Shopping! It seems almost silly to go shopping when one is mere days from being places where there will be new and fascinating things to shop for, but there is something comforting about picking up a few new familiar things. While most might be collecting up new clothes, or possibly practical items like toiletries or the like, not so much for Naru.
Instead, Naru appears to be emerging from the art store, barely having squeaked in just before closing. Closed now, Naru is emerging back out onto the street with her bag of new toys and the clerk locks the door behind her. The sun has set, the streets of Tokyo are dim with the sky that glorious velvety blue that only really comes in summer evenings, just as the first stars make their appearances.
It's not far down to the bus stop, and Naru strolls down the street towards it, looking rather content with the world, all in all.
The bus is nowhere to be seen. Instead of a bus, however, shadow rolls onto the street, like a black fog. It's still thin, easy to miss the darkness that spreads across the road. It's cold, and with the dusk setting in, it's easy to assume it's simply the dark of night getting a hold of the road.
Oh god. Run away.
Run so very far away.
Arisa and Suzuka were being relentless today with the questions since school was over. It's like they /know/ she's some sort of magical girl and just want confirmation or they think she's keeping some unhealthy secret and they won't stop giving her the Nth degree so she ran away after faking a phone ring.
She fake this by going 'uh... 'bring bring!'' with her mouth and running away.
Needless to say poor Arisa and Suzuka were more dumbfounded then ever about thier friend. Nanoha slows down somewhere close to the bus stop on her way to take it home as her eyes glance over to.... Naru!
"Oh! Hi Naru-san!" she says with a smile. She looks over to the weird...smoke....
< Dangerous Anomalies Detected. > insists the small jewel on the necklace around her neck.
"...I think something's coming..." she says, clutching the jewel through her shirt.
Jiaying Maki had been out shopping herself. She's got company, her dad's home, she's got a gift to get in return for someone else and- she kind of ended up running late. Oops, kind of her fault for spending too much time debating over gifts rather than just deciding on something and hoping for the best. She's walking home, it's a nice night after all and she'd be out anyway under other circumstances. Still, it could be worse really. She's got her satchel over her shoulders and she seems to have decided to go barefoot as a companion to loose shorts and a sleeveless hoodie that looks like it's covered in grafitti. She thinks it's cute!
There's a familiar face at the bus stop she's passing though and her she wasn't so wrapped up in her music that she didn't notice Naru, who gets a greeting from her too, "Hey!" as a nice simple starter, paired with a cheerful wave. That strange shadow doesn't get immediately noticed, but it is getting cold, so she ducks in closer and fishes her socks and shoes from her satchel, not really thinking too much about it being colder than she'd expected.
The accumulation of black fog around Naru's feet, especially with the chill that comes with, gives her pause. She looks down at it, thoughtful a moment and then looks up, and around, and quite deliberately behind her.
It's almost like she /expects/ something to be right there behind her and the lack makes her squint a touch.
Naru's words are a quiet mutter, mostly for herself. "I /so/ do not have time this week to meet with a Wraith. Just no." She goes digging into her pocket, pulling out her phone to start flipping though it. "Seriously? There's a pokestop here? Hunh."
Naru is distracted from closing Pokemon Go by a greeting and she looks over and then smiles. "Hey there Nanoha-san!" She gestures with the hand holding her shopping. "Yeah, I was getting that sense. I'm voting Wraith, personally.. er.. dont let them touch you. Like /really/ don't."
Another greeting and Naru turns towards Jiaying and waves her shopping again. "Hey there Jiaying!"
Let's face it: for two months now, Naru has had almost a heartbeat rhythm of attacks. Not quite that steady. But regular. And she's overdue. And she's due to be going out of the city.
Of course the most paranoid of Mamoru's Four set someone watching her. And given that the others have other assignments -- Ami, Makoto, Mamoru -- of course he dropped the job on himself.
Granted, she spent so long in the art store he started worrying he'd missed her, but sticking around till close worked out.
He keeps to the high road to track her to the bus stop, largely out of sight and drawing on his own shadows in the dimness. From that distance, and with that mild distortion, he can't yet make out the thin shadows. Two others at the bus stop. No sign of panic. Clearly everything's still fine. ... except that Naru doesn't tend to panic when she ought to. Hm.
Hokuto is on her way home from the very same art store, having departed it perhaps a quarter-hour before Naru. It was time to pick up a few brushes and paints, and some glue and other supplies, for her models. Right now, she's waiting at a bus stop a couple of blocks down the street when things start to get strange. "Come on, come on, Yamato-chan is waiting for me," she mutters, tapping her foot impatiently.
There's no sign of the bus.
What there is, however, is an odd, nagging feeling in the back of her head, that something is wrong. She pauses, fingers drifting near the pouch strapped to her belt, but stops herself before opening it. There's no real sign of anything happening that she can see... just a couple of kids chatting a ways down the street. And some fog. But it's evening in Tokyo... is fog really that odd?
No wraiths tonight, nothing of that nature. The shadowy fog thickens, the stars blinking out one by one, and it becomes harder to see, it becomes colder, and the oppressive atmosphere is tiring, exhausting. Some of the people further down the street are already starting to sit down or lean against the walls for stability.
And then there's that giggle. A giggle that could be innocent and childlike, though it would belong to a girl even younger than Nanoha in that case. The one problem is that there's unmistakable malice in it, it's not the giggle of a little girl who is amused so much as the giggle of a little girl who is about to drown your puppy or kitten.
< Master... >
"Right." she says at Raising Heart with a nod at Naru. "Don't worry." she says with a smile. "Raising Heart, Set up!"
< Set Up! >
Raising Heart takes the form of it's pink staff with the orab and half-crescent shape on the end. Words sparkle around the orb of 'Set Up' a moment before Nanoha sparkles into pink light, obscuring as her barrier jacket forms-- a white with blue affair that looks like a highly modified form of the Seishou Elemernary school uniform.
She spins Raising Heart around. "Raising Heart... Cannon Mode."
< Cannon Mode. > repeats Raising Heart as it's end becomes more rectangular and open--- wings suddenly fanning out from the base of it's tip as it takes it's combination bombardment/sealing form.
"Hey... I don't know what you think is so funny..." says Nanoha. "But maybe you'd like to explain?" she calls out.
She glances back at Naru. "...you're this used to it, huh?..." she says a little sadly.
Jiaying Maki had been halfway through to pulling her shoes on. She glances around, realizing far too late that it's a touch colder out and weirder out than it should be even for Japan. Taking a look around, she pulls her other shoe on and says cheerily, "Are you two waiting for the bus?" While backing up to try and get a look for what might be causing the strange darkness and co- or that giggle. Let's look for the giggle.
She doesn't have anything nearly as fancy as Nanoha and that's actually something she sort of regrets suddenly, figuring maybe she'll have to do something about that later, maybe with friends. As she moves, trying to find the source, she begins to trail something akin to mist which after revealing the hidden tail and fox ears, immediately coalesces back around her, partially obscuring her figure and seeming to solidify into a plain white mask. She's gotten more control and she actually almost does a little victory pose that it worked before remembering badguy(s) maybe. Her satchel is set down nearby after she pulls a few things and stuffs them into her pockets while making a mental note to grab it before she leaves.
The sigh that accompanies that sense of thickening fog, the oppressive exhaustion that comes with it is longsuffering out of Naru. "Day that ends in 'y' for me, really." is the comment back to Nanoha as she moves to start to see if she can move out of the fog, which seems unlikely. "Although this one's new.." She takes a moment, looking around for the source of the giggle. "So far, Wraiths are the /worst/, I'm hoping the universe isn't taking that as a challenge."
Naru glances to her phone and taps out a text, taking a pause part way through, as she refocuses her thoughts. "Feels like only energy though, which is a bonus. So far at least." She takes a few steps more, testing the edges of that fog as she texts Kunzite.
TXT to Kunzite: Apparently fog isn't limited to Wraiths.
Naru plus two at the bus stop -- but one of those two just transformed, and the other one just revealed her true nature. ... that definitely doesn't look like Ayana. But Naru mentioned another kitsune -- with luck, that's --
Ah. There's his cue.
In a flare of cape, Kunzite drops down to sidewalk level as close as he can risk to the side of the building. No need to prompt any untoward reactions from the fox or the young lady in white-and-blue-and-bows. "Have you considered the possibility of wearing a tracking beacon lately?" he inquires aside to Naru. "Just on general principles. Of course."
Hokuto fiddles with her cellphone, getting ready to call a cab. The absence of the bus is starting to annoy her. The gloom is getting more and more oppressive, and it's nagging at the back of her head.
And that's when she really takes notice. The tug on her own energy - the passersby slumping against the wall - the flare of magic from a transformation - all of these at once is hard to ignore.
She gives in to her initial impulse, flicking a pair of paper slips from her belt pouch. There's a flare of light as she tosses them into the air, inked characters swelling into huge size and washing over her. In that moment, her casual clothes are replaced with familiar red hakama and white kimono, a red and black harness looped over her shoulders. A bow falls into her left hand, and she draws forth another paper slip with her right.
Casting a glance about, she notes the gathering down the street, and starts hurrying in that direction.
What's so funny, you ask? That someone would assume I am as weak and powerless as a wraith~" Shiniko's singsong voice rings out as she walks through the shadows, using her hair rather than her legs to move forwards. "I am the arbiter of justice, the great and powerful, Shadow Witch Shiniko."
She does not appear at all scared of the gathered magical entities, instead her eyes are focused strictly on Naru. "Naru Osaka, you have been found guilty of negligently supplying energy to the enemies of justice~" She giggles again, "But don't worry, your punishment will be light."
Parts of the shadowy fog coalesce into physical shapes, vague and indistinct humanoid figures. They kind of look like cops, and there's a good number of them. Each one of them has pitch black flame on their forehead, sucking warmth out of the environment, "For the others, I would suggest you do not interfere, for I will not be merciful."
Of course, all this talk of justice is kind of hard to believe to anyone who can tell just how drenched in dark energy her power is.
Nanoha Takamachi blinks once over to the arriving Kunzite as she watches the discussion between Kunzite and Naru a moment then over to the foxgirl as she blinks once then back to the voice and she listens.
She frowns a bit, the girl shaking her head. "What!? You can't /blame the victim/ for being attacked so much! That's wrong!" she spouts out. "I'm not going to let you attack Naru-san because you have a twisted view of what's right and wrong." she says.
Shadow forms into physical shapes. She mutters. "Divine Shooter...."
< Divine Shooter. >
Lots of orbs of magenta light form around above her head in an arc as she throws her staff forward--- they begin exploding into an array of vibrant and powerful beam spam towards the various shadows.
"If you want to help, the best way is to help protect!" she calls out.
Jiaying Maki pulls a charm from her pocket as the villain reveals herself! There's a brief moment of confusion as yet two more magical sorts show up, the guy in the cloak getting more attention because seriously, capes and cloaks, who wears those! A quick shake of her head to focus and she hops from foot to foot, almost like a fighter getting ready. Pointing at the witch, she smiles behind that illusory mask and says, "You're delusion-" then Nanoha calls out pretty much the same thing she was, what with blaming the victim being a silly concept. Having lost a touch of steam, she regains it quickly enough and says after, "You're no better than those you claim to oppose!" She flicks her wrist, placing the charm between two fingers. There's a brief flash of anger that get's quashed quickly and rather than the prior brute force use of magic, Jia seems to have a strange shadowy after image. It looks both slightly bigger and more bestial than what's casting the shadow though.
A second tag is drawn, pre-created and crisp looking compared to her usual efforts and she stops bouncing from foot to foot to calmly walk towards the witch, hoping maybe to get her attention for a moment, not that she's fully expecting it after last time.
"Apparently I dont need to." Naru comments dryly to Kunzite as he appears barely a breath after she's hit send on her text to him. "You could have just come shopping with me, you know."
"Oh /seriously/?" Naru turns to Sora as she emerges and announces the reasoning for tonight's drain, her tone one of irritation and resignation, really quite the opposite of scared, rather proving Kunzite's assessment that 'panic' isn't high on Naru's radar. "Are you providing proof for your arguement, or just making spurious declarations? What's a Shadow Witch?" She asks, curiosity edging out outrage in her tone, just for a moment.
Naru glances to the various shapes and she takes another step or two back. Slower, she's hardly immune to the sense of exhaustion that comes with the fog and the shadows, affecting all the mundanes in the area. The fact that she hasn't slumped against a handy solid object, probably gives a clue on how much practice she has in staying upright."
The girl with the Device puts forth the most obvious point. The fox-girl has another excellent one. Kunzite adds casually in her wake, "Also, whoever declared you arbiter -- you're out of your jurisdiction." The Device user is after the 'cops', Jiaying after the Shadow Witch; Kunzite moves to the third point of interest. The Witch's target. He puts a hand on Naru's shoulder, and cloaks them both in shadows of his own -- reflecting Naru's energy back into her before it can be taken, fighting shadow-drain with ... well ... shadow-drain.
Three sources of shadow in the confrontation now. This is not a good fight for those with visual impairments.
There's a shimmer of white in the other direction, though, and he shows teeth for a moment, almost a smile. He waits till after Hokuto announces her presence before calling, "Excellent timing as usual," toward her.
(The idea of having come shopping with Naru is not graced with a response.)
Hokuto hurries on towards the group, pausing at the street-corner to take a quick look ovr the situation. A witch draining energy... well. That just won't do.
"Personally," she calls out, nocking the paper slip to her bow and drawing back the arrow it turns into, "I wouldn't be so quick to call myself a 'witch' in this town." She looses the arrow...
... which misses cleanly, slamming into the sidewalk a few feet away from Shiniko. "Got a rather bad reputation, it does."
She draws another slip and fires it, much as she did the first. Like the first one, it ends up missing Shiniko, striking the street behind her.
"I'd give some thought to a re-branding, if I were you." She nocks a third slip, drawing back the bow once more, and once more misses, this one going long to stick into the sidewalk beyond the self-named 'witch'.
"A shadow witch is a powerful magician ruling over the shadows of the world." Shiniko answers Naru, right when Nanoha starts shooting apart the shadows. They appear damaged by it, but they gradually reform, whatever damage clearly not enough to destroy them. "And Naru Osaka clearly has powerful friends, yet she takes no measures to prevent her strength being taken by those who would abuse it. Thus, negligent support of evil~"
"But, you lot have chosen to side with chaos and injustice, and for that there is but one punishment." She giggles, there's no anger there, merely arrogant anticipation, "I feel compelled to ask, did you prepare your last wills?"
Suddenly she dissipates into the shadow, only to reappear right in front of Naru, and Kunzite. "Tsk, that's rather impolite if you, mister. I laid claim." She insists, and shadowy flames form around in the air around her, quickly sent for Kunzite like balls of fire. The flames are cold, even the air around them starts to feel sluggish and thick, any water would be instantly frozen on contact. "As for my jurisdiction, it's the whole world~"
The shadow cop puppets, not proper Youma by any stretch, start to spread around, three go for Nanoha, brandishing their batons as they attempt to smash them into her. Two draw firearms and start shooting bullets of fire at Jiaying. Two take out their handcuffs and attempt to arrest Hokuto.
"I am quite familiar with those imposters you speak off. I occassionally work with WitchHunter Professional Services to get them off the street."
Nanoha Takamachi hrmphs. "You're no interpol!" she says matter of factly. "The whole world your jurisdiction?" She huffs as she jumps backwards and then upwards and this is the auto-spell's job to cast Flier Fin... magenta wings appearing at her feet as she takes up skyward away from Baton weidling shadow cops.
"Police are to be trusted... and you're using thier forms for evil!?" she calls out as she snaps out.
Her eyes look over to the others as she huffs and looks to Shiniko.
"It doesn't have to be this way if you want to make the world better!" she calls out. "There's better ways than this!" she says.
She turns to Shinoko as she waves Raising Heart in the air a moment as she might feel something tug at her, as if trying to keep her in place--- as she throws the staff forward-- grapsing it in two hands....
< Barrel Shot >
"BARREL SHOT!" calls out Nanoha as a twin helixed blast of magic blares out of Raising Heart's tip--- trying to blast into the witch. Wether this succeeds or not is still left up to fate. No. not that Fate. The other non-capital one.
Jiaying Maki is kind of distracted by the whole, 'let's stick this charm to the witch' by the cops shooting at her. She already begins ducking and dashing to the side before charging straight into the closest shadow cop, leading in like she's going to go for a high punch, though the stance she takes as she leads into the punch shows that it was a punch with her off-hand and low instead. That shadowy after image follows, though it seems to be using claws rather than a closed fist.
She dances back whether she actually landed the hit or not and quickly beats out the fire on her shoulder where her hood had caught fire. There's a brief string of angry sounding Chinese before she lunges back into the fight with a low kick at the initial cop, then a spin and a quick kick at the other, placing herself between them in case they start shooting again if she's lucky. She's quiet for once as she tries to focus and remember what she's been learning.
"Ruling over shadows, that seems clear." Naru gestures at the shadows upon shadows upon shadows that are all around all of them. "Athough hardly an exclusive claim, obviously."
"Oh /heck/ no! There is no one who gets to claim me, or my energy, except me!" Naru protests, in a moment of vocal self-preservation. She isn't crazy, however, sticking close to Kunzite, and the shields that he's got around both of them. "I take enough flak for my choices from everyone else, I'm not taking them from you /too/." Naru points her finger at Sora. "Besides.. if you work with WitchHunter, I am really not a good choice of target. Just putting that out there. Tomrrow's run is going to /suck/." She goes digging back into her bag as things explode around her, her current main weapon being a keen sense of outrage.
Kunzite lets Naru answer Shiniko's charge of impoliteness herself, before shifting position just slightly -- because what he's doing next he doesn't want to tag anyone in the fight with. He needs this to be clear of all of them, especially darting Jiaying -- but even Shiniko.
He lifts a hand. And the chatter about Wraiths before is matched by the dysfunctional, grating horror of one of their howls, the sound that defies the logic and order of Earth. Shiniko's shadow-flames are met with the geometrical slashing of the thousand little energy-razors that one of the first Wraiths to manifest unleashed on Madoka.
It'll be interesting to see how those interact with Shiniko's powers. And whether he needs to get himself and Naru the hell out of the way --
"I'd gladly side with chaos over someone as drowned in the Dark as you, witch-girl." Hokuto is already starting to nock another ofuda-arrow, when she's approached by the shadow-puppets. "Oh, come on," she snaps.
And then she twists her fingers slightly, the bow turning... and she fires the ofuda-arrow into the shadow-puppet next to her. "Kai!" she shouts, sharply, as she invokes its power.
As the second shadow-puppet closes in on her, her butterfly hairpin dissolves into sparkles, reforming into a slender pixie-like figure that darts through the air to assail the shadow-creature with its needle-like sword.
"Have fun, Suzumebachi!" Hokuto calls, and reaches or another ofuda...
The Shadow Witch's hair flares out and forms a protective barrier as attacks start coming in in earnest, Nanoha's twin blast punches a hole, and the energy razors cut through the shadow flames, which being immaterial are disturbed but not stopped, reforming quickly after. Then, the razors get stuck within the shadow-enhanced hair, except where Nanoha punched that hole, where they go through and dig into Shiniko's skin.
She shrieks in pain.
Hokuto destroys one of the shadow puppets, and severely damages the other. At the same time, Jiaying breaks a shadow cop with her martial arts, but the other just keeps shooting.
Flying away sure helps Nanoha escape the ground based troops, which turn their batons on Jiaying and Hokuto instead, but the air isn't free from danger, Shiniko has gotten a lot of power of late, and eagles made out of shadow now circle around Nanoha, the same flames on their foreheads as the cops did, they don't circle long before they start taking turns to close in and swipe at the young mage.
As for Shiniko, she gets a little closer to Naru, and a wall of Shadow Flame forms, very close to Naru, intentionally placed to separate her from Kunzite, and the Shadow witch attempts to shatter Kunzite's shield and place a single character of shadow on Naru's forehead. 'Ill Fortune' is what it means, if it sticks, it's a cursed piece of writing that will sap any remaining luck and send it over to Shiniko, for as long as it lasts.
As far as these things go, it's not that hard to cleanse.
Nanoha Takamachi watches as eagles form out of shadow and she raises a hand and auto-guard casts as they come in. This happens, quick bursts of purple light forming as she gets besiged by birds. She has to concentrate to take this many on so she isn't getting another shot at Shiniko at the moment.
Then Naru gets marked and then Nanoha gets upset because she was too busy handling these birds and no words are getting through to Shiniko. Words.
They never get through. Nanoha never knows why. Maybe.. maybe darkness does something to your heart. Or maybe. Maybe she's being discared because of her age.
Regardless.
She suddenly just ignores the birds as a circle forms under her as three circles form up around the staff as she takes a stance. The eagles are still attacking her and focusing means auto-protect isn't working and they're pecking her. And she winces.
But she does her best to perserve through the pain. It's why she runs every morning. Runs until she's exhausted before the day's even begun!
"LISTEN......"
< DIVINE... >
"TO ME!...."
< ...BUSTER! >.
A powerful beam arcs through the air as she levies what was once her most powerfulest spell towards Shiniko. Luckily. Divine Buster isn't as widespread as Starlight Breaker. She is being wary of Naru there afterall, despite her general dissapointment at the situation.
Jiaying Maki beat up one cop, which is something she never thought she'd have to say! Still, there's the other cop and then suddenly another! She makes a frustrated sound, somewhere between a shout and a growl and mashes the charm she had been saving for Shiniko into the first cop she had been fighting that hadn't already been defeated. Using the momentum, she pushes off of that police officer and swings down low, almost as though she were going to sweep her leg out in a kick, but instead she takes a quick step forward as she turns it into an uppercut aimed at the shadow cop's jaw. She's getting a bit frustrated that she doesn't get to vent a few weeks of frustration out on the witch and it's starting to show!
Should the charm have been capable of sticking to the shadow, it's charged with positive energy, something she had noted had uspet the witch last time! Beyond that, whether that uppercut connected or not, she swings her leg out in a kick to try and knock the shadow to the ground (How does that work anyway?) and should it have actually fallen, will follow it up with a stomp or two until it's dissipated. "Stop fighting Shiniko! You say you want to help, then prove it!"
There is a reality of being the token mundane in the fight, and a whole /swack/ of shadow powers going on all over the place. Naru can't see much of anything, save for flashes of fire, brief strobes and sounds and mostly Shiniko being Right There in front of her. She can feel Kunzite's hand on her shoulder, although as the wall forms between them, she tries to end up on the same side as Kunzite, and quickly ends up determining that it's a bad idea to get into that wall. Cold! Burning cold isn't an oxymoron at those sorts of temperatures.
Shield or not, Naru isn't a stationary target for the character of shadow attempting to be put upon her. She might not be armed with magical attacks, but she's at least quick as she tries to dart and duck and stay out of reach, hampered by her lack of being able to see, getting cornered and feeling the touch of the sigil upon her. "That had better not be getting into my head!"
Trying not to tag someone with an attack is easier when that person doesn't incidentally start taking up more space. Kunzite doesn't particularly have time to regret; he's busy dealing with the shadow fireballs, catching his cape up in his free hand and trying to deflect them. Having to nearly reverse his power to do much of anything with them doesn't help that effort. Which is what keeps him distracted enough for Shiniko to get that close.
It doesn't separate him from Naru directly. But he loses feeling in that hand as the wall of cold flame passes through his arm --
It doesn't shatter his shield. But it keeps all of his potential locked down into trying to resist the cold and the drain, and none of it left over for trying to resist Shiniko's taking more active methods. And it's still not enough.
Fortunately, it's summer. And he's been draining heat to feed his reserves for days.
Conditioned reflex pushes that heat into the place where his arm and the wall overlap; the cold tears at it in turn, and the resultant momentary war of powers results in bright pink energy radiating outward till he can tear his hand free. He stumbles a couple of steps back, cradling that arm.
Problem. All his active attacks require the use of his hands.
Here's hoping the others have that covered.
Dealing with shadow-puppets and other minions is exactly what Suzumebachi is good at, and the little wasp-girl has no hesitation about employing her blade with finesse and incredible speed.
Importantly, it leaves Hokuto free to act for a few precious moments. Another pair of ofuda-arrows flicker out from her bow, once again slamming into the ground, completing the five-pointed circle around the developing fight - primarily around Shiniko, but it's hard not to catch one or more of the others as well.
"Ban, Un, Taraku, Kiriku, Aku!" Streams of blue light connect the five ofuda, inscribing a pentagram upon the sidewalk and street.
"Gogyou... fuuin!" Five-Elements Seal. The pentagram expands into a barrier around the witch - easy enough for someone without magic to pass through, but designed to suppress the ability to drain energy...
The curse lands, the character fades after connection, but the cursed magic stays until removed. Misfortune is a fairly subtle curse, and a disturbingly common one in Tokyo these days. Shiniko moves back, sufficiently satisfied, but that's when everything goes wrong for her.
Jiaying's purifying charm hits the puppet, and it sticks. Not just that, it funnels through to Shiniko, who is visibly in pain for it, and the density of shadow in the air decreases. All of her puppets collapse into puddles of shadowy goo, and even the shadow fire wall thins and collapses, right after Kunzite pulls his hand out.
Then the five-elements seal goes up, and this is a rather big deal, because Shiniko is never not draining energy, countless curses just like the one she just put on Naru offer a constant stream of power to her.
This makes her a perfect target for Divine Buster, and she's hit head on, her magical defenses in no way sufficient to even meaningfully reduce the impact, and she shrieks in pain again. There's a faint sniffle that can be heard even as more shadow fires form below her, and rise up to cover her entirely.
Soon all the shadow produced by Shiniko is gone, as is the Shadow Witch. There's no trace left of her presence here... Except for that curse.
Good News. Nanoha got a direct hit and Shiniko is gone for better or worse, chased away.
Bad News. Nanoha looks terribly bruised and tired and weak from more or less choosing to weather an assault by shadow creatures and get a strong hit in then deal with those.
Good News again!. They're gone now.
She floats downwards and kind of just breathes heavily as she catches her breath. "Nrg..."
"I'm sorry, Naru-chan..." she says carefully as she looks at Naru. "Couldn't get her in time..." she frowns, a little disheartend.
Jiaying Maki really hadn't been expecting the tag to not only stick, but hurt the witch. There's actually a satisfied, 'Heh' that escapes from behind that illusory mask. She hasn't quite noticed that her hood and shorts are on fire again and it's only when the adrenaline has had just long enough to stop that she suddenly begins dancing around, beating at both sources of the fire quickly. Her hair's a touch frozen and she's got fresh frostbite once more, but it's nowhere near as widespread and- while that whimper did kind of twinge her conscious, they beat her back this time and! She actually met people who didn't just stand by which is awesome!.
Taking a moment to make sure nothing else is burnt, frozen or otherwise stuck to her, she makes her way towards the others slowly, still trailing both that mist and whatever spirit she's bound to herself. Which she suddenly remembers about, which is suddenly forced back into it's sealing charm because she really doesn't want to lapse and let that thing free again. It does seem a touch mollified that it got to lash out at things though, which is good! She's only in a little bit of pain, the fire didn't spread nearly as far as last time and only a few of the places were where she'd already been hurt! This will definitely hurt in about ten minutes.
When she catches up with the group, the mask flickers and grows fuzzy before resolidifying after what sounded like her repeatedly saying 'No' before getting the focus back. The one breathing heavily is given a cautious glance, then she sidles over and offers an arm out to offer support if she'll take it. It's only then that she says to Naru, "She didn't do that last time- The shadow things. I'm sorry too Naru." There's a beat and adds, "Do you feel alright?" She sounds concerned and a touch pained. Maybe she was frostbitten a bit more than she's admitting even to herself. It was a semi-victory this time, right?
Naru blinks a few times as the extra shadows ease off and she can see a bit better again and looks around. Witch is gone, Jiaying seems fine, as does Nanoha and Hokuto, but Kunzite? Not so much.
"That doesn't look happy, Kunzite." Naru comments as she watches him cradle his arm and then she turns her attention back to Nanoha and Jiaying. "It's okay.. I'm.. I'm not actually certain what she's done to me. The drain is pretty minor, all in all."
Naru frowns, her brow furrowing as she considers her own thoughts and feelings. "Still got emotions, that's always nice. I don't feel mind controlled. No extra voices." She has some frostbitten bits too, but clearly that's not her immediate consideration, no matter the discomfort as she starts to warm up in the summer evening.
Hokuto stays focused on her pentagram as she watches the light flare, and the shadows retreat. Finally things seem calm again, and she nods pleasantly to the other folk there.
"Glad to see you're alright, miss," she offers to Naru. "It's never fun, being targeted like that."
Kunzite lets the cape fall over his afflicted arm. "Anything I didn't actually lose, can be repaired." He opts not to mention that he's not, at this point, certain about whether there is anything he actually lost. Cold is one of the powersets he's weakest against -- and his team's weapon against that is very definitely elsewhere tonight.
He turns to Hokuto a moment afterward, and inclines his head toward her rather than bowing. Pale enough that it's visible, now that the dark's returning to ... well ... normal dark. "Good to see you again." Gray eyes flicker toward Jiaying and Nanoha. "And thank you, the two of you."
Nanoha Takamachi softly walks over and frowns as she looks at Naru's own situation. She frowns as she shakes her head. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do to heal that." she says softly at Naru and Kunzite as she bows softly. "My name is Nanoha Takamachi." she says softly.
Nanoha still looks hurt. "I mean. Both of you. I'm not... a healer or anything." she says softly.
Jiaying offers an arm out and she smiles softly. "I'm-fine-- honest!" she says.
< Power Levels Critial. Physical Condition Yellow. >.
This is Raising Heart's way of saying out loud 'No, she isn't. She's trying to be polite.'
"Raising Heart does bombardment really well and binding spells really well. But no support spells like a first aid." she says quietly.
"Yuuno said something about 'incompatibility'..." she taps her bottom lip.
She frowns. "Do you need me to help any of you home?" she asks more quietly. "Or escort home? Or any of those...?" she asks with concern, despite her currently not very well state either.
Jiaying Maki Wasa about to drop her arms, especially since it stings a bit, then the little device thing speaks up, her big ears twitching at that. "That's the second one of those I've seen now. Neat. It's okay by the way, I don't bite." She makes a conscious decision not to smile since she's got sharp teeth and all. She stands on her toes and looks around whether Nanoha takes the help or not, then passes her hand in front of her face, drawing that mist back around herself to appear human, albeit one fuzzy around the edges and burnt. The fuzziness goes away soon enough and she nods to Kunzite, "Happy to help- I don't do healing either unless you're secretly a spirit or ghost. I can fix those!" Wait should she admit that she deals with that? Too late now isn't it. And she was kind of showing that off with her shadow image.
There's a brief shrug, another wince and after some thought she says, "Maybe we can pool for a taxi? I don't want to walk home all of a sudden." And you know, the whole everyone's all hurt and probably not wanting to move much either.
Hokuto glances over at Jiaying and hrms softly, concern evident enough as she hears Raising Heart's diagnosis. She considers it for a moment, then pauses as the girl retakes her human guise. "I can do a bit of healing," she offers.
"I'm better at purification, though. What I do is mostly accelerating the body's normal response with an infusion of positive energy." She flicks out another ofuda, and the inked characters glow briefly. "If that'll help..."
Then she nods. "I could put in for a taxi, too. I was about to call one when Witch-chan dropped in."
Suzumebachi, tired of flitting around with no one to play with, settles back to perch on Hokuto's shoulder and wave cheerfully at Nanoha.
"My apologies," Kunzite says not quite toward Nanoha. "Thank you, also."
Yes, he's talking to her Device.
To Jiaying, he says, "Not presently, in either of our cases." In this particular instance, he's willing to speak for Naru, too. "I work for a healer, myself --" Wait. Hasn't he heard Nanoha's name before? ... yes. "-- for Tuxedo Kamen. But this group is a little too large for me to transport. And he doesn't have purification in his arsenal, which may be still more important for the young lady just now." Another inclination of his head toward Hokuto, briefly.
Nanoha Takamachi looks to Kunzite. "Oh! Okay." she says with a smile. She then pauses. "Right, this is. Raising Heart." she smiles down to her device. She looks to Jiaying and decides to take the offered help anyways. "S-sorry just trying to be polite! I'm not scared of you!" she says apologentically.
She looks to Kunzite. "I'm sorry, if I knew the Dimensional Transfer spell I could get us somewhere but.. I don't." she purses sadly.
Jiaying Maki looks between those all present and says, "All of you have teleported before? That sounds like it's cheating!" Totally not jealous. Especially since teleporting would mean she could start trying to put the ointment on her burns and bandage it all up. Would be so much more tolerable then! Still, she supports Nanoha and shakes her head quickly, "If help's offered it's not rude to accept!" To Kunzite, she nods and says somewhat passively, "I kind of figured you weren't! If you know a healer-can they teach healing magic to others?"
Looking back to Hokuto, she nods and glances around quickly, trying to remember her bag. She twists enough to find it, releases whatever magic she's using to seal the spirit she had been using earlier and uses that to recover her bag, a shadowy monster-figure carrying the bag daintily. She hooks the strap over her shoulder, hides the charm away and pulls out a small crumpled heap of Yen and asks, "How much do you think it would be?" There's a beat and she adds, "Are you a Wu too?"
"Onmyou, actually." Hokuto smiles pleasantly at Jiaying, paying little attention to the monster returning the girl's purse, and reaches behind her for her own bag. "Taxi ride for... four? Shouldn't be too much. Don't worry, I'll cover it."
She considers for a moment. "Let's at least get you started, though, shall we?" The characters on the ofuda she's been toying with glow a bit brighter as she charges it. "Where are you hurt worst?"
"No shame in that," Kunzite says to Nanoha. "We use what we've learned, not what we haven't been taught." His attention switches to Jiaying. "-- or, in some cases, we use what's inherent. Which is the case for both the healers I know; they might be able to teach how to use it more effectively, but likely not how to begin."
Teleporting is completely cheating. That's what makes it so useful.
Jiaying Maki taps her chin with a finger before saying, "Those are the same thing I think." there's a brief pause and she finishes, "Or close enough at least. Maybe I can learn to heal from you instead! I- I don't know if I know anything that you don't already and I don't think I can teach what I do with ghosts. Family history for that."
She seems pretty earnest about learning how to heal so she's got something different! There's a few thoughts of how she could try, but that's one bit of experimentation she's been afraid to even try. She nods to Kunzite though and after a brief shrug says, "Something to try for later maybe." Naru's given a wave, Nano is supported as long as she takes the help, tax trip included should she take that. As one last thing, she says to Hokuto, "We should compare notes later- also I think he's more hurt than me. Or did you mean teaching or something?"
Hokuto nods and gets her phone out of her bag. "I certainly wouldn't mind teaching," she says, smiling lightly. "It's a lot more pleasant than dealing with so-called witches and wraiths and whatnot."
Fighting is not terribly high on her list of 'fun things to do with her day'. "So, where to first, for the taxi?" She offers Naru a wave, and so does Suzumebachi, who finally slips back into her dormant mode.
"If he needs healing more, I'll be glad to help." She does look over at Kunzite, now, and arches a brow questioningly. It's entirely possible he'll want to go to his own healer, after all - she's seen that sort of thing before. There's often a trust issue, with warriors and unfamiliar healers. She's actually had youkai come to her for it because they had no one else that they trusted.
"I have another source," Kunzite says. "One who hasn't been fighting today. Better to deal with the others first." He glances to Naru, and adds, "You know how to reach me if you need it." No sign of his dropping henshin; presumably he's not joining them in the taxi. Which will definitely be good for the crowding.