2015-05-12 - Trap! Tears of Grief...

Title: Trap! Tears of Grief...
Summary: Zoisite has delivered an ultimatum: the Moon Princess will face him, or else. One way or another, someone dies tonight...
Who: Zoisite, Kunzite, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Cure Berry, Fuu Hououji, Mami Tomoe, Princess Tutu, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Ren Aizawa, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko Featuring the Plant Sisters: Honoka Yukishiro
Where: Searrs Symphony Hall
OOC - IC Date: 6 July 2014 - 05/12/2015

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

The face appeared at sunset. Looming translucently over Tokyo, its wreath of red, red hair blending seamlessly into the fiery orange sky, its true nature was lost on most. Its sharply silky words,

Moon Princess! The patience of the Dark Kingdom has worn thin, and your fellow ~champions of justice~ falter. Show yourself, Princess, and end the suffering of your allies! I, Zoisite of the Shitennou, shall await you at the Searrs Symphony Hall. If you spurn my challenge -- hmhmhm, well, let us say merely that /you will wish you had not/.

reached every person in the city, civilian and heroine alike. To the former, it came across as a prank, or a promotion for a movie, or a test of some new projection equipment (recently acquired by, of course, Searrs Symphony Hall).

The latter, however, would know better.

--<-<-@ @->->--

The stage at the Symphony Hall has been set -- extravagantly so -- for the following week's production of Romeo & Juliet: silk roses in every shade of pink climb the proscenium arch, framing a moonlit castle garden.

Zoisite, true to form, waits upon the balcony set stage left, mockingly inhaling the artificial fragrance of one of those many, many roses.

COMBAT: Zoisite transforms into Zoisite!

COMBAT: Zoisite has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 14 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The doors to the Searrs Symphony Auditorium suddenly burst open, casting a stream of light down the slope of stairs that lead down to the auditorium's main stage. For a moment, the dark silhouette of a girl can be seen in the doorway. Only once the auditorium adjusts to the sudden change in lighting does the figure become fully visible.

Standing at the top of one of the auditorium's many entrances is the sailor-suited soldier clad in orange and blue: Sailor Venus, alone.

"I'm going to put an end to your wrong-doing for good! Sailor Venus, heir to the Moon Kingdom, has arrived!"

Immediately, Sailor Venus spurs into action, bolting down the flight of stairs at top speed. Minako had imagined being on this stage hundreds of times before, but never like this. Venus leaps onto stage, then turns to face Zoisite.

If she's going to protect the princess, she's got to stop him. Sailor Venus directs a single finger towards Zoisite. Energy collects at her fingertip, forming a glowing orange heart.

"Rolling Heart..." The heart begins to shimmer stronger now, until it's a brilliant red-orange. "Vibration!"

COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Rolling Heart Vibration on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Equal parts flower, ninja and attitude, the Dark Kingdom's own Plant Sisters appear out of the shadows with all the effortless grace of a perfectly delivered bon mot.

Grape is their leader, viney and tough. She drops into a crouch, her palms slapping the floor of the orchestra pit, and at her command magical grapevines encircle the stage like a leafy picture frame.

Lily-of-the-Valley, 'Lil' for short, is their gunner, with a punky purple-and-red hairdo and leafy bracers which, incongruously, flicker with flames. She sends a thin stream of these licking along the grapevines, which are not consumed, but somehow strengthened.

Touch-Me-Not is the youngest, and the air parts around her passage with soft sonic pops, as though molecules hesitate to so much as bounce against her. With a snap-kick she launches a thunderous boom up towards the stage -- which doesn't impact Zoisite and Venus, but seems to stop right at the edge of the platform, caught like a bubble's surface in a wand.

The barrier shimmers, transparent and also permeable to sound in either direction, but ominous all the same. Is it truly impenetrable?

"Now, now," murmurs Grape, her eyes containing a wicked grin for the inevitably arriving friends of the self-proclaimed Moon Princess. "We won't let you interfere that easily."

Rising, Lils and Touch-Me-Not stand shoulder to shoulder, back to back.

"You wanna get to her--" "--then you gotta go through us!"

All three sisters raise their arms into a defensive posture. They're more than ready to throw down.

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w494/StarSurvivor/SM/713924c1-1b7a-414b-a140-d7399f45e044.jpg

OOC: To reach Zoisite and Sailor Venus, you will need to first drop the Plant Sisters (and thus their barrier)! By all means please include an attack against them in your pose! The barrier is impenetrable to normal attacks -- but Cheers and Taunts can pass through in either direction, if you so wish. Also: please allow the rest of the Sailor Moon cast to pose in next. After that the pose order will become its usual fluid self!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into The Plant Sisters!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Makoto Kino transforms into Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Rei Hino transforms into Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: Zoisite narrowly dodges Sailor Venus's Rolling Heart Vibration, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Sailor Venus is Psyched! Zoisite's Fade ability activates! Zoisite's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Zoisite has used Fragrant Razor Onslaught on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Zoisite has cancelled their attack on Sailor Venus. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene du Nord!
COMBAT: Miki Aono transforms into Cure Berry!
COMBAT: Ikiko Hisakata transforms into Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

It's been awhile since Ren's been involved in any sort of monster fighting. The summer has been pretty monster free for her, actually. And with a beach trip planned she's looking forward to more time spent relaxing and less time spent punching things. Of course, when a giant villainous head appears in the sky over Tokyo and makes a bold challenge to the Moon Princess, she can't help but freeze and look up at it with shock and worry. Should she...? Surely the Moon Princess has allies who could help her defeat this person... But there's a soft pang in her heart that won't be ignored, growing stronger with each passing moment she stands still with indecision.

...Moments later she's rocketing upwards from an alleyway, taking to the skies and making a beeline for the Symphony Hall. Souverain Heraut pings almost immediately.

<YOU SEEK TO HELP THIS MOON PRINCESS?>

"Of course. She's an ally, right? I mean, others are bound to show up to... We should lend our support."

<YES. WE SHOULD ALWAYS AID ROYALTY.>

Ren says nothing in response, only pushing on to get to the hall as soon as possible. And she does, landing right outside on the steps leading to the main entrance. She grips the silver scepter tightly within her gloved hands, looking around for any outward signs of trouble, before then charging in.

The scene she finds is certainly something she's come to expect by now. There's other heroines here, all having responded to the call. The three Plant Sisters standing proudly before them earn a frown from the young mage, and then her eyes move to Sailor Venus and Zoisite engaged in battle on stage. The aforementioned Plant Sisters have made it clear that going through them is the only option. Ren is more than happy to oblige.

<SEEKER BARRAGE.> Souverain Heraut glows as heated gems spin into existence before Ren, before they are launched off, each seeking to batter the opposing sisters.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Seeker Barrage on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kunzite [None] has posed.

And above it all, observing from the opera seats, is one white-haired Heavenly King of the Dark Kingdom, smiling slightly down on the tableau on stage as Sailor Venus arrives to challenge Zoisite.

"Beautiful, as always," he had murmured to his lover when earlier they had stood together upon that stage. The kiss he had pressed to Zoisite's neck had muddied whether Kunzite meant him or the spirals of pink silk flowers, but what did it matter? "I'll prepare your favorite wine for our victory celebration later."

He had risen into the air then, smiling down at Zoisite, and once he had his response, vanished--but not far.

Kunzite is absolutely certain he will not need to interfere. Between Zoisite and his finest youma, the Princess will surely fall tonight. No, the reason why he's here is because he wouldn't miss this show for the world.

Up in the opera seats, in a private box well above combat and hidden behind a barrier of his own, he is seated at a table for two. An empty wine glass stands opposite his own, and a bottle of Moscato, fresh from an Italian winery, decants in a floating bucket of ice.

COMBAT: Kunzite has used Un Baiser Pour Toi, Mon Amour on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Kunzite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Zoisite accepts Kunzite's Un Baiser Pour Toi, Mon Amour, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Zoisite is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Rei Hino stands before the mirror, about to take off her second earring when a wave of psychic energy washes over her like the shockwave of a bomb. She sprints so quickly to the window that she nearly trips, and soon understands what she'd felt. That grand visage speaks from the skies above.

Her expression hardens, brow tense and jaw clenched. This seems worse than usual. Planting a foot up on the windowsill, she hoists up and launches out. Fire bursts and snuffs out in little more than a heartbeat, and as she lands on the ground she is no longer Rei Hino, but somebody far better suited to handle this.

The symphony hall isn't particularly close, she'll have to hurry. No time for subtlety now, she charges in as straight a line as she can manage. Glancing down to her wrist, she activates her comlink, speaking to all of her Senshi comrades. "Let's try to get there together! Nobody better be doing anything stupid!"

By the time Sailor Mars arrives, her own instruction goes by the wayside. The doors open, she can see, and hear, what's inside...and none of it's good. She's just in time to see the sonic blast crash against something that can only be seen in a momentary rustle of light.

Sailor Venus is alone with one of the so-called Heavenly Kings. Mars would be furious if she had the time, but she doesn't. Short work will have to be made of these three..likely enough they'll work as a team. To say the least she hopes hers arrive soon.

"ZOISITE!"

She plants her feet, glaring past the youma between them. "You've caused this city far too much trouble! This ends tonight! In the name of Mars, I'll rain justice down on your head!"

Her eyes, and her glare, slides over to the floral triplets. "Just after I finish burning your weeds."

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has cancelled their attack on Zoisite. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In Mars' Name! on Zoisite.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

A lazy Sunday for some, a hectic one for others. Earlier, the setting of the sun saw Mai Tokiha departing her workplace, intermittent grumbling audible in her wake. A long shift, and one with far too many broken dishes, but...finally over, right?

Wrong. Menace loomed in the skies, billowing red hair blazing against a burning sunset. Mai stopped in her tracks, staring openly - along with all those bystanders around her - at the face, and the proclamation, and the threat. Even after it faded, and most wandered off to mutter about publicity stunts, she stared at those nearing-crimson skies. She'd only seen that face once before, but...

"...not taking it easy today, I guess." A high school girl being in a rush this late might seem a bit out of place, but there's appearances and then there's priorities. Memories of warnings about just how dangerous Zoisite could be - thoughts of a force for good like the Moon Princess being challenged to a final duel - these were her company as she ran.

*~*~*~*~*

There are many entrances to the Searrs auditorium - mysteriously few guarded at this hour. Flames begin to dance as one girl runs down a darkened hall, flinging open one of the fire escapes to make her entry. Not in a waitress outfit, but in a short-sleeved Ohtori summer uniform - Mai-HiME stands, flames flickering against the shadows there, gold-and-jade rings turning uncertainly. She stands - and stares in awe, for a moment, at Sailor Venus's answer to Zoisite's challenge.

A brief awed moment, but long enough for the Plant Sisters to make their appearance, and for the barrier to arise. Mai's uncertainty stills, and she sets her own stance - wary at first, particularly of the flame-eating Lily-of-the-Valley. But...there's little time for hesitation, not with the dance going on on stage.

"...you just had to make this a fight, didn't you? Couldn't just stay home and have dessert?" It's not quite a grin, not quite a grimace. "I can say this much - she's got people who care about her. So-" The HiME springs forward, rings blazing as she vaults above roses and seats. A fiery barrier of her own - one that shines brilliantly, exploding in a brief white-hot blaze as she rushes close to Touch-Me-Not. If that plant's looking her way at the wrong time...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai-HiME!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Devoted Scintillation on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Duck transforms into Princess Tutu!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Ren Aizawa's Seeker Barrage, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates! Exhausted applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Grapeshot, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa! Cripple applied to Ren Aizawa!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Mai Tokiha's Devoted Scintillation, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates! Blind and Cripple applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Mai Tokiha! Stun applied to Mai Tokiha!

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

There's a sour taste in the back of Makoto's throat, a knot of tension in her stomach that she resolutely ignores as she sprints through the entryway of the symphony hall. She didn't want to be back here, but now's not the time - her team needs her, and she can't let them down.

So Sailor Jupiter takes her place beside Sailor Mars, arms folded across her chest, and glowers with fiercely narrowed eyes at the three Plant Sisters. "Too bad for you guys," she says, mouth tight, voice heavy. "I'm really pissed off right now, so I'm not in the mood to play around with you. You'd better be ready--!"

One step forward plants her boot solidly against the floor. A spark of electricity leaps from the tip of her finger as she raises one hand in front of her. In another moment, that tiny point of light is joined by more; as Sailor Jupiter throws out her hand toward the sisters, the air around them crackles with energy, suddenly filled with a myriad sizzling sparks that fill the air like thistledown on a summer breeze, but far, far more dangerous to touch.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Thistledown Sparks on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Jupiter's Thistledown Sparks, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

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

When the Moon Princess and her 'fellow champions of justice' are called, Sailor Mercury is among the first to answer. The young woman is already moving when Rei reaches out to the rest of them -- and she gives a firm, confident, "Right! I'll meet you as soon as I can!" Sure enough, she's right behind Mars as they enter... and when she sees the barrier, her heart sinks a little bit.

Without hesitation, she brings her visor up to give that barrier a good assessment, perhaps hoping to see a weak point -- somewhere that someone could just crash through, or assault the barrier. Needless to say, there isn't one; her shoulders droop.

"There's no way through but to defeat the youma, everyone!" Sailor Mercury announces. Turning her gaze to Sailor Venus, she says, "Hang in there, Sailor Venus! We'll help you as soon as we can!" Adopting a battle stance, she sticks close to Sailor Jupiter.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Help Is On The Way on Sailor Venus.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus accepts Sailor Mercury's Help Is On The Way, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Venus is Cheered!
COMBAT: Zoisite fails to dodge Sailor Mars's In Mars' Name!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

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

The visage of Zoisite looms high above, making a sharp contrast of beauty and twisted cruelty to the one observing. Head hanging out the window of her home, a certain ninth grade middle schooler eventually draws back her head, and rests her chin on her arms. A black cat leaps up onto the sill beside her, tail swaying from side to side, "They're becoming more direct. We shouldn't mistake it for desperation though." Usagi makes a sound of agreement, without any real enthusiasm, "Mmmm." The cat turns her head towards her, worry showing within her eyes, but instead she comments, "Usagi-chan. You need to gather everyone for a strategy meeting. We shouldn't just walk into his trap!"

Crawling back away from the window to her nightstand, she grabbed her a glittery pink phone in a huge otterbox. Dialing up Minako's number, a selfie of her partner-in-crime from the address book lit up the screen as it rang. And rang, and- Usagi's eyes suddenly widened, "She's not picking up!" Hurriedly she put it aside and started fishing through her drawer, "Where's that communicator?" "You don't know?!? Usagi-chan! You need to keep track of these things! They're important!" Tearing out her drawers she started upturning them, at a more frantic pace. "LUNA!" Came the breathless call from outside. Luna turned to look back outside, upon the panting white cat down below. "Don't tell me she's gone it-"

"-alone! Why would she do that!?" Usagi sprinted as fast as she could, one arm pumping at her side and clutching the Moon Stick, the other crooked near her face to answer Mars on the comlink she found at the last moment tucked under her bed, blonde twintails fluttering behind her like streamers in the wind with two felines running behind her. "She thinks she has to! That it's her duty! Even when she was Sailor V-" "We can discuss this later! Usagi-chan, we need to go faster!" "Minako-chan... I definitely won't let you do this alone!" Turning the corner, she thrust one hand high in the sky, the other clasping her brooch as she gasped out. "Moon Prism Power! Make Up!"

Not long after, it's Sailor Moon that runs into the symphony halls, all but skidding to a stop behind Sailor Mars before she crashes into her, before releasing two cats from her arms. One look was all it took to tell her how awful this situation was. "Venus!" She cries out, spotting her trapped fellow Senshi, fighting the most cunning Heavenly King alone, and barring her way were three Youma, and a barrier. And yet, despite how awful the situation was, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Selfish boys who threaten what a girl cares about to pressure them into doing what they want are the worst! I'll never forgive anyone cruel enough to manipulate someone's feelings like that!" I'm the Sailor-suited Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice: Sailor Moon!" Pointing two gloved fingers at Zoisite, she calls him out even beyond the Youma, "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

The fierce Plant Sisters however, aren't going to make punishing Zoisite easy, and Sailor Moon's eyes go wide as she looks upon them. Casting a glance at Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury, each in turn, she takes up a defensive pose herself eyes looking upon them, but also past them at her friend locked in fierce combat, "Then that's what we'll do Mercury! Hold on Venus! We're coming!"

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Zoisite.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Zoisite fails to dodge Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Cripple applied to Zoisite!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera Camry cannot possibly claim to know the Moon Princess, much less her identity. But she remembers the time that her and Sailor Moon sat on a rooftop and talked, and the times before that. She remembers what she said: 'It's like it's watching over us.' Protecting that feeling, she thinks, is worth a lot. And thus she comes running for the Searrs Symphony Hall, just like many other magical girls, taking Zoisite's pronouncement as far more than a prank.

She runs in through one of the mezzanine doors on the side. (It's rather less dramatic than Sailor Venus's entrance.) As she does, she sees the barrier shoot up -- and cut off her intended approach to leap down to help the Sailor Senshi. "What--"

Her eyes drop down towards the Plant Sisters. Her teeth grind together, and she swings her sword around; plasma ignites up Soaring Sky's length with a crackle. She takes off into a run, slams into and through the railing, and then goes over the edge in a dive down for Lil from above. She swings her sword over her shoulder, red-orange left in a trail behind her.

"Don't worry!" she calls down to Sailor Venus while she falls down from the upper level. "We're coming to help!"

She lands in front of Lily-of-the-Valley, feet hitting the floor with a loud thud, and she pivots as she lands, swinging her sword down for the youma's side. A trail of fiery light is left in the sword blow's wake.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Bolt Diver on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Lera Camry's Bolt Diver, taking 16 Fatigue damage!

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

Duck didn't mean to get involved in any of this.

She'd been out shopping in the city -- always a dicey prospect, with how loud and cacophonous it is, but pleasant nonetheless. She and her friends were going to see Romeo and Juliet, after all, and /this time/ Duck was determined not to get lost. 'I'll learn the area beforehand,' she thinks to herself. 'That way, Pike and Lilie won't have to lead me around! Even if I'm just a duck, I can still be prepared!'

And so, there she was, when the face and the voice boomed out in the sky. And Duck didn't know much about this 'Moon Princess', but that face, that voice? She's met the Shitennou before, just once.

She danced with one of them. She'd like to dance with them again. She's sympathetic to the idea of coming back to a world which has forgotten you, if only they would stop being so awful and trying to hurt everyone!

And now, Duck supposes, they're doing something awful again. They're at least /threatening/ to do something awful. It worries her! This is a sad tale, and she can't just pretend she didn't see...

A kinder curling vine than the ones which block the Senshi from their friend lifts Princess Tutu to an open window. The ballerina leaps through, and quickly makes her way through the building to the noises she can hear. She arrives in time to hear Mercury's assessment of the barrier, looking from the plant-women, to Zoisite and Venus, and then to the gathered heroines.

Princess Tutu may not know the intimacies of this situation, but what she does know is enough. "Please," she says to those heroines, not a feather out of place, "allow me to join this dance." Her tone is firm, compassionate. "I can help you."

She steps forward, with that, hands circling above her head at the wrist before reaching out to Touch-Me-Not. "... you are with the Shitennou? Please, dance with me."

COMBAT: Duck has used Please Talk With Me! on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Duck's Please Talk With Me!, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro is Quipped! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Duck! Stun applied to Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There's a lot that Fuu still hasn't learned about the Dark Kingdom; however, the important parts - that they're one of the groups trying to conquer Earth (whether to enslave humanity or just exterminate it), and that they have little compunction about being highly visible when they issue a challenge - are both pretty well established in her experience. Also the fact that their schemes appear to trend towards stealing human life energy.

Their willingness to drop challenges openly has its uses, though; it means that the Fuu knows exactly where the Magic Knight of Wind needs to go. She's not sure who this 'Moon Princess' is, but being an enemy of the Dark Kingdom is really all the reason she needs to offer assistance.

She's not surprised that other magical girls (particularly the Sailor Senshi) are on the scene ahead of her; as the Wind Knight takes in the situation, her bow and quiver materialize. Rather than letting an arrow fly just yet, though, she glances around at her allies, some of whom are already engaging the Plant Sisters in close combat. She *can* work around that, but ... she has other options, including some she rarely exercises. "Allow me to support you, Sailor Moon-san!" she calls out -

(The one with the blonde twintails is Moon, right?)

"Winds of Protection!" the Magic Knight of Wind calls out, and a barrier of focused wind coalesces between Sailor Moon and the stage.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Protection on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"Cousin, someone's talking in the sunset," Batiste the otter had said worriedly.

"What?" said Nori Ankou.

It took a little explaining. But only a little.

Soon enough, la Sirene du Nord is on the scene, vaulting in from on high and drawing into the concert hall proper, only to be confronted with a combination of the far-distant stage setting for Romeo and Juliet -- and the three floral devils before them.

Fortunately, 'them' does not refer solely to Nori -- rather, la Sirene du Nord -- and her erstwhile mustelid ally. Others are here, most notably the Sailor soldiers - one of whom, she can see, is locked in battle on the grand stage. The words of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Moon give la Sirene a vital few moments to consider, to think, and to gather her strength.

The strangely-chased lantern in her hand is raised, then. "Know this, trio of terror, sisters of suffering, I have heard your proposal."

La Sirene du Nord raises her head so she can look down her nose a bit, orienting primarily towards Grape. "Your terms are acceptable. How long can your leaves stay strong -"

La Sirene squeezes the handle of the Brazen Pharos. The front of it opens, just a bit. What comes out is sharply-defined and clear, if visually kind of eye-hurting, because - and for once it is /abundantly/ clear in the relatively clear lighting of the Searrs concert hall - it is a shadow, a pitch-black shadow practically rolled out like a strip of black fabric. It feels cool inside of it - cool and /unearthly./

"Under the glow of my mirror?" la Sirene concludes, stepping up the aisle slowly and deliberately.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Pieces of the Perfect Black on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters La Sirene du Nord's Pieces of the Perfect Black, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates! Blind applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to La Sirene du Nord! Stun applied to La Sirene du Nord!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Protection, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Withstand applied to Sailor Moon!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Miki Aono had seen the face looking over Tokyo.

She was outside at the time, on her way home from her modeling appointment. She was tired - and that showed in her face, under her eyes (carefully hidden by makeup), and the way she held herself up right now. Lifting up her eyes towards that face in the sky, she purses her lips. "Moon Princess?"

She wasn't quite sure what that was. But what she was /sure/ about? The Dark Kingdom calling out the champions of justice? That was PreCure business. "Change! Pretty Cure...!" she says, lifting her Pickrun from her pocket, twirling it in her hands. But she pauses a moment. The other people in the park were turning to stare at her. Turning as red as a beet, Miki just releases a nervous laugh. And... kinda slides behind a grove of trees.

Cure Berry sneaks out the other side of the bushes later, but by the time that she arrives...! So many other magical girls were already leaping to the scene. Berry didn't mind that. She preferred to work alongside others. But... glancing back over her shoulder, she looks for familiar faces. Bursting through the front door of the opera house, spies the other magical girl, tracks her gaze towards the plant sisters...

And true to form, leaps straight into action. Ducking her head low, she clears the distance between her and the plantpeople with a series of bounces, ending said bounces with a flying kick aimed /right/ at Grape. "Hiyah!"

COMBAT: Cure Berry has used Perfect Dart on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cure Berry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Cure Berry's Perfect Dart, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The face that appeared at sunset is known to Mami Tomoe. She's seen him before, and even if not for the risk to her allies...

Well, she owes Zoisite of the Dark Kingdom a visit that is long overdue.

This time she brings no observers, no friends to accompany her on her patrol: the veteran Puella Magi comes alone, even if she doubts she'll remain that way when the Moon Princess is at stake. So one moment, she is outside, and the next...

"My, my," Mami's voice begins, filtering through the hall as she projects it like the most expert of performers. Her golden eyes cast over the field, but she can trust Sailor Mercury's statement without needing to test it for herself. So instead, she focuses on the Plant Sisters, as she continues to walk right though the main entrance. "How unfortunate that such a lovely building has a weed problem." Her hat at the perfect angle, the twin-drilled magical girl finally comes to a stop, still as casual as can be amidst the passionate statements of all the others. ...But only for that moment.

"I owe your master something. Perhaps I'll include a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers."

With a glint of sparkling golden light trailing after her, Mami bends her knees and /leaps/ into the air, sweeping her hand imperiously before her--and in front of her appear a line of glinting silver rifles, the light reflecting off the barrel of each lovingly-crafted weapon in the same span of less than a second.

Explosions burst from each, the ring of a full dozen weapons firing in a deafening roar against the three sisters while they're still clustered together.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe transforms into Puella Mami!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Ikiko mostly doesn't worry about who is who when it comes to the magical side of life -- if she's good enough friends with someone to trust them with her identity as Cute Wolf Tsukiko, great; if not, there's still plenty of camaraderie in fighting darkness alongside each other. The Moon Princess is one of many that she doesn't know about...

...but it doesn't take knowledge to have a reason to fight a threat. Tsukiko enters the hall from one of the side doors, looking across at the battle breaking out. The wolfgirl follows Lera's lead, leaping forward to use Touch-Me-Not as a springboard, bouncing off of the youngest Plant Sister with a solid impact.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Overrun Bounce on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Overrun Bounce, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Cute Wolf Tsukiko! Stun applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"WEEDS?!?" shrieks Lily-of-the-Valley, enraged, and sending a barrage of tiny, sickly green fireballs at Sailor Mars to go with the daggers shooting out of her eyes. She's paying no attention to Ren, however, forcing her sister Grape to intervene with a counterburst of thorns, "HEADS UP, SIS!" which shoot straight out of her palm to intercept the explosive gems. This works, but at a cost; that took exertion, and also the resultant kaboom blasts Lils off her feet nonetheless. She recovers to send a second answering stream of fire in the Device-wielder's direction.

Touch-Me-Not rushes in to fill the gap just as Mai comes blasting towards her with a white-hot, burning barrier. It's shield-on-shield as she blossoms another sonic boom into action, one that sends them both skidding backwards (and, perhaps, smoking a little). Before either of them can close with each other, Grape once again sends her thorns into the fray, trying to pin the HimE down. Sailor Jupiter's sparks sneak through, however, thistles within thistles, forcing Grape herself to have to roll with the impact.

She comes up with the Devil herself burning in her eyes, an ominous echo of Queen Beryl's own. "This is no kind of game, Sailor Brat," she warns Jupiter, even as her left arm surges, becoming not thorns but a massive grapevine, one which eagerly attempts to wrap the Soldier of Thunder and Protection and her proximate teammate, Sailor Mercury, wrap and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze.

Standing still like that, Grape's an excellent target, but the trio are still watching each other's back -- and Touch-Me-Not has yet to take a partner. She casts out a flower-shaped sonic blast to protect Grape from La Sirene du Nord's lantern's darkness, panting slightly at the effort to get there in time. "Please -- like my sister grows beneath the light! Ha!" Princess Tutu appears to want to join her too, and the youma is surprisingly graceful as she engages with the prima ballerina... although the second explosion of sonic petals is somewhat less than friendly. "By all means." Unconsciously her feet take a First Position stance, even as she blocks Tsukiko's attempt to use her as a springboard with another sonic bloom that jars them both.

Lily-of-the-Valley, meanwhile, may be engaging Sailor Mars and Ren Aizawa at range, but Lera comes straight in under her guard, leaving a sizzling slash in her wake, one that lightly singes her otherwise inexplicably fireproof petals. It leaves a thin, burning orange line behind, one that is slowly eating away and leaving black in its wake. "OW! OH, YOU WANT SOME?"

Her free hand shapeshifts as well, it turns out, a trait all three sisters may well have in common, and explodes into a flaming sword, which lashes out at Lera -- and then shoots another burst out its tip at Princess Tutu. "Please, allow /me/ to cut in," she adds with congeniality that can only be called hostile.

Grape grins again -- her eyes are wonderfully emotive, perhaps to make up for the ninja balaklava covering the lower half of her face. "Thanks, Eff-Emm-Enn!" she calls to her sister, before once again adding more vines, which branch off of the original trunk, curl past Tutu's, and try to put the Magic Knight of Wind and Sailor Moon into a potentially lethal embrace. La Sirene gets a blast of thorns for good measure, which sail straight over the sonic-blocked darkness beam.

Finally, she leaps past Berry's kick -- though her hair ruffles from the nearness of that massive force -- and amicably parts the stream of thorns into a fork, that the Pretty Cure not be spared her retaliation.

That's when they're all shot by Mami's attack; it's a good thing they're pretty tough, for plants. "WEEDS?!" they chorus again in outraged unison, before the least busy of the three, Touch-Me-Not, sends a sonic wave back in her direction, one that might easily also clip Cute Wolf on its way past with the precision of a true ninja.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Grapeshot on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flamin' Stamen on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Duck.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Grapeshot on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Grapeshot on Cure Berry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cure Berry narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Grapeshot, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Cure Berry's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha perfectly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Grapeshot, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Mai Tokiha's Reverse ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha's counterattack, Flare Shroud, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade ability activates! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Psyched! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Block ability activates! Ren Aizawa's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Sailor Mercury!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates! Tangle and Trap applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Flamin' Stamen, taking 4 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Duck perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Grapeshot, taking 4 Fatigue damage! La Sirene du Nord's Block ability activates! La Sirene du Nord's Parry ability activates! Cripple applied to La Sirene du Nord!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

A lot of people are rushing in. Lera knows a few of them; she flashes a quick grin at Ren, before turns on her feet to face the flaming sword in -- well, attached to -- Lily-of-the-Valley's hand. The sword meets her Device, sparks and fire exploding off the two blades when they collide together. She takes a step back, the force of Lil's blow enough to make her grip waver, and the heat from the sword is washing over her. Her eyes narrow, and she pushes back with her sword.

She looks into the air, when they cry out, and spots Mami Tomoe. She looks up at her, hesitating a moment; today, though, they're on the same side, like they talked about. She flashes a smile at her.

"You have good timing!" she yells up at her.

Then she launches forward, doing a quick leap into the air. She does a spin as she leaps, and her left boot comes swinging 'round, right for the youma's face.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Spin Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Some of the magical girls here are people Ren's fought alongside on occassion. Lera is of course at the top of the list, a relieved smile working it's way onto her face upon spotting the charging mage. Good! A familiar face! She turns her eyes back onto the Sisters, who likely aren't happy with the attack she made upon them. Indeed the response is swift -- too quick for her to erect a shield as the thorns cut into her, forcing her back with a yelp. But she's ready for the oncoming storm of fire sent her way, holding her device up protectively as a barrier of bronze snaps into being before her, mostly mitigating the flames. She grits her teeth as she's forced back again, this time into a wall.

But this is by far not Ren's first rodeo. She shrugs off the damage and runs forward again. Her focus is on Lily-of-the-Valley who just recently tried to burn her to a crisp. Priorities!

With a shout she leaps into the air and brings the head of her scepter down upon the firey plant sister! There will probably be a loud metallic *CLANG* should she be successful in striking her.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Lera Camry's Spin Kick, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Imperial Slam on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to counter Ren Aizawa's Imperial Slam, taking 45 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Flamin' Stamen, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!

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

As Grape's arm-vine snakes out toward her, Sailor Jupiter braces her stance, raising her arms defensively. It does nothing to keep her from being entangled; her breath hitches out of her as she bares her teeth in response to the youma's taunt, and her fingers dig into the vine's woody surface.

"You've got some nerve," she grits, "thinking something like this is going to work on *me.*"

Sure, the plant ninja has her snared... but Sailor Jupiter's stance remains solid, steady as the oak that's sacred to her guardian planet. With a firm grip on those tangling vines, she shifts her weight and *hauls,* against it, matching strength to her considerable strength in an effort to physically drag Grape off-balance and within range of her fist.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Supreme Suplex on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.

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

Touch-Me-Not is willing to dance, even if she mocks them. Princess Tutu considers it an important first step.

"Please," she says, as her arm extends and she seems to /flow/ into the stretch, like the long, elegant swan normal people might see her as in this form. "Why are you doing this? Why do you fight?" Unlike the plant sisters, there is no edge of mockery to her tone.

Princess Tutu, after all, really does want to know.

Lily-of-the-Valley tries to cut into the dance, but Princess Tutu steps across the ground as if she were weightless, and the fire doesn't even touch her. "Why?", she asks, again, looking to the Lily this time. "You three are clearly connected. Do you not see any point to resolving this peacefully? Even if you're hurt?"

They might be sisters, or friends, or even longtime associates. But Princess Tutu's genuine question comes with no beams of light, no blazing punches.

She wants to help.

She wants to help /everyone/.

COMBAT: Duck has used Acknowledge Your True Feelings! on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Suplex, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Others! The Cute Wolf, a Pretty Cure, the Magic Knight of Wind, Cheeseburger and some person a bit similarly equipped, a person with VERY heavy armament - la Sirene is glad to see such a force, if also somewhat concerned with what this may augur. Other than, hopefully, 'stunning and swift victory followed by ice cream.'

It is not the case. Touch-me-not lunges forwards and sends a burst of sound towards la Sirene, who grimaces -- the Pharos closes, the streak of impossible black vanishing. "I am a queen in waiting," she answers Touch: "Not a /botanist/."

"I do wish Shimanouchi was here," Batiste murmurs. "She'd know what to do to handle these flowers." "Mm," la Sirene concurs.

Then, thorns. La Sirene throws up an arm to shield her face, which mostly accomplishes getting thorns in the side... of her arm. Through the cloth, yet. "hsh!" she exhales with force. Others are moving -

The thought comes to her to be momentarily treacherous. She sees Sailor Jupiter closing with the Grape - the Pharos is raised, wincing slightly at the thorns in the side of her arm, and la Sirene opens the front. A brief flicker, as if to suggest her own lunging forwards.

It's a fakeout, of course. A mere shadowy illusion. La Sirene even moves to crouch momentarily in the sixth row as she does it - the better to confuse the enemy. (And get the thorns out of her arm.)

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Brockenspectre on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces La Sirene du Nord's Brockenspectre, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! La Sirene du Nord is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Duck's Acknowledge Your True Feelings!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Through The Grapevine, bursts all the way through, doing 24 Fatigue damage to Duck! Trap applied to Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

The auditorium doors slam open, flooding the stage with golden light -- and Zoisite cannot help but laugh. "I knew you would come," is his breathless greeting; "you so-called heroes never pass up an opportunity to dispense your 'justice.' Welcome, Your Highness, long-lost Princess of the Moon Kingdom!" He stands, poison-green eyes alive with murderous glee, and tosses the silk rose down to Venus. "I wonder, do your ~friends~ know your true identity? Or have you been keeping them in the dark while they search-- /while you help them search/? Ahahahaha, and you accuse /me/ of wrongdoing!

"But it matters little," the Shitennou continues, cupids-bow lips pulled into a knife-sharp smirk, eyes on the girls who're rushing to defend the Soldier of Love. "They will find out tonight, will they not?-- right before they watch you die!"

Zoisite's flair for the dramatic has always been as much a weakness as it is a strength, of course: taunting Venus has left him open to attack, and he's not- quite- fast enough to dodge the sizzling heart she shoots his way. It streaks past his face, buzzing an abrasion onto his alabaster cheek; blood wells in the rashy, stinging cut.

"My FACE!!" he shrieks, and tears bedew his lashes. "You'll pay for that, Princess!"

Standing now atop the railing of that (fortunately well-built) balcony, fingers pressed to his wound, Zoisite flings out his right hand. In an instant his trademark pink rose petals explode out of thin air around him to rain down upon Venus, each one a delicate razor seeking to revenge the slight.

It'll be fine, fine -- he'll destroy the Moon Princess and the Plant Sisters will keep any of her little friends from doing a thing about it (if they themselves are destroyed, he'll just grow more), and then his and Kunzite's safety will be assured, his beauty untarnished--

Out of the din beyond the barrier rises a voice, hateful and familiar. /Sailor Moon/. Zoi tries to ignore her, as he'd ignored the declaration of her red-clad sister-in-arms, but--

silver and gold flicker in his soul

"Damn you Sailor Moon--" the redhead hisses, clutching his chest. "You stay out of this! It's your precious Princess I want, not a snivelling brat like /you/!"

Kunzite believes in him, loves him, is waiting -- he can do this--

COMBAT: Zoisite has used Stunning Rebuke on Sailor Venus.

COMBAT: Zoisite has cancelled their attack on Sailor Venus. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Zoisite has used Fragrant Razor Onslaught on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus perfectly dodges Zoisite's Fragrant Razor Onslaught, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Venus's Fade ability activates! Sailor Venus's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

In short order, Mai's statement is proven more than accurate - the forces arrayed against the Dark Kingdom are, none of them, alone.

Rebounding from the clash of shields of sound and flame, the HiME is sent back into the audience. Roses scatter in her wake as she skims more than a few seats, coming to a halt somewhere around row twenty-two. She looks up in time to see Grape's sinister thistles coming her way - and, perhaps, overreacts just a bit. Crimson flame blazes in a hotter wall, briefly, utterly consuming the plant's assault. When those flames clear, though...

Mai-HiME briefly has one of the better low-cost seats in the house, and a brief moment to take in everything going on. The camaraderie of the Senshi, rallying together to stand up for their leader, is heartening - and Mai can't help but wonder if the HiME will ever be like that.

Propane-chan and her ally, talking weapons at the ready, working alongside Sailor Mars to harry the fiery plant - the Wind Knight and the Cute Wolf, lending their support - La Sirene du Nord, as mysterious as ever - the Cure and ballerina Mai doesn't even know-

"-wait, what's she even asking, wanting to dance?"

-and then the arrival of gunfire, heralding Puella Mami's arrival. Riotous explosions shake Mai from her daze - she's got to do her part to help as well! Rings spinning, fire blazing, Mai leaps toward Jupiter's battle with Grape. "That's right - weeds! And if they're infesting the garden, then the only option is to burn them out!"

Mai's grin is vicious as she waits for the right moment - and when Grape is clear of the melee, she comes down with a hammering lash of blazing flame!

(Hopefully not too many of the auditorium's roses will get burnt up along with the youma...)

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Vehement Ignition on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Those thorny branches reach out, hungry for Cure Berry's arm...

And they do indeed catch around her, even as she was trying to reverse her momentum from trying to land. Berry twists her arm and pulls herself away - leaving painful, jagged lashes in her arm. They stung. Quite a bit.

"I always thought grapes were a happier plant," she says, her eyes narrowing down as she grows serious.

It was after that initial attack that she really takes her time and glances around the room, giving smiles to friends... la Sirene was given a long look, something familiar about her.

The explosive entrance of the Puella Magi draws her attention as well. That was... well... a little threatening. But threatening against youma - that was a good thing, right? Right. Speaking of...

Berry breathes out a long sound, narrowing her eyes upon Grape and the others.

A brief moment of thought, and she was chasing after Grape again, her ponytail bobbing to and fro as she balls a hand up into a fist, ducks near her, preemptively dodges to one side - and completes the spin, lashing out her punch to try to strike the youma across the neck.

COMBAT: Cure Berry has used Twisting Strike on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cure Berry has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZRy6XfJ8mI

Sailor Mars needn't have worried. One after another, practically on cue, her sisters come to her side. Inwardly she smiles in slight relief, but her outward determination doesn't flicker. More and more mahou shoujo stream into the stage, an almost astonishing number. For all the calamity that so often threatens Tokyo, it is not without its defenders. Rei's warmed to see so many here to support them. If the enemy intended to call them out, then perhaps he was too successful.

The defenders of light and virtue attack first, a barrage of magical energies casting all manner of light and aura across the room. Some strike truer than others, but the battle has begun, and the opposing lines break. She can't help but smirk at the furious response to her taunt. So many youma are like dumb beasts that only know a single word, if that. It somehow means more to fight an opponent with intelligence, and pride.

A motley assortment of anemic little green globes of heat and malice spray towards her like a foaming jet of fire. The assault comes slowly though, and Sailor Mars is, of course, far more a master of the flames than some plant could ever manage. With a graceful twist, Rei sidesteps the hellish little hailstorm with ease, her high heel clicking satisfyingly into the ground, flipping her hair in the same movement.

The battlefield has grown far more chaotic, far more quickly. Most of it is conventional..at least by the unique standards of battle between such forces. It certainly promises to be one of the greatest shows that will ever grace the Hall, pity there's no camera rolling..but one combatant elicits a blink or two, Mars' combative demeanor faltering for a moment at the beautiful ballerina dancing among the bedlam like a thread dancing through the eyes of a storm of needles.

Her own immediate foe had found a more pressing concern, locking blades with a more up close combatant..she has to admit, the flaming sword hand /is/ an impressive trick. But as they say of the jacks of all trades, she's likely a master of none. When the opportunistic fiend attempts to blast at the dancer among her own duel, Mars' hackles raise. Though the graceful girl elegantly sidesteps the attack, the Soldier of War considers the attack an affront, and an unprovoked strike against the most apparently peaceful person here.

Bringing her hands to her stomach, the air immolates between her palms, an chaotic ball, barely controlled. "PHOTOSYNTHESIZE THIS!" As though hatching from an egg, the fiery orb explodes forth into a slender serpentine beast of flame and fury. Snaking through the crowd, this manifestation of Mars' heart seizes up and bolts forward, striking like a cobra at her soon to be potted prey.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Searing Serpent on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Mai Tokiha's Vehement Ignition, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Cure Berry's Twisting Strike, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Flamin' Stamen, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Berry!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

While Lera's looking at her, Mami is sailing back down towards the ground, letting gravity do the work in the wake of her explosive first shots. One black boot and then the other gracefully step back onto solid ground, even as the air itself ripples with the force of Touch-Me-Not's counterattac. The blast rushes towards her, but Mami is already in motion, the rush of her motion so smooth that it's as if she is skating across the ground. Step to the side, twirl, and the powerful sonic wave crashes beyond her into the entryway. Her spin stops after only one rotation, and she smirks the ninja's way.

But her words are for Lera. "A proper lady always acts at precisely the right time," she speaks up in return, a gentle quality to her voice that was entirely lacking as she spoke to the youma.

But Mami has to keep moving if she's going to maintain this illusion of ease, and while she can't hear the reference to Eri, she /can/ hear Zoisite shrieking from behind the barrier. ...It keeps a little spring in her step. Not that she'll say that.

"So, Grape-san--have you ever read much about how wine is made?"

She doesn't stick with the one attacking her--her eyes cast to Cure Berry, in her clear vision, and she whirls into motion to follow up on that spinning blow. Twirl, pull a rifle, fire; twirl, pull another rifle, fire; two more, as she leaps into the air and keeps pulling weapons to launch her upward and fire at Grape until she alights upon the railing of a free balcony above.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Tsukiko lands with a few extra steps, stabilizing herself after the sonic blast. Another sound catches her ear, and she turns her shoulder into the oncoming wave, grunting slightly as it slams past her. The wolfgirl circles around, sizing up the battle and looking for an opportunity to strike.

Well, when in doubt, help a friend. Tsukiko runs a hand through her hair, finding a loose strand. "Wolf's Blessing!" she calls out, charging it with power and flicking it to Lera. "Carve those weeds!" the wolfgirl grins.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Wolf's Blessing on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to counter Sailor Mars's Searing Serpent, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Wolf's Blessing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Surge applied to Lera Camry!

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

As a barrier of wind envelops her, Sailor Moon's nose twitches, and then she looks from one side to the other, though she can't see the wind, she can feel it. "That feels so good~ Like a cool breeze~ Thank you for your help, Magic Knight!"

Zoisite however, calls her out, and her hand clenches over the Moon Stick angrily as she glares at him, "Who are you calling a brat!? Well you're not getting either me /or/ the Princess so-pbbbt!" She raspberries him with a stuck out tongue, very maturely, perhaps even a little brattily, thus perhaps proving his point a little.

A certain Puella Magi enters, and Sailor Moon actually cheers, leaping into the air for a moment, her hand holding the moon stick pumping high, "Mami-chan! You made it!" Landing, she takes up a wide stance, "Now you're really going to get-" Her directed comment towards the sisters is cut off as the vines curl towards her, and Sailor Moon lets out a little shriek of terror as she tries to leap out of the way.

Vines miss her torso, but instead catch hold of a single boot, curling around them and tugging her backwards, clawing with gloved hands, she grips an auditorium chairback so hard that metal begins to bend and plastic begins to crack as the vines continue to pull at her. Wailing out, "Why didn't I take those gardening lessons when I had the chance!?" Anthy had offered after all. Though what actual pertinence gardening lessons might have towards dealing with plant monsters might be beyond the scope of what she could teach. Maybe. Jupiter on the other hand? She seems to be holding her own pretty well, which Usagi connects to her floral expertise!

"Oh! I know!" Suddenly an idea occurs to her, just after Mai and Mars unleash their respective flaming torrents. Letting go of her grip on the chairback, she let's the taut vines do her job for her, hopefully launching her towards the Youma despite her boot being entangled. With her other leg outstretched, she snaps a high kick, aimed upwards to try to boot Grape in the jaw, "Sailor Moon Kick!" Did that move originally come from emulating one of her idols, Sailor V? The chances were remarkably good!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Sailor Venus' eyes light up at the sight of the others joining her on the battlefield. "Everyone!" she shouts out from behind the barrier. The sailor soldiers aren't the only one who came to aid in the fight against the Dark Kingdom -- and Venus can't help but feel strangely moved by that. Sailor V may have been a lone fighter -- but Sailor Venus wasn't.

Mercury's words of encouragement manages to rouse Venus' confidence. "Don't worry!" Venus shouts back at the others encouragingly. "I'll take care of Zoisite! Just keep fighting those youma!"

A furious flurry of rose petals rain down on the stage; Venus somersaults forward, neatly avoiding Zoisite's attack. Venus brushes her hair back behind her shoulder, then looks back up at Zoisite, her eyes narrowed. Her friends -- the other sailor senshi -- they already know who she is. But she's not going to let Zoisite know that.

"I'm not going to lose!" Venus shouts out. "I believe in my friends!"

Sailor Venus reaches for the chain of hearts at her waist and pulls it free. "Whip Trip!" she shouts out. The length of the chain lengthens as it whips towards the Dark General.

COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Whip Trip on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Sailor Moon Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Zoisite narrowly dodges Sailor Venus's Whip Trip, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Zoisite's Fade ability activates! Zoisite's Flash ability activates! Tangle applied to Zoisite!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The vines shoot out, one of them heading towards the Wind Knight and Sailor Moon. The green-clad Magic Knight tries to dive away - and doesn't quite make it, instead getting grabbed around her waist and almost turned upside-down for her troubles.

The Wind Knight reaches back over her shoulder, grabbing for a few of her arrows as they threaten to slide out of her quiver, then nocks one to her bowstring, twisting around to aim at Grape, sighting down the shaft. She's in a terrible position, the angle is every kind of wrong, but she's not about to let that stop her from fighting. She still can't line the shot up properly, though ...

"Gale Arrow!!"

At least, not without cheating. She looses her shaft, magical wind gathering around the arrow in flight and not only accelerating it, but STEERING the arrow's path.

If she can cut the vine off near Grape's main body, that would be ideal. Otherwise - well, she'll settle for actually hitting one of the Plant Sisters, thank you very much.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gale Arrow on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

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

Squeezed in toward Sailor Jupiter, Mercury grits her teeth and does her best to power through it. It's not her strong suit -- but the vine's too fast for her to do anything else, so she just tries to hold it together until she can wriggle at least /somewhat/ free. When all is said and done, she isn't too badly hurt... but she /is/ exhausted, and it's hard to move.

With a glance back toward Makoto, Ami takes a second to consider her choices. Fresh water, /somehow/, seems like a bad idea with plants. On the other hand... getting plants ready for winter /does/ take some heavy pruning...

Raising her arms high, Mercury goes into a spin, calling out, "Mercury Shine Aqua --" Her hands leave behind a trail of cold, icy blades, which whirl around her midsection, held aloft by the magic of her heart, as she finishes, "CUTTER!" She then walks -- slowly and evenly, because she's still finding her balance after being gripped by those vines -- toward Touch-Me-Not, leaving Grape for her friends. They're all getting in close -- that could definitely get difficult fast.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Shine Aqua Cutter on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Moon's Sailor Moon Kick, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Stun applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to counter Fuu Hououji's Gale Arrow, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to counter Sailor Mercury's Shine Aqua Cutter, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mercury!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojL5Y5HvOlE

Lils is too quick for Lera's kick, though it's a near thing. She fires her little fireball barrage point blank into the Midchildan's face, just to throw her off, then turns to try to intercept Ren's scepter with her sword.

She's too slow, and is driven to her knees by the force of it, yelping in pain.

That's enough to bring Grape to her aid, an effort indirectly assisted by Sailor Jupiter; rather than hang onto those vines and be dragged away, she simply separates herself from them -- they remain, annoying but inanimate -- and leaps to Lily-of-the-Valley, such that they are now back-to-back. "You don't got the monopoly, Jupiter -- hang in there, sis!" She in no way wants to meet Jupiter's fist, and the interest of keeping distance, sends yet another barrage of the thorns, which are rapidly getting annoying in their sheer, apparently infinite quantity. Each is sharper than the last.

On her way over she faces a torrent of flame from Mai, which she ducks as best she can, coming out of it a little singed and wincing. Lily-of-the-Valley fires a counterblast over her sister's head, the green flame making the air smell awful, like tainted compost. She shrieks at the HiME, "Some garden this is! Don't you humans like ANYTHING but ROSES?"

La Sirene's illusion, meanwhile, briefly distracts Touch-Me-Not (who answers it with another one of those sonic waves), but not as effectively as Princess Tutu's polite, gentle tirade. That really gets her attention, as the youngest and, according to Dark Kingdom gossip, weakest of the three sisters.

And her feet are still in ballet stance.

"Because we have something to fight for! And sometimes, your goals are worth getting hurt for... no matter what! We will not relent--"

"YO, TOUCHY, BACK TO THE FIGHT!" bawls Grape from across a few rows of seats, helping to end (or at least interrupt) this conversation by summoning a massive vine that erupts from directly underneath Tutu to grasp her as hard as it can. Everyone wants a piece of her now, and Lils does her best to cover her now that they're together, intercepting Cure Berry's punch with her fiery sword, and then following it up into a vicious slash across the Pretty Cure's torso.

Before Sailor Mars' fiery snake can get too far into the chaos, it is deflected -- but not blocked -- by another of Touch-Me-Not's sonic blooms. It pours through it, onto the pale blue youma, who lets out a ghastly scream. "WE! DO NOT! USE SUNLIGHT!" She frantically sends more of those little sonic wedges in Mars' direction -- but may be less frantic than she seems, as a few, rather like tiny homing missiles, swerve behind the distracted Cute Wolf to try to take her by surprise.

Once again Grape is unable to get out of the way of the golden Puella Magi's bullets, which send unpleasant-looking splinters onto the floor, carving whole chunks out of her person. Narrowing her eyes, she animates the splinters with a gesture, which go soaring, razor sharp, up to Mami's balcony -- but once there, they explode into more of those accursed vines.

She has somewhat less trouble enduring Sailor Moon's Kick, but is far too distracted to prevent the Gale Arrow from doing its work on the various vines around the room. Lily-of-the-Valley, mostly ignored at this point, is all too happy to cover for her sisters; but her flaming darts fall short, deflected by the Magic Knight's wind, and cannot turn in time to melt Sailor Mercury's ice blades away from Touch-Me-Not.

Which leaves the youngest quite thoroughly sliced and diced. "Sorry!" "SORRY?!" Her eyes narrow at Sailor Mercury. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!" She's just flailing with her leaves, though, panicked...

...until a much more controlled, steady stream of fiery seed bullets pour between senshi and youma, separating them. They go towards Mercury. They go towards the Magic Knight. They shoot, point blank, at Sailor Moon's face.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY!!"

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Grapeslam on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Grapeshot on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Real Talk on Duck.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flamin' Stamen on Cure Berry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Punch-Packing Pistils on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Punch-Packing Pistils on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Punch-Packing Pistils on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Plant Sister Teamwork! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Plant Sister Teamwork!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cure Berry fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Flamin' Stamen, taking 25 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Punch-Packing Pistils, taking 5 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Psyched!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Grapeshot, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Mami Tomoe!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, partially gets through, doing 12 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Duck fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Real Talk, taking 14 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 17 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Grapeslam, taking 16 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Lera Camry fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 21 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Punch-Packing Pistils, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mercury's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"I-I see!" Lera says with a look at Mami that may be a little starstruck. She shakes her head; it's not the time to be too impressed. Her face splits back into a grin, and then even more when she suddenly feels a surge of power from Cute Wolf Tsukiko. She lets go of her Device with her offhand, clutching the strand of air. She glances at Tsukiko, then nods. The grin widens.

"Don't gotta tell me twice!"

She swings around to attack Lils, but the youma is already moving. She tries to duck left to get away from that fireball barrage, but she should have ducked right. The blasts of flame shoot into her, each slamming into her Barrier Jacket. It absorbs them, but that's the only protection she gets. The concussive force of each shoots her up into the air more. She grunts loudly as the final one hits.

She goes flying back -- and then she does a bicycle kick off one of the columns in the theater, holding the mezzanine up. That sends her flying back into the fight, but with a new target in mind. She sees the slash at Cure Berry's torso -- so she suddenly accelerates, a ring of light shooting from her feet and her hair blowing backward.

"Berry!" she calls out. "INCOMING!"

She shoots over the Cure's head, leaving a trail of red-orange light in her wake, and comes flying at a nearly supersonic shoulder check aimed at Grape's abdomen.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Line Burst on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges Lera Camry's Line Burst, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Punch-Packing Pistils, taking 13 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Having canid ears can be troublesome at times, like when there's a high-pitched sound. Other times, it can be quite useful: Tsukiko's ears flick, tracking the circling sonic wave without having to watch it. As the wedge of sound closes in, the wolfgirl rolls to the side, getting out of the way of the wave and leaving it no time to avoid the seat in front of where she had been standing. Tsukiko winces a bit at the damage, but at least seats can be fixed.

Well, if she wants to use sound... "You're not going to outdo *me* with your sonic attacks!" Tsukiko yells at Touch-Me-Not. "And no matter how much noise you make, I can still do things beyond that!" The wolfgirl grins, sizing up Touch-Me-Not. "I can close the distance, and I /will/ take you down!"

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Bark! on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

There is indeed a loud metallic *CLANG*. Success! Let's see that fire-plant mouth off now! Though of course Grape is none too happy with the assault upon her sister, and Ren tries to get out of the way of the incoming thorns. Alas, she again isn't fast enough and is hit, sent spiraling back into a row of seats. A few of them break apart with the force of her impact, all thanks to the constant shielding of her barrier jacket. It still hurts though. Ow ow ow. Again she shakes it off and gets too her feet, clutching her side a bit where her ribs impacted with one of the seats. Still, it could be much, much worse.

"They keep protecting one another. Makes it hard to pin just one of them down and keep hammering away..." Ren observes, mostly to herself. "Seperating them... that's the key. It has to be.... Heraut, I have an idea..."

Ren hangs back from the fight a bit, waiting for an opportunity. And when she sees it, she takes it, flying forward towards Grape. When she's close enough she stops short, bringing her scepter around in an attempt to bash the plant over the back of the head with it. And then, if that's successful, she then attempts to grab onto the wounded plant and take off, hoisting her up into the air and away from her sisters, curiously enough heading towards Mami.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Smash and Grab on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Bark!, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Doom, partially gets through, doing 21 Fatigue damage to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Flame bursts out with passion! A princess offers a dance. Guns boom out! And her friend Sailor Moon, forged in the salty fires of fried chicken, dives in foot-first.

Can I do less? la Sirene du Nord wonders, rising from her moment of cover-- just as Touch-me-not wails at her. La Sirene grimaces, staggering back against the seats as she hears nothing but ringing in her ears for a few long, heart-stopping moments.

But the last thing she heard was 'don't you humans like anything but roses'?

And to this, la Sirene has an answer. Stepping onto a seatback, she looks at Lily, sweeping an arm out. "Do you think we are so limited!? Roses are beautiful yes, it can't be denied. But I love many flowers! The evening primrose, the mirabilis, the precious little silenes - even my favorite of all, known to you as the Casablanca lily!!"

Her hearing starts trickling back to her. "There are others, of moss and fungus, which you yourself have never seen. But -- No!!" This as Lily orients her pistils towards Sailor Moon's delicate, charming, glamorous face.

La Sirene leaps.

Batiste blinks at this. It was swifter than she usually is. He scampers to catch up --

As la Sirene herself aims to slam a knee into the upper body or head of that fiery flower!

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Riders On The Storm on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Ren Aizawa's Smash and Grab, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates! Tangle applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Burnin' Love, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!

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

Princess Tutu listens to what goes on around her, but, as always, she keeps her attention on the person she's trying to figure out. Still, one line is pertinent to her quest --

'Hang in there, sis!'

They're sisters.

Touch-Me-Not speaks of having something to fight for, of a cause more important than their wellbeings. Princess Tutu extends a hand, eyes on her, attentive--

But she spends too much time listening to the youngest sister, and not enough on the others. One of Grape's vines erupts from underneath her, and though the ballerina tries to spring away, she's captured in an instant. "Ahh-!"

Princess Tutu twists and and struggles against the vine, but she is fast, and graceful, and does not meet her issues with force.

Now she's trapped, she doesn't stand a chance. She can't possibly escape.

But... ... Grape didn't gag her.

"Why you're fighting," Princess Tutu says, her breath hitching a little from the discomfort of being entangled. "This purpose you have... please, tell me more about it. Even though you or your sisters might be hurt... why?" She takes another breath, trying to shift to look at the fighters. She makes sure her question is loud enough to hear. "Why do you fight?"

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges La Sirene du Nord's Riders On The Storm, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Duck has used Please Talk With Me! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Pride goeth before a fall, and if there's one thing Mai can be unfortunately good at, it's pride.

Lily-of-the-Valley counter-attacks while the HiME is focused on hammering Grape - and a fiery blast sends Mai rocketing down one of the aisles. Forgotten roses cloud her wake, and she's left in a heap of them for a moment...just in time to hear the plant-youma's aggravated complaint.

Clambering to her feet, Mai prepares to charge back into the fray, a quip at the ready...but she pauses. Because, truth be told... "I really have to wonder sometimes. It sometimes seems like they're the only thing in the world - seriously, gardeners, you're allowed to plant something else!" One year at Ohtori, and this is the state she's in.

A screech of pain and fury tears Mai's attention away from the plant-youma briefly, and she looks in on the ongoing duel between Sailor Venus and Zoisite. Or was that Sailor V? Whichever it is - she seems to be holding her own. In fact, that was the Heavenly King's shriek, wasn't it?...

Tearing her attention away from the battle - and quieting that echo of Tutu's words about wondering what the Dark Kingdom really wants - she focuses on the plant-youma once more. Specifically, that fire-lily one - because frankly... "You know what? You've got a point!" Mai grins, just a little unhinged as she storms down the aisle. "Every single day, it's always roses - so let's clear things up a bit!"

Fire lashes out abruptly - not furiously, as this is as much something for her to focus on besides the Zoisite clash as anything - slamming down on the rose-strewn carpet around Lily-of-the-Valley. It's brief, but there's a sickly rose-smoke scent in the air - brief heat and blackened fumes screening that fire-spewing flower from sight.

Because seriously. The garden's nice, but enough is enough.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Ohtori Rebellion Bonfire on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has cancelled their attack on Honoka Yukishiro. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Ohtori Rebellion Bonfire on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Somehow, the Princess slips past the rain of razors Zoisite sent after her. His lip curls; he grits his teeth. The Plant Sisters are tough, but they won't hold out forever. He needs to end this, and quickly.

"Oh yes, you and your /friends/," he sneers. "Why do you think I've curtained us in with this barrier? Fourteen-on-one isn't very fair, is it, yet that's how you champions of justice prefer to fight."

He sees the gleaming chain arcing toward him, its links glittering like the tail of a golden comet, and leaps away -- but it finds his wrist and holds, violently arresting the Shitennou's otherwise-elegant backflip and flinging him to the ground. Dust clouds the air, and when he rises to his feet through the veil he comes up scruffy and even angrier than before.

An irritated hand flicks stray strands of coppery red away from his face, out of his blazing viridian eyes. "I tire of this," Zoisite declares, and pulls his hands apart, red-gold fire sparking between them and dancing upward as though alive. A flick of the wrist sends all that fire roaring toward Venus. "Hah!"

COMBAT: Zoisite has used Versatile Elemental Suzerainty on Sailor Venus.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

'Have you ever read much about how wine is made?'

Cure Berry's eyes widen. Each gunshot has Berry kinda twirling away from Grape, each round striking her with Berry staying ~perfectly~ out of the line of fire from. It was at that time that her punch was interrupted - and perhaps - off of her game a little bit - that fiery sword comes into play. "Ackkkk!"

She had plenty to ack about. Attempting to dodge back at Lera's call, Berry looks up briefly at her in confusion, ducking as the force of the blow wracks her. A few staggering steps back, and she trips over a line of seats, landing in a heap at the foot of the same. "Got it, Lera!" she calls. She would need a moment to start pulling herself to her feet again.

A beat to gather her wits, and she observes Grape sending those vines Mamiward. The Puella briefly draws her glance again, Berry giving her a little nod of acknowledgement. When... "HAAAAA!"

It was louder than what it needed to be, perhaps. But she was hoping to draw Grape's attention off - perhaps distract her a touch. Even as she leaps upwards, kicking off the seats - twisting and turning as she hopes to launch herself towards Grape, and give a sweeping kick to her as she passes by.

COMBAT: Cure Berry has used Lovely Drive on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cure Berry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus narrowly braces Zoisite's Versatile Elemental Suzerainty, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Ohtori Rebellion Bonfire, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Quipped!

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Cure Berry's Lovely Drive, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Bloom, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Berry!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

On the plus side, between her own arrow and Lily's own fiery seeds, the vine which was holding the Magic Knight of Wind immobile is reduced to chunks of scorched and severed plant matter, letting the Magic Knight extricate herself.

On the minus side, there were a LOT of seeds and the Wind Knight wound up tanking a physically uncomfortable number of them. But she's still capable of getting back to her feet. "I think," she suggests to her allies, "we may need to make sure these three girls don't have a chance to scatter their pollen or their seeds any further ..." She brings her left arm up, watching the melee for the opening she needs - and it presents itself.

"WINDS OF ADMONISHMENT!!"

The Wind Knight's arm moves in a slashing gesture, and a magical tornado forms as she tries to envelope the Plant Sisters with it, to hold them still (or at least reduce their mobility) so the gathered magical girls can do some more damage, while hopefully taking less if the spell should take hold on the trio of youma.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!

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

"Nnnh--!" Grape's barrage of thorns hammers Sailor Jupiter, leaving blood seeping from a dozen little cuts. In the chaos of the fight she can only spare so much attention for what's going on behind the barrier, but she knows one thing for sure: this is *taking too much time.*

Her fists are already sparking when the stream of fiery seed bullets targets first Mercury, then Sailor Moon. "HEY!" Jupiter bellows, the full force of her wrath turning toward the youma who fired the burning projectiles. In the next moment she's thrown off the last of Grape's abandoned vines and she's charging, leaping to hurtle full-force at the enemy who'd dare try to hurt her teammates.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Sailor Mars' gout of flame had found flesh..just not that of who she'd intended. There's something very selfless about the third sister taking the bullet, though Rei can't be sure if that had been intentional. Regardless, she's dismayed that this has taken her out of the dance. The ballerina had seemingly effortlessly taken an enemy out of the fight without raising a hand, but it seems that that's done now.

This blue demon shrieks well beyond her size, more of a banshee than a bouquet. Dodging away from pure noise seems like a..tricky proposition, at best. So she plants her feet and holds her ground. The slicing shards of sound aren't harmless by any means, and a bruise or two blossoms upon her pale complexion..but it's a minor blow, far from enough to put her down.

The dancer is flung up like she'd been standing on dynamite. Baring her teeth in a snarl, Sailor Mars bursts into an shroud of flame, and very nearly sprays every bit of it at the vine..but she can tell all the same that the poor girl is talking to them. Rei is confident that this will not end diplomatically, but..if there is any hope of it then interrupting the pleas will incinerate that chance.

Reluctantly, she turns, her wrathful cloak dissipating as she considers her next move. She doesn't have the immediate attention of any of the enemy, so she has a quick moment to take her pick..Lily's unloading her cannons into Moon and Mercury's face, but Grape just landed a very solid hit on Jupiter..and she's on the other end of the snare on the dancer. Who knows if the fiend could turn her hold into something more lethal before anybody could react..the aura of fire returns around Sailor Mars. Planting her feet and closing her eyes, eight beams of fire as narrow as her wrist surge out from her, each perfectly spaced away from the next..and bend towards the leader of the Plant Sisters. The rays meet, and begin to spiral into a braid just before the moment of impact, if any, occurs.

Sailor Mars can't help but grin as Jupiter shrugs off her injury, ignoring Grape and charging straight for the other two Senshi. The lengths of blazing light cross paths with her in parallel.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Venus may have been lucky before, but she's not lucky now; fire barrels towards her. All she can manage is to cross her arms in front of her to brace herself for the attack.

The force of Zoisite's attack is enough to push Sailor Venus a few feet backwards. Outside the barrier, the other magical girls still continue to fight the trio of flower youma, but Venus forces herself to focus on her opponent. She can't let herself get distracted for a moment.

"Since when has the Dark Kingdom cared about playing fair?" she retorts. There were plenty of times when the Dark Kingdom had used underhanded tactics that she considered unfair to gain the advantage.

Venus directs a single finger towards the Dark General, orange-yellow light flooding her hand once more. "Crescent... Beam!"

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Searing Serpent on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Crescent Beam on Zoisite.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Duck's Please Talk With Me!, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Quipped!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Flamin' Stamen, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Sailor Mars's Searing Serpent, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Sonic Doom, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mars!

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

The bullets rain down on Sailor Mercury, and while she dives out of the way, she has to hit the floor and take a few nasty grazes to do it; the force of the thud indicates a probable nasty bruise in her future. The blades whirling around her midsection shatter and dissipate in the process.

Scrambling back to her feet, Mercury brushes a stray hair out of her face and attempts to get a good, clear picture of the battle again. Shifting around sometimes breaks her focus a little bit -- and while she can always recover, it takes a second or two to reorient herself.

Raising her hands high, Sailor Mercury thrusts them forward with a simple cry: "Sabao Spray!" The area fills with mist -- not painful mist, but something that /hopefully/ might disrupt the attacks of the plant youma, or make them hesitate.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Sabao Spray on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Mercury's Sabao Spray, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

COMBAT: Zoisite perfectly counters Sailor Venus's Crescent Beam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Zoisite's Reverse ability activates! Zoisite's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Zoisite's counterattack, Dark Crystal Absorption, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Venus!
COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.

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

After her kick, Sailor Moon lands on her feet, though one boot is still entwined by the grip of the vines, she at least has some wiggle room now. Which is when the barrage of aimed fire bullets come towards her. And while she gets a look of panic on her face, there's something one of them said, when the ballerina magical girl reached out to the Youma that caught her attention as well. The winds slow the bullets long enough, for her hand to reflexively come up, wielding the one thing she has that can possibly parry the bullets.

The Moon Stick

A few of them strike the crescent moon ornament, and explode, little waves of heat blossoming out on impact, and wisps of smoke. Yet another moves past it, and grazes her cheek, causing her to wince, eyes watering from the pain of the burn that leaves a sooty mar upon the skin. Breathing in deeply, she opens her eyes finally, still sparkling with droplets of water, "Then you know that I have something to fight for too."

As La Sirene and Jupiter distracts the Youma by bounding in with a knee smash and lightning fist respectively, she offers her thanks, "Hey thanks for the cover!" But using the moment, her eyes flicker towards Venus momentarily, despite her assurance not to worry, Zoisite was not to be trifled with. This was proven all the more as she sees the gout of flames spiraling towards Venus.

But they had there own flamewielder, one she knew quite well. One who seemed eminently suitable for dealing with plant Youma quickly, so- "Mars, your flames seem a little lukewarm today! Do you think maybe you could-" She waves a gloved hand at her in upwards motions, "-turn up the heat a little?" The affectionate ribbing meant to inspire her friend to greater heights of power.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Adding Fuel to the Fire on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Lera's starstruck look gets a wry smile from Mami, one eyebrow lifted just so as she keeps moving in order to show exactly the right mood right back. She has an audience, here, an audience that can actually talk back--unlike Familiars--and that makes a big difference. She notes names, positions--

"Nice footwork, Berry!" is her call, but she doesn't have a lot of time to stop and pose for the camera after--

Grape, for all that she's losing pieces, fires straight back up at her. Mami may have the height advantage here, but the opponent is still unfamiliar. She has to trust her instincts, and she does just that, suddenly conjuring a short wide /cannon/ of a firearm in one hand, more like a drum than a rifle, to fire a column of golden light straight back towards her opponent and her projectiles.

When the light clears, the vines have already burst, wrapping around her ankles and anchoring her hee to her sniping position.

"How nice--"

But before she can finish, the veteran magical girl sees the battlefield changing before her. Ren, bringing her opponent /closer/, Berry still swinging. There's a moment of distraction...

"Was it tying me down?" Mami shouts back boastfully. "Let me show you how it's done!"

Still stuck to the balcony, she swings out her hand, and a brilliant red ribbon soars from her wrist, growing huge and broad as it rushes straight between Ren and her prized Grape, and bursts out towards two support beams--and if Grape can't break free in time, then the suddenly-solid fabric will /lock/ like a chain, wrapping this bouquet up with a big red bow.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Legare on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges Mami Tomoe's Legare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Moon's Adding Fuel to the Fire, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Grape teleports in plain view for the first time in order to avoid the line of plasma with a Midchildan's shoulder behind it -- about a foot to the right. Lera winds up streaking between Grape and Lily in order to impact neither of them, at which point they press back up against one another again. Just to add insult to injury, Lily tries to accelerate Lera further along her way with a swat of the flaming sword to the girl's departing backside. "ALLY-OOP!" they call as she passes.

Meanwhile, the Cute Wolf and Touch-Me-Not appear to be about to have a sonic-off. It does not go in Tsukiko's favor, as the flowery youma unleashes a heretofor unseen blast of true sonic hell to intercept the words and send them back, amplified and distorted a thousandfold. "Sorry, can't hear you!" she replies with a wicked grin, following it up with a second blast, this one along the ground, trying to trip the Wolf.

Grape and Lily repeat their split-return-swat-with-the-sword feat when La Sirene attempts the same maneuver as Lera (albeit with her own special, shadowy flair), but their attempt to go for the hat trick with Ren has catastrophic consequences! Grape's eyes momentarily roll up in her head as she crumples, and an eleventh-hour attempt by Lily to burn the two apart simply goes flying past the Device-wielder, taking out one of the box seats instead!

"SH----!" yells Lils, even as she rains more flamebullets towards Ren, hoping to get the girl to drop Grape. "TOUCHY, GRAPE NEEDS YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!!"

She might do more, but now Mai's smoke is curling up around her, and she coughs miserably, trying to fight fire with fire as another stream roars back in the Ohtori student's direction. Touch-Me-Not, however, is "ON IT!" Using her sister's distraction to retreat further from Mercury, she starts focusing on intercepting the assaults on the momentarily-helpless Grape with precision application of her sonic barriers. She deflects Cure Berry with effort and relief.

It's Grape who hears Tutu this time, and, momentarily a few marbles short, she who answers, in a mumble. "Because loyalty... matters. Because Lord Zoisite... matters. Because, if we don't help, Queen Beryl will finish us all... if Lord Kunzite doesn't, first..." Her eyes flutter, and her palm makes a fist, trying to constrict the vines around Tutu to silence her once and for all. But in this tension is an opportunity -- the plant isn't strong enough to be strong everywhere, all at once.

The Magic Knight of Wind's tornado whips at all three plants, grinding away at them like the wind's erosion of a mountaintop glacier, one grain at a time. "IDIOT -- *cough* -- WIND -- *hack* -- ONLY MAKES MY FLAMES STRONGER!" Lily does her best to shut it, and Fuu, down, turning the windstorm into a firestorm.

Before that conflagration can get too out of control, though, she has to deal with the fact that Sailor Jupiter is coming straight towards her, fist-first, trailing the wrath of heaven. She brings up the flamesword, which turns what would have probably left a smoking hole in her abdomen into a blow that merely knocks her head over heels into another row of seats. "--!" She coughs out liquid fire, which pours towards Jupiter in a last-ditch hope to keep them apart.

Touch-Me-Not is still paying attention, though, and with an enraged NOPE!" intercepts Sailor Mars' massive fiery braid with an equally massive thunderclap, dissipating it completely. "PICK ON SOMEONE A LITTLE MORE CONSCIOUS, WHY DON'T YOU?!" She's found her courage again, for her older sister's sake, and follows it up with another of those nasty homing sonic barrages, which snakes towards the mercifully distant Sailor Mercury for good measure.

She wants /no part/ of any more of this blades. The mist that descends around her, however, is almost as bad. "I CAN'T SEE GRAPE!" she's dumb -- or at least, scared -- enough to shout across the orchestra-pit-cum-battlefield, hoping for some fire support from Lily.

Mami Tomoe takes full advantage of this when she sends in her red, chained ribbons. Now there's nothing to save Grape...

...except for Grape herself, who squirms free of Ren's grasp at the last second, and falls past the girl (and Mami's ribbons), disappearing into the fog.

Gigantic, thorny vines ERUPT out of the miasma, trying to grasp her her assailants who are up in the air: Berry, Mami, and Ren.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flamin' Stamen on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Shockwave'n'Awe on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flamin' Stamen on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Punch-Packing Pistils on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fire Lily-of-the-Valley on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Constriction on Duck.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Firestorm! on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Cure Berry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Through The Grapevine on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Plant Sister Teamwork! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Plant Sister Teamwork!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Firestorm!, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Shockwave'n'Awe, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
COMBAT: Cure Berry fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Through The Grapevine, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Cure Berry!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Fire Lily-of-the-Valley, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro is Psyched!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Punch-Packing Pistils, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ren Aizawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Quartz Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Zoi's smirk returns. "We're the Dark Kingdom, Princess: unfairness is the order of the day. You, however, should hold yourselves to a higher standard!"

And speaking of unfairness--

The white-gold beam lances toward Zoisite with laser precision, but he doesn't even attempt to duck out of its way. Instead, he lifts one hand: held delicately in his fingertips is a black prism, a crystal that hurts to look at. It absorbs Venus' beam the way the deepest layer of the ocean absorbs all light, hungrily smothering it with room for seconds.

Sailor Jupiter may recognise it, if she gets a glimpse.

"You cannot win, Princess. I have powers that far surpass your own, and I have Nephrite's Dark Crystal to boot." He chuckles, cupping his elbow in his free hand. "It suits me much better, I think. And it's still hungry. Zoi!"

With that exclamation, Zoisite tosses the kurozuishou into the air. It arrests between the two youths, glowing malignantly, and rains black lightning down on Venus -- lightning that seeks her energy with the fervour of one lost in the desert, desperate for water. It thirsts as the Dark Kingdom itself thirsts, ravenous and eternal.

COMBAT: Zoisite has used Dark Crystal Absorption on Sailor Venus.

COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Flamin' Stamen, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Flamin' Stamen, taking 3 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Duck narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Constriction, taking 12 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus narrowly dodges Zoisite's Dark Crystal Absorption, taking 52 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Venus's Fade ability activates! Sailor Venus's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

Lera's attempt to fly to Berry's assistance doesn't work so hot. The two youma split up, and she goes flying down at the ground below. She catches Lily's movement from the corner of her eye, and turns in midair. As she does, her sword splits into two paired sabers; she swings the left one up as she rolls onto her back, catching the flaming sword on the left just barely in time to avoid being swatted. The impact is enough, though.

It strikes her back into the ground; she bounces off it, rolling to a stop. She kicks up from the ground, rising to her feet, and the saber in her right hand flips around, a trail of light left there. She lets out a ragged breath, giving Lily a long glower. She glances, briefly, at the fog -- and then jerks up right when the vines shoot out of it -- and the terrible flash of Zoisite's plundered crystal.

Then she looks at Lily, her eyes blazing with anger. "I'm getting really tired of the lot of you hurting my friends!"

She runs forward. A magic circle erupts under her feet, flashing as she leaps into the air. She does a tight backflip before coming down, leading with the left sword. She swings it down as a straight overheaded chop.

<Rapid Skyfall!>

Then she spins on her foot, the right sword slashing at the youma's midsection; Lera reverses her grip on the left saber, and sweeps it up in a backhanded diagonal slash.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Rapid Skyfall on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Tsukiko plows through several rows of seats, her ears ringing. "Ow," she winces, standing back up. Fuu's healing wind soothes the wolfgirl's ears, diminishing the ringing. "Thanks!" Tsukiko waves to Fuu.

Turning back towards Touch-Me-Not, Tsukiko narrows her eyes. "Okay, so you /are/ loud," the wolfgirl admits. Darting forward, she lunges at the youngest Plant Sister, fanglies starting to glow.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Lera Camry's Rapid Skyfall, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

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

"If you are being pressured into fighting... that isn't right," Princess Tutu insists, with a little puff of air as the vines tighten. "You, you should be free to-- nhh!"

The vines clench around Princess Tutu, and her words are interrupted as she cries out in pain. Birds are such delicate, hollow-boned things, and it's all she can do to try and withstand the pain. "Loyalty should be given," she gasps, "not demanded on pain of death!"

Even as she talks, she struggles -- but she still summons the will to speak, even as she tries to squirm out of the vines' grip. "You all care about each other, don't you?! You don't have to fight! We could help you!"

COMBAT: Duck has used Is That How You Really Feel?! on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Duck's Is That How You Really Feel?!, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Carrying Grape isn't so hard. Even with Lily shooting fire bullets in their wake. Ren expertly dodges around them, Heraut mentally pinging her when to move out of the way. It's very useful in situations like this. Ren holds the barely conscious plant in her grasp, eyes zeroing in on Mami. "Incoming!" She yells to the Puella Magi, whose style of battle she's admired for some time now. Maybe they'd get to chat someday soon? The fights and their aftermath usually leaves little time for them to converse. Mami, of course, is ready with what looks like a pretty durable ribbon prison.

But Grape has no intentions on being trapped! She comes to and manages to slip from Ren's grasp, causing the magical girl to halt in midair. "No!" But still, she can't be too broken up about it; her plan mostly worked in that Grape is seperated from her sisters, for now. She gives Mami an apologetic look, but there's little time to verbalize it since Grape goes on the attack once she's landed. Ren thrusts her scepter forward just in time as a Midchildan runic circle appears beneath her feet.

<QUARTZ GUARD!>

A shining shield of bright white light bursts forth, taking the entirety of the vine attack. Ren holds it steady for a few more moments before breaking off to fly backwards, the shield breaking and allowing the vines to surge up past her. Grape's not going to get off easy now that she's no longer Ren's hostage, however. The mage zooms downward towards the youma, scepter changing shape with a bright flash of bronze into a glitter rapier. Yeah, she means business. In the next breath she's all up in Grape's face, delivering a multitude of quick, precise slashes. There's no letting up.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Multicut on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Ren Aizawa's Multicut, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd8gwYJA6Y4

Sailor Mars' prediction had been spot on. The vine-armed she-devil no longer seems content to simply constrain the ballerina, now she seems to want to crush her. It isn't enough that she's out of the fight? This demon sought to kill her because she could. Unforgivable! The only thing tempering her umbrage is the firebolt screaming off for the honorless beast. With an unblinking glare, she concentrated on its path..

..and Sailor Moon's voice chirps in, egging her on. Whirling on her feet, her eyes blaze with an anger held before her friend started taunting her..but she winks to Usagi. A passionate woman, such a needling is sure to stoke her spirit..but she understands that, and thus understands the point of it. She turns back to her target..just in time to see her strike smash against the proverbial rocks, scattered by an aural stroke of astonishing proportion.

Mars cannot help but sag at the knees and clap her hands to her ears, pure instinct. Maybe it would have been better if she'd kept her eye on the ball, if she'd been prepared for it. Maybe not. As it is though, she's still reeling from the thunderclap when more razored ribbons tear through the air to find her flesh. She fares much more poorly this time, and a myriad flock of little cuts erupts upon her like an algae bloom.

But she doesn't retaliate. Instead, she stands strong, and shouts right back at Touch-Me-Not, her hands in fists angrily thrust towards the ground by her hips. "SHE STRUCK THE WOMAN YOU WERE DANCING WITH, AND NOW SHE'S TRYING TO STRANGLE HER! IN THE NAME OF MARS, IF SHE FOUGHT WITH HONOR THEN I WOULDN'T BE FORCED TO ACT!"

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Mars's In The Name Of Mars, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

A great deal is going on, and it's impossible for Mai to watch it all - howls and crashes and even more fire on top of what she's throwing around. And through it all, Princess Tutu's voice, pleading for answers...and, in the end receiving them.

While Grape answers Tutu, unfortunately, Mai's attention is caught by Lily - shimmering red light flaring before her to take impact after fiery impact. It's nearly blinding near the end, but the HiME's shield holds in the end. Part of her wants to snarl in reponse, bring the house down...but it's not her in danger here, and besides...

The youma sound desperate - scared, for all that facing these assembled heroines is the less terrifying option than whatever else drives them. It's always a little unsettling, facing enemies that can talk more than Orphans can. Part of Mai wants to try talking, to find some more peaceful solution...but-

A terrible black light shines impossible light from the stage, illuminating Zoisite's assault on Venus. A dark crystal - one that Zoisite boasts was the weapon of Nephrite. Nephrite...Mai's gaze lingers upon that crystal, her hand twitching as if reaching for something securely locked in a drawer at home.

"...I'd let myself forget that you were all on the same side as -him-." That fleeting forgiveness, that flicker of warmth in her eyes, dies a swift death. She rushes forward, into the burning windstorm, determined to rush the Lily with rings blazing white-hot. Only at the last moment does she tempers her fury - turning an invocation of destruction into a full-force tackle. "You want to get out? Then get out of our way!" One of Lily's fire-flinging limbs is her target - her Elements slamming together just before impact to produce a second blinding flare.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Devoted Scintillation on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Mai Tokiha's Devoted Scintillation, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Blind and Cripple applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Venus lets out an anguished cry as the black lightning sparks off the stone and strikes her. Faint gray smoke rises up from her body. Her left leg almost buckles beneath her. But somehow -- perhaps through sheer force of will -- Sailor Venus manages to stay standing.

It takes a minute for Venus to get her bearings -- to focus back on the Dark General in front of her. Her movements are jerky as she rises back to full height, her teeth gritted. If she falls now, she won't be able to protect anyone. Not her mother and father. Not the other magical girls who helped her. Not the moon princess she was sworn to protect.

Shehe absolutely can't lose...!

Venus' hand clasps around the chain at her waist for a second time that battle; it's warm enough for her to feel through her gloves. This time, she needs to put her everything into it. For the princess!

"Venus..." She raises a hand, the chain spiraling around her body as it grows and extends. "Love-Me Chain!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Venus has used Venus Love-Me Chain on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.

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

Fire pours over Sailor Jupiter; arm raised to shield her face, she endures it, and emerges scorched but undaunted. Smoke is still curling up from where the last drops of liquid flame cling to her as she looks for her next target.

What she sees first, through the faint haze of Mercury's mist, is the crystal in Zoisite's hand, and for half a heartbeat Jupiter goes *absolutely still,* eyes wide, expression frozen in shock and half a dozen other emotions too tangled to make sense of.

An instant later time resumes, the world around her moves again. Makoto's vision goes white around the edges.

"How DARE you!" She lunges at the stage only to be brought up short by the barrier, hammers at it with both fists, electricity sparking with every blow. "Who do you think you are?! You think you're different? You think you're *better?* CUT THE CRAP!"

Later she won't even remember that she was bellowing at the top of her lungs - right now, she's conscious only of the fact that Venus needs them, that the barrier *has to come down.* All of her strength can't shake it, but rather than tiring, with each swing the energy surging up from within her grows stronger and stronger, until it's crawling in arcs along her arms and over her shoulders and the air for yards around her tingles with the dry charge that precedes the wrath of heaven.

She won't lose anyone else--!

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Charge Up! on Sailor Jupiter.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Sailor Jupiter's Charge Up!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Surge applied to Sailor Jupiter!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Berry wasn't having the best of days. But! "Thanks, Mami!" calls Berry, twisting in the air, briefly elated at the success of her attacks.

Why wasn't her day going so well? Well, the vines. In the air like this - it was hard to twist more, so the vines very neatly catch her up, surrounding her limbs in thorns and bringing her down to the ground, smashing her against the seats. "Aaaaaa!" There, she flails, flails, and kicks - tearing one vine, twisting - painfully over the wreckage of seats - over another. Kicking, breaking, tugging. Bits of vine nonetheless remain on her. Tangling her up, slowing her motion.

Breathing out, it wasn't grape that was nearest. But Lily... with a brief glance towards Sailor Venus and the shield that protects her, she looks back towards Lily. "I know that Zoisite must mean a lot to you all - but he is doing bad things to the people here in this city! Right now - he is even going to hurt the Moon Princess! How can you be loyal to that? Wouldn't you want your home and friends to be safe too?!"

It might have have the passion, or well... the ~Love~ that speeches from others might have. Especially since Berry wastes no time in leaping forward. She liked to twist today, and right now was no exception. A punch, a kick, and another punch. That is what Berry throws at Lily when she lands by her.

COMBAT: Zoisite fails to dodge Sailor Venus's Finisher, Venus Love-Me Chain, taking 126 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Cure Berry has used Bonzanza Spiral on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Berry has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Cure Berry's Bonzanza Spiral, taking 26 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

A fiery lash smashes across the back of la Sirene du Nord. The heat it brings is fierce and lacks either friendliness or glamour; she was also already on track to land harshly, and there's a loud SNAP (though it was, in fact, a floorboard beneath her). "Ggh--"

She pulls herself upright. It's heavy. "You are quite welcome... Sailor Moon."

And then la Sirene looks - and sees the back of that Lily, of that Touch-me-not. She blinks once. Her shadowy presence has either been overlooked, or the youma trio is simply too assailed by the platoon of sorcerous girls to tend to everyone.

Thoughts flicker through her mind. Memories of when she stood against a baker's dozen in a movie theater. Did she misunderstand her mission then? Does she misunderstand it now? Could these creatures, these people, be saved? La Sirene doesn't know.

She raises her left hand, the Pharos dangling on the crook of her thumb. She raises index and pinky fingers, curling in her thumb and taking a deep breath. She is not doing it by reflex, to guard herself - but she does take a moment to call out, sharply, "Lily!"

It feels right. Immediately after, la Sirene raises her left hand in a swift windmill, saying as she does: "Les Mysteres! COME" and striking home. There is a rippling surge of that liquid shadow, the perfect-black coming out in a fluidic surge, threaded with luminous silver and aimed towards the youma, to burst and shine with a light that doesn't warm and colors that don't quite exist, at least under these lights, under this star.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Les Mysteres on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace La Sirene du Nord's Les Mysteres, taking 32 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Touch-Me-Not's Sonic Waves, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

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

The sonic barrage bowls Mercury over -- this time, she has /no/ defense, and she hits the floor with a much less controlled thud. She's let herself get separated from her friends a little, too -- not a particularly great look, given Mercury's usual approach to battle.

This time, when she gets back to her feet, it's slow and hesitant -- and not even all the way, for a little while. Her hands stay close together, as if she's forming an attack from the ground; she needs the separation that a little offense would provide before she gets all the way back to her feet.

Sure enough, one of her hands swings out, forming a long lance of ice; after a moment, the weapon shoots forward toward Touch-Me-Not, giving Ami time and space enough to do what she does best: think.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Ice Lance on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Mercury's Ice Lance, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Mercury is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Laughter, high and haughty, rings against the barrier. Over the crackle of black lightning, Zoisite crows, "See, Princess? You will soon fall, and there is nothing your little friends can do about it!" His gaze slides leftward, landing with glee on Jupiter and her thunderous rage. "In much the same way that Sailor Jupiter could do nothing for Nephrite, mmm? Not that any of his contributions to that ~understanding~ were genuine, of course. His heart was a stone; love was alien to him.

"Not like us," the Shitennou taunts Venus, turning back to her with a cruel smirk abloom upon his rosy lips. "Love is our field of expertise, is it not?"

Venus answers with her chain -- and it strikes Zoisite dead-on, slamming into his slim frame and branding his ash-grey uniform with its repeating hearts. He screams, for the Love-Me Chain is as much fire and light as it is gold -- as much the ache of a broken heart as it is the metaphysical weight of overwhelming love; he screams, and staggers backward, smoking.

"You will /regret/ that," he rasps, tears beading once again on his lashes; the chain has dredged up bits and pieces of ancient memory and it /hurts/, oh it hurts.

The hand that recently wielded the Black Crystal shimmers now with something new: its fingers soon clasp a length of blue-violet crystal, in shape like a slender sword but in substance as raw as though only just broken from living rock, every angle and plane sharp as glass. Its 'blade' comes to a wicked point, and for all its fragile seeming that point carves a deep gouge in the stage as easily as a knife cuts through sweet strawberry preserves.

"Say goodbye to your precious friends," Zoisite spits -- and lunges.

COMBAT: Zoisite has used Dilettante's Tanzanite Defense on Sailor Venus.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The Magic Knight of Wind eeps at the abrupt firestorm bearing down on her - and turns to dive for some kind of cover ... only to get her feet tangled up in some leftover vine from earlier. Possibly the very SAME vine that was actually tangled around her waist for a little while; she hasn't been keeping close track of which chunk of magical plant matter came from which source. There's a lot of it to choose from, after all. And maybe she should have been paying more attention for that kind of detail ..

Enough woolgathering. The Wind Knight shakes her head a bit to clear it, makes sure her glasses are still reasonably intact, and uses a nearby seat to pull herself back up - not all the way to a standing position, but at least so she isn't sprawled on the floor. Time for a healing spell, she thinks, and looks around to see which of her allies - familiar or otherwise - could benefit from patching-up and refreshing. Tsukiko-san looks like she's not at her best right now, either; the rest of their allies seem to be bearing up well enough, or at least, the Wind Knight can't see who else might benefit from assistance. Better to focus on what she knows she can do, then ...

"Winds of Healing," she calls softly, gathering some of that soothing, balmy breeze about herself to patch up her injuries from the fight so far - particularly where the vine entangled her. The Cute Wolf is the beneficiary of the rest of the spell's power for now - helping her recover some of the mobility and strength that's been sapped by the Plant Sisters' attacks, and restoring a measure of her vim and vigor.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Fuu Hououji.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Cute Wolf Tsukiko's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Tsukiko plows through several rows of seats, her ears ringing. "Ow," she winces, standing back up. Fuu's healing wind soothes the wolfgirl's ears, diminishing the ringing. "Thanks!" Tsukiko waves to Fuu.

Turning back towards Touch-Me-Not, Tsukiko narrows her eyes. "Okay, so you /are/ loud," the wolfgirl admits. Darting forward, she lunges at the youngest Plant Sister, fanglies starting to glow. "But you didn't seem to do as well against close-up attack!" she yells, snapping her temporarily-lengthened fangs at Touch-Me-Not.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Silver Fangs on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Silver Fangs, taking 20 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus fails to brace Zoisite's Dilettante's Tanzanite Defense, taking 61 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Venus is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

For one fleeting second, Sailor Venus is sure that her Love Me-Chain finished him off. There aren't many who could have survived that. But as the smoke clears and Zoisite straightens, she realizes that it wasn't enough; the General refused to go down.

Venus' eyes widen as he races towards her, his crystal sword in hand. She tries to move, but she reacts too late. She had been over-confident. She thought she could handle this and she couldn't.

Venus lets out an almost inaudible noise as the sword pierces her body, tearing through skin and flesh until the blade emerges from her back. Blood begins to stain the white of her sailor uniform as tears well in her eyes.

The reality of her situation finally begins to settle in.

She would ever get to be an idol after all.

Sailor Venus crumples to the ground.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Is it just survival, then? It's harder to ignore Duck's words when the sisters keep responding to them more often... but it's not the first time Mami has opposed people who claimed they were just doing as they needed to.

But the battle isn't kind enough to pause just because Mami can feel something for her opponent--no, as her ribbons close in on empty space, Mami only has a chance to quickly put up her arms before her to block, slammed backwards by the vines that manage to wrap her by the wrists this time, too. "Just keep moving!" she shouts to Ren, unable to really say much else to that apologetic look given that now she's /definitely/ busy. She can see through the barrier, as that horrid lightning crashes towards Sailor Venus, as Zoisite poises to ruin another person right in front of her.

The thorns dig into her arms, dig through her stockings, but Mami wrenches her arms to her sides all the same. "It doesn't matter to me what your reasons for fighting are," Mami calls from her balcony into the fog and darkness. "No matter who you are--survival alone doesn't justify hurtig people who only want to help others!"

What would Sailor Moon do, if her teammate died here? /Can/ Sailor Venus defeat Zoisite on her own, cut beyond this barrier?

"No matter what--I won't allow it!" Mami wrenches her leg this time, ripping herself free enough of the vines to move as she rips a ribbon from her collar. Brilliant light gleams off of it, the gold shining from within as the ribbon starts to grow. She flicks it outward, and with a snap it takes shape, expanding into a spiral around some invisible, immense object that builds only as her magic brings it together. She can't allow herself to focus upon the blade in Zoisite's hand now, at the fact that he is lunging towards the warrior on the stage. She must shape her own magic.

"TIRO...!"

The ribbon is cast away like a tarp over a sculpture being revealed, beautiful silver inlaid with gold now forming a colossal firearm, mounted straight on the balcony with Mami at the trigger that's half as tall as she is. She can't hear anything down there--but still, she narrows her golden eyes, the pistol lined up perfectly with one point beyond.

She aims at her target, holding onto her gun until just a moment later, the right heartbeat--

Her full voice, high and commanding, intones, "FINALE!". Her gun lurches backward as a gigantic torrent of golden light crashes forth, a cylinder of pure magical obliteration.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Finale on Honoka Yukishiro.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 204 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Lily bodily throws herself out of the way of Lera's nasty chop, and goes tumbling head over heels through another row of seats. She attempts to find her way to Grape through the fog through a time-honored tradition:

"MARCO!"

Grape shrinks back, away from Ren's rapier slashes, which tear away her leaves but fail to find purchase on her tough, viney flesh.

"POLO!"

Meanwhile, Princess Tutu and Sailor Mars tag-team Touch-Me-Not's conscience in an effective pair of metaphorical body blows. Sailor Jupiter's grief is impactful to her, too, even though the barrier holds strong, ringing like a massive cathedral bell with each strike of the senshi's fists. "Of course we care for each other! We just don't care for you... and why should we have to? There are billions of you humans -- any of you can just be replaced! You aren't worth fighting with honor -- besides, /we/ practice the way of the ninja! What's your excuse?"

Her defensive tirade sounds weak, even to her own ears.

"MARCO!" Lils repeats, though it's more like a syllable and a half, cut off in the middle by a choking gasp and a meaty thwack-thwack-thwack as Cure Berry beats her thrice in rapid succession.

"POLO!!" Grape is frantic now, diving over seats trying to find her sister.

"M-MARCO! SIS!!" One of Lily's arms is melted away by the strange starlight of La Sirene's other homeland, and she cries out in agony.

"LILY!" yells Grape, rushing to her side and taking her in her arms. "It's okay, you should retreat," she says in a hushed undertone. Gladly she soaks Mai's blinding flare in her sister's place, though it sets one of her arms on fire.

Touch-Me-Not is heading towards them as well, as best she can. "Grape, Lils, we've gotta combine our powers!"

Sailor Mercury's lance takes her between her leafy shoulderblades, and she topples, a leg torn asunder by Tsukiko's fangs -- and she lands at her sisters' feet.

All of them turn to look at the massive blast of yellow light coming towards them, out the barrel of an unbelievably massive gun...

...and then, The Plant Sisters are no more. Their barrier fades from view immediately, with a pyrotechnical flash of sparkles. In such confusion, it's easy to miss that the three of them are not quite dust.

Nestled amongst the plushy rubble of an orchestra seat are a trio of tiny seeds.

More importantly, the way to the stage is clear.

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

The sisters are locked in mortal combat, but there's no way Sailor Moon couldn't notice how pressed Venus was. As the hungry lightning descends, raining down upon her, Sailor Moon's eyes go wide, as she dashes down the aisle towards the stage, kicking off the last remnants of the vines as she goes. With the barrier up, she can't get in, but- she tries, ramming her shoulder into it. It's more than solid enough, punishing her for her desperation.

She has no eyes whatsoever for Zoisite, only for- "VENUS!" Her scream is heart-rending, ear-piercing as she hits the stage, and no longer moves. Once the barrier falls in a shower of sparkles, there's nothing to arrest her forward momentum. A hop takes her to the stage, where she lands on her knees, skidding the rest of the way to her friend, as she grips her limp body with both hands, vision blurred by stinging droplets, as she shakes her just a little, "Wake up! You have to get up! You can't-"

The realization hits her like a freight train when she realizes the truth. Staring down at her, her eyes look hollow. Dead in every way except for the tears that fall.

V.
Venus.
Her idol.
Her partner-in-crime.
Her future summer school buddy.
The friend she dreamed of having.
Her fellow Senshi.

Having accepted a reality where Sailor Venus, Minako Aino was her friend, she could not accept a reality without her. And something about this resonates within her, with something from an age long past, that she should not remember. She jerks suddenly, her chin lifting as light as soft as moonlight, but as fierce as the sun it reflects pours out of the center of her chest revealing an emerging multi-faceted crystal.

The Ginzuishou.

The greatest treasure of the moon kingdom made manifest is struck by a single sparkling tear which rolls down her cheek, and the deep love from which this comes from causes it to bloom, opening like the petals of a summer blossom.

A pink and silver radiance moves over her Sailor Fuku, which unravels into flowing red ribbons that pour off of her like red streamers, fluttering behind her, before they all weave something new entirely. A gossamer gown of pure white and gold trim frames her entire form, her tiara vanishing to be replaced with the mark of her heritage. The crystal hovering before her, pulsing with a light of it's own. Her eyes no longer look dead, but limned with deep sorrow from who lay before her. From memories of long ago.

Not far away, paws leaning upon the seat one cat look on with a sense of awe on her expression, "Sailor Moon..." Luna's mark shimmers with new light as her own memories come flooding back, "Princess Serenity...!"

"Venus." Princess Serenity says softly, the ancient melancholy mingling with the feel of being deeply touched. The name carrying such weight, and new context for her. Smooth hands bring the body of her friend across her lap "You always were protecting me, even when I didn't know it." She doesn't speak for a moment, brushing blonde hair away from her closed eyes, "What have you sacrificed for duty, old friend?" Leaning down, she presses a kiss to her forehead, lingering only long enough to speak a few more words. "I won't allow you to sacrifice this. It's my turn to protect you."

Strong faith, firm resolution, and deep love cause the Crystal to shimmer anew, silver radiance pouring off of it to envelop both the fallen Senshi. And leaving her- quite open.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren hears Mami's words, and interprets them as "Keep fighting!", which she does. Her rapier doesn't quite manage to skewer Grape like she wants though, and with a grunt she watches the plant scamble off to regroup with her sisters. "Oh no you-"

Hearing the call of Mami's attack causes Ren to freeze in her pursuit -- just in time to see all three sisters get hit and... well... you know. Woah. Ren turns to look up at Mami with a grin, giving the veteran magical girl a thumbs up.

The celebration is short-lived, however. The barrier drops down and Ren looks at the stage for what feels like the first time since she originally arrived on the scene. She gasps at what she sees -- Venus, limp within Moon's grasp, struck down by Zoisite's attack. "N-No..."

And then, something amazing happens. Ren watches, eyes wide, as something brighter than the sun itself emerges from Moon. It doesn't quite hurt to look at... rather, she feels an overwhelming sense of calm. And warmth. Definitely warmth. What is that? And... did Moon just transform again? Ren can hardly believe her eyes as Moon becomes Princess Serenity before their very eyes. She's so beautiful...

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

There is a lot of noise from the battle; shouts and cries, friends and strangers alike hurtling themselves at the youma. Makoto's shout cuts through them and Lera turns her head, staring briefly at her. She swallows, hard. "Jupiter..."

She can't look for long; the lightning surging around her is bright enough that she turns her head -- especially when the massive blast of Tiro Finale finishes the sisters. Her feet hit the ground and she turns, sword dangling in hand, as she sets down next to Ren. She glances at her friend, then she looks at the stage. She does in time to see Venus run through; her breath catches in her throat. She isn't looking in Sailor Moon's direction when the rest happens.

The flood of light catches her by surprise and she jumps in shock, before she turns. She spots Sailor Moon -- no, she realizes, the very Moon Princess that Zoisite called out. That, too, makes her breath catch.

"Sailor Moon," she whispers. She reaches a hand up, wiping at her eyes and remembering the talk on the roof.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Fuu Hououji's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Tsukiko darts clear of the barrage that finishes off the Plant Sisters, trying to put some distance between herself and the remaining fight in order to re-orient herself. The wolfgirl turns, in time to see Sailor Venus fall, the barrier collapse...

...and Sailor Moon turn into Princess Serenity.

Tsukiko sits down in stunned surprise. The Princess that was being looked for was Sailor Moon? The Senshi that she fought alongside on several occasions is a princess?

The wolfgirl just sits there in stunned silence, relaxing slightly in the calming light coming from the stage.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has used Catch my Breath on Cute Wolf Tsukiko.

COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cute Wolf Tsukiko accepts Cute Wolf Tsukiko's Catch my Breath, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cute Wolf Tsukiko is Reinforced by Cute Wolf Tsukiko!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Sovereign's Relief on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa accepts Ren Aizawa's Sovereign's Relief, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Ren Aizawa! Cleanse! All of Ren Aizawa's debuffs are cleared!

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

We care for each other, says Touch-Me-Not, just not for you!

It is a strained declaration, especially as the other sisters call out for each other. Princess Tutu knows they must be defeated to bring down the barrier, where that girl is fighting still, and yet...

And yet, she does not think of them as her enemy.

Perhaps it's that conflict which causes her gaze to snap to the sisters, as Tiro Finale blows them away and the last pieces of strength fall from the vine surrounding her. She rises en pointe and pirouettes, elbows out like wings to shake the vegetation from her. And she turns to Venus and Zoisite, and --

And stops, muscles still tensed at the very edge of motion.

'Princess Serenity', Princess Tutu hears, from behind her. She can't deny it. Like her own role in the story, this young woman moves with power and love and purpose. She doesn't know the tale of Princess Serenity -- doesn't know whether it's a nice story or a tragic one -- but she can at least recognise that.

Princess Tutu cups a hand to her ear, speaking in mimes as she does. She is listening. But the time has come, now, that she knows too little to speak, and so she does not spring forward towards Zoisite.

Instead, her graceful steps take her to ground zero of Tiro Finale. She scoops up a handful of the battered fabric and cushioning, stroking a finger through it to ensure she's recovered all three of the seeds.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Awe Struck on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Lera Camry's Awe Struck, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The Plant Sisters make their last play, and fall beneath a thunderous cannon roar; la Sirene feels a squirt of guilt beneath the iron-wrought layer of determination which is born from seeing Sailor Venus fall as well. The subtle sparkle of her tears stands out to la Sirene.

Sailor Moon moves in. As she moves, la Sirene stares ahead - if the Plant Trio hadn't fallen she too would be open - as Sailor Moon weeps as well.

Is it - no, she thinks. Could it be? Perhaps it is. La Sirene feels faintly dizzy, as if she is standing outside of herself, as if her blood is sea-water, and perhaps in a way it is.

The tears are bright and crystalline and then one of them becomes almost painfully bright, but almost means not at all -- that light is not like the Sun, which can hurt and sting and feels faintly and sickly wrong on some inner level. It's a light that is peaceful in its brightness.

And something has happened to Sailor Moon.

Something in her face reminds la Sirene of the Mother of Sorrows. Her heart is pounding. Could that be every tear? Is that the secret? la Sirene thinks, her weight resting against the front of the stage.

Caught in the passion of the moment, at whatever remove, la Sirene du Nord... does not do much.

Batiste, who is a member of a nation who carry rocks with them in case they need to crack open dinner, is moved, but less so. Standing up on his hind legs, he finally gets a good look over the stage - and squeaks, "Cousin!"

He jabs the air, towards Zoisite. "That's him. That's the one who was in the sunset!"

Like an orrery, la Sirene's head turns towards Zoisite. Her wistful, entranced expression changes during these sixty or seventy degrees of traverse. Her eyes focus. Her lips thin. Her brows lower even as her eyelids widen slightly. She says nothing.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used *ominous* on La Sirene du Nord.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord accepts La Sirene du Nord's *ominous*, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Brilliant flame, surging against an intercepting Grape. Mai's will clashes against that of the youma - against the trio of youma - and falters, however briefly. She springs back as the Plant Sisters, in desperation, try to unite. Can she afford sympathy, here, now? Takumi might say yes. Mikoto would say know. Mai says-

Nothing, as Mami's final shot unleashes terrible fury - Mai recoils back on instinct, driven by a primal need to not be -there-. When the smoke clears, when the echoes fade...well, that makes the dilemma feel a bit moot. "...well. Just you, Z-"

The smoke clears, and standing just above the audience seats, Mai beholds an awful tableau - hears an anguished scream of heartbreak. It's horrifying - even after everything, after all the Orphans and madmen and demons and everything...they'd managed to avoid death for the virtuous, right? Cutting it close at times - horribly close - but...

Sailor Moon's heart is breaking, the Dark Kingdom is gloating, and Mai's jaw goes from agape to being set in grim certainty. Death stopped by, and left tragedy in its wake - but there's something with more presence than a river, now. Her voice is small - furious words stated more for the sake of having them said - but her gaze burns with loathing towards the Heavenly King. "Don't think...that you're getting away with this. You all just keep hurting people, time and again, and this time..."

She takes a deep breath, to call something out-

-and there's a brilliant silver light, tearing Mai's attention over to where Sailor Moon stood...where a true princess now stands. Radiant, mournful...and shining with love and determination that Mai can't say anything to.

The HiME drifts toward the stage tentatively, rings turning gently in the air - hesitating before drawing too close. This time, her jaw remains agape.

COMBAT: Duck has used My True Feelings on Duck.

COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Duck accepts Duck's My True Feelings, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Duck is Reinforced by Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The winds fade again, just as the battle upon the stage reaches its conclusion - and the Plant Sisters fall, just barely too late for anyone to save Sailor Venus.

The Magic Knight of Wind rises to her full height, nocking an arrow to her bow's string, drawing it back, and taking careful aim at Zoisite. Sailor Moon's transformation into ... someone *else*, still herself but a far different identity - doesn't go unnoticed; in fact, the appearance of the Princess just causes the Wind Knight to focus more on her aim.

If Zoisite tries to attack the Princess, to possibly double his kills for the night, then he's going to have an arrow in his chest before he can get into stabbing range.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

In that instant, Berry knew.

Who was the Moon Princess?

It was there, in the shining /feeling/ of Usagi - no, Serenity's presence. And beaten - bruised, and tired from her fight with the plant sisters - in a moment, it felt like none of that really existed. Berry's eyes widen, and she looks up at the shimmering crystal and the person that wielded it, breath catching in her throat.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqJn5Lrqb2c

It's only in those final moments that Sailor Mars truly understood who it was that she'd been fighting. Of course it came with such an..innocent phrase, as the Marco Polo. In a plea for the others to flee with their lives. How wrong she'd been..she tastes bile in her throat as she realizes. She, who had been so arrogant and foolish as to feel a thrill at fighting an intelligent opponent. How wrong she'd been..these three were sisters, true sisters, probably even closer than the Senshi.

It was easy to breathe fire when they were defiant and empowered. Now they desperately cry out to one another. They, and she, recognize that they're hanging to their lives by a thread. And Rei Hino, the young priestess, whose life was, is, and forever shall be dedicated to the protection and preservation of life, is devastated by the realization.

Of course they're wrong. All people are not the same, any one couldn't be replaced by any other. But in this moment that is so terribly far away..three sisters, loyal and loving to one another, are making a last stand. Who knows who they may have become if they'd grown and lived outside of such a bleak shadow of terrible influence?

She staggers as though struck in the solar plexus. The fight's left her..almost. She has no zeal nor taste for this anymore..but she bitterly understands that there's no other way. The sisters don't simply get to live because they love each other. That isn't how it works. There's no getting out of it now. Her friend..her Princess..the charge who she's learned is a life's duty to protect..she is in danger and these three stand between that.

But in the moment she's paralyzed. Trapped amidst her empathy and her need to act, she hesitates. She doesn't know if she truly would have struck. She never will. A pillar of light engulfs and incinerates the lot of them. Sailor Mars is glad for it and shredded by it at the same time, and distraught that she doesn't know which she feels more.

But..time hasn't stopped. The world keeps turning, and the war's not won. She turns, feeling slightly dazed..and as the barrier falls, the Princess of the Moon falls limp to the ground. Rei's pupils dilate. She's seen unconsciousness in battle before. This seems like something else entirely. She wishes that she could simply..not, reach out with her spiritual senses, that she could deny the chance to learn the truth. But that isn't how it works.

The Princess of the Moon, Sailor Venus...Minako, is dead.

"NO! NOOO!"

She shrieks, the sound ripping from her lungs like desperate horses escaping a burning barn. Tears flood her eyes and pour out like pus from a burst wound, and in no time at all the tender flesh beneath them reddens and stings with acrid saltwater. Her body seizes up, embalmed as it stands. No air passes her lungs. In that moment she could truly believe that her heart stopped..but as time froze, and Zoisite crowed..as her mind and spirit slowly began to stir up from stagnant shock to leap at Zoisite and explode upon him like a burning meteor..Usagi kneels.

There's a gap between the kneel and The Moment. No rational reason for Sailor Mars to hold back her fury as her friend fell in grief. But there's a quality in the air that fixes her feet to the ground. She cannot understand it until the tear fells..and becomes something else entirely before it splatters onto the corpse of their friend.

As the Silver Crystal is brought into being, and Princess Serenity reveals herself after all this time, Rei begans to slowly but violently shudder in place. Her tears become small streams, her lips parting around clenched teeth that shake so badly they nearly chatter. Her mind goes into shock and her senses go numb and she's pinned in place completely. She stands, and listens, apoplectic and catatonic.

Her instinct, her spirit..her soul snaps into action, cutting the gordian knot of her shocked paralysis. Sailor Mars sprints, and then leaps to Serenity's side, her every muscle quivering as a cold flopsweat bursts out upon her flesh, a wild look in her eyes. Every base fiber of her being wants to tear the Shittenou to shreds. But she is a woman of duty and she will protect her Princess above all else..especially now that she's found her.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auNAvO4NQnY on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Mars's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auNAvO4NQnY, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The barrier fades, and Mami's vision returns with it. She holds no victorious pose, however, no superior sense of distance. As soon as her eyes focus again she is looking through the sparkles, towards the stage and towards the battle that she had to ignore in order to reach. She sees the blade having gone /through/.

...And she knows that she was too late.

Mami's heart catches in her throat, it feels like, her chest locking up and all of a sudden she is so tired. Her foe is there, her other enemies simply /gone/ after the force of her attack, and she is so sure of what she said.

But still in the dust and haze of the battle, even her lovely hat pin seems dingier than it should.

Even with the heart-rending scream Sailor Moon makes, Mami finds herself unable to look away from the fallen soldier, one she's known of for some time. One who is now just gone. ....Is that always how they hae to leave this life? Will anyone call out this way when it's her turn to fall?

Blinking away, Mami attempts to hide the tears welling up in her eyes, and it is when she is looking away that the light filters into her peripheral vision. Silver, brilliant and pure, beckons the Puella Magi to slowly lift her head again and watch.

A tiny, nameless hope blossoms again in her heart as she sees the glow encompass the two, and she steps forward again, still trailing broken vines. She turns to watch her comrades, to see Lera standing, Ren staring, Berry transfixed. ...There's only one thing that she can do.

Mami bends her knee again, but does not jump--she holds her hand out before her, watching Sailor Mars go through her grief... and then through something else. There's this feeling...

Mami believes, in the moment, that she may feel the same. That she knows this guardian.

This feeling--this feeling means she can look past what's happened. Through it, she can almost hear the voices of those waiting for her, away from all this.

"Sailor Mars!" Mami calls, and pours her heart into her words. "You can protect her! I know that you can!"

But Mami herself can only step backward, feet lightig on the ground as she leans on the railing. If she tries to use any more of her magic tonight, she'll...

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Ally of Justice on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Mami Tomoe's Ally of Justice, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Reinforced by Mami Tomoe!

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

Sailor Mercury's heart sinks as she sees Sailor Venus fall; she'd only now gotten even the beginning of a chance to really get to know her fellow senshi, after she'd spent so much time lost in herself. To see her fall here... it's unforgivable. More than anything, she feels like a failure.

Even though she has endless time, now, to get back to her feet proper, she can't make her legs respond; her body feels like it's been filled with lead weights. Sailor Mercury can't stop entertaining the notion that they'd failed -- that the princess of the moon is dead.

... then, just like that, the entire world seems to change. Sailor Moon's form shifts, and the Ginzuishou reveals itself; it's almost too much to take in. For an instant, she stands totally transfixed, watching the princess take the field. She's awestruck as the princess presses a kiss to Venus's forehead. She's still motionless -- but the tinge of fear that came with it is gone.

Her gaze turns then toward Makoto, toward Sailor Jupiter. Part of her is hoping for guidance; part of her just wants to make sure she's still there.

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

The barrier comes down, but it's too too late. It's happened again, exactly as Zoisite said - for all her determination, all her rage, Sailor Jupiter can only watch helplessly as Venus falls right in front of her eyes.

Is this all her conviction is worth?

The light that pours out from Sailor Moon as her true identity reveals itself at last is a revelation. A complete surprise, yet at the same time *right*... and yet... Washed in that clear radiance, seeing that white and gold figure limned with slivery light, Makoto feels more impotent than ever, small and grubby and wholly inadequate, struggling to keep up with a world that's suddenly shifted. She feels eleven years old again, almost-not-quite unable to comprehend what the somber-faced policeman is telling her.

• This* is the true Moon Princess - and how can Makoto possibly even think she could protect her?

That thought is followed by another, if you can call it a thought when it's more of an instinctive emotional reaction that surges up within her without words. The same instinct that spurred Sailor Mars into action galvanizes Sailor Jupiter as well - but where Mars leaps to defend her princess, Jupiter's full attention snaps toward the immediate threat, and as those fierce green eyes lock onto Zoisite, the sparks still snapping around her clenched fists blaze into halos of raw voltage.

Without a word, she charges.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Zoisite.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Zoisite perfectly dodges Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Zoisite's Fade ability activates! Zoisite's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

As Princess Serenity places her lips against Sailor Venus' forehead, her eyelids tremble and her eyes flutter open slowly. Her blue eyes are heavy-lidded as they gaze up at a face that she remembers only from a few faint flashes of memory from a past she had almost forgotten.

"Princess... Serenity?" she murmurs uncertainly. She's straining to keep conscious now, tears rolling down her cheeks -- though she somehow manages a smile. "I'm glad... I'm glad you're okay."

Venus shuts her eyes once more.

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

The tanzanite blade strikes home, sliding through Sailor Venus' flesh so easily and cleanly that she may not feel any pain until after she's fallen, and by then it will be but brief.

Sailor Moon's despairing screams, the destruction of his favourite minions: neither of these matter to Zoisite just now. His blade drips red, and every drop of the Moon Princess' blood carries with it a portion of the weight on the youngest Shitennou's slim shoulders.

He's done it. He's killed the Moon Princess. He, Kunzite, they're safe -- they're /safe/!!

"Aha- ha...ah-" His breath comes out in a stutter. He-- "Kunzite-sama!" Zoisite cries, whirling to face his lover's perch (Venus' blood spatters the stage in an arc, possibly hitting Sailor Moon as well), tears of joy now prickling his emerald-green eyes. "I- I did it! Ahahahahahahaha! Now we--"

Light blooms behind him, pure and soft, silvering over everything onstage and beyond. It rises like the full moon behind trees, dappled and dim at first but soon a bright prismatic gleam. Zoisite turns back to see -- and yelps, throwing his arm up to shield his eyes from the radiant brilliance pouring from--

from the--

".../No/." It's shaky, it's quiet. "/No/!" The light be damned; Zoisite glares through it, joyful tears turned now to tears of pain that sit in lids squinted almost shut from the glare. Instinct alone leads him to duck Sailor Jupiter's enraged fist, and even then the passing electricity singes and frizzles his coppery hair.

The Silver Crystal floats in Zoisite's peripheral vision, a physical taunt. Above him, the Ginzuishou's profane, artificial counterpart has begun to crack: the Black Crystal cannot withstand its overwhelming purity.

"No, no, no no no NO this cannot be happening! IT CANNOT HAVE BEEN /YOU/ THIS WHOLE TIME!!" Zoisite's whispered denials climb to a shriek, frenzied with rage and horror and sudden fear: all of it fuels his arm, which comes back up and drives the bloodied tanzanite blade down, down, swirling and crackling with hues of brightest saffron and of darkest indigo--

Straight for Princess Serenity.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Zoisite has used Saffron-and-Indigo Chiaroscuro on Princess Serenity.

COMBAT: Zoisite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars covers Princess Serenity for Zoisite's attack, Saffron-and-Indigo Chiaroscuro, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars counters Zoisite's Saffron-and-Indigo Chiaroscuro with By Fire Be Cleansed!, initiating a BEAMWAR! Please see +help beamwar for further information.
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mars and Zoisite's attacks collide. Zoisite has the advantage!
BEAMWAR! Now accepting mana bids for the first of three rounds! Now accepting new BEAMWAR entrants in this round only!
BEAMWAR! Cute Wolf Tsukiko adds her Silver Wolf Tackle to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! Lera Camry adds her Aurora Burst to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! Mai Tokiha adds her Ardent Light to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! La Sirene du Nord adds her Paint It Black and Take It Back to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mercury adds her Mercury Water Bullet to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Jupiter adds her Supreme Thunder to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!

BEAMWAR! Duck adds its Pas de Deux to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!

BEAMWAR! Fuu Hououji adds her Emerald Cyclone: Full to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!

BEAMWAR! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has placed her bid! Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!

BEAMWAR! Fuu Hououji has placed her bid! Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Duck has placed her bid! Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Ren Aizawa adds her Prismatic Refraction to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R71kGzAkVgA

As Sailor Mars steps into position before her charge, her high heel nearly slips in Venus' blood. Her sheet-white face drains even further of blood, but she holds steady. Minako speaks..Rei can hear it. Her head involuntarily twitches downward, but only by a centimeter or two. She can't stop looking, and her right eyelid shudders and twitches with the strain of resisting it.

With Zoisite's first cry, her body, skin and garments alike, explode with characters..in moments, Sailor Moon is tatooed from head to toe with the stark characters of prayers and mantras. But they are not writ in black ink..instead they burn so red as to seem almost unnatural..and the flesh surrounding them glows in a pure and incandescent white light.

The 'Heavenly King' shouts out again, babbling his protests and screaming his defiance. Sailor Mars...for a moment, bathed in a growing glow like the turned dial of a gas-lit fireplace, seems to drown in the ivory glow, and it almost seems as though her skin is lifting off of her body in every direction...the amorphous alabaster body gradually resolves into a mosaic of shape.

Each set of shining characters stand apart from the rest..and the immaculate white around each slowly stretches and snaps off from the rest. For just a moment they each become rectangles orbiting the priestess like moons and satellites..and then each rectangular border, so recently formed, explodes into a flame so pure that each is difficult to perceive..lacking even the darkness of definitive borderlines.

Among the center of them all stands Sailor Mars, her weeping, twitching, unblinking eyes staring out between them with the intensity of a lighthouse in the heavy flog. The holy fire floods out to meet the bloody blade.

Even so..Zoisite is empowered by forces beyond her reckoning. Fireworks aside..it is likely that he will overwhelm her..and she and the Princess Serenity alike will be cut down where they stand.

BEAMWAR! Cure Berry adds her Pretty Cure Espoir Shower to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!

BEAMWAR! La Sirene du Nord has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Jupiter has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Mai Tokiha has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Sailor Mercury, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Cure Berry has placed her bid! Ren Aizawa, Sailor Mercury, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Lera Camry has placed her bid! Ren Aizawa, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!

BEAMWAR! Sailor Mars has placed her bid! Ren Aizawa, Sailor Mercury, and Zoisite still need to bid!

BEAMWAR! Zoisite has placed his bid! Ren Aizawa and Sailor Mercury still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mercury has placed her bid! Ren Aizawa still needs to bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity adds her Moonlight Legend to Sailor Mars's BEAMWAR!
BEAMWAR! Ren Aizawa has placed her bid! Princess Serenity still needs to bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity has placed her bid!
BEAMWAR! Zoisite presses his advantage, overwhelmingly driving back Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars! Zoisite has the advantage!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars each take 23 damage! Zoisite takes 0 Fatigue damage!
BEAMWAR! Now accepting mana bids for the second of three rounds! No longer accepting any more BEAMWAR entrants!
BEAMWARNING! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars must regain the advantage this round, or they will be unable to continue fighting!
BEAMWAR! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! La Sirene du Nord has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Ren Aizawa has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Fuu Hououji has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mercury has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!

BEAMWAR! Zoisite has placed his bid! Cure Berry, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, and Sailor Mars still need to bid!

BEAMWAR! Sailor Jupiter has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Duck, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, and Sailor Mars still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Mai Tokiha has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Duck, Lera Camry, and Sailor Mars still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mars has placed her bid! Cure Berry, Duck, and Lera Camry still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Lera Camry has placed her bid! Cure Berry and Duck still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Cure Berry has placed her bid! Duck still needs to bid!
BEAMWAR! Duck has placed her bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars rally, overwhelmingly driving back Zoisite! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars have the advantage!
BEAMWAR! Zoisite takes 23 damage! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars each take 0 Fatigue damage!
BEAMWAR! Now accepting mana bids for the third of three rounds! No longer accepting any more BEAMWAR entrants!
BEAMWAR! Cute Wolf Tsukiko has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Cure Berry has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! La Sirene du Nord has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Lera Camry has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Ren Aizawa has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Duck has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Fuu Hououji, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Mai Tokiha, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Mai Tokiha has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Fuu Hououji, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Jupiter has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Fuu Hououji, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mars has placed her bid! Princess Serenity, Fuu Hououji, Sailor Mercury, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity has placed her bid! Fuu Hououji, Sailor Mercury, and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Fuu Hououji has placed her bid! Sailor Mercury and Zoisite still need to bid!
BEAMWAR! Sailor Mercury has placed her bid! Zoisite still needs to bid!
BEAMWAR! Zoisite has placed his bid!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars press their advantage, their Moonlight Legend, Pretty Cure Espoir Shower, Prismatic Refraction, Emerald Cyclone: Full, Pas de Deux, Supreme Thunder, Mercury Water Bullet, Paint It Black and Take It Back, Ardent Light, Aurora Burst, Silver Wolf Tackle, and By Fire Be Cleansed! exploding through Zoisite's Saffron-and-Indigo Chiaroscuro for a total of 1025 Fatigue damage! Princess Serenity, Cure Berry, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Duck, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, La Sirene du Nord, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Cute Wolf Tsukiko, and Sailor Mars are victorious!
BEAMWAR! Princess Serenity, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Mai Tokiha, Lera Camry, Sailor Mars, and Zoisite are unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Cute Wolf Tsukiko [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

When Zoisite unleashed the beam, Tsukiko started rising to her feet, knowing in ahorrible sense that she wouldn't be able to get there in time.

Then Sailor Mars interposes, and fire erupts to fight the impending doom.

Tsukiko wastes no time in accelerating into a silvery blur, flowing alongside the fire as it slams into the beam. It takes all the wolfgirl can give to keep her speed up, even as her physical movement is slowed to a crawl by the conflicting forces. First being pushed back, then pushing forward, then pushing forward further still, even as she slowly veers to the side, slowly but surely decelerating as exhaustion starts to chase her.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The darkness comes flying for Sailor Mars, alight with a few bright colors, and it seems so impossibly large. Yet, somehow, Rei throws her own fire against it. Lera doesn't hesitate, when she sends her fire for his blade. She lifts up both of her swords, the Midchildan keeping them spread apart, and her brown-gold eyes widen sharply; the rushing storm of energy is reflected in them. Her voice reveals some of the panic she feels, knowing where the blast is going. Into Sailor Mars, then Princess Serenity.

A friend, if nothing else, and she seems to be even more than Lera thought. "Sky! Let's do it, buddy! Are you ready?"

<As I'll ever be! Aurora Burst!>

Lightning crackles between the two swords, staying there; each fork of it is tinged orange-red, leaping from blade to blade, as a powerful white glow builds up. Finally, she fires a blast that makes her feet slide back over the broken theater floor, boots crunching into the ground. The white-hot, fiery blast shoots out, joining the holy flame that Rei shoots.

Lera's teeth grit together and her knees buckle, but she doesn't collapse, as her shot joins the others.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Even after the reveal of the Princess, Zoisite still seeks to deliver a death blow. Ren starts to move, but knows she won't be able to get there in time. Then, her eyes fall on Mars. Yes. The soldier is full of fire and passion. For the moment, Ren borrows strength from her to carry on.

"Heraut... let's give it our all."

<ALWAYS.> The device replies, obviously with her in mind and spirit. Holding up the rapier leads to it transforming back into its base scepter form, and Ren begins pouring all of her energy into the attack she has in mind as a spinning runic circle is traced out beneath her feet. It's not her strongest, but when combined with Mars' and the others, it'll get the job done. She doesn't care if it takes everything out of her. This is more than worth it.

"NOW!" She shouts, Heraut glowing a bright bronze as she slams the hilt of the scepter into the ground.

<PRISMATIC REFRACTION!>

An explosion of color is launched out from the mage's device, spiraling forward to join in the ongoing collaboration. She holds firm despite the dizziness that threatens to overtake her.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Grace and serenity - that's what the princess in silver seems to embody. Mai's shock lingers...but steadily, she regains control of her jaw as the rest of the Sailor Senshi step up to join their ally - leader - friend. It's still overwhelming, and she might be heard to mutter to herself for a moment. "Hang on - Sailor Moon was actually...that's either absurd or clever, but..."

...Sailor Venus stirs. Mai stares at the fallen soldier - that was a brutal, mortal wound, wasn't it? Shouldn't she be dead and...and yet she's alive. Some kind of miracle, or...

Zoisite's infuriated shriek yanks Mai's attention from the fallen - from the Princess, even - and back to the crisis at hand. The Heavenly King's face is writ with rage and fear in equal measure - for all of his power, for all of his cruelty...Zoisite dreaded the Moon Princess this much?

Mars's fires ignite, blazing forth in a desperate defense against the saffron and indigo onslaught - and cursing every bit of hesitation that dragged at her before this, Mai crosses her wrists before her. This isn't just about avenging Venus - nor about stopping Zoisite - nor about trying to save herself from that attack.

The moon princess - Princess Serenity - Sailor Moon is the target of Zoisite's wrath. Not one of her most important people...but still someone she could consider a friend. Still someone worth protecting - worth stepping in to help.

Determined, passionate, ardent light shines as a low whine begins to resound. Air swirls inward in a spiral to fuel the HiME's flames as they grow more intense. Ever brighter, ever hotter...and then with a defiant shriek closer to that of a titanic monster, she unleashes her the full might of her flames to try to stop Zoisite's tide.

Her fury alone isn't enough to stop Zoisite's wrath - even with countless powers joining in the war against him, Zoisite's raw power seems to be just too much. Hovering in the air, she doesn't have the footing to stand firm...but she does have her conviction. Death came close - horrifyingly close. She might barely know of Sailor Venus, let alone know her personally, but Mai couldn't possibly wish that on her...or for that matter, what her death would have done to her friends. This force promises death in the same measure, conveying Zoisite's sheer hatred for the silver princess...

"...not today." She mutters through grit teeth - this isn't some undefiable force of nature, it's not some lingering fading from a hospital bed. It's one man's(?) hatred for one girl - this, she can actually hope to oppose. The fire blazes with more than heat - with passion, with atonement, with every bit of Mai's determination that no one on the side of light is dying today...and with everyone else's wills united, it helps push back the tide.

The rings around Mai's ankles flicker, seeming to fade a moment. Her feet touch the stage - and she screams defiance against this will of mortality one last time, throwing everything she can and then some. A final surge of strength, of ardent will of her own...and Mai Tokiha falls to her knees, utterly spent.

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

<SoundTracker> La Soldier - BSSM/Sera Myu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDy59hBJ-Cw

Such light. The luminescence crosses boundaries, bringing back even the soul which has departed from this form but yet lingers in existence. It is a true miracle, as it brings back breath to the departed, leaving her flesh entirely unmarred, and her spirit mostly so. Even as she draws breath again, the petals of the Silver Crystal close, like the petals of an orchid touched by the light of the moon after dusk. The crystal moves as if drawn to the Moon Stick, before fixating upon it's crescent moon ornamentation as if it were there all along.

And then Serenity's arms close upon a friend, of a past age, and a current one. She'd like to believe that they will be together for every coming age. "Only because of all you-" She looks up, a smile finally playing on her face as she looks upon Mars standing in front of her, who had just covered her with so many protective mantras that she looked like a walking scroll at the Hikawa Shrine, to Jupiter, to Mercury as her memories cause her to realize they are in fact all together once again, upon the others gathered who were her friends only of the current age "-and all everyone else has done, my friend." Seeing her eyes close, she cradles her for a moment, before gently lowering her head to the ground, "Rest for a while. Your duty will keep."

However, it then dawns upon her that there is still one here who was trying to take away their time together. She looks up, and past Mars to the one who stands in their way, his tanzanite crystal of bright saffron and indigo clashing against the heat of her flames, and those eyes filled momentarily with joy, narrow as they are replaced by determination. She casts a look at Zoisite, not one of hatred, but one of sorrow. Flashes of memories, of what he once was, who he once was to someone she cared for, still cares for, if he exists. Even though all she sees is a shadow of that, one that isn't a reflection of the light, but something of the deepest darkness she'd ever witnessed. She takes no pleasure in what she's about to do, but do it she must.

Her resolution made, she rises to her feet, and grips the Moon Stick and it's newly affixed crystal within both hands. "Zoisite." The crystal starts to gleam with light so blinding it seems like that of a newborn star. "I'm sorry it came to this."

His own hatred, his own dark resolution to survive and make it back to Kunzite seems like an unstoppable force, impossible for her to fight against. And yet from the Moon Stick comes love's moonlight, bathing everyone within it. Pinwheeling out, it envelops the whole room with moonlit radiance soft to her allies, but fierce and scorching hot in the judgement of her fallen kingdom to the darkness she sees within him. It clashes, the purifying light meeting resistance against his onslaught, silver joining with Mar's flames to meet saffron and indigo. Serenity allows all of her feelings of deep love for her friends to guide it against it his fierce attack, knowing fully well what will happen if she fails here. And that possibility is one she cannot permit.

At first, what was in his heart was greater than what she felt in her own, and like everyone else, the light is driven back. However memories of a time long ago, Silver Millenium, those of a Princess who admired so many other Princesses in an time of peace, before paradise was lost, join with those of a ninth grade girl. Someone who was kind of clumsy. Someone who was a crybaby. Someone who was shamed and ridiculed by her own family. Someone who was really good at nothing that most of society valued. And yet also someone who loves her friends with all of her big heart. Someone who wanted to protect them with every fiber of her being.

The illumination flares up into increased brilliance when everyone else presses their attack, and drives ever forward. When it's all over, the light vanishes without a trace and she falls to the ground soundlessly other than the possible impact, her gown being replaced with a Sailor Fuku, the mark upon her forehead replaced by a tiara. Unconscious before she even would hit the ground to lay beside her friend, Venus. And yet even in this state, her hand clenches the Moon Stick with as firm a grip as her unconscious form can muster.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There's no way an arrow is going to be enough to stop him.

As soon as Zoisite gathers his power to attack Princess Serenity, the Magic Knight of Wind realizes that even a perfect shot - even if her arrow pierces straight through his heart and out the other side - isn't going to be enough to protect the newly-revealed Princess. Arrow, bow, and quiver all vanish, and the Wind Knight gathers her will and her power. "EMERALD ... !!"

She's not the only one who's rallying at this point - every magical girl who's still on her feet, it looks like, is gathering up her power; Sailor Mars interposes herself to take on Zoisite's onslaught directly, meeting his power with her own. The Wind Knight lets herself smile faintly; she may not be one of the Sailor Senshi herself, but she can absolutely stand with them.

".... CYCLONE!!!!" she finishes, and the wrath of the storm which she invokes and unleashes becomes both an assailing tempest against the Dark Kingdom's general, and a supportive tailwind for her allies and their respective attacks.

At first, it's pure will and solidarity - the Magic Knight of Wind doesn't want to lose anyone else in this fight, and she's putting everything she thinks she can spare into the combined attack. There's a terrifying moment of doubt, though, when Zoisite's assault threatens to overwhelm them - not just Sailor Mars, not just Princess Serenity, but a wave of darkness and malice that could envelope everyone in the hall. And the Wind Knight digs deeper - remembering the fights she's stood beside the other girls in, win or lose. The fight where a particularly vicious monster forced her to back down at the risk of an ally's life ... that memory stings deeper, and her eyes water behind her glasses as remembered and current desperation pile up against each other; the winds buttressing the other magics howl as if echoing Fuu's anguish - she doesn't want to fail her friends ...

And yes, they are more than just allies. Every one of the girls who answered Zoisite's challenge - even those whom the Wind Knight doesn't know as well as she wishes she did - is a friend to her, at least on some level. She wouldn't deny that title to any of them, even those she's barely met.

And as the tide begins to turn, the Wind Knight lets out a shout of determination, pitching everything she has left through the Emerald Cyclone, against Zoisite's unearthly power.

She won't let anyone else perish, even if she has to spend the last of her energy to save their lives.

And as the clash of magics finally breaks in the heroines' favor, as the Wind Knight drops to her knees in the sudden absence of resistance, as her armor glows and fades and the clothes beneath it revert to her own outfit - the knowledge that her wish has been achieved is a relief too great to confine to mere words.

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

Her wild, furious charge meets only air, and her own momentum makes Sailor Jupiter stumble, scramble to recover. Her breath hisses through her teeth in frustration, and she wheels to re-orient herself on her enemy--

--just in time to see Zoisite lash out at Princess Serenity, Sailor Mars alone standing in his way.

"Mars!" The name yelps out of her, and Makoto reacts without time for thought. Both hands thrown out before her release the lightning bolt, a column of blinding white energy that merges with her teammate's purifying flame--

(warm blood flowing between her fingers)

There's no rage in it now, no conviction, nothing but pure desperation.

(the barrier unyielding against her fists, Venus falling before her eyes)

It doesn't matter if her own lightning sears her. It doesn't matter if she burns herself out until there's nothing left. Nothing matters but this one thing:

(the policeman at the door, the world falling away beneath her feet)

*Please God don't let it happen again--!*

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

Princess Tutu listens, and this is what she hears:

'It cannot have been YOU this whole time!'

She cups the seeds in her hands before drawing her hands apart-- they are safely encased in a magical egg, with shining light ribbons which tie themselves about her waist.

Because she still has a duty, even now, to dance. Her hands, now freed, are held by her body as she rises en pointe. And now, it is she who looks to Sailor Mars, speaks to her as she steps forward to join the force. The same soft light of the egg echoes off her footsteps, feathers and flowers and vines.

"You are not alone," Princess Tutu says. "You do not stand alone!"

She does not summon a cannon of light, nor does she charge the enemy. But she dances - she dances, and the power of her dance bolsters their strength. Even when Zoisite's strength makes her flinch, falter in one step, she finds her grace for the next.

"These... are our feelings!"

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

Though Makoto is the first to spring at Zoisite, and Mars the first to throw herself in front of the immense power of the Shitennou's attack, Sailor Mercury isn't far behind. Her body suffused with bright blue light, she rushes forward to form up with Rei, a blast of bright blue water joining Mars's fire. It doesn't douse it in the least; instead, it amplifies it, throwing the full force of Ami's soul behind it.

Looking to her friends and compatriots, Ami throws even more behind it. There's a strain -- her legs nearly buckle again, but with a screech, her heels dig into the floor, staying squarely rooted.

"Princess! Sailor Venus! Please -- hang on...!" She doesn't want this to happen again. The sense that all of this has happened before and will happen again teases at the edges of her perception and memory, and her position shifts, putting metaphysical and literal shoulder into the waves of water as Mako's lightning joins it.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

La Sirene du Nord is in the trough of a wave and it's rising behind her. That is the great blessing; sometimes, often, the sea draws you down, drags you down, drowns you and buries you, and sometimes it is the strength beneath your wings and the downfall of your enemies.

She does not really know when she raised up the Pharos, the precious brass and jewels jingling and rattling faintly. La Sirene's head tilts back as she puts her free hand on the stage, leaping onto it -

She had intended to speak cruelly with Zoisite, but he is raising that sword, erupting with darkling force. In this moment she recognizes him and his face, and la Sirene du Nord thinks -- of the brother of her friend, Kozue Kaoru. Miki Kaoru and his dolorous wound.

For the beaten and the broken, she thinks.

Her hand tightens on the Pharos and the lens flips fully open again. The Black Mirror within pulsates with the strange uncolors of the Sea of Tears as the darkness pours out - but it isn't quite darkness, not hidden and corrupted.

La Sirene du Nord's back arches; her lips form words she doesn't quite know, breathing them into the howling of spell and wind and fire and more alike.

"Does it hurt?" she calls out. "To lose everything? Does it hurt? It must be... hard... for you...!" Her voice is quavering, four or five different emotions roiling within her as that ethereal wave within her soul.

"Oh! HOW it must hurt-- to see it all -- fall apart!"

<Pose Tracker> Cure Berry [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

A breath in, a breath out.

Cure Berry felt weakened already. The battle with the sisters did not go as best as it could for her. But as every magical girl there - most, at least, starts raising their hands in support of the Moon Princess, Berry steps upwards. Half of these people, Berry did not know. Most of these people she had never met, never sat down and spoke with. Only in passing, as they vanquished some terrible beast or another.

CLAP.

"Evil things, nasty things, go away!"

Tracing the shape of a spade in front of her, Berry focuses in, the space between the shape that she traced flaring with blue light. "PRETTY CURE! ESPOIR SHOWER!"

The beam lashes out - and joins that of the other magical girls. Zoisite's beam overcomes briefly briefly, and she feels the last dregs of her reserves - mentally and physically - start to leech out into the ground beneath her. But she does not give up. Perfectly she stands up beside the rest of these warriors of the heart, focuses in, and pours more of herself into the beam. And more. And more.

She did not know many of these women.

But in this moment, they were all sisters.

A tear touches the edge of Berry's eye, the beam overcomes... and she relaxes, feeling near to fainting. But she keeps her chin up - and looks at the others.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eIFJKyryxw

The black blade crashes into Sailor Mars in an unholy landslide. She immediately buckles, and falls to a knee. She feels stretched ten kilometers apart, and crushed so tightly as to form a diamond. The forces against them are formiddable, that's never been hard to understand. But only now could she comprehend a measure of the awesome power they might muster in times of desperation.

If she was alone, then she'd either be cleft in twain or pour so much of herself into the divine light that her soul itself would be made kindling, and she'd pass on as the raging fire of a dying blaze, her luminance dashed along with her life. Perhaps nothing would be left of her spirit, and she'd find neither heaven nor hell nor anything in between, a rare recipient of utter oblivion.

But Sailor Mars is not alone.

She pours everything she has into the initial resistance. There's no other choice in her mind. Even if there were it wouldn't matter, all rational thought has been violently purged from her head. She's rooted in an animal last stand, pure fight or flight with that choice already made. She feels like she's being burnt to death on a pyre. Her teeth are clenched with a perilous pressure, and a high pitched "Eeeeee" is shunted from between those ivories like a crazed steam.

Soul after soul lend their strength to hers. In a way she feels like she was a moment away from drowning and just desperately grasped at a full breath of air. In the depths of such debilitation, even relief is no relief, the reprieve from doom a shock in itself. For all the hearts and strength and sentiment that joined her it was very nearly not enough. Even against so many, this General of death and decay pressed forward, and nearly overwhelmed them all.

And yet they stood, still. Overwhelmed but not overrun. Sailor Mars has no control whatsoever at that point. The horse, as is said, is out the barn door. Everything she has..everything she is and ever will be pours out of her in an unrestrained torrent. But this time..this time her friends..so many friends, are there from the start. This time, they push back. It's in her head, but Rei feels as though her eyelids are burnt off completely, and her skin is leaving her like a plastic bag in the breeze.

Still upon her knees, she now falls to her elbows. Her strength is a fraction of what it has been. She's running on fumes, but she gives everything she's got all the same. Her head bowed, her long hair clings to the ground around her, a blanket obscuring her vision. Her chest hurts, her lungs feeling very thin. Her vision turns black, then white in succession, and yellow-green bursts explode upon her eyes like falling stars. The flames she projects begin to wax and wane in sync with the pulse of her heart.

As the combined strike pushes back on the tide, Sailor Mars falls to the ground, limp as a crash test dummy. She could not say if she clings to consciousness or is lost among the sea of dreams. Reality is a concept very far from her grasp at this point. But the fire extinguishes herself, her spirit shutting down in an emergency preservation of her life.

But she breathes. She lives.

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

At first, the swirling storm of saffron and indigo light ripples and seethes with conviction, alive with the desperation that has empowered Zoisite's final strike. Even though the blade itself misses its mark, turned aside by Sailor Mars and her thousand thousand wards, the dark energy the fallen son of the Golden Kingdom pours into his last stand nevertheless threatens all present. It pushes outward, tiding over the heroines' countering attacks, threatening to poison and consume.

Sweat beads on Zoisite's forehead, dampening his autumn-red hair; he grits his teeth.

It might be enough-- he might take out more of these hateful girls than he'd anticipated--

Until Serenity, compassionate yet determined to protect, adds her holy light to the maelstrom.

Immediately, it proves overwhelming.

"N- aaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!" Zoisite looses a cry of mingled pain and, somehow, heartbreak; in his hands the tanzanite blade shatters, and its shards evaporate in the light of the Silver Crystal. Something within him shatters too, then, something fundamental.

Whether it is the result of the heroines' combined assault, or due (at least in part) to Serenity's words, is impossible to say.

He lifts a hand to Kunzite, high above the action, as he crumples. "Kunzite-s...sama..."

<Pose Tracker> Kunzite [None] has posed.

Kunzite had not expected any of this.

Not for Sailor Moon to be revealed as the *true* Moon Princess and inheritor of the Mystical Silver Crystal; not for Zoisite's youma to fall; not for Zoisite himself to be caught up in a desperate struggle of power, only to be overcome. Because he didn't expect it, his reaction is late, and because his reaction is late, Zoisite lies defeated, dying.

Kunzite gets to his feet so quickly, he nearly overturns the table. Kunzite vanishes into thin air, only to reappear over Zoisite, before the crowd of magical girls. Up in the private booth, the box of ice slides to one side, bringing itself and the table over the rest of the way. The bottle of wine within spills and shatters, spreading light red liquid all over the floor.

For a moment, Princess Serenity and the other magical girls don't even exist. Kunzite reappears in the space where Zoisite falls, catching his body with both arms. "Zoisite!!" he calls sharply, his voice roiling with something between shock, rage, and grief. He shuts his eyes and grits his teeth, but beyond that... well, he's in front of the enemy. Even if it were in his personality to be demonstrative, it is unacceptable to show weakness before them.

"Beautiful, as always," he whispers, eyes creaking open to gaze wretchedly upon his fading form. "Zoisite... Allow me to make you beautiful to the end."

The silk flowers that remain on the stage begin to sparkle with his dark magic--and then bloom in to fragrant, /real/ roses, scattering their petals beautifully as they die along with Zoisite, leaving behind nothing but a purple stone in Kunzite's hands. In the midst of that rose petal blizzard, Kunzite lifts his head. Though his eyes may be a blue as pale as ice, they burn with hatred as they bore into Princess Serenity, then across her guardians and friends.

However, when the last of the petals has fallen, Kunzite is gone as well.