It's a sunny afternoon. The sky is clear, the birds are chirping, and there's a gentle breeze blowing. Thanks to that breeze, it's not really that hot, compared to many summer afternoons. It's Sunday, so school is out and there's nothing for a kid to do but enjoy the breeze, play in the park when it's still cool... and watch the fish.
Sitting on the edge of the koi pond is one thin teenage boy, wearing all black, with a cross on a short chain around his neck. He must be pretty hot in that outfit, even with the breeze, because it's a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. he's staring at the koi, as many people do. though his interest seems strangely rapt somehow.
And he's not alone, either. Most people around here will miss it, though. Even if they notice the fish acting oddly. But hovering over the pond, there is a mini-version of the boy in black, with cat ears, tail, and paws, and golden eyes like a cat. He seems as though he's trying to grab one of the fish. "Stay still, nya!" he complains, chasing after one of the fish on the surface. "Nnnngh, NYA!" He leaps to grab a fish. Again he misses. "Ikuto, help me catch one, nya!" The boy says nothing.
Reiko Touyama is a determined girl! She wants to be-- the koi whisperer! if that wolfgirl could talk to dogs, she should be able to talk with koi! Not even a demon chased her away! Like yesterday. She comes to the bridge overlooking the koi pond and peers around a moment as she lies down the bridge.
"Fishyyyy..." she says. "Come on fishies... Can you he---"
Then she looks up across the water. There's a tiny cat person chasing kois around. And he appears to be talking to an older boy on the shore. She blinks blinks and then it occurs to her--- wait that is trying to catch koi!?
"Hey!" says Reiko pointedly. "Leave the koi alone!" she deamands. As she gets all angry, a vibrant orange koi materailzes just above her right shoulder, and begins copying her facial expression and hand motions with it's fin. When she's done ranting, it pops into an orange sparkle. She seems entirely unaware this happened.
Ikuto is just minding his own business, watching Yoru chase the fish. It's all very peaceful. And then suddenly someone starts yelling about the koi. Ikuto's head jerks up, his eyes a little wide in surprise. It's just in time to see the orange sparkle, but not what was there before it. Still it's enough to know something's up. He also notices... she's looking right at his Guardian Chara!
"Yoru."
It's a quiet statement, just loud enough to be heard. The tiny catboy gives a questioning 'nya?' and looks up. Just in time to realize she's looking right at him. Quickly he zooms back to Ikuto, floating just over his shoulder, and gives an akanbe. "Nyaaaaaa~!"
Ikuto's response is flat, if not similarly rude. "They're fish. He's a cat." Makes sense to him.
Reiko Touyama gasps! "They're not just fish! They're.. beautiful koi! You don't eat koi!" she says with a puffed out angry face. Because this is upsetting to her. "They're not for eating! or chasing!" she says, pointing a finger over at Ikuto and his Guardian Chara. She jogs down the bridge, walks along the edge of the pond and gets over neat Ikuto. He's a tall jerk.
"They never did anything to you! You and... and your little person better not eat any! I swear! If I find one missing, I'm! I'm...."
"Well I'll be very upset at you!" she says stamping her foot onto the ground angrily.
Ikuto tilts his head slightly as the girl is suddenly over near him and yelling. He tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. But he doesn't say anything for a moment. Then he smirks, tilting his head back forward and looking at Reiko straight on. "And this should concern me because...?"
In the meantime Yoru's back by the koi pond. Though this time he has a slightly different idea in mind. He does manage to grab onto one of the koi! But he doesn't pick it up. No, he merely hangs on while the fish swims about in circles, trying to 'buck' the Guardian Chara off of its back. "YEE-HAH! Giddyup, nya!" Yoru calls out.
Reiko Touyama angrily replies. "Because your little cat person is gonna hurt the fish!" she says, placing hands on her hips! Yup, definitly a tall jerk! She isn't backing down. "... and koi are meant to make people happy!" she says and insists loudly. "Not make some cat's dinner!" she says.
And then she turns over to the cat. "YOU GET OFF THE KOI RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" she yells frantically. This probably looks bizzare to on lookers who can't see the tiny catboy.
"BAD KITTY! BAD!" she yells, pointing her finger!
"Don't make me come out there!!!!" she yells.
Ikuto isn't backing down either. And he looks utterly unconcerned at the girl's anger. "And it never occurred to you that a hungry cat would be made happy by eating a fish?" he points out. Not that Yoru was particularly hungry, true. He just wanted to harass the fish. Like he's doing now, while Ikuto stands by making no effort whatsoever to catch him.
"Betcha can't catch me, nyaaaa~!" Yoru calls from his koi jet-ski. It is, however, a fish, not a jet-ski. And a few moments later, Yoru is flung free, with a protest of "NYAAA!" Fortunately the tiny catperson can fly, so he doesn't end up falling in the water.
Well, with all Reiko's yelling people are starting to meander away from the pond. Possibly fearing the very strange girl yelling about the fish will start yelling at them next-- that fish food is PROCESSED after all, and feeding majestic animals PROCESSED FISH FOOD is surely a great evil! So by the time Yoru gets flung free, the last of the people are leaving the area. Which is good because...
Pop!
Suddenly the tall boy has cat ears and a tail! He hops up onto the ledge, and crouches, swirling his fingers in the water. "A koi guardian?" He sounds amused. "Let's see how good a guardian you are." That said he grabs hold of one of the smaller koi and bounds away! Oh no! Koi-napper!
Despite the great amount of glee he seems to take in the mere act of annoying the girl, there IS a reason he's doing this. He saw that that orange sparkle, even if he didn't see what made it. Normal humans don't do that. She's not normal. But what can she do? Getting a rough idea of what she can do will help him later, just in case he has to face her again, with whatever powers she has aimed at him.
Reiko Touyama huffs and puffs about this. She doesn't seem to care about the rukus she's causing, or driving people away. Then Yoru is thrown off the koi and she hrmphs! "SERVES YOU RIGHT! YOU SHOULDN'T BE RIDING THE FISHIES!" she says loudly. She huffs. "Why don't you feed the fish instead! it's lot funner!" she insists.
But then the boy has grown cat eages, stolen a koi and bounded away! ACK! FISH OUT OF WATER! ;_;.
"Y..You! YOU MASSIVE JERK!" the ten year old yells.
But what can she do!---oh.. right. She's a magical girl now. Sometimes. She forgets that day wasn't just a dream she had a couple of days ago. It's taking her time to get used to that. "CHROMA PRISM ORANGE! TRANSFORM!" she calls out.
There's a transformation, in orange light, gaining a pretty dress, fairy wings, and two magical koi that tie a bow in her hair!--- one turns into a koi-shaped bow clip. She huffs and begins flying after the bounding catboy. Though her path is staggered. She's obviously not used to flying, looking like a drunk butterfly.
"Y..you get back here!" she calls out as she waves her Chroma wand in the air. As she does, two magical koi fly from the wand and begin tracking Ikuto with intent to collide into him and explode into tiny heart shaped sparkles against him.
"YOU PUT THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!" she calls out.
That's all right, that she's got a kind of drunken pattern through the air Ikuto's not able to fly at all. He's only making such massive strides because he seems to have the proportionate dexterity and leaping ability of a cat. Which makes sense, because well... cat ears and tail! Yoru as well has taken off and is following the now cat-eared boy. In fact he's acting as spotter, since he CAN fly and Ikuto can't.
In fact it's Yoru who gives the boy a headsup about the koi. "Ikuto, watch out! Incoming fish!" Incoming FISH?! Ikuto turns to look... and his eyes widen slightly in surprise. And the way he's turned, the fish just might get hit-- oh no!
But he quickly pulls the fish closer to himself, actually putting himself between the small koi he's holding and the attack. His ears go back as the tracking fish hit him and explode into heart-shaped sparkles. It definitely hit him, and he definitely didn't like it. But he's not out yet.
He bounds up into a tree, and as Reiko approaches, he smirks at her, eyes narrowed. He lets his free hand go out to his side... and suddenly a giant magical projection of a cat's paw appears to extend from it. The smirk widens... and then he takes a swipe at her with it when he thinks she's near enough.
It won't cause any real damage to her, since it's magical rather than physical. But if it hits, Reiko's probably going to feel like she's just been clawed by the meanest alley cat in history! Plus it's going to feel distinctly dark and icky, even if it misses!
Reiko Touyama manages to steady her flying as she huffs. "YOU COME BACK HERE AND PUT THE KOI BACK!" she yells. She watches the catboy leap into a tree and stop, and she pauses in mid air. As she levels her Chroma Wand down towards the catboy. This is when a giant claw flies outwards, and slaps her. Well... that didn't feel pleasent at all! Like when she was around that creature from the other night.
She manages to not fall from the sky in the process as she huffs!
She responds with flicking her wand and shooting a beam of brilliant orange energy from her wand- aiming to knock the jerk square in the chest with a beam of color!
"IF THAT KOI IS HURT, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" she yells loudly.
Ikiko Hisakata had been wandering the city, meeting with the various strays. She still finds it amazing that she can clearly understand dogs as if they were speaking Japanese; she had always been able to get a general feel for what they were trying to communicate, but never anything this clear!
She even listened to some birds, as well as a stray cat or two. Those, she could sort of make out; the cats seemed to have odd syntax, and the birds seemed to only get across rough concepts.
"Guess they're not close enough to dogs," she murmurs to herself as she walks by the botanical gardens. It's a pleasant day, with a cool breeze, lovely plants, Prism Keeper Orange yelling at someone...
...wait, what?
Ikiko listens carefully. Yes, that /does/ sound like Orange yelling at someone! Looking around, Ikiko darts into the bushes, a hand going to the locket around her neck as she says "Lycan Locket!"
There is a glow of silver, and suddenly Cute Wolf Tsukiko darts from the bushes, bounding towards where she heard Prism Keeper Orange -- perhaps the wolfgirl can lend a paw^H^H^Hhand to the orange-clad magical girl?
This time Ikuto is ready for Reiko's blast, facing her as he was. He leaps up, to a higher branch, causing the orange magical energy to fly past him-- though notably it is a near miss and his gritted-teeth expression tells he still had to work quite hard to not get hit on the way up to that higher branch. "Can you afford to keep me?" He displays the gasping fish. "If it stays out of water much longer--"
And then suddenly Yoru, the tiny floating/flying cat-boy, is bristling and yowling, "Ikuto! Incoming DOG, nya!"
DOG?! Oh this is just TEN kinds of bad!
Ikuto's cat-ears go back in annoyance as the wolf-girl suddenly appears. Really, does it surprise anyone that the appearance of a wolf-girl would annoy a cat-boy? "Don't interfere," he cautions the wolf-girl. "Otherwise this koi might not make it back to its pond."
Reiko Touyama grrrrrs. "THEN GIVE IT BACK!" she says. "BEFORE I CREAM YOU ONE!" she yells. This is one upset girl!
Then suddenly-- wolfgirl!? Oh---that's-- the magical girl that got it into her head that she might try talking with koi. She beams. "Tsukiko! This jerk stole a koi from the pond! Please help me get from him before it's too late!" she pleads. She looks back to the cat! She spins her wand around in a circle, and a ribbon of individual koi shoots out, trying to go and wrap around Ikuto like some sort of koi-whip. One fish is biting the others tail! It looks rather silly, but she might be able to keep the jerk still long enough with such a move!
Yup, there's Orange! And... a catboy? No, /two/ catboys! One the size of a normal person, and the other one much, much smaller. Tsukiko blinks for a moment. "Magic is weird," she murmurs to herself.
Ikuto's words raise her hackles. Threatening a defenseless animal? This cannot go unchallenged! "Then let's get it back to the pond!" she growls at the larger of the two catboys. The wolfgirl darts sideways, then lunges towards Ikuto, putting him between her and the pond. She does a swift kick, trying to force him into the koi-chain.
Ikuto's concentrating mostly on Tsukiko's presence now-- because DOG, hssss!-- but Reiko's shout does get his attention, and he looks to her in time to see the whip of koi coming at him. But just as he's about to jump over it again, Tsukiko's kick makes contact with his side, forcing him to the side-- right into Reiko's koi-whip! He gives a choked-sounding grunt of surprise as he finds himself wrapped in the chain of koi.
yoru calls out in alarm, "Ikuto!" Apparently Ikuto could dodge ONE attack, but not both. As much as he's 'cleaned up' after Nikaidou's attempts to draw out the Embryo, that's usually only one X-Egg, or rarely one X-Chara. Two very determined magical girls is probably more than he can deal with. But at the same time, a koi is not worth Chara Transforming for.
So Ikuto sits still in the koi-chain, ears back. Fish-slime, ick. Meanwhile Yoru starts trying to gnaw on the fish-chain, trying in vain to free Ikuto from it! "Grrrr... leggo fish, nya!" he says between gnaws.
Reiko Touyama hrsss. "I'LL LET YOU GO WHEN YOU HAND OVER THE KOI!" she yells determinedly as she tugs on the koi chain, pulling it tigher and trying to keep Ikuto in check. Though Yoru's chewing at the chain begins to weaken and eventually, it gives!
"Please! Just give it back!" she pleads determinedly. "What good does that fish do you!?" she calls out as she huffs and puffs over ith, as she begins to lob more magical koi projecticle in Ikuto's and Yoru's postion!
Cute Wolf Tsukiko paces back and forth, growling at Ikuto. While the catboy doesn't seem to be immediately running away, the wolfgirl still keeps a wary eye on him, trying to guard against any escapes that take him away from the pond.
As Orange launches more magical koi, Tsukiko leaps forward with some feinting kicks, trying to push Ikuto back towards the pond. Her main focus, though, is on the fish in the catboy's hands -- if Ikuto does something with it, Tsukiko plans to be ready to respond.
Yes! The chain around gives, and Yoru gives a trimuphant "nya!" And then suddenly Reiko's throwing more magical koi?! Ikuto tries to dodge them as best as he can, but he's only capable of so much movement. Some of those koi are going to hit. Oddly, he makes sure the koi he's still holding isn't hit.
"You know--" Pause, grunt as a koi hits him and forces him back. "Stop throwing things--" Pause to dodge a kick from Tsukiko. "And attacking me--" Pause again, to dodge another koi. "I might be able--" Pause again as one of Tsukiko's kicks hits him in the shoulder. "To get back to the pond."
Finally he leaps up again, and that phantom image of a giant cat claw appears again. He takes a swipe at both girls, but it doesn't seem aimed to actually hit them, just to back them off him. Why? Because he's getting some room. And if he can manage it, where's he going? Back to the pond, from the looks of it, if the two girls will allow it.
Reiko Touyama Grrrrrs and stops firing koi like a machine gun out of her wand as she watches Ikuto move. She still keeps up pursuit--- because she wants to be /sure/ that koi makes it back into the water! She wonders if Mei ever had to deal with stuff like this. She never really discussed a lot of the details with her wet-- it never seemed appropiate.
Regardless, she shakes unessacry thoughts in her head as she wears a determined expression on her face as she follows after Ikuto. Who better be going back to the pond!
Cute Wolf Tsukiko leaps back from the spectral paw with a yelp. She keeps following Ikuto at a distance, not making any further attacks against him as he moves towards the pond, but still wary.
The wolfgirl does occasionally glance at Yoru. A little floating catboy? That's probably the oddest thing she's seen so far as a magical girl, and it's only been less than a week! What /else/is there?!
Not to worry, Ikuto is indeed heading back to the pond. Yoru follows close behind him, keeping watch on Prism Keeper Orange and Tsukiko. If neither of the girls make any further atempts to accost him, he'll land right on the edge of the pond as if he'd done nothing more strenuous than step down off a stair. Then he crouches and gently slides the fish back into the pond. The fish seems a bit confused-- and probably very happy to be in water again!-- but apart from that seems fine.
Once that's done, Ikuto stands up, that smirk on his face again. Crossing his arms over his chest, he turns to face the girls and says flippantly, smirk still on his face, "Congratulations. You rescued the fish from the evil cat." Now fish everywhere will sleep soundly now that Kuroneko-san has been defeated! Or something like that. Yoru still looks grumpy, though.
Reiko Touyama follows and-- the fish is back in water! and is okay and swimming away in the pond to the deeper end. She takes a deep breath and huffs. "Yes I did!" she says boisteredly! "From your stupid kitty paws!" she says as she huffs! "Now---leave! and stop bothering the fish here! They did nothing to you! If you wanna bother fish, then go fish in the ocean!" she says as she squeezes her hands in front of her!
As she huffs and puffs about it, a koi appears over her shoulder and makes the same expression, crossing it's fins in front of it and seeming to nod in agreement with Oranges words.
It dissapears a moment later in a sparkle of orange!
Cute Wolf Tsukiko stands near Orange, nodding in firm agreement while she crosses her arms. A flicker of movement catches the wolfgirl's eyes, and she glances over in time to see the koi echoing Orange's expression.
Tsukiko tries to keep watching Ikuto with a serious expression, but her eyes keep getting drawn back to the hovering koi, and it's all she can do to avoid giggling out loud! She does manage to regain some of her composure when the koi vanishes, but the corners of her mouth are still quirked upward.
And Yoru aims a great big AKANBE at Reiko when she speaks up. Complete with "NYAAAAA~!" But Ikuto himself doesn't speak until after he's sure that Tsukiko has nothing else to add. It's Yoru who first speaks up, actually! "Aw, they were probably tough and stringy anyway. Fish that don't get to swim around are yucky, nya!" Sour grapes, but with fish, apparently.
But, Ikuto sends a look at the small catboy hovering next to him. Then he hops back, over the pond, landing on the other side. He stops only long enough to smirk-- oddly, like the cat that got the canary-- before he and his tiny catboy friend leave. Through the trees, mind you.
Weird. He lost. What did he get out of all that besides a butt-kicking?
Reiko Touyama huffs. "AND DON'T YOU TRY THAT AGAIN! NEXT TIME! I'm! I'M BRINGING A SPRAY BOTTLE!" she huffs. She lands onto her feet unsteadily by the pond and huffs as she looks over to the Cute Wolf and Blushes a bit.
"Uhm.... Thanks! For helping! That guy was a jerk.. hurting the koi!" she says as she huffs a bit.
"Just because it upset me! But I had a right! You can't hurt something so pretty and serene and get away with it!" she says gently towards The Wolf.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods, then walks over and hugs Orange. "You stood up for your animal friends," the wolfgirl smiles. "That's always a good thing, especially when it's against something they can't protect themselves against."
She does give Orange a quick glance-over. "Are you okay?" Tsukiko inquires, friendly concern plain in her voice. "I know I arrived late to the fight, so I don't know if you had gotten hurt or not."
Reiko Touyama huffs! "He just... hit me with that claw thing once, and it made me feel weird, but I didn't get hit a whole lot!" she says. She huffs and--- untransforms! She probably feels safe enough around Tsukiko to do so. She takes her chroma crystal, and hangs it around her neck from it's chain, slipping it under her shirt. She sighhhhhs. and walks over to the side of the pond...
"When.. um. You said you could talk to dogs. I came here to see if I could talk to koi." she says a little embarassedly. "I can't! But.. both times I tried, I got attacked or bothered!" she huffs, the orangeish redhair girl squeezing her fists. "But that would had been so cool! if I could!" she says turning around towards the wolf with /sparkle eyes/. "Wouldn't it!?" she asks.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko blinks for a moment as Orange turns back into a normal-seeming girl -- hey, hasn't Ikiko seen her at Seishou before? That hair /is/ kinda distinctive...
But transforming out of magical form is a significant show of trust, given how much of a secret a magical identity seems to be. It's only fair to show the same level of trust, especially to a magical friend.
The wolfgirl touches the locket around her neck and focuses for a moment. There's a silvery glow, and suddenly Tsukiko turns into Ikiko. "It would!" she agrees. "Although the fact that you can summon those skillful magic koi is really neat!"
Reiko Touyama spins! "I summon koi. Because they're what I associate with my favorite color!" she says. "Red.. uses roses!" she says softly. She head tilts as Ikiko drops her guise too---why did she do that? OH! because she did! "Oh---oh you.. didn't need to do that.. I mean...drop your... stuff because I did..." she says meekly. "I've had to transform in front of two of these jerks already. It'd seem kinda silly to really... hide after that." she says tapping her fingers in front of her.
"My..name's Reiko Touyama, I go to Seishou and am in the 4th grade!" she smiles wide.
She head tilts and places a hand under her chin..."W.. what's your name?" she asks. As she does this, a koi materailizes over her shoulder and once again, mimics her expression, tilting to the side, fin to underside of mouth. It pops into a small sparkle of orange not soon after.
She blinks. "D--don't mind that. That's... been kinda just happening for the past week with me." she admits sheepishly. "Since I got my Chroma Crystal..." she says.
"Ikiko Hisakata, 5th grade at Seishou!" the sometimes-wolfgirl replies with a smile. "Nice to meet you again, in a way!"
She nods at the explanation about the emoting koi. "It only seemed fair that I should show you what I look like normally since you showed me what you look like normally," she reassures Reiko, then grins. "Hey, now it'll be easier for us to get in contact with each other!"
The comment about timing catches her attention. "Wait, a week? You've been doing this for a week?" Ikiko asks, her head tilting inquisitively.
Reiko Touyama nods. "A little over maybe? It was here, too! A Shade came and turned the toolhouse into a monster--- and--I saw Red transform! and it was.. amazing! But then-- I got my crystal too! I.. drew it all! I dunno why it's real." she gabs a little. But she pauses. She head tilts.
"Bu.. but yeah I tried to see if I could talk to koi..." she asks, looking down at the koi swimming around in the pond.
"I like them." she says with a series of matter of fact nods.
"Grandpas gonna help me build one in the backyard! I mean, a small koi pond, of my own!" she beams.
Ikiko Hisakata smiles back -- Reiko's smile is pretty infectious! "I first transformed a bit under a week ago," she remarks. "The night of the full moon, back on the first of the month." A giggle escapes her. "It was so unreal at the time that I thought I was dreaming!"
She nods understandingly at Reiko's opinion of koi. "I'm the same way with dogs," she admits. "It's part of the reason I help with the Animal Care club at school -- it gives me an excuse to go give some food to stray dogs!"
She gazes out at the koi pond; the fish seem to have gone back to their usual routine. "You drew the stuff about your first transformation?" she asks, somewhat intrigued. "So you're an artist?"
Reiko Touyama nods. "Yup! and.. Red's a writer... and.. that's all real now and it's weird. But... it's also really neat!" she says with a smile.
She looks at the time and suddenly gasps! "Oh my! I'm.. I'm going to be LATE!" she says. She gives Ikiko a quick hug! "Thanks for your help! But I need to go and make it to dinner. I don't wanna... but I have to!..." she says meekly. "Be well! Talk to me later, okay!?" she asks with a smile before she turns around and begins to job over the foot bridge.
Ikiko Hisakata hugs back! "Will do! Take care!" she replies with a smile, waving until Reiko is out of sight.
Once the younger magical girl has departed, Ikiko looks at the koi pond thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I wonder..." she murmurs as she walks over to the edge of the pond. She looks around to make sure there's nobody else around, then takes a deep breath and sticks her head under the water--!
Several moments later, she brings her head back up with a gasp, splattering water everywhere. "Okay, so I /can't/ understand fish," she wheezes.