[IC] Chasers - Boundary of the Crimson Sky [remake]

[rechonq]

@Rune_Alchemist@GrafRoy Zeppeli@KoL

Kazuki wasn't too saddened by the scene that came. He typically remembered and held onto the things that happened around him. He thought back to several other youkai that turned out to be similar as this one. He didn't forget those things and if he were normal, he would have reacted like Jun, but after years of the pain of those thoughts, he managed to shut off his emotions. He was able to not care about most of what people considered life's cruelties. Instead he just called them the facts of life himself and moved on.

He wasn't too interested in staying around and waiting for Harumi to finish. She was pretty interesting, but he didn't feel like sticking around with Jun about to cry and Kat whipping out her alcohol. The combination just spelled an awkward situation for him. He decided to leave the two chasers and the alien hunting magi at the park and return to the Dangeki. "I'll keep an eye out for UFO's for you." He said to Harumi as he left the garden house.

As he passed Jun and Kat, he thought about saying goodbye and trying to say something cheerful, but he found he wasn't the best at that. He went ahead and just left without saying a word to them. He walked out of the park, hopped on his bike and pedaled back toward the Dangeki.

@Flamelord@Crimson Raven@KoL

As he was getting close to the cafe he heard some commotion going. He couldn't tell, but he thought it started with a scream. He decided to take a little detour and as he got closer he definitely heard a lot of yelling, crashing and booming. There was even some maniacal laughter going on. Some hotheaded freak getting to big to think he could take on the world or whoever he targetted was never good. When he emerged from a side alley to the scene he noticed a girl with a robot trying to fight a pack of four eyed wolves and a minotaur. There were also two other chasers at the scene who seemed to be trying to fight the wolves and help the situation, but it definitely seemed like more help could be used, whether it was really needed or not. He formed another glass staff and swung it around his head. This time as it approached in front of him, he increased the length of the staff to stretch across the entire street. He swung it with a downward angle so it would pass just above the marionette's head and smash into the ground just in front of it, pushing back or crushing any wolves in the way. The minotaur was still in the pack of wolves throwing waves of flames out, so his next move was to thicken the glass and extend it upward, creatiing a wall across the road to separate the beasts and the girl. Once his wall was finished he ran toward the girl to help her. "Are you ok?"

She seemed pretty beat up when he got close to her, and his wall could hold off the fire, and possibly the wolves for a bit, but he doubted that a wall covering such a large area would be able to survive any sort of physical attack from the bull. He prepped himself with glass armor and a naginata, for whatever should come when the glass broke.

[Shisa]

Alice was, for the most part, ignored by both sides of the combat. One demon threw a half-hearted kick at her as an afterthought, sure, but this was easily dodged using her incredible powers of spacial awareness, AKA seeing the Youkai close the distance, slash a gun in half, and kick an action movie hero before even considering assaulting her.

Also super speed. Super speed helped.

Though she managed to get out of the way of the attack, Alice was patently unhappy. Nobody was taking her seriously, even though she was the biggest and best ever. She grit her teeth as she saw a fireball created and aimed in her direction. A fireball. How cliche could one be? Certainly they seemed to be using canned provocations on the one they called Executioner, but handling the great and magnificent Alice by throwing a fireball? They hadn't even the sense about them to properly address her before attempting murder! Absolutely infuriating.

Stomping her little feet in a mini-tantrum, Alice ran out of the way of the fireball which, upon exploding, had its shrapnel dealt with by way of an invincible tea tray.

"Treat me like a joke, will you?" growled Alice, "well the joke's on you!"

Immediately, Alice waved a hand and created a slippery banana cream pie below the Youkai who was being forced back by this Executioner's sword skills. This would slip up his footwork, which was the only thing keeping him from being cut in two, and allow the Executioner the fraction of a second he needed to kill the thing.

[Queue13]

Odelia Adams

It wasn't long before the beast found them; tearing through the support walls, causing the top two stories to crash down on the eastern half of the building. "Come on, this way!" ordered the gentleman up at the front of the group, trying his hardest to get the rest people to safety. Odelia couldn't exactly remember his name, but for the moment it didn't matter. They ran long and fast down the hallway, past the nondescript family photos hanging on the wall, with nothing but the pale red light coming in through the shattered windows to light their way. More crashes could be heard from behind as the monster continued to rip through the building behind them at a gaining speed. "Quickly, DOWN THE STAIRS AND OUT THE DOOR!" The man was yelling as he looked back to help the few people behind him before spotting the monster hot on the trail. His heart was paralyzed with fear as the people flew past him. His thoughts jumped back to his wife, his three daughters, his good times at the neighbor's parties, even his ---. His arm was nearly pulled out of his socket as the last of the people tried to pull him along to safety, though he quickly was brought back to reality enough to escape on his own accord. He followed the person down the stairs, giving one last one second look back thinking of where to go next as the person in front exited the building.

The door nearly closed before he caught it with the back of his hand and pushed it open, mentally prepared to regather the group outside before continuing the flee to someplace other than here; maybe his house, or at the very least across the bridge should there be a way to actually outrun the terror. More crashes could be heard behind him, everything from the remaining windows to walls, ceilings and pipes were all being ripped apart as the beast tore after them, no doubt less than 15 feet behind him now. But now he stood still, underneath the door-frame gazing outward as the monster slowed to a crawl until finally stopping close enough for him to feel its hot breath down his neck. What lay before him was far worse than anything he could fathom, completely defeating his spirit and will to live. There was probably only about nine other people within his group to safety; but there in front of him solely stood an eleventh person, surrounded by an ambiguous mass of red goop, torn cloth, and faces twisted into the emotional embodiment of true suffering. "Harron? Is it Harron? I'm sorry; so many people, so many names. Anyways, I must apologize: I never meant for it to go this far. I will say, however, I felt quite inspired by you. I'll try not to drag this out too long. I--" A big couple of taps to the head turned the whole world black.

"... miss. Young miss. Excuse me, but you can't be here, especially not at this hour. You should go home to your parents. I can drop you off if you'd like."

Odelia woke up in a haze, quickly making sense of her surroundings. Apparently she fell asleep at the bank; her lollipop had fallen into the grass and Bosco laid at her side. She looked up at the man who had woken her: some area official, but nothing even as close as big of a patrol officer. She stood up, dusting off the dirt and grass while picking up her worn teddy bear and placing another strawberry flavored lollipop into her mouth. She looked at the man with a blind smile before simultaneously using her psychic powers to send a flying rock at the back of the man's head and quickly dislocating all the major joints within his body before flinging him into the nearby harbor. There wasn't much left to do that Odelia could think of. It wouldn't be surprising that by now all the other jobs were finished by now so she headed back to the cafe. If nothing else, she wouldn't mind spending a little something now for something sweet.

[KoL]

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

With the end of the night's activities, the dawn approached as inexorable as ever. It was time for the Chasers to either go back to the Dangeki and get their rewards, or go back to their homes/bases for the day was not a time for them to ever be active. The creatures of the night naturally despise the light of the Sun.

The Crimson Sky

"Hehehe... you have yet much to learn, human. Sadly, you'll not have the time!" The Youkai assassin said after Vincent hacked off his limbs, before a vicious laugh escape its covered lips. A moment later the Youkai exploded as well, but this time the destructive force was about that of an anti-tank missile blasting a mere feet away from Vincent's face, probably not enough to kill the Executioner, but surely enough to leave a mark even if only on his ego.

Just about the time when the presumed last of the assailants died, the interference jamming Vincent's communications disappeared and a youngish female voice blared on his comlink. "Vincent, Vincent! Are you ok? We had a severe jam on our systems, but now it's all clear," said the voice that belonged to the First Communications Officer, Lieutenant Cecile "Ciel" Dantes, codename Azzure ONE, a member of the French Navy and the main operator of the ATF (Anti-Youkai Task Force). "Anyway, the Damocles caught the sign of an extremely powerful target moving away from your location. We could send an aerial strike, but you would be caught in the fire as well, als-"

"It would be useless, against that one", said another female voice, this one older and much more assertive, naturally belonging to the ATF's commanding officer, Vice Admiral Reinhardt of the German Navy and leader of the PMC known as "Black Foxes", codename Discordia. "That target is the Youkai known as Efreet, a S-rank threat, conventional tactics won't kill it under any circumstances. However, there's a way. Send him the data, Ciel."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Ciel said before sending several files to Vincent, contaning data regarding an individual known to have been hunting the Efreet for at least a few years. "Her name is unknown to us, but she seems to be known as the Scarlet Sage, among the ones who call themselves Chasers. She seems to be a mage (if you do believe in this sort of thing), that has a Master's Degree at Western Philosophy by the the Sonomachi University and her younger sister apparently was killed years ago, any extra information is dubious to say the least. There's an address as well for her office, at a paranormal detective agency known as the Crimson Veil, I'll patch it to you."

"I think our business is concluded for the night. You can investigate that woman tomorrow, Executioner, for now return to base." Reinhardt commanded, before adding, "Don't forget the civilian who invaded the combat zone, though." Then the sound of her hitting the floor of the command center with her cane was heard before communications were cut with an order of "Dismissed!"

The rest was on Vincent and Mami's hands.

@IncredibleBee@Shisa

Amagumi Park

Harumi Shizuka, the Shrine Maiden of the Lost Paradise

"So, you're still around here?" Harumi said to Jun and Kat as she finally finished the ritual. "Well, good thing, thing I have this to give to you. It's a parting gift from the ghost." Harumi said before giving them what looked like a miniature rabbit made of crystal, or was it ice? "Either way, that seems to be a Treasure of some kind. I'll ask Reiko about it later, but I gotta go now, I'm dead tired after all that. See ya tomorrow!"

As the weird esper waved the Chasers good bye, she shouted, "By the way, I was being serious about the aliens. I want to believe, ya know?"

And, with that said, Harumi simply disappeared in the fading mist, leaving Kat and Jun to their own devices. What an obnoxious thing mages could be when they wanted to be mysterious, right?

@GrafRoy Zeppeli@Rune_Alchemist

The Seaside Freeway

Right after Haruka and Kiara departed, Suzumebachi turned to Rui-Ling, "Heh, and what are you gonna do even if I tell you, Cow Lick? Yotsuba guys have been around for about as many time as you You won't be taking them down so easily."

"Anyway, it's not like I care for this crap. Here's the list they asked you we to steal. It's complete, anyway, so they can't blame us for not doing our job." Suzumebachi threw a stack of paper (and his Hayabusa's key) at Rui-Ling's feet, before leaving as well. On the papers where described a huge number of pieces of art and antiquities which all had an slight relation to the Crimson Sky and Youkai as well as some nonsense items like pieces of technology and electronics that were either made by or could easily be bought by YTC and a few less nonsensical ones like the newest one of a kind prototype telescope of Sonomachi U's Observatory, which was stolen a couple weeks ago, before it even reached the university's campus.

What Ling was gonna do or not with this knowledge or not was in his hands, though.

@TheWindel@Ashifili

Downtown, Stock Avenue

Orihime Tokisada, the Puppeteer

"Tsc, that's more trouble than it's worth. Come back, Minotaurus, there will be a time for our justice to be enacted. Remember this and fear, Tokisada ORIHIME!" The masked guy said as he walked away, once he noticed that more and more Chasers seemed to be arriving at the scene. A second later and he had disappeared as the screech of a giant bird rattled the streets. Immediately the Youkai wolves ran away, fearing for their lives, and looking like they didn't knew what had happened to them or why they were there.

Orihime on the other hand, barely had the chance to say "Thank you... I'm sorry for causing troub-" before she collapsed on Kazuki's arms, the doll getting back to the size of a child's toy right as her master lost consciousness. What the present Chasers would do with the unconscious girl was up to them.

@Flamelord@Crimson Raven@rechonq

[Flamelord]

Isotta Nachimbeni

Isotta came to a stop ear the girl being attacked, facing down the wolves as well as the being that was currently assaulting the girl. The clockwork automaton was interesting, but now was not the time to wonder on such things as she prepared more pages, to create additional blades even as another, larger beast appeared. She was not intimidated, and readied herself to fight with everything she had.

Then it seemed she didn't have to, The giant wall of glass took her off guard, but it seemed her opponents were as surprised, and the assailant wisely decided to withdraw rather than continue the confrontation, the youkai scattering once he was gone, as if they had been under his control and influence. Not really that unusual, given how things operated here in the first place.

With it gone, she let out a slight sigh as she returned the pages to where she had produced them from in the first place, shifting to look at the girl behind the glass wall. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," she muttered to herself before stepping over, acting as if she had not just been about to be in a major fight against an opponent of unknown capabilities. That would have to be investigated later, but it was not her job to do so.

Instead she focused on the girl present, shooting an affirming nod to the other Chasers present in the process. "He is gone for now. We should leave before more youkai arrive."

[Crimson Raven]

Downtown, Stock Avenue

How...cliché. And anti-climatic. Alex thought as the figure made an overused excuse to run away. He took a quick look around, just in case the person did the intelligent thing, and lay a trap or an ambush while their guards were down. He saw nothing, so he stomped back to the group of Chasers saying, "Blasted coward! He goes and starts a fight, but then runs away when someone who can actually put up a fight shows up! If I ever see the basterd again, I'll kill him." Alex stopped walking next to the unconscious girl. He studied her for a moment, and declared "The rest of you are probably completely fooled by that charade, so I'll say this now. I don't trust her." After saying what was on his mind, he fell silent. If asked, he would explain his reasoning, if not he would keep quiet.

@Flamelord @rechonq @KoL

[rechonq]

@Crimson Raven@Flamelord@KoL

As the sun rose over the horizon, the beasts began to make their pained retreat. Kazuki was relieved that the fight was over, and dropped the glass wall stopping the street. He was also very suprised at what happened next. As the girl next to him began appologizing for the trouble, she collapsed! Kazuki quickly caught her, but now he was just holding this girl in his arms. He felt quite awkward, and the fact that she was pretty and wearing a waloli dress didn't help at all either.

Kazuki stood their hoping another chaser would give some help as to what to do. Issota mentioned getting out of there, which was probably a good idea as they were in youkai territory, the Crimson Sky. Alexander on the other hand was just skeptical about helping her. For some reason he didn't trust her. Kazuki had no idea who she even was.

"Yeah, let's go ahead and get out of here." He started talking while carrying the girl away. "Alexander, do you know who she is? Why don't you trust her?"

[IncredibleBee]

A burst of flames washed over Vincent, singing his coat. It was hot, but fortunately didn't last long enough to properly roast him. The force did add a few fresh bruises, however.
He was only more annoyed as his support team radioed in, informing him that some strong monster's signature was leaving. He hoped it was something watching him, and not one of the guys he just exploded. They were annoying.
"So conventional tactics won't work on Efreet... does she mean Ifrit? Whatever. Crap, guess I gotta get a salt circle or something." he muttered to himself. Anything that couldn't be taken out with a bullet or a bullet dipped in holy water was a pain in the ass in his book.

The executioner shouldered his gargantuan sword and turned to face the small girl. Vincent's eyes peered from behind his featureless white mask, the blackened eyes betraying no emotion. She was short, skinny, and all around tiny looking. She wore a rather nice dress, meaning she was either from wealth or some kind of fashionista he saw in bigger cities during the day.
She was blonde.

Her eyes weren't some garish color and she lacked a tail and horns. She had no glowing tattoos or even regular tattoos, and her pupils and ears were a normal shape.
This girl was a normal human. Vincent suddenly let out a soft sigh. It was no good to have humans caught in the crossfire.

"Hey." he spoke in a voice louder and rougher than he would have liked. He elected to squat in front of her, otherwise her head would only reach up to his stomach. "It's not safe here. Come with me, and I'll take you home."

[Shisa]

Alice grinned as she admired her handiwork. Her heart was pounding with courage, and her legs were shaking with the indelible confidence of someone as big and powerful as as the titans of Greek myth. She had beaten all of the assailants almost singlehandedly, as expected of someone as great as she.

Then, she let out a fearful squeak of triumph as the masked giant barked at her, and whimpered bravely as her body shrunk to something a little less huge in order to not intimidate the newcomer. In short, she stepped away from him and crouched down, guarding herself tightly with her arms.

"K-k-kukuku~" she laughed as her eyes darted back and forth like a magnificent lion or, less likely, a frightened rabbit, "Y-y-you address the great Alice in such a tone? A-are you blind, boy? I can t-take care of myself! I did that!"

Alice pointed proudly at the banana cream pie on the ground.

"S-so you can go away and not hurt me now."

[IncredibleBee]

Vincent frowned, looking at the spilled pastry, and quickly pieced together what happened. The girl had been buying dessert from a store, and stumbled into an entryway. She'd dropped the pie, and found Vincent during his fight. And now she was frightened. Vincent realized his mask was probably really spooky.
He lowered his hood, and ran his head along the dome of the mask. Vincent tugged it off, and tufts of messy blonde hair fell downwards. His cold blue eyes were glazed over, and stood over a heavy frown that threatened to cut trenches in his face. A thin layer of stubble marked his chin and cheeks. He hoped he didn't look like too much of a delinquent.

"I'm not some monster. Come with me; I'll take you home." he repeated, offering his hand.

[Shisa]

Alice's eyes widened as the stranger revealed himself to be a Human rather than a masked demon. A foreigner, even! Alice, still trembling, started to get excited. She was always happy to meet real foreigners, after all, even if they did seem kind of scary.

"Ah! You are a foreigner," replied Alice, grinning as she took his hand and proceeded to get up, her legs still trembling, "I do not plan on returning home just yet, as the Chasers would likely be interested in hearing about this situation. A renegade Youkai-killer is something of an interesting subject, after all. I think I've even heard hearsay corroborating such."

Smiling proudly, Alice decided to try out her perfect English on the man.

"HOO IZU YOU NAIMU? AYE AMU ARISU!"

[IncredibleBee]

Vincent's teeth grit as the butchery of his native language assaulted his ears. He inhaled very slowly, then exhaled. This girl was some kind of chuunibyou. She couldn't have been very old. Perhaps she was playing pretend. With luck, she thought she was dreaming.

"My name is Vincent." he spoke, electing to continue in Japanese. "Listen... Alice. It's very dangerous here. You could get hurt. Where are your parents? Can you lead me to them?"

[Flamelord]

Isotta allowed Kazuki to keep the girl who had collapsed and passed out in his arms, even as he agreed with her suggestion of leaving the Crimson Sky now, rather than later. It was a sensible decision overall, one she had expected would not face opposition from the resty of the group. They were experienced enough for that sort of thing.

"If there is some sort of ruse, I trust that you and any other Chasers in the area at the time will be able to handle it," she noted aloud as she began to move back towards the entrance to the Crimson Sky, the same one that they had come in, or at least she had, in the first place.

As she did so, she addressed the other question. "I would assume it is because of the circumstances of the encounter, and how abrupt it was," she said to Kazuki. He could draw his own conclusions, but she was no more worried than she had been. If it was a trap or a ruse of some kind, they could handle it. If they were competent enough to anyway. That sort of thing was their job, not hers.

[Ashifili]

Wow, where did the dude even hide that piece of paper? Up his ass?

“Seeing how I’m going to outlive all of them, Antennae-head, I’ll be able to dance on their graves at least.”

Gingerly picking up the stack of papers and stuffing the keys of the Hayabusa into his pocket, Rui-Ling pushed both of the flashy vehicles to the side of the road, before scanning over the contents of the paper. It really did read like rather miscellaneous stuff, everything that could just as easily be purchased by the YTC instead of stolen. What exactly was the connection here? The pieces of art and the antiques appeared to be for personal interest, while the electronics were trivial. The prototype telescope from Sonomachi Observatory, which he did recall made a stir on the news, was a noteworthy thing, but for what purpose? Were they in fact, actually looking for aliens?

The immortal smirked. Maybe Harumi’s finally found some fellow believers.

Ultimately, this information told him nothing, other than the fact that it was most definitely one of Yotsuba Tech Corporation’s more secretive operations. No doubt, Haruka and Kiara had a headstart on him for that, and really, he could just leave it to those two…so for now, yeah, Rui-Ling will just take it easy and deal with more present annoyances, such as that Cataloguer dude.

Of course, at the moment, he might as well just Google up some information on what that prototype telescope could even be used for.

[Crimson Raven]

Downtown, Stock Avenue

Alex looked at the ginger out of the corner of his eye. "Hell if I know who she is, but this whole thing is as fishy as a tuna boat. The Chaser's unofficaly offical headquarters-slash-hideout-slash-hangout, or whatever, is less then a block from here. Its too damn convenient that she would pop up, acting all maiden in distress straight out of a cheezy novel, right where every damned Chaser and his brother could rescue her. On top of that, the way the other person disappeared is more than a bit suspicious, in itself. Waiting for the last minute to summon some big and powerful thing, then run away with his tail between his legs, as soon as we arrive? Come on, if you fall for that, I've got a bridge to sell ya'." His tirade finished, he angrily pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He stuck the cigarette in his mouth, and lit it. A moment later, he added "'course, this could be all be coincidence, after all, she could be here seeking our help, but I still refuse to trust her, until I have reason to believe otherwise."

@rechonq

[rechonq]

Kazuki went ahead and followed Isotta assuming she knew where a nearby exit was. She didn't seem to interested in them anymore, but she still gave a quick explanation of why Orihime might not be trusted.

Alexander gave a very detailed explanation of why he didn't trust her though. They were all pretty good points too, but Kazuki didn't quite agree. "That's true, but I've never seen her around here. I guess she could have found out about the Dangeki somehow. As for the youkai though, it's not uncommon for them to show up near here. They don't really know about our center. I won't take her back to the Dangeki until we know who she really is. If your scared she's here for Chasers there's only two of us here now."

@Crimson Raven

[Shisa]

"Kukuku~" Alice chuckled magnificently, her angelic laugh like a choir of angels, "it is a pleasure to- uh... m-my parents?"

Alice's face contorted in fearsome confusion as she looked up as the now unmasked giant, who was maybe almost as big as she was. Almost. Her parents had told her about people like these. Strangers, who liked to take little girls just like her to their shack far out in the woods.

And eat them!

"Yeah," the giant replied, the ground shaking with the profound bass of his voice, "how else am I gonna get you home?"

Alice shivered a little, for certainly it was a bit nippy outside and she wasn't at all scared about being eaten by a giant. Perhaps he would go away if she explained to the man just how capable she was.

"B-but I don't need to go home! For you see... I am a Youkai hunter from a secret organization! We go around solving problems and defeating evil Youkai who would harm the innocent, and we all have special powers, and we're called the Chasers!"

The giant's face contorted in the most absolutely frightening frown, a frown that would send shivers down the spine of anyone lesser than the magnificent Alice, who was still shivering in the cold.

"You're... you're just having a really weird dream," Vincent replied, "but it's important to go home. That's final."

"Don't wanna," squeaked Alice adamantly.

Vincent then unceremoniously scooped her up into a princess carry, and Alice began flailing around, kicking her little legs and thrashing her tiny arms. Which were also gigantic with the bigness of her personality.

"H-hey," Alice cried bravely, "W-what are you doing? Is this a kidnapping? Am I being kidnapped?"

"You're not being kidnapped," the giant roared as Alice trembled in the cold, "I'm taking you home, and that's final."

"SATUREINJA DEINJAH," Alice called out in her fantastic English, "SATUREINJA DEINJAH!"

"I'M NOT A STRANGER," growled Vincent, his face contorting horribly like it did when Alice had first spoken English to him.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU KIDNAPPING ME?" Alice yelled, squirming about furiously in his arms.

"TO TAKE YOU HOME!"

"DON'T WANNA!"

With this, Alice began holding her breath. Her cheeks poofed out like pillows, and she glared up defiantly at Vincent, who calmly poked one of her cheeks, thus forcing the air out of her lips.

"Fweh~ hey, no fair!"

"Yes, fair," Vincent replied sternly.

"Well I'm not going to tell you where I live, so there," replied Alice, just as stern.

"But... hm," replied Vincent thoughtfully, "you know, your parents are worried."

"H-how would you know?" Alice replied, Mami's weakness all over her face in her concern for her parents.

"I know these things," Vincent replied, matter-of-factly, "you wouldn't want your parents worrying about you, would you?"

Mami bit her lower lip. Something in Vincent's words struck her as truly genuine, and she looked away a little. Mami's demure gentleness washed over her face, thinking about how late it had become and how her parents must be wondering where she is.

"I... I..." murmured Mami, before remembering how small and weak that little Japanese girl was.

"Kukuku~" Alice laughed confidently, "yes, I do suppose they've spent long enough outside my enormous, awe-inspiring presence to be on the verge of tears. It would only be right to grace them presently with my magnificence!"

"...Alright, then," said Vincent, looking around, "now where do they live?"

"Well, my parents warned against divulging such information to a stranger," said Alice, still highly suspicious of this man. Her eyes, like a magnificent hawk, watched him so as to deduce his intentions.

"That's... very smart of them. But I'm basically a... an authority of sorts," Vincent explained, "so you can tell me."

Alice deduced rightly with her discerning eyes that he was telling the truth, and reluctantly divulged her neighborhood. In order to protect poor, meek little Mami's privacy, however, she refused to give an address.

This seemed to be enough for Vincent, who carried her out of the Crimson Sky and into her neighborhood, where he let Alice down.

"We're back in the real world," said Vincent, "can you find your way home from here?"

Alice puffed her tiny chest out proudly, and declared, "I am the great, the magnificent, the one, true Alice! My mind is as an advanced supercomputer, constantly making connections and processing information at the speed of light! To even ask if I might be able to find my way to my castle from here is an insult to my incredible personage!"

"Then go home," replied Vincent, "and don't let me catch you in that other world again. It's not safe there. Stay indoors during nighttime, got it?"

Alice's perfect, lovely, heartpounding blue eyes narrowed at the man. Did he understand nothing that Alice had said to him?"

"I will make you no promises, for you see, I, the great Alice, am a hero of justice! Delving deep into the dangerous places with my incredible power and saving the unjustly threatened is a part of my every day life! With my abilities, I can-"

The monstrous man leaned in close to Alice, who immediately stopped speaking and froze up politely to allow him a word. A fierce anger gleamed in his eyes and, his deep voice shaking the very leafs off of nearby trees, he stated, "If you be good and stay away... I'll buy you ice cream. How's that?"

Alice squeaked loudly and ran as quickly as she could towards her home. She wasn't scared or anything, but her parents were probably so worried that it would be far better to arrive sooner rather than later.

Vincent put his mask back on as he watched her go, giving a satisfied nod.

"...Shit. I forgot to ask what flavor."

[Rune_Alchemist]

@GrafRoy Zeppeli

After hading the cigarette to Jun, Kat downed some of the alcohol in the canteen.

"Ah, nothing like a strong drink after some bullshit like this." She continued. Honestly, she wasn't feeling to beat up about it, or really feeling that bad for Jun in general, but leaving him looking like that would just leave a bad taste in her mouth. Silence passed between them for a while, eventually Kat lit her own cigarette and decided it was time to get going. No sense in hanging around here. There wasn't anything they could do any more.

It was then, Harumi finally decided to show up.

"So, you're still around here? Well, good thing, thing I have this to give to you. It's a parting gift from the ghost."

Kat hesitantly took the item as it was handed to them. Huh. A miniature rabbit, eh?

"Either way, that seems to be a Treasure of some kind. I'll ask Reiko about it later, but I gotta go now, I'm dead tired after all that. See ya tomorrow!"

Well, maybe she'd ask boss lady at Dangeki tomorrow. For now, she was a bit tired and she wanted to get home and take a nice, long warm shower.

"By the way, I was being serious about the aliens. I want to believe, ya know?"

At that, Kat merely laughed.

"Sure kid. Let's make a deal then! You see an alien, and I'll cut my hair, and wear a dress!" She called after Harumi as she disappeared into the mist. "Fucking hell," She shook her head, taking a good, long look at the bunny she was holding, before safely placing it in her pocket. "Some weirdos will believe anything." She sighed, stretching from mild fatigue.

"Well, guess that's it then." She said to Jun. "I'll give this to boss lady tomorrow. You can stay here and...cry some more or something, I dunno." With that, Kat left Jun and the park, heading for home. She'd stop by Dangeki first thing tomorrow since she didn't have to actually work that day. If that miniature rabbit was a Treasure of sorts, then it could be pretty useful. Not that she was ever going to go around using some girly looking miniature rabbit unless she had too.

Ugh, why couldn't she find a cool treasure? Maybe she'd ask boss lady if there was one she could have later.

[KoL]

Chasers: Boundary of The Crimson Sky

Sonomachi City, Setsuna Mountains

"Ho~ Oneiros, the bells earrings that can put the ones who listen to it to sleep? This is a nice trinket, my friend. I'll guess I'll be adding it to my collection as well." Said a blond young man with clear disdain to the downed Chaser bellow his feet. "Endless Lullaby, have they not warned you I was coming, or did you just wanted to play the hero? Either way, my business here is done", as the man said so, he finally stepped on the other side of the narrow bridge that Endless Lullaby was guarding, before setting his gaze on the urban landscape before him, spreading his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Sonomachi, prepare yourself, for here I come!"

BGM

Sonomachi City, Dangeki Pawn & Parlor Café

And so it began, another night, another round of secret gatherings and mission to keep the peace of the city and the world intact.

In the wait for this to happen, Ellie went into Aria's office bringing a mug full of freshly brewed bloodchino and some doughnuts "Everything is ready, Mistress, we should be receiving the Chasers soon and the reports have arrived in time again. Even so there's something wrong with all this... I have a feeling I can't shake off, what could be it? Perhaps, the loneliness of my heart, or something much darker in the works?" As Ellie said so, her tail snaked subtly but certainly to the underside of Aria's skirt. Well, it was to be expected, at least for Aria, since the Magister should know all too well that even when her... overly dedicated familiar was being serious about something she couldn't help herself from demonstrating her love for her master in the most inappropriate ways.

• • •

Anyway, as the Chasers surely would begin to arrive again, they would be met with the mission board, currently with only the following options:

- A Youkai has been prowling a neighborhood near the Train Station and devouring people's souls while they sleep. It has been reported to be a Baku, a dream demon that can invade people's minds while they are asleep. For specific information, please ask either Master or I.

- There have been reports of a possible Poltergeist in an abandoned traditional residence on the Setsuna Mountains' village rumored to be the hiding place of a great fortune. Please, investigate and report your findings.

- More missions will be added as soon as Master finishes reviewing the remainder of the reports.

Sonomachi City, Outskirts of Reiko's Residence

Entrenched on the forest on the Outskirts of Sonomachi is a mansion rumored to be home to a witch known as the Scarlet Sage. They say she is the most powerful mage in the world, but also a very hard to deal with individual and, that's not wrong. The Scarlet Sage is really a pain to handle sometimes.

At the gardens of the old Western-styled mansion, red roses bloom the whole year, giving it a sophisticated appearance, even if the thorny vines entwined in the fence make for a very painful greeting to unwelcome visitors. To any who can peer upon the Crimson Sky, the house's defenses would clearly be seen to not stop by there, with multiple layers barrier taking a good part of the very forest where the ghostly manor is located.

Either way, it was from this very same mansion that Harumi Shizuka, the mage's apprentice, was going out that night, leaving for the Dangeki in order to meet with a certain kyuubi that has been giving her quite a deal of troubles these days. The presence of the mage could only be hinted by the fact that the light of her study flickered on just a moment after Harumi left.

---

@TheWindel@GrafRoy Zeppeli@Rune_Alchemist@Ashifili@rechonq@Shisa@Queue13@McFazzer@IncredibleBee@SolisHeretic

[Ashifili]

Rui-Ling came into the Dangeki Pawn Shop with his already messy hair in even more of a mess. An exhilarated grin on his face, the young immortal plopped down on a soft chair with a satisfied sigh, before ordering a parfait that he hadn’t tried before. Some sort of nacho parfait that was supposedly the invention of one of the part-timers in the Parlor Café. He doubted that he would enjoy the ‘unique’ taste too much, but he was fine with wasting money today.

The ‘gift’ from Suzumebachi, his Hayabusa, was a thing of beauty, two hundred horses packed into a sleek and sexy design. He’d have to get a new paint job for it though. The yellow-and-black color scheme irritated him to no end. Perhaps a subtle silver? Or maybe just a simple blue-and-black? Ah, the choices were endless~! God knows why he hadn’t bought one himself when it first came onto the market.

There was more on his mind than just how fun it was cruising around at top speed with no helmet on though. After some intensive Google research, it turns out that the stolen telescope was, in fact, something very unique. A refitted version of a telescope unearthed in a Central American cave. The real question was why ancient people would think it was a good idea to build a telescope in a cave the first place, but all things considered…what use would Yotsuba Tech Corporations have for the ability to see the Crimson Sky? For what reason would a company that was already aware of Youkai and Chasers have for stealing an ancient telescope?

Or were they solely after the geode instead, and simply stole the telescope in an act of misdirection?

The smile faded from Rui-Ling’s face, before another sigh left his body, this time a little more frustrated. For the time being, he’d have to dwell on this a bit longer, perhaps do some investigations on the other items that Suzumebachi had stolen for YTC. At least, this time around, the mission board had a whole bunch of jobs that looked tailor fit for his particular set of abilities. After all, dream demon that devoured souls? Poltergeists that haunted homes? Yeesh, his Airgetlam might as well be custom-made for all this.

Rui-Ling wasn’t in much of a rush though. For now, the immortal contented himself with waiting for more options, as well as taking the first bite out of this nacho parfait.

…

It was definitely…an acquired taste.

Rui-Ling sorta wanted to kill himself now.