1017/Thanks for the Match

Thanks for the Match
Date of Scene:	17 January 2024
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	It's Radiant Heart's Mahou Fight Club time! Chat Noir, Yellow Pearl Voice, Kyouko Sakura and Hope Blossom show up for weekly practice. Kyouka is there to supervise, and Tuxedo Kamen takes the chance to introduce friends to his new henshin.
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Kyouka Inai, Adrien Agreste, Kyouko Sakura, Coco Kiumi, Mamoru Chiba

---

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The after school Mahou Self-Defense Class has remained, in Hope Blossom's mind, an important resource for sharpening her skills and sometimes socializing with other magicals. Not that she comes here as often as she probably should.

    The Chara Bearer shows up, in henshin obviously, flanked by two of her Chara: Gretchen and Lydian. Hope Blossom's hair is in a bobcut, meaning that she's currently merged with Sio. As she walks through the door, she moves to the side and starts scanning the crowd for a partner. Some of the magical trainees have already paired up and started fighting, complete with magic noises and attack name call-outs.

    Gretchen crosses her arms and asides to Lydian, "It's so noisy in here."

    Lydian responds, "Well... I mean yeah? Look at where we are."

    The Witch Chara whines a little. "Yeah but..."

    "I know, Gretchen," says Hope Blossom, "but it's not that much worse than actual combat."

    The X-Chara crosses her arms and looks away. Lydian pats her on the back. Hope continues to watch for a minute.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    The Self-Defense Class, the mahou version, has always been sort of Kyouka's 'baseline'. It's the proof she's doing her job. It's the thing she does that she can point to and say, 'hey, I'm training the kids just like I'm supposed to' and nobody can argue. But the fact is she also truly believes it helps. It's not just for show. Practicing your magic skills, practicing your non-magical fighting skills, and just meeting other magical kids and forming friendships or at the very least connections- these are all things that are going to keep kids alive out in the field.

    Kyouka herself is generally around during these classes, though what exactly she's doing at any given moment varies wildly. Sometimes she wanders around, just observing people as they practice. Sometimes she steps in, offering advice or a correction if she feels she has one worth offering. Sometimes she just chats with some of the students. If anyone calls for her help, she'll make her way over and see what she can do.

    But the fact is, while she's the 'authority' in the room in the eyes of the school and the students, she's not really teaching all that much. She's just kind of supervising and letting the magic kids do their magic thing. After all, while she does have experience and can offer some insight, the most important thing for a mahou is just to get familiar with their abilities and how to use them effectively.

    Tonight, in henshin as Stellar, she is sitting on the bleachers off to one side of the large gym area enclosed by the magical barrier which makes sure nobody outside is the wiser to what goes on in here. Elbows on her knees and hands clasped under her chin, she's just watching the students practicing.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Not all of those who were attending were really the sort to give away their secret identity. Which meant showing up a bit LATE to such classes because they weren't attending the normie first half of them.

Cat Noir bounds off the rooftop to the ground below in a perfect three point hero landing! He's had practice. Bouncing back to his feet he stretches his arms back behind his head, hooking behind his neck casually to leeean against the wall a moment while taking in the sight of everyone with those bright green cat-eyes behind his mask. So he was a little late to the party! He could be excused, right? Right.

Of course this means he's completely free right now of any partnering up as he watches some of the others go at it. "Wow. This is really a thing. Huh. Cool!"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Perhaps fueled by ramen, although nto exactly here at the crack of on time, Kyouko loiters at the edge of it all. Even if she's not (yet) fighting, it's an excellent place to not be cold. And perhaps, just maybe, stay connected with the school that she ostensibly attends. And lives at.

Kyouko isn't very good at either of those on the regular.

Still, she watches the fights going on, crunching on a stick of pocky, in jeans and a hoodie. Not yet henshined, her hood still up covereing her red ponytail.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Lots of things have happened since Coco had first tried to join the after school Mahou Self-Defense Class, somewhat important for her the Heist on Heaven that brought her resilience while transformed to the same level as other magical fighter, which is pretty important considering what the whole event is about.

Since it's apparently the policy to leave and come back in henshin once the mahou half of the session is about to start, that's what she is doing too, not that she expects to actually hide who she is from the others. She trusts the people here enough.

She is uncertain on how pairing is supposed to work though: have they already been setup, or is there some sort of order she is supposed to follow? As she takes in the faces after coming back in, she notices Hope Blossom is here too, with her Charas and promptly waves to her. "Hello, Hope! How are you and the Charas doing?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Blossom looks at the other magicals coming in and notices at least one she doesn't recognize and another that she doesn't see often. She considers approaching Kyouko, but... she can be kind of scary sometimes. She's a Puella Magi, so it's understandable, but still... Cat Noir is someone she's... not sure she's seen before. Does she know any catboys other than Ikuto? She doesn't think so. Then again, it's not like she comes here every week, or keeps careful track of everyone here when she does.

    Yellow Pearl Voice is also here, and Blossom greets her with a smile. Lydian gives the Mermaid Princess a big wave and Gretchen just silently watches, giving only a slight wave if greeted first.

    "We're doing alright," says Blossom. "Just here to get some training in. Gretchen-chan still thinks that I can do better. How about you, Yellow-chan? How have you been?"

    Gretchen grouses, "I just think you can't afford to be lazy. You've a long ways to go!"

    Lydian floats next to her fellow fairy. "I still think she's doing just fine as it is!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a sudden flutter of silk and a swiftly moving black shape next to Kyouka, and a masked and caped boy in a top hat and full formal eveningwear lands with the ta-tap of his dress shoes on the wooden gymnasium floor--

--and drops to one hand to duck the inevitable blow, grinning. "Hey!" he says cheerfully, "I am so glad I finally get to come to these things. The feeling left out struggle is real. But aren't you glad I never visited before?"

Mamoru waves to everyone he recognises that doesn't recognise him, which is honestly probably everyone here, given his brand new henshin.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir seems to perk up when he spots at least a few familiar faces, including the ever-grumpy Kyouko. One clawed hand lifts to wave in her direction, and the perhaps foolishly cheerful cat saunters her way. "Hey, been awhile! Haven't seen you since guard duty." Then again he hadn't really been out and around doing much lately with the holidays and other distractions like the new girlfriend. *cough*

The glance that Hope sends his way earns a grin and waggle of fingers in her direction as well, and he also calls out to Yellow Pearl with familiarity, "Good to see you again!"

There's a pause when the flutter of a cape catches his attention. Like any good cat something moving in the wind is caught easily in the corner of his eye earning a glance in the direction of Tuxedo Kamen and Stellar. He leeeans on one foot toward Kyouko to remark quietly, "And here I thought *I* was over dressed."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Mamoru is wise to duck. It's never smart to sneak up on someone like Stellar if you're not prepared to duck. This is a safe space- there shouldn't be anybody attacking her or any of the kids, not for real. But when she catches sudden movement, seemingly out of nowhere, in her peripheral vision, she just reacts.

    Golden light crackles along her forearm as she turns and swipes it up to intercept an incoming attack- that doesn't come of course. The flash of golden light and humming hiss of her magic is likely to draw some attention across the room, but anyone looking over would just see Tuxedo Kamen standing beside her and Stellar looking vaguely embarrassed as she extinguishes her magic again and then attempts to give him a much more mundane and presumably gentler swat across his ostentatious headwear.

    "Don't do that. One of these days you're not going to be quick enough and I don't have any desire to do Obsidian's work for them. Not least because they don't pay me." She rolls her eyes, seeming to have no trouble recognizing Tuxedo Kamen for who he is.

    "You know there was no malice in the decision to leave you out of things, right? It was pure practicality. I won't say I felt bad because I rarely feel bad when doing what has to be done, but for what it's worth I'm also glad it's not necessary anymore. It's good to have you here, no strings attached."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
There's a squint from Kyouko over towards the tail coated and top hatted arrival. "Who're you?" She asks bluntly enough with a jut of her chin towards Tuxedo.

There's a shrug, and Kyouko clearly has no shame at all on showing her identity.. she doesn't have a mundane self really.

"Hey there Fuzz butt." Not that Cat Noir is actually /fuzzy/, but he is a feline. Kyouko nods a little to him with a snort at his commment. She then reaches behind her to pull out her spear. "Alright. Who wants to get stabbed first?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I am all right, just the usual attending to homework and fighting", she smiles. She does wave to both Lydian and Gretchen, treating the Charas just as friendly as Madoka herself, despite them having met far less than Coco and the pinkette.

"Gretchen, right?" Coco addresses the X-Chara. She seems really tense about Madoka's performance, way more than she should be. Perhaps she could with being told how well Madoka is doing. "I don't think you should be so harsh and Madoka, she is doing great! She even saved lots of people's dreams and got the recognition of a goddess!" With how humble Madoka tends to be, the mermaid isn't sure if she told Gretchen these things.

She looks at Cat Noir and Kyouko here, one she recognises, the other not. Not surprising since the latter isn't transformed. Maybe she met her on one occasion or another in her magical guise?

"Hello, Cat Noir! Is this your first time here too?" That's probably the case from what he said earlier. "I'm here for the first time too. Let's do our best, ok?"

With that, she is about to address Kyouko when a mysterious gentleman comes in. "Did we meet somewhere?" There are some people with that elegant demeanour, but Tuxedo Mask doesn't bring anybody to mind specifically. "I don't recognise you, but nice to meet you all the same!"

She goes back to Kyouko, who is apparently eager to brawl. "I can be your opponent. I need to get training in on the close range, that's really my weak point, so if it's your strong point, that actually works great for me. By the way, I am Yellow Pearl Voice, but address me however you like." Her henshin name is a bit of a mouthful.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Lydian notices Tuxedo Kamen's arrival and says, "Huh... I wonder who that guy is?" Gretchen opens her mouth but says nothing, then closes it. When Hope Blossom notices who they're talking about, she waves to the fancy magical boy along with the two Chara she has present.

    Instead, the X-Chara considers Coco for a moment. "That's right. It's me, the prodigal X-Chara. I know it seems like I'm being overly harsh, but the standards on Hope Blossom are high. I'm glad to hear she's getting the recognition of her peers, though."

    Hope Blossom gives Gretchen a shocked look. The X-Chara has said that Blossom should aim to be a goddess, but to say it like that...! Instead of responding, Madoka tries to move past it. "Eheh... Gretchen-chan always worries about me. We don't always see eye to eye, but she cares in her own way."

    Gretchen, meanwhile, wanders away from her Bearer to go talk to Kamen. When the dark fairy gets close, she asks, "Do you know my Bearer or something? Have we met before?" A little rude on her part maybe, but as a tiny corrupted fairy made from a dreams of an already emotionally available person Gretchen has no filter. Since Kyouka is nearby, Gretchen also notices her. "Hi, I'm Gretchen. I'm with Hope Blossom." As if that wasn't kind of obvious.

    Madoka, meanwhile, notices Cat Noir wiggling fingers at her and waves back with a polite smile. Then Kyouko basically offers to pass out stabbings and the Chara Bearer grits her teeth and looks slightly mortified. "Right to the point, as usual... eheh."

    "No pun intended!" adds Lydian.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"What if you're more fun to surprise than a tennis ball machine?" the caped boy asks Stellar with a look that can't help but be a little bit smug. Then he's just smiling; he catches the hat that Stellar bats off his head, then twirls it on a fingertip and sleight-of-hands the entire thing out of sight. "I know there wasn't. Intellectually. And I'm glad you're not sorry."

Then Kyouko's calling out to him and he calls back, "Tuxedo Kamen!" Because of course he is. It's almost as on the nose as Chat Noir, honestly. (Maybe it's a -rien thing, maybe it's nothing--)

He calls back to Yellow Pearl Voice, "New transformation! Sorry I crashed you out of the sky at Soryuu Shrine, you were the first one whose magic actually hit home."

Then when Gretchen comes over, he looks actively delighted. He gestures her closer and then says in a very quiet voice, "I do know your Bearer, but you met me when I was Hematite. It's good to see you again! I'm not on the wrong side anymore." And he turns slightly to tell Kyouka, "Gretchen yells really cutely." And then he tells Gretchen, "Sorry."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "What if you're annoying?" Stellar grumbles back at Tuxedo Kamen, but the grumble is more affectionate than actually grumpy. She smirks at bit at the disappearing hat, as it reminds her of the tricks she likes to pull on a regular basis, but doesn't deign to comment. Instead, she says "I don't like to be sorry, so I just try not to make mistakes."

    She gives a glance around as other people call out to the new arrival, but only responds to Gretchen when the little X-Chara floats over to greet them. "Yeah, I know." She says, without giving any clue as to how she might know- or maybe she just means she knows that Gretchen is with Hope Blossom, as she's been watching them practice for the past while. "Yelling cutely is a feat, but you'd have to yell pretty loudly in this class." It's true that the constant magical sparring going in around the room is pretty noisy.

    She shifts on her seat on the bleachers, leaning back on one hand and crossing her legs. "I admit I'm not super-up on the whole Chara Bearer thing, but as long as you don't cause trouble for anybody you're welcome here. You and your Bearer." She doesn't comment on why Tuxedo Mask is allowed to come despite already causing her trouble.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Hunh." Kyouko looks over at Tuxedo Kamen and then shrugs. "I'll stab you later." She informs him before her attention goes to Yellow Pearl.

"Alright then, Yellow." Kyouko nods at the mention of close being her strong point. "I prefer melee, up close and personal." She gestures over towards a few chunk of space and heads that way herself. She might be cranky, she might even be a jerk sometimes, but she's not aspiring to stab everyone at once.

She'll get to folks in good time.

Kyouko waits for Yellow Pearl to come into the general area, and then lunges at her with a spear. Because fights rarely confirm that you're ready before they get started. Reaction time is important too!

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir lifts both clawed hands in a 'no way' gesture when Kyouko asks who wants to get stabbed first. He does however quip, "Right to the point! Got to love the enthusiasm, but I'm more a staff or sword kind of guy myself." Plus Pearl had already called dibs so he was thankfully free of joining in that! For now.

"I call her 'Pearly'," he offers helpfully by providing a nickname for Yellow Pearl in case Kyouko needed one. At least he offers a nice one before she can come up with something potentially rude? He doesn't seem to mind Kyouko's shortness, having dealt with it before in a calmer setting at least once. Plus he was just that kind of guy. Maybe she wasn't a people person.

Then with voice raised he calls out, "Thanks for raising the class of the, ah, class, Tuxy!"

Of course that leaaaves... Him sidestepping over toward Hope with a broad toothy grin. "Hi! I'm Cat Noir. New to here, not new to the game. I'm looking for someone to spar with too, if you feel like helping meow-t."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Gretchen silently watches Tuxedo Kamen's delighted expression, and then opens her mouth in surprise as he reveals himself. Then, when told that she yells cutely, she flails her arms and complains, "What do you mean I'm cute?! I'm a powerful, scary X-Chara! I even have a spooky mask!" She pulls the mask down over her face and spread her arms out wide. "Raar!"

    After a moment, she feels silly, because it's not like she can use her full magic without henshining with Madoka. Nor is she willing to embrace the dark energy that would help her fill the power gap. She looks like a barking chihuahua and she suddenly feels very self-aware about that fact. Disheartened, but moving past it, she floats closer to Kamen, and whispers lowly, "Nice to see you when you aren't causing Emu-tional damage."

    At a more conversational tone, Gretchen lifts her mask back up and crosses her arms at Kyouka. "Well, I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm gonna bail if too many missed shots head my way, though." The X-Chara doesn't question what Kyouka knows, because it's not like no one would've ever seen Madoka hanging out with her mascots before. It's also not like no one would've ever seen, or sensed, Gretchen sneaking around campus either.

    As for Hope, she watches for a moment as Yellow Pearl and Kyouko start getting ready to spar. When Cat Noir approaches her, she headtilts at him. "Oh! You want a partner? That's fine. My name's Hope Blossom, and I tend to specialize at ranged, but I've also been trying to round out my skillset."

    She holds out a hand to summon her branch bow, and then starts heading towards an empty place in the gym. With a smile, she looks at Cat Noir and asks, "Is over here fine?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Recognition of her peers?" Coco repeats at Gretchen, confused over what's going on. "Aqua Regina isn't one to make a fuss over rank, but I don't get what you mean by that statement. I don't think Hope is a goddess", she comments looking at the pinkette hoping for her to elaborate. That is a weird thing to say.

There is really only one person who crashed her out of the sky at Soryuu Shrine, and that means he is... oh. Well, she got bruised on that occasion, but they both had things to defend there, so no sour feelings on Coco's part. And considering how the whole thing turned out... "Oh, that's you, hi! I am as fit as a fiddle, and it's nice to see that seems to be the case for you. How are you enjoying your new transformation?"

Given the circumstances, both Kyouko's and Cat Noir's nicknames work just as well, but in the latter case it's a good thing none of the other mermaid princesses are here, otherwise that would be a lot of "Pearly" going around.

When Kyouko transforms, Coco tenses as she finally recognises the magical girl. Of all training partners to pick... "Oh, that's you, Cherry Spear, hi", she comments with a nervous grin. 'Stay calm, stay calm, those were completely different circumstances', she thinks to herself. 'She also helped me, that was nothing'.

She follows the spear user into the fighting space, and not expecting to be assaulted so fast, she just has the time to move fast enough to turn Kyouko's blow to her side. "I should have remembered you aren't one to mess around", she grimaces. And now that the strike has caused her to move back further, Kyouko has the advantage, with that long stick of hers.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Sorry, sorry!" says Tuxedo Mask, holding his hands up to shield himself from the tiny Chara, either grinning or grimacing, it's hard to tell. (Probably grinning.) "You're not cute, it's fine! I only mean to annoy Stellar-sensei, I didn't mean to annoy you too. Mostly." A beat, and his eyes widen. "Emutional damage. I'm gonna have to tell Kunzite that one, he gives me a lot of guff over that bird too."

He salutes Kyouko. "Feel free to try~" he calls back to her. Cat Noir gets a kiss blown in his direction-- and then ahh, Coco, she gets it, and he smiles at her and flourishes a courtly bow. When he straightens, he nods firmly. "I'm glad you're all right. And I'm very glad things turned out the way they did! My new transformation takes a little getting used to, it fits a lot closer than the other jacket and I feel like there's starch involved in more than just the collar," he laughs. "Not used to fighting in formalwear. In fact-- I haven't yet. So we'll see when you're done over there, I'm apparently due for a stabbing."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Distance? Not a problem! My usual partner has a bit of a distance weapon herself," Cat Noir assures Hope with a grin. "Nice to meet you by the way. I really should get out more, I'm turning into a real house cat." Okay maybe that one was a bit of a stretch.

He back pedals with a few bouncing steps to put some more distance between them so that she can make use of the bow she pulls out. As soon as she seems prepared his hand dips behind him to pull a small cylinder from the base of his back where it was tucked into his belt.

His arm sweeps to the side and the staff extends out easily as tall as he is. One leg slides back, the front leading leg bending in a ready position as the staff is brought up in front of him. It's all done in one smooth, easy motion that he does without thinking or second guessing himself. THIS was second nature to him for as often as he had practiced in general.

"Here is purrfectly fine with me! Ready when you are!" And he is totally and completely ready and not at all SUDDENLY DISTRACTED by the kiss blown his way by Tuxedo Kamen! Pinkening a bit he mutters, "Huh, usually I'm the flirt. That's a new one."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar casts an appraising eye upon the raaring X-chara. "Very intimidating." She says dryly, though without apparent malice. "Don't worry, attendance is purely optional. You are free to bail at any point if you feel you're becoming a target. Nobody's supposed to get hurt here." Which doesn't mean nobody does, just that it's not the goal.

    As Mamoru invites Kyouko to attempt to stab him, she mutters, "Careful, that one's likely to actually do it. I think she means well, but she's as feral as an alleycat. I'm working on her though. Just don't get stabbed before I teach her some manners." She then raises her voice and yells over towards where Kyouko is attempting to stab Yellow Pearl Voice, "Kyouko! Try not to telegraph so much, jeez!" She shakes her head. "Potential though. I promise."

    She rolls her eyes hard at Tuxedo Kamen blowing kisses to Cat Noir. "Unbelievable."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Hey at least you are just as ready for a second gala. Nobody can accuse you of lacking versatility.", Coco smiles jokingly at him, just without averting her attention from Kyouko.

Considering Kyouko currently has the advantage, it really is best she stays focused. She certainly doesn't want the red magical girl to strike her again. Though at least now she is alert and looking at Kyouko's moves, and she isn't letting her guard down, even if her wound is quite distracting.

She doesn't use her powers since the point is for her to get adapted to the close range. Instead she tries to move in close while avoiding Kyouko's spear and attempts to hit her with her E-Pitch.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"It's good for ya." Kyouko offers a fangy grin as she keeps Yellow Pearl on her toes with her spear. While she might have promised stabbings, with a certain level of glee even, the attacks that she's pressing upon Yellow Pearl arent' deadly shots. They are pressing her advantage, moving the more defensive focused girl around to keep away from them, but a highly skilled eye would not that she's not /actually/ trying to kill the singer.

"Bite me!" Is the very mature reply back to Stellar at the correction. And a little bit of straightening, as she tries not to subconsciously inform the world that the spear is coming around to defend against that hit.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Lydian looks like she wants to explain things to Coco, but people are splitting up into groups and Lydian wants to keep an eye on Madoka. It's too long of a story for here and now anyways. Instead, the tiny artist fairy says, "It's a really long story. I'm sorry on Gretchen's behalf. She didn't mean to disrespect a queen! I don't think it occurred to her that you were talking about Aqua Regina."

    Meanwhile, Gretchen frowns at Tux as if she doesn't fully believe what he says, but at least he's polite enough to not call her out or make her feel... well... small. "I have to admit, of all the crazy things I've seen, that was one of the craziest! Points for originality."

    Gretchen nods to Kyouka and says, "I know. I'm just saying."

    The X-Chara's attention turns towards Coco and Kyouko's fight, frowning slightly. She's not grumpy about anything in particular, she's just naturally like that. "So, she's focusing on melee and not using her song?" It's just as well. Coco's purifying music is one of the things that would make Gretchen have to bail.

    Hope notices that Cat Noir is giving her room, and she raises an eyebrow. As soft and gentle as she usually is in social situations, combat is something else. Fighting Witches requires a certain level of ferocity and viciousness, to such a point that Madoka couldn't really feel good about fighting them until she was told that she was basically putting the cursed monsters out of their misery.

    Once she hits the middle of the chosen spot, she turns around on the ball of her foot and draws back on her bow, conjuring a bright pink arrow which she aims into the air. "I'm ready now. Good luck!"

    She fires into the air, and her one arrow splits into many. The myriad of magic bolts turn and twist in the air, swirling around her to create a protective barrier. Another arrow is fired into the air shortly after, and this one stays as one solid projectile as it turns in the air to chase after Noir.

    If it hits him, he might notice that it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it looks like it should. Modulating her output is a part of her power too, and this is only training after all.

    Gretchen watches her Chara Bearer spar and grumbles. "Both are being so polite. I wonder how long that will last."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir prepares to dash away as many arrows as he caaa-wait they weren't after him. It earns a look of surprise when they surround Hope to act as a shield, and he pauses long enough to give a quick thumbs up and a, "Niiiice trick!" Right before he springs into action for the lone arrow that does come at him. Sure, she said she wanted to round out her abilities, but if she was a distance fighter then he'd have to fight his way closer to begin with! Theoretically.

His staff spins out in hand as he leaps up to meet that arrow coming at him seeking to dash it to the ground where it would hopefully remain safely not chasing his tail.

Then, with a flip back to the ground, he brings the staff in an overhand hit toward the shield-o-arrows orbiting Hope testing the defense.

In and out he weaves and bobs, not really staying still regardless as he starts his energetic attacks. Leaping, jumping, and using the staff to both attack and vault away if he feels he's a bit too close to the pointy end of things.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen actually laughs when Cat Noir almost gets too distracted, blushing; he ostentatiously smooths down his lapels as Kyouka complains. She warns him about Kyouko, and the caped boy nods. "I've seen her fight. I'll be careful." Then he adds, "If anybody gets more than just bruised and doesn't want to make the trek to the nurse's office, I'm here for that too."

He smiles at Coco again, but now she's busy with Kyouko, and he's not about to keep distracting her. His attention goes over to Chat Noir and Hope Blossom, and he nods to Gretchen, finally just sitting down. "Thank you. And yeah, they are -- should we heckle them?" he asks the little X-Chara, "Or would that be too mean?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco wasn't trying to reprimand Gretchen, rather to get clarification over her puzzling statement. Nonetheless, that's something for another time, especially since Kyouko is currently fighting with her.

Speaking of which, the Puella Magi is keeping her under control and it's not something Coco can do much about. After, melee is her weak point for a reason.

Since Stellar and Tuxedo are commenting on Kyouko's fighting style, Coco figures she should throw out some reassurance. "It's ok, I can heal this myself later!"

What to do now... Well, the only choice she has is to try some feints, though she doesn't think Kyouko will fall for them. Nonetheless, she tries to hit her again with the E-Pitch, then pulls back to switch into a light kick.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's more aggressive pink arrow disperses into a cloud of pink sparkles as it hits Cat Noir's staff, not really being redirected so much as vanishing outright. They're magical blasts of arrow-shaped energy. When Cat Noir starts testing Blossom's defenses, the orbiting arrows pop in similar harmless fashion. Hope starts to hop backwards, keeping in motion to try and maintain the distance between herself and Cat, but it's hard to do that while also managing the arrow cloud surrounding her.

    Gretchen watches the fight with a judgemental gaze. "All of her arrows are at a tiny amount of power. I respect the effort to not go full power in a training match, but this whole arena is set up for us to be able to go all out. To an extent." Pointing at Blossom, she adds, "As it is, that boy could easily dive into that cloud and score a hit, but he might be respecting the pretense that the arrows actually matter. It's not really necessary since they both have henshins, but she's probably thinking she'll get more training time if she doesn't wear people out."

    Lydian, meanwhile, has joined Gretchen, Kamen and Kyouka. "So... the arrows are only orbiting her horizontally. The top is wide open. Why does she leave it like that?"

    Gretchen shakes her head. "That's a trap. Most magicals can't fly, so they have to commit to a jump if they want to come at her from above. That lets her smack them with her bow or fire a shotgun blast of arrows at them. Of course, with the range of his weapon, he never has to enter that barrier himself. I bet she isn't even thinking about that. Only something like a Familiar would be mindless enough to walk into something like that."

    To Tuxedo Kamen, Gretchen shrugs. "Depends on the heckling. My roommate would be mad at me if I was too mean to Hope Blossom. Not that I don't have criticisms."

    Hope Blossom, meanwhile, isn't so much thinking or analyzing as she is reacting. Chat Noir is nimble and tricky in a way that Hope's usual opponents aren't. The overhand hit is met with a swing from her branch bow, which splitters and shatters upon the impact. Clearly her bow wasn't meant to be used this way. The next few attacks have to be dodged and sidestepped, and while Madoka could probably retreat by superjumping backwards she's choosing not to. This earns her a solid jab in the shoulder, which catches her by surprise and causes her to lose concentration on her arrow barrier. It scatters in all directions, some of the bolts hitting the floor and walls before Madoka regains control over them, sending the entire swarm chasing after Chat Noir while she starts leaping away from him a bit more emphatically.

    Gretchen decides to yell at her Bearer anyways, "Oh my GOD! Don't lose focus just because you got hit!"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir fixes his attention completely on Hope Blossom even though there was plenty going on around him. It's not so much that he's overly challenged, but he too was holding back quite a bit. She'd even said she wasn't good at close combat after all! He was skilled enough to work with that while still giving her a challenge instead of going in for the proverbial kill.

"Ah, concentration based?" He guesses as the arrows scatter around before she finally starts to retreat. "And you managed to keep it up so far? I'm hurt! I thought I was looking pretty distractable today! Though to be fair, I'm not wearing a tuxedo."

When Hope starts to regroup he stamps the staff to the ground using it to pole vault over the horizontal attack of arrows starting to come in toward him to launch in a feet-first kick. Sure it was playing into her trap. He'd made that leap at her, maybe giving her a chance to react.

Or he could just be showing off.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Good." Kyouko doesn't fall for the feint, but she still comments on it as she deftly avoides the kick that is aimed in her direction. "I'd probably actually hit and then follow up quickly with that kick to make it more believable. You're quick enough to pull it off." She flicks the spear as she circles around, giving Yellow a tap on her back with a deft wrap shot. The side of her spear makes a point, rather than injuring the other mahou further.

She's generally ignoring the other fights going on, focusing on fighting with Yellow. After that wrap shot, she bounces off to get back into better spear range.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay, good!" Tuxedo Mask calls out to Coco, and then he splits his attention between Gretchen, Lydian, and the fight between Hope Blossom and Cat Noir. "Oh is that what that opening's for!" he says, impressed. "She'll need to be careful about Obsidian's Device Mages, I'm pretty sure most of them can fly, but that would absolutely get me flatfooted. I'm still too used to flying."

He shakes his head at Gretchen, then. "I can't even be as mean as Sailor Moon can be," he says sheepishly. "We'll see if I can heckle her-- Kyouko, right? Over there fighting Yellow Pearl Voice? --while I'm fighting her, but... I mean I can tease but maybe I'll wait on that, too. Nobody really knows me like this yet. Everything is still so new."

His wrist buzzes and he glances down, pushing up his sleeve, and there's a really shiny and pretty jewelery-looking apparent wristwatch there with something that looks like Usagi's brooch as the apparent timepiece. (It's so totally a communicator.) "Oop, gotta go. I'll fight next time."

Then nyoom he jumps up to the high pavilion window he came in through, then vanishes out it.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Stellar continues to observes the various spars, but it seems like she has little else to add unless someone asks for her advice. She does seem in a more openly good mood than she was before, leaning back on her arms with her legs crossed an an amused expression on her face. She heaves a small sigh as Tuxedo Mask makes his exit. The analysis given by Lydian and Gretchen are noted, her grey eyes watching Hope Blossom with the consideration of their words, but she only nods in silent agreement, with nothing specific to add.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom, also, is giving Cat Noir her undivided attention. Whatever the audience is saying about their fight, she doesn't have time to think about it. She does, however, quickly realize that holding back like she has been can produce bad habits both in herself and her training partner.

    Chat Noir's flirtatious humor goes over her head at first, but she gets it after a moment. "Oh! Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about that." She lands for a moment, then hops away. "Sorry, but when I think about cute people I only think about my girlfriend, and now I'm thinking about her in a tuxedo."

    As Chat Noir leaps at her, Madoka pushes the thought of sharply-dressed Homura out of her mind and decides to take the opening. A melee hit would be a bad idea with the considerable range of his staff, so Madoka nocks and releases another arrow, which splits into a wide spray of magical pink hurty bits. Well, it doesn't hurt as much as it would, as she's still holding back. She skips back and away to create distance and keep moving, fully expecting to be chased.

    Having seen the flaws of her barrier in this matchup, she doesn't raise another one. She'll have to think of a new way to counter this. Maybe she could ask Brai later, if the Chara is awake today.

    Gretchen watches the goings-on, and she nods. "That's right. Flying Device mages would be a different thing entirely. It's not like she's never faced Riventon before." Then Kamen has to leave, and the X-Chara suddenly looks a little sad to see him go. "O-oh. Okay. Well, see you around. Welcome to Team Sparkles," she says, as if she isn't filled with Dark Energy herself. Then again, it's not like Witches get along with Obsidian anyways.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Quick enough to do both at once? She certainly didn't even consider doing something like that, worried as she was about losing her balance, but Kyouko is actually giving her a vote of confidence, so she would be remiss in not following through.

"Thank you", she smiles in appreciation. "I may be commenting the obvious, but you really know your stuff. There have actually been a whole bunch of things to bring my body to the levels of other mahous." At least, her human one, not she can actually tell Kyouko that.

"When we first met, something like these would have been a joke", she confesses. Not that it stops Kyouko from tapping her with the spear, but it's all good learning. What she intends to do next is wait for another one of her strikes and try to block that, before trying to touch Kyouko with her fist as the redhead is supposedly busy with that maneuveur.

Another smile is also reserved to Tuxedo as thanks for his encouragement.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"YIPE!" Teasing aside there was a sudden flurry of arrows aiming right for Cat Noir. Mid-air. He twists so his back is to the onslaught and he can bring the staff down again. Though HE was in the air, the staff extends to smack the ground and push him further up and away from... a few of the arrows.

A couple does manage to hit home in a spot that was both humorous and unpleasant as he tips forward back toward the ground head first with a few arrows lodged in his butt for as long as magical arrows may last.

"Owowowow! I regret!"

He comes down in a rolling tumble that would have made things WAY worse if the arrows didn't fizzle out well before he hits the ground. Which is great for him to roll back up to his feet in a bounce. Even so he reaches back with a quick clap of his hand over his butt JUST to check that there's nothing left there. The breif touch satisfies him, assuring there isn't, and he whirls around to face Madoka again with a grin.

"You really do have some pretty handy attacks there. If you want to work on the hand to hand, I can offer some basic tips. That bow isn't going to stand up to much as a melee weapon though," he warns.

He shifts his posture to drape both hands overtop the staff which he just LEANS on at this point, resting his chin ontop of his hands. "Care to call it a draw for now?"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Practice." Is all Kyouko has to say about the fact that she knows her stuff. Even if Stellar gave her grief about not hiding her moves sufficiently. She was going to have to practice more. At least this city provides plenty of options.

Kyouko rushes in, providing a flurry of hits with the spear.. side rather than tip.. and she gets tapped by a gentle fist from Yellow.

Kyouko can't help herself, she settles back to laugh. "That was the sadest little hit. If you're gonna hit someone.. /hit 'em./ We're magical girls.. and cats.. we're not going to break." She leans on her spear and nods a little. "You're better than you were." That's high praise out of Kyouko.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope actually looks like she's ready to keep fighting for a while, but... she's not going to push further if Noir doesn't want to. The concept of 'calling a draw' feels almost alien to her, considering that most of her fights are all-or-nothing life-or-death affairs. Out of respect for her opponent, she comes to a stop and her branch bow vanishes. She leans forward in a polite bow and says, "A draw it is. We were both holding back a bit, so it's only fair. Thank you for the match."

    Stepping a bit closer, she elaborates, "I already feel like I learned something, even if it was just the fact that my current tactics don't work. Additional pointers wouldn't hurt. I don't mind if the bow breaks because I can always make another one, but that doesn't really allow me to block or parry at all. Either way," she adds a little sheepishly, "I don't think I'll be winning any sword fights with Sharpsong-chan anytime soon."

    Her pink eyes go towards the magic staff, and she says, "That's a pretty neat weapon you have. It almost reminds me of something from Chinese legend. I guess if I'm going to fight magical opponents, I have to be ready even for things like that."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir ducks his head forward in a slight bow in return to Hope still grinning. "I'll keep that in mind for next time then. I've never had mine break before, but I'm going to guess I can't re-create it." A little chuckle comes from the dark clad catboy as he tosses a wink toward Hope.

"My big power is destruction. I avoid it until I really need to, it's kind of a one shot. No 'creation' here sadly!" He's not overly upset about that though it does make it much more difficult to lose his weapon if he does.

Shifting his weight he pulls back the staff to tuck behind his back again as it reverts to a very compact size just about a foot long as opposed to what it was before. "Thanks for the match! It was good meeting you and," he pauses to nod toward the two Charas as well. "Your friends."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Since Kyouko is making a distinction over someone else being a cat, at least somewhat, Coco wonders if she is going to get the same exception in the future, but of course knowing the answer to that today is out of the question.

She gets reprimanded for holding back to much though, so she decides she should go with the strength range suggested by Kyouko. "Thank you, watch this then", she exclaims making a show of going for Kyouko's right side before switching course to the left.

Whether that works or not, Coco bounces back and bows towards Kyouko. "Thank you for all the help, I really appreciated the tips." Seeing this side of Kyouko has helped put her a bit more at ease.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks over at her two Chara when Chat mentions them, both of whom have been watching the match. Gretchen grumpily looks away, while Lydian smiles and waves her tiny little arm. Blossom giggles and says, "My Guardian Chara are a part of how my magic works. They represent my dreams, specifically regarding what kind of person I want to be. Well, sorta. Gretchen's an X-Chara, so she's a little different."

    Lydian hears a beep and pulls out a tiny little cellphone. Then she looks startled for a moment before calling out, "Hope-chan, we gotta go!" The little artistic minidoka takes the hand of the grumpy Witch-like minidoka and starts pulling her along.

    "Oh!" exclaims Hope, before giving Chat Noir an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I'll see you around. Thanks again!"

    Thus, Hope Blossom starts to run out of the pavilion, followed closely by her two floating fairy companions.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
There's a soft oof from Kyouko as Yellow hauls off and punches her out of the blue, even wiht a little feint to go with it. She holds still for it though, even if there's a flicker of cranky that she doesn't quite mask. Kyouko nods. "Good shot."

A little nod to them all, and then with no further good byes, she uses her spear for leverage, and just bounce, bounce bounces! Up and away!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Her training with Kyouko is over, and so is Madoka's apparently, because the pinkette has gone away while Coco was focused.

That's probably a signal for her to do the same, so she addresses the two people left. "Thank you for having me, Stellar, I am going to go too. See you another time, both you and Cat Noir." And with that, she too makes her way out of her pavillion, singing all the while to cure her wound.