151/A Splash Of Doubt

A Splash Of Doubt
Date of Scene:	09 July 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Verone Academy
Synopsis:	A snake youma appears!
Cast of Characters:	3, Ikiko Hisakata, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Naota Uneme

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Rocky Road (3) has posed:
Yoshiko had that feeling again, the pit in her stomach. She wasn't accustomed to this. She was usually the positive one- but ever since the team captain broke her leg, she needs to run the show now! She can't do this! She doesn't know how!? It's causing her to panic in the girl's locker room as the rest of the team is out by the pool, waiting for her. They perhaps wonder what's taking her.

She pulls the mask, shining in silver out of her backpack---- the nice man at the candy store said that it could ease her worries. She wasn't sure how that worked. But she was willing to believe it. She held the mask to her face----

There was a flash of light from the girl's locker room, and the other team members at the pool looked rather curiously at it! "Woah, what happened!? Yoshiko-chan are you okay!?" said one of the girls beginning to walk over to the locker room, as she called out to the temporary swim captain.

What instead answers was slithering, large like snake creature, with a human face, obscured by a tarnish silver mask. The creature had hair, long black and even pretty hair- though this was overshadowed by the large, snake-like body.

The being merely let loose a /hiss/ with a forked tongue and wrapped around the girl who had checked on Yoshiko-Chan, squeezing around her and constricting her. "Help!" she screams. The rest of the team would begin to flee- they weren't sticking around. This was crazy and dangerous!

The creature, with the girl in tow, made for the pool. Things would get tricky soon if she took the girl with her under that water.

Naota Uneme has posed:
As luck would have it, Naota isn't far away when this happens. "Naota! Naota!" The voice is high and clear and slightly musical, a young boy's voice. The speaker is a hamster in Naota's book-bag. "I can feel one close by! Transform and be ready to fight!"

Naota is hurriedly 'shhhh!ing' the hamster and hoping that none of his classmates (in the area for a field trip) see it. "Okay! Just quiet down already or someone's gonna see you!" He ducks off to one side while the teacher's attention is elsewhere, takes a deep breath, fishes out the small round mirror that is his link to all of this, and gazes inward. "Mirror of the heart, shine with truth! Invincible Elegant Heroine, Valkyrie Kirin!"

Minutes later, it's a girl in a yellow dress and silver armor, brandishing a bejewelled scepter, that appears standing on a nearby fence. "Not one step further! As protector of innocent hearts everywhere I, Valkyrie Kirin, will not allow you to prevail!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
One of the side effects of having a large extended family is having lots of cousins, which means plenty of relatives to cheer on at school events -- even for schools you don't attend!

Ikiko had been pacing around, stretching her legs a bit before the swim meet began. The sounds of screaming catch her attention, and above the incoherent din she hears one word: 'monster'.

Looking around for some cover, she darts behind a bush, then touches the locket around her neck, saying "Lycan Locket!" There's a glow of silver, and moments later Cute Wolf Tsukiko goes bounding towards where the screams are departing from.

The wolfgirl arrives in time to hear Valkyrie Kirin's justice speech. "That's pretty neat," Tsukiko murmurs to herself. Hopping onto another section of fence, she looks towards the snake creature.

"And she's won't be doing it alone!" Tsukiko declares, glancing towards Kirin. It might not have the same impact, but at least the other magical girl knows that she's here, and that she's here to help!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Hm. Disturbance at Verone? This could be interesting. It's a little outside his jurisdiction of 'cleanup', but Ikuto's still interested in seeing what's going on. Though the concept of heading into a place where there's a pool makes him balk a little. Still... nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

That in mind he and Yoru have come from... who knows where, to watch the fireworks. He's remaining out of range for now, up on the roof of one of the school's lower buildings. He's not going to interfere for now. Aside from X-Eggs and X-Charas-- and those awful things Hannah keeps in her lab-- he hasn't seen too many real youma.

Rocky Road (3) has posed:
The creature is all set to go into the pool, take the girl she's constricted around with her- and possibly drown her. Luckily, this plan seems to be cut short by Valkyrie Kirin's arrival and speech. The creature seems unsettled and stopped by this. It takes even further pause when Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

The girl in her grasp is squeezed a little further, causing her to yell out. This is probably painful, but not enough to kill her. The Nure-onna is probably doing this just to upset the arriving heroes who are announcing themselves.

"You can't save thissssss girl." the creature says as it lingers on it's 's' sounds like one might generally expect a talking snake to do. "Your effortsss are in vain. A pitiful tassssk with no reward."

Suddenly, the creature holds the girl high in it's tail, and throws the girl it's keeping hostage at Valkyrie Kirin, trying to force her to be blindsided by this- or make her busy herself with trying to catch the girl---at the same time, it jets forward and with it's powerful tail, in an attempt to try to catch Cute Wolf Tsukiko- this things moves a little faster than it's large size suggests.

"You can't even ssssave yourselvesssss."

Ikuto goes unnoticed, and will probably remain so.

Naota Uneme has posed:
"Watch out!" Kirin does indeed do the predictable and try to catch the girl, running to get to a spot where she can safely grab her. She was surprised by the arrival of the second magical girl - wondering if maybe she's another Mirare but doubting it - but trusts that she knows what she's doing. She manages the catch more or less okay, although she staggers a bit under the weight before managing to set her down safely. "Are you okay? You should get out of here!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko yelps as she leaps away from the grasping tail, avoiding entanglement but losing her balance due to the tail clipping her ankles. The wolfgirl rolls with the awkward landing, tumbling to her feet. The other magical girl caught the thrown girl; time to buy some time for an escape!

Leaping forward, Tsukiko darts between the Nure-onna and the others, feinting with some kicks and the occasional snapping fangs as she tries to keep the snake-monster's attention on herself instead of the former hostage.

Rocky Road (3) has posed:
The girl flies through the air with a scream---but is caught by Kirin. She blinks blinks up to her savior as she's put down. "Y--yeah I should----" she says in a flustered tone before she runs off as fast as her bare feet can carry her. She really has no other response to this insanity right now. Clearly- the chlorine and pool chemicals are getting to her, she thinks. Maybe she should join the dance club instead....

The Nure-onna looses interest in the girl- and deals with The Cute Wolf's attacks, trying to fight with it's massive snake body. It's slippery slimy and wet and doesn't taste none too good when the Wolf sinks her teeth into the body. Luckily for the creature, it's scales make it hard to actually bite through to it properly.

It's silver-masked face goes to look at Kirin, and attempts to smash the fence she's standing on--or behind at this point, causing shards of wood to fly up into the air. It then sweeps the rest of it's body, trying to catch Kirin and the Wolf in the sweep.

"You think you can depend on one another. But you can't. You're doomed to failure today, tommrow. For all time." the creature says from behind the mask.

Naota Uneme has posed:
Naoko ducks out of the way of the tail, rolling up to her feet with the scepter held before her. A fist-sized glow of blue light appears nearby. "Aim for the mask, Valkyrie Kirin!"

"I know that! I just wasn't ready, is all!" She fixes the snake-monster with a stare. "Shining Topaz!" The scepter is surrounded by motes of yellow light which swirl around her for a second before launching themselves at the Mirror Demon. "Watch out, uh, wolf girl! You want to go after the mask!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Bleh! Tsukiko wasn't expecting the coils to get close enough to actually bite them, but a feint with no threat to back it up isn't much of a feint, is it? That did /not/ taste good!

Being light on her feet and more aware of what the snake-monster can do means the wolfgirl is better prepared for the sweep, and this time she's able to leap out of the way of the tail. "Always trust in your pack!" she shouts at the Nure-onna. "You can do so much more together than you can do by yourself!" She smiles at Kirin. "Even when you've just met someone, you can help each other with the challenges that face you!"

As Tsukiko lands, she nods to Kirin. "The mask? Got it!" The wolfgirl darts forward, leaping towards the mask feet-first, trying to bounce off of it with a strong kick.

Rocky Road (3) has posed:
The snake stares back at Kirin though that mask. -- Then Kirin aims for the mask, yellow light which blasts into the mask, causing the creature to yell out in pain- the tarnished silver beginning to crack ever so slightly. The incoming attack from the Cute Wolf gets deflected with it's tail, trying at the same time to send the Cute Wolf flying into the fence.

It responds "Trussssst is for people that are foolisssssh." it responds before it opens it's mouth wide- it's tongue lashing out at the two. "It will only lead to failure." it says as the creature attempts to ram itself into Kirin, headlong, ignoring the Wolf for now.

Naota Uneme has posed:
"Trust is everything!" Kirin plants her feet. "It's through trust in each other that we can learn to grow, knowing that our friends and loved ones will always support us! STALWART EMERALD!" The scepter blazes with green light, streaming away behind it like it were the head of a comet, leaving Valkyrie Kirin shielded within its aeigis. "You know that, deep down! And I'll help you remember, no matter what!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko tumbles acrobatically, rolling with the landing and coming up in a crouch next to the fence. She sees the emerald light streaming towards the snake-monster as the Nure-onna rushes towards Kirin. The wolfgirl trusts in the Valkyrie's blast, but making sure that it connects would help.

She dashes forward, circling the snake-monster with feinting kicks, her speed increasing as she keeps harrying the masked snake-monster -- the better to dive out of the way of the emerald blast!

Rocky Road (3) has posed:
The creature is hit with the emerald shield as it attempts to drive itself toward's Kirin, the mask cracks even more, spilling motes of silver from it. It listens to Kirin's words and it spouts out. "That isssss a lie." it says out, but there's a certain undertone to it's voice now. Is it even believing itself? Something is getting through now.

It lashes out angrily at the two now, it's very damaged mask, thrashing it's tail like a wounded creature trying to ward off it's attacker. It seems much less interested in talking. Maybe it doesn't like hearing the truth anymore. It's barely even aiming now.

It shouldn't be too hard to hit that mask one last time.

Naota Uneme has posed:
Kirin nods to Tsukiko, then steps back. "There is a lie here, and it's been forced on you. But now the lie ends: I'll free you, I promise." She dodges a few errant tail-swipes, then begins to glow in a radiance that shimmers from color to color, rising up into the air. "PROMISE OF THE HEART: PRISMATIC DIAMOND!" With a decisive sweep of the scepter she brings down a barrage of multicolored light, battering the Mirror Demon and its mask.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods back, her speed not lessening a bit. She's never managed to go this fast before, and it's a rather odd feeling.

Maybe if she used her speed in a tackle?

As the wolfgirl corners, she pivots and launches forward, aimed for the snake-monster. The sudden step accelerates her even faster, her form seemingly bluring into a glowing wolf that streams around the Nure-onna -- or was that /through/ the snake-monster?

Either way, the wolfgirl slows to a halt a distance away, no longer glowing... and looking very surprised!

Rocky Road (3) has posed:
Kirin insists she'll be freed. It doesn't really get a chance to say anything else as multicolored diamonds barrage, following up with the Wolfgirl's tackle, It happens rather quickly. The beast lets out a high pitched scream- as the silver masked cracks thoroughly and burns away in black smoke--- a bright light overtaking the creature fully.

Soon, all that's left is Yoshiko, standing there blinking a bit. "I think I can do it...afterall...." she murmurs before she falls to her knees, then forward. She seems unhurt otherwise, and perhaps just a little more optimistic when she wakes up!

The world around suddenly goes quiet, but that probably won't last much longer. Somewhere a candy store clerk merely clicks his tongue for apparently no specific reason.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"...So that's how it works," Ikuto mutters as the mask cracks and the youma returns to normal. So it was a person the whole time? Just changed into the youma? Who did that? And how?

Suddenly Ikuto gets an idea.

What would happen if a person did a Character Transformation with an X-Egg or X-Character? Would it create a youma? Would the person's heart's egg have to be destroyed to free the person? Or could it still be purified? And would that then produce a Character Transformation with the purified X-Character?

"...Ikuto, what are you thinking, nya?" This from Yoru, who sounds like he... might not really want to know.

Ikuto smirks, and replies, "Lots of things." He pauses, and then looks at Yoru. "Let's go. Nothing else for us here." The gears of his mind still turning with these questions, Ikuto leaps from the roof of the building to another, heading away from the school. He isn't bothering to mask his presence from Kirin or Tsukiko either, so he might be seen on the way...

Naota Uneme has posed:
Kirin nods, satisfied. "Thanks for your help," she says to the other girl. "This would've been a lot harder without you." A flash of movement makes her look up to see Ikuto departing. She frowns: the cat again. What does he have to do with any of this?

Of course, there are OTHER concerns, too, like not getting caught skipping out on a field trip. "I should go, though. I'm sure we'll meet again!" With that she bolts off, failing to notice in the confusion the small sliver of blackened silver that landed in the grass when the mirror demon vanished.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
A flicker of movement catches Tsukiko's eye; she frowns slightly as she notices the catboy departing. Trouble certainly seems to follow that one, doesn't it? Might be a coincidence, might not...

"Glad I could help!" she smiles to Kirin, being careful not to give too fangy of a grin. The Valkyrie's departure is soon mirrored by the wolfgirl; time to find a place to resume being Ikiko and rejoin her relatives!