2143/Midterm Blues

Midterm Blues
Date of Scene:	21 November 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Seishou Public School
Synopsis:	Numerous children call in sick at Seishou, claiming extreme exhaustion, many of whom have visited the space botany club. Meanwhile, there are rumours about plants coming to life in said club - or are they just the hyperactive imaginations of exam stressed students? Come and find out!
Cast of Characters:	An, Daisuke Hansuke, Mikoto Nakajima, Makoto Kino, Naru Osaka

---

An has posed:
    The last several weeks have been pretty stressful for staff and students alike at Seishou public school. Midterm season is always a bit hectic, however, lately it seems that a lot of students have been calling in sick at an alarming rate. More worrying is that many of these students have in one way or the other, been in contact with the increasingly popular space botany club.

    Speculation had sprouted into 'crazy rumours', of strange alien plants attacking students in their sleep. But of course no one believed such farfetched rumours, right?

    Well, it's that general disbelief of the supernatural that a certain pink-haired alien is betting on, and as the school closes up for the night, she steals the keys to the botany lab and lets herself in, locking the door behind her.

    By now, the once innocuous plant has grown five times its size, reaching nearly 4 feet tall now, and practically glowing in the botany lab. Even from outside, its hard to miss it for those who look. There's definitely some activity going on in the otherwise closed and darkenned school.

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Lots of people, students have been passing by through Dad's office a lot. He doesn't think much of it because students often call in sick this time of year because it's the perfect excuse to miss midterms if you have a super cold.

It's when he starts hearing talk of the Space Botany club that he begins to grow suspicious.

Time for a checkup.

He walks up to the closed school and frowns a bit. He isn't no gentleman thief kamen.

He does frowns a bit and cross his arms. He wonders if he should call someone.

Or maybe others are snooping around too.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto has been paying little attention to rumor for the past few weeks, continuing to work on her own project. She's been working hard, certain she's close to a breakthrough of sorts. It's been months, and she's starting to get a little ... impatient.

    Which is why her face is blackened with soot from what might as well have been an Elmer Fudd style explosion when Hikari comes in to tell her the news. The Familiar, at least, has been keeping an eye on things, and has dropped in on the Space Botany club once or twice. It's a Space thing, that's cool. Mikoto hasn't let her bring any of the plants back to the lab, fortunately.

    "Nee-chan! Nee-chan!" the cat-girl calls, scampering in. "There's something going on at Seishou! I was just passing by and saw a really bright light, so I went in to check - and it was coming from the Space Botany lab! There's got to be something going on with those plants!"

    Mikoto blinks and looks over at Hikari, then hmms. "As in, visibly glowing? That's... really kind of unusual." Understatement much? She pauses to get a wet towel to wipe the soot off her face while the cat-girl explains the details. "Well, I'm not going to get anything done until I can get a new monitor in, so I might as well check it out."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's been rather distracted from thinking very much about the continued existence of a Space Botany Club at Seishou, a fact that she's started to regret since the rumors of alien plants have reached her ears. This has definitely gone on too long. It's time to investigate in person.

She's already transformed and is checking out the school from outside when she spots Daisuke standing out there. Looks like someone else had the same idea. A quick redirection, and a moment later Sailor Jupiter is touching down nearby.

"Hey," she says. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

An has posed:
    The pink-haired one smiles wickedly as she approaches the rapidly growing plant. She's still in her civilian disguise, just incase she gets interrupted. Excellent! It must have absorbed the energy from dozens of young unsuspecting girls, but due to its young age and small size - at least up until now - it went by mostly unnoticed by the majority of students who did not believe in such things as 'aliens!'

    She laughs in her alien voice as she approaches the plant. "This is incredible! you've grown to five times your size, and you're still growing! But..." But An has still had no luck in controlling it. And she tries one last time, this time closing her eyes as she holds out her hand, attempting to mentally control it.

    But the plant struggles against her alien powers, and this one will not be controlled! It snarls and lashes out, and An lets out a scream of terror, backing off a bit. But, she must have this plant, before they do!

    "Aaaiiie! What are you doing!?" and she backs away, searching the room for something to...Hit it, knock it out with, anything. No, she doesn't want to kill it yet, not until she can bring it back to the Makaijou to feed off of it and she cant risk using her powers in the school. But it seems that she's running out of time. Attempting to shove a chair at it only makes it angrier and it grows several times larger, giant pincer-like legs sprouting from its roots as it climbs out of its rapidly bursting pot..

    Then a loud SLAM and CRASH is heard as it hurls the chair against one wall, and grasps Natsumi around the waist and begins to sap her energy from her body..

    During the scuffle, one of its clawed tentacles crashes through the window, sending shattered glass through the outside of the school as its body continues to grow.

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Daisuke Hansuke looks to Jupiter. "Oh!, hello Sailor Jupiter." he says. "Yeah. Lots of weird things going on at Dad's practice. Didn't think much of it until the 'Space Botany'." he smirks a bit. "Club was mentioned." he says.

"Since.. usually. Well. Lots of people fake sick for mid semester." he says.

He summons up his staff-- and a little whirl of purple energy engulfing him and- he's Asclepius now.

"Okay. I think I can teleport us in with too much c----"

And then a giant tentacle smashes through the window and there's some screaming and he frowns. "Never mind!" he says as he begins to run in that direction.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Getting into her barrier jacket takes only a moment, and Mikoto takes to the skies, zooming off towards Seishou. She isn't far from the school, and she's a fast flyer, but she's still not going to arrive there right away. Probably just in time to see the others get into trouble, really. That seems to be how these things work out.

Makoto Kino has posed:
WELP. The subtle approach definitely goes out the window once there are screams and glass breaking and... evil tentacles. Sailor Jupiter swears softly under her breath and then she's taking off sprinting after Asclepius, long powerful strides quickly closing the gap between them.

"At my own school," she's grumbling to herself as she nears the building. "I must be blind. HEY!" Between one word and the next her voice rises into a shout, a bid to get the monster's attention if it has any mind of its own at all. In the same moment she's pressing her hands together, gathering threads of electrical energy into a tight sphere.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure--!" Winding up, she flings the ball of lightning at the tentacle that's flailing out of the broken window. That should get its attention whether it's got a brain to think with or not.

An has posed:
    The tentacle still sticking out the window clears the rest of the glass from the frame. It might have been satisfied by its current meal, but then Sailor Jupiter attracts its attention with a well-placed lightning ball, which slams into the tentacle, damaging it enough to hurt and it definitely attracted its attention.

    With a snarl, the giant space plant bursts through the side of the building and rushes towards Sailor Jupiter, still grasping onto a now-unconscious Natsumi in one of its many clawed tentacles. As it rushes towards Jupiter, the upper part of a female body sprouts from the crab-like tentacled legs.

    For those who have encountered it before, it's appearance is unmistakably that of a Xenian offspring!

    With an evil smile, it charges at Jupiter, claws sprouting from its 'arms' now as it attempts to slash and slice or simply impale her with its long bladed claws.

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius gets as close as he can before he blinks out of existence in a purple flash....

Before he reappears ontop of the school. He's not good at close range. Jupiter's good at close range. This thing is going to have a bad time.

His eyes trace over to Mikoto, before tracing back to to the create as he raises his staff and fires off a brilliant purple orb of energy. It isn't particularly strong. But he can do a better job pelting this thing with magical orb blasts than trying to smack his staff into it, most likely.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto is, in fact, just coming into view as the plant-thing sprouts its pseudo-feminine body-appendage. To those keeping an eye on the sky, and able to notice magical things, she's pretty easy to spot, coming on at full flying speed with little regard for stealth. Rather unlike her usual approach. Must be having a frustrating day at school, or something.

    The familiar Belkan spell-glyph of triangle and circles appears, bands of runes rotating around her blade as she slashes through the air on her approach.

    ((~"Flakschrecken!"~))

    A sequence of little blue-white bolts form from the blade's hilt, flowing along the edge as she swings, to be let fly from the tip as she hurls them towards the monster. It's not an easy shot, at this range. But the attempt is worth it.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's actually happenstance, to be honest, that has Naru arrive a little late. There'd been studying at a friends, and a walking home and headphones and a casual glance towards the closed school as Naru passes.

Plant tenticles out of a window. Oh wait, a giant space plant rushing Sailor Jupiter. One of THOSE plants, rushing her friends.

Naru runs towards the screams, because that's the sort of crazy she is, shoving her headphones away and digging into her bag for her sketchbook as she does.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter doesn't bat an eye as Asclepius vanishes - mostly because she's got a pretty good idea of what he's doing, but also because all of her attention is for the plant monster as it comes bursting out from inside the building in a form she definitely recognizes all too well. Her face hardens, the heel of her boot grinding against the ground as she braces her stance and raises both fists in front of her. Not even the flurry of bright bolts from Mikoto make her flinch.

"Bring it," she growls, low in her throat. As the Xenian bears down on her with claws slashing and snapping, she dodges a quick half-step to the side and then lunges forward, driving an electrified fist toward the Xenian's center mass with all of her considerable strength.

An has posed:
    It seems that the brunt of the Xenian's attention is upon Jupiter, and that lightning really hurt, more than anything else!

    Unfortunately, it's pretty damn fast, and while Mikoto's runic bolt manages to completely sever the already damaged tentacle, dropping in a useless pile to the ground, it does manage to dodge most of Asclepius's purple orbs; Even so, a few stray orbs do manage to hits some of its tentacles, slowing it down long enough for Jupiter to hit it square in the chest with her lightning bolt.

    Another pained screech erupts from its mouth, and it bares angry fangs at the green clad senshi, ignoring the pain from the searching burnt hole in its chest. Still, this creature is strong, and even more dangerous when wounded. With an evil smirk and a hungry lick of its lips, it brings its clawed arms to try and wrap around Jupiter while at the same time a number of those clawed tentacles attempt to wrap around the senshi's body and sap her energy..

    Throughout the battle, Natsumi is still being held in one of its tentacles. It seems she still has some life left in her, and she wakes up again, eyes widenned at the sight of the creature. She should have blasted it when she had the chance, but clearly the alien had underestimated the strength of the Xenian plant.

    Glancing around, she realizes that there's probably not a single person who would care to help her. Heck, she's got no friends in Seishou. But wait, is that Naru, over there? She at least made an effort to check out her club, and occasionally she was...Kinda nice. She starts to flail weakly towards her. "Naru! Naru!! Help me!"

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Jupiter should be used to Asclepius' general mode of operations at this point- hang back. Fire what he can. Move in to help heal when it's over because punching things close tends to hurt.

He sort of gnashes his teeth. "That thing has her too tight." he calls out. "I can't teleport her away unless I try to take that thing with it and I feel that's a very bad idea and will end poorly!" he calls out.

"If someone can free her..." he says. "I can do it then." he says.

He goes ahead and teleports onto a tree branch and peeks up and out of it as he seems to be waiting now for something like that to happen-- or willing it at least.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    To be purely honest, Mikoto doesn't know Natsumi from Eve. On the other hand, clear civilian. And yelling for help. From ... Naru?

    Well, that's going to be a thing. Mikoto touches down a few feet from the plant-thing and lashes out with her blade, cutting loose another series of Flakschrecken to keep it busy while she pushes closer to the pink-haired girl. "I've got this!" she calls. And does not add 'Hold my beer'. That would be silly, she's underage and can't have beer.

    As she gets close, she starts hacking at the tentacles, the rapier-blade pixellating and reforming into a familiar katana, better for slashing.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru's attention is caught by the calling of her name and she looks over to who the Plant of Doom has currently got in its grasp. "We'll get you free, Natsumi!" She calls back with entirely more bravado than she currently feels, precisely. She's not crazy enough to put herself between Sailor Jupiter and the evil hug tenticles.

A few more pages flipped through of her sketchbook and Naru glances down at the page. And blinks. And the glances down again.

Then Naru's shoving her sketchbook back in her bag and rifling about around in her bag. "It's going to be draining, if its anything like all the rest of the damn plants, so be aware." She calls out, because knowing is half the battle, just the fairly useless half, all things considered at the moment.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Naru? Hearing the monster's captive call a name she knows catches Sailor Jupiter's attention, but right now she can't really afford to look - she's got a few rather more immediate problems. And while she manages to just leap clear of the first grab the Xenian makes at her... that thing has an awful lot of limbs. It's not long before she's snared.

Not good. She scowls fiercely as the energy drain kicks in; she can feel it starting to flow out of her, even before Naru calls out. "I know!" she calls back impatiently; "working on it!" Not quite clear if that's for Naru, Asclepius, or both. Sparks of electricity hiss and sizzle off her skin, little needle-fine lances of energy jabbing into the Xenian even as she rears back and rams her elbow with crushing force into one of the creature's joints.

It's a problem that would be much more easily solved if she didn't have to worry about electrocuting the Xenian's other captive... but fortunately Mikoto's on that one?

An has posed:
    Oh wait, why is she calling Naru, of all people, for help? It's not like the girl has super powers..But maybe Natsumi doesnt really care, and is just desperate..Maybe she's just delirious from all the energy draining that's going on..

    Whatever the case, Natsumi suddenly laughs hysterically as the Xenian rushes around, slashing at anything that goes near it. How could she be so stupid? Why didnt the Xenian listen to her?

    CRASH! Whoops, looks like it just slammed one of its tentacles into a nearby fire hydrant which ends up spraying Natsumi with a blast of freezing water, before rubble from the broken ground slams into her, injuring her shoulder, openning a gash in her arm. She yelps and shrinks back in fear, uncertain if she's safer in the creature's grasp or on the ground.r
    "Dammit..." she mutters, but stops herself short of chiding the heroes for not freeing her sooner. Right now, she's fighting for her life, and growing weaker by the minute.

    Then, Mikoto springs into action, valiantly hacking at another tentacle, until it drops uselessly to the ground. The Xenian manages to block the tentacle that holds Natsumi captive, but in annoyance, it slams that same tentacle at Mikoto by accident, and in the same motion, Natsumi is released and goes flying towards the very tree that Asclepius is perched in.

    Thanks again to Mikoto's attacks, the Xenian is distracted enough for Jupiter's electricity and elbow slam to loosen its grip, screeching in pain! It's growing just a bit weaker, blood gushing from the wound in its chest, slowing down just a bit now.

    However, glancing around, it sees that there are more vulnerable people about, namely Naru..With an evil giggle, it suddenly rushes towards the red haired girl, slamming a pair of tentacles into the ground as it attempts to ensnare her next.

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius whoops! Natsumi is being flung toward's him. This is good, because the creature has released her and she's coming to him! This is bad because Natsumi is flying through the air and is hurt pretty bad from the looks of it.

So he leaps through the air and places his hand against her shoulder mid swing and---

Purple flash. The two are gone!

Asclepius appears on top of the school, behind one of it's big Aircondition vents probably with a small thud against the concrete roof because teleportation doesn't exactly stop /all/ the momentum, but it stops enough of it.

"Shhhhh." he says. "Quiet. Don't wanna attract attention. Not that I think we need to worry." says the boy in the robe.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he examines Natsumi a moment as he peeks his head over the AC a moment to see how the battle is going.

He'll need to wait until that thing is gone before taking the time and concentration to heal. "Those are my friends. They'll handle the uh..."

"Problem." he says! Because as far as he's concerned, Natsumi is mundane, right?

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    And now it is time for the hacking of the tentacles by the Mikoto. She presses on through the forest of tendrils, quick swipes of her gleaming blade cutting through anything in her path, until she's clear that Natsumi and Jupiter are free of its grasp.

    "Are all the civilians clear?" she calls out, probably about to unleash some sort of wide-area attack. Before anyone can answer, however, a tendril winds around her ankle and yanks it out from under her.

    "Yii!" She scrambles to try to twist around to face it again, so she can hit the one holding her, but another grabs at her wrist.

    The air might be her natural habitat as a flyer, but being put there by a plant monster is not her preferred method of gaining altitude. She lets out another cry - something obscene in Ancient Belkan - as the thing hurls her across the field, leaving a Mikoto-shaped crater in the brick wall of a nearby building.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The rampaging propery damage is only getting /better/ with freezing cold water being sprayed EVERYWHERE, and ensuring that this is even less comfortable than it was before. Naru watches Natsumi go flying at Asclepius, and the pair of them blink out. Her attention is quick to return to the Xenian, still digging around in her bag for something, paying the fight more attention than the hunt and willing to let the digging suffer while she pays attention.

And then it makes a grab for Mikoto and it looks like she's about to be caught too. At least until she becomes airborne, and that thunk sound of person against wall is entirely too personally familiar to Naru and prompts a wince.

Even at the end of a busy day and not in henshin, Naru is fairly quick. She gets away from one of the tenticles slamming down next to her, but the other one catches her and drags her back. The feeling of pain and drain and freezing cold water is a triple threat of miserable and awful.

It's right about then that Naru's fingers settle upon what she was looking for in her bag and she wriggles that arm free enough to aim a canister of pepper spray at the creature's face, right at that evil giggle and pulls the trigger.

Makoto Kino has posed:
It's not quite the way Sailor Jupiter had planned for Natsumi to be released from the Xenian's grasp, but hey, whatever works. Things are looking up even better shortly thereafter when Mikoto's blade cleaves through the tentacles that have her snagged, and now Jupiter is free again.

"Thanks--!" But she's barely gotten the word out before Mikoto is sent flying into the building, and that crunch is enough to make even Jupiter wince.

She was moving to come to Naru's aid, but luckily for everyone, the redhead is resourceful. That works fine, too. Abruptly checking her own momentum, Jupiter gathers herself and leaps, calling up a wind to bear her up into the air. "Naru-chan!" she bellows at full voice as she climbs, even as dark clouds begin gathering overhead out of nowhere with a threatening rumble. "Get clear of it now! SUPREME THUNDER--"

She gives Naru a few heartbeats to put space between herself and the Xenian - not enough time for the monster to give chase. Lightning lances down from on high in response to her call and Sailor Jupiter seizes it with both hands, shapes it into a great sinuous shape with wings and claws and fangs of pure electricity, all of it bearing down upon the Xenian like the very wrath of heaven.

"--DRAGON!"

An has posed:
    "Ugggh..." Natsumi groans, rubbing her head only semi conscious and too confused and exhausted and wounded to be terribly coherent. "What? Where am I?" she peers up at Asclepius, and is quite puzzled. Hey, this guy's being nice to her, and he just saved her life!

    Hmm, he's kinda cute too..She smiles a rare smile at him. "You just saved my life?" what a strange feeling, to have someone risk their life to save her. "Er...Thanks...?" she peers curiously over the edge and frowns. His friends? Is that girl a Sailor senshi? And who are the rest?

    "Ugh...Head hurts.."

    Natsumi murmurs as she rests her head on the ground. Right now, she's aching all over, and massively disappointed that her plan failed miserably. This is so embarrassing.

    Meanwhile, the battle continues below. Mikoto hacks and slashes at more of its tentacles, and more body parts go flying, blood spraying from its many wounds. The creature only has three tentacles left by now, and its slowing down drastically. However, the Xenian does manages to grab Mikoto although this time it hurls her into the ground as it continues to charge towards Naru. Fortunately, Naru manages to narrowly dodge its attack and blasts it in the face with pepper spray!

    With a shriek, the creature lashes blindly in the cloud of hot stuff, waving its tentacles randomly around it, crashing into the ground and sending debris flying in every direction.

    ...And then Jupiter comes thundering in..

    The Xenian flower screeches in pain, unable to move out of the way in time as the electric dragon roars to life, charging down on the terrified plant. Its eyes widen in sheer horrror as the ball of dragon-shaped lightning completely engulfs it, electrifying every cell in its body, lighting the creature up in a brilliant golden green light-show. How pretty, just like a Christmas tree.

    When the lightning finally fades and the dust clears, all that is left is a charred, miserable little plant, wilted and lifeless amid the crumbled wreckage of the battle.

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius sort of haunches over. "Your head hurts yes." he says. "I bet! Let me just..."-- he moves to touch a hand to the top of her head when Jupiter's dramatic lightning show goes off. It lights up the area on top of the school even. "Yup. That'd be the problem being solved." he says.

He looks back down to Natsumi and touches her head proper and begins to channel some light purple healing light into it. It's a soothing sensation- as that headache probably begins to dull down a bit--- along slowly- with the rest of her injuries-- as he purses his lips. "I need to heal you. Then I'll get you down off this roof. Then I need to also tend to my friends." he says softly.

He clears his throat. He needs to play dumb. He knows An's name already. Because Daisuke does. But he shouldn't. "What's your name?" he asks softly.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    There's a low groaning sound coming from the Mikoto-shaped crater in the nearby building. Like someone waking up after a bender, or after being thrown into a wall and briefly losing consciousness. A moment passes, and fingers grip the edge of the crater as she tries to pull her way out.

    A foot starts to show itself, and then the brick starts to crumble under it. ((~"Windschutze"~))

    Just in time to prevent a painful fall, a spell-glyph springs into being in the air before the crater, providing solid footing long enough for her to climb out. It looks like Carnwennan is paying more attention than her wielder today.

    "Did anyone get the number of that truck?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
When Jupiter makes that sort of order, Naru isn't going to debate or argue. Instead she scrabbles and darts and half trips as she fairly dives out of the way, lest the electrical dragon decide that she's part and parcel of the plant creature it's there to obliterate.

"Is everyone alright?" Naru asks as she looks around over the destruction and charred wreckage that is becoming waterlogged on top of it all. Naru watches Mikoto pry herself out of a wall, not yet aware of where Asclepius and Natsumi are.

"That was.. a helluva thing, Jupiter. Wow." Naru's voice holds admiration for the awesome light show. "I.. think there's going to be emergency services here soon after that. I'm betting we get tomorrow off school though, what with the wall missing."

Makoto Kino has posed:
In the aftermath of the lightning dragon, Jupiter drops heavily back to earth. Her expression remains stony as she strides across the wet ground to where the remains of the plant lie tattered and dead; with careful deliberation, she sets a heel against it and grinds the last limp bits of the Xenian into so much pulp.

Only then does she sigh and look up, managing a bit of a lopsided smile for Naru. "...That was kinda close," she says. "But as long as everyone's okay..."

An has posed:
    Natsumi just stares up at Asclepius wordlessly for a few minutes as healing magic washes over her. "My wounds..?" she blinks, looking down at her injuries as the blood stops, the pain gradually fades away and she feels more relaxed..However, she's still pretty exhausted, and really really needs some juice from the Makaijou.

    When 'her hero' touches her head, she blushes a little. "How come I've never seen you before? What's your name?" she smiles sweetly, "I'm Natsumi Ginga! Nice to meetcha!" she starts to sit up, but groans at the overwhelming exhaustion. Ugh, what's she doing, falling for this guy? But...He IS kinda cute...

    Unfortunately it seems that Natsumi has missed the light show, but from the sounds of it, it looks like the battle is over. Natsumi sighs, almost disappointedly. "Ugh...I need to go home..My brother's probably worried sick!"

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius helps Natsumi up as she falters. Asclepius is perfectly oblivious to the 'falling for him'. He doesn't like to assume too much in general. He does answer. "I am Asclepius. The healer." he says softly. "But." he says. "My friends just called me "Ascy" or 'Snake Staff'.. because of the staff." he smirks a bit.

He then, with a flash-- and probably a small bit of disorientation, moves Natsumi back down to ground level as he frowns and looks up a moment. "She's okay." he says. "Her name is Natsumi." he says.

"Jupiter? Naru?" he asks. "Are you both okay? Do you need some healing?" he asks.

"I should probably make sure Natsumi here gets home safe too." he says peeking back. "If she's okay with that." he offers a smile.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    The levitation glyph slowly lowers Mikoto to the ground. The girl in the blue Barrier Jacket winces several times as she tests various limbs, clearly in a certain degree of pain. "Note to self," she says as she sets foot on solid ground once more, "Don't do that again." She looks briefly about, then asks, "Anyone give me a lift to the bus stop?"

    ((-Hikari, hon? Can you and Uncle John come pick me up? Things got a little... normal.-))