Skies are cloudy above Verone Academy, and it's already late evening. Magical bolts of lightning fall from above, tainted with streaks of darkness. Wherever they strike, metal rusts and grass withers, but aside from that they don't seem particularly aimed to do damage. They are searching, reaching out for something, and not finding it.
A pair of dark spots, high in the sky, turn and fly away. The storm fades, and it's only then that things start to become a bit more... lively.
Lights turn on in the gymnasium. Shadows flicker across the windows, and the faint timbre of organ music plays a ceremonial tune. Shouldn't the school yard be empty, at this time of day and especially with school out? It should be... but there's something here.
There's a sudden flare of energy, oppressively powerful and full of despair. For those who have felt such before, it's definitely a Witch... but there's something very wrong about it. It's far too powerful, and it carries the distinct signature of a Jewel Seed.
Crowds of people appear, of all ages, turning towards the gymnasium and marching towards it like zombies. Each of them has a magical tattoo on their neck, in the shape of an envelope sealed by a heart-shaped sticker.
Far above in the sky, that dark spot turns around.
"How did I miss something like this...?"
Ertiga has spent the past several days alternating between shadowing Fate, and attending to her mistress. The rat-girl makes no pretense as to her purpose in this whole affair; she isn't here to find the Jewel Seeds. That's Fate's job. Ertiga's is to make certain that Fate doesn't need anything.
Of course, where Precia is concerned, that generally allows the rat a good deal of leeway in how she does her task. Bounding across rooftops, Ertiga follows Fate to the school, then watches as she tries to inspire a Jewel Seed to appear.
"Huhn," she murmurs, actually impressed at some of the damage Fate is causing. "Well that's inter--"
Ertiga silences immediately when the witch's energy begins to build up. She can sense it almost right away. Eyes wide, the rat girl climbs to the highest tower, curling her tail around her leg in concern, nose twitching with uncertainty. "What in the dimensions have you done, girl?"
Rune has been wandering Tokyo today, as she often does right after school. Her near-obsession as of late has been tracking down any clues about Fate's situation, and only compelling needs or specific invitations from friends - such as Kukai, as of late - have been able to distract her from this. As this isn't immediately the case, she wanders near Verone... but keeps to shelter a lot, minding the rain and wondering what's going on with the odd lightning.
Watching shadows shift and electricity act bizarre - more bizarre than usual, as the alien princess' opinion is all use of electricity is weird (even if some of it /is/ neat) - is enough to draw her in, though.
Getting too close to the gym makes her regret this investigation, though. "This pressure...? A Witch, or...? Something like it?" She's talking to herself, voice low and near-breathless while looking around, tense. The crowds bother her, she has seen what can happen to them in this situation.
Which means it's time to get ready for danger. "Summoning Princess' Tiara!" Jeweled headwear appears in hand. "The Line of Succession..." It's passed to her other hand, which brings it to her forehead in the same motion. "...transform!"
A flash of red light engulfs her, then Rune is in full magical attire and wand ready. Not that she's aiming at anyone just yet; she's not about to start blasting enthralled crowds. She is nonetheless focusing her gaze on them, distracted enough to not yet see any hint Fate is here.
Yuuno about has a heart attack and sends Nanoha off into the sky because there's another Jewel Seed. It's easier to go out and do this now, with school out. She arrives over Verone- eyeing that freak storm in the distance as she frowns. She arrives- touching down on her feet as she eyes Runealy. "Rune!" she calls out.
She eyes the strange people. "What's going on...?" she asks. She feels that chill of oppression push against her and she frowns. That's unpleasent- which is kind of an understatement.
"What is this?" she asks. Has Nanoha even encountered a Witch before?- maybe she's heard of one but never encountered one.
"Does that weird storm has anything to do with this?" she asks. She hasn't seen Fate yet.
"Look, Ichigo, I understand, I really do. Our parents are pushing us into this whole thing. You don't want it any more than I do."
Mikoto is visiting an old friend at Verone today, and trying to keep from taking out her frustration over recent events on the poor fellow. Her parents have been pushing her to find a 'suitable' boyfriend, which by their standards means someone from a family on their own level.
As far as Mikoto's concerned, she already has a boyfriend. She just has to get him back from stupid Easter.
Which is when magic washes over the campus, and she really needs to make her excuses and get moving. "Tell you what, we'll meet for lunch on Saturday after morning classes and tell them we at least tried. I'll let Vicky know I'm not trying to horn in on her time with you, and that'll be that. Okay? Now I gotta run, I'm late for someting else."
She doesn't bother to wait for his answer, just turns around and heads out to find a quiet place to henshin.
"Carnwennan, Set Up!" A Belkan spell-glyph rotates around her feet, then rises up past her body, leaving her clad in her blue-and-white Barrier Jacket. Ready for battle, she launches herself into flight, soaring out the window of the empty classroom to survey the area and see what's going on.
The dark aura of the Witch is one she's felt before, but this power level makes her shiver. "Just like being back on Walpurgisnacht," she mutters, "This is going to suck."
The crowds mindlessly march towards the gymnasium, trudging towards it with an alien single-mindedness. For some reason, they seem to be very well dressed. As people get closer, they can make out the organ music more clearly. It's wedding music. It would be joyous, but there's something in the sharpness of the notes that makes it a bit off-putting and disturbing. To anyone not under the spell of the Witch's Kiss, everything just seems abnormal and wrong.
A pair of faceless little girls, dressed in red and blue dresses, dance around the entrance to the gym, tossing flower petals around the path. The mindless crowd shuffles in through the doors. Those who enter or look through the windows can see a wedding procession. Red carpet rolled down the basketball court, and an altar set before the goal. A faceless man, image grainy as if seen through old and aged film, stands in priests robes.
There are seats for everyone in the crowd, and there's even a bizarre imitation of catering with meats and punch (both of which are poisoned). The only thing that's missing here seems to be the bride and groom.
Fate, flying overhead, notices Runealy and Nanoha, but Ertiga remains unseen. Arf is behind her. The familiar speaks first. "Hey, so... are we still going after this one? I mean... between the monster and the others showing up..."
"We don't have a choice." Fate's tone is severe. "You know what that thing is capable of. What it's going to do to those people. We can't allow that. Besides... I have a plan... One that will help take care of the crowds and give me an advantage against the enemy."
Fate dives towards the gymnasium, becoming a lot more visible as she brightly glows with yellow and black, crashing through one of the higher windows. Arf flies in afterwards, using the path her master made.
Ertiga watches Fate's dive with a grimace. "Really?" she says, then sniffs. "Dumb girl. Why would you paint such a big target on yourself?"
Shaking her head, the rat-girl slinks along the rooftops towards Fate's point of Ingress, then peers down over the edge at the window. "Idiot," she says, then shakes her head and peers past that entrance towards hte oncoming horde of zombies.
And the magical girls.
"Heh," she murmurs. "This should be interesting."
Dropping off the ledge, the rat girl does a summersault and grabs the same window, then follows Fate inside. But while Fate is busy glowing, Ertiga shrinks herself down to the size of a rat, and finds a place to hide amongst the Gymnasium's bleachers.
A silver-haired teen in a blue skirt and blouse rushes onto the campus, eyes alert and wide. "Mikoto?" she murmurs to herself. A pair of white, cat-like ears emerge from her hair, twitching this way and that as the blue-eyed girl searches.
Then she spots the light of Mikoto's transformation, and rushes towards her. "Tessen!" she changes names almost instantly. Only three steps on the way and a flicker of light surrounds the girl, transforming her skirt and blouse into a pair of padded shorts and a combat vest, with studded leather gloves on each hand.
A long, fluffy feline tail emerges above Hikari's shorts; evidence of her true nature, along with those ears. "This seems dangerous," she notes. "That's a Witch's Labyrinth, isn't it?"
"Probably," Rune semi-confirms Nanoha's guess about the storm. "This feeling is from a 'Witch'... wish Madoka was here, she'd be a lot bigger help. It's too bad, but if she can't arrive in time we might have to destroy it. I'll... explain later." Much later. Witches are a very heady topic to ponder, not suitable for 'here and now' discussion, Runealy thinks. "For now though, be careful about all the crowds here. Some of them might not like being rescued from monsters and might even get violent about it, so keep your distance if you can."
"And one last th--" She's interrupted by both familiar and somewhat unknown faces. Tessen's arrival is a potential problem; Rune cannot really peg whether she's an enemy or ally, not knowing enough to judge in this case, so the princess stays on guard at first.
Far more familiar, Fate swoops in, and that's enough to immediately get rid of any caution on Rune's part. Boot wings lighting up with a silver glow, she hurtles toward the same window opening Fate used. "Wait!"
Nanoha Takamachi once went to a wedding reception that was being catered by Midori-ya. It was pretty and beautiful and looked fun. This is abousltely nothing like that wedding. This is like the opposite- creepy- girls throwing things, odd going ons- that feeling of wrongness.
"/This/ is a Witch?" she says to Runealy a moment. Yup she's heard of them. Then there goes Fate. "Fate..!" she says to Runealy.
She doesn't get to say 'come on' before Runealy races ahead of her. She lifts off the ground with Flier Fin and follows after Runealy.
"...there's a Jewel Seed near here. It's why I'm here! I have a bad feeling about what's happening." she says offhandedly to Runealy.
Tessen nods to Hikari. "That it is. You've not had the unutterable joy of fighting one before, have you?" She bends her course to match the catgirl, though her expression is tense, strained.
"This one's a lot more powerful than most." She looks down to examine the wedding procession and scowls. "Aaaand, it's going to do its best to kill everyone it can get its hands on. Which means someone needs to get all those people out of here."
She enters the gymnasium from the opposite side as Nanoha and Runealy, noting the pair from across the way. "They usually have a lot of familiars. That's probably going to be the biggest threat. We'll have to keep them away from the civilians while we figure out a way to take on the witch. Blasting it a lot usually works."
Fate hovers in the air above the gym, twin ponytails floating in the air to either side of her. She remains unaware of Ertiga's presence, but the zombie crowd is very aware of her. They stare up at her blankly, with dead, dead eyes. The blade of scythe glows, casting golden light over the wedding ceremony, as black lightning curls around the Midchildian mage.
The zombies don't even seem to be attacking or moving to stop her. They just stand, and stare upwards at Fate. A few of them turn away to look at Runealy, but no hostile moves are made against her, either.
Arf doesn't have much luck. She smelled something wrong about the food and landed near it, but a few of the stronger, larger members of the crowd are barring her way. "We don't know what you think you're doing, but we can't allow you to interfere."
"Out of my way!" Arf's shout is loud enough to disturb the whole gymnasium, many blank stares turning around to look at the wolf-tailed familiar. "Can't you see you're about to be killed?"
Arf's pleas don't get through, and instead more of the crowd tries to gather around her. "This is a sacred ceremony. You have no right to interfere!" They aren't attacking, but they're very much getting in her way.
Fate's attention turns to Runealy and Nanoha, and she frowns at the both of them. "This Jewel Seed was hidden from me, despite the fact that I poured a lot of energy into this place. A strong barrier or a pocket dimension, such as a Labyrinth, could easily accomplish that. If there's a Witch like this here... then I think it's clear why I wasn't able to find it."
"This Witch is holding onto the Jewel Seed herself, and she's using it to extend the range of her Witch's Kiss. If she's allowed to feed on all these people..."
She raises her scythe, gathering magical power into it. "Never mind. I have a way to handle it. You two," referring to Nanoha and Runealy, "won't like it, but it's necessary. Just stay out of my way."
It's not clear what she's planning to do, but... she's gathering a lot of energy, and a lot of it is specifically of the 'dark' variety.
Tessen and Hikari don't catch Fate's attention, but she does gain the attention of a couple of faceless flowergirls, standing between them and the rest of the crowd, throwing magical flower petals into the air. More obstructionist than actively offensive, but still in the way.
The little rat skitters towards the edge of the room, then emerges out from underneath the bleachers and rolls forward. Ertiga transforms back to a girl as she recovers her feet, but now far, far from where Fate entered.
"Heh, cute," she murmurs, as Fate begins drawing on more power than she really has any right to. But honestly, the real problem are the people who are coming to help her. Wiggling her nose, the rat-girl bounds forward two steps, then quietly murmurs, "Mouse Trap."
Several of the flower petals begin to transform, turning into large, flower-covered chinese medicine balls, large as any person. Wham, bam, they slam into the ground, and start rolling towards some of the poor unsuspecting mortals under the Witch's Kiss. Someone had best save them!
Hikari nods her head to Mikoto. "Okay," she agrees, ears twitching uncertainly. But still, the cat-girl is glad to follow her mistress into battle.
Following into the Gymnasium, Hikari takes quick stock of the situation, then suggests, "I'm not very good at herding people. They never listen to me," she explains. "But I can at least defend them. Unless there's something else you'd rather I do?"
"Familiars can be either the weakest things you've seen, or some of the most dangerous. /Be, careful/," Rune stresses each word sharply to Nanoha, opting to build upon Tessen's point. "I've seen them kill someone in a single hit. It's not common, but it does happen!"
Rune lands on a rafter, looking up at Fate and then down to the crowds. She's glad they're not making any serious moves right now, not at all eager to fight them.
Especially since Fate is making a far more serious, more dire move. "What are you talking about?" Fate shows her. "...No, no-no-no-no!" Rapid-fire pleading ensues, eyes wide and voice speaking in tiny gasps with each syllable.
Rune immediately draws mental comparisons between what Fate is doing and the princess' own 'double dosing' some time back. She knows where that can lead, and cries out: "Don't! Think about where this is going, Fate! Whatever's going on must be important if you're doing this, but... it won't work out!"
Something about that energy Fate is gathering seems wrong- not like her normal 'energy'-- Runealy seems to know something about this. She'll need to ask later though. "What are you doing, Fate!? If you're helping- we need to know what you're doing!" she says.
She looks at Runealy, and frowns. "What won't work out?" she asks.
She frowns as she raises Raising Heart--- she does a quick area search- maybe this can tell her more about the situation- and what Fate is trying to do exactly-- she makes no steps to stop it- because--- if Fate is helping then-- she should be allowed to help!..
Right?
An Area Search will surely pick up Tessen and Hikari's presence as they glide in from the opposite side of the gymnasium, closing on the crowd.
Fate's dark energy gambit isn't something Tessen can do anything about right now - she's got other things on her mind, and Nanoha and Runealy are right there. She's sure they can handle it.
(("Lichtstahl!"))
A flick of her hands, and her Device manifests - not as Hagane's sword, of course, but as a pair of blue-steel war fans, energy helixes snapping out from each as they open, towards the flower-girl familiars.
"Let's get this party started. Hikari, get those roller-things, I don't like the look of them."
Fate notices the large medicine balls bounding about the room, and noticing Ertiga. "Wh-!" That rat?! That's completely unnecessary! Fate's eyes seethe with anger at her mother's familiar. Yet, she's already committed to her current action, and all of this energy can't be used for anything else. She turns to Arf and orders her. "Handle it!"
"I can't!" Arf whines, trying to push the crowds away from her. She's stronger than any of them, but the trick isn't to overpower them. The trick is to not hurt them.
"Tch!" Fate's noise is clearly annoyed, and Arf doesn't have time to look upset, but she does feel it. Fate notices, but her apology is telepathic.
<I'm sorry. I know you're doing your best.>
<That dark energy is getting to you.>
<... I know, but I can't stop now.>
Arf isn't happy at all, focusing on the crowds around her, but she isn't arguing either. Her own wishes an opinion on this are known to Fate already.
Those medicine balls apparently have no one moving to intercept them. At least, not until Tessen draws her fans and points them at the familiars. The two flower girls, who once watched their petals turn into giant heavy weapons, raise their hands. A wind picks up, and the gathered petals become razor sharp, flying at Tessen and Hikari.
The medicine balls have their paths slightly affected by the magical wind, but they're firing into a crowd. A few of the glaze-eyed humans get rolled into by the flying projectiles, making awful snapping sounds as they impact, but after a few mortals fall the flowergirl familiars begin to respond in force, body blocking the magical attack. This Witch doesn't anyone to kill her victims before she gets a chance to.
Fate then hears Runealy's pleading, and she closes her eyes. "This is the only way. I'm sorry. I know you wanted a better solution than this, but these people will die if I don't..." She holds her scythe high, electrical magic and dark energy arcing around her. "... and I need to get that Jewel Seed."
The scythe falls, Fate swinging it downwards, and a sickly darkness explodes from her and covers the gymnasium. The effect on the magical heroes, if they get hit, shouldn't be much. Fate is going for 'quantity' over 'quality' with this spell. As for the Witch Kissed crowd?
All of them start to fall over. Their energy leaves them, gathering around the tip of Bardiche's blade, seeping into it before coursing into Fate. There's enough energy in them to live, after they have a nap, but napping mortals can't kill each other.
The Witch is displeased, and her shrieking can be heard both inside and outside of the gymnasium. Reality itself begins to bend and warp as the wedding slowly starts to turn into a Labyrinth. The non-magicals fade from view. It's only four magical girls, three familiars, and one very angry Witch in a wedding dress.
Well, actually, by all signs, the wedding dress is the Witch. The Jewel Seed is worn on a ring, fitted over a glove.
"Wai...!...t?" Runealy starts to protest as Tessen attacks... but quickly demures when she sees the assault is not targeting the crowds; what began as an urgent shout becomes a far more gentle, doubt-filled conclusion that realizes this is probably just fine. Or even for the best, since they seem to at least be somewhat reducing casualties in the crowd below.
And so Rune transistions to answering Nanoha. "Her health. Whether it's minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months... we're on a time limit now that she's doing this to herself! We have to... ah!?"
She's cut off by Fate. Both by her friend's apology, and darkness-burst. It might not be deeply damaging, but it's distasteful and alarming all the same; Rune slips from the rafters, and has to swing a hand out to catch it, using boot-wing boosting to pull herself back up! "That was the kind of 'solution' I was going for too, and you helped find a much better one! Fate! Just think about it a little more, you'll..."
She once again gets interrupted. This time by the terrain changing. Rune is forced to boot-wing-boost glide to the ground as her 'perch' is now gone. Her eyes flicker to the dress-witch, wondering if she can really fight this thing; without Madoka here, this amounts to being willing to kill someone... it's a very heavy thought to ponder.
The sound of snapping bones earns a shiver of pleasure from Ertiga. She chitters excitedly as the balls wreak havoc. But despite the fun it is to cause such mayhem, the familiar's ears twitch in irritation. "Well, that didn't work," she notes unhappily.
Napping Mortals also can't handle heavy metal medicine balls rolling over their unconscious frames. Luckily, the flower-girls body-block the attack, though they're heavy enough that even the familiars have to struggle.
Ertiga sighs as her attack not only fails to have the desired affect, but winds up halted altogether, and by the witch no less. "You're a sassy little bint," she notes to the witch, then bounds up onto the bleachers once again to get a different vantage point.
"But the real problem," she notes, "are those two." Ertiga stares at Runealy and Nanoha for a moment, then smiles broadly. "Well," she exclaims, "I suppose there's only one way to deal with them."
And that way is, of course, lasers.
Ertiga squints one eye to aim, grabs her upper right arm with her left hand, stares down that arm as if it were a bazooka, and then whispers, "Bang!"
A blast of magical energy streaks across the sky from Ertiga towards Runealy, seeking to knock the princess out of the sky.
Hikari's eyes widen in terror at the bouncing medicine balls. "Me?!" she asks Tessen worriedly. But that's what the master ordered, so she starts to rush forward, only to hesitate unexpectedly when the flower girls deal with the problem for her.
"Uh," she tries to figure out what's happened, and glances over her shoulder at Mikoto for new instructions. But part of her role is to be flexible and useful. So rather than waiting, she charges forward towards the witch. It's certain doom, but someone has to stop all of this, and by Hikari's estimation it's better her life than Tessen's!
Nanoha Takamachi blinks. "Doing what to herself...?" she asks. Then Fate does an energy drain and Raising Heart knows exactly what's going on because it's seen this before. Nanoha frowns. "F-fate! What!?" she calls out. is Fate secretly a monster? That can't be... Right?
Then medicine balls- then the people fall unconcious. Well. That worked. But she kind of wonders what the cost of that was.
Her health? Yeah. Maybe...
Then the scenery changes and Nanoha takes to the air. Then an arc of energy shoots out somewhere from above from Eritiga at Runealy and her eyes go wide. "RUNE! WATCH OUT!" she calls out. Raising Heart is made for bombardment, not exactly defense- not much she can do in this situation besides yell loudly enough for Runealy to get out of the way!
Tessen swears under her breath in Ancient Belkan as the storm of razor-petals roars out at her. She twists into a spiral flight-path as she gets in closer to the flower-girls, holding up her fans to protect her face against the barrage. This isn't going to be easy at all...
<~Okay, Hikari-chan, let's rethink this. There's something very not right here.~>
The change of terrain catches her by surprise, but a Labyrinth is not exactly unfamiliar territory. She matches Hikari's charge towards the witch, trying to get into range to engage it in melee. <~Stick with me, Hikari!~>
Madoka isn't here to redeem this Witch, and even if she was there's no way to know if this is even the kind of Witch who can be redeemed, and no way of knowing who this girl even is, let alone if there's anyone who knows her. For this particular Witch, it's still truly hopeless.
The transition into a labyrinth finishes, and it seems like the magical girls are standing on top of (or floating over) a large table cloth, with the Wedding Dress witch in the middle. A bright blue sky sprinkled with clouds floats above and below, and the impossibly large tablecloth doesn't seem to have anything underneath it.
Not that Fate has any idea about what Witches truly are, or where they come from. To her, it's just a dangerous monster who has something she needs.
Tessen engages the wedding dress, only to find that the dress is much larger than it appears at a distance. It's at least twice as big as person. The Witch twirls around, the magically sharp hem of her dress swooping out to try and cut Tessen.
Arf joins the melee fight, coming from the opposite side of Tessen to attack with punches and kicks. Between the two of them, they should be able to apply enough pressure, but that twirling dress threatens both of them.
Fate turns to Runealy with grim eyes and a sullen frown. "It's too late for me to stop using it. It has polluted my magic too much. It's a part of me now. The more I use it, the worse it will get. I didn't know it, but that was a one-way trip. Still... I need it." She flies backwards when the lasers come her way, actually aimed at Runealy, but regardless Fate is angry at Ertiga all the same. She doesn't say what she really feels, but the gnashing of her teeth is clear if anyone happens to look at her.
The Witch, not content to only fight Arf and Tessen, begins to add her own bombardment to the mix. Grains of rice float up from the tablecloth, appearing out of seemingly nowhere, glowing with bright white power. In gathering swarms, they launch themselves at the magical heroes, with all of the force of tiny bullets.
Knocking Rune out of the sky is more a matter of speeding up the inevitable, as she is already falling and cannot truly fly... just redirect what direction she's falling in and slow it to some extent.
So when Ertiga fires, the alien princess wasn't entirely expecting it. Worried more about the Witch and Fate than anything else, she's distracted enough that the shot connects almost exactly as aimed. Rune does hear it though, and this is enough for the attack to register in her mind as something to look in to.
Rather, Nanoha solves the mystery for her a tiny moment later. "Hn!?" Armed with that warning, a look over-shoulder spots the blast and she glides sideways to try to avoid it.
This instead causes it to catch her in the upper back and shoulder, rather than 'dead center' as might have otherwise happened. "Ahhn!" A hurt cry as she spirals and falls, landing on her knees.
Another boot-wing-boosted jump sends her very low above the ground, heading for a table within the twisted wedding-labrynth. "I don't know who you are or why you did that, but leave me alone! If I can't get through to Fate...!"
Her wand aims back at Ertiga. A thin red ray shoots out from its tip, then two more right after it. She's expecting the first one to miss; Rune is instead trying to use it to force some kind of movement to watch and try to hit with follow-up shots. "Nanoha, stay with Fate!"
...Then a horrified realization hits her; what happens if Nanoha and Fate team up against a Witch, if they win without knowing what's really going on? The notion of them discovering the truth afterward, having that hammer their consciences, rings urgently in Runealy's mind.
Suddenly, she does not want those two to be the ones to finish off the Witch. She makes a different plea to Nanoha right afterward. "Stop her, if you can! I'll explain later, but it would be a disaster if either of you destroy that Witch!" The idea of then going on to fight this thing alone may not be very wise, but right now Rune's top priority is avoiding either of them having to deal with the sort of thoughts she and Mami and so many others had to struggle through recently. Hindsight makes those situations far worse.
Fate's words only reinforce this thought. Rune can see it in her mind's eye; Fate uses more and more darkness to strike down a Witch, finds out the truth later on, and... then things go downhill.
She's out of time to talk for the immediate moment however, having to encase herself in a sparkling red energy-bubble to shield against the 'rice barrage', wincing as they sprinkle against her defense.
Ertiga giggles gleefully as Runealy goes spiraling towards the ground. "Boom!" she says as the girl narrowly avoids crashing. Then she mumbles, "awww," almost childishly. Bounding forward, she raises her hands, and the rice barrage begins to grow, expanding in size and wieght. It's not just a little fast-moving rice anymore; it's now massive chunks of golfball-sized destruction, moving faster and faster.
"Hahahaha," declares the sadistic little rat. "Precia-dono, if only you could see it," she says, cackling gleefully. "Your little girl's such a pushover. All that dark energy, and she's still worried about hurting people. What a joke. She's not going to get your Jewel Seeds. She's practically worthless."
I'm with you, Hikari sends back to Mikoto as she charges in with fists held high. Hikari ducks a swipe of the wedding dress's hem, then leaps into the air and tries to grasp onto the fabric with sharp claws flashing.
With Nanoha not answering Runealy's call - Mikoto isn't quite sure why, she hasn't got the attention to spare from dueling the witch - worry creeps up on the young Knight. THere's a moment of shock as she realizes what Runealy is suggesting - and that moment leaves her vulnerable.
A blast catches her in the side, hurling her back from the witch and through a half-dozen familiars, to land and roll along the ground.
<~Keep her busy, Hikari!~> she calls to her Familiar as she gets up, a little shaky, and launches into the air once more. She zooms up towards Fate, fans out and ready to deflect an attack.
"Princess is right, you know. You don't want to do this. Listen to her, please!"
Runealy seems to care about the girl. Mikoto has met her a few times, and agrees: she is worth sparing this deed. "Take it out on the familiars if you have to, just leave the witch to me! You can have the bloody Jewel Seed, I don't care about it!"
Arf and Hikari continue to mix it up with the Witch, and the Witch keeps up with both opponents. They're both managing to keep its attention, though Arf is taking more than her fair share of cuts from the empowered Witch. If it's this strong before having killed those victims...
Fate watches in horror as her friend is struck by her mother's familiar. She should ignore it. Nothing personal, right? She should ignore it... this might actually just be a misunderstanding. Rune isn't going for the Jewel Seed, so it's not a problem, right?
Fate tries to tell herself that. The gentle, sweet little voice in the back of her mind is arguing for understanding, for peace, for patience.
... but the angry roar of darkness is much louder.
"You wretched little creature! That's my friend you're shooting at! You've screwed up enough already! Did you come here just to get in my way?!"
Hearing the rat's words doesn't help her temper at all. Arf glances up at Fate, concerned. Fate's voice is cold as the grave. "You're wrong. I'll get the Jewel Seed... and I..."
<Sealing Mode>
"... am not afraid of anything..."
<Thunder Rage>
Golden bands appear around Ertiga, trying to lock onto her wrists and ankles and restrict her. A second later, thunder roars from the tip of Bardiche's twin prongs, launching a bolt of lightning and darkness straight at the rat familiar.
Fate smirks. Regardless of whether the rat evaded, she got a taste of real power there. "I think I'm done here. I don't know why you don't want me to destroy the Witch, but it will still kill people if it isn't stopped."
She aims her device at the Witch, but then Tessen gets in her way. Fate frowns. "What is it with people interfering with me today? Just so you can save a Witch? I don't understand your motives at all."
Fate pauses. She was willing to attack Ertiga before, but now it just doesn't feel right. Tessen isn't hurting anyone. "As long as you don't interfere, then fine. I don't know what you intend to do with this Witch, but at least taking the Jewel Seed away will make it less threatening. Still, in order to do that, I need to seal it... so if you'll excuse me?"
Fate moves quickly to get past Tessen, and she aims Bardiche at the Witch. Shining wings sprout from Bardiche's neck, tipped with darkness.
"Get out of the way." Her shout is for Arf, but Hikari should be able to hear it, too.
Without even needing her usual time to charge, Fate fires a wide magical beam at the wedding dress. The Witch itself screams. The Jewel Seed on its ring, glowing with the letters VII, suddenly stops pouring out energy and floats up and away from the Witch. As a sparkling protective bubble surrounds it, Arf reaches up to catch it.
As for the Witch, well... without its power, it's suddenly shrinking in size, and it knows it's not as strong anymore. The wedding dress, tablecloth, and endless sky all vanish, depositing all of them in the gymnasium full of passed out people.
There's no Grief Seed here. The Witch hasn't been defeated. It's only fleeing somewhere, and those around can feel the aura of despair leaving.
Ertiga may have underestimated Fate. Or maybe she has Fate exactly where she wants her. Goading her on, encouraging her to do Precia's bidding. Encouraging exactly the results her master wants.
Ertiga's beady red eyes glimmer with excitement as the roar of darkness surrounding Fate intensifies. "Yessss," she starts to say.
Except then, very suddenly, Fate's seal binds the rat-girl in place. Ertiga's eyes go from narrow and manipulative to wide with surprise very suddenly.
"No! Not like this!" she begs. "Not like her!"
Except she's already caught in another Testarossa's trap.
The darkness-infused bolt of lightning catches Ertiga square in the chest, and the rat-girl screams in pain, then sags against the bindings, defeated.
I won't fail you! Hikari promises Tessen, as she continues trying to claw at the dress. Mostly, she's ineffective, but at least she can keep the thing's attention. Though if you ask her, Hikari will tell you that the last time she fought a dress, it most certainly did not fight back.
But over her shoulder, she can hear Fate's call. Should she do as she's told?! Is Fate a hero or a villain!? The cat-girl just isn't sure. But when Arf dives out of the way, survival instincts kick in. Hikari dodges aside at the last possible instant, barely escaping the sealing beam.
She's right back to her feet, ready to press the attack ... but the dress is dwindling away. Hikari's confusion can only be summed up as, "Nyan?"
'Worthless.' This word rings in Rune's mind over and over. It's not directed at her. While Runealy sometimes uses it in her mind's voice to describe herself, she isn't the subject this time. Ertiga is calling Fate that.
It's probably the worst time to fall in to this sort of infighting since a Witch is at hand, but Rune sees red as that word parses in her head. 'Worthless.' Laughing about what Fate's doing to herself.
Rune snaps. "Shut up! It's because of people like you and that man who tries to treat everyone as a game to study, that...!" She's about to charge into a headlong attack, when Fate makes it unnecessary. That display of power should mean Rune need not bother, and the princess breaks off from rushing Ertiga. Unlike Fate, she's not smirking in satisfaction. Certainly, it feels nice to see that even a darkness-affected Fate views Rune as a friend... but the method and mood Fate showed in doing that are frightening to behold.
"Fate, it's not like that. I swear there's a good reason for this, and I'll tell you as soon as I can! But for now, please... you, especially you, must not defeat a Witch if there's any other way to do this!"
She looks around, eyes wide with frantic stress as the area returns to normal even though the Witch was still intact. Running away? This forces a decision: Stay with Fate, or chase after the thing that attacks people. Can Rune bring herself to take out a Witch now, knowing what she does?
...Maybe. Not gladly, but maybe she can. "Talk to me sometime," she pleads to Fate before darting off to try pursuing the witch, hoping to use 'hot-cold' sensations of dread to figure out where it went. This method may very well fail to succeed, but it's what she has to go on.
Tessen is ready to dodge or defend, when she sees Fate powering up for an attack. And then it's proven unnecessary. A sigh of relief shows her appreciation for Fate's decision not to simply blast the annoying Knight from the sky.
"Whatever you need these things for, please, please be careful, alright?" she begs of Fate, giving her a minute to answer before turning to follow Rune in pursuing the witch.
"And whatever you do, don't let the old man get his hands on them!" She means Riventon, of course.
<~Hikari! Let's get after it! Follow the Princess.~>
The bindings vanish. Fate glares down at the rat creature. She's not smiling at all. "So mother gets tired of your antics, too? Why am I not surprised?"
Fate glances at Runealy, shrugging. "I don't know what you want with that creature, but in this state I'm not going to be very helpful with the whole 'not killing' thing. I wish you all the luck."
To Tessen, Fate nods. "Don't worry. This will go straight to my mother, where it'll be kept safe." The irony is completely lost on her.
To those who want to chase the Witch, they may or may not catch her. She's going at a steady clip, but those with magical means might be able to keep up. What they do with it after they catch it is up to them, as the Witch isn't very strong with the Jewel Seed, let alone without. Maybe if it spent more of its energy fighting instead of on luring victims...
Fate looks around at the fallen people, and then nods to Arf as the wolf girl floats next to her with the Jewel Seed. "It's sad about these people, but they should be fine. I hope the ones with broken bones turn out okay. I'm afraid if I use any magic on them, I'll just make it worse."
Arf offers the Jewel Seed to Fate, saying, "Take this and go. I'm still untainted. I can act in your stead, Fate-chan."
Fate nods, and starts to float away. "I'll leave it to you, then."
As soon as Fate's bindings are removed, the rat-girl cowers and ducks away, twisting her body until she shrinks down to the size of a rat. The little rat chitters and scampers quickly away, dodging into the bleachers to get away from Fate's fearsome wrath.
Hikari stares at the ducking rat, then at Fate and Arf, then at her mistress. "Right," she says aloud, then shifts. From a girl to an oversized white cat spotted with balck. The snow leopard bounds after the witch at a dead run, eager to please her master and help save people from harm.