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If there was anything Alise really lived for, it was the cryptid and unknown, usually particularly of the spooky undead or demonic kind, but she was into any sort of SCP or creepypasta type creature. Either way, when she'd heard the news about some aquatic monster sighted at the Destiny City Reservoir, Alise had wasted no time in heading out to investigate, wanting to see it for herself. As per usual, she had brought Etoile with her, smuggled in a large tote bag she had stuffed some assorted beach-y stuff in, along with her henshin pen; Alise didn't need it at the moment, since she was 'going incognito' for the moment, but she had a hunch it would come in handy later. She'd even dressed semi-normally, wearing a modest yet cute two-piece swimsuit underneath a sundress, but had gone with a big floppy sunhat and some obnoxiously large sunglasses, for the sake of both 'blending in' and also potentially hiding any magical kittens.

Speaking of kittens, it wasn't only Etoile she had brought with her. Kalani had been more than happy to let Alise borrow Rune for the day, seizing upon the chance to be rid of the Mauvian for the time being, and Alise, had been more than happy to have another of the magical talking cats on her little 'team', even if it was temporarily. Armed with these things (and cats), Alise was ready to get right down to business.

... Now she just needed to find some sort of inconspicuous spot to set up camp first.

For all that Alise was purportedly trying to do by dressing inconspicuously, she certainly didn't help her case by looking like some sort of weirdo, not to mention the way she was acting would only serve to make her look pretty sus.

Like, for example, carrying around a giant tote bag and talking to it.

"I see it, but we gotta find a good spot to get closer," Alise replied back, in a low voice so as to (hopefully) not be overheard, "After that, then..."

Kukuku... That creature's days were surely numbered!

If one cat wasn't odd enough of a sight, two were certainly bound to attract some unwanted attention if anyone was bothering to even notice Alise's eccentric behavior. Etoile, having been hidden in the tote bag along with Rune, also decided to poke her head out, munching on a lollipop at the same time.

"It's okay, if anyone can take out the monster, it's Alise!" the little cat cheerfully assured, though her words were somewhat muffled by the candy she was currently consuming.

"I am taking it seriously! Very seriously," Etoile insisted, as she took another bite out of her lollipop. She was, after all, Alise's trusty sidekick, and if anyone had faith in Alise's ability to take on some strange sea creature, it was her! While Rune looked up to Alise for advice, Etoile scouted the area to see if there was possibly any good spots for them to set up for now. If she could just access her humanoid form... her civilian form was good, too, for simple sightseeing, technically, but Etoile was kind of hoping she could zap things with her star beam, because then Alise was certain to reward her with lots of candy, more than they had brought.

--

Alise, in the meantime, looked thoughtful for a moment, before she set down the bag, now satisfied they had found a good spot to camp out where nobody would interrupt. "I think... that Etoile is right!" she declared, overconfident as always, "With the aid of my trusted familiars, I will send this dreadful creature back to the depths of the underworld from which it came!"

If Alise could read thoughts, she might have assured that she meant 'familiar' in the highest regards, as the ultimate of compliments for her feline companions, at least in Alise-speak, that was. As it was, she could not, unfortunately, read thoughts, and so she instead checked once more to see the coast was clear before producing her henshin pen and powering up to the more familiar (to her) form of Chibi Super Lepus.

"Worry not, my familiar, because once it senses our power, it'll be certain to be lured in closer!" Lepus declared, though she didn't really have a set plan as to how to pull this off, as usual, "This will be over swiftly, and then- huh?"

Etoile was suddenly trying to get her attention, and Lepus looked down at the little cat, who seemed to be suddenly focusing on... something entirely different.

"Lepus, Rune, look!" Etoile called to them, "Do you see what I see?"

For once, Etoile wasn't thinking about food or stars, not that there were any ice cream stands in sight or anything. Rather, the thing that had caught the tiny Mauvian's attention was... a youma; apparently, the beach had attracted more than just an underwater cryptid.

"We should go take care of that first," Etoile told the two.

"A menace? Fufufu... that youma is nothing but a weakling to me; even a novice little demon could take it down," Lepus declared, perhaps feeling a little too overconfident (as usual), "Worry not, my faithful familiar! I shall take down this puny youma faster than any mere mortal could ever hope to accomplish, before it can even dream of terrorizing these innocent beach goers!"

"And then we'll take care of the sea creature!" Etoile helpfully chimed in, optimistic as ever. "We can do it, no problem! I'll cheer you on, Lepus! Go, go, go! If anyone can save the day, it's you."

Etoile and Lepus were made for each other, really... in an 'enable each other's bad ideas' kind of way, that was.

"I believe the phrase is 'now or never', my dear Rune," Lepus corrected, though of course, she meant no foul in her words- she only wanted to make sure Rune knew the correct saying! "But you're correct indeed! We may not be able to deal with that other thing- ahem- we may not be able to properly investigate our other foe for now, but rest assured, we will vanquish our current foe with lightning speed.”

Actually, Lepus wasn’t exactly 100% certain on that, but it was just a little youma- how hard could it be to take it down? She’d had plenty of experience on that matter, after all.

“Now, my familiars- to battle stations!”

“To battle stations!” Etoile echoed, as she hopped out of Lepus’ bag, and it was clear that there was some kind of strategy going on here that Rune had accidently left out of the loop in regards to. The previous piece of candy had since been consumed, and Etoile had been in the process of devouring another when the call was made, but the little kitten was surely capable of multitasking!

On the other hand, perhaps Rune wasn’t missing out on anything, as Etoile soon paused, more than a little lost.. “Um, what’re the battle stations, again?”

Yup, this was totally a duo that totally had things under control and were in sync with each other. Totally.

The ensuing battle was intense... or that was what Lepus would tell any captive audience that hung around long enough to be regaled with tales of her (very exaggerated) exploits later on. Punches were thrown (by Lepus), laser beams were shot (not by Lepus), and soon enough, the youma was dust. All in a day's work... except for one problem: the strange cryptid they had originally set out to investigate was gone.

“It’s.... gone?” Etoile questioned aloud, scanning the area curiously for any trace of their original target; sure enough, the little cat could see neither hide nor hair of the monster, “Where did it go?”

For her own part, Lepus seemed to be momentarily disappointed, her shoulders slumped in defeat at the idea that her efforts had been in vain, before quickly straightening up, clearing her throat, looking all as if she had never been upset to begin with. “Ahem, w-well done, my trusted companions! I knew the two of you could handle this no problem, of course, and with our powers combined, we took down quite the formidable foe!”

‘Formidable’, perhaps, was an overstatement, but let it never be said that Lepus wasn’t one to highly embellish details. Satisfied at their efforts, the teen chibi senshi powered down to Alise once more.

“Now, this calls for a celebration, I would think- a swim to cool off!”