2269/Which Witch is the Witch

Which Witch is the Witch
Date of Scene:	26 January 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	After a witch labyrinth forms in a local game shop, the sparkles arrive to put an end to the threat... and come across Mimete carrying a cute boy. Koji, Rashmi, Amy, Coco, Lana and Bow have to (or at least, chose to) offer aid! Riventon even swung by to offer some smack talk before getting a stunning conclusion.
Cast of Characters:	Hotaru Tomoe, Bow, Koji Silvia, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust, Lana Voselle Miata, Coco Kiumi, Takashi Agera

---

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
It was a sunny day when Soga Washi, the lead of the hit show 'Nerd Passions', had headed to a local model shop. The premise of the show had been simple enough, investigating nerd culture by going to local shops, talk with the locals, find out what they were most passionate about.

While Soga wasn't much of a nerd himself, he was certainly charismatic, known for a dashing smile and having the kind of eyes that seemed to only focus on you. The show usually started with him investigating the focus of the day's episode, some people trying it and then him giving it a shot (usually in competitive things he'd get utterly blown out, but that was part of his charm). While most of the fans of the show were here more for Soga, it was known for treating nerd culture actually respectfully.

Mimete had intended to win his hear-- errr, steal his heart crystal, but as she'd gone into the shop... things had started to change... and... well...

Now? What had once been a shop with miniature figurines was now a battleground. Giant mechs, tanks and soldiers, all made of resin, were enacting battle after battle... As Mimete, death buster, was princess carrying Soga through a battle field while chased by some kind of resin alien with FAR too many heads and even more too many mouths. "AHHHHHHH!"

Soga was unconscious... and also had a witch kiss on the back of his neck to those in the know.

Bow has posed:
Bow had a deep appreciation for sculpting---miniatures, figures, anything that allowed him to create from scratch, build, and breathe life into something small. His own sculptures had earned him a bit of a name, but these Gunpla models? They were on another level. He was starting to get why Koji had suggested he check them out. The craftsmanship, the attention to detail... it was like watching an artist paint with plastic instead of brushes.

Bow's jaw dropped as he stepped through the door of the shop, his eyes scanning the chaotic scene before him. He'd seen a lot of things in his time, but this, this was something else.

He wasn't sure what exactly he had expected when he heard about Gunpla, but it wasn't this, giant mechs fighting in a miniature battlefield while a woman in a suspiciously dramatic pose carried an unconscious Soga Washi away from an alien monster made of what looked like some sort of demented resin.

"Uh... is this normal?" Bow asked, half to himself, half to the shopkeeper who was frantically trying to keep his own model collection from being decimated in the middle of all this. And partially to Koji.

Koji Silvia has posed:
A 'nerd' shop wasn't one of those places that Koji would normally find himself in, despite having a father and a background with several nerd-like passions, such as old-school 70s and 80s anime, and more than a few Gundam in poses of battle in his bedroom. At most he was ever caught, ONCE, at the Gundam Store with the giant gunplay outside. One time. Okay, maybe once a year... but those models are feats of engineering, and they have their own 3D printers and...

Nevermind that.

For Christmas, Koji had gotten one strange present via a friend of a friend, that being Molly Skyline. The D&D Player's Handbook.

This may not have been the best of ideas, because one of the major distractions for him with the departure of Mamoru to live in his own space was the ability, uninhibited, to watch videos, do spreadsheets, write test characters, create probability models, and generally OVERDO everything to do with learning about his first ever tabletop RPG.

One of those things is that you should always have a model for your own character. That's just a given in everything he's watched. And since he didn't know what he wanted to play... eventually... the invite to go to a store like this was tentatively jumped on by him...

    "No... this is not normal..."

And with a sigh, he just fishes his phone from his pocket and says in a bit of an... exasperated tone... "Set Up, Hanzo."

    << SET UP. >>

Artfully skipping 30 seconds of henshin sequence later, no one is really going to notice someone dressed -like- a Ninja in the chaos.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
While Rashmi does not often spend a whole bunch of time in 'nerd shops,' the adjacency to her own fantasy-lit preferences means if she's lucky, and the stars align, she might actually have the chance to find a Japanese-language translation of some of the older novels.

Of course, if she's *incredibly unlucky,* and Wormwood -- or Nemesis -- is ascendant, she might walk into a random nerd shop to find...

...An active Labyrinth.

*Wonderful.*

"Nicomachea," Rashmi sighs, "Set Up."

<< *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. >>

A bubble of golden light flares into being at the edge of the Labyrinth, shattering to reveal the Page Mage, in her barrier-jacketed glory. Immediately pushing off the ground, she hunts for allies to link up with in this twisted wargame palace.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Check, check check, this is Page Mage, call out if you're a friendly! >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "No. NO! He dropped all the samples in the water? That's the whole reason we CAME to this planet! Uggggghhhhh... I f***ing hate Gacrux... May as well get to extraction, everyone..."

    Amy relaxes in her chair as the round-end report counts up score, and then hears chilling words over the ship PA: 'Priority Alert: Fenrir III.' "What? No! They can't be going for--!"

    But they are. Soon, she's assisting in an evacuation mission on the barren moon, which goes routinely enough until the end. The squad must have spent over ten minutes trying to make it the last hundred or so meters to the extraction point. Every resource is expended, HUD indicators turning red -- every second you think you can reload, interrupted. Finally, they make it to the shuttle; "GET US OUT OF THIS HEEEEELL!" another player screams, like they're in a war movie.

    As the results screen comes up. "Phew. Alright, I need a break," Amy announces. "I need to head out anyway, apparently Nerd Passions is doing a filming near here and I want to check it out. See ya!" The one other person using voice replies, "Seeya!"

    And so, minutes later, Amy approaches the model shop, a nice change of pace after hours fighting a virtual war. Not that the game isn't fun or she wouldn't play, but. Damn, the latest bug invasion is brutal.

    But as she arrives at the shop, well. Now she's in a play battlefield brought to life. And as cool as a mecha battle would be if she could be a pilot, being someone on the ground fighting them is a different matter entirely!

    At least there are some friends she recognizes here with her. "No, this is not normal!" she says in stereo with Koji, before being engulfed in flames that leave her armored -- such as it is -- for fight and flight.

    << I'm here! >> Amy replies to Rashmi. << It feels like a Witch's Labyrinth! >>

    "Is fighting through hellish battlefields just my entire day, today?!" Amy opines, behind the boys.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Despite technically working for the Deathbusters, Lana V. Miata was actually here on her own volition. Being a constant consumer of all content, regardless of quality, Lana is naturally drawn to nerd things and nerd culture in general. After all, her main hobby is reading manga and that tends to overlap with a lot of other geek topics.

    Which, of course, leads her to gunpla and other things.

    Before she even has much of a chance to actually check things out, Lana is drawn into a parallel dimension full of WTF and she suddenly looks around with a start. Seeing other people nearby, she decides to dive behind a hill and speak telepathically to her pendant, <Nightmare Chain, what kind of barrier is this?>

    < Unbekannt. >

    < Smells Tasty... >

    Lana rolls her eyes. "Neither of you are being helpful!" Bitter, sharp exhale.

    < Eingehender Anruf. >

    Lana squinted her eyes, and commands her device to hang up on Rashmi. Whatever's going on right now, she's not getting out of this without a henshin. Raising her pendant to the sky she shouts, "BREAK THE HANDS OF TIME!"

    < Beflecke die Erde >

    A flash of blue light later, and Starfall Omen is now inside the Labyrinth, standing on a hill and squinting at the mecha warfare happening in front of her. "Someone is making their fantasies a little too real."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco's reason to be here? She'd mostly been hoping to catch some interesting action figure she hadn't found in other model shop, though she had resorted to consult the phone to find out this particular place. It really wasn't one of her usual targets. And the sight she looks at through the entrance really makes her glad of that.

"Is this the right place?", she checks the map on her phone again. However it doesn't lie, though apparently she got a side entrance instead of the main one. How could it have turned to this?

The blonde girl gives another stare to the chaotic show that one could see through the door. She is all for movement and sports, but really not in a space like that. And besides, they are seriously overdoing it!

Well, let's dive in, the mermaid thinks, and try to put some order to this! "Yellow Pearl Voice!" she cheers. A kaleidoscope of colours spreading from the yellow shine of her pearl covers her clothes, an everchanging brilliance that soon after blossoms into the yellow idol of the seas, her trusty E-Pitch microphone in her hand and enveloped in a Live Stage.

<<Hi, Page Mage! I am here, just I got the wrong entrance! I will make my way over right now!>> she replies, glad that at least it's not possessed people right now. <<Bowling is fun every once in a while!>> Coco conveys with a cheery and amused tone. "Star Jewel: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

The melodious voice sings of a sincere wish upon a shooting star, to find the seven lights, believing in the bond called fate, even if tears fall down in the cold waves. In a morning of rebirth, a determination to live through everything again will surely be there.

Seconds after that a new Live Stage accompanying the purifying notes, and she sends it forward to crash through as many as it can.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
<< AHHHHHHH! >> Was the response over the telepathy from Mimete. She had opinions. Namely, the giant bug alient with too many heads and extra mouths should STOP trying to eat her!

Of course, the others weren't that much better. As a strange mecha seemed to take notice of all of them, before... unleashing shoulder missiles, which flew through the air and descended on them! Attempting to scatter the gathered sparkles.

One group would end up feeling the ground shaking... moments before three strange, scythe-armed aliens popped out and tried to latch onto them!

The second group would find themselves subjected to machinegun fire! From... a tank. The bullets weren't bullets, actually resin, so it was kind of like getting hit by a bunch of nerf bullets to those of a mahou bent, but still stung a tiny bit.

The third group would find themselves staring up at the missile shooting robot... which now had an energy sword and descending on them!

Meanwhile, the local mermaid would find herself... actually rather successful. Her stages were billowing through the crowds with ease, sending the soldiers flying up into the air, causing some to crash down and shatter, others to just lay there for a moment... However... after a few seconds, a few of them began to get back to their feet... A pair of orcs and a knight, and... One of the orcs ran at Yellow Pearl Voice. A big, rusty sword in hand as it WAAAAAAAGH'd at her! The other orc and knight just went back to fighting each other. At least the familiars seemed just as keen to fight each other.

Bow has posed:
As others arrive and switch into henshin, Bow doesn't even really get a chance to answer Koji, as Rashmi links everyone up and all the chatter comes into his head - something he's still not terribly used to. <<Bow here!>> And within that, he's doing his own henshin, Etherian armor springing into place as he opens his bow to latch with his quiver just to realize...

...he's still in his summer henshin. "C-c-cold!" he manages, as he pulls back on the bow to summon the energy string into place. <<Moving in to engage!>> he calls out. Just to find himself staring up... and up... at a giant, missile-shooting robot. <<Ah crap.>>

Trying to think quickly, Bow's mind raced. Sculpting was all about detail, precision, and problem-solving. What had he seen in these models so far? They weren't just fighting machines---they were pieces of art, with weaknesses and strengths built into their design.

But for the moment - the idea is to survive. As the sword crashes down, Bow is leaping backwards, sliding along the ground as he calls out. <<Koji, look for a weak spot, I'll keep it occupied!>>

<<Flare Arrow!>> And pulling back to fire, a bright green flare flies up towards the robot, exploding into a bright blast of light as it gets close. Mainly to draw it's attention towards him, and to allow Koji the distraction he needs to get in close.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< ...Okay so *this* is insane, >> Rashmi says... just as the ground rumbles, and erupts in scythe-handed monstrosities.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- RED SHIFT, >> Nicomachea announces, and a seething, unstable bubble of golden magic wraps around Rashmi... only to collapse in a kinetic explosion the moment the first of the creatures makes contact with it. Hurling herself further skyward, she glances about... then chooses her buff of the moment.

    << *BONG!* >> << DELTA ACCEL -- BOOST UP >>

A trio of wispy golden lights resolves into being, darting out to grant a brief speed boost to Bow, Hanzo, and Red, and now that she has a heartbeat's worth of breathing room...

<< Also did someone just *hang up on me?!* >>

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    < I don't like the music. >

    "I don't care, Voselle!" bites back Starfall. Then again, even as she says that, the song burns at the edge of her skin in a way that leaves her... antsy.

    It's only then that she notices Mimete, and thinks, hey, isn't that my boss's co-worker and rival? What will Lana get for assisting her? What will she get for offing her? She'll have to consider that later, if the moment comes up. A tiny little Klingon Promotion never hurt anyone, right?

    Fire is coming in, and Nightmare Chain transforms into rifle mode.

    < Schildarchitekt >

    An entire wall of growing white magical circle shields appears between her and the tank that dares attack her. She glares at the enemy before leveling her gun device at it, firing a stream of small dark-energy fused fireballs that pass through her own shield and spray all over the tank's position.

    < Untergangsflamme >

    Starfall Omen did, indeed, hang up on Rashmi. She's not exactly hiding, though. In fact her magic is pretty flashy.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Immediately as the battlefield resolves itself, and he finds himself teamed up with the best Archer on this side of Love and Justice, Koji actually CHARGES forwards and towards the giant mecha as Bow fires off a blinding shot, which would have been his first move too!

    <<Hanzo here, we're engaging a Macross Plus VF-19F Excalibur 1/44th scale with a custom purple finish, and kitbash Gundam beam saber.>>

...And he just did that from a LOOK.

Throwing his hand up he intones loudly, "Disruptor Chaff! Storage!"

    << WITHDRAW. DISRUPTOR - CHAFF! >>

A grouping of magical circles appear several feet above the pair, and begin to throw out glowing motes in a spray, the disrupting magic designed to cause other spells or magical effects to be triggered before they can reach their target, or in this case, to trigger the warheads on the ungodly swarm of missiles that are flying towards them at the moment, almost too numerous to properly count unless you can freeze-frame them... because in some anime that's just how it do.

From Storage... comes a Belkan two-handed sword that looks like it's been tended to, but still shows it's age. Gripping it on both hands and pointed low and forward so that he won't trip on it, but also can keep it from overbalancing him, a green hex appears in his path, which he hits with one foot and is LAUNCHED towards the plane-turned-mech!

    <<You have to kill the pilot to stop the mech, or damage them enough they can't move. Bow. When I parry the blade, shoot at the joint right between the chest plates. Whatever you've got that can pierce armor. Down it in one go.>>

Still in flight, he brings the blade upwards and braces mid-air for the parry, thinking to himself 'Don't break on me...'

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "INCOMING!" Amy shouts, conjuring and launching a salvo of counter-missiles, but not nearly enough to stop the rain of missiles -- she dives out of the way, setting off one of her own explosions behind her to launch her clear, as her magic can reduce the damage of her own attacks better than it can the enemies'.

    Amy lands across the battlefield and, sighting a tank in the distance, drops to one knee while hefting her recoilless rifle. She has the perfect weapon for this! << I got the tank! >> She calls ouu!

    And then just as she's firing, a chitinous, scythelike blade slices into her, knocking off her aim and sending the HEAT round sailing past to the side of the tank's turret, missing it by a couple of feet. << I do not got the tank! Something's got m-- BUGS?! Both at the same time?! No fair! Aaargh, I can't aim with these guys on me! >>

    Her recoilless rifle disappears, replaced in her hand by the high-caliber gyrojet rifle, but that's not really good for up close. So she conjures sort of a little... flamethrower pistol? And turns and sprays it at the bug as she scrambles to back away, forgetting for a crucial few seconds of SLICING AND BURNING AAAAAH that 1. she can fly and 2. she has a better close-range attack than that!

    (Which, if no one else gets the bugs off her, she begins using at that point, piercing bugs with point-blank shaped explosions like she displayed against Koan the second time as Chalcopyrite!)

Coco Kiumi has posed:
<<Ok, this will take a little while more>>, Coco frowns when they start getting up again. This is when new bowling pins get placed, but she didn't want to be playing bowling that literally! "So loud!", she stares at the charging orc, jumping back, then crouching, then rolling to the side as it keeps sweeping at her with that sword.

"You really are relentless", she recovers from her momentum, a bit of sweat dotting her brow like stars. She had to give it to this familiar, speed wasn't one of its problems, and she doesn't really have the time to sing when it keeps charging.

<<How do you hang up on telepathy?>> Coco gets distracted, which earns her a cut to her shoulder, to her frustration. Using that moment to close in to the orc, she tries to hold tightly around its wrist, and if she can actually hold it there, the familiar will get a very catchy series of purifying notes right into its ear.

"Beautiful Wish: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" She intonates the song that spreads through the air with a lovely memory. The mermaid princess sings of a dream she had while floating above the blue waves within the sea's cradle, an overflow of sadness from a loveless heart.

But from the fragments of a beautiful wish of the sea, feelings of wanting to be born embracing light blend into the sunset. The purifying melody that repels the darkness is like a balm against fatigue, proclaiming loudly no tiredness or melancholy exist here, only refreshment and joy.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
The mecha found itself having a very, very bad day, as many of its missiles were destroyed and THEN it ate a flare to the face! GAHHHH! As the vision was broken, Koji moved to parry and... the saber struck it! The two blades clashed... A crack formed along the ancient belkan blade... but the mech's saber SHATTERED! Deprived of its weapon, the belkan blade was able to strike forward, cutting through the mecha's arm! It leaped back, before suddenly shifting forms into... a... FIGHTER JET?! And raining missiles down on the hapless pair!

Rashmi was in the air... but Amy was not so lucky. The three bugs were descending on her... And melting under the assault, two of them burned away in the initial burst! Tearing them apart! The last, however, was in close now and lunged at her arm, biting and trying to yank her down!

Starfall's gunfire was proving to be quite effective... Well. Not on the tank. But on the bug chasing Mimete. Yes, Mimete saw Starfall and ran towards her, jumping OVER the back of the tank and causing the bug to try and crawl over the tank, just in time to get absolutely seared by the flames. The tank, while not burning well, now had a big ol' bug burned onto it and was trying to shake it off, trying to move to the left and right to escape! Mimete, meanwhile, landed behind Starfall and let out a sigh of relief. "Ugh, I didn' think anyone in Obsidian actually listened to my request for help! I'm making a note of this," she said firmly. As if anyone would care.

Finally, Yellow Voice managed to get the orc to hear her song and... Before her eyes... The orc changed. "Waaagh?" it asked, before... dropping its sword. A robe of white resin formed around it and it put its hands together. "Wag? Aghhh..." And a white glow of peace and serenity washed over it...

Allowing Coco to go free.

Moments before a dozen other orcs descended on the Orc of Peace, tearing it apart. How DARE it! On the upside, Yellow Voice now had a chance to get to the others and assist!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BLADE -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

Ordinarily, Rashmi's Blades are shieldbreakers, meant to pierce and disrupt defensive magic. but when you need to pull a murder-bug off your friend, you can do a lot worse than aim a trio of hard-light swords at something, and use physics to make sure the crossguards catch in the bug flesh, carrying it away with momentum as your ally!

It also helps, afterward, if the swords are on fire, and that fire is *made* to transfer to its target.

<< Has anyone sighted the Witch yet? Because this is... interesting, but I would rather this was done quickly-- >>

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

A bubble of golden light surrounds Mimette and her 'captive,' as Rashmi picks up the thread of her thought. << -- Because there's still at least one civilian in danger, hopefully not more. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << An Excalibur with a Beam Saber?! >> Amy calls back. << What's it need a beam saber for, it's already got the pinpoint barrier punch! Also, we don't know if these Familiars will react like they have pilots! >> Man, why aren't her familiars mecha? That would be way cooler than what Hinoiri described...

    Hopefully, it will never matter in this timeline...

    Anyway, with bleeding scratches soaking the white bodysuit under her costume, she's scrambling back from the last bug, sped up by Rashmi--

    And then remembers this isn't a game, this is real life. And unlike in that game, in real life she can shoot explosions from her hands. So she raises her hand towards the bug and fires a pencil-thin glowing-orange streak at (and hopefully through) it! Unfortunately, short of hitting the brain, a single hit probably won't take down a human-size insect...

    But that's what Rashmi's swords are for!

    With enhanced speed, Amy turns, kneeling again and aiming at the distracted tank's turret, resummoning her recoilless. << I got the tank! >>

    FOOMPBOOM!!!

    The 84mm HEAT round is literally designed for this, anti-tank is right there in the acronym! << No longer a tank! >>

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    There is a moment's hesitation as Mimete suddenly comes into Starfall's line of fire. The Klingon Promotion opportunity is right there...

    ... and its gone, as Mimete is suddenly hiding behind Starfall Omen and her shield wall. "Good day," she says to Viluy's coworker, wondering if she'll regret not stabbing this girl in the back when she had a chance. "A bit loud in here, isn't it?" Lana glances back and sees the civilian that Mimete has with her. "Today's target, I assume?"

    Mimete seems to think that she's here as backup. Lana doesn't correct this assumption. Nor does she do anything about the shield that Rashmi just put up. Who knows? Maybe the sparkles will do the hard work for her. One can only dream.

    The tank is largely unharmed, but the bug that got in the way sure isn't. Thinking that a heavier ordinance might be necessary, Starfall raises her rifle-shaped device into the air and commands, "Nightmare Chain, Staff Mode!"

    < Ja Mutter >

    As the device shifts and moves, much of the shield wall fades away, but the ouchy resin bullets are still making impact ripples on the one glowing white circle shield that remains.

    < Traumlos >

    Lana raises her staff high, and the gem at the top starts firing thick, impactful beams of darkness. That's the tradeoff. She loses her defense in this mode, but in return she gets stronger offensive power. The beams are fired wildly, many of them missing and possibly leaving craters in the ground, but Lana is hoping that enough of them hit the tank for it to be worth it, or at least restrict its movement enough for someone else to finish it off.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The mermaid princess stares shocked when the pure white orc gets reduced to badly hacked at. "How dare you...", she trembles with anger. "It only wanted peace, and you gained nothing from getting in its way! Prepare yourself then, because you are going to learn a bit of civility!" she glares intensely at the orcs.

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 corals protected by a veil of starry brown pearls grow outwards over the clothes around her neck.

The veil of starts twinkles on the layer of fabric extending backwards and downwards from above her skirt, that layer ripples like water just below the skirt, like an orange sea around a yellow core. The E-Pitch mic finally changes in an E-Pitch Headset that descends on Coco's head, the shining yewel nestled safely on the right side.

"The Tale of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" Keeping the white visage of the peaceful orc in her heart, Coco sings of embracing a dream: the journey to find the story that leads all lives to paradise, a treasure that is surely shimmering beyond the seven seas.

The words of the mermaid princess call back to a lute, whose melody that resounded at dawn was similar to a sweet lullaby from her hometown. The enchanted melody shows everyone's hearts the peace the mermaid princesses wish to protect with their songs, a beautiful paradise when nobody has to hurt.

Bow has posed:
As Koji sparred with the mecha, Bow was listening to what he was told. "Aim for the chest... right..." The archer cycles through his arrows. Something to tear through the armor. "Okay, think I have this..." He chews on his lip, before, "Explosive Arrow!" With the arrow formed, he waits for the strike between Koji and the mecha to conclude as he drew back to fire... just to...

Bow watched in a mixture of disbelief and fascination as the mech, now down a saber, transformed into a fighter jet, unleashing a barrage of missiles with alarming precision. His heart was pounding, and for a moment, he forgot all about the chaos of the battle---this was the kind of wild transformation he hadn't expected when he'd heard someone mention Gunpla.

"You didn't tell me it was more than meets the eye," Bow called out to the group, a bit breathless but somehow amused. "You've got me fighting mechs that can change form? And fire missiles? Did I sign up for this?!"

He's suddenly withdrawing, looking for a place to find cover, and then he realizes. Why is he hiding? Climbing up on a pile or rubble as he works to get higher, he keeps his arrow with him as he dodges the missile explosions raining down on him.

"I've seen this... I've done this..." he tells himself, as he reaches a high point, and twists to fire the explosive arrow towards one of the engines of the plane, attempting to take it out.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As Koji lands on the other side of the variable fighter model, sword still in hand, and because this is what it is, his hair and scarf are blowing in a non-existent wind as the arm and blade come crashing down behind him. With a thought, the cracked Belkan blade vanishes back into Hanzo's storage with a 'Thank you.'

Looking back over his shoulder at Bow, he give the other boy a nod, and then, "Where's Page Mage."

    << SEARCHING. >>

    << SEARCHING. >>

    << NICOMACHEA LOCATED. SETTING WAYPOINT. >>

The mecha was hit by Bow, and he throws his hand up to say, "I'll cover us! Follow me!" Followed quickly by, "Let's see if this works... Cluster Shield!"

    << HEX SHIELD. CLUSTER MODE. >>

Over both himself and Bow as they get away from the burning mech in the air, instead of a single shield, dozens of little shields appear, at varying heights and groups. Trying to make up for the inability to make a huge shield, there are dozens of little ones to eat and refract any incoming damage, so each one bleeds more and more until what's left isn't going to do much.

     << We're coming your way, Page Mage. Also... kitbashing is a time-honored tradition, so why does it bother you so much! How about we kill the Witch, find the Seed, save the customers, and THEN you can complain about someone's decision to add a BEAM SABER! >>

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
The tank... that sweet, innocent, murdery tank never stood a chance. First, Amy's anti-tank round struck it and it rocked back, the turret spinning in a circle as it was rocked, the treads blown off... Then Starfall's blasts just... blew a chunk through it, tearing the turret off the heavily damaged body.

Mimete, meanwhile, glanced at the cute boy in her arms. Slooooooowly glanced to him. Then sloooooowly glanced to Starfall. "Yeeeeeeees. He, um, was. Seems a bit... redundant now, though, lots of sparkles."

Rashmi's flaming blades pierce and tear through the last bug, freeing Amy from its assaults and leaving a dried out husk on the ground!

Yellow Pearl Voice's song starts washing over the orcs... and well... More and more of them dawn the robes of 'Pees!' and joining in, a melodious harmony backup for the mermaid as, well... other orcs try to interfere! One of the soldiers they were fighting just... scratches his head, before shrugging, throwing down his chain gun and joining right in. For the Mermaid Empress!

The mecha met a similiar fate as many a horde bot, the arrow erupting its engine and causing the mecha to spin wildly before BAM! It crashes into the ground, leaving an explosion and then--

A scream. A terrible, horrible, horrific scream... words materialize overhead... as a great scroll unfurls. The scroll... is a face. Not... has a face. Is a face. A very, very long face. Then two giant, gloved hands appear, one picking up the tank, as the other hand pulls out a massive brush, trying to repair the remnants of the tank and splashing green paint EVERYWHERE!

Whereever it touches, acid burns and sizzles, quickly beginning to even eat through shields...

Those who could read witch runes would recognize it as... Spielleiter.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Mana accumulator... not yet. Pursing her lips, Rashmi turns to face the new Witch, and holds out her free hand.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE >>

A rapid-fire stream of Barrets is swept over the incoming Witch, the hands, the paintbrush... Anything that feels like it might take a bit of damage from the relatively low-power high-density stream of offensive mana... Up until she hears a faint *ping!* as her accumulator announces it's fully charged.

"Verbal Command: Accumulator Purge."

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

Rashmi holds her Device aloft above her head, and calls out with her outside voice over the din. "IF YOU HAVE AN ATTACK, FORM UP AND I'LL MAKE IT BETTER!" This, largely for Starfall's benefit -- how *dare* she hang up when she could just accept help! -- And when she sees that all who would join her for buffs have, draws in a deep breath. "Solar Bless."

    << SOLAR BLESS >>

The eruption of golden mana that bursts out feels like a bath in warm sunlight, without the side effects of *actual* sunlight. Shots shoot harder, strikes pierce deeper, movements are faster...

And everyone's mana seems wreathed in golden flames.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Intercepting the paint as it comes down towards Koji and Bow, the Cluster Shield catches most of it, causing the paint to splatter off and away like a pachinko machine. The rest is for the pair to dodge, which the ninja-dressed magical boy does with some ease. But coming up on the Witch is another matter.

But as Rashmi's Omni-boost hits, he can feel the surge through him and into his Device, which in turn makes him re-assess his plan. The fires around him suddenly go from the golden hue so familiar to the Page Mage's Boost to a halo of supernatural-esque white-blue lights.

    "Hanzo, reconfigure the boost, you know what to do."

    << COMMENCING. >>

    "LISTEN UP! DON'T SHOOT UNTIL I DO!"

And in unison "Disruptor." << DISRUPTOR. >>

A body-sized Mid-childian magical circle appears in front of him as he extends his Device-Mounted hand, and the flames turn into three wisps that float up and connect to the circle, each becoming an attached smaller circle. Each one rotates around the center, interlocks, and then freezes. The inner circles of magic do the same, like a vault door slowly being opened... until it gets to the center, where it just...

    *CLICK*

And a wave of power lashes out and forwards, washing over the paint and just turning it to dust, hits the Witch and throws the equivalence of a magical static storm, interrupting, stopping, deflecting, and otherwise working to make it very hard for her to DO anything with what's coming.

Koji grins, "NOW!"

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Lana glares in Yellow Pearl Voice's direction as her song gets somehow even more irritating. A dark aura surrounds her, bleeding a bit of energy in order to protect Starfall and the Horrible Thing that lives in her head... and sometimes speaks through her device.

    < Hurts... >

    Starfall scowls at the burning wreckage of the tank, then listens to Mimete behind her. "I see. Should we be leaving soon, then? Or did you have something else in mind?"

    Lana can't help but notice that Mimete is the only one here not spending energy fighting. She knows it's not because she can't. Yet without any further direction or orders to the contrary, Lana's first instinct is to attack and destroy whatever is in her way, and the Witch is very much in her way.

    The scroll-faced Witch appears, and green paint is scattered everywhere. It burns like acid, and Starfall has mere moments to respond before it gets her too. "Needle Cannon! Now!"

    Device reverts to rifle mode, and suddenly a wall of magic shields is surrounding Mimete, her captive, and Lana herself. As acid burns through one, eating the magical barrier into nothing, another rises to take its place. Shield after shield to replace shield after shield, and Starfall's face contorted with frustrated rage as she has to put more and more energy into this.

    Fortunately, the Witch's attacks seem to be not so much aimed at her directly as much as they are labeled 'to whom it may concern', which means there will eventually be a gap.

    Rashmi's buff announcement rings out, and Starfall looks back at Mimete before speeding through the air to get close enough to the-- ugh -- sparkles to receive the temporary boost. Then, as close as she is to the group, she raises her device and shouts, "Staff Mode! Finish it off!"

    < Himmels Zerstorung >

    "Destruction, Rain from the Heavens!"

    Hiding behind the other mahou, Starfall Omen lifts her staff to the sky as a ball of white hot mana gathers above her head. Energy levels spike and, just to make very sure, Starfall dumps a bit of dark energy into the mix as well. She really hopes that Mimete doesn't try to drag her into another fight after spending all of this energy. Darkness doesn't grow on trees, you know!

    Well actually it kinda does, but it can be a pretty sparse resource at times!

    As the mana sphere reaches critical mass, it hums, then implodes and turns red. Koji calls out for a delay, and Lana scrunches her eyebrows as she tries to actually manage all of the volatile energy she's gathered together. This had better be worth it...

    On signal, she releases. Countless fireballs fly out the top of her mana sphere like a volcano, launching into the air and bathing nearly everything in the Labyrinth in dark-fueled hellfire.

    Nearly everything. Lana makes sure to avoid hitting the sparkles, Mimete, or Mimete's target. Aggro management is a key survival skill, and all that. Eventually the mana sphere dissipates, and Nightmare Chain is already shifting back to its more defensive rifle mode. She eyes the other mahou suspiciously, including Mimete.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The melody of the seven seas reaches into the hearts of the orcs, as even if she still deplores the cruelty against a harmless familiar, she is pleased to know that her song has calmed down the darkness enshrouding them. Nothing really can be done about being called a mermaid empress, can it? She appreciates the intention, and the radiance of the Live Stage does probably contribute to that effect.

"Good job, everyone!", she winks at the reformed orcs, before waving at them. Time to finally reach her friends. With rapid steps, the yellow mermaid goes over to the group, just in time to see the Witch's descent, and to have to avoid those acid splotches of green paint.

"I am here now! Fashionably on time!", she jokes, extending a hand towards the Witch in preparation for her next song, her favourite, the one she holds dearest in her heart. Bathed in that white-golden glow where the flames all around and the Live Stage meet, rhythmic pulses of light that give a warm embrace to the pain, the despair and the affliction that make up the Witch."

"The Sound of the Bell of Hope ~Love Goes On~:Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Finale, the mermaid princess smiles gently, knowing that it's time to put an end to this wrong dream.

The seven-colored wind, the seven-colored sky
Overflow with hope to the world.
Your pure white wings, let them rest, and gently fall to sleep.
The sound of the bell of hope becomes the final song now...
This isn't a world made up of just strong people, so
Listen to my love in this song...

At the apex of the song, purifying hearts fly out in all directions, the reach of a big circle of love that won't end. "Fine Heart Pitch!, she concludes the performance with a bright smile.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << Oh it's cool, >> Amy clarifies, << I mean, a valkyrie with a beam saber? Yeah! I was, I was just surprised! I mean, I'm wondering about the lore behind this creation, they don't have I-fields in Macross, is it for some kind of Super Robot Wars-style crossover...? >> She shakes her head << Right! We gotta find the Witch! So we can end this! >>

    Instead, the Witch finds them.

    A scroll on a face. A name that starts with S. And Master and Crazy hand scramble to repair the tank, Amy can almost feel the Witch's distress at her creation being destroyed, and feels sorry for her.

    "I'm so sorry," She breathes, eyes growing a bit watery. "That this is how it ends. I promise I'll bring your grief seed to someone who can see you off properly."

    Amy, relieved to feel Rashmi's golden sunlight, closes her wounds and prepares to--

    --IS THAT?! "You're the one with the wasp youma! What are you doing-- I guess anyone can wander into a Witch's labyrinth. How do you like it when some monster shows up and ruins your plans, huh?" Amy doesn't just stand there while chastising Mimete; she's dodging splashes of acidic paint while summoning and firing the wasp launcher, seven micro-missiles ripple-firing at the Witch in erratic, swirly paths, burning trails of golden fire through the air.

    But now Magical Rocket Girl Red turns to focus on the Witch in earnest. "I'm sorry it came to this, but I'll give you a proper sendoff!" She conjures the hypervelocity recoilless rifle made to look like a certain fictional railgun she's used a few times before, and takes aim at one of the hands, a sonic boom echoing across the battlefield as a cloud of tiny flechettes is launched at the speed of yes.

    She's had her flight armor on the whole time, but only now do the thrusters ignite, the tiny Puella taking to the sky twirling in her hand some sort of demonic-looking triple-barelled rifle trailing a segmented tail behind it. "Howling launcher, B mode!" From the air among the devicers, she shoulders the weapon as it suddenly grows to shoulder-launcher-size (and the back opens up so it's one of her appropriate weapon types), and she howls playfully, "Gaooooooo~!" as she fires from one of the barrels one, two, three explosive shells at the other hand!

    Finally, she flies back across the battlefield, circling past Yellow Pearl Voice. "Listen to her song! May it send you to rest in peace!"

    And then she's covered in missile racks. so many missile racks. Giving any Valkyrie figurines present a run for their money, the Puella Magi briefly resembling a mecha musume fires off a huge salvo of mini-missiles, which weave erratic, sharply-angled paths towards the Witch trailing smoke, to impact from dozens of angles at once!

    On her arm, dark, roiling corruption fills a fifth of her soul gem.

    The light of dozens of distant explosions reflects in Magical Rocket Girl Red's eyes. She hopes all their attacks together are enough to put this Witch to rest.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
"Holy..." Mimete mumbled. "I thought you were supposed to be a devicer, like Riventon? But you're making him look like kind of a punk!" Though, to be fair... Mimete hadn't seen Riventon in a while.

As the witch tried to work, suddenly it found its body... erratic. Jerky.

Which was useful, as Starfall unleashed a hell of her own on the witch, flame EVERYWHERE, melting the resin models and turning the labyrinth into a charr covered mass... Add Amy's rockets and missiles, erupting the landscape in more explisions...

Then on top of that, with Yellow Voice's music washing over the area, tearing away the strange witch magic with the notes, showing parts of reality beneath. With the forces against it, the hands were popped, the air releasing out of them in strange slow motion, as if they were balloons, while the scroll itself was burned and torn to pieces.

And then the labyrinth collapsed entirely. The patrons of the shop appeared and... most fell to the ground, or grabbed tables, looking confused, somewhat nauseous. A grief seed was resting on one of the tables, fallen over. Mimete eeped and dropped Soga. He looked surprised for a moment... Until he looked up at Mimete. Who had ended her own henshin (not that she'd done much more than running.)

Soga got to his feet and dusted himself off, looking confused and... "Oh. Hey, I remember you," he said.

Mimete leaned forward, a smile on her face. "Y-yes?"

"Yeah, you helped me with getting those green onions earlier, you were absolutely right."

"I-I was?" Mimete asked, leaning forward a little more, batting her eyes.

"Definitely. My girlfriend is absolutely going to love them, thanks. It's our anniversary. Oh, wow, I'm late. Thanks again!" he said, shaking his head and walking past her.

Mimete, meanwhile, was... wobbling on her feet, almost turned to stone. Ouch. Slowly... walking towards the door... the black car parked outside... heart... shattered. Mission, failed... And yet... She popped open the trunk... hands shaking...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon had picked up some sort of distress signal and, eventually, decided to make his way over there. And then he arrived as the barrier was coming down - basically, too late to help, but just in time to watch Mimette's interaction with the boy.

    So when he appeared, floating down from above next to her, and chuckling a bit - looking around at all the sparkles and the situation, he doesn't appear ready to start anything. At least, not with them.

    "Wow, so not only did you get stuck inside a labyrnth - but you needed to put out a call for help and got saved by the sparkle squad - and then the dude over there which was - let me guess, today's stalking target - mostly just helped in his existing relationship by you?" He asked as she popped the trunk.

    "Man, you girls have really gone downhill since I left, which is impressive since I was already dissapointed by your general lack of effectiveness at the time. Oh, didn't you also lose a WHOLE KID?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Mimete shook with each word. Like little speech bubble arrows. Jab. Jab. Jabjabjab. They could see her shaking with each word... And as she rifled through the trunk, they could see her pull out the pure heart gun... And then shove it to the side?

A moment later, she pulled out what looked like some kind of... weird... cobbled together... electric... gameboy... charger... thing?

A moment later they'd know what it was, when she jabbed it into Riventon's side and unleashed the force of a jupiter on his side, electricity flashing for a moment.

"... Hey, Star-girl, thanks for the assist. Wanna go get some ice cream or something?" she asked, before turning... pausing...

Turning around to taze him once more for good measure. And good news, considering it was effective-ish? It definitely had some magic in its design. Also. Ouch.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Between tazings, Riventon can be heard protesting that "You can't do this to me, I'm a vice-director! I outrank y-" before the second electrical blast occurs and a smoking Riventon duskports out of the vicinity.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Augh. Augh. AUGH.

    Lana recoils as Coco sings right next to her. She... she really does not have time for this. This is why she doesn't trust sparkles! Was the attack buff really worth all this?!?!

    Omen glares and snarls at Rashmi. She baited her into a trap! Treachery!

    Mimete's observations nearly go unnoticed. Nearly. Lana's mind is very far away from the praise of her superiors. "I'm more than just a devicer..." she states, but cuts it off there. No need to mention her personal Lost Logia in front of two potential TSAB agents.

    As the Labyrinth fades around them, Starfall Omen scowls at the mahou and wordlessly turns her body to thrust her hand, fingers spread wide, behind her as she prepares to cast a spell... but then holds back. Riventon is here, and is making fun of the girl. Starfall waits to see where this goes.

    ... and then she tazes him. Oh. Oh that's so funny. Starfall Omen actually cracks a smile for the first time since this whole fight started. Then she's getting invited out for ice cream and well...

    Lana squints at Rashmi, Koji, Amy, Bow, and especially Coco, before turning to Mimete and walking towards her. "Sure. Why not? Who could turn down ice cream?"

    The mana from the spell she was about to cast dissipates, but... if anyone actually cares to scan what she was trying to do, it was clearly just a space-bending portal spell. Not terribly hostile in of itself. She wanted to leave.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
On the one hand, the suffering of another human being is terrible and should never be encouraged.

On the other hand, Riventon immediately feeling the consequence of his smart mouth and jerk behavior is *hilarious.*

It evens out, in that Rashmi feels a little bad for the clarly audible *snrrrk* that sounds as she tries to cover her mouth.

When Starfall bestows upon her a truly epic squint, Rashmi simply spreads her hands. "Witches are the one thing both our sides can agree on; they need to be stopped as soon as possible. Remember that; in a Labyrinth, the Witch is the enemy."

And that's all the inserting herself into the co-worker conversation she does, because really between saving the streamer from the Witch and watching -- Vice Director? -- Riventon get electrocuted, today has turned out *just the best.*

Koji Silvia has posed:
In the entirety of the chaos, Koji uses the moment to slip back out of his Henshin, and ensures that there's enough people between himself and the bads... but not until AFTER Riventon just gets tased by his cohort.

The troll-face expression on him is worthy of Usagi as he covers his mouth, and his glasses even go spirally-covered for a few moments as he SNICKERS at that's happened. Moving off towards the fantasy figurines, he just sighs and goes back to shopping, "So... where are you... the website said you had a half-elf paladin and a... right... tabaxi rogue in stock..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    You know what, she's about to be flush with magic power. Amy regenerates her big wounds completely while Coco's song is still buffing her.

    She lands under where the Witch was, dismissing her missile racks as the Labyrinth disappears and crouching momentarily to pick up the grief seed. 'It's over now.' She whispers to it. 'You don't have to suffer anymore.' Eyes wet again, she slips the grief seed into her right belt pouch.

    "Thanks everyone!" Amy calls to her friends, and then observes through the storefront window the exchange occuring outside, and smiles faintly as she shakes her head at Team Obsidian's shenanigans.

    Once all the darksiders have left, she de-henshins and makes her way over to walk up alongside Koji. "Do you think they have anything for a foxgirl wizard?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
With the Witch neutralised, only then does Coco notice Mimete holding a guy, raising an eyebrow at the unusual sight, all the more so because he doesn't show any sign of having been attacked, either by Mimete or the Familiars. Sometimes the events really take an unusual turn.This Labyrinth reaches its end, and with the Witch's anger and malice fading they are back in the actual shop. The familiar pin of the Grief Seed's fall reaches Coco's ears, but that's for Amy to take, and more importantly, she has Mimete to think about.

But she is there letting the guy go, and walking back outside. A feeling of empathy surges within Coco, and the mermaid wants to reach out and console the clearly crushed witch. The sad waves of her broken heart are really palpable.

And with Riventon turning up, she starts thinking this may not be over yet.

Then the tasing occurs. Talk about bad reaction.

Suppressing a smirk, she is torn between the almost funny vein of the situation and how terrible it must feel for him. Even if he did strike first, with his words. He is in henshin though, at least he will be fine.

She looks back at Lana, but otherwise doesn't pay her that much attention, since she doesn't seem intent on attacking. "Great job, everyone!", she instead cheers.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    "As long as we agree," intones Lana, being almost haughty in response to Rashmi. "We're only allies as long as something more bothersome than you is in the room."

    Next time she'll need to bring earplugs. Wait... would earplugs even help against magical singing? Or is it more like... the vibrations in the air carry the purification? As she ponders this, she simply resolves to never stand right next to a singing magical during combat again. Or stand in any purification beams. Anything purifying in general is probably really unhealthy for Voselle, the formless void creature she's bonded to.

    < Still hungry... >

    "Oh no. We are not eating whatever that thing was."