1373/The Price of Doing Business

The Price of Doing Business
Date of Scene:	15 April 2016
Location:	Pikarigaoka - Seiyou Public School
Synopsis:	Miss White tries to steal a Heart's Egg from a Seiyou student! Several people express indignation. With fire bolts. And Flicker Shots. And cameras. And claws.
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Sharpe, Momo Akatsuki, Mikoto Nakajima, Chloe Stingray, Sora Hisakata

---

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Another day, another test round. After the rousing success of the first use of the Heart's Egg stealing weapon, and a lot of guilt later, it's time for Hannah to continue to hold up her end of the deal. School's just let out near Seiyou, and various kids are making their way home. Miss White lurks in an alleyway, the long gun vaguely hidden near a dumpster.

She's also, notably, sporting two arms this time and has donned gloves. Despite the guilt tearing at her heart, it's been lucrative. And has certainly shut up her doubters.

Along comes a young kid, definitely elementary school age and with Seiyou's uniform. Her Device pings her, Hannah pauses, and with a heavy sigh kneels down to start to get a bead on the kid with some Raging Tempest help. There's a low whirr as the gun starts to charge up!

Momo Akatsuki has posed:
Momo had just got out of school herself, some distance away. She was still frustrated about some things from the week prior, and while Sachiko seemed better Momo hadn't really gave up her hope that she'd get a little payback for her friend.

She had to cut by Seiyou on her way home, strangely without Sachiko trailing along with her this time. She stopped at the gate to look over at the older school, smiling softly.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto was on her way to the library, to pick up some physics texts she'd reserved. The branch that had them was near Seiyou, so she's taken a bus down in that direction.

Debarking from the bus, she stops in at a small convenience store to get a soda. A minute or so later she emerges, drink in hand, and takes a look about the area. She notes the student walking by, but doesn't recognize them as one of the Guardians, so doesn't approach.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    Chloe had JUST left with a newfound friend when she was leaving Seiyou. Leaving rather late, she has a big smile on her face, not knowing what's going on at all.....

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Can't say I approve, miss White." A familiar giggle accompanies that familiar voice, and when a figure as shady as Shiniko judges your actions, well... you might not be doing the right thing. "That kid did nothing wrong." It's not immediately obvious where it's coming from, no doubt one of the shadows.

In fact, it's from the shadows inside a tree, the Shadow Witch sits between the branches, and now a shadow claw comes rushing out of the ground, reaching out for the gun Miss White is holding, an attempt to wrest it out of her hands. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that." She drops out of the tree, looking to the people beyond. "Nothing personal."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Despite it all, Hannah briefly finds herself smiling. She rather likes Shiniko, even as she's reprimanded. She manages to fire back...figuratively anyway.

"I don't like it myself, but, this is the price of doing business with the people I do. Feel free to try and stop me. Don't go easy."

But, there's also the matter of a large shadowy claw just as she pulls the trigger! Hannah is forced to dodge and roll in the narrow alleyway, smacking her leg on the dumpster. A muffled curse, and that shadow hand rips along a hastily erected shield! The shot goes wide, buzzing the young boy's hair. He swiftly screams and runs, right past the others that are in the area.

Shenanigans are even more obvious as a Barrier fills the area. Most of the civilians are gone now, with the exception of one more little girl. Hannah doesn't immediately attack her. No, she's leaps out of the alleyway on the force of a swift wind-kick towards the sound of Shiniko's voice! Emerald green magic comes lashing for her! Hannah lands out in the middle of the street.

Momo Akatsuki has posed:
Momo changes on the go, seeing a very familiar barrier appearing and a screaming kid older than her running away. These are signs that someone out for vengeance should be keeping an eye out for, and she really is.

Prism Keeper Pink replaces Momo on the run, going for the alley as she grasps her Chroma Wand tightly. "I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!", she screams filled with outright fury. She was almost there when Hannah leaped out and she all but growled like a small, pink and furious mama grizzly bear.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
     Reaction Detected!!
    "What the...." Chloe groans as her necklace decides to wake up. "Man. I just wanted to go home and eat dinner." She then shakes her head. "Well.....lets help whoever needs it. Burning Soul activate!"

Acknowledged! Setting Up!

Chloe rises a little off the ground as her clothes are replaced by bursts of light, becoming a dark blue long sleeved jacket, and the blue gem on her necklace detaches to become a long spear.

Chloe grasps the spear and mutters 'Flight', before they fly into the sky. "All right....take me to the reaction." And she lowers close to the ground. "That close huh?" She says flying close to where Hannah is......and observes.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto blinks as a surge of light comes from a nearby alley. The Barrier makes it obvious what's going on, and she sighs deeply. "Wonderful. Just wonderful."

((~Signature analysis complete, Meister. Signature recognized.~)) A holographic screen pops up in front of her, showing a face she recognizes instantly - Hannah's.

"Alright, Carnwennan, let's do this. Set Up, mode A." A brief shimmer of light, and her casual clothes are replaced by Hagane's sharp blue suit, rapier hung from its baldric at her side.

Taking a last sip of her soda before tossing it aside, she walks, quickly but calmly, over to the alleyway. "Whatever is going on here, hmm?"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Shiniko watches the barrier go up, and it creates another giggle. "You know, miss White. I was thinking about creating my own version of this~" Somehow that sounds like she's got 'improvements' in mind for it, "I should show you when I'm done~"

Regardless of that, the Witch starts walking towards miss White on those shadowy tendrils that look like more hair, and the emerald green magic hits her straight on, cutting through the shadows that move to block it, and hitting the shadow witch right in the face. "You hurt me." The creepy childish cheer is gone. Her voice grows colder than an ice box on pluto.

And then, ignoring the others who have arrived, she throws a ball of dark, frozen shadow fire at Hannah, the flame sucking the heat out of the environment. While the claw-hand that tried to divert the shot was mostly harmless, this attack can easily kill.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The raging PKP gets Hannah's attention! "It looks like I won't be winning any stealth contests. Oh, it's you. I wouldn't rage like that kiddo. You're not very good at it." She taunts, even as she has to deal with an angry Shiniko. The gun, smartly, goes into her jacket and dissappears.

Chloe gets ignored, though her Device does beep at Hannah to let her know she's there. Very useful, Devices!

Even as she's being Dark Coldball'd, the arrival of the familiar Blue has her sighing.

"Just completing my end of a bargain. Are you going to help me, or stop me?" She asks. No attacks for Blue just yet!

FWOOSH! Hannah is briefly consumed by that shadow-fire. It may well have killed her judging from the now ruined jacket floating down, still on cold-fire and burning away.

A shadow falls on the Shadow Witch, as Hannah pops out the other end of her teleport, jacketless and with cold burns. She gives just as good: a hammering kick aimed right for the face!

"Well of course. You /are/ trying to stop me. I'm not just going to roll over, even if I like you! And yeah, that'd be great!" Grin!

Momo Akatsuki has posed:
Prism Keeper Pink just gets angrier, her pink eyes blazing hot pink as her very skin seems the colour with the rage bubbling in her. She stamps her foot like the indignant child she is, glaring at Hannah with unveiled scathing hatred.

She lifts her Chroma Wand and gives it an angry swipe through the air, a trail of pink energy left there and developing into a camera. A somewhat big camera. She stamps her foot again, a knowing smile on her face.

The camera turns to follow and shoot, a beam of pink energy going for Hannah. Will it hit? Who even knows, but wow it's bright.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Hagane sighs softly as she watches Shiniko and Hannah fight. Hannah really seems to enjoy fighting. It might disturb some people, but to her it's just the way the American girl is.

But whatever Hannah's up to, it's something that the Witch doesn't like. Which means Mikoto isn't too terribly enthusiastic about it.

"That depends on what you're doing, and what you're doing it for," she answers Hannah's question.

And then her sword is in her hand, and her usual halo of Flicker Shots starts to form, nearly invisible as the translucent shards orbit above her head.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "Well...that's something I haven't seen before." Chloe says as she.....sees a bright pink beam going for Hannah. Then again, being new at this meant that.....everything that was going on, she hadn't seen before. "Was that the reaction you detected earlier?"

Affirmative!

"All right. I'll let you aim then. Normally I'd be shooting at the shadow magic girl, but I'm thinking it's not what it seems. You aim, Burning Soul. Shooter mode.

The Spear opens into a trident as the device aims at Hannah.

FIRE BOLT!

A shot fire towards Hannah after she says the attack and streaks right for Hannah...

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"My name is Shadow Witch Shiniko, and I'm a hero. Unlike some of us, I don't attack harmless little kids who did nothing wrong." Shiniko coldly tells Chloe, probably doing nothing and less to convince Chloe that she's not a problem. At least right now, she's probably a less urgent problem.

Then she gets kicked in the face, and is thrown back. It shows one flaw with Shiniko's magic: She's not used to actually fighting someone who hits back when there's no team to protect her. She'll need to correct that. Her face goes cold, dead to emotion, and she flips through that book of hers. Then, the shadows in the immediate vicinity all light up in that same dark, frozen fire. "You shouldn't have hurt me."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
A /lot/ happens at once. The angry Prism Keeper stomps, she's still being questioned and Blue is charging up her Flicker Shot. And Chloe helps out from above, even as the angered Shiniko seems set to burn her to an icicle!

That fire leaps up, and Miss White smartly takes a leap to the roof of the nearby building. Wince. She ditches her shoes, they're toast. And on cold fire.

"...Admittedly I probably deserve that one." A laugh, nervous, guilty.

To Blue, she grins. "Oh come on. You know I can't tell you that. I don't sell out my allies."

But Blue nicely distracts her, and there's a pink beam straight to the face. Swiftly followed up by Chloe's fire bolt slamming into her chest! She's knocked off the roof, and slams through a nearby wall. Thankfully that barrier's still up. Coughing amidst the debris, she shoves herself to her feet, already battered and bruised.

"Yeesh, you guys aren't holding back! Great! Let's finish this."

Magic flares around Hannah, wind gathering around her arms, miniature tornados forming! Then, with a leap, she charges Prism Keeper Pink, aiming a hard punch with hurricane-boosted force!

Momo Akatsuki has posed:
Pink energy feeds into the camera and it becomes similar to a larger scaled one of those old Nikons made of metal and grass as it darts in front of Prism Keeper Pink right as Hannah goes to punch her. Pink herself steps back, eyes wide with surprise but quickly narrowing once more.

Chloe Stingray has posed:
    "You're not really helping your case." Chloe says to Shiniko as Hannah's blown off the roof. Chloe follows her down, tracking her with the trident as she hits the ground and starts after Prism Keeper Pink.

Recommendation:...

"I don't want to hear your recommendation, I don't want to hurt more people than I have to. In this case...one.

FIRE BOLT!

Another red bolt streaks towards hannah as she moves for Prism keeper Pink, and hopefully will divert her attack.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Hagane simply watches as various people engage Hannah in combat. Perhaps she doesn't really want to hurt her. Or perhaps she's buying time to grow her halo some more.

Or maybe she still thinks she can talk Hannah down. "You were pointing a gun at a little kid. That goes a little beyond 'doing a favor for an ally'."

And then Hannah's fist is lashing out at another 'little kid', that being Pink. "That is by gods enough," she states.

(("Blitz dash!"))

And with that mechanical announcement from her Device, she suddenly zooms across the ground, trying to interpose herself between Pink and the oncoming punch. Her own fist, wrapped around her sword's hilt, lashing out at Hannah in return.

"Drop the gun and bloody well stand down."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
As it turns out, magical cameras are good at blocking. Magic and camera clash as Hannah punches the camera instead of her target, and eventually, she gets shoved back by the impact, doubled by Blue rushing in and offering her sword. Wince. That /hurt/!

And then, fire! This time she manages to dodge, ducking into a roll and kicking away the fire bolt before coming to her feet. She actually grits her teeth.

"Quiet!" She lashes out, definitely on the losing end of this little argument. Guilt lurks in her voice, but the stubborn girl keeps on going. She seems ready to attack the group once more, when there's a sudden ring from her Important Phone (tm). A pause, a leap, and she answers.

"Bad timing! What's the...Bob's loose? Damnit! Alright, alright! Just make sure no one gets eaten." Sigh.

Flip. She dusts off her thoroughly ruined barrier jacket. "Looks like you kids win today. Congratulations." With that? She teleports off, frustrated and battered.