128/Kitty Rescue

Kitty Rescue
Date of Scene:	03 July 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Juuban Avenue - South
Synopsis:	A crow-youma has decided that a kitten named Ashes will be its first statement that it will no longer stand cats chasing birds! Thankfully there are those who would save a cute little kitten!
Cast of Characters:	Ail, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Naota Uneme

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Ail has posed:
It's a warm July day on the streets of Uminari City, one of the interlinked Three Wards. For most people, it's a fabulous day! For most cats, too, lounging about in the sun and chirping back at birds in the trees.

Unfortunately for a small grey kitty cat named Ashes, there's more than just normal birds in those trees. Chirping absentmindedly at a tree full of birds, there is suddenly a loud chirp BACK from within it. Ashes looks up, and her hair stands on end, her tail puffs out. Animals know when something is wrong.

Suddenly, from the tree bursts a small, but still dangerous bird-like youma, a shadowy creature with red eyes but otherwise like a crow! It flies out of the tree, squawking at Ashes and trying to peck at her! The startled kitty elects for 'flight' instead of fight, and is off down one of the alleyways, with the bird-youma close behind her, angrily trying to get its revenge for some imagined slight!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Not to worry Ashes-chan! You've got at least one person in your corner!

"IKUTOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Fortunately few people can see the source of that loud yowl, or there'd be some trouble. It's a chibi kittyboy flying over the roofs. When he stops he's hovering over a young man who looks startlingly like him, but human-sized. The slender blue-haired teen is relaxing on a flat roof, leaning his back against a chimney, with his hands folded behind his back. Possibly playing hooky from school, who knows.

"Ikuto!" he chibi kittyboy shouts. "There's a monster trying to hurt a kitten! Come on, get up, Ikuto! We gotta do something to help, nya!"

The young man stands up slowly... and then a pair of cat ears and a tail suddenly appear on his person. "Show me." The chibi flier takes off and Ikuto follows, leaping over the roofs towards where his smaller companion saw the disturbance.

Naota Uneme has posed:
Naota is walking his bike home from school - it's much too hot to ride right now - and considering getting some ice cream when a scene of calamity unfolds before him! This looks like a job for the defender of the innocent hearts of others! Not because that necessarily has anything to do with this, but there's a kitty in trouble! Who doesn't like kitties?

Thankfully for the novice heroine of hopes and aspirations there's an alleyway off to one side, giving him a place where he can pull out his True Heart Mirror. He looks into it and marvels again to see even a glimmer of the truth waiting to be let free before calling forth the power it carries: "Mirror of the heart, shine with truth: invincible elegant heroine, Valkyrie Kirin!"

Light flows forth and raises her into the air, causing the falsehood of her everyday life to give way to let her truth shine: moments later it'a a girl in a flowing yellow dress with silver armor and a begemmed scepter that steps out of the alleyway. "Monster! Your war against the innocent kittens of this city ends here!" Pose! "As a defender of all innocent things I, Valkyrie Kirin! will never forgive you for your wickedness!" Another pose!

Ail has posed:
The bird youma stops, tilting its head! The cat runs and hides behind Valkyrie Kirin, instinctively putting the human between itself and the small, but incredibly hostile crow. The crow caws, loudly, and it's a horrid thing, something which sends shivers through all present! While the youma-crow is only slightly bigger than a normal bird, it's got a lot more attitude. Suddenly, it brings its wings up and takes to the sky, suddenly diving at Valkrie Kirin, beak first, the sun glinting off the knife-edge! Small things in Tokyo can still be dangerous!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto arrives in time to see the VALIANT HEROINE appear and give the youma a speech! Ikuto gives a flat look in the heroine's direction. If it's menacing a kitten it probably doesn't even understand humans speak. But regardless, maybe that's a good thing.

Now that it's concentrating on the Kirin-heroine, maybe he can take the opportunity to get the kitten out of the way! As the youma makes to dive for Kirin, Ikuto leaps down from the side of a building. His plan is to try to pick the kitten up out of the way and then hopefully jump up onto a roof. He is just as much cat as Yoru is at the moment, and Yoru can command cats. Hopefully this won't go too badly.

Naota Uneme has posed:
Valkyrie Kirin lets out a yelp: she wasn't expecting it to do THAT! Although maybe she should have. And Puchi's at home right now, so no tactical advice either! No matter: it's small and fast and headed right for her and Naota... well, Naota has a blunt object in her hand. Holding the scepter in both hands she watches with a steely gaze as the bird hurtles in her direction, waiting for the exact moment to take the swing!

This... really isn't an intended use for her magic scepter.

Ail has posed:
The crow manages to alter its flight path just in time to not get knocked away like a baseball - instead it's only send careening through the air, spinning a bit. Flapping its wings to right itself, it spots the kitten and makes a mad dash for it, zipping right by Naota!

And that's when Ikuto makes his entrance, grabbing the kitten just before the crow can meet it (and causing the crow's beak to get stuck into the ground!) and taking it in his hands up to the rooftop, where it mews pitifully/adorably in his grasp. Ikuto might be able to talk to cats, but this one is just a baby, so it's as effective as talking to a human baby.

Back on the ground, the crow dislodges itself from the ally, and caws again, flying back and unleashing a shockingly-large blast of dark energy from its eyes, at Naota, and another one up at Ikuto!

Naota Uneme has posed:
Naota 'che!'s in annoyance, though she notes that the... cat-boy? Okay. She nods to him, grateful for his getting the kitten to safety. "Foul ball. Okay, let's see how you deal with-aaaack!" That'd be her reaction to the blast coming her way: she raises the scepter in a panic. "Stalwart Emerald!" The scepter emits a shimmering green glow that flows back and away, covering her and a spreading cone behind her in a shield of light.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto seems to have the kitten safe, but he's not sure how safe HE is. Particularly when there's a blast of dark energy coming at him! He sees it in time to jump up and avoid it-- just barely. But he's not jumping AWAY from the bird. He's jumping TOWARDS it! While still in the air, he clutches the kitten to him with his left hand. Extending the right to the side, a large phantom image of a blue cat's paw extends from that hand, which he swings at the bird when he thinks he's close enough.

Ail has posed:
The dark energy blast presses hard against the gem - it's a large blast for such a small bird! - but the gem manages to shield Kirin from the attack. The crow doesn't see Ikuto's paw in time, however, and gets slammed by it, and should be squashed against the ground! Or, any normal crow would be, but small though it might be, it's a youma, and it pecks at Ikuto's hand on the way back up! Then, there's a another loud CAW and it is still trying to go after the kitten, to peck and attack it, though it's visibly wounded and fluttering about in the air now.

Naota Uneme has posed:
Kirin digs in her heels and holds her ground against the blast, managing to weather it until it passes. Then: "I won't let you prevail, evil bird! Kittens are a treasure for the world to share!" Another swing of the scepter. "SHINING TOPAZ!" Motes of yellow light gather, swirl together and form a beam that flies right at the monster! This might end things, but if it doesn't she still has one trick up her sleeve.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
The phantom claw had been dismissed when the bird started pecking at it. But then suddenly the bird-youma is attacking at the kitten Ikuto's trying to protect. He gives a hiss, and reflexively curls into a ball around the kitten, trying to shield it from as many angles as possible. He's a little too occupied to attack the bird-youma, and he's getting pecked and scratched in shielding the kitten from the youma's attacks.

However, Yoru is not!

Speaking of that little mischief-maker, where's he been this whole time? He's been collecting alley cats! And he makes his appearance over the roofs with the horde of cats following him. "THERE IT IS, NYA!" he shrieks. "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" That is a lot of cats all screeching and coming towards that bird-youma...

Ail has posed:
The crow relentlessly attacks Ikuto, doing very little actual damage (but some very sharp pain) trying to get at its target, almost as if it knows its time is at an end yet it still seeks to get to the original object of its anger.

And that's when the CATvalry shows up! From both sides of the alley, cats swarm in, pressing the bird away from Ikuto and Ashes, making leaping swats at it, and generally getting it far enough away from Ikuto that the blast from Kirin isn't anywhere near him. The cats, being more agile than the crow-youma, dive for cover and generally get clear of the blast zone.

The crow, wounded from its previous attack by the catboy, cannot. A massive burst of shining yellow energy strikes the crow dead on, infusing it with light! The crow's dark energy is overcome and dispersed, and all that remains is a single black crow feather, tendrils of black smoke still radiating off of it.

Naota Uneme has posed:
"YES!" Valkyrie Kirin does an energetic fist-pump into the air, grinning widely and generally looking utterly pleased with herself. "That's two! Although..." she steps toward the feather and looks around first in confusion and then in disappointment. "I guess that wasn't a Mirror Demon. Uh, thanks," she adds, giving the catboy a nod and a smile. "You really helped out. Is the kitten okay?" She looks around her, realizing that she is, in fact, now surrounded by cats. It's both adorable and slightly unnerving.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto is curled around the kitten, his ears back, but eyes closed. No, he's not physically harmed... but it sure feels like he is! And then the cats show up and the pain doesn't happen anymore. He pauses, opens an eye to see what's happened. "...Yoru?" he murmurs when he hears the sound of his Guardian Character's voice.

As the herd of cats push the bird back from Ikuto and Ashes, Yoru floats over. "Ikuto! Are you okay, nya?" Ikuto offers a quiet affirmative grunt, and turns to watch as Naota finishes off the bird-youma. Ikuto stands then, and as the Kirin asks her question, he looks to the kitten that, unless she's slipped free from his grasp, he's still holding. Though much more gently now that she's not in danger of being eaten by a bird-youma.

Ail has posed:
The kitten mews adorably and rubs its face into Ikuto's hand. It's saying thanks!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Despite himself Ikuto smiles slightly at the kitten's antics. "...She seems to be all right," Ikuto observes. Then he places the kitten on the ground.

Yoru floats down. "You should be safe now, neko-chan. But if you see anymore of those, come and get me, nya!"

Meanwhile Ikuto, still crouching, catches sight of the feather. And he picks it up, pausing a moment to look at it. This doesn't need to stay here. Maybe Hannah would like it. That was not a normal bird. Maybe she'll want to study it.

Then he stands, and looks up at the Kirin. "Thank you." That seemed hard for him to say. "The kitten said so too." Well, it's not out of the question that he could understand the kitten, given the ears and tail.