2015-11-21 - The Beast Without 2

Title: The Beast Without 2
Summary: The monster that attacked the plane to Okinawa returns to harass its apparent prey, an elementary schooler named Mina Kuroske. After they drive it off, magical girls listen to the wisdom of a local shrine maiden.
Who: Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe, Fuu Hououji, Takeo Akamizu, Hikaru Shidou, Kuniko Saito, Sachiko Majime, Nagihiko Fujisaki, Usagi Tsukino, Chitose Shiratori GM: Madoka Kaname
Where: Naminoue Shrine, Naha, Okinawa
OOC - IC Date: 11-21-2015 - 09-09-2014

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Naha, capital of Okinawa (both island and Prefecture), has a population under four hundred thousand people -- a tiny drop in the bucket compared to Tokyo's wide ocean of humanity. Despite that, there are similarities; malls, offices, banks. Kokusai-dori, or International Avenue, is a massive strip of eateries and stores, a long and fun place to be. There are huge, open-air markets that sell everything from fresh fish to local liquor; there are train stations -- well, it is Japan -- and museums and parks.

So much of this is new, but some is very old indeed. The waves, for example, have been washing away marks on the sand longer than there have been footprints. And above them, white sand and blue sea, there are other old places, like a high bluff covered in trees and vines.

And at its top: a shrine, built at least seven hundred years ago, and maybe a whole lot longer. Red pillars and white tiles; offering boxes and fortunes; it is both like and unlike Tokyo shrines, because it is a Shinto shrine, the chief shrine of the archipelago even, but it's also something else.

Something older.

Not a Buddhist Temple -- not anymore, and not originally, either. It is utaki, a sacred space of the local and ancient Ryukuan religion. Footsteps echo softly here, and visions occlude the sun and moon when looked at at odd angles. The heartbeat of the world feels close, the cosmos spinning on their axis.

The Sister School students (including a particularly large elementary contingent) are swarming Naminoue Shrine, but most of them are listening to a shrine maiden speak about the past.

"It was dedicated to nirai kanai, the mythical source of all life, the kingdom of creation... and to the sea. And though it is dedicated to other gods and kings, though it has been purged by fire again and again, and rebuilt anew, I think the connection to the ocean is still at its core."

She cups a hand to her ear.

"Listen -- you can hear a distant roar. It isn't our sea," her free hand gestures behind her at the local ocean, "But something further, someplace deeper. The beginning of everything... it remembers this place. And it can see you."

Amongst the many children gathered at the miko's feet, one of them, Mina Koruske, raises one of her hands. The other is clutching at some kind of pendant around her neck, fingers teasing the chain. "U-um, excuse me? Do you mean nirai kanai itself? Or someone who still lives there?"

"That's a very good question," says the miko, right before the very air is shattered by a murderous shriek. Soaring out of the sky is the four-winged (two feathered, two bat), two-armed (like a furry person with jeweled scales), two-taloned (like a raptor), eight-eyed (like a spider), massive-mawed (like a dragon) vermillion beast -- with that rather unique set of limbs it is unmistakably the one who attacked an airplane filled with elementary schoolers on their way to Okinawa. Unless there's more than one, which is a kind of awful thought.

Kids scream and scatter.

But the shrine cannot move. It waits for what comes next like the axis upon which the world turns. Destruction? It has been rebuilt before. Salvation? Perhaps.

But what does it mean to save the sea?

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Homura Akemi actually likes Okinawa.

She has, of course, vanished the entire trip. Her roommates scarcely see her; she usually isn't there at lights out, only to inevitably be one of the first to arrive. Some rumors have started, of course. Where does the mysterious transfer student go? What is she doing? People whisper that she is meeting someone; vague implications of a forbidden romance, perhaps, or maybe someone from her background.

The truth may be more boring.

Today, she is here on the school trip. She stands towards the back, regarding the temple with the same cool and dispassionate stare that she seems to regard everything with. The shrine maiden is speaking; she is only vaguely listening.

The way she wrinkles her nose, her eyes narrowing at the words 'rebuilt anew' and promise of destruction, may be of no importance.

Then a shriel splits the sky; the monster that drops down prompts Homura's eyes to widen. Dust rolls out when the two-armed, four-winged beast comes down. It obscures her briefly; when it passes, the Puella Magi stands there, having drawn a pistol.

The round pops out of the chamber.

The bullet, somehow, has already been fired; the shot goes flying for the base of one of the bat-like wings, ahead of every other attack. Homura draws in a tight breath.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi transforms into Puella Magi Homura!

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Impossible Aim on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Impossible Aim, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Fade ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Flash ability activates!

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

Obviously ordinary high-schooler Mami Tomoe finds that it's nice to get out and travel. Though for the most part she's let herself remain cool and aloof, preoccupied as always by Important Business...

Well, this place is so lovely. The white sand, the blue sea, the vibrant colors... The shrine, above.

There's a peace to this place that Mami can't quite identify, but it's soothing. ...And she's listening, too, quite attentively, to the explanation.

The beginning of everything, is it..?

Mami wonders what it might think, if indeed it can see her. ...What it would conclude about /her/.

Her introspection is cut short; she blinks, briefly certain she has her answer, looking up to see that she's wrong--the gigantic creature attacking now is loud, /demands/ attenetion...

It all seems a little surreal, out here, to Mami. She narrows her eyes up at the many-limbed monster. "...Don't worry," she murmurs, not loudly enough to be heard by the scattering children, and steps behind one of the walls.

Her soul gem is already to hand when she reaches relative privacy; she spins into the transformation as if beginning a dance, and golden line shines from her as she assumes her battle attire.

Bending at the knee, Mami propels herself upward, leaping and somersaulting up to the top of the shrine. ...Homura's isn't the only bullet to fire.

Even before she's landed, Mami spreads out her hand, and a ring of muskets spring into their shining existence, all firing at once with the report of a squadron's worth of bullets.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe transforms into Puella Mami!

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!

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

Two years or so ago, Fuu Hououji's interest in religion was mostly a combination of tradition and fantasy. She's learned to take matters of faith considerably more seriously since then, and she's actually taking a few notes from the miko's narratives ....

Up until a monster which is far too nightmarishly familiar erupts out of the sky. And the 'nightmarish' part is not entirely metaphor; Fuu had a nightmare about that monster the first night in an Okinawan hotel, and had to make up a story to explain it to her sleep-interrupted roommates. The general consensus, fortunately, was that airline food sucks and unfamiliar beds aren't much better, and everyone went back to sleep ... eventually.

Here and now, though, Fuu wonders if it was a premonition that they weren't done with that monster. She runs with a group of children, trying to herd them in a safer and more productive direction, and when she 'trips,' she calls out for them to keep running.

She didn't actually trip by accident, though. Once the shrine grounds are clear, Fuu comes back up, straightening her (newly-replaced) glasses and pulling her glove-jewel on. "Belief becomes power ... Winds, guide me!"

One localized whirlwind later, the Magic Knight of Wind turns her attention to the sky. Her binding spell wasn't all that effective against this monster the first time, but since she's not focusing on staying balanced on an airborne jet this time, she can turn her attention more fully to making the spell work.

"WINDS OF ADMONISHMENT!!!"

And she does exactly that, trying to bind the airborne monster in a cage of powerful winds - trying to hem it in rather the same way as she'd try to contain a cloud of poisonous fumes, really.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Magic Knight!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Takeo had been listening to the Shrine Maiden, having been punished for his usual level of shenanignas, and as such was stuck with a group of kids to watch over. He stood there half listening, half sleeping while standing to the Shrine Maiden when the roar happens.

"oh." He says simply. "Oh snap crackers."

Takeo's head whips to the sound and his eyes narrow. The Dragon was back. He reaches for the pendant and looks to the kids. He has to see them get to safety. Which is of course when they scatter. "Um. Okay. Hide and be safe!" He calls after. "Yeah. I am so getting detentionf or the rest of the year...." He hangs his head and sighs.

But that is in the future. This is now, and there was a Shrine with possible connections to the ocean to save! He rips the Pendent from his neck and holds it high as he calls out: "I SWEAR TO PROTECT - " There is a slight tug on his pants leg. Takeo looks down to see a kid there scared and frightened. "Oh snap crackers."

Takeo rips a strip form his shirt and ties it around the kid's eyes. "Okay. No matter WHAT you see, don't take that off."

The Kid nods.

Instead of calling to the heavens he whispers: "I swear to protect the innocent." Lightning arcs down from the heavens and strike him, Each strike creating a piece of his armor. He holds out a hand and catches a bolt of lightning that transforms into Arondight, Evil's bane! He gives the blade a flourish and nods as Sparkles appears in a bolt of lightning.

The Horse's eyes go wide at the site of the kid.

Who took off the make shift blind fold and is grinning happily.

Lancelot pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'll buy you all the Ice Cream you could ever want for the rest of the trip if you don't say a word."

"Croth my Heart Mithter!" The little boy says, the lisp created from his missing tooth more pronounced because of the excitement. Lancelot sighs and shoos the kid to a corner to take refuge and hide.

Then he turns to the dragon and hops on Sparkle's back. "It's your bed time Vermillion!" He clals out, "Because it's Knight time!" Sparkles stops mid gallop toward the Dragon and looks at him. "Oh come on! That was good." She rolls her eyes and takes off again, leaping off a ledge toward the Dragon, and allowing Lancelot to strike at the creature!

COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu transforms into Lancelot!

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Reverse ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Tactician ability activates! Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Red Rain, partially gets through, doing 32 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito transforms into Poissonnier Kuniko!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Religion isn't something that is big on Hikaru Shidou's plate either. She was just here because... well, just because! Or a reasonable facsimile thereof, perhaps?

Regardless, she'd been keeping to herself mostly, just being idle and paying little heed to what was going on around her until the monster appeared, and she watched as Fuu-chan herded the children to safety. She decided to do the same, albeit getting them off in a different direction. Once she's gotten them running, Hikaru makes sure they keep running before taking out her glove-jewel and slipping it on quickly. "Belief becomes power ... Flames guide me!"

The flames envelop Hikaru, giving her cover as she goes from being a normal schoolgirl to the Magic Knight of Fire! Her simple schoolgirl form is replaced with that of a brave, powerful magical knight! And she's eager to take out this dragon!

"So it looks like we're gonna have to do a little dragon slaying, hmm?" The Fire Knight asks with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I guess if that's what it takes, then that's what we have to do!" Hikaru rushes at the dragon and uses the magic of fire to boost herself into the air as she attempts to slash at the dragon with her sword. As she gets closer, she recognizes it as the monster from before, and she scowls. "So you haven't learned, have you? Well maybe THIS time you will learn!" She slashes with her sword hard.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou transforms into Magic Knight of Fire!

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Sword Slash on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Hikaru Shidou's Sword Slash, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Kuniko Saito has been enjoying her relative surfeit of free time here, even if she's been unable to get much shopping down after blowing the great preponderance of her food cart earnings from the summer on candy for the children. At least it probably means she's a folk heroine now.

She has her arms folded as she listens to the talk. Nirai Kanai, she thinks. The life - the ocean. Yes, she thinks, the ocean is the source of all life... even if at times the balance has shifted to the land, and the land's wealth is not to be denied, the sea is the origin. The sea is the key!

And then, a screaming red beast falls out of the air. Kuniko recoils with surprise, and then as the children flee and scatter, with a dawning anger. Perhaps it is arrogance, perhaps it is interruption... or perhaps it is the righteousness of a heart that burns hot with the transforming heat of passion!!

SOON ENOUGH: "So, you dare to come back, huh? Did you not have enough of your fill of making children terrified?"

Poissonnier Kuniko steps forwards, arms spread out. Something fragrant wafts in the air near her. "This shrine... is holy to the sea. To the origin of life, predating gods and kings. The sea is holy to the stomachs of children and adults alike, and in the name of peace and security, I'M GONNA MESS YOU UP!"

Kuniko snatches something off her hidden grill, biting into browned cheese as a cheating against the doubtless disrupted lunch schedule. Ripping it off, the traces remaining sizzle and sparkle, rich in protein and soul alike. That skewer is twisted around and hurled towards one of those spidery eyes!

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Halloumi Cheese on Skewers on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sachiko Majime [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Sachiko Majime held the gawdy, egg-like orange gem in her hand up to the sky. Did it look darker since this trip began? Nah, it must be just her imagination or bad lighting. Whatever, she would worry about that later after this boring shrine visit was over. Walking around with the palms of her hands folded on the back of her head, Sachiko looked not very excited to be there, but pretty comfortable. Maybe she could sneak away to the city proper. There was all sorts of trouble to get herself into there and the very idea of what adventures she could have there brings a dark smile to Sachi's face. She lowers her gem-holding hand down and quickly scans her immediately surroundings. Now was as good as a time as ever to start her escape when suddenly some screams fill the air. There was no need this day for Sachiko to find trouble as trouble had apparently already found her.

Sachi grins from ear to ear as she begins clutching her precious gem even tighter. Showtime! No longer does Sachiko Majime stand after a bright light had enveloped her. Puella Magi Sachiko now stood there with one leg up on a nearby rock and her oversized axe resting on the opposite shoulder. She easily lifts her mighty weapon off her shoulder and points it straight at the dragon...bird....thing. "Hey bird-brain! Let me -axe- you a question! Do you feel lucky...HEY!" Sachiko's puns and one-liners are interrupted when several other magic girls and even a magic boy go on the offensive before she could even finish her awesome opening statement. "No fair!" She bemoans as the others quickly appear to be stealing the limelight.

The orange and black Puella Magi can only grumble to herself as she takes a quick crow-hop, winds up, and HURLS her giant axe throught the air at the flying monster. "Take that!" yells the blonde-haired axe-thrower.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime transforms into Puella Magi Sachiko!
COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has used An Axe to Grind on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly counters Kuniko Saito's Halloumi Cheese on Skewers, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Madoka Kaname's Reverse ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Carmine Claws, bursts all the way through, doing 38 Fatigue damage to Kuniko Saito!

<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.

Nagihiko Fujisaki is a boy with a number of competing impulses - a modernist streak that seeks a break from the traditionalism that raised him, but a love for the classics that ignites his core whatever his adolescent identity crises might have to say on the matter. Today, he has supported the latter; he's here with the rest of the elementary students, in his full Guardian regalia, including checkered blue cape. But the kids are well-enough behaved that he's able to listen to the miko speak. He smiles, passive but calmed by the rich honesty of a miko who holds fervently to her own beliefs. There's a passion there that Nagi finds compelling - empowering, even.

Which is good, because a horrible shriek rents the air, and Nagi's eyes snap wide. He less steps than leaps back, landing hard on his school shoes and letting his eyes track up to the beast. He looks behind him, to a handful of scattering kids, and then left, to where he can see Tadase. "Tadase-kun!" he calls to the King's Chair. "Find the others, gather the children, do what you can to get them to safety! Rhythm and I will do what we can here!"

On cue, Rhythm, Nagi's soft-ball sized guardian fairy, floats up behind Nagi, a big, easy grin on his face. "I heard that! Let's go, Nagi!" "Right! Unlock my heart!"

The Guardians have never bothered to hide before transforming, and there's no exception this time; with nothing more than those words, Nagi and Rhythm are eclipsed in a dazzling shower of scattering starlight, and when it passes, Beat Jumper is there in his laced-up boots ad loose-fit shorts, the wing emblem on his beanie matched by the pair of wings on his sporty boots. He takes half a second to spot who all's showing up - it's still a little strange, to think of immediately joining a battle this way after so long stuck on the sides.

And then he slams one foot down and a ball of shimmering blue magic forms in his hands. "Have we seen this thing before!?" he calls, because some people seem familiar with this atrocity of visual design, and punctuates it with pitching the ball up at the beast.

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki transforms into Beat Jumper!

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Downtown Beat on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sachiko Majime's An Axe to Grind, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Sachiko Majime is Psyched!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname perfectly dodges Nagihiko Fujisaki's Downtown Beat, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Madoka Kaname's Fade ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Flash ability activates!

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

With one hand, she set an object to spinning, letting the light of the sun refract off of it in shimmering azure hues. It was only out for a moment before she cupped it inside her other hand, peering within to catch its faint glow, even in shade.

Stopping it's spinning with the same palm, she looped it over her hand, making happy humming noises as she put the intended gift for a certain someone back into her purse. Leave it to Usagi to not pay attention to a lecture she ought to be, instead caught within her own little joyous world that she'd woven for herself.

With a dreamy look on her expression, she catches only the barest hints of the lecture in question. Until her eyes droop and she's daydreaming, standing up. "Well of course you can all have my autograph~ Anything for my adoring f-"

It's only the murderous shriek that snaps her out of it instantly, with all the punctuation of a pin popping a bubble. Looking around frantically for the source, she puts her hands out, trying for once to be the responsible senpai in the crowd. "Aaaaaa everyone calm down! Noone-" She catches a glimpse of the beast's ugly maw and suddenly her scream is joining the kids as Usagi points at it, "-PANIIIICCCC!" Which unfortunately feeds into just what she was telling them not to.

Despite her scream however, her mind is already working and whirling about as it recognizes that yes this is the same beast that attacked the plane full of kids. ... And it's appears to be attacking the children again. Suddenly her hand clenches into a fist in determination, as her whole self grows calm.

Threading through a crowd of screaming children trying to evacuate is a chore, but fortunately she's heading 'towards' the creature which eventually thins it out enough that she can duck behind stonework with a hand to the Crystal Star and cry out...

"Moon Crystal Power - Make Up!"

Not long after, "Hold it right there monster!" The outline of a girl is silhouetted by the backdrop of the sun. "I believe the children are the future! Attacking them and making us worry about who will care about us when we're old is a serious crime!" She turns and points one hand over the other at it, "In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

But already Homura and Mami are shooting, gunshots loud enough that she initially recoils as if worried maybe that one of Homura's bullets was going to be aimed at her! "That was fast!" And then quieter as she looks at Homura. "Maybe a little too fast." She gives the girl in an orange, as well as the teenage knight sympathetic looks in turn, "Well I thought they were really good lines!" From pointing, to offering a thumbs up and a wink at them both.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon!

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose has also come along on the trip to the shrine. It's yet another trip that Chitose is less than enthusiastic about, arranged by someone not herself. Not to say that she's out here against her will, but if it was up to her she'd still be inside. She stands in the back of the group, with her back facing the Miko. Chitose is incredibly rude, though in her defense she's watching out for childrens making a run for it. Besides, she's totally heard this story before. Or has she? Something like it, anyway. Or maybe not. To say Chitose's not paying attention is a complete lie, but she's only giving the story the barest of attentions.

Of course, the being that provoked her to come out here is eating the tale up, resting in his usual spot on the back of Chitose's head. <What a wonderful story. Do you think it has basis in reality?>

"Ah, I'm not sure, actu--"

This is when they hear the earth-shattering roar. Chitose looks up and around for the sound's target. "What was that?"

<Not good, whatever that is.>

"Right." Chitose slowly but casually wanders over behind a building, and takes White Omen off her head. A flash of light later, and suddenly a hairclip is a rod and Chitose is significantly more dressed for the occasion. She steps back out and levels her Device at the monster... only to finally recognize it. Her grip lowers slightly. "What? Again?!"

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Cripple and Diversion applied to Madoka Kaname!

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Kids are instructed to flee, to hide, and generally follow this instruction. There is an exception, though, and it's the little girl holding the necklace, the one who asked the good question, the one who got to see the first fight from her wingside window -- Mina, of course.

Golden light is boiling from between her fingers, blasting her neatly plaited pigtails back, behind her head. Her bangs fly featherily upwards, recoiling from the power there. She looks as surprised as anyone to see it, her eyes tearing up reflexively to protect themselves from instant blinding.

And the Beast, well, she turns on a wingtip to avoid Homura's bullet, flaps one of the feathered wings in the way of Mami's -- which knock a bunch of razored feathers free, and people who fought this one on the plane know what /that/ means, it means seemingly sentient bladed feathers coming independently after people like cheesed-off crimson missiles. Here they come, at both Puella Magi...

The Knights strike roughly simultaneously, and Fuu's winds are the big winner in terms of getting the creature's attention. She doesn't want to be bound by any means, that's for sure, and huffs and puffs and explodes some of that really, truly awful red energy through the cyclone. This does slow her down, though, allowing Lancelot and Sparkles to score a ride-by slash on the other feathered wing (here come the angry razorblades) and Hikaru to flame-boost herself right into her face. The Vermillion Beast takes that sword to the teeth, and then -- ptoo -- spits more of that awful energy right back at the other Magic Knight.

Kuniko's skewers go straight for the eyes, for the eyes, and the Beast acts immediately to defend them, red slits that they are; she reaches up with one of her jewel-scaly talons to snatch them out of the air. Those talons are immense, big enough and fast enough to scratch across the chef in the same swipe!

To add insult (or maybe compliment) to injury, the beast chucks the skewers into her mouth once they're no longer a threat, and munches the cheese contentedly. Or maybe she can't really taste it. It's a big mouth, and that was a very small bite. And the chef is flying towards that gaping maw as well--! At least it's easy to feed that close up...

In this moment of distraction, Sachiko's axe goes right across its face, opening an immense gout of... flame? Yes, she does seem to be bleeding fire, as red as the rest of her, demonic in its flickers and flashes, hiding her eyes in the shadows. With a shriek of anger, the Beast carves downward with her other talon, trying to catch this second offender as well!

Furling her wings, she plunges past Beat Jumper's energy ball and towards the courtyard. She can't avoid Sailor Moon's words, and, in fact, responds -- much as she spoke at the very, very conclusion of the last battle. It's the same word, even.

<< MINE. >>

More razor-feathers explode in all directions -- towards Nagi and Usagi and Chitose -- and Mina, Mina who the beast is diving towards at glass-shattering speed, that golden light spilling from her hands like a beacon.

OOC: Whoever wants to rescue Mina this turn will be eating an extra attack, please claim it by asking in +ooc!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Homura Akemi.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Gules GAPING MAW on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Scarlet Slash on Sachiko Majime.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Maroon Mayhem on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's Gules GAPING MAW, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito's Block ability activates! Kuniko Saito's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Tangle applied to Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Fade ability activates! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates! Tangle applied to Nagihiko Fujisaki!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Chitose Shiratori's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to brace Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 19 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates! Tangle applied to Lancelot!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Collateral Damage on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's Collateral Damage, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's Maroon Mayhem, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi's Reverse ability activates! Homura Akemi's Tactician ability activates! Tangle applied to Homura Akemi!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Flashstep, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 15 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sachiko Majime fails to dodge Madoka Kaname's Scarlet Slash, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Homura watches the attacks soar in. She catches one of the last: a giant axe. She tracks it in reverse, back to the girl that threw it. Her eyes narrow at the orange Puella Magi, and she hesitates for a moment. The violet Puella Magi does a few mental calculations.

She does this while flying through the air, rotating backward. The seemingly sentient, razor-sharp feathers come swinging and slashing in at her -- and at Mami, but Homura has her hands full and would never admit to caring -- until they freeze. Everything around her and, indeed, the entire world freezes and turns to grey as time stops.

She ducks backward, three of the feathers so close they almost touch her, and turns to throw a bomb high into the air. The pipe bomb shoots up, beginning its arc, before it freezes too.

Homura lands next to Sachiko, then, and just a little behind her. Her hand slides across her silvery shield and she clicks the outer layer back into place. Time resumes and Homura speaks, seemingly abruptly behind the other girl.

"Sachiko Majime."

Homura lands not too far from the girl. Nevermind that she hasn't met her to date (at least, in this timeline); she uses her full name and turns to look right at her, her eyes narrowing for a moment. She stays quiet a moment, her eyes turning to regard the axe she threw... and the monster bleeding fire from that wound. Then, she looks back at her. Homura's fingers lift, then flick out her hair quickly.

"You're wasting your time and your energy in a fight like this," the black-haired girl says coldly. Her eyes narrow a fraction. "You should leave. While you still can."

Then, the pipe bomb she dropped comes down at the monster from above. It explodes, fire and shrapnel raining down onto it.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Homemade Bomb on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

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

...Knight time.

Mami lets herself lift an eyebrow over at Takeo, but she shakes her head with a small smile. It's enough to give her a boost, like the first kick off the pedal when beginning a bike ride, even as she watches Homura nearby. Homura, and...

"...I can't say we've met before," Mami says, projecting her voice without appearing to yell or even show much concern at Sachiko. "That surprises me."

She looks to others she recognizes, to Sailor Moon in particular, talking about...

Well, about being old.

There's no time to think about it; Mami instead has to whirl upward, kicking against a wall to evade the feathers taht so quickly seem to come after her... With limited results; she can't really predict their maneuvers, so they slice along one of her legs, slowing her down.

...So it's out of spite that she speaks up, after Homura, "Some of us aren't only concerned with ourselves, Akemi. ...I notice you're not going anywhere, either."

She snaps her fingers, and tries another tactic--hands free, she conjures up ribbon from all sides, brilliant red like giftwrap seeking to bind and slow her opponent.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Legare on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

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

Holding his sword before him, Lancelot barely manages to deflect the attack coming at him. Lart of the defelcted strike slicing a neat line along his left cheek. He then spies the feathered attack going to Mina and urges Sparkles on. "HEY! KID! LOOK OUT!"

Sparkles and Lancelot gallop toward Mina, and he leans over grab the girl by the waist, and hauling her to the Horse's back. Then he winces noticing that can't dodge. Covering the girl with his armored frame he takes the hit and is thrown from the back of Sparkles with the girl wrapped safely in his arms.

The Knight hits the ground, skidding on his armored back from the force of the impact and then pushes himself as he's still sliding beofre his back slams into a wall of the temple. He falls to one knee and smiles to Mina. "Heya." He says easily. "Get on the Pony and get out of here." He nods once to Sparkles who trots over and kneels down to let Mina on. :Get her out of here!"

Lancelot then sprints toward the dragon, flourishing Arondight as he goes and pointing the white blade at the dragon. Lightning leaps from the blade toward the Dragon in crackling arcs.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning III on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.

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

The Crimson Calamity's initial counterattack blows the Wind Knight right off her feet, slamming her into a pillar; by the time she can regain her breath and her bearings, the feathers are closing in from all around her, and the best she can do is weaving a quick and dirty barrier around herself to try and ward them off. By the time the feathers have stopped being an immediate threat, the Wind Knight is substantially the worse for wear.

But she's still on her feet ... which surprises her a little bit, given how hard she got hit the first time around. Rather than questioning her luck, though, she shakes her head to clear it and materializes her bow and quiver. She's *pretty* sure the beast (or spirit) has been slowed down a little. Maybe.

She also takes note of the golden light spilling from between one young girl's hands, but she doesn't have time to get across the courtyard to shelter little Mina. Instead, she nocks an arrow to her bowstring and takes aim, gauging the monster's flight - spirit's, whatever - and tlaunching an arrow to intercept it, trying to drive the arrow into one of the creature's myriad eyes. Even if it'll take at least eight attacks to blind it, taking even ONE eye out of the equation is going to draw that monster's attention.

Which is exactly what she's trying to do, in fact.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Trick Arrow Shot on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

Lera Camry enters Japan.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Homura Akemi's Homemade Bomb, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Mami Tomoe's Legare, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Reverse ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Tactician ability activates! Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Red Rain, partially gets through, doing 29 Fatigue damage to Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Lancelot's Lightning III, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Fade ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Trick Arrow Shot, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The energy is awful and it doesn't feel good. That's why the Fire Knight tries to get out of the way, but doesn't quite succeed. So she finds herself taking a bit of extra damage instead of avoiding it completely. Nevertheless, as she lands on the ground again, she's still got the burning desire to continue fighting. "You were lucky that time! This time, I'm really gonna make you suffer!" She intones a spell of fire, forming an arrow above her head, then shoots it at the monster.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Another moment passes for Chitose before her Device speaks. <Let's go!>

Chitose jumps ups and takes flight, zooming towards the bird beast thing with more limbs than may be necessary. Rod turns into Crossbow again, just as feathers start flying at Chitose. She ducks, she weaves, and maybe fits in an aileron roll or two.

This maneuvering works for the most part, but Chitose can't avoid all of the feathers, some of them finding a home or two. "Ack!" She stops flying soon after that, swinging White Omen to point directly at the beast, and the Device fires a few bolts at it.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has used Light Bolt on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Fade ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Chitose Shiratori's Light Bolt, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sachiko Majime [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Sachiko continues grinning as she watches the trajectory of her thrown axe. She knew she had put some heat on it, but for the winged creature to bleed -fire- was something else! Well, it also was a little gross. And then a second unexpected thing happens when Homura Akemi appears directly next to her which causes Sachi to hop backwards defensively. At this close distance, she can finally get a good look at the other girl. She looked incredibly familiar, but Sachiko can't quite put it all together in connecting that this was the same Homura Akemi was Ohtori. But any look of surprise is replace by one of pure anger when she gets -lectured- by the other girl whom was totally not looking at the big (Homura set) explosion going on behind her. "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?!" Sachiko's axe comes rebounding back and the Puella Magi catches it effortlessly with her off hand. "Everytime I fight, I grow stronger. I learn more about what I can do, about what limits I can push! Don't you know that practice makes perfect?!"

Mami's words and quasi-introduction causes angry Sachi to snap her attention up towards her. Wait a minute? Was she actually backing her up? "Umm. Yeah, well. I'm the mighty Sachiko Majime and I'm full of surprises!" She barks to Mami before proudly posing with her axe in hand. Wait did she just say Akemi?! But it is exactly at this moment that a distracted Sachiko is caught by an actual surprise via the bird-dragon's swift counter attack. Panicing at the last moment, Sachiko attempts to jump to safety, but ends up directly in the Beast's flight path. ZRRRRK.

All Sachiko can feel at first is her sudden and violent change in velocity as her body is slammed down into the ground by her foe's brutal slash. She craters into the ground hard and actually remains there for a moment, stunned at how quickly things went bad. The battered Puella Magi knew not to look down at herself, it was too early for that. It was only the first inning....too...too early for a relief to be sent in. Using her axe to push herself up, a wobbly Sachiko brushes herself off and angrily slams her axe into the ground. "So, you fight dirty bird-brain? Fine by me." Sachiko hurls her axe into the air once more, but this time it soars high above where the Beast was located. The wounded softball star jumps into the air after her axe and grabs it again mid-air. Using this gained momentum, she plummets back down and attempts to bring her axe down hard against the bird-dragon's maw.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has used Swing for the Fences on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sachiko Majime's Swing for the Fences, taking 51 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.

Nagi's eyes widen a fraction. "That thing's fast...!" he breathes, surprised.

But in addition to dodging the blast, she's coming right at him, and Nagi's already preparing for a long hop back. ("Mine?" he stops to wonder aloud.)

The wave of feathers, then, he is prepared to deal with; throwing himself back a good few longjumps worth, and then slamming his feet into the ground, while razor feathers tear up concrete and earth in long furrows up to mere inches short of his toes. There's a high whining noise from his shoes, and then Nagi springs into the air, bounding over the beast's arc of passage and coming down for a landing a dizzying few seconds later.

Which he does right near Mami, whom he greets with a cheerful two-fingered salute. "Yo! Do we have anything on this thing? It's mean and fast!" And wants something, maybe? He's not sure on that one.

Regardless, he forms another ball in his hands, setting his stance for a hard throw, and hollering: "BLAZE SHOOT!" as he releases, a bolt of light the size of a basketball careening to blast into the Vermillion Beast's hide.

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

Feathers spill down like rain, and Sailor Moon is caught within the storm. Still she tries, with a hop, and a turn so smooth in mid-air one might swear she's gliding. Until one feather cuts past her Fuku, then another so forcefully that it spins her around in mid-air. With a cry of pain, she's knocked back down to the ground. And while tears may glitter in her eyes, as she rolls back upright, she's still in this fight.

It doesn't escape her notice, how it called out... "You're acting just as selfishly as those crabs!" Her eyes follow towards the little first grader, golden light spilling out of her hands. Yet she doesn't know what to make of it, except that the child is in danger.

Fortunately Lancelot is there before she can even call out in warning, saving her from an untimely demise. She takes a breath, then calls out, "I think it wants something she has. Everyone we absolutely have to protect her!" Her eyes lock with Mami when she looks her way, "Mami-chan! Do you think you can get it to back off? Maybe with everyone here we can keep it away from her!"

But then what Homura is saying to the girl in orange, and she's calling out indignantly, an edge of righteous anger to it, "Oh so it's a waste of time to protect these kids Akemi?! Just like it was with that girl on the beach?" And then it's called out to Sachiko, "That's right! You shouldn't even pay attention to her! We should just keep doing-"

Placing both hands to the Crystal Star in the center of the bow on her chest, light pinwheels out of it, before she turns, spreading both her arms outwards, extending the Cutie Moon Rod towards the creature, "-what we're supposed to do! Moon Sparkling-" Dozens of rays of silvery pink light spill out of it, before rocketing towards the beast with her own version of a rebuke, "-Sensation!"

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Blaze Shoot on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Heh," Kuniko says as Sachiko drops her line. She seems amused.

Then she finds herself suddenly the carved instead of the carver, the huge slash of those snapping talons hitting her across the chest. She staggers for a moment, staring in astonishment at the sheer speed of the creature. Wait, it's looming before her - she's being drawn in -

Her feet smash out, kicking off the creature's lower lip. Teeth. She can't even tell. It's enough for her to recoil and tuck her legs in so that now if the monster wants to devour, it has to be all or nothing. Then the creature says - MINE.

Kuniko can't compose her thoughts together into words. She's faced with a beast of surpassing hunger, surpassing strength, and surpassing redness. Red, she thinks - and the train skips back down that pathway into her spice rack, where she reaches over and uncaps a jar, digging two fingers into the precious paste and warming it in the palm of her hand, willing the Terroir in the delectable tunisian product to present itself.

But... this spice... it isn't enough. She has to do more. Something truly, profoundly RED. This drives her - a pita is torn asunder. She pours some red salsa she had put together last night in the vague assumption that at some point taco rice would be on the menu - then comes the rice itself. The harissa pepper is added now and then concealed beneath shredded red cabbage and a top twisting of shallots, which had already been sliced.

A surprisingly vegan and shockingly spicy treat. Kuniko toasts momentarily over the salamander and then informs the creature, "This is yours, sure." She lobs it overhand.

Even to the most hardened of spicy-food maniacs, the initial bite would have overtones of Too Spicy. It's a meal you would only eat if you wanted to sweat out a kilogram.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Sparkling Sensation on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used The Ol' Spicy Keychain on Madoka Kaname.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Nagihiko Fujisaki's Blaze Shoot, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Nagihiko Fujisaki is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sailor Moon's Moon Sparkling Sensation, taking 34 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Kuniko Saito's The Ol' Spicy Keychain, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Homura's bomb goes off just above the Beast at the same time that Lance is spiriting her target out of the way, and with an immense CRASH! she lands on the ground, shielding herself with those bat wings, which emerge unburnt and mostly unscratched from the shrapnel.

But a more pointed observation to make about this situation might be that the Vermillion Beast really doesn't seem to like attempts to pin her down. Once again someone tries -- this time Mami Tomoe and her ribbons -- and once again she inhales and vaporizes the incoming binding and then some, red energy pouring across the Puella Magi in a torrent of deadly agony.

Losing an eye to Fuu, in comparison, seems to be less of a priority for her, since the arrow punctures her head with a sickening splurtch and does indeed take an eye with it. The projectile immediately catches fire, of course, tears of flame dripping down her head as well to spatter the ground below. Even with her /on/ the ground, there is plenty of below; the Beast is half the size of a commercial airliner.

Remarkably fast for her size, though.

She leaps bodily out of the way of Lancelot's returning slash, which also takes her over Hikaru's Fire Arrow, which singes her underbelly as it goes past. A few of Chitose's white bolts enter her arm, but it's not her /throat/ like last time, and with a flex of a massive, furred bicep, the bolts pop back out again. Beat Jumper's energetic basketball rebounds off of a well-angled wing, leaving a small dent but nothing to write home about.

The Vermillion Beast is not, however, fast enough to dodge attacks in all directions at once; Sachiko and her axe open up another huge, burning gash on her head, while Sailor Moon's sparkling attack sends a massively stinging sensation at one side. And Kuniko bravely faces the beast at point blank range, sending a burn of epic proportions down her gullet.

She gulps.

There's a horrible gurgling sound.

And then there is flame, terrible flame, flame enough to burn the whole shrine down if it isn't contained...

Flame enough to burn Mina, who hasn't gotten on the magical pony at all. "NO!" she screams, when she sees the fire with the potential to engulf everything. "NOT THE, NOT THE SHRINE! I-I'M THE ONE YOU WANT!"

And then she pelts down the path towards the beach, her hands still barely containing that terrible golden radiance.

OOC: Whoever wants to creatively use their powers to put out the more area-of-effect problem of the fire before it can destroy the shrine (and eat an extra attack), please claim it!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Kuniko Saito.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Sachiko Majime.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used The Fire Within on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade ability activates! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Collateral Damage on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's Collateral Damage, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Reverse ability activates! Homura Akemi's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Flashstep, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Chitose Shiratori's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Kuniko Saito's Block ability activates! Kuniko Saito's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 10 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, partially gets through, doing 27 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!
COMBAT: Sachiko Majime perfectly dodges Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Sachiko Majime's Fade ability activates! Sachiko Majime's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki perfectly counters Madoka Kaname's The Fire Within, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki's counterattack, Blaze Pass, bursts all the way through, doing 28 Fatigue damage to Madoka Kaname!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"Pay attention to things that concern you," Homura answers Mami, coolly. She does spare a glance her direction, though; it's more than she would typically bother with.

Then she looks back at Sachiko, her eyes narrowing; Homura's body tenses at the comment. She keeps quiet, at first, as she looks at Sachiko with a cool glance. "Then, whatever happens--"

Before she can finish her recrimination, when Sachiko gets hitten. She looks up at her, and then she shakes her head. "You're being reckless," she snaps after her; she raises her voice without yelling, so Sachiko can hear her as she leaps up after her. "You should hold back more!"

Then, Homura glances at Nagi. She shrugs at his question -- and answers it because he addressed Mami. (This isn't petty, she tells herself.) "I don't know what this is," she says. "Something native to Okinawa."

Homura's eyes shoot to Usagi, and she narrows her eyes, before she shakes her head. She doesn't answer her, verbally. Indeed, Homura's attention, is soon back to the monster. First, flame comes pouring out, and she jumps into the air. Her eyes shoot towards Mina as she leaps. There isn't any time magic here; she, rather, does an athletic pirouette over the wave of flame. Her eyes look at the shrine.

Mina's words echo in her ears. She should let the shrine burn, she thinks. She shouldn't care. Madoka isn't here, and one burnt down shrine wouldn't--

--time stops when she clicks her shield into place. The flame, the combatants, and the monsters all freeze into place. So, too, do the jungle trees around them. Homura lands on the ground, her feet kicking into the sandy ground. Her pistol slides into the shield; she pulls out an assault rifle and fires three rapid bursts. Rounds stop there.

Homura removes the emptied magazine, throwing it over her shoulder. She slides a new magazine in, before she turns to fire a fourth burst towards the monster.

Then she flips the shield back into place. Time resumes and the four bursts of rifle fire soar forward. Three slash into tree trunks, which collapse around Homura, cutting off the approach of the fire. The remaining bullets shoot towards the monster.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Bullet Time on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Homura Akemi's Bullet Time, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Madoka Kaname!

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

"Hm?" Mami looks away from the exchange she notices growing between Sachiko and Homura back to the calamity before them, repeating mentally what she just heard from Nagihiko. "Ah--...No, not yet," she answers, as if she was paying attention to more scholarly aspects of the day the whole time.

It's easy to be confident; this attack of hers with her ribbons has brought down great creatures before. ...But it doesn't, this time; the red energy crashes back towards her in the same moment and, focused as she is on her outgoing magic, Mami can only try to brace herself as the magic tears through her. When it passes she's left coughing, stumbling despite her typical efforts towards grace. She inhales, in obvious pain as she readies herself again, her guns scattered around her.

But there, her eyes lock with Sailor Moon's, and she feels the familiar emotion filling her; the plan clicks into place, and...

"I'm quite good at convincing large monsters to stop being so loud, Sailor Moon. I'm sure it won't be a problem."

...Does she actually know what it is? No. Neither does she particularly know how to stop it, or how to stand against the assault that just tore through her.

But that's not going to stop her from sprinting forward and jumping off the roof, pulling rifles out of pockets of nothing in the air as she twirls her way down to the ground, ignoring the pain in her leg from earlier and the burn she still feels all over.

The gigantic attack coming her way prompts Mami to stop in place and whirl around, conjuring a huge hand-cannon to blast through as much of the fire as she can with raw force, though what gets pats still singes her lungs, consumes a few more of the weapons she'd conjured already. ...Fire is not a ribbon's friend.

"...I'll decide what concerns me, Akemi-san!" Mami calls out, though she stares as she sees, to her surprise, Homura /aiding/ the shrine.

...She saw her get hurt before, too. Mami can't afford to compromise by letting it matter.

"...Right. Distraction," she murmurs, and starts sprinting.

The sprint turns more into a dance as she practically skates along the ground and through the air, stopping to whirl out another musket at fire it here, and then there, and then three at once for the end as she somersaults towards the sand.

"I won't let you have her!" Mami shouts. ...It sounds terribly heroic.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

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

Lancelot whips his head around as Mina starts pelting toward the beach. "Oh. Snap Crackers!" Then his head whips back to the dragon and the incoming fire. He slashes the flame with hsi blade dispersing most of it, though he does look a little singed. Well more than he already did after taking that big hit and sliding on the ground for twenty meters.

"Sparkles! Try to help her!" The knight runs toward the Dragon, AGAIN, and powers his blade with lightning as he goes. Gaining speed he leaps to the roof of the shrine, runs along it's tiled exterior and then leaps into the air, clutching Arondight with both hands as he slashes at the point where a feathered wing connects with the body. Lightning arcs form Arondight as he sails and the slash is given with a roar of tunder. He spins in the air, and briefly wonders ....

"So, how am I going to land?"

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Disabling Strike on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Lancelot's Disabling Strike, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates! Cripple and Trap applied to Madoka Kaname!

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

That is an awful lot of fire, thinks the Wind Knight as she dives for cover - and gets roasted pretty badly despite her efforts. This fight is NOT going well, and an arrow through the beast's eye didn't even make it blink. Wind isn't exactly the best element to wield against a fire elemental, either, but she's been doing what she can with it. If her position was better ...

Well, it isn't, and no amount of wishing is going to change that. The Wind Knight pushes herself back to her feet, wincing at a combination of scrapes and bruises and burns that she's already collecting; she takes a moment to make sure her clothes didn't actually catch on fire, then glances around at the others. Those trees will at least block the creature's fire breath from incinerating the shrine immediately, but wood will also burn.

"STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!"

Another tornado is conjured and flung at the monster. The Magic Knight of Wind is barely staying on her feet by now, but she's still pouring everything she can into trying to stop the mysterious beast's rampage. When the fighting is over, she thinks, *somebody* really ought to ask the shrine maiden if the ancient lore says anything at all about a monster matching this one's description ...

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Madoka Kaname's Fade ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Fight fire with fire, huh?

Well, in that case, the Fire Knight simply braces herself for the blast, defending as best as she can against her own element. Unfortunately, she's not invincible. She still takes a few burns but still has the will to keep fighting. She grips her sword strongly as she channels the magic of fire into it. "I won't let you destroy this place so easily! If you won't learn once, you'll have to learn now!" She channels more fire into it before sending forth a fiery blast with a slash of her sword.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used You're Fired on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose sees the fire coming, and crosses both her arms in front of her, White Omen in front, generating a barrier. The flames lick around it, but some of it manages to leak through. She drops back to the ground. "Wait..." She looks at the bird-thing for a moment. "Is it throwing our attacks back at us?" She recalls the fight with the plane and how she shot the throat, just like the fire had today. "Hmm..." She points her Device directly at the throat. "Thunder Dove the throat."

White Omen fires as suggested. <Thunder Dove>

Light birds shoot out and go straight for the throat. Chitose, though, doesn't do much else, just watches what happens.

<...Is this a good idea?>

Chitose doesn't answer for a moment. "Probably not, but maybe we can learn something useful."

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has used Thunder Dove on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

During that hellish gurgle, Kuniko calls back over her shoulder towards the master of the Verboten Jam, Nagihiko: "It fought us on the plane! Like, /on the plane/, I had to get towed up there, it was screwed up! I don't know what it is!"

And then the flame begins. It erupts outwards, even as time skips a beat somewhere. Not for Kuniko Saito though; she can barely raise her hands in time as the flame erupts over her, past her, the heat and hellish light raising to immense heights...

And washing forwards. For if there is one enchantment upon the garb of the Blue Ribbon's members, it is resistance to heat.

Kuniko, with a little blistering on her wrists and the complete destruction of the black nail polish she put on her left hand in the hotel room 'for the heck of it,' uncrosses her arms and grins at the creature for a moment.

"So... is this the real face of a dragon...? Because I'm getting that feeling from you, big fella," Kuniko says. She twists slightly, raising one finger chidingly as another slaps something on the table and tears it asunder, prepping with just one hand. "But your flames... they're rough. All your flames can do is destroy. I may not be able to cause as much property damage -- but my flames can create!!" And with a twist of that hand, out comes... a skewer of chicken breast, laden with spices.

"You like it? TOO BAD!" Kuniko shouts, shaving the chicken into layers in the three pitas she'd been able to grab and set out. A little of her remaining rice. "Maybe you're a vegetarian...?" as she makes another pass, drawing out a freshly roasted eggplant. "TOO BAD!" The eggplant is crushed -- mingled with the harissa pepper already in Kuniko's grasp, turned into the freshest possible babaganoush! Scientifically speaking, /it can't get fresher/.

A squirt of olive oil - "Ah! Mami, right?" Kuniko says, remembering the musketeer from the New Year's save. She gets one. Nagihiko gets a warning of "GO LONG!" as Kuniko starts trying to run round the massive creature, not being claw-proof or, really, more than flame /resistant/. The other girl - Akemi? - Kuniko immediately assumes it's Mami's sister or something since she's also packing heat.

"Heads up!" Kuniko calls, tossing the last of the pita-wrapped treats - onigiri, in essence, but with a heavenly savor and a perfect balance of spices, as well as a profound sweet smokiness that can satisfy all ages. Of course, people may not be in the mood for smokiness right now but Kuniko can only do so much here.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri on Mami Tomoe.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has used Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi accepts Kuniko Saito's Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Homura Akemi's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Sachiko Majime [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Bloody and battered, Sachiko continues to smile as Homura Akemi continues to address her. "You're right. I am being reckless." She concedes as she twirls her axe in her hand idly. "And yeah, I should have held back." Afterall, Sachiko had put her best friend into the ICU because she didn't hold back. "But, I've been holding back and playing it safe for far too long! It's my time to shine now!" Fire begins to descend all around her, but this time Sachiko is angry. She begins twirling her axe even faster, adopts a two-handed grip on it, and slams it down at her feet. The impact of her blow causes pillar of torn ground to upheave itself and provide just enough cover for Sachiko to dodge behind. As the flames die down, the pillar falls and Sachiko is left standing there with her axe still in hand and a grin on her face.

The axe-wielding Puella Magi turns now to Sailor Moon and briefly salutes her with her axe before laughing. "Hey you! You're making a whole lot of sense to me! Ignore her and keep fighting! I like it!" Sachiko smiles as she drags her axe against the ground, causing it spark slightly. "Hyaaaah!" The orange clad girl suddenly yells as she leaps up in the air and attempts to uppercut the Beast with a two-handed swing.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has used Big Swing on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki accepts Kuniko Saito's Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Nagihiko Fujisaki's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Kuniko Saito's Babaganoush and Shawarma Chicken Onigiri, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Mami Tomoe's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Hikaru Shidou's You're Fired, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Chitose Shiratori's Thunder Dove, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly counters Sachiko Majime's Big Swing, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Sachiko Majime is Psyched! Madoka Kaname's Reverse ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname's counterattack, Gules GAPING MAW, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sachiko Majime!

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

"I never doubted that for a moment Mami-chan!" A Senshi of Love and Justice calls back at Mami, with this sincere edge of admiration to it. She flashes a grin at Sachiko, "Exactly! Wow you're really giving it your all today!"

But then flames. Sailor Moon makes a panicked shout at the monster, "You're not supposed to just BURN EVERYTHING!" She jukes one way, before seeing that way would actually be worse she flailingly scrambles back in the direction she came just as a gout of flame explodes in her prior position, just narrowly avoiding her fate of becoming well done hasenpfeffer! Even so the back of her fuku looks positively singed in some spots.

As she runs however, she notices Homura aiding the shrine, and something about it seems... strange to her. A weird dissonance in what Homura says and how she acts but... right now she had bigger concerns than trying to figure her out!

Especially since... that little girl, that brave little girl sounds ready to give herself up to save everyone, "No! You need to get to safety! Leave this to your... your... heroic chaperones so you won't be late for curfew!" ... Well it was the best she could think of in the heat of battle!

Sailor Moon starts trying to cover some distance between herself and that girl just in case all their efforts fail to slow it down. On the way... a hand touches her tiara, which glints with an inner light, before the entirety of it begins to shine so brightly that it looks more like a disk of starlight, "Moon Tiara-"

She flings it with her other hand, "-Action!" It cuts through the air to try and interrupt its advance ... and on the way she whispers fervently, "Don't miss!" ... Maybe she had in the past, against this massive beast.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Tiara Action on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to dodge Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Action, taking 66 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.

Nagi senses some...tension, going on here between the two people he's landed near. That's a story he doesn't know; all he can do is cut his eyes to both of them and decide it's not particularly his to meddle with. For now.

Instead, he tries to stay on task. "It said 'mine', didn't it? It probably wants something! We have to think of what!"

He lets himself grin a little as his blast hits. It didn't do too much, but he knows better than to expect miracles from the first shot! Or...second. For that matter. Winning a game takes dozens!

The flame blast catches Nagi by surprise, and he yields a step just watching it start. But then he regains himself, crying out, "BLAZE PASS!" and conjuring another ball of his own magic, which he immediately hurls directly at the oncoming wall of flame. It parts a hole in the inferno, drilling through right toward and into the Vermillion Beast! Nagi breathes heavily at the clearance, and then starts charging up another burst jump for an attack run, when Mina screams out in fear and desperation. "Mina-chan!" he yelps after her, because she shouldn't be trying to be /bait/, thank you, but also she seems to have an idea of some kind of what's happening, and what /is/ that light? "She might be right!" he calls out. "And we really should get away from the shrine! I'm going! BEAT! PRESS!"

The glow on his boots rushes up his entire body, and then Nagi rushes forward. He doesn't try to /restrain/ the beast so much as make himself impossible to ignore - a blurring, speeding hurricane of mild harrassment, his speed letting him score light blasts all along its length and even leap over it to drive a kick into its back, then speed away - just in time to catch Kuniko's hurled dish. "Thanks!" he calls back.

Then he shoves it into his gob like a barbarian. He's sort of busy to eat it properly. But the magic does its thing, and Nagi feels his feet even lighter as he finishes his harrassing past on the Vermillion Beast - and starts down the same path as Mina, so she doesn't get bitten in half and/or barbecued.

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Beat Press on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Nagihiko Fujisaki's Beat Press, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Madoka Kaname!

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Homura downs some well-watered tree trunks to act as a fire suppressant; in this humidity, especially right up against the ocean, it's a gambit that will work. Some kind of emergency services (or magical miracle) is going to need to put the flames out fully, though, or they will eventually work their way into the ancient shrine in earnest.

And then everything seems to go right, all at once. Homura, Mami and Chitose fill the creature with their various versions of bullets, sending feathers flying from the impacts, shredding scales, and, yes, taking her right in her gigantic throat.

If the Vermillion Beast hadn't been ducking Fuu's massive tornado and bringing in a wing to cover the slashes from Lancelot and Hikaru, that might not have been possible at all; and she's triply distracted by the point-blank Puella Magi coming in for a second round with that immense axe, and Beat Jumper harrassing her from all angles; Sachiko finds herself playing tug-of-war for possession of her weapon with the Beast's mouth!

She never sees the sacred strike of the Moon coming. It plows into one of the wings, and for a brief and strange moment that blood-red membrane turns to pure and shining gold. It only lasts a moment, however, before the furiously, fiercely crimson hue overtakes it once again.

Having endured all of this, she expresses her displeasure with a massive, deafening, agonizing roar -- and then launches down the bluff towards Mina, who's still running.

Bait: apparently successful.

<< GIVE -- ME -- WHAT -- IS -- MINE!! >>

"I-IT WAS A PRESENT FROM MY GRANDMA!" Mina blubbers, apparently more possessive herself than is entirely sensible, as she charges down the beach.

But not quickly enough. Razor feathers slam around her from all sides, penning her in; when she lunges to the right, ripping the collar of her uniform with an awful tearing sound, the Beast slams down a fist.

Mina trembles. "I... I WON'T! WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT IT FOR ANYWAY?"

<< ...ME! >>

Glaring down the beach with her seven remaining eyes, her mangled throat bulges as she summons another, even more massive blast of that red energy. This is an expulsion that puts any mere dragon to shame. It's not flame and it's not plasma, but just a pure expression of torment. Being struck with it is like being pulled in all directions, torn apart.

Like a wrathful storm, it can only be endured, and unfortunately, with the casual cruelty of nature itself, it doesn't strike everywhere equally, either. The barrage hits the battlefield like artillery rounds at Normandy, and where Beat Jumper, Chitose and Kuniko are standing get about quadruple the explosions--!

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Red Rain on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Tug-Of-War on Sachiko Majime.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used Ruby Rampage on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used Ruby Rampage on Kuniko Saito.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Madoka Kaname has used Ruby Rampage on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade ability activates! Sailor Moon's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has used Collateral Damage on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Collateral Damage, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sachiko Majime narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Tug-Of-War, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sachiko Majime's Fade ability activates! Sachiko Majime's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Kuniko Saito narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Finisher, Ruby Rampage, taking 43 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Finisher, Ruby Rampage, taking 86 Fatigue damage! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Fade ability activates! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori narrowly dodges Madoka Kaname's Finisher, Ruby Rampage, taking 65 Fatigue damage! Chitose Shiratori's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Madoka Kaname's Red Rain, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Homura grabs the pita-wrapped treat from midair, expertly, like a first baseman making a catch. She eats it quickly, then she nods at Kuniko.

Her cool is promptly compromised by Sachiko; she opens her mouth, then she closes it. Something simmers in her, as she watches fire swirl around Sachiko. The girl shakes her head, sharply, and then she glowers at the other Puella Magi. She mutters something underneath, before she looks at Nagi.

She shrugs, once. "Probably," she says. Her tone has an edge in it; she looks at Sachiko, irritably, while she talks to the Guardian. "Can you get to the girl? Maybe she--"

She definitely has something that the monster wants, Homura realizes. Her eyes snap after her, as the feathers shoot towards her. But Mami is moving, then, and that terrible rain of fire is coming. Homura begins to leap; to the eye, it looks like she teleports between streamers and firebombs that come raining down. Then she leaps into the air, doing a tight pirouette.

Homura reaches down into shield. She gives Mami a brief look. Then, she nods at her. She leaves the child to her; then, Homura appears to vanish.

The next moment -- for others -- and not for her, Homura is falling away from the creature from above. A moment later, a titanic fireball erupts. It shoots into the air, black smoke and flame rushing up into the sky.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Homura Akemi has used Time Bomb on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.

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

Fire is raining down in just about every place that could possibly take a barrage of fire. Lancelot briefly wonders, while he falls, if he should buy latest Call of Duty game. The Artillary reminded him.

"Eh. It's not like I have to play it anyway." He hits the ground and grunts. Laying there for a moment remembering that he is alive. Because he hurts. Falling does that. Not for the first time he wishes he was like some of thsoe girls who were out there being graceful and flying. He takes a deep breath.

And shrieks like a two year old when the Red Rain starts falling around him.

He gets up and runs, weaving this way and that to avoid the incoming fiery doom. He stops panting near about where he started when a small voice says, "Gee mithter. Yer not very good a thith are you?"

He looks over to the small kid he had bribed and says evenly, "You wanna go fight the dragon?"

"Who me? No thankth mithter."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Lancelot sighs. "Just. Wait here."

"Sure thing mithter!"

Nodding, Lancelot walks toward the dragon gathering energy. Lightning begins to hammer down around him, and coalescing along Arondight's blade edge. He nods and cries out, "CHARGING!" Then rushes forward, the lightning still hammering into Arondight as he races across the ground toward Vermillion Beast.

At the last second he leaps an slashes with Evil's Bane, the lightning exploding outward and he begins to slash over and over again at the beast. Each strike loosing the lightning that had struck the blade in ear shattering thunder. "ASSAULT!"

He lands near the beast and looks over his shoulder ot the Kid he jsut left, as if to silently say: "How's THAT for being good at this?"

The little kid reaches into a backpack, pulls out a crayon and some paper and holds up the paper.

It reads "5".

Lancelot sighs agian and jsut hangs his head.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lancelot has used Charging Assault on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.

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

Mami regrets, a bit, some of her earlier bravado. ...Not all, of course--just some. Seeing Sachiko throw herself into battle quite the way she /is/, well...

"Just don't forget to be careful, Sailor Moon!" ...Mami can't advise this girl she doesn't know in the same way, but maybe the advice will keep. ...For /somebody/, anyway.

"Thank you!" Mami calls to Kuniko in surprise, and indeed feels it's important to eat right now--...and she does feel lighter on her feet already.

She /needs/ that lightness; the sheer power from the Vermillion Beast tears through her again, makes her feel like she might shake apart at the seams and then keep stretching away. Even dodging to put her more solid side against it doesn't help. ...But one thing helps her be sure to look through:

Mina's answer. ...Mina's need to protect this thing, this tie to...

Nodding distantly back to Homura, their enmity set aside, Mami leaves behind the matters of the Puella Magi for the moment and only feels the pain she imagines this girl must feel. She sets her teeth toether. "...Hang on," she says, and sprints. She leaves the guns unconjured, conjuring instead a shell of ribbon around herself, thin but steel-hard with her magic. She doesn't go around or shoot away; she bursts /through/ the feathers, her shield crashing around her to deflect what she can as she picks up a girl bodily and leaps onward and forward. "I've got you!" she says, and rolls such that she lands beneath Mina, to cushion her fall.

...Her shield of ribbons is still cast out, now partially shredded along the battlefield, scattered on the sands. Mami draws in a breath, a difficult one against all the pain--

The ribbons don't stay down.

They launch upward again, like beautiful, fluttering chains, joined by still more conjured out of nothing. This to her previous attempt is a flood to a fountain, as the golden Puella Magi attempts to let her magic crush her foe before she can strike back at the girl in her arms.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Concludere on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.

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

The monster lashes out once again, and the Magic Knight of Wind flings herself towards some vague semblance of safety, wondering if she's going to stand up again afterwards; the landing hurts, as expected, but it doesn't knock the breath from her lungs nor the consciousness from her brain.

Which is better than she expected, all things considered.

"We have to end this quickly ... !" The Wind Knight climbs back to her feet once more, managing to center herself and steady her balance. Her gaze focuses on the vermillion beast ...

Then, briefly, on the ceremonial gate, the torii, which marks the entrance to the shrine grounds proper. Just how close is that shade to the monster's own hue?

She'll contemplate it further when they aren't all trying not to get killed. For now, the Wind Knight gathers her magic for what's probably going to be her final strike of the battle, and with a cry of, "EMERALD CYCLONE!!" she turns the full fury of the storm against the vermillion beast, trying to literally blow it away, if not to shred it with the rending gale. The former may be the best anyone can hope for, given how it withstood everyone's focused strength during the first battle - and how strongly it's been holding up THIS time.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Emerald Cyclone: Full on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Realizing there's nowhere else to go, the Fire Knight takes up a defensive stance yet again. She grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut. The awful magic comes at her again, but she stands strong and tall. She refuses to be budged by this evil being. Once the attack ceases, the Fire Knight opens her eyes and scowls. "You have gone on long enough! Now prepare to be burned for real!" She raises her sword to the sky. "The flames shall cast judgement on you! You shall burn!"

The flames grow in size, almost taking on the form of a literal sword, getting bigger and bigger with every moment. "Strike the foul being down! SWORD OF FLAME!" The Fire Knight calls out, sending forth the flaming sword at the enemy with a yell.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Hikaru Shidou has used Sword of Flame on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sachiko Majime [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Full of fiery passion of her own, Sachiko puts a lot of herself behind her big uppercut. The distance between Puella Magi and Beast gets shorter and shorter until there appears to be no way that Sachiko could miss from this range. Unfortunately for her, this was all apart of a carefully laid trap for her......or atleast for Sachiko's axe. Mighty Majime gets her axe quite literally stuck in the gaping maw of the Beast. And to make matters worse, Sachiko's axe was the only think preventing herself from becoming a tasty snack for bird-brain there. Planting her feet on the side of creature, the softball star uses all of her might to dislodge her axe, but the effort used causes Sachiko to plummet most ungracefully to the ground where she lands in a heap.

Once more, the orange wearing girl struggles up onto her feet and tiredly lifts her mighty weapon. She definitely was slowing down and that last encounter was a little careless even by Sachiko's loose understanding of the word. If this fight didn't end soon, it all could go badly for Sachiko Majime. This was it. This was the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, and she was up to bat. It was time to knock this one out of the park.

Without Homura going after her, it was all too easy for Sachiko to follow Sailor Moon's advice. But Sachiko was getting worse at following good advice and rules.. "-Hey Akemi!- You don't have to worry about me holding back, because I'm just getting warmed up!" This is most definitely a lie, but it is spoken with the utmost conviction by the Puella Magi. Sachi, despite her increasing bloodlust, does notice that Mami made a clutch play by going to save the poor girl that was caught in the middle of that. Good. Perfect. Just swell! There was nothing left to get in the way, nothing to distract Sachiko from giving it her all! Sachi grabs her axe and points it straight as the flying creature. "You tried to eat me, didn't you?!" An uneven sounding laugh escapes from Sachiko as she brandishes her weapon with two hands once more. "Open up wide: I'll give you something to chew on!" Waving her axe wildly, Sachiko sprints forward and then attempts to crash into the Beast axe first! Sachiko would then spin and launch a backhanded slash with her axe before coming back around with her forehand. The Puella Magi would continue to keep on swinging until she eventually drops to the ground as gravity and exhaustion pre-emptively put an end to Sachiko's assault.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sachiko Majime has used Homerun Derby on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.

Beat Jumper's surging speed lets him get ahead of the thing, trying to catch up with Mina, but for all he's trying to move himself into position, Nagi finds himself bombarded - the wrathful storm washing across the field like exploding shells. Nagi grits his teeth and moves. He doesn't want to find out what a clean hit by that feels like.

A blast wave goes off at his feet and sends Nagi toppling end-over-end forward, but he shoves off atthe last second so he does it at an upward angle, letting him slowly control his fall; he lands on his feet, then immediately throws himself left as the sand at his feet explodes in red flame; then backward, into the aftermath of one explosion, before the next can blast him. With a tiny charge in his boots he throws himself forward, boosting directly over another volley, and hits the ground with his shoulder in a forward roll as another blast nips at his heels. The shockwave disrupts his momentum and lands him on his feet, but he kips up, and then breaks back into a staggering run just as the beach he occupied explodes.

As the blasts end, Nagi doesn't so much stop as he lurches forward and ultimately just collapses, wheezing, against the nearest mostly-standing wall. Breath comes in short, helpless gasps, desperate wheezes as he tries to get enough air back into his lungs to actually think. He may have dodged the actual attack, but that lightness of foot that Kuniko bought him is all gone. His legs feel like rubber.

"C'mon, Nagi! You can't give up now!" Rhythm cheers him on from within. Nagi can't even respond; his answer is a wheeze. But he's got enough still in him to tell - Mami jumped in to save Mina, rushing along with that shield of ribbons. And that /thing/ is still up. Beat Jumper makes a pained groan and forces himself up. "Can't...let it attack again," he croaks out, and sets his feet. "One more. Rhythm. One more!"

"Make it cool, man!"

Beat Jumper bolts into the air like a spring, soaring forward and up to cover the distance between him and the Vermillion Beast. He flips end-over-end, and throws one arm out, light whirling around him before slowly gathering together in a sphere in his palm. "That's somebody else's treasure!" Nagi screams, the last of his energy on breath. "You can't have it! BEAT! DUUUUUUUUUUUNK!"

He comes down like a meteor - slamming the ball of energy into the back of the Vermillion Beast.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Beat Dunk on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.

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

<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05e38A0OpVs&index=2&list=RDrvr15UDuzr4

Pain. Sailor Moon was the opposite of stoic. She was so easily hurt, and she showed it just as readily when she was. Whether it be by a sidewalk curb she tripped on with a skinned knee. Or a mean word and hurt feelings. So it's fortunate for her that she just /barely/ manages to leap out of the way, when an expression of pure torment grazes one of her calves.

One moment she's leaping. The next it feels like she's falling apart. Except in all directions. It overwhelms her senses so abruptly that it feels like she blacks out... perhaps mercifully so. The next moment she's on the ground, rolling around and screaming and sobbing and clutching her calf. Despite it feeling like it was all over, it still felt like it was there more than anywhere else. An echo of a statement in her mind, 'Just don't forget to be careful, Sailor Moon!' that felt so distant now, compared to the pain.

Right now all she wanted to do was lay down and have a good cry then wrap herself up in the covers at her hotel room for the next day and a half. And yet as her eyes open, she sees Mami there, so bravely shielding the girl who was threatened by the beast. And before she knows it, thoughts of comfort and escape are the last things on her mind.

She takes a breath, "She's only protecting something precious to her! I won't let you-" Slowly she's up, balancing delicately on her one good foot. "-take it away!" She brings the Cutie Moon Rod parallel to her midline, holding it between two hands. The crown ornament upon it lights up, lilting musically with its tones, as the silhouette of a full moon appears behind her, she points it forward, then brings it overhead, silvery halos light appear, and are seemingly absorbed into some source within.

Flourishing it every which way, she turns around on her single good foot, before drawing the rod back behind her, "Moon Princess-" She thrusts it forward, straight at the creature, "-HALLLAAAAATIOOOOONNNNNNN!" Pink whorls of radiance spiral outwards, while crescent moon and star shaped power adds weight to her rebuke. It flows along to the edges of the beast and beyond, attempting to make the Vermillion Beast's world... fade to white.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Moon has used Moon Princess Halation on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose tries to escape the blasts and furious tornadoes of the bird thing. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite clear the blast zone, and as she leaps to escape the extra height just gives the explosions more force to fling her away from the bird, and shortly thereafter face first into the ground.

She uses her free arm to prop herself up. "Ugh, that hurts." She turns around to face the bird, and ponders as to what to do now. She still felt that she could still fight. She wasn't unable to do so. Instead it was a matter of if she wanted to. And truth be told, she didn't.

"Are we in any immediate danger?"

<I do not believe so.>

"Good. Do you want to just call it quits?"

<That may be the wisest course of action.>

"Fair enough. I... think we should let the others take care of it." And so Chitose remains, unmoving, only turning to a more sitting arrangement.

<Pose Tracker> Kuniko Saito [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Even if you wolf it down like a barbarian, the flavor lingers. Lingers, even in the palate of those who sup on kara-age and tempura with the occasional raw pull straight off the sugar syrup jar.

Of course, the dragon is still a problem, and a less delicious one. As the vermilion creature turns around to storm forward, bombarding where Kuniko is standing, she turns as if to run - towards the beach, towards the street, she doesn't even know... NOT THERE.

The rolling barrage walks over her. When it moves on, Kuniko is face-down on the ground. Her cap's fallen off. Dust scorches the back of her jacket.

Then Kuniko rolls over. She is too dazed to do more than sit up right now. Sit up and put something together with shaking hands, her ears ringing like sirens are going off right next to her. She finishes what she had assembled -

And prays to herself: "Please let it be enough. Let this satisfy the stupid dragon. Golden honey, golden nuts, golden everything. Please let this stop it because I don't know what else I can do." It is sober, solemn, soft, almost terrified -- but also said at a slightly above normal speaking voice, because the ringing in her ears means Kuniko can't judge her own voice well.

What Kuniko sets out on an immaculate little white saucer is a slice of baklava. It glistens, a thousand shades of gold, glimmering in the sun with the fragrance of a thousand bees' hard labor gathering a thousand different wildflowers into their happy buzzy home. Within it plums deify, and raisins sing. Kuniko raises her hand - and the dish rises as well -

Sweeping its way up, glistening through the air, towards the maw of the vermillion beast.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Kuniko Saito has used Plum and Raisin Baklava with Wildflower Honey on Madoka Kaname.

COMBAT: Kuniko Saito has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Homura Akemi's Finisher, Time Bomb, taking 58 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Concludere, taking 83 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Lancelot's Finisher, Charging Assault, taking 102 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Emerald Cyclone: Full, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Hikaru Shidou's Finisher, Sword of Flame, taking 107 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Nagihiko Fujisaki's Finisher, Beat Dunk, taking 91 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Sailor Moon's Finisher, Moon Princess Halation, taking 87 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname narrowly braces Sachiko Majime's Finisher, Homerun Derby, taking 53 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting! Madoka Kaname's Block ability activates! Madoka Kaname's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Madoka Kaname fails to brace Kuniko Saito's Finisher, Plum and Raisin Baklava with Wildflower Honey, taking 72 Fatigue damage! Madoka Kaname is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Q: What happens when bombs, lightning blades, ribbons, cyclones, fire blades, axes, energy balls, moonbeams, and, apparently honeyed mana from heaven, all launch at a gigantic monster at the same time?

A: A really big explosion. (It's a good thing it's also a really big monster, or the meleeists might have been in trouble; as it stands they have space to get their hits in, then get out.)

It takes a long time for the dust to clear, because there's a lot of it -- sand specifically, specs of mica and silica creating a momentary storm more suitable for a desert than a tropical island.

And after it does, the Vermillion Beast is gone. Either she was obliterated utterly, or she used the sand to cover her retreat. (Take a lucky guess.)

Mina wriggles out of Mami's arms, not ungratefully but hastily. Being held like that will ruin her street cred forever, and few things are more precious at her age. She's not a /baby/.

"Th-thank you!" she says, to the Puella Magi and to everyone really, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. The light in her hand is beginning to fade, as well. She keeps it clutched tight for now.

A rainbow aftershock of the initial blast pours over the beach and the bluff, returning the trees to their former healthy selves and putting out any stray fires. The shrine is ultimately, safely, untouched. No one will ever know what happened.

Or maybe not? The miko jumps off the bluff in a graceful swan dive, into the ocean, the fastest way to join the group down on the beach. It takes her but a few strong, steady strokes to make it back out again.

There's a strange light in her eyes, and her voice doesn't sound the same as it did before, when it was that of an enthusiastic afterschool part-timer. Now she sounds... older, and stranger. It is the voice of someone who has seen Time.

"That was no local spirit... and no dragon. Foreign invasion is the story of this island, and once again it repeats itself."

There's a menace to this observation that makes it clear that whoever is speaking through this oracle considers the girls invaders as well, outsiders. And from an Okinawan perspective, this is not wrong; long were they independent, or at least one step removed, the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

"But like all things, the future can be found written in the stars of the past. Even this one," perhaps the miko means herself, "Cannot speak of lore this ancient. It must... come from the source. Make an offering to the Sea Dragon God, He Who Came Before, at his ancient, forgotten shrine, past tower and river and sea."

Not this shrine, then, presumably.

"He can tell you how to banish the interloper from our islands. He might even let you leave alive, too."

Mina cocks her head at the extreme weirdness and starts inching off the beach, back towards her friends. Maybe she can get to them before someone starts asking her questions.

The miko sagging to her knees, released of whatever power held her, makes a fine distraction. "Ughhhhh..." She holds her head, blearily. "...What happened?"

<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

'I'm just getting warmed up!'

Homura's eyes widen, slightly, when Sachiko yells that. Her mouth opens -- but then she clamps it shut, as she lands. She looks down, gritting her teeth, and forces back the shout she wants to yell at her. Then she turns, and looks up at her and the monster. Her violet eyes blaze coldly, when she does.

But she watches the monster fall. It vanishes in the explosion and the sand; Homura's eyes narrow, but she is left wondering. Did it really perish?

She hesitates. She looks at the miko, listening to her explanation. Her head tilts, her lips curling back. She frowns, watching when the miko fall. A Sea Dragon...?

She shakes her head. She doesn't offer an explanation to the miko. She turns on a foot; she catches Sachiko's eye, but there isn't anything said. Just a look -- and a silent promise to watch what she does in the future. Homura keeps walking, then, though.

She has some things to look into.

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

Lancelot twitches. "That...." He looks to Sailor Moon. "That's a lot of... Weirdness. I left my rabbit back at the dorms." He jerks a thumb back toward where the students are staying. "You don't happen to have like... A Translation book or something do you?"

He rubs the back of his neck and looks around for his Horse. Who was supposed to be watching Mina. "Also. Have you seen my horse?"

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

The miko's words - or those of the spirit who speaks through the shrine maiden - are enough to convince the Magic Knight of Wind that while the monster has fled, it has NOT been defeated - and whatever treasure Mina Koruske holds that the monster desires, it's going to try again to take it from her.

For now, the Wind Knight allows her bow and quiver to vanish,, and focuses on healing her own injuries from that battle. Once she's mended her own wounds well enough to let her body do the rest of the work without attracting awkward questions, Once she's patched up, she can offer healing to others.

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

Mami's a bit out of breath, to say the least; she has no reason at all to try to keep Mina there as she sees the Vermillion Beast gone, the dust clearing up. She takes another breath, not speaking until she's certain she can do so flawlessly, "You're welcome."

...But while Mami missed the dive, she cannot miss the sound of that voice.

It sends a chill down her spine, as she /knows/ she is unwelcome.

...Regardless, Mami stands, rising with her eyes still on the miko. Ancient lore--an interloper...

And danger.

But what she felt a moment ago--that catches her more strongly than her sudden question about whether now will be time. Mami steps forward, and then again. "Wait," Mami says to Mina, "Are you all right? ...Can I ask you about your grandmother's necklace? ...You did quite well protecting it."

<Pose Tracker> Sachiko Majime [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The game's over. They won. It was time to celebrate. But an exhausted Sachiko can only offer Homura a wide, toothy grin in response to her icy glare. That was one heck of a stare, but Sachi had come way too far to back down now in their moment of group victory. Resting her axe on her shoulder, the orange and black Puella Magi forces herself to calm her breathing and stands up as straight as she can, watching Homura take her leave. As soon as Sachiko thinks Homura can't see her easily, she lets herself fall backwards onto her back and spreads her arms out to her side. Once more, Sachiko breathes laboriously and lets her axe from existence, but she stays transformed for now. The young Ohtori athlete is perfectly content with remaining exactly where she was. She'll recover soon enough to move, but she just needed a moment to herself.

They all were so strong. Sachiko knew she had to get stronger, much stronger if she wanted to rival any of them. But hey, practice makes perfect.

<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.

Nagi slams the Beat Dunk home and then more or less /bounces/ off, flying back into the air with similar force to what he landed with.

which is to say he doesn't land until after the sand clears and the Beast is gone. His magic means he doesn't land with the bone-shattering force of a flal of such height, but with his exhausted state even he lands, then immediately flops back on his butt.

That's where he stays throughout the speech of the Miko, who is clearly not quite herself. His eyes narrow. That was not the kind of passion he was respecting, before. The subtle...not threat. Displeasure? Regardless: It is not lost on his insightful mind, either.

But that's a trial that comes later. For now, Nagi releases a rough laugh, and looks to the side; Rhythm releases their Character Transformation, and with a pop of sparkling multicolored light, Nagi's back in his Guardian cloak and Rhythm's floating by his side. Nagi gives Rhythm a laugh and a grin, and then shuffles across the battered sand toward...

Mami and Mina, giving Mina a grin and a thumbs-up. He's a Guardian! He's got the awesome cape and everything! He is someone she should know to run to when she gets attacked by space dragons! Probably! "Are you alright, Mina-chan?" he asks, with a warm but not presumptuous grin. "That was a pretty scary critter."

He's having to improvise. /Usually/ people like Mina all pass out for a few minutes after a fight! He's not used to not having time to arrange them on a bench somewhere safely distant from the fight!

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

Sailor Moon has to shield her eyes against the prismatic explosion. And when it clears. "Is it... gone?" Even she doesn't really believe that, despite the question out of her lips. And then she recoils off to the side as the Miko appears nearby, "Where did you come from!?" Apparently she'd missed her dive that would rank a /10/ if there were any little children judging.

But she sounds so old. So much older than before. As old as the very rocks of this shore. Her eyes screw up in intense focus, as she tries to draw upon every iota of knowledge she'd accidentally collected despite willfully trying to ignore all the lectures.

And when she's done, Sailor Moon looks confused for a few moments before she looks relieved, "Oh good, you don't mean /that/ cave then!" She brushes a gloved hand over her brow, "Whew! Everyone say that place is super scary... I wouldn't want to go there-" The Miko starts sagging to her knees, "-hey!"

She takes a few steps forward, before putting an arm under her shoulders and trying to help hoist her up to her feet, "...Hey it's okay. You're going to be alright. It's kind of a weird feeling but I think... someone needed to borrow you for a while." She looks towards the knight, "... I think I actually understood most of it." Shock! Well, not really. She wasn't /actually/ stupid after all. If she actually paid attention then she usually could get it. She turns back to her, "Do you need a hand getting back up to the temple?"

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose does keep sitting, even when things explode. She holds up an arm to protect her eyes from the bright light of the explosion, but like before she keeps herself sitting on the sands.

And on top of that she gets a story of her own to listen to! She listens to the spirit speaking, and her brain continues to process all the information suddenly dumped in her lap. Except when the part about 'making and offering and he /might/ let them leave'.

Now, Chitose's father did work for a Yakuza syndicate, and to an extent so did she. Her best friend was Sei Itazura (for better or for worse), the daughter of the guy who did run it. And despite all this, Chitose liked to think that she was kinder and gentler than the usual run of the mill Yakuza flunky. But, even with all of that there were times where she felt like she earned her position. This moment suddenly became one of those times.

Chitose's eyes narrow. Oh, oh no. No no no. No one gets to tell her she doesn't get to leave. Not even a old spirit.

She stands up, turns immediately away, and starts to leave, wordlessly. She doesn't head in the direction of any source of civilization, she just migrates away from other people. She needs to go test this story out.

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

Sailor Moon has to shield her eyes against the prismatic explosion. And when it clears. "Is it... gone?" Even she doesn't really believe that, despite the question out of her lips. And then she recoils off to the side as the Miko appears nearby, "Where did you come from!?" Apparently she'd missed her dive that would rank a /10/ if there were any little children judging.

But she sounds so old. So much older than before. As old as the very rocks of this shore. Her eyes screw up in intense focus, as she tries to draw upon every iota of knowledge she'd accidentally collected despite willfully trying to ignore all the lectures.

And when she's done, Sailor Moon looks confused for a few moments before her eyes widen in fright, "You don't mean that cave do you!? Everyone says that place is super scary..." She shakes her head, odangos flying from side to side with gloved hands clenched in front of her chin, "...I absolutely don't want to go there-" The Miko starts sagging to her knees, "-hey!"

She takes a few steps forward, before putting an arm under her shoulders and trying to help hoist her up to her feet, "...Hey it's okay. You're going to be alright. It's kind of a weird feeling but I think... someone needed to borrow you for a while." She looks towards the knight, "... I think I actually understood most of it. Which means! I'm not going to that cave!"

Spoiler alert: She almost certainly is. Though it's possible Luna and the other Senshi will need to drag her bodily.

But even as frightened as she is at the prospect, she still gives that Miko a look of worry and asks, "Do you need a hand getting back up to the temple? I don't mind."

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mina looks up at the golden magical girl with suspicious eyes. "It was hers. Now it's mine." Truly, she has grasped the ins and outs of inheritance. Nagihiko gets a slightly more grateful smile, as he asks after her well-being, and is also a lot closer to her age.

Still, with all this attention on her she starts to wither. Reluctantly, she opens her palm. The pendant sitting there is glistening in the sunlight, but with no greater glow, not anymore.

It is a massive, beautiful bird, rather like a phoenix, carved of gold.

She closes it again and bails immediately, before anyone tries to take it.

The miko, meanwhile, gratefully accepts the assistance of Sailor Moon. "Thanks. I need some water... my mouth is full of sand." Together they can get back up the bluff.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has fully healed herself.

COMBAT: Sachiko Majime has fully healed herself.