2014-08-02 - A Mermaid Youma's Desperation! Nephrite Kills Tuxedo Mask
| Title: A Mermaid Youma's Desperation! Nephrite Kills Tuxedo Mask | |
|---|---|
| Summary: It's time for another one of Nephrite's Dark Seals! Today, it's a swimmer at Infinity Institute, and a surprising number of people object, for a surprising variety of reasons. The fight is spectacularly fierce. | |
| Who: Nephrite, Princess Kraehe, Sailor Jupiter, Tuxedo Mask, Cure Beauty, Dark Amber, Fuu Hououji | |
| Where: Infinity Institute, Pool Floor | |
| OOC - IC Date: 21 February 2014 - 8/2/2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
It's a dark, rainy evening, a perfect crown for a dark, rainy day. What started as a grey drizzle earlier in the day has built until a full-on storm now pours down over Infinity's campus, rain falling in great sheets against the glass walls of Infinity's indoor pool. The lights flicker occasionally, threatening to go out completely; really, they shouldn't even be on at this hour. And they wouldn't be -- except for the boy who is swimming furiously up and down his lane in the pool. He's undeniably fast, but his technique is sloppy, inefficient. The splash from the fury of his strokes cause the entire pool to ripple, some water spilling over the edge and onto the impeccably clean tile.
The young man finally reaches a hand out to the edge of the pool, pushed to his limit. His breathing is gasping and labored, and he clearly needs a rest, but if his posture is any indication, it's not about to happen. He's just about to kick off again when he seems to spot a figure in the shadows. One that he recognizes. The one that gave him the advice that improved his swimming so much.
"Sanjouin-sensei?"
But the figure who walks into the light is not Masato Sanjouin. It is Nephrite, General of the Dark Kingdom. And he is not a friend.
"His energy has reached its peak. Awaken, Aquata!"
The silhouette of a Dark Seal blinks a few times on his swim cap before letting out green light, from which a shadow emerges, shaped like a mermaid of old, the one who would bring sailors to their watery graves. And that is what he intends to do tonight.
COMBAT: Nephrite has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 4 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Rue [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Rainy days suit Rue when she is away from Gold Crown Town. It does so many things to alleviate the ugliness of the human world. Most pleasantly, it forces all those hideous people inside! And not just inside, but often to their own devices, in their rooms, behind doors and walls where Rue does not have to see them.
It is one of the few things that makes existence in such a crowded, noisy, repulsive a little more bearable.
As such, Rue is roaming the halls, because she actually has not seen most of the Infinity Institute. It's always so populated. The classrooms are empty at this hour, so this wing is devoid of life. She hums to keep herself company. The candle she is holding is a poor friend, you see.
A chilling wind blows. The candle goes out, proving its fickleness. Rue stops, not in total darkness but nevertheless taken by a dark mood. She furrows her brow and then turns to look down the hall, and then up it, and finally through the floor and toward the swimming pool. Ah, there it is.
"Really?!" she hisses, hurling the candle down the hall. What little illumination cast by the emergency lighting dims and goes out.
With a shriek and a swirl of feathers, Nephrite is forced to share the stage with another. She stands en pointe, one leg extended behind her, arms spread like wings. Her eyes are closed.
"Are you really going to ruin my day? They're going to start showing up any moment now." Princess Kraehe's eyes spring open. They glow red, reflecting the overhead lighting like an animal in the dark. She spins with painstaking exactness, straightening her back to stand with both feet on the ground as she twirls.
"I wanted quiet."
<Pose Tracker> Kinzo Hiroyuki [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
One moment, a boy is sinking in the pool, another moment, he is not. It's really weird, like a frame of time was missing within one tenths of a second, there's even some vauge tell tale of someone having dipped there hand or arm in, in this missing frame.
Instead, what you have appearing, suddenly, nearby is a wet, unconcious boy and an older boy in a brown cape, and victorian suitcoat who is standing up to a straight as two fingers retrat from the boy's wrist, upon making sure he's not in immmediate danger at a cursory check of his pulse. When he's positive the boy is not drowning himself into a further bad situation, the figure turns to face Nephrite and...... the upset Princess Kraehe.
"Actually. A moment ago." he asides to Kraehe, looking more directly at Nephrite.
"What's this about today. Is it......draining swimmers of thier energy because only the energy gained from a TRUE professional swim team member can power the jewel of I don't give a damn-day?" he asks in the most sarcastically inclinded tone one can imagine.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"Jupiter Power - *Make Up.*"
The voice in which the well-rehearsed transformation phrase is spoken is more clipped and determined than usual, almost more like a statement of purpose rather than the usual shout. The effect is the same, however - outside, thunder rumbles, and down the hall from the entrance to the poor area electricity flickers wildly for several seconds before Sailor Jupiter comes striding into view.
Only moments ago, Makoto had been kicking herself for the poorly-considered impulse that had brought her to Infinity Academy, one of what seems to be a whole string of bad decisions she's been making lately and which had, as far as she could tell, accomplished absolutely nothing except to get her lost in the empty halls and waiting out a storm she would've known was coming if she'd been paying more attention to what her senses had to tell her.
When she turned a corner just in time to see that swirl of black feathers and hear Kraehe's shriek, however, she could hardly pass by without getting involved.
Now, crossing her arms in front of her, she takes in the scene at the pool area with narrowed eyes. "Athletes train hard to improve themselves and excel," she states. "Whoever you are, I won't let you selfishly take that energy for yourself."
<Pose Tracker> Reika Aoki [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
"Don't you think should be campaigning more, Reika-san?" A handsome classmate with tousled brown hair walked at her side through the Infinity Halls, the atmosphere of the evening giving Infinity's glass tower a positively gloomy and foreboding atmosphere. Putting a single finger to her chin, she tilted her head upwards as if in deep thought. She always appeared to be that way when contemplating something, even over the simplest of matters.
"Do you really think I ought to? Shouldn't we be devoting our time to some of our more recent initiatives? We haven't made as much progress as we ought to on the story book reading I'd like to have for Juuban elementary." Her classmate shook his head, with a smile that looked equal parts affectionate and condescending. "They'll keep. What won't is your student council position if you neglect to secure it."
Silent for a time, she walked through the darkened halls at his time, before finally deflecting, "I need to spend some time on the archery range, I don't want to become careless with practice." "The range is closed at this hour.. hey, what's that noise anyhow?"
It was only then that Reika noticed that distinct feeling, almost like a pulse in the air as the seal activates. A moment later, something more 'familiar' joins with it, and she blanches, ceasing in her walk as she answers him. "It's probably just the storm." With an otherwise unchanging expression, she pulls out her phone, and starts trying to make a text, only to realize the reception has decided to be fickle at a bad time. 'No Service' appears at the top left corner.
"Always at the worst times." She murmurs, as her classmate gave her a strange look, "Is something wrong Reika-san?" "No. Please go on ahead without me, Irie-san. I need to swing by my locker again." "I'll escort y-" She cut him off, "Ah, thank you, but no. That won't be necessary."
Looking perplexed, he finally offered, "Alright, you have a good evening." She released her breath only once he was out of sight, only then quickening her pace to somewhere out of sight before gripping a white compact, adorned with a pink ribbon. Opening it suddenly, she mouthed the words, "Pretty Cure, Smile Charge!"
~Soon~ Sensing something was wrong wasn't an 'exact' science, so it took her a while to find her way to Juuban's pool. She enters less dramatically, shoving open the door and running into the room at a speed which would assuredly be frowned upon by even the most lenient lifeguard, she stops short however, with the Mermaid standing between her and the person who really has captured her attention. Though her expression is unchanging, her question is terse. "Has the Raven been joined by a danseur?"
It takes a supreme effort of will to tear her gaze away from her and the person with her to place it squarely upon Aquata, scrutinizing every detail about the creature.
COMBAT: Cure Beauty performs an analysis on Nephrite! COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Pool rooms always have venting windows, even if they're up high. A school like Infinity? They're large windows, and they're up high. They start roughly the quivalent of one storey above the pool, and the darkness and the storm outside don't make for moonlit silhouettes: that makes them a decent place for Tuxedo Mask to linger, watching.
There'll be plenty of people that show up to right this wrong.
He watches the boy begin to sink, and almost moves; he sees Kraehe's entrance and challenge, and the blue eyes behind the mask flicker to watch Dark Amber save the kid and throw the second challenge. When Sailor Jupiter shows, he pulls back into the shadow of the window's ledge, and he views Cure Beauty's entrance with detachment.
Oh he'll step in if he's needed. But-- for now, the bulk of the attention of the masked gentleman in formalwear is on the edges, away from the center stage, away from the main drama.
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
Some days ago, the stars had heralded a great disturbance for the Senshi. Nephrite, shaken from his meditation, had attempted to wrest the meaning and nature of this disturbance from the celestial powers, but they had remained reticent, unwilling to divulge anything more. So the Dark General decided on a more practical approach to his investigation, one that might have a few benefits on the side as well. Draw them out with a Dark Seal.
Unfortunately, instead of sailor-suited warriors, he gets a crow. More specifically, ballet dancer -- tutu and all -- squawking at him to be quiet.
Nephrite looks her way as she twirls, puzzlement quickly fading beyond curiosity and into annoyance. "The appearance of the Senshi is exactly what I want. I don't much care for your quiet. If it is that precious to you, go seek it somewhere else." Something in his gut tells him that this new arrival is not here to attack Aquata, so he does not lash out beyond that. Instead, his eyes dart towards the pool as there appears to be a blip in reality, and a magical fighter who had opposed Principessa appears at its edge, victim in hand. That sort of power is...troubling. But he certainly doesn't let his face reflect that thought.
"Such spirited words," he mocks the Perfume Warrior. "But you are mistaken. Look at the boy: do you truly believe his energy is worth anything, even at its peak?" Nephrite crosses his arms, then leaps onto a rafter as he sees Sailor Jupiter and Cure Beauty arrive on the scene. "No. I have used him merely to draw you out. Now that you are here, my servant will kill you."
The dread mermaid makes to do just that, finally materializing completely and hovering a half-inch over the surface of the water. Looking around at her opponents, she tosses her head back and screams, evoking both the primal fear of the ocean and the sorrow of those drowned at sea.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sirens Wail on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sirens Wail on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sirens Wail on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sirens Wail on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking. COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly dodges Nephrite's Sirens Wail, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Beauty is Quipped! Diversion, Stagger, and Stun applied to Cure Beauty! COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly counters Nephrite's Sirens Wail, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Dark Amber is Quipped! Dark Amber's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Amber's counterattack, Amber Bladestorm, partially gets through, doing 14 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! Stun applied to Nephrite! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Nephrite's Sirens Wail, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Quipped! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! Diversion, Stagger, and Stun applied to Sailor Jupiter! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Nephrite's Sirens Wail, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is Quipped! Diversion, Stagger, and Stun applied to Tuxedo Mask! COMBAT: Nephrite has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 5 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Kraehe turns her head sharply to stare at Dark Amber when he appears. After he has said his piece, she glances back to Nephrite.
"Oh, he's absolutely charming, isn't he?"
The ballerina takes a weightless step backward, crossing her arms and regarding the gathering forces of good with malice written behind a beautiful mask. "I'll stay and watch your grisly business, you jackbooted herald. Are we not allies in infamy? I'll soothe your wounds with my sweet words."
Her red eyes narrow as Cure Beauty finds her cue, and narrow further when she delivers her lines.
"Today I am an artist only by the ever-looming shadow of my towering skill, frozen girl. Dance well so that you do not die before our next meeting! I only devour that which I kill myself."
The raven princess spreads her arms, rising into the rafters by the grace of invisible wings. Her red eyes are more visible in the shadows.
"A box seat, then, general. Do you always watch the corps carry out their busywork?"
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"Iyashi no Kaze!"
The voice comes, of all places, from the doorway girls' locker room, the soothing breeze of the Winds of Healing blowing forth to bathe heroes and heroines and help offset the effects of the dark mermaid's shriek - and the Magic Knight of Wind emerges to join her allies. "I heard a scream just now," she explains, unslinging her bow and readying an arrow. "I'll ask for the details later; I gather this is our enemy for the evening?" she inquires, tilting her head briefly at the mermaid youma.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Iyashi no Kaze on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Sailor Jupiter's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Cure Beauty accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Cure Beauty's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Fuu Hououji's Iyashi no Kaze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Tuxedo Mask's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber frowns as he shakes his head. "You wouldn't not be the one to use the siren call......" he says with a low smirk as a wave of sound passes over him, causing him to wince and falter, just a bit. "Of--of a false pretense to get our attention before. Nor the last!" he calls out as he replies with a quick flick of his wrist, sending out a wave of blades into the wake to fly out at Nephrite's Youma.
Of course he gathers a quick magical charge in his right hand as he jumps forward, letting out a wave of his own dark brown flavorted energy wreckloose against the creature, trying to wear down it's own powers and abilities in it's wake.
He smirks as Fuu arrives. "Good timing, as always~" he sings out just a bit to her.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber frowns as he shakes his head. "You wouldn't not be the one to use the siren call......" he says with a low smirk as a wave of sound passes over him, causing him to wince and falter, just a bit. "Of--of a false pretense to get our attention before. Nor the last!" he calls out as he replies with a quick flick of his wrist, sending out a wave of blades into the wake to fly out at Nephrite's Youma.
Of course he gathers a quick magical charge in his right hand as he jumps forward, letting out a wave of his own dark brown flavorted energy wreckloose against the creature, trying to wear down it's own powers and abilities in it's wake.
Princess Kraehe remarks upon his ability to be charming- or really, lack thereofe. This gives him a short smile.
"Why is this familar....." he muses a bit.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Amber Blight on Nephrite. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Even while you're studying someone or something, you can be distracted. A wail of primal fear of the seas does that admirably. Cure Beauty pales, even if she remains otherwise outwardly unshakable. The air grows more chill, not simply the biting cold of an ocean breeze, but more arctic in nature. "Is that you see a life as? Energy that can be gathered? Something that can be used?" A crackling sound resounds, as something snaps into her hand, a blade of gleaming frost. "How short-sighted and cruel."
Any sort of bravado however, is sucked out of her by Kraehe's address. She tries not to look at those scarlet eyes, but fails, seeing the ever-looming spectre of that massive Raven in her mind's eye. To Beauty's credit, she maintains all of her emotional equilibrium in light of those memories, but it's task harder than she'd care to admit. "That sounds so dismal, to see people as nothing more than something to be toyed with, then devoured for their inferior artistry. Is this your path, Raven Princess?"
She doesn't wait for an answer, Fuu's healing winds wash over her, releasing the grip of fear upon her and she suddenly advances in response. Upon the water, she continues her fast break, small ice floes appearing and vanishing beneath her feat as she balances on each, even running full tilt. As she reaches Aquata, she continues to charge on by, the blade trailing cerulean snow as it slashes past her, trying to coat her scales with a layer of rime and hoarfrost with even the slightest graze.
COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Precure Beauty Frostbite on Nephrite. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite perfectly counters Cure Beauty's Precure Beauty Frostbite, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Driftwood Spear, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Dark Amber's Amber Blight, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Nephrite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
The mermaid's scream crashes over the gathered warriors, and though Sailor Jupiter squares her shoulders and braces herself solidly against it, it hits her with the force of a breaking wave. If it had been designed and chosen specifically to aim for her weaknesses, the assault could scarcely have found the mark better - fear and grief assail a heart already struggling with fear and grief, and Jupiter shudders, head bowing. She can almost feel herself sinking into the depths.
The ocean. Water. A cold and endless blue.
The gentle wind of the Magic Knight's power washes soothingly over her, driving back some of the chill and reminding Sailor Jupiter where she is. She straightens herself with a somewhat shaky breath, and looks gratefully in Fuu's direction. "Thank you," she says.
That's right, Makoto tells herself. She has things to do.
When she turns her eyes upward toward Nephrite in his perch high overhead, her eyes are narrow again and hard. "Get ready to be disappointed," she tells him. "There's something important I have to take care of... so there's absolutely no way I can die here today."
She lifts her hands, and another wind sweeps through over the pool, this one smelling sweetly of flowers and soon to bombard Aquata with a dizzying barrage of petals. "Flower Hurricane!"
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Flower Hurricane on Nephrite. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly dodges Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Nephrite's Fade ability activates! Nephrite's Flash ability activates! Blind, Stun, and Trap applied to Nephrite!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
High up in the window, the siren's dread wail hits Tuxedo Mask like a ton of bricks aimed at the heart and the eardrums, and he tries to get out of its way, to stave it off, anything -- he holds white gloved hands to his ears, and his eyes glisten and shut tight behind the mask. He teeters on the edge of the sill--
--and then the holy wind comes to push him back up, to clear away the horror and the sorrow from the air. The holy wind also, incidentally, makes his cape billow; timing is such that the storm outside obliges the moment with a streak of lightning and a crack of thunder, and the raw emotion the siren just stabbed him with is evident in his voice as determination most grim.
"Dark Amber! Cure Beauty! Do your best and you can take on any foe-- don't let this evil mermaid dictate sadness and despair, not when you know what good there is in the world! Wind Knight-- I thank you for your timing! Sailor Jupiter-- HE STABBED SAILOR MOON, BREAK HIS FACE."
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Night on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Dark Amber is Cheered! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Cheered! COMBAT: Cure Beauty accepts Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Night, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
"Allies?" Nephrite says at Princess Kraehe's words, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. He had not seen her before, but it's not a stretch to believe that she fights on the side of darkness, judging by her outfit and general attitude. "I'm afraid your frozen girl won't be doing much dancing this evening. Aquata!"
The single word is enough to command the monstrous youma, who had just deflected Cure Beauty's word with a sharp hunk of driftwood. Tossing it aside, she raises her pallid blue-grey arms, and two tendrils of water reach upward to grab the Pretty Cure and pull her under the waves of the pool, not to surface again.
Before he can see the outcome, the general looks back towards the raven princess. "My youma are an extension of my will. My words are their thoughts, my hands their actions. They merely provide a vessel for human energy, and an extra body to go where I cannot. Rest assured, I am not looking on passively."
Speaking of human energy, the words of Tuxedo Mask reach his ears, and Nephrite turns around to see the suited man that he has faced in battle twice now. He smirks, pleased at the anger in his voice when he brings up what Poema had done to Sailor Moon. "A proud achievement of mine, to be sure. I notice the soldier of the Moon is not among your number tonight. Nor are any of the others besides yourself, Jupiter. You must be feeling quite...abandoned," he says, now directing his words towards the green-colored Senshi. He's not quite sure what all is happening in their group at the moment, but his instincts tell him that if she's alone, not everything is good. "Either way, I am in no mood to hear your preaching tonight, Mask."
On cue, Aquata removes a seaweed strand from her hair, fashions it into a noose, then shoots it towards Tuxedo Mask, hand still holding onto the end of the ropey tendril to absorb whatever energy it steals.
At least, that was the plan. When a wave of amber energy and a hurricane of flower petals sweep over her, she loses her concentration somewhat. Blinded by the pink pollen, the mermaid lets out a scream of frustration, sending a tidal wave towards several of the warriors currently on the battlefield.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Tidal Wave on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Tidal Wave on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Seaweed Noose on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Precision Strike on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking. COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly counters Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Cure Beauty's Tactician ability activates! Cripple applied to Cure Beauty! COMBAT: Cure Beauty's counterattack, Precure Beauty Snowburst, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! Critical Counterhit! Diversion applied to Nephrite! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Nephrite's Tidal Wave, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Nephrite is Psyched! Exhausted applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Dark Amber narrowly braces Nephrite's Tidal Wave, taking 14 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: The entered attack name could match more than one available attack. Please try being more specific. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly counters Nephrite's Seaweed Noose, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nephrite drains 4 fatigue from Tuxedo Mask! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask's counterattack, At The Last Second!, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly counters Nephrite's Precision Strike, taking 0 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter's counterattack, Jupiter Thunderbolt, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! Nephrite is Quipped!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
As the ocean's arms rise up to reach for her, she balances on an ice floe, spinning around into a backhand slash. A whiteout burst of snow billows above the pool, obscuring vision. However, for whatever mastery she may have over ice, the water is the Youma's domain. She's dragged under, and Nephrite's words ring true, she won't be doing too much dancing underwater.
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"I see people for what they are. Hideous, callow creatures!" Kraehe calls back, her voice high and fierce. "What reason do I have to see them as anything else? You are not inspiring confidence!"
The raven princess looks up to Nephrite, and then says with complete seriousness: "You didn't watch the presentation?"
She listens further to Nephrite's explanation, and then crosses her arms and looks upward toward the ceiling. Kraehe watches this nothing-is-there for a long moment, and then returns her red gaze to Nephrite. "The puppet master must be situated above his puppets, of course."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
While her allies continue to engage the youma mermaid, both familiar and unfamiliar faces, the Wind Knight takes a moment to look over their opponent Thanks are answered with a smile and a quick but polite nod; she'll have to be more extensively polite later. Assuming there is a later, of course -
Which is when the youma answer to Final Fantasy's water summons, Leviathan, makes like the sea-serpent Eidolon and tries to drown most of them. The resulting wave hits the Wind Knight hard enough to wash her off her feet and slap her against the wall (or the fence, if it's an outdoor pool), leaving her coughing and spitting up water.
Fortunately, her bow and her arrows aren't really affected or weakened by submersion; she comes back up to her knees for now, drawing the arrow back, and letting it fly at Aquata. Her aim isn't great at the moment, but she can't let the others do all of the fighting.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Basic Archery on Nephrite. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Basic Archery, taking 5 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Waterspout, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji! Bind Break! All of Nephrite's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
People are getting dragged under the pool, and Nephrite's gloating, and the girl who slapped him like a piledriver for trying to dance with her is being annoyedly on the Dark General's side, and--
--right, noose, headed his way. There's a flicker of the sharp-dressed man's white glove, and then crackling red lightning as a rose cuts through the air and slices the noose in half while it's in flight. Unfortunately for Tuxedo Kamen, the wet remains of the clinging magic seaweed hit him: although it can't pull him down or bind him up, it's caustic, and it siphons energy away from him before drying up and flaking off. Meanwhile, there's water, water everywhere, and noplace to land that can guarantee any kind of traction. Stupid tiles. Stupid tidal waves.
Goddamn Nephrite.
"She's not alone," the youth calls out, loud and clear and firm, taking his hat from his head. "She'll never be alone! Unlike you-- even among your allies, you stand alone, don't you?"
Tuxedo Kamen stands tall, still up high, his white mask gleaming in the darkness. Like it's a cue, lightning flashes outside the windows again, making the water that's everywhere sparkle and the white tiles light up with a lurid flash. In that moment, he spins on his heel and flings his hat, not for the youma, but for Nephrite's face. If the bad guys' focus is on him, Jupiter can--
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Se?or del Antifaz on Nephrite. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly dodges Tuxedo Mask's Se?or del Antifaz, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is Psyched! Nephrite's Fade ability activates! Nephrite's Flash ability activates! Diversion applied to Nephrite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"He WHAT?!" Sailor Jupiter's voice rises sharply above the noise of the storm outside, and if anyone present thought she was angry before, it's only because they'd never seen her as she is now - face hard, eyes fierce, fairly *crackling* with an intense and focused fury. Any lingering uncertainty that Aquata's shriek might have left in Jupiter's heart is swept away in an instant - this fight is *personal* now. "Shut up!" is her answer to Nephrite's taunting, and it's punctuated by the thin, bright line of electricity that leaps from her fingertips directly into the mermaid youma's body in a miniature echo of the lightning strike that flashes outside. "Don't talk like you know anything about my friends!"
Energy still sizzling and sparking around her hand, Jupiter raises her fist defiantly in the air. "Even when we're apart..." She's already starting forward as the electrical buildup mounts, thunder rumbling a warning outside. "...they're always giving me strength!"
She breaks into a run, and then she *leaps,* springboarding once off the precarious footing of a floating piece of ice before coming down fist-first, trailing an arc of lightning as she goes.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Nephrite. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber raises his arms as a torrent of water rushes up and overhead. He manages to brace the water, swaying on his feet, but not being overtly moved, or allowing himself to push along. "Of course, Tuxedo Kamen." he calls back. "There's no doubt." he calls back. He frowns as he hrmphs. He looks between Nephrite and Tuxedo Kamen for a moment... regarding the two's banter back and forth, and the claim of 'He stabbed Sailor Moon'. This makes him frown just a little, but he hrmphs. "But... Tuxedo Kamen"
He watches as he follows through with the hit. "Don't let your memories on this matter cloud your current judgement. Be sure this is his time." he asides. "And be sure you and your friend can see it through."
That Tidbit of counter advice given, he extends both his wrist blades again.
"However, things are looking good in our favor so far.", as he faces the Youma again.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Steel Your Memories on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking. COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Steel. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Dark Amber's Steel Your Memories, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
"People have so much inner beauty in their individual stories. In every single one there is a struggle to be better and nobler than they believe they are. Some fail, but that beauty is still always there, ready to be reclaimed. And what ugliness is there in inexperience? It has a charm all it's..." The ocean's arms rise up to reach for her, and she's cut off by the impressing need to react.
She balances upon an ice floe and spins around into a backhand slash. A burst of snow billows above the pool, obscuring vision. However, for whatever mastery she may have over ice, the water is the Youma's domain. She's dragged under, and Nephrite's words ring true, she won't be doing much dancing underwater.
Calming her mind, she brings her feet forward, then down and pushes against it with all of the Pretty Cure infused might. She launches upwards out of the water, and towards Aquata like a javelin, sword leading. As she breaks water, the splashing droplets freeze, bringing a sudden whiteout that leaves the feel of winter and a rain of sparkling snow drifting temporarily through the air.
COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Precure Beauty Whiteout on Nephrite. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Psyched! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Cure Beauty's Precure Beauty Whiteout, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Cure Beauty is Psyched! COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Seaweed Noose, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty! Nephrite drains 5 fatigue from Cure Beauty!
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
"Yes. That is my point entirely," Nephrite replies to Kraehe, amused at her remarks. "I wonder. Who is it that pulls your strings, blackbird?" He doesn't intend it as an insult so much as a roundabout way of asking 'who do you work for'. If asked the same, he would reply without hesitation, of course. Queen Beryl commands his actions, and he finds no shame in that. Only pride. He looks away to address Tuxedo Mask, who has chimed in with his own naive comments.
"Ah, but there is a difference between 'alone' and 'abandoned', isn't there?" he says, his stoic face betrayed a small smile. "I fight alone by choice. I highly doubt that Jupiter chooses to be without her allies today." At this, the girl in question speaks up, a lightning bolt shooting towards where he stands. He stops it with an outstretched hand, though he (almost) winces from the sting of it.
"On the contrary, my dear Senshi. I know the stars, and the stars know all. Your 'friends' are no exception." His eyes flash smugly. "I wonder -- perhaps it is you who does not know your friends?" He's lying through his teeth, of course. He doesn't know much of anything about the current Senshi situation, though he's hoping he can coax out a hint or two from the distraught soldier.
The man is caught totally off guard, however, when Tuxedo Mask's hat comes spinning towards him like a circular blade of a saw. He briefly flashes in and out of reality to avoid the razor-sharp rim, but misjudges his distance, and one sleeve of his uniform is cut open, the tiniest hint of green blood oozing out from underneath it. Nephrite's rage boils within him, his face hardening into an expression of deadly focus.
"Aquata. Kill these insolent fools."
Below him, the youma shrieks in obedience, commanding a waterspout around her that washes away the remnants of amber and pink, catching an arrow from the Wind Knight as it does so. Unfortunately, this cone of water around her blinds her to the oncoming danger of Sailor Jupiter's furious fist, which she cannot dodge as it runs into her. The current sparks along her damp body as the mermaid cries out in pain, then commands a tendril of seaweed from her hair to reach around her neck and /tighten/. She does the same for the approaching Precure, with minimal success. Angered and in pain, Aquata seizes control of the pool waters once again to bring the remaining magical warriors under and drown them, its liquid mass reaching out for each of them with strong, fluid arms.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Seaweed Noose on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking. COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly dodges Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple applied to Cure Beauty! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter perfectly dodges Nephrite's Seaweed Noose, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Trap applied to Tuxedo Mask! COMBAT: Dark Amber fails to dodge Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Dark Amber!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Kraehe [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"You'll find the ravens flying above even the scaffolding, puppeteer," the ballerina replies, her tone pointed. "I am my father's daughter. That is enough."
Kraehe catches sight of that damnable hat. She presses her lips thin, even as it does her work for her and makes Nephrite look flustered. As much as Kraehe enjoys being the best in the room, the memories of
tuxedos
and
HUMAN DANCING
put a shiver in her spine. She hugs her arms to her chest, turning sharply away. A quartet of violins play a dramatic sting. As in, literal, disembodied music. The lead violin goes on to deliver a low, mournful line in the background.
"I'll leave you to practice your ghastly trade, then." The princess glances back to Nephrite, a grim smile curling her lips. "Until your queen next calls court!"
With a whirl and a storm of black feathers, Kraehe disappears. The violins sadly cease.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The Wind Knight is still kneeling - or on one knee, at least - when the water reaches for her again.
And slams her into the wall or the fence or whatever, *again*, leaving her curled up around herself and coughing up a lung - or at least trying to expel the water that found its way down the wrong pipe. Fortunately, she manages to get the water out and regain her breath, but her head is spinning too badly for her to get up. She probably should wrap her attention around another casting of the Winds of Healing, but this monster's offensive power is overwhelming her, and probably the others - she can't even focus on where her allies ARE at the moment.
She can, however, squint through her glasses and confirm where the monster is - none of her allies are that set of colors, at any rate - and she clears her throat before holding her left hand out towards Aquata. "Imashime no Kaze!!" she calls out, and a whirlwind forms - the Winds of Admonishment manifesting to try and bind the youma in place, restricting its movement and its attacks, if she can 'lock in' the spell properly. If nothing else, maybe she can buy an opening that somebody else can capitalize on.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Imashime no Kaze on Nephrite. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber is actually tugged under this time, despite his best intents to try to stay above water, or at least, not allow himself to be pushed around by it so much. Regardless, he gets washed under the wave of oncoming water. He manages to eventually get free when one of his chains rocket out, taking him along with it, too the rafters a moment. WELL. He frowns as he hrmphs, and turns back onto the Youma. He sighs and dives back downwards as he brings his hand up and extends his blade again, this time trying to come down with a hard striking motion downwards into the 'Mermaid' creature--- Aquata, was it?....
"I wonder......." he muses a bit as blade flashes across his vision, and hbopefully, across the form of the creature. He doesn't finish the sentiment.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Amber Striker on Nephrite. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly dodges Dark Amber's Amber Striker, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nephrite's Fade ability activates! Nephrite's Flash ability activates! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Imashime no Kaze, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Cripple and Trap applied to Nephrite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
The tendril of seaweed lashes out at Sailor Jupiter, only to whip through empty air as Jupiter ducks neatly away. She ends up standing on another piece of Cure Beauty's ice, a situation that can't last for long - wavering but keeping her balance for a moment, she quickly takes stock.
It's too dangerous to use lightning right now, with so many of her allies in the water. Nephrite is out of her reach up there in the rafters, so...
...Mako fixes her attention on the mermaid, turning her face away from the Dark General rather than have to admit that she has no answer for him. As much as she'd *dearly* love to punch his face in, she gathers herself and springs once more at Aquata - no lightning this time, just a good old-fashioned body-check. She'll beat the stupid thing against the bottom of the pool if she has to.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Supreme Suplex on Nephrite. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Well at least she got to take a breath. A tendril of Seaweed yanks her backwards in mid-air, before she's able to land outside of the pool. An extremity fashioned by water tries to finish the job of drowning her. Fortunately, this time, as she's reached for, she freezes a part of the pool, and goes under herself as she's reached for. It crashes upon the floe of ice like a wave might, before she surges out of the pool.
It was a very minor victory given the seaweed tendril still wrapped around her, but at least she was out. Her chest heaves, as she gulps in air, she stands with a dignity and grace that seem to belie her true state. Even her hair seems to give lie to this with how lustrous full-bodied it looks despite having just been underwater. So tethered to Aquata, she leaps right at her, blade leading. She slashes again at the mermaid Youma, trailing sparkling snowflakes in her wake.
COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Precure Beauty Frostbite on Nephrite. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite fails to dodge Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Suplex, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Cure Beauty's Precure Beauty Frostbite, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Beauty is Psyched! COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Driftwood Spear, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tuxedo Mask has a mantra. Well, he has several. The one he's currently using is 'Jupiter will gig 'em'. It's not clever, but it works just as well as something like 'guts guts guts'.
His face isn't even grim anymore, it's not even angry: it's just calm. It's calm as the water comes up and grabs him at Nephrite's youma's command; it's calm as the raven girl turns away to the sound of elegant music; it's calm as the fighting gets desperate.
As he's being dragged into the pool and under water, he can't move much, and he's about to not be able to breathe much-- but he can move a little bit.
It's enough. It's enough to ensure that the others will be able to stop this nonsense. He doesn't waste words: he takes a deep gulp of air and squirms one arm free to fling it outward at the water clinging to the others, slowing them down.
Once more, crackling red assaults the air, and beautiful brilliant red roses, more swift than darts and just as sharp, cut through the ropes of mobile water and quite literally boil it away on contact: the others are free to act without restriction.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Maskerade Rosen on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Maskerade Rosen on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Maskerade Rosen on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking. COMBAT: Cure Beauty accepts Tuxedo Mask's Maskerade Rosen, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Cure Beauty's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Dark Amber accepts Tuxedo Mask's Maskerade Rosen, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Dark Amber's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Tuxedo Mask's Maskerade Rosen, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Fuu Hououji's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
And away goes the mysterious raven princess, accompanied by a quartet of perfectly tuned strings. An odd encounter, to be sure; Nephrite is not quite sure why his Queen hasn't subjugated the rest of Dark Fall yet, so meeting other non-Dark Kingdom members always sets him the slightest bit on edge. But she's gone now, and while Nephrite quietly files her words away for further analysis, he focuses his attention on the present with deadly clarity.
What he sees makes him cringe. Aquata, savvy enough to try and pull the warriors under the waves, is thwarted when the blasted Tuxedo Mask breaks their watery binds with a skilled rose throw, leaving them to fight freely once again. Worse, the soldier of Jupiter appears to be deriving strength from hardship, for she wordlessly plows into the mermaid monster, sending her reeling backwards until she hits the wall with a near building-shaking impact.
There's total silence for a moment, then she shrieks in pain as her tail divides in two, reforming painfully into a pair of legs. It appears that this is her fate when she is not in or above a body of water. As she rights herself, she lets out another stricken cry, shifting her weight from one cursed foot to the next.
If any among them can recall their fairy tales, they'll remember that the original Little Mermaid felt like she was walking on broken glass whenever she took a step on her human feet.
Nephrite decides she will need his help. The human's energy was too weak, after all.
Teleporting to be closer to his youma, he summons his Dark Crystal and shoots a bolt of black lightning into the creature. Even in her weakened state, she feeds off its caustic energy, and slowly appears more stable, more sure of herself. Still, it would be unwise to remain in this state for much longer.
Aquata pushes her arms forward, demanding that the waters of the pool throw themselves against the wall, to make those in the wave's path know the pain she suffered -- still suffers. And, to ease her pain, she summons a spout of dark water from nowhere, dissipating the winds around her and trapping Sailor Jupiter in a small circle with her, surrounded on all sides by the youma's element. Using this, she summons another spear of driftwood and flings it at the one who had done so much damage to her.
Nephrite watches from above, unmoved.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Tidal Wave on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Tidal Wave on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Waterspout on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Driftwood Spear on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Dark Gift on Nephrite. COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite accepts Nephrite's Dark Gift, taking 0 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Dark Amber fails to dodge Nephrite's Tidal Wave, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nephrite is Psyched! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Nephrite's Driftwood Spear, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Nephrite's Waterspout, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Bind Break! All of Nephrite's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Reppu no Ya, partially gets through, doing 15 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! Critical Counterhit! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly braces Nephrite's Tidal Wave, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
As she's struck with a spear of driftwood, it thunks against her, tearing off some fabric of her uniform. She lands, and has time to catch her breath, only to watch.. in absolute horror, as the Youma's legs reform on land, and the agony as she takes one step, after another.
Cure Beauty recognizes the old tales. She was a Guardian of fairy tales and their realm. Not only had she read many of them in her youth, but she had made it a point to broaden her knowledge once this mantle was forced upon her. Some part of her wonders if Aquata was really a part of the Bad End Kingdom. She suddenly straightens, the dignified smile that often appeared upon her features fading as she looked at Nephrite, she raises her voice for the first time that they've witnessed. "What did you do to her?!" It's an accusation, as if he were responsible for some far greater crime in her eyes.
And then, she lowers her blade, to a casual position, as she addresses the Youma. "You don't need to do this. Like in the story of the mermaid, you can dream of something different and better than the existence he's laid out for you!" She certainly doesn't approach, as she recognizes the threat he poses, and the fact that she's going to likely have to destroy her makes her very sad.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
He went under; he was under. And then the youma calls the water up out of the pool and sends it rushing toward the wall, slamming everyone in the water into the tile and concrete and rebar with it--
--and Tuxedo Kamen, in sock feet and missing his cape and (long since) his hat, hits the wall with a solid crack and uses it to kick off, head spinning as he gasps with burning lungs as soon as the water's receded enough. That kicking off? That's done explicitly to take advantage of the slick tiles. He's on the floor, sure, but the guy's suddenly rocketing toward the youma's shaky legs: bowling for monsters.
Or maybe...
[|B)
...playing pool.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Slip'n'Slide of the Damned on Nephrite. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has used Your Story doesn't have to End on Nephrite. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The rose thrown by the mysterious man in a tuxedo and a mask pierces through the water, freeing the Wind Knight to get back to her feet with a call of, "Thank you very much!" to him. She's seen Tuxedo Mask around at a few other battles, but isn't sure who else he normally fights beside.
The way the youma shrieks in pain when she assumes a humanoid shape with legs makes the Magic Knight of Wind cringe a bit, her attention drawn away from that mystery - and she DOES remember that old fairy tale, as luck would have it. Then there's a waterspout headed her way, and she whips another arrow out from her quiver, marshalling her magic and her willpower. "Reppuu no Ya!" she calls out, and as she looses the arrow, a surge of wind wraps around the shaft to straighten its flight and accelerate it towards the target at the same time; the enchanted shaft plows right through the waterspout and on towards the youma, smacking solidly into it. It's not enough to completely spare the Magic Knight from further injury, but it lessens what could have been very painful to merely stinging ...
And Aquata has broken out of the Imashime no Kaze, at some point, she realizes. Well, if she can't keep the monster bound with her wind magic, she'll have to fall back on other options. For now, she readies another arrow - not backed by wind magic this time, but merely by her own skills as an archer ..
And she tries to pin Aquata's legs together while the youma is still over relatively-dry land.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Trick Arrow Shot on Nephrite. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber watches as Tuxedo Mask gets pullled under, with wide eyes... but.... no. Tuxedo Mask knows what he's doing. He can read the expression on his face. However, the momentary distraction prvents him from realizing that the creature is gathering her power again, as he atempts to leap to the rafters again. He doesn't quiiiite make it, being caught under again. Another quick breath before he just lets himself go with the floow and eventually, the water will find it's way out. When he stops, eventually, as he works himself up to his legs with a shake. Yeah---yeah this one may need an ER visit when this is over.
He flings a chain through the air, trying to wrap the thing up in a binding chain of amber.... maybe keep it weighed down in it's own mess for a bit if he's luckily.
COMBAT: Dark Amber has used Binding Amber Chain on Nephrite. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite fails to dodge Tuxedo Mask's Slip'n'Slide of the Damned, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Nephrite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Cut off from her allies in the middle of the circle of dark, swirling water, Sailor Jupiter sees the spear of driftwood come flying at her and instinctively snaps up her arm to smack it away from her. The rough wood rips through her glove, drawing blood, but instead of impaling her the way it was meant to it goes spinning away, splashing into the wall of water to be carried upwards in its current.
"My turn," says Jupiter, and raises her fist.
Perhaps if she weren't riding on so much righteous fury, she too might have remembered the old fairy tale. Maybe if she weren't cut off from the others within the circle of water, she'd have heard Cure Beauty, and it might have caused her to think twice about this whole situation.
Instead, electricity once more arcing over her fingers and around her hand, Sailor Jupiter drives her fist straight for the youma's face.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Nephrite. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Dark Amber's Binding Amber Chain, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Dark Amber is Psyched! Tangle applied to Nephrite! COMBAT: Nephrite fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Trick Arrow Shot, taking 7 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Cure Beauty's Your Story doesn't have to End, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Nephrite is Quipped! COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, But It Does, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Cure Beauty! Cure Beauty is Quipped! COMBAT: Nephrite perfectly dodges Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Nephrite's Fade ability activates! Nephrite's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
Nephrite laughs -- an actual laugh, not just a dry chuckle -- at Cure Beauty's words, then teleports directly in front of her so that he can look her in the eye.
"You have some nerve, little girl. I will give you that," he says, towering over her and her torn uniform menacingly, Dark Crystal hovering in one hand. "But you are blindly naive. To look at this monster and see anything but molded clay, crafted only to serve myself and the Dark Kingdom. It surpasses mere idealism into stupidity." The crystal in his hand sparks, and a single bolt of lightning shoots towards the icy warrior as punishment for her hubris. "Real life is not like a children's storybook. Learn the difference or suffer."
The general steps to the side as more attacks are flung towards the youma, ensuring that he is not caught in the crossfire. At long last, Aquata seems to avoid Sailor Jupiter's damaging attack, only to be hit by two more: an arrow from the Wind Knight, the tip of a chain from Dark Amber, and Tuxedo Mask himself, having used the momentum from the tidal wave to propel himself forward. The not-mermaid is pushed back, away from the water that would soothe her pain, crying out every time one of her blighted feet makes contact with the ground. Eventually, she is thrown back into the wall herself, overwhelmed. Nephrite scoffs at her weakness.
"Aquata: I will lend you my power. Finish these scum and return their energy to our great ruler."
The youma steels herself, stands up, and screams. For she is capable of little else.
And the windows of the pool burst open, the storm from outside blowing in at full force as it rushes to the master that summoned it. True to his word, the Dark General shoots an infusion of darkness into his youma, who immediately channels it through her hands and into the air. Red and black clouds spawn from nowhere, as do bolts of black lightning and booming thunder. The waves of the pool spring to life one final time to pull the fighters under, while the sheets of rain from the false clouds batter those still standing with the force of razor-sharp hailstones.
For a moment, the indoor pool is transformed into an angry sea, and the pathetic pawn into its goddess, calling down the wind, rain, and lightning. They will know the fury of the ocean before they meet their end in its depths.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Nephrite has used Sailors Take Warning on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: FINISHER! Nephrite has used Sailors Take Warning on Sailor Jupiter. COMBAT: FINISHER! Nephrite has used Sailors Take Warning on Cure Beauty. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Dark Amber. COMBAT: Nephrite has used Arms of the Ocean on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking. COMBAT: Dark Amber fails to dodge Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 36 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple and Trap applied to Dark Amber! COMBAT: Cure Beauty narrowly braces Nephrite's Finisher, Sailors Take Warning, taking 11 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Nephrite's Finisher, Sailors Take Warning, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Nephrite's Arms of the Ocean, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Trap applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Nephrite's Finisher, Sailors Take Warning, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask is unable to keep fighting! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Real life is like a grown-up's storybook.
Tuxedo Kamen can barely see; the chlorinated water makes his eyes burn, his ears are ringing, his inhuman strength is beyond flagging and well into the area of trembling limbs. His once-black formalwear is shredded and brown from the pool water, and the calm he'd settled into before is still there, tinged with mixed accusation and sorrow.
Behind the white mask, which against all odds is still on his face, his red-rimmed blue eyes stay locked on Nephrite as the man lands in front of Cure Beauty and lectures her, and as he gives the youma his power-- and as the youma screams.
Unsteadily, he starts to get to his feet--
--and the hail and the wind and the rain rip at him, bringing him back down to his knees. Still, his gaze never wavers. He's still looking at Nephrite, expression cold and spirit unbroken, when the wall of water crashes into him and pulls him under one more time.
This time, red blooms in the waves.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
The sudden zap, and jolt of electricity takes Beauty off-guard, sending her to her knees even as Zoisite descends to chide her for her naivete. "You're wrong!" She states in defiance, "The stories we tell children matter! They teach them valuable lessons, which allow them to grow up to become better people! The delight and awe they feel carries over to adulthood, and help them learn they don't have to become jaded and bitter from the ugliness they encounter!"
Beauty's open defiance is met by the pounding fury of the ocean, and she stands firm throughout the storm's wrath with arms shielding her face. The sheer force of it causes her boots to skid against the ground, before she's driven to her knees. It takes the formation of a literal ice patch behind her heels to keep her from being blown away.
At the end of it, she's breathing hard, her entire body is covered with wounds, but she's still upright..
"I'm sorry." She says to the Youma. Even if she was truly just evil power fashioned within clay, she still feels some measure of sympathy for her. Raising her smile compact to her chest, it becomes a cerulean starburst of power, she raises herself upright, and suddenly performs a half-turn spin, raising it up to her right hand, "Pretty Cure!"
Her left hand draws an X in mid-air. "Beauty..." She juts a hand downward into a | between the X which grows outward forming a sublime masterpiece of transparent fractals, a snowflake. "...Blizzard!"
The snowflake dissolves into a storm of sparkling snow, and ice that flows outwards into a storm over a wide area, freezing every drop of moisture that comes between it and it's target.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Beauty has used Beauty Blizzard on Nephrite. COMBAT: Cure Beauty has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Another blast of water slams the Magic Knight of Wind against the wall hard enough for her to collapse to her knees ... which, ironically, means she's not in the full teeth of the storm when it gets pulled in from the outside. The Wind Knight has to take a few seconds to catch her breath and gather her focus, too ... but there's a little bit of anger in the back of her head now. Somebody ELSE is harnessing the wind.
Which wouldn't be so bad if it were at least an ally doing it. But this is the *bad guys* commanding the elements as a weapon ... and the Wind Knight takes advantage of the wall at her back to push herself back to her feet. "You want to make the storm your weapon ... let me show you how it's done!"
She steps forward, forcing herself to remain vertical as she gathers her will and her magic, bringing her arms up and back before she shouts, "MIDORI NO SHIPPUU!!" and whips her arms forward, left then right - and the Emerald Tornado erupts, a vortex of rending wind tinted green by her power as it pierces the opposing tempest, trying to lift Aquata into the air and hold her immobile for Cure Beauty's own icy finisher - and for the others, as they unleash their attacks in turn.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Midori no Shippu: Full on Nephrite. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Midori no Shippu: Full, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly dodges Cure Beauty's Finisher, Beauty Blizzard, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Nephrite's Fade ability activates! Nephrite's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber manages to barely, barely keep above the waves this time, as he grabs a bar. He closes his eyes and he just weathers it out. Think good thoughts.... think. good. thoughts. Nrgg, but where's Aimi when you /need/ her? He manages to not completely sccummb, however, looks like he should had, a few moments ago. He stands up to his feet. "We still draw breath....." he insists. But where's Tuxedo Mask!?
Regardless, that's not at the forefront of his mind, right now is concentrating... as as he can through the haze that his mind currently is in. He closes his minds and.....
With a brown wisp, appears overhead of the youma, trying to draw his hand back and shove it against the thing's forehead. "Dark Amber......"
Then there's just an explosion of sharded, gem-like amber in his wake. "Crush....!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Dark Amber has used Dark Amber Crush on Nephrite. COMBAT: Dark Amber has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Dark Amber's Finisher, Dark Amber Crush, taking 49 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"--TUXEDO MASK!" The cry rips from Sailor Jupiter's throat as she sees her ally vanish beneath the roiling water, her voice rising above the howl of the storm winds. Those winds batter at her, lashing her hair around her face, stinging her with rain, but she barely seems to notice - it's what Nephrite's done to his youma, the things he's said to her, what he's done to her *friend* that has her eyes wide with shock and horror.
"How dare you..." Her fists clench at her sides, electricity already beginning to spark around her with the force of her emotions. For a moment she's almost too furious to care that in all this water there's no way she could avoid catching *everyone* if she were to call down the lightning now, desperately has to remind herself that it wouldn't be worth it...
...until Cure Beauty freezes the water around the youma, and the Magic Knight's whirlwind lifts Aquata up from the waves, and suddenly Jupiter has a clear, perfect shot.
"How DARE you!" she shouts again, the tiny lightning rod beginning to rise from her tiara in a halo of crackling energy. "I'll show you a *true* storm! My guardian, Jupiter!" She's calling out to the sky now, not the fake storm clouds within the room, but the real stormy sky outside through the broken windows. "Answer my call! Lend me your power! BRING DOWN THE LIGHTNING!"
She throws out her hand, pointing at the youma, energy building around her in blazing arcs until she's all but silhouetted within it. "SUPREME THUNDER!"
Thunder booms outside in answer, a wall-shaking clap of sound as a column of lightning races down from the sky through an empty window frame towards the mermaid.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Jupiter has used Supreme Thunder on Nephrite. COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking. COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Sailor Jupiter's Finisher, Supreme Thunder, taking 108 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.
Another Senshi to tick off the list, if the bubbling cloud of red in the water is any indication. Nephrite smiles, satisfied. True, Tuxedo Mask had done little more than throw roses, hats, and flowery words, but the other Senshi seemed to value his presence highly. His death will certainly be a blow to their morale, even if he couldn't quite discern what great event the stars had previously foretold.
Then the more powerful attacks begin, and the general teleports to a shadowy rafter a safe distance away from Aquata. For all he claims that his youma are extensions of himself, it is only they who feel the pain of retribution.
As her hold on the storm weakens, creature feels herself lifted out from the water by powerful winds, causing her tail to split once more into a pair of pained legs. Before she can scream, however, an icy wind blasts her with gale force, freezing the remaining droplets of water on her that give her strength, all the while cutting her with bits of razor ice. Cure Beauty's apology grows meaningless as Dark Amber conjures an explosion of amber above her head and rains down the crushed pieces of gems, sticking into her skin and burrowing between her scales.
She squirms, flails, and cries as the true power of lightning gathers around Sailor Jupiter, but it is not enough to save her from the blast that very nearly rocks the building. A blinding bolt of Jupiter's thunder crashes down, /through/ her body.
And she disintegrates completely, a cloud of dust blowing away in the wind.
Where she used to stand is a ball of transparent vital energy that immediately begins to unravel, flowing naturally back into the collapsed boy, who by some miracle had avoided becoming collateral damage in the great battle. A rivulet of this flow strays away from the rest and goes, instead, towards Nephrite, who hovers above the battlefield while he collects the energy in the Dark Crystal, which pulses with added power. It is a very, very small amount compared to what he got from the last battle. But, considering the other victories of the fight, he does not mind.
"Well done, warriors. You have defeated poor Aquata at long last," he says, his tone patronizing. "I'm sure Tuxedo Mask would be glad to know he gave his life for such /selfless/ fighters. Spouting childish rhetoric while letting a friend fall in battle. Truly, it is you who have the moral high ground here." The man grasps the Dark Crystal, now that the energy has returned (almost) completely into its host. "You will see more of me, I assure you."
His eyes linger over each member of the battle, though especially long over Sailor Jupiter and the bloody splash of water in the pool. And with that, Nephrite vanishes into thin air.
- EPILOGUE
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
AND THEN.... that attack pretty much took it out of him. He was on edge. Now he's pretty well passed that. He hears a lot of voices. Some sort of insitutation Tuxedo Kamen is dead!? Surely not He looks around frantically as these words cause him to come too and spout out vitriol at Nephrite. "This bad memory you had create tonight......!" he snaps.
"I'll PIERCE YOUR DAMN HEART WITH IT." he calls out as he looks around frantically. Tuxedo Kamen went......
He jumps into the rafters and peers down into the pool as he spots the black caped figured in the water. He goes ahead and dives in.......
Immediatly after a chain with a blade on the other end shoots out pool and sort of ziplines Dark Amber and Tuxedo Mask onto the pavement by the pool with a little roll.
Pulse check. He uses the same method he did with the boy from earlier. Two fingers against the wrist. This is probably not medically accurate in any sense.
Like you care.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
The youma is history, and Nephrite is gone... but though he may have been defeated, he got in the last word, and he aimed it well. As stillness descends, broken for the most part only by the rain coming in through the broken windows, Sailor Jupiter's gaze falls to the dark shape floating in the pool in a cloud of pink... and, stricken, she wavers and drops to her knees. "..I..."
Maybe Nephrite is right. Maybe he was right about *everything.* She scrambles toward the edge of a pool on hands and knees in a sudden, clumsy panic. She's got to get him out of the water - he can't be dead, everything's already wrong as it is--
Fortunately, Dark Amber was more on the ball, and by the time she reaches the edge of the pool he's already towed Tuxedo Kamen safely out onto (relatively) dry ground. With no notion of what she can possibly do to help, Jupiter hovers anxiously, watching with wide eyes. "Is he...?"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Beauty [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
It's still difficult for her to watch, as Aquata is destroyed. Even with the reassurance that she's formed from clay and darkness. Weren't humans formed from clay in some myths, after all? She eventually tears her gaze away, looking at her patronizing master with an unflinching expression, until she comprehends exactly what he's said. The condescension may be very much warranted in this case.
She's already taking off for the pool, when she realizes that Dark Amber has already acted. Her pace is hurried to his side, but it doesn't break her aura of calm. While he has his hand on her pulse, she instead kneels and puts her ear down to his chest to make certain it's rising and falling.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
'"'that Tuxedo Mask gave his life for"
The pool water's murky from cement dust and pink from blood. As it stills it gets darker around the boy at the bottom of the pool, until Dark Amber stirs the water again and the stinging chlorine is possible to see through. There's the masked hero, facedown, drifting slightly; he's dead weight to pull up, but at least the cape is gone.
Set down on the tiles, he's a dodden mess of bleached-brown silk rags, his shoes and gloves are missing, and he's got a zillion tiny cuts and abrasions, and it's the back of his head that's bleeding, but that's all incidental. In order: his pulse is present but thready, his lips are bluish, and no, he's not breathing. His chest isn't rising and falling.
It's not just the pulse Dark Amber finds, though--
At the contact of skin on skin, the Perfume Warrior will find himself plunged into what actually seems like another world for a moment, before it's recognisable as memory. A pale hallway, airy, carved from luminous white stone, with wide steps between arches open to the outside. The point of view moves toward the stars and up them, and there's the glowing and backlit figure of a beautiful girl at the top, standing at the balcony railing. Her gown is a diaphanous white thing, and she's ethereal and sorrowful.
Her voice is like a forgotten melody, and a sense of desperate longing and gut-wrenching homesickness permeates everything, but it's not part of the memory. Or dream--? "The silver Crystal," she chimes, "please, you must--"
She freezes, panic entering her voice. "End--"
Everything's suddenly dark, and immediately thereafter, there's warm gold everywhere and Kinzo's abruptly back in the dim wreck of the pool room holding Tuxedo Mask's wrist and the unconscious boy's chest is suddenly convulsing with being about to cough up half the pool.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber doesn't have a pulse... "Goddamn! He's not------"
Then... well. Suddenly being 'transported to a dream world' isn't the most insane thing that's happened to him this year, but familarity sets in. He's in a memory. Or so. He thinks. He spies the girl, her tone of voice.... the memory reeks of homesickness, a bad memory, or one,... associated with something terrible. 'Find the Silver Crystal'? What..... could- is this one of Tuxedo Kamen's memories? But why? What happened to cause this? Does he NEED To know or-----
Then suddenly, a burst of gold and he's convulsing and about to cought....
"---breathing....." he sort of sakes his head a bit and grabs it.
"....I didn't go anywhere just now... right?" he asks to the gathered group concernedly.
"I...I think I need, a minute." he says grabbing his forehead.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
For half a heartbeat, the bottom drops out from under Sailor Jupiter at Dark Amber's words. How could this have happened? How could she have *let* it happen?
Then, mercifully, Tuxedo Mask begins coughing and the breath goes out of Jupiter in a sudden, relieved rush. He's alive. They're alive. They're all kind of a *mess,* but at least everyone is alive. Righting herself a bit, she moves to support Tuxedo mask. "Easy there," she says, looking worriedly from him to Dark Amber and back. "You didn't go anywhere. Are you okay?" The question encompasses all three of them, as she looks again to Dark Amber and then to Cure Beauty. "Is everyone okay?"
Please be okay. Punching bad things is one matter, but Jupiter doesn't know what to do when her friends aren't okay.
<Pose Tracker> Dark Amber [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Dark Amber nods. "Yeah, just..... nevermind. I guess my ... powers must have kicked in or something. Sorry." he says as he shakes his head. He keeps it to himself otherwise. He looks around. "I'm alright. I should probably go check myself into the hospital after this." he says as he stands up with a shaky stance. "Shouldn't he go, too?" he asks, motioning to Tuxedo Kamen.
"He seems to be coming to at least now..." he says.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
'Coming to' is probably a generous term for it; it's pure reflex that causes the boy to curl in and sideways, supported by Jupiter as he coughs out the nasty pool water. And then he just shivers, not with-it enough to answer just yet. Sirens begin to approach, audible through the broken windows, still letting in the wind and rain from the natural storm outside.
Tuxedo Kamen might not be okay right this second, but he will be all right.
Will Sailor Jupiter?
