PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 49: Unforgiving Heat Wave
"Mars Snake Fire!" Sailor Mars called out and sent a curling wave of flames spiraling toward the battling mannequins and clay figures, engulfing all of them in searing heat.
"Hearth of the Landlord!" Sailor Vesta smacked her whip on the ground right in front of the dolls. Each crack created a small magic circle with the Vesta sigil, which then erupted into vicious fires that burned the creatures into ashes.
With the enemies wiped out, Jadeite rushed to the Sailor Soldiers once the fires died down and exclaimed, "Is everything all right!?"
"Everyone has retreated safely," Mars told him. "You really saved us this time."
"I'm sorry for being a complete jerk earlier. I realize what's important to me now."
"Don't worry about it. We can talk about that later."
"If you two are done having your moment," Vesta snapped, "those toys were far too weak for any of them to actually be threatening. That means an Erisian or one of those robed women must be nearby controlling them!"
"You're right," Mars nodded. "Phobos and Deimos had sensed something and flew towards the rear courtyard."
"Hey, that's where Midori was taking her break, wasn't it!? You don't think something's happened to her, do you!?"
"Let's go find out!" Jadeite exclaimed and ran towards the back of the shrine, with the two Soldiers following suit.
Hyena got to her feet and stared in bewilderment at her saviors while they turned around and gave her big smiles.
"Are you all right?" Deimos asked.
"That was certainly too close for comfort. I seem to be getting a lot more careless than usual around the Camarilla."
"I don't know what your deal is with them," Phobos said while facing Apis and the Erisian, "but we'll help you fight them in any way we can!"
Apis stomped her foot and screeched, "Ehhhh!? Hey, that's no fair!"
"You're the last person I want to hear that from," Hyena snapped, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"Hmph! Erisian, why don't you go play with your new friends here? I have to have some one-on-one time with Miss Hyena and make her see the error of her ways!"
Apis' bee wings fluttered to life and allowed her to fly high above the shrine with a hideous buzzing sound. Hyena glanced at the twins and muttered, "Sailor Mars and Sailor Vesta should be wiping out her dolls anytime soon. Stay vigilant until they come to back you up."
"Right!" they chimed together and charged at the monster, elegantly leaping over a clumsy claw swipe and performing a double heel drop on its neck, which slammed its face straight into the pavement. Hyena ran up its back and deftly leapt high into the air to pursue Apis, shooting a volley of arrows at the same time her opponent threw a barrage of knives. Hyena landed on some branches, but failed to notice Apis flying straight for her and swept her right off her feet after grabbing her shoulders and flying dangerously high into the sky. The Sailor Soldier watched the ground rapidly get smaller while staring straight into the Camarilla's enraged eyes.
"You know, it isn't like you to be so upset," Hyena remarked coolly, as if this situation was perfectly normal for her. "Why not just surrender and tell me what's going on before we do something that we know we're going to regret."
"Surrender? It's way too early in the game to be saying those words," Apis retorted, with her normally cheerful smile twisting into some form of elated malice.
"All right then. I suppose I have no choice but to subdue you."
"Are you forgetting already!? Take a look around you! We're already thirty stories above ground! If I drop you at this height, you'll be a Sailor pancake, no questions asked!"
Hyena was tempted to groan, "Oh, please," but resisted the urge and focused on the fight. While Apis was busy insulting her, she suddenly jammed her knee straight into the robed girl's solar plexus and forced her to cough out air. Hyena used the momentum to turn Apis' flight path back to the shrine's rooftops at a dangerous velocity. She held on just long enough before vaulting off her foe and sending her careening back-first onto the gabled roof, causing a few shingles to be pried out from the friction. Hyena landed safely a few feet away and immediately crouched into a fighting stance.
Apis had had enough of this. She got to her knees and seethed, with her wings buzzing in response to her anger. Her damaged mask showing a portion of her face only accentuated her disjointed fury.
"DAMN YOU! HYENAAAHHH!"
After unleashing that scream with all of her soul, Apis threw her stingers in the same instant Hyena fired an equal number of magic arrows. The skies lit up with the brilliance of yellow and green fireworks as the opposing projectiles clashed and canceled each other out. The two warriors ran parallel while shooting more daggers and arrows in a blinding fury.
For these two, it wasn't just a fight where one attempted to overpower the other; it was a silent clash of wills and intelligence. It was a rather violent form of mind games where they read each other's moves and anticipated where the next quiver or sliver would be thrown from. Within this madness, they remembered all of the time they spent together working on projects to improve technologies and/or strategies. The other three Toxicum Sailor Soldiers regarded them both as the 'brains of the group', although they applied their knowledge in completely different fields. Those memories created a terrible dissonance for the former friends.
It was all they could think about while trying to shred each other to death. They didn't want to fight. If they could have it their way, they would sit down and resolve their differences over a soothing cup of tea while listening to some quiet music. But too many outside forces and situations prevented them from doing something so simple. They looked into each other's eyes and wordlessly asked the same question:
Why did everything go so wrong?
"Aaah!" Phobos shrieked after the doll-like Erisian slashed the air and sent hundreds of tiny air currents at her, lacerating her flesh and leotard.
"Sis!" Deimos yelped, but then found herself in the middle of the same attack as well. They flew backwards and fell onto the grass, bleeding profusely from countless small cuts. The monster was proving to be too powerful for the duo to battle on their own, and they needed help as soon as possible. They could also see the violent barrage of yellow and green projectiles flying about in the sky from Apis and Hyena's battle and assumed that the Sailor Soldier would be unable to help them.
Just as the doll monster opened its mouth and was about to shoot needles of lethal poison at the twins, they heard Sailor Vesta's voice ring out, "Vesta Discipline Enforce!"
The tip of her whip seared white hot as she smacked the doll's head aside and scalded its tendons almost clean through, leaving behind a foul-smelling branding mark. Vesta landed in front of the sisters to protect them as the undeterred Erisian shot volleys of needles at her. She expertly whipped all of them aside and gave both Sailor Mars and Jadeite the distraction they needed.
"Mars Flame Sniper!" Mars called out, summoning a red bow and arrow and firing a single shot straight for the golden glint within the doll's chest. Jadeite likewise followed up by creating a sharp icicle in his hands and hurling it at the same spot from the opposite direction. The monster caught on to their tactic however and shielded the Apple of Discord in time to protect it from the double attack. It still suffered some visible damage, and the warriors were to determined to not give it the chance to recover.
As it struggled to get back up, Mars rejoined her guardians and stared at the fireworks in the sky, exclaiming, "Is that Sailor Arsenic Hyena fighting up there!?"
"It is! She's fighting the mastermind behind those dolls and the Erisian!" Phobos said.
"Where's Midori at!? Did you two make sure she's okay!?"
"Well…" Deimos murmured. "We had her in our sights, but then we suddenly lost track of her behind these large clouds of thick smoke. Before we knew it, that strange Soldier had appeared."
So they weren't able to see if Midori actually transformed into Hyena, Mars thought.
"Here it comes!" Jadeite warned them.
"Here I come!" Vesta joked while charging in and performing another Vesta Discipline Enforce. This time her goal was to ensnare the giant clawed hand, which she managed to accomplish while doing additional burning damage to its muscles. The monster screeched in pain and used its free hand to toss its dagger straight for her head.
"Whoa!" she gasped and jerked aside. She was really lucky to only have a decent gash on her cheek after that. It tried to throw another sword at her, but Jadeite jumped into the fray and generated an ice sword to duel with its bladed arm, saving Vesta the trouble of dodging another knife throw. With both of its arms preoccupied, Sailor Mars had to act quickly to destroy the Apple of Discord. She held an ofuda in front of her face and chanted the mantra related to the Buddhist deity Fudo Myo-o.
"Nomaku sanmanda bazaradan senda makaroshada sowataya un tarata kanman… Hmph!"
She threw the ofuda, then brought her fingers together and shouted, "Fire Soul Bird!"
The flames bursting from her fingers converged on the ofuda, sacrificing it to summon the spirit of a fiery bird. It followed her silent command to fly straight for the golden apple, and the Erisian desperately shot needles from its mouth at it. The bird simply swooped around them and continued on its course, colliding with the apple and disintegrating the fruit in a brilliant burst of fire. The evil spirit inside the apple let out a terrible death cry before dissipating, and the remnants of its body turned into ashes. Jadeite and Vesta let their attacks die off once they realized the battle was over.
"Yeah! That oughta show them who's boss around here!" Vesta cheered.
Mars still felt uneasy since she couldn't find Midori anywhere, plus there was still Apis to deal with. She took another look around and realized that Phobos and Deimos were gone as well.
"If you're looking for the twins, they went to back up that alien Sailor Soldier," Jadeite told her. "With these kinds of numbers, we should be able to arrest that Camarilla and get some answers out of her."
Hyena got to her knees and breathed heavily. Several of Apis' stingers had punctured her skin and injected her with small amounts of bee venom, weakening her body and causing her to breathe heavily. It was all she could do to keep up with her hyperactive opponent, although she had been successful in injuring Apis as well.
It's just a good thing I'm not allergic to bees, Hyena quipped to herself.
"Well? Ready to give up yet?" Apis huffed.
"I should be asking you the same question."
"Never!"
"Then that's my answer too."
"You idiot! There's no point to this! Give up on these Earthlings and come back to us!"
"This again? Unless you give me a good reason to abort the mission you guys gave me, then I will continue to fulfill it. Just tell me why I'm acting like an 'idiot' to you anyway."
Apis continued gasping for air for a good minute or so while Hyena anxiously waited to hear her response. Then with a loud cry, Apis raised her arm up and tried to summon her hexagonal portals to send more robotic bees at Hyena.
"If that's how insistent you are, then I'm sorry, but you will have to die!" the Camarilla shouted.
"We won't let you!" they heard a familiar pair of voices shout together.
Apis whipped her head back and found Phobos and Deimos jumping high behind her. They stretched their arms out into a V formation and chanted, "Irrational Fear!"
A wave of fierce winds blew from the twins' hands and surrounded Apis in a powerful gale while leaving Hyena alone. After first nothing seemed obviously wrong once the storm quieted down. When Hyena lowered her arms in front of her face and stared at Apis, that was when she saw the effects of the special move. The Camarilla was on all fours and trembling in an unforeseen panic attack. Hyena raised her bow and arrow again, but Apis grabbed her head as her eyes turned into wide bloodshot circles and her jaw dropped in apparent despair. Hyena thought that her change in behavior was a way to make her lower her guard, but that hideous expression dispelled her doubts instantly.
What in the world…?
As she lowered her weapon, Phobos and Deimos landed next to her. Deimos explained, "That wasn't a physical attack. We extracted her hidden fears and forced them to the surface."
"Her mind is awash with panic stemming from terrible events in her past. Any rationality she had has been temporarily stifled," Phobos added.
They pointed at Apis and declared in unison, "Now is the time to kill her!"
After Hyena did nothing for a minute, they stared at her in confusion. They couldn't understand why she was taking pity on her enemy, so Phobos asked, "You don't… know this woman, do you?"
"Is that true?" Deimos added.
The bawling Apis suddenly shot to her feet and flew away, wanting to escape from them as fast as possible. Hyena instinctively ran after her while yelling at the twins, "I will deal with this!"
Phobos and Deimos couldn't do anything except stare at each other, completely baffled to what just happened.