“I’m just saying it was a chicken fish sandwich,” the nameless mook said.
“It had chicken texture,” the other tried to wrap his head around the concept.
“But it tasted like fish!”
The two philosopher’s moment was interrupted as a peasant girl landed in the truck bed beside them and, without introduction or opinion on the chicken fish, performed a magnificent roundhouse kick that sent Mook 1 flying from the moving vehicle! He Wilhem-screamed on his way to the hard, fast moving earth below! Someone so petite shouldn’t be able to knock around a wall of muscle twice her size like that, but Mook 2 swore there was a glow about her form at the moment of impact. He wouldn’t say she had blood lust, it’s that she seemed way too happy to be here.
Natsuko pushed her nerves down, deep into what will likely become an ulcer, focused her energy and leapt from motorcycle to the truck bed. Honestly, this is more impressive than Yuri’s leap as she did it in a kimono. She was offered smelly peasant pants like her friends wore, but declined because baggy pants make her stubby legs look even shorter! She wasn’t generally one for pride, vanity or self-esteem, but she drew the line at emphasizing her short legs.
Her landing put her before Mook 2, but she failed to capitalize on her moment the way Yuri did. Her kick lashed out and connected with the human meat wall, who ignored the unfocused strike and smacked her away. Her stumbling back caused his retaliatory swing to miss by a hair. He surged forward and she stumbled dodged over the side and back onto the motorcycle!
The sudden shift in weight from the returning passenger caused Tsubaki to briefly swerve and, to her surprise, missed getting a stone to the face thrown by the truck driver.
“Thanks Natsuko!” She said. Natsuko replied with a tired “thumbs up” gesture.
Svetlana the White, Jack’s right hand muscle watched the fight unfold from the middle cargo truck but couldn’t draw a bead on either girl with her MP28 submachine gun. She’d seen the worst of the world growing up through the revolution and the flight into China, so doing as she was paid to take out these annoying brats didn’t bother her in the slightest.
Yuri surged forward with a string of spiritual energy enhanced strikes Mook 2 dodged with ease and for her trouble she took a powerful clothesline that sent her sprawling on her ass.
“This ride’s for paying passengers only,” he mocked.
An electric zing of spiritual energy caught him on the temple, the force ejecting him violently from the vehicle. Yuri peered over the side and saw her kimono-clad savior still holding the finger gun pose for firing spiritual energy.
“Brace!” Tsubaki ordered as she hit the brakes, avoiding another rock flung by the driver! (Then I remembered he can drive or fight but not both so he ran out of stuff to through after this.)
There! Svetlana unloaded on the motorbike, bullets striking tires, body and engine. The kimono girl leapt back to the side of the truck and the driver awkwardly leaped as well, but was nearly thwarted by an
unkempt bush in the road!
The bush snagged her pant leg, throwing off the leap and Tsubaki’s hand grasped empty air! A warm grip clamped hard on her wrist and pulled her over the side into the truck bed, toppling on Natsuko.
“No dying alone,” Natsuko reminded her.
The driver, who was hourly and needed to stretch the job out, had been in many fist fights but never one this bizarre. A spindly stick arm tried to strike him through the window, which he grabbed and jerked forward. There was a flash of bright yellow kimono as she fell from the bed onto the running board- and then she bit him! What kind of savage bites fingers?!
While trying to shake her loose, another one grabbed his hair and went for an eye gouge.
“Shotgun!” A girl slid in through the passenger window and struck him in the face with an electrifying jolt. The world went black as the door opened and he tumbled out.
Yuri took her hard won wheel and now it would be dangerous for a new reason.
“What do I do now?” She asked. Yuri had no idea how to drive.
And what were these levers for?“Just keep your foot down on-”
Natsuko screamed. She was clinging to the driver side door and running board for dear life when Yuri stomped the brake.
“Other pedal! Other pedal!” Tsubaki shouted at her from atop the cab.
The truck kept going but now lagged behind the convoy.
“And watch out for the red-” She shouted.
Svetlana loosed another burst at the brats. They would die. They needed to. NO ONE calls Svetlana a filthy, God-less, treacherous RED. Her father fought and died for the Czarist cause and she was a White Russian through and through!
“DEATH TO BOLSHEVISM!” She roared in angry Russian. Her blood rising may have interfered with her aim, Yuri swerved and only a few bullets glanced off the truck body. Panicking bystanders dived out of the way.
Tsubaki took the wheel and the other two crowded into the cabin. Using some
restricted knowledge from a book she struck the rear quarter of the truck before her. It spun out for the collision and Svetlana hung on for dear life. The low level minion lacked Tsubaki’s ability to beat the dangerous maneuver’s peril. Natsuko and Yuri channeled and fired spiritual energy to take out the driver with Yuri being the one to pull it off.
Svetlana ignored this and sprayed the girls, aiming for them and not the vehicle. Shattering glasses struck Tsubaki’s face and only her rather thick glasses prevented an eye injury.
“Tsubaki?!” Yuri said with panic.
“I’m okay, but I can’t see. More than usual.” She deadpanned.
Natsuko instinctively grabbed the wheel as her friend wiped the blood that dripped into her eye.
“Orders?” She asked.
“Hit her again!”
Tsubaki kept her foot on the accelerator and Natsuko aimed them for the truck, scoring another bone jarring hit! The impact caused one of the mysterious cargo boxes to begin smoking and catch fire. Svetlana hopped off the now flaming wreck. It partially blocked the turn and would keep the last truck from pursuing her boss, Jack, who had slowed for her to catch up.
Yuri bolted from the truck through the missing windshield and was on Svetlana before she could raise her weapon. Her body glowed with barely contained fury; she cursed in Japanese and struck the shootist hard and fast. Her savage beat down continued until a single shot rang out and the lead round knocked the girl from atop her. Capt. Jack was out of the truck and waiving her to him, smoking pistol in his hand.
“Ignore them!”
Squinting through her stinging eye, Tsubaki steadied herself against the hood and traded shots with Capt. Jack, who was better at this than her. She slumps over in the driver’s seat from her second wound in as many minutes.
Yuri pulled herself up and took cover beside the cargo truck, also firing at the captain.
“Both of you stay leave her alone!” She’s lost blood, her focus is slipping and she can’t bring her full power to bear. She had him dead to rights and took her shot, but the weaken energy bolt only causes a flesh wound over his heart.
Svetlana slaps in a fresh magazine and sprayed the truck again. Natsuko ducked and swore she was hit, but it was just bits of glass and truck pelting off her.
Yuri gritted her teeth and growled, stubborn as ever. This will not stand! She foolishly charged toward the truck.
This was a shooting gallery if there ever was one, Jack and Svetlana poured shots at their target until tagged her and she stumbled against a whitewashed kura warehouses, staining it red with her blood.
“Five points,” Svetlana said grimly. Jack said nothing as he got behind the wheel and they sped off.
“Tsubaki! Come on, no one dies alone!”
Natsuko shook her friend and listened for a heartbeat. Tsubaki was breathing but unconscious. She looked out the window and though black smoke from the truck occasionally blocked her view, she saw Yuri slumped immobile against the warehouse. All the gunfire had caused civilians to run for cover, no one willing to get up and help.
Game Over? The last few rounds got messy real fast as the girls failed rolls and their opponents did not. In the end they had to cease pursuit because even if they tried to get ahead of the truck on foot, they would still be massacred by the combined firepower of Jack and Svetlana. It’s a different dynamic than most games where they either handled a lot of low level opponents or took on foes singly. This time they had to deal with someone who could put out a lot of shots that they could do little about.
But don’t worry, they’re not dead yet! They’ll get better!
ERRATAIt might be anachronistic that Natsuko is self-conscious about having “short legs.” Students in Japanese schools are given an annual health check; as part of it standing and sitting height are measured and one learns if their legs are correctly proportioned to their bodies or “short.” My Japanese wife went through this in school and says it might be why girls get self-conscious about “short legs.”
A kura is the traditional stone warehouses seen all over Japan.
March 24, 2025, 08:15:32 AM