1890/Hitomi More Like Fightomi

Hitomi More Like Fightomi
Date of Scene:	25 August 2024
Location:	KFC - Karaage Fried Chicken
Synopsis:	Hawk Moth is getting back into action, by creating his first akuma in quite awhile! The target? One Hitomi Shizuki, frustrated with her negligent boyfriend. Luckily, Pulp Noir, Cat Noir, Ladybug, Sharpsong, and Goldenweb Yorotsuchi are on the scene!
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Agreste, Hinote Kagari, Adrien Agreste, Ahmya Karashima, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Sayaka Miki

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Gabriel Agreste has posed:
What a time it's been, in the endlessly magical city of Tokyo. So much magic, so many children, all of them interfering busybodies, seeking to ruin his plans as thoroughly as that dratted Ladybug and that irksome Cat Noir.

Gabriel Agreste - though, truly, in this remodeled lair of his, high in Obsidian Tower, he is Hawk Moth- is standing in his observatory-base, looking out over Tokyo, little akuma flying about him, the summoned purple butterflies flitting here and there, filling the air with their sound of their wingbeats. He's in his henshin, the silver mask affixed to his face, the purple and black suit adorning his frame.

Ah, he's been busy, for the last few months. His search for the miraculous has been put on halt, thanks to that high-handed wretch Beryl, who had just had to take her operation to his own beloved Paris, and taint the Catacombs with her Dark Kingdom. Dismantling that place - making it such that the Dark Kingdom and the Catacombs no longer fed naturally into one another and those who wandered too far found themselves in an accursed dimension - had been a project handed largely to Gabriel, for the sole reasoning of 'well it's your country, you take care of it'.

He scowls, just thinking about it. As if he had nothing better to do than clean up the messes of a failure! Couldn't those wretched children have fixed that horrid kingdom when they undid all the damage that had been done?! It would have been doing something useful for the first time in their lives!
Never let it be said he was incapable, though. The job was done, and he was returned to proper matters - like finding Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculouses!

"Surely, somewhere there is the perfect pawn," he murmurs, looking over the city, feeling for the perfect victim - someone in anger, in despair, in hopelessness, "And when I find them, finally, the Miraculous will be within my grasp."

And that very moment, across the city, there was such a pawn - a girl by the name of Hitomi Shizuki, about to experience disappointment. It didn't matter if the day was a beautiful, not when some things just couldn't work out.

"You - you have a violin lesson this afternoon?" The disappointment in the green-haired girl's voice was audible even through the phone. Her hand trembled as much as her voice, though she tried to pull herself together. She was in public, after all, right outside the restaurant where she was supposed to be meeting with Kyousuke. "But - we were supposed to have a date..."

"I'm sorry, Shizuki-san," he certainly sounded sorry - if only that helped. "With my recital coming up, it's important that I take advantage of as many lessons as I can get... I'm sorry that our schedules aren't able to match up right now."

But they had matched up! That was why they were supposed to go out today! For the first time in weeks, they'd been able to match their schedules, to meet up outside of phone calls and now -

"I hope you're not too upset?"

"Of course not," Hitomi lied, plastering a smile to her face and hoping it would come through her voice, instead of all her disappointment. "I mean, even if this was the only day we've been able to match our schedules up, all month - I'm glad that you're working so hard on your music. That's one of the things I love so much about you."

There was a relieved laugh through the phone, and Kyousuke offered, "I'll call you as soon as my lesson is over, okay? I hope the rest of your day goes well."

And then he hung up. And she clenched her fist around the phone, her fake smile falling away.

"As if it could go well... you're such an amazing, dedicated musician... why can't you put some of that dedication into our relationship!?"

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari was on the search in the city? Where? In the city.

He had, with him, Tracy, his detective chara, hanging out on his shoulder as he tried to move away from the X-gg fight earlier. Seiko chose not to follow him and that was fine. The songstress had her own plan.

So Hinote was walking along a sidewalk, on the lookout of signs of Gretchen, Tia and Rens. He occasionally looks at his phone and walks past Hitomi and the restaurant, the smell of fried chicken wafting into his face, as he hopes for a text from Kaname-san or any of the other folks that might see them about.

"Hrm..." he stops and looks up at the restaurant. "Hrrrrrm." he considers the mystery of the 3 piece combo meal needs solved soon. The mystery is what side he wants.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste had heard of this particular restaraunt a bit ago but it hadn't made it to his list of 'date places' because Naru was a vegetarian. However when their schedules didn't match up? It was the perfect time to go try it out! Fresh off a photoshoot, and with no other plans for the day, he quite happily strolls along glancing down at the phone in hand a moment or two so he can check the GPS map to make sure he hasn't gotten himself lost in the process.

Plagg pops his head out of his messenger bag taking a quick whiff of the air. "I gueeess it smells okay. It's no Camembert though. It's not even a Gouda! But I can give it a try."

Adrien smiles with amusement glancing down to the messenger bag slung at his side giving it a little pat as if he were just rearranging something. "Glad you approve, Plagg. I'll get you a snack soon too. I've been wanting to try this for awhile now though."

Plagg huummmmmmmmmms a long moment only to nod, and pop back into the bag. "All right, but I'm holding you to it!"

With his attention no longer stolen by phone or Kwami he catches sight of the shop and those already lingering in front of it. For a moment he looks a little concerned seeing the anger on the girls' face.

"Ah, are you okay, miss?" Wait. Japanese usually don't bother one another. He's never really picked up that habit though.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Truly, the conversion of a former KFC to a new form of Karaage Fried Chicken was an amazing and wondrous idea of whoever owned it. At least, that's what Ahmya thought as she stopped outside of the building, the soft clack of her geta ringing against the ground. "Hm hm."

She taps a folded fan against her lips, presently wearing a a relatively standard in-fashion long dress at the moment, beyond being pure black with white designs splattered all over it of pill bottles and (needle-less) syringes all over the dress, with the occasional bunny that was holding a broken but sewn together heart on the dress.

Which is when she heard ... well, one half of the conversation over the phone, which causes a brief glance towards Hitomi with a sympathetic one-eyed look. Which is when she spots Adrien just straight up approaching her and checking on her.

She turns to walk over towards him and the girl, since it seems etiquette had been broken already. "It sounded like a rough conversation, that's for sure... I apologize for the intrusion, we just couldn't help but overhear." Ahmya says smoothly as she steps over next to Adrien, letting practiced social skills take over. "I'm a Miko at the old Karashima shrine if you'd ever like to talk, I've gotten a bit of practice."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
And Marinette is babysitting. It's a universal job, and one that she's managed to handle thus far. "It's okay, you'll learn English. It's harder to learn than French, but your mama wanted me to help out where I can!"

She's holding the hand of a cute little girl, someone her neighbour wanted taken care of for the afternoon, as she comes out of the restaurant in question. "Oh, excuse me," she murmurs politely, and backstep-sidesteps-backs up around Hitomi, leading her charge.

And with all the grace of a mule in heavy weather gear, trips over Adrien right in front of the entire crowd. "Glack!" she says, super-eloquently, as she falls and flails, whacking Adrien in the chest with an arm.

Caught, because of course Adrien would catch a falling damsel in distress, she's suddenly looking up into his eyes. Oh god, those eyes. And the little girl that she's babysitting starts to giggle, with how obvious that meet-cute event was.

"Oh hai, Adrien!" BLUSHING SO HARD RIGHT NOW.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka just happens to be at KFC for unrelated reasons, not having talked much with Hitomi about Kyousuke matters. They are still friends, but whenever something happens that could make Hitomi talk about the issues she is experimenting, she just puts on a smile and changes the subject, even if it doesn't actually dissipate the awkward atmosphere that settles after. She hasn't really found a way to approach her the right way over that.

When she sees the green-haired girl standing alone, it doesn't take much for her to put 2 and 2 together. He really has ditched her minutes away from a date. "Him again", Ula only expresses her disappointment from inside Sayaka's bag. "Yeah, him again", she nods. "Stay hidden now, please", she warns the fairy before approaching her friend. "Hey, Hitomi-chan, you, well, you look rough?", she cringes internally. "Why don't we eat something and talk?"

Looking at Hinote, she feels compelled to reply in a whisper, knowing that Hitomi won't like to hear that. "It's a jerk treating her unfairly", even if she doesn't want to say more than that.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
"Ah, the sorrows of young love," Hawk Moth laughs as he senses the sorrow and frustration of that young girl. He gestures, and a white butterfly flies to his hand, where it's promptly smothered in dark power. "You'll be the perfect target! Fly, my akuma, fly and evilize that girl!"

The little purple butterfly does just that - flying from the opening in Obsidian Tower and flapping it's way down the winding streets of Mitakihara. Through the butterfly, Hawk Moth catches sight of the streets it passes, and is surprised to realize just how close this victim will be... how little his akuma will have to fly. Good! Perhaps it will take longer for those heroes to get in the way then.

Meanwhile, standing outside of the restaurant, Hitomi is scowling down at her phone, and the picture of Kyousuke she'd added as his contact. Why... why wasn't this working out? She'd been so happy when they started going out, but now?

And worst of all, people had noticed, because she'd been too loud and obvious and now they were looking at her, and expressing sympathy, and she tries to swallow her anger and frustration, plastering a polite smile onto her face.

And one of them just has to be Sayaka, looking at her with such concern, when Hitomi had been the one to make a move, even knowing about Sayaka's crush, and - "Thanks, Sayaka-chan," she says a little dryly, and runs a hand through her hair. "I guess I can always count on you to be honest, right? But I'm not hungry anymore so-"

Her eye twitches, as two more helpful and concerned passersby speak to her.

"I'm fine, I'm so sorry I caused you two to worry, my, boyfriend just had to cancel our date, that's all." Her smile spasms, but she looks from Ahmya's pill-and-syringe covered dress and proclamation of being a miko and Adrien's gentlemanly concern, and it's obvious that she won't be confiding in them either. "I'll just - I'll just be going -"

And that's when Marinette crashes right into Adrien, only to be caught in his arms and posed in just such a way as to be able to look into his eyes, and her smile falls away into a look of such rage.

Really?! Right in front of her disappointment?! She turns on her heels with a huff.

"I am going now."

As if to hammer in what a bad day Hitomi's having, above everyone's heads flies the black butterfly - an akuma on a mission. And luckily for it? All this attention has just made Hitomi embarrassed, adding to her negative emotions! It flies to her phone and promptly sinks in, turning the little device black. The outline of a butterfly appears around Hitomi's ace, and her eyes widen.

"Hitomi - or should I say, Intune! That boy is so obsessed with his music, and he's oblivious to your feelings! You've been so sweet, so kind - swallowing all your feelings to support him. It's time to get mad! It's time to express yourself! If the only thing he understands is music - so you must become the music he loves! Only then will he understand your feelings!"

This, by the way, was complete nonsense. Hawk Moth was fairly certain a boy so obsessed with his music would never think of anything else. But whatever it took, right?

"And I will give you that power! But first, you must seize hold of Cat Noir and Ladybug's Miraculouses!"

"I hear you, Hawk Moth," Intune says, and the darkness spreads over her, transforming her from a simple girl to a tall woman with purple skin and a maroonish brown bodysuit, with four strings down the front. A violin bow appears in one hand, while her hair curls up like the pegbox and scroll of a violin, four buns shaped like tuning pegs rising from the sides of her hair.

"I WILL be heard," she screams, and her voice is a sonic wave that shatters the restaurant's windows - along with the windows of every car passing by! "Kyousuke! When I find you, Ky-ou-suke!!!"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
"Aw, not again," Marinette says as she looks at the incoming moth. She scrambles, but clearly isn't going to be in time to do anything about it. "Gotta go!" she says, gathering up her babysit-ee in her arms, who is sensibly already trying to get away from the clear and present threat.

Then she's left Adrien behind, huddling with the youth in the doorway, then in the restaurant proper. "Here you go, Ohime," (the youth's name) "let's just get you settled. I think there's time to watch one more show on your phone. You know, the one you like so much! I'll be right back!"

Oh boy, will I be right back. Slipping out back, she looks into her bag. "You saw all that Tiki?" "Sure did! Let's get to work!"

No, her bag doesn't talk. But she does! "Tiki, spotson!"

The rest is, as they say, theatrical. And a moment or two later, Miraculous Ladybug is stepping out of the back area, past the little girl.

Who doesn't even notice, lost in her celphone. Yeesh.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari is drawn from the restaurant to the plight of the girl eventually. He doesn't need detective powers to figure out that someone is upset when they're wearing it on their face like that. Sayaka iterates some exposition to him and he 'ahs'. "Us guys can be jerks a lot of the time." he says tersely.

"Does she need help or...?" he asks Sayaka in a whisper when Tracy looks up and starts frowning. He whispers into Hinote's ear and Hinote 'ehs?' but it's too late. The girl is now in tune with her anger and has become a youma of some sort.

Hinote Kagari goes to find a place to transform, but is instead, as a normal human, gets blasted by sonic waves. This makes him cover his ears and get blasted backwards to his back as he quickly gets to his feet and scampers into an alley...

"My Heart: Unlock!" he says as Tracy enters his Heart Egg and the two merge into Pulp Noir. Masked Detective. Who draws his fedora down and peeks out from the side of the alleyway, to make sure another scream isn't immediately imminent before he draws out his tommy gun.

He starts firing bursts of jet-like water towards Intune.

"Look, I know we all get angry at times, but normally, we don't turn into monsters. Anyone else around know what's going on?" he asks slowly assembling magical heroes.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste catches Marinette out of habit--practice? Reflex. Whatever it is the look of surprise that crosses his face at finding his friend nearly falling in front of him isn't really one of shock so much as surprise at her BEING here. "Marinette? Are you okay?" It seems he's asking a lot of people that today!

Absently he helps her back to her feet properly while his gaze snaps back over to Hitomi looking even more concerned. Mostly because he saw a flutter of purple-black butterfly wings. Surely not! Hawkmoth had been quiet lately though. It would stand to reason that he'd be up to something sooner rather than later.

Before he can think of a proper excuse to leave himself, Marinette has run off leaving him gaping. "Ah, right. I should get going too. Need to ah... Restroom." Lame. Laaame. He flashes a smile to Ahmya as well and dips into the store headed right for the bathroom thankfully just in time to miss the fighting going on. Mostly.

The door is shut though, and he leans against the frame with a sigh. "I knew he'd been too quiet lately. Plagg, Claws Out!"

The transformation is quick. The next time the bathroom door swings open a little blurr of motion comes as Cat Noir dips through the kitchen and out the back door to double around. "Sorry sorry, just paw-sing through!"

Fresh air. Mostly. The back alley was still a back alley, but it allows him to leap up onto the roof with a quick stamp of his staff against the ground for an extra boost.

Cat Noir comes flipping through the air to land on the street in a crouch, glancing back at Intune. "Hey now, do we really need all this violin-ce?"

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Unfortunately, having only one eye, even when you make sure to put the half of the world you couldn't see in areas you could relatively trust to be 'safe' means that you miss a lot, and having intentionally stood so Adrien was on her right side, she heard Marinette's approach more than she saw it.

It wasn't until the sudden commotion that she turned her head enough to see the girl tripping on Adrien, and her gaze shifting more fully to the little girl that had been with Marinette. Ah, good, she seemed fine. And then she turns her gaze back towards Hitomi. Ahmya gives a measured smile. "It's fine, as I said, sorry for the intrusion. I do genuinely hope that your day gets better though." Ahmya says, giving a polite half-bow towards the young woman, her smile gentle and genuine as she tries not to over-push the subject.

...And then a butterfly flies by, something that Ahmya normally would simply quietly admire...except it flew into Hitomi's phone. "...Such a pity that something so beautiful would turn out to be so poisonous... though I suppose that is the way of nature." Ahmya comments quietly.

Of course, it was too late now. The dark energy was doing its thing. It was transforming the girl into ... a...

...Violin? Person?

"...What a mockery..." She steps back away from Intune, covering her ears from that sonic wave.

And once that's past, she holds her hands out in front of her, clicking two golden rings together. "In this dark hour, as you mock music." She spreads her hands out to the side, golden threads tracing in the air. "The golden threads of hope shall disperse this perversion of music."

She traces a circle in the air, as a golden spiderweb weaves itself towards the center, before solidifying into a hat which she fips onto her head, a golden veil obscuring her just long enough for Ahmya Karashima to be replaced with Goldenweb Yorotsuchi.

Luckily, Marinette had taken the little girl away already to somewhere safe... she presumes. Which was nice. It meant she could focus. "There was some sort of purple butterfly that flew into her phone, which I'm guessing, as the core of her pain and frustration acted as the medium to corrupt her."

Regardless, she /does/ need to be stopped, and so Goldenweb Yorotsuchi darts towards Intune, attempting to get in close and do the first thing she can do to reduce its combat effectiveness; shove a gob of sticky web over the creature's mouth.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka would have a lot to say to the other jerk - the one who is speaking to Hitomi through that butterfly - but she can hear none of that. Instead, she only has Hitomi's own words to go by, and not even in this situation, or probably because of this situation, she doesn't want to address it today either. And the scene Adrien and Marinette are putting on doesn't escape her. Talk about the bad coincidence. Things really must go south as much as they can, she ruffles her hair in frustration.

"There are... things that make it hard for the two of us to talk about this particular problem", she winces, not really sure she is finding a good way to keep it on the down low while also getting Hinote to understand. "More than typical problems of this time."

The sudden surge of dark energy puts an end to any such discussions of this subject however. It's not really a transformation that Sayaka has ever seen before, but she knows what happens when dark energy is being introduced into someone, and it doesn't surprise her at all to see what happens to Hitomi afterwards. "You know right where he is, Hitomi!", Sayaka shouts, transforming in the midst of it. "And we can go face him together, just snap out of this! You know I am your friend still."

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
Intune thrusts her arms out, looking at herself - of course, she immediately scowls. "It just had to be violin themed, didn't it? Well, whatever! This power is mine, and all I need to do is -"

And then there's web flying at her mouth, and she lashes out with the bow in her arms, slicing through the webs that fly for her.

"I won't be stopped! If you come at me, arachnid girl, I'll crush you under foot!" As if to emphasize this, she uses the bow again - this time, playing a quick song on the strings stretched across her torso. Razor blades of wind lash out, threatening to slice into those closest to Intune.

"I do know where he is," she yells at Sayaka. "I know exactly where he is, and I'm going to let him have it - but I'm not letting you have him either! I picked him and now I've got him and I won't let go!"

And then she wheels around, facing Cat Noir and Ladybug, "If you want this violence to stop, then give up your Miraculous - whatever that is - so I can go yell at that jerk!"

And then... to ruin this moment... she gets water gunned to the face. Right in the face.

"Glkgulk - that was so rude! What is WRONG with you!"

...which means she gets watergunned again.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Having only just stepped out of the back room, Ladybug puts her right hand on her hip. She looks at the situation, ongoing and insane, and who there is involved. Then she says, "Okay, actual Akuma. Don't worry about property damage, folks." She sounds like she knows of whence she speaks.

But then, a civilian wanders a little too close and she's moving to tackle THEM with a flip and a leap and an olympic twirl. "Doesn't mean that you should be here, off you go..."

Normie safe, she looks back at the situation unfolding. She's still kind of just watching, trying to pin down what the best avenue is to handle this situation. You'll get used to it, it's really her entire fighting style.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Has dark energy messed with her that much? "Hitomi, you already know I have stopped being interested in Kyousuke a long time ago", Sayaka frowns, the pain of her actual relationship going south still fresh in her mind. The third one to go this way even. Made even worse by the fact that neither of them wanted this break up. Or so she tells herself. She has never really spoken to him when they came back to Tokyo.

She grips her sword uselessly, knowing that what she can do is slow her down at best. She never really had purification powers, and she is not hurting Hitomi. "Anyone that can purify?" She asks to the other heroes showing up.

Though, going after Kyousuke she understands in so far as dark energy is involved, but why does she have a beef with the duo in the cat and ladybug suits? "What is a Miraculous, and why does Hitomi want that from you?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"You know, we could just all go visit him and let him know he's not being a very attentive boyfriend without all the Akuma and Miraculous things," Cat Noir suggests tryring to be helpful. He knew it wouldn't work though -- It took a lot of strength of will to break from Hawkmoth's control once he latched onto them.

The spider-lady he recognized, as well as Pulp Noir currently making the girl all the angrier but at least distracting her! "Oh excellent! We just need to get her phone then!" Easy peasy! Right?

He is marginally distracted though as he grins broadly over toward Ladybug with a little waggle of clawed fingers in greeting, "My Lady! It's been awhile! So, what's the plan for our little quartet against our primadonna soloist?"

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"I see, well... that's rather unfortunate. Your familiarity with each other sounds as if you're friends." Yorotsuchi comments towards Sayaka. You know right where he is, Hitomi! "...Maybe don't remind her of tha--"

Yep she was reminded of that it seems, and there was a bow lashing out towards her attempts to shove a piece of web into the Akuma's face. Something which Yorotsuchi ducks under to avoid getting cut up too, since she'd opted to go for a melee shove it in her face kind of thing. It did mean that she was RIGHT THERE as the song was played, those blades of wind lashing over her form as she crosses her arms over her head and braces against them with a thin -- yet strong -- layer of webbing pulled up to soften the blow.

...When she stands again, the arms of her kimono are rather cut up, and though not visible at the moment, likely the arms underneath equally so. "Do you truly think this is how you'll fix your relationship? A relationship is two parts." Yorotsuchi says. "Your heart aches, I understand, but it sounds as if you've been doing just about everything right." She slips her hand back sliding the odachi from her back.

"...So, let's get that ridiculous outfit off of you so that you can go and make HIM start doing the right thing as well."

Ahmya glances towards Sayaka. "I can, but it's very weak; we'll need to significantly weaken her if we're relying on me." She says, slapping a hand along the edge of that odachi, a prayer slip of golden threads etched into the blade's side as the edge begins to glow a faint golden color.

"Unfortunately, I think this dark magic is making it so that reasoning with her is likely a waste of time."

So time to reduce it. And Ahmya swings her blade towards the corrupted Hitomi, a quick horizontal slice from further away to attempt to sever the strings of that violin which she steps into to follow up with a second, more committed diagonal slash into InTune, in case the first doesn't strike.

Each slice imbued with a relatively weak cleansing power.

It's no Sailor Moon purification, that's for sure.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
Intune grimaces, rubbing her face after that blast of water, because, comedic though it may have looked, and angry though it may have made her, it did hurt. She's not going down from any one hit, but did that one have to get her in the face? She'd almost have preferred the spiderwebs!

"Just because you stopped being interested in him, that doesn't mean you can't change your mind! And it doesn't mean I'll go to you! I - I was your rival! I stole him from you!"

She had. It was something she had done, on purpose, telling Sayaka in advance because Sayaka had liked him first, but she'd still liked the same boy as her friend, still made that boy her boyfriend, so - she could hardly complain to that very same girl, when it all went wrong.

And meanwhile, even after the spider-clad girl is attacked, she's still - offering advice?! Still trying to say that she understands? Why?

"If I've done everything right, why isn't he willing to put effort in? All this time, I've held myself together, just to support him - well, no more! Now, I'm going to make him know what I'm thinking!"

And first, she needs to make sure she keeps these powers, by attacking Ladybug and Cat Noir! So she leaps towards them, intending to attack, only to get slashed once, twice, with Goldenweb Yorotsuchi's blade!

It stings, like peroxide on a fresh cut, each one taking away a bit of power, and she yelps a little at the sting. Her phone is getting in the way of properly using her strings, so she tucks it into - she doesn't have any pockets. This is poor design at work, and she pauses for a moment, not entirely sure where to put the phone, but knowing she needs to.

"I can't believe I'm a magical villain, and I still don't have pockets," she mutters.

Hawk Moth, watching over the situation, scowls. 'What are you doing?!'

'Trying to put away this stupid weakness you gave me, but I don't have any pockets, in the costume you gave me!'

When in doubt, blame management.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Thankfully, Cat Noir said something a moment ago. So she's got some excuse for this, since Ladybug wasn't here but Marinette was at the time. So, she nods and calls out:

"You can't cleanse her like that, it's not that kind of possession! The Akuma...spirit... it's in the girl's celphone! Distract her, or break it! Cat Noir, go high while they go low!" she's seen a pattern in the poor akumatized girl's motions, and pauses. "LUCKY CHARM!" And the spray of ladybugs and hearts that come out of her (to this point forgotten) yo-yo end up dropping into her hand...a sign. That says 'Go Team'.

"Well, that's depressing. I mean...you've got this one! Go for the celphone!" Wow, magic can be oddly direct sometimes.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
As the questions begin to fly around from the others here, Cat Noir is at least keeping an ear on the situation. Though it appears to be pinned to his head like a hairclip it does rotate over toward Goldenorb Weaver hearing her question. "Our Miraculouses are our power sources. They're how we can transform! And if they're taken away our identities will be revealed!" Which ... might not mean much to some, but in their case? Very bad.

"Hawkmoth wants them to steal our powers! He's the guy who turned her into an Akuma--"

Really he would have said more (explaining was usually Ladybugs job though), but at this point Intune launches toward them causing him to leap to the side bringing his staff out in guard position preparing to attack. The sword attack gets her first, so he merely nods in agreement when Ladybug gives the order to go high. "Got it!"

With the Tommy Gun Water fire temporarily ceased he leaps forward swinging his staff overhead to come down toward Intune's arm hoping to knock the cellphone away.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"Exactly! You're putting in the effort! And he's clearly not. You /understand/, but the thing is..." Yorotsuchi doing her best to position herself between InTune and ... really keep her from moving any particular direction, taking a few moments to send out small bursts of webbing across the battlefield. Thin layers of glittering gold webbing with runes etched into the intricate designs of the webbing.

...If anyone can read stylized magical rune latin it literally just reads 'Fast'.

"What will he think if you show up like this, though? Turned into a twisted mockery of music? A living, walking violin??? There are /far/ better ways, I'm sure!"

"I'll try to keep her locked down if you guys can focus on the cell phone, then!" Yorotsuchi calls out in response to Ladybug. "Even if it's not working like normal purification, the golden blessing of the spider goddess does seem to be effective. Use the webs!" She calls out... but it seems like since InTune isn't attacking...

She's just focusing on setting up those support webs and doing her best to simply lock down InTune's movement by being in the way with surprising nimbleness.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"That's just the kind of guy Kyousuke is, Hitomi!" Sayaka frowns, not really content that this is how they are having this discussion. Even so, it broke the stalemate they were in. Were they going to have it in any other way? "You have done all that you could, but he doesn't appreciate you as he should, and at this point he never will!" the bluenette yells at her.

"She was going to think of that anyway", Sayaka briefly tells Yorotsuchi before focusing on the most important matter: the degree of purification she can carry out. Basically, she is forced to attack, and has to hope that Hitomi spends energy to block them rather actually being hit by them? That's really a gamble she would not like to take. "I see, thanks, Yorutsuchi. Give me a moment."

Except she is told by Ladybug that classic purification is not going to work, rather they need to focus on that cellphone. Which doesn't particularly solve Sayaka's problem, but at least she knows not to waste her time on certain things. "Got it, I will focus on that?", she confirms to Ladybug. But how? She does not know that. All that she does it is very improvised: she uses her magic to shoot a sword at the phone hilt first rather than point first.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
The purification strikes may not be enough o stop Intune, but they certainly distracting - she screams again, her sonic cry enough to stagger the enemies, but they rebound quickly.

Too quickly, because they're on her! First, Cat Noir, striking at her arm with his staff, weakening her grip, and then Sayaka, launching a sword at her -

Hilt first, because she's not a maniac. The black phone goes skittering across the floor, and Intune shrieks that sonic cry once more, fury radiating from her.

"You - jerks! Aren't I having a bad enough day?!"

Someone should probably get that phone.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Loose puck! Ladybug doesn't know hockey metaphors or she'd call that out, but right now it's appropriate. She reacts instinctively, diving for the phone as it hits the ground.

But a foot hits it, sending it skittering past Sayaka and off of Yorotsuchi's foot! Near to Cat Noir! Now it's going toward Intune again! Now someone stepped on it, and it's spinning past Hinote and past Ladybug again! It's going insane!

Which is when Ladybug, laying on the ground, takes aim with that embarrassing sign, and gets ready to whip it like a boomerang at the stupid thing. She even sticks her tongue out a teeny bit, focussing on the small, moving target.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Sonic cries and screams which make Yorotsuchi step back, covering her ears. Even with just one blind eye, her other senses had grown stronger to compensate, so it was PARTICULARLY unpleasant for her. Not as bad as if she were a cat or something, but.

"Yes, yes you are! And this will /only make it worse/." Goldenweb Yorotsuchi responds to the Akumatized Hitomi. "So, hold still." She says, flicking her hands out, the odachi dropped casually -- where it swings away into place on her back. Between her hands she's quickly weaving golden threads... before flinging the rapidly-expanding webbing towards InTune... there's a rune for 'Bind' in the webbing but...

Yorotsuchi didn't REALLY need to put it on. After all, it's rather strong, sticky web!

...It definitely isn't going to make poor Hitomi's day better, being wrapped up in web. Even if it looks like she's being wrapped in glittering gold threads.

The phone bounces off of her foot and into the nebulous nothingness of the half of the world she couldn't see. ...Ah well, she had declared her job. Attempt to keep InTune/Hitomi locked down so that the others could focus on the actual purification.

...That and her depth perception isn't necessarily the greatest for small objects like that.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Honestly your guy sounds like a bit of a jerk," Comes Cat Noir's little remark about him. "I get being busy and wanting to excel, but isn't there also a phrase you all use about 'All work and no play?' Or something like that." He KNEW there was one!

"If all he does is practice, he's going to burn out eventually. And if he agreed to be your boyfriend he needs to care about your needs, too, and put in effort to see you. Not just leave you hanging all the time. Even if it might happen sometimes," He has to add feeling a bit guilty. "Or even just invite you along to his practice sessions so he can spend time with you that way!" Because he's done THAT before himself, too!

The phone goes down, goes spinning, and he has to dance back with a jump so that he doesn't accidentally trip over the diving Ladybug. "Woop! Guess we're playing keep away!" Which he's fine with!

When the phone starts to spin back toward InTune he sweeps his staff out to smack it away back toward one of the others.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"You are not going to make it better like this, Hitomi. We are trying to help you!", Sayaka says before covering her ears when that sonic scream comes, all she can do to protect herself. And even then it's really not that effective, leaving her to wince in pain waiting for it to be over. Why couldn't they have done this next to a shop of electronics? At least they would have had conveniently reachable headphones.

When it does end, she looks around for the phone, seeing it do a weird and complicate dance with the contribution of several people's feet. Sayaka does try to dive for it when it passes next to her, but she misses it leaving her to slide onto the concrete. So much for being able to catch it. All it does is send it spinning even more when her fingers brush it into. The most complating tag game in the history of tag.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
As the heroes flail about trying to reach the phone, Intune is trapped in web, thrashing uselessly with her arms pinned. "Why... you -"

But it's no hope! Even with all her screaming, they're just determinedly goign about their jobs of trying to stop her instead of keeling over in agony. It's hopeless!

"WAAAAAAAAH!"

Her loudest wail yet, and Karaage Fried Chicken is definitely going to need to replace their windows, unfortunately. At least her being trapped means that eventually these heroes will be able to get her phone.

'No,' Hawk Moth shouts, 'You useless fool, what are you doing?! Destroy their ear drums if you must, but don't let them stop you!'

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Crack.

That's the sound of a rock...wait, no, not a rock, though Save-Tan did try to help there and we love them for it. That's the sound of a thrown sign caroming off of a moving target, 'Go Team' flying back toward Ladybug's hand.

The phone rips across the floor, landing in Cat Noir's hand. And if there is any doubt that the phone gets broken, you haven't met my friend's powers.

Smiling, Ladybug upnods. Then she has time to pull out her yo-yo and start it swinging, so the akuma will be captured the moment it's freed.

It's time to free the butterfly, and the wounded heart of the lady within. "We're here for you, Shizuki. That's a promise."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir swings a leg out for balance as he sweeps down to scoop up the phone that comes solidly his way this time. As soon as he has his claws on it he hops back several feet to gain distance from their foe -- And everyone else as well just to be on the safe side.

"CATACLYSM!" He calls out as his opposite hand raises high, a dark magical essence swirling about into a sphere that coalesces into his hand leaving it glowing ominously. The phone is brought up, and with a simple light *tap* of one glowing claw to it's surface? It crumbles to dust that slides ashen through his fingers.

From it the Akuma butterfly flits up trying to fly away again. A bit late perhaps, since Ladybug knows what to do with it, so he doesn't even attempt to catch it.

"That'll do the trick!"

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
WAAAAAAAH!

Yorotsuchi actually crouches down, covering her ears at that scream. Ow ow ow ow ow /ow/. She'd already put SOME distance between her and the screeching monster after webbing her, but it /still/ hurts. "Sorry, I know it sucks, and you're hurting, and this probably feels like it's making it worse!"

Ow ow ow. "But if you want to have a conversation, to get him to understand your pain, your love..." She stands up, weaving several more of those purifying prayer slips and holding them at the ready.

And the phone is destroyed, she steps over to the screaming girl, wincing and squinting against the pain. And slapping those prayer slips over the bound woman, just to ensure that all of the dark energy is purified from her along with the Akuma Butterfly's removal.

"...Well, I'm sure you already know." She stands, turning away as her geta clack on the ground.

Plip

"Once again, the darkness has been pressed back."

Plip.

"Also I might need to go see the nurse after this."

...And Yorotsuchi falls over on her face.

The golden web surrounding Hitomi burning away with whatever risidual dark energy there is.

...So at least Hitomi doesn't have to deal with being covered in web after this! Upsides, I guess?

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
The phone breaks, and the dark power that created Intune breaks with it, causing Hitomi to be the one trapped in thread - for a moment, at least, before it all fades away, leaving the girl drained and confused, slumped on the ground.

From the remains of the broken phone, flies the little akuma, quickly trapped by Ladybug's prepared yoyo!

"I... what... happened?" Hitomi murmurs, clenching her eyes shut and clutching her head.

In Obsidian Tower, Hawk Moth bellows in frustration, stomping his foot furiously. "No! You wretched girl, how could you be so foolish! And my akuma... how could you forget about functional pockets!?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Smiling at the astounding performance of the team, Ladybug spins her yo-yo. "Time to de-evilize!" She captures the butterfly, and cleanses it in her yo-yo. "Bye bye little butterfly," she says softly, letting it go free. It's always lovely to see them go, white and safe.

Then the sign is thrown into the air, high above them all. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" she cries out, her ears still hurting from that last shout. But it doesn't last, as the power of the ladybug miraculous remakes reality. The phone, repaired and in it's proper hand. The windows, unbroken. Wounds, undone. And most importantly, the Akuma's power is gone from its real victim: Shizuki.

"Hey, team. Pound it?" she offers, holding her fist out to everyone.

Including Shizuki. "Hey. Go tell him how you feel, from what he said. I think he deserves to be told the truth, and to know that he hurt you. Ne?"

Well, maybe. But that's what she's got to offer.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Pound it!" Cat Noir cheerfully agrees as he strides forward to fist-bump Ladybug. Thankfully, and perhaps much to the relief of everyone who saw him destroy the phone, that eerie glow of power that had encased his hand before is gone. A one time use power but one that he preferred to not risk using on others. That would... Not be pleasant.

"Good to see you again, Lady." He remarks to his OWN one time crush that still had him feeling uncertain... But he had learned a thing or two about dating, too.

Though the last person she wants to hear advice from is a strange guy, he glances toward Hitomi to offer quietly, "Relationships are hard, and none are all the same. If he really, really likes you though he should put in the work to spend time with you one way or another. If he doesn't then... As hard as it may be?"

Here he pauses as he's about to tell on himself and he just takes a deep breath. "It hurts way less to find someone that does want to be with you than to chase after someone that doesn't."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
The phone, repaired and in its owner's hands. Windows, fixed. Also Ahmya Karashima is pushing herself back up from where she'd fallen over into a sitting position. "Oh. Hey. I guess I don't have to see the nurse." She says, pulling off the stealthily-made web bandages she'd put on herself. Yeah, she'd been way too close to that first attack.

The web bandages were quickly dissolving into golden motes of energy, since she'd dropped out of her henshin. "...I don't recommend being point blank to air blades, it's not pleasant." Yeah, she's casually talking about the magical stuff out of henshin now.

It's just how she is.
Just ask Cat Noir, it's how they first met.

Everyone else seems to be handling the talk with Hitomi. "...Hey she might need a moment to reorient herself. I don't think she remembers." Ahmya says, slowly pushing herself up to her feet again.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
The akuma flies free, and Hitomi is resting on the ground, her phone intact, the restaurant intact, everything - completely fine. It's as if nothing happened, only... only she can definitely, clearly remember it all happening. (For the time being, anyway. The Veil will creep up on her soon.) "That - oh my - that was so - I'm so sorry, everyone!"

She's horrified, and embarrassed, and blinks rapidly, to prevent tears from beading up. "I never meant to cause so much trouble!"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Okay, this is one for her friends to handle. Ladybug gets back a few steps, out of the way. But ...hang on.

It hurts less to find someone who does want to be with you, than to chase someone who doesn't.

That's my life, in a nutshell, Ladybug thinks. Adrien has moved on, found someone new. I'll never have him, and if I'm honest, I want him to be happy. What if...was Cat Noir talking to me? He knows that I...

Ladybug's earring beeps, and she ignores it for once, lost in thought. As drama unfolds around her, drama is unfolding within. She pauses, as X happens, and looks up. At the sad kitty, who is one of her best friends in the world. What if, just maybe.

Could I be happy, just a little?

"Hey. Call me," she says, to Cat Noir. With a bit of a smile, one that's ...that's kind of new.

And as she's ducking out, her little timer insisting EXTRA HARD, she realizes that this might not have been the best timing. What with Shizuki being where she is, right about now.

But you know. Got to collect the youth. Didn't forget!

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir rather knew what it felt like to be in Shizuki's place in a way. Though he hadn't had a chance at all in the past, and he had learned that it was nicer to be cared for and...

His own ring beeping causes him to glance down at his hand. The staff he carries is swung up and over his shoulders letting his hands drape over it as he starts to walk backwards. "It's okay, happens to the best of us. Just let your feelings out in more constructive ways," he suggests. A quick nod is tossed to Ahmya, too.

"Need to go," he states and starts to turn only to freeze when Ladybug calls out to him with that little smile.

"Buh?"

Brainfreeze. Now was NOT the time to brainfreeze. That little part of him that liked Ladybug, would *always* like Ladybug, jumps up in his brain happily as he once would have. The other part has him staring wide-eyed like the time he had flirted at Tuxedo Mask only to have him *flirt back omg*

"Er, right, of course, Lady!" Another beep. If he didn't leave now he would be in trouble.

"Cat you later!"