2014-03-10 - Starfall 6

Title: Starfall 6
Summary: In the aftermath of an X-Egg cleansing, Amu Hinamori's star shard emerges. Queen Beryl's favored youma, Thetis, is on-hand to collect it, with help from underling Neapolita.
Who: Amu Hinamori, Yukimi Amane, Touka Chigami, Homura Akemi, Nori Ankou, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Nadeshiko Fujisaki, Norie Okana, Ikiko Hisakata, Lera Camry, Mamoru Chiba, Meimi Haneoka GMs: Honoka Yukshiro, Usagi Tsukino
Where: Uminari Seaside Park
OOC - IC Date: 03-10-2014 - 12-14-2013

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Ah, a day in the life of the Guardians.

"ANIMALS SMELL! AND THEY NEVER LIKE ME!" cries the X-Chara, a tiny but potent black imp with a big red X on his forehead. She has a giant shovel in one hand and a colossal syringe in the other, and for the last half an hour she has been causing complete and total havoc at the annual Fluffy Love-Love Petting Zoo. The kids have all run for cover, out of the park. Most of the animals, wiser in the ways of the heart than they let on, are hiding in their enclosures, huddled together for warmth and support, but it's taken all the hard work the mahou shoujo on site can muster to keep them safe from the occasional contemptuous gigantic ball of dung the X-Chara has been chucking about.

It's a dirty job, but someone has had to do it.

And then Open Heart hits it with all the fierce love a maiden can muster. There's an explosion of pink sparkles that seems to shake the world itself, and when it fades, the X-Chara has become a tiny, cute fairy wearing a nurse's hat and carrying a huge thermometer... and a pooper scooper. "I love animals -- when I grow up, I'm going to be a veterinarian!" The now-purified Chara returns to its egg, which slowly closes, then vanishes back into the source of her dream, a little girl in a pink bunny sweater, collapsed on the ground in a heap.

She rubs her eyes blearily, then gets up to go give a sheep a hug.

OOC: This scene is opening at the end of a battle with an X-Chara. Feel free to pose in with your contribution, and social in the aftermath!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

As things quiet down at the petting zoo, four sets of ears emerge from a nearby enclosure, followed by their respective heads: a pony, a goat, an alpaca... and a (magical) wolf(girl).

Tsukiko looks around; yup, things appear safe now. "Okay, looks like the coast is clear," she says to the three animals she had been guarding. "Are you three okay?" In response, she gets a friendly nuzzle, an affectionate headbutt, and a contented hum. "That's good to hear," she smiles, petting the three animals.

COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi transforms into Chara Change!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Lera Camry sighs, wiping her brow off, staring down at the egg -- and then watches it vanish. "Never quite ran into something like /that/ before," the Device Wielder says to the other magical girls present. A couple drops of sweat run down her forehead, threatening to fall into her eyes. Despite her remarks, though, she didn't contribute the way she normally does. Often times, in a fight, she rushes to the forefront, swords in hand, and gets up close and personal.

That didn't happen today.

Instead, Lera hurled fire bolts here and there -- and cast Mirage Charge on her allies. Her effectiveness was limited by that; it's kept Soaring Sky quiet, too, for once. She puts the hilts of the swords together, and the twin pronged emitters clamp back together. She leans the staff against her shoulder.

A hand rises to the orange scarf wrapped around her neck. She tilts her head to the side, then she frowns slightly. The cut from Qarzha is healed entirely, but she still keeps it wrapped around her neck.

<Pose Tracker> Norie Okano [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Norie Okano all the fighting. Norie did not partcipate in the battle. Instead, she was one of the few bystanders who was watching in awe. She occasionally speaks to herself. You guys don't see a reply coming from anywhere, but it's almost like she's speaking to someone in her head. Everytime she speaks, the gem on that gnarled ring replys. She's been saying things like.

"Wow, is this how hu---people have fun here!? amazing!"

"Is fecal flinging part of the experience!?"

"Maybe people are alright here if this is thier idea of fun!"

"What do you mean this isn't normal!?"

"Awwww...."

She suddenly seems almost let down with a small pout.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

"Oh, Batiste, you were amazing!"

"You were incredible!"

"If only you could stay among us," says the third of the girl otters in the otter enclosure.

Batiste gives each of them a brief, heart-felt paw clasp. "I can't," he says (subtitled from Otter). "I must go now. Perhaps some day, we'll meet again..."

He paddles across the water feature, with a barking series of 'goodbye! au revoir' behind him.

"Ah, romance," he remarks to himself, wistfully, before shifting to human language as he comes by the shore. La Sirene is hidden from immediate view by a takoyaki stand, and has a stick of that octopoid treat in her mouth as she attempts to dab off an unnamed stain from her cap.

"Oi, cousin," he says. "What's good?"

"Mrf," la Sirene answers. After this, she looks up at Batiste, donning her cap once more. "Well, I was able to reap quite a harvest while, heh heh, /helping/ those children to safety..."

ELSEWHERE

A small knot of 3rd graders sit and await their guardians. One of them remarks to another, "Did you think anything was weird with the cheek... wiping... thing?"

The other child has gotten out his DS, and says nothing.

BUT BACK BEHIND THE TAKOYAKI STAND

la Sirene puts her cap back on. "And I suppose triumph is its own reward."

<Pose Tracker> Amu Hinamori [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

As the Chara floats back into its egg, Amulet Heart smiles and gives her a little wave. "That's such a great dream... wanting to help animals." She wrinkles her nose slightly. "I never knew taking care of animals could be so smelly, though." Amulet Heart takes a moment to look herself over, to make sure nothing is still stuck on her... before letting out a breath. It's nice to finally breathe again.

"Thanks for helping out! I'm sure that girl will appreciate it in no time." It looks like the owner of the former-X-Chara doesn't even need a pep talk to remind her of what she likes. Which is good, because that's always super embarrassing, especially when other people are around.

But with the matter dealt with, Amulet Heart steps back... and with a soft pop, she's back as Amu Hinamori, cool and spicy elementary schooler.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask transforms into Mamoru Chiba!

COMBAT: Touka Chigami transforms into Lux Corruere!
COMBAT: Amu Hinamori transforms into Amu Hinamori!
COMBAT: Yukimi Amane transforms into Lux Lapsa!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko's having a busy week! So today she has appeared once again to back up the response to an X-Egg.

She did a lot of screaming and winging her spear around, because that's realy all she's got.

She was very meticulous about those poo blasts, though. A proper young lady does not let herself be attacked by the Saints.

Nadeshiko leans on her naginata and sighs for a second, gathering her strength back. Shortly after Amu pops out, Nadeshiko releases her own grip on her spear, causing the weapon to vanish. "It looks like she had a strong heart after all," Nadeshiko chimes, her soft, cheerful voice a rather stark change from the gutteral growls of about fifteen seconds ago. "Even a bright dream can get bruised, I guess..." She purses her lips a little. Probab...ly? Sure.

She offers a little bow in Lera's direction, noting for the assembled helpers, "Thank you for your assistance. A runaway X-Character can be very dangerous."

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It /is/ a dirty job, and now that it's come to an end, Lux Corruere stares briefly at the spot where the pink sparkles burst onto the scene. Lux Corruere, of course, being an angelic warrior who assisted in the battle, dressed in flowing black cloth and slightly singed but still brilliant red plates, with great feathery black wings that seem always to be covered in soot and ash. Her golden hair is, thankfully, spared the problem of certain... projectiles.

Now that it's over, though, her flaming sword is sheathed at her belt and disappears once more, her whip already having been put away. "That..." She turns to her companion, Lux Lapsa, "...Is that normal? For this sort of thing? I mean, /she/ won't answer me when I ask, she just goes all quiet and I /know/ she's smirking at me--"

She should probably be leaving about now, but instead she turns and just sort of gives a fairly anachronistic (for her attire) V-sign to Amu and Nadeshiko at their thanks.

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

I'm going to be the one to get the next Star Shard

On top of a roof, halfway across town, Saint Tail is delicately penning her own personal version of a love note.

She is pondering the wording carefully, tapping a pen against her lip. But she's still not so sure about sending it. After all, she doesn't know for sure when these things are going to happen. So notifying Asuka Jr. at the exact right time is... difficult, at best. It's important to keep artifacts out of the hands of evil and return them to the rightful people. But when she'll get a really solid tip she isn't totally sure... She's quite close to forgetting the whole thing, earlier patrols and secret searches having not borne much fruit.

She folds the paper up and slips it into her hat...

Wait, was there some kind of commotion out by the zoo over there?

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

And thus another great battle comes to a close, the X-Chara being defeated and the dreams of a child are restored to full bloom! A wonderful thing. So you might ask, what was Homura's contribution to this heartwarming (if rather smelly at times) tale?

Not. One. Thing.

It's not that Homura wants the X-Chara to run amok. She truly does not. Nor is it that she is particularly afraid of being pelted with pariticularly plentiful pile of animal dung. The fact of the matter is that there are people better equipped to handle such matters, and thus the violet Puella Magi is all to happy to leave it to them.

... though if they weren't around, well, it wouldn't be the first time that Homura has had to ruthlessly crush the hopes and dreams of others.

That isn't to say that Homura is completely out of the picture either though. While the Uminari Seaside Park is not her typical port of call she has come to vary up her usual patrol routes recently. In particular she seems drawn to gatherings of magical energy, and certainly the site of such a battle is one of those places. She watches the final act of the battle from behind one of the nearby trees... "Hm... perhaps not this one." The girl states calmly to herself.

<Pose Tracker> Lux Lapsa [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Lux Lapsa is also present, armed and armored in a similar way as Lux Corruere; where Corruere's uniform is red and singed, though, Lapsa's is pale blue and frosted, with ice-rimed black wings fluttering slightly behind her and flowing, elegantly-curled silver hair. It took effort to avoid any direct hits. Glacial barriers are *such* a good thing.

Given her regal bearing, she takes all the animal dung with remarkably aplomb.

She folds her arms and looks over at Lux Corruere. "You *know* you could answer her yourself," she says with a sigh, addressing someone behind Corruere's eyes. "You just want to make me do it, don't you?"

...That's not an answer. It's not going to *be* an answer, either. Where Corruere flashes the V-sign to Amu and Nadeshiko, Lapda offers them a more stately nod, then turns away. With one grand flap of her wings, she takes to the air, no doubt followed by her companion.

Five minutes later, Yukimi returns to the battle site. "It was over here, Touka-chan!!" she says excitedly to her friend, already looking around for any remaining magical girls, eyes sparkling like a galaxy. "Omigosh! I hope they didn't already leave!"

COMBAT: Lux Lapsa transforms into Yukimi Amane!

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

That was one fight Tudexo Mask did not participate in. Mamoru had been at the Annual Fluffy Love-Love petting zoo for his own reasons (read, he was reading on a park bench when the fit hit the shan, and just sort of... stayed there reading, because everything looked well in hand). Now? He turns another page, only glancing up over his sunglasses every once in a while.

Granted, he did lean to the right slightly, once, when an attack that'd gone astray zotted toward his head, and the crackling magical bolt ruffled his hair as it sailed past, so he hasn't been completely motionless.

COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi transforms into Ikuto Tsukiyomi!

<Pose Tracker> Ikuto Tsukiyomi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

One set of eyes has been watching the scene with keen interest, though not intervening. In all the confusion, it hasn't been too hard to sneak into an enclosure and lean against a particularly large and cooperative sheep. It made for a comfy viewing spot, and although he hasn't done much to remain inconspicuous, it might come as a surprise to some those who know him, to see that he's been there the whole time!

"Looks like we didn't really need to step in, then, do we?" tiny catboy Yoru pipes up, stretching to his feet after just spent the last few minutes comfortably curled up within the sheep's wool.

Yawning, Ikuto gets up to his feet, stretches and dusts himself up. He'll need to have his uniform cleaned after that, even though he stayed far away from the fight enough to avoid the, well, poop-slinging. Time to make an exit, stage left.

<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

A cart rounds the corner.

Technically, all supernatural ridiculousness has ceased. It's not unusual for civilians to wander back into an area. It's a little rare for it to happen this quickly, but statistics being statistics, well.

The cart (selling ICE CREAM, according to a hand-painted sign) is a little too elegant for Fluffy Love-Love Petting. Its gracefully sloping wooden facade would fit in more at the boardwalk. The enormous umbrella and dangling wind chimes would be a hit for the romantic sorts strolling along the beach.

Oh, no, wait. There's some cartoon bunnies and goats and cats painted on the side. Poorly, but they're there. Definitely a petting zoo thing.

The young woman pushing the vending stall looks over it. The only concession to being a seasonal worker who regularly deals with children and livestock are a tiny hat and a name tag. The latter is obscured by jacket, a fashionable blazer that compliments her dress and is not working with the local pastel color scheme.

"Ice cream," she calls out, sounding thrilled. This is a lie. However, there is a cash register on the cart, so the ice cream part is truth.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Lera doesn't change back right away. She was distracted during the fight; now, she is distracted after it.

<Are you all right?> Soaring Sky finally asks.

"Mm," she says, "yeah. "It's just... nothing, Sky. Don't worry. I'm--"

Distracted by a familiar voice.

She turns and spots Yukimi approaching. She doesn't think, for a moment; she is relieved to simply be done with the fight, so she can ignore that feeling that built up over the entire fight and did not leave her alone.

"Hey, Yukimi!"

...except, of course, she is still in her barrier jacket, and that means -- despite having the same red hair, the same pale brown eyes, and the rest -- that she doesn't look the same because of recognition inhibition. Her inhibitions having failed, Lera recognizes that this was a colosally stupid thing to do, so she hastily sputters.

"I-I mean, um, greetings, Earth girl! I'm Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan and I hope you are completely safe and sound and unfamiliar with me entirely!"

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Lux Corruere had to just try not to touch anything. Fire would only have made things worse.

Lapsa can probably imagine the smirk. Corruere, meanwhile, is left frowning, as no answer is forthcoming from /anybody/ as far as she can tell. She'll have to deal, because as a matter of fact she does follow her companion to the sky. And a few minutes later..

The green-haired Touka is following along, though she has to practically jog to keep up at this point. "R-right! I'm sure there's some!" ...She may be mildly out of breath from all this.

But she does glance around too, only to find a... magic.. OK Magical Cheeseburger has to be completely normal, Touka's just new at this.

/Touka. Over there./

"Ah! Hey, Yukimi-chan, I'll go get us some ice cream." She could use the... something, after all that. So she waves casually to Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan (act cool act cool--except shouldn't she be acting like she's excited to meet her??) and walks riiight over to the enthusiastic ice cream stand.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere transforms into Touka Chigami!

COIN FLIP: Nori Ankou flips a coin. It lands on tails!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

... well maybe there was a reason for Homura to be here after all, and thus the earlier statements were a bit of a lie. Not that she would tell anyone else that. Nope. It was totally magical concentrations and poop slinging X-Charas.

Nothing to do with wanting to watch Madoka take her adorable little brother to a petting zoo. No. That would be silly. There are many many MANY serious threats that she needs to contend with on a daily basis and she has no time for that sort of thing. None. Zipola. Nada.

... ok maybe five minutes.

It is around the time that Homura was contemplating her next move that she notices Lera Camry introducing herself as 'Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan'. Homura's violet eyes flick briefly her way and she sighs to herself. Her eyes also travel briefly over towards Amu Hinamori the 'cool and spicy' elementary school student. Homura hms and tilts her head slightly to the side. Just as she initially thought, nothing seems amiss. And then there is a woman selling ice cream. Which must be an unenviable task in the middle of December, even with all the warm and fuzzy animals around.

A sweeping curtain of raven black hair sweeps through the late autumn air as Homura turns away from the gathered crowd. "Enough distractions."

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Satisfied that the animals are safe and no longer panicking, Tsukiko quietly walks off behind a nearby bush...

...and Ikiko Hisakata walks out the other side. "That was lively," she murmurs, reflexively checking the bottom of her shoes for any unfortunate residue. Satisfied that she's not in desperate need of an immediate bath, she looks around, trying to decide if she wants to spend more time at the petting zoo or not.

The arrival of the ice cream cart is a welcome distraction, and after a moment or two of contemplating Ikiko starts walking towards the cart.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Egg-related crisis dealt with, and cap cleaned, la Sirene du Nord steps out as if she owns the place. She taps her shoulder and Batiste leaps onto her sleeve, jogging up to perch there, apparently happy to do so - the comparison to a certain Giant Robo and its boy operator is obvious.

But it just means they can sorta cheek snuggle a little, when nobody's looking. La Sirene doesn't have to fear her eyeliner running.

"We're making good time in our, heh heh, patrol; I think we have plenty of deposit left on the boat, too, don't we?" Batiste says.

La Sirene halts, abruptly, in the middle of the path.

"Hm?"

He nudges la Sirene's head. "What's wrong?"

La Sirene is looking dead at something, standing directly in front of a signpost indicating where to go to pet an ocelot, a goat, or a stingray. Her eyes are open. Her lips are slightly parted.

Batiste waves a hand in front of her eye and gets minimal pupillary response.

But la Sirene does speak. Softly, largely to herself. "Look out there," she says. "What do you see...?"

Batiste looks. "... Humans?" he guesses.

"That is horrifying enough," la Sirene whispers, "but no. Look!!" She raises one to point with a single dark-tipped finger towards -

The ice cream stand.

"You are pointing at humans."

"Can't you feel the weather!? Ice cream, now--!?" she hisses under her breath.

Batiste, who is lactose intolerant, decides to go with it. "Oh - oh, yes, I see. Ice cream is... a thing for... spring," he guesses.

<Pose Tracker> Norie Okano [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Norie Okano is still appearing let down, then an ice cream cart arrives. "What's that..." she says in wonder a moment as she approaches. She eyes a the sign. "Isee... Cre-Am." she says, pronouncing it totally completely weirdly like it was some spell. "Is that some sort of cold word?" she asks, seemingly confused.

Yeah, she doesn't know what Ice Cream is.

"Oh...it's food." she says suddenly dumbly. "I mean." she says as she looks around at nobody as she realizes she's talking to herself. "Of course it's food, Ice Cream is cold delicious human treat!" she says, vertabim from a description she heard in her head from Broom-Sensei just a second ago.

Broom-Sensei mentally facepalms. This signified with a pulsing flash from her ring. It's probably just the light gleaming off the pretty blood red colored gem.

Luckily, there's weirder girls here right now to hide under the cover of.

<Pose Tracker> Yukimi Amane [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"*Yeah*! Magical girls!!" Yukimi all but squeaks in enormous excitement, catching sight of those who still remained after the fight and are still transformed. Touka speaks up, after lagging behind the overly exuberant brunette, and she has to double-take to realize what she said. "What? Oh! Right! Ice cream! Great idea!" ...In the middle of winter??

But she's distracted again when Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan /addresses her as Yukimi/. She turns towards her transformed friend, eyes wide as saucers, mouth gaping. She sucks in a deep breath...

"Oh my god, you *know my name*! That's so cool!!" she squeals, all but jumping up and down, running up to her, grabbing her hands, and shaking them vigorously. "Did you see me that last time around Infinity Institute?! I saw you there, I was there with a friend! Omigosh, this is so cool!! Can we hang out?!"

Internally, the fallen angel suppresses a mental groan.

"Oh wait! Oh, first, I should introduce you to my friend! Okay! Um!" Yukimi spins around, looking for the ice cream cart and Touka. "Touka-chan!! C'mere, c'mere, this is really cool--"

As she rushes forward, she slips in something that's better off not named. Fortunately, she doesn't fall towards that something as she whoops loudly and flails for the nearest thing to grab hold of.

That 'thing' just may instead be a certain definitely-not-a-catboy who's trying to beat a discreet retreat.

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Oh, no, there is nothing weird going on down by the zoo after all. There's just... ice cream...

That's probably NOT a job for Kaitou Saint Tail and TOTALLY a job for mild-manned Ohtori student Meimi Haneoka (to trick someone into buying for her).

...But... wait. Is that the wicked Sirene Du Nord?! She is not to be trusted (around ice cream) (or people). If she tries to steal ice cream, Saint Tail thinks, she will totally steal it back from her, because she is bad!

Saint Tail will approach stealthfully from the area of the petting zoo.

Specifically she leaps over to hide behind the goat-feeding kiosk.

Juri Arisugawa/IDLE - Set.

<Pose Tracker> Cheeseburger Propane-chan [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Oh thank you, Bob Segel or whatever god Americans worship, Lera thinks, she bought it.

"Y--yes, that certainly where we saw each other," she says with an awkward laugh. She looks in Touka's direction and waves her hand. "I was one of the people there! And we certainly can hang out, I always like to hang out with..." She was about to say 'you,' but Lera realizes that would be incredibly stupid again. Besides, Soaring Sky clears his throat loudly to interupt her (a feat, given his lack of a throat). "...my... fans?"

She has fans? When did this happen?

But then Yukimi is rushing forward, and then Yukimi is tripping and falling, because she slipped on...

Lera drops Soaring Sky to the ground, to cover her mouth with both hands and look mortified and grossed out. "Oh, no, Yukimi!" she says. "Be careful, oh no, we could... um..."

<Wonderful! Open sewage!> Soaring Sky wails. <It's vintage Earth! Can we please be quit of this horrible backwater now!>

<Pose Tracker> Amu Hinamori [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

"Oh hey, it's ice cream! Nadeshiko, do you think the others might want some?" Amu walks over to the ice cream cart, which is definitely not suspicious at all despite the time of year or the badly-drawn animals on the side.

Miki, however, is frothing. "Your little sister can draw better than that! It's an insult to pass that off as art!"

Ran reaches over to grab the blue Chara as she flails. "Ahahaha... now, now, Miki! It's just ice cream!"

"It's true," says Suu solemnly. "It's very difficult to go wrong with ice cream on any occasion-desu."

Amu gives a nervous laugh as she overhears. "Eheh... anyway. Um... wow, you sure have a lot here!" She looks up at the cart pusher for a moment. "Can I get some chocolate? ...no, wait. Tadase-kun likes vanilla..." Amu taps her chin thoughtfully. "But Yaya probably wants strawberry... Hmmm." She shifts her weight and frowns slightly, head tilting to one side. "I dunno... and I only have enough with me for one kind, I think." Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry.

Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry.

....Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry.

"Augh! I don't know! I can't decide!" Amu ruffles her hands through her hair. "How can I only pick o--ah! Nadeshiko's favorite green tea flavor!" Pause. "...now I have four I can't decide between!"

Amu hangs her head. "I don't even know, anything I pick will disappoint someone, but I can only get one!" When she looks up again, though, her expression is suddenly... pained. "Though... I don't... feel so good. I think..."

One hand comes up over her chest, the other grips her wrist. Amu's eyes squeeze shut, then the girl doubles over. "Aaaaaa!" A bright golden glow surrounds her briefly as she leans back, and a flat shard just shoots out of her chest. As soon as it does, Amu collapses to the ground.

"Amu-chan!" All three Charas drop their arguments and hover down to circle worriedly around Amu's head.

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The young woman watches her impending customers with disaffected curiosity. Cheeseburger Propane-chan gets a lingering look, perhaps because she is magical. "What lovely cosplay," she murmurs, and then inspects her nails, which are presumably also excellent.

Her concentration is broken by Amu's one-girl argument. The vendor leans forward, looking over the cart and arching a brow. "Yes, there are so many flavors that--"

Oh.

The woman recoils, lips curling in shock. "Really? I didn't even get a chance to talk about the infinite flavors promotion." Her eyes glint in the glow of the shard. So do her fingernails, when she brings them up to her face, though they continue to reflect some unseen and sickly red light.

"I suppose Jadeite-sama will be glad to know that fifth graders are easy targets."

She frowns. Those energy production goals are always just out of reach. That is a thought for another time, though it was good that she frowned now, because soon--

The cart is upended by an unseen force, sending the umbrella and wind chimes tumbling. In the brief moment the woman is obscured, she disappears. In her place floats a pale blue woman, faceless save for malevolent red eyes.

"This shard belongs to my queen. If you happen to disagree, you will die."

With a gesture, the cart is lifted by an unnaturally controlled geyser of water. It forms rudimentary fingers, which grasp and shake the thing upside down, dumping the contents out in short order.

There's a lot more content than expected.

"Destroy them, Neapolita!"

COMBAT: Thetis transforms into Thetis!

COMBAT: Thetis has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 5 opponents!
COMBAT: Touka Chigami has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"NEOPOLITA!" screams... the ice cream itself, as it roils and rolls, turning itself into a woman composed of at least thirty-one flavors, each in its own individual ball, which range in size from single-scoop (the balls of her joints) to Super Jumbo Sundae (her head, among other things). She has, ironically enough, giant silver scoops for hands, though of the other, non-poop variety.

Though by the end of the day, they may turn out to be multipurpose.

Vaulting nimbly over one of the geyesers, she comes down right on top of Amu, straddling the collapsed girl without touching her. No, it's the shard she wants, and she gets it in a remarkably expedient way -- by shoulder-blocking it. Her ice cream flesh gives, and it simply oozes inside.

Anyone who wants a piece of that is going to be getting goopy.

"Mission accomplished, Thetis-sama! Jadeite-dono will be so pleased!"

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into Youma Form Fast Dessert Youma!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 5 opponents!
COMBAT: Neopolita has started an item contest over 'Star Shard'! For more information, please see: +help Items. To join the contest, +item/join Neopolita. You must join now if you are going to be in contention to possess the item. If you decide ICly to involve yourself with the item later but do not +item/join now, you cannot succeed at an Item Grab, nor determine the item's owner on a knockout.
COMBAT: Touka Chigami has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.
COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.
COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

As Saint Tail passes, a goat collapses. Don't worry - they're fainting goats. Chosen for just this purpose.

La Sirene seems to be slowly relaxing as she sees the ice cream stand isn't doing anything particularly evil. She raises a hand up, squooshing Batiste against her cheek as she breathes out. "Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't -"

And then a geyser of water hoists up the cart. "I KNEW IT," la Sirene gulps, eyes widening like saucers again as ICE CREAM MONSTER erupts into battle. "This was out of place, out of context! A thing out of time - an anomalous showing, here to destroy us all!"

"Dairy products," Batiste says, eyes narrowing.

"But what should we do!? These shards... are they even our problem?" la Sirene dithers. If only something would motivate her - like spite.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.

<Pose Tracker> Norie Okano [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Norie Okano watches everything go down.... there's... dark people here!? And they're ruining Ice Cream HOW!--- wait a minute. She huffs. What's going on!?

COMBAT: Mamoru Chiba transforms into Tuxedo Mask!

COMBAT: Thetis has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan has joined Neopolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neopolita.

<Pose Tracker> Norie Okano [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Norie Okano watches everything go down.... there's... dark people here!? And they're ruining Ice Cream HOW!--- wait a minute. She huffs. What's going on!?

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has joined Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has joined Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Finally, Mamoru closes his book, adjusts his sunglasses, stands, and slips the book in his coat pocket. With all the magical girls and not-magical-at-all-really girls still running around, and civilians returning, and children being picked up by their guardians, one might think that a tall and slender young man who looks like he should be modeling for GQ would look out of place.

Somehow, Mamoru Chiba never looks out of place.

He buttons his coat as he walks across the pavement, heading for the trap; his hair ruffles up in the breeze, scarf lifted briefly in the same direction.

It's as he's on his way over that things get real. Again. "Isn't there some kind of rule against this?" he mutters, starting to jog toward the growing disturbance; the ice cream starts to form up, and he runs. There's a girl over there, and she doesn't look magical, she looks like a stiff breeze could kill her. Mamoru disappears into the rain of detritus, as ice cream wrappers and freezerburn flakes cloud the air.

Suddenly, Touka will find herself scooped up in the arms of a sprinting man in a bright white mask and a dashing tuxedo, top hat managing to just barely stay on his stylishly cut hair and cape billowing in his wake. "I never liked all three together, myself," Tuxedo Mask admits to Touka, smiling slightly as he jogs to a halt away from the yelling ice cream youma and sets her down.

And then he totally just leaves her there, running back toward the inevitable throwdown. Dash!

<Pose Tracker> Norie Okano [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Norie Okano watches everything go down.... there's... dark people here!? And they're ruining Ice Cream HOW EVIL--- wait a minute. She huffs. What's going on!?

"Norie." says the ring outloud. "Help the Ice Cream Monster at the person who was at the cart. They're allies." Norie considers this a moment. "Oh. Right! That's something we need to do!" she flicks her ring finger and the ring unfurls into a long broom shaft, and turns into some sort of broom with spindly hands.

She raises the broom and repeats some words of power. "From Fear, to Dread, to full Fight! La Fa Fa-rah!" she says. Theres a burst of some weird dark power and she's transformed properly. She nods to Thetis. "Hello Strange Lady! I'm here to help!" she says as she hovers there on her broom now. Broom-Sensei sighs. "Yes. We are." the broom says. "Your queen will get her shard." he says. Dark Witch Norie nods enthusatically in agreement!

COMBAT: Norie Okano transforms into Dark Witch Norie!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi transforms into Puella Magi Homura!
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has joined Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Homura's Pink senses are tingling.

Well that's not precisely true. Homura doesn't have pink senses, and in fact was walking slowly away before tragedy decided to befall poor Amu Hinamori. She was on her way to check on Madoka before moving on to her waypoint in her modified patrol route. She did not intend to interact with Madoka nor Tatsuya but ... well.

It doesn't really matter now anyway.

For when the star shard bursts forth from the pink elementary student, Homura immediately begins to spin in place. The ring upon her middle finger, her soul gem, detecting the sudden surge in energy. She sees the familiar youma, Thetis, who attempted to steal the shard earlier in the mall. Then she sees the formation of a new youma: A strange creature formed entirely of (one would assume) evil ice cream now bent over the incapacitated Amu. When she comes a full 180 degrees to face the creatures she holds out her hand with the soul gem upon its finger. The small rune incribed band transmutes into a ball of purple flame which engulfs her within an instant...

In the next moment numerous percusive sounds erupt from all around Neapolita, and within the intervening momentary slices of time numerous hollow point rounds attempt to gouge out large chunks of frozen icey goodness from her strange inhuman form. At that same moment Homura appears, once again sweeping her hair with a free hand while glaring at the youma from over her shoulder.

"Before anything else, we need to make sure they do not get away with this shard." The Puella Magi says softly. She takes a moment to give Amu's fallen form a glance, but otherwise focuses her attention on the two present dangers.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Bullet Dance on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Bullet Dance, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
COMBAT: Neapolita's counterattack, Make Sundaes Not War, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!

<Pose Tracker> Ikuto Tsukiyomi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Ikuto is trying to look like he belongs here even as he hops over a fence, and away from the sheep. Sure, his uniform is a little dirty, but he pockets his hands and walks away, nonchalantly, until he looks over his shoulder at the wrong moment, and...

Good thing he has great reflexes, because as Yukimi crashes into him, he manages not only to steady himself from going sprawling to the ground, but in fact manages to catch her just in time to stop her from doing so. Before she knows it, he has his arm slipped around her waist, and her wrist caught in his other hand, leaving the two in a position not entire unlike tango dancers. Their eyes lock for a moment. Yukimi's senpai looks down at her, mouthing something, something she might not quite hear amidst the confusion, or maybe just because he really is THAT distractingly handsome.

"...You're stepping on my foot." With her now poop-covered shoe, no less.

But then, something happens. His head swings to the side, and he sees the erupting commotion, and at the center of it...

That girl. Amu Hinamori.

Foot on his or not, Ikuto unceremoniously lets go of Yukimi and goes dashing for the ice cream stand. "Ikuto!" Yoru pipes up, flying alongside him, "It's a Star Shard! We've got to get it, for--" "Right."

Taking a quick turn without breaking his stride, he jumps amidst a set of trees, setting a hand on an item kept under his shirt. "My own heart," he murmurs... "Unlock."

Black Lynx leaps out of the foliage, another animal amidst the petting zoo. The black-garbed, cat-eared older boy agilely sails through the air, light as a feather, with two long pieces of crimson fabric trailing behind him. He lands right on his feet (of course!) between Neapolita and Amu. No "are you all right"s or getting her to safety, but he interposes himself between the monster and fallen elementary school student nonetheless. Lightning-quick, he swipes the claw on his hand into the creature... though considering what she's made of, it might not be terribly effective.

COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi transforms into Black Lynx!

COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi has used Slash Claw on Neapolita.
COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly dodges Ikuto Tsukiyomi's Slash Claw, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko of course ambles over in the direction of the ice cream cart, because it's normalcy time again even if some of the magical girls are still leaving. Whatever, magical girls, Nadeshiko's got ice cream to try. In December. Shut up. "Ice cream sounds wonderful, Amu-chan!" Nadeshiko chirps, moving over to scope. She'll buy, probably, seeing as Amu is not as phenomenally well-off as she is and at Ohtori, noblesse oblige is the mark of a gentlelady. Yes.

"Oh, well, don't mind me," Nadeshiko says, breezily. "I can--" Blink. Temari's hair bristles; trills, "Nadeshiko!" at her, and Nadeshiko's easygoing face clouds over. "Amu-chan?" she asks.

And then the golden glow flares out around her, and Nadeshiko stumbles back, stunned. "Amu-chan!?"

"Nadeshiko!" Temari says, helpfully. "I think that's a Star Shard!"

Nadeshiko scarcely has time to be baffled that it's REALLY THAT EASY when the ice cream becomes evil, and so does the young woman. Nadeshiko looks at Amu on the ground, darts a glare at the assaulting youma and their grabbing something that came from her friend. "Temari," she says, cool as ice.

The fairy doesn't even do the occasional theatrics; Nadeshiko's hairpin pops back to its sakura mode, and with a brief flurry of wind, the naginata is back out, and Nadeshiko, through gritted shark teeth, thunders, "I'M THE ONLY QUEEN AROUND HERE, SWEETHEART!!"

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki transforms into Chara Change!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Unmaidenly Conduct on Neapolita.
COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Not yet, Neapolita. Thetis dispassionately observes her minion's work, offering only an incline of her head to the Dark Witch when she appears. Jadeite won't acknowledge this victory until it is completely finished.

Then there is the matter of the queen herself.

The youma looks up sharply at the impossible gunshots. Her baleful eyes narrow as she recognizes the familiar sheen of hair.

"I remember you. How fast will you run away today, I wonder?"

Thetis sweeps her hand, and somehow finds from thin air a very expensive hairdryer. It is black and sleek and only happens to carry the Dark Corporation logo. She levels the barrel in Homura's direction and clicks the setting to 'aggressive remodeling.' The wind is intense, both dry and hot and full of the darkest kind of magic.

Queen Beryl's hair is very particular.

"Ugh! Get away from the shard!" she spits, turning her glare on the Black Lynx. She twists her elbow, jerking the hairdryer's cord with such practice that it lashes out with a whipcrack, right where his brow should be. "Are you seriously scratching ice cream?"

This is getting out of control. Silently now, because it is time to answer boasts with drowning, Thetis gestures toward Nadeshiko. The tame geyser drops the ice cream cart and, swirling and churning, attempts to wash the girl away from Neapolita.

COMBAT: Thetis has used Ultra-3000 Hairdryer of Doom on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Thetis has used Cruel Beauty on Ikuto Tsukiyomi.
COMBAT: Thetis has used Magnificent Maelstrom on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Thetis has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly counters Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Unmaidenly Conduct, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Neapolita is Taunted!
COMBAT: Neapolita's counterattack, A Maiden's Policy Includes Judicious Ice Cream Breaks, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Nadeshiko Fujisaki!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Thetis's Ultra-3000 Hairdryer of Doom, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Ikuto Tsukiyomi narrowly dodges Thetis's Cruel Beauty, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Ikuto Tsukiyomi is Quipped! Ikuto Tsukiyomi's Fade ability activates! Ikuto Tsukiyomi's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Ikuto Tsukiyomi!

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"How lovely! Here, have some devil's food." The youma very delicately serves up a scoop of chocolate, complete with a sugar cone that she manifested from somewhere, to the little Dark Witch. But then--

"N-NEA?" squawks Neapolita as she sees that her implied promise of deliciousness has been met with bullets from the cute little girl with the beautiful hair. Frantically, she brings up her scoops, cocks them with a highly audible KA-CHINK!, and fires chocolate chips back, covering fire, which causes rather fewer of her scoops to get perforated. Some do; chunks of green tea and natto ice cream spray /everywhere/.

This is going to get ugly.

Then the cat boy is right in her face, and slashing at her. "I thought cats liked to eat ice cream," she protests at a low wail, as she frantically leaps out of the way. Warding off Nadeshiko's slashes with a quickly-scooped shield of chocolate chip, something in the little girl's eyes makes her shiver, right down to the bone.

Except... she doesn't have any bones. Is that okay?

"Thetis-sama, I'm retreating!"

As planned -- get the goods, then get out. Using one of her scoops to spray down a slick slide of Rocky Road, she starts surfing across the park at reckless speeds.

COMBAT: ITEM ESCAPE ATTEMPT! Neapolita is attempting to escape with Star Shard! They must run for 2 more turns!

COMBAT: Neapolita has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Wait. Is that really one of the shards?! Saint Tail sees it hit the ground, then loses track of it for a moment before the ice cream scoop... scoops it.

But Saint Tail hasn't officially sent...

Well, she can't just stand by and let the forces of evil get it, either, so she must think fast!

She startles at a collapsing goat, which breaks her stride--

But then she springs into action! She leaps over, dropping from the sky suddenly to be among the others. She doesn't seem afraid of the ice cream monster right now -- the whole thing will probably sink in in a second. "You should just give up on it - since a master thief is here."

"I'll be the one to take that shard--"

Ah, and she even has proof, that lovely little notice that she wrote earlier. She pulls it out of her hat, spins around, and throws it at the youma as if her letter of intent was a demon-banning ofuda.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has used Saint Tail's Notice on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly counters Saint Tail's Saint Tail's Notice, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Neapolita is Taunted! Cripple applied to Neapolita!
COMBAT: Neapolita's counterattack, The Management Is Not Responsible For Dropped Ice Cream, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Saint Tail! Critical Counterhit!

<Pose Tracker> Cheeseburger Propane-chan [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"/You/!" Lera shouts, wheeling as she sees Thetis. Her eyes narrow, and she reaches down, grabbing Soaring Sky. The staff splits apart with a quick flourish; in short order, she is grabbing ahold of the two energy swords. The bronzed prongs split apart -- and then a blade of red-orange plasma fire erupts, magically generated. Bravery fills her for a moment. "I remember what you did last time!"

But then she looks down at Yukimi, on the ground, and it starts to falter. Last time, she almost was killed; what if it's Yukimi, this time? What if a friend is threatened? What if she can't get to her, and another magical girl chooses the shard over saving a life? It happened before.

Her mouth opens, and closes; the courageous look on her face falters, and indecision grips her, as Neapolita rises upward in all of her goopiness. She stares at the ice cream for a moment.

"Right," she murmurs, quieter, to Homura. "I'll help get it out of here."

She looks down at Yukimi, briefly. "Be careful, okay? I"ll--I'll do my best to make sure you're not hurt. I'll get the shard, so get clear!" Her voice wavers; a hesitation, coming from equal parts trepidation and friendship. Then, she bolts forward, and tucks one of the energy swords on her belt. She lunges, while Saint Tail drops an ofuda, and extends a fingerless gloved hand--

--and tries to reach into the evil ice cream and yank the shard away! But, it's sticky and gross.

"EW EW EW!"

<Don't complain! Real mage adventurers don't complain because it's gross!>

"But it's stiiiicky!"

COMBAT: ITEM GRAB! Cheeseburger Propane-chan has used Yoink on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly counters Cheeseburger Propane-chan's Yoink, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Neapolita's counterattack, Parfait Punishment, partially gets through, doing 20 Fatigue damage to Cheeseburger Propane-chan! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan successfully grabs an item from Neapolita!
COMBAT: Yukimi Amane transforms into Lux Lapsa!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

And in all that-- all the fighting, all the craziness, the yelling, the monster being really strange, the-- everything, basically--? That grade-schooler by the ice cream cart that had a sparkly thing yanked out of her chest is still on the ground. On his way back from Touka, Tuxedo Mask has to duck a lot, and he actually really agile-ly jumps over unmentionable things on the cement on his way. But oh, he beelines for that girl.

Somehow, beelining winds up with dress shoes landing with a light double-tap next to the hurting, unconscious girl, cape billowing out like a black silk cloud around Tuxedo Mask as he crouches to pick Amu up--

--gently--

--and straightens. "No matter how undignified the fight, persevering and holding hope in your heart is the key! You can save her! Just stop them!" his voice rings out, before he runs to carry Amu away from the violence.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

The unexpected explosion of the ice cream cart causes Ikiko to go diving for cover - oh hey, a nearby bush. She dives into the bush...

...and Tsukiko somersaults out the other side. "/Shards,/" the wolfgirl mutters as she rolls to her feet.

She takes note of the magicfolk already launching their attacks, and the counter-assault. The giant hairdryer gives her an inkling of an idea, but Neapolita's sudden run means that there's more pressing matters. Saint Tail's appearance is welcome, although a bit lacking in follow-through. Lera, though - that's a familiar face.

Tsukiko winces at the ice cream monster's counterattack, but she grins as Lera emerges with the shard. "My turn!" she calls, darting forward to keep Neapolita boxed in.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Herd the Quarry on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita perfectly dodges Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Herd the Quarry, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Inspirational Monologuing! on Ikuto Tsukiyomi.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Yukimi Amane [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

One moment, Yukimi Amane is flailing and about to land flat on her face.

The next, she is in the arms of an *incredibly* handsome senpai. She blinks rapidly, staring up at his pretty face, a blush creeping over her cheeks. Sparkling bubbles seem to fill the air as the entire background turns pastel pink, faint hearts wafting up in the background, framing Ikuto's form. "O-oh... I... um... thank y--"

'You're stepping on my foot.'

"Ahhh!!" Yukimi yelps bright red. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm OOF." That would be Ikuto dropping her on the ground, thankfully /away/ from that mess. Hey, it's not as bad as a backwater as you thought, Sky, eh? Eh??

Still, it's with an ego more bruised than her body that Yukimi gets to her feet and sees what all the commotion is. It's a hell of a lot of commotion, too. That pink-haired elementary girl near the ice cream stand has a seizure or something, because she clutches her chest and something golden and shining shoots out--wait a sec, is that one of those shards?! And some lady just turned into a weird faceless thing and the ice cream stand is *exploding* and HEY TOUKA JUST GOT SAVED BY A HOT GUY and /he/ didn't just dump her on the ground! No fair!! No *fair*.

No fair.

She shakes her head rapidly, wipes off her shoe as best she can as fast as she can, then rushes off and away. She hardly even needs Propane-chan's prompting. To anyone looking on, it'd probably be half out of humiliation and half out of terror, and they'd be... well, half-right.

And so, just as quickly as she disappeared, the silver-haired angel, Lux Lapsa, re-enters the scene, pristine as when she left. That, yes, includes her boots. She gazes down at Amu, collapsed on the ground; Ikuto has placed himself between her and the monster and is keeping it at bay away from her, and a gentleman in a tuxedo and a top hat carries her away. That's taken care of, then. The two youma, declaring their dominion over the shard in the name of their queen, and at the ice cream monster in particular, who declares her intent to retreat.

Well, that won't do at all.

With an elegant sweep of her fingers, Lux Lapsa shoots a shard of her own, but one of ice, at the ice cream monster, in an attempt to harden it so much it can't escape--or easily pursue Lera, who just grabbed that shard away from the youma.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has used Freezer Burn on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Yukimi Amane has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lux Lapsa has cancelled their attack on Neapolita. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Lux Lapsa transforms into Lux Lapsa!
COMBAT: Lux Lapsa has used Freezer Burn on Neapolita.
COMBAT: Lux Lapsa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Touka Chigami transforms into Lux Corruere!

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Ice cream, in the middle of winter!! ...Well Touka didn't entirely think this through either, but it'll do! ...Well, it'll do until she promptly gets cold and regrets everything about this plan, but when faced with Magical Cheeseburger Propane-chan, she cannot help but become disoriented. As one of her... fans. Right? Fans.

But she is called back over, "Oh, just let me--" She turns. She sees Yukimi slip. She sees the something. She sees the flailing.

...She claps a hand over her face in what might look like horror but is not horror. It is 'trying her hardest not to laugh at her friend.' "Yukimi-chan!" she manages, "Are you okay??"

And that would be that, since now she's given up her place in the ice cream line, except for first, the sound of a distressed girl ahead. Wait, no, someone's flavor choices aren't her concern, even if the green tea one sounds good. But--

A scream for ice cream? Everything goes crazy. Touka sees a glint o something, a monster crashing out, the ice cream stall ruined, and then the world around her suddenly shifting as Tuxedo Mask scoops her up. Where she'd stood a moment ago, a wooden plank from the stall stabs into the ground; it could easily have been her, instead.

"Wh--" She binks and when he actually smiles at her, she can only reply, "I-I like green tea."

She turns beet red, for a number of reasons, and she's just sort of left set down as he runs off. From the corner of her vision, though, she sees Yukimi--and remembers the same, running off as well in a similar mix, apparently. And in moments, golden-haired Lux Corruere returns as well.

From her hip she draws forth her flaming sword once again, her wings flexing once as she takes the weapon in both hands. Tuxedo Mask is back in the fray--so it's her turn to help.

She leaps, and /charges/, flying through the sky to hack away at the ice cream creature's arms. The heat follows her like a piece of summer ripped off and thrown into the ice.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has used Attrita Clipeus on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie makes a face at Cheeseburger Propane-Chan as she totally takes the Item. "Waugh!" she says. "Hey, you give that back. You... novice wizard!" she says. She's making a big guess at 'Propane-chan'. She proceeds to drive her broom forward and ram her with the end, and then turns around on a hard bank to try to smash her with the bussiness end of the broom.

Broom-Sensei hardly feels this rough treatment, so it's okay!

But hopefully Lera get's the brunt of the attack!

"That belongs to the Dark Queen, you know! I'd be scared if I were you!" she huffs and puffs out!

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has used Broom-Fu on Cheeseburger Propane-chan.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Black Lynx accepts Tuxedo Mask's Inspirational Monologuing!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Black Lynx's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Amu Hinamori [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

"Nnnn.." Slowly, Amu's eyes open. She still feels like she just got hit by a truck, but at least she can breathe now... even if her chest still hurts. "Na...deshiko?" She sees her friend standing over her, then slowly turns her head to see... "Ikuto?" What is that cat doing here? Did he do terrible unspeakable things to her while she was passed out?! ....no, Amu, stop letting your imagination run wild. Nadeshiko would never allow that.

And then Amu finds herself scooped up off the ground. "--ah?" Golden eyes blink blearily as she looks up at her rescuer. "H...he's cute." Sparkles and bubbles fly through her mind and all around her as she looks up at Tuxedo Kamen.

"Amu-chan," says Ran as she floats up. "You said that out loud!"

Cue a blush that rises, then quickly fades as a giant puff of steam explodes off the top of Amu's head. "Um.. um um... Th...thanks. Who are you?"

COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly counters Lux Lapsa's Freezer Burn, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Neapolita's counterattack, Freezer Melt, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Lux Lapsa! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Thetis's Magnificent Maelstrom, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Nadeshiko Fujisaki!
COMBAT: Neapolita fails to dodge Lux Corruere's Attrita Clipeus, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun and Trap applied to Neapolita!
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan perfectly counters Dark Witch Norie's Broom-Fu, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan's counterattack, Sentinel Cross, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Dark Witch Norie!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

That horrible creature is immediately attacked with bullets. La Sirene's lip curls upwards. "Who is THAT, Cure Bullets?!" she wails - perhaps rarely for the children of Japan, la Sirene's pathetic mortal form /has/ heard gunfire... twice... when papa went hunting and she stayed at the cabin...

Other people scream and fuss and carry on. La Sirene covers her face for a moment, not being fully prepared to handle this, it seems. A hairdryer screams. People shout. La Sirene bites her lip. The urge to flee to the Sea of Tears' naval expeditionary force (a rented paddleboat) grows.

Then.

A voice.

La Sirene's ice-blue eye peeks between the crack between two of her fingers.

"SAINT..."

"TAIL..."

Cold water turns to ice, which then catches fire, within La Sirene's heart. The shame of her defeat at the races, where even her family saw her (albeit all unknowing) fills her with resolve. Ice cream slops across the ground; la Sirene's boots may not give her much fleetness, but she takes a step forwards, spreading her hands as she shouts, "SAINT TAIL! Have you come here to torment me!? If you're pursuing this precious thing, whatever it is, I'm not going to let you have it!"

"Or any of you! Let your fire and your ice cream and your STUPID DUMB SAINT TAIL FACE be buried in ENDLESS SORROW!" la Sirene declaims, throwing her hand to the sky in a shockingly dynamic way.

Thunder crashes, a lightning bolt actually slamming out into the bay. The wind whips up, and torrential rain, accompanied by a cold and clammy fog, rolls in. The rain seems to know where it wants to go (hint: Saint Tail, the monster, and Cheeseburger Propane-chan).

She has not yet noticed Thetis, which may be a recipe for a STORM OFF.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Storm Rolls In on Cheeseburger Propane-chan.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Storm Rolls In on Saint Tail.
COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Storm Rolls In on Neapolita.
COMBAT: Nori Ankou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan narrowly dodges Nori Ankou's Storm Rolls In, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cheeseburger Propane-chan's Fade ability activates! Cheeseburger Propane-chan's Flash ability activates! Exhausted applied to Cheeseburger Propane-chan!
COMBAT: Saint Tail narrowly dodges Nori Ankou's Storm Rolls In, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Saint Tail's Fade ability activates! Saint Tail's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Neapolita fails to dodge Nori Ankou's Storm Rolls In, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Exhausted applied to Neapolita!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

One of Homura Akemi's charm points is her long, dark hair. It seems she is aware of it as well from how often she flips it behind her back, and one of the constant questions she is on the receiving end of is how much effort it takes to maintain her seemingly pristine locks. In truth not all that much. She doesn't even seem to brush it really, as evidenced by the fact that her hair has an inexplicable part in it /at the small of her back/. It's like ... her hair was once kept in a different style for so long that it has forgotten how to lay down straight or something.

Or maybe its just Anime Hair.

Homura's initial volley of pistol rounds gets through, but is then answered with a spray of chocolate chips. Cold chocolate chips, forged from the wicked cocoa beans of the underworld obviously. The Puella Magi grimaces and sweeps some of the chips from her skirt. Just then she hears:

"I remember you. How fast will you run away today, I wonder?"

The violet Puella Magi turns to regard Thetis with narrowed eyes, which widen slightly as the creature then draws forth her mighty hair harrasser! Though whatever effect such a weapon would have had upon Homura's glorious mane is foiled by her quick reflexes as she vanishes upon the instant the switch is turned 'on'. She is now some meters away, and in a gesture that may seem mocking she reaches behind her back to give her hair a luxurious flick.

Ler--- err, Cheeseburger Propane-chan makes her move next, taking advantage of the distraction to dive in and grab the star shard. Homura grimaces a bit at that. No, she's not exactly happy to see the shard in Lera's hands it seems, but at least it's not in those of the youma. Meanwhile another, far more inspiration figure appears upon the battlefield in the form of Tuxedo Mask. He takes it upon himself to recover the fallen Amu Hinamori from where she lay and deliver words to bolster the hearts of those fighting.

If nothing else, Homura feels certain she can leave Amu in Tuxedo Mask's capable hands. This is particularly helpful as another Dark Fall-aligned fighter in the form of Dark Witch Norie has appeared.

Just another day in the life of Homura Akemi.

Homura turns to look at Tuxedo mask over her shoulder, leaning her neck back in that strange way that Puella Magi are known to do at times. "I'll leave her care to you." And then in a blink she is gone once more.

"I remember you as well." The Puella Magi's voice punctuates her sudden reappearance. "I wonder if your masters will be forgiving should you return empty handed, yet again." Within moments of her reappearance a blunt weapon comes swinging from below, attempting to strike Thetis, the hairdryer, or both! It's a simple implement: No fantastical magical cudgel with flowery pink embellishments or brilliant white wings for the solemn Homura. No.

Just a baseball bat... *THWACK*!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Homerun on Thetis.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Homerun, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
COMBAT: Thetis's counterattack, Super Rocket Tennis Racket Ace!, partially gets through, doing 12 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Carefully setting Amu down on the selfsame parkbench Mamoru Chiba had been occupying not fifteen minutes before, the masked and top-hatted man glances down at her, and this time there's a crooked grin-- Touka had just blushed. Amu said /words/. "Tuxedo Mask," he introduces himself, sort of towering over her. Then he gets down on one knee so she doesn't have to crane her neck, and takes off his hat. He looks completely serious, and sounds businesslike, now. "How are you feeling? You should probably stay close until your friends finish rescuing whatever was taken from you; I'll stay with you if you want."

She's little. There are heartstrings.

<Pose Tracker> Black Lynx [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Black Lynx' claw attack misses its mark (which /is/ very fast as far as ice cream goes) so the question of whether it would have even worked or not goes unanswered. The other youma makes a remark on it, which doesn't seem to go noticed judging by his facial expression, but in reality distracts him enough that his leap away from the electric cord isn't quite far enough, getting his feet tangled in them. "Tch," is all he has to say about this.

Amu says his name, and he answers with but a glance, before she gets swept off her feet by... a strange man in a top hat, who says they can save her, in a dignified, inspiring voice. He's not usually one to let that sort of thing get to him, but...

It's as if time slowed down. With a swipe of his claw, almost too fast for the eye to keep up with, the cord tangled around his foot is sliced to ribbons. /Freedom./

The monster tries to get away, and Ikuto gives chase, not letting the ice slow him down. Fleet-footed, he parkours across obstacles with ease one moment, and leaps to sail a dozen feet into the air the next. However, someone else manages to grab the shard from its goopy innards. His eyes narrow, and his target changes. He doesn't break his stride, merely changing direction, and wordlessly slashes the air in front of him, sending forth three energy waves aimed right at Propane-chan's pressure points!

...It's anime. Just run with it.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has used Jeté on Cheeseburger Propane-chan.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan narrowly dodges Black Lynx's Jeté, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Cheeseburger Propane-chan's Fade ability activates! Cheeseburger Propane-chan's Flash ability activates! Cripple and Stun applied to Cheeseburger Propane-chan!

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"And it's a shame I didn't do it better!" Thetis hisses back at Lera.

The demonic hairdresser and boating enthusiast begins to flick her hair, and then irritatedly stops. She can't do that when that horrid teleporting girl just did the same thing. At least many of the magical warriors are beginning to destroy each other. That's fun.

"Neapolita, recover the shard," the senior youma commands. She rises further into the air, twirling her hairdryer around a delicate finger. The cord marvelously remains untangled. "I will make you a path."

Thetis is not without sympathy. It's difficult being a rank and file youma. While raising her arms above her head, Thetis reflects on memories of how clumsy her initial soul-stealing was. All this horrific, brute drowning she's about to do really does bring her back.

The wave of water that comes bursting through the park behind her is elemental and alive. The waves crash and surge, splitting apart and forming back together, sparing none of their strength to burst through obstacles when they can go around. Their real hunger is to break against very specific people who Thetis thinks are ugly.

Then, through the deluge comes Ms. Sassymane.

Thetis does not appear to be ready for the bat. She jerks backward, bringing up an arm in defense--but as it passes over her hairdryer, the youma is holding a different hobby entirely. Her tennis racket meets Homura's bat in ringing retort.

"I answer to no masters," the faceless visage answers in an otherworldly snarl. "Only a mistress!"

She whirls, casting droplets of water as she brings the racket around to serve.

COMBAT: Thetis has used Super Rocket Tennis Racket Ace! on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Thetis has used Tidal Wave on Lux Corruere.
COMBAT: Thetis has used Tidal Wave on Lux Lapsa.
COMBAT: Thetis has used Tidal Wave on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Thetis has used Tidal Wave on Cheeseburger Propane-chan.
COMBAT: Thetis has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly dodges Thetis's Tidal Wave, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Thetis's Super Rocket Tennis Racket Ace!, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere narrowly braces Thetis's Tidal Wave, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lux Corruere's Block ability activates! Lux Corruere's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Now the cones are rollin' and she's taking the lead, and the world's on fire with the wind and the speed--

--NOTICE'D

"HEY! No putting up flyers without the management's permission!" Neapolita objects, punctuating each word with a shot of scaling hot fudge in Saint Tail's direction.

And while this is going on, Cheeseburger Propane-chan has VIOLATED her personal space in the worst way. Glaring down at the arm inside of her, she bawls, "NEAAAA!" and clenches her rippling ice cream pectorals... hard. The shard still scrapes its way out of her, but the Midchildan probably leaves something of herself behind, like a scrap of sleeve. "THETIS-SAMA," she wails, "O-OKAY!"

All she ever wanted was to bring ice cream to the world.

To make all the boys and girls happy -- and fat, in the name of Queen Beryl.

She never signed up for this. T_T

Leaping up and over Cute Wolf Tsukiko, she spins in midair, sensing that icy power of Lux Lapsa's coming towards her well before it arrives. She begins rapidly melting herself in pre-emptive response -- and sends a nice tsunami of sticky gooey sugary dessert the fallen angel's way.

That's all well and good, but then Lux Corruere sinks her superheated sword into her, like, well, a hot knife through butter. Or ice cream.

"What are you /doing/, I'll MELT, you fiend!" She holds her head in her now rather badly damaged hands. "Oh, what a world..."

While she's busy examining her now-compromised structural integrity, Le Sirene's storm doesn't so much roll in as roll her up; she's buffeted badly by the winds, slips on her own puddle, now mixed with rainwater, and just stares down at the ground, dejected. This is the worst day ever -- who will want her now? Nobody wants ice cream when it's raining.

"I..."

...

"CURSE YOU SAILOR SENSHI!"

She's never been to Earth before; she's just read the orientation pamphlet.

Still, the sentiment serves her purpose; bourne by the massive strength of her freaked out despair, chocolate cookies rise off of her to pelt Le Sirene du Nord with razor-sharp edges, while layers and layers of ice cream fly in all directions, assaulting Homura, Ikuto, and Lux Corruere.

Finally she opens her mouth, wide, wider, the jaw unhinging, and out comes a /torrent/ of lemon meringue topping, which pours straight towards Cheeseburger, intent upon ruining her flavor. For good.

COMBAT: Neapolita has used Chocolate Murder Cookies on Nori Ankou.

COMBAT: Neapolita has used Tiramisu of Terror on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Tiramisu of Terror on Black Lynx.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Lemon Meringue Death Ray on Cheeseburger Propane-chan.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Tiramisu of Terror on Lux Corruere.
COMBAT: Neapolita has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lux Corruere narrowly counters Neapolita's Tiramisu of Terror, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Neapolita is Psyched! Lux Corruere's Reverse ability activates! Lux Corruere's Tactician ability activates! Blind and Trap applied to Lux Corruere!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere's counterattack, Calor, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Neapolita!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou narrowly counters Neapolita's Chocolate Murder Cookies, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Bind Break! All of Neapolita's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Neapolita!
COMBAT: Lux Lapsa narrowly braces Thetis's Tidal Wave, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Lux Lapsa's Block ability activates! Lux Lapsa's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Wow! For as sinister as Saint Tail knew that La Sirene was, she didn't even expect quite such a torrent of magic to be thrown her way! But even so... it's just a bit of rain, which she manages to outrun with her own supernatural speed, flipping around and keeping agile. She's quick enough not to get more than a few splashes in her hair. Ice cream fairs a lot worse in a rainstorm than a mysterious thief, after all.

Normally Saint Tail doesn't keep her eyes off the prize. But in the face of such a challenge from Sirene Du Nord, she's not going to just back down. She twirls around and faces her, putting a hand on her hip. "That's a nice try, you know? But I don't think a little water is going to stop me... is that really how you fight a thief?"

Not that Saint Tail is great at direct fighting, no. But she is great at demoralizing people who try to directly fight her, which counts for something. Her hat appears, and she spins it down her arm, rolling it across her shoulder, catching it, then waggling her finger a little bit at Nori.

Yes, she's ignoring the plight of the youma in order to be smug, but La Sirene is just as bad!

COMBAT: Saint Tail has used You Can't Catch Me on Nori Ankou.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan fails to brace Neapolita's Lemon Meringue Death Ray, taking 46 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Cheeseburger Propane-chan fails to dodge Thetis's Tidal Wave, taking 51 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cheeseburger Propane-chan is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou narrowly counters Saint Tail's You Can't Catch Me, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nori Ankou is Taunted!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou's counterattack, Before I Leave Your Eyes, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Saint Tail! Saint Tail is Quipped!
COMBAT: Black Lynx narrowly dodges Neapolita's Tiramisu of Terror, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Black Lynx's Fade ability activates! Black Lynx's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Amu Hinamori [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

"Tuxedo... Mask." Amu says the name almost dreamily as he sets her down. "I'm... I'm okay." She places a hand flat over her chest where the shard had burst out... but there's no sign of anything having happened there.

"You can stay with me all you want," murmurs Amu softly, little heartbubbles floating around her... but then she shakes her head and clears her throat softly. "I mean... I'll be okay. You should do what you think you need to do." Amu even sits up a little straighter, despite the ache still in her chest. She's totally capable of keeping herself out of trouble, see?

COMBAT: ITEM TRANSFER! Cheeseburger Propane-chan has transferred Star Shard to Thetis!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko's thunder is greeted with horrible ice cream scoops! But she startled it, so that's an alright start. She sets herself ready to see what happens when you stab a youma with a spear, when Thetis gets uppity and drops an ice cream cart on her! She looks up a little blankly. "NOT OKAY!!"

But she is a creature of grace, Fujisaki is; she whirls away nimbly, ably evading falling debris, and then slipping on wet ground, spinning awkwardly in place, and only stopping when she slams both feet down and holds them there using the power of sheer Yazkua spite. She makes a face out of a Sumo anime.

In this time, the two Youma round on the girl who got the shard away and proceed to more or less blow her up. Nadeshiko blinks a little, stunned.

"You gonna let them get away with that?" Temari asks, dangerously peering past her sleeve.

Nadeshiko, dimly, notes that Amu got packed off somewhere, leaving the field free. Good. She'll go check on her later. "'COURSE NOT!" Nadeshiko growls out, and then proceeds to prove to Neapolita that IT ONLY GETS WORSE, when Nadeshiko suddenly veers down on the youma with eyes flashing. "I'm /back/!" she adds, for Neapolita's benefit. "Now sit still so I can CHOP YA IN THIRDS AND SERVE YOU ON PIE!!"

She swings wildly with her naginata. It can cut soggy ice cream, because of course it can.

COMBAT: Thetis has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 4 opponents!

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Naginata Flurry on Neapolita.
COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly dodges Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Naginata Flurry, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Neapolita is Quipped! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Cheeseburger Propane-chan [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Lera pulls the shard away; her hand is covered in goop. For a mment, she has the shard, but the flex pinches her hard. She yelps, yanking it back, and then she /runs/. Lera starts running, fast as she can.

"Novice wizard!?" Lera spits, angrily, as Norie comes flying in. She sees the broom flying at her; with the shard in her ice cream-dripping hand, she can't use both swords to parry. As she runs, she lifts the weapon up and she focuses for a moment. Her eyes narrow.

1. -1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: #FF660 <Sentinel Cross.>

The blade flashes with light; when the broom's end smacks into it, the energy blast flares and knocks it backward. A stab of fear hits her, and it's visible in her eyes. Yes, she thinks, she should be afraid. The memory of a claw across her neck comes, unbidden; she swallows, as if that could banish it, and there is the briefest falter in her footsteps.

She almost slips, at the torrential rain starts pouring. It makes Lera pay attention, though, and focus on darting away. She sees Ikuto running running after her. She leaps through the rain; the energy waves fly after her, but she manages to just barely leap over them, and land in a three point stance for a moment, before she runs again.

But, eventually, she is stopped. First, the tidal wave slams into her; it knocks her backward, making her stumble, and then the burst of lemon meringue flavored ice cream slams into Lera. Her eyes widen; she draws to a stop, suddenly thinking this could kill her, like before.

She doesn't move, when she should. She lets out a shriek, dropping the shard, as it hits. Her barrier jacket is overwhelmed. It glows brighter and brighter, as she drops one half of Soaring Sky. The other remains on her belt at first.

The young woman is thrown backward. Her barrier jacket bursts away in a cyan flash of light. She hits the ground, bounces, and comes to a stop -- and then groans, and slumps.

The girl left lying there is left wearing an Infinity Institute uniform, dirtied and soaked by the attacks, and she slumps down unconscious. Her hand clutches the tiny red pen she usually does.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko glares as the ice cream monster slides out of the way - that youma is surprisingly agile for a youma of its size! But on the plus side, at least the shard is in the capable hands of Lera...

...who is now getting pummeled by youma, magical girls, and a catboy.

Right.

The wolfgirl sizes up the opposition, trying to decide what to do and who to help. The sudden deluge of water leaves her soaked (well, at least she knows she's clean), but at least she's still on her feet.

Unlike Lera.

Well. That makes this decision easier.

Darting forward, Tsukiko tries to grab the Shard before the receeding waters take it back to Thetis's hands.

COMBAT: ITEM GRAB! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Fetch! on Thetis.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita tries to cover Thetis for Cute Wolf Tsukiko's attack, Fetch!, but cannot get there in time!
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly dodges Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Fetch!, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to grab an item from Thetis!

<Pose Tracker> Lux Lapsa [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It had been Lux Lapsa's intention to cover for Lera as she attempted to escape from the shard. That was made more difficult when not only did Black Lynx target Lera for that shiny, but both Thetis and Neapolita attempt to assault her. Up go her frozen defenses, and while the ice manages to hold off the sticky mess that is Neapolita's life, Thetis's torrents of water manage to find a way around and knock her back. She skids on her boots, black wings fluttering, and narrows her eyes.

But before she can ready any kind of counter-assault, she hears a shriek, and jerks her head over towards Lera.

Lux Lapsa hadn't been their only target, of course--and while she'd been able to defend herself, Lera's downed in an instant. Not only that--

Yukimi's panic, within her, is immediate and intense. Lux Lapsa is controlled by the fallen angel within, though, and she takes to the air in an instant, going to Lera's side, unheeding of the shard. It's important, but so is this. Within seconds, she's there by the redhead's side, wings ruffling upwards to hide her from view as she takes the Infinity student into her arms.

"Corruere! I leave this to you!" she calls to her comrade across the battlefield. Then she quickly moves to retreat from the battlefield, taking Lera along with her, to move to someplace safe--and someplace *private*.

Yukimi and Lera are going to have to have a talk.

COMBAT: Lux Lapsa has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

She'll melt?? "That's the idea!" Lux Corruere shouts in return. "If you don't want to get burned, then maybe you shouldn't wreck an innocent zoo outing!"

...She's still working on the combat speeches.

/Focus!/ a voice within her insists, and the armored figure leaps backward, her wings spreading out to steady her. Ash falls from them as her boots touch on the ground once more. This leaves her unstable as the youma giving orders lets loose her /own/ attack. "Wh--" Talk of mistress aside, a wave crashes into her, immediately turning to steam as a wave of bright-red energy bursts from the angelic girl. It doesn't block the attack fully--it's too quick--but it sends that steam straight back to the source in a line.

/This is our target. Take the leader, and the followers will fall./

"Right...!" she says to.. well, uh, nobody visible, actually. It's a good thing people probably are too busy to care that she's talking to herself. ...It's not such a good thing that she continues to be pelted by attacks, dealing now with tiramisu, of all things, spattered all over the gauntlets she raises to attack. "...Aah, it is /way/ too cold for this--"

"Lapsa! Okay! Just keep her safe!" Now that she sees what Lapsa is /doing/...

She leaps upward, going around the ice cream and the frankly terrifying Nadeshiko. She moves above Thetis--and suddenly /drops/, blade out, to hack at her foe at the end. The blade, though, turns spectral red just before it gets close. "Magma Cor!" she calls, sparkling.

...But it'll have to see if it works.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has used Magma Cor on Thetis.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis perfectly dodges Lux Corruere's Magma Cor, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Another tiny upward twitch of one corner of his mouth, and Tuxedo Mask briefly clasps a hand on Amu's shoulder. "I really think you will be fine. Stay safe, miss!"

He's back on his feet with a sweep of his cape, and the hat's back on his head, and he darts off into the metaphorical dustcloud again, because there are more people falling, and in a mess this big, the last thing anyone needs is for someone to get trampled.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie screams "YES! NOVICE WIZARD!" she insists. But she watches dumbfoundedly as Lera still just outright blocks her incoming attacks.

She frowns heavily with a huff! "Enough of this! WEREWOLF!" she says pointing to the Cute Wolf. "BAD DOG! NO TREAT!" she yells as she fires some sort of terrible darkness infused beam at her.

If it hits, it might inflict bits of various bad luck... or just cause her to trip up and fumble for a small bit at the very least.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has used Hex on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly counters Dark Witch Norie's Hex, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Diversion, Exhausted, Stagger, and Tangle applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko's counterattack, Moonlight Growl, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Dark Witch Norie! Diversion applied to Dark Witch Norie!

COIN FLIP: Nori Ankou flips a coin. It lands on heads!

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

<also time to fix the order, disregard>

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

La Sirene's attention moves back towards that other Youma, who seems to be having a fight with someone who has a very correct hairstyle. La Sirene nods slightly; style recognize style.

Her head turns around - and she is called a Sailor Senshi.

La Sirene's teeth grind in silence. Batiste pipes up: "Oi! Get it right, you piece of remixed cow juice! This is no sailor soldier, this is a queen in waiting!" He folds his tiny arms.

"Thank you, Bati- LES MYSTERES COME!" la Sirene begins to say, having to abort into a frantic effort to defend herself from incoming cookies. One hand raises, throwing the horns of ancient rite, the other striking downwards -- but the action lacks a certain verve, and while silver strings chord with an echoing electric sound, a full burst is not achieved. A cookie slices against la Sirene's side, making her wince as she suppresses the hint of her gorge.

For some reason, she's lost her appetites for sweets, to some extent, since 'that day'.

The thief, Saint Tail, addresses her. La Sirene whirls on her heel, her hand staying in its hooked-finger gesture with a flourish. The strange pale intensity of her eyes adds force to curiously clear and insinuating words. "Do you know what happens to a thief? A thief goes to a chamber, in a basement. In a tower, in an island... surrounded by a thousand miles of cold and unfriendly sea... guarded by those who never watch. Fed on biscuit and weevils, for a thousand years' time!"

Her head tilts back, so she can look down her nose at Saint Tail. "Return what is ours, lest that fate befall YOU, Saint Tail!"

Chaos is reigning elsewhere. La Sirene deliberately looks away from Saint Tail with a flick of her hair, frowning as she does. Her attention focuses upon Thetis, those words of Saint Tail's echoing in her ears even so.

"Look, Saint Tail," she announces. "I'm going to take something YOU want, now." She then takes in a deep breath, levelling that strange glare upon Thetis now and speaking words in tones of queenly command, words that echo through the air.

"GIVE ME THAT." She snaps her fingers twice, for emphasis, and points.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Before I Leave Your Eyes on Thetis.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly braces Nori Ankou's Before I Leave Your Eyes, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Thetis is Quipped! Thetis's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

'Only a mistress!'

And she'll be no more forgiving, Homura thinks to herself. Unfortunately there is no time to deliver said quip verbally. Not with the SUPER ROCKET TENNIS RACKET indeed rocketing towards her sassy mouth as we speak. The racket delivers only a glancing blow however, and a moment later the Puella Magi vanishes from sight!

She reappears sometime later. Having the advantage of mobility on her side means that she gets to pick her terrain. In this case she has decided to make full use of her advantage by taking to the high ground of ... a penguin slide (wenk). While not the most glorious of footings it does provide her with an advantageous vantage point from which she can witness the downfall of Lera Camr... err, Cheeseburger-chan. The combined youma assault was simply too much for the shard holder to withstand. The Puella Magi grimaces at that, and it doesn't get any better when the youma manage to retrieve the shard from Lera's possession before someone else can.

She's also able to witness the ongoing conflict, though her attention remains focused on Thetis: The current shard holder. The Puella Magi watches as Lux Corruere's assault failed to produce appreciable results. Then La Sirene makes her own attempt, driving forward!

La Sirenes are a... mixed bag is probably the nicest way to put it. Though Homura definitely would not like to see the shards fall into their hands, they are less dangerous than the youma themselves. She's pretty cool with the otter though, for some reason.

(Homurakko Eyecatch)

Rather than drive forward to attack herself though, Homura remains atop the penguin slide. Instead she brings up her buckler-equipped arm. The 'eyes' of the shield open up to reveal the reservoirs of sand, but the device does not turn a full 90 degrees. Instead of being stopped completely the flow of sand is slowed, and should all go to plan a subtle ... temporal anomaly will begin to effect the current shard bearer. For her the world will seem to move just a bit faster. Not so fast as to be obvious, but certainly enough to mess off one's timing. Meanwhile the reverse will be true to everyone around her.

Homura then calmly awaits for an ideal opening to make itself clear.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly braces Neapolita's Tiramisu of Terror, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Blind applied to Homura Akemi!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Homura also gets devilish Tiramisu in her eyes!! It burns and stings.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Clockdown on Thetis.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Clockdown, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Thetis!
COMBAT: Thetis's counterattack, Ultra-3000 Hairdryer of Doom, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi! Critical Counterhit! Homura Akemi is Quipped! Trap applied to Homura Akemi!

<Pose Tracker> Black Lynx [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

The redhead with the golden shard falls, but despite his great speed, Ikuto can't run and snatch it up on time. Instead, he has to contend with being pelted by ice cream, which he narrowly avoids by twirling in mid-air in a way that doesn't entirely look physically possible.

The precious item is now in Thetis' grasp. As he dashes back to her, and past poor, poor Neapolita, he addresses her, somehow perfectly understandable despite not stopping. "You said you thought cats liked ice cream." His eyes narrow down as they lock on Thetis, his keen feline vision spotting a little something...

And then he's right up in her face. He doesn't attack, however. That would be what she's expecting. What he actually does, perhaps not so much. "I do," he finishes his statement and illustrates it by leaning in close to the faceless Thetis and, right where her cheek would be, giving a little swipe of her tongue where an errant drop of chocolate ice cream has found itself. Yum.

If he managed to pull off this daring (that is certainly one way to put it) maneuver, well, perhaps this should loosen her grasp on the shard enough for this thieving cat to get his hands on it.

COMBAT: ITEM GRAB! Black Lynx has used Tasto on Thetis.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis perfectly dodges Black Lynx's Tasto, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The shard sails through the air inside a sphere of water. It pops over Thetis's head, depositing the treasure in her free hand. Unlike everyone else, the water raining down on her makes her glimmer.

This was simple. Humans really are all the same. Submerge them in water long enough and eventually they'll stop disagreeing with you. A timeless truth. Thetis glances over to her young charge, who appears to be dipping into the 'cry on a couch wearing sweatpants' bracket of her flavors. She flicks her hair, because she's earned it.

"Neapolita! You--" her eyes gleam "--are doing very well. Cover my escape, and we will return to the Dark Kingdom together!"

She weighs the shard in her hand. "There will be a victory buffet. Yes, I'm sure."

But then--

"Tsst, bad dog." She springs backward, raising the shard a few inches higher. She is taller than the average magical girl, but it is still a gesture more effective at mocking than isolation.

Lux Corruere plays her gambit. The leap is mighty, and she easily ambushes the preoccupied youma, who barely has time to look up. The sparkling blade glides close, to bisect her non-face between her narrowing red eyes--

--but it doesn't. The blade touches Thetis, and then Corruere is assaulted by a cacophony of bursting flashes. They're bright, so bright that it makes nerves tingle and eyes give up. There is no youma there. Only light.

Several feet away, the real Thetis shimmers into view, hand on her hip. "By all means, keep rushing into things. Humans are at their most useful when they're not thinking."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, Thetis begins to reach out to Nori, presenting the shard in the flat of her palm--or, she was, until her racket came crashing down on her hand. The pale youma looks incredulously at the Sirene, shaking her wounded hand. Wrong queen.

"If you think--wait." There's something off. Thetis glances from Nori, to Corruere, then to Tsukiko. They're not moving right. An illusion, like hers? She reaches out with her own dark energy, seeking the distortion. It is--

"NO, BAD." In a flash, Thetis' racket is a dark hairdryer again, burning up steam in the wetter terrain as she snipes Homura from her penguin tower.

Lick. Her gleaming eyes slide over. They flare a deeper red. "N-O."

Whrrrrrrrr. Cats are afraid of machinery, right?

COMBAT: Thetis has used The Darkest Buffet on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Thetis has used Ultra-3000 Hairdryer of Doom on Black Lynx.
COMBAT: Thetis has used Brilliant Blast on Lux Corruere.
COMBAT: Thetis has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita accepts Thetis's The Darkest Buffet, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Black Lynx fails to dodge Thetis's Ultra-3000 Hairdryer of Doom, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Black Lynx is Quipped!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere narrowly braces Thetis's Brilliant Blast, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Lux Corruere's Block ability activates! Lux Corruere's Parry ability activates! Blind applied to Lux Corruere!

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"There are animals here???" Chastised by Lux Corruere, Neapolita looks around, shocked, and notices for the first time that she's in a zoo. Can you really blame her? She was locked inside the ice cream cart all this time. Her eyes goggle at the goats and soft fuzzy little pigs. "Oooooooh..."

Maybe /they/ want some ice cream, because nobody /else/ around here seems to. >:|

She starts stalking that direction, when Nadeshiko puts herself thoroughly in her path. "N-NEEEEEEEP!" she shrieks, disassembling herself into her component scoops in order to evade that flurry of deadly naginata strikes -- they fly everywhere, like an entire snowball fight condensed into one sticky moment, then reassemble just a hair too late to block that Cute Wolf going for Thetis' throat, or at least for her shard.

"Sorry, Thetis-sama..." she pants, wiping some melty drops of ice cream sweat off of her forehead. They're strawberry -- delicious, probably.

She'll never know, because she doesn't eat. Thetis' pep talk just brings vanilla tears to her eyes. "Thank you for your kindness," she whimpers, but in her heart she has sunk, she knows the truth; she's even less useful than a cream puff, and twice as bland.

"I'll try to prove worthy of it!" she mumbles, clenching her silver scoop hands a little bit, then, with a roll of her shoulders, priming them both. KA-CHINK! KA-CHINK!

Parfait goes /everywhere/.

COMBAT: Neapolita has used Parfait Punishment on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Neapolita has used Parfait Punishment on Nori Ankou.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Parfait Punishment on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Parfait Punishment on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Neapolita has used Parfait Punishment on Saint Tail.
COMBAT: Neapolita has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nori Ankou narrowly braces Neapolita's Parfait Punishment, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Nori Ankou's Block ability activates! Nori Ankou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko perfectly dodges Neapolita's Parfait Punishment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi fails to dodge Neapolita's Parfait Punishment, taking 15 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Saint Tail narrowly dodges Neapolita's Parfait Punishment, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Saint Tail's Fade ability activates! Saint Tail's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki fails to brace Neapolita's Parfait Punishment, taking 17 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

La Sirene meets Saint Tail's gaze. Saint Tail is momentariliy confused by her comment... looking at her. Did she mean something... other than this? Maybe there was more to her anger than she originally thought. It did wipe some of the smugness off of her face for a moment, at least.

But then La Sirene begins to attack the youma, going for the shard. "Not if I get to it first, La Sirene!" she shouts, in what she feels certain is a good display of bravado, in spite of the odds here. This is actually pretty crazy. That one girl...

She really should see if she's okay, but, it's probably covered, and a thief IS the best person to take an item out of evil hands. Still, that moment of distraction slows her down enough that when the parfait blast happens... it happens to goop her pretty good. It clings to her hair and her nice magician outfit, causing her to yelp.

She has to focus, though, so despite this distraction, Saint Tail turns her attention onto Thetis now. It's some kind of monster - origin unknown to her personally, but at least it's not made out of ice cream. There should be a way to stop her!

What would work best? Saint Tail pulls out her magic wand, the Saint Illusion Stick, and waves it around in a circle while she prepares to conjure up a trick. Something to hold that creature in place should work...

Well, of course, there's still ice cream and sugar splattered everywhere! And Neapolita's bleating about animals gives her an idea she can use. Another wave of her wand over the top of her hat, and a flood of little white mice come pouring out. They run under the youma... to trip, tangle, and otherwise bowl her over.

Because of magic, they're able to focus on Thetis, and not the ice cream, though it won't be forever no doubt.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has used Saint Illusion Stick on Thetis.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis perfectly counters Saint Tail's Saint Illusion Stick, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Thetis's counterattack, Super Rocket Tennis Racket Ace!, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Saint Tail!
COMBAT: Lera Camry has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Then out of the melee steps the tall man in the swirling black cape and stylish tuxedo, gripping his cane in one hand. "How dare you create a sweet and delicious youma from a child's treat, only to die in your service! HOW DARE YOU STEAL the inner heart of a young girl and try to gift it to your dark mistress?!"

Tuxedo Mask takes another step forward, his thunderous voice carrying across the chaos, and he slams the tip of his cane to the pavement. "It's unforgivable!!"

Remonstrations made, face twisted in a furious scowl, the graceful and mysterious aid to the Sailor Senshi pulls a single rose from inside his tuxedo jacket and whips it at Thetis. "Stop this at once!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Overdramatic Intervention! on Thetis.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis perfectly dodges Tuxedo Mask's Overdramatic Intervention!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko's face twitches as the dark beam slams into her. She feels gangly and awkaward, like a puppet trying to pull its own strings. The sensation is unpleasant and mostly unfamiliar, but it does bring back a memory...

FLASHBACK

An average day at the extended Hisakata household. It's that time of year when the children get experience with what certain types of curses feel like, and the young adults get to practice undoing curses.

"This is a gem with an awkwardness curse on it," Ikiko's father explains, opening a secure box so the children can pass it around. "Notice how it makes you feel, and how you move while under its influence."

There's a certain amount of giggling as the kids flail around, trying to see if they can out-stubborn the curse and move normally. All of this is carefully watched by the various adults, including the family patriarch Yuuki, great-grandfather of Ikiko. "Take careful note of this, everyone," he says with a sage smile. "The faster you recognize being cursed, the sooner you can take steps to counter it."

BACK IN THE PRESENT DAY

Tsukiko glares at Dark Witch Norie. "I'll remember this for later," the wolfgirl growls before looking back at the youma with the shard. "There's more important things than curses right now."

And with that, she runs at Thetis again, trying to recover the shard.

COMBAT: ITEM GRAB! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Fetch! on Thetis.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko makes a bit of an unimpressed face because Amu is making eyes at the new guy again. Honestly, that girl...well, it's what's fun about her.

In another time, another place, Nadeshiko would have the werewithal to pull back from her assault, look at the ice cream monster on one hand and Thetis on the other and decide when to tactically switch fronts, trying to force both. Thetis has the item, so shouldn't pressure switch to her? But...

• splut!*

Ice cream drips down her face. She licks it idly, and sugary delight only appears to sizzle her fuse brighter. "nnnnNAHHHHHHHHHH!" she suddenly EXPLODES!! "YOU WANNA GIVE OUT PIECES!? I'LL GIVE OUT LOTSA PIECES! YOU'LL BE IN SO MANY PIECES! THEY'LL MAKE CANDY OUT OF IT, YA HEAR ME!? CANDY!!"

"/I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASH THAT BEFORE DANCE PRACTICE YOU GOOPY GOON!!/ Sit still and it'll only hurt a lot!!"

She is slashing with the naginata but really there is only so much you can do to kill melting, moping ice cream. The screaming might work better.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Where Did You Learn That Language Young Lady on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie tries to cover Thetis for Cute Wolf Tsukiko's attack, Fetch!, but cannot get there in time!
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly braces Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Where Did You Learn That Language Young Lady, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Neapolita is Quipped!
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly counters Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Fetch!, taking 3 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Thetis's counterattack, Super Rocket Tennis Racket Ace!, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko successfully grabs an item from Thetis!

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie ah!? NO! THE DOG GOT THE SHARD! NONONONONONO!

"BAD BAD DOG! BAD! BAD BAD BAD DOG! PUT THAT DOWN THIS INSTANT!" she says frantically as he begins to chase the dog, so to speak. as she blasts an orb of dark energy. "That's for our superiors, not for your slobber and dog house!" she says frantically still!

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has used BAD DOGGY! on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Lux Corruere's arms are jarred by the sudden stop of her blade when it should have gone through like through water, at most. It didn't, and she stumbles back, the brilliant light overwhelming her vision and stinging her eyes. "Aah!"

She can see the vague outline of the real Thetis, but there are stars in her eyes in a sense that makes that vague outline useless. It's just hearing her that does anything. "I'm not--not /thinking/!" she shouts back, swinging again immediately. But there's no chance that she'll hit this time.

/Calm yourself. You need only--/

She stops listening to the voice as Tuxedo Mask steps out of the chaos, and reminds her of the sweet and delicious youma already near them. "I can't... even hit her..."

/So, what will you do instead?

"I'll..." Suddenly, her left hand slips off her weapon's hilt, moving to her hip where her other weapon is suddenly resting. Her hand closes around the whip's handle, black-and-red leather of some ancient creature unknown to the modern world smoothly resting in her armored fingers. She flexes her arm, the body of the weapon bursting into flame and a red aura of sparkling light.

"I'll show you useful!" she calls, and in a blur of motion, cracks the whip straight towards Thetis's... hair.

She still can't see so great.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has used Hairwhip on Thetis.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to counter Dark Witch Norie's BAD DOGGY!, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Dark Witch Norie is Psyched!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko's counterattack, Moonlight Growl, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Dark Witch Norie!
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly braces Lux Corruere's Hairwhip, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Thetis's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Batiste nods, discreetly, to Homura. He also hops down, perhaps to do... stuff.

Then comes a horrible machine noise - la Sirene actually declares, "Is that - is that a HAIR DRYER I hear?" in astonishment.

Her eyes prick up with tears. "Why are you even - Ugh!!"

She stomps the ground, sending some ice cream splooching around. "This is completely ridiculous! I don't even know what you are doing all of this FOR! I can comprehend your acts, to take a precious treasure from the heart of a small child - yes! That is logical! Reasonable! Monstrous, wicked, but it makes sense to me!"

She raises one hand upwards, pressing her fingers to her temple. "But you -- Obviously you are magical. You claim you serve a mistress. You are on a mission of cruelty..."

La Sirene raises a hand up in the air. "And you are made of dairy products and hair driers." Her fingers curl into a fist.

"This is not what magic is fooooorr!! Even Saint Tail at least has a PROFESSION - a JOB! Even if that job is CRIME and WICKEDNESS!!" La Sirene wails. "Look at you! You are fighting like animals! Not even like animals - animals would be endearing! You are composed of devices that damage my hair and give me inner distress!!"

She clutches at the air, as if to milk an invisible, giant cow. "Sorcery has eased the pain in my heart - it has given me a view on my true reality - you use it to roll in the rain!! YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF MY ATTENTION!!" Is... is she crying? A little.

This is accomplishing nothing. La Sirene's voice does not amplify right for blubbering.

Where did Batiste go, anyway?

Cute Wolf Tsukiko may feel an inspiration as the wolf section - let's be honest: actually several gentle and unusual breeds of dog - start to bark with furious reinforcing shouts. The noise might be music to the canid girl's ears, especially as they seem to sing of their hot desire for battle, to save the day, protect the children, and drive off the bad, and bad-smelling, people! Because that, in the end, is what doggies do.

Then their enclosure opens, and the hounds of the petting zoo are loosed.

Standing atop the gate, riding it as it swings...

Why, it must be another escaped animal, nothing more. "Heh heh," Batiste says to himself.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Carpe Aonyx on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Nori Ankou's Carpe Aonyx, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Cheered! Withstand applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Steam. Truly it has the potential to be the greatest foe of any well maintained hairstyle. Those beautiful, silky tresses can instead kink up until they form fearsome afro! And while an afro can truly be a sight to behold when set upon the correct skull, does anyone really want to see what Homura looks like sporting a 'fro?

Shut up, no you wouldn't.

Regretfully Homura is given little time to recover from Thetis's assault as Neapolita delivers a brutal parfait assault. What sort? Natto? Disgusting, and truly the work of a deranged mind if so! Unfortunately for the violet Puella Magi though she does not evade the assault and ends up with yet more stains to her normally blandly colored Puella Magi uniform.

Sheo with hair mussed and uniform stained, Homura grimaces. "I guess it is time to stop holding back then." There is a faint click, and in the millisecond before vanishing from sight someone may be able to see an unfamiliar sight in the land of Japan: A Middle School student dual wielding submachine guns.

Nadeshiko may bring a naginata to the fray, and Tuxedo Mask may improbably turn even a simple rose into a lethal projectile, but Homura does not mess with medieval implements nor improbably topiary techniques. She makes use of modern military hardware and plenty of it. So within a world where the colors are not so vivid, and where blurry images of those standing in the park are locked frozen in place, the lone moving figure dances among the impromptu statues. Dozens of rounds are spent, each bullet traveling half a meter before freezing into place! They hang ominously in the air before their intended targets. First they are few, but soon they become a cloud surrounding her enemies on all sides.

And then Homura comes to a stop a safe distance away from the bullet cloud she has produced. When the eyes on the shield close, its mechanisms coming to a halt, and the entire device returns to its resting position the guns are nowhere to be found. Banished to that strange time-space gap that Homura makes use of. The bullets they fired though?

All at once there is an explosive rush of sound followed by the simultaneous sound of perhaps hundreds of bullets impacting upon the ground, into trees, and sometimes even the unlucky piece of playground equipment. Within seconds the entire battlefield has become something quite a bit more akin to a warzone. Blessfully though, most of those who are no youma are spared from the attack. It's almost as if someone had the time to carefully plan where each round goes...

That said, not all are so lucky. It seems that Tsukiko, unfortunate thing that she is, blundered into the killzone while trying to snatch the star shard. Surely it was a mistake. SURELY Homura wouldn't do something so underhanded as intentionally fire upon a temporary ally just so that she might have a better chance of snagging the shard.

c_c;;

COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Submachine Gun on Thetis.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Submachine Gun on Neapolita.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Submachine Gun on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Finisher, Submachine Gun, taking 77 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Finisher, Submachine Gun, taking 44 Fatigue damage! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: ITEM TRANSFER! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has transferred Star Shard to Homura Akemi!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Finisher, Submachine Gun, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Black Lynx [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Thetis will have none of Ikuto's creepy thieving cat shenanigans, and really, who can blame her? He might not be afraid of all machinery (perhaps vacuum cleaners are another story), but he still tries to leap away, which despite his agility is a futile effort, seeing how he was more or less at point blank range to begin with. He's blown away and, despite tumbling in mid-air rather undignifiedly, manages to skid to a halt in a three-point landing.

However... his cats ears are leaning back. With clenched teeth and an annoyed grunt that sounds just a bit like a hiss, he sweeps his un-clawed hand across his head a few times to get the ears to normal. This really isn't his day, all things considered.

The shard does, however, change hands, faster than even Ikuto can keep up with. First it's snatched by a dog-girl (shut up, she's a dog) of all things... who then promptly collapses in a hail of bullets. Hm.

And someone is making a move to grab it again. This, however, Black Lynx has more than enough time to react to. Before that girl with the afro(?!) knows it, there's a cat-boy rushing her way, swinging his sharp claw at an incredible speed, slashing once, twice, thrice... and soon it's impossible to count, much less keep up. That girl might be quick, but /he's/ quicker.

Or so he thinks, at least.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has used Cadenza on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly counters Black Lynx's Cadenza, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Black Lynx!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Tsukiko grabs the shard, rolling with the further barrage from the curse-sligning witch. The canine chrous lifts her spirits, and she's ready to make a run for it, to try to get to safety.

And then all Hell breaks loose.

Between the shockwave and the shrapnel, the wolfgirl goes flying, the shard falling from her grip as she arcs through the sky, crashing into a bush quite a distance away.

A quiet whine escapes her lips. "Ow....." she whimpers.

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Mice. At least they are nice, well behaved mice, rather than grungy stowaway rats. Still, Thetis has practice in dealing with vermin, and her racket is one flick of her wrist away. She stamps her foot, launching the incoming rodents into the air with geyser of water, leaving them at the perfect height to serve away into the distance.

She admires her handiwork, but the enjoyment soon leaves her. Someone in monologuing. At her. She inclines her head.

When the rose comes, it passes harmlessly through the air. The youma flickers, and then isn't there. Instead, she is two inches away from Tuxedo Mask, her featureless face suggesting a smile from the way she squints her eyes.

"Unforgivable. Someone else has called me that before."

Someone's running. Thetis turns instinctively, swiping with her racket--but the angle is too severe, and it still allows the wolf girl to slide underneath her serve and claim the shard. The pale youma hisses, but it's too late. She leaps away, aborting her clash with Tuxedo Mask to avoid letting him take advantage of her distraction.

"Neapolita, the wolf--hmm."

Thetis pauses. More than she knows. Very suddenly, the wolf girl is no longer holding the shard and there are actual threats around her. The youma's eyes widen.

She is a blur against the storm of bullets, five Thetises flickering this way and that as the barrage comes in as furiously as a tidal wave. It is over more quickly, leaving her chest heaving and hair disheveled. Her head swivels to track Homura in the distance. Illusion girl. That must be it.

It is so close. She is so close. Jadeite, distant and unreachable, but cloyingly close, who spoke to her so recently that she can still hear his voice--she is so close to his smile. But that girl. That wretched girl who copied her hair and is now copying her illusions and stealing her shard. The water left from the partial flood begins to churn, rising up in unruly waves.

"NEAPOLITA! Help me clear this rabble, and then we'll kill that girl together!"

'Jadeite-sama,' she whispers. 'I'll be home soon.'

The ground shakes. Distant thump, thump, thumps beneath the ground signal something bursting. Pipes. It must be pipes. That's the only way to explain the enormous, violent, malevolent pillars of water that burst from the very earth.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Thetis has used A Youma's Love on Nori Ankou.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Thetis has used A Youma's Love on Lux Corruere.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Thetis has used A Youma's Love on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Thetis has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nori Ankou narrowly braces Thetis's Finisher, A Youma's Love, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Nori Ankou's Block ability activates! Nori Ankou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere fails to brace Thetis's Finisher, A Youma's Love, taking 60 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The screaming /might/. Neapolita just kind of stands there and takes it, the naginata slashing away without really doing much damage to her amorphous blobby self, but the words...

Sticks and stones may break her bones, but words affect feelings and those are the only things that are actually truly important in the world.

She sniffs. "Why are you so N-NEAn..."

And then comes the rain. Bullets, bullets, bullets, but she can't feel them pattering against her lack of a skin, she's already in motion, her survival instinct kicking in even when she's almost given up hope. One of the scoops on each shoulder is completely shredded, Pistachio and Butter Pecan spraying all over the place.

But, in the end, she's still standing.

"H-HAI!! THETIS-SAMA!! FOR THE QUEEN!!!"

Spreading her arms wide, she causes Thetis' geyser chasms to gape, to open wide, and then wider still, the ground crumbling beneath the feet of those spared the first assault.

Within is the true terror of anyone who has ever been trapped in a ten foot by ten foot room.

It's whipped cream, all the way down.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Neapolita has used Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream on Black Lynx.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Neapolita has used Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream on Nadeshiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Neapolita has used Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream on Saint Tail.
COMBAT: Neapolita has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Saint Tail fails to dodge Neapolita's Finisher, Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream, taking 64 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Neapolita's Finisher, Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Black Lynx fails to brace Neapolita's Finisher, Inescapable Pit of Whipped Cream, taking 51 Fatigue damage!

COIN FLIP: Nori Ankou flips a coin. It lands on tails!

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Saint Tail is surprised her illusion animals were deflected so easily. But... so it was, and now they are suddenly gone, the magic that summoned them fading away again as she lowers her wand and hat.

What happens with the bullets... she's fast, but she can't quite follow it. It seemed like they were just suddenly there. Obviously it was that other girl's magic, but it seemed tough! It's actually a bit sad when the wolf-girl is shot. These are pretty high stakes for Saint Tail, and she's almost afraid she should really call the whole hunt off. People are getting seriously hurt trying to get this thing, which means... it's pretty dangerous.

The goo that's already on Saint Tail has slowed her down a lot, but she doesn't notice until she tries, once again, to evade Neapolita's wave of goop...

And is pinned under it, covered in whipped cream from head to toe.

Well, she didn't OFFICIALLY give her notice, not to Asuka Jr., so it doesn't count as failing, right? If that other girl gets the shard, at least she doesn't seem like as bad a person as La Sirene or the witch girl or either of the monsters...

Saint Tail knows she has to get out of here. So she's going to change her plans to cover her escape.

She hopes she can escape, anyway.

She pulls a handful of cards out of her hat. Her bravado has faded as she's totally pinned down, but she can still help. She shouts "Just run away!" at Homura, but... well, Homura probably doesn't need that advice. Then she targets the ice cream monster with a handful of playing cards.

That may not seem like such a big deal, until the playing cards explode.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Saint Tail has used Exploding Cards on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Saint Tail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly dodges Saint Tail's Finisher, Exploding Cards, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Thetis's Finisher, A Youma's Love, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Lera Camry!
COMBAT: Lera Camry has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie watches the wolf fall to a bunch of...bullets!?

That's some nifty Earth magic right there, a device that propells small projecticles at breakneck speeds! Maybe she should learn that!....

"No." Says the Broom she's flying on. "Awww, you're not fun." she says.

"Hello black-clad, quick girl! We need that!" she says.

She follows up the semi-polite statement with more dark orbs.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has used Magic Orbs on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly braces Dark Witch Norie's Magic Orbs, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Dark Witch Norie is Psyched!
COMBAT: Black Lynx has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The fallen angel keeps trying, and that itself keeps her going. Lux Corruere hasn't actually managed to land a telling blow yet, and from the lack of tension in her whip arm that hasn't changed, but it's just a matter of time. If she can only keep going, then...! "Greed just isn't a good enough reason to inflict this danger on everyone!"

...She hasn't even gotten to visit the frog house yet.

In a manner of speaking, however, the frog house comes to her; the sound is not the only thing beneath the ground. There is the feel, the change, of something erupting--

And one knocks hard into the angelic warrior, sending Corruere crashing upward, soaked by the muddy waters, only to crash with a loud, unpleasant clank back to the ground once she escapes the pillar's grasp. "Ugh..." It was more than she'd expected, to be sure. And out of nowhere.

She rises first to one knee, and then to a standing position, even if not terribly steadily so. She's tired. But... "No!"

"I won't let you hurt any more of us! No matter how much you send, we won't give up!" Stepping back, Lux Corruere goes silent, placing her hands over her heart. Her weapons have disappeared, for now. There's a crimson glow that starts there and spreads to her fingertips, glinting in the light it makes.

"Hear my prayer... Rubeo...Votum!" She opens her eyes again, and steps forward suddenly, pushing with both hands a beam that suddenly rockets forth from her palms, and grows in mid-air. Where it passes, the cold of drenched ground and ruined ice cream fades into warmth.

And it's passing straight for Thetis, a beam easily her height and hotter than magma.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Water EVERYWHERE. Water everwhere and Tuxedo Mask's hat is gone, and he rolls away from the rushing geysers and stands, dripping, face furious behind the white mask, hair plastered to his head. He whips his cape off because it's sticking to him, and he glares up at Thetis. "He'll never love you! There's no love in you, only hate and destruction! There's no love in your whole hateful kingdom!" he shouts.

And then one hand lifts and a brilliant yellow-white glow builds there, and Tuxedo Mask shouts,

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lux Corruere has used Rubeo Votum on Thetis.

COMBAT: Lux Corruere has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Thetis narrowly dodges Lux Corruere's Finisher, Rubeo Votum, taking 93 Fatigue damage! Thetis's Fade ability activates! Thetis's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

[ansi(hy,Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!)]"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber on Thetis.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Water EVERYWHERE. Water everwhere and Tuxedo Mask's hat is gone, and he rolls away from the rushing geysers and stands, dripping, face furious behind the white mask, hair plastered to his head. He whips his cape off because it's sticking to him, and he glares up at Thetis. "He'll never love you! There's no love in you, only hate and destruction! There's no love in your whole hateful kingdom!" he shouts.

And then one hand lifts and a brilliant yellow-white glow builds there, and Tuxedo Mask shouts, "Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!"

COMBAT: Neapolita tries to cover Thetis for Tuxedo Mask's attack, Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber, but cannot get there in time!

COMBAT: Thetis narrowly braces Tuxedo Mask's Finisher, Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Thetis is Quipped! Thetis's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

"Well now that is just unnecessary," Batiste says as a sudden magical eruption of gunfire bursts out. Fortunately, the dogs were only just out of their pen and do a volte-face, running back inside. Batiste runs towards la Sirene, who might be able to gut out gold tank rounds.

"Where WERE you? I needed you!" la Sirene complains at the small otter as he scampers up. "That crazy person is firing GUNS! Someone could get hurt."

Batiste leaps into the crook of la Sirene's arm. "Can't we just leave?" she complains - before there is a terrible creak beneath the ground. She had been neglecting her enemy, and she pays the price. The waters rise and come down upon her --

BUT

La Sirene du Nord has a special blessing: She is immune to harm by sea.

The water /affects/ her, of course. She is kneeling, huddled around Batiste; shivering; shaking, after the water sluices off. But she stands back up, at most mildly impaired, gritting her teeth. As the exploding cards rain down, she looks forwards, her hatred and fury moving away from where it had rested (Saint Tail) onto other targets (Cure Bullets; the demons).

Cold seeps through la Sirene, the clinging, enervating cold of the sea. She feels a little like she's drowning. It feels... nice, somehow.

She reaches into her pocket with her left hand and draws out a rectangular black object, holding it upwards. She does not do much beyond that, save exercise, press forwards, her malignant will, her fear, her despair... in a word, her sorrow.

The feeling ripples through her. Her lips form words, trying not to shiver. "You seek... to drown... ME... you FOOLISH... /miserable/ CREATURES..."

Light flickers in the black object in la Sirene's hand. The air pressure starts changing, fast. Ears pop; the animals start moving for the shelters of their pens, knowing within their hearts what is coming. La Sirene's head tilts back as she lets her eyes half close.

"This isn't over, Saint Tail. But I have royal responsibilities... return what is mine by the turn of the New Year," la Sirene half-whispers, half-groans, "and it will be... /overlooked/... for now..."

La Sirene vibrates slightly, and then twitches. The sky goes black as the exchange of atmospheric pressure between this dimension and a parallel world reaches a critical mass. A storm breaks - a storm that to those who do not share the distant remove of a particular bloodline, is, somehow, a terrifying presence, at least for a few fleeting moments. The pressure passes -

Did we mention the gale-force winds and the furious strokes of lightning?

Those take a little longer.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Nori Ankou has used L'Appel de la Tempete on Thetis.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Nori Ankou has used L'Appel de la Tempete on Neapolita.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Nori Ankou has used L'Appel de la Tempete on Dark Witch Norie.
COMBAT: Nori Ankou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly dodges Nori Ankou's Finisher, L'Appel de la Tempete, taking 50 Fatigue damage! Neapolita's Fade ability activates! Neapolita's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie narrowly dodges Nori Ankou's Finisher, L'Appel de la Tempete, taking 71 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Thetis fails to dodge Nori Ankou's Finisher, L'Appel de la Tempete, taking 76 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

In truth, Homura had hoped that her attack would do a bit more damage to the youma than it had poor Tsukiko. However bullets are dumb things, unfortunately, and just tend to strike anyone who is not fast enough or smart enough to get out of the way. Whether the youma are smarter or faster than Tsukiko you're free to guess ...

... but seriously, isn't Neapolita's brains also made of half-frozen ice cream?

Regardless, once the wolf girl goes down Homura is there within a flash in order to grab the shard. Good. Now all she needs is a moment and she'll be able to get the shard to safety. Just as the eyes upon her 'shield' once more open though, the Black Lynx makes another apperance. This time he is attempting to knock /her/ down!!

There's no confusion here. No chance that he was trying to swing at someone else and hit her by mistake. No, this was an attempt to incapacitate her and then take the shard. As some of the vibrancy fades from the world Homura realizes she engaged her power just a few instants too late.

The Puella Magi comes down upon her shield, /hard/. When she does she can feel something jam in its internal mechanism, and some sort of magical safety system engages. The device disengages and the flow of time returns to normal...

This is a good thing, lest Homura be frozen in time as well ... Forever.

When the violet Puella Magi comes to her feet she grimaces. Both from the fact that her device remains jammed, and the fact that the battlefield is exploding again! This time with youma-powered attacks.

'Just run away!' Saint Tail advises the Puella Magi. Though it is not really needed. Unfortunately the problem is that Homura ... can't run as fast as she normally does for some reason. Rather than blinking away she just starts to run on foot. Make no mistake Homura can run fast, very fast, but it's strange that she's not simply vanishing like she usually does.

Perhaps the shard interferes with her powers somehow?

The battlefield continues to resemble more and more of a warzone as the magical girls begin their reprisals against the youma. Homura doesn't even take the time to look back however. With the star shard clutched in one hand to her chest, Homura tries to put as much distance between herself and the youma as possible while waiting for her magic to repair the buckler on her left arm.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Not that they intend to make it easy on her. In between some of the attacks Norie sends a barrage of dark magic orbs Homura's way. Homura doesn't dodge, for a change, but instead brings her buckler arm up and charges through the attack the best she can!

<Pose Tracker> Black Lynx [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

The normally stoic Black Lynx can't do much to hide his surprise when his claw swipes meant for Homura not only hit thin air, but she just /blinks/ away. For a very short moment, the normally graceful Black Lynx stumbles a few steps forward.

If he really were a cat, this would be the moment where he would start grooming himself to make it look like he wanted to do that all along.

...but then, something gives him a MUCH greater reason to want to groom himself, as the ground gives out, and he unceremoniously falls into whipped cream, covering him from head to toe! Spoiler: Since his nemesis is Amu, this might not actually be the last time this happens to him.

In a rather undignified manner and with much effort, he manages to cut his way out of the delicious, delicious cream. He licks some off his cheek, though as sweet as it is, his expression really doesn't indicate that he's enjoying it. 'Ikuto,' Yoru's voice rings out in his head, 'this isn't looking good!' It's true. He's exhausted. But there might still be something he can do...

For once, his eyes don't immediately focus on the shard, but rather the still-standing ice cream youma. He squints and leaps several dozen feet into the air, trailing whipped cream until his uniform is now (mostly) clean again. For the briefest of moments, it's suddenly nighttime, and the full moon looms large over the horizon, framing Black Lynx's dark silhouette as he falls past Neapolita, and a second later, there's the sound of a single, clean slash...

And whatever happens then, he immediately hops away into the night, which very soon stops being night at all.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Black Lynx has used Moonlit Night Marionette on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Black Lynx has finished attacking.
COMBAT: ITEM ESCAPE ATTEMPT! Homura Akemi is attempting to escape with Star Shard! They must run for 2 more turns!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita fails to dodge Black Lynx's Finisher, Moonlit Night Marionette, taking 106 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko's verbal violence is mean and hurtful and the demon has every right to complain about it, or would, except she has marred Nadeshiko's pure, immaculate beauty, and must therefore be punished.

Someday Nadeshiko will reflect on making a demon cry and feel like maybe something is a little imbalanced in her Chara Change, but today isn't that day. Because today is instead the day Nadeshiko spends thirty seconds staring as the Youma and also the girl holding the Shard are suddenly bombarded with invisible magic salvos!? Who did that!? She whips around, but she can't really tell...and doesn't have the time to confirm, as Neapolita drops her into an inescapable pit of whipped cream. "Wh...NOOOOOO" comes Nadeshiko's shrill, and then she /vanishes into darkness/. Or...brightness. Whipped cream.

Temari hovers over the whipped cream like a fell task master. "You've put up with worse than this!" the softball-sized fairy yells. "Get back in there! Go! Go! GOOOO!"

Silence for a dreadful few seconds...before a slick and creamy Guardian drives her spear into the pavement like a climbing spike, slowly, exhasutedly wheezing from her ascent. She glares up through a coat of sweet, sugary delight, eyes gleaming with malice. She is tired and she hates these people, like, really a lot. She is gross and sugary and mom is going to have so many questions. Just...so many questions.

And Baaya! So she edges up to her feet. She sees the Youma standing together! But she can't really aim it right that way. So all she does is...put her entire strength into a hard, full-body swing of her naginata, releasing it like a sonic projectile! It trails swirling air currents as it races toward Neapolitana - skewering right through the center of that creamy mass. "I don't have time! TO SHOWER!! CUT THAT OUT!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Naginata Torpedo on Neapolita.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Neapolita narrowly braces Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Finisher, Naginata Torpedo, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Saint Tail has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Saint Tail [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Since Saint Tail was spared Nori's wrath, for now...

She decides to do what she does best, and leave while everyone is totally distracted. She slips out of the whipped cream pile, runs over behind a tree, and... covered in goo and low on energy, slinks off. Next time, for real... right? Unless there was another one out there...

But for now she just needs a bath.

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The deluge stops. Thetis observes her handiwork. Hmm.

A good start.

She traces a pattern in the air, coaxing a swirling whirlpool to follow her steps. She'll just flood from this direction, and--

By the time she turns, Corruere's beam is already upon her. Thetis disappears into the heat with a keening wail. The angel does not have her banishment. Before the end, the youma bursts unexpectedly from the pillar of judgment, too fast to track, almost supersonic as she flits away from the searing pain. She lands roughly, twisting her ankle and falling to a knee.

This leaves her no energy to evade Tuxedo Mask's chastisement. Thetis cringes and sweeps her arm up, letting the yellow-white glow pound furiously against her magics.

He's wrong, isn't he? Jadeite is dedicated to his job, and the power of their queen flows through him, but surely there is room for her. Maybe not for love, but at least, for desire.

Thetis rises, lifting her hands, surrounding herself with the roiling maelstroms of watery arts. "A storm? You bring the rain against my dark powers?"

Nori does. She also brings the lightning. Thetis is lit against the flash of light, twisting away in instinctive retreat, without the quickness she had been so prideful of earlier. She staggers back, shoulders slumping, her hair matted and eyes dim.

In the distance, that terrible girl is winning.

"Neapolita," Thetis hisses, "we're leaving. Our queen must hear of this."

She will, one way or another. She always does. Thetis gestures forcefully, throwing herself through the resulting whirlpool and disappearing from the park.

COMBAT: Thetis has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Neapolita is just having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.

Exploding cards fall upon her like autumn leaves. It's ugly; gouts of instantly melted cream flow out of her like so much fudge.

And then there's a moment of relative quiet while everyone suddenly seems to team up on--

--"THETIS-SAMA!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

In slow motion, the ice cream youma dashes to her aid, trying to get between her and Tuxedo Mask's awesome blow.

The shockwave from Saint Tail's final explosion makes her trip, and she goes sprawling.

Looking up at Mask between her frozen eyelashes, she hisses, "How dare you say such a thing. You know /nothing/, Tuxedo Mask."

She staggers back to her ice cream cone roller feet just in time to get blasted sorely by the contempt of La Sirene -- in fact, a bolt of lightning splits her in half. She merges herself back together slowly, laboriously.

Just in time to get bisected in the other direction by Black Lynx's single perfect cut.

Collapsing into a sad pile of ice creams (all the chocolate chips on each individual schoop are making frowny faces, two eyes and an arc of a mouth), she strains every bizarre magical muscle of her being to knit the connections together--

--and then Nadeshiko slicing her apart again.

"I! AM! NOT! JULIENNE! FRIES!" she shouts, her final act of defiance, as the small part that is left of her rolls sluggishly away, towards Thetis-sama, who she must protect. The look in her eyes, when she gazes upon Jadeite, is just so beautiful. It is a shining light in the darkness of the caverns of her existence.

She puts her scoopy 'fingers' to her eyes as she backs into the whirlpool, then points them at the magical girls, then back at herself.

"Dark Kingdoooooom..." is Neapolina's hiss, and the last thing heard from her.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie noooooos, her allies are leaving empty handed.

And she's hanging upside down for dear life against gale force winds as Broom-Sensei is heaving against it with all her might. Luckily, Broom-Sensei is a hundred year old magic tutor who can hold his own and not immediatly be blown away like some sort of /common/ witching insturment. "A...Ahhhhhh! Noooo!" she hisses.

She flips up and down to the ground. "You're ruining everything!" she says with wide eyes as her broom comes up over her head and she swings. it On the swing, it grows to the size of a large semi truck as she sweeps the area. "Heroes in this world are dumb... mocking me with your... 'life' and 'mortality.' ;_;" she almost whines.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Witch Norie has used Clean Sweep on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Witch Norie has used Clean Sweep on Lux Corruere.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Witch Norie has used Clean Sweep on Nori Ankou.
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Dark Witch Norie's Finisher, Clean Sweep, taking 38 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is unable to keep fighting! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere fails to dodge Dark Witch Norie's Finisher, Clean Sweep, taking 70 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lux Corruere is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: ITEM TRANSFER! Homura Akemi has transferred Star Shard to Dark Witch Norie!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou narrowly braces Dark Witch Norie's Finisher, Clean Sweep, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Nori Ankou's Block ability activates! Nori Ankou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lux Corruere has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Lux Corruere [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

And so it's nearly there; her beam didn't work this time without her companion to hold the foe in place for it, but Lux Corruere is satisfied that her foes move to retreat. THat, after all, is what matters for her. That the people here can be let free. And yet...

The youma are gone, terrifying and strange, but an attack from nowhere hits her while she's still trying to recover. She doesn't even hear the taunt, instead knocked backwards, sent flying...

Where her wings take over, in part by instinct, to glide her out of the area.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The storm fades, slowly. The air is cleared, in its subtle ways.

Perhaps the Sea of Tears is not wholly corrosive, after all.

La Sirene breathes that air and feels a pang of nostalgia for home as the enemy flees. She tosses her wet hair out with one hand, answering the Dark Witch: "'Hero'? Spare me your foolish image of morality. I am beyond 'hero' and 'villain.' Beyond whatever curse'd life you may live..."

Wait.

She's swinging a titanic broom!

The bristles slam into La Sirene's side even as the sweep crashes through the area. La Sirene is not quick and agile in the same way many magical girls are /but/ she is strong and she is durable; she wraps her hands around the base of the broom as Batiste leaps into her pocket, turning her attention upwards, lips pulling back.

No, she thinks.

What mattered was that Saint Tail did not prevail. But Saint Tail has fled. And now this creature, this witch, is mocking her. Shimanouchi mocked her, and she spared that one's life. This one does more than that - animals are in peril. Innocent creatures, la Sirene thinks.

The broom's size fades - and la Sirene lands, half-crouched, facing towards the witch.

Her eyes are glowing. Just a little.

"Do you know the court of Eve?" she asks Norie, cryptically. She then raises her left hand in salute, the horns raised. With a pause for perfect posture, she strikes downwards, as if stroking an immense guitar. This time the silver light forms properly, four silver-lit veve`s forming at the cardinal points of la Sirene's position for a fleeting instant. Two are blocked and implode; another's left to burst upon the witch. The other one just mirrors it: a dual stroke attack, perhaps to the victory. The shapes resemble swans.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has used Les Mysteres on Dark Witch Norie.

COMBAT: Nori Ankou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

There was once a girl name Homura. Hair all braided and tied up with bows. She would try to run, but it wasn't very fun, as soon a heart condition brought her low.

But that was a world or two away. In this world instead Homura Akemi was brought low by a massive broom wielded by the Dark Witch Norie! Swept up in the assault and sent sprawling off her feet, Homura Akemi crumples as she rolls across the ground. The star shard slips from her grasp as she rolls, and comes to a rest in a place that Norie would find easy to reach.

Unfortunately at this point the Puella Magi is at her limit. She has expended too much of her magical energy. She raises her arm equipped with her buckler, the 'weapon' granted to her by her wish, and sees the device is still badly dented. She grits her teeth as she brings the device back down against the ground hard with a loud metallic clang.

She lost this battle, but not the war. So she will escape for now. At least she can still manage that...

... some time later, Homura stumbles into an alley way. Her breathing ragged and her gait unsteady. She collapses against one of the walls and brings out one of her spare grief seeds. Placing it against the badly drained soul gem on her left hand the grief seed quickly draws the darkness out and into itself. The gem's luster is restored.

For now.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

COMBAT: Thetis has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Thetis [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

DARK KINGDOM, LATER:

"There. Do you feel better?"

Thetis clicks her hairdryer from 'arctic freezing' and sets it on the table alongside her brushes. They are joined this evening by some additional tools, which include several sizes of ice cream scoops. She spins around Neapolita's chair to face the mirror, and then slumps into the empty chair at the adjacent stylist's station.

"Don't worry about it," the pale youma offers. Unable to resist, she sits up to better see herself as she preens in her own mirror. "I'll talk to Beryl-sama in the morning during tennis and smooth everything over. I hear she has something else going on, anyway."

Thetis taps her heel against the footrest. Okay. Hair's in place again. Just in case Jadeite is awake at this hour and wandering the halls. She turns to the other youma, very suddenly a young woman with an sly smile once more. "You'll get used to the insults eventually. Come on, the dark buffet closes in thirty minutes."

DARK KINGDOM, MUCH LATER:

The dark buffet was already out of shrimp.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Usagi Tsukino!

COMBAT: Lux Corruere transforms into Touka Chigami!
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie narrowly braces Nori Ankou's Les Mysteres, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Dark Witch Norie's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

The youma are gone; Tuxedo Mask stands there, dripping, scowling at where they disappeared; they have to know. The senshi have to--

All of a sudden, one of the girls goes after the girl who made off with the shard-- the one who told him she trusted him with Amu; he looks up in shock, then yells, "DON'T YOU DARE! THAT BELONGS TO A YOUNG GIRL! How can you be so CRUEL?"

He starts running flat-out after the girl with the big bad broom, cape in one hand, and the other hand flipping around to produce a shimmering rose. Leaping up, he throws it underhanded, stem first, like a wicked dart; it leaves glowing light in its trail, arcing through the air. "GIVE IT BACK!"

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Overdramatic Intervention! on Dark Witch Norie.

COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Neapolita [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

@emit DARK KINGDOM, LATER:

"Thetis-sama," Neapolita breathes, awed as she lifts one scoop to prod her astonishingly fantastic thirty-scoop bouffant, gazing at herself in the Dark Mirror. "I... I feel..."

She slides off the chair and whips it around, smiling at the youma-cum-hairdresser.

"...beautiful..."

She blinks some leaking peanut butter brickle out of her eyes, then smiles, every white chocolate chip tooth agleam.

"Hai!!"

DARK KINGDOM, MUCH LATER:

Neapolita discovers that she can, in fact, ingest the hot fudge. Because it's

BD

Dark Chocolate.

THE END (for her)

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie fails to counter Tuxedo Mask's Overdramatic Intervention!, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Dark Witch Norie is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie's counterattack, Just because you're HOT doesn't mena you can do what you want. ;_;, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tuxedo Mask!
COMBAT: ITEM TRANSFER! Dark Witch Norie has transferred Star Shard to Nori Ankou!
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has left Neapolita's item contest. Please check it with +item Neapolita.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko yells, "I LIKE TO EXPERIMENT!!" right back at Neapolina's defiance, and stands there, wheezing for a few seconds, after the Youma retreat. Good. Yeah. "You better run!" she yells after, shaking her spear.

KABOOM goes the...giant broom, and Nadeshiko slowly turns around. Now, see, until now, Nadeshiko has had the whole Is Slightly Insane thing going for her, and she's been totally ignoring the Shard, some subconscious part of her blithely assume it would get Handled.

Now, there's nothing else on the field to care about. So she stumbles, wetly, over to where she left her naginata, rips it out of the pavement, and rolls up her spear sleeve with one hand. Above her, Temari mimes the motion. "OK, you!" she yells, waving the naginata one-handed in a quite flagrant violation of absolutely everything to do with proper spear etiquette. "It's gonna take me a while to get over there because of all this stupid ice cream but if you're still here when I get there OH MAN!!"

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has used Saying Horrible Things on Dark Witch Norie.

COMBAT: Nadeshiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie perfectly dodges Nadeshiko Fujisaki's Saying Horrible Things, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Dark Witch Norie is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Dark Witch Norie [Ohtori Academy (4)] has posed.

Dark Witch Norie has a dart, thrown at her face, she eeks and tries to swat it away. Throwing a Sharp rose in a small witch girl's face, how mean! ;_;.

"H..Hey! Just because you're dark... and handsome... and Hot doesn't mean you can just do what you want!...." she says with a totally breaking voice, because she's like seven.

"Norie, we should leave. Besides, those other two will get the blame. You weren't even here on offical bussiness." says a voice from the Broom.

"BUT BROOOM-SENSEI----! I...totally have the power to to take him out!" she raises her finger, points at Tuxedo Mask Dramatically! and.......

There's a sputter, and a cought sound.

"No. You don't. We're leaving. Before you get yourself in actual harm." says the Broom. And the broom immediatly takes off hard and high. "I never get to do anything fun!" she says with a pout. ;_;.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

And so, the golden shard rests in the hand of la Sirene du Nord.

Its light makes her feel... uncomfortable, faintly. It is not perhaps 'Darkness,' but the sunlight hurts her eyes, as does its echoes. Silver and cool light are better. She curls her fingers about it, and breathes out, tired and soaked to the bone.

She looks towards where Nadeshiko is furiously thrashing through her ice creamy bounds. They won't last forever. La Sirene estimates her chances. She considers how fast she moves. She considers how much she likes having all her limbs, and breathes out.

Another thought comes to her.

Her eyes turn towards Tuxedo Mask. She clears her throat, and waves to him with her free hand.

"These things... they are a peril from the sky. It landed in her, an unwelcome intruder," she tells him. "It has great power... it might have harmed her, to take it out. There are those who seek to gather them, to make the world better, or perhaps to make it worse."

La Sirene's eyes lower, slightly. "You are very strong," she says, her voice softer. "If you wanted to take it from me... I think that you could."

Then she looks up again, to meet those masked eyes. "But... I will give it to you, at least to hold in safety, for the sake of this world. If you give me just one thing..."

Her head tilts a bit further upwards. Her lips purse. "A kiss."

In her pocket, unseen, Batiste buries his face in his paws.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Dark Witch Norie transforms into Norie Okano!

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Tuxedo Mask -- still in the tuxedo, still in the mask -- wrings out his cape and glowers at the whining girl, only idly watching as Nori -- god knows whose side SHE'S on, which isn't going to make any of this fun -- takes the glowing shard from her.

Walking like he's really not looking forward to his destination, the drenched young man slows and stops in surprise as Nori turns to him. He listens very seriously, blue eyes behind the mask so intently focused on her as she speaks.

He also considers her words seriously, all the way up until--

--she names--

--her price.

...

Shifting uncomfortably, Tuxedo Mask reaches up to rub at the back of his neck. "Oh." He glances around. Is anyone watching? Oh god is anyone watching. "Okay."

One step forward, two; one gloved hand comes up to gently cup the side of Nori's face, and he bends down to touch his lips to hers. It's a sweet kiss, a chaste kiss.

It's totally probably the first kiss since like, first grade.

<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

WHUMP

Usagi Tsukino rolls out of bed.

Luna perks up. "Usagi-chan, are you okay?"

"SNNNRRRRRGHH."

Luna leaves the room to find her tiny headphones.

<Pose Tracker> Nadeshiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Nadeshiko no longer really knows what her opinion on this matter is, but the broom witch who blew up a bunch of people is gone now, so Nadeshiko ends up stumbling toward the two postbattle discussing the disposition of the Shard, when...

Nadeshiko stops cold, eyes wide.

Her naginata vanishes in a puff of sparkles and her hairpin returns to normal.

"The world...of adults!" Temari whispers, in awe.

<Pose Tracker> Amu Hinamori [Ohtori Academy (5)] has posed.

Amu is no longer unconscious, but she's still on the bench where Tuxedo Mask left her. Her eyes suddenly widen as she sees what's going on.

She then slaps her hands over her eyes, as does Ran.

Amu spreads her fingers just slightly so she can see. Miki is busy drawing -something- in her sketchbook. Suu covers her mouth with her hands and floats down to try to cover Amu's eyes as well. Given that her hands are the size of the head of a pin, this doesn't do a lot.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

• chu*

La Sirene breaks the kiss. "This feeling," she breathes out. Her lips tasted of takoyaki and a curious cool saltiness; like seawater. (Thanks, Thetis. But perhaps not just her.) "It... it's so new..."

"Perhaps it is the essence of sorrow..."

She slumps backwards, leading to her otter bailing out of the pocket and standing ready to do - something. La Sirene doesn't slump further - she does hold up her hand, the shard resting in her open palm.

Batiste, who is clearly intelligent, clasps his paws together.

"Cousin?" he says. "Cousin? I'm taking all the shrimp."

"Well, she's out," Batiste says. He looks up at Tuxedo Mask, then. "I'll take care of her... but, please, keep it safe. It may be vital later... for the sake of this world."

He raises a paw in mustelid salute, and then starts poking la Sirene in the side until she sort of wobbles off and staggers towards the cute little marina dock on the far side of the petting zoo.

<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

There's the startlement of a guy who's really not sure why a girl just swooned after he kissed her, but Nori doesn't fall, and all of a sudden there's an otter talking to him.

All he can do is nod, carefully taking the shard from her hand and pocketing it-- and then giving Batiste a sidelong look.

"It always is, Otter-san," he says, his own weariness showing. "Please do make sure she's all right. She seems very sad."

He watches them go off, then slowly turns to view the devastation in the park. Those are some very wet sheep.

There's nothing for it but to take the shard to Sailor Moon. He strides off into the growing sound of sirens of another sort.