Kyoko in Despair! The Battle Switcharoo
Tai paced around her room, eyes darting back and forth like she was looking for something. She stopped at the window and gazed out, the sky was almost black, thundering, lightning, and rain pouring down. "Stupid rain." she said aloud, teeth grinding with anger. "I'm so bored!" She tapped her nails against the windows, hoping the rain would let up. No such luck. Rushing to her closet, she began rifling through her things, throwing them behind her as she searched for something, anything, to keep her occupied. Behind all the clutter something caught her eye. Reaching back, she grabbed a hula-hoop from the way back.
"I'll go hula-hoop on the back porch!" she exclaimed in excitement. Down the hallway, down the stairs and out to the back porch she went in a flash. The rain was still pouring. Over her head the hoop went, her hips swayed keeping it centered around her. Tai spun with glee, for the first time in what seemed like ages (but really, only about an hour), she was doing something.
Off in the distance a small dog sat, staring her. Slowly, the dog made its way closer and closer into the yard. The small Chihuahua was shaking because of the cold rain. Tai turned and noticed the approaching dog.
"Get out of here you stupid mutt!" she yelled, raising and shaking her fist in anger. The hoop dropped to the ground.
"Who you calling a mutt stupid girl!" the small dog snapped. Tai was shocked, did that dog just speak" Tai fell to her knees, cupping her ears in disbelief.
"Oh my god, I just thought that dog talked. I must be losing it. No wait, it must have to do with those mushrooms I ate for dinner. That's the last time I go to that shop. Oh god what if my parents realize I'm on drugs! I will be grounded for life." In the midst of all this the dog made its way onto the porch. He made his way very close to the girl. He listened to what she was mumbling and rolled his eyes.
"You're not on drugs, silly girl." He barked. In one swift movement, Tai swept the dog off the ground and held it above her head examining it. "What are you doing"
"Looking for your batteries. Hey how come you didn't short circuit in the rain?" Tai asked. He started to growl, clenching his teeth in anger.
"I"M NOT A TOY!" He yelled. Shocked, Tai dropped him on his head.
"Well you don't have to be so mean about it! I mean dogs don't talk, you, you crazy vermin!" Tai leaned back, sitting on the ground Indian style. Wide-eyed and extremely curious to why there was a crazy talking Chihuahua on her porch, she looked to see if he was okay. Lifting himself up, he shook to get the remaining water off himself. After a minute he noticed Tai just sitting there, almost perfectly still, her finger nails tapping on the cold, wet concrete.
Crash! A huge roar of thunder came from the heavens, almost instantly followed by lightning. Tai and the dog both looked to the sky. It was raining even harder now and the wind had begun to pick up, spraying them both.
The purpled hair girl rose. She titled her head towards the dog, who was still watching the rain come down. Confused, Tai made her way to the door. It was raining harder every second, why would I stay outside. Tai's hand reached for the doorknob.
"Where are you going! I need to speak with you!" the dog said, panicking. Shooting up quickly, he bit onto her pant leg. Tai screamed in horror.
"What are you doing you mangy mutt! Get the hell off me!" she shrieked, shaking her leg profusely. But the dog held tight, growling and trying to speak through the fabric in his mouth. "Okay! I'll listen! Just let go!" she begged. He released her and began spit out the fuzz from his mouth.
The girl crossed her arms. Her patience was wearing thin, plus it had just attacked her. Once the dog was finished, he motioned her to sit. Reluctantly, she sat down across from him.
"Now pay attention this is important." The dog picked up his head in a dignified manner. "I am Techne, your guardian. You are Sailor Rho, the senshi of Metabolism and Vitality. There is a new enemy and you, along with the other Crisis Senshi, must stop them."
Tai stared blankly at the dog. "What's a sailor senshi?" she questioned. The dog fell over and twitched a bit. Regaining his composure, he got back onto his feet.
"You mean you never watched or read about Sailor Moon? The moon princess? Ten senshi, you know, named after the planets..." Techne tilted his head, waiting for the girl's memory to kick in. She shrugged. "Oh boy, well I have a lot of explaining to do then I guess."
Techne explained the story of the senshi to her. But it was a long and to her, boring, story, Tai began grow restless, moving every 5 seconds, trying her hardest to listen to the story.
"You understand now?" he asked, not expecting the response he was about to receive.
"Yeah, sure, little girls in sailor fuku parading around trying to save the world. Blah, blah, blah." Her hand mocked the dog, opening and closing like it was him talking. "I'm one of these senshi and it's my duty. Blah, blah, blah. Other Crisis Senshi. Blah, blah, blah." Tai finished, smiling innocently. Techne's right eye twitched, he was about to bite her head off.
"Alright, well when do I meet these other people?" Tai stood, contorting her body in a way as to crack her back. Techne just stared at her, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Letting out a long sigh, he just shook his head. "Don't know?"
"No I don't," Techne replied. The dog looked off into the distance. "It stopped raining."
Tai jumped to her feet and threw her hands into the air. "Yay! Lets go running! I don't want to be in this house anymore!" She jumped up and down in excitement.
"Technically, we're outside." The Chihuahua said, smugly. "We probably should go look for the other senshi soon. Are you even listen.." He stopped mid thought to notice the girl wasn't even there. Looking out to the end of the yard he saw the girl had already began running. "Ah! Wait for me!' he panicked and began chasing after her.
~ * ~
Kyoko bumped the awning that hung over the booth she was working at with a broom to dump some of the water off from the rain that had just quit. She was trying to be in a good mood, but it was hard when she was so upset on the inside. There was no desire in her to do her art... or do anything besides eat, sleep, and work. She had, of course, been keeping her eyes out for the enemy and her fellow Senshi... but her heart wasn't in it. Any time she thought of Misora it made her more angry. What right did she have to question Kyoko's dedication? She slammed down a pallet of fish and started placing them in the ice at the front of the stand.
"Youjou-san, be careful with those..." The old man working with her chided gently, trying not to ruffle Kyoko any more than she already seemed to be. She had told them that she had a fight with her lover... that's all they knew. Frankly, they were quite defensive on behalf of their green haired employee/tenant and it was unlikely Misora would be welcome around them for a while. She was a hard worker, even around the house... The older couple could tell she was homesick.
"Hai..." Kyoko said with an apologetic nod as she treated the dead fish with a little more respect and a little less tossing and slamming. After she was finished she wiped her hands on her apron and adjusted the dark green bandanna that held her curly hair back before sitting down to wait for the rush of housewives that came for fresh fish in the morning.
~ * ~
Passing through crowds of short Japanese people shopping for varied market goods - people looking to stuff their faces, merchants looking to sell off their rubbish to any sucker stupid enough to ask the price - Sougon walked with purpose. Humanity...what a giant mass of insects, looking only for themselves, walking mindlessly like herds in their day-to-day practices, never really achieving anything beyond living another day. Sougon would almost feel contempt toward them if he didn't instead feel pity - after all, pity was so much more useful than contempt, at least with the shoes he was walking in today. Contempt would only cause people to lift their guard, to prevent any eager hand from entering their personal domain. Pity was much more practical in this sense; if you need a man to open his heart to you, show him how badly you feel for him! This was the only way to go about getting to the souls Iblis needed. Contempt would be for later, for when the Senshi dared to show their puny little faces.
The marketplace would be an excellent soul harvest; millions of people walking about every day, not taking any time to notice their surroundings - it was almost too convenient to be true. Yet, here he was, having already taken two souls today in back alleys few had probably ever heard of, and even fewer ventured into. His hunger still left unquenched, Sougon chose instead to peruse the selection at a produce stand.
Okay, maybe he was hungry for a bit more than souls...
~ * ~
She had cried herself out into a pillow the night before, and perhaps from that exhaustion, her sleep had been blessedly dreamless. When she'd woken, it had still been dark and rainy, but she had left anyway. She had watched the sun rise while wandering through some temple gardens, first rays piercing the rain clouds as she marvelled at the fragile beauty of the moment. Now, a good deal calmer than she had been when she'd locked her bedroom door the night before, Hiyori strolled through the crowds without purpose, simply wandering as impulse took her. People moved past, salarymen, housewives, students, she let the flow guide her.
The clean scent of rain about her, Tokyo sparkling with the sun on droplets, Hiyori smiled and headed into the open-air marketplace. She had not thought to bring food with her, and the sights and smells coming from the booths beckoned.
~ * ~
Strolling down the streets, Tai and Techne stopped at a market place. The stands filled with assortments of fresh fruit, fish, and other items. Tai went from stand to stand testing out the fruit to see if she wanted to buy any. Techne followed her closely, keeping an eye out for any activity relating to the Crisis Senshi.
"I think I want to make fish for dinner. I should also stop some where and get you food along with a leash," the purple haired girl stated. The tiny dog shuttered at the word 'leash'.
Tai started to laugh uncontrollably at Techne's reaction. In the mist of her laughter, a fish stand caught her eye. Happily skipping towards it, she noticed the green haired girl sitting down by the stand.
"Hey lady! How fresh are these fish?" she asked rudely.
Hey kid, how..... Kyoko couldn't even think of a witty reply in her head as she looked up from where she was sitting to look at the girl who had just asked how fresh the fish were. In reality, Kyoko wasn't in the mood for rude little brats and if she hadn't been working and in need of food and shelter she might have slapped her with one of the morning caught fish.
"Fresh this morning, pulled off the ship and put on ice before brought directly to the market so... a few hours." She replied, trying to smile at the customer. Soon the rest of the crowd would come and most of the fish would be picked over, then she could take a break. It was already feeling like a bad day and Kyoko just wanted to go back to her little room and sleep. "They would still be flopping if I hadn't already cleaned them." She said with a nod, rising from her seat just in case this girl was actually planning to get fish and not just bugging her.
On the bright side... the girl was shorter than her. That had to count for something.
"This morning?" she asked. Tai's eyes shifted back and forth to see if any of the fish were acceptable to eat. "Ha, I guess these fish were caught near a toxic waste dump." she mumbled under her breath. Raising her hand, she smiled. "Well thank you anyway!" Tai turned around and started to walk away from the stand.
Techne hung his head in shame. He had heard what she said about the fish, he just hoped the worker did not.
"Brat..." Kyoko murmured under her breath as the girl left the booth without buying anything. Waste of breath. Waste of time. She didn't like this Universe much... in fact she was down right hating it at the moment. She sank back down to her seat and fumed for a little, trying to regain her calm so that when REAL CUSTOMERS came around, she would be ready to greet them. The day was starting to get hot... which wasn't helping her mood much.
"Here." She felt a pat on her shoulder as the old man working at the booth with her handed her something cold to drink. She gave him a quiet thanks before taking a sip, waving away already annoying flies from the produce. She was bound to slap someone with a fish at this rate... Someone was bound to get blown up on today... She just hoped she could keep from going off while she was on the clock.
~ * ~
As Iblis walked away from the produce stand, banana in tow, his gaze passed over a peculiar woman with short, black hair and an odd, whimsical look in her eyes. Intrigued (and a bit tempted by her extremely pure soul), Iblis decided a nudge would be an excellent way to snag the prey.
Passing by her in a flurry, it was Sougon that oh-so-accidentally bumped into the woman with the gray eyes, apologizing profusely (and rather openly patronizingly) to her. He made a show of dropping his banana as a result of the clash (Iblis never was much of an actor), and bowed deeply as he said, "Excuse me! Gomen-nasai!"
Still, a hint of malice for this person that shared a gender with those who'd ruined his past stood glaring at her beneath Sougon's eyes - passersby would miss it easily, but someone close would most likely at least feel a bit wary...
At the torrent of apologies, Hiyori flushed and demurred, her soft negations going nearly unheard beneath Sougon's words. Grey eyes, a little wide with surprise and concern, looked up at the man as she tucked her purse strap back up on her shoulder from where it had slipped down. There was something a little off about him, a darkness to his soul that she wasn't accustomed to feeling, especially without actively looking ...
"No, really, it's alright," she assured him, with a slightly awkward formal bow of her own, "I was lost in thought -- it must have been my fault." And she smiled at him, hesitantly. "I'm sorry."
"That's quite all right," Sougon nodded, clasping his hands together as he bowed yet again. Unsure where to progress from here, he decided to instead keep an eye on her from a distance...and when she got far enough...
"Please have a good day," he said awkwardly, though more as a command than a request. Rushing past her (and grazing her shoulder again, this time foregoing any apology), he instead started for a back alley.
Soon...soon, she would be meeting him again, though only one of them would be aware that it would be their second meeting...
The man moved off, and she determinedly dismissed him from her memory. Today was hardly a day meant for fretting, especially with how things had gone over the past few. She could do that later, when she dealt with yesterday's harvest of souls. For now, she meant to enjoy herself. Her brothers, she knew all too well, would want that.
Besides, undignified as it was, her stomach was reminding her that she hadn't eaten since midday yesterday, and it was clearly overdue for breakfast. With a little laugh, only slightly forced, she made her way deeper into the market.
Some time later, a bag full of dark, sweet plums on her arm and her hunger assuaged, she considered her next move. Since she was here already, there was no harm in doing some other market shopping -- and in the small time they'd been here on Earth, she'd already learned that what was bought fresh in places like these was often better than what one could buy in a larger store. With plans in mind -- lunch, or dinner, or perhaps even several meals -- she headed for the far side of the market, nearest the water.
~ * ~
After a little longer of walking Tai had collected a few things, but still no fish for dinner. To one fish stand to another she dragged Techne, who was sporting his new collar and leash. Incisively he scratched at it while angrily staring up at her.
"All these fish stands are worse then the first, guess we have to go back to that one," Tai pointed at the stand they first stopped out. Yanking the leash, Techne jerked and the followed her.
"I hope that girl punches you in the head," the dog mumbled.
"You best be quiet or I'll buy you a muzzle," Tai laughed. Techne hung his head, he knew he should be quiet in public anyway.
Tai waved at the girl again. "Hey! How much are these fish again?"
Before Kyoko could rip into Tai, the old man stepped in to handle her so that the girl wouldn't get her head ripped off and Kyoko wouldn't have something new to decorate her room with. She gave a little huff, taking the hint as she straightened her apron and sat back down to wait for another customer. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the fish... Kyoko thought they looked perfect.. and she knew fish. It made her a little homesick to be working in the market. She missed her family the most... and not finding them in this familiar market made it all the more depressing.
Picking up a bucket of ice she stood and started to put fresh ice around some of the fish that were closer to the edge of the stand. It was going to be a long day and Kyoko already knew she was going to be in a bad mood for most of it.
~ * ~
Upon leaving the fish stand Tai walked around again, this time looking for fruit. Stand after stand the purple hair girl and her dog went. Techne had begun to grow tried of the girl's ridiculous standards for what food she could eat.
"All those fruit are fine why don't you just buy them," the dog mummbled, loud enough for Tai to hear and hopefully no one else. But, Tai ignored him and continued her search for the *perfect* fruit for the *perfect* juice for when she arrived home.
"At that stand they are are too ripe and at the other they are not ripe enough," she sighed, this market was really letting her down today. Looking up she noticed a man carrying some fruit, the perfect kind of fruit. Yanking the leash, and nearly ripping the tiny dog's head off, she rushed towards him.
"Mister! Mister! Those fruit! Where did you get those fruit!"
Barely suppressing an eye-roll at the bundle of purple filth approaching him from the opposite direction, Sougon tried his best to ignore her and find a back alley to sneak into and...
...there were people everywhere. It would be impossible to find a secret place to transform right now, and it would look incredibly suspicious if he were to teleport away. Begrudgingly, Sougon looked down to the girl, and tried his best to make a smile that came off more as a grimace. "Hello," he uttered through gritted teeth. This was really the last place he wanted to be right now. "I got these fruits somewhere. Go away."
With that, Sougon did his best to shove his way through crowds and as far away from the purple creampuff and her diminutive dog as humanly possible.
Appalled by the man's response, Tai raised her eyebrow. She watched as he tried to make his escape. "Hey Jerk! That wasn't nice!" she yelled, she knew he could hear her. Pushing through the crowd she began to follow him. "Just tell me where you got that fruit!" she yelled again, this time a bit louder as to make a scene. Techne sighed, the girl just wouldn't give up on him. Pulling on his leash he tried to head in the opposite direction. Tai's pulled with all her might pulling the little dog back towards her.
"Techne! Bad dog!" she scolded him. "You can go to potty later!" she smiled smugly. With that he quit resisting, it was pointless.
Tai eyes searched amongst the crowd, the man had lost her. "Darn it!" Now Tai was upset. "Lets go, we need to search for that fruit stand, with or without that dude's help."
Thank GOD Sougon was able to lose the girl in the crowd - he'd seriously wondered if he could. He would have to spare some chihuahua's life later to make up for it...
Dodging into a back alley, Sougon closed his eyes after making sure that he couldn't be seen. In a ruffle of clothing, Sougon seemed to actually fall out of his clothing and into the ground. Rising slowly back out of the ground, Iblis came into view, in his Shitennou fuku...although the clothing he'd left behind now lie on his head.
"...I must figure a way to stop that," he grumbled to himself, removing the shirt and pants from his head. Now, though, there were greater matters at hand...like finding that gleaming soul he'd seen earlier.
~ * ~
"Excuse me," the dark-haired girl's voice was soft, diffident, as she eased her way through the early-morning crowds, "pardon me, sorry to trouble you --" and, as she was jostled slightly, sending her bumping into the edge of the nearest market stand, "-- oh, dear. I'm dreadfully sorry. It seems I keep bumping into things today." Pink stained pale cheeks as she offered a hesitant smile to the other side of the counter.
Kyoko reached out as someone bumped into the stand, jostling some of the fish. It was a knee jerk reaction even though there was no harm to the produce. She took in a deep breath and gave the woman who bumped into the stand a forgiving smile.
"It's okay, no harm done." She said with a nod. At least it wasn't that brat causing more trouble for her. "Could I interest you in some fresh fish? They were caught just this morning and have been on ice since." She stood, wiping her hands on her apron. Sure, she wasn't in a very good mood, but this was her livelihood just as much as it was the old man's. There were fish to sell and by golly... she was going to sell some fish!
It took every ounce of Mara's self-control to keep in character -- to remind herself that Hiyori had never met this girl before, and that she had no reason to want to blurt out an explanation. Not that she had to justify herself -- but at the same time, she couldn't but remember the appalled look in the other's eyes the day before. If only she'd had a chance to explain, surely she'd have understood ...
But she was Hiyori now, not Mara, and to do that would only have caused more confusion than she wanted right now. She wasn't stupid; transforming in the middle (okay, edge) of the increasingly busy marketplace would have been far beyond foolish. So instead she met the shorter girl's coral-coloured eyes and indicated the fish before her with one manicured hand, "That's mackerel, isn't it?" The words, like her apology, were still soft, but hardly nervous any longer; though polite, there was confidence and poise in the question. "Fresh this morning? It looks lovely."
Kyoko seemed to relax a little as the woman showed interest in the fish without being a brat. "Yes, fresh this morning." She replied with a nod as she looked at the fish that the woman had pointed at. She sighed a little, shifting her weight to point at another flat of fish. "Here are some larger ones that I just put out." She said before pulling out a sheet of butcher paper. It was a good way of encouraging someone to get something if they were already showing interest.
"Which would you like?" She asked, smiling a little, hoping that this woman would make up for the girl that had been there earlier.
"Ah ..." Hiyori frowned a little at the fish, considering, before looking back at the shorter girl. "Which would you suggest? I'm afraid I don't know much about choosing fish, and -- well, we've a party soon, and I thought perhaps I'd try several different kinds, see what to serve. So if you've any suggestions, they'd be very helpful." Another smile, this one hopeful, as her mind whirled, trying to figure out if there was any way she could expand the conversation beyond just the fish without compromising her identity.
This was her chance to try to nudge her way into a big sale. A party? Well... maybe they just liked a lot of fish? Perhaps some good stock for sushi?
"We have some back behind the booth that are still waiting to be put up for display. There are some nice snapper and tuna if you are interested." Kyoko said, motioning to a curtain the separated the front of the small booth and the back. The old man was busy with customers coming now and couldn't take care of the young woman at the moment. She pushed back the curtain, motioning for the woman to enter if she wanted. "Be careful... I think we have some tuna back here too... you don't want to trip." She said with a little chuckle.
"Thank you," Hiyori murmured, stepping cautiously past Kyoko. "That would be lovely -- I'm sorry for the trouble this must be causing you." And all the trouble she might cause, too, but perhaps back here there would be a chance, if only (a glance, darted over at the other end of the booth) there were no interruptions.
Unfortunately, interruptions were Iblis' business. Rising once again from the ground, this time to face the woman he'd bumped into just as she looked over her shoulder, Iblis smirked devilishly. "The fish here is always of the finest quality," he teased, arms crossed over his chest. "But what about the souls?"
Taking a step closer to the woman, he glanced menacingly at the merchant girl helping her out. "You're not bad, either," he complimented coolly before grabbing the old man helping at the stand by the collar. Seemingly effortlessly, Iblis tossed the man into the crowd around the stand, probably injuring him, but more importantly, causing enough ruckus to cover his own actions.
Gripping for his original target's shoulder, Iblis' eyes flared as he summoned the energy needed to take what he'd come to get. "Now, hold still," the Shitennou King cackled, his remaining hand reaching for her bosom. "This won't hurt, I promise - at least, not for long."
Kyoko gasped as she saw the man rise from the ground and was already livid by the time he sent the old man flying into the crowd. People were already gathered around the elderly man to aid him, so the fish merchant girl focused on keeping her customer as unmolested by the villain as she could. She looked around her for the best weapon. Sure she could go after him with a knife... but if this son of a sea slug was an inhuman bad guy... one of many she'd encountered in her lifetime (not personally, of course) ....then a knife would just make him laugh. So, she grabbed one of the best things she could think of in that situation: a thirty pound tuna. It was fresher than one found in a larger fish market and would likely just be frozen and eaten by the family if not bought in a few hours. It also had it's head and tail still... great handles.
"Leave her alone!" Kyoko yelled as she grabbed the tuna by the tail with both hands and pulled it through the air before letting it fly in Iblis' direction. She stumbled a little, catching herself on a flat of fish, which also flew through the air as the produce was catapulted through the air on accident.
For the briefest moment, as the hand descended on her shoulder, reflex fought with persona. While instinct screamed at Mara to vanish, Hiyori could do no such thing, and to compromise herself in front of either of these two would be foolishness itself, albeit for different reasons. Suppressing a pang of regret she'd evaded Hiyori's bodyguards this morning, Mara forced herself to slide back into the personality she'd woven for her human alter-ego. If worst came to worst, she could get out of this. She wasn't about to let herself die with so much unfinished.
"Please," Hiyori's voice wavered slightly, a sheltered heiress utterly befuddled by all of this, "please, don't --"
And then there were fish everywhere.
Doing his best to block the shower of fish with his arms, Iblis roared in frustration. This day was getting more irritating by the minute! First he runs into a prissy, perfect-souled princess, then a hyperactive fruitcake intercepts him, and now a mangy fish-merchant peasant gets in his way with tuna! He would get that soul, even if it meant smelling like fish for the next week.
Reaching blindly through the rain of sea-creatures, the King of the Shitennou stumbled about for a moment, forced to close his eyes as the fish continued to harass him. "You little fish-whore!" he bellowed, growing angrier with each scaly slap to the face. "Once your disgusting stock is finished falling wastefully to the ground, you'll be in the same state as that tuna!"
Kyoko took this fishy opportunity to throw Iblis a foul gesture before ducking out of the booth to the area behind the next one. There were people helping the old man, so this gave her the perfect chance to transform. She said her henshin phrase in the softest voice she could, the warmth of her powers filling her before the transformation was complete. Now... to kick some bad guy arse... without Uranus. By the time she had hopped out and hopped back in, the fish had settled on the ground.
"How dare you interrupt a perfectly good day!" She said as she prepared to deliver her introduction speech. "Summoned by the new crisis..." She took a step forward. "... Sailor Neptune, fighting with gr-AHH!" Her step was unfortunately not a graceful as she had planned due to her vision set on Iblis and not the slippery dead fish on the ground. Her foot slipped out from under her... again... and her hands swung around wildly... again... hitting a flat of fish... again... sending them into the air with another shower of produce. "Crap." She muttered as she steadied herself before she could fall flat on her butt.
Released as her captor stumbled back, Hiyori staggered, breath coming in short little gasps. It had been terrifying, for one endless moment, to be there with someone's hand reaching for -- into, through -- her chest. Even if he hadn't actually touched her soul, the anticipation of that had been equally horrifying.
And then she'd snapped back to herself, remembered that Hiyori was Mara, and Mara was hardly helpless. She was the ruler of the Black Moon, and she had promises to keep and people to look out for, and she'd be damned before she let some idiot going to stop her.
But she wasn't about to blow her cover, and so she staggered backwards as an all-too-familiar sailor-suited figure burst onto the scene. She wasn't sure what to make of the fact that one of them was rushing to her rescue, and couldn't but wonder, remembering that last confrontation and the words Uranus had thrown at her, whether Neptune would still be there if she knew Hiyori was just a pretense. But -- as she nearly slipped on a fish herself, backing away nervously -- this was no time for that. And so Hiyori pressed a nervous hand to her chest, very pale as her eyes darted from one to the other.
"Who are you people?" she demanded, and there was something a little hysterical to the words, even as she backed towards the nearest exit.
Still searching for a good fruit stand, Tai and Techne had seen and heard all the commotion. Techne nodded at Tai and believed she would run to a back alley and transform,unfortunately he was wrong. "What?" she she looked at him, she had no idea what he was talking about.
"Go transform, someone needs your help!" Techne yelled, he didn't care at this point, everyone was too concerned with what was happening at the fish stand. Tai smiled and ran towards an alley. When she was sure no one could see her, she began digging through her purse. "Hurry up" the little dog snapped. Tai grabbed out her transformation stick and looked at him.
"Uh, now what?" Tai said innocently, apparently she wasn't listening when he explained how to transform. "Rho crisis power, make up, you dunderhead!" He yelled again.
"Rho Crisis Power, Make up!" Tai laughed, unsure of what was about to happen. In a flash of red light Tai stood in her sailor fuku, she was now Sailor Rho. "That was weird." she said examining herself. Techne started to run towards the fish stand. "Lets Go!" Rho following not too far behind him.
At first, Iblis was truly enraged. A sailor senshi had stopped him with fish? If she hadn't so clearly humiliated herself, Iblis would have saved her the trouble and attacked outright. However, the realization soon came upon him that this wasn't just any sailor senshi - this was a Negaverse Senshi - Sailor Neptune to be specific. Even if she hadn't been involved in Beryl's death, this girl's death would mean the weakening of the Negaverse Senshi in general.
Ignoring his former target entirely, Iblis instead glowered at the mini-skirt clad twit in the way of his conquest of Chaos. "Neptune," he chuckled, a sarcastic simper in his voice. "I missed you since our last encounter - oh, what was it, a few millenia ago?" Though his words seemed to hint at a kind of play with his prey, Iblis' hands were clenched in fists, and he seemed to be dangerously eying the fish strewn about the floor.
Within the next moment, he kicked several fish into the air toward Neptune (and out of his way), and leaped toward her with the ferocity of a shark hunting some helpless sea mammal. Midair and enraged, Iblis screamed, "I'm sure your soul will be sufficient compensation for that absence, though!"
Neptune raised her arms as the fish came towards her. The slippery little corpses bounced off of her skin and fell to the ground. Acting quickly after she noticed Iblis in the air, she slid on the floor to grab another tuna. With a grunt, she used her momentum to turn around, flinging the large fish at the flying man. Neptune winced a little, her arm twisting as she let the fishy fly.
"I'm keeping my soul for a while..." She commented as she carefully jumped around to find an exit without slipping on any of the previous ammunition. This was.... this was really ridiculous. Using fish as her weapon... what had she been thinking?
Iblis glared furiously at Neptune as the thrown fish hit him before he could duck out of the way. The Shitennou King was sent flying backward, into the small crowd of people that had formed in the panic of the scene. Rising back to his feet and dusting himself off, Iblis groaned in irritation. This was much harder than he'd originally intended. Rolling up his sleeves, he looked through the crowd over at Neptune once more. Though he hated to admit it, this was Neptune's turf, and he certainly wasn't going to get anywhere here. The crowd would make it difficult to escape to a more manageable terrain.
Grunting, Iblis shouted over to Neptune, "You win this time, Sailor Fish!" He chuckled rather pathetically at his own joke, trying his best to maintain his composure despite the fact that he was being beaten by a fish-thrower. In a final desperate attempt to achieve some semblance of a victory here, Iblis peered about the crowd quickly, finding a rather bright soul watching the scene fearfully. She couldn't have been older than 14 - she was holding a few books in her hands, and tears began welling up in her eyes as she noticed Iblis' glance upon her.
Grinning wickedly, Iblis leaped for her, the girl frozen in fear. In the next instant, his hand had reached through her bosom and removed a faintly glowing white ball of light from it. The sound of her body hitting the pavement was muffled by his harsh laugh as the crowd around him cried in terror and rage. As his body disappeared into the ground beneath him, teleporting him to a place quite far from here, Iblis called out to his opponent, "But you don't get to save this poor girl! What kind of senshi are you, anyway?"
The sound of Iblis' sickening laughter filled the air as the final traces of the Shitennou King disappeared into the pavement that the once-terrified girl now lay dead upon.
Dashing to the scene, the purple haired sailor senshi could not help but make some what of a grand entrance. Upon arrival she noticed a girl, trying to sneak away. This had to be the villain.
"Hey You Stop! she yelled pointing at the girl. "Yeah you, with the dirt on your forehead! I'm Sailor Rho. And I'm here to kick your butt!" this introduction phrase clearly had to be changed. Techne hung his head. How did I get saddled with this.
"Rho, before you go rushing into battle we need a plan." Techne looked up and noticed that again, he was standing alone. To his horror, Sailor Rho was running straight towards the girl, without even thinking twice.
"You idiot! Get back here, you don't even know if that's who you're supposed to be fighting!"
Sailor Rho stopped dead in her tracks. "This is true." She laughed placing her hand behind her head. "So, who are you anyway?"
Under almost any other set of circumstances, Mara would have been polite. Tar her as one might with the villainous brush, she was still a princess and a lady, and had been raised to be mannerly even in the worst of situations. However, she'd had one bad day followed by a worse one, and even the most proper of princesses, when pushed beyond the limits of her tolerance, found the need to be a little less than tactful.
She looked up, blue eyes flashing, and it was clear now that was no dirt on her forehead, but rather an inverted crescent moon. "Get out of my way," she all but snapped at the child in front of her. "You and I have no quarrel, and I'm not in any sort of mood to start one."
Not now, with screams echoing from behind her and the fading imprint of a life just at the edge of her senses. Not now.
"What do you mean we have no quarrel? Listen lady I don't really know what they taught you where you're from. But here on Earth we do things differently!" She yelled pointing at her. "Now listen up. Whatever you did just undo it, or I'm going to have to kick your butt. Kay?" It was very clear that Sailor Rho had no idea what had even happened in that fish stand. But what she did know is that if that little pipsqueak of dog said she was the villain, she was.
"Did that tattoo on your forehead hurt much?"
"Had I done anything, that would be another matter -- but none of what has happened here was of my making, and there is nothing I can do about it." There might have been regret under the anger, but it was hard to tell. "Go home, child; it's finished here." And, perhaps heeding her own words, she took a half-step back, body shimmering into faded shadow.
"I pray, for your sake, we do not meet as enemies," she murmured, those eyes (still very blue, even with the rest of her gone to shades of grey) steady as she looked at Rho, and then she was gone altogether.
Rho was confused, the girl had just disappeared. She took a step back and looked at Techne. "Looks like I scared her off." The sailor senshi smiled. "Now, Back to my house for some celebratory juice!"
"You idiot! You let her get away!" The dog snapped. "This is serious work, you can just let them get away all the time! Are you even listening to me?" Alone again, the Girl had walked away because of the dog's scolding. He hung his head once more. "Come back here! You can't just parade around in your uniform!" with that the dog took off after her.
~ * ~
It had happened again. Another person had died because she wasn't fast enough or strong enough to save them. She stood in shock as she watched people trying to bring the once bright child back to life. There were others gawking at her, some had started to yell at her in confusion and horror. She had been right there and still.... she hadn't been able to save them. Neptune couldn't even save someone right in front of her. It was a wonder the Princess had survived so long before.
The sound of sirens brought her out of her stupor and she quickly made her exit. She slipped into one of the empty booths, letting her henshin fade. She felt alone and completely worthless as a Sailor Senshi. Everything had fallen apart since arriving in this world. She hated it. The other Senshi were missing, the Princess was dead... even Misora had turned on her. Maybe they had met their match. Tears fell down Kyoko's cheeks as she left the booth, heading back to where the old fish merchant was being loaded up onto a stretcher. He gave her a weak smile as he was pushed into the vehicle and the doors closed. So much for protecting the ones she cared for.
So much for having a good day.