2014-06-13 - School Supplies Shade
| School Supplies Shade | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Another new type of monster appears and terrorizes Juuban, but a new magical girl does too! | |
| Who: Mei Akatsuki, Hayate, Kinzo Hiroyuki, Ail as the School Supplies Shade! | |
| Where: Juuban Public School | |
| OOC - IC Date: 01/28/2014 - 06/13/2014 | |
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
It's an otherwise beautiful day as Juuban Public School disgorges its students for the day. The air is crisp, but not too cold, not too damp; it's as beautiful as Japan can get in the winter, with a light coating of frost on the trees. The only indicator something might be wrong would take a keen eye to notice; or someone who has spent a lot of time pretending to be in a fantasy world where the fact that the creeping dullness along one of the side of the school's buildings is anything more than a trick of the setting winter sun; that it in fact might be the harbinger of something more severe.
Pose Tracker Mei Akatsuki has posed.
"Wait, why are we going back to school?" At the very edge of Juuban's campus stands a lone girl with very red hair, seemingly talking to no one. It would take a keen observer to note the two birds -- one red, one blue -- perched on the nearby wall, acting as inconspicuous as possible.
"Believe me, it was not our location of choice, either. Biv and I had been hoping to show you the basics /outside/ of combat, but it just so happens that the Shades have spread further than we thought," the red one says, shaking out his wings a bit. The blue bird next to him sighs matronly, flying down to land next to Mei. "Do you see that creeping grey, just over there? Your eyes won't want to see it at first. But keep looking; it's there."
The fourth grader squints in the direction that Biv is pointing, trying to zero in on what the bird is talking about. At first, she doesn't see much. Just normal, boring Juuban, about to be enshrouded by an early sunset. But -- wait, there /is/ something there. It's easy to mistake for dusk falling, but a specific portion of the school appears substantially duller than its surroundings. And it's only getting worse.
"So...that's a Shade, then?" Mei says nervously, watching as the wave of grey becomes more and more noticeable.
"Yes. We're going to head towards it, but don't transform just yet. There are probably still a few people around, and we don't want your secret identity to be blown on your first day," Roy the red bird says, flying in the direction of the scene along with Biv, his mate. Mei nods nervously, then slowly starts to follow them.
All the while trying not to think about the very real monster that would be awaiting her.
Pose Tracker Kinzou Hiroyuki has posed.
Kinzo Hiroyuki is here, mainly to nab the play scripts he dropped off yesterday, having heard the teacher made all the photocopies she needed. all snazy in his Infinity Uniform. He's noticed people dispersing, but this is kind of normal. He hasn't noticed any particular color change yet. He does wonder what's going on, when you do this enough, you kind of just get that general feeling of foreboding. He does take a moment to turn his head and take a good whiff of the air.
No Dark Scents, okay. Maybe it's just his imagination, so he walks over to the main door as he goes to open it, walking inside, nabbing the box and walking back out to peek over at Mei with his head tilted. She looks kind of nervous. He just turns and proceeds to walk in the opposite direction for now. Nothing wrong here yet.
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
A pack of Juuban elementary students running away in fear is the first sign that something is -really- wrong to those who haven't noticed the color change or sense of foreboding. Turning closer to the elementary wing, the color of most of the objects in the area is almost completely drained... and then, there's the rather hard to miss fact that there's some sort of massive creature, comprised of what looks like a hodgepodge of school supplies and desks into a vaguely humanoid form; one hand ends in a desk which is stuffed full of papers, the other hand ends in a hand wound pencil sharpener. For a head, it possess a chalkboard, onto which a strange face-like scribble appears to exist, and its legs and torso are a varied composition of other things like construction paper, glue, and the like. On its back sits a giant, oversized pair of child's safety scissors, like wings on a giant robot. The whole thing is a strange, disconcerting mixture of black and white, and the closer you get to it, the less color there is in the world. It's obviously the source of the drain, and of the children's terror.
COMBAT: Ail transforms into Youma Form School Supply Shade! COMBAT: Ail has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 2 opponents!
Pose Tracker Mei Akatsuki has posed.
Mei is rather distracted, at the moment, so she doesn't notice Kinzo, who she met yesterday along with Ikiko. Speaking of her, they were supposed to meet today to go feed those dogs...but obviously, something came up. Something really, really weird.
And apparently, she's not the only one who sees it.
Several high-pitched screams ring out in the distance, and the red-haired girl snaps to attention. Instinctively ducking into a classroom to hide, she sees the poor elementary schoolers -- most of whom seem to be younger than her -- running away as if their lives depended on it. Maybe...maybe their lives /did/ depend on it?
"Blast, we're too late. It's already drained enough to take on a specific form!" Roy exclaims, flying into the classroom via an open window. "Quick, you have to transform! We might not have much time before it starts attacking students!"
"O-Ok!" Mei says, tripping over her words a bit as she shakily grabs the red crystal locket on her neck. She'd played through this scene many times before: a monster attacks unsuspecting bystanders, and she swoops in to save the day! She's not exactly unfamiliar with how this is supposed to go.
But this time, it's real. Those kids -- and Juuban -- are depending on her to protect them. Gulp.
"Chroma Prism Red! Transform!" she yells, and in a flash of red light, the usual Mei in her school uniform is replaced by another figure; one with small, iridescent wings, and a frilly dress of scarlet. Prism Keeper Red, in the flesh for the first time.
COMBAT: Mei Akatsuki transforms into Prism Keeper Red!
Pose Tracker Kinzou Hiroyuki has posed.
Kinzo Hiroyuki is still walking away when people run past him in fright. He turns around to see this bizarre spectacle of a color draining... mas of school supplies, desks and other oddities. "Wha..." he just kind of shakes his head and looks away a moment. He sees Mei descend into that mess.... he needs to do.. something.
He ducks between buildings in a calm manner and places his box down behind a large bush. He grabs his cologne out of his pocket and closes his eyes...
"Henshin.. Dark Amber! Spritz!" his transformation is realtivly short, mask...tailcoat, vest... weird steampunk bracers, and the leather leg protection. He races out to...
Where'd Mei go!? He kind of hopes she's okay. Regardless, someone up ahead seems to be ready to confront this thing, and he just sort of vanishes from his current location in a puff of brown wispy next, and then with the same effect, but reverse, appears just slightly off from Prism Keeper Red.
"Hello." he says. "Do you know what this is about?" Dark Amber asks softly. He doesn't make a move yet, nor introducing himself. He's just being cold right now about this. There's times for pleasantries later.
"Hrm... the color seems gone." he observes. He looks over to Red and looks over at her appraisingly a minute.
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki transforms into Dark Amber! COMBAT: Dark Amber has fully healed himself. COMBAT: Mei Akatsuki has fully healed herself. COMBAT: Mei Akatsuki transforms into Prism Keeper Red!
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
A sudden rush of wind brings another player onto the field, this one in blue - Hayate had only come to the school today for his day job, but he couldn't ignore the sounds of the children screaming in panic or the undeniable wrongness that's spread from the monstrous amalgam of school materials.
He doesn't waste a breath in greeting, blue eyes flicking quickly from the monster to Prism Keeper Red to Dark Amber and back to the monster again. "Yours?" It's a curt, one-word demand for an explanation from whoever has one to provide.
COMBAT: Hayate transforms into Leafe Knight!
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
The creature turns around, the face on its blackboard-head turning into a monstrous visage (if such a thing was drawn by a kindergartener with shaky hands, anyways) and it roared, an unearthly sound, turning to make heavy, lumbering steps towards the three fighters arrayed against it. It continues draining the color out of the surroundings as it walks and roars, and finally begins to lash out clumsily at the forces arrayed against it.
COMBAT: Ail has used Glue Orb on Hayate. COMBAT: Ail has used Color Drain on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber fails to dodge Ail's Color Drain, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Stun applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Hayate narrowly dodges Ail's Glue Orb, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Hayate's Fade ability activates! Hayate's Flash ability activates!
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
"Waah! Who are you?!" Red says, nearly jumping out of her skin as an older boy, also in costume, drops in next to her. She does /not/ remember creating anyone like that for the Prism Keepers -- there was only supposed to be the colors of the rainbow (and pink, thanks to Momo's insistence). And definitely no boys. Was he even on her side?
Apparently so, since he hasn't attacked her or anything. Red's mouth opens and closes a few times in shock, almost more taken aback by his sudden appearance than by the Shade's. After a moment, she manages to spit a few words out.
"Um, kind of? I...haven't exactly done this much. Or at all. I think this thing's called a Shade?" she says, glancing at Roy for confirmation. From his position far above the battlefield, he nods affirmatively. "Yeah, it's a Shade. And, well, they drain color. It's a long story."
Just then, /another/ boy in costume drops in, and Red jumps yet again, subconsciously propelling herself a little higher with her tiny wings. "Another one?! How many of you are there?" She doesn't even answer his question. There are other pressing matters at hand. She can figure out this sudden inundation of magical boys later.
"Keeper Red! Attack now!" Biv the blue bird calls out, circling overhead. "Hold your hands out and use a color beam!"
"Uh, right!" Red says, doing as her mascot instructed. Immediately, concentrated energy of red wells up in her palms, then blasts towards the Shade. There! If you want color so bad, monster, it's all yours!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Paint It Red on Ail. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber regards Prism Keeper Red's description of the creature. He frowns a bit.. "Alright..." he says. "Then let's handle this first, then you can tell me the story." he attempts to jump back but... hrk. That color draining gets to him. Not that he's particularly colorful to begin with--- his deep brown faltering makes him look light brown a bit, he manages to eventually jump back. "No Joke, I see...." he says as he considers as he proceeds to fan out an array of blades from his right and left hands and proceeds to throw them in an array of ending spam in what he hopes appears to be weak places. Of course, it's all luck in the end.
"My name is Dark Amber. I am a Perfume Warrior." he states. "I am here to help you." he says matter of factly. "So let's do our best." he says as he deals with the draining effect still, closing his eyes a bit in a wince.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Amber Bladestorm on Ail. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
"We're not the ones you should be worried about right now," the young man in blue snaps, entirely unnecessarily. the words have barely left Hayate's mouth before he's forced to take his own blunt advice; the Shade moves more quickly than he'd expected from the look of it, and he only just barely manages to duck of the way of the sphere of glue that it launches in his direction.
Carried clear of the projectile by a gust of wind, the Leafe Knight responds by slashing his fingertips out before him in an arc that seems to slice through the air itself, sending a curved blade of pressure flying at the creature.
COMBAT: Hayate has used Razor Wind Slash on Ail. COMBAT: Hayate has finished attacking. COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Dark Amber's Amber Bladestorm, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Ail! COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Chalkdust Storm, partially gets through, doing 3 Fatigue damage to Dark Amber! Blind applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Ail narrowly dodges Prism Keeper Red's Paint It Red, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Ail's Fade ability activates! Diversion applied to Ail! COMBAT: Ail narrowly braces Hayate's Razor Wind Slash, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hayate is Psyched!
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
The shade tries to counteract the incoming barrage of knives, turning its face into a big circular mouth and expelling a blinding, harsh wind of chalk dust; but the magic knives get through and burrow into its body. As it turns, it is simply too large and clumsy to fully dodge the Prism Keeper's red beam, and when it takes the hit the entirety of its body soaks the color as it howls in distaste, before finally turning back to its faded color scheme. It can only brace itself against the incoming onslaught provided by Hayate's razor wind, causing dull pieces of paper to flutter through the air in its wake. Enraged by the human's attack, and by them preventing it from draining more color, it turns towards Dark Amber, raising its sharpener-ended hand in a way that might call to mind a certain blue robot boy before it begins to fire a rapid barrage of razor-sharp pencils at him! And then, it tries to bring the hand that ends in a desk down on poor Prism Keeper Red, aiming to smash her flat!
COMBAT: Ail has used Pencil Shower on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Ail has used Desk Slam on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber fails to brace Ail's Pencil Shower, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ail is Psyched! Stun applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly dodges Ail's Desk Slam, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Prism Keeper Red!
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
"Whoooaaa," Red exclaims as she watches the power coming from the two other fighters -- and from herself. Had...had magic been real all this time, and she'd just never noticed? That was so cool. Weird, but cool. She only wished that there weren't monsters involved. Then everything would be perfect.
She nods at Dark Amber's introduction, and is about to introduce herself when the Shade hits him with a color drain. The colors of his jacket seem to fade, and if his reaction is any indication, it is /not/ fun to be on the receiving end of it. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the windy, grumpy guy dodge a ball of glue, then shoot something that seems to really anger the school supply monster.
Unfortunately, it decides to attack her instead of him.
"Gaaaah!" Her body shoots back instinctively as the desk comes crashing down. Thankfully, she manages not to get hit, but the shockwave sends her rocketing back a few more feet, and she finds herself terribly out of breath from moving so fast. "You! You're such a /jerk/!" Red yells as she pushes herself back onto her feet. "I'm not going to let you get away with draining all our color! School is boring enough already!"
It occurs to her that she can use her rose summoning power in addition to firing pure color energy, so she grins, snaps her fingers, and summons four, very sharp roses, all covered in thorns. With another snap, she sends them flying towards the monstrous Shade.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Rose Darts on Ail. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber frowns as this thing launches an array of sharp pencils. as he draws his arms up and takes the brunt of the hit, he winces though. "....it sounds like you've never fought your enemy before." he says. That just fills him with confidence. But not really. Sarcasm. "Nevertheless...." he frowns as he raises his hand skyward and then whips out a chain from his wrist bracer and swings it out towards the creature, before he releases it, a blade on the opposite end acting as a counterweight.
He looks over to Hayate. The man is familiar.... oh... he was. Right. One of the ones protecting the cave that night. He listens to him. Cold as ice. Was he like that when......
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Binding Amber Chain on Ail. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
With the Shade focused for the moment on the other two, Hayate is free to maneuver, and he soars upward through the air for an overhead vantage. Prism Keeper Red's shouting isn't directed at him, but even so, it brings an irritated scowl to his face.
"If you could beat it by yelling at it, you wouldn't need magic!" he calls out to her, even as he gathers a preparatory swirl of wind between his hands. A slightly more thoughtful look comes over his face when she fires her rose darts, however - he's seen that power somewhere before, hasn't he?
No time to contemplate it right now, anyway. Training his attention on the monster, Hayate releases wind from both hands in a heavy gust meant to bowl the thing over or at least knock it off-balance.
COMBAT: Hayate has used Gale Force on Ail. COMBAT: Hayate has finished attacking. COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Hayate's Gale Force, taking 12 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Chalkdust Storm, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Hayate! Blind applied to Hayate! COMBAT: Ail fails to dodge Prism Keeper Red's Rose Darts, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Dark Amber's Binding Amber Chain, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Dark Amber is Psyched! Tangle applied to Ail! COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Chalkdust Storm, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to Dark Amber! Blind applied to Dark Amber!
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
The shade blows another harsh blast of chalkdust out of its... chalkboard... mouth... thing. It catches both Hayate's brutal winds and Dark Amber's chain, veering them off course and into less dangerous areas of the body, and coating them in enough chalk dust that they look like they've been banging erasers together for days. However, the creature is in no position to -also- deal with the storm of rose darts fired from the newly-minted prism keeper, and they find nice comfy homes in every piece of the creature, leaving massive impressions all over its body in the various grotesquely assembled oversized school supplies that make up the creature. And they make an almost pretty contrast, glowing with color as they are, compared to the rest of the creature.
And that's when it gets angry. The chalk outline of its face turns from white to red, and sharp teeth form in the chalk mouth. It brings that pencil sharpener around and unloads into dark amber with those sharp pencils again, while trying to rejuvenate itself with color it intends to steal from the Hayate!
COMBAT: Ail has used Color Drain on Hayate. COMBAT: Ail has used Pencil Shower on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly dodges Ail's Pencil Shower, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Ail is Psyched! Dark Amber's Fade ability activates! Dark Amber's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Hayate narrowly braces Ail's Color Drain, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Hayate is Taunted! Cripple and Stun applied to Hayate!
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
Why are these guys being so mean?? That's not how this is supposed to go! If boys show up to a magical girl fight, they're supposed to nice. Not total critics!
"Stop yelling at me, I'm doing my best!" Mei retorts, watching Hayate attack yet again. When her roses penetrate critical points on the Shade, she excitedly gestures to them. "See?!"
At Dark Amber's words, she blushes, both in embarrassment and indignation. "No -- 'cause they haven't been around for very long. And neither have my powers. So please, can we wait with the critiques until this thing goes down?" Red pouts. Boys, always telling her how to do things. They're no fun.
But then the Shade launches another round of attacks, and she has to scramble out of the way so it doesn't target her again. She can somehow feel the amount of magic she's used already -- and it's quite a bit. She didn't quite realize how much it would drain her to use those powerful attacks, so she decides to leave the heavy hitting to the /oh so perfect/ boys for a while.
Instead, the girl runs to the side of the Shade, then casts a tiny bit of red energy at (what she thinks are) its eyes. That should keep it from attacking accurately for a bit!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Seeing Red on Ail. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber frowns...."I was not critiquing you, but.... merely an observation. We'll discuss this after... the school is safe." he says as he dodges and fades left and right, but is still kept under this thing's thumb pretty well.
"I can imagine what a better portion of my friends would say in this instance..." he says. "Do your best!" he asides to the Red Magical Girl.
He proceeds to try to lash out, getting in close trying to slash into one of these thing's limbs.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Cutting Remark on Ail. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
"--nnh!" Color drains from Hayate, the blue of his uniform begins to desaturate to a greyish shade from more than just the layer of chalkdust it's acquired. He can *feel* it draining out of him, a horrible and unsettling sensation - it's far too much like the feeling of having his leafe drained, as though the very essence of his existence is being stolen from him. Crossing his arms protectively in front of him, he drops to the ground to brace himself, gritted teeth bared in a snarl of effort, wholly focused on holding onto what he *is.*
He succeeds, and remains in color, but the experience leaves him none too steady, and his voice when he answers Prism Keeper Red is rough and uneven. "Less talking, more fighting... or there won't *be* an after."
That unpleasant statement made, Hayate draws in a deep breath, and summons the wind around him, a column of swirling air to shield and cleanse and steady him. It lifts chalk-dust upward from his clothes like rising wisps of steam, and in the next moment it spreads outwards to engulf both of the other two in that same surprisingly gentle, air-clearing breeze.
COMBAT: Hayate has used Precise Razor Wind on Hayate. COMBAT: Hayate has used Precise Razor Wind on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Hayate has used Precise Razor Wind on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Hayate has finished attacking. COMBAT: Hayate accepts Hayate's Precise Razor Wind, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Hayate's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Hayate's Precise Razor Wind, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Dark Amber's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Ail narrowly braces Prism Keeper Red's Seeing Red, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Dark Amber's Cutting Remark, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Dark Amber is Psyched! COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Chalkdust Storm, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to Dark Amber! Blind applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red accepts Hayate's Precise Razor Wind, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Prism Keeper Red's debuffs are cleared!
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
The shade continues to retaliate with the never ending wind of chalk (and because Hayate tried to remove all that glorious white dust that was keeping the colors of his allies muted). Even still it only mildly deters Dark Amber's bladed attacks, and paper and pens and pencils and pieces of school-desk wood are shaved from the monster. However, doing so only presented Red with the back of the thing's chalkboard head, which looks like it was torn right out of the wall of the school, and the ray only serves to get the shade's attention. But it did have the intended effect... the thing is pretty mad. It howls, and suddenly it draws from nowhere an oversized, massive chalkboard eraser! And it howls out loudly as it brings the eraser down, with enough force to shatter the concrete below, its size big enough to take flying heroes out of the air and crush them ALL!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Ail has used Eraser Slam on Hayate. COMBAT: FINISHER! Ail has used Eraser Slam on Dark Amber. COMBAT: FINISHER! Ail has used Eraser Slam on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly braces Ail's Finisher, Eraser Slam, taking 41 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly braces Ail's Finisher, Eraser Slam, taking 34 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hayate narrowly dodges Ail's Finisher, Eraser Slam, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Hayate's Fade ability activates! Hayate's Flash ability activates!
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
Red hmmphs as the other two respond to her protests, though she nods to Dark Amber as he tells her to do her best. Finally, some moral support. That should've been there from the very beginning, but baby steps, she supposes.
Unfortunately, she definitely did /not/ hit the Shade's eyes. Instead, the gigantic mess of school supplies turns her way, and the young girl feels her body freeze up. Something bad was definitely on its way.
Just as she thinks this, the Shade brings its huge chalkboard eraser down to the ground, and it's all she can do to throw a flimsy red shield up before she goes flying backwards, stopping only when she hits the wall.
Red winces as the pain radiates through her from her back, but makes no sound; she simply drops the shield, then gets shakily onto her feet again.
"You. You are going to /pay/ for attacking my school!" she yells with newfound anger, pointing towards the monster. Roy and Biv both try to say something from up above, but deep down, she knows what happens next. Prism Keeper Red holds out her hand, and a foot-and-a-half long wand materializes in it, topped with her bright red Chroma Crystal. "Prism Aegis Power!" She calls out the activation phrase, then spins on one foot. A veritable hurricane of red energy builds up around her as she twirls, all of it following the glowing Wand, until she stops and faces the Shade head on. Determined. Unafraid. And /angry/.
"Red Rain!"
She flings the massive ball of color energy just above the youma's head, where it spreads out into a portal-like shape and begins raining multiple blasts of pure, unfiltered red. Good. That'll teach it to hurt her and her (kind of) friends.
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber watches as Prism Keeper Red unleashes the full might of her colorful, brilliant power. This causes him to pause for a moment. This is a good sign, but if she's new... Well. They're always magical girls for support somewhere! "Excellent..." he finally says.
He turns to Hayate and smiles, giving a little salute with two fingers from his brow before he dissapears into brown mist, then appears directly behind the creature in a sudden teleport in brown mist. "Dark Amber......" he yells out as he draws his hand back, putting his palm out as he summons a terrific burst of brown colored magic and shoves it into the beast. If it works, it'll cause a better portion of this thing to be surrounded in amber, brown, crystal like substance, before he snaps his fingers- and.. "Crush!...."
Then it shatters inwards in a horrible array of penetrating shrapnel that probably hurts a hell of a lot if it connects.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Amber has used Dark Amber Crush on Ail. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
As the Shade brings that enormous eraser down, Hayate launches himself into the air again, escaping upwards in a flash of blue with all of the wind that he can muster to carry him.
It's only just enough.
Mostly unscathed but gasping with effort, the Knight of Wind whirls around in mid-flight, both hands spread to rip his fingers through the air. He can't take this thing down himself - he knows that - but maybe he can soften it up for Prism Keeper Red's decisive blow--
Arced blades of wind fly out from his fingertips in a torrent, rushing at the Shade in a torrent of a myriad small but razor-sharp cuts.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Hayate has used Razor Wind Barrage on Ail. COMBAT: Hayate has finished attacking. COMBAT: Ail narrowly dodges Dark Amber's Finisher, Dark Amber Crush, taking 97 Fatigue damage! Ail is unable to keep fighting! Ail's Fade ability activates! COMBAT: Ail accepts Hayate's Finisher, Razor Wind Barrage, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Ail is unable to keep fighting! COMBAT: Ail accepts Prism Keeper Red's Finisher, Prism Aegis Power! Red Rain!, taking 53 Fatigue damage! Ail is unable to keep fighting!
Pose Tracker Ail (Shade) has posed.
The shade leans over the massive, dropped eraser, when out of the dust it created from the landing, Dark Amber appears... the vanishes, only to appear behind it in a puff of brown mist. Then, he forces the energy in his hand against the beast, encasing it in a thin sheen of amber... which bursts, forcing shards inwards into the creature. It howls out in pain, and takes a staggering step forward... where it is met by an implausibly massive torrent of cutting wind, each gust like a torrent of sharp spears. Down to one knee, and trying to prop itself up with its desk hand, the last strike comes with a piercing shout of 'Red Rain!' as the portal above it opens, massive blasts of pure red, in a form so pure it might make other reds seem false in comparison, blast and burrow their way into the creature's haphazard body.
It has one last face for the heroes; a sad face, drawn on the chalkboard complete with chalk tears. Then it suddenly begins to wither, the pieces of the environment it collected vanishing from its body and reappearing, undamaged, where they were originally acquired from. At the last moment, it resembles a little gray impling made of shifting shadows, before that too detonates, unleashing a rainbow of shimmering multicolored energy into the environment, floating and dancing in the air, tiny sparkles of pure color.
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
And...it's over. At last.
Prism Keeper Red lets out a long sigh, then reaches out with her right hand to steady herself. That last attack had taken a lot of magic, and she can almost feel it in her bones. It's strange. She's not really tired, but some part of her is almost exhausted. Guess that's what magic is like, huh?
"Quick, Red!" Biv calls out, flying down closer now that the Shade is defeated. "Gather that color energy in your Chroma Wand! You have to release it back into the school, or everything will stay grey and faded." With a nod of acknowledgement, the girl goes over to the reservoir of sparkling color where the monster used to be, then raises her Wand once again. Immediately, the swirling colors race into the Crystal crowning it and, her hair fluttering from the energy pooling in front of her, she releases it all in a flash.
In what resembles a splatter of paint, all the colors return to their surroundings -- and to the other two magical warriors who had been drained. "We did it!" she says happily...and then she gets a good look at the state of the other two, and her face rapidly falls. They had obviously been hit a lot harder than her, and Dark Amber in particular did not look so great. Eyes wide with concern, Red rushes over to him, making her Wand disappear in the meantime. "Augh, you're hurt, Dark Amber!" she exclaims worriedly, looking the older boy up and down. "Do...do you need help?"
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber has his color return, not that he's specifically colorful to begin with. He sort of holds his head. His form is a little torn up, scuffed, but nothing he's dealt with before..... dealing the God Among Men was much tougher than this on him. "I'm fine." he manages to say, limping just a bit now that he's able to take a breath, as he closes his eyes. He's mostly okay. He could use healing, but this is nothing a good sleep and recharge won't fix...
He looks on over to the other boy with appraising eyes. "What's your names?" he asks, as he looks back to Red. "And what was that about? It seemed to be...stealing color?" he asks. "Is that right or?...just energy?" he wonders.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
Hayate hovers in the air, suspended by an updraft of his own creation, as color returns to the area in the wake of the monster's demise. For a brief interval, if anyone happens to be looking his way, there's an uncharacteristic softness to his expression.
It doesn't last, however. As he descends to touch down on solid ground, his face tightens into its more usual manner. Although Dark Amber asked for both of their names, the Leafe Knight says nothing just yet - instead he looks toward the girl in red, watching her closely for her answer to that and Dark Amber's other questions.
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
"I'm Me--" Instinctively, Red almost answers with her real name, then quickly catches herself. "Sorry. I'm Prism Keeper Red. Nice...to meet you?" She isn't exactly sure what the protocol is in these situations, but she supposes that it's always good to be polite. Even if the favor isn't always returned. The girl glances at the other warrior for a second, then continues when he makes it clear that he's not saying anything.
"Yeeeah. Like I said, those things are called Shades, and from what I understand," she says, looking to Roy and Biv, who have perched behind her, "they're just after color, not life energy. Though I think they may be kind of linked to one another, somehow. From what I've seen, people getting drained isn't pleasant." She winces, remembering how Dark Amber and Hayate (whose name she did not yet know) looked after the Shade hit them with that attack. "But yeah, they haven't exactly been around for very long. As far as I know, this was the first one to attack something on a large scale. I...can only imagine that there's going to be more."
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber looks from Hayate in his silence, eyes moving over to Red. "Prism Keeper Red then." he says with a softly nod. "As I said...my name's Dark Amber." he says. "I'm a Perfume Warrior." he says. "My friends and I protect memories. It's a little more deeper than that. But.." he shrugs.
"You asked a question earlier." he manages to smile. "Yes. There's many of us. So don't worry, there's those that will help you, you're not alone." he nods. "I just..." he looks around. and frowns. "I just hope an acquaintance of mine is alright. I initially came here to make sure she wasn't running into anything. I'm sure she's okay though." he asides. He crosses his arms a moment.
"So ... was this your first fight?..." he asks a little more seriously.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
"Are you planning on fighting them all by yourself?" Hayate listened to Prism Keeper Red's explanation about the Shade with a focused intensity, but now he speaks up again, and it becomes clear that he's not going to be any more pleasant, or less blunt, out of battle than he was during.
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
"Perfume Warrior?" Red repeats, tilting her head a bit to the side. "I've never heard of that...though I suppose all magical fighters are supposed to stay secret, huh?" She keeps listening, intrigued that there are definitely more magical girls -- and presumably boys, too -- than just them. "That's so cool! I hope I get to meet everybody. I thought I was the only one when all of this started."
When Dark Amber asks if this was her first fight, she laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, it was. I only got my powers yesterday. That's when the Shades were born, too. This might not make a whole lot of sense, but if those two are to be believed," she gestures to Roy and Biv, "some dark powers took the imaginary magical girl story I thought up and brought it to life. So I'm /kinda/ familiar with what's going on, but it's sort of taking on a life of its own." Her eyes go a bit misty as she says, "...they took my mom, too. I was hoping she would be here, but. I guess she's not."
Red snaps out of the brief funk when Hayate asks his questions, just as harsh as he'd been during the attack. She scowls. "Well, I don't have much choice, do I? I mean, there are supposed to be other Prism Keepers -- that's how I wrote the story. But I have the Crystals that they'd need to transform, and I don't want to drag anyone else into this mess if I don't have to. It's not fair."
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber thinks. "So a story you wrote, became reality?" he asks. This doesn't immediately sound strange to him. "Yes. But with everyone you meet, there's another threat. Me and my friends have our own threat to deal with..... and I'm sure strong and silent over here has his own threat to deal with." he says looking over his shoulder.
"I...my first fight was a little different." he admits. "I was a foolish person who did foolish things."
His eyes go wide, however when she mentions her mother and frowns. "I know this doesn't mean much....but if there's anything you need help with...." he says. He sort of flicks his hand and makes two cards appear. One is Brown with stylized gold script, and the other seems to be a simple piece of scrap paper. "This is my contact number. It's better to text me unless it's an emergency..." he admits. "The other is a friend who calls herself 'The Mystic Knight of Wind' who's trying to get some unaffiliated magical girls together for training." he says as he hands off Fuu's Hououji's number on the paper. "Just tell her that Dark Amber sent you, and why, she'll help you out with running you thought so basics. We try to support each other when we can." he nods.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
Hayate lets out a sardonic little 'hn' in answer to Red's words, a sound of acknowledgement. "It's never fair," he says. "At least you understand that much already. But not liking your options isn't the same thing as not having a choice, you know."
He stops there, looking sharply askance at Dark Amber for a moment when the guy says the words 'Knight of Wind'. "...as you can see," he comments dryly aside to Red, "Not everybody minds getting dragged into things." A beat, and then, more grudgingly: "Hayate. I'm a Leafe Knight." By way of a slightly belated introduction, which may possibly belie the judgmental interpretation that might otherwise be read into his previous remark.
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
Red takes in Hayate's words silently, looking slightly towards the floor. "Yeah...but that's easier for you to say," she looks up at the both of them, a sad kind of envy in her eyes. "You're older -- and powerful. You guys know what you're doing. I -- I wrote my friends into the story. And my kid sister. But it was just a game, then. They couldn't handle having to fight like this all the time. It's my fault if they get hurt, since I wrote that stupid story." She frowns. "So I'm just gonna do what I can by myself. Roy and Biv disagree, but it's what is fair to them." She does smile slightly in acknowledgement when Hayate introduces himself, though, and revises her mental classification of him from 'huge jerk' to 'kinda jerk'.
She turns back to Dark Amber. "Oh, don't worry. I've done a lot of foolish things before! Everyone does," Red says, smiling sweetly. She blinks in surprise as the boy conjures up two sheets of paper, then takes them from his hand. "Waaah, do I need a business card too? Is that, like, standard?" But she nods when he mentions training. "That sounds good. I definitely want to get better at this, so I can handle all the Shades that show up. Thanks for letting me join!"
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber smiles at Hayate. "I do not..." he says. "Others need help. If they want it, it's right to help them." he says. He looks back to Prism Keeper Red and frowns. "No. It is not. I choose too, because I often meet new people like yourself." he says. "Later, I'd like to speak to you more indepth. Right now is... well soon people will come back to investigate."
He smiles. "You'll be alright for now though, right, Keeper Red?" he asks.
He looks back to Hayate. "Thanks for protecting us in Hokkadio." is all he says. And depending on Red's answer, he'll begin to take his leave shortly after.
Pose Tracker Hayate has posed.
Hayate laughs when Red talks about them being powerful and knowing what they're doing. There's no humor in it, though; it's a short, bitter sound, and the corners of his mouth twist downwards. At Dark Amber's thanks, he shakes his head. "You're thanking the wrong person," the Leafe Knight says. "I didn't do anything to be grateful for."
Those blue eyes regard Red again, a long, considering stare. "You've made up your mind. Not like I can change it." He breathes out a soft sigh. "It's none of my business, anyway. Just try not to take on more than you can handle alone."
Unlike the other young man, Hayate doesn't wait for a reply; with no more than a wave of his hand for a farewell, he turns away, a breeze already kicking up around him.
Pose Tracker Prism Keeper Red has posed.
"Yeah, those little kids probably told someone by now. We should scram," Red says, nodding. "I...don't exactly have a cell phone number to give you. But I'll give you a call and we can discuss it further then?" she continues tentatively, cursing her still being in elementary school. She should totally have a phone by now, but noooooo. "I'll be fine, though. I live super close to here, so I'll just detransform and head back. I still have...homework. Hmph." She pouts, back in full 10-year-old mode. "Thank you for helping me. I know it was kinda rough, for both of you," Red nods towards Hayate as well, though he's leaving. "I really appreciate it. And I promise I'll give you a call, 'kay?"
Pose Tracker Dark Amber has posed.
Dark Amber smiles and waves. "You'll be fine. Call me later. We'll work out a date." he says before poof, he dissapears into brown mist. Zip!
