2074/Congratulations On Being A WHAT

Congratulations On Being A WHAT
Date of Scene:	27 October 2016
Location:	Uminari City - OSA-P Jewelers
Synopsis:	A Cardian attacks OSA-P Jewelers. Magical girls respond! Sailor Mercury! Sailor Jupiter! ... Naru? With a flamethrower?
Cast of Characters:	Ail, Naru Osaka, Ami Mizuno, Makoto Kino

---

Ail has posed:
It's a cool October night in Tokyo, with the sun long set beneath the horizon and the moon having taken its place. Peaceful, quiet, normal - at least to the people who are themselves normal. But for those awakened to the world of magic, a soft but palpable feeling of some sort of looming danger is pricking just at the back of thier minds, the sense that was so easy to ignore before the world of good versus evil, hope vs despair, love vs hate made itself manifest in full in their worlds.

And for Naru Osaka, this feeling makes itself manifest in a very real way - the terrified scream of her mother from downstairs in the OSA-P jewlers, a scream which fades quickly into silence, not as though a hand clamped over her mouth, but as though she suddenly lacked the ability to scream at all.

A look downstairs reveals the culprit - a tall, distinctly alien humanoid, with pink skin, a strange blue hairstyle, and a green outfit that makes it seem to be made out of thorns is standing, one hand ending in a flower, and the stamen of that flower wrapped around Naru's mother, draining her energy away as she lies unconscious in the creatures grip. It grins revealing a vampiric set of canines.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The whole /week/ has been testy and out of sorts and irritable, if one might ask Naru. Which did not make coming home from school go well (Why /are/ there always people being slow pedestrians when you're not in the mood for it.), and did not make food prep go well (Stupid half burned grilled cheese) and is not making homework go well. (Geography sucks. And the teacher is boring.)

Homework inturrupted by screams is probably the epitome of 'not going well' and Naru startles before grabbing her satchel and racing down the stairs.

The satchel really does make sense in Naru's mind. It's beaten on Wraiths, it's a pretty darn fine satchel.

Naru emerges out into the store and stops dead. "You get away from her!"

Ail has posed:
The creature doesn't turn to face Naru, at first. It still manages to face her, though. It does this by twisting its head around without the rest of its body, snarling at her. "Vampeal!" it shouts, indignantly, releasing her mother's unconcious body where it slumps in place to the ground.

Then it turns the rest of itself to face the young girl, and then it vaults over a display case, leveling its flower-hand at her, and the two rope-like stamen whip through the air, intent on adding Naru's energy to its haul.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Vamp-what?" Naru asks as she uses that exceptionally versitile satchel to swat away the rope stamen, darting around to try and get herself some mobility room in and around the display cases. "Who or what are you, and why are you here?" She is clearly determined to at least ask, even if her expectation of answers is fairly low, or at least coherent answers.

Satchels are not the most /effective/ block, a brush of stamen across her hand as she bats it away is just the lightest of drains, but enough to trigger off The Device That Goes Ping. (Save that, of course, it doesnt actually go ping, it does alert whoever of senshi and shitennou are paying attention that Someting is Up With Naru.)

Ami Mizuno has posed:
The air slices open. It's just a thin slice; a little swirl of subspace that manifests against one of the windows in the vaulted ceilings of the jeweler's shop.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

The voice is clear and confident, full of command and authority. A burst of water streams forward from Sailor Mercury as she appears in that slice of subspace. It swirls around her, then rushes forward in a three-part stream. Suddenly there's not one Naru, but four, all taking the same actions at the same time; all defending themself against the plant-creature.

"Jupiter," Mercury calls over her shoulder, knowing that the more martial Senshi won't be far behind.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Indeed, Sailor Jupiter is not far behind at all. The illusory Narus have scarcely taken shape when another figure bursts out of that little swirl of subspace in a blur of white and green and pink - Jupiter rockets through Mercury's subspace door in a headlong charge, sparks flaring to life across her knuckles as she comes at the plant-creature fist-first.

"Get away from them!" she roars.

Ail has posed:
The creature seems incapable of answering Naru with anything more than the snarled "VAMPEAL" that she's heard before. But she does something else - when the stamen taps her over the satchel, and the energy is drained - Naru's grip falters and the creature tears the impromptu weapon away, dragging the satchel back to her. Taking it in her other hand, Vampeal glares at it before throwing it angrily to the ground and stomping on it.

    As Vampeal stomps on the bag, one of Naru's sketchbooks, now crumpled, slips visibly out of the satchel.

The air slices open, and the Narus multiply - and Vampeal is undeterred, rearing back and lashing out with the stamen, cutting through the air with the supersonic crack of a whip, lashing away the three illusions - but at least they protected Naru from the attack.

The creature makes ready to launch another attack at the remaining real Naru, but is suddenly stuffed by the sparking punch of Sailor Jupiter - taking a full 360 degree spin from the impact before she can right herself, green blood from a cut on her face.

But it seems that the arrival of others isn't over yet, because another distortion in space occurs - but this one is distinctly strange and wrong, a sort of rippling, and then between Vampeal and the two Sailor Senshi stands a boy who... far too familiar looking, though the hair is blue instead of green and his stance is different, this boy looks very similar to Fiore.

"Why are you always trying to interfere! Stop trying to starve me to death! It's really uncooth for food to fight back." he snarls, raising his hand. "Stop getting in our way!"

There's a momentary pulse of energy into his hand, and then suddenly an utterly shuddering wave of distorted energy erupts from it towards the two Senshi, slamming into them with unreal force, causing the world around them to breifly seem like someone had turned on a color swap filter, tearing a divot into the tile floor.

Naru Osaka has posed:
That sketchbook has had a /rough/ week. And it's only getting rougher. Thrown and trampled and wel on its way to being torn. The poor thing.

Naru squeaks as she loses her grip on the satchel, and she tries to dart away from that whip, grateful for the illusions. And for the arrival of Mercury and Jupiter that they heralded.

Naru frowns at the not-Fiore and she damn near growls, the anger sparking up easily and quickly. "Seriously? You don't /expect/ your food to fight back? How obnoxiously arrogant! Who the hell are /you/, anyhow?" She doesn't even think through the fact that she's reaching for the sketchbook that's stomped into the floor, nor does she really process that she isn't about to be able to pull it from her pocket. That she doesn't actually /have/ pockets in the t-shirt and yoga pants she started in.

There /is/ a pocket in the jacket she's wearing now, though. The one that is a smart look over that skirt, and the boots. Black and white with accents of many different colours, she's pulling out her sketchbook and a pencil as she fires questions at him, flipping through pages to find what she's looking for.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Later, it will register in Makoto's brain what's just happened. Later. At the moment, most of her attention is occupied by the second enemy who's suddenly appeared and assaulted herself and Mercury with a powerful blast of energy.

It's almost instinctive how she moves the single diagonal step to put herself between Mercury and that wave of power, bracing herself with her arms crossed before her. The impact is staggering, rocking her on her feet, but though she shudders with the effort somehow Sailor Jupiter remains standing.

"Like anyone would just stand still and let you eat them!" she snaps on the heels of Naru's words. "Nobody has the right to treat people like livestock!"

She gathers herself and lunges again, this time swinging for Ail with all the strength she can muster.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Mercury moves to cover herself, but Jupiter intercedes. She smiles gratefully and ducks behind her friend's larger frame. "Thanks," she whispers, then emerges from behind her friend. "He's got a lot in common with Fiore," she notes absently, visor practically sparkling as it displays reams of information to the bluenette.

"Powers aren't quite as messed up, though," Ami adds a moment later, then rushes out from behind Jupiter. "Haven't you heard? Food that fights back tastes better! Bubble Spray!" she calls, as a blast of bubbly water streaks towards Ail from Mercury's outstretched hand. It's mostly a diversion and a test, meant to put him off guard and ensure that he doesn't forget that this is a fight. "But frankly, I don't think any of us are interested in being your food. Go suck on a rock, creep!"

Ail has posed:
Vampeal snarls at Naru, and only answers by recovering to a fighting stance - stopping only for a moment as if trying to figure out what happened to Naru's clothes, before she makes a flying leap at Naru - and instead of attacking with the whiplike flower parts, the flower on her hand has changed - and looks a lot more like a Venus Flytrap with razor-spine teeth, chomping in the air as she bears down on Naru...

"Well, when they fight it makes it more likely I'll drain the last of thier energy instead of most of it. How is that a good idea for them?" he asks. "Stay out of my way and nobody has to die! But if you want to make me fight for my survival I'll show you what a food chain is!"

Ail sees Jupiter coming, and braces his hands in a cross-shape - and even still the force of her punch colliding with them pushes his whole body back a good distance. But not for free - just touching Ail with her fist saps some of her energy.

"My turn!" he shouts, his hand shielded in the same strange energy, charging Jupiter - but the fog rolls in and he only swings through mist. He shouts to the cold air. "Doesn't matter if you're interested. I'm putting down our roots here. This is our planet by our birthright. We're the royalty of the galaxy." He doesn't mention how many other planets have been either too hostile or not rich enough to support them. Besides... they can't risk any more travel. "If it's you or us, I choose us. But I'm trying to make it as safe for you all as I can."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Sometimes its a moment for detailed drawings that evoke exquisite emotional responses, and sometimes it's a moment for making use of the training montage that Naru's been working on and getting into a fight with a murderous plant.

Naru ducks and darts away, reaching into the pages of her book. The colour and form lift right through the page as she draws out that which provided her so much comfort in the colleciton of murderous plants that came with Fiore's final hurrah, her small garden flamethrower.

*WOOSH* Fire to the chomping hand as Naru darts back just enough not to get into the reach of that chomp chomping hand.

"I mean, I know this planet is pretty amazing, it's my favourite personally by virtue of being the only one I know, but seriously? There's a lot of claims on the royalty thing." Naru comments into the fray. "Get in line. And you're not at the front of that line."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter's lips curl into a grimace at the all-too-familiar sensation of energy drain. "Please tell me you're not getting any xenian readings off this guy," she tosses back over her shoulder to Mercury as the fog wells up around her and she steps back and clear of Ail's fist.

A bare moment to re-orient herself - and to flick an admiring glance towards Naru's impromptu flamethrower, nice - and then she's homing in on his shape through Mercury's mist, jabbing a pointing finger towards him. A bright silvery thread of electricity leaps from her hand towards him.

He wants energy? He can have that. "Try harder!" she calls. "Like asking instead of just showing up and taking whatever you want!"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"No it's not ... Xenien, exactly," Mercury replies as she glances through the mist. "What the heck. I think Naru just henshined," she observes confusedly. "I mean I knew it was coming, but that's ... what?" she asks, then shakes it off. Later, Mercury. Later.

"'Safe' means not eating humans," Ami calls out irritatedly. "Especially not doing so without asking their permission! Geeze, haven't you people ever heard of rights? You have the right to stop being a jerk!"

Ail has posed:
The Cardian does manage to say something more than Vampeal this time - well, at least make a different sound. It's howling as the fire engulfs it, burning away the petals of the flower, making the leaping attack into falling on its face smouldering. It's shuddering a bit as it tries to get up. Apparently, flamethrower is super effective against plants.

Jupiter's energy is hard to see visually through the fog, but the brightness of the light isn't. And while Sailor Jupiter is strong, Sailor Mercury is smart, and Naru Osaka is creative - Ail is fast. Very, very fast.

Faster than the lick of lightning, though only by moments, shifting out of the way and appearing in mid air behind Vampeal, one hand drawing the energy out of her, the other hand sheathed in that strange distorted energy.

"The only rule is the rule of survial. I'll do whatever it takes." he says, glaring at them. "I liked two on two a lot better than three on two..." he looks at the cardian "...or three on one. But I got what I came for." he adds, looking at the energy orb. And then he shudders away from reality. But the Cardian is back on its feet...

Naru Osaka has posed:
Smouldering is a very satisfying feeling, and Naru takes a step back as Vampeal faceplants, such that she doesn't get flaming flower goo on her new skirt and aims the flamethrower again. She has no qualms about including Ail in her flamethrowing zorch, if she manages to get that shot off before he vanishes out of reality.

"Survival of the fittest is a crappy attitude out of royality." Naru comments with an irritable snort and she takes another step back, glancing over to where her mother is, angling to move in that direction once immediate danger has passed.

Makoto Kino has posed:
A low, frustrated growling sound escapes from Sailor Jupiter's throat. "Why won't they ever listen?"

By the time she can get a proper bead on Ail again, he's already vanishing. There's still Vampeal, though. Naru's flamethrower might do the job on its own, but it never hurts to make sure--

Jupiter's hands press together in front of her, gathering a charge that arcs between her palms when they separate. The crackling energy curls in on itself into a tightly-compressed sphere, bright and searing, which Sailor Jupiter draws back and hurls into the center mass of the Cardian's body.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
There is literally nothing better for plant-destruction than fire. Seriously, nothing. So rather than contributing more fire to the fuel, Mercury instead starts to give chase after the blue-haired boy.

"Hey, come back h--" she cuts off as his form vanishes out of reality.

"Damnit," she calls, but her visor is still taking energy readings from where he left; there's always a trace to follow.

"I don't think we've seen the last of him," Mercury notes to her friends.

Ail has posed:
It's possible Naru's flamethrower might have done the job, but it's assured that the flamethrower plus the electrical surge puts the creature down for the count. While Ail's energy might have lacked the telltale signatures of Dark Energy, the Cardian sure doesn't, as the fire and electricity work to destroy it.

It fades away into a dark wisp, leaving only a small, tarot-card like square which lands on the ground - and the visage of Vampeal on it fades away as negative energy burns off in wispy streams.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I may never go back to the park again." Naru mutters as the the Cardian fades off into a dark wisp, and leaves behind a calling card. She brings her flamethrower with her as she hurries to crouch next to her unconscious maternal unit worriedly checking to ensure that she's alright. Drain isn't the end of the world.. to a point.

"Weren't we done with plants?" Naru asks of Mercury and Jupiter.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter relaxes out of her combat stance and straightens, breath going out of her in a heavy and faintly disgusted sigh. "Guess not," she answers Naru in a grumble. "Just what we needed, more plant people trying to claim the earth." Her eyes flick towards Mercury, just a little anxious. "You definitely didn't get any xenian energy from him, right?"

It takes her a beat or two before her thoughts finish catching up and abruptly Mako's looking back toward Naru. "--Nice outfit."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"No, I don't think so," Mercury says with a frown. "But it was ... similar to Xenian energy? Well, similar to Fiore's, really. Not similar to the asteroid's. It's ... complicated," she says with a sigh, then turns to regard Naru curiously. "So that happened," she says.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Its always complicated. How did Fiore's energy differ from the Xenian energy?" Naru asks and then looks down at herself and she's the last to properly grok that she didn't start this fight out in a skirt.

She pauses a moment. "I .." There's clearly a few different conversational options that her brain attempts and rejects in short order. "I .." She starts again and doesn't get much further. "Apparently this happened." She finally settles on and then takes a deep breath. "I am not sure what to think about this happening."

Naru confirms that her mother is alive, just drained and likely not about to be working tomorrow.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Like Fiore is better than another xenian," Jupiter decides. "Maybe someone can reason with him. Someone who's not me."

She sighs again, rubbing her hand across the back of her neck before she moves to join Naru. "Here," she offers, "we should get your mom somewhere off the floor. I'll help."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Mercury makes a face at Naru's question, as if trying to figure out how to explain. When she fails to find an easy way, she just tries the straightforward approach: "The wavelength's maximum and minimum radiation wavelengths are smoother than the Xenian's, there's a lower quantity of the radiation I have come to associate with dark energy, and this wavelength is less erratic and more um ..." she trails off, then sighs. "It's just not the same," she finalizes. "But congratulations on being a magical girl."

Naru Osaka has posed:
The straightfoward approach brings a moment of pause from Naru and then she nods. "Makes sense. Interesting about the dark energy, although possibly only interesting to me."

Naru erms on the magical girl part of the congratulations, a hint of colour touching her cheeks for no good reason. "Er. Thanks. I have a lot of jumbled thoughts and questions and I think those are all going to wait until after we've gotten my Mom upstairs to her room. She's going to want to sleep off the drain." She nods to Jupiter at her offer of help. "Thanks."