"To Be Heroes, We Gotta Slay A Dragon"

Youna was taking a little time of rest, trying to appeal to fellow heroes by just standing in the middle of a crowded place and shouting to everybody around that she dared any fellow heroes to grab their swords and aspire at glory, by accompanying her to a dragonhunt in the lower areas of Kagutsuchi.

Though, so far, there was nothing inbetween the crowd's "There is no dragon down here!", "With a little girl like you? I'd be better off alone if I even did such a thing!", "Get your own act straight and bother with proper armor if you want to hunt!", and their all-around snide remarks.

She was starting to think that she'd be going alone, as usual, and not really being able to defeat anything this once too... but if Kagutsuchi had heroes, she'd shout even louder for them to hear her.

"To any hero of Kagutsuchi, join with me, for this afternoon I descend to the lower areas to reach the caves and slay the evil monsters that lurk within!"

Upon hearing some of these fateful words, the small but able agent from Sector Seven rose from his perch upon a rooftop, it had been by chance that he was there trying to listen in on some of the conversations below; it was an attempt by Kageo to make sense of the people of Kagutsuchi, a silly but necessary question that in his mind needed a philosophical answer of some kind. There was no one word for it or a way for him to describe it. The means of mentioning 'hero', had drawn his attention towards the small girl. Enough that he started towards her location, he had a few questions to ask her just then since what she spoke of was nothing short of dangerous...Area 28 was no place for any human and he knew it.

The lanky man tossed another mess of blackened pastry onto an increasingly tall pile of failures. He'd been trying to bake a perfect loaf of bread for the past few hours, but after the first one started going moldy to the point of growing a set of bloodshot eyes he became a tad bit too terrified to continue. Maybe it was the heat of the oven, or it might've just been boredom towards the futility of his attempt at cooking, but he just didn't feel like trying anymore.
Scratching his greasy nose in discomfort, he abandoned the mess and went on his way. He could probably look for something to do; the owners of this house he'd broken into wouldn't be back for a while yet anyway.
A scream that sounded higher pitched than a school choir on helium pounded at his ear buds, and drew his attention away from a local shop selling novelty oven gloves and towards a youthful and bubbly looking girl. Coughing to clear his dry throat, the man lurked towards the young lady in a manner best described as "creepy".

Starting to notice the Kaka figure approaching her, Youna stopped shouting, to catch her breath again and not look like a spaz while talking to the would-be hero who would be showing up. She waited one second, and identified the silhouette coming most prominently towards her as... what seemed to be a cat in a cloak? Astonished, the young debuting girl vigilante didn't notice the other figure approaching.

The crowd had ceased to be angry at her for shouting, instead being relieved of her finally getting quiet. Like, "That's about time she decided to shut up!", "Finally, she's done talking!". I think it's about time I finally departed on my hero journey! If nobody is ready to do this, I'll go there alone in... 15 minutes. She said, unconfident, staring at the hour which indicated 13:45 pm.

It was all the kaka's sudden appearance that would seemingly clear up the silence of none joining her. Advancing based solely upon a wish to see that a venture into such a place ended with this brave (but foolhardy) girl in mind, he'd offer his services towards her journey. To be a hero one did have to be willing to go to the outer limits though to seek a dragon...that was something that Kageo was sure would not go very well for her alone, either that or with this strange man with the eye patch.

"You're not going alone miss, I'll be joining you...at least I can guide you somewhat once down there, I don't really know the area well. But I have been below and have traversed some of the terrain."

It was a little strange for her to be after this, but he imagined one such as she, as a vigilante, was in this for some kind of reward. There was little reason otherwise to such a heroic deed right? Unless one believed justly in the cause, which for the kaka was kind of a mixed set of factors in his reasons for being here.

Hoping to maintain that majestic shroud of stoicism all of the male characters in anime had nowadays, the man slipped his pale fists into his pockets and strutted his way over. He would've probably looked cooler than the opposite side of a pillow used by a skateboarder, but his disposition instantly dropped when he spotted a rather peculiar creature.
Fluffy tail, cute ears...
This was like his trip to that lower level pub all over again.
Forcefully pulling his gaze away from the idly swaying tail, he readjusted his comically wonky monocle before looking down at the girl. She looked like the type of person who'd hang around school roofs with a posse of other young women, although with such a limited experience in seeing females the man was hardly one to comment.
"What's all this commotion about? Are you lost perchance?"

Finally, heroes! That was about time, damnit! She would've sworn on everything, she was starting drugs if nobody was coming along. But she wasn't lonely anymore! Being adressed made her mood rise levels above what she had been feeling for the entire damn month!
But then she saw who was adressing her and... the words came out of her mouth on their own: "Holy crap a talking cat!!!"
Though the words were without a doubt from one who had seen many more days of vigilante-Hood than her, she could not even listen. She was too busy being internally hesitating between taking the cat home with her or just laugh at it.
But a wonky man with an equally wonky monocle had made his appearance, and asked a question she wasn't deaf to, because - well - he wasn't a kind of cat. In fact, it was that guy she had crossed once or twice, the one she knew as the guy who meant the goodest of goods: Good McGooderson!
"Oh, Mr. McGooderson, hello! Also, no, I'm not lost. This girl vigilante's going on a quest to slay some dragon, or a beast like that! By the way, we're kinda... supposed to be departing now." She stared at the hour. There were five minutes left, but more than three guys and she wouldn't grab too much recognition from this. She had to get the group going quickly if she were to gain glory!
"Are you ready to go?"

A talking cat? Why that was such a crude way to put it...but obviously she'd not have known of the kaka tribe, it was such a shrewd (but not entirely untrue) comparison really. Since he enjoyed the company of cats now and again whenever he found one or two in alleyways, obviously taking time to pet and/or feed them...but he had no business thinking of silly past times; every one of his senses had been honed in on both this energetic little girl and the even odder man who stood off to the side. Those eyes very quietly running visual scans of kinds of both of his present company's abilities and threat assessments. Not that the scans were to be complete, but something to have in mind was good in case things went sour. He'd likely know who best to support first should things go south.

"Whenever you're ready then, miss." he complied with her words, then making himself ready for whatever itself would be ahead of this set of actions.

Good McGooderson?
Oh... Cock...
McGooderson The man quickly began to brush his sleeve against his foggied monocle, trying to think of an excuse for forgetting the girl. They had indeed crossed paths a few times before, and one thing lead to another before she started addressing him like some sort of cheap comic book hero.
He tried to respond to her calmly with the phrase "Ah, a pleasure to see you again madam.", but the spasmodic jitter of his jaw brought on by both social nerves and a secret yet throbbing urge to pet the cat creature's ears made it sound more like "Ur, uh plarsur tur see yur ageen!"

Apparently, things were going her way. She had this probably-PhD'd-in-vigilantehood-talking-cat and Good McGooderson! That was almost too perfect to believe! She briefly poked her own cheek to check if it was a dream, but no, it sure as hell wasn't!
"It's a pleasure to see you too, Mr McGooderson? Any good deed you've been up to lately? Because we're on our way to go slay the dragon! Preferably a big one with a treasure just as big, and something we could bring back just to prove our heroic deed of the day!"
Surely, this was going to be awesome. Youna coldn't wait and walked away at a strolling pace, getting on her walk to the lowest areas of the city, soon going backwards and facing her companions just to have an eye on them. Seeing them made her feel a load more secure.

McGooderson The man briefly wondered how she could've translated the garbled mess of sounds he'd spewed, but quickly realise that he didn't really care. Recalling that she was talking to him, he wiped his mouth of any remaining froth and drool and wiggled his shoulders stiffly.
"I've been running a bakery recently, although there're aren't many customers to be found around these parts."
A bakery for certain, at least the house he'd broken into resembled one
He turned to the feline to his side, hoping to gauge its reaction to his words. He could've sworn he'd seen someone with the same clothing, although it was probably just some new fashion trend brought on by the local merchants.

Kageo wasn't sure how he felt about the odd man's words, he seemed relatively capable of some kind of actions, certainly nothing out of the norm beyond what he'd seen however. He wasn't entirely reserved but certainly did not make much of an effort to address anything directly, just something in passing. His main focus was the mission ahead at hand, she was sure jubilant for someone heading into the jaws of what would be an untimely death for anyone who wasn't strong enough to survive.

"At least you know each other, it makes this easier to know others, when you get down to the undergrounds, show caution or your life could easily be lost." he was careful in his word choice, while the girl seemed innocent enough, there was something off about both her and this peculiar man nearby.

Descending in the city, Youna advanced with her two companions, hoping their objective would bring her the money she needed so bad. Of course, she had told nobody about her reasons: it could be so quick to have her whole reasons to even don battle garb made entirely pointless just because she let'em slip. So no word about that. Words about heroism and justice, the clearly-unrealistic values that are nigh-entirely void in a world like this. She would say just this for the whole of the walk to Area 28.
"This place is so ugly, that's the only place where a big dragon could be hiding. These sewers are so immense I'm sure they hide something! I'm sure we'll find some huge beast to slay here."
She had a flawed reasoning, a weakness for anything spooky, and then she talked big about slaying dragons. Yeah. She was perhaps in a bit too high a mood, because of the fact that there were people at her side.

As Youna continued her energetic rant, McGooderson the man idly took a moment to try and strike up conversation with the cat creature that took the tertiary position in this little batch of misfits. Scrunching his nose to rid it of an irritating itch, he offered his hand in the way most men seemed to do when they felt challenge.
"Didn't quite catch the name."
He could've sworn that he'd seen this person before, but yet again he did have rather vivid visions in his sleep about giant, cuddly cat-people taking over the world. He briefly wondered if he was having some sort of marvelous dream, but then he realised that Youna was here and pouted in disappointment.

This strange man was talking to him suddenly, well this was something that he kept record of it before answering the question that was presented to him, it was simple enough and his keeping pace with the two was also something he found a little too easy so far. Well at least it was likely going to be just what the young vigilante had planned...a strange adventure of some kind.

"My name's Kageo-kaka, and you are Mcgooderson according to our leader and her name...I believe is still unknown at present." He wasn't sure of her name, since it wasn't like he'd heard it clearly before coming on this mission just yet.

"Kageo-kaka..."
He repeated the words to himself a few times, wondering how on Earth this boy gained a name as weird as that. Then he realised that he was speaking to a humanoid cat with fluffy ears, a tail, and a formal tone of speech. Wondering what he smoked the day prior to this, he tried to pin-point the origins of Kageo's shrouded face in his memory.
"Say, do you have a sister or something? I think I've seen someone who looks like you loitering around my bakery..."

Well, she tried to break into the same one as him.
A pity they didn't have the fish or buns that she wanted.

"There is one you might call my sister, her name is Tao and she's a Clanswoman of the Kaka Tribe. Very fast...high paced and speaks far less formal than I."

He addressed the manner with how simple it just might be, no matter how he and Tao were friends, the fact that she got into all kinds of mischief did not change. He knew better about it and the fact that she might have been looking for free food or to pilfer some for herself and the kittens also did not surprise him. It was why they had a bad reputation, yet he did could not bring himself to blame her short-sighted views in life. She really hadn't the attention span or the capacity of mind to care about the meaning of her actions.

"I see." the man chuckled, crossing his arms and cracking his best attempt at a warm smirk. "Well, at least we have someone who knows his way around a weapon here."
Pacing a few steps forward, he cautiously eyed the bubbly girl before them as she continued day-dreaming in her own little fantasy world. He suddenly started wondering why he'd decided to get absorbed into this apparent bunch of adventurers, having one moment been admiring the scenery only to be recruited to go god knows where at the next.
Maybe he wanted to be with someone?
Maybe he wanted to make friends?
"... Is she going to stop any time soon? I think she's drawing a crowd..."

"I'd assume she's very serious, we're headed down to the sewers, if you wish to leave, likely it'd be best to do so now. There won't be much when we're ahead." the fact that Kageo spoke was no hesitation in his tone, it was clear that he intended to ensure this girl either succeeded or at least survived the encounter with this...beast, he was not sure of any dragon, but a creature of some kind? he could believe it with no issue.

The man took a moment to consider what Kageo had said. For what reason would he want to go on this fruitless little quest? There was nothing in it for him really, save for a smelly coat and a lot of wasted time taking a tour through the century old waste of the people that inhabited this town.
Then he remembered the girl.
As foolish as she was, she had fished him out from the jaws of despair with her naive positivity. When the despair was at its greatest, she arrived at his side to spur him on.
Good McGooderson was nothing without her.
There was potential danger ahead, and he wasn't ready to let her go without covering her back. Cracking his stiff neck and hopping on the spot a la boxer style, he looked back at Kageo.
"Looks like you'll have two fools to look after instead of one."

As she heard the chatter behind her, Youna did not listen: she was in her own world, imagining herself draped in gold with the rewards once they'd have slain the dragon and brought its head.

In fact, soon enough and they were entering the ugliest area of Kagutsuchi by far. Youna turned around, eyeing her teammates-for-this-time and preparing for the last time. From the moment they'd be heading deeper, it would be full alert all the time...
You're not ready for this, little girl...
Shut up, Florence!
The voice in her head was annoying her, but to the eyes of the commoner she had merely been twitching one eyebrow for a fraction of a second.
"So, are we ready? At least I am, but what about you, Mr McGooderson? And you, Mr... er... sorry, I forgot to ask your name..." That was so Youna. Forgetting to ask the name of someone just because she was addressing a beastkin. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, since she was dreaming so much. Seeing the light at the end of the road of the bounty hunter came with disadvantages...

"The name's Kageo-kaka, another bounty hunter." she hadn't asked what he did for a living but he gave the answer anyway, there was no reason for her not to know it. Even though it had no real relevance to her question, he just kept pace with them quietly; looking ahead and ensuring that there were no surprises ahead of them. His focus was careful and on his more mechanical senses, expanding a small field of his maximum range (though not terribly far) in order to allow detection of surprises, beings or anything more.

"I'm always ready." Gooderson reassured, embracing the childish name like it was a mark of honour. "Except when I'm not... Which isn't right now, so uhhh... Y-Yeah, I'm ready..."
He'd originally planned to keep his distance in a "I'm-not-involved" kind of way, yet it seemed Kageo had beaten him to that quickly after he'd looked away. Suddenly feeling like an older brother being forced to look after their younger siblings, he turned to the young woman by his side.
"Are you sure you're ready? I'm not exactly up for scraping bloodied pulp off my heels..."

Youna felt a bit slighted by the remark. She was a good-doer too, and he said she wasn't ready? She had been doing such hunts for weeks, once she was done shouting over the streets of course. Of course, she felt slighted and HAD to react exaggeratedly.
"Well, of course I'm ready!", she shouted while marking the of course with a large gesture of her hands. But then she realized she was talking to the most ultimatest benevolentest guy in the world. She suddenly calmed down and bowed slightly, apologizing to the Good.
"I'm a bit nervous. That's this more that I have to unload on whatever beast we find, I guess."
She headed cautiously deeper into the sewers area. From there on, there were no such form of life as a dog. There were insects shaped like mouths, things that were like affixed on the walls and could barely be called life; or hideous oddities like that...

The kaka followed the both of them at a careful distance, it allowed him the most vision in sight; he would be able to spot a movement that didn't belong and alert them before the danger might come out of the midst of nowhere. He would try to make sure that neither of them suffered anything serious before this true battle began. "Keep your wits about you, this will grow more dangerous as the moment goes on."

The surroundings were nothing that were deadly so far, just a small beginning that would become much worse as time went on. He was counting on this fact all within its own.