1434/Shaka When The Walls Fell

Shaka When The Walls Fell
Date of Scene:	21 April 2024
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	Zoisite, Sailor Mercury, and Tuxedo Kamen are at Fite Nite, trying to figure out how far they can go if they do an all-out combo.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Zoisite, Ami Mizuno

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I don't really feel like I'm ready to spar with anybody but you guys," Mamoru's telling Zoisite as they head into the gym part of the sports pavilion, where Kyouka has the barrier set up for Fite Nite. "I didn't even want to fight anyone when we were on the other side. Just people I felt like deserved it. And then the one time I did fight someone for fun, she was going all out and I wasn't, and it still landed her in the hospital. I know that's not a problem anymore, but..."

He sighs, pushing the door open -- and suddenly, as they walk inside, the colors of the walls and floor and training equipment, of all the mundane objects, they're all muted, dull, desaturated. "At least now if anyone gets hurt I can fix it. I have no idea what my limits are. I just know I'm good at combos."

The mundane class has cleared out, and there are a few mahoujin sparring on the opposite end of the gym, but nobody nearby, especially. Mamoru says conversationally, hand pulling his watch out of his pocket, "Earth Prism Power, Make Up~"

Nobody's looking, henshining out in the open is fine.

Zoisite has posed:
Changing into his henshin is a much simpler affair for Zoisite, who simply touches the stone danging from his ear and then he's in his Shitennou uniform, though without his sword for today. Not that he couldn't, you know, summon it from hammerspace, but he's not planning on stabbing anyone (as of yet). Things, as always, can change.

"We should figure out precisely what you're capable of first," he says. "Before we start trying for combos." For a moment or so he's looking downrange to where the others are sparring. It's a contemplative look, one that is deciding whether or not the distance is great enough to pose no risk, either to them or from them.

Given that Zoisite says nothing further, only turns his back halfway to them, it's probable that he's gone with 'yes' as an answer. His arms fold over his chest as he waits without prompting anyone for precisely what he's waiting on. Beyond the lift of a pale eyebrow and an expectant look on his face, of course.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I didn't expect to see either of you here today," comes a perhaps all-too-familiar voice from one of the nearby Mahou who had noticed the pair come in. Sailor Mercury steps over with a friendly smile as she greets them both, "Hello Zoisite, hello Tuxedo Kamen." It likely wouldn't make any difference using their real names or not in this instance but since they had already changed she goes with those names.

Though she usually calls Zoisite 'Zoi' anyway. It's not a huge difference in that respect.

Unlike many of the others she hadn't joined in training so much as she was simply observing for the moment working on her own powers. Just a bit. Which is precisely why she has an ice sword currently in hand as it was a trick that Jadeite had demonstrated and which she was working on herself. One that she readily admitted she wasn't likely to use but practice was practice (and maybe someone else could use it like Naru perhaps.)

"Come to train today?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Hi, Mercury," says Mamoru, waving, but with his eyes on Zoisite almost mistrustfully. Yes. Okay, sure.

Sure.

"Sort of?" he says, pulling out a rose and turning it around backwards. He says obligingly, "Tuxedo Exfoliate Rose," and throws the dart with the 'fletching' first; the rosepetals explode in a glittery way with a 'paf' on impact, whether that's on Zoisite or the wall. The impact itself has about the force of a brofist, this time.

"I can get that to about the force of deadarm," Mamoru says cheerfully. "You already know what the rose can usually do."

He holds his fist to his chest where it starts to glow, then glow more, and still he doesn't say it. He's a-chargin' his laser. "I'm going to aim for that dummy," he tells Mercury, "so just be over here...?"

Zoisite has posed:
It's the wall that is hit, as Zoisite lands with a quiet tap of his boot heels back down on the ground a second later, his back to the shimmery impact. As he straightens up, he flicks a strand of hair over his shoulder so that he's one again the picture of perfection. Nothing out of place.

"Hello, Mercury," he too greets, and then moves to join her standing out of the way, as he has no intention of being in the crosshairs for this second attack that Mamoru is charging.

As he turns on the spot to face Tuxedo Kamen, it's actually the ice sword in Sailor Mercury's hand that catches his interest, though his green gaze lifts to focus on his Prince a second or two later. "I see you've been working on what we discussed. I'd be happy to offer sword lessons."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Sailor Mercury shifts her grip slightly on the sword she holds at her side. At the very least she's holding it in an appropriate manner--Tip toward the ground alongside her leg so that there's no chance of her accidentally slicing herself or anyone else at the moment. It just remains there while she watches Tuxedo Kamen send off his exfoliant attack with a slight smile.

"That's the one you used at the mall on the not-youma. It's a good idea. Having a less serious attack now and then might come in handy at times," she remarks with clear approval. Of course her own attacks weren't always the combative sort so much as the assisting. Naturally it makes sense to her.

When Zoisite steps over to join him she smiles a bit more with a nod. "Nimble as ever," she praises only for her attention to shift back to the taller of the pair. "Oh, that would be good. I don't know how to use it, really, but I can definitely make the sword now without issue." It only took a bit of research.

"Are you both working on sparring or just going to see what you can do?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Right this second, just seeing what we can do. None of us has an accurate post-evil all-out gauge yet," Mamoru says with a crooked little smile at Ami. "Maybe sparring in a bit, I definitely need to work on breaking free from being pinned. I wasn't expecting to get caught, last month." He looks at the dummy.

Then Tuxedo Kamen says "Tuxedo," while lifting his elbow and half-turning away from the dummy, and he says "la Smoking," and he flings out his arm and points his opened, glowing hand at the poor imminent bad-end dummy while a sphere of white-gold light forms in front of that hand, and at the same moment his hand finishes flicking out at the end of his arm he yells, "BOMBER!" and the white-gold light punches out in a broad beam of force, of potential turned kinetic, of sheer unadulterated get-out-of-my-face.

The dummy explodes toward the concrete wall behind it, and the concrete wall gets-- well, it's cinderblocks and some of them get partly crushed.

Mamoru stares.

Zoisite has posed:
"Are you implying I didn't go all-out on that jacket?" Zoisite asks, nose lifted in the air just-so. But he's joking, because he definitely didn't, and besides he'd had Jupiter's help then.

He looks aside to Mercury as Tuxedo Kamen begins to charge his attack properly. "It's a deal, then," is all he says, secretly pleased to have a way to pay her back after all the study help he received. And then all of his attention is on Mamoru, who subsequently manages to dent the wall.

That earns some Impressed Eyebrows, which go up nearly to Zoi's hairline before he puts one hand on his hip. "What did that dummy ever do to you?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Maybe it hit on Usagi?"

The little joke is offered from Mercury though she does regard the damage done on the dummy, and the wall as well thoughtfully. "That is rather impressive. Was that really the most you can do though?"

A half-step is taken forward as if that might give her a better view of things and she reaches up instinctively to press her earring so that her visor can slip out into view. "I think no one can really go 'all out' unless there's an actual need on the line. Whether protecting someone or trying to stop a threat. This would give a good idea of your power levels though."

"I've never really tried to push my own but I find I do far better in fights. Maybe if you remember a time you really needed to go 'all out' and then tried it could help to push your abilities?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It--" starts Tuxedo Kamen, still staring at the splinters and the wall-crunch, and he trails off. Then Ami suggests that the dummy hit on Usagi and he turns to give her a 'come on, really?' look, mostly amused and a little bit amiably exasperated. "If a wooden practice dummy hit on Usagi it would be a youma," he points out, abruptly prim.

Then he cracks his knuckles and lets his hands drop. "I'd rather not get that desperately worried and emotional in practice in an echoing gym," he says after a moment, clearly having thought back to ... at least a few incidents. "Except maybe at that vampire. I could think about that. That was sheer self-preservational panic, though, not protecting someone else."

He coughs. "I need to work on internalizing that I can actually do things to protect other people besides getting between them and the problem."

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite folds his arms over his chest and only stares pointedly at Mamoru at that last statement. Before he abruptly turns his head away and sighs, and his shoulders hunch a little bit, but he doesn't say anything!

Which is clearly a struggle based on the look on his face, averted away from Tuxedo Kamen but plainly visible to Sailor Mercury.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Well not necessarily," Mercury responds as she still examines the damage. "Usagi-chan is prone to day dreaming at times, and it's usually about romance. She could have been daydreaming that the training dummy was someone she really liked who was asking her out. Although," she has to admit finally looking back toward Tuxedo Kamen with a *clearly teasing* grin, "It was usually you she was daydreaming about."

"Or she could have punched it and it rocked back and hit her. That also happened a lot."

When Zoisite turns she glances toward him with a little blink at the look on his face. Teasing aside, she takes a deep breath as she considers the pair. They were both very upset over that incident still, clearly.

"More seriously," she begins, "Perhaps instead of working alone you should work on teamwork? That is to say, a good many of your attacks seem to assist others. Perhaps there's a way to work your powers together?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Mask sighs, looking down and adjusting his gloves when Zoisite looks away. "I said I need to internalize it," he says under his breath, half guilty and half complaining. It is two lifetimes' worth of reflexes he needs to oust.

Then, "Yeah, combos. Let's disintegrate this wall. The three of us. Maybe take out the whole corner of the building, carefully-- I'm not sure how far out the barrier goes. The two of you without me could take it down, just with freeze-and-burn alternating. Let's disintegrate it."

Zoisite has posed:
That Zoisite says nothing and only needs a moment to compose himself could be considered progress, perhaps. He's quick to spout off usually, after all, so now him being silent is a departure from that.

And when he looks back, his expression is placid... purposefully. Even though he has an urge to smirk at Mamoru's sudden destructive desires.

"What do you say, Mercury?" he asks as he adjusts the fall of one sleeve of his uniform. "I remember what the two of us together are capable of, and now we have a new element to add to the mix."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Me?" Mercury is a bit surprised at being requested to join in. She had been rather nervous about testing out her powers. Uncertain of her abilities. It's something she'd shared with Zoisite berfore and perhaps even Mamoru had picked up on her hesitance at times when she called herself 'the weakest' out of the senshi.

She wasn't Sailor Mercury at those times though.

A smile slips over her that is just a bit more confident than usual. Somehow being around the familiar faces, and in the familiar transformation, had her feeling more confident in who she was. Her hand lifts to dispell the icesword into a small glittering explosion of ice crystals.

"I could use to let off some steam. Shall we?" She asks cheerfully.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Getting a mulishly rebellious little set to his chin at Zoisite's placid look, Tuxedo Kamen eyes his friend for a second, then nods decisively to Mercury. "Yes, let's," he agrees and falls into place between them.

Again: charging hand held fast in a fist to his chest, and then as he calls out the jackets progressively, hauling back and launching the attack on the last word -- but waiting for the other two to hit their last words, too, and trying to focus on their 'signatures', their energy, their magical them-ness to mingle and amplify their attacks.

Zoisite has posed:
It takes nothing more than a thought to summon the sakura petals into Zoisite's hand. He's rather old hat at this part, having favored the flower as his own personal signature since the very beginning.

Then it's just a matter of dispersing them, which he does with a casual exhale of breath, sending them scattering on an invisible wind towards the barrier. "Sakura..."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
There was one attack she'd used once before. Once, in the heat of battle, on instinct and nothing more. Since then she's overthought and worried and... No. Now was as good a time as any to practice it when not facing the stresses of an actual battle.

She was around friends. Not just friends, but companions of a lifetime past. In the magical 'safe zone' created by another who was helping them learn to fight properly. If it wasn't a good chance to try it now she didn't know when.

Mercury lifts her gloved hands up toward her chest crossing at the wrists as she gathers her energy. Feels that fluid, liquid sensation of the water that was everywhere. In her, in her friends, in the very air around them. It's this she focuses on.

The energy builds quickly flowing through and around her as she starts her own chant.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

At the last word her arms fling outward sending rings of water swirling toward the wall at the same time that Tuxedo Kamen and Zoisite send off their attacks.

The water merges with the winds and petals of the sakura blossoms from Zoisite merging their attacks and twining them around the bomber blast in one fluid attack.

Liquid was good like that.

Zoisite has posed:
As the petals are caught up in the swirl of water from Mercury's attack, they spread out into an orderly array around the path of the incoming beam of Tuxedo Kamen's blast, and Zoisite... he smirks. Just one corner of his mouth, lifting slightly.

His fingers clench. "...Conflagration!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Conflagration! Bomber! Illusion!

The three attacks intertwine as intended, and with the explosions of Zoisite's petals and the freezing-cold rings of water -- yes, liquid is good like that -- and the combination attack hits that wall like it's tissue paper. It half crumbles, half topples, in a tremendous cinderblock rock-fall of building debris that's left over after most of it's been exploded out into nothingness, past the confines of the barrier and therefore out of existence entirely.

What a noise! It's like a bomb went off-- the kids who'd been practicing on the other end of the gym have skittered across to the far back corner, and there's no way that Kyouka will have missed the amount of damage they just did despite probably not actually being in the room at the time--

--so Tuxedo Kamen grabs Mercury's wrist lightly with one hand and Zoisite's wrist lightly with the other, and he tugs them hurriedly toward the exit they never strayed too far from, a choked little laugh of disbelief the only thing that comes out of his mouth.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
That loud explosion could be felt as ripples of the soundwaves wash back over Mercury. That was not what she expected. DID she expect anything? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way it's a surprise how it DOES happen, and she's left laughing out loud as some bit of stress has managed to release along with that explosion.

Just as she's about to turn to congratulate the others on a job-well-done her hand is grabbed and she blinks. Oh right. OH RIGHT they just *blew up an entire wall* and maybe don't want to stick around. She's quick to fall in running alongside them but still, somehow, unable to stop laughing the entire time from the adrenaline rush of it all.