[X] Have Bianca use her Shadow Sense to see what's inside/around the tree.
- [X] Wish her luck and send her over to investigate along the tree's shadow for easier stealth. She is the magical girl here, you'll only spook whatever there is if you go with her.
-- [X] Whip out the camera and prepare to take pictures. Either you get a picture of a Phantom, of whatever dwells inside, or of Bianca. Will be worth it in any case.
"B," you say. "What'd you see?"
Her eyes dilate and you feel a sudden build-up of magic in her. You see every shadow within range of her power ripple the slightest bit, and she closes her eyes to concentrate on your target. She exhales and shakes her head to clear any discomfort.
"I saw something large and moving, but I could not identify it. It was warm, too warm to be anything naturally found in this park." she tenses. "It was also heavy; far heavier than any bird would be if it was meant for flight. Whatever it is, it has not sensed us yet. What should we do?"
You consider your options. Normally, you'd have readied a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it into the hole. But then you remembered you were in a public park in the middle of Rockafeller, and you lacked any grenades. You then considered keeping an eye on it to make sure it wasn't some kind of random giblet wanting to eat someone's face. But then you remembered you didn't have much time to spare. Lacking other options, you turned to Bianca expectantly.
"...I do not like that look." she says warily, leaning away.
"Bianca." you start slowly, gesturing at the tree. "Good luck."
"Are you serious?" she deadpans.
"You're the dark magical girl here, not me." you point out. "You can use your powers to creep close without being seen. I'll just spook whatever's in there if I go with you."
"I refuse." she crosses her arms and turns away from you.
"Bianca."
"No."
"Bianca, you're acting like a child." you chastise. She huffs and doesn't deign to answer.
You sigh. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. You've got bullshit powers over shadows, I'm just a squishy human. What could possibly be in that tree that can hurt you?"
She turns to you, glaring daggers. You meet her glare unflinchingly. Her glare melts into something resembling pleading, but you raise a hand and point at the tree. She keeps her pity stare for a few more moments, before breaking eye contact and quietly making her way to the tree's shadow with a look of resignation.
Once she merges into it, you whip out your camera and ready your finger over the shutter button. You'll either get a picture of the Blue Phantom, whatever it is that's inside the tree, or just Bianca adorably peering into a hole on her tiptoes. Totally worth it in any case.
A few tense moments pass before Bianca re-emerges out of the tree's shadow and stealthily makes her way to the entrance of the hole. As she leans closer to it, you see her left forearm morph into a non-reflective blade that tenses for a possible fight. She takes a deep breath and slowly peers in.
You see Bianca stiffen, then leap back just as a root pulls itself out of the ground and lashes out at her. Her blade arm moves and cuts the root in two. Another two roots come out and lash out, Bianca dancing through the storm of blows and cutting the roots to pieces. Those same pieces bury themselves back into the dirt, then the three cut roots regrow back into their original lengths.
The large tree spasms, then slowly pulls itself out of the ground one root at a time while the first three keep your teammate busy. Several tree branches twist together into long, spindly arms that end in leafy bludgeons. The largest branches, three you count, twist themselves into powerful, muscled arms of wood with twitching fists of tough bark. The tree trunk pulses, and from the hole Bianca peered through moments earlier emerges four eyes that twitch every which way.
All four lock onto Bianca the moment she cuts off another root.
The Darkspawn leaps skywards to avoid another root falling on her, then spins out of the path of an incoming leafy bludgeon. She lands as her blade arm re-forms back into her human forearm and rolls out from under the shadow of a descending wooden fist, then summersaults away from several roots as they lash out like whips.
She skids to a stop next to you, and you wisely put away your camera. You managed to capture a few photos of Bianca dodging the tree monster's root whips, and recorded the rest on video, but you figure she didn't have to know about that right now. Or ever.
"I saw something in the hole before it appeared." Bianca breathes. "Some kind of jewel or something. When I looked in, it pulsed, then the whole tree started to change into that."
"So we're dealing with a magic artifact that can animate, or empower, living or inanimate objects." you draw your knife and slip into a combat stance. "Fun."
The tree spasms again, and lumbers forward. You and Bianca tense, preparing for combat-
"Comet Rain!"
Several streaks of light hit the tree with explosive force and it stumbles back. You snap your gaze to the source of the attack and find it landing before you in a crouch. The
figure twirls to her feet, the skirt of her bright yellow dress fluttering with the movement and blonde ponytail bobbing, then brandishes a wand tipped with what looks like a stylized and jewel encrusted four-pointed star.
"Sunfire Beam!"
At her command, a beam of light shoots from the tip of the wand that sears the bark off one side of the tree monster's trunk. The monster lists to one side, twitching and shaking badly.
"Back, Darkspawn!" the magical girl raises a hand, dainty finger pointing at it imperiously. "Your foul darkness is no match for the sacred light! Especially the one wielded by Magical Girl Sunfire!" she poses, then squees excitedly. "Oh my God, this is actually happening! This is so
awesome!"
She takes a quick look around, and spots you and Bianca. Her expression brightens, but she manages to school it into something barely resembling seriousness. "I'm sorry for butting in your date, but you two need to get out of here! That Darkspawn's rampaging, so it's not safe!"
You open your mouth to answer, but the sound of grinding teeth has you sparing a quick glance at Bianca and holy shit she looks livid.
"Lightspawn..." you barely manage to hear her growl.
Oh dear.
[] Write-in
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