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Kaoruko wasn't sure how she fell unconscious, or what made her start awake so suddenly.
She was sure that she had no fucking clue where she was. On somebody's lawn? There was grass between her fingers as she pushed herself up—ah, she wasn't Sulfur anymore. She must've dropped her transformation when she fell unconscious...annoying, but not unexpected.
"Oi, girls, you okay?" Kaoruko guessed that Haruka and Sayo would've come through Vatz's portal with her. Why wouldn't they?
She waited for an answer.
Waited.
Waited.
"...Girls?" Kaoruko looked around the lawn for her teammates, but saw no sign of them. Ah, shit. "Oi, Vatz! You there?" Kaoruko rose to her feet, taking a moment to take in her surroundings. She was in the front lawn of some manor...a pretty big place, one of those stupidly expensive status symbol sort of houses. The lawn was expansive and looked meticulously maintained, and was surrounded by a stone wall with wrought-iron fencing on top, capped off by a heavy wrought-iron gate just to her left.
"Here..." The weakness in Vatz's voice snapped Kaoruko's focus towards them in concern. The mascot was laying on the grass a short way away, unmoving.
"Oi, Vatz..." Kaoruko hurried over to them, dropped to one knee, and gingerly scooped them up in her hands. "What's up with you? You sound like shit."
Vatz didn't respond for a few moments. "I...don't know, Kaoruko. I think it's...this place. It's steeped in evil...it's sapping my energy."
"Well, then portal us the fuck out!" In truth, this whole situation gave Kaoruko a bad feeling. She wasn't sure she wanted to stick around any longer than they had to.
Vatz coughed and smiled weakly. "Sorry...I can't. I don't have the energy...it hurts when I try..."
God-FUCKING-dammit. "So we're stuck here, then? Fine." Kaoruko huffed out a frustrated sigh, then turned back towards the gate. "...Well, maybe we can at least get out of these people's yard." She held Vatz close to her chest with one hand and headed towards the gate, reaching out with her other to try and lift the bolt to open it.
It didn't budge.
"...The fuck?" Kaoruko's brow furrowed as she tried again. No luck. She tried harder. Still nothing. "Listen here, you piece of—"
"Sorry, it won't open no matter how hard you try." A calm, deep male voice spoke from behind her.
Instinctively, Kaoruko whirled on the source of the voice and lashed out with a kick. Her shin struck the owner of the voice square in the side, catching him unawares and knocking the breath out of him. As he fell to one knee and wheezed, Kaoruko quickly gave him a once-over...and realized she'd likely just kicked the owner of the house whose lawn she was trespassing on. "...Sh-Shit, sorry, I—"
Unexpectedly, the young man she'd just kicked laughed once he caught his breath. "You've got good reactions, huh? And that's a hell of a kick for a girl your size!" After a few more moments, he pushed himself up and ran a gloved hand through his close-cropped silver hair. "Guess I should've announced myself before I got too close, huh?"
"...Yeah, probably." Kaoruko stayed on guard, but relaxed a little. "So, I'm lookin' for answers an' you've probably got 'em. Wanna help a sister out?"
"Not a problem. We should head inside, though—out here, you never know who's listening." He turned and beckoned over his shoulder to her. "I'll do what I can to help you and your little friend there. I'm Gray, by the way."
Shit, I forgot about Vatz! I should've tried to hide them... "Gray's a bit of a weird name, ain't it?"
"Hah, well, I ain't exactly from here." Gray started walking towards the house. "So, who're you?"
"Kaoruko. I ain't from here, either."
"I could tell. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."
Kaoruko sighed and set down the coffee Gray had brought her. "Little strong, but I like it anyway. Thanks, big guy."
"No problem. Sorry we don't have any cream or sugar." Gray leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So, where should we start?"
Kaoruko leaned back, crossing her legs as she rested her hands in her lap. "Let's start with...where the fuck am I?"
"As good a place to start as any. This town's called Pikarigaoka—not that I expect you to have heard of it. Put simply, Kaoruko, you're in another universe of magical girls."
"Huh. Not the weirdest thing I've ever heard, but pretty damn well up there. So what're the girls like here?"
"In this universe, they're called Pretty Cure—Precure for short. Who and what they are differs widely for reasons I don't know enough about to get into...but the core is this: legendary warriors who fight evil in many different forms, whose powers come from their strength of heart."
Kaoruko almost retched. It sounded so girly, like some Sailor Moon bullshit...but she couldn't say the Tres Magia and their cohorts were much better. "Ya got different teams for each town, too?"
"Same as you, I take it? That's right. The team in charge of Pikarigaoka are the Happiness Charge Precure—initially a team of four, later a team of five. About ten years ago now, they saved the world from the Phantom Empire and its leader, Red. There have been a few incidents since, but by and large it's been peaceful since then...until about seven months ago."
Five? We don't usually get teams bigger than three. "Interestin'. What happened seven months ago, then?"
Gray's expression turned grim, his eyes hard. "An old enemy we thought long gone has resurfaced...they're popping up all over the place now, like a growth of weeds in spring. As much as I hate to admit it, they're doing an excellent job of disrupting our cohesion...though the passage of time left them in a bad spot as is." Seeing Kaoruko primed with a question, Gray held up a hand to stop her. "Just a moment, let me finish. Seven months ago, they appeared in Pikarigaoka...and practically overnight, they took over. We underestimated the threat...we thought it was a small issue that the two members of the team still living here could rectify on their own. We paid the price for our hubris, and now we're in just about the worst situation we could be in: trapped by a fascist occupation, isolated from the outside world, and with only one safe place left for us." He gestured to the house around them.
"Done? 'kay, then, I've got a couple questions. What happened to those first two?"
Gray shrugged. "As far as I know, they're still imprisoned by our enemy. My guess is that our enemy is trying to use them as bait to lure in the others."
"An' where're the others?"
"Three of them are on the way. The fourth is from my world, and she's stuck there for fear of endangering her teammates' lives." He rolled his neck, jerking his head to one side to crack it. "We can't reach the three that are coming. All we can hope is that they sense danger and either steer clear or they're more careful on the way in."
Kaoruko let out a breath. "Pretty rough situation you an' your crew are in, big guy."
"You're telling me. And what's worse is that I'd love to help fight...but I can't. I'm protecting this place instead of my dad."
Kaoruko arched an eyebrow. "You can fight?" True, he didn't strike too imposing of a figure at first glance, but he did seem well-built and fit. Actually, that might explain... "Brawler type? That'd explain the gloves, then. Guess we're kindred spirits."
"That so? Glad to hear it. But yeah, I can fight. After seeing my dad indirectly causing trouble from being so passive, I decided I'd make it a point to fight to protect our peace."
"Hmm, that so~?" Kaoruko cracked a smirk, feeling her blood starting to simmer. I think I like this guy. We're gonna get along. "Lemme test your dedication, then." She rose from her seat and smacked her fist into her open palm. "Let's go a round or two, big guy. Nothin' too serious, jus' a li'l scrap, whaddya say?"
Gray looked at her for a moment, seemingly surprised by her sudden willingness to fight. "...I'd ask if you're sure, but I can tell you are. All right, then—let's blow off some steam, shall we?"
"Music to my ears."
Holy shit, I'm bad.
The realization hit Kaoruko like a brick to the head as Gray's onslaught forced her down onto one knee again. I can't find any openings in his guard, and if I try to press the offensive I wind up opening myself up to get countered. She grunted in appreciation as Gray helped her up, rubbing the back of her neck once she was on her feet again. "Man...I'm the one who asked for this, but I can't help but feel bad that you're kickin' my ass all over the yard. Really puts my lack of trainin' into perspective."
"Don't sell yourself short. You're still keeping up pretty well...and if we got into grappling, I feel like you'd get me down without much effort." Gray clapped a gloved hand onto Kaoruko's shoulder. "You're rough, but you've got potential. I'm glad to see it—if it comes to it, we'll need all the help we can get against the occupation."
"Yeah? Well, without my powers I ain't gonna be much use. I'll probably take a couple guys down 'fore one of 'em gets a lucky shot in on me an' takes me out." She shrugged. "Believe me, though, I'll do what I can. I ain't a fan of assholes just walkin' all over innocent people like those jackasses apparently do." Kaoruko gestured vaguely to the city outside the manor's walls.
Gray thought for a moment before responding. "I could train you outright, but that'd only get you so far, and I'm not sure how well the style I developed would work for you, given you're mortal. I do have a technique of sorts I could teach you, one that'd allow you to form your own style of combat that works better for your strengths and weaknesses."
Kaoruko quirked an eyebrow. "Given I'm mortal? So you're not?"
"It's complicated, and a story for another time." Gray rolled his shoulders. "The technique is called Ideation. Visualize the action you want to do, imagine yourself doing it, then perform the action. It takes time to get it right, but you're determined enough that I think you can handle it."
"Huh...all right. I kinda get it. How do I start, then?" It sounded more like a mental training exercise than anything, but Kaoruko would take all the help she could get.
"Mm..." Gray took a moment to think. "Ever played any fighting games, Kaoruko? Maybe watched one of those old shows with a lot of fighting?"
"Yeah, plenty." She'd been pretty good at Street Fighter in the past...enough to win a regional tournament.
"Think about one of those...visualize a technique you're familiar with. Close your eyes if it helps, but it's not necessary."
"Somethin' I'm familiar with, huh?" Kaoruko closed her eyes and thought about it. If it's somethin' I'm familiar with, it's gotta be... "'kay, I got somethin'."
"Give it a try, then. It might not work right away, but practice makes perfect."
"Right..." Visualize. Kaoruko dug through her memories, taking every instance of it she could find and lining them all up one by one, playing them like a compilation video. Visualize the action you wanna do. Like the first input...the 2.
Imagine. This was easier than she wanted to admit—but really, what kid into these types of things hadn't tried to do it once or twice, even just pretending with friends? Imagine myself doing it...easy. That's the 3.
Perform. All that was left was to put her ideation into action. Kaoruko widened her stance and bent her knees before putting both hands at her right hip, palms separated but facing one another. 6...and then...
Kaoruko's eyes snapped open as she felt something unlock within her. A hot, surging feeling that started in her chest, ran up into her shoulders, then down her arms and into her palms. It burned, it felt like her blood was on fire...but she wasn't about to let it go. I ain't scared. "Ha...do...KEN!"
HP.
Kaoruko thrust her palms forward together, mimicking Ryu's classic motion as closely as she could. The energy inside of her burst out of her hands, raw and uncontrolled like the blast from one of Leoparde's grenades. The blowback from it nearly knocked her off-balance, but she was able to keep herself upright until the burst of energy dissipated. Her arms trembled, and she felt sweat bead on her forehead. She felt...drained all of a sudden, and if quickly became an enormous effort to remain standing. "Holy...shit." With that, she let her arms fall and dropped to the grass below, laying on her back as she breathed hard. "Holy shit...what did I...just do?"
"You did damn well, Kaoruko." Gray crouched down next to her. "That was a heck of a burst of power there—if you could learn to control that, you'd be a force to be reckoned with." He gave her a grin and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do what I can to help you with that in the time we've got, Kaoruko."
"Ah, hell...'course I'm on a time limit." Kaoruko sighed. "How long?"
"We've got about three months until the other three show up." Gray offered a hand to help Kaoruko up. "Whaddya say? Feel like training?"
Kaoruko glanced down at Gray's hand. "...Yeah, y'know what? Fuck it, sure." She winced as she tried to move her hand up to clasp his. "...Soon as I can feel my body again, that is."