Owl Season

Strong, frigid winds rattle the window on this dark December night. No snow yet, but the weather reports say that it's coming soon. Anyone out there would be able to see their breath rising from their nose and mouth. If someone was outdoors at this hour, they either have a very meaningful purpose for doing so or they're just a weirdo who likes the cold. It's during this late hour that we focus our attention on one building in particular that still has its lights on.

Inside an isolated room next to the northwestern harbors of Osaka, a man and a woman sit without a word being spoken between them. To anyone with a certain degree of knowledge of the villains in this city, the feathered features of these two would be tell-tale signs of their identities. The female sporting a color scheme of silver and black, Recino R. Percutio, quietly scratches away at the forms on her clipboard with a pen fashioned to appear as a quill. A modernized version of an outdated way of writing, the writing utensil's appearance serves no real purpose but to complete a visual statement and pull together the woman's aesthetic appearance. One not chosen by her, but by the man sitting patiently nearby in his lavish chair.

Haruka Pulch, otherwise known as the villain Tatarimokke. Dressed in white today with the stark exception of his red and brown scarf. No emotions could be read from his face, likely given by how difficult it would be to read the emotions from a man with an owl's head. Why would a man of his caliber be here, waiting in this room of all places? The answer to that question lies in the ship that had arrived on the docks not but an hour prior. The men working under Tatarimokke have synthesized a new drug that promises overwhelming results in terms of cost efficiency, subtle addictiveness, and most importantly, assistance with cosmetics. It was bound to be the thing that would push his business practices to the next level. The biggest caveat of this would be that one of the major components is a chemical completely outlawed in Japan. Of course, for a man as dedicated to his craft as Pulch is, a law is something that can be easily ignored in the pursuit of beauty.

However, as much as it disgusts him, not everyone agrees with his mindset and methods. He's already pulled a few strings to guarantee that no heroes would be patrolling this area tonight. Even so, when you have everything planned out, things can still go very wrong. As such, he needs to be nearby to ensure that things go along without any major hitches. The original plan was for him and Recino to watch over the operations in person, but even the idea of having to stare at men in puffy coats and overalls as they move crates is something that the fashionista could not suffer through. And so, after a last minute change of plans, he and his assistant are resting in a hastily prepared waiting area. It was a room decorated gaudily in an attempt to ease the sense of revulsion building within him, one that he will only barely be able to tolerate long enough to ensure that everything goes to plan.

Their precautions prove to be worth the efforts, as an unexpected development occurs. Hurried and panicked knocking raps against the door of the waiting room, shattering the silence within. Both Recino's and Tatarimokke's eyes lock onto the door instantly. No matter what was behind that door, it surely held nothing good. If it were one of their hired men telling them everything was done, they would have called in over the radio. The two villains stand and ready themselves for whatever may come from behind said door.

Fortunately or not, the person who opens the door is a familiar face. His name escapes Pulch, but that is only natural. The worked up man is a hired henchman armed with a tommy gun and one that lacks any form of proper taste. He's even wearing his hair in a bun for God's sake. The sight of it makes the villain write a mental note to himself to fire the man in front of him later. He really needs to starts surrounding himself with more like-minded individuals. For now, he's forced to listen to why this goon would dare enter here at this time.

It seems the signs of bad news were an omen come true. The shipment has been intercepted by a professional hero and almost everyone has been either knocked out or incapacitated before they could even signal the others to call their boss. Given their earlier preparations, this must mean some wild card has randomly thrown themselves into this by pure chance. While he doesn't know for sure, the unnamed henchmen assumes he is the only one left. For a few moments, Tatarimokke and Recino can only stare at the man in silence. The shipment being a bust was one thing, but this man's stupidity was what truly baffled them. It was Recino that started to walk towards him and angrily inform him of what an idiotic blunder he has just made.

Isn't it strange that only he was able to escape? That despite everything, the hero just so happened to miss him? It doesn't take a genius to realize that he was let go on purpose to lead them right to their boss, Tatarimokke. Once informed, the henchman's face went pale and he started to back out of the doorway while stammering out excuses. Recino, still red-faced with anger, was following him out and was going to give him another verbal lashing, but was swiftly interrupted. Once a few steps outside, instead of her expensive heels clacking against concrete, they came into contact with much less stable footing. The woman slips backwards, falling onto her rear end in a manner that would sting if she had landed on the hard ground below. Rather, what met her was not stone, but a rubbery cushion that expelled air from one side with a loud and wet noise.

PBBBBBTTTTT

A whoopie cushion. She had fallen onto a whoopie cushion. Once she was able to gain her bearings, Recino was able to see that what she slipped on was not a stray pebble, but a small pile of marbles laid onto the ground intentionally. If this were to happen to a random child, one would think they were the victim of a prank. Here, though, it can only mean one thing. They were not alone out here. As Recino carefully picks herself up, Tatarimokke watches from the doorway with an unfazed expression and the henchman is on high alert. Whoever set those up was practically on top of them and they had to take great care not to be taken by-BEEP-surprise?

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

A horn that sounds like something you'd hear from a moped catches everyone's attention and all eyes are drawn over to the source. What appears to be a tiny car is driving towards them from the docks across the street, making no attempts at hiding itself. The miniature vehicle comes to a sliding halt in the middle of the road and one of its doors opens. It is the pure baffling sight of a woman dressed in bright and colorful clothes making a big show of pulling herself out of the extremely undersized vehicle that keeps any of the three criminals from being able to react. She was packed inside the car tighter than any human should be able to, even taking into account her appearance as a clown. Finally, with a pop, the woman comes out of the door all at once, flipping into the air and landing onto her feet.

"Woo! Yeah! We love you! Woo!"

The sound of cheering and applause comes from the empty docks across the street. A portable speaker system sits on the ground playing said sound, and yet the clown woman had turned her back to the villains and bowed to the imaginary crowd.

"Thank you, thank you! You're too kind!"

The woman continues to bathe in the praises and cheering of the stock audio, not paying attention to the three people behind her. This is something that the hired henchman does not let go unchecked as he hurriedly approaches her and slams the butt of his gun into the back of her head. She lets out an "Oof" and collapses onto the ground, motionless.

...

That was rather easy. Too easy. Tatarimokke motions for his henchman to hit her again, but to avoid the face and to not pull the trigger. In case his location isn't known to everyone just yet, he doesn't need the sound of gunfire giving it away. As for her face? You never know when you might suddenly come across a hidden gem; a nice nose, beautiful eyes, well shaped ears. If they already have her unconscious, it would be a waste to not check at least. The goon follows through, slamming his gun into her skull again and again. He doesn't motion for his henchman to stop until he can see her skull caving in. She didn't even resist.

This all still reeks of suspicious behavior. This was the hero that took out everyone on the harbor? Was this clown really just on her own and this willing to throw away whatever element of surprise she had? And for what? A joke for an imaginary audience? Ridiculous. This must just be someone who broke away from their superior in order to try apprehending someone way above her paygrade. They needed to get out of here quickly before whatever real hero was with her arrived. With another motion from their boss, the mook flips Popsy's body over to have her face the sky. Tatarimokke and Recino approach in but a few seconds, both of their eyes practically scanning over the fallen hero like she was a slab of meat. Just when the owl-faced villain was inspecting the skeletal structure of her face, something happened that he never would have been able to predict.

A blast of water shoots directly into the villain's face, coming from a flower pinned to the clown hero's chest. Tatarimokke sputters and steps backwards to clear out his airways and blink away the water invading his eyes. Recino backed away as well, being just as surprised at this turn of events. The henchman quickly tried to slam his gun into the clown's face, but only hit the concrete floor when the hero sat up in a hurry.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I-I swear that never happens. You're just so beautiful!"

She avoids another swing from the henchman, rolling backwards in a tumble and now laughing loudly to herself over her own joke.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing, kid. You're giving me a headache."

She then takes a deep breath and grunts with exertion. As she does, Tatarimokke has a clear view of the clown hero's caved-in skull popping back into place as if she were buffing out a dent on a car door.

"Alright, you've lost your gun privileges. You'll shoot your eye out if you keep waving that thing around."

More laughter followed by Popsy hopping up onto her feet and thrusting two fingers into the goon's eyes. The act of such makes her laugh more and the mook scream in a mixture of pain, anger, and embarrassment at being the butt of this clown's jokes. While unfortunate for him, it did make for a good source of fuel for someone else.

"A clown. Someone who's entire purpose is to mock and be mocked. One who purposefully points out and laughs at the things that make the world ugly while simultaneously reveling in that same ugliness and dragging others down to their level. Someone that tries to make people feel better about what makes them unsightly in body and mind. In the end, you're something that has no place if we wish to reach a beautiful world."

Fires start to burn one by one, surrounding the owl-faced man as he speaks. The sound of the henchman's screaming echoes from the flames like a portal to hell. Recino had already hidden herself away indoors. It was clear now that this was no job for a goon. This was something he would need to deal with personally.

Owl and Clown faced each other on the empty street. It seemed like both were waiting for the other to make a move, but that was made clearly untrue when Popsy looked behind her, hiked her thumb to point at Tatarimokke, and once again spoke to a crowd that wasn't there.

"I've heard of bird brains, but this is ridiculous."

Tatarimokke's eye twitches. It wasn't enough that the hero in front of him was stopping his plans to make a new drug. She was going to fight him, but he could accept that. What he could not accept was her demeanor. Even after his threatening words to her, she continued to fool around and not take him seriously. She was trying to drag him down to her level. The thought of such brought up a rare surge of anger from him. He lashed his hand forward and a chunk of his flames followed suit, blasting towards the laughing clown. However, Popsy turned his way once again and another blast of water came from the flower on her chest. While this did make a small cloud of steam between them, that should not have been enough to stop his fire. That could be accounted for by the screams of pain from his henchman. Then a meaty thump from behind the cloud, sounding like the man had collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"The only thing ridiculous here is your reprehensible excuse of a costume."

More flames sparked around him, fueled by the painful screams of his henchman once again. Tatarimokke unleashes another blast of fire into the cloud of steam and smoke, only for the clown to have avoided it by exiting the cloud entirely. She was now riding on a pink skateboard in a circle, surrounding the villain while giggling to herself.

"I see you're already board of my typical clownery. Want to see me do a kickflip?"

Of course, he gives no answer. With a flourish, he propels the screaming flames under his control towards Popsy in three bursts. The first of such was avoided by... her performing a kickflip over it. For the second, the clown hero had intercepted the flames by kicking her skateboard into them and rolling under the remains of the attack. By the time the third burst had reached her, she had already created one of the classics in terms of clownery. A blast of high pressure seltzer water from a bottle hits the flames, extinguishing it and creating even more smoke and steam. By this point, there was a thick enough smog around them to cover the area Tatarimokke stood and provide Popsy with a blanket of cover to hide herself in.

Tatarimokke pulls his scarf up to his mouth to block out the smoke and held his position, listening for a tell of the clown. The woman had actually stopped laughing for a moment and taken advantage of the opportunity for stealth this time, so that can only mean she's plotting something. Every small sound that came from within the clouds fed his flames and was met with a lashing of those same flames, only for them to hit nothing. The deciding moment was when a squeaking noise came from his side. In his judgement, Tatarimokke knew this could only be a decoy. He took a few steps away to avoid any sort of trap being laid for him. After being quiet for so long, such a randomly loud noise could only be bait. The owl man plunged into the clouds of smoke to keep himself from falling into Popsy's clutches. It was then that he saw her out of the corner of his eye. Her silhouette within the smoke close enough that he could just make it out.

"There you are, you buffoon."

More flames came into existence and were just as quickly launched straight towards the clown, apparently having taken her by surprise. The flames hit their mark with a harsh sizzle, but when he gets closer, he sees a major problem. This was not Popsy. This was an off-color cardboard cutout of her looking shocked with both hands clasped against her cheeks in a way that mimics "The Scream". He had been fooled. Just when he realized that he had been tricked despite his efforts, the villain could feel something wrapping around his waist from behind. His head spun in place, looking straight behind him towards Popsy sporting an old style gas mask. Her arms had been stretched out like rubber bands and wrapped around his waist several times over. Behind her, he could see something laid upon the ground that made his eyes widen.

"You wouldn't dare-""A GERMAN SUPLEX OUT OF NOWHERE!"

The clown cuts him off, leaning backwards and lifting him up off the ground with her extended grip. Tatarimokke travels in an arc midair, trying to form more flames as he does, but he's just a tad too slow. A loud splat accompanies Popsy's roaring laughter as the villain is slammed into the thing he had seen just a moment ago: a giant cream pie.

"Let it rip!"

As if that were not bad enough, Popsy pulls her arms to the sides while holding onto Tatarimokke. Because of how much they were wrapped around him, the arms act like the string to a yoyo. The cream-covered villain is spun inside the cream pie like a top, sending a mess splattering in every direction. When the clown hero's arms were back at her side, she had a championship belt already prepared on her waist. Believing the fight to be over, she rips off her gas mask and lifts the belt above her head.

"And your new champion, Popsy!"

"ENOUGH!"

Flames burst from the oversized dessert and Tatarimokke rose up from within. Almost every inch of him and his outfit has been desecrated by the confection, getting in between even the feathers of his owl head. He spoke with a snarl, his beak clacking together as he does.

"There will no more of this! You have done everything you can to drag me into the filth and ruin my beauty! You have tarnished my appearance and you will pay for this injustice, you two-bit jester!"

He reaches over and snatches something off the ground in preparation of his revenge. When he had been thrown into the cream pie, he had been put right next to his unconscious henchman. This was the only time that oaf was going to make himself useful to Tatarimokke, and only because of what he had with him: his tommy gun. Once again, Popsy looked off to the side as if she were looking at the camera in a sitcom.

"For an owl, this guy's as tough as a roc."

He immediately aimed for Popsy and let loose a stream of bullets at her. He was not being very subtle about it, though, so it gave the clown hero ample opportunity to prepare herself for it. She takes a deep breath and her body puffs up and hardens, suddenly looking very muscular with an oversized chin. The bullets connect, but her hardened skin keeps them from doing any real damage.

"That all you got, punk?"

Acting in a similar way to her appearance, Popsy speaks with an overplayed gravely voice. However, her confidence does not make Tatarimokke falter at all. Once he had finished emptying out the magazine of its ammunition, he drops the gun to the side and looks down on the hero with fury bleeding from his very being.

"No."

An inferno bursts to life around him, the thunderous sound of the gun giving him enough sound energy to start a wildfire. The sound of gunfire rings from within the flames and echoes out into the night. He had figured that the gunfire would have done nothing to Popsy. He was not so brutish as to resort to using a gun to kill someone. No, it was just a distraction to lead to this moment. If he were in a calmer mood, he would have relished the fact that Popsy's smile had become cramped and her laughter more strained. The clown hero tugs on her collar and her eyes swim.

"A-Ah, so it isn't..."

She can't even think of a joke to crack at that moment, instead immediately taking evasive actions to try to avoid getting burned. Unfortunately, without any of her gag tools on hand, the clown can't stop some of the flames from hitting her. A burn on her right shoulder. Left forearm. Left thigh. Tatarimokke is relentless in his pursuit of vengeance. Another lash of flames burns her side before she's able to dodge. Every time she tries to make something funny to launch at the owl villain, it just gets burned to cinders before it can do anything. The ground is getting scorched and the nearby docks are starting to kindle flames of their own. There is no attempts at subtlety anymore from Tatarimokke, and this was proving to be Popsy's undoing. With this kind of nonstop fire power, she has no opportunities to fight back without getting hurt badly. With that in mind, she has to resort to more desperate plans.

Yet another wave of fire came barreling towards her and even with her trying her best to avoid taking damage, she couldn't help but feel the flames burn her right shin. Popsy hits the ground, gritting her teeth to keep herself from yelling and feeding the inferno even more. Her back is to Tatarimokke, which the villain takes great pleasure in. He sends another burst of flame at her, which the prone hero can't even try to avoid. It hits her square in the back, making her writhe in pain while biting her lip. The sight of it, the sound of her skin sizzling under the heat, it was like plucking a particularly annoying thorn from his side. His face adorns a cruel smile and he takes a few steps closer to Popsy.

"Try not to feel too bad about this, hero. After all, you were never meant to live in this world. You're simply a weed that needed to be pruned-"

The villain's monologuing is cut short by a fit of giggles coming from the clown. Even while being covered in burns, Popsy has found something to laugh at, and she was about to share the punchline. Before Tatarimokke can react, Popsy rolls and something is shot at him at high speeds. It's the moment when his mind is able to register that the object flying towards him was a large firework with the words "BIG BERTHA" written on the side, likely lit by his own flames, that the pyrotechnics explodes in a huge flash of light.

The explosion knocks Tatarimokke off of his feet and onto his back. There's a sharp ringing in his ears and spots in his vision from the firework literally blowing up in his face. There's black gunpowder marks over his front and some serious singing to his feathers. Through sheer grit and experience, he is able to speak something aloud to ignite the sound of the explosion into more flames for him to control. Still disorientated and trying to blink away the spots in his vision that were burned in from the intense light, he envelops himself in a dome of flames to act as a shield from whatever nonsensical attack Popsy could attempt during his temporary state of weakness.

Finally, after an amount of time he wasn't able to keep track of, Tatarimokke stood once again and then emerged from his cocoon of fire. However, instead of seeing the clown hero standing at the ready with some deranged attempt at a gag, he saw... nothing. His head rotated in place, scanning over the area for her. It appears he had been knocked to the edge side of the street, just next to the docks. The docks of which were now emblazed and were already falling apart in places. It seems that his time here was over. It would not be long before firefighters, and more urgently, heroes, were on their way here to take care of the fire. With the clown hero nowhere in sight, Tatarimokke could only assume she had limped away to lick her wounds.

"Recino! Get my-"

"SUPER MOVE:"

A bellowing shout reverberated through the air, overpowering his voice. Suddenly, the streets around Tatarimokke had grown much darker, only lit up by the fires and the street lights. The villain looked upwards towards the moon and found it to be blocked out by something most ridiculous.

"BIG"

There standing on top of the building he was residing in earlier, was Popsy.

"BOZO"

What was different about her was her size. The woman was enormous, looking like a parade blimp version of herself.

"BALLOON!"

With her new size, the woman had leaped on top of the building and was large enough to block out the moonlight covering him.

"BELLY FLOP!"

The oversized Popsy leapt up from the building and into the air over him, hardening her body to become like a falling moon. Her laughter was deafening, amplified by her current state. She was too large and close to avoid, so Tatarimokke did what he could: he growled out something incoherent and created as many flames as he could. More and more! He needed all he could to blast back that woman coming his way. As he continues to conjure more fire, something makes his eyes go bloodshot in pure fury.

His flames... they were laughing at him, sounding just like Popsy's own laugh. Not only had she ruined his plans for the night and defiled his outfit, she had now committed an unforgivable sin. She had perverted his quirk. His very being was laughing at him and it brought his blood to an absolute boil. Tatarimokke roared and propelled all of his flames at once up at the human blimp just as it was about to land on him. The resulting clash of attacks created another explosion, shockwaves spanning down for blocks. The weakened docks collapsed under the impact. Ocean water was knocked backwards in waves, capsizing any nearby ships on the docks. The sound awoke everyone within miles.

When it was over, Tatarimokke was floating on his back in the water, lacking the strength to pick himself up. Popsy was quickly flying through the air in random directions and shrinking in size like a balloon being deflated. The clown hero splatted against the wall of the nearby building and fell onto her butt to the sidewalk below. Popsy also did not have the strength to move, now sporting a nasty burn mark on her stomach from that final exchange of blows. She was only barely keeping her eyes open and laughing under her breath. Even if she wanted to arrest the villain not that far away from her, she couldn't.

The nearby door swung open and Recino Percutio stepped out, having watched the fight from the window. She only gives the clown hero a sideways glance before running across the street and hurriedly salvaging her boss from the waves he rested on. She has to lend a shoulder for the soaked Tatarimokke to lean on for him to be able to move anywhere. They have to leave immediately. Already, the sounds of sirens fill the air and lights from all of the nearby buildings were on. Just before they escaped into the night, Recino questions aloud whether they should eliminate Popsy right then and there. In response, the owl-faced villain spat.

"Look closer, you imbecile. Do you see that under her arm?"

She had not noticed it at first, but there was some kind of box tucked underneath Popsy's right arm. Upon further inspection, it was a jack-in-the-box. She could see the box's key twisting in place, showing that the small toy was winding itself up. As if realizing she had been caught, Popsy's giggling grew in volume.

"Coming from her, there's bound to be something atrocious in there to help defend herself." He then spoke louder, directing his enraged voice to Popsy.

"Know this, you half-baked atrocity! You will rue this day! I am going to knock that damnable smile off of your face for good! Tatarimokke will not take such insults lying down!"

And with that, the two villains made their way through the nearby alley to escape. Popsy only laughed even louder from her new nemesis' declaration, falling to her side and dropping the jack-in-the-box before promptly passing out.

"Looks like... someone's... all washed up..."

Moments later, the toy went off, sending a cream pie into the air and splattering onto the road.

---

"And that's the long and short of it. That made the front page of the newspaper and lead to my big break as a professional hero."

Popsy lays her head against the cushion of her couch as she reminisces about the old days. She still had the newspaper from that event tucked away somewhere in storage. Sure, she had to help pay for the damages to those docks, but it was worth it. Hell of a lot of nothing those repairs did anyway after they just collapsed again during the Fatso Mann Incident. After that day, though, people started to recognize her. She became a rising star, going up and up until... everything started falling apart. Once again, her mind drifts to dark thoughts of how she's wasted her potential and how now nobody seems believe that she's not actually the terrible person the media paints her to be. Her throat feels really dry and her smile fades. She reaches over to the nearby minifridge and pulls out a can of beer, cracking it open and taking a sip. She sighs in relief, and meanwhile, the man sitting in the recliner across from her sighs in annoyance.

"Don't drink beer during therapy sessions, Akagi."

"My house, my rules. Maybe next time don't do a house call."

Not that she'd willingly do this in his office, of course. He was from Shiketsu of all places. She didn't need up-and-coming heroes watching her drag herself through the campus while nursing a hangover. Actually, now that she thinks back to her high school days, she wouldn't really be that different from the janitorial staff in that regard. Still, it's a hard no. Ito lets out yet another sigh before scribbling down more notes into his booklet.

"And why did you tell that story in third person? How did you know what other people were thinking?"

She scoffs and rolls her eyes in response. Her new therapist was weird. Sometimes it felt like he got her, but then there were times like this that felt like he didn't know her whatsoever. She had originally tried to put up a big facade in front of him to make it look like she had her life together, but that plan fell out of the window after a couple of seconds. Now, she'll drink her beer in front of him as if he wasn't even there. She'd offer him one, but Ito was too much of a square to do something cool like cracking open a cold one with the bros during therapy.

"It's called dramatic flair, doc. Maybe try it one of these days."

He mimics her response and rolls his eyes as well before writing in his notebook again, muttering "defensive about hobbies" loud enough for her to hear. Probably intentional, but it still makes Popsy sputter out loud. What was he writing in there!? That's just not true! With a bit of red dusting her cheeks, Akagi starts yelling at her therapist.

"H-Hey, don't write that! Erase that!"

"This is a pen."

She reaches over to grab at Ito's notebook, but the therapist pulls it away. She very well could try to swipe at it again, but she could already tell where this would end up if she kept going down this track. It would end up with both of them standing and her being frustrated about barely being over 1.5m tall. Dang long-legged jerks. She huffs and flops backwards onto her couch, feeling frustrated. Her right hand starts to fidget as she feels herself aching for a drag of a cigarette.

"Are we done for today? Sunscorch vs Eruptor is on soon and I have a lot of money riding on it."

Ito nods, trying not to seem eager about wanting to end their session today as well. She could still tell he didn't really want to be here, though. She had noticed that early on. He never fought back when she wanted to cut a session early. There was that look in his eye that reminded her of the one she sees in the mirror every day. Not to mention that when it was time to go, he was always out within the minute. It didn't really bother her that much. He was doing this because Anzu kept sticking her nose into places it doesn't belong and basically strong-armed both of them into this situation. Not his fault. He stands up from the recliner and walks towards the front door without trying to drag out his goodbyes.

"Alright, but next time we're going to talk about your gambling problem."

Another loud groan comes from the clown hero, scaring away some birds sitting just outside.