Hunting (with) the Exorcists

[Blaze]

"Hmm? 21, why?" Jean says as she tries to rattle the bars of the cage as loudly as possible.

-----

The Exorcists stare at their former weapons and discard them in disgust. Logos however, speeds at the witch and throws a fast punch right at her gut!

[Harri-chan]

"Melanie is only sixteen... and your boobs are no bigger than her's", said Elliot with a frown as he watched Jean rattling the bars of the cage. She might not notice because of the way her clothing was shifting with her, but sure enough, Jean was in her mid teens, barely older than Elliot had been before they ended up in the cage.

===

The blindfold the Witch wore seemed pretty thick, and Logos felt sure she was going to connect with her punch, but when there was mere milimeters between her fist and the woman's stomach... she dissipated back into the fine black mist, and it felt like running through a fine rain, before she solidified, now behind Logos, and delivered a firm swat with her hand to the girl's backside.

"Naughty little girl.... ".

[Blaze]

Jean folds her arms over her chest and huffs, fixing Elliot with an icy stare.

"God blessed me in many ways, but I guess He didn't think I needed a large chest! It would just get in the way of doing my duty for Him!" she says, a pout on her lips.

-----

Logos spins around, fixing the blindfolded witch with a stern glare, edging closer to her, fists poised to strike...

Keeping her attention on her as much as possible so Blaze can line up a shot with a taser, firing twin barbs at her back!

[Harri-chan]

Elliot actually looked a little guilty at Jean's embarrassed reaction to his observation. By now, he had dropped into the single digits, eight years old at the most, and his clothing was starting to change.

"I feel... weird... ", he groaned, while poor Jean was now approaching the small end of her teens, and her clothes began to shift around her too, merging into a dress that was rapidly shortening up her legs.

====


The distraction seemed to work, as the Witch kept her back to Blaze as she lined up the shot. However, the barbs of the taser passed right through the curvy woman, and instead struck poor Logos as she edged closer. The woman cackled, spinning around and motioned towards Blaze, who would feel a strong, invisible force strike her in the chest!

[Blaze]

Jean defrosts fairly fast, noticing that Elliot's voice is higher-pitched than normal. She peers, her eyes adjusting to the dark, towards the boy.

"You sound strange too... I think you are shrinking."

-----

Logos is struck by the barbs and bleeds a bit from them, but Blaze has enough discipline to not pull the trigger all the way, so that she doesn't actually shock her friend. She lets out a slight 'oof' as the air is struck out of her lungs by the Witch's telekinesis, flying back as Lucy points her staff at the Witch.

"Do something!"

[Harri-chan]

Jean's clothing had shifted into a little brown leather dress, with a mass of white frilly petticoats forming beneath it, pushing it out around her thighs, while there was also a soft white cotton blouse with short, puffed up shoulders. Little white ankle socks had formed over her feet, with more frilled edges, and her shoes were now cute little black leather mary janes. The cage seemed rather less cramped too, as by this point she was no older than ten!

As she watched, Elliot's clothes began transforming into the very same outfit, with the little blouse and the dress. He looked about six, all soft and chubby, not like the skinny Elliot she knew at all, and he cried out in surprise as the change to his clothes alerted to him to the transformed state of his body.

====

A flash of pink energy sprung from Lucy's staff, and it seemed to take the Witch by surprise. When it was mere inches from her, she threw up her hands, and the pink blasts seemed to wash up against an invisible barrier. As the magic continued to stream towards her, the Witch started to stagger backwards, and Rosemarie, seeing an opening, leapt towards her, pulling her scythe back, but before she could swing it, the woman twisted, and instead launched the pink energy back at her. She was throw back, crashing into shelves along the wall. A large black cauldron at the very top wobbled... and then fell, narrowly missing Rosmarie, and struck the floor with such force it broke through the gingerbread boards, leaving a gaping hole...

[Blaze]

Jean starts to understand what is happening, but does her best to remain calm. Elliot was a noncombatant and was getting scared, she had to keep him calm. She shuffles over to his side of the cage and pulls him into a hug.

"Shshshhhh... It'll be okay Elliot." she says soothingly.

-----

Okuni, having kept her arrow trained on the Witch, lets it loose as she deflects the blast, aiming to try and hit her in the leg, hoping she cannot teleport and keep a shield up at the same time. Logos meanwhile pulls the barbs of the taser out of her and slips around the fight, heading for the hole in the ground.

[Harri-chan]

Elliot's arms wrapped around Jean, and he hugged her tight. She could feel his heart racing, but it seemed to settle down as she held him. As they clung to eachother, Jean would feel the magic leaving her body, but now she was just five, the same size as Elliot. What good could she be in in aiding her friend's now? How embarrassing! Elliot buried his face into her shoulder, although, if she were to look around the cage again, the gaps between the bars didn't seem so small now. It would be a squeeze for sure, but maybe they could pass between them now..

====

Okuni's arrow stuck the Witch in the leg, and she threw her head back, letting out a cry that actually hurt to listen to, leaving their ears ringing for several seconds after it had ended. The Witch cursed as she pulled the arrow from her leg, and snapped it in two. Now she was limping, and seemed slightly out of breath, giving Logos the time to slip through the hole, and drop into the basement below. It was dark, and seemed to be filled with boxes, some of which were covered by cloth, and there a creaky staircase in the corner that led up to a trap door, that surely opened into the room above. It was hard to hear with the noise from above, but she could have sworn she heard a little girl's voice in one corner of the basement..

[Blaze]

Jean has to take several deep, steady breaths herself. Losing her magic is a scary prospect for the nun, it's almost like God has left her. She shakes her head to dispel that thought, insisting that it's just the cruel magic of this storybook realm and looks around.

"We could probably escape now Elliot." she says reassuringly.

-----

The Exorcists upstairs are heartened by finally landing a blow on the Witch and redouble their attack. Lucy shoots another pink blast at the woman while Blaze reloads her taser with more darts and Okuni nocks another arrow. Logos looks around, eyes glowing slightly purple in the dark as she makes her way over to the sound of the voice.

[Harri-chan]

Elliot lifts his head slowly, and peers at the bars hopefully. He nodded in silence, and pulled his arms from around her, before crawling to the bars. He pushed one arm through, the cloth over the cage swishing about, and then pressed his shoulder through, twisting a little, and then his head. He winced, shuffling himself forward, gasping as it got quite tight.

"C-Can you push me, Jean?", he asked. Of course, Logos would hear this, and she'd probably catch the flapping of a cloth over one of the boxes, and a shape moving about beneath it.

===

The Witch deflected Lucy's magic at the last second once again, this time spraying it around the room. Chunks of the gingerbread walls flew through the air, and Brittnie was caught in the blast this time. The teenager was flung back and buried in gingerbread rumble. For a moment there was no sign of her, but then with a growl a huge, red-furred figure burst out, clad in a torn yellow dress. She towered above the exoricsts and the Witch, six foot tall, with a huge broad chest, and thickly muscled arms and legs, with the head of a snarling fox. Unfortunately, as she dashed across the room, she blocked one of Okuni's arrows, howling as it embeded within her thigh, and then allowing the Witch to send a blast of energy at her, and she was thrown back towards Blaze...

[Blaze]

Jean nods and starts pushing Elliot, throwing all her diminutive weight behind him as Logos notices the bulge in the cloth. With one hand, she removes it and without a word, yanks Elliot out of the cage.

-----

Blaze does an evasive roll to evade the wolfgirl as Lucy continues to bombard the witch with magic, drawing all her attention as Blaze lines up her taser. There was no chance of hitting anyone if the Witch dodged and she fires the babrd, all while Okuni nocks her bow with a third arrow.

[Harri-chan]

Elliot let out a started cry as he felt hands closing about his arms, dragged him through the bars of the cage. Disorientated, he peered upwards to see a towering figure in the darkness.

"L-Logos?", he asked as his eyes began to adjust.

"How did you get here?". The dress rustled as he climbed to his feet, blushing a little at the staggering difference in height between them and Logos. His blue eyes looked back to Jean, and he offered her a hand to help her through the bars.

===

Brittnie flew right over Blaze and once again crashed into a wall, and this time, right through it, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the house. The Witch let out a frustrated scream and spun around, once more turning to a black mist that darted about the room. It circled Lucy first, and she found herself being wrapped it what felt like a very strong, black spider-webbing. It tangled her arms, pinning them to her sides, and her staff clattered to the ground. The mist danced towards Okuni, and a thick, sticky black liquid squirted right into her face and clung to her skin, obscuring her vision. The Witch reformed behind Blaze, and her arms tried to wrap around the younger girl in the pretty dress.

"Enough games... I'm hungry", she snarled.

[Blaze]

Logos immediately puts Elliot down and reaches through the bars to tug Jean out.

"Through the hole. Come." she says simply, walking back over to it.

-----

Lucy yelps as her arms are bound! She thrashes wildly, trying to call on her wind powers to slice them up. Okuni pulls at the sticky mass, trying to clear up her vision. As for Blaze, a knife drops from her sleeve and into her hand, which she then tries to drive into the witch's leg!

[Harri-chan]

Elliot blushed, as standing next to Logos now made it clear just how small he and Jean had become. He watched the other youngster being pulled free of the cage, and then hesitantly began to make his way to the hope above them, squinting up at the flashes of bright light that briefly illuminated the spot they were standing in. Jean could feel an odd tingling in her arms, as if something was travelling through her blood vessels, reaching the tips of her fingers and then bouncing back up to her shoulders. It kept repeating, the tingling getting a little stronger each time.

The Witch shirked as Blade's knife dug into her leg, and to make things worse, it was not the leg that had earlier taken an arrow to the kn... thigh. Now she had two injured legs, and was cursing in pain as she staggered away from Blaze, but poor Okuni could not clear the mess from her face, no matter how much she pulled and wiped at it. The Witch snarled at Blaze, and wriggled her fingers. Suddenly the Exorcist in the pretty dress, with a bow in her hair, began to float up off the ground until she was hovering close to the ceiling. She felt a sharp tingle just above her butt, and then her dress got all pushed up by the emergence of a thin, black cat's tail!

[Blaze]

Logos puts down Jean, who is staring at her hands with concern on her face.

"Stay down here. We are under attack up above, you two would only be in the way like this." she says coolly, no hint of malice in her voice.

"Logos wait, I think that what happened to Lucy..." Jean starts to say, too little too late as the martial artist leaps up the hole once more.

-----

Blaze scowls, ever defiant as the Witch lifts her into the air, not even showing any pain as the tail erupts from her back. At that moment, Logos emerges from the hole once more and takes a throwing dagger out from somewhere, throwing it at the Witch!