2397/Sad Eyes Stolen Energy

Sad Eyes Stolen Energy
Date of Scene:	09 March 2025
Location:	Yumegahama Ward
Synopsis:	Fate Testarossa is still trying to make her mother proud, this time via stolen energy. Nanoha, Rashmi, Chrono, Amy, and Ahmya can't let her get away with it clean.
Cast of Characters:	Fate Testarossa, Ahmya Karashima, Rashmi Terios, Nanoha Takamachi, Chrono Harlaown, Amanda Faust

---

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Fate Testarossa hadn't really... done a lot of Obsidian's primary work, gathering energy. She'd been mostly laser-focused on locating the Jewel Seeds, while Riventon's group did the energy theft needed. But ever since Riventon had discovered had to awaken dormant Jewel Seeds forcibly with a lot of energy, draining energy was now more firmly connected to Precia Testarossa's main goals. So, they needed more of it than ever, which meant Fate was tapped as well, having headed down to Inhuman Resources to pick up a youma.

    And now, she looked down at the little purple ball in her hand. Inside was a circular, flat thing with a hole in the middle - the clerk at Inhuman Resources called it a "CD" - all Fate knew for sure is that the rainbow colors of it drew her eye.

    Standing on a rooftop with her young Master, Arf looked at Fate and crossed her arms. "So, that thing's gonna drain energy for us?" She asked. Fate nodded quietly. "Well, let's get on with it then." Fate looked down at the orb for a long while before she pulled her hand all of the way back and then threw it hard.

    The orb shattered on contact with the pavement, releasing a CD that rattled on the ground and a cloud of gaseous Dark Energy, before two glowing red eyes appeared on the CD and it too burst with Dark Energy in a column - and when the energy cleared, there stood a house-sized creature, like a stick figure made out of CDs, the words FREE TRIAL emblazoned in English on the front of the CD that made up the torso.

    Down below civilians started to run before the creature's red eyes fixated on them, pulling energy away from them as the started to pass out mid-run.

    "So... they're gonna be alright, just tired, right?" Arf asked Fate. Fate nodded.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Ahmya Karashima had been in the Yumegahama ward already when that orb had been thrown down onto the pavement, her family there along with her for a small family vacation to another section of Tokyo, absolutely there to spend time at the Dream Kingdom together as a family.

Perhaps the most normally dressed she'd ever been spotted as, she was just wearing a comfortable and relatively plainly colored blouse and skirt, with some long socks and her usual wooden geta that ~clack~ softly with each step.

"...Ah, my dearest family, it seems that there is some danger afoot. We should get to safety." Ahmya says to her parents and older brother, who nod and start to make their way away from the street to take shelter along with other running civilians.

Making use of the commotion, Ahmya accidentally gets 'separated' from her family, slipping off into a nearby alleyway to initiate her transformation, holding her hands out in front of her to trace a golden circle out of silk in the air, spiderwebbing snaking from those edges to the center of that circle, before the massive hat that she regularly can be seen wearing is flipped up onto her head, obscuring her briefly in the golden movements of her veil -- before she is reaplaced with Goldenweb Yorotsuchi.

"Halt, foul ring of ancient curses! This land is one of joy and happiness, where visitors come to rest and relax after a long week at work!" Maybe she'd been watching too much Sailor V recently? Then again, this was Ahmya, so it wasn't THAT weird.

"Cease thine evil assault upon these beachgoers, or I, Yorotsuchi of the Golden Web will be forced to punish you!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The last few weeks have been... a lot. A veritable *rollercoaster* of shattering lows and unutterable highs, with barely a moment to breathe in between. But now, with Nicomachea reassembled and field-tested -- if not yet given the test-to-destruction trials that Chrono has in store for her -- and things at a high simmer... Rashmi announced to Chrono that if they did not have their date this weekend, she feared there might not be time to go on another one for *months.*

And Rashmi *desperately needed* some exclusively boyfriend-time.

So it is that the pair have gone to lunch, discussing what they might do with the rest of their day. Movie? Karaoke? Video games? A walk in the botanical gardens? ...The latter was finally settled on, as the idea of just being, surrounded by peaceful beauty, was *immensely appealing.*

Which is why, when Nicomachea's warning sounded off, Rashmi heaved a tremendous sigh. "...Starting to understand why Usachan gets so salty," she mutters. "But Chrono-kun... Nicomachea's telling me he found a Dark Energy spike, *and* Bardiche-san's signature. ...Think we better go."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi is helping clean up a section of beach. Yuuno is on her shoulder. She is dressed in a puffy jacket, and Yuuno has on an adorable ferret sized sweater in the cold. Cleaning up the beach is important, soon it'll be warm and people will be flocking to the beach!

That's when Raising Heart pings danger not too far away in the Ward. So she goes off, transforming and casting flier fin. At least it appears to be normal danger. So she's expecting a fast fight against uh...

"Are those , like those discs my dad has he and mom listen to sometimes with the Barry White guy on them!?" she says. They are but why does that one say Free Trial? That's a weird singer. Free Trial. Maybe it's a new-wave thing from the 1990's.

But then there's Fate and huh? That's... weird. There's not a Jewel Seed here. Is there? She suddenly looks around with darting eyes as she mutters.

"Wide area search." she says.

Two orbs escape from Raising Heart and start scanning the area for Jewel Seeds while she frowns.

"Fste-chan. What's this about!? Are you a fan of 'Free Trial'!?" she says.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had, admittedly, come VERY close to suggesting that they should do the trial then.

Very, very close. But while he had been... admittedly... over working and overstressing himself, as it were, even he had FINALLY had to recognize that, no, this was not something that could be done all the time, forever, he had to pace himself before he broke.

And also, his mom had been nearby when the talk happened and that was why he had brought extra chocolates when he went to the date. And was wearing the nicest of... sweater vests. Because of course he was.

Of course, when his alarms went off... wellllll... he had half a mind to ignore it. Someone else could...

Bardiche. "Yeah... let's... yeah," she said, before giving her a peck on the cheek. She might notice he only had to stand on his tippy toes now, she didn't have to lean down, for tha to happen anymore. And then he pulled out his card. "I'll have high expectations from both of you. Consider this a midterm before the final," he said, giving her a smile. If it could hold up agains Fate... even a Fate who was likely holding back...

"... Is... it some kind of blu-ray disc?" Chrono asked. "Trial... of what?" This world... so very, very confusing sometimes.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is practicing using a summoned rocket to fly again. Magic is weird sometimes -- as far as she can tell, past the point of her shoulder launchers, big attacks are usually less effeicient than small attacks, even if she makes a bunch of small attacks at once... But somehow, a big rocket to fly around on uses less total energy than maintaining the homing thrusters in her armor would for trips lasting more than a half-minute or so. Magic, amirite?

    Anyway, she happens to be flying overhead when she senses the dark energy of a youma activating close. She lands atop a nearby building, running to the edge of the roof and standing dramatically!

    "Alright, who is it this time?! Magical Rocket Girl Red is here to stop--"

    She blinks at the stickman-made-of-CDs, and her shoulders slump a little. "Are... Are you here to tell me 'You've got mail'?"

    Foul ring of ancient curses?! "I-it's not ancient! I... wh... gh... it's not ancient, come on!" Her voice gets a bit whiny as she looks to Ahmya... And then at Chrono. "IT'S A CD!"

    ...and then she straightens up and points at the youma with renewed vigor! "You! Your fate is only to be coasters! To be forgotten in jewel cases and piles of burned music, games, and linux distros in a forgotten box in my room! To be absolutely useless if I ever need you all these years later, when the coating with all the data in it has peeled and flaked away from the clear plastic underneath! You are just not a youma that lasts! I CAN'T EVEN FIND A DRIVE THAT READS YOU ANYMORE! WHY DO THEY ALL BREAK?!"

    She points, "That is your future, youma! To be flaked and forgotten, and unreadable! You were so convenient, but you just don't last!"

    She may have gotten kind of distracted ranting and forgotten to actually attack...

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Fate Tesatrossa's face... doesn't actually really change when the heroes show up. Arf's shows the bigger change in emotion, from concern to annoyance.

    It's Fate that responds, first to Nanoha and more generally to everyone. "I don't know what it is." she admits. "It's some bit of this world... well... it's... a youma, now." she says pointedly.

    "It's just some peice of ancient junk from this world's backwards past." Arf adds. "And the sooner it does its thing and we canm get the jewel seeds and go home, the sooner things will be better for Fate-chan and everyone else."

    Fate's eyes blink and she looks up at Arf, but doesn't say much.

    It's the youma who's doing the talking now. "ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A FREE TRIAL? FIVE HUNDRED HOURS! FREE!" the youma blares as it stops draining energy from the civilians and turns to try to drain the energy from the mahou - their henshin protects them, so it goes for another plan.

    It rears its hand back and thrusts out its arm of giant CDs, which detach from its body and becoming spinning discs of danger, slicing through the air and cutting right through a tree on the way towards the assembled Mahoujin. "A DISC FOR EACH HOUSEHOLD EACH DAY!" it yells. Apparently it's not been made aware of 'household' since Chrono and Rashmi both get a disc heading for them.

    "It's dangerous here." Fate says bluntly. "You should stay out of our way." Somehow her soft, barely-sure voice still reaches the mahoujin far away as the discs sail through the air.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"...Huh? I mean that one isn't that old but in internet terms the viruses and stuff usually on those are pretty ancient." Goldenweb Yorotsuchi responds to Amy, her head tilted a bit curiously at her. The Rocket Girl Red seemed to be a bit weirdly defensive about this.

Rashmi and Chrono are there, but they haven't addressed her or not. She gives a soft exhale as she listens to Arf and Fate talk. "..." They seemed ... ... Debatably invested in this? Mostly just telling them to leave because it's dangerous. Weird. Anyway there is a disc shooting towards her!

And Goldenweb Yorotsuchi pulls her sword forward, disc meeting blade as it flies towards her, sparks of darkness and golden energy shooting off of the blade as the two halves of the CD fly past her to strike the ground beside her on either side.

... Unfortunately they didn't entirely miss her, the edges of the CD cutting at the sides of her arms and leaving marks where they struck.

"I see." Speaks the one-eyed mahoujin.
"A peaceful resolution is not an option. Then you shall taste the bite of Reality Devourer!"

She lifts her sword above her head in a kendo stance with one arm, as she weaves small runes on its edge.

[Sharp]
[Energize]
[Project]

And she takes two steps forward -- that move further than they should -- bringing her sword down, sending a wave of golden energy towards the CD Youma!

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi finds... no Jewel Seeds. Well. Huh...

She's about to question Fate on this change of... tactics? When suddenly the youma is screaming about if it's interested in it's band(?) and spins discs into into her as she quickly darts upwards and watches as a lampost takes the cut for her, falling over. Whoops.

"R-right... Yuuno...!"

"On it!" says the be-sweatered ferret, nods and casts a barrier spell! The world going negative before going black and white...

There. No more worrying.

Nanoha Takamachi frowns as she looks to Fate. "Fate, this...this doesn't make sense there's not a jewel seed here! I Checked!" she says as she fires off shot barrets into the CD youma.

"What's a CD?" she asks. "I mean these aren't seedy..." she says with a furrowed brow.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Could not tell you, dear," Rashmi murmurs as she tries to make sense of the giant stack of CDs in the rough approximation of a person. As the draining switches from the civilians to the mahoujin, Rashmi skips back half a pace in the air, and raises a hand --

-- but Yuuno was more on the ball than she, which is a relief; maintaining too many persistent spells can be distracting, sometimes.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Hello everybody! For those of you who don't know; we'll be *very, very lucky* if Fate up there -- that's the blond in the black cloak -- and Arf don't get involved in this fight. If she does, watch each other's backs an-- WHUPS >>

The spinning CDs splitting the air toward her and Chrono are met with an outstretched hand, and a quick mental command.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- GLACE SHIFT >>

Five meters away from her hand, a dome of golden light fades into view, then with a *CRACK* becomes a shallow cone of golden, irregular, spiky ice, covered in facets and ridges to blunt and redirect a spinning, cutting attack!

"Fate-san, you *know* we can't just walk away if you're hurting people, right?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The Youma asks if they want a free trial. "We already had Compuserve! But once there was a world wide web, you didn't even need that-- hey!"

    Amy hits the deck as a giant CD whizzes inches over her head--she then rolls off of the roof and kicks off the side of the building, blam-blam-blam-ing wildly at the youma with gyrojet (non-explosive rocket-propelled bullets, basically) pistols.

    "You know what?!" She lands on her feet, "The problem with those services was that you presented your own thing like it was the internet, so people would stay on your forums, your chatrooms... and we've gone back to this! People think Bookface, and Birdsite, and MeTube are all the internet is! Just like you wanted them to think it was all you, all those years ago!"

    She looks up at Fate. "I was gonna say we're not backwards but I guess I'll give it to you on this one! Please, tell us what a proper internet on a sane world looks like!"

    Amy then turns to Ahmya. "Did you say Reality Devourer?!"

    Did Nanoha just ask -- okay she's like ten, fair. "It's a-- you know what I'll explain later if you really wanna know. It's an old way of storing data... like blu-rays that hold less." She sighs.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown cocked an eye at Fate. "Fate Testarossa... chan, you know I cannot just stand by. As a TSAB enforcer it is my duty to put a stop to your actions by whatever means necessary."

He then nottded to Goldenweb and Nanoha. Admittedly, those two were the 'methods' today.

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

A single blade would materialize to his side as the CD came at his face... to be pierced in the center and pinned to the ground.

"Huh. Neat. So it's an ancient storage device of this world? Judging by the shape and modern technology, from... two, possibly three centuries in the past?" he asked.

For the moment, he didn't launch any attacks other than defensively, instead focusing more on how the others were reacting. Nanoha had ensured a barrier was put up, Rashmi was activating her own defenses and setting up a telepathy line, Goldenweb was assaulting the youma directly.

He flew higher up, giving himself a better vantage point, as he crossed his arms behind himself. Making himself an easy target for the Testarossa's if they wished, but otherwise he just seemed to be monitoring the situation.

Rashmi, Nanoha and Goldenweb would likely feel that familiar pressure of being graded. Amy would likely feel like 'I swear this space boy...'

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Fate looks at Nanoha. "There's not a jewel seed here. So you can just leave. It doesn't concern you." she says to Nanoha specifically, folding her arms. "I don't know what a CD is, and it doesn't matter." Not to Fate, anyways. Maybe it does a lot to others here.

    The CDs - the ones that aren't destroyed on their way to attack - return to the Youma to form up part of an arm. Meanwhile, the shot barrets and the blade from Goldenweb are headed towards the Youma, when it converts one of the CDs on its other hand to a giant one, like a shield, hiding behind it. NEW TITANIUM EDITION the shield-cd reads in bold print - but the CDs that were cut and dodged do not return to reform the youma, so it's a little bit shorter now after it reconfigures some of it's leg-cds to form a new arm.

    "We need their energy." Fate says bluntly, to Rashmi. "You can always just walk away." she adds.

    "At least, you can walk away while your legs still work." Arf adds, smiling to reveal jagged teeth. "We're taking the energy from a buncha nobodies doing nothing, so Vice Director Riventon can find the Jewel Seeds that have been hiding." she adds. Fate gives arf a glare and tugs on her tail, which causes Arf to yelp rather adorably and look at Fate, who just continues giving her a worldless glare. "Did I say too much...?" she asks, her canine ears drooping.

    Down on the ground the gyrojets finish what the other attacks started, shattering the 'platinum edition' shield. The youma suddenly jumps up and turns around - angling it self so the sunlight bounces off the reflective side of the CDs and trying to blind all the Mahoujin giving it attention before turning into a sort of whirling dervish, the whole creature's body spinning in wild directions and leaving cuts in the now-barrier-fake landscape.

    Fate's eyes roam over the battlefield.

    "Like this, we won't get any more energy." Fate says to Arf. Arf grins.

    "Got it." she says, clenching her hand into a fist and suddenly rocketing off the top of the building. But she's not headed at Chrono. <<BARRIER BREAK!>> calls the wolf-woman as soars up to the top of the Barrier to try and pummel her way through it with her specalized attack.

    Fate's eyes roam over the battlefield, looking to play interruption for anyone stopping her hound on the way to putting civilians back at risk again. Meanwhile, the youma-cd-monster is basically spinning-breakdancing towards the perhaps blinded mahoujin, a bit like it's gotten its physics disrupted in a video game, gangly disc-arms and legs flailing wildly.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"Oh, yeah, that's my sword. Though normally they're Willcutter. Or Airsplitter. Or the Cutting Edge or..." Ahmya responds to Amy Faust. Clearly the name doesn't actually mean much, especially since the sword didn't seem to be particularly devouring reality. In fact, it seemed pretty normal, barely even magical except for the enchantments placed on it.

She's probably not helping Amy's mental state either way, really. ... Though certain other people are probably worse.

Wait what is that pressure.
What the heck when did this become a test
She was supposed to be on vacation not taking tests aaaaaaaa

Meanwhile, her sword beam is /blocked by a CD/. Huh. "I see, the reflective surface was used to deflect my energy attack! How clever, uwa ha ha ha!"

And then it spins. And turns the reflective side of the CDs to blind Ahmya. AGH MY EYE

Ahmya closes her good eye, and reangles the sash to cover it, before opening her blind eye.

...Wait isn't it supposed to end the world if she uncovers that? ... Mostly it just looks kind of funky since her eye is all webbed up and lacks an iris.

Yes she just willingly more further blinded herself, as that dervish of CDs spins towards her.

... Meanwhile, nearby from its spot hidden at the edge of a building, Hachi has poked around the edge to Watch.

And as that spinning dervish comes towards Ahmya... she steps forward again, bringing that sword down as golden strands of spidersilk coat it, mixed defense and offense as she brings that sword around, flicking it and darting around the whirling dervish of CDs now that she had its location locked down, at the last moment swapping her sash back over to her bad eye as she flicks the tip of her blade away from the CD youma.

"I see you have found yourself in a sticky situation!"

Pause.

Wait there's a wolf going towards the top of the barrier. "Wait no that's not how this is supposed to go!!!"

And that golden silk is brought to bear once more, quickly weaving it into a net as she darts off again, this time away from the Youma and running up the side of the nearby building to begin to LEAP towards Arf to attempt to catch her in said net!

... ... Which puts her passing RIGHT BY Fate.

This definitely won't go poorly for her. At all.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi blinks. "Wait, she can break the barrier just like that!?". Yuuno facepalms his tiny ferret face, of course Fate's familiar knows the exact spell to break or damage a barrier directly. It's like their destined to be opposites.

Nanoha Takamachi lowers Raising Heart and calls out. "HYPERION SMASHSER!" a barrage of artillery level magical blasts blasting around the CD youma while she can afford to level such firepower.

in case Arf actually breaks the barrier. Then it means Nanoha will be severely nerfed in her fighting capability.

Can't save people at the cost of excessive property damage! Can you?

C--can you?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sees that whatever CDs weren't destroyed have reformed into its body. "Ah, it's like that Yellow Devil Rockman boss..."

    "AAAAGH!" Amy actually screams when Chrono says 'centuries'.

    She turns to him, "Thirty years, okay?! Just a few years into the Heisei era! We were using magnetic tape before--" She relaxes. "Oh. Oh you're just f***ing with me, aren't you."

    Amy stands straight again, her sigh turning into a surprised agh! as sunlight is reflected into her eyes -- she conjures big, polarized sunglasses with hot pink frames onto her face, but still, is so distracted doing that that she gets run down by the whirling dervish of CDs, cutting into her chest armor and across her legs, red bleeding into her bodysuit. "Gnh!" she cries out in pain, and this time remembers to spend slight energy regenerating enough to stop the bleeding, and with her outfit reforming pristine there's no visible damage but she's still grunting in pain as she gets up.

    She conjures her pistol again and shoots at the CDs spinning around to attack her a couple of times, then leaps back with another pained grunt, stumbling a little, and starts flinging grenades, hoping maybe the explosive force will be enough to break some of the CDs without precisely hitting them!

    She'll trust the flyers to catch the barrier-breaking(?) flying wolf!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'Barrier Break!'

Because of *course* it can't be that easy, and-- is Chrono *testing them?!* Throwing the kind of glare only a momentarily annoyed girlfriend can throw, Rashmi sets out to confound Arf-- AUGH THAT IS BRIGHT.

As she frantically bats away the twinkling aftereffects of the flash-glare, Nicomachea sets up the first of the plans he and Rashmi had made in the moment Arf rocketed skyward.

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

A yellow-black ball of static forms above Nicomachea's pages, then *expands* outward in the space of a few heartbeats. Should Arf break through Yuuno's magic, she will be rewarded with... *more Barrier?!*

And as her vision returns, she hurriedly consults the battlefield, and settles on her second course of action. Slipping a modult from her Device's cover, she slots it in place, as a spell-seal spreads out beneath her.

    << *BONG!* >> << GLACE INDEX: TERA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

A trio of wispy balls of energy resolve into being around her, then dart out toward their respective targets, and a moment later Nanoha, Amy, and Ahmya all receive a momentary boost in their ranged-danage power... *and* a sticky, icy 'coating' to their spells, designed to hamper and weigh down the enemy as well as damage them.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown blinked a few times when Fate mentioned 'Vice director' Riventon... And that just made a rather familiar, almost sarcastic grin form on his lips. "Oh, he got a promotion? Please, Fate-chan. Let him know I send my congratulations."

He also closed his eyes because #585#$ING CDS ARE REFLECTIVE! But that was what he had scanners for, before he moved a hand to block his eyes from being blinded. He didn't know why, but he felt the sudden hunger for a papaya. Eh, whatever. Probably not important.

Arf's attempt to nullify the barrier, however, made him pause. Should... he step in? No. It looked like Goldenweb was going to try and stop her to--

Aaaand then Fate was starting to move. THAT sent off every single alarm bell he had and as Fate started to move, Chrono shifted instantly from 'teacher mode' to 'Enforcer mode'.

As Fate's hands went back.... two small seals would appear on her wrists, binding her only for a half second to break them.

But Chrono was focused *entirely* on her now.

<< Fate-chan, traditionally I believe it's standard procedure for your side to leave the barrier up until one side has become victorious. As people do not give any energy when they are dead. However, if you wish to make this a full engagement, please divert your focus to me before you attempt to harm any of the others. Or possibly Nanoha, I believe she has grown fond of your engagements. >>

It wasn't that he didn't... trust the others to handle Fate if it came down to it...

But he had almost DIED when she had blindsided him. If Fate was going to fight them, he couldn't allow her to get a surprise attack off. Worse, he didn't really trust any of them, aside from perhaps himself or Nanoha, to be able to handle her in a one on one fight. And even himself he was iffy about on bad days. As cute and amusing as he found Rashmi's annoyed glare, he really... didn't want to have to consider another person nearly dying. And he knew exactly how fatal and violently that glaive could end someone.

He then glanced back to Amy. "What? No. Its only been thirty years? That's impressive," he called down to her.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Fate is, indeed, focused on covering for Arf, and as the Goldenweb weilder moves in, and past Fate, Bardiche's head folds back to reveal a sudden burst of almost-gold energy too - no, it's yellow, bright and brilliant.

    <<SCYTHE FORM.>> Bardiche announces. Fate swings at Goldenweb, but the combination of Chrono's binds and perhaps Goldenweb's own reactions - plus the disruption of Nanoha's fierce barrage - and Chrono's open communication - means that there's ample chances for the spider to escape without critical wounds, even though she shatters the bonds rather quickly with freeflowing mana-electricity.

    Grenades and webbing combine to slow down and destroy several more of the CDs that make up the youma - with a fair number smashed up by Nanoha's smasher as well when it tries to reform, and by the time it does form, instead of being towering and house sized, it's now roughly adult human sized. "TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON YOUR FREE TRIAL. SUBSCRIBE QUICKLY IN ORDER TO AVOID LOSS OF ACCESS!" The youma notes.

    Arf does manage to slam her first against the barrier - but there's now two, and as she backflips back she looks down and glares at everyone. And the youma.

    "I don't care about your rules." Fate says, having backed off after making her swing at Goldenweb. "I'm doing what I have to do. And you won't stop me. Not until I see her smile again. Bardiche - cut communications." <<YES SIR.>> And Chrono's link is forcibly ejected from Fate.

    But Nanoha was right. There was no Jewel Seed here. There was only energy, which she'd clearly not be able to gather any more of, not with multiple barriers going up, an Enforcer, his protege, That Girl, a Spider Blade, and Rocket Barrage down there. She communicated with Arf instead of Chrono.

    "I got two hands you know." Arf says, rolling up her other sleeve. "I'll rip through it! I'll help Fate-chan until we achieve her dream! NOW... BARRIER... BREAK!!!!" Arf roared with even more intensity as she tried to swing both hands together like a club into the second barrier.

    "GET CONNECTED!" the youma yelled as it turned around and tried to blind her heroes a second time. And at the same time, Fate brandished her scythe and took off from her rooftop roost, energy bloade roaring. <<FLASH MOVE.>> Bardiche called as she was in flight.

    But instead of appearing near or behind chrono - she appeared on the other side of her youma, the not-blinding-light side- and took a CD from it - a purple CD, glowing with stolen energy - before trying to take off down the streets at high speeds to take advantage of Arf breaking the second barrier and escape.

    Down on the battlefield the cd-youma was collecting energy after the blinding attack, like it was preparing for something of its own. "BLOCK VIRUSES REMOVE SPYWARE 1025 HOURS FREE" it advertised as it prepared for what was probably going to be a very large attack - and more dangerous given Arf's success at taking down the second barrier was likely.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Ba-dump.
SCYTHE FORM
Ba-dump
Binds are created and broken
That scythe comes in towards Goldenweb Yorotsuchi
Slowed down, thankfully.

At the last second, a strand of golden thread shoots out from one of her golden rings, yanking her to change her trajectory, as that scythe cuts along her side.

Luckily it's not a direct hit, but that scythe form did feel the bite of striking a Henshin, and that yanking silk pulls a Goldenweb Yorotsuchi who does not land gracefully, rolling on the ground and ending up in a bit of a silken and webbed up mess. But she is moving, quickly disentangling herself as golden webbing disintegrates into golden motes of energy.

And that Youma is yelling at her. About her time running out. About how she needs to get connected. A flash of light, and then...

Goldenweb Yorotsuchi stands.
And she grips her blade, as that wisp of Boosting energy strikes her. "...That hurt..." She mutters under her breath, one hand lifting to rest over her sash, golden motes of energy starting to swirl around her, as runes begin to appear on her blade -- webbing seeming to etch itself even as the CD-Youma collects energy.

Goldenweb Yorotsuchi was gathering energy of her own.

[Project]
[Bless]
[Channel]
[Shape:Column]

Goldenweb Yorotsuchi begins to lift that sash again, as the air starts to grow icy cold, channeling the blessing given to her by Rashmi, as her blade is lifted, webbing spreading out from under her feet towards the ground beneath the CD, tendrils of spidersilk beginning to etch runes into the ground around it.

The blade is then gently lowered to touch the spiderweb, the runes on the side of her blade pulsing.

And a burst of purifying energy would explode out from below the CD Youma's feet, turning into a brief flower of blessed ice, before shattering -- hopefully with the youma with it.

Goldenweb Yorotsuchi meanwhile has grown... quieter, less playful.

"...I'm hungry." She mutters quietly under her breath.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Time is running out on their free trial? "Man." Amy thousand-yard-stares. "Imagine asking us to subscribe instead of just deducting our bank accounts and then making it impossible to unsubscribe. I forgot there was ever a time it didn't work that way... We really have gone so far backwards..." She glances at Chrono, "Even if you sau it's impressive..."

    The CD youma tries blinding again, but Amy already has sunglasses! She switches to an autofire gyrojet rifle and pours rocket-bullets into it as it charges.

    It offers to block spyware and probably introduce its own. "You know... I guess you're been a pretty honest disc-monster. You didn't even download hundreds of people's Doom levels from BBSes and then sell them to me without giving any money to the original authors. But... you are still draining energy. FRAG OUT! Hit the deck!"

    Amy throws a grenade at the youma while it's still all together, this one ready to explode into shrapnel, and then drops prone just to be on the safe side!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
At the sound of another 'Barrier Break!' Rashmi hurriedly replaces the module with a new one, eyes wide as the spell-seal spreads out underneath her again.

    << *BONG!* >> << BIND INDEX: SOLAR BARRAGE >>

As Arf is swinging into the new Barrier, Rashmi is pelting her with a rapid-fire machinegun of Barrets; lacking any homing capability, slimmed down for more capable rapid-fire... and each of them, carrying the payload of a simple Bind spell, much like what Chrono used on Fate. It's a light Bind, easily broken... but perhaps less so, when one, two, three dozen Binds are laid on Arf with absolutely no respect for targeting.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
"Fate-chan! I can't let you get away!" she says, as Fate grabs the disc and runs. "This doesn't make sense anymore. How can this make her smile? I don't understand!" she says as she tries to connect, indeed.

Instead she gets flash blinded and ARGHS and flails and has to stop and see through spots and can't track Fate any longer. Darnit.

"Ugh..." she says. "Yuuno..." she says.

Yuuno, who wasn't looking at the CD monster's direction points Nanoha in the direction of it and Nanoha fires off a barrage of shot barrets rapidly in a laser-like manner. Hopefully some will hit the beast!

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown lifted his device to the air and--

And Yorotsuchi was okay. And Fate, rather than engaging him... descended and took the energy. His eyes narrowed slightly and he weighed his options. On the one hand... Getting away with the energy... wasn't ideal. but he also didn't want to push Fate to the point of desperation. Because... then... Well... someone WOULD get seriously hurt.

... Also what in the blazes was the monster talking about? Why did people wear spies?!

... He also had no idea what Amy was talking about. Didn't... you have to subscribe to make it hard to unsubscribe? That didn't...

But, as it was? He was very bewildered, confused and finding the technology on this world even more bewildering. He had a headache.

However, it looked like the crew here had things well in hand. All of them were becoming incredibly fine warriors. And Fate was retreating, so he'd count that as a win.

... Also, ferret-controlled Nanoha. That... was frightening.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    There's a moment there, for anyone to see it, when Fate cuts into Goldenweb or when the girl staggers to the ground, that a form of regret can be seen in Fate's eyes - just before her look hardens again.

    There's a lot going on, and a lot of defenders, but there's another thing Fate and Arf have that the others might wish for - which is a level of connection that comes from being Master and Familiar - and having trained and worked hard together for even longer than say, Chrono and Rashmi have. Arf's hands smash the barrier, and there's a moment where Rashmi's barrier is still coming up - and it's that moment, that very brief moment, that Fate is ready to impact the barrier and slips through. Arf attempts to do the same, however, and is instead bound, and bound, and bound again, so she doesn't make it through in that moment, and now there's another Barrier up.

    The now bound wolfwoman turns and glares. She's trapped, but Fate is at least away, with the energy.

    The Youma fares even more poorly than Arf, whatever attack it was charging up doesn't get there - there's a Puella Grenade, Nanoha's barrage, Yorutsuki's purifying storm, and soon there's more shrapnel as the remaining CDs detonate out in a shower of plastic shards.

    And then all that's left is a single, half-scorched CD reading ONLINE with a strange triangle and blue background.

    And Arf, still floating angrily in the binds.

    "Whatever. Fate's away. Who cares." she grumps. She cares. She hopes someone else cares. She knows Fate cares. She wouldn't leave her, right? She wouldn't - Fate's a good girl. Which means... maybe Fate's in more danger if she comes back.

    "You can't hold me. The TSAB jails aren't here. I'll just teleport out the moment your focus on the Barrier drops. It's better to let me go." Arf tries.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As Goldenweb takes a rough hit, Rashmi soars down -- keeping out of the Accursed's line of fire, like a smart person -- and as the youma explodes, rests a hand on her fellow mahou's shoulder.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

And as the warm light shines from below, soothing aches and mending small hurts, she looks up at the heavily-bound Familiar.

"Arf-san," Rashmi says, "will this *really* work? Will stealing energy with ancient CD youma *really* help Fate-san the way she thinks it will? Because I don't think so... And if you care about her like it looks like you do... I don't think you do, either."

And with that, and a wave of her hand, she dismisses all the Binds keeping Arf held in place. "It wouldn't do any good to hold you anyway, Arf-san. You're right... it's better to let you go."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Goldenweb Yorotsuchi walks forward as that youma explodes into shrapnel, showering the area in plastic shards, a quick wave of webbing catching the worst of the ones coming her way.

...That look of regret had been noticed, but there wasn't too much Ahmya could do about it as she stepped forward, turning her blade to stab it through that half-scorched CD. Just to be /extra/ sure as she's being healed by Rashmi. "Thank you." She says quietly.

Arf is left floating angrily in the binds.

"..." Ugh. She's so hungry.

She does briefly look up at Arf, seeming to consider a few moments -- but... Arf had, mostly, just made efforts to escape.

"The girl held back, otherwise I'd probably not be standing right now." Yorotsuchi comments. "I think we can pay her back in kind." Luckily, that seemed to already be Rashmi's plan, not that she'd doubted her anyway.

And then she turns to start walking back towards the alleyway by where she'd had her family hide, to get ready to unhenshin once things calmed down.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy was a kid back then and not the one managing the money. She may have assumed incorrectly that such evil is new.

    She walks over and picks up what's left of the item the youma was made from. "Where did you even find one of these?" She might bring it back to computer club.

    The others are gathered over by a... dog-woman?

    BONG! SOLAR HEAL. "Can I get a touch of that?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy was a kid back then and not the one managing the money. She may have assumed incorrectly that such evil is new.

    She walks over and picks up what's left of the item the youma was made from. "Where did you even find one of these?" She might bring it back to computer club.

    The others are gathered over by a... dog-woman?

    BONG! SOLAR HEAL. "Can I get a touch of that?" Amy walks over to them. "Also is she a dog-girl?" She looks at Arf in a bit of wonder. "Is... is there a planet of you out there somewhere?"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi gets her bearings and--- Fate-chan is gone. Shoot.

But they have an Arf! Wait that's bad. What are they gonna do, keep her in a kennel!? That's so mean!

"We should let her go..." she says quietly. "She's right. Where exactly would we keep her. Mom would wwonder a lot if I brought a whole dog home next!" she says worriedly.

"But Arf..." she says quietly. "Why is Fate-chan trying to work so hard to make her mom smile like..like this?" she asks.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown slowly glided down to the ground, glancing towards Arf as he did so. His eyes narrowed on her...

"There is one more thing you haven't considered, Arf-san," Chrono said. "In light of your constant threats to both this world, and the TSAB's efforts at dimensional stability in general, the frankly... ever increasing levels of threat that your master continues to exude, the recent casaulties on our side, the inability to, for long periods, imprison you... the acceptable level of risk in allowing you to leave here is subterrainian. The correct option in this situation would be execution."

Chrono looked down at her, and well... he raised his staff and placed its end on the ground. "However, this isn't my world, and the people here prefer a more... forgiving approach. Please keep that in mind and help Fate to understand it is for both our benefit to play by those rules. For both our sake... and hers. A corpse does not care about smiles."

He said it with that same smile, but well... the look he gave Arf... was one she might be familiar with, as one who has gone up against the TSAB in the past.

He then glanced towards Goldenweb. "Hey, everyone. Who'd like to get something to eat after that? My treat," he said, making sure it was loud enough to hear. Well... she'd mentioned being hungry. And they'd trained together enough by this point he likely had good reason to suspect she'd hunger.

Fate Testarossa has posed:
    Arf is... not expecting this, but it's not an unwelcome turn of events. So she decides that... especially without Fate here to scold her... she can give a little bit of info back. "Fate-chan always holds back." Arf notes. Partially as a way of commenting she's not that bad, but one that could be spun as talking her up, too. "She's a kind, sweet girl."

5tAnd then amy asks about a planet and Arf looks at her like she's grown an extra head. "What? No. I'm not a dog-person. I'm a familiar. Fate-chan shared part of her spirit, her linker core with me, to save me when I was hurt." she says. "And that's why I'll do whatever I have to do, to see her dreams come true." she says.

    "I don't know about the youma. I know Testarossa-san is looking for something. I know Riventon-san is trying to help... both Testarossa-san and Fate-chan." she says, erasing any idea Testarossa-san might be Fate herself. "And I know we need energy."

    "If you really want to help Fate-chan, you should stay out of her way. Every time she has to fight one of you, it hurts her. But trust me. She's not going to stop. She can't." she says. "So just stay out of our way."

    And then her eyes turned to Chrono. "Careful, the way you're talking, you'd think you were the wild animal of the two of us. Just because you hide behind badges and rules and spiked shoulders doesn't make what you do any better." she says, coldly to him.

    "And you..." she adds, pointing a finger at Nanoha. "You specifically. Stay away from Fate." She doesn't explain why - that the reason is because she seems particularly disruptive to Fate's ability to fight, to focus. "It's dangerous for both of you." she says. "She's trying to make her mother smile again, smile like she used to, when she was... good... to Fate." Arf says. "Don't get in the way of that."

    When the Barrier comes down and Arf is able to turn around, she's met by Fate who immediately hugs her - she had been about to perhaps try to break back through. Her and the other person there - Riventon, who moves to cover Fate and Arf's exit as the three of them leave into the Tokyo Sky without further discussion.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Wide red eyes watch Arf as she recounts why she follows Fate. Ah, so this is a human that girl gave a piece of her soul to to save; Amy can only imagine how much loyalty that would be worth, given how she felt towards Hannah just for Hannah acting like she was special and worth something -- and her other friends who are also saying she's worth something, albeit less agressively.

    Amy doesn't really have anything to say to that.

    She does look to Chrono, though. "Given what she just said about having been motivated by kindness shown to her, I think threats might be the wrong play here. Even the insinuation of 'you should be executed, but by allowing you to live I'm being nice' is kinda..."

    Amy looks away. "People told me they were being nice all my life. It wasn't until I came to Radiant Heart that it was ever true. I don't think anyone here has ever even needed to claim it, out loud."

    She stares down at the half-burned CD in her hand.

    And then Amy turns to Nanoha. "She didn't answer you, but... is it really that surprising? To want your parents' approval? Don't you want your parents to smile at your work? It can take decades to realize that if they say they'll only approve if you do what's beyond you--"

    Amy's face falls, and she looks down at the ground. "...They really never were going to approve in the first place, huh..."

    She turns away and trudges off. "Yeah let's... get some food..."