Day 156

[from Murder by Pixels]

As soon as Sapphire heard the news, her eyes lit up like fireworks. Hurriedly snatching up her phone, she selected Jesse's name from her contact list and put it to her ear, impatiently waiting for her to pick up.

When Jesse finally did answer, it sounded as though they had just woken up. "Hello?"

"Jesse! Jesse!" Sapphire's voice was filled with an uncharacteristic excitement, her Irish accent blossoming forth as it always did when she got emotional. "Have you heard the news?!"

"No, what is it?" asked Jesse. "I haven't heard you this excited since…" There was a brief pause, as Jesse began to realize what Sapphire was talking about. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sapphire. "The Supreme Court just ruled! Gay marriage is legal in all fifty states!"

There was a stunned silence on the other side of the phone as Jesse took in the news. When they spoke again, they were still noticeably tired, but also unmistakeably happy. "It's about time," they said. "It's not gonna solve all our problems, but it's a big step, that's for sure."

"I know!" said Sapphire. "First my country of ancestry, and now my country of birth… oh, I'm so happy, Jesse! I'm so happy I could cry!"

"Need a shoulder to cry on?" asked Jesse. "If my dad finds out about the ruling, then I might wanna get out of the house for a while anyway."

Sapphire nodded. "Sure," she said. "Come right over. We could celebrate with an Orange is the New Black marathon or something."

"I thought you'd prefer Steven Universe," Jesse remarked.

"Oh yeah, good idea," said Sapphire. "We'll watch that instead, then."

"I'll be right over," said Jesse. "I'll call you back when I'm outside, okay?"

Sapphire nodded. "Okay," she said. "See you soon."

"See you," said Jesse, before hanging up.

Sapphire put down the phone and leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. It was certainly true that this wasn't going to end discrimination - there would certainly be plenty of people resenting the decision - but in terms of equal rights, it was a massive step forward. I'm glad I lived to see this day, thought Sapphire.

***

[from Project Nero]

Summer was relaxing and watching TV when her phone suddenly vibrated on the table in front of her, heralding a text message. Picking it up, she unlocked it and saw that Melody had sent her the following message: "WE DID IT! Gay marriage now legal in Vale :D #LoveWins"

Summer smiled, and quickly fired off a reply: "Nice. So, fancy getting married next weekend? I'm free if you are~ xxx" When Melody did not respond, Summer realized she'd gone a bit too far and quickly fired off another: "Relax, I was just joking. I know you don't go that way. Still, that's pretty great news, huh?"

Summer could almost hear the little sigh of relief coming from Melody, as the girl finally responded. "I thought you were joking :3c", she replied. "But yeah, it's fantastic news. Everyone I know is happy to hear it."

"I'm sure they are," Summer replied. "I'm happy to hear it as well. It's about damn time."

"It really is ^_^" Melody texted back.

***

[from Aishiteru! Hikikomori-san]

"Hey, Yuuichi, you hear?"

"Hear what?" asked Yuuichi.

"United States legalize gay marriage," said Ilana. "Gay people can get married there now."

"Yeah, I heard about that hours ago," said Yuuichi. "It's all over Chirper and Nicebook."

"Oh," said Ilana. "I wonder if Katarina hear about news, wherever she is… I sure she be happy to hear it."

"Not really," said Yuuichi. "Not when it's still illegal in her own country. Hell, it's still illegal here."

"It is?" asked Ilana, surprised. "Why?"

"I dunno," said Yuuichi, shrugging his shoulders. "Guess this country's still a bit old-fashioned, in some ways."

"Maybe," said Ilana. "Is better than Russia, though, in many ways."

"Sure is," said Yuuichi. "Who knows, maybe we'll be next."

"Maybe," said Ilana.

***

[from Striker Man]

"Gay marriage is legal in America? Hah, took them long enough," said Striker Man. "We've had that here in Britain for years."

"You're the fifth person in this post to say that it's "taken them long enough"," said The Genius. "I think the writer has made his point clear by now, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, but I think what he wants is to show just how much the decision means to the LGBT community," said Striker Man.

"We're not lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, though," said The Genius. "We're stick figures, we have no concept of sexuality."

"Doesn't that make us asexual, which still comes under LGBT?" asked Striker Man.

This threw The Genius for a loop. "...you know, I can't argue with that," she said.

"Can I marry this pickle jar now, then?" asked Stuporwoman excitedly, holding up a jar of pickles.

"No, Stuporwoman," said Striker Man, "you can't marry a jar of pickles."

"Why not?" asked Stuporwoman.

"Because a jar of pickles is an inanimate object, and you can't marry inanimate objects," said Striker Man.

"Why not?" asked Stuporwoman.

"Because... uhh... damn, this is harder than I thought," said Striker Man.

Luckily, The Genius picked up the slack. "You cannot marry an inanimate object," she said, "because an inanimate object cannot love you back. Would you not want a partner that can love you back?"

"It does love me back!" said Stuporwoman. "It loves me back with flavour!"

"How can someone so stupid make such valid points?!" remarked Striker Man.

"I think the same about you sometimes," said The Genius.

"Disclaimer: the author does not condone, nor promote, the idea of marriage between humans and inanimate objects," said Striker Man. "In fact, I don't even know why he brought this whole discussion up, to be honest." Stuporwoman represents the crazies who think same-sex marriage is a slippery slope, and that next you'll be able to marry your dog, or your brother, or a helicopter, or an ice cream cone. "Ah, I see."

"...so can I-" You can't marry a pickle jar, Stuporwoman, end of story. "Awww." You can marry someone who likes pickles, and eat pickles together with them, though. "Ooh, that sounds even better! Okay, I'll do that then!" Good for you.

Day 117

[from Faction]

"We need to have a serious talk about your recklessness."

"Why?" asked Shelley, sounding genuinely confused. "We killed all the enemies and secured the objective, right?"

Tyler's response was to simply prod Shelley's heavily-bandaged abdomen with a finger, causing her to wince. The Faction had been cleared away from the supermarket and the remaining food secured, though some of it was already out of date. With a path into the city already cleared, the army could now begin delivering food supplies to the beleaguered populace. That wasn't the end of it, of course. The Faction were sure to either attack the food convoys, try and retake the supermarket, or both.

For now, though, Tyler and his small resistance group were back at their hideout, an abandoned, heavily-fortified elementary school. Specifically, they were in the nurse's station, which had been transformed by Dr. Hristov into a makeshift hospital. Shelley was currently lying in one of the hospital beds that had been crammed into the small space, having being shot repeatedly during the mission to retake the supermarket. Although she had been wearing body armour, otherwise her injuries could have been fatal, the bullets had still left some nasty bruises.

"You can't go on a mission in this state," said Tyler. "That means we're one member down, which puts us at even more of a disadvantage. The Faction have hundreds of members here, if not thousands, and we need every member we can get. So you going and getting yourself shot so stupidly is a real pain in the ass."

"Sorry," said Shelley, pouting in a way that made it clear she wasn't sorry at all.

"Look," said Tyler, "just… don't be so reckless in future, okay? Stay behind cover, don't rush ahead, and don't isolate yourself from us. I appreciate your enthusiasm, as creepy as it may be sometimes, but the last thing we want is for you to get killed."

"Alright, I get it," said Shelley. "I'll be more careful next time, alright?"

"Good," said Tyler.

"So, what's the next mission?" asked Firebrace. "Shouldn't we start planning that before long?"

"I think, before any more missions, we should think about finding more people to join us," said Tyler. "Five people is a nice number, but it's nowhere near enough for a final assault on the Faction headquarters, which is our end objective, after all."

Tyler couldn't help glancing over at James. During the first few days of their invasion and takeover, the Faction had rounded up hundreds of civilians and taken them by helicopter to their headquarters, a massive sixty-storey tower block in the financial district that they had hijacked for their own purposes. James' girlfriend, Louise, had been one of those taken, and the team had come across him after he had tried to fight his way to the Faction HQ all by himself to rescue her, and been injured in the process. At first he had been impatient, insisting that they tackle the HQ first, but he had since conceded that the rest of the city needed to be cleared out first, and the group strengthened, before they could even think about attacking the heavily-fortified skyscraper.

Unsurprisingly, James nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me," he said. "The army are arriving tomorrow, right? To secure the path into the city? We could sure use their help."

"You think the army are gonna co-operate with a bunch of guerrillas?" asked Tyler skeptically.

"Course we would," said Firebrace, grinning. "We'd make a pact with Satan if it helped get the job done. Course, that hasn't really worked too well for us in the past… came back to bite us big-time with Afghanistan…"

"We're not the Taliban," said James. "All we want is for this city to be free, and for our loved ones to be safe. Nothing more."

"I know," said Firebrace, "and the army know that as well. So yeah, they'll work with us."

"They damn well better," said Shelley. "We've been busting our asses fighting the Faction, and where have they been?" Suddenly clutching her aching chest, Shelley forced herself to calm down, resting herself back against the cool white sheets of the hospital bed.

"Alright, we'll go out tomorrow when the convoy arrives, and make sure the army are willing to work with us and any other guerrillas who are fighting the Faction," said Tyler. "If there are any other guerrillas out there, hopefully they'll get the same idea, and we can all meet up and discuss joining forces. But for now, I think we could all use some rest. Some of us-" he glared pointedly at Shelley "-more than others."

"Good idea," said Firebrace. "Let's head back to our bunks."

"Should I stay here and look after Shelley?" asked Dr. Hristov.

"Yeah, but don't stay too late," said Tyler. "You need your rest as well, Doc."

"I know of the importance of rest," said Dr. Hristov, folding his arms. "I am a doctor, you know."

"Good," said Tyler. "We'll see you later, then." Tyler, Firebrace and James made their way out of the medical room, heading back towards their bunks, leaving Dr. Hristov alone with his patient.

Day 97

[from Faction]

The five survivors huddled behind a damaged school bus, its windows cracked and its tires deflated. Their weapons were primed, and ready to go. On the other side of the school bus lay the road to one of the Faction's strongholds, a supermarket. If they could take control of that, they could free up whatever supplies remained there for the rest of the city's survivors, as well as clearing the Faction out of the immediate area, making it safe for people to return to. The five of them were determined to clear the Faction out of the occupied city, even if it had to be one block, one street at a time.

The group's de facto leader, Tyler Kent, poked his head around the front of the school bus and quickly withdrew it as three bullets ricocheted off the metal bodywork just inches above his head. "Yeah, they're out there in force, and spoiling for a fight," he said. "Well, if they want a fight, we'll give 'em one." He turned to the four fighters gathered beside him. "You guys all remember the plan, right?"

The group's only female, an assault-rifle-wielding girl named Shelley Williams, smirked. "Don't need to," she said. "We go in, kill all the Faction guys, and take back the supermarket. That's all I need to know."

Tyler groaned, as did the man next to him, a dark-haired male named James Anderson who wielded a pair of Glock pistols. "You're gonna get yourself killed, you idiot," he scolded. Shelley stuck out her tongue defiantly.

Tyler sighed. "I'll go with Shelley, then," he said. "Andy, remember to stay behind the rest of us, in case one of us needs medical attention. Last thing we need is you getting shot."

Andrei Hristov, a surgeon at one of the city's hospitals whom the group had rescued a few days ago, nodded. He clutched his revolver in his hands, which were perfectly steady despite him being the most nervous of the five; a heritage of his medical background. "Understood," he said, the Russian barely audible in his accent. "I'll try and stay as close as I can, though."

"Alright," said Tyler. "James, you ready?"

James nodded, a serious expression on his face. "Always."

Tyler nodded in return. "Firebrace, you ready?"

Firebrace, the tallest member of the group, was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. As the most experienced group member in terms of fighting, he often helped Tyler and James come up with mission tactics. He nodded, gripping his heavy assault rifle tightly. "Yes, sir," he said.

"Alright," said Tyler. "And I take it the-"

Tyler was suddenly cut off by James, holding up a hand for silence. Faint, hurried footsteps could be heard coming from the other side of the bus, gradually growing louder. "Ready or not, they're coming," he said.

"I got this," said Tyler. "Alright, people, it's go time!"

Tyler leaned round the front of the bus and quickly shot dead two oncoming Faction agents. The third merely stumbled, wounded, but as he tried to climb back to his feet, James also rounded the bus and shot him three times, killing him. The rest of the group quickly came out from under the bus and began to advance, fanning out and taking out any Faction member they happened to see.

As per the group's instructions, Andrei stayed behind the other four, sheltered behind a burnt-out car. James and Firebrace proceeded slowly forwards, making good use of what cover was available, while Shelley rushed forwards as per usual, spraying bullets at any Faction members she saw without any regard for her own safety. Tyler followed shortly behind her, making sure to take out any enemies she happened to miss.

Inevitably, as Shelley was halfway to the supermarket entrance, a bullet struck her right in the chest, sending her sprawling. Fortunately, like the rest of the group, she was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not injured, but the impact still took the wind out of her sails. Tyler quickly dragged her behind another parked car while she recovered.

"We really need to have a serious discussion about your suicidal tactics," said Tyler, before popping up over the car's hood to take potshots at the man who had hit Shelley.

Shelley propped herself up onto her elbows, wincing a little. "Yeah, I know," she said, "I just wanna get it over with. Our mission is to kill them, so… ahh…" She gasps a little in pain as she adjusts herself so she is hidden better behind the car. "Man, that's gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow."

"Maybe that'll teach you your lesson, then," said Tyler. "Alright, cover me, I need to reload. And that means stay behind cover," he added sternly, as Shelley climbed up onto her knees.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Shelley. "I got this." Rising up over the top of the car for a moment, she fired her assault rifle's grenade launcher attachment. The launched grenade flew straight towards the car her assailant was using as cover, bouncing on the pavement before rolling neatly under it. As it exploded, it blew up the car as well, incinerating the soldier and shattering the windows of the adjacent house, the door blowing off its hinges. "Hah! Suck it, bitch!" she shouted triumphantly, an instant before Tyler grabbed her head and pulled her back behind cover.

As they gradually advanced, the resistance they met seemed to decrease; it seemed the Faction grunts, eager for battle, had all rushed forward at once, leaving very few people to actually guard the base itself. Even the sniper that was normally on the roof did not seem to be present, though Firebrace had been ready to take him out just in case. Soon, the group were in front of the supermarket, and apart from Shelley's slight bruising, they were all completely unharmed, fully loaded, and ready to make their entrance.

"Remember, watch your fire," said Tyler. "If there's any food left here, we need to leave as much of it as possible in case there are any more civilians that need it. We've already secured a path from the city limits out to here, so we can get supplies in now as well. You all ready?" The other group members nodded in unison. "Alright then. On my mark. Three… two… one… let's go!"

Day 75

[from Aishiteru! Hikikomori-san]

"I want do something…"

Ilana was lying on the sofa, bored. Being with Yuuichi was great and all, but she hadn't really done anything in the couple of weeks since her arrival in Japan. She had now reached the point where she not only wanted something to do, she needed something to do, to stop herself going crazy from boredom.

Yuuichi looked up from his computer briefly. "Like what?" he asked.

"Know not what," said Ilana. "Just something. I go crazy just lie here!"

Yuuichi had an idea. He span round in his chair, facing Ilana. "Wanna play some video games?" he asked. He had no idea if Ilana liked video games or not, but it was worth a shot.

Ilana shrugged. "Sure, I guess," she said. "What games you have?"

"Uhh…" Yuuichi tried to think of a game Ilana would be interested in. His various eroge and fanservice-laden fighting games probably weren't going to do the trick. "Oh, right! How about Dario Kart 7? That's a fun multiplayer game!"

"Dario Kart?" repeated Ilana. "What is?"

"You've never heard of it?" asked Yuuichi, surprised. "It's a kart-racing game with various Hyper Dario characters. It's fun… most of the time."

"Most of time?" questioned Ilana.

"Well, when someone throws a Blue Shell at you just as you're about to cross the finish line… yeah, that's not fun at all," admitted Yuuichi. "But when that's not happening, it's great fun!"

Ilana shrugged again, and sat up. "Alright, I play with you," she said. "Is better than do nothing all day."

"Alright, wait here for a moment," said Yuuichi. He headed off to his bedroom, and returned with two clamshell handheld consoles, handing one to Ilana. "Here you go."

"Why you have two consoles?" asked Ilana, confused.

"That way, I can get both Rockymon games and simply trade Rockymon between cartridges, allowing me to complete the Rockydex by myself!" Yuuichi explained. "It's a tactic I've used ever since Rockymon Ruby and Sapphire were released!"

This made absolutely no sense to Ilana, but after a moment she simply nodded. "So you have two of Dario Kart?" she asked.

"Nope," said Yuuichi. "The Clonetendo 3CS has Download Play, so you can play it with me even if you don't have your own copy. Oh, right, should I set up for you?"

Ilana nodded, handing the console back to Yuuichi. "Please. I never use before, I not know how it works."

"Alright then." Yuuichi booted up the two consoles, and a few minutes later, both of them were running Dario Kart 7. "There you go," he said, handing the console back to her. "We're already in a lobby together, so we just need to pick a track and our drivers. I'll let you pick the track, since it's your first time playing. Do you know what the controls are?"

"No," said Ilana, as she started scanning through the tracks.

"Okay," said Yuuichi. "A button is accelerate, B button is brake - you won't be needing that - the analog stick steers, holding R while steering will let you drift to pick up speed boosts, and the L button fires items. Pretty simple."

"Okay, I get," said Ilana, nodding. "Ooh, I like this one. It has, how you say, castle."

"Dario Circuit? Alright then," said Yuuichi. "Who do you want to play as?"

It didn't take Ilana quite as long to decide this one. "Princess Plum," she said, selecting the purple-dressed princess from the menu. "She cute."

"Princess Plum's more like Princess Plain compared to Carolina," quipped Yuuichi, selecting a cute-looking girl whose hair covered one eye. "Alright, good luck."

"Thank you," said Ilana. "You too."

Ilana, Yuuichi, and the six AI drivers lined up at the starting grid, ready to go. After a brief countdown, the word "GO!" appeared on the screen and the race began. Yuuichi quickly accelerated into the lead, with Ilana falling near the back of the pack. She tried drifting through the first sweeping turns as Yuuichi had suggested, but found herself sliding off the track and slowing down. Soon she was at the back. "This hard," she complained, pouting.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually," said Yuuichi. "Come on, I'll go easy on you."

"Okay," said Ilana, nodding. She made her way back onto the track and kept going, concentrating on simply staying on the track and trying to catch up to the other racers. Soon she was up to sixth, and collected her first Item Block. "Ooh, item!" she remarked. "Wonder what I get…?"

It was a Blue Shell. Yuuichi immediately gulped, a bead of sweat forming on his head as Ilana's pout turned into a merciless grin. "I-Ilana… y-you wouldn't dare…" he stammered.

"Do svidaniya, my love," said Ilana, and with a vicious glint in her eye, she pressed the L button.

Day 67

[from Sapporo Lilies]

Tonight is the first of our three warm-up matches, to get us prepared for the start of the season. We're playing at our home ground, the Sapporo Dome, against an amateur women's team from Saitama. This will be a good chance for me to assess my various squad members, and get a feel for just how good our chances really are of making the top three. Even if there's nothing riding on the results, we should still aim to win all three friendlies, just to get our morale up ahead of the season.

I spend quite some time thinking about which players to select for the starting line-up. Ideally, I'll want to give all nineteen squad members an equal amount of time on the pitch during these matches. That way, not only will they all be nice and warmed up, but none of them will go into the season thinking that they're not going to get any game time. Morale is a very important factor.

I eventually decide to select Miyuki as our goalkeeper for the match, just to see what she's capable of. I know Aliona is the first-choice goalkeeper, and Miyuki knows that as well, but it's still important that she gets some match practice, even if it's just from a friendly. For the formation, I select a simple, balanced 4-4-2. If any problems arise with it, I can tweak the formation for later matches to compensate for any weaknesses.

The back four will consist of Shinobu at left-back, Choi and Suzume at centre-back, and Ritsu at right-back. In midfield, I select Hinata on the left wing, Fiona and Konoko in the centre, and Tomoko on the right wing. I must admit, I'm a little eager to see Fiona in action, being the legend that she is. Up front, I select Yui and Sanae. Everyone else will be on the bench for this first warm-up, and I'll most likely send a few of them on at some point or another.

Before the start of the match, I gather the girls together in the changing room to talk things over. This will be my first pre-match team talk, so I'd better make it a good one. "Alright," I tell them, "this is where our season begins. Not in a few weeks' time; right now. These warm-up matches are going to be invaluable practice, and will also give me a chance to see what you're all capable of, how well you all work together, and ultimately, what our chances are this season. I know there's nothing riding on this game, but I still want you to go out there and give it your all. Show me what you're capable of."

The talk seems to have worked… mostly. The younger girls, like Ichiko and Miyuki, seem especially fired up, and ready to prove their worth. Some of the other girls seem rather unfazed. Suzume just continues to glare at me, as usual.

***

0 MINUTES. Saitama, being the away side, get to kick off the first half. They're lining up in a 3-5-2 formation, looking to take control of the midfield. However, this means that if we can manage to break through their midfield, their defences will be weak, and wide open to attack. I'm still pretty confident we can win this.

8 MINUTES. We're building up an attack, looking to create our first real chance of the game. Tomoko has the ball on the right wing, sprinting down the pitch. She passes the ball left, towards Konoko. Konoko picks it up and managed to shield it from one of Saitama's midfielders. Dribbling round another, she sends it forwards towards Sanae, who's in space.

Sanae executes a perfect Cruyff turn and darts forward into the penalty area. I lean forward in my chair, trying to contain my excitement as Sanae bears down on goal. She shoots-!

GOAL! The ball flies straight past the goalkeeper's outstretched hands and into the back of the net. We've scored with our first chance of the game. Sanae wheels away celebrating, and I can’t help pumping my fist in celebration. That goal puts us firmly in control of the game, and at such an early stage as well.

13 MINUTES. Fiona intercepts a stray pass from one of the Example midfielders. They quickly close her down, and she passes it out wide to Hinata, who's in space. Hinata advances almost to the goal line without being challenged, then lofts in a good cross. However, it misses everyone in the box and goes out for a goal kick. Disappointing; that could have been 2-0 inside fifteen minutes. What a start to my Sapporo career that would have been.

21 MINUTES. Saitama are on the break, looking to create their first chance of the game. One of their midfielders is surging down the middle of the pitch. They dribble past Fiona, and then past Hinata. The ball is sent forwards into the penalty area, and I find myself crossing my fingers, hoping that the chance comes to nothing.

Fortunately, that's exactly what happens. The ball finds its way to one of Saitama's forwards, and they shoot first time, but it's a poor shot and Miyuki saves it comfortably.

27 MINUTES. A poor tackle sees Fiona brought down near the halfway line. The referee blows her whistle almost immediately, beckoning the offending player over. She reaches into her pocket and shows her the yellow card. Evidently, Saitama are becoming a bit too determined to overturn the deficit. Fiona's alright, fortunately, and she picks herself up and dusts herself down before taking the resulting free kick, which ultimately comes to nothing.

29 MINUTES. Konoko intercepts another loose pass from the Saitama midfield, who look a bit all over the place. I can't help wondering whether their use of five midfielders is a case of "quantity over quality". In any case, Konoko manages a short run, then passes the ball across to Hinata. Hinata goes on a long attacking run down the left flank, pursued by an opponent the whole way.

Eventually, as she's level with the six-yard line, Hinata sends a cross over into the box. It's another poor one, arcing over everyone in the penalty area and out for a goal kick. She really should be doing better with these chances.

37 MINUTES. Choi intercepts a stray pass and quickly initiates a counter-attack. She passes the ball up field to Konoko, who chips it to Tomoko, who's in acres of space on the right wing. Tomoko proceeds unchallenged until she's almost level with the penalty area, at which point the Saitama left-back moves in to try and close her down. Tomoko just cuts inside her, however, and races into the penalty area.

Tomoko hits the ball towards goal, but the goalkeeper manages to deflect it away. It's not over yet: Sanae sprints for the loose ball, but a defender reaches it before her and knocks it out of play for a corner. Tomoko runs over to the corner flag, collecting a new ball from a ball-boy and preparing to take the kick.

The referee blows her whistle, and Tomoko swiftly delivers the ball into the box. Fiona gets her head to it, but she can only direct it over the bar and out of play.

45 MINUTES. The whistle goes to signal the end of the first half. Things have gone well for us so far, and thanks to Sanae's early goal, we lead 1-0 going into the second half. Football is a game of two halves, so it’s not over yet, but I reckon the chances of Saitama mounting a comeback are slim. As long as we keep up our current level of play, we've got this in the bag.

Day 34 + Apology

[First of all, let me apologize. I hoped I wouldn't fail this early in, but a broken sleep schedule, and the fallout from the death of Monty Oum, a great inspiration of mine, conspired to stop me from posting yesterday. To make up for it, I will be making two posts today. This first one is dedicated to Oum himself.]

[from Vanishing Point]

Twelve girls, against a small army of mecha, did not seem like much of a battle to the unfortunate pilots as they closed in on the miniature blockade. What they did not know, is that these were not ordinary girls.

Standing at the front of the pack, wielding two razor-sharp katanas, was a girl in a long black dress who had to have been at least six feet tall. Her long ebony hair billowed behind her as she watched the mecha advance. Suddenly, a red-haired girl in a magical girl outfit descended from the skies, landing neatly next to her. The ebony-haired girl turned to address the new arrival as though this were a perfectly normal occurrence. "How many of them are there, Ruby?" she asked.

"A whole lot of them!" exclaimed Ruby.

"You didn't count?" said the ebony-haired girl, a little annoyed.

"I tried, but there's a lot of them!" said Ruby. "Like, fifty or something."

"Fifty," repeated the other girl quietly. "I reckon we can take fifty." She turned to the other girls, assembled in a line behind her. "What do you all think?" she addressed them. "Can we take on fifty of them?"

The answer was a resounding "Yes!", from every single girl except one, a shy-looking blonde, who quietly mumbled, "Uhh…I guess so...".

"Alright then!" said the ebony-haired girl. "Let's give these bastards hell!" She turned to a silver-haired girl wearing strange metal bracers on her arms. "Quartz, you're up first."

Quartz nodded. "Okay." With a wave of her arm, the bracers suddenly fell off, clattering to the floor. Static electricity began to spark around the girl's body, her silver hair floating upwards, raised by the static. She closed her eyes, and a large electromagnetic field burst outwards, enveloping the entire group and expanding to a diameter of at least fifty feet.

The mecha pilots at the front of the squadron, noticing the strange pulse, began to open fire, but they were seconds too late; their bullets were effortlessly and harmlessly deflected away. It was at this point that the pilots began to realize they were dealing with something more than just normal girls, but foolishly, they continued to fire.

It was not long before the clattering sounds of the mecha's guns were replaced by a chorus of clicks, as one by one they ran out of ammunition. "Crap!" exclaimed one of the front gunners. "Quickly, fall back and let th-AARGH!"

Before he could finish, the ebony-haired girl had pounced upon his mecha and thrust her katana straight through the glass canopy right into his chest. It was time for the counter-attack to begin. The girl leapt elegantly off of the mecha and back down to the ground, as the pilot slumped forward in his harness, dead. His mecha, inoperable, toppled over backwards and fell to the ground, cracking the asphalt.

Quartz was next up, firing a tremendous bolt of arc lightning from an outstretched palm. The lightning struck three of the lead mecha, frying their electronics and rendering them completely useless. Slowly, the mecha squadron's formation began to fall apart, and the girls took full advantage, splitting up themselves to take them on.

As another mecha advanced, rounding the one downed by the ebony-haired girl, another tall girl with short blue hair surged forwards. With a thunderous battle cry, she unleashed a punch that shattered the mecha's leg. Unable to balance, the crippled machine toppled to the ground face-first, trapping its pilot within. Another mecha stepped up behind it and readied its gun but Quartz swiftly set up another barrier, blocking its shots. The blue-haired girl, smirking, then simply walked up to it and demolished its leg with a sweep of her arm, sending it tumbling down on top of its damaged team-mate. Hydraulic fluid spurted from the mecha's shattered leg, pouring over the road like blood from a wound.

The katana embedded in the dead pilot's chest suddenly began to glow. It wiggled a bit, then seemingly tugged itself free, hovering in the air above the downed mecha as a few drops of blood dripped from the tip. The sword then flew across the battlefield, seemingly of its own volition, slashing at the legs of the machines and severing the exposed hydraulic pipes at the backs of their knee joints. About five mecha, crippled by the sudden loss of hydraulic pressure, crumpled inoperably to the ground, leaking yet more fluid.

"What the hell is happening?!" shrieked one terrified pilot, just before Ruby flew right in front of his cockpit, brandishing a wooden staff.

"Prepare to be vanquished, evildoer!" she declared, before banging her staff against the glass windscreen. Nothing happened, but the mere sight of a girl hovering several feet in the air was enough to freak the pilot out completely. Screaming, he backpedalled furiously away from her and straight into the mecha behind him, knocking them both over. Before he could right it, a number of thick green vines burst out of the ground around it, wrapping around its arms and pinning it to the floor. Try as it might, the mecha could not break free.

The remaining mecha began to find their mobility severely hampered by now, not just by their downed comrades that now littered the street, but also by the ever-growing puddles of hydraulic fluid across the ground. Stepping over their fallen machines where they could, and simply kicking them aside where they could not, they battled bravely on.

The katana that had been floating by itself suddenly moved in front of the shy blonde-haired girl, who until now had been hanging back behind the others. "Go on, take it," said a woman nearby in a maid outfit, whose hand glowed an identical colour to the sword. "We'll distract them, you take them out."

"Can I get the other one?" asked a brown-haired woman in an office uniform who, like the blonde-haired girl, had been hanging back.

"Ask Rei if she'll lend you it," said the maid, and with that, she turned her attention back to the fighting. Using her psychokinesis, she picked up the broken leg of what was now one of several mecha that had been downed by the tall blue-haired girl. With hardly an effort, she thrust the leg at a nearby mecha with enough force to rip straight through the cockpit; the pilot was crushed, and a split-second later the mecha exploded in a large fireball.

A green-haired girl, who had been controlling the large vines, was standing too close to the explosion and was knocked back, her eardrums shattered by the blast wave. She clutched her ears, crying out in pain as she lay on the ground. "Diamond!" called out the ebony-haired girl, addressing a white-haired girl in dirty overalls. "Jade's down!"

"On it," said Diamond, rushing over. By the time she reached the fallen Jade, blood was beginning to leak from between the girl's fingers as she continued to clutch her burst ears. "I can't hear anything!" she wailed loudly. "I can't hear anything!"

"Don't worry," said Diamond, kneeling down beside her and laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna fix you up real quick, okay?"

Diamond's hand began to glow white, a gentle healing pulse making its way into Jade. Her ears healed almost immediately, the blood disappearing and the pain fading to nothing. Jade froze in mid-wail, opening her eyes and blinking in confusion. "Huh? I can hear again?"

Diamond patted Jade kindly on the shoulder. "You're doing good, Jade," she said encouragingly. "Keep it up." Jade nodded, and picked herself up, ready to carry on the fight.

By this point, the dwindling mecha squadron had realized this was not a fight they could win. "God dammit," growled one of the remaining higher-ranked pilots. "What are these girls?!"

"Should we fall back, sir?" asked one of the lesser pilots.

"I'll tell you what you should do."

Hearing the mesmerizing voice, the pilot looked out of the front of the cockpit, and the moment his eyes met the glowing gaze of the girl standing before him, they glazed over as he fell into a deep trance. The girl grinned, pushing her half-moon spectacles up the bridge of her nose, the lenses shining dangerously.

"What you should do," she continued, her voice echoing slightly, "is turn your guns on your comrades. Kill them all."

"Yes," said the man, his voice a mesmerized monotone. "I should kill them. I should kill them all." Powerless to resist, he turned his mecha around and opened fire on his own squadron. He managed to destroy two of their machines and damage a third, before his team-mates reluctantly destroyed him.

"God dammit!" exclaimed the high-ranked pilot. "Retreat! Fall back! We can't beat them!"

"But it's just a dozen girls!" retorted one of the men. "How can they possibly be doing this?" A moment later, the back of his mecha's knees seemed to split open completely of their own volition, crippling it as so many others already had been. The blonde-haired girl, now completely invisible, had slashed the hydraulics apart with Rei's katana. After that, nobody else objected. The remaining mecha turned and began to flee, leaving their fallen comrades behind.

"Do we let them go, Rei?" asked the blue-haired girl.

Rei nodded. "Yeah. Let 'em go. They won't be coming back again."

"I guess we better start clearing up, huh?" said another blonde girl. "We made a pretty big mess of this place."

"I'll take care of it," said the maid.

"I'll help," said the blonde. Stretching her arm out to an incredible length, she began picking up the random pieces of debris strewn across the street.

"Here, let me help speed things up for you," said the office lady, handing Rei her katana back. Walking over, she took the hands of the maid and the blonde girl. "Whatever you do," she said, "don't let go." The lady closed her eyes, and gradually, the world around them slowed to a crawl. The cleanup would, to the three of them, take no more or less time than it would have done before, but to the outside world, it would now appear to take only a few minutes.

"I'll go get them some snacks and drinks," said Ruby, "they'll be tired by the time they're done. Ruby, Saviour of Tokyo, away!" With that, she flew off into the skies again.

"Does she have to do that every time she takes off?" said Diamond, rolling her eyes.

"You know what she's like," said the hypnotist girl, her eyes no longer glowing. "Let her do her thing; she's not hurting anyone."

The other blonde, who had now turned visible again, headed over to Rei to hand her katana back. "So, what now?" she asked. "Shall we leave them to it?"

"Yeah," said Rei. "Come on, let's go. Our work here is done."

The rest of the girls headed off, as the clean-up operation continued behind them at incredible pace. "Hey, how about we all head to Alexandra's maid café and grab a bite to eat to celebrate?" suggested the only girl who hadn't spoken yet, an athletic red-head whose vest top looked a little singed.

"Good idea," said the blue-haired girl, taking out her phone. "I'll text Hanako, let her know we're coming, and I'll text Alexandra as well so she knows where we've gone."

"Good idea," said the athletic girl. "Maid café, here we come!"

***

"I got the snacks!" called out Ruby as she landed, carrying a large shopping bag. "…huh? Where'd everybody go?"

Day 7

[from Vanishing Point]

"I'll go first! I'll go first!"

Kiyoko, Kamui, Hanako and Cobra were gathered round the table, playing 20 Questions. Scattered on the table were a number of face-down sticky notes, each with a person or object written on it. Hanako selected one at random and stuck it to her forehead for everyone to see. "Okay...am I a male?"

"No."

"So I'm a female?"

"No."

This threw Hanako for a loop. "Asexual?" she asked, confused.

"That's a sexuality, not a gender," Cobra pointed out.

"Technically, though," admitted Kamui, "you would be asexual as well, I guess."

"Do I not have a gender?" asked Hanako.

"No, you don't," said Kamui.

"Okay..." Hanako thought for a moment. "Am I an object?"

"Yes."

"Can I fit in someone's hand?"

This question seemed to be amusing for some reason. "No," said Kamui, smirking.

"Can...people fit inside me?"

"Yes."

"Am I a car?"

"No."

"A train?"

"No."

"A plane?"

"No."

"A boat?"

"You're not a mode of transport," said Cobra, slightly irritated.

"Although you do move," added Kamui.

"I-I thought we were only supposed to say yes or no..." said Kiyoko, timidly raising a hand.

"You're not helping, guys!" Hanako complained. "Wait, how can I move and fit people inside me but not be a mode of transport? That doesn't make sense!"

"I'm not answering that," said Kamui. "And Kiyoko, you have a point. From now on, we're only answering yes or no."

"That's not going to help either!" moaned Hanako. "Ohh...am I a mobile home?"

"No."

Hanako pouted in frustration. "Oh, I give up!" she said finally.

Kamui accepted her surrender with a nod. "Okay. Who wants to go next?"

Before anyone could answer, Hanako, who had removed the sticky note and was now looking at it rather indignantly, exclaimed, "Who put 'International Space Station'?!!"

"That was me," said Kamui.

"How was I supposed to get that?" asked Hanako.

"You could have asked, maybe, "Am I found on Earth?", to which I would have answered, "No"," said Kamui. "That would have been a big clue."

"But you said it moves, and the International Space Station doesn't move, does it?"

"It moves a lot," said Kamui. "It orbits the Earth 18 times a day, and slowly falls back toward Earth at 2 kilometres a month."

"Well, I didn't know that!" exclaimed Hanako.

"Anyway," said Kamui decisively, "now that we've cleared that up, who wants to go next?"

"I'll go next," said Cobra. She picked up another of the sticky notes and stuck it to her forehead. "Okay…am I a woman?"

"Yes."

"Am I Japanese?"

"Yes."

"Am I in this room?"

"No."

Cobra glanced at Hanako's slightly eager face and rolled her eyes. "Am I Mizuki Sato?"

"Yes," said Kamui.

"I hate this game," said Hanako.