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 Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 10:48 am
Shelly had decided to take a day off before college started up, wanting to simply relax abit before she got into the grind and groove of school. She’d thought that a nice walk throughthe park while the menagerie at home rested would be just the ticket. Just enjoying the sun andshade and fresh green smell…
A panicked scream broke through her reverie and without thinking she bolted for the source,wondering what on earth had happened and to whom. After a few moments, she slid to a halt and sheltered behind a tree as she took in the sight of a youma menacing a little group of pre-teens. A youma! In broad daylight! She’d never known such a thing was possible. Or rather, she had never stopped to think. Just because her weird encounters happened at night didn’t mean they all did. Ducking back behind the tree and making sure that there wasn’t anyone around to see, she dug her henshin pen from her pocket and powered up in a rush of warm energy.
Once she’d transformed, she scrambled up the tree and traveled through the branches until she was standing in a different tree just off to the side from where the youma snarled and slavered.
“Hey monster!” she yelled, wanting to distract it from the kids. “Why not pick on someone your own size! I’ll show you how strong Friendship can be!”
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 6:22 pm
The panicked scream jolted her from a heavenly food coma that she’d fallen into while on her walk back home. Mel had a big lunch–a rarity for her, but she could hardly say no to a homemade meal from Mrs. Ahn. Things were as awkward as ever, and navigating all of it had been as exhausting as it was interesting. Exciting, even.
She was hesitant to say “hopeful” but there had been moments that made her feel that, too. Not that she’d ever admit it out loud.
A second scream broke her away from her thoughts, though, and now fully awake she headed straight for it, briefly ducking into some bushes to power up. She noticed the other order signature then, and felt a bit of relief at the idea that she wouldn’t be handling whatever she was walking into alone. She sensed the youma then, too, and when she was within sight of it she saw the children as well.
Ekstrom ducked behind another nearby tree and watched for a long moment, hoping there would be an opening for her to run in and try and get the kids to safety. A voice called out from the trees right as the thought crossed her mind, and she smirked. Maybe they were on the same wavelength, whoever that was.
She sprinted and, when she was close enough, she put herself between the kids and the youma, pan at the ready. Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “Run!” in as serious a voice as she could manage given she was out of breath.
The youma seemed to hear her, too, though, as its snarling was suddenly much too close for comfort.
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 7:04 pm
Hey! She had back-up! Back-up was good! Grinning, Tololo felt a weak branch under her hand and snapped it off before chucking it at the youma's snarling face. She had to keep it focused on her for the sake of the kids.
"Yo, ugly! I'm the one you're fighting, remember?"
The branch mnaged to hit it in the pig-like snout and suddenly, Tololo found herself very much the focus of baleful red eyes. Well, s**t. Still, it gave the kids an opening as long as they stayed quiet and didn't draw it's attention.
Jumping down from her perch, the senshi of friendship darted in close, taunting the youma and forcing it to pay attention to her.
"Yeah, that's right! Ya ugly freak! I'm a lot more interesting than a bunch of kids!"
For good measure, she knelt quickly to scoop up a handful of gravel that she threw in the creature's face. As soon as the knight who'd appeared could get the kids away, then they could focus on actually getting rid of the youma. Which, given how angry she was making it might not be as easy as she'd like to think.
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 6:36 pm
Ekstrom watched as the other–a senshi, by the looks of it–kept the youma’s attention on her. She felt a little bad but was grateful that they seemed to be on the same page as far as what the priority was: the safety of the kids. So when the youma turned its attention fully toward Tololo, Ekstrom turned to the kids and put a finger to her lips to signal for them to stay quiet.
“C’mon, you guys gotta run,” she said pleadingly, ushering them further and further from the creature now behind them. One kept trying to look over her shoulder while the other two kept whispering all manner of questions that she really didn’t have time to answer given the urgency of the situation. Not to mention she didn’t want to leave her ally hanging.
Luckily (for her, though maybe not for Tololo), there was a loud roar behind them, and the creature leapt for the senshi while aiming its fiery breath right at her. That got them to finally take it seriously, and they hurried off without another word.
As soon as they were gone, Ekstrom hurried back and, since the youma was still focused on Tololo, rammed into it with full, bodily force, sending it tumbling several feet away.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said while glancing over at her. “Y’know, kids being curious and all that. You okay?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 7:19 pm
Patting her hair to make sure it hadn't been singed too badly, Tololo grinned and shrugged somewhat philosophically.
"It's kids. Kids are always gonna want to know the whys and wherefores. Nice bodyslam, by the way. Ever consider wrestling?"
The senshi was trying to figure out the best way to handle this. With the kids gone, she figured they wouldn't have to hold back as much. Which was good considering that between the two of then they might just have enough power to dust this thing.
"I'm dandy," she replied belatedly. "I'm just hoping to figure out this thing's weak spot. Whoops! Look out!"
Shoving Ekstrom to the side, Tololo twirled and dodged as the youma tried to charge them. Taking a chance, she jumped on it's back and placed her hands over it's eyes.
Holding on for dear life, Tololo quickly found herself questioning her choices.
"Got any ideas?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2024 8:47 pm
”I feel like I should start,” Ekstrom replied with an amused little smile at the wrestling question. Lately she’d been considering expanding into other types of fight training, if only to help with these sorts of situations.
“And that’s fair enough. I just wish they had a healthy amount of not wanting to risk life and limb while they try to figure things out.”
She set her that topic aside–kids will be kids, like she said–relieved to both see and hear that she was okay. The page turned to look at the youma again when she mentioned looking for a weak spot. It didn’t look particularly vulnerable anywhere, she thought, before quickly getting shoved aside, causing the youma to charge right past her.
“Thanks!” she said, then watched, wide-eyed, as the senshi got on its back. She questioned the decision as she watched the youma try to buck her off while she covered its eyes.
“Uh…I can try to aim a hit with my frying pan to its belly?” she cried, feeling like she was grasping for straws here. A lot creatures, though, had soft undersides, so…maybe?
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 9:19 am
A frying pan to the underbelly? Weird choice, but Tololo would stan. Besides, given how her magic worked and her choices in introductions, she couldn’t really judge.
“Might work,” she shouted. “But let’s see if I can wear this bad boy out a bit first! And my magic might be able to help too!”
As far as the senshi could tell, the youma was still way too riled and she would not allow Ekstrom to try and get in close, armed only with a frying pan while the youma was still full of piss and vinegar. Now granted, it was still doing its best to buck her off of its back, but she was stubborn.
She also knew animals. And while the youma might not technically be one, she was willing to bet that similar tricks could be employed. Clinging on for dear life, Tololo reached out and gripped one of the youma’s flapping ears. Then, making sure she had a tight hold, she yanked, pulling its head off to the left and forcing it to veer in that direction.
Perfect! Grinning, she tugged hard on one ear, then the other, forcing the monster to go practically in circles. If she could make it dizzy and tired enough…
“I think we may have a chance of doing this thing,” she called out excitedly. “Just wait for my go, okay?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:26 pm
Given the way it was moving, Ekstrom could hardly get in there to get a good swing in without risking taking a massive hit as well. So when the senshi suggested tiring it out first, she bobbled her head and tried to rack her brain for ideas on exactly how she could help with that. She watched, though, as Tololo found a way to control the thing by pulling on its ears.
It looked absolutely pissed, but soon it was moving round and round…
The page couldn’t help but laugh heartily at the weird scene before her, but she nodded and called back, “Just say when!”
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 9:45 am
Tololo knew her beasties and could tell that this one was getting very tired of having a tiny senshi stuck to its back and yanking on its ears. It had already tried multiple times to buck her off. She was beginning to wonder if it was smart enough to try to smash her. Quickly enough, the youma proved that it had at least two working brain cells as it began staggering backwards, clearly intent on crushing her between a tree and its body.
Perfect.
Hoisting her legs up, she turned her head to watch and gauge distance. Once close enough, she pulled on both ears as hard as she could while clambering up and over its head, making sure to jump only once both her feet were connecting squarely with its face. After that, it was physics in action, baby! Between its own momentum and the added force of her kick, the youma hit the tree hard, audibly cracking the trunk. As it slid and sat dazed for a moment, Tololo practically bounced over to Ekstrom’s side and winked.
“Not just yet,” she cautioned as the youma began to stand back up and growl. “Watch this! Simple and Clean…”
The last words were spoken in a whisper as Tololo pointed at the youma’s chest. A beam burst from her, sparks flying off like stardust. It hit the youma directly where its heart would be and the monster froze in place, a look of stark confusion on its face as it stared at Tololo. She could feel the connection take hold and she nodded to the knight. It was time.
“Move fast and hit hard,” she whispered. “I can’t hold the connection forever and this is as docile as it’s ever gonna be!”
”its_p a o” Attack: Simple and Clean Effect: Tololo whispers her attack before pointing her finger at her opponent's heart and firing a pale greenish-white energy beam that resembles a star fall. When this beam hits, Tololo's magic forms a very brief connection between her heart and her opponent's heart. This connection makes her opponent feel as though they've been friends forever and may cause them to hesitate briefly in attacking her as such. Tololo can use this attack 3 times per battle for a total of 25 seconds each. As the magic fades, it leaves behind a
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 10:05 am
It was like she was watching something out of an episode of one of those TV shows, the way Tololo–obviously the good guy in all this–maneuvered and effectively dazed the giant monster. She wondered in passing if she’d be able to think fast like that if she ever found herself in such a situation, though she let it pass quickly as the senshi bounced over to her.
“That was awesome,” Ekstrom gushed for just a second, then watched part two of TV-show-turned-reality action. She followed the sparks to the youma, then blinked as it looked on at Tololo in confusion. She didn’t have time to think too hard on why it suddenly calmed down enough to be completely wide open, but on cue she grinned, tightened her hold on her pan and darted in.
The page almost felt bad–almost–when she swung as hard and as fast as she could, right at its center. The strength of the blow was enough to cause another audible crack in the already weakened trunk, and the monster made a horrific howling sort of sound before it went completely silent, then all at once burst into fine dust particles.
Satisfied as she was with the result, the next breath that Ekstrom took was…particularly unpleasant. She backed up as fast as she could, coughing and sputtering in comical fashion as she cleared the air around her face.
“Gross…”
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:54 pm
Breathing a tiny sigh of relief that the youma had been so easily dispatched, Tololo grinned at the knight and gave her a thumbs up.
"That was beautiful. The airborne youma bits, not so much, but give it a second and your lungs'll clear up."
Frankly, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the youma. She still didn't know how intelligent the things were, but so many of them were animal like and she hated the idea of hurting an animal. She knew in a very vague way that youma used to be people and animals that got corrupted a long time ago.
Still didn't make her feel great about the whole thing.
She listened to Ekstrom cough and winced.
"Maybe we should get you some water," she said, slightly uncertain. "I'd definitely recommend a shower and laundry since you're kind of... uh... glisten-y right now."
In fact, the dust seemed to cling to poor Ekstrom, giving her a very shimmery appearance that would have been kind of neat. If it wasn't for the fact that the dust was dead monster.
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Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 5:10 pm
Ekstrom returned the thumbs up between coughs, and when she felt confident she could string more than two words at a time before coughing she said, “Thanks, and water sounds like a good idea.” She paused to cough a bit, then added, “Lots of it.”
She was about to pull a bottle from her subspace when Tololo mentioned she looked glisten-y. Blinking a moment to process that, the page visibly shuddered and hurriedly pulled a bottle of water out and splashed her face with it first, then rinsed her hands before drinking the rest of it.
“Gross!” she cried again, feeling barely refreshed at all, never mind clean. She glanced down at her uniform and started inspecting it, a horrified expression marring the usual cheerfulness when she saw the aforementioned glisten with her own two eyes. “You think if I power down and back up again this youma dust’ll still be on my uniform?” Ekstrom looked at Tololo then, very nearly in tears. She could handle a lot of things in this world, but a creature’s dusted remains…
That just wasn’t one of those things.
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 1:54 pm
About to summon her own bottle from subspace, Tololo watched as Ekstrom beat her to it, frantically using it to clean up. Maybe she’d been working around animals for too long, the idea of being covered in youma dust wasn’t pleasant, but she could deal.
It sure beat being covered in blood or puppy puke.
Still, not everyone would be like her and poor Ekstrom was definitely distressed. Seeing her New Friend in near tears drove the senshi to summon the bottles she kept for emergencies and she cracked them open.
“Close your eyes and tip your head back,” she ordered. “I’m going to pour this over your face and hair. Once that’s done, then we’ll figure out the rest of you. The dust won’t do anything bad,” she continued in her most soothing voice. “It’s just messy and icky.”
With that, she upended both bottles over Ekstrom, reasoning that if her face and hair could be rinsed enough, it would help her spirits.
And it gave Tololo time to think about the powering down and back up thing. It made sense. People had to get hurt while powered up, right? You didn’t see powered folk wandering around in clothes covered in old bloodstains. And she knew for herself that she couldn’t access her fuku when she was just plain ol’ Shelly, so no sneaky laundering. Besides, what could it hurt to try?
“The idea has merit,” she finally declared, shaking the water bottles to completely empty them. “Let’s find a hidey hole for you to try. Unless you wanna go home to do it? Either way, I’ll help how I can.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 7:27 pm
With a bobble of her head, Ekstrom took her hat and goggles off, quickly pocketing them before she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. The water was refreshing, and it did help, as did her voice. It was soothing enough, and while it was in some small way embarrassing to be bothered by something like this she was grateful more than anything else.
Once the water was all gone the Page used her sleeve to wipe the water from her face, and carefully wrung the water from her hair before tying it up into a messy bun.
“Thank you,” she said, managing to give Tololo a small smile before glancing around for any prospective spots. “Hidey hole, please? The sooner, the better…” Having just rinsed off her hair and face, most of the dust there was probably gone, and from the neck down she was fully covered, so as soon as she powered down then it would (mostly) be gone!
“There!” she cried out suddenly while pointing in the direction of a cluster of bushes a bit further into the park, away from any visible pathways. She practically sprinted toward it, and as soon as she was out of sight her powered aura faded away. After a moment, a very audible sigh of relief could be heard from within the bushes, which if one didn't know any better...
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Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 8:57 am
Chuckling under her breath in sympathy, Tololo capped both bottles before stuffing them back into subspace. She could understand the desire to be clean. Following slowly after Ekstrom, she could feel when the powered aura vanished. It was a handy trick if one could pull it off without being seen. Just hide, power down and then sneak off in a crowd? Yeah, it was something she’d have to remember for herself if there was ever a need for such things.
The sigh that came from within the bushes caused her eyebrows to go up as she began to giggle. At least she knew what was going on in there but if anyone else had happened to pass by… Giggles increasing, Tololo put her hand over her mouth, hoping to mute her amusement. After a moment, she thought she had herself under enough control to not start laughing in Ekstrom’s face.
“Everything, ah... Okay in there? Did it work?”
She asked out of politeness. She was pretty sure that sigh had been a clear indicator of success. After a few moments, she powered down as well. There were zero other auras nearby and really? Zero witnesses in the park since everyone had run from the youma. Though, she knew it wouldn’t be long before the police showed up. They didn’t have much time left.
“People are gonna start heading back this way soon. Might be a good idea to stay powered down so we can sneak away.”
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