Five girls with animal parts in school uniforms (well, four in uniform, one in a hooded jersey) made their way through the streets of Jumpstart City. Utano had used the chance to show you some of the secret mascot-only paths that connected the various areas of Brawler Park. Through her you also learned that Jumpstart City’s theme was that the town was quite literally split in two halves due to the eternal struggle between police women and criminals. Of course the cinema you were going to was supposed to be in the city’s lawful half, though the area you were currently Utano following through looked anything but. Anywhere you looked you saw ruined streets, dilapidated buildings, destroyed cars and lots of (admittedly very artful) graffiti.
“Are you sure this is the right way, Utano? We all know how iffy your sense of navigation can be at times, to say it mildly,” Sayaka asked, her voice striking a perfect balance between haughty annoyance and fear-filled uncertainty.
“Sure, I’m sure. Officer Olive wrote down the directions for me the last time I got lost here. Though her handwriting is…” She squinted at the paper in her hand. “Does it say left or downward here?”
Sayaka groaned. “Please remind me how we became best friends again…”
“It's not that bad,” Juno spoke up as she made sure an apparently sleepwalking Pan wasn't tripping over any debris. “Just see it as talking a walk through a place you don't know yet.”
“Some of Juno’s positivity might do you well, Sayaka.” The aforementioned bunny girl just rolled her eyes at the club president’s comment. “And I’m sure we should already be able to see the cinema right after the next corner.”
You rounded the corner and did not see a cinema. Instead you came face-to-face with a group of thuggish-looking female outlaws.
“Well, well, well, lookit’ that, girls!” one of the criminals called out. “Some rich kid school girls got lost in our territory. Say, what are some pretties like you doing here?”
You were sure you could hear Utano and Sayaka cringing beside you and hoped you could resolve this somewhat peacefully. “We’re really sorry for intruding on your…” You looked behind them at the object they were previously focused on. “...car smashing. We were on our way to the local cinema and probably just took a wrong turn. We’ll just turn around and go back if that's fine with you.”
Turning around you were confronted with more of these outlaws. About a dozen of them must’ve surrounded you and your friends by now.
“Don't go yet, ladies. We’d like to spend a bit more time with you,” one of them said as most of the criminals armed themselves with blunt weapons, like pipes and brass knuckles.
“I’m sorry, Tammy,” Utano spoke up to your group. “I hoped we could make your first fight in Brawler Park something special, but this’ll have to do.” The tanuki girl whipped two big leaves out of her sleeves, which in big puffs of smoke turned into a tanabo, a long club with blunt spikes, and a pair of nunchucks.
“It’s fine. That's what I came here for after all,” you responded as currents of wind started circling around your arms, legs and tail.
“Alrighty, here we go,” Juno shouted before assuming a simple fighting stance.
“Let's finish this quick…” Pan yawned. She closed her eyes again and a ghostly figure that looked like a mix of panda and sumo wrestler appeared before her.
“These uncultured ruffians are making me sick,” Sayaka spat and lowered the hood of her jersey. With her curls already ruined she decided to go with function over form for once and just went with the typical hair tentacles. That's when a gleam of light caught her eyes and she gasped. “Watch out, that one has a knife!”
“What?! But that's impossible!” Utano shouted back. “Okay, everyone, be extra careful. We have to finish this quickly and be careful around the knife!”