PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 48: Furnace of War and Terror
Just as Midori suspected, Apis revealed herself and smiled cheerfully as she said, "You're not getting away this time."
"I figured you would do something like this. You always liked attacking with higher numbers rather than fighting your own battles."
"This coming from someone who relies on sneak attacks."
"I'm an archer. That's the way I'm supposed to fight."
"And I am a genius. My intellect is my greatest weapon."
"Hmph," Midori coolly scoffed while glaring at the dolls surrounding her. Without warning, all except the child mannequin robotically raised their arms and shot thin lines of string at her, wrapping around her body so tightly that indentations formed on her skin. Then the child-like doll's head jerked uncontrollably, and the slot containing the Apple of Discord opened up for Midori to gape at in horror.
"That's ridiculous!" she yelped at Apis. "Rei should have been able to sense its presence long ago!"
"Heh heh heh! You think I wouldn't account for that? That doll is a special model I made that can project a field that blocks those who have ESP. Anything that is placed inside it will not be detected by anyone with psychic powers until the object is removed."
"Damn it… What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry. I don't have any intention of killing you. It'd be a shame to lose my fellow partner in academia!"
"So you're taking me back…"
"Quit resisting, Hyena. You know you want to hear the truth from us."
Midori had to keep control of her panic so the Apple of Discord wouldn't feed on it, yet she couldn't do anything to break free from her binds. She tried to object by remarking, "I am not going to become a Camarilla. I already told that to Naja and Varan, so I don't know why I have to yell you."
"I know that. I also know that your mission is completely pointless."
"And why is that? Can't you just tell me right here and now?"
Apis clenched her teeth in what appeared to be anxiety. "I think… it'd be better if all four of us told you."
"You're just making excuses. If all of you wanted to tell me together, then just come here as a group and talk to me. There's no need to drag me to Upala's castle kicking and screaming. If we really are friends, then let's discuss things in a calm, rational manner."
"Look, I've had enough of this! We won't force you to become one of us, but all of our data is back at HQ! I know how much you prefer hard evidence over ambiguous testimony, so if you want to see it for yourself, you have to come with me!"
This piqued Midori's curiosity, even though she suspected that it was a trap of some kind. She closed her eyes and thought about what to do next; either go with Apis and negotiate with her Alkiman comrades, or stay on Earth and be forced to tell Chibi-Usa the truth. She blocked all outside interference and concentrated on weighing her options, balancing the pros and cons of each choice to determine which one would be better.
In front of the shrine, VesVes guided families to their seats while Rei escorted the children to the front so she could begin blessing them. VesVes approached her and wondered, "Where's Midori? She's supposed to have come back from her walk by now."
"She should be back soon. We've pretty much set everything up at this point, but I'm going to need some help keeping the children still. They always tend to get fidgety during the ritual."
"Then why not just do a condensed version of it or something? It's not like they understand what you're saying."
"No, but their parents will."
Phobos and Deimos, who had both been roosting atop the front gate, suddenly flew off in such a hurry that some feathers floated down to the ground. At the same time, Rei felt an immense pressure assault her sixth sense and she stopped in mid-step. VesVes noticed her friend's bizarre behavior and tensed up, knowing well that Rei had detected some sort of disturbance.
Apis yelled impatiently, "There's nothing to think about! Let's just go already!"
Midori frowned. She was out of time, and she still couldn't escape her bounds. Luckily, help came in the most unexpected way. Phobos and Deimos had witnessed the scene from their vantage point and swooped in with their claws to slash through the strings ensnaring her. They then flew at Apis and tried to scratch her face, with the Camarilla trying to shoo them away while yelling, "Eeeek! What the hell are you doing!? Go away, go away!"
With Apis' hand off the remote for the dolls, Midori raised her arm and produced one of her silver arrows which she chucked into the dirt. It exploded with a thick green fog that blinded Apis and forced the crows to fly away in surprise. The Camarilla panicked and grabbed the switch before glaring up into the smoke.
"Damn it!" she swore, then pushed a button that configured all of the mannequins except the doll with the Apple of Discord to lumber toward the front entrance of the temple and attack the visitors. She let out a yell that commanded the hundreds of robot bees hiding in the bushes to swarm the fog and hopefully sting Midori so much that she would be incapacitated. That was when a vicious torrent of wind and poisonous mist blew the insects back, nearly throwing Apis off her feet.
While hidden within the cloud, Midori had transformed into Sailor Arsenic Hyena and gathered invisible gusts of wind to act as her arrow, then fired it at the bees. The gust blew her backwards and she landed on her feet with the grace of a gymnast, with leaves swirling around her feet. The bees gathered around their astounded master as she whipped out several small stingers between her fingers and yelled, "Why!? Why are you doing this!? You have no idea how much of a poor decision you're making!"
"If we really are friends, then you would respect that decision," Hyena countered with a calm glare. "Just as much as I respect your decision to join the Camarilla, whatever the reasoning might be."
A woman screamed in horror from what seemed to be nothing at first. Everyone looked over to see what was going on and discovered a small horde of mannequins with sharp teeth and razor-sharp weapons stumbling towards the shocked crowd. Their deadly appearances caused the children to cry and adults to panic.
"Everyone, get to the gate!" VesVes ordered.
They tried to flee, but five dummies blocked their way. They tried escaping around to the back, but were deterred by more vicious dolls. Without any hesitation, Rei performed a series of complex hand signals and chanted, "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!"
She produced a large number of ofuda between her fingers and threw them at the dummies' foreheads while yelling, "Evil spirit, be exorcised!"
The pieces of paper ignited upon impact, yet they proved ineffective against enemies that didn't have evil spirits in the first place. She realized that they really were just lifeless dolls being controlled by someone else, but in order to fight them, she and VesVes would have to transform into their Sailor identities. Unfortunately, they couldn't do that in front of the panicking visitors.
Rei clenched her teeth and thought, If only I could find the one manipulating these things!
Then to the girls' surprise, mounds of clay magically rose from the ground and shaped themselves into faceless humanoids. The monstrosities lumbered toward the mannequins and began fighting them. With the dolls distracted by their new enemies, the front entrance was cleared up. VesVes took this chance to yell at the frightened guests, "Everyone, run for it! Get as far away from here as possible!"
They heeded her call and scurried down the stone steps leading to Sendai Hill, some carrying bawling children along with them while others made phone calls to the police on their cell phones. Meanwhile, Rei looked around for the source of the clay beasts and found Seiji, now having transformed into his Four Generals identity Jadeite, stretching his arms out and twitching his fingers about. He was actually controlling the clay monsters via spiritual threads attached to each of his fingertips.
Seiji must have noticed the commotion and performed a sneak attack while he was out of sight, Rei figured.
Despite the differences they had to go through today, Jadeite glanced at his partner and gave her a determined nod. Now that the area was clear of innocent bystanders, she and VesVes could transform without worry.
"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!"
"Vesta Quartet Power, Make Up!"
Rings of fire surrounded Rei's body and covered her torso and ankles, transforming into her Sailor Soldier costume. VesVes summoned a whip in her hand and smacked the ground several times, creating a blazing halo that she deftly leapt through like a lion would at a circus show, enveloping her in intense fire that changed into her outfit.
Rei, now as Sailor Mars, announced, "I am the Sailor Soldier of Fire and Passion, Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars, I will chastise you!"
VesVes, as Sailor Vesta, cracked her whip and added, "I am the Sailor Soldier of Flames and Boldness, Sailor Vesta! I will whip my burning passion into your untamed soul!"
Apis' rage turned into livid bemusement as she yelled while gesturing to the swarm of bees, "If that's you're gonna be, then don't forget that I have hundreds of allies at my side! What about you!? Can you boast the same thing!?"
Hyena's eye twitched as she thought, Smokescreens might be effective, but she's also able to fly. A Random Flurry might be able to take care of the bees, but there's still the Apple of Discord to deal with, not to mention that Apis can attack me any time she wants. If I need to conserve my energy, then there's one thing I can do quite easily.
Hyena flipped backwards and leapt onto the rooftop before whispering, "Perfect Aim."
The skill increased her accuracy, so she could run to a farther distance and still snipe Apis. She skittered across the roof while Apis screamed, "Get her!"
The bees followed her, raising their metallic stingers filled with minute amounts of venom. One sting wouldn't be threatening, but taking on hundreds at once would definitely kill Hyena. The Sailor Soldier shot three more arrows that exploded into a much bigger green cloud than before, then she leapt inside to obscure Apis' sight of her.
"That won't work, Hyena!" she shrieked and raised her remote before her. That was when a momentary glint from deep within the fog caught her eye. She jerked back and tried to duck low, having realized her mistake. She remembered the Perfect Aim skill that Hyena could perform, which made her both deadly accurate and able to shoot enemies down when her vision was blocked by darkness or thick fog. That realization came too late as an arrow shot through the sky and pierced the remote, completely destroying the device while creating a deep gash on her hand. The robotic bees lost their signal and began falling one by one, now rendered useless without a master device to control them.
Hyena landed several meters away from Apis and said, "There we go. The numbers are a little more even now."
"Heh heh… Ah hah hah hah!" the Camarilla laughed. "Fine, you got me there! But aren't you forgetting something too!?"
The Soldier knew what she was talking about. She darted her eyes about trying to find the child mannequin with the Apple of Discord inside it. With her attention focused on disabling the bees, she had neglected to keep an eye on it. After a bloodcurdling moment of silence, she felt an incredible surge of malice behind her and instinctively twisted her body aside. She barely dodged a large dagger aimed at her neck, but she lost her balance and tripped on her own feet.
Before she knew it, she found herself pinned down by a large clawed hand belonging to the newest Erisian. The evil spirit inside the Apple of Discord had infected the doll and mutated it into a humanoid creature one would find in a Japanese horror film. It still wore the elegant kimono and hair decorations, but its child-like face warped into something insidious and its extremities were severely misshapen, with one hand large enough to pull a tree out while the other transformed into a small knife. As if that wasn't traumatizing enough, the Erisian opened its mouth and extracted its tongue, which had a hollowed needle filled with some kind of poison or drug embedded on its tip.
"Don't worry; it's just a sedative," Apis assured her, kneeling directly over her and holding her shoulders down. "One drop of that could knock out an elephant for a week."
"Are you implying I'm that uppity enough to need that kind of a dose?" Hyena grunted.
"Well, maybe not. I figured that if worst comes to worst, I could hook you up to a brainwashing machine and feed the information straight into your brain while reprogramming your thought processes."
"You can't be serious…"
"You did a good job, but now it's time for you to take a nice long nap."
The Soldier's senses froze up as she stared at the needle while it slithered closer to her skin. She couldn't tell if her mind was gripped with total fear or if she was having a genuine heart attack, but the organ pulsed so quickly that it would probably have stopped right then and there.
Hyena couldn't tell what happened next, but Deimos and Phobos' bodies shone red and purple respectively while they flew straight for the Erisian in a mad dash to save the Sailor Soldier. They morphed into a pair of teenaged raven-haired twins wearing leotards and hurled their legs at the monster's chest in perfect unison. They kicked it off of Hyena and vaulted backwards with such incredible tandem that no amount of practice by ordinary people would produce the same result. Hyena grabbed an arrow and swiped at Apis' cheek, nicking her flesh a little bit and forcing the Camarilla to jump away.
"Wha-!? What the hell just happened!?" Apis demanded.
The twins landed next to the equally surprised Hyena and struck dramatic fighting poses.
"Phobos, the warrior of fear!" the twin in the purple leotard introduced herself.
"Deimos, the warrior of terror!" the twin in red did the same.
"Bring harm to our master and her friends, and you shall know true horror!" the two girls chanted together.