Aoki Kaho's Story

The late September sun edged slowly down over the horizon, coloring Ran-no-Machi with a soft pink and orange glow. The streets were lined with people commuting to and from work as normal day jobs drew to a close and night shifts began, and kids from the local schools milled about in parks and the downtown shops with their friends before going home. The evening breeze was beginning to get a chill to it, and carried the scent of flowers across the city streets. And above their heads, two girls in brightly colored outfits shot through the sky.

"It’s going left!” shouted the magical girl Budou, firing a violet bolt of energy from her wand. It went wide over its target, dissipating into the air. ”No, not that left, the other left!”

”There’s only one left!” Ringo retorted, diving low to avoid another volley from her grape-purple clad companion.

Their quarry was a mish-mash of a creature - it had the head of a goat, teeth of a wolf, arms and claws of an eagle, tail of an eel, and the wings of a dragonfly, yet had proven far more quick and agile than such a combination would imply. It was a Thoughtless, ill-intent refracted into monstrous form by the strange magic of the otherworld known as Layers, and ending its encroachment into the human world was the sworn duty of the Magical Girls chasing after it.

It zigzagged through the sky as it veered downtown, its tail spinning slowly in the air behind it as its hunters tried to keep up, taking potshots at it in an attempt to turn it away from the city center. A number of the people on the sidewalks beneath them looked up as they zipped past, a few fumbling with cell phones to try and snap blurry pictures for social media before they were out of sight.

”This would be so much easier if Momo were here!” Budou yelled in frustration, thrusting out her arm, fingers releasing their grip on her wand and splaying wide as a small mouse with a single horn on its forehead ran down from her shoulder. Budou’s familiar leapt onto her wand before it fell, and both vanished in a burst of purple light, being replaced with a short spear that had grapevines curled along the shaft. ”I’m just gonna rush it!”

”Ah, wait wait wait!”

”GRAPE FLAVOR BURST!!” Budou’s form was swallowed in cascading purple energy, and she rocketed forth with a violet sonic BOOM echoing behind her. In the next instant she tore through the left-side wings of the Thoughtless, cursing her unpracticed aim as it went corkscrewing toward the buildings below.

---

---

The wooden chairs scraped quietly across the floor as Aoki Kaho set them in a neat circle. One of her bar’s side tables sat nearby, set with 2-liters of green tea, plastic cups, and rice crackers. The rest of the furniture had been stacked against the wall; not far from the ring in the center of the small, hole-in-the-wall establishment, but distant enough not to be in the way.

Kaho leaned back against the bar for a moment, judging the setup, then looked over to the clock on the wall. A little after five, about twenty minutes before the group which rented out her bar every Monday night started filing in. She sighed through her nose, then pushed off the counter, a thin black snake crawling up her arm to her shoulder as she moved away toward the front door. Better to fuck off for two hours than stick around for something she didn’t care for.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk in the nightlife district of downtown, she pulled a cigarette out of the inner pocket of her black silk vest, tapping it once against her hand before lighting it and taking a shallow drag. She didn’t like smoking inside if she could help it, and stubbornly denied patrons the opportunity to do the same, but one would be hard pressed to find her outside without a cigarette hanging from her lip.

The bell of the door rang quietly as it slid shut behind her, and she looked over her shoulder once, locking eyes with the giant anime decal of Shinii-tan, the bespoke mascot plastered across the front. Sin Eater wasn’t what one might call a “popular” establishment, but it did well enough for a business who’s only attempt at advertisement was the black-haired cartoon angel sipping sake on the front door. Shinii-tan’s red eyes seemed to tunnel into Kaho, mocking her for being chased out of her own establishment. Kaho clicked her tongue and wandered off.

Normally Kaho would spend the evening doing the accounts and payroll for her… one employee, but she hadn’t bothered to put those off this week, which meant she had nothing to do for the next two hours. Maybe she could go see a movie? There was an American thing she’d been interested in, but going to a theatre alone always felt a bit-

She looked up as a sonic boom exploded over her head. A purple ring stretched out in the sky, and she trailed the shot of purple light from it to… a monster. Falling toward her bar. Ah.

Ebon talons. Hulking forms of muscle flanked by fire breathing hell hounds. Few forces were as powerful and destructive as lightning, and bending it to her whim while it lashed against her tenuous grip was the most empowering feeling. Go here... gather, strike... away from the path of least resistance. Flurry, staccato beat... deflect blow, punish error. Fuck that one monster in particular. There was no being wishy-washy when it came to lightning. Her will had to be the path of least resistance; her body the conduit of destruction.

Lightning was one of the most terrifying destructive forces on the planet... equally as terrifying as having that power abandon her like a rebuked child in a time of urgency. So now she lay there with the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, uniform shredded and mustering all her will simply to pull herself slowly along the ground like a worm. Isn't this where she was supposed to get her second wind? Her sparkling flash of renewed magic to smash the monster in the face with the power of friendship?

Something grabbed her ankle roughly and started dragging her. Fear welled up inside her chest and she struggled to escape the iron grip, clawing at the asphalt for any kind of purchase. The searing heat of flames was washing over her back more and more intensely as she was pulled. She didn't dare look, but she knew what it was: a flaming rift into the Layers. Her fingers dug desperately into a crack in the asphalt but her grip was tenuous at best. She felt her body lower slightly as the demon gripping her ankle braced itself to heave.

"Himari!"

She jumped like a startled cat, knocking over a cup full of pens and showering her desk with multi-colored paper clips. Himari's heart thundered in her ears and her face was drenched in sweat. Her eyes flicked down to her keyboard to meet the piercing yellow eyes of her familiar, Quiet. Right. It was a Monday in September. She was a 37 year old accountant, not an 18 year old Luna Senshi. It was 4:48 pm.

"You okay? You were zoned out pretty hard," asked her coworker... we'll call him Steve. Himari had worked with him every weekday for the past several years and had never bothered to learn his name.

"Uh. Yeah," she hesitated, mainly because her hands were trembling like a five point earthquake. "I'm uh... not feeling so great all of a sudden, I think I'm gonna call it a day," she said, more or less shooing him out of her office. When he was gone she let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and locked eyes with Quiet for a long uncomfortable minute.

"I know what you're thinking, and you can clean up your own mess," Quiet huffed, narrowing her eyes at Himari.

"Mehmeh mehmeh memememeh meh," Himari muttered back in an annoyed tone, flicking a handful of paperclips at the cat to get it off her desk. "Whatever, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Let's get a drink," she said as she got to her feet, digging a handful of paperclips out of her blazer pocket and letting them drop haphazardly to the ground. She scooped up her purse and shuffled out the door as Quiet leapt up to her shoulder.

"Kaho has the support group on Mondays," informed the cat.

"Ah fuck," Himari hesitated at the elevator for just a moment before rapidly mashing the button. "If we get there before all the wierdos she might still serve us, and hopefully nobody we recognize shows up." It was a brisk walk to Sin Eater from her office, but she managed to make it there just as Kaho was exiting, presumably before the support group arrived for their session.

"Kaho-Cha..." A sonic boom interrupted her, drawing her eyes up to a streak of purple energy in the sky... and a Thoughtless. Himari skidded to a halt and Quiet dug her claws into Himari's shoulder to keep her perch. Its wing got clipped and now it was falling. Morons... you don't clip a flying opponent unless it was a deathblow, otherwise it might fall on a bystander... Or... was it curving towards her? She blinked, just to confirm... that yes... it was going to land in or on her vicinity. Quiet inhaled an excited breath and began to say something, but Himari spun on her heels and began briskly walking in the opposite direction.

"But!"

"Nope."

Kaho walked quickly back up the street quickly as the slammed down on the roof of the building, scrabbling for purchase against the tiles before slipping down to the street below, bits of tile and cement clattering around it. Kaho grit her teeth in annoyance as the creature thrashed around in the street, hissing and trying to pull itself back into the sky. Her cigarette drooped dangerously low as she chewed the butt of it. What kind of imbecilic novices would drop this damn thing in the middle of downtown?

Wait, did someone say her name?

Speak of the dumbasses, and they shall appear. two magical girls, one purple, the other red, descended onto the street between her and the Thoughtless.

"I told you to wait!" the red one chastised, smacking her companion over the head. Her wand vanished and was replaced with a large, heavy broadaxe, the blade shaped superficially like an apple wedge.

"It's not running away anymore, is it?" the purple one spat back, thrusting the point of her spear in the monster's direction. Neither seemed to really be paying attention to it, instead falling into a back-and-forth of name calling and blame-shifting.

Kaho eyed them down the bridge of her nose, the tip of her cigarette pointing further and further downward as she chewed the end of it. Neither seemed to be older than twelve or thirteen, so some rookie mistakes were to be expected, but to stand in the middle of the street bickering while a Thoughtless stood behind them? Just how brainless were these kids?

The monster hissed and rose up its head to strike. Kaho dropped her cigarette to the ground and exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke over the heads of the two magical girls, and when the Thoughtless lashed out at them its head slammed into it as if it were solid. The two kids flinched at the sound of the impact, looking first in Kaho's direction and then at the recoiling Thoughtless.

"Oh."

"Right."

This is stupid, I'm stupid, why am I even doing this? Akihiko ran down the street as fast a pace as he was willing to push himself right now. Having magic powers made you a bit better then the average person of course but he really wasn't sure if he could go as fast as he used to. Years of sticking to a "normal" routine and not attempting to push your abilities past the norm meant that Aki was rusty.

Thank god his cardio wasn't terrible as he followed after his familiar . . . who was leading him through a shortcut that happened to leave a tall chain link fence in his way. Cause of course Kiki would pull something like this now of all times.

This bird is trying to get me killed I swear. He wasn't confident or arrogant enough to think he could jump something like that so easily with being as out of practice as he was, and Kiki was not as stupid a familiar as he would like to claim. Which only meant one thing. She was expecting him to ghost through the fence.

Aki skid to a halt in front of the fence and glanced up, Kiki was perched on the fence and cawed at him a few times to get him to hurry up. He squinted at his Familiar and grumbled. "If this doesn't work and i injure myself I'm plucking some of your damn feathers." He then backed up to give himself a few feet of space from the fence and concentrated. Alright I can do this. Just got to remember my old mantra . . . . . its just a small fence. baby steps. He let out a controlled breath and kept his eyes on the fence. You are empty . . . you are a ghost . . . As untouchable as smoke . . . The fence practically isn't even there for you.

After what felt like a few minutes of hard focus Akihiko's body started to have a faint pink glow to it, followed by his form becoming somewhat see through. Kiki cawed with excitement and took to the air again as Aki dashed forward and passed through the fence. The glow flickered away just as the ends of his coat fluttered through the fence. A breath he didn't even know he had been holding escaped His lips as a sigh of relief. "D-damn, I was scared i was gonna put myself in the hospital with that." He glared up at the bird. He would complain to her later.

It was another minute of running before he turned down a street corner and saw the thoughtless thrashing in the street, desperately trying to get itself off the ground as two novices seemed to be bickering with each other while a couple of adults watched the scene play out. Aki took a moment to catch his breath and stay a bit out of sight. Old habits die hard it seems. He kept an eye on the rookies and quickly looked back at the thoughtless thrashing about, wondering why the kids weren't hurrying up and ending the fight already. Kiki landed on his shoulder, If birds could have a face that translated to wanting to face palm, kiki was making whatever was close to it. "I don't want to sound old, But i feel like back when we we're that new even we knew better then to drop something that big downtown." Aki pinched the bridge of his nose. debating the looming idea of possibly having to transform for the first time in years if things went any further south.

"W-wait!" Quiet exclaimed, clawing to climb back onto Himari's shoulder as she briskly walked away from the scene. "This could be a significant sign!"

"Nope," grunted Himari. "You're not gonna trick me with that 'there's no such thing as coincidence. Stand Users are drawn together' bullshit again," she grumbled, squeaking loudly as the thoughtless thumped against the barrier behind her and quickening her pace.

"But!"

"This is ridiculous: I'm arguing, in public, with an invisible talking cat over whether the cosmos are conspiring to get me involved in the magical world again. This isn't a goddamn anime! If it were, something dumb would happen to force me to stay like my heel breaking or turning a random corner and comically colliding with a future teammate," she argued.

Himari was shuffling towards said corner while checking over her shoulder as she was finishing her sentence before barreling straight into Akihiko. She recoiled, but managed to catch herself and remain on her feet, and was opening her mouth to apologize when she laid eyes on him. They locked eyes for a solid several second before her gaze traveled slowly up to the brightly colored bird.

"Ooh, a romance flag!" Quiet blurted excitedly, which seemed to snap Himari out of the daze.

"No! No! Nope, uh uh, hell no! This isn't happening!!" She flustered, turning on her heels again and walking straight into the street, to the dismay of several drivers. "This is a bad dream, clearly I'm still flashbacking... you can't die for real in a dream, the monsters aren't my problem anymore, and I don't have to fight them anymore," she muttered under the screech of tires, blaring horns and screaming drivers while clutching her head against the impending migraine.

Well, this was underwhelming. Or maybe just whelming. Kaho was… whelmed. She’d been concerned about her bar being damaged, but as it stood she doubted the Thoughtless in question could damage much of anything. Granted, these sorts of low-level monsters had always fallen a little outside her personal experience, but this one seemed kind of pathetic. Weren’t these things supposed to have weird powers or whatever? Watching it swipe fruitlessly at the young and (generously described, in Kaho’s opinion) inexperienced magical girls as they took potshots with their wands while circling above it, it just seemed like a big, stupid goat-fish.Is this what magical girls were fighting now?

Speaking of… Kaho cast her eyes to the sky and around the street. The situation wasn’t exactly subtle; a number of passers-by watched nervously from the sidewalk, and she could hear a line of cars honking away behind her, and a screech of tires and frustrated shouting at a retreating pedestrian further down the street in the other direction. Shouldn’t it have drawn more attention by now? These two surely couldn’t be the only magical girls in the city, and they almost certainly crossed at least one invisible boundary or another on their haphazard aerial pursuit.

The Thoughtless beast sat coiled back on its slick, eel-like tail, clawing at the two brightly-clad girls firing orbs of magical energy at it from the air. It reared its shaggy head back, jaw opening wide to show off its sharp, canine teeth, and for a brief moment Budou and Ringo had the thought that it might actually intend to spit some kind of fireball at them, quickly veering to the side to avoid it.

Instead, it screamed. A shrill, quavering timbre like the buzzing wings of a thousand thousand insects that shot across the street like a shockwave, knocking the two magical girls out of the air, cracking the pavement where they landed. Kaho inhaled sharply, her teeth aching and feeling like a hundred pound weight had just slammed into her at top speed and grabbed on, trying to weigh her down.

”What is that?!” Budou groaned, her spear flashing back into her hand as she struggled back to her feet, her free hand clamping down against her ear.

”How am i supposed to know?!”

”Shut it up already!”

Ringo planted her feet solidly on the cracked blacktop of the road, a small sparrow flying out from her tangle of red hair and looping over her head to fly down in front of her. She clapped her hands down around it, then pulled them apart, sliding them along the shaft of a heavy broadaxe as it manifested before her. She charged the Thoughtless, stumbling a bit at first before adjusting to the weight pressing on her, her weapon’s apple slice shaped blade throwing up sparks as it dragged along the ground. The monster swung its razor-sharp talons down at her, barely missing as she stepped to the side at the last moment. The creature was far more of a threat now that the magical girl’s had lost their aerial advantage, and it fully intended to leverage that.

"Ruffles are always good, yeah. Nothin' to bat an eye at, a good 'ol ruffle."

His voice was a tired, lazy, mildly irritated drawl. A puff of cigarette smoke floated from between his lips and out from his nose as he breathed out. Kaito sighed and came to a stop beside the now transformed magical girl. The sparks of lightning and voltaic light that the girl threw off as she transformed were enough to at first give him pause, but at the gentle pressure of Kari's thoughts, he moved forward.

---

His day had started out fine, Izakaya had brought him a letter from his boss before pointing him in the direction of another izakaya that he could drink at. Then Junpei had come over, and even though it was technically Kaito's day off, Jun' had wanted him to come to the new build site to take a look at their next steps of their contract. Kaito was grateful to the man but... God. He just wanted a day to sleep.

He had been on his way to the new 'izakaya' that Izakaya had pointed him towards, when he saw it.
Or at least, saw them. Purple and red were streaking through the sky after some amalgam thoughtless.
The beast was spiraling down now, careening to the ground as the two colors went darting after it.
'Amatuers...' was the unbidden thought, quickly squashed by 'Kari and her mental implication. 'Don't be rude. Dumbasses have to start somewhere, dumbass.'

His throat cracked out a bark of a laugh he had no chance of holding in, a rueful smile splitting his otherwise sour expression. “Yeah yeah I know. Sorry.” He continued at a languid pace, choosing to move no faster than what could charitably be called a ‘steady meander’.
He wanted to go witness the ‘babies’ defeat their first Thoughtless, but didn’t exactly want to show up on the scene with the risk of someone knowing who he was.
Hopefully the infamy had died—

His head snapped up as the creature began its scream, and as ‘Kari gave a small mental push, Kaito took off at a dead sprint.
Either those girls were dead and dying, and the Thoughtless was announcing its’ victory, or the idiots hadn’t managed to actually do anything worthwhile.

He had arrived down the street from some girl— some lady— arguing with herself and a small cat. He had been about to say something to her when he was witness to her shoving her hand into the animal. Recognition bloomed across his face, and he had moved forth to speak to her when she spoke her incantation… And brought lightning to life around her. Yay.

‘You’re gonna need a cigarette…’ Krakari whispered to her companion, laughing darkly at his mental reply of ‘Yeah no fuckin’ shit.

---

“So! You’re ah, a magical girl, yeah? You gonna step in on the uh… Screamin’?” came the drawled question, a pair of nigh apathetic, pale blue eyes, boring themselves into the eyes of the Lightning Queen. Her outfit was… Fun? Fun. It at least had more flair and pizzazz than his own, not that he was wearing it at the moment.
Not that he really remembered how the damn thing looked.
His thoughts meandered out of his mouth, molasses slow, yet more cigarette smoke curling out from the corners of his mouth as he spoke again.
“C’ld probably take care of the entire fight just by yourself. If y’r this old and still alive as a … y’know. Magical girl.”
His head nodded in the direction of the still screeching thoughtless, locking eyes on the back of what looked like a man in a pink skirt, with a bird flying by his shoulder no less.
Great.

Another sigh, another cloud of smoke, another push from ‘Kari. She wanted to join the fray. To put the damn thing down and make the caterwauling cacophony come to a quick end. There were people staring now too, and one woman was taking a little too close of a look at Kaito and his (relatively forced) chatting companion.
There was a woman in relatively well dressed attire too, watching the entire thing with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Huh.
Another smoker. Nice. She certainly looked… Annoyed? Disappointed? Hm.

This was quickly becoming a clusterfuck. Hah!

Ringo hefted her axe up to her shoulder, swinging in a sideways arc at the beast’s midsection where slimy scales gave way to coarse fur. It was clumsy and imprecise, her senses dulled by the screech in her ears which seemed to drain away her strength, barely penetrating through the creature’s hide for lack of power. Ringo stumbled backward as she pulled back her axe to try again, spitting out a curse as the blade banged against the ground. Budou rushed forward with her spear, trying to get an opening to strike and help her teammate, her feet clumsy but determined. The Thoughtless’s talons came at her from the side, a threat Budou caught an instant too late to react, and she braced herself against the pain-

That didn’t come. Budou cracked one eye open, then widened them in dull surprise at the sphere of translucent smoke which enveloped her, the claws of the monster pressing against it in a futile attempt to break through.

”You two already got far enough to summon proper weapons, and something this weak is still giving you this much trouble?” Kaho scoffed at the two magical girls from where she stood, flicking the ash off the end of her cigarette. It instantly regenerated back to its full length, still burning. ”Are all kids these days this clumsy?”

The thoughtless roared in frustration, its strange, shrill screech cutting out as Kaho took another drag off her cigarette. It coiled back on its tail, drawing back its claws and gnashing its teeth as it prepared to lunge. With an exhale of the smoke in her mouth, the protective sphere Kaho had generated burst outward with a wave of force, slamming into the mishmash creature and throwing it down the street, straight at the trio standing on the sidewalk.

”Hurry and get this over with. I had plans.”

"I'll take care of this in a single blow," growled Himari as she held a white gloved hand aloft. The air was suddenly charged, nearly vibrating with power as she felt the magic lash against her will. Not this time! An invisible force blew her hair upward as electricity crawled out of the cement, pulled forcefully out of their underground conduits. Lights flickered and went out abruptly, and electricity arced fiercely from street signals and lamps to her body, building up tremendous power.

This was it.

She was 100% in control.

Himari's will was the strongest force; the path of least resistance. Until...

"Ruffles are always good, yeah. Nothin' to bat an eye at, a good 'ol ruffle," some stranger drawled at her from MUCH too close.

"Wh-What?!" She exclaimed, flinching away from him. All her power immediately fizzled, allowing the lights to come back on. An almost snickering crackle of thunder rippled overhead.

"Oh, this will be entertaining," chirped Quiet from Kaito's feet with a flick of her tail. "You four don't have any metal fillings or implants, do you?"

"I'll have you know-...!" The color drained from Himari's face as lightning blasted away a sizable chunk of the sidewalk at Akihiko's feet, showering them with debris. "This may have been a mistake," Himari muttered under her breath, hoping the angry bleat of thunder would cover it up.

Compounding the matter of her out of control magic was the thoughtless that was now hurtling towards them... though there wasn't much that she could do about it. She took a step to intercept the thoughtless and a rogue bolt of lightning striking the street at her feet made her leap back onto the sidewalk. Even though Himari was largely immune to the effects of electricity, the forces of being struck by a rogue bolt could still potentially injure her.

"I am your master!" She spat at the sky. "You have to do what I say!" She screamed, shaking her fist.

A peal of thunder cackled back at her.

Aki couldn’t help but smile with a bit of satisfaction over Himari’s apparent envy over his outfit. It definitely could be a lot worse. Memories of a large frilly skirt with glitter that got everywhere made him shutter. This broke away to a severe case of secondhand embarrassment as Himari began to fumble through her own transformation.

Kiki winced at the stumble mid incantation, only to squawk in surprise when the lightning struck. The familiar soon let out an impressed whistle somehow with her beak at the woman’s completed transformation. ”Can’t beat the classics can you, not many adults can pull off the sailor scout look.” meanwhile Akihiko huffed in slight annoyance. ”Yeah, and she complains about her look when she gets lightning powers of all things. That’s just badass.” The bird just squinted at her partner silently. As if he was one to talk.

The two snapped to attention hearing a woman yell at them to get this over with. A look towards the thoughtless revealed a blonde woman defending herself easily with her own magic as the two girls from before were still trying, and failing, to deal with the screaming thoughtless. Yeah, this has gone on long enough. Aki grabbed hold of his wand with both hands and focused. The wand soon appeared ghostly and seethrough as he pulled its handle in two directions, causing the wand to elongate and curve. At the same time, a scythe blade feted out from one side of the wand’s top, completing the wand's rather brief transformation as the weapon took on a more solid state. He flourished his weapon a bit. Even after so much time had passed it felt natural in his hands.

Before he had the chance to ready himself to charge in, Himari announced her intent to end it in one blow. That put a sour look on Akihiko’s face.Sure, why not. Make us feel stupid for even transforming in the first place of your just gonna do that.
Unfortunately, some other random guy decided that was a good time to interrupt Himari mid spell. She instantly began to lose control as her familiar earned the rest of them about having metal fillings or implants. Aki was confused for a moment until Himari’s stray lightning began arcing towards him.

Kiki ruffled her feathers and flapped in a panic. ”Boss, your leg!” His leg? Leg. Oh shit my prosthetic. The pink reaper instantly became ghostly and dodged away from the incoming electricity with a yelp. After getting some distance from the lightning girl and random dude, Aki got his bearings and realized how bad the situation had turned. The thoughtless was suddenly thrown in their direction now to make matters worse.

”Alright, enough's enough,” He became solid again and readied his scythe. ”I want a drink when this is over.” With that, he charged to meet the thoughtless. Kiki took to the air to get out of the way while Aki began to pick up speed. When the thoughtless was close to landing on him, Aki teleported himself straight into the air In a burst of pink smoke, appearing above the still falling thoughtless while hooking his scythes blade around the monster's neck. With a grunt, he pivoted mid air while grasping the scythes shaft to try and generate enough momentum to pull the blade. The whole scene was rather impressive for someone supposedly out of practice in using his magic and fighting the thoughtless, though any well seasoned magical girl or boy could tell how sloppy and rusty the movements were. He hoped the combined force of his attempted spin and the Thoughtless’s own weight still falling would be enough to cut clean through its neck to take the head right off. A spark of dread bloomed in his chest when he didn’t feel the blade go clean through. Shit.

"Oh the pirate looks out on ahead... With his hands on the cane even on the land... He roars loud enough to wake the dead... Whup! Jamboree!"

The shout is drowned out by another peal of thunder, with the sensation of 'Kari cackling brightly in the back of his mind. Her voice, seeping with amused sarcasm rings out clear in his ears as her tentacles ripple up and out from his back, her 'giant' body floating up into the air beside him as the light begins seeping out from his hands. Water soon follows. "Oh you know damn well that wasn't necessary... But I'll give you points for being a good sport! Play ball my Knight! Show these idiots how to really shut a bug up!"

---

Kaito huffed and smiled as he felt the water spray out from his hands, his shoulders, his shins, his ankles, and his throat. Light burst forth from his body, rippling and refracting through the water that swirled about him. His smile only grew wider as his costume took shape around him, a long black leather sailing coat forming around his torso, along with a plain white collared tunic, a matching gray vest taking form along with. The entire outfit rippled as if he were underwater, and as a pair of off-white trousers formed, along with a pair of brown, leather tilly-jackboots, his magic pulsed. Gold designs and imprints of tentacles, coral, and a massive anchor on his back, came aglow on his costume. The water that streamed around him came to a burst at his head as a black and gold trimmed tricorne hat came to rest on his head. From the three corners dangled silver-cradled jewels. A ruby, a sapphire, and a topaz. The topaz sat in the front, with chains of silver linking each of the jewels together.

His feet were moving as the transformation continued, throwing himself into movement as he drew nearer and nearer to the Thoughtless and Akihiko, the latter beginning to come down from his assault with the beginnings of panic blooming on his face...
The transformation finished, Krakari laughed once more, and Kaito huffed a brief chuckle as he slammed into the panicking Akihiko. Kaito's shoulder slammed into the magical-man, and with a burst of tired laughter, he threw the pink-clad fellow onto the ground not but four feet behind the Thoughtless.
He tumbled along with Akihiko, rolled over the man, and popped back up onto his feet as smooth and practiced as when he used to do this shit full fuckin' time! His hands flashed, and as Kaito stood, a column of water burst up from underneath the Thoughtless, blasting the creature up into the air with the scythe still caught in it's neck. A bubble of swirling water quickly encapsulated the thing, and Kaito's brow furrowed as he forced the damn thing to float above the roofs nearby. His gaze leapt back to the lightning-chick, and his voice barked out, loud as he could possibly get it. "Oi! Do your damn thing! You got this shit!"

He returned his gaze back to the Thoughtless, slowly closing his hands into fists as the creature found the bubble of water beginning to fill with a tremendous pressure. He had to focus. And focus he did, as all other noises faded from his mind. Hell, his vision narrowed until all he could practically see was the Thoughtless. He used to be able to focus on so much more, but the last time he had transformed and actually used his magical powers was so so long ago... No! No time for regrets. Gotta focus.
"Hah... Fuck." He breathed, before going silent as he hoped desperately that the magical-woman would do ... Something. More lightning? More lightning.

Himari was so focused on getting her wild magic back under control that she didn't notice Kaito's transformation. She painstakingly grasped each thrashing tendril of mana and painstakingly coiled them about her body to subdue them. She was just grasping the last thread of rogue mana when:

"Oi! Do your damn thing! You got this shit!"

"Wha- aaaaww," groaned Himari as the magic thrashed against her control unexpectedly and ripped away all of her carefully coiled threads of mana, as well as most of the magic stored in her body. She stumbled and fell to her knees as the escaping mana sucked the wind from her lungs.

"Oh, that's going to happen... pretty definitely," chirped Quiet in an amused tone from Kaito's feet. "You're both in the splash zone," she giggled, and then dissolved into black mist.

In an instant, the air surrounding the water pillar was saturated with mana. It thrummed loudly and tendrils of electricity began to crawl up the column, arcing between the rogue droplets. As the sphere around the Thoughtless compressed, exposing the Scythe's handle the tendrils streamed towards the sky menacingly for an uncomfortable second.

A blinding flash, accompanied by a cacophonous BOOM! shook the street. The force of it knocked Himari to the ground, and when her eyes adjusted she could still see the forked trail of plasma fading up into the clouds, which flickered and rumbled ominously. A bolt of lightning as thick as an old oak had splintered down from the sky and smashed Kaito's pillar of water clean down to the street, showering the whole intersection with steaming hot water. The thoughtless lay in a steaming puddle of water and melted asphalt with nearly a third of its body blasted apart. Aki's scythe was still miraculously lodged into its neck, glowing orange and smoking where the lightning had hit it. Himari pushed herself to her feet in the awkward, unnatural silence, clearing her throat after a while.

"Th-that's how a pro takes out the trash," remarked Himari unsteadily. She posed a handful of feet away from the Chimera, silhouetted by the steam, gazing down at it with one of her gleaming red eyes through her fingers. Her hand deftly covered the majority of her face... and combined with the steam hid her furious blushing.

In the middle of his panic, Akihiko found himself flung to the side as someone tackled him. The rolled on the ground on reflex into a three point landing position to see what once was the man that had interrupted Himari before was a full blown pirate, that was using water magic to restrain the injured Thoughtless. Aki blinked owlishly at the sight. Kiki appeared on his shoulder in a puff of pink whisps.

Aki’s previous panic died as a chuckle escaped him. ”Wow, how many retired magical girls and boys does it take to clean up rookie messes?. Kiki let out a snort. ”Four apparently.”

The two didn’t have much time to be amused as Kaito called for Himari to end it already, herself seeming to only have the barest control over her lightning. It only took one glance between the thoughtless in front of him and Kaito then Himari to realize what was about to happen. ”Yeah . . . This is gonna get loud.” Akihiko and Kiki’s forms shifted to resembling pink ghosts not a moment too soon as the world around them was enveloped in a bright light followed by a deafening roar of sound that rattled the bones.

When Aki became solid again everything was covered in still evaporating water, as well as the half melted thoughtless with his scythe still in its neck. The thing was still glowing orange from conducting so much electricity. Even so, the thing was slowly starting to twitch a bit. He stood up with an annoyed sigh.

”Were these things always this resilient? This seems a bit much to take one stupid Thoughtless.” Akihiko rolled his shoulders and pulled his hood down. ”Don't know and I really don't care at this point. Shows over.”
He patted Kaito on the shoulder before blinking up towards his scythe, hands appearing ghostly to grab the electrically heated weapon without any worry. Aki’s eyes flared bright pink as his magic surged, causing the scythes blade to expand in size and become ethereal while still in the struggling Thoughtlesses neck. All Akihiko had to do then was quickly rotate his body and spin with scythe in hand, finally decapitating the monster and landing with his weapon held behind him in a pose he hadn’t struck for a few years now. ”Rest in Peace.” Once those words left his lips, his scythe snapped back into its wand form before disappearing into pink whisps.

All in all, he thought that went pretty well considering literally everything that happened.

”Geez.” Kaho rubbed the back of her neck, steam rising off the street as the Thoughtless bubbled and faded away like a summer mirage. Bit much for one bug. There was a large black scorch mark in the center of the street, and she noted several cars with bald spots where the flash-evaporated water had damaged the paint.

”AWESOME!!” Budou exclaimed, running over to where the monster had fallen. She jostled Akihiko, spinning him around briefly before jumping back a bit to gawk at his outfit. ”Are you a magical girl too!? Boy? Man? Whatever! That was awesome! And you!” She spun on her heel, racing over to Himari, energy almost leaking out of her into the pavement. ”What was that lightning!? Where’d you learn to do that!? Can I do that? Omigawd, can I do that?!”

Ringo took a breath to steady herself, her broadaxe vanishing in a spark of red light. Her eyes were fixed on what could only be described as a pirate standing less than 10 feet from her. The way this guy had showed up out of nowhere, effortlessly the Thoughtless under control and directing the other two… She stepped forward, opening her mouth to say something, then after a brief hesitation stepped back. ”Budou!” Ringo called out to her teammate. ”We need to finish patrolling!”

”Eeeeh…?” The purple magical girl deflated somewhat.

Kaho took a long drag off her cigarette, reducing it to half its length before it grew back to full size seemingly of its own accord. She checked the time on her phone, then glanced back over at her bar. There wasn’t really enough damage for anyone to care about, right? And all other… participants… in this little street show seemed to be suitably distracted. Fantastic. She spun on her heel, intent on making a quiet getaway.

"Hmm. Yeah, maybe answer 'Ruffles's question before y'two leave, hm? Y'all handled that pretty well before we showed up, but uh... Yeah. Ah, is it just th' two of you? That lady's bar," Katio's sentence drawled out, a quick breath taken as he went to continue. He nodded his hat topped head towards the... Smoker? He didn't know her name, and was perfectly content to call her by a descriptor until otherwise told, "Was kinda nearly trashed from the ah, Thoughtless, y'know?"

Kaito went to take a drag of his own cigarette, blinking in stupefied confusion when the soothing burn of smoke entering his lungs didn't come. A quick peek at his hands revealed no cigarette, and further more, that even if he wanted to smoke, his hands were perpetually wet. Welp.

He chuckled to himself before sighing, moving over to a nearby wall and sliding down it to sit down. "'M too damn old to do that shit on the spot... Y'all were good though, again, good job." He smiled at the duo, before turning his gaze towards the smoking Kaho, and then towards Himari and Aki, not yet knowing their names.
His eyes lingered on all of them for a bit too long, before he shrugged and whispered to 'Kari.

His costume dropped, his magic flashed, water flowed across his skin, and he returned to his 'civilian' clothes. Then, quick as a flash, he dipped his hand into his pocket, grabbed a somewhat mushed carton of cigarettes, popped one in his mouth, and topped the whole situation off by patting his pockets before speaking aloud to the group. "Ah... Uh. Anyone got a light? Heh."