2017-06-25 - What Lies Beneath 4
| What Lies Beneath 4 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Michiru and Kaoru Kiryuu have disappeared into Library Island mid-research-project. A group goes to rescue them, but finds a lot more than even previous trips would have had them bargain for. Clearly something is very wrong down in the depths. | |
| Who: Saki Hyuuga, Mai Mishou, Fuu Hououji, Inori Yamabuki, Yumi Ohzora, Steven Universe, Michiru Kiryuu, Kaoru Kiryuu GM: Hotaru Tomoe | |
| Where: Library Island | |
| OOC - IC Date: 06-25-2017 - 01-29-2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
YESTERDAY
BGM: The Town With A Sea View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bweQE1G3tQg
Michiru and Kaoru Kiryuu sit with Saki and Mai at a table in the more normal top level of the library. Books are strewn everywhere, and productivity is, if not rampant, at least fluorishing. This group project they've been assigned on the history of Jindai Botanical Gardens and the list of titles the librarian found for them was stunningly long and increasingly obscure.
And there's one book they haven't been able to find on the shelves at all. It isn't a huge deal -- there's more than enough here for their report/presentation -- but Michiru and Kaoru seem to be unable to let it go. They'll read and take notes for a few minutes, then side-eye each other grimly.
Finally it becomes unbearable, and in unison they slide their chairs back from the table, look down at their counterparts, and intone:
"We're going to find that book. We'll be back soon."
They aren't. And that's the last anyone has seen them, though initially 'totally bailed on studying' seems like a more reasonable explanation than 'kidnapped by an ongoing mystery'.
TODAY
BGM: Sirloin - A Scheme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw5YsP3Nn4w
When the sisters are still nowhere to be found after an entire day, and Flappy and Choppi (and other mascots) start meeping urgently again about feeling girls in danger underground, well, there's only one thing to be done.
Here we are at the top of the stairs that lead into the deeper depths of the island. Sometimes they turn into a slide. Sometimes they shoot spikes.
Today there are simply three steps period, one down, two down, three down-- then nothing. It's a gaping hole into endless darkness. The air doesn't rise out of it, but sinks down into it, sliding slackly downwards as though being slowly, inexorably inhaled by a sleeping giant.
OOC: It is customary to show up to these transformed/ready for trouble! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe transforms into What Lies Beneath! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Wind Knight! COMBAT: Steven Universe transforms into Steven Quartz Universe! COMBAT: Inori Yamabuki transforms into Cure Pine! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Witch Ivy!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Mishou [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Mai smiles, of course, when Michiru and Kaoru say they need to find a book. The young woman nods her head to them both. "Yes, I understand. But please be careful!" she says. "I know the library can be a very confusing place."
Weren't there people missing there?
The worry didn't have time to settle until it was clear they were missing -- and then Mai Mishou went about some searching on the internet. She began to realize that this happened more often than not. And that leads us to...
NOW
Cure Egret stands at the top of the stairs. Her eyes look down the stairwell, violet and calm, but that hides a worry that she cannot quite shake. Her fingers tense, lightly, around nothing -- the fabric of her glove strains. "Michiru and Kaoru may been down there," she says, quietly to Cure Bloom. "I know we've just met them, but..."
She looks up, seriously, at Bloom. "...We have to find them and help them!"
COMBAT: Mai Mishou transforms into Cure Egret! COMBAT: Saki Hyuuga transforms into Cure Bloom!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
This is traditionally a job for the Library Island Exploration Club, and since Fuu is a semi-active member, of course she's present. Or rather, the Magic Knight of Wind is present. With a backpack. A flashlight, a first aid kit, rope and grappling hook, and some other supplies and resources have all been tucked into the backpack where she can get at them in a hurry - or where one of her allies can, in a pinch.
"One of these days I'm going to buy a backpack specifically for these expeditions," the Wind Knight remarks quietly, eyeing the hole full of darkness. She's endured the slide and the spikes, but that hole gives her greater foreboding than any other obstacle. She's trying not to let it show; she *might* be succeeding, at least to some people's gaze.
A moment's pause, and then she unslings her backpack, taking out a coil of rope. "I doubt this is long enough to get us all the way to the bottom, but should we tie one end off somewhere up here and see how far it gets us?" she suggests. She has another coil of rope in reserve, but she doesn't want to use ALL of it just trying to get down to wherever the lost girls might be.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
One day after Michiru and Kaoru vanished- Chiffon started crying inconsolably. She can talk now, some, but she was unable to understand what was wrong. That is until Tarte came and relayed some more specific news
Cure Pine stands at the top of the steps. She's staring down them anxiously. Idly she balances on one slim orange boot. Then touches the next step down- quickly retracting it as much of her body draws back with a flinch where she closes her eyes. Nothing happens that time and slowly her eyes open and she exhales. She's heard stories of this place and given the telephone nature of Infinity gossip reaching Ohtori it's wildly exaggerated to the point where she thinks it's instant death to so much as take a single step.
She takes a breath. Then looks sidelong at Bloom and Egret. "Wait. Egret? Bloom? You know the two girls who are missing?" She looks surprised. Then straightens. Suddenly. Even if they were just friendly acquaintances to that pair... "We definitely will." She promises, suddenly able to believe in her ability to navigate this place.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Hey, it's okay," The Witch of Lost Ivy says to Cure Egret, worriedly. The tall girl is dressed entirely in black, with a pointed hat and green accents, like her belt and gloves and boots and the hand on her hat. She's carrying a great white staff with a brilliant green gem at the tip. "It'll be okay."
She can't help but think of, "Someone close to me was lost down here once, too, but we got her out okay. Let's keep hope up."
When Tama's yelling finally got through to Yumi about someone being lost down there, the high schooler immediately looked startled and started making preparations to go down and help. How could she do anything else after others helped her go after Nakahara? Besides, someone was in danger.
And so today the gray-haired Shepherd is here, glancing to Fuu and then back down to the hole full of darkness. "Mm. Let's see..." She points her staff at it experimentally, which glows brightly... and doesn't illuminate it. "Huh. Oh well."
A look at another Pretty Cure and the Witch smiles. "Yeah. For sure. Well, there's only one way to find out what's down there!"
Yumi starts down the stairs, easy as that. Is it scary? Yes. But it's important.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Earlier:
Cue a young child on the beach, stout in nature and with fluffy hair, chasing a pink Lion, who himself is chasing some sort of small flying thing. "No! Lion! The fairy-thingy is just trying to help! Leave it alone! Drop it!"
Mow:
At the call to magical arms, of course Steven will be there! Seeing a bit of action would be nice. The Gems have been so busy lately that he rarely gets to see them. The boy is present among the crowd, though shudders at the darkness that lies again. "Uh... anyone know their way around down there by chance?" He seems worried when light is cast toward the darkness and it is not illuminated.
He clings to his shield as he looks to the older members of the crowd. They will know what to do. Pearl always said to listen to your superiors in this kind of scenario. "So... people wnet down there? Or were taken? Doesn't look too friendly. Hope they are okay. If need be, I bet Lion can warp us dow--"
The boy turns around. There is no pink mascot. Steven stomps a foot.
"Boy, I'ma bop his nose with a newspaper tonight!" Apparently Lion found better things to do.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Saki is, maybe surprisingly, participating to the best of her ability. She was there at the gardens the other day! It was kinda cool! Learning more will be cool, and she gets to do it with her friend Mai, and her cool other friends Michiru and Kaoru!! It's great! She's so excited! Though, they seem a little troubled...
She looks up when they say they plan to go look. She nods, accepting this excuse immediately. She nods to Mai. "Yeah! Stick to the upper floors, OK? The Island's supposed to get like, weird."
Saki, as is occasionally her way, tried to excuse the absence; they're not very communicative, right? And sometimes they just go and do stuff, so maybe they got distracted by something! They'll probably come back with a great story to tell. ...But not even Saki can ignore a truth as it continues to stare at her.
NOW
Cure Bloom stands beside Egret, her fist tight with worry. "Yeah," she says, to Egret. "We can't let them get hurt by whatever's doing this!"
Pine's look of concern gets her look from Bloom, and a nod as well. "Yeah. We were with them before they left, even. Just...walked off and didn't come back. ..." She peers down with worry, feet shifting just a touch. "...so we have to get them back safely!"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"I-I am afraid so," Egret says, to Pine. She smiles, apologetically, to her. But she nods at the statement that it would all be fine. The confidence does a little for her. As does the Witch of Lost Ivy's words. She nods, cheerfully, to her. "Yes... thank you! But--ah, I don't feel a rope will be necessary today."
She smiles apologetically to Fuu, too.
Then she steps forward -- and leaps after the Witch of Lost Ivy, descending down into the darkness!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Falling is not an atypical experience in the depths of Library Island, but it doesn't usually happen quite so soon.
The ground does not rush up to meet anyone because there isn't any. At first it's just darkness darkness darkness and the only indication of movement is the air tearing past, drawing tears, dragging hairdos.
That makes the first light on the surrounding wall (which seems to be circular today, rather like a well) a bit of a surprise, though it's viewable from a great distance like a twinkling glowing star.
It is a red light, and it pulses with a heartbeat, and it is the first of several. No, the first of many.
It's easy to feel lost in this now-red tunnel despite there being only two directions (up, down) because the lights are irregular and sometimes blinding. Sensory overload for sure.
It is easy to miss the single exit, a narrow ledge that begins another dark hallway.
It is also easy to fall past it and straight into what's at the bottom. Which will turn out to be red-to-match-the-decor (or maybe just lit up red) shaving cream. It's lavender-scented, but that is fairly small consolation since it is also suffocating.
OOC: If you wind up with the Trap debuff, you've fallen into the cream and will need help! Otherwise you made it to the ledge safely, and can help people in the cream! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Cure Bloom. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Yumi Ohzora. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used 1001 Tricky Traps #785 on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Yumi Ohzora's Block ability activates! Yumi Ohzora's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Yumi Ohzora! COMBAT: Cure Pine perfectly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! COMBAT: Cure Bloom narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Cure Bloom! COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block ability activates! Steven Universe's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Steven Universe!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Pine tries not to squeal a little when a Pink Lion shows up again.
Her disappointment when it's gone within seconds is palpable. "Aw. Don't do that." She says to Steven. She doesn't like negative reinforcement pet training.
Yumi illuminates the hole, and she gulps, "Yeah. Down there." Though she couldn't let herself get scared... because what Bloom says. "Right." But then she looks down and just says, "Why would they go down there though?"
Not long after she's leaping after them. Darkness and darkness- and more of it, until the first light. It's a dizzying experience as suddenly the tunnel becomes red. Like someone turned on this intense strobe that isn't flickering.
It's overwhelming her senses... like a time Miyuki took them to dance practice with stage lighting actually on. How did she make it through that?
Focus. Focus. Focus. Think of the others you're with. Believe in hers- "There!" Pine twists suddenly in mid-air, and comes down into a hard shoulder roll onto the stonework. Rubbing her elbow as she gets up. She looks behind her-
As everyone else splootches into lavender scented shaving cream.
She doesn't realize it's shaving cream, and suddenly hurries over to the edge, putting a hand down to grasp ahold with one hand, putting her feet up against it like some mountain climber, reaching out with her hand to grab Yumi's flailing hand and yank her above the surface.
"Okay- okay- noone panic-" As if she weren't. "-just reach out your staff to the next one- everyone we're forming a chain. Help each other and I'll pull you up and out!"
She at least was pretty convinced that her strength as a Pretty Cure can manage to tug out the four girls and one boy from this mess. Unless they were really stuck, then she might have problems.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yumi's mascot--familiar--isn't here at the moment. Yumi insisted, and Tama actually agreed for once. It's very dangerous down here. Which is why it's maybe not a good idea to just keep walking after she runs out of stairs, but she does it anyway. Or well, she tries to keep walking, and instead ends up at--
"Aaaaah!"
The lights are kind of nauseating honestl; even freefall isn't all that much fun in the face of all this, and Yumi squeezes her eyes shut and tries to hang on. "Here's where I wish I could fly," she mutters, one hand still up holding her hat on as it has been since the start of this fall. She totally misses the ledge before she falls into the cream.
"Mrph!" She complains, coughing, and then starts to sink under until Pine reach out and takes her hand. "Ah!" Breath, "Thanks--You're amazing--"
No one panic. Oh. Oh! "Aaaah, right!" Yumi reaches down her priceless staff and puts it in range of Egret's hands, "Hang onto this! You can pull yourself up!" She's got magical strength enough to, with both hands, help pull.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yumi's mascot--familiar--isn't here at the moment. Yumi insisted, and Tama actually agreed for once. It's very dangerous down here. Which is why it's maybe not a good idea to just keep walking after she runs out of stairs, but she does it anyway. Or well, she tries to keep walking, and instead ends up at--
"Aaaaah!"
The lights are kind of nauseating honestl; even freefall isn't all that much fun in the face of all this, and Yumi squeezes her eyes shut and tries to hang on. "Here's where I wish I could fly," she mutters, one hand still up holding her hat on as it has been since the start of this fall. She totally misses the ledge before she falls into the cream.
"Mrph!" She complains, coughing, and then starts to sink under until Pine reach out and takes her hand. "Ah!" Breath, "Thanks--You're amazing--"
No one panic. Oh. Oh! "Aaaah, right!" Yumi reaches down her priceless staff and puts it in range of Bloom's hands, "Hang onto this! You can pull yourself up!" She's got magical strength enough to, with both hands, help pull.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
"...Yeah, you're right," Steven says towards Cure Pine. "It is just hard to get him to behave. He nearly ate the little fairy person that told me about today though! I just don't want him hunting them." A pause. "I hope he didn't go to do that..." The boy purses his lips for a moment. Please Lion, don't be doing that...
One by one, everyone jumps down the hole that almost seems to be inviting more down to try and save someone, just to claim them as well! "Well, guess I better get down there, too!" The boy waits his turn, and jumps as well. Darkness in all forms surrounds him, and sensory depravation is just a mild term to describe the feeling traveling downward. Then the exact opposite happens. Flashing red lights overwhelm the sights of others, and Steven has to cover his eyes partway until they adjust.
PLOOP.
Steven just disappears below the strange substance for a few seconds, before struggling to the top. "AHHHH! It's like that stuff dad hit me with in the face for April Fools day! It even kinda smells like it!" The child flounders in the strange stuff for a bit until one of the ladies on the platform calls out a plan. "I'll try!" he says.
Now he knows what those kids felt like near the end of that movie about a chocolate factory. THIS ISN'T GREAT.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates! Trap applied to Fuu Hououji!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Bloom, by now, understands her relationship with gravity; that one of her powers as Pretty Cure is that the spirits will protect her from any fall, no matter the height. That she can fly through the air! So she jumped in after Egret, unafraid of the fall, no matter how deep the darkness.
This is a bit of arrogance they teach you against in the Library Island Exploration Club, as Cure Bloom finds as the tunnel just KEEPS GOING. No concern for gravity or distance doesn't get you very far when you can't tell what's freakin' happening, anymore; the lights, the color changes, all mean that when their stop arrives, Cure Bloom is thoroughly dizzied, and although Pine calls the shot, Bloom - whiffs it completely and eats it directly into the cream. It's hard to swim in this...!! She blubs to the surface, huffing. Her glorious glam pineapple of a hairdo is slick and gross. "Uggh...!" But! There is hope! A staff pushed into her face. "Th, thanks!" she calls out, gripping onto the thing and trying to hold on despite her own newfound slickness.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The rope was not particularly helpful in the end; it probably didn't help that the Wind Knight is far from familiar with the vagaries of rope climbing - and that's an activity in which the rope is usually a bit more amenable to BEING climbed. It's also not long enough to reach all the way to the bottom, which might have helped the Magic Knight of Wind if not for the former.
End result, a green blur plummets into a red pit, despite the Wind Knight's efforts to brake or at least *steer* her fall. "Ack ... what *is* this stuff - ?!"
Don't panic, don't panic, always good advice. (Except when you SHOULD panic, but that's not now.) The Wind Knight collects her wits and tries to minimize her thrashing. She looks about to see whom she's closest too, then reaches out to help form the recommended chain.
COMBAT: Cure Egret fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's 1001 Tricky Traps #785, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Trap applied to Cure Egret!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Perhaps, Egret shouldn't have jumped straight in. But she did. She lands on the ground below, and her eyes blink as they adjust to the red light. And, then, she sees the exit. It isn't easy. "Ah, there!" she calls out. She steps after Pine.
Then those purple eyes go wide. "Oh--oh no!"
She slips, and slides down into the terrible cream. She thrashes once, but then she manages to calm herself -- though she makes a face when she does, and gasps brefore she looks sideways at Bloom. Similarly covered in shaving cream.
She grabs the staff, when it's held out, though. "Pine! Thank you!"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
'You're amazing.' Pine doesn't say anything to that. She does smile a little though. Pressing against the wall with her feet and tugging upwards, she hauls Yumi up and over. She doesn't bring herself up though, as once Yumi has cleared the top, she reaches down the length of her staff to help her pull to give Bloom and Egret enough leverage that her fellow Pretty Cure can do the rest. Then the three of them are pulling everyone else out with their strength-
Afterwards once they're all up she takes a look at Bloom and Egret, giggling lightly, and with a gloved hand starts trying to brush shaving cream out of her fellow Pretty Cure's glam pineapple hairdo and try to fix it a little. "I... can't say I expected that."
Then she moves on to Egret and fusses a little in the same way trying to wipe away shaving cream. She then whispers closer, "Your school's library is very unique."
Weirdly the fact that it turned out to be shaving cream actually cuts through some of her anxiety, making her relax. Sure it could have been deadly, but it was still shaving cream. "Everyone ready to move on?"
When they do walk onwards, she stays towards the center of the group...
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Pon Pon Pon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g
Crack The Whip, Pretty Cure style, is ultimately a success, but everyone who emerges from the Goop Pit is alarmingly slippery, and even walking requires a certain amount of care. The stone that these depths are made out of is often very smooth, indeed.
At least it's a pleasant smell! There are others down here... a dank moldiness that smells more dead than alive predominates, especially in the close confines of the dark tunnel. The lighting remains red, but instead of coming from diffuse little orbs, now it comes from glowing veins in the wall, that snake alongside the group, separating into thinner threads here and there, then recombining into something thicker and brighter.
Like the light fixtures -- whatever they really are -- the tunnel itself starts to branch and fork into narrower pathways which then recombine. Not getting lost becomes a significant challenge, and the Shaving Cream Pool an all-too familiar sight as the group gets turned around at least two or three times.
How will they find their way forward, without getting lost?
Clues include:
- There is a very faint temperature gradient -- it is colder, further from the entrance.
- The smell of lavender is, of course, strongest near the pool, although the group kinda smells like it too now.
- Every once in a while, sufficiently far in, there are snatches of song coming from what sounds like a real old and/or weak radio tranceiver. Obviously these are not coming from the pool. Is it -- the idol Mimi Hanyu?
OOC: Feel free to involve any of these, plus your own ideas, to navigate the maze! If you get stuck with the Diversion debuff, those ideas wind up hurting the group more than the help them. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Cure Bloom. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used AMAZING! on Yumi Ohzora. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Block ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Parry ability activates! Diversion applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Yumi Ohzora! COMBAT: Cure Egret narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret's Block ability activates! Cure Egret's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Cure Pine narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine's Block ability activates! Cure Pine's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Steven Universe! COMBAT: Cure Bloom narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's AMAZING!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Bloom's Block ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Out they go. Cure Egret looks a little sheepish, as Pine helps her with her hair. She looks down, before she shakes her head. "It is," she says. "I am afraid I do not, ah, usually venture into this part."
And, of course, she moves on when they do.
Egret's nose wrinkles as she gets a sniff of the things that smell worse than the cream. Mold, she thinks, and who knows what else. She stops, as they reach the shaving cream pool again. "This--this seems to be a twisty maze," she says, as she comes to a stop. "But... I think, if we can find where the source of the lavender smell was coming from..."
She pauses.
"Besides us," she clarifies, "and the pool. Does anyone have any other ideas?"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Bloom's hair has never been a sodden shaving cream mess until now and SHE DOES NOT RECOMMEND IT, NO SIR. Perhaps it is the spirits that stop her from immediately pratfalling back into the goop, but she is able to at least kind of keep her balance despite the incredible slipperiness.
She nearly slips back into the cream fully three times as they keep stumbling back across it. She shakes a fist at the horrible thing.
"I feel like it gets a little cooler the further in we get, uhm...I don't...have a...thermometer?" why would she have one of those. "But if we like...do....maze, stuff, and pay attention to that, maybe?"
Saki considers her duties to intellectualism fulfilled by actually knowing 'maze stuff' exists.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
With the help of the Cure Ladies (Is that what they are called? Do they have a troop or theme name? Maybe he should ask later! It is probably super cool!) Steven clamors out of the pool, if it could be called that, of shaving cream. "Wish I brought my beach supplies. I would have had a towel at least!" Steven left the supplies inside Lion, not expecting to need it. But he is gone. THANKS LION. Man, he has a lot of strikes against him today! It just isn't his day.
Feeling chilly but otherwise unhurt, the boy resummons his shield, and looks abotu the area. Strange pulsing lines running through the walls (or berhaps lack thereof) and thrum with a crimson light. It reminds Steven of this glass anthill diorama things. Just minus the ants. Well... hopefully minus the ants.
As they head inward though, the boy hears chords and song, and begins snapping his fingers. "Hey, that is a catchy beat! You guys hear that?" He stops to do a few two-step dance moves, but promptly stops when he nearly slips in the substance below again. "Okay, okay. Maybe not a good idea to dance in flip-flops with slick stuff all over. Hey, wait up!" he says, realizing he got a bit behind.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"I *do* have another rope," the Wind Knight suggests tentatively. "We could tie it off somewhere -"
Where exactly are they supposed to tie it?
"- or unspool it and drag it along behind us -"
The magic-skein-of-yarn trick worked because it WAS magical, and as long as the path needed to be. The rope is neither.
".... um ... did anyone keep their cell phone? GPS ..."
... doesn't work this far underground. And the one thing the Wind Knight DIDN'T bring was 'pencil and paper for mapping by hand'.
The third time they reach the Shaving Cream Pool, the Wind Knight just collapses to her knees, hands catching herself so she doesn't entirely collapse, her head hanging heavy in dejection. Not even the sounds of Mimi Hanyu lift her spirits to any particular extent. However, she forces herself back to her feet and continues following, wherever the group is going. "The only thing I can think of is the old 'keep one hand on the wall as we go' trick, but even that isn't bulletproof," she admits.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yumi beams as she catches her breath and watches her staff prove helpful to the Cures. "You're all so strong," she comments to the group of them, taking back her staf once everyone is up and looking her over for a moment. "See? We're helping already. I wonder if the Shepherds are going to run into pits..."
She says that loudly enough to be heard, but not that loudly; she's talking to her stff, after all.
But there they are worrying about this. Worrying about a... maze. Because they keep moving along and it's all red and that goes fine with green but Yumi keeps getting turned around. How do they avoid getting lost?
"I'm the Witch of Lost Ivy, by the way--call me Ivy! But... Hrm," Yumi says, "I've got a reall good feeling about... this way! It's fine, follow me!" And so the tallest member of the group takes off at first, with confidence and vigor.
She gets the group so completely lost that it takes a bit even to find the pool. Maybe it's not wise to follow someone with 'Lost' in her name in a maze...
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Pine's thankful for the lavender scent. It at least makes the journey onward more pleasant. But then suddenly things get confusing and the group gets lost like two to three times and she starts to realize how turned around they are. It gets worse when they follow around Yumi for a while and Pine wonders if her name shouldn't be Lost Witch rather than Lost Ivy.
"It's Labyrinth..." She says in despair then puts a hand over her mouth as she realizes her error, "I mean a labyrinth! Sorry!"
Frankly Pine doesn't have any ideas at first when Egret mentions the scent from the pool. And Bloom catches the temperature. "Oh! Good catch. I'll follow your lead with the maze stuff." And it's not long after that she finds herself humming a tune to help herself think. Which causes her to finally say the words of a line in a murmur, /o~ Every girl is a lovely fight~er~
But a moment later, "Eh?" She stops, then tilts her head to the side as if she was hearing something she wasn't before. A melody that clashes with her own tune. "Does... anyone else hear that?"
She nods at Steven. "I do!" She walks down a little further experimentally to see if the music gets louder. "And I think... it feels a little louder?"
She looks at Bloom and Egret, as if perhaps deciding between the three of them should put those ideas together to get out of this...
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The pop music starts to get real old after a while, and so does the lavender. But by aiming for the former, avoiding the latter, and relishing the feeling of goosebumps, eventually they emerge, out of the twisty red hallways and into a chillingly familiar room (to some).
It is hexagonal. Mist shrouds the floor, oozing, gradually, from four sarcophagi -- also a familiar sight to some. There are chains around them, but not on them, as though they were relatively recently unlocked (or broken).
The source of the music turns out to be an abandoned iphone that has inexplicably failed to lose all of its charge. Either its owner is still down here, or it has magic batteries. (Given the location either is possible.)
Here in this chamber, however, there is another sound, too. It's right on the edge of perception, a faint vibration... a regular one, which thrums in and out of hearing. In -- and out. In -- and out.
OOC: Open the sarcophagi, or leave them alone? <Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
When they emerge into the room with the sarcophogi, with their eerie mists and their chill, Cure Egret stares with wide violet eyes for a moment at all of them. "This... this looks very scary..."
And yet, her voice is distant. Why?
Because she is hiding behind Cure Bloom and crouched over, a little, so it's harder to see her. Except, of course, there is nothing in the room to see her. "M-Maybe we should hurry along!"
Or is there?
Her eyes do move, nervously, to the side where she thinks she hears the hum -- and then sharply to the other side. Maybe the hum was from over there?
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Through putting their heads together, they somehow make it through together and- it's a discarded cell phone. "Do you think that's...?"
She looks at Bloom and Egret to try to confirm if it belonged to those two girls. Though they might not know, given they're friendly acquaintances.
And sarcophagi.
Now Cure Pine doesn't get frightened in animal themed haunted houses but she sure does in creepy places that look like they're coming to the climax of a horror movie. Like suddenly- "H-Hey a Dracula isn't going to leap out of one of those r-right?"
Apparently she never discovered the wider world of Vampire Fiction. She absolutely doesn't want to open them, she doesn't want to but what if those two girls are inside them!? WOULDN'T THAT BE EVEN WORSE? And yet they need to check don't they?
Swallowing, trembling with fright, "So... ah... they could... um... would someone like to...?" She can't finish the statement. Nodding along with Egret, "M-Maybe we should!" She says hurriedly in agreement.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"It's... fine...?" Yumi answers Pine as she apologizes and corrects herself. When Yumi runs out of stairs, she keeps walking. Or falling. Whichever, and glances back and forth as she sees the pool again. "Aah..."
But Pine is talking about music, and Yumi can kind of hear it? "Yeah?" And so she follows along. They eventually make it through...
Here they are in this room. Yumi blinks, leaning on her staff as she walks. She doesn't say anything distantly; she looks to the music instead. She has no idea who it would've belonged to.
"A Dracula? Wow, that'd be cool," Yumi answers. "I wonder what one looks like..." Yumi finds herself interested, when looking at the sarcophagi she's not so much. Oh... Oh well.
"It's fine," she says, and starts approaching the one furthest on the right. "I'll check one out." She moves to open it up.
"It's fine!" Hesitate, start to push, "...Ugh I need some help? This is heavy!"
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The Wind Knight blinks quietly at the sound of the iPhone playing idol singer music, and looks towards the Pretty Cures. "The girls who disappeared were friends of yours, I think you mentioned? Do you know if either of them were a fan of this singer?"
She's not going to *open* the sarcophagi yet, but she's investigating them - checking for signs that they've been opened (or closed) recently, seeing if the music is coming from either a sarcophagus or the very close proximity of one, details like that. "If a vampire *does* pop out," she says to Pine with a reassuring smile, "I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a vampire for much longer, with a group of highly motivated magical girls here to deal with it."
Yumi's working on opening a sarcophagus; since she's taking the initiative, the Wind Knight has no qualms about lending what strength she has to the task. Maybe even some leverage, if there's someplace to wedge her sword and try to pry with it. (Escudo is VERY durable stuff ...)
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
The boy follows along the more veteran magical fighters, following their judgement calls on directions and where to go. Some of them seem like they have been here before! Or at least have dealt with something similar. Eventually, after a good deal of delving, they find a geometric room cloaked in mist. The source of the music gets his attention, and runs over to the phone. "Hey, look! This might be the peoples who got lost!" A pause as he examines it. "It still has batteries. They cant be far!"
A glance around the room reveals the coffin-like shapes mummies are usually in in scary movies. "Uhm. Maybe they are inside them?" he suggests. "Wait, why are you guys worried about vampires? I would put my money on mummies! They come out of those things too! I saw a scary movie once with one!"
He probably shouldn't have jinxed everything by mentioning that.
"I can help open one if you need it!" he says, heading toward a coffin the girls are working on. They may have an easier time than him though, height granting leverage and the like. "Does anyone hear that humming sound? I think it is humming or something. It sounds like a far away car engine or something."
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Saki's not all that into lavender to begin with, honestly. This is not helping.
Bloom ambles into the room, still - still - attempting to dislodge gloop from various parts of her lovely Pretty Cure dress. "That sound's..." she says, slowly, and takes a few steps into the room, apparently unperturbed by spooky sarcophagi. "Scary?" she asks, looking behind her, and--
She finds a little smile on her face, turning back around. "Well, guess we'll have to figure it out! Where's that music coming from..." She ambles away from Egret because she has to in order to squat next to the phone, thoughtful. "This music's...!" ... ... "....completely not their taste at all," she concludes. "Uh unless Kaoru has some stuff she hasn't told us. Which she does, actually..." because she doesn't tell them literally anything ever about her... "I feel like they'd be more into like... ...that, beepy bloopy stuff they have in the movies sometimes." She nods, feeling like she has successfully described the genre to her satisfaction.
Angling back up to her feet, she looks around. She can't, quite, hear that vibration; it bothers her inner ear, a little, but not enough that she quite notices it before Yumi and Fuu are at work. "Yeah, let's get this open! Maybe there'll be...Idunno, a key! To the door! Yeah!"
She reaches to grab the thing and HEAVE. Cure Bloom is a creature of power so she is assuming this will go well. She could possibly be wrong.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
It takes everyone heaving and helping, but eventually the sarcophagus flies open. And in it is Kaoru Kiryuu, looking exactly like she did yesterday, still in her school uniform and relatively unharmed. She seems to be asleep, or perhaps in a coma-- long moments pass where she is unresponsive.
Then her sapphire eyes fly open and she sits straight up, like Frankenstein or something -- it's startling, to be sure!
"Michiru!" she barks coldly, this experience having made her no less abrasive. Though perhaps her current state is understandable. She's obviously been through a lot.
She starts looking around, but fails to see her sister, and only when she's absolutely sure that Michiru isn't in the immediate environment does she seem to process the ones surrounding her.
"Pretty Cure," she says in her level manner. "Magic Knight. Witch. Crystal Gem."
That's one way to greet people. Impressive that she knows them all, though, maybe she has the collectable cards or something.
Presumably there are hands to help her out of the box and onto her feet, where she is initially unsteady. "Michiru," she repeats. "I have to find Michiru..."
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"Ah--!"
Mai didn't help push the lid off. She jumps back when Kaoru sits up so suddenly and straight like that, her eyes widening like saucers. But, then, Cure Egret realizes who it is and she smiles despite herself. She doesn't even consider her identity, when she speaks. "Kaoru-san! I--I was worried about you. I'm glad that you're all right!"
A beat.
Then, she tips her head down in a polite nod. "We heard that you had gone missing inside of here," she says, "and thought we should come looking for you. We want to find Michiru-san, too."
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The girl within looks asleep. And Pine creeps up to the coffin. It's creepy... but she has to do something right? As an aspiring vet- even if it was a person. And then Kaoru's eyes fly open and she sits straight up. Pine shrieks, fists balled up near her face. 'Michiru!' "Eh?" Blink blink. "Oh you're looking for... it's ah... I'm... we're..." She greets them all by name, "...it's nice to meet you... for the first time." Right?
She lets Bloom and Egret help her out of the sarcophagi- it's only then that she looks her over. Not really getting a sense of what was wrong or what happened or even if she'd be able to distinguish what was wrong with a person as opposed to a four legged furry critter and even then she doesn't know much!
"Don't worry. We'll help you find her. Don't push yourself too hard..."
And then glancing towards Egret and Bloom- and the other girls, "We should open the others... she might be in one of them..." She was still kind of frazzled- but- having rescued one has bolstered her confidence now.
She quickly moves to start opening the others, but she's going to need help.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The Magic Knight raises her eyebrows just a bit as she's recognized, but she marshals her reaction and smiles, bowing politely to Kaoru. "We have no intention of abandoning her down here, any more than we would have left you inside this sarcophagus."
She looks around at the other sarcophagi, pursing her lips briefly, then goes to the one diametrically across from Kaoru's. "Let's see if this one holds her ... everybody, if we could pool our strength again?"
Worst thing that can happen is that this sarcophagus is either empty, or has a ravening monster in it like Yumi was worried about. (Then again, that didn't stop her from opening the first one.)
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Steven puts his back into moving the sarcophagus lid, and with everyones effort, the group opens it. Inside is... a girl! A vampire girl?! Naw, just a girl. "Is... is she okay?" he asks. Moments later, she snaps awake, and it scares the crap out of the gem child. "Ahh!" he lets out. "S-Sorry."
Huh, she knew he was a Crystal Gem. She must know one of the others! Neat! "Hiya! Glad to see you are okay. Uh, Michiru is the other girl missing, right?" Steven strokes his chin as he looks around the room. "Maybe she is in one of the other coffin things?"
The boy follows after the WInd Knight to give her a hand. "We got this one as well! We can find her!"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Oh look it's New Best Friend K! "Kaoru!" Bloom yelps, but she's....out cold. She leans forward to poke at her.
And then Cure Bloom executes a Full Takahashi when Kaoru bolts upright like a freakin' movie monster!! "Wha!!" she yelps. But....she's OK! That dead-fish-eyed stare is really reassuring, somehow. "Y, yes," she replies to the quick assessment of who all is here. "Hi. Uh....yeah, hello." ... "We're here to help!" she says, and moves to help Kaoru stand. She offers herself to lean on, even, glancing to Egret with naked concern. "Y, yeah. We'll help you find her, don't worry. We definitely won't leave without her!"
She's a little busy helping Kaoru so she looks to Egret to see if she'll go help with the coffins. Others are moving to it, too! Excellent. Instead, Bloom tries to get Kaoru's attention, a typically somewhat futile enterprise. "Can you tell us what happened? You--- uh, that is, we heard you just disappeared. Did someone do this to you?"
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Like, electronic music?" Yumi asks Bloom at what she says. "Is that what you mean? I wouldn't know about your friends..." Yumi beams a moment later as Bloom comes by to help. Steven, too. "I don't think I hear a humming. A mummy would be super cool though, wouldn't it? I've never met one before..."
With Bloom at work, and Fuu who at least uses a melee weapon, Yumi may not be that necessary, but she keeps working. "Let's try--!"
The sarcophagus opens, and Yumi lets out a huffing breath before she sees a girl. "...Oh gosh..." She's not moving, and Yumi looks in worry before suddenly Kaoru moves and Yumi, too, shrieks.
"Oh cool, you recognized me," Yumi says after a moment, hand over her heart. "Surprised I didn't faint," she mutters, standing back behind where she was. But it's a way to greet people. "We're looking for her," Yumi explains. "Assuming that's the friend." Pine seems to have it covered. And Egret.
"Um, I'll help too." Yumi walks over to the next, sets down her staff, and starts pushing with Pine. "This is... super... heavy..."
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
There is about four times more mist in the room than there was before they opened Kaoru's sarcophagus. Bloom, Egret and Kaoru are quickly veiled from view.
"I have no idea what happened," Kaoru announces flatly. "We were looking for the book. Then I woke up here. But..."
A flicker of excitement, just the tiniest little glimmer, touches her eyes. It's the first time either of them have seen her look interested in much of anything. "...Michiru has the book. We have to find her."
Presumably they also have to find Michiru because she is a beloved acquaintance/friend and sister.
Across the room, this sarcophagus is a lot harder to open minus two Pretty Cure. It creaaaaaaaks and finally about an inch is open, at which point one can get purchase with fingers, at which point things start going a little bit faster.
However, things go a whole lot faster when the lid comes blasting off -- watch your fingers! -- and so do the other two untouched sarcophagis'. Those heavy lids will make meaty thumps on impact if they aren't dodged.
But that's nothing compared to what comes surging out of them; faintly purple, faintly oozing, and not at all faintly clawed and fanged. They feel very, very, aggressively Wrong in a soul-stilling way that doesn't just chill the heart but nauseates it.
One of these protodaimons once killed a bevy of girls at Tokyo Tower.
Now you're in a labyrinth with three.
OOC: There are four exits, including the one you came in. There are three protodaimons. There are two sisters... and you've only found one. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe transforms into Proto-Daimon! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Yumi Ohzora. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Cure Bloom. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Cure Pine fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 29 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Yumi Ohzora's Block ability activates! Yumi Ohzora's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block ability activates! Steven Universe's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Cure Bloom fails to counter Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Cure Bloom's counterattack, Petal Flash, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Block ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Cure Egret fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Watch For Falling Rock Tomb Doors, taking 38 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
"The book... of course! We can help you find her!" Mai says. That Kaoru may be more interested in finding a book than her sister doesn't even occur to her. She looks to the side, but the mist obscures the sight of the sarcophogus being opened. She hears the loud crash of the stone lids, when they fly, which draws a sharp gasp from Egret.
And then the mist parts as one of those huge stone doors comes flying right for Cure Egret. She shouts, wordlessly, hands thrusted out before her. Silver sparkles explode and flash off them -- and then the rock slams into it and smashes Cure Egret back against the wall, hard, with a loud crack.
Egret falls down, to her feet, but her footsteps are shaky.
She jumps at the nearest Proto-Daimon -- foot outstretched -- and tries to kick it away with a sweep of her foot, before she comes back. She reaches out, and clutches Kaoru's hand gently. "Kaoru-san!" she says. "Stay with us! Everyone, we have to get out of here and find Michiru-san as soon as we can!"
COMBAT: Cure Egret has used Sky Dancer's Kick on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
These are really heavy! "Okay Lost Ivy- On three. One- two-" Then a coordinated- "-heave!" And all it does is creak, which is when it comes flying off and thumping her fingers. And the lid is in the air. Pine runs this way. Then that way, as the shadow grows closer and closer and-
It slams into her as she tries to dodge, catching her right leg at the ankle and pinning it to a floor. With a yelp of extreme pain, she pulls at it. Tugging, and tugging again and- just- just manages to get it out. With a wince of pain she limps to her feet. And it's only then that she notices the faintly purple oozing, and her mouth is agape.
The soul-chilling tingle down her spine. If it were just one they could handle it. Maybe? With three of them together. "Run." It's a whisper. Then louder, "Run!" Egret fortunately has a clearer head. "Right- Take her and let's run!" She starts limping on that foot towards the passageway.
Newly filled with adrenaline- she tries to pick up speed, tries to shake off that injury, drawing a fist back and trying to smash it into that blobby mass, before running past them towards the exit the others are picking. "M-Maybe all three of them won't be able to fit!" If they all got bottle necked, that'd be convenient wouldn't it? She thus doubts it.
All they could hope for is that Michiru is the way they're frantically fleeing towards... and that so is the exit. Otherwise... would they make it out of this?
Part of her has a trouble believing that it was possible.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has used Pineapple Punch on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
That's a lot of mist. Yumi doesn't find that... ideal. It's so hard to see through anything. but Egret and Bloom have one of their friends. That helps. But they're still working on the sarcophagus.
"Right, Pine!" Yumi answers quickly, getting a good grip with her fingers and then hurls. Pine does most of the work, admittedly, but the sheer force of its movement knocks Ivy backwards, forcing her to throw up a green barrier to protect herself from the lid that comes off of the next one, which still knocks her from her feet as it goes the rest of the way over. But surging out, purple, oozing, clawed, fanged...
Wrong
"W-what is..." Her heart seizes. Yumi scrabbles back, and then stares, seeing--
Her staff. She can't leave it.
Yumi lunges towards the sarcophagus suddenly and grabs at her weapon, tracing a rune before herself and pointing it straight at the protodaimon closest to her. A brilliant, white-tinged green beam that sears darkness with verdant flames bursts outward, and with that distraction Yumi scrambles around to see where she can see anyone running. Right after Pine--maybe to the far exit?--Ivy starts running, a hand on her hat.
COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora has used Sacred Ray on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Steven cracks his knuckles, and with a nod, begins to pry at a sarcophagus lid. It takes a looot of work, and the boy begins to break a sweat, when eh finally gets a catch on the side he can put his fingers on. But just as he begins to pry it open more, the coffin lid begins to vibrate! "Uh oh...!" The boy backs up, and reflexively brings up his shield as the lid flies off!
"Look out!" he shouts, as the lid strikes his shield, and sends him skidding back, feeling rather jarred by the sudden impact. But what lurches out is more disturbing. Some sort of amorphous creature! It feels foreign to even try and percieve it. Like his heart keeps skipping beats. "Those don't look friendly!"
Something even more disturbing lay beyond. Within the depths of the coffin, was a suit of clothing. Not just any clothing. An Infinity Institute suit for a boy. Not just any set of clothing though.
The boy fights against the creature, trying to keep it away with a volley of shield strikes. "Ladies, theres a school outfit in this coffin!" A pause mid combat. "I swear it looks like I could fit in it! Thats just creepy!" Why would the coffin have something like that?!
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Shield Bash on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Protodaimons. THREE of them.
Her (and others') first battle against a single protodaimon still stands out in the Wind Knight's memory as the worst battle she's ever been in, before or since, and she's been involved in some truly unpleasant fights since her first venture into Cephiro. Her sword materializes, barely in time to deflect the brunt of a flying sarcophagus lid, and then she moves to follow the Cures and Yumi towards their chosen door as she calls out three words:
"WINDS OF ADMONISHMENT!!"
The resultant conjured whirlwinds are intended to at least TRY to slow the monsters down a little bit. Actually pinning even one of the protodaimons in place may be impossible, but the more hampered their movements are, the better it should be for their magical girls and the one innocent they've already rescued.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Hotaru Tomoe.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Bloom looks up from Kaoru as the lids start flying. "Huh!?" she squawks. She huffs a half breath and "Hup!"s a second, throwing her hands forward, flashing with Pretty Cure power, trying to forge her barrier, or at least send the lid flying back the way it came, and--achieves precisely nothing. The flying sarcophagus lid lands directly on her face, sending her pinwheeling over the sarcophagus behind her, arcing through the air, over one of the others, and landing boneless against the far wall. She lands dazed, but the look on her face is more one of horror. "No...way," she croaks out, and shoves herself to her feet, looking down into the interior she saw. She goes ghost white. She knows what that is. The skirt, the shirt...she wears that to school every day.
Her eyes slowly track up, to the awful thing that is terribly nearby. "Oh, no..." she croaks out. She throws her arms forward; a feeble attack, little more than a gush of sparks that might disorient, but it's all she can bring herself to do.
She dashes around the side of the sarcophagus, then, bolting toward Kaoru and Egret. She grabs Kaoru, gripping her with wild strength. "There was a uniform in there," she breathes to Egret. "...our, uniform." A look to Kaoru; shaken. "We won't let them get you."
And then she pulls; pulling the two of them down the first door she sees.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has used Petal Flash on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Cure Egret's Sky Dancer's Kick, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Cure Pine's Pineapple Punch, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates! Exhausted and Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Space Invasion, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Cure Pine! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Yumi Ohzora's Sacred Ray, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Tangle applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Steven Universe's Shield Bash, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Space Invasion, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Steven Universe! Critical Counterhit! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Cripple and Trap applied to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Cure Bloom's Petal Flash, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Diversion and Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Chaos.
The smell of blood.
The sound of screams.
The feeling... of the end.
Pretty Cure try to kick, punch, sparkle protodaimons and learn, if they did not already know, that it is awful to go into direct contact with, that it feels both slimy and ghostly and like super-evil cloying pudding... it wants to absorb you. Kickpunching protodaimons is the worst. Oh, and when you touch it, in that moment of contact you can hear someone screaming. Bloom hears a girl her age. Egret hears a little boy; Pine, an older one.
Steven also has his shield nearly sucked out of his hand when he makes contact; Fuu, keeping her distance, discovers that a whirlwind in a small room with three protodaimons is possibly the only way to make things more crazy and awful than they were already, but that isn't an entirely bad thing -- one gets ripped off the ground and starts swirling around at high speeds, and the others, indifferent to its struggle, decide to avoid this fate by taking two other exits.
And Yumi's ray of light, while it doesn't induce much pain on the floating one, has another, more interesting effect; her staff continues to glow, pulsing more brightly when they take the exit that they do. In her footsteps unfurl tiny shoots and leaves, though she herself is unlikely to notice.
Kaoru, held on either side by Bloom and Egret, keeps up with them pretty easily. She doesn't seem too fazed. "I believe you," she says. "We have to find Michiru. She is here."
'Here' turns out to be a different kind of tunnel; not veiny and red and mazelike but more orderly, with square corners and -- security cameras? -- and the occasional room that has more sarcophaguses, or immersion tubes, in it. There is NO time to study anything (much less save anyone, not that any of them are necessarily full), because the protodaimons -- the whirlwinded one chasing them directly, the other two closing in from who knows where -- are in very hot pursuit, and there is a lot of rapidly changing direction and trying a new path.
But Yumi's staff continues to suggest various turns unerringly -- and slowly it is starting to smell more and more like moss.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Visceral Eruption on Cure Bloom. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Visceral Eruption on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Visceral Eruption on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Visceral Eruption on Yumi Ohzora. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Visceral Eruption on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Body Horror on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Cure Egret narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Body Horror, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret is Quipped! Cure Egret's Fade ability activates! Cure Egret's Flash ability activates! Bind Break! All of Hotaru Tomoe's debuffs are cleared! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Visceral Eruption, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Yumi Ohzora's Reverse ability activates! Yumi Ohzora's Tactician ability activates! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora's counterattack, Witch's Mirror, partially gets through, doing 16 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Cure Pine narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Visceral Eruption, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine's Reverse ability activates! Cure Pine's Tactician ability activates! Cure Pine is Taunted! COMBAT: Cure Pine's counterattack, Pineapple Reverse, partially gets through, doing 25 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! Critical Counterhit! COMBAT: Cure Bloom fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Visceral Eruption, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Egret jumps back -- and that doesn't stop the scream in her ears. Her eyes widen, sharply, at the little boy's panicked scream. She shakes her head quickly, but she remains shaken. "God...!"
She doesn't argue with Yumi. She runs after the Witch, following her and trusting in her staff -- and she rounds a corner into something more technical and technological, something that feels out of place down here. She stares here and there, but when she runs, whatever drew her eye passes too quickly to stop and stare. She takes another deep breath, before she looks back at Kaoru.
Her hand remains clasped with Kaoru's, out of necessity as much as comfort. But, she doesn't have powers. Egret doesn't know what to expect, when she looks over her shoulder at the other girl, but she imagines it can't be good.
She can only imagine how scared she must be.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Visceral Eruption, taking 14 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Spinning Slash, partially gets through, doing 4 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! COMBAT: Cure Egret has used Looking Back on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Cure Egret accepts Cure Egret's Looking Back, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Cure Egret jumps back -- and that doesn't stop the scream in her ears. Her eyes widen, sharply, at the little boy's panicked scream. She shakes her head quickly, but she remains shaken. "God...!" She looks at Bloom, shaking her head. "What--what is this place? This is horrible!"
She doesn't argue with Yumi. She runs after the Witch, following her and trusting in her staff -- and she rounds a corner into something more technical and technological, something that feels out of place down here. She stares here and there, but when she runs, whatever drew her eye passes too quickly to stop and stare. She takes another deep breath, before she looks back at Kaoru.
Her hand remains clasped with Kaoru's, out of necessity as much as comfort. But, she doesn't have powers. Egret doesn't know what to expect, when she looks over her shoulder at the other girl, but she imagines it can't be good.
She can only imagine how scared she must be.
COMBAT: Steven Universe fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Visceral Eruption, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe is Taunted!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
In that moment of contact- her fist is caught. And in that moment she hears an older boy. The voice is indistinct at first, and then it becomes a scream. And Pine's face moves from panic, to confusion, to absolute horror in the space of a second. She tugs harder, and it's trying to suck her in. She's tempted to use another foot, or a hand to pull herself out but she stops herself as she realizes it'll just get caught.
She begins to become more frantic every moment as more of her arm is sucked in... more... and more... and more.... the scream that's a cry for help causes her to echo it in within moments, as she starts to scream too.
Gripping her elbow with her other hand, she yanks with all of her might, and in one display of frenzied, terrified strength... she rips it out, taking a chunk of it with her. And staggering, stumbling on her wounded ankle, she pivots around and starts to run, sobbing- while that mass wiggles on the ground.
Was that chunk a piece of the boy?
Wracked with sobs, she just runs her little heart out, not wanting to look back, rubbing her arm all the while. She's checking it, making certain it's still whole. Making certain none of that thing got inside of her arm. "N-No way... there's... there's... N-No way..."
The sights are dizzying. Lab tubes, cameras. More and more there's a smell in her vision as she follows the others. But she can't comprehend it.
She just runs and sobs and follows the others.
She should be defeating the monster. What if there is a boy inside of it!? But all she can think of is herself inside of it, screaming too.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has used Primal Terror on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Cure Pine accepts Cure Pine's Primal Terror, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine is Quipped!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Bloom didn't even touch it, which is the worst part; trying what feeble blasts she has at the thing apparently still transmits the force through - connection to her soul, who knows - and the scream rattles her down to her own core. This is...
This isn't supposed to be happening. "I don't know," she breathes to Egret. "But we have to stop this." The fear and disgust churns at her; but mostly, anger, the same anger as she throws at Kintoleski and Karehaan when they dare threaten the sanctity of the people around Pretty Cure.
She runs, never questioning how Kaoru keeps up with Pretty Cure so readily. She follows Yumi because the girl seems to have an idea, but. What else is there to do? The other rooms catch her eye. The security cameras make her skin crawl.
She does the only thing she can do for her own heart, and silently looks over to Egret. She can't find any words to say, but she offers her hand anyway, since Kaoru doesn't seem to be having trouble keeping up. Silent. I'm here.
COMBAT: Cure Bloom has used Splash Star Pretty Cure Is Two People on Cure Egret.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yumi doesn't like these screams. She doesn't like that awful feeling that keeps resounding in her heart, deep past her flesh to vibrate in her bones. She can't stand it, almost... But then, she is running. She looks around to make sure she can see everyone else, and in the process doesn't even notice the shoos and leaves at her footstps.
She spots the glow, however. "Thank you, Lost Ivy," she says, and doesn't have the breath to murmur it as she sees her staff glow harder at this next room, this tunnel that' orderly and shows where to turn, where to move. "This way!" she calls more than once, her long strides taking her to the front more or less. But...
Rapidly trying again doesn't spare her the sight of the protodaimons as she looks over her shoulder, feeling one. "Aaah!" She throws out a black-glowing rune that bursts into green flames as another gets close, and the force of its attack breaks through her barrier to gouge into her back even as the hand she has out lets loose a green beam straight for the protodaimon.
The others are moving, and she's moving, and tries to be, but she hears Pine sobbing.
"Pine!" she calls, "Pine, it's okay! Just keep--keep running, we can make it!"
The cameras... What do they mean? It doesn't matter as much as keeping these girls with her if she can. She's afraid, but she can keep going. She has to.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
If the Wind Knight had known what would happen if she physically touched the protodaimon, she still would have used her spell; the increase in chaos in the confined quarters almost makes her wish she hadn't, but -
She remembers that protodaimon at Tokyo Tower. She remembers HOW it killed those girls. And she hasn't had a chance to look closely enough to see if there are innocents trapped inside these monsters. Steven mentioned a boy's school uniform in that sarcophagus ...
She stops following that logic before it can go much further - but she feels like the knowledge of those facts will never fade from her mind, and that logic starting from those facts can lead only to one place, a place that she *can't* afford to get trapped in.
She follows Yumi, trusting the Witch of Lost Ivy to find the correct way. Her sword is dismissed once they enter the corridor; she keeps her bow and quiver handy, occasionally launching an arrow behind them to try and dissuade any protodaimonic pursuit.
And when the light is enough for her companions to get a good look at the Wind Knight's face, should they turn attention that way instead of focusing on their escape? Her visage is pale, her eyes wide and haunted. Fully *realizing* what's been going on down here might break her, so she can't afford to really THINK about it. They have to find Michiru, they have to escape. Then they can think about what they've seen, including those security cameras.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Trick Arrow Shot on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora has used It's Okay! on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Cure Pine accepts Yumi Ohzora's It's Okay!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Trick Arrow Shot, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Space Invasion, partially gets through, doing 9 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Steven fights back valiantly against the creature, but it becomes obvious that he is no match for it, quickly. The daimon latches ahold of his shield, and literally absorbs it. It almost absorbs Steven too, grabbing his arm in the process. Screams and horrific noises echo in his mind, causing him to reel painfully as the stark emotions grasp him. He only barely manages to break free.
At this point, Steven has two options. One is to keep fighting, thinking he can beat it with teamwork and help from his friends, or Two, book it as the yare clearly outmatched.
He definitely takes the latter. The negative emotions overwhelming him. It seems others are fleeing as well. He has never been so terrified. Those things are... inhuman. Made of the darkest stuff imaginable! "What... are they...!" he says.
He just keeps running, on the verge of tears. Oh, what he would give to have the other Gems here right now! Or his dad! Someone...1
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Afterwards it's hard to remember very much about these moments, except for their intense awfulness and the absolute narrowness of the escape. If one thing had gone wrong -- one stumble, one hesitation, one wrong turn -- everyone might have died. But there is one key universal constant throughout the experience:
The smell of moss -- of life -- grows stronger and stronger, and the modernity of the hallways weaker and weaker. The stone gets older again; no more cameras. No red veins either. And something else -- it starts to smell like books.
They haven't seen a single book down here, have they? Isn't this place supposed to be a library?
But there it is: just as it opens up into a real cavern, a single book, dropped and open pages-down. Its cover says, 'Ancient Nexuses of Power in Japan, Volume IX: Leylines'.
The missing book on the study group's list.
There are little flowers, some kind of lily, blooming under and around the book, and more still that creep up the vines that cling to the wall of the cavern -- that coat the wall. And that have engulfed something more; there's a roughly girl-sized lump under the vines, and little of her can be seen except for a single escaped tuft of red hair.
It will take moments to free her, but those are moments in which their pursuing monsters, which are heartbeats away, will have to be held off.
Hopefully they will not be final heartbeats.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Steven Universe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Yumi Ohzora. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Cure Bloom. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Cure Pine. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Close Encounters on Cure Egret. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates! COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 40 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Cure Pine narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Cure Pine's Block ability activates! Cure Pine's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Cure Egret accepts Cure Bloom's Splash Star Pretty Cure Is Two People, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret is Cheered! COMBAT: Cure Egret narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Cure Egret's Block ability activates! Cure Egret's Parry ability activates! COMBAT: Cure Bloom fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Cure Bloom is unable to keep fighting! COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Close Encounters, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Steven Universe's Block ability activates! Steven Universe's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Egret [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Egret reaches out, when Bloom offers her hand, and squeezes it back. That does a lot to pick her up in the moment, and she keeps running down the hallway. It doesn't stop the screams or the disturbing sights.
She stops, as she sees the book, and gasps -- and then she looks at the vines. She takes a deep, sharp breath, and she rushes forward. Her eyes squeeze shut as she pushes out all of the memories that threaten to slip away -- all of the terrible sights and sounds that won't make sleeping easy tonight.
She grabs two fistfuls of vines, and doesn't care that they tear her gloves.
She yanks, hard as she can. "Michiru-san!" she cries out. "Hold on, we'll get you free!"
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Flowers. What kind of flowers barely matters to the Wind Knight at the moment, she recognizes *green and living* as a familiar sign, a friendly sign, a sign that they're on the right track.
So, regrettably, are the monsters, and the Magic Knight of Wind executes a leaping somersaulting vault at JUST the right moment, angle, and speed to avoid getting buffeted anew by the pursuing protodaimons. Some of her allies are not so fortunate; the Wind Knight tries to pull someone closer to safety if she has reach and time to do so. But most importantly?
Those monsters HAVE to be held back. And with the protodaimons relatively bottled up in the corridor ...
She rises to her feet, hair and sleeves and skirts tousled by the wind rising about her, determination burning renewed in her eyes. She can't hit the monsters with her *strongest* spell, but she can still hit them hard.
"STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!!"
The rending winds erupt about the green-clad Magic Knight, racing down the corridor to tear into the protodaimons with everything she can muster. If she manages to slice any of the monsters open with that ripping, tearing gale, then there might be another person to rescue - but more than anything else, she knows that she HAS to keep the monsters at bay so Michiru can be rescued and the group can escape.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Fuu Hououji's Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Pine [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Pine!
She's shaking her head hard enough to wag her sidetail and sob. Incoherent.
Pine, it's okay!
The sheer dissonance to how she feels allows her to focus in a little on the dissenting voice. "But..." It's not okay. It didn't feel okay. It felt like nothing would be okay ever again.
It made her less incoherent though. And that's good. The smell of moss is stronger, and eventually she wipes her eyes- but not with the arm that was nearly absorbed. She just nods her head quickly at Yumi and keeps running. Until they stumble upon a single book. She almost straight runs over it.
Just as a Proto-Daimon nearly crashes down upon her, she dips down mid-stumble to pick up a piece of flower coated debris, and whirls around. The tendril crashes down in the debris- knocking her backwards until she crashes into the wall.
To her horror, she watches as it's absorbed into the purple mass.
That could have been her.
That could have been her.
It will be her.
She's ready to take off running, until the others call attention to the girl sized lump. The red hair.
It will be her.
She almost keeps running.
But then will it be one of the others? Egret? Bloom?
That hit Bloom took- could she even fight it off again.
What happens if Kaoru gets caught in that- helpless, or it decides to absorb the girl in the vines. Michiru. Her mind register vaguely. Her name was Michiru.
The advice 'Sometimes you have to do things by yourself.' rings into her head from a friendly man running a donut cart. Even if she's not alone. Especially because she's not. Because it could be one of the others.
Suddenly she claps her hands above her head. It was hard to believe she could do a single thing to these creatures. But she'd try. "Nasty things- Nasty things- fly away!" She makes a diamond with her fingertips, "Pretty Cure-" She spreads them outwards and the last two words sound like a shout that's only one step removed from another terrible shriek, "-HEALING PRAYER!"
Golden energy coruscates outwards towards the Protodaimons. It carries a scent like pineapples in summer, of better things. And it feels like warm and generous faith- like a comforting blanket that one wraps around one's self to keep from the cold.
COMBAT: Cure Pine has used Precure Healing Prayer on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Cure Pine's Precure Healing Prayer, taking 80 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
As Steven runs, he can feel one of the creatures closing in. He is terified right now. He never wants to see this place again! A-At least without some of his closest friends. Fell, Fuu is here. More of his closest friends, then!
One of the hideous creatures caresses Stevens back as he runs, and the negative emotion flows over him like a crashing tide. It almost makes his legs buckle out from under him, but he pulls through, still running out of desperation.
The group reaches a particular room, full of plantlife. Through the vegetation, a lock fo hair and a glimpse of a uniform can be seen. "I-I think that is the other girl! Maybe?! I dunno!" The group begins to help get her loose, but the creatures are right behind them. "We have to...!"
Steven is so terrified. He misses his dad, the Gems, his friends... What he would give to get out of here... But he is needed. The boy knows he stands no chance against these compared to the other veteran fighters. The boy turns to the vine-wrapped girl and tries to pull vines away.
At this point the boy is teary-eyed and single-minded. The stress has broken him down. But still he works, trying his best to wrest the plantlife from around its grasped victim.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Yumi doesn't have an answer for Steven's question; she wishes she did, hearing how upset the boy is. But she doesn't. The protodaimons keep on behind them though.
She smells life as she runs; moss, greenery. Everything the staff's magic is meant to be is hinted at here, and the hallways grow less and less... Well, what they were. It's comforting in its way, tells her that maybe they're really almost somewhere safe, or at least safer. Still her clothes whip with the wind, her boots hitting the ground hard with each step. And there's a book, and a real cavern. But the protodaimons are right on their heels, and even as Pine--who nodded at her, who's still here--falls, Yumi, who's started to slow, feels utter wrong, utter cold, this slimy awful thing on her back that sears worse than fire. She screams even before the next pseudopod slams into her, and her staff glows that much more brightly for an instant as she stumbles forward and falls away from them, rolling along the ground with her back hissing and steaming.
"Aah--" But Pine is already there, Pine just helped out. Ivy looks up at her and rolls, jabbing her weapon into the ground. "Right!" That magic is wonderful. It's warm.
Yumi narrows her eyes, and starts tracing symbols before her before the Protodaimons can catch up with her. "Wrath of forgotten spirits," Yumi intones, magic building before her before--
Runes burst into black-tinged green beams, crashing forward like waves, "Dark Radiance!"
Five beams, one at a time, as Yumi keeps her hand out until the last fires and she starts to scramble to her feet.
COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora has used Dark Radiance on Hotaru Tomoe. COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Yumi Ohzora's Dark Radiance, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Bloom [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
Bloom gives her partner a smile. It's OK. They keep moving, but...Bloom knows her role. As the THINGS keep after them, Cure Bloom does her best to hang back; force the thing off with blasts of magic, brief, horrid exchanges of blows. She refuses to be afraid of them, even for all they're disgusting and horrific. And when they finally emerge into the main room, Bloom hangs back, throws her arms out, and emits a shout, power forcing its way out of her to forge a new, shining shield against the creatures.
One of them punches directly through it and socks her directly in the chest. A blast of orange light repels it from sticking to her, but she still impulses away from it like it had. She pinwheels uncontrolled; hits the ground once and there's a little *pwing!* of light and magic that forces her back into the air, and she spirals uncontrolled until she hits the ground again.
This blast is louder; larger, as Pretty Cure magic expends itself to protect Cure Bloom in a final gasp. And when she lands again from that, there's no blast, just an ugly, meaty THUMP of Saki Hyuuga slamming into the far wall. She rolls forward; palm slaps into the mossy stone. She wheezes. She never hurts like this in a fight. But Saki Hyuuga solves problems with the most expedient tools available, and so when she scans up, realizes the scene, she knows she can still do something, even if her body now feels more like lead. She forces herself up, staggers into a stumbling run, and then launches herself at the vines. Prickers and spines be damned. "Michiru!" she calls. "Come on, please...!"
COMBAT: Cure Bloom transforms into Saki Hyuuga!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The protodaimon surge through the corridor towards the group. Fuu sends out one of her mightiest winds, and it holds them in place long enough for Cure Pine to blast them back eighty feet -- they impact the wall of the nearest T-junction, and it's a splatting sound.
Then there's a surging sound... as they merge with each other, and charge with one mind, one body.
The scream is triplicate now, and strangely distorted by a fourth voice, stronger than the others and more bestial, an inhuman, alien screech.
They're coming.
---
The vines are actually pretty gentle on the hands; this is no thorned palace. They yield easily to everyone's scrabbling, and it doesn't take long to make quick work of the verdant coccoon. However, there's a little bit of resistance, as though they're slightly reluctant to release the occupant.
Michiru emerges from the vines in much worse shape than Kaoru; she isn't regaining consciousness at all, and seems lightly stung all over, as though she's been wading in nettles. Kaoru's expression, upon seeing this, is ugly in a way that makes her a little bit scary, and she doesn't seem to have eyes for anything (or anyONE) else. But she grabs the book, and grabs her sister, and looks around wildly.
Her eyes settle on the tip of Yumi's staff, which is glowing most brightly in only one direction: up.
"Look!" she yells, pointing straight upwards at the one bit of cavern that has just a little bit of the golden glow of sun.
---
Yumi fires beam after beam and they largely absorb into the engorged demon, but each impact buys them another heartbeat. And when she's done there's the opportunity to notice what has already been pointed out: the staff is directing them upwards.
But how to ascend?
The lilies beneath their feet provide the answer, growing hugely at great speed and leading the charge upwards... mobile platforms that are easy to jump on, hitch a ride with.
The protodaimons keep pace beneath, unwilling to touch the plants directly but gouging handholds into a different wall with their claws.
This primrose path ends in a sunlit tunnel that rumbles shut behind them the moment the last person is out, in a sort of short-range earthquake. After a few scary moments, it seems likely that the protodaimon are either unable or unwilling to pursue.
Kaoru looks across Michiru's body at their rescuers. "Thank you," she says simply, then does a sort of double take, as though she's surprised at herself for saying such a thing. It's just a little flicker of her lips.
In her arms, Michiru stirs. "The book," she mutters. "We've got it," her bluenette sister assures her.
And so ends another adventure beneath Library Island...
TO BE CONTINUED
