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 Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:35 pm
It was raining.
Unfortunately, an umbrella did not come with the fuku, and so Super Sailor Ares had no choice but to get drenched. Long cinnamon hair fell in a wet clump between her shoulder blades. The draped sash at her waist had to be doubled-over to keep it from dragging over the mud of the field. It was never her preference to 'rough it,' but the Captain of the Blood Moon Court was following up on the whereabouts of an MIA cadet. He had last been seen patrolling in the outskirts of the woods bordering up against Destiny City.
With the Negas held in captivity for several days now, the s**t had just begun to hit to the fan. Blood Moon senshi were being hunted by the Negas. Reports of vicious battles had reached the Inner Sanctum. A few cadets were hospitalized. So far, none had been killed, but the Senshi of Smoke did not like to have her people on the run.
Stepping over a fallen log, the senshi squinted gray eyes against the blackness. It was highly possible that this cadet had simply gone rogue under the pressure. His identity was not known to them, and as far as Ares could tell, there was no sign of a skirmish here. If he ever showed his face to the BMC again, the cadet would have to face his punishment.
Every second she spent out here was a moment she wasn't with Tanzanite. It bothered her. "That's it then," she said to the emptiness, turning to head back toward civilization. She had done her part, gotten out of the prison-turned-warehouse as Birhan had recommended. No need to waste her energy any further.
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:24 pm
It had only taken one hint, one lieutenant who thought he'd maybe seen what looked like that one red-headed leader of the BMC walking off alone into the woods. She couldn't blame him for being unsure - Ares' name was well known but many of the newer recruits had never even seen her. By now everyone had been told to stay on the look out and given a rough description, but that meant they were following a fair number of false leads. It was worth it to Alkaid, she only needed one to be true, and she would follow every false lead she was given no matter how ridiculous it seemed until she found the right one. Right now, walking down a muddy trail in the middle of a stormy night seemed pretty ridiculous.
Her long, pale hair was stained darkly by the falling rain but for the most part looked untouched - dreads were a hard style to ruin. They were just heavy, weighing her head down and making the hike more miserable than the saturated ground was. Her dark heels were caked in mud that covered the ornate details, making them look like shapeless lumps and the suction of the mud patches made the walk more tedious than a storm alone could. She was almost ready to give up, sure that even if Ares had ventured this far out or been here at all she must have surely turned back by this point. It was probably a false lead anyway.
That's when she heard the voice that barely carried through the rain and saw her first glimpse of cinnamon hair emerge from the darkness only moments later. The lieutenant had been right, she was here, and Alkaid stood between her and her path home - or maybe the path to where she kept the captives. It was almost enough to make Alkaid believe in fate. Almost.
The second her amber eyes fell on the figure whose fuku was nearly as dark as her own, she straightened up and set her face to stony indifference. She had to chase away all signs of irritation and discomfort if she was going to face this ruthless, merciless leader. Could Alkaid do this without Tanzanite? She'd have to, and she'd have to do it for her.
"It's pretty brave to be out here alone, Ares." It was cool, more composed than she thought she could manage in that moment, and the look on her face as she stared down the senshi of smoke through the rain was fit to match. At least Alkaid could look the part she needed to play.
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:53 pm
Failing to detect the presence of a Nega was unacceptable, especially a signal as strange as that of a corrupted senshi. She felt it just a moment too late. It was enough time to give Alkaid the advantage. The Senshi of Smoke turned slowly, eyes sparking with the threat of an oncoming fight. She hadn't known Alkaid before, not that it mattered. All servants of Beryl had to die.
Her hand tightened on the thin iron staff in her hand. "You know nothing of bravery, runaway," she said flatly. "Abandoned the senshi, and then turned tail and ran away from your fellow Negas." One eyebrow raised upward slowly. "A model of the Negaverse's strength."
At her side, one hand clenched to a fist. "Let's not waste time then." No sooner had the words left her mouth, and Sailor Ares was calling her to her attack, "Ares Smothering Blast!" Twin columns of smoke burst forth from her wrist, sailing right for the the corrupted senshi.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:32 pm
Alkaid only had a few moments to make a decision as she saw the parallel raise her hands and prepare for her attack. She had two choices: try to resist and be a sitting target or face it head on and stand a chance. It was really no contest - she wasn't going to let this witch make a target out of her, not after what she'd done to Tanzanite.
She narrowed her eyes on the BMC leader and drew up her fists, like she might try to fight the toxic columns themselves. Her eyes remained trained on where she'd seen her, even as the dark swells began to obscure her vision. Once she was sure they were close enough, that being engulfed was inevitable, she drew one deep breath and tried to hold it. With Ares still trained in her sights, she burst forward - right into the oncoming smoke.
The seconds it took her to get through were torture. Her eyes were open to try and see Ares on the other side but they were quickly battered by the stinging swirl of smoke. They stung and watered, leaving tracks down her face, and it took everything in Alkaid to keep from grimacing. She knew she could survive it as long as she could just barrel through to the other side.
When she finally pushed herself forward and the air became clear again, she drew her hand back and aimed to punch Ares - wherever she could hit. Her vision was blurry and the night was dark. Past being aware the smoke was gone, there wasn't much she could make out but a blur of red hair and what looked like a face beneath it. She was aiming for it, but that was like trying to pin the tail on the donkey after you spin around three dozen times.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:23 pm
This corrupted senshi was supposed to be locked up in a cell rotting away with her cohorts in the Blood Moon safe house. It had been one of the few mistakes that the Court had made on the first night of Operation Rota. Perhaps now Ares could correct that error.
When the corrupted senshi began to barrel through the smoke, Ares leaped to the side and leapt up into the air, clasping her hands together in front of her in a fist. Alkaid broke forth from the churning column of smoke ready to attack, but she breezed right past the airborne senshi. The air hung with a grayness as the smoke began to lift.
With a grunt, Ares brought her fisted hands down squarely between Alkaid's shoulder blades, knocking her to the ground. "Getting beaten once wasn't enough, corrupted senshi?" A boot slammed into Alkaid's side. "Well don't worry. I can reunite you with your pathetic friends soon enough." Painted nails slipped into the pocket layered in her short skirt.
A single black feather stained with blood fluttered to the ground, landing beside Alkaid's head.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:06 pm
Alkaid grimaced as the fists hit her squarely in between her shoulder blades, effectively sending her face first into the muddy ground without a second to brace herself. She coughed as mud splattered up over her face but had no time to wipe it away before Ares was slamming a foot into her side. She groaned aloud and curled her body inward, one hand dropping instantly to wrap around her abdomen. If she had ever looked undignified it was in that moment, wallowing in the mud at the feet of the senshi of smoke as tears streamed down her pale cheeks.
Ares' words fell over her as she lay there, mud staining the pale cloth of her cape and leggings, and her eyes watering even as she tried to squeeze them closed. She was breathing heavily but trying to listen, for what it was worth, in case Ares said anything that was useful. It was only when Ares mentioned her friends that she opened her eyes and looked up, blinking away a little of the blur just in time to see one dark feather fluttering down to land weightlessly atop the mushy ground next to her face.
She stared at it long and hard for a moment in complete silence, then unwrapped the arm around her abdomen to reach for it. Her hand landed on top of it gracelessly, then her fingers curled around it and a handful of mud, squeezing it tightly in the palm of her hand. The mud wedged beneath her fingernails and covered her pale skin, but the look on Alkaid's wasn't one of disgust - her teeth were gritting and her mouth was slowly forming a sneer. Her eyes narrowed first on the feather and then slowly drifted up to stare at the parallel senshi towering over her.
Ares had severely underestimated the consequence of such a taunt.
Without a word, Alkaid dropped her gaze and in the same second shot out a leg. She swept it quickly, aiming to knock Ares right off of her feet, but the parallel shot back easily out of range. It gave Alkaid the opening she needed though, and the corrupt pushed herself up and charged all in the same moment. She drew back the fist that still held Tanzanite's feather and used her momentum to slam it into the parellel's cheek, taking advantage of her distraction. She looked with satisfaction at the muddy smear that stretched across the senshi's dark skin, her sneer curling up at the edge into a smirk.
She wasted no time for taunts or jeers, she didn't believe in using words when the game was made for fists. She pulled back her other fist and prepared to follow up her first punch with another, aiming right for her abdomen and the parallel's misleading black fuku.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:19 pm
Alkaid had run from the battle with the Blood Moon. Ares believed that it was because she was not strong enough to stand and face her demise. This had, apparently, been a miscalculation -- and one that the Senshi of Smoke was forced to learn from a punch to the jaw and a follow-up to the gut. Ares parried the next punch, blocking it with her forearm and sweeping out a leg to knock the corrupted senshi in the side.
The girl responded by gripping her leg and then tossing her backwards with it. Ares stumbled, fighting to stay on her feet. The attempt sent her off her game. She didn't even see the next blow coming. Suddenly, in a matter of mere moments, Ares was the one lying in the mud, staring up at the enraged face of the corrupted senshi above her.
"Ares Smothering Blast!" she cried out, aiming the attack right for Alkaid as she hovered above.
This was not an attack to hurt. They were too close for the smoke column to properly form. It was just a puff of blinding smoke in Alkaid's face, one that lingered for ten seconds before dissipating. But Ares was already gone, taking off at a run. She had managed to get fifteen feet of a head start on her opponent.
The Senshi of Smoke had weighed the odds and was now looking for an exit strategy.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:22 pm
Alkaid was a tactician, that was her greatest strength, but in her blind fury she had failed to plan for a second wave of Ares' attack. As she was leaning over the parallel, she pulled her hands up and shot straight into Alkaid's face - the target couldn't have been any easier to hit.
The corrupt senshi stumbled backwards, doubled over and clutching her throat like she could force the toxic smoke back out if she squeezed hard enough. She coughed, convulsing as her body involuntarily tried to purge it out, and the stinging, itching irritation in her eyes was renewed all over again. She rubbed in vain against her eyes to try and clear it, using the least muddy part of her gloves she could find. It still smeared mud on her face, leaving streaks that mixed with the tracks of her tears and the rain drops splashing over her pale face.
She had no time for a pity party - every second she wallowed in pain, she could hear Ares' sloshing foot steps getting more and more distant even in the patter of the storm around them. She forced her itching eyes back open and whipped her head in Ares' direction, watching through blurry vision as the cinnamon head got farther and farther away. Then she simply grit her teeth, took one step, and disappeared.
When she appeared again, she was right in the parallel's path.
"Nice try," she hissed in a hoarse voice, even the short syllables cracking from the agitation. She was propelling herself forward as she spoke, one arm shooting out to clothesline the parallel and send her down backwards hard as her feet slid out from beneath her in the mud. Alkaid wasted no time in following her - one hand clenched tightly at her throat as she used her own bodyweight to hold her down, pinning her with her legs on either side of her abdomen. She pulled one hand back and, with all the rage Ares' had inspired in her with that single feather, rained a series of punches down against her dark face.
She was beating blindly, no longer contained and controlled, just blind with rage and using her grip on Ares' own neck to steady herself.
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:25 pm
There was a reason that Ares chose her battles in the comfort of civilization and industry. DC was a town obsessed with its own appearance. The shut down blocks struck hardest by the sleeping sickness were hidden like a blemish, cordoned off with signs and hidden by a fresh row of planted trees. But where the average citizen still lingered, there was the continued promise of a mirror. They were everywhere: hanging from storefronts, imposed on the outside of business buildings, glinting up from the sidewalk even.
In the wooded outskirts of Destiny City, unfortunately, a mirror was not part of the scenery.
Ares was not one to run from a fight, but this battle had begun unexpectedly and then only got more unexpected with each passing moment. Ares, too, was a tactician, and she could see that the scales had tipped. She was losing. Without a mirror to be her backdoor to freedom, Ares did not feel comfortable enough risking her life against an enraged corrupted senshi. Mirrors were her crutch. Without them, she felt vulnerable.
Up ahead, she could make out the neon glow of a carnival. Fallon hated carnivals. They were dirty and full of loud, annoying children. In the middle of the night, it should be desolate. And then, suddenly, Alkaid was there, her arm slamming into Ares' throat.
The Senshi of Smoke was flat on her back, and before she could roll away, Alkaid was there again, raining a hail of fists down on her face, holding her in such a position that Ares was unable to protect herself. The coppery taste of blood peaked in her mouth. With a grunt, Ares managed to pull both legs up toward her chest. She thrust outward, flipping Alkaid off of her and far enough back that she could get to her feet.
Blood streamed from a gash on her chin. Her nose and mouth bled freely. She made it all the way to the gate of the carnival, hopping over it like a pole vaulter and sprinting toward a carousel in the distance. Ares got one hand gripped around the golden pole of the blacked-out carousel and began to pull herself up onto the platform.
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:57 pm
In her blind rage, Alkaid had let her guard down. She was so busy trying to beat Ares' face into a pulp that she hadn't put too much thought into keeping her legs pinned down. In a flash, Ares had wedged her legs between them and sent Alkaid tumbling backwards, forcing her to let go of the parallel completely. She realized her mistake as her back collided with a fallen log and the wind, not for the first time that night, was knocked out of her.
She wheezed as she tried to draw breath into her already tortured lungs, her eyes half open and watching as the BMC leader scrambled to her feet and began to make another run for it. She wasn't even trying to fight anymore - she was just running. Even in her gasping, Alkaid was beginning to sneer. Alkaid had only ever run when she was commanded to, but this so-called leader was bailing against one corrupt? That was not any kind of example for a leader to be setting.
She pushed herself up onto her feet unsteadily, using a nearby tree to partially lean on, but Ares was already beginning to dwindle into the distance. Had she lost already, had she failed Tanzanite and the others so quickly? Her ragged breaths got faster and deeper as she watched the tail of Ares' fiery hair whipping behind her far in the distance. She would never catch her on foot if she tried, which left her only two choices. She would never even consider giving up seriously, so in the end, her decision was made for her.
Stepping out into the center of the path so she could see the parallel where she was just beginning to climb onto a carousel, she blinked out of sight and appeared right behind Ares once more. It took a lot of what strength she had left just to do so, but she was enraged and determined, fueled solely by her hatred then. She would fight to the death if she had to, but she would find Tanzanite and she would make the wretched parallel pay for her sins against the Negaverse.
Closing the space between them then with just a few steps, Alkaid reached up and grabbed the parallel's dangling legs. In the same breath, she pulled hard, yanking Ares down roughly from the platform she'd gotten halfway onto. It was sloppy though and Alkaid was running on empty. As she pulled she had to use her own body weight to try and rip the parallel's grip away from the pole, effectively sending both Alkaid and Ares to the ground in a graceless heap and tangle of limbs.
"Where do you think you're going?" she hissed through gritted teeth, her hands trying to grapple and hold down the parallel's arms while her feet kicked at any soft part of the senshi she could hit. She was growing tired but fighting all the more viciously for it. Her careful, planned attack style had turned to little more than scrapping with her dwindling energy.
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:42 pm
Teleporting was terribly unseemly compared to mirrorwalking. There was an elegance to gliding through the mirrorspace, Ares thought. Not all this pop-pop-pop of teleportation. With a groan, Ares tumbled backwards, falling on top of the corrupted senshi before she could stop it. She tried to roll off of her, but Alkaid had a grip on her arms.
With no other choice, Ares dragged herself (and by that, Alkaid too) to her feet. One hand gripped Alkaid's forearm. She was prepared to flip the corrupted senshi over her head and slam her to the ground, but Alkaid saw it coming, backing off so that Ares' hands slipped over empty air. Spinning, Ares threw one leg out in a fan kick and then somersaulted backward, landing on the carousel platform.
Her arm hit a lever, and without warning, bright bulbs flickered to life. A tinny accordion song churned in rolling beats. The horses stuck on poles began to bob up and down. Ares kept her stance low to hold her balance as the carousel began to turn. In the hubbub of motion and movement, the parallel darted out of sight, her position given away only by the shifting of weight on the platform until it was gone entirely.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:54 pm
Alkaid stumbled and tried to get her legs under her as she was pulled up solely by Ares' strength alone. She stabilized herself just in time to see Ares' reach out and grab her. She reacted without thinking and jumped backward, out of range, to prevent Ares from getting the upper hand again. Her mistake was jumping too far back, too completely out of Ares' range, so that the parallel made one swift leap and was gone from sight quickly.
Alkaid hissed under her breath and fell into a run, intending to leap up onto the stationary carousel and try to track her down before Ares disappeared completely, when it suddenly sprang to life right before her. She stumbled again and brought up one arm, shielding her eyes from the sudden glare of colorful lights that flashed through the darkness of the stormy night. The song that cranked to life and sang out into the shadows was eerie, at least in this setting, like a reminder of the happiness that had been here before them.
She watched it twirl by her slowly for a moment before she reached out and hooked her hand around a passing pole and hoisted herself up slowly onto the platform. There were two possibilities here: Ares had taken advantage of the distraction and Alkaid had lost her chance completely, or Ares was using the distraction to get an upper hand. Neither situation was good for Alkaid but she wouldn't know until she looked and she wasn't just going to give up - there was too much at stake here.
Slowly and carefully she walked around the turning platform, weaving silently between the unicorns and circus bears. Her exhaustion was hidden beneath a sudden surge of adrenaline that gripped her in this witch hunt, but that only meant a harder crash later on. For now she was just focused on finding the senshi of smoke.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:29 pm
Alkaid stalked across the carousel platform, sliding past a pink horse. There was a squeak of metal in the air above. Before the corrupted senshi could move away, Sailor Ares released her grip on the lightbulbs, allowing herself to fall from the roof directly onto Alkaid's shoulders. The other senshi was quick, unfortunately, and a last minute dive sent her flying out of range of Ares' booted feet, leaving the senshi to catch her on the ankle briefly before her side met metal.
Well, that had been a mistake.
Rolling backwards, Ares dodged a potential follow-up attack by hiding alongside a low-sitting horse with a red bow in its hair. "I can take you to your friends," she shouted, backpedaling as fast as she could to try and get a handle on the parameters of the battle. "I can take you to see them all if you'd like!"
The Senshi of Smoke leapt up onto the golden pole sticking out of one horse, swinging around it and aiming her feet right at Alkaid mid-twirl.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:30 pm
Alkaid hit the floor of the carousel roughly and she grimaced as her hands and knees collided with the unfinished wood. A few abrasions were definitely better than a broken rib, though. Her head whipped around as soon as she heard the taunts, effectively drawing her attention back to Ares and where she was behind her somewhere in the maze of animal bodies.
Her words stung like knives stabbed right through her twisted heart, reminding Alkaid yet again that it was this senshi that had orchestrated the entire attack. Not like she needed a reminder that Ares had taken away so much from her - she knew, that dark face had haunted her every night when she closed her eyes. All Alkaid wanted to do was make her feel what she'd felt, make her relive her failure. But Ares was elusive and in such close quarters, Alkaid felt her disadvantage.
She slowly drew herself up again, one hand resting on the flank of a zebra to steady herself. Just as she was about to stand up and try to track Ares down, her vision was filled with the sight of two booted feet. She didn't even have time to cry out before they collided with her squarely in the chest, sweeping her off her feet and sending her soaring backwards into a large, chariot-like mount. Her back and head collided with it, eliciting an involuntary groan from deep in her throat. Stars danced across her vision in a sparkling gray haze, completely obstructing her view of Ares.
"You," she wheezed, pulling herself up by hooking one hand over the lip of the chariot, "heartless wretch." She blinked her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision, but it was slow going. She needed to distract the parallel before she could deliver another blow. "You're all so blind."
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:52 am
“A corrupted senshi calling me blind,” Ares said, snapping the horn off a unicorn beside her. The lacquered husk sent a flurry of flakes to her feet. “Little girl, you are a weak puppet of Beryl’s hand, and you don’t even know it.” With a grunt, she chucked the horn straight for Alkaid’s head, but the Senshi of Guidance saw it coming, flipping backwards to the other side of the chariot.
The unicorn’s horn shattered against the chipped red paint.
Leaping onto the back of a roaring lion, Ares tried to muffle the sounds of her own movement, but it was difficult. The entire carousel wobbled and squeaked like a rusty crank. With a twirling flip, Ares landed behind the chariot, her torch lofted high. It struck the metal platform so hard that the senshi felt her arms wobble right before it snapped. Snarling, she tossed the broken pieces out into the dirt over a fence. So much for that then.
Now where had that damn senshi gone off to?
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