454/(Apatite) ...For Destruction

(Apatite) ...For Destruction
Date of Scene:	16 October 2015
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Kyouko Sakura re-appears, brainwashed and wielding dark powers as Apatite!
Cast of Characters:	Homura Akemi, Hannah Sharpe, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Haruna Kurosawa, Kyouko Sakura, Queen Beryl, Kunzite

---

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Sunset is painting the sky red over King Penguin Park, the colors blending with the orange of the huge bridge that arcs over the area to almost make it seem to disappear. The park is peopled, but not densly- most people are on their way home from work or school, heading to dinner or to reunite with families after a long day. There are some pedestrians crossing the paths, from the zoo, towards the playground, or just passing through, though. Unlucky them.

    Suddenly, without any warning, there's a scream. The sound of someone in distress, followed rapidly by a hollow 'boom', as if something had exploded, although exactly what thay might be is hard to imagine in the empty park. A small group of people appear to be fleeing from the area beneath the bridge, glancing back over their shoulders at.. a figure? A slight figure, which seems to be standing on the edge of the bridge, high above the park.

    The source of the boom becomes clear as well- a car lays on its roof in the middle of the park, on fire, and the guardrail along the edge of the bridge has been broken outwards. The car fell of the bridge! Luckily, the driver wasn't in the car when it hit the ground and exploded.

    Unluckily, that's because the driver is being held in the grip of said figure on the bridge, gripped by the collar, being held out over open space. Said figure appears to be a girl with red hair. She's wearing a long white coat with red straps and buckles, which flares out at the waist over a white knee-length skirt and white boots. Her other hand, the one not holding the squirming man high above the deadly drop, grips a spear.

    This spear is ornate, its haft made of some sort of white material, its triangular bladed head curved at the two base corners, with red inlay curved between the whitish metal. It looks quite deadly. However, the girl does not seem interested in using it on her captive. She's grinning at the terrified man, a single fang peeking out of the corner of her mouth. "Calm down, dude, calm down.. once I drain all your energy an' crap, I'll let you go." She shakes him over the sheer drop. "'Course, if I were you, I wouldn't be quite so eager for that to happen.."

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura Akemi was out hunting Witches when she heard the telltale 'boom' of a distant explosion. It was a sound she easily recongized. Usually she was the cause of it. Today, however, she was certain that it wasn't her fault.

"Stupid kids," she mutters. "Those things aren't fireworks."

Homura leaps from rooftop to rooftop, getting ever closer to the sound... until she finds what is clearly the source of it. An exploded car, which landed below a bridge. A mysterious figure on top of the bridge, holding a victim over the edge. White clothes, a spear, red hair...

...

One more leap takes her to the top of the bridge. She frowns at the white-clad figure as she briskly walks towards her. She speaks loudly to cover the distance. "If you don't leave that man alone, there is going to be a lot of trouble."

Her brisk pace continues. She doesn't like anything she's seeing right now. "I'm giving you one last chance, or I'll dangle you over that edge and we'll see how much you like it!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's not after sunset, so Nephrite won't be lecturing Mamoru for trying to get himself killed by being in King Penguin Park at night. The upperclassman's on his way out from the library, a small sack of books slung over one shoulder, when he hears the scream and the boom.

Grimacing, he ducks into the woods, books and all. Moments later, Tuxedo Kamen is running across treetops in the direction of the explosion. When he finally gets close enough to see what's going on, he stops dead, forgetting he's in the treetops, and immediately falls through a couple of layers of branches, face white as a sheet.

He immediately, of course, sends out a group text. Mami Tomoe, --he leaves Homura out because she's already coping, he leaves Sayaka out because oh my god no, White-chan, the Senshi.

The text is from Tuxedo Kamen's burner phone.

    'Emergency get to KP Park NOW'

Then he drops down the rest of the way to the ground and legs it the rest of the way, bursting through the treeline and taking a huge, huge gamble. A gamble in the form of a hat, and a leap. The hat's taken off his head and flung straight at Apatite, and the leap is toward the open space beneath where she's dangling the civilian. This gamble involves calculus and relative velocities.

Kunzite has posed:
There's another figure on the bridge besides the driver of the car, the driver of the situation, and the driven Homura; but since this one isn't spear-wielding or delivering threats, he doesn't grab nearly as much attention. Tall, pale, he balances casually on the intact rail on the far side, shoulders propped against coiled cable; the sunset shadows are on his side, helping passively harvest witnesses' ambient panic, and shrouding him still more from most people's awareness.

Though really, just not being associated with exploding cars does most of that.

Kunzite's mouth turns up at the corner as Homura delivers her challenge. "Ah," he muses. "There you are. Now we can get started." He doesn't lean forward - that would ruin the pose - but his attention sharpens all the same, an intense focus on Apatite, on her challenger, on ... a ... hat?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It is dinner time in the Tsukino Household when she gets the text. It has a special chime, one that may or may not sound like fluttering hearts or something of the sort, and though Mama generally has a No Phone At Table rule, Usagi knows it must be Important. It's because of t hat her heart doesn't really flutter like it normally would.

A discrete check, and she's rising from the table.

"Usagi, sit back down and finish your dinner."

Normally this is not a request difficult to meet, but she's in a hurry!

With a sigh, she sits back down. "Yes, Mama."

Ikuko turns back to her husband. "So, as you were saying?" And then her attention turns once more to her daughter, who is all but vacuuming the food into her mouth... Dear goodness, does she even chew?

"Thanks Mama dinner was great I gotta go I'll be back before curfew love you bye!"

Ikuko sighs as the figurative sonic boom disspiates around them. "And here I was thinking we'd at least get her attention for longer than we do at breakfast."

Usagi is running, now, fearing she may very well cramp up. Isn't she supposed to wait half an hour before fighting or something? Oh well, can't be helped.

Before the park, in a small copse of woods she transforms. She trips over a pile of books and curses (well, her curses aren't really curses, they're the made up ones young children come up with, but the intent is the same) so she more than a little out of breath when she arrives on the scene. She takes that breathless moment to try and figure out what's going on. And then she remembers.

Did she just leave Luna at home?

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Ughhhhhhhhhh Haruna thought. Everything is going horrible. Hannah is doing some stupid things and she hasn't brought herself to yell at her even though she really really wants to. Then there was that whole Madoka-chan stuff where she freaked out about nothing- but it wasn't a big deal. And now Sailor V wants her to confess or something to this burger stand guy because she screwed up and ordered burgers as Cure Gull and not Haruna and he noticed the 'costume'. Part of her wants to go hide in her dorm for the rest of the school year again- but she knows that is a silly way to handle all the stress. So instead she was sitting on a bench in Penguin Park with her eyes closed just trying to let all the stress go away.

Oh- then it gets loud off in the distance. huh!? Was there an accident?

"Hey- Haruna. I feel a spike!" he says as Corvus- a silver raven on her shoulder hops to turn at the direction of that sound.

"Oh...!" she says. "Terribad?" she asks. Corvus shakes his beak a moment. "Nope. Something else. "Alright! Then, we should investigate!"

A bright seafoam green henshin sequence follows and soon Cure Gull is rocketing towards the scene on her translucent greenish wings. She blinks down at the whole affair. Is that girl attacking someone!? Why! And that black haired girl who was driving Hannah's truck is there too! She frowns hard at her. /SO HARD/.

But netherless- she calls out. "H--hey! You! Stop that this once!" she calls out.

Corvus narrows his eyes for a moment. Something is triggering just a bit of a weird memory/flashback for him. He doesn't know why. He's otherwise quiet on Gull's shoulder- being all silver and pretty bird.

Oh! Tuxedo Kamen is here and he threw his hat!

Though. Kunzite appears. Her eyes go wide. That- that Uniform! She goes about ghost white too- the memories flooding back to her. Being taken back someplace cold... the red eyes... the horrible things done to her over a period of weeks to turn her into a perfect little puppet so she'd release an insane demon crow on the world and bring it to a featherly cold end.

She just closes her fists---she doesn't say anything. Her eyes are just wide right now. Corvus blinks when all this hits him. "Gull.....?" he asks concernedly.

There's no answer from her. This is now REALLY making Corvus concerned.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Apatite (for that is her name, although it's not like she's wearing a nametag or anything) continues to dangle the unfortunate driver over the edge of nothingness, generating even more fear and anger for the harvesting. She doesn't seem to be in any hurry to do anything else with him, effortlessly holding him in the air by the collar with one hand even though he's obviously much larger than she is.

    That is, of course, until Homura approaches. At least the dark-haired girl has the common decency to speak a clear warning as she does so. Apatite whirls around, though keeping her arm stretched out so the man continues to dangle in danger. Red eyes, flaming like hot coals, focus on Homura. They narrow slightly, a briefly pensive look crossing her features- features Homura will surely recognize, although she looks somehow a bit.. older. More mature, maybe, although it's hard to place exactly what gives that impression. But that fleeting look is gone as soon as it comes, replaced with that same mocking, lopsided grin- also likely familiar to Homura.

    "Really? Way I see it, there's already a lotta trouble. Thing is, lotta trouble suits me just fine, so I dunno if that really counts as a threat." She sniggers, shaking the man over the drop and causing him to whimper. Then she catches a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye! A hat! Its flying right towards her! Acting perhaps more on instinct than anything else, she whirls to spin her spear around and knock it out of the way..

    But that causes her to let go of the man, who falls with a scream into open air! Will Tuxedo Kamen be able to catch him before he goes splat?! Other people are arriving on the scene too, but until they threaten her directly Apatite does not seem to notice them.

Homura Akemi has posed:
The previously unnoticed Kunzite gets Homura's attention once he speaks up. "Get started?" She lets out a sigh. "I feel like I've seen that uniform before. Whatever. Whoever you are, get out of my w--"

Homura's approach towards Apatite comes to a stop. Her purple eyes get a clearer look on her features and...

No. No that's impossible.

"You? No way..."

The hat appears, and Homura recognizes it. So Tuxedo Kamen is in the area. The man drops, and Homura's eyes show a sudden horror. Homura reaches out by instinct. She could stop time and chase after him, but doing so would take her attention away from Apatite and Kunzite. Plus, Tuxedo Kamen is in the area. She'll just have to trust him to handle that.

"What's WRONG with you? You've never been like this before." Homura grits her teeth. This is crazy! She pulls out a gun from her shield. "What did he even do? Run over your favorite cat or something?!"

Homura's still processing everything she's seeing, but one thing is clear to her at this point. No matter what, she just can't seem to stop fighting with Kyouko.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
After a quick text from Tux-kun, Miss White simply arrives at the scene in her usual flash of wind magic. Kunzite gets a brief look from the girl, but most of her attention arrives on Apatite. The hair, the clothes, the spear...

Surely it couldn't be.

"Now /what/ do we have here?" Comes White's voice, more curiousity than anything else. Almost immediately, there's green lines of magic scanning over Apatite and Kunzite, though the girl gets most of her focus.

"...You might want to catch him, Hat-guy." Sailor moon gets a tilt of her head, but Gull gets a smirk. Good, she has /several/ people here she can trust.

"Hey. Homura. Fill me in." She seems almost casual, more interested in scanning than attacking, but every muscle is ready to spring at a moment's notice. A nod to Homura.

She's ready to follow her employee's lead here.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull floats there in the air. Quiet...wide eyed and probably digging her fingernails into her palm. All she can see right now are flashes of images-----and then a big, black shadowy crow with bright purple eyes fills her vision...

c+"Scorn?..."</span>

She suddenly gasps loudly and recoils back for now particularly reason like a person jumping out of a nightmare. When the real world fills her vision again---it's just Corvus-chan floating there...

"Gull?..." asks the bird again. "---I.. hello?" he asks at the gasp. "Y--yeah I'm here Corvus-chan...I'm sorry." she says as color begins to flood back into her face. She feels really dizzy for no particularly reason.

Homura seems to act like she knows this person. Now..Hannah is here. Great. That's fine. THIS DAY IS JUST GOING PEACHY!

"---woah!? HEY! SOM----SOMEONE BETTER CATCH THAT GUY!" she yells. Perhaps she's actually 'Cure Obvious' right now. Regardless. She raises her hand and a burst of wind flys down at Appatie. "Hey! You stop this at once!" she yells. The attack name isn't called out so it isn't particularly powerful. More to make her prescene and words known.

Kunzite has posed:
Homura's interrupted demand is likely forgotten as soon as it's made; justifiably so, under the circumstances. Kunzite answers it anyhow, even if only by a negligent twitch of his fingers, an entirely unnecessary redirection of Homura's attention toward Kyouko Red of Tooth and ... okay, white of spear, close enough. See? He's not in the way. He is, indeed, well out of the way, neither threatening the magical girls nor moving to back Apatite up, at least not yet. Just an observer, studying the way that Homura divides her attention between the active threat and the falling driver, the way that Apatite lets go of her victim when she turns, the precision of the spear, the appearance of the gun. Glancing up, barely even bothering to move his head, at Cure Gull's stammering defiance; evaluating the way she freezes and stares, wide-eyed; and then glancing away again to take in White's arrival, and the way she too watches rather before acting. Dismissing Gull entirely as a factor in the situation.

Given that approximately two seconds later, Gull makes the first actual non-hat strike against Apatite? That was probably not a good call on Kunzite's part. Eyebrows lift. No, that's not a mistake he'll be making later.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hat hits, guy falls, Homura's facing off -- good, good -- Tuxedo Kamen gets hit with the distressing sense that there's still somehow dark energy at work, familiar and cold -- but he's committed to his timing, his motions, his split-second calculations of trajectory and speed and gravity and acceleration and angle, and mid-fall, the civilian gets slammed into from the side.

The modified arc takes the two of them through the greasy toxic smoke of the burning wreck of the car, and the heat licks at them, but they clear the flames and Tuxedo Kamen hits the ground running, cape billowing behind him and heart in his throat. He hears Hannah's voice, Cure Gull's; he registers Sailor Moon's presence, he's aware of the gathering of troops, he's thankful.

But at the moment, his attention's on this dude who he really hopes has comprehensive car insurance. The dude's not altogether with it, possibly very not with it, depending on how much energy Apatite took from him -- but Tux has no doubt that if he can run, he will. If he can't, he'll address that later when there's time. For now, he gets put down well out of sight of the confrontation and told to stay away from it.

Then the boy in formalwear slips back toward the growing battle, keeping to long shadows and foliage, out of sight.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon gasps as the man in danger is dropped, straight for the burning wreckage of a car. She's too far away! Fortunately Tuxedo Kamen is there to catch him. She may or may not do a victory "Huzzah!"

Okay, she totally does.

It seems, though, a distraction is in order. A Discussion must be had on the bridge, and though it will only take a moment or two, a moment or two in a battle situation is more like an eternity.

So she clears her throat, and hops from foliage to cement until she lands on the railing of the bridge, on the opposite side of the bad Guy (lady) as her allies. "Parks are meant to be enjoyed, and bridges and cars are what brings people to them! That you have you have probably given that man a fear of parks, bridges, and cars for life is unforgivable! I, Sailor Moon, will not let this stand! And in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Of course, the entire time she is Speaching, she is fully aware of just how big and pointy that stick is...

Queen Beryl has posed:
Somewhere distinctly 'else', a woman sits on a throne, hands outstretched, manipulating a crystal ball on a twisted spire. Within that ball the image of Apatite is front and center - though it gives her an awareness of the others there. She misses Tuxedo Mask, but it's hard to miss Homura - and Sailor Moon. If anyone was close enough, they might even hear Queen Beryl hiss audiably when the Sailor Senshi appears.

"She's our enemy - and that makes her YOUR enemy, Apatite!" Queen Beryl says - directly into Apatite's mind - regarding Sailor Moon's appearance. "And you have a job to do - and a quota to meet..."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "What's with me?" Apatite asks, her voice full of scornful good-humor as she glances back towards Homura, the dropped man forgotten along with the hat-projectile once it has been deflected (and she's sure that no immidiate further attack is incoming from that direction). "I dunno sister, what's with you? Do you got some kinda' problem?" It's definitely Kyouko- only she could talk with that infuriating combination of bad grammar and scornful arrogance, although it's been a while since Homura has heard her using that tone.

    She eyes the gun the other girl brandishes, and smirks, whirling her white-and-red spear around so fast it blurrs, whistling through the air as she slams the butt down against the road, hard enough to make the pavement crack. "Better be careful with that. Wouldn't want somebody to get hurt." Then Miss White shows up, and those red eyes flick to her- again, that expression of vague recognition crosses Apatite's face. "I don't know why," She says to Miss White, "But you really piss me off."

    And then Sailor Moon is there as well! At least this time Apatite does not look vaugely cognizent of the girl's identity- she legit has no idea who Sailor Moon is. But she's speechifying and stuff, so she must be an enemy. Before the redhead can even deal with that though, she senses an attack from behind- challenging words, and a rush of wind from Cure Gull. She ducks smoothly, the Cure's energy flowing past her head, and now she's scowling.

    "Hell, seems I've attracted more attention than I was plannin'." As if throwing cars off of bridges was somehow subtle. "Ah well.. I've always enjoyed a party. I think." Then she's moving. Fast, like a snake, she ducks down, spear spinning around her in a blur. Both ends impact two separate cars, skidded to a stop on the roadway (their drivers luckily long fled). Whatever immense energy powers the lows is enough to send both cars flying up into the air, flipping end over end- one towards Homura and Miss White and the other towards Sailor Moon!

    At the same time, Apatite is moving again, turning to dash down the bridge and jump from car to car, then to the edge of the bridge again, positioning herself for a better vantage point of those who would challenge her!

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Apatite also hears a voice in her mind! Her gaze snaps back to Sailor Moon, and she frowns. "Yes, my Queen." Of course, she already threw a car at the girl. That's a good start.

Homura Akemi has posed:
"I've got no idea. Your guess is as good as mine," is the sum of Homura's report to Hannah. "Kyouko was missing for a while, and suddenly she showed up and is threatening random civilians. I don't think that this is the product of anything happening to her Soul Gem."

"She is wearing something nice and it isn't a special occasion. Clearly something is wrong."

Homura's eyes glance around as other magical forces gather to address this strange and threatening situation she finds herself in. A gust of wind appears... Cure Gull... and Homura tightens her grip on her pistol. She hears a voice giving a loud justice speach. .oO(Well if it isn't the moon bunny. Haven't run across her in a while.)

Apatite speaks up, and Homura can't help but answer. "Yeah I've got a problem. You. Where have you been? And who's that guy?!" She points at Kunzite as she says this.

Homura doesn't have time for any more questions as a car is suddenly sent flying towards her and Hannah. She ducks and rolls underneath the vehicular projectile, ending on her feet in a run. "Oh someone's about to get hurt, alright!"%rHomura holds her handgun and aims it at Apatite, circling around her and firing. It's just a handgun, probably the smallest thing she has in her arsenal, but if Kyouko keeps up this kind of pressure she'll have to bring out bigger guns.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Miss White's scan confirms it, as if one needed it from that voice and appearance. Her smile turns bitter.

"...My, my, my. Are you really saying you can't remember me, Kyouko Sakura?" She laughs aloud.

There's a meaningful glance to her allies, and particularly to Cure Gull. It reminds her far too much of a rather recent situation.

"Still, that's pretty pathetic. Going out and draining people just for strength!? That's even lower than Bandit-chan!" Taunts Hannah.

She nods to Homura quickly.

"That's definitely her. I can feel her soul gem and my linker core in her still." She stage-whispers to the girl. Oh, right, a freaking /car/.

"Take it from me, Kyou-chan! Power you steal from others or drag out of cute little seeds just gets you killed or worse! I have more respect for the Kyouko at that little shop day in and day out than for the one right in front of me!"

Wind magic fills her legs, and she leaps right for the car, sending a whirling trio of magic-fueled slicing kicks. The car is cut into quarters, the debris skidding behind her before the sparks cause the gas tank to ignite.

KABOOM! Cue exploded car number two.

She lands quite near Cure Gull, ready to add in one final kick to try to aide her flighty companion. Even /if/ the girl is mightily annoyed, that's an issue for another day.

"...Hey. Gull-chan. Doesn't this seem familiar? Girl dissappears mysteriously, shows back up, brainwashed and acting horridly odd." One guess about what she's talking about here.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It should be no surprise to Miss White or Homura Akemi that the presence of Tuxedo Kamen results in his primary focus being shifted entirely to Sailor Moon.

Once more apparently out of nowhere, there's a silent black-clad figure whipping through the air directly into the path of one of those thrown cars, and it lands just long enough -- beside Moon -- to resolve into Obviously Mamoru Taking Risks Again before the two of them are gone in a blink, just before the car crashes into the ground where Sailor Moon was standing.

The leap away takes them sailing up toward the bridge to land far enough away that there'll be enough warning if a spear gets winged at them, but no further. Meanwhile, on the way and for a second after landing, Tuxedo Kamen is whispering urgently to Sailor Moon. "That's my friend Kyouko who's been missing. That Sayaka-chan was also looking for. Something really bad happened to her after all, and it looks like it was the Dark Kingdom. Please, please, Sailr Moon-- we have to save her somehow."

His eyes are on Kunzite and Apatite the whole time, bright blue and fierce behind the mask, and his aura, his power, what of it can be sensed, is bright with suppressed fury.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull is spinning the dial on her Lovely PreBrace by the time Hannah shoots past her. Wait...Kyouko!? Wasn't that the name----

Okay now she knows why the fang is familar. She saw the picture. She sort of taps her teeth together. They did it again!? They---they did it to Mamoru-chan's friend!? This makes her a little bit angry. She does her best to calm down. Blue's told her time. and time. again. 'A Precure should remember the love in thier heart. Anger makes you more powerful but you're also going to burn out eventually.'. So the girl is brainwashed? Okay.... she has things that may work for that. But she needs to be weakened first. She--she can worry about her personal problems about all this later.

"I'm really sorry about this..." she murmurs under her breath. "Gull Windburst...!" she calls out as she draws her hand back--- wind and feathers swirling around it as she dive bombs in an arc and aiming to come down hard and fast into Appatie--- hoping to collide that wind covered fist into the girl's form--- if it connects, it'll explode in a briallant green burst of wind and seagull feathers.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh no. A car is hurtling right for her. She really needs to move, but for a second her knees lock in fear and her lungs fill with air for a scream.

Before she can, she's being hurtled away and the scream is forced down all the way to her spleen, and of course there's a moment of hearts in her eyes. But they are not vocalized, because she is once again reminded that she ate too much, too fast. Most of her concentration until they land is spent on not losing her dinner...that would be a bit embarrassing.

She slides from his arms once they are on solid roof and watches his face for a moment. He rarely every begs.

She straightens her spine and balls her fists as she tries to look very determined.

"I'll do my best!"

His focus is where they had just come from, and his expression is...scary. Not because she's afraid of it, but because it's one that doesn't belong, not on him. Not if she can help it!

She places her fingers on his chin to turn his face toward hers and her voice is softer.

"I promise, okay? I'll do my very, very best to help you get her back."

A tiny part of her is jealous, too, but she can deal with that later.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Where have I been? Why should I tell you?" Apatite scoffs from her new perch at Homura, covering the fact that she actually doesn't really know and doesn't want to think about that. Her eyes flick to the nearby Kunzite as his identity is questioned. "That's Kunzite-nii-chan!" She waves to him and flashes a fang-toothed grin.

    Homura shoots at her, and her spear whirls, deflecting the bullets with loud 'ping' noises and little puffs as they ricochet into the road and bridge around her. Hannah is taunting her, but she just sneers at the woman. "Do I look like I care if you respect some Kyouko chick? I'm Apatite! And you'll learn to respect me before we're done here today!"

    Suddenly, her voice comes from /right behind/ Miss White where she now stands! "So how about we start right now, hmm?" She's right there, somehow, striking out with a whirling blow of her spear to try and hit the woman! Confusingly, Homura can still see her up on the bridge deflecting her bullets too! It's almost like she's in two places at once! And Cure Gull is divebombing the Apatite standing on the bridge.. but when she strikes the spot where the redheaded girl stands, there's nothing there, that Apatite having vanished into thin air!

    "Aww, what's the matter?" Suddenly, Apatite's voice is coming from right behind Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon, too! She was told to go after Sailor Moon, after all. "Somebody looks cranky!" She laughs, spear again stabbing, right for the Moon! "Don't worry, I don't need 'getting back'. Your help ain't necessary!"

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura's bullets are deflected, and Apatite moves so suddenly... it wasn't a timestop like Homura does, was it raw speed?! No wait... there's two Apatites!

Homura has always somewhat feared Kyouko. Sure, in combat, in a theoretical fair fight, Kyouko stood toe-to-toe with Homura. Yet, Kyouko never felt any need to fight 'fair', and it was only through cleverness and experience that Homura managed to keep up with her.

That was before.

She's displaying a lot more power now, and apparently she has some form of Illusion magic. Homura heard something about that from previous timelines, but she's never actually seen it.

Sailor Moon is threatened, and Mamoru is the only one seemingly close enough to stop it. Is he going to get mangled again? Nope, not letting that happen this easily.

Time freezes, Homura runs towards the frozen Kamen and Moon, reaching out to grab the two of them and toss them out of the path of the spear. They might, for a brief moment, see time freeze, but Homura doesn't hold onto them for long.

As for the timefrozen Apatite, Homura levels a shotgun at the middle of her torso and fires several rounds of buckshot right at the dark magical girl. "Eat this, Apatite."

She makes sure to be well away, standing some distance from Apatite on the bridge, before letting time resume again.

Who knows if that Apatite is even the real one.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Hannah doesn't have time to help out poor Tux-kun, too busy dealing with the changed Kyouko! The other girl is right behind her, with a whirling blow to the back of the head. She's fast enough to turn away, taking it on her shoulder, and sent skidding towards the ground! A quick jab sends a burst of wind towards her!

And her scanning has her further scowling.

"...Tch. Why would I ever respect anyone so cowardly as to use /illusion/!? You're staining that girl's memory! I have no idea what was done to you, Kyouko, but we're going to ensure you're brought back!"

Kunzite has posed:
The opposition is starting to flock. And to shoot. And to blow things up. Kunzite's eyes narrow, and he lifts a hand; the shadows around him thicken a little more. Solid debris from the exploding car sails into the darkness and drops suddenly to the ground; flames and sparks and spatters of gasoline are extinguished on contact. It's a reflex defense, as much as Apatite's spin of her spear; his concentration is still on the fight. On the magical girls (and tuxedo) and their attacks, on who is hanging back and who is charging in, and most of all on Apatite's speed and tactics, positioning and feints. And when she waves to him, he actually ... smiles.

For Apatite, this is probably reassuring. Not so much for anyone else.

He can't see most of what Homura does; the shadows aren't proof against the timefreeze. He can hear White, clearly, and for an instant she has all his focus. The smile goes away, leaving a level, perfect calm. But he's still on the sidelines, on the guardrail, uninvolved.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull drives into pavement, and it explodes around her. There's a shallow crater where she struck. She draws her hand back and hovers back wards and opens her eyes wide when she turns around to listen where her voice is coming from. She can move that fast!?

When Gull found out that Kamen protected a lot a lot of other magical girls on a regular basis... she felt really bad. She was doing horrible things to people for months... and she thought he 'wasted' his time protecting and saving her while she was doing these things. Heck. The only reason she didn't get captured by the Dark Kingdom sooner was because of Kamen-san and Hannah-chan...

She turns into a bright line of blue light as she tries to get in front of Apatite, appearing in a bright bluegreen light--- and tries to grab that spear in her sudden appearance.

"....you have to stop this. I know you feel you have to do these things but you don't! You need to fight! These are your friends, right!? Don't you remember any of them!? They're calling you Kyouko! Doesn't that name mean anything to you!? Fight for yourself! Don't listen to any other voice in your head! Find your voice!" she yells- trying to do her best-- trying to use her words. Trying to make something----anything tick. She knows these voices get to you somehow... she knows because she's been there. She isn't attacking- but if she can't grab or hold the spear- she'll try to avoid being poked.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Moon's determination to do her best has Mask's shoulders relaxing fractionally, but it's not until she reaches up to touch his face, to turn it toward hers and to promise so softly to him, that he's actually distracted from the dangers. For a second, two, that seem like they're stopped out of time, the bright blue eyes his troubled ones meet are the entire world. All at once, the anger's just vanished; he gives her the smile that's so familiar, the smile reserved only for her--

--and then Kyouko's voice is right behind them, and the sound of that spear whooshing metallic through the air shatters everything at once. There's no time. There's never time, is there? Never enough time in the world to do anything but apologize with his eyes and shift his weight slightly so that he's in the path and Sailor Moon is not--

...

and time stops

and the expected pain never shows up and they're abruptly in motion and nothing else is at all, but then everything else is moving again, and Cure Gull is yelling desperately at Kyouko and Kunzite is smiling and he tumbles to a stop, he and Moon both momentarily shielded by his cape.

Behind the mask, Mamoru Chiba is full of the brilliant light of gratitude and hope; the friends that this girl taught him how to make, the chances he's taken with his time and his heart and his life over these months, the people he's legitimately come to care for-- it's no myth, it's a two-way street, it will always be a two-way street.

His resolve slams into iron force and he's on his feet and pulling Sailor Moon up beside him in a flash. They can't help her right now. With this other General just hanging out there, watching, and the horrible gut-clenching feeling he inspires, that's literally not something they can do right know, he knows it on a level too deep to explain. Instead,

"Now, Sailor Moon."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
This look, this smile, is so much better suited on him. She returns it the best she can, wanting to help in more ways than how she has just promised.

Then another voice is too close, and she only has time to widen her eyes as she realizes he's going to try to take the attack -- again, darn stubborn man -- and one of these days she's going to repay the growing debt she has for him. And she will have that chance.

And then they are no longer there what just happened! It is one long moment of...not being a moment. It's not even twelve percent of a moment. But they are safe, and she does not have to deposit another slip into the Tuxedo Kamen Saved My Life Again Today Bank, and it takes a moment to steady herself.

She is ready when he tells her 'now,' though.

Fingers to her forehead, she sidesteps away from him.

"Moon Tiara ACTION!" And she's putting professional Frisbee players to shame, aiming in the general direction of the general.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Apatite gives a startled grunt as she stabs right at Sailor Moon- only to find several things seeming to happen at once! Cure Gull grabs her spear, preventing the stabbing and yelling something at her about voices and resisting. But on top of that, the one she was stabbing at isn't even there anymore! And on top of /that/, instead of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, there's a shotgun blast aimed right at her chest past Cure Gull! She doesn't even have time to respond to that girl's passioned entreaties.

    Despite the sudden, out-of-nowhere nature of this shotgun blast, Apatite might have had a chance of dodging or at least deflecting it, but Cure Gull is, as mentioned, holding onto her spear. She could yank it out of the Cure's hands, and in fact, that's exactly what she does, but not fast enough- that extra split second of effort is enough to delay her escape and let Homura's attack land.

    The blast hits her right in the chest, and she's flung backwards away from Cure Gull by it, crashing into the side of an abandoned car a few feet behind her and denting in the door as she falls to one knee, her white coat charred and slashed up and smoking in the front. She grits her teeth, climbing back to her feet, "That's cheating! Fight me fair, you dirty-" She lapses into rather uncouth language. It's also unclear if she's addressing Cure Gull, Homura, Sailor Moon, or all of the above. She sees Moon chuck her Tiara at Kunzite, but she's too far away to do anything about that.

    Meanwhile Miss White is left raging at thin air, the real Apatite too far away to take note of her insults, unfortunately!

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull lets the spear go when it's given the hard enough yank as she frowns....nothing got through to her... she's not even yelling about it. She seems a little sad at this failure. But that's okay. Now she's in a good postion!... for a Hopeful Feather Shoot! So that's what she does...

"Wings of hope, turn into a sacard power!" she calls out, clapping her Lovely PreBrace that sparks with virulent green-blue energy.

She spins her hands around each other, building up energy. "Pretty Cure... Hopeful Feather Shoot!" she calls out as some sort of floating wing symbol pops into existing above her. She spins around and lowers it in front of her as she punches it forward toward's Appatie! Hopefully no one with white hair and open shirts wisks Appatite away before this actually hits her! What are the chances of that happe---oh.

Homura Akemi has posed:
"Complaining about something like that isn't like you, Kyouko-san," says Homura. "It's like you're a completely different person." Kyouko would never act this way... yet... it's still close enough to still be Kyouko. Homura is still not sure what to make of all this, but she knows that Kyouko has been changed somehow.

She glances off to the side to check on Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, to see if they're okay, but aside from that reassurance she doesn't focus on them for long.

"The Kyouko I know could've handled something like this." Homura holds a shotgun up at Apatite, cautiously walking towards her. "... but I can promise you, it's just gonna get worse. I don't know what's happened here, but I can't accept it. Not now."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's focus was on White, in that moment, in the wrong moment. So from his point of view, what happens to Apatite is obviously, for an instant, Cure Gull's fault -- she must be stronger than she looks, to fling Apatite back like that --

Feathers and wind do not result in char and smoke.

And worse, there's a glint of light in the corner of his eye, from where the girl with the moon-bright hair is standing with the figure in black, and something deeper than logic in him reacts, something down past blood and down past memory. The tiara whirls, brilliant, and Kunzite reacts to the glimpse and *moves*; because to do anything else is to die right there.

And to just about everyone who can see it, the motion is far too familiar. A silent pale figure whipping through the air, the photonegative of Tuxedo Kamen leaping to Sailor Moon's defense only seconds ago. A white cape that's whipped up before Apatite's injured and snarling form, shielding her from Homura's approach the way Tuxedo Kamen shielded Sailor Moon /instants/ ago. "Then we'll give you time to accept it," he says to the woman with the shotgun. "It's only polite."

For a fraction of a breath, his pale eyes meet Cure Gull's, icy and calm and deadly.

And then -- in the bare instant in which the green-blue strike of hope is still crossing the distance between them -- darkness swarms up around the pair, shot through with an energy violent and painful to look at and, inexplicably, pink; and when that energy and darkness pass both Apatite and Kunzite are gone.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull is VERY determined----but that wavers when that man in the grey uniform appears and it's enough to cause her fault that the Hopeful Feather Shoot actually ends up breaking apart into bubbly hearts before it can even reach it's intended target. Kunzite was good at giving her enough doubt just then with a look. That man is /cold/. She bites her teeth and hrmphs through them when they dissapear....

She looks down and just closes her eyes. She turns around to the other and mopes a bit. Corvus sighs. "it's okay, Gull, we'll get her next time. You /know/ there's a next time." he insists. Corvus knows this. For you know. /reasons/.

"Yeah...." she says.

She turns with a pointed finger towards...! an empty space because Hannah-Chan isn't around anymore. Nrg! She still has things to say to her.

She looks over to where Tuxedo Kamen and/or Sailor Moon and over to where Homura should be...

"Are you guys alright...?" she asks. "Is that guy okay?" she asks.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen looks for all the world like he just got punched in the brain and the heart at the same time, as he watches Kunzite and Apatite. He's frozen stock still, just behind Sailor Moon, staring. He's still staring as Kunzite addresses Cure Gull, still staring once the pair have vanished into the air in that signature of dark energy mixed with pink, and at some point he must have, for some reason, taken hold of his pocketwatch -- because it's clenched in his palm protectively, held tight to his abdomen.

He's still staring, looking at something in his mind's eye, though the space his gaze is pointed toward is empty.

It's subjective countless aeons before sound and life register again, and he should thank the others, he should reassure Sailor Moon, he should tell her she did well; he should basically offer to do Homura's homework for a month or something, he should check on that civilian, he should reassure Cure Gull, he should... he should...

@};--',--'-,--

She's all the way over there. He's running. He'll get to her in time, he has to. But between them, he sees icy silvery-grey eyes that used to be human, that used to hold warmth, that used to hold affection. They're looking at him. And they're in a face that rarely smiled, but when it did, it was a real thing, a private thing, for him and his brothers and maybe a few others, maybe. The smile that accompanies those eyes now is nothing like that.

His own eyes are burning hot, stinging; it could be blood or sweat, and so could the wetness on his face. A raw sound escapes his throat and he pushes through; there's a flash of yellow and red and the cold eyes and the awful smile aren't an obstacle anymore, but the broken ache rattling in his chest doesn't go away, won't ever go away, not across lifetimes.

He makes it to her in time to stay the inevitable with another inevitability, and maybe it will be worth everything, maybe something can be salvaged, even if it'll never be by him. Even if he'll never understand. Even if he'll never know why he lost them, or when, or why he couldn't get them back. And maybe the silence will be enough to drown the grief.

@};--',--'-,--

"Yes," Tuxedo Kamen tells Cure Gull, his voice stilted and his face pale. "Fine. I'll go check on him." His other hand, the one not holding the watch, comes up to clasp Sailor Moon's shoulder briefly, and though the warmth is there, she can feel his hand trembling. "Thank you, everyone. We'll-- get her back. Please be careful."

And then he lets go all of a sudden and leaps off the bridge, hitting the ground running in the direction of the abandoned civilian.

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura Akemi doesn't stick around long. She wants to see to her friends, to ask if they're alright, but... seeing Tuxedo Kamen get up and run off tells her all she needs to know about his current health levels, and she's really not in the mood to talk right now.

Kyouko... why? What happened? Why did it happen?

Homura doesn't say goodbye or anything. She simply vanishes in the blink of an eye. Whatever her emotions about this end up being, she'll deal with them in the privacy of her own home, or safely hidden between moments.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It isn't a victory, and for her there are now more questions than there have been. And Tuxedo Kamen is...once again not...right. She feels him tense beside her. And then he's gone before she can even say anything, and this whole night just sucks!

Still, she tries really hard to be cheerful for Gull. "We're fine, thank you! How are you? You did well, even though this couldn't have been easy!"

It hasn't been easy for anyone. And she feels like she broke the promise she'd made not long ago.

"I need to...I'll help him check on the guy."

She flashes an apologetic smile before hoping away, probably not even in the right direction.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Cure Gull blinks. "H-hey! You're going the wrong w----" she's gone. Well oops.