Spotting two figures standing on the corner of the building furthest from the street, Sidouer made her way over to the pair of order signatures that matched her own. “Hey! Sorry to make you wait. Any luck spotting your double since your last text?”
Meet and greets were best saved for later, right now they needed to stop the clone before she caused some irreparable damage.
The lock on the moving aura came quick and Phact smiled, turning from Acrucis to gaze in the direction of the senshi coming to join them. “No problem. You had farther to go.” Phact said stepping to the side to allow the two women a chance to see each other. “Sidouer, Acrucis. Acrucis, Sidouer.” She moved her hand between the two women before gazing back at the one in blue. “Am I saying that right?” To which the senshi in pink nodded her head in reply.
“As for the clone, no luck. Either it powered down or they don’t have the auras we do.” She turned her eyes back out towards the area. “But if she’s trying to kill me, then she could not have gone far. Maybe I should use myself as bait.”
The look of worry on the Senshi of Prayers face was full of concern. However, before she could voice an objection, Sidouer spoke up first. “Honestly, it is probably the best shot we have at finding it. So long as you can at least get the cone to reveal itself before reaching you, Acrucis and I could hopefully strike first so you don’t get hurt. If we both use our magic…”
“Umm, I’m sorry to interrupt but I - I don’t think my magic will be of much use against the other Phact.” One eyebrow rose as Sidouer’s gaze slid over to Acrucis questioningly. Quickly she added “My magic heals injuries so unless one of you get hurt my prayer is kind of useless.” Her head hung apologetically causing strains of periwinkle hair to fall over her shoulder and sway in the evening breeze.
“Hmm.” Sidouer kneaded her lower lip in contemplation. “The dopple knows your face so I doubt she’ll come out if she sees you with Phact.” They were smart like that, evolving with each encounter it seemed. “What do you think?” Jade-pink eyes glanced at the Senshi of Doves. “Have her stick with me and stay back while we take care of it?” As cruel as the idea may have sounded, having her mixed up in the fight would make it harder to avoid injury and as the Senshi of Static had learned early on, there was a limit to their magic.
Phact glanced at both woman and slowly gave a nod. “It’s honestly the best thing we can. It wants me. That means it will try and take me at my weakest. Which, to be honest, might even be my powered down form, especially since it now has the ability to use my magic.” Not that it meant much but being a senshi if come with perks outside of magic.
Turning to look at her sister, Phact gave a slow, warm nod. “It will be alright. I promise. This doesn’t seem nearly as bad as some of the other boogie monsters out there.”
With a look back at Sidouer, Phact winked. “Keep her safe for me.” And turned towards the edge of the roof. Dropping to the ground as a senshi, she walked away as a human, still in PJs, but a human.
Hello target!
And it didn’t take long for movement in the breeze to seem strangely eerie. Something was coming towards the human woman.
Still within sight of the soon to be battlefield, both Sidouer and Acrucis ducked behind two recycle bins that had been left out on the curb side from earlier that morning. Not so close that the clone would sense their nearness the two remained quiet and observed before running in to offer aid.
The last thing any of them wanted was for the clone to seize the opportunity to run away. That would only make things worse if it were to show up when Delilah was truly alone and there was nobody near to help her or lord forbid it be in a place she couldn’t power up to defend herself.
“You stay here, I’m going to circle wide and approach from the other side. If the situation escalates and she gets hurt, toss a heal if you can otherwise stay put and we’ll box the doppelganger in okay?” Sidouer remained crouched down, balancing on her toes while scanning the immediate area.
Though she was not too thrilled by the aspect of being left alone Acrucis nodded her head understanding the reasoning behind splitting up. It limited the directions the shade fairy could flee and allowed them the ability to hopefully keep it from getting away. “Be safe. I don’t know the full reach of my heal so I might not be able to help if you get hurt too.” Up till now everyone she had rendered aid to were standing right in front of her. If there was a max distance a person could be, Acrucis wasn’t aware of how far it was.
“I’ll be fine, just concentrate on Delilah,” With that said the senshi of static began sprinting to the adjacent shadows only to disappear behind a tree line where the only way Acrucis knew where she was at was by sensing her signature before that too faded away.
Delilah stopped her movement and stood in the middle of the opening. She was gazing around for a moment trying to peg whatever she could. It was a bit more difficult as a human but it was fun to pretend she was good at it.
But one did not have to be good at it when from behind in the shadows appeared the form they had been waiting on. She was standing there grinning before walking forward. “I’ll make this quick…” The shadow spoke before pushing off making use of that senshi speed to close the distance between herself and the true Delilah.
The second Sidouer heard the sound of the shadow’s mocking tone she pivoted on her heel then sprinted to intercept the ashen skin toned clone.
“Static Shock!” The creme haired senshi yelled once she got close enough to know her magic would hit. From the arch of electricity that reached out from her open palm a bright white flash of light illuminated the area that would have dazed anyone who did not think, or know, to close their eyes.
Several meters away from where that battle had commenced Acrucis remained where Sidouer had instructed her to stay while struggling to blink away the floating dots that obscured her vision so she could at least see what was going on.
The jerk of her own head from Clone to Sidouer could have given anyone whiplash but Delilah had only a split second to dive out of the way of the incoming senshi of Static. Rolling away, there was a flash of light as Delilah quickly returned to her senshi form.
By the time she came back to her feet, Sailor Phact...the real one...faced the pair.
For as quick as it had made a move to strike the REAL Delilah, the clone was at a loss when the trap was sprung. One moment Raven hair was before her, the next…
It was blind and seeing spots.
Leaning over from the hit, the Clone let out a hiss of a groan. “Pay….” Could only be made out as the hair on its head shook to clear its eyes. Then it was off again, slower than before because of the pain but it was after Sidouer now...swinging a leg to strike her side.
It was an attack that the pink clad senshi had expected since it was something she had used on her brother many times when they’d rough house as kids, and just like what Shen often did to her, Sidouer did to the doppleganger. Being powered often meant that physical attacks hit harder than normal which is why she used both arms to grab ahold of the ash-skin colored girls leg, trapping it against her side.
Not the best position to be in since it left her open to flailing arms, but at least for the next few seconds she wouldn’t be getting away. So much about this fight felt so wrong and while the Senshi of Static knew what needed to be done, it still made her feel a bit sick to her stomach that the clone had to die by one of their hands in order for this to finally come to an end.
“Phact? A little-” she grunted when the clones elbow made contact with her temple causing her to stumble sideways, taking the girl down with her.
The smack with the elbow made Phact wince but she didn’t need Sidouer to finish that statement to get the general idea. If only when the clone got her ability, she would have gotten some of that fighting skills…
Oh well…
Pushing forward, the real Phact honestly didn’t know much of what to do to two people fighting on the ground than to...start kicking the clone in the side.
Seemed that was painful enough after the fall as ashen hands flailed to get free and legs kicked out trying to make contact.
However it was her head that came forward, looking to make contact with Sidouer. “Release...ow...me...ow...stop it!” It screamed and made a mistake to look back when the real Phact’s leg came forward...and smacked it in the nose.
Somewhat more than happy to oblige Sidouer untangled herself from the girl and rolled away. Her head spun like something fierce and her sight still wasn’t the greatest as she felt a wave of nausea wash over her from the quick movement. Blood rushing to her already throbbing head from standing up too quickly it took the senshi several seconds to finally come to enough to launch a second static shock at the white clad dove flailing on the ground like a bird with broken wings.
The problem with trying to kick someone and get them to shut up was that it put you in close contact with said person. Close enough that when your friend tries to help, you get caught up in the magical attack so both you and the thing you are kicking start to twitch.
From the bushes Acrucis ran forward towards her sister , heels tapping against the concrete until she was within a close enough range to cast her heal on Phact.
Both hands came up, palms pressed against one another as she spoke her attack. “Prayer of renew” one hand reached out while she focused on the red and white clad senshi with raven colored hair that still stood upright and was relieved when the soft glow of her attack enveloped her friend and the twitching began to subside.
Sidouer, on her part, looked absolutely horrified that she had zapped her ally with her ill timed attack. “I am so sorry!” Voice full of remorse she reached out to steady Phact before she fell over too. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.”
Phact twitched slowly, her eyes wide as she had stopped striking the clone. It too was twitching near her but it was on the ground. She had been standing, At least, she thought she was standing as she felt hands on both sides of her. One kept her upright as the other cast a spell.
That was Acrucis’s power. “Acrucis…” Phact spoke softly, clearly holding her head. “You are a God sent.” She winced, still not completely steady as she gazed down at the clone. It couldn’t get up. But she could see the eyes focusing as she gazed towards the trio.
“We need to finish it…” Phact said. “Acrucis’ used a book case. Since we lack one of those…” Phact looked around, one hand reaching out in each direction to stabilize herself on her friends. “Tree branch?”
“No,” Sidouer looked between the two senshi then down at the dopple on the ground. “I’ll take care of it.” Her lips pursed into a thin line as she drew in a deep breath. “Just… take Acrucis back over there.” She nodded in the direction with her head never taking her eyes off the clone.
The bookshelf sounded like it was an accident. Unfortunately she hadn’t been as lucky when her own clone had pursued her down the neighborhood. Two days later and it was still unnerving to look at her own reflection in the mirror.
When the two turned their back the Senshi of Static went through the same motions she did before however, when she extended her arm out, she pressed her palm above the grey-skinned Senshi of Dove’s heart. The light from her attack illuminated the area in a bright light that lasted for a fraction of a moment and when it turned dark once more all that remained was a pile of dust. Perhaps the reason her attack didn’t work before was because the two identical Phacts’ were touching; a question she may never know the answer to. But this time it worked and that’s what mattered. One last clone roaming the streets; unfortunately it wasn’t the last.
Hanging onto Acrucis, Phact moved with her friend out of the way of Sidouer and her range. Being shocked once was enough for her. The idea of being shocked again just made her shiver.
But she didn’t have to worry long. Gazing towards the clone, Phact watched as it turned to dust. For a moment she didn’t move. And then she dropped to the ground.
“Oh thank God.” Phact sighed, gazing at the other two senshi. “Thank you. I couldn’t…” there were tears in her eyes. “There was no way I could have done that alone.”
Acricus was the first to move. Lowering herself to her knees behind her sister and friend the Senshi of Prayer was quick to wrap her arms around Delilah’s shoulders in a reassuring embrace. “Hey now… don’t ever think you have to go it alone okay? All you have to do is ask and you know I’ll be there right?”
“I know I’m not the best at fighting,” To be frank she found it hard enough to swing a flyswatter at a spider. “But I can at least heal you if you get hurt.” Granted the goal was to not get hurt but if something horrible like that happened at least Acrucis would be able to mend their wounds if any were sustained.
Beside the duo Sidouer shifted, the pile of dust beside her scattering with the wind across the paved street into the shadows beyond the street lights. The uniform she wore transitioned from the pink and white outfit back into her more normal civilian clothes. “You have my number, if you ever need me don’t hesitate to call. If you’d like I can give both of you my actual number too on the chance I’m not powered up.” Phact’s magic served more as a distraction while Acrucis was a healer; what they lacked was a hard hitter. Punching and kicking is fine and all but being able to do semi-ranged damage definitely had its perks.
“And I’m much better?” Phact tried to chuckle as she leaned into Acrucis’ hold. It was a good place to be. She felt safe and at home there and knew that it was indeed over. For both of them…
“And thank you Sidouer...um…” Phact stopped, gazing at the human clothes. She recognized the woman. “Mei?” The realization dawned on her and she smiled, powering down to her own civi clothes.
“Seriously though, if you ever need anything, give either one of us a call. I owe you a big one.”
The creme haired girl smirked, brought her right hand up, touched her brow with her first two fingers and mock saluted Delilah. “Will do.”
“I got to head home soon though, will you two be okay?” It was late and with all the strange happenings around Destiny City her parents were sure to ask questions on why she was getting home late.
Acrucis was the last to power down. Her curious gaze shifted between the two other girls obviously wondering how they knew each other but instead chose to save the question for later. “Yeah, I think we’ll be fine. But... before you go…” Hannah reached into her back pocket to grab her phone. “We should switch numbers.”
Mei nodded and once the meek girl was ready she gave her number. “If you could text it to Delilah too so she has it that’d be great.” Just as the request left her lips her own phone buzzed indicating she had a text.
“Just you both a message so you have hers too.”
“Cool! Thank you.”
Looking over her shoulder at the thankfully empty street Mei couldn’t help but stare overly long at a few dark shadows, suspicious that something was there just beyond her sight. A nagging feeling likely caused by the shade she’d just killed that was hard to shake but staying out here was not really an option. “Well,” she began again, raking her fingers through her hair. “I’ll talk to you guys later. Be safe and try to avoid other shady grey skinned characters that are out causing havoc please.”
“Same goes to you.” Delilah called back with a smile as she shifted her eyes from Mei back to Hannah. With a long sigh, Delilah chuckled. “School. Same year.” She answered without being asked.
Rising back to her feet, Delilah offered Hannah a hand which was accepted without hesitation. “Let’s get home before anyone gets to worrying too badly. Besides, I didn’t eat dinner I was so nervous.”
Her stomach let out a little growl on cue.
“Sounds like a good idea.” Hannah smiled. Looping her arm through her sisters the two walked side by side through the windy streets of their neighborhood chit chatting away until they got home.
Another Google Doc RP from 2013 that I can't find any record of it being transferred to gaia or the link has been lost.
