Makaha Beach Park offers good swimming, bodyboarding and surfing conditions. The swimming is better in the summer months when the ocean is generally calmer here (but exceptions are always possible). In the winter months, the surf is often times up and there is a strong shorebreak and rip currents. This is when Makaha Beach is only suitable for experienced surfers. Before going into the water, pay attention to all signs posted at the beach and ask the lifeguards about the current ocean conditions.
If you want to swim, enter the ocean in the middle section of the beach where there is no reef. Surfers usually prefer the northern end of the beach because this is where the waves break on the reef (near the hotel). However, it's only recommended for experienced surfers. Especially during low tide the reef is close to the water's surface and it is sharp.
This park is one of the more popular beach parks on this side of the island, but nevertheless the beach is hardly ever crowded. The busiest times are the weekends when local residents come here with their families to picnic and relax. There are a few picnic tables, restrooms and showers. Located on the driest side of the island, in the summer months it is especially hot and dry here. Bring enough water and sunscreen and maybe even a beach umbrella because there is not much shade on the beach.
Today there are a few people on the beach, enjoying the cloudless, beautiful weather. A few surfers are out hanging 10 on the heavier, autumnal waves. Those enjoying the water for swimming are definitely staying away from the bigger waves, and seem to be right along the mid-section of the beach.
"C'mon, Yo-chan, you look -great-! You've got nothing at all to be ashamed of." She grins and tugs the girl along, heading towards the beach. Haruka herself is dressed in torn and ragged-hemmed jeans, over a silvery-blue one-piece swimsuit that clings to every curve. Her kit-bag seems overloaded today, rather more than just her usual instrument tucked away in it. It is, after all, a gorgeous day at the beach, and she's certainly got nothing better to do today. Or at least so she insisted when she and Yohko discussed it, back at the mall.
Tabby walked out onto the beach, looking like someone had thrown her down a hill and through some bushes. Shrugging out of her hiking pack, she allowed it to drop to the sand. "A la mierda mi vida..." Peeling off a dirty red button-up, she wadded it to toss it atop the pack, leaving her in a teal bikini top. "Embrace aloha and it'll all be fine... Those gilipollas sound like they fell out of the Jungle Book, talking about their bear necessities." The woman continued muttering to herself as she untied her hiking boot, dancing on one leg at a time to pull off a boot and sling it at her pack, the socks following soon after. "If those motherfuckers knew how to mark a path, I wouldn't be coming down the mountain sides on my rear end." The rest evolved into growling, hissed vowels as she settled down to peer off her shorts to leave them as well. The teal bikini-clad Latina marched straight into the water, letting the first wave take her off her feet. She surfaced to slip off her hairband and scratch at her hair.
Grace had managed to get herself a free afternoon after a busy morning at the Defense Academy, and it seems that she intended to use it enjoying the warm sun at Makaha Beach Park. Set out with a fairly oversized beach towel that looked almost large enough to sheet a twin-sized bed, a paperback book, a set of bright white sandals, and three bottles of water, Grace had obviously come prepared. As for clothing, Grace had removed her gauzy, off-white, cover up sundress and was now laid out on her tummy, reading her paperback book, wearing just a minty-green bikini that didn't tie with strings but wasn't much above a brief covering of assets anyway. All of Grace's long, thick, dark hair had been woven back into a tight braid and then coiled into a bun on top of her head, affixed firmly in place with some sort of pins to keep it out of her way while she enjoyed the heat of the sun on her skin and possibly the water, should she choose to enter it. New arrivals coming onto the beach and making themselves known were looked at, as if Grace was attempting to ensure she was aware of everyone that was coming into the general area.
The tide is high and slack.
It sees as though Rick is planning on going surfing -- that is, he has his board, he's wearing board shorts, and he's walking toward the water. So...one can infer. He stops about halfway down, sticking the end of his board into the sand so it will stand up on its own, before he reaches down to pull his shirt over his head and drop it in the sand without too much thought. He hasn't noticed anyone yet that he recognizes, and therefore does not say hi. When it comes to the ocean he can sometimes be a bit single-minded.
Felix was indeed out in the water within the middle section, having decided that today would be a fine day to have a swim about in the water. Despite the choppy nature of the ocean it was obvious he was enjoying himself, swimming a leisurely stroke through the water. Eventually he began heading for shore, coming up above the waterline to reveal he was dressed in a pair of bright green and black swim trunks, leaving his flat and well muscled stomach bare. He shook himself a bit like a dog as he started trotting along the warm sand, headed for a beach towel that had been left with some other junk slightly further up on the sand. In doing so he caught sight of a slightly familiar face, giving Haruka a nod. Passing by the Latina he raised an eyebrow at her angry mutterings, looking towards the discarded pile further up and back again at the teal clad woman. His own things were not too terribly far away from Grace's comfy spot set up, which was looked at with an impressed nod before he dug around in his own little igloo for a water of his own. Felix did in fact recognize Rick, though they'd met only briefly, and he gave the man a cheery wave and an aloha as he went past.
"I should really be at home studying.." mutters Yohko as she allows Haruka-chan to tug her along, looking a bit awkward and over dressed perhaps in her rather high-necked, one-piece violet bathing suit with white trim, compared to everyone elses' more revealing outfits. Over this is worn a pretty floral sarong skirt that reaches to her knees, cinched at one hip in a loose knot that shows off a bit more leg than she is comfortable with.
"Fortunately, I managed to squeeze in a text book in my yoga bag here." she pats her trusty bag, never one to leave home without it for whatever reason. The light wind sure feels good on her skin however, and she smiles faintly as she peers over the horizon, at the crystalline blue water. "But I suppose one or two days of relaxation could not hurt. So where shall we set up our picnic?"
Peering around, she frowns with mild disapproval at all the girls in their skimpy bikinis and draws a deep breath, feeling the sand crunch lightly underneath her bare feet. Definitely new territory for her.
Isaac is working on two things, his tan and liver damage. He is sat on a deck chair, wearing his best beach clothes and sipping from a beer while watching the waves. It may not be heaven for most but for Isaac, it's the best way to spend a day off. He's wearing an almost offensively bright Hawaiian shirt, pale, multi-pocketed shorts and some flip-flops. He has a pair of sun-glasses perched on his head but he isn't using them just now, the day not quite bright enough for the need.
He recognizes a few of the people who head out onto the beach and some of those already there but for the most part, Isaac stays quiet and does his best to enjoy the cool beer he is drinking. At his feet he has a small backpack and then to his right he has laid out a glass of milk, positioned so that it is in the shade.
As people are enjoying themselves, storm clouds seem to just miraculously coalesce overhead. Where there had been clear, beautiful, blue skies before, now? There were angry, violent looking black and dark gray clouds coming together like someone was marking against the sky with a handful of soot and ash. Rain started to fall in a heavy, sheeting, torrential sort of downpour onto the ocean, and it began heading in toward the shoreline. Gusting, rough, wind that feels heated and unyielding blows in ahead of the clouds, as if clearing out the more benign weather ahead of it.
And the day was going -so- well, too. Haruka takes a sniff of the air, looks up at the clouds, and sighs, shaking her head. "What in all the names of all the kami...."
She gives Yohko's hand a squeeze. "Guess we're going to have to delay our picnic slightly, Yo-chan. Hope you came prepared for a mess." She sighs once more. "At least we're dressed kinda right for it." Yeah, she's still a joker.
Tabby was slight scratching the dirt out of her hair as she sat in the water when the rain started coming down in sheets over top her. She arched a nostril in the most disgruntled expression she could muster, "Okay... Sure, you want me to start saying aloha to everything so the island stays happy? Fuck you and the cabra you came in on, because this ain't shit. I'd show you just what I thought about this, but I understand that attracts sharks. See, I'm considerate of others." Standing up, she dipped her head in the water once more, then whipped her head and hair back to make it easier to get back into a ponytail. "I was just bathing anyway, so I'm getting exactly what I want."
Grace perked up a bit at the sound of the driving rain hitting the water, as it even managed to drown out the noise of people on the beach and the crashing of the waves. Pushing up so that she could sit, she tucked her paperback book away into her swimming bag, then stood up off of her swim-sheet and began rolling it up, folding it in half first to keep it a manageable size for the tote she had long with her. "Well, that was quick." Her tone was a little dry with her voice flowing in her decidedly European lilt. As her dark eyes took in the sky, they scanned over people along the beach. Giving Felix a nod, she pointed to the incoming weather. "Seems like a better time to prep for leaving. Unless you enjoy the water above as below sort of environment." Spotting Rick, as he'd posted his surfboard into the sand, Grace called out to him, "Rick! It looks like it's going to get nasty out there!" Concern drew Grace's brows together as she watched the people in the water to see if they were coming in or not while she finished rolling up her towel.
Rick looks like he's about to grab the board to start toward the water again, when the sky opens up and starts to pour. He lets out a laugh as he looks up, shutting his eyes and letting the rain hit his face for a few seconds. He rubs a hand over his eyes then as he opens them, trying to dash the water from them enough to see. He does manage to catch Felix's wave, and he waves back, calling, "Hey man," before he hears his name. He turns that way, scanning until he sees Grace. "Yeah," he says, lifting a hand to her. "Guess I'm not going out today after all." He picks up his shirt, but there's really no point in putting it on now. He does look out as well, to see if anyone needs help coming in.
Felix snorted, shaking his head as he began to collect his stuff in a hurry. "Nah! Rain's only fun if I'm singing under street lamps." Chuckling, he looked towards the water and sky and frowned. "I've spent a lot of time out at sea but even out there I've seen storms give more warning damn..." He grinned at Rick and shrugged. "Sorry man. I guess it's a little too crazy all of a sudden."
Yohko was just starting to enjoy a nice, relaxing day 'out of the office' so to speak, when those ugly heavy clouds start to gather overhead, quickly blotting out the sun...And any chances of enjoying a nice sunny picnic. "..Nani..?" she asks to no one in particular, staring sullenly up at the rapidly darkening sky. And then the rain comes. In a torrential downpour even. She sighs, wrapping her arms around her body, slipping back into her sandals. It may not be particularly cold but it is windy and wet and uncomfortable. "Perhaps we can retreat to a nice beach side cafe until this runs its course?" she suggests, looking around for shelter and pausing beneath the nearest tree as she ponders where they might find such a place.
"Oh my day off, really!" Isaac seems to yell this towards the sky, raising his can of beer and shaking it towards the who ever is doing this. Letting out a long suffering sigh, he starts to tidy away his things. Reaching under his chair, he picks up the glass of milk and after tipping out the contents, he puts it in the cool box. He drains the last of his beer and slots that in the cooler also. "It was such a nice day as well, so much to see..." Crouched by his chair, he glances over the beach, spotting a few more familiar faces now and offering a wave.
The storm moved in quickly, coming to hit the shore without a pause in its momentum, like it had been drawn forward. And there it sat, storm clouds beating back the sunlight until everything had paled to shades of gray under near-twilight illumination.
As the inordinately rare, Leeward Coast storm settled over the line of the beaches and spread to either side, covering the land and the see with a torrential downpour, things out in the water seemed to get hectic. People were surfing in, attempting to escape the incredibly dangerous weather, and most of the people out swimming in the water were all wading back to the safety of the beach, as undertow and dangerous currents only increased with the addition of extra, high-altitude rain. Beach umbrellas blow around, coming free from their moorings and going on flights as if they'd been purposefully targetted.
Out near the reef, the waves seemed to be frothing, almost like they'd become ever-increasingly agitated and confused by the heavily gusting winds. In fact, the sea seemed to become a strip of violently roiling white froth and foam all along the barrier created by the reef itself.
The tide is high and ebbing.
Haruka shades her eyes to protect her gaze from the pelting rain and driving wind, turning to survey the beach. "Yo-chan, see if you can get somebody to flag down a bus or something! Did you bring a cellphone?" She scowls as she looks out to sea, eyes narrowing as she checks on each swimmer still working their way in.
Tabby wore her malcontented sneer as she walked back into the shore in the heavy rain. "You going to need far more bite than this, wet is wet." Holding out her hand palm up to catch the rain, she turned to face the angry and frothing sea. Scanning the water carefully to see if all the swimmers were heading inshore as well, she absently worked her hairband over the wet tendril of hair, her gaze slowly tracked farther out to the reef.
Grace had just managed to shove her rolled up beach towel into her swim tote when the rain hit down hard onto the beach, making her cringe slightly down before she glanced up at the vicious clouds overhead. "Tian na?!" She seemed to have slipped fairly easily into her native Mandarin as she spoke to the heavens, her tone nonplussed. Slipping her feet into her white sandals while she shoved her water bottles into her bag between rolls of towel, Grace just looked at the swim cover up that was almost completely soaked in less than 30 seconds and sighed, lifting up the sodden garment and shaking it a little to try to get rid of some of the newly clumped sand attached to it. As she did so, Grace looked out over the water, narrowing her eyes a bit as she seemed to fixate on a spot out near where the break occurred between the two ridges of the reef. Cocking her head to the side, Grace pressed her lips together firmly as she set down her tote bag and the swimsuit cover up next to herself, and whistled softly. "Is anyone else seeing that?" She pointed out at the water, dark eyes still trained to the same spot they'd been before.
The clouds darken further, rain drenching the landscape as evening approaches.
Rick starts down the beach at a moderate pace, his eyes narrowing as his hand comes up to protect his eyes from the rain as he looks out at the water. Something makes his eyes widen, though. Whether it's what Grace is talking about remains to be seen. "What the hell?" he says with a frown, and he doesn't get any closer, but neither does he turn around to get away from it. No, he just stands there and stares hard, peering out at the water by the reef.
Felix blinked, following Grace's gaze out towards the water. "Seeing wha... oh." Head tilting slightly, he began to completely ignore the rain in favor of looking towards the ocean and whatever was going on there. "Yeah. I am. That's... storms I've seen but nothing like that." Squinting through the squall, he nodded absently to Rick's comment.
Yohko's frown deepens as the storm does not relent, eyes narrowed as she pauses to peer back at the shoreline. "Hai. There could be people trapped in the water still. Perhaps we should go and see if we can help them first." It looks like there are already people trying to get some transportation. Searching her pockets however, Yohko sighs and shakes her head. "Ah, gomen. I keep forgetting to set up that cellphone you gave me. It is still back at the temple." Largely untouched too most likely. Although she is not familiar with Hawaiian weather yet, Yohko's natural curiosity and paranoia has her also scanning the shoreline for anything out of the ordinary. Grace's comment causes her to frown a bit, peering over at her with an arched brow, then back towards the water. But she sees nothing more than angry, frothing water. "Eh..? What is it that you see, miss?" she queries, turning to Grace.
Isaac is just about finished with his tiding. His deck chair has been folded, he has his backpack on his back and his cooler is closed and he is carrying it by the handle. Happy that everything is in order, he gazes over at the beach to see how everyone else is doing. Seeing Grace now that she is stood up, he heads over. "Someone in trouble out there?" He says by way of greeting as he squints out over the water. "I can't see a thing out there, what is it Rick?" Isaac looks over to the Surfer as more people apparently notice something. "What the hell? What is that, a water spout? It's almost like more water is being pumped in from underneath. That's odd right?"
Out in the water, something seems to shift, and the frothing, foaming line along the reef starts to move inward... toward the shore. And it seems to be moving quickly, too, like it's taking the distance along with the rise of the violent winds and waves.
In the water, something slick and sickly toned in green and grey is seen for a brief moment, like seeing a whale's back or side show through and catch the froth against it, then it's gone again just a brief second later. Not long after, another slick, broad looking shape breaks through the surface, and water is spouted up high into the air, foaming and clouding against the rain. As soon as the vapor and spray dissipate, though, the shape is gone, back beneath the surface of the rough ocean.
The last light in the west begins to fail, heralding a stormy night.
"Yeah, I see it! Something in the water... whales?" Haruka stares out at the ocean, still not quite sure what to do. "OK, Yo-chan, we'll... figure something else out." She tries to follow the swimming creatures, but loses track of them as they dive. Still...
"Alright, come on now, let's get everyone out of the water, away from the edge! There's likely sharks out there!" She knows how to make her voice carry, even over the wind and rain, and she runs along the beach repeating it. "Everyone away from the water!"
"Oh yeah, this isn't great." Looking out over the water, Isaac shakes his head. "I think I'm having an acid flashback. I'm going to walk it off. Tootles everyone!" Waving to Rick and Grace, Isaac takes one last look out over the water and then promptly turns and starts to head towards the town.
Tabby didn't immediately pipe up about anything she saw, because she was still sorting the proper vocabulary to describe what she was seeing. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds before she uttered the words, "What the fuck?" So negative on the vocabulary search. "I think I'm going with the default answer of a gas main breaking, because at least that seems real in my head." She glanced back to the others, sighed heavily, and started working down the beach a few feet getting into ankle deep water as she did so, muttering to herself.
Grace looked over at Felix and Rick, nodding her head to them. As Yohko and Isaac both ask her pretty much the same question, and they all seemed to be speaking about the same thing, Grace motioned to Felix. "He pretty much is describing what it looks like... like there's a bunch of air and water coming up from under the surface, making it froth like that... I have no idea why... WHAT is that?" Her tone sharpened as the foam and roughly tumbled water seemed to start on their way closer to the shore, and the shapes moved within it. "Good plan!" Grace obviously agreed with Haruka. "Out of the water, away from the beach!" Grace raised her voice a little higher, trying to ensure people could hear her over the din of the rain and violent ocean. "AWAY FROM THE BEACH!!"
Wailing wind blows rain through the darkness.
"Yeah," Rick says, looking over at Isaac, "it really is." He looks back out, just in time to see those shapes rising from the water, then sinking back into it again. "Oh shit!" he exclaims, and he takes a half-step back, whether because of the encouragement to get out of the water from various sources, or just because seeing those giant shapes moving toward the beach is enough to make one want to be further from them. "That is not right," he says under his breath, shaking his head, though his eyes are drawn to Tabby as she goes toward the water, instead of away. "Hey, watch out," he calls, though nowhere near as forcefully as the other two.
Felix moved down towards the water, fascinated by whatever it was that they were seeing. Over the roar of the storm he called out. "Wow amazing! What are those things?" Frowning, he kept his feet against the wind and stared again. "They look sort of like big dolphins or maybe even whales but... they don't have fins. What the hell is this?"
One of the creatures came into shallow enough water that its entire broad, sickly green, back could be seen. It was long, easily 6 feet, and had a blowhole at the top center, but didn't seem to have a dorsal fin at all. As it pushed up into water that couldn't keep it buoyant, though, the fact that it was lacking in fins entirely became obvious. Especially since underneath it there were four, massive, legs that looked like they should belong on some lead contender in the Mr. Lumberjack, Ukraine competition. There were also two sizeable arms that came up out of the water, holding an oil-skinned sack, with one hand shoved inside. Along the back end, a tail connected to the elongated spine and looked almost more like a shark's, but ended in a taper like an eel instead of a broadened fin. Throwing its hand forward out of the sack, something sparkled and shimmered in the air, but when the dust hit the water of the rain and then the waves of the ocean, the dust burst into smokey fog, occluding the view of the being a bit more than just the frothing waves could.
Suddenly, a lot of people are starting to freak out at..Something, and pointing at something in the water. Yohko didn't see it at first thanks to being hit in the face with more water, but suddenly it is there, some sort of..Green lumps in the water, hidden partially by the frothing foam and it's gone again. Yohko it not taking any chances however. She steps closer to the shore, eyes narrowed upon the hideous creatures - or whatever she can make out of them. And for a second or two, their hideous bodies can be seen before they retreat further into the water, creating some sort of..Spell perhaps? To further hide themselves in a smokey fog.
"Haruka-chan..Did you see that? I think they may be..Youkai perhaps..Fomor, I believe? A hideous amalgamation of many different creatures, fused together to create the ultimate warrior. I believe they came here to kidnap humans, to add to their collection.." Her frown deepens. "They must be stopped!" if only she could see through this fog..
Not far behind the first creature, and about 20 feet to its left, a second creature came up out of the deep. Instead of maintaining the long, decidedly almost whale-like back appearance, this one looked almost humanoid. It's body was bloated and distended, though, making it so that at the point its head would seem to be, it bulkily just faded into the slope of shoulders. Its arms were longer than a human's would need to be, and ended in what looked like a nest of tentacles rather than hands. As it came up into water that was only waist deep, the fact that it was locomoting on a writhing accumulation of larger, longer tentacles became obvious as well. Lifting its arms up, the tentacles that made up its hands made a grotesque, wiggling motion and the foam that layered over the ocean waves ahead of it thickened and built up higher on themselves, effectively providing the creature cover.
The third creature came up kind of between the other two creatures. This one had a similar, elongated back to the first, but it was more to the gray end than to the sickly green. At the front of it, it's mouth gaped wide and open, huge breaths puffing from it as it came up out of the water, with many, many, rows of vicious, sharp teeth that looked suspiciously like a shark's. It had thick, heavy arms much as the first creature did, but its mouth and face set it apart, as did the long, slimy tongue that held a HUGE eyeball at the tip of it, which it used to lick the slick skin around its mouth. Instead of throwing up some sort of shielding fog, it just stared at the people on the beach, eyeing each person it could see individually with that disgusting, singular, tongue-bound eyeball.
The surfers had all managed to get out of the water, and for the most part, everyone was off of the beach and moving to their cars. People didn't want to stick around much anyway, and when there were women screaming at them to GTFO, well, people moved even more hurriedly. Which left the strange, twisted creatures coming from the deep and a handful of intrepids staring back at them as they approached.
Haruka nods at Yohko, almost absently, as she watches the last stragglers trickle to the edge of the beach. Good, that's got most of them out of danger. "Come on, now, get a move on!" she yells at the last few, but her heart isn't really in it right now. She's never seen critters like these before, and she's got to figure out what she can -do- about them...
Her eyes narrow as she focuses on the first creature to wash ashore, and she bites her lower lip. "Right, that's.. no, damnit, isn't it... ah. Right." Then she twirls around and calls over to Yohko, "Hit its bag! Make sure it can't pull any more of this fog shit!"
Tabby slowed her walk, pausing for a moment as she watched the last of the surfers come ashore, and the fomor reveal themselves. She called back to Rick, "Maybe I was just offering myself up as a target of opportunity..." She just sort of trailed off as the creature started making fog and foam. "Alright, I think that's where I draw the line..." She thumbed over her shoulder and started walking towards her bag parked in the sand, and gathering her things to shove them into the pack. Arching an eyebrow at Haruka, she looked back the water.
The tide is low and ebbing.
Grace turned her eyes toward the creature that had the bag in hand, examining him as best she could through the fog, watching the way he moved... well the way it moved. She shifted her feet a little more apart, the moved her weight from left to right to get an idea of things. "Well, keep a mindful eye, they have extra legs, they're not as easy to make unstable. Be... extremely careful if you get close. Things with arms that large usually like to crush smaller things." As the creatures were still out in the water, and Grace decidedly didn't seem to be going in there with them, she waited on the beach for the trio of nasty to approach.
"Uh..." Rick takes a couple more steps back when Tabby replies to him, though it coincides with the creatures' rising from the waves again. So maybe that's why the backing up. He does not seem intent on getting close enough to use any of the fighting tips, but he doesn't quite retreat fully, getting about to where his surfboard is still standing, though listing a little bit to the side now due to the shifting sands under the rain. He's still staring at the creatures as he goes, though, and his eyes narrow again, this time with anger -- and a hint of confusion, as though he's not quite sure //why// he's angry. But he knows he is, and it has to do with these three things.
As Yohko let out a yell and put things in perspective, Felix's face went dark with anger. "Seriously?! You've got to be goddamn kidding me. Who do you fucking think you are, the Master?" He started moving forwards, the sound of crunchy heard as his bones began to break and reform. The look of pain on his face might have just been the discomfort as his teeth all started falling out and turning to dust, longer, sharper ones growing in. His hands hit the sand hard, throwing up mud as they grew into massive, scale covered legs. Scales that rattled in a very rattlesnake sort of way as they spread across his body, a tail forcing itself from his spine as his clothes vanished. Now it wasn't a human charging anymore but a huge cat, rattling scaled, stinger tailed and saber fanged. "FUUUCK YOU ASSHOLES!"
Phenos pulled his hand from his bag, glittering dust falling from it and causing more fog to cloud around him. He reached out to swat at Felix, hand outstretched as he tried to either grab hold or to beat at the now cat-like creature with its broad hand. It missed, narrowing already slitted eyes at the overgrown feline, and sprayed spittle as it hissed in anger.
Yohko nods to Haruka. "Hai. Let us bring light to the darkness.." She narrows her eyes upon the emerging creatures, but it is the ones that lurk in the shadows that concern her the most, knowing that they may perhaps prove to be the most dangerous. Yohko decides to focus particularly upon the first sea creature that she had spied, stepping forward and tracing some arcane symbol in the air before her. "Et erit lux!" she calls out, summoning a large brilliant magenta orb of light to float out over the water in an attempt to pierce the darkness or the fog, hoping to make it a bit easier for them to spot their targets.
The second creature came out of the sea, moving at a rapid clip toward those that were gathered. Lifting one of its arms, it pointed a nest of writhing tentacles in Haruka's direction. A spinning, almost dervish looking spire of water came up from the water, then launched like a lance, driving forward through the air as if it were a solid object, or like it was deployed via a GIGANTIC water-pik toothbrush system. As it was, Haruka was able to get out of the way of the incoming water missile and avoided being hit by the sharp lance.
The third creature, the one of the eyed tongue, seemed to dislike the way that Grace was studying the incoming creatures. It moved forward like it was quite capable of mach-1 speeds, and zoomed right up onto the beach coming directly at her. As if it knew just how to get a good angle on the woman, Phlegm launched into a gnawing attack, coming at her arm, and scraping those vile, sharp teeth across her skin to leave angry, red, welts while it coated her skin with saliva from its disgusting tongue.
Haruka leaps out of the way of a jet of water... scowls... "This is... fucked up." She shakes her head to try to get the water out of her hair, then pauses to focus on something. Whatever it is, the rain is pounding right in her face... and it doesn't work. She ends up backing off a good ways, sputtering curses.
Tabby blinked as Felix went all snake-tiger-scorpion, and magic started to get tossed around. "Alright, pendejos... I guess it's time to get crazy." Reaching to the back of her neck, she started rubbing the scar on there. The skin around her neck began to darken, bruising to a deep purple as if an invisible chain was tightening and pitching the skin until a tickle of bleed inked the rain water falling down her skin. Her expression harden into one of anger and rage as she walked straight towards Phlegm, her movement picking up steam until she was at a full run. Screaming, she threw her body at Phlegm in the attempt to knock him off balance. She hit the slimy creature and sort of slipped harmlessly from him. Tabby tucked herself into a roll to get back onto her feet, keeping her eyes locked onto the fomor.
After being gnawed on, Grace wasn't even slightly amused. She let out a grunt of dissatisfaction, then turned around on the eye-tongued creature and lashed out at it, driving her fist against its side, near an armpit, in an attempt to at least harm it a touch. It at least connected with a meaty thud as she hit it.
The unexplained hatred Rick is feeling at the arrival of these creatures gets a good enough explanation when one of them tries to attack Grace. "Hey!" he yells, and he takes several steps toward the creature that has just bit her. "Leave her alone!" His hands come up almost without conscious thought, and as they do, a ball of fire bursts from them, shooting its way toward the creature.
He's so intent on doing damage to the creature that he doesn't even seem to notice what he's actually //done// until it hits. When it does, he lets out a triumphant laugh...then looks down at his hands with wide eyes. "Wait...what the hell?!"
Felix sidestepped the swipe from the Fomor, scales rattling as he roared back in anger. Throwing himself up on his hind legs, he threw his weight at Phenos, sinking his fangs into the watery bastards shoulder and digging in, shaking his head to try and dislocate his arm.
Phenos let out a savage sound as the big cat creature managed to come closer and try to gnaw through his shoulder. The strange amalgamous being lifted a hand and made a gurgling, choking sound as water came up from within the foggy coverage and started beating against Felix like an oncoming wave, over and over again, from up behind the fomor's shoulder.
When Haruka is attacked, Yohko narrows her eyes, "Haruka, watch out!" she calls, but it looks like she can take care of herself. With a bit more light to shine the way, Yohko now focuses upon the second of the creatures, this time summoning tracing some other arcane symbols into the air, "Ignis pluviam!" she calls, this time summoning small balls of fire to rain down upon the creature,Looks like the other two have the first monster covered. She does give brief pause as Felix transforms into..Some other strange monster, but for now it seems that he is on their side and so she focuses again upon the Fomor instead.
Screaming and in horrible pain, the now rather singed and roasted form of Phlog seemed to be writhing, all of the tentacles on his hands and carrying him through the water alternately seized and shuddered. Pointing one of the nests of slithering appendages at Yohko, he made a high pitched screaming sound, and the sand seemed to grow drier and harder on a path to her, stopping well short of hitting its goal, as if it had aged and denatured. Still, it didn't even mark Yohko's shoes.
The creature with the eye on his tongue, Phlegm, let out a little shriek of pain as it was briefly flamed, punched, and managed to dodge out of the way of the incoming form of Tabby. She was then the closest target, and he lunged at her, teeth gnashing viciously as it tried to get ahold of her and crunch down. Of course, Tabby was rather fleet of foot, and managed to get completely out of the way.
The tide is low and slack.
Haruka shakes her head and tries to focus, concentrating on something, barely seeming to hear whatever it was Yohko said to her - or even to notice the girl chucking fire around. But then, this time, whatever it is seems to work, as now there are at least four of her running around the beach, taunting and mocking the 'wee, sleekit, cow'ring timurous beasties'.
Tabby forced her body beyond its limits as she dodged Phlegm's teeth, moving herself into a crouch. Snarling, a rope of saliva fell from her mouth as she sprang back at the fomor. Her shoulder connected solidly with the inside of his knee, taking it out from under him and causing the creature to drop to the ground.
Grace wasted no time at all, really. Once Tabby had the creature with the eye on his tongue down onto the ground, she let out a hiss of a breath, then started in on him. Leaping atop Phlegm as her eyes bled to nothing but orbs of pure, matte black that absorbed the light instead of reflecting it and her veins stood out as light, powdery blue tracks under her now translucent skin. With her knees, elbows, hands, and feet she rained blows onto the creature in a furious speed that hit hard and deep, punching through its dermis with her bare skin like she'd somehow hardened herself to do so. When it was done, and she'd beaten the thing into a pulp, it lay there dead, not even shuddering, its long tongue lain out on the sand and oozing. Grace herself was covered in gore and splatter, but stepped away from the creature with a satisfied, final kick to its dead hide.
Grace seems to have the one who had been attacking her in hand, and so Rick turns to another one. He looks down at his hands again, and then brings them up toward it, kind of pushing at the air. However...nothing happens. He frowns, shaking his hands a little bit as though to warm them up, and tries again. Nope, still nothing. A little anticlimactic after his last display. "Shit," he mutters, shaking his head, and doesn't bother with a third attempt. Instead, he keeps an eye on the two to see an opening for something else to do that doesn't require him figuring out what the hell happened to him before.
Felix let out a roar as water battered him about. Shaking himself with a rattling sound, he moved around and closed with the fomor, lashing out to claw at it. At the same time that scorpion's tail came swinging around, repeatedly stabbing into the soft tissues of the monster's sides and back, ravaging internal organs as the stinger bit in deep.
Phenos let out a roar as his body was pierced by the angry, vicious puncturing of Felix's scorpion tail, the agony apparent. He tried to bring up another punishing wave of violent water against Felix, but it could hardly make it up high enough to do more than wash extra water along Felix's legs and belly, and as the cat was already in the water... it did nothing.
Yohko is only vaguely aware of the battle going on around her with the other creatures. However, she is quite impressed at the show of force from the other heroes that stayed behind to help. "Nice work.." she mutters and smiles at Haruka, "You have picked up a few new tricks since last we met."
She quips before turning back to focus upon her target, Phlog, who seems determined to impale her with some weapon of hardened sand. Gritting her teeth, she rolls to the side, barely missing its attack, and counters with another well-placed fireball, this time aimed at its already singed skin and in particular the damaged blowhole. "This time, it is over for you..Rosa ignis flammae.." she murmurs, tracing another shape in the air before her as she summons a large ball of fire to roast the monster, although she staggers back just a bit, bringing up a magical shield as it attempts to counter once again. However, she remains the stronger, and no worse for wear, although all that magic is starting to wear her down a bit by now.
Glancing around, it seems that the battle is nearly won and she draws a deep breath, feeling a bit weakened from the magic, and perhaps out of shape from not using it in so long. "I am certain that you all can handle the rest..Farewell for now.." she bows and then turns to leave.
Phlog, now burnt almost beyond recognition, with hunks of tentacle falling from his nests of them on his hands, made a cracking, croaking sound as he attempted to strike at Yohko again. The sand cratered, cracked, dried from all the new water that had soaked into it, but as the young caster brought up her own magic to defend herself, it stopped whatever terrible effect Phlog had been attempting to commit against her dead in its tracks, keeping Yohko from being harmed. He howled at her in pure rage as she left the battle, bloody, foamy spittle containing flecks of charred skin pouring from his mouth.
The tide is low and rising.
With Phlegm being thoroughly dispatched by Grace, Tabby's focus zeroed in on Phlog. The emissary blurred towards him with an unnatural speed. With snarling like a mad woman she leapt onto the creature tipped him sideways to the ground as she just kept pounding away at its temple. Her fist blooded with the repeated blows until Phlegm's bodily movements were reduced to involuntary nerve twitches.
Grace grinned slightly at Tabby as she took down the cooked Phlog, the expression barely there, but still, it was there. Nodding her head, Grace waded into the water to help out Felix as much as she could. Being cautious of the scorpion tail herself, she managed to get an elbow across Phenos' face, clipping him in the cheek and jaw just enough to momentarily get his attention.
Tabby has Phlog well in hand, and so Rick turns to the last one. He watches Felix and Grace, gauging their movements, and just after Grace elbows the thing in the face, he makes his move to strike as well. He bridges the rest of the distance with a couple quick steps, bringing a fist back to smash it into the creature's face with a grunt of effort. It may not be pretty, but it works.
After he's struck firmly in the face, apparently it was enough to shake everything important loose in Phenos' noggin, and he essentially shut down, falling dead into the water. The contents of his pouch began producing copious amounts of fog billowing out of the water.
With Phenos falling over dead in the water Felix paced back a bit, wary of the dead body and poking at it a bit. When it didn't move further he snorted and moved away from it, running his face through the water to try and get the blood from his muzzle. As he moved up on the sand he began to shift again, until he was once more a human being scrubbing his mouth and making a disgusted face. "Tastes like shark. Blech." Looking to the others, he ran a hand through soggy hair. "Everyone alright?" He was limping a bit himself, but otherwise seemed none the worse for wear.
As the last of the three that had been storming the beach falls dead, the rain suddenly silences. The clouds overhead clear away like they were simply swallowed by the clean, clear, night sky, and it's suddenly a beautiful, warm, autumn night on the Leeward Coast of Oahu.
Throughout it all, Haruka blips about, sometimes here, sometimes there -- the number varying from two to a half dozen, sometimes. She calls taunts and cat-calls at the creatures, keeping their attention, distracting them while others make the killing blows. At last it's over, the last creature falling and the weather clearing, and she sighs, collapsing into a single figure at the edge of the beach -- nowhere near where any of her images had been.
"Well, that sucked," she tells herself, rubbing her forehead. She looks around, then trudges over to pick up her abandoned kitbag, hoping it hasn't been crushed or soaked too much in all the excitement. (Fortunately, it's waterproofed... as well as any cloth can be, at least.) "Now, where'd Yo-chan get to..." She turns to walk up to the road, looking about for her friend.
Tabby gave the dead fomor a couple more hits, and it apparently took that long to set it as she scanned around to the others. Forcing herself off the corpse, she rubbed at her bruised and pitched neck, grimacing as she painfully swallowed. With a groan, she walked over towards her pack in the sand, her hands still shaking from the adrenaline.
Grace took in a slow breath as Rick managed to knock the lights out of he last of the three creatures. She reached over, gripping his shoulder firmly and squeezed once. "Nicely done, Rick." Noting that she'd just transferred extra gore onto Rick's shoulder from her hand, Grace winced slightly, and got a couple handfuls of the now rather beautiful and tranquil water to rinse him off before she went about dousing herself to get the remnants of the previously killed scraps from the beach. As she did so, her skin seemed to regain its more golden tone and her eyes seeped away from being nothing but orbs of matte black to their usual, so dark, but normal human seeming eyeballs. She looked around, nodding to Haruka gratefully as she left. Felix got a curious look and a nod from Grace, along with a small smile. "You did well at keeping this one completely distracted while we handled the other two. With this fog, he would have been a problem." Grace swished her hand through the fog that was finally starting to slow down as the last of the powder was eaten away by water. When she turned to walk to the beach, presumably to collect her now rather sodden belongings, she offered Tabby a nod, smiling slightly. "Mahalo, miss, for your help. I hope you're alright." She motioned to her neck, noting Tabby's grimace.
When he actually manages to bring the last one down, Rick looks almost as surprised as he had when the fireball had erupted from his hands. ...Well, maybe not almost as surprised. But he's still a little surprised. He does, however, add a kick for good measure, and then spits on it, too. Because these things suck. Then he turns to Grace, and he might have asked if she was okay, but she's moving fine, and he looks a little relieved. "Thanks," he says, managing a little smile despite whatever is still going on internally. His gaze shifts among the other three then, checking for any damage that might require more than walking it off.
Felix watched Haruka wander off, shrugging a bit as she did so and looked to Tabby with a wince. He grinned a bit ruefully at Grace and nodded. "Thanks. The uh... the form's new." He shrugged by way of explanation and grinned at Rick. "That was pretty amazing man. Fire and fury right there." He gave Rick a thumbs up and groaned as he cracked his back. Going to retrieve his sodden beach towel and knocked over igloo he sighed. "Ugh... I need to go find something to eat. I am all sorts of starving."
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