Lonewolf685

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Rather then feel the satisfying, spine jarring crash of a massive mast cleaving into the Dutchman's deck, Earthshaker only felt the latter sensation as her bludgeon exploded into thousands of splinters by the Captain Miseria's katana. Having seen it deflect the fully charged Omega Obliterator she wasn't surprised even as she tumbled back across the deck, rolling end over end before striking the balustrade of the ship's deck.

She tasted iron and felt spittle turned pink fly from her lips alongside the breath in her lungs as the backlash ran through her. But as the seconds ticked by she came to realize the shaking wasn't just her body but the whole ship itself vibrating violently under a transformation that fermented outrage from the Rule Keeper.

The Captain was already a Miseria worthy of a fighting a Magical Girl. His swarm of intelligent crew would have pressured many teams.

But the ship turning into some bastardized airship somehow flying by both jet, turbine, and sail in spite of the latter being completely antithetical to the former forms of propulsion? Roche wasn't having it.

The tanned magical came to her feet, knowing it would be only a matter of time before the crew bubbled onto deck. With the captain dragged off by Acid Drop the ship was at last without it's great protector, but she needed a fresh source of energy. It was a shame that the mast hadn't counted, but with the ship's after burner's glowing bright, Roche had an idea that made red-smeared lips spread wide. Coming to the rear she saw the massive, incongruous engines and felt the wash of heat set her cloak billowing.

Gripping her shield tightly she lowered it into the backwash, clutching the frame as it began to block the controlled explosion. "You wanna keep escalating? Fine, throw a bloody rocket ship at us! Drop the damned sky, why don't you?! I'LL TAKE IT ALL!"

Hopefully the unhinged laughter wouldn't reach the beachgoers still embroiled before the ship, but it would be hard not to notice the glow atop the deck that was beginning to gleam like a newborn star. She'd never had the chance to test how much energy she could take, nor seen how much of Nyxia's lasers she could take over time.

But given precision had failed to do more then put a hole the ship ignored, Earthshaker was opting for an excessive big bang. Soaking in enough energy even her own eyes were blinded by her shine, till she felt like molten metal was running across her nerves where tattoos burned incandescent.

Ashbringer had proven to Roche that Magical Girl's could go so much further then the peaks she once felt comfortable residing upon. She had been shown what once looked to be a mountain was simply a hill at the foot of greater heights, and one didn't climb them without accepting a little pain. When she felt the moment of critical mass come, Earthshaker's arms heaved upwards, pulling the scorched hide over head with jittering muscles and drove them downwards onto the deck. Words came from her lips, a defiant roar of fury and prayer all in one.

"Hi-No-Kagutsuchi!"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

By the time Roche had hit the water her world was one of complete darkness, buried under the weight of so many Miseria the light of day couldn't slip past their pitch-dark bodies. Her heart thundering in her ear was the only through-line reminding her she was still alive, still struggling against the crushing vice around her throat.

Then she hit the water and the world was chaos.

She drew in lungfuls of salt water and flailed to orient herself as the water swirled violently in the wake of her strike. Bubbles and bodies swirled outwards and Earthshaker hadn't even begun to empty her lungs of the burning brine when he head came to the surface and saw more Miseria coming down from the Dutchman to drag her under. It was fortunate then that after her long swim to the ship wreck she didn't quite fear the water in her lungs more then she did being clumped up on once more.

For all the intelligence of the Miseria, they did make a mistake she was going to ruthlessly capitalize upon. If it were just her and the ones still swimming to grasp her from below, she may very well have lacked the leverage and flexibility to avoid being dogpiled once more.

But there were Miseria all to eager to jump down at speed towards her, and Rocha called her shield up between her and them with an expression that promised bloody murder. She only needed to wait for the first splat against stretched hide before energy blasted out from her feet. Pirate miserie just a hairsbreadth from grasping her ankle were sent swirling downwards while Roche soared out of the water. Each impact of a falling Miseria restored the luster of her tattoos.

"BLECH!" Roche viscerally up-heaved salt water as she crested the railing of the Flying Dutchman, finding it had begun to move towards the beach where....a frustratingly familiar Magical Girl had come with her friend. "Permission to come....Oh forget it. I'll save the Quips for the Light idiots!"

Earthshaker was decidedly done with the pirates, and any desire to play around had been choked out of her. Rather then the captain or his boundless crew, there was only one target in Roche's mind worth striking next.

Her arm reared back and threw her shield forward with a crack of displaced, striking the center of the ship's mast with the force of a cannonball, the magical girl following a step behind and taking it in a full body tackle. A construct of bone would be snapped clean off between both blows, and her fingers strained to grasp the unwieldy bludgeon.

She held little doubt that the magic boat would sail just fine without a mast, but would it still be in one piece when she swung the great shaft down upon it? Earthshaker's voice rose in a scream of fury that would have made Nyxia proud as she burned her energy to swing the mast down upon it's former home.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

After seeing the ship survive Nyxia's lasers she hadn't wanted to chance it with a broad blast of energy, and indeed her strike had performed better then she expected as both Magical Girl and pirate looked at one another through the many-floor deep hole punched into the ship. Were they actual flesh and blood pirates they may have reacted with terror or scrambled to mount a response.

Miseria did not feel terror, as far as Roche knew, so she really should have seen the immediate and coordinated response coming. But they were Miso girls, and they were used to a more animal-level intelligence in their prey. Shaking aside instincts and preconceptions took more then a handful of minutes especially when most of them were flying by the seat of their pants.

That was to say Earthshaker hadn't expected an immediate outpouring of pirates scrambling through the freshly made gap, crawling and clambering over her as they attempted to drown her in black muscle. It was exactly the worst situation for her to be in, her energy spent and one arm already occupied holding onto the ship itself. Which was seeming to imply the Miseria pirates were connected enough that even if they couldn't see or talk in any meaningful way, they all were learning from their separate battles at an alarming pace.

Feeling arms wrap around her neck, however, added a degree of haste to Earthshaker that made such broad reaching thoughts a low priority. Her body was leaden and bulbous, weighed by small, clingy forms that only wanted to restrain her without even offering a single attack for her to charge herself. In time the chokehold would leave her seeing nothing but darkness, and she very much doubted she'd awaken at all at that point.

Now acting purely from desperation Earthshaker had no recourse but to let go of the ship and twist herself so the Miseria laden shield could strike the water for her. That large of a surface striking the water would give her just enough charge to radiate out a blast and loosen the pirates.

Or she'd fail and be at the mercy of both Pirates and emotion eating monsters as she passed out from asphyxiation.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

In their confidence they had thought with concrete numbers of enemies they could crush them as they had the lot in Miso City. Roche would have chided herself for letting the lure of hope seduce her into foolhardy action when such vanity had brought them all onto this tragic adventure. The pirate Miseria proved a hardier fare, and coordinated as well given her effort to smash them into smears was foiled by sword obstructing the swing prematurely.

They'd fumbled to the water and while she'd met it on her shield she quickly found herself assaulted by pirate's flailing in the water around her. Earthshaker growled her frustration, feet and fists lashing out but finding poor footing was more then concussive force could entirely make up for. She distantly noted the flash of a laser directed heavenward but couldn't spare more then a glance when she had lash out to turn a pistol aside from firing up at her.

It was proving a poor match up all around, but as though by a stroke of providence another member of their dissonant club arrived. Like a hero from an age old samurai story she appeared at her back, perched upon her shield with nary a flicker of unease as claws rent into the Miseria with a greater ease then her fists could manage.

"Am I ever glad to see you, Shatter!" Roche crowed, finally able to wind up a blow to disperse the mass of water logged pirates. Her ear turned back, Roche's lips spread wide hearing Tsubomi make yet another poignant suggestion. Who knew she was the wise one of the group?

While Nyxia was still making an attempt on the ship with a scattered array of lasers she didn't doubt that either the ship itself or the Captain would have some response. And Roche had already had her fill of cannonball smacking.

"Enjoy the feast, High Priestess. There is more than enough for all of us, but I want a bite of the big ship!" Shatterscape would need to find new footing as Earthshaker bounded towards the ship, her shield held before her as she reared her fist back. As she streaked forwards the hide shield would mask from the pirates as all the light along her tattoos shifted and flowed, pooling into her fist. Condensing the dispersed energy into a single point, a spear of energy rather then a radiating blast.

She'd thought of this as an answer to that dragon themed girl, but the ship would make a good test target.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Try as she might, Roche struggled to really make a difference when a target wasn't targeting her. It was hard to counter a blow if it wasn't thrown till it came upon someone else, and that left Roche confronted with reserves that were diminishing far more then she could recover just from smashing herself against their bodies and leeching the little force generated from it. If the Miseria hoard hadn't reached a critical mass and changed in a dramatic way, she might have found herself as lacking as Suki was for dealing with the horde.

In so far that the gold standard was Nyxia and her laser holocaust, of course.

But Sink Queen had not steered them wrong with her words of a nautical nightmares, and upon creeping past an unspoken point of density, the tide of shapeless trash bags merged and swelled, coalescing into a grand pirate galleon of bone upon the waves. It was perhaps the largest Miseria she'd seen, the city dwelling sorts never lasting long enough to truly bulk up, especially when speed and stealth was their keys to success in a concrete jungle.

It's broadsides opened up and made to shell the beach, clumps of miseria striking and tumbling out to rise as pirate themed fiends with guns and blades to match. Their presence seemed to tip Tsubomi over the edge, burning her long stored reserves for a display of speed and brutality that had Roche flush with second hand excitement. Even Suki seemed to be shrugging off her immolation and was....violently kissing a lot of monsters.

"Detention Club, bring them down!" Earthshaker crowed her excitement and bounded into the air as another blast of cannon fire rang out. Her cloak billowed wildly behind her as she clutched her shield in both hands, teeth bared in savage anticipation as she met the cannonball with a swing that saw the air displaced around them with a crack and a flash. Other clumps of miseria wobbled, breaking apart and tumbling gracelessly into the sand and waters while the struck cannon ball turned to paste. Her energy reserves swelled, light blazing across her skin as she came down, using her shield as a raft to land upon. She'd ensure the reinforcements would be pitiful and scattered, sweeping aside the broadsides with every leap.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Seeing the plan....well, seeing the vaguely coordinated efforts of everyone come together and produce a tangible result was almost enough to make Roche forget that they now had to protect all the terrified beach goers they'd gathered up. Her heart beat with elation to see such a bounty of Miseria but it would really go beyond the pale if things turned into a bloodbath after all their efforts.

And judging by the smell of burnt pork and vaporized blood, Earthshaker was going to have to do something really nice for Suki as well.

There were two saving graces to the whole assault by the Miseria. Firstly, the approached from one direction and with great focus towards their gathering of emotionally unstable civilians. It was as best as they could hope for in setting the terrain to their advantage without terraforming the land itself.

Second, Nyxia didn't have to restrain herself in the least when shooting out towards the open ocean, and she was all too happy to reap a bloody harvest of the encroaching Miseria.

But they were a single minded wave, and even her lasers couldn't exist as a single wall to hold back the sea of tumbling monsters. Earthshaker's reserves were low, but with so many approaching she'd be bursting with energy shortly.

"Time to do what we do best!" With an energized shout she leapt over Oros and Acid Drop, her shield materializing on her arm as she slammed herself bodily into the nearest encroaching flank of the swarm. Light blazed across her skin as forms were flattened to a pulp against her hide bound shield, caught between Earthshaker in front and the creatures at their back. The light then winked out as she released the energy into a blast forwards, Miseria reduced to smudges against the sands directly before her while those further back were broken and sent tumbling like bowling pins.

This was what a Magical Girl excelled at, and Roche felt her confidence building as she pivoted and blasted off, hurling herself into the next encroaching sweep of Miseria that circumnavigated the fanning lasers battering the horde.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

The trip was an disaster in regards to Roche's self esteem, respect, and any feeling she had authority over the club. She might have felt better just laying under a mound of toads with Suki up on the mountain. But from adversity comes opportunity, and while they didn't respect, the group did at least make an attempt to make her slipshod plan come together.

Suki's use of blood filled sand balls was an inspired application of her powers, and Roche could already imagine what kind of damage she could do if she got into the habit of using her blood to integrate debris and other objects into her attacks. But more than that was watching the most self destructive girl she'd ever met actually work on a piece of art.

It was like seeing a delinquent biker stop to work on flower arrangements. A surreal experience that had Earthshaker watch enraptured. Of course there was no real artistic vision, but as an absurd expressionist rendition of Suki's spontaneous imagining it captured hearts and minds with startling speed. A crowd was forming, drawn by the inexplicable sight before them, and over their heads Earthshaker could see Tsubomi charging the blood of the statue with her magic. The blood might serve a better medium then salt water, so it was a better call over all.

What was more shocking was that none of them ever thought to empower Suki's blood with those emotion powers....though then again, no wanted Suki to have an easier time molesting them if the mood struck her.

Nyxia made her presence known with an angled laser from above, sending the statue gushing outwards like a popped zit, blood splashing over the crowd. The immediate reaction to run away would take only seconds to kick in, but even without Tsubomi prepared in a odd display of initiative that warmed Roche's heart, the track captain was ready.

Back in magical attire she stood before the crowd as they turned and lifted her foot. A might slam downwards sent ground shaking force downwards, followed swiftly by the other foot. Stamping her feet in an irregular beat, discharging all her stored energy to simulate a localized earthquake. Terrified bystanders fell to the sand, unable to rise and flee while finding a whole new reason to fear for their lives.

Of course, even if it was her name, she couldn't keep it up forever as her tattoos dimmed with energy thrust into the ground, but it would keep them concentrated together and heighten the effect of the drug with a tangible threat.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Somehow Suki was turning into the voice of reason and Roche's tanned cheeks flushed with color to find herself so calmly rebuked. But clearly intimidation, anger, and flaunting her authority had failed well in advance of even coming to the beach. Could a dose of candor salvage their trip?

Though of course Suki just had to comment on her interests, and Roche's blush deepened till she had trouble looking at Nyxia in the eye. "I-I wasn't trying to get in her pants! I don't even know if she likes girls like that..."

The tanned girl refused to get sidetracked with that mess, as for all her infatuation, she hadn't gotten even a hint that Nyxia had any interest. "Okay, so this is might be a bit of a stretch, but I'll just say it plain. Tsubomi doesn't want to use up all her supply, so we need to attract a lot of people close together. Well, we're magical girls. Suki, you would use your magic in front of people and play it off as a magic act, drawing them in. Nyxia can do special effects, creating a laser light show to really draw people's attention."

Relying on those two to coordinate was perhaps risky and already shaky ground for any plan, but between displays of blood control and bending lasers, even the most phone-addicted youths would be pulled in to see what was going on.

"Once you've got a crowd and we have as many packed near the water as we can, Tsubomi will does the beach water. I'll be under water and I'll expel as big a charge as I can back towards the beach. If it all works the water plashing down on everyone will cause enough to panic in terror that it will spread naturally."

Roche raised a finger to her cheek, scratching idly as her head turned from Suki to her partner, pointedly not facing Nyxia. "I figure Nyxia's lasers can blast a trench in the beach to keep them trapped if we need them to be, then if it really draws in Miseria we just crush them while keeping them safe."

It wasn't like they didn't have some experience keeping Miso intact with their own fights. A closely packed clump of drugged people should have been a cake walk for them. "Though I suppose if Suki can do her draining touch through her blood she could knock out all the people with tentacles...."

Roche trailed off, hoping that this gaggle of self interested girls didn't pounce upon her moment of weakness.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Her efforts to help Suki to her feet were largely unappreciated and Roche found herself plucking the thrown cloak and tossing it over her shoulders once more. What concerns she had for Suki's well-being seemed mollified as the blood fiend returned to lascivious appetites, a sight that was almost refreshing after seeing her so depressed during their journey.

Every step of this vacation had been like pulling teeth, with each of the girls making it difficult in their own ways.

Suki was the one she had expected to be eager to see everyone in swimsuits and play grab ass in the waters with complete strangers, yet she was happy to bury herself in frogs in the mountains like some old hermit.

Nyxia had no issue leaving, but would have happily ran off into the pacific on her if Roche hadn't followed. Given the use of her shield in her return she'd probably been out there for hours if she hadn't.

And now Tsubomi, normally the most passive one of their odd, conflicting group, was using some fairly well reasoned rationale for why they should give up on their plans of summoning Miseria from the sea. If this were the city, Roche may have let the matter drop right there. Maybe if hadn't just gone through a high speed collision after a fruitless voyage to sea she might have remained calm.

"DO WE NEED A REASON?!" Earthshaker threw her hands upwards and bellowed, eyes wild as briefly stopped trying to placate the other Magical Girls. "We are selfish, arrogant, powerful Dark Magical Girls! Spreading chaos and misery should be in our job descriptions if we got paid for this stuff. So what if we waste our time or it fails? It could be cool! It could be amazing! We already heard from one girl out at sea that it's possible, so we aren't just hoping for nothing here."

"Can't we just...for once, act like the group we pretend to be?" Outrage turned to an almost plaintive plea, face turning from one girl to the others as her arms came down to her side, hanging with a limpness that spoke of more than just lethargy. "I brought you all out here thinking getting away from the city would somehow fix things. But it can't because fixing implies we had anything to begin with to be broken."

"And for once, I can't make you all be what I want. I can't make you be friends. I can't make you look towards the goals of the group. We're pretty anti-establishment, aren't we?" Roche let out a sigh, her shoulders slouching somewhere to the level of Suki's unhealthy posture. With a ripple of energy her magical form faded, leaving Roche standing before them without the protection of her Magic.

"But that being said, I can ask you to consider trying this. I think I have a plan that will let us try this without using up all of Tsubomi's savings, but we'd all have to work together. It won't work without everyone, so if you don't want to go forward, well, I guess we can play volleyball and tan on the beach."

She finished with a laugh, her eyes carrying the glimmer of hope as she looked to Tsubomi and Suki.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

No one had ever claimed these four particular Magical Girls were well coordinated. That they split up immediately upon arriving at the beach attested to this almost as well as the spectacular flub of a ramming action.

With remarkable speed they went from barreling towards a hostile, seemingly light girl to Roche swallowing a mouthful of sea water as she hit the water like a sack of bricks. For once her power was rather unhelpful as she couldn't exactly parry anything with her face. Let alone the water. In her flailing she definetly felt herself smacking something, and it was only when she was thrown onto muddy shores that she realized it was Suki.

The tribal-themed Magical Girl came up to her knees, retching out water as her hair and cloak sloughed off salty hydration by the gallon. After catching her breath- And sincerely hoping no one saw the see weed strands she hacked up- Earthshaker could turn around to find Suki was being her usual self.

"Huh, would you look at that. Maybe you were right to avoid me." Roche said, amusement coloring her words seeing the blood bender act with her usual theatrics. Deciding to play nice while Nyxia tried and failed to convey the purpose for their return, she pulled off her cloak and used it as a towel, wrapping it around Oros' shoulder so she could help her to her feet without worrying about her touch.

"Come on Suki, walk it off. We had a chat with a local out at sea, and we've got an idea to make this trip into something special." She'd pat Suki through the cloak, only to blink in surprise as Tsubomi approached them. Hadn't these two been on the outs? Huh, maybe violence was the great fence mender.

"Tsubomi, what Nyxia is trying to say is that we need people to feel genuine terror on a deep level. A random laser may spook some people, some may run, but it's not really going to evoke the primal reaction we need. Can't you spike the water so we draw in some Miseria?"