@Rune_Alchemist@GrafRoy Zeppeli

Kazuki was content with the other's decision. He took the ice grenade, very curious about how an explosion could come from it, but he trusted Jun it would work anyways. He was glad that there wasn't much discussion over what to do. He felt mosts problems just needed action to be solved, and to many ideas just complicated and slowed things. One good idea was all that was needed, and for a simple investigation, it didn't need to be complex. He gave the other two a simple nod. "Sounds good." He said as he walked off towards the acoustical shell.

He found the idea of an acoustical shell pretty cool. Makking an entire building built to direct the sound of it's inhabitants rather than directing each of their sounds individually. He thought about the most famous acoustical shell in Sydney, Australia for a moment, but this was nothing compared to that one. He approached the humble shell, that did it's job well to project the sounds of park performances of concerts and plays alike. Once he even saw a mime using it. He found it very ironic.

As he got closer, he kept an edge on to prepare for anything that might come out as he approached. He did hear a faint sound that he thought to be music. It didn't look like anyone was around though, and he was pretty certain it wasn't either of the other two. It came from the opposite direction of them anyways. He continued towards the sound, keeping his senses on high alert for everything around him that could be a clue or even worse, a danger.

"Ah, Cernia," Lucille repeated, seemingly ignoring the rest of what the Kyuubi said. The vampire didn't move from her levitating seat, instead she sat up straight and stopped propping her head up with her arm. She made a visual cue to show that she was at full attention now. "You must be quite strong from the stories I've heard about your master. But now this makes more sense to me." The floating vampire uncrossed her legs and then crossed them the other way, a friendly grin already forming on her face. The more she talked the more casual she seemed around Cernia, speaking as if they had known each other for years. "I've heard stories that this temple has had financial troubles for some time now. If this temple is your home then surely that must be stressful. And the responsibility that comes with a title like the one you have? Oh dear, you have a lot riding on your shoulders don't you. It's no wonder why an adult would start acting out in your shoes and you're still so young."

Lucille's grin grew into a cheeky smile, baring her fangs. "But that isn't what is stressing you out the most, is it?" Her eyes seemed as if they were looking through Cernia now. While Lucille generally looked like an innocent young woman, the knowledge that she was a vampire combined with her smile and different colored eyes could give off an eerie feeling in all but the most confident of people. "A girl like you is too strong to crumble under responsibility. You've been preparing for it all your life. No, that isn't what's bothering you." Her smile vanished as her high heels clacked against the ground, allowing her to stand up again. She leaned forward, putting her face uncomfortably close to Cernia's as she raised her right hand. She held her hand near her own mouth, keeping Luciel from being able to read her lips from what she was about to whisper. "It's about a boy, isn't it?" Lucille suggested discretely, quiet enough to keep even the Raijuu from hearing. Of course, Lucille could've just said that telepathically. But she was smarter than to go directly into the girl's mind without an invitation. Then again, she was putting herself within arm's reach of the Kyuubi while effectively disregarded her request to leave. The smile slowly returned to her face as she stood upright again and removed herself from Cernia's personal space. "We can talk privately if you wish..."

Seeing his fellow immortal disinterested brought a slight pout to Carver’s face “You’re no fun Rui! You don’t buy any of my things anymore and I know your good for it and you know that my stuff is quality...” listening to Rui-Ling a grin soon split Carver’s face as he explained there were two potential new customers for him

“Rui, my friend, my pal, I knew you wouldn’t let me down~! I better wait though. Work comes first after all” with one last squeezing hug Carver parted ways and looked at the mission board Oh? Kappa’s on the river? It shouldn’t be too hard. Most Yokai see a gun and laugh, so it should be simplicity itself. Idiots. They might as well laugh at the bow while the arrow had a nuclear bomb for a tip. I’m sure that if I stretch the word ‘diplomatic’ the right way I’ll be done in time to make some sales.

As he turned to leave, Carver saw the tea party queen make her grand entrance. Silently smiling as she made her monologue, Carver waited before elaborately bowing “Miss Alice, Queen of Tea, I must apologize since at this moment I am off to ‘diplomatically resolve’ a territory dispute between some rather loud Kappa. I do hope to return in time to partake in one of your famous gatherings, but until then I must be on my way~” and like a hurricane, Carver blew out of Dangeki and off under the Crimson Sky.

Under the wine like sky Carver pulled out a lever action shotgun and filled his pockets with shotgun shells with a yellow stripe painted on, arcane runes engraved into each shell, while loading two into his gun. Yawning as he walked he placed two wind attributed ice-cream sticks in his vest chest pocked and walked over to the riverbank, wondering if the brawl was already under way...

@Shisa@Ashifili

After the Chasers finally made their decisions and worked out the plan to take on the huge task of exploring the park, they set about each on their separate ways. What fate waited them in this land beyond the thin veil of crimson?

---

@Rune_Alchemist@TheWindel@GrafRoy Zeppeli@rechonq@Ashifili@McFazzer

Well, that was quite a warm greeting.

Removing a white handkerchief from the rightside pocket of his dark overcoat, the immortal casually wiped a few bloodstains from his silver fist. The souls of lesser Youkai orbited around Airgetlam, and while it was rather tempting to crush those grunts’ souls and get on with it, unfortunately, Rui-Ling held the belief that all immortals, being witnesses to the progress of mortal lives, should not take it so easily. So, instead, he simply smiled at Suzumebachi as the head honcho stepped up, ending the fight. Slowly, the souls drifted back to their bodies, released as Rui-Ling unclenched his fist. “Sup, bug. Still rocking that antennae hair of yours, huh? Not even anime have those anymore.”

When the two of them reached the entrance to the seaside freeway, however, Rui-Ling couldn’t help but let out a low whistle. A Suzuki Hayabusa, huh? Other than the shoddy yellow-and-black paint job it was give, the vehicle was quite a beauty. Not enough that it could make up for its rider’s lack of skill, of course, but the immortal was willing to give credit where credit was due. Hopping onto his (or Reiko’s) ride, he smirked at his opponent, revving up the engine. “It’d be a real shame if you lost that, wouldn’t it? Don’t worry though, after I take your wheels away, I’ll be sure to resell it to you at ten times its market pri-”

But of course the two’s dramatic, manly, hot-blooded race had to be interrupted by two familiar lesbians. Haruka, the apprentice of Reiko, who twisted reality with her words, and Kiara, the memory-afflicting swordswoman. Sighing at the sight of those two, Rui-Ling was about to recommend a different, less scenic race track for his duel with Suzumebachi, when the rising pop idol demanded to join in instead.

Trying to impress Kiara with her motoring skills, huh? Ah, young love was nice to see indeed. Well, all he needed to do was beat the leader of the Yellow Jackets. Nothing said that he couldn’t let Haruka take first place. After all, her master did own the bike he used.

He turned his attention back to the road as Haruka lined up on the stop line as well, when she spoke of his pants. Looking down at his zipper, only to realize that, having worn sweatpants today, he didn't even have one, Rui-Ling faked a laugh, faked a smile, and said, "Ahahahahahaha, you got me, Haruka-chan! Nice trick!"

He should have seen it coming, really, but, well, it's just water under the bridge now. Can't really do much about the Universal Language, after all, outside of killing its user.

Jun approached the lake, both of his guns loaded and ready for whatever Yokai should arise.

When he arrived and saw that in fact there were some odd lights dancing around on top of the lake.

He was quick to go into hiding and observe what the lights were doing. Some went up and some others dragged all the way to the edge of the pond.

Jun flinched a bit they first time they did so, thinking he had been discovered, but then saw that they were coordinated to do that. Interesting.

Jun stepped out of his hiding spot, being careful to tiptoe all the way to the edge of the lake to make sure not to make any noise.

He would've definitely wanted to see everything from above, but building an ice staircase stealthily was out of the question. It would take too long and a big structure wasn't exactly stealthy.

"All right, then. I hope this goes well enough." Jun whispered and then placed a single foot in the surface of the lake, which quickly froze over to provide footing.

He slowly started approaching the shining lights, making more frozen footing for himself as he kept moving, and making sure to unfreeze the water behind him so as to not leave a trail. This way, he could approach the balls of light without being too noisy, such as if he had just walked in the pond, splashing and whatnot.

He got near enough one to inspect it. Hopefully, it wouldn't leap unto him to attack him or something, but if it was the case, then he'd just shoot it.

Kat made it to the playground easily enough, though she kept her eyes and her ears open for any sign of trouble. Getting ambushed by something wasn't one of her ideas of a 'fun time'. As she approached she took in the layout of the place. She spotted a few chess tables, likely used by some old people who didn't have anything better to do. Or egg-heads who didn't know how to have fun. Either way, it wasn't likely they were of any consequence. So she turned her attention to the swing sets.

They were, indeed moving without a breeze or any seeming force of an outside influence. If that wasn't odd, she didn't know what was. The creaking of the other attractions weren't helping in the slightest to stave off the feeling that she was being watched, or that something really bad was going to happen. Though what happened next...was not what she had expected at all.

A soft sob filled the air, followed by a torrent of sand washed over her without warning. Thankfully her force-field kept sand from getting into places that would be uncomfortable. Mostly. The wave still pushed her, however, knocking her off balance and momentarily making her lose her footing from the surprise attack - well, she assumed it was an attack, what else could it be?

Which made what happened next even more strange. The sand formed a six-foot wide mass, taking the form of something she had never seen before - being someone who didn't really play video games that much and spent most of her time working, polishing her guns and drinking, she didn't recognize the vague shape the creature had taken, but that wasn't important.

What was important, was the fact it was attempting to hug her.

Just...what the fuck? Just what?

The turn of events was strange to say the least, but...if this thing was hugging her, maybe it was intelligent in some way - or at least didn't have hostile intentions? Still, she wasn't just going to let it do what it wanted too until she knew for sure. So, she expanded her force-field outwards, hopefully shoving the creature back and giving her enough time to draw her gun with one hand, and grab that ice-grenade with her other. Aside from probably exploding and alerting the others, it could also probably slow this guy down a bit if she had too.

"I'm gonna ask you reaaaal nicely once. What do you want?" Of course, that was assuming it could understand her, and speak itself.

As Kazuki made his way to the shell he began to hear a song. It was an easily recognizable childrens melody, and it was very nice as well. It had a calming effect which fought the eeriness of the whole situation. The theatre was very large and rather impressive. As the song got louder he continued to look around for anything that could be the source of the sound. It certainly wasn't the other two. They didn't seem the types to be singing right now, and it was coming from the opposite direction.

He took note that it wasn't the statue as he walked past it. That would be creepy. He thought to himself, but something much creepier was coming. As he walked behind the last aisle to the center row he looked over all the seats to see if he could see annything. Nothing was coming into sight, but as he reached the aisle his attention turned to the stage itself. In the center of the stage was a small toy, and immediately he felt that was where the noise was coming from.

He began his approach to the front of the stage, the music didn't necessarily get louder, but it became more clear. He couldn't be certain that it was the toy singing the song, but there didn't seem to be any other culprits. As he got closer he noticed it was a plush bunny. it was very cute in any other situation, but here he was half expecting it to grin with giant scissor teeth when he got close enough. Nothing that absurd could ever happen though, right? He made it to the stage and climbed up the front. He was very alert for anything to happen as he approached and picked up the cute toy.

~Cernia~

---

If Lucille expected some kind of intimidation from Cernia, she wouldn’t be getting it any time soon. With a huff she crossed her arms before saying, “Yeah, sure. First off, back off old hag. I’ve fought vampires before and trust me, you’re not that hard to break. Second, stop acting like you know anything about me when you don’t.”

However her bravado soon faltered as Lucille leaned in, Cernia’s eyes widening as the vampire covered her mouth. The gang of Raijuu tensed up but with a flash of her tail and a glare Cernia set them at ease once more. Eyes focused back on Lucille, she leaned in to listen for any sign of what the vampire was going to say next…but when she final said it, Cernia’s mind went blank for a moment.

“Er, what? A….boy,” she mumbled before her face soon turned into a nice shade of pink. “Wait, a what?!? Hell no, this isn’t about some stupid boy! I should just tear off your annoying face right here and now,” Cernia snarled, face still flushed. The Raijuu glanced among each other, wondering what the vampire had said to put off their boss to such a degree. Should they attack or just continue to stand there stupidly?

---

~Kiara Bastion~

---

“Haruka, did we really have to go all the way out here for a date?” Kiara complained. Honestly, didn’t the other girl have some tact? She had just shown up at the front door of her apartment randomly after one of her big time shows, only to drag her out here in the middle of nowhere to spend time together. Or something. Kiara honestly suspected it was just an excuse to call the Yellow Jackets rude names again or something. Whatever the case, now they were caught in some kind of death race. Sighing and rolling her eyes, she spotted Rui Ling and smiled.

“Hi Rui Ling. Let me guess, Aria sent you out to deal with these idiots too? We’ve been tagging this clowns for a while now and only recently have they slowed down enough for us to catch them in the act,” Kiara said, completely ignoring the stunned faces of the Yellow Jacket members. Honestly, did their stupidity have no limits?

---

Click. Click.

The AA-12 never lasted as long as he'd liked. It was a pain to carry a high number of spare magazines, he thought, still pointing the barrel at some low-level youkai trapped under his boot. Humanoid, but with crimson red eyes. Most of them had a tell, and it was usually rather obvious. Vincent ground his heel into the thing's spine. Nothing was quite as scary when it was bleeding out under your foot. With the bloodied sword in his off hand, Vincent stabbed straight through the back of its skull, killing the thing instantly.

Having already spent some time alone with his work, Vincent had already cleared out a few block's lengths of a street. Behind him, corpses were dismembered and displayed, some impaled on a long piece of rebar, others strung up on cables hanging from the street lights. Bits of concrete and asphalt were shattered, and a few buildings were alight.
Tossing his empty shotgun to the ground, the executioner shouldered his sword and stared silently at his handiwork. This was decent enough progress. Still, the weak ones had scattered. He knew there were strong ones, but they usually tucked themselves away in some corner. Still, they were attracted to displays of power, if only for an attempt to show they were the best. Vincent would find stronger prey in due time.

The executioner shouldered his heavy blade and continued down the street, boot steps echoing in the silent night.

The grin on the vampire's face didn't fade even as Cernia denied her analysis. Lucille knew better. From the girl's body language to her own experience with children and teenagers. She had hit the nail on the head. The incoming threats seemed to do nothing to the older woman as she stood back to full height, looking down at Cernia with a smile. "I think you should think about your own face for a moment," Lucille told her before raising a hand to tap on her own cheek a few times. This gesture was her way of pointing out to Cernia that she was blushing, as if the girl mimicked Lucille and felt her own cheek she would feel the warmth of her own blush. It was also a polite way of telling Cernia that she didn't believe her.

"I might not look like it, but I've raised children of my own before," Lucille confessed, walking forward and past Cernia. She seemed to be slowly and casually walking deeper into the temple's property. But as she slowly walked, each step giving a click from her high heels, she continued talking to the girl. "You can't fool me, Cernia." After getting a few meters behind the girl and away from the crowd of Raijuu, Lucille stopped and turned around. "Are you coming or not?" The invitation was simple: to step away from the eyes and ears of Luciel and the gang of spirits. "We have so much to talk about. Unless... you're fine talking here and now?"

"Hahahaha... Impressive, human! Your skills are not to be underestimated, but this is were your foolishness ends." A voice echoed between the empty building and desert alleyways, regarding Vincent with interest as if whoever owned it were issuing a challenge to the Executioner.

A moment later, Vincent would notice that the voice didn't came from one fixed point, but from at least four different directions, from what looked like four identical Youkai draped in heavily concealing robes and wielding identical pairs of swords bathed in crimson flames and connected to each other by a lenght of chain.

These were no ordinary Youkai and as such it was obvious that they had appeared before Vincent with a purpose which would be made clear as soon as they spoke in unison again "Do you think of your self as the only slayer? Don't you believe there are some of us that exist only to dispose of you? Hahaha... such innocence; perhaps it's about time you join your sibling on the world of the dead."

As they said so, the Youkai swung their blades and shot forth balls of flame, each of them as damaging as a RPG shot, toward Vincent, before three of them leaped of the buildings they stood, to rake at the Chaser from each of his sides as well as from behind, adding the momentum of the free fall to their already considerable strength.







"Yes, mistre- I mean, master", Ellie said upon the command of Aria to get their tea party ready. Barely a minute later and she was back with all that was requested in telekinetic hands following her, and crept behind Alice while the conceited girl talked with Ellie's master.

"Oh~ Miss Alice, it's been ages since we had mention of you. Or did it seem like ages because we haven't been graced with your presence?" As Ellie got closer and closer, her behavior was getting more and more pronounced to the point that she ignored Atlas' advances (which wasn't a common occurrence by any means), but anyone would understand her, no? After all how could Ellie keep her cool when someone like Alice was nearby? Oh, if only she could...

"Here, Miss Alice, let me give you a massage, while you read this letter that we received the other day." As Ellie said so, she reached into one of her pockets and drew an envelope sealed with wax with the words 'For the True Alice' written on the front, inside Alice would find instead of a letter, a single playing card, however the meaning of it was sure to send shivers down her spine for it was none other than the Queen of Hearts. What could this mean?

Despite all that, Ellie's hands continued to creep dangerously close to Alice's gentle hills, if nothing was done, who knows what else would the enticed vampire-demon girl do?

---

@IncredibleBee@TheWindel@Shisa@Savo

"Sibling?" Vincent's teeth grit to nearly crack in his jaw. He didn't know just how these guys knew that, but their deaths wouldn't be painless. Even as they gave their speech, Vincent had already ordered a special arms.

With one motion, the man ripped up a large, flat piece of sidewalk, wielding it as a makeshift shield to defend against the fireballs by swatting them away in a circular motion. As the concrete quickly crumbled under the impact, he gave a leap away from the downwards stabs the enemy was attempting. Lastly, they were separated as a red hot star fell to earth, slamming between them. The drop pod opened and released a hiss of steam, before a small system ejected its payload into Vincent's hand: A heavy, six foot long rifle with a large, rectangular barrel and a prominent muzzle brake. The executioner slammed a hefty magazine into the gun and chambered a round in one swift motion.

"Executioner's Special 30mm Anti-Freak Battle Rifle: Firing Squad." he muttered to himself. The masked man leveled the gun to fire from the hip, and several squeezes of the trigger released just as many rounds, each sounding a crack of thunder.

Alice rolled her eyes as a particularly talkative and obnoxious individual rushed into the cafe and began blabbering about nothing. How could one talk so much and say so little? Nothing like Alice, whose each word carried the weight of the universe in its expulsion, drawing people in with its sheer mass and its... its profound bigness. Her words alone made satellites of their observers, and were fantastic not only in hugeness but elegance. He could learn a thing or two.

With a self-satisfied smirk on her face, Alice began setting a table up. Her tea set had a variety of things, including a beautiful lace tablecloth which Alice draped over the table, making one small portion of the cafe far more elegant and far less low-class. Sitting down, she waited for Aria to finish her work and looked over at Ellie.

"Kukuku~ obviously, every second not in my lovely presence would feel more like a year. How you last without me, I'll never know."

Her eyes narrowed, however, after considering exactly what sort of 'greeting' Ellie was planning to give her. Alice snatched the letter away from the woman with one hand, and tapped her noggin using a saucer with the other.

"Bad girl," she said, affixing Ellie with an imperious glare that carried the full weight of her bigness, "how often must I scold you before you learn? You shouldn't go around touching girls like that. Get on your knees and apologize properly."

Alice looked down at her letter and opened it, depositing the card onto the table.

"Hmph. Doubtless, the first part of a fifty-two part gift from one of my adoring fans. Ugh, we shan't be able to play a proper game with just this! Really, what must they have been thinking?"

Indeed, it was a card with a significance that went completely over Alice's head, for the girl had never actually read Alice in Wonderland. Nor had she seen any of the hundred adaptations. In fact she was waiting until her English was good enough to read it in its native language because, although she was a westaboo, her English was absolutely dreadful.

---

Cernia's eye twitched; the more this woman spoke, the more irritated she became. It was getting to the point that her tail was lashing back and forth behind her and she glared at any of the dumb Raijuu boys who dared to so much as glance at her. Huffing, she flicked her hand as an order for her gang to be still before following after Lucille, hands in her pockets.

For the most part the older woman remained quiet as they walked. She was unfamiliar with the layout of the Setsuna Temple but it wasn't difficult to navigate her way further into the property. Lucille remained silent until they reached the main temple at the center. At that point she sat down on the stairs that led to the entrance and faced Cernia, making a motion for the girl to take a seat next to her. "So... tell me, what's he like? Is he a fox too? You have to give me some details here," she finally said, her tone changing to something more positive and inviting. Almost as if she was trying to get gossip or a juicy story from a friend, despite having just met Cernia.

The Kyuuby still muttered to herself, eyes suspicious when the vampire beckoned her by her side. Cernia did just that though she kept her arms crossed in annoyance. Honestly, for a Chaser, it seemed this woman really had nothing better to do than to give kids dating advice or something. Flicking her ears, Cernia glared up at Lucille.

"First off, it's a she. Second, no; it's much worst. She's some dumbass priestess with her head too high up in the clouds. A total weirdo and a ditz at that too," Cernia listed off, as if the insults were ingrained into her memory. Well then. This was certainly odd.

Lucille's smile vanished for a brief moment, but the serious expression didn't last long before she laughed to herself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just a funny thing to me. My children were boys so I had to help them with girls. It's almost like doing the same thing again, in a way," Lucille apologized, making it clear to the prodigy Kyuubi that she wasn't mocking her. After calming herself down she looked back to Cernia.

"Gee, that somehow makes me feel so much better," Cernia replied with sarcasm, already regretting letting this vampire smooth talk her into revealing such personal things. But they were already at this point so they might as well continue on with it.

"So she's a priestess, huh. At this temple? Is that why you hang around here or were you here first? Though I suppose that doesn't matter very much now that I say it out loud..." She paused for a brief moment to consider what she knew so far. She'd have to be careful with her words, for while she meant well she didn't want to get punched by a girl that was contending for the strongest creature alive. "So anyways, what do you think the issue is? Can you not get her attention? Or perhaps... is she not interested in girls?"

"She was here first but she had the nerve to come to me. Or something...look, I don't really remember. Besides, she's way too full of herself anyway. And it's not like she's not interested girls. It's just....ugh, she's so annoying! And a ditz too," Cernia complained for the both of them. "Always going around trying to catch aliens or something stupid like that...not like any of that kind of crap is fun or anything..."

Lucille cocked her head sideways and rested it on her palm. "Aliens?" she muttered. She had never really thought about it before, as she had dismissed the idea decades ago. But with the whole Crimson Sky situation, suddenly the idea didn't seem as crazy as it used to. "So the girl is a bit vain, I guess. Everyone has their flaws. You're a bit aggressive, for example. And I'm a bit... pushy, I suppose. Anyways, have you actually tried talking to her about the two of you? Or has it been a passive thing where neither of you have talked about your true feelings?" It was hard to resist just looking into her mind to get the right answer, since Cernia had a habit of hiding what she feels, but Lucille still gave the girl the respect she deserved.

"Eh? Well....no. Not really. Why would we talk about our feelings when the chances of them not being returned is so high? Besides, we're usually argueing over stupid stuff for that to really happen," Cernia said, voice slightly unsure. Was it actually so simple as to just sit down and talk about it? Impossible.

"Well, I don't think you should directly talk about your feelings like it was the weather or something," Lucille added. "It would come across as awkward. Probably even random. I'll tell you what I told my sons all those years ago: just ask her out." She didn't need to pause now, but she waited very specifically for dramatic effect. "The very act alone conveys more than you think. Once the option for a relationship is on the table it will be much easier to sort out both your feelings and hers."

"But I do have to say though, being rejected can happen." Lucille now looked away, but her smile still remained. "You can't always get what you want in life. Sometimes it can be unfair. You might find a boy... er, girl... who you feel strongly for but they don't return those feelings. The important thing is that you try. You miss every shot you don't take, as the saying goes." Now she looked back to Cernia, the smile fading away. "When did you plan on trying? Did you ever plan on it?"

"Um...well..."

Cernia's answer and the fact that she looked away spoke enough words. Obviously she wasn't planning on settling this issue any time soon; that would explain the rather immature behaviour on her part what with starting a gang and what not. Really...why was she even doing this again? As she thought more and more about it, a creeping feeling of the unsettling nature rose up her spine. Why was she doing all this?

A disappointed frown appeared on Lucille's face. "You can't just take your time with matters like this," she said, taking a stern and lecturing tone. "The longer you wait the worse your chances are. Someone else might even sweep that girl off her feet while you're trying to figure everything out. How would you feel if you didn't even get the chance? What's worse to you: taking a chance and losing... or losing on taking a chance?"

The Kyuuby narrowed her eyes and flexed her fists, severly annoyed and outraged by Lucille's tone and words. Mostly because the vampire was right and that only made Cernia more uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to say something, only to close it again before sighing to collect her thoughts.

"You just had to be the motherly type, didn't you? Why the hell does a bat like you have to be right," she muttered.

Lucille smirked to herself briefly, feeling some pride in her life experience. Granted it wasn't a direct compliment or anything, but finally someone acknowledged her wisdom. "I've done this song and dance before, sweetie. Not just giving advice, but I was in your shoes a long time ago. I was a bit younger than you, and it was about a boy rather than a girl, but it works all the same. Back in primary school I had a crush on the football team's goalie. But he didn't seem to be interested in me. I waited so long to try and get him myself that... that bitch Katie went and stole him."

The old memories of her school days flared up briefly, creating visible anger from the vampire. But as quickly as it came it went, with Lucille taking a deep breath to calm down. "I hated that witch. Anyways, in the end it was a lesson I learned the hard way. Thankfully I didn't have that problem when I met my husband later, as he approached me. But the moral of the story is that you can't wait forever. I didn't take my shot as a schoolgirl and missed out. If my husband didn't take a shot with me he would've surely missed out as well. You get what I'm trying to say?"

"Um, sure," Cernia said, already picking up the hints of a boring lecture. "Yeah, sure, I get it. Look, I appreciate the advice and all but why are you still here again-ghhn!"

Something sharp and searing spiked through her neck and Cernia immediately clapped a hand on the side of her throat. Gritting her teeth, she felt the world being changed slightly, but she didn't know how. The Kyuuby's mind was stuck in a haze of inner-confusion but her body was acting on its own.

At once a deadly snarl escaped the Kyuuby, her eyes fading before being overcome by a dark purple light. Growling, she turned on the vampire suddenly and lashed out with a solid punch. Was...Was this what had compelled her to start a gang?

Lucille instinctively reached for the girl, to put a comforting hand on her shoulder when she felt a pain in her neck. But her reflexes kicked in as the girl began to radiate a purple light, retracting her hand in a flash and jumping to her feet. Just in the nick of time, avoiding the girl's attack. Lucille seemed to have a possible speed advantage, but she knew that a direct blow from Cernia would probably be the end of it. "Cernia?" she questioned, taking another step back just in preparation of another attack. "What's going on? Wait..."

"Who are you?"

---

---

Cernia's answer was a lunge at the vampire, aiming to pin her to the ground. It would seem all acts of trying to reason with the Kyuuby would be all for naught as her motions and demeanor were that of a wild beast. Her tail began to glow with a pulsing light, Cernia snarling savagely with the desire to tear the vampire apart.

The older woman leapt backwards in a hand spring, bouncing off the ground in a few flips to put more distance between herself and the Kyuubi. When she finally landed on the ground again on all fours, her expression lost the confused look and became completely serious. "Don't make do this, Cernia..." Lucille performed one last back spring, this time kicking off her high heels in the same motion. She had no idea where they landed, probably far away from the speed of the motion, but now she was going to be able to move faster. Okay, Lucille, what to do... If I can bite her then I can calm her down by force. But that could go wrong very fast. Maybe I can try communicating with her telepathically. Something is wrong with her and she isn't in control, but maybe she still has her conscious thought...

With her decision made, Lucille focused on the Kyuubi girl's mind. Her voice would ring out within Cernia's head. "Cernia, you need to calm down," the voice said, using a calm and nurturing tone. Something gentle, to test the waters. Lucille half expected to get no response, but she hoped that there would be some kind of easy way out of this. Cernia was a rare case where she couldn't simply overpower her opponent. Being a vampire afforded no advantages tonight.

All Lucille would get back in return was a massive mental scream, the roar threatening to tear the vampire's mind in two. What was worse was that the feral declaration was being emitted both in the mind and outside, the call startling a few of the Raijuu boys. It didn't take very long for both immortals to be surrounded by the massive group of Raijuu, their eyes wide at the sight of what was going on.

And then something happened that made them all instinctively step back in fear. For as Cernia continued to roar and rampage, a burst of energy was growing behind her, taking the shape of a second tail. If Cernia wasn't stopped soon, Lucille would have to deal with a full blown nine-tails.

That was interesting. Lucille looked quizzically at the girl as she grew another tail. She was largely unfamiliar with the history of Kitsune and Kyuubi, not realizing any difference between them until now. She could feel a difference from Cernia, despite the ringing in her ears from the piercing shriek a moment before. So she's not at full strength right now. But she's growing stronger. I guess this is my only opportunity to try and defend myself. Otherwise I will have to run...

The vampire held her ground, placing one of her bare feet forward in Cernia's direction. Lucille wasn't particularly trained in martial arts, but she had been practicing on her own over the past year since she became a vampire. After all, having incredible physical capability is only so useful if you don't know how to handle yourself. It was a weak stance, clearly one used by an amateur, but Lucille seemed confident that she could stand up to Cernia. "You kids may want to get back. This could get out of hand..."

The Raijuu wasted no time in following Lucille's advice, getting the hell out of the surrounding radius. They didn't know what the vampire thought she was doing but each of them figured she had a grasp on the situation. Right? If anything, at least they were convinced not to go joining any other gangs, especially if the leader was going to turn into some woobie destroyer of worlds. With a snarl, Cernia dashed forward with incredible speeds.

When the girl finally dashed forward, Lucille stepped to the side and reached out. She latched onto Cernia's right arm, intending to flip the girl over and pin her onto the ground. But this proved to be folly very quickly, as when Lucille applied her own strength she found Cernia's arm wouldn't even bend. I underestimated this girl. That much strength in just one arm... Rather than doom herself she let go of Cernia's arm before the girl could fling her around and then jumped backwards. Wrestling her to the ground wasn't going to work, and even if it did it seemed that Lucille wouldn't be strong enough to keep her pinned. So, I guess it comes down to this... Without any further dialogue, the vampire turned around and started to run away from Cernia again. She first jumped, clearing the compound and landing on the roof of the main temple, waiting there to see if the girl would follow her and to see how efficiently she could move around. If Cernia ended up being faster than Lucille then running wasn't going to help, after all.

As the fight began in earnest, a new element introduced itself into the situation. There was no sound at first, but it would be felt in an overbearing presence, an aura of power and strength that radiated from the direction of the temple exit. An aura that only seemed to intensify with each second that passed even if it wasn't noticed at first by those present. It could only belong to one person, yet only Cernia would be able to recognize it, and she was far from being in a state to do so.

Then the presence made itself known vocally, grunting as she stepped into view of those present. "Tch," the woman grumbled to herself. "I leave the kid alone for, like, a day, and she goes off and does something stupid." It was obvious that she was quite the different personality, seemingly oblivious to the dangers present as she became involved in the currently ongoing fight.

The woman was tall, and radiated a power that extended beyond her appearance of t shirt and jeans, with long blond hair and red eyes, a bronze necklace with it. Her hands rested on her hips as she walked forward, ignoring the Raijuu present at the same time as she neared Cernia, hopping onto the roof in a single jump. A glance was given to Lucille, accompanied by a cocky and confident grin, as she drew near. "Sorry about this. She's not the easiest person to handle."

That said she looked to Cernia, frowning with her arms crossing her chest. "I hope you had your fun Cernia. Time for you to get back to work."

Cernia snarled, mind wracked with the intent to kill as Lucille leapt away and out of her grip. Her twin tails flashing, she prepared to leap up in pursuit of the vampire before a very familiar presence made her give pause. Body frozen in motion, the possessed Kyuuby turned to the voice of her master, staring blankly at the woman's form for a few moments.

It seemed that whoever, whatever, had taken control was hesitating in facing this new threat; but that hesitation was only for a moment as Cernia screeched out into the night air, one fist glowing in blue flames while the other was coated in a freezing layer of ice. She then took off, suddenly appearing at the woman's side with a punch aimed right for her head. It seemed the Kyuuby, possessed as she was, hadn't learned from last time.

A new woman had appeared, Lucille only detecting her presence just before she jumped up onto the roof. It surprised her from the power she was feeling from the newcomer, who seemed to be important. Someone confident at least. "I noticed," was all Lucille had to respond to the mystery woman. It seemed like an inappropriate time to ask who they were and what they were doing. But as Cernia overcame her hesitation and jumped up to the roof, now using magic in her attacks, Lucille was quick to leap out of her way. She seemed to be gunning for the newcomer and Lucille knew she wasn't equipped to stop her.

The woman waited patiently for Cernia to answer her, noting the tails that lashed in the air and indicated the power that was currently being drawn upon. Well, that was annoying, and a tad worrying. Not as much as if she had had more currently manifested, but it was a sign that something was definitely up. She wouldn't have gone to such lengths without a major opponent, and this didn't seem to apply, no offense to Lucille.

Suddenly Cernia was at her side and she lashed out. Yet the woman reacted quickly as well, spinning and deflecting her punch before unleashing a blow of her own, a snap kick aimed at her side, which would send her flying off the roof if it did impact, allowing the woman to follow her and keep up the pressure on Cernia now that she had the advantage. It would almost have been an impressive battle to watch, if Lucille weren't so close to the middle of it.

Cernia's snarl was cut off as the woman launched a kick into the side, making the Kyuuby hurl over before being sent flying about a mile away. All of the irritation of the World's Strongest Creature was put into that kick, Cernia tumbling along roof tops before scrambling onto all fours with her claws. She quickly got up as the woman advanced, putting up a defensive as she blocked and countered the many blows aimed her way, the two fighters deadlocked.

Growling, Cernia's eyes flickered over to Lucille before her one of her tails began to glow. With a swift swipe she flicked a bolt of blue energy before it materialized into a giant blade of ice straight at the vampire.

The fight had taken a very distinct turn. The new woman blasted Cernia away with just a kick. Clearly she was quite strong. Was this possibly Cernia's master? The Strongest Monster? "Oh my," Lucille muttered to herself, briefly wondering how well Cernia was able to take a blow like that. But it seemed that, in the distance, she had recovered quite fine and was able to continue fighting. The vampire wasted no time in catching up with the two, unsure if she should attempt to assist or not. She couldn't well run away, or else she wouldn't be accomplishing the mission.

But before she could approach it seemed that Cernia hadn't forgotten about her. A magical attack was sent her way in the form of a blade of ice. A large one. The timing on it was unlucky for Lucille, catching her while she was mid-jump and unable to avoid it. But she didn't need to dodge it. Her hands came together, catching the blade of ice before it could impale her and stopping it dead in the air. The freezing temperature of the blade would surely hurt a normal human, and that isn't accounting for the size and weight of the thing, but Lucille was able to defend herself just fine. After landing safely on another rooftop she simply let it fall to the ground, shaking her hands a few times afterwards due to the frosty feeling left in them. "Well then, is there anything I should be doing now better than watching? Hmm..."

The blond haired woman followed on Cernia's heels almost nonchalantly, springing between rooftops and otherwise walking as she closed the distance between herself and the rampaging Kyuuby. Given what she had displayed already it was obvious that she wasn't concerned about the threat posed to her, even as Cernia recovered from the brutal hit that had been administered to her. Soon enough they met once more, the woman sighing aloud before she lashed out, meeting each punch and returning her own with all the annoyance and irritation that she could muster.

The distraction as Lucille arrived was noted and otherwise ignored as she focused on getting the upper hand, meeting the incoming blows as she went to grab at her arms or hands, which would serve long enough to hold Cernia in place for the few moments needed to deliver a painful head-butt. Not the most elegant, but definitely effective, which she would follow up with an attempted pin, depending on how it turned out.

The resounding head-butt stunned the Kyuuby momentarily, just enough for the woman to pin her down. A few dazing moments later had Cernia shaking her head, the blow leaving a resounding cracking noise running through her ears. But whoever or whatever was controlling her was obviously not eager to relinquish that control, a final trump card of sorts playing out.

A burst of energy would explode from Cernia's body, gathering straight up towards the heavens that would serve to blow the woman back. Howling into the skies, a third tail manifested itself behind her, coating in blue streaks of electricity. Fire, ice, and now lightning; all three powers were but a third of the Kyuuby's full power and she charged right at the woman. If the vampire and the World's Strongest had any open opportunities to finish this battle, it would be now.

It seemed that Cernia's master had the situation under control, quickly pinning Cernia to the ground after brutalizing her in hand-to-hand combat. It was somewhat mesmerizing to watch, but Lucille wasn't too distracted to notice the build-up of power within Cernia. When she grew a third tail and blew her master backwards it was clear that the escalating situation needed to be handled somehow. Before Cernia could charge at her master she would feel an impact from her side.

Lucille had dashed in and brought with her a full-body tackle. Taking advantage of her own strength and momentum coming perpendicular to Cernia's, Lucille slammed into the girl and sent both of them off-course from her master. "I said I didn't want to do this," Lucille spoke up, gripping Cernia tightly as she continued forward to the edge of the building. She intended to dive off the side with the Kyuubi girl trapped in her arms. Surely gravity and physics could do some kind of damage, perhaps rack her brain a little bit to snap her out of whatever insane trance she was in. Of course, Lucille knew that she was now completely within Cernia's reach and largely unable to defend herself from any retaliations. Hell, she didn't even know if she could hold the girl for more than a second or two anyways. But at least she made the effort.

The woman let out a smirk as she pinned Cernia down, her tactics having been as successful as she had anticipated that it would be. That sort of thing came in handy, though she wasn't about to go into detail as to why it was. Right now she was just planning to stick like this, maybe rough her up a bit until the tails went away, something like that. Cernia wouldn't appreciate the headache later, but honestly the woman didn't particularly care. She had dealt with that sort of thing before, and could do it again.

In spite of her position, she was nonetheless caught off guard by the sudden burst of energy which surged from Cernia as the third tail manifested. It blew her back, though she tumbled and rolled rather than falling off the roof, and quickly recovered to face the oncoming charge. The charge that never reached her as Lucille intervened to tackle Cernia off the roof.

"Well then, that was unexpected," the woman noted to herself as she hopped down after them, walking over to deliver a full force punch to Cernia if she had broken free during the fall. Honestly she could have taken the Kyuuby at even higher levels of strength, but cutting her off now before she could go all out and wreck the place would probably be for the best. Cernia had better be grateful for this later.

Cernia had indeed broken free from Lucille's grip but it wasn't enough of a time span to dodge the punch delivered to her by her master. The solid blow only sent her plummeting down towards the ground faster, her body impacting and causing a massive crater to form, the entire Setsuna Temple shaking at its roots nearby.

The Kyuuby was unconscious, her tails slowly dispelling one by one. A dark hiss was heard, something seeming to emerge from a black mark on Cernia's neck. How long had that been there? The mark seemed to take three-dimensional shape, morphing into a black serpent as it desperately slithered away to safety. Assuming one of the women would crush it, Cernia groaned as she blinked open her now normal eyes, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head.

"Gahh! Motherfuck that hurt! Hey...Granny? Granny you...y-you...oi! You ruined my good clothes!" Cernia protested, already standing up and pointing at the blonde woman in accusation, indicating to her now torn and battered hoodie. "Seriously, you can't be mindful of good fashion for once?!?"

Lucille landed surprisingly gracefully after Cernia had broken free and her master accelerated the girl's descent, landing just at the edge of the crater she had created from the impact. Maybe the World's Strongest was able to solve the problem, as Cernia didn't immediately get up and her tails started to go away. But before they could breathe a sigh of relief it seemed that some strange, dark mass appeared on Cernia's neck, turning into a snake that wasted no time trying to flee from the unconscious Kyuubi. It didn't make it far, as Lucille's bare foot slammed onto its head before it could even leave the crater. Before the vampire woman could even question what happened Cernia decided to wake up and start berating her master.

Over the damaged clothes. Is this so normal between them that she only worried about the clothes? For now she decided to stand to the side, to see how the conversation between them would play out. Perhaps her questions would be answered without even having to ask. As well it seemed like a good idea to not give Cernia the notion that she had just been attacked by Lucille, as the girl seemed oblivious to Lucille's involvement in the rampage.

The woman landed relatively gracefully as well after delivering the finishing blow to Cernia, though she landed inside the newly formed crater rather than just on the edge. Walking over, she noted the disappearing tails, which was good as far as she was concerned. Cernia seemed otherwise unharmed at the moment, which would make getting back on their way easier.

She folded her arms across her chest, tapping a foot as she waited for the Kyuuby to wake up from her forced nap. The appearance of the snake earned a sharp gaze and a frown as her mind wandered, connecting Cernia's strange actions to whatever that thing had ben. Perhaps something to look into later? But there was no time to wonder about it, as Cernia woke up and began to berate her about what she had done to her wardrobe. "You attacked me," the woman pointed out. "What happened to your clothes is only your fault."

Having brilliantly explained her innocence in the affairs of clothes, she shot a glance at Lucille before turning back to Cernia. "So who's the vampire," she asked, nodding her head towards their current companion. Given that the two had been fighting when she showed up, it was probably someone important, or close to Cernia. Not that she cared, but curiosity compelled her as she waited for an answer.

"You know you can ask her yourself," Cernia pointed out, still miffed at the loss of her clothes. "Anyway, she's a Chaser though I doubt you'd know what that is Granny. Apparently she was sent here to deal with some gang of teenagers. Totally don't know how that could have happened, Her name's Lucille by the way."

"In fact, Cernia here helped me out with that," Lucille continued, completely going along with the Kyuuby’s story. She reached a hand out, to shake hands in greeting with the girl's master. "You can just call me Lucy if you want. A gang of Raijuu was abusing the Setsuna Temple and I was tasked with making them stop. Cernia helped convince them to stop terrorizing the place, but she seemed to become possessed by something right after the fact." The vampire woman flashed a smile in Cernia's direction. She clearly didn't hold the girl to her attempt at Lucille's life.

"In fact, I was thinking of donating to the temple. It's been hit with hard times and a bored old woman like me has nothing better to do. But you seem to know the prodigy fox-girl yourself. By chance would you be... her master?"

The woman looked between the two with some skepticism, but the coordinated story, as impromptu as it might be, was successful in convincing her that the events they had claimed really had happened. Well, for the most part anyway. She wouldn't be bothered to pursue her lingering suspicions, if only because of the effort that it would have required to do so. She had better things to do.

"I see," she said once the explanation had been finished, letting out another sigh of resignation. "Why is it you that always gets involved in this weird occult stuff. First getting kidnapped to be used as a sacrifice, now possession, is there something about being a Kyuuby that makes you a magnet for this stuff?" That was directed at Cernia, as should be obvious. This wasn't the first time that this sort of thing had happened to them, apparently.

That said, her focus shifted to the vampire, and that particular area of conversation. "Nice. I guess it was a good thing you were here to keep Cernia preoccupied until I showed up. I turn my back while shopping and the next thing I know she's gone. Ridiculous." There was some grumbling on her part, the woman not exactly thrilled with how events had gone. But the question prompted a grin and a pose, albeit a subtle one, as she showed off. "Yeah, that's me. World's Strongest Creature and her master. You can determine for yourself how unfortunate it is."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm a totally powerful Kyuuby who's gonna become the World's Strongest one day. People just like me that's all. Unlike you," Cernia protested with a huff, soon rolling her eyes as her master then did her routine greeting, pose and everything. "Please don't encourage her. I'll never hear the end of it."

Well then, it would seem this mission had been resolved nicely. The Raijuu had no plans of ever joining something so much as resembling a gang ever again and the temple would now get some steady funding for a while. The issue surrounding Cernia's love life as well as the snake had yet to be resolved, but perhaps they would be in the near future. Cernia just hoped Lucille wouldn't become a part of her master's fan club.

Just as Jun predicted, the lights didn’t leap to attack him. Instead, they came and circled around him in an up and down pattern, their appearance was distinguishable now that they were so close. They looked like soap bubbles, but more ethereal (if that’s even possible) and something… images seemed to swirl inside of them. They looked like the hazy memories of a child or a family playing in the park on a lazy weekend, a girl running, a girl jumping, a girl laughing, but in none of the images there was anything distinguishable, as if a mist clouded them.

Suddenly, a huge flash of iridescent light illuminated the night, coming from the Botanical Garden, upon it’s flicker, the bubbles disappeared from Jun’s view, and all he could get from them was a sideways glance of the bubbles going towards the garden. Perhaps, they were right and the mystery really there? There was only one way to know.



Kat would find that negotiation with the giant bubble of silliness before her was all but impossible, since just after hugging her, it set out to run around the playground, trashing everything in his path, with a happy smile stamped in its face. The only thing that stood as the sand ball run like a four-years-old on a sugar high were the swing, which it avoided by some reason. When there was nothing more to “play” with in its view the sand blob turned once again to Kat, running and jumping just a few meters away from her as if it wanted to dive bomb the Chaser.

However, just as it was about to crush (if she hadn’t done anything like to get out of the way/protect herself before) Kat in its happy glee, a powerful light flashed from the Botanical Garden and as the sobbing near the swings stopped, the sand monster crumbled, splashing a wave of sand everywhere. Kat’s shield would protect of any harm, but not without some sand getting in… inconvenient places. Anyway, despite the bizarre occurrence from a moment ago, the playground seemed safe now. Perhaps they were right about the garden?

Kat’s choices now were to try and get to one of the other on their respective zones, or try to approach the garden either as a team or alone. What would she do?



Kazuki would find as he picked the toy, that no, it didn’t turn into a worm the size of a bus and ate his head with extreme prejudice. What happened was actually that the song stopped altogether and a strong light flashed somewhere in the park, probably from the Botanical Garden. Perhaps, because he took the furthest place, he didn’t have much time to react before the event, even so the plush bunny wrestled itself out of Kazuki’s grip and flew toward the Garden.

With the theater dead as well, Kazuki was presented with the same choice as the others. His fate laid on his hands.











To the Chaser's woe, the flash in the Botanical Garden actually meant that a certain apprentice of the World's Strongest Mage had just finished her grandest scheme ever. If today wasn't the day when Harumi would catch an alien, then... she would just have to try harder next time. One-upping her own ploys was one of Harumi's hobbies, after all.

Either way, the reports in the park attracted Harumi like honey would attract bees and she had been camping here for the past couple days. The first one to step on the garden would be greeted by Harumi's fail safe Alien Catcher v 2.35 (aka, magical rope trap), and swept of their feet, before the esper jumped from her hiding spot on some nearby bushes.

"Hah! Got you, I knew it was an alien this ti... me?" Harumi trailed off as she noticed t was just another group of Chasers, "Oh, come on guys, can't you see I'm trying to make a trap here? Stop wasting my time, gah!" She said while pacing back and forth in thought, not even caring to free whoever fell for her trap, after all now that it had been activated it was nothing but a normal length of rope, the could very well cut themselves off of it. Of course, it would mean a tree meters head first fall on the ground, but hey! If they are Chasers they can survive at least this one, not?

Anyway, a moment later, the true cause of the occurrences at the park would reveal itself as the bunny the sand and the bubbles combined together before everyone’s eyes, forming a giant bunny of doom, with an armor of sand and bursting bubbles from the mouth, such a seriously bizarre vision caused even Harumi to frown, though it was in annoyance, ”Are you serious? All this time and it was just a boring ghost? Ah… whatever, Reiko sent me here, if I don’t get this done before going back, I don’t know what she’ll do.” Harumi said, drawing a handful of ofuda from her vest and getting ready to the fight.

But not without one last quip, ”Hey, guys”, she said to Jun, Kazuki and Kat, ”You don’t happen to have a Holy Hand Grenade on you by any means, right?” Anticipating that they might not get the joke (‘cause seriously, who ever did?), Harumi finished with, ”No? Then I guess we’ll have to do it the hard way, get ready, here it comes!” And, after dodging a jet of bubbles, Harumi dived into the fray, with magic and martial arts.

Now, it was all on the Chasers and hers hands.







”Sorry, Rui-kun, it’s the Law of the Jungle, the wolf is a hunter and I sure am hungry, right Kiara?” Haruka said after intentionally pairing with Rui-Ling, despite both their motorcycles being about the same power, Haruka’s was much lighter, meaning that she could pass him easily if she wanted, though she didn’t had the ages long experience that the decrepit immortal had to use at her advantage so they were more or less ion the same level on the race.

”By the way, Kiara, wasn’t you who said you wanted some emotion tonight? You know, danger is the best spice for love~” As Haruka replied to her girlfriend’s question, she managed to get into a tight spot between two speeding trucks (one of them being an empty car carrier), and summoned her sword before slashing at the trailer controls, thereby lowering its ramp. One break and another acceleration later and Haruka was yelling at Kiara to hold herself (not that it was needed, since Kiara could simply use her powers to avoid the hardest bumps). ”Well then, Rui-kun, see ya later!” Haruka yelled, before revving a last time and using the truck’s ramp to jump to the top of a container carried by another truck.

Well then, if it wasn’t insane? Haruka used the advantage of her custom built “roof hopping” motorcycle to turn the race into a 3D contest, now that she had the option of jumping from truck to truck. Indeed she was mad, but that’s just how Haruka lives, Kiara should know it better than anyone else.



Meanwhile, Suzumebachi was putting more and more distance between them with his hyper-fast ride. Maybe this time was his chance for a grand victory? Who knows?

---

@Ashifili@GrafRoy Zeppeli@Rune_Alchemist@rechonq@TheWindel@McFazzer

Jun was about to pull the trigger once the lights approached him. Thankfully, his finger was light on it and the hammer didn't actually hit the ice bullet inside the chamber at the time.

Jun dropped his arms to the sides and started watching both of the light spheres dancing around him. They did not seem to mean him any harm, so Jun decided to just watch them. Perhaps there was something about them and their dances that would make some kind of sense.

There were also the images playing back inside them. Though they made him extremely curious, Jun decided to refrain from touching them. If they went feral in a moment's notice and he could not protect himself because he was just curious, well, it would definitely be bad for him.

Perhaps going back to his house afterwards and checking over dances and other youkai will give him some insight on what they are actually trying to tell him. Of course, they wouldn't let the cryomancer feel smart again.

There was a sudden flash of light, coming from the garden. Jun instictively covered his eyes.

"Ah, wait!" Jun shouted once the bubbles left for the botanical garden.

It was both bad and yet it also served to inflate his ego. After all, he was right. The botanical garden seemed to be the source of everything that was happening here.

"Jot one down for the world's greatest ice gunslinger, Jun Kaiki, the Cryoslinger!" He proclaimed.

Luckily, there was no one to hear him and his boisterous claims. With a blush in his face, the man decided to leave for the botanical garden.

Once in front of it, he prepped his own ice grenade. Hopefully, the others were done too, and he needed to have them near. He also hadn't heard the explosion of any of theirs, so he assumed they were mostly okay.

As Kat had guessed, the ice grenade could do a bit more to a human body, or a youkai, should it be thrown at them. The explosion of ice would not only come as a shock and make them stagger, but it would also flash freeze the part of their body they hit them in. Both legs, An arm and half of their torso. The whole torso or their head.

The ice would last long, but it would certainly serve as a tactical advantage if push came to shove.

One of the reasons why Jun decided to throw the thing to the sky, which then exploded and produced a sound that would echo all across the park.

If they were going to come anyway, then Jun could very well wait for them inside. He decided to prep some traps.

He froze over the floor rightly in front of the garden, and then put up a floor with ice spikes, and an irregular step, so that any youkai would slip by the frozen floor, trip over the step and then impale, or at least hurt, themselves in the spikes.

It was visible enough from the outside, easily avoidable, but coming out in a rush from inside would probably end up in a probably fatal wound.

So, the cryomancer stepped inside... and did not expect himself to be the one trapped.

The rope was such a cliche trap, and yet one he did not anticipate.

When the girl approached him, a vein popped in his forehead. His glasses were also about to fall.

"You imbecile! Who did you expect, Santa Claus?! If you were hoping to catch an alien, they wouldn't be remotely as idiotic as to fall for this kind of stupid trap!"

Then again, he fell for it.

"B-But it doesn't have anything to do at all with my current situation! Argh, just let me down already!" Still, the girl seemed to mostly ignore him.

So Jun created a pillar of ice below him and then trained his gun on the rope and froze it over. Another shot and the ice was shattered.

Jun landed on the ice and let out a sigh. He hurried to untie his feet and made the pillar gradually smaller until he was able to jump off of it with no damage done to either his pride nor his body.

He dusted himself off and was about to continue telling off Harumi, but the sudden appearance of the youkai before them made him ready both of his guns and prep more bullets. He dodged the first attack as easily as Harumi.

Then there was the joke about a holy grenade... Probably from Monty Python. He just hoped he was right.

Just for the sake of playing along, Jun readied another ice grenade, styled after said holy grenade, pulled out an ice pin and then shouted, "One, two, five!"

He would follow up with the three if someone followed up with the joke and then throw it at the bunny that had appeared before them.

It would probably freeze over a good part of it.

---

@Rune_Alchemist@rechonq@KoL

As Kazuki picked up the bunny the music stopped in the shell. He began to look around, as if to find someone who turned the music off as he touched the rabbit. He saw a bright light coming from another part of the park, but it did come from the general diraction of the garden. As he looked away the little plush toy managed to sqirm free from him and took off towards the light. He immediately began to chase after, but it was very quick and began to outrun him. He soon heard a loud boom coming from the same direction. He assumed it was the grenade, but he wasn't sure which one set it off. He continued to run to the botanical garden, but he still arrived a bit after the others.

He arrived just in time to see Jun getting down from his ice pillar. He noticed the rope hanging above him and wondered if that had something to do with why he was in the air. He walked around the strange ice on the ground wondering why Jun chose to freeze the ground so randomly. He ended up walking right into a burst of bubbles around him. He wasn't sure if he should be afraid or not, but it was coming from a giant bunny, so that took a little of the fear away. He figured it was a youkai though, so he plated himself in glass armor. He also noticed the shape of Jun's grenade and his goofy counting. "Three sir!" He quickly shouted.

@Rune_Alchemist @GrafRoy Zeppeli @KoL

-Katherine-

Kat could only watch with confusion as the...thing, whatever it was rampaged around the playground. Well, she was glad it wasn't bothering her any more, but this only furthered her questions. Just what was it? She had seen quite a few youkai in her days with the Chasers, but this was something out of her expertise here.

And that seriously annoyed her.

She focused a spherical shaped shield in her hand, intending to trap the pile a sand in it. She needed it to stop moving if she was gonna do anything seriously damaging too it, or at least it'd make it easier since she was fairly certain bullets would be useless against it. Though, she could always throw the ice-grenade to attempt to freeze it. Before she could, though, it targeted her again, intending to flatten her like it had almost everything else in the playground.

With a motion of her hand, a field appeared in front of her. With enough focus she was certain the creature would simply bounce off of the thing, but before it hit, there was a bright flash of light coming from the garden. The creature dispersed, sending another wave of sand everywhere. Her personal shield prevented any major damage, but...
"Just...what the fuck?" Was all she could say as the sand settled. She rubbed the back of her head, trying to think of some explanation for this and failing. Gah! As much as she liked working for the chasers, sometimes she just couldn't help but to just be completely...annoyed at some of the creatures the Crimson Sky produced. Like really! Well, she supposed she shouldn't complain as long as she could kill them.

Well, she supposed she should see what the others were doing. A sound of an explosion from the Botanical garden and a quick look over in that direction was all she needed to know that Jun or Kazuki had beat her there, so she set off for the garden. Thankfully for Jun, she arrived after his embarrassing little incident was over with. She'd have probably been laughing to hard that he got caught in such a simple trap to do anything if she had.

She arrived just about the same time the Youkai made itself known. Now this, was something she could get behind. Instead of dealing with some brat of a teenager or trying to settle peace with some freaky turtle things, this was something she could do. A straight up brawl with something.

Pity she didn't have her shotgun, but ah well. That would just make this much more fun. She definitely understood the monty python reference they were going on about, and decided to steal Jun's thunder just a bit.

She dodged the bubbles, though her shield could have probably absorbed most damage from them, and before Jun could even think about saying three she threw the grenade Jun had given her earlier.

"THREE!" She shouted, entering the fray herself, a bright grin on her face as she lobbed the ice grenade at the beast. "Too slow, brat!" She shouted back to Jun. As soon as the grenade exploded, she'd run right up to the beast, intending to give it a proper beat down with her gun in her right hand and ready to create a defensive or offensive force-field at a moments notice. Reckless? Maybe just a bit, but she wasn't called 'Havoc' for nothing.

She'd ask who their new little helper was later. For now, it seemed they had the same goal so she wasn't gonna ask any questions.

@GrafRoy Zeppeli@rechonq@KoL