Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 2 - First Blood ❯ The race is not to the swift ... ( Chapter 13 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice to make things clearer. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Naoko Takeuchi, or anything in the GURPS Ogre and GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol settings published by Steve Jackson Games. Everything else is mine.

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Mercury glanced again around the car she was hiding behind, wincing as another World Shaking tinged blue by her visor tore up yet more of the street as it roared toward another of strange rock-like things they were fighting, then pulled back to look down at the Mercury Computer. The readings were ... odd. These things did have some magic, but not anywhere as much as she had expected, certainly not enough to sustain a lifeform — surely these walking rock piles weren't natural! And the life signs were hard to pin down, flickered, vanished and reappeared —

Then something crunched behind her, a sound like crushed rock. The Senshi of Ice whirled in place, and her eyes widened as several yard away the air seemed to waver, and suddenly one of the rock monsters was there, leaning toward her as its thick tail extended behind it for balance. Even as she rose to her feet, Mercury Computer vanishing to safety, its maw gaped open to reveal jagged teeth like spikes of crystal and it hissed — and Mercury froze in place as a massive wave of fear smashed into her.

At twenty years of age, Mercury had seen more action than many career soldiers, and of a greater variety than any, and she had no trouble recognizing her panic for what it was — a magically induced attack, designed to do just what it was doing, freeze her in place. Even as the monstrosity stepped toward her with a sound like grinding stones, she closed her eyes. Come on, Mercury, this isn't the first time fear's been used on you, fight through it! She strained against the paralysis, then without opening her eyes simply threw herself to the side with a gasp of effort, away from the car she'd been hiding behind and out into the street as something huge smashed into the space she'd just been occupying. Opening her eyes as she rolled into a crouch, she found the rock-thing lifting its head from the street where she'd been a moment before.

Again, it hissed as it started to stride toward her, but this time Mercury was ready for the emotional assault, letting it wash through her even as she rose to her feet, ready to dodge — and Vanguard was there, suddenly appearing out of thin air as the redhead dropped toward the rock-thing, glowing claws flashing as they carved into where the thing's neck would be if it had one.

The hiss turned into a roar as the creature reared and whirled, and Vanguard spun through the air to land gracefully where the toss had flung her, grinning. The rock-pile turned to face her, leveling its head and hissing again.

“Sorry, already got a tea kettle at home,” Vanguard tossed off with a smirk, then blurred into motion as she charged straight at the thing even as shouts from up the street showed Neptune and Uranus had belatedly noticed the fighting behind them.

The creature turned slightly to the side, and Mercury shouted a warning as its thick tail whipped around toward the charging girl. But Vanguard must have been watching for it, because she was already sliding under the flailing attack. Her claws flashed across the appendage, and a black liquid that must serve the creature for blood spurted out as a foot-long section flipped down the street.

Mercury finally shook herself out of her stunned awe and an ice lance shimmered into existence in her hands as she started circling, looking for an opportunity to strike, and a target that her lance would actually penetrate — she had serious doubts about its effectiveness against the creature's rocky skin, especially since the Mercury Computer had indicated that it really was rock. Why is Ran — Vanguard playing with it? she wondered. Then a vision rose in her mind of Vanguard tearing into the thing like a buzzsaw, pieces flying everywhere — getting blown down the street when the dying monster exploded ... Right, weaken it first, then finish it off from a distance with a ranged attack, smart kid.

Within moments the Senshi of Ice was joined by Neptune and Uranus. Without taking her eyes off the sight of Vanguard seeming to almost dance around and over the monster, carving pieces off with each pass, she said, “Neptune, these things have some sort of camouflage field. Keep watch behind us, and if you see anything that looks like a heat shimmer, blast it. Uranus, get a World Shaking ready.” Neptune nodded and turned her back on the fight, as a glowing ball of energy sprang into existence between her lover's hands.

“Vanguard, get clear!” Mercury shouted.

“Right!” the redhead called back, glancing toward the Senshi, then, “Yikes!” as the creature took advantage of her momentary distraction to whip around in another tail strike. Vanguard easily avoided the sweep with a quick leap back, but a splash of “blood” from the still-spurting tail caught her across the face and she screamed, pawing at her eyes. Instantly, the rock-pile rush forward and whipped around again, the tail smashing into Vanguard's side and sending her hurtling across the street to crash into the side of a local café.

The rock-pile started to follow, only to be smashed away as Uranus' World Shaking crashed into it. The street shook as it smashed down, then again as it exploded, blasting the Senshi off their feet. Mercury rolled to her feet again, ignoring her shrapnel wounds as she ran toward the unconscious Vanguard slumped below the impact crater in the café wall her collision had created. A globe of water formed in the blue-haired woman's hands, then slowly collapsed, pouring down over the face of the redhead and washing away the black liquid coating her face. Mercury winced at the blisters that revealed. Oh, shit — I just hope she's learned something from all the reading she's been doing about the Life Dancers, or this could be bad, she thought grimly.

The other two Senshi arrived within seconds, ignoring their own bleeding wounds, already closing slowly, to take up guard positions as Mercury summoned the Mercury Computer and quickly scanned the redhead, then slumped in relief. “How is she?” the Senshi of the Deeps asked anxiously, envisioning what their Princess would have to say to them if her little sister had been seriously injured.

Mercury looked up, mouth opening to respond, then froze, mouth still hanging open, when suddenly the street around them seemed to be struck by a sudden heat wave, then monster after monster shimmered into existence until the three young women and younger teenager were surrounded by over half a dozen of the walking rock-piles in a half-circle pinning the three against the building, with the occasional odd shimmer in the air hinting at more still in hiding.

Quickly, the blue-haired young woman rose from her crouch, another globe of water forming in her hands. “Their hiss is some form of fear attack, so be prepared,” she warned hastily, scanning around her with her visor and not liking the readings she was getting. Damn it — we may have to go with an Aqua Mist, make a run for it this time, shadow these things till reinforcements can get here, she thought despairingly. I hate to abandon whatever civilians are still in the area to these things, but we can't help them if we're dead. Steeling herself, she whispered, “Neptune, Uranus, I'm going to fire off an Aqua Mirage. When I do, fire off your attacks as well while I grab Vanguard. Then I'll call up an Aqua Mist and we —”

The rock-pile on the far left of the half-circle around the girls was suddenly smashed to the side, colliding with its pack-mate. A large, fanged boy wearing dusty, ragged clothes and a yellow- and black-striped bandana stepped into the space he'd made, taking one hand off the handle of the huge, and now badly bent, umbrella he'd use to knock the thing away. Turning to face the creatures, he reached out to poke the nearest one where its head rose from its shoulders. The thing shivered, and suddenly exploded backwards, showering its nearest pack-mates with a massive spray of steaming black “blood” and gravel. The boy was already stepping forward to repeat the performance on the next creature in line.

“Yes!” Uranus exulted, instantly whirling to fire her World Shaking down-range at the monsters on their far right, stepping forward to clear a line of fire for Mercury even as she and Neptune fired their own attacks into the massed creatures in front of them and the large boy turned several more monstrosities into scattered pieces of “blood”-soaked gravel. Without discussion, the three worked to keep most of the creatures away from the boy, so that only a few of them could come at him at a time. Within minutes, the street was clear of both the walking rock-piles and the pockets of heat shimmers indicating more hiding monstrosities.

As the last rock-pile sprayed more gravel and “blood” across a parked car, Mercury knelt down to carefully lift the still unconscious Vanguard in her arms, wincing at the thought of what was to come. “You're P-chan, aren't you?” she asked, turning to the boy that had come to their aid.

“Well ... yeah,” Ryoga admitted, wincing even as he stared at the costumed redhead in Mercury's arms. “Is that — ?”

“Vanguard,” Mercury cut him off, mindful of the cameras surely around them recording every word. “It's Vanguard. Can you roof-hop?”

“Uh ... yeah ...” Ryoga managed to get out, before Mercury turned away.

“Follow me, we need to talk,” she ordered, racing for the alley as gently as she could. Uranus and Neptune exchanged glances then quickly followed. Ryoga watched them for a few seconds, shrugged, shifted his backpack to a more comfortable position, and raced after them.

Unnoticed by everyone else, a couple of Amazons quietly followed their Princess, the Senshi, and their surprise ally.