Mitakihara's Neon district is a popular venue with young kids. And now that school's out, they're out here in droves. Young kids with having fun on their minds. And sometimes more important things! The Karaoke Crown is a popular destination withint he Neon District. Not only for the groups that want to go there to have fun, but with kids hoping to make it big. If you want to be the best you have to practice, right?
It's on top of this building that a young, slim young man with blue hair, wearing all-black stands. Though the average person wouldn't see it, there's a pair of cat-ears on his head, and a cat's tail placed... well, the proper place that a tail is supposed to be on his person! He holds in his hands a violin and bow, the white case at his feet.
And he's not alone either. Floating next to him is a tiny fairy-looking thing. Well, almost fairy-like... it really looks like a chibi version of the young man, but with cat-paws for hands and feet. The cat-fairy flits about at the edge of the roof, looking at the people exiting. "Nope. Nothing yet-nya," he reports.
"Keep looking," the young man instructs. They've been up here a few hours, but not too long yet. He could afford to wait a little longer...
Down below, a couple of kids exited the Karaoke Crown-- a pair of teenage girls, one with brown hair, the other with red hair. They can't be any older than fourteen. "Wow... Ninety-nine percent?" This from the brown-haired girl.
"Mhm!" the redhead says excitedly. "I'm getting so much better because I've been taking voice lessons. I want to be a singer when I get older, so I have to start early and learn how to make my voice do what I want it to."
Up on the roof, the little cat-fairy perks. "Ah-ha! Right there, the girl with the red hair-nya!" Ikuto nods, and puts the violin to his shoulder... and begins to play. It's a sad, melancholy melody. One that has a feeling of wrongness about it, like it's trying to reach inside the listener and grab for the soul. Down below, the redhaired girl stops... no one seems to notice...
Those bright neon displays and showcasing clips light up the Neon District even on the darkest nights-- but there's another side to them. Specifically, the back of the signs, where it is dark and warm. ANd it's behind one of these signs that a figure lies sprawled, in gold-trimmed black with a rather impressive pirate hat resting on her stomach, and a parrot snoozing on the hat. The noise of the people below doesn't seem to disturb her, but when the music starts playing-- melancholic and subtly jarring, the girl murmurs, restless in her sleep. And then, suddenly, she pops awake, sitting up and clutching her hat,
"No!" She calls, grabbing for something that isn't there. "Eh?" Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she staggers to her feet, putting the pirate hat on. "Huh? Davy-chan, Davychan, where's that music coming from? Davychan?"
The parrot is still asleep on her hat, and the girl smacks her face with both hands to get the sleepiness to flee, before looking around with now-red cheeks and spotting a figure on the roof. "Whaaa! So cool, that guy's playing is good!" And without further ado, she starts making her way towards the music, apparently just to spectate.
Zafira is out on patrol, if you can call it that. More like, he's just out, stretching his legs and just enjoying the breeze. One gets pretty good breeze running and jumping on the roof tops of buildings, thats defintly a given indeed. Much like the cat boy who he hasn't seen or heard he, he as well has ears and a tail, but they aren't cat, they are wolf in nature. They are fluffy and blue and white tipped, the tail flowing behind him as he runs along. The rest of him in blue thick jacket, clasped shut to keep it in place, though it has an odd look of being a bit heavy on him for some reason..
Other then just trying to get some air, he has other things on his minds. Trying to stay focused on things, but his mind wonders to girls, to the one he serves, to a few others. The axe-girl he meet, she is there, strill trying to understand what that was about, and least not of all the pirate girl, clearly seeing a pirate is about the weirdest thing he's seen lately, and he lives with four women.
The cat-boy on the roof just continues to play his violin, and the cat-fairy looks over the edge of the roof at the red-haired girl as she pauses. Neither seem to have noticed Junko or Zafira yet. That music... doesn't feel right. It sounds sad, but not just as though it's trying to communicate it. It's as if it's trying to drag the listener down, too.
Down below, the girl seems to slump as the music continues. "...But... I guess that's really hard..." she sighs. "Everybody wants to do that... and there are so many people that are talented. I... guess I don't really have a chance, do I...?"
"It's impossible..."
That's odd. It sounded like there were two people speaking when she said that.
But then suddenly the air immediately in front of the girl's chest ripples, and something exits. It looks like an egg, black, with a large white X over it. And as it does, the girl topples over, unconscious. And when it does, the cat-fairy dives over the edge of the building, making a beeline for it. He grabs it and brings it to the violin-playing cat-boy, who stops playing then and accepts the egg from him. "It's not the Embryo," the cat-boy replies.
Then he notices it's got company! Junko's probably closer than Zafira; he may not even see Zafira yet. "...Ch'," he hisses, and hands the egg back to the cat-fairy. Then he quickly starts to put his violin away. Looks like he's about to make a break for it!
While leaping to the next building, Junko notices something... strange about one of the girls on the street. Landing on the edge of the roof, she quickly looks down, "EH?!" Did an EGG just...? And then-- a flying thing? Grabbing the egg and bringing it up to the boy-- wait are those cat ears? Did they just-- "Argh! This is crazy!" She jumps again, landing on Ikuto's rooftop, one hand on her hip the other pointing right at him, "Hey! You two! Explain yourselves! What did you just take from that girl? Answer me!" Nobody should be stealing important things from people except her!
Zafira though did now hear the music, it made his ears wrinkle, but wether cause it was sad or the player was bad at playing it who could say. He turns towards the music and starts heading that way, soon enough noticing the catboy and something small moving around by him, hmmmm, more magical things. Though hearing nothing about eggs or embyros or even noticing that's what it is, save for a shadowy form being held, cearly though none of this can be any good. Well, his other activities will have to wait he has to see what this is and find out what kind of threat it posseses to various parties.
Ooooh, crap. And there pops out pirate girl, , well least he's not in wolf form, so maybe she'll be less crazy today... He can only hope as he makes it to the rooftop they're on and does a small slide stop. He looks over at the catboy, "Yes, what did you take. That does not look like a linker core, nor anything I've seen before. Perhaps it be best if you returned it."
BUSTED! The cat-boy's ears go back in annoyance. He looks to the cat-fairy. "...Take care of it." He's not talking about Junko and Zafira, though. He's talking about the violin. The cat-fairy nods and grabs the handle of the violin case once it's closed, and flies up and away.
To distract the two apparent would-be heroes, the cat-boy stands and speaks up. To Junko first, "It's none of your business," he says flatly. Then to Zafira, "It's nothing she needs. She won't die without it. And it'll get destroyed anyway. Then she'll be like all the others without dreams. You see them every day. Walking along with no spark in their eyes. She'll become that anyway. But if you want it back... take it." And then he holds the egg in front of him.
"Ore no kokoro: UNLOCK!"
As he says this, the egg merges with him, sinking into his chest, the air in front of his chest seeming to ripple. His clothes begin to glow, and then the glow changes shape, into what looks like a knee-length coat. His hair fluffs upward at the ends, becoming a little more spikey. And then the glow coalesces, the glow seeming to crack and disappear.
He's suddenly dressed in a gray long-coat, left open over a black hip-length shirt with laces, black pants, and two-toned black-and-gray boots that reach just under his knees. The hem of the jacket has speakers set into it, and the sleeves turn up just above his elbows. There's a lot of gold accents on the jacket. And then a microphone appears in his hand.
CHARA NARI: DIRGE SINGER
Gold accents on black against gold accents on black. Singer against pirate! Junko doesn't look impressed by the change. With her head down, it's hard to see her eyes with that marvelous pirate hat in the way. But as Ikuto explains to Zafira, Junko begins walking towards him, reaching up up to tap the medallion pinned to her-- a golden doubloon. "Needs? Destroyed? Why you--" Raising her head, she glares at the catboy.
"Golden Chance!" She calls out, and suddenly the doubloon begins to glow, and the glow moves from doubloon to fist, brightening in her hand to form a golden cutlass. Flourishing it, she points it at Ikuto. "You! You're not the one to judge what she needs or what she doesn't, that's her choice. I might not know what's going on, but I know this: you're either going to return that egg or you're going to be swimming with the fishes instead of eating them, you-- you--!"
And then she's leaping towards the catboy, sword in hand, fire in her eyes and a grin at her lips. "Don't cry when I take that egg by force, you bad cat!"
Zafira shakes his head and sighs, if it's not random shadow monsters, or other things, it's something else. All the fighting that insists on going on, though not a saint himself, he truly ponders sometimes whats the point of it all, but that is neither here not there. He brings his right arem up in front of him and clenches his fist.
"I think you missunderstand, I care not really what happens to the girl, but you took it in a way that lacked any spark of honor, or care for what you where doing. That, I cannot allow."
Whats with Zafira suddenly going on about honor, who knows, maybe his Mistresses personality and thoughts have started rubbing off on him and he's getting all these strange ideas and notions from it. Either way, he will attend to this, because it is there, and and because it's a cat and as a wolf he cannot simply allow an inferior furry species to get away with it.
Oie, and there goes pirate girl, jumping straight into it. Well, now he's stuck in the fray as well, having to well, not so much as protec her, but ensuring she doesn't get side-flapeled, cause you can never trust cats, not ever. He then bolts forward, and luckily him he doesn't have to say any catchy lines as his fists are already covered in thick gauntlets ready to crush and mend and one's aiming straight for the side of Ikutos midsection, cause why not, kidney punch!
And just as quickly as it happened, the fight begins! Junko's sword comes at him and Ikuto raises his arms to cross over his head. The microphone grows a stand, just enough to intercept the sword. However, that keeps his arms occupied for Zafira's attack, the punch in the side. The punch gets a surprised grunt, and knocks Ikuto to the side, out from under Junko's sword.
Ikuto seems to have some trouble standing straight, favoring the side Zafira punched him in. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten up to his old tricks so soon after the Witch fight at the hospital. But he takes a breath, raises the microphone to his mouth... and sings a single long note.
The note seems to emanate from the speakers on his coat. And while there's no phyical component to the sound, the sound itself is sad and mournful, and like the violin music, it seems like it's trying to bring /them/ down. Except unlike the violin music... this is aimed /at/ Junko and Zafira...
Junko keeps both hands on the sword, pressing down-- but then there's someone hitting Ikuto from the side, and she blinks! More dog people? The city is full of them! When Ikuto makes his way from under her, she jumps back, crouched with sword at the ready-- but then there's that /song/!
She holds up her sword arm, clearly prepared for a more physical attack... but instead of a blow there's suddenly tears in her eyes. "Huh?" She says, sword lowering. She rubs at her eyes with the sleeve of her coat, "What is this?" Sniffle. "I don't like this feeling!" Her grip on her sword tightens, "I won't feel like this! I am the Captain!" and she flies towards Ikuto again, slashing at the mike in his hand. Hit or miss, she'll try a kick his legs out from under him just after the slash!
Zafira reels back after the punch, now going for a good roundhouse type kick and as he jumps to do it.... BAM! He's suddenly smacked with music? He hits into spots in him that he thought would be hidden, and litteraly crumbles to the ground with a thunk on his side. Reaching up to grab his chest, his breathing shallow and painful, looking up at the catboy, whilst sadness filling him, his eyes on the other hand are completely different. His eyes, are filled with pure rage, hatred, anger, emotions that have yet to be given names. The horrid feels rip through him, the sadness of losing all that he is, all that he could be, losing his Mistress, losing those that are his only reason for being. Trying to hold himself up with one hand, trying to mutter out the words, losin them to the breathing...
"Yo.. you... you better... run. Unforgivable... unforgivable what you have done."
Though, solely focusing on trying to keep himself together, keep his energy stable. He even ripples a little, how is that possible, but it does, as though he was an illusion, a projection, or something else. But, what there is clearly evident is now, an enternal struggle. A struggle between the grief, the sadness that's been inflicted, and the anger, the hatred, of those emotions fighting to take over. Though unlike Pirate girl, he has no strength to keep himself up, strong and silent, singular in what he does. But he is not immune to loss and pain, of the misery that he knows exists, that he tries so hard to ignore.
...Ikuto has apparently messed up.
He doesn't realize it yet! Zafira seems to go down, so that's one person dealt with, it seems. But then... something's happening to Zafira. He's... disappearing? That's not what Ikuto wanted to happen at all! He stops the note immediately, and the feeling of artificial sadness begins to fade.
And it just so happens that he's distracted by looking in Zafira's direction and doesn't see Junko leaping at him again! The microphone he holds is removed from his hands by the slice, and it tumbles away and disappears with a sparkle. And then his feet are taken out from under him with her kick.
He hits the roof, but he's quick to hop back to his feet. Oddly it's in the direction of Zafira. He hasn't bothered to try to re-arm himself, and he looks as though he's worried...
"The Girl with the Golden Cutlass, however, doesn't look worried. In fact, she's grinning-- what kind of heroine is this?! "I told you, didn't I? I'm Tide Captain of the Endless Skies! You've stolen something that wasn't yours to steal, cat. And you hurt PuppyTail-kun's feelings with your sad music!" She scowls, then, hands on her hips, "You need to learn some happier songs!" A blink, and she raises her sword, "Right! But first return that egg before you learn first hand cats don't land on their feet if you make them walk the plank." This is followed with a friendly wink towards Ikuto, "No hard feelings if you return it now, but if you don't, or if you make PuppyTail-kun any sadder, you'll regret it, neh?"
Zafira suddenly growls out, not the noise a human makes, but more lupine and very angry sounding. He rolls to his feet, but well he's still kneeling and even though in still human form takes the posture of an angry, vengeful wolf. He snarls, and then shoots for Ikuto, though the running is a bit sloppy on all fours as a human, the intent is clear. to rend the flesh, from Ikutos bones. That, or do a lot of damage atleast. The look in his eyes, of a civilized human, a person in control is long gone now, all that remains are the slited pupiles of a wolf, filled with the anger of a 1000 dead souls seeking revenge. Even though he has no wolf appendages, no teeth, no furr. He still has the tail, ears, and his gauntlets while not spiked, they can still hurt greatly. He is beyond talking too now though, simply running on impulse and he jumps at Ikuto swimping a hand towards him as an animal would swipe a claw. Yeah, to say the least Ikuto has messed up is an understatement. Well, it's not like he's gonna get any sadder at this point.
Ikuto stops when Junko speaks. There's a distinctly uncomfortable expression on his face, as if he's trying to decide what to do. He doesn't want to hurt the fellow with the wolf ears... but he can't go back on his plans, either. He can't let anybody know that he's not a reprehensible person. He needs the magical heroes to hate him, so they'll be more inclined to follow his trail when it's time to lead them back to his prison...
And then suddenly Zafira's leaping at him with claws out! Ikuto's eyes widen in surprise and he leaps back onto an adjoining building, barely avoiding the claws. He can jump pretty well too, thankfully, and that's really the only thing that saves him. Ikuto doesn't say anything for the time being, because... what CAN he say? Besides that, one isn't one's wittiest when one is being pursued by a man-wolf... thing.
Junko gasps when she sees the wolf leap in for the kill. "Wait, PuppyTail-kun!" He is older than you! By a lot, Junko! But apparently she doesn't care, just jumps in Ikuto's direction, sword pointed skyward, "Weigh Anchor!" She calls out, and a glowing anchor appears above her head, hovering above the point of the sword. With a cry of effort she slashes the sword, and the glowing anchor flies towards the Black Cat, growing larger as it does! It packs quite a punch if it hits, too.
"Just give me the egg and maybe I won't let the doggy eat you!" She says, leaping after the anchor. Not about to let Ikuto get away, nope. "Otherwise, I won't miss any chance to /make/ you give it back!"
Zafira is completely lost to the world, his anger gotten the better of him so much that he can no longer maintain his form, and quiter litteraly shimmers and wiggles and where once a wolf ear and tailed man was, is a giant blue wolf. Now Ikuto really has a problem, as those are real fangs gnashing towards his way, and with every intention of biting into him. Seems like the wrong 'hero' appeared tonight, and someone's about to pay the piper. But, will it be Ikuto, or Zafira that ultimately pays the price for what is transpiring. Now though, the egg all but forgotten to his completely destroyed mind, all he cares for is vengeance, anger for an act that has not happened, nor ever will, but muddled as he is, that is all he can see.
Ikuto's not getting any chance to attack here. Between dodging the the giant anchor and dodging the numerous attacks by the no-longer-man Zafira, he doesn't have a lot of time to pause for an opportunity to attack. Zafira's bite is close enough to catch the back hem of his long jacket, but he tears free. If he's going to beat this bunch, and singer's dream isn't going to help him.
And so he pauses, his outfit beginning to glow again, and the egg exits his chest. As it does, the glow shatters and returns him to the normal cat-boy. The blackness flakes away from the egg, like soap sloughing off, and underneath it is a pure, pristine white egg. This egg flies back down to the girl and sinks into her chest again. And she awakens, as if from a dream.
But Ikuto is not done yet. Leaping back and onto a taller roof, he calls out, "Yoru!"
The cat-fairy appears, zooming in from another roof. "I'm here-nya!"
Ikuto starts to glow again. And he does it again. "Ore no kokoro: UNLOCK!" The cat-fairy disappears into a black and white egg with cat-shapes on it, and that egg merges with Ikuto's chest. Again his body glows, but this time, it's different. His ears reappear, then the tail. Then his outfit coalesces into a cropped sleeveless mock-neck with long tails in the back like a tuxedo almost, a pair of pants with a long strap tied between the knees, and a pair of black boots. A wickedly-curved claw appears on his right arm, and a cross appears on his shirt.
CHARA NARI: BLACK LYNX
He's going to need the might of an animal to fight against this pair of heroes. Particularly the giant blue wolf...
"Wah!" There's a glowing egg heading right towards her! Tide Captain dodges, landing on a sign, and watches the egg go from black wo white and enter the girl. She breaths a sigh of relief, smiling down at the scene, before turning her attention back on Ikuto and the wolf. "Hmmm." She says, tugging the brim of her hat lower on her head. But the hat moves up, and from beneath it appears the head of a parrot-- that sleeping parrot who was on her head! In all the excitement, the bird snuck /inside/ the hat for safety!
"Good job, Tide-kun! Now let's get out of here Kwaaawk!" The bird says, wings flapping.
"No way, stupid bird. Who knows what those two will do around here if I leave them alone? Rising..." The golden sword begins to glow again as she pulls it back... "TIDE!" She slashes forward, cutting the air horizontally and with a shimmer a ribbon of water appears, aimed towards BOTH cat and wolf!
Zafira tears from Ikukos coat and gnashes more, though he keeps charging, as if moving and changing was gonna as he continues lunging forward, not quite litteraly foaming at the mouth as his brain is so dissrupted. At this rate, it's a good chance he might even turn on Pirate girl, if he continues. Well, yeah he doesn't of course see the incoming water ribbon, and ooh yeah whats that! As he leaps into the air to attack again catboy, he's smascked in the side by the ribbon with a painful growl. He falls over slamming onto the side of a wall and then sorta just slides down it, straight towards the bottom of the building with a loud banging and klattering as he hits some garbage pans and assorted things when he finnaly does hit the ground. Yeah, that is gonna leave a mark in the morning, garbage pails are very dangerous things.
Suddenly there is WATER coming at Ikuto! He'd been prepared for the pirate girl to turn her attention to the wolf thing. And then suddenly he's hit with the water. This produces a reaction that's probably expected. He goes tumbling over at the force of the water, tipping over the edge of the roof. But he grabs hold of the edge as he goes over, barely managing not to fall off the roof himself. He is, of course, soaked. Which makes his ears flatten back against his head as if they were pinned there. Yeah, cat plus water. Not good.
He scrambles back onto the roof, then pauses, looking around for the wolf-thing. He doesn't see it. So instead he turns his attention to the pirate girl. The claws on his right arm glow, and he slashes them forward. As he does, crescents of energy fire off from the claws, aimed at the pirate girl.
Tide Captain's eyes widen, suddenly looking a little panicked. "Oh no! Wolfie-kun! Hey Wolf-san, are you all right?!" She calls out, looking to where the wolf slid down to see if he'll jump back up-- and thus isn't prepared for the sudden slashes heading right towards her!
"Eeiaaa!" She barely manages to raise her arms to protect her, but it's still a direct shot, and she falls backwards, the golden sword slipping out of her grasp. "Owwwww...need to pay better attention." She rises to her feet, looking around and then limping hastily for her sword.
Fortunately the cat-boy doesn't seem as out-of-control as Zafira did. As Junko picks up her sword again, Ikuto crouches a little, raising his right arm, the one that the claws are on. But he doesn't actually attack. He does however, bare teeth, and it seems that he has sharpened canines like a cat. Though that could just be a trick of the light.
"You wanted the egg released. It has been. You're still fighting," he says, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Go see to your wolf friend. Before I make him into a fur coat." He brandishes the claw on his right arm again, as if he has every intention of following through with that threat. And those claws DO look really sharp and pointy...
Junko grabs her sword, looking at Ikuto-- and then sheathes it, before looking at Ikuto with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest. "The only reason I attacked last time was to make you and Wolfie-san stop. I don't have any reason to keep fighting you right now." She waves a hand as she begins to jog to the edge of the building where Zafira's fallen, but she does pause to look back at Ikuto, "Oh! And if I catch you doing that again you get more of the same, okay?" She beams brightly at Ikuto, before waving, "Bye Bye!"
Junko may be looking at Ikuto's retreating back, actually. When she turns to see to Zafira, Ikuto takes that opportunity to leap away, onto a higher building. And by the time she's saying goodbye he's leaping away over the roofs.
...At least, that's what it appears.
In reality, Ikuto's only gone a little distance before dropping out of his Character Transformation. Yoru points him to where he's left the violin, Ikuto collects it, and then he... heads right back to where he fought Zafira and Junko?!
But he won't make himself known. He just wants to make sure the wolf-man-thing is being taken care of. Once he's sure someone's with him, he'll leap away across the roofs again.
Poor Zafira! JUnko is the worst nurse, poking at him a bit and shaking him till he responds, then arguing with her parrot about where to get (likely unneeded) bandages-- Zafira may not be in /good/ hands, but at least he's in concerned ones!