No youma...
No chaos...
Nothing except an ever expansive sky sprinkled with stars and dappled with a few dark clouds.
Honestly she wasn't complaining, no use looking a gift horse in the mouth. As of late, the frequency of chaos encounters had been starting to take it's toll on her not only physically but mentally.
Sitting perched atop a street lamp Sidouer gazed upward at the moon which grinned down at her. "You mock us with your smile like you enjoy watching us fight." She glared at the silver orb in the sky as if it would wipe the smirk off it's face. With a sigh of frustration she brought her legs up and rested her forehead on her knees.
When she had encountered her last Negaverse agent she tried to be brave but truthfully, she was scared and felt alone. Her brother was away at boot camp and she had yet to make any real connections with anyone. Sure she met people at the training but aside from Avior she hadn't run into any of them since then.
Her mind had been so consumed with the many unanswered questions that floated around her head that she didn't realize the chaos presence until it was directly below her. Curiosity struck her as she leaned over the edge of the street lamp gazing at the ground below where she felt the presence,huh?. Nothing... there was nothing there. 'Maybe it's invisible? If that was true then she would be in a world of trouble. However despite the feeling of chaos tickling the edge of her sense , though it did indeed come from directly below her, it felt distant some how... almost like it lingered beneath the surface.
Wondering if her assumption was true, Sidouer slid off the street lamp and landed gracefully on the asphalt. All the training she had been doing between running self made obstacle courses through the woods and participating in the group training sessions seemed to be paying off. The moment her gold heeled boots touched down she looked around cautiously fully expecting an ambush, however, nothing happened. The chaos power signature remained still beneath her almost as if it was waiting for her to walk away 'Not a chance buddy' she thought. There was no way in hell she was going to let anything Chaos stick around her neighborhood, she just wasn't entirely sure how to get to it.
A few moments passed with no action, apparently impatient that she refused to leave whatever or whoever was beneath her took off down the street. "Oh no you don't!" Sidouer stated out loud before taking off in pursuit.
Realizing it probably wasn't a good idea to run on the street under the lights, least of all someone see her and decide to call the cops, Sidouer took to the roof tops this time careful not to fall off. Never mind that it was dangerous, it was times like this she wish she had the balance and the know how to run along the power lines, her sphere was static after all and at least the lines were above street lights. The power signature led her every which way and at least once down a cold-a-sac before turning back around What the heck? Is he/she/it... whatever... lost? she wondered.
So focused on not losing the signature, Sidouer didn't even notice when the rooftops she had been jumping on became small house converted shops with illuminated signs out front. She paused a moment on the corner building next to the chimney surveying the surrounding. It seemed like most of the shops were already closed and only a few, maybe five, pedestrians, one of which was a kid, meandered down the sidewalk most likely heading home.
Did it bring me here on purpose? She hoped not, if the people below were enemies then she was in serious trouble. She closed her eyes in an attempt to concentrate, to see if she could pick out any other power signatures despite her frantic heart rate and labored breathing. None... or at least she didn't feel anyone else near by except what was below the street. Though there was a pretty good chance that someone was out there and she just wasn't skilled enough to find them.
Sidouer opened her eyes again when she noticed movement again, though this time instead of taking off down one of the streets it seemed to be surfacing. In an attempt to get a better look she deftly jumped to the adjacent building and peered over the edge. "You're kidding me!" she said in disbelief as a pool of water oozed from one of the sewer drains and began to take shape.
The youma that took shape down below looked like nothing more than an over-sized globular watery filth infested youma held together by nothing more than a thin transparent membrane. 'A water-ish... youma versus static... should be cake.' Anyone who took basic science in school knew that water conducted electricity. The question, however, was whether or not whatever it was that happened to be floating around inside this youma would dampen her magic or not.
Before making her presence known Sidouer stayed put for a moment, watching as the people below started to scatter. Two boys, one with a skateboard, swearing up a storm, took off down the concrete sidewalk. Meanwhile on the other side of the street a mother struggled with grabbing a hold of her child who was trying to flee in the opposite direction. Her eyebrows furrowed as she mentally noted that one guy still remained staining on the street corner, clad in black attire, a grocery bag in hand. She couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing standing around idly watching.
Sidouer's eyes flicked back over to the youma than back to the boy. Deciding it would be best to make sure he was ok and got the hell away, she took off at a sprint along the house converted restaurant's shingled roof and jumped down to street level landing near the boy in black. "Hey, listen... I really don't want to see you hurt, so I strongly suggest you take everyone else lead and leave." Without waiting to hear his response she took off across the street to assist the mother with her child all the while keeping her eye on the monstrosity. 'Who the hell comes up with these creatures' she thought with disgust.
The creme haired senshi faltered in her footsteps, her heart painfully skipped a beat as the youma's 'throat' bulged much like a frogs before spewing out a geyser of soggy poo and grime at the boys. A sigh of relief came as the attack had been effectively stopped by an unsuspecting blue four door parked vehicle which the boys had used as cover. Sidouer stopped, looking between the mother and her child and where the two boys hid, 'I can't be in two places at once. She was about to run over to aid the boys when she saw one of their heads peek up over the car, looked at the youma then grabbing the other boy, and together turned tail and disappeared down an alley way nearest to them. 'Oh thank God. The only unfortunate victim so far is the vehicle which now supported a broken window and a new unsanitary renovation... port-a-potty.
Not a moment after she turned to focus her efforts in aiding the struggling mother, the kid managed to pull her hand free of her mothers grasp and tore off down the street in the opposite direction. "KAYLEE" the mothers panicked yell echoed down the near vacant street, effectively drawing the youmas attention. This was quickly turning into one of those moments where it's better to act and not think. Acting on instinct and the desire to protect the civilians, Sidouer sprinted the rest of the way across the street to intercept the child. In one fluid motion she scooped the young girl up in her arms and ran behind a blue post office mail box for temporary cover. The act of being abruptly picked up was probably startling for presumably 6 or 7 year old kid which would explain the screaming. "Kaylee... Kaylee..." Sidouer tried to get the girls attention if only to get her to stop kicking and be still "Shh," She cooed "you're going to be okay. Kaylee I need you to hold on. I'm going to take you back to your mother and you two need out of here okay?" The child, having noticed that it was not the monster that had a hold of her became quiet and obediently wrapped her small arms around Sidouer's neck. "When I give you to your mom I want you two to run okay? Together!" She emphasized "Can you do that for me?" The little girl, who had but a moment ago buried her head in the senshi's shoulder gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
With all her focus dedicated to reuniting Kaylee with her mom and making sure the two of them made it out of here safely, Sidouer had for a brief moment neglected to keep her eyes on the youma as well. With shaky hands and wide unblinking brown eyes, the mother carefully took her kid from the creme haired senshi and retreated back a few steps. "Please get out of here." Sidouer almost resorted to yelled in an attempt to snap the woman out of her stupor but instead placed a hand on her shoulder to turn her around. It took a moment for the woman to remember how to walk let alone run, but once she came to she was off. Sidouer's eyes narrowed in an annoyed glare as their retreating silhouettes took off down the street and made a left around the corner all the while screaming something about being attacked by a terrorist. "What the hell? I just saved you." She said in disbelief 'I need to end this quickly before people start showing up.' Having lingered a moment too long, Sidouer hadn't noticed the second geyser of human waste jetting at her till it was too late. The force behind the attack effectively knocked her feet out from under her eliciting a surprised yelp, as she scrambled to catch herself, least of all she land face first in this crap. Contact with the ground almost gave way to a disastrous situation, not to mention an even more disgusting outcome, as her hand landed on a partially decomposed tropical fish, like the kind you see in an aquarium at the doctors office.
Not really one to swear, Sidouer couldn't help but voice her thoughts though fortunately she was able to sensor them for the most part. "HOLY CRAP," her words were interrupted by an involuntary gagging motion, the sheer smell of the waste nearly bringing tears to her eyes "this is flipping nasty" Her right leg and part of her pink skirt now coated with the feces, of who knows how many people. She tried to stop herself from thinking what all contributed to the pungent odor, least of all she succumb to the gagging sensation and end up making the problem worse.
Rising to her feet she sprinted across the street over by the blue United States Postal Service mail box to use it as a shield all the while trying desperately hard to ignore the sloshing sound in her boot. Sidouer pressed her back firmly against the cold small metal box and used the reflective surface of the storefront window to keep tabs on the youma all the while scanning for some way to get close so she could zap it. As it stood any attempt to get near would be disastrous with that filth infested water spout, even at a distance the power behind it was able to knock her over. She watched the reflection as the youma inhaled another breath, indicating another water jet was soon to follow
"How the heck are you not out of water yet?" she wonder out loud as she rose to a crouching position before leaping to the right to use a van for better protection. Startled by the booming sound of water pounding onto the thin metal mail box made her heart skip a beat I really hope they emptied that earlier she thought while swallowing a growing lump in her throat.
Sidouer peaked her head around the back end of the, what use to be, white van to survey the area. The entire intersection was in a miserable state, it looked like a bomb went off from inside a septic tank vehicle causing it to exploded all over the place. I got to finish this thing before it breaks anything else or makes this mess worse than what it already is. It's got to have a weakness. "Ughhh I can't even get close to it," she said out loud as a means to get herself thinking of a way to beat it. "It's range is at least double mine... Even if I try to get close it'll knock me over again."
Periodically she looked back at the storefront window to keep tabs on the youmas location and whether she needed to relocate again. But for now it seemed to be a bit of a stalemate, neither of them making a move. There was no way to tell which direction the monster was facing or where it's mouth truly was, a globular type monster with a membrane sac holding together whatever it was floating inside it, and a tail. Wait... Not entirely sure what she was seeing, Sidouer dared a look around the vehicle directly at the youma. Her eyes followed along the length of the watery 'tail' that stretched for a good 15 feet down into the sewer grating in the middle of the street, the one it had emerged from. Like being hit in the face with the most obvious epiphany, a smile spread across her face oh oh "I got you"
"One..." she whispered "Two... Three" using the senshi speed bestowed upon her when she powered up the first time, Sidouer sprinted down the sidewalk using vehicles as cover keeping her head low hoping it didn't notice her head bobbing as she made her way towards the manhole in the middle of the street which was a good 20 feet away. Once she was directly across the street from it, she emerged from behind a black sedan and began the motions of her attack. Rubbing her gross gloves together she watched the youma out of the corner of her eye as it began the motions of it's gyzer attack No you don't, not again. "STATIC SHOCK!" she yelled unleashing the arch towards the steady stream of attack providing fluid.
Crouching down mid step, Sidouer leaped across the streat behind another parked car just as the current from her attack traveled up the 'tail' into the creatures body causing it to convulse before tarring apart it's thin membrane, exploding the contents all over the place. The pungent odor clung to the air making her eyes water. I got to get out of here! she thought to herself as she went to bring her hand up to cover her nose only to realize again that she too was covered in the filth.
The only thing that stopped her from giving into the undeniable need to clean her fuku off by breaking the bolt off the fire hydrant, was that she didn't want to be the one responsible for flooding the street. With the way that women ran off yelling 'terrorist' there was no doubt in her mind that she is going to be blamed for engaging this septic tank of a monster in a commercial-residential neighborhood, as well as causing it to unintentionally explode all over the exterior windows and siding of a few buildings and at least one home. There really was no need to add anything else to the list.
No matter how appealing a scalding hot shower sounded right about now, Sidouer knew she couldn't go sneaking through her home smelling like this. If the sound of running water didn't wake her parents up, the odor that clung to her clothes and skin surely would.
Rain? Remember all those times I wish you'd go away and come back another day... well... today would be a great day to come back please.
The sloshing sound and sickly odor, coupled with the sensation of chunks of watery poo and urine dripping down her leg was down right unbearable. Again she found herself stopping next to a tree gasping for air all the while trying to keep the contents of her stomach in check. The last thought that passed though her mind before she bent forward unable to swallow the bile as it rose in her throat, burning away at her esophagus, again was 'I'm so not going to make it to the lake'. Even with the contents of her former meal now discarded at the base of the tree, the smell alone refused her even the slightest reprieve from dry heaving.
The last time she threw up this bad was back when she was in junior high, at home, sick, supporting a 104 degree temperature, unable to keep anything down, with her mother holding her hair back keeping stray strands out of her face as she knelt in front of the porcelain throne. Now she stood in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, alone, and completely vulnerable. 'Tonight seriously needs to end'
Unfortunately, due to the frequent stops along the way, it took way more time than necessary for her to reach a small lake in the woods that she had stumbled upon not too long ago when she was doing some self training. The sight before her was such a relief that she didn't even bother to remove her boots before running along the wood dock and jumped into the frigid water. She didn't care about how cold it was, nor that she still wore her uniform. It didn't matter one bit that her uniform was moistly white, it's not like it became see through when she got drenched by rain before; then again it was dark outside each time with no lights what so ever, so who knows. All that mattered was that she had rid herself of the filth and was at least 'clean' enough to safely walk through her home so she could bathe in a scalding shower and scrub her skin raw. Never again will I follow something under the street... Never again...
3125 words
