Chapter 2
Shining Lights on the Phantom
Phantom Pain (Time: Day 3, 9:45 PM)
Didn't expect this Cheeky Grin girl to attack me all of a sudden, but I can care less because this scenario is quickly turning into something straight out of one of my favorite manga! Holy shit is this fucking amazing!
I totally even did one of the poses I was practicing for fights like this, and even the lines I was gonna throw around! It's so unreal, but it's too damn cool!
Now I'm gonna land this punch right center through your back and send you flying away with the strength of a Magical Girl! Prepare yourself, Cheeky Grin!
…
OUCH!
Oh god, that hurt, that hurt so goddamn much it was like trying to punch a goddamn car! What the fuck, I thought that being a Magical Girl would've made my fists strong enough already. Wait… I had trouble running on the rooftops before. Don't tell me my Magical Girl form somewhat reflects my real self, though a bit stronger?!
Bah, that sucks so badly-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
Shit, being sent flying by Cheeky Grin was totally not cool! At any rate, I'm gonna crash into one of the buildings, unless…
Aha!
I should probably make my getaway for now, poof I go!
Sockpuppet (Time: Day 3, 9:45 PM)
Damn it, when is Cheeky Grin going to send her report…
One, three, one, three and three.
…I hope this isn't what I think it is
Three, one, three, one and one.
Enemy.
Shit. What about the enemy?! Instinctively I command my Cheeky Grin double to princess-carry me and begin racing towards Cheeky Grin's locations
Three, one, and one. Three, three, three and one. One, one, one and three.
Enemy Spotted.
Quickly grabbing my Magical Phone, I start a call with Cheeky Grin.
"Cheeky Grin, have you been spotted by the enemy?!"
"I'm sorry Sockpuppet, but I've been spotted- Shit, she's getting away! And fast!"
"Don't lose track of the target! I'll start tracking you now using your Magical Phone, better forget about using your Magical Ability to signal me, use it to dazzle the target instead! Don't you dare try confronting her until I've reached your location, give or take 15 minutes."
"Roger, Sockpuppet!"
Cheeky Grin (Time: Day 3, 9:50 PM)
Finally, some action! Now this is real nice, too bad I can't really fight her until Sockpuppet's here. Still, a little chasing's a lot better than all that searching.
Damn did the enemy's punch feel impossibly weak, but I guess that takes away from some of the danger of fighting her. On the other hand, it's getting hard to keep up with her, the way I see it, her teleport's instantaneous and works best in crowded areas. I'm gonna need to isolate her somehow…
Wait, I can mimic the police with my Magical Ability as the spotlight, but then, where will I mimic the voice?
Come on, Cheeky Grin, think…
"Sockpuppet, this target's going too fast using the crowds as her venue of escape! I'm thinking of mimicking the police, but how am I going to mimic their use of megaphones?"
"Just get one!"
"But how, Sockpuppet?!"
"I don't know, rob the fucking store or maybe make a rush payment for one?"
"The stores are closing right now dammit!"
"Then hurry the fuck up and get one of those megaphones, pronto! I'll cover for you if you get into any legal trouble."
"Roger!"
Store… Store… 10 minutes to closing time. Gah, this chase really is getting too frantic! On one hand, I have to keep track of our target, who's really damn fast at that, and on the other hand I need to look for an appliance store to get one of those megaphones.
…Aha!
Good thing the enemy's movements led me to what seemed to be the shopping center of this D-City's business district, somewhere near the center of town. Some of the crowd seems to be hurrying inside to make their last-minute purchases, while the others are trying to get out ASAP, their destinations from there unknown to me. Scanning around, jackpot, an appliance store!
Analyzing the movements of the target, it seems like she's headed back deeper into the business district, from the looks of it, the shadier parts, dark alleyways and all. What, were you trying to confuse me by getting to this huge crowd going out in all directions? Nice try, but I've got you figured out now! Whilst heading to the appliance store, I grab my Magical Phone and make a hasty call.
"Sockpuppet, can you intercept the target in the shadier parts of town? That's to the southeast of my current position."
"Hey, what's with the sudden change in direction, do you want the both of us to lose track of the target?"
"No! That's exactly why I'm asking you to head there, because I'm gonna dive into the appliance store and get ourselves a megaphone! Besides, our target uses her Magical Ability too much to lay hidden."
"Okay, I'll head there, but make it quick!"
Ending the call, I crash into the appliance store.
Phantom Pain (Time: Day 3, 9:50 PM)
Crash!
Quickly turning back, I see some shards of glass flying into the air.
What the fuck, did that girl actually crash into a store just to chase me? Wow, talk about fucking dumb. Oh well, time to make my getaway!
Luring her into this really crowded part of town that's about to disperse was a good idea, now she can't figure out where I'm going just by the composition of the crowds. Time for me to take the expressway of people to the dark alleyways of town! Should be able to shake her off by then.
…Damn, what about the thugs there though. I don't wanna get into any scuffles while trying to lose the heat on me, might attract more attention on me. Guess I'll be forced to stow away for a bit in my Magical Girl form until the sun's up.
As I reach the darker alleyways, I quickly find myself with a lot less people to teleport behind, meaning I'm forced to use my legs a lot more. At this point, I'm reducing myself to walking to avoid attention, but goddamn do I wish I could use my Magical Ability a lot more! Good thing walking doesn't seem to tire me out as badly as running does.
Ahh well, I should be safe here-
Shit, was that another fucking light just now?! Holy fucking hell that was too quick of her!
…I guess there's no choice but to stand toe-to-toe with Cheeky Grin. How am I going to do it with her obvious advantage in strength though, dammit Phantom, think, fucking think!
Ahh, right, the Healing Medicine Pakka gave to me! Now, if only I had it on me right now…
Right pocket, nothing, left pocket, nothing, back pocket, nothing, inner pockets, nothing.
Come fucking on I had to forget about it?!
So it's come to this then.
Mustering up all my courage, and ballsiness, I climb to the rooftop of the building nearest to me.
I'm gonna face the heat head on!
Sockpuppet (Time: Day 3, 9:55 PM)
Gehhh, I wonder where that target went. All of a sudden she's a lot stealthier than Cheeky Grin made her out to be. She might have a lot less options for escape here, but at the same time, she's gonna virtually have nothing for us to trace her to here…
Wait a second, was that some shouting?
"OI OI, YOU BASTARD!"
Could this be the target? Peeking out from my hiding spot, I see a Magical Girl in a rather outlandishly black outfit waving at my copy of Cheeky Grin. Commanding the copy to face her, I make her speak.
"AHA! FOUND YOU ONCE AGAIN EVILDOER, PREPARE YOURSELF!"
Sending out the copy to punch her, I barely miss my mark as the enemy Magical Girl disappears all of a sudden. Great, where'd she go? Running towards the Cheeky Grin copy, I order her to princess-carry me once more as we begin pursuing the target once more. Reaching the last position I saw her, I see her fleeing towards the east. This time, it looks like she's using her Magical Ability to its fullest, and goddamn was Cheeky Grin not fooling around about her speed! If not for my enhanced senses as a Magical Girl, it'd be damned near impossible to track her.
Grabbing my Magical Phone, I quickly phone in Cheeky Grin.
"Cheeky Grin, the target's fleeing once again! I spotted her but now she's headed to the east of my location-Wait, forget about east, northeast of my location! You're gonna be falling behind at this rate, do you have the damn megaphone already?!"
"Yes, yes, I just got the megaphone! Goddamn lines were getting in the way, so was the cashier fishing up some change. I told the clerk to just keep the change to himself as a tip. Goddammit!"
"…You what?! YOU SERIOUSLY WENT THROUGH ALL THAT TROUBLE TO BUY THE MEGAPHONE?! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU THAT I'D COVER FOR YOU IF YOU GOT INTO ANY LEGAL TROUBLE! YOU DO REALIZE YOUR OUTFIT WILL GET YOU MORE THAN ENOUGH ATTENTION AS IS, RIGHT?!"
"About the legal trouble… I broke through the storefront just to make the purchase-"
"JUST HURRY UP AND LET'S GET TRACKING ON THE DAMN TARGET TOGETHER ALREADY!"
"A-Alright Sockpuppet! I'm guessing I'm around 5 minutes away from your position with the speed I'm running at, damn, this is getting tough!"
"Okay good good, keep it up! I'll call you in once I figure out where the target's headed for."
…Shit, the buildings are beginning to thin out and get shorter the more I head towards the northeast. It'll be harder to track her from ground level, but on the other hand, it looks like there's a lot less people now for Phantom to teleport behind. She's beginning to slow down. It shouldn't be too long before before I catch up to her, but first… I need a good hiding spot.
The problem is there aren't too many hiding spots with a good view of the area here in the housing district. Clever… But you won't be getting far if all you're gonna do is run. The running speeds of Cheeky Grin, or my exact copy of her, and the target are almost comparable. The major difference is that I've got the advantage of stamina.
"Yooooooooo, Sockpuppet!"
Turning my head towards the direction of the voice, that is, behind me, it looks like Cheeky Grin's caught up. That's a megaphone on her alright.
"Good thing you caught up, because the target's losing speed! We can pull off a pretty easy capture now!"
"So what are we gonna do with the megaphone?!"
"I don't know, hold onto it for now! I'll keep my beam on her, you rush ahead and use your own to dazzle her once you're in range!"
Just then, we heard a motorcycle whizz by. Cheeky Grin and I were probably varying between one to two storeys above the ground when it came around.
...Wait a second, the target's no longer within my searchlight. Great… Where'd she gone off to?
"Oi oi, Sockpuppet, she got on the motorcycle!"
Shit!
Phantom Pain (Time: Day 3, 10:00 PM)
Talk about good luck, a motorcycle just popped up! At least now I have enough space to teleport behind, cars just don't work too well with that. First things first, I need the biker to bring me home. I hope he doesn't mind me hitching a ride like this!
"Yo."
"E-Ehh?! How'd you get here?"
"Uhh… Even if I explained it you wouldn't believe me. Hey, do you mind taking me home first?"
"Take you home?! You're a complete stranger that popped out of nowhere, one that hasn't even answered my question and you want me to take you home?"
Ahh shit, come on…
Aha!
Noticing that he's beginning to shake his motorcycle violently, I pretend to fall off and-
GODFUCKINGDAMMIT THE ROAD HURTS!
And now my cheek is bleeding, fucking great!
Before that motorcycle gets too far away from me, I teleport back to my spot behind the biker.
"Soooooo, you taking me home yet? You nearly killed a girl you know, just what kind of guy are you! Where are your manners?"
Hehe, manners.
"Y-You're alive?! AND YOU'RE BACK ON MY BIKE?! BUT I SHOOK YOU OFF!"
The biker's visibly beginning to show some fear. Good, maybe now I can leverage him to take me home.
"Yes you did, and I'm back here, right? What, you don't believe that I'm still alive?"
Yanking his hand and making him feel my own arm, he might've been a beefcake but at least my enhanced strength as a Magical Girl was enough to do so with ease.
"W-WHAT THE FUCK, OKAY FINE FINE! WHERE DO I DROP YOU OFF?!"
"Hmm… Two intersections from now, take a right, go straight, and then take a left! From there I'll let ya go, mmkay?"
"O-Okay let's go!"
And now I've got a clean getaway, nice!
...Or not. The searchlights are back on me again! Not too soon after that, a megaphone rang out. Was that why that Cheeky Grin crashed into a store?!
"THIS IS THE NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY, WE ARE ORDERING YOU TO STAND DOWN NOW! I REPEAT, THIS IS THE NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY, WE ARE ORDERING YOU TO STAND. DOWN. NOW!"
Damn, so they figured out that I'm on the bike, great! Quickly, I lean forward and cover the side-mirrors of the motorcycle. This is quite an awkward position though… And now it looks like Mr. Biker over here isn't taking the sudden lights too well.
"WHAT'S GOING ON, WHY'S THE POLICE ON US?!"
"JUST KEEP GOING DAMMIT, ONCE YOU'RE NEAR MY HOUSE I'LL GET OFF YOUR BIKE!"
"B-BUT THE POLICE"
"THAT AIN'T NO POLICE, TRUST ME, IF ONLY THEIR SEARCHLIGHTS WEREN'T BRIGHT ENOUGH TO SEAR THE FUCK OUT OF EVEN MY EYES I'D TELL YOU TO TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT'S CHASING US."
"O-OKAY! BESIDES, IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR HOUSE IS JUST ALONG THE WAY TO MY HOUSE!"
"GOOD, GOOD, JUST KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LOOK BACK!"
Aaaaaaaand that's the first intersection passed! Nice!
"Okay good, keep it up biker boy!"
Gah, how am I supposed to give him a pat on the back like this though, with both of my hands occupied in covering these damn side-mirrors! Bummer.
"I'd give you a pat on the back right now but I think you can see that my hands are pretty occupied right now! So uhh, you don't mind if I give you a verbal pat on the back?"
"..."
Why do I get the feeling that now this biker's also getting weirded out by me?
Nearing the second intersection, the one we're supposed to take a right in, I hear a whoosh in the air.
That didn't sound good. That whoosh's also getting closer. Wait a minute, this sounds like something being thrown at us-
OH FUCK! The clang of metal on the ground, and some rubble spewing about. Was that a fucking roadsign that just got thrown at us? It barely missed its mark, but I doubt a second shot would miss at this rate.
Speaking of… That's another goddamn whoosh!
"OI OI, BIKER BOY, BRACE YOURSELF!"
"Huh?!"
"Better prepare yourself for that right turn when I signal you!"
...This guy can't hear what's going on over his damn engine? Wow, or maybe it's because I have better hearing than him now. Whatever the case, I quickly leap off into the air, teleport back behind good ol' biker boy, though this time ending up handstanding on my seat. With all the strength I can muster, I bring my body down into the strongest double-knee I can pull off on this motorcycle, letting go of my hands as I do so.
…
I-It worked! The motorcycle got kicked off just a bit further away!
...But then I'm left behind here. Here goes!
"Saved your ass buddy."
Right as I was about to get hit by the second roadsign, I made it.
"S-Saved my ass?! You could've wrecked my motorcycle with what you did. Speaking of, how the fuck did you even do that?!"
"It was either I wreck your motorcycle, which fucking hurt mind you, or the both of us get hit by a fucking roadsign flying at who-knows-what-the-fuck speeds, getting the both of us killed!"
"WHY THE FUCK WOULD A ROADSIGN BE FLYING AT US?!"
"It's the second time and you can't even hear what the fuck was going on? Is your engine really that damn loud for you?"
"YES IT IS, I CAN BARELY EVEN HEAR YOU AT THIS RATE!"
Oh, no fucking wonder. That explains it.
"IN ANY CASE, ALL THAT'S LEFT IS TO GO STRAIGHT AND THEN TAKE A LEFT! BY THEN, WE SHOULD BE IN THE CLEAR BECAUSE I'M GONNA CRAWL THE REST OF THE WAY TO MY HOUSE!"
Whoosh. Great, do they ever run the fuck out of roadsigns to throw at me?! Whoosh. Son of a-
Change of plans, this dude and I are gonna be good as dead if we continue at this rate.
Up ahead, I spot an old lady trying to take out her garbage, further up towards the right. I must be damn lucky right now, because I also spot another person, this time a kid looking up to the night sky from his room's window. That was opposite the old lady. All in all, should be within 100 meters from each other. Guess I'll tell biker boy that I'm off now.
"Yo biker boy, I'm gonna get off here and now! No need to slow down for me though."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! DO YOU WANT TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?!"
"Hey now cool it, big bro, I can take it! Besides, if you slow down you're gonna end up good as dead anyway, don't want my free ride to die on me for when I next need it~ Hehe."
Repeating the same sequence I had done to dodge the second roadsign, this time I brought myself down on the motorcycle with even greater force.
"W-WAI-"
Too late biker boy, I've already kneed you out of the way of the incoming roadsigns. Now, that leaves only me.
ACK! Fuck I miscalculated how much airtime I'd have! Making a rough landing on the pavement, the searchlight disengaged from my new friend and focuses on me, lying on the cold, hard pavement. That whooshing's also getting damn closer now, need to fucking act quick!
Turning around to a prone position, I feign a struggle, even if that landing did really fucking hurt, and crawl as though reaching for the old lady. At the last second, I teleport towards her back, standing upright before giving her a pat on the back.
"Hey, grandma, don't mind if I help you with the garbage today?"
Good ol' grannie looked towards me with a bit of shock in her face, before it turned into a weirded-out expression. Oh come on!
"What is with your outfit, you youth these days… But here, I give you my thanks for helping an old woman like me with the garbage."
Accepting the garbage bag from her hands, there's at least a small smile on her face as I rush off to the designated drop-off…
...That said, looking at the bag, I see a bunch of cans.
Nice, today's cans and glass bottles day. Could probably use this to distract them… I'm sorry to the garbage collectors out there!
Closing in to a few meters of the drop-off, I quickly shuffle through the bag to take out a couple of cans wrapped in a plastic bag, before hurriedly going through the motions of depositing the garbage bag, and then throwing one of the cans towards the right, going over one of the houses.
To confirm if my trick had worked, I turned towards my back, eyes closed, and opened my eyes slightly to see that the beams of light trying to search for me had now turned right to the tune of the thrown can.
Alright! My getaway should be clean leading up to my house now then. Turning back to the boy from before, I teleport behind him, before sneakily making my way out of his house. Sounds like his parents are real fucking asleep because I could hear their yawns from here!
Sockpuppet (Time: Day 3, 10:05 PM)
Clank. Clank. Clank. A trail of cans is now all we have left to track down the target. Previously we interrogated the old lady she had teleported to, all she would say was that she'd kindly taken her trash for her to the garbage disposal drop-off.
Still, something seems off about this though…
"Hey, Cheeky Grin, you think this actually leads to the drop-off?"
"I… I don't really know Sockpuppet, maybe we should've asked the old lady first. Hey, why not we split up and I go ask her?"
"Not now, Cheeky Grin… If we split up we could be picked off."
Cheeky Grin seemed a bit in disbelief of my suggestion, but she relented. We continued to follow the trail of cans… Until they stopped. We looked around for any more cans, and there were none.
By then we practically lost track of where we were. In the steep darkness of the night, this housing district turned into a maze which the target cleverly hid in.
...Wait, darkness? We Magical Girls practically have night vision, this night shouldn't be darker than any other. I ordered my copy to stop lighting up the area, before turning to Cheeky Grin.
"CHEEKY GRIN, HOLD IT! SHUT DOWN THE DAMN LIGHTS."
"W-Why?! We might lose track of-"
"JUST FUCKING DO IT!"
Not too soon afterwards, Cheeky Grin closed off her own beam of light. The two of us just stood there, me pondering on what we should do, and as for Cheeky Grin, I don't know about her.
Then it hit me. A few minutes pass by and I can clearly see what was going on in the dark. Eyes adjusted to bright light don't do well in the dark…
Fuck!
I made an error that could cost us this entire fucking operation!
"CHEEKY GRIN, HIGH-TAIL IT BACK TO THAT OLD LADY, ASAP! WE FIND HER THEN TRACE OUR STEPS TO WHERE THE ACTUAL GARBAGE DISPOSAL IS!"
And thus we burst into full sprint towards the old lady. Of course, it was Cheeky Grin speaking to her for me.
"Hey, madam, where's the garbage drop-off by the way?"
"Ohh? You don't know? It was just straight ahead, I was about to call you girls that you were going the wrong way but then you got too far away for me to even shout at you."
"Damn… Sorry madam, but thanks!"
Giving our bows, we ran straight ahead, and true enough, the garbage drop-off was there. The door had been hastily slid back from the looks of it, and upon further inspection, one of the bags looked like it'd been opened in a rush.
Inspecting it, it was only then that I had just realized what the target had done.
Using some of the cans from the garbage bag of the old lady, she intentionally misled us towards the wrong path in order to make her getaway. To make matters worse, I had the good fortune of having not one, but two extremely bright searchlights going off that disrupted our natural night-vision as Magical Girls, meaning we lost peripheral vision in the dark. Fucking hell!
"In my years of hunting Rogues, Cheeky Grin, I'm going to tell you here and now that what we have here is probably the smartest fucking target I've ever been assigned to hunt down. You think we should call up the boss for reinforcements? I can see now how she possibly murdered a whole lot of Magical Girls here in D-City despite being weak physically speaking."
Reaching towards my Magical Phone, I saw Cheeky Grin signal me to stop.
"Wait, Sockpuppet, before you do that, since I was going ahead of you I recall hearing something about the directions going towards Phantom's house."
"W-Why the fuck didn't you tell me about that then?!"
"Because I thought she was taking an alternate route instead to her house!"
Fair enough. From how the situation seemed then, it was more logical that she didn't exactly take the direct route to her house.
"Then that means… You lead the way Cheeky Grin, I'll cover you."
"Alright, let's go!"
Phantom Pain (Time: Day 3, 10:15 PM)
Stay low and crawl along the ground, that should enable you to sneak past enemies
Following the wise words of the dwarf leopard, I make my way home safely! Damn, even if I've only seen this done in the games I play, it's pretty effective for staying out of sight. Good thing this Magical Girl form helps in going through the motions of the crawl, especially since I'd fucking struggle with this in my regular ol' self.
Up to my good ol' bedroom, and tada! There you are, Healing Medicine! Ten pops, all left untouched since I got this from my friend Pakka. Looks like it's about time I use one of you-
What was that? Just now I heard something like a wall being broken through. Fucking great, did they just wreck my house to get in? Must've overheard my conversation with biker boy, ain't that convenient.
Coming down to the ground floor, it's time I confronted these bastards.
"Yooooo you just wrecked my collection of figures man, damned things cost more than a hundred thousand yen total, at least have the damn decency to knock on the door-"
What the fuck, there's two of Cheeky Grin now? Great. On one hand, one of them is missing a sock. Strange. In any case, I have to lure this fight the fuck out of my house because I don't want my place getting wrecked in a shitstorm that these two are likely to cause.
"Hey, you know what, why not we take the fight outside, hmm? You want a good ol' beatdown I'll give it to ya-"
"HERE'S A BEATDOWN FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
Give me a goddamn break I haven't even taken my pills yet! The Cheeky Grin with two socks comes forward to me, fist cocked for a haymaker. Dead giveaway, I teleport behind the one-socked Cheeky Grin further back.
Appearing crouched down, anticipating an elbow, I should be safe for no-
WHAT THE FUCK?! Instead of my prediction, what comes for me is one-socked Cheeky Grin's right knee coming straight at my face. Fucker turned around knowing I'd be there, worse, knowing that I'd be fucking crouching!
It's too late, I can't fucking dodge and OUCH!
Oh god fucking going through concrete hurts like hell. That hit was calculated damn well, too damn well when compared to the clumsiness from two-socks Cheeky Grin. It seemed like she was even baiting me to keep my crouched position while she was at it. Not too soon after, lights are shined on me. Great… Now they're trying to dazzle me!
Instinctively, I get on a prone position, before quickly fishing out my pockets for the Healing Medicine. It's now or never!
Popping it, I can immediately feel some healing, along with a renewed strength. It feels like it might take a while to recover from my wounds, but at the very least I should be able to stand toe-to-toe with them now.
"Hey, Sockpuppet, don't mind if I'm the one to take her in?"
I hear Cheeky Grin go off. The question is, which one? It's the one towards my left. And who's this Sockpuppet?
"A-Alright you go ahead!"
I hear another voice go off, further away from my guess of the positions of the two Cheeky Grins. Guess this is whoever that Sockpuppet is. Seems like they want to take their damn time approaching me though. Since I can't look at them directly, I'll need to at least break off their lights on me enough for me to pull off a teleport. Some rubble scattered around, I quickly grab it before throwing it towards the light at both Cheeky Grins after stowing away my Healing Medicine. Through my eyelids I can see that the light has ceased. A brief moment of respite as they tried to get their heads away from my rubble, I open my eyes to teleport behind the Cheeky Grin to my left.
Now there's something I have to clear up: Which one's the real Cheeky Grin, and which one is a double of Cheeky Grin? And what relationship does any of the three have to do with this Sockpuppet?
From the double-socked Cheeky Grin, I flee to the back of my house. First things first, I seriously need to draw this fight away from my house. Second, I need to confirm which Cheeky Grin is the real Cheeky Grin. Third, I have to figure out if I can attack Sockpuppet, whoever she is, directly.
Most of all, I need to fucking end this. And quickly.
The Cheeky Grins catch up pretty quickly to what's going on, double-sock doing so naturally, while single-sock doing so in a jolted fashion. One point, she's rushing forward pretty methodically, the second after she stops, almost like she's adjusting to what's going on.
It's… It's like one of those old horror games with really shitty fixed cameras that make the experience a whole lot fucking harder. The ones that fucked you up real bad because a fucking monster out to kill you was conveniently hidden by a bad angle. Like the camera's swung in the wrong direction and she needs to fix it first before she can move forward assuredly.
Sockpuppet. Wait a second… Wasn't that the term for fake profiles online? Fakes, shitty camera angles, a rather experienced fighter that turns into a complete dumbass the moment the "camera" is swung in the wrong direction…
...A puppet master controlling a double? The inexperience of the double is evident, but it's also like there's a mentor constantly behind her telling her what to do without any form of delay in communication. It's also like she's got a pair of eyes behind her, otherwise, that fucking knee would've been an instinctive elbow.
So it looks like Sockpuppet's hiding somewhere close. Doesn't look like she's too far away since I can obscure her vision of me using the walls around this place.
I should fucking abuse that.
Leaping over to the street, double-sock follows me, this time rearing to fucking attack. Leaping off the wall into a pounce, I slide beneath her in order to lure her eyes on me.
Heh, fucking idiot. Using the brief moment she's focused on me whilst mid-air, I teleport behind her, delivering a satisfying punch straight at her head. Sending her reeling towards the ground, the crack of concrete confirms my success. Afterwards, I scan my surroundings to see the approaching single-sock. Took her a while, probably from Sockpuppet having to look for a better position.
...Fuck, this airtime's going to be the death of me. I can't use double-sock here to fucking right myself, so no choice. Single-sock it is!
Appearing behind her, this time I make my orientation coming off the teleport to something that'd provide me vision of double-sock. Just in time, I come off another teleport, now standing over the downed Cheeky Grin.
Stepping back from her, and back unto solid ground, it looks like single-sock stopped coming towards me in an attempt to pull off a counter. At this rate, she's too close to pull off a strong enough charge and is gonna have to either punch, kick, or whatever the fuck else she can do.
"Hey hey, easy there. See this little cunt over here?"
Kicking lightly on Cheeky Grin's head, it looks like I knocked her unconscious. One down I guess!
"Doesn't look like she did great yanoe. Wanna end up like her, bitch?"
Somewhere, somehow, I can feel that whoever this Sockpuppet is, is bursting in anger. Single-sock, on the other hand, is just standing there, frozen.
"If it's a fight you want, why not take it away from my goddamned house? You fucking wrecked the place looking for me, so better pay up too while you're at it!"
"WE'RE NOT PAYING UP FOR SOME FUCKING CRIMINAL SHIT LIKE YOU!"
Hoo boy, looks like Sockpuppet's pissed! Niceeeeeeee.
Single-sock immediately comes back to life as she begins delivering a flurry of roundhouse kicks and haymakers. Sensing the danger, I flee back a bit until single-sock just stops. She just hangs in there, retardedly, for a couple of seconds. Looks like Sockpuppet has a range limit on her, too.
Coming a bit close to single-sock, I begin teasing her a bit. Making multiple feints in the form of kicks and jabs, it's almost comical to see the fucker try to grab me and put me into a lock.
"Heyyyyyy Sockpuppet, your Cheeky Grin's shit-tier! Look at this fucker, I draw one finger towards her, she fucking tries too grab it-Woops, too late! I'm outta her reach! Come on, is this all you gonna offer to me? I reckon that other Cheeky Grin with her inexperience was a lot more interesting than you!
You know what, let's keep at this until the sunrise, it'd ought to be a damn shitshow with your Cheeky Grin as the laughing stock! She'd look like a fucking retard-"
"SHUT UP!"
Boy oh boy, she's out! The motherfucker's out! Out from hiding behind a wall, is whoever this Sockpuppet is. Looking at her, good lord, what the fuck is she, a clown? She looks like one fucking run over by a truck!
Right as single-sock attempts to grab me, I teleport behind the now exposed Sockpuppet, before putting her in a chokehold.
Damn is she light too, I easily lift the damn bitch off the ground!
"Heya there Sockpuppet, it's about damn time you showed yourself! So, tell me, you going to pay up for the damn wrecking you gave my house, or how about I put you in the same spot as Cheeky Grin over there?"
A lot of squirming, but to no avail. This Sockpuppet's damn amusing with how she's going, little punk.
"HEY, ANSWER ME, YOU GONNA PAY UP FOR MY DAMN HOUSE OR NOT? IF YOU REALLY WANT A FIGHT I'LL GIVE YOU ONE, BUT NOT RIGHT HERE WHERE YOU CAN FUCKING DESTROY MY PRECIOUS COLLECTION-"
"SOCKPUPPET WATCH OUT!"
Sockpuppet (Time: Day 3, 10:20 PM)
Damn it, I got ahead of myself! If not for Cheeky Grin regaining consciousness, I might as well have been dead by now. A brief flash directed at the target's face, and she was dazed long enough for me to slip out of her grip. Scrambling away from her, Cheeky Grin helped me get back into position as the fight resumed once more.
"Sockpuppet, I suspect she's got Healing Medicine on her, because she's a damn lot stronger than back when I first encountered her!"
Healing Medicine?! I knew it, she seemed too unnaturally powerful. Where did she even get supplies like that, those aren't handed around like candy even in the Examination Division! Just what kind of connection does she have?
Making my copy nod in response to Cheeky Grin's intel, I bring her up in a proper fighting stance just beside her.
"Hehehey, it's been a while since you used that damn light. Something the matter, shitface? Getting too bright for you? Ugly stain on your teeth you don't wanna show?"
Damn, for quite the while now she's been trying to push on our buttons, getting us to do something irrational. I can't let what happened a while ago repeat again!
"CHEEKY GRIN STAY CALM, WE NEED TO WEAR OFF HER MEDICINE, DON'T LISTEN TO HER-"
"NOW YOU'VE FUCKING DONE IT!"
Rashly charging at the target, using another one of her flashes on her, I can barely see what's going on due to the damn brightness of her power. The next thing I know, I hear some rubble hitting Cheeky Grin's head. Another bad hit, and I can see it clearly stunning her. Damn dirty fighter the enemy is.
The next thing I know, she's flying towards my copy of Cheeky Grin. Shit! Looking at how strong that throw was, it's obvious that the target is inexperienced, but being more than compensated by the Healing Medicine's strengthening capabilities.
While on one hand I have to be worried about Cheeky Grin's safety, that's a lot of hits she's taking, I also have to be worried about the fact that she's taking my double too far away from the radius of my Magical Ability! I can't just squirm out of my hiding spot like this, I might end up in the same predicament as a while ago.
Peeking out from my hiding spot, the target's slowly approaching Cheeky Grin and my double. Given my estimation, they're at least 20 meters too far for my ability to take effect.
Slowly, Cheeky Grin is stirring from her position. Since she hasn't used her ability I'm sure she can see me clearly in the dark. Signalling by gesturing towards my double, then making motions with my arms coming towards me, it's a good thing she got what I meant immediately.
She grabs my double, gets up from where she landed, and hurls her straight at our enemy. To confirm that it had reentered my effective radius, I was able to manage a somewhat-awkward flying kick with her current state. Not surprisingly, the kick was dodged by a teleport behind my double, though the double did make a clean landing coming off of the kick.
Which leaves me in a good position now: The target's surrounded from two sides.
Still… I would rather drag out this fight than end it here and now. It's surprising for a rookie that Cheeky Grin's still standing despite the damage she's suffered so far. Compared to my relatively-untouched double, she's bleeding a whole lot from the wounds on her head.
"CHEEKY GRIN, WE HAVE TO LET THIS FIGHT DRAG ON SO THAT THE HEALING MEDICINE WILL WEAR OFF! WE SHOULD RETREAT FOR NOW AND POSSIBLY ATTACK HER NEXT TIME!"
At this point, I don't fucking care if our enemy hears me, I'm more concerned about Cheeky coming out of this alive and well than completing the mission, at a cost that makes me shudder in fear.
"CAN'T DO THAT SOCKPUPPET! WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE HER DOWN NOW, IF WE DON'T WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO CATCH HER EVER AGAIN!"
...Shit. Much as I hate to admit it, there's some truth to what she's saying.
"You heard the girl, Sockpuppet! Let me get away this fucking once and I'll be on my ticket outta here in a jiffy, good luck trying to catch me ever again from there!"
Grr… That does it! I've had enough of this fucking "weak" target this mission's all about, I'm gonna put an end to this once and for all!
Quickly, I make my double signal Cheeky Grin once more. This time, I'm not using her Magical Ability directed high up at the sky, that would be too obvious at this point, plus it might ruin my vision briefly, but rather making her stomp the ground this time.
Three, one, one, one. Three, one, three, one, three. One, one, three, one, three. One, one, three. One, one, three, one.
Alternating between legs with each kana, I'm sure that her practice with the lights would at least help her understand what I'm saying.
Three, one, one, one. One, three. One, three, one, three, one, three. One, three. Three, one, three, one, one. Three, one, one, three. Three, three, one, three, one, three, three. One, one, three. One, three, one, one.
Good! Looks like she got it. Here goes.
One, three. One, one, one, three. Three, three, three, one, one, one.
Cheeky Grin (Time: Day 3, 10:24 PM)
Pincer attack.
Affirmative, shall we go?
Let's go.
Though we used stomps instead of my Magical Ability, I perfectly got what Sockpuppet wanted to tell me. I'm quite surprised at myself that it wasn't too long ago that I found this whole Wabun code thing really confusing. No wonder she was trying to teach me all this!
This way, our villain has no idea of what we're up to. Heh. This should be over in a flash, prepare yourself!
"HEY, EYES OVER HERE! HOW ABOUT I SHOW YOU JUST HOW AWFUL YOUR FACE LOOKS RIGHT AFTER I MESS IT UP?"
The target quickly shifts her attention to me. Good! She'll have no idea this way of knowing what's coming behind her. The double quickly initiates a jumping kick, aimed straight at her head, and with that it's about time I start too!
Entering into a sprint, I rear my fist once more to land a satisfying haymaker right smack into her face! Meanwhile, it seems like our enemy's completely clueless to what's going on as she just stands there, hands behind her back, cockily looking at me.
"Hey, Cheeky Grin, you do realize that if I've got my eyes on you, I can just easily teleport behind you right? What, you gonna go and try planting your fist in my face again?"
...Oh shit, she's right! Goddammit how could I have forgotten!
Opening my mouth to make a wide grin, I immediately hear Sockpuppet go off from her position.
"CHEEKY GRIN DON'T LISTEN TO HER-OH GOD, TURN OFF YOUR DAMN LIGHT RIGHT NOW! I'M TELLING YOU, TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!"
Everything around me's beginning to darken as my eyes adjust to the brightness of my Magical Ability. Damn! All these nuances are beginning to piss me off-
Right as my light goes down, I quickly notice a roundhouse kick from the target aimed straight at me. It's sloppy though, as to be expected of our weak villain right here. Going under it, I only find out right after that she's gone-
Off-balance. A kick headed straight for my chin. And I'm being shoved towards it.
Is… Is this how it all ends?