1178/Project Eclipse Begins

Project Eclipse Begins
Date of Scene:	24 February 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Sunbreaker has initiated Project Eclipse! A plan that is flawless, perfect, definitely has NO flaws! So secure in her victory, in fact, she lets the girls tour the area.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Hinote Kagari, Madoka Kaname, 174, Usagi Tsukino, Fu Inubouzaki, Yuna Yuki, Sayaka Miki, Togo, Itsuki Inubouzaki, Karin Miyoshi

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
It was during school, a bit unsporting to be fair. That strange sensation... most had likely ignored it or tuned it out. It likely hadn't been a big deal... Until suddenly it was. When the strange barrier had gone up, cutting off a piece of the city, it had likely seemed strange. Covering about a city block or so. Towers were intersparsed throughout it and, well... there was definitely a presence here.

People could walk through it, easily enough. They felt a bit tired... but there were businesses, people... and a song. Easter's logos were emblazoned around and on things, it looked like at the center of it all, a stage was being setup.

For the civilians, they wouldn't see much was going up...

For the mahou, though? Those who entered? It would feel as if you were suddenly moving underwater, through some kind of burning, leaching liquid. Your powers would feel dampened, you'd feel tired and, worse? You could tell SOMETHING was going on. Energy was being drained at a slow, but steady scale.

The tower in the center was occasionally glimmering, then giving a little bzzt, before sending the energy away.

Sunbreaker was in a suit, talking with a few other girls who, to most of the people? looked like just normal girls.

But to Mahou, they might notice they had a kind of.... moth motif. And were running around in swimsuits.

Mahou would also realize... there were other youma here. 'Security'? Definitely. One of them was a big wolf man...

Something was DEFINITELY up. That was a LOT of forces dedicated to one area...

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari was dressed in the school boy's uniform and walking home from drama practice, fake sword hanging out of his backpack as he sighed a little and walked with his hands in his pocket, a little side bothered by things.

Mainly by the magical things going on in his life. Like what's going on right now. As he walks into a strange zone and feels his energy start to flag as he 'ehs?' and looks upwards. To a strange tower as he looks around.

"What the heck." he asks to himself as he takes a breath and hunkers down a little to himself as he starts walking backwards a little, as he tries to escape this weird zone. Which he barely d0es. Seeing the world turn back to normal, trying to determine where the strange zone begins, and ends as he stands just at the precipice of it.

"One of thise energy. Drainy things again." he says. Like the 'demon' in the food court? He grips the fake drama prop sword reflexivly as he gulps.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's Chara had sensed something from the start, and Lydian was the first to tug on her sleeve about it. Sitting still and pretending to look at the teacher, Madoka listened closely as her Chara discussed in hushed tones the strange darkness that they felt nearby. Brai and Medo went out first to check it out, and then Sio went to go check up on them. When they came back empty handed, Madoka made a note to investigate later.

    It is now later, and the pink mahou with too-many-Chara shows up, and one by one her little dream fairies start getting sleepy. Brai naps on one shoulder, then Medo on the other, with Sio sitting on her head.

    "The dark energy must be getting to them," surmised Gretchen. "Something off is happening here. Even my powers are dampened."

    Lydian makes a little yawn. "You know... I could use a nap, too."

    "Neither of you should go to sleep," says Madoka, picking Brai, Medo and Sio off of herself and cradling them in her arms. "Will they be safe if I leave them in your Labyrinth, Gretchen-chan?"

    The Witch Chara nods, "It's safe today. As long as they wash their hands afterwards."

    After a moment of packing her tiny dream fairies into a portal, including Lydian who is starting to get sleepy too, Madoka is left with only Gretchen at her side. She tells the dark fairy, "You better stay close to me. Something is wrong here."

    The dark fairy raises an eyebrow and crosses her tiny arms. "Are you really okay with this? If things go bad, I'm the only one you can call on."

    The pink mahou shakes her head. "There's no point in worrying about that now. We can't leave this as it is. If you need to, you can hide in my school bag."

    Gretchen takes her Bearer up on that offer, hiding in the bag and peeking out from under the flap, keeping her eyes and other magical senses open. As for Madoka herself, she starts walking towards the strange zone. This place is... odd, and potentially dangerous. Not a place she'd want to hang out normally, but she's a magical girl and this is part of her duty.

    The pinkette wanders around like a lost tourist, seeing the moth-motif girls and gawking at the strange towers. Weird. Weird and bad.

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
    "Unshift contamination detected. We did it! The 'Dusk Zone' is still mixed with it, but the border between reality and abstract space is weakened. If you could do this to the whole world... We win! Or at least, we'll be really close."

    The crystal on the back of Clarthas's gauntlet, with faint lines visible moving inside it that trace out the shape of an 'eye', stares at nothing and then looks at Clarthas and flickers between blue and grey as it speaks in two tinny tones, one dry or thoughtful and expository and the other excited.

    So, this is progress in the war he signed up for. It feels... freeing, a little bit. Like it won't be entirely his fault when the world ends. Maybe even only barely his fault! Would've happened anyway.

    There is just something that feels... more right here. The darkness won't judge him.

    He's dressed in his usual get-up, looking like he might be in the formal military garb of a foreign country, or perhaps a cosplayer of a military character from some anime. In the latter case, it is almost certainly the villains' country, given the black color scheme.

    And he's checking on one of the towers, or on an output/readout console somewhere if Sunbreaker requested such be built.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Some magical girls are blessed with the ability to sense - things. Dark Energy, bad vibes, the future, you name it, and there's surely someone able to detect it, probably. Usagi Tsukino though? Usagi Tsukino is not one of those Magical Girls. She's more psi-blind than the average mundane, and she never, ever senses anything strange afoot before it happens.

Which is why when whatever weird thing that happened yesterday happened, it was Luna who told her about it, and Luna who told her to go and check it out as soon as she could.

So here she is, the next day, with Luna in her backpack poking her head out, walking around in her civilian form because maybe - who knows, maybe it won't be weird.

She sees it before she enters it, a zone of weird that has her pulling Luna into her arms, as she walks in, chin set, concerned...

And as she walks through, she feels it, the slow but steady drain of her energy, like walking throug molasses.

"Oh, I don't like this," she grimaces, and then blinks - "Do you see moth girls?"

"Of course I see moth girls," Luna hisses, "And Sunbreaker! Usagi-chan, this place is draining energy, and she knows you've got a connection to Sailor Moon! What if she attacks you?"

"She won't do anything to regular Usagi," Usagi says confidently, "That wouldn't be a win for her. And maybe she'll tell me something, because she'll want to brag to Sailor Moon?"

And so with that thought in my, grimacing at the energy drain, Usagi Tsukino boldly walks over to Sunbreaker and the Moth Girls, pretending nothing is wrong.

"Hi, Sunbreaker-san! Are you busy? You look busy. Who are your friends?"

Fu Inubouzaki has posed:
    Fu has no personal capacity to sense magic or dark energy. She isn't even sure she can see it consistently when it's in front of her. But she can at least tell when suddenly she's feeling weaker for some reason, and right after she charged up her girl power on udon! Maybe she should have gone for that fifth bowl after all...!?

    With a hand to her forehead, Fu Inubouzaki looks around in confusion. Then, suddenly, her fairy appears. A blue-green dog spirit, floating in the air. A normally invisible barrier sparks and seethes along its edges. What... IS This? There's... Moth symbols? And moth girls in swimsuits? What? This is NOT normal, obviously, but her phone isn't chiming, so...??

    Right! Her phone! Fu backs up and goes back the way she came, in the process emerging from that weird feeling, but going through with texting the group regardless, as her barrier eventually stops shielding her.

    CHAT APP: Fu --> Girls, there's something strange going on. Taisha hasn't alerted me, but I saw people looking the same way I felt when I was there. Please hurry over here. ((Map pin)) As soon as you can!

    Fu looks at the canvas bag full of groceries from the street market over one arm. It had become so heavy. Definitely not normal.

    CHAT APP: Fu --> Also, make sure your fairy is out to protect you. Itsuki, if you start feeling faint, back out of the area.

    Fu is in Usagi's class, not that the two have interacted much (outside of that arcade incident, which Fu still needs to talk about). Fu is 'That Girl Who Stole From Cranegame Joe' in the eyes of many. For some, that is a reason to scorn her. For others, it's a reason to applaud her. For most, it's just exciting to have a psuedo-celebrity who has had all kind of edits and remixes and memes of her stealing from Joe while he lies unconscious on the floor made on the stupid ClockApp. But right now?

    She's just trying to do what she signed up for: Protect the world.

    So she re-enters the area herself. If Usagi is involved, then maybe the twin-tailed blonde has some answers. Fu is approaching from behind, wincing at that burning feeling, as her fairy floats ahead of her, blocking most of the harmful effect with a visible pale dome that extends out at least several meters in all directions.

Yuna Yuki has posed:
    Well, that's one way to get Yuna's attention. She looks up when she gets a message from Fu and reads it, and stares into Togo's eyes determinedly. "If people could get hurt, it doesn't matter if Taisha tell us to stop it or not, right?" She smiles and holds up a hand, clenching it into a fist. "Don't worry! It's all going to be daijoubu!"

    Several minutes later, the red-haired girl will be coming up on the map point she was shown with Togo, hurrying behind with her hands on the latter's wheelchair handles. "Eehhh... It doesn't look different..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
When the barrier went up, Sayaka of course was in school, paying attention to Saotome-sensei (sort of, she sort of was over her rants by now). She did feel the strange sensation, but it faded quite quickly and she hadn't noticed anything as soon as school for over, when she ditched everything to go on patrol right away. Just a schedule shuffling, that had quite alarmed her at the time.

Despite that, she hadn't noticed anything that afternoon, and after taking out the usual amount of Youmas plaguing the streets (or air/water) of Tokyo, whether Witches, familiars or otherwise, the Puella went to claim the lunch that was by now an afternoon meal.

It wasn't until the next day when she moved a bit further that she usually does that her eyes fell on those weirdly familiar towers... "Those are Sunbreaker's towers, right?" Sayaka matters to Ula, nodding up towards the towers not too far ahead of them. "I think so", Ula says, the mermaid squinting her eyes to try and put them into focus.

"Well, we'd better go", Sayaka says, and so the two of them for once take public transportation in that direction, getting off the bus a stop than what her Soul Gem indicated very close proximity to the zone. When Ula and her enter the zone, they are fully impacted by the drain and that sensation of resistance in the atmosphere.

"What has Sunbreaker done this time?", Sayaka asks to nobody in particular while gritting her teeth before adding "How are you feeling, Ula?" The koi mermaid is shuddering and shaking her head as she responds from her position on Sayaka's shoulder. "Not too well, I feel like I am about to drop off any second."

Sayaka open the zip of her bag and starts creating a comfier space for her companion. "Get in here, then, you will be safer there." After she complies, Sayaka mostly closes it, only leaving it a bit open for sufficient air, and walks among those weird moth girls in costume. "Aren't they aware it's not summer..." she asks before grinning at the sight of a familiar figure. "Hey, Madoka, you are here too! How are you holding up?"

Togo has posed:
    Togo looks back, and comes to the same conclusion. They have to act regardless of any directive. Besides, Fu-senpai asked them to. The Hero Club leader knows what she's doing. Or so Togo thinks right up until they arrive at their destination, and see nothing wrong. "Yuna-chan..." Togo says, holding onto the arm rests of her wheelchair. She can see Fu walking ahead, and the barrier crackling continuously. "There, Fu-senpai is heading deeper inside."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The little towers seemed more like displays, at best. About eight feet tall, with speakers, easter symbols, little consoles. Which Keaka was able to poke and prod at. Sunbreaker wasn't too concerned.... In these fields, she was more than capable of taking on a dozen sparkle skirts, easy. Well, at least she felt like it.

Madoka, fortunately... would find she didn't draw much attention. Non-magical people walked through without issue and, so long as she wasn't henshined, she didn't draw more than a cursory look. After all, this was all part of some promotion, right? Nothing most needed to worry about...

And the drain wasn't so bad. At least for normal people. The sparkle skirts would feel it as so much worse, though. Leeching at their abilities and draining their energy.

But nothing attacked. Nobody passing out into comas. Just a slow, steady, drip drip drip of energy...

However, Usagi arriving drew a glance from Sunbreaker. She turned and then lifted a hand, the DG girls getting ready to move and-- "Go check the north quadrant," Sunbreaker told them. They quickly glared at Usagi, before walking away.

Hinote, fortunately for him, would only feel the light energy drain. without a magical nature, he had no powers to suppress and didn't feel the double wammy.

Sunbreaker then glanced back to Usagi, her eyes narrowed. She... was magic. She really should know better. She stepped off the stage to land besides her. "This... is not where you should be, Usagi-chan. Especially if you're looking to transform and cause a scene." She reached out and poked her on the forehead. "Welcome to an Eclipse Field. My own, personal, invention. Just enough Dusk Zone that sparkle skirts can't fight effectively, my powers are amplified and, even if one of us were overwhelmed... it'd be easy for a dozen or more of our troops to appear. Yet not so much that it poses a threat to civilians aside from a bit of exhaustion. I'm sure you can 'hear' that song in the air, delicate though it is? My own personal invention." Made using the tools of Eclipse and the Black Beauty Sisters. Not that she'd mention THAT part...

"My advice? Leave, warn your friends to stay away. If they come here, they'll be lucky to just get beaten up. This is our territory now."

Yup, Usagi was right. She looooooved to brag...

But there was still a lot she was hiding. For now.

As more girls entered, they'd quickly find... they weren't being impeded. While it was doubly exhausting for the sparkle skirts, having their energy and powers drained and suppressed, and the song gnawing at the edges of their hearing sucked... it wasn't horrific. And while they could see the youma acting as 'security', the youma didn't make any move to assault them. A purely reactionary force, it seemed.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Wah, don't be so mean Sunbreaker-san!" There's a ton in Usagi's voice that gives the impression of volume, even when she's being fairly quiet, though she does wave her hands around, looking decidedly unstressed. The moth girls might have thrown her mean looks when they stalked by, but Usagi only tosses them a curious look. Maybe the moth-y fur is keeping them from getting cold?

"I'm not even here to fight, or cause a scene, or anything." She sticks her tongue out, impish, as if this were all totally normal and she were hanging out with a friend. "I was just curious if this was like, something I should tell Naru-chan to definitely stay away from or... cause you know, it feels gross here."

She had been sure that Sunbreaker would be ready to brag - but she'll admit she hadn't expected this! Eclipse Fields? Parts of the Dusk Zone? Wasn't that...

"...that's not going to be dangerous to the world, is it?" She asks carefully, thinking of all the problems the Midnight Tokyo Project had caused. "Cause! I mean! None of this sounds, you know,m good, but like, you know, is it like ticking time bomb to the end of the world...?"

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
    "Everything's working as expected." Clarthas reports, probably uselessly. Can Sunbreaker remotely control the towers with her gem magic without being next to one?

    He's just doing what he signed up for: Destroy the world.

    It's a moment before he realizes that some locals have just... walked up to Sunbreaker and are talking to her? What? The blonde twintailed one in front is a magical girl? Interesting, the way this... veil, or whatever is going on with when they're in and out of costume, works here. Why did she bring her civilian friends with her, though? Does she think they won't attack if provoked? Her friends are just a source of energy that will be knocked out if any real fight begins, after all...

    But, they're not looking for a fight today. Yes, every conflict gives them a little more power, but like. They can appreciate taking a day off after the victory of pulling this off, too!

    Clarthas walks over to stand by Sunbreaker mid-speech. When she talks about having a dozen soldiers appear, he curls his left arm as the gauntlet chimes in enthusiastically, "Link Drives are ready!" as if they're supposed to know what that means.

    Clarthas gives Usagi a curious look over with feigned detachment, attempting to exude an aura of imposing villainy in his stance. The clothing, the red eyes, the way his hair moves as if there are slight currents of power flowing around him, and having several inches on her probably help a bit.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari drew the fairly obvious fake sword. It was a large dowel with basically duct tape formed into a classic sword shape one might imagine in a cartoon. He held it in front of him as he wandered into the zone again, only feeling a light energy drain. He'd spin around slowly a moment looking around.

Shocks of blue and pink and... tiny people? caught his eye momentarily before they all went into backpacks. He blinked slowly at this. He had questions. Now was the time to get answers though.

Nothing was attacking him, besides the energy drain so that fake sword lowered as he wandered. "Uh. Hi." he'd wave over to Sayaka and Madoka, brushing a hand through his hair.

"What's exactly going on here, do you two know?" he asks.

He'll follow along behind as he frowns a little. He whispers. "What's with redhead over there."

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Where is Itsuki during all this? Why, she's in the bath! She is looking at her phone, which is in a sort of vacuum-sealed plastic baggy, to protect it from moisture. Her cute fairy, a little green puff ball with a sprout coming from its head is floating around Itsuki anxiously. It's picking up on Itsuki's tension. She hurries in getting out of the bath, getting dried off and dressed at a basic level, and takes off towards the map pinned location after sending back her own chat.
    GROUP CHAT: Itsuki --> Onee-chan, are you alright?
    It'll take her a bit to get from Yumegahama to the place this is happening, but she's on the way.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is a little surprised that Sunbreaker is not only here, but also not really bothering her at all. She revealed herself as Hope Blossom the other day, right? Maybe Sunbreaker forgot, or was too lost in her ego to pay attention. Either way, Madoka is eavesdropping on her taunts to Usagi when she notices Sayaka come up. With a faint smile and a wave, Madoka responds, "Hey, Sayaka-chan! I'm a little bit tired, and my Chara seem to be under the weather. I think it must be something in the air." If Gretchen makes eye contact with Ula at any point, she gives the little koi mermaid a wave.

    Come to think of it, she's seen these towers before too. More Sunbreaker stuff, maybe?

    Madoka approaches Usagi and Sunbreaker, both hands on the handle her bookbag. "You must be really confident," says Madoka. There's no point in hiding her magical nature from Sunbreaker or Sayaka, so she doesn't. "Doing this out in public, expecting not to get a response. Is this music like Hoshino-san's from the other day?"

    While talking, in the back of the pinkette's mind is how she'd respond to this. Could she stand outside the barrier and fire into it? Possibly, but maybe her arrows would lose power on the way in. Sending out Familiars would likely face the same issue, too. A part of her doesn't really believe in Sunbreaker's confidence, but she realizes at the moment that they're all well out of position if they wanted to pick a fight.

    Instead, words will have to do. Madoka is at least fairly sure that her exit strategy is a solid one.

    As Hinote approaches, Madoka glances down at his fake sword and back up at him. "We just arrived and are figuring things out. Are you here because of the energy drain?" She is, at this point, assuming that he's magic. Has she seen him before? Maybe, but it was a long time ago. Regarding the redhead, Madoka shrugs and assumes he means Sunbreaker. "She's a jerk. Watch out of her."

    Seeing Clarthas beside Sunbreaker, she asides to Hinote. "I don't know who that person is but they might be a jerk, too."

Karin Miyoshi has posed:
    One of the people who enters the field is not in civilian attire. At least not anymore. As soon as she was told by Taisha to investigate, she transformed to get there faster. She is crouched by one of the towers, her own barrier as compressed around her as she can get it by asking her fairy to do so. It's not much of an improvement for stealth, given the barrier is still practically steaming, but Karin Miyoshi is going to do her best to gather information without exposing herself, unlike all these others who are just walking in unaware.

    These must be more of those monsters... Not Vertex related but still dangerous. And that looks like two leader-types standing by two blonde girls--

    Karin's eyes widen when she sees that one of the two girls is Fu Inubouzaki, openly just standing there in plain view with her aura at maximum coverage. What. Is. She. Doing?

    With that... Song in her ears, and the ill feeling that her barrier is only partially blocking, she's not feeling very charitable. But... There's a plan here, right?

Fu Inubouzaki has posed:
    "Oi, Tsukino-san!" Fu calls out in casual greeting as the pale dome extends enough to include Usagi, Madoka, Sayaka, and Hinote within its area of effect. Fu doesn't know if it will actually protect them as well... It's supposed to be a barrier for just her, right? So she'll just just have to find out. For some reason, Fu is feeling more and more tense the longer she stays here, even though the energy drain effect doesn't appear to be getting worse or anything... Maybe she's even feeling a bit stronger. Maybe it's that song. "Inugami, are you sure you can protect additional people?" she asks her fairy, who, predictably, just stares at her, because it can't speak.

    "Of course you don't know..." she admits in a defeated voice. =_=

Yuna Yuki has posed:
    Yuna looks where Togo is directing her attention and sees Fu as well. She has never seen their barriers react like this before though. They're usually just a transparent flickering that only lasts a few moments. Is... Is Fu okay with it sparking like that? Her own fairy, Gyuki, gets out whenever it wants regardless of what Yuna says, so it's already floating around at her side.

    She quickly thumbs in a message to everyone.

    GROUP CHAT: Yuna --> Everyone, Togo-san and I are at the location. I can see Fu-senpai up ahead. Should we come inside too?

Togo has posed:
    Togo can't actually physically see anything different about this 'dangerous area'. It looks totally normal. There's people walking around, maybe a little bit tired, some others running around with a purpose, and Fu-senpai looking like a walking energy dome, going towards several others. And stopping? One of Togo's own fairies emerges, Aobozu, the egg spirit. Between her and Yuna... They should be safe, shouldn't they? She looks up at Yuna with a slightly pensive expression. They can't let their senpai face this on her own. "Let's join her, Yuna-chan."

    And unless for some reason they're told not to, or something stops them, or Yuna refuses... Soon another pair of barrier domes are flickering and sparking and spazzing as they approach.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka nods when Madoka replies to her. "Yes, I feel the same. I thought that weird feeling yesterday was luckily nothing, but I guess not." At least they are here to deal with it, if a day later than expected.

Ula peeks out of the part of the bag Sayaka left open when she hears Madoka's voice and replies to Gretchen's wave with one of her own. At least now she is now assured someone she trusts is with Sayaka.

When Hinote comes up, Sayaka raises an eyebrow as she examines him. He doesn't seem to be doing too bad, despite the drained. "We are because people would be in danger, of course. And that includes you. Aren't you feeling ill or some sort of weird symptom? Anyway, there are people here that are up to no good, so stay behind us and beware", Sayaka warns him.

Honestly, she is tempted to just chuck him into Oktavia's labyrinth, but that would raise its own issues, mostly with the other mahous. And she is not sure seeing Sunbreaker eldritch version resting around would do well for his spirit.

And then Hinoiri's speech comes up. So this is what it feels like to be inside a weaker version of the Dusk Zone, Sayaka realised with a pained smirk. And to think she was bullheaded enough to want to drag out Hinoiri from the real deal when she theorised she holed herself up in there. Good thing Riventon convinced her otherwise. Barely.

"Hello, Sunbreaker", Sayaka waves at the girl. "You sure outdid yourself this time around. So, how is this being kept up?" She has really gone all out when aiming for her ascension.

Sayaka takes a minute to ponder her options... If she could drag Sunbreaker into Oktavia's Labyrinth somehow. But regardless of its efficiency, it would have the same problems as before, and she is not sure Hinoiri would appreciate the experience of being back there.

"Wanna take a look to those towers?", Sayaka whispers to Madoka.

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Itsuki waits for a reply while she's on the train to Mitakihara. As she continues not to receive one, her worry grows. She sees Yuna-senpai respond, but nothing from her sister yet... Is Onee-chan okay!? The tiny yuusha is coming as fast as she can!! Hurry, train! Don't make me henshin and run there! D:
    Itsuki's hair is still wet, and the wind from moving fast will cause her to catch a cold!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced towards Clarthas when he confirmed that the link drives are working. What? What in the world are link drives? She swore if he bungled this somehow... no. Unlikely. She'd designed this perfectly. Nothing could stop her now. Nothing. "Very well," she told him. As if she had any idea what-so-ever what link drives were.

She then glanced back to Usagi before nodding. "Probably. It shouldn't affect Naru-chan that terribly... but the girl does tend to attract trouble, so it'd likely be best she avoided them. A sizeable variable like her would do much, much worse. But no..."

"This is no ticking time bomb." she crossed her arms behind her back, standing straight and menacing. Looking to all the world like a proper overly done villain. "This is... more akin to a power station. A constant energy drain. When we do it in massive quantities, you girls always interfere. Tell us how someone will get hurt. But this? Is just a slow, steady, persistent drain. Far more effecient, far less destructive, no?" she asked as if she wasn't talking, and standing, like some kind of villain performing their monologue. It was fine. She'd taken a class in it. "Once more of these go up, I expect more sparkle skirts will show up to stop them... but, frankly, none of them can stop me now. The time of my ascension. For our victory, is at hand." Well. Her victory, at least.

She glanced towards Madoka and... "Of course I'm confident. I designed this field so no matter how many sparkle skirts attack, we'll be easily able to stop them. It may not look like it... but these Eclipse Zones? Are more or less fortresses. If you are foolish enough to attack them... you'll be the ones to suffer. You can barely touch us when we're outnumbered a eight to one... in a place like this? A single one of our forces could hold off an army... of... your lot."

It was then that she'd seen Sayaka. Madoka was here... of course Sayaka was as well. Did this mean she had to... no. Sayaka was smarter than that. She wouldn't... she couldn't try something here. But she felt a small bit of anxiety at the thought. She then glanced to Hinote and his 'sword'. She sighed. "Just don't go swinging that around or you'll be... excised from the property. We aren't looking for a fight." Yet they were so good at finding them.

Then Fu...

And the girl was seen. The barrier was seen. And Fu could likely feel as so many eyes fell on her. Worse, her barrier would be feeling the constant, crushing pressure. Struggling to really 'grow' at all here.

Sayaka speaks and she lets out a small bit of breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "And yes, I am a jerk. Sparkle skirts shouldn't be here, though. And I think it's pretty clear how it's being kept up." She motioned towards the tower on the stage. "Those. Of course, I imagine it won't be long before some sparkle skirt gets it in her mind that she, and she alone, can stop this. And then you'll be able to tell allll your little friends how hopeless it is to face me. You stand in the presence of the true brilliance of Kirakirafantastica! It truly is a shame we had to be on opposite sides. You girls likely would have won, my colleagues are far from competent." Pause. "Present company excluded, of course."

... Sure it was.

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
    It feels gross here? No, it feels right. The world feels gross.

    The world is wrong.

    It's always felt wrong, but it's more noticeable ever since Keaka first returned from the Dusk Zone.

    Conversely, usually anyone nonmagic around Clarthas feels a little more suspicious of others. It's a little easier to jump to conclusions, demonize, and assume the worst of people. But right now? He's in peak condition. He's feeling great. He's in his metaphysical element. So his personal darkness is entirely contained. Being in the darkness field still sucks in general for folks, though.

    Anyway, people are just walking out with FAIRIES OPENLY PROJECTING BARRIERS.

    "Clarthas!" The tinny voice has a little extra alarm and urgency in its tone. "I'm detecting resonance use! Or, it's being disturbed somehow... Something is off!" The 'eye' shape in the lines inside the crystal 'looks' at him and then out towards... Fu, who is very blatantly Doing Something.

    Clarthas's eyes widen in shock. He knew this day would come, but he didn't know when. The fairy thing is a little odd, but magic powers can manifest in countless ways, after all.

    He stops paying attention to anything else and turns to Fu. He walks up to the edge of the barrier and looks down at her. "Well, well, well."

    "'When THEY return, together we'll end them.', right?" He sounds like he's quoting something, then lifts his lower arm and turns it so the blue-grey-flickering gem is facing Fu, lines inside it forming the abstract shape of an eye looking at her.

    "I'm HERE. We have returned." He grins menacingly.

    If she doesn't, like, immediately henshin and punch him or something, though, he follows it up with a more casual tone. "So, how d'ya wanna do this? Introductions? Talk about who we are and like, what the whole deal is? Do you just wanna fight? Do you wanna go round up your friends and then fight me? Do you wanna go back and plan and then fight me at a later time? I can be amenable."

    What.

    Has he mistaken her for someone else...?

    "They told you you'd accepted the duty of protection, but they didn't say from what, right? It's a lot. I know. I've been there."

    What.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari indeed remains behind Madoka and Sayaka as he takes in the information. Got it. Jerks. "Yeah I feel a little tired but... not. Badly so. I feel like something is pulling from me. Like. That one time." he doesn't elaborate on that one time right now as he just sticks behind the two.

Now isn't the time to trade strange stories anyways.

"Don't mind me. I don't. Have a thing anywways." he says as he shrugs. It's true, all he has his the fake sword.

Since he's not-magical. And most likely not seen as a threat, and that guy(?) at the console has stepped away, starts walking slowly backwards at an angle towards one of those consoles.

Then he just blaps his hand straight across the console probably touching all the things he shouldn't while the other guys distracted. *blap*

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks behind her and sees at least two girls covered in a strange barrier thing. Um... is that okay? She hopes they aren't actually trying to henshin or something, and wonders if it's some kind of half-henshin state like her Chara Change. She waves at Fu and Karin as they approach, but then goes back to keeping most of her attention on Sunbreaker and her backup.

    As Sunbreaker monologues, Madoka listens to the part where she mentions a single mahou deciding that she can stop this on her own, and she suddenly gasps, "You can read MINDS now?!"

    Gretchen pipes up, "No, Madoka-chan, you're just predictable."

    An awkward moment passes and Madoka goes from being surprised to embarrassed. When Sayaka speaks, she whispers back, "Y-yeah, let's go take a look." Then she starts heading towards the one on the stage. She still has no visible weapon out, and no apparent magic aside from her little fairy.

    Gretchen pops out of the bag. Madoka starts to protest, but the dark fairy flails her arms. "If you're just gonna walk up to them then what's the whole point of being sneaky?!" Then the tiny Witch Chara starts floating up to the Tower, testing to see if anything will happen to her or if her progress will be impeded in any way. Madoka, meanwhile, casts worried glances around. Sure, the baddies said they weren't looking for a fight today, but if Gretchen pushed her luck too far...

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Other people show up behind Usagi, crowding in to hear Sunbreaker's explanation, and Luna, inside the bag, is sweatdropping. Is crowding together like this really such a good idea?

There's a strange man with Sunbreaker, leaning in with a totally villainous aesthetic, and Usagi inches back just a little, only to stop when she realizes she's got Madoka and Sayaka and Fu and some boy she vaguely recognizes... oh!!! He was the boy in the Labyrinth!

She's kind of surprised he's still wandering into dangerous situations, but isn't Naru-chan always doing the same thing? And then she hears her name, and blinks in shock when she realizes Fu-chan from her class has some kind of... flickering barrier? And two more people she recognizes from school have those weird barriers too?

Turning to Sunbreaker, she says very clearly, "I just want to be clear that I came up and was very honest about why I'm here, and I am still not picking a fight!"

It's bad enough Sunbreaker thinks she's Daifuku! She doesn't want to make trouble for her cousin, later!

"I'll tell Naru-chan she'll want to avoid this place and... I mean... draining a bunch of people a little bit by bit of their energy isn't great, but... if we can't take you on alone, I'm glad you're telling us about it? Because we really should tell each other about this kind of thing. It seems, uh, dangerous?"

She's still trying to be reasonable, in spite of everything, because she's not in henshin and doesn't want a fight. There's Sunbreaker, five moth girls, a wolf guy, and youma around. All she's got is herself, Sayaka-chan, Madoka-chan, and Fu-chan and her glowing friends. They are well and truly outnumbered!

She raises her hand, as if they were in class, not even noticing Hinote leaving. "Um... when you ascend, are you going to take these things down? You won't even care about them anymore, right? Because you'll be going home to break the sun and be the bestest there ever was?"

And then the weird, villainous guy starts challenging... Usagi turns her head. Fu-chan? Why...

The raised hand turns into a pointing hand, as she looks from Clarthas to Fu.

"Um... my classmate is just a fourteen year old girl, Villain-san. I don't think she knows you..."

Usagi could be wrong, of course. She hadn't even known Fu was magic, before today! But... she gets the feeling something weird is going on.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Well, too bad for that. Sayaka was honestly hoping to get a bit more. Of course, there is the threat of the moth swimmers, Sunbreaker's colleague over there that is busy saying odd things at Fu and the star of the event herself, but not even a little hint to anything else that is protecting this system? Hopefully what she had said really is all.

Though, a big part of her is quite sad Hinoiri really is this hasty at leaving everything behind, even if she weren't endangering people. Too bad they really are in no conditions to pick a fight. Let's try talking instead. It's never a bad time to try and appeal to Hinoiri. She knows she cares, Sayaka is the proof of that, she can't have been the only one right? Riventon had been willing to lend a hand when it came to Hinoiri and he had asked for nothing back, and besides he too had Mami and Norie.

"Sounds like soon enough you will be alone at the top, Sunbreaker. Is that really any better than what you had here? How many people have you met, or cared about here? Will you really feel better when you won't have them anymore?" That has to get to Hinoiri, right?

She is distracted by the Yuusha and Clarthas, then. Especially, Fu. "Do you all know each other?"

Though, since Madoka agrees with her course of action, Sayaka follows her. "It's alright, Gretchen. Sunbreaker knows that our choices here are very limited." And there is no way she either is going to let the energy drain stay up no matter how small. Even if the bluenette is surprised Hinoiri actually took into account what she said to minimise the damage.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
As Hinote went closer to the panel and tried to touch it, a display came up and--

His hand would stop before he touched it. There was... a barrier of sorts around it? That owuld likely be strange, because if he'd paid attention he'd notice, from time to time, youma touched them. Staff touched them... So why couldn't he?

Oh.

"In case you're curious, though, that won't work. As long as the barrier is up, only those I allow can touch them." Only those infused with dark energy... or wearing the gloves that some of the easter employees were wearing. Not that she'd say that.

On top of that, the symbols on the screen were mostly of... a progress bar? Very, very slowly filling. At the speed it was filling, it'd likely take *hours* before it filled.

"So long as none of you sparkle skirts get aggressive, there'll be no need for me to respond in kind, now will there? Just be careful what you touch. Sigh. I probably am *far* too forgiving of you lot. But then, if your enemies can't appreciate your brilliance, who can?" she asked with a huff.

"Once I ascend, these won't be my worry anymore. It'll be up to the rest of them to do with them as they will." I doubt they'll be able to make anything near as effective as I, of course."

She then glanced to Madoka. "And no. I mean, I could read minds, probably, but I never took those classes."

She glanced towards Madoka again, cocking an eye. Like moths to a flame.

"As an aside, though... you likely don't want to be here too long. They are attuned to *your* lots energy.... so staying here will only accelerate the drain. But do feel free to stay as long as you like~"

And then.... Then Sayaka had to kill her fun, didn't she? The smirk faded and she glanced away. "That's not really important," she muttered. "Not my world. Not my place to stay. Besides. I'm going home to be a ruler. Not... a nobody. Either way, that doesn't really matter. It's not really connected to my creation, now is it? You can't touch them, anyway. Even if you had dark energy, anyone with your light magic would be repelled... and the moment you try to break through the barriers, you'll be expelled. The outcome of the situation was determined the moment the barrier went up. The only reason I'm letting you all see this is because now you can tell your colleagues to give up rather than waste our time on a fruitless attack. Well. And we get more energy the more you come to fruitlessly poke at it."

Karin Miyoshi has posed:
    Karin is facepalming as she sees another two Yuusha just stride into the danger zone, not even transforming first so they can defend themselves. What kind of training have they been doing!? With her powers being pushed down, and this unpleasant draining sensation, Karin searches for something she can actually effect to put a stop to this Insidious Scheme. Were these towers always here?

    If not... Maybe they should resume not being here.

    Before Karin can do anything, she sees others moving to investigate as well. She'll just let them handle that then, and find out the results. Meanwhile, she has something else can do.

    A red and white streak zips up into the air and then comes back down behind Sunbreaker and Clarthas, paired katanas drawn. She is practically sweating from that pressure weighing down on her, but is trying to avoid showing the strain. She is made of tougher stuff than a normal Yuusha. She'll deal. If there's a barrier protecting the towers, then that's something to report back about. She's not about to do something rash when she was only ordered to investigate. However, she IS about to act if this spooky guy is threatening a Yuusha. Less skilled or not, she knows that at least the Hero Club and her are on the same side.

    "You should step away from her." Karin's voice calls out, as she raises one hand and points her katana at Clarthas. "If you are all just doing whatever it is you're doing, and not fighting... Then you really don't want to mess with a Yuusha." That blazing ball that her barrier has become is swirling around her, bright white and incandescent, as energy vapor rises from it. She is focused completely on controlling her body, her voice, her face, her posture and not letting her extended arm tremble even a little bit. She'll fight if she has to. But she's hoping she won't have to, if what has been said is true about the goal of this... This project.

'Fu Inubouzaki has posed:
    Fu takes a moment to read and reply to the chat messages, missing the moment when Clarthas starts focusing on her like his attention is a laser.

    GROUP CHAT: Fu --> Don't worry, Itsuki. I'm okay. Inugami is protecting me, so the Shinju-sama's blessing is still working!
    Fu --> Yuna, Togo, I hope it won't come to a fight, because we'll be at a disadvantage, but you can come in. Just don't

    Her message is sent early as she looks up, startled, when she is being addressed and... Challenged? She may not now precisely what this person is talking about, but... Some of the notes of his words are resonating.

    "We were definitely told what we were defending the world again." she replies sternly. "And we'll keep defending against it, no matter what. It's what a Hero does. If you want to find out more about that, we can talk about it outsi--"

    Then an unfamiliar girl drops down out of the sky, points a katana at this intimidating man, and warns him not to mess with the Yuusha. Ehhhh!? So there were more of them after all!? Why don't Taisha ever tell her these things!!

    "Hahaa...." she laughs in a very unsteady manner. "Let's not rush to any conclusions..." she adds on as she raises a hand to try to indicate this escalation should stop here.

    "Tsukino-san, Miki-san... I take it that you also don't want to fight here, yes?" She turns her head to look back at Yuna and Togo as they continue coming towards them with their own fairies, their own barriers, and their own blessings of the Shinju-sama burning within.

    "So... We should probably leave. Come on... I'll treat you all to some udon." Yes, she just had four bowls of udon, all this stress has made her hungry again.

    Also, though Usagi may not have noticed, Fu was at the arcade when the first Rainbow Crystal appeared... She's also all over the internet, pickpocketing Joe while he lay on the floor. So. You know. Trustworthy!

    She isn't about to tell those poking at the towers what to do or not do, but the only way she's transforming here is if she, her friends, or other people are attacked.

Yuna Yuki has posed:
    Yuna looks at her phone in her hand, reading the messages, so misses Karin's initial arrival. However, a flashy outfit like that and such a bold, commanding voice is enough to get her attention. She pauses where she is, only a few meters away from the whole... Gathering. "What's going on here, Fu-senpai? Why shouldn't we fight? Isn't all this..." she gestures around vaguely, far too bewildered to be more specific. "...Hurting people?"

    In Yuna's mind, there is something very clear about what a Hero does, and letting innocent people suffer or get hurt is not one of them. She has to act. She wouldn't be Yuna Yuki if she didn't. She steps closer, letting go of Togo's wheelchair bars, but still staying nearby as she gets even closer.

    She looks at Clarthas and Sunbreaker with a sharp, determined eye, waiting for answers. From someone.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari can feel something stop his hand. He looks to his hand and looks to the panel so he tries again and looks to Sunbreaker's hands and other to Clarthas' hands and back down to his. Ah. He's missing something. Well. That's pointedly annoying, as he steps away and raises his hands.

Look, he's not touching anything anymore, but he says. "Hey I can be a jerk back to jerks, too. Jerk." he says pointedly. His mouth writing a check his butt can absolutely not cash even a little.

"So big energy drain plot. Whoop de doo. I bet you feel really big draining normal ass people, like myself." he says through some gritted teeth. Because he's still being drained lightly.

It's all he can do, because he isn't about to try swinging his sword right now. If the actual obvious magical folks here aren't doing anything, maybe there's a reason for that.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka watches as Hinote gets stopped by a barrier. Huh. She was half expecting some kind of dark magic zap or other kind of attack.

    Gretchen, meanwhile, is still an unpurified X-Chara and has a bit of dark energy in her. She seems mostly unblocked by any barriers, but also a little fairy by herself can't actually do anything to the tower, either. After circling around it for a moment or two, she floats in and gets a closer look. The console is right there, and even though Hinote had trouble with it, she starts floating closer and closer to see if the barrier hurts to touch.

    Then she gets closer...

    ... and closer...

    ... inches closer...

    Wait, she's suddenly a lot closer than Hinote was. "Hey wait a minute... WAIT ONE SILLY SECOND!"

    Madoka tilts her head at Gretchen, asking, "What is it, Gretchen-chan?"

    Gretchen looks back over her shoulder at Madoka, then at Sunbreaker, and then at Hinote. A wicked grin crawls across her face. "Y'know, aside from the sword, maybe you had the right idea."

    Gretchen walks up to the console and starts tap-tap-tapping. She plays video games, so she knows how to button mash. Madoka protests, "W-wait, we don't know what that does!"

    "That's why we gotta button mash! So we'll find out!" responds Gretchen.

    Madoka starts nervously looking around. Oh geeze, this is going to be an instant retaliation, isn't it? There sure are a lot of baddies around. The pinkette reaches out to grab her Chara and pull her to safety, but the barrier stops her hand. She'd have to henshin in order to use Gretchen's dark energy.

Togo has posed:
    Togo sits elegantly, back straight, no longer scared of being hurt just because of her disability. Her cool assessment of the situation, the positions of everyone, memorizing this new Yuusha's appearance so she can ask questions later if they get separated, is interrupted with concern only when Yuna steps away and begins to advance while Fu desperately tries to deescalate and backpedal. "Yuna-chan... I'm not saying we should allow this to continue, but this might not be our battlefield." she cautions, with worry and kindness in her voice.

    She recognize Usagi, and the cute Luna from the Valentine's cooking they did, and Madoka, and of course Sayaka from her first time being in the Jukai, and the trick-or-treating they did together, and everything... She doesn't think any of them want to become involved in a fight right no--

    Ah Madoka has a fairy too. And she's messing with the controls for these devices. Right. It looks like we're doing this then. Togo wearily puts a hand to her forehead, only half because of the draining and power suppressing effect.

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Itsuki, meanwhile, is still on the train. Q_Q Kodama is flittering around trying to comfort her as she reads the sparse text replies, demanding why that message got cut off and what's going on now.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino buries her face in her hands and groans. "Why are you all like this?!"

You all is totally unfair to Fu, who also has the right idea, and Sayaka, who also isn't starting trouble.

Still, Yuna is asking why they shouldn't fight, and Usagi turns to face her, not with her back to Sunbreaker and Clarthas (absolutely Not she is not doing That), but at an angle, so she can theoretically watch both.

"We need to leave because we are at a disadvantage, and getting our butts kicked when people are mostly okay is not a good idea! There's no reason to do that! And besides, you heard her - this place drains people like us more than anyone, so we're just gonna end up accidentally helping them if we stay and tiny fairy if you don't stop making things worse I'm going to be SO upset with you!"

This is aimed at Gretchen, a mom-tone that Usagi is absolutely startled to hear come out of her voice, but there she is, copying exactly what her mother would say in a time like this.

"And you! With the swords! Why do you have to be so escalate-y? Why are you all being so escalate-y? Sunbreaker was answering all of our questions just fine!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Well, looks like Sayaka was right. At least partially. No other reason for that smirk to fade. "Are you sure you aren't lying to yourself, Sunbreaker?I don't want you to obtain something that will make you desolate", Sayaka explains. That, and she disagrees with energy drain out of principle, but of everything she feels matters here, only what Hinoiri herself stands to lose with her victory matters here.

And then Fu suggests to leave. And Sayaka can't deny that suggestion has merit if their presence really is only aiding Hinoiri. They can't fight, they can't touch those things, she can't get to Hinoiri, then what else can they do?

Hinote has apparently given Gretchen an idea, a very bad one, Sayaka thinks. "Gretchen, is this really the right time to mess with the towers this haphazardly? This is far from the voice of reason you have been trying to be." Emphasis on trying, because not everything she had done for Madoka's good was the best choice, by far.

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
> SAYAKA: Ask if Clarthas and Fu know eachother.

    "Huh? Nah, we never met."

> USAGI: Protest that Fu is just a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl!

    Clarthas is well aware that the forces of good recruit young... He holds out a finger. "Not your fight. ...Unless it is?" He looks curiously at Fu. "Are you a green-type? Enhancing your friends and all that?"

> KARIN: Interfere.

> CLARTHAS: Be told not to mess with a Yuusha.

    "Look out! Behind you!" The gauntlet warns, and he turns around after she leaps behind him. "Well, I can see you're a red-type. Mess with a Hero? Kind of what I signed up to do, right? You accepted the duty of protection... and I, of destruction. If you want to do this here, I'm down. We can put Sunbreaker's wonderful invention to the test! And there's something else I've been wondering, ever since I came to this side:"

    "When you've fought together alongside other resonance-users, you start developing special combo techniques, right? Tandem Drive. Powers you can only use together, that change how you fight when you're together. But..."

    "...I wonder. When you fight a rival, can something similar happen? Do you form a... rapport that changes how you fight them? I'm honestly scientifically curious! Aren't you? Or maybe some of your friends are? No?"

> FU and USAGI: Attempt to de-escalate.

    Clarthas three-quarter-turns and steps back a couple of times, so he can look between the two Yuusha and Usagi without constantly spinning around.

    To Usagi telling off Karin, he comments, "Aren't some Heroes always that way? Have you not worked with others before?"

    To Fu, he answers, "It's your call. If I were you, I'd want to know more about all this. They're so terribly bad at explaining. ...Why aren't yours speaking up, anyway?" He taps his own gauntlet with his finger.

    "...Are they turned into those summoned creatures, somehow? So very strange..." He circles around Karin to look at her fairy from all sides, not seeming to mind the look she's no doubt giving him. "I don't see the core matrix. Somewhere else? And you both have summoning powers? Hmmm..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker glanced up and THERE IT WAS! TWIN GIRL WITH SWORDS! "Finally!" Sunbreaker yelled. She held up her hands and a bolt of fire was--

... And the girl was warning. Them. Warning them. "What in the world is Yuusha?" she asked. "Are you going to attack us now? As for why you're not going to start a fight, little girl... is because you'd lose. And get trounced. And be lucky to so much as scratch me, let alone my creation. I wouldn't let you all in here if I didn't know how powerful it was. I, fortunately for all of you... am generous enough to not pound you into the dirt until you start things." She glanced to Karin and--

There was an alert! She turned towards the console and--

A moment later she was there, hand around gretchen, snatching her out of the air. "You little wannabe omelette, I should--"

She snapped, her tone vicious. She then turned towards Madoka... before thrusting the dark-egg into Madoka's chest hard enough to likely knock her off her feet. "Keep. Your little mascot. Off. My. Work. That's it. THAT'S IT!" she yelled. "All of you! OUT! OUT!"

Sunbreaker gave Sayaka a dirty look. "And I'm getting EVERYTHING I need, so don't you try to question what I am lying about!" Then blinked. "UGH! Now your little omelette has me all frazzled. Ugh. You're not supposed t obe able to tamper with this!" she snapped, shoving them aside and tapping on the panels. She then sighed with relief. "Good. Nothing is damaged. All of you. OUT!" she yelled. "If they don't leave, remove them," she told Clarthas, before returning to it...

Despite her, rather obvious arrogance.... it seemed already there was a slight hole in her defenses. Kind of made you wonder... how many more there were.

Karin Miyoshi has posed:
    Karin turns to keep her eyes on Clarthas while at the same time backing up so that she's not putting her back to Sunbreaker. All those enemies with their eyes on them, first on Fu because of the barrier and now... "This is a very interesting conversation. And I think we should have it somewhere else, some other time." She also casts a suspicious glare towards Sunbreaker as the latter seems very EAGER and EXCITED to see her. She doesn't think they've ever encountered each other... So another weirdo like this guy? Or... Are they associated with...!?

    Something to ask Taisha. But not now. "Yuusha. You shouldn't be fighting here right now. You have the option of leaving--iie, we've been TOLD to leave. I'll take care of this problem some other time. You aren't needed here. Go!"

    As Clarthas is asking why 'hers' isn't speaking while looking at a dog-spirit, a cow, and an egg, Karin's own fairy chooses this moment to speak. "All things must pass!" he announces.

    Karin chokes a bit, and then clears her throat, before announcing. "Another time! Get out or I'll carry you out!" she yells at all the non-villains present, civilian or otherwise. She's the only one among them henshined after all.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "You're not my mommy!" shouts Gretchen at Usagi, still mashing buttons.

    "Okay, but I am and I'm telling you to stop," responds Madoka. She doesn't quite agree with Usagi a hundred percent, but causing trouble for no reason wont get them anywhere.

    Gretchen continues, disobedient and unabated, "If you're my mom then I want ice cream!"

    Hands on Hips, Madoka leans forward and says, "I'm not gonna give you ice cream if you don't behave!"

    Gretchen stops to turn around and give Madoka a dirty look. "Neither one of us wants to sit here and allow this to happen. Whatever Obsidian is planning with these things can never be good!" Then Sayaka points out that she's hardly being reasonable, and while this isn't the first time she's argued with the bluenette it is the first time she's had to realize that Sayaka has a point. "But the other Chara..."

    Suddenly, Sunbreaker is there, grabbing her out of the air. Gretchen yelps and squirms in Sunbreker's grip before being thrusted into Madoka's chest, and the Chara Bearer holds the X-Chara gently while giving Sunbreaker a wide-eyed stare. Gretchen is trembling.

    "My Heart, Unlock."

    Immediately, Hope Witch is there, standing in front of Sunbreaker. She holds up one hand and says, "I'm not going to pick a fight. Henshining like this keeps her out of harm's way. That's all." Then she turns away from the console and walks out.

    A slight barrier of darkness surrounds her, a thin aura that could flare up at any moment. She's angry. Angry that Gretchen didn't listen to her, and angry that Sunbreaker dared to touch the dark fairy. It has actually been pretty difficult to corrupt Madoka, as pure as her heart has been, but maybe that was only because the darkness had nothing to hold onto.

    Eventually she decides that walking isn't fast enough to get her away from the increasingly long list of things she's mad about, and she walks through a portal and into her own Labyrinth.

Fu Inubouzaki has posed:
    Fu snap-points at the new Yuusha. Her opinion of the girl's personality aside, she's not risking the lives of innocent people by fighting here... That's the argument she's going to use. "Girls, if we fight here right now, the same people we're trying to help might get caught in it. Hurting innocent people isn't something a Hero does." Then she looks at Yuna. "Is it?" She doesn't wait for an answer as she makes the first gesture of deescalation by turning her back on the two villains despite one of them saying Ominous Things and the other looking like she was about to fireball someone and now looking like she's going to pick them all up by the scruff of the neck and drop them outside in the street.

    She pauses by Yuna, to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Yuna-chan." she says simply. If Yuna doesn't back off on her own, she'll help by gently tugging the redhead away. This isn't the jukai. Bystanders aren't somewhere else. They're all around them. Not. The. Time.

    As another Yuusha transforms--Wait, Madoka isn't a Yuusha? That didn't look like the Yuusha System. Is her fairy different then? And a portal?? That's... No. Not right now. We out, fam. Go, go, go.

Yuna Yuki has posed:
    Yuna gawks at Usagi and her argument. "...You'd let people suffer because they're mostly okay? You'd abandon people in trouble because the numbers are against you!?" She continues staring as she looks at the various people trying to get the heroes to leave and the ones acting like they WANT a fight, and... Her tone is sharp. "A Hero doesn't abandon anyone in their time of need. A Hero makes the impossible possible! Even if Tokyo was filled with enemies, I am not going to stop fighting just because it's hard!" She is getting worked up, and Gyuuki is flying in circles around her in matching agitation. She is clenching her fast as she steps forwards, looking very seriously at the two obvious villains despair all the other enemies lurking around, hidden or obvious. "I--!" she starts.

    But then Fu tells her not now. The new Yuusha tells her not now. With a hand on her shoulder, hearing the argument that fighting here and now might endanger the same people she wants to protect. Yuna is forced to choke down her words and her righteous anger. She slowly lowers her fist to her side as she looks down at the ground.

    She is... Not okay with this. But she'll grit her teeth, and do what she must. Right now, NOT fighting is what will help these people most.

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
> All things must pass!
    "Bwaa?!" Clarthas just lets out an extremely undignified noise of surprise as what he had just concluded was a summoned monster speaks. "Wait, what are you?!" He's beginning to suspect that maybe these aren't Abstractum Users after all. Or this world's version of Abstractum is really weird...

    If the fairies can sense that sort of energy manipulation, they may be able to tell that right now he's gaining energy too.

    Just like how other versions of the Yuusha System are different, he doesn't Bloom though. He just keeps unlocking skill tree nodes. The Taisha really gave you girls a raw deal!

    If the fairies refuse to speak further, Clarthas simply stands up straight. Sunbreaker said leave. "You heard her." He's left on edge, ready, as another girl transforms and he catches sight of another one of those fairies amongst the group.

> YUNA: Give a heroic speech

    Clarthas smiles and points at her. "That's the spirit! That's what I expect from a hero!"

    As they actually start to leave though, he calls out one more thing: "Oh! I am Clarthas Anode! We will meet again!" The gauntlet chimes, "And I am Vision of Thorns, Sarida for short. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Togo has posed:
    Togo will fight if Yuna does. But... It seems she won't have to. As angry as Yuna is, and Togo has never seen Yuna angry, her best friend isn't incapable of reason. She reaches out and gently takes Yuna's hand that isn't a fist. Holding it softly, and looking up at the red-haired girl. "We should go..." she says quietly.

    With Fu and Togo both pulling Yuna away... Yeah. They're all leaving. Despite helping to play peacemaker, or at least negotiate Yuna into leaving, the elegant, gentle-looking Togo, turns as she moves her wheelchair away, looking back over her shoulder. There's...

    Something in her eyes. Not an evil presence, not some sort of supernatural menace, not any of the power and confidence and other elements that make someone somehow More than human, More than a standard villain... Nothing like that.

    It's just... The flat, calculating, emotionless eye of a war veteran, carefully lining them up in her mind, with crosshairs over their faces, as though she already has her finger on the trigger. 'This is definitely not over. Not that I expected you would think it was.'

    There are magical girls, and then there are magical girls who will anything for the sake of others.

    Togo... Might be one of the latter.

    Soon enough, she is facing forwards, the energy draw from Aobozu's barrier making her dizzy by now. Yet, she still feels some kind of... Something. Power building up. But not something she can access or control. Almost like it's separate from her.

    She doesn't recognize it, but some reason it's nostalgic.

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Itsuki comes running up to the meeting place on the map, out of breath. "Eeeh...? Where is everyone...?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The thing is - Usagi isn't sorry Sunbreaker is upset, except in that Sunbreaker is no longer sharing information. Information that even if Usagi herself can't totally work with it, Ami-chan and Suna-san and Rashmi-chan and Mamochan and every other fantastic genius Usagi knew could do something with.

And now she's stopped sharing information and the tension in the air is high and the fairy said she wasn't her mom and some girl (Yuna Yuki, Grade 8, always hanging out with Fu-chan after class and around the club room) is giving her a heroic speech and Usagi snaps.

Verbally, anyway.

"I'm not abandoning anyone! I'm using my head instead of getting caught up in my ego and my, I don't know, anime dreams of being a hero, or whatever it is you're doing." She's not very tall, but her blue eyes are hard and angry as she stares down at Yuna Yuki, daring her to do something.

"In what world does getting your butt kicked in a place that's going to drain our energy to make the energy stronger sound like a good idea? She told us that this place will drain our energy even more than a normal person, and she's not lying, because she's hoping that someone will just decide to get a big head and come roaring in and lose all their energy and make her plan work even better. Being a hero isn't just punching every jerk we see in the face, it's figuring out how we can help the most amount of people possible without getting ourselves killed, because newsflash, if we die, lots of other people we could save in the future will die too! Sunbreaker doesn't kill. I don't know anything about this guy, or the wolf person, or the Moth Girls, and neither do you."

Angry speech over, she turns sharply, offering Fu a very curt bow, as the other girl intervenes and offers an explanation. "Fu-chan, thank you for the offer of udon, but I have to tell my friends about all of this and start making a plan. Sayaka-chan, are you heading back to the school? I'll walk with you, but if you were on a patrol or something, I'll make my own way."

Then, deliberately, she turns to Sunbreaker. "Thank you for answering my questions. I'm going to try and stop you, of course! But I'll do it in the future."

And then, either with Sayaka or alone, she stalks away, already digging out her cellphone to start texting her boyfriend and her best friend.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari gives Gretchen a little smile. "Ha, someone agrees with me." he says. But then she's snatched out of the air and Hinote is about to do something really dumb, he hefts the sword and----! Oh, he stops when Sunbreaker shoves the tiny chara back into Madoka.

He learns some things, That may be useful later. Not right now. But he frowns when Sunbreaker starts demanding them all out.

Maybe he'll come back later and snoop around. He thinks. Right now, right now maybe it's better to step back, as he gets an annoyed look on his face. But what can he do. Swing a fake sword. Probably get into the hospital?

He shoves the fake prop sword back into his backpack and frowns. This might turn bad if they don't leave well enough alone for now.

He'll walk out of the area, to where he was before he entered the zone.

"Dammit." he'd mutter to himself.

Clarthas Anode (174) has posed:
> USAGI: Give a PLEASE BE SENSIBLE speech!

    Clarthas's attention is drawn to her, eyebrows shooting up. She's not a ???-User, she doesn't have a fairy, but Sunbreaker implied she was some kind of magic.

    He gives her a sympathetic but knowing look. "Ah. You're the logical one that actually thinks about the consequences of her actions. They could probably use a clever Blue-type. But it won't make a difference."

    He shakes his head, sadly. "Heroes won't listen to logic, and they don't care about making things better, only restoring the status quo. And villains won't listen to you either; Either we based our plans on logic in the first place," He gestures at one of Sunbreaker's towers as he says that, "...or we don't care about logic anyway, just like the Heroes."

    "Your path is going to be a frustrating and difficult one, with few friends, and none that stay by you forever. If it's any consolation, once we've won, you won't have to suffer that anymore."

    He clenches a fist. "The world is wrong. Not you. We'll make a better one."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Clarthas Anode gives a speech that would undoubtedly be incredibly meaningful to an actually logical person, who always thought with head instead of heart and struggled to connect with others.

As it is, Usagi just screeches, picking up her bag (and thus Luna) and hugging it to her chest as she hurriedly stomps away.

Karin Miyoshi has posed:
    The dual-wielder remains stoic, and in-control throughout all of this. Clearly made of sterner stuff, or at least more disciplined than the other Heroes. Once everyone is out, Karin's slow, weight shifting steps as she maneuvers around to keep both Sunbreaker and Clarthas in her sights, ends with a half-bend of her knees, and then a blur of red and white as she flickers away somewhere like a Shinju-sama darned ninja.

    She is not staying, and she has sacrificed enough energy, even if she wasn't supplying most of it. And she'll still be staggering for a bit once she lands on a rooftop a fair distance away, leaning against the wall of a stair well leading up to said roof, and breathing hard as she sweats. She was holding it together in front of the others, but that wasn't anything like she has ever experienced. She hasn't faced Vertex yet... And that man... Could he be associated with the Sky Gods after all? He seemed to know a lot, but also be confused about some parts. Clenching her teeth, Karin forces herself upright, and fails to notice a petal on the flower symbol on her uniform's left shoulder has been filled in.

    She reverts from her henshin, looks at her smartphone, and tucks it away into her school uniform, before stealthily opening the roof access door and making her way down through the building, followed by her shogun spirit fairy.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Well, at least Hinoiri has admitted she is lying about something. That's a step forward, surely? Though there really is nothing more she can say or do, besides point out her temper loss. "Sunbreaker, calm down", Sayaka says sternly. We were trying to get her out too, and don't yell at Madoka-chan. She wasn't approving of it either", the bluenette speaks out. "Anyway, I will be going now. See you." She gives Hinoiri a last glance implying, before following after Madoka. They have to rendezvous for this.