It has been a hot summer week in Tokyo, one made even worse by the incredible humidity, making the temperatures in the 80's feels like the 90's. School then, and its air-conditioned rooms, has proven a welcome respite for the students at Seishou. Of course, when you're staying after hours, with the central air conditioning unit automatically shutting down well before you have to leave, it can turn into an oven. Compared to that, the cooler but still warm night air which the girls are feeling now might be a refreshing change.
It's Friday night. Monday is Ocean Day, and Reiko, ever the patron of all creatures aquatic, stayed late at school to work on her class's presentation, one dealing with a subject she felt particularly passionate about. Ikiko was there too, helping out, though for her own reasons.
And now they're going home, though as always, Reiko has to get off here, in downtown, and walk six blocks to another station to change trains. And it's precisely that walk that they're halfway done with now, a route that cuts through the quieter parts of downtown, in between a squat set of medical offices and a tiny park nestled in a lower-built commercial area; almost no one is around them as they walk, though that's common in this part of downtime during this time of night. It's usually safe enough, but it feels darker tonight, though that's likely just the weather. It has been a little overcast during the last few weeks, though not quite like this, a thick, low-hanging cloudbank mostly obscuring the full moon above, making even the street lamps feel a little less bright. Maybe it's raw luck, or maybe Ikiko sensed something off, but for whatever reason, she has kindly agreed to walk with Reiko to her station.
Ikiko glances around as she walks alongside Reiko. It's not nervousness, although to a casual observer it could seem that way. Rather, it's wariness -- a sense that something's out there, something that can be confronted.
"I don't like this weather," she murmurs, scowling to the clouds obscuring the moon. "The clouds almost feel too close, like fog that's trying to hide in the sky."
Reiko Touyama spent all the afternoon, and into the evening working on the Ocean Day Presentation. She was specfically asked to do the art for it. She's really, really good at this, despite her young age. It also helps it involves her fishy friends. She walks out into the cool night air though and takes a deep sniff of the air. Ahhh, fresh, cool air.
"Thanks for... helping Ikiko..." she says. She beams..
She walks along and then pauses and looks around. Wow! It's really late. She's glad she let Grandpa know she'd be home much later. She does look up at those cloudbanks hesitantly. It better not rain! She doesn't have her umbrella that is most certainly koi-themed.
She walks along with Ikiko.. "Are you really sure you wanna follow me, Ikiko. I mean. I'll be okay!" she says. She looks back up at the clouds. "I'm sure that... it's just a rainstorm." she huffs. "We're probably gonna get wet with a rainstorm....." she pauses. "You don't... smell like a wet dog when you get wet... do you?" she asks. Then she blushes! "I mean.. I'm curious.. not going to... uh. Nevermind." she begins to whistle innocently.
The two girls walk a slow, steady pace. No rush tonight, not that either of them necessarily wants to rush, with how much the heat took out of them earlier. And right about now, they're approaching the midpoint of their journey. To their right is the two-story medical office building, the largest practice of which is on the bottom floor, the one belonging to Dr. Kokawa. Ikiko might recognize it, if she has brought a stray or two here; Dr. Kokawa is a vet and is sometimes willing to do pro bono work. On their left is the park, about a single block in size, filled with tall trees, walking paths, and a small pond with a bridge over it. It's a bit of a shortcut to walk through it, if they wanted to, though they might not. It's spooky and somewhat ill-maintained, half of the paths not lit, the others studded with burned-out or flickering lamps. Not like they have much to fear, especially together. Right? Then again, Reiko hasn't had the best experience with parks.
Somebody is braving the park, though. A pair of strays are poking around in one of its darker corners, one asleep under a bench, the other nosing around nearby.
"Haven't done that much roof-work when it's raining, so I wouldn't know," Ikiko replies with a shrug and a smile. "And other than that, I'm just a normal girl." Pause. "Well, /mostly/ normal... and something about tonight just doesn't quite seem right."
The sound of the nearby strays catches her attention. "Hello, you two! Just passing through; how are you tonight?" she calls to them in caninespeak, her voice sounding like barks and such to most people. She finds it polite to say hello to animals she happens to encounter, especially dogs and the like. You never know what they might have encountered, after all...
Reiko Touyama looks over to the park. Nrrrrg. Parks. And a pond. And a pond. means fish! But..it's WAY too dark to go try and look at fishies. It's not even worth the trouble to try!... though there's lights usually lighting the park. They seem a little. Dim? It makes her feel wrong when she thinks on it too hard.
She head tilts as Ikiko... bark speaks at dogs.
She can't understand dog. But that's really cool!
She still secretly wishes she could talk to Koi. So maybe she feels a little jealous too.
Not all girls bark at dogs. Most don't, actually. Ikiko and Reiko might not have spotted it, but turning the corner ahead of them was a kind-looking old woman, one who happened to watch that particular exchange. And then her kind expression turns into one of confusion. And then deep worry, as if she had just seen one of her grandchildren eating paste: the whole tub. But she just smiles matronly. And then she crosses the street, seemingly needlessly, so as not to cross paths with these two. Though the girls don't know it, she's an extremely superstitious woman, the kind who believes in horoscopes and blood types and tarot readings. But strangely enough, her normally irrational fear that the girl has been cursed by a dog spirit is pretty much right on the money this time.
Regardless of what the old woman thinks, though, the dogs hear Ikiko. The one that's awake instantly perks up, the other rousing more slowly, the two of them slowly loping over to meet Ikiko. To most people, it would look like they're sniffing at her feet cautiously, whining a little, then barking once or twice each. To Ikiko, it's a sea of body language and subtle cues, and she reads it all.
It starts friendly, a show of courtesy, like two acquaintances meeting on a street. Then they start to "speak" to recount their night, and by human standards, it's really a string of disjointed concepts, though Ikiko might be able to make sense of it. "Hungry. Fed. Friend." Someone fed them? "Cold beneath." Lying on something cold? "Quiet. Afraid. Dark. Human. Run. Afraid. Friend." Something happened. They ran. They're afraid for their friend. "Quiet" and "Dark Human" are a bit harder to understand, though.
In the distance, the park only seems to get less friendly. Several of the flickering lights on one of the paths stutter once or twice, then go totally dark in unison. Then it happens again with another set of lights. Then nothing, the park staying as it is. An automated energy-saving measure?
Reiko Touyama can't understand dog, so she's waiting for Ikiko to translate. "What are they saying, Ikiko-chan?" she asks as she peeks down at them. "I don't understand. I mean. of course. I don't! I don't speak dog!" she insists. She doesn't notice the old woman being totally driven away by Ikiko's dog talking measures. That's probably for the better. Ikiko might though.
What she does notice is the lights. Off...Off...Off... Wait, those lights aren't supposed to be turning off. She huffs! She's bet it's whatever stormcloud brewing up over them at fault.
---but she didn't hear any thunder or lightning.... right?
Reiko likely would have missed it if she wasn't looking in that exact direction. In fact, Ikiko probably doesn't see it at all, with her attention focused on the dogs. But on the far side of the park, on one of the paths that just went dark, a single lamp briefly flickers on in a final effort, and beneath its light, she can see someone standing there, a young girl in a dress, looking straight in her direction. Then the lamp goes out, and she's no longer visible. Even if Reiko were to stare hard, she would be nowhere in sight.
This is suddenly turning very Japanese.
Ikiko Hisakata frowns slightly at the explanation given by the dogs. "Something spooked them, and they're worried for their friend," she murmurs to Reiko, ignoring the old woman's reaction. "Something about 'quiet' and 'dark human', although I'm not sure what they mean by that."
She looks out across the park, frowning at how dark it has grown. "Something feels /wrong/," she shudders slightly. "We should check it out, and make sure it's not causing trouble."
She glances at Reiko. "Think you're up to exploring a spooky park at night together?" Ikiko asks with a wry grin.
Reiko Touyama blinks. Was that a girl she saw? She rubs her eyes because it was just a flash in the pan before the lights went out. Something feels off... yeah. "I dunno... maybe it's... a ghost." she says with a frigtened tone. "I..could had sworn I just saw someone..." she says as she nods. "Let's.. explore. At least. I'm not. Afraid of Ghosts!" she says. still with that afraid tone.
She runs a finger down her neck, making sure that her necklace, with the Chroma Crystal, is still around her neck. She'll be safe with that. Right?
The two girls start toward the park, but they're interrupted by the whine of one of the dogs. "Friend." It's facing away from their direction, pointed across the street. Dogs might not be the most effective communicators, but sometimes an extra set of eyes and an extra mind, even a canine one, can be useful.
Ikiko Hisakata pauses, frowning slightly. "I think we might want to check on Kokawa-sensei," she remarks to Reiko. "The dog seems worried about their friend, who seems to be in the vet's place."
She glances back towards the park. "Probably fewer ghosts at the vet's, too," she adds with a minor shiver.
Reiko Touyama walks along, and the dog.. says something. That she can't understand. So she looks back into the dark park and frowns a bit. She looks back to Ikiko. "Oh...okay. Sure! Let's go over there!" she says with a smile. That's a LOT better than going into a dark dark dark park.
She follows along. She does look back over her shoulder though.
Did she really see a ghost!?
The girls backtrack a bit to get to the crosswalk, crossing the street together. The park seems no less menacing from the other side, most of it still dark and seemingly deserted. If there was someone there, though, they're still not in sight.
Dr. Kokawa's office seems a lot more inviting by comparison, though perhaps not to everyone. As they approach, the two dogs, following them until then, hesitate and whine, bounding off down the street a moment later. They pass the old woman, who shoots the two girls another nervous look. She has stopped for the moment, resting on a bench, seemingly tired from her walk.
The door the office opens easily when they pull it, admitting them into a small waiting room. They couldn't see it from the street, but there's a light on inside somewhere, peeking past the interior door of the waiting room, even if the waiting room itself is unlit. It's perhaps not a surprise to Ikiko. Dr. Kokawa is a divorced woman in her 40's, and with her son off to college, she often spends late night here, doing her pro bono work for the pets of poor families or strays. But there's nobody in the waiting room, and no sound coming from farther inside, neither of any animals or the doctor herself.
Reiko Touyama walks into the waiting room. "Wait.. is.. the office even still open at this time of evening?" she asks. Noticing how empty it sounds. "We're not...breaking and entering, are we!?" she asks with wide eyes at Ikiko. "I don't wanna go to jail!" she insists. Well. That wouldn't be jail. But the idea still frightens her.
"I wonder... what's going on. I mean... shouldn't there be. Animal sounds?" she asks. "Vets keep animals overnight sometimes, right?" she asks.
Ikiko Hisakata gives the old woman a small smile in passing, but her focus is on the office. The lack of lights doesn't surprise her, but the lack of sounds does. "She usually does some work at this time of night, so being here is okay," she explains. "But you're right -- there should be more noise."
She edges forward, slowing heading towards the light in the back. Her hand is near her locket, being cautiously ready.
The interior door of the waiting room opens into a medium-sized L-shaped hallway, extending straight forward for a while and then turning left. The light is coming from past the bend. They pass a few locked doors on either side as they walk, small offices and exam rooms judging by the labels. And then they turn the corner. At the end of the hallway is a half-open door, flickering bluish white flourescent light pouring out. That looks like the largest room in the office, the one used for dealing with bigger animals or performing procedures. Nothing can be seen inside save from this distance save a wheeled examination table of brushed stainless steel, overturned and lying on its side. Something cold?
Outside, the rain finally arrives, thunder suddenly sounding, then echoing more softly twice. Looks like the old woman will have to find shelter.
Reiko Touyama aha! It was going to rain! and thunder!
Only now it's even spookier because she's pretty sure she's in a /haunted/ vet's office right now. She had never thought about Ghosts being real until tonight- and it makes a lot of scary sense in her head. Afterall. If all this magical stuff is real...couldn't Ghosts be!?
She actually hides behind Ikiko a bit.
"Do you see anything?"
"Just a fallen wheeled table," Ikiko replies quietly. "We'll have to move closer to get a better view."
She skirts the wall opposite of the door, trying to look into the room without standing too close to the doorway. If the table was knocked over, what else has falen?
Inching closer, you take sight of a woman in a white coat, gray streaks in her black hair. It looks like Dr. Kokawa. She's lying on the floor unconscious, apparently having fallen and knocked down the table next to her. The room looks mostly normal beyond that, aside from a few articles strewn about that were knocked off the table. The flourescent lights flicker once more.
Ikiko can feel it first. It's not a curse in the traditional sense, but there's something weird here.
Ikiko Hisakata looks to Reiko, then nods. "Lycan Locket!" she says, and with a brief glow of silver she turns into Cute Wolf Tsukiko. Stepping forward, the wolfgirl moves over to Dr. Kokawa's side, reaching over to check how the vet is doing.
"Be careful," Tsukiko says to Reiko. "There's something weird in here."
Reiko Touyama Oh! Ikiko transformed! She bites her lip. No. She better-- do that too. Else she's just someone Ikiko will need to worry about, too. "Chroma Prism Orange..! Transform!" she calls out. There's an orange-colored transformation flash--two koi tie the hairbow and Reiko continues to never get tired of that! Of course, now she's a girl in bright orange attire. Not exactly subtle. But... Better than nothing.
"What's wrong?" she asks. Something does feel off, but--
Luckily, Dr. Kokawa is breathing and doesn't appear to be otherwise injured. The girls try not to move her, but Reiko might not need to do so to know what's wrong with her. From outside, Dr. Kokawa's gray-black hair and white labcoat looked normal, but up close, looking at her face, both girls can see the solid gray of her previously brown irises and the fact that her face is now a sickly and unnatural gray instead of the usual flesh tones. She has been color drained.
You can hear it outside now, the start of the rain, though it's a lot heavier than one would expect. The forecast projected no precipitation tonight, and even looking ahead, there's nothing more heavy than slight showers in the coming week. But it sounds like it's going to be coming down heavily pretty soon, with how quickly it's growing.
And then there's a scream from outside, though it's distant. It sounds low and strained, as if coming from an older voice.
Prism Keeper Orange points at the Doctor! "That's... Tsukiko! That's color drain!" she says dramatically. "Something's stolen her color.. her energy! This has to be the work of a Shade!" she says worriedly. She looks around- there's.. nothing here though!? "We're... We're going to need to need to find it! That's the only way to fix this!" she says.
She makes for the waiting room area... and. It's now. /really/ raining. Very hard too. That seems. Wrong.
Regardless, she pushes the door open suddenly at the sound of a scream! She points her wand dramatically at the source of the sound-- expecting to find some sort of Shade chowing down on color. She doesn't seem to be worried about getting wet at the moment.
"/That's/ what color drain looks like?" says Tsukiko as Orange points out the malady. Well, that certainly helps in knowing what to look for!
The wolfgirl follows Orange back to the waiting room, keeping an eye behind them. Where is the Shade responsible for this?
When the scream rings out, Tsukiko is right behind Orange as the two magical girls burst through the doors into the rain!
It's already a downpour when the girls again breach the door to Dr. Kokawa's office, and the scene that unfolds before them is a very different one from the one they left. Across the street, the lights in park have gone completely out. And though it's difficult to make her out in the darkness, slumped unconscious beneath a tree in the park, under which she apparently found shelter, is the old woman the girls had seen earlier. This time, it's unmistakable. The green of her blouse, the red of her purse, the dark blue of her knee-length skirt: all of the color on her person is gone.
And the vague weirdness that Tsukiko felt earlier now is unmistakably black and ominous, a growing force of darkness somewhere nearby. And suddenly Tsukiko starts to see what color draining /really/ looks like. Creeping beneath the feet of the magical girls from behind, the color starts to fade and vanish, replaced instead by shades of gray. First the bright signs and placards of the office building behind them, then the green and red parking markers on the curb just ahead, then the yellow of the lane paint in front, and finally the greens and brown of the park across the street. But if the Shade is behind them, then what happened to the old woman?
But there's little time to think of that. From behind, there's a /howl/. But it's nothing Tsukiko would understand. It sounds like it's _trying_ to be a dog, but this particular howl sounds like a warped wail from a police siren.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko frowns at the color draining in the area. She goes to take a step towards the old woman, but whirls around at the sound of the bizarre howl, looking for its source.
"This is kind of creepy," the wolfgirl murmurs to Orange. A slight growl is rising in the back of her throat as she looks for her foe. Whatever form this Shade has taken, whether it's a mockery of a dog or something else, she's going to make it pay for harming Dr. Kokawa and the old lady!
Prism Keeper Orange grits her teeth... "I'm going to... try a thing." she cups her hand out. In the cup, a tiny koi materalizes, bright, orange and colorful. She lifts it into the air and begins to try to have the koi track the Shade. If it's a Shade, if it's evil... if it has the color energy-- it should begin to swim towards it.
She waits until it picks up on something and she begins following it!
"Come on.. Fishy. Lead us to the bad thing!" she says as she travels behind it. Not using her wings. She can barely fly right in bright daylight, let alone a super rainy evening.
Not every girl uses a guide fish. Most don't, actually. But Orange's idea works nonetheless somehow. With her koi leading them onward, the two girls start running down the street, only to very rapidly realize they're not the only ones. It's little more than an indistinguishable racket at first, jumbled impacts of metal slamming against gravel over and over. But the sounds are deep, low, reverberating. Whatever it is, it's /heavy/, and it's coming closer, starting behind the offices, then rapidly making its way around the building on the street. And then it comes into view. And it's . . . Oh. /That's/ why there have been electrical problems.
It's a dog, or at the very least, it thinks it's a dog. Sure, it might be twelve feet tall. Sure, its legs and shoulders might be street lights, its feet fire hydrants, and its body an actual whole police car that it got from who knows where. Sure, it might stare at you with still-lit stoplights for eyes, an inverted, lid-hanging-open dumpster for a mouth, and a dozen flailing power lines for each ear. But it's the thought that counts, right?
And this particular shade bounds up to the duo with an almost excited-looking gait, only to stop a half-dozen meters away and try to speak. "Bark!" it says, except it says the word rather than the sound, and it speaks in a strained metallic voice. "Arf!" It sounds more confused this time. Wait, it can't decide? A long and awkward silence ensues. And then it seems to finally figure it out, its eyes turning from orange to green (if you can read stoplights by position, all three lights actually being gray). "Arc!" It just mixed the two? Arc, then. Arc doesn't look so bad, right? It certainly appears less menacing than Bloom. What's the worst it could do?
Though I wouldn't mention that sentiment to the Toyota behind Arc. Arc has caved in the car's entire right side, seemingly on accident, with the excited wagging of its stop sign tail.
But it doesn't stay cheerful. Suddenly, it stops, tail too, turning deathly still. And then it turns away briefly, looking into the park. When it looks back, its eyes have turned red. "Arc!" it screams, this time in an enraged voice, charging the girls again, though with clearly much less friendly intentions.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko looks at the 'canine' Shade with an expression of stunned disbelief. "Is... is this normal for Shades?" she asks Orange while trying to keep an eye on Arc. Other than the color drain, the Shade appears to be more inadvertently dangerous than anything.
That assessment is quickly re-evaluated when Arc comes charging back, eyes now red with clear menace.
"Yikes!" yelps Tsukiko as she dives sideways, trying to avoid the charge. She lands with a somersault, cornering and leaping back to deliver a kick to the side of the Shade.
Prism Keeper Orange gets to the shade (The seeking koi friend popping into a heart-sparkle) and... she opens her eyes wide. "Yeah... this is.. a Shade. They.... use things. From the enviroment they're in to form themselves...." she says. Though it seems.. docile? But not until it looks far off somewhere. AND then it comes charging. She takes up into the air in the rain, flapping for dear life to get her out of the way of the charge.
She spins around in the rain and lands on the sidewalk. "I won't let you, hurt people as you like!" she says, aiming her wand and firing off a bright brilliant beam of orange energy into the beast. "We have to. Defeat it. To restore color, Tsukiko." she asides.
The Curse Hunter's kick slams into the driver door of the police car which makes up Arc's "body." Under normal circumstances, with Tsukiko's enhanced strength, that blow would be enough to kick right through it. Not quite, this time. The metal crumples a little, but it doesn't buckle, and Arc only staggers once to its left, reeling from the blow a little but quickly righting itself. Then it's Reiko's turn. The orange energy beam slams into the shade from the other side, and its response is immediate. There's no /physical damage/, but it stumbles once, a low, twisting wail emerges from the siren of the police car. It sounds pained, anguished.
The Curse Hunter has never dealt with this kind of enemy specifically, but it seems more vulnerable to color energy than raw force. Still, there must be /some/ way for her to effectively attack it. She has likely dealt with unknown enemies before; it's just a matter of figuring out how to use her abilities against them.
But whatever she thinks of, she'll have to think fast. Arc is only momentarily staggered. Looking up, it sees Reiko out of its reach, and it turns instead toward Tsukiko. Bounding forward, it tries to slams the dumpster forming its "snout" down over Tsukiko, trying to crush the Cute Wolf.
Prism Keeper Orange nrg. "Tsukiko... keep it busy. I dunno.. how well just punching and kicking it is going to work.--- But I know if you can make it easier for me to infuse it with color--- we can get this done quickly." she asides. She holds up her wand and fires a series of three rapid orange koi, trying to aim at it's dumspter snout to try to ruin it's attack on Ikiko.
"Just keep fast on your feet!" she calls at Ikiko.
"You big four legged jerk! Face--- Orange Colored Justice!" she calls out in the rain.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko yelps and rolls forward, diving among Arc's feet and kicking off of its legs to launch herself out from underfoot.
Well, /that/ was certainly a learning experience! "That only felt like a nudge, huh?" the wolfgirl remarks, circling around the Shade and trying to keep out of reach. Magic energy seems to be pretty effective... but she's going to have to buy herself some time to get that to work.
A nudge at the right time in the right place can make other things more effective, though. "Orange! You hit it high, and I'll hit it low!" she calls out to the Prism Keeper. Tsukiko dances around Arc, ready to leap forward to knocking the Shade's feet out from underneath itself when Orange next uses a hard-hitting blast.
It would be hard for most people to keep their footing in the downpour that is soaking this battle. But Reiko has been practicing her flight, and even wet, her wings are up to the task. And with Tsukiko's Curse Hunter abilities and training, she manages deftly, even with the thin layer of rainwater and accompanying traces of motor oil that roll down the street. And Arc? Well, it manages, though perhaps needlessly, the windshield wipers on its "body" turn on.
The combination attack works well, though. Arc seems a little more durable than Bloom, a little stronger, but it's not a huge difference in raw power. And between Orange's flight and Tsukiko's agility, it seems to be poorly-built for this fight. Orange's koi streak forward, swimming midair, slamming into Arc's snout mid-attack, giving Tsukiko an opening to dodge. Tsukiko then rolls forward and out from under it, repaying Orange's favor with a swift, powerful blow to the back of Arc's legs. The shade is knocked off-balance just long enough for Orange to capitalize, zooming upward, wand pointing down as she charges up and then unleashes a powerful ray of orange energy, slamming into its back. It howls, police siren wailing, lights flashing, buckling to the ground under the strain of the continuous beam. There's still a ways to go in this fight, but the pair are working well together. It looks like they're definitely going to win.
And almost as if in response, the rain gets stronger. And somewhere above the pair, someone cries out, "Gray's Gale!" Lines appear in the sky, a stylized drawing of a powerful wind, but a moment later, it turns very real. With a whistling howl, that gust flies past Orange, enough to shake her midflight, though she might quickly recover. She wasn't the target, after all. Slicing, smashing winds zoom forward and finally hit home, slamming into Tsukiko with a powerful, punishing blow.
And then thunder again fills the air, a bright flash of light illuminating the area as lightning follows. And in that brilliant moment, the heroines can see her. A girl of pure gray in a Victorian dress, holding aloft a closed parasol in one hand. She looks enraged, dangerous, ruthless eyes mixing with a superior, condescending smirk. Neither has ever seen her, not in person, but Orange might know her name.
"So far, so good!" Tsukiko calls to Orange, even as she keeps an eye on the downed Shade. "I think we're-- wait, what's goi-- WAUGH!"
The sudden gust of wind catches the off-guard, sending her sprawling. She looks up to where the wind and the voice came from, and blinks at the sight of the gray girl. "Orange? I don't think I can jump that high," she gulps.
The sound of Arc's movement catches her attention. "Stay down!" she growls, jumping on the Shade and leaping off with a two-footed stomp. It might not be much, but she can at least keep it distracted.
Prism Keeper Orange can feel the victory as she blasts the creature. This is going to work! Tsukiko is going to help her destroy the shade--- they can restore color-- and they can stop for ice cream on the way home if it isn't too late yet. Orange Sherbert feels very good right about now. Then someone calls out from above and something whizzes past her and she tumbles about in the air. She's very wet, but still airborne.
She does look skyward, towards where the attack came from. She thought she saw a girl earlier. Was this her? Wait----
There's a really shocked sudden expression on her face. Not one of wonderment and awe that she's been generally used to feeling, but one of complete and utter fear. "Tsukiko...I... I'm really sorry. I need you to.. take care of this thing for me. That girl.. is. Look. I need to drive her away- or-- we never really can't finish this Shade off. I don't think." she's not really confident about this. In the stories... in the game... it always took multiple Prism Keepers just to drive off Griselda. She's just one- and Red is taking a break to worry about her sister still- and even then. Two might not be enough.
She gets up level with Griselda. She's having a hard time keeping straight in the rain. ".... you're... Griselda." more of a statement to herself, as she can't belive it herself. "I won't-- let you hurt anymore people tonight!" she says leveling the Chroma Wand at the other airborne opponent. She fires off another brilliant beam of orange color in Griselda's direction.
Being a magical girl is hard. It's not just about the very real dangers in the battles they fight, even if injury is routine in this line of work, and quite a few even lose their lives. No, what makes it /hard/ is the inherent catch-22 in the profession. More than anything, magical girls are pushed forward by their hopes and dreams, by positivity. More than anything, they need to believe: in each other and sometimes even in their enemies. And sometimes that's so very hard. Because some battles cut you no breaks; sometimes you're thrown into a no-win situation and told to find a way out. How do you find the hope to push forward and break through when you're fighting a hopeless battle?
Tsukiko eats the attack from Griselda, but she still has plenty of fight left in her. One basic strike isn't going to slow down a Curse Hunter, even if it might have hurt. And Arc has already taken a fair bit of damage. It's slower and weaker now, if Tsukiko's latest strike is any indication, her stomping attack bending one of Arc's legs slightly, sending it teetering off-balance, though it barely manages to catch itself. But Arc seems to have one last card to play, and this last card seems to be a bit of a doozy. Those ears of Arc, a half-dozen flapping power lines each, latch onto a nearby utility pole, snaking upward, grabbing hold of the still live lines there. And then it greedily sucks into that power, its stoplight eyes blowing out from the power surge with a shower of sparks, the street lights and buildings within a block's radius of Tsukiko going dark in unison. Her wolflike vision is enough to let her easily see in the dark, but that's not the problem. Arc's ears disengage, each one now surging with visible, arcing electricity. Suddenly, it seems just as threatening as Bloom was. It screams, aggressively, attention focused squarely on the Curse Hunter now. "Arc!"
And above them, Orange finds herself squaring off with Griselda. "And you must be a Prism Keeper?" she asks. It's hard to place her exact age, but her voice is very young. It doesn't make her seem any less friendly, though. "You're pretty brave to fight me alone. Unfortunately," she says, raising her parasol above her, "brave doesn't equal strong." Her parasol twirls as she begins to draw wide swaths of gray in the sky. And then she cries out, "Mist Direct!" A moment later, the clouds thicken, fog rolling in, visibility plummeting. That probably isn't good.
Prism Keeper Orange hrmphs loudly at Griselda. "I'm Prism Keeper Orange! and don't you forget it!" she says as bravely as she can. But Griselda's words sink deep. She can be confident all she wants-- but Orange really isn't that strong in the offense department. If.. if Mei was here...
But she isn't. She gets ready to fire off another beam as gray clouds begin thickening and making visibility hard. She clenches her teeth. This is a dirty trick. She fires off a beam through the clouds, trying to aim at where Griselda was. She'd no doubt moved already. How was she going to figure this one out?
"Hiding... is just going to delay you the big finkicking you're about to get!" she insists- even if her voice sounds so unsure about that.
"So the stoplights /don't/ control its emotions," Tsukiko murmurs to herself, watching the wire-ears warily. The wolfgirl darts around Arc, delivering swift kicks whenever the Shade's attention lags.
"Hey scraps, over here!" she calls mockingly to Arc, pausing momentarily so the Shade can follow her voice, then speeding back up when it starts moving after her. Each time she does that, she tries to draw the Shade towards the center of the already-drained area, in an effort to keep it from draining color in a wider area.
Arc is nothing if not eager to play fetch, though this particular game has much higher stakes, the shade bounding forward with every intent to crush the young magical girl in its jaws or under its feet. Tsukiko seems to be succeeding at her delaying action, as she still has the edge in speed and agility over Arc. But even if the shade doesn't seem to quite have human-level intelligence, it displays a cunning of its own, eventually growing tired of the chase and playing its new card. Its ears rise straight up briefly, only for those powerlines to plunge into the ground a second later, discharging a long, hefty jolt into the rain-soaked ground, trying to electrocute its drenched quarry.
And the response to Reiko's words is no less encouraging. A mocking laugh echoes through the fog that surrounds the two of them, seeming to come from multiple directions at once. "Hiding, huh? Is that what I'm doing?" And suddenly the clouds part just in front of Reiko, the aura of magic in front of her being the only thing giving away that a wind attack is coming. With how vigilant she is, she might have just enough time to dodge the worst of it, but getting out of the way entirely may be harder.
Prism Keeper Orange just kind of blurts out.. "Scaled Shield!..." and a round shield of energy, done up with the scales of a koi appears in front of her /just/ at the wind hits it. This causes her to be blown back through the air, tumbling-- she catches herself before she hits ground. Her shield falls in the meantime. At least she didn't take the brunt of the attack.
Determined, Orange raises her wand into the air- and fires some koi-- the kind she uses that seek onto her target! They're not powerful--but they might be useful--- maybe-- they can seek Griselda through the cloud cover. If she can just seeking koi spam Griselda. Maybe she can make this not worth her time to continue being here, she thinks.
"Yes...! Hiding!" she says with determination!
Cute Wolf Tsukiko yelps as the electricity courses through the ground. The wolfgirl quickly leaps onto a nearby sign, still wincing from the shock as she waits for the jolt to pass.
"So, you can do something like that?" she wheezes, trying to size up Arc. She's starting to physically tire; dodging and other quick movements might not be as much of an option now.
But even if she can't do 'quick', Tsukiko still has 'fast'.
Leaping to the ground, she circles around Arc at a run, making feinting dashes as she tries to box in the Shade. As Tsukiko runs, a silvery glow starts pooling around her, small and dimly at first, but gaining in size and light as she keeps accelerating... and accelerating... and accelerating...
Orange's strategy is clever enough to work, trusting the eyes of her magical creations where her own fail. Off the fish drift, into the fog, clearing enough of a path that the Prism Keeper soon enough sees her opponent. Her koi are slower than some projectiles, but they seek unerringly, striking even the swiftly-moving Griselda without much difficulty. The gray girl is pushed back by the attack, struggling to brace herself, but the damage doesn't appear to be serious. Still, it's not something the gray girl can ignore, Orange having successfully forced a change in their battle. "Enough!" Griselda cries, frustration and rage pouring into her voice. "If you think you can win, then fine! No more tricks!" And with a single swipe of her parasol, the fog rapidly dissipates. It's still cloudy up here, rain falling around them, but the two girls are in plain view of each other, again staring each other down as they hover. Griselda's confidence isn't shaken, though. "If you think you can win a fair fight, that is."
"Because I don't think you can, /Prism Keeper/." Those last words are spoken mockingly, dripping with sarcasm, as if she saw that title as beneath her. And then she lifts her parasol, aiming it squarely at Orange, gray energy gathering around the gray gem at its tip. "If you /can/, try to keep up." And then the blast is released; this one is fast, hard to dodge, though probably still manageable. But then Griselda launches herself away, moving rapidly through the air, those same quick blasts fired toward the Prism Keeper as she does. It'll be hard to even defend if Orange stays still or doesn't counterattack; it looks like she is going to have to put her flying practice to use if she hopes to keep this fight somewhat even. This is turning into a battle of aerial skill as much as magic power.
Below that flying fight, Tsukiko's quick movement manages to save her from the worst of the shocking attack, though it doesn't look like Arc is even close to being out of juice. But the Curse Hunter seems to be done playing the waiting game. Whatever Arc is, it's not particularly fast, and that includes its reaction time. Tsukiko's sudden switch from evasion to offense catches it off-guard, and she has a precious opening to make something happen.
Prism Keeper Orange is able to get some minor hits in on Griselda. She takes a deep breath---if she can- keep this up. Then------
Griselda takes away the cloud cover for a fair fight. Her eyes go wide, but she shakes it off. Nrg-- now she needs to change tactics. She points her umbrella at her--and a gray energy hits her hard in the chest. Her eyes express a deep, sudden, hard change as the greyness literarly merges into her form for a minute-- bright orange turning dull and gray. It's a terrible feeling. But she takes a deep breath, tries to calm down, and the color returns, driving out the grayness.
Now Griselda wants to play the run around. In the air. A thing Reiko isn't really /good at/ yet. She begins flying after Griselda, and opts to launch an array of bright, colorful orange blasts of her at Griselda, looking like her wand was throwing bright orange lasers--- Koi are too slow right now. She'd outpace them at this rate. "Griselda---stop this!" she says. "Why--why do you even hurt these people right now!? They did nothing to you! They... they!" she just clenches her teeth. unable to really finish her sentence.
Tsukiko's counterattack has bought her a moment of surprise against Arc, and she intends to make the most of it. The glow around the wolfgirl grows brighter as she moves faster. As the light hits a bright silver, she pivots on her next step--
--and she seems to turn into a formless bolt of light, tearing towards Arc.
That bolt of light streaks toward Arc, the luminous attack visible even from the sky, the Curse Hunter seemingly tearing straight through her prey. There doesn't appear to be any damage to the shade, though. Not at first. But then Arc stumbles, its gray energy starting to bleed away. One of its street light "legs" comes loose as Arc's grip on it falters, returning to its usual color, clattering to the ground with a loud metallic bang, the shade tumbling forward onto its head as a result. And the still-rotating police lights above it get a bit closer to their usual color, a few motes of red and blue light peeking through the otherwise dull gray glow. That attack definitely hurt. Arc is nearly finished.
But the shade still has a few scraps of fight left in it. As Tsukiko again materializes, a few meters past her target, there's one slight snag. Somehow, sometime, a few of Arc's ears managed to wrap around her, a trio of those lines now tangled up in her arms and legs. And lacking any ability to move, Arc decides to use its final stinger, emptying all of its power in a massive electrical surge that nearly renders the magical girl unconscious. And even unable to move, even having used all of its electricity, Arc still can constrict her.
Above her, Orange and Griselda are still locked in their duel, barely visible from the ground as they flit between and through the still raining clouds. The rays of energy exchanged between them are the only easy markers of their location, some a dull gray that's difficult to spot, others a bright orange that readily stands out.
"Why?" Griselda asks. "Why?" Again she repeats it, though louder, angrier, something about that question irritating her. And then Griselda disappears into a cloud, the Prism Keeper trailing her. But when Orange follows and exits from the other side, she's nowhere in sight. She evaded during that brief period; Griselda seems to have more than a small edge in her ability as a flyer. But Orange barely has any time to look around for her, only a few tense seconds passing before Griselda's form cuts through another nearby cloud, racing toward her. And then the gray girl has grabbed the Prism Keeper by the shoulders. "Because color is ugly." This close, Orange can see the emotions in her wild eyes: almost inhuman anger, though it's tempered with the faintest hint of confusion, as if she herself wasn't sure of the answer she just gave. But then, without hesitating, at point-blank range, "Grays Gale!"
Prism Keeper Orange is still blasting away, orange magical blasts fill the sky as she tries to hit Griselda while moving. This isn't working. It is not working. And Now she's.. gone!? Nrrrrrggg! Nonono! "YOU SAID YOU'D FIGHT FAIR!" she calls out. She scans around--- the tip of her Chroma wand glowing a bright orange. She's suddenly touched! On the shoulder, a chill running through her body. And those words...
'Because Color is Ugly.' It's so...petty sounding...so wrong. But that hint of confusion. But before she can even respond... 'Grays Gale'.
Prism Keeper Orange is launched downward, turning into a bright orange streak suddenly heading towards earth. No amount of flapping those wings gets her to slow down, crashing into the sidewalk not too far off from Ikiko.
For a moment. She doesn't move after the impact. Everything hurts right now. It's a world of pain she's never experienced before. She needs... just a moment.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko feels slightly off as her perspective of the world returns to normal -- going that fast that quickly is rather disorienting if you pay attention to it. The wolfgirl has just enough time to realize that she's entangled before Arc unleashes the remaining electricity in its system.
The wolfgirl screams as the electricity courses through her, and she struggles to get free; however, all her efforts do is tighten the wires around her.
As the electrocution comes to a halt, Tsukiko looks at Arc with bleary eyes. The Shade might be down, but it looks like it's going to take her with it. In her exhausted state, she barely even notices Orange crashing into the ground nearby; the wolfgirl is doing good to focus on Arc. How do you escape when you can barely move...?
It's hard to even hear the rain for both of the girls, hard to even see their enemies. Ringing ears, blurred vision, and pain dominate their senses for the moment. These are the worst moments of being a magical girl, the moments when you hover on the cusp of loss, hoping that defeat doesn't take too much from you. But in this case, such a hope seems far away.
Ever the defender and the utilitarian in combat, Orange might start to rouse first, barely, just enough to see Griselda landing in front of her, gray feathered wings flapping to slow her descent. Her voice is barely audible, though, given the magical girl's state. "So this is what the Prism Keepers have to offer, huh? Pathetic." And then that parasol rises, leveled straight at Orange, aimed at her prism crystal. "Anything else you want to say?" Both Orange and Tsukiko are spent, and while Arc looks nearly defeated, Griselda doesn't look like she has suffered major damage. It's hard to know what either of them might do in this moment. Orange, at least, has her wand and a bit of remaining magic. For Tsukiko, the situation is far more grim.
Tsukiko's vision swims as the shade wraps tighter around her, starting to go black. Most of her senses are failing her as unconsciousness starts to approach, only her perception as a Curse Hunter remaining. And in that dazed state, she can almost see it. She can see past the artifice of the shade, past the objects wrapped around its weakened true form, to the creature itself. It's a gray creature, formless, comprised of wisps of negative emotions, but not evil. More than anything, it's lost, confused. It doesn't belong here, trying to find some context to give it shape, like its earlier, friendlier doglike form, the one it had before it was somehow driven to rage. And now, nearly beaten, almost all of that rage is gone.
One eye barely open, Tsukiko gets a sense of the core of the Shade. There's not much to it; it almost seems to be barely kept together. Surely it won't take much to get it to disperse.
(Which is a good thing, given how little energy she has left.)
The wolfgirl starts humming a lullaby to the Shade, a calming little tune. She thinks about the beauty of color, of how it makes the world a happier place. While she might not have the energy to convey it directly through her little song, she does her best to channel those feelings into her voice.
If she can convince it to rest, perhaps it will free the colors it took?
Prism Keeper Orange finally lifts her head---and when she does. There's Griselda. Gray..... elegant. She doesn't say anything at first. She does however, immediatly hold her Chroma Wand close to her chest-- that glowing orange crystal in the tip. "I.. won't let you... rob the world of color like this." she's too weak to summon up anything else. It looks like she's going to topple back over.
Griselda's parasol lowers for just a moment. She smirks, a gloating, triumphant look on her face. "What are you going to do, Prism Keeper? It's over, both for you and your friend. And when I'm done with the both of you, I'm going to find that red girl, and then . . ." Judging by the finality of her tone, it doesn't sound like mercy is likely.
Griselda either doesn't hear it, or she's too focused on Orange. She misses the sounds that are suddenly coming from the almost inert Curse Hunter a dozen meters away, Tsukiko barely managing to hum a calming, soothing melody, even as she begins to turn white. It's almost impossible to hear it above the pouring rain, but somehow it reaches Arc. The shade is already nearly weakened to the point of defeat, its gray energy almost dissipated, the negative emotions that bind it together now a mere breeze rather than a raging storm. And Tsukiko's feelings reach it, enough color in her emotions to untie those final strands of gray darkness. Quietly, as weakly as Tsukiko, it asks, "Ark?" There's pleasant confusion in its voice, as if it had just discovered something strange and wonderful for the first time. And though Arc can't move, it seems to have one last salute to its former enemy. Its police siren gives a wolflike howl one final time. And then the shade dissipates, the police car slamming to the ground with a crunch of broken shocks, the dumpster and remaining three streetlights clattering to the ground with a resonating metallic impact, the powerlines loosening and falling away, giving the Curse Hunter some welcome room to breathe.
And with that racket, Griselda finally notices, head snapping in Tsukiko's direction, a look of shock on her face as her mind starts to process what's happening. Her attention is no longer on Orange at all, though this development is perhaps only a brief respite. In the condition that the two heroines are in, they're not likely to be able to win against Griselda.
And the color that Arc drained? It does what it normally does, that concentrated color energy quietly drifting away and hovering around Orange's wand, waiting to be returned to its rightful place.
Prism Keeper Orange is set to watch her crystal shatter, and fall into a world of grey coma, until her crystal can reform. She knows that's how it works. That's how Mei wrote it. But what's to stop Griselda from doing more after that. It's not like anyone here is in a shape to spirit her away. Really awful things run through her head. Thoughout it all... she just hopes.. Mei will be okay, alone.
Something happens though. The Cute Wolf manages to defeat the shade using--- humming? Is something in the Cute Wolf's voice like color energy? She's not sure. She doesn't care. What matters is--- the, big swirling ball of multicolor hovering over her wand...
She doesn't say anything. She doesn't make a quip. She just sends the ball flying into Griselda.... "Chroma Palette Cleanser!" she calls out- causing the ball of color to explode forth and release. Right through Griselda. Usually. This isn't used an attack..it's too slow. But with Griselda not paying full attention against her--- she has a good chance of sending Griselda into her own world of colorful hurt.
As Arc dissipates and its former accumulation of parts collapses, Tsukiko brings her humming to a close, then carefully takes a deep breath. Her ribs hurt and she still feels woozy, but she's able to turn her head, looking towards Orange and Griselda.
The wolfgirl smiles -- weakly, from her exhaustion, but still a sense of triumph on her face. "One... down..." she wheezes, still trying to catch her breath without straining too hard.
The not-quite-attack collides with the gray girl with spectacular results. Griselda had taken quite a few blasts from Orange until now, but it seemed like she still had the vast majority of her magic left. Not anymore. There's such a thing as being a victim of your own success, and this might be one of those moments. Arc had drained a lot of color, after all, and now the villainess is being struck by every last bit of it. But it doesn't soak into her. She doesn't absorb it, even if she should, even if it would heal any other gray person. No, it's almost as if something is /blocking it/, as if some barrier prevents color from entering her, the energy instead striking her and bouncing off, dripping away, streaking back toward the objects and people to which it belongs. And you can see it start to happen around you, the effects of the Prism Keepers' restoration attack, the park and the office building and the street all slowly returning to their normal hues.
But even if Griselda doesn't absorb it, it does /hurt/ her. She cries out, holding her hands up defensively, the energy splashing against her seeming to cause more than a little pain. She reels, stumbling backward, anguish on her face. And when it's over, the gray girl is on the ground on one knee, struggling to stay up as she leans against her parasol.
Griselda's not defeated. She likely might still win if she were to push the attack now. But she looks at Orange and then at Tsukiko, making some calculation in her head. Maybe likely isn't good enough for her. "You . . . You!" And somehow, her voice is even more angry now. "You got lucky, Orange. You /WON'T BE AGAIN/!" And then she rises to her feet, her gray feathery wings suddenly spreading out to her sides. "We will meet again, and soon. Think about that." And then she's up and away, into the air.
Victory? Maybe close enough. Across the street, the old woman begins to wake up. The same is likely true of Dr. Kokawa. It might be time to get out of here, or at the very least, untransform.
Staying Henshined or not isn't a choice Orange makes voluntarily. It is taking.. EVERYTHING to stop her from just turning back into normal, fish loving Reiko before Griselda. She can only listen to her words as she grimaces. "You.. won't win then either.. Griselda. The Gray Kingdom will never win....." she says. But Griselda is gone. She's sure of that. And when she is----
Her henshin fades away as she slumps down on the ground. She doesn't say anything.
"...Tsukiko. Th.. thank you. I... I didn't. Expect that..." she says. "That was... Griselda. She's... the main villian. of the game... the story. She's very powerful. I'd.. I'd be dead. If you weren't here. T.. thank you." she says as she tries to get up to her feet. She doesn't have much success with that.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko staggers to her feet, the battle having taken a toll on her as well. She touches the locket around her neck, and with a silvery glow she transforms back into Ikiko.
The shift of energy leaves her somewhat lightheaded, and she takes a few moments before responding to Reiko. "Glad... I was able... to help," she replies, carefully walking over. She starts to offer a hand to Reiko, but thinks better of it and sits down next to her instead.
"Are most fights against Shades like that?" she finally asks after another few moments of rest.
Reiko Touyama blushes. "I..only fought one shade before this one. But... they are a lot like this." she says. "Big.... dangerous.. Scary..... saying the one name." she says stammeredly. She reaches into her pocket. And she calls the emergency line. She doesn't know if Ikiko wants to go to the hospital. But she needs to. She hurts. All over. Something might even be broken.
"I.. we've never seen Griselda before. That's. The first time, me or Red saw her. I didn't even know that. She came to life with the other things. Until right now." she says embarassedly.
She talks into the phone. "Yeah. a car." she pauses. "It hit me. I need help. Please?" she asks. She pauses. "Okay...." the phone gets hung-up as she sits there on the pavement. Everything is so. Quiet. Now. It's bizzare.
Ikiko Hisakata reaches over and lightly hugs Reiko. Very lightly -- it's just one arm, lightly squeezing the younger girl's far shoulder.
"That's the roughest fight I've been in," she admits. "Even the fight against that weird guy with the needle monster didn't feel /this/ rough!" She looks over at Arc's remains, noticing the small number of dents she inflicted. "I'm still willing to help you and Red fight them, although I'm not sure how much help I'll be in actually taking them down," she sighs.
Reiko Touyama closes her eyes. "Thanks Ikiko...that means a lot. I'm very glad to have met you." she blushes.
"She was going to.. shatter my chroma crystal too. That would had. been really bad for me." she says. "If. it's true to what Red wrote." she says. "So far. A lot of it's been so." she says somberly. She stops talking for a bit.
"I hope Red is ready the next time she comes for me. I hope I'm not alone then...."
Across the street, the matronly woman with watchful eyes begins to wake up. She's not as soaked as the girls, but she's still wet enough that it's likely not a good idea for her to walk home like this, especially with the area still pitch black. The same is true of our young heroines, as well. But the rain has slowed, whatever respite that provides. It doesn't seem like it was Griselda alone that caused this storm, but her presence seems to have accounted for the worst of it, and now that she's gone, it's reduced to a light, almost pleasant, summer drizzle.
But there are friendly faces in this world willing to comfort Reiko and Ikiko, even in these moments. Behind them, in the vet's office, a flashlight shines from the waiting room, a warm voice calling out as the door opens. "Ikiko? Girls! Come inside!" It's Dr. Kokawa. She ventures out with an umbrella, helping the old woman inside too. Within the vet's office, they get a chance to dry their clothes a bit, towel off, and drink some hot cocoa from the break room, the two adults keeping them company until their ride to the hospital shows up. And the old woman is a lot friendlier and more caring than she seemed earlier. Meanwhile, Dr. Kokawa does ask the two girls about what happened, but not in very much depth. Even if their story has holes, she doesn't push. She's the adult, after all. It's her responsibility, or so she thinks.
And when the repair crews and first responders arrive, they talk to her, not to our two young heroines. The ultimate verdict? A flash flood caused by a freak weather event, allowing an improperly-parked police car to roll down the street, which in turn took down some street lights, which pulled down some power lines, causing a localized blackout. A contrived explanation, but it makes more sense than /magic/. The girls are never even asked. They're just carted away for medical care, the clean-up of this scene left to the city.
Sometimes this is the best kind of victory that one can hope for. Nobody died today, after all, not the girls or the civilians around them. And survival, both for themselves and those who can't defend themselves, might be a clean win to many people. Even if the threats of their path now loom very much closer. Even if the fear is more visceral and immediate.