2020-09-04 - ...Somebody Loses An Eye
| Somebody Loses An Eye | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The magical girl cosplayers attract a little untoward attention. Fortunately, it's from someone too intelligent to mistake them for the real thing. Unfortunately, it's from someone too ruthless to care. | |
| Who: Fuu Hououji, Rei Hino, Mami Tomoe, Niramo Umokeshi, Nagisa Misumi, Honoka Yukishiro, Usagi Tsukino, Poisony GM: Pink Moon Stick | |
| Where: Construction lot across from Uminari Park | |
| OOC - IC Date: 9/4/2020 - 09-25-15 | |
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Rumor has it there's magical girls gathering at Uminari Park, doing shows for the little kids at the playground!
It turns out there are magical girl COSPLAYERS doing exactly that!
They're fabulous, and the kids love it!
NOW
<SoundTracker> Investigating - Sailor Moon OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajKDAlVhLkU
Another Uminari afternoon. The trees are giving themselves away to autumn's embrace with greater commitment than last time. Fallen leaves -- red, gold, brown -- accessorize everything here, with many more to come, still stuck to the foliage above.
Little kids hop around the playground with their usual post-show Extreme High Energy. Their heroes have already split for the day; maybe their show was a little bit earlier than normal. In any case, they seem to have planned their arrival and departure to avoid the sort of picnic table hangout sessions that they used to do. Perhaps that's because some of their Sister School peers found out their secret hobby, and though THAT hangout was pleasant enough, they've decided for whatever reason not to expose themselves to further scrutiny... or interception.
A sharp-eyed fan, however, might notice fantastically bright, yarn-yellow Sailor Moon twintails whipping out of sight around a corner across the street. Perhaps the cosplayers are making their approach and getaway by cutting through some kind of construction lot -- or, for the time being at least, demolition lot; there's a hole in the fence, and a lot of iron beams and rubble behind it. Plus, at least two big pieces of heavy equipment... the top of an excavator can be seen over the top of the fence, while the crane is even easier to spot.
No one is working there today, but still, it isn't the SAFEST place to play, or even pass through.
But once one's looking for it, it's easier and easier to see moving figures inside the shadows of the four-story building in the process of being demolished... in brightly colored costumes...
...what could they possibly be up to?
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
It's not like Fuu is trying to find out who's cosplaying the Magic Knight of Wind, or any of the other magical girls (and boys). But her curiosity has remained piqued since seeing that group for the first time, and honestly? Part of her is still quietly cheering them on, at least when she can.
Still, the flash of a yarn-based wig-tail catches her attention, and Fuu purses her lips briefly in thought before meandering away from the playground, doing her best to skirt around the heavier piles of fallen leaves. She doesn't intend, at least initially, to follow the cosplayers - but the fact that they're apparently routing through a construction site?
Like a certain (cinematic) god said to an astrophysicist, "I guess that's worth a look." And so, look Fuu does ...
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Eeeh..?" Rei looks up from her watermelon slushie, which technically makes this DINNER AND A SHOW, she doesn't make the rules. Well, no matter what she's doing, she always seems to coincidentally end up in the park while those cosplayers are putting on their act.
You know. Coincidentally.
It's not like Rei's ego is absolutely flourishing or anything.
She elbows Usagi, pointing to that disappearing trail of yarn. "Hey, you don't think they're cutting through..." Rei starts saying it and her brain catches up with the shortcut quicker than her mouth does, for once in her life. "Maybe we'd better check it out," she concludes, instead, and give her credit, Rei actually looks a little worried about the lengths they might be going to, avoiding detection.
Of course it doesn't occur to her that exposing their cool shortcut might make them take EVEN WORSE shortcuts. She's too busy heading that way!
<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It was nice, really. Mami for one appreciated their enthusiasm! But... It's a little disappointing that they're avoiding the place they'd run into them before. A little. Before it becomes instead concerning, given the construction site.
Mami is indeed sharp-eyed enough to notice the lot and the twintails both--and Mami frowns thoughtfully at that. "...That's..."
Unsafe, to be sure. Rising from her seat, the vteran Puella Magi sstarts towards them, aagreeing with the idea of checking the place out. She is happy to let the other girls go ahead of her though.
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Niramo was going to leave the cosplayers alone at first, having watched a show of theirs in action and thought it wasn't causing anyone any harm. Their costumes were great considering what they could work with and the cosplayers were mainly doing it for the kids is enough to cheer them on...and the fact that Sourisi has at least one major fan is something Niramo enjoys as well. But Takk made sure to voice his thoughts about the cosplayers.
"A false idol can be defaced much more easily than the real one. I think we should tell them to retire before something happens."
And so, Niramo finds herself walking through Uminari Park, looking around for a group wearing outfits that were just slightly off from the original and without any luck. "Huh? They usually show up at this time..." Twisting around in place, Niramo tries to spy something that could show the cosplayers were here--
There! The tail end of a wig leading into...a construction site? Frowning, the Juubanite looks both ways before crossing the street. At least this was a little more out of sight from the park but a much more dangerous meeting spot to go to.
Looking down at her bookbag, Niramo sees Takk sticking his head out from under the flap and whispers. "Think we should forgo the letter?" The Kwami shakes his head. "You might have to give it to them directly. Letting them interact with Sourisi might only encourage them."
<Pose Tracker> Nagisa Misumi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Not here either huh... guess they went home."
Nagisa sighs, but it is not unhappy. "Means we can go home too, right?" she asks her partner, Honoka Yukishiro. Nagisa has her red-and-grey Juuban tracksuit on, with the jacket sleeves rolled and a red ringneck gym tee beneath. What she does not have is a full belly.
"Uwaaah." Nagisa's eyes follow a passing Rei Hino across the street with a tone of soft awe. She goes so far as to turn her head behind her as she passes. "That girl..."
Could this be a wandering eye? Has Nagisa been distracted from the beauty at her side by the siren miko of Hikawa Shrine?
"Where did she get a flavor ice??" Nagisa complains, as if it's unfair. If she even noticed she knows Usagi and Rei, she doesn't deem it important enough to mention.
Turning to face forward again, Nagisa cups the back of her head in both hands, stretching her back. "Oh hey, was that Tsukino?" she realizes belatedly. Usagi's hairstyle is super distinctive. Before she can look back, she spies a blonde twintail completely the other way, disappearing behind a corner. Blinking, she flips her glance back and forth between the one Usagi and the way the other one went.
"They didn't go home!" she says sternly. A year ago she'd have whined about the fact that she can't eat now. Now she snaps into a serious mood, setting off at a jog after the fake-Sailor Moon, knowing her partner will be at her side.
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Honoka thinks she knows why the cosplayers are minding their entrances and exits much more carefully than they used to; she is, after all, the one who seemed earnestly determined to spoil their fun. She can't seem to track any of them down in the hallways at school very easily, either.
Does she look sheepish or guilty as she hurries alongside Nagisa after the group? No. In fact, she even calls out, bold as brass (well... woodwind silver): "Please, wait for us!"
Open concern fills her eyes, which, in the shadows of the construction site, quickly become the bluest thing in the place. Presumably it is for the cosplayers' well being, NOT Nagisa's... well, it'd be her partner's well being at stake too, perhaps, if she were really wandering. But this is too serious for her to smile more than the tiniest bit at Nagisa's obsession... with sweets.
"This is terribly unsafe," she murmurs at the others, as she clambers over, under, and around chunks of half-demolished site. Her Juuban uniform isn't particularly well-suited for this, and her rusty red blazer picks up dust in no time. Where it touches her skin, it's like clouds covering the moon.
She does not slow down.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Usagi Tsukino claps enthusiastically at the end of the show from a corner of the playground right beside the slide. It doesn't matter if every single detail is correct. Someone is actually playing her. "They're always so good!" She whispers to Rei Hino, as the two engage in a shared exercise of ego stroking.
"By the way - Rei-chan let me have a sip-! It's a long walk to the train station."
Rei is the first to notice though that something is amiss. And Usagi is briefly distracted by waving cheerfully at Nagisa as she looks her way. Usagi then looks puzzled by the back and forth, an exercise which brings her gaze back to where Rei was looking.
"Hmmm." Whirling around, with her hands behind her back, she smiles, "Rei-chan! I don't think it's good to follow people around... after all it's their business." Usagi doesn't sound like she's scolding her, "Buttttt, if we were to you know, go try to catch them just so we could compliment them... that's different!"
-=-=-
Once they're closer to the construction site, she comments to Rei Hino, "Hmmm. Where did they go? They're going to a lot of trouble to hide where they gather..."
Usagi spies the construction site, seeing the shadows moving around, and it gives her pause as she puts a hand on Rei's arm. "Hmm... if we follow them in there though we might give them the wrong impression..."
And then it's like there's a light bulb over her head, "Oh! I know!"
Usagi suddenly jogs off behind a section of the fence that's blocked form view by some plastic barrels.
"Moon Power! Turn me into-"
-=-=-
When Usagi next emerges, she's no longer Usagi Tsukino. Instead she looks subtly different from Usagi Tsukino. Brown bangs of hair subtly creep out from under a high quality yellow wig of a beribboned tri-tail of hair. The rest of her costume is a subtly off model Kaitou Jeanne. She's definitely not trying to pass as Kaitou Jeanne, but rather someone cosplaying as Kaitou Jeanne.
The colors are different, the long white flowing sleeves are subtly off-color. The purple and red ribbon suspender like strands have become blue and orange, the short skirt which ought to be red is purple instead. The obi tied behind her ends in a thicker ribbon. Her white boots are wrapped in orange tape.
Rei Hino is treated to Usagi Tsukino in this garb, as she announces seriously to Rei, "Serious and strong... marvelous and magnificent... fearless and earnest! Gambit - start!" Before she leans over and stage whispers to her, "Now it's not weird. They'll just think I followed them to put in an application! Just follow me in and we'll definitely make a good impression."
And that is how Usagi Tsukino enters the construction site around the detritus of the half-finished demolition...
...after she ungracefully stubs her toe of course.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> Cefiro no Nazo - Magic Knight Rayearth OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeIKQaZKVkg
This used to be a parking garage; everything is dingy gray. Now it's like... half of one, separated into two shadowy quarter-garage towers with a pit in the middle.
There is exposed rebar and a few wires (even garages need power for their elevators, emergency phones, and so forth; at a glance it seems likely the power was disconnected long ago, before this demolition project started). There are chunks of concrete all over the place, big enough to see-saw on if one was undiscriminating about places to play.
The cosplayers don't seem to have noticed their pursuers. They walk steadily, then climb steadily, their legs pumping almost robotically up the (now exterior-facing) concrete stairs winding up to the (now) roofless top floor.
Today the overcast sky is a very pale dove gray. It makes for quite a backdrop after the shadowy half-demolished garage; everyone and everything is washed out by that diffuse, not-quite-fading afternoon.
'Everyone' being, more specifically, the fully costumed:
- "Sailor Moon", aka Kotono Sarashina, Rei's classmate
- "Moonlight Knight," aka Gurio Umino, Usagi's classmate
- "Cure Black," aka Natsuko Koshino, Nagisa and Honoka's classmate
- "Cure White", aka Kyoko Mori, Nagisa and Honoka's classmate
- "Sourisi," aka Hoshi Tashiro, Niramo's classmate
- "Magic Knight of Wind," aka Manami Nakamoto, Fuu's classmate
Everyone being... apparently unconcerned with danger. The need to catch up with them becomes urgent; when their pursuers hit the roof, the cosplayers, having had a lead, are almost to the roof's edge. Each of them is walking towards that four-story drop without showing the slightest bit of inclination to stop... or even slow down. Their pace is fortunately languid, but there are only a few paces left before mystery becomes tragedy--!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
If it were just a matter of the cosplayers taking this somewhat secretive route, they wouldn't need to start climbing the partial building, would they? Fuu quickens her pace, abandoning subtlety as she sees the cosplayers begin ascending those exposed stairs. Four flights in a row, at that ...
"Nakamoto-san!!" Definitely forget subtlety; Fuu breaks into a run, her jacket flapping behind her as she calls on all the strength in her legs and lungs, a piece of her wishing she was in jeans rather than a skirt. "Nakamoto-san, why - why are you all - ?!"
She can't run and shout at the same time; Fuu Hououji is, after all, only human. But if the cosplayers hid their "civilian" outfits in that structure, they shouldn't need to go all the way to the roof. And to take those four flights of stairs without missing a beat - !
Fuu stops briefly, chest heaving - not because she was already out of breath (not quite), but to marshal all the wind she can gather in this mundane form.
"NAKAMOTO-SAN!!!!"
- Now* she starts running again, even before her desperate yell has a chance to fade. If that cry did any good at all, maybe she can reach the roof before it's too late; she can already imagine what she *does not want to see* - and that terror, that fear of failing to save an innocent, pours through her body with the chill fire of an adrenaline rush, pumping into the muscles of her legs with every thundering beat of her heart.
<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Where did she get a flavor ice?? Mami does not think to ask. The blonde instead is walking carefully, somewhat more accustomed to padding around dangerous places in uniform than some girls here. Watching along some of the others, Mami steps up past Kaitosagi Jeankino and gives hr a sympathetic look. "Hurts, doesn't it?"
Stubbing a toe is no joke!
But she keeps walking after tat, following along with increasing alarm. The gray sky... the shadowy garage. And all these kids--
Mami starts to run up after them to try to beat thm over.
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
As soon as Niramo passes through the hole in the fence, the sounds of the nearby park and streets are muffled. That and combined with the overcast sky makes the construction site seem a little more ominous than it would otherwise be. Figuring that if the disguised fans were not being stopped since no workers were here today, Niramo starts to walk a little faster after the cosplayers.
The dark interior was even more foreboding than the outside! Shafts of gray light coming down from above was the only illumination for the garage, spots of safety surrounded by darkness...which is why Niramo's right leg gets banged up as she passes some rubble. Hissing loudly in pain, Niramo's heart pounds as she waits to be called out of the cosplayers, yet...
Nothing?
The cosplayers keep walking, up a flight of stairs and acting as if they didn't hear someone cry out from stumbling in the dark. The ravenette starts to get an uneasy feeling in her guts as she starts to run after them and up the stairs. "Tashiro-san, wait! I need to talk to you!"
As she ascends, she tries to figure out why it seems everyone is going to the roof. If they are being so secretive to choose a new meeting spot, why meet on top of the garage and be visible to anyone on the street? It doesn't make any sense!
Nor was the scene waiting for her as Niramo comes out into the afternoon light once more. Stopping a moment just to make sure her eyes wasn't playing tricks on her, Niramo starts to sprint full out, right hand reaching forward. "Hoshi-san...STOP!"
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei, in Ohtori, is something of a DARING DARK HORSE: there is both allure and repellency in mystical mysteries, in visions beyond what mortals ought to see.
So, of course, it's no wonder Nagisa wou...ld...
Okay, maybe it's for the best that Rei doesn't hear quite why Nagisa's looking at her. Rei waves to her cheerfully, just assuming that she's been noticed by friends from another school. She finishes off the iced drink on the way and slips it into one of the rare rubbish bins of Tokyo, routing right by the konbini where she got it.
"Right, right," she agrees, as if she's looking for any reason to follow along after that twintail shadow. Usagi gets her bright idea, hurries off --
Rei looks a little baffled when Pseutou Jeanne appears, but she manages to put the pieces together by the time she leans over and whispers. "Oh, yeah!" She smiles, and nods. "Good thinking!"
Though, as they enter the site, she does have to whisper, "Come on, Kaitou Jeanne is more graceful than that!" If Kaitousagi keeps tripping over her feet in here... well, it could be bad.
Everyone's played in construction sites as a kid at some point, and it's never a good idea. Rei has new sympathy for her Grandpa yelling about it as she looks up at what was a garage, all in parts. Up there...
She sees those yellow-yarn twintails, and she gives chase. Because there's paler hair underneath that, and a girl who appreciates what is not known. Rei finds herself thinking, entirely unfairly, as she ascends what remains of the stairs: has she gotten tangled up in something supernatural? How did she not recognise something was amiss? Kotono Sarashina, of all people --
-- did Rei, more experienced in mysticism, let her down?
She hurries up. She hits her foot on one of the stairs, and doesn't comment on the impact. It is becoming more vital by inches to get that extra speed, that extra distance, because they're not slowing down.
"Kotono-san!" Rei throws her voice ahead of her feet, as she clambers up to the rooftop. Desperation sharpens her words: "What do you think you're doing?!"
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Usagi seems too overwhelmed by pain to answer Rei at first, until Mami shows sympathy
"So... much." Kaitosagi Jeankino replies to Mami with a pained expression that's probably 2/3rds more dramatic than she needs to be as she limps onward. "See why can't you be nice like her? I bet Kaitou Jeanne stubbed her toes a lot when she was new at Phantom Thieving!"
Up 'Jeanne' goes, giving the parking garage looks of startled surprise as she goes. "They really change here for their show...?" She asks Rei. There's a feeling of dissonance in Usagi's head, as she's subtly creeped out. Kotono for example was an Ohtori girl and she couldn't imagine her coming here to change again and again, need for secrecy aside. "They're cosplayers, not urban explorers..."
And suddenly Usagi's pace picks up, her wig and flowing sleeves streaming behind her. One sleeve gets caught on rebar, and she simply tugs it away with a loud 'SHRIP' noise, as she moves up in a hurry to the top floor.
And once she gets there, she sees them in a line up, languid pace towards the edge. The white cape of the Moonlight Knight gently fluttering.
"Umino-kun! Stop!"
And suddenly 'Jeanne rips into a full sprint'. Usagi is certainly not athletic, but years of being a magical girl mean she's not unfamiliar with having to suddenly burst into speed. Yet she is neither matchless nor marvelous when it comes to it, which means the more athletic girls get a good head start on her.
"In the name of Kami-sama and Naru-chan's feelings-"
'Jeanne' barrels right towards him. Though... with how fast she's running. She certainly looks like just another cosplayer headed for the edge of the roof far faster than anyone else. Doesn't she?
<Pose Tracker> Nagisa Misumi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Honoka Yukishiro is super cool. But one of her uncool traits that Nagisa *finds* cool is her concern for proper safety measures. Where perhaps some foolish souls might consider Honoka strict and peevish, Nagisa sees only mature and observant.
Part of that is that Nagisa's such an overgrown scamp that she often genuinely didn't notice how unsafe something was at first. "Uwah, it's true!" she marvels, running sideways for a few steps to peek at a jutting spear of rebar. "If somebody tripped, that bar could tetanus right through them and out the other side." (Sic)
Nagisa is panting lightly by the top of the parking garage. The sight of her classmates walking towards the edge causes her to narrow her eyes briefly, pausing where she is as comprehension strikes. Her eyes flick to Honoka's, sharing the dire realization. Then she barrels forward, shoulders lowering as she hastens after them. "Koshino! Mori! Everyone!"
Nagisa bumps into Natsuko Koshino from behind, bear-hugging her alter ego and rotating her around to face the other way. In this direction, she can see one of the cosplayers is not walking, but RUNNING at the edge!
"Hey!" Shoving a shoulder under Natsuko's armpit, Nagisa lifts her weight up enough to drag her feet on the ground as she lunges for the false Kaitou Jeanne. Retaining Natsuko with one arm, she catches Usagi Tsukino around the waist and holds her back as well.
"Both of you, snap out of it!"
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Nagisa-ttara... I think you mean 'pierce'," Honoka asides to her with the amiable patience of the long-suffering. She isn't, though. Suffering, that is. Where perhaps some foolish souls might consider Nagisa silly and uneducated, Honoka sees only charming and enthusiastic. Even courageous, in a lowkey way. After all, Nagisa wasn't afraid to try to use a word she didn't know! Lots of intellectuals she knows would have been less hasty, more accurate -- and much more boring.
When they hit the roof, she springs into action. She's much slower than Nagisa but also not going for two(??), and her straight line path catches her up to "Cure White" soon enough.
"Mori-san!!" she cries, letting her voice reach her classmate before she can herself.
Then her hands fasten around Kyoko's with a *clap*. It isn't so different from the sound of four boots on a vertical wall, but we can talk about that later.
She winces slightly at her own desperate roughness, the first sign of apology she's shown this whole time. "Please, stop!!"
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"-stop!"
'Jeanne' has tunnel vision like focus right now on Umino. Which is why when someone rushes her, she doesn't even see it until the last moment. Her lips become a wide 'Oh!' as her eyes flit at him in a panic.
And her momentum causes her to lurch so far in the clothesline motion it's like she'd be toppling over Nagisa's arm - if she weren't so strong that is. Instead she ends up semi-flailing until she regains her footing and tries to pull away from her. "Snap out of nothing! Leggo! LEGGO!" She shouts urgently in her struggle.
It's so easy to think that in her panic that she's shouting to let her go over the edge.
"He's heading for-!"
It might, or might not click, as she tries one last desperate attempt to pull away to barrel towards Umino.
<Pose Tracker> Nagisa Misumi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Nagisa hauls Usagi back forcibly, despite having just the one arm. It's kind of a... hard arm.
"Augh, hold still! It's like wrestling Ryouta!" This is a depressingly mild complaint. But if Usagi's insulted to be compared to a little kid, she has reason to be grateful for the side effect: it causes Nagisa to realize something with a sudden shock of ice through her chest.
On one arm, Natsuko. Pulling towards the edge just as hard as Usagi, sure, but in a zombie-like daze. On the other, a squirmy "it's not my bedtime" type struggle...?
"Ariena!" Nagisa blurts the short version of her catchphrase, because there's no time. Glancing over her shoulder, she spots Moonlight Knight making his way to the edge.
"Aaaa gettim gettim gettim!" Nagisa yelps, twisting around hard to swap Natsuko and Usagi. Grabbing Usagi's collar as she goes, she hurls Usagi forward with an excess of momentum. Catching up to Umino won't be a problem...
If she can stay on her feet.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Usagi of course knows who Ryouta is, as he's one of Shingo's accomplices. "Excuse me!?" Her wounded pride over what she feels is an insult to her height, being compared to a small child briefly distracting her. Fortunately - Nagisa realizes first.
Fighting back against the arm, Usagi tries to duck under it, then to hop over it. Then to simply roll around it. However the hardness of that arm can't be denied. Until eventually Nagisa gets it.
"That's what I was trying to tell-" Her collar is grabbed, "-you? UM!?!?"
Hurtled forward into a stumbling step. The strength of Nagisa is considerable, and tiny 'Jeanne' doesn't stand a chance as she is sent flying towards Umino to shove straight into him. Her blonde beribboned wig flies off, revealing a fluffy brown bob. And a second red ribbon.
Impacting with the Moonlight Knight heavily the two are sent sprawling on the rooftop. When it's finished, 'Jeanne' ends up on top of him. Briefly stunned. Having knocked his swirley thick lensed glasses ajar.
Looking unfocused for a moment, she quickly recovers to scramble into a better position "Ah-ah-ahhhhh! Stay down!" She moves to try to restrain him by holding him down by the arms. "Tonight - I have stolen this deception of..." A pause that's uncomfortably long as she both tries to come up with a word and struggles to keep him down, "... Elegance? ANYHOW UMINO-KUN STOP STRUGGLING!"
'Jeanne' then darts a look at Nagisa and scolds her, "Geez! That was close! Don't you know you're not supposed to get between a Phantom Thief and her target!?"
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> The Creeping Shadow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGW4Npq9HBQ
The cosplayers are worrisomely non-responsive -- no call, no matter how urgent, can reach them. In the end, nothing but physically restraining them will prevent them from going over the edge.
Fortunately, everyone reaches them in the nick of time.
Up close, their eyes are open, but dull, empty. Not like someone in the middle of an excruciatingly boring classroom lecture, but like no one is home at all. It's obvious that they have no idea of the danger they're in, or even where they are.
Fortunately, despite any reflexive accusations to the contrary, they DON'T struggle. Like wandering dolls only animate when unobserved, they submit meekly to being held, even by a single wrist. Maybe whatever's going on has been thwarted before it could even begin.
A fingersnap echoes off all that concrete.
Simultaneously, every cosplayer surges. They don't all use the same move, but they all have the same objective: reversing the hold on their captor slash fan slash friend. They are quick and have surprise on their side, making them highly likely to succeed -- their gazes still empty, all the while, of any sort of emotion.
The fingersnap was decisive; the laughter is derisive.
A woman with long, blood-red hair, red eyes to match, pointed ears that feel more demonic than elfin when paired with her black leather bodysuit and flowing, red-lined capes, a big crystal pendant that matches dearly departed Pisard and Gekidrago's, and a horribly smug smile, floats up from below the eyeline of the roof.
"You don't understand the situation you're in. The situation I, Poisony, greatest of Dark King's servitors, have created!"
---
Back in the Dark Zone, young Kiriya is suddenly overcome with the urge to sneeze.
Ilkubo looks down at him, and raises a single eyebrow, flying a white battle flag into the vast gray sky of his hairless dome.
---
Thus introduced to anyone who hasn't yet met her, Poisony snaps her fingers a second time. Those leather gloves really help it carry.
<SoundTracker> Summoning Zakenna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZjY5EYpFVs
The sky spirals black with a sudden swirling of stormclouds. Instead of rain falling, a purple, monstrous spirit does instead. It strikes the tallest nearby object, for reasons not dissimilar to why lightning would have struck it: the crane.
Metal clangs like a giant shifting its weight, though any further transformation is not yet evident. Still, it's obvious that the cosplayers aren't the ONLY ones being possessed, now.
Which means that our heroines are facing:
- A giant crane monster
- And their cosplaying classmates
- Who are trying to restrain them
- While untransformed
- RIGHT at the edge of a half-demolished rooftop
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick transforms into Wrecking Ball Zakenna and the The Cosplay Crew!
<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mami ends up taking close to the rear of the group, but doesn't get a view of horrific falls from a precarious position, thanks to everyone. Instea she watches the others struggle, the issue with Usagi--that s, definitely not Usagi--and has a moment of relief. ...Just a moment.
Until the fingersnap, and until Mami hears laughter, spots a familiar woman. "You..."
Metal clangs around, and Mami looks to everyone else, struggling with the cosplayers. What situation they're in...
"You'll let them go," Mami insists, standing where she is and pulling her Soul Gem from her finger, whirling in place as--
Light suffuses her form; golden power radiates from her as she whirls in place, like a skater on the ice in a continued spin; her clothes shift, from uniform to battle attire, her hat bursting into being, the beautiful pin in her hair shining brightly.
"Right now!"
Mami throws out her hand, but what appears are not rifles; quite the opposite, she pulls from her sleeve the start of a ribbon... and hurls it out, where it grows and weaves, becoming more and more as she puts some effort into solving some of the problem of the drop with golden fabric.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe transforms into Puella Mami! COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Legare on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei's hand latches onto Kotono's wrist like a vice - in this moment she doesn't really have room to worry about what Nagisa and Usagi are doing, she just has to trust that she'll figure it out, because if she didn't lurch forward with that determination then her classmight might have lurched right over the edge. "Kotono-san!" She says, again, yoinks her back away from the precarious edge - finds her far too easy to yoink. Those eyes... "You dummy," Rei admonishes her, but maybe she's not really admonishing her. "You -- of all people -- you really should have seen this coming..."
Maybe it's that regret which distracts her. Or maybe it's the way she reaches into a pocket with her other hand to pull out an ofuda slip, because she recognises the emptiness in Kotono's eyes, and a priestess has certain solutions for a situation like this. Certainly she was not expecting the snap, carving through the air -- nor the way Kotono suddenly explodes into action, twists around to grab Rei's wrist as she spins behind her -- and grabs that other wrist, too.
The purifying slip falls to the ground, as Rei cries out. "Kotono-san?!" She looks back and those eyes are just as vacuous, underneath the careful yellow yarn of her wig. She is light and Rei is dark and who could have --
That much is an answered question, as Poisony makes her introductions. Rei looks forward, as she floats up. "You evil spirit..!" Well, that would be how a shrine maiden would understand a member of Dark Fall, wouldn't it? Rei might be a little bit magic, the way religion is at its edges, but she's hardly a magical girl.
Perhaps that's why, when Mami shows her display of light and ribbons, Rei twists out of Kotono's grasp and flees. She disappears behind a hunk of concrete and rebar, half-destroyed, and indeed if she fell on any of the protruding steel bars she would get tetanus all the way through to the other side.
There's a little more light, but there's plenty of light, right now. Transformation is so often a thing of brightness and energy.
Brightness, energy --
Fire.
Fire which curls and coils, MAKE UP, swirling around skin which becomes hard, around Ohtori yellow which becomes white and red and purple, around flats which become heels. Flame consumes; flame creates.
Flame is for Sailor Mars, who appears atop a concrete slab, one leg bent, one toe resting on the arch of her other foot. "Don't you know how cruel it is -- to take away a girl's words when she treasures them as her most potent weapon? I won't forgive such a flagrant act of disrespect! Soldier of Flame and Passion, Pretty Sailor-Suited Soldier, Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars..."
She springs to the ground, pointing up to Poisony. "... I will chastise you!"
COMBAT: Rei Hino transforms into Sailor Mars! COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars! on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick cleanly braces 11 Fatigue damage from Mami Tomoe's Legare, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Exhausted and Tangle applied to Pink Moon Stick! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick partially dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Mars's In The Name Of Mars!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Driven by desperation, Fuu makes it to the top of the structure in time - legs aching, lungs burning, but she wraps her arms around Manami's waist and digs in her heels, managing to wrest her classmate to a halt - possibly even clawing back a precious measure of distance, against all of the odds. "Nakamoto-san," Fuu gasps, "what's gotten into --"
And somebody, somewhere, snaps their fingers.
On the instant, Manami twists lithely to her right, breaking Fuu's crude hold and securing her own, an elbow locked around the bespectacled archer's neck. The hold is tight enough to make Fuu claw at the imprisoning arm, although it doesn't seem to have cut off her breathing. Fuu is still struggling when laughter fills the space that was broken into the air by the snap of those fingers.
Fuu manages to raise her gaze and take in Poisony's form, a tumult of emotions brought under control as she studies the Dark King's servant. "Using out friends ... to trap us ..." Fuu grimaces, glowering defiantly at Poisony - defiantly, but impotently; after all, what can a mere schoolgirl do in such a predicament?
Apart from feeling in her jacket pocket, pulling out her glove-jewel, and quickly tugging it onto her left hand. She has to stop struggling against Manami's grasp to do so, but it only takes a moment -
"Belief becomes power; winds, guide me!!"
- to radically alter the equation. Mami's light and Rei's fire transform their respective variables, while the familiar green whirlwind rises about Fuu; Manami Nakamoto is buffeted by it, maybe loosening her grip, maybe prompting her to try and tighten it, but even if Manami maintains her grip and footing, the whirlwind subsides to reveal the *true* Magic Knight of Wind, writhing with renewed energy and slipping free of that lock.
"I'll apologize properly when you're not possessed, Nakamoto-san," the Wind Knight murmurs, stepping back from her classmate. "For now ... Winds of Admonishment!" Her left hand flicks, fingers flourishing and seeming to tug at the air, and a whirlwind - carefully tamed from the instant of its birth - gathers at her bidding, a softer cocoon than some which the Wind Knight has conjured, but no less restrictive if it secures its own hold on Manami.
If it does, hopefully it'll keep her safe and out of harm's way - but given what Poisony's done already, the Wind Knight's probably going to have to keep her attention divided ...
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Wind Knight! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 6 Fatigue damage from Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate! Cripple and Trap applied to Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Honoka isn't TOO busy holding onto "Cure White" to notice the exchange between Nagisa and "Kaitou Jeanne." She huffs out a softly relieved sigh as the situation resolves itself without her involvement, and inwardly hopes that Jeanne enjoyed the great privilege of being held, and tossed, by Nagisa. It's a rare one, for anyone but her.
She is unprepared for the sudden shift in dynamic, and barely has time to emit a squeak before Kyoko has gotten behind her and wrapped arms around her torso.
"Please, wake up!" she pleads, one last time.
And then Poisony arrives.
Honoka's eyes widen -- then narrow, beneath brows that drop like a flag in front of a bull.
"Absolutely unforgivable," she shouts -- much too outraged to feel vindicated by her worst fears coming true.
Struggling in Kyoko's grip, she manages to slam her arms together, then sideways, along the encirclement... then grabs one of "Cure White's" hands with both of her own.
She side-eyes Nagisa, a wordless announcement of what's about to happen: putting all the strength she can muster into a full-body turn, she pushes her captor's hand through one of Natsuko's elbows.
Now "Cure Black" and "Cure White" have linked arms, which is harmonious for more than just aesthetic reasons.
There's no need to shout 'now!'. Her eyes already did.
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Niramo's hand grabs onto Hoshi's shoulder at her desperate charge shortens the distance just as a shoe reaches the edge of the garage. Tugging Miaski back and several steps away from the edge, she's more focused on getting the Sourisi cosplayer away before anything else happens. Distantly, she only then notices that there are others arriving to stop the fans, like Fuu and Rei. Heart pounding in her chest, she keeps up the one-sided tug of war and feeling like the worse is over. "Hoshi-san, i'm going to find who did this to you!"
Unfortunately, that someone found her first.
A snap of the fingers and suddendly the ravenette's hand is being crushed in both of Hoshi's own, dragging Niramo back towards the rooftop! The ravenette is keeping both of her feet planted yet she's still getting pulled forward. "A-aah! Let go!"
An elegant red-headed woman floats up from under the rooftop's edge, proudly boasting about how she did this to her friend and classmate. She's never met Poisony before, but if someone was taking so much pleasure from almost having Hoshi commit...no, she has to be stopped!
But it's going to be a little hard to do that when she can't reach her Miraculous! Thankfully, Takk was already dealing with this issue.
The Kwami had slipped out of Niramo's bookbag as soon as Hoshi started to pull her forward and went directly for Hoshi's shoe laces. Wasting no time, he unties and reties the shoes, though this time they were with each other! As Hoshi tries to move forward again, she trips over her own feet and causing Niramo's hand to slip out of her grasp.
Panting heavily from her struggles, she nods her head towards Takk as he returns. "Takk...thank you!" Evil is right there in front of her, possessing innocents and making them do her bidding with no regard of their lives. There's little cover nearby...so Niramo will have to trust her luck. "Let's neturalize this toxin. Tail, Sprout!"
Fingers tap on a silver anklet and Niramo's form is bathed in orange light. A Juuban uniform shifts away into a tanned bodysuit, a tail forms and lengthens and a domino mask forms around narrowed green eyes.
As much as she wants to attack this new villainess, the safety of the possessed comes first! As rude as it seems, Sourisi flicks her tail at her doppelganger and a golden chain flies out to ensnare Hoshi. With luck, the spellbinding links should bind the cosplayer tight and keep her from getting in the way of others.
COMBAT: Niramo Umokeshi transforms into Sourisi! COMBAT: Sourisi has used Tail Snag on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick neatly dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Sourisi's Tail Snag, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Nagisa Misumi [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Nagisa sighs, leaning against a listless Natsuko. "Sei-fu," she congratulates Usagi wearily, like an umpire at a softball game.
It's in that moment that Natsuko goes from sleepy to surging, hooking Nagisa's neck and forcing her head down. As Nagisa yelps in surprise, not resisting in her confusion, Natsuko gains her back and switches the bear hug around, clamping her arms around Nagisa's. "H-hey! Don't get mad at me because I stopped you from jumping off a roof!" Honoka's more understanding reply jolts Nagisa into one of her own. "Koshino-chan!" she urges. "Hang in th--"
Natsuko mindlessly shifts her grip a little when Nagisa tries to turn to face her, and Nagisa's voice cuts off into a chirp of pain.
"Ow ow ow! Your fingernail's got me a little...!"
Maybe Cure Blacks just communicate differently.
The discomfort doesn't stop Nagisa from seeing Poisony. "You! How dare you bring our precious friends into this! We won't forgive you!"
So. Finally the Dark Zone rears its head once more. Wincing, Nagisa still cannot fail to catch her partner's eyes when they flash at her. Shifting in Natsukos grip, she makes it a little easier for Honoka to thread Kyoko's arm right through. And with "Cure White" now linked with "Cure Black" like two Monkeys from a knockoff Barrel, their mindless efforts to grip tightly now have them linked together. At the moment Honoka cues her visually, Nagisa twists free of Natsuko, and Natsuko's effort to stop her is *directly* opposed by Kyoko's effort to stop Honoka.
As if the dance were coordinated beforehand--no, because it was coordinated, by silence and shared intuition, Nagisa and Honoka trace the same single loop, ending up standing side-by-side facing their copies. Perhaps their teamwork has a tiny imperfection, since they bump shoulders and upper arms as they come to a halt. Or perhaps it's more perfect than ever.
Their silhouettes, in school uniform and school gym uniform, are the last thing to disappear into the sudden sphere light that engulfs the duo. But that sphere, as mighty as it is, is only the spark.
"Dual Aura Wave!"
The torrent-blast of rainbow energy firing at the sky like a pillar to heaven is the cannon.
"Futari wa Pretty Cure!"
"Servant of the Dark Power...!"
"Return to the darkness from which you came!"
The two Pretty Cure stand, pointing together, hard-faced, j'accuse. Then, breaking her pose, Nagisa turns to Natsuko and puts her fists on her hips. "Did you hear that? THAT'S the line! Remember it, okay? Science says you memorize best by sleeping!"
COMBAT: Nagisa Misumi transforms into Cure Black! COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into Cure White!
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Usagi briefly wonders if Lacrosse has bases. The fingersnap causes 'Jeanne' to look away from Umino. Even if Usagi isn't so strong, she assumes the nerd has noodly arms. And then suddenly like he's a varsity wrestler, he turns the tables on her by grabbing her by the arm and twisting it even as he rolls. "Wah!?" Usagi is suddenly plastered back on the rooftop, with her arm twisted behind her back. "Umino-kun!? Have you been working out? ... ... Dark King?"
Usagi has of course heard of the Dark King, as she remembers the Dark Fall effort to bring him into this world. Umino though yanks her upright, and with a cry and a stumble of her legs, she's frog marched towards the edge of the roof. Even as the sky turns black in a spiral of darkness. And a crane...
"Umino-kun! This isn't... how Moonlight Knight-sama would act!" Usagi says with a certain pained panic, as she suddenly wrests her arm away. And puts a hand to the brooch she's clipped to the front of her Jeanne cosplay.
"Well too bad for you - because - Moon Cosmic Power - MAKE UP!"
In a kaleidoscopic shower of celestial light, and an encircling heart, 'Jeanne' becomes the one and only Sailor Moon.
Yanking her now magically strong arm away from him with enough force to likely shove him back briefly.
Mars addresses them with outrage. And Moon follows suit with a different sort. "You!" She addresses Poisony, and her terrifying Crane Zakenna, "Popularity and exposure are what leads to the creation of new media! I'll never forgive anyone who gets in the way of the Golden Queen of Shibuya anime from being made by harming the cosplayers advertising her brilliance to little kids! Sailor-Suited Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice - Sailor Moon! In the Name of the Moon -"
As she strikes a fierce pose. Now, Kotono is currently brainwashed by the darkness but she hopes she'll take notes anyway for the next show, "-I will punish you!"
Hey look Mami. It really was Usagi after all.
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used In The Name Of The Moon on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick perfectly braces 0 Fatigue damage from Sailor Moon's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Brace! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Mami's ribbons construct an emergency net down one side of the building. It glistens more brightly than it should in this Zakenna-gloomy darkness.
*THWAP*
And then it... bounces. As though something struck it from beneath.
...this bounce sends someone flying towards the roof: the tiny Golden Queen, Momoko Momohara, who'd been caught in Mami's grasp after she fell. She lands on her feet somehow, and stares sightlessly at her counterpart, no trace of recognition there, let alone the adoration and awe she'd probably contain.
"Chastise," Poisony mouths at Sailor Mars, amused by her defiance. Her arms are folded, rather than in any sort of battle-ready stance. "Do you think that sounds cool or something? You remind me of Pisard... he looks cool, but that's the only cool thing about him."
She doesn't even deign to RESPOND to Sailor Moon.
Down below, the unmagical Magic Knight cries out softly when she's bound by Fuu's winds -- even more gently than normal, it's still more than enough to tear at that innocent's skin. Evidently whatever strength was required to surprise-grip Fuu Hououji was either that of a normal girl with surprise on her side, or else did not confer any particular toughness to go with it.
It's the first sign of consciousness that any of them have given -- and it is a quiet noise of pain.
"Sourisi" is more fortunate, in the sense that, almost accidentally, she steps out of the path of the golden chain. It was more of a stumble than anything. Afterwards, she gazes emptily at her idol... but her palms begin to fill, syrupy slow, with fingers.
Even though she was expecting it -- perhaps BECAUSE she was expecting it -- Poisony shades her eyes from the brightness of the DUAL AURORA WAVE. Afterwards, she lowers her fingers and smiles at her foes: everything is clearly going Just As Planned.
"Your flashy display ends here. A Pretty Cure against Pretty Cure fight seems interesting, ne? Go, my Pretty Cure!" A beat. "And the rest of you!" She knows what Sailor Senshi, Miraculous-users and Puella Magi are, but that's just too much to list.
*snap*
The cosplayers collectively take readied positions.
"Sourisi" is extremely close to her counterpart and launches into a two-fisted tackle heedless of what might happen to herself on landing.
"The Golden Queen" also bullets in like a dynamo, head down, arms thrust forward, straight at Mami.
"The Moonlight Knight" was shoved back -- and all this violence has thrown his bottle-thick glasses to the floor. Which means he is ULTRA GORGEOUS and ULTRA BLIND simultaneously, because of those big exposed eyes. Even hypnotized, they still have the tiniest bit of sparkle. It's inherent.
The way he tries to twist his white cloak around Sailor Moon's neck, then YANKS, is not. And then the other "Sailor Moon" arrives, knuckles crackling ominously...
BUT THEN
Mami's net doesn't bounce the second time it's hit. A hole is torn straight through it, torn by a supermassive black metal wrecking ball, larger than it was before possessed by the spirit that has granted it an angry brow and a grunting mouth. (No eyes though.)
"ZAAAAKENNNNNNNNN!"
It keeps going -- the momentum required to burst through the golden net requires this. It cannot so easily control itself, after all that.
But what goes up... must come down.
"NNNNAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
On the backswing it gets a little slack, like an excessively swung swing. It uses that moment to jerk itself SQUARELY into Cure White and Cure Black's faces, more or less on general principle. At least that forces "Cure White" and "Cure Black" to divert around it, delaying that reckoning for a moment.
But another reckoning accelerates -- the velocity-displaced wind of the Zakenna's passing counterspins Fuu's grip on her counterpart. The "Magic Knight of Wind" draws the bow off her back, sets (nerf) arrow to its string, and fires. Is that arrow a threat in the present climate? It's up to Fuu, when and how to find out.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used In The Name Of Pisard on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Cure on Cure Action on Sourisi. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Cure on Cure Action on Mami Tomoe. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Cure on Cure Action on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Cure on Cure Action on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball on Cure White. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball on Cure Black. COMBAT: Fuu Hououji braces 6 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Cure on Cure Action, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji's Block and Parry abilities activate! Blind, Diversion, and Stun applied to Fuu Hououji! COMBAT: Sailor Moon counters 2 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Cure on Cure Action, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Blind, Diversion, and Stun applied to Sailor Moon! COMBAT: Sailor Moon's counterattack, Spiralling Heart Rod, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Pink Moon Stick! COMBAT: Mami Tomoe dodges 3 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Cure on Cure Action, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Diversion and Stun applied to Mami Tomoe! COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's In The Name Of Pisard, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Quipped! COMBAT: Sourisi braces 5 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Cure on Cure Action, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Blind, Diversion, and Stun applied to Sourisi! COMBAT: Cure White partially dodges 8 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick is Psyched! Cure White's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Cure White covers Cure Black for Pink Moon Stick's attack, I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball, taking it upon herself instead! COMBAT: Cure White fails to brace Pink Moon Stick's I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball, taking 34 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
The Magic Knight of Wind winces as she hears Manami's whimper, but moreso as she sees the injury inflicted. She'll have to heal that for the cosplayer, if she can, but that's enough for the Winds of Admonishment to start dissipating - even before the backwash of the Zakenna wrecking ball's passage shreds the spell entirely.
If the Wind Knight had a clear shot at Poisony right now ... well, a cursory look-around indicates that she doesn't, so there isn't much point in dwelling on that. The Wind Knight settles for bracing against the nerf arrow, which probably wouldn't hurt much if it didn't peg her right across the bridge of her glasses - and whether by a fluke of physics or by an act of whatever magic is manipulating the faux Wind Knight, the impact rocks the real one back on her feet.
She doesn't wait to recover her balance, or even for her vision to clear, before her own bow and quiver materialize, and she wastes no time in drawing a bead on the wrecking ball Zakenna, letting an arrow fly at the cable as close to the crane's top as she can aim. Her aim is probably well short of tournament level right now - her glasses got jostled out of place, and she isn't taking the moment to re-seat them - but she'd sooner take pot shots at the giant monster than risk hurting her classmate further.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Basic Archery on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mami spots the little Golden Queen first, and it's terrible to see that sightless stare of hers. Mami becomes that much more intent on putting a stop to this. She can't thus entirely appreciate Sailor Moon's approach, though in better circumstances she'd rather like that idea actually. But in the current circumstances, Mami looks reassuringly to Moon and then back to Poisony.
"That's--" The cosplayers take readied positions, and Mami's yes widen for a moment. She moves into action, slipping to the side to avoid a full impact and instead reaching out her arms to catch the little Queen instead, spinning with the momentum before she tries to set her down nearby. And then Zakenna comes next--
"Down you go," Mami says, and steps back, pulling from her sleeve a pair of great rifles that she tosses up. The Puella Magi spins, and two more burst into being, before she has a semicircle of rifles aimed straight for the wrecking ball and its angry mouth.
Bang!!! Mami's retort is her guns' report, and the glare she gives next.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Cure White [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Cure White's level gaze flicks between Natsuko and Kyoko. It is possible to see behind the blue to the gears turning, about how best to oppose them without harming them.
She doesn't so much see the falling wrecking ballkenna as she feels the wind of its incoming approach. It tosses her hair along her back, shifting it just a little, like the breeze turning a single page of an open book.
As such, after all that thought, she reacts on instinct.
And her first instinct is always the same. Pretty Cure is predictable that way.
"Blacku!!" she shrieks. Her skirt shortens to thigh-length with her top-like twirl, but that's the only graceful part of what happens next.
She hip-checks her cosplayer-tutoring partner out of the path of the ball...
...and then disappears into it.
There's a thump much more meaty than metallic -- and then nothing.
Cure White was hit so hard that she's vanished from the roof entirely.
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Fuu Hououji's Basic Archery, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 8 Fatigue damage from Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Sourisi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sourisi is a little conflicted as her conjured chain misses Hoshi barely. She's glad that she's didn't hit someone that's not in their right mind at the moment, but she really wants to make sure Hoshi doesn't get hurt! "Hoshi-san, stop this! You can fight it!"
This call falls on deafen ears as "Sourisi" charges the original with a tackle, one that Sourisi is able to stop. The impact is still enough to sting her arms, showing that there's a hint of magical strength for the possessed victims. No way she can attack Hoshi, though. It's likely what Poisony wants...
But the...wrecking ball monster she called forth is a different matter! Sourisi runs back several steps from her cosplayer friend and pulls her tonfa free of their clasps with a flick. Leaping up, she throws the rosewood weaponry overhead with a twirl to add a little extra zip! "Hey, no demolition while personal is still on the site!"
COMBAT: Sourisi has used Crashing Tooth on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick braces 30 Fatigue damage from Sourisi's Crashing Tooth, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon Stick's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Eh...?" That's not the response Sailor Mars expected to her battle speech. She actually stumbles forward a step, like her pointing finger has overbalanced her. "Hey, wait a second! Pisard?! He's nothing like me!" Wasn't that guy tripping over his own ego--?!
Thoroughly incensed, Sailor Mars is henceforth thoroughly distracted -- because sweet, silly Umino is being compelled to -- "Sailor Moon!" Mars yells warning, only for her to realise that there isn't just one Sailor Moon on the field, right now.
And the other one is advancing.
"Kotono-san..." Quietly, Sailor Mars sighs, as she produces an ofuda slip. "... you really would have liked seeing how this works, huh? It was always just too much of a pain for me..." Because she didn't want to have to deal with 'Rei-sama, Rei-sama,' someone else who loves mysteries never got to see how she handled evil spirits, after all.
She was happy to let her feed her ego, but she didn't want to entertain all that enthusiasm. She thought the ideas of her club were foolish and uninitiated and she didn't even have the decency to tell her to her face, the way she would with her friends. It was more convenient to her to have admirers like Kotono...
... maybe that comparison to Pisard wasn't entirely worthless.
"Well, pay attention," Sailor Mars says, shaking her head to rattle the thoughts out of her brain. Her hands make one symbol over the ofuda slip, and another, and another -- nine in total, the cuts of kuji-kuri. Power -- energy -- harmony -- healing -- intuition -- awareness -- dimension -- creation -- and the absolute, and they know it of course as zen. There's a flash of her wrist, and she springs forward to smack the slip onto Kotono's forehead, with this invocation: "Evil, begone!"
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 50 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"She doesn't just think it sounds cool! It is cool!" Sailor Moon protests in Mars' defense, probably accidentally making her seem even more uncool as a result. Then turning around suddenly, she double takes.
Because Umino is so strikingly handsome that she second guesses if he really is the real Moonlight Knight. "Wait - Moonlight Knight-sama is... is that you? Are you here to protect-" With her guard down, he finds it an easy matter to wind his white cloak around her neck and yank. Suddenly whipping up her rod, she at least gets it between his cloak and giving him a full choke hold. But she's still in a perilous situation as she kicks and flails against his attempt to strangle her.
And then 'Sailor Moon' is heading her way, cracking those knuckles and her eyes go wide. She's about 70/30 right now on this being Umino versus Moonlight Knight, and the only reason it's about 30 is because she's certainly known Tuxedo Kamen to fall prey to dark influence. And as she's just eliminated Haruka Tenoh from her suspect list, only Tuxedo Kamen is left currently.
Sailor Moon's face is fast turning red, despite her rod staving off part of the strangulation effort, panting and gasping as she struggles to try to get a good breath. And yet, she can talk at least. And as she sees Rei behind her, preparing an Ofuda, she tries to distract both her and him.
"Now... watch closely for your next show." Grasping Moonlight Knight's flowing garb with a hand, she suddenly uses this leverage to be able to get some momentum. "Sailor Moon-" Launching herself off the ground in a half circle like rotation, still restrained by the cape. Just enough to disorient him, and turn her around in his grasp. The moment she hits the ground, she sends a knee hurtling towards poor Umino's gut before he can get his bearings. "-KICK!"
Now presumably more lax in his grip, she takes a quick look around the battlefield ultimately deciding that the presence of only one Moonlight Knight on the battlefield means that it is in fact, Umino, and begins to scold him. "Also for your information Moonlight Knight-sama would NEVER attack Sailor Moon!"
Sudden pause, as she reevaluates what she just said.
"Unless he were forced to because he came under the influence of a dark power - probably? Like you...?"
It's not like she thinks that's a frequent thing, or looks down upon it as she knows that it has happened to a lot of people just she knows that it can happen, and has happened to him in a notable way.
Rubbing her throat and the back of her neck in both a motion of massaging it from the pain and awkwardness she compliments him, "So... good character work?"
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Sailor Moon Kick on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick fails to dodge Sailor Moon's Sailor Moon Kick, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Psyched! Stagger applied to Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Black [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Hey!" Cure Black calls angrily at Poisony. "Pisard was your teammate who did his best! Maybe he should have done his best at something else, but! Whenever I see other players trashing their own team, I think... this is going to be an easy match!"
She looks over her shoulder at her unwitting protege, Natsuko. "Okay. Now watch how we pose," Cure Black gives a last instruction. If she thought Natsuko could listen while totally out of it she's not about to stop just because Natsuko seems to be getting aggressive again. But by the time she turns her head...
"Blacku!"
She has already been shoved. Her feet are slightly off the ground from the gentle but powerful force White is capable of exerting on her allies. She's floating for an instant... and so is Cure White, that guardian angel made of lace and moonlight. Black extends her hand back. And White is torn away, as if hit by a train. Cure Black's courageous brows falter. She falls towards her back, her black boots starting to drift above the level of her head.
OST - Precure Appeares - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k-k6ascd94
Like a mousetrap triggering, Cure Black's kneels shoot to her chest, tucking at the last second. She hits the ground on her shoulderblades and does a sharp back-roll, with enough momentum from Cure White's hip still remaining to knock her back onto her feet, lips and fists curled back in equal fury.
"You think that's enough?!" Cure Black shouts. Natsuko has almost reached her, but the true Black bolts forward, sprinting faster and faster as she nears the edge. "You think Cure White will let that eyeless tetherball of yours...!"
Black might have been expected to jump down and bounce off what remains of Mami Tomoe's netting. Instead, she clears the cracked-off edge of the parking garage in a massive long-jump, ignoring the golden safety in lieu industrial-yellow danger.
"Separate HER!" Cure Black woofs, the air slammed out of her ribs and giving that second word a lot of kick, as she hits the crane arm roughly, scrambling to get a limb, any limb, to catch a hold on it. One handhold slips, dropping her dizzyingly, but two meters down she catches a second with a gasp. Hooking her feet and hands on, she skids down the crane arm rapidly. She's running out of time--the ball has almost backswung its way back into smashing her.
Cure Black shouts her final defiance as she kicks the crane arm, holding on with one hand to do a dizzying swap of her arms. "From her PARTNER?!"
Cure Black's crisscrossed arms straighten, flipping her around to face a wrecking ball that now fills her entire field of vision. With a fierce cry, she jams a two-legged shove right back at it, using the crane's own arm to brace her back. With a thunderous retort like cannonfire hitting a castle, the wrecking ball stops... and a calculated few moments later, shoves back a little with a twisting motion, so its mouth rotates oddly. All that really managed to do was prevent an injury Cure Black shouldn't have been exposing herself to in the first place, so why...
COMBAT: Cure Black has started a combo targeting Pink Moon Stick!
<Pose Tracker> Cure White [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed. <SoundTracker> OST - Precure Appears - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k-k6ascd94
The stars are out early...
No... just one star, brilliant Hwaito against the gloomy sky.
A falling star...
No.... a plunging star.
She descends so fast and so hard that for a moment it's possible to believe that this is the end of the fight instead of the beginning -- a blaze of white lightning, crashing directly and deliberately towards the wrecking ball's 'head'.
With a tremendous effort, she raises one leg against her own immense momentum, just so she can bring it back down for the extra oomph her entire body can provide, right at the moment of impact. A moment that Black has made perfect, both in timing and in imposed stillness.
"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEII!!"
Her leg falls like an executioner's axe.
A sonic boom ripples in her wake, sheer force distorting the air, even as sweat is torn free from her skin to hover around her leg and smudged-up face like diamonds.
It's forgivable to mistake it for the sound of White Thunder.
COMBAT: Cure White has joined the combo started by Cure Black! COMBAT: COMBO! Cure Black and Cure White have used Precure Double Screw Kick on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick partially dodges 31 Fatigue damage from Cure Black and Cure White's Combo: Precure Double Screw Kick, taking 125 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon Stick's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
The wrecking ball zakenna is an extremely worthy opponent. Given the attention of the magical girls, it takes it hungrily. Fuu's arrow clangs off the top of the crane; offered Mami's bullets to eat, it chews them up and spits them out.
*ptoo*
Sure, its metal mouth is sizzling a little, but that was worth it...
*clang clang*
Sourisi's tonfa set the crane's length humming where they hit.
*boom*
That'd be the two-step guillotine of Pretty Cure. The chain glows red with the strain it's suddenly under -- and spins the ball, rather than snap entirely.
But ignoring the cosplayers is a potentially deadly mistake. Not for the magical girls...
*snap*
Most of the cosplayers weren't really engaged in earnest to begin with, and simply drop where they stand. The "Moonlight Knight" aborts his counterattack (one hand on his gut, the other reaching back towards Sailor Moon) to do the same. Then they roll, like so many logs, tumbling towards the end of the roof... AGAIN.
Poisony laughs cruelly.
"You know what to do to make this stop," she calls after White and Black, and everyone else presumably rushing to rescue their classmates. "Surrender the Prism Stones... and I'll think about sparing your friends!"
Kotono is spared the others' fate, but not without pain -- she screams and screams as the power of the ofuda burns the possession out of her, then collapses, panting, at Sailor Mars' feet.
Her eyes are glassy with agony, but at least her gaze is her own.
"Lookit," she slurs.
Look at... Sailor Mars?
That's a reasonable interpretation.
But the wrecking ball, which is now more like a tetherball, is soaring in towards Mars from behind (and the fallen Kotono herself, from the front) with terrible speed.
'Look out.'
COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball on Sailor Mars. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Sourisi. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Mami Tomoe. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Sailor Moon. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Fuu Hououji. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Cure White. COMBAT: Pink Moon Stick has used Reckless Endangerment on Cure Black. COMBAT: Mami Tomoe braces 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Quipped! Mami Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Mami Tomoe is Taunted! COMBAT: Sailor Moon neatly dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Quipped! Sailor Moon's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Sailor Moon is Taunted! COMBAT: Cure Black dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Black is Quipped! Cure Black is Taunted! COMBAT: Cure White neatly dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure White is Quipped! Cure White's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Cure White is Taunted! COMBAT: Sourisi fails to dodge Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sourisi is Quipped! Sourisi is Taunted! COMBAT: Sailor Mars braces 30 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's I Came In Like A Wrecking Ball, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Pink Moon Stick is Psyched! COMBAT: Fuu Hououji partially dodges 0 Fatigue damage from Pink Moon Stick's Reckless Endangerment, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Quipped! Fuu Hououji's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
