2022-11-13 - The Book And Its Boy 3

The Book And Its Boy 3
Summary: The morning after the Infinity gallery opening, a flea market attracts bargain-hunters... and heart-eaters. After a desperate fight, the first of the Hollow Four, Conflagria, reveals herself for the first time.
Who: Yumi Ohzora, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Raiko Takashima, Conflagria
Where: Ajinomoto Stadium
OOC - IC Date: 11/14/2022 - 01-27-2016

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> SIT! - Inuyasha OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9KbCTCsG8w

The Ajinomoto flea market mostly takes place under open skies in the summer, but a consecutive string of clear, cold days in a forecast of sufficient likelihood has a rare winter one taking place today. Afterschool is a busy time to go, what with club activities and so on, but the siren call of savings cannot be ignored. Or the siren call of curiosities. Or the siren call of hot street food on a chilly day, because the options are almost festival-like in scope, with vast billowing clouds of steam and smoke up from those booths the only clouds today.

The blue above is pale, almost fragile; a sort of eggshell of a sky. Scant winter sunlight shines down on the field itself, down in the center of the arena, but there is plenty in shadow; the bleachers themselves (which accommodate almost fifty thousand people when full) are mostly covered by rooftop, except for the first few rows down by the pitch. The market is set up on astroturf, with more stalls in the outer ring, behind all the seating; it's loud and chaotic, with a labyrinthine set of canopies above and rugs below, set up by each vendor for maximum customer comfort.

Down in the middle of everything, four booths sit at a major, if this-afternoon-only, 'intersection'. A crossroads, if you like. At one corner is a thrift clothing booth with a variety of vintage skirts, blouses, and scarves; across from it is a stand selling hot apple cider, with the man shouting "hot! hot cider, hot!" wholly unnecessarily given the incredible aroma of his steam; across from THAT is either the apple cider man's most bitter competitor or, possibly, his wife (maybe 'and', not 'or'), who is laying down crepes with a warm apple and cinnamon filling, topped off with rapidly melting whipped cream, at a remarkable rate; and finally the fourth stall here is a jeweler, or perhaps more aptly a jewelry dealer, who has all manner of pendants, bracelets, earrings and rings, ranging in value from a small fraction of the average kid's allowance to a salaryman's income for a week.

Most students present are in their school uniforms, having not had time to change if they wanted to make it to this event before it closes. However, a solid proportion of the market is adult, and of all ages, sizes, and styles; from aviator-glasses-anonymized executive types in suits discreetly accompanied by more people in more suits, to mothers juggling small children and a wagon full of finds, to raggedy grandfathers dickering over the price of rare pendants like their lives depend on it (they do not), and many more in between.

Everyone loves a bargain.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi Ohzora... has a problem. She doesn't have enough hands for all this stuff!!

She likes to go to these events, interested in all the unusual things one can find at such a greeting. It's more for the curiousities than for the savings, because Yumi is not particularly known for her thriftiness, but she's also here for the food!! The food is very important.

The crossroads sees Yumi looking over an old pendant with a deep green stone, picking it up and watching it sparkle in the light. ...She has already picked up a few bracelets and a couple earrings. Yumi might be one of the better customers here of the day. But...

But, she wants cider! And a crepe! And she can't do both at once because she only has two hands and doesn't want to spill anything on the jewelry!!

...And she can't impose on Raiko-chan to hold things because that would be rude, and in any case if anything she's probably getting bulkier stuff. So, Yumi--one of those students still in an Infinity uniform--peers close through her big glasses at the pendant. "It's pretty..."

<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Keeping her patience long enough to make it through the day's classes was an incredibly painful challenge for one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Was she up late at the art gallery showing yesterday? Yes. Did she sleep in this morning late enough that she had to run to school at a dead sprint, slipping on an icy patch and literally tumbling through the doors at close to the last minute? Also yes. Did she nearly sprint back out of school at lunchtime when she realized the Ajinomoto flea market was open today? Yes, and only shouting from her purse actually stopped her.

She made her apologies to the Fashion Club for skipping activities today. Actually she told the Fashion Club where she was going and half of them beat her out the door. Because a chance for a bargain - materials for a possible project - are too hard to ignore, especially this time of year. So Marinette took...the train, because personal responsibility and not misusing power and all that, but it was a very jittery train ride.

She has projects in mind. And the thrift clothing booth is a gold mine. Any used-clothing stalls will be silver mines in the tortured analogy that is her plans, but the things that glitter across the junction are not the precious materials.

Anything frayed. Anything made from cloth with an interesting pattern, or that holds a neat bit of hemming, or that could be part of an outfit or perhaps that could be turned to scraps for another sewing project - they are cheaper than new cloth and that is precious to her hobby budget. By the time she realizes she's getting cold and maybe a bit thirsty, her arms are filled with lumpy bags of some of the treasures she managed to snatch from under the noses of her fellow questers.

...some cider really would be nice. So she starts wandering across the way, bumps into three people with apologies, somehow gets a shirt from her recent purchases out of a bag and over her face, and accidentally stumbles into the jewelery area. She manages to peer out from the cloth, and sees-

"Oh - Ohzora-senpai, isn't it?" That's the high school uniform for Infinity, it's a pretty safe bet. "What a surprise! How are you doing today? It's, um, Marinette Dupain-Cheng under all this clutter..."

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

Raiko actually skipped club activities today--well, to actually go would be more unusual for her, these days--and actually dipped to her dorm room to change into warmer wear (big puffy jacket, tights, wool hat), but more importantly, to empty out her backpack of her school supplies, and to empty out her extradimensional storage, too. But despite all of that she's been here for a while already, scouring the stalls. Flea markets are a nice, inexspensive way to pick up old appliances for cheap, and you get to inspect them before handing over money and you don't have to worry about shipping, unlike sourcing things online.

There's a blender back in her dorm room that needs just the right part to be fixed, but if she's lucky, she might be able to pick up a few extra things to keep on hand as a backup, or find something she can fixup and sell for a little extra cash. Ayase is nice to her, but... he isn't quite as loose with the purse strings as her grandfather is.

She exchanged an energetic wave with Yumi when she crossed paths with her earlier, but now that she's made a couple of passes--finding the stalls and looking at their goods, and then making rounds to buy. But now that all of her work is done, and she's lugging around a few bulky items in her arms, with an overstuffed backpack (and more besides, thanks to discretely vanished items into her magical holding space), she's wandered back to the crossroads, drawn by the lure of hot cider and crepes--and there she sees Yumi again, diverting course over her way.

"Yumi-chan!" she calls out. She seems in relatively good spirits, for once. Must be the fresh air, or the fact that she clearly found something she wanted, if she needs both her arms and her backpack to carry it all.

As she gets closer though, she sess--a talking bundle of cloth? Oh, no, a girl under that cloth. "Oh, hello, Dupain-Cheng-san. Erm... do you... need a hand?"

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

"So it is, my dear!" The jewelry stall is being run by someone just old, wrinkled and round enough to be grandmotherly and just young enough to probably not appreciate being called grandma quite yet. Her eyes gleam at the sight of all the purchases already on Yumi's person, almost more brightly than the pendant itself. "And, you know, for such a sweet girl--" Marinette is interrupting, but she really wants to make the sale, so she finishes all in a rush, "I can do a sweet discount!!"

Unfortunately for this transaction Marinette is not the only interruption.

Something is wrong. Evil feelings, honestly, are irrelevant this time. Are they present? Probably. But who needs spider-senses when a giant is erupting like a geyser at the far end of the field?

And she brings with her the sickly scent of sulfur... mingled with all the nice apple smells, and fried food smells in general, it's a nauseating combination.

A lot of screaming and running commences. It is immediately necessary to dodge wisely but not very carefully evacuating bystanders; a stray elbow could do a lot of damage in a panic like this. Indeed, a little kid who'd been waiting in line for his (second, look at those shirt stains!) crepe suffers exactly that fate, and drops to the ground, too stunned even to cover his head. He needs help.

<SoundTracker> Lady Marmalade, Reprised - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGi6dy_ixGk

It is certainly the Sulfuric Ogre from the other night at the bridge. Which wasn't even all that far from here, come to think; it's in Chofu. But although her cruelly intelligent eyes, giant tree-club, clever fingers and heavy armor are all too familiar, one thing is different: she's about fifty percent bigger.

And at twenty-five feet, that means that even Yumi, who is a VERY tall young lady, doesn't even quite come up to her knee.

She is proportional to herself; she was stocky in the mist and she's stocky now, a great deal of muscle and sinew. Alarmingly, her unearthly speed has been retained, also; she approaches at speed, splintering booths beneath her left and right without hesitating or even slowing. As she goes, the spectral hand -- harder to see in the daytime than it was at night -- extends from her empty left palm to do a little window shopping. In seconds she's taken, and sumptuously, choplickingly swallowed, the Pure Heart Crystals of a security guy here, a baseball jock there. Although she's said herself that she especially likes the taste of witches, it seems she's also attracted to children, because as she makes the crossroads, that conjured arm flies straight at the prone little boy, heart-snatching palm first.

"Fee fi fo fum," she remarks, though only Yumi will recognize it as irony.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick transforms into Supersized Sulfuric Ogre!

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Oh, really?" Yumi starts, and then--is distracted!! By Marinette!! "Yes," Yumi agrees with Marinette, noticing... well, part of a uniform under all that cloth. It helps that she's so much taller than she is. She agrees it's a surprise too. "Oh, I'm good," Yumi says. "It's nice to be out here, even if it is pretty cold for one of these," she says amiably. "Oh!! I recognized your voice. It's nice to see you again!" A beat, "Wow, though, I..." What she was going to say is gone, because she smells sulfur. She wobbles on her feet with nausea. And then she sees her, gigantic and present.

"No," Yumi breathes, and immediately drops the pendant on the table and picks up her phone. "Go!" she tells the nice woman, but she probably doesn't have to. People start to crush towards her, and Yumi feels a different bite of fear, at the people coming towards her. But suddenly a Staff is in her hands, great and taller than even she is. Yumi lifts the Staff up. "Staff of Lost Ivy!" Yumi calls, in a clear voice, people now parting around her like the waves around a rock. "In my hand, remembered be!"

In a flash of green light her uniform lengthens, changes, becoming a long black dress and a tall, pointed hat with a wide brim. Green leather boots and gloves and her Staff gleam in the light.

Yumi does not appreciate the irony. Her eyes are on the Ogre. She remembers how hard an opponent this was before, and--"Are you--bigger!?" she asks.

Her broom appears in an instant and Yumi is immediately up in the air, trying to stay out of the Ogre's range this time.

"The spell that summoned her must be stronger!" Tama calls from the stands where she'd been resting and hanging out.

"Either way that's super not funny!"

She doesn't see the boy down there at first--only when the Ogre starts to reach. "No--"

"Hunger unfulfilled!" she incants quickly, throwing out her gloved and and a cursed projectile with it, "Hollow Curse!"

If she can just distract her or get her attention, then maybe--

COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Witch Ivy!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Hollow Curse on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The talking bundle of cloth regrets nothing.

There's another familiar voice from nearby, and Marinette pulls the old shirt off her head with a bit of effort. "Thanks! I think I can...probably manage. Takashima-san, right? I went a little overboard, but I help carry bags of flour all the time at home!" She pumps one arm with a happy little grin. "It's good to see you too, senpai, I got a bit caught up-"

The smell of sulfur jars her out of any reminiscing, though, and she turns in horror to see the towering ogre and fleeing crowds. She backs away, one stumbling step and another, and glances down at her purse of all things for a moment before taking action.

Which is to run, screaming, bags trailing bits of cloth as she tries to escape both the press of the crowd and the hungry Ogre. She doesn't even make it that far, as the path she took included a recently abandoned booth full of music posters, and she trips over a bin to vanish into the mess and debris.

Whether there is an invocation of 'Tikki, spots on!' in that forgettable cover is a matter for only a jewel-holder and a kwami.

Canopies are wonderful things to spring from. A figure clad neck-to-toe in black-spotted crimson leaps from one canopy to the next, hurtling over the heads of those fleeing below. Her hair has a sheen of blue, and a similarly spotted domino mask helps hide her true face.

"Something wicked this way comes, is it?" Her voice rings out confidently, and like a beetle, a disc flies past the Sulfuric Ogre in an apparent distraction. It seems to miss at first - but there's a wire trailing behind the magical yo-yo, and it rebounds off of signs and awnings to trace a path round and round the hulking figure before suddenly pulling taut in a trap.

She perches on the umbrella over a hot dog cart, calling up to the witch in green. "Ladybug, here! Do you think we can distract this thing while people escape?"

COMBAT: Marinette Dupain-Cheng transforms into Ladybug!
COMBAT: Ladybug has used Lindy Loop on Pink Moon Stick.

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

Raiko started to nod confirmation to her name, but then follows it up with a verbal confirmation, "Yes, that's right! And if you're sure..."

She's distracted by what Marinette says about the bags of flour, though.

There is... something off in the air--even before the sulfur.

You don't do a lot of experimentation with magical enchantments without learning to recognize when something is amiss with the magical energy around you. And she's looking around when--

Oh, oh dear. She goes a little pale, and looks up to Yumi with a panicked expression. She knows what it is, knows what she needs to do, but her staff--

And that's when Shiori comes charging in, darting through all of the people fleeing in a panic, the tabby calico moving with a purpose. Raiko sees her, makes eye contact, and the cat jerks her head to the side and Raiko gets the message. She drops her two appliances and dives under the table of a now-vacant stall.

"I had a premonition--" starts to explain Shiori as the staff materializes under the table.

"Later!" Raiko takes the staff in hand when it appears. Explanations can come later.

"Staff of Wise Levin, hear me! In my hand, discovered be!" Thankfully the incantation works with a whisper, and a loud boom sounds from under the table, accompanied by a flash of light.

Wise Levin emerges from under the table, orange eyes hard and set on the ogre. She's a witch--witchy hat staff, cloak, leather boots and gloves, though her garb looks a bit more victorian She sees the ogre reaching for the boy and scowls. "Oh no you don't!" Her left hand is holding her staff, the blue crystal on top flaring with electricity, but her right is extended outwards.

She's pretty handy with her telekinesis, but with the staff's power she can do so much more--but she is also gentle, and avoids jerking the boy too fast even though it's urgent, and then shoves him into the hands of a fleeting security guard. "Take care of him!" she shouts it like an order, then turns her attention to the ogre.

"You two know each other?" She asks of Ivy, even as she's already working on her next attack. She gestures with her right hand, conjuring up a swirling ball of sparks, and with a decisive thrust of her hands, sprays it at the ogre.

COMBAT: Raiko Takashima transforms into Witch Levin!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Sparkshower on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 7 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Hollow Curse, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon Stick's
Block and Parry abilities activate!  Cripple and Exhausted applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick decisively counters 6 Fatigue damage from Ladybug's Lindy Loop, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon
Stick's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!  Stagger applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick's counterattack, Unnatural Speed, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ladybug!  
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 11 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Sparkshower, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon
Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

"Am I -- I beg your pardon," the ogre replies, affronted, but she can't hold her face straight for even one second and bursts into laughter. Her laughter is HORRIBLE, and smells even worse. "Haha, nah, I'm just kidding. Only humans take pride in shrinking away to nothing. Yeah I'm bigger!"

For looking like a big dumb ogre she sure doesn't SOUND like one. Her eyes positively twinkle at Ladybug's initial proclamation. Then they harden, as she turns and takes Ivy's curse head on. A moment later, an avalanche -- no, that was her stomach. So good news it worked, and bad news a hunger curse on an ogre is sort of more motivational than anything? That spectral arm accelerates, and if Levin's telekinesis had been invoked even a half second later she would have had crying boy heart as an aperitif. As it is, it withdraws -- not unlike a yo-yo -- retreating towards her actual physical arm. It doesn't quite merge there; the rune on her palm pulses, and the ghostlight remains somewhat like a gauntlet.

"Well well, look who it is," she observes, looking down -- way down -- her nose at the newly revealed comrade of Lost Ivy. Those sparks explode against her chest, which is to say against her breastplate. "Tickled back then, too," she smirks. Sounds like these THREE know each other, though only one of them fully remembers all those past encounters.

With more of that uncanny speed she steps through most of the loops of Ladybug's wire before they can close.

"Hello, I'm standing right here," 'this thing' says to Ladybug. "And I'm not just bigger... gotta say, Ivy, YOU'RE looking smaller... or at least smaller in numbers. Twice as many of you only barely stopped me last time. Tell me," she extends her club like a reporter's microphone, "What will you do now?"

Okay, not like a reporter's microphone so much, as she flexes her wrist and swats downward, trying to smash the broomrider down to earth. Her arcane gauntlet, meanwhile, powers up with flame, which she sprays, less indifferent to and more eager for, the chaos it will create in the densely packed stands. Roasting Ladybug and Wise Levin is honestly just a bonus.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Home Run on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Spirit of Destruction on Witch of Wise Levin.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Spirit of Destruction on Ladybug.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Super Size Me on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick accepts Pink Moon Stick's Super Size Me, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower and Withstand applied to Pink
Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy braces 26 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Home Run, taking 11 Fatigue damage!  Witch of Lost Ivy's
Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Ladybug partially dodges 7 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Spirit of Destruction, taking 27 Fatigue damage!
Ladybug's Fade and Flash abilities activate!  Exhausted and Stagger applied to Ladybug!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin braces 21 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Spirit of Destruction, taking 9 Fatigue damage!  Witch
of Wise Levin's Block and Parry abilities activate!  Exhausted applied to Witch of Wise Levin!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi shares an alarmed look when Raiko looks at her with that panic, but Shiori is there, and Yumi is relieved.

"Yeah!" Ivy calls to Levin when she asks, "We've met! She's--"

"A Sulfuric Ogre!" Tama calls. For Ladybug's benefit as well, "An ancient, corrupt spirit--always hungry, frightfully powerful!" A pause, "She'll eat the hearts of everyone here if you let her."

"We're going to have to do more than distract her," Yumi calls to Ladybug. "But I'm hoping we can do that much!"

The Ogre is--Yumi doesn't appreciate her sense of humor, she thinks. "Hey!" she says, and doesn't actually have a comeback--until she notices Wise Levin. That ghostlight is still there, and--

"I'm not--" Pause. Twice as many of them...

While daunted, Yumi knows better than to let down her guard; she throws her hands and the Staff up, a great green barrier bursting into existence, ringed in runes. The club smashes into it hard enough that Yumi goes broom and all almost straight down to the ground--

But only almost this time. She darts out of the ruins of the stand she almost fell into, and starts banking around.

"There's not as many of us, but we're specialized in taking someone like you down!" Yumi calls. "I heard Tama--it took two Staves to take you down, and that's what we've got now! Levin! Let's go!"

She throws another rune, making intricate motions with her fingers and throwing the resultant magic for the Ogress, trying to spin around behind her so they can attack her on both fronts.

If she's lucky, this curse will dampen her flames enough that people can escape...

Meanwhile, in the stands, Tama leaps out of the way of the fire and down, darting across the grass, too engaged with getting out of the way to say much more yet.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Weakness Hex on Pink Moon Stick.

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

A Sulfuric Ogre. One with a sense of humor, apparently, given how it reacts to Ladybug's comments. Ladybug gives the cat a grateful nod - and eyes the ghostly hand of the Ogre with more than a little concern.

"So, don't let it - sorry, ma'am, her - touch us. Well, I'm afraid we can't let this be a free buffet!" It's a confidence she can wear even when she doesn't feel. But this is a concerning enemy, and Ladybug is well aware she's the outsider here-

Not that that keeps the ogre from trying to incinerate her. She flings herself out of the way on instinct, but can feel the wave of heat behind her and misses the landing, tumbling hard against the astroturf below. It's painful getting back up, but that's what she's here to do - as the disc of her yo-yo rewinds to smack into her open palm, she stands.

"Okay. Big. Powerful. Spell-slinging. And certainly proud of herself." She meets the ogre's gaze with this last one, keeping an ear open to the two witches - if they're specialized in taking something like this down, then maybe she can be a little bit of a distraction.

She runs for something she saw earlier, lassoing it with a flick of her yo-yo, and continuing past to flip and handspring into the air. Off an awning, up into the air - and then swinging into a kick at one side of the Ogre. "Since you're here for a meal-"

With a flick of her wrist, the large container of apple cider she'd snagged flies in to try to hit the Ogre from the other side. "-wouldn't you like a drink?"

COMBAT: Ladybug has used Double Or Nothing on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

A defiant with stares back up at the Sulfure Ogre as she's recognized, the brim of her her hat tilted just so to make her gaze barely visible. "Don't talk like you know me! Besides, I'm just getting started!" she retorts when the Sulfuric Ogre laughs off her attack.

"She must have fought with one of your predecessors," shouts Shiori from the cover of an upturned table. "Be on your guard, she's both intelligent and cruel in great measure and won't go down as easily as the one from before!" Not that it would have been easy, but there was a distinct weakness there that's lacking now.

"Got it!" confirms Levin as she scans the area. There's still too many people.

Then that ogre is slinging flame, and there's just a moment of panic--not for herself, but concern for the others around, and the possible collateral damage. Her staff crackles as she raises it up, and a dome of crackling electricity springs forth as she tries to cover as much space around her as she can--flame and electricity collide, but she's stretched it too thin and after a momentary struggle the flames break through.

She grunts as she covers her face with the hand, taking what broke through, but thankfully she blocked the worst of it.

Ivy points out that there's two staves here, which is apparently relevant to the defeating of ogres. "That's right! There's two of us! You may have fought my predecesor but you've never fought me! I'm with you, Ivy!"

She moves, sadly limited to running--for the moment--trying to space herself out from both Ivy and Ladybug, so they can hopefully distract the ogre and draw her attention away from the innocents.

"If you're counting on your armor to save you, then let's see how you like.... this!" she mutters as her hands work, as she prepares a ball of shimmering lighting--that turns spear-like when she flings her hand forward to attack. "Piercing bolt!"

COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Piercing Bolt on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick dodges 3 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Weakness Hex, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Witch of Lost Ivy
is Psyched!  Exhausted and Stagger applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 7 Fatigue damage from Ladybug's Double Or Nothing, taking 6 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon Stick's
Block and Parry abilities activate!  Diversion applied to Pink Moon Stick!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick dodges 8 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Piercing Bolt, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Witch of Wise
Levin is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Ivy raises an excellent point, and the ogre goes on the defense -- there's a lot more of her than there was, and while she isn't slower, everything is a bit different in terms of the timing of getting clear. Nevertheless, she gives it her all, juking to the left such that the Weakness Hex only clips her shoulder instead of square in the back -- the flames do quiet slightly, buying time for the still-fleeing crowds to get further clear of their advance -- then to the right when Levin's helpfully-described attack sounds like something she'd be better off not armoring up against. It leaves a sizzle along her side as it zaps by, but that's all.

She smirks.

Ladybug's apple cider gets her attention though for sure.

"Hup," she calls, setting her center of mass lower like a catcher at home plate, where she makes the grab. In doing so her gauntlet-rune finally flickers out; no more active spells, at least for the moment. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm more of a heart's blood girl myself."

She closes her fist, and the barrel crunches, then drips.

It is with a sticky hand that she reaches out to grab Ladybug on the rebound from her kick, which did land solidly, but into something even more solid: her hip. Honestly, adding that texture only makes her hand grosser. Instead of cinnamon and cloves it's more like cider spoilt at the bottom of the glass after it's been left out for a couple nights. The worst.

Last time she caught a girl out of the air, she threw her at someone else, but this time, if she's fortunate enough to grab a Ladybug, she's going for the crush instead. At her current scale, her clenched fingers can wrap the Miraculous girl from collarbone to thighs.

And, whether or not that's getting anywhere, she's laying about with her other hand, which is to say the one with the club. Huge, random strikes that shake the arena and send stalls -- and what people remain -- tumbling. There are a half dozen disasters in the blink of an eye. For example: the book stall about to collapse on the old man who runs it and would not leave his collection. The flames, spread further by the wind of the club's passage, are once again harrassing that unfortunate little boy. Direly, a french fry food truck is not far away, and if the fire gets THAT far things are really going to blow up, and a brave cook seems to recognize that; she is trying, desperately, to get the engine to turn over.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Rancid Grip on Ladybug.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Roadbreaker on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Roadbreaker on Witch of Wise Levin.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used While You're Busy, A Little Me Time on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick accepts Pink Moon Stick's While You're Busy, A Little Me Time, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower applied
to Pink Moon Stick!  Cleanse! All of Pink Moon Stick's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy decisively counters 18 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Roadbreaker, taking 6 Fatigue damage!
Witch of Lost Ivy's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!  Cripple and Tangle applied to Witch of Lost Ivy!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy's counterattack, Witch's Mirror, partially gets through, doing 27 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!
Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Ladybug decisively counters 33 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Rancid Grip, taking 11 Fatigue damage!  Ladybug's
Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!  Stun and Trap applied to Ladybug!
COMBAT: Ladybug's counterattack, Breakaway, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!  
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin perfectly counters 23 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Roadbreaker, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Critical Counter!  Witch of Wise Levin's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin's counterattack, Storm Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!  

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"She has," Tama confirms once she's out of the range of fire, to Shiori and Raiko both that she's fought one of her predecessors. And Yumi is, admittedly, talking with some amount of bravado. She is not nearly as confident as she sounds. But if she can make it sound good enough, then keeping the others' spirits up is an important part of the battle. So she'll try.

She sees Ladybug's acrobatics and is glad to have her here--her confident banter makes Yumi feel more confident, too.

But still, the Ogre is fast, fast enough to mostly evad the attention of her hexes. It seems she'll need to escalate sooner than later. Especially since--"Blood is... heavy!" she calls, and internally winces because that wasn't the comeback she hoped it would be.

Tama calls to Raiko, "Just make sure you don't underestimate her! You're still new to your power!"

"Ladybug!" Yumi calls in alarm as the Ogre rabs for her, but there are people all over in need of help. She has to trust that Ladybug can get free with her tricksy approach, and banks immediately to dive down past the Ogre toward the man in the book stall. The Staff of Lost Ivy hovers beside her as she opens her arms, keeping pace with her broom by magic alone. She uses both hands to conjure a barrier, this time for the purpose of keeping the stall from collapsing immediately. "Sir!" Yumi calls, "We can save your books, but we have to save you first! Get behind the barrier and be careful!"

It won't last forever, but it saps power from the nearby flames to fulfill its purpose, and so it should last long enough if the Ogre doesn't bend her might towards breaking it in particular.

Then Yumi turns, and rides her broom up, up, up. She tries to reach face height on the Ogre, and the only reason her hat doesn't fly off as much as her braid is whipping back from the speed is the spell that keeps it in place. She stops sharply, up top, and has the Staff in her hands once again, pointing its crystal towards the Sulfuric Ogre.

"...I may not have a good line for you," she says, "But I have something else you can chew on!"

She fires a beam of purest green light, which can cut through evil, will burn if it touches the Ogre in green flame.

Tama, for her part, leaps towards the man, and if he isn't moving, she yowls at him to get his attention and get him to, trying to get his attention and get him behind cover.

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Sacred Ray on Pink Moon Stick.

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

Something about the Sulphuric Ogre seems inherently...corrupting. The good news is that Ladybug definitely got her attention with the cider trick; the bad news is that she got her attention.

She's on the rebound, and maneuvering in midair to avoid the hand is not happening, but given the sticky nature of that hand she really does not want to be caught in its confines. As the shadow looms and closes in, Ladybug pulls back her yo-yo, whirling it in a tight little circle - and then whipping it around her in a sudden frenzy as those fingers close in.

The ogre's skin seems to thick for the flurry of blows to have much effect - but the momentum and force explode out, giving her just enough leverage to burst free of being a squashed little bug. "Sorry to disappoint - ladybugs are a little toxic to eat!"

Maybe more than a little, right now - the sulphur-corrupted cider still clings to Ladybug as she hits the ground and starts backpedalling away from the frighteningly large Ogre. She glances to the witches, who have...some plan involving their staves, but there's too much going on and not enough people here to help. Just a little time, some space to make a new plan...

It strikes her that the ongoing chaos is letting the Ogre have time to plan, too. Those opposing her might have to think even faster.

Ladybug opts to run for the fry truck, because that seems like something that could have some explosive peril. "Ma'am! Let me try!" She doesn't know engines all that well, but what she does have...

Is a super-human kick to a misbehaving engine and more than a little luck. The engine roars to life with that little bit of chance, and the superheroine tries to stay chipper as she very nearly yells to get moving. That's one disaster - and probably the most flammable of the nearby stands, but there's so much to deal with...

Maybe she can just hope for a little guidance. She turns to the hopefully-a-little-distant Ogre, stands on one foot, and flings her yo-yo to the heavens with a yell seeking guidance. "LUCKY CHARM!" Light shines like a beacon for a moment, swirls, and coalesces into the tool that Ladybug needs-

A pair of red-and-black chopsticks that land gently in her outstretched hand. She stares at the utensil for a moment, blinking in utter disbelief. "...what in the world am I supposed to do with these?!"

COMBAT: Ladybug has used Lucky Charm on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick perfectly braces 21 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Sacred Ray, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical
Brace!  Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick counters 0 Fatigue damage from Ladybug's Lucky Charm, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Ladybug is Psyched!  Pink
Moon Stick's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!  Bind Break! All of Ladybug's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick's counterattack, Fastball Special, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Ladybug!  

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Memo to self. Skip the verbal components of your spells if you can at all afford to do so.

There's just so much collateral damage waiting to happen here, so many people trying to flee-or stubbornly refusing to--and flames that cause a nuisance all by themselves. It's chaotic, but it's no time to get overwhelmed.

She really wishes Tama hadn't said that. It's obvious, it has to be obvious to at least those who deal in staves and hunger, but there's a difference between knowing something and outright confirming it.

"Tama...." she says through gritted teeth.

Ladybug tried to smash a cider barrel at it, the ogre caught it but--it gives Levin an idea.

The ogre is making to grab for Ladybug, but she can't do anything to help with that because the ogre is also working on making indiscriminate strikes to the general populace. And as it comes down on her, she raises her staff, the electricity crackling along its length much more violently than before. The club comes down, and she shrusts up, as if intending to meet the massive thing with her own, comparatively paltry staff.

But it is not paltry in terms of power. A broad, wide storm-dark cloud appears in front of her, lightning lashing out in every direction as she catches the club, holds it still for the briefest of moments before she shoves with her staff and knocks it away.

"Don't worry," she says, running to the boy, "I'll protect you!"

There's too much going on right this minute, to escort him out, but she can do something about the flames, at least. Letting the staff go, it hovers in front of her as she starts to gesture with her hands. She knows approximately where everything she wants is, from taking several passes through the flea market. Bottles of water and soda, any remaining barrels of cider, anything liquid--and not flammable--she can get her hands on. The shimmering static of her Levin-infused telekinesis grips it all, brings it up, and starts slamming it down on the parts of the flame around them, trying to keep it away from the most flammable stuff, trying to make sure there's a path clear for the boy to get free when she's done.

She grunts and grits her teeth, redoubles her effects, even as she's putting out the flames, even more rises up--ruined things, mostly, trying to spare anything salvagable, but there's plenty of debris left from the ogre's smashing that she can grab. Her arms are trembling from the strain as she gestures, directs it where it needs to go, and finally she brings her hands out wide to her sides--

--and claps her hands together, bringing all of the bebris to a single point: the ogre.

COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Mass Telekinesis on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to counter Witch of Wise Levin's Mass Telekinesis, taking 21 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick's counterattack, Unnatural Speed, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Witch of Wise Levin!  

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Lost Ivy's sacred ray impacts squarely on the ogre's... palm.

The empty one, now that Ladybug has escaped.

And there's another rune, now. Different from before; no hearttaker, this magic; not spectral at all. No, the sorceress of an ogre has conjured up something earthen; something grounded. An even better choice for Wise Levin, but in the moment, quite capable of nullifying the severe threat of the brilliant green ray.

It never gets a chance to burst into flame.

"Welp, Ivy," she says, afterwards, panting a little from the exertion of the spell, which was considerably more than anything she's put into, say, swinging that tree of a club around, "I wasn't sure that would really work. Maybe my bigger brain...?"

She backhands the witch in front of her face with a thunderclap of a swat, as the dispellation flickers out. It was contemptuous. Arrogant. She's taken the worst Ivy could hope to throw at her -- short of Greater Magicks, of course -- and survived.

Then the debris starts pouring in, separating the two of them; she might have hoped to catch the witch up like Ladybug, but there's no chance now thanks to Levin's intervention. It bursts on her face, all around her shoulders, ash and splinters everywhere from the wreckage of the market she ruined.

"Phhhhbbbbbt," she spits garbage from her mouth. "Disgusting." She's one to talk: a second later she ptoos out an extra-large globule, sizzling with sulfuric acid, straight at Levin. Nevertheless, she's still got something on the mind. "Big magic," she murmurs.

Glancing Ladybug's direction -- she is distracting, both as an example of the-one-who-got-away and in general -- she notices the chopsticks. They mean nothing to her but the obvious, of course.

"Hmph." After casting around within arm's reach for an appropriate choice, she picks up a nearby yakisoba cart and, after winding it up like a hammer, throws it at her. "Bon appetit!"

Then she squats where she stands and lowers her club. Down, down... into the turf of the stadium itself.

"Did you know, ladies, that we're currently below ground level?"

The ogre is dragging her club in a broad arc. It gouges into the concrete beneath the fake grass, creating a huge furrow on either side as it goes along. The beginning of a circle, any mage can quickly realize.

It would probably behoove the group to not let her end it. The earth is already shuddering at her touch. And not with agony. She is, after all, a spirit of Earth at her core. No, whatever resonance she has with this environment -- this place of power for brute strength, for athleticism -- it is eager to let her exert mastery.

If the stadium collapses from a summoned earthquake, she's the only one likely to survive.

In Ivy's hand, her staff begins to vibrate. In Levin's, also. Levin's spell wasn't elemental, and Ivy's spell failed in the end, but still... something about how they cast them, how the staves reacted... something felt... right. Something felt powerful. Or, more accurately, not powerful yet, but... like power in abeyance. Something waiting to happen. The ogre is loud but the world is getting quieter. Reality is starting to hold its breath.

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Talk To The Hand on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Order Up on Ladybug.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Sulfuric Saliva on Witch of Wise Levin.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Ritual Casting on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick accepts Pink Moon Stick's Ritual Casting, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy braces 47 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Talk To The Hand, taking 20 Fatigue damage!  Critical
Hit!  Witch of Lost Ivy's Block and Parry abilities activate!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin braces 20 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Sulfuric Saliva, taking 30 Fatigue damage!  Witch of
Wise Levin's Block and Parry abilities activate!  Blind and Diversion applied to Witch of Wise Levin!
COMBAT: Ladybug fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's Order Up, taking 36 Fatigue damage!  

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"W-what?" Yumi stares for a moment as one of her very strongest spells impacts the Ogre's palm and is simply snuffed out. She knows this Ogre is smart, but to see her use such magic is... daunting, to say the least. Yumi stares and is not in a position to put up a decent defense when the Ogrees reaches up her hand and smacks Yumi backward. She sails through the air, not at all under her own power, and crashes into the stadium seats, hanging onto her broom but landing girl-first and leaving a huge cloud of dust and debris to mark her position. For a moment, there is quiet.

Tama has no mercy for that. "Ivy!" she calls, in alarm, and looks to Levin, who moves to protect the boy. "Levin, look out!" Tama calls, alarme at this powerful gout of acid, and she has no time to ask Ladybug to do the same. Worse, though... she senses what the Ogre is doing when she starts to drag her club around.

"No--"

The black cat calls, "Shiori! They have to stop her spell before she can finish it!"

Yumi picks herself up from the pile of broken chairs, standing again, Staff-first, and that is when she feels the Staff of Lost Ivy vibrate. She's still winded, but she can tell... something is here. The word is quiet. She understands.

"LEVIN!" Ivy calls. "It's time! Show her what you can do!"

Tama stares intently at the Staves and at the Ogre. Her breath is held, too.

Ivy puts both hands on her Staff, and breathes in, starting to trace runes of destruction into the air, where they hang, green and black, waiting for her to finish the call. "I'll set you up! Ladybug! We need you!"

Another, and another, and another--and then Yumi, almost delicately, tips her staff forward to a plane touching the runes--

A half-dozen beams of black-green energy cascade outward like rushing water towards the Ogre.

"To pay the ancient debt!"

COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Dark Radiance on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 21 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Dark Radiance, taking 17 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!
Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

There is a quite satisfied smirk on Raiko's face as all of the debris strikes true.

And she even distracted the ogre from snatching Ivy in the progress. Bonus!

She lets out a groan as she drops her arms, most of the flames--at least in the very immediate vicinity--are out, and even boosted by her staff's power that was still a lot to manage both in terms of magic and mental tracking. She's used to using her telekinesis to shuffle around parts, but this is... much bigger in scale than she's used to.

"Shiori, I think it's safe to take this boy out of here now. Could you?"

"Right away," says the familiar, emerging from her hiding place.

Levin turns to the boy, "Follow the kitty, okay? She'll get you somewhere safe."

Shiori meows at the boy, to get his attention, and Levin turns back to the ogre--

Oh crap what is that?!

She snatches the staff in hand, doesn't have time to bring that same force that stopped the club to bear, and the boy and Shiori are nowhere near as strong as she is. Her left hand and staff goes back, towards the two, a shimmering field of electrical energy surrounding them, and then she raises her right, with another, thinner, weaker field trying to protect herself. Some of the acid spit is deflected around both shields, but the bulk of it bursts through the forward one, covers her head to toe, and she gags a moment as it burns at her, before summing a gust of wind to wipe it off.

The inner barrier holds, though.

"Go, hurry!"

"Levin, you must--"

"I know! GO!"

Shiori nods and headbutts the boy to get him to follow her, leading him away--and out of Levin's spellcasting range.

She did actually know that they were below sea level, but that really seems like the least relevant thing at the moment, compared to all of the disaster that could come--from a spell circle that size? She shuts off the part of her that jumps to making estimates of magical energy.

Nothing good can come from that.

And then the staff is vibrating in her hand, pulsing with... with potential, of some kind, but more importantly, Ivy needs her. Everyone in reach of the Ogre's spell needs her, and she replies, "On it!" to Ivy's call.

Hers is the element of air, but she slames her staff into the ground all the same. Her own magic circle appears around her feet as she chants to herself, making gestures with her hands, with the staff. A wind starts to pick up around her, picking up in speed and ferocity.

The ogre may be of the earth, but she is of the sky, and what abundance there is in earth below there feet, there is just as much in the air above them. Her cloak flutters around her body as she perpares her working, and high above--

It was a clear day before, a moment ago. But now a very peculiar and very localized weather pattern that some poor meteorologist will have to explain later (if there is a later to explain it in). A wellspring of storm clouds come from nowhere, spilling out of seeming nothingness as she continues with her working. It is an angry and furious thing, rumbling ominously, great gouts of lighting erupting form its surface as if it were threatening to explode at any moment.

And finally she raises her hand to the heavens, and the highly-potent, very localized storm freezes, for just a moment, responding to it's master's will.

"Staff of Wise Levin! Share with me your ancient secrets, so I may deliver your... Retribution!"

The hand comes down, and it is no simple lighting strike that emerges, but more like a canon of a lightning bolt, bigger, multiforked, and surging directly down on the Ogre's head.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Witch of Wise Levin has used Levin's Retribution on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 57 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Finisher, Levin's Retribution, taking 38 Fatigue
damage!  Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

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

Ladybug is completely and utterly baffled by the key that has landed in her hand. Chopsticks. What is she supposed to do with chopsticks. Is there anything around her associated with chopsticks?

Yes, there's a yakisoba cart hurtling towards her at high speed.

She tries to dig in against the impact, but it is a big cart and she is a small little bug going splat. The cart barely even slows when it crashes into her, and she gets carried away even further from the Ogre. A bit more distance to think in, but...

"...ow." She groans as she finally digs her way out of...the mess of the other two carts that got crashed into by her and the projectile. It is on shaky feet that she finally stands again, and it takes her more than a moment to realize it's not just her legs that are shaking, but the earth itself.

"...grand ritual. That..." Her head is ringing a bit, and she grips the miraculously unbroken chopsticks as she tries to think of a plan, a diversion, anything. She glances around, trying to pick up on details, surviving bits of the market from Levin's telekinesis, anything that seems relevant right now.

There's the cart that hurled into her. The ogre's club. The witches that she's fighting alongside. Two cats in the stands. The chopsticks in her hand.

What's the clue? What's the path out of this mess?

She hears the call to battle, looking up as Ivy starts her casting, as Levin's storm begins gathering. They need her?

...no. If it were an Akuma, they'd need her specifically, but this Ogre is an ancient enemy of the witches, said only to have been defeated when there were at least...

Ladybug realizes what she can do.

Yakisoba is best served fresh. So the cart has a fuel supply for its grill. And sabotage is always something Ladybug can aim for. One damaged propane tank doesn't make for much of a rocket, but that and supplies from the other food carts are enough for her to get the cart really moving. Once it's moving, Ladybug hops on top as those battered wheels tear a furrow in the turf, aiming for the Ogre and her ritual circle.

"No you don't, Ivy! You and Levin have everything you need!" Ladybug tries to get the witches' attention as her yakisoba grill carries her towards the Ogre's circle-carving club. She has a magic of her own, and her yo-yo is shining brilliant white as she prepares to use it to launch a desperate one-handed attack. One-handed, because her other hand is holding something up to Witches Levin and Ivy, a last clue to pass on before she leaps into peril.

"You have two staffs."

She taps the chopsticks in her hand against each other.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Ladybug has used Miraculous Ladybug on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Ladybug's Finisher, Miraculous Ladybug, taking 78 Fatigue damage!  

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Evil Spirits - Inuyasha OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2W2vaRbMJw

This is one of those times where bigger is better. It was a problem at the bridge, and it's more of a problem now. Because there's just so damn much of the ogre, that even a half-dozen darkness rays -- even though she's barely defending herself, trusting to her armor and her own thick skin -- they leave a mark but there's just so much left.

She grunts as they impact, flicking one eye upwards in an irritated roll towards Ivy, but the other eye remains resolutely fixed upon her work (which is, in its way, kind of unsettling in itself). She keeps turning, and the butt of her club keeps churning. She's a good halfway through the circle now.

The skies darken above her. She doesn't stop, though she works with greater urgency. It's a race now. Through another thrifty clothes booth it goes, dragging a line of pants behind it into the turf. Then a hamburger stand. Then a row of gatchapon machines. Then--

--then, the sky opens.

Let it be acknowledged here that if Wise Levin had been up against anything but an aspect of Earth she would have prevailed. Her storm was mighty and her heart mightier still, and the retribution of the sky makes the air smell metallic as air is shattered into ozone, then recombines, surges, and STRIKES.

The ogre does feel it -- her drawing pauses for a second as the bolt lances into her from above. Her thick strands of hair are incinerated instantly on contact; she has a bald spot wider than Levin herself, at least until the next time she's summoned. And her skin does burn, it is capable of burning, though her lesser aspect, as the smouldering wreckage knows well, is fire.

But as, a split-second later, thunder floods Ajinomoto Stadium, booming and crashing off the acoustics of the ring, the dome...

...she's still standing. And all around her feet, an enormous scorch mark is smoking, with whorls and curls of phenomenal arcane might. No one has to be an expect in Eastern mysticism to know that it means Earth. As above, so below. Earth embraces lightning. Earth is where lightning goes to ground.

The ground remains, and so does she.

The club advances. Only ten percent of the ring remains to draw when Ladybug's shining white yo-yo wraps her wrist. THIS time fire is born, where sacred power meets not a counter-dispellation but direct flesh. White fire instead of green. Yowling, she--

--she drops the club.

Its handle falls slowly, leisurely through the air. Like the ogre herself, there's so much of it that has to fall before it goes to ground. Before the consequences of the fumble become catastrophic, as the club smears out the perfection of the circle it is drawing.

Inches from that, her other hand reaches out and grabs it. Now smoke is rising from her FLESH, and there's no humor left in her eyes. Only a fury so profound it might be called madness.

Ladybug's words stoke it past the boiling point.

'You have two staffs.'

"Not anymore."

She finishes the circle. Originally this ritual would have summoned a wide-area earthquake, but Levin and Ladybug have pushed her beyond all endurance. Her mood is a crater; her heart is a chasm.

And that's exactly what opens up beneath Ivy, up in the bleachers. With a crack like God breaking a plate, the fissure expels a great gout of concrete like an inhaling breath--

--and then, a second later--

--the tomb, for surely that is what it has suddenly become--

--closes, with equally mighty force.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Pink Moon Stick has used Earthsmasher on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy braces 41 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Finisher, Earthsmasher, taking 62 Fatigue damage!  Witch
of Lost Ivy's Block and Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Marks, but not enough. She'd hoped to at least slow the gigantic monster down, but instead she gets a very unsettling divided look. She is still going, still focused, and Yumi has to hope that Levin's thunder will stop her. It is certainly awe-inspiring enough to, Yumi looks up at it in some wonder, instead of down at the ground, with the circle widening.

And then she has to look away, because it is so bright. The lightning crashes down, and Yumi covs her eyes with her arm--

...But the Ogre still stands. That scorch mark... the Earth. "No," Yumi breathes, and then watches Ldybug grip. She sees white fire, and the club falls. It is almost enough then; Yumi's expression brightens as she watches, hope surging within her heart.

Ladybug's white fire and words reach her, too. She smiles at her, starting to fel more confident. A last clue... and the two chopsticks tapping together. "You're--you're right!" Yumi answers, and rises, preparing to enact another spell--

'Not anymore.'

Yumi turns, and looks in alarm. The circle finishes. And suddenly, a chasm opens up beneath Yumi's feet. "Aaah--!"

A mighty, terrible CRACK rends the air and the earth both, and the Witch of Lost Ivy is gone. A chill wind blows, spreading dust of the battle over the remnants of her new tomb. There is a silence in the air, an awful certainty.

"YUMI!" Tama cries, the most emotion anyone here has ever seen from this aloof, distant cat, a heartbreaking call for someone she has tried so hard to guide. But there is no answer. No answer at all. ...Not at first.

The wind blows harder, but it cannot move the stone. There is, however, a tiny motion there, at the rock. A tiny motion indeed, but the stones shiver softly. From the stone rises a small, green shoot, that rises out, expands, and becomes a great plant.

And then, it flowers.

Holding the Staff of Lost Ivy, Yumi Ohzora is there, in the heart of the bloom, as it sheds pink petals in a wide circle, eyes closed as she is gently set down from the flower to the top of the ruin. Her pink eyes open, and then narrow.

"Levin," Ivy calls, calmly and slowly. She speaks with authority, with might, though the truth is that she is barely, barely standing at all. The pain seems distant, in the moment, lost in a swell of green light that shimmers from the base of the Staff. Already, as it touches the ground, ivy begins to grow all through the broken earth, greenery spreading from that single point in a gentle cover of the earth.

"...Let's do this together."

Tama stares, in hushed silence. No longer does she cry out. Because she has not seen this power since...

Ivy puts forth her Staff, hovering with it off the rubble and forward, to the ground, where Raiko can reach her where she floats. She waits, for Wise Levin and her Staff.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Witch of Lost Ivy has started a combo targeting Pink Moon Stick!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko calls forth her ferocious attack, watches it strike true, and then--sees the ogre still standing.

"Dammit..."

She sags, leaning heavily against her staff for support as she regains her strength--not in defeat, for her expression is still determined, but temporarily winded by channeling far, far more power than she ever thought she'd have access to (tipping over a cider barrel over with her telekinesis would be a strain on her best day; calling forth Levin's Retribution would have been simply unimaginable.)

But she's not at this alone, and she sees Ladybug riding in, on a--well honestly, she's kind of impressed at that makeshift contraption, filing the details away to think about later. "Do it, Ladybug!" That searing Yo-yo comes out, the club falls, and--

Before she can feel any relief the ogre catches it with her other hand. Levin rises, tries to summon forth more power--there's some left somewhere within her and the staff, but the ogre completes her circle first.

Levin braces,holdingtightly to her staff, but the expected-earthquake doesn't come, and suddenly she sees the ground open up beanth Ivy's feet.

Her eyes widen, and this time her demeanor does crack. "Yumi! No--" She drops to one knee, clutching the staff for dear life. "Nonono..."

"Levin," calls Shiori, from the exit off of the stadium grounds, "Don't lose heart!" But even she is worried, trying to reassure herself as much as her witch.

Levin is trying so hard to summon up the willpower to continue, hands gripping her staff tight. And then--a sprout, then a plant, and a bloom, and--

"Ivy!" she exlaims, her eyes lighting up and hope starting to rise in her chest again. And then Ivy calls to her, tells her they'll do it together, and she nods, "Right."

Her face hardens, and The Witch of Wise Levin gets to her feet. "Right!" she repeats, this time with a determined nod.

She runs over as Ivy descends, carefully picking her way through the debris that is the remains of the flea market. "Together, then."

Her staff is already starting to glow with a bright yellow light as she brings it to Ivy's, the touches crystal to crystal and then closes her eyes. She and the staff are somehat spent, after creating a whole thundercloud out of thin air and trying to overpower the Earthen affinity of the Ogre, but they're not tapped yet.

If there's one thing she knows, from all of her work experimenting with enchantments, is how to control mana flows--she'd told Yumi her work with electronics relied on getting mana flows to cancel out the parts you don't you want and leave only the parts you want to use.

But you can do it the other way, too. It's fast, it has to be fast, there's no time to let the Ogre get off another spell, but she has her Staff to guide her, as she reaches out, offers her and her staff's remaining might. Levin (the staff and the witch) pours mana into Ivy's staff, weaving it to flow with Ivy's mana, to support and amplify it, make her might much greater than any single staff could achieve alone.

"Let two staffs work as one," she says softly, distractedly as her hands move so fast to shape the working. "No longer alone, but be blessed with Levin's Reinforcement!"

COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has joined the combo started by Witch of Lost Ivy!

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

Creation. The spark of creativity, turned to fortune and rejuvenation. That is what light shines from Ladybug's weapon, what becomes a tool to drive away malevolence and fear.

Ladybug has few designs on elegance, but grins in delight as her yo-yo wraps around the Ogre's wrist. It might be too big for her to drive away entirely - but the keys to victory are here, and she just needed to buy a little time. But, unfortunately...

The Sulphuric Ogre has two hands to match the two staffs.

Victory seems to turn to disaster as Ladybug skids to a halt past the Ogre, watching in horror as the circle is completed - diminished, but completed in an act of vengeance and spite. "No - Ivy, look ou-"

She's out of position, unable to do more than watch as the tomb slams shut on Witch Ivy.

And then - as she clutches the chopsticks in her hand tightly - the earth flowers, revealing the witch in glorious bloom.

Ladybug's sigh of relief is audible, and she nods firmly as Witch Ivy speaks with authority. Her yo-yo - no longer shining - snaps back to slap into her palm, and she springs into the air once more as verdant light begins to shine from one staff. This is the witches' time - and they just need a few more seconds.

"Now watch this!" That yo-yo - that irritatingly swift and versatile toy-turned-weapon - flies past the Sulphuric Ogre in a lightning-quick spool. Ladybug swings the cord to one side, hooking it on a protruding banner to swing in a tighter and faster arc. And then she uses the chopsticks to hook it to swing back again, rebounds off of the ruins of the yakisoba cart, continuing the back-and-forth until she's whipping it around and over in a tight orbit - a vortex that seems to gather up some of the scattering pink petals and residual sparks of the storm.

COMBAT: Ladybug has joined the combo started by Witch of Lost Ivy!

<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Petals roil in a newfound storm of pink, as mana floods from the Staff of Wise Levin into the Staff of Lost Ivy. White light shimmers from the Staff of Lost Ivy, and combines with the light of the Staff of Wise Levin, becoming something greater than the sum of their parts. Far, far above, the clouds swirl, that storm not yet fully spent. The light from the Staves rises, and rises, and then expands, becoming a great column of light visible from a mile away. But there is no senseless destruction in this light; it is gentle, soothing.

And when it hits the clouds, they scatter. They sky opens, as Lost Ivy and Wise Levin's crystals glow a brilliant white.

Greenery begins to bloom from beneath the Ogre's feet, the scent of sulfur overpowered by the blooming cloud of beauty that is this ivy. And from above, like a spotlight, comes a single huge ray of sunlight. As it hits the ground and begins to widen, all of the flowers in the ground bloom, and green fire begins to rise about the Ogress.

The spell is utterly silent. But in its wake...

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Witch of Lost Ivy, Witch of Wise Levin, and Ladybug have used Combo: Reinforced Blessing of Ivy, composed
of Blessed Shine, Levin's Reinforcement, and Brain Twister, on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 86 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy, Witch of Wise Levin, and Ladybug's Finisher, Combo:
Reinforced Blessing of Ivy, taking 57 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting!  Pink Moon Stick's Block and
Parry abilities activate!

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

More of the ogre's laughter carries through the stadium, bouncing and echoing everywhere as totally as Levin's thunder did seconds earlier, filling the space vacated and the silence created by Lost Ivy's absence. She laughs at Tama's horror and Wise Levin's misery and Ladybug's finally, blessedly tongue-tied dismay.

But by the time the flower has bloomed, she isn't laughing anymore.

She needs to start another counterspell, but Ladybug prevents this. Too much wind, too many petals; they fill her eyes and nose and mouth whenever she opens it, and when finally they start to die down and she tries again, that accursed yo-yo slams her mouth shut.

Even then, she does not give up. Setting her stance deep and sturdy, as enduring as the ground beneath her massive feet, she turns to face Lost Ivy and Wise Levin, prepared for their vengeance.

The sunlight takes her by surprise. "...seriously?"

And then, below, the ground betrays her. The shock on her face is that of a hard-working wife catching her husband in flagrante delicto. She screams -- more anger than fear.

She screams as the green fire rises.

And, both her rage and the flame intensifying, there's a real question there for a second of whether or not even this miracle will be enough. Two staves, two hearts, but just because that's how things worked in the past... there's no guarantee that it's that easy every time.

That it's ever easy at all.

She staggers forward, out of the field of flowers and flames.

One step towards the witches.

Another.

She's still burning.

A third step--

--and, at last, her form collapses into what spirits are made of. A huge wave of it, which spreads in a wave, spurred on by the now-unobstructed beam of sunlight.

The handful of Pure Hearts that the ogre consumed before wading into battle with the witches begin to drift, as gently as petals on the breeze, towards their collapsed owners. They merge with their chests soundlessly, restoring color to their pallor, breath to their lungs, and soul to their flesh.

When the last of the spirit-stuff dissapates, the flea market is back in one piece. A good thing too, as besides representing bargains, the stalls represent the livelihoods of a lot of families. It will take time for the people to filter back in, though -- complaining all the while about a fire alarm.

Which means that just for a minute, it's just the three of them: the two Witches and Ladybug.

<SoundTracker> Wicked Heart - Inuyasha OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhNDVT2eqVo

No one else sees what they do; the way the ritual circle of the banished ogre begins first to smoke, and then to shimmer. A bright flame licks outward bidirectionally, closing the ring from edge to edge. It flares once, to almost white heat, blinding.

Spots are still dancing in the girls' vision when the woman is revealed at its center. Though of average height, she is aided by a formidable presence and a good pair of heeled boots. Dressed all in red, her gown shines beneath the stadium lights, glittering with wealth and taste. Even in a burlap sack she would beautiful, with black hair styled with blunt bangs in a Hime style cut, and forelocks secured in clips the shapes of flames. Her eyes are crimson also, and there is a certain beauty in her smile--but if one looks in just the right way, there is a hint of cruelty, as there is in the rose's thorns.

And, just like in the portrait of Takahiro Yamashita, the air around her flickers like a desert mirage; it cannot withstand the heat she sheds by her simple existence.

"I am the enchantress Conflagria, most loyal of Her Majesty's Hollow Four," declares the woman, tossing her head. For all her fiery spirit, she burned even hotter when naming -- or at least titling -- her mistress, who is certainly the Hungry Queen.

She eyes the place where, moments ago, there was an enormous chasm from which a desperate flower bloomed.

"That looked like a close one," she purrs. "But, you know what they say about magic... third time's the charm."

Conflagria vanishes in another burst of flame. But her implication remains.

This will happen again.

Everything, all over again.

How much bigger will the ogre be next time?

And with whose coin is Conflagria paying the price for such an immense summoning?