View source for 1657/As We Know It

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/06/24
|Location=Mitakihara - Mitakihara General
|Synopsis=It's the end of the world.
|Cast of Characters=161,78,170,7,103
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Something is wrong, and silence is the first sign.<br /><br />Not silence in the city -- the sounds of urban life continue as normal, the trains and the traffic and the chatter of pedestrians all swelling up from Tokyo as the sun dips below the horizon. No, it's not the humans that are silent, for they do not know what is about to happen.<br /><br />It is the babbling brook that goes still. It is the wind that ceases to blow. It is the dog that stands at noiseless attention, the bird who stops singing, the livestock who stare at the sky, unmoving. The Earth is screaming, but its creatures are silent.<br /><br />Something is wrong, and the quakes are the second sign.<br /><br />Shortly after silence falls, the land begins to shake. Not in the singlular bursts and tremors of shifting faultlines, not something that Japan has experienced before. The world itself is shaking, unevenly and continuously, jarred by the burrowing roots of the hundred or so Xenstalks scattered throughout the world. News bulletins light up televisions across the world -- scientists are baffled. Now everyone knows something is wrong, but what is behind it, they cannot say.<br /><br />For a single moment, as panic steadily spreads across the city, a figure in red and bone white appears above Mitakihara's hospital. A figure who has been there before, walked its glossy modern halls, known what it's like to be sick and forgotten in a mass of uncaring humans. It has been years since he set foot inside, but on its rooftop, he made a promise to a little boy. Someday, he would come back with beautiful flowers, for him and him alone.<br /><br />It is time he fulfilled that promise.<br /><br />He takes a deep breath, beholds the chaos unfolding before him, appreciates the last moment of calm before the storm -- and with a wave of his hand, the largest, most gnarled Xenstalk of them all spears through the center of the hospital and buries itself in the dirt beneath.<br /><br />This is the Xenians' call to battle.<br /><br />Across the world, those cute pink flowers, those Lilium stellaris that had asked so little of their caretakers -- they spring up, with grasping hands and piercing laughs, unspooling their whiplike roots and wrapping around whatever living creature they can find. Planted in their minds and souls, they whisper to their victims: */Go. To the Xenstalk. Bring others. Kill anyone who stands in your way./*<br /><br />*/Give your life to this planet's destruction./*<br /><br />The sky is dark, the land is shaking. Droves of people stumble in mindless stupor towards the green stalks that writhe deeper and deeper into the Earth with each passing minute. The world stands on the edge of the apocalypse.<br /><br />But there are many who will not let it go down without a fight.

:'''{{#var:78|Kyouko Sakura| (78)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyouko knows something is wrong before it happens- like the animals that stop and sense the oncoming calamity, she just has a 'sense', finetuned through years of having to be on guard every single minute, waking and sleeping. She doesn't live like that anymore, but that sense doesn't go away. It gets tucked beneath comfort, hides within happiness.. but it shatters through to the front once it is needed. It's needed now.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She had been walking down the sidewalk on the way to work, hands tucked in the pockets of her hoodie, pocky-stick in mouth.. a normal day. But suddenly she stops in her tracks.. turning to look around. Something feels.. wrong. Her eyes narrow as she glares about her, causing people to give her weird looks, but nothing seems to be the matter..<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Until the shaking starts. The ground quakes and rumbles, and Kyouko stumbles. "Dammit!" She curses. "What now?!" In a flash of red she's henshined, walljumping in a series of quick bounds to the nearest rooftop to look around. It's not hard to notice the giant Xenstalk through the hospital, even if it's in the distance.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Give me a break.." Kyouko mutters, chomping through her stick of Pocky and pulling out her phone, sending off a few quick texts with rapid, magic-enhanced button presses. (She only got a phone a few months ago, she needs magic to be able to rapid-text!)

:'''{{#var:170|Naomi Yomada| (170)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Its been a pretty good day. Even when things started getting really quiet, it was still pretty cool. Autumn had been working on a dimmer switch for her room. Something she could wire into the electric and tone down the lights if she wanted. Sure the last one wound up in a gout of soot and ash all over Victory, Corvus, Gull, Lilac, and herself. It was so worth it though. Now though her project is really coming along. That is until the ground starts to shake. She quickly stands up and puts her thinks away. <br /><br />Lilac flies over to the girl, "Naomi-chan, We have a problem. Its not the Phantom Empire this time but it is bad. You'd better transform!" The pink fairy comments before taking her place behind Naomi.<br /><br />"Right! <span class="fg_229">Time to change!</span>" The yellow and cyan lightshow kicks up as several bolts of lighting strike. "<span class="fg_229">Pretty Cure, Rolling Mirror Change!</span>" Her image on the prechan mirror is quickly covered with her Pretty Cure uniform. She is wrapped in a cloak and then her body is covered with the proper uniform. She whips the cloak off and tosses it. She poses as a pair of lightning bolts appear behind her. "<span class="fg_229">Curiosity, Sparking the fires of Creativity, CURE SPARK!!</span>" The light show ends and Cure Spark is left standing there. Her back bow shifts becoming a pair of cyan wings. She lifts off and flies towards where the action seems to be based. The Hospital.

:'''{{#var:7|Sayaka Miki| (7)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sayaka was at home, trying to study for an important exam when she got the urgent text message, and she lets out an exasperated sigh. "Arrght! Why now? Why couldn't it be AFTER the text?" however, there's always the possibility that with danger come grief seeds and so she quickly transforms and rushes out the door. Several minutes later, she arrives at the hospital, swords drawn as she surveys the area. "Ugh, seriously? A giant plant!?" okay, so much for a witch. Buut, looks like Kyouko will need assistance on this one. This creep looks pretty big. Wait, there's more than one!? Dammit!<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She swings her swords to cut the ones in her immediate way as she heads towards the hospital where it seems the attack is concentrated for some reason.

:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>There is nothing natural about the victims of the Xenians, summoned here by the flowers to die. They walk with a stilted, slow gate, like puppets in the hands of exceptionally new puppeteers. They make no sound, save a low groan every so often when their movement is impeded. Their eyes are glossed over, yellow, as if they were jaundiced, unseeing.<br /><br />And they let no obstacle stop them.<br /><br />Kyouko and Cure Spark may see the results of this from their vantage points above: the broken windows and glass doors, the toppled cars, the crowds of people clamoring over each other in a mindless drive toward the hospital. But it is Sayaka who will experience it firsthand. Her swords cut deftly through the vines entangling a few victims, who drop silently to the ground as they're released. Too late might she notice the zombified hand that reaches for her arms from behind, or the arms that shoot forward to grab her stomach. A horde of plant-controlled thralls approaches from behind, at the command of the Xenians she just helped kill, and she has made herself a prime target by standing in their way.<br /><br />In the distance, more of the hospital falls loose from the Xenstalk as it burrows deeper into the Earth, as more and more Xenian zombies arrive to give it their lives.

:'''{{#var:78|Kyouko Sakura| (78)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyouko has begun leaping across the rooftops towards the hospital after sending out her text messages. Along the way, she observes the bizarre behavior of the people entrapped by the Xenians, though she doesn't stop to try and cut them free.. there are too many, and besides, they don't appear to actually be hurt. Yet. If she can cut off the source of the attack, it oughta stop the whole thing- that's a mighty big 'if', given the scale of what she's seeing, but that's never stopped Kyouko from trying.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A brief thought crosses her mind- that this is horrible timing, because fighting this is going to use up magic, and it's not going to get her any Grief Seeds, and they really can't afford that right now. On the other hand, she can't just sit by and do nothing while the city crumbles around her. And she owes Fiore, personally, if she can find him.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Her magical senses light up with familiar energy. &lt;&lt;Saya-chan!&gt;&gt; The call is telepathic, sent towards the sensed presence of the blue-haired girl. Mid-leap, she sees Sayaka being accosted from behind by some of the plant zombies after she tried to free some. Without pausing to think, Kyouko rockets down from the rooftops.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She lands in a flare of crison energy and a ruffle of skirts, spinning, her spear (though it hadn't been there a moment before) materializing mid-swing. To her credit, she doesn't chop any arms off- she just uses the non-sharp parts of the spear to attempt and smack them away from Sayaka. "Leggo of her, jerks! Saya-chan, we should get back to the rooftop!" She says, noticing more and more of the zombies closing in on the source of the conflict.

:'''{{#var:170|Naomi Yomada| (170)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cure Spark continues flying along as she sees the nightmare shaking out before her. "Holy crap. This is going to get messy. She looks down and sees s familiar bluenette. "Sayaka-chan?!" She comments as she comes to a stop. Then she watches her lash out at the zombies. Then there is a red girl with a spear. "I need to get down there but Any of my attacks could hurt innocents!" <br /><br />Lilac is still with her of course. She quickly speaks up, "You need to get creative Spark-chan! Turn your dial, come up with a good attack and get down there!" <br /><br /> "Later we are going to have a talk about being bossy in crisis situations!" Spark quickly turns the dial on her prebrace and dives down towards the two Puellas, "<span class="fg_229">Spark Heat Lightning Blade!</span>" She calls out Lightning flashes as she pulls what looks like a sword made out of hot electrical energy from an imaginary scabbard. She lands and makes several strikes. "Hiya Sayaka-chan! Hiya Red Speary person I've not met yet!"

:'''{{#var:7|Sayaka Miki| (7)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Suddenly the zombified people start to grab at her. Sayaka really doesnt want to harm them as they appear to be in some sort of trance, however, cutting at the vines that control or attack them doesn't seem to make much difference. Indeed, she'll have to get to the heart of the problem before she can free these people. Gritting her teeth, she's about to leap free of the hands that grab at her before Kyouko comes to her aid. She grins. "Kyou-chan! Nice timing! Guess we'd better get inside the hospital. Try and figure out what's drawing them that way!"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's then that Naomi lashes out at the plants with her electric sword. Ah, another ally! Well, three against a hundred or so plants is an improvement at least! "Naomi-chan! Good to see you again! This is Kyouko Sakura. She's" she hesitates, uncertain of what to call her, "Someone very special to me..Kyou-chan, this is Cure Spark, a friend of mine!" but she hasn't a moment to lose as she takes a step forward, "C'mon, I think the source is somewhere inside the hospital. If we can stop whatever's controlling 'em, maybe we can free them all!"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She sighs inwardly as she realizes from a quick glance around that there arent any other additional magical girls to help them with this problem. Looks like they may have to go all out to stop this thing, but at least she'll get to do it with Kyouko at her side. "C'mon!" and with that, Sayaka leaps up towards the hospital, aiming for the second floor so she can at least bypass the horde that swarm for the main entrance. Clearly there is something within drawing everyone here, but where?

:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It's hard to say whether the Xenstalk is sentient. Hard to say whether any of the Xenians are sentient, really. They're a hivemind, a collective with a purpose for each flower and vine and root. Their role dictates their desires, and the Mistress dictates their thoughts -- but perhaps each has a small will of its own, only enough to be useful where her eyes cannot see.<br /><br />Either way, the Xenstalk senses the distress of her sisters as they're cut away into nothing, crying out for their unfulfilled mission and the energy they cannot bring to her. She senses this, and she answers the threat in kind.<br /><br />Fiore and the Mistress knew better than to leave her defenseless.<br /><br />When the three girls press closer to the hospital, they may hear a skittering at the edge of their senses, a scrambling of sharp insectoid feet on concrete. They will certainly notice when one of those toxic pink flowers appears in front of them, hurried along on six green spikes that belong more on a crab than they do on a plant. They will certainly notice when this flower twists in on itself and quintuples in size, until a fully formed humanoid woman sits atop the newly gigantic bloom.<br /><br />What they may not see are the two just like her at approach from either side, who transform in the very same way. The cover of falling darkness and the chaos of stumbling crowds of bodies do wonders for stealth, even for alien monstrosities such as these.<br /><br />When energy-draining vines, gnarled and ropy, shoot towards the three of them, they are from all sides, and they show no mercy.

:'''{{#var:78|Kyouko Sakura| (78)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyouko finds another girl she doesn't know with a lightning-sword fighting back some of the zombies, and is about to question her when Sayaka speaks up. Kyouko relaxes (well, as much as she can amidst a horde of hostile zombies.) "Cure Spark, huh? Well, s'long as you can fight and you're not fighting against ''me'', I won't turn down the help." Then Sayaka is leaping off towards the hospital and the giant plant sticking out of it, which seems to be where all of the zombified humans are converging.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Dammit Saya-chan, wait up!" Kyouko curses, before leaping in the wake of her never-cautious girlfriend: not that she's one to talk. At all. But it's different when it's not her! She lands just outside the hospital, spear whipping around.. just in time to see the approach of the first flower-youma. Her eyes narrow. "Figures the big ones'd be here. Saya-chan, we got company, watch yourself!"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just as she says this, vines shoot out not only from the one monster, but from the others, heretofor unseen. She senses the attack, combat instincts kicking in, and dodges at the last moment, those one of the vine-spears slashes through the ruffled hem of her coat.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Snarling, she spins, and her spear fragments with a snapping metallic sound into its chain-and-haft form, swirling around, crackling with energy, and slashing though any vines that get too close to her as she tries to clear some space and take stock of the situation.

:'''{{#var:170|Naomi Yomada| (170)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cure Spark smiles to Kyouko, "Don't worry, I can fight and I'm pretty sure you're not causing trouble so nto going to fight with you." Then there goes Sayaka. Quicky she takes flight again. Easier to do that right now then hop around. She quickly catches up with both girls and lands with them.<br /><br />"Well, I guess this is the center of the chaos..." She states to them as she turns in time to see. Oh look at that, A very big monster that isn't one she's familiar with. "Oh this is going to be fun." She takes off running and leaps into the air. "<span class="fg_229">Spark Lightning STRIKE!!</span>" She goes flying toward the youma and a bolt of lightning hits her mid flight. She connects with the youma sending all of that energy into it!"

:'''{{#var:7|Sayaka Miki| (7)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Heh, dont worry about me! I can handle it!" she grins and winks at Kyouko, before rushing headlong into trouble, as usual. "C'mon, Spark-chan!"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sayaka is in the process of climbing/leaping towards the top of the building when the three female plant youma spring from somewhere, advancing steadily upon the three heroines. She would continue climbing, determined to reach the top and cut of the head so to speak, but then one of those energy draining vines lashes out at her, snagging her by the foot from the side of the building and hurling her to the ground.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gritting her teeth, she clutches at the vine as it begins to drain away her energy. "Damit! What ARE these things?" she curses as she struggles to get free. Fortunately, her rapid healing factor makes it harder to drain her energy, and she has just enough strength to summon a flurry of shimmering swords that encircle her.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Shooting Stinger!" she cries out, and redirects some of the swords towards the vines that entrap her, the remaining two launched towards the youma. By this time she's starting to weaken considerably from the energy sapping vines. This may take a moment or two to recover.

:'''{{#var:103|Bass-chan| (103)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>And that is when a sea-green and black streak of light and shadow whizzes overhead, DIRECTLY FOR SAYAKA!<br /><br />It crashes through the remaining vines tethering her to the youma, allowing her weakened blue self to half-scramble, half-stumble to a safe corner to recover--<br /><br />--and the green-and-black streak stops with a showering of that seafoam phosphorescence and a cloud of shadow, kicked up like the dust from a short-stopping sprinter. It's a girl, eyes glowing the same as the patternings on the matte black of her form, hair weightless and glowing as well, and she's carrying a bass guitar made of shadows and lightning in one hand. "<span class="fg_48">Yo dawg I heard you like droppin peeps</span>," she shouts at the youma, "<span class="fg_48">So I brought some dubstep so you could drop while you dropped!</span>"<br /><br />And then she swings her bass around like ZZ Top and slams her hand down almost to the strings, then slowly pulls it back before waving closer and further like the bass is a theremin, and a teeth-shaking bone-grinding floor-vibrating lung-thumping low wubbing sub-bass starts up, growling and slowing and speeding up and peaking, kept in a perfect beat. "<span class="fg_48">SUBLIMATED GRIT DUB WOBBLE!</span>" she screams out, and the floor beneath the youma Saya just threw swords at starts to shatter with extreme upward force.<br /><br />"<span class="fg_48">ALSO BASS-CHAN SAYS FUCK YOU AND HELLO!</span>"

:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It's hard to maintain the element of surprise when something very loud and very bright announces your presence.<br /><br />Perhaps that's why so much of the vine assault goes astray, distracted by the blinding green light as those monsters are. Or perhaps the four of them (three of them now, after one retreats to recover her energy) are simply veteran warriors, completely used to the enemy sneaking up on them from behind. Either way, they draw no energy from their targets, and are in fact *worse* off now than they were before.<br /><br />One of the youma finds her vines deflected and shredded by a storm of chain and spearhead. One of them cries out as a bolt of lightning fries her body, overloading her with the ''wrong'' kind of energy. One of them receives a twofold attack: a hail of swords that slice at her body, and a painful wave of sound that sends her reeling backward, nearly knocked off her feet.<br /><br />It's possible they may have underestimated these humans -- but that makes no difference. They aren't the Xenian's foremost warriors because they're easy to kill, after all.<br /><br />The de facto leader of the group -- a flower harpy with hair of violet instead of blue -- screeches to summon the other two to her side, the piercing sound clashing painfully with the waves of Bass-chan's attack. Injured as they are, they do not question the order. With great bounds of their arthropodic legs, they leap into the air and land in formation, an arrow poised to shoot into their opposition's ranks.<br /><br />And they do, all at once. Hands extended for each girl's throat, the Xenians race forward to target them individually, to split them up so they cannot combine their strength.

:'''{{#var:78|Kyouko Sakura| (78)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyouko, momentarily safe within her swirling dome of spear and chain, grits her teeth as she sees Sayaka grabbed by the vines, some of her energy drained away. "Dammit, Saya-chan!" Her spear snaps back into its solid form in a clattering flurry, and she's about to leap to the aid of the blue-haired girl when she sees Sayaka free herself with her sword attack, and then fall back to preserve her energy. Kyouko breaths a sigh of relief.. she should have known the other girl could take care of herself, but..<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She glances to one side to see Cure Spark electrifying one of the other Youma.. and then Bass-chan makes her entrance in spectacular fashion. Kyouko winces at the overload of sound, baring her teeth at the strange girl who doesn't look like any sort of hero she's seen before.. but then again, she is attacking the plants. If she's a threat she can be dealt with once the obviously-more-urgent threat is put to bed.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Speaking of said threat.. the youma appear to organize, falling into formation and then hurtling themselves at the girls fighting outside the hospital.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They're trying to split the girls up, but Kyouko wasn't planning on fighting as a team anyway- the only person here she would have trusted like that has just retreated. As the flower-youma rushes towards her, Kyouko spits to the side. "C'mon then, if you're hard enough." She mutters, though the flower youma obviously can't hear it over the tumult surrounding them.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As the creature just heads straight for her, Kyouko stands, waiting... then at the last moment, ducks low, sweeping with her spear and spinning in a graceful, fluid arc, aiming to knock the things insectoid legs out from under it and send it skidding while avoiding it's claws if possible.

:'''{{#var:170|Naomi Yomada| (170)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cure Spark watches worriedly as her friend withdraws. She shouldn't have been out but there is no way that the rookie would ever tell her that. Then there is a lot of commotion. She looks up in time to see Bass-chan arrive and go to work. Not to mention speak a word that her moms would likely cover her ears for. Her attention goes to the other Puella, "Are you alright? Sayaka told me about the situation with your magic. Don't exhaust yourself okay?" She is honestly worried, even if she doesn't really know Kyouko.<br /><br />Then things start getting nasty. She is good but she is definitely not able to take out multiple targets yet. She watches as they begin organizing. She notes that arrow and is definitely getting ready to deal with it.<br /><br />Oh this just keeps getting better. Not only are the youma acting up like that but now we got choke hazzards. They are being rushed. "<span class="fg_229">Spark Lovely Repulsion!!</span>" What looks like a shield forms in front of her but its pushing things backwards. She calls out to the other girls, "If you can clear me a path I will try my finisher on the big boys. Maybe that will help out?" She asks with hope in her voice?

:'''{{#var:103|Bass-chan| (103)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Bass-chan, totally unconcerned with the idea of a fight after the fight-- possibly because she only suspects there might be one because of previous reactions to her henshin and doesn't care, possibly because she has no idea-- shrieks in indignant rage as one of the youmas rushes at her. She lifts up her smokybass as if to ward it off, but... it's for making music and only actually goes solid if she remembers to make it solid. It's a better sledgehammer than shield, to be perfectly honest.<br /><br />Soooo the flower youma's hand goes right through it and latches on to her throat, which means she can't call out any attacks at all.<br /><br />The bass vanishes as she reaches up to try and claw the hand off her neck, now holding her off her feet, and her eyes blaze in seafoam green fury for a moment--<br /><br />--and then she grips the youma's wrists and supports her weight like a pull-up and swings her body back, then up, and jackknifes her laserbladed feet into the thing's chest. At the instant of contact, she ''flies'' -- and her flight is dependent on those laserblades, the force coming out from beneath them. Weird physics dictates that that force should now be blasting into the cuts made by the blades. She hopes weird physics holds.

:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>As this fight wears on, the trudging of the zombified humans continues, ever onward to the plant that reaches both towards the sky and the core of the Earth. Several people on all sides of the skirmish collapse, their vines uncoiling themselves to rise up and join with the Xenstalk that destroyed the hospital. All around the building is a web of green, a network of roots that burrows into human life instead of soil. And with each sacrifice, the stalk cuts ever deeper into the Earth, seeking the core that it and its sisters will rip apart.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the Xenian warriors were created to fight, and they will not so easily be beaten in their moment of triumph.<br /><br />Kyouko's sweep is a wise tactical move -- inhibit the opponent's movement, they cannot retaliate when you go for the kill -- but it is one she sees well in advance, leaping over her spear with superhuman grace. Somehow, in the second she spends in the air, her upper body unspools into yards and yards of vine and root, a tangle of diseased green that she slams down on the Puella Magi, to smother her and steal the life out of her veins. They'd gotten a taste of this one's energy through their master, they all had. It would be a great gift to the Xenstalk, if only it is taken in a safe form.<br /><br />The repulsion shield works in that it slows down the Xenian aiming for Spark, but it cannot hold forever, not against the kind of power this creature asserts against it. Claws push into the yellow magic, slowly, trembling against its pure energy -- until they break through, and the half-woman slams into her, stopping only when they've both slammed into a nearby brick wall. Stone dust falls around them, the very foundation of the building creaks from the impact -- and the Xenian's hand glow faintly as she calls forth Cure Spark's energy.<br /><br />Already in the grip of the monster, Bass-chan's resistance does go *some* way to harm her. The lasers on her feet cut into the pale green of her chest, spraying acidic yellow sap in all directions. The Xenian cries out, stumbling momentarily from what must be great pain...but, again, she is a creature bred only for battle. Her hold on the impish green girl does not waver.<br /><br />Beneath their feet, both human and alien, the quaking of the Earth intensifies.

:'''{{#var:78|Kyouko Sakura| (78)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyouko grunts as the plant-monster leaps over her low swing, turning in the air over her, although she reacts swiftly, tucking her spear back and turning to face upwards.. only to have that tangle of roots and vines smash down on her from above, crushing into the pavement. For a moment, it seems as though she may have been smashed by the attack, her energy drained.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But suddenly, not one but six spearheads erupt from the pavement around where the plant has her pinned. Snake-like, their hafts composed of segmented chain and wood, they rear back in one synchronized motion.. then start to spin. A high-pitched humming sound splits the air as the six spearheads become a single blurr.. which then darts inwards to slice into the compacted plant-matter like an oversized blender.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There's an incredible, fleshy splattering sound and a spray of plant-matter and gooey green acidic slime in all directions, covering nearby walls, zombified-humans, and possibly other combatants.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When it clears, the spears are gone, and Kyouko is left laying on the pavement, covered in green goop and looking mildly put out by the situation. She slowly sits up, flicking her hands and then wiping her face. "Ugh.. again?! This shit took forever to get out of my hair last time.."

:'''{{#var:170|Naomi Yomada| (170)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Cure Spark is fighting for all she is. When her shield comes down, She is hit several times hard and goes flying backwards. It takes a little work but she does manages to land. "I have had about enough of this. Its time for this to end!"<br /><br />"<span class="fg_229">Light of Curiosity, Become Sacred Power!</span>" Immediately light surrounds her as a pair of intersecting lightning bolts appear behind her. "<span class="fg_229">Love Prebrace!</span>" She quickly taps her prebrace and then calls out, "<span class="fg_229">Pretty Cure, BALL LIGHTNING!!!</span>" She points towards the Xenians and the twin bolts of lightning go flying towards the Xenians. They wrap at least one (maybe more) up in a ball of purifying electricity. "<span class="fg_229">Spark of Curiosity, Return to the heavens!</span>" <br /><br />With that, she turns away and proceeds to defend herself so that if anything else wants to attack, she is ready for it.

:'''{{#var:103|Bass-chan| (103)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>And the fact that the stupid goddamn youma STILL WON'T LET GO OF HER makes Bass really, really, ''REALLY ANGRY''.<br /><br />Still hanging on to the youma's wrists, energy starting to drain out of her, she closes her eyes and shifts her thinking. The green light starts to flicker all over her, dimming-- then slams HARD AND BRIGHT, like a green sun lighting up behind a cracking black wall and shoving out at it. She is reaching deep within her soul--<br /><br />--deep within to find the true source of her power. It wants her energy? Let it have it. Let it have the Beat, pure and true and ecstatic, linked back through history and prehistory to the dawn of time, from tribal drums to syncopated cannonfire, from marching armies to the collision of atoms in the fusion of stars, from the Earth's steady heartbeat to the rumbling groan of stressed metal and rock in the shifting of tectonic plates and collapsing buildings to the pattern of subway train wheels against the regular uneven tracks, from the wild trance dancing of mystics to the wild trance dancing of ravers--<br /><br />--to her own heart and mind beating in time with all of them.<br /><br />And as the light of her breaks through the shadows of her, Mizudori Teion calls forth the sum totality of her wild heart and her one-ness with the sacred Beat and her low resonant control of the subsonic frequencies and lets it all go at once, timed perfectly to wrench the youma's hands from her neck and call out. It starts as a croak and ends up as amplified and autotuned harmonics, her own sweet alto with overtones and deep deadly undertones, and her hands stretch out in front of her as her power blasts her back.<br /><br />"'''<span class="fg_48">WITH BEATING OF DRUMS AND WITH GROWLING OF BASS, LET RHYTHM AND MELODY FLOW THROUGH THIS PLACE! WITH HEARTS FULL OF SOUND AND OF METAL AND LIGHT, NO EVIL CAN STAND IN THE FACE OF OUR MIGHT!</span>'''"<br /><br />With that said, the power takes a ''shape'', a bright green low-frequency sine wave, focused to precision: all of the energy that ''would'' be causing a hell of a lot of property damage is instead concentrated in that one tight brightly lit green visualized sound wave, so low that only the overtones can be heard, and even they are low as hell. All of that destabilizing force is shot directly at the youma. Structures lose cohesion when subjected to that kind of sonic attack. Structures. Cell structures. This will probably end up gross, too.

:'''{{#var:161|Fiore| (161)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The Xenian is a hivemind: one creature made of many. If this were not an advantage, it would not have left a trail of shattered worlds in its wake. Each of the many thousands of flowers has a niche, a role they are tailored for, and such weaknesses as individual thought and desire do nothing to hinder their ability. One Xenian is all Xenians, and all Xenians are one.<br /><br />The problem with connection is that it goes both ways. Strike a blow hard enough, and it'll ride that connected lifeforce all the way to the top.<br /><br />The Xenstalk learns this lesson all too late.<br /><br />No doubt the three girls assembled here were striking only to kill one, not many; there lives were endangered by the monsters in front of them, human thought tends to focus on the immediate threat. But the fighters are connected to the zombie parasites, which in turn feed the Xenstalk. And with the kind of show they give, it's no wonder that their power leaves the towering plant reeling, its trek into the Earth halted for several precious moments.<br /><br />Kyouko's spears pierce through the vines surrounding her, rending human limb from insect, splattering the acid in a cone that drenches concrete and brick building. Dozens of victims around her collapse, but not as sacrifices to the monster in the hospital -- their binds are cut, whether by errant spearhead, far-flung acid, or the sudden disappearance of their master.<br /><br />Cure Spark's purifying lightning encases her Xenian whole, disintegrating her body in a shower of sparks that reflect their caster's namesake. Just as lightning in nature, it cannot be contained. A spark catches on a vine that had grown and attached itself to the Xenstalk; that spark ignites a holy fire that runs its entire length, from base to destination, racing along every other vine it touches and incinerating them all with golden light. The trapped people, nearly drained of life, are freed.<br /><br />And where Kyouko's spears and Spark's lightning could not reach, Bass's sacred sounds ''rends.'' The soundwave passes through the Xenian she faces, so amazingly quickly that her expression never changes even as her body dissolves. Overtones pulse dangerously as the emerald magic lasers to the hospital, leaving civilian collateral miraculously untouched while decimating the web of vines that tangles itself near the top floor. Pink and green disappear, overcome by the Beat she summoned from the depths of her soul, and the Xenstalk trembles mightily at the loss of so many of her soldiers --<br /><br />This isn't the end. No. No planet has ever stood before the might of the Xenian host and survived. This cannot be the end for them. It's not possible.<br /><br />And yet the silver light that sparkles down, warm and familiar and gentle, says that it is.
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