905/The Test From Heck

The Test From Heck
Date of Scene:	22 January 2016
Location:	Seishou Public School - Classrooms
Synopsis:	Melanite needs some energy. Tests are renowned for being Nastily Exhausting. If this one's a little bit more so, who'll notice?
Cast of Characters:	Makoto Kino, Usagi Tsukino, Melanite, Naru Osaka, Tsubasa Kazanari

---

Melanite has posed:
Seishou Public School - Friday, January 22nd. It's a positively lovely winter's day out, so of course the school administration has to ruin it by scheduling their new 'prototype exam' for that afternoon.

Thursday was unpleasant - indeed, several of the class Usagi Tsukino shares with her friends were sniffling by the end of the day, and on Friday at least four of them - including Kyra Nygaard and her housemate, Ami Matsuyama - are home with the flu.

And just inside the entrance to the school, past the shoe lockers, is posted THE LIST. The fifty students selected to take the test. Usagi Tsukino's name is prominent, as is Makoto Kino's, and several others quickly recognizable - athletes, science-fiction nerds, That One Girl Who Everyone Swears Is A Yakuza Princess (and isn't Makoto Kino), and more. Equally prominent by her absence from the list is Ami Mizuno, Star Pupil, which elicits some grumbling indeed - and a lot of comments about luck of the gods having rescued the curve.

Teachers make their ordinary announcements at the start of homeroom, and make sure that students in their class are aware of having been picked for the exam. They also make sure everyone is aware that it will not count against their grades unless it would improve them, so they have nothing to worry about. Really!

(Meanwhile, in Section Two's Secret Underground Headquarters, a bureaucrat explains to Tsubasa that this whole thing blew up out of nowhere, and they have no record of any previous proposal to revamp Seishou's entrance exams... so there's probably something hinky going on. Yes, he actually calls it 'hinky'. Won't you go and poke around and see what's up?)

And so the day goes on....

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi shivers as she leaves Ami-chan. Oh boy. Now she is glad the bluenette is on her side! That wrath...that anger. Rei's was fast and furious, Ami's was...gonna be ticked for a good while about this, she can feel it!

Shiver, shiver.

Still, an even bigger question is on her mind.

Why her? Are they looking for someone to test how much stupidity the system could handle?

You're not stupid!

(Sorry, InnerMamo-chan, I couldn't hear you through the brainwashing.)

But even that question cannot outweigh the chilly ire of the Senshi of Water.

She clings tight to Makoto's arm, and even her hair has goosebumps. "Mako-chan...she's scary sometimes."

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa hasn't even bothered to pretend to be from this school, wearing her Verone Academy High school uniform. The only addition beyond the usual is a white hooded jacket, which is mainly used to hide her, fairly famous, face before people start noticing just who is that weird student from Verone who's walking through the school.

Officially, she's here to discuss something school business-y, but apparently that's long been done and she's just wandering through the school aimlessly. In fact, the bluenette is just timing her wandering to get her to that exam right around when it's supposed to start.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Ignorance is bliss, and Naru is eternally happy. There's a frisson of nerves at the mention of an experimental exam, no matter how many reassurances from teachers about the affect on grades. Still. There's academic pride to be considered.

Holding tight to her books, Naru comes up on tiptoes to look at THE LIST again. Even if she read it coming in, and had teacher remind her, she's just having another look now. Just to see who else is on it, and possibly to triple check the presence of her own name.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Yeah..." Makoto pats Usagi's back comfortingly, but it must be said that she's a little wide-eyed herself. It's rare to see Ami get really angry, so much so that it's easy to forget just how scary she can be when pushed.

Meanwhile-- "Why do you suppose we were chosen?" She eyes the list from too far away to actually read it, noting Naru as she does and remembering that her name was also included. Naru's a good student, which lets out any ideas about the exam being aimed at those whose grades could use some TLC.

"...We'll have to do our best," Mako says, turning a commiserating look towards Usagi. "I don't want to have to explain to Ami-chan if I do badly."

Melanite has posed:
The morning classes are unremarkable, aside from one or two people in each class frantically re-reading their textbooks to try to cram for the test. "This is why we didn't tell you until today," the teachers remind them, "Now focus on this class, and don't worry about the exam. You'll be fine." The little smirk on some of them, however, shows how much amusement the situation is providing Seishou's faculty.

Amazingly, the teachers actually give Usagi a little break, calling on her only once - but it's in Math class, for a bit of trigonometry that Ami spent too many hours trying to pound into the poor Rabbit's head.

Tsubasa's arrival seems to go unremarked, her business handled easily and without complaint. Her 'disguise' seems to work out fairly well, or at least, no one is running around shouting "Tsubasa-sama is here!"... yet.

Naru Osaka is indeed on the list, right alongside Usagi and Makoto, and one other from their class - unfortunately it's someone so unimportant to the Sailor Moon story that they don't get named. Four from one class is almost a record, the only class with more is sending five, and most of them are in twos and threes from all three years involved.

In between Math and History, the last class before lunch, Nameless-kun works up the courage to approach Makoto. "So, er," he stumbles, then: "Is it true what they're saying, that they got you to bake a cake for everyone taking part?" He holds up his cellphone, showing a text from NotAYakuzaHimeChan in 9-C crowing excitedly about it. Makoto's cooking does have a certain reputation, after all.

Lunch break finally arrives, however, and with it the joy of anticipation. The exam will begin as soon as lunch is over, out in the school's assembly hall, and last a full three hours. The good part is, everyone gets to go home when they're done... or maybe stay for cake.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The sounds of Ami's throwing of desks still echoing (horribly...frighteningly...) in her ears, Usagi clings to Makoto's arm once more. "I can see why you and Naru were chosen! You're both smart!" Speaking of! Naru gets a swooped arm hook, and whether she likes it or not, she's following the other two girls. (Unless she really doesn't want to, Usagi will let her go!)

"Do you think they needed to have a base score, and since mine are usually very low, they went with me? Or are they figuring they need to really test the system?"

She whines. "What if I do so bad, I flunk out of school no matter how well I do on my finals?!"

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa's approached the list of exam-takers by lunchtime, and has taken a casual glance over it. She makes a good show of not looking particularly interested, though she's bothered to memorize the whole list. In fact, she's even taken a picture with her cell phone and transmitted it back to base; let's see if they can analyze it.

More time is spent on watching the students that appear to be fretting or otherwise concerned about the test. She overhears Usagi complain, and starts to quietly follow from a slight distance, trying to make sure she doesn't draw attention.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto regards the classmate whose name she cannot remember, and the text that he shows her, with an expression of faint dismay. "This is the first I've heard of it," she says apologetically. "I think it's a misunderstanding."

She spends the entirety of lunch break somewhat distracted, wondering if the faculty actually is expecting her to prove cake and somehow no one told her. Maybe if she finishes the exam quickly enough she can come up with something... what have they got on hand in the Home Ec room...?

"I'm sure they wouldn't flunk us out of school just because of one exam, no matter how badly we do," she attempts to reassure Usagi, although given her current state of distraction she might not sound entirely convincing.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru startles as she's captured by a hook of her arm, but it only lasts a moment before she's giggling and being dragged along with her Usagi.

"Oh /Usagi/." She shakes her head with an indulgent smile. "The teachers says it doesnt count!" And clearly everyting the teachers say is utterly true. All of it.

"It's just a wide and diverse group of students and you're included!" Naru exclaims with utter sincerity. "It'll be fun! I bet its some sort of study on teaching methods. Maybe we'll be in a research paper!"

Melanite has posed:
History class, as all of History, eventually comes to an end, and Usagi's class is released to their lunch. Best period of the day! And there's a new girl from 9-B in the cafeteria with a portable grill, cooking okonomiyaki and selling it cheaply. (If anyone tries it, it's pretty good!) Nobody is quite sure how she managed to get permission to do so, but NotAYakuzaHimeChan is sitting nearby eating one with a self-satisfied smirk.

Tsubasa continues to go unremarked in her hoody, except for that one kid who notices her and gasps.. then shuts her mouth with a click and slips up close. "It's really you," she whispers, clearly trying to keep it a secret and avoid the stampede of fans that would result if she revealed the singer's presence openly.

Nameless-kun sighs softly, and nods. "Oh, well. I figured it was too good to be true." If Makoto decides to check, she'll find the Home Ec room has plenty of supplies... but is in use by a bunch of American Culture Club members making cheeseburgers. Some can be acquired to taste-test (or share with friends) if she wishes.

Indeed, clearly everything the teachers have told you is true. The test is perfectly safe. No one will get expelled over it, have their grades ruined, or get their energy drained and turned into a youma. We promise.

The test is set up in the assembly hall, as promised. Fortunately, with only fifty students taking part, it requires only a corner of the spacious room - it's designed to accommodate the entire student body, after all. Tables have been set up, the big six-foot folding ones, with three seats behind each. Nametags have been set at each place, and students are guided to them by the trio of teachers who've been pressed into proctoring the exam. A woman in a red business suit, presumably someone from the school board or the city department of education, looks on while everyone takes their seats and the test is passed out. It's a sealed packet, and a thick one, and you're all told very strictly not to open it until directed to. You also get a scantron sheet for the multiple-guess section and a blue-book for hort-answer and essays.

Eventually, everyone is in their places, has their tests, scantrons, pencils, and bluebooks, and it's time to begin. Unlike most tests, this one isn't divided into sections based on subject. They're all mixed together. The first part is multiple-choice, lowball questions that are probably aimed at 6th-graders, some of them are even easy for Usagi.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa almost dreads the fallout from being discovered, but she gives the girl who noticed her a pleasant smile before moving on, grateful it's not being spread. Then, the test is about to start, and the idol lacks an excuse to enter. So she just waits right outside the assembly hall, focused on the door and ready to act if it seems like she needs to.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The giggle out of Naru is mostly nervous, no matter how much she's attempted to pitch it to Usagi as fun. Fun! It's still an exam, and there's something about those scantron sheets and blue lined booklet that sends a shiver of nerves through anyone.

She has the luck, or distraction of finding her name placard sitting next to Usagi's at one of the tables and there's a bright smile. "It'll be /fine/, Usagi." She reassures the other girl, almost by habit, really, and possibly just to the name placard, if she's already managed to misplace the blonde.

Naru settles at her spot, arranging papers and pencils and test booklet just /so/ on the surface. All perfectly in their spots, all waiting to be taken up when the signal is given. A final bright smile over to the others as that directive comes and she opens the test packet. Clearly she's a good student, she's actually reading it through before she starts. Just like everyone /says/ you should, but no one actually does.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Already, Usagi is wanting to throw desks like Ami had, but for the exact opposite reason.

Tests. She hates tests.

Maybe they'll cover pi. She remembers enough about the gummy worms to remember pi!

That pamphlet...it taunts her. It knows she'll fail.

A deep breath through the nose.

She wonders, briefly, if she'll be disqualified if she opens this pamphlet.

She turns to Naru, glad she'll be sitting beside her (moral support!) and gives her a small grin.

Deep breaths!

She can do this!

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto has been somewhat reassured by the promise that their exam results won't count toward their grades, but she still feels knotted up with tension and a certain lurking dread as she settles in at her seat and - once given the okay to do so - surveys the contents of the packet. She's really not any fonder of tests than Usagi is.

At least she's at the table with Naru and Usagi, which lets her feel like at least she has some moral support. She flashes a quick smile to each of them - trying for encouraging when she looks toward Usagi, though it comes out looking more like commiseration - before it's time to get started.

After the first few questions, she's actually feeling kind of hopeful. This might not be so bad... Right?

Right?

Melanite has posed:
The test continues, of course. With or without poor Mizuno-san. The questions get harder as the pages turn, moving into late 6th year material soon enough.

"Hibiki! I saw that!" calls a teacher, and pulls a protesting 7th-grader out. "Cheating on this test is not tolerated. Go and sit in the locker room." The boy is sent off, his test paper confiscated and marked with a red stamp.

Each time the page is turned in the test booklet, a new and more difficult set of questions is presented. The first few pages continue the multiple-choice selection, moving on to short-answer and the bluebook at just short of the halfway point. Math, science, history, literature, geography, all mixed together, shifting from one subject to another with every question. Trying to plow through them in order is almost dizzying.

Another student is pulled out for cheating, and then a third -- poor Nameless-kun! The DoE woman scowls at this, and leaves the teachers to handle the proctoring for a bit as she heads back to, presumably, have a harsh discussion with the cheaters on the subject of academic honesty.

All around Our Heroines, their fellow students press grimly onwards, pencils scribbling frantically as they work out their answers and try to color inside the lines on the scantron sheets. Even the easy, lowball questions of the first pages seem to give some of them problems, surprisingly enough, and a fourth is sent back to join the Cheaters Never Prosper club.

Except, of course, that it's nothing of the sort, and something quite sinister is going on in that locker room. The Dark Energy in use there is subtle but certain, and soon enough passes the detection threshold of Tsubasa's sensors - just in time for a star soccer player to sulk dejectedly through the locker-room door!

And even through their own gut-wrenching anxiety, the two Senshi in the room will eventually notice the energy drain going on, either on themselves, or as students around them start slumping and falling out of their desks, their tests little more than half-completed....

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru chews on her bottom lip as she works steadily through the test paper. Quicker on some sections than on others, her pencil fluttering over scantron and blue blook, making notes and circling sections that she'll come back to later, once they've percolated through her thoughts a bit more.

A pencil clatters to the table behind the one Naru sits at, normally enough to startle her, but she barely notices. Oddly enough, many of her own little nervous ticks are easing off, surely not because she's getting more comfortable with the material.. it's getting harder!

Her pencil slows, and her eyes glaze, the lead skittering on the page as her normally neat handwriting goes all haywire. Naru's pencil clatters to the table, bounding and bouncing off her paper and she doens't budge to chase after it, just sits and STARES at her paper.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
And thus, Tsubasa ducks into a convenient nearby empty place and sings. "Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri Tron." Activating her Symphogear and thus bringing forth her tools to fight evil. She steps out, softly singing a song that's filled with references to swords, katana in hand and starts to head towards the locker room in question.

And then she attempts to kick open the door. Section 2 will find a way to pay for it later.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi, of course, doesn't notice the drain of energy right away. After all, this is a test. Tests are boring. Tests are better than the warmest of milk on the most sleepiest of nights.

Her forehead nearly thunks on the table in front of her when the pencil clatters behind. She jerks herself awake and stares at Naru for a moment.

"Naru-chan?" A gentle shoulder nudge. No response.

She looks over at Makoto, suddenly awake and suddenly feeling...

She staggers out of her chair, hand clutching her stomach.

"S-sorry, nerves... they're..."

She manages to get enough strength to run from the room, pretending to gag along the way.

Usagi Tsukino dissapears, probably to worship the porcelain deities for the...third time in a month? Coincidentally, Sailor Moon is seen not long after.

And then she's running at the door someone else is pounding against. "HYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" ... "Ow..."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto doesn't notice at first. It's not so much that she's focused on the test, really - it's more that staying focused is always her biggest problem when it comes to studying and schoolwork, so as the test problems get harder and she starts to feel that prickle of static energy up her spine, at first it kind of seems like business as usual.

She fidgets in her seat, trying keep her mind on the test.

When Naru's pencil drops off to the side - Naru, a good student who's not known to fall asleep in class under normal circumstances - Makoto's head jerks up and she locks eyes with Usagi, realizing as she does what her senses have been trying to tell her. In the next moment, no longer even thinking of exams, she bolts to her feet in a motion sharp enough to send her chair clattering backwards over the floor.

"I need to check on Usagi-chan!" is the only excuse she tosses over her shoulder as she rushes out after her friend, already grabbing for her transformation pen. Seconds later, an electrical surge in another room makes the lights dim throughout the building.

Sailor Jupiter catches up just in time to see another magical girl kicking in the locker room door. "--Whoa." Blinking, she takes half a second to admire the drama of the entrance. She'll have to try that sometime herself.

Melanite has posed:
The flare of light energy as multiple henshins go off raises a shout from the locker room. Well, not so much a shout as a roar of feminine rage: "WHHHAAAAT? WHO DARES?" The drain intensifies as she yanks on the flow, sending several more students tumbling from their seats and leaving almost all of them at best groggy and barely aware of their surroundings, much less able to move.

And this time, it isn't hard at all for anyone magically-aware in the area to pick up the dark energy in use, being shoved into a handful of students... students who will, no doubt, be sent into dire and dangerous combat against the incoming Senshi and their musical ally.

Four of the six former members of the Cheaters Never Prosper club emerge from the locker room, looking like they've hulked up on steroids, muscles bulging, eyes crackling with dark energy. One of them laughs as he sees the Senshi arriving. "Look! They sent us some cheerleaders, to help finish the test! Get 'em!"

Striding in behind them, like she owns the place, is the mastermind of the occasion, a petite platinum-blonde in a red coat and a long braid. "Well, well, well," she comments, smiling lazily, turning a red fedora about in her hands. "A pair of Senshi, and some other suit's Ace, is it?" She rolls the hat along her arm until it goes over her shoulder and onto her head, Sinatra-style.

"Interesting outfit," she comments as the four students-turned-minions charge towards their opponents. One for each Senshi, and two for the new girl. "Who are you supposed to be, Magical Girl Pretty Deadly-chan?"

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa isn't talking, she's singing more about swords and some other stuff. It's background music, in a sense, but she doesn't introduce herself; nor does she rise to the taunts. Understanding that these minions are harmless kids beyond the possession, she doesn't even try her swords on them, jumping back and landing on her hands, then going for a spinning kick in an attempt to knock both of them into the wall.

When she lands back on her feet, the katana in her hands expands to become a much bigger and heavier sword, with a strange futuristic theme to it. The swords on her heels unfold to their full length.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
WHAT in the WHATTITY WHAT WHAT OF ALL WHATTINESS?! (Even Moon's brain translates a string of obscenities to something more ratings' appropriate. Usually.)

This is...during a...

That's it. That short braided person is gonna get a what for of speech!

"Hold it right there!" All eyes on her? Hopefully! "A student's grades are nothing to be taken lightly! They scurry about, day after day, hoping that this time they will pass that test! And to have this false piece of monstrous abomination dangle before them like the promise of a delicious steak on a cool summer's night only to have it be over cooked!" Someone reached the reading comprehension portion... "This is inexcusable! And I, Sailor Moon, will not stand idly by as those who try to figure out what a Plethora Theorum--- "She didn't do well on the math part... "is! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru is amongst many who were still in the room, who now are half falling, half lolling out of their chairs, struggling to their feet as some tiny portions of their thoughts ..

Who are we kidding? Glassy eyed and shuffling, there's no tiny portions of brain power struggling mightly, there's a lot of wide eyed ignorant zombie-esque shuffling as they move generally towards getting in the way. Clearly drawn by glorious speeches.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The moment the corrupted students start towards them, Sailor Jupiter steps forward, moving ahead of Sailor Moon to stand as a shield between her and the mooks. No speeches from the Senshi of Thunder - her style is much more deeds than words.

She does, however, glance back towards her teammate, just for a moment. "You know what to do, right, Sailor Moon? We'll line them up for Escalation!"

Then her erstwhile schoolmates are bearing down on her, and all of Jupiter's attention focuses on them and battle. As the nearest guy comes barrelling at her, she pivots in place and ducks out of the way of his swinging arm - in the next second she's caught that meaty limb with both hands, seeking to redirect all that charging momentum with a sharp twist of motion and send him crashing into the minions Tsubasa is kicking at, like a game of Bowling For Youma.

Melanite has posed:
"A very pretty speech, Sailor-girl. Good phrasing, I do like the steak metaphor. It goes well with the barbecue you're going to soon become!" The Red Witch waves her hands, and a bubble of dark energy billows out from her, condensing around her four minions to wrap them in dark power.

Two of them close in on Tsubasa, apparently their mistress has decided she's the more dangerous threat, with the obvious weapons. They're perfectly willing to engage her in melee, attacking with dark-empowered punches and kicks, ifs and feet leaving black trails in the air as they swing with remarkable strength and speed!

Jupiter, on the other hand, gets an unpleasant surprise, her opponent turning out to be rather more solid than expected - she executes the arm lock perfectly, but the throw goes nowhere, and now she's got the possessed soccer star at close range! Whatever the Red Witch is doing, she's made these four a good bit stronger than the average youma.

And speaking of four, there was another one, wasn't there? He's trying to circle around Jupiter to get at Moon, but once he sees Jupiter engaged he decides to go for the pinned target: her.

Poor Sailor Moon. Left alone with no one but a horde of shambling student zombies for company.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa is, if nothing else, agile. She ducks below one of the punches, weaves past nother, evades a kick and then finally gets an elbow to the shoulder. It throws her back, but apparently she can take a hit, and now she's starting to take them a bit more seriously.

Which means she attempts to stop wasting her time on the minions when the puppetmaster is right there. She runs forward, jumps and slices in the air, a shockwave of blue energy flying forwards to strike the Red Witch. When she lands, she immediately rolls in an attempt to stay out of the reach of the students turned youma.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There is at least no shuffling with arms raised, that would just be embarassing. There is shuffling, however. There might even be a bit of drooling, but no one is likely to admit that later. Naru is amongst a small pack of shambling student zombies, all glassy eyed and unresponsive as they make their slow and uncoordinated way towards Sailor Moon.

Clearly they just want a hug, right?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon's face grows determined with Jupiter's game plan! Right! Gather the students and cleanse their rear ends!

But...things don't exactly go as planned, and soon there are students all around her. Zombie students, no less!

"I didn't like this movie when it first came out! Help (sorry) help (sorry) help (sorry) HELP! (...sorry!)" Each 'help' is accompanied by a whack to a student head. The sorries explain themselves. If not, a bodily self gesture would. Because, hello. Sailor Moon. Usagi?

It's not really until she sees Naru, not in control of her own body, eyes glazed over, that something that has been simmering since spending the night at Makoto's boils.

Blue eyes swirl around her. It doesn't matter what face.

Her eyes snap to the girl with the long (short) pony tail.

She is angry. She is rage. "I will not let you take someone important from me again."

And then she rushes past the zombie students, screaming.

Of course her tiara's in her clenched fist. But she doesn't call out an attack.

Why?

Because she just wants to beat the pulp out of somebody.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The bug-eyed look of surprise on Sailor Jupiter's face and the startled sound that she makes would probably be funny, if this weren't, you know, really dangerous. These guys are stronger and faster than she'd taken them for.

Time for a new tactic.

"Flower Hurricane!" A wind kicks up in the locker room as Jupiter throws out a hand, a wildly swirling torrent of air that scatters towels, rattles locker doors, and surrounds the rampaging minions of the Dark Kingdom in a confusing, distracting blizzard of colorful petals and dizzying fragrance.

As the other mook comes swinging at her, she uses her grip on the first guy's arm to vault herself up and over his hulking shoulders just before she would've been crushed between them. She lands lightly on her feet on his other side, poised to take action - but then Sailor Moon charges towards Melanite, and Jupiter's eyes widen in alarm.

Melanite has posed:
A pulse of blue energy comes flying towards the Red Witch. She lifts a hand, fingers splayed, throwing up a hurried shield... which the blast slams into, knocking her back, her boots digging a furrow in the hardwood floor of the hall - and her shield shattering as it dissipates the last energy of the blast. "Impressive, my musical friend!" she calls out. "Let me see if I can harmonize properly!" She responds with a blast of her own, crimson-sheened black, a spell meant to stick to the singer's feet and unsteady her footing.

The two Dark Student Monsters twist around, bumping into each other and almost coming to blows - words are exchanged, something slurred that might be 'dork' and 'jock' and other imprecations - but they come after Tsubasa again hurriedly.

Jupiter's playmates seem baffled by the flowers whirling in the wind she creates, and she succeeds in baiting one mook into slamming his meaty fist into the other. "Hey! Dapock wuz dat for?" Mook B, having been decked by Mook A, hauls off and decks Mook A right back.

And there's no one between Usagi and the Red Witch but Naru and her fellow zombies.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
After a failed attempt at deflecting the crimson black blast, Tsubasa is, however briefly, rooted to the ground. Long enough for those two youma to catch up to her, and force her to duck and weave to avoid their attacks while she struggles to get free. When she finally manages to do so, she gets punched in the face and thrown back slightly.

At least she lands on her feet, and still not wanting to accidentally harm the kids inside the youma, she rushes for Melanite once again, this time she just attempts to attack with that big sword and the smaller swords on her heels, an overhead strike following by a rapid backflip with a sharp edge.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
UG! More zombies! Sailor Moon is in too much of a rage to do much more than knock them aside.

Except, of course, to Naru-chan. She gets a bonk on the head, sure, but it's lighter than the others, hopefully just enough to daze her (other wise worst friend of the year award goes to Usagi Tsukino...) and a gentle smooch to the forehead, barely there, before working her way (more aggressively) through other students.

Finally, that pony tail is in a more or less clear path.

Another shriek, another lunge.

This time with an aimed fist!

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Sailor Moon!" There's a mob of zombie-students between Jupiter and her teammates and she's all but certain she's about to see this all go horribly wrong before she can get through them to help.

The one saving grace of this moment is that her gamble with those two mooks worked and the other two are distracted by Tsubasa, giving Makoto the opening to do the only thing she can do in the immediate - the electric lights in the locker room flicker again as Sailor Jupiter jabs a pointing finger towards Melanite, sending a slim lance of bright crackling energy leaping towards the woman in red.

It's not the full wrath of Supreme Thunder, but if she can at least give Sailor Moon an opening--

Naru Osaka has posed:
*BONK*

Naru didn't get booped on the nose, she got bonked on the head. Enough to make her stumble, tripping on her own feet in her state of mindless shuffling and fall only a step later, landing down on hands and knees.

Getting up from the floor is a surprisingly complicated task when one is seeing stars (Faint!) and has one's head muddled utterly into zombie land and then bonked. She's not out cold like some of their classmates, but the floor really does seem like the easiest solution at the moment.

Melanite has posed:
"Ha! You won't catch Melanite that easily!" crows the Red Witch, throwing up another shield. This one has o tank sword-strikes from Tsubasa and Jupiter's lightning, and Moon's fist. She's slammed backwards, bouncing off the wall - and a little dazed, by hte look of her.

"Servants! Attend your Master!" And another pulse of dark energy whips out, empowering the four corrupted students yet further and pushing Melanite herself even further back, almost to the locker room door.

The four students, meanwhile, push onwards, their distractions almost eliminated as they receive the invigoratingly corrupt breath of power. They bounce off each other like billiard balls as they rush towards the heroes.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa has a feeling like they've gotten Melanite cornered, and just need to push a little harder. And thus, she throws her sword into the air, jumps up to the ceiling as that sword grows to even more ludicrous sizes, and it's pointing straight at Melanite. No longer at a size where it can be wielded, it floats in the air.

Thus, Tsubasa kicks herself off the ceiling and straight into the handle of this humongous blade, both feet adding to its sheer mass as she attempts to drive it into Melanite, or at least shatter whatever shields she can come up with this time.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She wants to connect more, but suddenly, the room is spinning even after she lands. "I ah...uh..."

She has nothing.

She looks up at Melanite, anger in her eyes.

But then they roll toward Naru. Toward Jupiter.

And a wand is, somehow, held high above her head.

And anger and hate are both exhausting and how in the world do people cling to that?!

"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

A wild arc. A somewhat tired sweep.

And a swoon against Jupiter. "That whole automaton thing? Forget it, scrapped. Too exhausting."

Makoto Kino has posed:
The heart that was lodged in Sailor Jupiter's throat begins to settle back into its proper place when she sees the wand held aloft, even before the coruscating light of Moon Healing sweeps the room. By the time that Sailor Moon swoons toward her, Jupiter is right there by her side to be swooned on. "Good," she murmurs, slipping an arm around her friend to support her. "I like you better the way you are."

Despite the soft words, though, her guard hasn't gone down. The hand that isn't helping to support Sailor Moon still sparks with electricity, and Jupiter remains poised, watching for Melanite's next move.

There's no way this is over.

Melanite has posed:
Even with the four corrupted students rushing to intervene, the heroes show their might. Tsubasa's first blow shatters Melanite's attempt at a shield, slamming her back into the locker-room door.

A wave of healing energy washes over the room, shattering the spells binding the four student-mooks, releasing the stumbling zombies from their bonds, as well. And perhaps more satisfying to Sailor Moon is the pained cry of shocked surprise from the Witch as her spells are shattered. That kind of backlash hurts, by the sound of it.

"What the bell?" one of them mutters. "What're we doing in here?" asks another. "Where'd lunch go?"

Melanite stumbles back through the door, hurling one last blast of barely-focussed dark energy to hold off the heroes as she falls back... into the arms of the two remaining "Cheater's Club" members.

She stumbles into them, one arm caught by each of Nameless-kun and ReallyNotAYakuzaHimeChan, the three of them tumbling through the Shadow Gate she'd been channeling the drained energy into.

"You've not seen the last of me!" is... the last that is seen of Melanite, the Red Witch: with the flow of energy from the students cut off, the gate is already starting to close, and you can hear a brief scream, suddenly cut off as it slams shut. No trace of her remains but a triangle of crimson leather, sliced neatly from her coat by the collapsing gate, and a few equally-crimson rose petals.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Of course she doesn't feel good at causing someone pain, no matter how angry she is. After all, gesturing to self? Sailor Moon? Usagi?

However, Sailor Moon does rush to the side of Naru, frantically checking for pulse, breath, and all that stuff. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you sit? Stand? Walk? Run? Are you okay?!"

She's not the angry girl she was a few minutes ago, but the concerned friend. Naru may, or may not, pack this information away for later.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru blinks a few times and her hands lift to her head, clearly a sign of a brutal headache that may or may not have gone bonk. Or have come with zombie like tendancies.

"I.." She blinks again, the reality of being on the floor, and not sitting in a chair, at a table crashing through her throbbing head. "I'm okay.." She replies first to the question, and then her eyes widen as she takes in the who of the concern. "Oh!"