Previously, on Hunters: After a couple of short training activities, Sakura has announced that they will be going out on the real thing on Wednesday. The team has responded to that variously - good to be doing something meaningful, but getting shot at can't be very nice. Can it? But that's Wednesday. ...so when their next-to-last period teachers pull the various team members out of class on Tuesday, and inform them that they need to go meet with the principal, everyone is somewhat surprised. [Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 1430 local time. Outside the principal's office.] Ehhh? We're seeing Oldman again? [session start] * Maya is, needless to say, somewhat surprised by this, and is on her merry way to (or has already gotten to, depending on who is where) Oldman's office. * Leena is confused. But she's there, too. * Taki slips out and somehow makes her way first to the principal's office. * Kyouko doesn't want to be leered at again. A secretary sees them through the glass door, and lets the girls in. So... *walks in* Any idea what this is about? She escorts them back to Oldman's private office, and shows them right in. * Kyouko enters the office. No idea. * Taki quietly stays against the back wall and watches everyone enter with her arms crossed. ...good afternoon, ladies. Uh.... hello, Principal. * Maya puts on her usual Upbeat Smile. Hii. * Taki nods in acknowledgement of the greeting. * PrincipalOldman is holding up two neckties, obviously comparing them. One is much like the ones you're wearing, only with much wider striping. The other is a solid tan color. * Leena almost-walks in, then finds a spot against a wall. A nice, out of the way spot, cheerfully smiling. * Kyouko eyes the neckties and goes to stand next to Leena. ...sorry. I was just looking at uniform samples. ...what do you think? Ah... I like the solid one. * Leena blinkblinks. "The old one works fine." I think I like the solid one better You think so? * Taki mumbles something about how she'd rather wear black. * PrincipalOldman looks critically at the wide-striped one. "You're probably right." I'd ask you to try one on, but you've got to get going - Sakura called and asked for you. Oh. * Maya nods. "Did she say how urgent it was?" * Leena blinks, and glances over at Taki. Just the usual meeting place, she said. And not so urgent that you need to run, but that something came up that you need to discuss before tomorrow. * PrincipalOldman hands over a handful of school release forms to Maya, then thinks and hands her the solid tie as well. ...try it on when you have a chance, and tell me if it works. I have no fashion sense. Oh! Of course, sir! * Leena snickers. Quietly, though. Get going. You have a job to do, whatever it is. * Taki nods, and heads out of the office. * Maya skedaddles without another word. Just in case he decides to get all leer- y again... * Kyouko heads out * Leena shrugs, and almost-walks out. I wonder why she wants us... * Taki gets her form from Maya before heading out of the school. Maybe it's to... no. *sigh* That wouldn't be it. * Taki already changed into her street clothes before appearing at the train station. How did she do that? It's a short ride on the train to Sakura's place. The secretary smiles and buzzes you back into the living quarters, where Sakura is waiting... with a Lord you don't recognize. At least, you assume he's a lord - he's certainly pretty enough... * Kyouko whispers to Leena "Do you know him?" ... uh? * Leena blinks at the Lord. ... we're getting a cool one? Wai! * Taki eyes the Lord. * Maya blinkblinks a few times and sets the release forms aside (and the tie in her pocket) for the time being. "You're... new..." * Sakura looks like she has a headache. * Kenji notices the others walk in and begins staring intently at the floor in front of his feet. * Leena jumps up and down excitedly. "Can you do the mysterious showing up at the last minute stuff?" Hey, girls. Hi Sakura. Hey, Sakura... um... might I ask who this is? Hi. * Kenji looks uncomfortable and glances around a bit before looking back at the floor. Well, I thought my life was complicated enough already, but the Queen has seen fit to give me another project. This is Kenji. Kenji, uh... * Kenji stands up and faces the girls. With as much composure as he can muster, he lifts up his head and says, "Kenji Masamoto, hello." He's not - quite - as cute as Lord Darkmoon. But he comes pretty close. * Taki gives a short wave. * Leena eyes widen further. "Maybe you're gonna replace Darkmoon? And then he'll... I mean. Err. Uhh... Hello." ^__^ * Kyouko eyes him and does a little wave. "Kyouko Mizui. What do you do?" Um... hi there. Maya Uzuki. No, we still have Lord Darkmoon. * Maya wavewaves, looking at Kenji curiously. * Kenji looks a little puzzled and disoriented at the greetings. "I- uh..." Kenji is Lord Chimera. What's a Chimera? * Kenji nods. A Chimera is.. Is...? * Kenji closes his eyes and appears to think hard while he says, "A Chimera is a creature that shouldn't technically exist, but it does." * Leena frowns. "Another boring one..." * Maya blinks, cocking her head to the side. "... hm." So it's Darkmoon? So uh... He's a werewolf. * Kenji looks a little thrown by Kyouko's statement. "No, nothing like that." Kenji is... sort of a new Lord. Sort of. He's had a rather strange experience, which maybe he'll share with you sometime. Oh. It's a mythical creature with a lion head and scorpion tail... Mou.... That sounds scary... Huh. Well... we are a team of... special sorts, after all. Of course we wouldn't be so lucky as to get a cool one. * Maya walks forward and offers Kenji her hand. "It's good to have you aboard." ^_^ Anyway, he's still sort of recovering from that. * Kenji looks at Maya's hand curiously for a second, then starts a bit and shakes the hand. "Thanks... Nice to meet all of you." * Taki turns to Leena. "Must you disparage everyone?" * Kenji waves towards Taki and Leena, "it's quite alright." And until he can really get his feet under him, we need to help him, even provide for him. * Kenji looks around to avoid eye contact. * Maya giggles a little. "Just relax... you're in good hands." I'm sorry if I'm to be a burden to all of you. I'll try to help in anyway I can. * Taki almost smiles at Kenji. * Kenji bows his head. "Thanks in advance." Okay. * Taki offers a hand to Kenji. "You can call me Taki." It's nothing, really. * Kenji takes the hand and gives it a somewhat of a shake. "Hello, Taki." * Taki nods and bows. So, Sakura... was this the only reason, or was there something more? * Kenji slouches a bit and looks towards Maya before staring back at a wall. * Sakura, in the background, facepalms. "Gods. I've turned into a social society organizer." * Leena spares a glance at Sakura, then turns back to watching Kenji with a curious gaze. Sorry. * Maya chuckles. "Hey, at least it looks good on your resume." ^^ * Taki raises an eyebrow at Sakura. Among other things, Kenji is going to need a place to stay for a week or two. * Kenji nods and stares at the floor, arms at his sides. I wish I could put him up here.... but... I can't. ... can't help there. My parents would flip if I kept a boy at home for more than a couple of hours. And I don't want to put him in a hotel. Mmm...I'd have to ask my parents. I don't think they would react well... * Sakura nods. ... I suppose he could stay at my place. I don't have parents there to worry about. * Leena blinks. "I don't think my parents would mind. But I don't think he'd be very comfortable at my place, either." It's not very big though... * Kenji quirks up and looks quizzically at Taki before realizing what he's doing and going back to staring intently at a wall. If you don't mind, Taki? It would be just a week, until I can arrange some other stuff. Yeah, sure. As long as he's neat. *looks at Kenji* * Kenji bows I'm sorry to be an inconvenience. I'll do my best. All right. Well, that settles that... hm. * Leena looks disappointed. ;_; * Kenji keeps bowing. "Thanks, all of you." Yeah... Is he going to go to school with us? ...does he look like a girl? * Taki whispers. "It's a girls school. :P" * Kenji perks up. "nuh?" Nope. Not a girl. Oh. Right. * Kenji nods and swallows. No. And school is another thing I'm going to have to arrange for him. Just like her to dump this sort of crap on me without even thinking of all the paperwork... oh, well, that's what a secretary is for. Mmm. You're taking this pretty well, all things considered. Used to it? * Kenji clears his throat quietly. "I'll do my best to make up for the inconvenience. I'm sorry." I've been doing this for four years. So yes. Is he going to be ... working with us? *Four*? Yuck. That's the plan. He seems to be fit for it, and that's what the Queen sent him here for. * Kenji nods. "I was sent by The Queen this morning." Wow...you've survived for a while.. It's luck. And ruthlessness. * Leena seems sad. "Oh... what'd you do to piss her off?" * Kenji looks confused at Leena. The Queen doesn't really like us. I took it as a great favor to be assigned to your team. I-- look forward to helping out. * Taki snerks. * Leena blinks, just as confusedly as Kenji just was, at his response. ... wow. That's... well, we'll do our best to help, then. That's.... um. Nice to be working with you, then. I think it's more along the lines of she just was uncomfortable with his presence, for various reasons. ...and this is the duty he is best suited for. * Kenji bows. "Thank you very much." Anyway, I've got all of you here, so why don't I brief you in on tomorrow? Okay... * Kenji turns towards Sakura and switches his gaze occasionally between her, the other girls, and the floor. Sure. ^_^ Great. * Sakura grabs a remote control, and starts pressing buttons. * Kyouko hums a tune o/~ Atashi no rimokon wa doko? o/~ * Maya finds a place to sit. "I am so not looking forward to tomorrow..." Just don't get shot. I am. * Kenji continues standing just where he was, clutching one arm in the other. I don't want to get shot... The lights go dim, and a large widescreen television lights up. * Leena smirks. "It's going to take more than a mere gun to take me out." * Kyouko watches the TV I'm planning on not getting shot, yes... Okay... The monitor shows still images of three magical girls. Here are our protectees. Are we trying not to get them sho--oh. * Kenji silently studies the images, then looks around the room before settling his attention back on the screen. It's just your average small MG team. Three ladies, no Princess, no Lord. Not even a team name, really. Just three girls - friends - who have eliminated about a dozen Ningyo together. Awww... They live and operate in Rokugo - that's just north of Kawasaki. * Taki notes their appearance. Right. Who's the... um... chaser? * Sakura presses a button. * Leena smacks one fist into another. "If some stupid jerk with a gun tries to mess that up, I'll make sure they pay." The screen changes to show just one girl, though in two separate forms. On the left is the girl as herself, n the right is obviously her MG form. This is Lady Neko. Neko...? She's a cat? And it is - the Lady form has cat ears, whiskers, and the tip of a tail poking into the image. Lady... Neko... * Kenji just stays quiet so as not to interrupt. Her real name is Aiko Oyoshi. She's apparently the brains of the team - her claw strikes do decent damage, but not enough to really threaten a Ningyo. * Sakura buttonpresses. * Taki quietly absorbs all this in the back. Another girl appears in both her forms. This one looks small, and slightly sickly. Even her Lady form is wearing thick glasses. This is Lady Positron, Yoko Iwahara. What's a positron? * Sakura grins. * Kenji inhales deeply when the name is mentioned. Something to do with electricity, I think. Ha. She doesn't look it, but she's the heavy hitter on the team. It's... some sort of particle... like an electron, if I remember right. Oh. Her attack isn't really antimatter, we think... but it does a pretty close imitation. * Taki sizes up the girl. So she blows shit up? * Leena GRINS. Yep. Ah. Nice and to the point. Word is that she'd be a Princess by now if she was cuter. * Kenji nods slowly, in thought. * Taki mumbles something about that. ... that's really sad. ...'course. ...and... * Sakura buttonpresses again. The last girl's dual image appears - this one looks relatively normal. In both her forms she looks like she's feeling aggressively happy. The only thing that stands out about her MG form is the micro-apron and chef's hat. ...Lady Chef? ...no. Lady Wasabi. ... ...Oh. * Maya giggles a little. * Kenji quirks a half-smile momentarily. * Kyouko eyes her. She could totally take her on. I am told that her attack is edible. If it doesn't blow your head off. * Leena grins. * Taki immediately is put off by her happy appearance. For whatever reason, it works well against Ningyo. She'd be a close match for one by herself, but with her teammates, they're very good at what they do. And... do we know who's targeted them? No. ... lovely. I do not know where the Queen gets the information that she passes on to me, but it is correct often enough that I treat it as reliable. But... We never know who targets them. ...and that source is saying that a "team" is being dispatched to target these girls. .... Team. A... team? ...how many is a team? * Leena silently repeats that word, slowly. "That's .... bad." That's meant two people sometimes. One time, it meant a dozen. *shudder* ...Oh. Are we gonna need weapons, or something? * Kenji adjusts his hold on his arm and resettles his footing. Hmph. A team will be easier to find. Because...a team... Hold that thought, Kyouko. * Maya frowns deeply. "We're going to need *something*, and not just luck." * Taki quietly waits for all the info. * Leena grins. "Not if they stay in the same area. I can take them all out in one attack!" How do I hold a thought? * Leena blinkblinks, the cocky grin on her face disappearing as she glances at Kyouko oddly. They all attend Rokugo PHS 3. There's some proper name, but I haven't dug it up yet. ... just keep it handy, Kyouko. For future asking and whatnot. Oh. So then we don't know why they're after them? No, we never do. They want to kill them. That's all that's ever been obvious. It's just a matter of finding them and... well, killing them first, right? Surely there's some reason to it. Surely, yes. maybe we'll find out. We don't -have- to kill them, do we? I have some suspicions, but capturing an assassin is not easy. Can't we just ... break their legs or something? Okay, you break their legs. They're still holding a gun. What would you do if you were them. Hmm? Shoot. A lot. We could take away their hands and break their legs... * Leena flushes. "Um. Disarm them and break their legs?" This is not a game of tag at the mall. This is real combat. And there aren't any of you skilled enough to be sure of a disarming strike. * Taki just shakes her head. Not even you, Taki. Not that sure. * Sakura switches the lights back on. I don't know.... can't we just disable them? I don't want to ... kill anyone. Even if they are shooting at me. We're just going to have to do what we... well, have to do. Like it or not... * Maya doesn't look too happy about what she's saying. One thing that I have noticed is that all of these men - they are mostly men - are quite intent on their goal. * Kenji nods. "It's probably... er.." They don't give up until they are stopped - and the only way to be *sure* you stop someone is to use lethal force. * Kenji looks around. "It's probably more important to think of ourselves and those girls before we try to save the attackers..." ... That's how I've survived in this business, and failure to realize that is why so many of my former partners have not. * Sakura sighs. Yeah, but most of your former partners have been wimps, too, from what I gather. I'm not. ... Leena, guns. *Think* for a moment... they don't have to be close to you... * Kenji looks at the floor. The Queen shouldn't be sending someone who's not strong enough to do this type of work.... Of course I want to strap one of them down to a table and crush his balls until he tells us what he knows. But I'd rather survive to fight another day. Ewww. * Kenji crosses his legs. Fine, if lethal force is all you want from us, then I can comply. We might get lucky this time, and catch one. ^_^ Nnnnn... You will too, after you lose a protectee or two. I don't want to lose anyone... ...but it is true I've never had a team this size... or perhaps this talented before. Maybe we can make something happen. * Leena 's gaze hardens. "I don't care how much has to be rebuilt. I'll catch one of them alive if at all possible. If we can find out something, we can hurry up and end this bad dream." * Sakura looks at Leena. That's a nice philosophy, but I don't want to see you pulling your punches out there. Is that understood? * Maya looks to Leena for a moment, then at the floor. "It might be possible, yeah... but we'd have to be very careful." ... unless it's just me that's in danger. I can take the hits. It's your life. Okay - now, about operational strategy: * Taki perks up. The big advantage we have is that we actually know who these girls are. Their civilian identities? Exactly. The opposition almost certainly does not. So it's easier to keep track of them... do they usually wait for trouble to start before they attack? Do we know when they plan on striking? The only way for our opponents to find them is to find them as Ladies. ...which means, pretty much, only as Ningyo attack. * Kenji coughs. That might be really fast though. Kenji? Well, at least we have an idea of *when* to be the most careful. I don't know if it's really feasible... but-- I might be able to help with some kind of decoy come to think of it. ...that's a good thought, and we'll talk about it. * Kenji nods and goes back to slouching and looking around. At least for future outings, or if this one stretches out. The way we've always done this is to follow the protectees around, and wait for something to happen. How long do you think we'll have to follow them? Eventually - and yes, I know it's a disturbing coincidence - a Ningyo attacks. And that's when the hunters strike, if they can reach the scene in time. * Sakura looks at Taki and half-smiles. As long as it takes. * Taki quirks an eyebrow. So it's out job to keep them off the team... do the Ningyo usually attack *us* as well, or will they focus on our... uh... charges? The longest I've had to wait is two weeks. That's ... scary. Why? Why do they try so hard.... We will be in civvies, so unless we attack the Ningyo, they will likely ignore us. That's usually not been a problem. * Maya nods once. "One less worry..." Ningyo never seem to attack in the morning, or at night, so our primary focus is their after-school routine. * Leena blinks, glancing around. * Kenji finally decides to sit down somewhere nearby. "So if nothing happens.. then, we'd just leave them until the next day?' Won't... eight people following them around every day get suspicious? Less than one person would. I don't think we need everyone to follow them around everyday. Besides, I can do it well enough on my own. With this many people, we can hand off assignments. *nod* Are you sure you'll be alright, Taki? I can take care of myself. I'll do my best. Taki's skills are particularly suited to this sort of work. And Darkmoon's disguise capabilities will help too. And you'll have the radio sets I've had you training on. Those will be helpful. I think... we'll set up three teams of two people, each responsible for following one of our protectees, with the other two in mobile reserve to assist if anything happens. * Kenji looks slightly uncomfortable but says nothing. I'll lead one, Taki will lead one... and Darkmoon will be lead on one. ... Me? I'll team up wi- Drat. Well, you are all stealthy, Taki. It would only make sense. * Taki looks shy. Yes. Like I said, your skills lend themselves to this. Hey... do you have any tazers, or non lethal weaponry? The seconds will rotate. But-- But I'm not good at leading... Don't think of it as leading - think of your second as a resource to help you tail. Okay... But then who...? As I said, we'll rotate. Like a smaller team, kinda? You just do it, and don't worry about who's in charge? That works, too, but when one person is better-skilled, it makes sense for them to make the decisions. I'd expect whoever works with Darkmoon to have a more equal role, but Taki and I know what we're doing. Well... I suppose I'm fine with that. I'm not too terribly good at this sort of thing. * Kenji looks at the other girls, then back to Sakura and Taki but still says nothing. Um. I think I kinda know what to do. Follow them around and not stick out? So we'll tail the girls after school, and intervene as needed. Yes. You don't have to be next to them, but you need to be in sight of them most of the time. Even better, keep an eye on the other people around you - sometimes you get lucky and spot someone toting a rifle. Are we going to leave school early to catch up with them as they leave school? Obviously. ... a rifle? * Maya has one of those eyes-go-wide moments. Yes, Maya. A rifle. * Sakura sighs. * Kenji nods. "Makes sense..." ... they're not going to pull out rocket launchers or anything, are they? ...on my last mission, one of the bad guys somehow carried a flamethrower into one of the suburbs. .... Princess Flare got really, REALLY lucky - she's kind of immune to flame. * Kenji looks slightly confused, shouldn't they have known that? Kind of, you say... ..Yeeah... Well, all the oxygen got burned out of her lungs, so she could have asphyxiated if he'd held it on her long enough. * Sakura shrugs. * Leena qualms the slight panicky face she makes. "... flamethrowers." You think that was an opportunity for non-lethal force, Leena? Still- it doesn't seem smart... N-no... that wouldn't have been one. They must be very serious. Yes. After all they are here to kill people. That's about as serious as you get. Very often, we won't spot them, and they'll get the first shot off. I hope I can change that. If that happens, don't panic - we Ladies are a tough lot, and most guns won't kill us with one hit. Just track the fire back, and attack. * Maya nods slowly, nice and sober now. * Kenji looks a little sad and nods. * Leena nods, grinning a little. I hope more Ladies on the job can change that too, Taki. But we'll just have to see. ...Kyouko, you asked about weapons. I dunno... I may not be good at this, but I can promise you I won't die on you. I wish you had brought that up before - I remember asking if any of you needed any, and you all thought you didn't. Do you have any tazers or anything? I carry a pistol, obviously. I can get you almost anything... but I don't want to the night before you go on a mission. Something we could use to knock out someone instead of kill them, so we question them later? * Kenji looks down at his own hands, rubbing them a bit. "I.. I think I might want to have something." You'd be too dangerous. So..we gets guns. I don't need a gun. * Sakura turns to Leena and quirks an eyebrow. * Leena looks at Sakura blankly. "Whaaat?" Do you know why military forces don't use non-lethal weaponry? Um... no? ... it would help. I can only use the Mystery Star Gun so many times... There are a number of reasons, but most of them boil down to this - there are none that are reliable. * Taki rolls her eyes at the attack name. I can boil for a while too... * Kenji nods slowly. * Leena glances at Maya. "Yeah, it gets tiring to use the Mallet solely. But usually they go down before I do. ^_^" ... that's good for you, Leena. ^^; A tazer has to penetrate clothing to work, and it has an extremely short range, and it has only one shot. * Leena hrrms. "So I'd be better off just kicking them in the shin." You'd be better off malleting their head. So then we're military and not police, then? Well... not if I wanna capture one. It's better to think of us as a military force. I like that idea. * Leena blinkblinks. ".... Military." It..sort of makes sense. We fight and stuff. Well, we are fighting a war... and they fight and stuff. .... do we get tanks? * Kenji does some more nodding. "It does." * Sakura throws the remote at Leena. Gaaaah. * Kenji blinks. * Leena eeps, and ducks. Leena, do you understand me at all? I like you, and I want you to survive. * Taki just shakes her head at Leena. * Leena holds a hand behind her head apologetically. "Sorry, sorry. ^_^;" If you go into this looking for ways to capture them, you're going to get yourself, your protectee, and the rest of us into trouble. But... if we can capture someone, we can actually maybe find out something, instead of just blindly reacting... It's still really risky. I don't know about you, but I wanna get this over with as soon as I can. And by this I mean this whole stupid thing about people trying to kill us. Maybe - MAYBE - once we get used to working together, we can come up with some sort of trap. Kenji had a good idea. But worry about your survival first. *sigh* Okay, I'll get some more pistols, but you're not going to take them out tomorrow. Are there any more questions? No... * Kenji shakes his head. "Thanks, Sakura." ... what happens if we don't make it? * Taki doesn't say anything. ...how do you mean? Um. You said you could get anything... what about military body armor and stuff? That could help. *glances at Kyouko* I mean, with family and whatnot. I'm not really... afraid, much. I just wonder how it's broken to our folks. It depends on the situation. * Maya puts on a nervous smile. "That is, if... y'know." The Queen usually takes care of that. * Leena glances sharply at Maya. "Don't say that... we're all going to make it." I'm not going into this too upbeat, Leena. I've got no plans to die but... well, you never know. * Kyouko looks back at Leena. "Huh?" * Maya shrugs lightly, still smiling. * Leena turns back to Sakura. "So... about body armor and stuff? If they've got guns, that'd be a good idea..." * Kenji just stares at his own lap. As we, meaning the girls who have died on this team before, usually get shot up, it's handled as the tragic young victim of random criminal violence. If a Ningyo gets you, and someone sees you die as A Magical Girl, then often the parents get told the truth. ...you should know that. The newspapers certainly have run enough posthumous profiles of our fallen comrades. I've read a few. They're usually too depressing for me to look at on a regular basis. I hear you. * Kenji shakes his head. So then we're meeting here tomorrow? Body armor... the problem with most body armor is that it's too thick to be covert. And our transformations probably eat those, too.... Yes, they do. Though you'll be transformed already, of course. Of course. Last time I looked, there weren't any worthwhile options. But that was a year ago, and I know the technology is improving rapidly. I'll check again. * Leena nods. "I'll be fine. It's gonna take more than a gun to get me to fall down. It's the other's I'm worried about..." They'll have to find me first. I'll.. try not to get shot, but I think having some protection would be worthwhile.. Yeah, meet here tomorrow. We'll talk a bit, just finalize the teams, then head out to catch them leaving the school. Great. Okay. * Sakura makes a couple of notes. Okay. Is that it? Yeah... * Kenji rubs his thighs a bit and looks about ready to stand up. Great. Wait..can't we use..magical armor or something? Where would you get it, Kyouko? Hey, Taki! How about I come along with you! I wanna talk with Kenji more, and you're stealing him. ^__^ Oh. * Kenji blushes. * Taki grumbles. Sure, whatever. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, Kenji, you'll go with Taki... Taki, hey, can I talk with you a minute before you leave? * Leena smiles. ^__^ Alright. * Taki looks nervous. * Kenji looks around a bit, "Should-- I wait outside?" * Kenji eyes Leena nervously. * Sakura motions to a office off to the side of the main room. * Maya chuckles into her hand. * Taki follows Sakura. * Sakura shuts the door. * Kyouko watches Taki and Sakura interestedly. [end main session]