It's been there, quietly burning away in her mobile phone's inbox. The downside of having a transformation trinket that happens to be a mobile phone is that if someone knows your number, they can bother you with it.
Machi Ono walked into Uminari two months ago with nothing to her name but a warning. Since then she's been spending her days courting the people of Virtue, trying to figure out how to deal with the fact her family probably thinks she's dead, and quietly waiting in dread for this to happen.
And so it is. 'Round 47 has begun.'
Anyone passing through the city today will catch the sensation of something corrupted appearing in their midst: in a part of the city where small children shouldn't go exploring, in a small patch of abandoned buildings with whitewashed windows and multiple floors, and perhaps one or two tumbledown walls.
And yet, here she goes, a tiny barely-even-four-foot-nothing, scraping around the sides of the abandoned buildings trying to find an in.
Has always been the sort to explore these kinds of places, that's where the yaoguai hide after all. Or that's where she'd hide if she didn't have an apartment to live in with family and- that's not the point. They're called yokai here aren't they. She tilts her head, wondering idly if they took the word or if it's coincidence that they sound really similar. This is all happening audibly as she's chatting with the see-through figure of a Chinese ghost walking alongside her, trying to find out just how old the word is now for anyone that speaks Mandarin. She figures she's alone or alone enough that it won't matter!
There's that icky feeling though and she stops in her tracks, the ghost continuing on for a few steps before turning on it's heels... in midair. Glancing around quietly, she calls out in Japanese, "Kappa don't have that feel right?" What, she figured the harbor would have at least kappa if not ghosts. Maybe it's a ghost? "Mister or miss ghost?" She pulls out her cellphone and begins typing something into it, maybe a note to herself.
While she's doing this, she rounds the corner, stepping out of the alley she had been in, not at all paying attention. At least she remembered to keep her hood up today with a pale yellow hoodie and a comfy pair of pants and shoes with a satchel since she's exploring!
Uminari really isn't that far from Mitakihara. Sometimes, walking home from work, Kyouko takes a bit of a detour through the harborside shopping district, whether it's because she's looking for something in particular or just looking to kill some time. Exactly which of these is the case today is not readily apparent, and also not entirely relevant.
What is relevant is that her 'evil' sense is tingling. Generally attuned towards Witches and Wraiths, and much more sensitive in those regards, that doesn't mean that Kyouko is blind to the appearance of other sorts of youma. She gets a faint, niggling sense at the back of her skull as she's walking down the sidewalk.. and turn, sniffing faintly at the air. A mild frown crosses her face.
She's still a bit away from the abandoned convinience store.. but her eyes are turned towards it.
It's not common that Naru walks home with Kyouko after work, the timing doesn't always work out in both of their schedules. Today, however, it works out that way. Naru is still in her school uniform, her satchel over her shoulder and her nose buried in her phone, even just for a moment or two.
As Kyouko pauses, Naru looks up from her phone where she's pestering someone that is probably not Kyouko and she glances over to the puella. She's about to comment before she quirks her head thoughtfully. "Hunh." It's not a terribly enlightening commentary, but it does mean that Naru's attention is headed in the direction of the abandoned store as well. "Shall we?"
I think they're called youma? Or at least that's the narrator's opinion. Machi doesn't have an opinion to give you. She's still pretty.... green on this business of 'other evil things' yet. Oh, she'll learn, but still.
Machi's eyes widen as she takes a look at Jiaying. That is definitely a person and a ghost person walking along. Yep! She walks up to her and-- hesitates.
You have to start asking people for help.
"Uhm..." she says, looking around self-conciously. And she looks at both Jiaying and her ghostly friend. "...there may be... something around here that... I need to get back, that was taken from me. Could you..."
"Oooooi."
http://i.imgur.com/hXwlgcY.jpg?1
Walking up next to Kyoko, close enough to rub shoulders, it's this person. She is a young woman of moderate height with a red hairband and a blue dress. Her scarf is also red, but the bangles she wears on her arms are gold. And so is the bell on her neck... her furry ears and tail are brown, though.
"Looks like I rolled the high number, so I get to play the first turn de nya." Other people walk past, but they don't seem to notice the catgirl in their midst.
Machi certainly does, and the hair on the back of her neck stands on end as she looks from Jiaying to Kyoko and Naru. Her expression has turned to one of shock and concern.
"You're the-"
"So hey! It's a nice afternoon and the sun's still out de nya. How about we play a game de nya? This looks like a great place for a King of the Hill."
She taps the bell on her neck, and there's a puff of smoke. All of a sudden, several of the passersby disappear in a trice! Naru is picked up by her too, cool as you like!
"Call me Artemis de nya! Make it to the top if you want to win, de nya~!"
And she's off. Oh, it's gonna be one of those days.
Jiaying Maki looks at the girl curiously, then over at the ghost, then back at the girl before pointing to Meifeng, "You can see and hear her huh? Neat." Meifeng glares at Jia, then fades away, her shadow distorting briefly before looking mostly normal. Then there's the question and she scowls, "Someone stole something from you? What was-" and then there's a loud catgirl.
She glances over her shoulder and asks, "Nekomata right? Not like the one at the graveyard?" beat, "They don't see it, that's weird." She was about to try something, thinking maybe it was miss ghost after all when two familiar faces show up and one of them has a familiar problem happen! "H-hey!" she calls out. Then she looks to the younger girl and says, "Hey uh, weird things are going on, stay uh..." she looks around, "Stay safe. Maybe run away?" She's trying to think of where is safe when the thing teleports. "Aiya! Just be careful!" as she slips past the girl and starts to run after the thing, her hood falling back to reveal her own animal ears as she tries to figure out where they went, "Sa-Kyouko, you wanted th-.... where did they go?" What, she had been distracted!
Kyouko is glancing over at Naru, next to her. "Dunno what it is. Worth a look, I guess." She's only just said this when a.. cat person appears next to her. Rather uncomfortably close, really. Kyouko has seen a lot of bizarre shit in her time, and catgirls hardly rate, it's true, and so her initial reaction is a mere arch of an eyebrow. "Um, excuse me?" She asks, rather skeptically, to girl's first words.
And then Naru (and a couple other people) vanish in a puff of smoke. Kyouko visibly starts. Her eyes dart over to Jiaying and Machi, but clearly, they are of little concern to her in the moment. Can you blame her? Damn catgirl just stole her girlfriend. To Jiaying, she says, "Dunno. But I plan to find out."
A growl rises in her throat. "This is not how I envisioned my evening progressing." And then there's a brilliant flash of red light, encompassing her for a split second. When it fades, she's in her henshin- Apatite, complete with cape. Seems she doesn't feel like messing around, given the circumstances.
She isn't sure exactly where the girl has spirited her hostages away, but she had mentioned 'king of the hill'. And going up is always a good bet when you're trying to figure a situation out. With a faint rustle of cape and skirts, she leaps effortlessly up atop a lamp post, then to the top of a sign above a store. Her spear has materialized in her hand, and as she raises from the crouch of her landing, she plants the butt firmly on top of the sign with a thunk- eyes following the supernatural senses that guide her eyes at least in the right direction.
When she speaks, her voice carries better than one might expect, though still her her usual street-rat articulation. "Hey, 'Artemis', or whatever the hell you call yourself. My name is Apatite, of the Earth Court, and you just stole my girlfriend. By the authority of my Prince, and also because I effin' say so, give her back before I excercise my right to reduce you to bite-size chunks and give the fish of the harbor an afternoon snack." A pause. "Also let the other people go, too!"
The whole time she's posturing, her eyes are searching- trying to find where the girl and her hostages may have ended up.
"Er. Hello?" Naru is generally of the 'greeting odd people' sort of attitude, but even she is a touch wary at the appearance of the cat girl in their midst. "It /is/ a nice afternoon. What.. what do you mean by King of the ..."
Naru really only gets about that far before things have gone odd. A familiar, in the broad sense, sort of odd, even if it /has/ been a while. The familiar sense of going 'woosh' not entirely or exactly of one's own volition.
The arrival on top of the abandoned building makes Naru stumble a little, taking a few steps back from the edge and her voice is edged not with fear, but with a healthy dollop of irritation. "/Seriously/!?" She frowns as she looks around to try and work out what the hell this game is, and to confirm that the other hostages are safe and sound up here with her. "Bloody hell." She grouses, even as she shifts from Naru to Hyalite, her school uniform becoming a white dress, slashed with colours here and there and looks around to get a grasp on what the devil is going on.
Machi Ono nods to Jiaying, in the time roughly before Artemis insists everyone turn around and pay attention to her but after she notices Meifeng. "Yes. I'm sorry to just walk up and ask you, but there's something dangerous here-" Which would be Artemis, of course. And now it all makes sense. Well, no, it roughly only makes enough sense to know that there's danger that must be challenged, but that's all that's needed.
"I'm a cat, but I'm queen hunter of the jungle de nya. And I just need the right kind of bait de nya!" Artemis says to Jiaying, proudly puffing her chest out before pulling her disappearing act.
Machi frets. She didn't expect other people to start being in danger so quickly. Sigh.
She pulls two items from her pocket- one is a mobile phone, the other is what looks like a playing card (Ace of Clubs) with a picture of a green spider on it. She slots the card into a thin transparent slot holder that appears over the screen, and snaps the phone shut. "You're better at dealing with this."
"Henshin!"
'OPEN UP.'
The phone pops out in either direction, revealing an embossed purple Clubs sign. Machi fastens it to her waist as a belt, and green rings of energy move up and down her body, giving her a new green outfit and a long clover-topped staff.
The ground shakes, a vibration running up the lamp-post. Artemis, wreathed in shadow some distance away at the top of abandoned floorwork, smiles.
"Is that so de nya? Well, in that case, I say Round 47 of the Great Battle has begun! The great hunter Artemis of H.U.N.T.E.R.S. will oversee a sharp and to-the-point battle!"
At her declaration, there's a metallic hiss... spikes and spines begin to jag out of the ground, the lamp-post, and all sorts of other surfaces!
Artemis brings out a huge hammer, grinning at Hyalite. "Oh, hey, you're stronger than you look de nya. Wanna fight for your life and give me a warmup de nya?"
Ahhhh!" Machi snaps, with a much more loud and frustrated voice. "If she wants us to race then I'll get up there in first place! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
And so she kicks the door of the old conbenie down and races inside. There's climbing to do! And spikes at every turn for you!
Jiaying Maki calls up, "Authority of what?" as she jumps after the two, bouncing from wall to wall with flashes of pale green magic and the hints of laughing with each jump... or throw for anyone paying attention. Landing on the rooftop with a rough landing, a tumble, then a scramble to her feet. Calmly brushing herself off, she points at the girl and says, "Stop making yaoguai look bad! There's another already doing that!" She pauses and mutters, 'Not that I'm helping either.'
She changes her stance, taking up a long form kung fu stance and says, "Come on, let them go, I won't go find some peachwood, it will be a good time!" What, she wants to make sure they have a way out! Then she starts rambling about round 47. "Round what? What are you talking about?" Looking to Kyouko, then Naru and finally over her shoulder since she definitely heard something else back there.
Apatite's eyes narrow faintly at the call from the catgirl.. something about a Great Battle? Apparently she missed the first 46 rounds, but if they're all this annoying, when all she wanted was dinner and a relaxed evening, she isn't about to complain. "Look, I ain't interested in your-" She starts to say,
But then is interrupted as metallic spikes begin shooting out of every surface in sight. Technically, if this is a race to the top of the building than Kyouko has already won, since she leapt up to the sign on the rooftop of a nearby store before the threats (and spikes) even started to fly- though it is, as it turns out, the wrong building. From the vantage point she can see where Artemis is, several rooftops away.
But at the moment, she has to avoid getting skewered. She leaps straight upward as spikes erupt from the sign she had been standing on, landing nimbly on the rooftop, already running towards the place where Artemis, and therefore Naru and the other hostages, are. On the way, she has to duck, dodge, slide, and leap over emerging spikes. She does this with the superhuman agility that is her hallmark, the most nimble of the Shitennou. Rips are torn in her cape, her coat, her sleeves- but none touch flesh, at least so far.
"I am perhaps not quite as ineffectual as you seem to have assumed." Hyalite confirms with a nod as she reaches to the inside pocket of her jacket to extract her sketchbook while spikes appear all around her and she needs to step lively to stay out of them.
"What is the Great Battle?" She asks, almost conversationally really, as she attempts to keep from being skewered. "I mean, if I am to take part in it, it seems only reasonable that I know what it is. And if you are overseeing it, who, exactly am I.. or more likely we battling?" She glances to the other hostages briefly, checking on them before her attention flicks briefly to her approaching companions before it returns to Artemis. "Clearly you're skimped on promotional materials."
Now we've got a pointed problem on our hands.
Jiaying had better be careful. She may need to move in mid-air to make sure a wall doesn't become spikier than she would like. Likewise Machi, who moves using her staff to quickly vault and spin by wedging it between two long conical spikes as they rise up to greet her. Apatite meanwhile makes a really good show of it, and she's definitely going to score over the maximum amount of points for this particular round as she makes herself look like a ducking and weaving professional. Artemis continues to stand at the far end of the other building, looking at her again and again and waving her arms, cheering and smiling as if she already knew she'd won.
Machi stares at Artemis as she moves through the abandoned building, stealing glances as she moves under holes in the ceiling.
"This stupid fight's all about-" "A contest of worthiness organized by HUNTERS de nya!" "These jerks stole all of my friends' cards-" "We're setting things up for a totally heart-pounding contest de nya!" "They want to corrupt the animal spirits-" "To find out which one's the most worthy of being hunted de nya!" "To make them fight for no freakin' point!" "So anyone who wants to be considered worthy of our attention gets mixed in-" "Asking for your help kinda sucks but we didn't do so well by ourselves-" "You'll all make totally cool side events de nya!" "Oi, this spiky power's not anything to do with her! Somewhere around here there must be-"
And tearing up the masonry between the floors of the abandoned building, /it/ appears! A huge cobra, its body segmented, and with its hood turned into steel plating- lined with spikes like a bear trap and spring-loaded hinges!
"What have the done to you...?"
================================================================================
HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!
ROUND 47
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVhRD--xyeY
* TETO RAN : Poison Of Snake - Gradius V
* Hitoshi Sakimoto - 2004
FANG SNAKE
AP 700
================================================================================
Artemis pats her huge hammer, drawn out of nowhere. There's spikes all over the place, spikes growing on spikes. Let the battle begin!
Jiaying Maki yelps in surprise and ducks her head under the spike appearing out of the side of the wall. She grips the spike itself and pulls herself up, then leaps from it to the next, relying on a mix of her slowly improving balance and help from a ghostly helper and mostly on magic. Up, bounce, up and climb. Reaching the top in time for the speach. She scowls, corrupting animal spirits definitely bothers her on a few levels! Who would guess. She stomps her foot down and says, "We'll need to purify it!" sounding a lot more sure of herself than she normally would!
Then she stops and tries to think of how to do that without any of her tools. This makes things a lot more difficult. She says something to Meifeng over her shoulder which gets an incredulous reply, then she sighs and mutters to herself before sliding to a stop, inches from impaling herself. She's already shredded her hoodie and pants, which she'll have to deal with later. Maybe. "Gaaah snake!" she says, pointing before swiftly drawing a blank charm and chanting. The spell burns into place, the charm burns away and a gout of fire rushes towards the snake in question! Tinted pale green like most of her magic.
Apatite isn't really interested in the whys and wherefores of this particular contest- she picks up on something about corrupted animals and some kind of contest or game, but honestly she could care less. What's important to her is that this cat-chick stole her girlfriend. She's sure that Hyalite can take care of herself- she isn't under the illusion that she needs to swoop in and save the other girl- but it's the princple of the thing, now ain't it?
A giant armored snake bursts up throug hthe concrete, and Kyouko is forces to duck and roll out of the way of flying chunks of masonry, but it hardly arrests her forward motion. Out of the conrer of her eye she sees Jiaying shooting a huge gout of magical fire at the snake- seems like she's got it handled.
So Kyouko leaps up to the building where Artemis is standing with her hammer. She hits the ground and rolls, coming up next to where Hyalite is standing with her sketchbook. "Ya'll right?" She asks the girl, but even before she gets an answer, her eyes are fixed on Artemis. "This might be where you want to consider leaving while you still can."
"Seriously?" Hylite repeats as she flips through a few pages of her sketchbook and listens to the explination scattered between two different conversations and two different perspectives and then.. then there's a giant bloody snake.
Clearly snakes are not amongt her issues because there's no real sense of fear at /that/ either, but rather an arch of her brow and she reaches a hand into the book to pull out of the flamethrower. Because if some flame is good, more flame is /clearly/ better.
"I'm fine. Irritated at being on top of a damn building and I'm /hungry/. I want dinner, dammit." Hyalite grouses to Apatite as she hefts the weapon. "Snake first and then the psycho? Or vice versa?"
It's hard for Machi to keep up with everything that's going on, and more than likely a little difficult for everyone else. In situations like these, for some people it feels like all they can do is fight and react on instinct. Alternatively, you could say 'i'm sorry!' in a much quieter, squeakier voice, that only Jiaying might be close enough to hear, whenever she narrowly misses a spike.
But the important thing is, we've all made it up to the roof without any holes in ourselves. Maybe a couple scratches, but no holes.
Fang Snake rushes forward straight off the bat, and Jiaying goes in one direction while Apatite goes in the other. The concept of Buridan's Donkey plays out and it doesn't successfully tilt in either direction, therefore hitting neither of them. Subsequently Machi hops backward a little, and decisively ... swings her staff down to thwack it on the snoot. Hey, it's progress!
"Un!" Machi then says to Jiaying. "If you can help me get rid of the darkness, I can seal it again!"
So we start, in the sensible way: /burn/ away the dark. Jiaying's green fire sticks to the snake's hood, and it temporarily becomes distracted as it begins flapping the huge hinges back and forth to try and put it out. Machi squeaks out something like 'ayayayaya!' as she runs up the length of the snake's back side, bringing each foot down with a stomp as she does so.
Meanwhile, Artemis has her own priorities. Namely, chasing after Apatite, swinging her hammer left, right and even occasionally /down/ like one's supposed to. She even points it right at the two of them, seemingly effortlessly holding it one-handed as a gesture.
"If you really impress me, I'll fight you again and again de nya! I'm always on the look out for strong opponents to keep myself busy between the hunting, de nya! So, what's it gonna be?"
"I'd take both of you on at once," waggling her hammer at Hyalite, "But I get the feeling you're not going to be as much of a challenge after all de nya. Maybe if you go and give Spiky Snake a try, you can throw yourself in his mouth and see if it chokes on you de nya?"
Jiaying Maki draws forth two more charms, working to keep the first floating before her, one might notice a ghostly hand holding it while she chants the spell for the second. As before, it creates a green flame, though with the younger girl riding along the back, it becomes more of a spear rather than a gout, spinning into the air before slamming towards the snake. Jia's aim isn't too bad and she was aiming away from the girl. She then snatches the other charm and begins to run forward, holding it clutched in her fist while drawing her magic to herself in a general matter.
She jumps into the air, assisted by her ghostly friend where the magic is then concentrated on her foot as she stomps down on the thing too! She's slowly learning control and if she would study enought to expand her spells, she might be more useful even!
"I know, babe," Apatite replies to Hyalite's statement about being hungry. "Me too. So let's finish this and get home for dinner, huh?" She glances over towards the snake, to note that Machi and Jiaying between them seem to have it pretty much in hand, so her eyes flick back to Artemis as the hammer-wielding catgirl leaps up to confront them. "Sorta looks like that decision's made for us. Watch my back?"
"Here's a hint, kitty," She snaps in a louder voice to the girl who points her hammer and her threats in their direction. "If you wanna be impressive, spend less time talking and more time fighting." She suits actions to words, snapping her spear forward. As she does, it fragments into a storm of wood and steel, segments of haft connected by glowing chains. It moves rather like a snake of her own, as she snaps her wrist and it cracks like a whip towards Artemis even as she is moving forward, lead by the sharp, bladed head of the spear.
If Artemis has one flaw, it's probably that she's not really the most intelligent member of HUNTERS. Generally speaking when you kidnap someone's significant other, that's enough to earn you at least a punch in the mouth. The whole threatening, taunting and generally inflicting a rooftop monster battle on everyone nearby is just additional complications, and so it is that Artemis and Apatite throw down.
Although Artemis' hammer is huge, with those two big metal spears making up most of the business end of it, it doesn't change the fact that a weapon like a spear has lots of scope to penetrate its defence even when you don't factor other things in. For a moment or three there's even a brief swordfight-esque quality to it, before Apatite's segmented weapon slips past the hammer block and, well, snakes past Artemis' defences. She twists and practically goes flying over her own hammer shaft, trying her best to right herself and give Apatite a kick or two or at least crash-land on her.
Meanwhile-
"I-I don't believe it!" Machi frets out loud as Fang Snake begins to twist itself in knots thrashing back and forth.
"I got you all in this much trouble, a-and I haven't even asked anyone their /names/ or anything yet!"
Machi's got herself to the head end of the snake, after some hops, skips and jumps backwards and forward, and pole-vaults off and past Jiaying as she readies a green spear of fire. As soon as Fang opens up the mouth that was slammed down again, it practically swallows the firespear in one go.
Swaying and unable to stop flames from dribbling from each corner of its mouth, Fang Snake has the wind knocked out of it as Jiaying strikes it in the head above its frill, and Machi punches it below.
Stricken, Fang rolls back a little. Machi spares a moment to glance and see if Apatite and Hyalite are doing okay- but that might be a mistake, as Fang snaps its spike-trap frill and starts firing needles at her and Jiaying!
Jiaying Maki yelps and looks at the spike sticking out of her arm. She twists and yanks it out, she slams the needle down and wreaths her hand in fire, the one that isn't injured a bright green rather than the pale as has been the usual. She has a wild look in her eyes as she drives the hand down towards the snake's head while shouting, "JUST STOP!" successful or not, she draws out a pair charms free of her pockets and begins to chant a spell, creating a pair of spears to drive into the beast point blank, not at all worried about herself now.
This is all followed up with kicking and punching until she catches herself mid-swing and looks rather embarassed. She catches her breath and hops back, trying to steady her breathing with one hand holding her arm.
A normal spear certainly has a lot of range. Apatite's spear, which is both infinitely long and can move independantly of her, exemplifies that quality to a pretty ridiculous degree. She keeps moving forward on her own as the spear itself seems to duel with Artemis' hammer, cointinually coiling and swirling through the air, until it manages to cause the catgirl to leap towards her to avoid being skewered.
This suits Apatite just find though. She snarls, baring fang as Artemis attempts to kick at her, and suddenly her spear snaps back together in an instant, solidifying in her hand into a solid normal-length weapong again. The kicks thud against her solidly, and she grunts in pain, but it hardly slows her as she pins, cape flaring, to deliver a flurry of blows, using the spear like a quarterstaff to try and push Artemis back.
If she gets the opportunity to do so, she will do her best to ram that spear's bladed tip into the catgirl. Apatite is the Knight of Sincerity and Respect- not mercy.
Hyalite is, indeed, watching Apatite's back as she waits for just a perfect moment to offer her own two cents to the stabbing filled discussion. She waits for there to be an opening, a break where the flame from her weapon is going to hit only Artimis and not Apatite before unleasing a gout of it in the antagonist's direction.
There is faith even yet, in Jia and Machi's ability to take care of the snake, although Hyalite does call towards the other half of the fight. "Yell if you guys need backup."
Apatite has the fight well in hand, she doesn't need to risk hitting the shitennou, the flamethrower is really just Plan B, if needed.
It may actually be the case here that if Artemis could really get one good hit in on Apatite- or, for that matter, Hyalite- then it would probably do some pretty severe damage. Heck, if she got one good hit in on ANYONE with that thing it'd do pretty severe damage. Enough to decide the fight in one hit? Maybe. It doesn't matter.
It's a good thing that Apatite is so good at what she does because for a moment during this clash it's clear that Artemis really IS trying to push past her defences and go for Hyalite instead. Why? Unknown. Perhaps she wants to fight two people at once, perhaps she just wants to try and smash one person flat with no consideration of what happens to her after that. It doesn't matter.
If Artemis dropped her hammer and tried to do ANYTHING without it she might just be able to even get in a few hits, but it's equally likely she'd just get tied up. Apatite's weapon is just so unorthodox that after some protracted attempts to break her guard and some general twists and swings, Artemis is hitting into the solid brunt of the weapon as soon as she thinks she's got used to it. And eventually, yes, she's going to get stabbed- falling backwards with a spray of smoke and sparks.
And then, as she tries her best to drag her hammer up for a second round, she just gets completely set on fire.
Jiaying and Machi are getting shot at. Secondary intuition- almost (exactly) as if there was a second mind behind that seeming second voice Machi displays spins her staff to deflect some of the needles, but it only prevents her from getting badly skewered. It doesn't do a thing for Jiaying.
Someone else has got hurt because of her and Machi does not appreciate that.
So it is that when Jiaying's pair of spears slam into Fang, Machi's staff is also there- the rounded blade on the end turning into three, the shape of Clubs. And the two of them just go stir crazy on the downed snake, thrashing it in a display of sheer uncontrolled frustration-
And at the end of it, both of them just catch themselves, embarrassed.
The Snake's down for the count, and Machi can do something about that. She takes a card with a blank front side on it, and tosses it at the Totem- Fang Snake's entire body disappears into it, sucked inside, and then the card boomerangs back to her hand, now filled-in.
A virtual image of a tiny chibi girl floats above it briefly, with a cute fang and a snake's hood hat. She's back to normal.
"Gwargh! Looks like you won this Round even if your friend got the high score de nya," Artemis snaps, breathing smoke from her mouth. "I'll leave the next one to someone else de nya!"
She pulls out a glass potion bottle, tossing it to the ground. A puff of smoke reveals a heavy wooden lodge door- to which she darts inside and slams the door shut. It disappears soon after.
Machi huffs in exhaustion, sinking onto the ground. "Thank you all..."
Apatite is good at what she does, this is true, and she's also pretty pissed, which helps. She doesn't even worry about keeping herself from getting hit- she can take a few hits, and she's more concerned with overwhelming the hammer-wielding catgirl with pure furious offense.
Eventually it pays off, and she lands a solid hit, yanking her spear back and twirling it around in a brief flare as Artemis falls back away from her. A glance to the side shows that Jiaying and Machi have combined their efforts to destroy the snake as well.. and she got out of the way before Hyalite roasted her in her attempts to put the flamethrower to good use, as well.
She watches with furrowed brows, panting, as Artemis decides discretion is the better part of valor and flees. Then she glances over to Machi, who apparently knows the most about what happened. "Chick picked the wrong people to mess with. But it is our job to keep the peace, and stuff. So no problem."
She glances back to Hyalite, then says to Machi, "I'm Apatite. If you need help in the future, look me up, or visit the Earth Court. Jiaying," She gestures to the other girl, "Knows where we can be found. In the meantime.." She glances back to Hyalite. "Let's go get some dinner." And then they proceed to do that.