410/How It Ended

How It Ended
Date of Scene:	12 September 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Sailor Moon gathers her friends together to launch a rescue for Naru! Unfortunately, things won't always be as simple as they may hope. Can the power of love, friendship and a warehouse filled with sparkles save the day? Hopefully! Tune in to find out!
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Pyrite, Usagi Tsukino, Coco Kiumi, Kazuo Saitou, Wako Agemaki, Nephrite, Naru Osaka

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker held out her hands. No no no. WHY WAS IT ALL GOING WRONG?! Stupid, STUPID! Naru was unconscious, but she could practically TASTE the dark magic flooding into her now. She couldn't... she couldn't do this... she--

Long ago.

Hinoiri let out a shriek, her eyes widened when she took a step back from the glowing, spiked vines. It was supposed to stop? Why hadn't it stopped? WHY?! She'd only amplified it a little bit. It was--

She realized too late what was about to happen. The vines bulged and then exploded, making her scream as thorns and plant matter rained down on her and her class. It--

Didn't hurt? Slowly, Hinoiri's eyes opened and she saw the exploding plant matter held inside a barrier. Sora standing over her, a wing over her, offering a second protection. Not that it was needed. The mighty ruler of Kirakirafantastica lifted her head and looked around. "Is everyone okay?" she asked.

A few murmured responses were given, the students and teachers staring in awe of the glorious alicorn. Hinoiri stared at her mentor, legs shaking. "I-I... I'm sorry, I--"

"Very impressive, Hinoiri," Sora said with a soft chuckle. "I haven't seen a plant growth spell that powerful in ages."

Hinoiri blinked a few times, her eyes lighting up. Her mentor was... impressed? Despite the screw up? Despite her mistake? The rest of the class had gone so smoothly, so wonderfully. She'd gotten an A, passed with flying colors, her mentor had left with a smile before returning to her duties. It had been so good...

"I can't believe Matriarch Sora had to come and clean up after Hinoiri's mess," one of the teacher's had said as Hinoiri listened, hidden around the corner.

"What can you do?" the other said. "I just hope it didn't intrude too much on the talks with the zebras. With everything else she does, she really shouldn't have to clean up after her student's mistakes like this. I warned her. Hinoiri is just going to keep slowing her down."

To say that the words echoed in the young student's mind would have been an understatement. Slowly she'd crept back the way she'd come, out of sight. Returning to the class to grab another cactus. To finish that spell. To perfect that spell. She wasn't going to make any more mistakes. She was going to be perfect, just like her mentor. No matter how long it took. Nobody would ever have to save her again.

Present time.

Hinoiri needed help. She couldn't--

No. NO. She wouldn't... couldn't... she didn't need ANYBODY. Never again. Never. Ever again. She was powerful. She WOULD do this. Because she... she stood alone. She didn't need anybody. She didn't want anybody. Failure. Was. Never. An. Option.

Bit by bit she shaped and extracted the dark energy, sweat on her brow. She could do this. She could stop this from getting worse. She didn't MAKE mistakes like this. Never. Again.

The cabin itself was wrapped in a dome of pure darkness that only became truly visible when one got closer to it. Scariest of all? Was the fact it didn't... feel... like it was there. It wasn't until they got close enough that they could throw a rock at it that they'd finally feel the dark magic itself. A solid, firm dome of magic upon magic upon magic. Magic that expelled. No teleporting in, no passing through it. A barrier that had to be destroyed unless you knew the specific password in... or held a knowledge of dark energy and magic mixing that bordered on the obsessive.

And unfortunately, when they got that close, they'd be able to see the wards all over. The mage within that cabin was paranoid and powerful... and had Naru inside, trapped.

Pyrite has posed:
    Sailor Moon is crouched nearby, ready to act to rescue her friend. Her hair is black instead of blonde, and she has some scars on her left cheek of unknown origin, but neither of these is especially noteworthy, it's fine, this is normal, and if it's not then disguise magic is taking care of it. It's for the benefit of the audience anyway. You see, though this may look like an ordinary Sailor Moon... This black-haired magical girl is no ordinary Sailor Moon!
    Likewise, Usagi Tsukino is hidden away in the area, at a safe distance. She is here to rescue her friend. She is also, very normally and not at all suspiciously, not the real Usagi Tsukino.
    Both of these people are ghosts.
    No, no, wait, Sailor Moon isn't dead, shhh shhh let me explain.
    You see, there's a plan in place... And you'll all find out what it is next round maybe!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
If it took a village to raise a child, it took a posse of magical folks to rescue a Naru. Usagi had known that from the beginning - on her own, she would have never made it this far. This far being: Naru's whereabouts, tracked through a combination of sources ending in -ite, as coordinated by Hematite and Luna's careful interrogation of local cats to narrow in the area magic and plain old sleuthing had gotten them too. Now, they knew where to go, and Himeko-Pyrite even had a plan of their own to get in... and Usagi? Well, Usagi had a plan too.

She called that plan: The Power of Friendship and Incredible Violence.

She'd taken on Sunbreaker and won, once, but she'd had the element of surprise power up on her side, and no hostage of incredibly importance to fear for. With Naru in danger, there wasn't a chance she was trying for that again. Nope, this time, she was coming in hot with back up: Yellow Pearl Voice, for AOE damage and support, to help stabilize Naru if she was in worse condition than that shapeshifter had implied; Ginga Otome, for a combination of defense and attack, between her ability to create bullet hell and put up bubble shields; Kazuo-kun, armored by Hematite's cape and hopefully able to slip in totally unnoticed, to give Naru-chan that extra bit of defense, and Usagi herself, who as Sailor Moon was nothing but raw DPS and ready to throw it all at Sunbreaker.

This time, there would be no mercy!

Standing back from the cabin, hopefully at a distance no one could spot them from, Sailor Moon catches the eye of the other Sailor Moon and Usagi Tsukino, then looks back at her friends:

"Naru-chan's the most important thing on this mission, and we all know it! But trust me, we are not letting Sunbreaker get away with this either. If you see another me out there... don't worry about it. She's Distraction Time! Once we've got an opening, we're going in, hitting as hard as we can, and getting out as fast as possible."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
As soon as Sailor Moon informed them she located where Sunbreaker kept her victim, Coco wasted no time in preparing to help. Nevermind the fact that it was Naru in it, confirming her own strong suspicions on the matter. The mermaid princess has a reason to be all the more incensed at the kidnapping, as Naru was there to help her in a moment of despondency.

"Yellow Pearl Voice!" she declares, the pearl in her shell locket responding to her will and starting to shine with a yellow light. A kaleidoscope of colours covers Coco's clothes as those change into her yellow gloves and boots with flowy extensions, as well as a yellow blouse with a yellow skirt, while her pearl expands into her trusty E-Pitch microphone, its blue shape settling comfily into her hand, the jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

She hurls her Live Stage to where they had agreed to meet as fast as she can, her frayed mood urging her at top speed, the seemingly unassuming cabin standing in front of her. Yellow Pearl Voice nods after Sailor Moon gives her speech, gripping the E-Pitch tightly.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo Saitou is ... not as well disguised as people there with actual magic. A tall, silent figure in a black cape lined with deep blue, dressed from neck to fingertips and shoe soles to match, with a dark mask on his face. Anonymous. Except for the long white hair. At least he has it braided tightly back, out of the way. Hopefully he'll be able to keep out of the way, too, until an opportunity presents itself ... but helping protect Naru or pull her out is his second job. His first job is to try not to wind up needing rescue himself.

There is a faint magical aura about him, dark, but not as dark as that dome. At least Hematite's cape is another sort of protective coloration.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
The Galactic Maiden nods firmly in acknowledgment of Sailor Moon's directives, her tiny robot avatar hovering ready over her shoulder in a translucent sphere of pink light. Wako's made a notable addition to her usual ensemble: there's a sword belt buckled on over her gold-trimmed white tailcoat, with a sheathed saber resting on her hip.

It doesn't stay there all that long, though. A brief internal debate ends with Ginga Otome unbuckling the belt and breaking away from the other magical girls to head for the tall white-haired boy lurking in their wake. "This is really for Naru-chan," she informs him, "but maybe you should borrow it at least until we get to her, just in case. I can't really use it, anyway."

Glancing back to the rest of the group, she adds, "I'm pretty good with barriers, so if you need cover, call to me, okay?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker was focused entirely on the dark energy in Naru, unaware of the gathering host outside the cabin. While there were defenses set up to alert her if anyone DID go out there, they had not, yet, come close enough to trigger them. Frankly, it wasn't really a huge priority to her at the moment as trying to stop THIS from going wrong. So long as her barrier remained up, she had nothing to fear.

Bit by bit she pulled out what she could, sealing up holes in the darkness as she went. Careful, precise. She could... maybe... do this. Please. She was Sunbreaker, the world's greatest mage. No, TWO worlds greatest mage*.

For now, though, outside the cabin there didn't seem to be any traps, any active dangers. Possibly there had been others that members of their team had waited behind to deal with, but for now? They were unseen and unstopped.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo bows silently to the Galactic Maiden, at the offer. He settles the belt in place, fastens it, adjusts the fit - it's not what he's used to, but he can make adjustments. Besides, if he has to try to use it, things have already gone ... very bad.

He has *no* illusions about how much more likely it is that he'll be yelling for for her help.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The barrier is problem number one, and with all of them here - and no hopes of dismantling it, because as far as she knows, none of them are any kind of magical codebreaker, Sailor Moon has just one idea for handling this.

The Incredible Violence part of the plan. How else do you get through a barrier, but to knock it down?

The buzzing of her phone, tucked away, pulls her back, and she quickly checks the message -

TXT Kyouka Inai to Usagi Tsukino: remember, Hematite and i are nearby. if anyone gets in any real big trouble, call for me. i'll come, and he'll follow.

"We have back up too, just waiting for us if we need it. Don't get too proud! There's no shame in being a chicken if it means we all get out of here!" Ah, her powers of decorum.

A quick text back to Inai-sensei -

TXT Usagi Tsukino to Kyouka Inai: For sure! If we run into trouble, I'm not taking chances.

- and she's ready for action, grasping her tiara in one firm hand, the metal changing to glowing cosmic energy in an instant.

"Get ready everyone! I'm ringing the doorbell! Moon Tiara Action!"

They're not far from the cabin - maybe fifteen feet at most, just far enough not to have tripped any alarms. Her tiara speeds across the distance in seconds, colliding with the barrier with an explosion of cosmic energy - love and hope transformed into power. Even if it doesn't tear down the barrier, Sunbreaker's sure to know they're here now!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco ponders trying out her new Live Stage against the barrier before Sailor Moon confirms she is going to take care of that. 'That's great, I wouldn't be confident in not falling short, and a decisive strike is probably better than a missed one that would alert Sunbreaker.'

But then again, it probably wouldn't hurt adding her Live Stage to the mix, right? She doesn't know how strong Sunbreaker is when she gives it her all, but better not to underestimate her. The mermaid princess starts singing, and multiple Lives Stages appear around the barrier, before the song sends the the spheres of white light hurling at the barrier.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
As Sailor Moon is preparing her tiara, Ginga Otome lofts a few feet off the ground, haloed very faintly in pink light, orienting herself toward the barrier. Ready.

< The energy of this place, miko-sama, > the tiny Cybody at her should chimes quietly.

"I know," Wako murmurs back. "Stay on alert for me, Wawna."

< Ready, miko-sama. >

Energy gathers in her hands at the call of 'get ready.' When the tiara flies out, a volley of bright pink sparks go with it, bullets of cleansing power shooting like miniature stars from Wako's outstretched fingertips.

"Cascade de Soleil!"

Nephrite has posed:
    A series of zodiac signs appear in a circle around the barrier. Each one flares from a faint glow to bright white. From a distance, Nephrite has his hands held slightly apart in front of himself as he intones, "The Stars know everything..." As Sailor Moon launches her attack, cosmic energy and emotional sincerity turned into power, another aspect of the cosmos becomes involved. There is a sound like a great sigh as the Stars shift their light temporarily. It will baffle astronomers later, but right now the constellations in the sky, visible or not, are all focusing the light of each star point to a single location, on a single planet, obscured with a barrier.

    A giant man made of light and the lines connecting the points, put against the spectral blue of a night sky, appears floating in the sky. He draws up a club of the same constellations as he is made of, and holds it overhead.

    "Heracles the Hero..." Nephrite says. "...Strike true."

    The Heracles constellation dives down towards the shield cabin, and strikes with Starlight and the strength of a demi-god right out of legend.

Pyrite has posed:
    The black-haired Sailor Moon waits while the attacks are launched. The moment there's an opening amidst the Incredible Violence, she runs into the mix to get right up in there as the distraction she is meant to be. She is determined, angry, scared, and desperate to see her friend again, just like the real Sailor Moon.
    Similarly for Usagi Tsukino, who approaches from a less conspicuous angle to try to get to Naru before the poop hits the fan.
    They both definitely wait until the cataclysmic destruction is over and do not move unless the barrier actually opens because lol they don't want to be set on fire/ice/lightning/general destruction.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sunbreaker let out a sigh of relief. There. She was definitely making progress. The dark energy was under control. Bit by bit. She was amazing. She was incredible. She was--

BOOM!

Her head looked up in time to HEAR something POWERFUL slam into her barrier dome.

Then more BOOMS! She rolled her eyes. It would take at LEAST an hour to break it. She had plenty of time to--

Then the barrier broke in no less than *eight* different places. A certain bit of sabotage prepared prior combined with the sheer, destructive force of furious magical girl making it a foregone conclusion. Cracks forming along it, before it shattered like a dome made of strange steel and glass. Dark energy swirling around them. Oh cra--

Then the tiara came through the cabin, shattering the windows and whizzing within inches of Sunbreaker's face, making a nervous sweat drop go down her face. Almost as if the tiara was yelling 'you're next' before it returned to its sender.

Sunbreaker blinked a few times and looked back towards the shattered window and the crumbling dark energy barrier. How... ? How did they... It was... she... She'd spent *hours* creating it. The amount of dark energy she'd poured into it... yet they just... they broke it in seconds. HOW? They--

OH SHIT WAS THAT FORCE COMING TOWARDS HER?!! WHAT?! Did they have SORA with them?! Oh no. Ohhhh no. She looked towards Naru. No no no. Dark energy grasped at dark and she could feel that energy, now no longer controlled by her, grasping and prying again. She had to--

But if she stayed her, she might die. She...

Failure. This... this was a failure. She'd failed. She'd messed up. She'd... was she...

If only they hadn't INTERFERRED! She had it all under control! If THEY just HADN'T done this. Fine. FINE! If they wanted her? They could HAVE her. It wasn't HER fault. IT was THEIRS. Whew, she almost learned a lesson there. Instead she, once again, she wreathed her body in dark flames and... left. Abandoning Naru to them.

Victory, right?

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's not been a lot of consciousness in Naru in the last little while, and that's probably been for the best all things considered.

One doesn't really wish to be all there for having their soul rearranged, reconfigured, taken apart, scuffed up a bit and shoved back in with a healthy dollop of dark energy glue to keep it right there.

But now there's ALL THAT MORE dark energy, and well.. like is fond of like..

Naru's eyes open barely a heartbeat after Sunbreaker has vanished. A good thing, right?

Not with THAT look in them. They glow in the semi-darkness and she rises.

Not stands, but rises, a good foot off the ground, with broken glass all around on the floor, and that grin.. well that grin just doesn't look any sort of friendly. Neither does that laugh, her arms outstretched as if she is just now discovering all SORTS of things.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon has learned a little something after all this time - one of those things is the importance of restraint. The last time she'd used every ounce of her power, her henshin had collapsed right then and there. She'd been lucky it was worth it, that the Hooded Guy had been overpowerd, but she can't count on that being the case this time - has to be able to fight -

And then their attacks land. Her tiara. The Live Stage(s). A shower of pink bullets. A giant man made of light, was that Nephrite, what the fuck -

And the barrier shatters. Also, the windows of the cabin, those shatter too. They can see right inside it now, and that's great.

That's great, right?

Her tiara comes flying back to her, energy dimmed, returnig to her hand as cooled metal, slid back onto her forehead.

"That was - that was great! Now we just need to get in there and find Naru -

Laughter echoes from the building. Haunting. Spooky.

Familiar.

"Is that - NARU-CHAN?"

And you can count on Sailor Moon to start recklessly running in.

Pyrite has posed:
    'Sailor Moon' rushes in just to see Sunbreaker disappear. But Sunbreaker also gets to see 'Sailor Moon' coming right at her like a predator running down her prey. There's something... Different this time than their last encounter. Underneath the layers of mimicry, there's something hungry at the core of her. Something that wants to eat everything that Sunbreaker is.
    Something to think about later, at least.
    Sailor Moon skids to a stop when the black flames consume whom she assumes to be the culprit, frowning. Then she poses and calls out to any other hostiles in the area, "Come out now, and I promise I'll only kick you until you almost die!"
    Meanwhile, the other 'Usagi' has made it into the cabin and is there to see Naru's eyes open. "Naru-chan!" she lets out happily, and blubberingly. Until she too sees something predatory, hungry, and different about Naru. "Naru-chan, it's me! C-come on, let's get you out of here! We can go back to our dorm, and... And have some coffee, you know?" she asks panickedly, trying to deny the reality before her. "You want coffee, right?"
    The Sailor Moon posing and yelling stops doing so and turns around to face the real Sailor Moon as the latter comes recklessly running in, just like her duplicate did. "Dark Energy infusion. Naru is being controlled or something. Don't hurt her." The blue eyes go red in the span of a single blink, as Pyrite, still trying to maintain the form of the leader of the Sailor Senshi, asks with a smile, "I can't eat her can I?" It's a joke. A very poorly timed joke, but a joke.
    She wouldn't even if she could.
    But this is the moment when she prevents a tragedy, even if it means there will be another down the line.
    The purpose she was involved in this plan, and its true goal: To make sure Sailor Moon remains pure. She will be needed, and if she is broken then they will all be doomed.
    Better to have the girl already broken into tiny pieces in the frontline.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Out of everything that happens, it is the zodiac signs and the crushing starlight that catch most of Kazuo's attention. The other things that strike the barrier he can identify. That's the mystery. (That's the mystery that makes his heart lift, startled and quick and bright like the shining of the constellation.)

The laughter is another mystery. Sailor Moon solves it in a heartbeat, and the moment of unexplained wonder crashes back to earth.

Kazuo stays hanging back. Somehow he has the suspicion that he's not going to be handing Osaka that sword tonight.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Step One: Violence seems to have worked - the barrier is no longer a problem!

Wako doesn't really get much opportunity for the satisfaction of its shattering, what with the spooky maniacal laughter from inside the cabin and--

"Sailor Moon, wait!" Sailor Moon is clearly not going to wait. With little other option evident in front of her, Ginga Otome launches herself in Sailor Moon's wake, still flying a few feet off the ground as she chases the other girl into the cabin.

She's barely across the threshold before Tiny Wawna is shrilling alarm. < Caution, miko-sama! >

She'd been warned about the duplicate Sailor Moon, but even without the advance notice, she might not have managed more than a double-take. Not with the overwhelming pressure of dark energy within the cabin meeting her like a tidal wave, not with Naru looking like That.

Half on instinct, the Galactic Maiden reaches out a hand, trying to manifest a shield not around herself or her allies, but around Naru herself.

Nephrite has posed:
    A tall man with wavy brown hair appears in the cabin after there is enough of an opening to see where he's teleporting to. He has a sword to give to any enemy he sees -- preferably forcefully and with Incredible Violence. He hears the begging from 'Usagi' and the warning from 'Sailor Moon' to the other Sailor Moon. He wasn't clued into that part of the plan, so it makes him furrow his brow a bit, but he observes the inside of the building with stormy blue eyes.

    He's checking for anything left behind. Traps, clues, an egress he can trace and follow. Because he is boiling mad inside that someone has done to Naru Osaka what was down to him and the other Shitennou. Nephrite has seen what the darkness does.

    "Osaka-san." he calls out in his normal raspy voice instead of the clear baritone he frequently uses to make himself sound better. Appearances are not important right now. "I can help." He then sighs and narrows his eyes as he corrects himself at the sight of everyone rushing to aid a single schoolgirl hopped up on Dark Energy, shielding her from her own contamination. "We can help."

    This situation seems familiar in all the worst ways. Where has he seen this before?

    Also, why does he feel like there's another of the Shitennou here? Did Hematite come after all? Jadeite?

Coco Kiumi has posed:
With all those concentrated attacks, the barrier breaks like it was never there, the combined magical energy doing short work of it. Most of the attacks are known to Coco, but the appearance of a giant of light would put a stop to her if she didn't have more things to worry about.

Alongside the group of fellow mahous, Coco enters the cabin, anxiously moving as fast as she can, which... is actually a lot faster now that her humanoid form could feasibly keep up with her mermaid form and with other mahous.

She spares no second thought about her increased physical capabilities, though, at least, only the bare minimum needed not to go splat somewhere along the way. The mysterious laughter Sailor Moon attributes to Naru only serves to make the hair on the back of her neck stand with apprehension.

"Naru?" she repeats the name incredulous, looking at the very shocked Sailor Moon. She grimaces, her thoughts scrambling at the implication that Naru too had been claimed by dark energy. She starts singing as the follows Sailor Moon, refocusing her attention as much as she can and sending positive waves of magical sound after the warrior of the moon as she enters the cabin coated in darkness.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It is a fair statement that it is not really Naru's brain running the show in there. If the glowing eyes and the floating and the creepy laughter wasn't a good clue...

Dark Naru lifted her hand to point at her bestie and ice winds start to gather around her hand, wisps of misty air, faintly scented with pine to swirl around the cabin, picking up bits of paper and light debris, just making a mess into a bigger mess, but an atmospheric mess!

The pink barrier corrals Dark Naru for a moment, preventing her from actively tossing things at all of the people racing into the cabin.

Her own voice sounds much like Naru's but with an ringing echo behind it. "But I have only just come into my POWER!" She tosses back at Nephrite's very reasonable offer of help.

Clearly it /was/ Sunbreaker shoving ideas into her head along with far far too much Dark Energy.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The laughter had clued her in - but nothing could have prepared Usagi for the sight of Naru, floating in the air, eyes glowing, arms outstretched in a classic supervillain pose, grinning wickedly. But Naru-chan can't be a supervillain - Naru is Naru-chan. If Naru were a supervillain, Usagi would have to be a supervillain right there with her, making sure she didn't get hurt and trying to talk her down!

And yet, that evil grin on her face... she doesn't need Pyrite and Himeko to warn her. She can already tell. "Of course I won't hurt her! And - no. But you can eat Sunbreaker."

There's a vicious bite to her voice, her horror consolidated into anger for a single bitter moment as she speaks to Pyrite. If Sunbreaker keeps this up, Usagi won't stop at kicking her until she only almost dies -

Nephrite is there, and Wako-chan and Yellow Pearl Voice are following her in, but she doesn't pay them any mind, her eyes fixed on Naru, her hands trembling. The hand, pointed directly at her, icy winds and paper and debris swirling together into a focused point -

"Naru-chan! You don't want to do this!"

The pink bubble that rises up to surround Naru has her breath catching, equal parts relief and concern. She knows Wako-chan would never hurt Naru, but still -

"Okay, you have power! That's great! But we're all your friends! You don't want to blast us, do you?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo's eyes widen behind his mask as he hears the last words out of Usagi's mouth. He draws Hematite's cape across himself for armor, and moves at last - fast, long strides eating ground - to the edge of the breakage, keeping a relatively undamaged part of the cabin between himself and the direction Naru's voice was coming from, and keeping none of the magical girls between them. Because the great rule has been broken: never ask a question you don't actually want the answer to.

Cover, armor, and being out of the line of fire. He hopes.

One glimpse through the window tells him that there probably is not going to be an 'out of the line of fire.' Well. At least bringing safety glasses probably wouldn't've been more help than the mask.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Be careful, Sailor Moon, I have been through this. Even if we are facing Naru, she isn't going to respond like you she did before this", Coco warns her, looking with understanding at the soldier of the moon.

The mermaid princess sings Legend of Mermaid, adding her own Live Stage to the containment bubble Ginga Otome has erected around Naru, just as an extra safety measure.

By Yellow Pearl Voice's will, her song starts causing the Stage to emit a mild paralising effect and intensifying its borders to try and block unwanted movements.

Coco places a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder, as a measure of comfort if her songs doesn't help her.

Pyrite has posed:
    The red-eyed, black-haired Sailor Moon is still holding onto her borrowed form for now, in the hopes that she can take any attacks meant for the real Sailor Moon, and the fake Usagi is hanging out in a corner of the room looking appropriately scared but also tearful over her friend, because honestly that's all Himeko can do right now. It's taking all her concentration to stay 'Usagi'.
    There isn't anything else for it.
    Neither of the ghost girls knows the outcome of this. They only know why they are here.
    So 'Sailor Moon' joins the real Sailor Moon in pleading with Naru, in the same voice, with the same body language and facial expressions, and speech patterns, mimicking the genuine article in the hopes that echoing her will reinforce the power of friendship.

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite is seriously considering whether or not to get out of the building. If that shield wasn't in the way, he'd have some options... But for now, he just chants in High Arcadian, a lost language. He is weakened from summoning Heracles, so he can't manage anything big again until he has a chance to recuperate. That also means it's taking him time to build up the magic to do anything. He'll just have to hope the others can stall for time. He has a forceshield up to protect himself, but he doesn't know what kind of attack he's guarding against, so he's making a gamble for what to focus on.

    Also, thank the Gods that Yellow Pearl Voice's singing isn't inhibiting him. That would be really bad right now.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
A shaky breath escapes Wako as the shell of pink light, no more substantial in appearance than a giant shimmering soap bubble, closes around Naru and contains the cold swirling wind in the process. She hadn't been entirely sure.

"This energy... it's really bad." She's not saying anything that anyone else hasn't already said, or that anyone in this cabin doesn't already know. Stating the obvious is ever the refuge of those with no better ideas. The shield around Naru brightens by degrees, Ginga Otome feeding more power into it as the oppressive pall of Darkness all around them threatens to eat away at the barrier from both sides.

"Wawna, can we--?" The question is distracted, half-formed, her thoughts racing. "Like with Heigent's Overphase?"

< This power is not a Cybody's, > the little robot chimes. < It is not certain what could happen, even if you could channel my full power. >

"Great." She hisses a breath out through her teeth, and focuses her gaze on Naru's glowing eyes. "Is this what you want, Naru-chan?" Wako asks, even as her other hand comes up to reinforce the shield. "Power, even if it hurts people?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
The sweep of Dark Naru's arm is a quick and violent thing, even with the double pleading from Sailor Moon and 'Sailor Moon'. An attempt to bring those gathering winds up in power, and they do..

Just not as much as she was clearly expecting. There is, after all, a pink barrier being beefed up by a white one that is keeping her power.. that freshly found POWER.. from being expended as it should.

"I am ready to be FREE of this place!" Dark Naru clearly isn't focusing quite so much on the whole friendship thing right now, but there's no denying that Naru AND Dark Naru are wholly and entirely /done/ with being cooped up!

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There. The one Kazuo doesn't know is doing -- something. And it's taking his attention. He has a shield of his own; as long as it holds, he's fine. But if Naru gets angry enough to break the barriers on her, and the man with the wavy brown hair loses his shield before he's ready ...

Sailor Moon isn't protesting his presence. If she didn't want him here, she'd have someone to scream at.

Kazuo takes a breath, braces himself, and shields himself with the borrowed cape as he risks slipping into the cabin. Not too close, and not with sword drawn. Just close enough that if Nephrite's shield goes down, Kazuo can fling Hematite's protection over both of them; maybe that'll buy time for whatever he's doing to complete itself.

This is the entire problem with only having one plan. When it inevitably goes sideways, people have to improvise.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The shields are holding. That's good, because Usagi doesn't know what to do - wait. No. Usagi does know what to do: because for the first time in her life, she actually trusts a teacheer.

TXT Usagi Tsukino to Kyouka Inai: Naru's full of dark energy?!?! how do we fix that!

Of course, the problem with texting is she can't expect it to work instantly. Those swirling winds and particles of debris aren't able to get out of the barriers that Ginga Otome and Yellow Pearl Voice have erected, but how long can they hold? It's got to take energy to keep them up, especially with Naru-chan fighting them, and even if they could last for a long time, they can't just keep Naru in an oversized hamster ball forever! She has to eat and drink and go to school! She can't get coffee from inside a giant hamster ball!

Usagi is freaking out, just a bit. She's been a magical girl for two and a half months, and this is the first time she's been presented with a problem she couldn't fight. Because she is absolutely not hitting Naru with any kind of attack, no matter, at all, ever, and she'll beat anyone who tries it, and what does that leave them to do -

>>>I am ready to be FREE of this place!

The thing about being best friends with someone for the majority of your life is that you get used to listening to them. You get used to hearing them talk, in all kinds of situations. You learn the rhythm of their temper, the pattern of their complaints, recognize real anger from annoyance from put upon joking fury.

This? This is a real upset. And why wouldn't it be? It's been days. Usagi may have been losing her mind with worry - but Naru's clearly been losing her mind with captivity (and dark energy!)

Her phone buzzes, and Usagi takes a moment look down, hoping for the answer to this problem, this test they absolutely cannot fail -

TXT Kyouka Inai to Usagi Tsukino: purification magic would help, if anyone does that. otherwise positive emotion, healing. if all else fails knock her out and we'll fix her later.

And just like that, a very, very stupid plan comes to mind.

"Everyone, I have an idea. It's stupid. But it just might work?" With that ringing endorsement of confidence, the rest of them might not be feeling too good about this idea, but it's all she's got, and she turns her back on Naru, looking at everyone, begging them to help. "Dark energy comes from like, the dark side of the force, you know? Anger, hatred, fear, all of that - if Naru-chan wants out, then I can get her out. I can blast this place to hell, and maybe seeing that will make her less angry. Our back-up says that purification can help dark energy, or positive emotion, or healing - Ginga Otome! You told me you were a shrine priestess, right? And you can heal! Yellow Pearl Voice! Your powers help others heal too, and you boost our positive feelings! The two of you are our best chance of helping Naru!"

Her phone buzzes again. She glances down at it, totally ruining her inspiring leader look for the moment.

TXT Kyouka Inai to Usagi Tsukino: hemaite also suggests either draining it out of her or getting her to expend it somehow

Perfect. She wheels around, taking in Nephrite, smiling a little at Kazuo - that is, the mysterious caped crusader standing ready.. "Nephrite, I'm pretty sure you can drain energy - a lot of the people in your company can. Could you drain just the dark energy? Our friend the Mysterious Knight here will back you up, if it means you need someone to watch your back. You can trust him."

Because as dangerous as this all is, she trusts Kazuo to know his limits, the same way she trusted Naru to know hers, when she smacked Sunbreaker around with a mop.

"We can do this. All of us, we're the perfect team to handle this problem. Um... does that sound good to you all?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"You can be sure of it, Sailor Moon!", Coco exclaims. "I trust your judgment, and I think you picked a good course of action." Having confirmed she is on board, Coco proceeds with the part the lunar magical girl assigned to her, but if the soldier of the moon is going all out with her attack, then she should add some extra assurance, shouldn't she?

The mermaid princess raises her arm, the bracelet on her wrist shining with white light as a halo of yellow light moves downwards from the mermaid princess's head: her clothes become more elaborate as it does so, gaining a flowing bow on her back and parallel frills on her blouse.

"The Tale of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" Yellow Pearl Voice 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.

Multiple Live Stages appear around every single of the present, sans Naru, who still only has the one that is trying to keep her contained. The magical song spreads the light of the Stages with a fond memory of the past, the wonder of the seven kingdoms, strengthening the spheres against the incoming assault.

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, setting onto eroding the darkness that coats Naru and purifying the evil that Sunbreaker forcibly inserted into her.

Pyrite has posed:
    Both 'Sailor Moon' and 'Usagi' immediately whip around to look at Ginga Otome at the announcement that the latter is a shrine maiden.
    ENEMY.
    The hate is immediate, the fear and danger overwhelming to the point of erasing consciousness for a moment, but both halves of the separated ghost girl fight it off. Aside from a brief moment of eyes glowing red and an aura of malice that is gone within a fraction of a second, there's no sign of the abject terror and animosity that she feels towards all miko.
    Instead 'Usagi' slowly starts moving out of the corner behind Naru, and towards somewhere she can get out of sight and return to normal.
    'Sailor Moon' moves closer to the real Sailor Moon, just in case.
    They can both drain energy.
    Neither is about to reveal that fact with a priestess present.

Nephrite has posed:
    The Astrological Mage listens to Sailor Moon's plan as his chant ends, and then nods in agreement. "I was thinking of something similar myself." he replies with a small smile. "I don't usually drain Dark Energy, but I'm sure I can manage something." He opens his eyes to look back at the Moonlight Knight--I mean Mysterious Knight behind him as he is being told he can trust this stranger.

    "I know." is all Nephrite says, quietly.

    He has built up enough magic energy. If he releases it, the spell will be complete.

    Hopefully, the spell won't need to become complete.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Her shield is holding, and still, Wako feels so helpless. It's the kind of helplessness that comes from uncertainty, from known unknowns and unknown unknowns - a year ago, as big as the problems in front of her might have been, at least she understood them. Now what she knows is that this is very wrong, in ways she doesn't fully understand and has no idea how to fix. She has maybes and question marks, and no way to know if anything she tries will help or make things worse.

So she hesitates, focused only on holding the shield, spinning between half-formed ideas--

Until Sailor Moon presents her plan. Reckless, ill-advised, fantastic.

"Of course," the Galactic Maiden breathes. "Of course we should get her out of here. This place is awful. Let's do it."

Just like that, the proverbial ground is solid beneath her feet once more. "Ready when you are!" she declares, the emblem on her chest beginning to glow.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
With no objections to the plan, and everyone prepared for the absolutely chaos of what will come down around them, Sailor Moon prepares to do her part - to bring down these walls and destroy this prison!

She's been practicing her control over her tiara; she can recall it to her with the correct angle of a throw, and with effort, control the path of it's flight with more than just the actual physics. Tearing through the walls of this cabin would be easy; her tiara would crunch throuugh wood and insulation like tissue paper. No, the real issue is not having the roof fall in on them... and she's got an idea for that too. She's never tried too attacks at once - never tried them in rapid succession, one after the other without even a moment's break. But if she's not willing to push herself for Naru, who is she willing to push herself for?

"Get ready everyone!"

If she wants do this right, she's got to blast the roof first - make sure it can't come down on top of them! Sure, there are shields, but why bring the roof down in piece, when you could have it come down in pieces?

Which is why her hand raises to her forehead, fingers framing the red jewel at the center of her tiara as she tilts her head back and raises her eyes to the ceiling above them. None of those gathered here have seen this attack - and those watching from afar, will certainly get a lightshow. "Moon Twilight Flash!"

A beam of light, silver as the Moon itself, blasts from Sailor Moon's tiara and tears through the roof, punching out the center in a devastating beam of force that blasts hundreds of feet into the air. It's an attack meant to strike through evil itself, to blast apart chaos and despair. A simple roof is not enough to bleed off it's power.

Before the beam can even cut off Sailor Moon is already moving, tearing the tiara from her forehead and twisting into a throw that spins the disc of energy the metal becomes. Earlier, she'd thrown the tiara with enough force to put the fear of death into Sunbreaker.

"Moon Tiara Action!"Now, she holds back - goes for finesse over force, and the effect is still devastating, as she causes her tiara to careen through the air, tearing through the outer walls of the cabin, shattering the remnants of glass, window frames, walls, insulation, wiring - debris rains down on all of them.

But when the debris clears - the cabin is a ruin, dust and smoke rising in the air - and the sky is clear above them, the woods and mountains visible around them. If the bubbles have held... then they'll be standing free and clear, this prison as thoroughly destroyed as can be without cleansing fire.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The destruction of the cabin brings about an absolute cackle of GLEE from Dark Naru. She has wanted to do that for DAYS and finally she can look out.

And see the stars twinkling overhead. The moon providing a glow to the whole scene of destruction below. It should be a lovely evening in a quiet cabin in the mountains. Picturesque. Perfect for a hot beverage on a comfortable lounger, watching the stars.

That is not at all the vibe going down around here.

Dark Naru is held by the barriers, safe from the debris of the cabin, but also kept from hurling destruction AT the people who are .. honestly speaking sense to the back of her brain that is trying in vain to regain control. But that is not the one currently in charge.

There is a certain challenge in being brand new to POWER, light side or dark side. Passion fuels it, but the utter DELIGHT at the sky above is no less passionate than the FURY of being restrained.

That emotion is shared with the world. Icy winds curl up around the edge of the cabin devistation, malevolent puffs of freezing forest scented air, scattering off as they are freed into the world. Fortunately there were mahou left to guard the main strike team's back, and they should take care of the most of them.

A couple are closer however, and launch at Kazuo and Nephrite where they linger at the edge of the group, mindless demonic things, spilled over dark energy.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
All around her is catastrophe, light and noise as Sailor Moon brings the cabin down, Yellow Pearl Voice's song rising above it. Silver moonlight pushing back the dark, refracted through dust and smoke. Ginga Otome puts it all aside and closes her eyes, trusting the Live Stages and everyone's combined efforts to keep them all safe while she reaches within herself for a power she's tapped only a few times before.

The gears of Zero Time, turning.

The waves within the cove, lapping inexorably around her while she stands upon the stone of the shrine.

How she felt, watching the transformed Heigent towering over Tauburn - watching Samekh sink into the gloom - seeing that terrible look on Naru's face.

Her hair and capelet and skirt stir in a wind that has nothing to do with the icy blasts Naru's dark power generates. The golden trim of her uniform, the yellow sunbursts on her gloves and the pins that secure her capelet, all of it glows with the radiance of sunlight, bright as the Waw emblem blazing on her chest, clear as the power she floods into the shield which holds Naru contained.

"APPRIVOISER!"

Pyrite has posed:
    Not wanting to be any closer to the shrine maiden than they have to be, and also not really favoring the odds of remaining intact if people start blasting off purification magic in a confined area, both 'Usagi' and 'Sailor Moon' slip away while no one's paying attention. Outside, they both revert to their normal selves. They would collapse if they were truly living beings. But one is ectoplasm and the other is psychoplasm. Disoriented, drained, sure.
    Thus it takes a moment to recover. Then the cabin explodes in a wave of cosmic power and knocks both ghosts flat. Pyrite flops onto the air, Himeko onto the ground like a normal freaking person. They get control of themselves again, and realize that youma are roaming around. Himeko and Pyrite are weaker separated like this. But they can work together.
    Pyrite takes on the appearance of her Shitennou uniform, and draws a sword with a gleam in her red eyes and a wide, black, crescent moon smile. Himeko holds a hand out to her side, and it catches fire as she stares down the ice and wind monsters.
    The monster rushes forth to kill other monsters.
    The psychic uses the powers learned from her big brother to hunt the monsters down.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Glass, window frames, walls. The Mysterious Knight uses the armor granted him to keep himself from being lacerated or broken; Nephrite's shield can brush these things off, he's certain, but he intercepts the largest and fastest-moving and sharpest fragments from directions Nephrite can't see easily anyhow, keeping the power sustaining Nephrite's shield from any unexpected spikes in demand. He suspects Nephrite organizes these things better than electric utilities do, but if whatever magic Nephrite is holding ticks up from ninety-eight percent effective to ninety-nine as a result, it's still a win.

And then they are under the stars, and for some reason Kazuo finds he is suddenly not worried about Nephrite handling himself at all. Which is good, because he has a new problem.

The wind that Galactic Maiden's power generates is a gentle one, only stirring her capelet. The wind that Naru's fury generates is not. And while Hematite's cape can guard against Sunbreaker's fire ... the tricks Hematite, and now Kazuo, can play with it depend on air. Kazuo deflects the immediate ice and malevolence launched at him, certainly. But what comes after it flows up and under the cape. Naru's darkness slams into him, not imposed in the same way that Sunbreaker imposed it on her, but close enough --

He is wearing Hematite's cape.

He is standing beside a man he knows and does not know, beside a singer who, months ago, told him (among many others) something about a frozen world.

His right hand closes on the third, hidden thing he was lent, besides Hematite's cape and the borrowed saber. The pocketwatch comes free, chain trailing, glinting like the crystal of his earring in sunlight and moonlight and starlight all three.

By the time his hand comes up, the glove that he is wearing is no longer black: bleached white by something, whether that is the purification flooding among them or something else. Everything he is wearing is white, except the rich brown lining of the cape that is no longer Hematite's, and the mask on his face that keeps its black.

He is never in his life going to be able to get away with making jokes about the outfits Darien Shields and Masato Sanjouin wore to that dance again, because he is now wearing white tie and tails that is also a white jacket and pants.

And he does not care, because that cold, dark wind slides into him, and he drinks it down, and flings his hand holding the pocketwatch forward, and the wind comes back. Cold as mountain water, biting as mountain wind, and without a shred of dark energy remaining in it. The attack that he flings back at his source is not like Moon's or the Maiden's or Pearl's, does not purify the things around it -- but it is itself purified. And it shreds and dissipates the darker winds striking at him nearly as effectively as Pyrite's blade and Himeko's fire.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The Mermaid Princess of the South Pacific Ocean keeps her song high as the melody spreads out into the chilly forest air - the normal one, not the one Naru is commanding - while she shoots an appreciative smile to everyone who is doing their part.

As far as the Dark Generals are concerned, it's Nephrite +1, Hematite +2 and Jadeite -1, Pyrite -- on Coco's personal ranking of the group for those she met. Even if she knew Pyrite was one of the Sailor Moons, her appreciation for the help she has provided now and in other occasions would still be held back by the inherent feeling of creepiness around her (and nevermind extracting a soul from a poor elephant!).

Back to the action, Coco thinks the Live Stages held on? Everyone seems fine at least as she anxiously looks around. 'We can do this', she tells herself to psyche herself up as she looks towards Naru. Her song is still keeping up protections and purifications alike.

Nephrite has posed:
    There are a lot of things going on around Nephrite. He chose to shield against kinetic energy, so even a mighty impact isn't going to overwhelm his forceshield. Ordinarily, anyway. But low on mana as he is, that isn't a guarantee, and he can't fight off youma while channeling. Thus, the Mysterious Knight is definitely helping by reducing the burden upon him. All of the energy he has gathered is for one purpose.

    "The Stars know everything..." he chants. Then a circle appears on the ground underneath the bubbled Naru Osaka. Astrological symbols scrawl themselves into existence upon its surface, carving out additional concentric circles and patterns. He turns his head mid-spell as he is shocked by a sudden transformation. It's... Just a wardrobe change, right? But... He's also... But he can't be... Isn't that... No, it's...

    Nephrite grits his teeth and turns back around, his widened eyes and momentary look of pure inner peace and contentment replaced with the determination to see this through. The whispers that have been absent from his mind for so long of late return full force.

    He finishes his spell by calling out the word that will release it. "CONSUME!"

    The bright, silvery, starlight-made-physical circle on the floor shifts abruptly towards black and dark purple as some sort of shadowy ooze circulates around the edges, rising up into tendrils of shadow. The tendrils reach up to wrap around the bubble that Naru is in, and start absorbing light, magic, and anything else in their way, as they try to get to that mass of Dark Energy at the core. And maybe even more than that, if they are allowed.

    Nephrite is struggling. Struggling against the whispers in his head that sound exactly like his own thoughts, and struggling not to do anything reckless that could get him killed here. There is much to be gained from seeing the alliance through.

    That means CONTROL.

    Naru will not be harmed by Nephrite. Not on this day.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The cabin comes down. Youma rise, animated by Naru's power - but Sailor Moon's focus is rapt, pinned only to Naru.

She does not fight, not yet. For now, she's trusting her friends.

"Naru-chan! Please, let go of that dark energy! Let's go home. I miss you, and so does Luna!"

The power of incredible violence has been wielded. It's time for the power of friendship!

Even if Nephrite's incredibly eerie draining spell has her twitching, fingers wanting to go to her tiara...

There's a change nearby, a shift in the air that says something evil has gone, and she can see white at the corner of her vision - but she trusts Kazuo to be strong. She trusts him to never waver.

Naru needs her now.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The youma are off having a play date with Pyrite, and the other mahou. Neither ends well for the youma.

The youma that tried to share its dark energy with Kazuo found out VERY QUICKLY that Kunzite is gonna Mess. It. Up. That also did not end well for the youma.

The purification that is FLOODING into the containment barriers around Dark Naru brings about a scream. Not of rage, but of pain. The happy! It burns! The good kind of pain, the sort that cuts away necrotic tissue to find the healthy tissue beneath. Dark Naru writhes in the barrier, the dark energy in her trying to flee her, away from all that light and happy and good.

And there's a path for it. Burnt into the cracks of the barrier, a shadowy ooze that welcomes the dark energy. Steals it eagerly for itself. What isn't being burnt away with goodness, is being stolen away by greedy darkness.

It's a moment that hangs in time, as light forces and dark forces work together to settle into a harmony. Both important, not one out pacing the other, but both hanging in a symbiosis.

There's a clear sense when Dark Naru collapses into Naru. When the good energies in her outweigh the bad, and the body that's been holding onto both of them collapses as well.

Not dead, that's easy enough to see at a glance, but a psyche that is just entirely overwhelmed and blue screened its way to shut down.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The second Naru collapses, Sailor Moon goes running up to the bubble keeping her imprisoned, ready to catch her as soon as she's released.

"Naru-chan! I've got you - "

Or rather, she will have her. Running for her friend; that's all she does. The youma are taken down; what's important now is Naru.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
She can feel it, though before this moment she couldn't have been sure. The brilliant light fades from within the barrier, and from the Southern Maiden as well; it leaves behind the faint rosy glimmer of the sphere that still holds Naru, and the Galactic Maiden, breathing hard.

"I think..." she says slowly, uncertain. "I think she'll be okay now."

She doesn't dispel the shield, not and dump poor Naru unceremoniously on the ground. The bubble floats, cradling Naru gently within still limned in healing light, until she can be gently deposited into Usagi's arms. They'll figure out the quickest and safest way to get her back to where she needs to be soon enough - right now, Wako is pretty sure, Usagi and Naru both need this.

Over her shoulder, the little twin-tailed robot chimes approvingly. < The malicious energy has abated. Her vital signs appear stable. >

Nephrite has posed:
    The shadowy tendrils die gladly, sated for the moment. Their appetite will be larger next time. Nephrite lets the spell decompose into nothing and hopes there won't be a next time, even as he knows there will be. He is doing everything he can to maintain his stoic appearance and formal demeanor. He is fighting with every moment to ensure he doesn't stagger or collapse in front of these girls. For some reason he doesn't mind if it's Him though.

    He isn't going to stand here during a moment when friends rejoice at the return of one of their own, to be part of the congratulations, or the questions, or the attempts to include him. He doesn't deserve that.

    So he turns around to face the masked man. "I'm going to leave. Do you wish to go with me?" he asks just above a whisper.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
No more killing ice. That's a beginning. Kazuo draws a breath, glances with the barest turn of his head. Two magical girls crowding around a Naru. One of them is a Sailor Moon. The other Sailor Moon and Usagi are ... not immediately here, but not on the ground, either. That's a good start.

Unlike the people crowding for Naru, he doesn't presume that everything's settled. Not till the tendrils die down, till the complicated and symbol-filled circle settles and is gone. Then he lets himself take a breath. Without examining, in this moment, why he trusts that Nephrite would notice if Sunbreaker's magic were still here.

The question wins a little smile, an amused light in gray eyes. What he intends to say is 'sure, if you're going somewhere that won't also try to eat me.' The word that comes out of his mouth is simply, "Yes."

Pyrite has posed:
    The hunting is done. The playing is done. The fighting is done. Energy drained from youma, in a reversal of the typical situation. Drained until they died, which is also very unlike the usual. But it isn't doing anything for the sisters who are just a single girl. Pyrite's clothes can no longer be controlled properly, and revert to the simple kimono she wore for so many years in her Shrine. Himeko can no longer stay on her feet, and collapses to her hands and knees while her psychoplasm body starts to break apart and 'evaporate' into the cold air.
    Neither is staying for the celebration. Pyrite looks at her other self in panic, standing rigidly. "Have to go back." she says stiffly. Himeko doesn't argue, just crawls over to her younger self. The moment they touch, they trade the energy needed to stand and move, and they run until they're out of sight of others.
    Only then does Himeko disappear entirely, and Pyrite a moment later as she runs into the shadow of a tree and doesn't come out the other side.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The atmosphere is pregnant with tension as magical energies of all kinds whirl about, an oppressive vacuum setting into Coco's ears as the currents of both forces start their final fight.

'It's ok, we are almost there', she reassures herself. 'Soon Naru will be back to herself', the thoughts of the selfless girl that did nothing to elicit such a disproportionate reaction setting into her thoughts.

For now, the worry she feels is overpowering any other feeling, only kept somewhat at bay by her own song as the melodious notes of the seven seas ring throughout the forest.

And suddenly, the darkness coming from Naru is gone, the girl collapsing inside the double-layered barrier. Coco frees the redheaded girl from her Live Stage, so that Sailor Moon will be able to hold her dear friend again as Ginga Otome takes care of hers, as she switches her attention to singing a song of recovery from the fatigue that she has been subjected to, the more placid notes of Beautiful Wish a lullaby for the weary.

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite smiles and claps a hand on the Mysterious Knight's shoulder. Then he teleports the both of them. There are friends nearby they can visit, but first they should have a chance to talk alone. There's a lot to catch up on, even if they don't know it yet.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Many, many hours later:

Sunbreaker couldn't help feeling this gnawing, terrible feeling... had she... been beaten? Had she... no. No no no. She'd made a tactical retreat. She... She was sure the girl was alright. It wasn't like... No. If they broke HER barrier, certainly they could stop whatever happened to Naru. She was likely fine. Even without her genius.

But it had been a lot of firepower... maybe she could just... make sure everything went okay. That Naru wasn't dying or worse...

Finally, the gnawing won out and she put up quite a few protections to make sure nobody could feel her when she did it, if anyone was even there now. Before she used her dark magic to take a peep on the area.

No dark energy. No bodies. But the cabin was in PIECES! What in TARTARUS happened?! How did they...

She ended the scrying, her face pale. You know what? She was... just gonna, as Takashi put it, take the L on this one. Best she stop while she was ahead and before consequences caught up to her. After all, it wasn't like anything was going to happen now, right?

... Right?