2023-08-20 - Crisis At Chibi-Usa's School! A Dark Henge Strikes!

Crisis At Chibi-Usa's School! A Dark Henge Strikes!
Summary: The Black Moon Clan floods Juuban Elementary School with dark energy.
Who: Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Michiru Kaioh, Haruka Tenoh, Raiko Takashima
Where: Juuban Elementary School
OOC - IC Date: 8/20/2023 - 04/06/2016

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Black Moon Theme #2 - Sailor Moon R OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiMobak5lRc

Juuban Elementary School is just a chain link fence away from Juuban High (which sits in between the two lower schools, the easier for younger kids to find their older siblings if needed for matters of actual familial responsibility). Usually the high school is the noisier yard, just by dint of more students with bigger bodies, bigger voices.

But lately the elementary school has been getting louder and louder, and the stories wilder and wilder. Someone's little sister came home with a black eye. Someone's little brother is hoarding bento boxes, none of which are his. And the only children, or eldest children, who are elementary schoolers... with no one nearby looking out for them, who can say what's happening there?

Today, it seems, things have finally come to a head.

The air is like the crest of a tsunami; it's only April, but a summerlike swell of humidity is crashing through the schoolyard. Yet despite this unseasonably warm weather, or perhaps because of it, the sky above is black, even in the middle of the day.

Or maybe it's the other way around... the sky signifying the cause of the weather. A darkness that has nothing to do with cloud formation. Darkness thick enough to smell, to taste. It coats teeth like a film.

Inside this darkness, children are screaming.

At each other, to be clear.

On the playground, "you took my ball" is escalating quickly to internecine warfare. Some kids have grabbed jump ropes and have an unkidlike glint to their expression that suggests they will use them like whips or even garrotes. Others have simply formed up with raised fists.

And then fists falling on one another. Even the vague coherency of two rival gangs is swiftly falling apart, unable to withstand the bloodlust gripping the children. One misplaced strike and they fall on their friends as much as their enemies. Neither word holds much meaning, here and now.

Whither the teachers? They seem to be affected differently. Most are simply nowhere to be found -- taking shelter? Getting help? But one is slumped against a pillar by the back entrance, nursing a cigarette with all the care she normally gives to her little ones. Her expression is as dead-eyed as one can get without actually being a corpse. She takes a long drag and, with a grim distancing of herself from all of this, just watches the world burn.

Momoko Momohara (yes, that's her real name, and today might not be the right day to make fun of her for it) is Chibi-Usa's first and closest friend at school. Or at least, she's supposed to be. But right now, she's standing over her best buddy with a piece of art that she's holding like a weapon: the clay-fired and bedazzled Holy Grail that the younger Tsukino had in the art show at Infinity.

"I know you gave it to her," she accuses. In the strange black light, her brown hair, which she wears in a bun under a pale cloth that makes it kind of look like an ice cream scoop, looks like mud. "The key you're always wearing. The one you NEVER let anyone else touch. And now you have some freaky charm instead. But it's okay. It's okay, Chibi-Usa-chan. I know how to feel better. You told me I'm your best friend, so it's okay for me to have this. And you know what I want to do with it?"

She raises the Grail over her head, about to smash it. It, too, looks more like mud than anything in this light. Like mud, and some bits of cheap plastic.

Momo-chan's eyes, malicious beyond reason, glare at Chibi-Usa with a dizzying mix of hatred, contempt, and eagerness.

<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Chibi-Usa Tsukino hasn't had any exciting stories to tell the Tsukinos coming home from school the past few days. She's been quiet, dismayed, and when pressed about it, has generally demurred--unless it's Usagi, in which case she might throw something (soft) at her.

And now...

"Momo-chan!" Chibi-Usa exclaims, qualing at her. "That's--"

The accusation hurts. Not least because it's true, of course. "But... but, I didn't mean..."

That malice makes Chibi-Usa back up another step still, until she's stuck against the wall. "Momo-chan!!"

Her voice, near tears, is very much loud enough for others to hear.

COMBAT: Michiru Kaioh transforms into Sailor Neptune!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

It is dark, and heavy, like a storm about to break -- or worse yet to curdle, to become something rancid and disgusting when spring does not have the chance to bloom into a soft and languid summer, firm into a harvest of memories, and retire for a winter of joy and rest.

(Earlier, at Juuban High School, the swim meet had continued despite inclement weather or the promise of same. Was it because they did not think there was any real chance of lightning strikes, or was it, as one might suspect now, that those who would call such things off did not give a single care?)

(One of the swimmers, of course, was astounding - a representative from Infinity Institute - but after she had completed her laps, she had quickly stepped away, a towel round her shoulders and speaking quickly with a person who had come to watch and cheer her on. Stepping quickly towards the space round the bleachers; perhaps some sort of family emergency?)

("This is worse than I thought it would be," said Michiru Kaioh as she gently toweled off her hair. "We should at least pass by, I think. Perhaps it's going to be one of them behind it." 'Them,' in this case, could mean any number of people-- but the Death Busters are a good guess.)

AND SO:

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!

Hands come together, crisp and sharp despite white soft gloves around them.

Standing near a fence, freshly vaulted over, Sailor Neptune gazes at the children. She speaks in a voice that holds the power and the allure of the sea, tempered, however conditionally, by mercy and kindness.

"All of you," Neptune states. "Look here: The storm is almost upon you. Inside! Hurry!" But then her eyes flick towards a familiar pink-crowned head, sharply-- that cup--!

<Pose Tracker> Haruka Tenoh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

("Do you really need that?" Haruka asked when Michiru took out her transformation pen. "It's not just a fast way to change your clothes, you know...")

Haruka tosses herself almost casually at the chainlink fence, clambering up it with an ease that feels like it originates from her roguish side rather than her athleticism in itself. There's a trick to it, and she knows it. Haruka is a pretty good student, a respectable member of society... most of the time. But when she doesn't feel like being either, fences like this have clearly failed to stop her in the past. Tossing her legs over, one by one like putting on pants, she shows no fear of the height as she dismounts. She drops lightly.

But she lands heavily. Because on the high school side of the fence, she's just sexy-tall. On this side of the fence, she's kaiju-tall. She feels it right away. With a whole mob in front of her, there isn't one head that reaches above the level of her chest, and many that don't reach the level of her waist. As with the fence, her athleticism is a secondary and unnecessary component of this effect: most adults would feel like giants over here. And most adults would seem as strong as superheroes.

"Oi oi, break it up, kids!" Haruka calls, at once disturbed by the feral behavior of the children, and also, guiltily, a bit amused. She's seen some really horrible things with that pair of blue eyes, and in a prior life with a prior pair she saw even worse. As demented as this all is, it remains a little cute to her. Wandering into the melee, she starts separating children simply by scruffing one in each hand and pulling them apart. She flinches a bit in surprise as a boy hauls off and punches her hard in the back, but 'hard' is a relative term, and she finds she actually somewhat overestimated how much force a child that size is capable of. When he repeats the blow, though, she feels a flash of annoyance and gives him a shove. To her surprise, it knocks him over rather than just pushing him back, and he begins angrily crying.

"Hey, you're fine," Haruka objects, mildly alarmed.

"I-I wasn't using my full power!" the boy sobs. "Now I'll transform."

"Eh? Really?" Haruka thinks that's ridiculous, but given that this whole schoolyard is clearly drenched in dark energy, she feels just a tiny niggle of doubt as the rapscallion stands up. Maybe Michiru had the right idea after all.

Wiggling two plastic protractors out of his pocket, where they barely fit, the boy equips one on each fist, using their hemicircular shape to produce a pair of plastic hand 'blades.' Sniffling, he begins posing, wiping his nose with his forearm during one transition. "Ultra-Ryouta, hero of j-justice..."

"Right," Haruka sighs, turning away despite the boy's squalls of objection. "Ah, look at that," she sighs contentedly, prying two more kids apart even as she looks at Michiru. "What a beautiful and mysterious heroine."

A chill stiffens Haruka's spine instantly when she hears a tearful cry, not from Ultra-Ryouta, but from a familiar voice. She breaks into a run immediately, but appearing to flee seems to awaken a grim instinct in the children, who try to pursue. Taking an elliptical path, Haruka is again surprised, despite low expectations, by how weak elementary schoolers are. She feels like she remembered her peers being less... slow and clumsy than this. She easily evades them by raw speed, and coming in hot behind Momoko, scoops her up and lifts her in both arms. Haruka grabs the clay grail in one hand, for the moment mistakenly assuming Momoko was going to bludgeon Chibi-Usa with the fragile item, transferring Momoko to one arm to keep her short arms from being able to reach the 'weapon'.

"Hey, little rabbit," she greets Chibi-Usagi, hastily, cautiously, her eyes darting across the little girl's face to try and ascertain her state of mind. "Stay calm, okay? If you hit me, I'm telling your mom!"

By mom she obviously means the only one Chibi-Usagi knows that Haruka knows about. The only one Chibi-Usagi may fear...

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

Raiko is doing her best to get out more. She's withdrawn into herself for far, far too long, and she's hoping to make a chance by getting out and being among people. Something where she can be around people but not have to actually talk to anyone. Like be in a crowd.

A swim meet, perhaps. And even better, she knew one of the participants, a student from her own school who sh'd actually met and talked to, if however briefly. There is some cheering for her, but when that cloying darkness hits a tipping point (or perhaps it's the way the air pressure builds up in a way that is not natural, not just to the season but to the way weather functions at all--she is aligned with the air, after all), she looks up, sees the black, cloudless sky...

She doesn't even get to finish watching Michiru's laps before she's already making her way out of the crowd. And despite the lack of clouds there is, in fact, one peal of thunder, though the flash that accompanies it is confined to a thankfully-empty bathroom.

And then along comes a witch--pointy hat and staff, frilly skirt and a cloak fluttering in the winds that are carrying her along. She zooms up to the fence and then up along it--she doesn't perch so much as hover, winds swirling around her and causing her cape to continually flutter.

Levin is not as experienced as her magical girl peers that are present, and nowhere near as stoic. When she sees the playground full of kids just fighting--not having a playground scrap, but fists being thrown wildly she lets out a soft gasp. "What on Earth has gotten into them?!"

No, dangit, Levin. You're supposed to be working on cool intro one-liners.

COMBAT: Raiko Takashima transforms into Witch Levin!

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

It would be easier, maybe, if Momo-chan had closed her eyes.

Haruka was right -- she was about to smash the Holy Grail (CU Ed.) into its maker, right across the face. And she would have done it without flinching. Without even a moment's hesitation. With her eyes wide open...

Haruka separates her from her weapon in the nick of time. Momoko squirms fruitlessly under one arm, her screaming painful in its shrillness, in its earnestly dark emotion. "Let go of me! I'll kill you!!"

In the other, this rendition of the Grail fails entirely to either summon a Messiah to save the world or a Dark Messiah to end it. But it is so exactly the one from dreams and nightmares. If only it weren't made from clay... things would be very different. The real one feels so close, and has never felt more far away, as Haruka cradles the lovingly crafted fake.

The pack of kids pursuing her pause at Sailor Neptune's clapping. Half of them break off to stare at the soldier of embrace.

"...she's so beautiful," drools Ryouta's best friend and Big Usagi's little brother, Shingo Tsukino.

"I saw her first!" shrieks Momo-chan and Chibi-Usa-chan's mutual friend (who has, historically, had a bit of a crush on the former), Taro-kun.

Shingo wipes the drool off the corner of his mouth with the back of his fist, then turns on Taro. He thrusts out with both arms, and Taro slams to the pavement, then surges up, shouting...

"She's mine!!"

"I get first dibs on all Sailor Senshi!!"

The kids nearest them form a jeering, laughing ring, one all too eager to step on a careless arm or leg the next time they're sent to the ground.

The other half, Ultra-Ryouta inclusive, make it a few steps further towards Haruka's back before being distracted by the Witch of Wise Levin, who they don't know from any other witch on the back of their cereal boxes.

"Witch!!" shouts Ryouta. The others chime in shrilly. "Witch!! Witch!! Get her...!"

The first rock, plucked from the courtyard, falls laughably short.

KRACK-THOOOOOM

Thunder makes the black sky white for just a moment. Black thunder, though, and not the good kind. This energy is something entirely different from, and hostile to, the primordial power of all Creation. The hateful darkness of the Black Crystal, wielded cruelly by Rubeus (killed), the Four Sisters (saved), and one other...

...it slams onto the middle of the rooftop, disappearing past that ledge out of sight. Then, half a heartbeat later, it explodes outwards into pencil-thin streamers of evil electricity, which surge into each child. Their eyes, which had been open and evil, are now open and just... blacked out, black and leaking more blackness, sparks that singe their cheekbones.

In Haruka's arm, Momo convulses, then twists with literally unholy strength; freed, she strikes a kung fu sort of stance. Her parents do own the neighborhood Chinese restaurant, but... this feels like more than that.

"She's mine!" Momo shrieks, in her own voice and someone else's. "The rabbit... is mine!!"

Haruka faces a flying leap kick and an all-too-familiar conundrum of how to save herself, those she cares for, and those poor pawns set against her in proxy.

Neptune faces a crowd that is now empowered to draw serious blood; in moments, one or both of Taro and Shingo are going to have a broken bone.

And Levin faces a hail of stones, some shot by slingshots and others slung by hand, but all with unnatural strength and cruel accuracy...

High above, the clouds groan, heavy with their burden. Another strike could fall from the sky at any moment. Whoever, or whatever, is on the rooftop is clearly counting on it...

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick transforms into Chiral, Achiral, And The Sack Lunch Bunch!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Way of the Peach on Haruka Tenoh.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Tykestonestorm on Witch of Wise Levin.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Neptune Is MY Girlfriend on Sailor Neptune.

<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Chibi-Usa doesn't know about a storm, but she knows her best friend is REALLY MAD and it's REALLY TERRIBLE until suddenly a giant shows up to fix things. Haruka scoops up Momo, and--Yes, she was about to hit her. And Chibi-Usa couldn't really say if she was more afraid of her work being destroyed than she was being hit by it.

"W-what!?" Chibi-Usa complains at Haruka. "I'm not doing anything!!" She does it with the whine of the falsely accused, and this only adds to her misery.

But suddenly, it's worse. "Momo-chan!" Chibi-Usa cries, "Please! Don't hurt her!"

Does she mean Momo? Or Haruka? ...Or both?

"I--I--"

She shrinks, cringing visibly, and hides behind Haruka. She's well beyond 'starting to cry'. And mybe it would've been wiser to seek a diffent cover...

But it's too late for that now.

COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh decisively counters 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Way of the Peach, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Critical Hit!  Stagger and Stun applied to Haruka Tenoh!
COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh's counterattack, Elegant Throw, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!  Pink
Moon Stick is Quipped!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune counters 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Neptune Is MY Girlfriend, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Critical Hit!  Diversion applied to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune's counterattack, Calculated Dissonance, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick!  
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Tykestonestorm, taking 10 Fatigue damage!
Witch of Wise Levin is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

("Not JUST a quick way," Michiru says, reaching up to tap Haruka on the nose with her pen. "But it is, indeed, a quick way.")

Here, now, Sailor Neptune shines with seaside glamour, and Shingo Tsukino and and Taro-kun turn themselves one to another, fighting forwards with sudden viciousness. Sailor Neptune looks at them with a moment of shock and a moment more of bafflement, but it fades into a sort of inner bemusement as she strides forth to push her way hip-first through the ring and separate them, taking advantage perhaps of that kaiju-like size and power which she shares with Sailor Uranus.

"Both of you," Neptune states emphatically, "Stop --"

WITCH! WITCH! GET HER! She glances forwards as thunder flashes and rolls.

But there is something else up there. No, out there, among them. The group of them are coming into this strange, dark power; open eyes and black stares and --

They're children, damn it.

Abstract and high-and-distant as Michiru's heart may be at times, this grates her; it screams; it is a hot burning unforgivable in the face of a number of them. Witch Levin, at least, is someone sharing her plight - as is Haruka, though other than a brief glance, she does not reveal more. Haruka has her own struggle, right now.

"Try to get past them!" she calls to Levin, even as she strives to reach down and grasp the two boys, each with one hand on one arm, and to pull them apart - to hold them there, if she can. Not taking her own advice?

But they'll tear each other apart, if she doesn't.

COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used At Least That Boy From The Sculpture Class Isn't Here -- I Hope on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Neptune's At Least That Boy From The Sculpture Class Isn't Here -- I
Hope, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Neptune is Psyched!  Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

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

There's makeshift protector weapons, fists being thrown, a student about to be blugeoned (until rescued in the nick of time by--Tenoh?! Why is she--no time for that right now.)

Some of the students are fawning over Sailor Neptune, who, admittedly is really pretty and really cool and composed and has way more of a commanding presence than she does--no, no, you need to focus.

Some of the students, however, spot her and start chanting that there's a witch. Levin holds out her free hand, trying to dispel their thoughts, or forestall further rocks. "Wait wait wait!" And then the rock thuds on the ground. Okay then. "I'm not just a witch, I'm a magical girl! Honest! See? I've got the skirt and everything."

Why are you arguing with them? They're clearly under some influence.

Black thunder cuts her off. She's never seen that before but she can still tell that that energy is... nothing under her domain. And even worse, whatever was influencing the kids seems to have just taken them all over now.

"Crap. Okay, what counters... possession? Or is this more of a mood altering..."

Honestly the sight of the kids with black eyes is just so unnerving that by the time she registers that they're picking up rocks, and the thought begins to register that the next ones thrown might hit harder, a good deal of them are, in fact, already airborne, and as she tries to zip out of the way using her flight she's just dodging into more rocks. The best she can do is cover her face as she lets out a series of yelps and whines.

This is a terrible way to start a battle, and the opponent she has so far to face is also a terrible one. Who wants to hurt kids? Probably what their enemy is counting on.

She glances to Neptune and nods. "R-right!" Well, she's already flying, but she can, at least, deprive the kids of more ammo. She reaches out with her free hand, her staff crackling with bright and proper yellow lightning. A static fuzz surrounds all of the rocks as she pulls them towards her, out of reach of the controlled kids.

COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has used Wise Levin says Throwing Rocks is Bad, Kids on Pink Moon Stick.

<Pose Tracker> Haruka Tenoh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

It's not that Momoko's behavior isn't disturbing, horror-movie worthy. An Inner Senshi would definitely be highly disturbed by this unnaturally shrieking little girl promising to kill her.

"Starting with my eardrum, I see," sighs Haruka, the jaded Outer Senshi just hiking Momoko a bit higher under her arm. She blinks in surprise at Chibi-Usagi.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" she muses to herself. But she smiles. "Good girl." If she sounds like she's talking to a dog, well, she isn't very used to kids. "I'm not gonna hurt your friend. She'll be better soon, once Sailor Neptune and that nice Witch fix all of... ow!"

Suddenly Momoko is like a big thrashing tuna on a boat, and like a tuna, she proves that around fifty pounds is a LOT when it's strong enough and desperate enough. Haruka can't keep her grip on Momoko, and barks wordlessly in objection as she slips free, assuming a martial stance.

"Are you being serious?" she sighs, shaking her wrist. Almost wrenched it there. She reluctantly assumes her own jujitsu stance, feeling ridiculous. When Chibi-Usagi grasps onto her leg, however, Haruka feels a sudden tug of worry. It's not evident to her why Chibi-Usagi's child-opinion on how scary this is should impact her so. Perhaps it is just the latest evidence in a cumulative diary of horrors that is beginning to shift her initial lack of concern.

If so, that diary is having its pages flipped very fast suddenly. Haruka was the first one to observe Sailor Neptune's beauty, a comment she felt quite safe making among such innocent children. But as the boys suddenly squabble violently over who gets to be Neptune's boyfriend, she feels suddenly guilty for having perhaps kicked that off. Not that they were likely to fail to notice; the loudest herald of Neptune's loveliness is that loveliness itself.

"Tsukino Shingo," Haruka notes the identity of one of the main two claimants. "Trying to take my job..." As funny as that ought to be, it's chilling to watch the boys fight each other so savagely in their nascent admiration of her beloved.

The sudden kick by Momoko shocks Haruka into full seriousness almost too late. For sake of caution she had assumed that she was facing just about the finest 8 year old martial artist in the world... which is to say, still someone Haruka would flatten with the very first blow, but someone she would have to pay some attention to. She did not expect this level of speed, this obvious force. Twitch muscles erupt into motion faster than Haruka can formulate a response; she barely evades the kick. As it passes, she chambers Momoko's ankle beneath her arm, locks the knee with her other forearm, and rotates through, hurling Momoko elegantly--but not gently--across the ground.

"Damn it!" she curses, realizing what she's done. And yet, was it wrong? Momoko clearly seems tougher than she should be, too. Haruka looks back, down at the rabbit attached to her leg, who just asked her not to hurt Momoko. There's a whole playground full of Juuban students here too; henshinning right where she stands is out of the question. Neptune had the right idea apparently, even if Haruka does still think she might have been using it to change her clothes conveniently.

"Little rabbit." Haruka passes down the Grail to its owner. "Can you be brave? Get me one of those jump ropes."

Regardless, she'll need that leg back; if Chibi-Usagi won't go, she separates herself, starting to bounce lightly as she tosses two little warm-up punches down diagonally at the ground. "Okay, okay," she murmurs to herself, thinking even as she advances, her guard raising. "You sure you want to do this?" she asks Momoko. "I hear, uh, Ultra-Ryouta wants a friend. Those Tsukino girls, they're trouble anyway."

Haruka's leg strikes out, viperish, peppering Momoko's side with kicks. She does not follow through deeply, not wanting to harm her... but they are not fake kicks either, she felt that strength, and suspects she's at much greater risk of being harmed, at her current level of commitment, than Momoko is.

What's she supposed to do? Chibi-Usagi asked...

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Witch of Wise Levin's Wise Levin says Throwing Rocks is Bad, Kids, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
Witch of Wise Levin is Psyched!
COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh has used Summer School Sparring on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 2 Fatigue damage from Haruka Tenoh's Summer School Sparring, taking 1 Fatigue damage!  Pink Moon
Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!

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

"Git-- her--" slurs Shingo from one arm, twisting, bucking.

"Yeah," Taro agrees from beneath the other, hot with tears, angry, furious. "Yeah!!"

Sailor Neptune manages to separate Shingo and Taro, but in so doing she has jumped into the middle of a great crowd of children, and they begin to hound her, all in a pack. Grabby child hands tug at her skirt, her boots, the tips of her hair. Some do more than grab; even child hands have fingernails, and fingernails can be sharp.

Levin, meanwhile, summons many many rocks to her, plucked from the hands of tykes as often as from the ground. A fine puddle of pebbles form at her feet.

There is some confirmation bias at play here but nevertheless Ryouta and the others, in their horror and frustration, are not WRONG as their cries of "WITCH" swell to mob pitch.

...now the kids are throwing their phones. That's going to be trouble with the parents. The average phone is less heavy than the average rock, at least. Others go for whatever else is at hand; there are quite a few balls on offer, and slung by these living weapons they do have the potential to smart.

But much more seriously, from behind and above, a Dark Blast (there's no other word for it really; it is dark, and a blast) flies at Levin's back. Lethal force, this, power wielded not by a child-victim but by, one can only assume, the instigator. But when she looks, there's no one there, just a soft, dark, masculine chuckle.

Haruka sends Momo-chan sprawling across the ground with the most elegant throw. She gets to her feet, spitting mad but not blood, a hole in her pretty yellow cardigan. "Jerk -- get away from here, you--!"

The kicks are not an unexpected response to all this; Momo rolls with them, into a handspring, then comes back up into a proper stance. It's totally illogical, but she lowers her head and charges, trying to nail a leg hard enough to send Haruka to the ground. Surely the grown-up girl has the advantage in any clinch, but Momo isn't fighting with her own mind or really anyone else's, just with a raw desire to punish, to hurt.

And in close like that she can tell Chibi-Usa exactly how she really feels-- Haruka's leg, as impressive a specimen as it is, is unable to get between Momoko and the wad of spit she hocks right onto her best friend's cheek.

"You're all jerks!!" she screams. "I hate you, Chibi-Usa!!"

COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Mob Violence on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Black Crystal Blast on Witch of Wise Levin.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Jerk Takedown on Haruka Tenoh.

<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Chibi-Usa can be very persuasive, especially in her distress. For her, this is a nightmare, and she has seen many a nightmare in her day. Not just her best friend turning on her, anymore... But Haruka and Momoko fighting.

Nevermind that Haruka is holding back; Chibi-Usa can't make that clear distinction at the moment. "Be careful!" she shouts, and it could be to either of thm. Haruka asks her to be brave...

"But--you--she--"

Chibi-Us des separate herself, but she looks in dismay when Haruka strikes out--

It's awful to see. But not quite as awful as Momo getting in closer... And--

'I hate you, Chibi-Usa!!!'

It's too much. Chibi-Usa stumbles backward--and starts to wail.

A brilliant, surging light rushes from her. The symbol of the crescent moon burns into being on her forehead, blazing with incredible power, and a shockwave erupts from her tiny person.

Suddenly there is a gigantic column of light in the yard, large enough that Haruka and Momo could easily be caught up in its yards-wide embrace. Gravity itself starts to lose hold on the world within the light, Chibi-Usa starting to slowly rise into the air, her twintails floating even as she curls in on herself to be as small as possible.

But outside the light, there is something else: gravity is certainly in effect, but darkness no longer is. The crackling light of darkness that empowers and twists the children is overwhelmed with golden radiance, leaving them where they were.

And over it all, the tears and cries of a little Rabbit in fear and pain.

COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's Jerk Takedown, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Stagger applied to Haruka Tenoh!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's Black Crystal Blast, taking 72 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune perfectly dodges 16 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Mob Violence, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical
Dodge!

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

The kids collectively collapse to the ground, nursing their many small hurts (and some, their damaged phones, oh nooo). A few were only really still going because of a sort of animation by the darkness, and they faint dead away, including both Shingo and Taro. (Or possibly they realize with clearer minds that they're being held by SAILOR NEPTUNE and are overwhelmed by this truth.) The teacher on the steps drops her cigarette between stunned fingers, hauls herself to her feet, clutching aching temples, and... charges towards the nearest kids in need, carrying them to safety while shouting for the rest of the staff to help her.

As the golden radiance passes further and further outwards, it may not be at rise-into-the-air column strength (which is tugging Haruka aloft, and Momo-chan too, though her tearfulness has changed and she looks dazed, overwrought, and obviously no longer a threat), but it is enough to cause an equal and opposite reaction when it hits--

--a man, the man who just brutally shot Levin in the back. He has long white hair, a black moon on his forehead, a smugger smirk than Rubeus ever did, and a vaguely futuristic slacks-and-a-tank-top deal. Call it the sleekness, that it doesn't quite fit this century. Still, in any era, 'wife-beater' is kind of universal, even across an abdomen that well-defined.

KRAK-THOOOOOM!!

There's another blast of lightning as he is forced to appear.

He doesn't seem extremely annoyed.

"You are just exactly too late," he informs all of them, though his focus, naturally, is on the child in the column of light. "You really cannot do better, for gathering dark energy, than little kids. Lady Esmeraude will be pleased."

He cocks his head at the Rabbit.

"But not as pleased as when we also deliver her the Rabb--"

SWISH!!

Next to Haruka, the child she just went to extraordinary lengths to protect is abruptly replaced by a hovering white rose. It turns slowly on the axis of its stem, abandoned in haste... The one who moved through the column wasn't really being acted on by gravity at any point in his movement, so the change was essentially irrelevant to him.

He lands atop that chain link fence, poised impossibly on one foot, child held close in his arms, underneath his flowing white cloak -- the Moonlight Knight!

The Moonlight Knight, Chibi-Usa learns, smells... very familiar. Like safety, for starters, but more deeply than that like someone she has not been held so securely by in such a long time.

His blue eyes glint.

<SoundTracker> Moonlight Knight - Sailor Moon OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yvg_qtgcI

"Don't cry, small lady," he murmurs, though the child herself is invisible even to him, held so closely to his chest, blanketed by all sides by fabric that might as well be a fortress, now. The S and the L were not capitalized, but the words land hard all the same. "You've been very brave... you're safe now."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Neptune [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

Sailor Neptune has accomplished her goals - she has separated the two boys and they are not striking at each other - but she has a greater problem. The circle around her falls towards her, attacking her, grasping at her skirt and one of them at her wrist. Tugged to the side, Sailor Neptune pulls to the side -- but stops short before she risks hurling --

Hands grasp at her calves. Someone rakes fingers along the back of her knee and she hisses in breath. Tensing to leap, Neptune only hesitates for the slightest moment as she feels the tension that precedes lightning. There is a sudden surge in the air--

-- but it's light, not thunder.

Shading her eyes for a moment against that column of light. It washes over them, and the spell surrounding them washes away like thin black smoke in a fresh breeze. Suddenly the handful of blows and strikes that had begun before the light did dissipate as to nothing, and Sailor Neptune tosses her hair back with a breath of effort.

There is the question - how? - but it seems to be a faint thing when another figure appears. A man with white hair, a black moon on his brow, and Sailor Neptune looks up at him. Her hands form fists, without quite thinking about it. She does not snap back to him -- in the back of her stomach, there is a quiet fury at his words, even if this is not their battle -- and then

Something happens. The Moonlight Knight.

Sailor Neptune leaps into the air at this point, high enough to seem to disappear.

"It seems that your efforts have come to naught, all of a sudden," she speaks when she comes to light atop the fence where she had vaulted earlier. It is not a high perch, and she cannot look down on the aerial man, but her folded arms and glacial expression may provide their own message. (Or cover for someone to make her own escape.)

"That strike you made, a moment ago," Sailor Neptune continues: "Quite the stratagem. Will you show your cunning again, and withdraw in good order?"

Her left arm unfolds slightly, fingers still curled into a loose fist.

<Pose Tracker> Haruka Tenoh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.

Haruka had previously expected little of these children, and been surprised to find them even weaker than she thought. Now she expected much of Momoko, and yet remains unprepared for just how strong she really is.

She accepts Momoko's charge, folding over it, expecting that a grapple will be to her advantage against such a powerful but inexperienced fighter. What she does not expect is that Momoko nearly breaks her hip. There's an instant of honesty where Haruka is nearly screaming, before her mouth clamps shut and smothers the cry, her shoes digging into the ground to try and drag Momoko to a halt before she rams Haruka right into Chibi-Usa. She succeeds, insofar as her legs halt just short, avoiding any contact with the little girl. But Momoko gets close enough to deliver that devastating emotional blow in lieu of any physical one.

"Ngh," Haruka measures her breath, unable to spare any to offer objection to Momoko or comfort to Chibi-Usa. Her left leg is seriously impaired from the blow high up her thigh. She still believes she can take this kid if she lets loose all the way... but she is no longer sure if she can win in a restrained fashion. The choice, cruel as it is, may be on the horion. Hurt Chibi-Usagi's friend right in front of her, against her plea? Or get flattened and watch Momoko hurt Chibi-Usagi instead?

It's a choice Queen Serenity made for her long ago.

But before Haruka can act further, she is bathed in sacred light. Her feet begin to leave the ground, even as Momoko relaxes, no longer fierce. Tentatively, Haruka releases her once Momoko seems quiescent, and she is not punished for it. Swimming in the light with clumsy-feeling pushes of her legs, Haruka manages to turn around and face Chibi-Usagi as the tearful girl floats.

"Princess," she mouths, sad and yet awed.

And she disappears in a swirl of rugged white cloth.

Dropping gently to her feet, Haruka stares down at the white rose, her face now hard and cold. She flips her gaze to the side, looking at Moonlight Knight as he cradles the precious child. Of course she's quite safe with him right now, of course he is heroic, of course he is just in time.

It's where all that is leading, and from whence it comes, that Haruka does not understand, and so, mistrusts.

Neptune draws attention. With a last glance down at the rose, Haruka turns her back on it. She can transform quickly when she needs to.

By the time Neptune is speaking, Uranus stands, weightless, on a different section of fence, triangulating the foe with her counterpart.

"Don't mistake my partner's curiosity for hopefulness," she assists the stranger. "If she has a preference at all between a chance to more calmly shepherd these children indoors, and the opportunity to tear you apart together right here and now... it runs to the latter."

COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh transforms into Sailor Uranus!

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

Levin has, at the very least, been practicing her telekinesis, plucking stones away from children and trying to deposit them safely away from the reach of the kids. She is also a deep loer and appreciator of electronic devices, including cell phones, and would ever dream of damaging one or letting harm befall one, especially a child's. She's catching them with her magic, gently cradling them as best as she can as she deposits them in a separate pile, hopefully to return them to their owners later. (The balls and other things get lumped in with the rocks.)

The extra care is, perhaps, commendable--electronics aren't cheap, and this will surely safe some headache later for those who are not in control of themselves or for those parents who have to pay for them.

Unfortunately, this means she is utterly unaware of anything else going on, especially behind her, and the first moment she has any awareness of the incoming dark blast--is also the moment she is hit by the dark blast. There is a loud shriek as the dark energy whallops her in the back. A sickening thud soon follows as she slams into the ground. Concentration broken, the winds no longer holding her aloft disperse, and she drops the objects she was manipulting (meaning several cell phones, sadly, do need to be repaired or replaced.)

Even worse, she is suddenly at the mercy of the mob of darkness-empowered children, who don't even need to throw anything to reach her anymore. Her staff dropped from her hand when the attack hit and rolled off, and she groans as she tries to bring her arms up underneath her, push herself up, just stand, but the spasms of her muscles make that so hard right now.

But then--light, and a golden radiance erupt. It feels like the opposite of all of the dark blast that so cowardly befell her a moment ago, warm and soothing and most of all--purifying. Levin finds the strength to finally push herself up just the mob of tykes would have surely swarmed her. She gets up to her knees, lifts her head as the wailing rings out and sees...

"Tsukino-chan...?"

Well, that's... something. Not quite a magical girl, to be sure, but still... something.

Where did all that power come from?

But the light also illuminates, and when the stranger is revealed, with the exact same burst of dark energy...

Levin grits her teeth. She holds out her hand, summoning the staff to it. A moment later she is on her feet, and with a swipe of her staff she stirs the winds to life, lifting her aloft. She, unlike Neptune, can reach the same height as the stranger, though she does not approach. Lighting, pure and white, dances up and down the length of her staff as she stars the man down.

"Preying on little kids? How low can you get? I hope you enjoyed blasting me in the back, because you're not getting another chance!"

It's mostly bravado--she's drained, but she's doing her best not to show it, and perhaps, if they all put on a united front--including that stranger who rescues Chibi-Usa--maybe they can force him to stand down without prolonging the fight. (There is a fleeting moment spared to register the Moonlight Knight's arrival and that Chibi-Usa appears to be safe, but only the moment--the bulk of her attention remains on the stranger.)

<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Neither option presented to Haruka is good; Chibi-Usa would despair at either, and does despair at the choice. Even so, Chibi-Usa has something within her yet, something that cries out at the injustice of it all. The power of the Silver Crystal within her bathes the world in light.

Princess, Haruka mouths, but that is not the name that Chibi-Usa hears.

SWISH!!

"Ah!" Chibi-Usa blinks in alarm, and the light winks out as she regains her senses, the symbol on her forehead flickering as she looks up at the man who ha s picked her up. "...So familiar," she murmurs, and stares in a wonder far too potent for the moment.

Small lady, he calls her, and no, it is not capitalized, but she wants to cry for altogether different reasons, huddling against the Moonlight Knight in tears still. "I-I--...I--"

Can it be...?

She has no eyes for her other friends and allies, or even the enemy. Only for this Moonlight Knight.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Acts with Elegance on Sailor Uranus.
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus accepts Sailor Uranus's Acts with Elegance, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Empower and Surge applied to Sailor
Uranus!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has used Fighting for The New Age on Sailor Neptune.
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune accepts Sailor Neptune's Fighting for The New Age, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Empower and
Surge applied to Sailor Neptune!
COMBAT: Witch of Wise Levin has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Chibi-Usa Tsukino has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Sailor Neptune has saved her current combat state for later!