Chapter 9
Into the Heat
All of them left the limousine and set out on foot towards the flames, still growing stronger. Yukito was quite worried about the whole endeavor, to have little kids like this rushing into danger. But the other him, the voice inside him that was Yue, had much more confidence. Yue was ready and able to fulfill his role as her guardian, if Yukito could only find a more secluded place to transform. Even Kero clung to Sakura's shoulder like a doll until they left the bright lights of the parking lot.
As they ran towards the fire, people were running away in droves. A few on foot, but most in cars or on bicycles. The two magicians could feel that something was very off about this.
Shaoran tried to snag a woman riding one of those annoying rental scooters away from the fire as she portaged a curb, but ended up having to dodge at the last minute to keep from being run over. He tried again with another middle-aged woman, who had become winded and slowed to a very brisk walk. He asked, "What's going on in there?"
"I'm not waiting to find out. You should leave too!"
But they didn't, and dashed closer to the flames. About a block further in, the area was completely deserted. This was disconcerting enough, but at least it meant magic could be worked without an audience of normals. But had they been more familiar with their new home, it would been a huge warning. Any disaster with no Angeleno lookie-loos nearby must be terrible indeed.
Instead it was eerily quiet, with the occasional clatter of timbers crashing down in the fire another block ahead. The acrid black smoke was billowing up into the air, but enough hung on the surface to fill their noses with the scent of burning plastic and melting roof tar as houses began to surrender their contents to the flames.
Still safely away from the blaze, Shaoran said, "Hold up. There's something out there."
"Yeah. I can feel it too." She thought she saw something in the corner of her eye, but it could have been just a shadow.
Yukito took the opportunity to transform. Giant white wings sprouted from his back, and folded around his entire body. A second later, Yue appeared, his now blue eyes no longer behind glasses, his silver hair flowing down his back like a waterfall under his angelic wings. He withdrew a broadsword from his belt, and stood ready. Shaoran, too, transmuted the pendant into a jian, and brandished it into a guarded posture.
Sakura recited her activation sequence, "O key which hides the power of the stars, reveal your true form to me." As she spoke, a tiny pink key floated in front of her, and a glowing magic circle incorporating motifs of sun, moon, and stars expanded under her feet. "I, Sakura, command you under our contract. Release!" The key spun and swelled in size, finally expanding into a full length pink staff, topped by an circled yellow star with white wings on each side. She grabbed the staff and twirled it several times, first in front of her chest and above her head, before returning it to a ready position in front of herself.
With Sakura's power charged up, Tomoyo stopped filming for a moment, and dashed to catch up to her friends. But as soon as she arrived, Yue abruptly told her, "Something is out there. Hide."
She didn't have much chance to react, however, before an enormous beast leapt out of the shadows and pounced at Shaoran, who barely had a chance to roll out of reach of its bony claws. It seemed improbable that something the size of a van could hide in a neighborhood to stalk its prey, but much of that was due to the jet black fur of the beast.
But out in the orange glow of the sodium lamps, the beowolf was even more terrifying. A bone covered head with thin red lines and eerily glowing golden eyes covered a tremendous maw with piercing canine teeth. And along its back, the white bones erupted from its eldritch flesh like a crest along its spine, and along the back sides of its limbs.
Neither of the kids had enough experience to tell what exactly they were facing, but they could immediately tell it was Wrong. They could feel it in their bones. It was something that should not be.
The beowolf sensed them, too. It bellowed a hateful, unearthly growl at its next opponents.
Tomoyo ducked behind some convenient shrubbery, engaged the telephoto, and looked on as the confrontation continued. As she recorded a single swipe from its massive paw flipping an SUV into the center of the road, it became clear that the hedge wouldn't do anything to actually protect her. And it could only hide her so long as the monster didn't notice the red recording LED on her camera. That said, the beowolf was ignoring her; Tomoyo didn't have enough negative emotion to register to its senses.
It was instead bearing down on Sakura, who had leapt clear of the oncoming vehicle projectile with the aid of her Jump card. It was not the first human it had encountered who could use an Aura, and the fear that huntsmen generated when they were being devoured was something it was eager to feed on again.
Missing its intended victim, the SUV clattered on its side, gasoline slowly leaking out of its tank, and completely blocking the road.
Shaoran ran in from behind, and tried to slice off the beast's hind leg. But the beowolf moved, causing the strike to scrape against its bony spikes and finally land dead against its tough hide. He didn't get a chance for a second attempt, as the shadow beast kicked at him with the same leg, and had to duck just to avoid getting impaled.
Kerberos hated to doff his outfit that matched Sakura, but given that she was facing a magical beast, he transformed to his true form. Emerging from beneath giant white wings, he looked something like a flying lion with arcane armor. Lacking a mane, he looked a little bit more like a female lion than a male one, but that didn't bother him one bit. He still looked totally cool, if he did say so himself.
Kero belched flames at the monster, which hit it dead on. It certainly looked a bit more charred than it had before. It shifted to charge after Kerberos; he flew into the air to evade. The wolf clawed its way up on the roof of a three-story house, and leapt at him again. He had to fly up another ten meters just to get out of range. "Oh come on, that jump was ridiculous!"
Yue took advantage of the beowolf's predictable projectile motion. He loosed a glowing arrow from a crescent moon bow. The bolt streaked into the sky, finding its mark, and embedding itself into the creature's haunches before the magical energy dissipated. It growled out, not in pain so much as annoyance.
As the fell beast landed, Sakura called out, "Trees, bind this creature! Wood!" A card flared with energy in front of her, and the immense ficus and old eucalyptus near the beowolf rapidly grew out to engulf the grimm in a cage of wood. But it was to no avail; it snapped the branches in its massive teeth, and forced its way back out into the open.
The beowolf alpha turned around to charge at Sakura, but was instantly blocked by Yue, who took a giant swing at it with his broadsword. It dodged the blow, putting a power pole directly in its path. With a swing from its terrible claw, it shattered the base of the wooden pole, sending an electrical line down into the street.
Two seconds later, and an arc of electrical discharge from the fallen cable ignited the pool of leaking gasoline. The SUV it came from didn't take too long to catch fire itself. A moment later, and the transformer finally blew with a bang and a brilliant white flash, leaving the neighborhood in darkness. But with all the flames around, it was far from actually dark.
Sakura regrouped and tried again, this time with something more aggressive, "Shot!" A nimbus of golden light erupted from her hands, roboteched around a tree, and made a direct hit on the broad side of the beowolf. It hit with enough force to knock it off its feet. Kerberos capitalized on the opportunity by opening up with another burst of fire, leaving it even more damaged. It seemed magic was having a much greater impact on the beast than physical attacks, so he stuck to that.
Meanwhile, Cinder's gang watched from afar. "Damn, they're not bad huntsmen," Emerald commented.
Yue managed to fly up behind the grimm, and plunged his longsword into its back. It managed to shake the blade out a moment later, but it looked like real damage had been done.
Cinder grumbled, "Damn it, those kids are actually going to kill it! Let's go."
"But..." By the time Emerald got the word out, Cinder was already rushing ahead into the battle. She looked at Mercury, who simply returned her quizzical expression and shrugged, and the two of them rushed out to catch up to their leader.
Into the Heat
All of them left the limousine and set out on foot towards the flames, still growing stronger. Yukito was quite worried about the whole endeavor, to have little kids like this rushing into danger. But the other him, the voice inside him that was Yue, had much more confidence. Yue was ready and able to fulfill his role as her guardian, if Yukito could only find a more secluded place to transform. Even Kero clung to Sakura's shoulder like a doll until they left the bright lights of the parking lot.
As they ran towards the fire, people were running away in droves. A few on foot, but most in cars or on bicycles. The two magicians could feel that something was very off about this.
Shaoran tried to snag a woman riding one of those annoying rental scooters away from the fire as she portaged a curb, but ended up having to dodge at the last minute to keep from being run over. He tried again with another middle-aged woman, who had become winded and slowed to a very brisk walk. He asked, "What's going on in there?"
"I'm not waiting to find out. You should leave too!"
But they didn't, and dashed closer to the flames. About a block further in, the area was completely deserted. This was disconcerting enough, but at least it meant magic could be worked without an audience of normals. But had they been more familiar with their new home, it would been a huge warning. Any disaster with no Angeleno lookie-loos nearby must be terrible indeed.
Instead it was eerily quiet, with the occasional clatter of timbers crashing down in the fire another block ahead. The acrid black smoke was billowing up into the air, but enough hung on the surface to fill their noses with the scent of burning plastic and melting roof tar as houses began to surrender their contents to the flames.
Still safely away from the blaze, Shaoran said, "Hold up. There's something out there."
"Yeah. I can feel it too." She thought she saw something in the corner of her eye, but it could have been just a shadow.
Yukito took the opportunity to transform. Giant white wings sprouted from his back, and folded around his entire body. A second later, Yue appeared, his now blue eyes no longer behind glasses, his silver hair flowing down his back like a waterfall under his angelic wings. He withdrew a broadsword from his belt, and stood ready. Shaoran, too, transmuted the pendant into a jian, and brandished it into a guarded posture.
Sakura recited her activation sequence, "O key which hides the power of the stars, reveal your true form to me." As she spoke, a tiny pink key floated in front of her, and a glowing magic circle incorporating motifs of sun, moon, and stars expanded under her feet. "I, Sakura, command you under our contract. Release!" The key spun and swelled in size, finally expanding into a full length pink staff, topped by an circled yellow star with white wings on each side. She grabbed the staff and twirled it several times, first in front of her chest and above her head, before returning it to a ready position in front of herself.
With Sakura's power charged up, Tomoyo stopped filming for a moment, and dashed to catch up to her friends. But as soon as she arrived, Yue abruptly told her, "Something is out there. Hide."
She didn't have much chance to react, however, before an enormous beast leapt out of the shadows and pounced at Shaoran, who barely had a chance to roll out of reach of its bony claws. It seemed improbable that something the size of a van could hide in a neighborhood to stalk its prey, but much of that was due to the jet black fur of the beast.
But out in the orange glow of the sodium lamps, the beowolf was even more terrifying. A bone covered head with thin red lines and eerily glowing golden eyes covered a tremendous maw with piercing canine teeth. And along its back, the white bones erupted from its eldritch flesh like a crest along its spine, and along the back sides of its limbs.
Neither of the kids had enough experience to tell what exactly they were facing, but they could immediately tell it was Wrong. They could feel it in their bones. It was something that should not be.
The beowolf sensed them, too. It bellowed a hateful, unearthly growl at its next opponents.
Tomoyo ducked behind some convenient shrubbery, engaged the telephoto, and looked on as the confrontation continued. As she recorded a single swipe from its massive paw flipping an SUV into the center of the road, it became clear that the hedge wouldn't do anything to actually protect her. And it could only hide her so long as the monster didn't notice the red recording LED on her camera. That said, the beowolf was ignoring her; Tomoyo didn't have enough negative emotion to register to its senses.
It was instead bearing down on Sakura, who had leapt clear of the oncoming vehicle projectile with the aid of her Jump card. It was not the first human it had encountered who could use an Aura, and the fear that huntsmen generated when they were being devoured was something it was eager to feed on again.
Missing its intended victim, the SUV clattered on its side, gasoline slowly leaking out of its tank, and completely blocking the road.
Shaoran ran in from behind, and tried to slice off the beast's hind leg. But the beowolf moved, causing the strike to scrape against its bony spikes and finally land dead against its tough hide. He didn't get a chance for a second attempt, as the shadow beast kicked at him with the same leg, and had to duck just to avoid getting impaled.
Kerberos hated to doff his outfit that matched Sakura, but given that she was facing a magical beast, he transformed to his true form. Emerging from beneath giant white wings, he looked something like a flying lion with arcane armor. Lacking a mane, he looked a little bit more like a female lion than a male one, but that didn't bother him one bit. He still looked totally cool, if he did say so himself.
Kero belched flames at the monster, which hit it dead on. It certainly looked a bit more charred than it had before. It shifted to charge after Kerberos; he flew into the air to evade. The wolf clawed its way up on the roof of a three-story house, and leapt at him again. He had to fly up another ten meters just to get out of range. "Oh come on, that jump was ridiculous!"
Yue took advantage of the beowolf's predictable projectile motion. He loosed a glowing arrow from a crescent moon bow. The bolt streaked into the sky, finding its mark, and embedding itself into the creature's haunches before the magical energy dissipated. It growled out, not in pain so much as annoyance.
As the fell beast landed, Sakura called out, "Trees, bind this creature! Wood!" A card flared with energy in front of her, and the immense ficus and old eucalyptus near the beowolf rapidly grew out to engulf the grimm in a cage of wood. But it was to no avail; it snapped the branches in its massive teeth, and forced its way back out into the open.
The beowolf alpha turned around to charge at Sakura, but was instantly blocked by Yue, who took a giant swing at it with his broadsword. It dodged the blow, putting a power pole directly in its path. With a swing from its terrible claw, it shattered the base of the wooden pole, sending an electrical line down into the street.
Two seconds later, and an arc of electrical discharge from the fallen cable ignited the pool of leaking gasoline. The SUV it came from didn't take too long to catch fire itself. A moment later, and the transformer finally blew with a bang and a brilliant white flash, leaving the neighborhood in darkness. But with all the flames around, it was far from actually dark.
Sakura regrouped and tried again, this time with something more aggressive, "Shot!" A nimbus of golden light erupted from her hands, roboteched around a tree, and made a direct hit on the broad side of the beowolf. It hit with enough force to knock it off its feet. Kerberos capitalized on the opportunity by opening up with another burst of fire, leaving it even more damaged. It seemed magic was having a much greater impact on the beast than physical attacks, so he stuck to that.
Meanwhile, Cinder's gang watched from afar. "Damn, they're not bad huntsmen," Emerald commented.
Yue managed to fly up behind the grimm, and plunged his longsword into its back. It managed to shake the blade out a moment later, but it looked like real damage had been done.
Cinder grumbled, "Damn it, those kids are actually going to kill it! Let's go."
"But..." By the time Emerald got the word out, Cinder was already rushing ahead into the battle. She looked at Mercury, who simply returned her quizzical expression and shrugged, and the two of them rushed out to catch up to their leader.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto