ITAMI

Yoi was stressing out.

Everything that was happening to him... it was getting to him. Being a girl,
Aika's problems, the whole 'fateless' affair... He was getting too tense.

I should probably do something about it.

"Hey, Itami."

I looked up. "#interrogative#"

"We've got a job."

Yes, I really should do something about it. Later.

===============================================

Identification Goes Here

Magical Girl Hunters Part 43

by Nathan Baxter

Created by Aaron Shattuck

Presented by Improfanfic

===============================================

Block left high, low right, strike right high, right low, left high-almost
got through-block overhead, step to the left, start the cut low, bring it
up, and OH, it's beautiful, Princess Clean thumps to the ground at my feet,
spilling red, red liquid out onto the dark asphalt...

All too easy. And over too soon.

"#satisfaction#"

Yoi nods and smiles, saying, "You're right. It is nice to get back to work."

Yoi talks too much.

"Ms. Yoi Kurasaka?" it's a girl's voice, prissy and superior. I start to
imagine what the vocal chords that produce it will look like lying on the
ground independent of her throat.

"MR. Kurasaka." Yoi says, sounding pissed. I don't blame him.

The girl talking was one of the magical kind, with mauve hair and a rainbow
outfit. "Please, Yoi, there's no need to continue with this foolish act."
She gives a sort of condescending smile. "I'm Sailor Rainbow Serpent, and
I'm here to welcome you into the fold."

Yoi looks at her, with this muscle right under his left eye jumping like
crazy. "'Welcome me into the fold?'" He sounds like he can't quite believe
what he's hearing. He sounded like that once before, when a gang at our
school tried to shake him down for cash and phrased their 'request' just
wrong.

I smile. This should be good.

Rainbow nods happily, smiling cheerily. "Yes! Don't worry, Yoi, that whole
fateless business won't cause you anymore problems once you join the forces
of Good!"

"The same... Good... that sends out legions of Magical Girls?"

Oh, this is going to be very good.

"Why, of course. What better way to serve our Purpose?"

"What benefits?"

"Why, as Sailor Gunsel, you'll be able to dish out TRUE justice to whole
HORDES of evil creepy things in a cute little fu-"

<BLAM> "No."

Very, very nice.

*****

AIKA

Stupid therapist. Over-rated quack. 'Unt how do yoo feel avout zat?'

Pah.

Like he could know what I need.

It was time to blow off steam. Time to blow things up. Time to fill innocent
paper targets with dozens of pieces of red-hot supersonic lead. And, hey,
maybe Murray can offer me some REAL advice.]

Yeah.

Right.

Like that stupid worm-head could ever be good for anything except waste
disposal.

*****

VERACITY

"Good evening, Miss Veracity. Do you happen to know when that Yoi chap will
be in?"

I look up. A Ramsbottom, of course. Bowler and all. "ID please?" I say.

He hands me a driver's license. It says Koi Kurasaka. I hand it back and
say, "Not for another few hours. Would you like to wait?"

He smiles coldly. "No thank you Miss. I'll just be off now. Cheerio!"

I make a mental note of that and turn on the TV.

<click>

/"Oh John!"/

/"Oh, Marsha!"/

/"John!"/

/"Marsh- WAIT! You're not Marsha! You're one of the Ravenous Bugblatter
Beasts From Planet X! Part Thr-"/

<click>

/"-T'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIIIVVEE!! UuaaHAHAHAHAHA-"/

<click>

/"-ot Two, and not Four. Five is right ou-"/

<click>

/"- love you, you love me-"/

<click><shudder>

/"-think I'm turning Japanese think I'm turning Japanese I really think s-"/

<click>

/"-this evening's news, a middle aged suburban couple was found shot to
death in their basement. Police are looking intensely for the culprits." The
camera panned over the bodies showing the tasteful shrouds, the horrible,
shocked expressions.../

<clatter>

The remote fell from my suddenly numb fingers, and my other hand rose to my
mouth. Poor Aika, to have her parents die in such a horrible manner...

Yoi had to be told immediately.

*****

YOI

"MURRAY!!" I shouted, slamming the door open as I stormed into the Finn's.
"MURRAY, YOU DAMN BUZZARD, WHERE ARE YOU?!" I was very careful to ignore the
'bouncing' sensation that my sudden movement had produced on my chest.

It was empty. Murray was gone, one of his 'meals' abandoned to one side of
the room. The violence of my entrance upset one of the careful piles of
weapons, dumping to the floor with a banging clatter. The custom Neutralizer
gun that I had ordered lay on one of the few open counters, with a little
yellow sticky note pinned to it.

I walked over and grabbed it. (The note, not the gun.)

 ____________________________________
[                                    ]
[ Yoi-                               ]
[                                    ]
[ Sorry to run off like this, but    ]
[ something came up. Here's the gun  ]
[ you asked for. On the house.       ]
[                                    ]
[           -Murray                  ]
[                                    ]
[                                    ]
[____________________________________]

*****

VERACITY

Sailor Styx was a nice old dear, one of those sweet old great-grandmother
types. She just _looked_ like a Pretty Young Thing. Now if only she could
remember things better...

I suppose I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I?

Well, she had come in with a whole group of young women in fuku's, smiling.
But, it just didn't feel RIGHT, that smile. It was too... calculated. And
the look in her eyes... Like computer that ran at absolute zero.

Now what could have happened to her?

T.B.C.

=====================================================================

AUTHOR'S NOTES

C flat and a sour D.

Why switch viewpoints around like that? I dunno. Felt like it.

And on to you, Aaron. Hope I haven't inconvenienced you.

Here's to this not sucking!

