2014-07-28 - Shades Of Produce
| Title: Shades Of Produce | |
|---|---|
| Summary: A Shade has attacked a shopping district, draining colour from vegetables and grocery stores. Can it be stopped, before the entire district faces into monochrome? | |
| Who: Prism Keeper Red, Prism Keeper Orange, Grace Chapel GM: Fred Burgermeister | |
| Where: Shitamachi Low City | |
| OOC - IC Date: 18 February 2014 - 7/28/2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
The market is full of life today. While winter's dismal clouds prevent fresh produce from being of fantastic quality, there's plenty of imported fruits and vegetables out on display. A splash of bright colour to cheer up your dinner plate!
Or rather, that's what it should be. Frankly, what's on display is of terrible quality. The lettuce and cabbages are white, the fruits and vegetables pale at best, and generally none of it is really heartening or appetizing. There's a few things that could be the cause. It is winter, so the quality was never going to be great. The various greengrocers could have decided to save the high-quality food for their own use, and only sell the mediocre.
Or a sinister imp-like creature might have snuck into the district, and begun draining colour from everything in sight.
Panic breaks out in the street, abruptly - the heart of the shopping district, where everything has become an uninspiring monochrome, has become the home of a monstrous creature. Three or four meters high, composed of what looks like an assortment of vegetables in stark monochrome. It has a turnip head with teeth of garlic, limbs of radishes and a dozen other vegetables, with a giant wooden 'PRODUCE' sign worn as chest armor.
So it was probably that third thing.
The world of vibrant colour is fading into a monochrome as the vegetable titan begins to make its way down the street, people fleeing in a panic. It's slow, but gradually gaining more life. How long will people be able to evade its grasp? Can anything stop it?
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister transforms into Youma Form Vegetable Grocery Shade! COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 3 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Mei Akatsuki [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"Shade! There's a Shade in the Low City, Mei! Transform and fly over-- oh, for goodness' sake!"
As the cardinal approaches the window of Mei's room, he sees the girl asleep, her little red head plopped on the surface of an open notebook. It's obvious that she's been attempting to finish some homework, but in typical Mei fashion, she's fallen into a nap attack instead. She didn't even leave her window open like he'd been asking, because ewwww bugs. And it's super hot.
As a result, the girl snores on, oblivious to her mascot's troubling words. It takes several seconds of very loud pecking before she eventually stirs, blinking tiredly at the shadow Roy is casting through the pane of glass.
"Calm down, Roy. I'm coming," she says, rubbing her eyes and lazily undoing the latch. The bird /shoots/ in, then banks a sharp turn and begins to hover in place as best he can with large strokes of his wings. He does not look happy.
"Well, since you clearly didn't hear me the first time, I'll have to explain it again!" he says with a 'hmph'. "Shade. Low City. Destruction. People panicking. Capisce?"
"...what's a capisce?"
"Just go," he sighs, perching briefly on the window. "I'll go notify Reiko to come help you. Please, do hurry. It's already gotten much of the color around the shopping district. We don't want it to start going after humans."
Mei nods affirmatively, and the bird takes off. A shouted incantation and a burst of red light later, Prism Keeper Red does the same.
She arrives on the scene before either of her allies do -- and stops in her airborne tracks as she takes in the massive creature stomping around near a grocery store. That's...a lot of vegetables. And not the yummy, cheese-drenched kind either. For a moment, she considers diving straight into the fray, but stops herself at the last second, images of battles past flashing through her mind. No. It's a much better idea to wait for her backup. There's a much lower chance of her getting squashed when Prism Keeper Orange is at her side.
So she flies a bit higher to survey the thing from above, and hopefully avoid drawing its ire in the process.
COMBAT: Mei Akatsuki transforms into Prism Keeper Red!
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Touyama [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
A Shade!? Reiko is awake because Grandpa's old army practices dictates she's awake earlier. She merely ahems to her grandfather. "I have to attend to a thing for a friend, grandfather, I'll be back soon, okay!" she says with a smile. Grandpa is kind, understanding, she's just a kid, so she is off! She transforms in a connvient alleyway not far from her house and arrives posthaste on her wings. She sort of flutters into the area and huffs. She's zigzagging of course. She's still learning.
"Ah...Mei! I'm here! Roy let me know there's...
" she looks down to the grey area... and the massive rampaging beast.
"Okay Mei, what's the plan! Do we... blast it? Is that what we do?" she asks. She sort of makes a wide eyed look at Mei. She doesn't know how to handle these things yet.
COMBAT: Reiko Touyama transforms into Prism Keeper Orange!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
A hand, with claw-like white bananas as its fingers, drags against colourful awnings decorated with advertisements as the vegetable monster makes its way down the street. In its wake, colour leeches out of the bright cloth, until only uninspiring greys remain. With creaks and the rustle of leafy vegetables, great wooden feet stomp their way down the street - it's like it's wearing grocery bins as boots.
Each step is a little quicker than the one before, and something is beginning to percolate in its meagre mind. It knows little, save for its hunger for colour - but it's beginning to recognize that some things are more colourful than others. Bit by bit, it's beginning to choose its targets, and it's beginning to pursue the fleeing people.
And then the Prism Keepers arrive, and instantly earn its attention. They are in the air, out of reach for the moment - but they are alive, and they are full of colour. And something in the Shade recognizes them as dangerous. It reaches out, seeking to pull the colour even from those who would guard it...
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Hunger For Color on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Hunger For Color on Prism Keeper Orange. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange narrowly braces Fred Burgermeister's Hunger For Color, taking 1 Mana damage! Critical Hit! Prism Keeper Orange's Block ability activates! Prism Keeper Orange's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly dodges Fred Burgermeister's Hunger For Color, taking 1 Mana damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ruma Hino [None] has posed.
"Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around, you lewd cat?"
The adolescent sounded passingly miffed, as she worked at polishing off a box of some of the cheapest ramen she could find. Behind her, a golden-furred cat stood bipedal, one paw pointed at her accusingly.
"If it keeps you away from my Kanatan, then I consider it time well spent!"
A scarlet flush touched her nose as she cast the empty box aside, looking more annoyed than ever. This high up, her short hair had a windswept quality about it as she replied back sharply.
"You act like I'm a bad influence or something, when you're the one doing such creepy things to him!"
The cat crossed his arms, unbudging from his current stance as he looked away, eyes closed dramatically as if some deep emotions had affected him.
"I do those things out of love, and if you can't feel that monster from here, then maybe you /are/ a bad influence on Kanatan you second rate Tuner!"
Moeru opened his eyes, only to see that the girl he had been speaking to was no longer there, having slipped away a few seconds earlier. A paw scratched at his chin idly, the ghost of a smile touching his feline features.
Down in the market, Grace Chapel surveyed the destruction, folding two arms covered by ruffled scarlet sleeves. Some part of her looked upon the creature with anger, as fresh produce was something she could no longer afford, being far too perishable for a homeless Tuner who had to fight to eat. Alighting down beside a melon stand with a click of high heels, she idly wondered if the food being in a monochrome affected it's taste. Hunger nearly overrided sense, but eventually she turned her attention back to the produce creature. She snaps her right finger, and yen coins appears, circling her right hand.
"What is it with the food monsters lately!? Well, it doesn't matter, because anyone who wastes food has to answer to me! Entering the feast, I am Magical Girl Grace Chapel!"
One of the coins floats to her hand, before she performs a half turn, squaring her stance. She flicks the coin towards the creature with staggering speed and force, aiming towards a radish covered limb rather than it's 'armor' of the sign. It careens towards it, attempting to plant her magical signature upon it with a touch to make subsequent attacks easier.
COMBAT: Ruma Hino transforms into Grace Chapel! COMBAT: Grace Chapel has used High Interest Loan on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister narrowly braces Grace Chapel's High Interest Loan, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Grace Chapel is Psyched! Stagger, Stun, and Tangle applied to Fred Burgermeister!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"Orange-chan!" Red calls out when she sees her friend land next to her, secretly pleased to see that the girl is still zig-zagging with her flying, like she herself has a tendency to. It's not that she wants her friend to be a bad flier -- it's just nice to know that it's tough for everybody. "Ah, that's right. This is technically your first Shade, isn't it?" She cocks her head, then shoots her a confident smile. "Don't worry! Most of them aren't like the one at the train station. Just follow my lead and you'll know what to do in no time, 'kay?"
Of course, as she says this, the Shade reaches for her and her ally with its color-draining magic.
Oddly enough, Prism Keeper Red has never had her color drained before. She's been in the line of fire many times, but she's always managed to avoid it, one way or the other. So when she can't jump into the sky fast enough to prevent a tendril of insipid grey from enveloping her shoe, she's taken completely by surprise. It is a /nasty/ feeling -- and worse, the color that leaves her doesn't come straight from her life force. Rather, a tiny fraction of the Chroma Crystal's power leaves her, and the heel of her shoe turns a sickly grey.
Her eyes widen. That could have been a lot worse, but she will have to avoid getting hit with that again at all costs.
Before her thoughts can move on, she sees a coin *ping* off the youma. Wait...is someone else here?
Red turns her gaze towards the source of the projectile and sees the other magical girl. They've fought together before, haven't they? Maybe? To be honest, she's met so many magical warriors in the past month that the ones that didn't talk to her personally have started to blend together. Nevertheless, she's happy to see that they'll have some backup.
"Thank you!" she shouts, giving a little wave of thanks. Then she turns on her heel to face the Shade, arms outstretched. "Now, Orange. Shades want color, but not the pure color of the Chroma Crystals. At least, not in the way I give it to them." She grins, then fires a concentrated beam of scarlet from her palms.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Paint It Red on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister fails to brace Prism Keeper Red's Paint It Red, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
Prism Keeper Orange smiles and listens to Mei... "Oh! Okay...so...our color is different.... " she says looking down at her hand. She looks over to Ruma as she regards the other, red magical girl. She smiles. "Wow! She fights with... coins!? That's... amazing..." she says. She's like ten. She finds all sorts of things amazing and not weird and odd.
She frowns as she looks to her hand and charges up a burst of color then. "Right then.... Orange.. Rush!" she calls out, firing a burst of orange energy.
"...these names stink. I need better names..." she ponders aloud.
She also gets hit by the color drain, frowning a bit.. "That felt... horrid!" she says. She looks down. "Eeeeek. The edge of my skirt..." she complains.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Rush! on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister fails to brace Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Rush!, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Fred Burgermeister!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
Wisps of orange and red are all the Shade could grasp - the Prism Keepers guard their colour well. Still, there is such a found there, that the creature's hunger is overwhelming that sense of danger...
Abruptly, that wistful desire is cut short as a coin slams into one arm. Shining gold swiftly fades into white as the Shade absorbs the item's colour...but doing so allowed it to absorb everything else imbued in the coin. Poisoned by the energies, it staggers a step or two, turning slowly to find its attacker. The coin stung, but there is more colour to be consumed...
...too much colour. Too much brilliant red, too much vibrant orange, the monochrome monster forced back several ponderous steps from the overwhelming light.
It doesn't roar. It doesn't scream out a challenge. It just shifts, slightly more predatory, marginally less ponderous - it's no longer hungry, but angry. It raises one arm, and unleashes a storm of monochrome produce - a bright exploding apple hurled at Prism Keeper Red, a brace of carrots to cordon off Prism Keeper Orange, and a massive head of cabbage rolling towards the ground-bound Grace Chapel!
All, of course, in stark monochrome.
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Apple Of Your Eye on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Carrot Picket Fence on Prism Keeper Orange. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Salad Greys on Grace Chapel. COMBAT: Grace Chapel narrowly counters Fred Burgermeister's Salad Greys, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Grace Chapel's Reverse ability activates! Grace Chapel's Tactician ability activates! Cripple, Diversion, and Tangle applied to Grace Chapel! COMBAT: Grace Chapel's counterattack, Miser's Dream, partially gets through, doing 22 Fatigue damage to Fred Burgermeister! Critical Counterhit! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red fails to counter Fred Burgermeister's Apple Of Your Eye, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to Prism Keeper Red! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red's counterattack, Rose Darts, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fred Burgermeister! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange narrowly counters Fred Burgermeister's Carrot Picket Fence, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Prism Keeper Orange! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange's counterattack, Orangella Obfuscation, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fred Burgermeister!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
Prism Keeper Red nods as Orange puts it together in her mind, firing off a pure color attack of her own. "Yeah, our color isn't like normal color. Because ours comes from our Chroma Crystals! Although if they /take/ it from us with their color drain attacks, they still seem to like it...so I guess I can't explain that." She shrugs. "But firing off color blasts can get pretty tiring, so don't forget to use your koi sometimes, too!" Physical attacks would probably also work fine, but it has literally never ended well when Red got too close to a monster, so she leaves that bit off for now.
Speaking of alternative attacks, the girl spies an apple flying towards her head at a worrying speed. With two quick snaps of her fingers, a precise rose dart shoots into the apple, skewering it. For a second, this appears to be good -- and then the apple explodes in mid-air, sending a shockwave of force and negative energy that hurls her tiny frame into a nearby tree.
"Owwww," she complains, rubbing the back of her head as a headache starts to spread from the impact. "You're lame, monster! What would have happened if William Tell's apple was a grenade, and not a delicious fruit? My aim was super-good, so you have no right to pull dirty tricks like that." She stands up, heels clacking on the greyer-than-usual cement. It's probably useless to argue ethics with a Shade, but she is pissed about her awesome shot going wrong. "I've already shown you that you can't handle real, pure color. So just give up and keel over already."
Twirl~
"Roses are red! Violets are blue! For your evil deeds, I'll punish you!"
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Prism Keeper Orange. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red-Letter Day on Grace Chapel. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Prism Keeper Red! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Prism Keeper Orange! COMBAT: Grace Chapel accepts Prism Keeper Red's Red-Letter Day, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Grace Chapel!
<Pose Tracker> Grace Chapel [None] has posed.
Spreading her arms out parallel to the ground, she strikes a pose for the two younger girls. It's obvious that she's showing off in part for their benefit, exuding an aura of absolute self-confidence. She watches as their vibrant attacks strike the monster, before offering her compliments. "Not bad. What are you both, nine, ten at most? You're doing pretty well for newbies."
However, she wasn't about to get shown up by ten year olds either. After all, she was thirteen! That was a big difference when it came to being a Magical Girl! As a massive head of cabbage heads her way, she snaps her fingers, and a swirling aegis of numerous coins erupts from her feet, forming a helix pattern. The coins then expand outwards, rapidly rotating to shear apart the majority of the cabbage head before it reaches her, and then further outwards to cut at the monster itself. It is however, huge, to put it mildly. She can't stop it all, and is nearly crushed for her efforts. It rolls right over her, bowling her backwards, arms flailing. When she gets up, she looks, vaguely embarrassed, fighting off the urge to dust herself off given the nature of the fight. "Cabbage is for making delicious meals, not crushing people!"
Around her neck is a coin upon a leather thong. Putting up two fingers to it, she flicks it and a massive number of coins materialize begin to orbit around the produce monster. "I'm not about to be shown up by my juniors though." She flicks it again, and suddenly all of the coins start to barrage the creature. A constant, unrelenting storm of pure metal. "So I think I'll go a little overboard."
COMBAT: Grace Chapel has used Millionaire on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister narrowly counters Grace Chapel's Millionaire, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fred Burgermeister's Reverse ability activates! Fred Burgermeister's Tactician ability activates! COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister's counterattack, Inexplicable Eggplant, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Grace Chapel!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
The magical girls are delivering speeches. The Shade is not intelligent enough to answer - but is sharp enough to recognize a threat. As the coins orbit around, it hunches over, covering its head with gangly arms - and is surrounded by vegetables of darkest black. The barrier of eggplants takes the majority of the incoming coins, though those that make it through tear savage rents into the monster.
When it lowers its arms, however...it seems to have become bulkier, tougher in spite of the assault. Moving faster now, it stomps forward, unleashing a storm of a half dozen kinds of universally black berries at its most recent attacker. Perhaps if it moves quickly, it has a chance...
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Frozen Berry Storm on Grace Chapel. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used It Eats Its Spinach on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister accepts Fred Burgermeister's It Eats Its Spinach, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Fred Burgermeister! Cleanse! All of Fred Burgermeister's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Grace Chapel narrowly braces Fred Burgermeister's Frozen Berry Storm, taking 2 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
You know how, earlier, Red said that getting to close to a monster was dangerous?
Yeah. Screw that.
"O-Orange?" she calls out when she sees the monster unleash a storm of black berries (but not just blackberries?) onto the nearby attackers. She's far away enough that she doesn't even have to move to attack...but when the battlefield clears, her friend is nowhere in sight.
Anger and panic are pretty closely connected for her, so when she starts worrying about the other Prism Keeper's disappearance, wild rage starts boiling within her as well. She turns her burning red eyes to the Shade, a bubble of red beginning to coalesce around her as she does so.
"I swear, if you hurt my friend..." she says, letting the threat hang in the air. A part of her knows that it's useless to talk to these monsters, but she's kind of a talkative girl. It's the best way she knows to vent her emotions. Other than using them to ram into a youma with the force of a freight train.
Which, coincidentally, is exactly what she does.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Red Comet on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister perfectly dodges Prism Keeper Red's Red Comet, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Grace Chapel [None] has posed.
Grace's right fist clenches as she sees many of her coins getting intercepted by eggplants. That was less effective than she was hoping for, but it did it's job all the same. She doesn't have time to reflect on how she could have done better, however, as a storm of berries is coming right her way. The aegis of coins which swirls about her move to intercept, parrying many of them with startling accuracy, but still, there are splatters here and there on her attire which show that she certainly couldn't stop all of the powerful barrage. While she winces in pain, she tries her best not to cry out, after all, she was trying to look /cool/ here in front of the other younger Mahou Shoujo!
"You're making me berry upset!" Alright.. perhaps not that cool, though she seems pretty smug about the terrible pun that she doesn't think is all that terrible. Looking Red's way, she shakes her head, "Maybe your friend is just being smart, kid! Look, if you're having a hard time in a fight, you should /back off/ instead of pressing forward! The most important thing any Magical Girl has is their life! Lose it and you can't help anybody!"
Between her fingers, a numerous amount of coins appear, which she flings high into the air. Several seconds elapse before they rain down upon the creature at terminal velocity, seemingly unaffected by any sort of air resistance.
COMBAT: Grace Chapel has used It's raining yen, Hallelujah! on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister fails to dodge Grace Chapel's It's raining yen, Hallelujah!, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
A blazing red comet barrels down on the Shade, and it explodes.
Specifically, it flies apart into a storm of monochrome produce and wood, allowing Prism Keeper Red to charge straight through. It's as it's reassembling, though, that coins rain down - and its emergency evasive maneuver only made it a bigger target.
Even as colour leeches out of the summoned coins, the Shade continues its forward advance. The Prism Keepers are founts of colour, perhaps even too much colour for it to consume as it is. It needs more, needs to grow stronger, so that it can consume everything. A wave of peas - and perhaps brussels sprouts too, who knows - cascades in the wake of the Shade's charge, hopefully enough to divert the Prism Keeper.
And a clawed hand reaches out for Grace Chapel, to drain the colour of that vibrant red warrior.
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Give Peas A Chance on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister has used Color Drain on Grace Chapel. COMBAT: Grace Chapel narrowly dodges Fred Burgermeister's Color Drain, taking 2 Mana damage! Fred Burgermeister drains 1 mana from Grace Chapel! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red narrowly dodges Fred Burgermeister's Give Peas A Chance, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Diversion and Tangle applied to Prism Keeper Red!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
Prism Keeper Orange got blasted as she raised her shield of vibrant, swimming koi around her, sending her flying like a pinball into a pile of ...
Oranges.
Irony at it's best. It takes a moment or two for her to get her putzah back together before she tosses the oranges off her and frowns. "Hey...!" she says with a frown. "That's.. that's not supposed to happen!" she says blazenly before she attempts to fire back a small brust of energy to slip the monster up, trying to hamper it's movemenets!
Hey, she's okay!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Peel on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister narrowly braces Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Peel, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Fred Burgermeister!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"...eh?!"
SMASH
And with that, the Red Comet dies down, with the little Prism Keeper sitting in a small crater where her attack actually made contact. She's not exactly sure what the Shade did; one minute, it was in her path, and the next she was zooming through thin air. Thankfully, she didn't take any damage from her impact because of the ultra-powerful shield that she surrounded herself with. But still. Why can't this attack ever work?
Her mind is distracted from her embarrassing showing, however, by the other magical girl's words. Red hears something about Orange being 'smart' and leaving the field. For a girl with abandonment issues, this translates to 'you couldn't protect her, so she left. Neener neener.'
"No! Orange would never leave in the middle of battle, she's too good for that!" she yells back, flailing her arms in protest. "It's not smart to leave battle. How can you even say that? If we left, these people -- this whole place! -- would be grey. Besides, there's no way this thing can," gulp, "kill us."
Thankfully, before she can say anything more, a small burst of orange energy shines nearby, and Red looks over to see her ally, definitely not grievously injured or MIA. Yay~
OH BOY THAT'S A LOT OF PEAS
"Eeeek, this is so nasty!" she exclaims, dancing about in the trail of greens to get the gross things off of her. She can't see terribly well because of them, but that's no excuse not to go whole hog on this Shade. She's had enough anxiety for one day. It's time to end this threat for good. Conjuring her Chroma Wand, the girl fires a blast of pure red to cut through the wake she's caught in, towards the Shade's back.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red has used Paint It Red on Fred Burgermeister. COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister narrowly braces Prism Keeper Red's Paint It Red, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Fred Burgermeister!
<Pose Tracker> Grace Chapel [None] has posed.
As the clawed hand reaches out for her, it narrowly nabs one of the ruffles of her skirts, which fade away into a monochrome. She has already leapt away however, onto the top of one of the various produce stands and then.. she plops her butt down, feet hanging off the side. "Don't act so naive kid! When you're new, you have to accept your limitations. You've got a whole lot of living to do too!"
She makes a sweeping gesture with an arm, "Most of the people have already left, you're mostly defending property right now. Are you saying that property is more valuable than your life? You're letting all the stars and sparkle and glamour get in your eyes! Do you know how many girls your age I've seen pass because they decided to fight on thinking that love and justice alone would see them through? Too many!" She was being entirely hypocritical here, but.. under the surface, she didn't want to see them get hurt.
One of the levitating coins floats downward, before spiraling back upwards, an apple balancing upon it. She picks it up off of it, and takes a bite as the coin rejoins the rest around her. Munching, she speaks with her mouth full, "Stop acting all tough, until you know what it's /really/ like out there! You'll live longer and do more good that way!"
COMBAT: Grace Chapel has used Hypocritical Reverse Psychology on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red accepts Grace Chapel's Hypocritical Reverse Psychology, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Prism Keeper Red is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
Once more, the vibrant colour lashes out against the monster of monochrome. Orange light hindering its advance, red light slamming into it from behind. Too pure for it to absorb, too overwhelming to consume, its grayscale nature anathema to the bright light.
Enough is enough. It's advanced far enough that there are things around it that have yet too be drained of their colour - and so it flings its arms wide. The Shade will consume everything, and the world around it will be black and white. No more colour, no more life, only stark shadows will remain.
Those fighting it might manage to resist the drain - but the sheer dissonance to be unleashed might overwhelm them on its own.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fred Burgermeister has used World In Monochrome on Grace Chapel. COMBAT: FINISHER! Fred Burgermeister has used World In Monochrome on Prism Keeper Red. COMBAT: FINISHER! Fred Burgermeister has used World In Monochrome on Prism Keeper Orange. COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange perfectly braces Fred Burgermeister's Finisher, World In Monochrome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Prism Keeper Orange's Block ability activates! Prism Keeper Orange's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Grace Chapel fails to brace Fred Burgermeister's Finisher, World In Monochrome, taking 55 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Prism Keeper Red fails to brace Fred Burgermeister's Finisher, World In Monochrome, taking 40 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"You've...you've seen other girls o-our age--"
If there was one thing Red had forced herself not to think about since becoming a magical girl, it was death. She'd been bashed, battered, lacerated, and pushed into near-despair. And yet, somehow she had avoided thinking about her own life -- and how her new situation could abruptly end it at any given moment. Part of this was subconscious. It's rather hard for a 10-year-old who's only known mild suffering to grasp the concept of mortality. But right here, it's being shoved in her face. And it's like being stabbed through the chest with ice.
But, even so, what this girl is saying isn't right.
Fighting against her fear, she looks straight into Grace Chapel's eyes. "It's not just property! Tons of people had their color drained before leaving, I know it. And Orange and I are the only ones who can get it back. The only way to do it is by defeating that monster," she says, pointing to the Shade her beam just hit. "It's never right to run away, not when you're the only one who can protect people. Even if -- even if"
Her words are cut short as she's hit by a soul-crushing wave of black and white.
The drain from earlier was child's play compared to this. The Chroma Crystal gleams, trying to resist the dark force, but it can barely put up a fight before a stream of crimson begins to flow from it. Her outfit begins to lose color too, and slowly, she feels the will to keep going fading, fading, until its as grey as the rest of her surroundings.
Well, not quite.
Even with the apathy besieging her soul, Red turns over and covers the Crystal with her body, preventing more of its power from reaching the Shade. This means more of her own life's color gets drained, of course. But the Crystal is much, much more important right now. She just has to hold on until it stops.
And it does stop. It feels like an eternity, but eventually, the real world returns.
The Prism Keeper wastes no time in getting to her feet, despite the wave of fatigue that washes over her as soon as she stands up. She has to drop this thing, and fast. Before it can unleash an attack like that again.
"Prism Aegis Power!"
The incantation sparks the (faded) Crystal to life again, gathering remnants of red power around her in a faint glow. It will be tough to build up enough power to fire this off, seeing as most of the environment and much of her own power was taken in that brief greyscale hurricane. But she /has/ to. She's one of the few who can.
"Red Rain!"
She flings the meager amount of magic into the sky above the Shade's head, watching as it opens up a portal of red that showers intermittent blasts to the ground below.
"Ok. Orange, it's you turn--"
...Orange?
COMBAT: FINISHER! Prism Keeper Red has used Prism Aegis Power! Red Rain! on Fred Burgermeister.
<Pose Tracker> Grace Chapel [None] has posed.
The color drain is.. well it's a horrible experience, but Grace's life was full of horrible experiences. It's no less wearing though, as suddenly her whole world, herself included, fades into hues of grey. She takes one ragged breath, then another as she adjusts to it.
The apple core, now faded away into something lifeless, drops off the stand entirely. Apathy is something which is.. actually quite foreign to Grace Chapel, despite her words. She felt very deeply and passionately about what she did. And despite her advice to the younger Prism Keeper, she never ran away from battle herself. Ever, even when it was at great risk to her life to continue. Even her voice seems to be lacking it's earlier conviction, due to the color drain effect, "Even if.. what?" It's far more mild, and it sounds.. a lot more sad. Like this girl has just seen far too much suffering and death for her years.
Standing back up, she shifts a coin orbiting around her right hand, to her left. "Whatever, we can talk about it later. Let's end this for now."
Drawing back her left hand like some sort of baseball pitcher, she pitches the coin, wrist snapping at the last minute. Even in the world of monochrome, there are ripple like distortions, and a thunderous boom as the coin breaks the sound barrier, tearing up furrows in the concrete as it careens forward with so much more force than her prior attacks.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Grace Chapel has used Sinistral Surprise! on Fred Burgermeister.
COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister fails to brace Grace Chapel's Finisher, Sinistral Surprise!, taking 57 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Fred Burgermeister fails to brace Prism Keeper Red's Finisher, Prism Aegis Power! Red Rain!, taking 52 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fred Burgermeister is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Fred Burgermeister [None] has posed.
The world of black and white seems to suit the Shade quite nicely. As colour flows into it - including a vibrant flow of red, before the Chroma Crystal is protected - it stands taller and prouder. With each moment, it grows in both strength and intelligence. Somehow, even without a clear face, its stance seems to show that it understands.
Those fighting it are threats. But they guard treasures with founts of colour, worth seizing.
The keeper of the orange crystal has taken cover, far enough from the Shade that she's not an immediate concern. As Prism Keeper Red fires her hope into the heavens, the Shade steps forward, reaching toward her, reaching for what she is bound to keep safe-
And then like a runaway freight train, Grace Chapel's coin slams into it. The Shade is lifted clear off its feet, tumbling head over heels, half-shattered from the sheer force.
This leaves it no hope of escaping the rain of brilliant red, returning splashes of colour to the world even as the power strikes the Shade again and again...
When the storm ends, the Shade is gone. A medley of colours remains where it was dealt that fatal blow - swirling greens and browns and brilliant reds, a veritable rainbow of light, ready to be restored to where it belongs.
<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Red [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
Red doesn't even watch her attack as it rains down red fury on the Shade. Instead, her eyes roam over the battlefield, looking for some small sign of her orange friend and ally. Earlier, a blast of orange had come out of nowhere, reaffirming that she had not been abandoned. This time...
The death knell of the monster catches her attention in the form of a cloud of color sparkles, milling about where the Shade used to be. Good, good. They'd managed to defeat it after all. Time to redistribute the environment's color, then.
With somber gait, the girl walks over to the raw color, sparks of red already returning to the Chroma Crystal. She aborbs all of it in her Wand, then releases it in a refreshing *whoosh*. Immediately, the area is back to how it was, and any citizens that found themselves drained are returned to their regular, motivated selves.
She tries to trace where the few sparkles of orange disappear to, but there are so few that she can't track them. Darn it.
"Nothing," Red says brusquely in reply to Grace Chapel's question, only half-remembering what she was going to say before the wave hit the both of them. "Thanks for helping me defeat the Shade. I'm glad I didn't end up on my own against it." She's not even looking at the other girl as she says this, as she's far too busy looking behind various cover-like objects for her friend.
"You can come out now, Orange! The Shade's gone!"
<Pose Tracker> Grace Chapel [None] has posed.
As the creature disappears, and color returns to the world in inches, Grace had never been so relieved to see even /dull/ colors again. She doesn't say anything however, just breathing in and out in a quiet rhythm. It had been a far tougher battle than she'd like to admit, for someone with a philosophy of staunch individualism.
Eventually she responds to the young Prism Keeper, "You grow the most when you're forced to face such things alone and not rely on other people. It's why I try to do everything by myself." She then turns, and begins to walk away on her high heels, she moves with a slight limp, but it's nothing that won't heal quickly.
