Fire, Ice, and Lightning
WHO: Alpha, Impulse, Rei Hino
WHAT: Cranky Rei is in for a nasty surprise when Yuki shows up in the neighborhood with her pet ice wolf. Impulse, on patrol of multiple sectors, just happens to be around to lend a hand and allow Sailor Mars to join the fight. And oh, it gets beautifully petty~
WHEN: September 6th, 2008 - Evening
WHERE: Sailor Moon's Tokyo
Rei Hino is in a bad mood. This marks the third man.../third/...to let her down. Michael Trinity, if Rei ever gets her hands on you, she will give you SUCH a pinch. First Masataka, then Robin, now THIS! Sometimes she doesn't know why she even bothers, but she's got a dream to chase. If she's ever going to get married, then she has to date first. So why is that so HARD? Why are men such flaky cowards?! ~Who needs 'em,~ she scowls to herself, stomping down the street with her sports duffel slung across her shoulder. She thought her karate class might end up alleviating some of the stress, and it did, but not nearly enough.
She sighs, eyeballing an ice cream shop for a moment, then ignoring it completely. That might be Usagi's answer to everything, but not Rei's. She thumbs the brim of her ballcap (now unnecessary since the sun has set), quickening her pace. Maybe a hot meal, a hot bath, and a few hours of meditation before the Sacred Fire will do her a world of good. Maybe not. She won't know until she tries.
Yuki is being a bad girl.
Well that's a bit of an understatement. She's being a *very* bad girl. On the one hand, after her last task her dear old dad was very pleased with their latest creation. On the other, he was displeased that she had chosen Fuuka as the test site. I mean really, how are they supposed to keep a low profile from the nuisances there if they're harassing the locals there?
And after the thorough chewing out Yuki got from her father at that, well, she's in almost as bad a mood as Rei. But where the Shrine Priestess will turn to a hot bath and meditation, Yuki has other methods of blowing off steam. So to speak. Can ice 'elementals' even blow off steam? Hrm.
Regardless, Rei will have something else to take her anger and frustration out on soon. Yuki, perched out of sight on the roof of the same ice cream shop that Rei was passing, was waiting for something - anything - to alleviate her boredom. What's better than harassing a few civilians?
She won't show herself just yet though - instead, Rei may 'ping' to the sudden presence of something nasty landing almost directly behind her with a resounding *BOOM*, pavement cracking beneath the creature's weight. The growl that follows is definitely unearthly and not exactly a happy, nice-to-meet-you noise. And the creature in question - well it's wolflike in design, with what appear to be blades along its back, a long tail and chunks of ice, and some kinda ore protecting its more vital parts of the body. Mouth open, its breath comes out in a cloud of icy vapor. Hiya~!
What the-- Rei pauses in her steps, back still facing the monster, and looks down at the cracks spiderwebbing below her sneakers. "I'm NOT in the mood, Usagi," she growls. "Have you been hitting the malts again? I swear I can hear you coming--"
That's when the 'bad mojo' vibes hit. Slowly she turns, already knowing that she's not about to see a big-eyed cheerful girl with blonde pigtails. There's fur right there...and oh dear...it goes up quiiiiiiite a bit, she notices, tipping her head back to get an eyeful of all those teeth. My, what big icicles you have. All the better to bite your head off with, my dear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Rei screams, spinning about on her heel and bolting down the street. ~This is NOT doing my bad mood any FAVORS!~ Seriously! Could the spirits of nature PLEASE give her a BREAK once in a while?! This is definitely a job for Sailor Mars, but she needs to get out of sight before she can transform.
One of the convenient things about having a super-speedster on the payroll is you get to write up some outright nonsensical patrol duties. Impulse's time with the Interplanar Peacekeeping Agency has him periodically covering several officers' worth of territory by running a few laps across a few different dimensions. It just so happens that his assigned lap today crosses right down the nation of Japan. Normally it wouldn't be noticed save for the cool breeze of Hokkaido being taken across the breadth of Honshu for a strange second or two.
Today, there's an ice wolf!
Impulse, in fact, begins to slow down as he first sees the ice wolf coming up, which means that he slows from an unexpected fierce gust down to /merely/ a crack of bronze lightning rushing parallel to the road. At least until he hits a point standing between civilian-to-be-protected Rei Hino and the presumably enormous ice beast, when the sonic boom stops on a dime and resolves itself into a big-footed teenager in a bronze-and-white super-suit, mask and goggles.
"Heads up," he says, snapping his fingers with a friendly grin. He steps just a bit to the side, to establish himself standing in the way of the ice wolf. "Friendly neighborhood card-carrying superhero! Well, out-of-neighborhood. So it's ice monsters today, huh?" He pauses, and then turns around. "That's the situation, right? Angry ice monster needs put down? It's not just like some weird pet with indigestion?" Fortunately for Rei, if she's still seeking secrecy, Impulse has a tendency to be distracted pretty easily - he probably lost track of her while he was rattling off his intro banter.
Enormous depending on one's perspective of such - it's probably about fifteen feet high or so, which can be pretty be. Add in those blades, and you've got an extra five feet on it. With the arrival of a new goody goody, the ice wolf turns its attention to Impulse. Yuki watches Rei run off, but swings her attention back to the superhero boy with a frown. "Hmph. Just how many goody goodies are there in these zones.." she mutters to herself. Oh well, all the more fun to see how her puppy friend does.
The Ice wolf doesn't seem to like the implication of euthanasia - the ground seems a littie icy where it steps, making cracking sounds as ice frosts over the ground. Lowering its head towards Impulse, the Ice wolf utters a frosty vaporcloud -BARK-, clearly expecting him to run like Rei would. It likes chasing prey. It's /funny/.
Again, what the--?! Who's the newcomer? She does feel that faint spiritual 'ping' as something not-evil, and glancing back over her shoulder, she gets a view of wild brown hair and spandex-clad Bart butt. "..." Not exactly the superhero she had in mind, but beggars can't be choosers, and he's just the distraction she needs to duck out of sight.
"Demon, or whatever you are, you picked a BAD day to invade MY town," she grumbles, dropping her sports bag and dipping her fingers into her pocket to withdraw the crimson power stick. Things are about to get hot around here.
Turning into a Sailor Senshi takes time, I mean how long does that transformation sequence last? Rei hasn't even triggered it yet! Fortunately, she has Impulse to depend on. Oh, sure, he might not be the smartest superhero, or the most effective, or the most efficient, responsible, respected, prudent, sensible, well-groomed... but he is among the most likely to lead the villain on with pointless taunting rather than sock them in their stupid face.
Impulse does /run/, although if the ice wolf blinks it will miss it, and it's not in the direction of 'away.' It's actually in the direction of 'until he finds the nearest pet store.' And then it's in the direction of right back and Impulse is clicking his tongue like the ice wolf really was a little puppy, and holding up an inflatable milkbone. He squeaks it up over his head. "Hey, boy! Heyyy, boy! You want your toy? Huh? You want your toy?! You like your toy? I've got your toy!"
Nice list of traits there, poor Impulse. The speed in which he runs is so quick that the wolf beast doesn't even manage to track it - only spotting the blink of gone and back again where the boy is now brandishing a toy milkbone.
...which has Yuki in a fit of silent giggles at the very -idea-. It's so .. so /absurd/! It's almost insulting to her - and Yuki is tempted to show herself just to tell this boy that very thing. On the other hand, no - not yet. Rei's transformation might get attention if it's terribly flashy, but more importantly, the wolf is actually momentarily caught off guard by the fact that Impulse is waving a squeaky -thing-.
"...." The wolf finally response by lunging forward with a snarl, jaws parting to snap up that toy - and Impulse's arm with it. Bad dog!
"Mars Fire IGNITE!" A blazing fireball explodes, jetting through the air to engulf itself within the ice wolf's gaping maw. But where did it come from?
Look! Up there, balanced comfortably on top of a streetlamp! It's Sailor Mars, in all her miniskirt glory! Arms folded, she glares imperiously down at the creature. Sure she knows Impulse is fast enough to avoid being bitten like that, but that doesn't justify the creature's attempt now does it? "If you're hungry, why don't you try chewing on that?" she sniffs, tossing her head to throw out her flag of long black hair. Standard pre-battle pose stuff. She has to look good at some point, probably before she gets scratched and bloodied and frostbitten. "You think you can just waltz in here and stir up trouble because it's the weekend? No such doing! I'm Sailor Mars!"
Arms spread-eagled above, she vaults from her perch, landing neatly on her crimson pumps, pointing with a flourish. "And in the name of Mars, I will punish you!"
"Whoa," Impulse says, from where he is already standing on the other side of the ice wolf, holding the squeaky toy aloft. Actually he threw it and caught it, but again, it's rather hard to discern these details at his speed. He whistles - actually the fire almost feels a little like overkill, at least for now - but Sailor Mars immediately kind of cancels that out with her sailor fuku costume and her boilerplate magical girl speech. That is the second girliest superhero Impulse has seen.
"Hey, I got this one," Impulse volunteers, although he's not territorial enough to insist on it - it's more like an offer if Mars would rather go do something else. Impulse has this under control, honest. He squeaks the milkbone idly, and then peers over Sailor Mars's costume with an innocent look on his face. "...doesn't it hurt fighting crime in heels like that?"
Would she prefer the wolf to come back on a school day? Yuki can arrange that. <3 But at the arrival of the fire senshi, the girl frowns darkly. See, she has something against those damn fire-using people. There's one in Fuuka, and there was that one that had hurt her badly not long ago -
She reaches to her pocket, withdrawing a phone and dialing a number. Not 911 or anything though, oh no. She's calling her dear sweet daddy. Why? Well, she is so very devoted to her 'father', it's always nice to let him know when she's about to do something reckless.
Well that and the fact that she's going to have to gather some data now. One superhero is annoying - two is inexcusable. And it went and hurt her poor puppy. The poor puppy naturally, /eats fireball/. And it -hurts-, quite a bit, what with it being the opposing element and all. The animal howls in pain and backs up a bit, clawing at its mouth briefly - then in a fit of rage, the monster turns on Impulse, rearing up with both forepaws and coming down again to slam into the ground hard enough to shake it - and possibly squish the boy if he doesn't get out of the way in time.
On the bright side, there won't be any territorial squabbles; Yuki's about to make the fight a bit more even. "Two against one is pretty unfair!" Announces the voice of another; a girl in a blue dress, with frosty skin and short blonde hair. "Let me even it up for you!" She's no Sailor Mercury, though the element is pretty much the same. Incoming Rei-dear, dangerously unstable ice-user swinging a chain of ice at thy unprotected rear~!
Did he just critique her fighting costume? Oh snap! "Doesn't it hurt fighting with big feet?" Sailor Mars counters waspishly. It's not like she ASKED for the red high heels, they just sort of came with the job!
She doesn't get nearly enough time for smack talk, however, as the ice wolf is suddenly retaliating, and with full force. And to make things more complicated, now there's a senshi-wannabe arriving on the scene. Foolish being! Doesn't she know that Mercury is the most useless senshi in a fight?
"Fine," she informs Impulse, though her eyes never leave the newcomer. "Wolf's all yours. I'll take this one." Most guys have a problem with hitting women, so it's in everyone's interest if Sailor Mars initiates the greatest bitchfight in this realm ever since Traski came sniffing around.
She didn't expect Yuki to be so quick. She only scarcely avoids the incoming attack with a frantic skywards leap, vaulting backwards to land on her feet. "I'm warning you, you do NOT want to make me mad today!" she growls through gritted teeth, clenching her gloved hands into fists. "Mars Fire--"
"Not really," Impulse says, while instantly zipping several feet clear of the ice wolf's crashing onto the road. "I mean - hey! My feet aren't biiiiiguh!" The aftershock takes him a little off-guard, knocking him on his butt. Not really a setback in the battle, not an injury, but it doesn't help the rep.
"So, I'm Impulse," he offers as he stands back up, trying to get things back on the right foot on both counts. "You know these guys?" As he talks, he looks around, figuring on something to do with the wolf. Well, idea one, which is immediately put into practice, is to toss the milkbone toy into the wolf's jaws and see if that gums things up any. Idea two, which is also immediately put into practice, is to bolt across the battlefield and already violate the pairing off for a moment to pull a surprise grab at the chain of ice, trying to wrest it from Yuki's hands. "Hiya. This looks neat, can I borrow it?"
"Boo boo~~!" Yuki taunts Mars, "I'm *SOOO* scared!" Heehee -- oh wait, "Where'd *YOU* come from -" Yuki demands when Impulse interrupts and gets all grabby. Touching the chain of ice might not be a good idea; it burns cold, like frostbite - of course if Impulse has gloves it might not be as bad, but it'll still be felt. "NO you can't!" Yuki retorts in a 'MY toy, get your own' spoiled brat sort of voice. And to prove her possessive nature, while Mars is getting ready to send an attack that Yuki definitely does -not- want to get hit with, the girl swings her leg forward to kick Impulse in the chest while he's wrestling with her for the chain. If it connects, it might send him right into the path of Mars for a possible collision. "Daddy gave this to me! Hands off!"
WHINE WHINE WHINE.
The Ice Wolf, on the other hand, catches the milkbone with ease and without a second thought, swallows it down. And coughs. Bleagh, that's not a good taste at all. The tide of battle seesaws with the two harassing Yuki next, and the loyal animal (sorta) charges forward with clanking, icy footsteps, barreling into whatever happens to be in its way (hello streetlamp!) in an attempt to get these two heroes to stop harassing poor Yuki. Heads up! Oh, and the wolf isn't very good at -stopping- so watch out for that too. <3
Darn it. Sailor Mars HAS been guilty of friendly-fire on her allies in the past, but it's not like she does it on purpose. She narrows her eyes, drawing her fingers apart and extinguishing the rapidly-growing spark that was igniting between them. She wants to FRY someone! And if those two are tangled up, then that just leaves...
Oh ho ho ho ho! Oh ice wolf, you just made her day.
With a wicked smile and a fierce look in those smoldering dark eyes, Sailor Mars turns to face the rampaging creature. Hey, he's asking for it! He already knows just how badly he can get burned if he messes with Mars, it's his own fault. "Back for seconds? TAKE THIS!" The spark leaps back to life, bursting to a full-grown fireball that spirals rapidly from the senshi's joined hands.
But maaaaaaaybe it wasn't such a good idea to add FIRE to a rampaging juggernaut that seems hellbent on trampling into and through the unlikely duo.
"Oww," Impulse mutters - he /does/ have gloves, but they're fingerless and don't do him a whole lot of good. Maybe he should get full gloves. "Daddy's a pretty creepy guy if he's giving his daughter whips," he says, shortly before grunting and getting kicked aside to block a potential Mars fireburst. "Whuff! Okay, listen, I /was/ gonna grab this 'cause leash law's in effect." Impulse's grip on the chain of ice then begins to shake, very precisely - sending a vibration running down the chain of ice to take it, along with himself, out of phase with regular matter, rolling its molecules, hopefully, out of Yuki's grasp. "But it looks like we've got that covered for now, so..."
Yeeeeeeeeeeeah, although the beast is partially ice, there are still elements that aren't - the bits of icey armor melt away surprisingly quickly, leaving the bits of flesh to catch fire primarily because of the fur. And now instead of an angry, howling ice wolf rampaging through the city, there's a angry, howling, not as icy wolf on fire rampaging through the city. It doesn't know the principles of Stop-Drop-And Roll unfortunately, but it does know the principles of REVENGE. Rei is in its sights, as that bladed tail abruptly swings around in an arc with deadly intent, to slash at the senshi - fire and all.
Poor pup. Yuki glances past Impulse briefly with a small frown, "I really *HATE* your type," she growls at Mars, completely out of left field. And then she's no longer holding the chain of ice? Wut? "WH.. how did you do that, you little thief!" Yuki growls, stomping her foot. "You jerk! You jerk you jerk you jerk! You don't steal things like that! What kind of a jerk are you you jerky jerk! And don't you ever ever say anything bad about my daddy! He's better than yours and -" ... how old is she anyway?
She abruptly calms. "FINE, leash law what_EVER_. I'm going home, and you can stay and play with Fido or Frumpus or Figaro or whatever his name is. SEE IF I CARE." Pivoting on her heel, she stomps away a few paces, only to turn again, infuriated. "THIS ISN'T OVER YOU LOSER. YOU JERK. YOU JOSER! I'm telling my daddy on you!" Frumpus - or whatever he's been named - appears to be designated as the cannon fodder to allow his mistresses tantrummy escape. (S'that a word? Tantrummy? Ah well.)
Sailor Mars...really should learn to think first before devastating her enemies/potential-bulldozers with an element she's not exactly immune to. Maybe Mercury isn't as worthless as people think, considering she might have warned against the consequences of setting the wolf on fire.
"MY type?" Mars retorts with a smirk, heedless of incoming peril. "You mean the winning type? Too bad so s--AHHH!"
Welp. That'll learn her to put trashtalk before toasting the enemy for good. She gets knocked back several feet, stumbling to one knee with a hand planted over the freshly-cauterized slash across her ribs. That HURT! ~This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't entered this fight in such a bad mood,~ she chides herself, knowing fully well that she messed up.
And where did that Impulse guy literally run off to?
Pushing herself unsteadily back to her feet, Sailor Mars fixes the ice wolf with a hard stare. All right. She just needs to calm down. Think levelly. Keep her wits about her.
...
To hell with that. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE...SURROUND!" She chooses instead to blast it with more fire.
Impulse is just over there, he's not that far, Mars. Although hopefully far enough to not get surrounded by Mars celestial fire. That would hurt.
Well, okay, Yuki begins to run for it, and now Impulse might get a little farther. Because Impulse can multitask; in a flash (ho hoh!) he's gone when Yuki turns back to shout at him again. At least until he's tapping her on the shoulder from behind. "It is /totally/ over." And then he's a whirlwind around Yuki, wrapping that chain of ice around her in the tick of a second, and lightly shoving her over - just to knock her down for that extra little bit of humiliation, not enough to hurt her any. Although that whip was pretty cold, that can't be pleasant for her... although she was holding the whip fine herself just a few moments ago. "Okay, hang on for a second here," he says to Yuki, and then dashes off.
He's back at Yuki's side a moment later, wearing a flat Spanish hat and carrying a large, bright red cloth. Just to say, "Not that you have a choice in the matter." Then he's gone again...
Over /there/, specifically, off to the side, waving the cloth to catch the ice beast's attention. "Hey, Fluffy! Lookit me, li'l old bone-breakable me! Boy, I'm so vulnerable over here, what-oh-what will I do?"
And he keeps that position largely, taunting the ice wolf, except for another couple of seconds he zips back to Yuki to add, "You know, just for the record, even though I just y'know, tied you up with a whip and everything - I'm just hoping this doesn't get /weird/. This is a completely professional exchange between superhero and supervillain, okay?"
The Ice Wolf gets a point! Woo!~ As he strikes one against Rei, the beast promptly lunges forward to pin her beneath one massive fooJIGHJL:AHYGahgaFIREOGOD - just as quickly the beast is assaulted with lots and lots and *LOTS* of fire. THe wolf roars in pain, rearing up and stomping around like a bucking bronco - which only fans the flames more.
Okay you have to hand it to the kid. He's witty! He's quick! But not, alas, very bright. It's true that Yuki had no problem wielding the ice chain, and there's a very good reason for that. There's also a very good reason for the fact that she looks completely untroubled - even amused - at being tied up with her own weapon.
She tumbles over, landing on her cold little tuckus, but rather than be humiliated she giggles. Shrilly. "Oh you think I don't have a choice in the matter?" Her giggling reaches a fever pitch - a professional exchange between superhero and supervillain? That's just silly. YOu're silly, Impulse! "Nice try, but use your brains you goody goody! Here's a little hint. Know why I used that ice chain as a weapon?"
Her grin grows wider, showing a bit of fang - the chain itself slowly melds into her own body, as if it was a part of her. Truthfully it was just ice, like she was (in part), so she'd simply absorbed it.
"At least that's one thing that remains constant about your type," she smirks, "You're egotistical, and think the fight's done in your favor." She raises a hand and /flicks/ the corner of her hair.
"Fluffy's an acceptable loss, but I'm done here," she glances towards Rei, "For now." And to add insult to insult, she slaps her rear, "Win _THIS_." And in the blink of an eye -- well not in the way that Impulse moves, but she's there one second - and gone the next. There is a sharp noise like an icicle cracking in her passing, marking the use of her teleportation. Wait till she tells dad! <3
This leaves the senshi and the superhero alone with the flaming wolf, who - while bits and pieces start to flake off and - rather than leave chunks of grossness behind it starts to disperse into green sparkly ..stuff that fades away. One last charge though - and Impulse is making himself into quite the target, small though he is; the wolf howls one last time and barrels forward, keen on swiping up the small morsel for his last meal~!
Oooooh, it's a GOOD thing for Yuki that she vanished as quickly as she did, because Spiteful Sailor Mars targets that slapped rear with a parting fiery shot. "Ugh, what a brat!" she folds her arms huffily, confident that the wolf is just burning itself into a neat little pile of sparkle-ash. It seems to be pretty standard in this world, after all.
How troubling, though...did that girl have anything to do with her apocalyptic vision? She's definitely a new type of enemy, and she's not so quick to discount her as a mere foreigner. She might very well be from the Negaverse...
"Would you quit howling and just DISINTEGRATE already?!" Mars snaps at the creature, completely pitiless to its fiery plight. It's a monster and it's evil, who's got time for sympathy?
Except it's heading for Impulse. (How did he change costumes so fast? And how can she shorten her own stock footage sequence?) "HEY LOOK OUT!" she yells, pulling her fingers through the air for one last fireball, /just/ in case Impulse isn't quite so speedy this time around.
Yeah right.
Hey, it's disappearing on its own! Wow, that actually makes the question of how to deal with it much tidier. Impulse was banking on having to knock it out cold and send it to some kind of magical zoo where they could teach it manners. He sticks with the matador schtick, although rather than simply sweeping the cloth aside, he instead bolts from his position at the last minute, rushing past the side of the ice wolf's charge in the other direction, at just the curve to attempt to catch the wolf up in his slipstream and force-skid it into a turn towards his new location. Where, of course, he can taunt him into another charge! "Arriba arriba, andale andale, yeehaw!" He can keep this up as long as it takes before the wolf is gone, folks.
He will notice what happened to Yuki over there, but only when the wolf is dealt with.
The wolf is hurt - physically and emotionally at Rei and Impulse's callous treatment - of course, it did try to kill them, so ah well. The beast stumbles when it's caught up in the slipstream, skidding and just barely avoiding crashing into a wall. Good thing, that'd probably be a bill to the IPA for property damage. But as Impulse taunts it again, the wolf bellows one more time, lunging forward in an unsteady lope - only for its right front leg to crumble away in green sparkles. The beast collapses to the ground as the rest of its body starts to follow in short order, and a chilling lone howl is soon all that is left of the creature, as tiny sparkles of light fade away - as if the creature was never there.
But it WAS, and the smashed lamppost as well as Sailor Mars's injuries bear witness to that. Phew... It'd be nice if this were a one-time encounter sort of deal, but Mars is too well-versed in the formula of how these things work. Yuki will return, again and again, until finally she's defeated in a climactic battle. Then the REAL enemy will rear his or her ugly/bishie head, and Mars may or may not die in the process. She...would rather avoid that, if she could. Which is why she needs to go home and meditate, see if she can't learn anything about this new enemy.
The adrenaline hasn't worn off yet, but she knows it'll hurt when it does. "Looks like that's that," she grimaces, head turned in the direction of where Yuki disappeared. "Thanks for the assistance, Impulse."
And then it's gone. Impulse walks over to the last thing that remains from the wolf, the chewed-up remnants of the squeaky milkbone, and picks it up. Somehow, there's something sad about it.
"Perhaps, in another life... we could have been friends."
Impulse shrugs his shoulders, and then zips along with Rei to share a wide grin and a double thumbs up. "See! I told you I had it under control... uh, aside from the whole... hey, where /did/ she go?!" His head zips about, he holds his right hand flat above his brow and scans the horizon, opens up the lid of that dumpster across the street, peers into the sewer grate down in the curb, and then he's back again, throwing his hands up in surrender. "How was I supposed to know she could do /that/?! Ah, man. Well, the day is safe, though! Safe from... whatever it was... she was gonna do."
Impulse pauses. "Hey, what /was/ that all about, anyway? Normally these guys, y'know, at least /try/ to steal something or accomplish something before they leave."
"Not always the case around here," Sailor Mars remarks with a thoughtful frown. Awfully good question, though. What was the purpose of sending that thing here in the first place? ...And was he serious about making friends with a rabid monster that would sooner eat him than play fetch? Men are so weird. "Most of the enemies we get try to steal energy...but that didn't seem to be the goal either..."
The whole thing just didn't sit well with her. Very few things did, but she's learned to trust her instinct on these sorts of things. Looks like she's got some research to do. Or rather, some research to hand to Ami after she gets a chance to catch her breath. It's time for another meeting at the temple, probably around baked yams.
He did get it up one level to trying to eat him /and/ play fetch! Impulse squints when Mars tries to explain the norm around her home turf, though. "So, you get supervillains who... don't want to pay their electric bill?"
Sailor Mars squints. It's fairly patronizing. Just how dense is this guy? Oh, well, she supposes she can't be too hard on him. She wouldn't have believed it herself if she hadn't experienced it firsthand. "Noooo, I'm talking about your personal energy," she says, prodding at his shoulder. "Something you, apparently, have a lot of. You'll have to be careful around these parts, because if /I/ can sense it, chances are that the demons we fight somewhat habitually will be ten times more accutely aware of that potential. Understand?"
Impulse raises a brow, clearly trying very hard to understand this. "So... they... eat adrenaline? They're adrenaline vampires?" He pauses. Then he breaks out into a wide grin. "I am /so in/!" He bursts off, leaving behind a cloud of dust, as well as his Spanish hat and matador cloth, and is back before these things have hit the ground, wearing an orange Buddhist robe, a bishop's miter (it's a replica, he didn't take it from an actual bishop, promise), and carrying a witch-doctory stick with a little chicken skull on it. "So how do you get rid of a demon? Can I do it the normal way, or do I need to hit them on the head with the chicken stick?"
Was this guy seriously her own age? Seriously? Sailor Mars frowns, her irritation beginning to mount. "I don't have time for this..." she grumbles, turning to walk ahead. And walking a little faster if he follows. "Look, this is sailor scout business. You can't always outrun a demon that gets it in its mind to suck the life-energy out of you." Not the adrenaline, geez! "Just leave it to me and the others, we've been trained to handle this!"
Yeah! Trained by a talking cat, no less!
"Oh, sure, but you can shoot fire at it fine," Impulse huffs, keeping pace still in his ridiculous vampire hunter outfit /over/ his superhero outfit. Trying to walk faster if he follows? Either Mars overestimates Impulse's ability to take a hint or she hasn't really grasped the whole Fastest Teen Alive thing yet. "I got the girl and the wolf... well okay, I got the wolf fine anyway. And I don't see you with handcuffs over the girl either, so there!" He adds in a mutter, "I fought the god of speed once."
Well, okay, insane super-speedman who thought he was a god. And it was the Flash who actually beat that guy. But the gist is right! He didn't say he /beat/ the god of speed.
"Oh /yeah/?" It's on, now. She may not even realize it, but fighting /is/ very cathartic for Sailor Mars. And if she can't pick a squabble with the ones she /really/ wants to yell at, she'll settle for the first person to get on her nerves.
A winner is you!
"Well unless you're planning to outfit those giant sneakers with spikes in the soles, I don't see how 'running around really fast' is going to stop a rampaging demon from EATING your energy, along with everyone else's in the immediate vicinity! You don't have any offensive techniques, and while your distractions were helpful, I'm not always going to be around to save your butt if you run into trouble on your own!"
"Save my butt?!" Oh, it is on now; it wouldn't have been without that little bit. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen." Impulse needs bailing out plenty of times really, but he does get underestimated. "Ever seen somebody take a punch at /Mach Five/?"
"You mean with those skinny little arms?" Sailor Mars counters. Oh, she's just getting /mean/ now. She smiles slyly, tossing her head with her hands on her hips. "If you could do that, then you /should've' back there, it would've made things a whole lot simpler. Or were you afraid you'd get your little fingers dirty?"
"It was a /wolf/," Impulse says, throwing his hands out. "It's not like the wolf was going 'ha ha ha, I'm going to poison the city's water supply.' Maybe it just had a rotten owner! I was gonna tie it up but I mean, I got caught up with Little Miss Tantrum there." He mutters, folding his arms. "She's not gonna get off easy next time..."
"Who said anything about a next--ooh..." The tirade is cut short as Sailor Mars begins to feel something more than just a painful throb in her side. Now it feels like someone is jabbing hot needles into her organs, and burn wounds are painful for /days/. She can already see the yellowing of the burned flesh beneath the rip in her uniform, indicating the pus that'll thicken and seal itself over the rest of the scabs. Gross.
"Well, whatever," she grumbles, turning away a little unsteadily. "I'm going to get some rest. We can argue more later."
"Yeah, sure," Impulse says, withdrawing from the argument as well. "Hey, are you gonna be alright? Listen, if you-- Robin? Yeah," he says, standing up straight and looking ahead as the focus goes to his earpiece, the tiny little communicator hidden in that wing ornament. "Now? Yeah, okay, I'll be right over." He frowns, looking over to Mars. "Uh, team business. Hey, listen, uh... keep safe, okay? Get better. Drop me a line if you need anything, I guess... later!" He's gone pretty much right away; that boy doesn't wait for anything.
Robin? ROBIN?! He's still around and chatting up that--that long-haired TWERP and he can't even...! Oooooooooooo!!!!! "If that's the same--!"
Zing!
Sailor Mars claps a hand to her side, and another over her mouth. Good thing he left so fast. Robin's not supposed to know her evil-fighting identity. And that means she can't chew him out over the IPA radio, as much as she'd dearly love to do just that.
And maybe she was a little mean to Impulse. ...A lot mean. He was a big help, after all, and seemed like a nice enough guy. He also left in a flash, which means she doesn't have to abandon her sports bag in the alley. Making sure that no one else is around, she ducks back into that alley to change back. Now for the hard part...keeping news of her injury secure from Grandpa and Yuuichirou.
(OOC: Alpha needs a tag!)
WHAT: Cranky Rei is in for a nasty surprise when Yuki shows up in the neighborhood with her pet ice wolf. Impulse, on patrol of multiple sectors, just happens to be around to lend a hand and allow Sailor Mars to join the fight. And oh, it gets beautifully petty~
WHEN: September 6th, 2008 - Evening
WHERE: Sailor Moon's Tokyo
Rei Hino is in a bad mood. This marks the third man.../third/...to let her down. Michael Trinity, if Rei ever gets her hands on you, she will give you SUCH a pinch. First Masataka, then Robin, now THIS! Sometimes she doesn't know why she even bothers, but she's got a dream to chase. If she's ever going to get married, then she has to date first. So why is that so HARD? Why are men such flaky cowards?! ~Who needs 'em,~ she scowls to herself, stomping down the street with her sports duffel slung across her shoulder. She thought her karate class might end up alleviating some of the stress, and it did, but not nearly enough.
She sighs, eyeballing an ice cream shop for a moment, then ignoring it completely. That might be Usagi's answer to everything, but not Rei's. She thumbs the brim of her ballcap (now unnecessary since the sun has set), quickening her pace. Maybe a hot meal, a hot bath, and a few hours of meditation before the Sacred Fire will do her a world of good. Maybe not. She won't know until she tries.
Yuki is being a bad girl.
Well that's a bit of an understatement. She's being a *very* bad girl. On the one hand, after her last task her dear old dad was very pleased with their latest creation. On the other, he was displeased that she had chosen Fuuka as the test site. I mean really, how are they supposed to keep a low profile from the nuisances there if they're harassing the locals there?
And after the thorough chewing out Yuki got from her father at that, well, she's in almost as bad a mood as Rei. But where the Shrine Priestess will turn to a hot bath and meditation, Yuki has other methods of blowing off steam. So to speak. Can ice 'elementals' even blow off steam? Hrm.
Regardless, Rei will have something else to take her anger and frustration out on soon. Yuki, perched out of sight on the roof of the same ice cream shop that Rei was passing, was waiting for something - anything - to alleviate her boredom. What's better than harassing a few civilians?
She won't show herself just yet though - instead, Rei may 'ping' to the sudden presence of something nasty landing almost directly behind her with a resounding *BOOM*, pavement cracking beneath the creature's weight. The growl that follows is definitely unearthly and not exactly a happy, nice-to-meet-you noise. And the creature in question - well it's wolflike in design, with what appear to be blades along its back, a long tail and chunks of ice, and some kinda ore protecting its more vital parts of the body. Mouth open, its breath comes out in a cloud of icy vapor. Hiya~!
What the-- Rei pauses in her steps, back still facing the monster, and looks down at the cracks spiderwebbing below her sneakers. "I'm NOT in the mood, Usagi," she growls. "Have you been hitting the malts again? I swear I can hear you coming--"
That's when the 'bad mojo' vibes hit. Slowly she turns, already knowing that she's not about to see a big-eyed cheerful girl with blonde pigtails. There's fur right there...and oh dear...it goes up quiiiiiiite a bit, she notices, tipping her head back to get an eyeful of all those teeth. My, what big icicles you have. All the better to bite your head off with, my dear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Rei screams, spinning about on her heel and bolting down the street. ~This is NOT doing my bad mood any FAVORS!~ Seriously! Could the spirits of nature PLEASE give her a BREAK once in a while?! This is definitely a job for Sailor Mars, but she needs to get out of sight before she can transform.
One of the convenient things about having a super-speedster on the payroll is you get to write up some outright nonsensical patrol duties. Impulse's time with the Interplanar Peacekeeping Agency has him periodically covering several officers' worth of territory by running a few laps across a few different dimensions. It just so happens that his assigned lap today crosses right down the nation of Japan. Normally it wouldn't be noticed save for the cool breeze of Hokkaido being taken across the breadth of Honshu for a strange second or two.
Today, there's an ice wolf!
Impulse, in fact, begins to slow down as he first sees the ice wolf coming up, which means that he slows from an unexpected fierce gust down to /merely/ a crack of bronze lightning rushing parallel to the road. At least until he hits a point standing between civilian-to-be-protected Rei Hino and the presumably enormous ice beast, when the sonic boom stops on a dime and resolves itself into a big-footed teenager in a bronze-and-white super-suit, mask and goggles.
"Heads up," he says, snapping his fingers with a friendly grin. He steps just a bit to the side, to establish himself standing in the way of the ice wolf. "Friendly neighborhood card-carrying superhero! Well, out-of-neighborhood. So it's ice monsters today, huh?" He pauses, and then turns around. "That's the situation, right? Angry ice monster needs put down? It's not just like some weird pet with indigestion?" Fortunately for Rei, if she's still seeking secrecy, Impulse has a tendency to be distracted pretty easily - he probably lost track of her while he was rattling off his intro banter.
Enormous depending on one's perspective of such - it's probably about fifteen feet high or so, which can be pretty be. Add in those blades, and you've got an extra five feet on it. With the arrival of a new goody goody, the ice wolf turns its attention to Impulse. Yuki watches Rei run off, but swings her attention back to the superhero boy with a frown. "Hmph. Just how many goody goodies are there in these zones.." she mutters to herself. Oh well, all the more fun to see how her puppy friend does.
The Ice wolf doesn't seem to like the implication of euthanasia - the ground seems a littie icy where it steps, making cracking sounds as ice frosts over the ground. Lowering its head towards Impulse, the Ice wolf utters a frosty vaporcloud -BARK-, clearly expecting him to run like Rei would. It likes chasing prey. It's /funny/.
Again, what the--?! Who's the newcomer? She does feel that faint spiritual 'ping' as something not-evil, and glancing back over her shoulder, she gets a view of wild brown hair and spandex-clad Bart butt. "..." Not exactly the superhero she had in mind, but beggars can't be choosers, and he's just the distraction she needs to duck out of sight.
"Demon, or whatever you are, you picked a BAD day to invade MY town," she grumbles, dropping her sports bag and dipping her fingers into her pocket to withdraw the crimson power stick. Things are about to get hot around here.
Turning into a Sailor Senshi takes time, I mean how long does that transformation sequence last? Rei hasn't even triggered it yet! Fortunately, she has Impulse to depend on. Oh, sure, he might not be the smartest superhero, or the most effective, or the most efficient, responsible, respected, prudent, sensible, well-groomed... but he is among the most likely to lead the villain on with pointless taunting rather than sock them in their stupid face.
Impulse does /run/, although if the ice wolf blinks it will miss it, and it's not in the direction of 'away.' It's actually in the direction of 'until he finds the nearest pet store.' And then it's in the direction of right back and Impulse is clicking his tongue like the ice wolf really was a little puppy, and holding up an inflatable milkbone. He squeaks it up over his head. "Hey, boy! Heyyy, boy! You want your toy? Huh? You want your toy?! You like your toy? I've got your toy!"
Nice list of traits there, poor Impulse. The speed in which he runs is so quick that the wolf beast doesn't even manage to track it - only spotting the blink of gone and back again where the boy is now brandishing a toy milkbone.
...which has Yuki in a fit of silent giggles at the very -idea-. It's so .. so /absurd/! It's almost insulting to her - and Yuki is tempted to show herself just to tell this boy that very thing. On the other hand, no - not yet. Rei's transformation might get attention if it's terribly flashy, but more importantly, the wolf is actually momentarily caught off guard by the fact that Impulse is waving a squeaky -thing-.
"...." The wolf finally response by lunging forward with a snarl, jaws parting to snap up that toy - and Impulse's arm with it. Bad dog!
"Mars Fire IGNITE!" A blazing fireball explodes, jetting through the air to engulf itself within the ice wolf's gaping maw. But where did it come from?
Look! Up there, balanced comfortably on top of a streetlamp! It's Sailor Mars, in all her miniskirt glory! Arms folded, she glares imperiously down at the creature. Sure she knows Impulse is fast enough to avoid being bitten like that, but that doesn't justify the creature's attempt now does it? "If you're hungry, why don't you try chewing on that?" she sniffs, tossing her head to throw out her flag of long black hair. Standard pre-battle pose stuff. She has to look good at some point, probably before she gets scratched and bloodied and frostbitten. "You think you can just waltz in here and stir up trouble because it's the weekend? No such doing! I'm Sailor Mars!"
Arms spread-eagled above, she vaults from her perch, landing neatly on her crimson pumps, pointing with a flourish. "And in the name of Mars, I will punish you!"
"Whoa," Impulse says, from where he is already standing on the other side of the ice wolf, holding the squeaky toy aloft. Actually he threw it and caught it, but again, it's rather hard to discern these details at his speed. He whistles - actually the fire almost feels a little like overkill, at least for now - but Sailor Mars immediately kind of cancels that out with her sailor fuku costume and her boilerplate magical girl speech. That is the second girliest superhero Impulse has seen.
"Hey, I got this one," Impulse volunteers, although he's not territorial enough to insist on it - it's more like an offer if Mars would rather go do something else. Impulse has this under control, honest. He squeaks the milkbone idly, and then peers over Sailor Mars's costume with an innocent look on his face. "...doesn't it hurt fighting crime in heels like that?"
Would she prefer the wolf to come back on a school day? Yuki can arrange that. <3 But at the arrival of the fire senshi, the girl frowns darkly. See, she has something against those damn fire-using people. There's one in Fuuka, and there was that one that had hurt her badly not long ago -
She reaches to her pocket, withdrawing a phone and dialing a number. Not 911 or anything though, oh no. She's calling her dear sweet daddy. Why? Well, she is so very devoted to her 'father', it's always nice to let him know when she's about to do something reckless.
Well that and the fact that she's going to have to gather some data now. One superhero is annoying - two is inexcusable. And it went and hurt her poor puppy. The poor puppy naturally, /eats fireball/. And it -hurts-, quite a bit, what with it being the opposing element and all. The animal howls in pain and backs up a bit, clawing at its mouth briefly - then in a fit of rage, the monster turns on Impulse, rearing up with both forepaws and coming down again to slam into the ground hard enough to shake it - and possibly squish the boy if he doesn't get out of the way in time.
On the bright side, there won't be any territorial squabbles; Yuki's about to make the fight a bit more even. "Two against one is pretty unfair!" Announces the voice of another; a girl in a blue dress, with frosty skin and short blonde hair. "Let me even it up for you!" She's no Sailor Mercury, though the element is pretty much the same. Incoming Rei-dear, dangerously unstable ice-user swinging a chain of ice at thy unprotected rear~!
Did he just critique her fighting costume? Oh snap! "Doesn't it hurt fighting with big feet?" Sailor Mars counters waspishly. It's not like she ASKED for the red high heels, they just sort of came with the job!
She doesn't get nearly enough time for smack talk, however, as the ice wolf is suddenly retaliating, and with full force. And to make things more complicated, now there's a senshi-wannabe arriving on the scene. Foolish being! Doesn't she know that Mercury is the most useless senshi in a fight?
"Fine," she informs Impulse, though her eyes never leave the newcomer. "Wolf's all yours. I'll take this one." Most guys have a problem with hitting women, so it's in everyone's interest if Sailor Mars initiates the greatest bitchfight in this realm ever since Traski came sniffing around.
She didn't expect Yuki to be so quick. She only scarcely avoids the incoming attack with a frantic skywards leap, vaulting backwards to land on her feet. "I'm warning you, you do NOT want to make me mad today!" she growls through gritted teeth, clenching her gloved hands into fists. "Mars Fire--"
"Not really," Impulse says, while instantly zipping several feet clear of the ice wolf's crashing onto the road. "I mean - hey! My feet aren't biiiiiguh!" The aftershock takes him a little off-guard, knocking him on his butt. Not really a setback in the battle, not an injury, but it doesn't help the rep.
"So, I'm Impulse," he offers as he stands back up, trying to get things back on the right foot on both counts. "You know these guys?" As he talks, he looks around, figuring on something to do with the wolf. Well, idea one, which is immediately put into practice, is to toss the milkbone toy into the wolf's jaws and see if that gums things up any. Idea two, which is also immediately put into practice, is to bolt across the battlefield and already violate the pairing off for a moment to pull a surprise grab at the chain of ice, trying to wrest it from Yuki's hands. "Hiya. This looks neat, can I borrow it?"
"Boo boo~~!" Yuki taunts Mars, "I'm *SOOO* scared!" Heehee -- oh wait, "Where'd *YOU* come from -" Yuki demands when Impulse interrupts and gets all grabby. Touching the chain of ice might not be a good idea; it burns cold, like frostbite - of course if Impulse has gloves it might not be as bad, but it'll still be felt. "NO you can't!" Yuki retorts in a 'MY toy, get your own' spoiled brat sort of voice. And to prove her possessive nature, while Mars is getting ready to send an attack that Yuki definitely does -not- want to get hit with, the girl swings her leg forward to kick Impulse in the chest while he's wrestling with her for the chain. If it connects, it might send him right into the path of Mars for a possible collision. "Daddy gave this to me! Hands off!"
WHINE WHINE WHINE.
The Ice Wolf, on the other hand, catches the milkbone with ease and without a second thought, swallows it down. And coughs. Bleagh, that's not a good taste at all. The tide of battle seesaws with the two harassing Yuki next, and the loyal animal (sorta) charges forward with clanking, icy footsteps, barreling into whatever happens to be in its way (hello streetlamp!) in an attempt to get these two heroes to stop harassing poor Yuki. Heads up! Oh, and the wolf isn't very good at -stopping- so watch out for that too. <3
Darn it. Sailor Mars HAS been guilty of friendly-fire on her allies in the past, but it's not like she does it on purpose. She narrows her eyes, drawing her fingers apart and extinguishing the rapidly-growing spark that was igniting between them. She wants to FRY someone! And if those two are tangled up, then that just leaves...
Oh ho ho ho ho! Oh ice wolf, you just made her day.
With a wicked smile and a fierce look in those smoldering dark eyes, Sailor Mars turns to face the rampaging creature. Hey, he's asking for it! He already knows just how badly he can get burned if he messes with Mars, it's his own fault. "Back for seconds? TAKE THIS!" The spark leaps back to life, bursting to a full-grown fireball that spirals rapidly from the senshi's joined hands.
But maaaaaaaybe it wasn't such a good idea to add FIRE to a rampaging juggernaut that seems hellbent on trampling into and through the unlikely duo.
"Oww," Impulse mutters - he /does/ have gloves, but they're fingerless and don't do him a whole lot of good. Maybe he should get full gloves. "Daddy's a pretty creepy guy if he's giving his daughter whips," he says, shortly before grunting and getting kicked aside to block a potential Mars fireburst. "Whuff! Okay, listen, I /was/ gonna grab this 'cause leash law's in effect." Impulse's grip on the chain of ice then begins to shake, very precisely - sending a vibration running down the chain of ice to take it, along with himself, out of phase with regular matter, rolling its molecules, hopefully, out of Yuki's grasp. "But it looks like we've got that covered for now, so..."
Yeeeeeeeeeeeah, although the beast is partially ice, there are still elements that aren't - the bits of icey armor melt away surprisingly quickly, leaving the bits of flesh to catch fire primarily because of the fur. And now instead of an angry, howling ice wolf rampaging through the city, there's a angry, howling, not as icy wolf on fire rampaging through the city. It doesn't know the principles of Stop-Drop-And Roll unfortunately, but it does know the principles of REVENGE. Rei is in its sights, as that bladed tail abruptly swings around in an arc with deadly intent, to slash at the senshi - fire and all.
Poor pup. Yuki glances past Impulse briefly with a small frown, "I really *HATE* your type," she growls at Mars, completely out of left field. And then she's no longer holding the chain of ice? Wut? "WH.. how did you do that, you little thief!" Yuki growls, stomping her foot. "You jerk! You jerk you jerk you jerk! You don't steal things like that! What kind of a jerk are you you jerky jerk! And don't you ever ever say anything bad about my daddy! He's better than yours and -" ... how old is she anyway?
She abruptly calms. "FINE, leash law what_EVER_. I'm going home, and you can stay and play with Fido or Frumpus or Figaro or whatever his name is. SEE IF I CARE." Pivoting on her heel, she stomps away a few paces, only to turn again, infuriated. "THIS ISN'T OVER YOU LOSER. YOU JERK. YOU JOSER! I'm telling my daddy on you!" Frumpus - or whatever he's been named - appears to be designated as the cannon fodder to allow his mistresses tantrummy escape. (S'that a word? Tantrummy? Ah well.)
Sailor Mars...really should learn to think first before devastating her enemies/potential-bulldozers with an element she's not exactly immune to. Maybe Mercury isn't as worthless as people think, considering she might have warned against the consequences of setting the wolf on fire.
"MY type?" Mars retorts with a smirk, heedless of incoming peril. "You mean the winning type? Too bad so s--AHHH!"
Welp. That'll learn her to put trashtalk before toasting the enemy for good. She gets knocked back several feet, stumbling to one knee with a hand planted over the freshly-cauterized slash across her ribs. That HURT! ~This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't entered this fight in such a bad mood,~ she chides herself, knowing fully well that she messed up.
And where did that Impulse guy literally run off to?
Pushing herself unsteadily back to her feet, Sailor Mars fixes the ice wolf with a hard stare. All right. She just needs to calm down. Think levelly. Keep her wits about her.
...
To hell with that. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE...SURROUND!" She chooses instead to blast it with more fire.
Impulse is just over there, he's not that far, Mars. Although hopefully far enough to not get surrounded by Mars celestial fire. That would hurt.
Well, okay, Yuki begins to run for it, and now Impulse might get a little farther. Because Impulse can multitask; in a flash (ho hoh!) he's gone when Yuki turns back to shout at him again. At least until he's tapping her on the shoulder from behind. "It is /totally/ over." And then he's a whirlwind around Yuki, wrapping that chain of ice around her in the tick of a second, and lightly shoving her over - just to knock her down for that extra little bit of humiliation, not enough to hurt her any. Although that whip was pretty cold, that can't be pleasant for her... although she was holding the whip fine herself just a few moments ago. "Okay, hang on for a second here," he says to Yuki, and then dashes off.
He's back at Yuki's side a moment later, wearing a flat Spanish hat and carrying a large, bright red cloth. Just to say, "Not that you have a choice in the matter." Then he's gone again...
Over /there/, specifically, off to the side, waving the cloth to catch the ice beast's attention. "Hey, Fluffy! Lookit me, li'l old bone-breakable me! Boy, I'm so vulnerable over here, what-oh-what will I do?"
And he keeps that position largely, taunting the ice wolf, except for another couple of seconds he zips back to Yuki to add, "You know, just for the record, even though I just y'know, tied you up with a whip and everything - I'm just hoping this doesn't get /weird/. This is a completely professional exchange between superhero and supervillain, okay?"
The Ice Wolf gets a point! Woo!~ As he strikes one against Rei, the beast promptly lunges forward to pin her beneath one massive fooJIGHJL:AHYGahgaFIREOGOD - just as quickly the beast is assaulted with lots and lots and *LOTS* of fire. THe wolf roars in pain, rearing up and stomping around like a bucking bronco - which only fans the flames more.
Okay you have to hand it to the kid. He's witty! He's quick! But not, alas, very bright. It's true that Yuki had no problem wielding the ice chain, and there's a very good reason for that. There's also a very good reason for the fact that she looks completely untroubled - even amused - at being tied up with her own weapon.
She tumbles over, landing on her cold little tuckus, but rather than be humiliated she giggles. Shrilly. "Oh you think I don't have a choice in the matter?" Her giggling reaches a fever pitch - a professional exchange between superhero and supervillain? That's just silly. YOu're silly, Impulse! "Nice try, but use your brains you goody goody! Here's a little hint. Know why I used that ice chain as a weapon?"
Her grin grows wider, showing a bit of fang - the chain itself slowly melds into her own body, as if it was a part of her. Truthfully it was just ice, like she was (in part), so she'd simply absorbed it.
"At least that's one thing that remains constant about your type," she smirks, "You're egotistical, and think the fight's done in your favor." She raises a hand and /flicks/ the corner of her hair.
"Fluffy's an acceptable loss, but I'm done here," she glances towards Rei, "For now." And to add insult to insult, she slaps her rear, "Win _THIS_." And in the blink of an eye -- well not in the way that Impulse moves, but she's there one second - and gone the next. There is a sharp noise like an icicle cracking in her passing, marking the use of her teleportation. Wait till she tells dad! <3
This leaves the senshi and the superhero alone with the flaming wolf, who - while bits and pieces start to flake off and - rather than leave chunks of grossness behind it starts to disperse into green sparkly ..stuff that fades away. One last charge though - and Impulse is making himself into quite the target, small though he is; the wolf howls one last time and barrels forward, keen on swiping up the small morsel for his last meal~!
Oooooh, it's a GOOD thing for Yuki that she vanished as quickly as she did, because Spiteful Sailor Mars targets that slapped rear with a parting fiery shot. "Ugh, what a brat!" she folds her arms huffily, confident that the wolf is just burning itself into a neat little pile of sparkle-ash. It seems to be pretty standard in this world, after all.
How troubling, though...did that girl have anything to do with her apocalyptic vision? She's definitely a new type of enemy, and she's not so quick to discount her as a mere foreigner. She might very well be from the Negaverse...
"Would you quit howling and just DISINTEGRATE already?!" Mars snaps at the creature, completely pitiless to its fiery plight. It's a monster and it's evil, who's got time for sympathy?
Except it's heading for Impulse. (How did he change costumes so fast? And how can she shorten her own stock footage sequence?) "HEY LOOK OUT!" she yells, pulling her fingers through the air for one last fireball, /just/ in case Impulse isn't quite so speedy this time around.
Yeah right.
Hey, it's disappearing on its own! Wow, that actually makes the question of how to deal with it much tidier. Impulse was banking on having to knock it out cold and send it to some kind of magical zoo where they could teach it manners. He sticks with the matador schtick, although rather than simply sweeping the cloth aside, he instead bolts from his position at the last minute, rushing past the side of the ice wolf's charge in the other direction, at just the curve to attempt to catch the wolf up in his slipstream and force-skid it into a turn towards his new location. Where, of course, he can taunt him into another charge! "Arriba arriba, andale andale, yeehaw!" He can keep this up as long as it takes before the wolf is gone, folks.
He will notice what happened to Yuki over there, but only when the wolf is dealt with.
The wolf is hurt - physically and emotionally at Rei and Impulse's callous treatment - of course, it did try to kill them, so ah well. The beast stumbles when it's caught up in the slipstream, skidding and just barely avoiding crashing into a wall. Good thing, that'd probably be a bill to the IPA for property damage. But as Impulse taunts it again, the wolf bellows one more time, lunging forward in an unsteady lope - only for its right front leg to crumble away in green sparkles. The beast collapses to the ground as the rest of its body starts to follow in short order, and a chilling lone howl is soon all that is left of the creature, as tiny sparkles of light fade away - as if the creature was never there.
But it WAS, and the smashed lamppost as well as Sailor Mars's injuries bear witness to that. Phew... It'd be nice if this were a one-time encounter sort of deal, but Mars is too well-versed in the formula of how these things work. Yuki will return, again and again, until finally she's defeated in a climactic battle. Then the REAL enemy will rear his or her ugly/bishie head, and Mars may or may not die in the process. She...would rather avoid that, if she could. Which is why she needs to go home and meditate, see if she can't learn anything about this new enemy.
The adrenaline hasn't worn off yet, but she knows it'll hurt when it does. "Looks like that's that," she grimaces, head turned in the direction of where Yuki disappeared. "Thanks for the assistance, Impulse."
And then it's gone. Impulse walks over to the last thing that remains from the wolf, the chewed-up remnants of the squeaky milkbone, and picks it up. Somehow, there's something sad about it.
"Perhaps, in another life... we could have been friends."
Impulse shrugs his shoulders, and then zips along with Rei to share a wide grin and a double thumbs up. "See! I told you I had it under control... uh, aside from the whole... hey, where /did/ she go?!" His head zips about, he holds his right hand flat above his brow and scans the horizon, opens up the lid of that dumpster across the street, peers into the sewer grate down in the curb, and then he's back again, throwing his hands up in surrender. "How was I supposed to know she could do /that/?! Ah, man. Well, the day is safe, though! Safe from... whatever it was... she was gonna do."
Impulse pauses. "Hey, what /was/ that all about, anyway? Normally these guys, y'know, at least /try/ to steal something or accomplish something before they leave."
"Not always the case around here," Sailor Mars remarks with a thoughtful frown. Awfully good question, though. What was the purpose of sending that thing here in the first place? ...And was he serious about making friends with a rabid monster that would sooner eat him than play fetch? Men are so weird. "Most of the enemies we get try to steal energy...but that didn't seem to be the goal either..."
The whole thing just didn't sit well with her. Very few things did, but she's learned to trust her instinct on these sorts of things. Looks like she's got some research to do. Or rather, some research to hand to Ami after she gets a chance to catch her breath. It's time for another meeting at the temple, probably around baked yams.
He did get it up one level to trying to eat him /and/ play fetch! Impulse squints when Mars tries to explain the norm around her home turf, though. "So, you get supervillains who... don't want to pay their electric bill?"
Sailor Mars squints. It's fairly patronizing. Just how dense is this guy? Oh, well, she supposes she can't be too hard on him. She wouldn't have believed it herself if she hadn't experienced it firsthand. "Noooo, I'm talking about your personal energy," she says, prodding at his shoulder. "Something you, apparently, have a lot of. You'll have to be careful around these parts, because if /I/ can sense it, chances are that the demons we fight somewhat habitually will be ten times more accutely aware of that potential. Understand?"
Impulse raises a brow, clearly trying very hard to understand this. "So... they... eat adrenaline? They're adrenaline vampires?" He pauses. Then he breaks out into a wide grin. "I am /so in/!" He bursts off, leaving behind a cloud of dust, as well as his Spanish hat and matador cloth, and is back before these things have hit the ground, wearing an orange Buddhist robe, a bishop's miter (it's a replica, he didn't take it from an actual bishop, promise), and carrying a witch-doctory stick with a little chicken skull on it. "So how do you get rid of a demon? Can I do it the normal way, or do I need to hit them on the head with the chicken stick?"
Was this guy seriously her own age? Seriously? Sailor Mars frowns, her irritation beginning to mount. "I don't have time for this..." she grumbles, turning to walk ahead. And walking a little faster if he follows. "Look, this is sailor scout business. You can't always outrun a demon that gets it in its mind to suck the life-energy out of you." Not the adrenaline, geez! "Just leave it to me and the others, we've been trained to handle this!"
Yeah! Trained by a talking cat, no less!
"Oh, sure, but you can shoot fire at it fine," Impulse huffs, keeping pace still in his ridiculous vampire hunter outfit /over/ his superhero outfit. Trying to walk faster if he follows? Either Mars overestimates Impulse's ability to take a hint or she hasn't really grasped the whole Fastest Teen Alive thing yet. "I got the girl and the wolf... well okay, I got the wolf fine anyway. And I don't see you with handcuffs over the girl either, so there!" He adds in a mutter, "I fought the god of speed once."
Well, okay, insane super-speedman who thought he was a god. And it was the Flash who actually beat that guy. But the gist is right! He didn't say he /beat/ the god of speed.
"Oh /yeah/?" It's on, now. She may not even realize it, but fighting /is/ very cathartic for Sailor Mars. And if she can't pick a squabble with the ones she /really/ wants to yell at, she'll settle for the first person to get on her nerves.
A winner is you!
"Well unless you're planning to outfit those giant sneakers with spikes in the soles, I don't see how 'running around really fast' is going to stop a rampaging demon from EATING your energy, along with everyone else's in the immediate vicinity! You don't have any offensive techniques, and while your distractions were helpful, I'm not always going to be around to save your butt if you run into trouble on your own!"
"Save my butt?!" Oh, it is on now; it wouldn't have been without that little bit. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen." Impulse needs bailing out plenty of times really, but he does get underestimated. "Ever seen somebody take a punch at /Mach Five/?"
"You mean with those skinny little arms?" Sailor Mars counters. Oh, she's just getting /mean/ now. She smiles slyly, tossing her head with her hands on her hips. "If you could do that, then you /should've' back there, it would've made things a whole lot simpler. Or were you afraid you'd get your little fingers dirty?"
"It was a /wolf/," Impulse says, throwing his hands out. "It's not like the wolf was going 'ha ha ha, I'm going to poison the city's water supply.' Maybe it just had a rotten owner! I was gonna tie it up but I mean, I got caught up with Little Miss Tantrum there." He mutters, folding his arms. "She's not gonna get off easy next time..."
"Who said anything about a next--ooh..." The tirade is cut short as Sailor Mars begins to feel something more than just a painful throb in her side. Now it feels like someone is jabbing hot needles into her organs, and burn wounds are painful for /days/. She can already see the yellowing of the burned flesh beneath the rip in her uniform, indicating the pus that'll thicken and seal itself over the rest of the scabs. Gross.
"Well, whatever," she grumbles, turning away a little unsteadily. "I'm going to get some rest. We can argue more later."
"Yeah, sure," Impulse says, withdrawing from the argument as well. "Hey, are you gonna be alright? Listen, if you-- Robin? Yeah," he says, standing up straight and looking ahead as the focus goes to his earpiece, the tiny little communicator hidden in that wing ornament. "Now? Yeah, okay, I'll be right over." He frowns, looking over to Mars. "Uh, team business. Hey, listen, uh... keep safe, okay? Get better. Drop me a line if you need anything, I guess... later!" He's gone pretty much right away; that boy doesn't wait for anything.
Robin? ROBIN?! He's still around and chatting up that--that long-haired TWERP and he can't even...! Oooooooooooo!!!!! "If that's the same--!"
Zing!
Sailor Mars claps a hand to her side, and another over her mouth. Good thing he left so fast. Robin's not supposed to know her evil-fighting identity. And that means she can't chew him out over the IPA radio, as much as she'd dearly love to do just that.
And maybe she was a little mean to Impulse. ...A lot mean. He was a big help, after all, and seemed like a nice enough guy. He also left in a flash, which means she doesn't have to abandon her sports bag in the alley. Making sure that no one else is around, she ducks back into that alley to change back. Now for the hard part...keeping news of her injury secure from Grandpa and Yuuichirou.
(OOC: Alpha needs a tag!)