Session Start: Sat Oct 15 15:28:07 2005 Last time, on Hunters: The fight at the top of the Dragon Lord of the North's castle got underway, with multiple team-members getting cuted. When the dragon was finally slain, though, they returned to their normal states, not much worse for the wear. In the place of the castle was the USC headquarters building, and where the dragon was, the executive that had given the team and the US Navy trouble was standing. For a few seconds, at least, before Rin (still glowing!) decapitated him. That was when their Sea Magic senses kicked in, and the race was on to get back to the Navy encampment before it was entirely washed into Tokyo Bay. [Monday, March 21, 2004 - 2330 local time] [Amidst the warehouses south of the US Navy camp at Universal Shipbuilding] [Session start!] * LadyMallet beelines for the Ningyo in their way, raising the Mallet above her head, and yells, "Scram, fishcakes!" * LadyNightshade charges at the Ningyo, fury in her eyes. * Lord_Darkmoon runs, sword at his side and ready to be drawn. The Ningyo emerges from the collapsed warehouse on a column of surging water. You are too late, minions of the Earth! * Ningyo waves a hand, and a two-meter-wide beam of water shoots at Lady Nightshade. Taki is caught in the middle of it, and is blasted away from the mermaid at frightening speed. You are too SHUT U-- GURK!! * LadyMallet stops, shifts her stance, and rotates the Mallet so it can be stood on. "Darkmoon!" Nightshade! *glowers at the Ningyo* I am no-one's minion, slave of the sea. *leaps up onto Mallet's Mallet* Launch me, please. * LadyNightshade bounces across the tarmac in a none too pleasant fashion. Once her body stops bouncing, it stops moving all together. Closer inspection would show that she's still breathing though. Barely. Nightshade! * LadyMallet swings around in a complete revolution as soon as he gets on, then again, and releases him with a cry of "LEENA LEENA MALLET THROW! DARKMOON ARROOO~OOOW!" at the Ningyo. * Lord_Darkmoon pushes off and tucks into a ball as he's launched, speeding towards the ningyo. * Lord_Darkmoon draws his katana from its sheath and swipes it across the ningyo's body as he passes, adding Mallet's prodigious strength to the force of his own blow. That leaves him in bad position as he tries to land, though, and he splashes down awkwardly in the waters at the Ningyo's feet. * Lord_Darkmoon stumbles rather than landing on one hand and two feet as he'd intended, scraping himself a bit as he rolls for a bit before regaining his feet. * Ningyo is sliced badly, from shoulder, through one breast, and nearly to where the scales start at her waist. She cries out, but her face is furious, not shocked. * Lord_Darkmoon shakes some ningyo blood off along with traces of silvery magic. "And now, you die," he states calmly. * LadyRoyal flings a card at the open wound. It goes sailing almost casually into the red gash that Darkmoon had just left - the fishwoman cries out once more, and this time she does appear to be truly hurt. ENGULF! Darkmoon feels the waters around him swirling, then is suddenly lifted off the ground in a bubble of water. * Lord_Darkmoon holds his breath, and tries to maintain his balance...despite having no footing at all. * LadyMallet gets close enough to swing at the Ningyo, stopping in front of it, and doing another full revolution, crouching down to hit at a lower angle as she brings it in to connect. "Look at ME, fishface!" * Ningyo merely twirls away, concentrating on Darkmoon. * LadyMallet keeps up the momentum, adding a third revolution to the swing, jumping up and adding the momentum to a raised, overhead strike. "I told you to watch closely! PANCAKE STRIKE!" Water and pavement splash everywhere! But not Ningyo - she, too, kept moving, right out of Mallet range. Royal, pop the bubble! * Lord_Darkmoon tries to slash the water to no avail, then sheathes his katana and just offers the Ningyo a superior grin. ...which is rather spoiled by the bubbles that escape through his teeth and his closing of a hand over his mouth and nose to keep from inhaling the water. * LadyRoyal tosses a card and an annoyed comment. "Was getting to it! The card stabs into the bubble of water, slows, and simply drifts around in front of Lord Darkmoon's face. Dammit! * LadyRoyal curses under her breath. * Ningyo grins. ...and RIP TIIIIIIIDE!!! * Lord_Darkmoon shakes his head, and points at the Ningyo, trying hard not to show just how out of breath he's rapidly getting. The sphere of water churns, and pulls Darkmoon, HARD, in two opposite directions. * Lord_Darkmoon twists in the water, which turns a bit red and fills with escaping bubbles. He closes his eyes tightly. * LadyMallet jumps and closes the gap between her and the Ningyo, coming at it with the Mallet again. * Ningyo dodges once more, but her left arm is caught by the Mallet and she goes spinning wildly... * LadyMallet ... as she quickly follows up, yelling, "LEENALEENAPANCAKESTRIKE!" *beat* "FUCKER!" Which catches the Ningyo perfectly. It's a bit of a strange sensation for Leena, though, as mostly when she's done this the thing under her Mallet squishes. The Ningyo is made of stronger stuff, though, and merely crunches somewhat before stopping the Mallet well above the ground. * Ningyo wobbles away, multiple complex fractures evident, her concentration clearly broken. The sphere of water holding Darkmoon collapses. * Lord_Darkmoon collapses with it, landing on hands and knees. Coughing and catching his breath, he pushes himself to his feet. * LadyRoyal throws out her arms at the ningyo. Cards fly! And detonate around the Ningyo, battering it about but not doing a lot of obvious damage. * Ningyo breathes heavily, and has trouble staying upright above the water. "You're still too late..." * Ningyo points with one shaky hand, and water gushes towards Leena. Trust me, your noble sacrifice doesn't mean a damned thing to us. Shut up and die! * LadyMallet momentarily disappears in the stream of water. She reappears after it passes, some distance away and not moving. * LadyNightshade blinks her eyes open and coughs up a large amount of water. She struggles to get back on her feet. * LadyRoyal grits her teeth. If that is so, then your people are doomed, Ningyo Princess. And if Mallet is dead from this, the Seas will Boil. * Ningyo turns to respond, even as Lady Nightshade comes and pummels her into oblivion. "You first." She goes down, a broken, bloody mess of mermaid-flesh. Ha! Suck it! Well done, Nightshade. Are you well? *looks around, seeing if there are more attacking* * LadyNightshade stumbles a bit, but keeps her footing. I'm fine... Guys, Wallace, c'mon. Everyone can still sense Sea Magic at work to the north, but no more Ningyo are right here. On it. * LadyMallet doesn't. She just lies there, all wet and still. ... Good. *strides purposefully over to Mallet, and scoops her up in his arms* We're still needed. Let's go. *runs north* Okay, good. * LadyRoyal runs. * LadyNightshade dashes off to the other sources of magic. * LadyMallet is breathing, though. * LadyNightshade goes invisible as she moves. * LadyRoyal tosses off a few last cards at the ningyo on her way out, just to make sure. * Lord_Darkmoon glances behind. "Can anyone carry her Mallet?" * LadyRoyal shakes her head. "Heat might be able to..." No, but I wouldn't separate her from it either... Mallet, wake. You have to carry your Mallet yourself. * LadyNightshade says over the headsets as she continues running. * Lord_Darkmoon puts just a touch of Order into the 'wake' part, to help her along. * LadyMallet eyes burst open, and she makes some quick motion- which doesn't work at all for whatever she intended, and then realizes she's being carried. ...! I'll catch up! * LadyMallet drops out of Darkmoon’s arms, and dashes back to get her signature weapon. * Lord_Darkmoon puts her down. "Do so." He doesn't wait. * LadyRoyal doesn't wait either, and sprints on. * LadyMallet grabs it as quick as she can, and then turns around to get to the US base as fast as she can. Hey, guys... that wasn't a normal ningyo. They're usually squishier than that. ...oh, that's lovely. Yeah. Exactly. It was a princess. I've felt that attack before. It's still dead, we can worry about it later. Well, if it's a Princess... and they're anything like ours, they usually don't get off their lazy asses unless they got something important to do. We must prove her prediction wrong. I do not wish to follow through on my promise. Stop wasting breath, let's just get there. Did it know we were coming? Why else would it be there but to slow us down? -Us-. The Hunters. Or just the MG team they knew was out here. As the group comes out of the warehouse area and into the open space around the Navy encampment, they are presented with a truly awful mess. Trailers and small buildings are strewn everywhere, some floating, some run aground, others still being carried by Ningyo-driven currents towards the Bay. Let's worry about that after we finish them all off. * LadyNightshade charges towards the nearest ningyo she spots. * LadyRoyal lets out a stream of curses. ... fight or try and catch buildings? How many are there? We may need to call for back up... Automatic weapons fire is coming from all directions, tracers lighting up the night better than the (now-dead) lighting ever did. * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out his cell phone, auto-dialing the Secretary. There are two Ningyo shepherding several trailers over the edge of the seawall, but they follow those buildings into the sea. There is just one source of the Sea Magic now, you think, coming from the center of the compound, where the water is still surging crazily. * LadyNightshade dashes towards it. * LadyMallet frowns. "... guys we nee- well, that works. Mob the big sea magic source!" * LadyMallet goes to do that too! Ladies, slay those ningyo and anchor anything you can. We also need to squelch the source in the middle. *still waiting while his phone rings* * LadyRoyal runs to it. Lord Darkmoon gets no response. ...I'll become Feral as soon as I get the Se--DAMN. No time. *pockets the cell* Eclipse the mind.... * Lord_Darkmoon throws his arms down and his head back, screaming, "FERAL RAGE!" as his eyes flare bright purple. ...and then fade, leaving a surprised Darkmoon standing there. Did you do it? ...I ...can't. o_o ... Fucking great. * Lord_Darkmoon stops, and thinks a moment, calmly. Then starts running after Royal and Mallet. "I'll do no good here." * Lord_Darkmoon pulls out his cell as he runs again, auto-dialing Sakura this time. Can you use your animal talkies to try and mess them up? Get into the Ningyo’s head? The tide of water flowing out of the camp is enormous. It has knocked over the fences, so there's no problem going into the base, but as they get closer, the current is too much to fight and they find themselves losing ground. Go! I cannot even affect magical Pets with their Ladies nearby. I will be unable to affect a Ningyo. WE NEED SQUEEGEE AT THE NAVY BASE HALF AN HOUR AGO! We're staging, but she's on the wrong side of the bay! It'll be at least fifteen minutes before you get any reinforcements... * LadyMallet growls. "Too much current." * Lord_Darkmoon 's eyes glow purple for a moment. "Then we'll kill the ningyo herding trailers, but we can do nothing about the trailers themselves. I cannot become the Feral Beast." * LadyNightshade looks for a path she can wall jump across to make it to the source of the flow and heads towards a couple of the larger buildings left standing. The current around the main source is too strong; we can't get to it. What's going on there? With Feral? * LadyMallet heads for the nearest little teeny-weeny Ningyo she can bully into a crater. It's not the strongest Sea Magic we've felt, but it's strong.. A ningyo princess tried to stop us from getting this far. She breathes no more. Unless you've other orders, I will leave you to your preparations, Princess. Right. *click* The only Ningyo Leena can see is a dead one, caught by tight burst of .50 machine-gun rounds, and fallen or lifted on top of a rolled trailer. * Lord_Darkmoon pockets his cell again. "We're on our own for 15 minutes!" Taki leaps up out of the water, bounces off a storage building, and lands on the roof of the former command center. That's fantastic. Dammit, if only Make Believe were still conscious. Her damned dragon lord would be useful here. * LadyNightshade sees if she can get a better view of the source. ... dammit. * Lord_Darkmoon looks for anything useful he can do. Barring seeing anything, he'll desperately search for the biggest animal he can find in range. Hell, he'll even -try- to invade a Ningyo mind like he would a fish's. * Lord_Darkmoon 's eyes glow bright purple as he concentrates. In the very center of the compound is a ten-meter dome of water, seemingly perfect and clear amidst the turbulence around it. Inside is a calm- looking Ningyo with upswept hair and a silvery tiara. * LadyMallet looks for a building or something floating off, and tries to slow/stop/retrieve stuff. Barring anything fishy getting in her way. All Darkmoon gets is a headache. * Lord_Darkmoon gives up when the pain becomes too intense. That doesn't look good. What? What is it? Big shiny ningyo in the middle inside a huge bubble of water. I don't think I can get through to her. ... shiny? You know, impressive looking. ... great. Feral is inaccessible, Royal's cards can't penetrate water well, and Mallet and Nightshade are melee attackers. *shouts into the radios* MAKE BELIEVE! WAKE UP AND SUMMON YOUR KI-RIN! Even as Taki watches, the Ningyo gestures, and disappears. There is a momentary sense of her magic out to the east, above the Bay, then nothing. ... She... She just vanished. * LadyMallet gaze darts upwards as the magic moves. I think we're fucked. ...never mind. ... vanished. * LadyNightshade rubs her forehead annoyed and just sits where she is. What the FUCK is going on here? I don't know. They stole what they were after, obviously. ....shit. Shit, shit, shit. * LadyMallet continues to try and save as many floating buildings as she can. The flow of water stops almost immediately, and the gunfire subsides quickly afterwards. You sense no more Sea Magic. I fear I shall have to make good on my oath. But I'm pretty damn sure we failed to protect whatever it was we were supposed to around here. This war cannot be won on the defensive. I believe it is time we took a page from our American friends' book. They committed atrocities to defeat us in our last clash. We must do the same. And it is time Father and I had a talk. * LadyNightshade sighs. Whatever works. ... it's too soon if I never see Haruko again, if it's her fault we missed this. Not only her fault... if we weren't hiding from the cops... That is irrelevant, Mallet. Our failure is our failure. What matters is only what has happened, and what we do about it now. *pulls out his phone, and calls Sakura once more* * LadyRoyal stands stonily. "Someone call Wallace." If he's still alive. * LadyNightshade hops down off the building she's on and checks if any needs any rescuing inside it. On it, I guess. * LadyMallet starts cleanup and rescue, now that things are a bit more sane, stowing the Mallet in midair. * LadyNightshade pulls out her phone and dials Wallace. A phone rings just a few meters behind her. * LadyNightshade turns around and moves towards it. God, don't tell me... What, I'm right here. Well at least you're not dead. * LadyNightshade hangs up her phone and pockets it. Ah, found him? Good. Get his report. I'm trying to report this debacle to Sakura so she can relay it to the useless royalty. Yeah, yeah. Ask him if he needs any help with getting people out. I'm sure they do, Mallet. I'm looking. Directions would be helpful. * LadyNightshade keeps her eyes on the Captain while she talks over the radio. * CaptainWallace is completely soaked. ...where were you? ... Something came up. We were trying to hide from the cops you had swarming all over. No shit, something came up, but how far away did they chase you? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. * LadyMallet adds, as an afterthought, "Ask him how long we were gone, too." * LadyNightshade swallows a bit uncomfortably. * CaptainWallace sighs. What was going on? You were supposed to protect us from that sort of thing. It's not really your fault. I mean, they had to have set this up, and you were right - USC, or at least that Haga asshole was working with the mermaids. ... He's not going to be a problem anymore. I thought you were here to protect us. ...oh? It was supposed to me a mutual thing. They could've been more assassins for all we knew. And yes, he's been taken care of. I'm sure you'll hear all about it soon enough. That is irrelevant, Nightshade. We failed them. Find out the extent of the damage caused by this fiasco. ... What happened exactly? What did they take? Are we still gonna be able to destroy those nukes? I get the feeling we're coming from two entirely different sets of assumptions here. Certainly our commitment is for help, but not protection per se, other than what a host should provide a guest. Your job was to keep it secret. Nightshade. * LadyNightshade takes off her radio. Do not argue with him. It is pointless and futile now. And at that, perhaps, we failed. ...goddammit, what a mess. * LadyMallet sighs, and shakes her head, helping out with the recovery and rescue as best she can. Yes... * LadyNightshade sighs. * LadyRoyal does the same, trying to listen in and/or locate Taki and Wallace. ...could you help me off this roof? ... Darkmoon, Royal. ... am I being dense, or are we in a bad spot? ...No frickin' DUH. We have lost a major battle. The ningyo seem to know everything about us. They've got human agents, and hooks into information channels. I will be taking this up with the Queen. And we don't know a DAMNED THING about them! ...and with my Father. * LadyNightshade moves to under where he is and reaches up to help him down. I think... we need to remedy that. * CaptainWallace successfully uses Lady Nightshade as a ladder. * LadyNightshade feels rather awkward having him climb all over her, but tries not to blush. I suspect we're going to move the operation forward as far as we can. It may even happen in daylight... What exactly were they after? I don't KNOW? Something we had here. But mostly we had people here, certainly not any weapons. Nothing that'd help them with the nukes under the water? They can swim as deep as they want - how could an underwater ROV help them? And actually, those were all gone by they time they struck. So then what? They obviously got whatever they were after. Did they? How do we know? How the hell will we ever find out? They were totally in control here. They wouldn't have just left with out accomplishing whatever it was they had in mind. Leena finds that all the trailers have stopped moving, and survivors are crawling out. She bumps into the guy with the labcoat (he still has the same one on, from the smell of it) they played poker with. * LadyMallet sniffs, then holds her nose. "That big of a bath, and you still smell." * CaptainWallace nudges a Ningyo corpse with one toe. "Not completely in control." The one in the middle making the big mess seemed not to have any problems. We got another one that was off the base a bit when we were trying to get to you here. Oh, they even had one waiting for you? * Labcoat grabs Leena by the shoulders. "CHRIS! Have you found Chris?" Apparently. * LadyMallet blinks. "Which one's Chris? Where?" Dammit, it's no fair they don't have cities we can bomb... Remember? The poker game that he arranged? Well they might. We just can't hold our breath long enough to find out. ...right. Rescue. *pockets the cell phone, and goes to work trying to help people or search for those who can't call for help. He moves in a business-like fashion, with no emotion at all* Oh, him. I never got his name. No, I don't think so. Do you know where he was? As helpless victims of the Ningyo go, the US Navy is relatively good at getting things back in order by themselves. Within minutes, if not seconds, there are organized teams doing triage and evacuation... * LadyNightshade follows the Captain around in a sort of half there zombie state. Dammit! * Labcoat turns away. "CHRIS! WHERE ARE YOU??" * CaptainWallace watches things for a moment, then realizes something. * LadyMallet frowns, and goes off in the opposite direction, calling out to see if anyone responds, and in general trying to help out. ...well. They won't attack again tonight. They have whatever they wanted. Lady Nightshade, your team needs to get out of here. What now? We're going to be swarmed by local emergency services in just a few minutes, and given the earlier mess... ... Oh shit you're right. Sorry we can't stay and help. * LadyNightshade grabs her headset out of her pocking and puts it on for a second. Hey guys, we need to clear out of here. What? Oh. Right. * CaptainWallace sighs. "Yeah. And get one of the Princesses to call me in a few hours, okay?" Locals will be here shortly. We do? ...you are correct. Gather and we'll depart. What's up? * LadyNightshade nods at Wallace. "I'll see what I can do." ... great. Does anyone have any idea where Ha-- Makebelieve went? * Lord_Darkmoon 's eyes flare purple briefly. ~Norcliff, wake Haruko and get her out of here. I will not rescue her if she refuses to help herself and gets caught.~ Let's go see the sugarglider, see what it has to say about this. Norcliff should handle her. Ask her where she is, I'll go get her. Make Believe, this is an Order. WAKE UP. * LadyMallet flinches, despite herself. The Sailors will take care of her. ... I think. * Lord_Darkmoon doesn't sound angry, just like he's taking care of business. I don't want to leave it up to them. Stay safe, Nightshade. Leave her. She will take care of herself if she will not find us. You too, Captain. Just leave her! At the very least, don't ask me to help her. I'm not asking you. * CaptainWallace walks off, yelling to a marine squad to clear the command- center roof. Good! * LadyNightshade moves back towards where she last left Haruko. * LadyMallet starts about clearing outta there. "I'm going." Look, let's get us out of here and we can all meet up later. * LadyRoyal suits actions to words. Good luck, Nightshade. Everyone, let's MOVE. *heads for the gate at a fast walking pace, giving everyone a chance to catch up. He's still in full Lord getup. Did you get a location from the rat? Cafe. The main gate is open, and unguarded, though there are the usual security cameras. She's with her imaginary friends. Fantastic. * LadyNightshade heads off in that direction then. * LadyRoyal goes on through. * Lord_Darkmoon strides on through, uncaring. * LadyMallet stomps right on through the gate. The emergency services are using the far north gate for a change. I'll meet you guys at the agency. Right. See you there. * LadyNightshade heads to wherever Haruko is. We gonna meet any important fukus there? It matters not. We'll meet them soon enough, regardless. I have...business to discuss. We need to know more about the Ningyo. If you see one of the Princesses before I do, have them contact Wallace. We have to plan the offensive. The seas must answer for their crimes against the land. Will do, Nightshade. Taki leaps the fences, and it's just a block over to the cafe... actually more of an ice-cream parlor with delusions of grandeur. Right. * LadyNightshade heads into the parlor, looking around for Haruko and her... 'friends'. * Lady_MakeBelieve is sitting at booth in the corner, conversing quietly with the Sailors, and sipping half-heartedly at a float. * LadyNightshade walks directly up to Haruko. "Haruko, we need to go." Did something else happen? Darkmoon apparently said I should stay here. We need to go to prevent further things from happening. I guess duty calls and all that. Sorry friends, I have to go. * LadyNightshade is trying really hard to be as patient as she can. Anyone want my float? * LadyNightshade sighs. That was easier than she thought it was going to be. * Lady_MakeBelieve leaves with nightshade, promising she'll get in touch with the Sailors to hang out with them later. * LadyNightshade leads her back towards the agency. Are you okay? You realize we're all going to have a talk, right? Can it wait until tomorrow? That's not up to me. I'm feeling a bit better, but right now I just want to sleep. I know how that is... * LadyNightshade sighs again. It's well after midnight by the time everyone gets back home. The neighborhood is tranquil - there's no way to tell that there was a raging battle in a not-too-distant part of the city. * Lord_Darkmoon strides in purposefully, and detransforms, once again wearing a kimono - this one simpler than the one she wore in Haruko's fantasy world, however. She takes a seat in an armchair and rests her Tessen against her cheek contemplatively. The secretary is nowhere to be found, so it's Mitsuko that lets everyone in. * LadyNightshade opens the door for MB, then lets herself in afterward. Rin is still glowing blue. * LadyMallet leaves plenty of space between her and Haruko as she goes in, and flops on one of the couches. You're still glowing. * Rin eyes her glowing hand for a bit, then looks up to watch as the others take their seats. She nods once to Mitsuko, but doesn't say a word. * LadyNightshade curls up in her corner, not really looking at anyone or anything at the moment. Why are you still glowing? I do not know. * Lady_MakeBelieve trudges upstairs to bed, feeling if someone wants to come get her they will. Well, then give it to me! * LadyMallet sighs. "I wanna glow." Perhaps Young can answer that question. Young one, come forth. Your Lady requires your presence. *holds out her hand, palm up, as if expecting him to appear there* Well then maybe you should've fucked the fairy. * LadyRoyal shakes her head and leans against a wall. No pixie appears. Hey, if I'd of been there, I would given him all the masochistic pleasure he wanted. Hm. How disappointing. ... You're sick. Well that'll be fun at school for you. It's not real. That's why they call it a fantasy. * Rin lowers her hand to her lap once more. It's called a problem that we have to deal with and can't just keep ignoring. ... would you say that again, and back me up if I trying to deal with it? What? ... dealing with the problem. I brought her back here so we could deal with her, didn't I? We do indeed have a problem to deal with. Mitsuko, would you be so kind as to call Sakura and tell her that one Captain Wallace would like to hear from a Princess soon? * LadyMallet looks off distantly. "I don't think you get me." * Mitsuko looks vaguely insulted. "Why don't you?" I'll call her... * LadyNightshade pulls out her phone reluctantly. * LadyNightshade sighs. * LadyMallet makes a harumphy sound, and gets up, ignoring Taki and punching up Sakura on the speakerphone. Don't we have Squeegee's number? Thank you, Nightshade. Leena gets through first. Go ahead. ... * LadyNightshade swallows. Hey, Sakura. USC came out a mess, and we get to blame Haruko and the Ningyo for it. No one is to blame! * LadyNightshade rubs her temples. Lady Nightshade is correct; laying blame is a game for another, less serious time. Sure, the Ningyo are just perfect little angels acting on dumb animal instincts. ...from the news coverage, it doesn't seem too bad. Princess, Captain Wallace desires that one of your rank contact him when they have the opportunity. That's not the fucking point, Leena. There wasn't an international incident - well, not much - oh? Girls, please try to act like Ladies. Bickering like grade-schoolers will get us nowhere. ... * LadyRoyal rubs her forehead, irritated. * LadyMallet scrunches her eyes shut, and holds her head with her palms. Okay, I can do that... Princess, there was at least a second Princess of the Ningyo there. From Lady Nightshade's description, it may be that she was higher ranked still. She had a silver crown. Oh, yea- WHAT? The first Princess we faced claimed that we were already too late. How do you know they were princesses? They didn't squish so easily. Well, the first one. The first used an attack that I have only seen a Princess use. The second...wore a crown. More elaborate by Nightshade's description than that which I've seen before. There have been no confirmable sightings of Ningyo princesses ever. Assuming the one that jumped out of the USC building into the bay was the Queen, that is. ...hmm. Well, this one's confirmed. Well there's a dead one at USC right now. Which shows to know how much we know about the Ningyo. I thought I reported a group of becrowned ningyo preparing the assault when we were accompanying Princess Squeegee. I hardly think that lack of squishiness is proof, but I'll accept the hypothesis that they set out their heavy hitters. If I did not, that is my lapse, for which I humbly apologize. *sounds anything but humble; one might even think she was the one in charge, here* Yeah, well you're used to assassins, I'm used to Ningyo. Trust me. These weren't regular Ningyo they sent out. Well next time we'll ask for three forms of ID before we kill them. * LadyRoyal flicks a speculative glance at Rin. So... then this was the real raid. Is there any word on what they got? I asked, Wallace didn't seem to know. Anyways, we know jack squat about the Ningyo. Can we do anything about that, because it's getting very fucking annoying to have them know everything and plan everything. AND WHY THE HELL DO THEY SPEAK JAPANESE?! Because they are Japanese monsters, Mallet-chan. Why do we, Leena? Because we grew up here. It's hard to threaten us in fish. Why is the elemental conflict between Earth and Sea a Japanese thing? They don't live here. They didn't grow up here. Why do they speak it? But Lady Mallet brings up a good point; we need new tactics. I will share some suggestions with the royalty when next I see them. *tone implies that this will be soon* You can hear her shrug through the phone. ... don't know why they're here, but that's less disturbing to think about than why they speak Japanese. You've seen what magic can do, and you wonder why they can speak a language? Mmm. And what new tactics would those be? Yeah, if we ever get to see anyone. Much less the language of people they’ve been terrorizing for years? That doesn't explain fluency. How can we spy on an underwater culture? It has been said, Sakura-san, that a war cannot be won on the defensive. The Americans have all sorts of fun toys we could use. Sure, they can pick up, 'We come in peace,' 'run!', 'help me,' 'AGH IM WET!', but long-winded speeches about how they're gonna drown us all? Are we not magical girls? Can magic not provide...all sorts of possibilities? That doesn't explain why you're so dead set on figuring out what's probably the least of our worries about them. Exactly. Leena, this is really the most retarded thing you could be worrying about right now. ... whatever. Yeah, but Rin, the only offensive strategy we've ever been able to develop was to teleport single Ladies into the Sea. How well do you think that worked? * LadyMallet sighs. I am sure it has worked as well as their teleportation of single ningyo into our lands. Misguided attempts to fight a war on an enemies terms are doomed to failure. Yep. Which is why we... stopped it. To save our strength, and preserve lives. We must make them suffer on ours. If they are on our soil, though, that is by definition a defensive war. Captain Wallace made an excellent observation - he questioned why they had no cities. But can we be sure they do not? Can we figure out and block how they get here? Let one run wild and go back, hit it with an underwater tag or mike? Sure, but how much damage do we let it do then? They can sense Earth Magic, anything we can do is right out. If we can tag or bug one of them, though, with one of the Americans device... Mallet-chan, your idea is too merciful. And unlikely. I am sure our Queen did not want those she teleported in back, any more than theirs would. So then teleport it back out. No, we have seen an example of how to win a war decisively and definitively. The Americans demonstrated it on us. It would have to sit still for ten minutes while... no. Not workable. * LadyNightshade sighs and just lays her face down against her knees. Sneak one in a bullet form. Shoot them with a bunch of bullets and a few bugs. Tell me, Princess Sakura, does the Queen know she has sent Ladies to centers of Ningyo territory? ...that might be an exaggeration. She knows she's sent them to the Sea, where they fought. Then she can send inanimate objects, as well. No, the teleport doesn't work that way. Pity. Can Ladies carry objects with them? Can we bring them back? Yes. And no. And it would be a suicide mission. So many questions. Darkmoon simply must speak with the Queen. Don't tell her that. She's just going to volunteer herself. They were suicide missions. She stopped doing them for that reason... * Rin idly spreads her tessen, watching her glowing hands as she does so. "I made a promise to the Ningyo we slew. I intend to keep it." Yeah, cause I'm sure they're going to call you on it. That may not be a choice you get to make, Rin. * LadyRoyal sighs. "We're not going to get much else accomplished tonight. And as much as anyone might think so, I bet we're none of us really in a state to think deeply about this. If you come up with a good idea, though, I will let you take it to the Queen. * Rin 's eyes flash (non-magically) at the phone. "We shall see. It is always best to be lead by the wise, and to see that those who make the decisions are wise." So, yeah. Get a hold of Wallace. Be careful what you wish for, Rin. I will, Leena. I can imagine what he wants... * LadyRoyal makes a noncommittal grunting noise and goes to slump against the wall somewhat near Taki. * Rin chuckles. It sounds like it's meant to be a light sound. * LadyNightshade mumbles something to herself and falls over to her side, kinda just laying there. * LadyNightshade doesn't look up or notice Mina, so she ends up bumping into her. Uh... sorry. ... I'm going to the arcade, if this meeting's over. So... you said that Haruko caused some problem? * LadyRoyal blinks. "'Sfine." ...I'm sorry, is she there? We got sucked into another one of her fantasies. Should I go get her? * LadyRoyal , having made the mistake of sitting down, is too tired to get out of the way and just sits there. "She went upstairs. Said something about being tired." Maybe you should tell me about it first. * LadyNightshade slowly crawls to her feet. She is, but she is sleeping. It is a small matter; we can handle it for now, assuming she is cooperative. We had to kill off one of her dragon lord things while we were dodging the cops. Just another of her fantasies run amuck. Is this going to be a problem? Can you still work with her? There was this weird fog and these pixies and Rin started glowing and we found the good dragon and then we went to this big, long, wide pink tower. Of course it was a problem! Then we climbed it and we saw all this weird cute stuff and then we fought this creepy guy. We really, really need to have a talk with her. * Rin chuckles again. "Oh, yes. In fact, her abilities could be most useful, soon. It is time we captured a Ningyo." The ningyo had the base practically destroyed before we were able to get out of it! And then it ended, and Rin's still glowing. I know Maya...really wants to have a word. Oh. And Haga's dead. Did we tell you about Haga? Who? USC asshole. Working with the ningyo, so Wallace says. You killed him? The man who besmirched our honor and betrayed the Navy. I have executed him for treason. ...are they going to know YOU killed him? Probably. ...fuck. Doubtful, actually. We-ell. Unless there are other people who randomly decapitate people. Yeah, because strange groups of kids just magically appear inside buildings and run out to battle fish people all the time. Yeah. And we're famous for it. They will believe us to be with the police. It probably couldn't be traced to *magical* sources, since the manner of death was not magical in nature. You need not concern yourself with it, Sakura-san. If there is fallout, I shall deal with it personally. Pffffffft. Let us hope that it can not be traced to us. It's not going to be that hard for them to put it together. Oh, I'm sure there will be no way that they will trace it to you personally, but if it's clear that Ladies killed some executive... It will not be. I will see to it that it is handled in-house. ...how? * LadyNightshade just shakes her head. * Rin chuckles once more. "By being mortal." So, is someone dragging Haruko down here? Should I go get her now? Like I said, it wasn't really a Ladylike form of execution. ...Rin, you do not have permission to sacrifice yourself. * LadyNightshade moves towards the doors. My dear Sakura-san, I have no intention of so doing. I really don't think Haruko's in any state to even be coherent right now. Wait, you're expecting me to deal with some issue with her I don't understand? Of course not, Sakura-san. Is there anything else you wish for us to inform you of? What is there to understand? Is there anything else I need to be informed of? Did I mention Rin's glowing? I can think of nothing else. *makes a gesture to the others* You did, Mallet-chan. Lessee, cops, Ningyos, glowing, pixies, Haruko, dragon lords, destruction of the base, call Wallace.