Cast the Darkest Shadow
Deus Ex Procella
Kakiko yawned and walked sleepily to the bathroom, loving the idea of a nice hot shower all to herself before her husband and daughters woke up. Work had been quite hectic all week and she was going to need to be as relaxed as possible before heading in because most likely she was going to be a wreck by the time she got home. Without thinking Kakiko gripped the doorknob to the bathroom and promptly walked into the door. Groaning she stumbled backward holding her nose and trying the knob again. It was locked? But who could possibly be in the bathroom this early in the morning? A moment later her question was answered as the door opened and her eldest daughter walked out, yawning and ruffling her hair. Both mother and daughter were quite shocked to see one another, the latter to the extent of nearly jumping out of her skin upon seeing her mother standing in the hallway.
"Woah! Mom? What are you doing up?" Momoko questioned. Kakiko was more curious to hear that Momoko didn't sound tired at all. Which was strange because Momoko usually stumbled to the shower when she woke up for school…which was almost two hours from the current time.
"Momoko, it's five in the morning, I should be asking what you're doing up," Momoko shrugged and adjusted the black tank top she was wearing. Kakiko raised an eyebrow looking over her daughter's outfit. Momoko had chosen a black…slightly risqué tank top to wear to school, along with a black jean skirt. And were those spiked bracelets of all things? Kakiko shook her head and brushed passed Momoko, who was already on her way to her room.
"Don't get in trouble with those things, Momo," Momoko waved her hand, brushing away the comment and a little rudely slammed the door to her room as she went to finish getting ready.
Momoko stepped outside, glaring and covering her eyes in protest of the bright sun above. Her eyes adjusted quickly enough, allowing Momoko to speed her pace to school. She'd opted to complete her outfit with a pair of black boots that frankly would seem more likely on a biker. As she was leaving her yard and hurrying along the sidewalk to school, she groaned when she heard wheels rolling along the concrete behind her. Momoko turned around and glared at the grinning little boy who was following her.
"Butch, I thought I told you to stop following me?" Butch shrugged and skated up next to Momoko, falling into step next to her as she rolled her eyes and continued on her way to school.
"You did Ms. Momoko, but I wanted to see you again," Momoko grinned toothily and glared at Butch, who only smirked up at her with no sign of fear in his look.
"How about this, if you don't leave me alone I'm going to throw you in front of the next car that drives by us," Butch stuck his tongue out at her in defiance.
"You wouldn't do that, Blossom," Momoko put her hands on her hips and faced Butch, giving him an incredulous glare.
"And just how did you come to that conclusion you little prick?" Butch grinned and pulled his eyelid down, blowing a raspberry in her face.
"I followed you, duh! Grow some brains Ms. Momoko," Momoko gave Butch a harsh shove, knocking him back into the street. Butch caught himself and hurried out of that way of a car speeding by. He skated back up next to Momoko, grinning and blushing while she only crossed her arms and scowled at him.
"I told you to stop following me you little creep!" Butch shrugged and continued to grin at her, driving Momoko crazy with anger.
"You didn't really expect me to listen, did you Ms. Momoko?" Momoko's scowl broke into a little smirk. That smirk wavered and Momoko snickered which caused Butch to beam with pride.
"No, I didn't nimrod, but if you like me so much you could have at least humored me," Butch put his hands behind his head, stopping as the two came to a No Crossing light. Momoko's arms remained crossed but Butch could see that she looked a lot less angry with him. If anything she seemed much more amused than she was angry.
"So do you have to keep following me? Seriously, I will push you into traffic if you don't leave me alone," Butch and Momoko walked across the street, Butch leering at Momoko with a wicked smirk on his lips. He could see the aura around her. Over half of her aura was black now. The white was slowly disappearing.
"Well we're a lot more alike than I thought…and you saved my life of course, Ms. Momoko!" Momoko shook her head and ruffled Butch's hair.
"Alright, whatever you say nimrod. Just keep it between us alright? I don't want my idiot partners finding out about you," Butch beamed happily and threw up two thumbs up to Momoko, who snickered as it began to dawn on her. Maybe this little pest could be useful…
Momoko sat in class, as the math teacher at the front droned on mindlessly over useless bull crap she'd never need in her life. She was a super heroine, she didn't need to know this crap! Momoko doodled on her paper rather than taking notes, grinning and shading in the little scene she'd drawn. The scene was of Burning Blossom posing heroically while Kuriko with little hearts in her eyes proclaimed Burning Blossom the greatest heroine to ever live. In the background were two chibi forms of Bubbles and Buttercup admitting that Blossom was a better heroine than they'd ever be. A wicked little grin spread across Momoko's face while she daydreamed.
A movement in the corner of her eye caught Momoko's attention and snapped her fantasy. Looking up, Momoko rolled her eyes when she saw Butch sitting in a tree outside the window, waving frantically upon seeing that she'd noticed him. Momoko smiled and gave him a subtle wave in return, just to be nice. The teacher, having just asked a question, noticed Momoko's wave and misinterpreted it as teachers are wont to do.
"Yes, Ms. Akatsutsumi, you know the answer?" Momoko turned to the teacher with a skeptical expression on her face. She looked at the board and upon seeing the problem scoffed and gave him a look that asked 'what have you been smoking?'
"Yeah…I don't care," This, needless to say caught the attention of most everyone in the room. The teacher looked a little flustered as the students tried—failing in their attempt—to look at Momoko without being caught. Momoko didn't pay the teacher a second thought as she returned to doodling on her notes. The teacher blinked, debating whether or not he should tolerate her insolent behavior. In the end, he opted to avoid a confrontation, particularly when class had been going so well before.
"Um…anyway, does anyone else know the answer?" Everyone turned to face the board again, except for Miyako and Kaoru who were still looking at Momoko incredulously. Momoko ignored them entirely, now drawing a picture of Burning Blossom beating Buttercup in a fight, while Kuriko sat on the sidelines rooting for Blossom. She grinned, half wanting to make this fantasy a reality.
Lunchtime had come for Tokyo City Middle School, and an air of tension stunk up the cafeteria like a poison leaking through a radioactive waste unit. Kaoru and Miyako stared at Momoko, worry evident in both their expressions, though Momoko seemed to be completely ignoring both of them. Finally getting annoyed with the constant staring, Momoko huffed and looked up at them, her eyebrows raised and a look of sheer irritation sprayed across her features.
"What is your problem? Take a picture for the love of God," Kaoru was miffed by Momoko's sheer rudeness while Miyako looked hurt.
"We're sorry Momoko, it's just you don't seem like yourself lately. Is something bothering you?" Momoko rolled her eyes and smiled in a condescending way a Miyako, causing her to wilt under the meanness behind it.
"No I'm perfectly okay, I absolutely love playing third wheel to you two. Shut up and leave me alone, I'm fine," Kaoru growled at Momoko, the two glaring at each other.
"Don't talk to Miyako like that, and quit being a jerk! She was just worried about you. You've been acting like a bigheaded moron since the fight at the space center," Momoko scowled and jerked her head at Miyako's direction.
"Oh sorry, I'll refer to her as Lady Miyako from now on, is that better? Lady Miyako kindly back the hell off and leave me alone!" At the Kaoru stood up and had to restrain herself to keep from reaching across the table and shaking Momoko for being downright mean to who Kaoru had thought was Momoko's best friend.
"Knock it off you crybaby! It's not Miyako's fault you didn't get invited to that stupid party!" Momoko stood up now, bristling with fury while lightning danced between the glare the two shared.
"I don't even care about that stupid party! It doesn't bother me at all if you girlfriends want to go to some stupid party without me! You can go without me and kill yourselves for all I care!" Kaoru's fists clenched and her knuckles began turning white.
"Take that back now, Momoko," Momoko sneered and stupidly leaned across the table glaring at Kaoru.
"Why don't you make me?" There was a resounding snap as Kaoru's fist shot out and hit Momoko's cheek. Miyako jumped to her feet gasping as the red head tumbled back over her seat and hit the floor with a giant red spot on the side of her face. Kaoru lowered her fist and continued snarling at Momoko while the self-proclaimed leader of their superhero team sat up and glared back, ignoring the fact that her eyes were watering and she had a trickle of blood leaking from her lips.
"Stop it you two! Don't fight!" Miyako whispered, noticing as some people began to look in their direction. It would only be a matter of time before a teacher or worse the principal noticed the two fighting. Thankfully at that moment their compacts began flashing. Momoko looked down at her belt and growled. She climbed to her feet and without a second glance at the other two left the cafeteria, assuredly heading for the roof to transform. Kaoru, her angry abating slightly began to feel a little sorry for what she had done and looked at Miyako, perhaps hoping for some sign that she'd made the right decision. Miyako only shook her head as they quickly ran out of the room and after Momoko.
By the time Bubbles and Buttercup had arrived at the scene of the fight, most of the street corner was totaled, with flames scattered everywhere. For the second time Buttercup regretted punching Momoko, since it was probably that punch which was causing Blossom to act so recklessly. They spotted the two fighting and hurried to catch up to them. Blossom screamed as the monster hit her in the stomach and knocked her back, hitting Buttercup who caught her and steadied her.
"Oof! Get off me!" Blossom snarled, pulling away from Buttercup angrily. Buttercup glared, but noticed that Bubbles was giving her a stern look and bit back her anger.
"Listen Blossom, I'm sorry about," Blossom was gone by the time she'd opened her mouth to apologize, already throwing rather wild punches and kicks at the monster who laughed and avoided them quite easily. There was another snap as Blossom was flung across the street again and into a parked car, leaving a huge dent in the side.
"Blossom please let us help you, it doesn't look like you can beat this monster on your own!" Bubbles pleaded, rationalizing that Blossom was too angry with Buttercup to listen to a word she would say. Blossom got up and growled, clenching her fists tightly as flames erupted around her whole body.
"If you queens want to help me, stay the hell out of my way!" Blossom shot passed Buttercup and Bubbles to engage the monster yet again. Buttercup shook her head, growling and summoning her hammer as Bubbles summoned her bubble wand.
"She's not going to listen and there's no way she can beat this monster by herself," Buttercup muttered, her voice irate. Bubbles nodded, beginning to feel more angry at Blossom than sorry for the fight she and Buttercup had before. The monster wasn't a weak one, in fact it could easily be the most powerful monster they'd fought thus far—barring Kare himself. The monster was small, only standing as high as Blossom's shoulder. Perhaps that was why she was so irritated by the fact that she couldn't seem to hurt it.
The monster's skin was bright red and it had two black horns rising from its head, curled like those of a ram. It had a tiny goatee and its eyes were two burning fireballs, literally! From the waist down it was like a goat, with hairy legs and cloven hooves. It fought back Blossom's attacks with a pitchfork nearly twice the size of the monster itself. Worse still, from simply watching the fight it seemed as though the monster was completely immune to Blossom's fire attacks! She really had no chance of defeating this monster by herself.
"Alright c'mon! We'll work together and help her whether she likes it or not!" Bubbles nodded and the two flew into the fray.
"Bubble Champagne!" Hearing this Blossom dove out of the way and watched in a fury as the monster dove back, hissing and snarling at the two newcomers.
"Swing Sonic!" The blast of sonic energy rammed the monster and sent it flying backward, already doing more damage than anything Blossom had thrown at it! That wasn't acceptable! She was the hero! She was going to stop this monster, not Buttercup or Bubbles! As Buttercup charged at the monster again, Blossom flew in to intercept the assault.
"Kya! Kikiki!" The monster cried as it thrust its pitchfork out, firing a blast of dark fire at Buttercup. Buttercup brought her hammer back to knock it back, but was shoved aside by a shoulder from Blossom, who put her hands up and blocked the fireball with her own fireball.
"Napalm Blast!" A red ball of fire shot from the smoke and rammed the monster, who walked through the burning dome without flinching, grinning at Blossom's futile attempts to harm it.
"Bubble Popper!" The monster screeched when a torrent of explosive bubbles began ramming it, driving it back with deadly force. It stabbed outward with its pitchfork, causing a burst of heat to pop the rest of the bubbles. Bubbles herself grimaced as the monster set its sights on her.
"Firestorm!" A flurry of fireballs slammed into the monster relentlessly, only making it snicker as it began to charge at Bubbles. Buttercup, having recovered from Blossom's charge, leapt at the monster and swung her hammer at it.
"Megaton Dunk!" The hit sent the monster flying. Buttercup tried to charge it but was shoved to the ground by Blossom who hurled another fireball at the monster. "Dammit Blossom cut it out! You can't hurt that thing so give it a rest!" Blossom stopped and turned to Buttercup, glaring with a frenzied look in her eyes.
"Yes I can and I'm going to destroy that thing, not you!" Buttercup growled and tackled Blossom out of the air when she attempted to charge the creature again. Bubbles, realizing that those two were preoccupied decided she was the only one who could stop the little devil. The only problem…it had disappeared!
"Oh no…where did it go?" Bubbles screamed when the creature's pitchfork shot passed her head, barely missing her. "Bubble Neba-Neba!" She swung the wand and fired the sticky substance at the monster, who dodged and fired back with a black fireball.
"Bubble Champagne II!" Another swing and a powerful flurry of bubbles shot out, one stopping the fireball with ease as the rest caused the monster to scream in pain and fall to the ground. It leapt up, faster than Bubbles could react, and struck out with its pitchfork, hoping to impale her and put an end to the heroine it had deemed an actual threat. Time slowed as Bubbles felt herself shoved out of the way by Buttercup. Before the pitchfork could hit Buttercup though, Blossom stomped down on her back and jumped up, dodging the strike and thrusting both hands out while a searing orange flame erupted around her.
"Hyper Blazer!" The monster looked up in confusion, then screamed when a concentrated blast of magical fire forced it to its knees. After only a few more seconds the pain became more than the monster could bear and it found itself completely torn apart, leaving behind a pile of ashes. Blossom pumped her fist, then jumped and glared when she felt someone shove her from behind. She whipped around, snarling at a very, very angry looking Buttercup.
"What is your problem? I swear to God I'm going to lay you out if you do this bull shit again!" Blossom brushed this off and glared flipping Buttercup a very rude gesture, which earned her a gasp from Bubbles.
"Keep talking Buttercrap, if you want to fight I'll give you a fight!" Buttercup began to close the distance between them, fully ready to act on her promise. Bubbles came in between them, holding Buttercup back and giving Blossom a pleading look.
"Please guys! We're heroes we can't fight each other!" Buttercup headed Bubbles' words, though still glared furiously at Blossom. Blossom only repeated her earlier gesture and flew off, refusing to go to the lab for the fourth time that week. Bubbles looked worriedly after Blossom, then gave Buttercup the same look. Buttercup only sighed and shrugged before she and Bubbles decided to head back to the lab. The fights were getting longer every day, at this rate they'd have to skip school altogether for one fight!
Momoko walked down the sidewalk, counting the street lamps as she went. She had a specific destination in mind: she needed to pay some punks a visit to get a certain location out of them. She had debated on whether or not she should transform, but the sound of skates following her brought a smile to her lips and made her decide against it. If things got too hard, she'd have her little love puppy take out the jackasses. A wicked grin spread across her lips as she saw one of the groups she'd been looking for come into view. The street gang that was entering the alley ahead of her noticed the little teenager approaching them.
"Hey Shizuka, look at this. Little poser must think she's pretty tough, eh?" The alleged leader of the gang looked up and spotted Momoko approaching them. At first he thought she may have just been unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, then he saw the grin on her face and figured that for some ungodly reason the little tramp was coming toward them specifically. Fingering the switchblade in his jacket pocket, the tall, black-haired Shizuka approached Momoko, who came to a halt just outside the alley where the rest of the gang was lurking.
"Hey cutie, what are you doing out here this late at night? There are some dangerous people out there, you might get eaten up," Shizuka was annoyed seeing the grin come across the redhead's lips. Feeling confrontational he took a step closer to her, getting more irritated when she didn't flinch back.
"Really? That wouldn't be you would it? I'm not impressed," Shizuka glared at the teenager and shoved her shoulder roughly, knocking her into the alley behind them where the rest of the gang was lurking. Momoko looked around at the gang and again debated whether transforming would be appropriate. She listened carefully and over the annoying jeers and cat calls of the gang she heard a pair of skates skid to a halt on the building to her right. Grinning she stood up straight and cocked her head at Shizuka.
"Yeah that'd be me you little bitch, and I don't like the way you're talkin' to me," As much as she loved flustering the older man, knowing that should push come to shove she'd be safe, Momoko couldn't stay out all night.
"Well then I'll stop talking to you if you tell me where I can find the Gangrene Gang," Shizuka stopped and gave Momoko an amused glare.
"Those monsters? What would a little runt like you want with them," He shoved her again, this time knocking Momoko against the building where her safety net was perched. She glared at him, wanting to badly mess him up for pushing her around. Still if she could keep her identity hidden she would do it.
"They stole something from me, and I want it back. Now where can I find them, ma'am?" That was the last straw, Shizuka snarled and brought his fist back.
"You little runt I'm gonna mess you up for that!" Momoko tried to keep from flinching back, but when his fist was inches from her face she had to snap back and clench her eyes shut. Thankfully she hadn't misplaced her trust in the little prick. Opening her eyes she saw a small ten-year-old monster holding back Shizuka's fist with relative ease. With a shove Shizuka was sent into the opposite building, and Butch turned to look at Momoko in concern.
"Ms. Momoko, are you alright? What are you doing out here by yourself?" Momoko grinned and patted Butch on the head, making the little boy blush and grin back at her. She glared at the gang and crossed her arms in a huff.
"I'm trying to find out where the Gangrene Gang is, they stole something from me and I want to get it back. But these jerks won't tell me where they are. So listen up, you little prick, why don't you help me convince them?" Butch grinned and the gang, which had been closing in on the two snapped back as Butch's black aura blazed up around him.
"You won't help Ms. Momoko? Then I'm gonna totally mess you guys up!" Momoko grinned wickedly, watching as the older men and women screamed and cried out in pain and fear. The little boy went about thrashing them with ease, showing strength that Momoko honestly hadn't believed the little runt possessed. Her own black aura radiated around her, only a third of her aura was made up by her white light at this point. The white light trembled and a bit more was replaced by black as Momoko watched Butch do her dirty work.
"Momoko! Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?" Momoko shrugged, with her backpack slung over her shoulder while she brushed passed Kakiko indifferently.
"I was out late working on a school project. Don't worry things are fine Mom," Kakiko sighed and put her hands on her hips as Momoko began to head for the living room, after rudely kicking her shoes off in the middle of the entryway.
"Momoko go up to your room and finish your homework. Your grades have been slipping and I got a call from your teacher saying you've been," Momoko had already stopped listening and rolled her eyes, turning and heading up the stairs to her room. As she was passing by, she leaned over the banister and listened to the conversation her father and sister were having.
"My word…Blossom and Buttercup were fighting each other more than that monster today, I wonder what's up Kuriko?" Kuriko shrugged and watched the news report curled up next to her father.
"I dunno, but it's a good thing they didn't actually fight, I bet Buttercup would have beat Blossom!" Momoko stopped listening and began heading to her room, a scowl etched into her features. Buttercup? Beat her? As if! She'd just have to prove that Buttercup wasn't as great as everyone thought! She was the leader! Without her Powerpuff Girls Z wouldn't even exist! She'd put Buttercup in her place and show everyone that she was the best!