" he sighed.
"She's not really the tough type. Not like Makoto anyway."
"Oh, don't worry about
Rei, she'll be fine," Usagi waved her hand as if she were shooing the problem
away.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rei scowled to herself as
she preformed some finishing stretches.
Mamoru…
Her little crush on
Mamoru was nothing big. Nothing like her love for Yuuichirou or Kaidou. Still,
he was a cute guy. One she would have
trouble facing. And to fight him… Not like she was afraid of a few roses, but
what if he pulled that trick with Usagi?
Well, she thought, this will be a good way to put him behind me. This will prove I no longer have even the slightest crush on Mamoru, and I don't mind beating the crap out of even a hot guy.
"Next match, Rei vs.
Mamoru, come to the center!" came her cue to start walking to the arena.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Excellent," Jedite
remarked, observing the two contestants walk to the center, "I'll finally get
that caped freak's power!"
"I don't understand,"
Kunzite said as he walked into the room, "They know this is a trap, so why
don't they try to leave or something?"
"Simple. I've made it so
they can't." Zoicite replied, smiling deviously.
"It's totally sealed off.
The earthlings see only the arena's disguise on their planet, which is a closed
down building. This whole arena is surrounded by negative energy that'll absorb
any positive energy put against it." Zoicite explained, staring out at the
contestants preparing for battle.
"Yeah," Jedite continued,
"And the 'crowd' are really just droids."
"You really had this
cleverly planned," Kunzite scowled, "I'm surprised it's going so well."
"Guess the senshi like to
fight each other to resolve conflicts or something, I really don't give as long
as I can get their power," Jedite snickered. "Well, better start the battle,"
he said wickedly as he reached for his announcer microphone.
"It looks better then
that last one," Zoicite commented, as he didn't care for Tuxedo Kamen either
and would like to see him get beat up.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"FIGHT!" came the cry of
the announcer's voice through the speakers.
"Ready?" Mamoru asked
Rei. He didn't want to rush into the battle.
"You bet! Let's go!" Rei
shouted back to him. She was ready for the challenge.
"IYAH!" Rei cried,
rushing up to Mamoru and swiftly bringing up her right leg. "Flame Heel Drop!"
she yelled, dropping her leg down in axe kick style, and slamming the heel of
her black school shoe on his head. Then she quickly brought her leg back, and
jumped away.
Mamoru groaned as he held
his head. He hadn't remembered seeing that
move before. He quickly recovered so he could fight back.
Mamoru decided this was
the time to put his martial arts skills to work.
"YAH!" he shouted, and
begin a hand-to-hand combat with Rei. Rei was talented at martial arts herself,
so the battle went on this way for several minutes.
Finally Mamoru made a
hard blow Rei couldn't manage to block or dodge. She was thrown down on the
ground within contact of the hit.
Mamoru knew this was his chance
to move in. If he gave her a chance to get up, the battle would keep on going,
and there was a chance he could lose. But something held him back. As he looked
at her trying to get up, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her again. He just
wasn't like that. It didn't seem right to hit a girl, even a fairly strong girl
like Rei.
"Yeah! Go, Mamochan! You
have her now!J"
He knew the voice right
away. It was his girlfriend, Usagi. The one girl he was truly in love with and
devoted to. He couldn't let differences of gender get in his way. A fight was a
fight, and he fought like a true warrior. He cleared his mind and concentrated
on the battle before him.
"Hey!" Rei yelled,
standing now, "Look what you did to my outfit!"
Mamoru just kind of
smirked. "Let's finish this."
Rei was almost shocked. He
seemed so serious when he said that, she
thought, allowing herself to be sucked in by his deep blue eyes. She stood
there for a moment, just staring.
"Well?" he asked, walking
towards her, "What do you say?"
He grabbed a rose from
his jacket. It gleamed a sparkling gold, and her eyes were drawn to it. Mamoru
drew it closer towards Rei.
"Reichan…" he whispered
to her, "I know what you want…"
Rei looked at him and
smiled.
She put her hand around
the rose's bud, and clenched it into a fist. When she took her hand away, the
bud had been scorched down to smoldering ashes.
"Good," she replied,
"Then you already know I want kick your butt."
He scowled at her.
"This battle's mine. I
can't have a loss on my record!" she smiled, "Besides, did you really think you
could charm me?"
"I knew that couldn't fool you. But, it's
obvious you're still attracted to me," he replied.
Rei looked away from him,
and instead of responding she threw a punch at him.
He blocked and pulled two
red roses from his jacket. He threw both of them at her.
Rei dodged them, and
dashed away.
For a while, Mamoru lost
sight of her. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him, and spun around quickly to
face it. An arrow was coming towards him. He managed to grab it in his hand as
it came within his reach. He broke it in half and discarded it on the ground.
Rei now held a long bow
and a fistful of arrows. "From archery class at school," she explained,
winking, "I had it with me, fortunately."
Mamoru sighed. "This is
getting way out of hand," he decided. He gathered up his power, and a dark
flash blinded everyone temporarily. When it ended, Mamoru had gathered a large
amount of energy in his hands.
"Tuxedo!" he cried, "The
Smoking Bomber!"
The blast, which he usually
needed to be Tuxedo Kamen to use, came at Rei. It was too large to dodge...too
vast. And she definitely didn't have enough strength to block something like
that. So down she fell, feeling defeated and deprived of her fighting spirit.
Mamoru felt sorry for
her…almost. Until he saw Usagi, that is. His girlfriend was shouting with joy.
"Mamochan!! ^_^ Yeah! You rock!"
But Rei was not so easily
beaten. She staggered to her feet, struggling to get up.
Mamoru felt a sharp pain
in his leg. He looked down. An arrow had striked him in the leg. He looked at
the sniper, Rei, crouched down and aiming. "So, she isn't finished, eh?" he
remarked, preparing to finish her off…
"A tie between Ami &
Makoto! Who'll win: Rei or Mamoru? The victor in Strongest of the Senshi, part
5! Now stay tuned for a preview of next time's events!"
Preview:
"Mamochan!" Usagi called. She wanted to fight with him, to help him win. Rei was close to her, but she couldn't stand to see Mamoru beaten.
Mamoru could no longer perform his smoking bomber attack.
The power wouldn't come to him. His martial arts were worthless against Rei.
And roses? Good against idiotic youma, and distractions, but nothing more. What
was left? Usagi could help…
And afterwards:
"Now!" the announcer called, "The battle of the kawaii! Chibiusa vs. Chibichibi! Go to the center at once!"
Author's Note: Yeah, I
know, the long awaited battle of Jupiter turned out a tie. She'll get to show
her real fighting power in the group battles though; I'll make sure of that. I
just couldn't let Ami go down because she was physically weaker, because she's
a lot smarter than Makoto. They're pretty equal that way. Anywayz, group
battles will start after Chibiusa vs. Chibichibi's battle. ^_^ Okay, hope
you're still enjoying & interested in the story!
