The sun is setting slowly on this section of Uminari City, just off the main Juuban Avenue. While the Scorn issue seems to have been resolved, this part of the city has its own problems - different problems.
The entire district is suffering from some sort of malaise, and many of its citizens seem to be constantly exhausted and lethargic. While the doctors can find no cause, the area has been under severe scrutiny and there's whispers about a need for a quarrantine, as the sickness seems to be moving house to house.
And yet, anyone with the ability to discern magical energy can more clearly see the problem as they get closer. As some of Tokyo's magical heroes arrive on the scene to check it out (or just being in the area coincidentally) there's two figures on a residential rooftop. One is a feminine form, with oversized surgical needles instead of forearms, ending in sharp points. She's pulling energy from the residents, small tendrils of energy flowing from all of the houses and apartments in the area, to her, and being collected in those syringes.
The other figure isn't so much standing on the roof, as floating just above it, next to his charge. That other figure is a tall, green skinned alien boy with pointy ears, long blue hair with pink accents, and one hell of a sneer on his face.
"We're almost there. This should be all we need!" he says to his Cardian. The cardian nods as it goes about its work. Ail stands ready, watching for threats - but not planning to retreat, this time.
The malase is even affecting the animals in the area -- Ikiko had noticed that her canine friends were rather lethargic when she had visited them earlier. There's not much that a gradeschooler can do--
--but maybe a magical wolfgirl can figure something out?
Cute Wolf Tsukiko bounds across the rooftops and lampposts, looking for possible causes for the malaise. She's still getting used to being a magical girl, and there's still a fair amount that she doesn't know about her abilities... but maybe she can figure something out?
The sight of the two figures catches her attention. The alien boy is more than likely magical, given the odd colors and the entire floating thing. But the needle-armed figure, drawing /something/ from the area around her?
That can't be good.
The wolf girl bounds forward, landing on a nearby roof. "I don't know what you're doing," she snarls, a growl backing her voice. "But whatever it is, it doesn't look good -- stop now, or... I'll make you stop!"
...yeah, she still needs to work on justice speeches.
Usagi Tsukino is in the area! Initially not due to any magical desires. No, she's here with her friends in an attempt to do some shopping and general sight-seeing in an area of the city she's rarely gotten to.
"Look at those scones! They look /delicious/!" Comes Usagi, leaning in towards a bakery's storefront window. She's drooling a little bit.
But then the feeling of magic, combined with local rumors gets her attention. She looks to Ami in particular. She's always much better with those kinds of things!
"What's going on?" She asks to her fellow Senshi.
Quickly, she ducks in an alleyway!
"Moon Prism Power, MAKE-UP!" Yells out the middle schooler, and soon she's in her senshi uniform, and running towards the source of that evil magic.
A leap upon a rooftop, and she spies both Ail and a youma with...needle arms!?
There's pure fear in her face for a moment. She /hates/ needles!
But the courage of Sailor Moon fills her, and she recovers from her minor flail! She points a finger!
"Syringes should be used for good! To test for disease, and inject good medicine! Not steal away people's energy! This is..." She looks to Ami. What was the word!?
"Magical medical maladjustment!" She couldn't even get the wrong word right.
"In the name of the Moon, and for doctors everywhere, I'll punish you!" Comes Sailor Moon! No attack yet, just Justice Speech as the light of the Moon fills her!
Thankfully, Sailor Mercury is there with Sailor Moon. When Sailor Moon makes her justice speech, Mercury smiles. no stealing Moon's material today, thankfully.
And I am Sailor Mercury! WE will right wrongs and TRIUMPH OVER EVIL! And this means you.
As Mercury finishes what Sailor Moon starts, she presses her earring and makes her visor appear, and her computer. This is Mercury most dangerous weapon.....
Prism Keeper Orange ugh, she has a headache. Why? Also, her Orange Chroma Crystal is glowing. Is it a shade!? She outta go check this out--- her Chroma Crystal acting like some sort of dark energy compass. She arrives on the scene comes to a stop!--- is-- is that thing draining energy with NEEDLE FOREARMS!? This gives her pause because it's horrifying and she hates going to doctors office and needles. But still! Those people! She needs to help, even though this thing isn't a Shade.
"Chroma Prism Orange! TRANSFORM!" she calls out. There's a flash of bright light, and two magical koi tie a bow in her hair, one turning into a fish shaped clip in the middle. Really, she's never ever going to get tired of that.
"Roses are Red! Oranges are... Orange!-----um... nothing...really rhymes.. with orange...."
"Nrg... Red has stuff that rhymes..." she says to herself. "I MEAN STOP THAT!" she yells towards the Cardian and the alien pointing her chroma wand in the direction of them.
"Prismatic Orange Beam~" she calls out as she fires off a blast of color energy at the youma's direction.
"Why are you hurting people, you jerk!" she calls out.
Homura Akemi reaches into her shield and pulls out a Grief Seed. It looks like it's almost full. She considers it with a frown.
The recent surge of competing Puella Magi, the loss of an ally, and the sudden appearance of Madoka... All of these things have made it harder to hunt Witches, or at least distracted her from it.
She has to keep hunting if she wants to keep her head above water, and she can only maintain a comfortable margin of error by constantly finding new prey.
That's what brings Homura to this part of town, searching for Witches that the other Puella Magi haven't taken down yet. She's confident she can take one down if she can just find one... but finding it is the trick.
She feels a drain on her energy, and suddenly stops in the middle of the sidewalk. Where could it be coming from? Where did she feel this before? When her eyes fall upon Ail, she understands.
"You again!"
Homura is suddenly on the rooftop standing next to Ail, "You really don't know when to quit, do you? Now you're in the way of my Witch hunting."
Other warriors of justice appear, and Homura takes a couple steps back. She doesn't want to get caught up in the blasts that are probably coming Ail's way soon.
Mamoru Chiba's also out and about, though the 'about' is a creative interpretation thereof: he's, as usual, reading on a parkbench. Some people aren't nearly as cautious about rumors of contagion as others -- especially when they know about energy-draining enemies. Granted, the reading is also interspersed with a text conversation, but he's really just biding his time.
And there it is.
When he feels that henshin go off close by, he glances up at the building where the figures stand attacking, then quietly gets up and moves away, texting as he saunters off.
Moments later, he's on the rooftop as well, though lurking back behind an HVAC unit and surveying Space Bowie and his honestly gut-clenchingly horrifying companion monster for the day. He may be a little paler than usual behind his mask. He thumbs out a message when his phone vibrates, then turns it off and disappears it in his subspace pocket.
EVEN THOUGH IT IS NEEDLES, HE CAN COPE. HE WILL COPE. SAILOR MOON IS HERE AND BY DAMN HE WILL COPE.
Although he couldn't explain this feeling of dread, Kazuki realised it was coming from a specific area of the city. He decided to try following the feeling, which has eventually led him here.
Kazuki leans up against the building wall, peeking around the corner at the sight of the two on the rooftop. His eyes first focus on the woman-If that's what you can call it. There's a brief flash of memory of a creature in shadows. A monster? It seems to be responsibile for the sickness here. The other figure. Kazuki blinks, is that an alien?
As heroes begin to show up, Kazuki ducks back around behind the wall. With a flick of his wrist, a large magical tome appears floating in the air before him. He can do this... Right?
A few moments later, Librarius jumps up onto a nearby rooftop, ready to assist in the fight. However he pauses, watching as the others begin their own attacks, or speeches, against the alien and his creature. They all seem so sure of themselves...
Sun's going down. That means it's Witch huntin' time. Kyouko Sakura has to hunt Witches- to live, sure, but more than that. She's claid claim to this territory, laid claim bold and loud to several dangerous people. She can't shirk on it now, or else she'll look weak. And Kyouko Sakura refuses to look weak. The upshot of this is she needs to find and kill the Witches and claim the Grief Seeds before the other Puella Magi, which essentially means she needs to be out hunting all night, every night if she wants to maintain her claim. Good thing she doesn't have to get up for school in the morning.
The redhead just happens to be in this general area, because there's a pretty good pizza place down the block and she wanted to grab a slice of pepperoni before hunting. So it is that she is vaulting across rooftops, spear in one hand, gooey cheesy pizza in the other. She senses the magic suddenly being expended nearby, and her eyes light up, her mouth stretching into a one-fanged, pizza-filled grin. It fades pretty quickly though when she lands atop a roof near to all the kerfluffle and realizes.. oh. That's not a witch.
She narrows her eyes, peering across the way at Ail and those attacking him and his Cardian, all the while chewing contemplatively, the slice of pizza around half gone. She does notice Homura over there. This makes her scowl, and chew a little harder, in the most threatening way she is capable of. OM. NOM. NOM. Akemi-san. OM. NOM. NOM.
Ail looks at the incoming magical girls. "Tch, I was hoping you would take just a bit longer, defenders of Tokyo!" he says, dramatically. He snaps his fingers, and suddenly (and perhaps, luckily for certain magical heroes with phobias) the Cardian dissapears. The Justice Speeches are made, and each tries to call out to that buried goodness within Ail, each in their own way. But he's far too dedicated. His heart is far too hard.
"Say whatever you choose to say - but I'm not going to let you stop my plans this time - in fact, you're almost too late already! But I need just a bit more. And I think I'll take the last of what I need right from you, personally!" he shouts. That's when Prism Keeper Orange's beams (previously aimed at a now vanished youma) come towards him! He dashes forward, so fast it almost seems to be a teleport, dodging them entirely! Or, so it would seem, though the very tip of his hair is now a rather bright orange. He pretends to not be affected by it, but you can see his eyes glare backwards at the orange tip.
"I haven't been storing away all that energy... I've taken a lot of it for myself. You're not facing me at your advantage this time... I've got the upper hand. Your little speeches, your threats, all your friends; they mean nothing."
His posture, his attitude, his tone all convey that same optimism or hubris. Then suddenly, like a flash, he's off - starting his end of the combat with a lot more than a justice speech!
He's on the blue Senshi first, a blast of energy directed at close range in an underhanded swing right to her gut! Then he uses his other hand to fire a large wave of energy that tears into the ground at the Cute Wolf and Sailor Moon, and a second more focused blast at Homura Akemi, before jumping into the air, and attempting to grapple onto Prism Keeper Orange and drain her dry of energy!
"You can't stop me today! Or anyday! Nobody will stand in the way of my goal - it's you or me, and I choose ME!"
Mercury is here at her side, following up with her own words! Prism Keeper Orange fires an orange beam! (Possibly Koi flavored!?). Homura speaks out, and is away, presumably to support them! Somehow, she can feel the presence of someone familiar, and calming...but who? (It's Tuxedo Kamen!)
Librarius, too, is here from the encounter with Scorn! She doesn't yet notice Kyouko though. No, she hasn't spoken, and she's not like Tuxedo.
So too is there a Cute Wolf!
All of these magical people gathered give her strength!
"Give back that energy, and go home! Don't ruin a perfectly good night for everyone!" Comes Sailor Moon, voice bolstered by various presences and Justice Speeches. No matter the quality, it's feelings that matter!
Then energy lashes out, even as the Space Elf attacks the others!
"Sailor Mercury!?" She yells out, first, only for herself and so many others to be attacked! The blast of energy sends her careening right towards a wall of brick and mortar! Possibly even creating a hole as she's slammed into it!
But as the dust settles, she doesn't give up. Slowly, fighting back tears, Sailor Moon rises!
"We're not going anywhere!"
Then Ail is trying to grapple Prism Keeper Orange! For all that as a girl, she's not athletic, Sailor Moon sure is willing to get into a fight. There's no grace to her leaping attack, coming in and aiming a single flying, undisciplined kick towards Ail to try to get him off PK Orange!
"Sailor Moon Kiiick!"
Okay, Glam Rock over there has legitimately started playing insta-dirty, and people are being flung around and he's draining a little girl who's doing stuff like Mei does and Sailor Moon is trying not to cry and he gutpunched Sailor Mercury, and Tuxedo Kamen's face transforms behind the mask into a furious scowl. He notices Librarius this time, since they're more or less ducked back in the same area, and inclines his head. "If you got anything, man, now's the time," he says shortly, then jumps up on top of the air conditioning unit and whips off his hat.
As Sailor Moon launches herself with angry, pained tears toward the jerk picking on the little kid, he puts a full body wind-up into his contribution to the move, and wings his hat, spinning, toward Ail's head. "Pick on someone your own size!" he yells, indignant as all hell.
Sailor Mercury is literally gut-punched, and she goes down in a heap. She shudders in place, but in that instant Ail punched her, Mercury got a partial scan of him. "Ugh...." She croaks as she starts to get back up, and picking up her computer. Her visor is still on her face, and she gets that much needed scan from Ail. "Keep the pressure on him, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen! I've almost got him!"
Another anamoly appears upon her scanner.....Librarius, but she doesn't recognize him. Well....something in the corner of her mind finds him familiar......but not familiar enough to recognize him, more like a familiar feeling.
A familiar presence is felt, and Homura side-eyes in that direction. Kyouko? Of all the times for her to show up...
Homura doesn't have time to focus on her. A focused blast of energy comes her way, and she barely has time to pull her shield up to defend her. The magic smashes against the purple barrier that she just barely got up in time, the force of the impact causing her to skid backwards, two ruts digging into the roof as her feet try to keep their footing. Her hair flies upwards, and her eyes open in shock. She wasn't expecting that level of power.
Incredible... her Soul Gem went from mostly pure to half-way darkened from trying to handle that attack alone.
Homura sees the other magial girls rise to action, and it inspires her to act despite the odds. "Okay. You asked for this. Now you're getting it."
Homura pulls out an uzi, but she never seems to fire it. Rather, bullets just seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere, attacking in large waves, ripping through the sound barrier with a loud 'ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta'.
Homura herself seems to be constantly changing location, first here and then there, attacking from a variety of angles to make it harder to dodge or counterattack.
Homura notices a familiar face, and her eyes light up, "Tuxedo Kamen-san!"
Cute Wolf Tsukiko yelps and leaps, trying to jump clear of the shockwave of energy. The blast clips her feet, making her landing more of a crash and less of a roll. As the wolfgirl picks herself back up, part of her marvels at the number of other magical girls present.
Another part worries about a specific one.
"Orange!" Tsukiko yells as Ail starts draining the Prism Keeper's energy. As Sailor Moon launches forward to kick Ail, Tsukiko leaps towards Prism Keeper Orange, aiming to pull her away from Ail. The wolfgirl isn't sure how well Orange can keep flying after an energy drain, but at the very least this should help get her away from the energy drain -- especially in conjunction with Sailor Moon's kick!
Librarius's eyes go wide as Ail unleashes attacks against the other heroes here. People just trying to protect others from the harmful acts of this alien. People who are probably just like him...
Librarius clenches a fist. He has to do something. Turning his head towards Tuxedo Kamen, he nods. He then looks back at Ail and raises his hand. Librarius's magic tome appears above his hand, its pages beginning to flip as it opens wide. The pages begin to glow, several rising out of the tome and beginning to orbit their controller.
Narrowing his eyes towards Ail, Librarius calls out, "There's enough trouble in this world. It doesn't need people like you adding to it!" He swings his hand forward, several of the glowing pages darting rapidly through the air towards the alien. Librarius curves them around in the air, aiming to have them strike Ail after Sailor Moon's attempt to kick him off Prism Keeper Orange.
Kyouko seats herself on the edge of the building, which is maybe half a block away from where all the action is going on. Close enough to get a clear picture of what's happening, but not close enough to be struck by accidental fire- at least, unless it's really powerful. But she's willing to take that risk. She lays her spear across her lap, and continues chewing pizza, although by this point it's mostly just crust that's left. Little crumbs fly everywhere as her sharp little fangs gnaw at it.
She watches the battle with something like professional curiosity. She doesn't Magical Girl to save people, she does it for personal profit (that profit being 'continued life') and so she has no reason to expect she'll ever come into conflict with most of these people, but that doesn't mean it doesn't pay to know what they can do. In particular though, she focuses on Homura. She was clowned on by that teleporting hussy once before, and she /really/ wants to figure out exactly how her power works so she can figure out a way to counter it.
There's only so much one gan learn by watching, though. Even so, for the moment Kyouko is not about to go over there. She considers going back for another slice of pizza.
Prism Keeper Orange is grabbed before she can properly react and---that hurts, and feels horrible and makes her feel instantly ill and makes her head spin. She begins trying to pull away---but luckily, Cute Wolf Tsukiko gives her enough of a pull to break her free. She blinks! "Oh------- Tsukiko... thank you!" she says gratefully- and a little dazed as Sailor Moon also helps.
"...I don't feel so good." she says lowly. But she turns back towards the glam rock alien from outer space. There's lots of people who she doesn't know here. She just knows Ikiko--- rather the Cute Wolf.
---is that a girl using an uzi!? W..why is that a thing!?
She shakes her head and points her wand toward's Ail. "Say hello to my fishy friends~" she spouts as she fires off a lot of tiny, magical koi from her wand in succession they all try to hone in on Ail, aiming for a bunch of weaker attacks instead of one big one like before.
Ail puts a lot of himself into his attacks, and a lot of them hit home - he's not holding anything back today. Not when he's so close. Not when he can see her smile again, hold her in his arms...
Is that... a hat? The confusion lasts long enough for the hat to catch him off guard, doing a suprising abount of damage by hitting him in the face, and breaking his hold on the Prism Keeper. Then there's suddenly a Sailor Moon Foot, and the only quip Ail can unleash there is 'oof!' - and at the same time he's lept on by Tuskiko, causing him to first slam backwards, then violently to the side as she grounds him. He generates an energy shield to protect himself from the Wolf, which has the effect of giving him some clearance, where he floats back into the air. Trying to catch a breath, he maintains the shield, which holds up relatively well against Librarius' paper barrage, only showing a few hairline cracks. It's followed up by a sudden school of watery koi, bursting into orange energy all around him, and shattering the shield! But somehow, the last things to hit him are Homura's bullets, which shatter the shield and burrow new homes inside green flesh.
During all of this, Mercury's scanner reveals he's charged with an awful lot of energy - which he proves soon after, by unleashing it with an angry yell, unleashing a small blast of energy, and the fact that it seems to close up his wounds.
Then, he claps his hands. "Good job! Good job!" he says, sarcastically. "So you're not going to back down, then? Good. I'll drain you all dry and then there will be fewer obnoxious humans standing against me." He raises one hand to the sky and begins to quickly draw some energy in it from nearby magical girls, then forges into a set of explosive bursts of power, one for Homura and one for Librarius!
Sailor Mercury covers her ears from the scream, but she doesn't back down at all. Even her computer seems rather unharmed. She seems a LOT more determined than ever.
You will NOT take all of our energy! In fact, you're going to be giving it back! Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, we need to attack him with everything we have....together!
SHABOU SPRAY!
The point of light stays in front of her as she waits for confirmation from everyone else...to loose the attack.
Ail's blast comes careening towards Homura, and it comes with such speed that she barely has the chance to stop time before it blows up in her face. She flies backwards through the moment of stopped time, landing hard on the roof. She looks at the Magical Blast that scored a hit on her, frozen in time, frowning at it.
"That hurt..."
Homura stands up, moving to the side to avoid further damage from that blast. Looking up at Ail, she narrows her eyes. "Okay. Okay! I've had it. That's enough."
She's about to start her next phase... but she sees Mercury setting up to attack? Maybe she could use that to her advantage.
Time resumes, the magical blast sails past her (though she still looks pretty beat up from where it first hit her), and Homura slow walks towards Ail, taking the time to figure out whatever it is her would-be allies are doing.
Well, she might not be able to join in, but she can certainly take advantage of the openings their attack creates.
When she gets close, she turns around and flips her hair. No one saw how they got there, but there are a ton of rocket mortars set up in a wide ring on the ground, surrounding the flying Ail. Homura walks away as they all fire, a few at first and then all at once. She doesn't need to see if they hit or not.
"Akemi-san!" Tuxedo Mask calls out, a hint of brightness entering his own voice, "glad you're here!"
Of course, while he's distracted is when Ail pulls energy from his compatriots and then flings it at Homura and Librarius, and it's *fierce*, and Mamoru may be forgiven for biting out something profane under his breath. He jumps down when Mercury calls out, darting in to come up beside Sailor Moon and steady her after the latest energy drain--
A hand on her arm, another at her lower back, and he lends his own energy to her attack, pouring forth in will and warmth and the sense of something solid, like bedrock. He leans in a little bit, his hair blowing in the wind with his lack of hat, and his cape flutters around back of both of them. "You can do it, Sailor Moon," he whispers.
Librarius's eyes go wide as he recognises the large burst of energy heading towards him. The pages he had kept around him suddenly fly forward, overlapping each other between Librarius and the blast. The two connect in a large explosion of light.
As the light and smoke fades, Librarius can be seen standing a little unsteadily on the rooftop, an arm cradled as he breathes a little heavily. Scraps of paper float off in the wind, the remains of his attempted defense.
As Sailor Mercury calls out to her comrades to join in an attack, Librarius has an unknown urge to join in despite the fact his name was not mentioned. So he stands straight again, holding his hand over his floating tome. Once more glowing pages begin to rise out of it, though in greater numbers this time.
Finally as the others launch their attack, Librarius sends his pages shooting forward to join in. They slice through the air in a spiral, straight towards Ail.
Kyouko returns from getting another piece of pizza. Her spear is stuck to her back, somehow magically clinging to it diagonally, as if she had a sheathe or something although she doesn't. The reason for this is that she has a 44 oz soda in her other hand. She resumes her seat on the edge of the building just in time to see Ail blow up in various ways. She whistles, but since her mouth is full it just sprays crumbs. She blushes and glances around to make sure nobody saw her being a doof. No.. no, they're all focused on the life or death struggle. Whew.
"Gofdamf." She mutters, mouth still full. Swallowing, she takes a gulp of soda. "Them's some fireworks." She takes another bite of the pizza, and drops a plop of tomato sauce right on the lap of her dress. "Aw, c'mon!" She shouts, scowling, her face backlit by the raging fires caused by Homura's mortars. "Good thing I wear red."
Cute Wolf Tsukiko flails at the tendril of energy Ail pulls from her, trying to pull it back from him. It's hard to tell if it helped or not, but she's certainly feeling it -- she's still pretty energetic, but her reserves are starting to run low.
Still, the others seem to have plenty of fight still left in them; time to see what a wolfgirl can do!
Leaping from rooftop to rooftop with high arcs, Tsukiko circles Ail, feinting with kicks as she passes by, trying to force him to stay in place. As she move swiftly, a silvery glow starts pooling off of her. The faster the wolfgirl moves, the more the glow grows...
The sudden appearance of rocket mortars causes her to yelp and dash away, scrambling to get clear of the imminent explosions and calling off the rest of her circling. The dive still helps her speed, though...
There's a hat, and the power of Cute Wolf Tsukino here!
"Tuxedo Kamen! Miss Wolf!" She calls to the pair. She ducks just in time, too, for Librarius' paper attacks to come forward! Sailor Moon nods to Ami.
"Alright!"
Amidst it all, there's bullets, but she trusts the other magical girl to not shoot them all in the back! Surely Homura Akemi is used to not hitting her allies with bullets or explosives!!!
Ami implores, and covers the world in ice! Sailor Moon nods!
"Alright! MOOON....TIARA...."
Energy drains from her body, and she falters! Tears well up, by the warm hand on her arm and back have her resisting. Her throwing arm tightens.
She sniffles, turns, and nods to Tuxedo Kamen.
"O...okay! If you believe in me, then..."
Her wavering resolve hardens.
"We can do this! Together!"
In a flash of insight, she looks to Librarius!
"Together!" She says, and tosses her tiara!
Several of those spiral papers soon cover Moon's tiara as it flows towards Ail! A sharp, moon-power-filled paper cut waiting to happen!
Worst still, the trajectory might aim for his head. Ail may well have the worst haircut ever soon.
Prism Keeper Orange nrg, more energy drain, more feeling horrible. Is /this/ what Mei's been fighting!? Is this why she started ending up in the hospital a lot!? Nrrrrrrg. Now she understands, first hand.
She takes a deep breath and points her wand upwards again. "Jerks like you just know how to bully!" she spouts at Ail.
As she gives her small speech there is /explosions!?/ EXPLOSIONS!? Eeeeeee! She holds her hands over her ears. What is this, a warzone!? ;_;.
Regardless when it passes she raises her wand high and fires off another beam of color energy, bright and orange. "You better hope that.. all these people are okay!' she snaps.
There's a sudden fog. A cold fog, that leaves ice on every surface - including Ail. He has to slow down, to shiver, while he looks around trying to find his targets. From the cold fog, suddenly, massive explosions ring out, all around Ail, forcing his energy shields, knocking him back and forth! From the side, a Cute Wolf, baring teeth, protected only by the explosions making it too dangerous to get too close! A blast of orange color, hitting him in the side with a real impact! The explosions grow ever louder, and become harder and harder to fully defend! And then, cutting through the fog, comes a tiara. A tiara, imbued with power, channeling the combined energy of multiple people. And it blows through any defense Ail can muster, slamming into him, with the impact of a thousand cars. The tiara leaves to return to its' owner, papers strewn around. And the explosions tear through the fog, pummeling the space-elf, and suddenly the end of the road is all but invisible.
Slowly, the fog lifts, the dust storm clears, and the damage to the area can be seen.But there, tendrils of smoke wafting off his bloodied body and torn clothes, stands Ail. Still. And he's shaking.
No... wait. He's laughing. When his head lifts and he stares down the heroic assemblage, there's more than a little madness in his eyes. He takes an unsteady step forward, then another, then another. Still laughing. "You don't understand at all, do you. I'm fighting for something much more important than friends, or country, or planet." he says. And he re-assumes a fighting stance. "I'm fighting for love. And I'm fighting for my entire race!" he shouts out. The words are more at himself than at anyone else. They steel his resolve. They prevent him from toppling over, shattered body and all.
"I won't let you... take her away from me. Take them all away from me!" he shouts. It must be sheer willpower keeping him on his feet. But it's apparently doing more than that. He rushes by, moving around the fight, just as fast as before, now, energy bleeding off to keep him fighting at this speed. Most everyone gets light attacks, relativly speaking. A punch here, a kick there.
But not Sailor Moon. He fixates on her, as part of the team attack - her justice speech at the start, her kick to his face (the indignity), and the way she just seems to pull people around her. And then that tiara, that now-hated tiara, atop her brow. "All of you are going to die if you keep fighting me. Starting with her!"
Ail stops, and instead of delivering a melee attack to Sailor Moon, he outstretches both hands towards her and begins to fire an energy blast, like the one that hit Homura. But it doesn't stop. It's a massive, continiuous wave of energy, the kind that tears into the asphalt road and punches a massive crater into it, his magic power the equal of Homura's mortar barrage, condensed... And it just keeps coming.
With Ail Fixated upon Sailor moon, as much as Sailor Mercury dislikes admitting this, it gives her a chance to attack Ail directly.
Mercury Bubbles!
She calls out as she turns in place with the point of light in front of her chest. This attack looks familiar though....
Blast!
She sweeps her arms across the point of light and the bubbles fly directly at Ail, looking to hit him directly....
Prism Keeper Orange raises a shield of koi in front of her, as she lets them take the brunt of the attack---she's thinking 'Why didn't do this sooner when the jerk was draining me'--- then she's remember it hasn't even been a whole month yet since she's been Prism Keeper Orange. Perhaps that's why.
She huffs. "Stop... thinking you own this world! If you're really fighting for love--- you wouldn't be hurting people for it!" she says. "You're no.. better than those stupid Shades in the end! Who can't feel or be anything by monsters!" she huffs and readies her Chroma Wand with two hands, leveling it at Ail...
"Prism Aegis Power! Orange Outburst!" she calls out, as a rather, huge, wide beam of color energy collects at the tip of the heart shaped wand and expells itself out towards Ail with determination.
'Will die' and 'starting with her' are the words that register above everything else. Tuxedo Kamen, who'd just started to let go of Sailor Moon once the smoke filled the air, reverses his action and holds on to her more tightly, eyes narrowing behind the mask as Ail whips around the battlefield, yelling--
--and then those words, and suddenly it's too late to get her out of there and everything is exploding at once, and not in a good Homura way. Without even thinking about it, he spins the two of them around so his cape flares out behind him and he's between Ail and Sailor Moon. The blast hits his back full-on, and still he hangs on to the Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice, arms wrapped around her, shielding her against the furious power--
It burns.
It burns and it's force, and it's not stopping, and the boy's mind is a chaotic white mess of searing hurt, and he clings to consciousness with his teeth and with the strength of his resolve and his belief in the girl who believes in the power of everyone's hearts.
It feels like an eternity, and he won't let go, he won't give out, he won't give in--
--and when it finally stops, he slumps forward, barely breathing, face slack and eyes closed. And instead of using what's left of his energy to stabilize himself, he gives that to Sailor Moon, too. Despite the horror, that warmth is still there.
Homura Akemi keeps walking, expecting Ail to be finished off with the combination of all that firepower. There's /no way/ he survived that. He's a solved problem now. This fight is over.
Then she hears his unhinged laughter.
No way. There's no way.
She turns around to focus on him. When he comes to swing a punch into her face, she just suddenly isn't there, having spent significant magical energy to get out of the way.
When she reappears, she focuses her attention on Ail. He's way faster, and far stronger, than he has any right to be... what's up with him now? Studying him closely, she begins to fully realize just what kind of opponent she's dealing with. There's no way she could win one on one against this level of power...
It's then that Ail fires at Sailor Moon, and Tuxedo Mask takes the hit?!
"Kamen-san!"
Tuxedo Mask took that kind of hit for this girl? Who is she? Sure, he's been heroic before, but he could've /died/ from that! Plus... something in the way he's holding her... the way he acted without even thinking...
This isn't going well. Her own reserves are running low, and a dear friend might go down if she doesn't stop it. Yet... her options are limited.
Homura rushes towards Tuxedo Kamen, pulling out a shotgun and firing at Ail before taking a position between Ail and Kamen, shield held in front of her, and shotgun barrel resting on the top of the shield. "I've lost too many friends as it is. You're not taking this one away. I wont allow it!"
Cute Wolf Tsukiko darts sideways as Ail rushes past, silvery energy trailing behind her. At this point most of her speed is tied up in momentum; she's not sure how well she could dart out of the way of further attacks.
But she's already accelerated to a great speed, circling around Ail as he rushes around. The wolfgirl can't do much as Ail unleashes a massive blast of energy at Sailor Moon, but it /does/ mean that he's not moving around as much -- now's her chance!
Tsukiko pushes off on her next corner, leaping towards Ail with an explosive boost of speed! The silvery energy flowing around her blazes brightly, seeming to form a wolf-like figure even as it obscures the wolfgirl's form. Like a beam of light or a bolt of lightning, but shaped like neither, Tsukiko blitzes forward, the formless light striking at Ail directly!
Moments later, after flowing around (or was that /through/?) Ail, Tsukiko decelerates back down to normal, now several houses away. "Okay, I /can/ do that intentionally," she murmurs to herself.
Kyouko stops scrubbing at the spot on her dress. You probably can't even see it, right? I mean, c'mon, it's a red dress. It's also magical, which is good because Kyouko doesn't have a washing machine and she'll be damned if she's going to use precious DDR quarters at a laundromat. Sigh. Her attention is drawn back to the battle going on a few buildings away by the massive unleashing of power that Ail directs at Tuxedo Kamen. Wooeee, fireworks! "Glad I'm not over there." She opines to her pizza, as she bites, then swallows the last bite.
Then she notices Homura again. Acting all heroic, putting herself between the crazy elf-man and his targets. Blech, it makes her sick! But she really wants to know how that girl's power works because it's honestly pretty impressive. And Kyouko doesn't like impressive things that aren't her.
Hmm.. she glances at the half-full 44 oz soda cup in her right hand. Then she glances back at Homura. Homura sure seems focused on Ail. She always seems to be able to get out of the way of attacks. Does that still hold true if she doesn't see them coming? That would be valuable intelligence. Only one way to find out.
Kyouko takes careful aim. Then she hurls the soda cup, still half full of cola and ice, right at Homura's head. Then she scurries behind the nearest vent-structure on the roof as fast as she can. Moments later, two reddish-pink eyes peek over the top towards her intended target.
Thud! Librarius is knocking back by the kick from Ail, stumbling into a wall. He uses it to hold himself up, somewhat struggling in his first fight... He didn't realise it would be this difficult! Maybe he's not cut out for this after all...
Librarius spots the large attack launched towards Sailor Moon, helpless to do anything from where he is. All he can do is watch... Why does he care so much for these people?
It doesn't matter though, pushing off the wall, Librarius focuses on Ail, "Do you really think your love and your race will be happy with the things you've done while fighting for them?" Librarius pulls several more pages from his time, clenching his fist as he does. The pages curl up into cones, pointy end aimed in Ail's direction. He narrows his eyes, "You need to be stopped." Librarius sweeps his hand, the pointy magic cones shooting through the air towards the alien.
Despite it all, the insane man speaks out. He's alive...and that lifts Sailor Moon's heart. But so too do his words touch her. Fighting for love...and his people.
Sailor Moon looks down.
"I don't want to take anyone from you. I don't want to hurt her, or anyone! But we need to know what's going on! Why are you hurting? Why are you doing this!? Please! Tell us what this is all about!" Calls out Moon. And then the attack comes, and Tuxedo Kamen intercepts that blast of energy.
He falls. The world barely matters. She kneels, and yet, his energy fills her. Fear. Anger. Love.
Sailor Moon stands.
She looks to Ail. That anger fades into sadness.
"I can't hate you...but I won't let you take my friends!" There's no style or skill to her attack. Sailor Moon leaps forward, and aims a hard punch towards Ail's jaw!
Ail laughs, still a bit madly, as he unloads energy into what he thinks is Sailor Moon. Only, once all is said and done, he's looking at the back of a cape, instead of a crumpled Senshi. "What?" he asks, more than a little confused.
And that's when the grand counter-attack begins in earnest. He's forced to expend a lot of energy shifting around, teleporting (and looking a bit like Akemi-san herself) away from up close shotgun blasts. Before he can counter-attack the Puella Magi, he suddenly feels a tearing in not just his body, but somewhere deeper - the depths of his being - the Cute Wolf, currently the Silver Energy Wolf, drives through him. Now he's doing more than stumbling! And yet, he raises his hand to attack, too stupid or stubborn to give up - perhaps looking to finish what he started with Kamen! And then there's a burst of bubbles from Sailor Mercury, pushing him away again! Sailor Moon's words register, a little. So do Librarius. Cutting cones of harder-than-steel paper slice through the air, and through the Ail. And yet he stands. Sailor Moon lashes out, striking with a punch empowered by her nearly-fallen ally! Ail's too stuck in his own thoughts to really defend, and it clocks him on the face! A backwards stagger, and he's caught in the last strike! Within Orange's Outburst, the last of his energy is expended basically keeping himself together, preventing him from being obliterated like a cardian! He lives through the attack at great energy expense, but staggers to his knees and looks up.
"I will do these things to save my people." he says, voice ragged and eyes tired. "To save the one I love. And if that makes me a monster, I will be a monster. I am fine with being a monster. And the next time..." he tries to get up to his feet, but drops back to one knee. Spirit may be still barely there, but his body (and his energy) is giving out rapidly. "I will win." That's his last words, his last bit of defiance; all he can muster before he fades away, literally falling over as he dimension-shifts away, back to the embrace of the Makaiju.
"No, you won't." Sailor Mercury says as Ail shifts away. She looks over to Sailor Moon, then Tuxedo Kamen, and smiles a bit. She knows Sailor Moon wil rush to him as soon as she's able, but her attention shifts......to Librarius.
Her gaze lingers upon the man for a long while, even as she taps something upon her computer to scan him. She couldn't shake that very familiar feeling that she has MET him before, but she couldn't figure out where. the wind blows her hair for dramatic effect as she looks at him.....plus the fact that he was carrying a tome. It intrigued her.
The 44 oz soda flies gracefully through the air, soaring with precision and power as it tumbles end over end. It's a thing of beautiy, but all wonderful things must come to an end, and the majestic journey of the 44 oz soda ends against the back of Homura's head, exploding against her skull and spreading sugary, carbonated, caffinated beverage all over her hair.
Her head is now soaked in the sweet-tasting nectar of the local pizza shop.
A human's average reaction time, going from 'gaining surprising new information' to 'reacting to information as soon as possible', is roughly 1.5 seconds. When Homura isn't using her magical powers to cheat the passage of time, she's subject to roughly the same time restraints as anyone else. Which gives anyone looking at Homura about a second and a half to appreciate the dumbfounded look on her face.
The interruption distracts her from Ail's retreating, managing to prevent her from doing anything to stop him, not that there was much to do. It also kindof stops her from commenting on it.
There are no words. Homura considers the angle of impact and her eyes lead her straight back to Kyouko's hiding place. From this distance, with Sakura hiding, it's hard to accurately pick Kyouko out from everything else, yet there are only a few people in this city with the audacity to attack Homura with such a method.
With grim determination, Homura pulls out a nasty-looking sniper rifle and starts looking down the scope. When she sees Kyouko's head sticking out, she pulls the trigger, unleashing a tiny paintball at a high velocity. Then another, and another, each one spraying purple paint at the points of impact. Two can play at this game.
Homura looks towards Mamoru, the girl he nearly died defending, and the rest of them. She's a bit surprised, but she gets it. The desire to protect someone, and being willing to make sacrifices in order to defend them... she gets it. She understands.
She wants to go chasing after Kyouko, and she probably will after this insult, but making sure her friends are going to be okay has priority. She starts walking towards Tuxedo.
"Kamen-san... are you going to be alright? Kamen-san?!"
She's digging through her shield's inventory for a First Aid kit. You never know when you need one of those.
Cute Wolf Tsukiko starts hopping from rooftop to rooftop, heading back towards the others. "Is everyo--WHOA!" she calls, yelping as she discovers mid-leap that she doesn't have as much spring in her step as she had earlier.
There's a *THUD!* as the wolfgirl crashes, then a few moments later Tsukiko scrambles over a fence and strides down the street, grass still on her face from her faceplanting in that yard. "Orange! Are you okay?" she calls, looking towards her friend and glancing at the others.
So many magical heroes...!
"Pfffff ohmygod," Kyouko bursts out, the visible part of face crinkling up as she chortles, revelling in her well-timed victory (or so she considers it). So.. it seems that when she's taken by surprise, Miss Homu-Chan is just as vulnerable as anybody else. This /is/ actually valuable information to Kyouko, regardless of the methods used to obtain it.
Except.. oh crap, is the bad guy running away?! Kyouko was counting on Homura's need to keep focusing on Ail preventing her from any sort of retaliation. Her eyes shift to follow Ail as he makes his exit, fading away. Mmmmnrrr, this is no good. Her eyes move back to Homura.
"What.. is that a sniper rifle? OH SHI-" these are the words which have time to percolate through Kyouko's head before a tiny purple paintball impacts directly between her eyes. She sprawls backwards onto the roof, which has the unintended benefit of making the rest of the shots miss, but she has a rather comical quarter-sized splatter of purple paint directly over the bridge of her nose. @.@
It only takes her a few moments to recover though. But her only move is to scramble to the side and turn and dive off the roof. Surprise works! Homura is no longer surprised. Kyouko must flee until she can make use of this information.
Kyouko's diary entry that night makes absolutely no mention of alien space elves, energy draining, or people in danger. It reads: "Had good pizza. Reasonable price, high quality. Soda was too large to finish. Hit Homura in head. Surprise works on her! Plan ambush in future. Note to self: never buy purple eyeshadow."
Prism Keeper Orange lands down onto her feet as she takes a series of hard breaths. She feels really tired, really, really tired. But... they drove that jerk away. But now she's pondering on those words. It makes her frown. Was he... being truthful? It makes her frown--- at the same time a koi appears over her shoulder and puts it's fins over it's eyes a little in a sad expression. It pops into an orange sparkle as she looks over to the others.
"Is.... that.... guy okay?" she asks over to the group over there.
She looks over at the Cute Wolf! "I'm okay! I feel really tired, but.. I'm okay!" she says with a series of nods.
"I feel sore, too." she says.
"....Do you know who that guy was?" she asks the Cute Wolf.
Librarius stands tall as he watches Ail fade away. Only once the alien is gone does Librarius visibly relax. He looks a little tired, but also relieved. This was nothing like what he expected... His attention is drawn however as he notices the soft glow coming from his tome. He watches as the magic concentrates on a single page. He adjusts his glasses a little, looking at the page, before waving his hand. The tome closes and then vanishes.
Librarius looks over towards Tuxedo Kamen, concerned after that apparently massive hit. However, it seems like there are others already attending to him. So Librarius turns to look at the other heroes that had helped today. During this, he notices Mercury looking at him, so gives her a bit of a smile in response.
Librarius heads over a little closer to Sailor Mercury to ask, "Are you alright?"
Sailor Mercury smiles before she presses her earring, getting the readings she needed. "I am fine. Thank you." She says before looking to Tuxedo Kamen. "Tuxedo Kamen doesn't looks so good though. Can you help us?" She says softly. "And....what is your name? I'm Sailor Mercury...."
Cute Wolf Tsukiko shakes her head as she catches up with Orange, dislodging a few errant blades of grass. "Other than you, I've never met anyone else here before," the wolfgirl admits. "Didn't know anyone could drain energy like that!"
A worried look crosses Tsukiko's face as she glances towards Tuxedo Kamen and back towards Orange. "You sure you're okay?" she asks her friend.
Well, he's breathing! He also seems to be vaguely conscious! His cape is a complete loss and his clothes are pretty tattered; any damage he's incurred on his person is pretty well hidden by the fact that the dude knows how to layer. And through all that he managed to keep the mask on, too. He starts coming around, forcing himself to move. "F-fine," he says through his teeth, grimacing out a smile. "I'm p-perfectly fine, Ak-kemi-san. Everyone. You did it. I knew you could."
His gaze flickers toward Sailor Moon, then Mercury, Librarius-- and to Reiko, to Tsukiko. They're so little. He is not going to be able to leap away from this. He does not want to talk. He does not want to have to explain anything. He does not want to see that horrible worry etched into Sailor Moon's face, to see her tears for him. (She's crying for him. Her tears glitter in the moonlight, silvery and bright. He doesn't want her to cry.)
Homura smells like soda pop. The incongruity is disconcerting.
"Akemi-san, I could use a lift, though, if you have time..." There's desperation in back of his blue eyes, even as his hand moves to brush against Sailor Moon's.
Ail stands, despite it all. And despite what he's done, Sailor Moon's heart aches. She's silent, for a very real moment, looking to him. There's sympathy and love in her gaze.
Even as she turns away to rush to Tuxedo Kamen's side, she speaks.
"...If it's in my power, I won't let anyone's people just fade away."
Then she's on her knees beside Tuxedo Kamen.
Homura is there. Sailor Moon, already crying in uttery fear for his life, looks to that medkid and Homura.
"...Can you save him?" She asks, innocently, with the purity of someone utterly caring for another. She hangs on Homura's words. There's guilt, too, at the one being saved by this man. Her words are utterly pleading
But then, he comes around, and speaks! So too does Mercury!
Here, Sailor Moon is openly crying.
"No you're not! You're not okay!" She cries out.
There's guilt in her voice.
"...I'm sorry!" She ends, and then, she looks to Homura. Weak little Usagi Tsukino will do her best to help keep this man alive. She'll even help lift despite the odds.
She has to. She /needs/ to. Sailor Moon refuses to leave Tuxedo Kamen's side.
"Librarius... Nice to meet you, Sailor Mercury." He then turns his head in the direction of the group growing around Tuxedo Kamen. He nods slowly in agreement, "Let's go see what's happening."
Librarius heads over to join those concerned about the masked man. He arrives in time to see Tuxedo Kamen come to. Well, that's a relief! He then looks at Sailor Moon, clearly seeing the care in her eyes.
Librarius turns his head to Homura, "If there's anything I can do to help..."
"Don't worry," says Homura to Sailor Moon. "I can handle things like this, but I'm not gonna lie: I'll probably be taking him to a hospital just to be safe. Don't worry about it."
Homura isn't sure if Kamen is alright or not, but... he still looks mostly alive, and he was in his henshin when he took that hit, so this is the best chance he was ever going to have against a hit like that.
Geeze, what a hit.
Kamen's asking for a lift? Homura realizes...
.oO(Oh right. He might de-henshin if he's this weak. Among so many strangers... that wouldn't be good.)
"Yeah, sure thing, Kamen-san." She glances to Sailor Moon and gestures towards her to Tuxedo. "Is she... like... you know... does she know about... you know..." Homura tries to ask if Sailor Moon knows who Tuxedo Kamen really is, but decides that she doesn't know how to phrase it without giving too much away. "Nevermind. Let's get going."
Librarius asks her, and she answers, "Thanks, but I've got it from here."
Homura leans down next to Tuxedo Kamen and stops time, placing a hand on him to bring him along. She takes the time to apply bandages and disinfect wounds before asking. "Can you walk, or should I try to carry you? We can leave right now and to everyone else it'll just seem like we vanished."
Usagi can barely think. She's worried, painfully. Homura's words have a simple nod.
"I..." She starts. She wants to go with him.
But her love for this man gets through. She looks to Homura.
"I want to be with him. But if you have a way to get him to a hospital quickly?"
She nods to the girl. If there's one thing Usagi isn't, it's selfish with her friends.
Tears fall.
"Please. I don't want him to suffer for me!" She calls out to Homura, simply, imploringly, before devolving into pure tears.
Oh, no. Oh, no. All Mamoru can do is watch helplessly as Sailor Moon cries; reach up, brush a gloved hand lightly through her bangs, then against her cheek to wipe the tears away. "I'll be fine. I want to see you again," he reassures her as best he can as he lowers his hand, and then time stops, and he can't look at her face anymore, frozen and color-faded.
He's quiet, mostly, hissing when a disinfectant or a bandage stings, but he grips Homura's coat as she works so she has both hands. "I can walk if you help me up. She doesn't know. None of them do. I don't know who they are either-- and I don't want to hurt her more-- please, please let's go," he grits out. "Just to my apartment. No hospital. I really will be okay, I promise."
Homura studies Sailor Moon's reaction carefully. Homura knows full well that her 'bedside manner' is somewhere between horrendous and nonexistant, so she really doesn't know how to respond. It's hard for Homura to tell how much of this is empathy for other people and how much of it was love for Kamen specifically, but in the end the result is the same.
Having a second person around to help carry Kamen-san around would've been easier, but not if it meant giving away who Tuxedo Kamen is. Homura will take that secret to the grave if she can help it.
In the frozen moment, Homura looks at Kamen and says, "That was very brave of you. I know you say you don't have any powers, but despite that you keep coming through for us... You're really pretty reliable, Kamen-san."
Homura helps Mamoru stand, throwing his arm around her shoulder and lifting with her back. "Your apartment? You're sure? ... okay, if you say so."
She walks with him, helping him stand, as the two of them walk away.
To the outside, it probably seems as if the two of them just vanished into thin air.
A brush through her hair. Sailor Moon looks to Tuxedo Kamen, and then he's gone.
She collapses to her knees, and looks to the moon that gives her power.
"...Please be okay, Tuxedo Kamen!"