Chapter 7: Ladies of vengeful spirits: The witch trio shows up?
"Talk about a lion's den!" Tyler said, stepping back, blocking a claw swipe from a demon egg, ducking, and transforming his attacker into a soul. "I knew I saw one, but three? Working together? No way no how."
"That's what you get for not looking at your surroundings. You would have been able to see them easily."
"I know I know, My bad. I'll be more careful."
"Please and thank you." Iris said, and arm stretching out of the ninja -to to grab the souls and eat them.
"Where should we head to next?" Tyler asked
"Let's tackle the next district. If what Lord Death said is true, and there was a concentration all over they city..."
"Then there will be more areas like this? Alright, it's our duty to take them out. Let's roll!"
"You're getting fired up." Iris noted
"I guess I'm just eager to show our mettle. We do good, we might get more missions of this caliber."
"Good point. Alright, I'll try my hardest too! Where's our next objective?"
Tyler looked around, his iris's turning a bright, otherworldly blue. … this way!" He said, preparing for another spar as he ran in the direction of the sensed souls. "How do you think we should go by this? " He asked mid-run.
"Well, we're prey the second we step in, so I think, for once, the best way is to just slam in sword flying." Iris suggested.
"I like your style." Tyler said with a hearty laugh. Upon arriving at the designated build, Tyler didn't stop running, aiming at a wall like a football player making his way to the touchdown. "Soulforce!" Iris called out, blasting the wall to pieces.
"Smoke bomb, then ninja to!" Tyler said, throwing Iris to the ground as smoke covered the field. Tyler rolled upon landing, catching Iris, who became a ninja-to, and charged for the first soul, claiming it before the smoke landed, and aimed for the next two. The smoke cleared and he rolled back to avoid a sweep, charging in again to attack. "Kusari-gama!" He shouted, deflecting the attacker aside while Iris transformed.
The chain blocked the next hammer-like swipe. Tyler wraped up its hand in the chain, when Iris applied an electrical shock, and a stab from the scythe part finished it off.
"Now that's what I call progress!" Tyler said with a laugh, Iris eating the souls. Tyler walked over to behind the counter, grabbing a soda from it and tossing it to Iris, claiming one himself. "It's break time!"
Iris sat in a chair, catching her breath. "Applying so many soul forces in such short a span is more draining than I expected." She said "I'm going to have to go a bit easier on that from now on."
"That's understandable." Tyler said with a nod. "But man, what a mission! So much action in so little time! THIS is the best kind of training!"
"I... have to agree! This is pretty exhilarating! Do you think whatever behind this has shown up yet?"
Tyler shrugged, turning on his soul perception to scan for any strong souls. "Oh hey, I DO sense a pretty powerful soul... ya, we should really run now." Tyler said, getting up and grabbing Iris' arm and yanking her out of her seat, spilling coke on her as he did.
Not ten seconds after he got out of the building, something bright red crashed into the building, setting it on fire. "That... was a really good call." Iris said, the heat generating more sweat on her forehead. "You said there was a powerful soul nearby... what was it?" She asked.
"I was wrong. Not one... three." Tyler panted. " They were masking their presence until just now, but one released that mask to attack." Tyler said, shaking a bit. "This aura... pure killing intent... witches." He said, looking up.
He looked up to see his attackers: Three very young witches on top trademark broomsticks, looking down on the meister and weapon. They were each wearing different color outfits. One was a dark, crimson red, one was an ice blue, the other yellow. The one that released its soul protect was the crimson red one, the others had their eyes closing, and were muttering something under their breaths. "You two are the ones giving us grief? I was expecting some high- class meister, but all I see is a student." She said
"And all we see is a woman with no taste in clothing." Tyler countered.
"Umm... Tyler? Is it REALLY a good idea to piss off a witch at our stage of training?" Iris asked.
"No, probably not. In fact, every bone in my body is telling me to head for hills. " Tyler agreed. "So then, who are you?" He asked.
"Dragon Draconian Draco... Dragon fire!" The woman shouted, pointing at the two. A large pillar of fire erupted from, her hand, taking the form of a flaming dragon, witch sped toward Tyler, who barley had time to dodge it, then again.
"Yeesh, not a word mincer, I see." Tyler said. He looked at the first witch, than the two behind her. One witch he could probably last until reinforcements arrived. Two, with a little luck. Three? He very much doubted it. If the other two stopped their muttering, it wouldn't end well for him."
With nothing else to do, Tyler rushed at the witch, uttering a loud battle cry... his feet did a ninety degree angle, running into an alleyway. "Live and let live!" He said as he did so. The woman blinked for a second, but rushed after him, the other two not far behind her.
"Running? THAT'S your plan?" Iris asked.
"There's a difference between a losing fight and a fight you can't win." Tyler said ducking off into an alley. "I figured you'd agree with me."
"Oh I do... I'm just surprised YOU thought of it."
"You wound me, I'm also weighing my options." Tyler said, ducking behind another corner. "It's just that most plans always end better with a frontal assault. I'm not cocky, I know we stand about a snowballs chance in hell of beating a witch, so I'm stalling for time until Mom and Dad show up."
A burst of fire almost hit them, and Tyler double- timed his speed. "Remind me too.. work out even more." Tyler said in between puffs, jumping to doge a burst of fire aimed at his legs.
"Penguins, Penguins, Penguin... Ice glacier!" Came a call.
"Say what now?" Tyler asked, tripping over something and sliding into a street- a pillar of ice had risen up, tripping him, and most of the nearby area had suddenly frozen over. Tyler looked up- The blue-clad woman had stopped muttering, and was looking down on Tyler. "He isn't the only one. Someone just wiped out the last of my third."
"Then we have to make short work of this one." The red one said, firing a burst of flame at Tyler. He tried moving, but his left leg wouldn't obey him, before he realized it was frozen stiff. " Well, at least we bought enough time. Remind me to owe my mother after this is all over." Tyler said in relief.
Before Iris could question his words, there was a flash of light, and a shock wave split the pillar of fire in two, narrowly missing it's mark. Maka jumped in front of Tyler, looking at the witches. "Are you alright?"
"My legs a little stiff, but we're alright." Tyler said, beginning to rub his hand on his legs to try and defrost the ice. "Don't worry about us, do what you can. Iris, some help?" He asked. Iris returned to human worm and began helping him out.
"Three witches? That explains a lot." Maka said, glaring at each of them. "What can you tell us about them, Tyler?"
"That blue one uses ice skills, and she only started attacking recently. She mentioned her third had been wiped out and she came to the conclusion that there is another party, so I m guessing each of those witches are controlling a third of the demon souls in this area. The yellow one has yet to attack, probably controlling her parts of the eggs." Tyler said.
"I see... thank you. Let's go Soul!" Maka said, entering a ready stance.
"You bet! " He said as Maka rushed in close to the red witch, who floated downwards to avoid the attack. Maka managed to avoid the counter blast thanks to Soul, who flew just out of reach, sharply diving down to avoid bullets of ice fired by the blue one, rising to avoid a pillar of fire.
"This isn't working!" Tyler said, hurrying to thaw himself. "Iris, can you use your soulforce? Maybe it'll generate enough heat."
"That's going to hurt, you realize that right?" Iris asked. Before Tyler could respond, she charged her hand with her soul and pushed on Tyler's leg. He cried out clutching his defrosted leg. "That HURT!" He shouted, standing up.
Iris blinked. "That should have temporarily stopped your leg until the electrical charge vanished. How are you up so fast?"
"Oh, one my leg was defrosted I just altered my wavelength to match yours. Mom and Dad taught me that if two souls have the same wavelength, they can't do anything to the other." He said, testing his leg to make sure it was alright.
"That's a pretty handy trick. Can't we use that against the witches?"
"That would take a lot of precision to match a witch, especially a strong witch like that." Tyler explained. "Hang in there Mom!" He cheered on
Maka flew around on the scythe, meeting the attacks with either blade or Witch-hunter slice, but she couldn't get a decisive slash on either one of them. The witches were covering each other, not flying to close to one another to keep Maka in a crossfire. "This is bad... we have to get in there! Can you stll fight, Iris?"
"Ya, but I don't think I can use any more soul force for a little while. Will you be able to without that added boost?"
"Not likely." Tyler said with a slight laugh. "But I have to at least get attention away from either one of the,\m. If I can hold them for even a second, Mom can go in for the kill!" Tyler said, taking hold of Iris's hand, who transformed into Kusari-gama.
"Crow crow crows... Electric Arrow!" Came the vooice of the third witch. A spark of lightning rose into the air. It faded out, but came back as a rain of lightning bolts that began hurling themselves down.
"Oh, crap." Tyler said, getting nailed in the shoulder and forced back. He c ried out, clutching his arm. "My arm's going numb, this isn't good at all."
"I'm sorry, but my third has failed as well. They work fast, these Meisters." The yellow clad one said. "Well, ladies? Shall we?" She asked, laughing as she looked at Maka and Tyler. "Electric arrows!"
Maka twirled her scythe, power forming in the blade as she did. " Demon hunter!" Maka called out, swinging her scythe, the beam shattering the arrows and aiming straight for the witch.
Red and Blue put their hands together, chanting in unison. "Dragonic Penguins Draco... Blizzard Dragon!" They called out. A dragon erupted from their hands, it's flame a chilling blue. It met the Demon hunter head on, and the two attacks canceled out.
"No WAY" Maka said. "They're strong enough to cancel THAT out?"
Yellow raised er hand, readying for another strike, stopping as a projected soul force buzzed through where the hand was going. Following it was a rapid fire of projectiles.
"It seems we arrived just time." Girl said, making her skates disappear. "Not one witch, but three? Guess we were off in our assumptions, Kari... but not by much."
"Are you guys alright?" Kari asked
"We're alright, but we're outmatched here." Maka said. "Tyler's injured... he needs attention to his arm, and with three witches covering each other, we're in a situation where we'll be picked off in a three way cross fire."
"I understand. Let's deal some damage to one of them and makeour escape." Girl suggested, Readying her own scythe. "Are you ready, Kari?"
"Time for some action!" Kari said.
Maka leaped forward, firing off two demon hunters in quick succession. "Now, let's run!" She said, the witches putting up their defenses to block, while they flew away, Maka holding on to Tyler while Soul flew.
After taking a long route to mask their trail, they arrived at the hotel, where Tyler sat on a bed, examining his arm. Iris, Soul ,and Kari reverted to human form, Iris tending to Tyler's arm. "That was NOT a cool fight." Soul grumbled.
"We're going to need some back-up for this." Maka agreed. "If we could take even one of them out, we may be able to win... but those witches are doubtless looking for us."
"A siege, in other words." Girl said with a groan. "NOT how I wanted my first mission to be."
"Haha, yeah." Tyler said, wincing as Iris tightened a bandage. "Those witches are incredibly strong, smart too." He said. "'ll be ready to fight later, but I think we all need some rest."
"I'm sorry I arrived so late. We were taking out those places where there were groups of demon eggs. Don't mind staying up to keep watch.
"We'll split it Four ways then." Maka agreed. "Me, you, Soul, and Kari will watch. These two need to get some sleep."
Tyler shrugged. "Sorry you guys. I'll make it up to ya."
"It's alright, now get some sleep. I'll contact Kid." Maka said, waving as she walked out. Tyler needed no telling twice, and fell asleep rather easily,