1749/B-Point: Black Roses

B-Point: Black Roses
Date of Scene:	13 July 2024
Location:	Mitakihara General Hospital
Synopsis:	Mamoru is found! Draining the city with dark energy brambles. His friends and loved ones gather to make sure he stops without killing anyone.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Jadeite, Koji Silvia, Makoto Kino, Chrono Harlaown, Madoka Kaname, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust, Haruka Tenoh, Kazuo Saitou, Zoisite
Tinyplot:	Dark Kingdom Finale

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Many people pay attention to many different things. One of the more subtle tells that something's going disastrously wrong on a large scale is a scent, like burning, or in this case like the sickly sweet and cloying smell of roses gone somehow wrong. Another subtle tell is a generalized hush in a city that's never truly still. Another is the generally localized sound of sirens going off at various distances in all directions--

These are subtle tells.

The really unavoidable ones are twofold: first and foremost, the enormous green-glowing black rose brambles that have already engulfed or are swiftly overtaking everything, sprouted up around buildings and entangling cars and trains and pedestrians and motorcycles, playground equipment, blooming velvety purple-black blossoms and crunching thorns into everything they touch.

Second, there's precious little screaming and running from this assault on reason and property and personal space: the brambles are draining energy, hard, from everyone they come into contact with, so there are unconscious civilians everywhere.There's got to be a ground zero for this, there always is, and any magical kid worth their salt can pretty easily transform to avoid the mass drain and get up on a tall thing to see where--

--there it is, downtown, a huge (and growing larger) glowing orb of energy...

...right above the hospital.

---

Once the heroes have made their way downtown, thorns snatching at anyone who's bounding from rooftop to rooftop and making the journey rather more harrowing than it needs to be, the culprit is easily identified: Prince Endymion.

Mamoru Chiba, missing for four days, stolen from his dorm room by Direc-- Queen Beryl, first of her name, via ambush predator youma Thetis and her drowny might. Prince Endymion, the boy a handful of heroes saw run through his dying city to safeguard the world's magic, the boy a handful of heroes saw run through with a sword by Beryl's hand.

He sits in his customary armor and cape atop a throne built of black roses and thick, menacing thorns. He's expressionless and casually businesslike as he gestures idly and draws up another wave of glowing brambles to bolster the furthest wave and spread it out more, cover more space, drain more civilians dry, empty more skyscrapers of precious human life energy. Expressionless. His eyes are a bright red, as red as the roses ought to be but glowing, and the energy that flickers around him is purple-black and red instead of his usual white-gold.

Ten, fifteen minutes at the very most, and he's already covered so much of the city in this curse, taken so much vivid beautiful human life force, condensed it into this sphere he holds in the air above him: the throne is the center of the operation, feeding energy into the sphere from the brambles that lead to it, direct and bold as a sledgehammer.

Endymion may not be eating a city quite so directly as Kunzite had once upon a time, but that's only because he's using the thorns as a go-between to get at the energy, and he's more limited in the type of energy he takes: there's no cold growing here, only a deathly silence.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The scent of roses is what got her, though anyone could see the spreading chaos. Usagi has been worried, worried, worried this week, has channeled it into patrols, into baking, into regular chores, but this - this is what she's been waiting for.

There was never any chance that Beryl wouldn't try to use Mamoru against them.

Racing out towards the hospital, leaping from tall-thing to tall-thing, Sailor Moon uses her communicator, even though, truly, it's not quite necessary.

    SAILOR MOON to ALL FREQUENCIES: He's waiting over Mitakihara General! Be ready for a fight, but do not kill my fiancé. I'm serious! I don't want any repeats of last time, he does not need a jillion finishers to the chest!

Everyone who's shared their communicator number, or who received and kept the communicator from their adventure in the past, gets the message, broken up only by the sound of the wind as Sailor Moon races to meet Endymion head on.

"Endymion!" She calls to him when she's close enough, standing atop a streetlight the way he always preferred too.

Her voice is one of the few sounds in the city. The people lie collapsed in heaps and piles all around; a hospital is a terrible place for an energy drain. She looks at him, at the red sheen that's drowned out the blue of his eyes, and the Crescent Wand is held tight in her fist.

"Can you hear me at all?"

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite has spent the last several days searching. When not, he's been sitting at home or with the other senshi, eating well and stretching, resting, preparing for a final battle. After all, Beryl had used all of Endymion's loved ones against him; why wouldn't she do the opposite?

His eyes practically glow with power; he's pushed himself to have more magic than usual, extra magic frozen as if in icein his veins, so if he has to give it all in this battle, he will.

The moment Sailor Moon calls, he's moving, he's running - he's at Usagi's side, epee out and an ice shield readied on his arm, because he knows Beryl would love the irony of the two lovers killing each other.

It will not happen. If Jadeite could be saved, Hematite could be saved; if Jadeite could be saved, Usagi would be protected. He and Ami and Kazuo have not just a duty but a love to fight for. The senshi have not just a duty but the deep bonds of friendship tying them. Their allies, springing up like flowers from the snow, have come not just to fight, but to save his best friend, his boyfriend, the reason why he died and the reason why he lives.

He watches as others pop up, his shields at the ready. "My prince," he says as an opening jab, "it's a handsome look, to be sure, but I believe it's more traditional to give your beloved a bouquet that isn't watered in blood."

He will save him. He WILL. And he will ensure Mamoru does not awake to blood on his hands.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Following along quickly behind Sailor Moon like a shadow is one Hanzo, red scarf streaming in the wind as he uses his Device's rope kunai to swing himself from building to building until he can settle on a rooftop and get a good view of the situation... all the way from the outermost tendrils towards the central core and glow of the Mitakihara Hospital.

As his hair and the scarf whips a bit in the wind that stirs up for no good reason, the young ebon-haired magical boy listens to Usagi from behind, and then says as she advances, "Be careful in there."

Regardless of whether or not she can hear him, Koji flicks his wrist to extend Hanzo into his hand, and moves over to one of the energy-draining tendrils so he can float the tip of over it and murmur out, "Alright... let's see what flavor of pain in my butt you are, and how we get you gone."

    "Hanzo?"

    << Beginning Scan, Master. >>

But in the meantime he keeps an eye out around him for others incoming...

Makoto Kino has posed:
Something in the wind had Makoto on alert, even before the heavy scent of roses reached her; she was on her way to find Usagi even before the call came through and urged her to put on all speed. Like Sailor Moon, Jupiter takes the high path, touching down only occasionally on rooftops to gather herself before the wind carries her on in great soaring leaps.

For those seeking a path through the thorns, well - the staccato flashes of lightning that stab down to sear through the brambles might provide something of a signpost. There's no time to stop and burn them out as thoroughly as she'd like, but just because she can travel above the tangling thorns doesn't mean Sailor Jupiter has to tolerate the affront of their existence entirely.

When Sailor Moon lands atop her streetlight, Jupiter hangs in the air nearby, her skirt and ribbons and ponytail whipped by the wind that spirals upward around her. Her fists are still sparking. She says nothing.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was, well, already on the way. The moment things had started to go to hell in a nice prim and proper bouquet, he'd taken off.

Luckily, Rashmi and he had already been visiting with Haruka as it was, TSAB business, you know how it is.

Haruka does, at least.

Haruka probably does not enjoy it.

But, due to them already being together, the transport was easy. Rashmi was the expert in support spells, so he'd taken off ahead and was just a scant few seconds ahead, landing on one of the rooftops overlooking the hospital.

"We'll try to avoid hospitalizing your boyfriend, Sailor Moon." But there was no promises. He'd promised to take Mamoru down once if it ever came down to it... And he'd keep that promise if possible.

This was a world of miracles and beauty, so he truly did hope it wouldn't come to the point he had to try and put him down.

... But assaulting a hospital was a terrible low. Even for one of darkness.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    There's an odd thing about Endymion choosing Mitakihara General as his ground zero.

    It's already under the protection of a Witch. One whom, while generally quite sweet and friendly, is not terribly inclined to share her territory with those who would drain the patients under her protection.

    Madoka Kaname's first response upon seeing doctors and patients alike collapse due to energy draining was a gasp and panic. Her second was to immediately henshin with Gretchen and start calling upon her darker powers. She wouldn't have time or ability to save everyone from what Endy is doing, but some of the more critical patients in the hospital would be far safer in her Labyrinth than they would out in the open. It would be simple and safe to put them back later.

    It's this process, more than anything, that makes it take so long before Hope Witch appears before Dark Endymion's dark throne, with a tired and disappointed look in her eyes.

    "This isn't you, Endy-kun. You're better than this."

    As Hope hears Moon's plea over the comms, she shakes her head. "You're lucky you're you," she mumbles, without clarifying exactly what she means by that.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Nicomachea's alarms go off at about the same time as Rashmi's cell phone blows up... which is *never* a good combination. Then the ball of collected energy swells over Mitakihara, and it seems that all subtlety is thrown into the Bay.

There's only time for a quick glance at Haruka and Chrono, and her sandwich is tossed onto Setsuna's counter, the redhead henshining mid-run toward the door. A pair of Flier Fins were cast the moment she and Haruka had left the house, and the pair soared off after Chrono.

It is... not hard, to orient on their destination.

As the heroes begin to assemble, Rashmi is the first to act, rather than talk. Ordinarily she'd add her entreaties to the chorus, but that is a *lot of energy* pulled from *sick and dying people and then also the city* and that needs to stop before it becomes irreversible.

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

The spell expands rapidly, swallowing the throne, the branbles, the assembled heroes and villain... And, cruicially, cutting the citizenry off from this incredibly wide-scale draining plague. It is perhaps the largest Barrier Rashmi has yet thrown, expanding a couple of blocks in all directions.

Maybe she'll pay for that later. But now, they'll need the maneuvering space.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Poor Usagi. Poor Mamoru. This past week has been... weird. School's out, but something so awful is going on, and another new transfer student is discovering magic and having a Chara and with her and Coco they're preparing to sing for that event the students are putting together and she's just... having a day. Having a few days. She is sorry for every time she's complained about how teenagers act in movies. She gets it now.

    ...But all of that is pushed aside when, investigating the weird smell brings her out to... a world in the process of plunging into a thorny apocalypse. The world's gone wrong in a way it hasn't since the sun went out, and she wonders just how many apocolypsi she's going to see over her life as a magical girl.

    Fortunately, she's not alone. Of COURSE several fellow magical girls and boys are going to gather at the center of the danger as well. Amy uses thruster-assisted flying leaps to get over the brambles and maybe give someone else a lift.

    "Mamoru-san... what did they do to you..." She asks from atop a nearby building. Glancing around at the others, particularly Sailor Moon, then back at 'Hematite.' "Please come back to us... you remember, right? Talk to us. What is going on?!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    The scent of rsickly sweet roses on the wind is the first thing Haruka notices; even sooner than the disordered nature of the wind itself that scent came on. The rest of the tells are frankly superfluous at this point; Haruka had already been replaced by one Sailor Uranus, taking advantage of the closeness (both metaphorically and literally) of Chrono and Rashmi at the time. While Neptune and Pluto may be keeping busy by ensuring people are safe and stopping opprotunistic feral youma, the two device mages and the most tactically impatient of the Outer Senshi move towards the hospital.

    She sees Moon's plea to not kill Endymion (again) - she doesn't reply to the message. She hopes it doesn't come to that.

    She's still not used to flying entirely, but she can mostly get where she's going - one day she'll have to get lessons on doing this from Rashmi when there's not some sort of apocalypse or other time crunch that makes what should be fun far less so.

    The barrier is up, and Sailor Uranus can't fault the idea - even if it'll cut Neptune and Pluto and others out of this fight, it's most important to cut Evil off from draining Energy first.

    "Let's stop this nonsense together, Endymion. You know you're not Beryl's pawn. You don't even LIKE her. Remember? How unbearably creepy she is?" Sailor Uranus yells up to Mamoru as she takes up position, floating (a bit unstably) above Sailor Moon and Jadeite, still boosted by the Device Mage's flier fins.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite alights nearby, taking Moon and Jadeite's other flank, mirroring Jupiter's position and her silence both. He's not the one at the center of the madness, this time. He's not the one drawing on the life of a city to feed the powers of a demon. He's not the one whose eyes are glowing.

He'd trade places in a heartbeat, if it would get Mamoru/Endymion out; but that's the thing. It would never get him out. That's not the way they deal with this creature.

Instead, he keeps his breathing even. Keeps himself anchored in his body, the way he's concentrated on since Mamoru was stolen from his room. Gray and white, steady and calm. At least to look at. The barrier going up lets his shoulders ease the tiniest fraction: it's not large enough to protect the whole city, but the real Mamoru would be deeply, deeply grieved about the hospital physically being wrecked.

He'll do what he can. And right now, what he can do is be aware that everyone else is looking toward Mamoru, and watch for attacks from behind them. And down, but Uranus is above; she'll likely catch those, too.

Zoisite has posed:
The stench. It's what draws Zoisite out from wherever he's gone, wherever he'd disappeared to when Mamoru had been taken. Somewhere dark and quiet, perhaps, to plot and plan and glower and grieve. Somewhere private.

But nearby.

Zoisite is not with the others. It's madness to try and strike at the core of this dark power alone, but while the rest gather, Zoisite makes his way through the brambles as quietly and yet swiftly as he can, sword at his side. A strike from the darkness could end this, and if so, Endymion's loved ones will have him back in their arms.

If Zoisite fails, then he deserves whatever comes to him. Too many times has their Prince. Again and again has he come to harm thanks to Beryl, thanks to dreaded Metallia, and Zoisite has reached a precipice. No more will be allowed. It ends here, or he does.

The stench of wilted roses is met with the rolling smell of spring, of sakura petals on the wind.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The figure on the black rose throne turns its head slowly to level a weighted red gaze on Sailor Moon, and the smile is cruel and utterly alien. "He's dead, little princess," the possessed Endymion says, in Mamoru's voice, with none of Mamoru's tone or inflection. "He'll never hear you again."

He gestures idly once more; the thorny vines are already on the lamp-post she's standing on, they just have to shoot a little bit higher and catch on boots, maybe on flesh if they're quick enough, and dig in.

He doesn't bother answering Jadeite's actual words, only gives him a flatly contemptuous once-over before carelessly twisting his midair gesture to entangle the fluffiest of the Shitennou as well. "Taste my power once more, Jadeite, and you may yet live."

Hanzo will see that the brambles are like youmas-- physically present, but composed primarily of dark energy. They can be physically destroyed, chopped up-- or purified. Speed the caster, speed the spell -- but the important thing is that that's A LOT OF ENERGY OUTPUT. So much energy, all those briars and thorns all over the city, blooming into sweet-smelling sharp nightmares.

As Jupiter hangs in the air, the thorns from the lamp-post catching at Sailor Moon and Jadeite reach for her as well, and one corner of Endymion's mouth turns up again a little, and he flings a 'fireball' of dark energy in her direction -- just a solid whump of darkness, at speed, complete with pain and the feeling of crawling wrongness at its touch. He says nothing to her, either.

Chrono he doesn't see yet, though he's aware of the delicious and delightful power in that direction, hanging back. No, it's Hope Witch who garners "Endymion's" attention next.

She's right. That laugh isn't Endy-kun.

"Endymion is dead, little witch, killed by Beryl's sword millennia ago; Mamoru is dead, killed by her knife and her hands and her youma, over and over and over until there was nothing left to heal," the red-eyed Prince says with casual cruelty, clearly delighted as it animates his face into an expression of something almost akin to glee. A bloody, wicked glee.

But he's right there. That's his body. But dark energy can heal, too, can construct--

But these are Hematite's roses, aren't they?

And then Rashmi's Barrier goes up, and Endymion's expression clears. He stands up from the throne, black petals shifting and blowing free in the breeze, and he lifts both hands up and the brambles grow into a dome beneath the dome of the barrier, contained therein. He glances at Amy and, like an afterthought, throws brambles at her as well -- if they catch, if they dig into her flesh, they pull at her energy. He doesn't answer her, and when his glowing red eyes flash to Haruka, all the animation's fallen from his face again, as if it takes a conscious effort for the thing wearing him to actually give him more expression than a lifeless body.

He sees Uranus and then he sees Kunzite joining that cluster, and his red eyes gleam. "Ah, my favorite," comes the voice now, wrong, a whisper that crawls as much as it carries. "Kunzite-- you wore my power so gladly in service to this slip of a boy. Wear it once more."

And Endymion steps forward, one hand up to gather the enormous energy ball and compress it, and the other hand up to shoot a much bigger dark energy blast at that whole gathered group there. It's like a one-two punch for poor Jupiter, and absolutely unpleasant for everyone else in the vicinity, whether or not they're caught in the piercing, draining thorns.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka listens to Endymion tell his fiance, and then tells her that he's gone for good, and the next words out of the witch's mouth are, "I don't believe you. He's not dead." Her branch bow appears in her hand, and the Humpty Lock appears around her neck. "You, though? Whatever you are? Whatever parasite or passenger that's talking right now? That's taunting us?" She knocks back a pink arrow as a flicker of darkness dances around her eyes. "I'm not gonna hold back. Not anything. Gretchen feels the same way. No matter what it takes, I'm not dying here. Not this time. I won't sacrifice Endymion, but you've had enough chances."

    Aiming into the air, she unleashes a spread of arrows. Witchy brass chains appear wrapped around the tails of her pink bolts, and the magical projectiles arc and curve through the air, circling around the fallen prince and trying to wrap him up and pin him down. Then, with her free hand, she clutches the locket hanging from her neck.

    She promised Gretchen that she wouldn't use this carelessly. Not again. Yet... against this foe, she might have to.

    "You didn't win during the Silver Millenium, and you're not going to win now."

Jadeite has posed:
Oh, Mamoru's dead. Oh no, Jadeite has to throw himself on his sword - Is that what Beryl is expecting, using his prince as a puppet? Tamaki has some choice words for her -

Which will wait until after he throws up his ice shields with "Glory of the Snow!", creating huge thick sheets of ice to at minimum slow down the crackling power and thorned brambles shooting towards him and the other shittenou and senshi, if not stop them in their tracks.

"With all due respect, Beryl, which is none, he is alive, and you will soon - be - dead!"

Endymion has survived before. He will again. Jadeite will bet his life on it- will pay his life in blood and magic, if he must. But first, unfortunately, he must ensure theat Mamoru's pinata is relatively unharmed while the Beryl candies are whacked out with extreme prejudice.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite's mouth curves into a smile as empty of genuine emotion as the false prince's. "What, this power?" he replies, and lifts his hands, bringing them together.

Light lances out, a vivid shimmer of pinks and violets holding all the color that Kunzite himself does not; lashing out not at Endymion himself, but at the dark energy blast - aiming to carve it, split it around the group, direct it to deflect off Jadeite's shields rather than smashing through them. Startlingly pristine white feathers spiral around the beam, glittering and glimmering, large enough to be shed from an angel's wings.

Kunzite blinks at the feathers for just a moment, and glances down at his hands with the barest hint of bewilderment, but the distraction only lasts a moment before he discards it in favor of calling to the others. "Don't listen to what this thing says! It's trying to get in your heads. Mamoru's alive."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown narrowed his eyes when he heard all of that... That. That was NOT like the Mamoru he knew. It was... Was he lost? Was he no longer...

No. They'd find a way out of this. Saying he was was gone for good was a good way to try and try and knock out their hope, but he'd seen far too much from these people to ever believe it would be that easy.

He spoke out over a wide area connection, contacting everyone aside from Endymion. << Rashmi, focus on amplifying the abilities of those he targets. Stay out of the engagement for now. Amplifying their abilities will allow others to endure longer and force him to expend more energy. I find it unlikely that Endymion is truly lost, there'd be little to no reason to give us such information if he truly was, as it would likely cause us to hold back more otherwise. This is likely an attack on our morale. Our opponent has more forces than jus the prince, so be careful of sneak attacks, if anyone notices others joining the fray, send out a warning. Attempt to drive him back towards his throne. >>

His eyes were now focused on the throne. He took off from the building, leaping and flying up into the air, and making his way towards it...

While casting silent binds over it, attempting to lay an ambush point towards it if they could drive him back. Bind and trap him, maybe knock some sense into him.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The words aren't a blow, because they are a lie. A cruel and callous one, from a demon lurking.

"If he was dead, I would know," Sailor Moon says sharply, standing straight, shoulders back, silver crystal aglow. Her eyes are not hard, but soft with love, and burning with determination. "Because he's not yours, he's mine!"

Ice climbs up the street-light she perches upon, freezing in place glittering brambles, and then color and feathers alike streak through the air as Kunzite seeks to deflect the surge of Dark Energy. Sailor Moon cuts a golden circle into the air, and silver light streams out in a vast cone.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Purity streaks at the brambles, at the dark energy, at the man himself, cloaked in armor and speaking with a demon's voice, trying to tear away the taint, to aid as as she can.

And then that cold voice, lacking Mamoru's inflections, his tones, the way he shapes his words and curves his mouth, says that they killed him, over and over and over and over, and hadn't she feld the connection flicker and dim, hadn't she known they were tormenting him, hadn't she known -

"He's alive!" She shrieks the words, and it's a good thing they're in a barrier, because the words tear not just from her throat, but from the bright red caps of her odango as her words pitch with Supersonic Waves - the glass in every pane of every window in the hospital, in the surrounding buildings, in the street lights themselves, cracks in that single instant, a rippling of noise cutting through the air.

Dark Energy races for her, thrown from the hand of her love, and she burns with feeling. How dare she use his voice? How dare she use his body? How dare' she think she has the right?

"Endymion, we're coming for you!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus sighs. "So much for making this easy." She says. "Look, either the real Endymion is in there, buried by all that false hatred you're spouting, or we will find him and put him back. Again. If we have to convince the fake out of him or beat it out of him, we're going to do it. Because if there's one thing I've learned its that we make miracles happen." Sailor Uranus adds.

    Of course, then there's a blast of Dark Energy she has to dodge away from - she isn't quite as nimble on these fins as she'd like to be, and the wave almost hits her before Kunzite's energy helps redirect it away from nipping at her boots.

    "It's cowardice, you know. Fighting in someone else's skin." she adds. "But we know Mamoru's in there because you're more transparent than Jadeite's ice shields." she adds, piling in to the verbal barrage.

    Moon Healing Escalation is heading towards Endymion and now so is Sailor Uranus, flying with the aid of her allies' magic, in a curved arc to end up trying to swoop in behind not-Endymion and kick him in the back - not the face, Usagi likes his face - but more importantly to try to keep him from falling back, to sandwich him between her and the Escalation.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter is fortunate for the promptness of Jadeite's icy shields. The sheets of ice that spring up at his command slow the ball of darkness that Endymion tosses her way; she's still not yet agile enough in flight to avoid it completely, but between Jadeite's protective effort and the buffering wind around her, she manages to only get clipped by it instead of struck dead-center, and if it knocks her out of the air at least it doesn't knock the air out of her in the process.

She lands in a three-point crouch and glares up at Endymion with sharp green eyes. "Like we'd fall for that!"

Jupiter rears back, sparks racing bright trails up her arm from the shoulder before she SLAMS it down onto the ground before her. Where her open palm hits, electricity forks out in all directions, each bright line of energy racing to the root of a bramble vine before they can grow enough to snare their targets.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Got it, >> Rashmi answers, skipping further upward in reflex to get as far out of the way of the beam's width as possible. Nicomachea floats open in front of her, as an intricate seal spreads out underneath her feet. With her new tuning, this is probably going to be ... draining. But the devil is absolutely driving her friend, and her friend's fiancee, so... needs must.

    << *BONG!* >> << ZETA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

Six wisps of energy like foxfires resolve around Rashmi, one after another after another, streaking out and down to where she thinks the temporary boost might do the best good; Uranus, Hope Witch, Sailor Jupiter, Kunzite, Puella Red.

All of them are known to have ranged attacks of considerable power, and all of them could use their next attack hitting a little *harder.*

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< If you've never been boosted before, >> Rashmi's voice resounds in the back of her allies' minds, << You get one shot before I need to throw out another. Don't be stingy with it, I've got plenty more in the tank! >>

Koji Silvia has posed:
With those precious minutes he's given to study the vines and how they spread, how they all flow back to a source and spread out to gather and expel... Koji stands back up and then with a flick, the kunai Device is back on his arm again. Turning his head to look over and towards the fight, he ponders for a moment longer, and then his eyes end up being drawn back up at the sudden shift in the air by Dark Endymion's action. Even from this range, his hair is blown back by the effect, and he raises his off-hand up to partial shield himself.

Without conscious thought, he leaps off where he is, and coming down about 10 feet, a small hexagonal shield appears in his path...

    << KINETIC SHIELD. >>

When his foot touches down, and the shield vanishes, but launches him into the air so he can flip and throw out his rope kunai and latch onto a spot close by the main group in the wake of the first attack and a blacklight purple Midchildian magic circle appears in front of his hand!

From his crouching position, his hand gesture changes from a flat palm to his pointer and middle fingers being pointed towards the small orb like a kid playing cops and robbers, but then he drops his thumb like a hammer...

    << DISRUPTOR. >>

A pencil-thin beam of darkish light lances out... but not at the manifestation of the Dark Mirror of Endymion, but at the small ball of energy floating above his hand. The energy doesn't penetrate. Instead it wraps around it, and his hand spreads back out and wide, and the circle begins to click and shift, some of those symbols rearranging himself as he tries to take apart what's holding the energy together and disperse it.

     "Now now... all of that belongs to someone else. A lot of someone elses. So why don't you let it go, sit back on that last season throne, and take your beating like you deserve."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    He's dead. "NO!" Amy shouts, surprising herself with the immediacy of it. She glances at Usagi and Madoka's reactions. Missing all that time, now this... He's been bad-ended. ...How do you bring someone back from that?

    It also occurs to Amy that perhaps it is simply mind control. But in that case... true love is supposed to break it, right? And that will be up to Usagi.

    So, how does--

    --Hematite looks towards her, and she leaps aside as the brambles fly past her, probably to start growing on the roof of the building.

    For him to have become like this, he has to believe in his heart that it's the only path. Emphasizing Mamoru is 'dead'... is that insecurity in the belief that it is so, or words truly wielded only to hurt us? She could point that out... but the reaction probably won't be good. Anger, or crushing hope more by not even reacting.

    Beryl can't have given him anything that made his life better. He's so in love with Usagi-chan. They're happier together than anyone I've ever seen. Hopefully she can make him see that again.

    The rocket Puella takes a breath. "You're wrong. And we'll show you that you're wrong. Chiba-san is still in there." It could also be a shapeshifter no shut up brain how many possibilities am I supposed to consider?! He's got the roses and everything! ...But if Phantom can copy Pures... Well, Usagi will see through him soon enough if so. "Beryl is not unstoppable. Or she wouldn't have had to make a deal with a demon. And the demon wouldn't have lost last time." She looks at those eyes. Evaluate strategy...

    If she can keep his negative attention focused on her, Sailor Moon won't have to bear as much of the brunt. Time to find out if her new 'super mode' is up to the task of dodging.

    "He's not dead. You're still in there." Amy manifests the giant freaking artillery cannon on her shoulder, then switches to the normal rocket launcher and fires, before flying to the side and firing again. Watching his defenses. Seeing how Dark Endymion fights.

    And only after do others' words start getting processed by her brain. "Huh, what? Have we all landed on 'Beryl is puppeting him with magic?' Did I miss something? ...Does she do that?!" The redhead looks at Sailor Moon in confusion.

Zoisite has posed:
Still not yet engaged with the group, Zoisite continues on, ducking under and jumping over brambles on his way to the core of this fight. He's long since foregone his cape as a needless distraction, and yet still the brambles catch at the cloth of his uniform as he braves the deepest tangle of them.

What he plans to do when he joins the rest is Zoisite's own concern, but the gleam of his sword blade in the light feels wicked. So he banishes it with a twitch of his hand, preparing to come up against whatever wears Prince Endymion's face with his power alone, come what may.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'll be certain to let my ~Esteemed Associate~ Queen Beryl know exactly how you feel, little traitor," laughs the Endymion-puppet at Jadeite, seeming unconcerned that his attacks have split away, proven only glancing or grazing, knocking Jupiter out of the air but leaving her mostly unharmed.

Arrows arc from Madoka seeking to bind him, to pin him, and he makes an impatient gesture; witchy brass chains spark as they encircle a darkly glimmering barely-visible shield, and Sailor Uranus's kick unfortunately hits the shield as well, though it's enough of an impact that, shield and all, the Dark Prince flinches forward a half step.

The chains spark again, and Endymion expands the shield, straining them; the Escalation hits at the same time as the magical chains break. "What makes you think I plan to win? No matter who wins today, you lose," Endymion says easily, the Escalation blasting away fully half of the throne in an explosion of suddenly red-- suddenly red petals. If it were just dark energy, they would vanish, they wouldn't turn red--

Then windows shatter with the force of Usagi's horrified fury, and the possessed boy lifts a hand to touch his ear and look at his fingertips, and he sees blood and looks impressed. "Oh, that's right," he says conversationally, "you cried when you first met him. You cried like that. Cry about this, little princess. He held out so long for you. He just thought he needed to hold on a little longer and you'd come for him. He believed in you. He's not in here, I watched his body die before I stepped in. But you'll never know if that's true, if you win against me."

He lifts a hand, holding a black rose in it suddenly, and it grows bigger and sharper, almost a stake, as he throws it side-handed directly for the Moon Stick. Worth a shot, isn't it?

This is yet another one of the things distracting him as Chrono turns what's left of the throne into a trap, yet another one of the things distracting him as Koji and Hanzo fix on the ball of energy and dissipate it, oh, that seems to irritate the Dark Prince.

"Rude," he says, gaze going up at the same time as his hand shoots up to grab at the front of Koji's armor. There's a horrible crackling purple-black-red nimbus that surrounds Koji for a moment as he's drained of energy, HARD, hard enough to hurt and disorient and leave at least temporary weakness in its wake. "That's what he would say, isn't it? And he would laugh with you, even if you never understood him, never bothered to try, just made decisions for him-- I'm better at making his decisions for him, aren't I? Easier to agree when you're dead."

And he SLAMS Koji through the roof-- through it-- through it to the room underneath it, some hospital executive's office on the top floor.

He looks at Kunzite, and his smile's all teeth. "I miss how easy it was to manipulate you once Beryl opened your ears with your ridiculous worry. No matter. I'll just kill you," he offhands, throwing a hand out and the sky reaches down (the brambles reach down from the dome overhead) to grasp at Kunzite and drain, drain as fast and hard as he'd done to Koji, but not letting go. They come for Jadeite, too, revenge revenge revenge.

All the brambles at ground level in a circle around Jupiter basically explode, because since it's Endymion's understanding of how plants are constructed, they have sap and it just got struck by lightning. There's another flinch, which Jupiter probably won't see from ground level, but Endymion calls out crossly, "I'll JUST GROW MORE, Jupiter!"

He's busy, though, and there's nothing on the ground he wants right now, so he just reaches up with more briars flung up at Rashmi in order to try and ground her, but Amy's yelling at him and he blinks.

"Queen Beryl is not," he says flatly, as the first rocket explodes against the shield that's now definitely visible, wisping a little bit at the edges. "I believe you've met her. She has better red hair."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
r
And then he... vanishes? He teleports, appearing almost instantly behind Amy and shoving way more dark energy into her personal space than can possibly be healthy. "You'll be delicious someday. Maybe someday soon."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji's scream from the grab, and what power he has is nearly sucked out of him, to the point that his Barrier Jacket begins to flicker and fade, only resolving itself just in time for him to feel himself LIFTED... and then benched by the opposing team...

Well, more desked, as he breaks through the center on impact, bounces, and ends up in the chair and slowly spinning while unconscious...

If anyone's coming for an appointment he is definitely NOT Dr. Masahiro Saemonsaburo, Neuropathology.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Grow more, then!" Sailor Jupiter shouts back as she surges to her feet. "Grow all you want! I'll blast them all!" She thrusts both hands up and out, the air all around her dry and snapping with the gathering charge, more sparks spitting over both shoulders and down her arms again. "JADEITE!" she bellows at the top of her considerable lungs. "Mind the shrapnel!"

That's all the warning she gives before she unleashes from both metaphorical barrels. White-hot threads of electricity lance from every fingertip, a brilliant echo of the entangling brambles they race to meet as the dark vines snake down from on high.

"If he weren't alive, it wouldn't be trying so hard to convince us he's not. Not when that's the only reason we're holding back."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
When being attacked from above, the first thing to do is move.

Kunzite flings himself across the rooftop, onto the next one down - into the space that Endymion is filling with dark energy, putting himself between Endymion and Amy. If she doesn't sidestep, he'll be outright pushing her away from the stuff, out of the worst of the cloud. If the brambles chase him, they can eat that. If they don't, his shields are up, and if Endymion doesn't knock him off the rooftop he'll --

-- eat the dark energy, that's a *great* plan. But at least he has no shortage of justified anger to tackle it with --

"It's the eyes!" he calls back to Amy. "Remember how the generals' eyes would glow like that when they were about to back off a fight, and they'd charge back in?" The generals'. Not Jadeite's, or Nephrite's, or Zoisite's. Different people, then. "That's the control!"

Jadeite has posed:
The attacks glance away rather than hitting. It's less than ideal that they take some damage, but it's enough - after all, Jadeite's goal is not just to save Mamoru but to ensure he has no blood on his hands. He knows the weight of lives and misery; he will fight to ensure his prince never knows the same.

As it is, he looks to Mako as she prepares to make the vines burst - preparing his shields to ensure they are funnelled away from him and Kazuo and to their target. It's a burst of significant energy, to funnel the brambles towards Beryl in Endymion's body, but it ensures that Mako's attack doesn't cause any collateral damage.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Witch feels the surge of power as Rashmi grants her a bit more energy. She takes a deep breath in, lets her thumb rub against the Humpty Lock, and then sighs it all out. "Gretchen-chan... I'm sorry."

    First Hinoiri, and now this. The X-Chara might start to actually hate her if Madoka keeps doing this.

    Hope's attempts at binding Endymion end up just... not working, not being able to get past his shield. She expected something that of course, even if some part of her hoped that he'd just sit there and surrender.

    "I mean... I wouldn't say that Beryl's hair was better than anything. It looks like the rag my dad's been using in the garage for the past 10 years, except not washed as often." Madoka hears the words only after she says them, and wonders if she's somehow channeling Gretchen's bitterness or if this is just her own. Well, no time to think about that right now.

    Pulling in the energy that Rashmi offered her, and letting the locket hang from her neck, Madoka turns towards where Endy currently is and makes a heart shape with her hands. "Negative Heart, LOCK ON!"

    A beam of heart outlines comes from her hands, flying directly at Mamoru. This, itself, isn't the purifying part of the attack. Instead, this beam just traps the target in preparation for the cleansing followup. Whether or not this is as effective on Dark Endymion as it is on a common X-Egg... well, no it probably isn't. Doesn't mean that Madoka isn't going to try to put all of her energy into the effort, though.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown narrowed his eyes sligtly when Koji was... at least temporarily taken off the field. Holy muffins.

The bindings were in place, and...

And okay, it was going too far. << Rashmi, please transfer enhancement to me. Everyone else, please stand back. >>

He then lifted himself up into the air, waiting for that all too familiar ping.

            <<Stinger Blade Execution Shift>>

And suddenly everyone would be bathed in a blue light. Endymion especially. As dozens, then hundreds of blue swords appeared in the air. He held his rod up... and then brought it down.

Magical blades descended on him, new ones appearing soon after others appeared, raining down in a steady flow of midchildian destruction. Following him as he ran and destroying everything in their wake. It was a good thing there was a barrier here before there wasn't going to BE much building underneath Endymion when he was done.

The blades continued to rain down on Endymion...

And then they'd just stop. As Chrono descended in their wake, the assault ending a mere moment before he came... And the reason he'd asked Rashmi to boost him. His staff came down and he tried to strike it against Endymion.

            << Subzero Tomb! >>

As a spell of ice and binding magic would erupt, multiple layers of bindings mixing with temperature control magic to trap him inside a block of magically enforced, solid ice.

"Please, Endymion, cool off. Just because your boss is an unlikeable frigid bitch doesn't mean you need to follow in her wake."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Beryl doesn't puppet people," Sailor Moon says tightly, and the communications Chrono has provided will make sure everyone gets the message, "But Metallia can. I've dragged her kicking and screaming out of souls before, and I'll do it again!"

This, because Metallia, hated Metallia, who twists and turns and churns people up inside, who makes monsters out of the mess people have inside themselves, is in her boyfriend -

This, because the roses have become red, and that means they're his roses, just candy coated in darkness.

Every word hurts, but every word is also hope, because Metallia is a wretched monster but she wouldn't be trying to break her if there wasn't something to fear.

"He held out for me because he knew I'd save him," she says and the stake is thrown too fast to dodge, strikes the Moon Stick, the Crescent Wand, out of her hand, and she dives after it, and it's precious cargo, her silver crystal glittering as it falls towards the ground. Thank goodness Jupiter charred the brambles. Thank goodness she's still charring the brambles, lightning blazing through the ground, ice going up to cover the remnants.

The Moon Stick is on the ground, and Sailor Moon has to focus on going after it. If that Black Rose Stake is still present though, she's claiming it for herself. It's going to be a helpful tool for the future.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When attacked from below, the first thing to do is to not be there. The second thing to do is remember that if something can reach far enough to attack you in midair, it can probably reach far enough to come in from above you.

    << SOLAR FLASH >>

Panels in the long, ribbonlike vanes extending out and down from the back of her belt open, and with a quadruple-burst of golden light, Rashmi is propelled almost instantly a short distance to the side of the vines.

Chrono makes his request.

    << STRIKE -- BOOST UP >>

But the boost costs precious seconds, and as she's about to set up a kickback shield to protect her from the vines, one grabs hold of her ankle, prompting a surprised shriek and an almost instinctual response.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

Barret after flaming Barret is shot up and down the length of the brambles, as Rashmi literally walks her fire over the thorny creeper until there's nothing left to hold onto her with.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Usagi specifically asked her not to kill her boyfriend again.

    Sailor Uranus is now painfully aware that she needs slightly less lethal options that aren't just 'kick and punch until it sticks'.

    And then - still floating there - her eyes blink. "Hey, you know, Metallia makes sense. Probably needed something to inhabit him - Because just being near Beryl probably repulses him to the point that he's able to fight free." she suggests. "But... Beryl wouldn't let her little demon puppet kill Endymion. She's started two solar-system apocalypse wars over him. That woman can't take no for an answer." she notes.

    The Moon Stick is spiraling out of Usagi's hands and Uranus has to do something - and then in a flash of inspiration she raises her hand, flat, like a chop, and swings it towards Endymion.

    "URANUS AIR SLASH!" she calls as a swiping blade of tornadic energy launches outwards - like the Space Sword Blaster, without the space sword, but more "knock you around and disorient you" than "put holes in you" - or at least that's the hope, the plan.

Zoisite has posed:
From deep in the heart of the brambles, heat blooms. Just a flicker, at first. A faint glow as if dawn was approaching off towards the horizon. And then, it grows.

Licking along the branches of the bramble comes flame, its path that of chaotic destruction, a neglected spark left to simmer. Dark energy meets fire, and standing within the conflagration is Zoisite, all of himself brought to bear for this moment. He feeds his energy into the flames, sending it up towards the dome along the brambles, each individual bright flicker along its path like the arc of lightning to ground, but upwards, making it seem as if the sky is burning.

"I'll burn the heart out of you, Beryl! NEVER AGAIN!" Zoisite screams as he lifts his arms above his head, funneling all of his energy into burning the dark away.

"SAKURA CONFLAGRATION!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    He's definitely got shields. Okay, good to know. "How do we break those? Force? Mass? Saturation attacks?" Amy hopes someone knows!

    The enemy is leaning into some possibilities for psychological effect. Mamoru not metaphorically dead, but literally, his body puppeted by darkness. Telling Sailor Moon he died waiting for her.

    "Don't listen to him!" Amy's not sure if it's true, but... It can't be. Usagi might not be able to go on without him. They've probably already lost if it's true, so... Best to fight on in case it's not. Besides, even if it is, impossible things have happened more times than she can count in the past year!

    The comment about her hair actually stuns her for half a second. What? Her own hair is a redder shade of red, even if it's not we well-kempt as Beryl's, she just... likes it more!

    He teleported, and she turns glancing up and behind as he speaks. That's pretty creepy, but like... For it to have its full effect she has to believe it might come true and despite everything she's still feeling pretty hopeful and confident right now, and... Though it's fucked-up that it's said in Mamoru's voice, it's so... vague and generic? Like the speaker is trying too hard but didn't know what to say.

    "What a shit-tier line. --Urgh!" She's shoved aside by Kunzite out of... whatever that darkness was starting to do to her. "Well, okay, maybe mid-tier but--"

    It's the eyes! "Yeah!" She points. "It's the eyes! Makes it hard to really sell it with the expression! Which I also can't see if you teleport behind me!" Her mouth is bullshitting faster than her brain can catch up, but she sort of vaguely hopes that at least confuses him-- no, Beryl? --long enough to buy everyone a little more time.

    Her brain does catch up with her mouth in time to stop her from asking what did it even mean, what is Beryl threatening to do, because she suddenly has a sense that the answer to that might be chilling indeed.

    Instead, she's suddenly holding a gyrojet rifle and firing repeatedly at him, hoping the shield doesn't ricochet them into Kunzite (whose proximity is why she's not using explosives. Unless Dark Endymion does push him off the rooftop, then explosions are fair game!)

    "So... how do we actually kick her out of his head?!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
One less to have to worry about tracking, though the pathetic amount of energy he's gotten from Koji is not anywhere near what he lost when Koji dissipated his superball of life energy-- and then Jupiter explodes more of his brambles and Dendy's lips purse as the thorns come funnelling back towards him and she's exploding bits of his thorn dome sky and that's so inconsiderate-- Endymion throws a black rose at Jupiter, not wasting any more words, just looking to do a pierce-and-grow into a thicket of tangles to root Jupiter in one place, pull at her, pull her to the ground, take her energy, take her energy--

--and then there's Kunzite in the way of Amy, eating the dark energy, and Metallia-Endymion suddenly looses a vicious, bloodthirsty smile, and shoves more, and more, and more dark energy into Kunzite, grabbing hold of him and trying to overload him with the stuff--

...which puts him in one place definitely long enough to get locked into a heart beam that he's not entirely sure what to do with, and he's even less sure what to do with Hope Witch's diss on Beryl's hair combined with Amy's comeback.

He shoves a little more dark energy at Kunzite instead of trying to puzzle it out, then indeed pushes him off the building.

Then pushes Amy off the building, too, and throws a further dark energy blast down after her, just to make sure. The two of them and the dark energy blasts can keep Moon and Jupiter company; he remembers to sneer at Sailor Moon. "You didn't though!" he calls out. He glances back to where he'd been entangling Rashmi and laughs at her. Then he calls in unholy glee to everyone unfortunate enough to hear him, "Don't hold back, children. Fight this body harder, kill it again, and I'll make it rise again and again. It remembers how to fix itself when I give it enough energy! Are you deaf? Beryl killed him, not me. When I'm done with him, she'll resurrect him for herself--"

The monster in Mamoru's body has possibly spoken too soon, because then come UNLIMITED CHRONO WORKS--

The rain of blue light is blinding and confusing, the blades sharp and seemingly unending, and Endymion disappears in the light of it, leaning in the force of Negative Heart, shoved back toward the partial and very boobytrapped throne by Uranus Air Slash; things snap into place one after another and there's a sound from in all that light, a sound of confusion and ... pain? No... another laugh.

And Chrono attempts to entomb him in ice, and Metallia-controlled Endymion still has Mamoru's roses, and the combination of the blades on top of everyone else's attacks on his shield and the Escalation earlier means that the strike of the staff breaks that bubble with an audible pop, but the stem of the rose bites into the ice as it's forming and an immense amount of dark energy pours out into the bite of the rose, and there's crushed ice everywhere, and Endymion grabs Chrono by the front of his armor, pure clean unblemished right hand crunching into it.

"No," he says, and flings Chrono as hard as he can away, toward the next building over, and then he turns to Sailor Uranus and looks like he's going to say something -- then appears to change his mind, moving to feint past her but instead grabbing hold of her and flinging her hard after Chrono like a rose dart. His aim is good!

But he's still in the Negative Heart field, and--

--Zoi has set the sky aflame.

The red in Endymion's eyes dims for the first time, and the sound of his breath catching in the sudden silence is the first sign that he might actually be there somewhere.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Pure, clean, unblemished right hand.

Kunzite does not shout, does not rage, does not attack. He catches himself midair in a bubble of darkness, rather than falling among the brambles. He breathes - he concentrates, very carefully, on breathing. On flowers and fire. On eyes that should be blue, and will, will, will be again. On the boost that Rashmi gave him, that he is using now, not on an attack --

-- on an internal fire, burning clean the energy Metallia poured at him, and not attacking with it when it returns to it was before she tainted it. Not attacking at all. Just ... letting it go.

That is stolen life, after all. It needs to go back to the people it was stolen from.

Besides. Some of it might belong to Not Dr. Saemonsaburo, Neuropathology. And if it does, they can use all the help they can get back.

Koji Silvia has posed:
The office chair comes to a stop after three and a half rotations, and as the head of on Koji Silvia rolls back slightly, showing blood down one side of his face and covering one eye, the other open and shimmering a bit in reflection of the moonlight, he grins... a thin trickle of crimson curving down to his chin.

    "Only... Mamoru... gets to call me..." He then coughs out.

    "Rude."

While he can barely move, physical motion isn't always required for a Device... just the imagination to picture what you need, the focus to put those thoughts into action, and the will to give them power. Which is why Hanzo detaches from his arm as he updates from grin to one-sided-toothy-smile and flicks two fingers outwards, then turns his arm over to point UP.

The rope kunai shoots out like it was fired from a speargun, intent on wrapping around itself around Dark Endymion's leg in that faltering moment.

    "Disruptor... P-pulse..."

    << DISRUPTOR PULSE. >>

Up the mystically formed braid of 'rope' travels a crackling, lightning-like ball of his blacklight energy, sent to strike at his target should the Device bind to it's target, the remaining magic in his system being amplified and used for a single momentary shocking and disorienting strike, the equivalent of a really bad static shock...

...but sometimes a little thing is just enough to build bigger things from.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    He's trapped. Hope Witch actually has Endymion trapped in a heart beam and it's actually holding. If she was doing this alone then surely he would have broken out by now, she assumes, but with all of them together...

    Then there's that flinch. That flicker. Those familiar eyes. The eyes of a friend who needs help. The mere implication that Mamoru might still be there is enough to give Madoka a spike of hope that she doesn't really allow herself to overthink.

    A part of her has been holding back. Delaying trying to use the purifying magic, trying to make things easier on Gretchen because there's no way that Madoka can really use that Locket without it also purifying herself a bit. She knows she can't really fix Gretchen as she is now, and she knows it hurts, but...

    This isn't some common youma. This is probably the third most powerful monster in the Dark Kingdom right now, after Metallia and Beryl. Madoka cannot afford to hesitate. She can't afford to hold back or it could all be over.

    "Sailor Moon, did you see it?! If we both hit him now...!"

    Hope Witch grits her teeth, and winces, because she really is sorry. Yet even as she wants to apologize, she hears the X-Chara in the back of her mind telling her, 'Shut up and get it over with.'

    "OPEN HEART!"

    Thrusting her hands forward, she unleashes a spray of purification, washing over the area with rainbow light. It's... incredible just how much space it takes up in an open area like this.

    She just hopes it helps...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Shaking free of the charred and crumbled brambles, Rashmi speeds to intercept. Happily, her Barrier Jacket-enhanced strength allows her to catch Chrono with both hands (and a small 'oof'), then transfer him under one arm in time to catch Uranus, the larger prince-among-Senshi unbalancing her some in midair, all three of them spinning for a moment on an unstable axis.

Once both are steadied, she carefully lets them go, and puts a hand on each's shoulder. "I'm almost full up," she says quietly. "Uranus, I've got a big boom but I need to build up to it. Can the two of you hold more attention on yourselves than on me so I have room? If you're still good to fight, I mean. That first. Are you?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's shoved off the building and dark energy is sent after her and she -- oh right, Dark Endymion might not have seen her do this, and Tuxedo Mask only saw its clumsy, incomplete form -- just flies around the attack and right back up. "I can fly, idiot." She's definitely imitating the tone of voice of one of the bitchier girls she's heard at school.

    "And you wouldn't need to SAY that if it were true. You'd have tricked us into letting it hap--"

    She starts, as she flies just above the roof of the building off to the side and conjures the massive recoilless cannon -- but he's already covered in ice, and then grabbing Chrono, who she doesn't want to hit. "Tch..." She tries to get a clear shot, but then Uranus is there, and then... FINALLY!

                                     BOOM!                                      

    Wait, was the mind control starting to fade there? Uhh, he's gonna be okay, right? It was just a little heavy artillery! ._.;

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus goes flying back and thisd isn't the first time she's been launched back with Flier Fins on her feet, and she does a slightly better job of getting control - which is probably helping them only go spinning and not back onto the floor or farther.

    "Absolutely, pagemage." Uranus says in response to Rashmi. "Let's be honest, I was gonna go back in there anyways." she adds with a wink.

    She then soars off just slightly abovee ground level, and this time she draws the Space Sword from her extradimensional scabbard. Not because she intends to cut Endymion with it. But because it is bright - glowing bright - and shiny. She moves in and basically runs around Endymion trying to use her and the sword to divert his attention as he's immobilized, throwing strikes that are more intended to annoy than injure.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown held his hand out, the ice tomb--

No. It shatters. Damn. Dark energy. Still, it--

Oh crud. Wait. Wasn't his hand--

Still, he didn't hesitate, already swinging around, lifting his rod up. If Endymion thought he'd be a--

Okay, apparently Endymion DIDN'T think he'd be an easy snatch and drain, instead tossing him away like he was some kind of dart! Rude! He tries to slow himself and--

Oh crud here comes Uranus!

Pagemage for the catch! His attempts to slow were taken care of for him and he glanced to her. A small smile formed on his lips.

"As you wish. I think we'll all be able to keep him distracted for a little bit."

            <<Stinger Move!>>

He flew BACK at Endymion, like a blue dart, only to come to a stop before he hit the roof. Instead, slowing down to run along it, his staff at his side as a flurry of blue magical bullets erupted from the tip of it.

            <<Stinger Ray!>>

His shield piercing attack. While it wasn't the most destructive attack, it was lower mana, as well as would hopefully soften up his shields... as well as distract him. "If you're going to throw me like that you should know, I've been thrown by things far stronger, larger and quite a bit more intimidating. It's really nothing more than a distraction, barely an inconvenience," he said, giving that calm smile as he said it. "Frankly, I'm a little insulted if you actually thought it'd stop me."

In the end, though, it was really all he could do. Those swords of his had been... far too much for him to unleash anything big again without a rest. But he could at least taunt Endymion a little.

Jadeite has posed:
Zoisite harrows at Metallia-Endymion's back while Kunzite watches Usagi's. There's not much Jadite can do playing defense, at this point, with everyone gearing up for an attack - He's set his shields, crumbling as they are, and now the best defense is a good offense.

To free his love. To free their friend. Jadeite would want to be defeated to be stopped; he knows Mamoru would want the same.

So he puts a hand on Sailor Moon's back and offers a hand to Sailor Jupiter, as he did on the cruise boat long ago, and lets his enormous pool of magic flood into Usagi, prepares it to be taken by Jupiter -

They will save him. That's why he has friends; that's why they all have friends. They are ALL here to save him. And if his energy can help Sailor Jupiter with a final blow, help Sailor Moon patch Mamoru up, so much the better. He trusts his allies.

No - he trusts his friends!

Zoisite has posed:
Burn, burn, burn! All of Zoisite's energy is pushed through his limbs, his fingers extended towards the heavens as he wills the fire onwards, propelling it further along the lengths of the bramble branches. If this were Before, when he was under Beryl's command, under he control, he would be cackling as he did this, his voice shrill and high amongst the flames.

But now there is nothing but hot fury under his skin and burning determination in his eyes, mouth set in a grim line, jaw tight with effort.

He made a promise, and it's one he intends to keep: he will burn every bit of Beryl out, so there is nothing but Endymion left, for those who can send the light back into his heart.

He is caught in a cacophy of flaming flower petals, swirling around him in a vortex of fire, the burning embers reflecting in his gaze. "This is the last time," he says, to no one but himself. "On my life, Beryl, you will never harm him again!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The air is nearly alive around them, with this much power and energy on the loose. Chrono and Sailor Uranus are making targeting interesting - as Amy found out. Which means the fewer attacks coming in, and those that are least liable to cause problems with friendly fire, the better.

Kunzite releases the last of the stolen energy, and joins the chain - his hand falling on Jadeite's shoulder, sharing his own personal energy through him with Moon and Jupiter. Zoisite's fire flickers reflected in Kunzite's hair and eyes; Zoisite's words strengthen his own resolve in turn, pouring more toward them. Reserving enough to keep himself from literally falling down after this is done; Mamoru would be considerably irritated otherwise. But holding nothing else back.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< ACCUMULATOR STATUS -- 87% >>

Grinning as Haruka and Chrono immediately assent to her tactic, she draws in a deep breath, considering the fastest way to finish charging up. Well... Why not fight the brambles, since there still remain enough to be a problem.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

As Hope Witch's field holds Dendy in place, and the others open up their cans of metaphysical, purifying whoopass, Rashmi sends flamng desctruction into the bramble fields, keeping a careful eye on her charge levels. Finally, the mental *ping!* comes, and she calls out with her thoughts.

<< Uranus, back away! >>

"Verbal command: Accumulator purge."

    << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. PURGE CHANNELS GREEN. ALTERNATE GRIMOIRE LOADED. AWAITING COMMAND. >>

"We're gonna get you back, Mamo-kun... For you, and for Usa-chan... For all of us," Rashmi murmurs, then straightens in the air.

"Solar Buster."

    << SOLAR BUSTER >>

The glowing canister attached to the back of Rashmi's belt goes dim all at once, as a ball of energy the size of Rashmi's head forms above Nicomachea's pages. As if struggling against its own surface tention, the sphere grows larger for an instant, quivers...

...Then collapses as a coruscating beam of golden light lances out, all of her spare energy collected into one point, then focused into a beam the size of a coffee cup. While it's nonlethal to living beings, it will be *murder* on the architecture behind Dark Endymion, as explosions follow in its wake.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The instant Sailor Moon dives after the Moon Stick, half of Sailor Jupiter's attention is diverted to her teammate. If it wasn't already. She's already leaping even before the black rose flies at her, putting herself between Sailor Moon and Endymion's current position.

When the brambles surge from behind her to snare her and drag at her energy, her mouth curls in an impatient smile. "You think this can stop me?"

A wordless shout of kiai and electricity surges out of her at every single point of contact. She'll endure the shrapnel fragments of shattered vine and thorn, this time; she's looking a little bloodied and more than a little tattered around the edges when her hand closes on the one Jadeite offers, but she's steady and solid as ever, and she is one hundred percent Done.

The Leaves of Oak gleam against her hair as Jadeite's energy pours into her, and then Kunzite's with it.

Thunder growls high overhead, dark anvil clouds roiling up out of nowhere in the blink of an eye.

"Supreme Thunder..."

Sailor Jupiter flings her free hand toward the sky as the dark clouds erupt with blinding light. As the bolt of the heavens crashes downward, she closes her hand as though to grasp it--

"......DRAGON!"

The lightning bolt, that column of raw energy, coils around itself as it descends, growing, collecting

spreading wide crackling wings

opening wide its jaws as a dragon formed out of the wrath of the sky dives for Endymion like it means to swallow him whole.

Makoto will apologize for this later, probably.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
No one comes for the Silver Crystal, which means Sailor Moon is able to recover it gratefully, Crescent Wand again clutched in her hand, and she turns to see the sky alight with flame and the flicker of Mamoru's eyes, as he breaks himself free from ice and beams and people and throws attacks -

With his clean, unblemished right hand -

And Hope Witch calls out, seeing the same thing that she did, and a hand presses to her back, cold power flooding through, and Sailor Moon smiles, warm, loving, kind.

"You're pathetic, Metallia. All you can do is try and grasp at the weakness in the hearts of others."

Light glows from her Wand, raised high above her head, soft, and then brighter, brighter, brighter, until her form blows and her skirts billow and her long blond hair becomes impossibly longer, silver as moonlight, luminescence bleeding off her skin.

Princess Serenity steps forward, sweeps barefoot across the battlefield, "I see him, Hope-chan."

- and as he is struck by the glow of Hope Witch's Open Heart, as the massive recoil canon fires, as the Stinger Ray strikes, as the fire spreads, as the sublime power of Supreme Thunder Dragon strikes -

She appears behind him, Princess Serenity, wreathed in light, glowing with all the power of love and the shining light of the full moon, and her arms slip around his back, and her cheek presses to his arm, and her hands, stretched up, press the Crescent Wand against his heart, as she whispers, for him alone, "You don't have to face this alone, this time."

And that's when the silver lights blaze from the Silver Crystal, aimed directly at the core of him, flowing into him, through him, engulfing his being.

It hurts, to stand with him through these attacks, and her friends will not approve, will not be glad for this, will have so many things to say, and Princess Serenity does not care.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
So Kunzite releases Koji's energy and Koji uses it immediately, and the flicker in Endymion's eyes dims them further, and Endymion says, "So weak, that you fear fire--" and those eyes glare red again, and Endymion starts working on trying to get himself free of that pink beam but Rashmi is exploding his brambles and Zoisite is burning his brambles and Jupiter is electrocuting his brambles and YOU KNOW WHAT FINE--

--the brambles closest to Endymion that haven't variously been exploded yet, they vanish from existence, the energy pulled back in to Endymion, who's been very wasteful really. The ones Zoisite is burning, though, they stay WAY OVER THERE, still physical, glowing a little green until they're caught up in the flames.

And for good measure, all that dark energy that he just pulled in? Endymion blasts it directly at Zoisite and yells, "STOP BURNING THINGS AT ME!"

Ha ha, fat chance.

Then there's an extremely shiny sword flickering and slashing at him, and it's like some kind of reflex, he draws his own sword and parries, absolutely ABSOLUTELY getting distracted. Parry, block, parry, block, block, attempt to disarm--

--and then there are magic blue bullets being fired at him, and he grits his teeth and flips up his cape, mostly shielding from them with it, and where they hit that they don't do anything, but where they hit him it's clear they're aggravating, and meanwhile the glow is an unsteady, unstable thing, and Mamoru's face clears for a half second and he says breathlessly, "Keep going--"

He's hit by a CANNON and staggers, and the sword clatters to the pitted and honestly sketchy rooftop and slides into the Neuropathy office down there.

There's a chain of energy over there, Jadeite and Kunzite lending more strength to Jupiter and Moon, and as Zoisite's blossoms of flame climb higher and he's a bright strength in the wildfire, Rashmi's Solar Buster slams into him at the same time as Hope Witch's heart unlocks and Jupiter calls down a dragon made of lightning to eat him and

and goddammit Serenity

it burns but it's a different kind of burning

there's too much light when the Escalation hits right over his heart, but Usagi will feel Mamoru's cape around her as he shudders under the strength of the attacks being poured on them and under the assault of the demon even still trying to cling.

If there's a little sob in there somewhere, Mamoru's positive Usagi will never tell.

He doesn't have to scream 'refresh', he's fighting to avoid resisting. He's fighting to be the person they all know he is. That he knows he is. And Metallia finally lets go.

And the light dies down and they are charred and smoking and Mamoru sags against tiny silver-haired Serenity, sliding down to what's left of the roof's surface, too weak to hold himself up.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As Hanzo comes clattering down into his lap, Koji has to wince his still-one-good-eye shut at all the brightness and goodness and magic going on, like the world's best background for a rock concert, to the point that he can't really see anything...

...Thankfully, he's at least in a really comfy chair for the show...

Which causes him to ask, loud enough to be heard from two stories down...

    "So, uhh... did we win? Not that I doubt the power of love and friendship but... I don't think I could get up if I wanted to."

Less loud, and more to himself.

    "Ow..."

Jadeite has posed:
"Endymion!" Jadeite yells, and he runs -

He would never break theire embrace, but he does join it, sinking his excess magic into both Serenity and Endymion to help restore the stores lost from this battle.

Since Tuesday, Jadeite has felt nothing. He has been as ice, unfeeling, unchanging. He has been all duty, searching and waiting for a final battle.

But here and now, he melts, pouring his energy into them, embracing them both.

He trusts the others to watch his back. He trusts that any ambush will be defeated. He trusts, and he loves, and you can pry him off his prince with a crowbar.

(and he waits, too, leaving space for Kunzite and Zoisite and Sailor Jupiter and whoever else wishes to join them.)

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The smoke clears...

    ... and Mamoru is back...

    ... and Hope Witch is left standing there, looking aghast at Serenity. Speechless, because it's not like she doesn't get it, but damn.

    After gawping at the frankly insane show of pure love in front of her, Madoka considers what to say, how to voice her objections, only to realize...

    ... she doesn't want to be the one to ruin the moment.

    So instead Madoka just stares at the two lovebirds for a few moments, glances down, and then away, then considers calling up Homura. After gathering her thoughts she realizes that, today of all days, she absolutely, positively owes Gretchen some ice cream.

    "Yeah... yeah I think we won. Welcome back, Mamoru."

    Hope turns her back on the group and adds, "I um... kinda evacuated some of the patients from the hospital. I need to go put them back before anyone notices that they're missing. Let me know if you need anything. I still have the comms."

    She opens a Labyrinth portal, waits a moment in case someone wants to say something to her, and then walks through.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Everyone and their cat blasts Dark Endymion and... is he screaming about burning? That's definitely not the confident Beryl they've been hearing. Before she can decide whether to follow up with another shot, though, Princess Serenity is there, telling him he doesn't have to face this alone. And... is he better now?

    Amy dismisses her weapon and lands on the roof, thrusters shutting off.

    She smiles, "Welcome back."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown let out a sigh of relief. The job... was done... "Koji?" he called down there. "You okay down there buddy? Need us to carry you home?"

He, meanwhile, walked to the edge of the roof and sat on it... << Okay, everyone? Gather up the um... exhausted and lets get them out of here. Rashmi can't let the barrier down until we're sure people aren't going to end up inside a wall or anything. >> Could that happen? no. Not really. But he didn't wanna put anyone in an awkward situation, either. Also, the next message was just to Uranus and Rashmi.

<< I am exhausted. Wanna get takeout for everyone and then just pass out for the next week? >> Because he most certainly did. << I can write the report later. >>

Koji Silvia has posed:
Chrono hears from down the body-shaped hole that Koji left behind, "Can I keep the chair?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< I got 'im, >> Rashmi answers over the telepathic communications net, floating down to Koji's special executive entrance, and cannot help but chuckle wearily as Koji asks for the chair. "Sorry Hanzo-kun," she calls out. "Chair stays in this dimension with all the rubble."

As she passes Serenity, Mamoru, and the growing accumulation of Shiitennou, she can't help but smile fondly, and send a brief thought directly to Serenity.

<< That was probably a bad idea... But I get it. 'What happens to you happens to us,' right? >>

And she disappears into the ruined office, to loop one of Koji's arms around her shoulders and spend one last, aching cast on a flight spell for Koji.

It'll be easier to steady him if gravity's looking somewhere else.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    The return from Dark Endymion to Mamoru is one that elates a lot of people, and Haruka's face is a smile too. She looks over at Rashmi and smiles. "Your training really paid off. Maybe I should do some of that." she says, given the collection of light that just slapped Mamoru back to Mamoru.

    Usagi put herself in harm's way and maybe that's something to complain about, but when it comes to putting yourself in dangerous positions for those you love, Sailor Uranus is one of the last people who can really complain without being hypocritical.

    So instead she dismisses her sword and comes up behind the Prince and Princess. "You know, that took a lot less time than last time. You were a bad guy for like months. Now we've got it down to a week." she says, with a cheeky smirk.

    "If we can have that kind of improvement when we go to kick Beryl's butt we'll be in business."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter stands for a moment, panting with exertion - though it's not the exertion that has her rooted for these moments. She's wide-eyed, a little floored by what just happened, and it takes her a space to process enough to remember that time is still marching forward even now and things are happening with each indrawn breath.

A quick glance around her confirms that Jadeite is already on the move - probably Kunzite too. Everyone seems to be in more or less one piece. With considerably more effort than it took her before, she calls the wind to lift her in the air, a wobbling flight that carries her up, up, up to the roof where her princess is cradling Mamoru and Jadeite is even now going for the bear-hug.

"What the heck?" she demands, half indignant and half laughing in breathless relief. It's Serenity she reaches for, warmly grasping her shoulder rather than piling on just yet. "Don't ever even think about doing that again!"

So much for apologizing.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite does not leap in after Jadeite. It is, after all, Kunzite. He is the one watching warily for any followup attacks ... which don't seem to be coming. That could be the barrier, but while the image of it dissolving to reveal a hundred youma around the perimeter is troublesome, but also fairly unlikely.

And he is watching for Zoisite. Who will either be coming in to claim his place in the group around Mamoru and Serenity, in which case Kunzite will ask Hope Witch whether she needs a spare pair of hands ... or will be not coming in, in which case Kunzite will be going and looking for him. There are priorities. Practicalities rate highly on the list of priorities. Zoisite rates higher.

Zoisite has posed:
The blast creates a tunnel through the brambles, all of which explode into clouds of dust, turned to ash from the flames. It barrels down towards Zoisite, who is so focused on spreading his burning petals to the very topmost part of the barrier dome that he doesn't see it coming.

And it hits him dead on. He's thrown backwards from the force of it, colliding with the smoldering remains of the branches he poured his anger and fear into. They shatter, and Zoisite disappears into the distance to make impact with a nearby building's facade.

Eventually he will claw his way from the debris, but it sadly means he is not making his appearance any time soon.

Kunzite might have to help him dig his way out.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh, so this is what it feels like to be the enemy -

(That's what Serenity thinks, clinging to Endymion, shining all the love and hope and light in her soul at the man she loves, as the world crashes around them in lightning and fire, in explosions and purification and blasts of magic of so many sorts.

It hurts, but anyone whoever said that it doesn't hurt to be in love is a liar. Love is work, is sacrifice, and right now, it's staring down the mouth of a lightning dragon as you scour a demon from your fiancé's soul.)

No one will ever know about that ragged little sob.

When Mamoru sinks down against her tiny frame, Serenity clutches at him, sinks them to the ground, burnt silk and tattered skirts cushioning the drop. The ends of her hair are burnt and her glowing skin is littered with a comical amount of ash and little singes, but she regrets absolutely nothing, especially as Jadeite comes crashing into the hug.

Her hands are full of Endymion, but the smile she shares with Jadeite is relieved.

Everyone else is saying it, but her hand brushes Mamoru's hair from his brow, as she leans down to kiss his forehead.

"Welcome back."

For a long moment, everything is just - wonderful. She has him back, safe, in her arms -

<<You understand perfectly well, Rashmi-chan.>> is sent back, a bright smile on her face. She's tired too, drained and relieved and desperately wanting to keep this moment exactly as it is. Jupiter shakes her shoulder, gripping tightly, indignant and laughing all at once and she apologizes with a smile that says she would do it again in an instant. "Sorry for worrying you."

It's a picture perfect end of battle moment and there's even a request for food, and she's all set to join in - and then -

And then her eyes pop wide open, and she jolts upright, and calls out, "Wait, everyone! I'm so sorry, I know we all want nothing more than to rest, and we should, but - if you can, if you wish to, if you're able to stand with us and end this, come to the Shed tomorrow! Mercury found Metallia's lair - we know where to strike the Dark Kingdom!"