Walking Towards Light: Ami Redux
Act 3: Coming Home
Chapter 15: Who and How to Fight - wherein Makoto sees a familiar face and is forced to try a different way of fighting
"Ami!"
Makoto tried to catch Ami before she hit the ground, but she just wasn't fast enough. Ami landed with a loud thunk and didn't get back up. She was passed out.
Dammit. Makoto cursed herself for not being faster. They would be lucky if Ami didn't hurt herself after a fall like that. There was no time to check however. They were still in danger.
Makoto stood over Ami protectively as the bartender-who-was-not-the-bartender began to speak at last.
"Who...whoo...who are you...who could see who I am not."
"I know every bartender in this neighbourhood. Corff's a son of a bitch, but he's a left handed son of a bitch. His right hand barely functions with his arthritis. What did you do with him?"
"whoooo...whooo dares to ask?"
Corff's form melted into an even more hideous shape. 7 ft tall, antenna centred on its head. It looked almost identical to the youma she, Rei and Usagi had tracked down after the attack on the temple.
"Jupiter Crystal Power! Make Up!"
Jupiter let her electricity fill the room, careful to avoid hurting the unconscious Ami at her feet.
"Agent of Love and Courage! The pretty sailor suited Senshi...Sailor Jupiter!"
The youma looked at her intensely, then its form rippled again. It got shorter. A mop of bushy hair appeared, followed by soft brown eyes. The youma got kind of cute actually...it looked just like...SEMPAI!?
Oh, this was fan-fucking-tastic. She had been looking for an excuse to beat the shit out of this guy for years. A youma in his form? Even better.
Jupiter was going to open a can of whoopass like it was Christmas morning.
She ran at the youma, opening the fight with a fast left jab. It dodged quickly. She followed with a right cross in a classic one-two combo. The move so second nature that she could do it in her sleep. This time, something was different though. Her balance was off?
She felt a beer can crunch under her left foot just before it slid out from under her.
Shimatta!
Jupiter overshot the youma. It caught her with a punch to the shoulder, knocking her flat on her face. She rolled away instinctively from the inevitable follow up attack.
Smack into a bar stool wedged against a table.
Jupiter knocked the wind out of herself rolling into damn thing. What the hell was that doing there?
The youma was hooting with laughter now. She'd get it. With a fierce battle cry, she launched herself at the enemy. Jupiter used her own body to distract the youma from the bolo punch she was preparing to throw at its gut.
At least that was the plan. Reality was her tripping over her own bootlaces. Was that even possible? They were magical fucking ankle boots! Something was very wrong here.
Jupiter got up slowly. Carefully settling into a forward stance. No more brawling. She focused on her breathing to center herself. What was going on?
The youma was still laughing. Was it trying to piss her off? Why the hell did it look like sempai?
Jupiter cursed at herself again for getting distracted.
Ami.
They must be after Ami. The girl she just left alone and defenceless at the bar to beat on this piece of shit youma.
She glanced back at the bar.
Shit. Just as she suspected. Ami was gone. She heard two sets of footsteps scurrying out the back door.
Jupiter was turning to follow when the sempai-youma threw itself at her with a howl.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Jupiter was forced to fight the damn thing. This time however, her blows landed, and nothing stupid happened. She ducked under the sempai-youma's outstretched arm neatly and grabbed it behind the knee. Like a fireman, she lifted it over her head and wheeled it hard over her shoulder. The youma went flying across the bar. It landed heavily against the wall and was slow to get up.
Good. The fight was almost over. Jupiter prepared to launch a finishing 'Oak Evolution'. She had to go save Ami.
The sempai-youma shimmered again. Another familiar face replaced it. Jupiter's eyes widened. She'd never expected to see him again.
Papa.
The youma smiled reassuringly, trying to pacify the furious Sailor Jupiter. It inched towards the exit.
It was her Papa's smile. That crossed a line. Jupiter summoned her power in a blind fury.
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
Jupiter formed the ball of thunder in her hand, and dove at the youma. She held it as she smashed her fist into the youma's lying face. Over and over again, she punched until it was a fine red mist - until the youma disintegrated and she was pounding her fists on the ground.
Jupiter fell to her knees, crying her heart out. She'd dreamed of seeing her parents again, but not like this. She didn't want her last memory of Papa to be the way his face had collapsed as she punched him over and over.
She had so many other happy memories of him, going ice skating together, buying flowers for Mama, his over enthusiastic praise of her first terrible cookies. She didn't want to associate him with the battle rage that just came over her. This was too unfair. This couldn't be the last smile she saw Papa's smile.
She curled up on the dirty floor, trying to collect herself. Absently, she noted that the real bartender was tied up under the pool table. Seeing that face reminded her of the youma again. Jupiter felt another course of tears welling up at that.
Gods, she needed a drink. The bar loomed over her invitingly.
A blinking green light caught her eye. Jupiter reached out to it instead.
The Mercury Computer.
Jupiter crawled over to the blue computer. Her planetary sigil was flashing on the screen – a little green icon.
Ami had practically thrown it at her when trouble started. She must have meant for Jupiter to have it. This was going to help somehow.
She touched the symbol on the screen, not really knowing what else to do.
Jupiter yelped in surprise when her world turned green. A pair of goggles formed over the face. The sheer amount of information distracted her from her thoughts. Even with the emotional storm she was going through, this was a surreal experience.
It was reality plus. Everywhere she looked, new information would appear and disappear. How the hell did Ami deal with this without going crazy?
The ambient temperature was 21 degrees -the bartender's current heart rate was 52 BPM - the local time was 15:30 - there were two entry points to this building - the broken beer glass on the floor flashed with a string of incomprehensible words- 6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-(3-methyl-2-octanyl)-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol /1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-3-yl 2-hydroxy-2,2-diphenylacetate / [5-ethyl-4,6-dioxo-5-(pentan-2-yl)-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-2-yl]sulfanide sodium / (2S)-5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-8-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)-2,3-dihydrochromen-4-one...
Jupiter's eyes almost crossed. Nothing was making sense. Something was beeping and she couldn't figure out what. Everywhere she looked, something new would pop up. She was getting dizzy from the sensory overload.
She wanted to scream in frustration. She need to save Ami, not get an advanced degree in chemistry.
STOP.
The goggles went blank. Back to regular calm green reality.
She had to find Ami. Jupiter focused on that thought again. The goggles responded. A map of Tokyo popped up in a side window and quickly zeroed in on a blinking blue light in the Marunochi district. That must be Ami. She was close, 3.42 km north east, 47.12m above ground level and rising. Huh? Oh wait -it was obvious. An office building in the financial district.
She had the exact address now. A brand new skyscraper, she'd seen it in the news. Time to contact the others.
The goggles reacted to that thought. Another screen popped up and split into 3. The senshi appeared one by one as they answered their communicators. Minako, Rei, Usagi. All looked worried. This channel was for emergencies only.
She could explain more on the way. The important thing was that they get moving ASAP.
"Everyone, transform. Meet me at this address. Ami's been kidnapped by youma."
Jupiter took off running, she knew that wherever they were, her fellow Senshi were doing the exact same.
It was strange, seeing the world fly past through green tinted goggles, but Jupiter was not going to turn them off for anything at this point. Somehow, the goggles were in contact with Mercury. A new window came up unprompted at the bottom of the screen several minutes ago. Jupiter could now see and hear everything from Mercury's perspective.
She almost wished she couldn't. Mercury wasn't alone. There was a woman holding her captive. Mercury had called her Pandora. The woman replied with a polite "Mizuno Ami".
Shit. This was going to end in only one of two ways.
The connection gave her a readout of Mercury's vital data for some reason. Her current heart rate was 127 BPM and steadily decreasing. Jupiter ignored all that irrelevant information. She was just happy that Mercury was still alive.
The sooner they got to the Marunochi building, the sooner they could rescue her.
She focused on one message, hoping that Mercury would somehow see it through their connection.
Coming to you. Stay alive.
Sailor Mars was out the window and running as soon as she had the destination. Sailor Venus was right by her side.
Mercury was captured. Their friend was in trouble.
May the spirits curse her to hell if she let anything happen to one of her people.
They arrived at the building now. Jupiter was already here, looking up with a strange-yet-framiliar set of goggles on her face. She was tapping on a mini-computer. Jupiter using Mercury's equipment in her stead...the sight was disconcerting. No one could replace Ami. Mars tried hard not to think of the implications of that thought.
Mars looked at her for an explanation.
"Mercury and Pandora are on the 37th floor. The building is empty otherwise...I think?"
That didn't answer anything, but there was no time for further explanations. Sailor Moon arrived. They were all assembled.
It was time to save their friend. The 4 senshi ran into the building. Nothing was going to stop them from reaching the 37th floor.
The lobby seemed empty at first. The only thing out of place was a variety of tools and cleaning equipment left lying around. Even that wasn't too unusual, given how the building was still technically under construction.
When Sailor Moon tripped over a mop handle, that wasn't noteworthy either. It wasn't until Venus fell ass over end because of a loose tile that they stopped. Jupiter had tried to shout a warning just before that happened.
"What is it Jupiter?"
Venus sounded hurt and pissed off about it. That slip on the tile took her down hard onto the edge of a metal bench. Mars winced. That looked painful.
"The goggles. They flashed a warning right when you fell. Something's not right here."
Giggles broke out from somewhere down the hall. The senshi looked around. It wasn't any of them.
"How? How? How did you know?"
A youma stepped out from the shadows. Tall and muscular. A thin antenna grew out the centre of its head. The eye that was attached to it blinked at the senshi.
"How will you diiiiieeee?"
The enemy had revealed itself. It was time to fight.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
The two attacks, which have always flown together in perfect synergy in every battle past, collided and cancelled each other out. Mars and Venus were blown back in the ensuing explosion. The youma kept right on giggling. Mars was getting angry. She got up for another attack.
"Wait! Wait!"
Jupiter telling her to wait before attacking? Apparently today was opposite day.
"I need to see a Fire Soul, make it weak, but aim straight at the youma."
Venus looked as confused as she felt. Then, the light fixture above her head fell and would have knocked her unconscious if she weren't super-humanly fast. There was no time to ask questions.
"Fire Soul!"
She aimed her attack perfectly. It was on track to hit the youma dead between the eyes when a gush of water suddenly poured out of the ceiling and extinguished it. That was a completely preposterous. She hoped Jupiter got whatever she wanted from that little experiment.
Jupiter read the results of whatever she was scanning out loud for everyone to process.
"According to this thing, there was only a tiny chance of that ever happening! Then it jumped up to 100%? What the hell dos that mean?"
Venus answered Jupiter's question while dodging some more falling ceiling tiles.
"Dammit! I think the youma is playing the odds! Anything that could happen, CAN happen! Fuck!"
A causality warping youma? How were they going to fight that?
Jupiter seemed to be working on something. She was so busy reading the text on the computer screen that she was almost hit by a metal beam that fell out of the ruined ceiling. Sailor Moon saw and pushed her out of the way just in time. This fight was going to be brutal. At this rate, the entire building might collapse. Mercury needed them upstairs. There was no time to deal with this.
Jupiter was done reading now. She had a plan. Mars was eager to get this battle over with.
"Mars, you're the most accurate shot of all of us. The eye on the antenna, can you hit that?"
Mars nodded. The damn thing even looked like a target. She prepared to fire.
"No, wait, on my mark. I see that there is a split second after it warps reality that it's powerless. Don't shoot til you see lighting."
Mars nodded. Jupiter called out to Sailor Moon and Venus.
"Everyone! Now! Hit it with your fast!"
Golden light shot from the twin senshi as the Love Me Chain and Moon Tiara whipped towards the youma. It wasn't a surprise this time when the love me chain got entangled in the tiara and the whole attack fell apart.
Mars saw Jupiter hesitate for a split second before she yelled out.
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
Jupiter shot her attack as a blinding flash, not even aiming for the youma, but her fire arrow flew straight and true.
Straight into the eye on the youma's antenna.
"HOOOOOOOWWWWWW?"
The youma burned until it disintegrated.
The senshi ran past without a backwards glance. They had a friend to rescue 37 floors above.
A.N.
Poor Mako. I think that was probably the saddest thing I've done to a character :(.
Anyways...a double youma take down chapter. Things are serious now. For anyone keeping a scorecard, Youmas Who, What, Where, Why and How are eliminated. I bet we can all figure out the name of the last one now...
Speaking of names, Corff the Bartender is borrowed from my other big fandom: Dragon Age II. Not sure what a venn diagram of Sailor Moon fans and Dragon Age II fans would look like, but you know, there it is if anyone had noticed.
Flavour notes: This one is a doozy. Bear with me. The Mercury Computer is trying to alert Jupiter to the chemicals on the broken beer glass for a reason. That it gives the information in IUPAC nomenclature probably isn't that useful to Mako at least. Since I just realized that there is no way to highlight and google directly from FFnet, I will note that the chemicals are Dimethylheptylpyran, 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate, sodium thiopental, and 8-Prenylnaringenin. The first three are horribly bad news, and absolutely do not try them at home, assuming you have access to some highly restricted substances for whatever reason...
The last one (8-Pn) however, you can try at home (assuming you are over the legal drinking age wherever you live). It is a chemical found in hoppy beers and probably got flagged by the Computer as a mistake due to its estrogenic effects. The trivia here is that apparently, this Ami prefers bitter hoppy beers, probably an IPA or a German Pils...given her German salutation to Mako in the last chapter and her in-story history in Berlin, it was probably ahe pilsner. That was just really a long way to go to for a bit of flavour triva, but there you have it.
Cheers dear readers.
Up next:
Chapter 16: Desperate Times - wherein Ami's hand is forced into action