Worldbuilding [Arc 10]
[ARC 10: BEST FRIENDS]
[January 12th, Sunday, 2020]
The day before spring classes started, Mia was aghast to find Serena on the couch with a textbook. "You haven't even started reading yet?!"
"Huh? Classes start next week, don't they -"
" - they start -tomorrow-." panted Mia, and the protégé went horrified.
"… ah, fuck. This is even worse than the Greek." muttered Serena, skimming through the pages. "Wait, that's why I can't use Blackburn for money?"
Mia sighed and sat next to her. "Which section are you on?"
"'Revenant Crash of the 1970s.' It says, um… here."
"After… ah. Yes." said Mia. "'Revenants first began appearing in the early 1950s, after Cold War nuclear testing inadvertently created a new form of bacteria - Viscera exspiravit. Due to the scale of tests conducted, this form of bacteria infected nearly all of the human population by the 1970s, and recent census data across all continents has not found a single human who is not a carrier for Viscera exspiravit.
However, the colony only activates in the presence of Volgari proteins, secreted by the heart of those who possess certain genetic mutations.'"
"Why are you reading this all out?"
"Worldbuilding." chimed Mia, relevantly. "'Initially, the relative infrequency of Revenants - estimated now at two in every million - left governments slow to react on regulation. Crafty entrepreneurs attempted to find Revenants that proved useful in the production process. One case, Magdalene Therapeutics v The U.S., found that a company for aphrodisiac candles had a Revenant host involved in their production process - giving a factual basis for the claim 'Smells so good, you'll need a new pair of pants. This quickly led to debate over fair trade and fair competition, and many cases were soon brought across countries worldwide. Many plaintiffs argued that a Revenant host in the production of certain metals or minerals would be too unfair of an advantage, and lead to the death of small businesses.'"
"Like Yuruko."
"Or you. 'Adopted in 1982, the Revenant Trade Agreement forbids the use of Revenants in goods meant for sale under threat of sanctions, and Urasaria Academy was established shortly after. (That's where you attend!)'"
"I hate when they try to be relatable."
"...still." said Mia, wagging her finger. "You should have read this earlier."
"…man, this sucks." muttered Serena. She started reading through it, waited until Mia got up, then resumed skimming.
+++
As Serena Kunst awoke Friday morning from uneasy dreams she found herself holding in her bed an enormous & plush serpent. A note was on the tip.
'Follow Mizuchi.'
Serena blinked. "What?"
She got out of bed and stepped over the enormous Boudoir-made animal. Its titanic tail trailed the hallway, through the kitchen, out the front door, over the sidewalk-
"How fucking long is this?!" she sputtered, stepping out to the street-
-up where slithered the Mizuchi replica, hundreds of feet up the sidewalk, to the second-year building beyond-
"-SERENA-DA!" shouted someone behind her; she shrieked and turned -
- and there stood the chemist-turned-vampire. Yuruko was wearing a yellow jacket, yellow pants with stone hearts on the knees, and turned-up boots. Her hair was spiked & yellow and she was wearing green lipstick.
"…Why are you dressed up as DIO?"
"I REJECTED MY HUMANITY, SERENA!" A stone mask formed in her hands. "Also, because there hasn't been a female main villain yet."
"Okay, but why are you dressed up?"
Yuruko grinned. "Did Mia not tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Mid-term exam today." She walked past Serena, slowly, then turned. "…are you seriously going to keep struggling?"
"Oh no." Serena groaned.
"Even human effort has its limits. No matter how hard you train in the Revenant, it's MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA-"
" - I get the ref-"
"-MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAAAAAA! COULD A MONKEY FIGHT A MAN?!" Yuruko paused. "You know, that line's kinda weird, because he does send a monkey to fight them in part 3."
The two laughed, kissed, then held hands as they followed the serpent up to the second-year building. Yuruko wished her good luck as Serena went inside and found the head leaning against one of the sideroom doors. Serena stepped inside, and blinked.
"Why do you have a bald cap on?"
"…I did tell you about Akira, didn't I?"
"Oh, yeah." Serena nodded. "That's what he looks like."
"Er, yes." said Mia at the other end, then grunted: "Then come, Diet Saya! You're not nearly as pacifist as she was, are you?!"
"I guess not." shrugged Serena.
And their gaze left no more words to be shared. A confused haze clouded Serena's eyes as she rushed forward, fog outstretched, tower shield filling her tentacle's grip as she surged -
- and a pillar of orange fire melted her shield; she swept with the speed of fog back -
- just in time for a frozen projectile to pierce her chest and out her back. She tore it out in a shower of blood, fog refilling her wounds, and as another icicle sought her neck -
- the next scene was instant.
Blackburn's fog filled her jacket as she turned, pulling the hood over -
- and in to the tungsten within smashed the frozen missiles, shattering them open as they fell.
"I'm sorry for this, Saya Zero!" laughed Mia at the other end -
- and a pillar of orange flame claimed Serena's entire jacket; but she grinned as she turned, leather charred to ash, tungsten plating surviving underneath.
"Twice the melting point of steel." chimed Serena, starting her rush again, fifty feet separating her and her -
" - do you really think you can stand against Worldwide in close-range, Saya Low-Sugar?" said Mia, and as Serena came within range, her sword formed to life -
- and Mia shrieked involuntarily as the floor underneath buckled and collapsed, falling in to the sudden hole filled with water; a hasty swarm of ice scarabs below formed a new platform, just in time for -
- a tendril of black fog flew in to Mia's lips; her mouth filled with knives, and as she swept back and away -
" - Wfffgfffd!"
- Serena saw with aghast eyes her metal volley turn molten on Mia's tongue; and the mentor spat the liquid blades out.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"Elemental immunity, Saya Fresca." chimed the lava-drinker, relevantly. She laughed as she rushed forward, sword outstretched, and Serena backed away -
- direct in to a wall of unmeltable ice. Mia's sword cleaved her chest open in a shower of crimson, and in a second sweep seeking her tungsten jacket -
- her sword burst in to white flames, and Serena shrieked as her armor started to melt, desperate streams of fog repairing the melting tungsten -
- and the next scene was instant. A rip of her cup out, desperate fog filling it with thick gray liquid, and she threw it in Mia's face, blinding her temporarily -
" - really, Saya No-Trans-Fat - I - er - I mean -"
- Serena laughed and swept to the side, her mentor swinging blind as she rushed to the back of the room. Mia turned and spun, face and eyes covered in gray, and as a swarm of water showered her visage -
- the hydraulic concrete hardened, encasing her nostrils and head within. Her hands shot to her face, attempting desperately to peel off the encapsulating prison -
- and Serena was among her with a rush and a gigantic bound. Streams of fog flew underneath the concrete, and as the inner prison turned acidic -
- a pillar of white flame claimed Mia's body, vaporizing in an instant both prison and acid -
" - god - fucking - Blackburn!" shouted Serena, and in the next instant -
- a stream of black fog flew in to a pillar of flame -
- and filled it with fluoroantimonic acid.
'Oh fuck I should not have done -'
- the room began to fill with gas. The two combatants hacked and coughed, skin suddenly corroding and burning; Serena swept away -
' - how do I neutralize fuck fuck fuck -'
"W-W-W-W -" gagged Mia, and she fell limp.
With the fervor of a widowed protégé, Serena ran over to her, streams of black fog filling the foul vapors with hexafluorine, clear liquid dripping neutralized to the floor. She winced as she hooked her arm&tentacle underneath, knowing her next stop.
"…ghhhgg..."
"I-I got you." winced Serena, rushing out with mentor towed. "U-Um, what building is the infirmary?"
Mia coughed up more blood & flakes of her lungs. Worldwide's scarabs formed an arrow, and Serena followed it to the infirmary's building, where she ran in to Marisa passing by, who quickly walked with them and asked if Mia was okay.
"…e-ego isn't..." winced Mia, still coughing.
"Man. How'd you manage that, Serena?" said Marisa.
"I used a super strong acid." she winced. "Um, I filled one of her fires with it, and it turned in to gas."
"Nice. Did you like what we made for you, too?"
"Yes." lied Serena.
Marisa nodded and the three went up to the infirmary. Serena sat Mia in a bed near the window, and as Saya came over with her tattoo needle & began writing on Mia, Serena looked away, and saw Yuruko driving out of Urasaria on her stolen roadroller.