Enola sighed from her hiding spot, just under the overhang from a stack of crates, as the rain fell heavily. She'd been inside for the brunt of it, working with a customer who'd been seeking herbal help for insomnia. It had been an easy enough request, but just as Enola had stepped out the door, she had nearly been squashed by a large fish having fallen from the sky. Looking out through the dark storm, it seemed as if the falling fish wouldn't be ending any time soon. But she needed to get home, and could feel the key hanging around her neck tugging toward the north.
And northward was up the street, through the thick of it. She cinched her backpack a bit tighter, to ready herself for the run of her life. She cast her eyes upward, wondering if she could see the fish falling out ahead of her before they landed. But the speed with which they fell, and with how dark it was, it was an impossible task. So a different tactic would be needed. She'd need to go from safe spot to safe spot. Looking across the street, she saw a parked cart. That'd be her next spot. She bounced up and down on her clay feet, then started forward, pumping her little arms as best she could, keeping her eyes in front of her.
She ran in a straight line, as hard and fast as she could manage, seeing fish hitting the ground all around her field of vision. Up ahead was a puddle, one that she couldn't tell just how deep it was. She started to change her path to avoid it, but at the last second her path was cut off suddenly by a large salmon that squelched hard when it landed. She veered toward the puddle, and when she reached the edge of it, she jumped, hoping to clear it. And almost did. But her landing foot hit the edge, and she slipped. She stumbled backwards, discovering the puddle was quite shallow. She regained her footing, looking down in the water, seeing a silvery color above her. Not thinking, she dove forward out of the puddle, skidding along the cobblestones just as rainbow trout splashed into the puddle where she'd been standing.
She pulled herself up, hurting a bit from the fall and immediately set off in a run again. She was about halfway to the cart, she could definitely use the cover and rest. As she closed in on it, a small mouth bass flopped down in front of her. She didn't have the time to stop, so she just kept forward, trying to climb up over it. It was a fat fish, and she slipped and stumbled up it, but managed. She jumped off of it, still pumping as she ran until finally, she was under the safety of the cart.
The tug on her key still pulled north, and it was faint, so she still had a long way to go. Looking further up ahead she saw a fairly unexpected sight. There was, for lack of a better term, a storm monster. And someone had just fallen, or jumped, into it. That seemed like a terrible idea, a reckless one for sure, in her mind. She saw a woman shoot an arrow at it, then toss away her bow before jumping away. The black lightning snaked for the arrow, and followed the length of rope, cracking loudly, setting it ablaze. And it seemed to have lessened the monster's lightning. But for how long?
She didn't recognize any of these people, but people that needed help were always the most grateful. She didn't dare pull out her py-string, for fear of what happened to the arrow-rope. So she looked around the road for anything of use. Hanging across the road, tied between buildings was a large cloth, decorative of course. It was soaking wet of course, but maybe it could be used as a distraction or even restraint for the creature.
She ran along the walls of the buildings, saying a quick prayer to Ionu to not squish her with a fish just yet. Once she'd reached the building the sign hung from on one side, she looked up the brick facade. She doubted she could climb that, though she made a note to try under less hectic circumstances. But there was a clay pipe on the corner, that run to some gutters above. She could work with that. She went up and hugged the pipe, stretching her arms until the met around on the other side. She combined the clay, and leaned back, elongating her arms. She pressed her feet against the pipe and began pull-walking-climbing up it. She'd slide her joined arms up, holding herself by the weight of her body, then walking up to meet them. It gave her a strange view, looking straight up at the rain. She kept her eyes open for fish, doing her best to ignore the rain.
Higher and higher she climbed, feeling the strain in her arms, she moved quicker, until finally she was at the top. She pulled herself up and over the gutter and found herself face to face with the eye bolt that held up the cloth. Then she realized she had no blade or tool to free the cloth. But the roof she was on was shingled. She stood atop a shingle, and reached down, gripping at one edge of the piece of shale, and pulled upward on it. She strained and strained until it finally snapped in half. Wielding it like some awkward two handed weapon, she lugged it over to the cloth, and using the sharp, cracked side, swung down at it. The cloth frayed a bit, and she swung it down again in the same spot. One more swing, and with a snap, the cloth let loose, and swung down toward the monster.
At that same moment, a fish that had hit the roof, slid down and crashed into Enola. The pycon, fish, and piece of slate flew off the roof toward the street below. She curled up around her head, doing everything she could to protect her nexus from the presumably hard landing she was expecting to have.
