2013-11-11 - Red Carnation - That's No Zaku! Defeat the Armored Otaku!
| Title: Red Carnation - That's No Zaku! Defeat the Armored Otaku! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: A fight with a crazed Otaku in a cardboard costume who is more than he seems! | |
| Who: Madobe Kuroi, Sakura Akagi, Erika Inagawa, Suzu Hamasaki, Fuu Hououji, Tomomi Shizuka, Kinzo Hiroyuki | |
| Where: Akihabara Electric Town | |
| OOC - IC Date: 11/11/2013 - 10/16/2013 | |
Shitamachi Low City
Akihabara Electric Town
Brave Akihabara, holy land of nerds, Akihabara of the cartoony signs and
gumball-machine colors. One can buy anything in Akihabara, as long as it is
computer gear, electronics or anime merchandise. The main strip is the
glitziest, with a large percentage of the visible building faces covered in
electronic signs, huge posters, or garish paint jobs, and there one can
purchase coveted new items at (or just a hair before) their street dates.
The streets to either side are home to a messier brand of store, where one
can, with a little luck and persistence, find used goods like that rare
out-of-print first edition Sailor V figurine or vanity press Pretty Cure
doujinshi. These smaller stores compete ferociously for space, and can be
found crammed into alleyways and spilling out onto sidewalks as well as in
more standard configuration.
Those whose tastes run more to programming than fandom can find the area,
also known as Akihabara Electric Town, quite rewarding as well. It's the
perfect place to shop for computer parts and other gadgets for projects both
personal and paranormal, with the venue ranging from a posh cutting-edge
robotics store on the main strip, to tiny stalls wedged into alleys that
sell high-grade electronics on the cheap. The latter category manage this
feat of thrift by selling unpackaged items taken from wholesale lots, and
piled up for display like supermarket apples.
It's relatively safe to be seen wearing unusual clothing here; it's likely
to be taken for cosplay, or the uniform of one of the diversely themed maid
cafes.
IN THE MIDDLE OF ELECTRIC TOWN
FIVE MINUTES AGO
A guy is lumbering around Akihabara in an elaborate papercraft cosplay of a giant robot. The person beneath the robot suit is entirely covered by magenta papercraft plating. Menacing red eyes gleam out behind its helmet visor intermittently as it tromps about. It makes a steady hissing noise as if the person were breathing through the apparatus at the bottom of the fin-like helmet. The special effects make the suit sound heavy and metallic while it moves, but clearly it's nothing of the kind. It couldn't weigh that much at all, could it?
The papercraft suit tromps toward a maid cafe. It approaches the narrow doorway and finds itself unable to enter, its shoulders getting stuck on the doorframe. It lingers there for a moment before wrenching back out, seeming disoriented. He turns sideways and tries to squeeze in that way, but its helmet fin gets hung up on the top of the doorway. People are starting to pick up their phones to record the strange sight.
One of the girls moves up to the doorway to look at the mysterious suit. She's a pretty brown-haired girl in an elaborate French maid getup. "Takeshi? Is that you?"
The suit looks at the maid. It speaks with a strange, affected bass voice. "Kaori. I have come for you."
"What?"
"I have come for you, Kaori. You don't have to work in this place any more. Come away with me, and I will take you to the stars."
Kaori seems unconvinced. "Takeshi, are you off your medication again? Now look, you need to check in with work before --"
"I have no need for that job any more!" the suit booms, making a broad gesture. "The final door is about to open! And I am the one opening it!"
"No, I'm shutting it, Takeshi," the maid says, rolling her eyes. She turns around and closes the door to the maid cafe.
The suit keeps ranting. "The world that we know of will come to an end! This world of insatiable desires will end!"
Kaori flips the cafe's OPEN sign to CLOSED.
The suit seems to narrow its glowing red eyes.
NOW
The maid cafe's front window has been blasted inward. People are laying limp over their tables. Maids are sprawled comically onto the floor. One woman has a pie in her face for no discernable reason.
Kaori is running through Electric Town screaming. She is being pursued by the papercraft suit, which is jetting after her on sorcerous fire bursting from its 'verniers'. Many people still think this is normal Electric Town behavior.
"This is our destiny!" the suit shouts. "I knew where I was heading when I chose to walk this path! This will be a day of reckoning for everyone!!"
PERFUME SPLASH!
EPISODE RED CARNATION
THAT'S NO ZAKU! DEFEAT THE ARMORED OTAKU!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka transforms into Youma Form Cosplay Youma!
Is it even possible to visit Akihabara on a run-of-the-mill shopping trip and not see some kind of supernatural chaos ensuing?
That's what Fuu Hououji is wondering when the sound of a window getting blasted into shards caught her attention on the way out of Gamers (where she was picking up a copy of a just-released new RPG from the developers that made the Unchained Blades games); she immediately ducked back into the entranceway and peeked around the edge of the doorway, looking north first ... nothing there ... then south ...
"... that's a very realistically-crafted mecha costume," she observes quietly. Then she runs like hell, bolting along the sidewalk with the other fleeing pedestrians, darting around the corner, then splitting off from the panicky masses and heading down a tiny side street which is presently vacant. After *that* turn, she pulls out her glove-jewel and yanks it onto her left hand, letting her school bag and shopping glow and disappear into the jewel.
"Belief becomes power ... Winds, guide me!!"
She conjures a green-tinted whirlwind - and runs directly into it, whereupon it travels with her, veiling her from view as her plum-colored Infinity Institute middle-school uniform changes-color to green, and a few pieces of light armor materialize around her form as well.
With the transformation completed, she hangs a third right coming out of the alley, and emerges back onto the main street, bow and quiver materializing. "Zaku-san!!" she calls out, pulling out an arrow, nocking it, and drawing it back - except Kaori-san is in the way; Fuu lowers her bow again. "Zaku-san, please stop chasing that girl! Even if you care deeply for her, you're still terrifying her like this!"
EARLIER TODAY:
"Sakura-sama!"
"NOoooooooo----" Sakura wakes and throws a pillow at Mist. It's not even time for school yet. Last night was hell. She doesn't want to hear it. Not now. Please, not today...
"But..."
"What... is it now, Mist?"
"It... I'll text Erika-sama if you don't want to get up." The little dragon-fairy hops out of the window.
Sakura pulls a pillow over her head.
"But you're already late for school anyway," Mist adds.
"...What?"
NOW:
"I really hope that you're right about this..." Sakura is running toward Electric Town, her school uniform disheveled and Mist flapping fast behind her. There's chaos happening here...
"No, no doubt about it! This time, it's the Apothecary! I hope they're on their way..."
"Well." Sakura swallows, and pulls out her perfume bottle. "Let's get started."
"Henshin! Cherry Blossom! Splash!"
The cap flies off the bottle, and she sprays it toward herself as her body begins to glow! First she sprays downward, in a diagonal stroke from shoulder to hip; the spray becomes the collar of a dress. Then she sprays across her waist, which creates an obi sash in brilliant gold. The sash ties itself around her back, in a perfect bow. A short skirt appears under the sash, silk and decorated with cherry blossoms. The dress sprouts sleeves, long and elegant. Then shoes appear on her feet: sandals, with long socks underneath that ride up her legs and stop below the knee.
She spritzes the perfume toward her hair, and her hair changes from black, to light pink. Teardrop earrings appear on her ears, and, finally, the cap of the perfume reappears, spinning into place to clip onto her hair.
"The sweet memories of springtime... Japanese Cherry Blossom!"
"...Me too, right?" asks the little dragon.
"...I'll allow it. But stay back!"
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi transforms into Japanese Cherry Blossom!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki transforms into Seafoam Suzu!
Aimi was slightly upset. While she had managed to convince her parents that she wasn't in any condition to actually go to school, getting texts about the Apothecary causing trouble and mayhem did not help matters at all. She was still aching from the last fight she had alongside Sakura. The question then becomes, can she slip out of her room with out her parents noticing?
Hoping from her window out would require a transformation first, to avoid extra potential pain; slipping out from her room to the front door would mean having to make several stealth checks to avoid making too much noise. Choices... Of course, she could also just stay home. The Apothecary would love that. One less Perfume Warrior to worry about.
That choice was never an option though. Opening up her window, she takes a deep breath and grips her perfume bottle.
"Henshin! Warm Vanilla! Splash!"
Fortunately, through magical workings, the sound of her cry and the transformation don't reach the ears of anyone important, and Warm Vanilla Sugar is soon hoping along the rooftops towards Akihabara, willing herself to avoid wincing and to push her body more. This was her duty, after all. Protecting people and their memories was what she had to do.
Hang in there all, I'll be there soon..." She said.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji transforms into Warm Vanilla Sugar!
Akihabara is an interesting place for Suzu.
Not because she's an otaku (she isn't) or because she's especially into computers (she's not) but there's just so many /things/ here that she has to admit it's interesting for that alone. Tokyo is still a new experience for her in general, and Akihabara is one of the most ... unique parts of Tokyo.
Of course, generally this does not include robots (?) going around and attacking people! The costume, to Suzu, fits right in around here even if she can't identify what exactly it is supposed to be. But not the violence... Suzu ducks into an alleyway, removing her star-shaped clip and tossing it into the air.
Suzu's clothes shift, becoming little more than light as they reshape themselves around her: from a uniform to a little vest, a seashell bra, a sarong... She runs out of the alley even as the last couple ribbons tie themselves into place, her hairclip reappearing in her much more voluminous hair as she darts out, trailing mist for a couple steps.
"Come back - " Suzu does not know what to call the robot. She settles for pointing dramatically. " - You! I mean - please - stop chasing her! Or I'll stop you! For everybody's safety!"
Ladies and gentlemen: Seafoam Suzu.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gentle Chiding on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
Kinzo Hiroyuki was walking down the street in Electric town, he had his usual backpack slung over one arm and various thoughts going through his head. He-- wasn't trying to /bully/ people. He was trying to cut of the source at it's...well...source. Maybe HE was going around it the wrong way? Maybe he outta just stick to the easy targets, like that pink haird gair with the pigtails, for now--until he sorts this out.
Then a papercraft suit flies after a woman, this passes him and he actualy gets out of the way, like some people. "Wait--what?...." he says as he blinks. "That...!" he looks around for a moment and runs into one of the nearby alleys. Someone tries to stop him bu he's gone when they look down the alley. Kinzo is actually climbing a fire escape, and up along the way, he grabs out his colonge bottle. His transformation is less glamorus, the bottle turns into mist, it runs down parts of his body, and transform him, the mist forming into the domino mask on his face.
When he's transformed, he easily makes it to the roof and begins to hop roofves, chasing the rapidly moving---- papercraft robot?
Amber isn't a hero. He just tries to jump down in front of this thing and punch it in the face. No speech , no words. Just his fist.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has used The Easiest and Logical Soultion on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
ERIKA INAGAWA...'s phone buzzes.
As she finishes her katas of the day she finds a missed message, reads it, and then says with a frown, "Since when does Akagi only use one exclamati- Oh. OH!"
SOON
Erika did not change out of her karate togs on her way to Akihabara, which was significantly nearer to her grandfather's karate studio than it might have been to Sakura's house. She almost blunders into someone as she bursts out onto the main street, saying as she looks around, "The heck? Where's the -"
A Zaku streaks overhead, casting a highly marketable shadow over Erika. "Oh."
Looking back at her phone, Erika says, "Well, if Akagi's still sore, I guess this is a problem to deal with, huh! Excuse me," she says, as she lunges past someone selling used Pokewalkers. Once out of immediate view, a small bottle comes out and the cap is flipped off, neatly landing back in her bookbag (so sweet). "Hmh."
"Hennnnshin! Forever Sunshine... Splash!!"
The perfume is sprayed over herself in an initial cross. Her hair billows outwards, before coiling in and wrapping itself up, the mouse-ear buns twirling together from sheer gathered enchantment. The sleeves of her gi roll up; the vest rolls back down, as do the looser pants of her outfit, the sophisticated and shimmering scrollwork pouring down like liquid light. The vest tightens as her own obi slips into place, ties a neat knot, and --
"Like a warm summer's day," Forever Sunshine states as she slips the vial into her vest, "I'm going to give you -"
She feels fancy. It's time to show off. She kicks off the side of the alley wall, bouncing off the sides of the nearby buildings Samus style to build up velocity, finally clearing the alleyway and performing a backflip that takes her a good twenty feet in the air -
("THIS IS AMAZING")
- to land on an awning, legs akimbo, looking over her shoulder while 'embracing' herself. One hand extends a fingertip to point towards the Zaku. "A heck of a burn. Hey, Gunpla boy! Can't you take no for an answer?"
This witty line may lose some effect as others lunge in on it. Huh, Erika thinks even as she stays perfectly poised atop the awning. Maybe this was in /general/ a little much. Her nose twitches, and she turns her head the other way to say, "Oh, hey, Vanilla, how's it going?"
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Forever Perfect Poise on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gentle Chiding on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has fully healed himself.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has used The Easiest and Logical Soultion on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Forever Perfect Poise on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly braces Kinzo Hiroyuki's The Easiest and Logical Soultion, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Gentle Chiding, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Tomomi Shizuka is Quipped!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Hackneyed Dialogue, partially gets through, doing 3 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to dodge Erika Inagawa's Forever Perfect Poise, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Tomomi Shizuka is Taunted!
The papercraft armor who does not have copyright clearance swivels in mid-air when challenged, as is its destiny. Kaori dives into a storefront, cowering behind a display full of awkward body pillows for safety.
"Hoh," the suit says. "Do you think you can change what's going to happen? Nobody can do anything about it! The whirlpool of hatred is engulfing the universe!"
Amber drops down and uses the old fashioned method of punching the papercraft suit in the snoot. That's clearly cardboard, but his fist feels like it's hitting iron. Some kind of magic?!
"xa xa xa," the suit taunts. "You will need to better than that!" It swats at Kinzo, trying to backhand him away. As Amber clears the way (one way or the other), the papercraft armor suddenly produces an oversized cannon from behind its back, bracing it with both hands. He aims the gun back at Fuu. Visible stink lines start to bloom from its helmet as the girls sass him. He is so sassed.
"I alone can stand against the darkness!" he declares, the mysterious steampunk glyphs on his armor flaring with sinister magenta light. "I'll protect her from this cruel world! And I won't let you stop me!!"
The robot (?) starts firing on magical girls! Dangerous red beams go flying from the end of its papercraft but nonetheless operational doom cannon! As it fires, it begins to radiate a Mysterious Red Glow...
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Villainous Backhand on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Red Beams Mean Bad Guy on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Red Beams Mean Bad Guy on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Red Beams Mean Bad Guy on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Red Beams Mean Bad Guy, taking 3 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Red Beams Mean Bad Guy, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Suzu Hamasaki's Block ability activates! Suzu Hamasaki's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki narrowly dodges Tomomi Shizuka's Villainous Backhand, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Kinzo Hiroyuki's Fade ability activates!
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Red Beams Mean Bad Guy, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
Fuu lets out a soft grunt of pain as one of the beams clips her on its way past; she manages not to get too badly hurt by the rest of her share of that attack, fortunately. More fortunately, she sees other magical girls showing up ... and has to marvel, inwardly, at the irony of a boy in a Zaku costume believing that he's a champion of justice or some such - and fighting against a bunch of MAGICAL GIRLS in the process. "I'm afraid you're somewhat mistaken," she says with a calm smile as she raises her bow and draws back the nocked arrow.
And Kaori is safely out of the way now. "The future isn't locked into stone, and everyone still has the power to shape their own destiny - and between all of us, we can change the world's future. If Earth is doomed to darkness, we will draw it back into the light ... and how do you know that your own desperation isn't going to bring that darkness on all the faster?"
She looses her arrow, aiming for the beam cannon (rifle, whatever).
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Basic Archery on Tomomi Shizuka. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
Well, Mist was right, Sakura thinks, as the little dragon makes itself scarce. This looked like the Apothecary's doing. She still didn't know... everything there was to know about them, but those gylphs look familiar. And if her suspicions are right, then...
"It looks like he has some missing memories! If we can help restore them, he should go back to normal!" There's a person somewhere inside that suit, she's sure of that. A problem that perhaps can only be solved with forceful application of perfume power!
It's going to take her a moment to figure out all the possible vectors here. And the cardboard-metal machine must have some kind of weakness. She braces herself, scraping a foot into the road, and then Japanese Cherry Blossom begins to build a charge of magical power at her feet. She pops her right hand out, and a pink flower bursts out of it, flying through the air, spinning like a pinwheel, and striking at the robot youma.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Blossom Burst on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.
Suzu Hamasaki realizes about here that she isn't alone /and/ that she's making a huge obvious distraction of herself. Fortunately, this is Akihabara so nobody cares.
Suzu thrusts one hand forward, catching the beam (more or less) on a half-bubble around her hand. Actually, she catches it /inside/ the bubble, which drifts up, lifting away from her; a sphere with a red light core trapped inside it.
"How do you put memories back in?" Suzu calls back to Sakura, having heard her call. "Or should I just stop it and let you worry about that?" Suzu flicks the bubble with the trapped laser beam in it with one finger, sending it right back toward the papercraft robot! She looks around for somewhere to dive afterwards - no, she's not going to throw herself into a pile of electronics.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Beam Bubble on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has cancelled their attack on Tomomi Shizuka. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Beam Bubble on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
Warm Vanilla Sugar arrives on site, landing down near Sunshine, not too long after the red beams of pain go out. "Oh, um... well for now. I think might need to focus on our foe though."
To be honest, this is totally up Vanilla's alley. Love gone wrong and bad. Something that she would totally do something about in this case!
And yet she finds herself hesitant now. Not so much to attack, but to do what she normally does. To speak up about warm, pure love, and how its being twisted here. About how he needs to remember what it is like to have love for one and not be lovers.
She shakes her head, taking aim at the cardboard-metal machine of pain and errant love. Vanilla gathers up a bit of magical energy, throwing it off at the machine, trying to keep her focus such that she can make adjustments in its flight path to avoid any errant obstacles.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has used Controlled Vanilla Orb on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has finished attacking.
Kinzo Hiroyuki expected it to be magically charged. But that was like hitting a brick wall that was coming at you face first, he needs to actually rub over his fist for a moment as he gets backhanded, clearing the way a moment as he frowns---he's ALWAYS Frowning. :(
"Not my fault---" he calls out to Cherry Blossom, just to make sure that's something that's clear here.
Dark Amber attempts to entraps it in an array of amber chains with blades acting as anchors. "I have NOTHING to do with this one."
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has used Binding Amber Chain on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
Forever Sunshine is shot with the Zaku's red beams, and she explodes immediately into a colorful cloud of pink smoke, indicating her immediate, humiliating death!
Wait, no.
WIND BACK THE TAPE: Seeing a laser beam pointed towards her, Forever Sunshine had attempted a counterstrike, only to find that her blows, for all their power, require the transmission of an intermediate medium in order to convey their power. Otherwise, she's limited to the potent, but not very damaging, power of memorable fragrances. (Well, that's her deal. Everyone has to choose their powers, and Erika was a Scrapper.)
Since Forever Sunshine never ran into this before, and is also fourteen years old, she does the same attempted magical move again. THIS time, it accomplishes something: namely, the resultant cloud of pink smoke.
It also means she's falling towards the street. She rebounds off a gatchapon machine after going limp, grimacing at the bruise on her calf but regaining her feet. "Restoring his memories," Forever Sunshine muses, even as she watches a bubble catch a laser beam and return the blow.
She says to Sakura, then, "I'm gonna try hitting him." As she takes a moment to look where Dark Amber ("Ugh, when did HE get here??") throws his chain... bladey things, Erika crouches -- and then, with a sudden shimmer of fragrant praline/peony undertones, rises upwards in a sweeping uppercut.
"I'll show you the power of this world!" she says, midair. It's not a optimal line. In the event of impact, there is a sudden shower of peony petals.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Sunshine Intensity on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Basic Archery, taking 8 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka perfectly counters Sakura Akagi's Blossom Burst, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Improbable Papercraft, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sakura Akagi!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly braces Suzu Hamasaki's Beam Bubble, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates! Diversion applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly counters Kinzo Hiroyuki's Binding Amber Chain, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Kinzo Hiroyuki is Psyched! Tangle applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Improbable Papercraft, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Kinzo Hiroyuki!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka perfectly braces Aimi Saionji's Controlled Vanilla Orb, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly braces Erika Inagawa's Sunshine Intensity, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates!
Irony is not something a guy in a papercraft suit is likely to understand.
The suit endures a bubble of its own energy sent back to it. The blast flickers across its armor, but its defensive glyphs seem to absorb the energy with minimal damage. As the glyphs grow brighter, the suit outright disperses Warm Vanilla Sugar's sparkly blast. It seems mysteriously less sparkly than usual. Perhaps this is JUST AS PLANNED. Is her belief in herself in question!?
Erika won't have that. Sunshine socks the heavy mech one in the head, sending it flying back onto its rear end. Momentarily weakened, the suit crosses its arms to brace against Fuu's incoming arrow, but the immediate bloom of energy has scattered. The arrow comically sticks in its side for a moment before he yanks it out. A sinister crackle of evil energy leaves the rupture in the papercraft before it heals itself.
"Nobody is ever born into this world as a soldier," he grates back at Fuu. "I chose my path. The path ... of /justice/."
The pinwheel flower rushes toward the bulky paperboard suit. The suit launches something that looks like a funnel out from its back, blocking the flower with a mighty CLINK. Another funnel bursts out from its back to try to swat away the deadly amber chain, but it is only partially obstructed. "Your battles will never end," the suit calls back at Fuu, "because your enemy is destiny itself!!"
The mech suit reaches back toward one of the stores behind it. The store is full of cheap crap that nerds buy at significant markups. Evil energy blooms from the suit as it pantomimes wrenching at the store. A sudden wave of plastic junk flies out at the girls! Cheap MP3 players, novelty lighters, keychains, flashlights of all shapes and sizes, mousepads, knockoff tablets, Iron Man voice-changing masks, USB cables and dongles, tiny drone helicopters and handheld NES consoles race at the girls with malicious intent!
As the cheap crap goes flying, more funnels erupt out of the back of the papercraft mech. An absurd amount of beam-spam follows, tiny lasers joining with the cannon's thundering report.
"I will bring about total piece with the power of my convictions!!"
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Sakura Akagi.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Deal Extreme Breaker on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa perfectly dodges Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Erika Inagawa's Fade ability activates! Erika Inagawa's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji perfectly counters Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Aimi Saionji's Reverse ability activates! Aimi Saionji's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji's counterattack, Small Counterburst, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi fails to brace Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Deal Extreme Breaker, taking 13 Fatigue damage!
"Right. It would be weird if you came out to stop your own creation, so... I believe you," says Japanese Cherry Blossom. Though it'd be fair to accuse her of being naive lately about the better intentions of boys, there's no time to argue with Dark Amber anyway. "...If you're here to help, you and Forever Sunshine should both try to flank it and wear it down. Vanilla Sugar will help with healing and aid--"
She draws a hand in front of her face, then settles into a ready pose, bending her back knee, and positioning her hands to block incoming attacks. "And I'll back you up!" Cherry Blossom wouldn't immediately give orders to Fuu or Suzu, since they don't have the same power source she does, but she hasn't forgotten them, either. "We appreciate your help in dealing with this. For now, just concentrate on wearing it down! With the right scents, we can restore his memories." At least, Cherry Blossom is pretty sure that's how it goes. It worked last time!
She keeps braced as things fly at her from all directions. A face-mask and a hand-held game console slam into her sleeves, but then a cable flies at her legs and trips her up. She falls back with a sudden, comical lack of grace, and bruises her face. Oh, and she so had it together, too! She takes a moment to get back to her feet.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Team Tactics on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Team Tactics on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Team Tactics on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji accepts Sakura Akagi's Team Tactics, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki accepts Sakura Akagi's Team Tactics, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kinzo Hiroyuki is Cheered!
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa accepts Sakura Akagi's Team Tactics, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Dark Amber is hit with Beamspam....and cheap electronics----it's distracting, and hurt a lot. "This thing is---"
A tablet flies and hits him in the face, and it breaks apart. He feels kind of sad about that, because he'd kill for even a cheap tablet like that for school. But nows not the time to think about that, there's bigger fish to fry-- "-Right!" is all he says to Cherry Blossom--it's better to help for now. He looks over to where Forever Sunshine is---he'll move the opposite direction, he fans out his right arm and returns fire with his own Bladespam! It's like a rain of amber knives coming in sharp and fast.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has used Bladestorm on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
"Scents...?"
Suzu doesn't argue. All the senses are important, and she presumes that one counts. She's just surprised, but if slowing this thing down is important, she has the right powers for that.
This presumes that it doesn't slow /her/ down first. WIth her bubble down, Suzu is barraged by a whole bunch of junk that she doesn't even recognize. Suzu /does/ throw herself behind a street stand to try to get away from it, but this doesn't work very well; a couple of the funnels decide to follow her back there, and Suzu yelps as one of them shoots her in...
Well, she's not going to want to sit down for a few moments. Fortunately, she doesn't have to; she rises up, red-faced and wrathful, with no star-shaped hairclip - because she's holding it in her hand. "Shoot me when I'm down, will you? This isn't justice or destiny! This is just a mess! SHINING STARDUST..."
Suzu flings the star. It shimmers, turning into a much bigger star-shaped essence of light; it rockets forward, trailing water behind it in a mist, and impacts the ground just in front of the pseudo-robot.
Then it sprays upwards like a giant fountain or a geyser, magical blessed water shining with the silvery light of stars falling down like rain. "SPRAY!"
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Shining Stardust Spray on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
That's both highly unorthodox and rather difficult to deal with - but Fuu doesn't exactly take the time to think that before she tries to flatten herself against the pavement. She still gets pummeled by a lot of the weaponized merchandise for her trouble, though, and once the swarm subsides, she finally gets back to her feet. "And what kind of 'justice' will you create when you're acting as nothing more than a bully?!" she calls out, a sudden wind gusting around her as she calls forth her magic. "Imashime no Kaze!!"
The Winds of Admonition are unleashed, and Fuu tries to entrap the papercraft mobile suit costume within a localized whirlwind, to hold it still and prevent it from continuing to attack them - or, if nothing else, to hinder its movements drasticaly.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
"Of course you didn't do this," Vanilla calls out to Dark Amber. "You're one of the good guys!"
As much as the Apothecary might want to take credit for causing Vanilla to doubt herself, it totally wasn't their doing! There's other, more underlying issues at hand here. She doesn't bother worrying too much over the lack of being able to harm the cardboard mecha with the magical blast, quickly forming a small burst to counter the bits being shot at her, the attacks negating one another.
Unfortunately for Cherry Blossom, Warm Vanilla didn't quite hear what she had been saying in regards to tactics and all. As such, she rushes in to get into melee range with the thing. Her blasts weren't doing any good here, nor had they the other day. She had to do and try something here to help.
She goes in, doing her best to avoid the blade shower and other ranged attacks being thrown by her comrades, looking to grab the cardboard mecha and do a rather simple hane goshi on him. A basic hip throw to hopefully stagger him a bit now.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has used Hane goshi on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has finished attacking.
Forever Sunshine's eyes widen.
Not - JUSTICE! The ultimate power that justifies everything - for you can't spell "justification egg sandwich" without JUSTICE!
Fortunately, the Zaku is producing enough airborne junk that she is able to hop from place to place and avoid plummeting, though this seems to require a good deal of hustle and is generating that peculiar sandalwood fragrance she seems to create whenever pushed to the limits.
The helpful suggestion is given from below. "R-right!" she calls towards Cherry Blossom while jogging vigorously in place, finally glancing to the side and moving laterally to place one foot down with a resounding impact on - a coil of extension cord?
The topic of Dark Amber's goodness or lack thereof is lost in the flow, as Forever Sunshine leans over to pull off the plastic wrapper that is keeping the entire cord together. It unspools like spilled spaghetti, spreading out as she is launched past the Zaku, and she declares over her shoulder, "Hey, buddy! - ooh, a star, that is sweet --" But she can't cheer on Suzu in midair!
She finishes her thought. "While you were launching your funnels, did you notice how you got entrapped??"
And sure enough, that extension cord snaps up into Forever Sunshine's hand - and it's... not really falling any more.
USB cables, controllers, and power cords appear to have formed an improvised and sandalwood-scented net in midair, enough to perhaps intercept funnels directly. Long loops of MadCatz cabling and even one single delicate strand of Monster cables sold by a down on his luck tourist needing some quick cash anchor onto the side of a nearby building, giving this entire framework of foolishness at least enough anchorage to not 'immediately fall on the ground.'
Long looping strands trail downwards, low enough onto the ground to be grasped and clambered onto. "Oi! Bubbles!" Forever Sunshine says as she descends towards Seafoam Suzu feet-first. "Give me a boost back up and to the left!"
All this fancy stuff may just be a distraction, of course, from Dark Amber's more direct method. OR... is it?
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used That's Not How It Works... Is It? on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Trap applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly counters Suzu Hamasaki's Shining Stardust Spray, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Suzu Hamasaki is Psyched! Stagger applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Improbable Papercraft, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Suzu Hamasaki!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Kinzo Hiroyuki's Bladestorm, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka perfectly counters Aimi Saionji's Hane goshi, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Villainous Backhand, bursts all the way through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Aimi Saionji!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to dodge Erika Inagawa's That's Not How It Works... Is It?, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Erika Inagawa is Psyched!
The mech suit rampages. "Xa xa xa," it starts again, trying to rebuild its good cheer. But then it falls into the carefully designed trap of Forever Sunshine. It looks at Forever Sunshine with what seems to be shock as she snares his funnels. The net rushes around the suit, snaring it. It tries to break free, but then a small tornado presses down onto the machine, pinning it down.
"Space calls out to humans," the suit says mournfully. "And the earth tries to pull us back down, saying that what we are doing is wrong..."
The flurry of amber knives rushes at the mech suit. It takes big hits, enormous sparks flying off its reinforced frame. The knives finally cut enough of the net to let the mech tear itself loose, just in time for it to be blasted by a mighty geyser! The suit is knocked up into the air, flying back head over heels, and smashes into the ground.
The suit is still for a long moment. It struggles up, hands shaking as it starts to push off the ground. Warm Vanilla Sugar comes in for a hip toss, but she feels -- /pressure/ --
-- from the suit's hand, which dope-slaps her back and away.
"I won't... I won't give up!" it shouts. "My destiny is smeared with blood! I am going to live, right until the bitter end! I will live the hard life of a warrior!!!"
The suit bursts into bright red light, its glyphs burning in overdrive. "Total peace is only possible when the desire to fight is erased from people's minds! And I will make them listen with the strength of my will!"
The funnels free themselves from the net. They fly back to the mech suit, transforming into ANOTHER huge gun. The mech suit collects both cannons in either hand and starts spraying them around wildly in a wholly improbable flurry of mayhem and destruction. Red beams are just going everywhere. Except toward Aimi, who the mech suit is now haughtily blowing off.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor on Sakura Akagi.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Nerd Rage on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka accepts Tomomi Shizuka's Nerd Rage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Bind Break! All of Tomomi Shizuka's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa perfectly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Brace!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki narrowly counters Tomomi Shizuka's Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Suzu Hamasaki's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki's counterattack, Dream Bubble Trouble, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sakura Akagi's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki fails to counter Tomomi Shizuka's Now We're Getting Into Plot Armor, taking 20 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki's counterattack, Counterburst, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
"Sunshine! Now! I'll distract it!" Japanese Cherry Blossom raises her hands, and the laser blast deflects partially on the sleeves of her outfit. She can't do it forever, but... it buys her a moment to build a stronger magical charge. It's time for her to chip in and start really wearing this thing down.
She lowers her hands to the ground, and a wave of pink light builds up around her. A tornado-shaped funnel of pink-tinted wind starts to build at her feet, then spin around her body. Sharp petals form within it, spinning around like tiny darts. They glow with an edge of pink. She gestures, and the wind turns into a tunnel shape, gathered around one hand. She pushes the tornado of wind and petals around, her sleeve billowing. "Cherry Blossom! Petal Spiral!"
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.
"Kya!!" Fuu yelps briefly as she gets broadsided by the barrage, bouncing her off a wall and into a bus shelter, leaving her to stumble and collapse to the ground.
She doesn't stay down long, though. "You don't even realize how much more of a villain you're sounding like, do you?" she retorts as she pulls out another arrow and draws it back on her bow. "Next time you plan to cosplay as a mecha, maybe you should wear a more heroic suit!" The wind gathers around her again, blowing her hair and her skirt forward, ruffling the sleeves and hem of her jacket as a green-tinted light starts to gather ...
"Reppuu no Ya!!" the Magic Knight of Wind calls out, and as she looses her arrow, the wind suddenly gusts harder - a focused current of air hurling the arrow forward as if it was launched, not just from a bowstring, but from a railgun, straight at one of the larger glyphs on the papercraft Zaku.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Reppu no Ya on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
"I don't know anything about space!" Suzu is hunkering down a little bit for her own safety. "But that isn't the kind of dream you should be proud of! I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to keep stopping you!"
Suzu earns her nickname courtesy Erika, because she spreads her arms wide - and a /big/ bubble surrounds her, the beam hitting it and causing it to wobble ominously, like a sphere made out of Jell-O. She looks up at Erika, then. "Right!"
Suzu pops the bubble around her with a finger. But it doesn't quite pop normally. Instead she's surrounded by a quartet of smaller bubbles, which she then pops into smaller bubbles, and some of those smaller still, so that it's more foam than just a single sphere.
"Seafoam Support!" Suzu invents on the spot, jabbing a finger up at Erika. The bubbles whirl around her; some of them actually stick to her and push her upwards, boosting her as intended, so that when she passes by the youma next, they cascade down on it in a waterfall of blessed seafoam!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Seafoam Support on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
Warm Vanilla Sugar is knocked back from the mecha, unable to catch herself as she slams into one of the storefronts near by. It only LOOKS like it hurt badly. It was only moderately painful due to magics.
She slowly pulls herself out of the mess that she had inadverdently created, not letting the fact that the mecha is ignoring her and treating her like a non-threat. At this point she might as well be such. She had yet to be successful in doing much of anything other than annoying it with non-issues. Rushing at it wasn't going to work, and she couldn't seem to gather up the energy to truly throw anything at it. Was this truly the best she could do?
Vanilla shook her head, gathering up her strength and willpower. She knew it wasn't the best she had. She knew she could do this!
And yet, she couldn't find herself hesitating now.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has finished attacking.
Kinzo Hiroyuki takes a deep breath as he tries to counterburst, a force of amber energy flying up, but the attack just pwoers through, blowing him across the ground and in fact, right past Warm Vanilla Sugar.... He manages to pull himself up from the "Dark Amber" sized crater he made in the wall as he closes his eyes and shakes it off---he's fought these types of things before, he can do it again!
This is when he walks past Vanilla Sugar and notices---her lack of anything---is she hurt!? He actually stops to check on her a moment--- Is everything okay? He doens't know..
"Aren't your friends counting on you!?" he asks a moment. Dark Amber is used to operating alone, this pep talk thing isn't his schitck.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has used Are you Ready? on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji accepts Kinzo Hiroyuki's Are you Ready?, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Forever Sunshine simply goggles at the use of bubble to catch laser. Obvious, really. But then - "Alright!! This is going to be amazing!!" Forever Sunshine exults as the bubbles are called up.
Those foaming bubbles run up along Forever Sunshine's arm, into her mishmashed cable network. It may be crashing harder than Comcast during a mild rainfall, but the jury rigged thing is simply too huge to fall completely. The Zaku speaks, no, shrieks out its words as Forever Sunshine rises...
Cherry Blossom makes a suggestion. Forever Sunshine looks over her shoulder for a moment. Why the heck not? she thinks, and it's clear on her face. She draws in her breath - but there's a pause as she throws out an arm, indicating Warm Vanilla Sugar. "Hey!" she says, even as she tumbles upwards, her concerned expression staying fixed even as she topples a full, languid 360. "Warm Vanilla Sugar! I see that look on your face!"
"You're doing great!! Without you we couldn't have got this far /and/ all this guy is doing that's clever is /flying/. You've just gotta think creatively when you're in a fight, get yourself moving when the other guy's working. When you're acting... he's reacting!"
Inspirational speech over, she finishes rotating. She yanks hard on the glistening cable still in her hand. "And as for YOU:" She raises an index finger. "Even if you really want to pursue the path of a warrior... forgetting just means you're back to basics. Every time. Even when you lose a battle, you gain experience... as long as you're surviving, you're learn- OK I should wrap it up," this coming as she reaches the apex of her boosted launch.
Another deep breath, enough to make her cheeks puff out slightly. "I'll restore your memory with the force of fragrance. PINK PEONY --"
The usual pink-scented ripples of lightning like power come out of Erika's hand, and that, you would think, is where it stops, EXCEPT that the fragrance touches Suzu's flurry of bubbles, resonating outwards - filling that network of improvised cables, which add that 'warm electronics' undertone to the sudden flurry of peony-scented power that is Forever Sunshine's characteristic climax clash! "OOOOO VERRRRR DRIIIIIVEEEEEEE" she shouts out, the crackling fragrance rising upwards, filling the entire webwork...
And hopefully, touching the Zaku and blowing it up.
Er, restoring its memory (by blowing it up).
COMBAT: FINISHER! Erika Inagawa has used Pink Peony Overdrive on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Reppu no Ya, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly braces Sakura Akagi's Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates! Blind and Stun applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Suzu Hamasaki's Seafoam Support, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly counters Erika Inagawa's Finisher, Pink Peony Overdrive, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Ridiculous Sword Rampage, partially gets through, doing 45 Fatigue damage to Erika Inagawa! Critical Counterhit!
He's gone into complete denial. The emotional drubbing he's getting from the girls has hurt much more than their magical attacks. The suit sounds very unhappy. He's fighting now out of desperation rather than out of true fighting spirit. He is a gruesome shadow of himself. Where did it all go so wrong?
The mech crosses its guns in front of it to stop the tornado of fragrant petals. The machine is driven back, which leaves it open for the mighty arrow shot to take out one of its glyphs. The piercing arrow hammers into the papercraft machine, but its strange energy keeps the arrow from doing more than smudging it a bit. It's weakening, but not fast enough.
"This is no Zaku, girl!" he yells. "NO ZAKU! THIS IS A ZAKU *II* TYPE *F* TWO! LEARN THE LORE!"
The seafoam rushes in toward the papercraft mech! It crashes against it, knocking loose one of its cannons! With its defense lowered, Forever Sunshine has her shot. The webwork of electronics, bubbles and the wonderful smell of pink peony rushes down at the mech! It strikes true!!
The papercraft mech starts to break down underneath the rush of power, but it has one more trick. It brings up its shielded shoulder to try to slow the weight of the water and scent down, buying itself just long enough to reach down to its waist. It produces what looks to be the emitter for a beam saber.
A woman's voice is heard from nowhere. "Sword engaged."
The "beam saber" explodes into magenta radiance. It rapidly constructs an enormous clockwork zweihander instead of a beam saber, the blade being etched with more of the glyphs seen across the frame of the machine. The edge of the blade glows a sinister purple, crackling with opposing sorcery. Off-key theme music starts playing from a computer chip in its helmet. It's gotten so real now.
With a war whoop, the desperate machine slams the blade forward, carving through the net. It slashes up to carve into Forever Sunshine, aiming to spike her into the ground if it can't cut through her competely. The huge sword burns with energy as it slashes out for Forever Sunshine again. The machine bursts forward to slash out toward Suzu and Fuu, rushing away from the others. Is it trying to retreat?
No. It slings its sword behind its back once it's freed from its prison. With its hand freed again, it calls its other cannon back to itself, once more rearmed. But that's not enough, because this is not ridiculous enough yet. The mech suit brings together its papercraft cannons. They merge together, becoming a Season Ending cannon. It braces the unwieldy gun with both hands, having to lean back to try to keep the weapon straight. He swerves the weapon around drunkenly, on his last legs.
"The world cannot assume humanity's collected ego! So this world of insatiable desires will end!!"
The mech charges up to fire. The barrel of its huge cannon draws in magical sparks for a moment before unleashing huge blasts of energy back toward the Perfume Warriors! This looks bad!!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used The Sword That Cleaves Etc. on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used The Sword That Cleaves Etc. on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used The Sword That Cleaves Etc. on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Sakura Akagi.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Sakura Akagi's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki fails to brace Tomomi Shizuka's The Sword That Cleaves Etc., taking 36 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Tomomi Shizuka's The Sword That Cleaves Etc., taking 19 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Sword Strike, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa narrowly dodges Tomomi Shizuka's The Sword That Cleaves Etc., taking 6 Fatigue damage! Erika Inagawa's Fade ability activates! Erika Inagawa's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki narrowly dodges Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Kinzo Hiroyuki's Fade ability activates!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji narrowly counters Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Aimi Saionji's Reverse ability activates! Aimi Saionji's Tactician ability activates! COMBAT: Aimi Saionji's counterattack, Return Burst Fire, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
Well, she did distract it... Cherry Blossom thinks. But not really well enough. She's feeling a little fatigue, too. That loss the other day really did get to her and Vanilla. She has to screw up her courage to not give up...
But she's really worried about Sunshine. She tries to snap Vanilla out of it, by just saying -- "Check on her, okay? I... know we can still do this--"
And then, she faces the youma. She takes a couple of steps forward, and looks into its red eyes. "All right. If you intend to draw your weapon, then... I'll face you down."
She reaches into her hair and pulls out a small golden rod. The chopstick glows with golden light, as she holds it in front of her body. She branishes this tiny blade as if it were a full sized sword. And she braces herself against the barrel of the cannon. She shuts her eyes as the red energy barrels around her. She feels its power coursing and crackling through the air. But so much of it is absorbed by the little golden chopstick.
Cherry Blossom swings it swiftly around, with a flick of her wrist, and then dives forward! The point of the chopstick aimed out, the little blade held in both hands, she plunges it toward the heart of the Zaku!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Wood Chopstick on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.
Fuu lets her bow and quiver vanish, willing her own sword to replace them - and while her blade materializes just in time to catch the beam saber and keep herself from being cleaved, she doesn't manage to fully parry it, and her attempt to parry and counter goes basically nowhere except for helping to force the papercraft-wearing boy to disengage rather than locking blades with her.
(It may also be noticeable that her blade shows absolutely no sign of scorching or melting, or anything else you'd probably expect when somebody parried an energy weapon with a physical swordblade.)
"You said it was no Zaku, and then you said it was a particular *type* of Zaku," Fuu states wryly as the wind picks up around her once again, gusting harder now. "But no matter what, your misguided battle has to end, here and now, before you destroy what you wished to protect!" She stabs her sword into the ground next to her and steps forward as she calls out, "MIDORI NO .... SHIPPUU!!!!"
The Magic Knight of Wind swings her arms up and forward, left then right as if grasping the wind and funneling it into her attack - and a gale-force blast races ahead of her to *RIP* at the papercraft mobile suit, to shred it to pieces and pull it away from the terminally misguided boy within. However, said misguided boy will be left relatively unharmed no matter how violently the wind tears at his papercraft - somewhat battered and disheveled, but without serious injuries to his own body.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Midori no Shippu: Full on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
"I..." Warm Vanilla Sugar says when Dark Amber speaks to her. This isn't new, as she's spoken with him before. But this peptalk... "You're right. They are." She smiles softly, hearing Sunshine's words as well now. She gathers up her courage and strength, preparing to try and do something.
The mecha fires off its beams at her and others once more, because of course it has to unleash ranged on her at this point. She tried to return fire herself with her own magical bursts, though it wasn't nearly as effective as the beams were on her, causing even more pain, wear, and tear to come upon the Perfume Warrior. Sooner or later she was going to break under it all.
"Thank you, Dark Amber," She says, wincing a bit as she tried to stand her ground. "I know you mean well, and you want to do good, to fix things. Here, let me help."
She continues to smile, closing her eyes and reaching in to her magic and heart lend him her strength, the love that she had for her friends, allies, family, and those that she has chosen to protect. Hopefully it'll be enough.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has used The Power of Love on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki accepts Aimi Saionji's The Power of Love, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to Kinzo Hiroyuki!
Suzu Hamasaki's fountain of bubbles seems at least vaguely effective. Suzu is proud - she rarely has any partners to work with, but apparently this time it was just what the doctor ordered. "Good work!" she calls back to Erika, not sure of what to call her.
Well, it looked good until it turns out that it didn't take out the papercraft machine, anyway. Suzu looks startled, then worried; she starts to creep toward a side alley, not to escape but to take cover in case it attacks her.
"I don't even know what a Zaku is - " It attacks her. Suzu isn't close enough to evade after all! She tries to put up her shield, but what this means is that, when the machine comes at her, it doesn't just hit her but instead picks her up and throws her; Suzu manages to keep her shield up while she (in it) bounces down an alley like a Superball, ricocheting from wall to wall until she goes head over heels at the far end, dazed.
Several seconds later, Suzu returns. Possibly involuntarily, because she's still rolling inside the shield, but now it's (sort of) under her control; she's running with her arms out like it was a hampster ball, trying desperately to keep up with its speed and hoping against hope that her clumsiness doesn't make her trip. "I don't actually know how to stop!" she half warns the rest of the crew, half wails.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Dream Bubble Roller on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
This is so real, it approaches... canon.
Forever Sunshine declares with astonishment, "We can't end Part 1 this early!!" as the sword comes down.
Outlined by the sheer light of passionate nerdery, Forever Sunshine's back arches, presenting a powerfully recognizable silhouette. The blade lashes from the shoulder and seems to travel through the darkness that is her body, a sudden splashing outwards of red fluid coming as she screams, "I CAN SEE IT--!!"
Then there is another sandalwood explosion, and she slams into the second floor of a building immediately across the street, through an opened hallway window. She rebounds off the floor, bouncing down a stairwell, and coming to a halt in a little lobby space, utterly coated in sticky red. She lays there, before straightening up and adjusting her vest. "Ugh... So much for THAT barbecue sauce..."
She slams out through the doorway, popping up in the background and waving her free arm around, calling out as she does, "Yeah!! Get him, Cherry Blossom!! And Vanilla!! And... Bubble Queen!!" She missed Suzu's name. Even so, the charm works, and a refreshing tangerine breeze sweeps up.
To herself, Erika muses, "Just what is he even talking about? It sounds like he's quotin' something."
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Sakura Akagi.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Surge applied to Sakura Akagi!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Suzu Hamasaki!
Kinzo Hiroyuki nods. "I do." he says very curtly....he turns back to the beast.
"It's wavering..." he says. For Dark Amber, the world engulfs itself into brown Sepia tone, everything stops around him---to everyone else, it looks like Dark Amber has vanished!---he's just reappeard in front of this thing.
"You're pathetic." he says as he dissapears----assuming, a strike may happen across this things chest---Dark Amber is just moving super fast. "Did you really think spouting this would get you that girl?..." he asks as he hovers in air a moment, coming out of his little time speed up...he enters it again as he attempts to come back down. "Do you think this how love works?" he asks. Dark Amber hardly knows how it works himself, but---he's positive this isn't the way. "Enough of this!" he yells as he shoves out his hand attempts to encase the being into a sudden burst of Amber---it hurts and crushes a lot, if it hits, before shattering out.
"DARK AMBER CRUSH!" he yells.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Kinzo Hiroyuki has used Dark Amber Crush on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly counters Suzu Hamasaki's Dream Bubble Roller, taking 5 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Improbable Papercraft, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Suzu Hamasaki!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Sakura Akagi's Cherry Wood Chopstick, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sakura Akagi is Psyched! Cripple applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Aimi Saionji!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Midori no Shippu: Full, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tomomi Shizuka's Block ability activates! Tomomi Shizuka's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to brace Kinzo Hiroyuki's Finisher, Dark Amber Crush, taking 97 Fatigue damage!
Nothing about this mech makes any sense. Weird special effects are par for the course. At least this seems like a normal day in Electric Town.
The girls prepare to take the mech down once and for all. He can feel the power rising around him. He keeps firing indiscriminately until the wind starts to press down on him. He slams the giant cannon down into the street and braces against it, locking himself against the papercraft weapon. A summoning circle appears around him in a sudden counterspell -- but he's not casting that.
The mech doesn't realize that. His red eyes gleam behind his visor as the brunt of the storm breaks against the sorcerous circle. "No matter what we learn," he grates. "No matter what we obtain, nothing -- NOTHING! EVER! CHANGES!"
Sakura runs in toward the papercraft suit as he continues to monologue. "People are amazing that way. They become envious, they HATE each ot --"
Sakura slams through the defensive magic with the power of her chopstick. The field breaks, knocking the mech back on its heels. "What --"
Dark Amber appears in front of the mech. "Irony abounds in warfare," he says, as the pillar of amber slams down around it. It is frozen in place within the towering wash of amber. Its glyphs start to break. The magic is beginning to become fundamentally unsound...
...but not yet. It moves within the amber, reaching back to the sword. When its hand locks onto the hilt again, the amber shatters around it, scattering in all directions!
"Do you feel my presence?" he asks. "Do you sense it the same way I see yours?!"
The papercraft mech swings his sword into Kinzo, trying to finish him off! Charging back toward its enormous cannon, it flips the sword up into the air, collects the huge weapon -- with difficulty -- and starts washing the area down with evil energy!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Tomomi Shizuka has used Ridiculous Sword Rampage on Kinzo Hiroyuki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Erika Inagawa.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Suzu Hamasaki.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has used Uncontrollable Fire on Sakura Akagi.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki fails to dodge Tomomi Shizuka's Finisher, Ridiculous Sword Rampage, taking 46 Fatigue damage! Kinzo Hiroyuki is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Suzu Hamasaki's Block ability activates! Suzu Hamasaki's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa narrowly braces Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 4 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly counters Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 22 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi's counterattack, Chopstick Throw, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji fails to counter Tomomi Shizuka's Uncontrollable Fire, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji's counterattack, Charged Blast, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tomomi Shizuka!
Kinzo Hiroyuki is hit with the enormous sword----it swings into his lower stomach---- he was not exactly expecting this, because he was hoping the other fighters could had landed thier blows---but this thing is WAY more proficent than it seems---- it speaks. He gets the distinct impression that isn't the beast talking those last few words, but... someone else through the dark scent, but he's not able to dwell on it too long as he's sent flying into a store window.
He actually doesn't come out this time.
Japanese Cherry Blossom can't block another attack of that power level, so she does something a little desperate, and throws the chopstick into the wave. It slips through, blocking some of the power, but certainly not all of it. The evil energy washes over her, and she is forced to absorb it, her bruised face scuffing and sleeves billowing as she takes the attack head-on.
"I ... I do sense it!" she shouts, even as the energy barrage rips into her. "Somewhere down inside... is a person who's scared and lost! Let us guide you back with our light!"
Japanese Cherry Blossom shuts her eyes, and places her hands together, building energy throughout.
She focuses her mind in preparation. She tries to think about the memories this young man must have lost. He was looking for love, but he had mixed up real memories with reality. Now, it's up to them to remind him... what the world is, and who he was. Cherry's eyes open again, reflecting for just a moment, the sun on water of a faraway land, and then, the lights of Akihabara. Cherry Blossom petals scatter at her feet, rising and turning in a slow arc.
Her gaze moves toward Suzu, who still seems to have some power remaining. This time, she doesn't hesitate to instruct her. "With me now, and we'll show you how to restore someone's memory."
She takes a breath.
"Cherry Blossom Elimination!"
The blossoms streak out in a powerful spinning blast!
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has started a combo targeting Tomomi Shizuka!
Fuu stares. The papercraft mecha stood up to the Midori no Shippuu THAT well - ?!
And then the Zaku Mk. Otaku opens fire on all of them again after cleavesmashing Dark Amber. Even though the last time she saw Dark Amber was in battle against him, Fuu can't help but wince for his sake even as she's trying not to get blown away. She doesn't dodge cleanly this time either, getting smacked around by several of those crimson beams ...
But she still has the strength to get back to her feet, even if she has to use her sword for support to do it. "I sense far more of your presence than I care to," she remarks to the otaku. "Now do us a favor and stand still .. Imashime no Kaze!!"
The Winds of Admonishment race forth once again, even though Fuu has to lean on her sword for support after unleashing her spell.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
Seafoam Suzu eventually rolls to a stop, dizzy. The bubble pops, freeing her, as she looks around to reorient herself.
That circle... Suzu isn't sure how it's working. She can feel it - she's not great with magic, but there's something there. And it's certainly not hers. There's something - something -
Suzu is leaving herself open to the evil energy. This is something Seafoam Suzu is made to counter - negative emotions, bad dreams, night terrors. It's not quite the same as a Nightmare but it's something related, something out of a half-formed dream - maybe the other girl is right, and it's a broken memory, but she can feel something wrong about it.
Suzu withstands the wave as best she can. She wobbles, but stays upright - and when Sakura calls out, Suzu looks at her, startled, and then nods. "Right! For everybody's hopes and dreams... I, Seafoam Suzu, will banish the darkness!"
Suzu places both hands together and lowers her head slightly as if praying - and then she spreads her arms wide as light builds, both from her and overhead.
It starts to rain light, sparks rising up from Suzu and then falling from the sky, almost liquid drops of silvery light. Some of them fall toward the papercraft robot, but others fall toward Sakura; they strike her harmlessly, energizing her own banishment as Suzu calls upon the stars above!
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has joined the combo started by Sakura Akagi!
Warm Vanilla watches as Dark Amber does his thing, and even after all the blasts and beatings that the mecha had been taking, it still remained functional. This was seriously starting to wear on Vanilla. The enemies were getting stronger and she... she was still where she had started it feels like.
"Dark Amber!" She calls out, seeing their ally being rather painfully struck. She starts to go after him, but then realizes that the mecha is unleashing more beams down at her and the others. She tries to react with a stronger blast of magic, but it fails completely and she's sent flying into a storefront herself. For a while she just lies there in the crater that she had landed in, beaten and battered. The past two days so far... could she really do this any more?
"He's not dead..." Vanilla says softly, slowly starting to pull herself out of the crater. "We're not defeated yet... we can do this... we have to..."
Warm Vanilla Sugar couldn't assist her friends like this. She wouldn't be able to help them much more. But she couldn't give up. Not like this. Not against the foe that she had vowed to defeat.
And once more Vanilla rushes into melee combat, drawing on her magical perfume for strength as she goes to throw a magical, hopefully somewhat purifying punch at the mecha.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has used Can't Keep Her Down on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji has finished attacking.
Coming down from the stoop, Forever Sunshine looks towards the Zaku; she's already sore, but...
She curls her hand into a fist. "Cherry Blossom! Bubble Queen! I'm - oh," and then she deflates as she got the name wrong. How embarrassing.
But what she CAN do is sweep her hand around, declaring to Vanilla, "Don't worry about him!! Focus on your enemy!!" She sidles then towards Dark Amber, worrying to herself - what /were/ those other two up to the last two days?
WHAT ERIKA WAS DOING DURING THAT PERIOD:
- sound of potato chips crunching*
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Aimi Saionji.
COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Aimi Saionji!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sakura Akagi and Suzu Hamasaki have used Cherry Blossom Elimination and Astral Droplet Rain on Tomomi Shizuka.
COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka fails to counter Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Trap applied to Tomomi Shizuka!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka's counterattack, Improbable Papercraft, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka accepts Aimi Saionji's Can't Keep Her Down, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tomomi Shizuka accepts Sakura Akagi and Suzu Hamasaki's Finisher, Combo: Cherry Blossom Elimination, taking 159 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
Someone cast that circle. Someone near. But where? In the chaos of this battle...
The papercraft mecha feels victory is near. It manifests two more funnels from its back, firing lasers back at Fuu. It puts down its giant cannon again as Warm Vanilla Sugar rushes it.
"Hoh," he says. "Back again, are you? We'll see about that."
The mecha brings up its forearms to block. It tries to parry Aimi's strike, but she hits a weakness in the armor -- the place that her glittery strike had landed earlier in the battle. Her purifying blow smashes into the flaw, powering into the papercraft armor. The armor starts to crumple for the first time in the fight.
The papercraft mech staggers back, stunned. "Your power. That pressure!"
The mech brings up its arms again, retrieving its gun to try to stop the spiraling cherry blossoms. The rain starts to fall around him like so many stars. He looks up into it with awe as the cherry spiral slams around and through him. The papercraft armor starts to dissolve, washing away into a cheaply animated overexposed series of frames.
"If you could go to space, you could understand... there was hope between the stars."
The papercraft mecha disintegrates completely. The energy collected by the possessed monster flows back through Electric Town. The people in the Maid Cafe and the general vicinity start to wake up.
There is a tattered looking man with curly brown hair laying face down on the street. He's probably in his early 20s. He's wearing a Char Aznable t-shirt and blue jeans.
Kaori, still in her maid outfit, runs out when the battle seems over. She flounces over next to the young man, kneeling next to him with worry. She rolls him onto his back, looking into his bruised face.
There is a red dahlia flower in his left hand.
Sakura doesn't notice the Dahlia flower right away. She just... slumps. These past few days have felt like some kind of waking dream. She can barely focus. That almost did her in...
But everyone is okay, it seems, including the young man, and her friends too. "Thanks... everyone. This isn't getting any easier."
"Mamori no Kaze," Fuu gasps out as the funnels line up their shots, and conjures a wind barrier - blocking the beam attacks, and even though it takes its toll on her remaining reserves, it still keeps her from getting hurt any worse. It also means she can watch as the Splash Perfume team delivers their team finisher - which is, to be honest, kind of inspiring.
That flower, on the other hand, is somehow worrisome.
"Given how effective the three of you were compared to myself," she says with a weary smile, "I imagine this was the work of one of your enemies." She draws herself to her full height, pulling her sword free of the pavement and letting it disappear. "If you'll permit me to show my gratitude, I can heal the injuries you've suffered in this fight - and perhaps help restore that young man to wholeness as well ..."
Suzu Hamasaki knows about dreams. Perhaps Suzu should talk to Sakura Akagi some time in the future.
But that's not now. Now she's Seafoam Suzu, the other person is Japanese Cherry Blossom, and they're not here to have a chat like that. "Is he okay?" she asks, before correcting herself, "Is everyone okay?" There's one less of them then there were before.
Suzu has seen Fuu before. She nods, slowly. "That would help. I'm a little sore, even if it doesn't show..."
Kinzo Hiroyuki steps out of the window, well, more like crawl, he looks entirely beat up---and kind of woozy, he needs to lean. At some point, he lapsed into unconciousness. He's pleased to see he wasn't out very long. At some point soon, Love Magic will probably heal the various disaster zone this areas become. But not right now. His vision is kinda fuzzy but he can see no one is dead, which is a good thing.
Forever Sunshine asks Dark Amber, gingerly, "Are you OK? Don't pass out again, that's like super bad for you to pass out, actually. Especially if you hit your head." She then semaphores vigorously in the air when she hears someone say something about 'healing the injuries.'
"No... that's okay," Vanilla said, bowing to Fuu. "I'll be alright." She might be lying a bit, but she does have her own magic that she could use for healing in some ways at the least. "It was nice to see you fight though."
She does rush over to Dark Amber, going to help him stand up. "Its also nice to see you aren't that badly beat up now, if you're able to come crawling out like this."
Kaori frets over the fallen man. She swats him a few times in the chest out of frustration and worry. He'll be okay, but she's going to be upset with him for a while for causing all of this trouble.
The red dahlia falls out of his hand. It blows down the street a short distance. The petals start to blow away in the wind. Moments later, the flower collapses into glittery dust.
Fuu bows briefly. "Then please gather together for a moment," she requests of the other magical girls. "And you as well, Dark Amber-san; you were our ally this time, so I'll endeavor to heal your injuries as well."
She takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly, then brings her hands up in front of her and calls out, "Iyashi no Kaze!"
The Winds of Healing blow gently through the area, soothing pain, healing injuries, and restoring some of everyone's expended energy. It might or might not be enough for Takeshi to regain consciousness, but it'll definitely heal his physical injuries - and if Kaori got hurt in the course of things, her wounds will be mended as well.
Once the spell has finished, Fuu lets out another breath, looking around at the rest of you - and at the surroundings. She wasn't 'aiming' her spell to repair damage to the buildings and such, but who knows? It might have done the architecture some good as well.
Sakura looks at Fuu. "Yes. Please help him if you can..." she looks toward Amber for a moment, then looks up at the buildings...
Many of them have clocks on them. School is pretty much over. Where did the day even go...?
The healing winds do help a little, though, and she straightens up. Time to put that confidence back on. "We're perfume warriors. The Apothecary uses their powers to remove people's memories. When they do, our perfumes can restore them. But we always want to work together, with people who can help. Thank you all so very much."
Kinzo Hiroyuki is in intense, seering pain.
"Just a scratch." he insists. That's a lie. Anyone that can see him now knows that's a lie. "Thank you." is all he says, in a curt manner. That healing wind blows...it heals him a little...he can stand now, so he politely moves away from Aimi. "The flower." he says. He's seen it.
"is that like the one you mentioned before?" he asks with a frown.
"Well, I'm Seafoam Suzu," Suzu says, dipping into a full bow. "And it was good to work with you! Even if the situation, um..."
Suzu turns aside to look at Kaori and the fallen man> She thinks they'll be okay, and there's not much she can do for them, but she smiles at least. Her smile is vaguely energizing.
Fuu smiles wryly, "I don't have a magical-girl nom de guerre, I'm afraid ... but if you must, call me the Magic Knight of Wind. I'd normally be willing to share my real identity as well, but ..."
She smiles extra-sweetly (if still a bit wryly) at Dark Amber. "... I'm sure that you understand why I don't feel safe doing that in present company, Dark Amber-san."
Warm Vanilla Sugar nods, not moving to stop Dark Amber now. "Yeah, it is actually. That would explain its toughness..."
She sighed some, looking at the clocks. "I... should see about getting back home before anyone realizes I'm not where I should be."
She does smile at Fuu. "Well, it was nice to see you again regardless, Magic Knight of Wind. And don't worry. He isn't that bad." To be fair, Vanilla hasn't actually battled Dark Amber to keep him from doing what he does.
"What did she just say," Forever Sunshine asks Suzu, both parenthetically and flatly, after Fuu drops 'Nom du guerre'.
"Japanese Cherry Blossom." Sakura bows to everyone, with her hands together. Someone might be taking pictures of the weird cosplayers, though, so she looks embarassed as she gets up.
The little mascot joins with her at that moment, but blends with its chameleon colors into her dress. "...Time to go now. Take care."
