by: Indumati Eveningnight
Indumati traveled through the busy streets of the city square on a midday evening. She was slowly getting used to the daytime life, especially traveling with Mira Belle, her trusted friend. They were clad in their hero outfits for today, mainly because they planned to register themselves at the Big-League Association, which basically was a guild by which all heroes and their teams could register. The secretary, who was a no-nonsense type woman clad in a brown business suit with a black tie and glasses with curly brown hair than said, "So, you wish to register? You can, but there are a couple of tests first. You don't mind, right?" Indumati smiled warmly and asked, "That's no problem. What sort of tests are they?" The secretary then said, "First is a simple written exam about the job of being a hero." Indumati didn't understand. It was a job? Was it not basically community service? The secretary then added, "Of course, that's just part of it. There is also the practical exam, which has 3 parts- The target test, the rescue test, and the combat test." Indumati then asked, curiously, "What might they be like?" The secretary stared at her kindly as if a little amused and said, "You'll see once you get the proctors of them, yeah?" She then moved over to her computer, typed for a bit, and gave the two young heroines their test papers for the written exam. The secretary than said, "Now, take a seat at the desks over there." Indumati moved in to the seating area. She noticed various sorts of heroes with all sorts of forms and powers she could observe nearby. One particular one was a large beetle man who was frustrated at the test and grew angry and tore the test up and got angry, before being subdued by staff. Indumati wondered if the test was really that bad. She looked it over and it seemed simple enough. All she had to do was answer to the best of her ability, as Luna taught her back on The Moon. Mira Belle actually finished a little ahead of Indumati. Indumati wondered if she herself was struggling a bit or if Mira Belle had prepared in advance. Indumati soon finished the test and turned it in. The secretary looked over Indumati and Mira's answers. She told them, "We'll hold onto those and grade them for later. Now, miss Indumati, was it?" Indumati then said, "Which way, miss?" The secretary then said, "The target test is in the room marked with the targets, obviously. Good luck over there." Indumati happily headed off, confident she had done well. The proctor for the test was a man in a condor-like costume who said, "Hello, I am The Condor. Are you ready to begin?" Indumati nodded. The targets, she saw, of course, the obvious big ones, the ones in the back, the ones near her, and she could hear some small targets buzzing in the air, and could see a few medium sized bigger ones. Indumati's ears caught the buzzing of the tiny ones-probably a secret target most examiners don't realize is there. The Condor than said, "You may begin in 3. Try to get a high score in the time limit." Indumati breathed a bit. She decided not to go all out, but to do quick precise low-resource shots. Luna Bullet was perfect for that. The Condor than said, "1...2...and 3!" The test buzzed and Indumati closed her eyes and started to launch forth bullets while doing a dance like pattern and using her own spacial magic to guide the bullets to the bulls-eyes. She focused on the closest ones first before the bigger ones, and then fired a volley of moon beams right for the moving targets that hit them dead center, leaving holes in the them. Which impressed the Condor, since the targets were made of highly resistant material. Indumati used spacial magic to quickly close the gap between her and the longer range targets before hitting them, and turned her attention to the buzzing. She could sense they had a small amount of magical energy coming from them, so she tracked their movements with her wisdom eye's glow and struck at them. One shot grazed it, another hit one dead center, and another hit the last one on the side, causing the three small targets to fall and break. The Condor was impressed. "I see...she can sense those too, huh? Not bad." Soon, the test was over and The Condor examed each hit. He then asked, "You have a great deal of magical power, right?" Indumati then said, "Yes, something like that." He then said, "Yet you held back your shots." Indumati then said, "Is it a test of power or accuracy?" The Condor than said, "Well, a bit of both, however, not bad, for your first attempt at it. You get a passing grade for this." Indumati politely did a curtsy and said, "Thank you." and she moved on to let next person doing the exam in line in to do their test. The Condor then said, "The next exam is through the double door, it's a pretty big area, but you can't miss them, as they're marked with room 387." Indumati then headed their politely and quietly.
The second testing area, to Indumati's surprise, was a small mock-up of the city. The examiner was a cyborg-like man with electricity flowing through his hair. He then said, "Welcome. To the rescue exam." Indumati then asked, curious as she looked around, "So what's this test going to be?" The man then said, "It's a simple test of if you can rescue someone from danger or not. As there is a civilian who's caught in a trap somewhere in the city. You'll have to find them, of course, but they must be returned to the target area unharmed. Of course, there are some members of the BLA that will act as villains and their henchmen for this. You may defeat them if you so wish, though alerting them of your presence might endanger the civilian. Remember, the civilian is top priority. Do you understand?" Indumati nodded in silence. The man then said, "Good luck out there, rookie. Crypter out." He then ran off someone at the speed of lightning. Indumati decided, the first thing she should do is to hide her presence with illusion magic and stick to the higher areas of the city and in it's shadows. Of course, she didn't know where the civilian was located, but she was sure one of the henchmen knew. They may not talk and might alert the others if she's not careful though, plus there's a chance random henchmen may not know. She decided instead to send small bat scouts, glamoured in magic, to act as eyes and ears, to silently move through the dark of the arena. They quickly found a group of henchmen guarding a large building. Indumati knew a frontal attack would be risky, so she silently sneaked up to the roof. Indumati noticed a device by the door-a tripwire laser. Indumati however, knew how to get past. She turned herself into a bat and flew over it and went up to the rafters, and entered into the vents. She past through carefully, and headed into the rafters again. The goons had laser rifles, probably non-lethal, given the tests, but enough to stop Indumati could. Indumati then used sylph to blast out a bunch of sleeping powder on all the goons to force them to sleep, and quickly made her way over to where the stuffed doll, the rescue target given it's faint magical glow and the fact it had "civilian" written on it. Indumati quickly used her magnetism to free it from the cage and get it out, safely, into a subspace pocket. She then heard a noise coming her way. It was the test proctor. He had on a shirt like the other goons that read "bad guy". Indumati quickly made herself scarce by quickly disappearing in an illusion. He then said, "Now where are you? I know you're here somewhere." Indumati observed he was staring towards her directly. Indumati was worried. Could he see through the illusion. He then aimed his cannon right for her! Indumati, however, quickly deflected it with her spacial magic and directed it at him, but he zipped out of the way and headed for her. He then said, "Very clever, however, my power of super speed is far too much for most examinees-" Then he noticed he was stuck on something. Indumati had made a magnetic panel on the floor with magic-which due to his mechanical parts, had paralyzed him in place. He tried to move, but was held fast. He then said, "Okay okay, I surrender. You win the exam." Indumati however, ignored him and flew back the way she came, quickly, in bat form, and made her way silently to the test area. He was impressed. He intended to trick her into releasing him, but she didn't trust his words so easily. Indumati soon made it back, and release her magic on the "bad guys". Crypter quickly made his way back and saw Indumati had gotten to the test area. He then said, "Darn it, if I was only a little faster. You remind me a bit of Condor really, sneaky and a fan of utility." Indumati then said, "Sorry about leaving you there." He then held his hand to high five her and said, "Hey, no worries. You win." She slapped his hand back and they hugged and he said, "Hey, ready for exam 3? I think, of course, you deserve a passing grade for this." She then smiled warmly and said, "I appreciate it." before doing a polite curtsy. He then said, "Now, the arena is across the hall, marked with the statues of the 7 big BLA members. You can't miss it." She then said, "Very well, master Crypter." He then said, kind of feeling a bit nervous, "Hey it's cool, just call me Crypter." She then said, "Very well. Crypter." He then did a thumbs up with a smile and said, "Good luck. Because the Valkyrie wants to fight you. I don't know why." Indumati was a bit nervous. Does that mean she's going up against a powerful true artist? She wasn't sure whether to be worried or not.
Shortly after that, she headed to the final test area. It was a large arena area with packed seats since people saw the Valkyrie was going to fight a newbie today. Indumati was a bit nervous with so many eyes on her. The Valkyrie herself was tall and imposing, much taller and more muscular then Indumati. The Valkyrie then said, "I heard a newbie was doing pretty well at the exams and wanted to see for myself what they were capable of." Indumati then asked, "I've...actually been doing well so far?" She was a bit nervous. The Valkyrie then said, "I mean, your answers on the written intrigued me, and you did well with The Condor and Crypter. Now Condor's not easy to impress either. And Crypter's pretty tough if you get him in the rescue exam, since he's pretty fast. Not only that is your methods. You're definitely holding back, aren't you?" Indumati then said, "Well, the tests aren't serious life or death fights." Valkyrie then said, "Then I have a proposal for you then. Take this fight as seriously as you like, and don't hold anything back, alright? After all, my true art is strong enough to take whatever you got." Indumati then said, "Ready when you are." The Valkyrie then held her sword up and said, "Take your position on the blue line. First to be make the other unable the fight or to ring the other out wins the fight. We begin on the buzzer." Indumati quietly took her position. The people seemed to really cheer for Valkyrie. Indumati, however, felt she had to exam Valkyrie and her movements. To figure out a way to beat her and discover what her true art is. The buzzer sounded. And Valkyrie quickly moved at the speed of lightning to close distance. Indumati barely had time to evade, which she did by deflected the mortal blow with her staff, meeting Valkyrie's sword close to her neck. Valkyrie then said, "Impressive reaction. But can you handle this?" Valkyrie's power started to surge, which started to push against Indumati. Indumati, however, scattered sleeping dust from her wings to cause drowziness and to disorient Valkyrie, which caused her muscle tension to feel sluggish. Valkyrie quickly retreated and then said, "Not a bad trick to try and slow me down, however, I think you'll find I'm more then ready." Indumati watched Valkyrie carefully. She started to buff her power and stamina and shake off the tiredness with a martial art meant for recovery, and then she moved quickly to strike. Indumati sprayed a bit of ocean water at her in a wave, but Valkyrie crashed through and delivered a swift blow towards Indumati's foot, but Indumati quickly evaded and unleashed some bats to bite at Valkyrie-a minor distraction, really. While Indumati quickly cast thunder moon on the wet floor from above zap Valkyrie, which shocked through her defenses and stunned her a bit. Valkyrie, however, took to the sky too on bird-like wings and struck towards Indumati at blinding speed. Indumati saw the speed like a falcon for herself and quickly used barriers to block the blows, but they were getting cracked and Valkyrie made copies to come in for a fast, speedy attack known as Three Sisters Falcon Slash. Indumati, however, knew from the magical signature which one was real and used her spacial magic quickly while she was rushing to cause the Valkyrie to flew out of a hole into the wall out of the arena, ringing her out. Indumati then landed and Valkyrie then said, "Not bad, you knew I couldn't stop in time to evade the hole and waited for me to draw close." Indumati then said, "As you said, all I had to do was ring you out, right?" Valkyrie then said, "Ah, that was your plan all along. Pretty nice!" She then shook Indumati's hand with a death grip and said, "Hey, you should have some food and drinks, on me, okay? After all, you're one of the few rookies who beat me." Indumati then said, "Very well. I have a bit of time before Mira finished anyway." And so, in the nearby food court, Valkyrie and Indumati had some snacks and some drinks. And Valkyrie was very happy, and said, "I am proud to call you a sister in arms. Indumati, if you need me, I will help you, okay?" Indumati then said, "And I you." Soon, Mira finished, who had passed the 3 physical exams under different examiners. The two heroes had gotten A Rank for Indumati, B for Mira. Mira then said, "As expected of you, miss Fairy." Indumati then said, "You did well yourself." Soon, Valkyrie helped the two register their own guild. They then said, "As long as you obey the basics, it should be fine. Now, what is your guild name?" Indumati thought for a moment and said, "To quote the great bard, DREAMS, after all, it is my goal to defend and help people make their dreams come true!" Mira then said, "For we are the stuff dreams are made of!" Valkyrie then said, "To DREAMS!" The three clinked their root beer together and drank heartily. Valkyrie then saw the two off, ready for new adventures, and ready to be official heroes.
Indumati decided that what she needed to do was to go look for the "Lost Dreams" that were stolen by The Knave of Hearts, since she knew good people had them taken and bad people had obtained those stolen dreams. She went alone, because Mira Belle had school, and Indumati told her to go there, since she said, "Education is important and she should apply herself to it and not neglect it due to being a hero" Mira agreed with this, and they had parted ways. So, Indumati tracked one stolen dream down...to an apartment building that was neglected and full of hoarded and broken objects, and were a girl was crying alone while dressed in rags. Indumati went up and knocked on the window. The child was puzzled but opened the window and say the strange bat winged fairy like magical girl and opened the window for her and asked, "What do you want with me? To steal me away to fairyland? Or are you something else?" Indumati then said, "I heard your crying and came here. What seems to be the matter?" The child with dirty golden hair said, "My old man beat me again." Indumati saw the scars from a power cord on the girl's back and was horrified. Indumati, wincing in pain at seeing the scars and feeling awful seeing a poor little girl in such a state, cast "Moonlight Healing" from the palm of her hand upon the little girl and then healed those scars and did some psychic healing on the child's mind to lift her sorrows and heal her. Then Indumati heard a nose behind her. The door swung open and a large brutist man appeared and demanded of Indumati, "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?!?" Indumati then said, glaring at the angry disgrunted man in the stained shirt while keeping a flat professional tone, "Her dream. Return it to her." The old man then said, "The hell you're taking my ticket to riches away from me!" he then lifted a beer bottle and moved to strike Indumati in the head, which collided with her with enough force to shatter the glass. Indumati felt blood run down her face, but didn't flinch. The child gasped in horror at that. Indumati then smiled and cast moonlight healing on herself to heal the wounds quickly. The man saw this and was immediately terrified and ran to the kitchen while Indumati kept a gentle pace in pursuit of him. He drew an old hunting knife that Indumati could smell was iron. He then said, "Stay back, fairy! This knife is iron and can and will kill ya!" Indumati sighed. She knew the man was right. He then moved towards her to try and strike her in the heart, but as he moved his hand, he felt it being deflected by some sort of barrier that caused the knife to fly out of his hand in pieces. The man grew angry yet terrified and bared his fists at her saying,"I won't allow a freak like you to-" Indumati sighed and calmly cast her sleeping dust upon him which knocked him out cold. The child watched all this in horror and saw her dad collapse on the floor and asked, "Is he…" Indumati then said, "Just asleep, sorry about scaring you." The little girl then said, "...Thank you, miss fairy." Indumati then said, "Just one more thing…" She aimed magic at the man and opened a door into his dream-space, which was surprisingly ill-kempt and easy to navigate but full of rot and anger and a life of alcohol abuse. She then dived deeper into his mind to find the dream that had been stolen from the little girl and grabbed it from him and came out and gave a glowing ball to the little girl. The little girl asked, "What is that?" Indumati then said, "You had your dreams stolen by him, yes?" She nodded and said, "I did...he had those bad men steal it to get himself money." Indumati then said, "It shall be returned to you. Now, please eat it." The child obeyed and felt a sense of warmth inside of her. She then asked Indumati, "What will you do now?" Indumati then said, "Do you have anyone to stay with?" The child then said, "My aunt is very nice and doesn't like my dad." Indumati then said, "Pack whatever you like, and let's head on over to her, shall we?" The child listened and grabbed a couple of unbroken hidden toys and some clean clothes, and Indumati lifted her up and, at the child's instruction, took her to her aunt's house across the city. Indumati said to her, "Don't forget to be honest with your aunt, okay? If you do, your dad shall be punished for his crimes and you'll never see him again." Indumati used a bit of her mother's wishcraft abilities to make it happen- an art that took a lot of energy, but it was still way less than a tiny fraction of Indumati's. The child obeyed and went towards the door of the salmon pink two story house and knocked. Her aunt, her dead mom's sister, opened the door and was confused as to why she was there and asked what happened to her, seeing the scars. The child remembered what Indumati said, and told her about her dad's abuse. The aunt took her inside to help her clean up while she went to contact the police. Indumati, however, had quickly departed, and headed deeper into the city. Later, the cops had captured the man, finding him asleep on the floor with a beer bottle in his hand. His stolen dream gone, his fortune changing, and him ending up in jail, where he would be tried and convicted for his crimes, especially against the child and her mother.
For Indumati's next mission, she saw a shady place, a tall and seemingly abandoned building that had been burnt out long ago in a fire. Outside was a guard watching the place. Indumati had come here on a notice on the board in the Big-League Association about missing children in the area. Indumati had accepted the task, and had headed out. The secretary was surprised, because most new members usually picked stuff to earn prestige and less risk, and that had been on the board for a while now. Indumati was told by Odysseia, whom Luna told her to contact, where the likely location was...and seeing it, Indumati had observed a van going in that had several children in chains being brought inside. Indumati then approached the guard. The guard then said, "Hey, you shouldn't be here." Indumati then poured on the charm and said, "So...how many are inside?" The guard was a bit charmed by her and said, "I-I can't tell you." Indumati smiled and said, "That's okay, I won't hurt you or anything. However, I am getting that information." The guard went to draw a weapon, but Indumati already hit him with sleep powder, causing him to collapse on the spot, and Indumati scanned his dreams to see what he was hiding. She confirmed, the building was full of members of the Playland Puppeteers. Indumati then said to herself, "A lead on Mira Belle's own stolen dream...finally." She headed inside the front door singing to herself. The crooks who were there knew immediately they were being attacked by a superhero, and some of them came at Indumati with weapons. However, Indumati used barriers, illusions, and sleep magic while striking nearby crooks with her staff and moon beams to knock them out and evade their attacks. One came at her with a bat, and she grabbed his hand and tossed him into a group of goons. Some started firing upon her, but her barriers blocked the bullets, and she cast sleep upon them to knock them out. One even tried to approach from behind with a chain, but Indumati quickly turned and struck him in the head with her staff, knocking him into a nearby wall. Indumati approached where the children were being kept, and she saw a fox-like humanoid woman with a lovely appearance -a true artist who seemed to be a fae much like her, who approached and said, "I heard someone had come to disrupt the operation, but that's as far as you go." The Fox called her men to attack Indumati. Indumati tightened her grip on her staff and sang to herself. The Fox then said, "Who the hell are you?" Indumati then said, "Just a hero looking for a stolen dream." The Foxy beautiful lady in red smiled maliciously and said, "Oh is that all? And who's dream might you be looking for???" Indumati then said, flatly and seriously, "Where is Mira Belle's dream?" The lady, Foxy, then said, "Oh, the little clown girl. Ha! Who knows?" she then started mocking and saying, "It could be halfway across the world or in some rich oil baron's grasp somewhere." Indumati's heart started to stir with anger. She then blasted all the men moving to attack by smashing her staff on the floor and blasting them with a massive magical explosion. Foxy winced and said, "You...you're powerful. Why even bother with us anyway? The other heroes don't care about things unless it brings them profit or glory or unless there's a major threat. So why?" Indumati smiled and said, "Do you really think the people you hurt see it that way?" Foxy tried to bargain and said, "Look, it ain't personal, you know? It's just simple economics…" Foxy was clearly waiting for something to show up. Indumati heart with her bat ears the sounds of metal. She could smell the scent of iron. Foxy then smiled as The Cat moved in on Indumati's position and slashed at her. Foxy saw the blood and the collapse of Indumati and said, "Haha, good work. Now, get her loaded up. She's valuable." But to her surprise, it turned out to be a doll of sticks and leaves. Foxy then said, "Basic fairy deception, huh?" Indumati then approached Foxy from behind and kicked her heart right into The Cat and his claws and knocked them both into a wall. Indumati advanced calm but with burning anger she was trying hard to surpress. Foxy coughed up blood and said, "Is it really worth it just for some kid's dream?" Indumati then said, "Well, it's not only that. Of course, that's one of the reasons. Now...let's see your dreams real quick…" Foxy, however, turned into a fox doll with a mocked face. Indumati sighed. Foxy then lashed out with her tails towards Indumati from behind. Indumati soared in the air to avoid them and dodged them, then Foxy let loose some fireballs. Indumati scattered dust across the battlefield, which made Foxy woozy, but she then transformed into her humanoid form and blew a kiss at Indumati. Indumati deflected the attempt to charm her with her staff, then Indumati fired some beams of moonlight off as Foxy bobbed and weaved and dodged, and then said, "You missed every shot." Indumati then said, "Really? Are you sure?" Foxy then heard a snap as some boxes overhead fell on top of her, knocking her out. Indumati then went towards her and bent over and peered into her dreams...and learned about the Island again. Indumati then said, "I see...so that's where the base is. I plan to go there myself soon. For now, I had best let the police handle the rest." She then called up Detective Cuffem again. Cuffem then said, "You...you're that vigilante from before." Indumati then said, "I have something you may need to look at over here." She then gave the address of the place. Ruff Cuffem then said, "We were already heading over due to a disturbance anyway. Also you must stop this. It's dangerous." Indumati, however, hung up and departed as the police cars were moving in. Ruff noted that it looked like someone really roughed up the Playland Puppeteers, which, while a big deal in the criminal underworld given their connections, made him a bit uneasy, especially since he knew that the criminal underworld gangs were making big moves...and that bat girl was making them very very unhappy. He wanted to find her and Mira Belle soon, so he could protect them, because he knew this was a dangerous beat. In the meantime, he decided to arrest the playland puppeteers anyway, since they were involved in quite a lot of crimes, especially involving the weakest and most vulnerable of society. Foxy, when she had come to and had a power damping device applied to hear, swore vengeance at the white winged bat woman as she was taken away…
The Queen of Fools was very upset to hear about what had happened, and informed her friends in "Octopus 8" about it. The Knave then sadi, "So...she's made her move. That white winged bat. What is she looking for?" The Queen of Fools then said, "Foxy told me she was looking for some little girl's dream." The Knave laughed and cried both at once. He then said, "Oh, that's it? And for that, she harasses us so much? What's her damage anyway?" Mike, however, winced, "Oi, I wanna get even with her, you feel? The less capes we got messing with us, the better. So...you got a plan?" The Queen of Fools then said, "I got someone on it...we just need something to use as bait." Mike then said, "She seems close to that little girl. We should nab her." The Knave then said, "Mira Belle...she's grown strong too. If we can, it might help, but...it won't be easy." The Knave did, however, know someone who might be perfect for the job...he decided to call upon a favor from Kingpin Ten, of the Hooligans. He had someone who is good at...breaking people, and making them easy to catch. Mike then said, "Anyway, I'm going out. I got my own plans, man." The Queen of Fools sighed. She hoped the Fangs of Orochi could deal with Indumati instead of relying on these guys.
Indumati saw someone being mugged on the street by a common purse-snatcher, so, she decided to go down, and hit the purse snatcher with some sleeping powder. When she handed the purse back to the lady that had it stolen on the cold night, she thanked Indumati, noting it was unusual for the Big-League Association to really care about petty crime. Indumati wondered to herself why that was, seeing as it seemed pretty important to address such things, lest bigger problems arise in her eyes. Then, she saw something move from the shadows towards her. She instinctly deflected the thrown projectile with her staff, which she turned and saw it was a throwing star, like one that ninjas use. Indumati was confused. Ninjas? Why would they want to fight her? Then, from the shadows, came people who's clothes blended in with the shadows with some kind of magic art woven into them. Indumati saw they were moving to surround her. 3 attacked from 3 sides, one in the back, and...one from the roof that was shooting a dart her way, which she heard with bat-like hearing and cast a barrier to block, before generating an electromagnetic field to paralyze the ones who were moving in to attack her with iron swords. Indumati knew it couldn't be a coincidence that they had iron swords- someone, somewhere, had sent them. Then, from the back, the one ninja threw her gi away, revealing a lamia, a green tailed one, with venomous looking green eyes, and using curved blades which Indumati saw were dripping with some sort of liquid. Poison. Indumati knew. The Lamia then said, "I hadn't expected this to be easy, given your skill.." Indumati asked, "Who might you be?" The Lamia then said, "We are the Fangs of Orochi." Indumati remembered using the database that the Big-League Association had one various criminals that she memorized in her spare time. Indumati then said, "I suppose it would be unprofessional to ask who hired you." The Lamia then said, "Of course, revealing a client is against our code. Let's just say...we owed someone a favor who wants to get rid of you." The Lamia suddenly lunged at Indumati with blinding speed and the grace of a snake. Indumati saw she was going for a tail grab from below and a blade attack to the vitals, a quick, decisive killing blow. Indumati, however, quickly cast Snow Moon, to cover the area in ultra cold ice magic and freeze the ground and the air at a lower temperature. The Lamia dodged this, but noted that the cold was affecting her reflexes and already making her blood run cold. The Lamia then said, "You did your research." Indumati then said, "I mean, you're a lamia, so…" The Lamia, however, was unphased, and took out a gun and fired it. Indumati knew whatever was being fired couldn't be good. It was an explosive shell. Indumati used spacial magic to send the shot in another direction, and the shoot blew up into a cloud on green smog. Indumati noted it was poison gas. The Lamia, however, used the opportunity to rush in and go for a blade attack. Indumati cast Sylph and Undine to create a vortex of water to deflect the Lamia, making her all wet and throwing her back. The Lamia was surprised by this, and instead started casting a true art of her own, firing poisonous flammable bubbles towards Indumati. Indumati flew around them to avoid them, but the Lamia threw throwing knifes with bombs attached to blow them up and spread heat and fire- and acid- across the battlefield. Indumati used a barrier to block most of the worst and cast a wind magic art to blow away to smoke, as the Lamia had used her tail as a spring to push herself up and aimed for a knife attack. Indumati blocked the knife attack with her staff and a barrier art that pushed the snake back from the impact. The Lamia landed down. Indumati called forth pillars of water that sprayed the Lamia and soaked the battlefield in water that doused the fire and flushed the acid away. The Lamia however, didn't give up, and threw a bomb at Indumati. It erupted into a burst of loud noise that rattled Indumati's ears and caused her crash to the ground and give her a massive headache. The snake moved in to attack as Indumati's vision blurred. Indumati, however, cast a simple spell. Commanding the water, in the air and on the lamia, to freeze, covered the Lamia in ice that locked her in place. The Lamia's body due to her biology started to seize up and slow. Indumati then quickly recovered. The Lamia then said, "You...you set the water up on purpose." Indumati then said, "You had some clever tricks yourself, not gonna lie." Then, out of nowhere, a couple of shots rang out. Rockets. The zoomed at Indumati, who barely avoided the hits by quickly using spacial magic to move aside. A familiar face came down the street. It was Mike the Bike, whom Indumati met the other day. Mike then said, "Hey hey, what's this now? You guys havin' a party without me?" Indumati sighed. It seemed like this wasn't her night. Mike the Bike then said to the Lamia, "Fangs of Orochi? Looks like the bat got ya pretty good." The Lamia then said, "Stay out of the way of this, Mike." Mike then said, "Hey hey, don't be like that. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" The Lamia then said, "Do you intend to help me?" Mike then said, "Naww...the bats' mine. I got my own plans with her and I am not letting you guys get the glory." Mike then said, "Yo, white bat. What is your name anyway?" Indumati then said, "I am simple known as Indumati. May I have your name?" Mike then said, "Oi, I know you're a fairy, and you ain't pulling that stunt. Besides, we've already been introduced, remember?" Indumati then said, "You upset about the other day?" Mike then said, "You ruined my fun and got some of my crew in trouble with the fuzz. Needless to say, I ain't letting you get away with that. Mike aimed his bikes missiles right at her. Indumati could sense something different then before coming. Her fired a missile. She used spacial magic and fired it back, but the missile turned around and went back at her. Mike then said, "I remember your little tricks from last time, lil bat. I'm ready for you this time!" Indumati, however, cast a giant wall of wind and water and ice to cool the air and with a burst of electrical interferance, the missile went off course. Mike winced and popped a wheelie and fired a couple of rockets before rushing ahead with his bike. Indumati covered the battlefield in ice while launching electricty to destroy the missiles and aim for Mike, who dodged it, but he found the ice too slippery for his vehicle. He winced and was unhappy with this, knowing he would be at a disadvantage with his true art. Then he decided to make his bike grow wings and fly like a meteor for Indumati. Indumati dodged the flying attack and Mike fired another homing missile. Indumati erupted a wave of zero gravity energy to cause Mike and the rocket to get stuck floating. Mike then was shocked with electricity that caused his hair to stand on end, while his bike was going haywire. Mike then suddenly fell. Indumati, however, caught him. Mike then said, "Huh? Why did you do that? I was trying to kill you." Indumati then said, "Are you quite done with that now?" Mike then said, "Darn it, I couldn't win this time…" Induamti smiled and cast a sleeping spell on his to put him to sleep. The cops, drawn by the battle, soon rushed over. Indumati decided to make herself scarce and flew away as they were arriving by going in another direction quickly. The police, led by Ruff Cuffem, heard the fighting and found Mike the Bike and Vipiria, both infamous gang members, soundly defeated. He got Vipiria out of the ice and took Mike into custody. When the Queen of Fools heard what happened, she was furious at the two's failures. Oh well, she would, of course, help them out of jail since the Mysterious Benefactor wanted them to support each other and she figured it would be better to have a united resistance rather than a divided one, though she would have to go with Knave's plan b instead...which is when she started to work on how to find Mira Belle...