2254/The Duskwight Dancer

The Duskwight Dancer
Date of Scene:	21 January 2025
Location:	Abandoned Theatre
Synopsis:	Rumors have begun to spread about people disappearing around an old theatre that rarely sees use nowadays, and there have been occasional magical distortions hinting at the possibility of a Witch's Labyrinth in the area. Come investigate and possibly dance with death. (P.S. There will probably be no death.) (P.P.S. ...Of player characters at least. It is a Witch after all. They tend to eat people.) (P.P.P.S. It's not melona's fault this time! Probably!)
Cast of Characters:	Melona Mizu, Miho Inada, Yuki Hoshino, Hinata Muramasa, Coco Kiumi, Amanda Faust

---

Melona Mizu has posed:
In a huge, sprawling town like Tokyo, there are going to be unused buildings, old places that people don't touch and don't usually go to unless they're trying to sneak around and visit a haunted place. But in the winter time, it's not when people usually do that. It's cold, there's snow on the ground, and the air around the abandoned theatre was even more eerie than normal in the darkness.

Part of that is because of the actual palpable sense of Wrongness that was hanging around it, a Wrongness that had been gradually growing over a short period.

Wind blowing through the theatre's old, boarded up windows and broken holes bringing a mysterious tinkling music to dance through the air. An almost enticing series of notes, a joyful noise that almost sounded like laughter.

Occasional sounds seeming to fade in from the past, the sound of clapping at the end of a play.

And if one steps towards the old theatre, they would feel themselves almost drawn in.

Between this creepy awkwardness and reports of missing people, people have likely been drawn into the area to deal with the problem.

A problem that was likely very obvious what it would be. A witch. And its Labyrinth.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Miho has been watching the place for a minute. She's been getting headaches and the chills since she heard the rumors of the place. The young mahou had made a few plans, and now ready to go. Miho did make sure to hide a duffle bag with candy nearby, just in case.

    Well its go time. Snow seems to gather in a localized blizzard, before forming into a figure. The snow turns to a figure of ice before shattering into the form of Yukihime. Yukihime holds her right hand out, and calls for her naginata. She takes a deep breath. "I hope I'm not too late.", the mahou whispers to herself.

    Yukihime holds out her left hand, and calls out 3 beads that turn into energy wolves. She's a bit nervious as she moves around inside. Yukihime did consider calling forth a few snow bunnies, but she's nervious about just how to fight a witch, if its a witch.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki wasn't looking for the theatre, or witches, or anything like that. She was walking through the neighborhood on her way to a junk shop that had been rumored to have some sort of 'weird electronics' that she was hoping might be useful for her Device repairs.

A chill strikes her. <"Warning. Thaumic energy signature detected. Type unknown.">

There goes the evening. "Barrier jacket, Argent Dawn. Let's get ready for trouble." She steps into an alley long enough to cast the Jacket, then heads out towards the theatre.

Where the Knight of Dawn meets a familiar face.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Missing people, a sense of Wrongness, strange occurances.

    That brings the Shadow Shogun investigating alright. She doesn't know much about Witches, but the Wrongness makes her think that perhaps one of her missing Shards is nearby.

    The black-haired, black-eyed young girl in full samurai armour steps through the backalleys, sword drawn and ready in Stone stance(If anyone looking knows how katana stances look). Her eyes swiveling and her senses expanding.

    A small Tengu 'doll' floats nearby too, holding its staff threateningly at nearby shadows, it's dark red face and giant nose making it look comical.

    The duo arrive outside the theatre, and a frown creases Hinata's brow, the most her face has moved. "What is going on here?" she asks, glancing at the Tengu who shrugs and makes an uncertain chirruping sound.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco has noticed the palpable sensations of Witch wrongness, but even more than that, that dark energy music fills her with reproach down to her very core, in opposition to her nature as a mermaid princess. So, it didn't take long for the blonde girl to follow the Witch's trail to the rundown building, even without the unaware victims that had fallen into the creature's net.

Once she meets the first group of victims, Coco stops keeping to herself, and the yellow light of her pearl starts cutting through the darkness. "Yellow Pearl Voice!" Coco puts on a smile, and a kaleidoscope of colours covers her clothes, an everchanging brilliance that soon after blossoms into the yellow idol of the seas, grasping her trusty E-Pitch microphone that holds her pearl, exhuding joy from the center of the Live Stage.

"Hello, everyone, I know that music is quite catching, but lend me your attention for just a second, and let me fill your hearts with peace and happiness. Legend of Mermaid: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

The melody of the oceans starts narrating about the nostalgic song of a faraway world, and a promise to always be connected as long as the paradise of the seven seas is remembered, the fantasy of a night where stars like pearls release a wondrous light and give everyone a shining future, washing out from the Live Stage in a purifying wave that purges the Witch's Kiss off of those she enthralled.

"Phew", Coco sighs with relief. "Good thing I catched up to them. Now, to take care of the source", she stares sternly at the looming shape of the old teather, leaving her victims behind to recover. Pushing open the creaking door of the buildings, Coco looks with surprise at Yukihime ahead of her. "Oh, a new magical girl, hi! Are you still looking for the Labyrinth's entrance?", she asks with a smile. "Hi, Shogun, hi, Dawn!", she greets the other two.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Rumors of disappearances around an old building... After what happened at the haunted doll shop, Amanda's mind immediately suspects trouble. Getting close to the area and tracking like Kyubey taught her confirms it: There is a Witch nearby. She shoots off a quick text message -- Witch. Old <name> Theater. -- but before she can wait for backup... is that Yukihime?

    "Wait!" Amy shouts, but it's too late. She confirms that she hit 'send' on the phone, and then runs in after her.

    Once inside, she admonishes her magiucal kouhai: "I told you! Never enter a Witch's Labyrinth alone!"

Melona Mizu has posed:
Stepping across the threshhold of the building causes an immediate shift, a ripple and sensation of an almost heady, enticing energy that is both repulsing and enticing. Reality immediately seems to break apart, as if stepping from the cold harsh reality of the outside world into a fairytale world made up of torn paper that seems to shiver in place when looking at it, torn paper doors ahead slowly shifting on its frame slightly to the left and right, almost as if it were dancing to the music that had grown from a distant tinkling chiming to a happy cheerful music that just sounded slightly Off. The music feeling altogether familliar, but like the artists were singing it off by a few notes that just make it feel ever so slightly wrong.

Another thing of note as anyone enters, they would notice their own clothing... was trying to join the torn paper aesthetic. The edges crinkling, fraying... growing stiffer.

Speaking of Familiar faces, going through those doors would reveal the familiars! Paper doll dancers on a stage, all made to look as beautiful ... as ... being made of torn paper /can/ be at least, their faces stuck in perpetual smiles as they twirl and dance on the stage, dancing. and singing away. Musical notes even seeming to float in the air made of that same torn paper, dancing in the air to the music and almost seeming to shudder.

In the stands is the most concerning part of this all, most likely. People in various states of becoming those paper dolls, their faces stuck in unnaturally wide smiles and clapping wildly the whole time, giving a standing ovation that was wholly at the wrong time...

...In the background, though, there was a darkness, a figure that seemed to be hiding in the shadows of the back of the stage.

Meanwhile, outside of the theatre, Yellow Pearl Voice approaches a group that was starting to be lured in by that music, the Witch's Mark starting to appear on their necks as they approach, lured in by one of those paper doll dancers as she hums and sings away, dancing towards the entrance to the doorway... only for that melody of the oceans to spark into life and leave the Familiar becoming nothing more than a scrap of paper vaguely in humanoid shape, not entirely unlike a shikigami slip. But... torn roughly, with a hair taped to it and a cut as if it had been stabbed in its chest.

Miho Inada has posed:
    "Well I was just scouting the place. Just to confirm just what it is.", Yukihime says. She nods to the others. "Wait...It is a witch?", she asks. Yes she did come here on her own to investigate. Well she is dating Hinote...Curiousity...

    Yukihime stretches a little bit as she takes a deep breath. The woman blinks a little at Shadow Shogun. She shakes her head a little bit.

    Yukihime looks at one of her wolves, and notices it still has a dog jweater...that looks torn apart. She stares..."Umm is that normal?", Yukihime asks.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
The Knight of Dawn follows Yukihime into the theatre, paying more attention to her Device's sensor readings than the building around her. The readings are .... confusing. Weird. Twisted. "Witch? Like, flying on broomsticks and all?"

*Someone* is out of touch.

"I certainly don't think anything here is *normal*," she adds. "There's something very wrong with space... time... *everything*... in here."

She would strongly consider leaving, if it weren't clear that there are people in danger here.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Well, there's others going inside, and they're /not/ being led by those creepy paper dolls, so the Shogun does to. She eyes Yukihime curiously for a moment, but doesn't ask. Not polite.

    She does ask about something though. "What is going on? This is clearly not one of my missing Shards.. none of them have created their own pocket dimensions before." She's a bit more verbose in her henshin form, but there's a familiar monotone to the words as she speaks.

    "Regardless, it seems there are people in danger here. How do we fight whatever this is?" She sheaths her sword, and holds her right hand out to one side, a silvery light forming in her hand, and expanding out to become a flute. A shackuhachi flute. The Tengu doll remains nearby to her also, brandishing its staff threateningly at the Familiars.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Stepping after Yukihime, the mermaid frowns as the surroundings immediately warp around them, turning into the eerie construct of the Labyrinth. "This Witch really isn't trying to hide herself much", Coco sighs. She very much preferred the usual kind. At least that gave them a bit more time to reach people in danger before they got sucked inside.

"No, a Witch is, uh... Like a kid's first drawing, after a horror movie", Coco explains to the Knight of Dawn. "They mark and hipnotise people so that they become despondent and walk to their deaths. At the Witch's hands, if they don't kill themselves first", she adds with a small shiver.

"There were some Witch Kissed people while I was walking here", she points to where they had roughly come from even if the entrance isn't visible. "We need to make our way through the familiars, reach the Witch, hopefully before she consumes more people", looks at the soon-to-be paper dolls.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sighs. "I guess you didn't know..." She nods. "Yeah, it's a Witch. I just texted outside, I was going to invite you and whoever I could get to help hunt it." She looks at Shadow Shogun and the Knight of Dawn. "At least it's not just us."

    She nods at Coco's explanation.

    She points at the dog jweater. "I presume that's still there from fighting the jimono. The weird papery thing happening to our clothes is... unusual." Amy's clothes revert to normal for a second, and then start to get papery again. Huh. She'll leave it be unless there's a good reason to spend magic resisting it.

    She looks to the knight of Dawn. "Like she said. They're monsters that make people kill themselves and feed off their deaths, and they're what Puella Magi like myself have pledged to hunt."

    Amy looks out over the theater. "Physically, they're... weird giant monsters, you'll know it when you see it because of the boss titles. They live inside Labyrinths, these warped spaces they create -- I don't think they can usually manifest in reality directly, the one last Halloween was unusually strong."

    Amy frowns at the 'audience' of people turning into paper dolls. "There's no way to leave unless the Witch lets you leave, for some reason, or you kill her. So to get them out of here... The fastest way is to find the Witch and kill her."

    Amy turns to look at the stage and the dancing Familiars. "Unfortunately, I've no idea how to do that faster or slower. I would think that trying to go 'forward' to the Labyrinth, or fighting familiars in hopes the Witch can sense the fight, are our best bets."

    She points at the stage. "Aside from outsiders, any actual creature in here that isn't just a piece of the background is a Familiar. Rarely they can be harmless, but generally they're monsters trying to kill anyone who's come inside."

    Amy looks to the other mahou again. "I'm not going to say we have to go about it one way or the other -- more important is that we stick together, can you imagine getting lost alone in here? So, how are people feeling today: Search for a way 'forward', or start a fight as soon as we can?"

Melona Mizu has posed:
The Jweater Wolf isn't this Witch's fault, at least, the fact the jweater was starting to turn into a torn paper jweater was probably her fault though. Speaking of the witch, as one of the civilians fully finishes turning into a paper doll... the dark figure of the witch, her body jittery and seeming to twitch, a massive dancer in a black dress, her eyes a spiral of scribbled darkness and chaos as she rises above the other dancers, her voice rising in pitch above the rest as she pulls out a small knife as her nameplate appears.

Lucretia.

Her dress shifts, becoming Green as she looks down at the 'star' of the dancers down below, her knife stabbed down into the star dancer, red torn paper shooting out from the figure as it reverts to scraps of paper. And then she reaches out, grabbing the civilian-turned-paper doll and beginning to dress it up and set it on the stage, the dancers shifting over and a new 'star' taking center stage, while the newly created doll dancing awkwardly and stumbling... clearly a new dance troop member.

Meanwhile the rippling change of the dress changing happpens again, the green replaced by a white dress as the Witch seems to notice the new visitors, her head turning towards them. One of her hands reaching out to attempt to grab Yukihime's Jweater-wearing wolf.

And set it in the stands so it could join the others...

Of course, not being Kissed, it wouldn't have the impulse to stay in place like the others. Probably.

It might not have immediately noticed the Threat of the visitors. Maybe.

Meanwhile, some members of the band seem to be crowding in behind the gathered Mahou, seemingly trying to usher them forward, as a paper doll musician with a giant trombone blasts notes at the group that seem to be moderately annoyed. It pauses, then makes something that sounds vaguely like an attempt at speech but is distorted and rambly and squeaky and absolute nonsense at the other band members, as the music cuts out.

And the Witch's gaze turns towards the group.

Ah.

She's noticed.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    "Stand and fight." states the Shogun. "Fleeing only opens you to attacks from the enemy, and holding out position here means we have a place to concentrate our power." she says, then closes her eyes, blocking out the discordant trombone music as she brings the flute to her lips, and begins to play. It's a traditional japanese flute piece, and the music helps to bolster the other mahou's constitution, giving them a bit more oomph in their attacks and a bit more power to throw behind their attacks for as long as she keeps playing.

    The Tengu does flit out to bonk some of the Familiars as they get too close, its tiny staff holding a bit more oomph than its size might imply, but the little familiar beast isn't going to be killing any on its own unless it gets super lucky.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime nods her head a second as her phone pings with the text. "S-sorry. Just been getting headaches around this place the last few days. I figured I'd check it out before calling everyone in.", she says. The Jweater wolf gets picked up, and placed in the crowd. Yukihime looks a little annoyed before she calls the wolf back by changing it back to a bead.

    "Did...the witch just kill one of the figures?", Yukihime asks. She takes a deep breath for a moment. The woman calls out two more wolves. Yukihime blinks as she gets a power boost, before she moves back a little bit. The mahou begins to dance a little bit, guiding her wolves with her naginata in her dance. Shadow would recongize the movement.

    Yukihime sighs a bit as she moves in her dance. "Can we be sure she isn't meat sheilding humans as these figures?", she asks.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Or she can just show herself right away", Coco makes a correction when she sees the Witch standing right there. Sometimes it happens, and at least this Witch didn't take advantage of the fact to issue a surprise attack. This is the type of Witch that doesn't seem to like the entourage of her own Labyrinth, so maybe that's why it didn't attack.

"Nice performance Shogun. Let's bring a bit more colour to this place. "Ever Blue: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" the Mermaid Princess of the Yellow Pearl smiles, the white radiance of the Live Stage intensifying with new marine melody.

Coco sings softly of the feeling she gets that on the other side of the seven seas, someone is crying, squeezing her heart and causing her loneliness. But she embraces the guidance of the stars in her heart, the destiny of the ever blue sparkle of the ocean she loves calling to her and letting her gather the power to protect the future in her hands.

As the melody expresses her feelings of cherishment towards her friends and the mysterious blueness of the ocean, prettier than heaven, she sings for the purification of darkness and the disappearance of evil, clashing against the notes of the Witch's Familiar and chasing them away.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
"Recording mode, Argent Dawn. Save for review."

<"Affirmative, Master.">

This is Yuki's first time fighting a witch, so it's time to save some data for review later. "Target the Master, not the Minions," she directs, and a dozen octagonal mirrors appear around her, circling slowly, forming darts of light to launch at the Witch.

She lets them orbit her for a moment, building up power, while Yellow Pearl's song washes over her and she smiles. Then she lifts her hand, spreading a paper fan, and slashes down with it to signal the launch of her darts.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy thought the dancers were familiars. When Shadow Shogun says she's ready for a fight, Amy considers how best to take them out... but then the Witch is there (and Amy doesn't recognize any rune but the last one, which she knows very well -- it appeared three times each on her and Sayaka's rings, after all, and also in Octavia, Baast, Jayden, Walpurgisnacht, and countless other Witches' names!)

    And then the Witch kills one of her own familiars, and moves and audience member to take its place. Oh.

    Oh.

    Amy's face pales as she realizes what she almost did. Although the paper dolls might well be too far gone to save, they hadn't attacked yet. "Yeah." She answers Yukihime's first question. As for the second...

    "We can't be sure. But if they're fully transformed it's probably too late." Amy answers, almost breathless. She doesn't remember any unseen people appearing at the doll shop, after all.

    The Witch sees them. "There she is! Now!" Buoyed by the others' battle music, she conjures an artillery cannon on her shoulder; the tube is like four inches wide and ten feet long and looks like it weighs hundreds of pounds, and Amy struggles to get it into position as if it weighs a fraction of that, not caring if she whacks paper band members with the back as she aims the front at the Witch. She glances back, and warns the other mahou "Backblast, stay clear!" before firing, not caring if paper bandfolk get caught in it.

    BOOM!

    It's an anti-tank round that she fires at the Witch, pretty standard for her. Since they're inside, instead of the expected 'muzzle flash' explosion out the back, there's just suddenly a cloud of saltwater mist. Okay getting blasted with that might actually be bad for paper creatures, but who knows if such physics apply here!

Melona Mizu has posed:
The instant that flute starts to play, starts to cut through her music and her dancing, the dress of the Witch rolls out and becomes a red as she stomps one of her torn paper feet onto the stage, the impact sending a ripple out through the labyrinth of her rage, the dancers on the stage stumbling and falling over as she grabs a piece of the stage, tearing off a piece of the paper and making it in a vaguely human shape, then stabbing her knife into it.

As it does, a massive knife appears above the Shadow Shogun, tracking her movements for a while... then stabbing downwards to attempt to stab through her chest, much like the paper doll she stabbed had been!

Luckily she has more ability to dodge than the paper did...

Meanwhile the trombone player is battered by the tengu, a spindly little arm darting out to swat away the Tengu and then turning fully towards it to give a full long low bwooooooooooooooom at the Tengu, intent on sending it flying.

Meanwhile other familiars are beginning to move in towards the others, a cymbol wielder smashing discordantly at Yukihime, eventually attempting to smash her between the two very real feeling cymbols, in spite of the fact they seem to be made of torn paper!

Much like with the Shadow Shogun, the moment that Yellow Pearl Voice attempts to upstage her performance with her own, another one of those paper dolls is created in her likeness and stabbed with her knife, creating another one of those massive knives that attempts to stab down from the air towards Yellow Pearl Voice, even as the music brings... different color to the area, the torn paper already fairly colorful and varied, patterns sometimes moving independantly of the torn paper, like the animation style where they just leave a cutout of the background in its place and move the stuff around the background instead.

Darts fly out towards the Witch, who is suddenly being the one stabbed instead of doing the stabbing, which results in her releasing a scream that seems to blend with the chaos of mixed musical styles in the Labyrinth. Five paper dolls are brought into existence, five floating in front of the Witch now. Orbiting around her.

And as that artillery cannon is created, and the shell is launched towards the Witch... she moves one of those paper dolls into the path.

And it cuts a hole through the paper doll, disappearing.

And reappearing, gigantic and descending towards the group, only now as a torn-paper-bullet.

TIME TO RUN!

... At least the backblast /did/ burn away those band familiars that were harrassing them.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata is still playing as that knife appears. She only stops, and looks up when her familiar Tengu taps her on the shoulder and points up when she looks.

    It takes a second, but as that blade comes down, she dive-rolls like a Dark Souls character, coming up in a fighting stance as the flute vanishes in that silvery light, and ofuda and a Gohei appears in its place. She adjusts her posture and begins to chant, spreading her ofuda slips in a fan, as she 'blesses' them with the gohei. After a moment, she looks to see a giant artillery shell coming in... and starts to disengage, tossing a few 'BIND' slips out to try and slow down the shell, the slips adhering to the attack wherever they manage to hit.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime blinks as the familiar stumbles towards her. She dances away, and starts to slash at the figure after it tried to smash her with cymbols. There's a pause. "Are...we sure there's no going back? I mean...if they're...humans...", she comments. Normally Yukihime doesn't hesitate, but this...is a little different.

    The mahou takes a deep breath, and plays stay away at the moment, swatting the figure with the shaft of her naginata. "I could try to trap her?", she comments. Yukihime looks at the wolves. Why couldn't they be fire? Either way, Yukihime is kinda having a hard time striking out...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's face goes pale as she sees a voodoo paper doll take the attack. She glances around the group, expecting a giant hole to appear in someone -- and then remembers the knives she just saw.

    There's only time for her to grab Yukihime and (her launcher is suddenly back down to normal size) rocket-jump across the theater! (The damage to the scenery and others around is minimal when she does that. Magic!)

    "Guh... how do we stop her from using paper dolls?" Amy lands from her jump and sets Yukihime down. "Your snow... maybe if you made all the paper wet? But then I guess she could still block with soggy paper..."

    She looks at Yukihime sadly. "With Witches it's hard to know anything for certain... but..."

    Amy mutters under her breath. 'There's no going back for her, either.'

    "Trap her how?" Amy brightens at the prospect. "Would it stop her from using the dolls somehow?"

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki's first set of darts are exhausted. She's prepared to cast another set, the mirrors are already starting to glow.

<"Alert!">

Her head shoots up at the warning, taking in the falling paper shell. It might be paper but she has no intention of just letting herself get hit by that.

"Abort to dodge!" she shouts. And just like that, translucent black-feathered wings sprout from the back of her kimono-like Barrier Jacket, hurling her into the air and away from the incoming riposte. A shield briefly appears before her, only to be shattered by the paper's impact, and moments later she falls to the ground and skids back several feet.

"Those dolls aren't people, are they?" she asks as she gathers her wits and takes in the comments of her co-belligerents. "I can try taking them out, let you girls focus on the boss."

Melona Mizu has posed:
Bind ofuda stick to the shell, slowing it down as it descends towards the group, luckily moving a lot slower than the original bullet had been. Giving more than enough time for the Shadow Shogun to get out of the way, and Yukihime and Amy to fly out of the way of the massive bullet as it continues its way down!

Of note, the paper doll she used to defend herself from Amy's attack is also gone now, leaving only four paper dolls... so likely an overwhelming barrage of attacks is probably an easy enough way to overcome them, that and just... attacks from different angles harder for her to defend against.

The sound of a revolver's cylinder being spun suddenly rings out through the Labyrinth, locked into place and then a soft ~click~.

"Hallo~." Comes a voice, as another Puella appears behind the Witch. And then...

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG.

The entire revolver is unloaded into the back of the Witch, glowing bullets shooting out towards the Witch's head, the first one striking before the Witch can react, stumbling out of the way of the attacks.

As the revolver-wielding Puella alights upon the top of one of the spotlights. "My my~. It seems someone is trying to steal all of the attention, and that's just not okay. You should be paying attention to ME instead~." She gives a little wink, an orangey-yellow heart coming off of her.

"No, they're not people. Not anymore. The audience might not be beyond saving though~." The Puella says cheerfully.

Meanwhile the paper shell finally impacts, tearing through the area where everyone used to be standing, leaving a torn hole in the ground which was... beginning to repair itself. Just don't think about the colorful mess of a void beneath the torn fabric.

Meanwhile, the Witch in response to all of this... gathers up her paper dolls all into a pile and stabs through them with her knife, creating another series of those knives attempting to stab at the mahou all from different angles... tracking after them for a half-second before stabbing down at them.

Meanwhile, at the top of the stands, there is a familiar figure. Just quietly watching.

:3

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Spin, click. Amy looks around for the source, and

    BANG (x6)

    Well, she certainly gets Amy's attention, although when she speaks of the dead dolls walking so cheerfully, that rubs Amy the wrong way... Still, she's an ally, right?

    Amy sees the stab, and looks for the knives, again trying to grab and rocketjump out of the way with Yukihime. She just saw the Witch do this twice, she can remember the timing! It feels very learning-a-boss's-pattern-in-a-videogame.

    As Amy flies through the air, she dismisses her launcher and waves her hand at the Witch, salvos of mini-missiles appearing, launching and spreading out and then arcing back in at the Witch from all different angles! When she lands, she lets go of Yukihime and keeps summoning the mini-missiles while also holding a high-caliber gyrojet rifle in both hands and shooting that directly at the Witch as rapidly as she can manage while controlling the recoil. "If we attack her all at once, she can't block all of it!" Amy suggests. "Thanks for the help, miss! I'm Magical Rocket Girl Red, and you are?"

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    After clearing the impact, and slapping a few EXPLODE slips on some Familiars that get too close, causing them to detonate like a cap-gun going off, Shadow Shogun dismisses the remaining slips and the gohei staff.

    She turns, and grasps the swords over her shoulders, pulling them free with a resonant ringing sound. The knife that comes for her isn't dodged this time. She parries it. A resounding clash of metal against metal, and the phantom voodoo blade is knocked aside to land into the terrain nearby. Sparks fly from the impact, framing the stoic dour face as she shifts. A modified Water stance has her holding one blade high in front of her face, the other out behind her to the side. "A decisive strike. Coordinate your attacks."

    She shifts her feet a little, the recites a haiku.

    "Early nipping fall,
    A fallow, clucking deer flies,
    Betrayed by the queen."

    Her blades begin to glimmer with blue soulfire as she charges up, and with a leap, she brings both blades up and over in a descending slash, aiming to open up the Witch's defenses for a brief moment.

Miho Inada has posed:
    "Its the same spell that I used on Walpy.", Yukihime tells. "The problem...this uses all my magical power in one go.", she explains. The Ice Mahou hops away from Amy as she holds her left hand out. The other six wolves come out. Yukihime takes a deep breath for a moment, mentally chanting the spell.

    The wolves run around the witch. They surround her, and then Yukihime's eyes glow. "Wolves of the Capital, Capture!", she hisses out while pointing at the witch. The wolves howl, and suddenly all of Yukihime's magic presses down on witch. The wolves start to growl as they move closer to the witch, making thr pressure that much worse.

    Yukihime is already sweating bad. This is varient three of her finisher, but it takes so much out of her. Its basically everything she has versus everything her opponent is.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
It's time to finish this.

"Argent Dawn... darts. Target lock." The Device obediently produces the orbiting ring of octagonal mirrors once again, and - in Yuki's sight, at least - projects targeting reticles around the paper dolls that protect the Witch. "Just give me a sec...."

The mirrors continue orbiting as power builds, while the Knight balances on her toes, ready to leap aside if an attack should come her way. Then the darts are ready to fire, and she launches them out at the witch, letting them stream towards her...

... only to split aside at the last moment, a pair of them going after each of the paper dolls. Even if the witch can duplicate her attack, can a couple of her darts really be any danger to any of the mahou here?

"Go for it!" she yells to Yukihime, "Finish this!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Strengthening the confines of her Live Stage with repelling power, the paper knife is pushed back from the mystical white light, and the song continues to cut through the darkness, the fact that the Witch seems to disapprove is only clear with those two paper mache knives that haven't brought about much of a change.

The same can't be said for the said for the gigantic bullet, that would likely tear through the barrier of the white sphere would they happen to touch. A sense of urgency fills the mermaid princess at seeing the enormous attack, her will forcing the Live Stage she is in to float away from the zone of impact in all hurry, watching not to far away from her, the paper sphere crudely crack through the ground.

The mermaid princess raises her right arm, the bracelet on her wrist shining with white light as a halo of yellow light moves downwards from the mermaid princess's head, transforming her further and enhancing her purification.

Corals radiate outwards from her neck, covered by a transparent veil with brown pearls and white stars decorating it, the same decoration that is applied to the layer of fabric extending backwards and downwards from above her skirt, another layer with the water ripple pattern on the outside extending in much the same way from below the skirt. The E-Pitch mic finally changes in an E-Pitch Headset that descends on Coco's head, the yewel nestled safely on the right side.

"Mother Symphony: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" Coco smiles widely, putting all her positivity into the song, a power that heals the fatigue of her friends. The magical notes of her song swell up in energy and reach within her, a melody of taking care of worn-out wishes, a call to give a sad heart the kind mother's lullaby, its seven-pitched melody a call to let everyone know you're fighting with your soul's pride.

"Fine Heart Pitch!" she declares, the purification reaching out at the apex of the performance in a wave of purification to cleanse the darkness.

Melona Mizu has posed:
     Click, spin, the sound of bullet casing dropping to the ground and tinkling as they turn into scraps of paper that bounce off into the edges of the stage, six new bullets appearing and floating as she gestures to reload them into the cylinders. "Misfortune Mary, the revolver calamity~." She responds cheerfully.

Meanwhile, the familiars who had been generally harrassing mostly harmlessly with their music get blasted with explode slips! Boom!

Each one turning into a puff of paper confetti when exploded.

Blue soulfire charges up, and the Witch attempts to bring one of those paper dolls in front of the slash to reflect it -- but as it's cut through, it simply burns away instead, opening up those defenses...

Which are further opened by the Capture attack as Yukihime sends the wolves as they surround the Witch, emitting a heavy pressure and binding spell that forces her down onto her knees... as...



Chaaaaarge... Bang! Another shot is fired towards the Witch. This one more of a laser of energy than a direct bullet.

And, from the opposite side, Amy shoots a gyrojet into the other side of the Witch, both striking at the same time with a ~boom~! ... The music seeming to change to match the gunshots momentarily. As Yuki gathers power and mirrors orbit around... and shoot several of her darts at those paper dolls, explicitly targetting them! They do get reflected, but others get through as well, as the paper dolls are destroyed by the attacks. A few darts launched towards the other Mahou present, a bit faster but smaller attacks than the others! Turned into actual paper darts as they fly out.

But more importantly, the extra darts stream out towards the Witch proper, striking her as she struggles against the bindings holding her.

Mother Symphony, Pichi Pichi Voice!

The music of the Witch's familiars and those corrupted civilians is all but drowned out by the melody of taking care of Worn-out Wishes, a call to give a sad heart the kind mother's lullaby. Fine heart pitch.

Aaah...

All she'd wanted was to be paid attention to... to be the star just once...

And the Labyrinth starts to collapse around them, as the Witch cracks... and then falls into a pile of that torn paper... finally leaving behind just the telltale Witch's Grief Seed as the world returns to normal, leaving them in a delapidated old theatre.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata flourishes her blades, slowly returning them to their scabbards with the 'traditional' slow slide, and final click after a pause. She looks side-long at Mary, then over at Amy, Yukihime, Argent and Pearl... she then stoops, looking at the Grief Seed curiously. "Is this all that remains?" she muses curiously, reaching out toward the object with a gloved hand. Her own familiar floating nervously next to her head, squeaking warnings to not touch weird magic things.

    <That's what got you into this mess to begin with.> it seems to be saying.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki relaxes - a little - as it appears the Witch has been defeated. She isn't sure what the black crystal it 'dropped' is, but others seem to find it interesting, so she has Argent Dawn scan it. The results are ... difficult to interpret, so she sets it aside for later.

"So what happens to the ... er... audience, now?" she asks, looking around as the Labyrinth fades back into the old theatre.

Miho Inada has posed:
    The problem with this spell is that it liferally takes all her magic in one go. Yukihime, once the target is gone, simply collapses. She is breathing very heavily as she sits there. She doesn't even have the strength to really get moving.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Another Witch down. Things were tense for a moment there, you never know how it will go with Witches.

    When the labyrinth has faded, Amy approaches the grief seed... but when Shogun reaches for it, she snatches it, protectively, if Mary doesn't get it first. "These are for puella magi... although if none are available, bring it to one of us as soon as you can."

    If she did get the seed, she whispers to it, 'I'm sorry it had to end this way. At least it's over now...'

    Then she speaks to the others, "Any... 'audience members' that were too far gone disappeared with the Labyrinth. The others... should live? We should probably call Emergency Services shortly. Are any of you good to do that?"

    She also answers, "Yes, this is... what's left when a Witch dies. We need them to replenish our magic. Speaking of which..."

    Amy turns to Mary and holds up her fist to show the soul gem on the back of her wrist, barely tinged with corruption. "I'm almost full, and I've got one almost full grief seed. How about you?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"There is hardly anything misfortunate about your arrival", Coco points with a kind smile to Misfortune Mary. And a hint of amusement, because the wordplay begged to be done. "Thanks for helping out with the Witch, Mary. I go by Yellow Pearl Voice. And yes, it's a mouthful, shorten it as you please", she winks.

Admittedly, the nickname is a bit of a question mark. Either it's one the yellow Puella has chosen for herself to sound extra cool, or it's because she made enemies, and well, she isn't sure how she made those enemies, but hopefully it's the former case.

The Labyrinth starts fading and the Grief Seed falls with the usual clink to the floor of the run down theather. A smile is given to Amy when she announces the state of her Soul Gem. Coco knows that her song would slow down the depletion of her magic, but not how much the red Puella had at the start of this fight.

"Are you sticking around after this, Mary? We could all go eat something and chat after this fight", Coco invites the fellow yellow magical girl. A concerned look is reserved to Yukihime though, and a Live Stage appears around the snow princess, lifting her up, and carrying her to Coco. "Hopefully she wakes up soon", she mutters under her breath.

Melona Mizu has posed:
"That's everything it was, really." Is Misfortune Mary's response to the Shadow Shogun as she hops down from that light that was now even more precarious of a position, her devil tail waving behind her lazily. "That said, I somehow doubt you need that, you don't seem to have a Soul Gem."

Checking on the Audience... the ones that ~weren't~ too far gone were unconscious on various broken seats and dilapidated benches, others simply gone with the Labyrinth.

Mary doesn't seem to contest the seed when Amy and the Shogun go for it, commenting absnetly, "Ah, I'm fine. I'm not here to encroach upon the territory of other Puella, simply here to hunt down my dear partner who ran off a while ago. Have you seen her? She's about yay tall, usually very grumpy." She says, gesturing at a low height. "I did my very best to make her a strong Puella but for some reason she got a letter and suddenly disappeared." She gives a bit of a pout at that, that fades to a face of concern. "Her transformation into a Puella was very traumatic, I'm worried that she might have become a Witch by now, I'm just looking to see what's become of her."

She doesn't /seem/ to be dark energy at the very least, so there's that.

"Ah, the Misfortune part is that I have... uh... a bit of a reputation. I'm bad luck for my partners, I always seem to survive while they end up... not." She seems legitimately sad by this. "I tried to help that by going out of my way to train my newest partner, but she, well... she ended up running away because of that traumatic awakening, like I said." She says softly. There is a pause. "I probably should be looking for my partner, I'm only here in Japan for a short while so I should be focusing." She says with a small smile. "Otherwise I'd love to."

She /does/ wait around to see if anyone /had/ heard of that partner of hers, though.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    If Hinata is surprised or upset at the sudden snatching of the Grief Seed, she doesn't show it. She simply brings her hand back, stands and bows to Amy and Mary. "I shall take my leave then." she states simply, but pauses as Mary speaks about her partner... "I cannot say I have, though I am not familiar with many other Mahou." she explains. "I wish you luck in finding her." she adds, beforer turning and starting to walk off.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki hasn't heard of the strange Puella or her partner before, but she does recognize Yukihime as a friend she's met before. "Here," she offers. "I'll get her back to my place, let her rest up in peace, you lot can help our yellow-dressed new friend, yes?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco laughs lightly at the encroaching comment. "Please stay, if you want. There aren't territories here, and in fact, there at least three Puellae here", Coco tells Mary after doing a quick recalling of Red, Melon and the girl with the red spear. She scarcely sees them aside from Red, but as far as she knows they are still around.

"Oh, sure, please take her", Coco nudges the Live Stage with Yukihime in it over to the Knight of Dawn. "And please tell me how she is when she wakes up", she asks the other magical girl while she goes to check the Witch's victims. Drained, but otherwise not in danger. "They are safe", she tells the others in case they had the same thought.

"Yeah, I do know a Puella like the one you are describing, but your description could work with any short girl. What else do you have?", Coco raises an eyebrow at the vagueness. "If your find your partner, both of you can stay here. Tokyo is a safe place. You wouldn't have to work alone here", Coco offers with genuine worry over the girl's sadness.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Why'd you name yourself Misfortune?" Amy also wonders... she looks alarmed when Mary mentions that Puella become Witches. "Ixnay, I hadn't told them that yet!" She sighs.

    She does know of a grumpy puella about yay tall. But... Amy frowns. "What do you mean, 'make her a strong Puella Magi'? What did you do? And... Traumatic how, like, the baseline is getting your soul ripped out of your body and wondering if Kyubey tricked you and killed you in the seconds before you pass out and wake up again."

    "Thanks." Amy nods to the dawn knight offering to take care of Yukihime. "Was good working with you."

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki nods and gets in position to take Yukihime's weight on her shoulder. "Good luck with Part Two," she offers the remaining mahou. "Call me if there's news."

Then it's time for her to find her way back to campus and give the sleepy Ice Princess a nice comfy bed to rest in.

Melona Mizu has posed:
Mary dips into a curtsy towards Shadow Shogun. "Thank you very much~." She says warmly towards her. "You have a good evening." She sasys with a soft smile. The pauses at the question of further questions of the description, "Ah, she's got pink hair and normally has a flail with her, makes weapons from whatever is around her." She replies. "I didn't know there were that many short magical girls here, there's not /that/ many magical girls where I come from, in fact that I get partners at all is pretty rare." She pauses. "And I really don't have much ability to stay around that much, I'm only here on tour for a week or two from germany, non-mahou responsibilities and all that."

Ixnay, I hadn't told them that yet. "Oh? Hiding the truth here, are we? I suppose that makes sense." What did you do? "Ah? I trained her and helped her after she became a Puella, that's all. Ensured she knew the ropes and all that. And the traumatic... she was dying when she was offered Kyubey's help. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to save her and her friends from a Witch that they'd ended up fighting and she was the only survivor." She says somberly. "It, well. It's not a good situation for anyone to have gone through, and it made her a bit troublesome to handle..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's poker face is terrible, she clearly thinks she knows who Mary is talking about when the pink hair and flail are confirmed.

    Hiding the truth?! Amy looks defensive, "No, a lot of folks know, but... Yukihime's new and I dunno if Knight heard yet. It's something you usually gotta work up to, you know? How can they understand it and appreciate it before they even see a Witch, anyway?"

    She listens to the story, though. "Huh... that sucks, though I'd think that those Kyubey saved from death would get less regretful than most after finding out what we signed up for. Not like we gave up some great, normal life for this, right?"

    "...In any case... if I see such a person, I'll let them know you're in town looking for them."

Melona Mizu has posed:
Mary's smile doesn't fade, even though there is a clear recognition on Amy's face, still that friendliness remaining as she listens to her. "Ah, I see, so just not wanting to surprise them with that truth while they're still new. That's reasonable, I suppose." She muses in response to that defensive response. The counter-response gets a slight tilt of her head. "Would you? If you watched everyone you cared about die one by one in front of you, slowly being devoured by Witches while you're the only one with enough magical capability to be able to actually tell what is really going on?" Her head tilts the other way.

"If so, you seem quite strange to me." At the comment of if she sees that person she'll let them know, that head tilt moves back to normal and she follows up. "Ah, thank you, and I'm sure I'll find her soon enough. She's not exactly subtle."

She flashes a grin, don't mind the sharp teeth. It's fine. "Goodbye!" She dips into a curtsy, before turning to leap back out of a hole in the theatre.

And back to her bodyguards, stepping into a limo once out of sight.

One of her fingernails in her mouth as she mutters under her breath. "She knows something and was hiding it, keeping me from my little Melon.." Her lips a grin as fury burns in her eyes. "Aaah... she's such a bad girl, I'll have to make sure she knows, just like my little Melon..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Red?" Coco gives Amy a surprised expression when she talks about appreciating Witches. "I don't think Witches need appreciating, and I know you don't actually think that either." If anything, Amy has been one of the most cautious around Witches.

"I don't actually like keeping secrets from my friends either, but that truth, ah.. it's a bit hard to bring up without making people anxious", Coco replies, the smile she is offering Mary now nervous. She is typically very bad at keeping secrets, and unless it's for a friend's sake, it can usually be read on her face that she is trying to.

"It has to be built up to." She herself only discovered it by a chance comment from Amy, and that had been the day she actually intensely disliked someone.

"We have many magical girls here in Tokyo, and many I don't know too. There could have been 2 grumpy short girls here", Coco clarifies. The red spear girl at least clears the grumpy part. Before she is about to actually tell her about Misery Melon, the yellow Puella runs off. "Hmm, I will tell her another time."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Coco misunderstands. "I mean appreciate the gravity of the situation, that we'll turn into Witches. The other day I told someone and she was picturing, like... just, a hag? And thought I was just talking about needing magic to maintain my youth."

    Amy blinks at Melona's description of life as a Puella Magi. "Uh... I have plenty of magical girl friends, some magical boys too. They're not dying to monsters easily, we've lasted like a year and a half so far--" Amy then remembers something, "Wait... are there not other magical folk where you're from? Maybe you should stay here."

    Beat. Amy takes a breath and nods, "Although... I have to say, pretty much all my friends are magical now, and this is... my life. I dare say if I hadn't come here, I'd be pretty lonely. Maybe I even would..." She looks down at her soul gem, and at the grief seed she's holding.

    She closes her hand around the seed and looks at Mary's face again. "But I did come here. And now so have you."

    Mary leaves. Amy mutters, quietly, "'Misfortune Mary, the girl of calamity', huh...?" Oops she already forgot part of the title. "I guess it's kinda like Calamity Jane or something..."

    Coco seemed about to say something when Misfortune Mary runs off. Once the new magical girl is out of sight, Amy looks to Coco, concerned, as she slips the grief seed into her belt pouch. "I think we should tell Melon about her before telling her about Melon. If they were partners and such good friends, why did Misery Melon leave? ....Ohhhh, Misfortune Mary and Misery Melon. If this chick trained her, picking a name like that makes more sense..."