Welcome to Gaia! ::

Taking the time to wander around the city wasn't something Kamen had done lately. He'd been busy doing gig work to bring in money, for one thing. Sure, his moms weren't going to kick him out, but they'd also made it abundantly clear that he was expected to do something with himself rather than stay in the house all day. They'd pay for his room and board, but spending money and savings were on him if he wasn't going to college.

Eh. College. He'd thought about it, but nothing really appealed...

But anyway, he'd taken the last couple days off, something of a break.

He'd looked at his henshin pen and, after a pause, grabbed it from his desk and slipped from the window. He didn't really need to sneak out, but he didn't want to deal with the inevitable questions from his moms or his sister. There would be questions if they noticed he was gone, of course, but he'd come up with some lie after the fact. He was hungry, restless, thought of something he needed from the corner store, something like that.

Once Kamen was Ran and had taken several streets at a lope, though, he realized he actually was hungry. Figuring it was all the better for quickly getting to his destination--a halal joint with excellent samosas--Ran took off again, this time heading for downtown. He'd get food, maybe go to the game store he liked if they were still open by the time he got there. The sun was already well below the horizon, so it had to be after eight.

Were they open late for Magic? He couldn't remember off the top of his head.

He did not notice the way the shadows moved behind him.

Ran skidded to a stop, surprised by her voice and the fact that she was calling after him. He'd noticed her on his periphery, sure, but hadn't thought about it beyond that. She hadn't been a chaos aura, and far be it for him to bother someone else while they were--he assumed--working. Turning, he waited while she reached him. "Hello." His voice was level, almost flat, but his eyebrows lifted in interest. "Nothing's wrong. I was just running." Had she thought he was running from something? Toward something?

That would make sense, admittedly.

"I'm on my way to get something to eat and wanted to--" He paused, turning his head to look where he'd come, his mouth quirking into a frown. Something had, for a moment, not seemed right about the shadows off in that direction. But he didn't see anything now-- "Sorry. Uh, I wanted to get there faster." He smoothed his skirt. "I don't have a car, and I didn't want to take the bus."

Nothing like the Magic Powers Express, right?

He processed, then, that she'd been alarmed, not just asking him for the fun of it. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Oh, sure, if you like halal food. They have good rice bowls." He was supposed to say yes, right? Ran didn't mind the company, but he hadn't expected it, and he didn't want to seem overeager. He liked being called practical, he decided. He turned and jerked his head in the direction he intended. "Right this way." He should probably introduce himself. "I'm Ran. Senshi of games. You?"

It would probably help to not have to call her 'hey you'.

"Do you patrol often?" He didn't. At least, not as much as he felt he probably should, especially given the state of things. But Ran could still remember crystals growing out of someone's body, and the thought of it often made him put his henshin pen right the ******** back down whenever he thought to pick it up and entertain a midnight stroll. It was, after all, hunger that had motivated him this time.

Was there a hissing noise? No, just the wind.

Whatever Ran was going to say was abruptly and summarily cut off as a black shape tackled him from behind and sent him sprawling with a shout. Then, just as abruptly, it had jumped away and melted back into the shadows. But the hissing noise was much louder, and Ran was unable to deny that it wasn't the wind. Swatting gravel out of his knees, Ran scrambled back to his feet.

"Where'd it go?"

Four glowing yellow eyes blinked open. The hissing got louder, still.

"I thought I felt something, but didn't pay much attention to it," Ran confessed, brushing more gravel off of his knees and watching those eyes warily. Usually youma made a bigger entrance. Usually they didn't sneak around. Or, at least, in his admittedly limited experience, anyway. Maybe he would ask around.

The hissing, like air escaping a tire or gas escaping a valve, continued, and the youma stalked just a step or two closer. It was close enough for the low ambient lighting to reveal a snake-like head, a long sinewy neck, and massive shoulders ending in two sets of razor-sharp claws that clicked against the ground. Its mouth opened to reveal shark-like teeth, saliva collecting and dripping from its jaw.

"Gross," he muttered. The monster took another step closer. "Oh no, that's close enough thank you. Pit trap!" In his hand appeared a group of playing cards, and he was quite quick to fling them at the youma. The concrete under the youma where the cards came to rest warped and buckled, dropping abruptly and making Ran exclaim and scramble back to avoid being caught in it himself. The youma hissed and screamed as it scrambled claws against the slick sides of the pit with screeching ineffectiveness. There was a clatter, and Ran realized he could see things in the pit that the youma was obviously stepping on and being caught by.

Maybe he should practice his magic more often, and then maybe it wouldn't catch himself by surprise--

"Okay, all yours!"

"Oh, my bad!" He had sort of assumed she could do offensive magic and had forgotten for a second that not everyone did damage. Even Ran's magic barely did damage half the time. He had to grab something to club the monster with while it screamed and snapped at them. "Good shot!" when he heard the rock hit, when he saw the youma's head jerk back.

Ran saw some very rusty rebar discarded off to their right and dove for it, taking the scrapes to his back and shoulders as he rolled harder than he meant to. But at least he ended with his hand firmly on the piece of rebar. It was about the length of his thigh and Ran hoped the rust hadn't compromised too much of it. The last thing he wanted was to take a swing and have his rebar explode into dust instead of the youma.

When it hit, it did not precisely explode into dust, but it did twist and warp in a way that told Ran it only had a couple good hits in it. With a shout, he danced backward from the snapping jaws. With any luck, a couple good hits was all they would need--