2808/HAMBARGARRR

HAMBARGARRR
Date of Scene:	25 October 2025
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Mai Elcamino messed up her Halloween manicure. Obviously the only thing to do about it is kick off zombie apocalypse! Who cares if all they want is burger, YOU'RE a burger. You're a burger, and Sugata, Amy, and Mai? They're all the hungry, hungry zombies. Homura and Wako are not having a good tine.
Cast of Characters:	Mai Elcamino, Madoka Kaname, Wako Agemaki, Hinote Kagari, Chiyo Sakai, Sugata Shindo, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	Hamburger Zombies

---

Mai Elcamino has posed:
Well it HAD been a beautiful Halloween morning. It HAD been absolutely delightful; Mai HAD been overjoyed by the classy-yet-adorable sugar skull manicure she'd gotten yesterday, and showed her mother on a video call first thing.

When she hung up, she dropped her phone and broke a nail reflexively trying to catch the damn thing, immediately threw a fit, and called her former nanny, who's a Santeria practicioner. Thematic. People like monsters on halloween.

"Let's see," she had said, her strong, husky voice sharply unpleasant as she smiiiiled, "how they like their days being ruined through no fault of their own."

So anyway a zombie plague--

Whatever the hell Corona did with the youma she's inflicted on the fair city of Tokyo, she named him Luis, he replicates on impact, and he has a handlebar moustache and shark gums.

Not shark teeth.

"Luis," she had sobbed, "why can you not bite?" He had only said one word, and it had been said very sadly.

"HAMBARRGARRRR!" yells one of the Luis zombies now, in the middle of downtown, while Corona stands on top of a bus stop with her wide crackling purple energy wings and loudly cackles.

There are civilians everywhere. They're either running screaming or they're groaning 'Hamburgerrrr' and milling about biting other people, and Mai is so happy. Look at her gleeful pretty face! Hear her laughter! "Levantense mis zombis! Muerdan! Desgarran! Alimentan!"

It doesn't help that it's everyone. Old folks, kids, cosplayers, cops... there are definitely people in their cars and the cars are getting rocked by crowds of other zombie civilians--

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It had been quite a few timeloops since Homura Akemi had to deal with a zombie apocalypse. Well, actually, there was that time in Crystal Tokyo but that wasn't in the middle of... well okay it was in the middle of Tokyo but not the Tokyo that Homura was used to. Kinda. Sorta.

    Whatever. The important thing is that there was now a zombie apocalypse brewing where there really shouldn't be one and Homura doesn't like it.

    Homura, in a casual black dress, marches her way up towards the milling zombie hoard, holding her flattened hands perpendicular to each other in a 'time out' gesture. "No! No! No zombie apocalypses here. Not happening. That's not allowed. Now how the heck-- is that Madoka's dad?!"

    Tomohisa Kaname is standing nearby with arms full of groceries looking incredibly concerned. "Is this a movie?" he asks. "Or a publicity stunt? Akemi-san, do you know what's going on?"

    She forcefully and boldly grabs his arm and says, "It's a mess and I'm not cleaning it up."

    As she starts dragging him away, he stumbles and nearly drops a can of beans, saved by a tiny Sio who is completely invisible to him. "Ah, Akemi-san, please! Not so rough!"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Are you serious right now?"

Wako apprivoised like a block and a half away, and now Ginga Otome is floating some meters over the chaos in a sphere of delicately glittering pink light, one hand on her hip as she surveys the scene with distinct exasperation. Her cell phone's in the other.

    Wako TXT: I'm gonna be late, downtown's full of zombies
    Wako TXT: save me some sukiyaki!!

She finishes thumbing out a couple of quick messages and tucks her phone away into her gold-trimmed white tailcoat with a sigh. Gosh, what a mess. Her eyes fall on the girl standing on the bus stop cackling in villainous glee in a language Wako does not understand, and she frowns.

"Your fun's going to stop right here!" she calls out, rising another meter or two into the air and bringing her hands together. "ZERO TIME."

The barrier rushes outward, too late to do anything much about the absolute horde of zombies already on the rampage - but at least shunting them all a half step into extradimensional space from the main civilian population should keep the mess from spreading any more.

She hopes.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir was on top of a nearby building and frowns. "The world is dark and riot. I knew this day would come." he says darkly from the top of his building, before scrambling down the fire escape. into an alley and zombies flood in! They scream for Hamburgers.

And he whispers back. "No."

Then a powerful blast of water flushes the civllian zombies out. Leaving then stunned and some on the ground as he walks out of the alleyway with his Tommygun hefted.

"I think I overdid the gravitas there. Ugh. Obviously. I can't fight you, but take a bath." he says as he runs down the street suddenly, off to see if he can help any civilians or other Mahoujins out there.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Important hang out time was being interrupted here by, of all things, zombies. Hordes of them. The similarities to what Chiyo had been told of the future Crystal Tokyo are noticed if only because she has no other reference for *hordes of people* suddenly just swarming to attack other people.

And bite.

Just as Zero Time falls, Ginga Hanma arrives joining her fellow Star Driver to gaze down at the city with a grimace. "I think maybe the armor might be good if we're doing this so *we* don't get..." She gestures with a look of completely ick. "Bitten."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Sugata TXT: Be right there, I've got to see this.

This is perhaps not the usual response someone has to finding out that zombies are attacking downtown, but when has Sugata Shindo ever been the usual sort of anything? He gleefully abandons the prospect of school in favor of air-skate flying towards downtown, and though he arrives last, he knows that he's found the place when he crosses into Zero Time and sees hordes of people stumbling about, biting and groaning.

"...They want Hamburgers?"

He's a little disappointed, honestly.

Mai Elcamino has posed:
Zero Time unfolds around them with its cosmos and its gas-flame horizons, and abruptly there are a LOT of empty cars and a few less people on the sidewalks.

Corona looks up at it in something resembling honest wonder; it's truly beautiful, after all, and even mean girls can be momentarily swayed by phenomenal beauty. But there's someone golden in a pink bubble over there yelling at her, and the moment breaks.

"My fun continues, marginal," she sneers at Wako, who is also beautiful, but the competition kind, not the awe kind. "My Luis is strong and clever!"

As clever as a box of rocks.

"I designed him to replicate on impact," she says, checking the glowing claw-nails on her gloves. "Because..."

Corona pulls off one glove, and SHOWS THEM the back of her hand, and the four perfectly done sugar skull nails and the one that's... impossible to tell from here that she broke it because she krazy-glued it pretty well honestly? But she's still got beef. "Because my OFFICE CLOTHES have to be PROFESSIONAL and you children would know NOTHING--"

a wave of zombies going HamBarGarrrrrRrRr washes past on their way toward Homura and Madoka's dad, right past Pulp Noir

"--about being PROFESSIONAL! Look at you-- HA! But ohohohoho, no, this stupid city DESERVED a zombie apocalypse! If *I* am going to be miserable about my lovely manicure being RUINED, then everyone can be miserable!"

She's risen on her four wide glowing wings until she's on a level with the midair Gingas, and she hears Sugata's disappointed tone and gets defensive. "I couldn't get all the ingredients for the zombie potion on such short notice! The conditions I have to work in are deplorable."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Due to Ginga Kingu's late arrival, much of Mai's rant is missed - he doesn't even catch the brandishing of her (from this distance) perfectly fine manicure, though he does hear her cite that due to her own misery over a manicure, the city deserves a zombie apocalypse.

It's far from rational, reasonable, or even fair, but honestly? Hilariously petty. And the zombies aren't even eating people.

For once he thinks he understands Takuto and Wako's interest in not finishing their enemies off.

"That sounds terrible," he drawls, slowly lowering from his place hovering in the air. He's still taller than her, but it's no longer because he's up, up, up in the air.

"You certainly pulled off something though. Tell me, is your plan just to drive the cost of hamburger up? To foil the Hamburglar?"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"The armor uses a lot of drive, though," Wako answers Chiyo, making a face. "If they can bite through my shield we've got a bigger problem anyhow, but... whatever you need to do to not get bit, okay?"

She catches sight of Pulp Noir's water blast and nods approvingly. Corona's ranting, on the other hand, mostly gets a perplexed look. She catches exactly one thing in all that which seems to be relevant to, you know, anything--

"Replicate on impact? Oh, geez, that's gonna be a pain. Let's see... nothing ventured...!"

Splaying her fingers in the air, she picks out a random zombie from the horde below to try snagging them in a bubble of pink light. As Ginga Kingu makes his presence known, Ginga Otome actually turns her back to Corona to shoot him a very exasperated look. "Sugata-kun! How many hamburgers do you think you could order in a hurry?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Hey! Some of us have jobs too, you know!" Ginga Hanma yells back to Corona with quite a bit of ire rising at the sheer assumption that she wouldn't know what it's like to work for a living. Harumph. Of course, she didn't pull all the same hours that a office worker would given she still attends school. But there's still offense there.

Moreso when the nails are shown off earning a sidelong glance toward the others that have begun to gather. "Seriously? You... Chipped a nail? Wow you're not very strong at all."

With a sigh she extends one arm to call forth her Star Sword allowing it to remain sword-shaped for the moment as she assesses the situation below. Noir's water attack was good of course, and she hesitates before suggesting, "I'm keeping them at arms length one way or another, but you're right, that does take up a lot of Drive." Better to save it for now.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Zero time washes over them. Homura and Sio are drawn in, but Tomohisa is left outside. The father of Madoka blinks confused for a moment before the Veil makes up some reason for Homura's disappearance and he decides to get far away from... whatever that was.

    Though he does pick up some hamburger steak along the way.

    Homura turns around to glare at the zombie hoard and, now that they're in a magical dimension, she henshins with a few consecutive flashes of purple. "Stay behind me, Sio-chan."

    The minidoka decides to duck behind Homura's hair, peeking out from behind her at the zomburgers. The raven haired Puella overhears this Horrible Woman complain about nails and work conditions while a bunch of zombies rush towards her. She throws a smoke grenade into the oncoming hoard and vanishes in the aftermath, appearing elsewhere with a semi-automatic handgun that she fires in short bursts at Mai. Rat-tat-tat. Rat-tat-tat.

    "If it's so bad to work at Obsidian then quit your job!" she retorts, while Sio clings to her hair.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Halloween! Amy is excited to get to trick-or-treat again later, and enjoying how some students are dressed up in costume for the day -- when she recognizes the character, she eagerly makes references to it! Maybe some people even know who Tachibana Hinata is...

    And then she gets a text that zombies are attacking. This... this is some fantasy world bullshit, right here. "Better not interfere with tonight, I swear..." she mutters as she ducks out of sight to transform and make her way over...

    Amy TXT: Seriously?!




<< Other section goes here in the log, add later >>

    And then suddenly everyone around her except the zombies and other mahou disappears. Zero Time! It's been awhile. "Okay, what is going on?! Wait, did you say replicate on IMPACT?!" Amy backs away, wide-eyed, from the zombies -- those nearby now have no other target than her, and shamble towards her. She backs away and then runs around them in a wide circle. "You can't be serious, everyone they TOUCH becomes a... and why are they saying HAMBURGER?!"

Mai Elcamino has posed:
"Hah!" Corona throws her head back and laughs, joyfully, mockingly, at Sugata. "Hahahaha! As if I'd tell you my plan. It doesn't matter: no matter how many of them you save, there will be more, and more!"

She turns to look to Wako, smiling, "I can tell there are already three Luises outside your admittedly very beautiful but ultimately useless b--"

Corona sees Wako bubbling a civilian and watches in interest as it purifies the civilian. And then Ginga Otome turns her back, and Corona's eyes widen, then narrow. "Que te jodan, come mierda! *I* am the important one here!!" she seethes, and then flips Ginga Hanma the bird before rocketing toward Wako with a very sharp hand and a very sugar skull manicure other hand. "Pelotillero!! APEX MANICURE!"

<< ding~! >> << YES, MISTRESS~ >>

So, right, rocketing with a blur of wings and a contrail of energy and a GLOWING PURPLE ENERGY CLAWS glove; she flies directly at the Ginga Otome and like-- doesn't actually clock that the bubble is hard until it clocks her; she breaks a nail trying to get at Wako's hair to pull it, and the bubble acts just like a pinball between buildings. But Mai, ohhhh. Now she's rounded on Homura with her gun, and a shot tears through one of her henshin shoulderpads and gives her a heart attack in the process, and Corona cries out, "Apex SHIELD--"

<< ding~! >> << THANK YOU, MISTRESS~ >>

--and a glowing purple rune disc appears in front of her, between her and Homura, unfolding snap-snap-snap into its full size.

She turns in midair and ojo-laughs at Amy. "Ojojojojo!" she hoots, her glowing gloved hand coming up in front of her pretty lipsticked laughing mouth. "Because they are so VERY hungry for hamburger! So hungry that they will bite other people thinking that they are hamburger. And of COURSE it doesn't spread by touch." She scoffs. "It spreads by BITE! What kind of mid zombies do you take them for? Touch. Pff."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura frowns as the shield starts blocking her bullets. She could try getting through it, but not with bullets, and firing rockets while there are this many zombified civilians around could be an issue.

    Her angry purple gaze turns to the Luis squad and wonders what exactly 'spread by impact' means. She slides another magazine into her gun as she squints at the youma who she thinks are the source of the plague. "Sio... notify Madoka-chan. We may need more purifiers." As the tiny business suited minidoka starts typing on her even tinier smartphone, Homura reaches into her shield and...

    ... pulls out a hamburger.

    It's fresh. It smells. It's cheap junk food and she's holding it over her head and waving it around as if she doesn't care (she does) about bits of lettuce falling all of her lovely silky hair (she worked hard on it, dangit!).

    "Come on. This is what you're after, right? Hamburger? Fresh, tasty hamburger?" If the zombies take the bait, she leads them on a wild chase, vanishing when they get too close and then reappearing somewhere else.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Enough for this crowd, easily, but then what will we all do when our enemies have sated their appetite?" He's just being a dick, he literally has his hone in his hand. Wako's got her back turned, might not even noticed that in her bubble the civilian...stops being a zombie. Interesting. He's about to point it out to her, when -

"You really are obsessed with manicures, aren't you?"

The words are not quite a growl, but they are accompanied by Ginga Kingu slamming a fist to his chest, pulling forth a sword of pure light, white tinged with electrifying blue.

"Star Swordo! Diamante!"

Corona had been somewhat entertaining. Then she tried to go for Wako's hair, and even if she was fool enough to underestimate Wako's shields, she still deserves hell for the attempt. As Corona is distracted by being shot, Ginga Kingu dives at her, fully ready to stab and see what her barrier jacket can manage with a live demonstration, when the glowing purple runic disc goes up and is able to deflect his momentum and lunge with enough force to send him to the ground.

Where he is promptly swarmed by the horde.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
One second, Ginga Otome's attention is on her teammate and her experimental attempt at purifying a zombie, which at least seems to be a success--

The next second, Corona's murder energy claws slam into the curve of her shield sphere with enough force to send it rocketing down the block, richocheting wildly off buildings like a demented super bounce ball. Her startled outcry kind of dopplers away and is lost amidst the crunch of cracking masonry and the calls for hamburger.

The shield that formed around the now-purified civilian dissipates just as quickly as it formed. Someone might need to help that poor sucker before he gets bit again.

"Ow ow ow..." She's not hurt, her shield saw to that, but she's still rubbing the back of her neck as she picks herself up off the pavement.

Just in time to see Sugata get swarmed.

"SUGATA-KUN!"

Instantly she's launched herself into the air again, both hands already outflung. Her cry sends a wave of rosy purifying energy outward, shoving zombies away from her in a tide of bodies, but Corona's attack knocked her a good ways away and unlike the other Star Drivers, she doesn't fly fast.

Amanda Faust has posed:
No matter how many of them you save, there will be more, and more!
    Amy feels a chill. Did she see some zombies further away before Zero Time went up?

    "So uh... is this the kind of magic where if we kill you, it goes away?" Amy blinks. "Wait, did you say they... they..."

    Amy wags a finger towards Mai, once. "Okay, nice touch on the bite thing, but also lemme get this straight--" She leaps onto a roof to avoid an approaching gaggle of ghouls.

    "So anyone they bite... sees everyone else not under the effect as hamburger... tries to take a bite... and that's how it spreads? That's all it does?"

    Amy blinks, "I mean uh, fascinating, that's amazing, ojousama. How does it work?"

    Oh shit did Sugata just get swarmed? "...And does it work on mahou?" she asks, with a glowing sense of dread... but giving Mai a chance to keep giving information before she attacks.

Mai Elcamino has posed:
Corona laughs and laughs and laughs, delighted, more delighted with everything that goes wrong for the heroes.

Homura starts dangling a legit burger in front of the zombies, and they ... well, they absolutely chase her around, but they were kind of doing that anyway. It might be the hamburger, it might just be Homura. Too many variables to tell.

"If YOU had a cute sugar skull mani, you MIGHT understand," insists the girl. Who despite calling them children is, you know, around Sugata's age. She takes the hangnail of her OTHER perfectly ruined nail and pockets it, scowling, then looking up at the tail end of Sugata taking his sword out of his chest.

One eyebrow goes up. She checks her nail while Sugata is flying at her with his sword. She looks unhappy.

BONG! is the sound the shield makes when the Ginga Kingu slams into it, and Mai looks down, her hands on her knees as she looks past her toes at the swarm of zombies dragging Sugata down, and her happiness returns. "I GUESS IT SUCKS TO SUCK--" she yells down at him, then looks up at the far-away flood of rosy energy and frowns.

But then Amy's asking a question and calling her ojousama-- oh that's adorable. She smiles at Amy and it's not actually mean. "Of course it works on mahou. It works on everyone. By this time tomorrow, everyone will be hamburger zombies."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
There are a couple of things that have gone wrong in Sugata's life today. One is echoing Wako's fate in being ponged around like a toy after bouncing off a villain.

Another is being swarmed by a horde of civilians he actually can't just slice into with an energy sword because they are civilians and will die. He hurls Diamante away, the shining energy blade cleaving through the air and into the distance as he kicks and shoves at zombies swarming over him, trying to bite through his military-style coat, his cravat, his thigh-high boots - honestly this costume really is great for protecting the skin -

The third is that as he's contemplating the usefulness of his costume, one of the zombies actually does manage to bite him, right on the underside of his jaw, which is one of the few pieces of exposed skin he actually has in henshin. Putting on the armor probably would have been worth the cost in Drive after all, he thinks, as the dark energy virus spreads from the bite (neither bloody nor particularly gruesome, honestly just kind of moist) and into his body.

The heroes can tell that something bad has happened, because the swarm of zombies stops getting shoved back. There's no more fighting. No more yelling, either.

And then, just as Mai turns away from him, the word SUCK still echoing through Zero Time.

Mai is so busy being smug at Amy and making her grand statement, that she may not even register it as energy flares and Ginga Kingu bursts free of the swarm, flying, safe.

Safe?

He flies right at her, and his mouth opens, and his eyes are dull and shadowed and he bites on the arm.

And then promptly jerks away in mid-air, peh-peh and disgust on his face.

"Terrible hamburger," he mutters and then glances at Amy, cocking his head. There's a reason he shouldn't eat acquaintances, but, he just can't - he can't think of it right now. Besides, is he really acquaintances with a hamnburger?

Beside him, in a little bubble of light, Samek appears, smug and satisfied.

"Finally, you understand my ravenous hunger!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura is getting the zombies to chase her and... honestly she thought she had a plan with this. Whatever that plan was gets momentarily forgotten as she sees Sugata... Poor, poor Sugata... get turned into a hamburger zombie.

    "No... of all the ridiculous... NO!"

    Homura flashes back to the various ways she's seen the world just suddenly end and, of all of them, this potential apocalypse may or may not be the most ridiculous. She's not sure. She still remembers the Omnidevouring Cake Monster timeline. No, that's not going to happen. Homura refuses to let the world end in this ridiculous way. Maybe she could escape with Madoka into her Labyrinth and hide until... what?

    No, she'd never be able to convince Madoka to hide from something like this. Of all the...

    "Well now we know we can't let them bite us. Can he be purified, too?"

    Homura takes the hamburger, reappears in front of Mai, and throws it directly at her face without warning. If she's going to complain about manicures, then Homura's going to give her something to really get upset about.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Ginga Otome is still far too far away when the struggling and the shouting from within the zombie dogpile that formed on Sugata goes ominously still. Just far away enough to allow for a heartbeat of relief, then two, when Ginga Kingu shakes free of the crush and rises into the air, flying for Corona.

Then he bites her.

"Enough," Wako says, too quietly for any but maybe some zombies to hear. And then: "APPRIVOISE!"

Halfway down the block and more, light erupts, pink and white and bright sun-gold as the phantom armor takes shape over Ginga Otome's henshin. Glowing golden twintails unfurl from her headpiece, a translucent arc of white light forming behind her like the raiment of a celestial maiden.

She stretches out a hand towards Corona, and the floating piles that make up her armor "skirt" shift to follow the movement, rotating in a tight spiral with tips beginning to glow the color of dawn.

"ÉCLAT DU SOLEIL!"

A glittering pink beam made up of six smaller, fast-spinning beams blazes through the air and slams into Corona's shield.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy groans. "If this really becomes a worldwide epidemic after someone said, for real, the sentence 'By this time tomorrow, everyone will be hamburger zombies.'... We are in the dumbest timeline."

    And then GINGA KINGU BITES MAI AND LOOKS AT AMY.

    "Uh... Why're you lookin' at me like that...?" Amy asks... but she can already imagine how if this were an old Looney Toon there would be a shot of a hamburger fading in and out over her. "Don't do it... don't do it! There's no meat on me, seriously!" She steps back, "I'm like... a slider!"

    She conjures her pistol and fires high-caliber homing bullets at one of the actual youma zombies to see if that does anything. Thank Godoka Mai made them stand out...

Mai Elcamino has posed:
"Ojojojojo!" Mai continues to laugh behind the back of her gloved hand. Abruptly Homura appears in front of her and splats her in the face with an actual hamburger. Corona looks comedically shocked before she looks INCENSED. "How DARE you assault me with your petty beef!"

She's starting to pull on her other glove really fast. Starting and not finishing, because Sugata rockets up from the zombie cluster at Mach Stupid and BITES HER ARM. "Wh-- what have you done? What-- h-ham-- no--! NO! BURGER! HAMBARGUESA..."

Corona's hat, at least, is pristine.

<< ding~! >> << AH-- MISTRESS? MISTRESS! >>

She looks around for anyone who's unbitten, and comes up with zero unbitten civilians because they're outside Zero Time, and two steak tartare hamburger mahou, and one is right here and one is on the approach with a lot of firepower pointed at her, but that approaching one is still over there and Amy is literally right here and Corona swan dives from her place in midair to swoop towards Amy, long coat fluttering behind her-- and she takes a swipe with her energy claws a split-second ahead of her mouth closing on where she just slashed-- probably shoulder, just to get past the armor. NOM! PEH! Bplbthphpt.

Meanwhile, the Luis that Amy just shot falls down dead but one steps out from behind him as he falls-- well, there WAS an impact, but also, that WAS a shot that took one out. At least it didn't make it worse? Maybe fire will help.

"HAMBURGUESA!!" Mai yells, turning on her heel in midair and shouting at the Ginga Otome flying toward her, shooting at her--

There's a KAWHOOM and a tremendous blast of light when Wako's shots slam into Corona's shield, and a CRACK at the same time, and then Corona slams through no less than three buildings, landing at the edge of the Zero Time barrier about two blocks away, right? Three? Landing in a battered, smoking heap, shield fritzing then going out.

She pulls herself up out of the rubble, shakes her head--

--and with dull, dead eyes, she starts shuffling off in the direction of... anywhere, really, anywhere there might be unbitten hamburgers...

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Just a bite. He just needs a bite, he'll take a bite of this hamburger, this little slider, red and spicy, and his mind will clear, the cramping hunger in his stomach will ease, he'll be free to think again, he'll send Samekh flying, just as soon as he takes a bite -

Only, there are two of them after the same little hamburger, and he's just a touch too slow. The scent changes, the spicy red slider isn't fresh anymore, and Ginga Kingu snarls in frustration, lips curling up, dead eyes shifting to the other hamburgers, the other offerings. One had just thrown a hamburger, wasted it, wasted it, but there are so many swarming her, and even though he could defeat them, could he defeat them before they devoured all that remained of her fresh meat, her fluffy bun, her crisp lettuce and tomato?

The other though - she's - it's - she's - different from the other options. Warmer. Reliable. Ever-present, wistfully nostalgic, a victorious burger.

"Wawna," Samekh hisses from his bubble, an aura of dreadful wrath emanating from his miniature form. He glares death at the ghostly armor wreathing Ginga Otome's form. "Wretched maiden, who would imprison her king. Try to feast on her and she will starve you as she has starved me."

Sugata never listens to Samekh. It's one of his guiding principles - that listening to Samekh, agreeing with Samekh, would be the start of a descent he may not recover from.

But Sugata is not himself, now. Hunger rules him rather than principle, rather than love, and as Mai is sent flying, he makes his own escape, turning tail and fleeing for the far reaches of Zero Time, searching for the end, scanning ravenously for the fresh scent of burger.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura scores a direct hit on Mai's ego, and feels a bit internally satisfied about it, but it doesn't really solve the problem. She's not sure what would. A part of her is curious what would happen if the dark general got bit by a zombie. Now she knows.

    She was also curious what would happen if Luis got shot. Yes, that counts as an impact. It also takes him out. So the problem is neither better nor worse aside from whatever magic Amy spent.

    So what, then? Homura silently ponders her options while playing keepaway from the hungry not-dead.

    "You should slap them!" suggests Sio.

    "I am pretty sure that would only make things worse," retorts Homura.

    "Drown them?"

    "I am neither Sharpsong nor Mercury."

    "Set them on fire?"

    "The civilians could get burned."

    "Huh..." says the mindoka, clinging to Homura's shoulder. "Well, Madoka-chan says she's on the way. How are we going to hold off until then?"

    Homura silently stares. Mai has been zombified, so further retaliation against her seems pointless. Luis is the source but he's hard to get at. She grits her teeth. Ground zero is always the best place to stop a zombie infestation, as Homura well knows, but she has no options right now. None that wont make Madoka give her the sad face. She curses under her breath, before saying out loud. "Sorry, but I'm already a lich. I have no interest in downgrading to zombie. If we can't solve the problem here, we need to go get reinforcements. I'll be back," she promises. Right before a crowd of zombies converge on her position and, to their frustration, find exactly zero burgers.

    No Hamburger Homu for you.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Holy shit I got one-- you're kidding. YOU'RE KIDDING. YOU DIDN'T MAKE YOURSELF IMMUNE?!" Amy screams at Mai Elzombino in astonishment.

    And then what happens next -- a ridiculous angry spanish ojou flies through the air towards her and she starts to leap out of the way just a little too slow as one her chestpiece's shoulderguards is slashed through -- it's mahou costume, but it's not armor -- and then she feels a bite

    She tries to slap Corona away, "You BIT me!"

    And then...

    (she's so hungry)

    And then...

    ...She has never craved a burger this much in her life. "I just..." She looks around at the assembled group. "Look, I just... need a bite." She steps towards them.

    "Just one little bite!" She asks, "Then I'll... then I'll be able to think straight! Just one! Just one haaaaammmbuuurgeeeer..."

    But the other hungry one is running. And the other other one is already farther away. And there are so many... she knows them, she knows what they can do, she's not going to be able to pick one off, and there's some reason that all of this is wrong but she can't remember she's so hungry and if they stop her she'll never get food.

    "Haaammmbuuuurgh--Amnesia dust!" Amy throws down a smoke grenade mid-lurch, and then there's the boom of her rocketjumping away towards the edge of the barrier.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
This has all become a disaster. There's no other word for it that Wako can find in the moment - she's sure that her blast didn't manage to take Corona out. She can't match Sugata's speed, let alone catch Amy's rocketjump even if the smoke grenade hadn't confused matters.

The only other mahou on the ground vanished without a trace, which means at least she's not a hamburger zombie, but--

It's a terrible feeling, a helpless feeling. She should have taken this more seriously from the start.

"Wawna, help me--" It's a whisper, and the light is already collecting around her, all six piles alight with radiance like a gathering sunburst. A curtain of light, a daytime aurora. A sphere that blooms outward, growing bigger and brighter and brighter from moment to moment until it's blinding, too bright to look at if there were anyone still there to see it with their brains not fogged by obsessive hunger for BURGER.

One after another, the youma with their shark gums and their handlebar mustaches simply distintegrate under the wave of purifying light as it engulfs fully half a city block.

Zero Time is already beginning to come apart as the light fades. Wako's spent too much drive to maintain it, or her armor; it's long gone. She's left panting, looking outward at the crowd of confused but once more sane civilians milling around in the street. She'd like to think she got them all, but she already knows she didn't; never mind Corona's gloating from earlier, Sugata and Amy already got away.

With a heavy heart, she takes out her phone and begins composing a text.

    Wako TXT Takuto: i messed up