ITAMI Yoi was stressing out. Everything that was happening to him... it was getting to him. Being a girl, Aika's problems, the whole 'fateless' affair... He was getting too tense. I should probably do something about it. "Hey, Itami." I looked up. "#interrogative#" "We've got a job." Yes, I really should do something about it. Later. =============================================== Identification Goes Here Magical Girl Hunters Part 43 by Nathan Baxter Created by Aaron Shattuck Presented by Improfanfic =============================================== Block left high, low right, strike right high, right low, left high-almost got through-block overhead, step to the left, start the cut low, bring it up, and OH, it's beautiful, Princess Clean thumps to the ground at my feet, spilling red, red liquid out onto the dark asphalt... All too easy. And over too soon. "#satisfaction#" Yoi nods and smiles, saying, "You're right. It is nice to get back to work." Yoi talks too much. "Ms. Yoi Kurasaka?" it's a girl's voice, prissy and superior. I start to imagine what the vocal chords that produce it will look like lying on the ground independent of her throat. "MR. Kurasaka." Yoi says, sounding pissed. I don't blame him. The girl talking was one of the magical kind, with mauve hair and a rainbow outfit. "Please, Yoi, there's no need to continue with this foolish act." She gives a sort of condescending smile. "I'm Sailor Rainbow Serpent, and I'm here to welcome you into the fold." Yoi looks at her, with this muscle right under his left eye jumping like crazy. "'Welcome me into the fold?'" He sounds like he can't quite believe what he's hearing. He sounded like that once before, when a gang at our school tried to shake him down for cash and phrased their 'request' just wrong. I smile. This should be good. Rainbow nods happily, smiling cheerily. "Yes! Don't worry, Yoi, that whole fateless business won't cause you anymore problems once you join the forces of Good!" "The same... Good... that sends out legions of Magical Girls?" Oh, this is going to be very good. "Why, of course. What better way to serve our Purpose?" "What benefits?" "Why, as Sailor Gunsel, you'll be able to dish out TRUE justice to whole HORDES of evil creepy things in a cute little fu-" "No." Very, very nice. ***** AIKA Stupid therapist. Over-rated quack. 'Unt how do yoo feel avout zat?' Pah. Like he could know what I need. It was time to blow off steam. Time to blow things up. Time to fill innocent paper targets with dozens of pieces of red-hot supersonic lead. And, hey, maybe Murray can offer me some REAL advice.] Yeah. Right. Like that stupid worm-head could ever be good for anything except waste disposal. ***** VERACITY "Good evening, Miss Veracity. Do you happen to know when that Yoi chap will be in?" I look up. A Ramsbottom, of course. Bowler and all. "ID please?" I say. He hands me a driver's license. It says Koi Kurasaka. I hand it back and say, "Not for another few hours. Would you like to wait?" He smiles coldly. "No thank you Miss. I'll just be off now. Cheerio!" I make a mental note of that and turn on the TV. /"Oh John!"/ /"Oh, Marsha!"/ /"John!"/ /"Marsh- WAIT! You're not Marsha! You're one of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts From Planet X! Part Thr-"/ /"-T'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIIIVVEE!! UuaaHAHAHAHAHA-"/ /"-ot Two, and not Four. Five is right ou-"/ /"- love you, you love me-"/ /"-think I'm turning Japanese think I'm turning Japanese I really think s-"/ /"-this evening's news, a middle aged suburban couple was found shot to death in their basement. Police are looking intensely for the culprits." The camera panned over the bodies showing the tasteful shrouds, the horrible, shocked expressions.../ The remote fell from my suddenly numb fingers, and my other hand rose to my mouth. Poor Aika, to have her parents die in such a horrible manner... Yoi had to be told immediately. ***** YOI "MURRAY!!" I shouted, slamming the door open as I stormed into the Finn's. "MURRAY, YOU DAMN BUZZARD, WHERE ARE YOU?!" I was very careful to ignore the 'bouncing' sensation that my sudden movement had produced on my chest. It was empty. Murray was gone, one of his 'meals' abandoned to one side of the room. The violence of my entrance upset one of the careful piles of weapons, dumping to the floor with a banging clatter. The custom Neutralizer gun that I had ordered lay on one of the few open counters, with a little yellow sticky note pinned to it. I walked over and grabbed it. (The note, not the gun.) ____________________________________ [ ] [ Yoi- ] [ ] [ Sorry to run off like this, but ] [ something came up. Here's the gun ] [ you asked for. On the house. ] [ ] [ -Murray ] [ ] [ ] [____________________________________] ***** VERACITY Sailor Styx was a nice old dear, one of those sweet old great-grandmother types. She just _looked_ like a Pretty Young Thing. Now if only she could remember things better... I suppose I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I? Well, she had come in with a whole group of young women in fuku's, smiling. But, it just didn't feel RIGHT, that smile. It was too... calculated. And the look in her eyes... Like computer that ran at absolute zero. Now what could have happened to her? T.B.C. ===================================================================== AUTHOR'S NOTES C flat and a sour D. Why switch viewpoints around like that? I dunno. Felt like it. And on to you, Aaron. Hope I haven't inconvenienced you. Here's to this not sucking!