Blasphemy

    EARLIER

There's a small church in Uminari city, just a little bit off North Juuban Avenue, with an attendant small graveyard. It's tended to by a kind preist who wears a black cassock. It's not as well visited as the Shinto shrines in the area, but visitors do happen from time to time.

But the visitor the priest recieved today did not look like the kind of woman who would visit a priest - though she did somewhat look like someone who needed to. Tall, with pale skin and impossibly long red hair, and a not at all demure purple dress, and dark purple lipstick.

The poor priest was ambushed, with her walking right up to him and placing her hand on his chest. "Oh, forgive me father, for I have sinned." Morgana Kimiko said... then, before he could talk, she placed a finger from her other hand to her lip. "Oh, I mean, I am currently sinning."

A large infusion of dark energy coursed from her hand into the unsuspecting priests body, and a scream could be heard throughout the graveyard - and an attendant burst of dark energy, serving as a warning likely picked up by Luna and perhaps the Senshi themselves.

    NOW

There is a large green man with bright red boxing gloves, and a literal ring bell on a belt, and massive vulture like wings, stalking around the graveyard, radiating negative energy, and screaming I AM A CHAMPION. Someone should probably do something about this.

"Where?" asks Sailor Mercury as she chases a mooncat across the skies and through the streets towards their destination. Given Usagi's recent announcement regarding relationships, Luna's been spending a lot more time at Ami's Mizuno's house, which left the bluenette with a cranky talking kitty to attend to. So when Luna started squawking again, she had at first thought it was just more irritation.

Turns out, it was a youma. Woops.

Sailor Mercury made sure to put the word out, even as she rushed to the scene herself, confusedly following the cat's rush through the city on their way. When she gets close enough to sense the Youma, Mercury skids to a stop. "Luna, wait," she says to the cat. She reaches up to her tiara, and out pops a blue visor. "Well that's new," she notes. "And really ugly looking. But he also looks punchy. I hope Mars or Jupiter get here, soon."

Daisuke Hansuke was visiting a church today to discuss a program he was supposed to help with. He wasn't late. He was on time. He had a notepad in his pocket, a pen, and coming with an open and happy mind. He placed his hand upon the door to the church when that sticking feeling someone shot him in the chest and then yelling in the air 'CHAMPIONS' or something. Daisuke wasn't very good at English. He stepped back from the door and began to slip cautiously around the building to peek behind at the nerby cemetary.

Yeah okay there's a vuluture guy in boxing gloves and a bell title belt back there. Daisuke peeks back behind the chruch and sighs.

"Well..." he mumbles to himself. He raises his right hand--- summons his staff and then holds it closely to himself. Deep breath. He summons up the robes and he looks to the far side of the cemetary path- where he teleports to in a flash of purple light.

He begins to walk slowly down the path.

"A cemetary should be a place of quiet repose..." he talks out. Not loud. He bet this thing can't hear him. "What purpose does this yelling serve!?" he snaps a little louder- but not barely. He's holding up his snake staff in front of himself, guarded.

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus also shows up, aided by her own private mooncat. Between insistences of cleaning her room and forcing her to remember her destiny, he is useful - specifically, in getting her to where she needs to be.

This time, it's to poor Christian priests with a background in the punching arts.

"How dare you take advantage of this priest pastor father and his love of boxology. You're wrong in every way! Not you! I IS CHAMPION!" she shouts, from atop a particularly tall gravestone.

It's dramatic and potentially disrespectful to the dead.

Mars does indeed show up shortly after Mercury's call, running through to the graveyard until she finds...

What, really?

A Boxing Vulture?

That must be the youma Mars was hearing about. The presence of Mercury, Venus, and Daisuke more or less confirms it.

"This isn't not a boxing ring! You should show some respect for the dead! In the name of Mars..." She doesn the pointing pose thing. "I'll chastise you!"

How does she get into situations like these? Geeze.

There is a lady leaning up against the back side of a tomb, only her long red hair and one of her hands visible. "Well, that's annoying. He's just gotten used to his new form and here come all of you girls trying to tell him what to do." she says. "Boxy, knock out these obnoxious humans!"

The bell on Boxy's belt rings itslef, and he charges at Daisuke! "I AM A CHAMPION!" he says in English, again. He makes two swings at Daisuke - with great form - before turning to face Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus. "LOVELY PUNCH! PUNCH!" each of those PUNCH lines comes along with him making a straight arm punch...

and for each of them, a giant boxing glove of negative energy rockets towards them with great force.

"That's right, Boxy." the lady behind the tomb says. "Show these girls that you're the Dark Kingdom Champion!"

"MERCURY AQUA MIST!" Mercury makes her presence known immediately. In a melee, the greatest advantage is knowledge of your opponent's movements. At Mercury's command, the air chills several degrees, and a heavy fog rolls in to conceal the Senshi's actions from view.

"Venus, can you bind it so Mars can destroy him?" Sailor Mercury calls into the mist, even as she picks up Luna and rapily repositions. Simultaneously, she switches her goggles over to the infrared spectrum, allowing her to see through her own fog. While the others focus on the Youma, Mercury works on her positioning, seeking to get an advantage on the red-haired woman.

Asclepius looks over to the lady with long red hair. "Huh....?" and really, before he knows it this guy comes directly at him. Oh-oh god what does he do!? This guys going to punch out all his blood. He just sort of steps backwards---- he gets hit straight on by the next one and flung to the dirt path and slides across the ground.

Asclepius appears to be resting against a tombstone now. He uses it to get himself off his feet. He felt like a truck just hit him. "Sorry---" he mutters at it. He feels bad using the tombstone as a prop up.

At least there's a fog now. He can't see anyone else. But--- no one can see him, right? He keeps low and mutters to himself. He'd call out but that seems like a bad idea.

"That was unpleasent."

Something that woman said made him feel wrong though.

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus shouts that she can't blind it. "Blind it? I can barely see it. And I think you blinded it already," she shouts.

"But I can TIE IT UP!" she says, jumping away from her gravestone where an unexpectedly long range punch nearly hits her. She makes a cute little 'hiyaaaaaaaaaa' sound and flicks her little hearty whip at the boxer in an attempt to cinch him up; certainly a violation of the World Boxing Council's Rules and Regulations. "Watch out for friendly fire!" she says as a courtesy to her friends in the mist.

(Artemis crawls out with Ami and Luna instead of standing near exploding gravestones. So Mercury has two cuddlekittens.)

Sailor Moon, already out of breath, leaps from roof to roof.

Finally, close, she pauses to lean against her knees, taking in huge lungfuls of air.

"How many times a day?" It's a short lived whine, but it's there.

She finally stands up, fanning her face with her hands.

The other fight hadn't been long, but it had been intense.

She'd barely gotten three bites into her ice cream when they were alerted to the next.

Sailor Moon gives a tired, but very warm, grin to Tuxedo Kamen. "Okay. 'Energy recharge?' Okay, 'emotional recharge.' Okay, fine, you caught me, I just wanna kiss you."

So she does, and it's brief.

Well. Sort of. But it's not long!

She flexes when she pulls away. "I CAN NOW FACE THE WORLD!"

A dark energy punch comes towards Mars, and she drops down into a squat, letting the punch fly over her still-falling raven hair.

"Punch beams. You have punch beams." Yeah, that's the first thing she thought of. Well, after the dodging.

The woman in long red hair gets her attention. Something about her disturbs Mars on a basic level, but she doesn't have time to think about that with the puncy priest coming after her.

Mars watches Boxy as the fog rolls in, courtesy of Mercury. Aside from a little communication error Venus and Mercury seem to be forming a plan together. "Alright, then I guess I'll just have to bring the necessary firepower!"

Yes, she just made that joke.

As she holds out her hands, twin fires erupt in her palms, not burning her but still giving off heat and light. She presses her hands together, making a fingergun, and the fire pushes down the barrely, forming an ever-growing sphere of fire.

"Fire... SOUL!"

With a shout, the spell fires, flinging a superheated fireball at the boxing vulture.

And up on that roof while Moon's taking a break, Tuxedo Kamen's paused as well, looking amused and checking google maps against the call for assistance. Then he's warned but still not really listening, and when he looks up he's smooched. His eyes go wide.

He's not entirely rid of the blush by the time they make it to the graveyard and he sets Sailor Moon down silently behind Mercury and Luna. He holds his finger to his lips at Usagi and tries really hard to figure out what the hell is actually going on.

Boxy is - well, he spends a good amount of time stumbling in the fog trying to figure out where his targets are. During this time, he continues to shout out how 'I AM THE CHAMPION'. It's kind of repetitve.

This is about the time that Sailor Venus' chain wraps around him, and then suddenly there's a massive gout of fire that hits Boxy and you can hear a birdlike squak coming from within that fog.

"Oh come on. You can't just say that. You actually have to BE a champion." The lady with the long red hair and the clever animations angles says. She snaps her fingers, though - and with that snap, a massive gout of black magic and dark energy sweeeps through the graveyard! A swirl of energy pulses out from the youma, and is probably the only reason he isn't crusing for a Moon Healing Escalation right now.

Instead, the energy empowers him - and his still somewhat toasty and smoking body tenses and breaks free of its bonds. "I AM THE KING OF KINGS!" he shouts.

"Whatever, just hit them." the lady says. Boxy acquiesces to her demands, by shouting "TRIPLE PUNCH" and firing a boxing-glove attack out at Asclepius, Mars, and Venus again - the fog having been cleared by the redheads wicked magic.

Mercury's about to play Terrible Tag with the red-head when Artemis steps in front of her. She pauses and drops Luna next to him, then glances over her shoulder. "Moon, Tuxedo," she greets them both at half a whisper, then winks and glances back at the battlefield again.

"This party's a smash," Sailor Mercury explains to the pair. "Feel free to bop on in."

Mercury studies the effects of Mars's attack on the youma for a moment, then nods her head. Effective, but not fatal. Yet she's still more interested in the woman controlling it. Leaving Luna and Artemis both behind, Mercury hops down on the roof and advances just a little closer to the woman, scanning her carefully as she tiptoes up from behind.

Asclepius is trying very hard to not get punched or put any of these gravestones in danger but he really can't do both and he grimaces and how does he get into these things. He was here to do something different. He acts quicker this time and with the fog burned away- can teleport to /anywhere that isn't where he's standing/ right now.

He does this. There's a purple flash. He appears on the far side of the area. He frowns and starts walking forward again. No one seems hurt. Except him. That's good.

He takes a deep breath. He feels sick in his stomach but with two hands he levels the staff at the vulture. "A--Aesculapian Strike!" he calls out.

A quick burst of purple energy flies out. It's not terribly strong. In fact- it might just annoy this guy a little if it hits home. He also has NO idea where that came to his head but he let it happen. Hesitantly. That felt wrong. Fighting always feels wrong.

Mercury's wink sends a grin across Sailor Moon's face. The cat may hate her, but...

She nods at Luna, who makes a show of licking her butt, and sets her hand on Tuxedo Kamen's arm after he whispers in her ear before circling around.

There's a lot going on. The boxer is...not nice, nor is the voice behind him. In front of her? Well, no longer.

There are evil punches heading toward her friends!

"Punch THIS, you megalomaniac!"

Wait, has she been hanging around Mamoru too long?

Answers will come later, but for now, a tiara is being hurtled toward Boxy. (Not powerful, since she went with snubbing rather than powercall, but...)

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus has the foresight and celerity to see the preposterously long-range punch coming, but she puts a larger value on pinning the pious priest in place.

With an unlady-like grunt, she plants her feet while everybody else lays into the enemy. She prepares to soak the hit, content to literally roll with the punches so long as she keeps a nice strong grip on her chain. Some might hear a sickening smack as it makes contact, but her strength holds for now.

"Urrrg. I gotcha'. Now's your chance, Sailor Mars-- OH! Moon! YOUR CHANCE INSTEAD!" she shouts!

"Glad you could join the party!"

Artemis meows to Mercury and Luna. He also makes a catbathing spectacle, following Luna's lead.

And after he straightens up from whispering to Moon and she circles around, Tuxedo Kamen stays behind Mercury, edging up-- not close enough to crowd her, but certainly close enough to dart in and grab her and leap them away if the redhead should notice and object. He's got this idea, possibly from watching a bunch of other villains (possibly especially from watching Kunzite) that the one who hangs back and directs and pulls up dark energy and whatever is generally A LOT MORE POWERFUL than the one doing the actual fighting.

This time the flying punch hits Mars square in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. She wraps her arms around her stomach and leans over. Weakly, she mutters, "That... hurt..."

The call comes from Venus to attack again, but Moon seems to have it covered, and Rei's having a bit of a belly ache right now.

Well, there's one more thing she can actually do.

She reaches out, flames pouring from her hands. A solid flame flies from her, enveloping the Moon Tiara and empowering it.

She figures this is better than trying to aim at the youma while also trying to recover.

Boxy is still trying to fight against the bonds, and that's a large part of why there's no dramatic duck and weave coming from him. Instead, that flaming Tiara makes a sweep for him, and reflexively, he tries to punch it out of the air!

This... sort of works, as his boxing glove connects with Sailor Moon's on-fire tiara! It knocks it out of the air (and into a nearby grave where it /sticks/) but also causes his glove to light on fire!

He dances around but the glove has burned away - and with it, his strange range.

After he stops dancing he grabs the chain binding him with both hands, and makes to tug it asway - only to have his singed hand hit by Asclepius, which makes him lose his grip and stumble backwards!

Meanwhile, across the graveyard, Mercury and Tuxedo Mask are coming around on the villianous mastermind. And when they get around the corner, she looks dead at them, like she's been waiting on them. Queen Beryl - in all her full terrible regalia, shoulder horns and all - has her other hand on her hip. "It's really not polite to peep on a lady." she says, her eyes traveling to Tuxedo Mask "..even if you are a handsome boy." Then she raises both of her hands and unleashes an utterly massive and terrible wave of dark energy that cuts through the air, cleaving right through the headstones and monuments, headed for both of them!

Well, Mercury had been attempting stealth and subterfuge, but let's be honest: that's Venus's department. So when she rounds the corner only to be caught red-handed with Tuxedo Kamen, it takes Mercury entirely by surprise.

Mercury barely has time to say, "Oh no," before the blast of energy slams into her.

The wave of energy sends Sailor Mercury careening backwards straight into Tuxedo Kamen's open arms, but the blast is so powerful it literally rends a gash in her sailor suit across the stomach.

And his plan had been so good, it would have worked-- if they were caught, he'd grab her and leap-- but seeing that face, that face that's killed him before in a battle he doesn't understand in this life, only that he was protecting-- that face that he doesn't remember but can never forget...

...Tuxedo Kamen freezes in place, dark blue eyes wide behind his mask.

And her voice-- it's like sharp rocks coated in pudding, and it slices. And he can't move.

Just as his brain's starting to reboot, the blast comes, and Ami crashes into his chest, and it's only the grace of magic that what's cutting through tombstones doesn't just outright kill them both. Magic and the last piece of presence of mind he has, half turning them as they're both blasted back off their feet, wrapping his cape around them.

By the time the blast disperses, there's not much left of the cape, they're both on the ground, and they both look like they got hit by a truck.

Sailor Moon sees the tiara stick in a tombstone. She races after it, grabs it, and...

...even if you are a handsome boy.

She sees the attack flying for Tuxedo Kamen and Mercury.

Worse, she sees it land.

Seeing red, Sailor Moon clenches the tiara tight in her fist.

Two of her best friends, down, hurt. (One of whom, unfortunately for Beryl, is also her boyfriend, so, you know.) "You stay the hell away from my friends!"

Like a bull in china shop (the china shops her mother never took her in for this reason alone) she charges for the redheaded...bitch.

Sailor Moon Death Glare ensues.

"MOON TIARA BRASS KNUCKLE PUNCH!!!"

Mars hears a shriek coming from Mercury's direction, and immediately turns her head to look. "Mercury-chan?!"

She can't clearly see Beryl from here, aside from part her long red hair, but that wave of darkness was powerful, and it's impossible for Mars to ignore the fact that Mercury, and possibly Tuxedo Kamen, might've been hit by it!

She points an angry finger at the unknown redhead and shouts, "Stop right there! I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not going to forgive what you're doing to my friends!"

A quick leap later and Mars is just immeditely there, protectively placing herself between Beryl and the two she just assaulted.

This is a really bad idea. Too bad Mars is too hotheaded to realize that.

Fortunately for her, she has friends. And the nice thing about friends is that they tend to join you in your bad decisions. Mars charges in after Moon, and while Moon opens with her tiara-charged punch, Mars follows up with a flame-fisted punch. "So you like boxing, huh?"

Asclepius actually had some sort of effect on the... boxing vulture. He actually feels bad. He lowers his staff because his hand's shaking now. He doesn't have another one of those in him. He turns in a sudden spin towards the mess over there with the strange woman.

Okay, Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen are both hurt. Sailor Moon is over there taking care of the situation it seems. That's good. That woman in purple makes him feel ill and a sinking feeling of wanting to yell a lot. He ignores this in favor of teleporting behind a tombstone because he can't help heal people when this is done if he's limping on one leg.

But well. There's a jerk up there. too.

He teleports into the air and attempts to swing his staff downwards into the Youma's head. He is not strong. But maybe---maybe he can get a sucker punch in with this air tactic.

He hasn't figured out how he's going to touch ground yet.

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus is panicking a little bit. Like a squeaky door, she slides over some grass behind a particularly ornate gravestone while bits of well-wishers' grieving roses and stone crosses fall down around her like the worst sort of hailstorm.

She trusts her friends to handle Beryl and instead pops up from behind cover, does her best Mars-imitation, and starts making a vaguely shooty motion as she takes aim at the youma and puts lasery lights in his eyes so that Asclepius can smash him up to his heart's content.

She's a bit beaten up and the worse for wear, but shouts out something how she's a beautiful lady and not to ignore her, jealous of Tuxedo praises.

And Artemis hides in a bush. No more licking or meowful battle suggestions. Just taking cover. And beckoning Luna to come too, out of compassion - also, not wanting to look cowardly alone.

Queen Beryl raises her hand and a spherical barrier arises between her and the two enraged senshi, the dark energy protecting her from the Senshi's attempts to close into melee, as their attacks hit the shield rather than Beryl.

She looks at Sailor Moon, dead in the eyes. "You remind me of a girl I once knew. A very foolish girl who lost everything because she tried to take something that belonged to me." There is nothing but malice in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Asclepius and Sailor Venus are engaging Boxy, who is somewhat less dangerous without that glove. He goes to swing for Asclepius - "I AM A CHAMPION" again - and misses wide because Sailor Venus' beams are blinding him. This causes him to get knocked on the head by Asclepius' staff. He swings again, ungloved hand aimed for the good doctor's face.

Asclepius eyes go wide and just as that punch is about to hit home..... he teleports. He lands next to Sailor Venus. "Sailor Venus. I can't hit this guy hard enough." he says. "Get ready okay!? I'm taking you on a trip up there." he says to her. Then he touches Venus's shoulder. "Picture the jerk in front of you, but act fast. Gravity is a jerk I'm finding." he says.

Then he and Venus teleport away...

He reappears directly in front of boxy- only this time Venus with him. Knock Knock. Venus-gram!

Mercury groans in pain, but thanks to Tuxedo's quick thinking, she is neither dead nor mostly so. "Her power levels are absurd," Mercury notes, not even managing a pun as she staggeringly climbs back to her feet. "The Mercury Computer registered that blast as more powerful than anything I've encountered before. And her shield is of a similar power level to the misdirection effect in the Cure Graveyard."

"Mars, Moon," Mercury manages at a mumble, "I don't think we can stand up to her individually. We need to get Venus' help, too. If she unleashes another blast like that one, it could kill us."

'A girl who lost everything because she tried to take something that belonged to me.'

That line sends a chill down Mars's spine and freezes her gut.

On some deep level, despite not remembering anything else, she knows there's far too much truth to it.

Her fist went against Beryl's shield and didn't even seem to dent it. Is someone this powerful her enemy? Are they going to have to go against... that? How? That wasn't Mars's strongest attack, but it wasn't weak either!

She doesn't like it. However badly she wants to avenge her friends, protecting them comes first. She places a (non-burning) hand on Moon's shoulder and says, "Come on, Sailor Moon. Let's take care of the youma and get Kamen and Mercury out of here."

She tries to pull Moon away from Beryl, back towards Kamen and Mercury. Her eyes flicker between Beryl and the fight with the Youma, trying to track both at once.

This might end up being a fight they have to run from.

Mercury starts talking tactics, and Mars adds, "Yeah, but Venus can't help as long as that youma is running loose."

Everything hurts, and for a moment, everything went dark-- but he can still hear, and even if moving is the worst, he can, and he can hear Mercury talking, and can hear Beryl, louder, and he can hear Mars-- and shapes resolve into people and surroundings as Tuxedo Kamen, capeless and hatless and fairly shredded clothing-wise, pulls himself to his feet behind Mercury.

Thinking is sluggish; he has to not look at the redhead at all in order to get his brain moving again. "Mars is right about Venus," he says under his breath, gingerly putting a hand on Mercury's shoulder and leaning in to whisper, very quickly, a little short of breath. "We can deal with the youma if it's done fast, but we can't face this one without Jupiter, and maybe not even then, not yet. She's not even trying. Just get as much as you can and then we all have to get out of here."

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus winks in response to shoulder touches. "Better be careful, else you'll make other girls jealous, Ashul-pious," she says with an incredible wink.

"Be right there, Marzipan!" she calls out, happy and energetic.

Just as requested, she tenses up her body and propels herself up in the air, whip and all, when her shoulder is touched.

She's entirely too close for a proper whipping, and her expression reveals that she only realizes that once she's transported from one to one youma, but that's fine - she does a half turn in the air on either axis and swings her foot out for the sort of kick that would get her excommunicated if her target were a bit more priestly and a lot less boxerly.

She bounces off the barrier, but when she lands, she scuttles between her downed friends and the woman.

Sailor Moon doesn't know what this red headed snippet means by 'a girl she once knew' but her lip actually curls into an honest sneer. "Just what I've seen of you, she probably tried to save something from the hell of you."

Mars' hand is on her shoulder, Mercury is talking, and she hears the voices of her downed friends.

Lips quivering, she stands down. Because it's asked of her.

She steals a glance at Kamen and Mercury both, and she turns her glower on Boxy.

Then she remembers...she likely has to save this youma from that same hell she accused earlier.

It's with a sigh her anger dissipates.

And then, even though this will be the second time today, she pulls out her wand.

"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

She will hold it, until she either succeeds or pass out. Or, you know, both.

Boxy goes for a punch at the same time that Sailor Venus is dropped in front of him - her foot connects in a dramatic way - right as his fist connects with her face. The little bell on his belt dings twice as both of them hit the cemetary grounds rather hard.

Sailor Moon backs away from Queen Beryl, and gives the Escalation her all. The unconscious boxer glows light, and mumbles 'champion refresh' into the grass as his body changes from crazy green vulture-dude to a priest in now-white vestments.

This still, of course, leaves the question of the lady with the long red hair and the horns on her shoulders. Queen Beryl raises up one of her hands, and a crackling storm of Negative Energy begins to generate in it. Like the predator she is, she eschews attacking the standing targets for one of the unconscious ones - Sailor Venus - because she feels a particular enemity towards her.

"The victory of my Dark Kingdom is inevitable. You cannot hope to stand against me." she says, almost calmly, before throwing her hand out and lashing a black electrical wave at Venus - and it stands to hit ex-Boxy by sheer closeness.

Sailor Mercury looks between Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mars. She starts to nod her acceptance, but then,

"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

Sailor Mercury's eyes widen in surprise and wonderment at the sheer power of Sailor Moon's newest attack. She hasn't seen it before; only heard of it, and with her computer still tracking energy sources, the meters go off the scale. Faint tears form in Mercury's eyes as she watches Usagi give her all, but Beryl's shield holds strong.

Injured, but encouraged by Sailor Moon's power, Mercury jumps in and wraps her arms around the odongo'd blonde. "Sailor Moon, we need to go," she says, finally accepting Mars and Tuxedo Kamen's advice. "We can't defeat her, today; she's too strong. Venus is down, and Jupiter isn't here. We have to retreat. We--"

And then Beryl unleashes a powerful attack towards Venus and the priest, and Mercury screams in terror, "VENUS!!" Because Venus doesn't have a cloaked Kamen, nor even the ability to dodge.

Asclepius eyes go wide. "You----!" he says down to the Priest. That's who he came here to see in the first place. Then up at Beryl...."/You.....!/" he says. You. You!?

He quickly shoves Venus down over into the downed priest---to make sure everyone is touching----and then raises his staff sudden and fast.....

Then there's a flash of purple light JUUUUUUST as the wave of darkness is about to hit. What happened? Did they get vaporized? Is Asclepius capable of erecting powerful shields!? No. None of those things.

Instead he just teleports them to the farside of the church together because it's quicker for him to teleport insight.

"---HEY WHAT'S THE PLAN!?" he yells out.

"I CAN'T KEEP THIS UP FOREVER!" he calls out finally to the others across the cemetery. He sounds out of breath and a little ragged.

Mars watches in quiet horror as that dark energy gathers under Beryl's command. What Mercury's instruments read, Mars's senses feel. So much wrong gathered in one place... and it's launched straight for Venus?!

There's nothing Mars can do about it but watch. In her horror, she hesitates, only to breath a sigh of relief when she hears Asclepius's voice and sees him with Venus.

"We're all getting out of here! Take the wounded and scatter!"

Rei immediately goes to the Mercurmamo pile and scoops Mercury out of it. She figures either Moon will want to grab Tux or Tux will leave on his own power.

"Cats, too! Just get out!"

Following her own advice, Mars starts super jumping away, looking back to make sure that no one else gets caught. Just to make their chances that much brighter, Mars flings a fireball down at the ground near Beryl's feet. It wont do much if any damage to Beryl herself, between it not being a direct hit and her having her shield, but its real intent is to explode the ground, throwing up enough dust to hide their escape.

Mars assumes, hopes really, that she actually has to see them in order to accurately shoot them.

Mercury gets grabbed, there's a lot of Enacting Getaway Contingency all around, Mars has given Direction; he sees Moon running for him again and he shakes his head really fast, taking her elbow and turning her to run away instead, quickly following after-- "Catch up to Mars and Mercury," he says in a strained voice. "I'll be all right. I'll text you in fifteen okay?"

And as soon as he's got confirmation and can see her catching up, he's off like a ragged rocket in another direction entirely.

The Escalation slowly tapers off as Mercury's arms wrap around her. Without the force of the attack (heal?) she staggers back against Mercury for a moment.

Then, remembering the girl's earlier injuries, she turns and cups Mercury's cheek in her hand even as her body is agreeing to be moved away. "You're okay!"

Then she's frozen in horror as Venus is--

Taken away by Dais-kun! As well as the preacher!

Suddenly she's nodding, and then Mercury is leapt to safety by Mars.
Shehe runs for Kamen, wanting to get him away, but...

She look she gives him when she pauses and watches him go is...hurt.

But then she sighs and races toward the rest of her friends.

At least he told her he'd text.

Panting when she arrives, her voice is hissed. "Is everyone okay?"

That fireball does do a lot of good, as it prevents Queen Beryl from launching a second retaliatory strike at Asclepius or anyone else. It gives the senshi time to scatter and break free, and Queen Beryl is left alone in the graveyard pretty quickly.

She crossers her arms, lets out a semi-defaint huff, and turns on her heel, before walking into a ring of negative energy that opens. All in all - an acceptable performance by the youma, but she'd hoped for more.

And with a flash, Asclepius dissapears with Venus and the Priest. They don't reappear in the general area. He'll be trying to get in contact with people when he's somewhere--- safe. Also. He'll need to get the Priest into some sort of care- though he does his heally purple thing on the--- apparently far beach he's ended up on.

He'll make sure people get to where they need to go in the end.

Mercury smiles at Sailor Moon as best she can, though she's still in a lot of pain. "I'm okay," she agrees quietly.

Mercury's eyes widen in surprise when Mars scoops her up from behind, but she doesn't argue. She might be able to make it away on her own, but not while dodging dark lightning. So instead, she just wraps her arms around the raven-haired senshi's neck and tucks her face against the other girl's shoulder.

"Did Venus get out?" she asks as the fireball explodes behind them. "Did anyone tell Asclepius what to do? He needs to heal her. She may be badly injured." Speak for yourself, Mercury; you might be getting a little more red on Rei's fuku!

"She'll be fine," answers Mars back to Mercury.

She lands on a rooftop, then launches before speaking again.

"Asclepius has her. I think he can figure it out."

This pattern continues for a while.

"Are you going to be okay, Mercury-chan?"

"That was quite a hit you took."

"Don't worry we can regroup with the others soon."

"I don't think that evil woman is following us."

For a moment she pauses on a rooftop as she feels her phone vibrate. Its the virtue phone. She wants to pick it up, but... her hands are currently full.

During their escape, Sailor Moon has gotten (and answered) text from Tuxedo Kamen. They do much to alleviate the hurt!

Still, though...

When she's caught up with Mars and Mercury, she lowers her voice. "Tuxedo Kamen's had something come up, but he's safe. Mercury?"

Another text. She reads it, and she's full of hearts and bubbles and sparkles!!! And so many blushes! Oh my gosh!

She clears her throat. "Ahem. Mercury? Is there a 'Caring for Your Introvert's Guidebook'?"

She texts back.

Her cheeks may be about to fall off, too.

Mercury grimaces just a little with each bounce, and eventually takes one arm off of Rei's neck to clutch at her injury, where her leotard tore. "I'll be fine," she says, though she doesn't sound so fine.

When the Virtue line rings, she uses her faintly bloody hand to reach into her pocket and pull it out. "It's Asclepius," she says faintly, then puts the phone to her ear. "Ascl...epius. Get her ... safety. Heal her."

Asclepius suddenly appears on the rooftop with a purple flash with an unconcious(?) Venus. She's been healed. She'll be fine. He frowns a little.

"There you are." he says softly.

"You all look hurt. Do you need healing? I can... do that. if. Um. Someone wants to hold her for a moment. Or we can get someplace else. I think we all have our hands full though it seems." he mutters.

"Is Kamen alright?" he asks worriedly.

He frowns harder. "Is... she bleeding?" he asks.

Seeing Mercury clutch her wound, Mars decides to stay on the rooftop she paused on. "Ah! Does that hurt? Sorry!"

Mars is standing there for a moment, looking for a place where she can set Ami down without being worried about making her wounds worse. She... really isn't finding one.

Well, this place is as good a spot to regroup as any, as it doesn't seem like the strange and powerful lady is chasing them.

"How are you feeling, Mercury-chan? Do we need to go to the hospital? Or to Shelby-san?"

Mars is looking over her bleeding friend. She's worried about the amount of blood she's seeing, not so much that it might get on her uniform but because that blood should be in her friend and it isn't.

Asclepius shows up, and Mars answers, "I think she needs some healing, yeah. I don't really know how extensive the damage was, but considering what she was hit with..."

"Kamen-san's fine. At least, he's still texting Moon-chan over there."

(PHONE) You text Homura Akemi: yo can i crash at your place tonight
(PHONE) A text from Homura Akemi: um. sure. i uh
(PHONE) A text from Homura Akemi: gimmie a few minutes to get home
(PHONE) You text Homura Akemi: nbd i can break in
(PHONE) A text from Homura Akemi: lol okay
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: sorry! i cannot cope with the other girls right now
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: Oh!!! Okay! When you're ready, I got many, many cuddles for you, if you want them. <3
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: oh i do!! <3 i just need some quiet right now
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: i'm going to homu's to crash on her couch tonight because she wont bug me and her cat will sleep on me
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: i'd really rather just be alone alone but i know its not safe
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: Heeee, kitty therapy. And yeah...
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: ...If you ever want alone alone I could...sleep on your couch? Probably not the same, but.
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: hahaha no my apartment is not safe
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: and besides if you were there i'd want to cuddle you
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: but i need to think and cuddling is not conducive to thinking
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: D'awwww. That defeats the purpose <3 <3 <3 <3 And yeah. Okay. I'll leave you alone for at least...AS LONG AS I CAN PROMISE!
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: hahaha. its ok. if you need me you can text. if you really need me i'll know anyway. i'll be fine tomorrow, and if i don't see you before, i'll see you after school, ok? i love you.
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: Oh!!! Oh oh oh!!!
(PHONE) A text from Sailor Moon: I love you, too, okay? So much. Just do what you have to. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: lim | x -> inf (1/x) = <3
(PHONE) You text Sailor Moon: you can show ami that

Sailor Moon shakes herself at Mars' reproach. "Oh! Um! Sorry! I um!"

She pockets her phone, sure to show Ami-chan later (A MATH TEXT WHAT!!!!) and holds her arms out for Venus. "I'm sorry. I just meant to see if he was okay."

Her cheeks are scarlet.

Her boyfriend either has the best or worst timing ever, she's not sure which anymore.

"I'll hold her for you."

Mercury drops her phone into her lap. It's probably going to fall back to the ground if she's not careful. But right now, she has to put her arms around Mars again, because she feels like she's going to fall.

"Maybe a rest would be good," she notes to Mars. "And a hamburger? Oh or a coke. I could go for a coke. Wh--" she looks up as Moon shows her phone off. "The limit of x is the infinimum of one over x equal to less than--oh my gosh, did he really just devise a formula for infinite love?"

Asclepius hands Venus to Sailor Moon. "Thank you." he says. He sounds tired. He'll be okay.

He motions over to Mars. "Over here..." he says holding out the staff lengthwise. He starts filling Mercury--and Mars, full of purple healing energy. It mends and works on making things not horrible. This takes a few moments of concentration. The glow dims when he's done. Mars saw him doing this before when Mercury was saved from the Puella Magi.

He does a good job. He still doesn't know how or why. He pulls his staff back.

"That should help. Rest is good." he asides softly.

He looks over to Moon. "Are you okay? Do you need healing too?" he asks. Moon looks okay though. Right?

Her eyes widen even further. "Is that what that means?"

There are now hearts and bubbles and glitter floating around all of them.

Still cradling Venus, she turns her wide eyes on Dais-kun. "Oh yes. I'm very, very, very okay!"

Oh wait. Does she have any booboos?

IF SHE DOES SHE'S NUMBED BY THE POWER OF LOVE!!!!

"Really!"

Mars sees Usagi blushing and wonders why. Then she sees the infinite love formula, and Mercury's interpretation of it, and says, "Oh, geeze. You know, you two have been at it since your birthday."

There's a number of objections that Mars has already gone over and brought up and they've been stated and established. And apparently ignored. Whatever.

"You two better not elope. Or if you do you better invite us."

Asclepius's healing is welcomed, needed even. She turns to Mercury and says, "I think we can find a burger joint before heading back home. Would you be okay sitting up for that?"

"Hnh," Mercury smiles, amusedly, then leans back against Mars again. She closes her eyes as Daisuke begins to work his magic, and takes a slow, steadying breath until it's over. She's still exhausted; still lost blood. But she's not bleeding, and his magic has refreshed her a little. "Thank you, Asclepius."

"I think I can sit up," Mercury says to Mars. "I might even be able to walk in on my own two feet, if you let me. But .." she trails off. "Do you know a joint that will let us go looking like this? Asclepius doesn't know who you are," and there's a subtle implication in her tone.

"I will invite all to the WHAT?!" Oh no, far too soon!

Wait, a distraction!

Sailor Moon perks up. "I know a place! I've been there once with Cure Gull!"

Then she's all Fussy Usagi. "Are you sure you're okay? I can...well...I mean, if you want you can...have...my...food..."

There is a loud, audible gulp. But the offer is true.

"A bunch of crazy cosplayers go to a burger joint. Maybe no one will care," says Mars. Since Mercury says she might be able to stand on her own, Mars does let her down on her feet, keeping a hand on Mercury to steady her in case she falls. Only when she's sure it's safe does she take her hand back.

Usagi's trying to distract from the issue, and Mars just says, "Oh geeze. We could just order more food, you know... but yeah, sure, let's go there."

Asclepius frowns a bit. "As long as you all are okay.... and tagging along sounds --- good, if you'll have me." he manages to smile near the end.

"If it isn't a bother." he says gently.