1473/Clock Look

Clock Look
Date of Scene:	29 April 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Riventon and DG Girl Aon have up to something screwy with a new type of clock. Luckily Pluto, Charon, Jupiter, Tuxedo Kamen, Cure Wing, and Mou Fubuki are on the scene!
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Laisa Samuiko, Tsubasa Yuunagi, Mamoru Chiba, Makoto Kino, Setsuna Meiou, Hotaru Tomoe

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
    There's a bit of chaos going on in Tokyo today - well, a bit is an understatement. A lot of people seem to be in a super-stressed get-out-of-my-way style hurry. Some of the teachers at Radiant Heart even left their classes, yelling about how they 'didn't have time for this'. It doesn't affect everyone - but the people it does effect are acting like the world is passing them by, generally being rude jerks - and then there's the bus that crashed outside of the school, due to 'someone not getting out of the way the light was about to be green'.

    Yeah, this is starting to go from 'people behaving strangely' to a seriously dangerous problem. Investigation of what is going on will indicate a few things: Dark Energy is involved, and the people are under a sort of temporal acceleration effect. Time is rushing by for them, making everyone else seem to be moving slowly. Further, the stress it causes them is being drained out as energy - and being collected somewhere ekse.

    It's up to the assembled team to trace what's happened back to the source - which will end up being a closed up shop in a trendy part of Juuban Ward named Clock Look.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa really really wants to get this investigation done like yesterday. She really doesn't have time for this. She knows that something's up because the Rime Rosary is telling her so (in its own way) but ugh why is this taking so long?

    It's bad enough that she had to get through like... 50 traffic jams (really more like 3) because people kept getting into hurries over their petty lives that clearly couldn't be possibly as important as the serious mahou business that Laisa is currently trying to take care of. Geeze. Can't people just back off?

    Finally, FINALLY, she ends up at the outside of Clock Look, looking in, arms crossed over her chest as she taps her foot impatiently. This is it. This has to be it, right? This is where the thing is. She's pretty sure that he was here just the other day. Weird coincidence.

    Heavy sigh. "Is this it?" she mutters. "This better be it. I'm getting old out here!"

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Tsubasa had been in class, glancing at the clock - which clearly showed at least five minutes before the time class was supposed to let out when the teacher suddenly looked at her phone and left abruptly, complaing about the students not telling her class was over - which is what confused the boy. It was only when he noticed that others had been assembling and the trail of dark energy, faint as it was.

That immediately brought worries of what had occured back in Sorashido City starting to happen here - little does he know that Tokyo makes Sorashido look like easy mode when it comes to the grand scheme of things. Having henshined between buildings, Cure Wing takes flight, soaring through the skies as he follows along the path, and others that all seem to be heading to converge on one spot.

"If this is Kabaton making a grandfather clock terribad, I will be cross." the Precure comments as he lands on a nearby rooftop that overlooks the shop, where the others are gathering. And it's there where he pauses. He's not met many people in this new city yet, and the Princess-less knight isn't exactly sure how to introduce himself. Folding his arms across his middle, he glances down, and is pondering the several different ways he could say hello and in his imagination, they should be cool, but really, they're all kinda lame.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"If it's a terribad," a voice comes from behind Cure Wing, "I'll be relieved we can put a name to it."

From out of nowhere, it seems (not nowhere, just a different rooftop not in Wing's line of sight), there's a very tall boy in full formalwear with a cape and mask, holding a pair of opera glasses in one hand and a top hat in the other.

He puts the opera glasses into the top hat.

He puts the top hat on.

"I'm Tuxedo Kamen, you're welcome to try breaking in the back of the shop with me, or you can crash in in front with the others." With that, he jumps off the building into the alley behind it, trying the door before taking his lockpicks out (and starting to work on it, if necessary.)

Makoto Kino has posed:
In a rush of flower-scented wind, a tall girl in green and white alights on the rooftop space Tuxedo Kamen just vacated, pausing for a moment to offer Cure Wing a friendly grin. "Hi," says Sailor Jupiter. "A lot of us having similar ideas, it looks like."

From her present vantage she peers down at Tux for a moment. Then she vaults over the side of the roof to drop down into the alley nearby him. "I can try breaking it in, if you want," she offers. "I mean, if the quiet way doesn't work."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna Meiou had been feeling odd all day. Like SOMETHING was wrong...but she couldn't pinpoint what or where.

At first it was just a general sensation that SOMETHING was off.

As the day went on and several teachers were taken over by the effect and peaced out for the day, Nurse Meiou started getting reports from students wandering the halls. At that point, it was still just an odd feeling...but she was still wracking her brain for WHAT it could be.

Hersnd then there was the bus accident outside of school.

That was her first real break, as for one, the bus wrapped around a bollard and the various municipal vehicles and resultant brouhaha meant that school was officially DONE for the day...and for two, Nurse Meiou rushed the short distance to make sure there were no injuries...which is where she got her first real exposure to someone directly affected...and at that range, the WRONGNESS of what had been done to the driver screamed out to the senses of the daughter of Chronos.

Something HAD to be done.

After a bit of wrangling with the authorities, she checked with the school, made sure they were locking up for the day, then headed home.

For one, she needed to get a feel for how widespread the problem was...and for two, she had a charge at home that she needed to make sure was either going to be okay alone for the evening or would come with.

She was PRETTY SURE the latter would be the ENTHUSIASTIC case.

So one transformation later, moon in tow, Sailor Pluto headed out.

Knowing what she was looking for...the particular 'signature' of the phenomeon, it wasn't hard for her to find someone else affected...and this person fortunately had the offending clock with them in the car that they'd crashed.

After a quick check assuring that the driver was unharmed, merely stunned senseless by the deployed airbag, Sailor Pluto examined the clock...and found the label.

From there it was just a matter of some navigation (fortunately, in this day and age, up to date maps are much more a 'thing'...it's even better when the badguys literally TELL YOU where they are on google).

Due to the detour, she was a little later to the party than most of the others...so she drops down behind Sailor Jupiter and notices the crowd around the door.

Arching an eyebrow, she holds up the Garnet Rod with it's key-shaped protrusions and asks simply, "...has anyone bothered trying to use a Key?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon had not been aware in the slightest that something was wrong. In fact, she'd been studying when she got the call. Which, frankly, she had to do a lot of. It turned out not being able to attend school made you fool jsut... a tiny hint behind. You know? Not being able to be with the teachers and stuff.

So when she got the news that Sailor Charon was needed? She was OVERJOYED to be able to come! And her 'eeeeeee!' of excitement could likely be felt all the way at Obsidian.

Of course, when they arrived, she blinked and looked at the key hole.

Then Pluto's 'key'... Then her own key-glaive.

Finally, she looked to Sailor Pluto and whispered. "Err, senpai? I don't think the key would fit..."

"ALSO! Never fear! Sailor Pluto and her number one assistant, Sailor Charon, have arrived to aid you in your encounters! Just follow our lead and remember the most important of details!"

"Pluto is still a planet!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Laisa's angry conversation with the shutter is a bit one sided. It doesn't seem to be a youma itself, though if she looks at the windows to either side she might see some people inside there, moving. Two people, to be exact.

    The door is also only giving Tuxedo Kamen a little bit of a fight with the lock - probably exactly enough of a fight that he'll get it right as somebody else applies a different sort of solution to the door. Right at that moment.

    Inside, two voices can be heard. A male, familiar to many people there, and a female, unfamiliar to anyone unless they spend an inordinate amount of time on social media.

    "Why don't we just like. Leave before they get here." The female asks. "We've already got a lot of energy."

    "A lot of reasons. One, because there's no reason to leave a fight before you've even lost it. Two, all of the time we spend stalling increases our take for the effort we've already expended. Three, because I didn't build you an entire henshin device for you to use it to duck out before a fight, and I need data on your powers. Four, because we've got you under contract and I say so." the male voice, recognizable to a few there as Riventon, says.

    "...did somebody outside just say something about a moon?" the female asks.

    "Probably. Try not to worry about it. Just focus on defending the device if anybody comes in."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Well if you're going to yell about it," Tuxedo Kamen says, finishing picking the lock and turning the handle -- but not actually opening the door. He stands up. "Then I figure let Jupiter open it."

He firmly and solidly takes a couple of steps back. And then another one. And another, just in case.

"I'll just follow you all in. There are at least two people in there, one of them is probably Riventon," he says, leaning against the alley's back wall and crossing his arms.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    "I'm gonna be clocking something around here in a minute!" says Laisa, looking up at the shop's entrance, before looking around behind her. There are others, mostly mahou, gathering on a nearby rooftop. She sees one sneaking off around the back. Laisa has no time for that, so she wanders off with a scowl.

    Shortly later, for completely unrelated reasons (wink wink), Snow Angel Mou Fubuki shows up, and by "shows up", we of course mean that she is two hand wielding a giant battering ram made out of solid ice and rushing towards the front entrance. "YOU LOW-TIER RUSTED SHUTTER, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She shouts as she reaches the front door and swings the giant ice thing at the front. If it doesn't work the first time, she tries again and again because she's had enough of this and she needs to get in right now.

    Was it even locked? Would the windows have been a better route? Who knows? Mou didn't have time to check so this is what we're doing now. After she manages to tear a hole through where the front door used to be she barges in and points dramatically at--- a moth girl? Whatever, she doesn't have time to think about it!

    "Look here, clock fiend! Your time is up!"

    Look, it was the best she could do on such short notice.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter startles a bit at Pluto's arrival... and then stops and stares, blank-faced, at Charon. "What."

She ducks her head for a moment, hands coming up over her face. "Okay so we're just... not doing subtle, huh? Okay." On the bright side, Tuxedo Kamen has just given her the go-ahead to do things the quicker, easier, noisier way.

Did she not notice that he'd turned the handle, that the door is unlocked? Or did she just not care? It's a mystery. What happens is, Sailor Jupiter rolls her shoulders, stepping up to the back door - squares her stance -

And in one great surge of motion and a tremendous crashing of abused metal and splintering wood, she kicks the whole thing in.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
First it was the feel and smell of the wind that seems to surround Jupiter. With all of his studies of the weather and climate, he knew that the cherry blossom winds had long since died down, and he couldn't quite pick up on the mix of florals that he's detected. But it's pleasant and warm and reminds him of floating on a summer breeze. Which helps with some of his concerns about introducing him, it's a relaxing scent.

All those worries and fears about how he was going to introduce himself were suddenly just squashed by the sudden appearance of both Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Jupiter. Compared to Tuxedo, Cure Wing is a very small boy. And this is also reflected in the fact that Tuxedo has a full-sized top hat, while Wing's top hat is small and at a jaunty angle on the side of his head. But it has a really cute bow. That doesn't stop Wing from nearly jumping out of his skin when Mamoru is suddenly there, and a small squawk of fear escapes from him, before he's able to recover as the other boy introduces himself and not attacking and... "Oh, you're a boy but not a precure...!" Okay, lots to learn.

And then there's Sailor Jupiter - and if he thought he was small back home - he realized that he wasn't as tall as most of his classmates, but now he is positively tiny compared to the pair that head to the backdoor, but that seems to be the direction he falls in with as well, jumping from the rooftop and floating down to join the pair at the door. To Jupiter, he asks, "Is... is he really good at picking locks?" he asks curiously, trying to peek around the pair to look at the door when Jupiter makes her offer. "Oh, I can help with that too!" the boy with the slight build suddenly offers up as well. "And... I'm Cure Wing. It's nicetomeetcha." Sudden run-on nervous sentence as he crosses his feet at the ankles and offers a soft bow in greetings, a flourish of his arms to his sides as he coutrly tips down and back up again.

But then there's the arrival of Sailor Pluto and the question of a key, and he looks sheepish for a moment as he backs up a little. The two women are dressed similarly, and they're familiar with the guy in the tuxedo as Wing steps back a little, a slight flutter of his frame as he also notices Sailor Charon, and the glaive - but more importantly, they look to be about the same size and age (little does he know the truth).

There's a quick wave to Charon as she makes her introduction and then at her proclomation that Pluto is still a planet, he's left to blink a few times in confusion. Is this a test? Like, a pop quiz? There's a few blinks at Charon and then to Pluto, "Wait, if she's Pluto, and you're saying Pluto's a planet, if people say that she isn't a planet, does she lose her powers or disappear?" Because if they're all named after planets, it's totally a logical leap for a person that has no idea what the Sailor Senshi are to make. "If so, I agree, Pluto is totally a planet!"

And there's going to be door opening, though he tilts his head at Tuxedo. "A-are you... pouting?" But he doesn't get to chase that question as he realizes with everyone in the back that someone may be by herself at the front. Wing starts floating up a little. "There's a lot of people here and you all seem to be on the same team and only one around front - I can go assist her!" he offers helpfully, a tip of his hand against his temple before he flies up and over the building to meet up with Laisa. A quick wave in case she missed the brightly colored flying boy. "Hey, I'm Cure Wing - they got the door opened around back, so..."

And then she's attacking the shutters and Wing realizes that perhaps she can handle it all by herself. But, he's here for backup and there's a moth girl and a guy, and the whole clock pun and he adds, "Prepare to have your bell rung!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
On the one hand, Pluto is FAIRLY certain she should discourage Charon from shouting...but by the same token, given recent events, she REALLY can't bring herself to ruin the joy the younger woman is feeling.

After a moment, however, she finds a way to phrase it.

Leaning slightly over to Charon, she quietly says, "As a rule going forward, it's best to save the loud declarations for shouting at the bad guys. Otherwise it might confuse them."

A brief pause, then she adds, "...good energy, though."

By which point Jupiter just reduces the door to flinders.

Sailor Pluto blinks at that once...then shrugs, nods to Charon, then darts in, steps to one side of the door (and thus out of the way of anyone coming through) and says, "Protector of the Planet of Space-Time, Pluto, Guardian of Revolution has arrived! For the crime of interfering with Time's proper flow, you will be punished!"

To punctuate her sentence, she strikes the floor with the Garnet Rod, which emits a somewhat distinctive chime.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon glanced to the little precure, a big grin on her face. "Hi! Nice to meet you! And no, nothing can take the power of Sailor Pluto. But! She is a sailor scout of a planet, and this very important to recognize, because if one refuses to recognize it, it is like denying her her very right to exist and that, honestly, would be incredibly rude!" No. No it wasn't... that...

"Huh? Oh. Right, okay! Yes, senpai, less yelling until the justice speech time, right?"

The moment the door was open, she.... she followed after them and... "Sailor Charon, assistant to Sailor Pluto!" GASP! IT WAS HER SENPAI! "Riventon! We should have known it was you behind this dastardly deed! Know that it is time for you to face the arms of justice and time has run out for you, because you ticked us off!" She just mashed ALL the puns in at once! "I hope you're ready, as your plan has been unwound!"

Notice me other senpai! Then... blinked. "Oh, and you! Other... girl. Who I am sure is important but ummm. What's... your name again? Sorry, I'm new and only know the import-- big name villains. Like Oresky."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    There's, indeed, two people here. A tall blue woman (okay, actually she's kind of teal and her kind-of-clothes are blue) with long blonde hair that goes down to nearly her ankles, draping down over two sets of gossamar wings. She's standing up and reacting with a mix of anger and slight concern at first the loud sound from the front of the store and then the OTHER loud sound at the back of the store.

    The other occupant of the room (before renovations) is indeed Riventon, lab coat and all, but he's sitting back in a large chair with one of his legs crossed in a figure four shape over the other, and there's something in his hands. It's not some particular nefarious tool upon closer inspection - it's a Nintendo Switch, in the middle of a game. Riventon calls out to Laisa's battering "WE'RE CLOSED." and then to the smashing of the door at the back "RESTROOMS ARE FOR PAYING CUSTOMERS ONLY."

    The teal moth girl turns back and looks at the boy with a 'really' kind of facial expression. "Are you gonna help?"

    Riventon looks up from his game for a moment. "Hardly a test of your capabilities if I do." he says before continuing to look at his game.

    "So you're just gonna do nothing while I fight however many people just demolished our front and back doors?" She asks, clearly agitated.

    "Uh, I'm not doing nothing, I'm managing the drain of energy. Just because I can do two things at once doesn't mean I'm doing nothing." he says. "Device and I are working on it." Then he indicates the game. "Besides, boss fight." he says. The mothgirl lets out a frustrated noise. "Look, if you're mad, that's good. Use that energy and take it out on them." he says.

    She stomps her foot and turns to finally address the intruding Mahou Shoujo. "Well since we're all introducing ourselves, I'm Aon - the most beautiful, the strongest, the leader of the Doom and Gloom girls. And I'm going to earn my promotion over this useless do-nothing here by destroying you all and looking better than you all while doing it." she says. "Nobody knows who you are in or out of costume, but I'm a star." she says, hairflipping her long blonde hair at the girls. And then Charon says she doesn't know who she is. "Psh. I'm the best of five and you're the moon of a planet that got dropped out of nine. Girl, you don't even 'rate'."

    And then Aon lets out an unearthly screeching shout - and a wave of Dark Energy goes along with it, strong enough to push people back from her even guarding. And then the world seems to... shimmer, shift, wobble, and everyone is standing in what appears to be an expanse of endless watercolor swipes - blue, green, purple. It's not as unearthly as a Witch Labyrnth but it's absolutely artificial. The only furniture in the expanse is the chair Riventon's sitting on.

    And then there are a *lot* of copies of Aon that walk out of nowhere. One for each of the participants, diving for them with sharpened gleaming claws. But only one of them is real - five of them are illusory, and only the one seeking to go after Sailor Jupiter is real. Not who Riventon would have picked, but it's Aon's show.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm not pouting; I got it unlocked. I'm annoyed, but--" says Tuxedo Kamen to Cure Wing, before KRA-WHAMMMDKFSLDJK goes the door from Jupiter's tender ministrations, and he doesn't flinch but the wind knocks his hat rakishly slightly askew, "--I'll get over it."

And there goes Cure Wing. Tuxedo Mask touches the brim of his hat in salute.

Once the door is definitively and in all ways open, Mamoru wanders in behind Pluto and Charon, then leans on the doorframe, listening-- he looks with interest at the Switch. "What are you playing?" he asks Riventon, briefly covering his ears at the scream, then pulling out a rose as the world turns into a watercolor acid trip.

He aims at claws of the moth-girl running at him, squinting because the light isn't that great, but if he misses and hits her, that's a youma, right? It'll be fine.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki bites back at Riventon with, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHOSE GONNA PAY!"

    She glances off to the side and notices Cure Wing. He gets a quick nod from her. She doesn't know anything about this guy but as far as she can tell he's another concerned citizen and there's no time to question this.

    "Yeah yeah I'm sure you're really important," is her response to everything that Aon has to say. "Come on I don't have all day!"

    Once she finds herself in Watercolor World, she forms a shield of ice in her left hand and a spear of the same in her right. Mou storms forward, only to stop in her tracks as an Aon clone comes after her. She ducks behind her shield as the first attack comes, letting the claws sink into it and sheer bits of it off. Why are there like six of them now? Is there a real one? Laisa doesn't care. She swings her polearm at the Aon-clone's side before trying to rapidly stab her with the pointy end.

    Mou Fubuki's attacks are fast but reckless, because she just wants to get this over with! This may or may not be to her advantage. High pressure, low precision.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
With the screech from Aon, Cure Wing covers his ears for a moment, a wince against not the energy of the noise, just at how unpleasant the sound is. "Clearly Doom and Gloom is not a new Idol group." he comments, mainly to himself, even if Aon may be able to hear him, though as the world becomes all weird, he finds himself confused. "I expected more flames and lanterns and stuff. You know, moth and ball."

With Aon going into divide and conquer mode, Cure Wing lifts off the ground slightly, and he rushes forward, intent to meet her head-on with a punch - but as she proves to be only an illusion, and he passes through in confusion, before trying to pull back hurriedly, because he doesn't know if it could have been an illusion thrown just to make him hit one of the others instead of her. "Careful!" he calls out worriedly.

Stepping backwards a bit, he tries to put some distance between himself in the others so he doesn't hit anyone on accident.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto's eye gets a distinct TWITCH as Aon makes the comment about a 'planet that got dropped'.

She scowls, "Big words coming from an insect famous for being so stupid it can't tell the difference between a light bulb and the sun."

When the world does all painted, she steps clear of the wall and moves to defend from the attacks...only to have her sweeping parries reveal that the one coming after her is an illusion, which leaves her slightly off balance for a moment before she recovers and starts starts looking around...both with her eyes and also feeling if she can sense if there's some kind of temporal distortion here.

If they're draining energy with magic, there's often a focus, after all.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon gasped. "The Doom and Gloom girls?! You're their leader? That must make you really strong and amazing!" she said proudly. She even gave a little round of applause at the hair flip. "Oh, you've got the hair flip down, however, you didn't even do a villainous laugh during any of that. So... I'd have to rate you at an... eight out of ten. And then going after the ninth planet thing? That's the obvious low hanging fruit, besides. Sailor Pluto is still a planet. I'm not even a planet, I'm the moon... but, you know..." Then she grinned. "I'm the intern and the same rank as you considering my boss is here to supervise too. So that must say a whole lot about you if you're the leader and still just the intern. Errr, but in full seriousness? Where's the rest of your outfit? Cause you've got the whole like... wrist... band... things? But there's no sleeves..." then she gasped, spinning her glaive and looking around.

"Did you youma-fy your sleeves?! Clever girl..."

But no, instead she was dark energy-ifying things and making everything all watercolors and fake girls! She hmphed and charged one of them! Her glaive leaving a purple trail and--

Going right through the fake. She yelped, her momentum sending her forward until... she tripped, and fell over a desk she couldn't see because of the illusions. A moment later she raised her glaive. "I-I'm okay! Still here! Still... not good at my job, really... but that's fine, she isn't either... Sailor Charon says... that kind of hurt!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter, too, winces at that ear-piercing shriek from Aon. For a moment there she can only brace herself against the disorienting waves of sound and Dark Energy while the world goes to acid-wash around her. She recovers soon enough to catch the last part of Cure Wing's remark, though, and a little laugh huffs out of her. "That wasn't bad."

This sailor, it seems, is not a speechifier. She just presses a fist into her palm, sparks crackling to life over her fingers. When the moth-girl rushes at her claws-first, Jupiter doesn't flinch - she steps forward sharply to meet Aon's lunge, upper body twisting sidelong as she rams a lightning-charged fist towards the DG Girl's face.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Tuxedo Kamen's rose, Mou's spear, Wing's punch, Pluto and charon's polearms, all of them go through their respective targets - rather well placed attacks from all of them, if they found a home. And all of the moth-girls talk at once - the illusory ones move through their attacks like the fakes they are - as they respond to the various lines. "You know I didn't like, pick the moth motif, okay?" she says, responding to Wing and Pluto. "And look, I'm not here to put on a concert I'm here to KILL YOU." she adds. "I'll sing prettily at your funeral. Before draining the energy dry of everyone who shows up." She clearly has a little bit of venomous bite to her.

    Riventon replies to Mamoru. "It's a game called Triangle Strategy." he says. "Pretty good. Kind of political tactical thing."

    "I'm the new and you're the old, girls!" Aon says. "Might as well step asi-OW!" And a stream of profanity that was absolutely censored because the real one dove at Jupiter mid-speech, and Jupiter sent a very real fist at her very real face. The others sort of fade in and out as she staggers back and tries to recollect herself. For a moment the store itself is visible again before the illusions cover it all.

    "You know I couldn't help but notice all of your illusions got intercepted." Riventon says from his chair. "I don't think it does a lot of good to misdirect your illusions if you're just gonna get clobbered. I dunno, though. You do you. Just saying, keep going like that and Drie's gonna get a promotion."

    And in a sort of way-too-stereo shouting, everyone can hear all of the Aons shouting at Riventon. It's not a word-shouting itt's just frustration and anger. But notably, the level of overall Dark Energy in the room rises as well. It's kind of something everyone can feel, like it's pins and needles on their neck. "FINE. I'LL SHOW THEM. I'LL SHOW YOU." Aon screech-yells, and turns specifically at Mou Fubuki. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT I AM. AND YOU'RE ALREADY WASTING AWAY FROM OUR PLAN ANYWAYS." And then each image of Aon them jumps back from their 'targets', and open their mouths and they open far-far too wide - it's more than creepy - before dark energy blasts crisscross through the room, sometimes hitting otherwise invisible objects and showing the layout of the 'real world' but also threatening to hit all of the heroes from many directions. While some of the blasts will go right through you, some of them will need to be guarded against or dodged - notably, it doesn't seem like it's consistently a blast from one figure that's 'real' and some of them hit relatively softly, while some hit hard. Something does seem to be up now.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    "Hah! Shows what you know! I'm way too cool to fall for your cheap tricks!" shouts Mou Fubuki, who has very clearly fallen for their cheap time-manipulation tricks.

    Now Aon is charging her laser, and there are so many blasts coming at Mou from so many different directions. She shields one that turns out to be fake, only to get blasted in the side from one that's real, sent sprawling across the ground as both shield and weapon break. Gritting her teeth, she hastily picks herself up, only for the ice forming around her feet to cause her to slip and then she has to pick herself up again, only to get blasted by a second real attack. There's probably an object lesson to learn here about haste and waste, but Mou can think about that later.

    An icey dome forms around her, providing some amount of protection from the real-and-fake dark energy barrage. From underneath, she finally gets back up to her feet and extends her arms forward. Icey wings form on her back as the temperature around her starts to drop. A blizzard of snow, each flake carrying a purifying effect, starts raining over the area. If she can't track which one is real, she can just attack them all!

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Cure Wing isn't good at banter. He's young, and nowhere near as experienced (or jaded) as others that are present. And as Aon goes off on her tear, the remarkably orange and yellow precure looks concerned for a moment as he feels that uncomfortable tingle on the back of his neck and it causes the three tall hairs on the top of his head to twitch in warning. With Aon starting her moth-rock concert, Wing starts to move quickly, actually very fast, dodging in and out of the beams, almost a blur of orange, white and yellow with speed.

The biggest issue with what he is able to dodge is the fact that he's in very tight quarters - the shop's labyrinth is much different than being outside in the open sky, as one of the blasts manages to catch him in the shoulder, and it spins him. Moving to dodge another, the has to bring up his arms and cross them over each other as another blast, this one a hard hit that sends him flying back towards a back wall that he smacks into with a grunt.

Pushing himself to his hands and knees, he scrambles to take cover for a moment behind Fubuki's ice barrier to catch his breath, and regroup.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
As she sees all the various images of Aon telegraphing the coming attack by opening her mouth far too wide, Sailor Pluto leaps over near where Charon hit the ground and says, "Get close!" before she spins the Garnet Rod once before dropping to one knee and hammering the ground in front of her with the butt end.

<<GARNET BALL!!>>

As she does, a dome of red energy erects itself around Sailor Pluto, Charon, and anyone who decided to move in range to shield them from the wide area attack.

As she holds the shield, she looks over at Charon, "You alright?"

A glance at the outside, "...fluff brain out there really isn't good at this, is she?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon giggled when Jupiter just decked the girl... and then LASERS! And other problems! She, being the good, obedient little brat she was, then offered a little advice...

"You know, it occurs to me. If you're that important, but we don't know it, does it really make you important at all? Say what you will about Pluto being de-listed, but people still *know* who Pluto is. There's even a famous dog named after her! Meanwhile, I'm not even entirely sure I could say your name right without butchering it! And that's kind of a much lower bar for you to fail to meet!"

Of course, she actually had no response to the lasers bit of this, but she DID take cover behind... well. Whatever it was she had tripped over earlier. A... desk? Of some kind. She started fumbling about on it, with her eyes closed, to see if she could find some drawers... Then yanked them out! Once it, and its contents became visible... she grinned. And started just throwing EVERYTHING around wildly, peppering the room with post its and pens before she dove back down and got to work tearing apart another drawer!

The perfect plan.

"Hey, does this building have insurance and stuff? I mean, like... cause can't you villains make barrier things? Cause I'd think you wouldn't want your equipment to get all broken? Or does that not affect your paycheck?" she asked the gloom girl.

"Oh, you should try pokemon snap, Riventon! It's a lot of fun!" ... Because well... I mean, if he was gonna play games...

She then glanced towards Pluto and shook her head, ducking back under the shield where it was safe. "Not really. But she's kind of pretty. If she works on her presentation she might go above being an intern one day! She just needs to develop some more charisma. Riventon will teach her, probably."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'll have to check it out," Tuxedo Kamen tells Riventon, taking notice of which one actually got punched, and trying to track that one. He gets shoved by one middling-hard dark energy blast and teeters, grimacing, then ducks another, and another, and another--

--and he gets really annoyed. "You're so bad at this, you can't even aim! What happens when you inevitably hit Riventon??"

And instead of her hitting Riventon, he misses one that's coming at his back and it SLAMS into him, shoving him in Sailor Jupiter's direction. WHAM good thing hitting her's like hitting a telephone pole or it would've taken them both out!

"Sorry!" he gasps. "Here, combo!"

And he grabs Jupiter's hand and points it at the one Aon he's pretty sure is the one he's been tracking, and he holds that hand and charges up his own attack as fast as he can without making it useless-- and then he yells "Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter's having her own problems - she can dodge a dark energy blast, or two, but the whole area's full of them going in all directions and while she's not as tall as Tuxedo Kamen or Sailor Pluto, she's still a big, tall target. A yelp of pain escapes her as one of the beams clips her; she brings her arms up defensively in front of her, bracing herself for the next hit.

Which turns out to be Tuxedo Kamen. "You're good!" is her quick answer to his 'sorry,' and she doesn't offer any objection when he grabs her hand and aims it. Instead, she gathers a charge, threads of energy tangling against her palm in a hissing, snapping ball.

As Mamoru shouts out his attack, Jupiter releases hers: a blast of electricity woven into that pure golden light, strengthening and strengthened by it.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Pluto's earlier efforts to find the source of the illusory distortion may not have worked because Aon herself was the focus. However, what she can pick up on is the source of the temporal distortion and energy drain which is apparently a little bit to Riventon's right (or, her left of Riventon. These distinctions matter.) This is partially because Mou Fubuki's blizzard doesn't just harass all of the Aons, but also Riventon himself, and both of them were working to keep it hidden in different manners, but now he's having to get up and shield himself, because the little purifying flakes aren't good for him, either. "Hey! Hey! Watch it!" Riventon yells.

    And then there's a Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber with Jupiter Flavoring - and it does hit Aon - or at least an Aon - despite there being some kind of firm object in the way. Golden and Electrical energy punch a hole through the display she was trying to take cover behind, sending goofy decorative clocks and watches and all flying (and momnentarily visible) along with Aon. She doesn't go flying but she does get staggered (and briefly electrocuted) and her blonde hair is extra frizzy and she is extra furious.

    She's about to say something else when Sailor Charon's barrage of office supplies starts hitting her too. "Brat!" she yells, grabbing something off the wall and flinging it angrily at Sailor Charon. It's some sort of kitchy decorative clock rather than an energy blast, more apt to shatter into what she's taking cover behind than anything real. Then some of the snowflakes blow onto her again, and she shrieks.

    "Riventon you asshat, get off your damn game and HELP ME. I can't hold it stable anymore!" And true to her frustration the room sort of wobbles in and out between real and fake, between watercolor and heavily damage clock shop. Only now, relatively close to Riventon, is a strange machine, about half Riventon's height, all black steel and purple crystal and absolutly EvilTech looking - and now not only can its presence be sensed, a sort of steady drain of energy coming largely from outside to it is sensible - and one tendril from the time-frustrated Mou Fubuki as well.

    It was absolutely not there when everyone came in. Or at least, not visible and not sense-able.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki is starting to get tired. She was very clearly affected by whatever this was, and now that the illusion is starting to flicker she can see the energy drain coming out of her. Dangit. She still has homework to do and relatives to avoid. Can't they see how much PRECIOUS time they're wasting?!

    "Whatever! If you don't like getting purified you shouldn't bother people who are busy!"

    The thought of going after the device that's draining her doesn't even occur to her. There's more important things to think about right now! Instead she's just going to speedrun this whole plotline by going after the boss! That's totally going to work, right?

    The barrier around her cracks and shatters, and the pieces swirl into a little ball that draws in all of the snow and ice scattered around the ground and falling from the air.

    "SNOW HEART SOLSTICE!"

    The mass of purifying snow, ice and cold air is launched towards Riventon, not really caring about the random bits of furniture that might get in its way.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
As the main area assault fades, the Garnet Ball flickers out of existence.

As Sailor Pluto stands up once more, she looks over and notes the results of Jupiter and Tuxedo's team attack on Aon...which earns a snort and giggle from the taller woman at the impromptu hair ball that the blonde has become.

And then said blonde throws a clock at Charon...which makes the green haired Senshi turn to face her...but she suddenly stops.

Because now with Riventon occupied and post it notes everywhere, she's finally feeling where all the temporal distortions are coming from...and wouldn't you know it...there's a post it RIGHT there.

Pluto looks over towards Charon (and possibly Wing) and says, "Hit my target with whatever you've got."

And then she spins around once and seemingly without even calling her attack (the whisper is too low to be heard in the general fracas), she generates a large purple orb of concentrated Death Energy at the head of the Garnet Rod which she then sights down and fires at the place she feels a little to the side of Riventon.

<<...dead scream.>>

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
With Fubuki switching from defense to offense, Cure Wing has had just enough time to recover and draw in a breath. "Thank you!" he says to the Icey Girl as he gets to his feet, and considers his plan of action. That's when he notices both Aon and the machine, and thanks to the post-it notes from Charon, it's easier to make out which one of the illusions is the real deal - and whatever that device is. It looks important. And Aon's demanding that the bigger bad (you know he's the bigger bad because he's not actually attacking) protect it, and that cinches it for the knight Cure.

Rising off the ground, he builds up energy, an orange glow forming around him as he suddenly takes off. Wait... where did that sunset come from? Did Cure Wing glitch some of the screens in the illusion somehow? Doesn't matter - because as Wing launches upwards, he comes screaming back in, calling out as phoenix fire and feathers form around him.

"Soaring Wing Attack!"

And he's following right after Pluto's Dead Scream, set up perfectly for Charon to hop on the flaming Cure's back, when which she does, his human form switches into that of a flaming phoenix in flight, orange feathers magically scattered in his wake as the pair prepare to slam headlong into it!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen is delighted! "Good combo," he says, clapping a hand on Jupiter's shoulder and squeezing it for a half second, then rounding on Aon and just...

...he takes out another rose, flips it around, and calls out cheerfully, "Tuxedo Exfoliate Rose!" and whips it at her face, petals-first. If it should impact, soft explosion of petals and magical glitter. "You weren't fancy enough!"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon blinked a few times and then her eyes practically SHIMMERED! She readied her glaive--

Only for Cure Wing to come riding by... and she gets an idea. A terrible idea. And she leaps! Landing on his back. "Combination attack!" she called out. "NOT-A-DWARF-PLANET'S MOON FLAMING ASTEROID SLASH!" she called.

Following in the wake of the dead scream, the glaive glowing in Sailor Pluto's colors as she cut through it, the blade leaving a shimmering glow in the path it followed as she road forth, a Knight of the Phoenix!

This was the bestest fight EVER! After she'd even give him a great big HUG! "You are AMAZING! I bet you could qualify to be a moon, too! It has great benefits!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter flashes Tuxedo Kamen a quick grin - which turns quickly to a laugh when he launches that next rose. "Nice!"

The machine next to Riventon doesn't escape her notice, but it very much seems like Pluto, Charon, and Cure Wing have that covered. Sailor Jupiter therefore keeps her sights funny on the moth girl. While she's hopefully still distracted by rose in the face, Jupiter reaches out and upward, closing both hands around lightning as the tiny lightning rod of her tiara sparks.

"Supreme.... Thunder!"

The whole area reverberates with a sudden BOOM of thunder, as Sailor Jupiter releases a blinding column of electricity directly at Aon.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon and Aon are doing the best they can... well, Aon is doing the best Riventon has needled her to, and Riventon is doing seemingly as little as possible. The lack of attacks and pretty much any non-verbal effort means that he's more capable more easily to do what needs to be done now - in the face of Snow Heart Solstice.

    The shield he brings up is glowing a particularly bright color - starting dim and increasing in intensity as he pushes against the heavy attack, feeding Dark Energy into it to resist it. He scoots back a few feet, heels dug in, in the face of the intensity of it, but he doesn't admit to that sort of thing out loud.

    However, while it doesn't get through his shield it does attract his *focus* which means that Pluto's Dead Scream is able to drive forward mostly unopposed to the machine - and start a war against a more local energy field that Riventon was expecting to be able to shore up - But while his attention is diverted, Dead Scream overcomes the force field - leaving everything clear and free for Wing and Charon's Soaring NOT-A-DWARF-PLANET Wing SLASH to connect with the device and cause it to electrically fizzle and spark once - and then detonate in a truly prodigious blast of energy.

    Aon's trying to get herself together, a truly ugly and angry and rage-filled sneer on her face. The Exfoliate Rose is thrown and she braces herself for an impact that... doesn't happen. She opens one eye, then the other, and actually stands for a moment, looking at the petals, the glitter.

    It does not make her happy.

    She is, unfortunantly for her, cut off once more from an angry rant because instead a giant CRACKTHOOM of electrical energy comes from the sky, to Jupiter's lightning rod, and then rushes through the opening the electrified smoking bomber left earlier. Her eyes grow big, momentarily, before the bracing she was intending for the rose has to be used for this. She is... rather bright, momentarily, electrfied, hair finding a new dimension of frizziness, smoke rolling off her... but still standing. Which is a testament to how strong she may actually be capable of being.

    Riventon takes a quick look at the device - it's completely demolished - and grouches. "Well, that's done with now I guess. You remember how to duskport, right?" He asks Aon, in a trolling sense.

    She responds to him by making a rude gesture (slowly, she's in pain) and duskporting out during it. Riventon then follows suit, without the gesture.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    The device is destroyed, and all of a sudden Laisa's mood improves.

    She, also, feels incredibly tired the moment her impatience fades.

    Staggering where she stands while holding her forehead, Mou Fubuki bemoans, "Ugh... that's been bothering me all day long." Taking a moment to make sure that she doesn't just pass out, she slaps her own cheek in order to wake herself up more. "I've been busy all day. I'm gonna go take a nap."

    The Snow Angel turns to walk out of the store, carefully stepping over the wrecked shutter along the way. "Who in their right mind would just break down a door like this? Was it even locked? Did anyone check?" Mou doesn't remember who did this. She was too busy to pay attention. Instead of spending too long thinking about it, she turns to the others and says, "Well, thanks for the help. See you around, probably."

    An ice trail forms around her feet, and skate blades appear on the soles of her henshin shoes. Mou Fubuki is tired all of a sudden, and her dorm is a bit of a trip away, so she skates off in a hurry.

    She lets out a yawn just before turning the next corner.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a sudden ringing silence in the wake of all the action.

"Good game, I'm out, got a date tonight," says Tuxedo Kamen after a second of staring, dusting himself off and shaking snow off his cape. "Somebody tell new guy here about the place where we keep our bulletin board. Or give him my phone number that's fine too I'm gonna be late."

And he's as good as his word-- the watercolors are gone, the villains are gone, he didn't have to attack his brother, nobody's getting drained anymore, and the fight happened early today which means maybe he'll get an uninterrupted date with Usagi.

Out the door he goes, and then he's just gone, rooftopping it away.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Riding on Wing's back provides Charon protection from the explosion when it happens as the pair of them crash and slash their way through the machine, the pair of youngsters ending up in a hug as Cure Wing comes out of his flaming attack form and he blink blinks at her words in obvious confusion, his cheeks red for a moment. "M-me? A m-moon?" he laughs a little, flustered as he steps back from the hug and bows politely to her. "You flatter me, b-but I'm more Precure than Planet!" His eyes are bright and warm for a moment.

"But I was glad to be of assistance to you, and I hope that we meet again!" he offers to Pluto's assistant.

There's a wave towards Fubuki as she takes off, Wing calling after her. "Thanks again for your help!" And he finds himself with the others and feeling a little awkward as he kinda catches on that they're all part of the same group and he was just hugging the youngest one (she did it first!) and then Tuxedo is telling them to bring him to speed and he looks even more confused - because wait, he's off on a date?

No, don't call him as soon as you get his number, Wing, that counts as an interruption.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto looks over towards where Cure Wing and Charon are talking...and she narrows her eyes a little at him for a moment before turning away to check on the others.

Looking at the hole and remembering the damage done to the moth girl, Pluto smiles and gives Jupiter a friendly nudge, "Nice shot, Jupiter."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon nodded, giving a great big grin to Cure Wing. "Well, you're a *great* precure! I'm an intern with Sailor Pluto! I hope we can fight together again one day! Riding a phoenix is *amazing*," she said, grinning from ear to ear.

She then dashed to Pluto's side. "And so long as you keep remembering that Pluto is a planet and AWESOME we'll get along great!" Before she hugged Pluto. Then looked up at her and... "Can we get victory dinner, too?" She didn't have defeat korma anymore because she was a hero now and heroes always won...

Of course, then she gave a low yawn. And Pluto would get a message from Luminous Titan. The little moon's energy was low...