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Fion still wasn’t sure why she had not thrown the pendant out. After making three attempts and still not managing to part with it, she had given up. She wasn't sure that wearing it again was a good idea, so it currently rested in her pocket, constantly drawing her attention. She couldn't even concentrate on the marathon that was getting underway, even though the event was something she had been looking forward to for weeks.

She was probably going crazy, she knew that. Anyone who thought that they had magically transformed into… something, was almost certainly losing it. She was under stress, classes and work and living on her own all the time was getting to her. That had to be it. She would be fine, and it would all go away soon. Possibly. Hopefully.

But what if it was real. The transformation thing. There was something about the pendant, something that felt familiar. She was grasping desperately at straws, she knew. She couldn’t pin her hopes on anything. But that slim chance that she wasn’t going crazy was comforting, and that was probably why she hadn’t been able to throw it away.

Her mind was clearly elsewhere as she walked among the crowd along the strip, so the screams didn’t register immediately. Her head snapped up once they did, startling her out of her silly musings. People were rushing off the street, flying past her and down side streets or alleyways. Their shouts were almost incoherent, but they were afraid. Was it her? Did the transformation come back? No, looking down she could see that she still wore her running clothes. She was still normal.

Fion turned almost sluggishly toward the end of the street, afraid of what she was going to find. She took a step back at the sight, recoiling from the four figures that were moving around near one of the large stages that had been set up.

These weren't costumes. The things were shaped like women, but they weren’t - couldn’t be - human. Everything about them was a dull, dingy gray; from their skin to their hair to the leotards they appeared to be dressed in. They were eyeless, their skin stretched over empty sockets, and sharpened teeth hid under their colorless lips. Their heads moved around as they walked forward, as if they were searching for something. As if they could actually see.

Her instincts told her to run with the others, but she only made it a few feet before she tripped. Of all the times to be clumsy! she shouted in her head, ignoring the scrapes on her hands and picking herself up off the ground. She was stumbling blindly, with no clue as to what was going on.

“Get out of my way!” came a shout, and Fion dropped to the ground again as a woman ran past. The woman was a dark blur, heading straight towards those things and slamming into one of them. Blows were exchanged, and the gray thing fell over with a wordless cry. Its fellows stopped in their tracks, eyeless faces turning towards the newcomer.

She stood tall, poised and serious, her long black hair swirling around her. Her skirt, collar, and the bow on her chest were all as black as her hair. Her smile was both beautiful and dark, and she grinned before she ran to attack those things again.

Fion was frozen, staring at the battle from her spot on the ground. It was the same. The color was different, but the woman… it was the same outfit. It had been weeks since the transformation, but Fion would never forget it. The tight bodice, the short flared skirt; there was no mistake.

Whoever the woman was, she was strong. But she was outnumbered and taking blows from the gray things. Each hit looked painful, the woman was going to be battered! Everyone else was fleeing. Fion had to do something, she couldn’t keep standing there and watching. The pendant was pulled out of her pocket before she could change her mind. No turning back now. Still not even positive what she was doing, she clutched the leaf with both hands and shouted the first thing to pop into her head.

“Green prism power, make up!”

It was like an explosion of green light, and Fion shut her eyes against it. She couldn’t say for certain what had happened, but when she opened her eyes again she had transformed once more. She touched her throat, and felt the pendant there on a green ribbon choker. Her clothing was gone, replaced by the uniform with the green skirt and bows. Clenching gloved hands into fists, she slammed one boot onto the ground.

“Root trap!” she shouted, and the pavement around her foot cracked instantly. The crack sped along the street towards the battle, splitting off into four different paths. Each ended underneath one of the gray things, splitting the ground wide once it reached them. Thick brown roots sprang up from the earth, stretching towards their forms. The roots greedily wrapped around arms and legs, locking the beings into place. They screamed again as the plants grew, frantically trying to escape and to see where the roots were coming from.

The woman in black turned quickly, her eyes narrowed as she searched. She and Fion stared at each other for a moment; the woman with her eyebrow raised, Fion with her hands over her mouth to hide her shock. Then the woman smiled.

Standing where she was, Fion wasn't able to hear what the woman whispered, but that soft phrase created a small black orb of energy in her palm. She slammed the orb into the chest of one of the gray things, absorbing what little color it had into her orb. The being sagged against the roots, no longer moving. Its skin was an ashen white, its breath a low rattle. The woman turned from it, moving towards the others. She left them all drained before turning away.

Fion’s roots dropped away slowly, leaving the bodies in a haphazard heap, but the woman’s attention was on the redhead. She had beaten the enemy, and those things no longer mattered to her.

Not done yet? What does she- Fion's thoughts halted in their tracks as she turned, seeing for the first time what the woman in black could see. It looked different from the other things; 'she' was brightly colored, for one, and huge in size. But the eyes were still empty sockets, though the skin covering them was now a bright, poisonous green. It felt the same as the other things, even if it looked different. Fion had missed seeing it absorb a person and evolve.

Now wasn't the time to freeze up, the woman in black was running towards the new enemy. Might as well try again? Fion slammed her boot once more into the pavement, shouting her attack as she did so.

This time, the enemy looked up to see the cracks in the pavement racing towards it. She dodged easily, and Fion's roots broke through to grasp at air. For its size, this thing was fast! It was almost a blur as it wove back and forth, avoiding the roots as they tangled around each other.

"I should have guessed it wouldn't work twice," Fion muttered, more to herself than anything as she fell in step behind the woman in black.

Unlike the woman in black, Fion had never been training in any of the fighting arts. She could only run to catch up as the other woman attempted to land a hit. When the thing threw her back, Fion hurried to help her back up. She had so many questions for her; who was she, what were they fighting, how could they beat it, where did it come from... But now was clearly not the time. She had to do something.

Shouting out the first thing that came to mind had worked before, so Fion tried it now. Crouched on the ground next to where the other woman had landed, she threw an arm straight up in the air. "Leaf dance!"

Almost instantly, a swarm of leaves surrounded the two women, swirling around them in a column like a barricade. The thing reached out to touch it, pulling a stinging hand back after it made contact. It ran at the barrier, only to be thrown backwards when it collided. It hissed, circling the shielded women, searching for an opening. A few other attempts to break the barrier resulted in nothing but cuts on its arms and legs. For the moment, the two of them were safe.

Fion was sweating. Was she doing this? How long would it hold? "I don't know what's happening or how long it's going to last," she started, looking at the other woman. "Do you have a way to hit it from here? I can try and pin it again, but it's just so fast..."

Youma? The word wasn't familiar, but it wasn't like anything else was making sense right then. And they fed off humans? Is that what turned the gray things into... whatever this was? It had killed someone? There was too much to take in, and Fion just didn't have the time right now. She had to help get rid of this thing before it killed anyone else. Standing up, she clenched her hands into fists before diving through her own barrier.

Her attack was more out of necessity than of skill and lacked the grace of the other woman's attacks, but it did the trick. She landed on the youma's chest, knocking it back to the ground and hearing a satisfying thud as its skull bounced against the pavement. She pinned each of its arms with her own as she sat on its chest and used her feet to pin the top half of its legs so that it wouldn't flail too much. Once it recovered from the blow to the head, though, she would be in trouble. It had probably been a stupid move, but it was all she could think of doing.

Fion's barrier had dissipated as soon as she had stopped concentrating on it. "Please kill it!" she shouted to the woman in black. "I don't know what it wants, but we have to-!"

She was cut off as the youma shuddered, trying to shake her away. Once more and she'd probably be thrown off.

((OOC) Tricksy hobbitses!)

Fion missed exactly what happened when she was knocked off of the youma, but one second she could hear its eerie screaming and the next it was nothing more than a pile of ash. Looking back over her shoulder, she could see a large pile where the other four youma, the gray ones, had been heaped. Did these things disintegrate once they died? They had killed them... she had helped to kill some kind of demon-type thing. Of course, they were feeding off of humans and now they couldn't kill anyone else, but it was still something she would have to come to terms with.

Standing and ignoring the small scrapes on her arms and legs, Fion turned towards the woman in black. Even after a fight, the woman seemed collected and in control, as if she knew exactly what she was doing. Fion didn't know why, but this woman proved it was real. The transformation, the fighting, the power. It wasn't some kind of mad hallucination.

"Fion," she replied. Looking around, the street was still empty. But with the fighting stopped, it might not stay that way for long. Should they go somewhere else? How did they change back? She was looking to the other woman for answers, and she didn't even know who she was. "And you? What's your name?"

Jill? Jill sounded too ordinary for a beautiful woman like her, but Fion didn't question it as the two of them ran into an alleyway. Her fighting abilities might not be on par with this woman's, but if there was one thing Fion was confident in it was her running. She kept up with Jill easily and they managed to duck out of the way while the sirens were still a long way off.

Getting up the fire escape was ridiculously easy. If she had been paying any attention, she would have pondered that fact. It seemed like the adrenaline from the fight was pushing her onward. That, and her curiosity for what was going on. She had to know what the transformation meant, what those youma were. Something was obviously very wrong.

"Jill-?" she started to ask, but stopped halfway through, confused. How was she supposed to articulate all of these questions she had?

Fuku; here was another word that she was unfamiliar with. It seemed like Jill meant the uniform. Just focus on your normal form... Fion repeated in her head. Is that how she changed back last time? She had gone to bed in the uniform after the forced transformation, hiding her head under her pillow and hoping she would be back to normal when she woke up. With that thought in her head, the pendant that had started this whole mess shimmered briefly on the ribbon at her throat and she somehow was able to reverse the transformation. She was back in her running clothes and Jill was pulling her inside the building.

The only thing that changed was that the pendant was back on the short chain around her neck instead of hiding in her pocket.

The halls of the building were mostly empty as Jill pulled Fion through them. It appeared that they were in one of the wings of a hotel as they left the stairwell. "I guess the marathon is going to be cancelled," Fion said absently, suddenly not terribly interested in it anymore. There would be other marathons, other events. Whatever had happened with her and this woman and those youma, it was far more important than anything else right now. She let herself be led along as they reached the ground floor. Looking around through the glass windows lining some of the hallways, the crowds were already reforming outside. Fion doubted anyone would notice the two of them no matter which exit they used.