2057/Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht
Date of Scene:	12 November 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	On October 31st, 2024; a powerful and sudden storm strikes Tokyo. But to those in the know it's not a storm, but the legendary Witch, Walpurgisnacht.
Cast of Characters:	6, Zephyr Windstar, Kyouko Sakura, Rashmi Terios, Miho Inada, Hinoiri Kirara, Madoka Kaname, Hinote Kagari, Mamoru Chiba, Sequoia Maybach, Jadeite, Tsubasa Yuunagi, Kazuo Saitou, Usagi Tsukino, Sachiko Yamashiro, Amanda Faust, Molly Skyline, Aloisia Stauss, Koji Silvia, Setsuna Meiou
Tinyplot:	Walpurgisnacht

---

Mochi (6) has posed:
    The Tokyo Metropolitan Area had been beset by a storm all day, but now, as the evening approaches, the storm stops merely being 'bad' and suddenly starts to intensify towards 'catastrophic'. The rain howls, the winds knock trees over, and the situation causes the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to issue a 'shelter in place' order - because something very bad is approaching.

    But for those who are magical, the feeling of dread is much more intense; as the storm grows closer to the coast in the evening, a sense of foreboding, of fear, of despair tinges the air. For those who know - Puella Magi and their allies - the storm is not a storm at all, but an enemy. And the enemy is Walpurgisnacht, the most powerful of witches, the legendary catastrophe. Without need of a barrier, Walpurgisnacht's destruction manifests directly, and while nonmagical people will associate its destruction with a mundane storm, there is no mistaking it for anyone who can see past the Veil.

    As a thick fog rolls in, covering the world in a blanket of smoke-like air, the world itself seems to grow dull and washed out, which is further disrupted by the fact that strange creatures begin to appear - not familiars in a true sense, as they do not react to those around them nor seek to hunt. They are merely heralds, a twisted sort of technocolor circus of elephants and flags, creatures born out of the strangeness that exists in the distortion of reality merely surrounded by Walpurgisnacht.

    Visible and yet not disruptive, like some sort of overlay, HUD, or something at the psychic corner of the assembled Mahou's minds is an actual countdown as the Legendary Witch draws near - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

    The curtain in the mind's eye rises, and the dullness fades to reveal the Witch herselfd, a towering titan hanging upside down from rotating gears, surrounded by an aura of disruptive Witch Magic so strong that trying to look at it brings queasiness or worse.

    Streams of disrupted magic like slashes of broken disrupted space erupt out from the Witch herself, before snapping into existence as humanoid-shaped creatures; Walpurgisnacht's true familiars, some of which pause to harass assembled heroes and some of which, far too many to stop here, run into the city to hunt on their own, but the laughter of Walpurgisnacht itself fills the air as the apocalyptic Witch draws closer to the densely populated megacity, trees snapping and buildings starting to collapse not from the wind or the storm but from the pure unnatural chaotic disruption Walpurgisnacht creates around itself.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Chief. That big storm we've been tracking the last few days? It's here and it's not a storm. Dark Energy levels are hitting Class SSS and rising. > says Tenraikaze as the Enforcer flies headlong into the stormfront. "Yeah, I can see it already. We got any others closing in? This is gonna be a rough bloody mess and I'd rather not go in solo."

    < Scanning for Magical signals. Stand-by. > "Background process, we've got company incoming!"

    Wind Dancer dives and engages a few Familiars as they try to escape into the city to cause more damage, but continues to approach the Witch herself.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
To say that Kyouko has been a bundle of cranky nerves all day would be an understatement. Even those who are used to the puella being a prickly pain in the tuckus would have found her irritating af today, but mercifully she hasn't even pretended that she was going to be social today. This is a fully feral sort of day.

Kyouko hasn't been out of henshin since the storm got itself to Awful and every bit of the dread is wholly manifested. Kyouko stands up on a rooftop, leaning on her spear and watching the Witch reveal. She's been waiting for her. Watching and waiting.

The time is now.

Kyouko is feral. Kyouko hunts solo. Kyouko has also been learning about the value of teamwork in the whole 'dying less often' plan. She looks around, fully expecting to find other mahou gathering.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< To HANZO -- I can't spot it, I'm not out of the dorms yet but I'll send you the ping the moment I get one ARE YOU OKAY. >>
<< To AMY -- This looks pretty all-hands, let me know the moment you're underway. >>
<< To USAGI -- I'm coming to you, I need an address and I'm bringing backup. >>
<< To HINOIRI -- Hinoiri-chan if you're not somewhere safe and above ground level, GET THERE RIGHT NOW. Something is super wrong. >>

These were most of the telepathic texts the Page Mage sent out as soon as she was out the window, conjuring a Shield to keep the rain off her as she soared in the general direction of Mamoru's apartment. Courses could be corrected en route, but the sooner you were underway the sooner you got there.

The sudden intrusion of a psychic countdouwn was, indeed, a nasty shock as she pushed through the wind and rain.

<< 5 >>

The wall of fog was spotted, and Rashmi adjusted her angle of approach just slightly.

<< 4 >>The first of the 'heralds' appeared on the edge of her vision, and an icy ball of dread clenched the pit of her stomach. This wasn't a normal Really Bad Threat; this was a *super-Witch.*

<< 3 >>

<< Nicomachea we're gonna be leaning on support tonight, >> she thought to her Device. << We *have* to keep the Puella able to make the most out of all the energy they spend. The *last* thing we need is more Witches at the end of all this. >>


<< *BONG!* >> << COMMAND IMPUT ACKNOWLEDGED. >>

<< 2 >>

Banking around building, she blinks as a Device ping shows up in her sensor range. << Tenraikaze! Agent Windstar! It's Rashmi and Nicomachea, this is an *all-hands* situation! Assume that if it's completely person-shaped, it's friend-shaped! >>

<< 1 >>



<< WALPURGISNACHT RISES >>

...For a brief instant, Rashmi regrets her every life decision, staring down that immense well of despair. But only for a moment. Then, the Familiars make their appearance, and go onto the attack. And until she finds more allies in the battlespace, Rashmi can only respond in kind, golden Barrets lashing out and tracking on targets.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Miho has been suffering from a really really bad headache all day. Enough that she went to the nurse's office at school to get some medicine. Then...the storm gets insanely worse, and Miho's headache becomes such that she can't even move. After a few seconds later, Miho transforms into Yukihime. The headache goes away, but Yukihime senses the Witch. Her eyes narrow.

    "...Holy...", Yukihime says before she runs out of the school office, and heads out into the storm. As Yukihime heads towards the witch, she's summoning her shikigami to gather with her. She has a feeling that others are gathering, so the woman sends up several ice crows into the air to provide an arial view for her, and track allies in the area.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had, well, received a text from Rashmi to not go out. Her response had been, more or less, 'What kind of idiot would go out in THIS? Have fun, kick whatever apocalypse is showing up today. I'm going to curl up with a book until all of this blows over.'

And so, of course, Equivalence was out in it.

Soaked to the bucking bone. Luckily, her henshin has short hair. And a jacket. Alas, it didn't really help that much compared to what was coming. She landed amongst the elephants, expecting them to surge her...

... Except they just kept going. She blinked and watched them, before turning towards the big one.

5.

Oh, that brought back memories.

4.

At least the sun wouldn't go away.

3.

This was it, Walpurgisnacht. Wasn't it? She'd heard of it, but she'd never fully prepared.

2.

Was Sayaka here? Probably. She was a hero, through and through. She'd never run away from something like this. She'd give her all.

1.

It was now.

The witch made her grand appearance, an upside down castle of a witch. So large, so deadly, that even Equivalence was stunned. She stared, for a moment she felt nervous sweat mingling with the rain going down her spine. This... this wasn't a witch. This was a titan. This was a mountain. This was a natural disaster. She couldn't fight this. Maybe, just maybe, if she were Sunset of Sora, she could. But...

Equivalence shoved those thoughts away. Buck that. She got powers so she could fight, so she could help. Not so she could run away faster.

She surged forward in a burst of gray magic, leaping into the air and kicking one of the familiars as hard as she could, hoping to launch it BACK at its source.

Buck you, you oversized novelty clock. Nobody is allowed to destroy this city but me, I have seniority.

She even said that, but so softly that, over the howling winds and rain, it was doubtful even she could hear it, let alone anyone else. "GET BENT!" she yelled after the witch. That, at least, was louder.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Waiting on a pier, watching as the winds pick up, is a pair of young girls who clearly have no business being here, surrounded by a small squad of fairies that only those with magical sight can see.

    Madoka speaks with no small amount of trepidation, "Well... this is the moment. Whatever happens happens."

    Homura's voice is firm, to the point of almost being harsh. "Don't die this time."

    Madoka waves with one hand. "I know, I know! I've been preparing for this moment for over a year. Though... even now it seems like it's come out of nowhere."

    Homrua gives her gal pal a sideways glance before looking back up at the skies. "Even if you've seen this before, anything can still happen. Be careful."

    The minidokas cling to Madoka's collar as the wind picks up. Lydian glances back to look at the technicolor parade with concern and awe. Kamiko hovers closer to Homura and says, "Remember... if you need to go back... We still have a contingency plan."

    Homura turns towards the goddess and says, "You should take the others to safety. Madoka will call you when the time comes."

    The divine fairy takes a long look at Homura, then nods. A white lacey Labyrinth portal appears behind her, and most of the minidoka Chara follow her inside. Only Brai remains behind, clinging to Madoka closely. The pink girl takes her fairy gently in her hands and shouts, "My Heart: UNLOCK!"

    A glow of pink stars surrounds Madoka. Homura similarly outstretches her hand as purple magic washes over her. The two are replaced quickly by Hope Blossom and a nameless Puella Magi... who honestly still just calls herself Homura Akemi.

    To the outside observer, the attack comes out instantly. Tons and tons of rockets, exploding and collapsing buildings, missiles fired from boats pulled out from the bottom of the sea, way too many bombs going off all at once. Each blast is augmented by pink energy as thousands of pink arrows are suddenly surrounding Walpurgisnacht. The two girls have suddenly moved higher into the air, having launched themselves skyward during timestop and are now free falling, though neither of them seems all that concerned about their trajectory.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
There was gonna be a storm, so Halloween was gonna be inside this year. Alright. Time to get into costume...

"I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT, I AM THE CHOCOLATE FUDGE THAT SMOTHERS YOUR SUNDANE, I AM THE SPOON OF JUSTICE IN THAT SUNDANE OF GOODNESS! I AM DARKWING DUCK!" says Hinote, in a purple cape, duck bill and large brimmed hat.

"Thanks I hate it." says Tracy. "Aw you're no fun." says Hinote. That's when Tracy looks to the storm outside. "He...y. It was a dark and storm night..."

Pulp Noir has arrived and has his hands in the pockets of his coat as he walks past a ... parade? What's going on here... OH... OH

OH no that's a big Witch. A REALLY BIG ONE. What the hell is going on here!? This thing is dangerous and it shows up with no warning!?

Pulp Noir just whips out the Tommy Gun from his coat, never-mind the bean shooter today as he rips through a familiar with magical beams of energy from it's tip as he frowns.

"HEY. CALL OUT IF YOU NEED COVER." he'll call out to anyone in his general area, over the storm.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Friends met and text sent -- to Takashi, only 'be safe' -- Mamoru opened the door to the roof, and the door nearly blew off, so someone else got to get them out with a better plan than 'roof door in a cat 5'.

"I think-- I think this is what Gretchen was talking about, a witch so big, so big," Tuxedo Kamen starts, looking out at the bay as the countdown stops. He doesn't finish.

Over the comms upgraded doohickeys that Ami modified during the dimensional portal adventure, he sees Rashmi fighting, and he makes a definite tch sound into a hurricane. But also into the communicator. <<Hey, anyone still have these? Is there a plan anyone has?>>

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    What is this?
    This feeling deep within Sequoia Maybach's chest...
    It's dread. No it's worse than dread. The storm was one thing but the intense sensation of immense and utter existential terror burning in her chest the closer the storm gets can only mean one thing.
    "Hey." Sequoia prods her Device in standby form, the shield-shaped trinket wakening.
    <JA?>
    "Something's going on... People are probably gonna... Need help."
    <Ja.>
    "This is probably a bad idea..." She murmurs to herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she opens her bedroom window. "Let's go."
    <JAWOHL!>
    Transforming in a flare of white light, the silver-haired girl breaks into a sprint in the direction of the worst of the storm, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
    Little did she know it really would be the *worst* of the storm...
    The heralds slow her down as the world shifts in color.
    And then the countdown.
    "Ah..."
    The countdown instills in Sequoia- the White Knight- a sense of guttural terror, a twisting feeling in her stomach as her guts knot themselves up in panic that almost makes her turn right around and flee.
    Would anyone BLAME her if she did, when the witch appears in all her terrible glory.
    "What... Is... What in god's name *is* that...?" She whispers before she catches familiar sights in the storm.

    <<Z-Zephyr- Rashmi- what do we DO?>>

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite looks up, and up, and up, from the rooftop that he and Mamoru and Kunzite and Usagi are on. They'd fled their rooms as Ami had warned of flooding, as Makoto had sent warning texts, transforming to fight the growing magical pressure raining down -

He looks up at the glittering clockwork monstrosity in the sky. As someone who grew up in the American midwest, he can only say one thing:

"That's definitely not a tornado." A beat. "<Fuck.>"

He's already manifesting ice shields for the four of them as they gather on the roof - he's got a feeling he's going to be making them nonstop tonight.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Cure Wing had taken up patrol as a flier, so that he could help find those that had been caught unaware and had not made it to someplace safe. The brightly covered Cure is pelted with rain and wind, but he remains determined in his flight to assist in the search - that is until the apocalypse decides that it's time to show herself and make her approach. But at the forefront of any storm is the surge, and Walp comes with her own, the familiars pouring out into the streets on the hunt for those that could not shelter in place.

A few of the familiars find a pair of travelers that were unaware of the storm and it's potential. Flying in to strike, there's a short battle as Cure Wing beats back the familiars and then points towards a 24-7 convience store. "Head over there!" he calls out over the howling storm. "You'll find safety!"

Turning his attention back to the skies, as Walpurgisnatch rises, the young Pretty Cure grits his teeth and steels his resolve. He made a promise to defend and protect - and Sorashido City may be next if he can't stop the witch here.

Rising back into the air, he prepares to continue on his way, determination set in his red eyes as flames start to form around the bird-like henshin.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Behind Mamoru, Kunzite tilts his head back to stare upward. Emphasis on staring. And for once, the only words that come out of his mouth are, "What the hell is that?!?"

Deep breath taken. And on the exhale, something extremely unfit for the ears of royalty, followed by, "-- it's a witch the size of the city." Another breath, and he answers Mamoru where everyone else can here. <<Find Puella and back them. They're the best at this. Make sure they don't get taken down.>>

Also find Koji. 'lp me' is not a good sentence fragment. But everyone on the stream is aware of that one.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Halloween is fucking cursed," Sailor Moon says grimly, looking around at her gathered friends and allies - the Scream Stream, with it's classic horror feature of Silent Hill had been bad enough, but the sight of those girls dancing in the sky had unnerved her to her core, a sure sense that something was incredibly wrong rising sure and steady through her blood.

She had to wonder how Rei was coping with it all - if she was feeling, her friend had to be feeling it so much worse. She doesn't have to wonder how Mamoru is coping - she can feel his anxiety in her blood. Out on the roof of his building, with the rain whipping and the wind lashing, she feels cold to the bone.

<<RASHMI - we're at Mamochan's new place, XXX Building on So-and-So Street.>>

There's an eerie moment of a counter ticking down down down, dread rising with every passing second, as it reveals itself.

"Gretchan did not warn us enough about this thing," Sailor Moon manages, finally, and then - "And backing the Puella is a good idea, but - I mean - I think everyone sees it, but I don't know if they'll see us. If we don't find each other to help -"

And then the idea comes to her, and she smiles a little, in spite of the dread and fear, and doesn't even bother to step away from the others, not when a little shockwave of purification might help. The Crescent Wand falls into her hand, as she raises it high, carving the circle in the air directly above her head.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

A blaze of silver light shoots straight up from the roof of Mamoru's seven-or-so story building, a spotlight to call attention to everyone.

<<MOON to EVERYONE: "Hey! If you can hear this communication, this is Sailor Moon! Kamen-kun, Jadeite, and Kunzite are all with me, if you get hit bad come here and Kamen-kun can heal you! Don't be an dummy about it, get help!">>

Sachiko Yamashiro has posed:
    This was supposed to be a big one. One to remember. One that by all rights every single magical hero should be around for doing something, whether or not they were in the spotlight or keeping smaller enemies from running further into town and harming innocents.

    As far as Glorious Beacon was concerned she was the spotlight. It was a bit irksome that such a beautiful stage had been set and and the red carpet had been rolled out for someone other than herself.

    Well, that was alright. It was fine if her foe took center stage, too.

    So there she was, atop a tall skyscraper, standing firm despite the fact the wind alone was nearly powerful enough to blow her off her feet and send her tumbling down way too far. Several plans go through her head, each more ridiculous and ostentatious than the last.

    Then, with something of a pout she stomps her heel. "Oh, I hate doing this. I don't mind that it's gaudy, but there's so little style to it!"

    Right about then a huge flash of light shoots into the air and her eyes half lid. "Well. At least I won't be the only one."

    From almost anywhere in the city the top of the roof she's on becomes a lensflare, an enormous burst of golden light that only seems to rise in power as she gathers almost all her power around herself.

    Suddenly a little burst of fire appears next to her, the living flame wincing at the proximity to the power she's generating. "Glorious Beacon, what are you doing!? This is madness, the fight has only just begun!"

    "I'm not the only one kicking things off strong! Besides, it isn't just about me this time. Someone has to take the heat and give others their time to shine? Who better than me?"

    Raw elemental magic of purifying light continues to build around her, a ridiculous obvious target clearly working it's way to a fast crescendo.

Amanda Faust has posed:
Rashmi                          
           This looks pretty all-hands, let me    
           know the moment you're underway.      

                               Underway to WHERE? Is Usagi even at the
                               center of it?!                    

                                     Chiba                            
                               Chiba-san... Can you get a picture?    

                   Group: Usagi, Molly, Rashmi, (...more...)          
       Usagi
           I just saw girls dancing in the sky    
           outside Mamoru's balcony, but there's  
           no way anyone got up here?!            

       Mizuno
           Look up at the Sky. Now.!              

    Amy transforms in the stairwell and steps out onto the roof of the dorm -- why is it so misty, does she hear elephants -- and she looks

    up

    Her eyes widen. Her blood runs cold. "A Witch... with no barrier?! It's causing all this?"

    And that shrieking laughter echoes over everything.

    Amy transforms, and takes flight.

    A familiar gets in her way. She shoots it with an 84mm anti-tank round. It doesn't die. It chases her and sends her tumbling. She rights herself, summons a giant cannon, blows it apart with a 105mm high-explosive round that sends her tumbling again from using it this close.

    She keeps flying. Into the sight of others -- the Familiars dancing near Sailor Moon are blown away as Amy comes in for a landing. "I've got one spare grief seed and a partial one." She starts to explain. "If it comes down to it, I can burn it all on artillery, I can..." she turns and looks at WALPURGISNACHT in the distance, "If she stays up in the sky like that, if we have to, I can even get off a couple of tactical--"

    In an instant, someone throws everything they have into artillery strikes, bombs, traps, ARE THOSE ACTUAL MISSILE BOATS WHAT THE HELL, and it's all enhanced further by pink arrows.

    Amy stares. That's GOT to do something, right?!

Mochi (6) has posed:
    Each familiar that's hit by an attack instantly disperses, but for every one that stops to fight and be dispatched, several more escape into the city. Even still, they're not the primary threat. The primary threat belongs to the source of the cursed, twisted laughter that continues to fill the air as Walpurgisnacht draws closer, large buildings and trees being ripped out of the ground in defiance of gravity and physics to float near the eldritch horror. The looming energy of the creature is overwhelming, as is the audio assault of the laughter, like nails on a chalkboard force-fed through a bullhorn.

    Homura's attack, planned and laid out for who knows how many months, unleashes. To bystanders it looks like in the space between moments, repeated attacks come from all directions at the looming threat. Rockets, missiles, arrows, and all of them converge to collide with the creature, turning the storm into a blur of smoke and explosions.

    But as the smoke clears... the laughing of the Legendary Witch can still be heard. The first thing to become visible is the circle of rainbow-like wards that surrounds her. It continues to rotate, filled with unknowable symbols, slightly distorted and duller in color than they were before Homura and Madoka unleashed their prepared attacks.

    A storm of wind erupts in fierce strength and blows away the smoke quickly, dispersing it entirely, and then the debris surrounding Walpurgisnacht suddenly bursts into rainbow-colored flames, unnatural and strange, before a series of them are launched in groups at each of the magical heroes who have made their presence known, and as more continue to do so - including the very attempt to group them together, and the effectively-a-target-beacon that is Glorious Beacon. Incoming magically flaming trees, rocks, chunks of house, and for Homura specifically, the upper half of a skyscraper. As if the creature had a little extra malice for her specifically.

    The horrifying creature laughs in its screeching voice, hanging upside down from the gears that comprise its lower (upper?!) body - and as it draws closer, the rain begins to fall 'upwards' into the sky rather than downwards from it, because in the presence of this Witch, reality itself is equally under attack.

Jadeite has posed:
Oh, that is a lot of house parts falling down on him. That is a LOT. And trees, and rocks, and is that a skyscraper in the distance??"

"GLORY OF THE SNOW!" Jadeite screams from his post next to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask and begins making as many ice shields as he can, boosting them into the air so that the debris raining down can get boucned away.

(and if anyone running or flying past grabs an ice shield, it will serve it's purpose for htem as well, helping to protect from the oncoming storm.)

"The Wizard of Oz isn't supposed to be a documentary!" he screams in frustration, then looks to his fellow Senshi. "I'll be making shields as fast as I can - tell me if I need to swap to something else!"

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    <Solid Copy, Never fought these things before but they're individually pretty weak... I'm guessing they're distractions or just hangers-on for the big one.> replies Wind Dancer as she 'dances' through the Familiars, then lifts higher to join up with the other Devicer. "This is a mess and a half." she shouts over the wind... then remembers the Telepathy connection. <I mean, this is going to get /bad/ fast. I don't have much in terms of support spellwork, and the Barrets and Busters I have will probably only piss that thing off.>

    She looks toward where Sequoia's coming from, as the Device pings on her sensors. <Your best. That's all any of us can do. Don't panic, take that feeling, grip it by the throat and force it to do what you want it to.> she leaves the proper explanations to those who know what this thing is, and shoulders her Device.

    Homura's carefully planned alpha strike lands... and does nothing. Wind Dancer drops altitude, and then bursts forward. <Rashmi, Sequoia, stay safe.> She charges in toward the giant Witch, scanning rooftops for any human-shaped people who may be perching heroically atop them. Once she's close enough to engage, she announces. "Maelstrom Barret!" < MAELSTROM BARRET TYPHOON SHIFT! > boiling spheres of purple magic appear around her as she 'skids' to a stop atop a spawning spell seal, she then sweeps her Device out and fires a fussilade into a small area of that ward barrier shield, testing to see if she can overload its protections and create a breach.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
As he is rocketing upwards, Cure Wing saw the Escalation Flare that Sailor Moon sent into the sky. While he isn't on the comms channel, he does recognize the signal for what it is. As it burns out, a smaller, but just as intense light forms as Glorious starts to power up to open up with a first round finisher shot. But she's in the midsts of charging, and there's heavy debris heading her way.

Operation: Buying Time kicks in as the flames erupt around the young Precure and he races for Glorious. Running interference for her as a shield, a flurry of kicks and punches are thrown as he smacks aside the lighter items, before leaping on the roof of a flung car and kicks in the afterburners to push it towards the ground, and off track to hit the bright girl with the large power beam.

"I will keep you safe until you fire, my lady!" he calls out to Glorious as he flies back upwards to remain between Glorious and Walpourginsnatch until Glorious is ready to fire.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Whelp. There's backup at least and Kyouko is nothing if not straight forward. She takes a moment, trying this whole 'channel one's anger' rather than just devolve into a rampaging bundle of incoerent rage. It's only mostly working.

The others can deal with the Familiars, there's exactly one creature here that Kyouko has her eye on and that's Walpurgisnacht herself. She launches herself up off the roof, red ribbons trailing behind her as she uses the debris in the air to bounce and ricochet up to where she can lauch herself at stabbing the Witch.

Get her. That is Kyouko's plan.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite flings out a hand, and with the gesture darkness layers itself over the outside of Jadeite's ice shields - reflecting the magical flames away so that they can't undermine the magical ice. The physical impact Jadeite's better at handling than he is, but he can do that much. "First aid rules," he says to Amy. Rule number one: don't become part of the problem. In this case ... don't burn *all* the grief seeds. "How can we help you conserve? What cover can we give you? The less of the minor things you need to deal with or heal, the more you'll have for ..." He doesn't even attempt to finish that sentence. There's no way for him to describe Walpurgisnacht.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The address helps Rashmi get her bearings, but the *very familiar* beam of silver light works even better, and brings a smile to her face, for a moment. ...Which is almost immediately wiped away by a frantic message.

<< Weisser Ritter?! >>

For a moment, Rashmi's mind stutters, though she recovers *just* in time to skitter away from a hurled tree, alight in rainbow flames.

She hasn't heard from Molly. That's worrying.

Shaking off the shock, she angles down to orient on Sequoia's position. << Weisser Ritter I'm coming to get you. We're gonna be support tonight, because I can't match that kind of throw weight and this is *way* too deep a pool for you to jump in even if you wanted to. >>

With the madness already on full display, Rashmi doesn't have time to be slow or gentle about it; she simply swoops down, wraps an arm around the newbie Belkan's waist, and hurls herself skyward. "Try not to look at it," she says to her passenger. "Just focus on the incoming attacks."

<< TXT to MOON -- I'm seeing more signatures than subscribers on this network, setting up a DatCord server. >>

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

Every magical signature that Nicomachea has identified that is *not* Walpurgisnacht, hears a quiet clearing of the throat in the back of their mind.

<< Hi! If you don't know me, sorry, this is Rashmi speaking into your mind. Just think the words back like you were talking them. There's a lot of us here, and if you get hurt bad head to where you saw the beam of light. There's a healer there. Also if the Puella can sound off? I'm a support specialist, and I've got a *heavy* shielder with me, and we're gonna back you up however we can. >>

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime takes a deep breath as she looks out. Holy crap thats a lot of firepower. Yukihime takes a deep breath, and starts sending out her bunnies and crows to create a route for her. The Old Blood knows she's no match for even the most basic familiar here at the moment. What is she able to do? Provide support for others. Yukihime sucks in a deep breath, and lets her senses go out through her shikigami. There's Pulp Noir. And in the air, she spots Amy. She sends a crow to Amy, and a little bunny to Pulp.

    When the Shikigami reach the two, they disperse into barriers around the two. Yukihime continues to move along the streets, trying not to get caught on her own with the familiars. She knows she can't avoid them all, but hopefully she'll meet up with others soon. Yukihime hears the message.

    << Yukihime here. Heading over to support. I got Shikigami in the air, and on the ground. Snow Bunnies and Ice Crows are friendlies. Well...friendly enough! >>

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir is dealing with the large swath of magical girls around him, which isn't easy to do even with an automatic weapon. That's when a projectile crashes down right next to him and sweeps away from it. W..was that a news van!? He sort of looks amazed before realizing it was already abandoned, it's occupants somewhere else and hopefully under cover and he moves himself through the chaos.

He'll sweep past the grouping of Tuxedo Kamen and crew and say "HI! BYE!" quickly as words go on in his head...

OH hey he has an icy barrier. "Thanks Yukihime." he says quietly as he moves towards the chaos. Into the epicenter.

Because he has to get..closer to that... that thing if he's even gonna think of shooting at it.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Holy... bucking...

And, for the first time in a while, Hinoiri wondered if maybe, at her full power, she couldn't have taken all the girls. That orbital bombardment raining down on the witch was... impressive. It was incredible.

And then it was washed away like fresh mud on a new car. Barely even a scrape.

They couldn't do this. This wasn't a fight they could win. None of them could win. They needed to run. Sora could handle this, but not her. No, it--

Fire. Fire was flying towards her. A boulder the size of a carriage, enveloped in flames. All of that fear mixed together in her head. Memories of being chased through a store, cowering, hiding away. Chaar unleashing fire, screaming at her. Tormenting her. Those feelings of helplessness enveloped her once again.

They couldn't win this. There were fights you could win. And then there were fights you had to flee from. Fights you had to... run from.

This wasn't like that fight. Where someone would come to save her, all she had to do was hide until help arrived. They needed to run, they needed to--

And they didn't. She could hear, even over the pounding rain and roaring winds, the mahou fighting. Deflecting attacks. Protecting each other. She saw a red blur leaping off the debris and charging straight at that... that THING!

How many times had she been an impossible force and, despite all of that, they had stepped up and fought her?

How many times had they driven her back?

There were so many more of them than there had ever been for her.

Then she heard Rashmi's voice, in her head. Of course, in her head. That was the little mage she had terrified. The one who she had hospitalized. The one she had burned, and yet couldn't keep down no matter how hard she tried. And she thought she could just... run? Was that who Sora had trained?

... Yes. That was who Sora had trained.

But even if Sora had failed to train her properly, all of those lessons she'd tried to instill in the young unicorn brought her here. And in this place, this world, she had learned so, so much more about what really mattered. Right now, people she cared about, people who cared about her, were here. People who, despite everything she had done, still stood by her. They'd fought against Beryl. They'd fought against Sunset. And now? This was her chance to stand by them.

The rock of fire coming at her, ever closer, was enough to take her breath away... But she wouldn't run, never again. Sora may have taught her how to run from her problems, but these girls had taught her how to stand and fight. If she was going to make the wrong choice, she might as well make it for the right reasons this time. She leaped forwards, kicking the rock with an explosion of gray and orange magic, shattering the rock to pieces, before running forward.

She locked onto the red blur leaping from debris to projectile, and leaped into the air to try and follow her path. She didn't know who that girl was, but she was a melee fighter too so the least Equivalence could do was make sure she didn't go in alone.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Thanks," says Tuxedo Mask to Kunzite, looking faintly wry inasmuch as he can with rain plastering his hair to his face and his cape to most of him. He spots dings of light out in the storm, then squints as someone starts coalescing energy over there and it gets bright, and then Usagi's making herself a beacon and Amy comes barrelling in just in time--

--for Jadeite to throw up shields for them all, and Mamoru says, "Yes, keep doing shields," as he leans over and slaps a hand to Jadeite's rain-soaked back, charging him up with a bright burst of gold-white light.

He looks to Amy and his expression's a little grim. "I'm glad that's in your toolbox, but please don't die yet? We have karaoke to do," he says very seriously. "Honestly, truly, don't die, okay? There are a lot of things we try first. So many things. And what Kunzite said, and Sailor Moon -- come here for help."

His gaze slides away from looking directly at Walpurgisnacht, but the air's vibrating with danger, treachery, darkness, despair-- quick, to Amy, holding out his hand to give her a power boost too, he says, "I don't know how well it works when I give you a buff, to keeping your own energy use low, but if nothing else, it'll at least make twice as powerful an attack, right?"

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    Before Sequoia can take so much as a step forward to fight or a step back to flee in terror; the sky lights up. Homura's carefully planned assault must have taken forever to set up, but Sequoia wouldn't know that. All she understands is the sudden outpouring of a level of firepower and explosives the likes of which she couldn't have possibly imagined on her own without outside aid.
    And for all that set up, the monster meets it with scorn and laughter.
    Sequoia's blood runs cold, instantly frozen in her veins, she locks up, hyperventilating in utter shock and terror, it's her Device that suddenly jabs her verbally.
    <OFFIZIER!> Schutsschild snaps, making her blink out of the moment of utter freezing just in time to evade a chunk of building flying in her direction, if only barely as she powerslides on her shield in a sudden juke.

    <<This is INSANE!>> She snaps thoughtlessly back to Zephyr, but then she recovers. Mostly.

    <<--I mean I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm okay.>> She repeats in a mantra of trying to rally by the time Rashmi scoops her up. She doesn't fight it as she's hoisted skyward.
    "... I'll do my best." She replies with a breathless huff as she raises her Device.

    <<If you need a break for any reason, I'll be your shield.>> She says over the telepathic commline once she's calmed down enough to voice her support with Rahsmi.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    As Hope Blossom and Homura Akemi fall through the air, the former comments, "Well... even that didn't take it down."

    Homura responds, "Did you expect it to?"

    Madoka laughs awkwardly. "I mean... it could've gone down in one shot."

    Giving her girlfriend a sideways glance, Homura says, "Those timelines always end badly. Believe it or not, we're better off like this. At least the others now know what kind of monster we're dealing with."

    Hope glances towards the beacon that Sailor Moon is making, and overhears the comment over the communicator that she still is holding onto. There's no reason to toss such a thing aside after all. <<We hear you. This is what Gretchen-chan was trying to warn us about. Be careful everyone! Sorry it came so suddenly...>>

    In response to their initial strike, Walpurgisnacht moves against them, launching debris. The bad news is that Homura Akemi has a skyscraper being launched specifically at her. The good news is that Madoka has her own Labyrinth and the pair have had a long time to learn how to dodge skyscrapers. The black haired Puella takes the hand of the pink haired Bearer and the two vanish, appearing almost instantly back on the ground. The building that had been lobbed at them is now covered in all manner of bombs, which instantly go off.

    A trio of void girl Familiars flies nearby and starts unleashing beams of starry magic at the pair. Homura's eyes go wide and she raises her shield, as a flare of purple magic rises up to protect herself and Madoka. The two mahou start jumping back and kiting away from the Familiars as they are harried, each of them firing rockets and arrows at the void girls while dodging and avoiding the beams. Eventually they each land behind some debris and hide from the blasts.

    "We're pinned down!" says Homura, peeking out to fire at the monsters.

    "Kamiko-chan..." calls out Madoka. Portals appear around the pair of them, drawing them into another world and then depositing them behind the Familiars. Using the element of surprise, the pair unleash magical hell on their pursuers, wiping two of them out before being spotted by the third, who then turns around to fire at them before getting taken out herself.

    Homura glances up skyward. "That... went better than usual, but we can't afford to get sidetracked."

    Madoka looks down at the road, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. "We might need to step things up earlier than I thought."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Popping off a Moon Healing Escalation - especially one with just a little power for show - is easier and easier these days, as her power and confidence with it grows, and that's a good thing, because as soon as the beacon is up, there's the other consequence of being visible: being a target. As soon as Amy is in sight, Sailor Moon grabs her by the wrist and yanks her to cover with them, because -

Luckily, there's Jadeite and his ice shields, hastily crafted, enormous, and durable enough to take a hit, and boy do they. The crack and shatter of ice is loud, all around them, and darkness spreads as Kunzite whips out his shields to take away the impact of magical flames, but they aren't hurt by the first volley. Instead, she's blinking away the after image of lights, from the other beam that shot up like a beacon and so, so, so many explosives that didn't seem to do much of anything.

"It just had to have fire," she mutters darkly, before shaking her head and pulling on a determined smile. "I don't think she's going to go down easy, so like Kunzite said, pace yourself and -"

There's a little *BONG!* as Rashmi snaps telepathic communications into place. Alright then.

<<Well, this is handy! We've got one Puella over here, and the girl who just launched herself red ribbons and all right at this thing is another one!>>

Information shared, she snatches the tiara from her forehead, pouring magic in until golden metal becomes rainbow sparkles of color, and she hurls it through the air, crossing the distance to try and strike through Walpurghisnacht's barrier.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

It won't be enough. She knows it won't be enough. But she's going to pour everything she has into it because this is not a night where anyone can afford to hold anything back.

No doubt. They're going to stop this thing. They're going to win. They don't have any other choice.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Walpurgisnacht's laughter rings out across the city.

    "..."

    A iridescent-flamed tree comes flying for her -- Amy blows it out of the sky with the artillery cannon she's suddenly holding. She dismisses it and looks at the others assembled atop Mamoru's new home.

    Tuxedo Mask asks if anyone has a plan.

    What can she say? What can she offer? Sailor Moon and others there can read it on her face: If that didn't slow her down, what can I possibly do? What can any of us?

    The red of her soul gem dims, just a little.

    Kunzite grounds her spiraling thoughts. She nods.

    Rashmi calls via telepathy. <<"Amanda Faust, here.">> She replies. <<"I'm uh... trying to think of ideas.">>

    The voices, the coming together... It fills her with hope. Tuxedo mask mentions THERE IS KARAOKE TO DO, DAMMIT. They have to live! Her soul gem shines brightly again.

    There has to be some trick...

    Yes. Support the Puella. Not because they have a bigger part to play here... but because one of them has special information.

    <<"Madoka! Where are you?!">> Amy calls out. <<"Can Kamiko tell us anything? ...I'm sorry.">> It's kind of unfair to ask anyone, even them, to come up with an answer.

    But they're the first she can think to turn to.

Sachiko Yamashiro has posed:
    Glorious Beacon seems to be living up to her name, at least as far as becoming an extremely obvious shiny target goes. "That's right. Focus on me. Watch for the big obvious threat and let the others get in close."

    Nevermind that the literal building is aimed somewhere else.

    In the meantime, she's gotten herself an admirer already! That's good, because while she's capable of it pumping nearly everything she has into a single burst of energy isn't her usual style.

    "Much appreciated, good sir!" she calls back with a bit of cheek, only to turn her head briefly in the direction of Buster. "Go on, get out of here. I'll be fine but things are about to get hectic!"

    A Flamen salute is given and the mascot disappears, leaving Glorious Beacon to refocus on her task as Cure Wing interposes himself between her and the varying threats coming her direction. Now lifted several feet into the air she closes her eyes as the gathered energy starts to tighten and intensify around her.

    "Get out of the way now or get cooked!" she shouts before her blue eyes flash open and she holds her arms forward towards the mammoth Witch, which seems to be chugging along fine despite the mega-combo it just withstood.

    "SEARING! GLORIOUS! BLASTER!"

    The beacon of light atop the skyscraper flickers out for the briefest moment before reemerging as a brilliant streak of light across the sky, reaching out at the speed of light and causality, something Walpurgisnacht might not need to concern herself with. It's an intense bombardment that radiates and sheds light all across its length, flickering for several long seconds in an extended show of raw power, Glorious Beacon herself slowly dropping to the roof's surface as she expends the vast majority of her energy and the wide beam flickers off and winks out into a long series of sparks before fading entirely from view.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly was on her way in to this fight when it started, just like everyone else. Unfortunately, while she was on her way, she spotted a Youma making its own mischief, and she just... couldn't ignore that, so she stopped and took the time to deal with it. ...Except it wasn't really a Youma, it was the outline of... a person? Sort of? Either way it was weid.

And there were four more of them on the way in.

<< I'm here!! >> Molly broadcasts, and then to Rashmi in particular, << Rashmi-chan, there were weird things on the way here, I had to fight them and it was awful. >>

The purplenette draws up short a ways off from the actual fight, looking at her battle-visor as it picks up on allies, and the... big thing, of course, which it variously tags as friendlies and unfriendlies. Walpurgis of course, gets a little red tag that reads << UNIDENTIFIED THREAT >> with a little :o face beside it.

<< Rashmi-chan, what should I do? Just... hang back and hit it? >>

Molly purses her lips, considering her options. There's already steam wisping out of her and Starcrash's vents. "Starcrash, charge Stellar Pulse, forty barrets," she instructs.

<< ARMED. WARNING: MANA RESERVES ALREADY AT SIXTY PER-CENT >>

"Yep, I know."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    Walpurgisnacht looms closer, steadily making the queasy feeling of its presence intensify as it does so, as well as the volume of that unceasing laugh. The barrage of debris doesn't really stop, at any point, as more trees and trucks and chunks of building are levitated into the air, enflamed, and hurled at the gathered opposition.

    Kyouko dives through the air, spear first, and pierces through a tree on her way in, but then a building is heading for her - and a yellow sphere fired from some rooftop on the city catches the building in midflight, allowing Kyouko to continue on her path - pelted by rubble and rock - until she connects with the witch. Or at least, the Witches' barrier, those same strange runes crackling off the air as her spear drives against it. As Kyouko is so close to the Witch, she can feel some of its emotions pouring out - its feelings, or what is left of them. Despair, hopelessness, but also more concrete things; someone who wants to turn the world into a play, into her stage, a stage with one final tragedy and then nothing. Then every night will be the night of Walpurgis.

    Equivalence gets in too, moving from projectile to projectile and bringing her foot down on the barrier alongside the Apple-Eating Puella - flooded with the same intense thoughts and feelings from being so close, barrier crackling against her strike as well. A tiara flies in a long loop, carving through a projectile on the way to also try to pressure in against the shield. And then a searing, eye-burningly-bright golden blast of energy erupts and slams into the same barrier, multiple multicolored spark-storms clearly visible from each impact.

    Then there's a surge of energy and feelings that intensify along with it - If everything is merely a play, no unhappy things will exist. And today...the play stops on Walpurgisnacht, and the Earth does not rotate even once more. And the tiara, as well as the two melee attackers, are suddenly and violently forced away from Walpurgisnacht by an unknowable power.

    For just a moment there's only the laughter of the witch, but the laughter takes a sharper tone, and some of the cycling spherical runes that surround Walpurgisnacht flicker with static, like a older TV that lost reception, before they crack and shatter. The runes continue to rotate around the Witch, though with a subset now missing and blank in the rotation.

    And now the feeling the creature seems to be putting out the most is... a sort of bittersweet malice, a sensation that creature is sad that it will enjoy destroying the assembled - before turning her horned head, and breathing that multicolored bright spectrum fire from its eternally-smiling mouth, scorching lines in the ground and also putting several of the gathering heroes at risk from burning - or whatever worse fate befalls those bathed unprotected in Walpurgisnacht's witchfire.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    <Looks like we /can/ wear down its defenses. Hit and fade, don't let her focus on you!> sends Wind Dancer to the Telepathy link. Her barret barrage fading out as more debris starts to get too close to her. She jukes, and fires snapshots to deflect incoming projectiles as she starts backing off. < Chief! > alerts the Device, just in time for the mage to drop altitude and clear a tree flying past her.

    And then comes the Witchfire. < RAMPART AEGIS! KITE SHIELD LAYER FIVE! TEMPEST SHEATH! > recites Tenraikaze, erecting layered defensive shields and barriers to try and mitigate some of the incoming rainbow fire. She's engulfed in it, and her magical signature flickers out, masked by the horrific flames licking around her.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
When Glorious tells him to move, Cure Wing launches upwards. He hears the voice in his head, and for a moment, when he responds, he's a little timid - because who knows how many people may hear him. <<I... I'm Cure Wing! I was with the girl with the giant laser beam! She may need some help. I don't know how much that took out of her!>>

Why isn't he helping himself? Going back a few seconds - as Glorious announced her attack, Wing leaps upwards, taking flight. He feels the heat of the blast as it sizzles past him, racing towards the Witch. And as soon as it's clear, Cure Wing is racing after it, bright orange and red flames erupting around his body.

Moments after Glorious' blast slams home, Wing calls out.

"Wing Attack!"

He slams into the Witch a moment later with the lower purification attack. He bounces off the Witch immediately, because there's no way he can punch through, and as he falls back, he looks around for Sailor Moon's group, he comes in for a landing. He's slightly bruised from hitting head on against the witch and singed, but he only takes a moment to catch his breath.

"I have a more powerful attack, but I need someone to go with me on it." he admits, taking out a small makeup palette from his pocket. "I can try to go solo again, though!"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     Up until now, Aloisia Stauss had been ensuring that as many civilians as possible were at her warehouse, which she'd ensured a Barrier was deployed over and properly secured against the storm. After she was sure that things were as secure as she could make them without simply remaining there -- one of her employees would be holding down the fort -- she went towards the source of the eye of the storm. Rotating runes and a bittersweet sadness... and witchfire.

"Nein, I do not think such sorrow shall take over today."
<MAXIMALE>
<PYRAMID>
<ENFALLE>

Aloisia Stauss drops from the sky onto one of the moving skyscrapers, both hands held out as many, many sparks fly off of a damaged device she had floating next to her, and a massive golden pyramid sparks into somewhat unstable existence over the various Mahou and shielding them from the oncoming witchfire.

An action which Aloisia Stauss is wholly focused on, as the damaged device continues to spark the whole time. It isn't going to last long against the actual attacks, but enough to likely support those who need it.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura, with assault rifle in hand, gives Madoka a sideways glance before looking up at the sky, and all of the magic being thrown around. "If you're going to do that, better do it before someone gets hurt. We can't afford to take losses here. If someone dies today, three more will die in the next disaster, and then ten more..." She looks at her girlfriend again and asks, "Are you sure, though? If you wear yourself out too early..."

    Madoka grips the hem of her frilly dress and shakes her head. "Everyone else is giving their all. This isn't a fight to go cheap on. This is what we save up our energy for." Glancing up to the sky, and at the monster of her nightmares, Madoka frowns thoughtfully. "Things are going to get weird with me, but... it'll be fine. Just trust me. Kamiko-chan?"

    The divine fairy appears at Madoka's side, only to look up at Walpurgisnacht and see the oncoming magical fire. "Watch out!" she calls. Homura dives behind a piece of falling debris, keeping her head down as the magical fire washes over them, but Madoka does even not flinch.

    "My Heart: UNLOCK!"

    Then, suddenly, Madoka just isn't there. The magical flames hit the empty space where she once was. Homura is acting on her own, as she always does, ever the loner. Yet, she does not despair even here, where her reason for being has just vanished from existence.

    An Aura of Hope descends upon the battlefield. The Law of Cycles is Here, and she is on your side. As feelings of optimism and courage spread out over the area, the magical defenders might notice that their magical attacks and spells are just a bit extra powerful, and maybe a bit more prismatic. The invisible goddess is making her presence known, and her love has no limits.

    As for Homura, boosted by the sudden support from Madokami, she leaps back into the air, running up the side of a building, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as fallen debris rises up to create a path. Madoka has reality bending magic of her own, and she's using it to create platforms from which the others can reach Walpurgisnacht more easily. Just in case someone is brave enough to actually close distance with that monster of a mega-Witch.

    Homura, being one such person, fires more rockets as she runs along and tries to approach the monster.

    As if to answer the request for information, Hope Concept speaks to the gathered mahou telepathically. She uses a variety of methods: Some she grants flashes of insight. Others hear her voice through comms on their Device or their Dimension Past communicators. She does not speak with words; but instead through concepts, images and visions. A breakdown of Walpurgisnacht's common tactics: throwing buildings, breathing fire, beams of darkness. Tactical details of what the combat Familiars do, and a note that most of the parade animals aren't really worth worrying about. A giant psychic infodump that tries not to be too intrusive while still being informative.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I would love to go with you," Tuxedo Kamen calls back over the noise of the storm. He takes off his cape and drops it with a wet slop on the rain-puddled roof, then jogs over to Cure Wing. "Can I charge it for you, too?"

Then he's thinking over Telepathic DatCord, <<I'm going with Cure Wing, we'll be in the air, but if you go back to where I was and say you need me, I'll get to you fast.>>

A beat.

<<Uh, says Tuxedo Kamen. The aforementioned healer.>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
Edit: Amy is yanked behind the shield as soon as she's fired, and thank goodness for that, as she couldn't stop chunks of building, only a tree.

Edit: Amy's soul gem really does shine, more, much as it did after Silver Crystal exposure, when Tuxedo Kamen pours power into her. As cruel as this world is at times, she is its child, and the power of Earth -- the welcoming home-that-could-be, the place she could belong, shining with light and life surrounded by cold uncaring inhospitable vaccuum -- buoys her heart and soul. She can't help grinning, genuinely, at that and nodding to him.

    She feels good enough to push down the queasiness, at least for a moment.

    Sailor Moon throws her tiara and it is satisfying to watch as it and attacks from so many people assault Walpurgisnacht -- although they're repelled by some sort of barrier. But there is, also, a sense of progress. Runes flare out.

    "It can bleed." Amy mutters aloud. And over the link: <<"It took damage. That means it had hit points to lose. And if it has stats...">> She expects Molly and Rashmi might join her in this thought: <<"YOU CAN KILL IT!">>

    Words of encouragement. Walpurgisnacht answers: This is the end. The end of pain.

    Man, Amy can think of way better Bad Ends than nothingness. That's not as great as you think it is, Witch!

    It's sad it enjoys this. Amy bows her head slightly, and mutters, "We'll free you so you can rest. You won't have to hate enjoying this anymore."

    She crouches down by Sailor Moon and conjures a pile of discuses made of high explosives. "Here. Worth a shot, right?"

    And then she leaps into the air (conveniently avoiding the incoming flames) and flies up.

    Up and up and up and over Walpurgisnacht. A helmet appears on her head to cover her ears as she aims downward, the 10-foot-long-or-so, 105mm-wide artillery cannon forming on her shoulder and she fires it downward.

    Explosive. Anti-tank. Solid metal. Flechettes. She tries every projectile type she can think of, and then changes her gun and fires smaller rounds at higher speed -- the cracking echo of sonic booms bouncing off the buildings around them -- to see if THAT works better. Missiles, too, tandem-charge or that just ram into and push against the barrier, trying to break through. She's trying everything she can think of! And each and every attack is backed not just by her SOUL but the Earth and the Law of Cycles. There must be something that works well! And Magical Rocket Girl Red will find it!

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
<< What the actual hell? >> Kyouko is almost distracted from her stabbing by a voice in her head, that isn't anyone she expects. Not THAT distracted. She's a puella and this is a witch. Not just a witch, but a WITCH and there's stabbing to be done. << Yeah. Puella. Stabbing. >>

Kyouko isn't the most articulate at the best of times, and this is probably not the best of times. Hopefully with Sailor Moon's identification of her people can match up the crazy puella with the one that isn't doing a whole lot of chatting over the coms.

There's a glance over as someone else comes to hang out all up close and personal with the runes and the witch and all of the aggro attraction and FEELINGS. Too many feelings. So many feelings.

"You can't even START to make me feel worse than that little rat fuzzy bastard." Kyouko snarls as she fights against the hopelessness, her shoulders coming up as she loiters, briefly, on a chunk of ex-building. "You can't even THINK of making it worse." Because clearly what one should do is taunt Walpurgisnacht. That's a great plan.

Kyouko doens't need a whole lot of encouragement to keep launching herself and her spears at the runic shields, aiming to render more and more of them into static.

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    It's getting closer... It's only getting closer.
    While others leap to the offensive, that is not where Weisser Ritter shines; as she watches the battle rage into full swing with horrified golden eyes.
    That laughter- that hideous, melodic, merciless, laugher makes Sequoia's blood chill again, but this time she manages to retain her composure- at least a little better than the last time, even as a wave of emotions washes over her. It's nightmarish.
    But what's worse is the more looming threat of incineration.
    "--Rashmi stay behind me!" Sequoia suddenly calls out over her shoulder as she braces, raising her riot shield.
    <PANZERGEIST!> The shield declares, layering a magical shield over its physical body as Sequoia holds her Device before her, flames and shards of wrecked and shattered buildings buffeting into her defense like shrapnel, Sequoia grits her teeth and strains against it, doing her best to protect herself and Rashmi at once as--
    Did Zephyr's signal just vanish?
    "D-... Did we lose...???" She starts to ask the unthinkable, a cold rock weighing down in the pit of her gut at the thought as Aloisia suddenly appears and--
    ... She makes tanking a skyscraper look easy.
    <UNGERECHTIGKEIT.> Sequoia's shield declares.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir is running through the chaos. << I'm going in...! >> says the detective as he finally feels he has enough range, a chance to hit things. Things are about to get hairy again though when magical fire descends into his location....!

But suddenly, there's a magical pyramid? Oh it's. That girl, the one related to that Otto person. He tries to remember a name. But he can't right now.

"Thanks, dollface!" is what Aloe gets before he makes his way out, grabbing the brim of his fedora before he raises the tommy gun and fires off blasts into the Witch's location. The runes seem important, so he's focusing on them. Like moving targets in a carnival's shooting gallery.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
<< I'm supporting the red girl. Not a puella, obviously. >>

Her foot connected with the barrier besides the red girl and... And huh. She remembers that feeling. More memories of eating a familiar along with her own experiences when dark energy had overwhelmed her. In a strange way, she supposed dark energy and witch magic weren't entirely different. Both were catalysts of misery.

They were launched back by the power of the witch, but they'd had an effect. Some of its runes had cracked and shattered. A shield of sorts? Well... then there it was. Break the runes, break the witch. But there were so many of them.

But they could break some, they could break them all.

If they could break them all, they could kill the witch.

If they could kill the witch, then they *would* kill the witch.

Equivalence kicked out, her magic erupting from her feet to launch her back, through the air. She hits one of the walls of a nearby building, looks up and... Oh. That was more fire. Why was there so much fire? But it was going down. She started running, the magic in her boots allowing her to run horizontally on the wall of the building before she leaped up and back at the witch. Not going at it directly. Instead, she drives herself, feet first, straight into one of the runes themselves. Then started kicking herself up, launching herself higher and into the next rune, feet exploding with magic to launch herself higher, air juggling herself as she tried to destroy the runes she could as she passed.

Well, at least Kyouko would get her wish, Equivalence wasn't very talkative.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
<<Probably a dumb question, but has anyone tried getting a barrier up?>>

It's probably beside the point. It's probably not going to work.

But debris is raining down, still, coming at them, at everyone, and what doesn't hit them - thank everything it doesn't hit them - is still hitting something, and there's no barrier up no, no sepia tones or brilliant starry skies.

There is, however, a stupidly huge golden beam rushing forward, crashing against the might of that enormous monster, even before the much smaller forms of two brave mahou crash against it alongside her tiara, and she stares in shock before looking across skyscrapers to see the golden girl from earlier apparently dropping out of the sky. Was that everything she had?!

But maybe sometimes a thing seems so hopeless that no one tries, and it might work. Like her tiara seems to have worked, at least a little, though it ker-BOUNCES off the ruin shield, there's static and darkness amidst the runes themselves, and that's progress.

<<This great big sack of HP can go down! We just have to keep at it!>>

A twist of her hand and will, and the golden tiara flies back to her, a little tarnished for its labors, and she slides a hand over it protectively before returning it to her head. That wasn't enough. She needs more - needs more - but is Moon Healing Escalation going to do anything against a Witch? They couldn't be purified!

Only one way to find out, right?

"Jadeite, think you can drop an offense from this far out? I think we're going to have to get closer to do some real damage, if not."

And then Cure Wing lands among them, offering help and suggesting a team up, and Mamoru steps up to accept, and Amy creates a series of new discusses, shiny and bright and with little explosives all over them, and Sailor Moon twists, looking to lock eyes with Kunzite.

"Kazuo-kun - no," she pauses, then smiles, warm and bright, as an Aura of Hope descends upon the battlefield. "Kunzite. I'm gonna give these some air. You'll catch me, right?"

Without explanation, she crouches, scoops the discusses into her hands - and then rushes out, across the rain-slick roof, for once not tripping, stumbling, or falling - just leaping up, clearing an extra story worth of height easily, eight-stories worth of air between her and the ground.

Somewhere above this fight, the Moon shines bright.

"Moon's Ever-Burning-Explosive Action!"

Dramatic, much? But she doesn't just throw one tiara - no, with a twist and clearing through the air, she bundles them together into one massive of energy, cosmic light flowing from her into the explosive discusses, and she hurls them through the air half-a-dozen streaking bursts of explosive magic coming to bear in different spots.

And then she'll start to plummet, eyes locked on Walpurgisnacht, not even a little bit worried.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime continues her track. She takes a deep breath, as several of her bunnies give her directions before she sees three bunnies run the opposite direction. THey're being chased by Familiars, which makes Yukihime pause a moment. Gah! Why can't she have Oni-chan's power for just a little bit...The woman takes a deep breath before several of her Ice Crows come crashing down from above. While they don't have power, they do have numbers, and gravity on their side, as she continues to look for Rashmi.

    The Old Blood sighs a bit. The woman looks around a second, trying to find somewhere safe for her to set up some barrier for others. She's not able to really do much in terms of damage...damage? Wait, she has an idea...

    << Question...What happends if this thing gets caught in a 10 point magic ciricle? Best I can really do is cast barriers at the moment, or I could try to create a seal? >>

Jadeite has posed:
Everyone's moving, and so Jadeite moves with them. Tuxedo Mask has Kunzite protecting him, Sailor Moon's on the move and trusting in Kunzite's flexible and not ice-shatteringly sharp shields, so it's time for Jadeite to go where the trouble is -

"I don't think I can do decent damage from this distance if the magic blasts aren't doing much, so I'll try and get closer to see if I can cause trouble," he tells Sailor moon before she jumps.

He runs underneath Walpurgisnacht, his ice hsield held over his head, and starts manifesting ice shields for Kyouko and Amy and Cure Wing and Rashmi and the others who get up close and personal with the huge, rotating witch. It's a strain to make shields so *far away* from him, but it's worth it - there's no point in having people up in the enemy's face if they get stabbed!!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Amy... red streak... Who's that with MadoHOLY CRAP IS THAT A *SKYSCRAPER?!*?

Target priority training activates, and-- Madoka vanishes. But does so well *after* the dust of the entire building settles.

... Wait, wha--

Rashmi is not at all ashamed at loosing a brief shriek as the fire surrounds them, and Sequoia's shield parts the flames better than her best efforts would likely have done. For a moment she simply cringes there, until the flames wash past, and Sequoia asks her terrified question. "We haven't lost," she says, determined. "But let's see if she's okay. If not, we're taking her to Tuxedo-kun. If she is... I want you with her, okay?"Banking down to fly to Zephyr's last known position, she looks at Sequoia, raising one eyebrow. "Remember... don't focus on the incredibly huge monster. Just focus on the people behind you. Move when you can, block when you can't. You'll do fine; I have faith in you," she finishes with a tight, but sincere smile as she lowers herself to the scorched ground, apparently pleased to see Aloisia doing her damaged thing. "Eh... Hi! This is Weisser Ritter, she'll be your supporting magical wall for this evening! Also a pacifist. Don't argue. Weisser, this is a *born* Belkan Knight, follow her lead. Before I go, here, to help you find a better spot quick;"

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

A trio of balls of foxfire resolve around the redhead, darting out to sink into the three, providing them with a rush of *joy,* to bolstered by the aid of the Law of Cycles. The need to *run,* and a significant speed boost in the process. "You saw the beam, right? I'm giving Weisser the coordinates for that exact spot, *go there if you get hurt bad.* Good luck."

And just like that she's off, but manages to bobble mid-flight for a moment as Molly calls in. << Molly-chan! >> she shouts, pulling her friend into the comms network. << The girl who's trying to *stab the Witch,* hi! You look familiar! And hi, Equivalence! >> A blip appears on Molly's visor, corresponding to Kyouko's position. << Star Devil-chan, you're their close air support. Keep the smaller ones off them when you have to, shoot where they're aiming when you can. Help them break a hole in that shield. >>

Sachiko Yamashiro has posed:
    It's hard to say how much of an effect her attack had. Even Glorious Beacon isn't foolish enough to think her single powerful attack would vaporize something that already withstood an assault of untold arrows and explosions. Whatever the reality might be, if this ends in victory she'll be congratulating herself on pulling enough aggro and putting a big enough crack in the Megawitch's defenses have been key in it's defeat.

    As the last of the sparks from her attack go out her toes touch back down on the rooftop, only for the Glory Seeker to drop to her heels and stumble forward a step or two, lightheaded. "Phew. Now I just need to train enough until I can fire those of casually and I'll be getting somewhere." A brief pause, "If I wanted to be all flash and no class, anyway."

    There any more time for her to reminisce with herself. Her own giant beam of elemental light was an effective shield in itself after Cure Wing moved out of the way, but now she's just one magical girl in an exposed position atop a skyscraper that might break off and start floating and catching fire any minute now. Even if she's saved that particular problem for the moment there's still a stream of debris flying at her. She puts up a good show, cartwheeling past a tree and rolling afterwards to avoid the chunk of roof and wall that now exists separately from the skyscraper it was once a part of. The barrage, likely sent her way several moments earlier, keeps coming though and of all thing a bicycle cracks her upside the head as she's rising back to her feet, sending her falling over backwards and landing in a heap as the impromptu weapon goes spinning off into the distance.

    Things are about to get a lot worse for her as a bench ripped free from the ground and yet another tree heading towards her rooftop suddenly catch on multicolored fire when a spark of energy rushes towards her and forms into a pyramidal barrier just in the nick of time, cracking, creaking and then shattering under the onslaught.

    It's enough! The roof itself is now as much of a Concept as Madoka is right now, no longer recognizable as an existing platform. Beacon falls with grace and rolls inside, running with a click clack of her boot heels towards a stairwell. "Thanks, whoever you are," she calls to the mysterious barrier creator. "Time to get out of here and back into the fight!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Catch her?

Amy's on the move, so is Tuxedo Kamen, so Kunzite takes off after Moon, matching her leap for leap. Catching her physically around the waist with an arm, matching their trajectories -- and then those trajectories shift into a drifting hover as he consolidates his shields into a familiar bubble around them. A translucent black shimmering with rainbows as it rejects and reflects the witch's energies. A stage for Moon to work from, not the most mobile, but a protected one.

And one that can duck buildings as necessary.

Koji Silvia has posed:
When Hanzo lands on the top of a skyscraper, the first thing he does is reconnect from the disruptions he was suffering to his magic while being soaked in the rain.

    <<Sorry, Everyone. I got caught up with a dozen or so of those... things... on the way here.>>
Watching the chaos of attacks and defense firing off by everyone, protecting the larger group while other start winding up their larger attacks. Despite the fact that he's soaked, of course his hair still somehow wavers in the wind being kicked up by the storm as he pushes himself up to a standing position and stares up at this hugely inhuman threat that is slowly descending on Tokyo and reality. The normal half-mask of his Barrier Jacket fades out, the constant illusion being sacrificed for just a little more power to be available for him.
As he wipes rain from his forehead and takes another deep breath, exhaling steam out a couple seconds after, he continues on.

    <<I need two defenders and someone who can transfer and boost power. Doesn't matter who.>>
For once, it doesn't come out like his usual aloof and snappish ordering when he appears at a fight. It's a genuine ask as he brings up the hand that his Device is attached to, and points his palm up towards Walpurgisnacht itself.

    << DISRUPTOR. TARGET, RUNE 1. EXECUTE. >>
Almost touching to the discolored rune in front of the massed heroes, a blacklight-level blue magical circle appears over it, Midchildian in design, with three smaller circles on the inside and rotating around in orbit of the center. Each of them is currently twitching and repositioning inside as if they are working like some kind of minigame for hacking, adjusting over and over to try and find the key to begin disrupting the powerful magic protecting the mega-Witch.

    << DISRUPTOR. TARGET, RUNE 2. EXECUTE. >>

    << DISRUPTOR. TARGET, RUNE 3. EXECUTE. >>
To the left and the right of the first target, two more of the same appear, and begin to do the same thing.
Despite the rain, he begins to sweat, his other hand gripping his wrist...

    << Master... >>

    "All we have to do Hanzo... all they need... is one little edge lifted. One chink in the armor. That's always been our job. When there's no weakness... we make one."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    Hope Concept is formed from the unison of Madoka and Chara, from the girl's deeply held beliefs and desires and the perserverence of her stalwart protector - the aura that spreads across the area directly conflicts with the Witch's personal reality, resulting in a strange situation where the two collide, and on one side the world is a little brighter, colors pop a little more, and on the other side of the divide closer to Walpurgisnacht, the world grows a bit dimmer, darker, colder. Down below, a pair of red eyes attached to a white fuzzy body watches the Hope Concept's appearance and emotional duel with Walpurgisnacht with interest.

    Homura jumps through the air, raining automatic (or is it automagic) weapons fire into the witch, each bullet creating a rainbow pulse as it impacts the barrier. Explosions ring out from above as Amy Faust brings her own accumen to the battle - and the runes themselves are targeted by both the magical shots from Pulp Noir's tommygun and the kicks from Equivalence, Koji's efforts to weaken their strength by disrupting the energy of the witch's personal Barrier, the rapid spear stabs from Kyouko, and the second storm of discus-explosives from Sailor Moon as well - the smoke of explosions constantly punctuated by the colors of the Witch's barrier or the brightness from a magical attack driven against it.

    Various debris and flames lick around everyone putting their all into the attacks, but are nullified by the hard work of everyone who throws themselves into supporting the endless rain of offense.

    The detonations begin to grow lower and lower, as does the smoke-covered form of walpurgisnacht, because the creature is being forced to descend from its lofty floating perch and eventually slams into the ground of an industrial park within Mitakihara.

    But the laughter. The constant, endless laughter, the madness of a person fallen to absolute despair who knows how long ago... the laughter is still echoing through the ward. Even as the wind and rain from the storm begin to lessen, clouds parting and a little bit of sun starting to shine - the Witch laughs.

    And then there's another burst of power, of emotion, of anger and sadness and despair and the psychic feeling that this creature was committed to ending all tragedies by ending all existence.

    The kinetic force of the witch once more throws the aggressors back with violent energy, and she rises from the park where she fell into the air once more - albeit with even fewer of those runes active.

    Fire, thrown objects - those were two of the attacks Hope Concept warned the others about - and now was the last one, but in a sort of constant barrage - blasts of energy, not Dark Energy but something stranger, like tears in reality, cutting through the air in arcs towards everyone, and occasionally 'popping' into Familiars that also try to assault the assembled.

    But on top of that - and on top of the gears that the witch is 'hanging from' - a sphere of that same energy begins to collect, and grow - while the entire time the cutting energy blasts continue to strike out, like a bullet hell. And another psychic intrusion, but clearly not Hope Concept, erupts and coats the battlefield, forcing a single thought unbidden into the minds. "The story will not change. This tragedy is part of the script. And you can only play your parts." The surge of despair blunted in Hope Concept's side of the mental battlefield, but even still trying to impart to everyone the futility of thier struggle.

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< Got it! >> Molly kicks her Flier Fin into... it doesn't have gears. She just goes as fast as she can, highlighting Kyouko and Equivalence on her battle visor and moving to their vicinity. Don't want to get too close, afterall, just in case there's some kind of big explosion or something. Or, y'know, somebody chucking a skyscraper. That's definitely new.

<< Kyouko, Equivalence, I'm following Rashmi-Chan's lead. My Battle Visor will mark where your hits land, and I'll hit those same spots and hit 'em HARD. I'm not at full mana but I'll burn myself down to nothing for this fight and take the bus home if I gotta. >>

Speaking of smaller ones; there are some. So while Molly is waiting for Kyouko and Equivalence to land their first hits, she turns Starcrash on them. "Fire!" she shouts, and unleashes a stream of gleaming barrets, blasting away at some of the smaller targets before they can get to her assigned teammates. "Starcrash, overcharge Solar Beam, use twenty per cent more mana than previous casts," she instructs. "Stay within safety limites."

<< ARMED >>

"Alright, I'm ready!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'The story will not change. You can only play your parts.'

Bowled back by the wave of force, Rashmi raises her head in time to spot the new barrage of Darkness, shield and Barrets summoned with but a thought. As she jinks and weaves through the assault, launching her own counterattack at the nearby Familiars spawned in, she feels something rise in the depths of her heart.

"The story *always* changes!" she shouts. "No one *ever* tells it the same way twice! And sometimes they change whole things about it! Sometimes the story is a tragedy, sometimes it's a comedy! But in the end it's *our* story, and *we write it for ourselves!"

With Walpurgisnacht visibly weakening, Rashmi spends half a heartbeat in mental communion with Nicomachea, checking her eyes against the sensor records. Then, she comes to a decision, and nods.

<< EVERYBODY! >> she calls into the telepathic net. << FORM UP ON ME, AND GET CLOSE! I THINK WE'VE GOT A CHANCE TO PUT IT DOWN FOR GOOD! >>

Welp. Time to take this spell out of the sims, and into the real world. Hopefully it'll perform as well as it's projected to. "Verbal Command: Accumulator Purge."

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

>>Rather than hold her hand out, toward the listing kaiju of a reality-warping Witch, she holds her hand up, above her head. << I'LL ONLY BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU ALL ONE SHOT, >> she calls, << BUT I PROMISE YOU, *IT WILL BE A GOOD ONE.*
5r"Solar Bless."

An intricate magical mandala spreads out under her feet, alien-tech lines lines and symbols revolving and counter-revolving until they lock into place with a finality more felt than heard.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BLESS >>

The canister's glow rapidly dims, all the collected mana pushed into a basketball-sized sphere of golden, burning light. For just a moment, the Page Mage seems to be holding the sun in miniature, above her head, its warm light warring against the Witch's Labyrinthine aura. Then, it collapses on itself, and *explodes* outward in all directions, a wave of boosting energy washing over the gathered combatants. Speed. Power. *Fire.* All of these feelings seem to wrap around her allies' magic, to fit itself into the contours of their mana and become more than the sum of their parts.

There's an emotional component to the spell, too. The joy of summer. The *energy* that comes with joy. And a deep, burning faith in oneself and each other, that we are stronger together than we ever could be apart.

"Now get 'er, y'all," she says, her Osaka accent bleeding through in her exhaustion.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
When Mamoru makes his way over to him, Cure Wing pulls out the pallet. "This is the activation pallet. Red. Yellow. Blue. White. In that order, will activate my transformation." he explains. But before he hands it over, he activates the device, and grabs the brush, running it over two of the colors. "Red. Yellow." he mixes the two colors together in the pallet, and a barrier springs to life around the rooftop to protect those within it.

And then Mamo is asking if he can power him up. The boy looks bashful for a moment, but then admits, "I don't know! Noone's ever tried to power me up before!" he says with a laugh. With that, he hands Tuxedo the device and lifts off the ground and slightly backwards for the taller mahou to run the activation sequence.

Once the activation is done, a pillar of rainbow light streaks down from the heavens, burning through buildings and debris and heading directly towards the rooftop. Which is what Cure Wing wants. He looks up, and his hand flies into the air. The column of light slams into him, and where Cure Wing once stood... is now a large, flaming Phoenix. With plenty of room on its back.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Oh hey sudden infodump that's useful. Aloisia actually takes time to examine those tactics and try to figure out how to use her shields better now that she'd probably overworked unbezwingbare schwester with that giant pyramid barrier.

In response to Weisser Ritter's device, Unaufhaltsame Schwester and Unbezwingbare Schwester respond with the ever so slightly emotionlessly sassy

<VERBESSERE>
<DICH>

...Yeah basically a german 'git gud'.

Aloe, meanwhile, comments towards Sequoia, "You have not lost. You stand still. As do many of your allies. This is a battle. This is war. There may be losses. That is not the end." Aloe says, even as unbezwingbare schwester sparks, an arc of plasma shooting off of it to the nearby ground.

Thanks, Dollface. "Ja, you're welcome, detektive."

Rashmi introduces Weisser Ritter, and Aloisia gives a simple nod. "I see." ... Pacifist. "A pacifist wall is still a wall." Aaaand a boost up! Which was nice, as her pyramid shield was faltering. "I cannot maintain a large pyramidenfall for long, but we can support those who need it."

Koji declares needing two defenders and a booster. "Well, we know where to go, Weisser Ritter." Aloisia states simply. It doesn't matter if Weisser Ritter is ready, she doesn't have the time to question her or anyone else for that matter.

Instead she's darting to be in front of Koji with her good shield up in a defensive position, her two Devices pinging -- unbezwingbare Schwester still sparking.

<UNZERBRECHLICHE>
<MAuER>

And creating one of those twin overlaid barriers to defend Koji. "Hello, mein dear enemy." She comments jokingly towards Koji.

A wave of energy launching out later and even the stalwart knight is pushed back from the magic. She grimaces as a tear of reality cuts through her Wall, and cracks deepen in Unbezwingbare Schwester. Threatening to break again. Pieces even falling off. Which causes Aloe to state quickly, "Standby mode, Unbezwingbare Schwester!"

And the shield returns to its passive mode, "Unaufhaltsame Schwester!"

<TREIBER MODE>

Aloisia reaches into her Barrier Jacket and pulls out... a secondary storage device, in the shape of a longsword. As that wave of psychic energy rushes through her. The tragedy is part of the script. Tears begin to form in the Knight's eyes. "Ja. I know." Despair. Despair... that bleeds into anger as her charge is boosted by the Solar Bless, plasma arcing between the spike sliding out of the bottom of unaufhaltsame schwester and the storage device.

And Aloisia shifts, moving from defense to offense, magic boosting her forward as she launches to join the tip of the spear on the attack on Walpurgisnacht. Fire burning around them... as she attempts to strike one of the weakened points of the barrier of Walpurgisnacht.

<SCHLOSSKNOCKER.> And that burning spike of plasma is launched forward into the barrier, attempting to do its job of penetrating defenses. And launch a burst of point blank plasma and fire straight into Walpurgisnacht.

"But my part in this play is not over."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
The hell did this thing just talk without talking? Like it's a feeling but it isn't and it feels so weird. Pulp Noir winces and has to take a moment. He drops his weapon, is this all there is to it then? They're just supposed to laydown and take it for some Witch because it says so.

This kind of angers him deep down as he reaches into his coat and pulls out the revolver, drawing back the hammer on the weapon as he grimaces.

<<"I dunno about the rest of you but I'm really angry about this thing.">>

He aims the gun with two hands and fires a few powerful blasts into the Witch, trying to avoid attacks the next moment!

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Thrown back from her angry sewing machine stabbings agianst the runes, Kyouko is quick to bounce back to her feet. She barely even notices the impact, she'll feel THAT later. If there is a later, but right this second, she doesn't much care if there's a later or not.

Every bit of her own dispair, sadness, loneliness amplified by the Witch's blast of emotion is channeled into her anger. Her utter refusal to give up. Again. Still.

Kyouko is, at her deepest depths, just too damn stubborn to give in to her emotions.

"You can't drive me any deeper." Kyouko snarls at the Witch. "I'm already in Hell."

That's the only precursor that she provides before she launches herself at Walpurgisnacht, her spear becoming an entire fan of spears as she sends herself towards gaps in those runic shields, entirely willing to use the last of her power to ensure that the Witch doens't infect the mahou that still hold onto hope and light and brightness.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    The Witchfire starts to burn lower... and from within the conflagration, emerges Zephyr, stepping out of the flames like a returning angel... an angel missing its wings, and looking like she just took a face-first tour of a smoke-stack factory, authentically filled with soot.

    The shield provided by Aloe helped, but the mage is looking a bit worse for wear. <Thought you could get rid of me that easy huh Weisser?> she asks, sounding a bit pained. <Wind Dancer here. I got a little cooked but I'm okay. I might have a Breaker in me, but I'll need some cover because to fire it, I need to Anchor Down.>

    She hops up into the air, and then lands on a flat area with a line of sight to the Witch. < Shift to Bombardment Mode. All Mana Channels connected. Tempest Form. Drive Maximum. > Tenraikaze announces, as it shifts from the battle-ax to the single-blade form, five Bits forming and ringing around the gemstone as the blade ratchets around and starts to rotate around. The bits rotate opposite and lance in beams of purple mana, forming a rapidly growing ball of condensed mana. < Recoil Dampeners and Anchor Points locked. > continues the Device, as a spell seal appears beneath Zephyr's feet, and ribbons of energy lash out around her legs and waist, holding her down.

    Her eyes narrow, focussing in on the Witch in the distance. < Linker Core pressure rising normally. Tempest Ring has started revolving. > The Bits start to rapidly rotate around, expanding out as the power for her spell grows... and then the Mage herself speaks an incantation.

    "Ragios, Razgriz, Lethim. I call upon the Great Winds."
    Joraphim, Gralith, Horaph. Deliver unto me a Maelstrom. TEMPEST MAELSTROM!" < BREAKER! > "BREAKER!"

    The two sides, Mage and Device, cry in unison, as the sphere of power distends out, a torrent of purple mana, sucking in the energy from the stormclouds as it goes, building on itself from the sheer force the winds are delivering.. to strike into the Witch, washing over its form, licking at the gears like a raging river of magical power.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura stands on top of a prismatically glowing building, giving her lots of room to move and potentially room to share. This one isn't covered in fire, because it's Madokami's magic and not Walpurgisnacht's affecting it. The Puella Magi calls out as her ride approaches the dividing line between the Witch's magic and the Goddess's, "Walpurgisnacht, this will be the last time! I swear it!" as she fires all manner of rainbow-glowing munitions at the monster. Mortars and rockets suddenly appear all around her in waves, launching immediately paired with small arms spray that comes out faster than the eye can see.

    All sorts of magical hell comes out at Homura, and those who touch or land on the building she's using might at last witness her trick. She is not teleporting or summoning bullets out of nothing. She's stopping time and firing normal mundane weapons enhanced with her own Puella magic. With time stopped, she takes a moment to carefully plan out her next move and consider all of her options before resuming the battle.

    Even with such ridiculous magic, there's only so much she can do, and the platform she's standing on gets reduced bit by bit with each hit, even with Madoka and other support fighters doing everything they can to provide shields and protection for others. This chunk of building isn't meant to last forever. It's only there to protect what actually matters: the people.

    Even as Homura unleashes all manner of purple rainbow hell on the unstoppable Super Witch, Someone Pink is suddenly by her side. A vague glowing form of magic, making the vague outline of Hope Blossom. A moment later, there are two Doka silhouettes, and then three more, and then...

    Nearly a hundred manifestations of Hope Blossom appear. Each of them looking like her, wearing her bright optimistic smile with their eyes full of tight determination. All at once, they raise their branchbows and unleash torrents of arrow after arrow, each one splitting into a hundred more and saturating the air around Walpurgisnacht with wild pink magic.

    Homura witnesses the attack from up close and has to shield her eyes from the conflicting onslaughts between Walpurgisnacht's rainbow fire and Madoka's blessed energy. When she looks away, she sees the vague glowing outline of Hope Concept floating nearby, behind her, with arms spread wide and impossibly long hair whipping in the wind.

    <<It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.>>

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
They did it! They knocked the witch DOWN! Now all they had to do was finish it. She kicked off one of the runes and launched herself into the air.

Then that laughter, that echoing laughter, the despair...

And she feels it, that destruction, the waves of energy. The power. She kicked the air, managing to avoid one... only for another to hit her. She gasped, before being launched back and through the window of one of the buildings. Landing amongst some decks, she laid there a moment. Then started to get up...

Then those words. That feeling. Oh, what was she thinking? She wasn't even a real magical girl. She'd cobbled this together out of bits and pieces of magical stuff. Heck, one of the pieces she stole from the woman who had helped her so often...

She was a fraud. As a student, as a friend, as a mage...

The despair washed over her and she felt like she couldn't breathe. It was so strong, so powerful. It hurt. It hurt so much. She felt tears going down her cheeks.

And then Rashmi's words. She slowly got to her feet, limping towards the window and staring out. The light of the sun, warm, gentle. Not burning flame, but warm. From this distance she couldn't feel the magic, but she could still see that gentle, kind glow.

... She was right, she couldn't do this. But they could. And she did something she never thought she would. She let the sparkles into her heart. And she stopped ignoring that extra bit of hope that Hope Concept gave her. She let herself believe, let herself feel that warmth. Hope, it was a good feeling. It allowed them to stand up, to be brave against this force. It gave them strength when they felt they couldn't go on. It healed their aches. It... was beautiful. In so many ways it was a type of sorcery she couldn't yet understand. But it wasn't one she had to understand or fight or even ask for. It was offered freely. She clenched her fist and gathered her power, her hair turning a brilliant red and orange, before she leaped into the air, grabbed the top of the window frame, and then kicked with both her feet as hard as she could. A burst of magic, no longer gray but instead red and orange swirling through a wave of rainbow, erupted from her feet with such force it launched *her* back through some poor sap's cubicle, wrecking their computer and leaving Equivalence with a back ache. On the upside, the blast of magic she launched from the building would come out, hitting from the opposite direction of the one Rashmi's forces sent out and helping to ensure the witch was being hit from all sides.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Futility--

--that's something Mamoru has struggled with on and off over the years: that he'd never get out, then that struggle against the lies keeping him in Obsidian-- but here's Cure Wing, bright and bubbling in the face of the awful THING descended on them so, and Tuxedo Kamen straightens up and smiles, taking the pallet-- and then Wing is aloft, and Mamoru finishes the activation sequence for the younger boy. "Red... yellow, blue, white," he mutters to himself as he runs the brush, catching Usagi's move in the corner of his eye and-- then he remembers Usagi said to Kunzite to catch her, and he returns his attention to the task at hand.

The task... at hand.

Cure Wing is now a bird on fire. It's a henshin! It's a henshin and he's indicating for Mamoru to ride on his back, it's a henshin he's not actually on fire it's not actual fire it's going to be fine--

It's only with a miraculous nat-20 will save that Tuxedo Kamen is able to get on Cure Wing's Phoenix form. In fact, to come in contact. When the flames do not burn him it helps tremendously, but poor Wing will have an anxious rider trying to keep the anxiety out of any empathy--

"It's a-- it's just a buff, it's, I give you the energy I would have used to do an attack of my own, and add it to yours. Like this!"

With the golden energy surging from Tuxedo Kamen's hands to Cure Wing, a lot of the anxiety is gone as well. "Okay, let's do this!" he says with determination. And only a little anxious.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime takes a deep breath. She finds a building, and climbs up to the roof. The Crows are showing her what they see from above, and its not a pretty scene. The woman gets to the roof, and sucks in a deep breath. Her mind races, and she thinks about what she has to do. Yukihime has yet to really test this spell out. Mostly cause well, doing this spell takes everything out of her in hopes of containing something. Something of this size...Does she have that type of power? Its not a matter of questioning, but doing at this point.

    "I call upon the Ancient Pact. Let the guardians of the Capital gather before me."

    The prayer beads on Yukihime's wrist start to glow as she raises her hand to the sky. They start to spin around her wrist.

    "Let your growls gather the enemy, and let your howls freeze the blood of those who threaten the innocent."

    The prayer beads turn into wolves, who fly off, moving around in a circle. around the Witch and the familiars, as they land on rooftops. They start to howl loudly.

    "Wolves of the Capital...CAPTURE!"

    Yukihime screams, pouring all her magical energy into the spell. She has no idea if this is gonna to work. Just something to force the Witch to stop, and gather all the familiars together around the Witch. At this point, Yukihime's pushing so much of her energy into the spell that she's bleeding from her nose and ears. Please let this work! Yukihime can feel the edges of darkness threatening to take her, and everything is just so heavy. Dispite that, she keeps her arm raised, staring at the witch.

Koji Silvia has posed:
When the boost hits Hanzo, he seems to surge forwards from his strained pose at trying to work three disruption sigils.

As Aloisia lands in front of him to defend him from the next attack wave and leave him clear to continue, the joking little greeting is met with a slightly strained smile, "You better move fast... or I'll break her shield before you can prove who's stronger."

It's like the taunt puts some new determination in him, fighting off the last of the creeping despair that was like small roots growing in his mind.

Letting go of his wrist, he brings his hands together. "Rin."

    "Kyo."

    "To."

With each word his fingers take different configurations, twisting and molding into the actual Kuji-Kiri purported to be used by Ninja for centuries.

    "Sha." "Kai." "Retsu."

Fingers interlock on the last one forming what almost look like the interlocking barrier of some kind of gate.

    "Zai."

One hand grips the finger over and locks over the other.

    "Jin."

His hands spread.

    "ZEN."

    << DISRUPTION. CHAIN-HACK. EXECUTE! >>

As his left hand becomes a fist, and smacks down into his right as he cups it, instead of one new Circle coming up, several come up at once, one over each rune, each as glowing and potent as the rest, but now all of them erupt with the effect of Rashmi's boosting and the edges all give off ghostly white-blue flame. But then those flames lance out and interconnect to each other, becoming almost like a binding circle, but all to add magical, physical, and even EMOTIONAL pressure to turn that barrier into nothing more than a spot of bother.

And the he says softly, staring right up at the chaotic dark, "No one asked you."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon leaps, and the wind blows her hair as she starts to fall, but there's an arm around her a waist, a trajectory on match with hers, and they swing together, and there's a hovering sphere in the air, translucent black with a rainbow shimmer that deflects away the fire and debris that comes for them.

A stage from which to work, a place of safety from which to fire from, stories and stories in the air.

"Told you you'd catch me," she says, with a cheerful little bob of her head and wink that belays the sheer amount of trust that move had embodied, the surety in her gut, the profound serenity that had filled her.

The knowing that Kazuo who is Kunzite who is Kazuo is someone she can trust with so much more than her life.

There's a feeling pressing down on them, not just despair, not just anguish, but the feeling that they are trapped in a cycle, that the story can't change -

"But the story did change," Sailor Moon says, out loud, where only she and Kunzite can hear. She doesn't seem to care. "The story did change. We changed it. We found each other, held each other, and together we defeated the only witch that matters to us."

The Witch is on the ground, and the storm is lessened, weakened, and through the clouds, there it is - the moon, shining and full, light falling on it's last daughter. Sailor Moon raises her arms to the sky, clutching the Crescent Wand with both hands, and she raises her eyes to the heavens and beyond.

This despair, this loss, this bittersweet regret, this desire for an unending tragedy - it will be denied.

<<I'm sorry this is what you are,>> she whispers over the comms, as her eyes focus on the Witch of Ages, the nightmare, the legend. <<But you won't be the end for us!>>

For a moment, Rashmi holds the sun in her arms, a light so bright and joyous it can't be denied. Light floods the air, joy floods the air, hope and dreams and everything good and everything bitter and everything sad, Hope Concept and Solar Bless and the lingering malicious laughter of a Witch gone mad.

Between Sailor Moon's fingers, the shape of the Crescent Wand changes, as it had in Paris, lengthening, becoming not a wand at all, but a grand scepter, with the Silver Crystal at it's heart.

There's something brewing in her, a change almost ready to emerge, but those words stay locked in her heart. Instead, what she calls with all her strength, is -

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!"

It's like that day in Paris, all over again, power become power, as Sailor Moon stands tall with the scepter that was her mother's, and pours out the power of the Silver Crystal.

It's like opening a flood gate. Everything unleashed, nothing held back, a blaze of silver light that rockets through the air at full throttle.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
As Tuxedo settles on his back, for the briefest of moments, there's unease. Wing, admittedly, has never had anyone nervous to come aboard. Butterfly, Amy, Sailor Charon, even Niji were all eager to combine. But as Tuxedo explains it, the bird gives a loud "Caw!" of acceptance. And now with Tuxedo settled in, the Phoenix takes flight. It's a large, flaming bird, but as graceful as can be as it sails through the skies, rain vanishing into steam on his flames, buildings and objects dodged or destroyed as he picks up speed.

They're getting close, so if Tuxedo Mask has any extra he wants to add, this is where to do it as Cure Wing's form takes in the boost, faster, more powerful than before. Upwards it streaks, the bird transforming from orange and red to blue and then bright white-hot heat as it streaks towards the cackling Witch.

And then across the field, the words call out.

"Titanic Rainbow Attack!!"

And that is when the phoenix and Turxedo Mask slam into Walpurgisnacht.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly unleashes her beam of fire, and instead of saving it for Walpurgis she goes for another troupe of familiars, burning them from existence. And she's about to charge it up again, when Rashmi calls for everyone to get close to her; so she changes course, snapping her fingers to cast Neutrino Rush and basically just appear right beside her best friend. And she's there, just in time to receive the best magical upgrade she's ever felt, all rushing over her at once. Speed, Power... and FIRE.

Oh boy this is gonna be great.

<< Rashmi-Chan, you are the BEST, >> she broadcasts, for everyone to hear. Maybe she meant for Rashmi to be the only one hearing that and messed up. Oh well whatever, it's the middle of battle. She half-crouches and launches herself upwards, letting her wings carry her up into the air, so she can get to a good firing position.

"Starcrash, charge Stellar Converg-- No. *Overcharge* Stellar Convergence. Use eighty percent of remaining reserves. Disengage safety protocols. Target Unknown Threat. Lock. Fire when charged."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. SAFETY PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED. CHARGING >>

A little progress bar pops up on Molly's battle visor, with a little emoji that gets happier and happier as it fills up, moving more and more rapidly the more full it gets. Amidst all the feelings of hope and joy in her mind from various sources, at war with what's coming from Walpurgis, the purplenette can definitely feel a powerful sense of... burning, especially in her hands and creeping up her arms as the spell charges. Well, you did disengage the safety protocols, Molly. Bit late to be thinking too much about that now.

All her mind is spinning, as the spell is charging. Those words from the edge of death haunt her; you're not a real orphan, Molly. Your parents didn't die, they gave you up. You're not an orphan, you're a reject. Failure. You'll let all your friends down at the critical moment and it'll be all your fault.

But will it? Her best friend said otherwise. Her best friend, right here, who called her to this battle and believes in her, because she knows she does. She said so.

Finally, the progress bar reaches the end, and a globe of absolute cold energy forms at the end of her staff. It takes a moment to complete and then it fires, blasting a frezing beam wreathed in fire at Walpurgis. As it fires, it pushes Molly backwards, further up into the air, well beyond the ability of her Flier Fin to compensate; a series of solar orbs, burning so utterly hot that they've gone beyond orange and yellow and are a brilliant blue, blink-blink blink into being around her, orbiting like electrons around an atom; fifteen of them, and as her cold beam comes to an end they fire all at once, blasting into the still labelled 'Unknown Threat'. Molly herself vanishes in a brilliant blue glow, until finally it finishes; her barrier jacket is glowing angrily, and Starcrash looks like he's just about fit to go molten. All the vents open on both jacket and staff, hissing loudly as they release billowing clouds of steam. Molly's Flier Fin wings blink like they're threatening to give out, and the artillery mage drops down onto the roof of the nearest building and drops to her hands and knees.

"Okay... that was... a thing," she gasps.

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite isn't sure that ice can do much to cause harm. Not when Walpurgisnacht is so big, when everything is overhwelming -

But harm is not all he's capable of doing. Despair may weigh down on him, the weight of past lives and past stories, but he has been fighting despair since before magic called to him in this life.

"GLORY OF THE SNOW!!" he cries, and a lattice of ice fills the sky - as the attacks of the others rain down, he weaves shields that will protect them.

He too will write a new story. Jadeite is no longer a weapon - and although he would like to be a shield, he's a person. He's a person who will protect as many people as he can.

Sachiko Yamashiro has posed:
    Things get weird. Or is it more that they get anti-weird? A little bit of inspiration. Of positive vibes and emotion to help gird against the encroaching despair. And it's not even coming from Sachiko herself! Now in the stairwell Glorious Beacon draws upon another small fraction of her power and creates a hardlight rope and grappling hook, jumping over the guard rail and attaching it to the top before repelling down at high speed, watching the signs announcing the current floor rapidly decrease.

    "That would have been nice to know a minute ago," she says to herself as what for her amounts to targeting information also floods into her mind. Definitely not her fault for firing the biggest gun she'd invented before it could be disseminated, no.

    With a sudden tightening of her grip she comes to an abrupt halt and swings in to the ground floor, bursting through the stairwell door and rushing through the building's lobby and out the front door. She thought she'd need to be running and gunning but things have quickly intensified to the point of coming to a head.

    She sees the gigantic Witch smashed to the ground, only to rebound back into the sky and intensify her presence to the point that even Beacon's own mind is intruded upon. Maybe it would be enough to give her pause, but not with the equally supernatural (equally intrusive?) presence of Madokami giving her feelings of hope and goodness that are so very out of place in Sachiko's mind.

    Bolts and beams of reality rending magic rip through the battle space and Beacon only narrowly avoids, or rather is narrowly missed, by one. There's no way any group could continue to stand if this kind of barrage is allowed to continue, and another telepathic message tells her that it's time to collectively pour on everything everyone's got.

    "Alright. Time to return all the favors!" Glorious Beacon tells herself. Even charging forward as fast as legs can take her, towards the fray rather than away as she'd expected, she takes in a deep breath and grounds herself. She's decidedly on the side of things dulled and darkened in the battle psychic powerhouses filling Mitakihara, but the mere fact that such a thing can be rivaled by what seems to be a single person is inspiring. "I've been setting my sights too low. Don't aim for the stars and hit the moon, aim for heaven and hit infinity!"

    She slides to a halt and clenches her fists, each erupting into sudden bursts of rainbow flame as the Solar Bless and Hope Concepts empowerment make the most of what little power she has left. Looking up into the sky, amongst all the innumerable bursts of magic are so many dancing familiars. No longer willing to unleash pure power without finesse she swings her arms in opposing arcs and strikes a pose with one hand in front of her forehead and another jauntily down by her side.

    "Laser Powered Familiar Smasher!"

    With that cry she swings her arms above her head again, six large mallets of golden light appearing before her, only to bust into fire and streak off into the sky with rainbows trailing, each targeted at a different familiar on the verge of intercepting or interrupting the charging and attacks of other magical heroes.

    Again and again she forms and sends out her attacks, doing her utmost to play the part of the protector and return the earlier protections until one final swing of her arms meets only a brief glitter, then nothing and she falls backwards onto her rear and pants heavily, henshin bursting and failing in a hail of golden sparks.

    "That... better be enough. It's literally everything I had!"

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    It's... It's faltering?
    Maybe. Possibly.
    The fact that the monstrous Legendary Witch is brought down to the park below is hopeful!
    But then- the wave of hideous emotions that wash over Sequoia Maybach- Weisser Ritter makes her immediately falter as she follows after Rashmi to meet...
    "Huh...? H-hi."
    The poor girl looks completely wet behind the ears when she's introduced to a *true* Belkan Knight. Compared to Aloisia, Weisser Ritter is a kitten staring down a lion, as they meet, regardless of her Shield's complaints and Aloisia's shields' snappy retorts.
    THANKULLY between Rashmi empowering her with Hope's power and Hope herself much more directly doing the same, it's like... Like a wave of peace washes over the terrified Belkan Knewbie.
    Futile...?
    No. It's not.
    A new steel burns behind Sequoia's golden eyes.
    "Go with him." She says to Aloisia. "You're twice the shielder I am and we both know it. I need to make sure Zephyr is okay."
    AND SPEAK OF THE MAHOU AND SHE SHALL APPEAR.
    Sequoia breaks into a full tilt charge towards Wind Dancer and halts directly in front of the older Device Wielder. Whirling around to face Walpurgis, Weisser Ritter becomes a one girl PHALANX.

    'A pacifist wall is still a wall.'

    It's not hopeless.
    "I am a wall..." Sequoia whispers to herself as she pours her magical power into her Device.
    <PANZERSCHILD!> The shield declares almost triumphantly as several layers of shields form in front of her to protect herself and Zephyr behind her.
    "I am a wall...!" Sequoia says gritting her teeth as the witch's dark energy pours out and a storm of freaking bullet hell goes everywhere.
    Sequoia Maybach stands firm, glaring behind her shield as she holds it up protectively.
    "I AM A WALL!" She shouts, defiant in the face of Walpurgis' attempts to demoralize everyone around it.

    "YOU WILL NOT BREAK ME!!!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Every performance changes the story," Kunzite says aloud, echoing Moon. The one he is protecting, still holding in an arm, rather than fighting against. "And there is room in every story for miracles. Even for you."

He lets go of Moon, giving her space to move while still cradling her in the protection of his power, and brings up his hands together in a quick, sharp movement. Pouring the energy he has stored in him out, in a beam that accompanies the silver one, burning a path through the debris for Jadeite's ice to follow -- but this one many-colored, pink core and prismatic-shadowed and golden sunlight fire.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Of course, Amy doesn't get to just fire away with no counterattacks. She flits out of the way of the larger building-chunks, but even small ones that could still hurt her-- are deflected by Yukihime's barrier -- it struggles, but holds. After all of that, Amy glances at her soul gem. It's almost half empty, now.

    First aid rules.

    She touches a grief seed to it, drawing away the corruption... but rainbow flame slices through Yukihime's shield and a Familiar charges her!

    Only for Jadeite's ice to go up, familiar and debris and fire hammering against the shield until she can finish recharging, and then blast the familiar away.

    Walpurgisnacht blasts everything away from it. Amy tumbles through the air as the mightiest witch ideologically assails her. And literally assails her. Amy shoots familiars out of the sky while debris batters her and rainbow fire burns her.

    The red Puella Magi with the rockets tumbles out of the sky, stabilizing her flight near Rashmi.

    "If this is a play, then I know my part." As the Puella Magi speaks, she alters her left vambrace to have recessed spots for the two grief seeds, and slots them in next to her soul gem in anticipation of the drain she's about to take. "And that is...!"

    Amy holds her hand high, and her helmet disappears and her costume and skin and hair repair their surface damage, leaving cuteness perfect and pure as it faces down the End even if the flesh beneath is battered and sore from combat.

    "To give comfort and dreams to those whose lives feel dull and grey! To those whose stories haven't even started! If this is a play, you'd close the curtains before they even open on so many stories -- you think we can allow that?! You think THAT'S a satisfying ending?! NO WAY! AURA PILLAR!"

    The launch tube on her arm fires missile after missile after missile after missile into the sky. They arc down and begin to rain clusters of shaped charges on Walpurgisnacht, multiplied by the magic supporting her.

    She dismisses the launch tube, draws her hand back, then throws it forward like a ship captain giving the order to attack. "BRAKE RELEASE!"

    She raises her arm and a kind of silly-looking anime sword that could not be a functional weapon appears in her hand... And all around her appear dozens of launch tubes, floating.

    "COMMUNAL... She sweeps the sword down as if giving a signal. "BLAZER!"

    And they all fire, explosives of every type launched towards Walpurgisnacht, from high-tech-looking missiles to cannon shells to molotov cocktails, somehow mixed in there!

    More quietly, she says: "I'm sorry this was your story. We won't let it be the end of anyone else's."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    The storm of Strange Energy continues to rip out from Walpurgisnacht along with all of the strong negative emotions - it's not even that Walpurgisnacht itself is consciously trying to share them, merely that the ancient mighty witch's feelings bleed into others nearby. As opposed to Hope Concept, who is truly trying to be a beacon for others. Which may be why the area of dull, washed out, despair-filled world seems to steadily be shrinking and pushed back.

    Supremely powerful blasts of magic, and supremely powerful defiance against the despair the Witch's aura tries to summon, continually battle back the Witch's attempts to enforce its twisted and despair-tainted ideas on the world.

    The witch's runes are gnarled and distorted and several of them take shapes more akin to the runes Koji is calling forward.And in that moment, both Aloisia's plasma spike and Kyouko's more physical spear drive into the Witch's barrier once more - and Kyouko hears a sound, not in her ears but in her mind, like glass cracking. Sailor Moon's burst of cosmic energy surges forward on one side, and Equivalence's unleashed surge slams into the witch as it erupts out of a building on the opposite side. Yukihime's familiars swarm the witch, assisting in containing its threat. The rainbow phoenix with the black-and-white boy on the back of it dives down as a truly uncountable number of arrows and magic-enhanced projectiles, joined by Pulp Noir's energy rounds, swarm out from yet another direction. And further enhanced by the absolute munitions-dump rain of Amy Faust's assorted rockets emporium. Wind Dancer's torrential force snaps against the witch's upper core. So much is enhanced - with not only Rashmi's fire but also her teamwork, and Hope Concept's emotional bolstering. Molly's surging blast of energy follows up, and Jadeite's shields continue to prevent the familiars and streaks of energy from disrupting the cooperative attack. Familiars are knocked away by brilliant attacks, and the cracking sound in Kyouko's mind grows.

    And then the sound of cracking becomes the sound of shattering, and everyone can 'hear' it in their mind, and the surges of energy and all of the attacks stop surging against the shield and instead connect with the Witch beneath - and the laughter continues.

    And slowly, the laughter turns into screams - still crazy screams more than horrified ones, even as Kyouko finds her spear sinking into witch-flesh, which is then also immolated by the combined energy of so many attacks.

    Usually, witches leave behind something as they go, before their labrynth dissolves. But usually, witches are not so devastatingly obliterated, from so many angles, from so much magic, after having been so much of a threat. The sky clears and the feeling of despair and dullness starts to receed from the world. It is raining, but it is a real rain, a soft rain, as the sun slowly continues to sneak out. And there is silence, peace, away from the endless laughter of the fight. There is no grief seed - there is no Witch. There is no trace of Walpurgisnacht except for the destruction that would be, to most, to be the result of a catalcysmic storm rather than a magical creature.

    Red eyes that had been durifully watching the battlefield with intrigue blink once, before the white creture they're attached to turns and plods softly down an alleyway and towards the nearly inaudiably soft sound of one girl's giggle.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"Oooh. The der biss on this one." Aloe responds to Zephyr, before she shoots off to do that Schlossknacker. Striking almost at the same time as that chain-hack execution. Making it hard to tell which one of them is actually stronger. Not that there was much point in comparing them. Different strengths. But it made for a fun back and forth.

One of the few things she's loved about coming to this planet.

There is, however, something she makes a point of getting the /heck/ out of the way of. The giant silver crystal beam because oh gosh that is so much positive energy and while she doesn't drink much of the dark energy she drinks enough to know that would /hurt/.

Also there was Molly's super-beam from Starcrash which was unleashing and she didn't want to be in the way of. Instead, she opts to float over to Molly's side, her own Barrier Jacket sparking a bit from having to emergency swap devices mid-combat, opting to help the girl up to her feet. "Hello, Skyline."

... Weisser Ritter seems to take Aloisia's words to heart, something which she vaguely notices. At first. And then it becomes more and more obvious as the girl starts shouting that she's a wall.

...Okay she JUST met that girl why the heck does she suddenly feel proud?

...She does go out of her way to send a message after that last shout.

<<Nein. I am not twice the shielder you are. I am simply the knight Aloisia. A shield with more experience. You have shown your resolve, and it is not lacking.>>

...

There was more she kind of wanted to say but honestly now was not the time.

Let her have her moment.

Seriously though.

What the heck. A pacifist.

...But then, maybe a pacifist would have been good in the situation on her homeworld. It's fine though. Rain is falling around them, a calm, pleasant rain as she helps Molly to stand up, providing a small burst of her own energy to help restore the girl. Not as effective as, like, if Rashmi was doing it. Just a basic energy sharing to help the other girl stand on her own.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
After slamming through Walpurgisnacht, Cure Wing remains in his Phoenix form until he gets back to the ground to join one of the groups there. He lands, wings tucked into his sides, lowering down to allow Tuxedo Mask to disembark.

Once he's off, the Phoenix transforms back into his Precure form and he offers a bright smile to Tuxedo. "That was great! I'm glad I could keep you safe!" he says with an encouraging smile.

Just as his eyes roll upwards and he falls on his face, completely burned out of energy, and one last dehenshin, into his plain student form. Smol boy. Sleeping smol boy.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence groaned and, slowly, began to get to her feet. Everything hurt. She lifted a hand to her head, her hair once again short and gray. Everything ached... but she didn't *hurt*. She just ached. Like after a really good workout. There would be some bruises, but... you know what?

She actually felt *really* good. Like she could go for another one.

<< So... we won, right? You know, believe it or not? I actually feel pretty upbeat. Anyone wanna go hunt some familiars, maybe see if there's a few more witches in its wake? >> She was serious.

Also, she leaped out of the window and landed on the ground outside, a perfect landing. Was this hope? Was this what it felt like to be on the right side, to believe in the power of love and friendship? Was this what it was like to be with them? She couldn't stop smiling as she walked towards the others. << Good job, by the way. Those finishers were great. That oversized cereal mascot didn't stand a chance. >>

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    GRRRRKL. PWOOOOOFSHH. CLANK.

    That's Tenraikaze bleeding off spent mana and heat, creating a cloud of steam around her and Sequoia. < CANCEL BOMBARDMENT MODE. TARGET SIGNATURE FADING. TARGET DESTROYED. > Zephyr sighs, and lays a hand on Sequoia's shoulder, the anchor lines around her lower body fading as her spell seal does. "Y'did good kid." she says, patting lightly. "Real good."

    She then flumps down on her butt, leaning back on her hands, as Tenraikaze ejects a bag of something into her lap. "Ooof... oh, right, good idea." Zephyr says, sitting up more and picking some things out of the little bag... she pops them in her mouth, then offers the baggie up to Sequoia. The baggie contains little hard jel fish-shaped candies. "They're fruit flavoured." she explains.

    <Anyone needing a pick-me-up, I have candy and chocolate bars.> she does, belatedly, grin over toward where Aloe went. <I've been known to have a pretty sharp bite, yeah.> she sends directly... then switches back to the general channel. <Everyone still alive? That was a heck of a fight, and y'all did amazing... not that I could see much because I was on fire for a bit.>

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura and the army of Madokas continue their fire even as Walpurgisnacht tears apart more and more. As the Super Witch's aura of despair recedes, Concept's vibes fill in the space it leaves behind bit by bit until Hope is all that remains.

    The rain is falling on Homura's face, slicking her hair and beating down on the floating remnants of her platform. Walpurgisnacht is dead and Homura is surrounded by cute Dokas. Today might actually be a relatively good day for once. She flips her hair, sending droplets of water through the air, over the side of the platform and into the damaged cityscape below.

    The various Hope Blossoms vanish, and Hope Concept manifests fully, floating next to Homura and saying, "I wasn't... really sure how to reach her soul. Without a grief seed, I'm not really sure that I can save her. If there's anything left to save."

    Homura shakes her head, then looks down below. "It's fine. Don't blame yourself for everything you missed. Just move ahead and be grateful for what we still have."

    Hope Concept smiles softly at Homura, floats up behind her to give her a hug, and then vanishes into a portal with her. Moments later the two are back on the ground, in the middle of the street. The debris that Madokami had been lifting into the air is now being gently set down into the bay. The goddess spares a moment to reflect upon the sadness of the people who may have worked or lived in the buildings that got destroyed, but... after so many doomed timelines, this is one of the better outcomes of that fight.

    A lot better than the time she went after it solo and got pasted, anyways.

    As things begin to settle down, Madokami's power starts to fade, and her wings start to flicker away as she slouches forward.

    Homura looks back at her and says, "If you're tired, you should just take a rest. I'll carry you back if I have to."

    Madoka whines, "Aren't you tired, too?"

    The black-haired Puella shakes her head. "You went a lot harder than I did."

    Hope Concept smiles at her cuddle partner, then looks out at the other magicals to see if they all ended up being okay. As tired as she is, she can't actually let go just yet.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
There's a pause. That moment where one evaluates that yep, still alive. Not actually dead, and that the world seems to still be there. They probably won and from the sounds around, it doens't even sound like they lost anyone.

Kyouko uses her spear to push herself back up and then looks around. Clearly, she is looking for SOMETHING and as she doesn't spot it, she looks a little more intently.

"Son of a... Did that BITCH not even drop a seed?" Kyouko sounds almost as pissed off about THAT as she was about the mega Witch to begin with. She digs out a stick of pocky from goodness only knows where and chomps it violently.

Sure, she's nearly swaying from tired, but that crash is Future Kyouko's problem.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime watches things as they finish up. The world is red at this point. Wait..why red? Does it really matter anymore? After a second or two, Yukihime dehenshins to Miho as the prayer beads fly back to where she's at. Miho looks at things once more before looking up at the sky. "To sleep, perchance to Dream, aye there is the rub. For in that sleep, what dreams...may.......come....", she says before leaning forward. She vomits up a lot of blood. The woman has never pushed so much magic out all at once. Everything hurts. The world...is fading to black now.

    Miho watches as the beads gather to her wrist, but then she falls forward. A few snow bunnies and ice crows gather around her, but then they start to melt away. Of course, in the background, there's also a Teddy bear shikigami with a top hat and a mask. Yes, it snuck in. The woman falls face first. Her body refusing to move. Hopefully everyone is fine....Maybe...Maybe somebody will get her.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Even though exhausted from that whole thing, plus the fight to get up here, Hanzo puts the mask back in place and lowers himself to the rest using shields the size of teaplates to arrest his fall with kinetic breaks. Just *bounce bounce bounce* on the finest control of magic before he stops near the group.

From there, he just literally walks over towards Moon and her two current attendants and each see appear before they're handed it... one hot bowl of ramen, with chopsticks, plenty of steam still on it, and a covered paper mug of tea.

    "Sorry I didn't say anything before... once that weird countdown started, my magical link to everyone else just sort of went sideways. I was hearing all sorts of strangeness. Like a thousand people in a stadium all talking at once before a concert, and then somewhere in the middle a little girl's giggle. After that, there was a bunch of those mini-witches, and well... there you are."

But then... he looks back at Kyouko in the middle of her complaint, and just walks over, leaving the Moon People with their repast, and makes another set appear, holding it out to the Scarlet Spearster, "Here."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Feet on the ground and fire gone out, Tuxedo Mask looks a little sheepish and seems about to make some kind of confession to Cure Wing-- but then Cure Wing is passing out and faceplanting and-- Mamoru catches him before he eats mud, but the uniform's already seen better days.

Well, worst comes to worst he can drop him off at Nurse Meiou's infirmary...

Oh there's so much cleanup to do, and "Oh," he says, lifting the de-henshined small boy and looking awkward, "does anyone know if he lives on campus? Only, there are a lot of people to find and help, right now, after the storm..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Hooooo... >>

Rashmi lowers herself back to the ground, touching down next to Zephyr and drawing a circle in the air with one finger.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A circle of golden light sketches itself into existence around the agent, dulling pain and giving a bit of energy back, for when she feels ready to try to stand up.

<< Everyone. *Everyone* did great, >> she says. << This was the most horrible day of some of our lives, but everyone... You didn't let despair win. I'm proud to stand next to all of you. Thank you. >>

And with that, the link closes with a mental *boop!* and Rashmi joins Zephyr on the ground. Time to have a sit.

...Until she notices Miho vomit blood and fall over, and she lurches to her feet. Nope. Sit down later, help now. "Yukihime!"

Soon after, a second healing circle is sketched around the fallen youkai warrior to provide what little aid we can. "Heeeey, Tux-kun?! We got some bleeding!"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly beathes, and as Aloisia touches down beside her, she doesn't at first react. The damage to her barrier jacket really just hides the damage she did to herself; she's definitely burnt, and it's not burns to the skin, it's like she's burnt herself internally. But, with a little help from the Belkan Knight, she stands back up again.

"Knight Aloisia," she gasps in reply. "Starcrash... status?"

<< REP-P-P-PAIRS REQUIRED. MAGIC U-U-USE INADVI-S-S-S-ABLE. SYST-T-TEMS STILL FUNCTIONAL. >>

"The bus home, then," she mumbles. << Thanks, Rashmi-chan. Your spell at the end there was amazing. Amy-chan, I saw what you were up to as well, you were *awesome.* So was everyone. >>

The purplenette, still billowing steam from her jacket and device, looks sideways at Aloisia.

"Thanks."

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    In that moment- that final moment of the Witch's horrible existence, Sequoia stands strong, withstanding- enduring the onslaught while Zephyr unleashes her spell and then... It ends. The Witch is no more.
    But her resolve is not lacking...
    That's... That's good to know.
    Especially as Zephyr pats her on the shoulder, Sequoia wobbles in place where she stands.
    Right before her legs buckle and give out and she collapses onto her butt, looking stunned and exhausted.
    "..." She numbly takes a gummy and chews it tiredly by the time Rashmi joins them.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
There's a full on growling grumble cranky fest incoming, and Kyouko is still full of Witch fueled cranky emotions.

And then there's ramen being passed to her. And Kyouko takes the bowl and blinks at Koji. "Uh." There is nothing quite so distruptive to a good cranky fest as being handed hot food.

Kyouko looks down at random ramen and then back up to Koji and then back down to the ramen and back up to Koji. "Thank you?"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Zephyr gets a little thumbs up from Aloe as she continues supporting Molly. "Nein, you can skip the bus." Aloe states simply to Molly, reaching a hand to pat Starcrash. "You know how to do basic maintenance, ja? If not, I can show you tonight. As an apology for... well. You know."

Also she'll give her a ride. Her device wasn't burnt out. Well, okay, her real device. That poor Storage device? It was less okay. But that's fine, it could be parts now.

Others were taking care of the injured and exhausted, it wasn't really her powerset to help that sort of thing. Aloe opts to attempt to casually pick up Molly with her un-shielded arm and prepare to take her home.

<<We should talk at length later, Weisser Ritter.>>

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The battle ends.

Sailor Moon leans against her scepter, the end pressed firmly against the bubble's bottom, and breathes. The Silver Crystal's glow is weak, barely as bright as an electric candle in an overcrowded restaurant on Valentine's day, but it sounds like - this time - nobody died.

They won, and nobody even died.

It is, perhaps, not a surprise that this makes her start tearing up from the pure relief, nor a surprise that she throws her arms around Kunzite and hugs him, tight and strong.

It is a little surprise that Koji comes up to offer ramen, but, you know?

"I love you," she tells Koji, very seriously, and starts digging in. "Kunzite, can we get down to Mamochan? He might want some ramen too."

Some of Kunzite's ramen, probably, because hers is half gone.

Her henshin is holding on, but she's nearly out of power at this point, but... she does have the power of a cellphone, still.

"You know, we know someone with a helicopter," she tells Kunzite conversationally, "We could see if she'd give everyone who needs getting back home a ride, couldn't we?"

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite will take a bowl of ramen from Mamoru's roomate - Koji, he thinks? - and DIG IN. "Thank you," he says gratefully, and - oh, he's sure there's plenty for them all to talk about, to discuss, but as the pressure on his soul lightens, he will just. Sigh, and eat so that he can be ready for the walk back home.

"I can make ice stairs and an ice slide. Would that help with getting everyone home?" he offers. "I don't recall where everyone needs to go, but I think I have enough juice left to make it all easier."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"We know someone with a helicopter?" Kunzite asks Usagi blankly. He might still be off-balance from unexpected Moon hugs. And unexpected ramen, which he thanks the giver for with a wordless bow. Never mind. His job is not to understand what's going on. His job is to take Moon to Tuxedo Kamen. Someone there will want food, the way mahou work.

Sachiko Yamashiro has posed:
    Sachiko is left sitting in the rain watching the final climactic attacks and the real time dissolution of the Witch as the relative normalcy of Mitakihara is restored, albeit with a somewhat altered skyline. "I hope that girl that got hit with the skyscraper is okay." She couldn't exactly focus on everything else that was happening when she had to focus on gathering and releasing almost all her power.

    Standing up and brushing her skirt off she puts her hands on her hips. She came and did her part, but there was still something that gnawed at the back of her mind. She only a fraction of the power on display, and she was supposed to be a star! An entire world was riding on her, after all. Even worse it's clear there was basically an entire coalition of magical forces around the city and while she was aware they existed barely knew any of them. Which meant barely any of them knew her.

    Ridiculous!

    Rubbing her chin a slight plot formed in her mind and she dashes off towards Radiant Heart Academy. Maybe if she can be the first one back to that shed she can be the first one to put up some victory celebration decorations and themed sweets! ...she should have thought of this before everything got shut down due to an ultra powerful weather event that was really an ultra powerful Witch.

    Better late than never!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    They hit Walpurgisnacht with everything, the air filling with crazy screams and laughter and horror until the world, finally, cracks.

    She looks over at Hope Concept as she explains there's no soul, nothing left to save. That's sad, but... "She's right. We can only change the future."

    Amy's summoned weapons dismiss. She drops to the ground in a barely-controlled landing, the prop sword clattering to the ground as that contact jolts through her body and irritates the accumulated injuries beneath the surface and she doubles over.

    She catches her breath and slowly stands up, looking at the empty space before them, and the destruction all around.

    SOLAR HEAL. Amy lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks..."

    Equivalence says the finishers were cool. Amy smiles. "Thanks." Chocolate is offered. "Yes, please."

    You were awesome. Amy blushes and rubs the back of her head, looking away awkwardly. "Ah, I, um... Well..."

    "...Everyone did. Everyone was awesome, I mean." She says with a smile.

Koji Silvia has posed:
"Welcome."

As Koji turns to walk towards the next group to hand out a long stock of hot food he's been hiding away, he goes over to where Amy and then the other Devicer girls are. He walks slow and purposefully... but it's more a deliberate means to hide how actually bone tired he is. More of the precious Devicer Snack stash is passed out to the Puella, and then the three girls Zephyr, Sequoia, and then finally to Aloisia, who he holds those both out to, and just says to her, "Good work. Doesn't change anything tomorrow, but for today... here."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We sure do," Sailor Moon says, and then pulls out her cell-phone from nowhere, drinking some of the hot-hot broth from her cup. A few rings later, and -

"Heyyyyy, Suna-san! We solved the problem with the storm! You heard about the storm, right, and my comms messages about how it wasn't a storm? Well it was actually like the biggest witch ever and nobody died but now Mitakihara Ward is kind of a mess and you remember how you said you have that helicopter..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Mask, still soaked from the rain, carries Cure Wing over to Rashmi and Miho, and he lays Tsubasa down on a piece of grass with no debris on it, it's just. Wet. A bit silty.

"He's just exhausted, needs to sleep it off," he says to Rashmi, taking off his gloves and pocketing them. He crouches in front of Miho and reaches over the healing circle to touch Miho's wrist. There's a golden glow as his power seeks out the damage to fix it, and--

--if Miho wakes during this, it's to no pain, but warmth and welcome and a businesslike calm. There's a sense of connection to--

"Hey," he says as he works on healing whatever damage caused vomiting a lot of blood, "I don't think we've met. Rashmi-chan, do you know her?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence glanced towards Miho, blinking a few times. How... how was she pushed to that point? And now that she looked around, she could see that everyone was looking exhausted. Weird, she wondered why. This felt amazing. She was one of them, for the first time. It felt great. Like she belonged. Like she--

Oh... That reminded her. Rashmi messaged her. And they were talking about a helicopter. If someone found out Hinoiri wasn't home... then they'd... They might look for her. She had to get home before they worried. Wait. Where was Sayaka?

And then she felt a moment of dread. "Hey. The pretty cure girl. Sharpsong, where did she go?" she asked, dread flooding her. She tried to keep it in... but well...

There was a lot going on. And knowing Sayaka... the girl was stubborn. There was no way she went down. She probably went after all of the familiars or something, to protect people. That... was such a her thing to do.

... There was no way they'd made it through all this and lost her. She refused to be that.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly glances sideways at Aloisia, and visibly considers the offer in front of her. Does she... trust Aloisia, with that? Afterall the Knight has first beaten her up, and then kidnapped her and drained her of mana, while leaving her in the care of an admittedly badass Youma that ended up eating her like it was some kind of Mimic from a RIFTS game.

But she also spent her time pleading for that Belkan Knight's soul, didn't she? So yes; yes she trusts her.

"Sure," she replies, and bobs her head. "That'd be great. ...Showing me how to do the maintenance, I mean, I uhh..." She scratches the back of her head, "I usually just get Rashmi-chan to help, I'm starting to learn about fixing cars but I'm really bad at Device stuff. Too many dimensions."

<< Hey, Rashmi-chan. Uhm, don't be worried, but... Knight Aloisia is gonna help me get back home. >>

Miho Inada has posed:
    Miho is completely tapped out. No magic, no energy to bring forth. She spent everything on the spell to guide the shikigami to contain such a large being. In short, she spent 100 MP on a spell, saddly the game limit was 99! Her insides are slightly messy, but nothing that healing and ramen wouldn't fix. Miho isn't exactly waking up though. A part of her needs the magic.

    For now, Miho's mind is pretty much shut down. The Bear Shikigami walks over, and hugs a Mamo before melting away.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
On the other end of the line, Setsuna Meiou says, "Ah. I imagine we've got a bunch of mahou too exhausted to navigate their way out of the mess who need transport back to the dorms, then? Give me about fifteen minutes or so and I'll be there. When you hear the helicopter blades, get someone to pulse a light so I can find you."

"You got it," Sailor Moon promises. Between the lot of us, there's someone here who can still shine a lot for you. I'll make sure everyone knows!"

And then, covering her phone's speaker, she calls out -

"Hey! Everyone, I called a friend, and she's going to bring a helicopter in! Everyone who's too tired to walk can get a ride to school, you can crash in my dorm if you don't live there!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Little bit," Rashmi says tiredly. "She's like Oni-chan, but she's pretty new. I think for her and Ritter-chan, this was their first real *big* fight. She said she used to get migraines and nosebleeds before her power really awakened? So... I mean *that's* not a nosebleed, but it might be a really worse version of power strain? Iunno... I'm wiped. Brain no worky much good."

She gives Aloisia and Molly a bleary smile, nodding to words spoken and telepathically delivered. "Fly safe!" she calls, then looks to Equivalence, tilting her head. "Sharpsong... she was here? I didn't see her? But... I'll keep an eye out for her, okay? Just... lemme sit here for a sec, then I'll start looking."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Koji offers her ramen, and Aloe gives a soft chuckle. "The other day changed things far more than anything else would." ... The other day. It's been a month, Aloisia. She takes the ramen anyway, sipping it with one hand as Molly considers her offer. She wouldn't blame her if she refused.

It would be what she deserved, after all.

Sure. That'd be great.

Aloe gives a small nod towards Molly. "No tricks, of course. Working with cars will help. Different, but similar enough that it is a good foundation." Aloe says, taking another sip of her ramen... and giving a nod towards Rashmi.

And soon they're flying back to Molly's mom's place. Which is hopefully fine in all this. If not, well, then...

There's other things Aloisia can help with maintenance on. A big strong german girl is great for clearing out debris after all.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Not terribly long after Sailor Moon makes her announcement about the incoming helicopter for transport, the distinct sound of chopper blades can be heard approaching.

After a few moments of the pilot apparently searching, eventually it comes into view.

Kinda.

In the evening dim, it's a bit of a hard spot, given that the helicopter is painted jet black with the undercarriage being a dull grey.

Once the group of mahou is spotted, however, the wheels come out and the running lights are turned on as it settles in a small clear patch.

As the rotors spin down, the pilot climbs out...and they're almost as hard to make out, given they're wearing a solid grey flight suit with full-head black helmet.

The rear passenger door is opened as well as the passenger side front, "I've got room for two or so up front and everyone else will have to pile in the back. At worst there will be a bit of needing to share space, but not for terribly long."

A glance is given around, "...and I'd suggest we hurry before the airspace gets totally locked down."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence had gone a little pale when she realized... they had a helicopter on the way? Oh gosh. And... Sayaka... Sayaka was fine. Nobody was panicking about it. So she had to be fine. She could NOT let them find out about the fact she was...

She just got the sparkles in her heart, got to be a part of them, she couldn't... let them find out the truth now. "I'm going to go make sure there isn't anyone else trapped or anything, bye!" she called out, before racing off.

On the way out, she'd pass by the helicopter, glancing up at it for a moment. Well, she was magic, it had to still land, she could.... probably beat it to the school. Probably. She hoped.

And nobody could know who she was, yet. Not until they really, really, really liked her.

Koji Silvia has posed:
After passing out what he could, exhausting his normal stash he keeps for the typical high school boy-related and mahou emergencies... because one never knows when one needs a snack and is out of cash, or worse, cash is trapped in your other-other-Other pants... Hanzo gets to look up in time to see the helo arrive. With of course the typical effect it has on every long-haired person. Having to grab his hair, the ninja-dressed magical boy does the practical thing... and climbs into the back of the helicoptor a little more slowly than he would normally, but turns to reach out to say, "Pass some of the worse off to be, I'll start locking them in place. C'mon people... the nice lady with the helicoptor isn't going to wait on us all to profess our feelings tearfully while the sun rises..."