The Midori Arc - Part 2 - 5 - Midori vs Sarah

Fawn’s last song was coming to a close.  Katia was nowhere to be seen backstage, and the other girls were starting to get nervous.
There was only one minute left to Fawn’s last song.  Mina and Dawn still weren’t certain as to what they were going to do.  If Katia didn’t show up, they’d have to pull something out of thin air.
With thirty seconds left, Katia finally joined them.  She was wearing an elegant evening gown.
“Where have you been?” Dawn demanded.
Katia’s face was stern, and she didn’t look towards them.  She handed Mina a CD and finally spoke.  “Start playing that when I get onstage,” she instructed.  “And if you ever, EVER bring up what I’m about to do, I swear I will use all my influence to have you crushed.”
Before they could ask her what she was going on about, Fawn finished.
“Thank you all!” she called out to the cheering soldiers.  “I’m glad you enjoyed it!  For your further enjoyment, next we have the talents of –“  She glanced towards backstage.  Katia was the only one standing there, who nodded.  “- Princess Katia of the elves!”
There were groans coming from the audience.  Apparently, they’d heard about Katia.
Fawn snapped her piano player out of her trance and they walked offstage as Katia walked on.
Katia took the mic.  “Greetings, lowly foot troops.”
The other four girls covered their eyes in dread.
“Before you all go and brutally enable the destruction of my second home,” the princess continued, “you will be treated to a once in a life time event, an event which, if there are any photos or videos found circulating afterwards, will result in the punishment of any responsible.”
Mina finally remembered to start the CD Katia had given her.  Slow, elegant music played.
Katia took a deep breath as she heard the music.  “And so it begins.”
Stepping back from the mic, Katia began a slow ball room dance.  Tango steps, spins, graceful arm movements.  The girls groaned.  This was not going to keep the troops amused.
Before the troops could voice their displeasure, something changed.  Katia was standing center stage, her arms held out to her sides.  The music suddenly changed.  No longer was it classical, there were now the steady beats leading into a rock song.  Katia began swing her head side to side with each beat.  On the last beat, she grabbed the center of her dress and pulled.
The dress split apart, and underneath, Katia was wearing short jeans and a tight black shirt.  The girls backstage and the soldiers in the audience stared at her in complete, bewildered amazement.
In a manner totally uncharacteristic to the princess, Katia’s dance changed.  She was now dancing to a rock beat.  Quick spins, moon walks, robot moves.  Everything you could conceive.  Moves from every rock concert and dance you had ever seen pulled together, and done well.
The girls were thinking that there was no way Katia could have rehearsed those moves in under two hours.  It must have been something she had been practicing in secret, like a hobby.
They wanted to talk about this oddity amongst themselves, but every time they were about to, Katia timed a head twist to give them deadly stares.
The dancing alone was good, but the fact that it was the prim and proper elven princess doing it was mind boggling.  Shaking her head from side to side while keeping the rest of her body still.  Moving one arm at a time to give the illusion of a wave passing through her body.  Break dancing.  Needless to say, her performance was more than adequate to entertain the troops.
******
Jake and Midori were nearing the fourth floor via the stairs.
“Really,” Jake was telling Midori, “you should let me take a look at your gash.”
Midori froze in place, then slammed her open hand against Jake’s throat, pinning him to the wall.  “Not until our wedding night.”
*Jake is getting blue in the face.*  “I, meant, your, wound,” he choked out.
Midori released him and kept on moving.
Jake rubbed at his throat as he followed her.  Man, she is freakishly strong.
Just as they had been told, upon reaching the fourth floor, they found that the door leading to the next set of stairs was sealed off.  To proceed further, they’d have to defeat their opponent.
“I wonder who we, and by we I mean you, will have to face this time,” Jake said.
Before Midori could rip into Jake for voicing just how weak he was....
“Me.”
They looked in the direction of the voice to see Sarah, replete in her standard police shirt and skirt and high heels, leaning against a large computer frame perpendicular to them.  She turned her head and gave the two arrivals a tight smile.
“Oh, hell,” Jake swore.
Sarah stepped away from the computer from and stood to face Jake and Midori.  She cracked both sets of her knuckles.  “So, who’s it going to be first?”
In response, Midori instantaneously drew her sword and lept at Sarah, flipping the blade in her hand so her attacks would be nonlethal.  She aimed at Sarah’s head.
Sarah, her smile never wavering, ducked under Midori’s attack.  Midori proceeded with a flurry of slashes coming from alternating angles with varying speeds.
Sarah evaded every one of them, never moving her feet except for occasional jumps.  *Sarah is moving so quickly that it seems as though there are three of her.*
“Wow,” Jake said, observing the fight.  “I haven’t seen anything like that since the Kaio-ken times twenty.”  
“Does he ever make sense?” Midori asked, not breaking stride.
“Nope,” Sarah said, timing the shakes of her head to avoid Midori.  “Never.”
As Midori was coming in for a straight head on slash, Sarah caught the blade of her sword between her hands and lashed out with her foot, attacking with enough force to put Midori out of the fight permanently if it connected with her stomach.  With no choice left, Midori let go and skipped back.
Sarah turned her prize over in her hands by the blade.  “It is a beautiful sword,” she declared.  Then she tossed the sword to the side, where it lodged halfway into a solid steel wall.
Midori retook her position beside Jake.  “Look’s like I jumped to gun there,” she admitted.  “Okay, what’s the game this time?”
Homeshield’s face appeared on a monitor.  “Best two out of three,” he announced.  “Round one, first to land a blow on the opponent’s chest wins.  Round two, first to land a blow on the stomach wins.  If by then there is no winner, I will announce the rules for round three.”  The monitor turned off.
“Seems fairly straightforward.”  Midori untied her robe and took it off, revealing that she was wearing her training gi underneath it.  The robe out of the way, Midori stretched out her limbs.
Jake put a restraining hand on her shoulder again.  “Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, you’re not going to fight Sarah, right?  You’re nuts!  She’s a cyborg, she’ll tear you apart!”
Annoyed, Midori looked at him and asked, “Are you going to that every time I’m about to fight?”
Jake shrugged.  “Probably.”
Midori shrugged off his hand.  “I’m sure I can take her.  She may be good at dodging, but she can’t be that good a fist-fighter.  For goodness sakes, she has to struggle against that lowly demon.”
There was a low guttural sound coming from the back of Sarah’s throat.  Slowly but surely, it turned into a full, blown out laugh, with Sarah closing her eyes and tilting her head back.
During this bizzare show, Jake noticed a nearby console that looked very familiar.  Remembering what Mato had shown him about it, he slowly inched his way towards it.
Eventually, Sarah stopped laughing and fixed her gaze on Midori.  “You’re basing your chances of winning on that?  When I fight Dawn, I have to restrain myself to keep from killing her.”
Jake reached his goal and slapped his hand against the control. An anvil materialized above Sarah.
Thank you, dues ex machina anvil!
As the anvil began its unstoppable descent, Sarah thrust her right hand, palm flat, upwards.  The anvil fell, and met Sarah’s hand.  Sarah’s hand and arm didn’t budge, but the anvil distorted itself around her hand from the impact.  Sarah lowered the anvil to her chest level, not breaking a sweat.
“Maybe it’s about time I stop holding back and show you just how powerful I really am.”
With her other hand, Sarah tore off a small piece of the protruding portion of the anvil.  Dropping the large piece on the ground, Sarah proceeded to crush the smaller piece with her one hand until it was about as large as a pea.  Smiling again, she tossed it down her throat, gulped, and grinned wickedly.
Trying to mask his nervousness, Jake said, “Gee, Sarah, don’t you think you already have enough iron in your diet?”
Midori and Sarah stopped staring at each other and turned their attentions towards Jake.  The looks on their faces clearly said they could not believe he had just said such a thing.  Midori walked over to Jake, slapped him, then walked back to resume staring at Sarah, who returned the favor.
With nothing left to be said between them, the two contestants stepped forward, occupying the part of the lab that offered the most space, Midori leaving her robe, sheath, and wakazashi with Jake.
“Sarah versus Midori,” Homeshield announced, “round one, fight!”
With the freedom of movement her gi allowed, the speed of Midori’s attacks was greatly increased.  Holding her fingers out straight, she performed a quick jab straight at Sarah’s face.  With a wooshing sound, Sarah tilted her head out of the way to avoid it.  The first move over, Midori began a rapid series of punches, chops and kicks aimed at Sarah, occassionally striking for her chest.
A few of Midori’s attacks glanced Sarah, but none made any real contact.  Soon, Sarah grew tired of being on the defensive, and in an unbelievably swift movement, grabbed both of Midori’s wrists.
Midori grimaced as Sarah tightened her steel grip.
“So,” Sarah teased, “shall I break your wrists, or skip all that and just pull your arms out?”
Repeating the move she had first tried on Dawn, Midori slammed her forehead against Sarah’s face.  Sarah took it rather well, but her grip loosened just enough for Midori to escape.
No longer playing games, Sarah took to the attack.  Surprised, Midori was barely able to mount a defensive.  Sarah’s strikes were fast and powerful.  Midori knew better than to try to block such attacks with her arms.  Doing so could shatter her bones.  Instead, as she had done with Passion, she parried Sarah’s moves, pushing her arms to the side rather than block the fist.
After attacking for several moments, Sarah evaded one of Midori’s desparate parries and landed a flat-palmed blow directly on the center of Midori’s chest.
Midori was sent sailing towards Jake’s side of the room, feet off the ground.
Quickly as he could, Jake moved to stand between Midori and the wall she was heading for, arms held open to catch her.  When he did catch her, he acted as her cushion and hit the wall instead.
Without turning around, Midori rubbed her chest, said, “Thank you,” and walked back to Sarah.
Midori stepped back into the ring and entered a defensive stance.  She now had a good feeling for just how fast Sarah could really be, and had a plan to utilize that speed to her advantage.
“Round two,” Homeshield announced, “fight!”
Looking forward to ending this right away in a win, Sarah dove for Midori, unleashing an onslaught of powerful blows.
Midori was on full defense, the best she could manage.  She did what she could to parry Sarah’s attacks and avoid the rest, but even slight grazes did her some damage.  Midori began retreating, backing towards the closest wall available.
Sarah grinned as her prey withdrew.
Soon, Midori’s back was against the steel wall.  With Midori cornered, Sarah prepared to end the fight then and there.  She pulled back her right fist and punched with full strength at Midori’s head.
At the last possible instant, Midori split her legs apart, lowering her towards the floor.  Sarah’s punch sailed right over Midori’s head and embedded her arm inside the wall.  Realizing she had been suckered, Sarah tried to pull her fist out, but it was stuck for a moment.
A moment was all Midori needed.  Legs still split, she pulled her arm back and landed a punch directly into Sarah’s gut.  In anger, Sarah tried to stomp on Midori, but the samurai rolled away.
Midori stood by Jake, and Sarah, now freed, returned to the center of the room.
“Currently, it is a draw,” Homeshield announced.  “The rules for round three are thus: you may use any weapon you choose, and first to render the other unable to fight wins.”
“Any weapon, eh?”  Midori noted that her sword was still lodged across the room in a wall.  Reaching to her side, she took her sword sheath from Jake.  “I choose this.  What do you choose?”
Sarah smiled, reached to her side, pulled out her pistol, cocked it, and aimed it at Midori.
Midori, who was new to the world outside of Nippon, needed a second to register what the gun was and the threat it possessed.  Jake saw the danger immediately and shoved Midori to the side as Sarah pulled the trigger.
Bang.
Midori and Jake were taking cover behind the console that Jake had shoved them behind.
“A gun,” Midori growled as Sarah kept shooting.  “Hardly seems fair, does it, Mato-kun?”
When he didn’t respond, Midori looked to see that Jake was holding his shoulder, blood escaping between his fingers.
“You allowed yourself to get shot?” Midori asked, annoyed at her pupil.
Jake, biting his lip due to the pain, could not believe how much of a bitch Midori was being.  “How about some sympathy for the guy who just took a bullet for you?”
Midori grabbed his wounded arm and pulled it to take a better look, causing Jake to grunt in pain.  “You’ll live,” she told him.  “It just grazed the skin.”  She let him go and resumed planning a new move.
Jake noticed a bottle of Mato Brand Insta-tech healing spray like he had found in his room before this madness had started, grabbed it, and sprayed it on his arm.  The bleeding stopped, but it still hurt.
Sarah’s shots stopped, and noise like a spent clip hitting the ground was heard.  “I can do this all day,” they heard Sarah say, accompanied by the sound of a fresh clip being loaded.  The shooting resumed.
As Midori was planning, a weird look crossed Jake’s face, and he spoke into a close microphone.
“Very well,” Homeshield’s voice boomed.  Sarah’s shots ceased.
Before Midori could do anything, Jake said, “Wait here,” then ran off.
*Question marks over Midori’s head.*
A minute later, a toilet somewhere was flushed, and Jake returned behind the console, relieved.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No prob,” Homeshield replied.  “Pausing for bathroom breaks is essential in gameplay.”
*Annoyed expression on Midori’s face as she bonks Jake on the head with her sheath.*
Sarah’s shooting picked up again.
“We don’t have time to play sitting duck,” Jake noted.  “We have to end this now.”
“Agreed.  Mato-kun, if you ran, how long would it take you to reach Sarah-san?”
Jake tried to remember how far away Sarah was.  “Five seconds, I guess.”
“You have three.”  Midori took Jake’s uninjured arm and placed his thumb and forefinger on the side of her neck.  “Feel that?  Pinch there as hard as you can, and you will render a human unconcious.”
Jake felt, then pulled his hand away and stared at it.  What could she be planning?
“I’ll draw her fire,” Midori quickly said.  “Get ready to go!”
Before Jake could stop her, Midori jumped from cover and began running alongside the lab wall, Sarah’s bullets hitting the wall where she had just been, trying to draw a bead.
“Crazy girl,” Jake muttered, leaping out himself and running as quickly as he could for Sarah.  Fortunately, Sarah’s attention was focused on Midori and didn’t see his approach.
Arm outstretched, Jake reached Sarah and pinched her neck just as Midori had shown him.  Relief filled him as he felt Sarah’s body stiffen.  It had worked.
Then Sarah’s body relaxed, and she twisted her neck to give him a none too friendly look.  Jake froze.  Sarah tossed her pistol to her opposite hand, then leveled it directly at Jake’s face level, the barrel right in his face.  Her finger slowly tightened on the trigger.  Jake’s mind went numb.
*Black screen accompanied by several gold stars.*
Sarah let out a brief sigh, then slumped down to the ground, unconcious.  Jake saw Midori had struck her from behind with her sword sheath.
“Winner, Midori,” Homeshield declared.
Midori dropped her sheath and began rubbing her arms.  “Good work, Mato-kun.”
“Thanks.”  Jake felt really weird after so narrowly escaping death.  He looked down at his unconcious friend.  “Seems that pinch doesn’t really work on cyborgs.”
Midori walked to retrieve her sword.  “Actually, it doesn’t work, period.”
“Huh?”
“That pinch does nothing.  I just needed you to distract her.”
“WHAT!?”
“Relax.  By my calculations, you had at least another quarter second before she pulled the trigger.”
He stood dumbfounded as Midori returned. “And what would happen if you had miscalculated?!”
Midori gave him a smug half-smile.  “Then I would have gotten out of this marriage business.”
Before Jake could retort, a thought struck him.  “Actually, if I died, wouldn’t that mean you would have had to marry the professor, as he would be the last male Mato left?”
Horror crossed Midori’s face as she realized he was right, and she began shuddering uncontrollably.  “New rule,” she told Jake.  “You are not allowed to die.”
The battle won, Midori retrieved her robe and the two proceeded upwards.
“I can’t help but wonder who caused all these problems to begin with,” Midori wondered.
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea,” Jake growled.  “There are only two people who love video games as much as I do, and since Homeshield’s vocabulary doesn’t include ‘dude’ and ‘guy’, I think it’s safe to say we can rule out one of them.”
******
The diminishing beat of the music indicated that Katia’s act would be ending soon.  She was putting much more flourish into the finishing moves, spinning, arm thrusts, etc.
“I never would have thought that Katia would-“ Fawn started.  Before she could say more, Katia, either through some unnatural sense, or maybe her excellent hearing, shot her a glare to shut her up.
“I know, and –“ Diana started, but another glare shut her up as well.
“Sigh,” the girls went at their inability to talk about Katia’s actions.
“So, after Katia, who’s up next?” Mina asked.
Dawn and Fawn, who had been talking with one another in private earlier, both smiled and turned around.  “You are,” Fawn said.
*All color drains from Mina, and she is now a black outline with white emptiness.*
“Me!?  But, but, but what can I do?!”
“You’re going to put on a magic show,” Dawn informed her in a deviously friendly manner.
“What!?  But I can’t go out there!  I’ll screw up!  I haven’t even had time to prepare!”
“You’ll do fine,” Dawn assured her, leading her and Diana away.  “Let’s just go to the dressing room and fit you two into some appropriate stage wear.”
“Hey!  Why am I being dragged into this?!” Diana complained.
“Because every magicians act needs a lovely assistant,” Dawn explained, “and since I’m going to be unavailable for a little bit, we have to settle for you.”
As Dawn led the upset friends away, Katia’s act was about to end.  After a quick twirl and displaying a sexy pose and a sexy look on her face, the princess skidded forward on the smooth stage on her knees to stop in front of the mic, holding her arms up straight in the air, using her fore and middle fingers to form V signs, and saying, ‘Love is a battleground!’ to finish the song.
The reaction from the crowd was most favorable.  Wild applause and cheering, complete with whistling.  As Katia rose, it seemed the axim about princesses not sweating was true, for there was not a drop of moisture on her forehead.  She grabbed the mic.
“Thank you, I hope you all enjoyed.”  Her eyes and tone turned deadly.  “And remember; if anyone, anyone breaths so much as a word of this, I will find you, and I swear on the graves of my ancestors that I will crush you, both figuratively, and literally.”
Her threat made, Katia walked sidestage as Fawn stepped up, announcing the next act.
Seeing that she was alone, she sank into a nearby convenient chair and let her limbs go limp.
She was about to listen to what Fawn was saying when General Adams approached her.
“Nice show,” he complimented.  Katia stared at him, and he held up one hand in defense.  “Don’t worry.  My lips are sealed.”  He looked at the stage where Fawn was still talking.  “I spoke with the higher ups, and was able to convince them to let the show go on, using some outdated, ridiculous military protocol.  I don’t know how much longer they’ll go for it, though.”
“He’ll make it,” Katia assured him.  “My beloved is a most resourceful man, despite his eccentricities.  He’ll use the time we’re buying him to save the city and everyone in it.”
“I hope so.”
Dawn was returning with Mina and Diana.  Mina was wearing a new outfit: a top hat, tuxedo jacket, gloves, a leotard, fishnet stockings, and a white vest that showed off her cleavage; the stereotypical stage magician’s garb.  Diana was dressed in something resembling a ballerinas dress: a corset which was hugging her probably to an uncomfortable degree, illustrating her figure, and a tutu, with her tail poking through the bottom of her outfit.
Before Adams or Katia could comment or ask questions, Dawn hurridly pushed the magic girl and the neko towards the stage and shoved them out in front of the audience.  Now in view, all the two could do was smile nervously and walk towards center stage.
Fawn, still at the mic, grinned.  “And now!” she announced.  “I proudly present to you, Mina the Magnificent, and her lovely assistant, Diana!”
As Fawn walked offstage, the audience applauded while Mina and Diana prepared.  Dawn grabbed Adams by the arm and led him away.  “Listen, pops, I need your help for my act.  Do you have any-“  The rest of her words were lost as they moved out of hearing distance.
Katia looked at Fawn with incredulity.  “You’re counting on Mina to put on a magic show?”
The popstar chuckled.  “Relax,” Fawn assured.  “I told the audience it’s a slapstick comedy act.”
******