Authors Note: Once again, thank you readers for taking the time to support my writing and comment on my story. It is greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Mai-Hime, Sailor Moon, Kannazuki no Miko, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dead or Alive. Any other characters are of my own making.
Chapter 3
Natsuki left her room and headed toward the meeting room or as Midori dubbed it, headquarters. It had been a while since anyone alive and uninfected had been found; a little over a year to be precise. The search party discovered Hotaru then, who had somehow managed to survive alone for only God knows how long. She was not very talkative and everyone refrained from questioning her because no one wanted to stir up memories by having her tell and relive the ordeal. It was already suspected that her mad scientist father was the reason she lasted so long and many also suspected that she may have witnessed his demise. Thus, being secluded so long led many to believe that there were no other survivors. Thinking on this and the possible implications of finally finding others Natsuki's mind recapped what Chie reported…
Flashback
Orange. An endless sea of orange which occasionally wafted up in the air to blur travelers' vision. That what the barren wasteland outside their territory looked like. There were barely any signs of life. That which lived was sickly at best and usually anything that moved meant it should be avoided or eliminated. The group, consisting of five members, had been traveling for eleven days straight, ten of which were traversed under the safety of the brick enclosed bridge their city was constructing. Less than three hours after exiting the bridge…
"Squawk, Squaa, SQuaaAaaa" Ear piercing screeches and thunderously flapping wings surrounded the group. The stench of rotting flesh engulfed them. Disease infected birds swarmed the sky above them and prepared to assault them. Weapons drawn all group members prepared for the imminent attack. Well, almost all. One male member was shaking, panicking, and hysterically repeatedly declaring "We're all going to die." In his haste to find somewhere to hide he dropped his weapon.
"SLAP!" The sound resounded amidst the chaos. "Pull yourself together we don't have time for this. You are supposed to be an expert swordsman so pick up your sword and prove it," one female voice yelled at the terrified man.
"If you are a coward, instead of wasting time I should toss you out to them as a distraction because I'd rather have you dead than as dead weight," another female voice growled.
Finally manning up, or at least appearing to do so, the fearful man picked up his sword and readied for battle. Zeroing in on their targets, the birds simultaneously attacked. The other four members were already prepared to counter attack. All four females had their battle faces on and did not so much as flinch we they saw danger approaching. The first female dealt the first blow to the birds, cutting through their formation like a flying phoenix. Her rotation and speed as she collided head-on, feet first, with many protected her from injury.
"Nice job Ayane," one of her teammates declared even as she fought a horde of approaching birds with her weapon which was a combination of a staff and an axe.
"Midori focus!" Ayane replied to Midori's outburst which she saw as extremely inappropriate for the situation they were in.
While fighting, one of the two other female members lost her footing when she stepped on some of the dead bloodied corpses of slain birds.
"Careful Chie!" The remaining member called out to her comrade, as she came to her aid using her ridiculously jagged edged sword to slice through birds that were inches away from Chie.
"Thank Faith," Chie said as she regained her footing and resumed fighting. In response Faith smirked and continued dicing birds.
Takeda appeared to be swinging his sword wildly instead of demonstrating his years of training. Despite that, he appeared to be succeeding and only required the aide of his teammate three times.
Within minutes the flapping, squawking, and sound of slicing flesh ceased. Of the group member Takeda was exhausted, Chie was a little tired, and Midori, Ayane, and Faith looked as if they had spent the day relaxing. Not surprisingly, everyone came out unscathed- Takeda before his initial wimpy reaction was expected to fight well without receiving injury. Noticing the condition of his teammates Takeda quietly sulked in annoyance and shame. Not only had he reacted cowardly to his first battle, but he was also outdone by, not one female, but four.
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It had been five hours since their first engagement with the diseased birds. Nothing else had occurred since then. They traveled nonstop, not even pausing for a break after the encounter.
"I'm tired. Man why do we have to do this pointless searching? Why are we wasting time and resources? I mean we scout ahead, make sure things are safe, and then extend our bridge which, since there is no other town, leads to nowhere then repeat! We should be saving our resources and energy to use in more productive ways!" Takeda ranted, getting progressively louder with each word.
"Shut the fuck up!" Faith snapped.
Takeda recoiled in fear. "Sorry I didn't mean to yell, I was just stating the facts," he replied in a fearful subdued whisper.
"She said be silent. Obey or I'll remove your tongue," Ayane sneered.
"Oww!!" Takeda cried out after Chie smacked him on the back of the head. She then hissed at him in a low whisper "You are annoying the pretty woman so shut it."
"Why'd we have to bring him anyway?" Faith whispered Chie.
"Because he was annoying Natsuki by giving her perverted looks. She said that if he doesn't leave she will kill him. We all know it doesn't look good for the leader to murder one of their own," Chie whispered back.
"I'll do it for her," Faith growled back.
"For someone who proclaims to love her and follow her every whim, you sure are questioning a lot of her decisions," Midori said turning to look at Takeda.
"I DO LOVE HER!" Takeda loudly declared before once again shriveling in fear at the three angry glares directed at him for his outburst.
"Then trust her. She had us build that closed in bridge so that we can extend safe travel and find more resources to use. If we remained closed off we would run out of resources and all die. That is why we have been entrusted as fighters of justice to keep our land safe and provide for those who depend on us!" Midori declared, spinning her axe-like weapon above her head then striking a pose.
Everyone sweat-dropped, looking thrown off and exasperated by Midori's behavior. "Besides," Midori continued, "You know Natsuki does not return your love so you have to do something to gain her attention instead of stalking her and giving her twisted looks," Midori said cheerfully. She shrugged as if it was common knowledge then continued to walk ahead of the others deafeningly singing the power rangers theme song.
"I DO NOT!" Takeda yelled turning red. This was quickly followed by an "Oof" sound then wheezing. Having heard enough of his yelling and sick of his voice, Ayane kicked him in the gut, knocking the air from his lungs. Being one who never smiled, instead she smirked in satisfaction.
"This is going to be one hell of a long fuckin day," Faith mumbled, then sighed heavily.
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After traveling for what felt like several days under the blazing sun, which were merely hours, the group decided to set up camp for the night. It was dangerous to travel at night. When night came the surroundings were pitch black with zero visibility. The group decided to take turns on watch duty. There were four shifts, each at two hour intervals. Takeda was not given a shift because the group saw him as incapable and therefore refused to chance their life in his hands. All was quiet and uneventful during the first shift. However about thirty minutes into the second Ayane felt the presence of others near. Moments later she saw a flicker of light that started small then grew. It appeared to be a campfire. She immediately alerted the others.
"Everyone pack up! It is time for adventure! Time to greet and welcome our allies in combat! Together we can all work to free our world from the evil that has nearly conquered it! We must mwuhmm…" Faith covered Midori's mouth to prevent her continuing.
"Enough already, we get it," Faith growled.
"Instead of talking we have to hurry. If we don't go now they may leave before we reach them and we'll miss our opportunity to meet them," Takeda exclaimed.
"Finally the dumbass says something smart," Faith sarcastically responded. "This coming from an idiot who bitched about our mission being pointless," Faith continued, shoving Takeda out of the way as she followed the others.
Despite the danger the group packed up and followed the light emitted from the flames. When the group got close enough they heard several distinct voices which showed them the group they were encountering were not the undead. From the playful banter within the tent, the group guessed that they had yet to lose a member on their excursion. Most of the voices they heard were female which Chie definitely liked.
"Mou, this is sad. All us girls present and only Mamo-kun can cook. Oh we'll guess it doesn't matter as because I have my Reiko," a cheery female voice said followed by another woman's startled shriek and a loud thud.
"Geez Mina, control yourself. One of these days she's going to be the death of me," was said by another female voice, the latter sentence was lowly muttered and followed by a small sigh.
Natsuki's team looked at each other and was going to make their presence known when a familiar voice surprised them.
"I'm always here to rescue damsels in distress. I am sorry I was not here to catch you before you fell, but I am here now to kiss your injuries and make them better," Chie said as she flashed a charming smile and seemingly out of thin a presented a rose before one of the other teams female members.
Hearing Chie's words the rest of Natsuki's team realized she had gone on without them and boldly exhibited her usual flirting habits. Takeda was shocked, Faith and Ayane rubbed their temples in annoyance, and Midori smiled proudly at Chie's 'bravery.'