2023-05-25 - Fox Hunt
| Title: Fox Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Tokyo Anime Fair has come to Big Sight in Tokyo -- but so has a fox familiar, and an Ogre chasing after her. Yumi and Kyouka send the Frigid Ogre packing, and they get to know... a little of the Fox. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Tokyo Big Sight, Shitamachi | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2023-05-25 - 2016-03-13 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tokyo Big Sight, an exhibition centre in Tokyo Waterfront City -- in the Ariake Minami district, Koto, a hop skip and a jump from Akihabara -- is the largest 'Con destination in the country. Officially, it was the 'Tokyo International Exhibition Center', but everyone calls it Big Sight -- they even changed the name all official-like, back in 2003.
Visually, it's a real pyramid scheme.
No, really -- four inverted pyramids rise up into the sky, tips all lodged into the tops of four towers, with a hall tucked between the arches. It's called the 'Conference Tower', and it is ICONIC. One enters up -- through a sloping tunnel rising to meet the pyramids -- into the second floor, where one walks through the Entrance Plaza to find the Event Plaza, Entrance Hall, and Exhibition Plaza.
They say that floors three through five don't exist -- a structural quirk of the system.
Put a pin in that one.
Guests can go down to the first floor to find a reception hall and conference rooms -- they're all taken up with ANIME PANELS, right now. An iconic English dub actor has come to visit, and everyone loves him. Sutiibu...? No, that's not how he says it. Anyway, escalators lead con-goers to the upper floors -- and six, seven and eight are all about conference rooms, too. During the Tokyo Anime Fair, floor six has been transformed into a merch hall, complete with Artist's Alley; the partitioning of this room can be taken down to make small rooms large, and they've made one very LARGE room, indeed. Floor seven is yet more panels and scheduled events -- including signings! -- and floor eight is jammed packed with rooms showing so. Much. Anime. You wanna check out the pirates of Single Part? Say goodbye to the next five years of your life, but you can get a good start with the latest season showing here. How about Privateer Swing, acclaimed sci-fi anime showing the lives of a ship of space privateers constantly down on their luck and their money? Serpentorb Z? We got rooms showing both the edited cut and the unedited one where the fights take five episodes each to get through.
Obviously, it's the site of the Tokyo Anime Fair.
Everyone's having a great time. There's so much to buy, so much to do -- did you know they'll PAINT YOUR FACE like a FOX to celebrate that one kitsune flick that just came out??? -- and so many costumes to see. That's right: it's an anime convention, and the big leagues are out in force to strut their stuff and show off their skills. There are plenty of amateur cosplayers as well, of course; entire gaggles of the same character, moving as one, making quick friends with each other based entirely off of wearing the same dress out.
In all of those costumes, one might almost miss something -- someone -- darting around the ankles of the packed crowd. The vixen mutters, telepathically, to herself: "<Running, running, running, running...>" Up and up and up the escalator she bounds, only to shock and delight the con-goers as she hops up onto the border of the slowly-moving staircase and bound into an discreet staff entry door left ajar.
"Whoa!"
"Was that part of someone's costume?!"
"Dude, they totally dressed their cat up as Nogitsune One!"
"I think that was a dog, my man..."
"Looked like a puppycat to me."
"What, like a catdog? Wasn't that the American anime you liked?"
"It's called a CARTOON, Naomi! Oh my god!"
Of course, most of them miss that the fox was talking. And why would they notice? Everyone's talking, out here. A million conversations --
-- and one, as that fox skids to a stop and whirls, tail a-puff and ears all pinned down. "<STOP CHASING ME, YOU STUPID OGRE!!>" She thinks TERRIBLY loudly, though it's not, immediately, clear what she's yelling at.
Until the fog rolls in.
It plumes from a dark corner of this structural gap -- no one was supposed to come in here. No public access. The mist chokes the gangways and the ladders, and transforms the empty space. From the darkness, fog; from the fog, something which looks so much like a frozen lake, beneath the feet.
Perhaps it's the rime, spreading out down below. It frosts anything it touches.
And it announces a presence with a loud, heavy CRUNCH.
The ogre who rises up all painted in stark and loud blues, fangs carving up from the bottom of his lips, face as painted as any of the humans out there today. He towers over the fox, and he swings his club down, with a horrible shake of the foundations.
"ME HUNGRY!"
The fox scrambles away from the blow, but it's a near thing -- running didn't work, so hiding's all she's got left. Well, that and one other thing --
"<Ahhh!>" She cries out, as she darts for cover. "<Heeeellllp--!>" A telepathic cry like that may well reach the hearts of any magical souls nearby. The service entrance she jumped out to run into, along with a few others dotted around inconspicuously, are practically seething magic, though not in any obvious way. It looks like...
... there's trouble on the fourth floor, the one which doesn't technically exist.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into Youma Form Frigid Ogre! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 2 opponents! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Spirit of Destruction on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi accepts Mikoto Minagi's Spirit of Destruction, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
It's Tokyou Anime Fair, and Kyouka is excited! She barely knows anything about anime and general Japanese pop culture is... well, really limited, but she's excited anyway! To be fair, she's slowly been exposed to more of it since she moved to Tokyo, and getting recommendations from her friends on what to watch has really helped dip her toes into things. She's by no means an expert yet, but at least she can comment on the few shows she's watched in their entirety so far. And like with most things, even if she's not an expert, talking with people who are experts, and passionate about their knowledge, is still fun.
So when Yumi invited her to go to Tokyo Anime Fair with her, she immediately said yes, showing up dressed casually--black jeans, black t-shirt, long-sleeved red flannel shirt. "Thanks for inviting me along, Yumi-chan! I took a look at the convention schedule, but I don't know if there's anything in particular I wanna see, so I'll follow your lead if you've got any plans..."
It's a fun time--she enjoys spending time with Yumi, and this is definitely a fun place to spend it in, but she stops when she hears that thudding of the club, glancing to Yumi. "That didn't sound like pyrotechnics or a screening or something..."
But that telepathic call for help cinches it. Under her breath she mutters, "Strike Wolf."
<Affirmative. Magical signature detected. Take the service entrance 10 meters to your left.>
Kyouka looks to Yumi, "Hope we don't miss anything..." and starts hurredly making her way for the discrete door. She glances around and slips inside, then mutters, "Strike Wolf, set up!"
A bright violet flash of energy erupts, and she steps out of it in her barrier jacket and charging into a dead run, following Strike Wolf's guidance. She skids to a stop as she sees...
An ogre. Great.
"Don't suppose there's any point in asking you to stand down peacefully?" she asks as she crouches, then springs forward, gauntlet shimmering with purple energy as she heaves a punch at his stomach.
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Barrier Jacket Wolf Fighter! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Fang Breaker Strike on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Right. It's a cartoon, Naomi.
Yumi Ohzora is here today, with a friend! She doesn't always make a point of going to evnts like this, but considering Kyouka's desire to learn more about culture, it seemed like a perfect opportunity. Yumi herself is dressed likewise casually, though more femme; a long, floral dress with green long sleeves underneath, and some walking boots (the kind with the really nice gel inserts).
"Anytime!" Yumi says. "Well, I was thinking we'd..."
Pause. There is a thud. There is a call for help. "Oh..."
She looks to Kyouka in the moment, and inclines her head as Strike Wolf speaks back to Kyouka. "Right," she says, as the fog starts to roll in, and she looks in alarm. It's so cold, and Yumi shivers immediately even before she brings the Staff out of her phone. With people paying attention to something else, it's not hard; the Staff she raises, its green crystal shining brilliantly as she calls, "Staff of Lost Ivy! In my hand, remembered be!"
Green light suffuses Yumi, and her clothes turn black, her tights and sleeves to leather boots and gloves, a hairpin to a broad-brimmed witch's hat. Her pink eyes shine as she steps down from where she'd seemed to hover.
'Come on!" Yumi says, and a broom appears before her as she hops onto it and zooms around the corner.
"Definitely no point," Yumi answers. "Growing life, enshroud my foe! Ivy Binding!"
She tips her Staff forward, and the curse rushes the Ogre, aiming to slow it with vines and leaves.
"We're here to help!"
COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Inheritor Lost Ivy! COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Ivy Binding on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi cleanly braces 17 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Fang Breaker Strike, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Kyouka Okazaki is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi perfectly counters 12 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Ivy Binding, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Mikoto Minagi's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Rapid Freeze, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Witch of Lost Ivy!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
This is absolutely not a part of the con anyone was supposed to see. The little they can see in here was very -- structural. Steel beams, boxes where fuses live, cross-bracing...
It doesn't matter, now. Welcome to the winter wonderland.
On the bright side, no civilians have snuck in here. On the less bright side -- they're on the floors above you, and they're down below you, and you're here in the middle with a nuclear bomb.
The fox scurries away from the Ogre, and he snarls. "NO!", and he's hollering, and surely it's magic keeping his voice in here and not out there. "YOU IS ME --"
The sound of an Ogre getting punched in the stomach starts with "GHPH," and ends with a fat-rolling wobble, all central adiposity from a lifetime of gorging on -- what? What could he possibly be eating, that he's always so, "HUNGRY!" He raises one of his broad, bare, clawed feet -- and STOMPS down towards Kyouka. He's a good eight feet tall; he has a lot of airtime on his kicks.
Frost and rime crackle out as he keeps stomping forward, and they meet the vines of Yumi's lifeblooming magic, and all that sap like blood freezes inside. Ivy Binding becomes a crystalline thing, shining, frozen -- beautiful, for a moment.
Before he stomps that vine and shatters it in twain.
"WITCH!" He accuses her, pointing with a horrible talon. He hasn't washed his nails in centuries; the dirt is thick, beneath them. "TASTES BAD!"
He swings his club in his other hand, and if Yumi doesn't get out of the way, she's going to be a witch pancake shortly. The Ogre whirls, and yells: "WHERE SNACK? WHERE?!"
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Cold Feet on Kyouka Okazaki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Icicle Crush on Witch of Lost Ivy. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy partially dodges 13 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Icicle Crush, taking 51 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Cold Feet, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! Kyouka Okazaki's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stagger applied to Kyouka Okazaki!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
<Dammit dammit dammit!> projects the fox as she scampers for cover.
This was not supposed to windup this way. Now she's got an ogre on her tails, and an ogre threatening the structural integrity of an entire building, and while she doesn't particularly care for the do-gooder act that Tokyo's guardians carry out... 'collapsing an entire building' is not really the kind of thing she wants to be responsible for.
And then--
Two of those do-gooders suddenly show up. And one of them is--
She stares, mouth agape.
That brat!
Meanwhile, Kyouka's attack is just... absorbed by the ogre's bulky stomach. Right. Should have figured that would happen. But at least that got the ogre's attention on them instead of whatever--
Thankfully, her outfit of shorts, tank top, vest, and armoted boots and gauntlets is magical, so it's not like she's really too cold, but the frigid air is not terribly helpful to swift movements, regardless.
"Wait, did he say snack--" She glances around, but dives to the side a moment too late to fully evade the attack, getting clipped by an Ogre's foot. "Gah!"
But then she sees the hit Ivy took-- "Ivy! Grr... We gotta put this thing down fast, before he brings the building down." Okay, if stomach didn't work, then... A midchildan spell circle appears very briefly at her feet as she crouches and then springs upwards. Another one appears on the ceiling as she flips upright to rebound off of it, turning sideways to bound off a wall and then back to come at the ogre's head with a powerful, sweeping kick, purple energy shimmering over her boot.
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Piercing Fang Strike on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lost Ivy is at least used to seeing places she's not supposed to see. That much is hardly strange at all! The fuseboxes, the steel beams... they're the sorts of places she's flown many a time.
But she won't be flying much for now. The Ogre snarls, and his frost meets her vines. Yumi winces as she sees them freeze over. "Not... great," she says, and doesn't have time to lecture a fox on her language.
but then the Ogre tells her she tastes bad and she definitely doesn't get all the way out of the way. She gets out enough; the club instead of crushing her propels her hard into the wall, where she makes a nasty noise of impact. "Augh--"
Finish it quickly, Kyouka says. "W-working on it," Yumi manages, dazed. "He definitely said snack," Yumi adds, and then starts tracing runes in the air as she hops off her broom. She doesn't quite manage to stand up straight for the moment, but incantations of destruction begin. "Wrath of forgotten spirits..."
"Come forth! Dark Radiance!" Then, hanging in the air, each rune becomes a blast, cascading like watery beams towards the Ogre in green and black that will burn in purifying light.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Dark Radiance on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
He did, indeed, say 'snack.' And what kind of snack is he putting on ice out here, at the centre of something which looks so much like a frozen lake...?
"HA HA! HA HA HA!" The Ogre laughs -- he laughs, all from his belly through his massive lungs to his throat -- as Yumi goes flying straight into the wall. "ME TENDERISE YOU!" Apparently, all his vocabulary is devoted to cooking. No surprises, there.
He stomps forward to follow through on his awful works, only to realise too late that he forgot about the other morsel. "UH?" He grunts, turning his head, and his eyes -- painted white around them to give him an extra-fearsome look -- widen in his head as he sees a girl fastballing in from the ceiling. He can't quite move out of the way in time to avoid -- "AGH!!"
Ker-CHUNK, his head snaps to the side. He grabs at his big tusk with his free hand, rubbing it vigorously. "OWIEEEE OW OW OW ME CHOMPERS..." The cold does tend to make one's teeth hurt. Getting kicked in them does, too.
He's thoroughly distracted with that long enough for Yumi to capitalise on his weakness. One of those horrible curses she knows so well cascades into his back, and it arches, as he howls: "ARRRGHHHH--!! NO CURSE ME, ME EAT SNACK! FUR ON! CHOMP! ME EAT, SEE?!" He turns, and turns, and turns again.
"WHERE SNACK?!" He demands, again.
Maybe a fox's bad language can be excused under this kind of pressure.
"ARRGH!! YOU! BOTH YOU! YOU TAKE SNACK!" He stomps his big, broad feet, and the ice cracks and shakes beneath them. He grasps his great club in both hands, and spins about. "ME SMASH!!!" The swing is mighty enough that the air itself breaks ahead of it, in a powerful shockwave ringing out through the foggy darkness.
He's not too bright, but he's very strong.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Broad Swing on Witch of Lost Ivy. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Broad Swing on Kyouka Okazaki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy braces 23 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Broad Swing, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Witch of Lost Ivy's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki braces 12 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Broad Swing, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The fox could leave, while the others are distracted. Unlike dropping a tower on a crowd full of innocents, leaving two people much stronger than her to fight her battle for her is definitely something she's okay with.
But leaving now would mean she has to leave that prototype device behind, and this would be the perfect opportunity to steal it back...
Well, she'll steal it back after the fight. No sense disabling the prototype now while that brat is handling things for her.
But the way that girl is fighting... From her hiding spot, the fox scowls.
Kyouka is also used to seeing odd parts of places people aren't normally meant to see--under better circumstances, this might make an interesting area to explore and climb around in. In whatever case, though, it's a terrible place for fighting in.
She's glad Yumi's magic proves especially effective against this thing.
She delivers her kick and then rebounds off of the ogre, landing in a crouch. The ogre is yelling about a snack, still. "Sorry, pal, but whoever you wanna snack on, we're not gonna let you. I've got a nice knuckle sandwich for you, though!"
But the ogre starts to spin, and in the tight, cramped quarters they're fighting in there's hardly any room to maneuver. She tries to power through the shockwave of the attack, setting her stance and bracing with her arms, but there's so much ice and that little bit of give is enough for her to be knocked back into a wall--maybe not as hard as Ivy, but that's still a blow she feels. "Oof!"
She gets back into her stance, and Strike Wolf chimes, <Fury Barrage.> Purple light shimmers over Kyouka's whole body and then she springs into action. "Ivy! I'll try to keep him occupied!" Spring forward and bounce off a ceiling to deliver a punch, but just as quickly as she delivers it she rebounds in a different direction to bounce off wall, down to floor, and into another kick at the knee. She keeps rebounding, blurring as she lets loose with a flurry of punches and kicks to try and keep the ogre off balance.
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Fang Fury Barrage on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Sorry, I'm still all bones!" Yumi shouts back at the Ogre, as she prepares her spell. And he howls. Oh, does he howl all right. But he's going to eat snack. "Nice work!" she calls to Kyouka, and then dives out of the way, excusing that language indeed. The shockwave comes, and Yumi throws a barrier up before herself, a circle of runes appearing in front of the Witch of Lost Ivy to deflect most of the blast. It still resounds through her bones, though.
"That's right! I took your snack!" Yumi calls, "Hey--" Yumi gets an idea.
"Here it is!" she says. "Take it and leave us alone!" Yumi palms a rune of destruction--and hurls it for the Ogre. "Go on! We give up!"
But it is a LIE and it will EXPLODE.
She gives Kyouka a V-sign.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi cleanly braces 23 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Fang Fury Barrage, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi accepts Witch of Lost Ivy's Hot Potato, taking 10 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"PORK KNUCKLE! PORK KNUCKLE!! STEW UP, YUM!" The Ogre crows, as he spins about. Threatening him with a knuckle sandwich is... well...
He might have missed the point. Again, he's not terribly clever.
He meets her punch with his own arm, but she's off again before he can properly respond. He is eight feet of fat and muscle and not much decoration aside from that body-paint and loincloth, and for all his power he can't meet Kyouka in time to avoid her striking at his knee. He does TRY to kick her -- but she's already gone, and he just kicks through the fading remnants of a Midchildan circle. No, now she's at his side, with an elbow to his ribs. He turns, only to find her striking at his shin from behind. He turns the other way, and she lobs a punch at his head --
"MAD!" He yells, stomping his feet. "MAD! MAD! MAD!!!"
He's thoroughly distracted. The problem is -- even though Kyouka and her (stolen? Borrowed? Citation needed?!) Device don't lack in POWER, Ogres have never been creatures who can be defeated through raw might alone. The Witch of Lost Ivy may well know better than anyone how impressive the showing is, given that.
But Yumi has something else up her sleeve -- psychological warfare.
"SNACK?!" He exclaims, turning to Yumi with wide, shining eyes. "ME SNACK! ME SNACK!" Entirely trusting of this shift in affairs, he lunges forward to CHOMP the rune out of thin air, without even bothering to examine what he's eating.
He doesn't even really chew it, before he swallows it down. All his teeth are on the outside, apparently. There is silence, for a moment...
... and then...
With a rrrrRRRRUMBLE and a BOOM!, green light blooms in the Ogre's stomach, and he drops his club as he doubles over to grasp it. "AAAAHHHH!" He yells, clearly regretting his life choices. "TASTE BAD! TASTE BAD!! YOU SNACK BAD!"
He picks his club back up, and starts swinging WILDLY. Slabs of ice shatter upwards from his strikes, and he clobbers them away, towards Mage and Witch alike. "ME SNACK! ME GOTTA SNACK! BAD SNACK! SNEAK SNACK! ME SNACK, NOW!" He surely doesn't mean the runes.
Why is he so mad at that fox..?
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Collateral Damage on Witch of Lost Ivy. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Collateral Damage on Kyouka Okazaki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy counters 10 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Collateral Damage, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Witch of Lost Ivy's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Trap applied to Witch of Lost Ivy! COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy's counterattack, Witch's Mirror, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The fox weighs her options. They're doing okay, but not great. There's still time for her to leave, but if that Ogre defeats them and takes them hostage--or more likely, just eats them, she'll never get that device back.
She stays silent and in hiding as she continues watching.
Kyouka does her best to assault the ogre, but the ogre meets the first blow, and then she's moving fast, but she can't get enough purchase with her speed and how she's trying to avoid the problematic ice to land any solid hits, and it seems like she barely does anything to it. But any time spent being bewildered by her attack is time the ogre can't spend attacking Ivy, so she keeps up the barrage--
Until Ivy announces that she has a snack. Kyouka isn't that versed in magic but does bounce off and away so that Ivy can try her gambit. It seems to work! And then it seems to make him mad, which is... not ideal in this circumstance. He starts smashing and sending ice everywhere, and Kyouka does her best to get around it, but the area is so cramped that a flying chunk clips her and sends her tumbling head over heels into the floor and then a wall. "Gah!"
Not her best showing.
"Ivy! We gotta shut this guy down now, before he brings the place down!"
She scrambles up to her feet, and sets her stance. A bright purple Midchildan circle appears at her feet. She holds out her hand, and a ball of energy begins to shine. "From warded den, through hallowed glade..."
That ball of energy shines brighter as she pours her strength into it. Air currents start to circle around her, and shards of ice begin to lift up into the air, circling around her in a flurry.
"To bright moon watching overhead..."
She grabs at that ball of energy and suddenly her gauntlet is ablaze with shining blue-white light. All of the ice shards seem to suspend for just a moment as the air currents cut out, only to be blown clear away as the glow of her gauntlet intensifies further.
"Lend your strength, light my path..."
She crouches, poised to strike. That glow from her gauntlet spreads over the rest of her body as she raises her hand back, ready to deliver the finishing blow.
"And guide your guardian's hand!"
<Shining Moonlight Strike.>
In a flash of light she moves, and is upon the ogre in an impossibly fast instant as she swings, releasing that pent up with the force of her (hopefully) decisive blow. "Kyaaaaaaa!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Kyouka Okazaki has used Shining Moonlight Strike on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi's delight at her gambit working is short-lived, of course. It was fun, but it couldn't finish things on its own. So the Ogre trusts her, and she should really feel bad for that... but as it happens, she doesn't. BOOM!
"YEAH it's bad, jerk!" Yumi calls out to the Ogre, and the Ogre decides he wants his snack back after all, ice crashing towards both of them. Yumi throws out her hand and weaves a counterspell--
But it only blocks some of the damage, the rest of the ice slamming into her hard enough to send her sprawling again. "Augh!"
She would be SO offended by the fox if she knew!! But she doesn't so she calls back to Kyouka, "Right!"
It's amazing, to see the spell she's working as it comes. Yumi takes just a moment to marvel at the beautifully gathering ice. Just a moment; that's all she has at the moment.
Then, as Kyouka swings, Yumi prepares.
"Holy light!" She holds up the Staff, and it begins to gather radiance, shedding light as it builds, and builds, and builds. Soon, it is as bright as noon here, as if they were outside.
"Rain down, in verdant might!"
Yumi points the Staff forward, and hangs on with both hands, as a beam emits from it. Then, "BLESSED SHINE!"
The beam becomes a searchlight becomes a burning column, sunlight that will not harm Kyouka in the least but will burn all evil in green flame. Yumi holds onto the staff with both hands, as despite the light's gentle nature, she still has to hang on for dear life at its sheer force.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Witch of Lost Ivy has used Blessed Shine on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Kyouka Okazaki's Finisher, Shining Moonlight Strike, taking 101 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 64 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Finisher, Blessed Shine, taking 43 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting! Mikoto Minagi's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The bright moon watches -- and ice flurries, becoming Kyouka's strength as readily as it came to herald the Ogre's footsteps. Winter is no one's handmaid; she is both disaster and beauty, a time to rest as much as she demands eternal sleep. To moonlight, now, the cold lends strength.
Kyouka, mind you, was never lacking in it.
In one instant she is chanting a spell -- another witch? He has little time to wonder -- and the next she is upon him, gauntlet glinting silver as she thrusts it down. "GYAH!" The Ogre yelps, as he's knocked down entirely, pinned by the speed and ferocity of her punches.
Sunlight meets noon, then. The fog parts to let the midday light through, as Blessed Shine pours down -- pours THROUGH, through Yumi's own mighty body, through the Staff of Lost Ivy, through the Ogre, and harmlessly through Kyouka, too. The next time Kyouka's punch lands, it sparks green flame in the mixing of moon and sun: flint to steel, the Ogre is consumed by Lost Ivy's purifying magics.
That flame, green as verdant forest, spreads across the ice -- burns away the fog. All the obscured damage to those crossbeams fades in an instant; switch-boxes are restored; a ladder earns its rungs back again. When the sunlight fades, this is a dark construction space, once more, mere scaffolding to support the Conference Tower's bold architecture.
They'd better not spend too long in here. It's not a place for guests, and as far as anyone knows -- they're just a couple of guests who snuck into a service exit.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka lands that last blow that sparks green flame and leaps back, the glow from her gauntlet and body gone as she unloaded all of that built-up energy into the Ogre. She lands next to Ivy, watching her in turn as she channels that blessed sunlight to finish up the ogre. She may have taken a rough hit at the start of this fight, but here she is, hanging in there, giving it her all.
Kyouka admires that tenacity.
She lets out a soft sigh of relief as the ogre is burned away, as the ice vanishes and all the structural damage rights itself. "Whew. That could've been really bad. Ivy-chan, are you--"
<What was that?!>
The fox bursts out of her hiding spot, glaring daggers up at Kyouka. Kyouka blinks as she looks down at the fox. "Um... were you the 'snack' the ogre was chasing? You should be safe, now..."
The fox just growls, clearly not appreciative. <That device is a precision instrument! You can't just go around smashing it into things like a brute! What kind of mage are you?! I can't believe my Master's work is being reduced to... to... to a simple battering ram!>
Kyouka blinks. "Wait... are you that woman that came to my house! Where have you been?! I've been looking all over for you!"
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Some might call Yumi reckless, but she relishes the fact that she can keep going even after hard, brutal hits when she's transformed as the Witch of Lost Ivy. The toughness to endure, the possibility to run and rise and leap...
It's a rush, maybe even more than flying.
But Yumi lowers her Staff when the matter is over. "An icy Ogre... I haven't seen one of those before," Yumi comments.
Then she turns to Kyouka and smiles. "I'm--"
There's the fox. And the fox is--
"You're welcome," Yumi says to her. "I'm so glad that you're okay. Yes, it's perfectly fine. We don't mind. We're happy to help." Her voice is deadpan throughout the statements.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The fox narrows her eyes at Ivy and then sniffs, holding her nose up as she looks away. <I was doing just fine. I had a masterful strategy that a brute like this one simply wouldn't understand.>
Kyouka crosses her arms. "A little gratitude wouldn't kill you, you know. Especially since we made sure the ogre didn't."
The fox huffs. <Fine. Thank you.> She thinks it in that way that very clearly suggests she doesn't mean it.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kyouka gestures with her other hand. "Ivy, meet The Phantom Fox. Look, Strike Wolf and I have been looking for you. We actually want to talk."
<A likely story!> retorts the fox, both tails lashing behind her.
"Ivy, can you back me up on that...?"
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
The look Yumi gives the fox is one that could strip paint. She definitely does not think that she was doing so well.
"It's something resembling nice to meet you," Ivy answers. "Ogres are dangerous; that one wouldn't have stopped until he found someone to eat, even if it wasn't you."
But Kyouka wants to talk, so Yumi holds up her hands. "All right, all right," she says, and then goes back to leaning on the Staff.
"She does want to talk. She'd even give Strike Wolf back."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The little fox huffs, glancing aside. <Don't you think I know that? That thing was never supposed to follow me. I don't know how it followed my dimension shift.>
Didn't she just say she had a masterful strategy?
Ivy backs up Kyouka's words, and the fox glances between the two of them suspiciously. <You'd give it back, just like that?>
"Well, not just like that, we want to talk--"
<Ha! I knew it!>
Kyouka lets out an exasperated groan. "We want to talk to see if we can come to some sort of arrangement. Strike Wolf and I both have things we want to ask. And if can't come to an agreement, then yes, I'll hand him back."
From the back of Kyouka's gauntlet, Strike Wolf chimes in, an inner light flickering in time with his words. <Kyouka speaks the truth. I wish to return, but I also wish to keep working with my partner.>
The fox's tails grow still as she studies Kyouka and Strike Wolf. Kyouka looks back at her with a resolute expression, while Strike Wolf continues to observe his surroundings through an array of sensors the way he normally does.
<Fine,> says the fox after a moment. <Then we'll talk. But not here, in case another one of those things arrive. I'll have someone get in touch.> A bright green circle of magic appears underneath her, and she winks out of sight.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"They're a lot more magically capable than they look," Yumi points out.
But she listens to Fox and Kyouka both, as they discuss the matter of talking and how Strike Wolf chies in. She can appreciate Kyouka's resolve, anyway...
"That's really not very likely--"
Zoop.
"..."
Yumi looks to Kyouka, "Your buddy's a jerk, Strike Wolf. Just saying." Then she brightens, and dismisses her transformation, the staff disappearing into sparkling green light as she pulls her phone instead. "Well," she says. "That aside."
"Let's check out some anime!"
