2018-12-28 - TIMELINE 1: Summer's Cold Comfort!
| Title: TIMELINE 1: Summer's Cold Comfort! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: On a long, lazy Friday, a little girl drops her ice cream cone while hurrying along the path to Sensouji Temple. Don't worry, there's something else perfectly willing to eat that beloved treat on a hot Summer's day. | |
| Who: Mikoto Minagi (GMing), Steven Universe, Kozue Kaoru, Nori Ankou, Fumiko Inoue, Ami Mizuno, Niramo Umokeshi, Endo Naoki | |
| Where: Shitamachi Low City - Sensouji Temple | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2018-12-28 - 2014-08-08 | |
.**************************** Shitamachi Low City *****************************. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Sensouji Temple +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* The oldest and most famous temple Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Sensouji is approached through several blocks of paper-lanterned stalls. The scent of fried foods and the traditional clothing worn by the vendors gives the market a festive feel, and on pleasant days the market street leading up to the temple is jammed with people looking at dubiously handmade crafts, traditional Japanese clothing, and various religious trinkets. The temple itself is approached through a massive orange-red gate, which looks as though it was orphaned from a great castle, and sports a pair of hemp sandals large enough to hold a truck instead of a foot. The color scheme repeats inside, where a heaped pagoda flanks the main hall, their heavy pine-blue rooves contrasting with livid orange pillars to give a stately, otherworldly impression. The grounds are extensive, with wide open paved areas, and enough nooks and crannies to find some quiet even on busy days. Multiple smaller halls are devoted to various deities, and many small shrines and statues rest within a calm garden. There is even a separate Shinto shrine adjacent to the temple, also named Sensouji. As with a Shinto shrine, visitors are expected to wash their hands and mouth from a font before entering, and can purchase charms and fortunes within for a small donation. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Players +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Moooom, it's too hot!"
A little girl, pigtails barely the size of puffs either side of her head, wails injustice as she trots after her mother. They have done this for four years, now: to a girl of eight, that may as well be a tradition going back generations. They visit the temple, and on the way...
"It is awfully hot, isn't it?" Her mother says, as she squeezes her hand. "I know - let's get ice cream!" These are very important words; they have to be the same every time.
(On the third year there was an unseasonal cool snap during their visit, and it seemed a little strange to be wailing about the heat, but the little girl was insistent it be proper.)
There are tens of little stalls, set up along the way. Many of them serve traditional fare - rei shabu and yakisoba and kakigori and chocolate bananas - but there is one particular stall which deals in something a little more Western: Ice cream.
The flavours, of course, are many and varied: there's green tea and nori mixed in with the typical strawberry and chocolate fare. With the sun sitting high in the sky, not yet low enough to promise the shade of night, the ice cream stall receives plenty of attention from passers-by. Even the creatures enjoy this place: there are several dogs milling about the area, sniffing out scraps. One snuffles under the table of the ice cream stand, and yipes as it scurries off a moment later. The woman manning the stall lowers her ice cream scoop, shocked at how she managed to scare it away without even yelling.
All those snacks are a good reason to pass by the temple, even for people without an interest in religion or history - the bazaar before Sensouji is legendary for its treats. Not all of them are food, of course: there are plenty of souvenirs to be had here, as well. But it's the ice cream which this little girl is interested in, and nothing else.
"But what sort of ice cream should we get?" Her mother wonders, with a grand show of peering at the flavours on offer.
"Lime and vanilla!" The girl insists, immediately.
"Lime and vanilla," marvels her mother, "what a wonderful combination! Two lime and vanilla ice creams, thank you!"
The cones are all scooped out, and the little girl reaches up to take hers in two hands, eyes shining with mirth. She happily follows her mother on towards the temple, enjoying her ice cream.
On every year but today, it only lasted until they got to the massive temple gate. It was too delicious not to eat quickly, never mind the time limit of the sun sweltering overhead.
Today...
There's a little fuzzy shadow darting out between the girl and her mother, from underneath one stall to another. She staggers and stumbles, and - in greatest horror - watches the ice cream cone slip from her hands.
Tears well in her eyes as she wails, because she has ruined Sensouji ice cream. Her mother turns to attend to her immediately, and with her back turned, she can't see that amorphous thing creeping out again.
It circles the fallen ice cream cone... circles... and makes a gurgling noise of contentment before it falls on the thing entirely.
And then, by the entrance to Sensouji Temple, something terrible happens.
That shadow twists and wends about itself until it forms a great, maned beast, vaguely leonine in form with limbs which bend outward in an unsettlingly reptilian manner, large enough to tower over the stalls. Intricate green markings weave across its icy-white skin, and at points on its body green tendrils grow from it, just like the ones which surround its neck and whiplike tail. Long, long claws descend from its paws, which hold it aloft from the ground on four little nails.
The little girl shrieks, and everyone starts to run. Well - most people, anyway...
The Orphan roars triumph, and bounds towards the ice cream bazaar, great jaws coming down on the chocolate and swallowing it in one big gulp. Its three golden eyes close in momentary contentment - both the outer ones with squidlike pupils, and the middle, slit like a cat's.
This is no king of all beasts -- this Orphan is the King of All Ice-Cream. All cold things belong to it!
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into Youma Form The Ice-Cream King! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 8 opponents! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
[OOC] <GM> Mikoto Minagi says, "omake visual reference: https://i.imgur.com/BmosS0D.png
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
There has been something missing in little Steven Universe's life since the sudden translocation via magic to Tokyo. It was small, and was able to be held in one hand, and was necessary to this little boy's survival.
"He's a treat for your tummy!"
Steven was currently at a stall, showing a photo to the stand curator. A shake of the head, and Steven is off to the next ice cream spot. His flip-flops clap against the walkways and paths as he goes from stall to stall in some kind of ice cream frenzy. A very specific ice cream frenzy! But what if they weren't even in Japan at all?! Don't they import things?! This was an important import! An import of import, as it were!!!
"He left his family behind!" he says to another stall, showing a picture. Still no luck. "Maaan..." The child, seemingly defeated, finds a bench nearby to sit. He slumps down as he looks at his phone. They supposedly aren't made any more. He hasn't seen one sold since he got to Tokyo. A few finger swipes, and it shows a different product made by the same company. The boy visibly squints. "I don't like you," he says toward the phone, a rare negative emotion displayed by him.
A few vibrations snap Steven away from his phone, to raises his gaze to... "What," the Gem Child says, deadpanned voice a clear sign of his dislike already. He looks from his phone, to the creature, to his phone and back again. "Of all the things it had to be!" Steven yells, running toward it.
A magical, metallic TANG voices his opinion on the subject just as much as he does himself on arrival. "Hey you!" Steven calls toward the beast. "You are uh, you are not a great thing that is ruining ice cream for other people! You are already not a great ice cream! Kinda? Look just stop okay?!" he shouts toward it, Shield at the ready.
Is it even a Lion Licker? It is the wrong color, and has all those tendrils. Perhaps he is projecting out of frustration.
Eh, it is ruining people's day and eating ice cream stalls, does it really matter?
COMBAT: Steven Universe transforms into Serious Steven! COMBAT: Steven Universe has used AND STEVEN! on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 0 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's AND STEVEN!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Exhausted applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [None] has posed.
"How sweet of you..."
Adjusting her sunglasses, Kozue licks the ice cream cone that was just handed to her - and puts her opposite hand on the forearm of her date. "... I can't handle anything so sweet." She remarks, "It's a good thing I'm interested in something else more than the ice cream."
Her more circumspect date laughs, "Come on... we're at a festival..." A sheen of sweat adorns Kozue's shoulders over the thin strap of her tank top, her skinny jeans clinging to her hips. "What's your point?"
The young man's gaze lingered on her for a while - until the screaming started. Kozue turned to watch the orphan barrel into the ice cream stand and...
Slowly looks at her cone.
Her date did not freeze, as he began to heroically- "Don't worry Kozue-chan!" -drag her off the street, "I'll protect you!"
"Is that so?" The girl murmured in thought, before jabbing the ice cream cone right between her date's eyes. Yelping all screw-eyed from the turn of events, he suddenly found himself unable to find her date in the crowd. "Better start running." Declared a voice from an angle he couldn't see any longer. "Seems it has the appetite for sweet boys that I'm lacking."
-=-=-
A cord whirs through the street, a chain lacing through stall to stall before the weight ricochets off a lamp post, in a ricochet rebound that attempts to slide under the Orphan and back around in an attempt to encircle the orphan before a solid yank of the Element's chain tries to cause it to come crashing back into several stalls.
There's a girl wearing a gold half mask holding onto what looks like a small sickle at the other end of the chain. "Is it time for another one of you already?" The girl offers an almost languid sigh, "Well I suppose this tops how I intended to spend my afternoon."
COMBAT: Cassandra transforms into HiME Kozue! COMBAT: Kozue Kaoru has used Dominant Chord on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Kozue Kaoru has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 11 Fatigue damage from Cassandra's Dominant Chord, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Cassandra is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 7 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de l'Aurore [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Among the people here are a young woman in a sleeveless sun dress and a straw capelline hat. She is eating a lime sherbet with a spoon. Her purse is sitting near her - it's rather large for someone of her age, but perhaps she was charmed by it being authentic. The flap has been artfully spread out, and there is another lime sherbet tucked underneath the flap.
"Ahh... it is a little warm, isn't it~."
"At least it cools off at night, isn't that right?"
"It's true, it's true!"
A shadow falls upon the season. The great creature comes and leaps with gallivanting speed, devouring the ice cream stall almost-whole!
Nori Ankou pauses with her spoon in her mouth. She takes it out of her mouth, dragging it over her lower lip and points it towards the great monster several times as if struggling for words as a frown slowly seeps onto her face.
Something goes 'thump' on the bench next to her.
Nori reaches over. "You'll be alright?" she murmurs to her purpose.
A squeaky voice replies: "It's fine! I'll get the purse clear and then I'll come and monitor the situation!"
"Then as the star kisses the world - heaven let your light shine down"
Nori Ankou disappears.
La Sirene de l'Aurore on the other hand drifts in from the direction of the shrine proper. Her hair streams behind her, long black shading to pale and wispy green and blue that changes color subtly, following the motion of magnetic currents. Her dress is long-hemmed, pale violet and figure-hugging, with a suggestion of corsetry and her radiant Stellar Prism sitting in its habitual brooch cameo on her collarbone. Her eyes are pale as she gazes towards this creature. As she reaches up, adjusting the seven-gemmed hair pin over her left ear, she is about to say something -
But instead chains rattle instead.
La Sirene's lips, which have a perfect blue-to-green gradient going right to left, purse into a small pout. She puts a hand on her hip.
She raises the other hand to touch her chin with a violet-tipped fingernail. "... Do you recognize it?" the Siren of the Aurora asks Steven Universe, before she raises her voice slightly; "Back, Thing!" The prism at her collar gleams, sparkles - a languid and diaphanous prominence which happens to have a vast (if sluggishly shoving) force behind it radiates outwards! It feels vaguely like being in the sun.
Of course it's during the day so that's not that weird.
COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has used Shine On Through The Night on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 12 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de l'Aurore's Shine On Through The Night, taking 10 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de l'Aurore is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Diversion applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"You know what would be good on a nice, hot, sunny, warm summer's day like today? Ice cream."
This voice from the crowd comes not from the brown-haired schoolgirl - easily can tell she's a schoolgirl because of her Juuban summer uniform despite being on break - but from within her white handbag.
Think about it, Fumiko. You can have a deliciouss treat and keep nice and cool. And what you can't eat, you can give the rest to ssomeone you know~"
Fumiko sighs. "Ressi," she mutters quietly, "I can see through your clever master plan. If you want ice cream, just as-"
Maybe ice cream wasn't such a great idea at the moment. Not with a dessertcidal maniac monster on the loose! She reaches into the handbag and pulls out a bangle, as a snake-like Kwami peeks out. "There goes my ice cream," the pixie-like creature whines.
Fumiko places the bangle on her right arm and pushes Ressi back into the bag. "Hold on." She ducks behind an unoccupied stall and shouts "Bare fangs!" And just like that, a light from her bangle begins to spread. Her uniform replaces itself with a green scale-pattern bodysuit, a mask appears over her now-yellow eyes, and she twirls a suddenly-appearing closed parasol.
"Now... how should Serpentina Ruse handle this?" It was a question asked by the subject to nobody, as said Serpentina looks around. Yakisoba stand... close distance to banana stand... The twitch of a smile appears on her face. She turns her umbrella around, hooks a bowl of yakisoba with the handle, flinging it at the beast, and tries to sommersault to the chocolate banana stand for cover.
COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has used Whacky Soba on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Fumiko Inoue's Whacky Soba, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Ami enjoys Shrines - they're pretty, they offer the best part of being around people without necessarily needing to interact heavily - and, well, there's treats. Delicious, delicious treats. Sitting on a bench away from the crowds, Ami Mizuno finds herself daintily enjoying a mini-box of anmitsu and a good book. A small, crying, child, however, is enough to get the kind-hearted Senshi's attention.
Glancing up as book gets folded into bag, Ami's heart skips a beat. A creature like that... here! Ruining a special day for a child... well, that's terrible! Ami remembers her own special trips to the International Children's Library ...
One transformation in the shadows later, the blue-suited sailor of love and intelligence appears. Holding her hands together, she twists, releasing energy into a mist that sinks across the stalls. "Get the civilians out of here!" She calls out, seeing things fly through the night as she herself approaches the stalls cautiously.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Sabao Spray! on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Sailor Mercury's Sabao Spray!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Blind, Stun, and Trap applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
It takes a will of steel to go out into the heat during a blazing summer day. Usually it's better to hide from the merciless sun's rays in the safety of a loving AC, and with plenty of books and video games to wait until the sun has crossed the horizon. Unfortunately for Niramo Umokeshi, a loving note from her mother requesting her to get groceries waited for her on the kitchen counter. And with plenty of money set aside for only a few items...
Well, it's not like her mom would mind her getting something cold on the way home, right?
One arm laden with buldging groceries and her trusty bookbag bouncing against her hip, Niramo is panting softly as she makes her way towards Sensouji Temple. Not for the services of the temple, unfortunately. Unless something tragic is going on in her life, she isn't one to pray to the higher beings.
But the Temple did have relief from the heat, thanks to it's wondrous bazaar.
"Why...can't it be like Spring all year round? Or Fall? I could settle with both right now, i'm not picky..." With how she glistened in the setting sunlight, it's understandable if people thought Niramo was melting. She most certainly felt like it!
Sitting back in Niramo's bookbag, Takk can think of all the reasons why the seasons are the way they are, but...he has the slight impression Niramo isn't in the educational mood. It's always hard to tell with young humans.
The sounds of people screaming in fear brings Niramo back from her self-suffering to realize that everyone isn't screaming for the right reasons for ice cream. A tendriled...panther? Cat beast thing? Well, it was munching on a section of the ice cream bazaar, chocolate ice cream spilling from its' jaws. Niramo just stares up at the monster in shock and budding anger. "...that's not fair. That was supposed to be -my- ice cream!"
Looking around for a moment, Niramo runs behind a stall that sells novelty miko clothing and kau chim to deposits her groceries. Hopefully everything will stay cool long enough for take this beast out! "Takk-san, evil has struck, and it's after ice cream! Tail...sprout!"
Hopping over the stand, Sourisi starts to run towards the Panther Pastry...no, that's a baked good. 'I need to think of a better name for this!' The hunt of a new name doesn't stop Sourisi from flinging her tonfa through the still air, wind whistling from their passing. "Didn't anyone ever warn you about ice cream headaches?! Leave some for the rest of us!"
Trusting her tonfa to come back to her soon, blinks as a large bowl of soba goes flying at the creature. This is an interesting take on a food fight, but first things first. "Right! Anyone who's hiding, please run away from the temple! It's not safe for you to hide right now!"
COMBAT: Niramo Umokeshi transforms into Sourisi! COMBAT: Sourisi has used Crashing Tooth on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sourisi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to counter Sourisi's Crashing Tooth, taking 36 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Frostmane, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sourisi!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo Naoki is at Sensouji temple to perform bread related activity. And there are many breads to do it with-melon bread, bread stuffed with jam, breaded meats, very many types of bread. Endo has chosen curry bread on this particular day, the boy seated on one of the small stools outside of the nearby stall. There he's been content to nibble at his meal, in no particular hurry to finish as he watches the market crowds.
No hurry until the Orphan makes its entrance, at least. Not only is it impossible to miss, he's close enough to the ice cream stand in question to be in direct danger of being bowled past by the monster. Though, the crowd of fleeing people almost do that job for it. Endo wobbles in his seat, ducking down as people hustle past.
It's when the coast is clear that he ducks into a nearby stall. A moment later, after a flash of purple light, he emerges again.
And, now armed with ancient Belkan power, he begins his fearsome attack: he throws a half-eaten curry bun at it.
"Hey! Leave that ice cream alone!"
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Real Skills on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 6 Fatigue damage from Endo Naoki's Real Skills, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Quipped! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Many things are shouting at the King of All Ice-Cream; many more are shouting about it. The thing which is not quite a lion but perhaps might be mistaken for one in a dark alleyway doesn't seem bothered by Steven's words at all, but it's finished ruining the chocolate ice cream. It blinks as it straightens its head - it must be fifteen feet from the ground, upright like this - and looks down at the small boy making the most noise nearby.
If there seems to be any understanding there, he is imagining it: an Orphan is a beast which does not comprehend conversation or the conviction of a human heart.
Kozue's date finds himself tugged off by a concerned salaryman in the hustle and bustle, and that is what makes the Orphan turn its head. It smells the delicious scent of chill history, and it turns on nail-feet to approach - only to find itself entangled by a chain too tricky to follow. Like a Great Dane on a leash, it's difficult to lead anywhere, but it's also precariously balanced, and it stumbles into the ice cream stand as it tries to regain its footing.
Those nails shoot out, extending in length to catch itself in the ground. And to dissuade the owner of that chain, it raises one of its paws - and those claws lance out towards her instead of the concrete, threatening to turn her into a Kozue-kebab.
It shakes itself out as it jumps away from the chains, titter-totter on the ground, and the light of the sun graces it instead. It roars displeasure, barreling towards the shaved-ice kakigori stand to cool down. This is about when two things hit it: firstly, a bowl of yakisoba, which it crunches in its great jaws. It's cool and delicious, so naturally it also eats the next thing flying at it...
... which happens to be half a curry bun.
It stomps and snarls, and it is such a large thing that the earth trembles to feel it - not to mention Serpentina Ruse, Steven, and la Sirene de l'Aurore. Its tendrils lash wildly, but they fail to catch at a tonfa launched with precision, which ricochets off of its jaw and knocks one of those too-large teeth free.
Unfortunately, a second later there is a shimmer of light, and the fang returns as if it had never been destroyed at all.
Mercury's cautious approach comes in last, dousing the Orphan in a spray; it turns its broad head back and forth and cannot see anything at all for a moment. But its tendrils lash out around it as it crashes forward, brushing away bubbles and lingering light and the stains of yakisoba; they threaten to catch Endo as it passes him.
It roars again, and it shudders at the stalls; as it turns its head it looks to Sourisi and Sailor Mercury, and they may find it is not just an unpleasant noise, but far too loud of one.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Icy Claw on Cassandra. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on La Sirene de l'Aurore. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Defrosting on Endo Naoki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Sailor Mercury. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Sourisi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore fails to dodge Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Exhausted and Stagger applied to La Sirene de l'Aurore! COMBAT: Cassandra perfectly braces 32 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Icy Claw, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Cassandra's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue fails to dodge Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Fumiko Inoue! COMBAT: Sourisi braces 6 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Chilling Proclamation, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Sourisi! COMBAT: Endo Naoki cleanly braces 11 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Defrosting, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block and Parry abilities activate! Bind Break! All of Mikoto Minagi's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Sailor Mercury perfectly dodges 10 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Chilling Proclamation, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Mercury's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Steven Universe fails to brace Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Steven Universe!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Mercury prays her mist help. However, the beast reacts with a noise that makes her cry out, her hands coming up to her ears. Her headphones... thick, right? Made of a decent material that tends to absorb sound and other things... Her blue eyes widen, even as she takes off, using the nearby stall to catapult herself over to the ... baked goods?!
Mercury finds a pair of nice, reasonably dense, delicious muffins that she promptly grabs in both hands and shoves over her ears, even as she starts humming under her breath. The combination of ... item... density and her own noise help her combat the noise from the Ice ... Cream... Lion? pretty well.
It's definitely a Usagi solution.
"Hey! Over here!" Mercury aims for the mouth... and then starts throwing muffins with all the cheer of the genius whose worst score is in physical education.
They're probably really good muffins, at least.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Muffin Toss on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Sailor Mercury's Muffin Toss, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
That strange Lion-ish beast finally stops rampaging around after eating that whole ice cream stall, or at least, most of it. "Y... Yeah! You heard me!" Steven shots, unsure now if yelling at this thing really does much of anything. Can it even hear him?
A look to his side, a lady in a gorgeous outfit addresses him. "Ah. Not really? It looks kinda like an ice cream treat I don't like, but otherwise, no idea!" And with l'Aurore's appearance, so do other magical inclined folk! Including some he knows, as always, here to save the day!
The Covenant of Style, as always, there to stop evil! Such as... taking ice cream?
The more he thinks about this creature, the more his plans fall apart. Sorta like melting ice cream.
...Anyway.
Others begin to launch their attack, and the beast reacts, creating tremors that take Steven's feet out from under him, falling on his back flat, taking the wind out of him. "Oof!" comes from the boy, a painful exhalation of air.
A few wheezes, and the boy makes it back to his feet, fumbling for his shield that clanged to the floor, a few pink sparks flashing from contact with the walkway. "Why is it so angry?! Ice cream makes people happy! Is it lactose intolerant?!"
HOlding the shield at the edge, Steven raises it high and over his back, before lurching forward, and with a pair of steps, throws it toward the Orphan vertically, spinning at a high velocity, it kicks once, twice off the ground, kicking up pink sparks from impact with stone, the second time gaining some air and heading right for the creature at a high speed!
"It looks like it just wants the ice cream! Maybe we can bait it?!" he yells to everyone. Hey, it was an idea! Maybe lure it away somewhere safe.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Throw Shield on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Steven Universe's Throw Shield, taking 37 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Cassandra [None] has posed.
Cassandra is not a typical presence during such fights, mostly she leaves it up to other Mahou Shoujo. It is simply that she cannot be bothered, and while others are concerned with the civilians... well she could care less about their plight.
"Took you long enough." She remarks almost snidely as the others arrive on scene, yet thats the same moment the creature points its paw up at her. Quickly whipping the chain up and tugging it taut, she throws the aim off just enough to swipe at the air savagely with her sickle, cutting the launched claws into shards.
They pepper the area behind her with a wince, as her pivoting motion reveals the crimson brand on her shoulder.
Using the distraction of a thrown curry bun, she decides to dematerialize her Element, which then reappears back into her hands. "Karepan? Really?" She says with a glance Endo's way, "That felt like a better idea than using your sword?"
Fortunately the Sabao spray like mist then covers the battlefield. "It's an Orphan." Cassandra says in response to both La Sirene and Steven. "A little strategy is nice but don't try to make sense of it."
-and one can hear the tip tap of her pumps moving in an encircling flank before she charges, and drops down into a slide.
From below, she attempts to stab it into the Orphan's belly just long enough for her momentum to drag it further in. "Just beat it to death and move on with your life until the next one shows up kids."
COMBAT: Cassandra has used Staccato on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Cassandra has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to counter Cassandra's Staccato, taking 38 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Bite of Winter, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Cassandra!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Sourisi lets out a soft cheer as her tonfa fly into battle and disrupts the icy tendrils from latching onto her fellow magical defenders, and even managed to crack off a massive tooth. "I hope that wasn't your sweet tooth!" ...only for the joy she felt from her impromto dentistry vanish as suddendly as the panther king restores his tooth. "...oh, so you're that one simple trick all the dentist hate." It can eat massive amounts of ice cream and doesn't have to worry about cavities? So not fair.
That cooling spray from the Sailor Senshi cools the air, and the Miraculous mouse ninja gives a quick smile towards Sailor Mercury. "You have to be very popular during the summert-AAAH!" Taking her eyes off the ice beast was a novice mistake, and Sourisi's ears are ringing and muting everything around her. Shaking her head does seem to help, but that was like nails on a chalkboard! This beast has it all. "Owwww, you know, screaming in my ears is a terrible way to ask for attention!"
Catching her boomeranging tonfa as they fly through the air, Sourisi starts to rush towards the beast, her eyes focusing on the chain for the moment. It seems to be working, but what if they had more chains...? Well, time to see if someone doesn't mind helping with a little imprompto plan! But...well, it might help if everyone was back up on their feet.
Diverting her course from the ice beast, Sourisi goes to help La Sirene up, though honestly surprised by just how pretty she was up close. "Hey, are you okay? I mean, we had a rough patch there, but there's quite a lot of people who's here to fight this thing. Let's beat it up and show that summer treats are better shared!"
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Heartfelt Pledge on La Sirene de l'Aurore. COMBAT: Sourisi has finished attacking. COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore accepts Sourisi's Heartfelt Pledge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de l'Aurore is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de l'Aurore [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Others come in - serpent, Mercury, Device-bearer - it's really all quite alchemical, la Sirene thinks with a purse of her lips, but then the real magic happens. In this case that magic takes the form of a roar that reaches deep within the auroral body of la Sirene and -
And well, you see, la Sirene has a certain weakness now when she's bearing the light of the stellar prism. She isn't touching the ground. That can be a boon... but for now it is a bane, for the force of that roar abruptly and without preamble pushes her back so far she technically enters the temple ground!
Or at least some wood. Bowled over, she makes a strange musical noise before a hand comes towards her. La Sirene travels through several hues of purple and pink before she reaches an upright posture and blue-green once again, saying to Sourisi with a soft breath, "Thank you - Oh, goodness, how horrible." Her eyes turn back out towards the creature -
Which Cassandra explains to them.
"To become an orphan... what a tragedy," la Sirene muses, touching her chin again. "But to lash out like this... Anger is forgivable but to visit that anger onto others only distorts the cycle of sorrow itself. I can't forgive it!" Her eyes widen.
To Sourisi, la Sirene says, "Everyone has their own tastes... but we all share in the experience of the heat and its relief. What do you like best? I enjoy the lime - I can't quite handle most ice cream, not too much, anyway... milk does not agree with me..."
Is this really the time to editorialize about your dietary quirks, la Sirene de l'Aurore!?
Except...
The sun seems to flicker...!
It's a trick, really, something with etheric fields or the magnetic distortion... swamp gas, they say. At night it's far more spectacular, but with a single bright point in the sky, it's *easier* to do in the day. The light dims a bit for everyone else, as if a cloud passed over the sky.
Then it brights right around the front of the Orphan, with a ghostly hint of a rising chord!
"I call that the Channel of Photon," la Sirene tells Sourisi. "What do you think?"
COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has used Abyssal Vision on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi neatly dodges 20 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de l'Aurore's Abyssal Vision, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Blind and Tangle applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo lets out a cry of alarm as tendrils lash toward him, the boy raises his oversized weapon in front of him like a shield. It works vaguely the same way-though the force of the blow is still enough to lift him from his feet and send him rolling across the market street.
"Yaaa, it's really making a mess." The boy rights himself, flopping back onto his feet and taking a quick scan of the area. Cassandra's words make him pauses, his lips thinning into a sheepish line. "I wanted to get it's attention" It did not work out as planned.
Perhaps he takes her criticisms to heart, because this time he does use the sword. The boy takes a running leap toward the back of the Orphan, hands bringing the massive blade up in a swing toward it's white hide.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Asteroid Eilen on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi decisively counters 33 Fatigue damage from Endo Naoki's Asteroid Eilen, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Icy Claw, partially gets through, doing 27 Fatigue damage to Endo Naoki! Stagger applied to Endo Naoki!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Direct hit! Yakisoba reaches its target... and is eaten. "Of course." Soon afterwards, Serpentina Ruse takes note of the next flying food's effect. "Gluten allergies? What was in that bread- ahh!"
Even with the cover of the stand, Serpentina was not safe from a quake attack. She tries to roll and avoid it, but it was too much, causing her to tumble ungracefully. As she gets to her feet, she thinks about flinging more food at the beast... then Steven mentions luring it away. With Cassandra's brutal advice, Serpentina feels uneasy about the fight, and flings the chocolate bananas NEAR but not AT the beast. She then opens her parasol at the Orphan beyond what you're supposed to, inverting it and blowing a burst of air at it while she slides back from the force. "Sorry... but you shouldn't be stealing from kids and ruining ice cream for everyone. Go to the store and buy it or something."
COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has used Wind Wall on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to dodge Fumiko Inoue's Wind Wall, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The Orphan's claws shatter like a thousand fragile little icicles as Cassandra wards away the attack... but more grow in a moment later, and it's able to put its paw to ground again without touching the earth at all. It seems as if this creature abjures minor grievances without a single care.
It does not know what 'over here' means, and Sailor Mercury is far enough away that it doesn't have any urge to address her. But a muffin catches its attention as it impacts with the fleshy tendrils which make up its mane - it's a close enough hit to its mouth - and it turns to chomp up the next two which come sailing in.
But they're not cold snacks, and there's no legacy to them, and so the Orphan shakes its head with a whuff of discontent. Tastes bad! It bounds forward towards the muffin stand, and licks Sailor Mercury with a tongue made of a thousand stinging nettles. Monster cat tongues are so much worse than sandpaper.
It doesn't know why Steven has such animosity - though certainly it would chomp up his Cookie Cats with the greatest satisfaction were there any to be had. Instead it eats a shield - which is to say it clobbers into its chest, pulling up its head as it rears back in protest. Here is where Cassandra slides through, her sickle-blade catching at its belly, carving a long line which floods with shimmering light. It whirls to chomp at her, but even a HiME who cares little for defending the innocent has more than enough experience with Orphans to predict its movements, and she's already gone. It lashes out at Cassandra with the tendrils of its tail without even looking back - because its gaze is focused on Steven, who earns a piercing strike with those too-long claws.
La Sirene speaks of tragedy but it is the glare of the light which the Orphan recognises. It growls and moves away, only for the magnificent display to follow. Slowly it begins to speed up, until it is running for the shade. The wind-wall which Serpentina summons buffets its attempts to get out of the limelight, blowing it back into the aurora - and right into the path of Endo Naoki.
It doesn't care much for what anyone is saying, but it can hear them, and when it hears someone on swift approach it whirls to face him. If Endo wanted the Orphan's attention, he has it - a claw lashing out to catch against the broad edge of Fallen Stern. Two of the lengthy nails are carved through as he plows forward, but two more escape the black blade to lance so close by his shoulder he might be glad his hair is too short to be given an impromptu haircut. His sword arrives at the Orphan to cleave through, taking that offending leg clean off...
... but this, too, is fixed in shimmering light. The Orphan roars irritation, and bites at the sword which is causing such annoyance - and the boy beyond it. This done, it leaps, and when it impacts the ground - too close to Serpentina and Sourisi and la Sirene to be ignored - it quakes with its weight.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Has A Flavour? on Sailor Mercury. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Frostmane on Cassandra. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Icy Claw on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Bite of Winter on Endo Naoki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on Sourisi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Rumble At The Rink on La Sirene de l'Aurore. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cassandra perfectly counters 25 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Frostmane, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Cassandra's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Cassandra's counterattack, Subito Sforzando, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: Sailor Mercury partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Has A Flavour?, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury is Quipped! Sailor Mercury's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue braces 9 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Exhausted and Stagger applied to Fumiko Inoue! COMBAT: Sourisi neatly dodges 16 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Sourisi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Exhausted and Stagger applied to Sourisi! COMBAT: Steven Universe decisively counters 27 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Icy Claw, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Steven Universe! COMBAT: Steven Universe's counterattack, Bubble Shield, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore counters 5 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Rumble At The Rink, taking 15 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de l'Aurore's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Exhausted applied to La Sirene de l'Aurore! COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: Endo Naoki fails to counter Mikoto Minagi's Bite of Winter, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! COMBAT: Endo Naoki's counterattack, Asteroid Eilen, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Steven lands that shield blow on the Orphan. It connects, with great force, then sorta slides off its strange textured hide. This could be harder than it looks.
He looks to the side toward Cassandra, hearing her way of dealing with the creature. He grimaces toward he casual dismissal of killing it and moving on. It does need to be stopped, but... So violently?
la Sirene gets knocked around a bit mroe than normal-- it looks like she is floating! She had nothing to push against. "You okay?!" he calls to her. She seems alright, but that was quite a blow!
The Orphan makes its rebuttal in the form of incredibly long claws! "Eep!" squeaks Seteven putting both of his hands up and outward toward it, a roseate bubble springing to life in the form of a quickly blooming flower. The coming impact causes Steven to fall backward within his own defenses, as the claws threaten to punchture the bubble! "Uh, uhhhhh!" he looks around for some possible plan!
Though it quickly mvoes on to deal with other, more accessible targets, it gives him an idea!
Steven begins to roll his shield toward the creature, like a hamster in a ball! "Heeeey! I dare you to do that again!" he yells at the Orphan, attempting to distract it from others. The Bubble may not hold up to another attack, but it doesn't need to.
Because the next time it tries to attack Steven, he will hold his hand outward and concentrate. The bubble will expand outward, and pop.
Loudly. Violently.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Repelling Shield on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to counter Steven Universe's Repelling Shield, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Bite of Winter, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Steven Universe!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Does Mercury have a flavor? She do! A nice, refreshing, cool river sort of taste, clearly. Mercury is licked and while this is both painful due to the needlelike tongue it's also... you know, better than getting eaten? Which really, really could have happened just now.
Wiping her face off with one gloved hand, she grimaces as she flicks Ice Cream Lion drool off of her fingers afterwards, her other hand coming up to touch a specific erring on her left side. This is an Orphan, but there's something, some sort of trick, she's sure - it didn't seem to like her tossed muffins, sure, but it certainly also seems to have a taste for things.
"Come, tell me... what really is your favorite flavor?" Mercury murmurs as she starts examining the Orphan much more closely.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Mercury Goggle on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi cleanly braces 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Mercury's Mercury Goggle, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Analysis performed by Sailor Mercury! Diversion and Exhausted applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Cassandra [None] has posed.
"Don't feel pity for it! It's just a name!" Cassandra calls to La Sirene as she is already sailing past the creature. However then its tail comes up, she swings her around her chain from her position on the ground, sending the weight into an intercept course.
It's only with sheer brutality that she manages to redirect the frozen tail into smashing into the ground, showering her with a diamond dust spray.
"I THINK WE HAVE ITS ATTENTION!" She calls as she scrambles off the ground into a standing position, yanking her chain back her way. The weight bounces and finally ends up in a roll by her feet as it bounces back.
The bemasked HiME pants, considering their situation... then simply decides. "You know what? I haven't let her out for fun in ages." Tossing her short hair, she looks over her shoulder and winks at the other Mahou Shoujo through her mask... before stating... "Cassandra."
Her name? What is that going to d-
Except her image doubles, and within a sudden geyser of water is two crimson eyes. The water doesn't so much as fall back to the ground, as it settles droplet by droplet in the air. The silhouette of an armored swan takes form, light gleaming off of each hovering droplet and armor plating both.
Child glares down Orphan for a moment, as the water droplets are twisted, coalescing like she were weaving a braid... into a long tendril not unlike that of a whip. "This is how you deal with orphans."
It flows around her chaotically, before she sends it out, again and again like a whip. Trying to catch and tear at the orphan's limbs. Not so much to restrain - but to maul. Like some fickle ocean creature that was simply playing with its prey. The way she figures - even if it freezes it, it'll still eat some payback anyhow in the recoil.
"You don't lecture them." She says, and perhaps La Sirene can feel her eyes on them more than the others - though Serpentina perhaps too.
The HiME alights atop her Child. Placing a hand to her Child's armored neck.
"You crush them. If you want to be more elegant about it that's fine. I'm more attracted to raw force myself."
COMBAT: Cassandra transforms into Kozue and Cassandra! COMBAT: Cassandra has used Rusalnaya Nedelja on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Cassandra has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 21 Fatigue damage from Cassandra's Rusalnaya Nedelja, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cassandra is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Cripple applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Cassandra has Sourisi blinking a few times at her before looking towards the ice panther and just shaking her head. An Orphan, a Youma, an Akuma Villain...they're a lot alike to her, except this one apparently lost its' parents? "So don't overthink it, then? Got it!"
Maybe she would know more about all the different monsters if she bothered to listen to Takk's lectures fully.
The question from the graceful floating maiden has Sourisi nonplussed. It's...the middle of a fight, but she has been wondering what flavors it was made out of... "W-well, i'm actually a fan of strawberry cheesecake ice cream, but if you are lactose-intolerant, I know the ice cream at the Game Center Crown Arcade sometimes has kosher ice cream!"
The beam of light that la Sirene creates has the miraculous ninja glance down at her tonfa. "I wish I could do magic like that, honestly. As much as I love my tonfa, they don't exactly stand out in battle, you know?"
This sounds like a common complaint of Sourisi, but it's not style that counts in battle!
La Sirene's beam of light acts like a natural spotlight, and it's clear when the main actor is moving around on the stage! Hopping up on top of a stall, a mouse takes flight through the air just in the nick of time to miss the worst of the pounce-quake. "A little heavy there, Panther-san. Maybe you should go on a diet?" Can a monster even go on a diet?...that...might be a bit too much effort to try to convince a evil monster to do. Best to just beat it up instead!
Cassandra seems to have the same idea, and that massive swan of her has the mouse ninja taking a moment to just stand back in watch. Her 'whip' is much too chaotic for Sourisi to jump in as well. "As long as you don't try that on an Akumaizied Villian, that should work!"
Sourisi changes as course as soon as she lands on another stall and leaps away, tonfa coming up in hand. The chain idea might be a bust now, but if they beat it up into a lump...it's hard to argue against that! "No worries though, I think I know of a quick fix. Just have to add a few lumps!" In a mirror of the Orphan's own pounce, Sourisi leaps at the Orphan and starts swinging away with her tonfa at anything in reach!
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Mouse Flurry on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sourisi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi counters 14 Fatigue damage from Sourisi's Mouse Flurry, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Sourisi is Psyched! Mikoto Minagi's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Bite of Winter, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sourisi!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de l'Aurore [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Kosher ice cream? Would that make a difference?" la Sirene asks Sourisi curiously. "I am used to things with goats - where I am from, we don't have cows, except as guests."
"I'm alright, I'm alright," la Sirene says to Steven then. After a moment, she pauses, pursing her lips as she weighs what Steven was saying. Why is he upset here? He seems unusually agitated from la Sirene's perspective, but perhaps he has his reasons. Her eyes turn back to the great beast -
Her left hand comes up, her right hand windmilling around as she raises her voice. "Les Mysteres --"
R O A R
"Come!"
Silver-threaded with particolored pastel, the burst of light ripples out from la Sirene's left hand, colliding with the wave of sound and SPLATTERING outwards! The touch of the light is harmless but it seems to be a genuine, tingly-feeling liquid to the touch before it evaporates in the atmosphere of Earth, and la Sirene grimaces afterwards. "Akumatization?" she asks Sourisi, before her attention snaps back to Cassandra.
La Sirene pouts again, but seems to take the words of Cassandra's mistress to heart.
Exhaling, she twists her hands round, forking her fingers as if to ward off the evil eye. The Prism at her chest sparkles and sends streaking rays of light as she floats in a widdershins loop, as if to try and flank the thing out. The intensity of these is growing, even as she trails gorgeous light...!
COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has used Carbonado Kaleidoscope on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 16 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de l'Aurore's Carbonado Kaleidoscope, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Stagger applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Everyone seems to be distracting the Orphan from everyone else. Serpentina ponders the wild actions of the beast. Was there no rhyme or reason as Cassandra hints? Or does it have something it needs?
Serpentina has something SHE needs. To get out of the way. Learning from her dodging mistake last time, she only performs a simple back jump and sticks the pointed end of the umbrella into the ground to maintain balance. The effort takes a lot out of her, but she is still able to stand at least. She then uses the grounded parasol to swing herself around and after a few quick rotations kick at the beast and jump back, yanking her 'weapon' out of the ground.
At the HiME's lecture against lectures - or at least at one of them - Serpentina glares back. She's much too bloodthirsty for her tastes. "Who cares what you're attracted to," she hisses, "we're not trying to date you." However, she might have a point, as everyone else seems to be attacking with a decent amount of fervor. Is this really not a living being? Is it just some kind of construct made from evil?
Either way, it still makes her a bit uneasy.
COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has used Spinny Kick on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Fumiko Inoue's Spinny Kick, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Fumiko Inoue is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo can't argue, he does seem to have the Orphan's attention. The boy's teeth clench in pain as claws rake across his barrier jacket. His efforts to discourage the monster from taking a bite out of him don't go terribly well, the dark blade shunted aside by gigantic teeth.
Endo stumbles backward, nearly toppling into an abandoned stall of tourist trinkets. It takes a moment for him to regain his balance, and the creature is leaping up and away by the time he does.
That doesn't stop him, though. The boy makes a leap of his own in pursuit, still heaving that huge sword along with him. This time he comes from above, diving down, attempting to sink the weapon into the side of the orphan with a cry of effort.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Asteroid Eilen on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Endo Naoki's Asteroid Eilen, taking 45 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Yelling does little to attract the King of all Ice-Cream's attention - but proximity works well enough. Steven rolls towards the Orphan in his bubble, and it sets upon him, gnawing on the bubble with its great jaws. It would be incredibly tasty, if it could just get its teeth into it. And perhaps at first it seems to work -
- except it works too well -
- and the shield explodes in its mouth in a way which does very little for its flavour. It howls with pain as it shakes its head, staggering back on teeter-tottering steps. Its tendrils lash about itself, threatening to catch Steven as they try and clear this bad taste from itself.
This exchange, observed by Sailor Mercury, tells her everything she needs to know in her overhead display: there is a reason this Orphan is going after everything cool on a hot Summer's day. It's because those cold treats mean something, to the many people of Tokyo. It might be easy to call such a thing jealousy - but the only thing to it is desire. It wants to take these things away from the boys and girls who so value them. It wants them for itself. It wants, and wants, and wants, and there is no reasoning with it at all.
It's something which the HiME know well. Cassandra screams that they have its attention as she slams her chain against its lashing tail, and as she summons her Child it is certainly true. The lumbering consideration of the Orphan turns sharp in an instant as it whips its head towards the Child, snarling challenge. Tendrils catch at the whip as it flenses in, but Cassandra never meant to entangle it, and again and again bits of the Orphan are shaved away. One of those tendrils manages to escape the storm, though, and it extends to lash heavily against the HiME and her Child.
Unfortunately, Sourisi's taunts mean little to the Orphan. Her tonfa are much more effective at getting its attention, and it turns to meet her as she descends like a meteor, biting at those tonfa which strike. But she's too quick to be caught in those big jaws, and she peppers plenty of hits onto it while its tendrils are occupied with Cassandra.
It's a strategy which Serpentina and Endo also share. Serpentina comes in to kick at its side, and it has no tendrils left to abjure her; at its other flank, Endo careens down blade-first, carving a long line through the place its ribcage ought to be. There's nothing in the hole, until light floods it, slower this time.
It roars as as it shakes itself violently, as if to overwhelm Serpentina and Endo and Niramo with its noise. It charges away from their combined assault - threatening to run down Sailor Mercury with its precarious nail-claws.
And that is when les Mysteres come. It staggers from the brush of the light against it as it shakes its head to dismiss the brightness, and turns its attentions to the auroral girl. It snaps at her in mid-air - perhaps it must leap up to do so, but it is rather large, and has the advantage of feet which are as high up off the ground as it could ever want to be. Perhaps it is greedy enough to eat the sun. Perhaps greed is the wrong word.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Defrosting on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Frostmane on Cassandra. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Sourisi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Endo Naoki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Icy Claw on Sailor Mercury. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Bite of Winter on La Sirene de l'Aurore. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Defrosting on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Frostmane on Cassandra. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Sourisi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Chilling Proclamation on Endo Naoki. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Icy Claw on Sailor Mercury. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Bite of Winter on La Sirene de l'Aurore. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Cassandra braces 11 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Frostmane, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cassandra's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore braces 11 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Bite of Winter, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! La Sirene de l'Aurore's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Sailor Mercury fails to dodge Mikoto Minagi's Icy Claw, taking 47 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to Sailor Mercury! COMBAT: Sourisi dodges 4 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Chilling Proclamation, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Sourisi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stun applied to Sourisi! COMBAT: Steven Universe perfectly braces 9 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Defrosting, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Steven Universe's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Endo Naoki braces 7 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Chilling Proclamation, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue fails to dodge Mikoto Minagi's Chilling Proclamation, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Fumiko Inoue!
<Pose Tracker> Cassandra [None] has posed.
"Ara..." Cassandra declares at Serpentina's statement of not wanting to date her. "And here I thought we were getting along. What's your type then?"
Cassandra offers this sorta savage smile as she guesses ahead of time, "The mouse? I guess I understand the thought of only wanting to date someone you can devour alive..."
The Swan Child attacks with an almost sadistic glee, and when the Orphan attacks back with an ice tendril of its own, she crosses her wing tips in front of herself, the ice shattering in a spray that rocks her backwards.
However... afterwards, the child uncrosses its wings with a savageness, the gleam in its eyes seemingly appreciating the idea of an Orphan that fights back - and fights back within its realm no less.
"No promises mouse girl." Cassandra says, as she emphasizes her position in her own 'ship' of Serpent and Mouse. The fact is that she doesn't know what an Akuma is, truly. "Besides... are you sure this wouldn't be effective against one of your... Akuma?"
The Swan raises its wings, and water seeps out of the ground around it, as if it were bringing it out of its environs, from beneath the city from water lines and hydrants - or perhaps summoning it from the air itself.
The Child then shifts a wing in a directional motion, its tip pointed at the frost orphan, and the water flows over in a wave, attempting to smother it, the water not falling on the ground, but simply warping - twisting around in an attempt to encase it underwater above ground. "Sailor Mercury - if you want to borrow some of Cass' water..." The HiME gives her this smug smile, "...well, she doesn't mind sharing."
Assuming it does not get away in time, the globe distorts light around it, refracting the image in an aquamarine waves of light, before the water contracts - again - and again. It is increasing the pressure gradually, until it not unlike that of the deepest depths of the ocean.
The globe of water then bursts outwards after, explosively, as the Child releases its control... the pressure must alleviate itself somehow after all.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Cassandra has used The Oceanides on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Cassandra has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Cassandra's Finisher, The Oceanides, taking 214 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Information flashes before Mercurys' eyes. Her blue eyes widen in surprise, but sudden understanding. This focus on what she's learned rather than the Lion itself, however, is to her own painful downfall, as those icy claws sink deep into her. "Ahhh!" She cries out, biting her bottom lip before she vaults backwards out of its' grip, shuddering, before she goes back to her Goggle.
A small supercomputer - the one she always has - appears briefly in Mercury's grip, before she taps her earring again. "I think we have it nearly about halfway down! It might start attacking harder and stronger as a result - we have less general endurance, I think, seperately..." Mercury shakes her head. "- Yet that doesn't mean give up! There's more than enough of us, that if we keep working together, we can do this!"
Ami-Mercury is a strong believer in teamwork. "Also, it's after all the cold stuff! It's why it's avoiding stuff like the baked goods! It's trying to ... take them from us... it's greed, in its' purest form! It doesn't want us - it doesn't want the children to be happy!"
"Now that's a rude thing!"
Mercury shifts her weight, facing down the Ice Cream Lion, her arms crossed. "It's up to us to show you the way! Double Sabao Spray Freezing!" The energy gathering in front of her suddenly bursts out in a surprisingly quick burst of bubbles heading straight for the Ice Cream Lion.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Double Sabao Spray Freezing on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Sailor Mercury's Double Sabao Spray Freezing, taking 56 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Maybe this creature is different from others fought. It could be just a malignant force that has to be dispersed. The masked lady seems to know a lot more about them than everyone else, for certain. And then she summons... something big. "Ohhhh please say that is with us!" he remarks from in his bubble. It is soon answered that yes, it is. It answers with a water whip.
A nod to la Sirene. And he sure does seem perturbed! For multiple reasons, most of which stem from the reasoning of a kid his age. Such as 'this creature reminds him of an ice cream that was made to replace his favorite ice cream'. Sounds like elementary school logic.
THe bubble strategy works! The Orphan is drawn to him, and in a trade of blows, Steven comes out on top. A few quick breathes come as his Shield is summoned to him again, and slams it down on the ground to anchor it as tendrils come at him. He angles the shield and crouches, deflecting them away from the boy.
It takes him a second to return to his feet-- the boy seems winded rather quickly. Using his abilities seem to tax him. But even as it rampages and thrashes, the boy sees another tendril coming in, as everyone readies their devastating attacks to let the creature truly have it, with the announcement from Sailor Mercury of what it is.
A tuck and roll, and Steven is facing the creature. A tap of the inside of his shield with a finger causes the outside front to almost blur, or ripple. the Gem Child moves in to the way of the tendril to block on purpose, and on connecting, a pealing note rolls out from the shield, like thunder from an approaching storm.
It sounds and feels like someone struck a giant gong, though only where the shield is pointing is where it is truly felt. Right at the Orphan.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Reverb Shield on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi braces 14 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's Reverb Shield, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting! Mikoto Minagi's Block ability activates! Stagger applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo is a bit happier with this third attack. At least until the beast starts to shriek, and charge, and then he's having a very hard time staying on top of it. There's a lot of flailing that happens, Endo wagging back and forth before he's thrown to the stones below.
""Yaa, this thing" At least this time the knight's landed mostly on his feet. Sailor Mercury gives her analysis, and Endo continues: "It's really too much!" How rude can a thing be?
But she's right, it's all about teamwork. And he's going to chip in too!
Triangular runes flare to life around his weapon, the sword beginning to burn with purple light as energy gathers around it. He focuses-and then he cuts. One sharp, horizontal slash. An arc of energy explodes outward in response, the arc of violet fire tearing through the market street and toward the leaping Orphan.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Meteor Storm on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Endo Naoki's Meteor Storm, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de l'Aurore [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The creature leaps for her and la Sirene breathes out, closes her eyes, and leans back. Accepting her fate!?
No. Remember earlier. Remember when she was blown back by the earlier scream. She raises up her arms as if to embrace the great creature and she does suck in her gut just as the huge paw swipes down --
-- On the bench back, having secreted his lair, Batiste leaps up, sees the monster lunge for de l'Aurore, sees her fly backwards, and faints dead away. He topples back and lands in the purse, fortunately in a cushion... --
-- And then she backs off, away from the creature. Breathing heavily, glowing, la Sirene drifts in a wide spiral, feet rising up to her apparent maximum cruising altitude - perhaps a meter off the ground. She shifts one foot to avoid knocking over something on the counter of one of the few surviving stalls, and she loops round away from Cassandra's oceanic crescendo to say to her, "Do you remember what you said, my swan-maid friend?"
La Sirene looks towards the creature. She reaches up to smooth her hair -- where her hair pin is missing.
"I like it when these things are elegant," she explains, stretching out her right arm.
There is another one of those senses of a sound, this one more of a choral voice as the wispy light that trails behind her hair and her gown rises up into an aura around her, revealing perhaps that there was light there all along, simply too dim to see. La Sirene de l'Aurore illuminates, the telluric energy of this wounded yet beautiful world rising up through her - following the arc of her hand -
And discharging in a tremendous sheet of rippling, curtain-like light in every hue between pink and green and blue at once, the light itself swirling and rising up into the sky, casting a delightful glow over every antenna and stray electrical wire throughout half of the traditional district!
Other than that sense of a triumphant swell, half-heard in the distance, there is no sound... but for the Orphan, it might as well be a thunderbolt from the heavens!
For la Sirene's hairpin - with its seven sister diamonds, glossy black sparkles of fabulous accent - is currently tucked into the creature's fur, right behind its left ear.
And that is where this coronal discharge will go!
COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene de l'Aurore has used Saturday's Delight on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: La Sirene de l'Aurore has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace La Sirene de l'Aurore's Finisher, Saturday's Delight, taking 156 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Sourisi's agility has her flying over a snapping beast head and goes to town with her tonfa, thankfully not at all bothered by the tendrils thanks to Cassandra and her whip. And the taunts were more a bad habit she's picked up from another Miraculous user, the same with the puns. Unfortunately, she's flung off the Orphan as it shakes itself free of her, causing her to tumble to the ground and then it roars again! Why does it want to make this mouse think she's in a church bell? "I know you don't like my dieting tips, but you don't have to be so rude about it!"
The ringing finally stops and Sourisi can hear properly again...just in time to hear Cassandra's question about the Akuma. "Um, well they're people who's possessed by an evil Miraculous User and causes mischief, but they're still innocent people at the core. If they're using an item, that's usually what you need to destroy to break them out of his control!" See, totally different from Orphans...kinda.
But the mention of a snake devouring a mouse has the Miraculous Ninja looking around wildly around her, not sure if she missed some sort of giant ice cream viper. "What?! But i'm too cute to be eaten!" Completely missing the dating comment and something being the last thing on her mind, Sourisi finally spots the snake-...and realizes it's someone in a snake-themed costume.
Sourisi may have been in too much of a tunnel vision over the destruction of ice cream to realize there was another Miraculous User on the field besides Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"...ooh. Oh! Hey there!" Running over to Serpentina, this is one mouse who cheerfully runs up to the snake with a large smile on her face. Wait until Ladybug and Chat Noir hear about this! "I'm Sourisi, and glad to meet another defender of ice cream! Um...in case you were worried, this is a monster that isn't an Akuma Villain, it's just a 'magical construct of negative emotions.'"
This last part sounds like a well-heard quote and a bad impression rolled into one.
"So, that means to go wild! If you got any questions, i'll do my best to answer after we finish this Orphan thingy, okay?" Motioning back towards the Not-Nice Cream Panther, Sourisi gives Serpentina one of her brightest smiles. "Give it your best shot, and let's show the others how it's done! Whenever you're ready!"
Giving Serpentina a quick thumbs up, Sourisi waits for her signal before breaking out into a sprint to build up speed, then leaping up into the air. Clawed boots start to glow a bright red, a shining beacon of the end of this show. "Sorry, but I think you're past your expiration date! Primal Crazy Rodent!"
Sourisi hangs in the air for just a moment before launching diagonally downwards, a missile in the name of ice cream!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sourisi has started a combo targeting Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Cassandra's return-fire quip causes Serpentina Ruse to blush slightly, though she also grins a mischievous smile. Once Sourisi runs up to her, she'd also be able to see that grin. "Nice to meet you Sourisi. I'm Serpentina. And... that is really a relief to hear." The smile becomes more relieved and sincere. "I don't have to worry then."
Time for teamwork with another Miraculous user? Serpentina gives the thumbs-up right back, pointing the parasol one-handed at the ferocious feline. Bending down then kicking off with a twist, she turns into a whirling umbrella drill aimed in tangent with Sourisi at the poor kitty! "FINAL FANG!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fumiko Inoue has joined the combo started by Sourisi! COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sourisi and Fumiko Inoue have used Combo: Miraculous Style: Yin & Yang, composed of Primal Crazy Rodent and Whirling Parasol Top, on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Sourisi has finished attacking. COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has finished attacking. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to brace Sourisi and Fumiko Inoue's Finisher, Combo: Miraculous Style: Yin & Yang, taking 145 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Water surrounds the Orphan, pressing in like the abyss.
Does an Orphan breathe? Certainly it has nostrils, slit little things at the end of its textured snout. Does an Orphan have bones to break? Certainly it stands upright, as if it had some structure behind it. Does an Orphan feel pain?
Well - some questions lie still as deep water.
But the marble bursts and it is true, at least, that the Orphan crashes to the ground which it had balanced precariously above up 'til now, like a giraffe tumbling so many feet down to the earth. It cannot escape the thaw: Double Sabao Spray Freezing piles onto it where it has fallen, buffeting it without hope of recovery.
Perhaps this would be all there is to say on the subject of the monster, if not for the fact that Orphans are a thing difficult to kill by degrees. By the time the thousandth cut has reached it, it will have repaired the first five-hundred as if they never were. It staggers standing, and lashes out --
-- but Steven gets in the way. Its tendrils strike the roseate shield and it peals, with noise which makes the beast hesitate in its approach. Here Fallen Stern carves a gash through its thigh, deep and sure, and it finds itself sagging on three legs instead of four as it takes the moment to repair itself.
This is the direct nature of conflict resolution Cassandra asked for. But there is another side to the story, after all, and it begins with a pin too light to be noticed by an Orphan distracted by prey. Light sparkles in the distance and sound tremors far too close, and does an Orphan have tympanum to resonate with the noise? Certainly it thrashes under the colours, and that leg has not quite managed to resolve itself in the grip of the aurora.
In their combined assault there is brutality, and tactics, and defence of their friends. There is sheer strength and there is elegance, and...
There is friendship.
Together the Miraculous-users dive in, one on either side; Serpentina drills in, and Sourisi crashes down, and they impact at precisely the same moment.
Weakened by Cassandra's embrace, allowed no quarter by Sailor Mercury, rage diverted by Steven Universe, carved up by Endo, ensorcelled by la Sirene, and barraged by Sourisi and Serpentina, it is finally overwhelmed. All at once light floods and consumes it -- until only sparkles of light are left.
As the light sparkles away, the little girl gasps, creeping forward from where they had fled. "Mom, the temple did a dance! Did you see it?! They brought out the lion!" As the market-goers filter back in, the rumours spread like wildfire: Sensouji Temple had a surprise cultural showing, with astounding costume design. And perhaps it was a little more raucous than anyone was expecting, but wasn't it truly impressive?
It is quickly established that the girls and boys here were part of the show -- and everyone's so impressed, they'll find themselves offered a bevy of treats from the various stands!
