1043/Bark-ing Up The Wrong Tree

Bark-ing Up The Wrong Tree
Date of Scene:	16 February 2016
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Reiko, Hoshi and Kukai fight a Shade made from a forest grove!
Cast of Characters:	Reiko Touyama, Hoshi Kogane, Kukai Souma

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Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama has come today to get to the garden! It's starting to warm up, and the koi pond is liquid again! Soon, the koi will be back but Reiko /wants to see the pond now/ because eeeee! So she's also dragged Hoshi along. It feels really cool to hang around with Hoshi again a lot. She feels less alone. She still misses Mei, but to have another friend about is doing /wonders/ for her mood.

She has to stop a moment on a bench. "Eeeeee~" she lets out. "Look at it.." she says staring at the pond. "It's all water again~ Hopefully it doesn't freeze up before it gets into late March... I can't wait for the koi to get back into the shallows..." she mutters.

"Wanna feed them~" she beams.

Yeah she sure loves her koi. But this is aboulstely no surprise to Hoshi.

Over the small forest grove in the park- something dark and horrible flashes- looking a lot like a sudden shadow passing over. It feels dark, corrupted. Reiko cluthches at her Chroma Prism a moment. Hoshi also feels this- a stinging feeling. She stands up. "Shade..." she mutters worrided as she looks around. It hasn't shown it's face yet.

Anyone else can feel the draw of something dark over in the forest grove. Reiko begins jogging towards that location.

"That stinging feeling? That's a Shade. The Prism likes to react to-- 'darkness', but you'll know if it's a Shade." she mutters. "It stings a bit on them."

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
Hoshi isn't nearly into fishes as Reiko is, but she's very much into indulging her friends if it costs her nothing but time, so she has not hesitated to tag along. One of her stars has decided to sit on the water's edge and fish, which may or may not have been a source of minor strife had something more important come up.

She clutches her prism, too. "Ow." She says softly, and then her eyes open wide as Reiko explains what it means, looking at the yellow Crystal as she pulls it out of her bag. "I guess we should go, then." She looks around for a convenient nearby place to henshin.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai Souma has taken today off. Yesterday was a rather large fight on his part, and he's still achy-sore from kicking dozens of soccer balls and hitting someone with a skateboard and generally being a Guardian, so today is the day to walk in the park. Daichi is sitting on his shoulder, weightless, looking into the lake and pointing at what he thinks are fish but aren't - it's too early yet.

So when something cold and sharp and horrific passes by, making Daichi start and almost fall off his shoulder, it takes the Seiyou Public School Guardian a few moments to rein in his emotions at something bothering his day off. But it can't be helped, and whatever that was, he needs to go stop it, if he can. He ducks into the brush, and once hidden, nods to Daichi. "Chara Transform!"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama walks into the brush and is hidden from view into the small grove of trees. "Chroma Prism Orange! Transform!" she calls out, throwing her hand up, all dramatic like-- there's a flash of orange light! Koi tie a hairbow! One becomes a lovely fish clip in the center of the bow-- a long decorative dress--- her fairy wings. She however. Doesn't fly. The grove isn't huge, but it's thick. Flying in here would be useless, you'd be bumping into trees!

She looks around as she holds her wand out. It seems to jerk to the right-- as if leading Prism Keeper Orange, she follows along as she acks!

There, over a single rock in a clearing is a ball of gathering dark energy---and then a sudden hard flash that washes out over the area---- the forest going from lovely greens of pine trees, browns of bark and oranges of leaves and pineneedles litering the ground and whites of birch trees-- to dreadful, dark and grey monotones- making the entire place look like a spooky picture. Luckily, this place is too remote for a lot of people to be in---but soon, brush, sticks--- branches--- are lifted up off the ground-- loose ones from trees- pinecones all begin to form around the Shade's core--- it's forming!

It takes the form of a weird humanoid figure, large-- about the size of a small house-- it's head just peeks over the canopy.

"BARK!" yells the Shade. It seems this one is calling itself 'Bark'.

Orange nrgs and steels herself.

"This one is pretty creepy..." she says. "At least it's only one..." she looks around. "Ready Yellow!" she says sternly, trying to build up her confidence!

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
In a nearby brush, Hoshi incants nearly the same phrase. "Chroma Prism Yellow, Transform!" Prism Keeper YEllow comes out and follows Hoshi, looking at the strange shade. "You're barking up the wrong tree, friend." She jokes, keeping her mood light to help with her undeniable nerves.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack moves towards the area where he'd felt the darkness, his hovering snowboard keeping him on his feet, even as he moves into the brush. Off to one side he sees a flash of both orange and yellow light, ahead of him. Weird.

He can see the bleeding of color quite clearly, even as he retains his, the entire world going black and white and grey, even as a giant figure's head bursts through the top of the treeline. "There's the baddie, right there! OK, let's - huh?" He pops out into the clearing the shade had vacuumed open and sees the orange and yellow girls nearby. "Oi! Be careful, this thing's dangerous!"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Keeper Orange jumps upwards and rockets upwards through the tree line on her tiny wings. She huffs. "You better-----" she goes to talk at the Shade when someone yells at out and she turns around to face Sky Jack. "Oh...! Help!" she smiles. "Yeah, it's a Shade. It just stole all the forest colors and--- is now trying to fight me and Yellow off!" she says with a worried look.

"BARRRRRRK!" yells the Shade.

It throws it's gnarled hand out and pinecones explode from it, darkness fueled pinecones. She suddenly explodes to the right deftly-- a little more practiced than Yellow is at flying. "Watch out!" she calls out.

It sort of sprays these pinecones at the group as Orange raises her Chroma Wand and fires off a burst of Orange light at the Shade--- a large splotch turning orange on the beast.... before being retaken over by the grey. She frowns.

"This one stole an entire groves color...it's probably pretty strong..." she mutters.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
"We could use some help!" Yellow agrees, right as she gets hit in the face by a dark pinecone. "Ow..." She moves to step behind a tree, using it as cover as she aims at the Shade, following up on Orange's attack by firing a burst of her own colour. "It's pretty strong, but there's three of us, right?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack kicks off and spins away, his board supporting him as he dodges past the pinecones, letting out a yell! "Whooo! Hey, does breaking it into bits count as fighting it off?" He gets a little altitude and moves around on the other side from the two girls, a soccer ball appearing in front of his foot just in time for him to rear back and punt the ball towards the Shade, the first of several!

Reiko Touyama has posed:
'Bark' takes another hit, it turns a little yellow at the impact site and it fades- absorbing the color. This still weakens it of course. She looks over to Sky Jack. "Yeah! If you can break enough of it off, we can expose the core!" she calls out. "Then me and Yellow can free the color!" she calls out.

She tries to get higher before suddenly diving down under the tree line.

Bark seems to follow her- but it doesn't have any senses besides sight---

So some Koi shoot upwards through the tree, vibrant magical and orange before tapering off the right and homing in on behind the Shade-- sploshing into the creatures like the other attacks.

Then it breaks off the top of a pine tree, and throws the top towards where the koi came from "Eeeek!" is the shriek from Orange underneath the tree line.

"I--I'm okay!" she calls out.

She doesn't resurface. "Keep hitting it! I'm gonna play peek-a-boo with this thing~" she sing songs out.

Reiko seems to have this thing's attention for the moment!

Now's a good time to get some good hits in!

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
"Be careful!" Yellow sounds a little worried about the more experienced Prism Keeper and her plans of distraction, but she doesn't make any attempts to stop her. Instead, she jumps up, using her wings to give her a little bit more height so she can land on a tree branch.

"Thanks for helping!" Yellow calls out to Sky Jack as she aims her wand at the Shade, in quick succession five little yellow stars start flying, each of them homing in on the Shade and trying to splosh into it like the Koi did just before them. She tries not to draw its attention, but she can't stop fighting, now can she?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack focuses in for now, wincing as the tree top flies over into the brush. "OK! Be careful!" He begins punting magically charged soccer balls at the Shade, looking to hit the piles of items instead of the large, solid pieces, hoping to make it shatter and break into pieces, staying away from its line of sight for the moment.

He grins and salutes Yellow after a moment. "No problem! We'll beat this thing, easy!"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
The soccer balls slam into the Shade-- pieces rocket off the Shade, scattering to the ground. Slowly but surely pieces of this thing are now falling off.

Prism Keeper Orange rockets back out under the tree line and has grey branches stuck in her bouncy orange hair. She sighs a bit and shaes her head and send stuff flying.

The Stars crash into the Shade and it absorbs the colorful energy--- causing some pieces to fall off by it's lonesome. The Shade is weakning- just not as fast as Orange would like.

She fires off a series of rapid blasts--- orange light expelling from the tip of the Chroma Wand, blast blast blast! Beams of color energy splashing out!

"BARK!" yells the creature as it whips out it's hand, sending out a wave of dark pine-needles into the air from it's arm that appears to be pieces of a pine tree that fell over quite a long while ago in the forest!

"Nrg-- this thing is big dumb and dangerous. How come this thing----" she eeks and pine-needles stick into her- "Ah..!?" she winces.

"h--how come this thing is stronger than one made of cars and street lights!?" she whines out.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
Yellow shields herself from the pine needles by pressing herself against the tree and holding her arm in front of her face. It's not enough to allow her to ignore it, but her wince is solely nonverbal this time. "It's stronger because trees are alive, I think." Yellow suggests.

Then, Yellow jumps to another tree branch, a little further away from the Shade. She points her wand at it, and six stars start flying towards it, glowing bright yellow as they start to take on orbits around the creature's head, the pretty and irregular moving lights forming an inherent distraction.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack nods. "Lotta life and color in a forest. I~" He winces as Orange takes another shot from the Shade. "Orange, you ok? Stay back if you need to!" He decides to take a more aggressive tack, sailing in from one side on his board.

Jack spins, flipping over a swing of the Shade's arm (which still lashes him with a stuck-out pine branch) and spinning the board, slamming the firm edge of the snowboard into a weak spot of the beast hard, causing its upper body to shake and vibrate. He kicks away just in time to dodge another grasping swing, the yellow stars around its head keeping it from getting good aim, and punts a few more soccer balls at it! "C'mon, you stupid thing, give it up!"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Keeper Orange has a bunch of pine-needles sticking outta her side and leg. It stings. She's okay. She's been hit by worse, though this may look painful to Yellow or Sky Jack. She huffs. "I'll be okay!" she says confidently- being big, brave and strong and putting up her best front! She's the leader! She has to keep her chin up! Even if it hurts.

More soccer balls slam into the creature and /finally/ there's a small flashing of color visible through the branches. "The Core!" she says.

"Right there-- clear it out!" she calls out as he raises her wand- koi spin arund her before she sends them flying off in one big school-- hitting RIGHT when Yellow's Stars distract it-- it even tries to swipe at the Stars to no effect.

More branches fall off- more of the Core is exposed!

Orange grins.

"One more big push should do it then we can free the color!" she calls out.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
"Let's do this, guys!" Yellow encourages the magical boy and her fellow Prism Keeper, dropping to the ground and pointing her wand at the Shade. "Prism Aegis Power! Yellow Starfall!" A thin beam of yellow energy is aimed at the Shade, marking the spot. Even if the shade consumes the yellow, it's constantly resupplied, providing a clear target.

A target for what? For the big, five-pointed yellow star far up in the sky. It thumps its chest and yells an inaudible warcry, before jumping down and spinning at a rapid pace.

"Let's bring the colour back to this place." She keeps up her encouragement, counting down on her fingers with the hand that doesn't hold her wand. Five. "We can't let Griselda keep this colour." Four.

At the count of three, yellow starts streaking through the sky, towards the shade. It's that very same star, now going at high speed and headed directly for the impact point marked by that thin yellow beam. Yellow's counting was off, it'll impact the ground or the shade at one, not zero.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack nods and speeds up his attack, kicking magically enhanced soccer balls all the faster at the Shade, aiming at its legs now to keep it pinned in place, since he's seen Yellow's handiwork before and knows what's coming down. "Told you we can do it! Keep it up, and we'll be done in no time!"

He stops for a second, panting, before letting out an inarticulate warcry and blasting another shot at the Shade, hitting it in the ankle-ish area and blasting it completely away, sending it down onto one leg!

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Sky Jacks's balls slam down into the ankle and it sends the Shade tumbling in fact, it falls to it's back! Facing skyward in the forest as it clutches upwards... "Barrrrrrkk!" it screams out. It looks skyward- a little glint high in the sky as the yellow beam comes down on the Shade, over that multi-colored core of browns, greens, whites, and oranges and yellows, and then SLAM! A brilliant yellow star slams down into it!

"BARRRRRRKKKKK!" it cries out as the yellow color overtakes it and causes it to dissapate and fall apart--- floating up and skyward, is the ball of chromatic energy, floating there, left behind from the Shade being blasted away. Orange smiles!

"We did it! That was good Yellow!" she smiles. She looks to Sky Jack. "Just one last thing to do!" she calls out as she points her wand the ball, dashing through the air at it.

She places her wand against it. "Come on Yellow... just like the last time...." she says.

"Chroma Pallete Cleanser!" calls out Orange! When Yellow joins in--- or there's a pause if she doesn't, a white light sparks off the Chroma Wands and with a sudden pulse, the color is returned into the forest below- Greens, Whites, Oranges, Yellows--- and a bird even begins singing. Orange smiles!

"Eeeee!~ We did it!" she says.

She turns to Yellow. "Nrg--sorry that ruined the outing.." she mumbles. "But...can't ignore these things..." she says.

She looks to Sky Jack, she waves!

"Oh, um. Hey!" she says. "I'm.. Prism Keeper Orange, this is Prism Keeper Yellow!" she calls out, introducing Yellow along with her. "We're Prism Keepers and protect color! Um... who are you, if I may ask?" she smiles warmly.

Then she winces. "Ick..." she says looking down at her side and leg.

She waves her wand in the air and some koi appear, and they begin nibbling at the pine-neeldes, tugging them out. She winces while this happens.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
"Chroma Palette Cleanser!" Yellow does call out, crossing wands with Orange. When it's done, she smiles, sitting against a tree in the once more colourful piece of forest. "We did it." She smiles at Orange. "I don't mind. I'm just glad we were here to notice it happening."

When Orange introduces them to Sky Jack, the girl waves. She doesn't seem to see the need to get up, just relaxing a little after the fight. "Nice to meet you again." She subtly lets Orange know that she's met Sky Jack before, "Uh. I don't think I got your name last time?" Pause. "Or I might've forgotten it."

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack has to shield his face as the star lands atop Bark, throwing up a wave of needles and pinecones and dust, then cheers. "We did it!" He gives the two a thumbs up, then stands back as they perform the Pallete Cleanser, blinking as everything goes from black and white and grey and dull to brightly colored in a flicker.

He dips the board down, sailing down to the two girls, that irrepressable Jack's grin on his face, warm enough to cheer their hearts. "Hiya! It's nice to meet you too, Orange!" He bows his head and gives her a thumbs up. "I'm Sky Jack. I'm one of the Seiyou Public School Guardians! It's a pleasure to meet you."

He looks over at Yellow and can't help it. He grins, reaches over, and tousles her hair, thumping her gently on the forehead with a 'good luck charm' tap. "So this is what you do on your busy days, huh?" He looks back over at Orange and winces as the koi nibble away. "Do you.. need to see a doctor or something?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Keeper Orange shakes her head. "I'll be fine! They'll be done soon!" she smiles. Indeed the koi work. Nibble, poke nibble. She winces every time. "I'll go to the doctor's anyways. Grandpa will notice I'm walkin funny and my koi will probably out me to him anyways." she mutters.

Her eyes light up... "Guardian! Oh! You know Tada-kun!" she beams wide. "Right?" she says softly.

Ohhh she blushes, she blushes hard actually. "Is he doing well I haven't... really talked to him. Since the New Years..." she mutters softly. "Since a misunderstanding..." she says softly.

She looks back up. "Um..! Sorry I don't even know if you know him-ahahhahahha." she laughs nervously. She looks down at her koi which have finished thier job. One wave waves at Orange before popping into orange sparkle. She smiles. "There..." she says poking the spots where all the needles were. "I'm fine now. Barely hurts now!" she says.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack chuckles. "Grandpas are like that. Mine always notices when I'm staying with him and I slack off. Just means I end up having to clean -more-." He nods sagely, and then grins. "That's right! I'm the Jack of Guardians, Kukai Souma. The Sky Jack! Tadase-san and I are great friends! ... He's doing ok. Things have been crazy. Witches and Shades and monsters and mind controlled allies..."

Jack rolls his eyes. "I think he's officially got me on track to be Tadase-When-Tadase-Isn't-Available." She mentions a misunderstanding, and one of Jack's eyebrows arch up. "Well whatever it is, you're still friends, right? You can go to him anytime and talk to him. He'll listen. I'll sit on him if he doesn't."

He looks back down at the spots on her legs and nods. He's really one to talk - he's got a nice solid pine branch welt across his face. "Well. If you say so."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Keeper Orange grumbles.. "I.. don't know. I-- " she says bashfully as she mumbles off. "--look it's complicated, okay!?" she says suddenly, maybe just a bit too defensivly.

Then she sort of merfs. "A--ah Sorry-- I should. We should go Yellow..." she mutters softly. "Only came to see the pond not frozen... waiting for the koi to come back..." she says softly.

"Um.. I do wanna...talk to Tadase again soon..." she says softly. "About things but..."

"I gotta talk to Yellow about it first..." she mumbles. "Okay..?" she asks.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack leans back a little as Orange yells, but then grins. "It's ok. Really." He pats her shoulder. "Anytime you're ready, just go to him. I'm gonna take off now, though. See you around! And if you see me out, say hello! You too Yellow!" He waves to them both, and then rises off on his board to find a private place to de-henshin and then check himself out for any other smacks or whacks or damages.