600/It's Pronounced Rifle 3

It's Pronounced Rifle 3
Date of Scene:	15 October 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Norie Okana shoots Naru with a heartstealer rifle. Oops.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Usagi Tsukino, Naru Osaka, Nephrite, Natsu Oukanno, Kano Watanabe, Kyouka Inai

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Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima has been trying to hunt Pure Hearts with her rifle. She found a target.

Kin Tanaka is a giving, caring soul who helps out the homeless with other clubs and runs donations drive and bake sales. Someone like this has got to have a really strong pure heart. Or better, one of the items she's been told to watch out for.

So as Kin walks out of the club building, La Crima is peeking down the top of the building and lurking in the evening sunset. She's sliding across the roof and sort of slides down the side of the building and into some bushes as she gets ready.

She just needs the perfect shot and right now she's waiting for it, rifle peeking out from the bush as she aims down the sight.

"Come on..." she whispers quietly. "Give me what I seek..." she mutters as she gets ready to pull the trigger. But she's hesitating a little. Not pulling yet.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a regular day, and rather than help out with culture festival set ups, Usagi had chosen to skedaddle with an excuse about helping Naru with the Art Club. This was a Lie, of course, one of her trademark efforts to get out of work, because Usagi Tsukino was not a member of any clubs on campus.

The Club Building, however, was a great place to hangout, between the chance to catch friends coming and going and the opportunity to peek in and see what other people had going on. If she just so happened to kill all the time their class would have been using on the festival preparations waiting around - that was just how things worked out! Definitely not a plan.

"Hey, Naru-chan! How'd the club meeting go?" Usagi hasks, as soon as the Art Club's door opens, quickly sliding into place besides her best friend. The webtoon she'd been catching up on can wait, now that they're linked up again.

The doors of the building open - sunlight streams in as someone just ahead of them departs, and Usagi hurries over, catching the door before it can shut. "After you, Naru-chan!"

Naru Osaka has posed:
One might argue that every night could be Art Club night. Certainly tonight was, if you asked Naru. A change of venue for working on some thread painting (and not irritating the snot out of Luna with the sound of the sewing machine as a bonus.) There was a 'club meeting', but honestly largely that involves a bunch of student artists trying not to interfere with each other all trying to get some creative work done.

"Great meeting." Naru grins as she emerges from the Art room to connect up with Usagi. "We all ignored each other in a very purposeful manner. Perfection." She grins, clearly teasing.

"Ready to grab something to eat?" Naru reaches for the door, stepping outside just ahead of Usagi into the sunshine. "I'm starving."

Nephrite has posed:
    Spending too much time at home right now has proven to be... Difficult. So, Masato Sanjouin has been staying in the dorms at RHA while the matter of the haunted mansion is pending resolution. To clear his head, he is just taking a walk around town. Now that he has had some fresh air, some limited sunlight thanks to the season, and some exercise, he is returning to campus. The brown-haired young man has his hands in his pockets as he usually does, and is wearing the basics RHA uniform, sans any sort of jacket.

    He stands out enough without doing so deliberately during a time he is trying to take stock of himself and think about his life... And where it may be going. This is interrupted when his stormy blue eyes settle on where he is literally going, and notice a certain girl stepping out into the sunlight.

    Masato's pace slows as he stands there, watching Naru, and wondering if he should say anything... Or if he has caused her enough trouble and should change direction. He still hasn't replied to the messages she had passed along to him. Or rather, to Maxwell Stanton and Nephrite. He doesn't know where to go from there if he does.

    He hears the sound of Usagi's voice as well (it carries) and decides that, no, this is definitely not the time to intrude. The last thing he needs is for Usagi to think he's up to something and then having to fight Sailor Moon in front of Naru or something.

    He turns away.

Natsu Oukanno has posed:
    Work hard, play hard, live hard! Or something like that! A red-haired teenager around Masato's age, still damp from taking a shower after kendo practice, in a white sports t-shirt, red shorts, and sneakers, with a white towel hanging across his shoulders. "No, really, I think maybe what I need is a better sword." he says to someone else nearby. "Then I can finally use this awesome new technique I've been developing... What should I call it though? That's the main problem." He cups his chin with one hand and hmmmms with his eyes squinted, not really paying attention to his surroundings. "Star Dragon Slash? Seven Star Slash? Dragon's Fang?" Then his eyes snap open and he smiles wide as he turns to his companion, holding up an index finger. "Haha! I got it! Cerberus Paradox Cutter!"

Kano Watanabe has posed:
    "...It's a practice sword. How can you get a 'better practice sword'?" the redhead's companion replies. He is dressed similarly to his friend, though is slightly shorter, has snow white hair, and really vividly blue eyes. His towel is only over one shoulder, rather than laying across both. Because style.
    "I don't really think you need a special technique. You need to work on your basics more if you want to defeat me. After all..." He turns and poses slightly, eyes closed, head down, and then flips his white bangs upwards with a swish of his head like some kind of Charlie's Angels extra as he points at Natsu. "I am the inheritor of the Demon Darkness Style of Sword Fighting. Do you really think you can overcome the ultimate skills passed down to me?"
    Then Natsu comes up with his technique name, and Kano facefaults a bit. With a sweatdrop, and an awkward smile, he mutters, "Where did 'Cerberus Paradox' come from?"

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima is aiming for Kin Tanaka. That's the plan.

She takes a deep breath and thinks a little. Of things people have been telling her. You'll feel bad, after. When you get your feelings back. She considers and the rifle poking out of the bush shakes a little.

But she has to do this. Not just for the potential of gaining her own pure heart, but because she has a job to do.

So she pulls the trigger of the shaking gun.

The liquid inside the tank plunges forward, there's a pulse of dark energy and the ball of dark energy from the rifle shoots forward towards....

Naru Osaka. Who's just stepped in front of Kin Tanaka. Before she can even put the gun down her eyes are widening.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Whoops, sorry!" Naru steps in front of Kin Tanaka, and even bumps the other girl a little, completely unaware that she's stepped in the way of a Cunning Plan. There's a bright smile for her classmate, because of course Naru knows her. Doesn't Naru know everyone? Or nearly? "We're on our way to ..." She starts to explain to Kin Tanaka, gesturing to Usagi who is literally only a step behind her in coming out of the Clubs building.

The sound of the rifle isn't especially loud, not from that far away, certainly not loud enough for Naru to hear anything. She does feel it though. That solid thunk of impact. Knocking her a little on her feet and making her turn.

Because even getting shot with that pulse of dark energy that is working to sever out her pure heart, Naru doesn't think to scream or anything. She turns, to look for the where, to what happened. Over and then up.. looking for the up where La Crima is likely to be, or Riventon. Or.. so many choices. She wants to know who.."

Emerging from her is a brilliant spikey crystal, sparkling in that sunshine, the colours so saturated that it looks dark sometimes, and brilliantly coloured others, just depending on how the light catches it.

"Dammit.. rule.. one." Naru only really gets that far in her thoughts, and its more irritated resignation with a side order of fascination that hits her tone as she continues her turn to land on the ground in a messy heap.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh, you must have had a blast," Usagi laughs, going along with the joke - she can just picture Naru happily sitting quiet, working on her projects while a horde of other students dot he same. "You know food sounds great - wanna hit Korma?"

She grins at Kin Tanaka, half-tempted to invite the other girl out with them - of course she knows her - when Naru stumbles.

Usagi turns in time to see the sparkling crystal glow in the light, and dives for it even as her friend drops to the ground. Naru's body will probably be fine - bruised at worse - but what happens if the crystal hits the ground? Can it break? What would happen to Naru if it did?

Usagi doesn't want to know. Her hands close around the crystal. Her eyes scan the area, looking about for the culprit. "Kin-chan, get down! Stellar, we need help!"

She'd been told, once, that she didn't need to yell - but Usagi wants to scream, needs to get it out, and she doesn't think yelling Inai-sensei's name is the best idea with so many people around.

Usagi has no idea if Kin Tanaka listened to her, is hoping Stellar shows up quickly; with the crystal in her hands, she's cradling it to her own chest, potecting it as best as she can. The culprit - the person who shot Naru - they might still be in the area, they might shoot at her, but she's got to get this back to Naru, as soon as possible. Nothing else matters.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    She's there before Usagi can even finish saying the complete phrase- materializing out of thin air with only the faint sound of displacement. Though for some reason, a faint rumble of thunder can be heard out of the clear evening sky at the very moment of her arrival. In henshin, Stellar takes in the situation with a glance.. a scowl appearing on her face as she notes Naru in a crumpled heap and the spikey crystal hovering just above her.

    "Again?!" She exclaims, glancing around and trying to pin down the location of the shooter, although Norie is not apparent to her immediately, concealed as she is. She shifts her attention to Usagi cradling the crystal instead. "Just.. push it back into her. I'll cover you. I did it for Agemaki-san, it should just go back in." She tells the girl. She hasn't summoned any shields or anything yet, but golden energy shot-through with orange-red crackles briefly around her fingertips.

    Other students are hurriedly scrambling out of the way. Who knows what mundane minds will rationalize this situation into, but it's clear that hanging out here is not an attractive option right now. This makes it a bit easier to scan for the attacker, try to anticipate where another shot might come from...

Nephrite has posed:
    And there is a Dark General in civilian form, maybe 17 meters away. But he has no rifle in his hands. His right hand has left his pocket and his clenched into a tight fist as he scans the area for auras. There's lots of humans around, one larger aura signifying a magical girl over by Usagi and Naru, no youma are showing up... Then *Bam*. There's a strong youma aura right there.

    And so is Masato Sanjouin as he appears behind the sniper. "Just out of curiosity did you miss the memo about what happened to Sunbreaker after taking hostage the same girl you just shot?" He has a longsword in his right hand, not pointed at anything, but very much ready to be used. He has also thrown up a glamour to make himself appear to be Maxwell Stanton instead of his student form.

    Just in case.

    Maxwell is just Nephrite wearing a human costume. His powers are intact in either identity. So, essentially, a full Dark General is standing behind La Crima. Oh, good. Her day just got worse.

Natsu Oukanno has posed:
    Natsu pauses in mid-step when he hears the sounds of yelling. People upset. People scared. He resumes moving forwards, but tries to maneuver to put something between himself and whatever's going on. Someone is collapsed... There's someone next to her holding her hands to her chest... Someone else is there in an interesting get-up. That is... Either a fellow villain, in which case he shouldn't interfere, or a hero, in which case he should seriously consider interfering. Or not. He is with his friend after all...

    "Oi, Kano." he calls out to his friend in a harried barely-above a whisper, over his shoulder. "There's some weirdo over there. Keep an eye on her while I go get help. You know, in case she does something. She looks super suspicious, you know?"

    Attempting to collar his best friend, and drag him over to his current hiding place, Natsu brooks no argument as he then turns and sneaks as best he can towards the main building, only turning to give a slanted, confident smile, and a thumbs-up, as he goes, 'Hm!' reassuringly.

    As soon as he is somewhere private he is transforming immediately. "Oculus Obscura!" he whispers.

    Then it's like a lens just appeared in the sky overhead, turning the Dusk Zone into a focused beam of Dark Energy, aimed squarely at a single location... A single person. They aren't here yet, but magically sensitive folks may pick it up anyway.

Kano Watanabe has posed:
    A bit put off by Natsu not even acknowledging how formidable the Darkness Demon Style is (or was it Darkness Demon Style?), Kano just stands there, one hand on his hip, the other holding onto the towel over his shoulder, looking unimpressed at Natsu taking cover. "Nani sore? Shouldn't I go help if there's trouble? Why would I hide? Imi wakannai."
    Then, his dry, deadpan tone and expression apparently not earning him a response, he is grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged over to behind, like, what a bush or something? Confused and angry, he turns to hiss back at Natsu as his friend starts crouch-sneaking away like a very poorly-done attempt at being shinobi. "Why are you leaving me to watch some pervert? There's two of us! We can just go in and save those girls! This isn't A M E R I C A! It's not like they have a gun!"
    But Natsu just turns and gives him a grin and a thumbsup.
    Enraged, Kano mentally yells, Don't you 'Hm!' me! Get back here, baka!
    And then it's up to him to... Sit behind... A statue or a bush or whatever, and watch two girls lying on the ground while some pervert stands over them in a long coat, like, what, flashing them or something? What is this? Why should he hide?
    Kano stands up, deciding he doesn't want to huddle here like a frightened rabbit, and approaches. He still has his practice sword in a bag, and drops his towel in favor of bouncing it on his shoulder. "Oi, oi, oi... What's this? Some bully targeting schoolgirls? You must have some serious balls to be doing this here..." He puts his left hand over his left eye and bows his head. "...Don't you know this is the territory claimed by me, the Last Master of the Darkness Demon Style?" Then he slides his hand up to push back his hair as he raises his head, eyes wide, his left eye glowing bright blue with a star-like symbol as the pupil. "Or did you think you could escape this Cursed Eye of mine, and its Star Seeking Sight!" Gleaaaam!
    Silence for a moment as he stands there, wooden sword over his shoulder, challenging the weirdo in the trenchcoat, and talking like a chuuni.
    Oh, also his eye isn't actually glowing and there's no star or anything special about it that anyone can see. But it's totally there in his imagination! Really!

Norie Okana has posed:
The second shot doesn't come because the rifle can't rapid fire. It's reloading now, but it won't be ready any moment soon. The gun is shaking from the bush and pokes back in quickly as she mutters. Dammit! Naru.....walked right in front of her! She wasn't aiming at Naru-chan. She was aiming for Tanaka-san.

Kin smiles and is about to talk when there's that phoom and then there's chaos and she gets done and starts struggling to get to safety, wiggling on the ground.

La Crima is getting ready to hop out, to do... something when Maxwell Stanton appears.

"I didn't mean to shoot Naru-chan! I'm after the girl in front of her!" she snaps as she moves forward, out of the bush and becomes nothing but shadow, into the ground, zipping along forward and becoming solid into form again near Tanaka-san, trying to make a grab for her arm.

Then someone approach with a practice sword-- and claiming to be the last master of the darkness demon style and she pauses.

"What?" she asks, mid grab. She shakes her head.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, PLEASE PUT NARU-CHAN'S PURE HEART BACK QUICK!" she sputters also, while she's close.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru is pretty good at laying there unconscious. She's had a surprising amount of practice, even in awkward positions with plenty of chaos going on around her.

Actually almost entirely in awkard positions with plenty of chaos, come to think of it.

The crystal of her pure heart pulses slowly, sparkling in the light, warm and vibrant.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
With Stellar at the ready and defending them, Usagi drops down besides Naru. Her Pure Heart Crystal sparkles in the sun, as warm to the touch as Hinoiri's geode necklace (and wasn't that a thing to be thinking about, in a moment like this?), not a scratch, dent, or chip to mar it's perfection. With care, Usagi presses the crystal into her chest, right around where her heart ought to be -

Even as she snaps, furious, "YOU'RE THE ASSHOLE WHO SHOT HER!"

She is absolutely not taking criticism from the person responsible for all of this.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar stands above Naru and Usagi, grey eyes sweeping the area as she tries to figure out if there is further threat- only to have La Crima literally materialize beside them and try to grab hold of her original target, the hapless Tanaka-san. Stellar doesn't know La Crima, but recognizes her vaguely as the shooter from Wako's incident- and beyond that, can sense the dark energy imbuing her. "Hey," She snaps, shifting her body away from Naru and Usagi to try and slap Norie's hand away from Tanaka's arm. Her eyes then shift to the gun, "Also, give me that!" And she makes a grab for it with her other hand. Neither of these things could be called 'attacks'- it's more like she's trying to push the shadowy girl away from her victim and make a grab for the gun at the same time. No magic involved.

    Which is about when she takes absent notice of Kano, walking up behind her and spouting some nonsense about some style or other- but, she can sense magic. And she doesn't sense anything from him at all. "Back off, kid, before you get hurt!" She snaps at him over her shoulder, while still in the process of grabbing for the gun, trusting Usagi to get the crystal back into Naru.

    Of course, she also senses the enormous burst of Dark Energy from a short ways off as Natsu transforms. "Usagi-chan, hurry up!" She says, unconsciously echoing La Crima but for different reasons. "I think they got backup on the way!"

Nephrite has posed:
    Maxwell stays there and watches as La Crima hurries off to do damage control and try to regain her target. It seems the heart crystal or whatever that is wasn't lost, and Usagi is trying to restore it. He can't be seen to be interfering with Obsidian business right now. Sure, inter-department rivalries are a thing, and 'unfortunate accidents' happen regularly, but in front of Stellar and Sailor Moon? He dissolves the sword, allowing it to unravel into non-existence, and makes his own way, less obstrusively, towards the center of this mess.

    He's wearing a suit, with jacket. His right hand is still down at his side, ready to be used if needed. But it looks like this was an accident. Incompetence rather than malice. If that's the case, then he'll just observe to make sure everything is righted and then leave when the coast is clear.

    Of course, he is also a source of Dark Energy, but he isn't outputting anything like that darkness laser that is tracing the path of someone or something as it approaches from the opposite side of campus. He is even trying to suppress his own aura. No way is he getting blamed if something happens to Naru. Also, no way is he letting something happen to Naru.

Natsu Oukanno has posed:
    It is not Natsu who comes back. Despite his practice, he has still not figured out if he is detectable in this form or if there is a way to avoid being detected if that is the case. So he just... Doesn't worry about it. He has bigger concerns. Like why exactly his henshin form includes a sex change. A red-haired woman flies through the air and descends on the scene of the attack. She has bright red eyes, black armor strategically designed to leave several vital areas exposed for the sake of aesthetics, a really awesome cape, and also horns. Oh, and it's like a spotlight made of darkness is being focused on her the whole time.

    There's a sound that may be picked up as well. Is that...

    ...Does she have theme music!?

    Yes! Yes, she has ominous theme music, mostly a mix of death metal guitar and church organ! And it follows her as she approaches, thus making it even more obvious as proximity increases the volume! Who else has theme music following them outside of fiction? Nobody!

    She throws one arm out to the side, sending her black and red cape flaring outwards, and says, "You should take cover, young man. You will only get in the way of the glorious me if you keep interfering. Perhaps go look for your friend!"

    Then she crosses her arms, smirking broadly, and tilting her chin up so she can look down at the magical girls (and boy, whenever he gets there).

Kano Watanabe has posed:
    Kano is disheartened by the rejection and dismissal, and just looks kind of annoyed and disgusted momentarily. Well, that didn't work. Hopefully Natsu will get back with help soon, because while he won't turn down a fight, there's no reason to get innocent bystanders caught up in this, and if he presses the issue that might be exactly what happens. Dropping his hand down to his hip again, he slouches, and says, "Okay, then what is going on? Don't those girls need help? Aren't they in trouble?" Then he turns his head and straightens up and starts looking around. "Oh, are you shooting something for the Drama Club?"
    Another unfamiliar girl showing up suggests such, at least. And look at the costumes they're wearing! "Well, sorry for interrupting your scene. Maybe you should put up warnings next time--" Then there's some weird music coming closer from behind him. Kano doesn't pay attention at first. Not until it keeps getting louder. Then he turns to frown and sees... A gorgeous and intimidating red-haired girl in spikey black armor. With horns. And a cape! Before he can assess anything further, he is struck by the fact she just tried to tell him what to do. Ughhhh. Authority figures. Even the hot ones are all the same.
    "Yeah, yeah. I'll just stay over here in the background so I can tell my buddy everything is fine when he gets back. Don't worry about me." Obviously this girl is in costume, and has like a portable music player she is using to simulate the theme music. He just leans back against the side of the nearest building, and watches sulkily.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima is unhampered by Maxwell Stanton, which is good. She has a hold of Kin Tanaka, which is good, but the gun is grabbed and pulled and she sputters. "No---!" she goes, which is bad because Stellar gets the gun.

"Oh that's bad." La Crima says. Because the gun starts to glow suddenly and tremble and--- "THROW IT AWAY! ANTI-THEFT! ANTI-THEFT!" she sputters at Stellar. "UP! UP!" she cries, as she cowers, in case Stellar doesn't throw the rifle in time. Regardless, it's gonna explode in a bit. Stellar still has time to decide what to do. But she's been warned.

Regardless. Without the gun.... she looks at Kin Tanaka. Kin, who looks terrified, looks back at La Crima. La Crima blinks at Kin. Kin blinks at La Crima.

She looks up at the arriving Overlord Maou, who arrives with.. with theme music, and her eyes just widen.. she blinks with wide eyes again.

"I GIVE UUUUPPP!" she cries and just falls backwards down on her behind. She doesn't run. She doesn't duskport away she just starts crying and bawling her eyes out and she sobs.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The crystal slips into Naru as if its glad to be returning back home, to where it belongs.

There's barely a heartbeat before the unmoving tangle that is Naru has a sense of vibrancy to it again, and she moves to untangle herself, her eyes blinking open.

"Okay.. that is trippy af." She mumbles a little, still regaining a sense of orientation, getting her wits back in order again. She reaches out to take Usagi's hand briefly, giving it a squeeze. "Thank you."

"La Crima.. didn't we talk about this? Am I seriously this irritating?" Naru asks as her attention settles upon the vampire and the gun. She leans her head back and sways a little. "Oh hi Stellar." She comments, noting the counsellor there as well. Naru's greetings are a little out of sync, even while people are moving and doing things and grabbing guns and people. "Maxwell, what are you doing here?" Naru sounds surprised as she looks around more.

She twists herself into sitting and starts to get up before deciding that perhaps she is just going to sit for a moment yet. Apparently the removing and replacement of one's pure heart takes a moment or two to settle in, or at least to have the 'I feel distinctly odd' sensation wear off. Dizzy? Perhaps. Just sort of not quite right? Absolutely.

Naru blinks at Maou's appearance a moment or two, perhaps even three. It's.. a lot really.

"Alright.. who are you?" She asks of Overlord Maou and that's right about when La Crima cracks.

Which is enough to get Naru to scoot over towards La Crima, and dig out a clean tissue from her pocket to offer to her, when she's ready. "I'd give you a hug, but I'm pretty sure I'd fall over doing that."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Danger - or well, more danger, because of course there's more danger. Inai-senssei, warning her that they've got back-up coming, and there's someone here, a strange boy who tried to defend????? her????? She doesn't know. She wasn't paying attention when he showed up, too worried about Naru-chan. Now, she kind of wishes she had, because maybe he'd have been convinced to run off for help, instead of being here now, potentially a witness to her henshin.

Maybe definitely a witness to her henshin, because she's going to have to do something, especially with someone else showing up on the scene - beautiful and busty and with black armor and horns, probably-definitely-maybe another enemy -

And then Naru-chan pops up (not that there's much pop about it, just a gentle hand on hers, squeezing, before she sits up. The shooter - La Crima - is shouting and the gun is glowing and Usagi flinches forward to protect Naru -

And she's pretty sure, actually, that she doesn't have too. Stellar has great shielding.

Which leaves her plenty of time to do what she's been aching to do and chew someone out over this whole mess. Especially since the cause of it all is sobbing like she's the one who's been being bullied.

"Are you being serious right now?!" Usagi demands, hopping to her feet and putting her hands on her hips. "You're crying? You?! You're the one who started this whole mess, coming after Naru-chan and Kin-chan, and all those other people you've been hitting! What kind of person makes all this trouble and then sits and cries about it? At least Sunbreaker got hurt, before she cried!"

She cannot believe this is happening to them. Her stone heart will not be moved! Pity will not be had! She will spite the shooter! She will - she will - apparently, dig into her bag and begrudgingly pull out a water bottle, tossing it to the ground to roll over to the weeping bad guy. She can't believe this. She can't believe herself.

"Hey, beautiful lady! Are you going to cause trouble too?!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar got the gun! She wrenches it out of La Crima's grasp, taking a step back as the girl falls backwards and pauses, looking at it in her hand as if surprised that actually worked. Of course, then it starts glowing and shaking, and La Crima is yelling something about an anti-theft contingency. "Oh.. well, shit." Stellar says, heaving a small sigh.

    She's been aware this whole time of Overlord Maou's approach- not tracking her directly, but rather the feel of another sizable source of Dark Energy growing closer. A few quick darting glances around tell her that Naru is regaining consciousness, Usagi is yelling at the shooter, and that weird kid with the practice sword is over by the building... she needs to make decisions fast, because apparently she's holding a bomb.

    Her hands come together over the weapon and they crackle with golden light. A spherical shield snaps into being around the gun, surrounding it in an oval of energy that fizzes and snaps with little orange lightning bolts. Usually her shields are used to protect the people inside them- this time she's using it to protect the people outside.

    Then Maou is nearby, theme music and all, making dramatic proclamations. And look, Stellar doesn't know who this chick is, but she can clearly tell she's radiating dark energy and she looks all demony, so- "Catch!" She shouts, as she turns and hurls the shield-encapsulated, self-destructing gun straight at Maou's face like a hand-grenade..

    She dismisses the shield mid-flight.

Nephrite has posed:
    Maxwell switches smoothly from the gravelly, slightly-raspy voice that is natural to him to the clear, baritone voice of 'listen to my beautiful mouth sounds', as he addresses Naru. "I was in the area, and saw you collapse, so I came over to help you." He rushes to Naru's side, kneeling down next to her. "You may have hit your head, and there is a lot going on. Please let me take you to the infirmary." Then he glances at Usagi and asks meaningfully, "Would you like to come along? From what I hear, you and Naru are very close friends. It would probably be reassuring if you were with her."

    He is doing his damndest to extract the civilians. The Tanaka girl might as well be a sack of potatoes as far as he's concerned. There is a list of people he cares about, and that list is very short. Kin Tanaka simply isn't on it.

    Then there's yelling, and magic, and the appearance of the horned figure practically dripping with Dark Energy, and the overloading gun being thrown...!

    He doesn't spend much time reflecting on it, and scoops up Naru in his arms easily, and hisses to Usagi (and Kin, if she is paying attention), "We are leaving, now!" He doesn't know if there's goign to be a blast radius or what, but he switches to holding up Naru in a princess carry one-armed, tries to put his free hand on Kin, and then steps on Usagi's foot.

    Then, excepting for some form of interruption or rejection, all four of them vanish in a flicker of red light.

Natsu Oukanno has posed:
    "Oh? You do not know me on sight?" the demon-like girl responds. She was scowling at Kano for deciding to stay here instead of get out. "Very well!" she says with a flourish as she mimics the hair flip Kano did earlier. "I am She who wields the Overlord's Grandeur, the Red and the Black, and the future ruler of the World of Dusk! I am the Goblin Queen, the bearer of Oculus Obscura!" She turns away as she draws back her arm, taking her eyes off of the group in front of her for a moment. Then she turns and thrusts out her hand dramatically to give her name, just as Stellar yells, 'Catch!'

    "I am Overl--" Then the gun explodes in a flash of light and blast of sound, centimeters away from the Overlord's gauntleted hand.

    Once the air clears, however long that takes, there's... A strange silhouette in the smoke. Definitely not that of the red-haired girl. It's more like...

    A cocoon? Or...

    The silhouette shifts, smoke rising from its surface, and it unfolds, revealing itself to be a pair of giant demonic-looking bat wings. The Overlord is standing inside, seemingly unharmed, as the wings fold back behind her. She puts her hand out again, arching her eyebrows at Stellar, and the sudden loss of some of the civilians present, and finishes what she was saying. "Overlord Maou."

    Her ears are ringing and that stung noticeably. So in wing form, she can feel sensation through her cape? Good to know!

Kano Watanabe has posed:
    Kano stands by, filming on his phone, so he can show Natsu later. The glowing gun thing is actually some pretty impressive special effects, but the pyrotechnics need some work. Someone could've gotten hurt from that! Flinching and covering his ears, the white-haired boy hisses out a stream of swear words through his teeth. However... When the reveal happens, he mouth opens a little, and he drops his hands to his sides.
    Then he clenches his fists, eyes sparkling, and looking so much younger than he is on the outside, as he yells, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima looks to Naru. "I don't really deserve a hug anyways right now. You should rest." she says bluntly. Then Usagi starts yelling at her. "I .. I said I give up. What more do you want from me?" she says quietly, and just sort of balls up, dragging her legs up as she wraps her legs around them. "I surrender. Do whatever you need to, to me. You can't fix me anyways." she says. "Do you wanna beat me up? I don't know what else you want from me." she says, sniffing after.

Kin Tanaka, has no idea what's going on, but she's running away from all this, and started that the moment she was let go of by La Crima. She can probably be grabbed and teleported away with by force if necessary though. She's clearing out with everyone else.

Overlord Maou take the explosion well enough and she relaxes more as she grumbles, the gun exploded, nothing on the ground should be hit, though some dust starts raining with the explosion. La Crima lets some fall against her hand, as she holds it out.

"Riven-senpai is probably gonna be upset I let another gun get destroyed." she says to herself.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru had been watching the Overlord Maou's declarations and theatrics when Maxwell not only explains it like she's a civillian but scoops her up.

She does give him an odd look for the assumptions, but her surprise at getting picked up and teleported away, along with Usagi, ends that look fairly quickly.

It's a good thing she's little, if he's going to be holding onto her with just one hand. Naru reaches to hold onto him, to keep herself from falling. She's hardly heavy, but one hand is awkward.

They didn't go all that far away, just out of the bulk of the action, and ideally out of the splash zone on.. of whatever is going on. "It is hard for you to claim civvy status when you teleport people." Naru comments quietly. "But thank you."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka grunts in disappointment when the gun explodes but the demon-lady seems more-or-less unharmed by it. She has a brief moment of panic when she realizes that Naru and Usagi are gone- only to find them a short distance away with Maxwell.

    She teleports over to them in a blink, frowning. "Thanks for the assist." This to Maxwell, who she doesn't recognize in this form.. though she can sense the dark energy. But he did help... but that doesn't make her eager to leave Naru in his charge. "Let me get Osaka-san here to the infirmary." A glance to Usagi. "You'll be okay? Call me again if you need to. I'll come back."

    Then, glancing to Naru to make sure she's in agreement, she reaches down and takes the girl's hand... then both of them vanish.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Are you giving up today or are you giving up altogether," is what Usagi managed express before Norie started sniffling. "I'm not going to beat you up - you gave up! But you need to figure out if you're going to keep doing this to people or not -"

Before she can finish the lecture, Naru is being snatched up into a princess carry, and Usagi herself is getting pulled away too in a burst of unfamilair magic. She frowns at the boy, who is definitely a stranger - and then his face changes and nope that's Nephrite!!! - but then from somewhere behind them there's an explosion - and well. "Thank you for that - seriously."

She's definitely not explosion proof in this form. And more importantly, neither is Naru - so she owes him a lot. He didn't have to help them at all.

"I'm good. Get Naru-chan out of here!" It's not like she has to say it - she knows Inai-sensei will protect Naru - but what else is there so say? As soon as Naru and Stellar are gone, Usagi turns to face the threat who tanked an explosion, gulping. And then she looks at Nephrite - "I'm guessing you probably don't want to be seen helping me out, huh?"

He is an enemy, publically. Which means he should probably be an ally, privately.

And she... should deal with the Overlord with the wings.

"I'm just gonna... run away now!" She announces, and promptly flees into the club building, leaving Norie and Nephrite and that other kid alone, because she needs to get out of sight, if she wants to transform.

For at least a couple of minutes, Usagi is going to be out of sight. If something goes on, she'll miss it.

Nephrite has posed:
    "It is difficult to pass as a civilian when being blown up by an explosion as well," he responds dryly. He doesn't get the chance to do much more than smile at Naru when he is thanked by her, because then Stellar is appearing in front of him. He hesitates only a moment, quietly confirming with Naru that she is okay going with this magical girl... And then Stellar is taking Naru out of his arms.

    She was only there for such a short time. But the sudden cold in the emptiness is more noticeable than when she was there and warm. It takes a moment longer to lower his arms as he just stands there staring down at the empty space. He flicked his Glamour on and off quickly so that Usagi would be able to recognize him. He nods very briefly to her thanks and her question about not being seen helping her.

    Once she has turned to run away, he teleports again, to La Crima's side. Bending down next to her ear, he says, "We should go." He has no idea what objective this Overlord Maou might have in coming here, but she is at least the same caliber of Dark Energy wielder as the Shitennou, as far as Maxwell can discern. She hasn't attacked him yet, so he isn't going to give her a reason to.

    Unless La Crima is determined to stay here and mope, he'll be leaving with her. Maybe a few seconds after her, just to make sure nothing is tried by the Overlord, and nothing is attempted to stop them. Words will have to wait. This probably won't be their last encounter.

Natsu Oukanno has posed:
    "Tch. Everyone is leaving so soon?" she mock-laments. The announcement from the blonde girl is reasonable and there is absolutely no excuse Maou can come up with to be suspicious of her intent in running away. She even said she was running away! Can't get much more clear than that! The Overlord eyes Maxwell and gives a small, tight smile back at him, as he attempts to evacuate with the girl still languishing on the ground. Then she turns her attention on Kano.

    "...You should probably delete any footage of this incident. It will just bring trouble to your doorstep." she calls to him. Then she... Does not teleport. Because, the universe being a fickle, spiteful thing, she cannot teleport. Yes, I know, it's appallingly unfair.

    No, she just flaps her huge wings and flies off into the sky and out of sight. The DUNNNNN! that was to follow her tanking the explosion was going to be really cool and dramatic, but the audience was already decreasing rapidly then, so she just decided to skip it.

    Hm. She feels like she's forgetting something.

    ...Oh, she should go revert. Kano will be expecting Natsu to come back with help. Juggling a secret identity is more difficult than it seems in fiction.

Kano Watanabe has posed:
    Kano is left as possibly the only one remaining, unless La Crima opted to stay behind. When everyone starts vanishing somehow (maybe they used mirrors to reflect the light? He did see a flicker of red), and the red-head takes off into the sky after warning him (that one he has no explanation for right now. Maybe a jetpack? Those exist, though they're loud as hell), he looks at where the Overlord once stood, and then around at any students or spectators who have come at the sound of the explosion, and then back to the recording on his phone.

    It's all janky and it's hard to tell what's going on. Maybe the explosion messed it up. Kano sighs and puts the phone away in his pocket as he collects his sword, his towel, and goes to see what's taking Natsu so long. No way is he deleting the recording though. Maybe it can be salvaged somehow. He heard there's a specialty shop by the book store in Juuban Plaza.

Norie Okana has posed:
La Crima just looks away from Usagi because she's filled with shame and she hates herself. As she often does. She just mutters. "I...I don't know. I.." but then there's a teleport and Usagi is running away and she blinks a little and stands up. "...ah." she says. She guesses. That explosion probably. Rattled people. She sighs a little.

What are they gonna do anyways? Arrest her? Kill her? She doesn't know.

She needs to think. She can't right now. Right now she just wants to do increasingly unpleasant things to herself.

She takes a deep breath through her nose- even though she doesn't need to breathe- as 'Maxwell' comes back and she looks up to him. "I guess I don't have much of a choice right now. Riven-senpai is gonna be so angry..." she says with a little mutter.

She'll disappear with him, though she's careful to touch somewhere that isn't bare skin so she isn't draining him.