Magical Fracas, Episode 5: New friends and enemies?

[phil_]

Synopsis: Panko punks Picky, alludes to mysterious power ups, then chases Picky toward the Verda distress call.

Picky turned off the faucet and fluttered towards Panko's room, glass of water in hand. He'd let her sleep far too long, considering what he had planned for the day. Sliding through the slightly ajar door, Picky prepared for his standard wake-up call. But something was wrong...

"Crud, what's she up to?" he said to himself and the pillows she had left under her covers. "She's not smart enough to--"

"Huzzah!" Picky whirled around to see Panko's grinning face as she slammed a bucket over him, trapping him on the floor. "I guess this means I'm better at hiding now," she said cheerfully as she sat down on the bucket. "Oh, sorry, I can't hear you? Are you saying that you're going to stop splashing water in my face?" Picky's muffled curses were nothing of the sort. "Seriously, I get it. It's all very important that I get better and all, but this isn't boot camp. Whoa!"

Picky managed to somehow knock Panko and the bucket off of him. Glaring, he growled, "You should be glad it isn't, or you'd get a lot worse for this stunt." His face quickly softened. "But, I guess it's good you're awake."

Panko laughed. "Yep, all dressed and ready for whatever we're doing this weekend. I'm actually sorta excited." She stooped down to pick up the bucket and the dropped glass, bringing her an Picky to eye level. "Making sparkles and stuff is awesome and all, but I'm ready for this next level or whatever."

"If you didn't say it in such a stupid way, I'd almost be proud. Come on, let's get on the train--" Picky suddenly looked very serious. "Wait, this is bad. Panko, change of plans." He ignored her puzzled expression and floated toward the door. "Transform and get ready to run. Something's going down, and I feel Verda and Autekkan magic. It's a distress call. We're going, come on. I shouldn't have to tell you after a week that we're in a hurry."

Panko followed Picky in her cat suit as he flew toward the Verda signal, hoping to arrive as soon as the scene was set.

[Arhra]

"- and this magic in my hand, release the power of the heavens. Bright Day, set up."

Red light crept over Mitsuko, assembling into the protective layers of her Barrier Jacket. The last armoured portions materialised and her hair was pulled back into a pony tail by a large yellow ribbon. She stretched out her hand and the amulet she held expanded into a sunburst marked spear.

A minute later, Shimizu arrived already in her armour-like Barrier Jacket. They'd picked the old school - it was still off limits for the time being and so completely deserted.

"Miyasaki." Mitsuko nodded in acknowledgement as the schoolgirl touched down lightly with a final burst from her jetpack.

That made three. "No word from that Masked Man?" Mitsuko asked, half rhetorically.

No, there was not.

"Alright." Mitsuko said, voice level and determined. "Its up to us. An ancient Autekkan distress call of unknown origin, followed by a Verda beacon. Location's near Inuyama National Park. We don't know what exactly we're getting into but it's most probably an attack. We have one hour and twenty minutes to get to the bottom of this. Let's go."

She had a party to go to, come hell or high water.

They were barely underway when there was an interruption.

"Someone's watching us, paya!"

["This spell is remote view magic, Verda-type."] Ceres contributed. ["Countermeasures deployed."]

"They're on to us." Mitsuko said. "We'd better hurry."

[Astral Harmony]

"Right. They know we're coming now and we wouldn't want to disappoint them, would we?"

Shimizu was airborne instantly after that. "Mother, that's not the way to Inuyama National Park, paya. Follow the All Purpose Scanner, paya."
Shimizu felt a little dumb as she halted, turned one-hundred fifty degrees to the left, and got on track.
"Hey, Ponpon?"
"Yeah, paya?"
"I've been wondering about this but haven't thought to ask yet but I guess it's kinda bugging me."
"Go ahead, paya."
"How am I not roasting my legs in their own internal juices when I'm rocketpacking around?"
"It's a special personal protective field called the Host Guard, paya. It protects you from exactly that problem, paya."
"Well, couldn't it-" Shimizu started to ask, but Ponpon wasn't done.
"It isn't useful for combat, paya. Both damage from enemy attacks and damage from your own reflected attacks will still harm you as normal, paya."
Shimizu frowned. "Well, that sucks."
"Can't have everything, paya."
Shimizu tried to think of something else to ask, like something about Novaburst, but couldn't think of anything worth asking. She and Ponpon carried on in silence. "Approaching Inuyama National Park, paya. Ponpon is online and ready to rock, paya. Be careful, paya."
"Right, let's see what we can see."

[PhoenixFlame]

"I guess I'll go on ahead, sis." Akari shrugged to Mitsuko after Shimizu took off. "Seeing as I'm faster and all. Meet you there." With an explosion of light and a momentary trail of multicolored sparkles, Akari was fully armored and already taking flight. Handily, Ceres had already marked the beacon on her eyepiece display.

"Careful, Akari. Accellerating to cruise velocity will risk detection. Climb to five thousand AGL at half power, and the cloud cover should shroud us for half of the distance." Doubtless, there was only so large of an azure comet contrail one could generate without little children pointing out to their mothers that you were an airplane.

"Right." Akari rose vertically with as much speed as could be spared, piercing the low hanging stratus within a minute. Rocketting outside the top of the sheet, the view was marvelous. The cloud layer stretched out like a sheet before her, featurelessly white and deceptively massive.

["Mode Switch to Locus. Accellerating to Cruise Velocity."]

Ceres' arms slid back into their traditional bombardment configuration, and Akari's wings redoubled in intensity. With a whine of power, she could feel her body jerk forward before the inertia stabilized, but the clouds beneath her gave her little indication of the rapidity of her movement. The steadily ticking range indicator on her AESA however, did. The empowering feeling of racing atop the clouds on wings of magical fire dispelled any doubts or fears.

[Krylo]

Featureless and barren, the dream scape spread out before Rei and Taken's human avatar--their blades crossed. The two seemed equally matched until the silence of the scene was destroyed. The air and ground flashed a bright red, and the scenery changed to that of the air above Inuyama park. A pair of intersecting areas of the park flashed with blue and red light, respectively.

"Good," Taken said as he swung his sword out sending Rei skidding backward, "however, it seems the time for practice is over."

Rei was caught off guard, staring down at the forest, as Taken shouted, "Wake up!" and swept his blade through Rei's form. An instant later the boy was awake in a cold sweat, picking up Taken from the bedside table it had rested on.

----

Rei was breathing heavily, his legs pushing on his pedals with a speed and stamina that would have been impossible for him mere days ago. "I'll never get there in time... I wish I could fly like Akari..." he mumbled to himself in disdain.

'You could...'

"Then why aren't I?"

'You don't know how.'

Rei groaned as he peddled harder. "We are having a talk about things you need to show me when we get back from this."

[Inbred Chocobo]

Kazu managed to catch someone, giving them a note he had come up with and scribbled down. The note spoke of his mother, and that there was a small accident over at his house, and that it was nothing serious. However he went on to describe how his mom won't tell the whole story somethings and that he needed to head home and take care of things. The note said that she is still welcome to head to the party, and he would make it over there as soon as he could.

"These people better have good reason for making a distress call like this." Kazu mumbled to Shiro as he rounded the corner out of sight into an alleyway. Shiro responded "Its a distress signal. Its really an honor to answer its call. But if it makes you feel any better you are more than welcome to hit the person if they are not in distress or in any real trouble. Chances of that being extremely slim considering there are two." Kazu sighed as his armor formed around him. "Better get moving then. Is there any signs of others moving towards the location?" He asked Shiro as his helmet formed, shutting away his face. It did nothing to hinder his vision, and went well with the armor and added another form of defense.

Shiro however thought for a moment. "There are multiple mages activating their barrier jackets. From both sides. There is too many to tract but some are close enough that once you get moving you very well may cross paths. Be prepared for a fight, you don't know if who you run into will be friend or foe." Shiro spoke once Kazu jumped up onto the roofs.

"No flight then, too easy to spot in the air with no cover, both from ground and air. Roof jumping then sounds like the best plan for movement." Kazu replied. Shiro nodded, agreeing with the tactic, and Kazu took off towards the beacon of the Verda.

[PyrosNine]

Ashely read the note Kazu had left for him, and fumed. She had spent three hours in her bathroom/wardrobe/coffeehouse getting ready, and fashioning together the only decent non-slutty popular wear she owned, including buying a pair of frames to get that "sexy librarian" look instead of her usual "compensated dating anywhere" look.

She almost stomped her foot, risking a broken heel. She looked good today! Her crimson-velvet jacket, although snug, matched her form fitting maroon pants, her casual black heels. What she wore underneath the jacket did not matter, but there would be indecency if her outfit went horribly wrong.

There...there was a tingling sensation as she fumed over the note. It was different from the other tingling sensation. It almost vibrated, periodically, like a cell phone you were too poor to have kick-ass ringtones for. (Hers was "Material Girl" done as a cover by an asian all girl rock band that didn't grasp english vowels as well as they could).

Then, her ribbon, which she used now to make her jacket (which she had worn long before she had progressed as far as she had physically) close properly over her chest, managed to make a strained "squeak". It was a very resilient ribbon, she had to give it that. Attempts to purge it of it's possible demonic influence with a blowtorch and some wine had proven ineffective, and it had only shut up after she had demonstrated a level of instability even it feared after it had agitated her.

It wasn't so much scared as passive aggressive and displeased by blowtorches, but it could find no way to convince it's charge to jump at the call. As far as Ashley was concerned, getting magical powers and fighting monsters or whatever was something that others did, not her. Others that were on TV and she'd sometimes secretly buy Tuxedo Mask posters to hang in her closet from. The talking ribbon's presence severely damaged this worldview severely, to the point of violent denial.

When it spoke, she got agitated. When it pleaded, she turned violent, and after it decided it was wise to shut up for awhile, she ate a bucket of mint chocolate chip while staring down the ribbon on her kitchen counter with sheer disdain.

The ribbon wasn't sure if she really was the partner it was destined for. She acted nothing like it's expectations, a peaceable girl who used magic to help her friends. Instead he got a girl who had no friends and mostly used her newfound magical ability as a zippo.

But this was it's chance. The beacon! Oh, it felt the beacon. The other...he had followed the beacon. While he didn't understand morsecode, he could feel the beacon, and furthermore there those who made the beacon. While they were those hated Verda, they would at least know enough to tell her what for. If they chose to attack her, well, she'd learn she couldn't ignore her powers, as others wouldn't.

It cleared it's throat(?), and spoke.

"I think I know where your boyfriend just ran off to."

[Arhra]

A witch rode a flying shark through the sky, little winged men desperately clinging onto the shark's fins as it dragged them along.

Nicia made good time, quickly arriving at Inuyama Park.

The park was laid out before her, clinging to the hillside. Above the car-park were two large, sloped, open areas, one above the other. Picnic rugs and running children sprawled over it. Around the edges it broke off into a maze of paths between the thin trees, dotted with tables, barbecues and little shelters.

The Verda distress beacon was fortunately away from here, somewhere in the depths of walking track cut forest to the east.

* * *

Further out from the park, far enough south to be outside of the scrying distortion, a slender figure in the white and red costume of a shrine maiden waited. Here it was also wooded, the clearing open to the sky atop a rocky hill in a gully filled forest.

A white dove flittered about above the tree level, hovering above the mage before returning to circling again. Alex sent out a message to the only Verda mages he knew: Panko, Mern and Iriumi.

* * *

Akari raced above the soft, rolling landscape of fluffy white cloud, chased by her shadow. In a sudden drop-off, it came to an end ahead, like cliffs bordering an airy sea. Further islands of cloud were scattered like a floating archipelago.

Still flying straight for her target, east and to the north, she jetted over the sharp divide, passing over cloud islands before slowing suddenly and she descending like a blue comet.

Inuyama Park was just ahead. The Autekkan beacon was coming from near the base of the mountain, in a rocky, densely forested area. It was as though it was actually inside the mountain's south-eastern face.

A cave?

* * *

With feline grace, a cat costumed girl dashed along increasingly sparser rooftops as the city gave way to wilderness. An adorable little deer-pig-butterfly fluttered ahead of her to lead the way and constantly berate her for being too slow.

Inuyama Park was not far ahead.

"Yo, Verda! This is the Great Priestess Ayame, you might remember me, we met during a battle a week ago. In any case, I'm here to warn you, there's a chance the distress beacon is a trap, so approach it with caution. I'll be waiting near the edge of a field of magical influence surrounding the beacon as well, come there if you would like to work together. This is the Great Priestess Ayame, signing off."

It seemed she had a message.

* * *

Menarker was just entering one of the park's walking tracks, in pursuit of Mero. He also received the message.

* * *

Mitsuko was travelling alongside Shimizu in what was not quite flight. Her Impulse Wings burning, she was moving in long glides, leaping of an Aerial Step like a gazelle periodically to regain lost height.

She was running low on breath as she struggled to keep pace with Shimizu beside her. The beacon was still some distance ahead.

Shimizu's Ponpon spoke up. "Approaching Inuyama National Park, paya. Ponpon is online and ready to rock, paya. Be careful, paya."

"Right, let's see what we can see." Shimizu replied.

"Heh, what do you think it is?" Mitsuko said to make conversation.

Bright Day chimed. ["Confirmation. Multiple Barrier Jackets detected ahead. Verda type."]

Mitsuko's eyes narrowed. Reaching out with her own senses, she got a vague sensation of something ahead. "Can you get an exact fix?" she asked the Device.

["Unable."]

"Can we go any faster?"

["Impulse Wings already at maximum sustained thrust."]

"Grgh!" Mitsuko growled. "Miyasaki, are you able to go on ahead and meet up with Akari?" she asked Shimizu.

[Astral Harmony]

"Good question, lemme check," Shimizu responded, then glanced at Ponpon. "Hey, Ponpon, we need to pick up speed somehow."
Ponpon was silent for a few seconds. "There's a way, but it'll look ridiculous and be very embarrassing, paya."
Shimizu sighed. "I think it's best if I put up with the embarrassment and dignity loss, Ponpon. Let's hear it."

"Okay, get ready, paya. Disengaging Barrier Jacket Combat Connections. Engaging High Speed Travel Configuration."
"Wait, what does-"
Shimizu suddenly shrieked as roughly 75% of her Barrier Jacket vanished, leaving her in a very inappropriate situation. All she had was the jetpack, the All Purpose Scanner, Ponpon itself, and the damp towel she was wearing before transforming this morning. The poor magical girl clutched her towel in place before the sudden and powerful acceleration sent her rocketing rapidly from view. Her scream ended, but that was probably because it climbed into a pitch beyond possible human hearing.

It's not often you get to see a magical schoolgirl blast through the sky while holding onto a towel that was the only thing keeping her from being quite naked. Fortunately, the acceleration and top speed were very fast, so Mitsuko was spared having to see underneath Shimizu's flapping towel.

[Overcast]

Nicia walked on the trail slowly, approaching the Verda signal with Carcinos leading the way as secretly as he could, wearing a tiny leash and scuttling across the ground like a little pet. On his advice she had removed her barrier jacket and were approaching incognito,

"None of these people have met you as of yet, and this could be a trap. For there are signals for both Autekka and Verda out here. A barrier jacket can be traced with correct divination. But if you keep your cool and give a perfectly good reason to be out here then no one should be able to suspect you of being magical."

The forest was beautiful. She did enjoy a good walk and while she was keeping her mind on the mission she couldn't help but admire the scenery. It helped her in her attempt to act natural since this was as natural as she got. She enjoyed mountains, she used to go hiking in the Rockies a lot when she was in America and wooded areas and mountainous terrain became an addiction. Now she just couldn't live without a small amount of contact to a place like this.

Nature was too beautiful for her own good.

The plan in full was to walk Carcinos as she sometimes did, he would pull in certain directions they should head to when necessary on the path. If the beacon were to head off the path she should pretend to get lost in something and put down the leash and he would bugger off so she would have to find him. Though that wasn't hard since she always knew where he was. Eventually they would get to the beacon, if it was a trap of Autekka she was just an odd girl walking her crab, if it was a trap of something else she would switch to her barrier jacket and throw reflectolite in its face and use the surrounding wood to aid her in guerrilla tactics, and if it were just a nice gathering of Verda she might change in front of them or bugger off like a confused human would and come back all witchy and veiled for mystery.

It was a fairly good plan if all went well. If not Carcinos reminded her that she could move when her barrier jacket is coming on, and that the fog spewing reflectolites could make a great temporary smokescreen when the shit hit the fan.

She tried not to think of this though. The plan after all was so simple she could snap back to it and would be able to recite it word for word. Right now what she needed was to relax. If not the deception was useless, a failed ruse that put her vulnerably where Carcinos said never to be. In the fray.