744/Digital Business

Digital Business
Date of Scene:	11 November 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Riventon and Viluy attempt to steal some equipment - and Takuto Tsunashi's heart crystal when he stumbles upon them. What's victory worth, though?
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Takuto Tsunashi, Runealy Waldia, Nanoha Takamachi, Wako Agemaki, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Just Business

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Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon arrived at the Mitakihara Convention Center for the Tokyo Technology Show - but he wasn't here as a guest. Nor was he here as a presenter. Riventon was here as something a lot less friendly, arriving late in the afternoon and walking around to the crew entrance. The plan was something more simple - incapacitate whatever passed for guards and then carry home a santa sack full of new, prototypical and emerging technology. What Riventon wasn't expecting to see was that the guards were already missing, and boxes from the back entrance were already being carried out by what were at first glance warehouse workers, but on closer inspection appeared to be robotic, and were putting them into the back of a van with Tomoe LifeScience's logo on the side. Or to see a tall woman with long blue hair directing them to load up the loot, standing guard with one of his rifles at that.

    "Riventon." Viluy said, lowering the rifle she'd been aiming at him. Riventon looked around at the operation.

    "You know, those rifles aren't for use for personal projects." Riventon noted. "Or the van." he said, gesturing to the vehicle.

    "Well, when someone wanders over here to see what's up and I shoot them, it won't -be- a personal project anymore." Viluy responds. "Anyways, hush, we can probably split the goodies back here, I can't imagine we're after the same things." she noted. Of all of the Witches 5 Riventon had always liked Viluy the most - she was technologically minded, pragmatic, and more capable of working together instead of backstabbing, unlike her four co-workers. She held the rifle out to Riventon, who took it. "Just take a shot at someone on the way out, grab the crystal, and nobody will mind if we borrowed some stuff for a little bit of transport." Viluy states.

    "Sure, fine." Riventon says as he hears a sudden, out-of-the-ordinary noise. Riventon and Viluy look at each other for a moment and head in the direction of the sound while the 'workers' continue loading the van with indiscriminate boxes of possible technologcal wonders.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
They-- or at least Wako, Takuto, and Usagi-- are here at the tech show because Takuto is getting pictures of stuff for Keito and has promised!! Wako and Usagi food afterwards. RIP his wallet. To be fair, there is some really neat new stuff here, and Takuto keeps getting distracted.

Like now, for example. There are some really weird-looking guys handling those boxes-- and those, and those, and those, and... "I'll be right back," he murmurs to Wako, preoccupied, touching her arm. "It's probably nothing, but I'm going in that direction, okay?"

It's probably nothing, and Wako can always tell when Takuto henshins, no matter how far away he is. The red-headed boy slopes off toward the back, the personnel-only area, following one of the almost robotic-looking men.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Maybe it's just Takuto's bad luck. Or maybe in the end it'll turn out to be Riventon and Viluy's bad luck, as much as anyones. But one of the loaders drops a a box, sending expensive looking electronic doodads across the floor - and making the noise that summons the two villains to the scene as Takuto comes snooping around the corner. "Hey! Are you bothering the workers?" asks the tall woman with the long blue hair who frankly is either some sort of villain or a weird booth babe. Riventon, though, doesn't give Takuto a chance to answer. After all, they needed a pure heart to justify the use of company resources, and here was someone who was either so curious or so focused on tech to come back here? Good enough. He really only notices the hair once he's already halfway through squeezing the trigger on the rifle - the orb of Dark Energy sailing through the air and slamming into Takuto Tsunashi - and crystalizing the vast majority of the energy of his Linker Core into a shimmering crystal that Riventon is already on the way over to pick up.

    "A little trigger happy?" Viluy asks as she turns to him.

    "Well, now he's not gonna bother or tell anybody anything for a while. And we needed a target, it was nice of him to volunteer." Riventon says as he walks over. But those rifles fire a lot of dark energy, and chunking someone's heart out of them tends to be the sort of thing that gets attention anyways. No matter how isolated the backroom it is done in.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune is attending the show on her own, and is absolutely lost. Nothing here makes any sense to her, and no exhibitor is actually interested in wasting their time with someone who appears to be doing a ridiculous prank where she pretends to not know the first thing about modern tech; an industry event is simply not the place for her 'nonsense.'

That makes this attempt to learn more about Earth technology a complete failure. Eyes lidded and head low, an ashamed Rune finally admits defeat and begins to walk out of the convention center... only to notice people that are not moving like people.

Odd people who are being followed by normal people, such as Takuto. A mix of curiosity and concern spurs her to follow after the group at a slight distance, trying to figure out if there is a problem here or if this is another chance to figure out more about Tokyo's sciences. Shouting, faintly audible in the distance, suggests there is a problem.

Then there's the sudden senation of dark energy, of something wrong, that pretty much confirms this. Rune picks up to a jog, then a run, to head toward the sounds and 'feeling'!

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi is here to oogle at things she'll never ever own. She likes technology and math and science so much. A Ferret is riding on her head. She's marveling over some computer setup with sparkling eyes. Maybe. If she gets good grades for the rest of the year, she can convince her dad and mom to get it for Christmas. Yeah... Yeah! Maybe! +_+ .... In Bizzaro world! ;_;.

Still. She's marveling when Yuuno taps on her head. "H..hey." he goes to Nanoha. "Did you feel that just now? Something is happening."

Nanoha Takamachi blinks and looks up and huhs. "OH! That itch just now? Was that..." she starts making her way to the place in back. When she enters, and away from prying eyes- because Yuuno wasn't happy with her for transforming in a crowded hall last time- she transforms, "Raising Heart, Set up!"

< Get Set! > goes Raising Heart.

There's light and suddenly she's in her Barrier Jacket as she walks forward, holding Raising Heart in it's staff mode.

"What's going on in here?" she calls into the room.

Yuuno , now on Nanoha's shoulder, facepalms with a tiny paw.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako probably would have come along to help Takuto take pictures of techy things for Keito even if he hadn't promised to feed her and Usagi afterward. Probably. In any case they're here, and Wako's content to enjoy herself looking at stuff she doesn't really understand and pointing out things for Takuto to snap shots of.

Her brow creases a little, after the touch to her arm, but nods in understanding. "Okay," she tells Takuto, "we'll wait here, unless something happens." She doesn't tell him to call for them if something does happen. She doesn't need to.

It hasn't even been long enough to get worried - has barely been long enough for her and Usagi to even begin any idle chitchat before Wako suddenly frowns, bringing her hand up to her chest. Beneath it, through her t-shirt, the Y-shaped emblem is glowing a soft pink. "Something's wrong," she says. "Usagi-chan--"

Without finishing the thought or waiting for Usagi's reply, she's tearing off through the personnel-only door that Takuto dipped through just a minute ago.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The technology fair isn't really that interesting to Usagi, but she'd promised Ami she would take pictures of everything medical and she'd promised Luna she would take pictures of everything else. She's not too worried about it - she's pretty sure her cat isn't big enough to steal anything.

Pretty sure.

Besides! A day out with friends is always fun, especially when one of them's promised to pay for food, later.

She's in the process of taking pictures of a medical device she can't even begin to understand when Takuto slips away, having murmured something or another to Wako, and Usagi glances up in brief concern, but if Wako-chan isn't bothered, she shouldn't be, right? She's about to ask Wako if she understands any of this tech, when suddenly -

Eh?! Eh!?!

But if Wako's running, Usagi is running too, the two of them barreling through the personnel-only door without a word of concern. That rush of dark energy? Usagi felt absolutely none of it. Outside of her henshin, she's practically as numb to all of that as a mundane, but her broach is in her hand, ready for trouble. Takuto could protect himself - so if he was in trouble, it was probably something that needed Sailor Moon. But just in case...

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"--" Takuto opens his mouth to answer, his expression mildly surprised, and then he's got something pointed at him and he's already starting to fall, but Riventon's altogether too fast, and Takuto's caught on the back foot.

Which means that when his pure heart gets chunked out and he drops unceremoniously to the floor, there's -- surprise!! -- a small robot, maybe ten inches tall, modeled to look like the dandiest of Cavaliers, plume and all. It's in a glowing iridescent bubble, and it pulls out two tiny glowing swords from its chest, running in midair toward the pure heart crystal to stand threateningly between it and Riventon.

So threatening.

Its posture is absolutely clear, it's challenging Riventon to a duel like a gentleman, its little high-heeled boots slammed into the fake platform inside the bubble and one sword pointed directly at Riventon.

On the floor, Takuto's breathing. That's about all that can be said for him.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon scowls at Nanoha. "Oh come on even I didn't even plan for this one. How the hell could you all be here so fast." he asks, watching what basically amounts to one girl after another walks through the doors that lead to the convention hall, to make a dramatic noise of indignation or otherwise just show up way too fast. He can't see all of them immediately, but he can see the lines of light from the doors opening.

    Viluy shakes her head. "Are you sure you're not being tracked? Everything was going fine until you got here." she notes. "Maybe get a new phone number." she suggests to him, before raising her voice. "Anyways, sorry but this area is for employees only." Viluy says, reaching to her wrist and tapping a button on it. "Please escort these very lost guests back to the convention hall, boys." she says, and all of the 'workers' stop what they're doing and turn to look at the intruders - eyes flaring purple with the Dark Energy that animates their otherwise robotic bodies and turns them from an Asimo-like project to functional assistants. They charge the girls, intent on following Viluy's command - attempting to grab the girls, henshin'd or not, and attempt to throw them back into the convention hall like bouncers clearing a bar at last call.

    Riventon, meanwhile, is reaching for the heart crystal when tiny Tauburn shows up. "Oh no, it's adorable!" Riventon says, his eyes almost sparkling. Do you want to come too?" he asks, and also reaches out with his other hand to grab the small robot - like it hasn't just drawn swords on him. Like this is a rational or safe idea.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Don't you dare touch him!" Wako's voice rings out through the space, alight with fury that goes well past the usual levels of righteous indignation. "APPRIVOISER!.

Glittering pink light flares around her, lighting up the area and rendering her momentarily into little more than a stark black silhouette against it. By the time the dazzle clears, her street clothes have been transformed into the white and gold military ensemble of the Galactic Maiden, and there's another tiny robot in a glimmering bubble hovering in the air near her shoulder - this one also white and gold and sporting what looks like a set of glowing golden twintails and a skirt of floating white piles.

No speeches here. Her boots have barely touched the floor again before she's rushing straight for Takuto, skimming a few inches above the floor within the shell of a transparent pink shield that simply bashes the Dark Energy robots bodily out of her path.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
What Usagi sees through the door is a strange girl, a not-as-strange magical girl - the one from the bakery and the test of courage, and most importantly, Takuto sprawled on the ground, not moving. There's a tiny robot, and a crystal, and Riventon reaching for both as a strange woman sends swarms of enemies after them.

The explanation is obvious and the necessary course of action is even moreso. There's no need to tell Wako-chan to protect Takuto - of course she's going to protect him. So instead of wasting her breath, Usagi dives behind the nearest convenient stack of boxes, and raises her broach.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

That tall stack of boxes is then immediately kicked down to collapse on the nearest cybergoon, pinning it in place. The one and only Sailor Moon is here!

"Evil dooers who rob conventions and steal the hearts of innocent boys must be punished! I, the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, and all those gathered here, will show you the error of your ways!"

Justice speech, nailed! Tiara, grasped! Spinning throw, initiated!

"Moon Tiara Action!"

And at least three of the robots are instantly trashed by the sweeping arc of glittering cosmic disc.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune quickly discovers she isn't the only one who suspected something is wrong in the back rooms. A mix of new and familiar faces are here, and one unfamiliar face - Takuto - is on the ground. She looks, eyes wide... and her posture shifts with relief as she notices he is breathing.

She's jarred back to the situation at hand when Wako shouts, Riventon confronts Nanoha, and things turn violent. Sailor Moon is here too - when did that happen?

"Summoning Princess' Tiara!" Jeweled headwear appears in one hand, even as the robotic 'workers' begin to approach. "The Line of Succession..." The tiara passes from one hand to the other, which brings it to her head in the same motion. "Transform!"

Engulfed in red light, Rune reappears moments later with one of her smaller wands in hand. Not eager to hurl heavy firepower in a fairly crowded back room, she aims for the ones not immediately caught in Sailor Moon's tiara arc and unleashes a series of thin, sparkling red magic beams at them.

"As promised, I am here to honor our alliance, Sailor Moon!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi spouts. "ALWAYS PLAN FOR ME!" she says. Yuuno facepalms again.

When Robots come at her the first thing she does is cast a barrier, the world going white and black in places, the civilians being shunted out. Now it's safe for her to follow up with....

"HYPERION SMASHER!" she calls out, and a barrage of lasers emit from Raising Heart in a wide pattern towards robots, also taking out the floor and parts of the ceiling with it.

She turns her head back to Riventon.

What she just did was overkill, but she has mana to spare and she knows it thanks to Chrono.

"What are you doing now?" she asides to Riventon. "Is this a draining plot again!?" she splutters.

"ALSO LEAVE THAT ADORABLE ROBOT ALONE!" she calls out.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
The tiny Tauburn that Riventon is practically sparkling at-- well!! His little plume is practically vibrating with furious indignation, and he SHAKES! HIS! HEAD! in answer to Riventon's question about coming with him. He keeps slide-stepping in midair to keep himself between Riventon and Takuto's Pure Heart Crystal, but... he's literally the size of like. One of those big articulated science fiction action figures. He POKES with the little blue sword, toward Riventon, and it does nothing; he's still in the bubble.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon yells. "I'll touch whatever I want, thank you." back at the oddly familiar voice that tells him not to do stuff. Who does she think she is, ordering him around? That's just rude. Of course the answer comes with a cacophony of robots being destroyed between the voice's source and Takuto, the barrier maiden rushing him down. To Riventon's infinite sadness, he can't focus on the robot, the crystal, and the Maiden all at once, so he reaches out and snags the crystal with one hand, using his other hand to put up a barrier of his own - the Maiden's crash shield and his Round Shield pressuring against each other as she does a good job of knocking him away from Takuto, albeit a little late since the crystal's in his hand. "I've got what I need now, no draining necessary." he says as soon as he's not being shoved across the floor by the force of Otome's impact - which takes a bit.

    Viluy laughs, as the youmabots are destroyed by various attacks, now converted into electronic waste strewn about the room. "Really, you're so far out of your league, girls." Viluy calls. "I'm the greatest mind of the Witches 5, Viluy, and you'd need to study for a thousand years to have a tiny insignificant chance of defeating me." Viluy says. A touch of that ice-themed bracelet and the dark-energy-nanites that were busy animating the now destroyed youmabots grab various chunks of metal and technology and dodads and forms a sort of... gundam-esque scrap armor around Viluy. She's kind of a nerd too.

    "Riventon, just focus on the goods." she says from inside her haphazardly assembled scrap armor, her voice distorted and metallic now. "I'll take care of all of these girls." she notes.

    "Girls, you shouldn't worry about Riventon when I'm here. And then she directs her hand at Sailor Moon and the Red Princess, opening her palm, where a black star rests. "TECHNO BUSTER!" she calls out, before suddenly a GIANT blast of blue energy surges outwards, and whether it hits Sailor Moon or not, it's absolutely going to hit the wall behind her - and blow a hole in it, causing chunks of wall and plaster to fly out, which would cause a real panic for the convention-goers otuside if they weren't all currently in a barrier. The average-bedroom width blast is more than enough to threaten Sailor Moon and the Red Princess together, and might well be capable of clipping Nanoha, too. And certainly the feeling of Dark Energy and the sound and fury of the attack is disruptive to everyone - even Riventon, who looks up and mouths 'damn' silently.

    Riventon keeps his left hand outstretched, ready to barrier again - he's clearly stronger now than the last time the Barrier Maiden met him, though. It's something she can feel now, close to him. "Is this important to you?" he asks, indicating the crystal in his other hand. "Is he someone special to you? Don't worry, he won't die. I mean, unless you keep this fight going and he gets clipped by someone's attacks. But that'll be on your head if so." he says. "Though if you do maybe I'll take that little bot too. I like his swagger." Riventon notes.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Even in the midst of busting goons, Sailor Moon realizes that Riventon is getting away with something he shouldn't possess, and her eyes go wide with horror. Her tiara whirls back to her and she snags it with a quick spin, slamming the jewelry onto her head to fire off another attack -

Only, as she watches in dumbfounded shock, the bits of busted bot and goons fly together to form armor, and the strange lady with the blue hair is firing attacks at them. Witches 5? She must be one of the ladies Naru said was with Riventon -

"What, you can't attack people without a babysitter now?"

The words are shouted at Riventon's retreating back, but it's the blue haired lady who's the real threat, clearly, because there's an enormous beam blasting right towards them - and abruptly, despite having absolutely no defensive abilities, Sailor Moon is sure that there's only one thing to do.

Moon Twilight Flash!"

It's time for a beam war! Moon Twilight flash may be a narrow laser of focus, but the light that shrines from the gem on Sailor Moon's tiara punches out, striking directly Viluy's attack - and even holding it back, for the moment.

Unfortunately, there's nothing else she can do like this - it's taking all of her focus just to hold him back.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune stares as Viluy forms strange equipment; the alien princess is only able to comment with one eye raised in confusion: "Someone with no shortage of patience showed me something much like your armor on their telephone... I had thought it purely the realm of fiction and not reality?"

Fact or fiction quickly stop mattering, as Viluy takes aim. Rune isn't sure what form the attack will take, so she tries to wait and see - expecting that her reflexes will be equal to it. It turns out to be an incredibly wide beam of dark energy, and Rune makes an alarmed cry as her boot-wings light up! They pulse with blue-silver light, hurling her sideways... and almost out of the beam's path. Her left arm gets clipped, which is enough to knock her into a spin and crash into a wall!

Wide eyes stare at the hole in the wall, then she faces Viluy. "A thinly veiled hostage, then? Utterly vile!" Still, this means two things: Cover is irrelevant in this fight, and she cannot be near Takuto at any point.

So, Rune begins a series of zig-zagging runs toward Viluy... and always making sure that Takuto is never behind her, even distantly. "Sailor Moon, take full advantage of my efforts!" During this run, she fires another series of thin red rays at Viluy!

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Unfortunately, Ginga Otome has no attention to spare for Viluy. All of her attention is on Riventon, and the Pure Heart Crystal he's holding. For a moment she's frozen in place, eyes wide and blazing and fixed on the crystal. It looks so fragile--

When he claims he might take Tauburn, though, her chin lifts. "As if you even could!" she shoots back scornfully. "Tauburn would never accept someone like you as his Driver... and you're not leaving here with Takuto-kun's heart!"

Without even looking, she throws one hand behind her. A dome-shaped shield of pink light glimmers into being around the unconscious Takuto and his tiny robot, even as the Galactic maiden raises her other hand toward the ceiling, fingers splayed. A second sphere, this one no larger than the ones around the two Cybody avatars, forms at her fingertips... and quickly fills with brilliant dawn-colored light, just like the bubble in which she purified the akuma not that long ago, but this time there's nothing trapped within it to purify.

Instead, she brings up her other hand and volleyball spikes the miniature sun as hard as she can down at Riventon. "Waw... Sun DROP!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi can feel... something building from the woman who just summoned scrap armor on herself, before she dodges to the right, not fast enough though. She's about to get hit...! That's when Yuuno swings his head around, spell circle appearing and casts a round shield, which stops her from being clipped, giving her time to move before it gets swept up into the hit and dissipates.

She frowns and points Raising Heart downrange and fires off three HAMMER SHOTS in rapid succession. "HAMMER SHOT!" goes Nanoha, the device flinging three concentrated blasts of spheres downrange that will hurt like a dickens if they hit.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Inside his bubble in the bigger bubble with the unconscious Takuto, Tauburn sweeps a dashing two-sword bow in Ginga Otome's direction, then spins on his little curled-toe high-heeled boot to show Riventon his back as Wako spikes the sun at the heart-stealer.

After all, cool guys don't look back at explosions.

He crouches over Takuto worriedly, though, bubble settling on the unconscious boy's chest and swords vanishing, and he tries to prod him into waking up. It continues to do nothing, and one tiny white-'gloved' robot hand rests on Takuto's chest over his mark.

Right now, it's only a scar.

Takashi Agera has posed:
There's a lot of pressure between the Techno Buster and the Twilight Flash - Viluy is more of a threat than Riventon and the fact that her blast is able to duel the Twilight Flash is partly evidence of it. But the red rays from the similarly-colored princess are a little bit too much, coming from another direction, and she can't block them while holding back Sailor Moon's blast. This is the first time she's been in the field, and while she's holding her own, being ganged up on isn't something she was planning on - she assumed she'd have the numbers advantage. So she has to break off from the beam war and dodge away from Twilight Flash, but it does mean the Red Princess' shots hit.

    Clear of the Twilight Flash she's able to use her nanobots to guard the first two blasts of Nanoha's Hammer Shot, but the third one connects and she shrieks out. And it doesn't just connect - it connects with Viluy's wrist - where she had been tapping to control her nanobots. And so suddenly her armor starts to fall away, dropping into the electronic scrap that it was formed of. By the combined efforts of the three of them, Viluy's been pushed back rather quickly despite her offensive power.

    Meanwhile, Riventon's got a volleyball dunk of purification energy to guard against - and while he is able to easily put up another barrier, the Dark Energy he uses to empower it's defense has the opposite effect given the nature of Otome's energy and instead it shatters on the impact like brittle sugar glass. Purification magic has a rather negative effect on Riventon and the shout of pain echoes off the walls of the mostly empty room. The crystal leaves his hand for a moment, only for him to create his ribbon-wire of Dusk Energy and snag it out of mid air, returning it to his hand. But there's actual smoke coming off the rest of him - the purification magic working on the Dark Energy within him as thought it might a youma, burning it away.

    Viluy tries to tap her control console for her nanites, but nothing happens - it having been rendered temporarily dysfunctional by taking one of Nanoha's Hammer Shot attacks. She curses. "Riventon, I'm gone now! Truck left anyways, on the other side!." she shouts to warn him, and Viluy (wisely) duskports out, leaving just Riventon to stare down the rest of them. She's not as hard-headed as most, and she's not sticking around with her main tool disabled.

    Riventon, on the other hand, is about as hard headed as they come. "Fine! I got it." He says, though he looks a lot less sure than he did before he took a purifying sun explosion to half of his body. He looks over each of them. Sailor Moon. Nanoha. The Red Princess. Ginga Otome. His eyes move from one to the other. And despite saying that he has it, somewhere in his mind a little bit of sanity comes through - maybe because Otome's sun-orb just forcibly burned some of the Dark Energy away. "I'll destroy you all. No matter how many of you that you bring." he says, channeling Dark Energy into his hand. A black sphere of crackling, angry, purple-black energy forms. "If any of you survive, next time, remember you should bring MORE." he calls, but then suddenly raises his hand and instead the blast of Dark Energy shoots straight upwards. Out through the roof and colliding with the upper area of Nanoha's barrier. At the same time his device casts a spell too.

     <<DUSTERNIS MAUER.>> It's the wall of inky energy Riventon summons to protect himself, only instead, it's walling off the part of the barriere'd warehouse from him and the girls. Despite his bluster, Riventon's trying to just blast his way out of the barrier and fly off with the crystal, instead of attacking the girls!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
As soon as the beam war breaks off, with Viluy cutting and running, the Twilight Flash blasts forward, shooting directly through the wall. Good thing for Nanoha's barrior! Still, with all that energy used and then wasted on a wall, Sailor Moon staggers, dragging a deep breath in to steady herself. There's no time to quit!

Viluy may be making a tactical retreat, but Riventon still has the crystal - and Riventon was trying to help Hannah's uncle kill her, so he can't be trusted not to pull something dangerous! Who knows what he'd do with so much of Takuto's energy - and who knew how long it would take Takuto to recover from that energy theft in the first place?

Riventon's shout of pain had echoed through the storage room, and Sailor Moon had caught a glimpse of the attack Ginga Otome had launched to earn that cry of pain - a volleyball sized purification bomb. She might not have anything that physical, but the barrier he'd thrown up to cordain them off had the same inky feeling of dark energy that his attacks had, and Sailor Moon had just the thing to help with that.

"Otome-chan! Bakery Girl! Red Princess! You make sure your attacks lands - I'll get us through his barrier!"

How is she going to live up to that boast, you might be wondering? Simple. Sailor Moon can do more than just destroy these days. With a flick of her wrist and the opening of her hand, the Moon Stick appears, it's already familiar weight comforting, light glinting off the golden crescent moon that was the wand's apex. She'd learned through plenty of sessions at Mahou Fite Club that she could pull her punches if she tried hard enough - rein in her energy, so she didn't hurt anyone. It had taken effort, though, because Sailor Moon's natural impulse - the natural inclination of her power - was to shine with complete glory of the full moon, unchecked and unvaunted.

It's that strength she taps into now, as she dips herself low and slashes a perfect circle of golden light into the air itself, the Moon Stick trailing glittering dust of silver.

Moon Healing Escalation!"

When the circle is complete, golden beams blaze forth from the Moon Stick - cosmic energy, yes, love and hope made force, yes, but also, a blasting wave of purification energy. Perfect for hammer down the barrier and carving a path for Wako (and everyone else) to strike Riventon.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune continues to approach Viluy, planning to get uncharacteristically close. This ends up not happening; Rune's zig-zag sprint gets near Viluy right as the duskport happens, leaving the alien princess with nothing to immediately accomplish.

Riventon glares at her, and she spins to face him. "What weighs upon my heart is that you may yet be correct... however," She's cut off by him blasting a hole in the ceiling!

She jumps backward to get clear of anything that might fall, and momentarily considers pursuing... but decides it's a terrible idea.

Sailor Moon calls for her to join in on an attack, yet Rune has other ideas. "Forgive me, something else calls to me!" Instead, Rune heads toward Takuto to see if she can check on him. It's not immediately clear if she'll even be able to with his tiny sentinel, but she at least tries to walk up and see if he is okay.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
The instant the crystal leaves Riventon's grasp, Ginga Otome is reaching for it - only to let out a cry of dismay as he snags it back before she can reach it. "No--!"

Dismay turns to outright panic as he shifts tactics, as the ceiling is blown open and that wall of dark energy comes up to bar their pursuit. For all her bold words a moment ago, she can see all too clearly what comes next. He's going to get away, and she feels powerless to stop it.

No. No. She won't let him--!

Even as Sailor Moon calls out to them, the Waw emblem on Wako's chest lights up a brilliant pink. "Wawna!"

The little robot chimes in reply. < Go, miko-sama! >

"APPRIVOISE!"

In a blaze of pink and white and gold, Wawna's miniature avatar vanishes and the Galacic Maiden is engulfed in light. It coalesces into translucent, glowing armor made of light - bracers form on her forearms, a chestplate, shinguards. Glowing golden twintails unfurl from a crown-like white-and-gold headpiece, and six slim piles form a floating half-skirt that frames her hips.

In the wake of Sailor Moon's Escalation, the newly armored and empowered Ginga Otome sweeps her arm forward, levitating the piles from a faux skirt to hover at either side of her. Taking aim.

"I said - YOU'RE NOT LEAVING!"

Beams of scintillating pink energy erupt from each of the piles, half a dozen slim lances of sheer purification all aimed with laser precision at the fleeing Riventon.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi watches as Riventon tries to escape the barrier.

"Oh no!" goes Nanoha as Viluy runs away. "OH NO." goes Nanoha as Riventon tries to get away with the pure heart. She raises Raising Heart and points to where she thinks Riventon is and narrows her eyes....

"Nanoha... maybe we outta..."

"DIVINNEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Ah." goes Yuuno.

< DIVINE > goes Raising Heart

"BUSSSTTTTTAAAA!"

< BUSTER! >

and a bright, pink lance of energy explodes through the wall and/or ceiling to where she thinks Riventon is right now. Just not giving a care if she shoots through the barrier's local copies of the building.

Yuuno looks on with wide eyes because her never grows tired of watching Nanoha lance out with more energy than he's ever seen in his entire life at once.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
When Ginga Otome double-henshins to bring Wawna's armor around Wako, the shield bubble that Takuto's in lowers to the floor, drifting down and impacting with the gentlest of bounces, which makes Tiny Tauburn's plume bounce too. The rise and fall of Takuto's chest is constant, unbroken; the tiny robot crouching on it rises and falls with every breath, too.

Tiny Tauburn stands up at Runealy's approach, and his aspect dimmed, his posture radiating regret and frustration. He gestures at Takuto, indicating to Runealy that she can look, but gestures to the bubble enclosing them both: it's not his, he can't let her in.

Takashi Agera has posed:
When Viluy left, and he was standing alomn, Riventon had to think and act quickly. He knew there were too many to fight - even Riventon knew that, and that was -before- his Device warned him about Nanoha's previous energy levels, reminded him of the Red Princess' mobility and aim, the fact that Sailor Moon dueled Viluy's Techno Buster to a standstill, the fact that the Maiden in front of him just went through his shield like it was made of paper mache.

    He should have retreated, but he had retreated so often, left empty handed so often, that when he acted quickly, it wasn't in his own self-defense. He wasn't going to be made a fool of again. This wasn't the boy's whole heart crystal, he'd survive, but how could Takashi Agera advance if he was only known for failure?! So the act was quick. Break out of the barrier and run with the crystal. Just clutch a win. Just one. Just prove for once he could do what others couldn't, weren't capable of, wouldn't do what it took to achieve

    So he's soaring up, blasting all of his energy into the Midchildan Barrier. Self defense? He leaves no energy for it, none for Axion's autoguard. Just all of the energy towards breaking that Barrier. Every. Last. Bit.

    Sailor Moon's energy - her Healing Escalation - does a lot more escalation than healing, ripping through Riventon's inkwall with as much ease as Wako's orb went through his shield. But also the roof, leaving the very clear image of Riventon soaring upwards and trying to magically punch a hole through Nanoha's barrier open to everyone to see.

    The Miko, Ginga Otome, finds a greater depth of magical power - Riventon can sense it, below, before he senses it much more clearly, due to the purifiying lances going through him - through his barrier jacket, through his form, dragging some of his Dark Energy out of his body and through the other side, flowing out like inky fluid. And still he is trying to pour his limited energy out into the blast, to rip through the shield, to escape with his prize.

    At the same time as he finally cracks the barrier, then makes enough of a hole to leave back into the real world through - suddenly the black energy in front of him, as well as everything else in his vision, is pink. And after the blast of pink comes the pain, the radiating pain, the injury stacking on top of the other injuries. He's out of the barrier, but his whole world is pain and it's only through some level of twisted angry willpower that he's able to direct himself a little further...

    ...and then Riventon falls from the sky - without even the energy to maintain flight left, all he can do is slightly arrest his fall to prevent gravity from pulverizing all his bones into powder on impact with the ground. He still makes a pained and frankly discomforting sound when he hits that ground, though, and his helpful friend - his own little robot, the birthday present created from the kindness of his kohais and the unknown help of two of the people down below - appears. "Don't you FUCKING DARE!" Riventon growls with hoarse breath at the robot.

    If it duskported him and he left the crystal behind? He might well destroy it in rage. Riventon slowly shuffles to his feet, gripping along a wall for support. It's mostly just one foot. The other seems unwilling to support weight. But he's lucky, maybe for the only time today, he's not far from a Door - and he slowly grips and hops his way along the wall towards it, opening it and all but falling in, his body crumpled into a ball around his hard-won prize. He's in Obsidian Tower now, within the monolith somewhere, so things will take care of themselves from here, he thinks, as consciousness begins to elude him. In the last moments as his henshin pops and Riventon becomes Takashi Agera, he wisely stuffs the Heart Crystal away into his lab coat pockets. And through all of the pain the best he manages is an almost-smile.

'Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Raising Heart cools down as she frowns and brings the device down as she looks to Yuuno. "..Did we get him?" she asks.

She steps outside and... oh. Oh he isn't here. That's bad. "Wide Area Search!" goes Nanoha. Two orbs emit from Raising Heart and start to circle around the area. She isn't detecting anything.

"...Did they both get away?" she asks to no one specific, looking down a bit sadly. "D...did you manage to. Stop him?" she asks, also again, to no one specific.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
He... he got away. Sailor Moon stares up at the ceiling, eyes wide, shaking with horror and frustration. He got away.

But it was - it was the new type of gun, wasn't it? The crystal had dropped, it had collapsed, it hadn't continued to float, and the shape -

She hadn't gotten a chance to look at it, not for long enough to be sure. But it had to be - it had to be the new kind of crystal, right?

The bakery girl asking if he got away just rubs salt in the new wound. They had gotten away. With the tech, with the crystal, but at least, not with -

"Takuto-kun!" Sailor Moon rushes over to him, and the small robot still in a bubble. She stares down at Takuto, trying to pick with her eyes at every difference between him and the way Naru-chan had looked, still and wan on the ground -

"Wako-chan, he's still breathing, I think the gun was the new type, I think - I can't heal people or share my energy, but maybe we can get him a boost, and see if he'll wake up -"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
The Galactic Maiden, still resplendent in her phantom armor, hangs in the air maybe six inches off the ground. She's breathing hard. She blinks a few times, trying to clear her stinging eyes, but it doesn't do anything to change the result. "...He got away." Was she even aware that Viluy was there at all?

In another moment, the armor begins to dissolve and Wako drops to land on her feet. Immediately she's rushing to Takuto's side, all but making a sliding stop onto her knees in her haste. "Takuto-kun. Takuto-kun?"

She grips his shoulders, shaking him a little like that might help. Only when Sailor Moon speaks to her does she seem to come back to herself, looking over with wide and watery eyes. "I - I'm better with purifying, but I can heal a little..."

She scoots a little, until she can ease Takuto's head onto her lap and rest both hands on his chest. A soft pink light surrounds the both of them, as Wawna - tiny once more - hovers anxiously over her shoulder.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
The little flying Tauburn starts to make the gesture he makes at the ends of fights, but-- this isn't finished. He's never looked fretful before, like he's not sure what to do. He's always sure, or he's waiting, because he's sure whenever Takuto is, and Takuto--

The mark under Takuto's shirt, under Wako's ministrations, begins to glow faintly blue underneath the fabric. An echo, a-- something, at any rate. Evidence, like Tiny Tauburn, that he still has magic. It's definitely one of the new ones. He's still breathing.

And then his brows knit, and he shifts; his hands come up to rest on Wako's on his chest, and his eyes open, those strange double red irises. He doesn't quite focus. "...everybody?" he mumbles, clearly confused.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
"Yuuno, are you able to help with that?" she asks the ferret. "No." says Yuuno. "My magic isn't really... geared for that, we'd need Rashmi-chan..." he says.

"Nrg." goes Nanoha, who knows she has no magic like that, she frowns. "S..sorry.. everyone." she says.

She keeps the broken barrier up, however, to give them privacy if nothing else, away from prying civilian eyes. She walks over and looks between the other girls and down to the boy. "What... happened?" she asks.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"They stole his pure heart," Sailor Moon says, and then forces herself to gentle her tone - Wako is concentrating, she doesn't need to be forced to explain anything while she helps Takuto, and he's talking, so he's going to be okay. "Or, well, they stole a bunch of it. It's like - his vital energy, his magic, turned into a crystal. That's why Otome-chan and I were trying to stop him, but -"

He hadn't been strong enough to defeat them, but he'd been strong enough to get away, and that stung.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Takuto-kun...!" Wako is concentrating... well, kind of. She is also kind of quietly losing her shit, in a way that may not really be apparent until Takuto's eyes open and he mumbles out that one word. That's when the tears spill free to roll down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

It's only the position she's maneuvered them into, with his head in her lap, that keeps her from just folding over him. Nevertheless, the soft glow of her magic holds mostly steady, only briefly flickering. "I couldn't get it back from him."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Wako," Takuto says, and his voice is gentle and tired and serious, and his hands press a little overtop of Wako's hands. "Everything hurts. Can you take me home?"

Tiny Tauburn bows ostentatiously to the other girls there, glancing between Sailor Moon and Wawna for a moment when he straightens, and then Takuto lifts a hand to wave it at the tiny robot. "They do have very nice hair, Tauburn, but come on, I'll be fine. Just. Not this minute."

The little Cybody does a little salute thing, then fades from the center of the bubble, which proceeds to pop.

"Don't worry, everything will be okay. Thank you for helping, everyone," says Takuto.

And he looks at Wako's face upside down again an gives her his crooked little smile. "Katami..."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"...wakachita, yagadanse." Wako completes the nonsense phrase with a watery smile and a little sniffle. "I still don't even know what that means."

One hand gently works free of Takuto's long enough to reach up and scrub the wetness from her eyes. "Let's get you back to the dorms."