2019-06-23 - Irritation Overflows! The Return of Peridot!
| Irritation Overflows! The Return of Peridot! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: An unnaturally long and intense rainstorm floods Tokyo with bad tempers, but the magical girls discover that it serves an unexpected purpose... | |
| Who: Takeo Akamizu, Fumiko Inoue, Nori Ankou, Steven Universe, Rei Hino, Niramo Umokeshi, Fuu Hououji, La Sirene de Diamant, Usagi Tsukino GM: Hotaru Tomoe | |
| Where: Keiyou Industrial District | |
| OOC - IC Date: 6/23/2019 - 06-10-15 | |
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Keiyou Industrial District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Stretching across eight districts, Keiyou Industrial Zone is like a small
city unto itself, consisting primarily of factories, power plants,
warehouses, refineries, and other heavy industry. Boxy, soot-stained
buildings, multi-story chemical tanks, and baroque masses of pipes and
girders dominate the architecture, and a distant clanking or hum can be
heard at all hours of the day throughout most of the district. Cranes,
forklifts, and other heavy equipment are common in this area, as are metal
gratings exhaling steam, dizzying catwalks and ladders, and tall stacks of
shipping crates.
The buildings closest to the bay are often the most presentable, so as to
avoid besmirching its beauty overmuch. The district cannot help but encroach
upon the bay, however, for it is its lifeline, providing thermal power,
naval shipping, and copious quantities of water for industrial purposes.
Keiyo long ago outgrew the land allotted for its uses, and so artificial
islands have been built up to permit its continued expansion.
Since its relatively low potential for civilian casualties (particularly at
night) appeals to magical girls, and its profusion of powerful industrial
machinery appeals to their foes, combat is not infrequent in this area.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
A miasma of irritation is rising above Tokyo like mist. It mingles and roils until it's indistinguishable from the literal mist -- the mist of the rainy season.
There's a lot of it.
A lot.
There's been more and more rain every day. At first it was a little bit of relief from the mounting summer heat. And it was fun, in the same way that it always is -- there's always a lot to do with umbrellas in the rainy season. Forgetting them, having them delivered, going to meet someone to share one, and all of that. Puddles have their own charm too, especially for the very young (and the outright dismay of the old). And the early-summer plants are desperately thirsty, straining stems and leaves and buds upwards to catch every drop...
...but now, soil has turned to mud has turned to liquid mud, and many plants, unable to stay rooted, are floating forlornly down the gutters of the streets.
Umbrellas crumple beneath the force of the rain. No one is anything but soggy, most of the time -- especially considering that apartment buildings' balconies are normally used to hang the laundry out to dry, no longer an option. The only way to stay dry is to stay in, which has led to millions of cooped up people in famously small spaces.
Tempers have frayed beyond the snapping point. The strongest senses of humor can observe that at least everyone is miserable together, but nobody else appreciates them, anyway. Parents nag children, siblings and friends nag each other -- the little things become so much bigger when you're forced to be up close, personal, and damp for a week at a time.
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Takeo Akamizu, Ohtori grade twelve, class One, rolls his eyes as he walks through the halls. He's currently mostly dry, but the closed umbrella he carries non challantly on his shoulder is very damp. He frowns as he has memories of another rain, not to long ago, right before ... whatever it was happened. He clears hsi throat and writes a quick note, attaching it to the umbrella in a zip lock bag to keep the ink from getting smeared.
The Note? It reads simply in Takeo's barely legible scrawl:
Try to stay dry this time. Text me if you don't need it.
He hums to himself and heads out. It will mean he's going to get soaked later, but if it keeps her dry and happy, it's worth it. So he doesn't even bother to look back.
Much later, when the rian becomes a deluge, Takeo, who is allso, Ohtori grade twelve's permanent detention club class preseident, is in fact, regretting it. He stands under a tree, wondering if he can make it to his motorbike, or if he should leave it in his parking spot, and take the bus. Either way, he wonders if he won't drown in either atempt. "She probably remembered it this time anyway." He mutters as he hugs himself to try and get warmth into his hands.
"She who Takeo-chan?"
Nearly jumping out of his skin, Takeo turns to see Yua Chouku grinning up at him. She hands him the second umbrella she had tucked under arm. "Don't worry. I know who "she" is." She says in a sing song voice. "Saw you drop yours off too. Try to stay dry you big dumb idiot." She moves off, still getting a little wet despite her own umbrella and laughing as she goes.
Takeo sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. He pops open the umbrella when his phone chirps at him (Ringtone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cOT4T2jDho ) letting him know that Merlin had sent a text. Ever since Morgana had taken his voice the Rabbit relied more and more on modern technology to communicate. Takeo still didn't know how the old wizard trapped in a baby bunny body worked a smart phone, but he did, and always with perfect grammer. He opened the text and read it to himself.
- Lancelot,
This rain isn't natural, it has the feeling of dark magic about it. I think a Knight of the Round Table sworn to protect the innocent as you perport to be everytime you transform, should likely go out and investigate hmm? Also. Lancelot. For the love of the Grail and Carrots, remember that water conducts electricity.
PS: Bring home more carrots and celery, and maybe some lettuce.
- Merlin.
Takeo sighed. Of course it was black magic. Because he didn't have anything else to do. Okay. Well. Maybe he didn't, since he can't race his motorbike in this weather and he was pretty sure he did most of his homework in detention. "And besides!" He says to no one. "I know that water conducts electricity! But I use Lightning. Two totally different things!" He nods once firmly to himself and heads off to investigate.
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
THEN
"I'm not you! I'm not perfect, and I'm not here for you to live through me!" Fumiko slams the door to her room, jumps up onto her fancy, ornate bed, and coils up into a seething ball of frustration. The awards on her walls taunt her, reminding her that most of them were fueled by her mother's push for her to be better than everyone. Usually she can handle her mother, acting close as possible to her perfect daughter as she can fake, but something in the air has them both poised to strike.
A Juuban uniform in her closet shakes, a hissing sound coming from within it. Fumiko grumpily looks up from her bed grumpily. "What are you hissing about, Ressi?"
"Jeez, bite my head off will you? I'm not in the besst of moods either! Though it is for a different reason. I'm sstaaarving, while you're having a tiff with your mother because of some weird evil in the air." Weird evil? Fumiko furrows her brow in frustrated confusion. "What are you talking... about... this is an 'us' thing, isn't it?"
LATER
Fumiko, now clad in pink backpack on her shoulders and fancy bangle on her wrist, bursts out of her room. "I'm heading out," she yells, halfway out the door, when her mother stops her.
"It is raining, and you should be studying! You're going to fail your classes and embarrass the both of us!"
"I LIKE the rain, and it will help me think! We can argue about this later!"
"FUMIKO GET BACK HERE!"
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Aha, Nori Ankou might have said in a vacuum. Rain? Rain isn't any problem for me at all! I'm in favor of it. Bring on the rain!
But life so seldom is a vacuum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGx2Ikg1-xU
Nori lives alone, in terms of humans, and with one other person, in terms of mammals. Nori does, however, go to school regularly... and there are the moments and events involving her extracurricular activities, largely the fencing club.
Some juniors snapping at each other over rust on the mesh faceguards.
Delays on the train home - the underground tunnels are having difficulties, and even when one's trains don't go through the drains, there are still problems. Unusually so. Unwontedly so, perhaps. Crowded platforms long beyond when they should be so. Jostling. Grumbling. Hectoring shouts...
And on the way back, it IS unusually intense. If her hair was not already prone to a wet look it would be so afterwards, and when she finally reaches the lofty aerie of her home in Shibuya 4-4-4, she is still dripping... despite an outage, due to a leak, in the functionality of the elevator, which forced her to climb those stairs all by herself.
"ugh" is Nori Ankou's first words as she enters her home. She gets her shoes off. She peels off her socks, grimacing at both their saturation and the fact that they have gotten shoe stains on them due to that saturation. Should she put them near the oven? she wonders. She lifts her voice. "Batiste, do you remember what you ought to do with -"
Batiste comes round the corner and looks at her.
Nori holds the sock, which drips in silence.
"The rain," Batiste says. Nori can see, with some surprise, that he is damp - not anomalous perhaps for an otter, yet somehow disquieting.
Drip.
Drip.
"It's not normal, is it?" Nori asks.
Batiste shakes his head slightly.
"Then... I suppose we'll be going back out."
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
Rain battering the roof. A constant din of rainfall inside. A chubby cheek pressed against the glass of a second story window. Breath condensates along where a nose and mouth are in close proximity to glass.
The power was out. Phone was low on power. Handheld games exhausted. "Come oooon...." groans Steven Universe, staring outside. He could see the light flare from buildings to the right down the beach, even through the rain. A bit of Shitamachi proper is in view. They seem to have power, at least. What he wouldn't give to be able to call and chat with some folks. Like Kasagami, or Fuu, or Usagi or someone! It stinks being home alone...
Guess it comes with the territory of having magical mom-figures.
The home was made watertight, and even moreso up on pierce, nestled in the womb of the temple's womb. But what trips necessary to go outside still left Steven's hair damp.
Everyone has been so much on edge lately. Even now the boy was a little grumpy from an earlier exchange at school. People can say hurtful things when on edge. He barely bumped into her, she didn't have to screech at him!
"..." A puffy frown is about all that is present on the boy's face as he walks to the edge, and ragdolls onto the couch below. Normally the fluffed impact would feel a little exhilirating, and usually make Pearl panic a little. Only a grown exits his mouth, muffled by the furniture fabric.
---
Something grabs Steven's whole foot. It is warm and wet. A kneejerk reaction from rest causes the Gem child to snap upward. two-thirds of his face has a pillow stuck to it that requires peeling off to flushed skin. "What Lion..." he asks, face to giant cat face.
Lion stares for a brief few seconds, before snatching his arm sleeve now, backing up toward the door! "Wait wait wait WAIT." It takes some strength to pull the sleeve free from his mighty maw. "You want to go outside."
A glance to the door.
"Really?"
Another.
A sigh, as the boy reluctantly turns toward his still dripping raincoat and cute rainboots.
They had little white ducks on them.
"Okay fine fine, if it is you of all cats-slash-magical-beings-I-don't-fully-understand. then it is probably important."
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Are you kidding me?!" A voice rips through Hikawa's shrine office, carved to angry pitch. It's instantly recognisable -- Rei isn't a stranger to yelling. "It's not a big deal!"
"I -- why shouldn't it be a big deal, Rei-san?!" Yuuichiro screws his courage to the sticking-place, in the manner of someone who has put up with far too much. "A man cannot live on water alone! I was looking forward to that orange juice, and it's all gone!"
"Oh, please!" Rei points accusation. "Show a little discipline!"
"I'm not going to be lectured on discipline by a girl who collects manga!" Yuuichiro snaps back, gesturing to the slide door and the hall beyond it. "Especially not when you're the scoundrel who drank my orange juice!"
Confusion flashes over her face for a moment, chased by anger. "I can't believe you people," she says, shoving past him to the slide door. "Don't even talk to me!" She shoves the door closed, too, and it shudders in its groove. She doesn't stop to worry about it; she's marching back to her room.
The rain pounds down, punctuating the irritation in her mind. Theirs has always been kind of a loud household -- but Yuuichiro? He's always been the agreeable one; no wonder, considering they adopted him. And what a mistake that's turning out to be, Rei's thoughts grumble, as she tucks herself away in her room. What kind of petty complaints -- it's not even like him.
Well, she thinks, maybe that's what she gets for assuming the good of any man who comes into her life. Yuuichiro's awful. Her Grandpa isn't much better! Even their arguments have become more savage and heated, as the rain's grown worse. Just give them the barest excuse to be terrible, and they'll do everything to ruin her life. It's always the same. She can't rely on anyone in this house, she surmises.
(Sure, maybe she's been a little harder to deal with lately too, but can anyone blame her in this environment?)
"Forget it," Rei grumbles, as she flops onto her bed. The last mora are muffled, because she's landed directly on her face, sprawled like a starfish. It's not the most elegant picture, but no one's here to judge her, for once.
Peck peck peck comes a sound at the sliding door.
"Uuuuuugh," Rei groans from her pillow, insisting, again, that no one is here to judge her.
'Caw,' comes an insistent crow from outside.
"Mrrrnggggn," Rei mumbles incoherently, gesturing in an unladylike fashion.
'Caw!' That one just sounded insulted.
"FIIIIIIIINE," Rei forces the sound through her teeth, as she shoves her hands under her and goes to crack the door open. The rain pours down, and the crows who hop in are soaking. She snaps the door shut again before too much of the driving droplets can find their way inside, only to find her birds shaking themselves off and dampening her socks anyway.
(There is a distinct sensation that might be revenge rendered.)
Fluffy feathers stare up at Rei, and Phobos opines, head canting at an angle which would make any person's head hurt: 'Caw.' Rei, for one, is excellent at reading that expression: it's one of someone who is trying to point out that everything is getting a little heated.
"They're all being completely unreasonable!" Rei agrees.
Phobos fluffs herself up again, with an incredulous expression. (It does not look terribly different to the last one, to an outside observer, but trust Rei: they're very different.)
There's a clatter from her dresser, and Rei turns to face it. She finds Deimos, having drawn out one of the drawers of a storage box. Her tarot cards are everywhere, and the bird has picked up one in particular in her beak. Rei frowns, deeply, but takes it anyway. "Five of wands," she murmurs, reflective. "Squabbles and disagreements... like everything in the world's fighting you."
'Caw!' Deimos insists, claws tapping on the dresser.
"You mean," Rei parses the feeling, "it's a problem with the world?"
Phobos flutters up to her shoulder and shakes more water out.
"Ugh, stop it! The rain, the rain! I get it, it's the rain!" Rei yelps, face scrunching at the sudden droplets. Phobos, looking entirely too pleased with herself, flaps down to join Deimos on the dresser. Rei sighs, turning to look out the window. "But going out in this miserable weather..."
'Ca-CAW!' Deimos crows, as if to point out her very own statement as a demonstrating article as to the dangers of the rain.
Rei holds up her hands. "Okay, yes, I hear what I'm saying."
At least Sailor Mars is a little more resistant to the cold of the rain.
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Heavy drops of water drum an endless beat on a tiled roof, a cacophony of sound that would normally be relaxing but becomes maddening when it is the same song being played straight these last few days. The steel slate skies giving a gloomy tint to the landscape to those unfortunate enough to be in the downpour, with seeing unmuted colors being one of the many benefits of being indoors. Even the very air seems to be nothing but air now, the moisture laying a cloying stench over Tokyo.
Normally, having her father home during the waking hours would be cause for celebration, but Isozaki Umokeshi has sealed himself up inside his cramped study and shouts for quiet at every minor disturbance. Ushioda has faced the rain in order to reach her small resturant, but it's likely only to escape the house and not to serve any actual customers. There's no escape from the presence of the storms outside wherever you go in the household, for it clouds even friendships.
Keeping her voice down so not to face her father's verbal wrath yet again, Niramo is currently pacing her small bedroom and speaking into the cellphone in her hands. "Look Yuhira-san, I know you want to come over and work on 'my travesty of a wardrobe', but do you really think now is the best time?" Niramo rolls her eyes around as her fastionista friend replies, only half listening to this same old argument. "And if you do come over, there's going to be room for a bed in my closet and all my outfits sitting out in some soaking trash bin!"
A noticeable beat of silence over the phone and Niramo glances over at Takk, the small Kwami standing on the window sill with his back turned towards her. Something has been eating him up lately but before she can ponder more on this, Yuhira speaks harshly over the speaker and Niramo reacts before she can think through her response. "If you really think i'm trash for not wanting to dress up gaudily, then maybe I should take my so-called friend to the curve!"
Jerking the phone away from her and slamming down the call end prompt on her screen, Niramo hurls the phone away from her without aiming for anything. Luckily for both her and the phone, the device impacts the center of a pillow and not onto the floor. Letting out a long sigh of fustration, the ravenette tosses herself backwards onto her bed and stares up at the ceiling, immediately regretting her words. Takk speaks up before she can stew over her actions too long, and it's something she's quietly thankful for the mouse. "This storm is too unnatural. It's lasting for too long and only growing stronger as time passes."
"Please don't say what I think you're going to say, Takk. Please..." A silent prayer is dashed instantly as the Kwami hovers above her face, upside down to her view. "You can get mad at me if this turns out to be nothing. I don't like being out in this rain as much as you do. But..." Takk gives the dull cityscape another meaningful glance, and Niramo lets out a sigh.
"I'm going to turn into a fish before too much longer. Fiiine, let's get going. The sooner the better."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
While Fuu does prefer sunny days (warm rather than hot, ideally), she's one of those people who tends to make the best of just about any weather. If it's rainy or snowing, and she doesn't *have* to go anywhere, then she can stay in and play games, or read, or write code for one project or another, or just study ahead.
But when she *does* have to go out in the driving, drenching downpour, so heavy that her umbrella is merely staving off the inevitable soaking, she's no happier about it than any other teenaged girl would be. And there's only so much she can *do* while cooped up indoors at home - particularly with the tempers of her family fraying. Not that she can blame them; this is miserable weather for her father to drive to work in, and the lawn, normally a source of some small pride to the family, is more of a swamp then anything, making it not only unpleasant but treacherous to cross from door to gate or driveway.
It's even wet enough to pierce the nominal waterproofing of her dark green raincoat, which brings its own special kind of displeasure out of the normally-smiling blonde.
But Fuu persists in trying to tread as little as possible on her parents' tempers, or on her sister's, and if that means she has to do extra errands which take her out of the house and into the deluge? Well ...
"PUUUUU!!! Puu pu puupuupupuu puu pu puuu!!"
... it makes it that much easier for a certain white fluffball to accost her while she's waiting for the light to change at a vacant intersection. Fuu wipes the water off of her glasses (for the how-manyth time that trip) and peers at Mokona, quietly wishing for a translation, then ducks into a bus shelter (similarly vacant) to pull out her glove-jewel. "Belief becomes power ..."
And shortly thereafter, an increasingly-soaked Magic Knight of Wind bounds off, following Mokona through the teeth of the rainstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Peridot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KGb2KgXHwc
There's more than one way to figure out where to go, but the most obvious, the most utterly straightforward, is to simply go to where the rain is strongest.
Considering that it was already coming down in sheets a few miles away, by the time people reach Keiyo they are more swimming than walking; there is little separation between sky and ground and nearby sea.
Squinting through the mist and downpour it's just barely possible to spot the center -- stagger, pressed almost flat by the pressure, into Water Purification Plant #3, and then, at last, know sudden (sodden?) relief.
The plant is a huge space, shadowy, with railings and pipes everywhere. And although there are drips and drops, it is, relatively speaking, one of the driest places anyone's seen in a long time.
Well, except for the reactor in the middle.
An eerie teal light is flickering there, in the heart of the machinery. It shimmers across the concentric pools surrounding its source. And someone, squatting on their heels alongside it, is casting a long, long shadow across the space.
There's something strange about the silence of the water -- the water pouring upwards from the machinery and out through the gigantic tower overhead, into the sky -- clearly the source of the unnatural storm. It should be rushing, it should be roaring, but it's not. It moves in smooth quiet, like a massive river along rock-free banks.
The operator isn't quiet, though, and it's just possible to hear their grumbling trickle through the air to fill the space with crankiness and overall negativity.
"...rrrrgh. Primitive...useless...worthless...stuff!!"
They kick the machine with a long leg -- CLANK!
"...even souped up with this... ... won't produce enough hydroelectricity..."
Tall and slender--
--glistening with strange inorganic surfaces--
--perpetually frustrated--
--it's Peridot! Peridot, for the first time since everyone was taken to the UFOs by the Homeworld Gems and Black Moon Clan. Peridot, master of those strange ball-like robonoids, pilot of the Hand Ship, and one of their captors, back then. Peridot, agent of a distant, unknown -- clearly malevolent -- entity.
Remember her?
She leans further over her work, studying -- and muttering -- intently.
"...this miserable planet... ... ... ........"
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe transforms into Peridot! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Wind Knight! COMBAT: Niramo Umokeshi transforms into Sourisi! COMBAT: Rei Hino transforms into Sailor Mars! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue transforms into Serpentina Ruse! COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant! COMBAT: Steven Universe transforms into Serious Steven! COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu transforms into Chevalier Knight Lancelot!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
It's a symptom of Fuu's own frayed temper that she wonders, as she and Mokona brave the wrath of the rain, where her comrade the *Water* Knight is, given that this is literally her element. Kind of. Granted, she's not even entirely sure where Umi's house is - it may be even further from the heart of the storm than Fuu's family happens to live. Still, if Mokona knows where to lead her, maybe it means there's something productive to be done about this torrential torment across the city - and, the Wind Knight reminds herself, maybe Umi and Hikaru are on the way, or maybe they're focused on some other threat to the city.
On the other hand, with the rain growing steadily stronger, fiercer, and more dangerous in every way, the Wind Knight doesn't really have the leisure to keep thinking about where her allies are. She just has to trust that the assembled magical girls summoned to *this* crisis will be enough to handle it. And then her full focus is on trying to pierce the walls of water around the heart of the storm - much like a typhoon's eyewall, as she observes in one of her last idle thoughts before she has to concentrate thoughts and willpower alike on not drowning on her way through. It takes a few tries: not the not-drowning part, but the part about actually breaking through the eyewall.
And then she actually *does* break through .... if barely, and so soaked to the bone that she swishes her blade behind her, trying to make sure she's actually *through* the rain and it didn't just decide to hang onto her out of some sense of malevolent mischief. She almost doesn't notice Peridot, at least not until there's a loud *CLANG* of machinery being kicked.
The Magic Knight of Wind dismisses her sword again and hunkers down, taking in the lay of the land - well, the purification plant - and figuring out how she can approach the center without being spotted prematurely. Was there always a glowing 'reactor' installed here? And certainly it was never intended to purify water simply by driving it back into the cycle - although evaporation and precipitation *are* an effective means to separate clean, pure water from the various salts and other matter dissolved in it.
After a few seconds of worrying that question, the Wind Knight grimaces and focuses back on Peridot, what she appears to be doing, and whether there are any Robonoids to be seen in the area. She's rather hoping there are none - that Peridot's stockpile of those little things were all destroyed either on board, or *with*, the Hand Ship.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Let Me Take A Look on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe accepts Fuu Hououji's Let Me Take A Look, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Analysis performed by Fuu Hououji!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
So, to put a question out to the ether: Is having a Lion that can skip sections of a storm better than walking on foot.?
The answer may surprise you.
"Slower please!!!" Steven yells through the torrent downpour. A small hanh grips sopping wet mane to hold on, and the other to cover his face. His face that is stinging quite bad now.
A portal rips open to skip a particularly flooded section of street. "Lion stop using portals please!" he says in the moment of resonant hum, more distinct but not as loud as the stink. The kaleidoscope dimension opens anew, and the two fly out.
The resultant spray of rain that strikes him from their high velocity is painful on the head and neck area. "I think I know why dad said if I ever got a motorcycle to not ride it in the rain!" he shouts.
Lion is taking him somewhere, and he has no idea where. But considering this is a cat who caused renovations to be done to the bathroom AT LEAST once because of a bath, this has to be something unusual. The cat has water near up to shoulderblade when they reach a destination. A water purifying facility of some kind. It may supply water to the surrounding neighborhoods.
At least on the inside there are walkways. And a creepy light. "Oh, magic stuff, huh?" he says to Lion. Much like a dog, they sheds excess water with a hearty shake. "Heheheheh... cut it out!"
At least they weren't being drenched from above in this place. Duckyboots squish and click on metal walkways He follows that light source, and the first thing that sticks out is a triangular shaped head. "Someone's there, at the reactor thing's sky waterfall-- wait WHAT?"
Yeah, solid water is going straight up. Thats... not normal. Even for Japan's advanced technology he is pretty sure they can't do that yet. He bounds out from around the corner he stood at. "Hey you, stop this business!"
It is only now the voice, colors and shape of the person click. "Peridot!" he gasps upon stating her name.
They beat her in that fight, right! But then she disappeared in the floor. The ship crash, and uh...!
They didn't find her that day. Only Jasper and Lapis. "You are in a lot of trouble! There's all kinds of problems because of that water thing! You needa stop! Or else!"
The boy quickly takes out his phone! "Ima call Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and together we are gonna stop you!"
A look to the phone. It is wet, but it was waterproof. The big deal is it is sitll outta batteries. Wait why did he bring it then?! "Uh... Uh!" So, he does what any little boy in distress does. He begins to fake punch numbers in the touchphone making beeping sounds. He fake pickups a call. "Hey! Peridots uh, here! You gotta come help! Okay I love you bye."
He then brandishes it at the green Gem. "See?! They are coming so you better step!"
This isn't gonna work at all. he better just get ready for a fight.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used AND STEVEN! on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Having made his way to the Water purification plant, Lancelot circles the area first to make sure there are no hidden surpirses. He has no idea who is inside, or what those surprises could be, but accoirding to Merlin's unending texts, this was the place he was sensing the dark magic. So, like in the movies he based his stealth actions on, (usually while wearing a black turtle neck), he circled the place to check for guards and or evil minions who would warn their evil master.
Finding nothing, he shrugs. Sometimes the bad guys don't follow the rules. That is, indeed, what makes them the bad guys. So he slinks inside as quiet as a man in shining half plate and a bright blue cloak can anyway. Which is, in his mind, very quiet.
It is in fact, not very quiet.
So he enters the room that has Peridot and pauses, his twin sowrds (Whose gleaming white blades also do not assist in a stealth mission mind you), in his hands. He stands up tall and points one at the Gem and says in a clear voice, "It's only miserable to outsiders and evil doers, which you are both!" He nods once and grins slightly. "Surrender, and we'll just turn you over to the Crystal Gems, I'm sure they'll show some kind of mercy!" And with one of his swords pointed at the Gem he calls out, "LIGHTNING BLAST!" Sending a pure white stream of lightning arcing toward Peridot with a crack of thunder.
He looks to Steven. "I ... suppose I should have waited for her answer first?" He shrugs his shoulder.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Blast on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rain.
Rain.
It never stops.
The point where the rain transitions into an intensity nearer to a waterfall than anything else astounds Batiste; as an otter of culture he has an interest in scientific matters, and while such levels of precipitation are not unknown, they are quite rare without prevailing winds. He rides it out, the water sluicing off his back, as his cousin, la Sirene de Diamant, keeps on going.
And going.
And going.
Her hair's glycerine treatment must have been washed out long ago. The black masking paint on her face remains almost entirely out of stubborn inertia. Her hands tighten inside of their fingerless gloves as she walks towards the light.
Towards the light. Towards the shadow. Towards...
Peridot.
"You seem frustrated, my dear guest," la Sirene says through the echoing cavern of industrial space, here within one of the organs that keeps the living city of Tokyo vital and whole.
Her hands clasp together with an audible 'pap' as she walks towards the console that hosts the long-limbed Peridot.
"Is Tokyo not to your liking? Perhaps you would prefer to go somewhere else. That would be wonderful, in fact. That would mean that we would both succeed in what we desire - which is that you wouldn't be here."
"You have a lot of gall to come back to this planet after what you did," la Sirene continues. "I remember the terror we felt that day. Now you condemn our beautiful city to drown because - what did you say, you want the electricity from the water...?"
"We have enough miseries," la Sirene concludes, raising her left hand, fingers raised and thumb curled in in the sign of Les Mysteres. "Keep your own."
Her eyes turn momentarily towards Lancelot and Steven as she raises her right hand, but she seems to have nothing to say beyond "Les Mysteres, COME!" and a single downward slash. The gems (the conventional sort, at least, in this case) sparkle with inverted light as the power flows from the Pharos at her waist up to her hands and then BURSTS! forwards, aiming to send Peridot away from the deviltry she's brewed!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Les Mysteres on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe cleanly braces 0 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's AND STEVEN!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe is Psyched! Exhausted applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe neatly dodges 12 Fatigue damage from Lancelot's Lightning Blast, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
NOW
"I still don't see why you didn't just sneak past and instead said something to your mother," Fumiko's backpack hisses.
Running through the rain, completely soaked, Fumiko sighs. "Even if my mother's not a shoo-in for Parent Of The Year, she still would worry if I went missing. Now, where are we heading?" She then realizes that she didn't need to ask. "I'm guessing... not where it is nice and dry. You done eating so we can do this?"
"All set."
"Then... RESSI, BARE FANGS!"
A small, fairy-like yet also snake-like creature flies out of Fumiko's backpack and into her bangle. A light shines from a jewel upon it, and spreads to cover her. Soon she is lost in a glow of mystical energy, which pulls itself closer and forms into a uniform much different from her school clothes. Green scaled bodysuit, green gloves and boots, and a green domino mask replace her soaked clothing, water rolling off of it. Her brown hair is now in a long braid with a green ribbon, and her once-green eyes are now nearly glowing yellow. This was the heroic costume of the amazing Serpentina Ruse!
And thankfully, her new outfit comes with an umbrella - which she quickly deploys, revealing a snake pattern on its otherwise white surface. It definitely came in handy, as the closer she gets to the source, the more she needs an umbrella... or a shield... or a dam. She pushes her way through slowly but surely, using as much willpower as she can, until she makes it to the other side of the wall... and into a weird scene.
Was this some sort of factory? Or a power plant? Or a... oh. A water purification plant. That makes sense. Serpentina quickly ducks behind a grouping of pipes, letting whatever is going on between the big-headed (or big-haired?) alien, the lightning-shooting knight, some fancy glowy gem lady, and that strange boy... who reminds her of a kid she sorta kinda knows?
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 26 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Les Mysteres, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The approach towards what has to be the eye of the storm is straightforward at first. Traversing over the rooftops and great leaps is a little more hazardous than normal, but still manageable without any spills. But the closer Sourisi gets to the Industrial District, the more visibility worsens and even leaping over narrow alleyways is almost to much with the hammering raindrops. Her magical outfit isn't doing too much to protect her from the rain or the cold, but if she can stop whatever evil plan that indirectly snap at Yuhira, then all the better.
If the air was soupy before, it's like trying to snorkal without the proper gear now. The purificiation plant seems to be where the storm is unleashing it's full potentional but trying to get in from anywhere above the ground floor is just asking for trouble. There's no way Sourisi wants to reenact the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'! It takes a few minutes of searching around the outer walls of the plant, one hand holding onto the side so she doesn't get swepted away by the flood before Sourisi finds an utility she can clamber through.
The first few moments inside the darken purification facility is spent catching her breath within the eye of the storm. The silhouettes of machinery looms around the dripping mouse, and Sourisi strains to hear anything as her eyes adjust to the gloom. Everything takes on a sinister look in the dim light, and the only source seems to be from deeper within, inaudible grumbles masked by the rain.
Crouch walking through the maze of silent terminals and machines, the Miraculous Ninja makes her way towards the illuminated tower from the ground. Whoever is behind the 'hydro storm tower' sounds like she's just as angry as the residents of Tokyo, but the voice sounds oddly familiar...
Dark green eyes peak over a console once she's close enough to feel the thrum of the reactor through her boots, and they widen in surprise at the sight of the alien Gem. Flashbacks of fighting a combining mech, of hiding inside an open cell as hundreds of Robonoids clamber past brings the Miraculous User back to her imprisonment aboard the Handship before she mentally shakes them away. She forgot all about this Gem with the threat of Jasper and trying to survive planet reentry. And if those mumbles are anything to take from, what Peridot is planning for Earth can't be good.
Sourisi crouches back down and looks all about her for any hidden spherical robots, remembering the goop with a distinct dislike. It's a nightmare for anyone with long hair, and takes forever to break apart. Just as Sourisi tries to think up a plan on how to handle this, Steven announces himself and places a hurried call, and the air tingles with launched magical spells.
Taking this as her cue, Sourisi leaps over her cover and charges Peridot with her tonfa drawn, twirling and jabbing her tonfa as she tries to keep Peridot off balance. "Maybe you should try being more considerate of the people on Earth when you make machinery like this. If this storm keeps up any longer, Tokyo Bay is going to cover up all of Tokyo!"
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Mouse Flurry on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe partially dodges 6 Fatigue damage from Sourisi's Mouse Flurry, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Sourisi is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
An exchange within the Tsukino household between mother and daughter.
"Usagi! The rain gutters are clogged again!"
"Have Chibi-Usa do it! I did it last time! And I'm on the phone with Ami-chan!"
"She's not tall enough! Hurry up before the runoff drains into the flower beds!"
"She has Luna-P for it!"
"Usagi quit messing around - of course her toy isn't going to make her more capable of doing it!"
"I'll call you back..." Grumpily Usagi opened the window of her room with her raincoat on haphazardly, the wind blowing the hood off of her twintails already as she catches a facefull of rain. Brandishing a broom handle, she begins to try to push it up into the hole in the drain that's to the side of her window again and again and again to clean out the refuse. "Come on- Come on- unclog already!" Her next blow is as forceful as if she were bludgeoning a Youma.
A few things happen all at once. The detritus suddenly blasts out the other side, spilling upwards and out into the yard. ... And Usagi gets a sudden deluge of rainwater right in the face in a sputtering flailing mess of limbs and sodden hair.
Almost falling over, she retreats through the window, slamming it shut with a pant of effort and frustration. It was then that Usagi heard the most dreaded voice in the world from her door frame as he idly texts on his phone. "Hey You-soggy- I have to admit that was pretty good. Keep it up 'nee-chan and you'll have a bright future waiting you as a plumber."
Despite his non-chalant manner, he's quick to retreat behind the door he closes as a shield as the girl tosses her whole sodden raincoat towards him, which flops uselessly on the floor.
Which is the moment that Luna clears her throat from her perch safely away from ground zero. "Ah - You-soggy-c- I mean Usagi-chan..."
-=-=-
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Is shouted by the silhouette of a Sailor Senshi whose twintails are clinging to the back of her Fuku as she stands upon a purification plant pipe. She faces down the Homeworld Gem as she curses and kicks her machine, "A storm that lasts this long is an attack on the sanity of every girl in Tokyo! I won't forgive any gem who forces teenage girls everywhere to stay at home and takes away every option of escape from their families!"
Striking as fierce a pose as she can with a dripping Fuku and matted hair... "Sailor-Suited Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice: Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe cleanly braces 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Cripple and Diversion applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Darren Korb - Water Wall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8SfXhG2zxg
Sailor Mars sails over a puddle in a graceful leap.
Sailor Mars wipes the rain from her gloves with careful precision.
Sailor Mars gets, just, completely slapped in the face with a torrent of water when she brushes a tree she runs past.
Sailor Mars jumps over a puddle, into another, deeper puddle.
Sailor Mars stops running, because running in this level of groundwater is impractical.
Sailor Mars sloshes forward through the impersonal deluge, having to trust she's going vaguely the right direction because the rain's in her eyes.
All throughout, she is thinking up her very BEST insults, because this is the worst and she hates it. Thanks to Phobos and Deimos, she's at least self-aware about how her ire is unnaturally piqued, as opposed to the perfectly natural pique she experiences all the time. It does not stop her from getting mad at the water, which seems to be overwhelming specifically to spite her personally.
The good news is: rage works. With a grimace and a scowl, Sailor Mars breaks through the waterfall, into Water Purification Plan #3. The change is so immediate, she staggers on the landing -- expecting to fight for another step and almost overbalancing for it. With a little windmilling of her arms, she regains balance, and wipes the water from her eyes. With clarity, she looks about the silent chiaroscuro.
Shadows dance off light; it's an essential fact of fire. The light, here, is teal, at the heart of the plant. Even without that clue, there is the noise. An echo of every little irritation.
Sailor Mars narrows her eyes, as she draws closer. There's something familiar about the whole thing. It takes her a moment to place it; perhaps it's no wonder. Her experience on the Hand Ship could not be described as 'coherent'.
But yes, as the water drip-drips down, she remembers.
The shadows pass over a girl on the pipes, white fuku with red and purple trim, one heel pointed forward and the other curled to tap its point against the ground. One gloved hand points at the interloper; the other rests at its neighbour's wrist.
"How dare you?" Sailor Mars demands, and if standing if the open has not revealed her, her words certainly do. "You should have taken your obscurity. If you think I'll allow you to torture the people of Tokyo with your miserable weather, your lack of electricity is the least of your problems! Soldier of Flame and Passion, Pretty Sailor-Suited Soldier, Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars -- I'll chastise you!"
The heat of her anger helps with the cool of the water, at least.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars! on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe partially dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Mars's In The Name Of Mars!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
The most interesting thing Fuu sees is not actually Peridot herself, but what's suspended on some tuning forks, or other clamps of some kind, in the machinery at the base of the water column. It looks like a gemstone of some kind, sharp-edged and oddly angled. And it feels like darkness.
Peridot looks up when Steven places his call and makes his command, but, indeed, Lancelot fires off a lightning blast before she can respond. Her eyes narrow, and even as she's leaping aside, a little holographic panel is opening in her splayed hand. Two of her fingers -- which are really metal logs -- detach, creating a top and bottom frame, like it's a smartphone.
"Log date 2-1-4. I have made contact with the... natives..." in her voice the word sounds like 'toilet', "...of this planet for the first time since the crash."
She lands on a higher railing and lands gracefully, glaring down at La Sirene.
"Come BACK? HA! All I WANT is to get OFF this miserable planet!"
Her fingers shift, adding two more, which forms a sort of flickering shield which takes in the worst of Les Mysteres and dissipates it harmlessly. Afterwards she's got sweat at her temple, though -- sweat that multiplies as she dances back away from Sourisi and her tonfa.
"Ahem. The 'Steven' has brought many of his allies to menace me, while promising to call more," she continues to narrate aloud, turning her head and narrowing her eyes behind her visor to behold Sailor Moon. "Including the primary foe of our erstwhile allies, the Black Moon Clan."
And Sailor Mars.
"...and her lackey."
Sourisi has managed to corner Peridot; she looks left, looks right, and suddenly shifts her fingers again -- this time into a blaster.
BGM Start! Yakety Sax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" she yells, to accompany the ZOT ZOT ZOT ZOT ZOT as she fills the space between them with bolts of green light, then breaks left, which is incidentally towards Lancelot, Steven, and Serpentina.
"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" More bolts follow. More fleeing.
Next she runs into the Magic Knight of Wind, who's paying much too much attention to her junk. "Get away from that!" she snaps -- and her other hand takes another form, a bit more complex than the blaster, generating an energy FIELD that sweeps Fuu into the air -- it's a tractor beam! -- drags La Sirene into it as it sweeps across the chamber -- and sends them straight towards Sailors Moon and Mars.
Having made herself a little space, she pants, alone in the middle of the room (and between them and the device), obviously considering her next move.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Blaster Barrage on Sourisi. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Blaster Barrage on Lancelot. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Blaster Barrage on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Blaster Barrage on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Tractor Beam Slam on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Tractor Beam Slam on La Sirene de Diamant. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Tractor Beam Slam on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Tractor Beam Slam on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 8 opponents! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji braces 26 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Tractor Beam Slam, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Sailor Moon braces 16 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Tractor Beam Slam, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue perfectly counters 25 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Blaster Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Fumiko Inoue's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue's counterattack, Cobra's Hood, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Sailor Mars braces 13 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Tractor Beam Slam, taking 11 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Sourisi perfectly dodges 31 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Blaster Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sourisi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant perfectly dodges 25 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Tractor Beam Slam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! COMBAT: Steven Universe braces 23 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's Blaster Barrage, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Blaster Barrage, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Lancelot doesn't scream wordlessly as Peridot fires a barrage of bright green death beams at the assembled magical peoples. Instead he hoofs it, pumping his legs and elbows as he attempts to dodge the incoming fire all the while chanting, "ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap!" Until finally a blast catches him and he ends it with a louder, "OH CRAP!" and gets blasted into a wall with a crash.
Pushing himself up from the ground, he opens one eye and makes a "ksk," sort of sound as he grips his blades again. "Right. That's it!" And he pushes off the ground and rushes straight for the green gem with both blades flashing and trailing lighting. "LIGHTNING SLASH!" he calls as his two blades slice at Peridot. Arondight flashes with lightning as he slashes, and there is an accompanying crash of thunder that booms out from the attack.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
Just as Steven is shaking his phone menacingly toward the Homeworld Gem, a charge of lightning erupts near him that aims for Peridot. A look to his side, and a familiar figure stands! That one cool guy in armor! "Lancelot! I uh, well, maybe? I feel like she wasn't gonna stop with me shaking a phone.
la Sirene makes her presence known as well, funny that everyone involved in those fateful days are the ones arriving now. Did his phone call work somehow?! She states the atrocities ocmmitted those days, and he only nods to her in turn with a small smile. If that smile said anything, it was 'I appreciate you so much.'
He is fairly certain Mister Otter is okay too. They swim in water!
Even now, two Miraculous arrive as well! One is clearly SOurisi, the other is familiar and snakelike, but lacks a name to pair with it for the time being! But at least they have cool outfits, right?
Clanging of metal pipes signal more arrivals! And this time, Steven's eyes are awash with stars as he looks upward and sees them stand herocially on pipes, striking poses! It was the fabled Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars! Gosh, they were there too, right! Mars was in a bad way, too... Oh they are gonna get her for sure!
ack to Peridot. She seems stressed at her situation, marooned on Earth for certain. She also still calls him 'the Steven'. He rolls his eyes. "Give it up Peridot! If you give up we wil ltreat you fairly! Which is better than what I can say Jasper did!" He is sitll very sore about that emotionally, and the occasional moment he feels like he felt that headbutt again.
Of course, once she is done talking to her... hand thing? She attacks! More tinted lasers fly, and Steven has to summon and raise a shield in defense! The lasers get deflected away, but they carry impact and send Steven sprawling into metal railings. THere is a loud 'ting' that makes one wonder if that was his head.
His dizzied rise can suggest it, however. "That was highly uncalled for!" Steven shouts, and with a spin and flick of the wrist, hucks a shield toward her! "We can't let her get away!" he says to the others. She could get in touch with Homeworld or get reinforcements or make more of those stupid little round goopy robots that messed up his clothes really bad!
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Throw Shield on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe decisively counters 15 Fatigue damage from Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Holo-Shield Bounce, partially gets through, doing 20 Fatigue damage to Lancelot! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 18 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's Throw Shield, taking 15 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Lackey?!" Sailor Mars demands, aghast. "Big words from a walking triangle!" If anyone needs haircare advice, it's Peridot. Is that even hair, or is it some sort of space helmet?!
Unfortunately, before she can make more incisive comments on Peridot's appearance (which is really quite unfair, but Sailor Mars is not always good at equity, and the rain is miserable out there), the green girl reveals that her geometric shapes are hiding some explosive secrets. "STOP YELLING!" Mars yells, which, well, Peridot does --
Just to tell the Wind Knight off, instead.
As a considerably more favourable green girl sails through the air, Sailor Mars finds herself in the perfect position to catch her -- which was inevitably the plan, because there's no way she'd let her fall. "I've got you!" Sailor Mars calls, as she wraps her arms around the other girl to stop her trajectory. There's a bit of a huff as she catches her, but she manages to stand firm, even with the water dripping around.
"You okay, Wind Knight?" She asks, as she makes sure the Wind Knight is steady before she turns to find Peridot again. By now, of course, the lanky little monster has found her way back to her machine. Distractions work.
Steven might be trying to use reason, but Sailor Mars is feeling particularly unreasonable right now. It is a mystery which may never be solved.
"If you want to start throwing things around," Mars points accusation at Peridot, "try this!" Her hands come together in meditative stance, and at her pressed fingertips, a flame sprouts. "FIRE --" The flame spirals out, growing, growing to a fireball -- "SOUL!" And all a-spiral, the weight of it crashes in, right towards Peridot and her machine.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Fire Soul! on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe dodges 16 Fatigue damage from Sailor Mars's Fire Soul!, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Perhaps Serpentina wasn't needed here, as suddenly there was a swarm of heroes. Well, she's here now, dealing with an alien invasion... or the aftermath? Apparently, this 'Peridot' was stranded and is just trying to get home. However, there were probably better ways of dealing with it than flooding Tokyo, and it seems that Peridot was evil, so Serpentina doesn't feel THAT bad for her. Even with all the attacks heading her way.
And now Serpentina's way. So much for hiding. Peridot's blaster fire was either coincidentally heading her way, or she was seen. Either way, it was time for defensive maneuvers. She points her parasol at the laser fire, and as it strafes to her, she opens the umbrella to harmlessly deflect it. Lucky timing, but best not to let Peridot know of her uncertainty of her skills. And after the other heroes made their battlecries and heartfelt speeches, she felt the need for her own.
"You found me. Good job. But your attacks cannot break my defense. I am a guardian of this planet, as is everyone else here. It was a bad idea to incur the Earth's wrath! If you don't get blown away by these attacks, then we'll have to show you what we can do when our hearts beat as one!"
Still pointing her parasol at Peridot, Serpentina over-opens it, blowing a burst of wet wind directly at the alien ex-invader. She only wishes that her words weren't also air, in this case of the hot variety.
COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has used Wind Wall on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe counters 4 Fatigue damage from Fumiko Inoue's Wind Wall, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Exhausted and Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Holo-Shield Bounce, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fumiko Inoue!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
There was, perhaps, a little too much nerdery going on for the good of the Magic Knight of Wind; while she certainly *heard* what was going on (and thus figured out that there was no point in staying sneaky), trying to puzzle out just what that gadget with the tuning-fork prongs and the floating crystal *is* was just a bit too distracting.
So before the Wind Knight can really *stop* being sneaky and contribute to the opening fray, Peridot happens to her in the form of a force-field sweep that sends the bespectacled blonde flying at Sailor Mars. It's not an elegant flight, with the green-clad Magic Knight tumbling through the air, but she manages to go limp before she can plow into the fire-wielding Senshi - or rather, before being *caught* by her, and relatively gently under the circumstances.
"I'll be all right, Mars-san," the Magic Knight of Wind replies, smiling in spite of the recent indignity. "But I think it's time we actively made Peridot-san's day worse than it already was, if she's not going to back down willingly."
With that, the Wind Knight turns her attention back to Peridot as well. Apart from the Gem's yelling all over the place at everybody - and the various beams and other attacks being dished out with abandon - Peridot herself is, well, all over the place in her own right. That makes it harder for anyone to pin her down for a specific assault ... but that's something that the Magic Knight can help with.
With a call of, "Winds of Admonishment!!" the green-clad Knight gestures with her left hand, and the emerald affixed to the back of her gloved left hand gleams with its own light, focusing her power. And her spell reaches out, trying to encase Peridot in a green-tinted whirlwind, if not to bind her in place then at least - hopefully - to slow her down significantly.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 11 Fatigue damage from Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Impromptu and somewhat reckless, the barrage of attacks from Lancelot and La Sirene is enough for Sourisi to close the gap on Peridot and keep the Gem on her toes. Each twirl in her hands and jab of rosewood almost touches the little green...non-Martian, but Sourisi's dancer is skilled enough in this dance to evade harm, even if it strains her. And...is she recording all of this during the fight? Is there some sort of blog for wayward space adventurers?
Sourisi smiles softly as she spies the other defenders of Tokyo arriving inside this secret lair, but not even magic is enough to show just how soaking wet everyone was just getting here. It might be drier to go swimming, in all honesty. Still, the two Sailor Scouts on the scene still make impressive figures in this fight. "Looking good, everyone! I say we need to pull the plug on this deluge."
At first it looks like Sourisi has Peridot cornered and unable to get back to her machinery, but the Gem's fingers changes form into...a handcannon?! Panic fills Sourisi and she's immediately on the defensive! It's almost comical as Sourisi leans against the guardrail, does the splits in midair and falling flat in order to find out how resistant her clothing is to Peridot's bolts. This gives Peridot the room needed to get away from her...and towards the others. "There's more ways to scream then just that, you know!"
Something tells her that Peridot is going to ignore the 'native' on this.
Not going to let Peridot give her the slip that easily, Sourisi looks out over the railing for a good starting point, with a crane hook catching her attention. With a running start and a leap off the handrail, Sourisi leaps over the railing and grabs hold of the crane. With the movementum, the Miraculous Ninja is able to swing back towards the reactor and lands on top of a turbine safely. Despite several leaps and bounds, Peridot is still able to reach the tower first! Just how fast is she when she's in a panic?
While her first instincts is to throw her tonfa directly at Peridot, the machine and its' crystal core is too close for comfort. Sourisi lifts her tonfa and aims to Peridot's left side, trying to get the perfect angle for the boomerang to get the Gem on the return.
"Flooding every person in this city isn't worth it, even if I was in your shoes. Shut down the machine and maybe we can work something out!" With an exaggerated flick of her wrist, Sourisi lets her tonfa fly. "And with how many of us are here to protect your plan, i'm sure the sun is going to shine on everyone soon enough!"
The appearence of a new magical warrior, one armed with a fancy parasol of all things and a passionite speech raises an eyebrow but has Sourisi waving her free hand in greeting for a moment. Perhaps she's a friend of La Sirene? Though La Sirene doesn't have any sort of animal theme besides her adorable otter...
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Crashing Tooth on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Sailor Moon is still mid-point when Peridot starts speaking. "Are you talking to yourself...?" Looking in a mystified manner to Mars as Peridot then begins to call her out as the primary foe. "I'm not sure if I would call myself t-"
Lackey.
Sailor Moon blink blinks twice, then seems to draw herself up straight with her hands on her hips and has this proud, slightly smug look - in contrast to Mars' outraged one, "Give it up Peridot! You know now you're facing the one - the only Sailor Moon - and her Sailor Senshi! You should know by now that you don't stand a c-"
And that's when Peridot starts blasting. Rapid fire with bolts of green light. And the girl shrieks before initially taking cover behind Mars.
Which is when the one the only Peridot - sends both Sirene and the Magic Knight of Wind their way by a tractor beam!
"I've got you Sirene - I've got y-HRK!"
That's the moment where Sirene rams into Sailor Moon, and the two are sent hurtling off the pipes from the girl sized battering ram. However, her arms lace around the other girl mid-fall, as she aims for a metal catwalk below. Twisting just before impact so that they strike with a metallic bang, rolling before coming to a stop against one of the bars that makes up the railing.
"I'm okay. I'm okay. ... Are you?" She asks La Sirene quietly. "Wouldn't want you to get hurt before your next show. Or at all..."
Perhaps she only remembers it through some intrinsic instinct - but she knows she promised to take care of Nori Ankou - and to let Nori Ankou take care of her.
Lifting herself up, and La with her to a standing position, she shouts side to side and palm to palm, "Peridot just stop - all that you're doing - before you get hurt! As La Sirene de Diamant and Sailor Moon are about to stop you-"
Her opposite hand spins the Spiral Heart Moon Rod with a flourish, as she points it at the Homeworld Gem. "-with style! Moon Twilight-"
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has started a combo targeting Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Sourisi's Crashing Tooth, taking 51 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
La Sirene's lip curls up in a momentary disapproving sneer at the disgust with which Peridot refers to their planet. "Well, if you had WANTED," she begins, before 'the Steven' is brought up. THE Steven? la Sirene thinks, but then, she's 'the Siren', so she can't -
ZOT ZOT ZOT ZOT ZOT ZOT
La Sirene's magicks are dissipated if with effort, and as she sweeps a hand up to raise it to follow through, and then she finds herself being raised upwards. "WHAT" she declaims in Alucardian dudgeon before she looks up and finds herself thrown towards --
"Sailor Moon!!"
Then she's caught. They twist around. La Sirene's eyes squeeze shut and there is a blooming outwards, like cold fire, around them as Sailor Moon comes to a stop - and she tells Sailor Moon with a quiet soft hesitation, almost into her ear, "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you."
A hand is taken... and her fingers curl inwards around Sailor Moon's.
Then her eyes snap forwards.
"I love this place too much to let you drown it," she tells Peridot.
Then la Sirene sucks in a breath. That limning veil of inverse light that had been gently buffering Sailor Moon contracts downwards, pouring like cool liquid down towards the Spiral Heart Moon Rod. The Brazen Pharos shines forwards. And then la Sirene says, in chorus:
FLASH!
("Was that right?")
The bright and silver moonlight is joined by an aurora rim, cool purples and soft reds together with the gentle sea-deep blue that suggests black without malice, dark without peril, jacketing it.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has joined the combo started by Sailor Moon! COMBAT: COMBO! Sailor Moon and La Sirene de Diamant have used Combo: Keeping their Promise, composed of Moon Twilight Flash and Shine On Through The Night, on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 37 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon and La Sirene de Diamant's Combo: Keeping their Promise, taking 56 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon and La Sirene de Diamant are Psyched! Diversion applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
When Lancelot charges in close, he can see that Peridot's eyes are huge with panic. Then he gets an extra few seconds to see it, because she's caught his blade on the shield that suddenly sprouted from one hand -- at least it isn't a tractor beam anymore. The energy field seems for a moment like it's starting to give...
...but no, it's absorbing all that lightning and sending it back in a big way! Lance is blasted off of her, so she dashes away--
--straight up the back wall.
Steven's shield bounces off her back, but she's pretty tough for how delicate she is. Her expression is incredulous, fearful, and mildly enraged. "Oof. Fairly? The Crystal Gems? You've gotta be kidding me... I know what you did to Homeworld Gems in the last war! I'll never surrender to monsters like you!"
Flipping off the wall she lands on a higher railing, only to be met by Fire Soul. "EEEEEEEEEEEP." screeches Peridot as she flings herself out of the way, and onto another railing across the chamber. Only to have Fumiko open up her umbrella from below. She re-engages her shield in the hopes of warding it off, but finally seems to have an idea so bright that it lightens up her whole face and just... lets go.
She soars upwards, buoyed higher by the Winds of Admonishment, though it's a violent ride, made moreso by the impact of Sourisi's boomerang-tonfa, which elicits a meaty thwack and a pained gasp, followed by Sailor Moon and La Sirene's double beam, which she crosses her arms in front of just in time to roll with instead of the possibly-fatal impact of taking it wholly unguarded. Finally it's over, and -- now much higher than the group, several floors up -- she sizzles -- steam is rising off of her whole body, which is also sparking a bit -- and scowls.
Then, perhaps worrisomely, she turns that frown upside down, and smirks, instead.
"Fine. I'll turn it off," she agrees, and pushes a button on the back of one hand with a CLICK.
The water column collapses immediately.
With a roar, as whatever power was suspending it in silence is no more.
It impacts in all directions, then following up with the immediate threat of a LOCAL flood as the surface level rises higher and higher. The machinery itself is quite tall, but whatever magical thing she slapped onto it to power it -- unobscured by water, it's easier to see that it's two gemstones, tied together or something, one blue and one black -- is going to disappear in a moment.
Peridot isn't waiting to see if that took anyone out; she's fleeing for dear life up the fire escape stairs, towards the very top of the building, which is now an open roof, no longer filled with water.
OOC: You cannot reach Peridot this round; use your attacks in clever ways to help you ascend after her quickly enough to escape the flood! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Lancelot. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Sourisi. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used My Pal Gravity on La Sirene de Diamant. COMBAT: Sailor Moon partially dodges 9 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 36 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji dodges 18 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stun applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Sourisi fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 54 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Sourisi! COMBAT: Sailor Mars partially dodges 11 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 45 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Mars's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stun applied to Sailor Mars! COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant perfectly counters 50 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! La Sirene de Diamant's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant's counterattack, Wake! The Boundary Glass, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Lancelot braces 30 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block and Parry abilities activate! Stun applied to Lancelot! COMBAT: Steven Universe cleanly braces 34 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block and Parry abilities activate! Stun applied to Steven Universe! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue dodges 27 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's My Pal Gravity, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fumiko Inoue's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Stun applied to Fumiko Inoue!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
With a whomp Lancelot finds his breath knocked out of him as he slams into a wall after being blasted with his own lightning. He blinks several times as he struggles to find his breath again, and when that happens he looks up just in time see all that water come crashing down toward him. "And Mai has my Umbrella..."
Quickly dismissing one of his swords, he forms his old shield and crouched underneath it with the shield over his head. The massive weight of the water slams into him and pushes him down to the ground, but thanks to his old and trusty shield, he isn't totally flatened. He stands up and squares his shoulders as he spits a moutful of water out to the side while he brushes hair plastered to his head out of his face. He squares his shoulders. "Okay. Plan A, hit her hard didn't work." He nods to Steven and gives him a wink. "It's time for Plan B. HIT HER HARDER!"
With a boom of thunder, Lancelot once again rushes at Peridot, his shield dissipating and replaced by a second blade. As he closes he leaps at the Gem slashing rapidly. Lightning arcs and sparks off each strike, the tendrils dancing from puddle to puddle as the Lightning Knight attacks with blinding speed.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Furious Assault on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Lancelot has cancelled their attack on Hotaru Tomoe. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
The Magic Knight of Wind takes a moment to wince as her Winds of Admonishment backfire, *boosting* Peridot instead of trapping her. But then the Gem simply turns off her device.
And the Wind Knight blinks. She actually *turned it off* - it was that easy?
And then the water which was going *up* starts coming back *down* again.
No. No, it was absolutely *not* that easy.
Time to not stay in one place.
The Magic Knight of Wind leaps from her perch, simply angling upwards at first - less worried about exactly where to plant her feet and more concerned with simply getting as high up as possible. It nearly backfires on her; a chunk of that falling water slams into her as if it were solid instead of liquid, but she manages to emerge into the air again ... lower than she'd meant to, thanks to the impact. But she can't simply duck underneath solid objects when she's trying to outrun the rising water level, and the Winds of Protection will only be so much good until she can actually *climb* like the stairs Peridot is on ...
And then she realizes.
"Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi!!" the Wind Knight shouts, aiming her spell not at Peridot but simply into the path of more descending water. As long as it scatters the water out of a solid column, that *should* be enough of a disruption to the not-really-rain to let her keep climbing.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges 33 Fatigue damage from Fuu Hououji's Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
("Absolutely!")
Is what she whispers, before she grips La Sirene's hands in a celebratory cheerful hand shake.
Peridot even sounds like she's giving up, "Well I'm glad you've come to your s-"
Cue Peridot revealing that she hasn't come to her senses at all.
"NOT AGAIN!" Sailor Moon shrieks as the water comes down upon her from on high, slamming into the catwalk as it separates - knocking her into the sudden flood below. It is like the divine calling her 'You-soggy' all over again.
The Sailor Senshi disappears in those waters for a time.
And then there's a shining light down below.
A bright discus flies through the air - trailing behind it a twisting serpentine shape of clinking metal.
It ascends on high towards the railing of the upper levels of the fire escape - before arcing around. The chain strikes the railing, bringing it taut as the tiara winds about it again and again and again before it stops inert to reveal it was a tiara.
And a girl who time and time again failed at the rope climb suddenly is pulling herself out to break the surface of the water, using the chain to desperately start her climb to stay above the surface of the water-
"Mars-! Stev-"
Sailor Moon rethinks that with a sputter, "Oh- Steven has bubble powers so he's probably okay! But anyone who can't float and needs a hand - grab on and climb!"
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
With a whomp Lancelot finds his breath knocked out of him as he slams into a wall after being blasted with his own lightning. He blinks several times as he struggles to find his breath again, and when that happens he looks up just in time see all that water come crashing down toward him. "And Mai has my Umbrella..."
Quickly dismissing one of his swords, he forms his old shield and crouched underneath it with the shield over his head. The massive weight of the water slams into him and pushes him down to the ground, but thanks to his old and trusty shield, he isn't totally flatened. He stands up and squares his shoulders as he spits a moutful of water out to the side while he brushes hair plastered to his head out of his face. He squares his shoulders. "Okay. Plan A, hit her hard didn't work." He nods to Steven and gives him a wink. "I think we'll have to come up with a new plan. In a minute." He can't fly, but Lancelot can infact, run up the side of buildings, and walls. So he does just that, but as he approaches the wall he calls out to the group, "EYES!" And then slaming his swords together as he begins to go up the wall and looks away as he cries, "Flash - BANG!!"
This produces a small orb of lightning that soars upwards and then explodes with a blinding flash of light and a louder than normal crash of thunder. It might do little more than annoy her, but he's hoping the bright light and crash of thunder will at least distract her for a moment, and allow the group to ascend to her level to continue the fight!
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Flash Bang on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Tiara Boomerang on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Tiara Boomerang on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Boomerang, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Sailor Moon's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Boomerang, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Sailor Mars's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Lancelot's Flash Bang, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Diversion applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Fire burns, lightning crackles and a beam of combined energy lights up the interior of the plant, but not all attacks are colorful or flashy. A tonfa angles inbetween bursts of magic and strikes the ascending Peridot solidly before making its' way back to Sourisi. The mouse ninja plucks her bludgeon with a smooth grab and spies just how much Peridot had ascended with her propelled leap.
The green Gem is visibly hurt from their combined assault, but is quick to regain her confidence. And...wait, she's actually going to turn it off? "Okay, that's certainly a start. Maybe this can all drizzle out and-" An audible 'click', heard in the sudden silence of machinery powering down. That silence only lasts for a moment before the ROAR of water crashing back down to earth fills the plant, and Sourisi turns around just in time to see a massive wall of water heading right for her. She has just enough time to raise her arms up in an effort to brace against the blow and-
Maybe trying to push back against a miniture tsunami isn't one of her best ideas.
Soundtrack: Panic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yw5jkAHgME
The world rotates rapidly as Sourisi literally finds herself inside an industry-sized washing machine, her back slamming against unmoving metal in the roiling waters. Even has the impact causes air to bubble out from her lungs, Sourisi finds herself hitting something else along her leg and causing even more confusion to the Miraculous user. She's cetainly a decent swimmer, but the constant waves are making it hard enough to even know which way is up anymore. Panicing, Sourisi flings an arm above her head, desperately searching for something to help her!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
Fuu was here too, though only notices after her impact. He winces, and hope she and Sailor Mars are okay!
The boy finds that being this distance may not help stop the storm. Maybe if he can get close to it! Despite being partially full of water, Steven and Lion run toward the holding pool where the water surging upward originates. "She musta put something in there!" he says, though is rather obvious. Pools don't glow that color.
The shield lands, though not as effected as he had hoped. She's very resilient! She also shouts at him regarding the war.
The war.
He knows the basics. How long ago it was. How long it lasted. And the Crystal Gems were successful in repelling Homeworld. There are a lot of details missing though. Too many to count. He can only learn about Gem history so quickly though. "I don't... know what all happened, but we aren't monsters! Homeworld is gonna cause problems if they come here! Especially when you are with those other guys as allies! They are the monsters!"
Peridot said the Black Moon Clan. Is that what they were called? Still, being called a monster cut deep. Did she really mean that?
Suddenly Peridot is defying gravity and out of reach, scaling upward. "Get back here!" he shouts. Worse though, down here gets worse. She cuts off the strange siphoning device, and all that water comes tumbling down at once. "Lion, Lion! Run!" he shouts, quickly jumping on his buddy. It was too tricky to do portal jumps here, to little area to work with, instead his powerful jumps would have to do!
And to higher struts and walkways he goes, quicker, yet quicker. A look over toward Sailor Moon and Mars. "Be careful and watch your footing!" he tries to offer helpfully. All this bracework is wet and slippery. They should put up some signs.
The path for a higher jump is blocked byt the onrush of water. They have to get to the other side before it all coems down! "Lion! Hit it!" he says. With a mighty breath, Lion ROARS, and rippling soundwaves tear outward, attempting to punch a hole in the waterwall as they run toward it!
"Sirene," he calls out suddenly. "...That was super cool!" he shouts, considering her cool combination with Sailor Moon. Such pretty lights! If only he could have just stood there and stare at it. Like a lovely fireworks display!
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Just Lion Things on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 13 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's Just Lion Things, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Tangle and Trap applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"We're the monsters?!" Sailor Mars demands, in swift interjection.
Then Peridot yelps and makes her impromptu escape, and there's a moment when Sailor Mars just kind of looks up at her, a frown of realisation flickering over her face as she thinks of how she's been acting. "Wait. You really believe that..."
Then she turns it off.
Sailor Mars remarks to herself that as soon as she gets out of this, she's going to go find the dictionary definition of 'malicious compliance' and paste Peridot's ridiculous triangle face right onto it.
Because, yes, she's deactivated her misery machine.
And all that water has to go somewhere.
Faced with a wall of water bearing down towards her, Sailor Mars leaps and leaps again, as pipeline after pipeline is consumed in a torrent. "Hang on -- I know!" She declares to herself, in triumph, struggling to gain enough ground to have a moment to stand. "I'll just evaporate the water! No-maku samanda bazara..." She produces an ofuda -- it's dry, somehow -- and clasps her hands together as she invokes the Wisdom King's mantra. "FIRE SOUL..." And before anyone can tell her what a poor idea this is, her hands are already clasped, flame sparking into creation to lance through the paper slip. "... BIRD!" A bird, yes, is what meets the torrent, vast and angry-hot.
Predictably, the phoenix of flame does not, in fact, evaporate much of the geyser of water pouring towards her.
It does, however, make it very hot.
"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Mars yelps, as the water directly around her becomes more of a sauna than a cold shower. If there's one blessing to the water being much too warm, it's that it's an excellent incentive to keep moving. And the water keeps pouring down, so it's not hot for too long. (Ami probably explained that, at one point, when Rei was struggling with her science homework. She can't remember the specifics of thermodynamics right now because she is too busy trying not to drown.)
Thankfully, Sailor Moon has a slightly better tactical strategy, which is to say 'any strategy which does not involve SETTING WATER ON FIRE'. She leaps for the chain, and uses it to hoist herself up. "Good thinking!" She yells up, towards the other girl.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Fire Soul Bird on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Fire Soul Bird on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 17 Fatigue damage from Sailor Mars's Fire Soul Bird, taking 14 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
It looks like Serpentina's allies are winning! Poor Peridot is buffetted around in a storm of attacks! However, Serpentina's heart sinks when she realizes the rest of her could too, as Peridot opens the floodgates to a disastrous deluge! In fact, she's nearly washed out, her quick movements barely avoiding certain doom.
Not everyone was so lucky. That mouse girl seems to be in trouble. And after that big speech she just gave, there's no way Serpentina was going to let an ally drown. She scrambles around, kicking and jumping off things to get to her. She flips her parasol around, trying to use the hook to catch not a fish, but a mouse.
"Mouse girl! Don't panic, I'm on your side!" Serpentina grins slightly, and her loud voice hushes to a near whisper. "Huh. A snake rescuing a rat. Ironic." She attemps to real in her catch by pulling once Sourisi has a good hold of the handle.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
("Haha... I'm glad.")
What Peridot says has some pecularities. La Sirene hears them but does not quite think about them because she is drawing upon the magic, the sparkling of sorrow, the effervesence of joy. 'Eeeep' indeed, Peridot! She blocks, but that's almost to be expected--
'Fine. I'll turn it off.'
La Sirene relaxes.
There is a sudden shift in the pressure of the air.
La Sirene looks upwards.
Her lower lip curls and her mouth opens in sheer horrified astonishment at the sight of ye gods knows how much water coming down towards her. She dimly remembers hearing one day that the ocean had somehow been taken - ? - is this the same sort of magic? There's so much of it! You can't fight the ocean!
Not too late, she spreads her hands to either side. She makes the sign of Les Mysteres, sees the waters descend. They touch her back -
"Les Mysteres, Wake!"
- and around her there is a gorgeous glittering green-glass dome, each piece loosely spherical and forming a constellation wound together with copper and brass, the water interrupted and pouring off in a great sluicing chain! The dome, in fact, can bear up under this pressure -- perhaps the perfect structure for bearing such pressure. "Sailor Moon!" la Sirene calls out.
"Thank you," she says to Steven with a curtsey. Then she crouches downwards - leaping upwards, letting the gripping soles of her heavy boots give her the moments of grace she needs to pull herself further, nearer to the others.
This is also scraping up municipal property something fierce but la Sirene can live with this. She can live with it... She CAN live with it...
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Hop Like An Otter - Float Like A Rabbit on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Mars's Fire Soul Bird, taking 23 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Fingers wrap around a thin hook, and Sourisi snap her tonfa back into their clasps and desperately latches on with both of her hands. With a spray of water and a deep gasp of fresh air, she's above the toiling surface that was the factory floor only moments before. Blinking rapidly to wipe away the water, Sourisi looks upon her lifeguard and...it's the parasol girl? Not looking a gift snake in the mouth, Sourisi helps her rescuer pull herself onto solid ground.
Taking in deep breaths in order the ease the burning in her lungs, Sourisi gives Serpentina a waterlogged grin. "Gah...okay...so the water...shouldn't be allowed to do a cannonball into the pool. That's so not allowed."
Despite the joking manner, there's no telling what could had happened if this snake charmer hadn't pulled her out in time. "But...thanks you, really." Dark green eyes stare into their masked counterpart, trying to share her gratitude in a way words can't right now. This girl is perfectly fine in her books!
Sourisi jumps with a start, the Miraculous Ninja stares upwards at Peridot as she makes her escape and frowns. "I'm letting her getting away this time! I'm going to try something risky, but ..." Sourisi unclasps her tonfa and taps it against the end of her tail, a glowing golden chain springing to life between her tail and weapon. Ladybug makes this looks so easy with her yo-yo, so this might work just as well.
Throwing her tonfa upwards so that the chain can wrap around an overhanging pipe, the Miraculous user wraps an arm around Serpentina and pulls her close. "Just hold on, this might be another bumpy flight for Air Sourisi!"
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Tail Snag on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge La Sirene de Diamant's Hop Like An Otter - Float Like A Rabbit, taking 10 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Sourisi's Tail Snag, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
By all sorts of ways and means do the magical girls bear themselves upwards and away from the danger. They make it to the roof some moments after Peridot. It's a sloped surface, that which isn't already open to the sky, and she's run upwards while the water, which laps at the slowest girls' heels just as they make their escape, falls downwards in the other direction.
She's facing the edge, not away from them, but in profile, and briefly they can see the most forlorn expression on the Gem's face, as she surveys the sky, invisible beneath already-receding raincloud, and beyond that, the severe light pollution that Tokyo guarantees. It's too early anyway, but even if it was night, Peridot wouldn't be able to see the stars.
Her eyes narrow, grimly, as she turns to watch the enemy arrive. She extends her arm again; the fingers at the end floatily transfigure themselves into a blaster again; and then there's no more again because something new happens. A hum of power begins to rise as she charges her shot with deliberate patience rather than desperate rapid fire.
Which isn't to say that desperation isn't written all over her face.
"G-get back!" she yells, madly trying to change the terms of this engagement -- but snapped out so loudly, it just might work, at least for a second. "There's nowhere left for you to run!"
And then she detonates the blaster and the whole world is painful green energy, which fades into the sound of keening metal as the blaster disengages from this higher-powered state, and her short, panting breaths, which hitch up and down with glottal-bourne dismay.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Lancelot. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Fumiko Inoue. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on La Sirene de Diamant. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used There's Always A Bigger BLAST on Sourisi. COMBAT: Lancelot decisively counters 36 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Lancelot's counterattack, Heaven's Wrath, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji braces 27 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Sourisi dodges 19 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Sourisi's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue cleanly braces 40 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 7 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Steven Universe cleanly braces 45 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Sailor Moon cleanly braces 45 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant perfectly braces 46 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! La Sirene de Diamant's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Sailor Mars braces 21 Fatigue damage from Hotaru Tomoe's There's Always A Bigger BLAST, taking 17 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
As that greenish blast comes toward him, Lancelot grits his teeth, twirls his blades once and calls out: "HEAVEN'S WRATH!" And sends a blast wave of his own out at Peridot. There is a crash of thunder as the two waves of energy collide, searing a path clear for Lancelot, but sending his own lightning off course. "Right. Plan B." He says with a nod. "Hit Her Harder in effect!"
He summons all that electricity dancing around in puddles and the ambient in the air from all of his attacks. They flow and curl around him, arcing and dacing along his blades, along his arms and legs. "Anima .... " He says taking a deep breath as all that power collects in him. Builds in him until it feels like he is about to burst with the power. Lightning appears to be dripping form his eyes. Coursing through and around his hir and playing along his fingers. The tendrils wrap around Lancelot, who has become a veritible conduit of power until he slams both swords together, the points of the blades directed for Peridot, "TEMPESTAS!"
All of that raw electrical power races down his arms, through the blades, and then explodes in a cacophany of thunder as a massive blast of Lightning. The blue and white bolt sends thousand of smaller forks arcing and dancing in the air, and along the ground in its wake. Each crackling tendril crackling and snapping with it's own power.
Once that energy leaves Lancelot, his baldes steaming in the air from the raw energy he just unleashed, he drops to a knee and closes one eye. "I told ya to Surrender."
COMBAT: FINISHER! Lancelot has used Anima Tempestas on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
- Now* the green-clad Magic Knight conjures up the Winds of Protection, the barrier blunting the shockwave from Peridot's exploding blaster and reducing its force from something that would have blown her off the roof to a force which merely sends her sliding back, still on her feet, about two meters closer to the edge behind her and the fall beyond it.
And then she steps forward again, her gaze focused on Peridot.
"Funny that you would think *we're* the ones who should run, Peridot-san," the Wind Knight says, even smiling again at the enemy Gem. "Or rather, that we're the ones who would need to. Unless you can fly now ..."
She stops talking there, perhaps realizing that giving ideas to a still-potentially-dangerous enemy really isn't the best of ideas. Instead, a streak of green light emanating from her glove-jewel curves back around, lands in her hands, and solidifies into her sword. And then, ironically enough, the Wind Knight *does* run.
Straight towards Peridot.
"TEMPEST SLASH!!!" she calls out as she gets into sword-range of Peridot, and swings her blade - not just once but repeatedly, the wind howling about her to add destructive force to each strike. It's not a terribly long combo - four or five swings, all told; there are other magical girls with swords who could do more, faster, harder - but it's what the Wind Knight can dish out, and she leaps back again at the conclusion of her attack. She doesn't want to stay too close, or she'd risk impeding her allies' own strikes ...
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Tempest Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Fumiko Inoue [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Rescue mission status: Success...ish. Serpentina has yet to COMPLETELY rescue Sourisi, only delay things, and she isn't any closer to Peridot now. "No problem," she responds shakily, looking back into the mouse's eyes. She nods, then looks up. "Getting up there's the real problem."
Luckily, the mouse has a plan. "neat," Serpentina remarks at the sudden grappling hook. "So we're going to- wh-whoah!"
Elevator going up? Not bad. Serpentina hangs on to Sourisi, unsure of the rough flight. But it was fast. Once to safety, she lets go. "Guess this makes us even. Now time t- uh-oh."
Almost on instinct, the snake girl opens her umbrella, trying to replicate her earlier defense. But it was too early. Instead of a powerful deflection, it acted as a relatively sturdy shield, but the knockback was nearly dangerous. Keeping balance took a couple ounces of her strength more than she would have liked, but at least she's not back at the bottom. Her signature moves won't work, though, not with the negative momentum from trying not to fall. But she could improvise.
Serpentina closes her parasol and charges forward, as if going for a direct assault. However, her lack of speed would make this both telegraphed and weak. Instead, she slams the tip of her parasol into the roof, as if pole vaulting. As soon as she is tilted towards Peridot a little more than vertical and upside down, she opens her umbrella and launches herself in an odd arc. She attempts to launch herself just barely over Peridot, swinging as hard as she can to try to hit her. Probably not the greatest move, but perhaps it could be a distraction in some way?
COMBAT: Fumiko Inoue has used parapult on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.
Oof. is Sailor Mars okay? That looked painful...
The splashing flood is narrowly avoided through powerful sonic waves, and the pair neatly pass through a vaguely circular hole punched through the water falling. "Yeah!" he cheers. Now, they still get soaked going up, but they dont get knocked down several stories.
He will take that as a 'W' on the scorecard. But what was that down in the water? Some small device. It held gemstones in it. Lapis' mirror is evoked in his mind, though the dark colored one gives him a thought as to what it could be... considering who she was in league with.
Peridot made her way to the surface on the roof, and everyone else gives close chase!
"Stop running!" Steven shouts, once on the roof, his brow furrowed. Others make their way up. "Fighting will get us nowhere!" he calls to her. He has to get her to stop fighting. Or running. Possibly both!
Sadly, she seems to have other ideas! "Whoah!" he peeps out as a giant blaster shot flies their way! The shield is raised, and he drops to a knee, angling it away from him. It takes great strain, and a bit of his hair gets vaporized, but otherwsie comes out unscathed. "Fine! We will just have to stop you all the way then!"
There is... less of a worry of extremely hurting Peridot than other people he wants to talk to but comes down to this kind of thing, as Gems regenerate. They can take any amount of damage thrown their way, As long as it isn't the Gem struck.
Still, hurting people isn't his forte. Never has been. But he has a subset of powers that help this goal!
The shield, having deflected a great deal of power, thrums with stored energy. And as the shield is pointed toward Peridot, where a sonorous sound peals, and practically vibrates the air in his vicinity. But is far more intense in the direction it faces.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Reverb Shield on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Ladybug is certainly much more skilled at the grappling around than Sourisi is. It might have something to do with Sourisi helping Serpentina ascend during her first trip, but there are several close calls that turns around with a few well-placed kicks. Once the duo reaches the fire escape to the roof, Sourisi looks away with an embarrased blush. Either she practices a lot more or try to figure out something else to do with her chain.
Clawed boots do give superior traction compared to other footwear, and Sourisi is quick to give chase to the stormmancer. This chase is starting to become tiring to everyone involved, but the clearing clouds up above shows that it's worth it even when it's not quite over yet. The city lights of Tokyo gleam as the gray slate cover slowly breaks away, but the distress on Peridot's face gives a tiny spart of guilt inside Sourisi. Sure she is an enemy of the Crystal Gems, but surely some sort of plan could be done to help her get home, right?
A cornered rat fights with nothing to lose, and the green Gem shows that as she shifts her fingers into their blaster module yet again. "Wait, Peridot! Stop this, please!" But she doesn't fire crazily like she did before. Despite the eight of them rushing towards her, she's holding her ground as the whine of energizing machinery fills the air once more. And with dawning realization, Sourisi throws herself away from the others in an attempt to evade the massive bolt heading their way.
She's not hit directly, but the force from the near hit has Sourisi tumbling on her side to the roof's edge. Thankfully the ponytailed heroine comes to a full stop before she gets up on one knee to collect her strength. Peridot is too worked up to listen to them right now, so it looks like everyone is going to need her calm down first. "Sorry about this, really, but...this is for your own good!"
Grimacing as she stands upright, Sourisi starts her charge forward, spiked boots starting to glow a bright red as she concentrates her energy into her boots. While others have thunder and wind to combat Peridot's storm, Sourisi takes pride in the fact she's not as flashy. Steven likes to call her a ninja, and what kind of ninja draws attention to herself? With a mighty leap skywards that dents the metal roof, the mouse girl flips around at the apex of her jump. With Serpentina moving in to knock aside Peridot's guard, Sourisi rockets downwards with a hefty double axe kick. "Primal Crazy Rodent!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sourisi has used Primal Crazy Rodent on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
La Sirene reaches the roof, breathing heavily for a moment. She lingers to watch the others as they come up, not wanting to leave anyone behind perhaps.
(Four blocks away, Batiste grips onto a light post. He was pretty calm about all of this, given everything, but it was still a little fearsome.)
Her eyes turn towards Peridot just as the enormous blast of the shrieking green light that the Crystal Gem commands rips outwards towards her. When La Sirene comes back into view again, after that poisonous light fades, she has been singed round the edges. Her hair billows backwards. She uncrosses her fists from before her face, and she rises up to her full height.
"Run?" she asks.
"But there are so many places for me to go," La Sirene says, as she starts unfastening her left glove.
"Tokyo is a beautiful city... the jewel of Earth, I think, or one of several at the worst. You have set your storms against it... but Tokyo was built with wisdom. There are great halls through which the water can flow, through which it will flow. You have hurt this city... eroded our parks... perhaps undermined our buildings... but it is a strong thing, a living thing. It has lived through many things, since it was Edo; since the time before."
La Sirene gets her glove off.
"But... maybe I am just a little full of pride... for this place where we live."
"I suppose you were hoping for rescue...? It's a little rough," la Sirene says, "to feel alone. I know how it is."
Her eyes harden. "But I also know what it is like to live in a time of floods."
La Sirene tosses her glove then, towards Peridot. She might catch it - though perhaps she would rather not hold something with four ounces of black diamond on the back - but then again if it is not to happen, it lands on the roof top. La Sirene then raises her arms up, one foot held before the other, slightly arched. Her fingers spread out. The Pharos at her waist shines...
A glow rises around la Sirene, and perhaps the strange thing that people might notice - Peridot has a great view, to be sure - is that it casts sharp shadows, but that those shadows are moving *towards* the light source.
And then the air tenses, and there is a sense of released tension, as if the sky itself has wept. And a great silent bolt of violet-limned black, too, arching towards the green meanie!
COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene de Diamant has used Saturday's Delight on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly braces 24 Fatigue damage from Fuu Hououji's Tempest Slash, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe dodges 12 Fatigue damage from Fumiko Inoue's parapult, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe braces 7 Fatigue damage from Steven Universe's Reverb Shield, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Sailor Moon's chain bears Sailor Mars up, to chase Peridot to the rooftop. There, as she comes to her, she thinks: it's hard to fake that kind of sadness.
"You're really on your own out here," she says, sensitive enough at least not to outright say no one's coming for her, "aren't you..?"
Peridot yells at them to get back, as if talking loudly enough will cover up the fact that she's being defensive instead of offensive. It might have worked on someone whose face didn't appear next to the dictionary definition of 'projection'. (That was a protracted argument-slash-defacement which led to both girls getting glue on their faces.)
She meets her eyes and Sailor Mars isn't afraid, but she isn't just angry over injustice any more.
This is not to say she isn't still angry. Peridot played her part in that travesty, Mars thinks, and has shown no sympathy for the world she's trying to escape. She does not need a storm to bolster her belligerence, and she is perfectly capable of being angry at sympathetic targets.
(Oh, she thinks, aside, running through the thoughts as that charger pulses. I said some awful things to Yuuichiro and Grandpa, didn't I?)
And then there is a flash of light, and Peridot is right, at least, in that there is nowhere to run. Sailor Mars crosses her arms in front of her, gloves absorbing the brunt of the blast; she is pushed back, back, until her heels are damp with lapping water. Her knees, as well, as she is forced to bend with the force of the energy so she is not flung into the pool beyond.
The green light passes; Sailor Mars is not consumed by the water which follows them like a child or a kite or death. She rises -- slowly, but surely, uncrossing her arms, stepping out of shallow water. "Peridot, when you called me a lackey..."
Sailor Mars takes a breath to calm herself.
"... I don't suppose you were talking from experience?"
It's just a guess, from someone else who knows what it's like to be angry at everything.
She shakes her head. "But this is the second time," she says. "You have to own that. So..." At her flame lights a finger, which she sweeps in a circle around her, antapex to apex. "BURNING..." The flames resolve to orbs -- eight orbs, eight seals, marked with Buddhist iconography. She gathers her hands, and the orbs gather to her hands. "... MANDALA!" And loose, as eight discs of flame, to course in towards Peridot in their judgement.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mars has used Burning Mandala on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Sourisi's Finisher, Primal Crazy Rodent, taking 109 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Lancelot's Finisher, Anima Tempestas, taking 154 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace La Sirene de Diamant's Finisher, Saturday's Delight, taking 115 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Sailor Mars's Finisher, Burning Mandala, taking 132 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Fuu, Serpentina and Sourisi get in up close and personal, and land their share of blows with sword and parasol and feet in a rapid exchange involving Peridot intermingling nervous sidesteps away with taking the hits on that force field of hers. She holds her own, though the sound of her teeth grinding against each other is audible -- there's no part of this that she's enjoying.
But they're forced away from her by what comes next -- the explosion of power re-released from Steven's shield, the turns-everything-to-chiaroscuro-in-comparison-to-its-brightness blast of lightning off of Lancelot's swords, the silent and beautiful bolt launched by La Sirene, and the coruscating wall of fire laid down by Sailor Mars -- along with some words that she doesn't quite get a chance to see how they landed, not with all that energy in the way.
The many powers merge and swirl and spiral, and when the blast clears, there's no trace of Peridot; no trace at all.
"Nyeh heh heh heh heh!!"
Rude cackling falls from above, positively rains down disdain, but at least it's the last of the deluge. The sun is shining through in earnest, now.
Peridot is soot-blackened -- the only dots of color on her now are her Gem and her eyes -- but she has her arm thrust above her head, and all of her fingers have detached from that hand and are spinning, whirring rapidly, creating a helicopter-like lift.
She looks ridiculous.
Also, she's getting away.
"SURRENDER? To you? You really thought it'd be that easy? You're just a bunch of CLODS!"
It may be small consolation that each of these words is accompanied by a puff of dust from her mouth; she may be escaping, but certainly they got her good, first.
She's vanishing rapidly into the sky but that doesn't stop her from yelling insults, even if distance makes her increasingly inaudible.
"...can't stop me! ... ...off this doomed rock... ...YEAH, YOU CLODS!!"
And then she's gone...
...at least the Processing Plant seems to be okay, thanks to the magical powers that washed over it. The machinery down below is normal. There's no trace of the Gems she was using to power her equipment. They must have washed away.
---
LATER THAT EVENING
The two little crystals, blue and black, were nothing but shards, attached to one another by something like molding putty.
They bob up and down in Tokyo Bay, making little ripples on the water where they touch the surface.
And then, all at once, they're sucked downwards and vanish.
ROLL CREDITS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoBGAzY0JGQ
