1612/A Bone To Pick

From Radiant Heart MUSH

A Bone To Pick
Date of Scene: 31 May 2024
Location: Museum
Synopsis: Another day, another jewel seed.
Cast of Characters: Fate Testarossa, Katsuko Takezaki, Yuki Hoshino, Sugata Shindo, Chrono Harlaown, Takashi Agera, Nanoha Takamachi


Fate Testarossa has posed:
    It's a quiet day at Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science. People are about to see the exhibits which are both interesting, entertaining, and educational, but it's not considered a big, busy, or bustling day. Still, with the population of Tokyo being as dense as it is, there's enough people visiting the museum that the officials need worry about attendance.
    One such person here is Fate Testarossa. The diminutive blonde looks pretty haggard of late, busy as she is hunting for Jewel Seeds but...
    Today she is not on the hunt.
    "Seeeee Fei~to. You could use a day off now and again." Arf, Fate's faithful Familiar, a red-headed wolf-woman (who at the moment is hiding her big old wolf ears and tail) beams brightly. "Right, Takashi?" She says, just as bright, having taken the liberty to invite Takashi Agera on the outing as well on the same grounds of likely needing a break from work.
    "Mn." Fate's reply is sullen as she walks into the dinosaur exhibit- which features a BRAND NEW Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil skeleton that a load of people have likely come to see.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    After yesterday's excitement, Katsuko wants a day to relax. And she heard about the new T-Rex they had at the museum, so why not? She comes to the fossil not long after Fate and company do, but from a different direction. She goes to find a good spot from which to take a picture, her phone already out just for that task.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki's biology class covered dinosaurs today. There was a lengthy discussion about whether or not they had feathers, which left her a bit curious. So she decided to visit the museum and see what the exhibits there said. She fully expects them to be completely out of date and not even mention the question, but it's more of an excuse to head out off-campus and find a nice place to have dinner at. Maybe someplace with some nice music. She's still visiting the museum first, though. She wanders through the museum hall, occasionally snapping a picture with her phone, lingering at exhibits that particularly catch her attention.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
A brand new Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil isn't exactly the sort of thing encountered every day, particularly at a time when so many other fossil species are being discovered and identified. Sugata had never been fascinated by dinosaurs in the way that many other youths were, but that had always been a benefit, given how unlikely it would have been for fossils to be discovered on Southern Cross Island.

But now he lives in Tokyo, which has a number of fantastic museums - including the sort that get to showcase brand new fossils.

So of course he's exploring the exhibit, taking pictures to send to Wako and Takuto, gauging their reactions to see if this would be a good date location.

Not that he's looking for a date, but - the point is, he's fairly distracted as he enjoys the exhibit and it's new star.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had a duty to do. Monitor, for now. He was sitting in the shed, surrounded by levitating screens, arms crossed, looking over what readings he could get. Thanks to a certain jerk-who-would-not-be-named, he was already wondering what other trouble would be showing up before this whole ordeal was over.

A shame, really. He'd heard of this new 'dinosaur' exhibit, and a small part of him had wanted to take Rashmi to see it. Oh well. Perhaps once all of this nasty apocalypse business was over. It wasn't like he had any real reason to see it now, right?

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera looks up at the Tyrannousaurus Rex skeleton. Of course dinosaurs had interested him - as they had most kids - and then the science of it had held his attention for a while. So there's still something impressive about seeing the skeleton of one, at full size. A towering beast, but less impressive when he'd seen what he'd seen now. And part of him couldn't help but think this would make an amazing youma.

    He turns to the tall woman with the sneaky fang. "Absolutely, Arf. Fate needs to spend a little less time driving herself into the ground. Besides, how are you gonna stand against our enemies if you're burned out? You should relax. Let the systems do the searching. That's why I built em'. Be a kid for at least a little bit. It'll make it more likely for us to walk away with the next Jewel Seed." he says, trying to frame 'be good to yourself' to Fate in a way that she might actually listen to.

    "...though I guess I should take my own advice."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi is here. She's currently eith Suzuka and Arisa who are all staring up at the T-rex with wide eyes and in wonder. "Wow, it's so big!" says Arisa. Suzuka nods. "Yup. I bet it has ceiling support wires keeping it up." she says. Nanoha Takamachi merely stares in wonder. Things like this aren't as wonderful as a giant, three headed, derpy dog.

She looks to her two friends. "Wanna take pictures with it now!?" she says, motioning her phone down for a group selfie, looking up at the dinosaur fossil.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Dinosaurs are wonderful things from an era long gone by. To this they their remains give people a sense of wonder and excitement... Fate is no exception.
    "I..." She starts to reply to Takashi, likely to rebuff his completely logical and sound advice.
    Not only does she have no rebuttal to THAT, but she's also distracted, scarlet eyes looking on in awe at the fossilized remains of the mighty and noble creature... Okay so scientists believe now that the T-Rex was kind of a scavenger, but that's not the point here as people take pictures and try to determine if the museum would make for a good date spot. ... To be fair it's a nice exhibit so maybe it would.
    Fate pauses at edge of the display and...
    "Ah..."
    That's Nanoha, Arisa, and Suzuka RIGHT THERE.
    "... Oh hell no." Arf starts to growl, but Fate holds up a hand to curtail her Familiar's animosity.

    Just as the audible ~ping~ of something magical in the area goes off.

    It's a soft, shrill, noise that only people sensitive to magic would pick up on, a noise that pierces the ears almost painfully as the Jewel Seed lodged between the toe bones of the Tyrannosaur fossil begins to activate. There's a brilliant flash of light-- and when it dies down, the Tyrannosaur fossil begins to move. Twitching at first, it jerks and shudders as it takes a single step off its stand, fossilized bone regrowing flesh in an instant and then...

    The whole thing legit sprouts a full body worth of feathers.

    "... Whoah. They DID have feathers...!" Arf exclaims as through awestruck. Just as Fate is already transforming into her Barrier Jacket.
    Now. Most people don't understand why a T-Rex fossil is coming to life. They just know they should run.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    <WARNUNG!>

    Katsuko is about ready for the perfect shot when that magical signal goes off, the warning and the visible change gets her to transform immediately. And novice she may be, she did just practice this spell for this very reason. "Step one, protect the civilians." She holds up one of her Tonfa to cast the spell.

    <GEFÄNGNIS DER MAGIE>

    The barrier goes up around the arena, jamming signals and making entry and exit harder. She's not strong enough to stop anyone trying to do either, of course. With the barrier set up, she takes good stock, but her first step is to fly over and approach the dinosaur, trying to draw its attention to her in case she needs to.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamchi blinks as she looks behind her in the picture frame of the phone. Is that...

Fate-chan? Oh! There's no danger right now. But she's with people. That's awkward.

Things get even more awkward when danger shows it's face and the T-rex is now REAL and FEATHERED and she gasps and quickly calls out. "Raising Heart, Set up!"

Raising Heart throws up her barrier jacket in a flash, forming into it's staff mode from it's tiny round charm necklace as she flies upwards to get eye level with the T-rex in the museum and fires off a quick shot barret into the face of the T-rex to get it's attention, to give time for others to flee if they wish.

"Wait, why does it have feathers!?" she sputters.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a light sigh, lowering his eyes and--

A ping? He glanced up and...

Thirty seconds later:

A blue arrow darted across the sky, straight towards the museum, as Chrono gave up even the pretense of suppressing his abilities. Yeah, no, this? This was THE WORST FREAKING TIME FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS! He had literally JUST been talking to himself about how even if Takashi got the Scroll of Ka, at least there hadn't been any jewel seeds SO OF COURSE IT CAME TODAY! "Damn it!" he muttered, once against using stinger dash to accelerate and drive himself forward.

And then he sees it. A barrier going up. Just... CRUD! No no no no no NO!

With a final burst of speed he used one final stinger dash, managing to get in through it and--

**BAM!**

They might hear... something... from the roof... from when Chrono slammed into it. But he was in. He ached all over. Ow. But. He was in.

... He was gonna need a moment.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
A flash of light. Not a henshin, no. A camera flash, as Sugata Shindo captures a short video clip of the fossil becoming a living, breathing dinosaur, and then a single high quality photo of it with its feathered body.

    Sugata Shindo texts: (sends picture) so the T-Rex fossil is no longer a fossil.
    Sugata Shindo texts: an exciting development, I can't lie.
    Wako Agemaki texts: wow. :o

He'll send the video later. It's the kind of thing that will probably be more impressive to see in person, when he can watch the looks on their faces - grotesque and yet incredible, as flesh appears over bone, layers of muscle and viscera and skin and then - feathers. Fairly brilliant ones, even. Sugata may not have been a dinosaur obsessed child, but who doesn't have this simple desire?

    Sugata Shindo texts: I'm going to ride it.

"Apprivoiser!"

Light radiates, sparkles shine, a military coat swoops and a cravat fluffs, and Ginga Kingu stands in the new barrier, staring with keen interest at the now living dinosaur.

"Many dinosaurs had feathers," he tells the sputtering child in the white and blue costume. "Though it was only a theory as to whether T-Rex was covered in them or not."

A hand goes to his chest, shining, as he pulls a sparkling white energy sword from it.

"Star Swordo! Diamant!

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Huh." Takashi says. There's not really much more -to- say than that. It'd probably be more terrifying if he hadn't animated a multistory penguin statue into a minion. "I guess it does make a pretty good youma." he notes quietly. Axion, of course, informs him it's not a youma in the usual sense but a Jewel Seed. He blinks.

    "See? We really should go relaxing more often. That usually leads to this." he points out. "Aaaaand I'm just gonna... go over hereeee. Away from the giant murderlizard. Since... you probably have this, Fate" he says as the roof thuds too. He gets some cover before he, too, transforms into his Barrier Jacket/Knight Armor/Labcoat.

    He's certainly not leaving Fate alone with the Jewel Seed. Or the T-Rex, really. But the Jewel Seeds usually mean... interlopers. Like whoever set up the barrier. Belkan? He hadn't been pulled into a Belkan Barrier in a while. Riventon floats over to land beside Fate. "It has feathers, because dinosaurs are birds." Riventon says, matter-of-factly to Nanoha. "Or, well, birds came from dinosaurs, so dinosaurs are really more proto-birds. Anyways..." he turns to Fate. "Dinosaur first or interlopers first?" he asks her.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki was getting ready to check out the T-rex skeleton. Just as soon as the crowd around it thinned a little.

Then the crowd things a LOT, as people start running and screaming. "Well ****," she mutters as she's swept along by the crowd. It takes her a moment to force her way out of the flow and into one of the side halls, elbowing and pushing her way through without care. She's just cleared the crowd when...

*ding*

And the crowd is just gone, as everything magical is swept into a dimensional phase space. That's what Argent Dawn reports it as, at least, and she resolves to look into the topic in more detail - later. "Barrier jacket on, Argent Dawn. It's Knight time."

"Yes, my master. Activating."

As she is becoming used to, the Jacket is never quite the same twice, this time with a crimson kimono-like top and skirt trimmed with dark blue and matching blue leggings, combined with the usual semi-random bits of armor.

She peeks out from the corner of the hall and back into the dinosaur exhibit, looking over the now-mobile Tyrannosaurus, and nods. "Right. They'll never believe this." She grins and snaps a few pictures with her phone before slotting it into her vambrace with her Device. Time to interlope.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    A barrier goes up... It's not Fate's doing. In fact, Bardiche is pinging her about it right now. And the likelihood of imminent intervention by the local TSAB officer. It's apparently Belkan style barrier, but these details is lost on her the moment people start going for the dinosaur.
    "Stay out of my way." Fate replies to Nanoha at first, before she purses her lips.
    "... Get the dinosaur. I'll deal with the others" She says to Riventon.
    This is easier said than done as Nanoha and Katsuko move in to get its attention.
    The now awake and VERY BEWILDERED T-Rex blinks at the magical girls- and roars when Nanoha starts pelting it with pink bullets of light.
    Those feathers ruffle...
    And then they LAUNCH from the dinosaur's body, razor sharp and with the speed and force of bullets as the creature is immediately on the defensive at everyone it can see!
    Fate, amid dodging feathers shifts her grip on her device.
    [SCYTHE FORM] Bardiche declares, a crackling scythe of golden voltaic energy forming from the staff's head as she sees--
    Ginga Kingu.
    "... I have no idea who you are, but stay out of this. For your own sake." She says, tone cold and tired. Before a much more quiet "Please." follows that as she fires several golden bolts of light at Nanoha and Katsuko.
    There's plenty of room for interloping, things are about to get wild.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko is prepared for the the dinosaur to do something aggressive, and though the details were unexpected she's entirely ready. She crosses her Tonfa as the magic comes.

    <PANZERSCHILD>

    A blue triangular magic shield arrives in front ofer and blocks the feathers going her way. Unfortunately, she doesn't know any of the others here and it never crossed her mind that some of them might not take kindly to her, and she's so distracted by the dinosaur that she doesn't notice the bolts until the first one crashes into her armor and sets her flying. She manages to dodge enough to get the second one to clip, though, and she turns to dash towards Fate, "What'd you do that for?!" She demands as both her tonfa come swinging down.

    <ZWILLINGSCHLAG>

    A burst of blue magic brings the pair smashing down at the end with a burst of sudden speed.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
So the two smallest of the lot seem to know each other, if the on-going shouting says anything, and given that his phone isn't getting any reception, he's going to assume this is the same kind of barrier Takuto was trapped in yesterday.

Annoying.

And then he's being addressed - "Sugata Shindo, also known as Ginga Kingu. I'll have to decline your request."

This girl is fighting the other two, but they seem to have it handled. The dinosaur on the other hand, needs to be taken care of, and so swinging out his sword, Ginga Kingu cuts through feathers, and takes a flying leap for the dinosaur. It's an enormous creature, among the largest land animals to ever live, which means it's not all that hard to climb atop it and just run along it's body, though the feathers make for an annoyance.

"Star Crash!"

And he launches the sword up, blue-white energy trailing from the white energy sword as it flips in the air to descend business end first towards the T-Rex's shoulder.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    There's... a lot of people here. Fate's talking, and Riventon really doesn't have anything -new- to say - but that won't stop him. "Back off! All of you are putting at risk a priceless antique. Let us deal with it and the skeleton will be fine after. But you clumsy oafs are more of a threat to it than us." he tries. Well, he's not good at not being a jerk. There's a point in there. Somewhere.

    There's a girl he doesn't recognize heading after Fate. But she's moving into melee. It'd be one thing if she was pelting the girl, but hell, Fate's been training -him- in melee combat and the student hadn't passed the teacher.

    The... ginger king, or whatever, is going after the T-Rex, and that's more akin to what Riventon was talking about. "Hey, idiot! It's not a petting zoo!" he shouts, letting an inky sphere of Dark Energy generate in his hand before it erupts into a high-pressure surge of liquid Dark Energy heading for the Kingu.

    <SCHATTENSCHLAG.> calls Riventon's device in female Belkan even as the circle underneath him and the targeting line on his wrist are clearly Midchildan.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown slowly climbed to his feet. Ow. Ow. So much ow. He stretched out a little, giving a grunt and then looking around. It--

And a cursory scan told him that some familiar devices were here. "Damn it," he muttered. Deep breath. Regain composure. One. Two. Three. Deep breathes. Suppress urge to murder...

Good. Suppressed. TSAB anger management. They didn't have *time* for this. The last thing he wanted was a jewel seed to end up in the hands of some delusional, power hungry megalomaniac with more power than sense. Or the weird girl stealing people's powers.

There was a crash from above and, almost instantly, his eyes locked on Riventon. Of. Course. Magical thing. And he appears. He DIDN'T have TIME for this.

One hand was over his face, while the other hand lifted his wand high into the air and...

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

Stinger blade after stinger blade appeared around him and were then launched at Riventon...

Except that last burst of them. That one veered, rather than towards him, towards Arf.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki has no idea who most of tese people are. In fact, the only one she recognizes is Sugata. So, she decides, best to aid him.

"Aurora Lancer!"

An unfortunately small number of little darts form around her, and a sweep of her hand launches them towards the dinosaur. They swirl about in fancy geometric dances as they fly towards it.

She runs closer, trying to get to a better position, circling around to find a spot not obstructed by the people fighting each other.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    It's pretty chaotic. And, in the chaos of a Jewel Seed activating and resurrecting a T-Rex... Several VELOCIRAPTORS waken and begin to zoom around screeching as well.
    Nanoha can deal with those.
    Then Chrono intervenes, as Bardiche had expected. Though he goes for Riventon, the volley launched at Arf cannot go ignored.
    "I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING YET!" The wolf-woman bemoans as she raises a shield, the flurry of stinger blades causing it to crack, shatter, and then pelting the wolf woman, who snarls in a mix of pain and frustration.
    Arf just wants one of those bones.
    Fate narrows her eyes as Katsuko lunges for her, tonfa at the ready to strike...
    [DEFENSER] Bardiche announces, manifesting a shield that buffets some of the impact, before that shield shatters and Fate's reflexes kick in.
    Staff meets tonfa, and a hairline fracture appears on Bardiche's body.        "I'll only ask this once." The blonde says with tired conviction.
    "Please stay out of my way."
    There's little time to respond though. See... While Fate Testarossa is normally a gentle girl that does not want to hurt anyone... When a Jewel Seed is at stake... When her mother's DREAM is at stake...
    Fate quietly hardens her heart.
    In an instant she's on the offensive, crackling electric scythe lashing at Katsuko in a flurry of blows; left right left left right up down-- from multiple angles, she lashes out a rain of strikes intending to fend off the Belkan knight so she can focus on the task at hand.
    It's as Ginga Kingu goes Shadow of the Colossus on the T-Rex that multiple chains of golden-orange light lash out to pin the feathered lizard in place, staggering hard from the impact of the King's blade to its shoulder and body. It screeches and roars and squawks as it QUICKLY regrows its feathers and launches them again while Arf pins it and Yuki launches her own assault, interloping just like she had planned, herdarts hitting the T-Rex head on to stun it along with the torrent of dark energy that Riventon launches- because a stream like that is also going to hit the dinosaur as well as his intended target.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "I don't know what's going on, but you attacked me." Katsuko doesn't sound angry, she starts dealing with the scythe, using her Tonfa to block which shows she's clearly experienced in fighting up close with those tonfa, but the blocks don't account for the electricity on the scythe, and she audibly grunts every time that electricity makes it past her knight armor. She's going to be sore in the morning, and she realizes she can't stay on the defensive like this. Keeping one tonfa in use for defense, she moves for more offense with the other.

    <BLITZSCHLAGEN>

    Her own flurry of blows comes in response, the magic used to accelerate her strikes rapidly. While she does it she responds, "I get that you have your reasons, but if you attack me and expect me to not defend myself, you're just a bully."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Diamant is buried to the hilt in the Tyrannosaurus Rex's shoulder and into the muscle of it's chest, causing grievous injury - and honestly, he would feel bad for the creature, but it's already dead. Whatever's animated this fossil can't change that the dinosaur that launches feathers at them, is already dead.

So Ginga Kingu feels no regret for the injury, though its suffering isn't the goal.

And then there's an obnoxious voice.

"King's Counter."

The surge of dark energy flies for Ginga Kingu, and a wall of blue-white energy appears in it's path. The high-pressure distends the shape of the wall, bowing it inwards for several seconds, before it bounces back to pristine shape, launching the dark energy back at Riventon in an almost-cartoonish display of force. It will spatter him and anyone closest to him, unless Riventon has a way of recollecting his energy.

"Hm, listen to you, or do what I want?" Ginga Kingu drawls, rolling his eyes, "Truly, it's such a difficult choice."

Or not, given that he's still atop the dinosaur, and thus close to his goal - it's just a few more leaps to reach the shoulder, and -

yeah, he's pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of him atop the feathery dinosaur, his Star Sword visibly damaging the creature - a king with his hunt.

That's for the groupchat, for sure.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon's slightly distracted by the raptors. Now, while the T-Rex is a lumbering (if feathery) giant - who clearly just wants to live again - the raptors are pack hunters, smart. Nanoha's fighting them, but for a moment he's entranced by them - Riventon just loves the little things. Until now he'd never given a thought to using magic to recreat velociraptors but-

    His thoughts are immediately cut off because he's brought back to earth, to this moment, by the bright fury of his Device's shield activating.<ARMOR SHIELD.> the device says as the purple-black triangular barrier pops into being, abrorbing his own attack. Well, about half of it. The Dark Energy is absorbed and the raw energy is resisted.

    Throwing his own attack at him? That's low. It's not like he even bothered to learn it, his power just gives him the ability to such a despicable, disdainful thing? Dark energy slithers around Riventon's arms like inky snakes before springing into claws, and Riventon shoots off towards the Ginga King as he's taking a selfie. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but let's see what you're made of. LITERALLY."

    If you asked Riventon later, he was 'allowing' the anger to flow through him, 'embracing' it to empower his sudden burst of speed and viciousness, his eyes flaring sickly green and his face contorted in a mask of raw anger. But to anyone that looks at him now? It looks like countering his attack has sent Riventon into a full on attempting-to-maul Kingu rage.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki continues to be ignored by everyone, both the people fighting and the fellow grandstanding atop the dinosaur. ... she's not sure she minds that. It's certainly better than some of the fights she's been in. (Thanks so much, stupid Eclipse Zone.)

Continuing around the exhibit hall, she settles on another vantage point to launch a volley of darts at the dinosaur.

"Aurora Lan - Lan - Lan -" The Device voice trails off and fades out as Yuki gives the vambrace a smack with her other hand. "Oh don't do this *now* you glitchy piece of - !!!"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown sighed, and then his voice was amplified. "ARF TESTAROSSA!" he snapped, his voice booming through the chamber. "I WILL GIVE YOU AND YOUR MASTER ONE CHANCE! TAKE HER AND LEAVE NOW OR NOT AT ALL!"

Normally? The TSAB Enforcer's tone was gentle, relaxed, soothing. Even in the heat of battle, he was always smiling. While there had been moments where he'd grit his teeth, or looked annoyed, he usually did a good job of hiding how he truly felt.

He was not, right now. His eyes were narrowed, his face was red and slightly bruised. He looked annoyed. And that 'Haven't done anything yet' comment had been well heard. He'd been attacked by Riventon enough times, and knew just how dangerous Fate and Arf were. But, right now? There was something else out there and, frankly? He'd had Riventon steal enough from him this week that he was NOT letting him have another jewel seed.

Then he dropped, falling towards the dinosaur...

            <<Subzero Tomb!>>

He'd drive his staff down on the t-rex as binding circles formed around it. Ice erupted from the tip of his staff, washing out just a ltitle bit...

Before rapidly expanding, to attempt to wrap around the entirety of the t-rex and freeze it in a veritable tomb of ice and, hopefully, bind the jewel seed.

If he succeeded, the only place that wouldn't be frozen... Would be at Kingu's feet. Because, you know. Don't freeze people who aren't your enemy. But he would be turning towards Fate and Arf, already lifting his staff to prepare for his next spell. Intending to eliminate all threats immediately, as needed. Especially with Riventon here...

... Wait, who... was that? was that a belkan device? Oh damn it Hannah...

The actually angry look in his eyes was... oddly, not aimed *at* Arf and Fate this time, but hey, they wouldn't know that.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    A bully?
    For a second- for a brief moment- a hurt look flutters across Fate's face.
    Fate is no bully. She is a driven girl, determined to see her mother's dream to the end.
    "You don't understand..." She says, as she clashes with Katsuko. She doesn't understand at all!
    But to Fate's credit, her reflexes and training kick in, allowing her to match the Belkan fighter blow for blow, strike for strike. But she's a distraction and there's precious little time to waste as Fate tries to break off from the fight, but can't.
    Which means that the chained Tyrannosaur is about to have a bad day for other reasons.
    As Ginga Kingu strikes it again (and gets a sweet shot to send to the group chat), that while Yuki's Device gives her issues, Chrono steps in to deal with the whole mess.
    The T-Rex screeches as the TSAB agent strikes it-- a tomb of ice encasing the once great beast and ending its days of stomping around freely once again.
    "--No..." Fate whispers.
    [GLAIVE FORM.] Bardiche announces as she tries to get off a sealing shot of her own but - likely cannot due to a one Katsuko Takezaki ruining her plans.
    The angry look on Chrono's face though...
    Arf backs off fast- leaving the TSAB youth free to collect the Jewel Seed before others can make a move on it.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "How can I understand if you don't explain it to me?" Katsuko responds to the accusation of ignorance with that question. She notices Fate is getting distracted, and the arrival of Chrono and his demand causes her respond as soon as he has the chance. She backs off soon after Fate's failed sealing attempt, and goes to try something else entirely, focusing her attention on Fate.

    <ZUFLUCHTGEBIET>

    A double pyramid of blue energy is shaped to form at where Fate is, she has time to escape if she wants to ... but this is not a capture spell. It should be obvious to someone talented and on the inside that they can trivially shatter the spell. From the outside though, those are sturdy barriers, and Katsuko places herself between Fate and Chrono. "What has you so angry?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Frost sweeps over the Tyrannosaurus Rex, over all but the space directly under Sugata's feet, and he looks up, offering a nod to the fighter who'd frozen the dinosaur in place and brought it back to the ancient ice age. He recognizes him from another incident - honestly, does he ever get a break? This all looks like it wears on him.

In a way it doesn't generally weigh on the Ginga Gang (nope, yeah, he doesn't like that, he's not calling it that again) -

Aaaand there's a furious fighter rushing at him, pissy about getting hit with his own attack, apparently? Oh, wait.

He recognizes that fighter.

Diamant vanishes from the frozen dinosaur, and Ginga Kingu's fist goes to his chest, dragging the blade out anew -

"Star Swordo - Diamant!"

And the blazing energy sword is drown to counter Riventon's rushing attack.

"You should do something about that temper of yours. Consider counseling."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon would - in normal times - be one of the first to tell you that while giving into your anger can cause your Dark Energy to be stronger, too much and you end up like Sunbreaker - a monster, out of your own control. Strong but tactically limited.

    This is the case now as Riventon's Dark Energy claws are matched by the blazing diamond sword, parried, rage countered by calm, strength countered by skill, and the two of them remain locked in a sort of combat dance while the Jewel Seed is extracted by Chrono.

    "I AM doing something about it. It's your friends who are going to need the counseling - grief counseling!" Riventon snarls, though in this moment he's not using any of the melee movements he's gone out of his way to learn, he's just trying to dig his claws into Ginga Kingu - or connect with him using his ungloved fingertips for energy drain.In fact the more energy he burns away trying to get a hit in, the hungrier for energy he gets, and the wilder, faster his swipes and swings and grasps become. Looks like neither of them are going to really be capable of going for the Jewel Seed while Chrono grabs it.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki grins as she watches the ice encase the dinosaur. At least that seems to be holding it for now. It'll give her time to get her Device working properly again. She hides behind an exhibit stand, focusing on the phone screen for a minute as she tries to unfreeze the Device processor, only looking up in time to see a gemstone of significant size floating up from the T-rex and glowing with what is clearly magical power.

"Why not?" she murmurs. "I could use a better power supply. Let's go for it, Argent Dawn."

"F - Faerie Flight!" The Device still stutters a bit, but the spell engages, shadowy wings erupting from Yuki's back, and she takes flight to race after the Jewel Seed.

Not quite fast enough, though, compared to the boy with the black outfit.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown looked down at the dinosaur, the jewel seed. The ice would glow as the binds over it compressed until, finally, the jewel seed was released. He leaped towards it, snagging it from the air and-- wait, what? Who was this girl? Ugh... Bound and contained, he'd store it in his device for the time being. He really needed

He then glanced to Katsuko. "Are you one of Hannah's colleagues?" he asked. No. The fact she was asking likely meant she wasn't with that hot head.

His eyes then turned to Arf. He lifted his device and... then sighed. "Go. Take your master and go." He then turned his gaze to Yuki and Katsuko. Two device users he wasn't personally familiar with. "I am Time Space Administrative Bureau Enforcer, Chrono Harlaown. As much as I would love to stick around and discuss more with you, at this point in time there is an incredibly dangerous threat that is being monitored by the TSAB forces on this planet." ... Basically himself and those he deputized.

"Once this threat has been neutralized, I will attempt to get in contact with both of you and get a better understanding of your devices and how they operate. For the time being, please release Fate Testarossa. While she is... incredibly... dangerous... for the time being there is a truce, of sorts, active. And we are not equipped to properly contain her. The jewel seed is in my possession, so there is nothing more for her to fight over." He turned, and started to leave... then paused. Oh, and one more thing.

He turned towards Riventon, almost dismissively, and waved the staff.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

And five small balls would form, then launch themselves at different angles at Riventon. Were they that destructive? No. Was it petty? Kind of. Was he sorry? After being ambushed? Not in the slightest. "Riventon! We're going to hash out details about your theft once this current threat is dealt with!" he yelled at him before quickly making his way up and towards the exit. Now that he had the jewel seed, he was, admittedly, incredibly eager to get it somewhere safe. It hardly did any good to contain the threat only to end up luring it to him and causing a worst dimensional distortion.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "I don't know who that is." Katsuko answers Chrono honestly, folding her arms. "But there was this lady who did give me the contact info of a Chrono Harlaown and told me to go to him for help learning to make better use of my magic." Her tone is flat, "I'm not sure I want your training, at this point. Maybe if you can show me you've got something to teach that isn't how to glare at people."

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    And that's it... The Jewel Seed is sealed. Now thusly in Chrono's possession. Fate's eyes harden as she halts- even if the spell is of Belkan design she has a more than basic understanding of what Katsuko has done. She doesn't break out just yet.
    But her hands tremble with restrained frustration as another Jewel Seed- another hope for Precia's dream, whatever it may be, is snatched from Fate's grasp, a dark shadow shrouding over her face.
    "I need them. Or my mother won't be able to have her dream."
    That is for Katsuko's sake before Fate breaks herself free.
    Remaining would do no good.
    "Riventon. Arf. We're leaving."
    Arf doesn't need to be told twice.

    LATER, THOUGH...

    When the Tyrannosaur fossil is returned to normal and put back in place by a very confused museum staff, someone will notice the missing rib bone...

    At least Arf got something out of this fiasco.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
The Shiny having been confiscated by the Space Cop, Yuki shrugs and drops out of flight mode, landing not far from the other Device-wielder - Katsuko, not that she knows that now. She looks after the departing Chrono and mutters, "I have -so- many questions."

Turning to Katsuko, she asks, "You said someone gave you contact information? Maybe we should look him up together."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Do you practice your lines in the mirror?" Sugata asks, and he's blocking the blows, one after the other, in the kind of unbreakable formation of someone who's trained in kendo near everyday of their life at honing and refining their skill with a blade.

What energy Riventon can drain will be exhilaratingly powerful, and probably hit him like he's snorted a highly carbonated soda.

And that's before he breaks through Riventon's guard (helped by the distraction from Chrono), and Diamant slips through an opening - and possibly through Riventon's flesh, if he's not fast enough.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Like having one or two chips out of a bag, Riventon's fingertips just occasionaly make enough contact for those little drains. Kingu has all of Riventon's focus - such as a thing is - and Axion is trying to get its master to return back to the world of tactics and planning. So in this moment both Device and Wielder are occupied - as Chrono sends his petty blast at him.

    A few expert parries put the Ginga Kingu slightly ahead - and then the attack hits Riventon from behind, about half of them scoring success on the back of his barrier jacket, before Axion's automatic shielding kicks in and absorbs the rest. It's enough to pull Riventon out of his rampage - probably at the worst time since the 'who dares hit me' pulls his attention away from the trained swordsman in front of him, and fines space to jam in at Riventon.

    Ginga Kingu can feel the way Riventon's barrier jacket absorbs and deflects the blow - it's like striking metal with metal, only it's more energy with energy - and the hit drags a scrape along the outside of the Barrier Labcoat, from within red can be seen, but it's not the skewering it might otherwise be.

    Riventon jumps back, and realizes the T-Rex is normalized, the TSAB agent who blasted him is gone, Fate and Arf are leaving, and the numbers are rather not in his favor. "Tch. Too many of you lurking around now." he grumbles, ignoring the feeling of pain from his side as he takes another backstep through dimensions and into the safety of his second home, the Dusk Zone.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko watches Chrono leave, then hears Yuki's question. "I don't think I want him to teach me, but sure I can share the contact information he gave me." She copies it to paper, "Anyway, I'm Katsuko Takezaki. Seventh Grade at Radiant Heart Academy, nice to meet you." She pats her tonfa, "And this is my partner."

    <ZWILLINGSRUTE>

    "If you go to Radiant Heart I hear there's classes after school for magic practice, taught by Inai-Sensei. Want to come check that out with me?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"I can't believe I promised not to kill that man," Sugata grumbles, and drops his henshin. He turns to the two girls - "I hear the self defense classes are a good plan. It doesn't look like either of you use swords, but the kendo club is another place to practice, if you want to get civilian combat practice in."

He's going to leave if no one drags him into a conversation.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki nods, "He seems to be a bit full of himself." She does accept the paper, tucking it away, though. "I'm Yuki Hoshino. Pleasure to meet you, Takesaki-san. My little friend here is Argent Dawn," she taps the octagonal shape of the Device clipped to her vambrace.

"Greetings."

"I wouldn't -mind- learning the sword, but magic seems more useful... and kind of necessary right now." Anyone who's seen how glitchy her magic can be is highly likely to agree on that point.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko nods. "The pleasure is all mine, Hoshino-san." And on that note, she flies away. She drops what remains her barrier once she's somewhere quiet and drops back to civilian.