2023-09-22 - Crisis At Chibi-Usa's School! A Dark Henge Strikes! 2
| Crisis At Chibi-Usa's School! A Dark Henge Strikes! 2 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Black Moon Clan twins Chiral and Achiral very nearly succeed at opening a Dark Gate in the sky, which they reveal will connect Tokyo directly to the Malefic Black Crystal in order to flood the modern era with its dark energy. It is thus strongly implied that that portal may not be through space at all, but through time. They are foiled at the last moment by the combined efforts of our heroines. Chibi-Usa finds the resolve to go back to the future and help. | |
| Who: Pink Moon Stick, Michiru Kaioh, Usagi Tsukino, Raiko Takashima, Haruka Tenoh, Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Moonlight Knight | |
| Where: Juuban Elementary School | |
| OOC - IC Date: 9/22/2023 - 4/6/2016 | |
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
NOW
The Moonlight Knight smells like the white rose he just threw, of course, but like something else also, something ephemeral and difficult for Chibi-Usa to define.
Effortless, however, for her to recognize, as safety. As... home, as a home denied to her for so, so long.
Cradling her in the crook of his arms, he leans forward to drop a chaste, familial kiss upon her forehead.
"What is it, small one?" he asks, prompting when her stammer begins to waver. The sapphire eyes above his balaclava are filled with a patient smile. "You can ask... anything of me."
Gravity seems to fall away as he leaps a second time, off the chain link fence. Together they soar over Juuban High School, across the sports fields and outlying buildings, and wind up safely on its main rooftop. If Chibi-Usa's request is to get down, her tiny feet will have safer refuge here.
---
The golden light fades with Chibi-Usa's fears, leaving a stark tableau. There's something gray and lifeless about Juuban Elementary -- something drained, right down to the concrete. But the roof itself feels puissant, crackling with incipient malice -- with intention.
'It seems that your efforts have come to naught.'
The Black Moon stranger slowly smiles, and the expression seems unnatural on his lips, as gruesome a joy as a corpse's.
"You're not listening," he replies to Sailor Neptune.
KRAK-THOOM!
Another blast of dark lightning shakes the world. There's something wrong about it -- wrong beyond the native wrongness of its matter, which is not electricity, of course, but something much more fundamental and much more evil an element. No, something else. But like all bolts of lightning it strikes awfully quickly to see what it is.
"And you're not looking," says the same voice from behind Wise Levin -- AGAIN.
There is time for Neptune or Uranus to intervene, if they don't want their little witch ally blasted in the back twice in a row.
But not by the same person. Afterwards, of course, the group realizes that they've been flanked.
The two men could be twins, if one wasn't pale and the other swarthy; one's long mane is more blue-white, and the other violet-white. But their triumphant grins are as identical as the Black Moons on their forehead.
The darker one, who went for the second snipe, leaps past the group to float next to his counterpart. Together they rise towards the edge of the roof and take a readied stance.
"I am Chiral," says the one who first shot Levin.
"I am Achiral," says the one who just tried to do it again.
KRAK-THOOM!
There must be some kind of rod on the roof, above and behind the evil agents, because the lightning keeps striking the exact same spot. It isn't the normal antenna on any large rooftop, however. The angle is wrong.
"At long last--"
"--the will of our lady be done--"
"--for months, she has labored to this end--"
"LET THE DARK GATE BE OPENED!"
KRAK-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
This last time it finally becomes clear. Here's what's wrong: the lightning isn't coming DOWN from the sky and hitting the roof.
It's coming up... and hitting the sky.
Against the overcast clouds high above, there is a circle beginning to form. A ring of dark lightning.
No technical or theoretical knowledge of magic is required to understand very clearly that this is some kind of portal.
The many sharp tongues of evil energy lick towards each other, but they haven't yet connected.
KRAK-THOOM!
With each bolt channeled into the sky above, they draw closer...
...and some terrible doom draws near.
'You are just exactly too late,' Chiral had said, moments ago.
Whether or not that's really true is up to the Sailor Senshi and their allies to fight for --
-- because there's only one way to find out.
And the only way out will be through -- through the two men, ready and awaiting this promised retaliation with the eagerly glinting eyes of prophets whose destiny has finally arrived.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick transforms into Chiral, Achiral, And The Sack Lunch Bunch! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 3 opponents! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 4 opponents! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Black Crystal Blast on Witch of Wise Levin. COMBAT: Sailor Neptune covers Witch of Wise Levin for Pink Moon Stick's attack, Black Crystal Blast, taking it upon herself instead! COMBAT: Sailor Neptune fails to dodge Pink Moon Stick's Black Crystal Blast, taking 54 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The arrival of that mysterious figure, the Moonlight Knight, should be reassuring. If nothing else, he isn't opposed to them. But to the eyes of Sailor Neptune, the situation has not quite turned the corner yet.
KRAK-THOOM indeed: lightning strikes, and it's not the ordinary sort of lightning, the sky's embrace spending itself against the earth or perhaps the sea. The flash did not come quite right. Sailor Neptune's eyes cast to the side --
And she hurls herself forwards. No, not quite: laterally, to try and sweep the Witch of Wise Levin off her feet! It would be glamorous, but perhaps that hesitation or the fatigue of the earlier affrays left her one step too slow. The burst of force strikes her instead, leaving a charred mark on her uniform and bringing an "uh!" of involuntary, exhaled force as it strikes her; what might have been a quite elegant scoop-and-leap instead becomes a very firm shove as Neptune staggers to the side, clasping at her opposing arm.
The lightning would have been bad enough... were it merely lightning.
"Of course you are," Sailor Neptune rejoins to Chiral and Achiral, straightening upwards -- despite tingling numbness, which IS starting to fade a bit, she seems intent on not yielding beyond that cry of pain. She even forces herself to put that numbed hand on her hip.
"A storm in the spring is a passing sort of thing, and I would thank you for dampening the warming soil," Neptune says, "but--"
Her other hand sweeps upwards in an almost imploring gesture. She leaps with it, and aqua-green energy rises, taking an undulating shape that could be taken for a dolphin at first, or a wave at its crest a moment later - "WAVE!" Sailor Neptune concludes, the burst of sea-spell force rising towards Achiral in particular! Perhaps she holds a grudge.
Landing afterwards, Neptune exhales through her teeth. A brief glance to Uranus, and then to Levin: "Do what you can," she says to the girl who she just protected, and perhaps there is a bit more pain in her tone.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Dolphin Wave on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"Hold it right there!"
'You are just exactly too late,' still echoed within the Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice's head from when she was just out of sight within the chaotic school, leaping in just as Moonlight Knight was leaping away- and now Sailor Moon stood there among them, hands on her hips as lightning flashes.
"You shouldn't just gloat over a girl being late for something-! It's not right! Girls can be late for all kinds of reasons, because we have rich inner lives-! Real gentlemen would wait-!"
Does she... not realize they were talking about too late to save Chibi-Usa? She does not-! And it's then that she sees the last glimpse of a white cape of Moonlight Knight over a far off chain link, as she points, gesticulating in a panic, "AAAAAAA-!" As she leans off in that direction, "He was here! I could have talked to Moonlight Knight-sama!"
The consequences, of being late-!?
Sailor Moon's posture droops for a moment, before she then turns upon the pair on the rooftop above with indignation. "Unforgivable! Sailor-suited Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice: Sailor Moon!" And with a fierce pose, points at them to show the depth of her ire, "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
You know there's probably a few dozen better reasons to want to punish them, as evidenced by the attack Neptune took, the tyke attacks all over the school, the real reason she was late...
... look, while it's a story that's low key unspeakable one of Sailor Moon's twintails is, a notably a little shorter than the others... things happened on the way when you're faced with elementary school kids having a sugar rush on dark power...
... let's just say in the moment she's most upset about this thing, but she will also never again claim to another girl that a boy is pulling on someone's hair because they like them... and then brandishing the scissors. She HOPES that noone points out the hair thing, because it's extremely upsetting on its own when she can't ignore it.
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
There's something about that lightning that's rubbing Levin the wrong way.
Not that it's evil, of course. That part is obvious. But no time to process that thought just yet--Not when a voice sounds from behind her for a second time. Levin is turning, trying to raise a guard, but it appears Neptune has another idea--
"Wha--" is all she can get out as she's shoved out of the way, and she sucks in a sharp breath as she realizes Neptune just took the hit meant for her. And it left a nasty looking mark. Levin, who was flying, got flung far out of the way, and she zips back towards Neptune. "Are you okay?!"
Oh, she's standing firm, and she delivered a poetic line, to boot. (So cool.) Levin takes her cue and rises up into the air, staff crackling with energy. But the good kind. Or at least, more natural and elemental.
'Do what you can.'
"Got it!" she says with a firm nod.
Sailor Moon arrives, and gives a speech--Maybe not as cool, but Levin will give her points for confident delivery, at least. And in the time hse's giving that speech, she can see the 'lightning' bolts' real nature, how they're traveling up, and her eyes widen as she sees what's about to happen.
Levin holds her free hand up, and a shimmering ball of lightning springs to life, growing larger and larger, with little tendrils of electricity flicking off of it as it grows. "I don't know what you two are planning, but we won't let you open that portal! Taaaaake--" She slams her hand down towards the two twins--she doesn't care much who's who at this point--and the ball of lighting bursts, a crackling beam of lightning barreling right for them. "THIS!"
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Smite on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
"Gate?" Uranus mouths, consternated, with a glance at the roof. Why is Moonlight Knight taking Chibi-Usagi there of all places? But she is not so light of foot as that mysterious man, and even if she were, they are already shorthanded here even with Uranus around. If only reinforcements might...
"Sailor Moon," Uranus sighs, a suspiciously subdued reaction to the cavalry she had just been hoping for. That girl knows how to make an entrance. Maybe not a good entrance, but an entrance. "Pay attention," she warns sharply, as the girl pines after Moonlight Knight -- not that she can complain, she's caused that same problem herself. "These two are stronger than the usual Droid trash."
That bravado about Droids is not entirely warranted, but it's a comment meant for more ears than just Sailor Moon's. It's delivered naturally, as Uranus being arrogant often is. But that arrogance comes across a little hollow when a brief flash of alarm passes those gorgeous eyes of hers at hearing Neptune's vocalized pain.
With a clack, Uranus's boots land next to Neptune's heels. Crossing her gloved forearms, she closes two eyes, and opens at least ten: the new orbs being translucent wind arrayed behind her head and shoulders, twisting, tossing her hair and uniform in their breeze. "GAZE TURBULENT," she announces, as she begins to whip the orbs one by one at the brothers indiscriminately, sometimes alternating, sometimes the same twice or thrice in a row. As they run low, she glances at Neptune, reassured by her continued strength.
"What do you think about that philosophy?" she asks Neptune. "Ladies being as late as they want to be."
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Gaze Turbulent on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Safety. Home.
Chibi-Usa stares up after that little kiss at her forehead, into a patient smile. She really believes what he says. And when she asks... They soar, and leap. Gravity falls away behind her, and Chibi-Usa feels relief. But not only relief. She doesn't ask to get down, at first--quite the opposite.
"Can we help them?" she asks softly. "I'm... I'm scared. But I don't want to leave them behind, either..."
Especially not since they put themselves at risk for her.
"What can we do...?" It's 'we' now, at least. Chibi-Usa isn't afraid for herself, anymore.
But the others?
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick partially dodges 15 Fatigue damage from Sailor Neptune's Dolphin Wave, taking 59 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 35 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Smite, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick perfectly dodges 52 Fatigue damage from Sailor Uranus's Gaze Turbulent, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Exhausted applied to Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
To a background of dark thunder, battle is joined in earnest.
Perhaps, in their own way, affected by Sailor Uranus' appearance or demeanor, the brothers are more preoccupied by her than they should be. They really seem to prioritize getting out of the way of those wind orbs, and what starts as a pretty cool, hundred-percent-clear of a DDR level rapidly devolves into them breaking into a sweat and gasping a bit, as the orbs keep coming on and on.
But Sailor Neptune exacts revenge for the second back attack, bringing the ocean's rage down on them, cresting above; and either due to distraction or exhaustion or both, Achiral cannot evade it, disapeparing beneath the deluge, a darker blue silhouette inside the brilliant teal waters that passes across him. He comes out of it drenched -- his fabulous straight white hair a foot longer, including in the bangs, which are parted only by his nose -- and enraged.
Chiral takes on Wise Levin's assault with a little more deliberation. Maybe it's all the evil electricity in the air already but it seems like he fears lightning less than he could. It's up to her to demonstrate that it's less than he should. But this first bolt runs up both his arms, thrust out across himself protectively. The veins in his muscles bulge as though absorbing the energy. In the aftermath he is scorched but relatively unharmed, and he meets her defiance -- and Sailor Moon's -- with contempt.
"Ah, the great leader makes her appearance at last," he quips.
"Brother," warns Achiral, as he uses both hands to wring a dolphin's weight of water out of his mane, twisting, "She thwarted Esmeraude for months, do not underestimate her."
Smarter than the average Droid too, perhaps, these brothers. They seem somewhat more cut from the cloth of the Four Ayakashi Sisters; humans in the court of 'The Diamond' discussed on a spaceship long ago. Not that Esmeraude has failed to drop the name of Prince Demando now and again.
Chiral shrugs.
"They're too late," he repeats, more addressing Sailor Moon than Achiral, really. "Jest all you like, but the die has been cast."
KRAK-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The two ends of the ring in the sky inch closer to one another, surging with energy from tip to tip.
"Once the Dark Gate opens, connecting our time to His Highness'........ all the energies of the Malefic Black Crystal will finally pour into this hideous era at once, wiping out everything -- and ushering in the true destiny of the era to come!"
Editor's note: this is the first time a Black Moon Clan member has ever really talked about what they're trying to do here, other than kill the Rabbit. It is also the first time they've brought up time travel.
---
A couple fields away, the Moonlight Knight adjusts Chibi-Usa in his arms, raising her a bit so that their eyes, red and blue, are at just the same level. Her arms are free to fall onto his shoulders if she likes, though they aren't quite long enough to fall across them and down her back. Not really.
He gazes at the little maiden with a somewhat dreamlike expression, and when he speaks next, the words come slowly, fizzing up like the very first bubbles in a pot set to boil. One at a time.
"Can..." He repeats, "...you...help...them?"
He blinks, and the moment of perfect connection between their gazes is momentarily interrupted by the infinite expanse of his eyelashes. They too are dreamy, but in a different way.
"You want to go back," he says, more clearly. "You want to go back... and help...?"
Chibi-Usa gets the feeling that whether the Moonlight Knight himself understands what he's really asking, it isn't a question about leaping back into the immediate fray.
All this time, she's been running away from something -- someone -- and somewhen.
Does she want to go back?
Does she want to go back, and help?
---
Chiral and Achiral don't want to stray too far from the roof; talk of inevitability or no, it seems like they're protecting whatever's up there. That limits their options for counterattack. In the end they decide to split up; it's worked for them before...
Or maybe Achiral's just pissed and abandons his post. Either way, he shimmers out of view, having either cloaked himself or teleported away entirely.
Chiral is still cackling up there. "But for you lot, an early taste of what's to come!"
He slams his meaty palms together above his head, crackling dark energies following the swoop to create a circle of forearm radius. From this a ball of darkness grows -- and splits into many balls. He sends them down, pelting at Uranus, Moon and Levin relentlessly.
Achiral, perhaps predictably, has a bone to pick with Neptune, and materializes behind her. Kind of a one trick pony, which is good. But he's halfway through an axe kick, one that roars with dark thunder, directly towards the back of her head, so that's bad...
"DIE!"
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Spirit of Destruction on Sailor Uranus. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Spirit of Destruction on Witch of Wise Levin. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Spirit of Destruction on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Black Moon Kick on Sailor Neptune. COMBAT: Sailor Moon dodges 15 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Spirit of Destruction, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Exhausted and Stagger applied to Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Sailor Neptune fails to dodge Pink Moon Stick's Black Moon Kick, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Sailor Neptune! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus perfectly dodges 46 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Spirit of Destruction, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Sailor Uranus's Flash ability activates! COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin perfectly counters 42 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Spirit of Destruction, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! 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> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Neptune answers Uranus with a fond side-glance. "I think it sounds terribly convenient," she replies, with a note of real mirth to it. "Should I try it?" Her eyes flick towards Sailor Moon for a moment, but only for a moment.
After all, they have problems to deal with.
"Oh, were you watching?" Sailor Neptune retorts quietly at the brothers' remark about Esmeraude, even as they make clear that the stakes here are higher than expected. Well enough that we're here, Neptune thinks, even as Achiral approaches her. She raises her arms and
ah, Neptune thinks.
Obvious, really, she continues as she turns a little bit away from where Achiral is about to strike her in the head. And the blow comes, and she does not dodge it, because in that fleeting instant she foresaw what he was doing and also what would happen, and would that she could elude fate.
But you can cheat it a little; for leaning in that other direction took a little of the energy out of the blow. Yet more when she topples forwards, just as she saw. But she didn't see herself one way or the other after that moment; and so she feels free and clear to catch herself on one hand and --
Push THROUGH the ringing of her ears --
Before pivoting round to kick at his ankles with both feet! Uranus may be able to tell this is somewhat more desperate than her surfeit of poise makes true, but in this moment she cries out, "Now!" A message for her partner, perhaps.
Or all of them really, he is right down there, after all.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Calculated Dissonance on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Uranus tells her to pay attention and in some ways that's just as common as Tuxedo Kamen throwing a rose, trying to tell her to take a battle more seriously, but what she says next causes her to focus on in on them, despite her disappointment and embarrassment.
"Hm." The two are stronger than usual? That certainly seems true, but when she's called the 'great leader' Sailor Moon actually points at herself in confusion as if to say 'Moi?'. There was once a time the Senshi might have fought over who the leader is but!?
... Okay Venus and Mars still definitely fight over who's in charge from time to time...
"I did do that!" She says proudly over thwarting Esmeraude, rubbing the back of her head sounding faintly pleased. Yet Uranus teases Neptune, and Moon gets a little red, "I- I mean-" As Neptune gives her that look, she grows even redder as she pokes the tips of two fingers together, "-I think if Neptune wanted to be that she can do... whatever she wants..."
But then the Droids reveal her plan... "Wait that's what you've been trying to do all this time!?" Sailor Moon sounds aghast, still processing the TIME TRAVEL aspect and she's not QUITE made the correct conclusions yet.
Yet, a taste of what's to come, Sailor Moon suddenly starts running, and dives as that crackling dark energy comes, just NARROWLY avoiding what was probably certain doom. Yet the detonation of dark energy still causes her to cry in pain as she's knocked aside from the shockwave that follows.
As she comes up from a roll on one knee, she puts a hand to her forehead, imbuing her sacred tiara with a gleam of her magic. "You think we're just going to let that happen!? We've been protecting Chibi-Usa from you all this time! And we're not gonna let you open some time portal on the roof of this school!"
In her mind it probably goes to the darkest era of all...
... the era her parents grew up in!!!
Gripping her tiara, it becomes a shining disc, spinning above the palm of her hand, as she suddenly leaps, "Moon Tiara-" And at the apex of that leap, flings her arm outwards, "-ACTION!"
Sending it flying downwards towards Chiral, before it then arcs back up sharply towards the edge of the roof top, to try and get Achiral to at least back.
It's meant at least to be a distraction, to try and give the others an opening here, to deal with one, or both of them.
Hopefully that's serious enough to prove she's taking these Droids seriously here!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Tiara Action on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Levin scowls as Chiral seems to just absorb her attack, for the most part. There's so much electricity in the air, but it's still the most powerful attack option she has. Though Uranus seems to make wind work for her well enough... thoughts for later.
"Era...?" Era? As in, another era of time? In Levin's resolute expression her eyes flicker with worry, and she looks to the other magical girls. "Is he talking about time travel?! Did any of you know about this?"
But there's not enough time to ponder that as the next wave of attack comes. Achiral vanishes, and Levin's hands are already working, weaving a barrier of dark gray storm clouds--but Achiral doesn't come for her, and she instead turns, directing the defense at the rain of balls that come her way. She turns to the spheres, staff held up to power the shield as the balls all strike into it and dissipate.
Every last one.
She dismisses it quickly enough, though there's a brief, very curious glance as Sailor Moon mentions Chibi-Usa's name. Definitely questions for later.
But they need a diversion, they need an opening, with the brothers pinning them down... If only they could sneak attack the brothers--Levin smirks as she recalls something.
She lets go of her staff, and it hovers in the air right next to her as she extends both hands out. There was a field full of rocks and balls being thrown at her before, but turnabout is fair play. The blue glow of her magic washes out in a wave, wrapping itself over every last item she can find on the ground (everytthing except the cell phones). And then she gestures, lifting them all up at once, and she directs them with her hands, a swirling maelstrom of projectiles that splits and then rains down on the brothers from all sides--starting, of course, from the back.
Really she has them to thank for the idea.
"We gotta get up to that thing!"
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Mass Telekinesis on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Sailor Moon opines that Neptune, at least, could do the being-late-whenever-she-wants thing and pull it off. Uranus seems a bit puffed up by the reverence the younger girl holds for her partner. "Well," she says. "You heard her. It's not like I could stop you."
The twin brothers (if the looks weren't enough of a hint, the names will do just fine) have big mouths, a frequent flaw in otherwise good villain help. But it's only a flaw if the smugness is unjustified, isn't it? And Uranus is growing concerned that they may be right; even if whatever is going on up there isn't over YET, handling these two will take some time. One of the magical girls may need to slip away from all this.
"Sailor--" Uranus begins, probably about to address 'Moon' given that she often calls the other just 'Neptune.' But the sample of the Earth's future pours out from Chiral with great generosity. Uranus skips back lightly, deceptively close to getting fried. Like a fly who feels the wind from a swinging newspaper she keeps bounding away as the attack chases her, seeming like her body is being shoved to safety from the attack itself. The senshi of the air can be a difficult target.
But if Chiral was trying to create an opening for his brother, he succeeded in spades. Uranus's head swings around as Achiral appears behind Neptune, and she cries out softly as her partner is axe-kicked in the head. If Achiral has one trick, it is at least a very effective one. Zig-zagging past the last dark energies, Uranus follows Neptune's rhythm with her eyes. She, unlike Neptune, does not have the privilege of being as late as she wants, and early would be nonideal.
"It's never enough to enslave a beautiful green Earth, is it?" Uranus says, less lightly than she would have them think. "All you want is pain."
Three, two...
When Neptune sweeps at Achiral's feet, Uranus pounces forward. Leading with a rock-hard knee, she simply leaps through the fray, looking to knock Achiral's face along the way.
"And it's all you'll get!"
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Rising Tide on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
That dreamy expression gets a soft look from Chibi-Usa, who opens her mouth and closes it as she stares back into his eyes. He asks, and...
Can she? She doesn't know. What can she do...? Against the horrible Black Moon Clan, who have chased her for so long what can she do?
Is that the right question, though?
When the Moonlight Knight asks more clearly what she wants, when it becomes so clear what it is that he's asking...
"I..." She hesitates. It's been so long, already. It's been so hard. Wouldn't it be easier, to keep running? To let them fight for her, as they have before? Gallant Uranus, Graceful Neptune, steadfast Moon, and new, shining Levin...
And everyone else, too.
"They've protected me all this time. They've tried so hard. I want..."
Then, she nods. Chibi-Usa looks certain, in a way she almost never has before, as she comes to her decision. She is not just a little girl dangling in the arms of her rescuer; she is Small Lady.
"I want to help," Chibi-Usa says. "I want to go back. There's..."
"I'll help," she says quietly.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Sailor Neptune's Calculated Dissonance, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger and Stun applied to Pink Moon Stick! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 12 Fatigue damage from Sailor Uranus's Rising Tide, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick counters 11 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Action, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick's counterattack, Malefic Black Aura, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 21 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Mass Telekinesis, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Sailor Moon's leap to roof-height gets Chiral's attention all right. He sneers at her, adjusting his position to remain interposed between her and whatever he's protecting on the roof, and, grasping fists, explodes an aura of darkness out of himself that deflects the worst of the Moon Tiara and even infects it -- when at last it returns to her hand, it sizzles and pops with evil energy, and the metal looks just a little bit pitted, as though it had a brush with acid, or the ravages of a thousand years.
But even a partial strike is still a strike -- she's opened up a wound along his prettyboy, high-cheekboned face, and it bleeds freely and bleeds red. Whatever else these men are, they do seem to be human.
But Chiral shows no humanity whatsoever as he answers her assault with one of her own, summoning forth a third of those terrible black bolts, the ones that wounded Levin and Neptune so grievously. Sailor Moon has the advantage of not being attacked from behind, but will that be enough?
Just as it leaves his palm, though, the assault begins from behind -- a dozen balls, stones, and sticks. Surprised, there is little he can do but endure, shielding his head with his other arm. And -- crucially -- he turns around to look.
There is a split second that he won't be looking at Sailor Moon, Levin, and the others at all.
Achiral, meanwhile, gets owned.
Neptune kicks his ankles neatly out from under him; Uranus further accelerates his face towards the ground with the blunt instrument of her knee. He lands HARD, bounces, and--
--vanishes again. That might be the cunning retreat Neptune had earlier predicted.
But no, he's back a moment later, features made ugly with rage (also bruising, his two black eyes having appeared with the same supernatural speed of Uranus' knee, perhaps...); having wholly forgotten his mission, he gestures at them both, a sweeping motion. More dark energy follows it, then spreads, oil on the water of reality, engulfing the three of them in a blackness that he's counting on as more familiar to him than to the Outer Senshi.
But it is not SO dissimilar from the blackness of space; that place where they each fought against enemies foreign for a lonely millennium; and even at a time like this, blinded, with desperation shattering the sky, Earth is so much warmer...
Through this darkness a grasping hand comes, to take out what he perceives as the lesser threat -- Uranus -- with a decisive chop to the back of the neck. Lesser because Neptune has kicked his ass so thoroughly? Or lesser because it will take less to finish Neptune off after?
Either way, no matter what the other comparisons, this palm strike is that of a damned soul and enjoys the commensurate strength of his dark origins.
Though this may be no deeper darkness to the Outer Senshi, the man is dark enough.
---
The man who is not Chibi-Usa's father; who is not even Mamoru, seen as they once were at the same time at a ball; who, even if he was, has lost his memory and apparently all his regard for silver loves of the past; looks solemnly down at the girl who is not a Princess, at least not in this time.
There is so much he doesn't know. So much he can't understand.
But he knows one thing.
"You are so brave," he murmurs, echoing himself from before. "You make me feel brave too. Perhaps I, too, should... go back..."
He doesn't mean the other rooftop. Surely he doesn't mean the future either.
But whatever he means he shakes his head, and a little tuft of black hair falls out of his turban.
"I will help you," he says instead, focusing to the extent this ghostlight man ever does or perhaps ever can. "I will help you, girl who would help others."
He sets her down, and kneels in a sudden rush of white robes and cape. He lifts the curious crescent sword at his belt off of it, scabbard and all, presenting it above him with both hands, palms up.
"Tell me what to do... my sword is yours."
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Black Crystal Blast on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Weaker Darkness on Sailor Neptune. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Talk To The Hand on Sailor Uranus. COMBAT: Sailor Moon braces 19 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Black Crystal Blast, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus dodges 19 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Talk To The Hand, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Sailor Uranus's Flash ability activates! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus covers Sailor Neptune for Pink Moon Stick's attack, Weaker Darkness, taking it upon herself instead! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus counters 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Weaker Darkness, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Uranus's Tactician ability activates! Blind applied to Sailor Uranus! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus's counterattack, Gaze Turbulent, partially gets through, doing 30 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
As Neptune completes the circular motion of her leg sweep, Uranus flips neatly in the air to land a good few yards past her, turning to face her partner's back and the rage-darkened visage of Achiral. There is just one problem with this arrangement: Neptune is between Uranus and Achiral, leaving him free reign with the grievously injured senshi.
So he thinks. But as an engulfing oily darkness pours forth and begins to swallow Neptune's weakened form, it suddenly recoils from her skin and clothing, as if being yanked away in huge handfuls by an invisible fist. Whistling orbs of wind erupt past Sailor Neptune, close enough that she feels each brush past, far enough that not one of them harms her. Gaps open up in the darkness as each passes, the shadow recoiling like mist from the path of a bullet. The turbulent spheres of wind pelt Achiral repeatedly, whizzing by Neptune on the way, setting her hair to liquid disarray.
It is not unlike a circus performer tracing the outline of a volunteer's body with thrown knives, which seems beyond even the preternatural standards of magical girl abilities. Uranus is a consummate athlete, but those that know her as Haruka will be aware that accuracy with thrown objects is a competency for her, not a specialty; even the javelin is not primarily an accuracy sport. If the power of the planets alone cannot be blamed for this strong showing, could it be that for some reason, Sailor Uranus has an intuitive familiarity with the exact shape of Sailor Neptune?
From the billowing shadow, a tearing hand rips forth, and Uranus twists with the impact, a scrap of the textured cloth at the corner of her shoulder coming away. Her eyes light up in such a predatory fashion that Achiral's error may be clear to him immediately, but he will not have time to rectify it before the Outers close in as one. Of his own free will, he just put himself directly between the two.
Perhaps Achiral knows what this is like. To know when and how his partner--his brother in his case--will move before it even happens. To wordlessly share space, to fight as one being with four arms and four legs. Uranus throws her punches and swings her elbows only secondarily to create openings for herself; she is always seeking to make the cost of defending against her a blow from Neptune. They collaborate to create problems with no solution. They overcommit boldly, over and over, because the other is always there to guard the vulnerability. The wind lashes the water, the water tosses the wind. Neither has any shape of its own.
"Go on," Uranus suggests, with an eye to what the younger magical girls are trying to accomplish. "Call him over."
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has started a combo targeting Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Sailor Moon's vote of confidence is empowering, subtle as it might be. Neptune cann't quite feel it in the sense of being able to say: Yes, it's that; but there is a warmth to the words, and it radiates outwards. It feels...
Nostalgiac, somehow.
What would be lovely is if there was less familiarity with a desperate struggle against the forces of darkness, though. As Achiral teleports with fury, he raises up his arms, calling up that unholy irradiance even as Sailor Uranus moves, eclipsing her --
And taking the entire blow upon herself. As darkness rises, Neptune's eyes widen slightly. She reaches forwards for a moment in something like fear. The conjunction has ended. Sailor Neptune rises upwards then, tossing her hair back with one hand and approaching.
It is rather paradoxical, perhaps, but her blows are heavier; knee strikes, a double handed blow towards the lower back aimed just so to bruise the tenderest of spots there, and towards the end, the sea turns back as Sailor Neptune does retreat one pace -
So that she can step forwards and twist her body into a single handed strike, fingers forming into a first-knuckle-forwards fist aimed to throw forwards into Achiral's throat. All of them foolish but guarded by the flurry; all of them timed to crash just when a chaotic storm might be felt through.
"She's right, you know," Neptune tells Uranus around their target, tilting her head for a moment towards Wise Levin, when she has the time. "We shouldn't draw this out--"
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has joined the combo started by Sailor Uranus!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Her face lights up at Levin's projectile maelstrom, as it assaults and tries to exploit the opening but-
As her tiara returns to her hand upon landing back at ground level, Sailor Moon blinks even as it looks LIKE THAT - "Hey!?" She grabs it and waves it out like she's trying to put out a flaming pan, before giving it a critical look and puts it back on her brow, "You shouldn't mess up a key part of a girl's look like that! That's illegal!"
Wait, does she actually think such a thing is illegal? ... Probably!
Black bolts assault and assail, and taking up her rod, it starts a spinning arc, even as one strikes. Slamming into it, the explosion against sacred power and dark unholy power sends her backwards, flattening her out on her butt with the bleat of a cut off shriek. Wait, why then is she still moving round and round?!
It's only then that she realizes she's struck a part of the playground equipment. The Merry-Go-Round. Round and round she's sent going.
Grasping a rail, she pulls herself upright, even as Chiral's face comes across her over and over. And an idea strikes her. It has nowhere near the elegance of Uranus and Neptune's teamwork. Indeed the two work with a fluidity and grace, and such knowledge of what the other is doing.
Sailor Moon herself? She's always had to figure it out as she goes. Suddenly bending at the knees, she waits until it passes Chiral's angle. And she leaps. Right towards...
... the swings!?
Grasping ahold of the chains, the momentum of her landing in the wrong direction, suddenly swings forward in the correct direction, as she springs off of it, pivoting in mid-air, and crossing her arms as she upends herself and descends right towards Chiral, a Senshi shaped missile.
With not one iota of that grace or elegance...
... but certainly, despite her clumsy improvisational approach, it's not without spirit as she calls out, "Sailor Body Attack!" And attempts to slam her weight full on towards the other twin, HOPEFULLY the same moment that they're forced to look at Neptune and Uranus' teamup attack on their partner.
It's not unusually powerful on its own, as Sailor Moon is NOT in fact a noted physical combatant, or a Pretty Cure, but it might just give - "Levin!" - the opening one needs.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Sailor Body Attack on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: COMBO! Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune have used Exquisite Duet on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Sailor Moon attacks Chiral, and scores a real hit, even if the tiara is then blasted back. But she recognizes that dark blast by now-- "Sailor Moon! Look out!"
But right on the heels of that, her barrage of attacks pelts him, and she keeps it up as long as she can, tries to give an opening for Sailor Moon even as she gets knocked onto the merry go round. Until suddenly she's launched herself at Chiral--in a move that might not be as graceful as the other two sailor scouts but still looks pretty cool, with the direction of momentum on the swing--and she is caught for a moment watching that--
Until Sailor Moon calls her name--
Right! Uranus and Neptune are dealing with Achiral, Sailor Moon is tackling Chiral, and the future is on the line.
"Got it!"
She grabs her staff again. Winds whirl around her as she pulls them close, propelling herself through the air and leaving dust in her wake. She's skimming along the ground, hopefully out of Chiral's sight or notice, and if she makes it, up to the side of the school to the roof.
In her free hand is an angry, whirling mass of sparks, some of them drifting off and dancing in her wake as she goes. If she can make it to the device, she'll unleash that spray, but if someone comes to intercept her, she'll unleash it on them instead.
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Sparkshower on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
The Moonlight Knight calls Chibi-Usa brave, and she is not sure what it is to feel brave; her little rabbit heart threatens to beat out of her chest. She feels so much, and fear for so long has been a part of it. But she also knows... that she's made a choice.
And now she knows, "You, too...?" She had no idea he ever felt anything but brave. It shows in her eyes, that childish wondering on her part. But he then says he will help.
The sword, presented with both hands, makes her eyes widen--but she understands.
"Then..."
"Take me back," Chibi-Usa says. "For now, that's the best I can do."
"And so that's what I will do."
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 29 Fatigue damage from Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune's Combo: Exquisite Duet, taking 43 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Sailor Uranus drains 17 fatigue from Pink Moon Stick! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick dodges 12 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon's Sailor Body Attack, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick decisively counters 21 Fatigue damage from Witch of Wise Levin's Sparkshower, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! 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.
Achiral has made one of the great blunders. He may pay for it with his life. Certainly he pays for it with his shoulder; his spine; and ultimately his throat.
Battered from boulder to sand-grain by wind and by sea, his knees hit the playground concrete hard enough to crack it. He can barely do as dared, so little air is making it through the abused passage, but he does, satisfyingly, croak out for his brother. "--chiral--"
Chiral, at that moment, has just finished turning the Sailor Body Attack into a Sailor Body Near Miss -- though he wears himself out in the doing, especially because he then has to reposition in order to keep Missed Sailor Moon from getting to soar right past him onto the roof. Which means she gets a Sailor Sacrifice Hit anyway, albeit not at that moment of greatest acceleration. She lands at his feet--
--just as his brother cries out, and Levin rushes for the roof.
There isn't time to be conflicted; there is only time to choose.
"Achiral!" he screams back, as he... abandons his brother. The sparks of Levin's desperate gambit crash against a chest that contains a breaking heart. But the witch gazes into the eyes of someone mad with commitment to his cause. The Four Sisters may have turned to one another in the end, drawn together.
These twin brothers, it seems, will be split apart by duty. And death, if the Outer Senshi press their advantage now.
But there's little time left to take care of Chiron. The ring of evil lightning in the clouds is so close to completion that it is difficult to see the gap; already the forked tongues are beginning to tangle, at the edges of them. And when that cosmic clock strikes midnight, it really may be the end.
He's crying. He's laughing. He's going through a lot right now.
He's still in the way.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Chibi-Usa is suddenly there, brought by the Moonlight Knight again presumably--but before anyone can see that, they will hear her, on the roof.
"HEY!" Chibi-Usa calls, reaching up to show the bottom of her eyelid at Chiral. "I'm the one you want!"
Then, she tenses, and starts to run along the edge, "Come and get me!!"
Still in uniform, sti small, Chibi-Usa makes as big a target of herself as she can... and if no one can see the tracks of tears on her face, she'd be lucky.
Not that it's easy to see her face while she runs anyway...
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Like Achiral, it is difficult for Chibi-Usa to get Chiral to leave his post.
Like Achiral, it is easy for her to distract him.
...Unlike Achiral, she's above him, not below.
And you'd best believe the Black Moon Clan studied the notes on how Rubeus lost his ship, which was the only one they had to spare outside the mothership itself. The LAST time one of their evil artifacts was left unattended in the presence of the Rabbit she blew it up RIGHT good, and him along with it (or so Esmeraude confirmed in her report at the time).
He was already the paler of the twins, but Chiral turns truly white.
"NO!" he screams, turning away from Achiral, turning away from EVERYONE, to pursue--
"Now, Sailor Moon!" proclaims the Moonlight Knight from above and behind the battle, atop the chain link fence separating the two schools. He's also back, apparently, and contributing very much in the manner of Tuxedo Mask: by making it sound like doing the most obvious thing possible was guided by his tactical brilliance.
He is, of course, also RIGHT, for better or for worse.
There won't be another chance.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The downside to Chibi-Usagi's gambit is that she distracts allies as well as enemies. Well, one of the downsides. Drawing enemy attention is a problem in itself.
"Hey!" she cries an objection as Chiral falls for the bait. But her only way forward remains through Achiral; victory is a precondition of haste. But with Achiral reeling...
"Neptune!" she urges, with just a name. Her posture says the rest as she turns to face Achiral, so recently abandoned by his brother. Not unlike Uranus and Neptune, in how they prioritize the cause.
"You'd have done the same, wouldn't you?" Uranus wonders aloud, curious though well short of fascinated. How strange to have such devotion to evil. She begins walking towards him, her fists lifting. "I hope darkness is everything you dreamed it would be."
The exchange of blows is brief. Uranus swings her heel up powerfully from a dead stop, rotating through a hard, chopping kick to the head. Unconsciously, she might not have used quite the same sort of blow if Sailor Moon were watching... but she assumes the girl's attention is elsewhere.
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Back Heel Kick on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Sailor Uranus's Back Heel Kick, taking 48 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Sailor Uranus is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The Sailor Body Attack takes its toll. Is not what the Outer Senshi do, here, now, something of a Sailor Body Attack in its own right? But for all its elegance it does lack that simplicity and full commitment.
"He's noticed," Neptune tells Uranus, probably around Achiral, as the sky begins to darken. There is a distant cry as one of the chil-- Neptune looks with wide eyes at Chibi-Usa.
But it lasts only a moment. Her eyes flick back to Uranus and she receives a small nod before the soldier of the ocean's rule leaps away, leaving Uranus alone...
... *completely* alone.
Be that as it may:
Neptune lands on the roof in a three point crouch and takes several seconds - several long seconds, with a discreet and not exactly desired pant of breath to recover herself - to rise upwards. Posturally, at least, she is herself as always, and this is when she says:
"Storms come and go. The sea and the sky are eternal... all that this has wrought will run aside, and you will be known only for the scars you left." And with that, Sailor Neptune raises both hands above her head as if calling on an orchestra.
"Deep--" she begins, as the storm-tense air takes on the scent of the sea. Behind her turquoise waves surge upwards, enormous; a constantly-moving wall yet seems to come at her command. A sphere forms over her hands, the sea-green light coalescing there. It gathers and rotates, moving swifter and swifter, glittering rings of gold twinkling momentarily around it.
"--SUBMERGE!"
And then it is hurled, not at Chiral, for he might simply leap out of the way -- and for all her heart might be cold (it seems), Sailor Neptune is not willing to risk hurling this sort of thing into a small child.
It goes, rather, towards the device upon the roof, swaying as it carves through the air towards its ultimate destination...
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Neptune has used Deep Submerge! on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
In that moment, it really seems like the Black Moon Clan has won, when one twin abandons another. And Sailor Moon almost calls out 'How could you?' but she's seen cruelties both large and small that Dark Fall inflicts upon those who participate in its plots. Even if it affects her, it is in a way, not unpredictable to her after so long fighting them.
As the press of evil lightning swells, there comes the brave voice of Chibi-Usa, "Chibi-Usa-chan!?" Sailor Moon gawks in surprise, but in the end... she's not that surprised by this either. As a child, she's proven her bravery again and again.
A moment's distraction is all it takes, and 'Now, Sailor Moon!' - she knows those words so well, from Tuxedo Kamen. It'd be easy enough to say that her body acts on its own in response, but it is always an active choice to respond to his urging.
And respond is what she does. Sailor Moon leaps skyward, her body already aligned to begin to spin while mid-leap, as her rod lets out its triumphant chime.
"MOON SPIRALLLLLL-" Trailing contrails of glitter and stars, she burns brightly, the efforts and feelings of everyone here. From the sacrifice of Chibi-Usa, of her safety to come back and help, and Moonlight Knight to let her.
"-HEARTTTTTTTTTTT-"
Of Uranus and Neptune, who always get so hurt in these battles, taking the brunt of the attacks often without any expectation of thanks.
"-ATTACK!"
She's still mid-air when hearts stream out of the rod, which she now holds ahead of her as she descends, the hearts flowing forward into an enormous expression of feeling, backed by the sacred power of the moment. Which races towards the rooftop, and the Nexus of the gathering dark power in an attempt to thwart their plan at the last possible second.
It is perhaps a small mercy that she'll miss the quick, brutal exchange between Uranus and Achiral, distracted as she is in the moment, but she does trust her to protect Chibi-Usa in her stead. She's more than proven that she will.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Moon has used Moon Spiral Heart Attack! on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Wise Levin [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Levin is surging forward as fast as she can, scattering sparks in her wake, making a desperate run-- This could be their only chance to make it to the roof, to stop whatever it is and safeguard their timeline, to thwart the two brothers (surely, they have to be brothers, with names like those) who are far too strong for comfort. Her magic is swirling in in her hand, intended for one target and one target alone.
And she doesn't even hesitate to bring her hand forward, unleshing that brilliant, dazzling display of sparks. Her legs swing forward as she shifts all of her magic back to arrest her progress and pull backwards to a safe distance.
Levin doesn'thave the cold eyes of a soldier, or a mad eyes of a zealot, but instead the defiant glare of someone who will not back down, because they know what they're doing is the right thing.
It's open for interpretation which is the more menacing, in the moment.
She brings her staff in front of her, defensively as she watches. She spares a glance for the others, but only the glance. "You didn't go to help him." It's not shock, or anger, or disgust, just a statement of fact.
They need more options. They need another plan. They need a distraction.
Which Chibi-Usa provides.
That stare softens for just a moment to blink upon recognizing the little girl. Tsukin-chan? What are you--
But it draws Chiral's attention, and draws Chiral himself. The Moonlight Knight is over there, urging Sailor Moon on. He must have brought Chibi-Usa back. He was watching out for her before, do they have a plan? Is this the plan?
Even if it is... She looks to Sailor Moon. "I've got her!" While the other ssee to Achiral and the device, she flies straight for Chiral. There's storm clouds growing in her wake this time, but they don't disperse like the sparks did. They are sparking however, but it's licks and lashes of furious lightning that build up more and more. "You who would prey on the innocent," she intones, her voice thrumming with shared power from her staff, which is also shining with lightning.
The winds around her kick up furiously--normally they're only just visible, but now they are a tiny storm in their own right, propelling her after Chiral, moving to overtake him. "Who would abandon your allies, and seek to rewrite time itself."
She cuts in, between Chibi-Usa and Chiral, both hands stretched out to her side. She is flanked by an array of dark, turbulent storm clouds, all angry with rightous fury and lightning to match the dark lightning in the sky above. "I give unto you, Retribution!" Her voice echos on the last word as she slams her hands together. All of the clouds she created unleash their lightning all at once, a cacophanous volley of thunder and lightning all focused directly on Chiral.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Witch of Wise Levin has used Levin's Retribution on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 73 Fatigue damage from Sailor Neptune's Finisher, Deep Submerge!, taking 60 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Sailor Moon's Finisher, Moon Spiral Heart Attack!, taking 202 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to brace Witch of Wise Levin's Finisher, Levin's Retribution, taking 102 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Achiral dies as Uranus would have him die: swiftly, almost summarily. As brutal as it is brief, his neck snaps beneath her heel, and that is all.
If he were a Droid, he might have collapsed into moondust with only a Black Crystal at its center. But he really is a man, it seems. And so he collapses into a corpse.
Up on the rooftop, the Dark Henge sending all that dark power into the sky is finally revealed to be... a statue. About knee-high, with a spike at its base that resembles that of a piton (and is put to similar use, thrust deeply into the surface of the roof), the statue is unmistakably an artistic rendering of Chiral and Achiral's mistress Esmeraude, she of the fur-trimmed fans and patrician laughter. It is as though it was all carved from a single, gigantic piece of crystal, and although the power radiating off of it is unmistakably malefic, it is not actually that perfect black of the moons that adorn the brows of the Black Moon Clan; it is, if very darkly, green. Which of course matches her own signature color.
Best not to read too much into this. It's possible she just had it painted.
It is a fearsome sight, though, as it channels all that energy drained from the kids; there is a vortex around it, crackling with lightning, which occasionally surges up to the sky with that familiar sonic KRAK-THOOM!
Fortunately there is also a localized tsunami and a high likelihood of heartshowers today. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Moon leave nothing to chance -- the hearts accelerate straight through the impending wave, crashing into the statue like brilliant pink bullets. And just when it cannot possibly take any more, the wave crashes down and obliterates it completely.
There is simply nothing left.
And the sky mirrors it; from all-but-completed ring of lightning, which had even begun to rotate, like a door in the sky, creating something a whole lot more like a sphere--
--to nothing but cloud.
There is just a little bit more lightning, however. Well; a lot bit. It is all Levin's. And it engulfs Chiral well before he can catch up with the fleeing Rabbit. When her retribution is through with him there is simply nothing left, and whether that's because he teleported out halfway through, or was disintegrated entirely, is up to her to guess.
The Moonlight Knight, too, has faded away, though more like a dream than a nightmare.
As for Achiral's corpse? Whether it's one less thing to worry about or one more... at an opportune moment when no one is looking at it directly, it vanishes, and will not be found again.
But the kids; the kids and their teachers, they were already rescued from the worst of the effects by Chibi-Usa, there at the start. And with the destruction of the Henge, any shadows cast upon Juuban Elementary School are exorcized in their entirety. The blessing of the Silver Queen, sometimes resented for its intrusiveness, is truly a kindness here. Quickly this will be forgotten as some kind of freak accident. A gas leak, perhaps. The children truly will not remember.
Except for one.
She has a promise to keep.
