Windy

Walpurgisnacht. It's coming. The Puella have been warnings for weeks, but not everyone's gotten the message. The city government, however, seems to have done so, since the most flood-prone areas have actually received evacuation orders.

One man, however, seems to have missed the memo entirely. Standing atop a building in Uminari City, he is raising his hands to the sky. There is a scatter of lightning around him, as if he were generating some sort of electromagical current. "Ahahahaha I've done it!" he declares in a loud, proud voice. "I've harnessed the storm! HAHAHAHAHA!" He points his hand forward, and a gust of wind streaks out in the direction he's pointed, whirling and kicking up leaves. "YES!"

    Unfortunately, there are others, it would seem, who did not get the memo. Others who, with no ties to the magical world in the least, are wholly unaware of the true threat and impact of the oncoming storm. Others who are out in thunder and downpour for reasons of their very own.
    Among the scant few that haven't evacuated the most danger-prone areas is a girl. Soaked from head to toe and showing a blatant lack of regard for her own health and safety. The rains may have stopped but there's no less a reason for her heart to pound as her boots splash through old puddles, ignoring the slogging feeling of water seeping into her socks as she sprints down block after block, huffing and panting, scarlet eyes wide and wild.
    "Konoko?! Dammit, Konoko, where ARE you?" She calls out, quietly cursing under her breath. Of all times to get separated, on the way to evacuating, today, was quite possibly the worst.
    Alas, she's wholly unaware of the man upon the rooftop, more concerned with finding another girl in the area, huddled and alone, and lost on a streetcorner in an unfamiliar area.

There are also those within the magical community who are not as connected with those who know the full threat of the storm, and only know that something is odd about it. Ikiko is among this group, and as her family prepares to join the evacuation she was sent to pick up some last-minute groceries.

"Glad I left Ayana at home," she mutters to herself as she trudges homeward, bags in hand. "Just listening to the wind had her nervous; I don't want to think about scared she'd be out in this."

The hint of a nearby influx of magic catches her attention, especially as it seems to occur with some of the quirks of the weather. "What is going on...?" she wonders, carefully making her way towards the seeming source.

Ikiko gets close enough to see the man with electricity dancing around him. As far as threats go, he currently seems to be more reckless than actively malicious, but Ikiko still keeps a wary eye on him. After all, with a magical storm closing in, even someone just dabbling in the weather can cause more damage than you might expect...

"Hahahaha!" the evil man's laughter continues. "Now, all I need are lackeys and sidekicks to help me in my quest to take over this town." He leaps into the air, using both hands to propel a gust of wind that lifts him higher aloft.

"Ah ... everyone has evacuated," mutters the man frustratedly. "Where will ... ah, how convenient! A little lost lamb." With a wicked smile, the man presses that gust of wind into service and flies towards Konoko. "Hello, little girl!" he says. "You're going to come with me now." And then he raises his hands, both, and sends a gust of windo to whirl around Konoko. The poor girl is lifted straight off the street and into the air by the windy power.

    This bodes ill for poor Konoko, doesn't it? Lost and alone, approached by a, by all acounts kind of frightening, stranger... And cast screaming into the air. Flailing in a horror stricken panic, she calls a name- though mostly lost on the winds, it does not go unanswered.
    "ORYAAAAA!"
    Almost from out of nowhere she comes, flying fist first and with complete intent to crack the man across the jaw with a full force and wholly unrestrained blow, heedless of the threat and danger. Swinging first first and not bothering to ask questions in the least as she skids to a halt shortly after. Konoko called her name. She's here now.
    "She's not going anywhere except with me, to the closest evacuation center. And I -really- suggest you do the same before you give me a reason to beat your ass, pal."

Okay, now this storm-slinger has gone from 'miscellaneous troublemaker' to 'actual badguy' in Ikiko's book! She ducks into a nearby alley, tucking her bags into a leeward corner and then touches a hand to the locket that rests around her neck.

Her own words are lost to the wind, but there's a glow of silver, and moments later Cute Wolf Tsukiko comes bounding out of the alley! The sight of the punchy girl is encouraging; it's someone who can guide the windtrapped girl to safety! All the wolfgirl has to do is get the flailing girl out of the whirlwind.

Tsukiko leaps forward into the whirlwind, trying to catch Konoko and land outside of the whirlwind. The first part is successful; the second part, not so much: the winds let people into the center of the vortex easily enough, but getting out of it requires more momentum than the wolfgirl has.

At least Tsukiko can break Konoko's fall once they get out of the whirlwind, but without a platform to jump off of, how can the wolfgirl exit the vortex?

The floating villain looks confused at the sound of Konoko's friend's approach. "Wh--?" he starts to ask, then his jaw cracks as her fist connects. He spins 'round and growls angrily, reaching up to rub at his jaw. "She is mine, now, you little child!" he yells, then raises his fingers. "But you will pay for touching me!"

Raising his hands, the villainous man draws the power of the cracking lightning into himself, then reaches out towards the girl. Lightning and a bluster of wind streak out of his hands towards her to blast her across the street.

Then, he turns his back on the girl and turns to regard his captive only to find there are two. "ahahaha, you stupid little girl," he says. "Very well, I will brainwash you as well. It matters not. You shall join this adorable young girl in becoming my slave!"

    The melodrama is real, folks. And yet scarlet eyes glare, blazing with a barely restrained fury as the fist slinging girl shakes her hand out. That... The felt like it hurt HER more than it did him. He may have eaten the blow good and solid, but the fact that he's still standing is both awe-striking and a little scary. She's a little too used to slugging normal people, perhaps.
    "Okay. Guess you're spending this storm in the hospit-"
    For all her big talk, she yelps, body overtaken by a complete and total sense of pain as the stunning jolt of electricity puts her into the nearest wall with a crash. She only barely registers another figure coming from nowhere to Konoko's aid, as she struggles valiantly to get to her feet. But for all her training, she's just a normal girl. "Unh..."
    ... A normal girl who staggers to stand on pure willpower. Wobbling drunkenly towards the man once more, when she should really be staying down and waiting for medical attention. Now she sees Tsukiko-- apparently just as caught in the vortex as Konoko. Perhaps the fact that the wolf-girl is a magical girl- that she may have her own means of escape is lost on her, as she reals one fist back.
    She swings again. And again. And again. Yet after that violent jolt, her body feels like lead, every motion is a new form of agony. Her hands tremble as every swing hits with miserably weak force. "... Let them go..." Rasped with that stubborn machismo.
    That's when it happens.
    A whisper in her ear. A voice asking a question.
    'Your fist is weak.'
    She ignores it, swinging ineffectively as it whispers again,
    'I am the root of your fist. Proclaim your fealty to me and you will know the true strength of my teachings.'
    Her answer is without hesitation.
    In her mind, her answer is 'yes'.
    With a flare of light something erupts from her chest. A glowing series of symbols, ornate and elegantly flowing kanji forming into a name, and just as quickly stripping apart and dissipating, re-writing into a single symbol simply meaning... 'fist'. In an instant her next swing is backed by the force of a snarling beast, the swirling tattoo-like image of a black dragon crawling down her arm and forming into a gauntlet on her hand.

Cute Wolf Tsukiko snarls at the villain, growling with a wordless tone that implies that he will immediately and agonizingly regret ever trying to hurt her or those that she protects. It's a very primal sound, the kind that reminds people of predators in the wild and the innate fears associatd with them.

It's also not as effective when the growl comes from a wolfgirl that's dangling haplessly in a whirlwind.

Tsukiko winces as she watches the punchy girl gets blasted back, then she curls protectively around Konoko, just in case the villain decides that slaves are too much hassle. That's why she doesn't get a good look as the other girl's name appears and is transmuted, but she does notice the light... as well as the magical, draconic gauntlet.

Despite her predicament, the wolfgirl smiles. "This is why you don't mess with a person's pack," she chuckles with a grin.

The storm-empowered man seems to be willing to fully ignore the girl punching him in the back. WIth her weakened by his attack, and his own empowerment, the attacks are little more than a nuissance. Instead, he begins to whirl Ikiko faster and faster ...

Until the Nameless Hero pu nches him with draconic power.

He goes flying with a cry of pain and confusion, streaks straight through his own tornado, which whips him around Ikiko and Konoko once and sends him flying even further up and towards a building. He crashes into the side as his whirlwind begins to dissipate, dropping the two girls to the ground.

For a moment, the stormy youma doesn't move. Maybe he's defeated?

Yeah, don't count on it. With a roar of frustration, he rolls to his feet and once more propels himself up and into the air. "LIGHTNING, COME TO MY AID!" he calls. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place, they say, but it does streak down rapidly from the sky, dashing towards the sidewalk and blasting bits of concrete into the air. One, two, three strikes towards the Nameless Hero, and another two towards Tsukiko and the poor terrified girl she's protecting. Better move fast.

    It's like she's filled with a new strength... Though the cost was so very dear, for a moment, while the possessed man is down, That Girl sags, panting as she tries to understand the moment through the sensational rush of adrenaline coursing through her body and the roaring fire blazing down her back. A second tattoo-like image slithers down her other arm, this one a white dragon, forming in a matching gauntlet on her left fist. But once she's caught her breath, the girl's priorities are made abundantly clear, once the whirlwind drops Tsukiko and Konoko, she makes a beeline for the pair. "Ah... Damn, this isn't exactly how I planned to spend my night, we better go before he decides to be sane again and presses charges or --"
    Or fires lightning at them.
    In an instant she's forced to tumble backwards. But not without grabbing Konoko, pointedly giving Tsukiko a bit more freedom to not have to worry about either of them. "Tch-- Hey. Let's try hitting him at the same time, finish this in one blow..." Grunted as she shoos Konoko to a safer location in the process.

Cute Wolf Tsukiko lands in a crouch, cushioning Konoko's fall. The wolfgirl nods to That Girl, then leaps away from the lightning, letting That Girl worry about Konoko's safety.

"On it!" Tsukiko shouts, dashing forward and using rebounding leaps to gain elevation and speed. As she accelerates, a silvery glow starts pooling around her, glowing brighter the faster she goes. And her trajectory is circling around the weather villain; it looks like she's waiting for the right moment to strike, like...

Now!

With a sharp step-off, the wolfgirl launches towards the villain like a silvery bolt of lightning. If That Girl is as swift as she seems to be, she should be able to strike him at the same time!

    Between Tsukiko protecting her, and the fist flinging girl pushing her off to safety afterwards, a very bewildered Konoko staggers and stumbles out of harm's way. Although the freshly minted magical girl herself is a little worse for wear, clothes singed and electricity visibly arcing along her body, wincing with pain, but still functional she wheels around. Fingers curl into a tight fist, knuckles popping audibly.
    'Strike him down!' The black gauntlet proclaims, the white piping up shortly after. 'All things, heaven and earth, will no longer stop your fist.'
    Breaking into a sprint, she charges straight for him, a soft glow forming around her right fist as she reels it back...
    Now.
    The timing is almost perfect. A full-hearted cry rising from her throat as she launches in tandem with Tsukiko, one mighty punch launched to join the other magical girl in their joint assault.

The man is fully reveling in his power, gleeing in the ability to literally summon lightning and wind. He isn't paying attention, and Tsukiko and the Nameless Hero are fast.

At the last possible instant he realizes what's happening, and then his eyes widen. "Oh crap," he says, just as their fists connect with him at the same time.

It's almost comical, watching him go flying away into the sky. Or it would be if the winds themselves didn't literally pick him up and carry him still further, higher, towards oblivion. Looks like the storm surge is blasting off again.

Better get indoors. The storm is here. And it's only going to get worse.

    Off... Off he goes.
    For a moment, the nameless fist flinger is back to panting, staring up at the sky in disbelief as the man is launched so far off. Then she looks to her clenched fist... And then to Tsukiko, as though trying to figure out what really just happened. "Well that's... Handled I guess... Thanks." She says at length, before stricken with dawning realizatin. "--Ah crap, I better get Konoko to a shelter before things get worse."

Cute Wolf Tsukiko nods to That Girl. "And I need to get home, as well," the wolfgirl agrees. "Take care of yourself, and I'll see you around. If the weather's good, meet me tomorrow night -- in henshin -- at the Botanical Gardens. We should talk."

And with that, Tsukiko bounds into the alley where she left her stuff, picks up the bags, and makes up for lost time bounding towards home, finally de-henshining about two blocks away from her family's apartments.

She definitely has something to look forward to.