*****

A.N:

"Japanese"

'English'

[Signs]

*Thoughts*

-SOUND EFFECTS-

(AUTHOR'S NOTES)

*****

Chapter 6: Landing

*****

Chapter 6: Landing

Adjusting his backpack, Sotaki headed out of Nerima. Snagging a map blowing past, he adjusted his course. The sun was just about to set as Sotaki left Nerima. Noticing his target coming his way, he ducked into an alley and waited for it to pass. Breathing light and treading lighter, he stalked his goal until it snuck in through the window of an abandoned arcade. Following close behind, he listened in as the black cat he was stalking gave its report to a battered arcade machine.

*How the heck Central Command got relocated here I'll never know. Should have stayed an out-of-commission soda machine with a non-detection field. At least that way it didn't get damaged.*

After the paranoid cat had finished giving her report and changing her password for the fifth time that night, Sotaki pulled out a notepad and wrote down a few notes about the method for activating Central Command. After that, he slowly slunk behind the cat as she exited. Following the cat through alleys, he carefully evaded her sight and hearing. After a few minutes of traveling, the cat arrived at a small house. Writing down the address in his notebook, purposely transposing the last two digits and changing one other detail, he looked up. Smiling to himself, he made a small ball of psychic power and sent it through the window. Surveying the sleeping girl inside, he confirmed her identity and planted a small tracer in her strangely rabbit-like hair with a few instructions. Sneaking out of Juuban, he quietly headed back to the park he landed near in Nerima. After a few excercises and a little meditation, he settled down in his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

The next morning Hikaru woke up and grinned, then winced as he felt how sore he was after yesterday's 'workout'. Sighing, he got up, washed up, had breakfast, packed his backpack and homework, hugged his parents, and headed to school. He felt his new-found confidence would help with dealing with Nabiki.

Meanwhile, Sotaki woke up, looked at his alarm clock, shrugged, punted the alarm clock into a bush, and went back to sleep.

A while later, he woke up, fried a pair of eggs, ate a pair of fried eggs, brushed his teeth, and headed over to Juuban. The flower festival was just setting up, and not many people were around. Drawing a deep breath, he held his hands out by his sides and powered up his psi. Searching for a very specific signature, he relaxed and got set up in an abandoned street. Tossing a few psi-balls around, he set them up very carefully and programmed them with some very specific instructions. After that, he quietly ducked into a nearby alley and from there hopped up onto the roof. Assuming a relaxed stance, he quietly set up a non-identification field around his face, put on a pair of skates, and started drawing the ki in the area. After a while, he placed lines of ki in key locations. Drawing out ten cans of spray-paint, he put them in a bandolier and donned it. He checked again on the signature he was tracking and noticed it had sprung. A demon had appeared in mid-air and was looking around for people to drain. It was seven feet tall, looked like solid brass, and was flaming. Fortunately, this was a commercial district, and wasn't that full this early in the day. After a few minutes, he glanced toward the opposite rooftop and felt the psi-ball he planted on the blonde, along with the copies it made of itself that had planted themselves on her friends. The girls were wearing ridiculously short-skirted school uniforms, and had assumed ridiculous poses to look down on the demon. Their meatball-headed leader opened her mouth and took a deep breath. "Evil demon wh-"

Suddenly, a sharp whistle echoed through the street. The demon looked up, puzzled. Guitar music followed, with a singing voice from the psi-balls Sotaki had planted.

Well, I don't show off, don't criticize,
I'm just living by my own feelings.
And I won't give in, won't compromise,
'Cause I only have a steadfast heart of gold.
I don't know why I can't leave, though it might be tough,
But I ain't out of control just living by my word.
Don't ask me why, I don't need a reason,
I got my way, my own way.

Sotaki leaped off the roof and started grinding down a nearby railing, holding a can of spray-paint in each hand. Leaping to a power-line, he continued to grind along, right past the seven-foot-tall demon. Glancing at him and immediately regretting its decision, the demon clutched its eyes, which were now masked by a piece of blue graffiti in the shape of a kanji. Leaping an easy five feet, Sotaki landed on the demon's head and hopped off. Pulling back a fist, he started beating down on the demon.

It doesn't matter now what happens,
I will never give up the fight.
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,
It doesn't matter who is wrong or who is right.

Every syllable was punctuated by a blow to the demon. Punches rained down on the demon in an unbreakable rhythm. Sotaki seemed an extention of the song playing around him. Something else was happening to the demon as well.

Well, I don't look back, I don't need to,
Time won't wait, and I got so much to do,
Where do I stop, now it's all a blur, it's so unclear,
Well, I don't know, but I can't be wrong.

Leaping back, Sotaki took a breath and jumped over a swipe by the demon. Never breaking his flow, he kept punching the demon.

It doesn't matter now what happens,
I will never give up the fight,
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,
Put all the bets on the one you think is right!

The girls on the roof suddenly realized that the boy below had been tagging the whole time, and the entire demon looked like one of the more colorful tags from the shadier area of the ward. The area around the demon had been tagged. The tag itself was colored blue and green, and looked like it was wreathed in flames. It was in the shape of 'Ran', the japanese character for 'chaos'. Six empty cans lay around the street.

Tossing away the now-empty cans in his hands, Sotaki pulled out two cans of black and started tagging in more purposeful patterns on the now-muzzy demon.

Oh, it doesn't matter now what happens,
I will never give up the fight.
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,
It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right.
(1)

As he finished the last tag, the black kanji the demon had been covered with glowed with a pure-white light. The blue-skirted blue-haired girl's computer beeped, and the demon roared in pain before dispersing into ash. Sotaki smiled, waved at the girls, and snapped his fingers. A single spark fell down, and touched the fresh paint. The entire tag ignited in one bright flash, and flames leapt up. When the Senshi's vision cleared, Sotaki was gone and all that remained was colored fire, which soon died down leaving no trace it had ever been there. Baffled, the girls headed back to the Cherry Hill Shrine to discuss what they had seen.

*****

If you want to know how this songs and have an mp3 player of some sort head on over to link removed by formatting – it's easy enough to find these MP3s on Limewire or something> and check out "Live and Learn". Yes, I blatantly ripped of SA2. It just fit the mood so well.

chainchomp5