2013-10-11 - The Wolkenritter at Tokyo Tower

The Wolkenritter at Tokyo Tower
Summary: Seeking magic to fill the Book of Darkness, the Wolkenritter lay a trap for mages at Tokyo Tower.
Who: Vita, Signum, Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, Alyce Ducati, Yukimi Amane, The Amoeba Boys, Miyu Oyanagi, Raikari Shinkyou, Maron Kusakabe
Where: Tokyo Tower
OOC - IC Date: 10/11/2013 - 10/02/2013

• +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Tokyo Tower +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 This television broadcast tower is also perhaps the most iconic building in
 Japan. A lattice giant inspired by the Eiffel Tower, Tokyo Tower looks much
 like the French building, but has a more rounded, modern style, and is
 painted in a red-orange tone. Bright white bands punctuate its height,
 including one for the cylindrical observatory nestled near its peak. At
 night, it lights up brilliantly: a cool white during the summer, a warm
 orange for the cooler months, and various colors for special occasions. Once
 the tallest building in the world, it remains, at 315 meters, the second
 tallest in Japan, and is a popular tourist attraction.

 Tokyo Tower straddles a four-story building aptly named FootTown, containing
 museums, art galleries, and restaurants. Around its middle is the Main
 Observatory, which contains a restaurant, a Shinto shrine, and a club for
 live music. Near its peak is the Special Observatory, accessible for an
 extra fee, which provides a spectacular 360 degree view of the urban
 skyline.

 Whether it be attributed to its iconic nature, its ability to transmit
 long-range signals, or its sheer height, be warned: Tokyo Tower is a
 frequent target for supernatural events.

• +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Players +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Night time. Tokyo Tower stands in the middle of the sea of lights which is the city itself, rising above most of the other buildings, its lights flooding the area with illumination. Why is this tower so often the site of epic supernatural battles? Because it makes an awesome backdrop, that's why. Perhaps thats why the Wolkenritter have chosen it.

No, that's not why at all. The real reason is a lot more mysterious.

High up on the tower, close to the top though not quite at the pinnacle, a very short figure stands, peering down at the crowds of people passing by, though they are little more than specks to her. Graf Eisen rests across Vita's shoulders, held in one hand. In the other is a plain white envelope. It is completely unmarked. Though it can't be seen, the message inside is typed, on what appears to be a typewriter. It reads simply, "Create a barrier at Tokyo Tower at 8pm". There is nothing else on the paper.

"I don't know about this, Eisen." Vita mutters darkly, scowling as she looks down at the scurrying people. "I hope we can trust them." But Signum and she had agreed - listening to the letters' advice has paid off in the past. It was worth a shot, at least.

<<Es ist der Zeit, Kapitan.>> Graf Eisen's voice says, clamly, and Vita nods. "Alright then. Let's do this." She holds the Device up over her head. <<Gefangis der Magie!>> Eisen announces, and a dull orange diamond spirals out from the center of the hammer, spreading and growing until it covers not only the entire tower, but several blocks around in every direction - all non-magical people vanishing without a trace, banished to some other, safer but identical dimension for the time being. Of course, the creation of a Barrier, especially on such a scale, is like a beacon to any with a magical sense anywhere nearby.

8 PM is the perfect time to start wandering the streets, searching for things that'll make her Mother happy. It's also a perfect time to slip around the darkness and not get noticed too much. It is, however, not a perfect time to suddenly get wrapped in a wide-area barrier spell.

<SIR.> Bardiche pings. "I know," Fate sighs. "But it's not a Jewel Seed. So..." <IT IS PICKING UP TWO, IN ACTUALLY, SIR.> "E-Eh? Where...?" <INTERCEPTION POSSIBLE AT TOWER.> "B-Bardiche! Let's go!" <YES SIR. GET SET. BARRIER JACKET.>

On the empty streets, bright yellow and purple lightning crashes into a blonde girl, whose clothes are seemingly vaporized and replaced by her Barrier Jacket; for all of a moment, her Device's yellow gem gleams black, as if showing an eye, before it fully forms into a poleaxe. Her cape forms last, dramatically unfurling behind her. Not even a second later, the girl takes off, flying towards the tower, but with no particular aim.

It had been almost a full week since Moeko Oyanagi thought she had seen her missing daughter, and since then, her and her husband have spent almost every night looking for Miyu, following a trail of possible sightings all around the city... Time and time again, they had come so close to finding their daughter, only to have her seemingly vanish before they could arrive... but tonight is different. Tonight they have found her.

Unaware of the approach of her... or rather her creator's parents, 'Miyu' has been doing pretty much what she has always done since her creation not too long ago... wandered in search of clues as to what she should do. Being human was still so very new to her, and she found it far easier to focus on her job than her 'life', with the sole exception of time spent with Raikari and Aisha. It was... less complicated, familiar.

Drawn to the dazzling site of the Tokyo Tower more out of curiousity than any real purpose, the program-made-human was lost in thought when behind her a voice rang out calling her name. Pulled from her thoughts by the voice, 'Miyu' turns to see 'her' parents running towards her... and freezes up in surprise, her mind jarring to a stop, "Wha--" before she can get anymore out, her mother swoops in and grabs her in a fierce hug.

"Oh Miyu, I have been so worried! Are you alright? Where have you been?"

Miyu opens her mouth, but nothing comes out as she trips over her own thoughts, "Moek--" Wait, that's right, she's supposed to be 'Miyu', "M... mother...? What are... I mean..." oh crap, what should she do?? Should she run? No, that would be bad, if she ran, they'd be even more worried! Should she try the truth...? Kinda doubt they'll accept 'I'm a computer program that looks like your daughter' as a valid excuse... m... maybe she should just play along and pretend to be Miyu for real, "I... I don't remember..."

"Oh my... did you hit your head Miyu? Well, no matter... as long as you're safe." Her mother gushes, clinging to 'Miyu' tightly, "C'mon honey, let's go ho--"

And just like that, 'her' mother vanishes as a barrier washes over the street.

So taken by surprise by the sudden vanishing act, Miyu nearly falls over before taking herself, then looks around with wide eyed disbelieve, "Wha-- where did--" She looks around wildly to see no one else around. Fear grips her heart as for a moment she feels as though she may have just inadvertedly lead 'her' mother to her death, but after a brief bout of panic, she calms herself fown and pulls out her Virtualizer, "POWER ON!"

Data swirls around her as her battle garb materializes, and no sooner than the transformation is complete than she activates her visor and scans the area.

"S... some kind of dimensional shift..." She sighs with relief, "Th... that means everyone else caught in it is most likely safe..." She lowers her hand from her headset and catches herself shaking from the sudden and confusing swirl of emotion before tightening her fist and reaching back up to her headset to flick on her communicator as she takes off towards the distant tower.

"Raikari, I need you down at Tokyo Tower, it's an emergency."

COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi transforms into Distortion Warrior Errata!

It was a perfectly normal night. It was seven fifty-nine, and she had absolutely nothing to worry about today, other than the potential activities of a particular headstrong Lera Camry. With two bills in her hand, Alyce Ducati reaches out to the street vendor selling food not too far from the Tokyo Tower, hoping for a late dinner with the last of her money this week, and--

<WARNING!>

Her eyes widen, and so too the vendor's as he holds both the food /and/ her money in either hand. A swish, and then everything becomes different. He-- and her food-- disappear.

The ire that builds in her is two-fold: Her meal /and/ money are gone, but the /really/ important one is the fact that she can identify this type of spell. It's fairly obvious.

"Track the source!" <LOCATION IS FOUND. PROCEED TO SOURCE POST-HASTE.>

Already on the run, the Sergeant puffs a bit of an angry noise out of her mouth. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!"

AND THEN

By the time she finishes the sprint to make it to the edges of the Tokyo Tower's grounds, Alyce has to catch herself before coming to a crashing halt.

"Tch...! I've got a bad feeling about this..." <STANDBY.> "Set up!" <STERLING COAT.>

A wave of light ripples over the mage's form, replacing simple and practical clothing with her iconic black and blues before the long sleeveless silvery-white coat that flares out in one large burst before settling.

"Tch... I'm not going to make it up there quickly, am I..." <SPELL CALCULATION E6A-2 STILL UNAVAILABLE.> "We'll have to go the hard way, then..."

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati transforms into Barrier Jacket - Sterling Coat!

There are a great number of people in the world who suffer from a fear of heights. Maron Kusakabe is not one of these people. In fact, she /loves/ heights. Nothing like climbing a high building and enjoying the view. It's useful for practical purposes, but she likes to do it for fun, too.

Needless to say, Tokyo Tower is one of her favorite places to visit. It's been a while since the last time, this whole Kaitou Jeanne business has been keeping her pretty busy. But tonight is the perfect night. No job to do, homework already done, nothing on TV... no reason not to go out and enjoy herself. Most would probably seek to do this with friends, but she's fine on her own. You don't live alone for six years without learning how to have fun by yourself.

Snacking on a chocolate bar, the high schooler hums a cheerful tune to herself as she strolls across the tower's main observatory. Maybe a quick visit to Club 333 to hear what music they've got going on, then it's off to take in that spectacular view once again. Life's simple pleasures, a great distraction from the more gloomy thoughts that take hold once she has nothing to do.

And then everything suddenly goes Twilight Zone on her. In an instant, everything is suddenly gone. The people and their sounds vanish all around her, leaving her by herself, a strange orange glow now coloring the surroundings. Maron drops her chocolate in shock. "W-what? What's happening? Where did everybody go?"

Reaching for the Petit Claire, her first instinct is to call for help. "Finn? Finn! Can you hear me?" Nothing. Her angelic friend either isn't close enough, or the barrier is interfering somehow. Now what is she supposed to do? She can't even transform without Finn!

Putting the magical device away, she instead runs to the window, taking out the pair of binoculars she brought along with her to scan the surroundings, see what's out there. ...what was that? A flying girl? Is she seeing things? ...can they see her up here? Is it a good thing if they see her? Slowly, she backs off from the window. Maybe she should just... stay here. Nothing bad could happen if she just stays where she is, right...?

Normally, Nanoha Takamachi is not out at this time of evening. Still acclimating to a schedule of early rising, and training before school before the sun is even up, usually means that right about now she's getting ready for bed. But it's 8 pm on a Wednesday and, tonight, she's wandering on her way home from a tiny get-together with Arisa and Suzuka, after worrying them with a rather sudden absence due to a case of 'crashed on Alyce Ducati's sofa and sleeping off the worst of some nasty beatings'. It is this sheer and complete happenstance that has the tiny redhead walking on her way to the lical train station to get herself home when the red bauble gem on her necklace suddenly chimes with a hurried aler.t <WARNING! A BARRIER HAS BEEN ERECTED!> Raising Heart announces to her wielder with a telepathic nudge, just as Nanoha is suddenly alone on the street, the various commuters all simply vanishing around her. "E-eh?! What, where?" <DIRECTLY ABOVE.> "Um! Are we-" <WE ARE DIRECTLY INSIDE, YES.> "So then we should-" <BARRIER JACKET?> "Barrier Jacket." <BARRIER JACKET! ... SET UP!> In a flash of pink, and the girl's school clothes are peeled away, replaced rapidly by the formation of the white, blue, and gold tones of her armored dress, gauntlets snapping into place on her wrists as Raising Heart forms, the staff-like Device falling gently into the palm of her left hand. "... So what's causing the barrier?" <THIS IS WHY WE SET UP.>

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi transforms into Barrier Jacket!

And almost right after Miyu sends her message and starts running a familiar redhead in her own winged battle suit drops next to her and takes off at a sprint, having little trouble in keeping up. As long as she doesn't start doing her teleport spam trick or whatever. "... Okay, yeah, I was following your parents to make sure nothing tried to attack them for being your parents before they found you," Raikari just admits off the bat. "Wasn't expecting -that- to happen though."

"It appears to have been some sort of dimensional shift that only affected non-magical entities," ALICRN adds as the holographic mini-unicorn hovers between the two girls. "No idea as to what caused it, though. I've never seen it done on such a sizable scale."

"I swear, everything is timing against us it seems, some days," Raikari grumbles.

COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou transforms into Sentry Kagami!

It's perhaps a bit awkwards when the WORLD WASHES AWAY FROM YOU.

"My word!""You ain't kidden! It's all dark now!""Oh my, who could do such a thing!"

That's when the sudden swarm of Magical Girls fly over them. It's dangerou to be like this with them! And they can just hide. And then there are screams.

There is /no escape/. They can't run!? It's ... it's terrible!

"Oh ya'll trapped us!" "Then we must trap them! Form, Mega Mitsosis!".

Suddenly, there are many amoebas. More and more as the ground of a part of the city begins to flood - but not exactly with water, but with /Amoebas/. There's a sudden influx of dark energy before a new skyscraper forms - THE TERROR OF ... the Mega Amoeba!

"How are we supposed to hide like this, Silk!?" "Easy, when they can't see us, we'll clearly be invisible!" "Huh?" "Wha?" "...We knock them out! I saw it!". It's too late now!

Eight PM is a good time of night. It's late enough to bask in the cool darkness and get up to all kinds of interesting adventures, but not so late that your parents will notice you're gone. Mind, Yukimi Amane's parents tend not to notice she's gone regardless, but she'd rather not push it. She'd hate to upset them. The brunette walks around the area of Tokyo Tower, wearing a T-shirt and long shorts; the weather's somewhat chilly, but she's never much minded the cold. As she walks, she peers around herself, brown eyes shining in anticipation of something she never seems to find considering she keeps moving. When the barrier spreads out, removing all normal people from the premises and leaving behind only those with some kind of magical ability, Yukimi finds herself abruptly alone. Her instant reaction is panic, and she dives into a nearby clump of bushes. (That was *terribly* undignified,) the voice inside her head sighs. Then, with more concern, (Are you all right?) /Y-yeah, I'm okay,/ Yukimi thinks back, poking her head up a little to peer around. /I-I just got startled is all! Uh... What's going on?/ (It seems as though a barrier has been erected around the area. It's well-made... It shifted out all non-magical persons without harming them. We should investigate.) /Oooh!/ Yukimi's demeanor instantly brightens. /Time to transform!?/ There is only the slightest fraction of a pause, one brief enough that Yukimi does not notice it. (Indeed. Let us go, Yukimi.) Once the brunette gets to better cover, she calls, "Infini! Deflect the heavens!!" The burst of lightning that follows sees her turned into another person, quite literally: a silver-haired, regal beauty in silver armor with a flowing waist-cape, armed with a shield. The young woman reappears at the base of Tokyo Tower and gazes up at it to the little girl at the top. This is followed by a surge of... amoebas. The young woman, known as Striker Argent, narrows her eyes, and holds out the arm with the shield attached. It glows like the moon, and when she leaps up, she lands in midair, a silver disc shining briefly at her feet. She continues to ascend like this, turning a spiral as she ascends the autumn air.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane transforms into Striker Argent!

Risks. Risks and rewards... hunting their 'patch' is exceedingly risky. Earth, though an unadministered world, is no less than a -breeding ground- of magical power. It's like someone set it up to be a genius loci of magical girls and mana. Normally, most planets have some degree of magical affinities but the number of discrete signals Signum has identified in the city is almost alarming.

At the same time, the -amount- of power--if they're successful--would make completing the Book of Darkness very easy indeed. Risks and rewards. The Wolkenritter can't afford this kind of overt 'come and get me' sort of thing -too- often, but... every once in a while, perhaps. To supplement. Signum is at the top of the Tower, near the top of the barrier, holding Laevatein in one hand--in pendant form. "Well," she muses to her Device, "We can't let Vita do this all on her own." Laevatein isn't normally a very talkative Device, so his response is pretty simple:

<<Ja.>>

Those in the barrier might feel the surge of energy as Signum calls up her Knight Armor; the flashy, classy flare of obscuring, flame-colored mana that washes over her, replacing clothing with her mana-powered, Hayate-designed shell of protection, is probably only faintly visible. Suddenly, she isn't holding a pendant--she's holding a blade, a meter of wickedly-edged steel, gleaming-bright sharp at the edge and point, a perforated, purple housing backed onto it near the hilt, the wrapping on the hand-and-a-half length grip rough-textured maroon, the pommel a simple, tapered knob.

Her skirt ripples in the air as, with a motion as casual as that of someone stepping off a bus, Signum steps off her vantage point and plummets downwards, not bothering to arrest her fall until she's level with Vita, her blue eyes glancing over at her comrade. She doesn't need to say anything to remind Vita of how important--how *imperative*--it is that they complete their mission. Vita knows.

COMBAT: Signum transforms into Cloud Knight!

Vita glances over as Signum plummets down from above and comes to rest hovering in the air beside where she stands on the metal structure of the tower. She glances over, meeting the gaze of her General, and nods her head, her expression fixed in a fierce scowl. She knows how important it is! She steps off of the tower, hovering as easily in the air as Signum does, casting her gaze down over the barrer-shrouded streets around the base of the tower.

<<Viele Signale kommen.>> Graf Eisen announces, and Vita nods her head, glancing around to spot movement.. there.. and there. And there, too. She swings Eisen around, smacking his head against her other gloved hand with a resounding smack. "Well.. let's get to work." She says to Signum, before turning and rocketing off through the air, accelerating to daredevil speeds within moments, small contrails forming from the edges of her skirt as she zooms through the air. Just about then.. she notices the sudden appearance of a building-sized amoeba.

Altering her flight path, she buzzes by the Mega Mitosis' head. "Hey, is that you, amoebas?" She calls, recognizing this from her previous visit to this very same location. "Do me a favor, huh?" Her mind spinning tactically. "Distract one or two of the people who are going to show up and start shooting at me!"

Miyu manages to keep pace with Raikari pretty well, even without the aid of her teleporting ability, but she is awefully silent as she runs. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, she finally asks, "... So, how long have you known that I never went back home after that night...?" There's no point in trying to deny it now...

Though this is probably a bad place to have this kind of discussion. You'll have to forgive her, she's still very much rattled by how things turned out this night. softly. "It would of been in the news, otherwise. But I was just watching, because it was better for them to find you themselves." Short pause. "And you're impossible for even me to keep track of."

"This really isn't the time, girls," Alicrn cuts in curtly. "We need to find the sort of this displacement. It could be something similar to the reality alterations that occured in the art museum."

Still in those early stages of trying to figure out what the deuce is going on, Nanoha clutches her Device. The last time she had seen a Barrier, some kind of powerful Lost Logia was in play, but tonight, there is- bewilderingly- no trace nor signal discernable presence aside from signals of several other magical girls and-- . o O (Alyce?) A tiny mental nudge shot off at the most familiar of the presences she can find. Before... Nanoha's eyes widen. Up comes one hand, finger pointing as her jaw goes slack. "A-ah..." Is that... "R-... Raising Heart...?" She asks, simply having to make sure she's not suffering some head-trauma related hallucination now, almost a full week after recovering. <YES. IT IS A GIANT PROTOZOA.> The Device confirms, before pinging with the signal of another known presence. "Oh, it's her." Nanoha murmurs, after a beat spent to regain her composure. And with a flahs, pink wings of light form at her ankles, fluttering to lift her up, and chase that familiar trail, before she's zooming up towards Vita; having missed the other little redhead's call to the massive... Amoeba thing. "Vita! What's going on, what is that?" "I- I mean WHY is this thing...?" She's. You know. Assuming Vita isn't the cause of this. Because Vita is nice. Right?

So many different energy signatures. She couldn't sense them at first, but it's become more and more obvious the closer she got to the tower. Fate frowns a bit. She doesn't want to fight, but TWO Jewel Seeds moving in? She might have to. She'll have to seal them and take them by force. That is, unless...

<SIR.> "T-That's...!"

In the air, halfway across the barrier towards the tower, the blonde girl in black stops, and her red eyes lock onto the trailing pink light. Of all the places... no, no, this is perfect. That girl's Device has two Jewel Seeds in it. She should be able to get at least one out if she hits her hard enough. That settles it.

"Bardiche. We're going in." <YES SIR. GLAIVE FORM.> The poleaxe clicks and snaps. The blade flips a whole 180 degrees up, going from axe to spear. Three large yellow fins of mana flare out of the tip, as if thrusters. They light up. <PIERCING LANCER.>

From the corner of her eyes, Nanoha might notice the flare of yellow magic, and the lightning bolt of a girl charging towards her, spear first. It'd be hard to tell how much of her speed is from those wings on the weapon, and how much is her flight, but she's making a very aggressive beeline for the girl. Which may result in stabbings. She might also notice, those red eyes, they aren't wholly sad right now. They're more... desperate. Very, very desperate and focused.

Sorry Vita, hopefully you weren't planning to have a nice, drawn out conversation with Nanoha. It's about to get a bit rough for her.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Piercing Lancer on Nanoha Takamachi. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to brace Fate Testarossa's Piercing Lancer, taking 14 Fatigue damage!

The barrier attracts a significant amount of attention, drawing in people from all over the place. But Maron, already there, fails to notice most of them. Her attention is quickly turned upwards, using her binoculars to try and get a glimpse of what's going on near the top of the tower, having taken notice of the special effects caused by Signum's transformation. Even though her plan was to just stay quiet and stay hidden until this hopefully blows over. She can't help it, her curiosity is far too strong. "What's going ON up there?" She can't quite see what's up there...

Until Vita suddenly goes zooming off. Since it was too fast to identify what that was immediately, Maron breaks into a run, rushing over to the opposite side of the deck to get a better view. Her binoculars finally manage to get a clear view of Vita right as she's... talking to a giant amoeba. Maron slooooowly lowers the binoculars, blankly staring at them. "I... think these might be faulty..."

Though she'd hoped to put it out of her mind, she recalls the events at Ohtori's art exhibit. Is it more of that? Is that's what happening here? More magical people fighting bizarre monsters? This is bad... she doesn't have any way to defend herself this time. Again she decides the best thing to do is try to stay out of sight. See how long THAT lasts.

Anybody who happened to be paying attention to the observation deck might have already noticed the one person who's still actually there. Of course the mere fact that she's still here at all means that she must have some measure of magical power. She sure isn't doing anything magical though. Perhaps she doesn't know how.

It's true. Nanoha knows how Alyce lives, now, and it is mostly a life of a spartan and /very/ clean apartment, if only because she actually doesn't have a lot to stock her place /with/. And her kitchen cabinet has a lot of dry products, things with long shelf life, or two or three bulk cases of ramen and cup noodles. It's like college, in a way, without the fun and the music and the need to get up for classes.

The pink energy high above-- is that Nanoha? And the yellow... tch...!

Others arrive, too. Miyu, whom she hasn't seen in action before. Striker Argent makes her appearance, with a flashy leap off into the air. It's a stark reminder that she is grounded... and she really, really needs to correct this.

.o( Nanoha! Tell me what you see up there, I can't fl-- )

giant amoeba thing building sized oh dear god what

"... A giant s--"

<IT IS NOT SNOT.>

"Whatever. Let's get ready for anything, Silver Wind!"

<ROGER.>

Alyce swings her arm out to one side, palm turned back. With a flare of light, the Device forms-- a long staff with a tapered head and layers of armor sloped around a central gemstone. Then, the Sergeant...

... starts running for the elevator.

:(

It's almost a surprise - really - that Vita knows the AB. It's kind of a mismatch really. How has she not sacrificed them to the dark gods of the book? How has she not devoured their souls for food! It's a mystery for all, yet as Vita zips by, the massive Amoeba sees the girl FLY. "Wow, you can fly too? Why'd ya not just fly there, goodness! My word! ... Oh? Yeah yeah! We're gonna do exactly that! You watch us!" Declare the amoeba, as the Mega amoeba bounces forth, hopping and crushing a smaller building in it's wake.

"Wow! There's just so many! I think ya'll are going to need to pick a few!" They declare - to each other, actually!

As Striker Argent climbs up the sky on steps of shining ether, as if ascending a spiral stairway, she curves around the observatory deck. Her attention is mainly upwards at the several girls (and amoebas) gathering together, already preparing to fight, but as she passes upwards, something catches her eye--a single girl, in normal street clothes, peering up at the action through binoculars and looking entirely flummoxed. /Hey, I know that girl! She's in my class!/ Yukimi's voice declares from within her mind. (Yes, I recognize her as well. The gymnast, Kusakabe-san, if I remember correctly. She must have some talent if she is here.) /Let's go talk to her!!/ Yukimi declares excitedly. Striker Argent frowns slightly, but she makes no argument, instead turning and leaping from her foothold to land lightly on the deck. If Maron is just a normal girl with some magical talent who ended up getting caught in this situation, she will likely need protection. For now, she approaches the other brunette, making enough noise to be heard and not surprise her. "Young miss," Striker Argent calls, coming to a halt a respectable distance away. "May I ask why you are here? This is not a place for civilians to be right now." [

Suddenly, explosive action. The barrier was, as expected, a magnet for magically-sensitive beings. Several have invaded the barrier--those who weren't inside it to begin with. Plenty of targets. Too many, perhaps--and at least one potential target has just been pre-empted, the flare of lightning-attuned mana quite noticeable. Seems like that brown-haired mage girl knows Vita... interesting. But, ultimately...

<<General. Mana signature detected, location rising. ... Several Mid-Childan-type signatures detected.>>

Now that -is- interesting. She can already tell that two of those Mid-Childan mages are gonna be tangling it up pretty soon, if the mana flares are any indication. While Vita is occupied with directing what appears to be a... gigantic snot-ball, as Alyce would be wont to call it, Signum starts descending, tracking in on that -other- signature... elevators are not as fast as Signum, so, Alyce may not get very far before Signum's at her elevation. "Laevatein. Cartridge Load."

<<EXPLOSION!!>>

The perforated housing on the back of the Armed Device chunks back and forth, a surge of mana flooding the Device and Signum, a hiss of steam issuing from that housing as a red-bodied, brass-capped cartridge popping out, falling lazily towards the ground. "Schlangeform," says Signum, a moment later, snapping the blade out to her right, and in response, that meter-long blade snaps outward, sectioning itself, each razor-edged section connected through the centerline by a strong, flexible cord or wire, swirling around her briefly...

And then she snaps it forward, and Tokyoites may be thankful for the effects of the barrier, as she sends that striking snake cutting into the open structure--ripping it open and aiming to pierce through the elevator where that signature is, to stop it moving and... persuade... the person inside to come out.

COMBAT: Signum has used Snakebite on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly braces Signum's Snakebite, taking 7 Fatigue damage!

Vita gives a thumbs-up to the amoebas, though she does wince a bit as they hop enthusiastically and destroy a small building. Well, it'll probably be fine once the barrier drops. She glances around down towards the ground, and spots Miyu and Raikari running towards the tower. "What about them? Step on them." She tells the Amoeba. "Just try not to kill them, I need their Linker Cores later!" She doesn't know if they have Linker Cores, really, but magic is magic, at least as far is she is concerned.

Just about this time, Nanoha zooms up to question her. Spinning in the air, Vita's expression is shocked dismay.. quickly hidden behind a fierce scowl. "What are you doing here?!" She demands, although Nanoha has as much reason to be as anyone else. "You shouldn't get involved in-" More might have been said, but about that time Fate opens fire, and those lances of yellow lightning arc towards Nanoha. Vita spits a curse ("Schweinhund!", that's Ancient Belkan) and spins down out of the way so as not to get caught in the collatoral range of the explosion. She seeks the source, spotting Fate homing in. She doesn't know the girl, but.. it saves her from dealing with Nanoha. "Maybe they'll weaken each other and we can get both of them." She mutters, spinning around again, seeking a new target.

There.. by the deck, speaking to some girl who appears totally normal. Vita spots Striker Argent. Well.. one is as good as another. She snaps into motion with a sudden acceleration that sends a minor shockwave through the air, hurtling downwards like a living missile. She doesn't even give warning.. she just brings Graf Eisen back and swings him full-arm like a battering ram at the back of the girl's skull as she whips past.

COMBAT: Vita has used Love Tap on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Vita has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane narrowly braces Vita's Love Tap, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Yukimi Amane is Quipped! Yukimi Amane's Block ability activates! Yukimi Amane's Parry ability activates!

"R-right," Miyu replies with, feeling a little silly for getting distracted in the middle of a battle, "First we need to find the source of this disturbance..." Judging from her (limited) experience, Miyu goes through her options... okay, it's a little odd that some magical girls are fighting each other, and Miyu has no idea who most of them are but...

Aha! That giant... blob... thing. That looks appropriately Youma-like!

With a BLIP!, Miyu disappears from sight, only to reappear above the Amoeba Boys with her leg extended, "HI-YAH!"

COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has used DYNAMIC ENTRY on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Miyu Oyanagi's DYNAMIC ENTRY, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Miyu Oyanagi is Psyched! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates!

The elevator is a useful method of getting from place to place, but even Alyce can see the tactical folly in it. Nervous as it climbs further and further up, her worst fears are confirmed as Silver Wind suddenly presents her with a warning:

<INCOMING!!>

The Bureau mage twists out of the way as the elevator car is virtually torn in half, the edges of the saw-like blade catching her across the ribs. Her Barrier Jacket blunts the damage, but she still lets a hiss out between her teeth because /that hurts/. Then, to make matters worse, the car jukes and shifts.

"E6A-2 might be useful right now." <Loading!!> "Faster," the mage says, gripping the edge of the shaking elevator. <LOADING!!> the Device insistently replies. "NOW!!" <Active!!>

Before the smoke and dust clears, the elevator finally breaks apart, the balance of cables and weights unable to support it any longer. Stylized constructs of mana linger near her shoulders and upper arms while others seem to wrap in bands around her hands and feet like some kind of odd support system-- almost as though her magic is keeping her aloft like a marionette in some kind of odd balance.

<Error.> "Shi--"

Suddenly, Alyce is /launched/, carried up high at a high speed before finally managing to arc through the air and land on her heels on the tower's middle observation deck. Sliding across the catwalk on her boots before an ungraceful slide on her ass end, she pulls herself up and hefts the staff high over her head.

"Let's take her down!!" <SILVER SPIKER.>

The Device morphs slightly; a pressure-sensitive impact device forms on the butt end of the staff... then she /slams/ it down on the catwalk. The energy ripples across the platform and toward Signum, skipping off into the air like a dancing spark of light... before /massive/ bolts of mana erupt in the air, like earthen shards of magic trying to strike the unknown Knight right out of the sky!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Spiker on Signum. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking. COMBAT: Signum narrowly braces Alyce Ducati's Silver Spiker, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Alyce Ducati is Psyched! Signum's Parry ability activates!

Nanoha is doing her best to get the details here. Evidenced by her reply to Alyce over telepathic messaging. . o O (It's... It's a giant amoeba!) Well that much is true as she floats at Vita's wing. "I was already here, I can't just leave- huh?" She's in the middle of replying to Vita in counter, when the smaller redhead curses, and zips off. "H-hey wai-" <INBOUND!.> Raising Heart blurts in warning, just in time for Nanoha to turn. To turn and see those eyes. Those vivid, piercing, eyes so full of desperation and... Pierci-- Before she can even get out of the way, Fate is blazing towards her, spear first, a realization that gets blue eyes widening. Mouth opens to protest, but all the redhead can manage is a choked gasp as the blonde reaches her, Bardiche's spear point connecting solidly with the golden breastplate hidden under her Barrier Jacket. It's a violent jink that prevents the stab from going any deeper than poking the girl in the ribs, but the speed, impact, and her own maneuver nearly spin Nanoha out of control, clutching her chest with a cry of pain, a few retaliatory spheres of pink light fired back in kind as Nanoha rights herself gasping. "Y-... You? Why are you... Here?" SHe's confused. Hurt, more than just physically. "You don't have to do that, I want to hear your side." COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Barrage on Fate Testarossa. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa perfectly counters Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa's counterattack, Defenser, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nanoha Takamachi!

"And this is my cue to get out of the line of fire," Alicrn murmurs with a staticy crackle as Miyu blips off, and dematerializes back into Raikari's Virtualizer.

"What is it with slimey things lately? First that silver blob and now this..." But far be that from stopping Sentry Kagami as she skids to a halt and manifest her polearm. But instead of jumping to attack like her companion does, she taps the side of her headgear with the other hand, causing the visor to light up as it sweeps a scanning beam up the viscous form of protoplasm. Always best to know as much about what one is dealing with as possible when it comes to mini-boss battles.

COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou performs an analysis on The Amoeba Boys! COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking.

Battle breaks out, and Maron breaks out in sweat. Is hiding really the best idea right now? Maybe... she should try to make a break for it? But then she'd need to get in the elevator first. She really doesn't like the idea of getting stuck in a cramped space with nowhere to go. And what if it malfunctioned? Does it even work still?

As if to answer her, one of the elevators starts moving. Maron whirls over in its direction... only to be approached from the other, causing her to quickly spin around once more. "Wha-? Who-?" Things are moving a liiittle bit fast all of a sudden. Thankfully, this... armored warrior doesn't appear to be hostile.

She recovers from her surprise rather quickly, enough so to answer Striker Argent with her complete honest feelings on the matter: "That's /my/ line, why are all of /you/ here? This is supposed to be a completely normal place for civilians to be right now! Can't I have one night off to just enjoy myself?" Well, she's taking all this in stride rather well. Maybe this isn't the first time something like this happened to her.

Then a ramble goes through the tower as Signum launches her attack, destroying one of the elevators. It takes the wind out of Maron's sails, but it doesn't take her completely off-balance. THAT only happens after Vita bursts in, suddenly assaulting the knight lady with a hammer. Maron falls backwards and quickly scrambles for a pillar to hide behind. This is the worst. Even if Finn /were/ here, she couldn't transform without giving away her identity. She's totally stuck!

It only adds to her dismay when she looks behind her and notices the state of one of the elevators. "Ahh! S-stop breaking those! I'll need one of them!" Best case scenario, at least, since there's kind of a battle going on right next to her AND right above her now. Priorities, Maron, priorities.

With both Rai and Miyu pointed out, the Mega Amoeba bounces once - then glances at both! "Oh! Those two are so small! No problem!" The Mega Amoeba speaks up as it bounces once - then bounces again towards them threateningly - in this case, however, both of them are suddenly assaulted by /pieces of itself/. Made worse that the large Amoeba splits, sending small clones of itself sailing through the air towards both Raikari and Miyu - one glancing at them - or tries!

BOOM. Miyu crashes into the Amoeba!! "WooooAAAHHH!!" THe AMoeba exclaims as the force is enough to send it rolling backwards, before it rebounds against the wall and then OH NO RIGHT BACK AT MIYU. Crash into Miyu or not, some of the Amoeba flies through the air towards Raikari, watch out for falling blobs! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Bowling Rolling on Miyu Oyanagi. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Mini Mash on Raikari Shinkyou. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi narrowly braces The Amoeba Boys's Bowling Rolling, taking 9 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou fails to brace The Amoeba Boys's Mini Mash, taking 8 Fatigue damage!

<DEFENSER.> chimes Bardiche, almost automatically.

On cue, a bright yellow circle of runes and magical symbols draws itself in front of Fate. The pink orbs of light slam into it one after the other, weakening the autoprotection spell but not punching all the way through. Fortunately for Nanoha, her words can be as deadly if not more than her spells.

"I don't... want to do that either. But... I need the Jewel Seeds."

With an idle glance, the red-eyed blonde looks over towards the tower, where other fights are breaking out. One of them amongst the crowd looks familiar, but... well, no time for that.

"... it would be better if you just handed them over. Please."

Yellow orbs appear all around Fate, as her Device's gemstone shimmers. She extends her free hand, giving the command. <PHOTON LANCER.> "Shoot!"

The barrage is unleashed. Unlike Nanoha's, these don't home, so it's definitely not that big of a threat if she's ready. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Photon Lancer: Multishot on Nanoha Takamachi. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to counter Fate Testarossa's Photon Lancer: Multishot, taking 9 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Divine Shooter, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!

Hmm. The flavor of this mage is not familiar to her, but the overall tone is definitely Mid-Childan... and as Alyce appears, Signum narrows her eyes. They've certainly got power--she can sense that immediately. The bolts of mana flying out at her--forming those shards. It's a technique that reminds her of Zafira's Steel Pokes, and she braces herself for the strike, snapping her weapon back towards her, forming the blade, using it to actually parry the -worst- of the strike--but not all of it.

>>Vita. I'm engaging a Mid-Childan mage,<< calls the Wolkenritter General to her fellow Knight, keeping her apprised of the situation. Taking the grip of her weapon in both hands, uncaring of the distance between her target and herself, she simply lunges forward, mana surging around her in a bright pink glow as she, unhindered by an inability to fly, arrows in on Alyce.

Just as she gets there, the edge of Laevatein starts glowing, some of that residual mana flaring around the weapon as she comes to a halt in front of Alyce--Signum touches down and is slashing at the Silver Mage in almost exactly the same moment, her blade tracing a fat, temporary image-arc of energy in the air as she attacks. COMBAT: Signum has used Power Crescent on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly dodges Signum's Power Crescent, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Alyce Ducati's Fade ability activates! Alyce Ducati's Flash ability activates!

To be kind of honest, Miyu was more expecting the Amoeba Boys to just bounce her off with their gooey body rather than the other way around, and she certainly wasn't expecting them to bounce /back/ at her!

With a startled cry, she throws up her arms to blow, but still gets knocked from the sky by the blow before disappearing through the window of the Gift Shop Booth.

After several moments, she pulls herself free and winces, before reaching behind her to pull one of those 1/100th scale replicas of the Tokyo Tower from her posterior, before climbing out of the booth. Thank god for Magical Girl Powers, or else that glass could have really hurt!

Frowning a bit as she surveys the situation, Miyu thinks, then nods as she steps up. At her feet, a magic circle appears, filled with magical code. A moment later, a similar circle appears beneath the Amoeba Boys... um... whatever Amoebas stand on. Channelling her power through the circle to disrupt her foe's power, Miyu calls out, "FORCED ACCESS!" COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has used Forced Access on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys fails to counter Miyu Oyanagi's Forced Access, taking 0 Fatigue damage! The Amoeba Boys is Quipped! Blind and Cripple applied to The Amoeba Boys! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys's counterattack, Million Mitosis March, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Miyu Oyanagi!

Raikari Shinkyou oofs as she gets splatted by mini blob goo while scanning the giant amoeba thing, knocking her backwards on her butt. "That's just gross," she objects to no one in particular as she gets back onto her feet, gripping her weapon in one hand while trying to brush some of the sludge off with the other arm. Then turns her attention back to the giant ball of ooze.

"It is similar to a giant germ, despite the size defying the standards of biological potential for single cell organisms." "Spare me the science lesson," the redhead snaps at the magical AI in response. "Try dealing with it in the same manner as one," Alicrn doesn't even flinch vocally at the snippy response he gets.

Same manner as... ah, hah! "Alright germy, how about a shower?" She slices off the top of a fire hydrant with the blade of her polearm, then shoves the flat side down on the resulting water gusher to try and redirect the high pressure stream towards the big ball of blobbiness. [ COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has used Pressure Washout on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys fails to dodge Raikari Shinkyou's Pressure Washout, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to The Amoeba Boys!

Argent raises snowy eyebrows at Maron as she lets off on her. She certainly has nerve--the good kind, the one that lets her keep her head in an unusual situation. Yukimi, in the passenger's seat, clamors for her to ask Maron to explain, but silently Argent tells her not to be so impatient; it wouldn't do to unnerve her. "Any answer I could give you would be incomplete, as I can speak only for myself," she thus replies, with authority but not unkindly. "I myself came here to investigate this matter," she gestures out towards the empty barrier-encapsuled space, "as it fell upon us quite abruptly, as you know. If you need to be escorted to safety--" A shockwave sounds through the air somewhere at her back. Argent's reflexes save her; while the body she's borrowing isn't in top physical condition, she at least can get around in time to raise a personal barrier of her own to keep from having her head knocked off her shoulders by a hammer-wielding small girl. As it is, the finely made magic shield wielded on her forearm takes the blow, which is sufficient to render her arm numb and set her sliding back on the balls of her feet a few feet. Maron runs from it, but Argent merely narrows her crystal blue eyes, focusing on the incoming enemy. Yukimi has already flitted away from her consciousness, fear reverberating at the back of her mind. She'll need to concentrate. "I know not what argument you have with me," she states with crisp clarity, placing her other hand on the shield, "but I will not tolerate this misbehavior. Those with wicked intent will be struck down!" She moves her feet as well as her hands, placing herself between Vita and where Maron hides behind a pillar. As she pulls her hand away, the shield moves like liquid with it, taking the form of a beautifully wrought silver spear. Argent glances at Maron briefly at her yell, though. "I will take you to ground level, if you wish," she calls, before refocusing on Vita. She moves to attack then, twirling her spear and then moving to jab at her. It has strength behind it, but it is more of a test than a true attack.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has used Opening Salvo on Vita. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has finished attacking. COMBAT: Vita narrowly dodges Yukimi Amane's Opening Salvo, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

She's coming in at her. ... Crap, she's /coming in at her/.

It's on the books that Alyce is not the most adept of the Time-Space Administration Bureau when it comes to close quarters combat, especially against someone that seems to be stronger than she anticipated. The weight of the pink-glowing invader's swing comes at her in a powerful strike-- one that leaves light in it's wake.

It might be apparent, but Alyce's eyes are not on Signum's-- they're on her weapon, on the slash, as though she were trying to disassemble what it is from the strike alone. Could it be a reinforcement? No. Her Device is different. How is it able to work like-- but--

The slash meets with the length of Silver Wind with an impressive crash. The weapon holds steady, but does not stop the actual /blow/; the edge of Signum's weapon digs in again at her side as the energies that keep her Barrier Jacket together begin to snap in protest and allow the blade to actually dig a small gash in her side.

<Defense Mode!!>

Alyce's grip on the staff shifts as she manages to twist the sword up and across the length of the Intelligent Device, pushing the strike away. The head of the staff suddenly shifts with a few mechanical clicks and clunks, opening up to project a tapered blade of mana-- like a spearhead.

Shifting her footing, Alyce twists /away/ from the Belkan Knight, bringing the staff around with a flourishing spin before thrusting the polearm ahead in a few quick jabs with the intent to hinder the mage while she's in close quarters... or at least push her /back/!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Emergency Weapon on Signum. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking. COMBAT: Signum narrowly counters Alyce Ducati's Emergency Weapon, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Signum's Tactician ability activates! COMBAT: Signum's counterattack, Shiden Issen, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Alyce Ducati!

Vita snaps back around, her manuvers tight- she might not be as precise a flier as some other aerial mages, but she's fast, that's for sure. She directs her fierce scowl at Argent. "You shut up!" is her eloquent response, as she swings Graf Eisen out to the side, the pole-hammer making a whistling noise as the head whips through the air. She doesn't have to explain herself to this, this..

She doesn't have time to finish the thought, as Striker Argent transforms her shield into a spear and lunges at her. Eyes widening slightly, Vita swerves to the side, the spear clipping her but just barely. "Tch!" She grits her teeth, spinning herself again, her metallic booted feet slamming into one of the girders of the tower with a clang before she pushes back off, hurling herself at the armor girl. "Eisen! Break her defenses!" She shouts.

<<Jawohl!>> Comes the prompt reply, as she brings the hammer down again, aiming to impact her enemy's arm and perhaps force her to drop the shield/spear thing.

COMBAT: Vita has used Numbing Blow on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Vita has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane fails to counter Vita's Numbing Blow, taking 20 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Yukimi Amane's counterattack, Counter, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Vita!

If it seems to be working, why give it up? Miyu lands that hefty kick, sending the massive Amoeba reeling backwards - are they like all jello or something? With the force it musta been more than enough at that rate, however, and the startled cry from Miyu is enough to get the giant Amoeba to - gasp? "Wow, ya'll fell for that? My word! How droll!" They laugh, happily, cheerfully, /evily/. Yet it's not all fun and games, because Raikari ends up splattered as well and knocked back onto her rear! It's quite interesting to see as Raikari and Miyu TEAM UP against the Mega Amoeba!! Can they overcome this terrible foe!?

Possibly, if they keep the power of FRIENDSHIP up like they are!

Especially as the Mega Amoeba rolls forwards, Miyu extending a hand - the circle appearing under the Amoeba! "My word! What would that be, darling? I don't even know!" AND THEN THEY ARE DISRUPTED! Pieces of them shudder and shake about, the Mega Amoeba's power being forced outwards and seeming to shrink... OR IS IT SHRINKING!?

Oh no! The top of a Fire Hydrant is given a SHOWER, the blade of the polearm causing water to gush and splash down upon the Mega Amoeba - as water fills their eyes, they close them! It's too much for them, too much! Just too much!

A sudden surge of Amoeba is easily washed away from the assault, leaving the Amoeba - in a bad position. OR IS IT!?

"HEY! It's 3 against 2. W estill out nukmber you, we still out number you~! So... where'd you all go?" The Amoeba Boys then suddenly begins to focus on multiplying, body swelling, surging as the DIRTY WATER that comes from the hydrant is infused into itself!

COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Fungal Growth on Raikari Shinkyou. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Make My Monster Mitosis! on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou narrowly dodges The Amoeba Boys's Fungal Growth, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

"Why?" Nanoha's voice is pleading, yet firm. The blonde's hesitant refusal to answer urging the young mage to press her demand. Why. She just wants to know why. Why she has to be fighting Fate every time she sees her. The conflicts beginning to stir within the barrier make this a less than ideal place to chat, as Fate negates the impact of her fire, and Nanoha's gaze is drawn to the Tower as well, but right this second her focus is on her rival. "I can't just give them to you... I made a promise to Yuuno- to Alyce. They're dangerous- you know that, don't you?" But she can continue no further. Gasping again, suddenly forced to take wing and graze the inbound projectiles, scoring and marking up her Barrier Jacket with scorches and scuffs, grunting in pain as one even punches her in the side, her own counter fire whizzing forth in the form of several more pink spheres, before she halts herself, stomping in the air onto the pink glowing rune that forms beneath her feet, Raising Heart already in Cannon Mode, and her finger is on the trigger. A glowing orb of mana begins to gather, coalescing at the tip of her Device as she take aim. "Please... Why won't you talk to me?!" Demanded as she squeezes on the trigger, yielding a ~CLICK~ and chime. <STUN SHOT.> And unleashing a ray of pink concussive force.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Stun Shot on Fate Testarossa. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa fails to dodge Nanoha Takamachi's Stun Shot, taking 19 Fatigue damage!

"I know! I know they're dangerous!" It's kinda obvious.

"But... it's... it's to make someone I care about... really happy..." Words. Nanoha has gotten words out of Fate. That's a great start, isn't it? It's no name, it's no critical tactical information, but it's useful for someone like her.

"That's why I...!"

Nanoha's careful and powerful shot punches through the autoprotection, and Fate barely manages to stay upright in the air. Her cape tattered and Barrier Jacket damaged, she starts panicking. Is she wasting time? She's wasting time. SHE'S WASTING TIME. This is bad.

"That's why I can't let you have them!"

<PHOTON LANCER. PHALANX SHIFT.>

Dozens and dozens of those photon orbs appear around Fate, forming a large square formation. She points Bardiche forward, still in its spear mode. "FIRE!"

The orbs start machinegunning towards Nanoha. They're not bullets, they're cannons. The orbs are firing bright spears of lightning towards the other girl, countless times, without aim or accuracy. It's the sheer amount of magical fire going on that's dangerous. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift on Nanoha Takamachi. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi accepts Fate Testarossa's Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift, taking 57 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

Adrenaline is allowing Maron to skip thinking too much about what's going on right now, but it's also causing a distinct lack of focus. Failing to properly fear for her life in this situation is what allows her to keep acting the way she is, but then again, sometimes fear is a good thing. Though in all honesty... she'd have to say that she prefers to be surrounded by fighting than how things were just moments ago. When she was suddenly completely alone.

It's certainly gotten livelier now, if not in the best of ways. She's surprised to see that the knight is apparently concerned enough to purposely attempt to defend her, though. That position must have been deliberate. Normally she'd probably complain that she can take care of herself, but... let's be honest, right now she totally can't. Not against the powers that are getting swung around right now. And the girl with the hammer doesn't seem like the kind that can be reasoned with.

Argent even goes so far as to offer her a lift. While appreciated, all Maron can say about that at the moment is, "Don't think about that right now! Watch out, she's coming again!" She quickly ducks back behind the pillar, trying not to think about how little protection that would actually offer her from a magical hammer. Ugh, being helpless is awful. Isn't there anything she can do?

Crap, it's only getting bigger now!

Frowning even more, Miyu reaches out into thin air, and in a blurr of code, her scythe appears in her hand. Then with a fancy flourish, she sweeps it around and grips it in both hands before leaning forward, "Port...!"

And then she disappears with about audiable BLIP! before reappearing next to the Amoeba Boys with her blade sweping down to cut into his... um... membrane.

The attack doesn't stop there as she BLIP!s out of existance again and appears from another angle with a second sweeping strike, before BLIP!ing yet again. Over and over this goes on, growing faster and faster as she keeps Telespamming all around the Amoeba Boys to cut them down to size, before finally appearing back down on street level with her blade held behind her back, "DRIVER!"

COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has used Port Driver on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking.

Signum is deflected back, rather solidly actually--the jabs deflected, once, but the other two scoring solid hits. Gritting her teeth, Signum doesn't relinquish her grip on her weapon. No call this time, but Laevatein senses her intent, her desire, and that action racks back and forth again.

*cha-CHUNK* A bright pink triangle, the borders made of ornate scribings, each point a circle of the same, springs out underneath her, spinning slowly. It isn't a Midchildan magic circle, that's for sure, as mana surges into her blade--this time in the form of pure flame, Signum reaching the weapon back--

--and then slashing it forward once, even as the polearm is making one last strike. The flames are temporary, dissipating as Signum resolves to stay in 'her range', feinting a slash with laevatein--trying to shift Alyce to Signum's left--so that she can abort that attack and instead drive the scabbard of her weapon around in an opposing motion, aimed squarely for Alyce's temple.

COMBAT: Signum has used Scabbard Bash on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly braces Signum's Scabbard Bash, taking 5 Fatigue damage!

"Oh for the love of..." Raikari wheels around and dives to the side as the blob starts to expand, rolling out of the way of the sloshing surge of fungal expansion. The evasive move gets her clear and she rolls up onto her feet and into a ready stance again. Looks waaaaaaaaay up at the now even more swollena and bloated creature they are fighting.

"Time to pop this thing like the giant ugly zit it looks like." Because you know how much time teenagers have to dedicate to popping such gross things. Even ones that aren't obsessive about their looks.

Armored boots kick off the pavement as Raikari jumps to the nearby wall, legs compressing against the surface just long enough to push off from it and use the wall-jumping maneuver to get better upward distance. As she arcs into the air she hefts her weapon up overhead, a bit of code energy gathering in the blade before she brings it slashing down towards their opponent, from the opposite side as Miyu is striking from.

COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has used Halberd Slash on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys accepts The Amoeba Boys's Make My Monster Mitosis!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to The Amoeba Boys! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys perfectly counters Raikari Shinkyou's Halberd Slash, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys's counterattack, Million Mitosis March, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Raikari Shinkyou! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Miyu Oyanagi's Port Driver, taking 8 Fatigue damage! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates!

Words... Words are all Nanoha wants. She just wants this girl to (seriously stop shooting) and tell her everything. "Someone you... Care about?" Again, Nanoha presses the subject, lowering her Device a fraction, trustingly. But... Fate is set on her course. There's no backing down from either girl, and Nanoha is left gaping when she's suddenly beset by so much firepower. "A-ah.."

"Raising Hear-" <PROTECTI--> Before master or Device can act, before a shielf can be raist, Nanoha is drowned in a deluge of lightning and fire, tiny body jerking with each impact that puts dents and scores in her armor, guantlets crack, Barrier Jacket shredding and burning with a tiny cry- almost drowned out by the swarm of pain that sends her groundwards in a barely conscious and uncontrolled spiral, at top speed. Smashing clean through a building wall, punching through level after level after level with little more than a single 'k-kya!', kicking up choking clouds of dust and debris that make her landing place difficult to spot.

Argent's azure gaze is lofty and stern and entirely unimpressed by Vita's rather lackluster verbal counter. "As you wish," she replies, "as I see there are no words worth sparing on the likes of you." Maron turns down her offer to return her to the ground, instead shouting at her to essentially worry about herself and focus on the enemy. Silently, Argent approves of her bravery; no doubt there's good reason she was drawn into this barrier. Vita has plenty of bravery too, albeit of a more reckless kind, the way she charges at her. Argent moves to counter her attack with a twist of her spear--but that attack has considerable force, and with Argent bearing the burden of battle, her partner hiding somewhere in the confines of her mind while weapons and blood fly, Argent's attack is too slow. That hammer falls on her arm, and she cries out sharply as it *wrenches* it down very painfully, indeed making her drop her weapon... which is promptly snatched up by her other hand, glittering back into a shield held by its edge. And true to her word that she would shut up, the silver-haired woman says nothing: she simply gathers magical power into that round barrier, which glows and pulses, and then contemptuously attempts to smack Vita in the face with it sideways. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has used Cor Destructum on Vita. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has finished attacking. COMBAT: Vita perfectly counters Yukimi Amane's Cor Destructum, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! COMBAT: Vita's counterattack, Panzerhindernis, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Yukimi Amane!

Raikari and Miyu are not /on the attack/. It's really quite a sight - it's a pity that the Amoeba boys can't see it right now! Growing ever larger, the massive yellow blow with /three/ hats at the top ( all stylish ) and a cute looking face... screams as Raikari begins to kick forwards, arcs into the air. The code energy gathers in the blade before it's slashed downwards and - OH NO IS THAT LOADS OF AMOEBAS!? The blade and the sudden surge of Amoeba's from part of the Mega Amoeba may push Raikari off, but she wouldn't likely feel the terrible after effects that come from loads of Amoeba - OR WOULD SHE!? The goop keeps going, flooding down towards Raikari as more and more Amoeba's mean MORE AND MORE MITOSIS! It's like a growing wave before it washes against and would likely ... stop?

It's only so powerful, after all.

Still, next comes Miyu - the sudden slashes and teleportating - honestly unecessary but /amazingly stylish/ on the blind Amoeba. It's really quite /terrifying/. "Haha~! We caught you! ... Well it didn't hurt! So it musta worked! Ya'll - oh wait there's two of you AAAAH!" Suddenly Miyu lays into the thing, slashing, cutting them down to size! Pieces of them begin to be sheared away but - it's surprisingly resistant, like cutting into jello or molassus. A combination of. It jiggles from the final strike - as Miyu appears before them, on street level.

"Wooaaaah... so dizzy...." Blind still - the Amoeba tried to follow her - and crashes over, fallling... falling... falling. Onto Miyu.

COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Million Mitosis March on Raikari Shinkyou. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Mega Mitosis Mash on Miyu Oyanagi. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi narrowly dodges The Amoeba Boys's Mega Mitosis Mash, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Miyu Oyanagi's Fade ability activates! Cripple applied to Miyu Oyanagi! COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou narrowly counters The Amoeba Boys's Million Mitosis March, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Raikari Shinkyou's Tactician ability activates! Blind, Stagger, Tangle, and Trap applied to Raikari Shinkyou! COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou's counterattack, Breaker Blastwave, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to The Amoeba Boys!

Vita sees that shield, so deftly switched hands, coming up towards her face. "Eisen!" She shouts. <<Jawohl!>> is the instant reply, and a glowing red triangle blossoms in front of her as she brings the hammer up defensively, spinning and covered in ancient arcane runes. Argent's shield impacts Vita's barrier and clangs off harmlessly in a shower of magical sparks, even as Vita is already taking off, away from the tower.

She covers a good number of yards quickly, putting some distance between her and her opponent, before swirling about in the air, lace-edged skirts swirling. Her hand snaps up, and between her fingers little metal balls pop into being with little *pings* of magical energy. Like ball bearings, but about the size of ping-pong balls. "I've got no time for fancy talk!" She sneers, throwing the balls up into the air in a narrow spread, three of them. She spins in place, swinging Eisen out in an arc, and he impacts all three balls, shouting out <<Schwalbefliegen!>>

Instantly, the metallic spheres turn into points of red light hurtling back down towards Striker Argent like missiles that zig and zag through the air, unerringly towards their target!

COMBAT: Vita has used Schwalbefliegen on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Vita has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane narrowly braces Vita's Schwalbefliegen, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Vita is Psyched! Yukimi Amane's Block ability activates! Yukimi Amane's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Yukimi Amane!

Barely seven years old, and Alyce was able to tell if a spell was formulated incorrectly. Silver Wind always tried to correct her on her attitude regarding it. Barely graduated no more than a day from her magic academy, and the Time-Space Administration Bureau came calling as soon as they could, looking to recruit her. Her teachers saw it. The Bureau saw it: She has an impressive talent for understanding spell construction.

Master Sergeant Alyce Ducati's eyes widen in shock as she sees it up close. The ornate triangle and it's light. The weapon. No way, that's ... not even...

"That can't be--"

And then, instinct and reflexes override conscious thought. Her arm comes up to defend her from the stunning head blow, and instead the scabbard of the sword cracks across her forearm. Alyce lets out a stunned cry before racking into one of the railings that offer protection near the elevator.

Her head turns in time to see brilliant lights and explosive damage being dealt. Through the pain in her arm, she manages a quick, "Nanoha...!!"

Favoring her left arm, Alyce brings her staff around in a wide gesture, releasing a bolt of silver from the length. "Fire!!" she yells, attempting to keep her composure.

<Silver Bullet!!>

With an impressive blast, a fairly simple and straightforward bolt of magic rockets through the air, attempting to strike Signum head-on... and tracking her movements, should she try to avoid it!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Bullet on Signum. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking. COMBAT: Signum perfectly dodges Alyce Ducati's Silver Bullet, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Signum's Flash ability activates!

The massive blob collapses in slow motion, crushing everything in it's path, and Miyu disappears beneath it's massive blobby body... only to appear with yet another BLIP! several moments later on the framework of the Tokyo Tower, covered in... Amoeba Stuff.

"Eeeew... gross. I think that's enough getting up close and personal for now..."

With a wave of her hand, Miyu summons another small code circle in the air, and from it emerges a ball of swirling code that covers in the air before Miyu throws her hand forward, "SEEKER PROGRAM!"

And in response, the little ball of code launches off, zigzagging wildly as it bears down on the Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has used Seeker Program on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking.

That... maybe she overdid it a bit. But she did warn about not holding back next time.

"Bardiche, find her." <YES SIR. AREA SEARCH COMMENCE.>

Tiny yellow orbs of magic shoot down into the dust cloud, attempting to locate Nanoha. Fate nervously looks about; there's other fights going on still. She really just wants to leave and not get involved, but it's not looking too great on that angle. Actually, it's looking really awful, especially if she can't find Nanoha.

It doesn't help a large part of her feels awful about hurting someone like that. But, it's all for Mother's sake. That's more important than anything.

Signum switches gears in an instant. Almost before Alyce is done speaking, Signum takes off--that bullet speeding for her--and finding nothing. Pink and silver swirl around each other for several swooping permutations, until the Wolkenritter finally calculates a proper intercept course, stops, turns, and slashes right through the mass of mana, dissipating it. As she spins back around towards Alyce, the edge of Laevatein trails the last of the manabullet off--like smoke, or dust, dissipating slowly.

But she doesn't lunge for the TSAB mage, not yet. Instead... momentarily, solid pink energy forms in thick bands around Alyce's position. Unless she avoids, well... those bonds will snap into place around the Sergeant, binding her physically and magically.

Even as she's doing this, Signum is thinking at Vita. >>Vita, status report.<< COMBAT: Signum has used Binding Magic on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati fails to dodge Signum's Binding Magic, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Stagger, Stun, and Trap applied to Alyce Ducati!

In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best method to try and cut them back down to size. The goo literally sprays out of the Amoeba, not doing a lot of damage but it's enough to plaster the unicorn-girl away with the flow. "Eeeeeew!" That's gross even for someone that's not a girly girl of a girl. At least she manages to flip on the rebound and land, but that spray is still gushing all over the place.

"Breaker Blastwave!" Raikari swings her weapon, releasing the energy built up in the blade into an arcing surge through the air to slice through the torret of sludge! Which just splatters on her all the more as it does more to disperse the gusher instead of stop it. Now she's just dripping in amoeba goo, and looking very cross about it. With a snarl she spreads her construct wings and launchs into the air, wingspan allowing her to hover briefly as she reachs the peak of her ascent. "Fine, then. Two can play at the numbers game. Energy cascades out along her wings, until it crackles off and forms multiple replica images of herself.

"KAGAMI STAMPEDE!"

As one the cluster of armored unicorn girls drop back down, intent on repeatedly pummeling the disgusting blob thing.

COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has used Kagami Stampede on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Miyu Oyanagi's Seeker Program, taking 2 Fatigue damage! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Raikari Shinkyou's Kagami Stampede, taking 5 Fatigue damage! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates! Tangle applied to The Amoeba Boys!

Maron can't see what's going on on the other side of the pillar, but she can hear. And what she hears doesn't sound good. The sounds of impact, followed by the cry of the knight... she was hurt, badly. And here she is, just... sitting there. Despite everything, she feels guilty for it. Just because she can't fight like this doesn't mean she should be sitting here not doing /anything/. It just doesn't feel right.

Things only get worse from there. One of Vita's missile-balls heads straight through the pillar Maron's hiding behind, making her let out a yelp at this confirmation of how useless this is for protection. Thankfully it went way over her head, but she's really just a sitting duck here.

Even so... the first thing she's concerned about is not her own safety. After all that, she's more concerned about how Argent's doing. Peeking her head out from behind the battered pillar, she takes quick stock of the situation. Hammer-girl has taken her distance for now... this might be the best chance she's going to get to make a difference, any kind of difference. There's only one thing that comes to mind. She gets back to her feet for it, leaning out as far she can without completely abandoning her cover.

"Hey! Come on, pull yourself together! I get it already, from the way you're acting... you're the good guy, she's the bad guy. And the good guys never lose! So go get her! If you put your mind to it, there's nothing you can't do!"

If it sounds like she really believes that with all her heart, that's because she does. They're the kind of thoughts that she constantly reminds herself of as well, to keep her going against all odds. If they might be able to help someone else, those words should be shared, no matter the risk she might be putting herself at in the process. COMBAT: Maron Kusakabe has used Strong and Serious, Matchless and Marvelous, Energetic and Courageous! on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Maron Kusakabe has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane accepts Maron Kusakabe's Strong and Serious, Matchless and Marvelous, Energetic and Courageous!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

The redheaded girl has good reflexes, to be able to counter that attack so perfectly. It doesn't even scratch her, and Argent's frown doesn't budge as the girl rockets away from the tower, turning only when she's created some distance between the two of them. "Obviously not," she remarks to no one in particular as Vita sets those metal balls in the air and hammers them down at the armored magical girl, transforming them into homing beams of erratic red light. Up comes the silver shield, a barrier magically extending across it to cover the various attacks. It gets most of them, but one does crash nearby after zipping around it, crashing nearby and sending debris towards Argent. She falls back, clutching her injured arm; that attack was sufficient that she can move it hardly at all. If nothing else, though, her attention is on her rather than Maron, which means that Argent can afford to chase her some--to get her back in a more comfortable range. Speaking of whom, when one of those orbs crashes not far from the brunette, she comes out of her spot to spare Argent some words of encouragement. She looks at her with some surprise--but then smiles warmly. The effusive declaration that good guys never lose is touching... even if it's patently untrue. Ah, to be young again. "Thank you," she tells Maron. "I shall do precisely that." Smile vanishing as she re-focuses on Vita, Argent launches into the air. She doesn't fly in the same way that the Wolkenritter does, but when one can run in midair, it's not as much as an impediment as one might think. Once she gets close enough in range, Argent switches her armament back into a spear, and with a kiai battle cry, she spins it and unleashes a small, brief barrage of magical spears upon the tiny warrior.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has used Silver Stream on Vita. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has finished attacking. COMBAT: Vita fails to brace Yukimi Amane's Silver Stream, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

The blob that is the MEGA AMOEBA is... apparently really hard to move.

One would not, perhaps, be surprised at this fact. It's really quite believable. Large, fat, and unassuming, the Mega Amoeba is perhaps a weapon that the Amoeba Boys /could use to be evil/. But in this case - it's because Vita told them to.

No really. That's the entire reason. Otherwise they'd be ineffective, hilarious, and somewhat cute. But what if the head falls!?

The Mega Amoeba rises up as it blinks, "Heeeeey! Where'd you all go! I thought I felt you there for a second, or did I squash a person - I'm sorry, but I'm not! But I am!" Which is sorry? Who even knows. Still, a seeker program zips off towards the Boys - and crashes into it's large fat as it simply takes the assault - the little ball of code melts away part of the Amoeba as it rocks from the force! There's just... a large, large amount.

Yet Raikari is unfortunately covered, even as the weapon is swung towards the oncoming flow of Amoebas! They flood about Raikari, making movement hard, making everything that much more difficult in her life - and they just hang on as she leaps away, and then flies about - before more and more Unicorn girls pummel - "HEY! Cut it out cut it out CUT IT OUT!" They all whine in unison as it acts like the worlds largest punching bag/inflatable clown. Back and forth they bounce, back and forth, before the Amoeba finally gets tired of it all - and pieces and parts of the Amoeba fling out towards Miyu, coating the battlefield!

Meanwhile...

The blob rolls forwards, onto Raikari, "WOAAAH! Get outta the way!" And TOPPLE they go.

COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Fungal Growth on Miyu Oyanagi. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Bowling Rolling on Raikari Shinkyou. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou fails to brace The Amoeba Boys's Bowling Rolling, taking 18 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi narrowly counters The Amoeba Boys's Fungal Growth, taking 0 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi's counterattack, Code Blast, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to The Amoeba Boys!

Vita stays where she is, hovering in the air a bit away from the tower, eyes tracking where the missiles she has launched impact. Most do little damage, but at least one hits her target, making her grin fiercely. "Heh heh.. piece of cake." She mutters.

Then those eyes widen as Argent suddenly appears out of the debris, charging for her, not flying but running on the air as if it were a solid platform. "Wha-" She starts to bring Graf Eisen up, but isn't quick enough.. the barrage of spears impact her, sending her rolling backwards through the air, shreds of her armored clothing fluttering down. Twisting in the air, she rights herself a few yard below, turning a face filled with murderous rage up upon Striker Argent, her eyes glowing bright blue. "Tch!"

She hears Signum's request for a report, and shoots back, her tone full of anger, >>Don't worry about me, I've got this!<<

COMBAT: Vita has used THE EYES on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Vita has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane narrowly braces Vita's THE EYES , taking 2 Fatigue damage! Yukimi Amane is Quipped! Yukimi Amane's Block ability activates! Yukimi Amane's Parry ability activates!

Alyce keeps her focus lined up on Signum, watching the bullet chase the pink-trailing woman down. As she does, she quickly brings her staff forward, extending her left arm and setting her palm against the length. Gritting and bearing with the pain, she starts to focus on her next spell-- and a scattered series of light-motes drift up through the air, scattering seemingly into the unknown.

Alyce's weight shifts, but it isn't enough. The magic tightly constricts around her, binding her from moving further. Her eyes close, her focus grows-- and she's /pushing/ against those bonds, tooth and nail. Seemingly randomized data starts to flow across the lit-up gem set into Silver Wind's head: Calculations. She's trying to figure out how to break herself free as quickly as she can, like it were some kind of math test and she's got thirty seconds to answer the question.

Her left arm-- injured as it is-- manages to pull itself into a straightened-out position, even with some effort. Her eyes open as she continues to hold her focus.

"I recognize that style-- who ARE you?!"

Then, her hand closes into a fist.

The aforementioned motes of light plunge down on command, attempting to bombard Signum with thin, stinging bolts of magic. On their own, they aren't too powerful... but collectively, it might prove to be a painful experience!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Needles on Signum. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking. COMBAT: Signum narrowly dodges Alyce Ducati's Silver Needles, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Signum's Flash ability activates!

The fungus spores fly forth, but this time Miyu is ready! Holding out both arms, she summons several code circles this time, creating what looks to be miniature versions of her Data Surge attack, small head sized balls of chaotically swirling code that orbit around each other. Then with a call of "CODE BLAST!" She sens the spheres hurtling forward, directly through the barrage and straight to the Amoeba Boys themselves.

By the time the spheres hit however, Miyu has vanished from her perch and appears directly behind her foe, slashing once as she dashes by with her scythe. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has used Code Scythe on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking.

Raikari Shinkyou just is not having one of the best nights here. This enemy is both tough to penetrate the defenses of and rediculously disgusting to have to contend with in general. Her assault of multiples lands, but then the thing rolls over and she gets stuck in it's goo, then plastered to the pavement underneath it. There is no number of ways to say 'Eeeew' to describe what this is like, though shouting 'I've been Slimed!' over and over does come to mind.

Squashed beneath the viscious girth she may be down and pinned, but she's not out. Being in a seemingly disadvantaged position only to find a way to turn it around in her favor is something that Raikari excelled at even before she became a magical girl.

With a grimace of focus she clenches her right hand into a fist, code energy cascading through the tron-line conduits until her entire gauntlet is glowing. Which she thrusts upward into the mass above her, trying to brute force her way past the blob's tough stretchy membrane exterior before opening up and releasing the pent up power hopefully past it's defenses.

COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has used Gaming The System on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Raikari Shinkyou's Gaming The System, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Raikari Shinkyou is Psyched! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys fails to dodge Miyu Oyanagi's Code Scythe, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

Once again, Signum finds herself dancing, twisting and turning, weaving and bobbing through the brief storm of silver energy--though several get through, scoring minor strikes against her Knight Armor. Coming to a halt, Signum's booted feet touch the observation deck floor, and she says, her voice husky, low, matter-of-fact: "You haven't earned my name yet."

While Alyce is struggling, at least a little, with those binds, Signum sets herself--crouching slightly, twisting to her left slightly... her scabbard appearing out of nowhere in her left hand, she sheathes her blade within it. There's a moment, a pure moment, where blue eyes meet Alyce's.

Alyce may read pity in there, and resolve, and any number of things--but there's no remorse in her at all. Not for this.

That moment stretches out into infinity for the two, though it really only occupies a second, at most, and then she lunges, her image blurring, the blade of Laevatein scraping from her scabbard as she just closes into range, a perfect iai-style cut aimed from Alyce's right hip up to her left shoulder.

COMBAT: Signum has used Flash Strike on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati fails to brace Signum's Flash Strike, taking 28 Fatigue damage!

Maron returns the given smile with her own, completely sure that Argent would think the same way she does. Because come on, she's a knight. Knights are supposed to be just like in the movies. Given no cause to believe otherwise, she watches as the fight is taken outside, to apparent success. She punches the air in celebration, even if nobody's probably paying attention to it.

...wow, this place is a mess. That's the first thing to come to mind, now that she can take a breather. How are they going to explain all THIS away? And what happened to all the people, anyway? A lot of thoughts swim through her mind, causing her to start absentmindedly pacing through the observatory deck, even though it's not like the battle out there is over.

Even when she does start paying attention again, she doesn't go back to hiding. Though naturally keeping her distance, she remains out of cover as she uses her binoculars to follow the battle going on out there, still having the utmost confidence that Argent will win in the end.

...she'd better win. She doesn't dare take the elevator after one of them blew up already. How else will she get down from here?

If Maron believes that Argent believes in her, then that's good enough! One of them should be keeping the torch of fervent hope alive. Argent is a stubborn woman and she's certainly not going to fall down easily, nor does she have any intentions of just giving up, but this is a powerful opponent and not a battle that will be easily won. It will, she knows, be a struggle to the end. She's well aware of that even when her barrage of magical spears strikes the tiny warrior, tearing her clothes (which as everyone knows in magical girl terms is /serious damage/), and so she is prepared for the counter--though she didn't expect something quite like this. Her eyes flash a brilliant blue, and while Striker Argent steels herself against them, there is something... unnerving about them. Teeth grit, still keeping herself between Vita and Maron down on the deck where she can do nothing but watch and wait (until whenever Finn gets her tiny angel butt over here), she leaps for the Wolkenritter, spear gripped with unwavering skill in both hands, aiming to run the shining weapon straight through the little warrior's defenses.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has used Shot Through the Heart (And Thou'rt To Blame) on Vita. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has finished attacking. COMBAT: Vita fails to brace Yukimi Amane's Shot Through the Heart (And Thou'rt To Blame), taking 14 Fatigue damage!

Vita is steeling herself, building herself up for something.. her rage reaching a boiling point inside her. Her enemy leaps for her, and she brings Eisen around again defense, but again she's too slow.. her attention too focused on her anger and not enough on her enemy. The spear impacts her, slamming into the side of her torso. It doesn't penetrate, but it does tear through her clothing, right down to the flesh, scoring a painful line against her side.

She spins away, hissing, her eyes positively on fire. "Oh, that's it. I'm done playing! EISEN!"

She holds her hammer aloft. <<Jawohl!>> is again the answer. The perforated section just below the hammerhead pumps up and down once, twice, three times with solid ch-chunks as cartridges are loaded into position. And then expended.

"GIGANTHAMMER!" Vita shouts, her voice full of fury, and Eisen echoes her enthusiastically, <<GIGANTHAMMER!>> Then the hammer grows. It seems to fold and expand outwards like a series of plates sliding over and through each other, bigger and bigger, the shaft growing longer, until Vita, all 4'6" of her, is holding a stick attached to a positively ludicrously large hammer - easily the size of a city bus. But she wields it with ease. It swings around, clipping Tokyo Tower int he process, sending a violent shudder through the whole building, before she brings it smashing down towards Striker Argent.. and everything beneath her.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Vita has used Giganthammer on Yukimi Amane. COMBAT: Vita has finished attacking. COMBAT: Yukimi Amane fails to brace Vita's Finisher, Giganthammer, taking 153 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Yukimi Amane is unable to keep fighting!

No. No, no, no, no, no, no-- <PROTEC--> It's too late.

Silver Wind cannot break the bindings fast enough. The magic circle for defense does not even have enough time to start /forming/ as the blade strikes out against the Sergeant. Her head snaps back, a choked noise passing from her throat as the stroke cuts straight through her barrier jacket. Droplets of red float like droplets before they lash across the top of the ruined elevator platform. Her legs give way, and the raw force of that single perfect strike takes the auburn brown-haired girl right off her feet.

Alyce the catwalk with an impressive crash, head turned away and laying still. Her breath comes in a few shallow gasps as it hurts to move, breathe, twitch, or even so much as /see/. She takes a mental checklist in a steady sequence: Her eyes are wet. Her arms and legs feel heavy. The catwalk feels cold. She can feel the blood in the cut.

Her hand is on the railing. Wait.

Her hand is on the railing?

The Sergeant's left hand, steady and unsure, indeed holds onto the safety rail. All of her instinct tells her to /get up/ even as her brain tells her to /stay down/. Alyce pulls, struggles, and finds her way up to her feet even as Signum's spell tries to keep her restrained. She's leaning on her staff for support, and she's breathing hard.

"I've had about enough of this witch," the Silver Mage says under her breath, ragged and exhausted. There's a smile on her face, albeit tired. "How about you?" <THRASHING AUTHORIZED!!>

A Mid-Childian magic circle suddenly unfolds beneath the wounded mage, spreading out to one, two, and then three layers, shining with silvery-white light. Hefting the staff, weak and unsteady, Alyce holds the Device out straight. A swell of light bound within a set of magical rings form in front of her. Quickly, the shine lights up the interior of the Tokyo Tower's open structure.

"Hark, the argent falcon!!" <SILVER WING...>

Together, they yell:

"CANNON!!" <CANNON!>

Alyce's left hand presses forward, and a blast of silver /explodes/ from the sphere, mana firing straight and true at Signum. It is, indeed, powerful enough that the discharge itself /sheds/ mana, the slivers of light fluttering off like feathers left in it's wake!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Alyce Ducati has used Silver Wing Cannon on Signum. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking. COMBAT: Signum narrowly dodges Alyce Ducati's Finisher, Silver Wing Cannon, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Signum's Flash ability activates!

The The spheres meet the fungal growths and blast them out of the /sky/ - and then impact, blowing chunks out of the Amoeba! Flabbergasted! The Amoeba is at least that as they all gasp - their success streak /suddenly broken so easily/. "Hey no way! We're doing great! We're just going to be villains! You can't stop us now!" There is a pause. "We think!" But finally - Miyu appears behind them.

Eh? What? Who?

"AHH GET AWAY!" Now able to see, and yet not, THEY LEAP - and reveal all their weaknes - Miyu SLASHES the Amoeba, The Amoeba taking the first notable massive strike upon the giant Mega Amoeba! At which point they reform and roll forwards away from them, staring back towards Raikari as they gasp and puff their mouth up! Well. Entire self up. It's getting BIGGER!?

They must, after all, because it's hopeless otherwise! ... Does the Amoeba look particularly unstable at that size, with those wounds?

Raikari doesn't seem to, however, as the fist with code energy slams into the jiggling mass - and sends the Amoeba growing larger, bowling backwards, as a wave of amoeba's suddenly flood towards Miyu - as if something was being planned!

Probably not, judging from the screams of the Amoeba.

COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Make My Monster Mitosis! on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys accepts The Amoeba Boys's Make My Monster Mitosis!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to The Amoeba Boys! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has used Million Mitosis March on Miyu Oyanagi. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys has finished attacking. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi narrowly dodges The Amoeba Boys's Million Mitosis March, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Miyu Oyanagi's Fade ability activates! Blind, Stagger, Tangle, and Trap applied to Miyu Oyanagi!

For a moment there. ... For a few minutes... Nanoha did, in fact, pass out. Bleary eyes blink open slowly as the battered and burnedgirl starts slowly coming to, though. <ARE YOU ALRIGHT?> Her Device, cracked and dented chimes ather. "Ah... Raising Heart..." <YOU MUST GET UP.SHE WILL FIND US IF YOU DO NOT.> She? That's right. Nanoha was fighting that girl again.That girl, who's name she doesn't even know. "Ah..." The girl who won't open up to her. Slowly, and with great pain, Nanoha starts picking herself up inside the building...Just as a mote of gold light finds her. But by then... It's too late.

There's no warning. Just a sudden,massive, pillar of pink that fires upwards at Fate.

<DIVINE BUSTER!>

Now the building explodes OUTWARDS, and from the rubble and debris, Nanoha limps out, battered, singed, the 'jacket' portion of herBarrier Jacket missing, leaving just the gold chestplate and shredded black upperwear, blood creeping down her forehead. "I... Don't want to fight. But you're not... Giving me any choice." You paged The Amoeba Boys with 'I only murdered one of them! But it was a good murdering.' COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Buster: Shoot on Fate Testarossa. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa accepts Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Buster: Shoot, taking 63 Fatigue damage!

To an outside observer, Signum might appear to just... disappear within that blaze of silver energy. That bright, huge beam seems to erase her from existence. Only Vita would know, immediately, that she is not only still alive, but still pretty hale.

A closer examination of the moment would see Signum blurring out of the way--mostly--though her legs do get caught in the blast. When the energy clears, the skirt of her armor is steaming and smoking, shredded, residual energy leaking off her like smoke. Battered, for sure--her Knight Armor showing the collection of damage--but unbowed.

"Laevatein! Cartridge Load!"

Once again, the 'voice' of that Armed Device rings out, stern and metallic. >>Jawohl!!<<

That action racks back once--*cha-CHNK*

--and twice--*ch-CHNK*

--and the surge of mana is palpable, flaring around the pink-haired Wolkenritter, a licking, coruscating aura that expands around her... then shrinks away into the sword.

"Schlangeform!" commands Signum, snapping the weapon up, and once again it separates into those segments--swirling in an impossible manner, forming a tornado around her. Then all that mana flares up higher--and the entire length of that whip-blade flares in hissing magic fire.

Signum jets back for a second--and then she whips her weapon forward, the blade hissing and spitting as her voice rings out: "HIRYU... ISSEN!!!" And that sectioned blade will arrow in, reaching out, impossibly long, seeking to end this fight. It won't just cut--it'll explode in a fiery burst of mana as well.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Signum has used Hiryu Issen on Alyce Ducati. COMBAT: Signum has finished attacking. COMBAT: Alyce Ducati fails to dodge Signum's Finisher, Hiryu Issen, taking 53 Fatigue damage! Alyce Ducati is unable to keep fighting!

Gah! So many amoebas! So gross!

As Miyu gets mobbed by the icky tings, she concentartes for a brief moment, then BLIP!s away, appearing once more further down the street with her blade at the ready as she stares down the giant blob.

"It is time to end this..."

Lines of code begin to travel up her arms as she invokes her power before drawing her hand across the crescent edge of her scythe. As she does so, the code leaps from her arm and into the weapon, causing it to glow a radiant magenta as she prepares herself...

Then suddenly, she vanishes only to reappear above the Amoeba Boys, descending from above with her blazing scythe cleaving down with an overhead blow.

"CODESLICER!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Miyu Oyanagi has used Codeslicer on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Miyu Oyanagi has finished attacking.

Maron's eyes go wide as she watches Vita make her hammer grow. "No way..." When the hammer impacts the tower shortly after, the tremors cause her to almost lose her balance, but she manages to stay standing throughout it. What it does do is make her miss what actually happened. She quickly brings the binoculars back up and refocuses... but she can't see Argent out there anymore.

"No way..." Repeating this again, in spite of everything, she rushes forward as far as she can, looking around to try and find where Argent went. When she can't manage to do so within the next five seconds, her heart sinks. "It can't be..." This doesn't make any sense. Why does the battle look over? What happened to the good always triumphs thing? So many questions... and only one person who could answer them, the girl with the big hammer. And it would probably be really stupid idea to ask her.

So naturally, since Maron isn't exactly thinking straight at the moment, this is exactly what she does, turning her disbelieving eyes on Vita. "What happened? Where did... where did she go?" As much as she fears the answer, not knowing is worse.

Bardiche doesn't even have time to warn Fate. One minute she's trying to stare intensely hard through the rubbles and dust, the next it's like starring into a pink flashlight. Life is a nightmare, especially when the flashlight walks up to her and punches her in the gut. Metaphorically. Literally she's just engulfed in a massive pink laser. It, predictably, sucks.

Her Barrier Jacket is practically seared off her body. The cape is gone, the skirt is more like tatters, parts of her socks, gloves and leotard are missing. Yeah, it's not looking too good for her.

<UNABLE TO SUSTAIN BARRIER JACKET. PLAN, SIR?> "We just... we'll do what Linith said. One blast!" <YES SIR. SPARK SMASHER.>

A massive orb of yellow light forms up in front of Fate. It's nothing compared to the Divine Buster, but it's the same category of spell. A notch or two below, though. She lifts Bardiche up, with what strength she has left. By now, its fins have shut down, though it remains in spear mode for casting purposes.

"I'm... I'm sorry, but... I can't afford that! I'll be... taking one of your Jewel Seeds now! SEALING! SPARK SMASHER!"

Fate slams the spear into the orb, which breaks. The light disperses, shooting down a massive beam of yellow mana surrounded by purple lightning towards Nanoha, but more importantly, targetting Raising Heart's systems. It's trying to draw out one of the internalized Jewel Seeds, while causing as much damage as possible.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Spark Smasher on Nanoha Takamachi. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to counter Fate Testarossa's Spark Smasher, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Nanoha Takamachi is unable to keep fighting! COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Heavy Laser, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!

Done playing indeed. Argent's eyes widen, lips parting, as Vita summons the power to create a hammer as large as a city bus, plates connecting and interconnecting until it easily dwarfs them both and blocks out the light of the moon. Her immediate reaction when the little warrior swings it down is of course to create a magical barrier with which to defend herself. It shatters almost instantly. With a scream, Argent rockets down through the tower, metal twisting and shrieking as she and the hammer tear through it. When she stops moving, she is cradled there somewhere beneath the layers of steel. Where exactly she is cannot immediately be seen, but rest assured, wherever she is, she no doubt is not moving.

And with that Raikari is able to get out from under the unstable mass of amoeba as well, though she's still rather well slimed from the ongoing fight. Ick ick ick. And it won't shake off, either!

Being sour about being a mess gets interrupted by her friend's comment though, bringing her back to the task at hand. "I think you're right..." Eyes narrow to slits behind her visor as she grips her polearm in both hands, studying the mass of the Amoebas briefly. It's swollen up huge... but it's cohesion seems to be suffering from it. If they can hit it in just the right spot....

With a running start Raikari launchs herself towards the Ameoba fusion, energy gathering in the blade of her weapon until it's glowing almost blindingly bright. As she springs towards her foe the radiant energy is practically bleeding off the polearm as she hefts it and makes a downward right to left slash. ""ULTIMATE..." Then spins around to making another diagonal cut from the other side, leaving a glowing X in its wake. "COMBO...". Raikari spins her weapon around, and with a mighty lunge stabs the center of the formation, releasing all that pent up energy of hope and light at the impact of the thrusting strike. "BREEEEAKERRRRRR!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Raikari Shinkyou has used Ultimate Combo Breaker on The Amoeba Boys. COMBAT: Raikari Shinkyou has finished attacking. COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Miyu Oyanagi's Finisher, Codeslicer, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: The Amoeba Boys narrowly braces Raikari Shinkyou's Finisher, Ultimate Combo Breaker, taking 51 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! The Amoeba Boys is unable to keep fighting! The Amoeba Boys's Block ability activates! The Amoeba Boys's Parry ability activates! [OOC] The Amoeba Boys oh good lord!

No way, she's--

Already she tries to identify the spell. Already, she tries to think of a dozen ways to stop Signum before it's too late. However, she's too battered-- too esxhausted-- and she tries to pull away. She honestly does. She pushes, she moves, but the spellblade assault of the Cloud Knight is too furious and far too fast.

Alyce is engulfed in the blazing, bladed inferno for longer than she would like before the spell reaches it's climax-- before the explosive burst that launches her clear over the rails and off into the sky. Plummeting down to Earth, her eyes are only partially open as she sees the line of the nearby horizon getting lower, lower, lower...

<SAFETY!!>

Taking action, the Intelligent Device manages to deploy three bands of magic. In this state, the Sergeant can't adjust her trajectory or even pretend that she can land on her feet. She hits the first band hard. The second band slightly less hard. The third band catches her weight, but it still isn't enough to keep the landing from being /hard/.

The silvery-white overcoat is torn and frayed, while the blue jacket underneath is all but tatters hanging from her shoulders. Her sleeves have large holes from burns and blades, the stockings on her legs torn and her boots a mess of mana-synthesized leather and rubber coming apart at the seams.

Her turtleneck is, for the most part, intact... though the broad slash from shoulder to hip shows a lash of skin and a slick of red. Through the haze and the pain, Alyce opens her eyes, but... everything is ... really blurry. Her head still tilts. Crap, she thinks to herself. Nanoha... Nanoha.

Vita is panting after her swing of the massive hammer. She brings it back up, shards of metal and debris raining off of its bulk, but its already shrinking, the process reversing until she small girl holds the same hammer she started with in her hand, lowered now so its head points towards the ground. There's a hiss of steam as the spent energy vents, small clouds spitting out from the perforations above the handle. Three cartridge shells eject, clattering off of the metal after they spring from the hammer's haft.

Vita hears Maron's shakey question, turning her eyes, blue but no longer glowing with that fathomless rage, on her. "Down in the dirt, where she belongs." She spits, still bleeding from the cut in her side. But she has no time for this civilian right now- to the victor goes the spoils! She takes off downward, following the path of her hammer through the twisted metal, until she reaches the impact point.

Alighting upon a twisted beam above the unmoving body of Striker Argent, she holds out her hand. And it appears: The Book of Darkness warps into being above her open palm. Every mage there can feel it, no doubt, an oppressive, dark presence, though it is likely stronger for the Midchildans. "Absorb." Vita solmenly commands the book, and it snaps open, showing blank pages. Streams of energy begin to snake upwards from her defeated foe, and the pages of the book fill with arcane words, one at a time, snapping to a new page each time the previous is full of text. It lasts only a few moments though, a handful of pages filled. And then it is over, and the book snaps shut above her hand again.

>>Vita. I've defeated my opponent.<< Signum isn't exactly -unhurried-, but she certainly intends to take a moment, tracking where Alyce has gotten to--and then flying in that direction, sheathing her weapon as she goes. It's a matter of moments before she arrives at the location of the crumpled mage.

Though Alyce is clearly insensate, Signum speaks anyways. "My apologies. But it was necessary..." Holding her right hand out, palm up, she issues a request to the Book of Darkness.

>>Come to me.<<

The Book appears in her hand--well, floating above it, actually--and with a rustling sound it flips open, pages flipping to an open page--and then Signum gestures with her left hand, and a tight, glowing silver sphere rises out of Alyce's chest.

>>Absorb,<< requests the Wolkenritter, and, obediently, black reach out--pulling that silver energy towards it, the two intermingling halfway there.

Linker Core Absorption is a painful thing, so Alyce may actually have some cause to be glad she's knocked out--the whole process isn't instantaneous, but it is decently fast.

It's getting quite, and suddenly, hectic. Bouncing around, the Mega Amoeba is seemingly about to blow! Growing far too large, the amount of energy that is swelling within is, to any eyes, growing far too much for such novices to villainry to control! Can the heroes defeat it in time!?

Miyu BLIPs away from the assault, the lines of code beginning to travel up over Miyu's arms before the scythe glows as well - and then RIGHT ABOVE THE AMOEBA!

There is a comical cry from the three amoeba's as they, as one, look up and flail their short, stubby arms.

The blade slams down through the Amoeba's, cutting and cleaving, but seemingly doing nothing. The same time as Raikari charges in towards the Mega Amoeba, springing forwards, blade glowing blindingly bright - and then slashes, twice, before slamming it into the middle of the Amoeba.

Eyes go wide, hats shudder, and the massive yellow Amoeba glows, brighter and brighter and!!!

POOF/BOOM/CRASH!

The Amoeba glows so bright it's almost like it vanishes, melting away like it was burning away by such energy, and..

SPLAT. SPLAT. SPLAT.

Three Amoeba's crash down besides Miyu and Raikari. Blue, Green and Pink. [

Nanoha is wobbling. But she sees the condition Fate is in, as well. It's all down to one final blast. Trembling hands hoist Raising Heart to bear, finger on the trigger again. Already, pink light is gathering at the head of her Device. But as she fires, she is swarmed in a deluge of golden light. "N... Nh.-- ah!" The ground craters, eruptions of pavement and concrete all around her before Nanoha goes down in a tiny Nanoha-shaped crater of her own. "Bu... But..." She simply can't weather the blast, head gently thumping to the ground as she loses consciousness. <THAT IS E-E-ENOUGH.> The battered and cracked staff in her hands chimes in a staticy fizzle.

<RELEASE JEWEL SEED.>

With an audible gleam, the cracked red gem spits free a tiny blue jewel, conceding this sound defeat in order to protect her wielder, crimson numerals forming in a soft light against the pristine surface breifly.

XXI

Fate is by Nanoha as soon as she can be. She's battered, bruised, is missing over half of her Barrier Jacket, but she is still standing, so that's what matters. She extends Bardiche forward.

<INTERNALIZE NUMBER XXI.>

And just like that, the glowing, beautiful blue jewel is sucked into the cracked spear, which snaps back into its default, poleaxe mode. Fate avoids eye contact AT ALL COSTS, just sort of... glancing at the floor. Really hard.

"Sorry... I..."

Nope, no time to finish that. The blonde's red eyes lock onto the silver glow in the distance. That's... what's going on over there? She knows enough about magic to recognize it, but... oh that's. Definitely not good.

LET'S NOT STICK AROUND. JEWEL SEEDS ARE OBVIOUS TOO.

Fate moves forward, and starts lifting Nanoha up. Half remorse, half pity. She doesn't want her caught by whatever the heck is going on inside the barrier still. Enough harm for one day, really. She feels bad about the beating. She'll just... anywhere is better than here.

"W-We need to... Bardiche, take us through the barrier." <YES SIR. DIMENSIONAL TRANSFER.>

Nanoha, Raising Heart, Fate and Bardiche are wrapped in golden light, and turn into a powerful lightning bolt, which strikes upwards and cracks its way out of the barrier, and then back down elsewhere in Tokyo.

As Vita calls up the Book of Darkness, the silver knight's magic flows into the horrible artifact. Striker Argent twitches, teeth grit in defiance even in her unconscious state, but this is a battle already lost. The pages fill, and when Vita makes her leave, a cloud of steam emanates from the magical girl's body, obscuring her from view. At whatever point it clears away, she is gone.

Vita confirms Maron's fears. Down in the... that's... that's a long way down. And Vita proceeds to rush down there herself afterwards. Maron's eyes go wide, and she stretches out an arm after the hammer-wielding girl, pointless though the gesture may be. "N-no, don't!" Of course, she thinks Vita is going to go land the finishing blow. "Please..." Powerless to do anything, once more. Maron sinks to her knees, tears forming in her eyes.

But that doesn't last very long. She has to keep hope alive. As long as she doesn't know for sure, there might still be hope! Quickly getting back to her feet, she starts running for a non-broken elevator. She's already forgotten about any risk there might be. She has to try. If there's any chance that she can make some kind of difference still...!

Impatiently, she starts hitting the elevator call button over and over. "Come on, come on!" Is it even still working at all? It /is/ moving, but she's too upset to even take notice. "Hurry up, your stupid elevator!" She delivers a swift kick to the door, which naturally does nothing. It doesn't even make her feel any better. Then, in a much softer tone, "...you'd better be alright..."

A few residue wisps of fading energy trail off Combo Breaker's blade as Raikari lowers it, staring at the three normal sized blobs that splatter to the pavement after the giant one detonated from all the damage. "Eeew, so gross still!" It's a rare moment of actually sounding girly and fussy for her.

Followed by more muttering under her breath as she grabs a wad of amoeba goo with one hand and tries to pull it free of her hair. "This is just wrong on so many levels."

Hopping away from Raikari, the three small blobs LEG IT. Or rather wisp and retreat, screaming and flailing as they attempt to escape the barrier!

THEY'RE TOO SCARY. The Amoeba Boys Miyu and Raikari that is.

The stimulus is enough to make even Alyce's unconscious form hitch from the pain of having her Linker Core exposed and then drained, the energy siphoned off into the book. The Intelligent Device attempts to compensate, of course, to try to stop it, but with an unconscious and severely wounded user... it does not work, at all.

The gemstone set into the head of the staff loses luster. The whispered moans of pain give her nothing, and take nothing.

When she wakes up, she is going to have a thousand questions and almost no answers. Chief among them:

Where is Nanoha?

Vita lowers her arm as the absorbtion is complete, and the book vanishes, called away by Signum to absorb its second victim of the evening. She heaves a small sigh. For a moment, she almost looks.. contrite. Even worried. But she banishes any doubts with a quick shake of her head, red braids whirling. She pushes off the girder she's standing on, rocketing back up into the air. >>Me too, Signum. I'm a little scratched up, but nothing Shamal won't be able to fix. I think we did good tonight!<< The writer of those mysterious letters once again has proved trustworthy. Even if something feels... off about them.

As she rises into the sky, she can't help but look around for Nanoha, trying to see what happened to her. But she and Fate are already gone. A slight frown touches her lips.. it's probably for the better. Having that girl see her in her moment of bloody victory would seem.. wrong, somehow. It would make it feel bad.

Turning, Vita begins to arc through the sky, away from the tower. >>I'm heading back, Signum! I'll check on Hayate, you handle cleaning up. Hey.. do you think I could get another parfait with Hayate tomorrow?! Because we did so good..<<

Alyce's Core collected, Signum regards her would-be opponent for a moment, pity showing through for a moment. Then she tucks the Book of Darkness under one arm...

...and rockets off into the sky. She, after all, can get through Vita's barrier pretty easily. >>Vita. I'm returning home as well. Good work.<< A moment's consideration, then she smiles, faintly.

>>If Hayate allows it.<< Which she will, of course. Cleanup? Fortunately for the property damage, that'll all be reversed once the barrier falls. Except for the damage to, you know, the people. But them's the breaks, as they say.

As both Vita and Signum leave the scene of the battle, the barrier vanishes. People return, damage to buildings is wiped away. The only signs the confrontation took place are the bodies of the unconscious, laying where they fell.. no doubt soon to be noticed, and ambulances summoned. Maron might be surprised to suddenly find herself in a fully working elevator in a fully repaired Tower amidst hundreds of people again.