Searching for Answers... (Schala/Augen/Cross)

[Schala]

While Sailuni had a little bit of magic within her, she could NOT have made that evil-looking sphere. Utterly freaked out, she scrambled onto the dragon's back.
Just then she noticed the magician girl fire a huge laser at the darkness ball. Well, she was going to be safe now.
"Quick!" she cried. "Fly me over this lake and away from that--that THING already!"
And really, who cared if she stood in the way of a little water magic? A little water was okay, so only if she was directly hit would she be weakened too much. And it would take MASSIVE getting wet to knock her out.

[zapy]

haku looked at black ball.....true it was dark but did that mean it wanted to hurt them?
after a quick sigh he took off toward the mansion
being the dragon of the wind he was the fastest thing in the sky....when he wanted to be
but he didn't want to miss what was going on...so he didn't want to be

[recon5]

Rumia didn't see the beam coming, but she'd taken enough Master Sparks to the face for her to know when one was coming. When she finally decided what way to dodge she was close enough for it to singe her dress as she got out of the way, her darkness dissipating as she went. She didn't know who was shooting at her but she knew she had to shoot back somehow, and as she rolled to the side with arms outstretched she unleashed thin lasers and green magic shots towards the group.

[shiningdrake]

"What the hell?!" Kylie shouted in surprise upon seeing the huge beam. Was Marisa just picking a fight?! Kylie heard Augen ask Marisa if he could shoot the ball of darkness, but at this point said sphere dodged the attack and sent lasers and shots toward them. Kylie shouted to Augen, "I think that it would be a good idea now that it's ATTACKING!!!" Kylie shot up into the air, dodging the attack without much difficulty. At least it seemed to be a weak opponent... But they couldn't be sure yet. Kylie heard Marisa explain what it was... A Youkai of darkness? Hm. And her name was Rumia

Kylie began shooting streams of water spheres and ice shots toward the center of the darkness. Suddenly, she had another idea, and made the water of the lake shoot upward toward the sphere. If Rumia didn't dodge, then she would be enveloped completely. Kylie then froze the water that she'd made rise, and the ice fell into the water, bobbing a bit. Kylie then splashed Marisa, soaking her. "Why did you suddenly attack her?" she asked, "She seemed to be leaving us well enough alone..." Kylie was clearly rather irritated now as her voice showed.

---

"It's a Youkai with powers over darkness, named Rumia, and yes you can shoot her. I did~" Marisa said in response to what Augen had asked. She then proceeded to send streams of danmaku toward Rumia, dodging the attacks incredibly easily. Rumia had always been a pushover, and today was no exception. However, the battle was soon ended prematurely (or so it appeared) when water shot upward from the lake toward the dark Youkai and then froze. "Whoa!" Marisa exclaimed, actually surprised. Had the girl over there done that? Marisa had noticed her using water and ice magic to attack before, so maybe...

Marisa's thoughts were interrupted as she was soaked and heard the aggravated voice of the girl. What was up with her? Marisa replied calmly, though not in quite as cheerful a tone as normal, "I thought some practice would be good before we went in there. She's always been a pushover, weaker than most humans, it wasn't like she'd be a problem~" Even when she was soaked and slightly annoyed, Marisa's carefree nature showed through.

Marisa noticed that the girl seemed to be becoming very angry. And.... Were those sparks coming from her back!? Marisa remembered that she'd mentioned a curse earlier... Was this involved? The girl suddenly dived rapidly toward the water of the lake. So strange~ Marisa privately thought in her head.

[Augen]

Augen quickly rolled to the side as a laser strolled through where he once stood. Landing from his ukemi into a crouched stance. He tossed his gun into the air, throwing his liuxing chui in the direction of the youkai of darkness before catching his judge and calling out, "Here it comes... Caution sign, CRADLE OF LOVE~!!!"

In mid air, the spinning liuxing chi extended, disbanded, bent, and winded in various directions, forming a hectic series of ropes jetting in random directions at random points... The result was a disorganized cat's-cradle-like figure over a chunk of the lake.

Then Augen kicked off of the ground, running up one of the ropes and closer to the youkai of darkness, and pulling out his iron club as he ascended higher and higher through his net. "Heheh... Looks like you can't aim so well, seeing as I got all the way up here... Are you bat-eyed or something?"

[Schala]

By now Sai was a bit scared. She jumped off Haku's back and landed on the other side of the lake.
"Yes!"
Hold on...
"Thanks, sir!" she called up to the dragon.
Now it was time to find the jewels.
She noticed a girl cast a water spell on the sphere of darkness that the magician called Rumia. Sai made sure she was well out of the way.
But--wait! Was the girl catching fire?! And out of nowhere too!
Sai was about to push her into the lake when the girl dived in on her own.
Whew! Sai was glad she didn't have to do anything.
Well, introductions.
"My name is Sailuni," she said. "Call me Sai."

[zapy]

haku ended flying right into augen's net and getting tangled
the dragon struggled frantically trying to get out of the net....only to get tangled worse
the deeper into the net he ended up the more he panicked

[recon5]

Rumia's darkness was completely gone by the time the man was in front of her and she could see him perfectly, although he didn't seem to think she could for some reason. She would have to correct him on that.

She was about to pull out a spellcard when she was engulfed in a massive column of water. Before she even had time to start drowning the water froze solid, trapping her inside...

----

Somewhere in the surrounding woods, a green-haired girl cursed under her breath. She'd doubted from the beginning that Rumia would be able to handle so many opponents but she hadn't gone to help immediately as she was sure she couldn't do much better. Instead, she'd spent some time getting help.

The army of Youkai insects she'd managed to gather wasn't as large as she'd wanted but she had to intervene before her friend was cold enough to break when her icy prison was smashed. She hopped onto the back of a fifteen foot beetle and gave the order to CHARGE!

----

Inside the column of ice, Rumia was beginning to feel desperate. She'd never been so cold in her life and she barely had room to shiver. At the moment she'd just lost all feeling in her hands and feet and the numbness was rapidly creeping up her limbs.

She didn't hear the buzzing sound at first, but soon it was loud enough to deafen her through the ice. Something smashed her free and clamped around her waist, and soon she was being flown away from the stump of the ice column at great speed. She wanted to look at her rescuer but just then her limbs began to hurt as they warmed up...

----

Wriggle brought her insect mount around to face Rumia's attackers as her swarm of minions set themselves in the way of any return fire. At her command, all those that could use danmaku (large beetles, mostly, and some wasps) swarmed around the offending group and began shooting at them.

[shiningdrake]

Kylie felt herself becoming extremely irritated as she heard Marisa's answer. As in, angry enough that she'd soon be on fire... She almost thought she already felt the heat. Quickly she dived into the lake, being in the water would calm her down... "Aaah..." she let out a sigh of relief as she felt the cool water on her skin. She felt much calmer now, pushing thoughts of the irritating reckless magician from her mind right now...

But then she heard another irritating noise. "What's that?!" she exclaimed, surprised. Buzzing. Insects. Or rather, insect youkai "Oh joy." Kylie muttered dryly. This was ridiculous... She saw as a particularly large insect, who a green-haired girl was riding on, charged toward the ice that Rumia was held in and then broke it... "Oh come on now!" Kylie shouted in frustration. This was truly absurd...

And then a bunch of them were attacking with danmaku. "Ah!" Kylie shouted, and quickly formed a shield of ice to keep her from being hurt for a moment while she concentrated... She was going to end this. She probably wouldn't remain conscious after this spell, but at least she'd get some peace when her mind wasn't with this stuff...

Kylie focused, even as she felt and heard her shield cracking under the assault. She lifted up a large section of the lake, more than enough to contain all of their attackers... Toward said attackers. Basically, she enveloped everything above a large section of the lake.

Then, she created a small current that removed her allies from that sphere (the nekomata wasn't in there) and sent them toward the remaining water where they'd be unhurt... Before she froze it and threw it toward the island, though not toward the nekomata. She then proceeded to collapse into the somewhat shallower water due to the effort that spell had taken.

---

What was that buzzing? Odd... Marisa looked toward it and saw, "Oh, another weakling... Or lots of them." There was a huge swarm of insect Youkai... Led by someone she recognized. Wriggle Nightbug, who was really not that powerful. Marisa immediately began shooting streams of danmaku toward the oncoming pests, and kept dodging and weaving as two small beams coming from her side went between off and on, cutting swaths through the insects when on.

Marisa barely paid attention to Wriggle, she was having fun taking out the other small fry. However, she then heard a shattering sound behind her, and glanced to look. Wriggle had just freed Rumia from her icy prison. Huh. Then she commanded the insects to attack! Marisa dodged most of the danmaku as she shot toward Wriggle and her wall of minions, but she did take a couple of hits due to the sheer number of shots that were around.

Marisa then decided that a spell card was in order. "Star-" was all she got out before she was suddenly enveloped by water, which filled her mouth and caused her to choke before she was shot out of the sphere of water that had just formed. She coughed and spluttered, dazed for a moment before she looked up. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, actually surprised. There was a giant sphere of water floating above the, now shallower, lake, which contained the entire army of insect Youkai. It looked like the girl, who appeared to be covered in cracked ice, was concentrating extremely hard as well... She must have been responsible for this! What was she?

Marisa hardly thought that a human would have so much power, even over one element. Was that girl a youkai?! Suddenly, the sphere of water was frozen, and then tossed inland, where it shattered upon hitting the ground. Marisa winced, that could NOT be pleasant if anything inside actually managed to survive... The water girl, as Marisa would now think of her, then collapsed into the water, presumably exhausted from that spell. At least her power wasn't infinite then... Marisa didn't really care what happened to the girl, she just swam to the island's shore.

(((OOC: I had permission from Recon to auto-hit the army of insects)))

[Augen]

Aww... The youkai was freed. Just as Augen was about to have a lot of fun, too. Some green-haired boy. Or was it a girl? Augen was unsure... What Augen was sure about, though, was that he had just slipped... No, actually his cradle was rising. The water was rising faster though. Getting closer. Augen was losing his focus... Ikuso!

The cradle started to unwind... Retract... It was turning back into a normal liuxing chui. And all the while the water, which would NOT react well with the stuff in Augen's coat, was getting closer and closer to him.

So what'd he do? Ran, of course. Ran up the rope, trying to get to the highest point of the cradle. At least to buy some time to think. However, by the time he had gotten to the top, he was walking on a normal liuxing chui and the water below had turned to ice. Which Augen was just falling onto.

THUD! "Ow... Shit... My spine..." His worries were far from over, though. The chunk of frozen lake was moving. Fast. THUD!
... Well that was certainly unpleasant. Or at least, that's what Augen thought as he struggled to stand back up. Fortunately a crack had appeared that provided a good handhold as Augen lifted himself. And the crack was expanding. "... Oh," Augen said, before the ice broke apart and he found himself falling torwards a much sharper piece of ice.

Before that day, Augen had never known what it felt like to be vertically impaled through the ribcage. And now he does.

[Schala]

It was such a strange sequence of events Sai was witnessing. The girl that had frozen that creepy youkai Rumia was now putting most of the people in a sphere of water and sending them out, and the strange boy had been pierced by a sharp icicle.
On top of other things, this army of insects that had suddenly attacked was enveloped by another sphere of water, then that sphere was frozen and it shattered.
Ooh! Sai considered herself lucky to not have been in there.
She walked on the ice with her strong boots on and reached for the boy caught on the icicle. She then pulled him off and put him on some flatter ice. Then she ran off the ice as she did not know when it would melt and become water.

[zapy]

when the net went away haku was unable to gain lift again....
because of this the dragon fell flapping it's wings wildly only to end up being caught by a large sphere of water and set down in the lake
haku crawled out o the lake and brought his front right talon down to pin the mage....from what he had seen it was this mage that had started the fight
it wasn't very often the dragon got angry but in the middle of this fight that seemed to be started for no reason he had been caught in a net that came out of nowhere and the male that had helped him before was now hurt....not to mention that the female that he was helping now collapsed

[recon5]

The first thing Wriggle did when she woke up was to shiver violently, then she winced as the pins and needles began. The ice spell had caught her entirely by surprise but at least the battle seemed to have ended. Both her and Rumia should be safe now but to be completely secure they would have to get out of sight of the lake.

The ground rumbled and cracked, then parted as a huge centipede rose underneath the Youkai and lifted her into the air on its head. She rolled over onto her stomach and grabbed the base of its antennae so that she could look for her friend and soon enough she spotted the other Youkai shivering on the ground some distance away.

Wriggle had the centipede pick Rumia up in its mandibles and scurry off with them to the safety of the woods. All the while she desperately prayed to any gods that might be listening and begged them to make their attackers ignore their escape.

----

Some distance away a tall, solidly built woman watched the group with great interest as her long red hair trailed in the breeze. She was Hong Meiling, gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and one of the most skilled of the Youkai who bothered with martial arts. She had been about to intercept the intruders after spotting Marisa with them but it had seemed more convenient afterward to let Rumia (and Wriggle) do the work for her.

That hadn't worked as well as she'd thought it would but at least the intruders seemed to have been weakened. One had even made an attack on her primary target, which was certainly helpful. Now would be a good time to strike and catch them by surprise. She seldom managed to actually stop anyone but it was in her contract to give it her best and that meant taking every advantage she had.

She crouched and leaped towards the intruders, her legs propelling her much faster than she could normally fly, and declared [Flower Sign: "Gorgeous Sweet Flower"]. The card's power sent waves of yellow shots outward from her in flower-like patterns that expanded towards the intruders.

[shiningdrake]

Kylie was having nightmares now. No peace for her... Fire... So much fire... The screams of her parents... "No... NO!" she cried out as she seemed to struggle against something unseen. In the dream, she couldn't move, couldn't do a thing as she heard the screams, watched the all-consuming flames... It was a good thing she couldn't explode while she was unconscious, because she was TERRIFIED!

---

Marisa winced when she saw Augen get impaled on a sharp piece of ice. That had to hurt. She was about to lift off on her broom to pursue the escaping weaklings, but she suddenly felt herself pinned to the ground. "Whoa!" She cried out in surprise and then shifted to look up at what had her trapped. It was the dragon, and he didn't look happy.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Marisa struggled, but she was pretty well trapped. Speed didn't help much when you couldn't use it! And then she heard... "Oh no." she let out. She could have dodged this in her sleep if she wasn't TRAPPED!!!!! "Get off me you overgrown lizard!" she shouted, sending danmaku at the dragon. She wasn't about to use Master Spark on him, that would be overkill, but...

---

The young vampire had heard a loud crash, waking her up from her sleep. She wouldn't have thought it any more than a careless fairy maid knocking a vase over, but she was evidently mistaken. "What, a chunk of ice?!" she heard someone cry. Remilia yawned and stretched as she got up, deciding to investigate.

She took her parasol and headed outside where she'd heard the noise from. Hm? She didn't see anything... Or anyone around. However, she then noticed that a few shingles were on the ground, and looked up. Up on the roof, there was a chunk of ice stuck in there, with several of the fairy maids gawking at it. Remilia supposed she'd have to order Sakuya to fix that later, but for now, she was more interested in what had caused it. Had that annoying ice fairy decided to come and bother them? Then again, if it was that, there would likely be a lot more damage already.

Remilia asked the nearest fairy in an imperious tone, "You, what happened here?!" The little fairy just said, "I dunno, this just came raining from the sky over there." Remilia looked over in that direction and saw... Well, nothing. She was currently on the ground and didn't see over the wall. She flew up to get a better view, all the while remaining shielded from the sun by her parasol. That looked like one of China's spell cards in the distance... "Intruders then?" she wondered aloud. But what sort of intruders could send a chunk of ice from all the way over there.

Remilia decided to go watch, since she'd already been woken up. As she got closer, she saw who the intruders were... A dragon, a nekomata, and a man with blood on his rather interesting looking coat. And... "Why hello Marisa." Remilia said cordially, "What brings you here today?" She then sat down and watched the fight, all the while keeping her parasol so that it would shade her from the sun.

[Augen]

Ow. That hurt like getting his retainer removed. Fortunately, though, the nekomata had removed the icicle from his body... But Augen was leaky... Wow, that sounds disgusting!

Augen was leaky... A hole in the bottom of his ribcage, one in the top, and one at the bottom of his jaw. So naturally his clothes got a lot bloodier as he stood back to his feet just in time for one of the gatekeeper's flower bullets to hit him in the face. Naturally, getting more blood, face blood, onto Augen's clothing.

"I'm Agent orange... Not agent red," he muttered as he straightened his stance. "Agent red is the overamorous bisento guy... I'll make you see why you don't get my clothes messy!" Augen whipped out his tazer and pointed it in the direction of the china girl. While another flower bullet hit him in the face. "Ow. That hurt. I won't take rieree do datt... Fuh, you difrafed ma baw," he said, walking forwards without bothering to pick up any of the stuff that had fallen off.