122/Oh Brother.

Oh Brother.
Date of Scene:	02 July 2015
Location:	Pikarigaoka - Clover Street - North
Synopsis:	Scorn visits Sakura's street to try a new spell. It doesn't go as planned at all!
Cast of Characters:	Sakura Kinomoto, Tadase Hotori, Haruna Kurosawa, Nagisa Momoe, Seishi Tamashige

---

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
The past week has been a wild ride for the girl who is Scorn. Things went so bad fast. She thought this was going to be easy, Corvus /assured/ her this would be /easy/, a piece of cake. It's been anything but a piece of cake. Everyone seems to be playing their hand at her. Stopping her goal--- she wanted to give up. But she couldn't bring herself too. She had to do this. She had to.

SO THUSLY, Scorn is out again on her broom--- in the dwindling daylight as school let's out. She's somewhere overhead. Nobody really notices the black clad witch over the city. She's like a spec. Also she isn't dramatically flying across a moon where a friend can take clear video of the entire thing.

"Come on Kaiju, you can do better than that. Don't they take big steps!?" yells back Toya dressed in his school uniform, as he pedals his bike down the road, peeking behind himself, as Sakura is most likely rollerblading behind him on the side walk. Toya, while a jerky older brother, isn't going as so fast as to completely outpace Sakura- which he could do in a heartbeat.

Scorn begins a spiraling downwards motion into the mess of afternoon after school traffic, and thinks hard--- this was a new trick. She hasn't tested it in action, as she gets closer to the ground. "Darkest fright, scary night, send this world into Twilight!" this a sudden burst of dark energy- and the world suddenly becomes all various shades of grey- like the forecast suddenly became rainy, when it was a gorgeous clear afternoon--

Then it begins to slowly rain raven feathers from the sky. Bad thoughts begin to tug at everyone's heads. Traffic seems to come to a stop. Those that can't take it collapse where they are--- though, no souls have been taken yet! She seems too busy trying to finish this particular spell.

Toya stops dead in his tracks, skidding the bike around. He doesn't immediately fall like the others. But he's paused to look at the bizzare weather.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    "Ugh, you meanie! I'm not a monster, I'm a little girl!" Sakura yells back at her brother as she skates along behind him, trying her best to keep up. It's true, he could probably leave her in the dust if he wanted to, but that doesn't mean she'll give up even if he does! And when she /does/ catch up to him, she can just imagine herself growing into a giant Sakura, crushing him cartoonishly underfoot for all those years of teasing- wait, the weather forecast didn't say anything about rain today.

Skidding to a stop next to her brother, she's distracted by the strange clouds, and the people collapsing all around, and the raven feathers falling from the sky. "H-hey, what's going on? Toya?" she says, fear starting to build up in her at the unfamiliar and clearly unnatural phenomenon. She could ask Kero, but if he revealed himself right now, with her brother right there...

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase Hotori was walking home from school - alone, strangely enough. Yaya had gone to the ice cream shop, Kukai had football practice, and Nadeshiko had a recital coming up and was pretty much never around.

That's when Kiseki floats in front of him, reminding him that, for better or worse, he is never alone! But Kiseki has a serious look on his face, a concerned look. Tadase has seen this look before. "Kiseki... is it an X-egg?" he asks.

Kiseki's eyes are fixed on the horizon. "No, it's not. But it's bad, Tadase. It's really bad. It sends chills through me." he says. There's no atttidue in Kiseki's voice, no mirth. This truly is a serious issue. And that's all Tadase needs to hear. He's dashing off, and Kiseki is flying just in front of him, leading him to the area.

He can feel the difference instantly. Bad thoughts tug at the edges of his mind, feelings of inadequacy, despair. But then it's Kiseki, like so many times before, that pulls him out. "If you want to be a good, true King, this is the kind of problem you need to face head on!" Kiseki says. And that gets Tadase moving again, Guardian's Cape whipping behind him, stopping when he sees Sakura and Toya, the first people he's seen not incapacitated due to the emotional barrage raining down on the area.

"What's going on here?" he asks.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Nagisa was having a rare few hours out with her father after school, and in anticipation had baked him some cookies during Cooking Club. They hadn't done anything spectacular together, having merely walked and spent time together in one of the less busy sections of town. Alas he had reports to grade, and so their time had to come to an end.

    Rather than walking home with him, however, Nagisa had asked to go through the big King Penguin Park instead, wanting to do some of her homework at the library there. Home was... distractingly quiet, whereas the quiet of the library would be expected.

    She hasn't even made it to the park yet when everything around suddenly changes in a very bizarre way. "Nngh!" she struggles, almost collapsing under the original burst of energy, one that would have her laid out cold were it a few weeks earlier. Instead she finds herself feeling slightly dizzy and weak, but strong enough to straighten back up and look into the sky of raining feathers. "What is this?" she asks no one in particular. When she actually notices a feather falling close to her she reaches out to catch it, which may be a mistake. "Is a giant bird blocking out the sun?!" gasps, suddenly running along the sidewalk.

    "Why is it always mean birds?!" she shouts in frustration, the negative emotions momentarily getting the better of her.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Seishi Tamashige has her cell phone in her hand and a lot of thoughts running circles in her mind as she walks along the sidewalk, only a small fraction of her attention really on where she's going. At least at first. She's thinking of tonight's homework assignments, of what to pick up from the grocery store on her way home, of how long she can put off going home before she'll need to be there to start dinner.

But then the air darkens, and Seishi stops in her tracks as a feeling like a shudder passes through her, looking up in confusion that's quickly replaced with a cold brush of alarm as she takes in the unnatural shadow, the people collapsing around her. Something is wrong.

The hand that's not busy hastily stuffing her phone into her pocket reaches outward as one of those black feathers drifts down directly in front of her. "...a Nightmare?" Seishi murmurs to herself. She glances to one side and the other, and in the thickening darkness between a building and the hedge alongside it, a pair of eyes like embers stare back to meet hers.

Under the expectant stare of the baku where he crouches behind the hedge, Seishi makes up her mind. With a single decisive nod, she ducks out of sight, and reaches up to pull the red ribbon from her hair.

"Twist the cord of fate!" she says, under her breath.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Toya hasn't falled to his knees, or face yet. That's kind of odd. "We should get out of here." he says to Sakura. "You too." he says towards Tadase and Nagisa as they come onto the scene. He goes to get back on his bike and get out of the area--- when Scorn comes closer down to the ground as she lands onto the top of a roof.

"That worked." she says with relief. Though that's short lasting as her eyes go wide. Those people over there are still standing!? Ugh! This was.. supposed to be easy! AGAIN! EVERYONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ASLEEP!

The crow materializes on her shoulder.

c+"Ha, you failed! Don't wail. Take them down, to the ground."</span>. Scorn just grits her teeth.

She points her broom outwards... she levels the broom directly at Sakura. "Grant my Heart's Desire--- SOUL RELEASE!" she's trying to steal Sakura's soul--- and the black bolt 'zorts' from the tip of the broom, snaking through the air like black lightning.

Toya doesn't even think about it. He doesn't have to. Someone's targeting his little sister. ONLY he gets to do that. "Sakura..!" he calls out as he shoves his bike to the ground and makes a dramatic move to get in the way between her and the bolt- and it hits him square in the chest--- white light returning through the bolt into the broom-- as Toya slumps down to the ground. Sent into a coma like

"I got one of you. Now I'll get the rest of you , too!" she rhymes out.

The feathers, gloom and overall oppressive feeling of the area remains. Like raining big black light snowflakes.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    As Tadase comes onto the scene, Sakura glances his way- Wow, this just keeps getting weirder. Is that a little flying doll dressed as a king? "I-I don't know!" she calls out to him in response, and then things just go from bad to worse when she sees Nagisa running up too. "Nagisa-chan, get away! Something really bad is happening!"

That's when the witch from before makes herself known with her incantation, and Sakura looks up just in time to see the magical black bolt flying toward her, too stunned to react. Time seems to slow to a crawl over the next few seconds, as she turns her head to see Toya throwing himself in front of her to save her, too late for her to say or do anything. As he falls to the ground in the same coma-like state as so many other people, it takes another moment for what just happened to process.

And a moment later, the air is filled with her anguished scream.

"ONII-SAN!" Sakura cries out, dropping to her knees next to his now empty, almost lifeless body, desperately shaking him while tears stream down her face. "Onii-san! T-Toya! Come on, wake up, this isn't funny!"

Meanwhile, from her backpack emerges the small, lion-like form of Keroberos, as he sniffs the air and looks up at Scorn, then down to Toya and Sakura. "Oh no, this is bad..." he mutters, gritting his teeth. If only he could return to his true form, maybe he could do something...

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase watches everything in slow motion. He's not Chara Changed yet, so he can't protect Sakura... or Toya... from the blast from Scorn. That's about to change though, as he grits his teeth. "Why would you do that?" he shouts, loudly. Kiseki is equally angry. A small crown appears attop Tadase's head, and he moves to get between Sakura and Scorn - a good King must be ready to protect his subjects. He materializes a royal scepter in his hand, and levels it at Scorn.

"You... you undo whatever you did right now, or..." he doesn't want it to come to this, and he's still pretty new at this 'fighting things that aren't X-charas' thing, to a degree. But Kiseki steels his resolve and finishes his sentance. "Undo it or you will answer to us!" Kiseki is substantially less threatening than he thinks he is, but he's putting every bit of honesty and righteous fury into it. To Sakura, who he believes is a civilian as well, Kiseki turns and adds. "Stay back, commoner. We'll handle this."

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    So maybe Nagisa was wrong about that whole 'giant bird blocking out the sun' thing. At first it seems like the entire bird angle was just a red herring until that crow materializes. No. No, it really is just a really mean bird causing trouble! Not that the girl herself actually sees it at first. She's left feeling a bit upset as she can't find the reason for this strange false weather, and it isn't until she hears Toya's voice shat she considers running away might actually be a pretty good idea.

    Then she hears Sakura, her new friend from school and looks in her direction just in time to witness the bolt of black energy streaking towards her. The elementary school student freezes in place and watches in horror as the older boy calls out her name and protects her by using his own body as a shield before crumpling to the ground. Her head snaps in the direction to where the bolt came from and finally she sees Scorn. "That's horrible! Why would you hurt someone like that for no reason?"

    Then Sakura herself reacts and the white haired girls blood runs momentarily cold. "Onii-san? So that's... Sakura-chan's older brother?" Sakura-chan who had been so nice to her and had helped her get through so much of her own pain... her family was being hurt in front of her.

    Worse still that mean girl in a pretty dress was threatening everyone else as well, Sakura, and even Nagisa herself! As her friends cries out in an anguished pain she knows only too well the small girl starts to cry herself, tears flowing down her cheeks. She feels weak and helpless, like she's felt for so long, and those negative thoughts being forced into her mind aren't helping.

    It's almost too much for her... almost.

    "I won't do it!" she shouts, "I won't do nothing while the people I care about are hurt!" She has power now, right? The ring on her hand sparkles and forms into an egg which holds onto tightly. Soon the egg and her entire body is glittering with magical energy, a different set of clothes popping onto her one piece at a time; hat, cape, shirt, skirt, leggings, shoes, and finally a darkish lavender gem set into a candy shaped holder on her belt..

    Okay, maybe doing that in the middle of the sidewalk in front of everyone wasn't the best idea, but she's new to this whole 'magical girl' thing! As soon as the transformation is over she runs up beside Tadase, Sakura, and the stricken Toya. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan! Nagisa will protect her friends family with everything she's got! Everything will surely be alright! ..okay?"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
That desperate scream from Sakura drops the bottom right out of Seishi's stomach. Damn it - was she too slow?

In the next moment, as she makes it over and onto the rooftop, she can see that she was, at least for Toya. Behind her mask, her teeth clench in determination. No, she tells herself, gripping the hard shape of the Shinken tightly in hand. It's not too late yet. Drawing in a breath, she concentrates the way O-Yasu told her, willing the closed fan to transform into the familiar grip of a bow - her fingers reach into the air, finding the cord of fate and pulling it out of nothing into a bowstring.

She won't let this happen.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" The voice rings out from above, and there she is, poised on the edge of the roof in the red kimono and jin-baori of a samurai (if ever the samurai lived who wore his kimono that short over bare legs). Her face is hidden by the grimacing face of an oni mask, but it's clear enough who her words were meant for by the bow she's holding, arrow drawn back and trained at Scorn. "Whatever you took from that boy, return it!"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Scorn seems to pause a moment as various demands are made of her.... she mouths the words 'Onii-San' to her a moment. She seems struck with something for a moment, but with a close of her eyes and shaking it off, she takes a deep breath.

"I will not." she says towards Tadase and Akashimaru. She frowns. "All these people will be taken away. Stop me, and you'll pay! Let me finish the job." she murmurs, pointing the broom at the assembled heroes.

A black wind emanates from her broom as feathers are picked up by the fast moving wind, sending a small tornado of black feathers into the position of the heroes.

Meanwhile, the raven on her shoulder cackles in a bird like manner as she attacks.

"You can't stop me from my goal---I'll send you into a world of woe!"

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Sakura's tears have stained her brother's school jacket by now, but she could hardly care less as the reality of the situation settles in. Even though she can still feel his heartbeat, it's obvious that, one way or another, she's lost another family member. "Onii-san, I'm so sorry. If I were a little faster..."

"Sakura, there's no time to sit around blaming yourself!" Kero speaks up, flying in front of her. "He's still alive, his soul's just been taken out of his body! If we can get that back, then..."

Suddenly, everyone around them (who's still awake, anyway) is transforming!? Including Nagisa, who seems to have taken to using Sakura's own words of reassurance. It has an effect on the girl, and as she stands up, wiping her tears away with her sleeve and sniffling, her other hand goes toward the key hanging at her neck. "Y-you're right, Nagisa... Everything will surely be alright." Then, to Tadase, she gives a firm look, clasping that key in her hand. "I'm not a commoner..."

A golden magic circle expands from beneath her feet then as she holds the key out in front of her, chanting the words that trigger its transformation. As it expands and lengthens into the Sealing Wand, she twirls it around over her head before pointing it up at Scorn, proclaiming with eyes full of anger, "I'm the Cardcaptor!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
With so many magical girls transforming around him, Tadase steps back - rather than standing in front of them, he's standing with them now. He's no Tuxedo Kamen, so his encouragment speeches may be a little rusty. But he's got his own way of working. "My apologies." Kiseki says to Sakura as Tadase steps back, still with his scepter raised.

Tadase also begins to put the peices together, remembering the information. "You're... you're the one who's been hurting everyone!" he says, looking at Toya. "He's not the first person you've done this to!" he adds.

Then he finds his composure, thanks again to Kiseki. "I'm not the only one here standing against you. What do you intend to gain by doing this to people! Why do you hurt them? If you stop, maybe we can help you - but if you keep going around doing things like this, we're going to have to stop you!" he says.

He doesn't attack yet, but Scorn isn't afraid to be the first one to do so! Tadase's not about to let those feathers hurt any of his new allies (much less himself or Kiseki) and he calls out.

"HOLY CROWN!" As he does so, a massive golden crown of energy bursts forth, ballooning out of his scepter, intercepting Scorn's tornado and doing his best to protect everyone. Scorn's power is pretty overwhleming, and it takes Tadase a lot of effort to hold his scepter and put enough emotion into it in order to blunt her attack properly. "She's pretty serious!" Kiseki adds 'helpfully'.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    The meaning behind the appearance of Keroberos, and the kingly little Kiseki floating around Tadase (who sprouted a crown! when did that happen?), starts to dawn on Nagisa as she starts to come out of her own little personal emotional space. She's just about to start questioning them aloud when Sakura speaks up, the younger girls words seeming to have helped a little. She's already done something good, yay!

    As Sakura pulls out her key and transforms it into the sealing rod she stares in awe for a moment, only to hear Scorn rhyming at them from above. That's when she notices the tornado of feathers headed right for them. "W-watch out, Sakura-chan!" she cries, not knowing how long her schoolmate needs to be standing there in place.

    Not entirely in sync with Tadase, Nagisa moves forward as well and tries to stand in front of Sakura, which puts her partially out of the way of the scepter's protective reach. She gets buffeted by the wind, which sends her cape flying behind her dramatically, and it's all she can do to hold her arms up in front of herself to shield her eyes from those feathers. Even the partial assault is more than she can really directly stand up against, and so she gets blown backwards a fair ways, tumbling head over heels and ending up splayed out on the sidewalk looking dizzy.

    Sur*pop*</span>, *pop* they change color. "Nothing but black and grey is boring!" Holding out her other hand a little trumpet appears into it, and she sets the newly recolored feathers onto the horn. "You were told to give it back," whatever 'it' is, Nagisa can't quite follow everything that's happening at once, "and you didn't, so now we have to make you!" She takes a deep breath and holds the trumpet up to her lips, letting out a loud cutsey note, and more importantly six or so large, exploding magic bubbles that float quickly up towards Scorn and her raven!

    Collateral damage, what's that?

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
With the twang of a bowstring, Akashimaru releases her arrow. It streaks through the air, only to be caught up in the blast of wind from Scorn's broom and sent tumbling harmlessly off-course, disintegrating into fragments as it falls among the storm of black feathers.

"Tch!" Akashimaru's breath hisses sharply between her teeth. As the wind picks up around her, billowing her sleeves and making the long tail of her hair fly out like a banner, she vaults from the edge of the rooftop. The arc of her bow unravels into ribbons and disappears as she drops down to the street below, landing in a crouch; where the bow's grip was moments before, now there's an iron war fan closed tight in her hand.

"So you're the one," she says, as she moves forward to range herself alongside the other three, reaching the same conclusion as Tadase. Taking a combat stance, she brandishes the still-closed fan towards Scorn in an accusatory gesture. "You've brought grief to too many people already! This Akashimaru won't allow you to take any more!"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
"I don't need your help!--- what a whelp!" she says to Tadase. "This is my burden alone!" she insists angrily, as her broom disappears into a burst of feathers. She raises her hands as she summons up a wave of feathers into the air--- trying to use them to intercept Nagisa's bubbles coming in--- some cut through them, but some make it through, impacting the witch as she's blown back. off the car she was using as a soapbox just a few moments before. Her hat goes flying in the process. She doesn't need it--- so she merely gets back onto her feet quickly, with the help of the beating of her raven's wings- that things strong for how small it is.

"Knock Me Down, Make me Frown, I'll send you fleeing from this town." she rhymes out. "Grant my heart's desire--- Soul Rend!" she calls out, another gale force of black wind sweeping at the heroes- though this one is infused with a lovely dose of despair and- and is more directed- unlike the tornado she sent out earlier.

Idly, her hat on the ground disappears into a poof of black feathers, too- that melt away as they touch the air.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Sakura flinches a bit at the incoming attack, realizing that she was so wrapped up in her transformation that she didn't even notice it. But, thankfully, she's not alone, as the others put their best efforts into stopping the feathery tornado, even Nagisa and that strange masked samurai! "Nagisa-chan!" she calls out when the younger girl is blown away, but she's relieved to see that her newest friend is alright.

"Sakura, she's getting ready for another attack! It feels like the same one she hit you with last time!" Kero warns her.

Sakura nods, letting out an affirmative 'mm!' as she summons one of her cards, floating in front of her. Spinning the Sealing Wand over her head, she brings it down to strike at the card, invoking its name. "Shadow!"

A well of shadows spreads from the card, forming a figure in heavy black robes for a moment before the shadows spread, forming a protective barrier to stop the Soul Rend in its tracks. Kero, grinning now, punches the air as he watches. "Yeah! Brilliant work, not many people would remember that the Shadow is a Light card at a time like this, Sakura!"

Sakura, however, just blinks, a puzzled look on her face. "Eeeh? It was just the first thing I thought of, because it's so dark out now, and I thought Shadow would have an easier time than Windy did..."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Scorn seems unwilling to discuss this calmly, and Tadase gets ready to join the fight - sometimes, you can't talk to someone until you talk them down, or show them they can't win. That's when Scorn's Soul Rend comes up. Before Tadase can even take cover, Sakura's Shadow Card meets it, stuffing most of it's damage. Tadase can feel the negative feelings behind it, and it gives him the chills, but most of the voices of despair stay out of his head, thanks to Sakura's protective manouver.

Kiseki, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be handling it as well. "Tadase, her power... I think I'm gonna be sick." he says, his eyes spirals. Being a creature literally born of hopes and dreams means he reacts rather poorly to the presence of Scorn's despair. "There's something really... wrong about that power." he adds.

"Alright!" Tadase says, with an air of finality. "I don't want to fight anyone, but I can't let you freely throw that sort of negative power around!" he adds. "ROYAL LIGHT!" A golden-white beam of energy erupts from his scepter, streaking towards Scorn! "Thank you, Cardcaptor!" Tadase adds to Sakura.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    The bubbles that make it through seem to have sent Scorn tumbling, though not inflicting any major sort of damage. But trading blow for blow isn't bad for her first attack as a Magical Girl, Nagisa thinks. Never mind that she was shielded from the brunt of the assault by Tadase's protective crown!

    And this time it's Sakura who helps take a lot of the energy out of Scorn's attack, though the remaining tendrils of despair laden wind that do make it through seem to be particularly effective. She winces as it flows around her, the dark whispers in her head making her shiver a little. "Nagisa doesn't like having her soul rended," she mutters to herself.

    Deciding she'd better not let that happen again she gets mobile, starting to run away from Sakura and Tadase and circle around Scorn, so at least she'll have to either pick and choose her targets or use something a bit more diffuse. She lets her trumpet fade away as she moves, dashing between cars and trying to sneak up on Scorn from behind. Once she gets close she lifts her hand up, a silver platter held aloft, the girl's oddly colored eyes locked upon Scorn's raven as she waits for a good moment..!

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Akashimaru, too, shudders under the weight that even the very edge of Scorn's Soul Rend presses down against her heart, but fortunately Sakura's quick action shields them enough to spare her the crippling despair of its full power. She squares her shoulders, gritting her teeth behind her mask, and with a sharp gesture of her hand the tessen snaps open.

"You say it's your burden alone," she calls back to Scorn, "but how many people have you dragged into it by taking away someone they care about? Do you even know?"

For one heartbeat, she sees Nagisa start to creep up behind Scorn, platter in her hands - and it's a good thing she's got that mask to hide her face and keep from giving the younger girl away. In the next moment, she pins her focus back onto Scorn again. A few scattered feathers eddy around Akashimaru as she sweeps back her hand, the arc of her fan trailing ruby light. "Come, wind that blows away lies--"

In a swift motion she steps forward and swings the Shinken towards Scorn, releasing a sudden rush of wind that sends all those feathers blowing back at her and pushes back at the pall of bad feelings created by the witch's power.

"--Sankyosen!"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Scorn watches as Sakura summons up some sort of dark shadowy creature, that generates a shadow that stops the wind from reaching her---and Tadase fires off a beam of light. The girl dissapears into a flurry of feathers, and moves away from the blast. Only for that smaller girl to disappear among the cars with sleeping people. Her eyes dart, she catches her with some sort of silver platter.

What is that odd girl doing?

Netherless, Akashimaru blows a wind with her shinken as a wind comes blowing at her to counter the effects of her Soul Rend. She holds her ground, but summoning up a wall of feathers from the ground--- it's still 'snowing' raven feathers. The ground is slowly being colored black by them. They're particularly harmless otherwise.

She summons her broom again and sits side saddle on it as she takes to the skies.

c+"What are you doing!? Running!? Fleeing!?"</span> the bird asks. It's not in Rhyme, but the same parameter speech is still there.

"Yes." she says. "I've leaned how these playout, it's better if we just checkout." she says through grated teeth.

She's zipping off, and away! It's still possible for one or two people to get ranged shots in-- and as she leaves, the odd weather seems to taper off as feathers begin fading into black motes of nothingness.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Shadow is strong, and even stronger with how little direct light there is, but its power can't last forever. Some of those whispers start leeching through invisible cracks in the shadowy shield, and tears start falling from Sakura's eyes again as they start to get to her in her vulnerable emotional state. But, thankfully, the others take the opportunity to attack Scorn, forcing her to break off the Soul Rend. Shadow, in turn, flows back into its card, which disappears as Sakura plucks it from the air.

"W-wait! You can't just run! Give my brother back, you jeeeeeerk!" she hollers after the fleeing witch, but it's clear that her words aren't going to do anything. Wiping at her eyes with her sleeve again, she turns to Tadase and Akashimaru, bowing to them. "Thank you, both of you, for helping me drive her off. But if she has my brother's soul..."

Kero, in the meantime, is staring at Kiseki, unsure what to make of the little chibi king.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase is one of those that fires a few more blasts from his wand at the fleeing Scorn. "Get back here and undo this!" he shouts, tears at the corner of his eyes. Is it because he's angry, because of the lingering effects of Scorn's attack? No.. it's because, as he looks over at Toya, it reminds him of his Grandmother. Strong and powerful, then laid up.

Kiseki, now able to act again, moves up to Tadase's shoulder and sits on it, placing a hand on his neck. He doesn't say anything, but Tadase knows what he means. A King doesn't cry. So he takes a deep breath and walks over to Sakura.

His crown vanishes from his head, and he puts a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I'm sorry." he begins. But that's not helpful, so he quickly adopts a more hopeful tone. "We'll get her, and we'll make your brother better. And all of the people who this girl has hurt. And maybe we can save her, too." He smiles down at Sakura. Maybe those famous sparkles can bring light into the eyes of the sad, as well.

Then he turns to each of the other girls - Akashimaru, and a sidelong glance at Nagisa. "Thank you for your help, as well... I am sorry, but I do not recognize either of you - though I can tell you are both valliant and strong."

Meanwhile, Kiseki, somewhat obtuse as usual, has also found Kero staring at him. So Kiseki looks around him, pacing around. "I do not recgonize this beast, Tadase!" he says, loudly.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    While Nagisa might be the right size for a sneaking mission, she does rather stick out in her choice of clothing, never mind her white hair and that covered platter she's now toting around. There's a blink of surprise followed by a look of disappointment when Tadase's and Akashimaru's attacks force Scorn to fall back.

    And then the broom riding girl starts flying off, and Nagisa lets out a cry of surprise. "You can't go yet, we haven't saved Sakura-chan's brother yet!" She starts chasing after on foot, but when it's clear she's not going to be catching up any time soon she creates another trumpet and fires off a fairly large barrage of bubbles after Scorn, hoping to knock her off. But they don't really travel that quickly, and they aren't laser accurate either. They may give Scorn the feeling of a World War 2 reenactment as bubbles air burst all around her, but unless her balance on the broom is poor it's unlikely to get the job done while she's in full retreat.

    Seeing this Nagisa dismisses the trumpet and stares after for a moment before turning and running back towards Sakura and the others.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"Hey!" The tessen closes in her hand with a snap, and for an instant the red string glimmers between her fingers, the arc of the bow beginning to form - but not quite soon enough. Akashimaru can only watch with bitter disappointment as the witch girl disappears from sight, even in spite of the last-ditch efforts of both Nagisa and Tadase.

When Sakura bows to her and Tadase, Akashimaru turns to face her and bows in return, deeply, both hands gripping the closed fan. "I'm very sorry that we weren't able to stop her," she says, before straightening back up again to incline her head in acknowledgement to Tadase.

Despite the ferocious scowl of her mask, her eyes behind it are soft with sympathy when she looks toward Sakura again. "Don't give up," she says gently. "We'll find a way to make her give back what she's taken."

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Sakura nods to Tadase, sniffling a little bit. Maybe that Soul Rend is still affecting her, or maybe Scorn didn't even need to use it to wound her heart. But at Tadase's gentle touch and his calming sparkles, the tide of her tears is stemmed once more, and she suddenly pulls him into a tight hug, stepping away a moment later. "Y-yeah, I'm sure we'll get them all back, and... and save her, too..." she agrees, and then blushes and rubs the back of her head at the compliment. "Ah, I don't feel very valiant /or/ strong right now..."

Then, Akashimaru gives her support as well, and Sakura nods again. "Thank you, ma'am. I'm sorry, I don't know who you are..." And then Nagisa rejoins the group, and Sakura takes the chance to avoid awkwardness by waving to the younger girl! "That was amazing, Nagisa-chan! I didn't know you had magic powers too!"

Kero, in the meantime, crosses his forelegs over his chest, hovering in place as he harrumphs and turns his little black nose up at Kiseki. "Hmph. I'm not just any beast, you know. I'm the Guardian of the Seal, Keroberos, charged with watching over the Clow Cards!" he explains, then drops the attitude for a moment to stare at Kiseki curiously. "So what are /you/?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
"All of you girls were amazing!" Tadase says, in a real show of enthusiasm. "I was really impressed." he adds. He gives the girls a bit of a wide berth, letting them share their emotions with each other without him directly in the way... and spending time thinking about what to do next, how to respond to Scorn.

Meanwhile, Kiseki and Kero continue to talk and get to know each other. "I am Kiseki, King of the Guardian Characters! I am the strongest, the smartest, the ruler!" he says. He's very humble. He's totally not swooshing his cape and glittering." There's a moment while he considers Kero. "A Guardian Beast? So... like a Guardian Character! Like me? But you don't look anything like that girl with the wand." he says, his hand on his chin, like he's contemplating.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Nagisa completes her trek back to the rest of the group just in time to hear Sakura saying she's sure they'll be able to save her brother, which makes the smaller girl feel a little relieved. "I'll do whatever I can to help you save him, Sakura-chan. I know how much having someone you care about in danger can hurt, but I'm sure this is something we can fix."

    Even though she says that she can't quite bring herself to look down at the fallen Toya for too long, he's still breathing, but seeing someone helpless like that- it brings bad memories to her mind.

    She then blushes a little herself when her magic is mentioned, spinning on one leg with her arms out. "I do!" Calming back down she adds, "This was the first time I've used them. Your powers were amazing too, Sakura-chan." She looks over to Kero, "And he's cute, too!"

    Then she'll take a little step away from Sakura in order to give deep bows to each Akashimaru and Tadase in turn, her speech changing to be more polite and formal, "Thank you both very much for doing your best to help Sakura-chan and her brother." Hopefully Kiseki doesn't get upset by being left out!

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
The samurai girl bows again, to all three of them this time, not quite so deeply as before. "I'm Akashimaru," she says, filling in the name that Sakura didn't know. "Guardian of the Gate of Dreams. If you ever need help, please call on me again."

She steps back, and turning, she kneels down next to Toya. "...For now, we should take care of your brother." Her voice as she says it is still gentle, but more serious now. "Is there someone you can call? Should one of us call for an ambulance?"

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Sakura beams a bit at the praise from Tadase, even starting to blush a little. He's so handsome~ "Th-thanks!" she says, then turns to Nagisa again, nodding at both her reassurance and the extra layer of compliments. She grins sheepishly, scratching at her nose as she says, "W-well, I'm not /that/ amazing..."

Over with the two tiny familiars, Kero raises an eyebrow at all the preening Kiseki's doing, scoffing at the idea that he could be anything like this prideful little shortstack. Grinning a bit proudly himself, he answers, "Ha, I'm not a Guardian Character, whatever that is. I was created by the great Clow Reed, the most powerful and famous sorceror ever known! Sakura here is his descendant, so I've been watching after her since she opened the Clow Book!" Then, with a weary sigh, he adds, "Unfortunately, releasing me also released all of the Clow Cards, and we've been trying to gather them all back together before they make too much trouble..."

Back over to Sakura, she bows respectfully to the masked samurai, now having a name to put to the, er, face. "Thank you very much, Akashimaru-san." she says, then goes to kneel by her brother again, the momentary distraction from the situation passed. "I don't know if the wand will support his weight, and I can't exactly carry him myself anyway... I guess we should call emergency services."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase produces a cellphone rather quickly. He nods at Sakura. "I'll call them for you. We'll have to tell them he passed out on the street; they aren't gonna buy a story about a raven-witch on a broom, no matter how many of us tell it." he says, nodding as he begins to call for an ambulance, saying Sakura's brother just 'passed out during his ride'. "If you need someone to help you walk it back home I'll do it." he says, after the call is made.

Back with Kiseki and Kero, Kiseki squints at Kero. "If you're a guardian, why did you let these cards get loose?" he asks. Then a pause. "Well, that's not important. If you're a guardian beast, you're still a guardian something, so you must be one of my loyal subjects. And if you're a beast, that must make you... a royal beast."

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    "You're right," Nagisa quickly replies to Akashimaru as she suggests calling an ambulance. When Tadase makes the call she listens in, because as horrible as this might be it could be something she needs to learn how to do herself in the future. "I probably wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes." When the boy offers to walk Sakura home she quickly nods, "And so will I! But... shouldn't Sakura-chan call her father? I'm sure he's going to be so very worried about both of them," she looks between Sakura and her brother, "after something like this." The back and forth between Keroberos and Kiseki catches her attention and she takes a curious step towards them before laughing and piping up, "A Royal, Loyal beast!"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Akashimaru inclines her head again, to Sakura's thanks or to Tadase for taking care of the emergency services call, or both. It's a little hard to tell. She doesn't seem to have anything further to day, and indeed, as Tadase and Nagisa seem to be well up to the task of making sure Sakura has the moral support she needs, before long the samurai girl simply slips quietly away. Better if she's not there in plain view when the ambulance arrives.

She keeps watch from a distance, though, until emergency services gets there and she's certain that everything is taken care of for the time being.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
    Sakura nods to Tadase, grateful to him for taking care of things. He even thought up a cover story, something she hadn't even considered! "Thanks a lot. Um, by the way, my name is Sakura Kinomoto." she says, standing up with a bow before she nods to Nagisa too. Pulling out her own cell phone, she starts dialing her father's number as she says, "Yeah, that's a good idea, Nagisa. He'll need to know what happened."

Kero, meanwhile, looks like he's just been punched in the face, reeling back from Kiseki before he regains his composure and grumps, "Okay, so I got bored waiting for her and took a little hundred-year nap. Jeez..." But then, at the mention of being one of Kiseki's subjects, he incredulously shakes a paw at the Chara, shouting, "I'm not one of your 'loyal subjects'! It's a completely different thing, got it?"

Then, after a few deep breaths, he calms down and mutters, "Though I guess being a 'royal beast' doesn't sound so bad..." Visions of himself in a crown and fancy red cape start dancing through his head...

After she's finished telling her dad what happened, using the cover story provided by Tadase, Sakura pockets her phone and smiles at the young prince. "Thanks again. I don't think this is the best time to bring new friends home, though." she says, then turns that smile on Nagisa. "And thanks to you too, Nagisa. Maybe... maybe, with everyone's help, we can save all those people."

And then she turns to- wait, that samurai is gone, and so silently too! As a chill runs up her spine, Sakura lets out a little cry. "H-hueeeeeeh!? Was she a g-g-ghost!?"