Session Start: Sat Aug 28 15:32:51 2004 Last time, on Hunters: An odd tip from a very junior Tea Club member got the team out to the Warabi mall to investigate a potential threat. The two young men she had spotted turned out to be merely dedicated skirt- watchers, but there was a definite trace of Sea Magic moving though the mall which gravely concerned the team. Maya made the decision to follow up and see if they can isolate the source, so it's back to the mall for another afternoon. [Friday, January 30, 2004 - 1500 local time] [the mall in Warabi] [Session start] * Taki is in her usual casual clothes as she meets up with the rest of the girls. * Lord_Darkmoon looks around, wearing a grey sweatshirt with hand-warmer pockets and a logo depicting a pair of Kendo-armor clad individuals standing ready to spar on the chest. * Leena is at the mall? WAI! She's back to her hyper, usual, energetic self, practically bouncing off the walls and her gaze flitting to another store every 2 seconds. The front steps of the mall are unchanged from the day before, save for the light, cold rain that is pelting them. * Lord_Darkmoon also has an umbrella, then. Which he's offered to any of the girls who didn't have their own. * Maya is in her usual dark-colored duds, scoping out her surroundings. "Anyway... just keep your eyes open and your senses sharp. We need to find out what this feeling's coming from." * Minami leans against a wall waiting for everything, a thin but waterproof- looking jacket her only concession to the weather. She looks tired still. * Minami nods silently. * Lord_Darkmoon also nods, once. * Leena 's dressed warmly, and skimpy. A poofy coat with a hood and drawstrings, coupled with a wide pink miniskirt, whose blue frills and ribbons hanging from it make up the majority of the covering material. * Taki quickly gets under cover as the rain comes down. Once again there is the distinct feel of Sea Magic within the mall - a swirling sense of multiple small point-sources. * Maya doesn't seem *too* bothered by the rain, although she does have an (unopened) umbrella handy. "No thanks, Rin. I'm fine for now." ^^ * Haruko is dressed in her uniform from school, with a light water-proof jacket over the top of it. * Minami blinks and stands up straight, as this is the first time she's felt it. She looks like she's a bit more alert now. * Taki looks rather annoyed at being rained on. * Leena isn't bothered by the rain. Coat w/hood and all. So let's start looking. * Norcliff hides in the pocket of Haruko's coat. Water's a pain. ... you weren't kidding.. Right. Not at all, Leena. So, yeah. Let's go. Are we all sticking together? I wonder if one of those sources is in a cloth store... I'd volunteer to track that one down. * Taki turns and heads into the mall, immediately going to work looking for the sea magic's source. * Leena blinks at Taki going off on her own. "We all splitting up?" I think splitting up may be best; we can use our varying senses and our radios to try to pinpoint at least one. * Haruko looks at Leena * Maya rolls her eyes at Leena's comment. "No, we split up. You're wired, so you can contact the rest of us if you need to." She brushes aside her hair and poke- pokes at her earpiece. * Minami nods. At the first sign of trouble, back off and let us know. No point in getting into anything untransformed. In that case, I shall take the top floor. *starts heading for the escalators, and concentrating on the sea-sense* Oh, okay... Yes, m'Lady. * Minami falls into step with Haruko, holding out her hand. "Hi. Sorry we haven't met before, I've been ill. Minami." Ah, um Hi. I'm Haruko. Nice to meet you. I hope it wasn't anything serious. * Haruko starts heading off to a pet store, planning on getting a treat for Norcliff * Lord_Darkmoon smiles as he walks off. "And Minami, it is nice to see you again. I apologize for not greeting you when I saw you - I've been distracted lately," he says over the radios. * Minami shrugs. You done this before? Um, well, once. Sort of. * Leena blinks a moment, concerned, and gazes up at Minami. "... did you catch it from Kyo-chan, Minami?" You mean with this.. team? Either. * Maya nods to the group, then starts to wander about the first floor, alert. "Just to get this done quickly... if only it were so easy." Oh, well I've been helping fight the servants of the Dragon King for a long time now And before that, the Wicked Witch. ...I see. Why don't you tell me about it while we check this place out? ... * Minami starts heading in the opposite direction from Maya, provided Haruko follows. * Lord_Darkmoon gets to the top floor, and starts wandering the perimeter, aimlessly staring while trying to feel how the sources shift as he moves. * Leena shrugs, and goes off her own, waving bye to the others, almost-walking off. Oh, well, which do you want to hear about? I could start from the beginning if you like, or tell you about the problems right now./ ...I get the feeling this could be a long story. Can you tell me what you have experience with, what you've done before? * Minami 's face is turned towards Haruko, but her eyes are checking for anything unexpected. Oh, well, I generally try to help out the Mystical Warriors. I've had to watch their backs a couple times, and we've fought all sorts of things. Anything yet, team? * Haruko pulls out Norcliff. Howdy! * Minami blinks. "Er, hello..." Sssh, Norcliff, we're in public. * Minami nods. He's the animal companion ^_^ Nice to meet you, though. * Taki grumbles away from the mic. I see. * Minami kind of edges the mike away from her mouth for this conversation. Tell me about the Mystical Warriors. What do they do? What are their powers? Minami seems to feel the magic flare, and looks up just in time to see a twentyish guy in a pale blue trenchcoat brush by her. * Minami narrows her eyes and pulls up the mike again, trying to look like she's still talking to Haruko. "I think I got something." Where? Oh well there are 5 of them. There's Dani. She's Sailor Sunbeam. She's the leader, and has the purifying power of the sun. * Taki turns at looks for Minami. Mm-hmm... * Minami rattles off floor information to Taki. (including nearby stores and such) * Taki heads toward that way. * Minami is idly guiding Haruko to a position somewhat diagonal to that of the guy. If you girls have that for now, I'll keep trying up here. So she blasts things? Then there's Kendra. She's Sailor Gentle Breeze. She commands the winds. She's not really very social, but she has a good heard. (heart >_> ) Darkmoon is knocked aside suddenly by a rush of familiar-looking girls. Junko, once again still in school uniform, pauses to wink at him before following her friends into the arcade. Keep an eye on him, Mina... Don't worry, I'm still watching. * Maya sticks to her end of the first floor, frowning a little. * Lord_Darkmoon whufs at the bump, but does not respond in any way. He moves off in mostly the same direction he'd been going. And lets see... * Taki catches up with Minami and stops for a second when she realizes Haruko is with her. "Where?" We've also got Leila, She's Sailor Moonglow. She's probably the nicest of he group. She represents the power of the moon * Minami is indeed still watching, though not staring. It's more of a tag on him, to alert her if he moves. "Sky blue trenchcoat, over by that store." * Haruko continues to do what she loves best, talk about her girls Moonglow probably won't be around much though. She's busy taking care of her family. They were cruelly cursed Oh? What with? * Taki casually makes her way over in the man's direction, sizing him up as best she can. Cuteness ;_; They're fuzzy winged kittens. * Leena snickers. Away from the mic, that is. * Taki rolls her eyes. * Lord_Darkmoon mouths silently, "...kittens?" ...that must be...difficult. It is, very horrible. * Maya makes a face, but keeps up her vigil. We're trying to help her cope with it. Hmmm. The man turns and looks directly at Taki for an instant as she approaches, turns further, the blinks and looks straight at her. * Leena keeps looking around on the second floor. * Minami notices the guy turning and speeds up just a little, just in case anything happens. Then oh, there's Shelli. She's Sailor Landslide. Has the steadfast power of the earth. She's great. Sounds like it. * Taki acts like she doesn't notice and she was heading that way anyway. She mumbles "Crap..." under her breath. He ducks around a corner, and walks briskly towards a stairwell. And lastly, the one most of the others now, Mars, is Sailor Waterfall. She's got the power of the rivers, but for some reason that seems to bother people. ...I see. Hey, why don't we go upstairs? (know ) I remember there are some good shops up there. Oh, that sounds fun. Something wrong, Minami? Damn it. He's moving. Any bookstores? Where? * Minami sounds like she's talking more for others' benefit than Haruko's. Not sure, let's go see! That sounds good. Follow, I'll stay on the first just in case. * Minami casually drags Haruko into the stairs. Right. * Taki is already moving to follow. I've got nothing up here; may as well help you keep your guy. Or should I stay up here, Maya? Is anyone in the basement? Ack! Minami, not so hard! Oh, sorry. Minami finds the blue trench dropped on the stairs going up. * Maya picks up the 'pace' of her looking. "Rin, stay put. There are enough people there... and no, I don't think so." * Minami narrows her eyes and picks it up, rolling it up and shoving it into her satchel. Understood. *stays on three, wandering and concentrating while trying not to look like he's concentrating* * Minami goes back to mike. "Taki, did you get a good look at his face?" * Minami continues upstairs with Haruko, no longer dragging, but trying to go quickly. * Haruko is hurrying. He looked right at me. *gives a description of his face as best she can* Thanks. I only got a brief look, before. Why are we going so fast Minami, is the guy in blue you were talking about a servant of the Dragon King? * Leena isn't hurrying? She's already on the second floor. Can someone check the basement, just in case? I'm not sure. I'll head down. Someone cover the first? But we, uh...want to make sure he isn't working with...the Dragon King. * Leena looks around for someone with the description Taki gave, though. I still don't understand why people can work for him. * Maya moves towards the basement stairs in the meantime. "There's got to be more than one..." * Taki scans the crowd for the man. The Wicked Witch had to corrupt her servants, so we could heal them, but the Dragon King ... People do things for odd reasons. Leena spends so much time looking at faces that she trips over a little girl, knocking her ice cream cone to the floor. "Waaaaaaaaah!" * Leena hops to her feet quickly, and picks up the ice cream cone. "Sorry!" * Maya heads on down if not stopped by either physical or extra-sensory means. Minami seems to be more attuned to these folks, though. This time, it's a teenage girl in a dowdy, dark-blue floor-length dress. * Minami frowns. "I think I got another one." * Minami rattles off what description she can get without looking directly at the chick. Just for an instant, Minami could sense the flare of magic from somewhere below her waistline. * Haruko whispers to Minami. Stay spread out, I'm pretty sure there's several of them. Two... lovely. * Leena stops in the middle of searching her pockets to get some money to get some ice cream with. "Where?" ...ffft. What the-- "Do you have any idea why they might be here? " * Minami whispers back. "No. But they might be...spying." * Leena winces. That... if that's true, this isn't anything good. I think... I think they have some sort of...I don't know. There's some kind of focus point for the source. It may be on a belt or something. I wonder...do they follow up every attack site? This may just be the first one we've had our attention drawn to. There was just a Ningyo here, though... ...like my Tessen. And that Sword at our first mission. * Taki continues looking for the man. "Mina, can you stay with the second one?" I figure the Queen would've been told about it if any other Ladies sensed it. The little girl pulls at Leena's shirt. "Ice Cream! Ice Ceeeeeeem!" Will do. * Leena smiles down at the girl. "Sure thing! C'mon, I'll get us both some!" So were following him? The other Ladies didn't sense it, though. Only Junko. And -she- was almost too shy to mention it. I bet Norcliff can do it without being noticed better than we can. No, let's follow this girl instead. I think... Norcliff? Oh, yes. Hmm. * Maya pokes around downstairs, trying not to look *too* concerned. * Minami looks around. "Let's not, for now. It's a bit too bright around here." * Leena heads to the closest ice cream place, keeping an eye out as she does so. I think people might notice him. The teenager seems to be window shopping through the mall. She's not following a pattern, just drifting where her eyes taker her, though you sense that she's waiting for something. Oh no, he's good at not being seen. Isn't that right? Well, in that case...actually. He knows how to track people in the city too. Can you ask him if he can have a look ahead of the girl? See if there's any people that look like they're waiting for her, or like they're ready to meet up with someone, or anything like that? * Norcliff looks out of the pocket. "I can talk now? oh, sure. Haven't I told you to squeak once for yes and twice for no when were in public? Good idea, Mina... mmmn. I don't see anything down here. I'm coming up. Anyway, did you here what Minami said? (hear ) Can't do much with yes's and noes. Follow the dark blue girl? No, no. Go ahead of her and see if you can see anyone she might be waiting for, or that might look like they're waiting for her. You might want to concentrate on people in blue, but not exclusively. Hokai boss! * Norcliff scampers to and up the nearest wall and proceeds across the ceiling to scout around. Heh. * Maya heads back up, pokes around a bit on the first floor, then starts for the second. "Anything odd yet?" * Minami continues keeping a tag on this girl, the same way with the guy earlier. Nothing new. Yet. So Haruko, can you tell me more about the...Mystical Warriors' powers? You guys don't think they're waiting for another attack, do you? I don't...oh, shit. What? * Leena talks softly, because of the little(r) girl with her. "I dunno... we usually get warnings about this stuff." * Minami stops stock-still for a second, eyes wide, before shaking it off and walking normally again, though still looking a little jumpy. What if they're our equivalent? Taki bumps navigates through the late-afternoon crowd. A man in a leather jacket passes her, and his bomber jacket opens just wide enough for her to see the hilt of a blade underneath. Mina? ... our equivalent? Then we wonder why they don't sense us, and we take them out. What if they've noticed that something's taking out their hired goons, and want to...take * Taki turns and look after the man. * Maya seems to be reaching the second floor. "... you mean... no way." ... a counter-strike force? They might just not be as skilled. We don't know exactly what their powers might be. Oh well... they all have some attacks related to their elements * Taki decides to follow him. ... crap. Heh, more like countercountercounterstrike force. ^^ * Minami nods at Haruko. "So Sunbeam...burns things, then? For example?" Someone in the crowd has a sword with them... I'm following them. Don't know where the other guy went. Well, I guess its fire. All are warnings about a specific person... think we'd get one if it's us? Can you..."feel" anything from the sword? * Minami nods. Taki, give me a heads-up where you're at? I don't want you alone if something happens. What's Moonbeam's power, then? Not yet. She can focus the reflected light of the moon. * Taki gives a description of her location following the man. Ahh. Don't worry about me though. I can take care of myself. That's...quite a team. Taki and Minami are actually both in the south wing of the second floor - only a few stores apart. * Maya wastes little time in heading... not-too-far from Taki, keeping her distance for now. ... they probably don't notice us because we're not transformed, then. They're great. I'm glad they ask me to help from time to time. * Minami nods. Think they'd feel us if we transformed? Perhaps; but then they would know where I am. The minions of the Dragon King can usually only sense the Warriors if they are transformed. * Minami blinks at Taki's description. "Wait, the guy with the blade's around here too?" * Leena is still heading for ice cream! So maybe they just can't sense us at all? So if he's a minion, he probably couldn't sense you either. unless you transformed. Maybe. Or they're avoiding me; I have yet to feel one of them nearby. ...Leena only finds the ice cream in the central food court on 2. * Minami nods somewhat absently, scanning the nearby area for anyone else who looks suspicious, while still keeping the girl tagged. The little girl makes her buy a triple scoop of green-tea ice cream. * Norcliff continues looking for other people who're waiting around the mall. * Leena orders a vanilla-chocolate-mint with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry for herself, and pays for both. * Maya idly brushes past Taki, just to let her know she's in the area. "We might have to flush them out eventually... just to see what they do." I'm not sensing any sea magic from him though... He might just be some guy with a sword... There ya go! Sorry about earlier. I dunno. Wouldn't that blow our cover? They may just scram, and then we'd never know how many there are or what they're doing. We could try to capture one again. Also blow our cover; they'd be certain we were on to them. * Leena kneels down and pats the girl on the head. "Seeya!" And starts wandering again. That...might not be a good idea. And, yes. If they cannot sense me transformed, then perhaps Taki should transform and trail them. We should figure out what they're doing here first. Not now. Another time, with planning. They might not sense a transformed one, but the transformation... If we can't find a way to track them back to where they're coming from, we'll have to force them to act. Eventually... for now, we'll just observe. Understood. Still nothing up here. Maya, do you want to watch this guy, and I'll keep looking for now? * Norcliff concentrates on his friend the chef. "I think there's a bad guy going up to the third floor... a older-looking guy" I can watch him, sure. * Lord_Darkmoon pauses, feigning a headache to cover his eyes as he borrows Norcliff's, to see where he needs to go to pick up they "older-looking guy". "~Good work, Norcliff.~" * Taki makes her way toward the crowd, trying to pick up another scent. * Lord_Darkmoon takes a couple moments getting bearings from Norcliff's position, then releases the sugar glider's body back to it. ~Thank you, heading that way.~ Darkmoon starts walking that way, watching for the gentleman in question. Norcliff found one heading up to my level. I'm moving to investigate. * Lord_Darkmoon relays some location info, and a brief description of the "older-looking guy". Right. Be careful, Rin. Taki stops, concentrates... and is run over by the twentyish man who ducked away from her earlier. Will do. *watches -carefully- for the guy in question, so as not to be too obvious and run into him or something. Let's NOT make it a perfect record at this bloody mall* He looks somewhat aggrieved by this turn of events as he regains his feet, and turns his head so she cant see his face as well. * Leena continues wandering, not really paying attention to where, just chasing the feelings. Ow... Hey! *grabs his arm* Yes? (looking away) Who are you? What the-- Um... just a tourist. Sorry about that. ... Uh huh. And why are you hiding yourself? * Guy turns away, and starts back towards the escalators to 1. * Taki follows him. * Guy ignores her. Taki, don't be so pushy... you might alert them. * Taki whispers into her mic. "He started it." I don't think he did it on purpose... Still, just don't needle him too hard. He might get suspicious. * Guy goes down to the basement again, and buys some popcorn outside the cinema. * Taki continues following him. Well if he's innocent, he can get suspicious all he wants and it won't matter. * Maya keeps fixed on her guy, whipping out her trusty stage-magic rings and performing the ol' ring trick to clear her head. * Lord_Darkmoon is still trying to spot his guy with his own eyes. He knows where he -should- be... * Leena doesn't need rings, she's got ice-cream. Yummy. A small audience forms around Maya. They applaud as the rings work correctly for a change. ... ah-heh. Thanks... ^^; * Maya looks down. "Wow... now I'll never be able to do that again for a month." * Taki tries to get a better look at the guy as she follows him. * Guy just munches on his popcorn, and wanders back upstairs. He's s young guy with black hair - sort of a sturdily anonymous sort of face. Leena drifts to and fro through the human tides of the mall... and after a few minutes finds herself washed up at the front of the coffee kiosk on 3. "Would you like a sample, miss?" * Haruko continues to chatter with Minami about the Mystical Warriors? * Taki keeps following him. Not giving him much distance since she's fairly sure he knows she's there anyway. * Minami continues to listen. "How did the Mystical Warriors come into being, as it were?" * Leena blinks, looking from the ice cream to the desk. "Ooooh, okay! I don't think I've been here yet!" * Maya stays on her target, putting the rings away so as to not draw any more attention. You have to wonder, though... who would put their lives on the line, and why? It can't just be money. Well, some people do things for...different reasons than most of us. ...some...seem to think that our side is as bad as the alternative, if not worse. * Lord_Darkmoon sounds quite uncomfortable with saying that. * Guy pulls out his cell phone while on the escalator to 3, and mutters a few words into it that Taki doesn't catch. How? We don't kill people. We're trying to save people. ...they do not...trust our motives. Maybe some people don't want us to save them? * Minami stays out of the philosophy for now and concentrates on a) watching and b) not being watched. ...and I cannot say I entirely disagree with their distrust... *almost too quiet for the radio to pick up* But were on the side of right and justice! ( ' ) * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head and continues trying to find the guy he saw through Norcliff's eyes. ( yeah, + ' ) * Leena sits and waits at the coffee shop. That ice cream is too heavy to be walking around with, especially with coffee-like stuff to go with it. Can concentrate more on 'listening' to the sea magic sense when stationary, too. I don't think some people care *what* side we're on, sadly. * Haruko suddenly realizes Minami was talking to her. Oh, where did they come from? They were chosen by Norcliff to be heroes when their villages were under attack from the Wicked Witch. That's...poetic. What were they before? Just simple villagers. School kids, mostly. Were they happy? * Taki glances around trying to figure out where the guy is heading to. Oh, they had their ups and downs, but on the whole, yes. Hmm. What are their families like? Oh, relatively normal. You want a full listing? No, just wondering. Moonbeam's father was the mayor of her village though. * Minami stretches a little, still keeping an eye out. "So tell me about this Wicked Witch..." I see. * Maya yawns a bit, stretching from her vantage point... and listening in on the conversation. The Wicked Witch? Oh, she was horrible. What's the story with her? * Leena is listening to Haruko, too. She's interesting to listen to if nothing else. She wanted to control the whole world with her magic. Oh? * Taki is busy pretending the conversation isn't happening and trying to concentrate on the guy instead. She wanted everyone to bow to her, and she had enough power to do it. She had vicious animals, great knights, and even other sorceresses under her control. I...see. How did she get that way? Oh, well, she was upset about being too normal, and sort of went over the edge. ...whoa. She never got recognition being nice, and so decided that being EVIL! was the way to go. Leena gobbles the last bit of her ice cream cone, then settles down to enjoy the deluxe coffee. The caffeine hit resonates with the continuing frission of Sea Magic in the vicinity, then seems to amplify it... there's a point source, right here, right with her, right... exploding in her face? Indeed, the coffee kiosk does explode right in her face - most of the boiling water heads straight up, so she's not lobstered, but she is pelted with 100-gram bags of Kenyan coffee beans. * Minami looks up at the explosion on the floor above. "Uh-oh." Who's up there? * Maya snaps her head in that direction as well. "What's going on?!" Me. Coffee kiosk exploding. Third floor, Maya. You okay? Aaaah! ! Leena! I'm fine. Still haven't found--Leena!? * Taki watches the guy's reaction to all this. * Minami remembers to keep her voice down. It only takes a second for the inevitable blue, floating form of the Ningyo to shimmer into view. * Minami ducks behind Haruko and watches the girl's reaction. The blue one, that is. There's a small army of MG's in the arcade up here - they should take care of this. Um, Minami, weren't we talking... oh! ... oh come ON! ... I suppose that means I get to sit this out, huh? At this point, the screaming starts. So does the lightshow from inside the arcade. Leena, where are you!? Get AWAY from that thing. We probably SHOULD transform...right, Maya? I mean, our main forces might be hit by these...things...we've been tracking... * Minami grits her teeth. "Leena, *get out of their way.*" Getting away, check! Ningyo. No, hold off, Junko's team is here! Treat this like an assassin mission. If they jump in, fight! * Lord_Darkmoon moves to get some cover, waving frantically at Leena since it's probably a good place for her to transform, too. * Maya keeps her voice to a low hiss. "Otherwise, just hang back and do our thing. We still have a job to do." * Minami keeps keeping an eye on a) the girl, b) Haruko. That's right. * Leena scrambles to her feet, and clears out with everyone else. Just far enough to meet up with DM and transform, though. It wasn't all that long ago that this mall was hit by a Ningyo, so just about everyone knows the drill - run away. * Lord_Darkmoon 's voice is oddly detached as he responds to Maya's orders. "Yes, My Lady." How do you guys transform like this, do you go in hiding? Yes, but don't do it now. The few people that you are watching, though, take this as a signal to do quite the opposite - they sprint towards the screaming. ...crap. They're heading up there too, guys. WATCH OUT. ... hell. Stick to them! If they attack, do what you have to do! * Minami repeats what details she knows about the people she saw as well as everyone else who seems to be with them. Right! * Leena starts the transformation just before she gets to Darkmoon, timing it so the flashy part just lights up the corner behind him. Understood. *pulls out his Tessen, and changes his clothes to something less bulky - a plain t-shirt and jeans* * Minami gestures Haruko to follow her. Oh, shit... * Taki tackles the guy as soon as he moves. Where's Norcliff, Haruko? * Maya lets her pass by... then, well, pursues a bit behind him. She remains untransformed for now... * Guy was actually knocking around in the arcade, and immediately whips out an odd dagger with three parallel blades. Last I knew he was still watching for others. * Lord_Darkmoon watches for people in blue or for the older-guy Norcliff showed him. I can try to call him back. Can you make sure he stays out of the way? Do you want me to find him? We don't want him to get hurt... He knows enough to stay out of the way. Good. Let's go. He's a smart one. * Haruko follows Minami * LadyMallet skids to a halt right next to Darkmoon. "Tessen, please?" * Lord_Darkmoon hands it over. quickly, I will probably need it soon as a Katana. * Minami , while heading up the stairs, makes Haruko take her jacket, satchel and radio. "Hold these for just a second, please!" Um, ok. * Minami transforms in mid-running-up-the-stairs. I thought we weren't supposed to transform yet?! * LadyMallet uses the now squeaky-mallet to change her outfit to something not as flashy as her base one- a pair of bluejeans, extra-tight, and a pink blouse with a red heart on it. Things have changed, they might be attacking. Give me your stuff, so that you can change! The lights die down in the arcade, and four Ladies emerge from the darkened room to look out over the washed-out kiosk zone. No worry. Mina... has a point. Still, we cover Junko's team. Deal with whoever these people are, but leave the Ningyo to them. * LadyRoyal takes her stuff back and quickly tosses on an overlarge shirt from the satchel. "Of course." * LadyMallet tosses the squeaky-mallet back to Darkmoon, fiddles with her hair to cover the tiara from her uniform she still has on, then makes tracks back to the scene, hopefully with any other sightseers too. * Haruko transforms into her normal eye splitting outfit, then after the glare of transformation has died down, gestures and a concealing outfit and hat appear. ...oh, nice. * Lady_MakeBelieve shrugs on the coat and hat. They look oddly patterned, but far less distinctive than her original clothes. * Maya quickly deals with her transformation-eatable things, stuffs them in her satchel, then proceeds to shift... and quickly changes into suitably normal-ish clothes in a hurry. * LadyRoyal continues going up the stairs, but right before the third-floor exit, stops for a second before putting on her jacket. "I wonder..." * LadyRoyal eyes the trench in her satchel, then shakes her head, closes the satchel, and shrugs the jacket on. * LadyRoyal continues. "We're just getting ready for now, just in case." They're all but one in relatively standard Lady-wear - fukus with appropriately-themed accents. One, in black, has a huge scythe. Another, in frosty blue, is tossing a snowball with one hand. Junko has on a pair of really wicked sunglasses. And the last one has a ribbon-bedecked judo gi on. And short-shorts. * Lady_MakeBelieve pauses to pull a similar looking taser out of nowhere, then sticks it into the coat pocket. * LadyMallet soft-speaks 'Ready!' ... before forgetting she forgot to keep the mic safe from transformation. Mallet and I are ready. *detached voice* * Lord_Darkmoon didn't have to worry about the radio - it's incorporated into his transformation now. Pretty much, Make-Believe. This part... might not be very fun or pretty. But try your best to help out... and get your friends here when things get ugly. * LadyMysteria is on her way as well. The one with the scythe steps forward, and intones "*die*", before leading the others in a rough skirmish line for the monster. ...but they're not alone - the man Taki followed into the arcade is sprinting out after them, knife raised. Taki springs into motion after him and dives to tackle him. She gets a shoulder into his back, and he is knocked off his feet, but easily rolls to a kneeling guard position. Hey, where are you going? The Ladies don't even notice, and begin their attacks on the Ningyo. Both scythe-girl and judo-girl seem to have to close with her, while Junko and snowball-girl stay a few meters back. ...in the meantime, the Sea Magic has seemed to center itself around this scene, as a bunch of other attackers with drawn knives and swords are running into the fray. And they're running, fast, too. The teenage girl that Minami spotted earlier has ripped off her dress, revealing a blackish leather armor and a wakazashi - she makes a prodigious leap over the diet-pill kiosk remnants and brings it straight down on Junko's head. The Lady screams as her sunglasses, left ear, and assorted skull fragments go flying. .... J-Junko! * LadyMallet blinks. Twice, even, then narrows her eyes dangerously. Oh my god.... FUCK! Only slightly slower is a matronly, 40-ish woman with twin daggers in hands. Lady Judo actually sees her coming, though, but misses her counter entirely and is sliced badly across one thigh. Those of you in the fight can see at least another six or seven assailants on the scene as well. * LadyRoyal curses, curses, and just keeps on cursing. * Taki sort of watches the two attackers in disbelief. ... Hey! Stop! Why are you doing this? * LadyRoyal flicks a card at the nearest bad guy dude, aiming to hinder, not kill. I'm going to need some serious help for this fight. Haru-- The card streaks across the hallway and takes the man in his left shoulderblade. He pitches forward through a storefront window, and doesn't move. * LadyMallet opens up the MalletPortal with a hand gesture, taking in the situation as best she can. She catches the Mallet as it falls. "Each and every one of you assassins will die a miserable, bloody death." No! Wait! Please! * Taki eyes are starting to tear up. There's no time! Do what you have to do! NO ONE MESSES WITH US MAGICAL GIRLS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! Oh god, don't Kill them! * Lady_MakeBelieve looks around wildly for help. Oh, Landslide! STOP THEM! Landsl--uh-oh. * Sailor_Landslide runs up to MakeBelieve. "I got here as fast as I could!" ... * Sailor_Landslide surveys the damage. "You guys are gonna have to pay! Cataclastic Monadnock Eruption!!" Giant masses of jagged swirling rock manages to find it's way to an innocent storefront, and blow the everlovin' shit out of it. * Lord_Darkmoon rises calmly but quickly to his feet, and dashes in deadly silence towards Junko and her assailant, almost dragging his Katana lazily behind him. His eyes glow with purple fury as he swings it in a leisurely two- handed arc at the ninja-girl. The girl twists around almost lazily to catch Darkmoon's blade with her own, and almost succeeds - she misjudges the length of the blade by a hair and is scratched through her shoulder armor, but only slightly. Darkmoon, don't hurt her! * Lord_Darkmoon grins, almost ferally. "You're good." And you're not. The man Taki tackled gets to his feet and turns to square off with her directly. "I see we have some interference..." He advances, and lunges for her in a twisting knife attack. Don't you recognize me? Taki twists inside it, and the Sea blade skitters across the surface of her shirt. I know your face, but I can't place it. I'm... I'm Taki Kurosaki. You work for my family. ...no, but close. By the authority of my father I'm ordering you to stop your attack. Your father has no such authority. Which is the point of all this. ... What do you mean? ...come home and find out. *big grin* ... Tell me why you're attacking these innocents. ... what are you doing?! Are you just going to stand there chatting? People are getting hurt! These are the people I grew up with. ... I ... I don't want anyone to get hurt... The old guy that Taki noted earlier rushes in at Lady Reaper. ...this was a bad moment to do so, though, as the Ningyo is trying to blast the girl with the scythe, and he takes it in the back and is thrown bodily through the print- your-own-T-shirt kiosk. The floor is starting to flood - everyone is splashing through at least six inches of water, now. Then magical girls are going to die, and so might we! Act! More bad guys run into the scene from the sides - the black-hat count is up to nine now. ... I... * Taki wipes tears from her eyes. * LadyMysteria tears onto the scene, wand in hand and ready to fire. The only thing that comes out is a vicious, ragged scream as she sends a Star Gun burst barreling towards the one who felled Junko. The girl whips her blade around, and deflects the magical burst into the floor at her feet. Water boils away, then starts flowing back into the crack that it caused. ... no... That motion continues around in a sweeping, acrobatic slice at Darkmoon. The blade slices across Darkmoon's chest, snapping a rib and instantly bloodying the entire front of his shirt. Mitsuko stop! *tries to get the girls attention* The older woman returns for a killing blow against Lady Judo, but this time the girl is ready and throws herself inside the arc of the blade and tries to grapple with her assailant. Another attacker, this one with green hair and an orange headband lunges with a shimmering blade for Lady Snowball. She EEPS! and just barely sways around the blow. One of the others, this one with an actual black mask on, tries to stab her in the back, but he only nicks her side. * LadyRoyal growls and flings a card at the sword arm of the Girl Who Got Junko. Mitsuko sees it coming, and twists to take the impact. It still slices through the flesh of her arm, but she's not disabled in the slightest. Lady Snowball stuffs a BIG GLOWING BLUE BALL'O FREEZING into the masked Ninja's face, and he topples over. Instead of bouncing off the floor, however, his head shatters. ... that's one. That's just in time, though, for another masked guy to jam two knives into the middle of her back. She falls down, thrashing and spasming and leaking like a sieve. ... I've got this girl - we need to concentrate on more than just her. *coughs up a small bit of blood* DAMN it! Well this is going horribly. * LadyMallet tightens the grip on the Mallet, then walks forward, not rushing, not leaping, moving forward with brisk, intense, measured steps, raising the Mallet up high, homing in on the closest taint of Sea Magic. Leena Leena ... PANCAKE STRIKE! *she brings it down with all her might on the green-haired one* (tech #1.) The Mallet is big, yes, but that just makes it easier to see coming. The man calmly steps out of the way, not even blinking as the wind of the blow takes his headband right off his head. ...the floor, though, can not dodge. The few inches of water covering are not nearly enough to cushion the blow, and cracks star out from the point of impact instantly. The floor groans, then is silent for a second, then collapses in enormous chunks, dumping all the kiosks, and the combatants, AND the Ningyo into the food court below. ...unfortunately, the food-court is cluttered with chairs and tables and benches and furniture, and it's a bit tricky landing. One of the masked ninjas lands head-first in a trash bin, and stops moving. The green-haired guy lands half on a table and twists his knee badly. Leena, however, comes to a graceful two-point landing just a meter away. * LadyMallet NOW leaps at Greeny. "I wasn't done yet!" And slams the Mallet into the table he's on, and most likely him too. Dammit, they didn't say there'd be a guard tea- *splllt* * LadyMallet stays right where she is, Mallet still through what's left of Greeny. "The rest of you assassins... LEAVE NOW OR DIE!" * Lady_MakeBelieve looks around for help. Someone else has got to help, people are dying! Waterfall! * Sailor_Waterfall bounds into the scene. "That's where the blood smell was coming from." A few straggling mall patrons lend their screams to the scene, and inch away from the fight. * Sailor_Waterfall cracks knuckles Waterfall, get the masked guys! On it. The older woman is looking around now, counting heads and not liking what she sees. Landslide, help her out! * Sailor_Landslide looks uncertain about the fracas, but runs through the necessary motions. Again the earth flies through the air and hits nothing useful. ...well, that accessories boutique *was* useful. But this mall is probably getting condemned anyway now... Pitiful Landslide, you won't hit anything like that. Try something like *THIS* * Sailor_Waterfall sends rushing walls of water for the masked ninja, aiming not to hit anyone one else and manages to knock her target. The man flies backwards over a McDonalds counter, bounces off the milkshake machine, and ducks below the counter. * Lord_Darkmoon lands neatly near the ninja-girl he'd been fighting. Standing, he drops into a fighting stance. * Lord_Darkmoon grins mirthlessly, cruel and tyrannical, as he licks the blood that leaked briefly from his lips after the ninja-girl's strike. "Then you shall have to teach me, Mitsuko. Dance with me." As he brings his sword around in a fluid, classic cut, a samurai mask and light armor form over his face and body. They are in the usual black-and-purple, as well as a red, blue, and grey pattern that might be family sigil...if anyone used them still Mitsuko calmly bats the cut away. "I don't have time to teach after- school kendoists with delusions of grandeur. Get a real style, and we'll talk. Pity. Then I suppose we'll have to stick to a less elegant dance. But I'm your partner this evening, my dear. Taki's opponent is also looking around and not liking the odds, but he still executes a flashy attack in her direction, unwilling to run without orders. Taki tries ducking under the swing, but instead catches the blow on her upper arm. She screams as the multi-bladed dagger snaps the bone twice, though separated only by one inch. Mitsuko, with a moment to spare, looks over at Taki. "Kurosawa, is that you? ...you one of these Ladies? What a laugh." * Taki suppresses a scream at the pain. I didn't ask to be what I am! None of us did, m'Lady. * LadyMysteria grits her teeth. "Taki! Do something, please!" Hey, I did! * LadyRoyal grits her teeth. "Focus, people!" Taki flails at the hand holding the blade. One hand just bounces off or her attacker's hand, but the other impales itself on the blade. This hurts, muchly, especially once he rips it loose. * Taki screams loudly and stumbles back, tears streaming down her cheek. A masked Ninja makes half-hearted attack at Lady Judo. She steps away from it, catches his hand, and relieves him of his weapon. ...unfortunately, that's just in time for the Ningyo (remember, the Ningyo?) to scream, "RIPTIDE!" The flow of water quadruples, swirls around Lady Judo, and tries to pull her apart. You hear her joints popping as the attack dies down, and she collapses to the floor. The pulse of even more water strains the already-abused food court even more. Everyone can hear the metal beams underneath them groaning. Aw, fuck... Damn it, this isn't working out. That's putting it rather mildly. Rather. * LadyMallet merely grins * LadyMallet adopts a predatory grin on her face, surveying the others. "I'll make it work out." I won't give up... you have to pay... YOU HAVE TO PAY! * LadyMysteria aims another shot at Mitsuko, rage peaking once more, tinged with some obvious desperation. Mitsuko is somewhat distracted by the Ningyo, but gets the blade up to block it... and misses. The blast shreds most of her torso armor and makes a huge dent in her lower chest, but she holds onto the blade and rolls to one knee. You're not leaving this mall alive. Maya... Maya... please... ...we'll see. * Taki is crying now. Oh, dear, Mitsuko...someone wants to cut in. Come, come, you're not going to let her push you out, are you? *eyes dance evilly under the grotesque mask* ... if they leave, I won't chase them. If they stay, I will kill every last one of them. There isn't any chance of a happy ending here, is there? Ever read Grimm's Fairy Tales, Make Believe? It only gets darker from here. And the big bad wolf often wins. The floor lurches, overloaded. The old woman has finished her evaluation of the situation, and made a decision. "Abort." The word is not shouted, but it somehow cuts through the noise of the scene and the screams from downstairs with practiced ease. Oh no, we beat the Big Bad Wolf ages ago. * LadyRoyal manages to snicker a bit. He was Sunbeam's first real fight. But that's not important right now! All of the surviving ninja and their allies turn and sprint for the escalator in the middle of the food court... but in this footrace, the ground wins. * Taki actually sobers up a bit from listening to Make Believe. Wait... * Taki moves after the man she was fighting. The floor, with easily three times the normal weight resting on it and the water damage still present from last fall, decides it's time to give up the ghost. There's another lurch, then an awful sinking sensation as the entire section drops straight away. There's a BANG as floors two and three meet floor one. Then just a second of complete silence before the ground floor collapses as well, dumping EVERYTHING into the basement. Before, the collapse was pretty clean - big chunks landing and not really coming apart. This time, everything breaks, and awful clouds of construction- material dust fill the space which used to be a shopping mall. No one can see farther than a half meter in front of their nose. And the Ningyo is laughing... * Taki tries to keep track of the guy she was fighting. * LadyMysteria lands quite badly, and the secondary shock doesn't really help, either. "Damn..." * LadyMallet stands, only a little bit unsettled by the fall. And the one after that. * LadyRoyal lands fairly well, coughs, and tries to look around. "Dammit." * Lord_Darkmoon landed badly the first time, but perfectly the second. And the darkness isn't perfect anymore...two purple pinpoints of light are BURNING. * LadyMallet sounds amused. "... it's just the Ningyo and us, now." * Lady_MakeBelieve lands on her feet somehow, and starts calling out for her girls. Oh, hardly. The others all came with us. We can't have a party all by our lonesome now, can we? The basement is itself turning into a big swimming pool at this point - besides the rubble, there's a half meter of water you're standing in. ...we need to find the downed girls. Fast. Yes.. * LadyRoyal is trying to search. Royal quickly finds a body, but it's one of the masked ninja. * LadyRoyal checks his/her status. ... yeah. * Lord_Darkmoon joins the search, the Tessen now a Bokken being used to help. * LadyMallet starts searching, letting the Mallet go for the moment. "That fish is toast once I get my hands on it." * LadyRoyal props the not-moving ninja somewhere and goes off looking for wounded magical girls. Taki, who are these nuts? You seem to know them... ... yes. A couple of large people bump into Lady Mallet. One of them seems to be carrying a smaller body. * Taki picks herself out of the mess she landed in. * LadyMysteria wastes little time in trying to quite panickedly find Junko. They're... ninja. * LadyMallet stops, and looks up. ... did Junko make it? The dust is still too think - she can't make out any features. I'm trying to find her... * Taki takes the time to remove her coat and transform and puts her coat back on, buttoning it up. * Lord_Darkmoon continues fishing and poking about for bodies in the water, his eyes having stopped glowing. ... who's that? I can't make you out... The Ningyo apparently can't see anything either for the moment, so it is satisfied to taunt. "Oh, Minions of the Earth, can you not make peace between yourselves? I will drown you all, then go and crush your Queen!" * Lord_Darkmoon has shifted into swim trunks and hard-soled, water- and skin- tight shoes. The two people move away quickly from Leena. Lying fish. Those who fight us bear your stink; they are not of earth. * LadyMallet yells back, "Yeah, just keep talking, fishface!" Have to hurry... have to hurry... But feel free to go after the Queen. That would be quite...entertaining. * Lady_MakeBelieve keeps searching for the downed girls as well ... you're the assassins. We need to get out of here... * Lord_Darkmoon pokes, pokes...fishes... * LadyMysteria isn't paying the Ningyo a bit of mind; she's prodding and jabbing her wand, looking for someone, anyone. I'll kick your ass you bring the fight to me! Just find the girls, we don't have time to banter with fish. * Sailor_Landslide also understands the importance of finding the downed girls. Darkmoon finds a small body under the water. * LadyRoyal is very much trying to find the girls. Tell your boss that it's not worth it, everyone who's helped the one who hired you has been assassinated afterwards. ... they don't leave anything behind. * Lord_Darkmoon quickly pockets the Tessen and reaches in to lift it out of the water. Damn you, fish! And your minions! * Lord_Darkmoon examines the body he's got, checking vitals. * LadyNightshade looks around for a way out of the water. Darkmoon has found Lady Judo. She's shivering and choking. * LadyMallet starts searching again, concentrating on the larger chunks that others would have trouble with. * Lord_Darkmoon tries to help her clear her lungs. "Can you move? We've got to get out of here. --I've got Lady Judo." * LadyMysteria bites her lip, growing a bit more frantic in her searching. "Come on... come on..." Landslide, Waterfall, help me form a search pattern! That's one... what about the others? I don't know, I've only run into one of the ninja. * LadyNightshade has stopped crying for the moment. I'm trying to get her breathing. If she can get out, I'll rejoin the search. You got it boss, but then I'm kicked that giant kiddie pool's tail She's not breathing?! My Lady *to Judo*, come, let's get out of here. *into radio* She's coughing. Water in the lungs. She's breathing somewhat. Okay. Let me know if she gets worse. * Lord_Darkmoon wraps a heavy robe around the shivering Lady, and starts carrying her or helping her walk, whichever seems easier for the girl. Sailor Landslide finds a body herself - this one is the corpse of Lady Snowball - as the Sailor picks her up, the girl's spine bends on several unnatural hinges. * Sailor_Landslide screams * LadyNightshade feels along the wall for a way out. What is it? Oh God, I found one of them. She's... dead. ... who is it?! Oh, no... * LadyMallet whirls around to face the scream. "What.... ... oh god." * LadyRoyal splashes her way over. Then find another, Landslide. oh god, um right... Lady Royal trips over another body. * LadyMysteria hasn't stopped; she doesn't even look up, busy alternating between searching and fighting back tears. * LadyRoyal quickly drags it up. We have to try to save those we can. * Sailor_Landslide keeps moving on. ...she can't get much of it above water - it looks like the older lady got half-trapped under an I-beam, and could not free herself to get her head above water. * LadyMallet closes her eyes for a long moment. "... that's three known." * LadyRoyal looks slightly sick. ...what? * LadyRoyal closes the older lady's eyes and lets go of the head, then continues looking. ... hopefully the last one's okay. * LadyMallet keeps looking. The Ningyo continues to giggle. * LadyMysteria coughs a little, getting too much of a lungful of dust, but refuses to stop looking. * LadyRoyal ignores the Ningyo and searches more. The dust starts to settle a little - it sticks well to the water, forming a natural filter. * LadyNightshade continues along the walls, hoping to get out of here. Goddammit, shut up! I'll make fishcakes out of you! * Lord_Darkmoon continues trying to help Lady Judo to get out, to safety, so he can go back and help with the search again. * LadyRoyal splashes up a little water around, to try and clear up the dust. ...wait, who's here? Who's okay? Judo's...alive. But we've lost one...I don't know who it was. Darkmoon, give her to me. I'll take her out of here! * Lord_Darkmoon calls out, "I have your Judo-using friend, my Lady. You should try to find any others. ---very well, Landslide, she's all yours." He hands her off. * Lord_Darkmoon returns to searching. "...if none remain, we should deal with the Ningyo and leave." * Sailor_Landslide takes a powerful leap up out of the crater, onto safer ground. There's one unaccounted for, Darkmoon. Which? There's still one left! Y-yes... * Lord_Darkmoon keeps poking and searching. Those who are trying to get out find that the escalators are still up. I don't *know*! * LadyRoyal coughs and splashes water around in increasing desperation. Do not panic. It won't help. Panic when this is over. * LadyMallet keeps looking, ignoring the water and dust as much as she can. I'm not panicking. Good. I'm trying, Darkmoon. God, I'm trying... * LadyRoyal growls. As the group continues to search, they find more corpses in the water, but no Junko. * LadyRoyal even ducks underwater and tries to swim around a bit to see if there's any bodies stuck under things. * LadyNightshade makes her way up the escalators and tries to get a look around. * LadyMysteria works non-stop, thoroughly soaked and looking increasingly worried. The dust settles even more - you can see each other moving around now. * Lady_MakeBelieve creates a powerful flashlight. * LadyMallet keeps looking, too. She's not giving up yet. Here, Waterfall, take this and get the aerial view. * Sailor_Waterfall grabs the light, leaps up to the edge of the smashed floor, and tries to scan from above. The Ningyo doesn't like that very much, and is able to track the leaping Sailor. ... excuse me. TIDAL BLAST!!! ... the Ningyo's still here. We have to... have to stop it. * LadyMallet heads back to where she left the Mallet. ... I'm not going to be any use. I'll keep searching. Sailor Waterfall is blasted back into the wreckage of the mall. I can't hurt these things. * LadyMallet then starts looking for the Ningyo. * LadyRoyal mutters. "You and me both." Here, Ningyo Ningyo Ningyo... I'm gonna have a little talk with you. Oh, you did *not* just fucking do that to me. Mallet finally looks up, and sees the Ningyo floating two meters above the water. You're going down, shithead. * LadyNightshade looks around for the rest of her ninja friends. * Lord_Darkmoon keeps poking around. If they're ninja, he makes sure they're dead. If he happens to find a non-ninja, he'll help him. * LadyMallet brings the Mallet to bear, and advances at the Ningyo. "Six feet under!" ...there isn't time to do much about that, though, as there's a sudden flash of shiny metal, and the Ningyo's head is suddenly splashing into the water in front of Leena. ... wh... who's there?! ...OI! * PrincessMajesticTiara stands at the top of the crater. Holy! * LadyRoyal just continues her searching. She's not doing anything with this, oh no. ... * Lord_Darkmoon does his best to ignore her, still searching. ...tell me - who's in charge of this abortion, and HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIX MY MALL!?! * LadyMallet looks really miffed that her kill got stole. Real miffed. I am. And I accept full responsibility. Oh for shits sake. [end session]