2015-08-18 - Absolute Zero! The Death of Kunzite!
| Title: Absolute Zero! The Death of Kunzite! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Kunzite, on his last chance, challenges the Sailor Senshi to a fight -- and loses, though they have to go into outer space to do so. In the aftermath, it's discovered that Queen Beryl has seized upon the opportunity of their distraction to capture Tuxedo Mask. | |
| Who: Minako Aino, Usagi Tsukino, Michiru Kaioh, Kuniko Saito, Ami Mizuno, Homura Akemi, Makoto Kino, Seika Miuchi, Makoto Kenzaki, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino GMs: Honoka Yukishiro as Kunzite and Queen Beryl, Mai Tokiha as Tuxedo Mask | |
| Where: <The location> | |
| OOC - IC Date: 08-18-2015 - 08-23-2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4EFddbHkRo
SOMEWHERE, IN A DARK PLACE
A DARK WOMAN WAITS
WITH A DARK PURPOSE...
"Kunzite," Beryl reflects aloud, her strange eyes coasting up and down his form with an evaluative narrowing, "You are the last of the Four Heavenly Kings. Those that came before were always your inferiors... petty Jadeite, weak Nephrite, and foolish Zoisite."
Kunzite's jaw clenches, but he displays great wisdom and says nothing. Only his breath, steaming in the chill, disrupts the total stillness of the moment, the silence between predator and prey.
"You cared for them... yes, I know that, your Queen knows all. And I know what it is to care for someone, too, oh yes. But I am not the one to blame, that they have been taken from you, to rest in eternal sleep in their stone prisons."
An image appears in her crystal ball, painted over with a ghastly green filter. The otherwise pure white light it would emit has no place in her court.
"Princess Serenity..." His voice is rusty with disuse, but deep and dark as the most inhumane dungeons.
"Yes -- just as before, she has stolen what is most precious to you, has she not? Your dignity, your pride, and your most important person..."
Her hand clenches into a fist at precisely the same moment that his does. She smiles at this unity, and her smile is awful, like a chorus of razors down a chalkboard.
"I will ensure that history repeats itself -- that she dies in despair, and this time, with no mother to come to her rescue. Please, allow me to take my revenge, my Queen."
"Kneel, then, Kunzite, Last and Greatest of my Generals, and accept the blessing of our Great Ruler!"
Fist over his heart, he bites his tongue, knowing what is likely to come, the dark energy that will fill him to bursting, cauterizing the wound within his heart, leaving only the power he needs to fulfill his destiny.
He will not scream.
---
TOKYO
There is one sound more dreaded than any other by the people of Tokyo. It is rarely used in entertainment, the way a police siren might be, because it raises hairs on the back of the neck, trickles chills down the spine, and induces an immediate state of terror in those who hear it.
The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area Tsunami Warning System sounds like a scream. It feels like destroyed houses and ruined livelihoods, like the thousand bloody fragments of dreams dashed into nothing but shattered shards.
It is screaming now, from all directions, not just one. This is physically impossible -- how could killer waves be coming from everywhere?
How indeed.
"Rise, winds! Come, waves! Drown this corrupted city, and prepare it for the coming of the mighty Queen Beryl!!"
Kunzite's voice booms from an orb of dark sorcery at the top of Mitakihara General Hospital's enormous tower. The man himself is visible only barely; snakelike tendrils of pure hatred threaten to attack anyone who dares to come too close.
But his eyes flash from within the arcane maelstrom, and they are darker still.
Tokyo's demise looms from all around, at such heights that the shadows of monstrous waves are eclipsing the sunlight, one inch at a time...
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into Arcane Barrier!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 6 opponents!
COMBAT: Makoto Kenzaki transforms into Cure Sword!
COMBAT: Michiru Kaioh transforms into Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Rei Hino has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito transforms into Poissonnier Kuniko!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!
COMBAT: Makoto Kino transforms into Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Minako Aino transforms into Minako Aino!
COMBAT: Minako Aino transforms into Sailor Venus!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi transforms into Puella Magi Homura!
COMBAT: Rei Hino transforms into Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: Seika Miuchi transforms into Masque Feu!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Honestly, tsunami warnings would be nightmarish enough even if they WEREN'T accompanied by that singularly strident alarm - and if they weren't coming from pretty much every direction possible. At least Gojira would be a single source ... but that's the other thing which worries Fuu, because there have NOT been the kind of earthquakes that usually precede a major tsunami. Of course, you can have tsunamis without discernible earthquakes (and earthquakes without discernible tsunamis, for that matter) ...
But what's most important right now is that Tokyo is in the crosshairs of a decidedly UNnatural disaster - for somebody to wrest control of the prevailing winds and use them to build up those devastating waves takes a LOT of power, and even untransformed, Fuu kind of noticed. That was really all it took to lead her to the source of the trouble.
"STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!!"
And where the Magic Knight of Wind usually starts off fairly predictably, with the Winds of Admonishment or a smaller attack to start whittling away at the enemy, she goes all-out this time, gathering up a rending tornado and sending it spinning towards the barrier at the heart of the unnatural storm. "I don't know who you are," the Wind Knight calls out as she lands on the roof, just barely within the fence's perimeter, "but I won't allow you to bring devastation down upon this city!"
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Tsunami warning sirens always make the hairs on the back of Homura Akemi's neck stand on end. It reminds her of colossal waves crashing into the breakers; of a demented circus pouring down abandoned streets; of skyscrapers tearing loose and floating in the sky. It is, she tells herself, a different situation that is unfurling now. She feels wind whip by, throwing her black hair out, as a bit of trash goes flying by.
Homura stands on the street, wearing the plain white blouse and black skirt that she had been walking around in today. Her lips purse for a moment as she spots the black orb on the top of the hospital tower.
"Kunzite," she murmurs, softly.
She has unfinished business with that one. Homura turns smartly on a heel. Purple light begins to crackle and rise up around her; a clockwork shield forms bit by bit. The girl steps forward and then she is gone in the next moment. A few moments later, the Puella Magi appears on the roof of a neighboring building, with her handgun drawn. It is aimed into the air, but not at Kunzite.
Rather, it points in the other direction.
A bullet abruptly slashes through the cable of a crane. Sparks fly as the steel cable is severed -- and then the load of I-beams suspended in the crane's grasp go tumbling down, smashing across a street, and making a makeshift dam. Homura looks down at her ad hoc engineering, takes stock of it briefly, and then flicks her fingers through her hair.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Clockwork Shot on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Homura Akemi's Clockwork Shot, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Muichi Seika wanted to stay home today. She had closed the door last night and taken a long back. Thought about Fate.
She is still thinking about Fate. About the girl's face when she presented her with even that small token gift.
Her thoughts are sliced through, like thorns piercing her fingers. The tsunami warning splits her senses. She gasps; she's in the backseat of her driver's car, cruising towards the downtown to pick up a dress. "Gorou," she says, sitting up straighter; something tugs at her spirit, like a gale wind threatening to blow away her thoughts, her courage. "Please... let me out here. Then get yourself to someplace safe."
The man in the front seat blinks, but pulls over obediently. "Please, be safe, Seika-ojousama," he offers up. "I don't pretend to understand all these things you get into, but...."
"Sumimasen. I cannot explain more," she says, bowing her head as she slides from her car. "Please, stay safe."
The driver swallows. "H-hai, Seika-ojousama. Please, come back home safely, as well."
The door closes, and the black BMW speeds off towards the nearest underground parking garage, leaving Seika standing in the street. The wild winds blow her hair out roughly to her left, tearing it out of its usual bun. She doesn't so much as blink as those long ringlets pour free, as her bangs whip across her forehead.
Her eyes lift towards the roof of the hospital. "A dark power," she whispers as she slides a hand into her purse, and starts forward. She ducks into a back alley - whispers as she bows her face into the elegant masque in her hand. Light whirls around her, pouring the strength of the Blessed Masque of Flame into her limbs, into her heart. She twirls, once, but it is unthinking, just a thing she has to do every time she transforms.
A lone spark of white rises against the force of the wind, a pale shape leaping up from small business to small business, flipping up towards an aerial, then onto the lip of a window of a neighbouring office tower, enough room there for sharp heels to click down. The wind threatens to hurl Masque Feu to the ground. She spurns it with a toss of her head.
"A warior from the Dark Kingdom," she whispers as she touches a slender hand over her heart. She cannot explain why this feels different - not the magnitude of it, but the knowledge that this person serves Queen Beryl. Somehow, part of her feels /drawn/ here, a glittering silver compulsion she cannot place but has no choice but to follow.
Curling her hand, the lone Soeur gathers a flickering ball of blessed flame into her palm, about the size of a baseball - and then, she leaps. She lets a crosswing carry her; flipping legs over head, hair a long stream of black behind her, she vaults across the vast gulf between office and hospital - and touches down atop an air conditioner box jutting from a window within sight of Kunzite. A better shot.
"This city is not yours to do with as you please," she shouts over the noise of the wind. She has to raise her voice to be heard, ojousama or not. "And I will assure that -- with this Blessed Spark!"
Bracing atop the piece of machinery, Masque Feu rifles her right arm forward with the force of a firing bazooka, just sidearming that fireball towards Kunzite's barrier. It's a straight-up high and a way fastball, the fireball distending and elongating under the force of its own momentum. A horsetail of banishing flame whips behind it as she attempts to punch the fireball through that barrier through the sheer efficacy of the Blessed Flame's darkness-burning power.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Blessed Spark on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Sword [None] has posed.
Makoto Kenzaki has not lived in Tokyo--indeed, in Japan or even Earth--long enough to recognize the tsunami warning siren for what it is. That's irrelevant; it's a ghastly sound, one that shrieks from every which direction, bouncing into and inside the skull until one could go mad from the cacophony. The up-and-coming idol is in the middle of a dress rehearsal for a TV performance when they start to wail, and she claps her hands over her ears, never mind that she's in front of cameras. Fortunately, there's no need for her to ask what that is; unfortunately, it's because immediately everyone starts to evacuate, starting with her via her bodyguard and equally befuddled manager.
This isn't the first time Makoto's experienced a nation-wide disaster, though. She meets her manager's eyes, and the two of them share a curt nod. Fifteen minutes later, the two of them have slipped away from the group after pretending to enter a limousine. Five minutes later, Cure Sword is bounding on rooftops towards the source of the disturbance atop Mitakihara General, gritting her teeth against the dissonant wailing of sirens. She doesn't know Kunzite, and she's never heard of the Dark Kingdom, and the Trump Kingdom was a landlocked nation... but the sight of the enormous walls of water in the distance still make something in her gut clench.
This may not be her homeland, her country, her *world*, but she has no desire to see another one destroyed.
The alien Pretty Cure looks around at the area. To her lack of surprise, she's not the first to arrive; there are other magical girls, all of whom she recognizes so far, already in the area. Two assail the barrier covering that agent of darkness on top of the tower, and another brings construction materials down into the streets as what looks like a barricade against the water...
Cure Sword nods firmly to herself, then retrieves her Lovely Commune, sets a Cure Lovead, and swishes her fingers on its face. With a battle cry, luminescent magic forms in the heavens, then take the shape of several long blade that hurtle down in the street next to Homura's makeshift dam, where they're meant to stick and stay, forming a glittering, almost interlocking fence. They're intended to have staying power rather than purifying might, so as to help extend the water blockade the Puella Magi has started.
Will it be enough, though--and will it be in time?
COMBAT: Cure Sword has used Dualblade on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Masque Feu's Blessed Spark, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Masque Feu!
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Seika. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Feu. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Cure Sword's Dualblade, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Cure Sword is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBjZB1l4TAs&index=21&list=PL416A83DC4B2E1D70
Grandpa fell today. Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi were on television and Grandpa had to use the bathroom when they went to commercial. Rei couldn't say if he tripped over something or his strength just paused, but down he went..but just as quickly picked himself up.
In this sort of happening Rei would typically be the one to urge the obstinate old man that he needed to seek treatment, riding roughshod over his hand-waved dismissals and the elderly bravado that they always entailed. But it would seem that this wasn't typical. The old man sprung up so spryly that his granddaughter's worry faded in a thunderclap..but then he insisted that they go to the hospital all the same.
She didn't say much of anything at first, urgency snapping into place. A neighbor drives them, quicker than an ambulance and utterly reliable. It's only when they're on the road that Rei finds the time to ask him how badly he thinks he's hurt. With reflexive and mild annoyance he brushes the question aside and vaguely suggests that "that's not why we're going." She didn't understand.
And then they arrive, the driver hastily given farewells and thanks. A nurse smoking a cigarette around the facility's corner quarks into a walkie talkie and by the time they're three steps removed from the car they came in, a wheelchair is dutifully delivered. Grandpa Hino brusquely brushes a perplexed caregiver aside and points to the lobby. Rei, confused, can only follow, and when she finds him he points with an almost accusatory finger to the elevator. Turning his neck, a frequently friendly face is hardened with resolve and purpose, and there isn't a trace of frailty or frivolity in his voice as he speaks to his ward.
"Go to the roof, and hurry."
And then the wailing shrieks began to sound off, one after another and then many at once and all around, some in unison bust mostly in near sequence and the offensive dissonance that entailed. Rei did not understand, but she strode to the elevator with a purpose she presumed would become clear soon enough. As the lift's doors met behind her at the middle, they closed on her grandfather waving off the attendants' process. His glee returned as though it never left, and he slipped out the front door while insisting that he was decades off from seeing any of them again. By then the klaxons had taken precedence, and the floor began to lift the shrine maiden into ascendance.
She's nervous at first. She's always nervous when her fool of a father's father shed all but his competence. But she's confident too, in the way of a person who knows she's where she needs to be, when she needs to be. The naseau slams into her with a sledgehammer's hefty momentum around the 43rd floor, not far at all from the pinnacle. She doesn't even consciously transform; in pure reflex she clutches her talisman and becomes Sailor Mars.
At the 51st floor the cabled container slams into the side and nearly throws her off her heels. Rather than stoking fear, Sailor Mars' expression calcifies into an angry rictus, and she the last traces of questioning are violently smothered from her mind. Something terrible is attempting to burst through the film into her world. Clenching her hands into fists, her muscles tense with an indomitable momentum that resembles a spreading wildfire. With a -ding- the door opens to the summit, and quivering snakes of light mark the heat waves around her.
Kunzite floats above, ignorant to her presence. For the moment. Stepping past the threshold, she can't help but snarl. This war has gone on well past the point of romanticism. Only blood and fury and the sand beneath them could possibly remain. Her voice cracks with rage as she calls him out.
"Kunzite! One of us is about to die! You'll wither in the light of my wrath!"
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Minako and Makoto are cooking. Though to be completely accurate, Makoto is the one actually doing the cookinjg. Minako had already burned one tray of misshapen bunny-shaped cookies (intended as a gift for Usagi until Makoto bit into one and deemed it inedible) -- and was well on her way to completing a second when the siren's piercing scream wailed out across Juuban District.
Minako sets the bowl and whisk down on the table, and races to the glass doors of her friend's apartment balcony, Makoto stepping in time alongside her. Her eyes scanned out, looking for some sign of trouble; it took a second for her to locate it, but from here, she had a perfect view of it: Mitakihara General Hospital -- and Kunzite, cloaked in an orb above it.
Minako presses her lips together, then looks over at Makoto, a serious expression on her face. The duo nod at one another -- almost in unison -- and Minako, clutching a familiar orange pen in hand, raises it to the slowly darkening sky.
"Venus Power! Make Up!"
A long stream of orange-yellow stars suddenly surrounds her, spiraling around her body like a gymnastics ribbon. The ribbon grows in length as it encircles her before suddenly bursting forth in a brightly-shining cone of stars.
There, where Minako Aino once stood is Sailor Venus, the sailor-suited soldier of love.
In a flash, the girls leap onto the railing of the balcony, then down to the street below; it would have been quite the jump had they not transformed, but the two managed the feat easily. The two race towards the hospital building, past fleeing civilians who scarely give them a passing glance.
They stop at the foot of the building, Sailor Venus' back pressed against Jupiter's; Venus directs a single accusatory digit up at Kunzite.
"I absolutely won't forgive you for interrupting us on our peaceful afternoon of baking! In the name of Venus, the goddess of love, I will punish you!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used In The Name Of Venus on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
It /is/ impossible--
...But it's happening, and it's not going to wait for any of them.
...Neither is it going to wait for the cooking projct she'd been working on. Maybe Minako was about to ruin the next batch, but it was nice to have a chance to speak with her. At the sirens, however... Makoto shared that nod with Minako, and then--
"Jupiter Power! Make Up!"
The lightning crashes down toward her, green light beneath crackling blue electricity, and when the sudden moment passes, there stands Sailor Jupiter, the sailor-suited soldier of courage.
The two of them have to hurry to get close enough to act; the waves may be coming in, but Jupiter knows her target. "We can't get close... We'll have to break through!"
There's a /snap/ of thunder at ground radius as Jupiter, leaping from above, lands and brings the lightning with her, though it grounds immediately through the storm for now. Instead, she stands, back-to-back, with Sailor Venus.
"You don't have the right to do this! In the name of Jupiter, I'll crush you!"
There's a moment's pause--before she turns to nod to her fellow soldier, and takes off running towards the top.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used In The Name Of Jupiter on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Mars's In The Name Of Mars, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Mars is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Venus's In The Name Of Venus, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Venus is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Jupiter's In The Name Of Jupiter, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Peach [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
No matter how bleak a situation may appear, there are those whom are willing to fight with everything they have to protect those they hold dear. Cure Peach was one such individual, but she knew that she would not be alone in wanting to protect this city and its inhabitants. She simply just had to find the others and join forces with them so they can punch and kick their way to a better tomorrow. But first things first, Peach had to make it to where everyone was while struggling against a monstrous storm.
Thankfully, Cure Peach was able to make progress against the winds by making a series of careful jumps. She nearly was blown away by an errant gale of wind a few times during her journey forward, but she was not going to let herself be defeated so easily. She would press on because that is exactly what her friends would have and have done in her absence! Taking it one leap at a time, Cure Peach finally arrives at the outer perimeter of the medical tower and crashes lands into the ground hard due to the ever-increasingly strong winds that were present.
Her long blonde pig-tails trailing behind her, Cure Peach glances around to see that several other magic girls have arrived here as well. She then nods her head quite seriously at this reassuring sight of her fellow magic girls. Peach then levies her pointer finger most fiercely towards Kunzite's evil barrier. "I may not understand what is going on here, but that doesn't matter! All I need to know is that we are going to stop you!" She tells the barrier. Not waiting for the barrier's response, Peach charges forward with a fist held high! "Hiyyyyyyyaaaaah!"
Cure Peach then menacingly throws the mightiest punch that she could muster at that moment.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
The world would end in fire, and it would end in waves.
Neptune knew this, she saw this - saw this in her dreams that she exorcised into her paintings, saw it in the inspirations that moved the bow of her violin. The visions that taunted the edges of her mind. Fire. Waves.
But /she/ was the senshi of the oceans. She was the guardian of the deep, and the sea. She was the warden of the future.
A gust of wind brings with it a larger than normal cresting wave. From where she stands on the beach, she turns - silk-gloved hands curling into fists, the damp of the sea not seeming to touch her - the rolling waves seeming to avoid her. Heels dig into the sand, however. The shadows deepen all around her, in the city - the eclipse stealing the sun's stare from the sky. The beachgoers had regarded her with curiousity, but she was mostly ignored now that Obvious Doom was approaching.
The world would end in fire and waves.
But not tonight. Leaping forward from the beach, it would take the space of a few minutes for Neptune to approach the hospital - and the shielded person on the roof above. Three leaps upwards, and she finds herself upon the roof, twisting in the air - twisting, tucking her leg in close to herself as she lands in a crouching squat, a lock of aqua-blue hair falling into her face. Ignored, as she rises up, summoning twin shots of the ocean that this person attempts to pervert in crossing twin lines that spiral together and attempt to impact the shield.
Not today.
A flicker of the eyes were given the other Sailor Senshi, but her face was cold, stoic - if this turned into something where drastic action could be done, should be done? Would they? Her expression suggested the answer.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Current Crossing on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Sailor Neptune's Current Crossing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Cure Peach has used Pumped Up Punch! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Peach has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Cure Peach's Pumped Up Punch!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Peach!
<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Today is a rare day for Ami Mizuno -- a day she gets to spend with her mother. It's uncommon for her to have these; as her mother has become more and more busy with research, it's become harder and harder to actually catch her. Still, every now and then, she's home for more than a day solid, and Ami gets a reminder that even when they're apart -- even when they can't be with each other -- they're still loved.
It's that feeling that Sailor Mercury brings with her as the waves crash in around the hospital. Already transformed as she makes her way to the other girls, she lands next to the pair as they pose, closer to Jupiter than to Venus.
She turns her gaze up toward Kunzite, and strikes a pose. "Using the waves and winds that everyone in this city fears... it's unforgivable! In the name of Mercury, douse /your/ head in water and repent!" Her piece said, she springs forward just behind Venus and Jupiter.
COMBAT: Ami Mizuno has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Ami Mizuno transforms into Sailor Mercury!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used In The Name Of Mercury on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
'Who you are -- your very existence -- puts your friends in danger.'
Usagi Tsukino had been distracted for the last few days, though it was truly that she was abstracted to anyone who knew her well. A moontouched cat had noticed it, but had not commented, until she stopped, and leaned upon a brick wall in the shade to escape the oppressive heat of summer. "Hey Luna..."
Not noticing the initial, subtle shift in the winds, Usagi crosses her arms, looking down, eyes clouded and expression full of dismay, "...Venus says I shouldn't regret becoming a Sailor Senshi, but wouldn't everyone be better off if I didn't exist?"
Luna's small mouth works for a moment in disbelief, blurting out, "Of course not! You can't let what that girl said get to you!" The sirens blare, screaming out their cacophonous warning that immediately throws off the conversation, winds suddenly whipping into her face so violently that she needs to cover her face, but quickly moves to her ears instead.
Luna quickly shouts, "Do you feel that!?" Usagi Tsukino shouts even louder, enough that her voice would carry the short distance between them, "No but I definitely hear it!" "It has to be the enemy!" Did the mere existence of the Moon Princess, and the Ginzuishou cause things like this to happen? Questions like that, the Dark Kingdom wouldn't even give her time to consider. Instead she... raises her hand to the sky, places her other on her brooch, just over her heart, and make a clarion cry that carries even over the sirens.
"Moon Prism Power - Make Up!"
She arrives not long after Mars, cresting the side of the roof in an aura of pink that silhouettes her against the sky before her boots land upon the rooftop. And then she saw him, the man behind the barrier even more terrifying than the first time she'd seen him.
He had killed one of his comrades so casually. He had sworn revenge upon her for defending herself against certain death at the hands of his other. He had created plot after plot in order to try to ferret out who she was, intruding into every aspect of her life.
And now he was about to kill every living person in Tokyo.
Not if she and all the other Magical Girls gathered had their way and while she couldn't stop the tsunami, she could face him from the outside of his impenetrable barrier. Dark Sorcery which had cast off the planetary light of the Senshi's hearts united as one.
"Hold it right there!" Hair whipping violently in the wind, she faced off against the man, if he could indeed be called a man any longer, to her he seemed more like a force of nature, like the wind he summoned, or the waves he brought, or the very dark of night. "Summer is a season for enjoying your time at the beach! I won't let you bring on climate change so quickly that it ruins everyone's fun!" 'I won't let you kill so many people because I exist.'
"In the name of the moon-" She points one arm over the other, directly at him, behind his barrier, "-I will punish you!"
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Cripple applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Kuniko Saito had been not too far away, attending a workshop (summer continuing education is not limited to reading lists) on dietetics -- much of which wasn't new for her. What is new for her is when those tsunami sirens sound, and class, such as it is - well, it isn't dismissed.
It just falls away.
Most everyone goes towards the back, away from the problem. Kuniko steps out the front of the little building, shades her eyes, and looks towards the rising waves and the crackling apex of that majestic tower of medicine, Mitakahara General.
Two small figures run ahead. Sailor Jupiter and - Venus, Kuniko thinks. Too far away to call out, but... She feels her shoulders tighten. Can she just let this go by? No, she thinks. She can't. Her eyes turn towards her moped, carefully parked.
SOON - and with perhaps the strange phenomenon of a moped racing behind them as Kuniko takes what seems to her to be the obvious route and heads for the service entrance - ramping, in fact, up onto the loading dock, into one of the elevators used largely for moving huge stacks of linens around, and...
Up. The trip is long enough for her to wonder if this is a foolish endeavor, to steel her heart, and to don her Mise-en-place. And so it is that Poissonnier Kuniko is the one to appear when that elevator door opens, all the way up at the roof.
"Put that ocean right back the way it was!" Kuniko calls, silently relieved by the sight of the entire Sailor Team. They'll save the day, she's sure.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Leave The Fish Alone!! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Kuniko Saito's Leave The Fish Alone!!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kuniko Saito is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs
Homura's dam, reinforced by Cure Sword, comes crashing down in the path of one tsunami as it crests and slams towards the city with crushing force, but there are at least five others. No, ten.
In total there are thirteen, an appropriately mystical number for a ritual of this scope.
As the first impacts the I-Beams -- the others are still gathering height and deadliness -- it does something odd. At that very moment, it turns into glittering... crystal?
Ice. Perfect, pristine sea ice, aswirl with trapped salt, and the churning, abruptly halted energy of the waves... and all the buildings beneath.
The temperature is plummeting, condensation forming and freezing even without the added water from the massive waves, as though all the warmth and happiness in Tokyo is being replaced with endless winter.
Up above, atop the hospital, Kunzite's undulating, shadowy barrier -- newly empowered by crackling energy from a darker heart than his own -- is tested, and holds.
It absorbs the Magic Knight of Wind's tornado with little more than a ripple. No amount of Masque Feu's fireball makes it through, though the brief interplay of holy light and utter darkness makes a pretty chiaroscuro, and Sailor Neptune's imitation of his waves upon Tokyo, writ smaller upon his shield, lap back and forth but cannot find purchase.
Cure Peach, brave and/or foolish enough to hit the shield with her /fist/, gets to be the first to discover what it feels like: it is not a solid magic, but an oozing, crawling thing, one which gives with her punch and somehow twists her back out and away, further across the rooftop, in a sort of evil facsimile of aikido as practiced by a liquid orb.
It cannot, however, absorb sound. Many girls announce themselves, but it is the Sailor Senshi's words which prick Kunzite's ears, bring a smile to his face that has nothing to do with happiness.
"You're late," he barks. "Stop me if you can, you dress-up dolls!"
Sailor Mars' challenge in particular spreads his expression even further across his face, that twist of lips.
"Wrong... you're all about to die!"
The second tsunami falls directly onto the hospital. Kunzite doesn't fear it, but no one else will be spared the wrath of the tormented, controlled sea as it plunges onto the building with impossible force, then, too, freezes instantly.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Mercury's In The Name Of Mercury, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury is Psyched! Diversion, Stagger, and Tangle applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Cure Peach.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Cure Sword.
COMBAT: You can only attack people in the same room as you.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Downtown Tsunami on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade ability activates! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Masque Feu perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Masque Feu's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 24 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 25 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito's Block ability activates! Kuniko Saito's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Venus's Fade ability activates! Sailor Venus's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Sword narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 12 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mercury's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Peach fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Downtown Tsunami, taking 32 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sailor Jupiter has words of her own for this dark general, more than only the usual she'd give against evil. Not even the sight of her friends, the knowledge that Sailor Venus is beside her and Sailor Mercury behind her, the sight of the elegant Neptune she couldn't predict--
None of that can cool the heat of her heart as she charges up towards Kunzite's position.
So when she emerges finally up at the top...
The sudden chill is shocking, and even more shocking is the blast of frigid water that slams her back off of her feet, knocking her toward the railing of the roof where she nearly falls off completely, only stopped by grabbing hold of brick and hanging on. "No--"
She places her other hand on it, and /swings/ herself back towards the others, "We--"
Sailor Jupiter lunges back up to her feet, "Aren't!!"
Soaked to the bone and shivering at least as much from cold as from anger, she's not nearly ready to stop this early. She can see Sailor Mars, knows Sailor Moon is here...
And they aren't alone up here, either.
"How do you live with yourself!?" the taller soldier demands. "You murdered your own comrade, and now this!? I'll never forgive you! Haa--!"
She steps forward, rushes past Sailor Mars, and leaps into the air after Cure Peach. Lightning strikes, crashing down towards her, but it doesn't strike--it instead clings, and goes through her fist as she strikes the barrier punch-first, without thought to something like /injury/.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Knuckle on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Knuckle, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Stun applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Jupiter!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Battle is joined, and the greatest city of the world garners 13 guardians. Sailor Mars doesn't have time to dwell on whether that sum is too much or too little before Kunzite turns to her, and addresses her specifically.
A divine wrath's worth of torrent smashes into her. As her body is helplessly cast into chaos, she barely manages to cling to the upper corner of a covered transformer. Although her upper body clings to safety, her lower torso twists back and smashes against the side of the metal cube. Falling back to her feet with a shuddering instability, she grinds her heels against the slippery surface.
Little flickers of motion masquerade as little flickers of light in her eyes, and through her daze she recognizes the other Sailor Senshi..every one to a woman. She grins to them without knowing if even one would see, and cautiously finds her feet. Born from light, an immaculately alabaster glow explodes from the finely pebbled ground and wraps around her like a snake on speed. In little time at all the gleaming corkscrew launches from her shoulder and shrieks towards Kunzite's coccoon, fragmenting into a dozen - dozen little missles just in time to rain against the unholy shield.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura hesitates for a moment, when Cure Sword drops down near her. She half-expects someone to attack her, but then she gets a good look at Cure Sword and recognizes who she is. The very same Pretty Cure that she spoke to -- the one that causes her to feel, briefly, guilty for being unable to tell her more about her Princess. It makes her think, too, of a signed CD. She still hasn't worked up the nerve to deliver to Madoka.
She glances down at Sword's work, where she begins reinforcing the makeshift dam. Homura looks up at Sword and nods her head.
Which is when everything begins to freeze. Her eyes widen slightly, as she looks back towards the barrier that others are throwing themselves at. She purses her lips, hesitating, before she looks back at Cure Sword. Somehow, she keeps the chill out of her voice and her countenance when she speaks. "We need to handle the man in the barrier," she says. "Kunzite."
A beat.
"He will hold nothing back." That may be the best advice that Homura can offer. She begins to run -- and then leaps, when the rush of water comes. From where everyone else stands, it might seem like she simply vanishes. There isn't any sign of the girl at first. The changes she affects might not be noticed; a pair of small, handmade pipe bombs appear to each side of the barrier.
They explode with a blast of smoke and shrapnel, directed into the barrier through precise placement just moments after Sailor Jupiter's kick flies in. Homura lands shortly behind the Sailor Senshi; she glances, quickly, to the side to see if Cure Sword is with her. Then, she looks at the barrier and at Kunzite, like looking at him through a dark, foggy glass.
"I'm sorry," she says, with that same blunt coldness. She raises her pistol. Then her words drop in volume, quiet, but not a whisper: "I'll send you back to him. It's a kindness."
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Relativity on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mars!
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Masque Feu just widens her eyes as Kunzite's barrier gobbles up her fireball like so much pretty pyrotechnics. "Such strength," she murmurs, momentarily taken aback by it.
She remembers, then, a time nine months or so ago - when she and Sailor Moon crossed metaphorical swords with Nephrite beneath the shadow of falling stars. How severely she was beaten in that battle; how she was off school for a week afterward, so close she felt to death. How small and impotent the power of the Silver Star seemed against the warriors of Queen Beryl. How even with Sailor Moon fighting with her, she felt all she could do was fight by herself and stand alone.
The lone Soeur clutches her hands into tight, resolute fists, swallowing the surge of fear that threatens to well up in her throat. She does not want to die.
That vast tsunami cascades over the hospital. Waves of it, driven by the dark gale, roar towards the outcropping upon which Masque Feu perches. She lets her resolve guide her - and she /leaps/ from the edge of the air conditioner. The wind threatens to take her as she soars, spinning in the air, hair curving about her in a graceful spiral as she slices through the storm, descending towards the edge of the hospital roof. She comes down to a crisp landing, both high heels hitting the rooftop with an authoritative click.
"Maaaaaasque Feeeeeeu!" a tiny voice shrieks over the gale and the crash of water. Seika sucks in her breath and looks out into the wind - to spot a tiny white shape flapping madly towards the roof.
"Masque Feu, do not let doubt grip your heart!" Augustine cries as loud as he can through the wind, struggling to make headway against the evil storm front. "Remember -- in the battle against Nephrite, he was /not the one who won!/"
Masque Feu blinks a time or two - then looks out across the field. Towards Sailor Moon; towards Sailor Jupiter, whom she met the other day. She recognizes others - Mars and Mercury, encountered in passing; Neptune, whose path she crossed once. Cure Sword, whose path she crosses time and time again.
The truth is... I have never really been alone...!
The thought, just a few days old, buoys her - and she pushes her hair back with a brisk pass of one hand. Those gloriously curled ojou ringlets at the end of those long black strands billow in the wind as she draws herself up with a confidence that is, in some ways, new to a Soeur who has always considered herself a lonely warrior.
"I will not die," she insists, before lifting a hand above her head - and pointing a finger to the heavens, one foot poised just in front of each other. Her other hand clasps over her heart. It is a profoundly elegant sort of pose, but defiant.
"So long as evil lives upon this earth, there will be the power of the Blessed Flame to meet it," she declares, her voice of speaking tone, but sharp, level, more a confident declaration than a shout. "By the whispered wish of the Silver Star, I, Masque Feu, will punish you...!"
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used The Light of the Silver Shooting Star on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Relativity, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! Honoka Yukishiro is Taunted! Cripple applied to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Masque Feu's The Light of the Silver Shooting Star, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Masque Feu is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Those after-school volleyball practices have paid off; Sailor Venus deftly leaps out of the way, landing gracefully on her feet. "You're going to have to do far better than that!" she says with a hint of smugness.
Some of her allies, however, don't fare quite as well -- and Venus' burst of confidence is quickly replaced with concern for the other magical girls on the field. Venus frowns, allowing herself only a second to determine how best to pull the brunt of Kunzite's attention away from the injured.
But before she can deliberate, she watches as Jupiter races towards the silver-haired creep like a fury unleashed. Just as Jupiter strikes the barrier with her fist, light begins to gather at the end of her fingertip. Twin moons, set back to back, flash for just a second as Minako shouts out the name of her attack.
"Crescent... Beam!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Crescent Beam on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to counter Sailor Venus's Crescent Beam, taking 46 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Honoka Yukishiro is Quipped!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Venus!
<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Kuniko's face tightens into a grimace - her eyes widen at Kunzite's barb. But before she can compose a response, he backs up his words with magic. Fell magic. The rising wave smashes downwards and -
Ice! Salt! The Poissonnier shudders violently, sucking in a breath that comes out again as mist. "Do you think... a little bit of cold water, is going to stop me?" she manages to force out, shivering vigorously and managing by pure willpower to keep her teeth from chattering.
She spreads out her hands. Warmth radiates out from her - nothing enormous, but she's turning on every burner in the ethereal silver space of her Mise-en-place. A moka pot is slammed onto one of those burners; Kuniko then strikes a fierce pose, glaring at Kunzite. (Not shown: Her desperately drinking in the warmth from that stove.)
Soon enough she pours out the coffee - the cups a bit larger from before, but perhaps in the face of such a chill, some raw heat mass is needed. They're sent forth into the world then - to the fiery Feu (Sailor Mars, sadly, is on the other side of Kunzite for now), the Magic Knight, and - "Sailor Venus!"
In the foam of each is a hastily scribbled pair of initials. 'MF.' 'MK.' 'SV.' No, not scribbled - a touch of chocolate syrup on the foam.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Espresso Service on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Espresso Service on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Espresso Service on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu accepts Kuniko Saito's Espresso Service, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Kuniko Saito's Espresso Service, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
That is an awful lot of water descending on the hospital, no matter what form it's in at the moment of impact; the Wind Knight scrambles to try and get clear ... but she was near the edge of the roof to start with, and a lot of the torrential cascade is coming down around her starting point. On the plus side, being so close to the fence means that when it becomes clear she can't get out of the wave's path, at least she's not going to get swept away by it - but she has to scramble to avoid still being submerged when the wave freezes solid.
Then the coffee cup is presented to her, and she accepts it gratefully, raising the cup in a silent toast to Kuniko before drinking down its contents. "Well-timed and delicious, Kuniko-san!" she calls out to her friend the magical chef, before turning her attention back to Kunzite and his barrier. Brute force didn't really get through it; perhaps precision will fare better. The Wind Knight's bow and quiver materialize, and she withdraws an arrow from the quiver, nocking it to the string and drawing it back in proper kyuudou form. The wind tugs at her skirts and hair as she lines up her shot ..
"Gale Arrow!"
And the wind immediately around her draws inwards, gathering behind her arrow as she looses and swiftly wrapping around it to not only speed its flight, but aid it in flying true despite the chaos of the storm on every front.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gale Arrow on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus accepts Kuniko Saito's Espresso Service, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
The little bursts of ocean - magical waters that sang of Neptune itself - plop against the shield. The counterattack was devastating.
The ocean surges down towards her, the fell wave slamming into her and freezing tight. The ocean - she did not have hold over these waves. Were they the ones from her nightmares?
A moment, frozen in the wave, to reflect. The other senshi were here - alongside many others. Some she had seen time and time again, others - her eyes falling upon Masque Feu, simply once or twice. But she bursts upwards. Fell waters mingles with the cleansed water of Neptune, buoying her aloft before they are carted away. But that shadow, that darkness, lingers in the back of her heart.
Neptune closes her eyes - countering it with a song in the back of her mind, and that cleansed water leaps out and dances in a beam of light - bouncing from point to point like a whirling dervish before it too, tries to impact against the shield - the energy water like a hammerblow against the protection.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Aquatic Allemande on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Peach [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Cure Peach displays her usual optimistic grin when her fist impacts against the barrier. This smile quickly disappears when the Pretty Cure is grabbed and thrown bum-over-tea kettle across the rooftop. Her 'hiyaaaah' suddenly sounded much more like a surprised 'aieeeeee'. Lying on her back, the blonde warrior attempts to come up with a game plan on her own, but her plotting is soon rudely interrupted by a tyrannical tidal wave. Peach is thrown once again through the air and smashes into a nearby stairwell, crashing through the rooftop door on her way past...or more precisely....on her way -through-.
A groggy Peach eventually appears back on the rooftop looking a lot worse for wear. But it's still totally fine. The Sailor Senshi, the black haired bombardier, and a few other magic girls were all here. "We can do this." Peach says simply before nodding her head up and down a few times. "Yeah, we can do this! Everyone is counting on us!" Cure Peach stops nodding up and down and starts -jumping- up and down. This continues for a brief moment longer before Peach locks her sights on the barrier and charges once more.
Quickly approaching her target, Peach crouches down and suddenly leaps up into the air. "Pretty Cure! PUNCH!" She yells out as she comes crashing down with another punch of her own. This marks the initiation of Peach's second punch in a row against their mutual foe, but this time, Peach punches with powerful passion!
COMBAT: Cure Peach has used Pretty Cure Fresh Punch on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Peach has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Gale Arrow, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Sailor Neptune's Aquatic Allemande, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Sailor Neptune is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Cure Peach's Pretty Cure Fresh Punch, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Cure Peach is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Sword [None] has posed.
There are too many tsunamis to reasonably stop. Sword's efforts, combined with Homura's, disperse one tsunami, but there's around a dozen more behind it. Her teeth grit, and that wrenching in her gut intensifies. It was like this back then, too. No matter how hard she fought or how successful she was in individual battles, she just wasn't strong enough.
But Homura catches her eye, and when Sword meets it, she nods to her. Sword nods back in spite of herself. The Princess is somewhere in this city; no matter what, she must protect it. Now is not the time to refuse assistance... particularly since Homura seems to know what's going on and who's behind it.
"Kunzite," she repeats, turning towards Kunzite in the barrier. She sees how the crashing waves freeze upon impact around the city, hears Homura's observation and assessment. If that's the best way to protect this city, then Sword won't argue; she knows she's in over her head--almost literally when another tsunami collides in around them. She leaps to get out of the way, but it's so cold, bitter cold, and it tears at her skin even as she manages to barely avoid getting frozen solid within the waves. When she lands on top of the tower where everyone else has collected (indeed, Homura, Cure Sword is still with you), she stumbles, teeth chattering briefly before she grounds her stance and forces herself to get to her feet.
'You will all die here!' Kunzite calls.
She can't die. To die means to fail, and she mustn't fail. Not again.
Sword glances at Feu and the many Sailor Senshi, at Cure Peach, at Homura, and then focuses on Kunzite. This is the enemy they must defeat. Cut him down, and the city will be saved. ...She can only trust that Homura knows what she's talking about.
"Davi!" Cure Sword calls, placing a Cure Lovead upon her Lovely Commune. She traces its surface, then sweeps her hand up, trailing glittering lavender light. "Shining Edge!!" Both hands grip at the bottom, and the light solidifies into a longsword. With a fierce cry, Cure Sword charges the barrier, then attempts to slice it clean through, to create an opening and get to the dark warrior within--unaware, even with seeing how it bounces attacks, just what it is she's trying to deal with.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has used Shining Edge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Cure Sword's Shining Edge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cure Sword!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
'One of us is about to die! You'll wither in the light of my wrath!' Fire and Passion. 'I absolutely won't forgive you for interrupting us on our peaceful afternoon of baking!' Love's heavenly vengeance. Champion of Justice.'You don't have the right to do this! In the name of Jupiter, I'll crush you!' Thunder and courage.
'Using the waves and the winds that everyone in this city fears... it's unforgivable!' Love and Intelligence. Her eyes almost blur as she hears all of them. They were all so strong. '...I think maybe you're a little braver than you used to be.' And while she didn't feel strong, she felt like she could muster her courage to protect her friends, her loved ones, the people of this city.
She sees those cold and stoic eyes, summoning the twin shots of oceanic power. Elegance. The mysterious Sailor Neptune, whom she knew next to nothing about. Despite her being so distance, her presence was reassuring in it's own way, as if the new age itself had come to fight, even if she wasn't with them.
There were others too. A Silver Souer she knew from the past, a passionate Chef, a Magic Knight, a duo of Pretty Cure and one girl whom she couldn't acknowledge, wouldn't think about right now lest she be overwhelmed by further doubt, "Everyone-" A soft smile, before her eyes become filled with resolution. "-we'll definitely punish him!"
And then irritation runs through her at the dismissal in Kunzite's words, "Who are you calling dolls you stuck up pretty boy!?" 'Wrong... you're all about to die!' Sailor Moon looks up, way up. And her jaw drops. She points with a finger at the sky, as if seeing a UFO in the distance. Well no, not that. It was definitely DOOM. Certain Doom to be exact.
Where do you go when you're on top of a building and a tsunami is about to crash down? She doesn't know the answer. Instinctively she covers her face as it crashes into her with crushing force that almost carries her right off the building, but her gloves catch hold of the edge of an HVAC unit at the last second leaving her covered in rime and frost in the sudden flash freeze.
"S-S-Sooo c-c-c-coollldddd!" She shivers, teeth chattering fighting the urge to hug her arms together as she pulls herself back up on the now slippery rooftop. Mars goes first, with the banishing fire she's known for, then Jupiter with her fist carrying all of her power. And then Venus, with her Her feet slide out from beneath her twice, as she finally gets a grip, gets to her feet, and starts rushing at the barrier as fast as she can on unsteady ground, one arm pumping with the Moon Stick in hand. And then perhaps, with the worst timing ever...
Ice skates pop out from the bottom boots. Her eyes growing wide. "Y-You h-have got to be k-kidding-" Arms flailing, she shrieks as she slides the rest of the way towards Kunzite's barrier. Instinctively, she leaps at the last moment, spinning in single axel that becomes an impromptu roundhouse, the blades at the bottom of her foot striking the barrier hard, "Sailor M-Moon K-hurk!"
...just a moment before her chin does, perhaps just as solidly. She hits the ground, and falls over heavily onto her back. She can't even cry, it's just becoming little bits of frost on her eyelids. She can sniffle though.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Sailor Moon Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Sailor Moon's Sailor Moon Kick, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Perfect Dark, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Moon!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The waves nearly engulf Sailor Mercury within them, but at the last possible second, she forces herself into a leap, narrowly avoiding the chilling water. It licks at her heels, and she slams into the side of the same building as her friend; she doesn't take the climbing attempt quite as well, either, having to downright scramble. When she gets up there, she pants a little bit, wiping her brow.
She takes a second to reorient herself, clenching her fists tightly. 'Dress-up dolls?' Who does Kunzite think he is? Even though she's not the type who's generally given to getting mad, she can feel her teeth reflexively grinding just a little bit.
As her friends continue to close in, she hangs back; her hands come up, and she takes a wide stance. "Mercury..." Bright blue energy collects between her hands, before she thrusts them out, crying, "Aqua Mist!" Supporting her friends with a bolt of ice-cold water of her own, Mercury looks up -- first at the nearby Masque, then at Sailor Moon. She's so strong, Ami thinks, as she sees that incoming roundhouse. It's inspiring.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Mercury Aqua Mist on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Sailor Mercury's Mercury Aqua Mist, taking 15 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYdVz42mZxM
"I executed a traitor on the order of my Queen," Kunzite responds coldly, though Sailor Jupiter's words have had more significant impact than her charged fist, which dissipates like the rest into the barrier. "Don't pretend you never took such actions, in times past."
Sailor Mars' sacred flame pours onto the barrier, warming it a touch; it mingles with Homura's smoke and mirrors, and together they weaken a patch of it enough for Sailor Venus' beam to punch
straight
through
carving a line across the General's swarthy cheek.
"You will, foolish child, and I do," he spits at Masque Feu (who will die), at Kuniko (who will be stopped by a little bit of cold water), at the senshi, at all who oppose him. "No one can stand against what's coming. I am only the beginning."
The second wave (of girls) comes in. The Magic Knight's wind-bourne arrow puckers the barrier -- Sailor Neptune's watery blast slams it -- and Cure Peach shatters through, to bruise at his shoulder, instead.
The barrier reforms instantly between them, separating them like a dark curtain, just in time to save him from Cure Sword; Sailor Moon also gets to fall into the ooze, and now at last it seems to give in earnest, turning into an inky cocoon which is eager to arrest her momentum, wrap her arms and legs, fill her eyes and nostrils with nothing but darkness, darkness.
"Pathetic as usual -- I will turn Tokyo into a desert of ice, and drain all the energy beneath it for my Queen and our Great Leader!!"
But before it can choke her to death, Sailor Mercury's mist rolls in, forcing Kunzite to halt his attack, and giving Sailor Moon time to get (be) free(d).
And the rest of the tsunamis crash down at once, turning his fantasy into reality, instantly snuffing out the figurative light of Tokyo like a pitiful candle in the wind.
But the literal light remains, the many neons and LEDs of the districts creating wild and beautiful patterns, deep within the ice. Though the people may be, as the General is threatening, his hostages and batteries to an evil purpose, it is too soon for all hope to be lost.
BEGIN INSERT SONG
Kunzite, offended by this metaphorical slight to his massive invasion, launches forward. His jackboot leaves a tiny crater on the hospital's tiling. In its way, this is scarier than a larger one -- this is a man who is in full control of his massive strength.
I'm sorry that I'm not honest
I can say it in my dreams
My thoughts are about to short circuit
I want to be with you right now
He bursts out of the mist wielding twin crescent blades, formed of pure violet, violent energy, and chops at Sailor Moon. Then he flings one into the air, and it shatters into a million needles, every one of them tipped with a paralytic, rushing towards Masque Feu, the Magic Knight of Wind, and Sailor Jupiter. The other gets in close with Sailor Mercury, trying to slash her to pieces, and then, as though it is directed by invisible, malicious strings (not far from the truth), proceeds to give Homura and Kuniko the same treatment.
The moonlight makes me want to cry
I can't even call you because it's midnight
But I'm so innocent, what should I do
My heart is a kaleidoscope
Retreating from the inevitable reprisal, he calls a purer form of dark energy to his palms and sends it out as not blades but bursts, which explode towards Sailor Venus and Mars, Cure Peach and Cure Sword. The last of it he gathers into a wider strip, which roars towards Sailor Neptune like a bolt from the heart of hell.
"I can feel all of Tokyo's strength pouring into me -- I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
The first block of lights, Akihabara's, flicker out.
COIN FLIP: Masque Feu flips a coin. It lands on tails!
COMBAT: Kunzite has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Dual Crescent on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Poisoned Shards on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Poisoned Shards on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Poisoned Shards on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Invisible Slash on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Invisible Slash on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Invisible Slash on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Exploding Rain on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Exploding Rain on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Exploding Rain on Cure Peach.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Exploding Rain on Cure Sword.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Extinguish Light on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Kunzite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu fails to dodge Kunzite's Poisoned Shards, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Stagger, Stun, Tangle, and Trap applied to Masque Feu!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito fails to dodge Kunzite's Invisible Slash, taking 32 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cure Sword narrowly braces Kunzite's Exploding Rain, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Cure Sword's Block ability activates! Cure Sword's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Cure Sword!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly counters Kunzite's Invisible Slash, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Reverse ability activates! Homura Akemi's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Kunzite!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly counters Kunzite's Poisoned Shards, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Jupiter's Reverse ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Tactician ability activates! Stagger, Stun, and Trap applied to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter's counterattack, Jupiter Thunderbolt, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Kunzite!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon perfectly braces Kunzite's Dual Crescent, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune narrowly braces Kunzite's Extinguish Light, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Sailor Neptune is Quipped! Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates! Blind applied to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Kunzite's Poisoned Shards, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Stagger, Stun, Tangle, and Trap applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Trick Arrow Shot, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Kunzite! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly braces Kunzite's Exploding Rain, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus narrowly counters Kunzite's Exploding Rain, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Sailor Venus's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus's counterattack, Love-Me Chain Bind, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Kunzite! Critical Counterhit! Tangle and Trap applied to Kunzite!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury fails to brace Kunzite's Invisible Slash, taking 33 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Cure Peach fails to brace Kunzite's Exploding Rain, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Cure Peach!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Many strange things have happened to Sailor Venus over her years as a magical girl, but never has she been delivered a frothing beverage in the middle of combat.
"Coffee?!" Venus exclaims in surprise.
But who is Minako to turn down a cup of coffee? It's chilly out here!
With one swift movement, Venus reaches out and grabs the warm steaming beverage, and downs it quickly, gulping audibly as the drink races down her throat. It's probably not very polite of her -- but who's interested in being polite when you're in the middle of battle?!
The teacup disappears and Venus is completely invigorated by the drink. She makes a quick mental note to ask Kuniko for another the next time she has an all-night last-minute study session the day before the final.
But the thought disappears in an instant as Kunzite, more furious than ever, begins to gather dark energy in his hands. Dark, crackling energy, pours down on her like rain. Minako lets out a wince, before directing her finger to Kunzite once more.
How did the past-her ever like a guy like this for even a second?!
"Love-Me Chain Bind!" she counters, a ribbon of orange hearts bursting forth. Then just as quickly, she attacks again, sending the ribbon of hearts racing towards Kunzite with the hopes of knocking the general right off his feet.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Whip Trip on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly counters Sailor Venus's Whip Trip, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Kunzite's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Kunzite's counterattack, Rejection, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Venus!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Jupiter can feel her fist held, drawn like punching through some kind of awful darkness like /mud/ more than like a wall, unable to grasp it hard enough to simply force her way through. But his answer...
"Never! I--I wouldn't--" she calls back--but... Is that right? Is that something she'd done, in her last life? ...Something she'd do now, if...?
In her moment of hesitation, Sailor Moon gets past her, and suddenly is enmeshed in this barrier choked downward. "No--" Her concern forces her to look away from her foe, but Mercury's mist covers for that moment; even as the tsunami comes down to crush the life from Tokyo, Jupiter is whirling into action, leaning down to /pull/ Sailor Moon bodily from the ooze with all her strength. But in this moment, she couldn't predict Kunzite's fearsome attack.
"--!" She crackles again as she hurls a bolt of lightning to try to burst through the needles and block it... but still they come through, sticking in her shoulder and arms, the blood pumping through her now carrying that poison through her body faster than she can even look back up. "I--"
The lights...
Jupiter winces, stumbling under the poison, but she doesn't fall. "I won't--I won't let you hurt anyone else! Flower...!" She spins, trying to force her muscles working again, and a blast of magic bursts from her outstretched hands, a gale wind on the heels of Venus's binding attack, petals rushing to try to overwhelm Kunzite in their storm, "Hurricane!"
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Flower Hurricane on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Psyched! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura's violet eyes widen, as she watches that crescent blade of energy swinging out for her. The point comes rushing at her, and despite Homura's speed, she is not a swordfighter. She doesn't move with that practiced speed and grace that one of Ohtori's Duelists or another fighter might. The sword should strike home -- her step to the side, quick and graceful, is really not enough to get her away from it.
And yet, it does.
Homura suddenly shifts a foot to the left, the sword cutting into her hair, which is swinging the wrong way. Several shorn strands of black hair flutter away, while the first lights flicker off. Her eyes narrow, and she takes a few quick steps backward. "He is drawing power from the city," she says to Cure Sword -- and to Sailor Mercury, as she steps back. "Something is wrong here."
While she says that, she lifts the nine millimeter pistol in her left hand and fires. The shot cracks, echoing, and then Homura's hand brushes her shield.
Time stops.
The world goes greyscale around her; her bullet is suspended in air, shockwaves causing the air just behind it to ripple. Homura leaps into the air, doing a backflip as she passes over Kunzite. Her hand reaches into her shield and draws a second pistol out. The two pistols fire, two rounds shooting down from above, before she lands on the roof.
Her feet skid in the gravel, and she turns to face Kunzite, swinging her pistol up. She fires, the gunshot echoing in that greyscale world that only she can live in. Her hand clicks the shield back into its standby mode.
Time resumes.
The four bullets fire as if shot at once. One shoots at Kunzite's left; another two come careening down from above him, and then a fourth shoots at Kunzite's right.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Bullet Time on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite perfectly counters Homura Akemi's Bullet Time, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Kunzite's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Kunzite's counterattack, Rejection, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
While the Magic Knight of Wind manages to launch another arrow in time to intercept the thrown sword, the resultant shower of toxified needles still bathes the Wind Knight in agony, and she crumples with a brief cry of pain ... but she isn't going to give up so easily. She doesn't see how well Sailor Jupiter fares; she *does* see Masque Feu taking what looks like the full brunt of it, probably even worse than the Wind Knight herself. The other fire-wielder she knows, Sailor Mars, is taking a pummeling as well ...
And while the Wind Knight can't see Akihabara from where she's fallen, the sudden darkness sends a chill through her heart.
"This is not your city, soldier of the Dark Kingdom," the Magic Knight of Wind states, her voice calmer than her emotions. "Nor is the power of this city yours to claim, much less to steal. Even if I lack the strength to fight you adequately, my power is enough to support my friends and allies - including those who are stronger than myself."
She sits up slowly, taking in a deep breath and struggling not to release it as a cry of pain; she has something more important to do with it.
"Winds of Healing!!"
Any of the needles still stuck in her flesh or clothes are brushed away by the gathering restorative breeze, a touch of warmth against the unnatural cold; Masque Feu gets a similarly gentle, refreshing treatment, the breeze seeming to drive away pain and weakness like so much dust. And Sailor Mars feels not only the soothing and the warmth, but almost as if the spell provides a shoulder to lean upon, an arm to pull herself back to her feet - something to steady herself upon as her strength returns.
And as the spell fades, the Magic Knight of Wind returns to her feet, bow and quiver vanishing as her own sword forms in her hands.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Fuu Hououji's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Masque Feu accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Masque Feu's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Sailor Mars's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Sword [None] has posed.
Bad timing for Cure Sword. Her blade cuts down just in time for the barrier to reform when others had cut through, and her blade fails to find purchase. She leaps back just in time to avoid getting struck for her efforts, but her teeth are grit in frustration all the same. However, this won't be enough to stop her. Not when the tsunamis freeze all of Tokyo, flickering hearts of lights glittering within the ice. Sword looks around in horror, not just for the innocent people of the city but also for the one she seeks who must be *somewhere* here. When she turns back towards Kunzite, it's with purple eyes narrowed in fury and redoubled determination.
Homura observes that Kunzite's claim is not just hot air, and though Sword doesn't know what he means by draining the people's energy, it sounds bad enough that she takes it completely seriously. "How can he do such a thing?" Cure Sword half-wonders, half-demands, the question quite real despite sounding rhetorical. Perhaps Mercury will be able to answer it for her. A lot of things are wrong here, but how can they sever his connection to the city? And yes, that tiny crater *is* frightening. Cure Sword has gone up against immense power before, but never in so small and human a form. That this heralds the beginning of a massive, vicious attack is no surprise. When the bursts of darkness come for her, Cure Sword dismisses her magical blade and crosses her arms before her, weathering the onslaught. It hurts, and it leaves her arms numb, but she digs her heel into the ice at her feet.
"I won't allow it!" Cure Sword shouts. She won't die here--and though these other girls aren't her friends, though they're total strangers to her, she has no desire to see them killed, either. She calls up the magic from her Lovely Commune, and it transfers into her hand in the form of several spade-shaped daggers. Kunzite isn't the only one here who can use a blade, and if Sword retreats, it's only so she can create some distance before she hurls the magical knives in her hand at him, darting forward to perhaps pin him down a little. "Radiant Spade!" she calls to complete the magic, heralding the attack.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has used Radiant Spade on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Cure Sword's Radiant Spade, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Kunzite is Quipped! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Star-spangled bursts of vicious crazed dogs of arcane assault snarl and snap all around the contours of her vision. Folding in on herself in a reflexive guard she shrugs off as much as she can and suffers a much as she must.
As the lights fade and the din descends, she launches off of her heels to the newly exposed enemy. For all the pomp and patter that Kunzite spews Sailor Mars affords little for herself. As the situation at hand strips away all the margins for error, victory or defeat are they only forces left standing.
For the moment, the cocky fiend exists in a space between defended assurance and astonished comeuppance. Rei does what she can to plaster the half-hapless engine of evil with as many holy strips as she can slip. As she darts away, there's a pregnant moment in which she feels suspended by angels..as though slowed by a pool of honey, she gradually turns and smiles to Fuu, just recognizing her balm before she lands on her feet again and breaks the spell.
Jamming her heel against the roof, she twists to face the on-his-way-out oni of a man.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen! on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Analysis performed by Sailor Mars! Trap applied to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Hopefully, Minako, Kuniko will be alive for that. (There is a lot of death being foretold.)
Kunzite raises his hands, and Kuniko's eyes widen as she can feel the sheer scale and force of his power. Breadth, depth, terrifying casual ease, profound skills - he is a match for all of them, she thinks. Her spine turns to ice, not literally - and then Kunzite's blast rips forwards and hits her square in the chest.
That's a little more literal.
The pain is sickening and huge. The blow itself, and Kuniko's slamming back against the doorway of the freight elevator, is bad enough. The pained and injured places beneath her doublebreasted chef's jacket, healed but not yet smoothed over - perhaps never to be so. Kuniko shudders, clutching at her midsection at an odd angle - one hand under the other's armpit, the other up at her clavicle.
She runs hot with pain, then cold, and is left shaking. With effort, she suppresses the nausea, the weakness. She pushes ahead, making no sound - and rises for her feet, swaying. She makes it. It is closer than she wants to think, but now that she's upright...
Kuniko stares ahead. "This city..."
Kuniko stabs down onto her cutting board, twice. Popping the lid off of the last can of Harissa pepper in her pantry, she dips her left hand into it, gathering the paste into her palm. She swallows a sour taste in her mouth and pushes that feeling outwards. Wake up, pepper, she thinks: I'm sorry to treat you this way, but I kind of have my back to the wall.
"It's not yours!" she manages to shout, hurling the furiously red pellet of sharp-smelling imported paste towards Kunzite's face. "That strength isn't yours to take--!"
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Harissa Pepper on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Kuniko Saito's Harissa Pepper, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates! Blind, Diversion, and Stagger applied to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Attempting to block that slash with her arms proves to be a poor idea; Sailor Mercury winces as it cuts into her, and staggers back. Her footing was already a little rough -- now she's downright hurting. Grinding her teeth a little, she backs away a bit.
For a long while, she stays in that defensive posture; she's hurting bad, and she needs a second to think. She's not someone who can do well letting herself get pressured; she needs to be able to focus, to get her head around the situation. To that end, she keeps backing off. Occasionally she takes a half-step forward or back, trying to render herself slightly less of a sitting duck.
"I'm not sure how he's managing this -- everyone, stay on your guard!" she offers Sword; it's a weak non-explanation, but right now, she authentically has no idea. She just knows it needs to stop. Twirling an arm around, she forms a long, sharp lance of ice; it streaks for Kunzite a moment later, as Ami tries to get her head back into the game. This is joined by some more forward motion -- movement that gets her closer to her friends, who have likewise moved in much closer to Kunzite than she has.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Ice Lance on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury 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: Sailor Mercury has used Ice Lance on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly counters Sailor Mercury's Ice Lance, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury is Psyched! Kunzite's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Kunzite's counterattack, Rejection, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor Mercury!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Akibahara's lights flicker and fade away.
"No," whispers Neptune. Was this the moment? Dreams twisted into reality and back again - fears given flesh and form and being. Jaw sets, fingers twist into fists. Neptune glances towards the others - senshi and other magical girls alike, and those fists open, and slacken some. Perhaps she was too late. There was a wish, dancing in the back of her mind.
That Haruka might find a way to escape.
Settling her eyes upon Kunzite as he fires that bolt towards her, Neptune whips up her arms, water sparkling with reflected neon lifting to match that motion. But it did little good. Perhaps the bolt was slowed a bit, a bit that the eye could not see, but it strikes Neptune across the midsection - knocking her flat and onto her back. And for a moment - as the pain wraps through her inner being, she lies there - lies there and nlooks up towards the others as they lunge towards Kunzite. And for a moment, she was tempted to remain.
"No."
With a snapping of skirts and a twirling of legs, Neptune rises up to a stand, and the sound of water crashing - different from the tsunami so far - echos in the realm behind her. And in a moment, Neptune raises her hands, and that ethereal water, sparkling with the light of the stars, crashes around her - and surges towards Kunzite, hoping to slam into the man.
Neptune comes down from the attack, grasping her belly.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Unrelenting Tide on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Suddenly, Masque Feu is presented with a cup of coffee. It even has her initials in it. "Goodness," she breathes, instantly knowing who it is. Were she not facing down Kunzite, she would smile.
She takes a small, refreshing sip of the coffee. It's a perfect pick-me-up. The chocolate stings her tongue in just the right way to delight her. "Sugoiiii, it's so warm~," she gushes under her breath, really hoping Kunzite doesn't hear.
Pausing for a coffee break proves to be a bad idea. She lowers the mug and levels a steady look upon the man behind the shield - but all of a sudden, he is no longer behind the shield - and a flood of needles is hurtling towards her. She sucks in a breath -
A coffee mug drops to the top of the building, and cracks. Coffee puddles about a set of feet that are no longer moving.
Needle after needle jams itself into the lone Soeur. Masque Feu prides herself on her composure; here, she cannot even try to scream, as the poison renders her nerves dead and her body rigid. Her eyes squeeze closed; a strangled sound tries to escape the back of her throat. Narrow shoulders clench, thighs trying to bunch for a leap, a step, anything. Nothing comes. The needles stick out of her like a hedgehog - and she can feel her heart labouring as the poison flows into her veins, threatening to still her heartbeat entirely.
Only a breath of wind saves her. The gentle breeze whisks away the porcupine-shock of needles; the refreshing kiss of the Wind Knight's magic ushers the dark venom from her veins. Masque Feu slumps forward with a shallow groan, dropping to her knees. Long dark hair spills down to either side of her face as she catches herself with both hands, her head deeply bowed. All she can do is breathe, even without the poison burning away at her.
No... it's not true. Even though I'm not alone... the power of the Silver Star isn't enough. All I am is a hunter of vampires. An enemy like this....
Inevitability sinks into the girl's heart; it plunges in her chest, for a moment. All she can think of is despair.
And then, with a clang, her heart can sink no further. It hits a bulwark of pure steel. It is a side of herself she does not often show.
...is the enemy that is before me. Even if the enemy is unbeatable... even if my chances of survival are less than one percent... Miuchi Seika will face that chance on both feet, with her head held high and her dignity intact.
Because one percent is still a chance.
With slow grace, Masque Feu climbs to her feet. She closes her eyes; breathes in through her nose - and brings a heel down with a click. The cold bites at her; her body still burns with the lingering effects of that poison. Suddenly, she finds herself able to bear them.
"Not all of its strength is yours to take," she whispers as she raises both hands - two fingers extended, thumbs touching. She draws them out in a circle; whisps of fire circle behind her fingertips, forming a broad ring. It shines around her hands as she levels them forward in a clamshell stance.
"PURE SPARK!" she calls out, her voice ringing. "/SHINE THROUGH THE NIGHT!/"
The blast of flame that issues forth from Masque Feu's palms is simply immense. Fireball after fireball, eight, ten, twelve, each the size of a large watermelon - they pour through the middle of that ring. Another light slices through the dark, all the brighter in the dimming lights of Akihabara below - a light carrying with it the sacred power, designed to burn away the curse of the Night Lord, but capable of burning away the Dark of a sinner's Kingdom.
The light of the Blessed Flame.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Purespark Barrage on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Neptune. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Unrelenting Tide, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Kunzite!
COMBAT: Masque Feu 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: Masque Feu has used Purespark Barrage on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to counter Masque Feu's Purespark Barrage, taking 53 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kunzite's counterattack, Rejection, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Masque Feu!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sailor Moon is still dizzy as she slides inside the barrier, the tenebrous ooze rising to envelop her. It wraps around every part of her. Including her throat. She can't even call out to the Senshi to help. No sound can escape from her throat as she's choked, eyes wide with fear, as her limbs struggle against her bonds. Fortunately, she didn't have to. The Sailor Senshi were a team, and Mercury had covered Kunzite in her spray just in time. Her bonds grow slack enough, that she's able to sit up suddenly as she tries to rip them off of her with all of her might, gagging and coughing.
A moment later they give way as Jupiter pulls her free of it, the ooze snapping instantly, and she manages a smile, after coughing once more weakly and puts a hand to her chest. "T-Thank you you two- I thought I was a goner-" Only in time for her eyes to widen in horror as more tsunamis crash down all over Tokyo, turning it into an arctic wasteland of colorful light.
"L-Look out!" Kunzite's strength as he wields his crescent energy weapons is titanic. Sailor Moon wouldn't feel like she could stand up to it on her best day. Fortunately she has weapons of her own. Reflexively she raises the Moon Stick to intercept the dual chop. For a moment it looks like they would simply pass through, when suddenly pink light flares from the Ginzuishou affixed to it. It lims the Moon Stick with sparkling stardust which does not /reject/ the crescents, but simply makes it physical enough to allow her parry to keep the blow at bay.
She's bent down almost immediately to her knees by the sheer ferocity of the blow, her expression one of determination that can't quite match her body's ability to defend it, then rolls backwards just as the Shitennou continues his assault upon the others. Breathing heavily, she staggers back up to her feet, watching Kunzite grow more powerful by the moment as the power of the city flows into him.
It feels like a hopeless situation, hopeless enough that even the mysterious Senshi, Sailor Neptune, was whispering denials. While they were soft, Sailor Moon heard them clearly. If even she was saying such things- Moon didn't want to think about it. She looks her way, Sailor Moon's heart suddenly feeling as cold as the city itself. The shivering in her limbs ceases, but they're still trembling, from anger instead, her gaze upon the iced rooftop, as she murmurs a word of her own, "Unforgivable."
And then a moment later, louder as she raises her eyes, full of wetness that falls, only to freeze upon her cheeks and reflect the light of the city, "Unforgivable! The people of this city are living such vibrant lives! Nothing gives you the right to take that away from them!"
Putting a hand to her tiara, it gleams as it moves to her hand, sparkling with stardust, "It doesn't matter how strong you are! I'll definitely punish you!" She hooks an arm back, "Moon Tiara-" Her thumbs pinch the edge, just as she releases it with all of her might, "-Action!" It sails towards Kunzite, a disk of silver moonlight her denial of one of Tokyo's Darkest Hour.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Tiara Action on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Action, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Peach [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Cure Peach's stubborness pays off thanks to the combined efforts of her fellow magic girls. They were able to finally punch through the barrier which meant they were one step closer in stopping Kunzite and saving the entire city!
But the young warrior did not have very long to celebrate before a counterattack was aimed her way. The bursts of dark energy were simply too fast for Peach to avoid, so she crosses her arms in front of her and attempts to block the oncoming blast. The result ends in complete failure for the pink clad Pretty Cure as she is sent spiraling through the air once more.
The pig-tailed blonde slams hard against the ground, leaving a small crater in the rooftop. It was a hard blow, but the pink-eyed girl wasn't someone who gave up easily. She was a fighter, she was a Pretty Cure! Picking herself back up, Peach places her hands down on the ground and pushes herself back up onto her feet. This was no time to give up now!
Cure Peach wasn't quite sure what all was happening at first. But by now, she's seen enough to know that this guy needed to be stopped! He was powerful, dangerous, and was actively trying to hurt her magic girl allies and friends. But why? Why did he have to be this way? "Why are you doing this? If you can feel all of Tokyo's strength, then you must also be feeling how much pain you are causing...a pain from right here!" Cure Peach places her hands over where her own heart would be. Her words were probably going to fall upon deaf ears, but Peach still speaks them with the utmost conviction.
COMBAT: Cure Peach has used Reach Out To Their Heart on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Cure Peach has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to brace Cure Peach's Reach Out To Their Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Stun and Trap applied to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Kunzite [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8dXOz_XZL8
We are led by the light of the moon
In a fast back-and-forth-and-back, Kunzite grabs Sailor Venus' incoming Love-Me Chain and steps over it, then drops it. Like a JERK.
We meet by chance again and again
Sailor Jupiter's flower hurricane dramatically ruffles his cape and perfumes the air all around him, but he bows his head, glorious bleached roots flying, and walks through it. Mostly it reminds him of Zoisite. This is really not a good thing for anyone.
The countless shining stars above us
Bullets come at his left, his right, and the top of his head, and he simply teleports away in a silent but cutting inversion of Homura's tactics, appearing directly beside the Magic Knight of Wind, who is not currently trying to kill him.
Foretell love's whereabouts
Cure Sword charges in, and he resummons another violet blade to meet hers with a resounding... silence. These are not true swords that he's wielding, it seems, and they are more absence than presence.
Born on the same Earth
Sailor Mars papers him with... paper, paper that he underestimates and allows to touch him, which momentarily paralyzes him in a nasty turnabout of his prior poison needles.
A miracle romance
Even paralyzed he somehow manages to turn the other cheek frostily to Kuniko's offering, and so its rejected explosion triggers, covering his entire face with pepper.
Just one more weekend together
Sneezing, he swirls his cloak -- mark of his station as the leader of no living army or team, not anymore -- and again disappears out of the path an attack, this time Sailor Mercury's lance.
God, please give us a happy ending
Sailor Neptune is a canny warrior, and waiting for him when he reappears. Her water sweeps Kunzite straight off his feet, catching and tossing him amidst mystical foam!
In the past, present and future
This may have washed off the pepper, but it renders him momentarily incapable of self-defense. It's the perfect time for Masque Feu to strike, strike and furiously burn, water and fire united.
I will always be in love with you
'I will always be in love with you.'
Once more he teleports away, this time more desperately. He reappears in time to hear a heartfelt plea. "Good -- let everyone feel my pain!" he shoots back at Cure Peach; then he finds his feet, right before Moon Tiara Action finds his face. He brings up that summoned blade, and the disc first impacts it, then after some straining in both directions, clatters around it, becoming a crown again.
He crushes it beneath his feet.
"/This/ is a petty disguise, not your true birthright at all."
With a contemptuous gesture of his hand, Kunzite summons the roughly-halfway-to-another-dimension warped space that is his preferred battlefield.
It is very dark. You are likely to be stabbed by a Shitennou.
...
...
......
But no attack comes, only a rising tension, as though a great deal of power is being summoned with a singular, deadly purpose.
"APPEAR BEFORE ME, PRINCESS SERENITY!"
Warping the dark dome with its sheer strength, all the energy he has summoned from now-dark Chofu, Shinjuku, and Clover Town Street, tremendous and terrifying, pours furiously towards Sailor Moon, seeking nothing less than her death -- or the miracle he's seeking.
Either will do, and the grim hatred behind his eyes is almost as frightening in scope as the massive voidblast, as it fills all the space and unspace between General and girl. There will be no escape.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Cure Peach.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Cure Sword.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used The Black Dome on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Dark Demand on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Kunzite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus fails to dodge Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune perfectly braces Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Sailor Neptune's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Masque Feu narrowly dodges Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Masque Feu's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito fails to dodge Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask covers Sailor Moon for Kunzite's attack, Dark Demand, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to counter Kunzite's Dark Demand, taking 44 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask's counterattack, Dramatic Intervention!, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u70c1e4mr4g
A shadow had lurked atop a nearby tower, ever vigilant, ever conflicted. Dreams and duty pulled in one direction, warmth and cheer in another, nostalgic memory in yet a third. When Nephrite drew upon his army, when Zoisite issued that final challenge, his inner conflict kept him from the outer one. Even here and now, with Kunzite's wrath putting all the city in peril, he only stands, waits, hopes. Hopes for the victory of the Sailor Senshi. As courage and passion and intelligence and duty stand beside her, as Sailor Moon stands proud and firm before the last of the Four Heavenly Kings...he holds out hope.
Kunzite speaks, and from behind a domino mask, dark eyes widen in shock - stare anew at the one called Sailor Moon. The one the Dark Kingdom had sought all this time...the bearer of the Silver Crystal... those masked eyes stare anew at golden hair, at the girl standing with the nobility of a past life. Husky with longing and disuse, a voice speaks once more. "...Princess..."
~~`~<@
Amid the salt and ozone, there is the sharp smell of flowers - and as Kunzite screams in fury, a rose streaks through the air to spear that vengeful hand with its thorns.
In spite of that flash of crimson, there is a dark and terrible light searing through everything in its path, intent on erasing the Moon Kingdom's heir from this world. That light is eclipsed, however, a sweeping shadow interposing itself between Kunzite's wrath and Sailor Moon's courage. A figure, tall and dark, spreading his cape wide to block out the brilliance of that fury - and even cast into shadow by that eclipse, the bright white domino mask that gives Tuxedo Mask his name can be clearly seen.
"The joy of a summer's day, and those friendships born within are too warm to be buried under a frosty rage." There are mere moments - barely enough for the eyes behind that mask to cast about, to catch the gazes of the Senshi and their allies. "While storms may rage and darkness falls, stand true to yourself...and everything you are. Sailor Moon - no...Princess Serenity!"
Further words are interrupted by Kunzite's power bearing down with the rage of millennia behind it - and as much as his love for the Moon Princess might shield her, Tuxedo Mask lets out a scream of agony as price for the safety of the one he cares about. When the moment, terribly drawn out, finally comes to an end...he still stands. Crimson and black cape in tatters, smoke curling from his tuxedo, Tuxedo Mask stands before Sailor Moon.
"...as ever...your pure heart shines..." He smiles warmly to her, even as he falls to his knees.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Now Show Them Your Power! on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Sword fails to dodge Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to dodge Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmKk8uFBKQU
An inky, infectious wave disembowels itself all around all that can be seen. That Kunzite seeks to drag them all down into the sewer of his dominion isn't lost on Sailor Mars, but all the same...
It felt like he was backing into Hell, and that illuminated her purpose as surely as divine conflagration against the dead of night. His chest swells. Kunzite, alone among the so-called Heavenly Kings, looked the part. He closer resembles a finely carved sculpture than a burning eyed boy, and he represents himself with assurance. Rei sees through him; his gaze has changed from when she first saw it. It's as if the atoms that comprise his eyeballs have risen from their resting positions and begun to shudder and thrum in agitation. Without a close look he seemed just the same, but within his self he is aflame, and she will stoke that fire.
Sailor Mars' every muscle clenches together, an unprecedented symphony of tension slowly gathering in strength before tilting up higher and higher like a jet in liftoff. She aborts takeoff moments before the exploding out, as Kunzite's words slice through the space between them more shockingly than hellfire.
What happened next seemed to play out in slow motion to her. The addressal, the hatred, the foreboding and the silence...and Tuxedo Mask slicing through it all with the grace of a rosestem and the sharpness of a razor. And then his flower falls...
Sailor Mars stares forward unblinkingly in a forward-stretching tunnel of righteous fury, launching herself to the silver-haired general with terrible focus. Drawing her fingers in and holding her palm erect in the air, she slams its surface against his forehead, her fingers immolating in holy fire as her muscles lash out.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 49 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Sailor Moon!"
Venus' eyes light up with fury as Kunzite focuses his attention on their princess. She attempts to dodge his attack -- to make her way over to Sailor Moon so she can protect her, but Kunzite's blow hits its target true. When she finally recovers, her gaze immediately snaps to Sailor Moon -- and to the crumpling form of Tuxedo Mask in front of her.
She turns to face Kunzite, her brows furrowed with anger. She raises her hands, a single orange heart materializing in the empty space between them.
"Rolling Heart... Vibration!"
The heart spirals off towards Kunzite, a burst of yellow light streaming out behind it.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Rolling Heart Vibration on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Sailor Venus's Rolling Heart Vibration, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Venus is Psyched! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Peach narrowly braces Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Peach's Block ability activates! Cure Peach's Parry ability activates! Cure Peach is Taunted!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Sword [None] has posed.
Cure Peach's earnest appeal snags Cure Sword's attention, and she tilts her head slightly to one side to side-eye her. /Do you really think an evil man like this will listen to you?/ she thinks, keeping it to herself for now because of the situation. /You're so naive, it hurts./
The dark dome encloses them, and Cure Sword isn't able to escape it--how can she, when there's nothing physical to evade? She stands, tense as she looks around, but the otherworld takes her. Kunzite then calls up all of his power, screaming for--
"Princess... Serenity?" Sword echoes, astounded. She turns towards his target, Sailor Moon, eyes wide with a mixture of astonishment and disbelief. She's a princess? But no, that isn't important; he's about to unleash incredible power on her--
Good thing there's someone here to take it for her.
If Cure Sword was surprised by the revelation that Sailor Moon is herself a princess, she's even more surprised by a tuxedo knight coming to her rescue, heralded by a single red rose. Still, she can't afford to slow down here. She turns towards Kunzite, eyes narrowed. This might be their chance, and the Sailor Senshi (though Sword doesn't know them by that name) are already moving onto the offensive. Magical lavender light once again coalesces into a blade, and she charges forward towards him, this time not with a downward slash but with a forward cut. Her only warning is a fierce battle cry.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has used Straight Edge on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Why /is/ he this way? Sailor Jupiter can't know. It's not her mission to know. She's... here to protect people. To protect her friends, and to protect everyone else who can't protect themselves.
"Cure Peach! Be careful!" she calls, the words touching her heart in the moment but she can't believe that Kunzite, who could so casually crush his own comrade, would listen to anyone's words. ...And Sailor Moon's attack...
Jupiter's eyes can't stay on /any/ of the others around her, not the senshi she knows or the mysterious other, not her friend the cook, no one; she looks to Kunzite, and suddenly everything is darkness.
"No!" Her heat leaps into her throat, the sudden blast too quick for her to do anything about, her feet flat on the ground. But...
"No!" She can't get there in time, not as Tuxedo Mask falls... but she picks up some debris from the building and /hurls/ it to try to do /something/ against Kunzite as he brings that awful magic to bear.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Interference on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Jupiter's Interference, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
His strength, fueled by considerable pain and much darker sources beside is titanic. Her eyes widen as he bats aside her tiara as if it were a mere frisbee which clatters to the ground, and is crushed as casually as a rose making all of her efforts seem like they were in vain. It does not reappear upon her forehead. "I'm not disguising anything! I didn't even know!" She cries out in denial.
But even though he demands the sign of her birthright, it does not appear, as if an eclipse has fallen over Sailor Moon. Only for even deeper darkness to fall as the dome envelops her, blocking out all light with the sheer force of his hatred. Not even in the face of the massive voidblast can she will it to appear. It simply doesn't, neither Kunzite able to demand it from her, or she able to demand it from herself at any time.
Fortunately, even without the evidence before his eyes, someone believes. Even as Sailor Moon's eyes widen with sheer terror, a floral scent feels her nostrils, one which seems to calm her with its familiarity. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" It's a dissonant feeling given what happens next.
The figure of Tuxedo Kamen stands between her and the blast which threatens to end her, giving a speech of denial of Kunzite's words, and encouragement and support. His scream is echoed by one of her own, filled with grief, her eyes filled with tears. She rushes over to his side, kneeling down beside him ready to catch him in case he falls out of the way. She puts an arm around him, a hand pressing against his own, fingers interlacing for a moment as she supports him in turn. "-Y-You're really hurt!" She sounds panicked as she looks him over, with all the smoke pouring off of him, it looks really bad, but as desperately as she wants to ferry him away from the battle... "I-I've got to- I've got to-"
...the words of his speech sink in as she abruptly calms, and bows her head close to him. She knew exactly what she had to do. So instead, she whispers reassurance to him, "I'll stand true to myself." A princess has a responsibility to protect everyone. Those were her own words. And despite how much she cared for the Senshi's mysterious benefactor, she was going to do just that. By drawing him away from Tokyo, and him. "We'll definitely save everyone. Wait for me, please."
Only then does she stand up, her fingers gently falling away from, as she glares upwards at the swiftly fading figure of Kunzite, eyes flashing with fury, but also conviction. As she holds up the Moon Stick, displaying the glimmering Ginzuishou to Kunzite, "Maybe I was Princess Serenity once, but I'm also myself. I'm tired of facing you on your terms, if you want the Ginzuishou, if you want my life then you'll face me-" Sailor Moon bends at the knees, deep pink light flooding her body, "-on mine! This ends now! Everyone-" Her clarion cry, which seems to carry the weight. "-with me! We'll definitely stop him!"
She leaps then as high as she can with all of her might, and on pure instinct keeps going, soaring through the darkened skies, through wisps of cloud cover, through each of the layers of the atmosphere at blinding speed leaving a sparkling pink trail of light behind her.
Soon it will be joined with Red from Mars, Yellow from Venus, Green from Jupiter, Blue from Mercury and Aquamarine from Neptune which feels somehow apart from it despite joining the others. Together, or seperate as they might be, it forms a trail which allows each of their Mahou Shoujo allies to defy gravity. Taking the Silver Crystal, taking her away from Tokyo, banking everything on Kunzite's sheer burning desire for revenge.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Cure Sword's Straight Edge, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura nods, dimly, to Cure Sword and Sailor Mercury. She doesn't know how he is doing this, either. She suspects the only solution is to contend with Kunzite. That stings; the limiting of her options, the image of destruction and devastation from a tsunami, and the darkened skies and spirits reminds her too much of another time. A time yet to come, but a time she has experienced many a time before.
'APPEAR BEFORE ME, PRINCESS SERENITY!'
Homura's eyes snap wide open at that. She turns raising her pistol quickly, and points it directly at Kunzite. Before she can fire, though the black dome expands outward; the Puella Magi is forced to drop her pistol down to her side and leap over the expanding dome of darkness. She sees the lights turning off, too, and she swallows hard.
She thinks of where Madoka's house is, as she lands. She does smoothly, and watches as Tuxedo Mask drops down and takes the worst of it for Sailor Moon. She swallows, but the feeling in her throat doesn't vanish. The demand for Princess Serenity hangs there. It reminds her, again, that Madoka is close to this girl.
It reminds her of the danger she faces. It reminds her of what could happen. It reminds her of the hundred ways it could go wrong.
Her eyes narrow, and she looks away from Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask before she betrays any more emotion. She slides both pistols back inside of her shield, before she withdraws -- improbably -- a JSDF assault rifle. She swings the weapon up, aiming towards Kunzite.
When she pulls the trigger, there's a sustained burst of gunfire in his direction.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Full Auto Burst on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Homura Akemi's Full Auto Burst, taking 19 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury narrowly dodges Kunzite's The Black Dome, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mercury's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Tuxedo Mask's Now Show Them Your Power!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Empower and Surge applied to Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Revenge on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Moon's Moon Revenge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Moon is Reinforced by Sailor Moon!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Darkness. Crushing and cold.
The resonance that Neptune always felt in the back of her heart with the planet of her namesake. It dims a little bit - the darkness enroaching around the edges of her heart. Tuxedo Mask is struck - drawn aside, the miraculous arrival of the man drawing the eye - but her focus returns to Kunzite. It had to. It must.
Drawing her gloved forearm over her lips, she glances cooly at the man - but pauses. Pauses in the dark as Sailor Moon calls out to the rest of the senshi. And in that moment, she composes herself, finds that inner place of strength again. She breathes out.
And as Moon draws enough strength to allow the Outer Senshi to lift off of the ground - to fly after the rest of her allies - apart from them, of course, forever apart.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Act With Elegance on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune accepts Sailor Neptune's Act With Elegance, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Surge applied to Sailor Neptune!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The darkness that suddenly descends upon the city, including the hospital's rooftop-turned-battlefield, is solid enough to seem like a physical blow. Which was probably the whole point of it, thinks the Wind Knight as she scrambles to 'dodge' it .. or maybe there was something that she did need to be wary of?
Either way, Kunzite is in the open now, apart from being swarmed by the handful of magical girls who prefer to get up close and personal with their opponents. And while the Magic Knight of Wind does have her sword at the ready, she's just as happy to rely on spells or archery when the opportunity presents itself. In this case, it's magic.
"Winds of Admonishment!!" she calls out, conjuring her binding tornado and attempting to ensnare Kunzite with it. Certainly her allies have already laid their own strikes down, slowing him, hindering his attacks and mobility ... but towards that end, the Magic Knight of Wind adds her own contribution, to keep the last of the Dark Kingdom's 'Heavenly Kings' from fighting at *his* fullest, just as she earlier pitted her efforts to restore her allies' ability to fight to their full potential. The light green of her conjured winds may add to the rainbow path which supports her comrades, as well - or it might not. She certainly is not one of the Sailor Senshi, although she gladly counts them as allies.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
A thought suddenly occurs to Masque Feu as the Blessed Flame makes it mark - but as the dome of darkness devours more and more of her sight, it slips from her thoughts. She lowers her hands from firing stance, letting them drop to her sides, her eyes wide as she watches Kunzite line up Sailor Moon.
"Princess Serenity?" breathes Augustine as he flutters just off to Seika's right. "Is he trying to summon som-"
There was a rose. A man in a mask, hurled before the storm - but revealing truth before the fall. Seika's breath catches in her throat for a second; her thoughts crash to a halt as she stares at Sailor Moon's back. Even for one such as her, whose silvery ties to a world unimagined are as tenuous and fleeting as the gleam of a silver shooting star in the night sky, a part of her heart seems to /get it./
Usagi takes to the air. Masque Feu is, briefly, reminded of something Fate said.
Do friends go flying together?
She closes her eyes; smiles serenely for a moment. "I suppose they do, Fate-chan," she murmurs to the girl who is not there. Her spirits soar; she may know Sailor Moon only by observation, but the Senshi's will is contagious.
She sinks to a knee - and with a hard spring, she /leaps./
Masque Feu's feet sail from the ground. She rises into that shining rainbow trail. She does not add a colour to it; only tiny silver sparkles shimmer in her wake, like a silver shooting star all her own. A tiny dove flutters with her; Augustine, too, leaves behind a wake of shining stars.
Her right hand closes into a tight fist as she looks up towards the shape above - the Senshi of the Moon, leading them on. Things well on the tip of her tongue. She wants to say them - how much she believes right now that they can win, how much seeing the likes of the Senshi and the Cures fight has given her faith, how much it means to her to be able to stand by the moon senshi's side, even if it is from a distance, always from a distance.
As her path crosses Sailor Neptune's, weaving close and then passing by, she merely clasps her hands together at her collar, letting that magical leap defy gravity.
"Ganbare, Sailor Moon," is all she whispers.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Silver Soul on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
She hit him! Kuniko feels a fleeting moment of triumph. Then comes the darkness. The shadow, falling downwards.
And then, a flower.
Kuniko straightens up, stiffening almost as Tuxedo Mask interposes himself between Sailor Moon and certain, agonizing doom. Her breath hitches. Sailor Moon tells everyone to be with her. She makes herself breathe in deep. She pushes off the ground--
A pillar of mediterranean-blue light, bright as a noon on a Greek island, rises around her.
Kuniko finds herself rising way farther than she thought. Her legs kick and bicycle at the air for a moment before she composes herself. Anxiety fills her, but in the exhilaration of the moment, she realizes she's -- starving. Perhaps, anyway. Either way, a quick admixture of a slice of a juicy tomato and buffalo mozarella into one of her spare pita breads gives her something to quickly devour, hidden from view by the clouds.
"Oh, no, how much of it is dark -- Sailor Moon," Kuniko says once she's high up, "What do we do now?!" I wonder if Mami Tomoe's going to show up with ribbons to bail me out, Kuniko then thinks afterwards. After this: Probably not.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Masque Feu's Silver Soul, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Cheered!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Tomato and Mozarella Antipasta on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito accepts Kuniko Saito's Tomato and Mozarella Antipasta, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Kuniko Saito! Cleanse! All of Kuniko Saito's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Still a little further back than the rest, Sailor Mercury does her best to protect herself from the staggering power of Kunzite's void. Sinking into that darkness distresses her, and she can feel something shrink within her heart, just a little bit, as he effortlessly dodges her ice... As Sailor Moon takes the initiative, though -- as Tuxedo Kamen takes the blast meant for her, and shows her the strength of his belief in her -- the shrinking feeling stops.
In that instant, it seems like Sailor Moon -- Princess Serenity, and yet, not Princess Serenity -- has changed the whole tide of the battle. Something about her resolution is downright infectious. After taking a deep breath, Sailor Mercury stands tall, eyes on Sailor Moon and her silver crystal.
Sure enough, as Sailor Moon asks the assembled magical girls to follow along with her, Sailor Mercury follows without hesitation. She'd follow her friend into Hell if she had to -- and it's that that causes her to push through the darkness, streaking along after Sailor Moon in short order.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Strength That's Pure And True on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury accepts Sailor Mercury's Strength That's Pure And True, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Cripple applied to Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Kunzite [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOy6hqzfsAs
So many people get between Kunzite and what he wants.
When Tuxedo Mask does so, he is suffused with a desire to commit murder, even more than his average, low-level desires to destroy his enemy. The sheer strength of this surprises him, and his eyes widen. He had thought himself past such feeling, especially after Beryl forcibly poured a fraction of Metallia's strength into him earlier tonight.
He launches forward to try to finish that interloper off, but is met by Mars' palm in a straight denial. Holy flame explodes around him, burns him, raises an awful mark on his forehead, but still he stands. Such is the strength of his wish.
Blinking at this reminder that there are other people on the battlefield, he brings up his blade just in time to parry Venus' vibrating attack in midair. He takes Jupiter's debris instead, being unable to weather both at once, but apparently that's a more acceptable loss. It tatters his cape, just a little, and the Magic Knight of Wind's tornado tears it a lot.
Cure Sword's strike meets his sword once again, but this time it raises sparks and drives him back a step, directly into Homura's burst of bullets, which accelerate the shredding of his costume by an order of magnitude.
And it's then that -- at last -- Sailor Moon raises her wand. Kunzite's eyes are too dark to reflect the silver light coming from it, but he knows what he sees.
"At last -- the Ginzuishou!"
Girls defy gravity, up and up and up, and he doesn't hesitate to join them for more than one long fraction, in which he looks down at the fallen Tuxedo Mask and considers whether it's worth it to finally finish him off, over this chance to finish his /mission/.
That internal calculus declares that it's not, though the temptation to deny Sailor Moon her petty crush in a rather half-hearted mirror of his own feelings for Zoisite (Ed. Note: Kunzite's opinion does not necessarily reflect that of the establishment) is strong. And so he takes to the air.
Tokyo begins to thaw beneath his feet as he goes; in some sense, the day has already been saved. Lights flicker back on, lights visible from space from their sheer density.
And it is to space that the light seems to be drawing everyone (save Kunzite, who is definitely a darkness-propelled rocket, his hair streaming behind him in wind that tugs tears from his eyes) lightly and gently, without any real accelerative strain, into the stars. They twinkle in all directions, far more of them than anyone has ever seen before with their naked eye from the surface of the planet.
They are endless, and they are wonderful, and they are perhaps a bit lonely, too.
They may also be distracting. This is important because Kunzite gets the time to eagerly resummon his second blade, and then launch both, one from each hand, at the pack of girls above him. They split right as they reach the group, attempting to arc behind to strike Sailor Moon in the back.
"Revenge will be mine," he whispers, inaudibly but with sufficient intensity that simply the look on his face, the /hunger/ there, is easy enough to read like subtitles.
"Just a little longer... wait for me."
COMBAT: Kunzite has used Dual Crescent on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Kunzite has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
There is pain - indescribable, as the void-born torrent of power slams into him.
There is satisfaction, as even with tear-filled eyes she can stand, safe and sound.
And there is comfort, as white-gloved hands briefly interweave their fingers together. Tuxedo Mask's grip tightens, briefly, in longing and reassurance - but he bears that smile proudly as Sailor Moon gathers her pride.
Wait for her? "Always - for another lifetime, if need be. But I believe in your conviction and camaraderie, Sailor Moon - I believe in all of you, and know you will succeed." He releases his grip, one hand falling to brace against solid ground beneath even as Sailor Moon stands up to face Kunzite.
It's brilliant. Tuxedo Mask kneels, drawing strength from the Earth below even as the assembled girls rise to the heavens on a trail of light. The Sailor Senshi, Pretty Cure, Magi and Knight, Poissonier and Soeur... All of them shine with the lights preciously held in their hearts. The chill of the world is already fading to warmth...but Tuxedo Mask's gaze is reserved for those beacons of radiance and shade that seek to clash in the skies above.
His hand clenches into a tight fist, and he whispers. "...miraculous. All of you are...shining."
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter tries to cover Sailor Moon for Kunzite's attack, Dual Crescent, but cannot get there in time!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter covers Sailor Moon for Kunzite's attack, Dual Crescent, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to brace Kunzite's Dual Crescent, taking 46 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Gh!"
For all that she dressed down Sailor Moon, for all of the terrible things that Homura told her, she doesn't intend to let the girl be hurt. She doesn't leap in front of the hit -- really, there is one person that she would leap in front a hit for--
--except for the time Mami Tomoe tied her up and Precia Testarossa's drone shot her in the back--
--and that person is not Usagi Tsukino. She decides to take a more direct approach. She lifts up into the column of light, taking off after Kunzite without a thought. The assault rifle is raised; she aims at the back of the remaining Heavenly King, then fires a quick burst of gunfire. Then, she drops out of the column of light.
Her coat and hair flutter as she drops down to the ground. Her hand comes to her shield, as she drops her rifle to the ground below. It clatters to the street, just before Homura turns the shield.
Time stops.
Homura hits the roof of the neighboring building, now in greyscale, and she pulls a large automatic pistol out of the shield. She fires twice while she runs across the roof; each bullet fires, before it jerks to a stop. Homura reaches the end of the roof, sliding that gun back in place, and draws out a shotgun as she runs to the next roof. She stops and turns on a heel, bringing the shotgun to her shoulder.
She uses the pump action, firing three rounds in quick succession; each leaves the spiralling shockwave in the air in its wake as it jerks to a stop. She puts the combat shotgun back into her shield, before she starts running. She has the sub-machinegun out after that; Homura runs to the end of the next roof, then leaps -- and catches another pillar of light. She begins to rise up it, and shoots a burst with the Uzi; the rounds rip out, before she tosses that over her shoulder. It freezes just out of the column of light.
Her hand spins the shield again and time resumes.
She pulls a pistol out as she comes rushing in closer towards Kunzite, aiming it at him with gritted teeth. Her eyes narrow; she feels her pulse quicken. He isn't that different than her, she thinks. If she couldn't save Madoka, would she consider something like this? If she was in his position, what would she want?
Homura's eyes narrow -- and then she pulls the trigger.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Bulletstorm on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sailor Jupiter, too, soars into the sky, the green light sparkling behind her. It is an experience like nothing else before, brought on by Sailor Moon. By a magic that would always call Jupiter's heart, no matter where it had to go.
There's so much that she feels as she goes, still seeing Sailor Moon down with Tuxedo Mask, but...
Her feelings for Usagi shine with the light of Jupiter brighter than anything she knows.
And then she stands there, among the stars, blinking her eyes and turning to look all around. She doesn't recognize any of them individually, but /all/ of them... This, too, is home. And it's--
Jupiter can't hear what Kunzite says. But she /sees/ it in his eyes, feels in her bones what has to be coming. She moves, quickly, into action, moving by instinct where she has no idea whether she can even take a step out in this beautiful place. None of it matters as much as this one thing, this /one/ shining thing-
She doesn't go forward, to Kunzite, but instead hurls herself backward, towards Sailor Moon herself, seeming to ignore the blades themselves in the moment in favor of her leader. Jupiter makes it in a blink, though for her it feels all too slow--
And the soldier of protection throws her arms around Sailor Moon, shielding this girl she loves so much with everything she can. So the blades don't hit Usagi, not even with their cruel deception at the end. Instead, the both of them sink into Sailor Jupiter's sides, and only Usagi is close enough to hear the muffled sound of pain that suffuses Makoto in the moment. Red droplets splash around her into the still nothingness of space, gleaming in the starlight.
...But she's still breathing.
"Sailor Moon--I won't... Let him hurt you." She lets go, but smiles as she steps backwards, trying to disentangle herself to turn back to Kunzite once again. She can't stop here. Not with the faith that's been put in her.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
For a moment, Masque Feu - no, Miuchi Seika - is overcome by a profound sense of pity as she watches Kunzite hurl himself up from below, a darkness-powered vertical-launch missile locked on to the Ginzuishou. She can no longer muster anything that feels like hatred for this man. Only sadness - sadness at the sight of a man so dogged, so driven by a dark soul to pursue vengeance.
She looks up towards Sailor Moon once more. The Senshi of the Moon shines in her vision, and her heart soars as though it could reach the Moon in its own right. She has not felt like this in a long time. She wonders, for a moment, if this is how the Soeurs of another generation felt - the sense of teamwork, the camaraderie.
Slowly, she rotates in the middle of her leap. Her arms rise, slender wrists crossing above her head. Silver sparks stream from her fingertips; they expand, blossoming into dancing tongues of Blessed Flame that snake out to whirl around her. So high is she soaring, the tendrils of fire project out in her wake in a long, streaming spiral. For a moment, Masque Feu appears like a great flaming double helix ascending into heaven itself, some twisting phoenix prepared to rise in a halo of utter glory.
"Masque Feu," Augustine gasps at her side; his dark little eyes shine with sparks of elation. "I can feel your blood boiling...!"
"Hai, Augustine-sama," Seika confirms, closing her eyes for a second - and listening to the thud of her heart. She can /feel/ it. She knows what she has to do.
When her eyes open again, she whispers once more. "All of you... Poissonnier Kuniko... Cures... the Wind Knight... Sailor Senshi... even all of you I have never met until this day..."
Her fingers splay - and the blessed flame shines brighter. "All of you... I believe in you!" she shouts, her voice echoing as she swings her arms forward towards Kunzite.
"Soldier of the Dark Kingdom... take this!!" she calls, her voice ringing through the air. "Our hearts... our faith... /our souls!!/
"With this...
"CROSSFIIIIIIRE...
IIIIIIGNITIOOOON!!!"
Fuelled by the shining light of her soaring spirit, the Blessed Flame burns as bright as it has ever burned. Masque Feu's eyes shine as she pours forth a heart full of faith, casting the twin spiral of fire through the air towards the charging Kunzite. The columns of fire wind tightly with each other, like two friends clasping hands.
They do not divide. Queen Beryl's last general is left to face the fullest fury of the Blessed Masque of Flame and its wearer - a flame tapped by a dove centuries old, tuned to burn all things dark from this world and leave only peace.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Masque Feu has used Crossfire Ignition on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Sword [None] has posed.
It's a fine coincidence, since Cure Sword certainly didn't coordinate with Homura, when her aggressive charge pushes Kunzite back enough for him to get shredded by bullets. She almost even smiles over Homura's way--the eyes go, but the lips don't. However, there's another problem at the moment... Kunzite's hatred for Sailor Moon--a Princess--and his flight into space.
"Wait!!" Sword calls sharply, knowing full well he won't wait. The lights of the city below sparkle more brightly as the ice begins to melt, and that is her goal technically accomplished... but as long as Kunzite is at large, he can do something like this again. Next time, he might be stronger, or there might not be as many magical girls to stop him. It has to end here and now, for the sake of her *own* Princess.
So even without Sailor Moon's call to arms--though Cure Sword does at least look over at her when she calls for everyone to join her into battle, for she is after all leading the charge--the Pretty Cure launches herself upwards, high into space, along trails of rainbow-colored light after the denizen of darkness. Her lavender eyes linger on Sailor Jupiter, who so wholeheartedly flung herself in the way of the attack Kunzite had flung at Sailor Moon. Though Cure Sword doesn't know the Sailor Senshi, she can at least recognize that their costumes match, that they must be a set--and based on the information she has so far, Jupiter must be a protector of Sailor Moon of some kind. Her eyes don't quite soften, but she breathes a faint sigh of relief when she sees Jupiter is all right (for a relative value of "all right") after that attack. ...For an instant, she almost feels like she can connect with Jupiter emotionally. Perhaps it's something about her sincerity.
But Cure Sword is still, even as she cooperates with the other magical girls present to bring down this threat, on her own as far as she's concerned. As Homura below unleashes an immense barrage of bullets, as Masque Feu declares her faith in all present, Cure Sword sets a Cure Lovead in her Lovely Commune and traces something on its face. Once again, her hand glows as she holds it out sharp and rigid like her namesake, but this is an even brighter, more brilliant light than before. This is the purifying light of the Pretty Cure, meant to tear through the darkness and cleanse the wicked. She slashes through the air, and the luminous magic glitters through the air with it, materializing in the shape of a hailstorm of blades.
"Flash!" she calls. "HOLY SWOOOOOORD!"
And so the blades descend towards Kunzite, sharp and gleaming and true. It's true, what Tuxedo Mask said; at the very least, in the most literal sense possible, Cure Sword is shining. May that light bring justice upon the wicked--for even if she knew he lost someone he loves, Cure Sword will never forgive Kunzite for being a soldier of darkness.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYVyxtoIRU
Sailor Mars's hand strikes true against the larger man, searing the demonkin with manifest judgement. It seems to stay him in his stride, but doesn't nearly stop him. Clenching her jaw and swallowing nothing at all, she's unsure of what to do. Tuxedo Mask falls, and Sailor Moon is stricken. But then she speaks...and leaps.
Rei closes her eyes, breathing deep for a moment. Everything had happened so fast tonight...one thing leading to another and again and beyond. Collecting herself as best as she can over that single breath, she glances to the other Senshim to Tuxedo Kamen and the allies that have come to join their fight, smiling quietly.
Even after all that she'd been through, leaping to the heavens seemed so utterly impossible to her. In her heart, she isn't sure that she'd be able to make it without Sailor Moon's example leading the way. Crouching down, she launches up..her hair streams all around her, her eyes narrowed and focused on joining with her princess and putting an end to this. As she climbs higher, scarlet light slips out of her body, slowly at first before enveloping her completely in a radiant column.
As surely as Usagi, she knows her sisters will be with her just as she leaps. But Kunzite had proved nearly as quick on the draw..when his treacherous blades sliced towards Usagi, Rei shuddered, and her heart seized. When Makoto swooped in without a heartbeat of hesitation to defend the princess of the Moon Kingdom, Rei sharply inhaled, and her lungs filled. Only when Sailor Jupiter turns back towards the near-youma does Sailor Mars allow any panic to escape.
Twisting her body in the air, she soars to Usagi, and takes her hand in her own. She can't waste much time, but she smiles softly to her friend, and begins to murmur words of prayer too quiet to be heard. The crimson aura carrying her to the heavens shudders and crackles with whipped up energies, and grows incandescent all around her, waiting to be joined.
Whatever happens, they'll all be there, together.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Sword has used Flash! Holy Sword on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Cure Sword has finished attacking.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mars has started a combo targeting Kunzite!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sailor Mercury is flying, she's flying, she's --
Sailor Moon is under attack. She starts to move to defend her, or to intercept it with her own attack, but it's too slow; Jupiter throws herself into the path of Kunzite's attack, and time seems to stop. The senshi -- no, Ami Mizuno -- floats there for a moment, and starts to backslide, even. For an instant, it's very hard to believe. ... but Makoto is all right, Sailor Jupiter still stands, and relief washes over Ami in waves. It's a split-second rollercoaster of feelings that stretches into eternity.
She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to make sense of all of it; for an instant, she wants to throw herself in front of her friends, in turn, as they recover. ... but that sort of passive thinking won't stop Kunzite, and she knows it; there's a need now to take action.
If it was her feelings for her mother that she brought to the battle, it's her feelings for her friends -- especially for Usagi, and for Makoto -- that she brings to the next moment. Moving toward Rei like a shot, Ami takes the hand of one of her dearest friends and holds out the other in turn to be held, waiting for yet another of her friends, starting to sparkle with bright blue light.
Her eyes close, and she says the words, clear and resonant: "Mercury Power!"
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Venus follows suit behind Mars, racing towards their princess -- all the while engulfed in a stream of yellow light. She reaches out for Sailor Moon's hand, when she comes within arm's reach and then Jupiter's. When she pulls Jupiter's hand into her own, she smiles, and gives the brunette a gentle nod of the head.
The yellow light that's surrounded her grows more brilliant as she locks hands with her friends. This isn't the end, she's sure of it; together, they're capable of anything.
"Venus Power!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Venus has joined the combo started by Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mercury has joined the combo started by Sailor Mars!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Moon Revenge - The Peach Hips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc6E9nysszo
"If that's what you want, then chase after me!" Sailor Moon cries out, as one last comment to entice Kunzite to follow her into the atmosphere, and beyond, only taking one last look at the swiftly fading form of Tuxedo Kamen, still believing her, supporting her from far away upon Earth. Her first thoughts when they arrive, are that of wonder. The endless stars, so awe-inspiring, so many. Their light not twinkling and distant, but so real and close. She feels that if she could reach out, she could grasp them, like she once had tried in a childish fancy.
She finds strength, not only in her friends, but in the others, a Silver Souer that comes so close. She nods once in determination, somehow believing now, having deep faith in their ability to do this, "I promise I will! Especially since you're with us!" She says, not even thinking that her words shouldn't carry in some cold vacuum of space, finding it instead the opposite of what she was taught in school, warm and inviting.
Kunzite is after her though, already, like a dark comet streaking through space that seems to bely her own feelings with how cold he is, like he's bringing darkness to space, and deepening it by his mere presence. He streaks towards her, before launching both blades at her back, and sparing a glance to find the presence she feels, she gasps immediately, with no time to get out of the way- An arm grabs her, "What-" And suddenly she's clasped in her arms, "Jupiter! NO!"
The final word becomes a shrill scream as Makoto Kino is struck and she's showered by droplets of floating blood in the microgravity is not inaudible like Kunzite's calm assurance to himself of the certainty of his revenge. If anything, it's more heart-rending than mere moments ago, when Tuxedo Kamen fell to his knees.
But her friend whispers to her, and it lets Sailor Moon know that she's alright. That she hasn't lost the girl who saved her that day from toughs, who shared her lunch with her, that was a pillar of strength for her even before Makoto Kino awakened as a Senshi, and a continued bastion of support afterwards, "Thank goodness." She whispers for a moment to Jupiter, before she turns at the neck, eyes hardening as she finds Kunzite hanging in space and calls out to him sharply, "Kunzite! You want revenge against me? You think that's justified!? Your Dark Kingdom has endangered all the people of Tokyo! It's harassed us constantly and hurt all the people I care about just because the Ginzuishou and I exist!"
She stares him down across the gap, and says sharply "If anything it's the Moon Kingdom that should have revenge!" It's a shocking statement, but after a few moments she says hotly, with a clenched fist, "But I don't want it! If that's my birthright and Queen Serenity's legacy then I won't have it! But-" She holds the Moon Stick out, the pink light of judgement blaring to life, flowing out of not just the Ginzuishou, but her as well to light her up like some radiant nebula, "-we /will/ stop you from hurting anyone else!"
But there is one thingshe does remember, in the last vestiges of consciousness before she became insensate, Kunzite bending over Zoisite upon the stage, making his last few moments of life beautiful, "Your love for him was so beautiful." She says so softly, but it still might reach him. It may be cruel in it's own way, but it's not intentionally malicious. Perhaps it's even envious in a way, from the perspective of someone so young, who dreams of romance.
Mars fingers join into hers, interlacing, the Miko she once thought was so pretty that she'd forgive anything she did. The passionate energy within her sister senshi wells up so heated that she cannot help but feel the call, as she joins her other hand with Jupiter, "Everyone! Together!" She looks towards Neptune, so mysterious and elegant as she floats in space, like her distant planet of oceanic depths, and offers an invitation, "Sailor Neptune! Please! With us!"
Hair floating about her as if suspended in water, she feels the beautiful energy of Venus well up, and Moon couldn't help but admire her hero even now, the might of Jupiter from the friend who had just saved her life, and the light of Mercury the first who had joined her, whose calm and intelligence she could only admire.
Only then does she cry out, "MOON PRISM POWER!" The light from the Moon Kingdom pours off of her, joining with the planetary light of the other Senshi. Maybe it can be called wrathful in it's own way. Maybe it can be called judgemental by those who feel it. But in Sailor Moon's eyes. It just is. It just exists. Power to end this cruel battle and cycle of revenge. To protect, and save everyone.
The celestial light of the five Senshi join each other, complement each other, floods off of them in radiant cascades which cause her to finally call out, "SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!" The light erupts forth, and upwards, before careening straight towards the champion of the Dark Kingdom. ...Only after it does does she finally wonder whether Neptune joined them or not.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Jupiter has joined the combo started by Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Moon has joined the combo started by Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Moon have used Sailor Planet Attack on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite narrowly braces Homura Akemi's Finisher, Bulletstorm, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kunzite's Block ability activates! Kunzite's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Masque Feu's Finisher, Crossfire Ignition, taking 92 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Cure Sword's Finisher, Flash! Holy Sword, taking 105 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Floating like this isn't escaping the enemy. The lights are coming back on in Tokyo. That's good. Kuniko breathes in. It's beautiful, it's enormous - Kuniko has no clear words for this, even if the image may inspire her later, a dream in the heart that may lead to airy and fast-moving dishes.
Jupiter gets cut. Kuniko's eyes focus there. Sailor Moon is inspiring. Sailor Jupiter is /her friend./
"Kk - Jupiter, no-- You --!!"
Beyond words, Kuniko whips up the knife she'd used to open up the harissa pepper can and hurls it downwards with a wordless scream of rage and fear. It glitters in that dream of light, flying down -
It stops scenically when Homura hits the Pause button, of course.
- and aiming, driven by her fury, to cut a piece off Kunzite. If it is never found, it lived with honor and died with passion, at least.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Thrown Knife(1 Heart) on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Kuniko Saito's Thrown Knife(1 Heart), taking 8 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Neptune did not - but she watched from afar - watched from afar as the other Senshi drew together, drew together and struck out at the others. They were a unit, with Moon at their center. And there was a beauty in that. Naive, and powerful, but beautiful.
It was worthy of protection.
Moon extends an invitation, extends a hand, and Neptune looks down at that offered hand, and then up towards its owner. Her heart twists, but her expression shows no change. Ocean waters ran deep - and the currents rarely struck the surface.
Neptune silently turns away from the offered hand, a shadow crossing her features. She would do this on her own - there was only one other she trusted to stand beside her. Two, actually.
Even if the Inners were twisting her heart. In a moment, she was calling upon the waters of the world of her birth, her eyes drifting shut as a wave crashes behind her. Another wave crashes over her, leaving her holding a glowing orb in front of herself - aimed at Kunzite. "DEEP!" she intones. "SUBMERGE!"
And it is released - a staccato note to join the thunder that the combined senshi would no doubt add.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Harsh Harsh Neptune on Kunzite.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Harsh Harsh Neptune, taking 37 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kunzite fails to dodge Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Moon's Finisher, Combo: Sailor Planet Attack, taking 831 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kunzite is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Kunzite [None] has posed.
What comes, comes as bullets from below and flame from above and sparkling swords from all other directions.
It comes as inexorably as the tide, and as spontaneously as a perfectly flung projectile floating silently in the middle of space.
It comes from the light pouring off of five girls' hearts united as one --
beautiful, powerful, transcendent radiance.
And while Kunzite can defend himself from all of these things, with some amount of ability, lunging this way and that, summoning counterblasts and sweeping his cape at just the right time...
...he cannot stop the attack he does not see.
It's blinding, the light that bursts from the girls' auras, shed from them like feathers, like delusions, like doubt.
It rejects all taints, all impurities in its path, pushing them out -- away.
That includes the twin blades in Jupiter's back.
Would he have been able to withstand the combined wrath and love of five senshi backed by all the rest? The question is ultimately academic, because even as he's disappearing beneath the sustained space assault...
...he chokes, his heart beating loudly in his ears, that final time as it is impaled by the return of his own treacherous blades, pushed back by the girls themselves.
His palms strain, fingers stretching, as he reaches out towards Sailor Moon and her court one more time... and then gives it up as a bad way to spend his last moments.
Instead he looks back downwards, towards the Earth.
"Please," he says gruffly, to any gods that will still listen to a twisted tool like he's become, warped to strange purposes, "Guide me to where his soul yet waits in limbo. Let us be together... in..."
And then he's gone, fading away just like his brothers did, becoming dust, and then nothing at all.
<Pose Tracker> Queen Beryl [None] has posed.
It is quiet on Earth, as lights are brilliant in the heavens above. As the world takes a collective sigh of relief, as life begins to return to the districts of Tokyo, Tuxedo Mask stands completely alone on a rooftop.
This is the moment that Kunzite was dispatched to create.
The shadows deepen in an instant, a swirling whorl of darkness manifesting in thin air. A rift formed of shadow so deep it shifts to shades of rich purple, singing a dirge of anguish and rage all at once. Its manifestation alone would be enough to strike fear into the hearts of many - but the figure it admits is a thousand times worse.
Clad in crimson, a darkened sphere of crystal suspended in the air before her, Queen Beryl sets foot outside the Dark Realms in person. As Tuxedo Mask turns in surprise, she waves one long-nailed hand almost negligently - and the man freezes in place, gaze bound by something peering from within that orb.
She turns her attention to the stars, for a moment - where the light of the planets shines with all its awful brilliance - and bares her teeth in a murderous grin. "Well done, Kunzite. For all your failures, your death has at least proven useful enough. The Senshi pursue you in their folly, and my prize..."
That grin turns toward Tuxedo Mask, and the joy shown there is more terrible than her anger. She reaches one hand out, claw-like nails stroking along the line of his jaw in a caress. "After all these millennia...at last, Endymion. At last you are mine, as you always were meant to be. And now that you are mine... the ultimate prize will easily follow."
Within the crystal ball, the shadows glint with crimson light - a light reflected in the eyes partially hidden by that mask. Slowly, mechanically, the man turns to the rift. Like a wound-up toy soldier, he marches into oblivion.
Before following, Beryl turns her gaze to the skies above once more - to the heavens, where the last of her generals draws his final breath. Claw-like nails play along the surface of the hovering crystal ball for a moment, and she laughs once - an expression of mirth that causes cats blocks away to flee in terror. Her voice amplifies, gleefully audible despite the thousands of miles that separate them. "You may cling to your precious crystal another day, Serenity - but the treasure you cherished more than your kingdom now belongs to me."
The night is deeper, fears accentuated, animals howling in anguish, flowers withering. Beryl is cackling, even as she returns to the Dark Kingdom, victorious.
