374/First Decree: Growth v Decay
From MahouMUSH
| First Decree: Growth v Decay | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 09 September 2015 |
| Location: | Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park |
| Synopsis: | 'Rot and decay' vs 'wildness and growth' changes into 'A fungal monster mash' vs 'Six thrown-together-by-circumstance magical boys and girls'. It's the first encounter with the Kandaina Otohime! |
| Cast of Characters: | Homura Akemi, Ikiko Hisakata, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Ayana, 105, 107 |
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Something's rotten in Penguin Park.
Literally, possibly.
It's twenty-eight degrees today, and unpleasantly humid- disgustingly sticky and warm, the kind of humidity that creeps under your clothing and which not even pressing a cold can of soda against your forehead could relieve for anything more than a few seconds.
It just doesn't seem... tolerable, and many people aren't. In Penguin Park, people are crowding around water fountains and sprinklers, using parasols to shield themselves from the sun.
And not just the sun, come to that- some plants must have been over-baked by the weather, because there's these flecks of dust everywhere in the air, a pollen count so high you can see it.
It starts out innocuous enough. Several people who are trying to walk through a sprinkler fountain suddenly find themselves checking their clothes out in disgust, as something like algae or mildew has somehow found its way into the fountain's water feed and covered their clothes in speckles of black slime.
A tall, sixteen-year-old girl swings by her knees from a firm tree branch, and frowns at what's going on. So too, does a pair of glittering eyes hidden in the leaves of the tree above hr.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Would you believe that Homura is just passing through?
Because she is. She walked through Penguin Park as a shortcut to get to somewhere else. Well, that was her intent anyways. Once the strange pollen gets all over her clothes she looks down at it in disgust and starts trying to brush it off. It's all over her shirt, her pants... it's even starting to get into her hair.
"Ugh... What is this?" she complains out loud.
She's surrounded by pollen. What a strange predicament. Also kindof annoying. What if Madoka saw her like this? Geeze!
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"BLEH!" This from a tree branch, probably in a different tree than the tall girl is in. In that tree, there's a slim, blue-haired boy in black sprawled out on a branch, his back against the trunk of the tree Oh man, he's wearing BLACK in this weather?! What an idiot!
Oh wait, that's a Seiyou high school boy's uniform. UGH, that's right, the Seiyou high school boys have to wear black in this weather. Poor guys, huh? Well, at least he's in the shade; tucked safely in a tree, he's shaded by the tree's leaves.
But it was not him that made that noise. A branch at about the level of the blue-haired boy's head, a tiny branch that pokes out at a different angle. This branch has draped over it a tiny person a little larger than the palm of one's hand. He resembles the blue-haired boy he's next to, but the tiny boy's got cat ears, a tail, and his feet and hands are foot- and hand-paws. This is where that noise came from. And it seems most people have missed it anyway.
And most seem to miss it as the tiny blue kittenboy whines, "Ikutooooooooo, why's it so hot outside-nya? Summer's over, it's not supposed to be this hot... I'm gonna melt-nya..."
Ikuto doesn't reply. It IS incredibly hot... abnormally so. And the fact that algae appears to be being slung out of the fountain... that's a little weird. But then again, don't algae like humidity? And it's definitely humid...
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Blegh," mutters Ikiko as she walks through the park. Normally she'd be looking forward to visting some of her canine friends, but summer seems to be intent on breaking out the misery before autumn gets here. The heat isn't too bad, but the /humidity/...
Not to mention all of this pollen! With this much pollen in the air, you have to take it easy, or else you'd get a lung-full of it. And with this much humidity, it tends to stick to the skin.
"Some rain would be good right about now," she says to no-one in particular. Cool the air, wash the pollen out... she'd be willing to put up with not having an umbrella if a cloudburst hit right now.
- Yurei Shisha (105) has posed:
Yurei Shisha is in the park, just like other people but he's not there for enjoyment or water sprinklers or the have nots. Well he is there for reasons, but different from the others. Sure it's miserably hot and humid, but sometimes you just have to bear it and get things done regardless of how the weather is. He's in his full Kannushi outfit, kneeling on a blanket and praying to himself. There are a few items around him, some scrolls and a few incense polls, because one can never be fully equiped when not at home and performing prayers.
While, the plant matter is flowing around and landing on his clothes, his blanket and his scrolls, he doesn't seem to be minding much attentiont to it. Afterall it is just a miserable humid day, and sometimes these things happen. It's no really different then in the mountains during the shrooming times, the winds are thick with spores, so he ignores it for the most part and more concentrated on his work.
- Ayana has posed:
It's unreasonably hot, and Ayana has stopped caring about social conventions in favor of beating the heat. Having been banned from most public pools, she has instead decided to stand in the very midst of the fountain, still in her school uniform. Unlike poor Ikuto, hers is in blue and white: a seifuku in the most traditional sense. Unfortunately for Ayana, however, she's now growing gross mildew all over her body. And with her eyes closed, it seems the girl hasn't even noticed, yet. At least she's getting cool!
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
The worst part about this- probably- is the fact that even the breeze is warm: you can't even rely on a gust of wind to cool you off.
In fact, it's so much of a bother that a lot of the people who would otherwise just be going about their business are just sitting or lying on the grass, or slumping in benches, fanning themselves vainly and generally languishing about the place.
Someone tries to wave Homura and Ikiko over- a street vendor hawking disposeable umbrellas- but even his wares are covered in that mildew, which he's trying to brush off.
Near Ikuto and Yoru, people are walking away from the sprinkler- yes, that one Ayana's drenching herself in- in disgust. However, what an observant cat might notice as people pass by him is something they don't- that those tiny speckles, the same colour as the ones on the umbrellas (and definitely the same as the ones Ayana is getting on her seifuku), seem to actually be multiplying /on/ peoples' clothes.
"Interesting pasttime to be doing in the park," remarks a voice from behind Yurei, seemingly quite curious. A look behind him will reveal it to be the green-haired girl, who is in a tree rather close by him. "People could learn a thing or two from it."
rustle
rustle rustle
Something's creeping around. Can you feel it? Something normal people can't see. That unpleasant, itchy feeling isn't just from the weather. Something prickles the senses of those with magical abilities, something that darts out of sight in the corner of your eye.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
The street vendor gets Homura's attention. She looks at him, then at his umbrellas, then back at him. She's frowning. Well, it's not like she couldn't afford it. It might be too late for her to save her clothes, but at least she could maybe stop it from getting worse? That's what she thinks when she decides to head in his direction.
Yet, she stops in midstep. Something is wrong. She doesn't like it. This isn't really natural at all.
Homura's eyes dart around, from side to side, as she feels something creepy lurking around. She wraps her arms around her stomach and continues to trudge towards the street vendor, pulling out a few bills to pay for an umbrella.
Meanwhile, she keeps an eye out for suspicious sneaky things. If she has to henshin... where would she go?
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Oh hey, a familiar face! "Hi, Ayana!" Ikiko says as she walks over towards her friend. "How's school going for..."
The question she was going to ask fades out as she notices the mildewy splotches spreading across Ayana's uniform. "Uh, Ayana? The pollen's doing weird things on your uniform," Ikiko mentions. "And... is something about what's going on feeling odd to you?"
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto's rather oblivious to magical things in general. Most Chara Bearers are. It's their Guardian Characters that have the magical senses. And it doesn't take long before the melt-ifying kittenboy draped over the small branch perks. "Ikuto1 There's something weird going on-nya!" Ikuto emits an inquisitive grunt, and opens his eyes to look down.
That's when he sees it... is that algae growing on people? Like, literally right before his eyes? He frowns. He's not going to get down there and get that stuff on him-- not telling what it is. But he sees someone he knows. Ayana. He doesn't know her out of henshin, but he's met her before. Ikiko he's never seen out of henshin either, so he's not aware he knows her.
There's a pop and a sparkle, and then Ikuto has cat ears and a tail. He then starts to make his way over to Ayana, Yoru flitting behind him. If he can get close enough to Ayana and Ikiko, he'll note from the tree, "It's not just her. It's everyone."
And Yoru flails about in the air a moment, yelling, "And there's something weird near here-nya!"
- Yurei Shisha (105) has posed:
Without stoping his praying, or even moving to look notify he was being talked too. Though he calmy replies to the voice, "Anyone is welcome to come and try. All are welcomed to listen, to pray, to chant, to simply believe how they wish. It is not my place to make them come, only to show them that there are." it's simple and words yes.
He as well noticed that small twitch, that prickling and wishes he didn't. For it meant, the truth of himsefl was real and he very much wished it wasn't. Hopefully it was nothing, perhaps some small lose spirit that he could deal with later, it was just miserable like the rest suffering from the humidity. Yes, clearly that is it, a spirit suffering from the dreadful humidity and he could just ignore it.
Though on the off chance it's not, he goes through his mind, making sure he has some appropriate charms and scrolls to deal with the isuse. Last thing he needs is a restless spirit making this already miserable day that much worse for the people here, it would just not be very nice and he could not allow it.
- Ayana has posed:
"Huh?" Ayana asks, opening one eye to peer at Ikiko. She blinks the eye closed again, then steps out of the sprinkler enough that she can open her eyes completely. She's soaked from head to toe; it'd be scandalous in her white shirt if the shirt weren't now a disgusting shade of green-black from mildew, now. "What do you--"
That's when Ayana looks down. And that's when Ayana lets out a scream of disgust. "EW EW EW EW EW EW EW! GROSS GROSS GROSS GETITOFFFFFFFFFFFFFF." She runs back through the water and starts scrubbing her shirt to try and get it clean, except this only proceeds to make matters worse. In a near panic, she rushes back out of the water and looks around, desperately searching for a solution to her gross. After a moment she realizes there /is/ no solution short of going home and praying it will wash off in a shower.
Ayana affixes Ikiko with the most pitifully dejected look, then asks, "Whyyyyyyyyyy?"
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
The umbrella salesman will happily take your money! But he sort of... sways a little on the spot and sits down on the floor, pushing his bucket full of umbrellas over towards Homura and sighing, then slumping his chin down onto his chest.
It's happening everywhere, in fact- and that's pretty much exactly when things go from bad to worse.
"That's a pretty good attitude," says the green haired girl, moving down from her tree perch. "But ... something tells me that more people might have benefitted from it if you had said something..."
The mildew... is blooming. Or perhaps 'fruiting' is the proper term, because ... all of those people that are slumping over and going into torpor all around the park ...
Their heads are finding themselves adorned with sickly grey mushrooms, sprouting up spontaneously and filling the air with a sickly, magical tang. Some people even have it worse than that...
Like Ayano, for example, who feels the bite of something particularly unpleasant as several of them- hard, slimy fungi- begin to pop up on her skin!
"Hold!" shouts a voice- and something darts out of the leaves and clops its way over to her! It's a small, horse-like creature with a red mane, horns glowing as it prepares to help her.
"Hono?!" the girl shouts.
"Nanako! Danger is afoot!"
"You don't say?!"
Everyone, all around, is unconcious, mushrooms growing from their heads. It's just the seven of you now!
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko narrows her eyes slightly at Ikuto's approach, but he doesn't seem to be behind this -- no Heart's Eggs involved, after all. She nods at Yoru's comment, then gives Ayana a quick hug. Well, with all of this pollen and such, what's a little mildew between friends?
Or is the pollen more like spores? The sudden appearance of mushrooms draws a gasp from Ikiko -- which turns into a brief cough; this airborne crud isn't pleasant to breathe in, after all! "We need to do something about this," she says, looking at Ayana and Ikuto (and Yoru).
She sighs. It's pretty obvious that she's magical, given that she's not falling over all beshroomed, and she does recall meeting the catboy when they happened to both be visiting Tadase at Iris's apartment. Why bother hiding now?
"Lycan Locket!" she says, touching her hand to the locket around her neck. There's a silvery glow, and suddenly Cute Wolf Tsukiko is standing there. She gives a small shake, trying to dislodge some of the pollen/spores, but to little effect. "This stuff feels weird on fur," she complains, rubbing her arms.
- Ayana has posed:
Ayana's face contorts in sudden discomfort, then it twitches to an altogether different expression of discomfort. Then she blushes, and then /another/ expression of discomfort. All the while, mushrooms are sprouting all over the girl's body. Her pitiful expression only becomes all the more pitiful as Cute Wolf Tsukiko transforms.
"I don't feel so good," Ayana admits to Tsukiko, then staggers backwards into the water again. That seems to at least snap her out of her self-pity phase, and Ayana shakes her head and bounds back out. A pair of black, foxy-ears sprout from the top of her head, and a big bushy fox-tail from beneath her skirt, as her concentration on hiding the illusion wanes. Ayana sniffs at the mushrooms on her arms, then plucks one off. She lets out a small hiss of pain, then sniffs at the mushroom again. And then, before anyone can tell her what an absolutely horrific idea it is, Ayana pops the mushroom into her mouth, chews once, and swallows ...
... The foxgirl turns a rather ridiculous shade of grey-green as the mushroom's toxins go to work, and she reaches up to cover her mouth. "Nng," she mumbles out, eyes widening in fear and disgust. Her other hand reaches down to cover her stomach. "Ng," she repeats, as her cheeks puff up. Better watch out, she's gonna blow!
- Yurei Shisha (105) has posed:
Nothing was ever simple was it? All Yurei wanted to do was do some prayers, and bless the park, and help some people feel good about their day. Instead, it's an invasion of mildew and shrooms, this was not turning out to be a good day at all. As the girl behind him bounds off, he finnaly opens an eye and takes in all around, as he thought, clearly some kind of evil spirit possessing fungus was all around them.
He slowly stands up, mostly ignoring the fungus on him and reaching down to pick up a few choice scrolls and charms, yes perhaps something can be done before it is too late. Before he comes to play and turns it all bad. With a small sigh, he scans the area taking in stock of the passed out and injured people, nothing could ever just be simple really.
He steps over to a person and places a warding charm on them, perhaps it might do something, he does't know but he chants out to activate it, "ho.. de.. hem.. fo.. sa.. go.." If nothing else, it perhaps might help him to get a better judgement on what this thing is.
Not noticing the actions of the others, and specialy not form changing magical girls, as he clearly is more interested in trying to understand these evil shrooms, and seeing if as he is can do anything. He's most likely sure it wont, but it beats the alternative of dealing with them and he just isn't sure he want's that to happen.
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto draws in a breath of surprise--about the same time as Yoru emits a "Nya!"-- as people start falling over. Ikuto's ears lay back in irritation as Ayana starts sprouting mushrooms. He needs her alive, otherwise she can't do anything about Easter! But he can't really afford to go jumping into any of this like a hero. He's not one, and if it gets back to Easter, the Director's going to be pretty ticked.
Instead, as Ikiko speaks up and says they have to do something about this... he emits a "Hmf." Then he stands up on the branch, hopping down onto the ground. "Whoever interrupted my nap is in trouble," he decides. Though he doesn't see anyone yet.
Ikiko changes and... crap. NOW he recognizes her! She's seen him steal koi as well as steal a heart's egg. Though she may not have recognized him then. Still, a powered form will probably help him better resist whatever's going on. The cat ears and tail disappear in preparation...
"...Ore no kokoro: UNLOCK!"
Yoru disappears into a black and white egg with a cat-head silhouette on it, and sinks into Ikuto's chest. His body begins to glow. Then the tail reappears, the ears reappear. The glow of his body coalesces into a black, cropped, mock-neck top with a loose neckline and long tails; slacks with a long strap between his knees; boots; a sharp, wickedly-curved metallic claw on his right wrist.
CHARA NARI: BLACK LYNX
If Ikiko didn't recognize him before, she just might now. That's the same henshin phrase the catboy who took the heart's egg said to change into the evil doctor!
Also, no offense Ayana, but Ikuto is getting the heck away from you. There's enough disgusting stuff going on without someone vomiting on him too.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura exchanges her money for goods and services. Well really just goods. A good. An umbrella, specifically. As she retrieves the umbrella from the bucket she watches as the man she was just doing commerce with suddenly slumps over.
So... it's like that, is it?
Homura frowns and looks around, watching as mushrooms sprout all around them. When Ayana reaches out to eat a mushroom, Homura extends a hand and opens her mouth to say something, but it's too late.
Seeing others henshin around her, she shrugs. Secret identities were never really her thing. She opens her umbrella, swings it in front of her to block her entire body from view, and when she emerges again she's a different person. Or rather, she's the same person but in henshin.
Homura's new henshin is clean. For about five seconds. Then pollen again. Pollen everywhere. She resigns herself to this fate, and places the umbrella in her shield, trading it for a desert eagle.
"Okay, so what's the story here? This is pretty strange."
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Hono scampers towards Ayana. He's not... honestly going to get there in time, and even as he does so he's wearing this WHY DID YOU POSSIBLY THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA sort of expression. Well, he's probably not going to get there in time to stop her from being kind of ill, but he can definitely help Yurei banish the stuff that's growing on her.
"Good man!" he says proudly, "Excellent reaction. That's just what she needed."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYnkRXulE6k
A wet, rattling hiss, like the sound of a man with a chest full of sludge, echoes from the treetops, which themselves are beginning to sag with mushrooms and spores.
And that's when the creatures appear- knitting themselves into shape from where they were slithering in the greens, barely even anthropomorphic, more than a dozen creatures bigger than a breadbox appear as a knotted mess of slimy, plantlike thread and bulging bulb.
Nanako's ears twitch, and she bares her teeth in a very unfeminine gesture of aggression. She immediately cocks her head in a certain direction- within a few moments she's managed to figure out where these creatures slithered in from in terms of their origin point in the park.
"Something is causing magical mayhem," she says, and if anything she's very much approving of the fact that she's in the company of a cat, a wolf and a fox if the big smile she wears when she looks at Ikuto, Ikiko and Ayana is anything to say. "I'm glad I'm in good company- got a feelin' you're all gonna need to work as a pack on this one." Nanako is not free of the pollen, or spores, or whatever they are, but either she isn't bothered by it or, as is more likely, she's sucking up her rage at the entire situation.
"Once again, I've made myself a nuisance," she says grimly. "You can handle all of these, right? If you need to, follow on in the direction I'm heading once these things are done. I know that whatever the source of these things are, I need to go straight to it."
And just like that, she-- grabs a tree branch again and disappears, moving towards a building about fifty feet away.
You've got a fight on your hands!
These creatures are slick with slime but not very slippery, and they're going to try grappling and strangling whatever they can get their fibres around.
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko pats Ayana on the back. "Think you're up for fighting through these things?" the wolfgirl asks her foxfriend, being careful to not stand directly in from of Ayana. Tsukiko kicks at some of the approaching monsters, trying to buy some time for the foxgirl to either transform or retreat.
She notes the direction Nanako bounds away in. Well, once these youma here are dealt with, that will be where Tsukiko heads, too.
- Ayana has posed:
Ayana doesn't have time to be sick, but sick she's going to be anyways. Reaching up to grab a black gemstone dangling from a silver choker at her throat, the foxgirl manages to swallow her sickness and declare, "Still Night." Woops, she almost lost it, there. The gem in her hand seems to glimmer with starlight, though; just speaking its name is enough to bring the device out of silent mode. "SET UP!"
"Stehen Bereit. Einrichten," a vaguely feminine, highly robotic voice replies. The fox-girl is drawn up into the air by her own magic, as the magical device transforms. Her soaked and spore-laden clothes are replaced with a barrier jacket of blue, silver, and black, and soon Black Fox is floating just above Cute Wolf Tsukiko, with her fox-eared heart-shaped wand in hand. Yurei and Kirin's combined efforts have cleared the girl of her mushrooms, and she almost looks normal ... except the ashen skintone. "Eugh. Cute Wolf, this stuff is /gross/. Can we beat these guys up?" she asks rhetorically, even as she sends a lance of foxfire to chase one of the smaller demons.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura's purple eyes glance towards the forming monsters as her slender arms raise her deagle towards the enemy. One comes from behind her and grabs her hair, and she lets out a yelp as it yanks her backwards, tilting her head back and causing her right foot to slip out from underneath her.
Her reaction is swift, spinning around on the ball of her left foot, which is still grounded. One arm wraps around her hair and pulls it taut against the monsters grip, and her deagle aims at the monster as her finger pulls the trigger.
Several rounds fire at the creature. She looks over to where Nanako is going. The source is that way?
Homura backs away from the monsters as she keeps emptying rounds at them. Once she finishes one clip, she reaches into her shield for another.
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto sends a look to Homura when she asks her question, but says nothing yet. Mainly because... he doesn't really know what's going on either. But when things start oozing down out of trees? That's a good sign that there's a thing that needs something done about. Then again, here comes a green-haired girl, who... suddenly runs off after telling them to work together. "...Ch'."
A muffled-sounding Yoru proclaims (this is indeed heard by the magical types scattered around), "Hahaaaa, and I thought Ikuto was unhelpful-nya!"
"...Quiet," Ikuto grumbles.
The creatures start to grapple at them, and Ikuto immediately gets into the air. He can't fly, no, but he can jump really high. And he can also start using Slash Claw-- large, silvery, waves of cutting energy. It's just as if he's throwing blades made of energy through the air, the sharp energy waves springing from his claw when he slashes the weapon through the air.
And he may or may not be attempting to keep Yurei safe, since even though he's not falling over like the rest of the people, Yurei hasn't actually henshined.
- Yurei Shisha (105) has posed:
Well, it's certainly true Yurei has some magical essence about him lest he wouldn't be standing and there to observe what's going on. Like the cat, the wolf, and the fox, how anyone would think this is normal is beyond him. But, despite all this he hasn't henshined himself, if he's even capable of doing it, so clearly he's the odd one out. He looks over as the girl talks about the things and vanishes, then looks back, yeah is all he can think.
If it's gonna be a fight, he's got scrolls and charms a plenty to handle this fun bit. Pulling out another one, he holds it up between two fingers and begins preparing, eyeing the slithering moss monsters and decides the best way to take care of this situation. The best way a completely normal magical human boy would, yep that's him. Though if that girl is right, that could very well change and he might have no choice but do something he greatly doesn't enjoy.
While thinking all these things, one of them slithers towards him and he lashes out with a kick to smash at it, "I would suggest you not come to me shroom creature. I am not to be triffled with."
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Hono looks quite perturbed. At least he wasn't puked on.
"That girl," he says, admonishing. "These spirits show up and mean to do her harm. But that doesn't mean that she always has to fight them alone."
"Please, can you break through the line and go to her? She may need the help..."
There's a lot of these things, and even though dealing with them from long range is objectively the best way of doing things, the problem is that these creatures don't ... well, they feel no pain. They don't have brains or organs or anything, much less nerves, so even though they take on damage, they will continue to lope forwards until there's not enough /mass/ there to make them a meaningful threat.
Case in point- Homura takes on several of them, the slugs from her deagle practically splitting one in two at best. The others similarly get holes blown in them, but the one that was torn in two just knits itself into two smaller creatures and continues to try and press on her.
Foxfire is an effective way of dealing with this- although heat would ostensibly spread spores faster, they're not going to grow quickly enough to make that a threat, and the clinging energy causes one of the spirits to hiss nastily as the water in its body evaporates.
And Ikuto and Yurei basically fight in close quarters near one another. Chop 'em up like you're mowing the lawn! This is going to be similar to Homura's efforts, but cutting weapons slice the spirits into pieces with perfect ease.
Kicking them... well, that's probably least effective of all, but it's going to be squashing those puffball bulbs on one of the spirit creatures at least, which means there's less stuff to explode.
Explode?!
Yes! You'd better be careful, because some of the second wave of six-nine spirits are going straight for suicide tactics, exploding into clouds of spores when they get close. This stuff is clinging and cloying, mixing with the slime to harden like wax.
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Kicking might not be very effective, especially in comparison to sharper attacks, but biting these fungal monsters doesn't sound appealing to Tsukiko. Still, well-placed kicks can still throw the youma off-balance, allowing the others to take them out easier.
And then the exploders start throwing clouds of spores into the air. The gunk starts coating the wolfgirl, slowing her down slightly as it starts to plate up. "Ugh -- I *really* hope this stuff goes away if we defeat whatever's behind it," she grumbles, knocking over a few more youma by kicking one into others.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura starts to say, "I think you mean you're..."
She pauses to produce a pair of shades that slide over her eyes.
"Not to be truffled with."
Yeah she actually just did that. While still wearing a grumpy face.
Her efforts with a gun are fruitless. Her eyes glare at the currently useless desert eagle before she tosses it aside. If she wants to deal with these things, she'll need something with a bit more punch, so her hand reaches into her shield to produce a shotgun.
Sprays of buckshot fly out against the oncoming monsters, hopefully at least dealing more damage by virtue of there being more projectiles but ultimately Homura has to consider other tactics.
A flamethrower here would be a bad idea. As would napalm. They're in a park. Starting a fire is out of the question, especially with so many unconscious civilians around. Magical fires might be okay, but Homura would just be using actual fire.
Grenades on the other hand might be a bit mroe safe. She shakes one monster out of her hair, tosses a grenade at her pursuers, and starts to run away.
When the suicidal spores start chasing her down and exploding on her in return, she screams, partially out of frustration. The waxlike substance hardens against her, and that's the point she decides to just stop time and not start it again until she had gotten past a lot of the monsters and started being able to follow Nanako directly.
- Ayana has posed:
Flying above the fracas gives Ayana perspective, and the fox-girl quickly overcomes her nausea from eating the mushroom. For a moment, she simply observes: Kicks have no effect, bullets have /little/ effect, and foxfire actually works? "Cute Wolf!" she calls, flying down suddenly and extending her hands downwards to grab the other girl.
Picking Cute Wolf Tsuikiko up out of the fray, Ayana starts flying her past them all, chasing Nanako at high speed. "You should go make sure the other girl's safe," she says to the wolf-girl as she drops her past the worst of the spores. "I'll hold these things off with Still Night as best I can. Hurry!" she begs.
Turning back to face the masses, she whirls her wand in hand and then raises it up over her head. "Still Night, Blasting Mode," she declares.
"Jahwohl, Frauchen," the device replies. There is a glow like starlight as the device reconfigures itself into a larger rod, mostly composed of foxfire. Ayana points it at the creatures and declares, "Foxfire Barrage!" Streaks of fire rush out of the rod, blasting the ground indiscriminately wherever Black Fox can manage to do so without hitting an innocent bystander. Her Barrage is not exactly what one might call 'controlled', but it does put a lot of weak fires on the mushroom creatures!
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Being in the air is good for avoiding being grabbed. Not so much for avoiding EXPLOSIONS! With nothing to steady or anchor him, the explosion of the spores throws him back. Fortunately because he was in the air, he'll probably sail over the heads of anyone who happens to be too close. So he shouldn't cause too much of an issue for others. He will, however, hit a tree pretty hard.
Once he can stand up again, Ikuto will find his left arm coated in that gunk. His ears flatten back again, in irritation and disgust. "Ikuto, can you move your arm-nya?!" the muffled voice of Yoru asks, half-panicked. Ikuto answers with an affirmative grunt. His right arm is still usable, too.
Well, the scaled pony-thing wants them to try to help the other girl? Getting through this line is going to be hard. But Ikuto may be decently equipped for it. He sends Yurei a look. "Run, quick." Whether Yurei does or not, though... Ikuto leaps up, hopefully over the masses of plant-creatures, and tries to make for where the green-haired girl disappeared to.
- Yurei Shisha (105) has posed:
Yurei wishes he knew about the bad parts before he acted as he throws a charm on one and chants out 'We.. Mee.. Cho.. So.. Qua!' and it ignites in holy fire and begins burning the creature up. Yeah in hindsight, clearly bad as that would definitely cause more spores to be launched, but how was he to know. He's never fought spor-a-tic life forms before and is doing the only things he can think of. He has his charms and scrolls, but he's mostly a close up actioner when he uses his items.
Looks over towards Homura as she does that line, you can just see the groan behind his eyes at that, it was so terrible yet oddly hilarious at the same time. He really cannot reply to it, cause it was just so out there and he's rather stunned by it
Of course the others have guns, and things and weapons and all he has is... what he has. Well, least he's not alone in this fight and the others can surely take on the evil creatures and make up for his lack of offensive ability he hopes.
But like Cute wolf, the cement stuff starts flying around some landing on him as it goes, and he really doesn't wanna be covered in the stuff. Trying to move around to avoid it, to do any kind of kicks or dodging he can. Must stay clean, must stay mobile, must keep moving, he mutters to himself as he does so.. He hears Ikuto, and is doing his best to run and move, but it's not the easiest thing to do in this mess.
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Teamwork is the key!
Although it seems like this isn't going as well as you'd think, consider: every ounce of mushroom spirit reduced to a nasty green pulp is one ounce less that can form into something that is capable of enough locomotion to attack you.
Kicking and buckling the creatures into the path of foxfire and spiritual fire is the best way of taking multiple monsters out at once, especially when you can kick one into one that's already on fire.
Also, even though it might not seem as if it makes sense, the fire does actually spread- perhaps because it's not entirely real fire and you're not fighting real plants. And finally, because this is such a wide area of attack, some people actually running does make the situation better as well.
These things don't have brains. When two people run in somewhat different directions, some of the spirits actually tear themselves in two smaller pieces trying to go in two seperate directions at once. Add in some explosions, and well... you and Hono will be able to catch Nanako up pretty soon.
When you get to the place she was following, her knuckles are stained green with the remains of some other mushroom spirits she's evidently taken out with her bare hands.
Please don't slip on the puke.
Why is she sick, you ask? Well...
Bentendo Temple should not /ever/ have something like this in such close proximity to it.
http://tinyurl.com/o7uxklb
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mld02N20A
Practically clinging to the roof of the temple is this, this /thing/- in some bizarre way it appears similar to the traditional takhatsugasa hat that is recognized as a traditional Japanese icon, set on a little mini-shrine of its own. But it's patently not, it's clearly a hideous green-and-grey mushroom cap connected to an assortment of gnarled limb-tentacles. It's larger than a car, and stinks like death warmed up. And that's an awfully spiky, rusty blade it's holding onto in that one huge 'arm'.
"Reishi!" Nanako shouts. "Did you do all of this to call me out?"
"Why do we do anything?" the ... huge supernatural mushroom replies, without a mouth apparently, speaking in a pleasant tone that reminds one of a jolly round monk.
"Well, I'm here! So stop draining the energy of the people in the park!"
"...oh? You fool. I'm just going to kill them all. Mushrooms grow on corpses don't you know?"
The huge cap of the mushroom tilts a little as if noticing the other people coming towards it.
"Such as these ones. Granted they may be a little more lively, but it's not unusual to see the walking dead in this day and age."
"They can beat you if they work together," Hono says, clip-clopping up next to Nanako. "Even though they had no idea what was happening or what they were stepping into, they were willing to bare their teeth at you. Some, admittedly, more literally than others."
"Hey, you made it!" Nanako says, waving. "I didn't know if you'd come to my side... I appreciate it."
"Oh..." 'Reishi' says, slinking down from the temple. "You're happy to have some allies? That won't do. I'll have to make you suffer..."
And that's when http://tinyurl.com/odn3spt the mushroom's hat tilts up, revealing what is unquestionably a hideous Noh-style mask beneath it.
"By rotting the flesh from their bones!"
The waxy slime begins to crackle and vanish, as more of those grey mushrooms sprout on everyones' bodies in a paroxysm of pain!
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko reaches up to catch the offered flight, holding on until dropped. "Thanks, Black Fox!" the wolfgirl calls back to her foxfriend, before running after Nanako.
She arrives near Nanako in time to hear the last part of the conversation. The wolfgirl starts to snarl, but she yelps as the mushrooms erupt. "/More/ mushrooms? Gah!" she winces, then glares at 'Reishi'. "So you're the one behind this? We're not going to let you get away with this!"
Tsukiko runs forward, leaping to deliver a two-footed strike to the top of 'Reishi' before using her momentum to try getting clear of his reach. She winces a bit at her landing; the mushrooms make moving slightly painful.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura's teeth clench tightly as mushrooms start growing and sprouting from her body. When the pain becomes too much for even her, a short yelp escapes her, breath ragged from the sudden shock of pain.
lock it out. You can block it out. You can block out this pain. Just shut it out.
A moment later, Homura recovers her composure, though mushrooms are still growing all over her, caps coming into bloom all over her arms, and one opening on her forehead, right above her left eye.
"So you intend to rot us away?"
Homura tosses her shotgun aside and produces an RPG, as several more appear around her, arrayed neatly and pointing upwards for easy grabbing. "You wont be claiming my corpse that easily."
With mushrooms literally growing on her, she isn't sure that timestopping here wont just give her more problems. She instead keeps to focusing on shooting, firing one RPG before picking up another and firing it, repeating as necessary to fight the giant shroom monster.
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto's senses are pretty strong when he's like this. Particularly his sense of smell. So the scent of Nanako's, er, earlier reaction to what she's seen is enough to make Ikuto's ears go back, and he puts as much space as he can between himself and wherever the puke landed. Ew! He listens as conversation happens, not bothering to add anything. He's no hero. He's here because thing thing interrupted his nap!
And then suddenly... pain. Ikuto emits a choked sound and falls to his knees as those mushrooms sprout from the spores and begin digging into his skin. That... really hurts! He COULD try to start scraping or pulling these fungi off his body... but that would probably cause more damage than the mushrooms themselves are causing.
One thing's clear, though. HE'S MAD!
Pulling himself to his feet, teeth bared-- half in pain and half in anger-- he swings that claw again, waves of cutting energy flung from the sharp metal edges, at the thing that seems responsible for it all.
- Ayana has posed:
While Ikiko and the others move to take on the Villainous Mushroom Master, Black Fox remains behind. With her Foxfire she is able to burn the mushroom monsters readily, and her flight gives her a decided advantage, keeping her away from most of the attacks. While her friend (and future friends, maybe?) is busy, Ayana wreaks her vengeance on the creatures for literally growing from her skin. Nevertheless, Ayana rapidly begins to weaken.
The device doesn't have much magic of its own, and the Shadow Familiar has to do all of this /without/ touching her master's mana. Sparing a glance over her shoulder, Black Fox whimpers a little. "Hurry, Cute Wolf," she murmurs, more to herself than to Tsukiko. A spore explodes directly beneath the distracted fox girl and she shrieks in surprise, losing concentration on the magic keeping her aloft.
Ayana falls to the ground, and the mushrooms hastily begin to overwhelm her. "Oh geeze," she mumbles, then spares a glance over her shoulder.
"Far enough," she says, and banishes Still Night back to its gem form.
Only it's not the adorable seifuku-wearing schoolgirl left behind: instead, it is the Shadow Familiar, in all her raging fury. "Gloom," she exclaims with a growl of irritation.
A haze of negative energy rapidly expands from the foxgirl, engulfing her and empowering her. Encased in Takashi's magic, the Shadow Familiar goes to work, sapping the magic out of the mushrooms and turning it against them in a whorl of energy and destruction. Black Fox may be cute and fiery, but the Shadow Familiar is all negative energy, and she's /pissed/.
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Nanako Tsukida shows her teeth again, but this time it's a grimace of distress. Yes, this is the way it's going to be-- the other side of the coin to opening up to unity and alliances with other people is that you open yourselves up to everyone's pain.
But Nanako was always the kind of person who surrounded herself with a group rather than being a lone predator.
Tsukiko goes in for a head stomp of sorts? If Reishi had a head, anyway. The impact is spongy and it's harder than you'd expect to do a flying leap with evil mushrooms clinging to your skin. Likewise Homura packs some serious firepower, giving Tsukiko an impressive explosion to propel her the rest of the way away as the makes that leap. But Reishi likewise has a rather huge cleaver, big enough to block some of the force of that explosion.
How big? Well, Ikuto Black Lynx will find out how big if he gets in close. He'll have to dance past it as Reishi's tertiary tendrils rise up to meet him, trying to strike out as the huge blade half-parries the energy blade.
Naturally, something that huge would crush any magical girl or boy with a direct impact, so you'll have to move fast as he flails it around in massive arcs!
Darkness feeds on darkness as the Shadow Familiar and Yurei bring up the rear. The magic that the former drains from the remaining mushroom spirits is bitter and dark, but perhaps she is too? It's going to be almost as sickening to stomach as eating them is.
Those mushrooms are painful, and Reishi's huge weapon is almost guaranteed to be deadly. That's why it's time for Nanako to step up to the bat.
"If you wanted me, you've got me. Spirits can keep coming to this world with nothing on their mind but ending my life, and I'll knock them all down until the rest of them learn their lesson!"
So that's the story- youma that exist only to destroy the magical girl they oppose?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBMbZxZm1XA
Nanako reaches into her seifuki, and takes the brooch from the chain around her neck. It's a simple-looking thing, with a traditional symbol for 'princess' on it.
"Let's go! By royal decree!"
She flicks her fingers, and the chain disappears, with the brooch floating in the air in front of her. Her body glows, and two wooden tokens- one with a small picture of a peach, the other of a chestnut- appear from sparkles rising out of her chest. The brooch turns, and becomes the cap of a cylindrical container- Kirin Rouleau. Each token falls into the container, she closes the top, and presses down on the switch the brooch has now become!
Green leaves and forest wind runs down Nanako's arm and surrounds her body, becoming a magical suit. Placing the Rouleau by her hip, she places the tiara that has formed above her head into her hair, then pulls a twisting green wooden branch from the ground, fashioning it into a stunning guitar!
"Generously giving! Kandaina Otohime!"
A refreshing wind- the first real pleasant breeze all day- cuts through the stifling evil heat, and the mushrooms clustering on everyones' bodies dissolve into dust. The Kandaina Otohime leaps forward, trading blows with Reishi- and when their weapons lock, she belts out a killer guitar riff that shatters the massive sword into rusting pieces!
"You might have been able to go toe to toe with me, but you really bit off more than you can chew when you involved other people!"
"Come on! Let's turn this guy into fertilizer!"
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko is glad to be bouncing away from Reishi when he is hit by Homura's explosives. Once the fireballs die down, the wolfgirl darts back into the fray, circling around the mushroom boss with swift, darting moves, lashing out with kicks and stomps as she passes.
As Tsukiko works to herd the quarry, a faint glow starts to build and pool around her. Each time she corners for another run past Reishi, the glow around her builds... as does her speed.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Nanako makes her move, and Homura's mushrooms are washed away. Her black hair blows in the gentle breeze as her skin and body are cleansed. Her eyes close as she finds relief from the terrible pain she was under. With a deep sigh, one purple iris opens to check her soul gem. The pain did darken it, but Homura should be able to cover the cost in grief seeds.
A single hand flips her now clean hair as Homura says, "Thanks. I don't know what's going on here, but I'll be more than happy to mulch this monster."
In a blink of an eye, Homura is suddenly standing somewhere else, and something strange is flying towards Reishi. It's a ton of explosives: TNT, grenades, landmines, etc. At this point, apparently, Homura feels more comfortable playing with fire, as a large flamethrower appears in her hands.
Holding the heavy-looking flamethrower with both arms, Homura circles around Reishi and unleashes the inferno, trying to cover the giant mushroom in flames.
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Fortunately Ikuto's Slash Claw can go ranged. He'd figured getting close to something the size of an 18-wheeler is probably a bad idea, so he'd stayed back. Even though he shouldn't be close enough to get in range of that cleaver, he's still in danger of getting smacked by that tertiary tendril. But moving fast is something he can do pretty well. He concentrates less on attack at this point, and more on distracting as many of those tendrils as possible. Maybe if he does, the others will be able to land their hits more easily.
Then suddenly Kandaina Otohime appears, and calls that refreshing breeze. It feels great... but more than that, the mushrooms start to disappear from his body. Oh that's ever so much better. Now ikuto can move more easily.
And it's a good thing too, since Homura. Yes, 'since Homura'. Self-explanatory, given all that fire. However, as Ikuto leaps about the flames, he tries to taunt the tendrils into getting burnt. Less tendrils means less vectors of attack for the giant mushroom monster.
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Reishi grits his teeth (so to speak?). He's not going to lose even if he's just been deprived of his hideous weapon! Is he?
The gnarled tentacles that make up most of his body twist and curl aggressively, before fanning out with a rustling rattle- but try as he might, even though he tries to wrap those around Cute Wolf Tsukiko she's just moving too fast. Every angle he tries to approach her from she's ready with a kick or even a stomp that crunches the tendril tip off.
"Make the princess suffer, kill the princess. He's not the first to try!" Kandaina Otohime exposits.
And as Reishi makes his fibres into loops and tries to snag and ensnare, he -- finds himself doing nothing more than holding a mass of firecrackers. And when Homura adds fire, he certainly cracks- along with hisses, smoulders and smokes, as she sets off a flare that engulfs him in a cluster of burning explosions.
"Wither, wither, wither?!?" Reishi babbles, as even fungal spores can't survive the spectacular dry heat that this burning attack is surrounding him in. His body is crackling- as is evidenced when Ikuto heads into the mix along with the rapidly accelerating wolf, aiming to tie Reishi in knots that are so brittle that he begins to fall apart.
He raises that huge remaining arm, pieces of it falling off and sloughing away into slimy, filament-riddled undergrowth as he tries to spawn more of those small mushroom spirits- but the hideous little things have no sooner made their maggot-like emergence that Ayana the Shadow Familar tears the animating mana right out of them.
Everyone's really on a roll now!
Kandaina Otohime swings her guitar like a baseball bat- her two-handed one-two-three attack breaking off what 'fingers' Reishi has left, followed by a spectacular driving stab that tears it down to a stump.
"Alright!" she yells, holding her guitar in the air and beginning to spin it above her head.
"Let's end this!"
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
It's hard to see at the speed she's going, but there's a grin on Tsukiko's face as everyone delivers strong hits on Reishi. As for the wolfgirl, the glow around her keeps brightening and her speed keeps increasing, until she corners one more time--
--and her shape seems to blur as she launches towards the mushroom boss, striking like a bolt of light. With the splash of light at impact, it's hard to tell if she went /around/ Reishi or /through/ him. Moments later, at the far end of the bolt, Tsukiko reappears, now slowed down to a stop.
- Homura Akemi has posed:
The dry heat does its work, and Homura Akemi starts moving on to other tactics. She's aware of the fact that her methods tend to make things awkward for other team members, so seeing Ikuto back off from the flames is enough of an indication for her.
Fortunately bullets tend to have a lesser chance of friendly fire incidents than outright explosives do. On the other hand, it's not like a simple handgun or even a magnum would be very effective against such creature. At least, that's what Homura assumes based upon the behavior of the underlings.
So Homura pulls an uzi out of her shield and opens fire. What bullets lack in quality she will make up for in quantity.
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Kandaina Otohime's rallying cry prompts Ikuto to return to the group. He lands near the others, and as they ready their attacks, he does as well. As Ikiko zooms 'aroundthrough' the giant mushroom, he does the same-- though slower. He'll dart past the giant mushroom's side, claw out, and try to dig into the skin as deeply as possible.
He doesn't stop with just once, either. Anytime he can dart past the monster without being struck by an ally's attack he will try again to dart past the mushroom's side and slice with his claw. He aims that claw at injuries that others have made, to try and deepen them. Make them hurt more.
- Nanako Tsukida (107) has posed:
Technically speaking, although he has a 'face', Reishi doesn't have a 'torso', just a stalk which branches into a bunch of tendrils. But that stalk now definitely has a big hole through it, edges glowing purple, right below his masked face- which is now wearing far more of a snarl of pain.
Somehow, through sheer incredible coordination and cinematic spectacle, Black Lynx and Homura's attempt to basically start tearing Reishi to pieces works without a single bullet hitting him- the lynx's claws dance between uzi bullets, Homura providing the 'dots' and Ikuto making the 'dotted lines' that cause him to crack apart from that central fracture point-
"Evergreeeeeen!"
And Nanako turns her guitar into a whirling dervish, a halo of green energy.
"Garlaaaaand!"
And when she FLINGS that weapon, Reishi's mask- and his entire body- finally shatters into a hundred pieces, whirled into the green tornado and blasted into spirit dust!
With his destruction, everything that fruited from him goes down as well- magical spores spontaneously implode into wisps of mana, mildew and mushrooms fading away into nothingness and leaving the people in the park awake and without harm. Even the stifling heat- itself a product of Reishi- dissipates in moments, letting the fairer weather of the approaching evening blow through Penguin Park.
Hono is glad to have whatever slime and spores were on him disappear, as he trots over to Kandaina Otohime- who is only too happy to find herself a bench to sit on and stretch her legs.
"Remember, Nanako," he says.
"It's fine, you don't need to speech at me," she says, beginning to strum a few notes on her guitar. "When it comes to protecting innocent people, we're all allies."
She looks over everyone- from Ikiko to Homura, then to Yurei, and then- scratching the back of her head- at Ikuto and Ayana. That's strange, now she's out of the zone she's got this strange itch when she looks at them.
It's probably nothing.
- Ayana has posed:
When the monsters vanish, Ayana hastily reacquires the illusion of being a schoolgirl. She's no longer black fox; back in her now-ruined seifuku--but she at least isn't the Shadow Familiar, any longer. Taking a deep breath, she leans up against a tree, then realises she's being observed. "Ikiiiiii," she whines at a high pitch. "Why am I covered in grossssss?"
- Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura watches as the monster goes down, and not putting her gun away until she's fairly certain that the threats over. The uzi vanishes within her shield and Homura starts to look herself over. Her hand brushes at her Puella Magi clothes, dusting herself off.
When she unhenshins. she looks at her civilian clothes and brushes them off as well.
Seems like the spores are gone. Good. Once she's confirmed that she turns her attention to those around her.
"Well. That happened."
- Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko smile and nods back towards everyone, then bounds over to Ayana. "Because of very gunky mushrooms," the wolfgirl smiles to her foxfriend, giving her a hug. "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up. And then we can go get a snack or something -- I think we both need it."
- Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
The beast explodes into spirit dust, and then the spores follow. Then EVEN BETTER, that abnormal heat and humidity disappears. With the problem seemingly solved, Ikuto lands near where the Princess-- now back to the form of Nanako-- is. There's a sudden *pop* and his whole body glows just for a split second, and Yoru is suddenly there, floating in front of him. "Aaaaa, that's so much better-nya!" he declares, reclining in the air. Ikuto is without his ears and tail now, and back in the Seiyou high school uniform.
He notes Ayana's whine and smirks. "Be glad that's all that happened," he observes. "You ate one of those mushrooms. While it was trying to burrow into your skin."
"Ikuto, let's get outta here, I'm hungry-nya! Something without mushrooms! I don't think I'm gonna eat mushrooms for a while-nya!"
