[X] Plan: Reactive attack
"What are we up against?" you ask, as Oriko gives news of an impending attack. "Is it the Saints?" You aren't prepared to fight them again, not without a better plan of attack than the nothing of a plan you had last night.
Oriko shakes her head. "No, it's witches," she says. "Three of them this time. They're splitting up, moving north and west like this." Using her finger to mark the spawning point above Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed, Oriko traces three lines over Hitomi's map; one heading north along the river, one heading northwest into Downtown, and a third heading west towards Madoka's house.
And a third heading west towards Madoka's house.
You aren't fast enough to make it there in time.
It takes everything you have not to scream, but you know screaming won't do you or your teammates any good. It isn't Oriko's fault that a witch is heading there. "Uh, you okay there Spooky?" Kyouko asks. "'cause yer looking a little pissed."
"If I had to guess, I'd say she's upset because there's a witch heading towards Kaname's place," Nurse Ortensia points out. She shrugs, adding "Apparently it's of great concern to her, but I don't even know what a witch is. You'll have to refresh my memory."
"Witches are the corruption of the negative thoughts and energies within us all," Oriko explains, casually cutting out the part about witches being formed from the souls of fallen puella magi. "At least, that's what witches are supposed to be. But for awhile now, the witches we've faced have been a little different. Less 'Russian surrealist art' and more 'hulking amalgamation of random animal parts'."
"That still sounds pretty surreal to me."
"There is a difference, Nurse Ortensia, I assure you," Tomoe-san says. "Though I pray you never have to experience what that difference is." You vaguely hear Nurse Ortensia mutter something to the effect of "I suppose I"ll have to take your word for it," as Tomoe-san resumes control. "At any rate, there's three of them this time. We're going to have to split up, and hope that having servants with us will be enough to get through them." Tomoe-san's eyes dart to you, and then to Kyouko as she says "Sakura-san and I will take the one heading towards Kaname-san's house. We can get there the fastest, and between the four of us we should have enough power to put it down before the witch is able to harm her."
"In that case, I'll take Hitomi and Nurse Ortensia and tackle the one heading up the river," you say. "It's the closest one to our current position, so there's less of a chance for them to fall behind me, and it'll be a good experience for the both of them." You would have liked to split the load differently; perhaps given Nurse Ortensia to Oriko and taken Kirika in her stead; but there's an obvious reason why you didn't do that.
"That just leaves Kirika and myself to handle the one heading towards Downtown," Oriko says, as Kirika hugs her lover's side, a wide grin on her face at the prospect of time spent with her. "Are you sure about taking both Shizuki-san and Caren-san with you? I could take one of them if you think it would be too much."
"No, that's fine." Even though the temptation is right there. You could let Oriko deal with her cousin; it would be that easy. "Like I said, that one's the closest to our position. There's less of a risk of them falling behind than if one of them went with you." It also means you'll be stuck with two servants whose usefulness is up for debate, but you're sure between you and Archer you can think of something. "Before we go, there is something you can do for me, actually. I need to know if the Pleiades Saints are going to take this opportunity to attack us while we're divided."
Oriko only needs a moment to confirm the best, "We're in the clear tonight," she says, prompting a sigh of relief. "In that case, let's all do the best we can out there to keep the city safe."
A brisk ten minutes after departing, and you find yourself wishing you could speed things along by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, without having to worry about your trainees keeping up with you. "So, what should we be expecting to find tonight, Akemi-san?" Hitomi asks, in the moments when she isn't gasping for breath. You've been pushing your trainees hard, because you need to get to the witch before it can travel any further up river than it already has.
"The witches we've been dealing with lately are big, like something out of a monster movie," you reply. "They're usually a little shy of ten meters tall, with thick black hides and bodies resembling a mismash of animal parts. Most of them don't have any noteworthy powers, so as long as you keep your distance and stay behind Saber, you should be safe."
"Understood."
Tonight's quarry, surfacing from the river for a moment, has a long, slender body, with patches of fur matted against its leathery scales by the water. It crawls up the river bank on its short, stumpy legs, and stares at you, blinking each of its five eyes - the right eye is normal, but the left eye more closely resembles four eyes smashed together - that sit on either side of its narrow head, shaped like an arrowhead and borrowing characteristics of a chameleon and a great white shark. It chews the air in a sideways motion, like a grazing cow, as it stands motionless, just staring at you.
"My, that's certainly a face only a mother could love," Nurse Ortensia says. "I'm glad I'm not its mother."
If the witch could have heard Nurse Ortensia's remark, it no doubt would have taken offense; maybe it did, because after a few moments apparently spent contemplating her insult, it opens its mouth, lashing out with a long tongue. You sidestep to avoid the tongue, but pause when you hear the sound of snapping fingers. In a flash, the witch's tongue has gone up in flames and Hitomi, standing with one arm outstretched and the other on her hip, says to the witch "That's rather rude of you. I suggest you keep your tongue inside your own mouth where it belongs."
All this talk of tongues has, once again, got you thinking about kissing Madoka. No, you berate yourself. You'll have time to think about kissing Madoka later; now, it's time to focus. "Nice save," you say to Hitomi. You knew she had been practicing with her oxygen density-manipulation Mystic Code, but you didn't know she had gotten such precise control down. To Archer you turn next, saying "Alright, let's hit it with everything we've got."
"You too, Assassin," Nurse Ortensia says. Assassin grumbles, but squares up alongside Archer with only minimal prompting. "You know what will happen if you don't cooperate."
"This had better be a good fight," Assassin snarls. Turning to Archer, she says "Follow my lead. Not that I've got much hope for an Hispanian."
"I'm Japanese."
Assassin rolls her eyes as Archer corrects her, before conjuring several Isa runes in the air with a wave of her wand. The Isa rune is your cue to join the battle, so you bring your bow up, loosing a volley of arrows in time with Assassin, who joins you in launching a shower of frozen daggers in the direction of the witch as it lashes its tongue out again, only for the tongue to be met with another lashing of fire from Hitomi. "Whatever you are, make like these girls and at least try to keep up," she says to Archer. "I'd ask my master to do the same, but she's useless."
Archer rolls his eyes and, doing what he can to keep up with Assassin, calls on his bow before nocking it with some rather large sword or another, loosing it and several others in rapid succession. That's when you see the glint in Assassin's eyes. "Maybe you aren't worthless after all," she says, conjuring another set of runes; Tiwaz this time, if you remember Lancer's lessons right. Her runes flash violet, before forming into swords of Assassin's own, thin specters of violet and silver hovering in the air in a circle above her head, which she launches in time to another volley of swords from Archer.
"I'm glad to see I was so inspirational," Archer says, as he and Assassin loose still another volley of swords. "Maybe one day I can even get you to be nice to other people."
The witch wades back into the water, fording the river and quickly coming up on the other bank. A wall of ice blocks the witch's path, and when the witch tries to lumber over the wall, it is met with volleys of swords. It bellows in agony, before lashing out with its tongue and its tail. The tail strikes first, crashing into the wall of ice and sending ice shards spraying everywhere. The distraction is enough, and Hitomi is unable to scorch the witch's tongue as it lashes out again. You move to dodge; not a moment too soon. The road shatters at the impact, and a frozen crater is left when the witch rolls its tongue back into its mouth.
Well, that's different.
Does an ice tongue warrant a change in tactics?
[ ] Yes (write-in)
[ ] No
