Lonewolf685

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Try as she might, Roche struggled to really make a difference when a target wasn't targeting her. It was hard to counter a blow if it wasn't thrown till it came upon someone else, and that left Roche confronted with reserves that were diminishing far more then she could recover just from smashing herself against their bodies and leeching the little force generated from it. If the Miseria hoard hadn't reached a critical mass and changed in a dramatic way, she might have found herself as lacking as Suki was for dealing with the horde.

In so far that the gold standard was Nyxia and her laser holocaust, of course.

But Sink Queen had not steered them wrong with her words of a nautical nightmares, and upon creeping past an unspoken point of density, the tide of shapeless trash bags merged and swelled, coalescing into a grand pirate galleon of bone upon the waves. It was perhaps the largest Miseria she'd seen, the city dwelling sorts never lasting long enough to truly bulk up, especially when speed and stealth was their keys to success in a concrete jungle.

It's broadsides opened up and made to shell the beach, clumps of miseria striking and tumbling out to rise as pirate themed fiends with guns and blades to match. Their presence seemed to tip Tsubomi over the edge, burning her long stored reserves for a display of speed and brutality that had Roche flush with second hand excitement. Even Suki seemed to be shrugging off her immolation and was....violently kissing a lot of monsters.

"Detention Club, bring them down!" Earthshaker crowed her excitement and bounded into the air as another blast of cannon fire rang out. Her cloak billowed wildly behind her as she clutched her shield in both hands, teeth bared in savage anticipation as she met the cannonball with a swing that saw the air displaced around them with a crack and a flash. Other clumps of miseria wobbled, breaking apart and tumbling gracelessly into the sand and waters while the struck cannon ball turned to paste. Her energy reserves swelled, light blazing across her skin as she came down, using her shield as a raft to land upon. She'd ensure the reinforcements would be pitiful and scattered, sweeping aside the broadsides with every leap.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Seeing the plan....well, seeing the vaguely coordinated efforts of everyone come together and produce a tangible result was almost enough to make Roche forget that they now had to protect all the terrified beach goers they'd gathered up. Her heart beat with elation to see such a bounty of Miseria but it would really go beyond the pale if things turned into a bloodbath after all their efforts.

And judging by the smell of burnt pork and vaporized blood, Earthshaker was going to have to do something really nice for Suki as well.

There were two saving graces to the whole assault by the Miseria. Firstly, the approached from one direction and with great focus towards their gathering of emotionally unstable civilians. It was as best as they could hope for in setting the terrain to their advantage without terraforming the land itself.

Second, Nyxia didn't have to restrain herself in the least when shooting out towards the open ocean, and she was all too happy to reap a bloody harvest of the encroaching Miseria.

But they were a single minded wave, and even her lasers couldn't exist as a single wall to hold back the sea of tumbling monsters. Earthshaker's reserves were low, but with so many approaching she'd be bursting with energy shortly.

"Time to do what we do best!" With an energized shout she leapt over Oros and Acid Drop, her shield materializing on her arm as she slammed herself bodily into the nearest encroaching flank of the swarm. Light blazed across her skin as forms were flattened to a pulp against her hide bound shield, caught between Earthshaker in front and the creatures at their back. The light then winked out as she released the energy into a blast forwards, Miseria reduced to smudges against the sands directly before her while those further back were broken and sent tumbling like bowling pins.

This was what a Magical Girl excelled at, and Roche felt her confidence building as she pivoted and blasted off, hurling herself into the next encroaching sweep of Miseria that circumnavigated the fanning lasers battering the horde.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

The trip was an disaster in regards to Roche's self esteem, respect, and any feeling she had authority over the club. She might have felt better just laying under a mound of toads with Suki up on the mountain. But from adversity comes opportunity, and while they didn't respect, the group did at least make an attempt to make her slipshod plan come together.

Suki's use of blood filled sand balls was an inspired application of her powers, and Roche could already imagine what kind of damage she could do if she got into the habit of using her blood to integrate debris and other objects into her attacks. But more than that was watching the most self destructive girl she'd ever met actually work on a piece of art.

It was like seeing a delinquent biker stop to work on flower arrangements. A surreal experience that had Earthshaker watch enraptured. Of course there was no real artistic vision, but as an absurd expressionist rendition of Suki's spontaneous imagining it captured hearts and minds with startling speed. A crowd was forming, drawn by the inexplicable sight before them, and over their heads Earthshaker could see Tsubomi charging the blood of the statue with her magic. The blood might serve a better medium then salt water, so it was a better call over all.

What was more shocking was that none of them ever thought to empower Suki's blood with those emotion powers....though then again, no wanted Suki to have an easier time molesting them if the mood struck her.

Nyxia made her presence known with an angled laser from above, sending the statue gushing outwards like a popped zit, blood splashing over the crowd. The immediate reaction to run away would take only seconds to kick in, but even without Tsubomi prepared in a odd display of initiative that warmed Roche's heart, the track captain was ready.

Back in magical attire she stood before the crowd as they turned and lifted her foot. A might slam downwards sent ground shaking force downwards, followed swiftly by the other foot. Stamping her feet in an irregular beat, discharging all her stored energy to simulate a localized earthquake. Terrified bystanders fell to the sand, unable to rise and flee while finding a whole new reason to fear for their lives.

Of course, even if it was her name, she couldn't keep it up forever as her tattoos dimmed with energy thrust into the ground, but it would keep them concentrated together and heighten the effect of the drug with a tangible threat.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Somehow Suki was turning into the voice of reason and Roche's tanned cheeks flushed with color to find herself so calmly rebuked. But clearly intimidation, anger, and flaunting her authority had failed well in advance of even coming to the beach. Could a dose of candor salvage their trip?

Though of course Suki just had to comment on her interests, and Roche's blush deepened till she had trouble looking at Nyxia in the eye. "I-I wasn't trying to get in her pants! I don't even know if she likes girls like that..."

The tanned girl refused to get sidetracked with that mess, as for all her infatuation, she hadn't gotten even a hint that Nyxia had any interest. "Okay, so this is might be a bit of a stretch, but I'll just say it plain. Tsubomi doesn't want to use up all her supply, so we need to attract a lot of people close together. Well, we're magical girls. Suki, you would use your magic in front of people and play it off as a magic act, drawing them in. Nyxia can do special effects, creating a laser light show to really draw people's attention."

Relying on those two to coordinate was perhaps risky and already shaky ground for any plan, but between displays of blood control and bending lasers, even the most phone-addicted youths would be pulled in to see what was going on.

"Once you've got a crowd and we have as many packed near the water as we can, Tsubomi will does the beach water. I'll be under water and I'll expel as big a charge as I can back towards the beach. If it all works the water plashing down on everyone will cause enough to panic in terror that it will spread naturally."

Roche raised a finger to her cheek, scratching idly as her head turned from Suki to her partner, pointedly not facing Nyxia. "I figure Nyxia's lasers can blast a trench in the beach to keep them trapped if we need them to be, then if it really draws in Miseria we just crush them while keeping them safe."

It wasn't like they didn't have some experience keeping Miso intact with their own fights. A closely packed clump of drugged people should have been a cake walk for them. "Though I suppose if Suki can do her draining touch through her blood she could knock out all the people with tentacles...."

Roche trailed off, hoping that this gaggle of self interested girls didn't pounce upon her moment of weakness.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Her efforts to help Suki to her feet were largely unappreciated and Roche found herself plucking the thrown cloak and tossing it over her shoulders once more. What concerns she had for Suki's well-being seemed mollified as the blood fiend returned to lascivious appetites, a sight that was almost refreshing after seeing her so depressed during their journey.

Every step of this vacation had been like pulling teeth, with each of the girls making it difficult in their own ways.

Suki was the one she had expected to be eager to see everyone in swimsuits and play grab ass in the waters with complete strangers, yet she was happy to bury herself in frogs in the mountains like some old hermit.

Nyxia had no issue leaving, but would have happily ran off into the pacific on her if Roche hadn't followed. Given the use of her shield in her return she'd probably been out there for hours if she hadn't.

And now Tsubomi, normally the most passive one of their odd, conflicting group, was using some fairly well reasoned rationale for why they should give up on their plans of summoning Miseria from the sea. If this were the city, Roche may have let the matter drop right there. Maybe if hadn't just gone through a high speed collision after a fruitless voyage to sea she might have remained calm.

"DO WE NEED A REASON?!" Earthshaker threw her hands upwards and bellowed, eyes wild as briefly stopped trying to placate the other Magical Girls. "We are selfish, arrogant, powerful Dark Magical Girls! Spreading chaos and misery should be in our job descriptions if we got paid for this stuff. So what if we waste our time or it fails? It could be cool! It could be amazing! We already heard from one girl out at sea that it's possible, so we aren't just hoping for nothing here."

"Can't we just...for once, act like the group we pretend to be?" Outrage turned to an almost plaintive plea, face turning from one girl to the others as her arms came down to her side, hanging with a limpness that spoke of more than just lethargy. "I brought you all out here thinking getting away from the city would somehow fix things. But it can't because fixing implies we had anything to begin with to be broken."

"And for once, I can't make you all be what I want. I can't make you be friends. I can't make you look towards the goals of the group. We're pretty anti-establishment, aren't we?" Roche let out a sigh, her shoulders slouching somewhere to the level of Suki's unhealthy posture. With a ripple of energy her magical form faded, leaving Roche standing before them without the protection of her Magic.

"But that being said, I can ask you to consider trying this. I think I have a plan that will let us try this without using up all of Tsubomi's savings, but we'd all have to work together. It won't work without everyone, so if you don't want to go forward, well, I guess we can play volleyball and tan on the beach."

She finished with a laugh, her eyes carrying the glimmer of hope as she looked to Tsubomi and Suki.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

No one had ever claimed these four particular Magical Girls were well coordinated. That they split up immediately upon arriving at the beach attested to this almost as well as the spectacular flub of a ramming action.

With remarkable speed they went from barreling towards a hostile, seemingly light girl to Roche swallowing a mouthful of sea water as she hit the water like a sack of bricks. For once her power was rather unhelpful as she couldn't exactly parry anything with her face. Let alone the water. In her flailing she definetly felt herself smacking something, and it was only when she was thrown onto muddy shores that she realized it was Suki.

The tribal-themed Magical Girl came up to her knees, retching out water as her hair and cloak sloughed off salty hydration by the gallon. After catching her breath- And sincerely hoping no one saw the see weed strands she hacked up- Earthshaker could turn around to find Suki was being her usual self.

"Huh, would you look at that. Maybe you were right to avoid me." Roche said, amusement coloring her words seeing the blood bender act with her usual theatrics. Deciding to play nice while Nyxia tried and failed to convey the purpose for their return, she pulled off her cloak and used it as a towel, wrapping it around Oros' shoulder so she could help her to her feet without worrying about her touch.

"Come on Suki, walk it off. We had a chat with a local out at sea, and we've got an idea to make this trip into something special." She'd pat Suki through the cloak, only to blink in surprise as Tsubomi approached them. Hadn't these two been on the outs? Huh, maybe violence was the great fence mender.

"Tsubomi, what Nyxia is trying to say is that we need people to feel genuine terror on a deep level. A random laser may spook some people, some may run, but it's not really going to evoke the primal reaction we need. Can't you spike the water so we draw in some Miseria?"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

It had been an odd degree of optimism that had sent them hunting for Miseria in the depths. Perhaps with a dash of desire for peace and tranquility after a tense car ride to the beach that left Roche intimately familiar with the term 'road rage'. Without Sink Queen's information and the bizarreness of her summon to derail them, Nyxia and Earthshaker would have spent a few more hours paddling about the ocean in vain.

"Thanks for the advice. I suggest you avoid the beach for the foreseeable future." Roche replied to Sink Queen as she shifted forwards along her shield, making room for Nyxia behind her. The Omega Obliterator soon began the arduous task of trying to boil the ocean, the force of it's beam. sending the magical hide shield rocketing across the water's surface. Sink Queen went from a speck to invisible to their gaze as they raced back to the main land via laser propulsion. Rather similar to Ashbringer's means of flight, if Earthshaker thought about it, though the collateral damage made laser based flight rather useless anywhere but the ocean.

Sure, they were Dark Magical Girls, but cleaving a city apart and killing thousands just to do something they could already manage with parkour and leaps was a bit beyond the pale.

To the mundane people whose days would soon be ruined, the twin contrails of water blasting out to either side would be growing by the second, followed by the rising plume of super heated steam as the Omega Obliterator evaporated water.

But rather then slow down Earthshaker caught the rainbow hued magic of Tsubomi, and if she of all people was using her powers openly then there was cause for concern. "Hey Nyxia, I think we have party crashers....Pour on the speed, we're gonna ram 'em!"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

Even underwater and in unfamiliar terrain, Magical Girls were adept at chasing down prey. Granted, Miseria didn't usually run away from them, but pursuit to the monsters was still a cultivated skill aided by a general ability to sense magic.

It was never a question of being able to follow the squid, simply a matter of time and effort.

The tanned Magical Girl was thus surprised in spite of herself to find the bizarrely British creature cowering behind a squid themed diver who was either a Magical Girl or evidence that Atlantis was further from the Mediterranean then ancient astronaut theorists would have expected. With the former being infinitely more likely to be accurate she settled across from the tentacled pair, suppressing instincts ingrained in every Japanese Magical Girl upon seeing tentacles as she tersely sent the bar of soap floating back to the cowardly summon.

Nyxia seemed reluctant to show her back to the stranger, but Roche was willing to make the first step knowing Nyxia would be all-too-eager to shoot the stranger if she attempted to stab Roche in the back. Her shield manifested beneath her feet, giving her a solid surface to brace herself against before she blasted energy out of her feet, the glow of tattoos dimming as she rose amidst a rising cascade of bubbles towards the surface. Luckily magic carried little for pressure differentials or she'd be sorely regretting her speedy ascent.

Breaching the surface with a splash, she threw her sodden hair back out of her face and called her shield back from the depths, using it as a log to perch upon the water's surface.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

The ship had been picked clean of valuables long before the two came there, passages cleared and openings cut for divers in bulky suits to haul away their prizes. Yet that didn't diminish from the faint wonder of exploring such a sight unencumbered and with her own eyes, providing a crispness to the experience that simple photography or footage couldn't capture.

That serenity went right out the window the moment Roche and Nyxia came upon the source of singing and whispered an inexplicable squid creature seeming to be bathing itself with a bar of soap. The sheer absurdity of it left both stunned, and the creature reacted with an affronted scream and hurled it's soap at Roche.

Water being what it was, the soap wound up gently floating to a stop before the confused Magical Girl, her hand catching it in passing to find it was indeed perfectly average soap. Which in and of itself was bizarre given the depths they were at that such a bar hadn't turned to suds entirely.

Is that thing a Mascot? A cowardly Miseria? Or did we just find an alien?! Roche's mind was far less murderously inclined but she was no less intent on chasing the anomaly down. Seeing Nyxia was going the direct approach, Roche slammed her first into the nearest wall and began blasting her own path to cut off whatever they'd found bathing in the depths.

Suki and Tsubomi don't know what they are missing out on!

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

By her nature Roche wasn't one to have acted on the idea of swimming to the depths of the ocean without considering the actual logistics of the matter. It would take a long time even if they didn't get tired, side tracked, or lost as the currents could easily turn what seemed a straight line into a gentle curve hugging the coastline if they weren't careful.

Going along with the swim, then, was for two reasons. The first was simply relaxation, as the isolation and quiet proved a refresher after a somewhat tense and uncomfortable drive to the beach. the desire to stretch her legs was overwhelming to say the least.

But the second reason was because Roche had a few ideas on how to go far, far faster if they needed to, though she wouldn't suggest it unless Nyxia was looking to lose her patience. In theory, the laser she adored didn't gnerate much in backwards thrust, but if Nyxia were to position herself between Roche and her indestructible shield and fire into it, they'd have a rather speedy if wild means of deep sea propulsion.

Though having Nyxia in her arms like that would have left even Suki blushing, so it was a small mercy for the submerged pair that they came upon a sunken warship. Roche blinked, not having expected Nyxia to be as forward thinking as she was. Perhaps nautical landmarks was an interest of hers she shared with her departed sibling?

Nyxia was already boarding the ship, slipping in through an open hatch with her baby before her. Roche scowled, noticing the spaces were almost as big as her shield. Entering with her bare hands she followed after, taking less interest in searching the nooks and crannies and more in the water damaged signage. She steadily pulled ahead, moving along deeper and downwards with an eye for the cargo hold of the vessel.

After all, where else could a sea monster reside but in the biggest space available to it?