Behavior Science
Behavior Science
Or the Terrible Emotion Leech
Started by: Happosai
High above the Sleepy town of Nerima in a low geosynchronous orbit and abandoned American satellite floated just above the level of earth's atmosphere. The satellite was a sealed container with the words "Biological Hazard Stay away" printed on it.
As it floated peacefully along an old Russian "Weather Satellite" that just happen to mount an Anti Missile laser bumped the slow orbiting satellite causing it to fall into the atmosphere.
Down below Happosai was just completing his most recent panty raid, liberating all sorts of new items for his collection. looking up the old pervert saw a falling star, and it seemed to be heading right for the canal. the satellite struck with a thundercrack and a Splash. Happosai decided to check it out.
Sneaking stealthily near the canal Happi could see the tail end of the satellite sticking out of the canal. But The canister was ripped open right where the warning label used to be.
Just as Happosai was closing in on the canal a huge hideous creature jumped out splashing Happosai with cold water and triggering the change.
"ARRGHH!! I hate this curse!' Happosai mumbled, "I'm a Manly man, Why do I have this girly girl body!!!"
before Happosai could utter another word the creature slapped it's elongated trunk or a nose against Happosai’s forehead sucking out all of his masculinity.
The creature shape-shifted into a small cat and ran into Nerima. leaving a really feminine Happi-Chan to wonder why she was wet and carrying a bag of underwear.
"Oh My."
Brush was out on her way to visit Alex, when she saw a small cat. It shapeshifted and put an appendage on Brush's forehead, sucking out all of her lust. It then ran off, after turning into a bird. It left Brush wondering why she was going to see Alex to seduce him. --Perhaps a more subtle approach is needed here...-- She went back to the Cat Cafe to change clothes.
Happi-Chan dropped the sack of underwear with disgust. "How did I end up with these?" She asked no one in particular. " It's too late for a young girl like myself to be out alone. I need to go back home."
With that she walked back home, passing by Brush as she rushed to the Cat cafe. neither one really noticed the other.
The Bird/Leech had stopped to rest on the eave outside "cures and curses" It smiled to itself as it watched Happi-Chan walk calmly by. It was waiting for it's next victim.
Perfume was awake and downstairs at that time. She glanced out the window and noticed a frightened looking Happi-Chan walking down the street.
"I wonder what's wrong with her." She asked herself. Throwing on a robe she opened the front door a bit. Normally not concerned about the old man, but something seemed really wrong.
"Happi are you alright?"
Before Happi could answer the leech saw a new victim it jumped down and transformed into it's horrible natural form. Upon seeing this Perfume screamed at the top of her lungs. "AIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The ugly parasite took her fear, transformed into a mouse and ran into the shop.
Happi-Chan was completely stunned. She didn't get a good look at the creature before, it really frightened her.
"Oh My" She started to help Perfume to her feet. " Perfume dear are you alright? That awful nasty creature didn't hurt you did it?"
Down the street a ways, Pantyhose Tarou was walking along, mumbling semi-coherent complaints to himself. "Of all the names...mumble mumble...Pantyhose forgodsake!....mumble mumble...perverted old man..." As he walked along, a tiny mouse scurried across his foot.
"Loathsome little..." Tarou grumbled as he gave the mouse a swift kick. "That oughta teach you to walk across MY foot..."
Just as Tarou was about to stomp the poor little mouse, it shot up and transformed. Sucking all the meanness out of one Pantyhose Tarou.
Happi-Chan glanced up from helping Perfume to her feet. "Oh My, I think that nasty creature got someone else. We better go help!"
"Oh my..." Tarou muttered, a glazed look to his eyes like he had just walked out of a Cheech and Chong movie. "Man, I almost stepped on that poor little mousey-guy. Hope he's okay..."
The little creature changed into a Small cute little bunny and hopped down the street. Looking and seeking another victim.
Happi-Chan led the still dazed Perfume to Tarou to make sure he was alright. "oh My, Mr. Tarou are you alright? It didn't hurt you did it?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm cool," Tarou said, sounding very mellow. "I'm way cool. Are you cool...?"
Silk looked up at the sound of the Shop door opening and smiled broadly, "Irashaimase!" she called in traditional Japanese store clerk's fashion. She'd just gotten word that she'd been accepted into one of Japan's top undergraduate medical programs with a half tuition scholarship and she felt like she could take on the world and win. She noted almost absently that there seemed to be no one at the door, but thought little of it, half prancing over to shut it again, she saw a cute little bunny, which immediately shapeshifted and attached itself to her forehead. Moment's later the creature changed into a white and fluffy dog and walked out of the Curses and Cures, leaving Silk completely drained of her Confidence.
A few blocks away, Alex saw a small dog on his way home, which leaped up on him and attached itself to his forehead. It leapt off and turned into a cat, leaving Alex drained of his ego. "What was that thing? I think I need to hurry up and get to the house. Maybe Grandpa knows something about this." He left, running for his home.
Perfume finally came back to herself after the creature's attack. She knew that the ugly thing took something from her but she didn't know what it was.
"Damnit!!" She bellowed in rage. "THAT UGLY THING TOOK SOMETHING FROM ME AND I WANT IT BACK!!!!!" She growled in frustration. "Happosai! I'll charge the thing and while it's chewing on me you two attack from the flanks!"
She smacked the handle of her Naginata against her head to emphasize the point.
"Whoa, calm down chicky," Tarou said. "I don't know about her, but I don't want to fight anyone. There's too much violence in the world nowadays anyway..."
Perfume was completely pissed and not afraid to show it. "WHO ARE YOU CALLIN CHICKY!!" Her grip on her Naginata tightened to a whit knuckled grip." That think took something from all of us and you don't want it back?! You’re out of your mind."
With that she began to storm away hunting for the leech.
At about the same time, Brush was coming out of the Cat cafe, wearing some loose jeans and a oversized tee-shirt. "Perfume, where are you going looking ready to kill?"
Perfumes' eyes reflected the pale moonlight. She was looking left and right trying to find the leech. She glared at Brush momentarily. "I'm after that lousy piece of leech that attacked me." She yelled with Battle-Rage building inside. "I'm going to rip it's neck off and down it's neck!! "
"Oh My" was Happi-Chan's delayed reaction from Perfume's outburst. " She's really really angry. I certainly hope she doesn't hurt someone."
She helped Tarou back to his feet. " C'mon Mr. Tarou you can walk me home."
Brush said, "Well have fun and call me if you need me. I'm going to see Alex. I think I'll try a different approach instead." She walked off, heading for Alex's house.
Silk emerged from her shop with a quiet, shuffling step, looking around to see what was going on. She saw Perfume waving her Naginata and yelling about some sort of leech, and thought perhaps it might have been the same as that rabbit she'd seen. but she couldn't be sure. "Eh, Perfume-Chan?" she asked in a soft voice. "What are you doing?"
Perfume twirled around on Silk. The insane rage burning in her eyes. " there's some sort of Leech sucking things out of everyone's minds!. he took stuff from everybody! I'm gonna go get some explosives and ram it down the things throat!! " she paused for a second "you Wanna help?"
From down the street Happi-Chan could still hear Perfume's ravings. Half of Nerima could hear her angry words. " Oh My" Happi started " Miss Perfume you need to calm down, your waking up the neighborhood!"
Silk looked at the bloodthirsty and fearless Perfume and quavered. "Uh, I don't know if I'd be any help to you." she said softly.
Perfume raised one eyebrow quizzically and stared at Silk for a few moments. She couldn't believe what she just heard, There was no confidence in silk's voice.
Her expression softened a bit, the got even angrier. "DAMNIT! That thing even got you!! C'mon Silk you gotta fight this thing, don't let it win!"
"Perfume-Chan" Happi interrupted " You must calm down, this behavior is not lady-like. Please get hold of yourself."
Meanwhile...
Brush had arrived at Alex's house. The butler showed her in and she found Alex on the phone. She took a seat across from him and crossed her legs. "Hello Alex." He looked at her, and realized that she wasn't dressed in her normal skintight clothing. "How are you today?"
***
Silk looked at Perfume with wide and frightened eyes, hands folded in front of her demurely. "I-I'll try." her voice was very soft as she glanced at the enraged Perfume, the ladylike Happosai, and the smiling Pantyhose Tarou. "The leech was a rabbit when it got me, but then it turned into a dog I think. Does that help?" she looked hopefully at the others.
Silk felt Happi-Chan's small hand on her shoulder. "be brave dearie, We'll calm Perfume down and figure out what to do. "
Back at Alex's place, he was in several stages of shock. --Can't detect any lust whatsoever from Brush? Something is not right here.-- "Brush, I'm doing alright, I guess. Something weird is going on around here. Some odd creature hopped on my head a while ago, and I've been feeling odd ever since. I was just about to call Silk and see if she knew anything." Alex picked up the phone and hit the speed dial button for her shop. "C'mon, pick up..."
Perfume finally started calming down a bit. her anger diminishing but her fear still gone. "A Shapeshifter? that's going to be difficult to track, we're going to have to think of something." Perfume paused for a moment as she listened. "Silk-Chan I think your phone's ringing."
Silk ran back into the shop and picked up the phone. "Curses and Cures. May I help you?" she asked automatically, falling back into her normal pattern of answering the shop phone.
Alex responded, "Silk-Chan? It's Alex. Have you seen anything odd today? Like a creature of some sort that sucks emotions? I had a run-in with it, and from what I can tell, so did Brush. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with this?"
Silk sighed with relief, someone who could help, but then she realized that he'd asked for her opinion, and she froze up, "Yeah, it got us too... Perfume is rampaging like a lunatic, Happosai is acting like a perfect little lady and Tarou is being so nice it's rather frightening in it's own way." she said in a rush, "And eh... well," she paused for a long moment, "I had some ideas but they're just stupid. You and Brush can probably come up with something better than any of my stupid plans."
Alex blinked at his end of the line as he sweatdropped. --Took her confidence. Just great,-- he thought to himself. He decided to trust to luck as he spoke to her in a gentle, caring voice. "Silk-Chan, please tell me your ideas. I have always had faith in you and your abilities, and I'm not about to start doubting them now. Please help us out." Silk could feel Alex's love for her in her mind, boosting her confidence.
The leech, with it's hunger sedated for a bit found a nice place to rest for the night. It transformed into a large alligator and slept next to one that was already in the pond outside the Kunou manor.
Kodachi was out in the garden that night, she didn't normally sleep very much. She noticed the other Alligator sleeping next to her infamous pet alligator.
What a second what's going on here. She leaned down close to the newcomer, it looked surprisingly like Morigrane. Kodachi sat back on her heels and patted her pet's head. That's when the creature woke up and tried to attack her.
Kodachi was alert though (Having Alligators as pets will do that to you) she jumped back out of the way.
"You foul beast, obviously you are here to steal from the Noble Kunous! I shall share not one thing with you, and destroy you!"
Before Kodachi could complete her monologue the critter sucked out all of her Selfishness.
"What am I doing here? I should be out helping the poor."
Happi-Chan peeked in at Silk-Chan. She was worried about her friend, Silk just wasn't acting normal. "Is everything alright, Silk-Chan?"
Perfume may have already lost her fear, but now she lost her patience. The longer we wait the harder it gets to track. Noticing that no one was watching her for the moment she slipped away to find some trace of the creature. She ended up at the gate of the Kunou Manor.
"Where is that fragging monster at?"
Kodachi was just leaving opening the gate to the Kunou manor and noticed perfume stalking about for the monster.
"Why Hello Perfume-Chan!" Kodachi exclaimed. "It's so nice to see you tonight, would you like to come in for a snack?"
Perfume was a little taken back by Kodachi's new attitude. naturally she didn't trust her at all. "What and have you poison me Psycho-girl! I think not!" She paused for a second. "have you seen a shapshifting mind thief around here?"
Kodachi was taken back by Perfume's rudeness. "Well, I never! I was only trying to be nice." The gymnast thought for a second. "I think it was next to my pet, perhaps it went that way."
She pointed in the general direction of the Tendo Dojo. "If that thing is dangerous I'm honor bound to help you defend the innocents."
Silk looked up at Happi-Chan with a timid frown. "I don't know if there's anything wrong. Will you talk to Alex, please?" she held out the phone, "I don't think I'll be much help to you in looking for this thing."
Happi glanced up at Silk with concern in her eyes. she only hoped Alex would know something to help.
Picking up the phone Happi-Chan started talking in her sweetest most polite voice she had. "Hello Alex-San, I think we really need your help over here."
Alex didn't recognize the voice at first, but quickly realized it was Happi-Chan. "You got hit by this too?" After Happi's affirmative reply, Alex said, "Brush and I will be there in about 3 minutes. See you then." He hung up the phone and went over to Brush, handing her a spare set of his clothes to carry. "We've got to get over to the Cures and Curses right now. Hop on." With that said, he got some cold water and splashed himself, changing into his other form.
Brush replied as she climbed on, "Ok, but why are we heading there? Shouldn't we be trying to find the monster or something?" Brush REALLY didn't want to go there, because if she knew Murphy's Law, her chances with Alex would take an even greater plummet if they went to the Cures & Curses.
Duty bound or not, it was scary helping perfume with tracking the beast. The Pink Hared amazon was a trifle on the testy side. She had no clue why the Chinese girl was so ticked, so she decided to keep her mouth shut about it.
"Look here, Perfume" She started cautiously " Raccoon tracks! And they go back to the alligator pond, this must be your monster."
Happi-Chan waited patiently for Alex to arrive. She had noticed perfume was missing but could do nothing about it for the moment. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed the griffin and Brush flying to them.
"Thank the Gods, Alex-San will know what to do."
Silk had managed to sneak away from Happi-Chan and was sitting upstairs in her room with a map of Nerima, mentally and empathetically searching for anomalies, either spots of incredible emotion or it's utter lack. She was marking such places with different colored pens, hoping the other would be able to us the map to help find the creature but not counting on it. It never occurred to her that a less experienced empath would have never thought of this tracking method, nor been able to pull it off. She had narrowed down the vicinity to the area immediately around the Kunou mansion, but after that it was hard to track in on from this distance. --I guess I'll have to go take a closer look-- she thought, taking the map and climbing out her window and onto the roof, not wanting the others to see her, afraid they'd laugh at her idea.
Perfume and Kodachi were following the trail of the emotion leech. Perfume wasn't quite as angry as she was before, but was still determined to find the little beastie. No one steals from Perfume, and no one attacks her friends. She would make that creature suffer.
It would seem that Silk's 'Empathy Tracking' was more efficient than Perfume's normal tracking, as she caught up to where perfume and Kodachi were looking for tracks.
Brush looked around from Alex's back, and realized Silk wasn't present. --Well, at least something went right for me. Now to find this creature,-- she thought. Inspiration struck when she saw Alex looking around for Silk. "Alex, why don't you try to see if you can pick up any unusual smells and track that? It may help us out." She smiled, pleased that she came up with an adequate plan. "Come on, Happi. Hop on."
Silk saw Kodachi and Perfume tracking the Critter in question by normal means and guessed that she'd somehow managed to get lucky. Remaining hidden from the other two hunters, she Looked again for Emotional oddities. from the trail of emotionally drained passersby, she could interpolate the path the critter had taken, it had managed to circle around and come back to the Kunou's mansion, and was currently on the far side of the place.
Running around the outside wall, Silk slipped over the fence in time to see the leach leap from Kunou to Sasuke, transmogrify into a Sumo pig and run squealing out of the yard. She probed Tatewaki and Sasuke to see what Emotions they'd had stolen. Her eyes widened as she realized that Kunou had lost his delusions and Sasuke his subservience. She stepped out into the yard so they could see her.
Kunou immediately noticed her entrance and asked in a calm tone, "I assume you are here to catch that creature which just attacked us?"
"Of Course she is, you arrogant prig." Sasuke snapped, "Why else would she come here?"
Silk sweatdropped, --I wonder if I seem to be acting this oddly to my friends-- she thought. But there was no time to waste. "Yes, please, I need your help to catch this thing before it finds anyone else." she said, motioning for Kunou and Sasuke to follow the rampaging porcine as it ran back past them, having found no way out of the compound in the direction it had originally fled in.
"No." Sasuke said, crossing his arms over his chest and lowering his chin stubbornly. "I won't take orders from you."
Silk didn't have time to argue with the reluctant Ninja, but grabbed Kunou's arm and pulled him after the Leech. "Help me." she said again.
Kunou nodded, then snatched her up and carried her piggy back style. "Do not think me to forward, but I know this compound better then you do." he said as he took off at top speed after the Boarish Beasty.
Silk was in no condition to argue, but held on as best she could as they raced around the house after the boar as it made new entrances and exits to most of the first floor rooms and part of the second.
Perfume's ears twitched when she heard the noise of Kunou's straight-line pattern. "C'mon Psycho girl!" She took off running toward the Silk carrying Kunou. Unfortunately, this put her right in the path of the charging boar.
"Oh Sh@T!!" She readied her Naginata to meet the charge.
"Eeep" Was all that Kodachi could say as she saw the charging boar. Swinging her ribbon up she caught a low tree branch and got out of the path.
Back at Cures and curses Happi-Chan daintily climbed onto Alex's back. "Upwards my friend, we need to locate Silk and Perfume."
Alex-griffin, nodded, as he sniffed the air to get the creature's scent. As soon as he picked out the unnatural smell, he took off at high speed, arriving at the Kunou mansion near his house where he saw everyone chasing a pig. He yelled, "Mind if we join in?" as he swooped down into the fray.
As Alex swooped down to attack the creature Happi-Chan leapt down to attack it on the ground. Just as she was almost there, the creature Noticed Alex, and decided on a better form to be in. It turned into a griffin a flew up to meet Alex in Mid-Air combat.
Happi did manage to land on the back of the other griffin. "Oh My, I seem to be back on the griffin!" She looked down to her right hand. "Ohhh I broke a nail."
Brush yelled at Happi-Chan, "Get off of there!" She then whispered to Alex as she pulled out her Naginata and held it as if it were a lance and wrapped her legs tighter around him. "Alex, Chaos Blitz 2?" The griffin nodded, and set up for Brush to drive her Naginata through the creature with a flying charge.
"Oh dear!" Happi exclaimed when she realized she hadn't landed on Alex but had in fact landed on the Shapeshifter. She then saw Alex and Brush coming in for their joust attack.
"Mr. Kunou, Please catch me!!" She shouted as she dove off the flying monster.
Perfume meanwhile was busy running after and screaming at the monster turned griffin. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!! FACE A TRUE AMAZON WARRIOR IN COMBAT!!"
Too bad she didn't pay more attention to what fell off it's back than to her yelling. She inadvertently caught the falling Happi-Chan as she landed on perfume's head.
"AHH Get offa me!! " Perfume dropped Happi unceremoniously.
"Owie!" Happi-Chan got to her feet rubbing the bruise on her backside. "That was not nice!" Then she noticed the broken nail on her left hand. "Not another one!"
Silk jumped down off of Kunou's back and was now trying to fade away into the background, Her plan had worked to find the thing, but now she didn't have a clue how to deal with the creature, and was trying to get herself out of the way of the others, who surely had better plans than hers.
Perfume had a white knuckled grip on her Naginata. She was even more angry than usual. She had finally found that lousy creature that had raped her mind, but she couldn't get to it. She railed at the irony of it all.
Looking about from where the boar and Kunou had smashed through the house, she noticed a Daikyu and some arrows laying about. She grabbed the bow and knocked an arrow, aiming for the griffin.
"Perfume-Chan are you sure that's a good idea?" Happi-Chan started nervously. "You might hit Brush or Alex."
Perfume let the arrow fly, right on target toward the leech/Griffin. She was going to bring the beastie down.
"What did you say, Happosai?" She inquired after firing the arrow.
"Yeow!!! Watch it down there!!!" Alex-griffin yelled as he performed a rolling reversal to dodge the arrow, spoiling the attack that he and Brush had set up. "Let us bring it down, OK?"
The leech/griffin was not about to be outdone. It turned and banked flying right into a collision course with Alex-Griffin. It lashed out with a mental attack forcing all of Sasuke's stolen subservience onto Alex.
It then executed a perfect barrel roll and turned back for another pass.
Perfume stared up at the aerial ballet being conducted over her head. Both griffins flew so gracefully, and in an almost identical style.
"What did that thing do to Alex?"
Silk blinked several times when she realized what the critter had done, infecting it's opponent with a stolen emotion. --If it can do that...-- she reached out mentally and probed the thing, looking for a way to steal back her confidence and perhaps the other's emotions as well.
Kodachi jumped down from the tree she was sitting in and landed next to Silk. "As much as I hate to hurt the creature, we have to bring it down before it hurts someone." She pondered the situation for a second. "Do you have any ideas, Silk?"
Silk didn't get the chance to respond. The creature felt her mental probe and lashed out at her. Hitting her with the full force of Tarou's meanness.
Silk's eyes narrowed as she turned to Kodachi, "None that require your help, you bumbling delusional lunatic." she sneered, turning, she focused on the Leech and hit it with the most powerful emotional Strike she could muster, hoping to invoke pain and suffering in the little parasite that had dared humble her.
The creature roared in outrage, it couldn't believe that Silk had attacked it mentally. It transformed into it's natural form, that of a slavering multihorned beast with huge gaping jaws and huge razor sharp claws.
It landed on the ground in front of Silk and Kodachi.
"ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!"
Silk didn't flinch, stubborn meanness overriding the little voice that screamed at her to run. "DRAGON WINGS!" she launched a high power chi blast at the critter before it could dodge. It slammed into the slavering beast and she powered up for another one. "Stupid Leech, you don't stand a chance."
Kodachi would wave leapt in to aid Silk, but she was still in shock from Silk's verbal assault. She sniffed once as she began to cry softly. "I can't believe you said that to me." Her voice barely a whisper.
Even before Kodachi finished her statement Perfume bellowed in rage and charged the monster with her Naginata. "Finally you Coward! Now face the wrath of the Amazons!"
She attacked the creature with an almost insane ferocity. No quarter given and none asked. She slashed aggressively at the creature while barely dodging the things claws. The battle would be over soon, and Perfume would be the victor. "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!"
Brush looked down at Alex, who had stopped in mid-air with a blank look on his avian face. "You OK?"
The creature realized that it was in deep trouble. Between fighting the enraged and fearless amazon, defending from Silk's mental attacks, and watching for a possible aerial attack, it knew that it couldn't do it all. The creature's instinct called for fight or flight.
It made the second choice and attempted to disengage from combat.
Brush saw the creature trying to escape and yelled, "Oh no you don't! Lightning Blast!!!" Brush launched a bolt of electricity at the creature, pinning it down. "Alex get me closer, so I can get a better angle!"
Alex was feeling rather odd at the moment. He replied in a quiet, meek voice, "Yes Mistress Brush," as he moved to follow her orders.
Perfume meanwhile took advantage of the situation. As the creature was forced forward by the lightning attack, she doubled her efforts on the elusive leech.
Thrusting forward she stabbed the blade of her Naginata deep into it's body. As it screamed with rage and pain, she twisted the Naginata deeper into the wound.
"You Want more?"
The creature howled as Perfume dug her blade deeper into it. Using alot of it's considerable strength it backhanded Perfume and sent her sprawling against a tree. Oddly enough the creature could not pull Perfume's ancestral Naginata out of it's body.
Silk was still upset with the creature, so she concentrated for a moment on Perfume's heirloom blade, picturing fire. Red, hot burning fire. The wound in the creatures chest started to smoke.
Brush, not wanting to be left out of the fun, let loose her own attack. "LIGHTNING BLAST!!!" Her bolt of lightning hit Perfume's Naginata, sending about 12 gigawatts into the creature. "Alex, Blitz 3, now!"
Perfume however, was feeling a lot like the leech right now. She was bashed against a tree with her arms and legs wrapped around it as if she were hugging the old oak.
She looked toward the creature her glasses cracked and her eyes crossed. She then noticed the position she was in.
"Koala!"
She then fell to the ground completely out of the fight.
Kodachi jumped to Perfume's side. she had to make sure that the amazon was going to be alright. Once she verified Perfume's life signs were active she turned back toward the battle.
"That creature is in so much pain." She said to no one in particular. "Somehow I have to stop this torture."
She ran to Silk putting a restraining hand on her arm. "Silk, Your killing the poor thing, please stop this madness."
The leech for the most part was in quite a bit of pain. It may have been designed for a head to head fight, but it sure didn't have the willpower for it.
It transformed into a small little puppy. Perfume's Naginata clattered to the ground, and the wounded creature wined pitifully.
"Oh my" Kodachi was surprised at the things choice of shapes. "I guess this means he's giving up." she stepped up and patted the dog's head.
"See it doesn't mean any harm any more."
"Alex, hold your fire." Brush was getting annoyed, having had to cancel her attack twice in one battle. "Kodachi, get out of the way, so we can finish that thing off."
The creature was not about to let Brush finish her attack. It had enough pain for one day.It crawled into Kodachi's lap and wined pitifully. It knew that Brush wouldn't dare attack it that close to Kodachi.
Kodachi held firm in her convictions. "Let go of him so you can kill the poor thing?" Kodachi shouted up at Brush. "It's not right to Bully the weak!"
Silk grabbed the pathetic little puppy from Kodachi and tossed him out into the middle of the lawn. "Says who?"
Happi-Chan had hidden in the bushes when the fight really got going. She just was not going to get hurt in all that crossfire. Now she was in a quandary, they should stop the creature, but It just wasn't right to hurt it the way it was.
"Silk-Chan, Perhaps you should calm down." Happi had both of her delicate hands together her eyes pleading with Silk. "It would not be right, or ladylike to strike an opponent who has given up."
Brush was about to attack the puppy and put it out of its misery, but a thought occurred to her. Alex had been rather meek since the leech got him. --Hmm...-- "Alex, roll over." He did so without protest or complaint. --Hey, if he's willing to just take orders and not complain, I might have a way to gain from this.--
The emotion leech took advantage of the temporary truce. It quickly transformed into a bird and flew away. Not wanting to deal with the Nerima martial artists any longer.
"Ummm" Happi-Chan noticed the bird flying away. "Bye Bye Birdy? I think the target may have gotten away."
Silk ignored Happi-Chan’s admonitions and started to follow the bird as it tried to escape. "If you want your emotions back to normal, you'd better catch it and kill it." She smirked, "Unless you want to stay as pathetic as you are." Then she noticed Brush giving Alex orders. "Alex, go bring me that bird." she said authoritatively.
Alex replied, "Yes, Silk," as he leapt up after the bird. As soon as he got close enough, he smacked the creature in the head with a paw, knocking it senseless. He brought the bird back in his beak, and dropped it in front of Silk. "Your orders?"
"Since just killing it would damage some tender sensibilities around here, I can just strip it of its powers and restore out emotions. It might not survive the experience, but I don't really care if it does or not." Silk took the bird/leech and shook it a few times, ignoring the frightened and somewhat sentient look in its eyes, then started probing it empathetically. One by one the people standing around her found their emotions being restored to normal.
Perfume's fear returned, and her anger dissipated. Kodachi's selfishness returned in full force, causing her to rain abuse of the again subservient Sasuke. Kunou made up for moment of lucidity by glomping Brush, shouting something about his pigtailed goddess's new hairdo but none of her returned lust was for him. Alex's ego was soon back in full force, and Tarou sneer replaced the unnatural smile he had adopted, and both were joyfully trouncing on Happosai after Perfume repelled his attempted glomp. Silk's confidence was high as she finally untranced and looked down at the leech. It stared back at her with an utterly blank look. She probed it again. It reacted just like a mundane bird would.
Looking closer, she identified the bird species as a lark. "This whole adventure's been a lark?" She laughed, tossing the bird into the air. Much fluttering and flapping later, it was gone, and the whole group stood outside the wrecked Kunou mansion. The afternoon might as well have never happened, the way everyone was acting, "Yep, definitely a lark."