2014-06-28 - Feng Shui 1

Title: Feng Shui 1
Summary: The true power of Feng Shui is known only to a few. Too bad they all want you dead.
Who: Sailor Neptune, Sailor Vega, Japanese Cherry Blossom, Warm Vanilla Sugar, Dark Amber, Princess Runealy, Fuu Hououji, La Sirene du Nord, Prism Keeper Red, Mami Tomoe, Eri Shimanouchi, Mai Tokiha, Miyu Greer, Alyssa Searrs, Juri Arisugawa GM: Juri Arisugawa
Where: World Tree Plaza
OOC - IC Date: 4 February 2014 - 6/28/2014

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Something is dreadfully wrong.

Some girls experience "evil feelings," that sense of reality gone badly awry, of impending doom, incipient danger. Others feel it in their gut, which pulses in time with a heartbeat unseen. Some have blinding headaches; some have mascots who have blinding headaches /for/ them.

Whatever the experience, the feeling draws those that it should like a lodestone, directly to World Tree Plaza.

By moonlight, the Plaza is creepy at best. The enormous tree looms above everything, shadows within shadows. The booths and stalls that normally line its base have been taken down for the night; the miracle of this eternal festival is ever reborn at dawn, but now it is abandoned. Empty. Bereft.

A passing wind rustles branches far larger than train cars, and they cry out with loneliness.

But all is not lost: at the heart of the tree, a good hundred feet in the air, nestled at the convergence of the wood, there is a soft pink light.

Five girls clasp hands in a ring, their eyes screwed shut with concentration, the silvery glitter of power rising from their hearts to mingle with the radiance they shed. Each seems to wear more lace and ruffles than the last, a spectrum of glorious girliness that culminates in the winged headdress of their presumed leader.

It looks like they're praying gently, standing alone against this wrongness, as much bearing witness as bringing strength to bear.

Until: out of the shadows leap suited figures, weapons drawn! They descend silently towards the holy quintet, the speed ripping their black suit jackets open to billow behind them. The roseate light glints off of their golden masks, but is somehow wholly consumed by the shadowy weapons in their hands.

Oblivious to the danger, the girls continue their trance.

COMBAT: Mei Akatsuki transforms into Prism Keeper Red!
COMBAT: Aimi Saionji transforms into Warm Vanilla Sugar!
COMBAT: Kinzo Hiroyuki transforms into Dark Amber!

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The strange, evil scent that Sakura Akagi happened to catch on the wind wasn't enough for Sakura to be certain about something bad happening at the tree. But it was enough for her to go investigate it... And Mist, who was more sensitive to these things, completely insisted. She got ready to go, contacting on her cell phone any other friends who might happen to feel the same... but they probably didn't need any more encouragement, either.

When Sakura arrives, she's not transformed, but she sees that there's danger approaching the tree-- some sort of shadow figures running toward it with weapons at ready...

It can't be good.

"Henshin - Cherry Blossom Splash!"

At once, there is a transformation flurry, her signature smell and floating petals flying through the air in shimmering light!

She reaches into her hair before her slippered feet even hit the ground, and pulls out a long needle - a chopstick - which she flings without any additional fanfare at one of the wicked looking attackers. "Stop right there!"

COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom has used Chopstick Throw on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune does not typically get 'feelings' like that. She doesn't have special abilities to sense much of anything, so the problem has to be absolutely and utterly /overwhelming/ for her to pick up on it. So when this registers, it's enough to become a tugging fear to her... something important enough to justify leaving the dorms unexpectedly to follow this urge.

When she gets close enough... the wind makes her tense, enough so to transform before continuing on to the plaza. Runealy's gaze wanders every direction, worried that disaster could be anywhere. Coming across the pink light is thus relieving and puzzling at the same time; what could be 'wrong' about that? The ring around it likewise seems to be a distinctly good thing. Good people, apparently performing some kind of ritual. She can appreciate that.

...Then things turn violent. The shadowy figures emerge, and Rune's perception of the world seems to slow to a crawl as she sees what's happening. They could be cut down in an instant, all for... what? Trying to prevent some sort of disaster, perhaps? The situation hits a nerve, one that almost causes her to freeze up.

Almost. A wordless urge screams through her, that this doesn't have to happen. That something can be done. Something, /anything./ Just try it and try it right this instant! "Stop!" A shout from the princess, as her wand is pointed at the attackers. She doesn't pick out a specific one, she just unleashes a scattering of tiny emerald-sparkle 'pellets' at whichever one she sees first. It's not as thick as her usual blast of this kind, but it's immediately followed by a second one that tries to make up for it!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Scattering Blast on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

It's been one of those days - sensing something 'not quite right', and having a cat with a migraine to back it up, Sailor Vega 'suited up' and headed straight for the disturbance.

The cat stayed home.

Why does this festival feel so off? What are those holy maidens up to? ... Well, there about to be up to their necks in hot water, as the suited goons leap to action with weapons drawn!

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Landing gracefully on high-heeled boots after a leap from her rooftop vantage, Sailor Vega tosses her extroardinarily long hair before striking an action-pose with arms spread wide; from her chest a spiralling burst of energy-birds flap and squawk madly to intercept their dastardly plan!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

In Fuu's case, it's a subtle 'wrongness' on the evening breeze combined with a subliminal awareness of something wrong ... but it's enough for her to slip out of the house, leaving what homework she still hasn't finished for later (or morning).

Finding her way to the Plaza is simplicity itself - the World Tree is a major landmark for Infinity, after all, and enough events happen there that she could practically find the way in her sleep ... even *without* factoring in mystical oddities and whatnot. But as she approaches the plaza, Fuu looks up - at the tree, at the rustling branches, at the gentle pink light emanating from those five girls.

Her jewel-glove is on her hand even before she notices the attackers - and her transformation occurs without so much as a spoken word of invocation, the whirlwind enfolding her and exchanging her casual clothes for the armor and uniform of the Magic Knight of Wind. Only as the whirlwind is dispersing around her does she speak:

"Imashime no Kaze!!"

And what remains of the whirlwind from her transformation erupts into a potent tornado, roaring towards the men in their suits and masks as the Winds of Admonishment blow forth to restrain them ...

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Compassionate Wing Cannonade on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Japanese Cherry Blossom's Chopstick Throw, taking 20 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Japanese Cherry Blossom is Psyched!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Sailor Vega's Compassionate Wing Cannonade, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  Cripple and Diversion applied to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Scattering Blast, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Princess Runealy is Psyched!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

That sense of wrongness in the world has a different savor and connotation to the girl known to some as la Sirene du Nord. A grotesque ambiance and a moonswept night are not things she despises, but they are certainly things that she does not expect to hear about in an open air festival zone.

She travels through rooftops and other strange ways, and as she draws closer, her nose twitches. "Oh, is that that girl again?" she asks. "It's definitely not the season for cherry blossoms."

"It all smells like plants to me," says Batiste, riding on her shoulder.

"Maybe we should come back some time, and put some railings up here," la Sirene muses as she catches a fleeting glimpse of an unknown figure (Sailor Vega, not that she knows.) "A duckboard or two between such buildings... there must be accidents, sometime."

"When we go back, perhaps we can ask the Super Human Crew," Batiste replies, but then the tree is looming. La Sirene comes to a halt, shading her eyes as she gazes down - and sees, of course, people advancing on innocent maidens with knives. (The advancers, of course, though the maidens might themselves be armed.) Wanting no part of this, she throws up a hand -

Piercing rain slams down at those people, even as La Sirene vaults forwards, framed momentarily by the moon. "Intent on murder? Hmf! What wicked ways," she calls as she sails elegantly through the air, coattails trailing behind. "You are quite fortunate I do not land upon you all--!"

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Dramatic Flourish!! on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Bad feelings and Aimi Saionji don't tend to mix well. Its like the stereotypical cats and dogs. Just having them try to mix together can be a bad thing really.

Aimi rushes out quickly, fortunate enough for Sakura's call so that she had some kind of excuse she could give her parents as she headed out. She transformed on her way, using the incrased speed and agility to help get her out into the area as it was faster.

"What... hey!" She calls out as she sees the shadowy figures seeming to attack the tree and... something going on on top of it. She can't quite tell, but she knows that it might be a bad idea to interrupt the people up there. Plus, attacking those that can't defend themselves is just wrong.

So she rushed down towards one of the figures and threw out a swift punch at them. "Okay, what's going on and what are you all up to? It doesn't seem all that nice now."

COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar has used Swift Punch on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges La Sirene du Nord's Dramatic Flourish!!, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  La Sirene du Nord is Psyched!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Warm Vanilla Sugar's Swift Punch, taking 1 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami Tomoe is already on the hunt when she senses it; the signs, for her, are simply something she reads, something she knows from long experience. She could ignore it, set it aside to focus only on those hunts that benefit her, those that sustain her; after all, there's so much more going on in her life these days, so much to take her time. She'll have to work double if she spends her magic on some unknown threat halway across the city. Surely, someone else can handle it.

...And just as surely, they may not. As always, Mami leapt towards the threat; the burst of magic about her as she transformed and took to the rooftops was bright, golden, humming with energy. Letting things go because it's convenient... That isn't justice.

And neither, one assumes, is cutting down a prayer in progress.

"My, my," she says, simply walking forward as she sees the others charge, seemingly oblivious to the haste with which her opponents are rushing forward. "This isn't at all an appropriate way to appreciate the outdoors."

She snaps her fingers; suddenly, a full dozen rifles appear, each nearly as tall as she is, in the air before the Puella Magi. She points, eyes narrowed, at the shadowy figures--

All of them fire, directly for the place the enemy is going. These bullets aren't aimed for hearts or vital organs, but simply to provide covering fire to the girls ahead.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Work at Linden Baum was busy tonight - the manager's special being popular enough to keep the place packed until just before closing time. Finally, though, Mai's shift is over and she's free to get on with her evening - meeting up with Eri for a chat to be concluded back at the dorms. Dinner and homework can come after that...there's a lot yet to do, even after work But just as they're reaching an intersection, ready to turn in the direction of Ohtori academy...

There's that pulse. That strange feeling, indescribable, a sinister sensation dwelling in the mark on her chest... Mai looks to Eri, nods, and begins to run.

The World Tree Plaza. Not a place Mai's been to often enough to have become desensitized - the titanic tree is mighty and imposing. Something is horribly wrong, and it's hard to say what. The praying maidens seem to be a bastion against the wrongness, and Mai takes a step in their direction -

And then the masked figures appear. Abandoning her companion, Mai charges forward, rings of gold and green flaming into existence around her wrists and ankles, flames dancing to her sudden worry. Whatever drew her here - this menace isn't something she can ignore. "Hold it right there!"

Flames dance at her command, surging forth to ward the enemies away from the praying maidens. A wall, swiftly becoming a cage to wrap around those who wear those strange masks.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai-HiME!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Infernal Prison on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

It was borne on the wind, for Michiru Kaioh. That twist in her heart and the back of her mind - still a mere echo of the deep-seated thrum that can clench her guts when she dreams of the dark silence that will come to everything. Soon soon, very soon.

But this was stronger, and while Michiru left her civilian guise for that of Neptune, she suspected that such a feeling would spread through the community. And she was not disappointed.

It takes but a moment for her to assess - to let her eyes flicker across the quintet of others. And in her heart, she could feel that they were stopping whatever was wrong with the world from spreading. A silence of their own, perhaps no less dangerous than the one she sensed.

Which meant that she had to act.

And so it was with a slash of her hand that sends a blue dart of energy towards one of the lead figures, Neptune immeadiately leaping upwards to take a stance, silouetted by moonlight atop a fencepost nearish the landmark. Another moment, and she flicks her hair over her shoulder, a secret little smile dancing on her lips.

There were few here that she recognized - but Sailor Vega, of course, draws a lingering sort of gaze. And most certainly Mami Tomoe does, the edges of the smile sharpening as she sees her.

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 25 Fatigue damage!  Mami Tomoe is Psyched!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Infernal Prison, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!  Diversion and Trap applied to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Gentle Undertow on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Sailor Neptune's Gentle Undertow, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

"This behavior is quite...unusual for you, Keeper Red," a large orange bird states as he flies just above his companion's head, his voice ever so slightly concerned. "Neither Biv nor I sensed any kind of Shade attack, so whatever you're experiencing is likely a false positive."

"There are other threats than Shades in this city, you know," Red whispers back, careful to keep her movements and her sounds as quiet as possible. So far, it's working...kind of. At least, she hasn't stepped on any cats or knocked down trash cans yet. "Plus, there's no way I could sleep with this headache. I've already taken painkillers, and it's only gotten worse."

"You might simply be ill," Roy replies, "You've taken some damage, as of late. It would be wise to take it easy, especially with your sister acting so strangely--"

"My mind's made up, Roy. If nothing's there, then I'll turn around and head back," the girl says, irritated. "Really, do you think /I/ would give up sleep unless I had to?"

Before their argument can continue, the pair come upon the brightly shining quintet of girls; but they barely have time to register who they are or what they're doing before the shadows seem to come to life nearby, producing several masked figures that give Red /extremely/ bad feelings.

"Stop!" she calls out in pure instinct, springing forward with the help of her wings and launching a beam of pure color at the nearest assailant. Others are here, too -- if she can get a good look at them, she might find that she knows a few. However, all remains shrouded in darkness for now, and the young Prism Keeper can only hope that she will not be the target of the dark group's ire.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber wasn't in the area. But he is when he shoots up from his early sleep and frowns looking out into the distance in his window. Something smells foul. A transformation phrase later in an alley back home and Dark Amber races into Tama. Cherry Blossom is here. Warm Vanilla Sugar is here...

Those lovely dressed girls. What are they doing? and more importantly, what do these shadowy, Gold Masked figures want with them?

"I'm here...!" says Dark Amber to Cherry Blossom and Warm Vanilla Sugar... before he fires off a chain of amber from his right wrist bracer, spinning through the air to hopefully catch one one of these masked assailants.

"What are... what's going on?" he asks to them. "or do you not know either?" he says concernedly, joining his fellow Perfumers more closely now. Team formation? Hopefully.

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Paint It Red on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Binding Amber Chain on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Dark Amber's Binding Amber Chain, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Dark Amber is Psyched!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!  Exhausted applied to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Prism Keeper Red's Paint It Red, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Some of them just wanted coffee. As Eri met up with Mai once she had finally gotten off from work and started their walk. Chatting idly as they went.

The impending discussion filled her with cheer and dread in equal measure, though that soon became overshadowed by the feeling of wrongness that permeated the night like a foreboding miasma. She couldn't quite discern what was going on, but it caused her to stray from their walk back. Nodding at Mai, she entered the plaza alongside her at a near full tilt run

The stately tree, always took her breath away, but for tonight it was for a different reason. It was for the group of girls praying far above the tree. Something beyond her ken was happening, but as suited figures leapt out brandishing umbral weapons, instinctively she knew which side she was on.

A glint of radiant green light flashes as autumnal leaves billowed about, and her thorny scourge sprang to hand. She springs forward with all the grace granted to her by her soul gem. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question, given how she acted next. The coiled weapon whistled as she snapped her wrist, arcing it as each tendril spinning in circular motions and acting as if they were alive. Rose petals drifted throughout the air in their wake, each length moving too swiftly to see if anything was actually blooming along their lengths. As one, the thorned vines all converge, attempting to drive into one of the suited figures with razor sharp tips and lashing lengths.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Rosary Wheel on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Eri Shimanouchi's Rosary Wheel, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is unable to keep fighting!  Eri Shimanouchi is Psyched!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The response to this impending disaster is immediate and overwhelming, and if any of the shadowy figures intended to answer any questions, they literally do not get the chance.

Different people intercept different shadows, which are descending from all directions, much as the magical girls converge from every which-a-way.

Japanese Cherry Blossom's chopstick drives straight into the first shadowy-suited masked-man's shoulder and, with a loud 'thwock', continues, pinning him to the trunk of the World Tree like a beetle on a card.

The Guardian Princess follows up with a pair of sprays of emerald scattershot, right at that vulnerable individual, and he brings up his shadowy blade to slice it away from him. There is too much, though, and it slices into his suit, not to mention the tree all around him.

Sailor Vega's energy birds, however, he cannot dodge entirely, not while he's distracted and trapped, and they slam into him with the force of the heavens. He explodes into black ichor that boils away into motes of ultraviolet light within moments.

The next shadowy figure enjoys the one-two storm-punch of the Magical Knight of Wind's tornado and La Sirene du Nord's blinding, chilling rain. Tossed until he's quite overwhelmed, he has no way to stop Warm Vanilla Sugar from punching him so hard that she just keeps going right through afterwards -- the ichor he dissolves into sticking to her for the /slightest/ moment before it, too, vanishes into nothing, leaving no trace.

The combined efforts of Mami and Mai outright eviscerate the next one; in a continuation of the 'you hold and I'll punch' theme, a shadow gets trapped in that devastating cage of fire, and then filled with golden bullets from all sides, bullets that shine as brightly as his mask before it shatters away, along with his form. Bullets also slam through it, into the tree.

Prism Keeper Red's attack seems to have no effect whatsoever, other than rendering the shadow a brilliant, fire engine red -- but Sailor Neptune separates its head from its neck with a well placed dart of the blue energy of the sea, and it is no more.

The last shadow is held down by Dark Amber's chain just long enough for a second Puella Magi to summon a torrent of magical vines. Thorns skewer him from all directions. He does not scream as he vanishes.

And now, a moment of silence.

The Evil Feeling has not abated one iota. If anything it has increased in intensity, and as though in response to this, the brilliant pink light increases as well. Further up the tree (and to feasibly fight, given how massive the tree is, one is presumed to be somewhere along its trunk and in its apartment complex-scale branches by now), up in the primary crux, the grand central station of five enormous superlimbs, the five girls continue their silent prayer, unwavering and possibly wholly unaware of how close they were to death.

And now, the moment ends.

Shadows fall, black on black, from the sky. More than five, less than fifty, a double or triple handful of extremely nice suits, presumably expensive golden masks, and light-absorbing shadowy blades. There appear to be two types of blades; some are armed with broadswords, others with long.

They attempt to rush past the gradually forming lines of magical girls to reach the upper crux, trying to tear a path through to their goal with violent force. The blades sting with the icy cold of nothingness, the void of the cosmos, the endless between.

OOC: Today's scene has a special framework, called: HOLD THE LINE! Here's how it works -- each round I will be rebossing and healing down to an undisclosed quantity of Fatigue that represents a wave of shadow-figures. You have until the end of the round to do enough Fatigue damage to KO that wave, or else someone gets through and takes out one of the girls doing the ritual. After an undisclosed number of waves, the day will be saved!

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Eri Shimanouchi.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Prism Keeper Red.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Warm Vanilla Sugar.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Golden Gleam on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Japanese Cherry Blossom.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on La Sirene du Nord.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is Psyched!  Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Princess Runealy's Fade ability activates!  Princess Runealy's Flash ability activates!  Trap applied to Princess Runealy!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega perfectly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Critical Dodge!  Sailor Vega's Fade ability activates!  Sailor Vega's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 8 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 10 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!  Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates!  Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Dark Amber's Fade ability activates!  Dark Amber's Flash ability activates!  Stagger, Stun, and Tangle applied to Dark Amber!
COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 12 Fatigue damage!  Stagger, Stun, and Tangle applied to Japanese Cherry Blossom!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Warm Vanilla Sugar's Reverse ability activates!  Warm Vanilla Sugar's Tactician ability activates!  Trap applied to Warm Vanilla Sugar!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar's counterattack, Counter Punch, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Golden Gleam, taking 6 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Trap applied to Prism Keeper Red!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord fails to brace Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 29 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Juri Arisugawa is Psyched!  Stagger, Stun, and Tangle applied to La Sirene du Nord!

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Japanese Cherry Blossom is relieved, but...

It's definitely not over. Her stomach sinks as the smell of evil hasn't abated, and for a moment she feels almost nauseated by it. It slows her down, and for a second, in the new rush of shadow creatures, she loses sight of her friends. A void blade slashes for her, downward, and she leaps away from it, but she's pinned back by the creature that holds it.

She knows they can be hurt, and that feeling in her heart keeps her focused. So she raises her hands, and begins to build a spinning pink wind of blossom petals with her. She has to be careful, but, she has a feeling her attacks won't harm the tree much since they are made of more tree-stuff. "Cherry Blossom Twister!" A very small tornado, full of pink flowers, bursts up beneath the feet of the bad guy.

COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom has used Cherry Blossom Twister on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly counters Japanese Cherry Blossom's Cherry Blossom Twister, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Eclipse Flash, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Japanese Cherry Blossom!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

There's a moment, after the initial Total Knockdown of that first group of attackers, when Sailor Vega looks *right* over at Mai - her eyes close and she lets out a short giggle - and then Things Are Getting Real, in a hurry.

More shadow-suits, more attackers - where did THEY come from? As they rush the Holy Quintet and attempt to do so by going *through* the girls; Vega is *lucky* enough to find a space to slip through them as they blitz, though some of those blades come uncomfortably close.

A quick side-look to the others gathered; no *serious* injuries yet, but the worry is plain on Vega's face.

"We can't let them through!"

These things exploded into shadow, perhaps a little light might help! Thrusting her arm towards one of the suits, a small burst of light blooms at her elbow and grows larger as it encircles her arm and blasts from her hand in its direction. "AURORA FLASH!"

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Aurora Flash on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Sailor Vega's Aurora Flash, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Vega is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

That really is a lot of ... bad guys? They don't look like the sort of monsters that the Wind Knight is accustomed to fighting, and she can't tell if they're human or not - but given the way they disintegrate without leaving corpses behind, she suspects they're more akin to summoned or conjured creatures than humans in disguise.

More importantly, they're coming in en masse; the Wind Knight twirls and dives, rolling out from underneath a descending assailant, and glances around to take stock of the situation. Many familiar allies - and it occurs to Fuu that she probably recognizes more of the other magical girls than not ... and a lot of them are already at less than their best from the enemy assault. That, she can do something about.

"Iyashi no Kaze!!" the Wind Knight shouts, and a gentle, soothing breeze blows forth, the Winds of Healing seeking out La Sirene du Nord, Warm Vanilla Sugar, and Dark Amber, giving them a slight boost of strength and letting them overcome the worst of the wounds that are slowing them down ...

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Warm Vanilla Sugar.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Cleanse! All of La Sirene du Nord's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Cleanse! All of Warm Vanilla Sugar's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Cleanse! All of Dark Amber's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune spares a hurried glance to the others. There's no time for her to individually let them know - not in the middle of a fight - but she is very thankful to see virtually every single one of them. This situation has her verging on panic, eyes wide and heart pounding... and their presence is one of the few things preventing Runealy from going past the tipping point.

That tiny lull in the action doesn't help, as the 'pressure' is still there. An all new horde of attackers makes the situation worse, with Rune leaping and twirling around to avoid their strikes. She succeeds at that much, but they're so numerous that nearly every evasion is by inches or centimeters... and her movements are getting more clumsy as she hurries from one spot to the next.

This gradually brings her toward Eri. Rune tries to say something to her, but it really just comes out as a croaked gasp... then a nod; being around the Puella Magi provides some relief in the midst of this danger even if the princess can't get the words out.

It occurs to her that hurling magical explosions around this tree is probably not the best idea, which is a problem since much of her abilities revolve around that. With a tiny, worried noise... she instead tries to follow wherever Eri's attention might focus, and her wand unleashes a series of simple beams instead. No time to aim, to pick out precise things to do... Runealy just focuses on doing what she can and as soon as she can, lest their attackers break past.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Beam Volley on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Beam Volley, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber tries to jump back from the oncoming shadowy, masked figures. He evades most of the damage, but he still gets clipped, causing him to fumble. This not even a little pleasent. "I don't think... these guys are going to answer us..." he says. His eyes trace over to Prism Keeper Red and he closes his eyes, before he feels Fuu's cleansing winds blow over him, and then, proceeds to leap into the air, and try to smash with a quick, sudden burst of speed past one of the figures, attempting to slice with his wrist blades on the strike. He'll repeat this into another if he has time.

If he keeps to melee, he might need to not worry about damaging the World Tree. He really doesn't want to do that. He can already see the reprimand on his Probationary association record perhaps.

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Warm Vanilla Sugar does what she can to avoid the blades as they're brought down to bear on her, dodging left and right, and even trying to stop one with a punch. It goes about as well as to be expected.

She shakes her hand a bit, starting to find herself surrounded just a bit by the well dressed villains, glancing around some to check on her friends. It seems to be going well for now, but at the same time she knows that it might not last like this for long.

She smiles lightly as she feels the warm, calming winds blowing over her, further proof to her that she wasn't alone. Feeling revitalized a bit, she threw herself up and into the air, jumping over the villains as she did so and launching a barrage of magical orbs down at them at the same time. Whatever they wanted, she and the others couldn't let them get at it. It shouldn't be hard to get them to stop their assault as it is though, right?

COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Amber Striker on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar has used Vanilla Orb Barrage on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

There was a brief bout of worry that dances through the back of Neptune's conciousness, as she sees just how viciously her attack had been received. Eyes narrowing a bit more - that evil feeling does not abate, and Neptune draws her eyes down from the soldiers to the quintet once again...

And the smile of the ocean Senshi is replaced by something far more serious.

What in the world was being done here? Why in the world did Evil wish for that ritual to end? Neptune's jaw clenches.

And in another instant, she was leaping up into the branches of the tree. There was care still in her step - in the way her heels alighted on one branch or another. The tree was beautiful - a testament of a great many things. She did not wish to see it harmed.

One could not say the same for the shadow warriors.

Leaping from branch to branch, Neptune was not utilizing her magic to do harm to the shadows, but something a little faster - a little more physical. Normally she did not prefer this method, but she was leaping - dancing to a tune in her mind as she flurries a leaping kick against one of the attackers, hoping to use it as just a brief stop before twisting towards another with a snap of a punch.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Aquatic Allemande on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The sight of a shot of red in the dark intrigues Batiste, who runs to La Sirene's other shoulder as she descends. Her legs come up as she extends her jump through a billow of wind, letting out a smug little laugh just in time to recieve one of those cold, cosmic blades slicing her across the shin.

Her stocking runs like a gold medalist. Whatever subtle enchantment was keeping her aloft snaps, and she smashes into the ground near the base of the tree. She makes a startled, high pitched noise in the back of her throat, looking back at the suited man - but he isn't attending her directly.

"La Sirene!" Batiste says, aghast. It looks worse than it is, but what is more critical is the tears welling up in la Sirene's eyes, threatening to spill over - if not drown the world, at least drown her convictions. But a soothing wind rises up, and she takes in a deep breath. She doesn't rise immediately; perhaps she has to gather her heart, her feelings together...

Her real thought is: Curses; this close to the tree, I can't just call down the lightning. It'll hit the tree, and that's horrible!

But...

She rises upwards, like a majestic buffalo, when one of the suited men passes nearer to her; she lunges with charging speed, similarly to that buffalo, and throws her hands up to try and wrench the long sword loose from his hand with bone-cracking force. Her pale eyes glow.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

There was a strange echo to Mai's words - after a moment, the HiME realizes she wasn't alone in shouting them. The sight of Sailor Vega is a welcome one - the first sign that Mai isn't alone in this newfound duty. What is the story with those girls - where did that sensation come from - and who are the shadows assaulting them?

But there will be no asking the one she ensnared in an infernal embrace - a barrage of gunfire saw to that. The immediate threat seems to be gone, and Mai stops for a moment to look around. Heroines she knows, along with a few she doesn't - all called to the same battlefield. Something's certainly going on here, and answers would be ideal. Without hesitation, Mai speaks up - the day's work shift leaving a little ire in her voice. "Does anyone-"

Whatever question she had is lost immediately, as more of the masked shadows fall from the sky - and her bracelets spin wildly, carrying her awkwardly out of the path of a flashing blade. Close - too close, she wasn't paying attention. She glances to Eri with a moment's worry, then to the others she's fought alongside before. Vega, for her synchronicity earlier, gets a nod - maybe she knows something? "You know, I was expecting tonight to be a long night..."

Flames spiral around her as she spins in place, gathering a scorching length of flame, to whip out at the shadows. The shadows, and hopefully not the tree - she has to be careful, and her Child is useless here. "...but this might be a bit much!"

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Sword Theft on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Scorching Spiral on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami's eyes remain narrow as she sees the enemies not stop, not slow, but burst into some sort of black energy. But there is little time to stop and consider the situation at hand; she can see the glowing above, recognize a number of the defenders, and feel as much as see the resurgence of the enemy. Their swords are the first key.

A wave approaches the yellow Puella Magi, who waits with rifle in hand; as the four come closer, she spins, flipping the first rifle into the air where it spins as she pulls two pistols out of, apparently, her sleeves; she whirls into action, firing and discarding the weapons directly for the blades her enemies carry, completely blocking their attack on her by the fifth gun to hit the ground.

"Good work, Shimanouchi-san!" she calls to Eri, having seen the way she made her own attacks there. "Just be careful--if you let them get too close to you, you can't help anyone!"

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Senpai's Watching on Eri Shimanouchi.
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi accepts Mami Tomoe's Senpai's Watching, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Eri Shimanouchi is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

"Whaaa? Oh, come on!"

This is Prism Keeper Red's reaction to seeing her ineffectual attack, just before a bolt of blue energy soars in and severs the figure's head. With a gasp, she looks over to see the elegant Sailor Senshi from the ambulance fight -- and may or may not also look around hopefully for Sailor V. Unfortunately, her magical girl idol doesn't seem to be around. Disappointing.

"...something's wrong," the girl comments even as all the figures are destroyed. "They're gone, but something still feels really, really off."

"I'd advise getting out of here, Red. Clearly, the threat has been dealt--" Before the bird can finish, more figures emerge from the shadows, golden masks glimmering in the faint light of the moon. The little girl gasps, kicking up into the air a few feet on her tiny wings.

"Guess not!" she says, flying up a few more feet into the tree proper. "We can't just let them attack the girls like this! I don't know...what's going on, but they clearly need our help!"

Zooming over to a slightly less dense portion of the wave, Red lands (less than gracefully) on a sturdy looking branch and attempts her usual, cute pose for 'the speech'.

"Hey, you bullies! Leave these girls alone!" She shouts, then twirls once on her heel. "Roses are red, violets are blue! For your evil deeds, I'll -- EEK!!"

Before she can even finish, the figure in front of her /slices/ through her right wing, nearly knocking her off her feet in shock. Sure, her wings are less sensitive than the rest of her body, but getting a blade driven into any part of you will at least sting a bit. The Prism Keeper winces and falls back, fighting against the pain radiating from her back. No more flying -- not until her poor wing regenerated a bit, anyway.

"You're gonna /pay/ for that," she manages to force out, spying Kinzo out of the corner of her eye, as well as a kind-natured girl with some kind of magical rifles. Even if...even if she's not strong enough to protect these girls, at least she knows there are others who can pick up her slack.

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower applied to Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower applied to Dark Amber!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower applied to Sailor Neptune!

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Dark Amber's Amber Striker, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly dodges Warm Vanilla Sugar's Vanilla Orb Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly counters Sailor Neptune's Aquatic Allemande, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Neptune is Psyched!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Golden Gleam, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges La Sirene du Nord's Sword Theft, taking 4 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Scorching Spiral, taking 4 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

One shadow falls as she lands on a low tree branch. With a flick of her wrist, the scourge returns, coiling back, as her hand flexes tightly over the handle.

The silence returns, but that foreboding feel is still there, raising hackles on the back of her neck. It doesn't last long, as more come.

Mami's words hearten her, but also put her on guard, and she balances on her heels, trying to keep her distance as she dearly wanted to try to impress the Puella Magi senpai figure, responding exuberantly, "Thanks Mami-senpai! You don't have to worry though I've.." Out of her periphery she sees a golden gleam of light, just as a blade flashes by her. Without much room to dodge, she instead tries to bend like a sapling in a fierce wind. "...got this." The statement doesn't finish. As instead a pained 'hurk' raises from her lips.

Her move was only partially successful, the blade cuts past her, tracing a line on her side as she feels an absence of heat and warmth. It momentarily fills her entire body with a numbing chill that deadens her nerves as she teeters and stumbles. It wasn't a very impressive display in front of senpai, as she immediately had let someone get too close, but inspired as she was, her recovery is far more graceful. She grasps ahold of the limb with a hand, as she swings upon it like a gymnast upon a bar.

Swinging around one revolution, she does a flip past one of Rune's wand beams, before soaring through the air to a higher branch which she lands upon as gracefully as possible given her injured side. "Thanks for the cover Rune-chan!" Continuing to leap ever upward from branch to branch, she's inwardly glad that so many she knows are here.. It wouldn't turn into a giant familiar rush on one person that way, that she'd experienced so many times in a labyrinth. Suddenly, the scourge in her hand's thorns grow to colossal size. Thin and deadly sharp needles gleaming with something wicked on the end of each. Something green and acrid smelling spatters on the ground far below them...

Ripping off one, it is hurled like a javelin at one shadow as she moves higher and higher up the tree. Then another, and another in a constant barrage to try and halt the ascent of the relentless tide while simultaneously keeping her distance, as per Mami's advice.

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Nightshade Javelins on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Eri Shimanouchi's Nightshade Javelins, taking 24 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

MEANWHILE

In a dark cavern, in a dark place, a dark man waits, with a dark purpose.

He looks down at a pair of closed caskets, made of a metal blacker than night. Red runes of pure energy pulse on their surface; on one, with the steady throbbing of a heart, and the other in time to a stranger beat.

"Doctor," his assistant announces, rubbing a bit of grime off of the long nose of her golden mask, "The operation is proceeding well thus far. We've encountered considerable opposition, but the Iron Maiden system is performing well."

"Good," he croaks, the faintest hint of a sinister smile touching his lips. He reaches down a latex-gloved hand and rubs the corner of one of the caskets almost fondly.

Possessively.

It continues to pulse -- bup-bup, bup-bup.

THREE STORIES UP IN A RIDICULOUSLY GIGANTIC TOTORO TREE

Japanese Cherry Blossom discovers, as she's pinned back by a void blade and the shadowy figure advances every closer, that the golden masks -- each one slightly different, some with the long bird beak, others domino, still others a half-moon that still covers the top half of the face, and any number of other configutations -- do not have faces beneath them. No eyes. No lips. Just blank gray.

Blank gray that melts away into nothing beneath the hot light of Sailor Vega's blast. Dark Amber, meanwhile, is in a bit of a pinch; his wrist blade strikes one of the shadowblades with the absence of a loud clang, and the cold that reaches out to the amber is brittle, stale, shattering should he be careless. Warm Vanilla Sugar's barrage of orbs go flying past them to explode against the tree, creating a series of pockmarks in the bark; ultimately Sailor Neptune intervenes, leaping in to kick the bladelocked one down, and then punch a second, a bold move that does not come without risk, as with a gleam of light off the golden mask, she receives a close but not quite cutting shave as her arm passes parallel to the outreached second blade.

Until La Siren du Nord bodily snatches it out of his hands. It burns, burns with cold, but so does its wielder, who instantly explodes into more of that rapid-steaming goo. So does the shadowy figure who menaced Mai, the same one who sliced the wing of Prism Keeper Red -- incinerated in the flames in an instant.

Still, they just keep coming, leaping past the chaos, past some of the magical girls who have chosen to help each other rather than engage in resistance -- higher and higher.

The first is a bladeslength away from the nearest beruffled little maiden when he sprouts a thorned javelin and explodes.

None of the others even get close -- and a final one, which had tried to sneak up on Eri as she performs this mighty feat, is taken out by the more controlled beams of the Guardian Princess.

The moment of silence this time around is a lot shorter; the third wave of shadowy figures are dropping out of the sky before the last wave has been completely vanquished.

That, therefore, was /extremely/ close.

This time they seem even more intent in their purpose, subtly more controlled, more tactical. There are, possibly, slightly fewer of the broadswords and more of the longswords, but the broadswords are /vicious/; one leaps out of nowhere, right at Eri's face, aiming for her now-bad side, trying to push the advantage that the last one gained in wounding her. Two longsworded ones flank him, their blades almost indistinguishable from their arms in the darkness, before diving past at the last minute to intercept the Guardian Princess. Another two appear to either side of Mai Tokiha, and the wind does not whistle as they strike, their blades so sharp as to pass between the air itself rather than rending it in twain.

A barrage of longswords are actually thrown -- followed immediately by the detonation of their wielders -- in an attempt to neutralize the cluster of Sailor Neptune, Dark Amber, Warm Vanilla Sugar and La Siren du Nord. In their wake another broadsword-wielder falls, spinning in a deadly spiral before trying to lunge past, further up the tree.

Another longsword-wielder apiece advances on Prism Keeper Red and the Magic Knight of Wind, dancing in and out as they leap from limb to limb, leaving only an icy chill in their wake, while a broadsword-wielded dives past Mami Tomoe to attempt to skewer Sailor Vega in a most violent and unpleasant fashion. Japanese Cherry Blossom, nearby, goes not forgotten, another longsworder guarding the broadsword shadow's back even as he attempts to continue to press the offense.

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Eri Shimanouchi.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Another Wave Of Shadows on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow's Blade on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Warm Vanilla Sugar.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Another Wave Of Shadows on Prism Keeper Red.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Another Wave Of Shadows on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Another Wave Of Shadows on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Another Wave Of Shadows on Japanese Cherry Blossom.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is Psyched!
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 17 Fatigue damage!  Eri Shimanouchi's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi's counterattack, Thunderous Crack, partially gets through, doing 14 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Another Wave Of Shadows, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Critical Dodge!  Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates!  Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Another Wave Of Shadows, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  Princess Runealy's Block ability activates!  Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates!  Bind Break! All of Juri Arisugawa's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Another Wave Of Shadows, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Prism Keeper Red's Reverse ability activates!  Prism Keeper Red's Tactician ability activates!  Bind Break! All of Juri Arisugawa's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red's counterattack, Red Comet, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 13 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Warm Vanilla Sugar's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to counter Juri Arisugawa's Another Wave Of Shadows, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Bind Break! All of Juri Arisugawa's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Sword Strike, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow's Blade, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates!  Stagger and Stun applied to Mai Tokiha!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 22 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega's counterattack, Ribbon Dance, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!  Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord's counterattack, Les Mysteres, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Another Wave Of Shadows, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  Japanese Cherry Blossom's Block ability activates!  Bind Break! All of Juri Arisugawa's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

'Cover'? Rune hadn't even been thinking of it like that, but... a tiny rush surges through her as what happened in the last few seconds runs through her frightened thoughts again. She had helped! Eri was safer for it, and had even gone on to do something wonderful afterward.

Yet there's no real time to celebrate. "More!?" This isn't a complaint. Runealy speaks with fright, not wit. Fright that is cemented by a pair lunging at her! Wand swinging out, she deflects the first one just fine... and another swing mostly succeeds with the second; the strike is knocked off course to instead glance her shoulder, drawing a hurt hiss as she feels the chill.

"Get away...!" Pressured, Runealy's boot wings light up. She launches on a trail of blue-silver sparkles, and lands near Mai. "A long night? L... let's get through it, at least! We've done it before!" She speaks with a wavering voice, but is nonetheless appealing to the history between them; they have gotten through some rough things together. Not only that, but she recalls some of Mai's more impressive displays. "/You've/ done it! Even with everything you've been worried about!"

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

No time to celebrate or cheer - barely time to take a breath. These things are getting faster and... *meaner*; only because the next wave is visible as the previous wave falls does Sailor Vega have the moment she needs to summon the Star River Wand from wherever it is when it isn't in her hand, the Aurora Ribbon forming just as Crazy Broadsword intrudes on her personal space in a violent way.

If not for the very careful twirl, she'd have been gored right through - as it is, a nasty gash and a dark crimson well spoil the pink and purple of her skirt/coat. The scream - short, sharp, and shrill - is almost the end of it. But she keeps going as her attacker presseses, moving with swift awkwardness to keep her ribbon moving to deflect the following strikes. Smaller cuts appear along the length of her gloves and across her legs where she falters.

Once Sailor Vega has a moment to draw a ragged breath, a rapid swipe of her wand-hand aims a stinging slap of the Aurora Ribbon at her Suited Masked Attacker.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Encouragement on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Princess Runealy's Encouragement, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Mai Tokiha is Cheered!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Aurora Whip Action on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Sailor Vega's Aurora Whip Action, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Vega is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"--What?" Japanese Cherry Blossom sees that... lack of face, and she's startled enough that it momentarily takes her breath away. That means they may not care... no matter what is said to them.

Her attack is easily deflected this time, which gives her a bit more pause than before... she takes another step back, warily. Fortunately Sailor Vega comes to her rescue there, vaporizing the shadow being just in time. Cherry Blossom looks over to the other girl for a second, recognizing the outfit of a Sailor Senshi. "...Good timing. You're right, Dark Amber. I don't think talking is going to reach them at all! They're not even... anyone!"

She tries to back up toward Vanilla Sugar, but she's cut off by the longsword that slashes into her path. She puts out a hand to block against it, and a little burst of wind guides it away, but she can't get closer to her teammates. She almost panics, then sees the sword weilder that's heading for Sailor Vega as well. "Hey, look out!"

Cherry Blossom takes a hop backward, and shouts: "Cherry Trees, aid me!" A tangle of branches appear in the air, wrapping around the shadow creature that's nearest to her - and, hopefully catching the one near Vega as well, as they spread around.

COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom has used Cherry Tree Magic on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Japanese Cherry Blossom's Cherry Tree Magic, taking 10 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

As shadowy as the figures are, as clear as it is that they aren't humans - seeing the shadowy figure melting away in an inferno of her creation gives Mai pause. That moment's hesitation is one that cannot be afforded, giving the unending swarm that menaces them, and she alights on a branch too late to intervene - but that barrage of thorns makes the difference in the end.

A moment's difference, at most. Mai's attention is on Eri when a warrior charges her, and Mai starts to cry out - before realizing she has problems of her own in the form of a pair of sword-wielding foes. No time to summon flames, only to hope to ward them off with her rings. Sparks fly as the whistling blades clash against them, deflected blows scratching instead of slicing deep into flesh - but the force sends her tumbling clear off of the branch.

She doesn't fall far, however, before her Element blazes and allows her to rise again. Runealy's words earn a nod - but Mai doesn't take her eyes off of the masked shadows before her. With a defiant shout, Mai summons another wall of flames - one that bears down on the shadows before her, hopefully to ward them away from those maidens...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Infernal Prison on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Mai Tokiha's Infernal Prison, taking 33 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Diversion and Trap applied to Juri Arisugawa!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The Wind Knight lets out a soft yelp - more a gasp than a cry, really - as the third wave of shadowy swordsmen descends upon the gathered magical girls; her Escudo blade materializes in her hands and she brings it up to block her assailant -

This time she *does* cry out as the impact rings against her blade and seems to vibrate clear through her entire body, her vision swimming slightly before she regains her focus. "Have any of the rest of you seen an enemy attack in these kinds of numbers?" she calls out to her allies, before twisting her blade away and trying to stab her enemy through the midsection without getting herself cut in the process.

Admittedly, she doesn't really expect an answer - people are likely to be too busy fighting to respond.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Sword Strike on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly counters Fuu Hououji's Sword Strike, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Critical Counter!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Golden Gleam, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Standing upon a branch, breath heaving, the moment of silence ends with someone leaping straight at her with broadsword extended. With the tree behind Eri, she didn't want to risk it getting damaged by those blades. That gave them an advantage, using her own reluctance to allow damage to the tree against her, forcing her to stand her ground even with her vulnerable flank exposed.

It was one she wouldn't allow them to capitalize on. Magical power thrums through her arms even as one of the suited figures gets close, and travels up through the coils of the scourge. A quick motion snaps it, and the whip crack explodes with concussive force in a straight line ahead of her at the suited shadow to try and them backwards just as their strike lands. It throws off the aim just slightly, preventing her from being impaled, even if her arm suffers a numbing hit for it.

This whole battle felt like an exam at school. Mami Tomoe made things look easy, she always did. Even when her battles were hard fought, even when she showed even the smallest amount of fallibility, Eri always imagined that it made her look even more perfect that she manages to do what she did, with even the smallest chink in her armor of dignity, elegance, and grace. It made her seem more incredibly fantastically human.

However, even though Mami gave advice as any good senpai figure, it never actually felt like she was grading their combat prowess. It always seeemed and felt like to Eri that she was just enjoyed seeing people improve and survive. She was grateful for that in more ways than she could ever voice. Breathing hard as she tries to recover, she replies with cheerfulness despite the obvious pain dripping from every word as she calls out, "You know, without your wisdom and selflessness I wouldn't even be here, Mami-senpai! Thank you for everything!"

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Thank you Senpai! on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Eri Shimanouchi's Thank you Senpai!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Mami Tomoe is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Warm Vanilla Sugar does her best at this moment to try and dodge the blades once more as they're thrown at her. It wasn't as easy as it looked, as there was quite a few blades being thrown, and while none of them really cut into her, it was still a tough thing to do and she needed to take a moment to catch her breath. She frowned as she realized that her attack had caused damage to the tree and none to the villains themselves. Okay, so maybe she needed to do something a little more concentrated.

"As things are..." She said softly. She can't work alone, and needs her friends to work alongside, moving afterward to at least try and get back together with the others.

"Not like this. Its like they just don't care about who all is in their way and will just try to overwhelm with pure numbers." She replied to Fuu, looking around. She had to becareful and aimed at a bunch of the villains at an angle that wouldn't, hopefully, hit the tree as well.

She gathered up her magic and fired off a quick, concentrated beam of vanilla power off towards the villains at this point as it was.

COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar has used Concentrated Vanilla Beam on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly counters Warm Vanilla Sugar's Concentrated Vanilla Beam, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Eclipse Flash, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Warm Vanilla Sugar!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The sword in her grasp burns like ice, the cold worse than ice in fact; even as she grasps onto it, her body heats it into vapor, or so la Sirene thinks, when not thinking 'oh my god I can't feel my hand.' And it is that numbness which is likely behind her botched effort to invoke Les Mysteres, getting her another sword slice and sending her staggering back.

She cries out in dismay, even as she continues: "You wretches! I don't intend to lose to your mysterious forms! All you agents may think you know so well, but whatever happens here, you have no right - the sorrows of this world aren't yours to TOY with, even if you have - hfn - swordsmanship on your side!"

Batiste dares not dismount her shoulder, crying out a warning from her left. la Sirene ducks the sweep of a broad sword, and then she curls her cold hand into a tight fist. "This air is full of the scent of cherry blossoms, blooming ripely! Of the sea, eternal and nurturing... and -" Need a third, need a third - "Of the color red, ripe as fruit and passion!"

She answers Fuu, snapping almost. "No I have not my /goodness/-"

She hisses to Batiste, "How can we fight them in these numbers??"

Batiste considers the matter.

He then points out, "We are in the branches of a tree, cousin."

"I don't follow."

"What would happen to you if you fell ten meters to the ground?"

La Sirene considers this. "I would break my hip open and die."

Her expression brightens. Raising up the Black Mirror, a crack of thunder ripples in the air far above her - and a gale of wind snaps upwards, though it seems to be remarkably contorted. In short: it obeys her will, and strikes at those in black suits. (Unless other people want to use it for power jumps - la Sirene has no objection to power jumps.)

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Storm Rising on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge La Sirene du Nord's Storm Rising, taking 24 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Juri Arisugawa is unable to keep fighting!  La Sirene du Nord is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber frowns, that felt...less solid than he expected. What are these things? This has him confused enough that the incoming strikes he barely raises his an arm up to handle partly get throughly. These have him confused. He looks around, are these things even real or are they fight ghosts? Well... they do hurt. They have to be real.

He finally moves to strike out, but.....poof. They're gone. He takes a breather, he'll need it that scent still hangs in the air. There's more. He can feel it in his gut.

COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Steeling His Nerve on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Dark Amber's Steeling His Nerve, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The shriek of a young voice hits Mami's ears, and while her rifle is finally coming back down through the air, she turns to its source--and sees Prism Keeper Red, in turn. Mami certainly has some of her attention on Eri, despite the other girl's assurances, but she readjusts her plan in the moment. ...Not that she isn't playing things by ear, as a rule, but...

It's not as if others need to know that.

Finally, the rifle spins back down, and Mami catches it in one hand, twirling as she leaps down from one branch to swing up to another--landing close to Prism Keeper Red on one foot. "I hope you don't mind a bit of company," she begins, her bravado covering her internal reaction to missing the one that went after Sailor Vega even moments after. For her part, she moves quickly enough that the swords simply seem unable to /touch/ her this time--...and she beams, despite herself, when Eri calls her way. She remembers what happened that time, of course, remembers quite a bit, but... Well, it's hard not to respond well to a wave of compliments. "Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard, Shimanouchi-san! I'd like to see you around much longer than this!"

To Mei, she glances once, "Stay with me; I'll look after you." She sets the rifle in hand down, among the branches--and immediately sets to setting down more, one after another.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

This was chaos - this was unlike anything that Neptune had been involved in before. Everywhere she looked, there was a flurry - a flurry of shadows - a flurry of magical girls. It was chaos, and Neptune was not certain that she was enjoying it very much.

One supposed that was the point.

Regardless, it was close in with the shadows - the aquahaired Senshi's eyesbriefly drawn to Prism Keeper Red at her speech.

And she manages a smile, however brief.

Just in time for that explosion to attempt to separate them - it works, more or less, for Neptune - who lunges out of the way - her arm and back tickled by the energy and heat from the flame, the woman stumbling a bit as she regains her footing upon another branch. This time, she begins to call upon her oceanic magic - and closes her eyes.

Only to have serenity of a sort fall upon her. There were no shadows - living ones, about her. For a moment, however - Neptune simply waits, bringing up a hand to brush her hair over her shoulder, briefly glancing down towards the young women chanting still. "Is everyone alright?" she asks, her eyes flickering towards those nearest her. Prism Keeper Red was among their number, no doubt, and in that case... Mami Tomoe as well. Neptune's eyes linger there, her expression unreadable.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune performs an analysis on Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Baker's Dozen on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Mami Tomoe's Baker's Dozen, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

They just keep coming.

Red has barely caught her breath after the last wave when more simply come pouring down from the sky, assaulting the tree and all its inhabitants with a mindless fury unlike anything she's ever seen. This isn't good -- she doesn't know anything about the Holy Quintet, or why this tree is so special and worthy of being protected. But she feels compelled to do so anyway, and if so many of her friends are fighting through their injuries to stave off the tide of shadows, then she will too!

That morale boost can only go so far, however. A second hardly passes before she spots a longsword -- like before, only shadowy instead of sickeningly gold -- catch sight of her, then charge towards her with inhuman speed.

Her powers react before her mind does. Though her wings are clipped, she manages to launch herself a half foot in the air, surrounded by pulsating red energy. A second later, she propels herself towards the attacker, a very small, very concentrated bullet of red. The magic acts as her shield and her weapon, protecting her from most of the shadow's blade and (hopefully) splitting it in two with the sheer force of her impact. But she can't escape the cold. It penetrates her armor and seeps into her skin, raising goosebumps and chilling her to her core.

The effect seems to end when she drops her impromptu force field, but she's disturbed all the same. Both by the shadow's cold, and that power that surged through her out of nowhere. Is there any *other* power she doesn't know about?

Fortunately, the rifle girl from earlier drops next to her after brilliantly dodging the shadows' attacks, and her anxiety is allayed by just how /cool/ this girl is.

"Wow, that was amazing!" She says, smiling in awe. "How did you do that? I can't even dodge well enough to protect my wings..." Speaking of, the girl turns her head to check on her damaged appendage, which has regenerated completely by now -- thankfully. The Sailor Senshi approaches and voices the thought that she was just having, and Red nods affirmatively, giving the tender wing a pat to test its resilience.

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Literally The Coolest on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Prism Keeper Red's Literally The Coolest, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Mami Tomoe is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Runealy and Eri, faced with three shadows, have the primary response of 'departure'. Fortunately, Mai's there with a huge wall of flame that promptly pours through all five. It leaves the branch they were standing on just a little scorched, the smell of woodsmoke mingling with the darkness of the night. It is not the cozy scent of a fireplace; there is a spiciness to it, a richness to the aroma, that bespeaks the quality and the strangeness of what it is that has been rendered unto gas in this moment.

Fortunately it does not seem to have /caught/ fire.

Further along the branch, Sailor Vega rallies despite her wound to slap her assailant with that ribbon of light; it wraps around his head and turns it into shadowy pulp, which then disintegrates, in the same moment that Japanese Cherry Blossom fills it, as well as a second masked figure, with thousands of tiny, tender, razor-thin, amply dangerous cherry branches. They drip with ichor for a long, gross moment, before the ghostly matter fades away.

Nearby, the Magic Knight of Wind bursts free of her bladelock, only to try for a daring stab of her own -- in an astonishingly smooth piece of bladework, poetry in motion, her sword is in serious danger of being wrested away from her instead. Certainly it is batted away from that would-be skewered midsection. And he advances...

Warm Vanilla Sugar sends a concentrated beam down at another pile of longswordsmen, and skillfully spares the tree any unfortunate Vanillification. At the last second, however, another broadsword-bearer leaps into the path, and somehow slices the beam directly in half, blade extended in front of him, leaning into the energy. Ultimately he is engulfed and destroyed, but the longswords behind him are spared...

Only for La Siren du Nord to summon such a windstorm as to just blow them off the tree.

All the rest.

For a few moments, they fight it; clinging to branches, bracing against it by locking their knees. A couple more enterprising ones try riding it like a direct express elevator up to the still-pink-light-pouring ritual above, but cannot control their flight, and are overshot past the tree itself to plummet with the rest unto Tokyo below.

There's about a heartbeat of silence, and then:

The next wave explodes from every direction, once again a function of numbers rather than tactics, a /literal/ wave of suits, masks, and shadowy blades, rising up and up the tree like a cresting tsunami, eager to claim absolutely everyone within reach, as they go up, up, up...

Just a bit further...

OOC: This is the second to last wave -- work on taking lots of them out, no need to limit yourself to just one!

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Prism Keeper Red.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Warm Vanilla Sugar.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Eri Shimanouchi.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Japanese Cherry Blossom.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 6 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy perfectly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!  Princess Runealy's Fade ability activates!  Princess Runealy's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi perfectly braces Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Brace!  Eri Shimanouchi's Block ability activates!  Eri Shimanouchi's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Dark Amber's Fade ability activates!  Dark Amber's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 43 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 24 Fatigue damage!  La Sirene du Nord's Block ability activates!  La Sirene du Nord's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 45 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 38 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 58 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 14 Fatigue damage!  Japanese Cherry Blossom's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, taking 40 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune watches as Mai sweeps the area with fire - effective, if potentially dangerous - and feels a moment's relief. Another wave down, thanks to the swift actions of those present! Yet another group has arrived. "Is... is there any end to you!? Mai, I'll be back, but for now...!" For now, her attention wanders to another friend.

One who has been very helpful both in the past, and here and now. The Wind Knight. Runealy wants to get to her, though the oncoming wave of dark foes leaves her staring with absolutely wide eyes that almost scream 'no way...!' She has no real choice but to hop back, back, back, to higher branches each time in a terrified urge to be anywhere else!

Unable to directly get /to/ Fuu, she settles for trying to help the Wind Knight. Aiming at the wave-section nearest Fuu, the princess makes a desperate shout - one born of a deep need and desire to help someone that has done so much for her, and hopefully to prevent tragedy tonight as well.

The shout heralds Runealy unleashing a spray of emerald sparkles! Like before, this one isn't the widest she can make on its own; a second one quickly follows to try to cover another part of this, to try to give Fuu some kind of relief from danger.

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Scattering Blast on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber manages to jump back and he skids along his branch. He frowns and takes a deep breath again. It's not use talking to shadows. So he doesn't waste his breath with a cocky speech instead he raises his hand and there's a burst of brown energy....

He stops time for himself, and expends the majority of his excess energy in the attack running forward and slicing as many of these things straight in the chest, as many as he can imagine until he can't take it..... and then he snaps...

And time resumes for him again. Everyone would had just seen something brown just whiz by the things. Hopefully. a bunch of these things explode into blackness around him.

"Cherry Blossom.... Warm Vanilla Sugar. Are you okay?" he calls out. He's not checked up on them for a small bit. This is important right now to make sure his friends are okay---

COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Amber Striker on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Cherry Blossom almost screams at the sight of the next wave. Their rush up the tree looks unstoppable! She leaps up to one more branch, getting a bit more height, and pushes both of her palms together to build up a charge. Then she shouts-- a few rush her regardless, and she feels cold and shadow rushing against her. All she can do is stand her ground as they slash at her, the magic still building.

She hears Dark Amber... "I'm... I will be fine, just keep fighting!"

Then she lets out another scream: this one with words. "Cherry Blossom PETAL SPIRAL!" It's one of her stronger attacks, but times are getting desperate now as there's just so many creatures crawling up toward her. The wind kicks up now, sending a huge pink stream of razor-sharp, spinning pink petals from her fingers, toward the oncoming hoarde. Pink light reflects in her eyes, the wave of flowers and wind rolling hard down the tree to cut a swath.

COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom has used Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Princess Runealy's Scattering Blast, taking 23 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Princess Runealy is Psyched!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly counters Dark Amber's Amber Striker, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Waves And Waves And Waves Of Shadows, partially gets through, doing 26 Fatigue damage to Dark Amber!

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Warm Vanilla Sugar takes this time to relax, catch her breath, actually think that things are finally done with. You know, things that get people hurt badly.

And that's just what happens next as the villains renew their assault, unleashing themselves down on her and the others. Caught off guard, she can't do much of anything but fail to dodge, getting wailed and beat upon badly by them. It almost seems like she's getting burried under them, surrounded and almost overwhelmed entirely.

She isn't quite yet though, and she heards Dark Amber calling out to her, forcing herself to push through what she can. "I'll be okay... just need to..."

She gathers up her strength, both magical and physical, and tries to push through the villains and to plow them off of her, not wanting nor letting them stay on her like this.

COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar has used Can't Keep Her Down on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"You can do it, too," Mami replies to Prism Keeper Red in light tones, inclining her head seriously. "Try to see where your opponent's going, instead of only where they are." Her advice is kept short for the moment, by circumstance and then by the serious look she gives as Sailor Neptune approaches, as well. Now isn't the best time for her to speak, maybe...

ut she looks back for a few moments, regardless. She can't help, in her good mood, but offer, "Sailor Neptune," her tone pleasant, conversational... Maybe too conversational.

Only moments--the next shadows surge up through the branches, and this time, there are too many--or perhaps Mami has allowed herself to be distracted by the adulation of those around her, as the first blade cuts deeply into her side; the second, she barely dodges, the third hacks at her arm, and the fourth is simply a hammering blow from too many going past that nearly knocks her out of the tree entirely; falling, she catches herself with one hand, wincing despite herself as she hangs on to avoid falling.

Her guns, now, are out of reach, and the Puella Magi is bleeding from her side, shoulder, and upper arm, the red spreading abot her white sleeve. "...Fine," she murmurs with a wince, and /swings/, flipping forward to another branch, where she leaps off of that and upward to the next. Her free arm sweeps downward, and then up, her rifles suddenly rushing up towards her--but she doesn't wait for them. She pulls a pistol from her sleeve, mid-air, and shoots at the first; twirling mid-air, she catches the first of the guns to come to her, and fires with a deafening roar; the second reaches her, and she flips forward as that one fires downward to push her further up, and then another destined for a shadow, and another; she doesn't stop.

She has somewhere to be.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The Wind Knight goes flat against the branch she was standing on as La Sirene du Nord unleashes the fury of the storm, with such intensity that the Magic Knight has to approve internally - and seizes a moment with which to do so externally, giving La Sirene a smile and a thumbs-up while she has the opportunity. The rest of that breather is used in getting back to her feet ...

And then the next wave of those shadowy figures arrives to attack - and while the Magic Knight does her best to protect herself, dodging and deflecting, there's simply far, FAR too much of an attacking force for her to hold out.

She very nearly winds up getting driven off the branch that acted as her foothold; fortunately, Runealy-san unleashes a blast that helps take the pressure off of the Wind Knight, and Fuu gives the princess of Waldia a fencer-style salute before the wind gathers around her ..."

"KAMAITACHI NO RANBU!!"

... and erupts outwards, the Storm-Dance of the Kamaitachi lashing out like a particularly violent - and yet especially *focused* tornado, rending at the shadowy figures, while stirring the leaves of the World Tree no more than a gentle zephyr might. The Wind Knight's allies would notice it even less, if any are close enough that they might ...

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Kamaitachi no Ranbu on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Sailor Neptune's Status Inquiry is met with a weary, "I've been better," before the rest of the Crazy 88 pour out of everywhere.

A surfer Sailor Vega is not; and there's just entirely too many of them - she can't get out of the way fast enough, and her wounds make her footing uncertain even as she tries, which takes her off of the branch.

And past a few other branches - painfully so. It's a miracle she held on to her wand, lashing out and snagging a sturdier branch with the ribbon Indiana Jones style; she doesn't plummet the rest of the way out of the tree, but as the line goes taut and her body weight tries to keep going, the grunt/yell of pain is audible.

But there's momentum, and Sailor Vega uses it to her own advantage, swinging upwards and back into the main area of the fray - and as ragged as she feels, she gets the sense that Mai could use a hand and isn't too far away.

Removing one of the pearls from an earring, Vega whispers something that causes it to glow - "Catch!" she calls out to the HiME and tosses, the empowered gemstone perscribing a pinkish-silver arc of sparkles on it's path towards her comrade.

COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Devotion's Tear on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Sailor Vega's Devotion's Tear, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Mai Tokiha is Cheered!  Cleanse! All of Mai Tokiha's debuffs are cleared!

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Japanese Cherry Blossom's Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral, taking 31 Fatigue damage!  Blind applied to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Warm Vanilla Sugar's Can't Keep Her Down, taking 19 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Warm Vanilla Sugar is Psyched!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly dodges Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly counters Fuu Hououji's Kamaitachi no Ranbu, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Eclipse Flash, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The winds die down as La Sirene looks down.

One of the shadows gets a leg up. It vaults onto her, and she's staggered before she can shove it back into the crowd. She's panting heavily; she thinks she's bleeding into her boot. She's trembling just a little.

"But," she mutters aloud, "the North wind blows..."

Batiste looks at her with concern, and then flees to the inside of her coat.

La Sirene raises the mirror upwards. Shaking slightly, she speaks out as shouts and flames and petals and violence in general is sent out. Pink light shines from behind her... It's beautiful.

Except that it highlights the clouds that have swirled together over the tree, and upon those clouds a vast and shadowy figure is cast. Perhaps somewhere Homura Akemi is disturbed. Even so, though, it is merely a shadow, for now. La Sirene's sonorous voice ripples outwards: "So desperate... and so many of you. Who are they? What are they doing? You have no reason to harm them..."

Her voice starts freezing up. "And you have no reason to do what you do, either. Are you even real? You seem to be more of a crowd of shadows. A cluster of spectres, gathering to snap at the heels of those who..." She trails off; it's hard to really get this rolling when she simply came in partway through.

The wind picks up again. "Those who simply seek to live. Well," she concludes, with a small sniff, "I can't dissuade you. But there is one thing that I can do."

She raises her mirror again, resting in the cup of her palm. "Appel de la foudre," she speaks aloud, into the wind. "I call you down! Your target is..."

A heartbeat passes.

"The shadowy man standing in the place where the strike will cause the least harm to this poor tree!" la Sirene says.

Lightning flashes. It's like the sun came out for a moment. Do not look directly at the lightning stroke. The thunder may be almost as bad, although thankfully the charm does have some ability to recognize what she's doing. And if not, well, that's what the accompanying if brief torrent of rain is for.

COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene du Nord has used Appel de la Foudre on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly braces La Sirene du Nord's Finisher, Appel de la Foudre, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Brace!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Red's never liked rain.

Yeah, she understand that the Earth needs it and that it lowers allergen levels, blah blah blah. And when it's not a storm, she can believe those things, even if she'd rather have a sunny sky. But the storm that the Siren summoned -- even though it wiped away the rest of the wave -- does not bode well with her. It seems as much an omen as a blessing, and the girl can feel herself tense up as the clouds open above the tree. She feels like something very bad is about to happen.

And it does.

Without warning, a fresh wave of shadow swordsman ascend the branches of the tree, so thick in number that little Red can hardly tell them apart. They swell and rise like a tidal wave, consuming the lower trunk of the tree until they are upon her and her allies in an overpowering assault.

She tries to fly away on her newly healed wings, even tries to grab the rifle girl to help her, but she is not fast enough. The swordsmen rush over her, bringing her down to the branch and trampling her frail body with her feet. A few stop to swipe at her with their swords of darkness; beaten and bruised, Red is unable to fight them off, taking each of their blows as they come.

She tries not to scream -- and admittedly, she doesn't cry out or shriek. But tears well up in her round red eyes, and a whimper or two of desperation escapes her. It hurts...it really, really hurts.

But she has to be strong.

Gritting her teeth as she stands up on quite possibly broken feet, the Prism Keeper rights herself, outfit torn and skin bleeding, but still in the fight. She takes a few deep breaths, pushing the pain down to the dark place that holds the rest of her pain. She can deal with it later. Right now, she has to fight.

Trying to form words and failing, Red simply channels her magic into her hands, summoning a net of thorny roses and their vines. This is exhausting -- weaponizing the gentle rose requires a /lot/ of energy -- but it has served her well in desperate times before, and it will do so again.

With a half-groan, half-yell, the petite girl flings the massive trap upwards, hoping to catch a few of the stragglers and prevent them from reaching the Quintet.

"Please, please work," she whispers, before gently easing herself onto her knees for some rest. She turns to Sailor Neptune and Mami, who had taken a bad hit as well, though by all accounts handled it better. "...do you think there's much more of them?"

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Rose Garden Wrath on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to dodge Prism Keeper Red's Rose Garden Wrath, taking 33 Fatigue damage!  Prism Keeper Red is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Mami Tomoe," says Neptune. "We should talk sometime, perhaps - quietly amongst ourselves," says the Senshi. But there was motion up above, that sensation of darkness intensifies. Another look - another careful look. There was an intensity to Neptune's gaze. "But not at the moment," she adds.

Leaping away - Neptune hopes to leap upwards - to divest herself of that group involving Prism Keeper Red and Mami Tomoe both.

But the shadows start to fall down, and Neptune's attempt to leave - well, it ends with her just mostly climbing to the next branch upwards. "It would be best," says Neptune to Red, as she hears the young woman speak with her. "To just assume that there are as many remaining as there are minutes in... whatever those young women are doing down there," says Neptune, lifting both her brows, a little smile climbing her lips. "So there could be hours of them left," says she.

These weren't moments wasted in conversation with the enemy approaching. In the back of her mind, Neptune was thinking back to the legacy she comes from. Of a planet of water, and oceans, and beauty - and she calls to it. Calls upon those waters to crash up around her, ethereal waves billowing around her from nowhere, bringing the smell of salt.

And lifting up to those branches, Neptune picks a spot mostly devoid of magical girls - and unleashes that wave to crash and wrack up the branches to whomever it could smash against. Preferably mostly shadows.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Unrelenting Tide on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

"I intend to be here for many years to come, senpai." Eri states affectionately, though there's a hint of doubt in the words. She needed to set a few matters straight before she could really have any sense of security in those words.

Mai lays down a blast of fire, and Eri is horrified even though she knows that the HiME didn't intend to set the tree alight. Then again, maybe she did.. Mai had different priorities in Eri's experience. What she experiences though is a rich fragrant aroma, which calms down that horror almost immediately as she realizes the tree is only singed. This.. was no ordinary tree, and she was grateful for that. As La Sirene's storm blows, she finds herself having to hold onto the branch with all of her might which was difficult, as her arm hadn't yet recovered from the blow. Once it dies down, she gets up, waving her arm to try to regain some of the feeling in it.

Which is when shadows explode out from every which direction. She sees the absence of light from the periphery of her vision, and knows she only has a splint second to react. Leaping into the air, one figure leaps after her. Parrying the blade with her root hilt, she uses the momentum of turning aside the blade to perform a half-turn in mid-air. Another strike comes, and her scourge moves around in concentric circles around her, knocking aside the blow of another as she lands on a higher branch. More shadows surge, and she has no time to react, so she stands, as steadfast as any stately oak. Instead, a blade glances off of her skin, taking something that looks like.. bark, with it?

Her voice darkens considerably, "Alright. Obviously none of you have any respect for nature. Time for you to learn some." The World Tree suddenly shines with radiant green light in several places. Runic circles with sun motifs appear as motes of that same light waft off the Puella Magi. A coaxing with her magic, and the tree pulses with further life, which is like a drop in the bucket considering the sea of magic that it contains.

Suddenly, life erupts from those circles, deadly sharp branches extending to try and impale as many shadows as they can. Some look like sharp titanic Bamboo shoots from infamous Punji traps. Some look branched, all with wicked sharp tips on an oak tree, or ironwood tree in winter. They fill in the gaps from Mei's own display, trying to create an even deadlier net of foliage to smother the waves of shadow with the force of nature. She gives a brief JSDF salute towards the young prism keeper, given that the girl makes use of plant life in her plants, and calls to her in encouragement, "Hey that was great! Keep it up!" Then a beat pause before she inquires, "I don't suppose you enjoy gardening?"

COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi has used Weald Advent on Juri Arisugawa.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa perfectly counters Sailor Neptune's Unrelenting Tide, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Juri Arisugawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa's counterattack, Eclipse Flash, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Eri Shimanouchi's Weald Advent, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is unable to keep fighting!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Woodsmoke, tinged with some ancient spice...in another situation, it might be considered wonderful. The ideal smoke for preparing food over, perhaps. In this situation, though, Mai can only cringe. Desperation and determination were the fuel for that storm, and she hadn't thought of any consequences beyond simply pushing back the tide of shadow. But now, the tree has been scarred by her rash action...

...and in spite of that wooden sacrifice, the battle isn't over. For every shadow incinerated or blown away by La Sirene's storm, three more have taken their place. Snapping out of her worry, Mai backpedals in the air - retreating from shadowy blade after shadowy blade, throwing her rings up to defend against bloodthirsty strikes. It seems like there's no end to the tide, and she's being pushed nearly to the praying maidens - and then there's a warning shout, a sparkling light. Reflexively, a hand snaps out to catch that mote of inspiration-

-and Mai finds her resolve anew. Sparks fly as she starts fending off the attacks more directly, refusing to be driven back any further. Motes of flame appear before her, a trio of magatama the herald of a shining crimson barrier, erected between the horde and the maidens they seek. Bark blisters, leaves wither, and Mai whispers an apology - but the wall will hold. It has to. Whatever those girls are doing, it's important...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Burning Aegis on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Mai Tokiha's Burning Aegis, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Emerald explosions from the Guardian Princess do indeed clear a path for the Magic Knight of Wind, a pocket of safety from which she can summon her great magic.

It may not hurt the tree when it first appears, but the broadsword-wielder that it's sent at stretches her blade out, the vanguard, the crest of the wave, and takes the tornado head on. Moving with it, swirling, spiraling, footwork superb and somehow solid, more real, than most of the shadows around, he sends it roaring around himself, pacing through the eye of the storm.

At its heart, he plunges his blade directly into the tree, and sends all of the apocalyptic wrath of the Storm-Dance along with it. The entire World Tree shudders from root to stem.

A moment later, the tide comes in. Today the tide is made of razor-sharp cherry blossoms, millions and millions and millions of them, one of the great holidays of the year made manifest in a display as beautiful as it is deadly. When they clear, none of that section of the wave remains, vanquished to the last by Japanese Cherry Blossom's valiant defense.

From another angle, several of the shadows take wounds at the blade of Dark Amber, but he discovers that he's overextended himself, that his foes don't seem to have much trouble keeping up with him despite the altered way that he's perceiving the timestream. They may not be able to stop his motion, but they bring their blades up more often than not at the last millisecond, the longswordsmen in particular literally blurring with speed while the broadswordsmen have almost preternatual intuition as to the direction they should orient their own blades to catch him as he runs by.

Warm Vanilla Sugar joins his charge a beat later, plowing a great many of them off the tree, and from behind her rises a net of thorny roses that cast themselves over everything but the Perfume Warriors, wrapping and ripping until boiling motes of that ultraviolet light are all that remain.

In another direction, Mami Tomoe plugs a shadowy figure right in the mask with her pistol. It breaks in two with a crack nearly as loud as the gunshot, followed by the usual ichorous explosion; many more follow in the wake as one rifle round after the next finds its mark and a longswordsman finds its end.

A group of them come together at the last moment, however, to collectively distribute La Sirene du Nord's enormous bolt of lightning. This does, indeed, spare the tree any damage, but it also allows them all to survive. If they had ears, they would be ringing from the white-hot passage of thunder. If they had noses, they would be burning from the rising ozone.

They have neither, but as Sailor Neptune's huge wave comes towards them, they do have another broadswordsman, who similarly to his fellow manages to lunge forward and slice the wave in two, carried away by the undertow even as he separates the blast to spare his comrades.

But nothing can save them from Eri's magically summoned plants. The World Tree itself doesn't seem to support or negate her efforts; it is essentially impervious to attempts to tap it directly for assistance, and totally unresponsive to any sense of communion.

It does have lots of broad surfaces to be the basis of plant firing platforms, though, and upon which thorns can grow. Many of the longswordsman attempt to flee upwards, towards their goal, but they're blocked by another wall of fire, and in the moment that they pause to consider this, the vines catch up with them, and they are consumed.

---

IN ANOTHER KIND OF SPACE

Three of them exist together, though one is many, many and strange, a black, roiling chaos of ghostlights and pulsing red runes.

The second and third, however, have more form and structure; one comprises an infinite plane of self-similar circuitry more Escherian than Euclidian, with tiny motes of golden light rounding each corner and propagating through each intersection with all the complexity of dimensional geometry that Mandelbrot would weep to see. A lambent flame pulses at the center, to the extent that 'center' has any meaning within such a system. It throws off sparks routinely, sparkles, rays that refract and reflect in all directions.

Weaving throughout to create a tapestry of truly maddening bizarrity is the third: dramatic reds and oranges, a thousand sunrises over the ocean, paint a palette that turns everything that it touches gray, washed out, bereft, broken. A black gash lances through its center, mirrored within, the wound reproduced over and over and over through a funhouse's worth of warped and shattered glass. It smells powerfully of roses, roses and the sea, and all of it is forged and folded and folded and folded and folded again down the length of a sword that has no beginning and no end.

More golden light pulses, as well as the distinctive yet subconscoius sensation of touch, of fingertips, an externality that does not belong inside these caskets of the mind.

'It is nearly finished.'

'Good. Let's finish ourselves, and get the fuck out of here.'

'...Agreed.'

---

BACK AT THE WORLD TREE

High above in the crux, the pink light -- and the feeling of impending doom -- reach blinding intensity and fever pitch respectively. The aurora is truly glorious, sheets of silver glitter raining everywhere, mingling amid the luminous rays of rose, which seem to climb upwards themselves, higher still, bridging towards heaven itself. It is so bright that the moon is momentarily extinguished in comparison, and the only colors in the world are pink...

...and black. Where the shadow is.

It is singular; it rises out of the shadow of the World Tree itself, and of similar length and size. Its Gucci boots are low-heeled; its suit perfectly tailored, and for the first time, subtly feminine. In one hand it holds a familiar broadsword, and the tree rustles with distress to see it raised on high in a flourishing slaute. The other hand, and entire arm, seems to be one gigantic longsword blade, which comes cutting down in a brutal scissoring slash that seems like to rend limb from limb, flesh or wood alike.

Its -- her -- mask seems more like two masks, bisected down the face but golden, golden everywhere. One half is crowned with aureate roses; the other carved with intricate, criss-crossing lines.

She lunges in, the plaza /not/ shaking beneath her gigantic feet, so lightly does she step, and both blades bear down directly towards the five girls locked in prayer and ritual, hand in hand as sisters.

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Eri Shimanouchi.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Prism Keeper Red.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Sailor Vega.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Warm Vanilla Sugar.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Japanese Cherry Blossom.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Dark Amber.
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa has used Shadow Overwhelming on Princess Runealy.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune fails to dodge Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 52 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Juri Arisugawa is Psyched!
COMBAT: Eri Shimanouchi narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Eri Shimanouchi's Block ability activates!  Eri Shimanouchi's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Vega narrowly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Vega's Fade ability activates!  Sailor Vega's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 22 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 38 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 20 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 21 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Princess Runealy's Block ability activates!  Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord fails to brace Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 35 Fatigue damage!  La Sirene du Nord is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 14 Fatigue damage!  Mai Tokiha's Reverse ability activates!  Mai Tokiha's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha's counterattack, Flare Shroud, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly braces Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Japanese Cherry Blossom perfectly dodges Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar narrowly counters Juri Arisugawa's Shadow Overwhelming, taking 23 Fatigue damage!  Warm Vanilla Sugar's Reverse ability activates!  Warm Vanilla Sugar's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Warm Vanilla Sugar's counterattack, Tsukkake, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Juri Arisugawa!

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Japanese Cherry Blossom takes a moment to catch a breath after that powerful barrage. She's running out of energy now... she leans against the great trunk of the tree, placing a hand on her breastbone as it heaves with exhaustion. But at least her friends...

She looks to her left, and right, seeing Dark Amber and Warm Vanilla Sugar are closer by now. Of course, everyone is fighting so hard. "I... don't have much energy left," she says, her arms feeling weak... even her eyes are tired.

But the sword is slamming down, and... with a sudden burst of renewed energy, Cherry Blossom spins around, bringing her arms in toward her body almost like an ice skater as she twirls in a leap that takes her to a slightly higher branch. Blossoms left from her last attack follow behind her in a little wake.

"But I still have enough to fight this off, so... let's finish this. Together, and with everyone!"

She opens her hands and spreads her fingers wide. Light builds up around her feet in a ring, interrupted slightly be the branches of the tree in a way that throws spots and flickers onto her. Wind builds next, localized to her and scented like springtime. Whole blossoms and scattered pink petals appear in tiny blooms of light.

"Cherry Blossom..." She slowly spins with her hand out, and the petals build... then spiral out in a crashing blast! She focuses that energy on the shadow woman, the petal burst spinning up in a column! "Elimination!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Japanese Cherry Blossom has used Cherry Blossom Elimination on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Warm Vanilla Sugar tried, once again, to counter with a punch, straight for this massive being, though that doesn't really go through and she gets smacked down and back to the ground by it. She picks herself up, panting and tired, but not beat yet.

She looks over at Cherry Blossom, smiling and nodding. "I know the feeling. I've got some power left, but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep standing. We'll have to finish this one off together. Or as much as we can."

She starts to gather up her magic, what she can from her reserves. She has enough there, and it won't cause her too much trouble to dig that deeply in, but it will leave her more tired than she already was. "Together, as we always do, Cherry Blossom. As one!"

The dark golden light gathers up around her as she prepares the magic, spinning lightly around her and leaving behind the trailing scent of vanilla with it as it comes together.

"Vanilla..." She says as the magic reaches its max. "Purifying..." Warm Vanilla Sugar adds before she sendt it out in a crashing blast that would surely eliminate any being of darkness that got in its way to the shadow woman. "Crash!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Warm Vanilla Sugar has used Vanilla Purifying Crash on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami does not look to the lightning; she needs her vision sharp in order to keep her aim up.

"Over tea," Mami offers Neptune in that moment, and her eyes suggest that she does not consider this so frivolous a matter as her demeanor might lead some to guess.

But soon she is on the move, and must leave Neptune to answer Prism Keeper Red's question--though she can certainly see that girl's attack on the way up. ...It's hard to respond to Eri for the moment, and Mami is willing enough to let the flow of battle carry her away from the specter of that statement.

Be here for years, yet...?

Mami keeps firing; she has little to say about the future past the fight now anymore. She's too busy as it is; summoning another of her shorter, wider guns, she tries to block a blow directly in melee, but instead is sent hurtling towards the trunk of the tree, where she impacts with a loud thud and is, briefly, no longer anywhere to be seen, under the great pink light that blocks out so much other than the shadow. Silence reigns in her little area for a few moments, but the noise all over elsewhere makes it hard to notice or even care about. It is only after the great shadow rises that Mami, too, stands again. She sees it, hidden in the branches, holding on to a length of wood now with a red-soaked arm.

"...I can hardly let myself look so ungraceful in front of my juniors," she murmurs, and steps further out onto the great branch she's on. One huge target, this time--

Bending her knees, she leaps straight skyward, twirling as she does to grant just a bit of extra elevation; there's only so much time, and this may well be their last opportunity. She takes in a breath, and summons forth her magic.

From her collar she undoes the ribbon at her throat, pulling it away in one smooth gesture before setting it before her in a smooth, whiplike motion; it /grows/, rotating and revealing greater detail in its depths, suddenly not a single ribbon but a long tube and then more around it; in the blink of an eye it has become a gigantic weapon, easily a story tall, free-floating. Gold and silver filigree cover its apparent steel base, a framework set, strangely, with gears and pivots with no stock at all. Instead, a great twining line of yellow is wrapped around it, the final length of which is in the Puella Magi's hands. "TIRO FINALE!"

Her call comes with a /pull/, and suddenly her gigantic machine gun is no longer falling, it is /firing/, its huge barrel spinning as if pulling the ribbon unravelled it. Bursts of golden light rush towards the shadow, one after another, in a deafening roar that leaves motes of sparkling magic in its wake. Each shot spins the whole thing faster, Mami Tomoe standing atop it at the end, in the sky, staring down her target.

There is a cup of tea in her hands.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Finale on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

It takes almost all she has to get out of the way of the onslaught - the longer this battle goes on, the more it takes from her. It's hard, but she stays on her feet.

Though Sailor Vega has no idea what the priestesses are about, no idea of the signifigance of the World Tree, she DOES know that trying to kill people while they're praying is the sort of thing Sailor Moon would no doubt have an angry stanza about punishment to deliver for.

Auroras being used for nefarious purposes also rankles. If this giant shadow woman wants to play with cosmic light, Sailor Vega will show her how to play with cosmic light!

Pulling the Aurora Ribbon from her wand with her hand, Sailor Vega draws it in a circle over her head before directing the ribbon of light towards the Shadow - while it seems to elongate and increase in size around the giant woman.

Directing it like a conductor, Sailor Vega intones, "AURORA'S PUNISHING EMBRACE!"

The ribbon burns nearly as fiercely as the sun, bombarding the adversary it encircles.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Vega has used Aurora's Punishing Embrace on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Runealy gazes upon Mai's flame wall with a sudden realization of what it might accomplish... and smiles down to her in acknowledgement. It's a great idea! Comfort remains fleeting though, as... color becomes very starkly contrasting. Pink and black, with a worsening feeling now having Rune struggling to contain her shaking. A part of her wants to leave, feeling that she might die here and bring dire consequences to so many others as a result. She tries to reason with herself, but that falters as the figure emerges. Panic starts to grip her anew as the blade sweeps through, and Rune encases herself in a sparkling red dome! She cringes just before impact... and when it strikes, the forcefield holds but it still shakes Rune deeply. Her balance wavers, bowling her down against a tree limb! Vision blurring, her thoughts are a jumbled mess until...

'Let's finish this. Together, and with everyone!' Cherry Blossom's words pierce Rune's consciousness. In a flash, the princess overcomes the worst of her fear. It's still there, but manageable as her barrier fades and she rises. "Right!"

Blades prepare to strike once more. She can see where they're likely to go, and she absolutely does not want that to happen. "I won't let you! Wardliiiight..." This chant creates a semi-transparent dome in front of Runealy's wand. It won't be large enough to encase the entire figure, so she tries something different; instead she tries to make it wide enough to trap part of a blade. "Epilogue!" That shout sends it flying, trying to wrap even a portion of the sword-limb.

Wherever it winds up, the dome begins to flood with light. It would normally be gold, and perhaps it /is/ gold, but in the ambient lighting it's hard to see it as anything but pink. Regardless of its true color, the anti-demon magic expands... wider, filling its containment. Once full, it bursts! This entire action is a guess, but Rune's other options would almost certainly damage the tree.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Runealy has used Wardlight Epilogue on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Let's finish it with everyone, they say.

Unfortunately, the immense form of the shadow comes in the pink and black light. La Sirene, staggering with exhaustion, turns to face it. The sword comes down with brutal force...

la Sirene throws up her hands. Les Mysteres answer her plea - slightly, anyway - enough to knock the blade off course. It doesn't come down on her; it simply sweeps her aside.

'What would happen if you fell ten meters, cousin?'

La Sirene finds out, with a sound like a dropped sack of garbage.

She groans, weakly, at least. That's probably a good sign, right?

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Suddenly her world is engulfed in pink and black, brightness and darkness paradoxically so intense that she's overwhelmed, unable to see the sky, barely even the battlefield. The shadow feels like an overwhelming, smothering thing. She endures. She has to. The giant blade is something she doesn't want to get /anywhere/ near. It's so large that even a glancing blow could spell her doom, so even as she steps back from the plaza. Her whip lashes out to try and push her further away from the blade, even as the force of the blow rends and shears away the environment around her. She's horrified, at the thought of this district losing this beautiful thing.

As she lands on another branch, skidding backwards until she rams into a tree branch, she watches the elegant colossal shadow woman like an ant might watch a human. For a short time, and short time only, she considers fleeing. Like she said to Mami, she wanted to survive for many years to come! Only moments later does she realize her true intent, even more horrified, she whispers fervently, "No, she can't!" Leaping rapidly to try to get up into a position where her attack could reach her, she finally stops on a branch, before pointing her scourge's handle directly at it. For just a short time, she coaxes it into action, and each of the tendrils surges forward, branching out from three, to six, to nine, before they expand, growing to be the size of tree trunks, with just as colossal thorns each writhing as if they were the gigantic tails of a living creature. They drive inexorably right towards the shadow woman, before she calls out desperately to Mai, "Mai-chan! We have to stop it! Set her and my weapon alight! I don't care what you have to do, just stop her!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Eri Shimanouchi has started a combo targeting Juri Arisugawa!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

"...stop it."

The command is quiet, barely audible with all the noise and chaos of attack around her, the Keeper of Red. Her pain -- both at being trampled and slashed, and at seeing her friends take so much damage -- has put the girl into a kind of twisted serenity. She's the giant woman rise out of the World Tree's shadow, a culmination of all the waves they had fought off one by one. She sees the shadows rise up and attempt to drown her companions, successfully bringing one down and laying waste to many others. In her suddenly clear state of mind, Red conjures a shield of color that diverts most of the black energy from her, but she still feels it trying to suffocate her, to bring her down into darkness. She will not allow it.

Quietly, the girl flies into the air to get a better point of attack, ignoring her usual anxiety over flying in her pure desperation to /end/ this threat. To let the maidens finish their prayers, to tend to the severely wounded, and to go home. This fight is a duty of hers, yes -- but she has others as well. She will not let the darkness rob her of them.

"I SAID, STOP IT!"

The scream rips from her throat, and she thrusts her hands forward, the glowing Chroma Wand appearing in them a second later. "Stop hurting my friends! Stop attacking this tree! Go back to the darkness where you belong, and LEAVE US ALONE!"

The Prism Keeper spins twice in the air, faint red energy beginning to swirl around her. "Prism Aegis Power!" she calls out, twirling ever faster as more crimsons and vermillions come to her, forming a ball of purest red. When she is brimming with power, she stops, thrusting the Wand towards the sky above the Tree.

"Red Rain!"

A portal opens up in the clouds where the ball of energy hits, pouring down the little girl's fury in scarlet blasts. It is not amazingly power; in fact, it probably pales in comparison to what the others here are capable of producing themselves. But it will have to be enough, because her tiny body is buckling under the pain of battle, and her wings will not hold out much longer.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Prism Keeper Red has used Prism Aegis Power! Red Rain! on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The blistering wall remains, even after the horde of shadows has been consumed by vines. Mai eyes blaze with determination. There will be more of the horde, certainly, and Mai will defend those who are bearing light against the darkness.

The giant's footstep is light enough that Mai barely looks up in time - and counts herself fortunate that her barrier was already prepared, for she would not have thought to raise one. Her jaw drops as the titan's blade slams into the crimson wall, shattering it. "What?! What in the world-"

There isn't time to comprehend it, not that she had any hope of doing so. It is massive, swift, vicious, and about to bring those blades crashing down on the ritual everyone has sought to defend. Normally, one wouldn't even think of opposing a force like this - just run. Accept the battle as lost, and flee.

Mai closes her eyes. One option exists that could fight this, but the World Tree would suffer the consequence...but even without calling upon that desperation, she can try. All she can do, like everyone else here, is try to save the tree and those praying in its branches. That's why they're here.

Mai turns, slowly - but the rings the bears spin far faster, whirring to a fever pitch, blazing white-hot as she gathers all the power she can muster. Declarations of determination resound near her, but Mai's own resolve is whispered. "...Kagutsuchi. Help me save them." Her revolution complete, she faces the masked titan, flames dancing around her. Something glints in those flames, fierce, passionate.

There's just enough time left to hear Eri's shout - Mai looks to her friend, nods once - and lets out a defiant shout. The flames seem to echo with a stranger cry, and the spears of wood are closely followed by a raging lance of bright ardent fury.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mai Tokiha has joined the combo started by Eri Shimanouchi!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Eri Shimanouchi and Mai Tokiha have used Combo: Ninefold Inferno, composed of Cat O' Nine Tails and Ardent Light, on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

That should simply not have been possible.

The Wind Knight's spell is co-opted - *stolen*, really - by the target ... and then its destructive force is directed right into the World Tree itself.

The Magic Knight can only stare, even as somebody else obliterates the shadow-swordsman who did it - she's not even paying enough attention to notice who, really. But the Magic Knight of Wind *does* notice when the next attacker shows up ... it's kind of hard not to notice anything *that huge*, and Fuu brings her own sword up, focusing her will and what strength her body and spirit hold against the onslaught that the newest arrival brings to bear.

It's almost a surprise to the Wind Knight that she's still on her feet when the pressure abates ... and she takes a deep breath, gathering her magic to throw whatever she's got left at this - hopefully final - enemy.

"MIDORI NO SHIPPUU!!"

The Emerald Tempest howls forth as the Magic Knight of Wind swings her arms forward, her sword vanishing for her to unleash her possibly-final spell, the winds ripping into the titanic swordswoman of darkness ...

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Midori no Shippu: Focused on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber tries to brace. This doesn't work fairly, well. He's forced back and struck and he grabs his arm. That hurt when he tried that. It was a sily move. He frowns when the team looks down to the odd woman and he Draws his hand up, he snaps his finger and draws up a ball of deep brown colored Amber....he glances at the other two as they throw thier attacks. "I need to try to get close. I'm sorry. I don't know... what those girls are doing. But I'm not going to let these things win..." he says as he looks back down at the figure.

He blips down to the level of this shadow woman and tries to merely rush from the back..."Dark Amber....."

He throws the amber out, attempting to send a rush of amber shrapnel into the figure. "Crush....!"

This is a silly idea to probably get super close, but this needs to be stopped particularly direly soon it seems.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Amber has used Dark Amber Crush on Juri Arisugawa.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

There was a moment, a brief moment, where Neptune's eyes simply widen - features twisting at that overwhelming feeling of evil. It was like a jackhammer to the back of her mind - distracting where it was not painful, and the sky just about exploding into a nimbus of energy. It had the sense of the maddening surreal.

And so when that Shadow - for she was obviously a leader of her kin - does appear, it takes a moment for Neptune to realize that it wasn't just a dreamed up spectacle.

It did not hurt like a dream would - that blade catching her body in spite of her last-minute attempt to leap away from it. Magical girls were falling - the falling light of Sirene catches her eye most of all on her path to smash against the trunk of the tree, the blade having opened grievous wounds that would no doubt heal before hospitalization was required. It was the thick part of one of the branches that Neptune sinks onto, landing on one knee - her glove stained with the darkness of soot, filth - and otherwise. Everything in her wanted her to remain sitting. But Neptune stands. One shaky foot upon the ground, straining to rise again. Perhaps she would fall as well - but if she fell protecting from this darkness?

She expected her partner to carry on her mission.

But as it was, her mind flickers back to Neptune, and she feels... she feels the connection flare brighter with her history, her legacy - a wave crashes against her, and then another - a shining blue ball appearing overhead, held by both her hands, a turbulence twisting around it, giving it almost a halo. It glistens once.

"DEEEEP..." she calls, bringing her hands down, and pushing the ball with an open palm towards the towering shadow. "SUBMERGE!" It takes off on its own as though it were rocket propelled - a wave cresting in its wake.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Neptune has used Deep Submerge! on Juri Arisugawa.

COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Japanese Cherry Blossom's Finisher, Cherry Blossom Elimination, taking 71 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Warm Vanilla Sugar's Finisher, Vanilla Purifying Crash, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 198 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Sailor Vega's Finisher, Aurora's Punishing Embrace, taking 60 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Princess Runealy's Finisher, Wardlight Epilogue, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Eri Shimanouchi and Mai Tokiha's Finisher, Combo: Ninefold Inferno, taking 76 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Prism Keeper Red's Finisher, Prism Aegis Power! Red Rain!, taking 24 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Midori no Shippu: Focused, taking 26 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Juri Arisugawa's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Dark Amber's Finisher, Dark Amber Crush, taking 118 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Juri Arisugawa fails to brace Sailor Neptune's Finisher, Deep Submerge!, taking 104 Fatigue damage!  Juri Arisugawa is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The blades descend with all the speed and force that one enormous merged shadow super-figure can muster.

But in midair they meet resistance.

It's a veritable rainbow of light:

Prism Keeper Red anchors with a red downpour, which splashes from all directions, giving the shadow a rather nightmarish appearance of gouting that color amid her blackness, streams of it intermingling with the dark.

Mai's flames are orange, orange towards gold, and that lance of pure fury merges with Eri's colossal thorned cat o'nine-tails to slam into the shadowy being with force that once again shakes the entire tree. Dark Amber's fragments contribute as well, though as their explosion is closer to the ground, it is blocked by the shadow and not a part of the spectacular display per se.

Mami has yellow covered, and how, with her Tiro Finale: Machine Gun Edition, which pours through the night like endless shooting stars to explode first towards, and then through, one of the blades, shattering it off at the shoulder. The Guardian Princess' dome was on the same arm, and it fades away thereafter, having not found a demon to banish. Nor does Warm Vanilla Sugar's dark yellow superbeam find traction, pouring over the battlefield without direct effect. What stands before them is not a matter of purity of heart. It smells incredible, though, bringing strength to all around.

The Magic Knight of Wind summons the Emerald Tempest, which slams into the shadow's knee, throwing her off-balance, forcing her to adjust the angle of her broadsword even as it continues to descend, lest she topple over completely.

Sailor Neptune's Deep Sumberge crests higher than the World Tree itself and pours over everything, uniting sky, sea, and everything in between in an explosion of blue.

Through it all wraps Sailor Vega's blueviolet ribbon, expanded to monumental length and size, glowing with all the shades of the aurora.

And Japanese Cherry Blossom's spiraling petal blast explodes from the other end, pouring across the sky in an endless tumble of pink, shattering the broadsword when it hits.

The rainbow merges as it reaches the shadow's chest, the feelings of the assemblage now impossible to distinguish from each other, as prismatic as it is dramatic. Tension mounts as the shadow takes a knee, now trying to block with her bare palm, and still reaching forward, upward, upward...

...but she cannot hope to stand against the combined might of all these magical girls, and even as the tips of her fingernails ruffle the winged hairpiece on the leader of the girls at the top of the tree, she, too, explodes.

Light boils out of her in all directions, of as many colors as have been leveraged against it, and others as well, ghostly hues, ultraviolets. They wink out one by one, will o' the wisps.

This time, the moment of silence extends for one heartbeat--

--and then another--

--and again. And the night is--

--different.

Because with a final explosion of pure brilliance, one that mingles pink and is gradually taken over by gold, glorious, lambent, radiant gold, the sense of Wrongness ceases to be.

The girls have also seemed to cease to be, or at least to be present; up in the crux of the branches, there is no sign that they were there, but for five sets of dainty footprints in the moss, and the silver glitter that is just absolutely everywhere. Unlike most magic, it lingers on everything it touches, and will be extremely difficult to extract from hair. At least it's pretty.

But yes; the evil feeling has ceased at last. What lingers now is a sense of teetering on the edge, of vertigo, of change, a razor-thin sensation that is easy to dismiss as meaningless and impossible to identify regardless. It fades as gradually as a dream, until its only remnant can only be found /in/ dreams.

Coincidentally, a matte black helicopter chooses that moment to fly by. But the Tokyo skies are eternally busy; that's more ordinary than anything, a welcome return of urban noise to the otherworldliness of a moonlit battlefield.

It's over.

---

ELSEWHERE

The red runes on the twin metal caskets wink out as though they had never been, and with a hiss released pressure, the lids gradually slide open, one agonizing centimeter at a time, on velvety smooth hinges. No ancient sarcophagi, these.

A young woman emerges from each. Tempestuous ocean blue meets bloody crimson in a long, shared gaze of mutual understanding.

Steam pours out of the Iron Maiden System behind them. The dark man and his assistant rush up to shower them in praises, but they do not so much as stop to acknowledge them, taking long strides away from these adults, outpacing them to the locker room, wherein the door is promptly secured with the simple expedient of one of them ripping a locker out from the wall and planting it under the doorknob. Somewhere, a Glittering Crux accountant gets a blistering migraine and has no idea why.

The other one runs a hand through her sunrise-flame hair, which pours all around her, released from the heat-driven confines of corkscrew curls by the extremely weird environment they were just in. "Thanks," Juri Arisugawa says. She idly leaps up onto a bench and axe-kicks a security camera off the wall, grinding it beneath her heel. (The accountant's headache intensifies.)

"Not a problem," replies Miyu Greer.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Runealy staggers back when her sealing dome has no obvious effect. She can't immediately do anything more, there's no time to even try. Thankfully, others have fared far, far better. They have it in hand, it seems... and then her understanding of everything is knocked for a loop as pink and gold burst through the area; her eyes close, an arm shielding them. "Wha?!"

Yet that pressure has finally abated, and that gets her eyes open again even as glitter floats. "Ahh...?" Her balance wavers, wand propped down on a branch to stabilize herself. "Is... is everyone... okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Warm Vanilla Sugar [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Warm Vanilla Sugar pants a bit from exahustion, nearly out of energy in all senses as it was, but for now it seems like things are good. She doesn't let her guard down this time, waiting to see if anything else comes at them that could pose a threat.

But it starts to feel like everything is fine now, and she smiles as that sense of foreboding doom and all abates. "I... I think I'll be okay for now." She says, gathering her magic up for a quick, brief cleansing wave on folks. It helps to relax and relieve some of the fatigue that people might be feeling, but the wounds themselves still linger around a bit.

"You okay yourself though?" WVS asks of Runealy, looking at her friend with a bit of concern.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

Now that it's over, Sailor Vega finally lets herself... sink. Dropping to one knee, hands over her more serious sword-wound, she mostly just stills her thoughts and actions to let the 'all will be well' and whatever healing energy comes her way wash over her. The glitter is nice, too, though she has a feeling she's going to be hooooooouurs at brushing it.

Crafts club is a good cover for glitter in mysterious places, at least.

Though almost all of them are standing - Vega can't help but look over where La Sirene fell, brow creased with concern.

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

They...they made a rainbow.

For a second, her exhaustion-addled mind wonders if, somehow, the other Prism Keepers have come out of the woodwork in this moment of desperation to assist her in the fight. But, as she looks around, she realizes instead that each of her fellow warriors conjured the blasts of color. Even though she didn't know many of them, even though they worked for different people and had different goals, they had all come together and formed the universal symbol of peace, of hope.

And it had worked.

The ache in her head finally eases up, and the reserves of strength she had called on for the final assault run out as well. Gasping, the girl all but plummets to the tree branches again, only to have her fall broken by Roy, who catches her on his wings and lowers her gently onto solid ground.

"It's over," she says, to confirm it to herself. "They're not coming anymore." She's completely forgotten about the maidens, and hardly even notices their disappearance. "I'm...I'm very tired."

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

La Sirene answers Runealy with a weak groan.

She is, at least, being nursed by her otter, though she isn't getting up all the way. Warm Vanilla helps enough that she staggers to her feet.

She doesn't look at Vega, though.

<Pose Tracker> Japanese Cherry Blossom [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Cherry Blossom is extremely tired, almost on the edge of just flickering back into her civilian form. But she looks at Vanilla and Runealy, and smiles just a little, or at least tries to. "I feel like we did it for now. I mean... something still... smells tense. I guess that's the right word. Like when dinner is just about to burn."

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Kagutsuchi's diminished cry fades in the night as Mai collapses to one knee. Everyone's determination united against the shadow, every colour of light...it was enough. As the HiME catches her breath, she's comforted by that fact - it was enough. The tide has been stemmed, and the maidens-

Mai looks behind her to check - but the maidens are gone, almost like they were never there. She stares, uncomprehending, knowing only that the world feels like it's shifted for the better. Just...there's no way to voice how, other than that sense of precariousness. Were those girls real, or apparitions, or...what just happened here?

Descending the tree cautiously - rings still out, but stationary and unlit - Mai casts her gaze around for her friends. Upon spotting Vega, she approaches with one hand out, and presents the pearl that was flung her way earlier. Her voice is a little hoarse, but warm. "Thanks. It helped."

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

The Magic Knight of Wind lets out a slow breath as the shadowy titan(ess?) is eliminated ... the silvery glitter showers gently down ... and whatever had been happening here is over.

The Wind Knight lets her sword vanish - sorely tempted to let her armor follow suit, but maintaining it by force of will alone - and limps along her branch, sagging down against the main trunk and tilting her head back against the bark. She probably *should* try to stay on her feet; falling asleep here would be inconvenient in several regards ... but it's not that she feels sleepy, or even 'tired' in any proper sense. Just ... strung out.

And although she's not sure who she'd admit it to - a piece of her is afraid.

<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

The explosion of ardent flame wrenches her scourge from her hands, even as giant as it has become, it only holds for a few seconds before it withers in the intensity of the blast. It doesn't matter anyhow, like all other Puella Magi, conjuring another is a simple matter, if she needed it. Fortunately she doesn't, as the rainbow light explosion of so many Mahou Shoujo at once causes the masked shadow maiden to vanish.

So too do the girls who were praying over the tree, wink out, as if they never existed.. other than a pretty silver sparkles. Inwardly she wonders how she's going to get it out of her hair, but she doesn't really mind, because well, she liked the feeling of looking glamorous.

It felt good, to have done so well in battle, and look great doing it, bringing a surge of confidence and cheer to her even as the sense of foreboding vanishes entirely. Checking her side briefly, and her arm, she takes a deep breath. It 'might' not take a ruinous amount of magical energy to heal these wounds, which is good considering her limited resources. "I'm.. feeling great actually, Rune-chan." She stands a bit straighter, smiling at the others gathered. "We did a good thing tonight."

Her eyes do widen in open startlement though as she watches Mami sip tea. She doesn't even consider the question on where she got it, given how awe-struck she looks by the senior Puella Magi's poise. It took her a while to tear away her fixed gaze, and start descending from the tree.

<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Dark Amber frowns..."I wonder what...this was about..." he says, holding his head in pain as pressure happens and dissapears. Also, he has glitter in his hair. He doesn't notice. He'll have to explain this to his parents later.

He feels tired, as one normally does after a hard battle. He looks over to Cherry Blossom and Warm Vanilla Sugar. "We did it." he says a little painedly. He does frown just a little from worry.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

And as the evil feeling vanishes - so does Sailor Neptune. The observant might have noticed her giving a dark look in general - her eyes flickering back to check on the quintet, before she wordlessly drops from the branches - more or less outright fleeing the scene with a series of little leaps.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Vega [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.

"I'm glad," Sailor Vega grins up at Mai, putting the pearl back in place at her ear, before finally coming back to a stand and surveying the aftermath.

<Pose Tracker> Juri Arisugawa [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

MEANWHILE, IN A MATTE BLACK HELICOPTER

Resplesdent in her ruffley fairy princess gown, golden light still gradually fading from her hair, a little girl takes off her winged headdress, sets it on the bench beside her, and sinks back into the webbing. The PRInCESSes all around her are already asleep, but she's made of sterner stuff, or at least holds sterner convictions.

Her earbud blips. << Report, >> demands a male voice on the other end.

Her eyes narrow. She hates being spoken to so tersely. But she's a professional, born and bred to her role. Now is not the time.

"The summoning was successful, though the ritual did disrupt the balance just as Research predicted, creating a psychological warning that attracted concerned locals. The nascent Orphan is now in position. It should remain dormant for some time."

<< Very good. >>

Another voice cuts in, also a man's, this one creaking with age but also warm with emotion: << Yes -- well done, my daughter. >>

Alyssa Searrs smiles, then passes out.