712/Business Is Blooming

Business Is Blooming
Date of Scene:	05 November 2023
Location:	Yumegahama Ward
Synopsis:	Riventon and Tellun seek a pure heart. Madoka, Veronica, Rashmi, and Chrono seek to stop this.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Rashmi Terios, Madoka Kaname, Veronica Perenna, Chrono Harlaown
Tinyplot:	Just Business

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Where Takashi Agera would like to be is on a date with his new girlfriend. Or, just hunting witches alongside her. But that isn't where he is. Instead, he's walking alongside a different girl - the green-haired Tellun - and he's walking as his Hesnhin form, Riventon. Because today wasn't the day for dates or softness, but a day to steal hearts in a very different way.

    "Put on your mask." Tellun advised him as she was affixing her own. Confused, Riventon did that, and as they walked out of the Door towards ther sidestreet, Tellun went out first, holding a plant in a ceramic pot with a trail of blue flowers. She drew a needle and syringe from somewhere and jabbed it into the plant, filling it with a liquid that was most assuredly dark energy, and sat the plant down. As it grew larger and larger, it started to blanket the immediate area in yellow pollen. The few civilians out and about that the yellow dust was inhaled by passed out almost instantly.

    "There, see?" Tellun said, her voice muffled by the mask. "Now we can just... at our lesiure..." she said, reaching out her hand for the rifle in Riventon's hand. He gave it over, she walked to one of the passed-out civlians, and fired it at point blank range, causing their whole body to bounce off the ground slightly from the force, and the shimmering crystal that made up the vast majority of their Pure Heart - or Linker Core - started to take shape.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
While it's no longer beach weather, Yumegahama Ward is still a nice place to just toodle about, enjoying people-watching, kitsch-looking, and full of nice places to sit and read, with a cup of hot something. Which is why Rashmi's mood sours so quickly; when she's just gotten to the latest good part in herr book, *that's* when Nicomachea pings her.

    << *BONG!* >> << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. ANOMALOUS CORRUPTIVE ENERGIES PROXIMATE. >>

Slamming her book shut with a rough sigh, Rashmi stows it into Nicomachea's charm, and ducks into an alleyway to discreetly henshin, and take off in search of the alert.

    << Chrono, sweetheart? I hope you're not busy, because something's going on in Yumegahara Ward. Just follow my location, I'm almo-- oh great it's Riventon again and there's some kind of spore plant?! >>

"Okay, *seriously?* She calls from above, Barrets resolving into view. "Riventon-san, are we gonna have to do this *again* or will you, like, just not?"

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

Out spreads the grey-green sphere of magic over the nearest couple blocks, shifting all the hapless bystanders out of the fight -- save the one missing a Heart Crystal -- and throwing up a beacon to the magically-aware that Something Is Going Down Inside This Shell.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka Kaname walks down a nearby sidewalk, holding a fresh new lacey pink Heart's Egg in her hands. Brai hovers over her shoulder, looking down at the new egg. Madoka comments, "It looks a lot like yours."

    "It looks exactly like mine," says Brai. "I wonder what Hitori-san would... wait." The tiny braided Chara floats a little higher, head turned in a seemingly random direction. "I feel something... right over there."

    Madoka is suddenly concerned. "Should we go check it out?"

    Brai crosses her arms and nods. "I think we should. Chara Change!"

    A few moments later, Madoka is super hopping from rooftop to rooftop, guided by her tiny fairy who flies ahead of her. The new egg is returned to a carrying case inside her purse, and her fluffy pink hair is in braids. The Chara Bearer watches as the non-magical crowds vanish, and thinks out loud, "A barrier. I haven't seen one of those in a while."

    Brai responds, "It's proof that we're headed into trouble. Remember what we practiced!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica is stretching her legs, covered up due to the cold weather, but enjoying the walk all the same after being stuck in 'low energy mode' for all of yesterday. She could at least enjoy the company of her cat. Emery always turned way more friendly than usual during those days, so she always has that little joy awaiting her.

She is also taking the opportunity to stock up on several beverages and the likes since she is running short of them. Maybe a few paints too, in case the mood strikes her to embroider a painting.

She is still a bit far from where the spores spread when she notices at the same time the surge of dark energy and Rashmi's barrier covering the surrounding blocks.

Luckily, there is nobody in sight, so she is free to transform as she pleases! Putting her hand where a breakpocket would be, Veronica extract a rectangle of shining moonlight, that soon becomes the calling card of the Phantom Thief.

Striking it on the ground in front of her, she says "While the world is full of trouble and anxious in its sleep, the princess of moonlight does dance and leap." and as soon as the card's cone of moonlight bathes her, the Princess of Sarek stands in her place, becoming ethereal and speeding up towards the source of the anomaly.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown sighed and well... gave a clear and concise message. < On my way. > Because of course. Riventon? Really? Did he never learn? Still, a spore plant was new. Maybe he'd worked out a new... okay, yeah, it was going to be trouble. One overly dramatic henshin later and Chrono was flying through the air towards Yumegahara.

Fortunately, he wasn't that far off, so it wasn't that long before he arrived, flying in through the barrier and... There it was. Crystal heart, unconscious civilian, two people right in front of it, one being Riventon and one holding a gun. Yeah, no.

            <<Impact Cannon!>>

A small orb of magic formed into a cannonball-like form, before shooting out. It was a precise, not very powerful from a distance spell. BUT! At least, it could hopefully strike between them and the unconscious person and force them to put a bit of distance between them. "Stay away from that linker core!" he yelled. "I am Time Space Administrative Bureau enforcer Chrono Harlaown! If you continue with your hostilities you will be treated as hostile and dangerous criminals!"

And of course, since she was new, she'd get the full speech.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sighs, equally put upon. "I could give the same 'seriously, you again' remark to you. Don't you take days off? It's the weekend." he says.

    "You know her?" The older girl with him in the black dress asks. She has green hair that's wrapped up in four balls with little dangling green tendrils, and looks over at her. She drops the rifle, holds out her hand and a bronze staff appears in it, with a black star clutched in its curled top. "Alright girl, maybe you're used to dealing with Riventon, but he's just a small fry compared to me! Now you're looking at the big leagues. Tellun, of the Witches Five! So... why don't you run on home before I show you how hopeless this situation really is for you." she says, as a series of great brown roots rip their way through the concrete of the Barrier world, coming up underneath Tellun and causing her to rise up upon them. The rifle disappears into the depths of the hole created by the roots.

    Chrono appears and launches an attack at Riventon as he's reaching down to grip the crystal. "Oh, there's more of you? Oh my gosh you're. just. PRECIOUS." she says. "Look at you all stern and grumpy. You're like an angry little sapling! But seriously, both of you go should away now." Tellun waves her hand dismissively, in a sweep away motion - and two large, green, thorned vines as big around as a car tire, rip through the ground and try to slam into Chrono and Rashmi, lashing out as if to sweep them away with a furious kinetic force.

    "Riventon, would you hurry up and pick up the crystal! Come on - I thought you were at least slightly less useless than the average." Riventon is already leaning back down to the downed civilian, with his hand around the crystal once more, and he just looks at Tellun with a 'really' look etched on his face.

    "You know, I think I liked you better when I couldn't see your face, Riventon." Tellun adds.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yes! It's the weekend! *Take a day off from randomly shooting people!*" Rashmi yells, and while the urge to remain unimpressed is strong as Tellun makes her speech... Rashmi has learned well the dangers of underestimating one's opponent, especially one who can just summon tremendous plants.

Brightening visibly as Chrono makes his entrance, Rashmi zips up next to him, grinning widely. "Okay *that.* Was a good entrance, Chrono. Now how about we show her why she's making a ter--"

There's a pause, as Tellun casually denigrates Riventon. Even for an enemy, that's just *rude.*

--*Two* terrible mistakes."

When the thorned vines rip up through the ground, Rashmi squeaks briefly in startled fear, but rallies quickly.

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

The thing about Shield-type spells is, when they're oriented toward melee combat, it's not just about how much punishment the shield can take. There's also a component to it, where the Shield actively pushes back against the attack; the harder you swing, the harder the Shield kicks against that swing. Rashmi's Red Shifted Shield is that, taken to frankly unwise extremes. Almost *all* of the Shield's protective ability is turned into kickback, allowing it to hit *harder* than the attack that hits it. And though the shield may shatter instantly upon impact, an omni-directional shockwave is a *handy thing* when one is being assaulted by mega-vines.

"How d'you wanna do this, Chrono?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka arrives just in time to hear Chrono's justice speech (and Tellun's injustice speech). She crouches at the edge of a rooftop, overlooking the battlefield, and sees that weird labcoat guy with his hands on a Pure Heart. A new girl is here too, summoning giant plants. Wait, hasn't Madoka seen her before?

    Yes, she has, and in roughly this area too. It was her first real magical memory, since she didn't recall the Dippin Dots. It was also the day that Homura gave her the magically-enhanced RoundUp.

    She frowns at what's happening. The fight's starting, and while duplicity isn't her strong suit it's something that she'll need to learn. Standing tall, without announcing her presence, she aims her bow high and unleashes a flurry of pink arrows. They arc through the air, spread out and scatter, and then rain all around Tellun and Riventon. Only, instead of doing appreciable damage, they burst into magical sparkly pink fog. Considering that she hangs out with Homrua, one could guess where she got that idea from.

    Using it as cover, she leaps through the air and lands close to Riventon, and grips one end of her branch bow with both hands as if she's holding a club. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't belong to you."

    Brai has decided to stay on the sidelines, watching the battle from the rooftop while scribbling down notes.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"I am Time Space Administrative Bureau enforcer Chrono Harlaown! If you continue with your hostilities you will be treated as hostile and dangerous criminals!"

Veronica reached the place just in time to reach Chrono's speech. This is her first time meeting a magical official. Should she be careful? It was completely deprived of any magical connotations, and she doesn't knows if this enforcer follows everyday's newscast, but she doesn't want to risk getting on his bad side if it turns out he has indeed heard of her on the news.

Which means, an alternative plan is needed for now. Though an easy one is available. These villains all know each others, right? And that woman just gave her both hers and the guy's name. Really, she is blessed today.

A quick disguise magic later, and it's not the Princess of Sarek who breaks onto the scene, but Sunbreaker, in all her fiery glory. "Hey, Riventon, what are you doing here?" she asks in a proud and annoyed tone, her best imitation of how she envisions Sunbreaker. "I was going to run my own plan here, so go somewhere else, ok? I am taking over here."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a gentle smile to Rashmi, before turning his gaze towards Tellun and... oh. Oh gosh. His eyes flickered a bit. Oh dear. 'Precious'. The number of times he'd had to fight people who threatened to 'give him a hug' or 'look how cute he is in his widdle enforcer uniform.' He had not the energy to deal with that.

Instead, he focused on Rashmi! He turned, grabbing her hand and pulling her in close. While her barrier went up, his staff went out, moving over the book...

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

Swords appeared overhead, spinning once and then when the shield exploded, the shot out. Spinning through the air and shredding the vines to pieces.

Down below arrows and mist were gathering. < You and I will deal with the plants, give whoever else shows up cover as they work. Work on a support spell on whoever has the gem and creating your barriers. When your shields burst, I'll launch my counter attack in the blowback. If we can dislodge her gas mask, she'll likely retreat. And--"

Pauses.

"... Okay, and there's another one. She-- Rashmi? Are you okay?" he asked. Oh dear...

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Tullun's vins slam into Rashmi's shield and then promptly whiplash back and slam into each other from the impact backlash, getting wrapped up together, and then both of them get sliced-and-diced once Chrono's blades come out. They fade into dark particles, and Tellun closes and then opens her hand, causing a different vine to come slithering from the same destroyed ground, this one thornless and tipped with a yellow flower bud. The flower bud opens and puffs out the same kind of yellow dust the original plant had been dumping, only condensed, and the fine cloud tries coat Rashmi and Chrono, spreading out like a gas around and over barriers, and sapping energy on any individual particle's contact.

    Tellun responds to the pink obscurement by merely rising up on her root-throne - she's now literally sitting sidesaddle on it - until she's out of the visual disruption. Riventon, meanwhile, at first attempts to sense his opponents through it, but since the fog is magical, it's much more effective against him than mundane smoke or fog might be. He grumbles, but he can't leave the crystal and float up like Tellun has. Not without surrendering it to the new combatant in pink. "Alright then." Riventon says. "Axion, let's clear our vicinity."

    <<PEITSCHENKABEL FORM.>> the device calls out from within the obscurement. Then a purple-black line starts cutting horizontally through the air in the direction of Madoka's voice, the dark ribbon-like weapon giving Riventon a good eight feet or more of additional range. Even though he can't see, the sheer area the blind attacks threaten is notable.

    "What are all of these weeds doing in my new garden?!" Tellun yells, and outstretches her arm with the staff - just in time for Sunbreaker to appear. "And now you, Sunbreaker?! The heck are you doing here, freelancer? Either help or get out of our way." she says. "Freelancers can't take priority over Subdivison Leads, so do one or the other and I won't bury you in paperwork and retraining videos when I get back."

    Riventon hears Sunbreaker's voice, and adds "You could HELP, you know. Go for the short kid who looks like he hasn't taken a chill pill in his entire life maybe."

    "Riventon! Where's that crystal? I'm waaaaaaaiting." Tellun calls from her perch, which is now at least two stories up above the battlefield.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi can't help but giggle at being spun close, and when the blades lash out and hack away at the vines, Rashmi swoops around back, ready to throw another shield... And them pauses, at hearing Sunbreaker's voice, and *seeing* her just stroll onto the battlefield. The shock is enough that she actually bobbles a bit in the air, but when Chrono asks if he's okay, she looks up into his eyes. And visibly relaxes, almost immediately. "...I think I will be," she says after a moment. "Stick to the plan, it's a good one, we'll do all right. Yeah. Okay."

Drawing in a deep breath... she regrets her action immediately at seeing another, much larger flower spiral up toward their level, and the Shield response is immediate; no fancy tricks with this one, just *keep the spores off.*

But charged with Dark Energy as they are, it's like the transparent yellow shell is being sandblasted by the flower's corrosive pollen. There's enough time to do *something* before she has to risk refreshing the Shield... but only one thing.

    << *BONG!* >> << BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

Rashmi knows well the amount of swords that Chrono can throw, and thus her next decision is to add her power to his strike. The harder he can cut, perhaps the longer it'll take for the vines to re-form?

"...What's that fog? ...Oh no *where is the crystal thingy?!*"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's fog is not that hard to cut through, and unfortunately it blinds her as well. Her only advantage is knowing where Riventon was when she started, and she can still hear him moving around. Still, it covered her approach, and plays to her strengths. Imprecise attacks are easier to sidestep and dodge. As the horizontal swipe comes, a lot of the pink fog is carried along with the air currents, the motion of the clouds itself a kind of tell. Her pink eyes go wide as she notices just how much range there is in this ribbon attack, and she underhand swings her branch bow to meet Riventon's weapon. It glows bright pink in the instant before impact, and the branch shatters, buying her an additional moment.

    Madoka leaps up out of the cloud, revealing her position for a moment as a new bow appears in her hands. In mid air, she draws a new arrow. A magical flame lights at the top of her bow as the arrow grows. Seeing the disturbance in the fog from Riventon's attack, and using that to deduce his position, she unleashes the charged arrow.

    The moment she lands, she retreats some five meters or so with a backwards hop. As the fog scatters and disperses, she keeps her pink eyes on Riventon, only once flickering her gaze around to find the Pure Heart Crystal. She grips her bow more tightly. No matter what happens, she can't afford to be weak.

    "You shouldn't talk about someone's heart so casually."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"How about you go eat a sock instead, Tellun." Sunbreaker of Sarek says. Hey, it's somewhat working? Maybe with enough intimidation she will actually get them to leave. Or at least distract them enough for the policeman to take the Heart in her place.

But then Madoka's fog spreads and it becomes much harder to see. 'Ok, this is bad...' she thinks. 'I could try to remove in with my Uncloaking Shimmers, but I would give myself away and that would ruin the efforts of the girl in pink...' Nevermind now, if the intimidation works, that won't be necessary.

"This changes nothing, Tellun. Don't make me come up there and decorate your posterior with my foot." She can't actually reproduce Sunbreaker's attacks, so physical methods will have to do in the meantime.

A purple flash appear through the pink fog. Did someone attack? No, don't get distracted, Veronica, keep speaking. "The same goes for you, Riventon. Be glad I don't break your glasses, I am not in a good mood today. Go back to your lab to play with your First Dark Chemistry Set or whatever it is you want to do with it." That seems like a good enough note.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glancd down again. Hearing... THAT name. "That's Sunbreaker?" he asked. EVERY instinct he had, as a man, as a boyfriend, as a midchildian, as an instructor, screamed at him to go beat that ass.

Every instinct but that of an enforcer. He had a job to do. Duty before pleasure.

The flower opened and they were surrounded in Rashmi's shield. But with one hand on hers, he took off TOWARDS the flower. Holding his staff out.

            <<Blaze Cannon!>>

The spiral of fire erupted out from the staff, incinerating the pollen and, hopefully, incinerating the flower, vine and going into that hole to delay whatever else came next.

Because he'd then pull Rashmi away from that, and towards Tellun's root throne... and well... < I'm going to distract, launch your own strike towards her mask in the moments after. > He let her hand go, zipping towards her vine and...

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

Once more blades appeared behind him, this time shooting out and trying to mince her throne, to bring it down under her.

< The fog seems to be on our side, there's someone in it helping. I'm not sure about Sunbreaker, though. She at least seems to be annoyed at her allies. We'd best try to get one of them to leave before she joins them. >

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "This is anything but casual, girl." Riventon calls out, before the arrow smacks into him - no shield comes up due to the surprise, so it's all barrier jacket that takes the shot, and the magical energy converts to a sort of kinetic discharge instead, sending him scooting back away from the unclaimed crystal and leaving visible damage on the strange plated armor that covered his chest underneath the lab coat. The crystal lies between the two of them. Now that the fog is out she can see Riventon's weapon - a lines of strange Dark Energy 'ropes' that's coming out of each of his right hand's fingertips, before braiding together in a cable. He's holding part of it with his other hand and slowly starting to swing it in loops like some sort of strange kusarigama chain, as he moves side to side like he's looking for an opening. Both of them have long range weapons of a sort, and both of them want the crystal, and to keep the other from getting it. "The energy in this crystal is more valuable to me than its owner. Back off, so I don't have to hurt you. Or anyone else."

    The Sunbreaker of Sarek gambit is at least effective at pissing Tellun off, but Sunbreaker doesn't have the clout to get away with this - which will probably be troublesome for the actual Sunbreaker in time. Sunbreaker of Sarek may only be distracting, but it's damn good distraction. Particularly for Riventon - who expects better out of her. It keeps pulling his attention away from Madoka, preventing him from seeing any openings and maybe providing the pinkette with some of her own. "What the hell is your problem, Sunbreaker? I thought we were cool. Now you're coming out here with swagger you don't have. Don't make me call Hematite for you." he warns.

    Tellun is about to open her mouth and add to the verbal battle going on amongst the physical one, but then there was a bright flash of Chrono's attack burning the flower to a crisp, freeing Chrono and Rashmi from the tyranny of possible pollen. She tries to bring up vines to lash out at Chrono, is too slow for the boosted couple, and brings up a root wall to shield herself from Chrono's attack - which is not going for her at all, but her perch. Which is undefended. She falls from it before another set of less wooden vines is brought up to catch her, though the fall is enough for her to rub her backside in pain. "See what you caused, Sunbreaker, with your distractions? I'll turn you into fertilizer just like them!"

    She holds her staff out, and yells out. "Thorn Buster!" and a series of thin but tall and very sharp thorns appear in the air, points aimed downward, and start to fall haphazardly all over the battlefield, in a storm of needles - the only actual spot that's safe is mostly around Riventon, though it's more the crystal she's trying to keep safe than the ally. But for Sunbreaker, not a chance. To hell with her. Pointy needle hell.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << ROUND SHIELD >>

When out in the rain, an umbrella is the best response. If it's a rain of thorns, an umbrella made out of a glowing magical circle, half again as wide as Rashmi is tall, is the best defense she can come up with, given the plan of action. And the shield *does* block what thorns threaten to rain down on her head, but each one is an *effort* to block, and thus Rashmi has to concentrate for a good beat on Tellun's mask, before she can be confident that Nicomachea has a firing solution.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR STINGER >>

Riventon knows that spell, and is probably just glad it's not targeted at *him,* this time. A single Barret, with enough endurance that it can make multiple passes on target, is aimed at the *mask* and only the mask, and let fly.

If it's not Dark Energy-reinforced gear, maybe the stupid thing will just shatter after it gets too many punchies?

Upon spotting Madoka, Rashmi tosses out a quick Telepathy spell to rope in Chrono *and* Madoka into, effectively, a radio comms net. << Hello? >> comes her voice in the back of Madoka's head. << Hi we're up here, fighting the plant lady. How can we help you do what you need to do? >>

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka frowns at Riventon as he issues his threats. The crystal is there. Whatever they want with it, it's probably bad. The weapon is a real threat, especially for someone without henshin armor, yet despite being fully aware of it she stares at the dark energy device undeterred.

    She asks, perhaps as an attempt at a mindgame, "Have you ever seen your own death?"

    The pinkette doesn't elaborate. She hasn't so much as glanced in Chrono's or Rashmi's direction, but she's aware of them nonetheless. That's one of the things she had to practice, to mentally track things that she couldn't always keep her eyes on. She had to, in order to use the fog. The banter between labcoat guy and burning lady might give her an opening. Not to really fight this guy toe to toe. That would be stupid. She doesn't yet have the firepower to accomplish victory on her own.

    What she can do instead is play the objective.

    Rashmi's voice enters her mind. Madoka's used to that, thanks to Kyubey. Her response is quick. <<I'm going to kick the crystal away from him. Try to grab it while I have his attention. If we can get it away from them, maybe they'll give up and leave.>>

    Madoka draws back another arrow, and as she releases it splits into a volley of pink bolts. They aren't that powerful by themselves, because she's using a fast attack, but they split apart and curve through the air and try to get Riventon from all directions. While he's dealing with that distraction, Madoka superjumps forward, landing precisely next to the Pure Heart Crystal, and spins on the ball of her heel as she kicks it away from Riventon. Now she's standing between the baddies and the Heart, and as she spins there's a small opening where her back is turned to the villain.

    She's mentally bracing for the hit she's pretty sure is coming.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Never thought I would say this but thanks for that, police guy! You spared me the need to decorate her posterior myself." Don't you love it when it looks like you are being as contemptuous as possible, all without lifting a finger with any moves that could give you away?

"We were cool, sure," Sunbreaker says with a sarcastic coff. "Guess who decided to not only disrupt my plans with your presence, but to stay here too?" She waves dismissimely at Riventon, even though he probably can't see her. "That mantled jerk is too busy chasing after Sailor Moon's skirt now, what makes you think he has any time to listen to your complaints?" She shakes her head, emitting a sigh of disappointment and continuing to speak. "Well, time is up, Riv-"

Then Tellun anticipates her attack, preparing the rain of thorns that is about to strike down on her and all the other magic users. With that small warning, the fake Sunbreaker only does one thing: jump sideways trying to break into one of the shops that are located into Yumegahara Ward. Surely that would be enough to protect her from the rain, right?

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown moved back a little bit, making sure that he was beneath Rashmi's shield. Perfect. With her focusing on defense, it just meant it was time for him to continue causing a distraction. The barrier up, he lifts his staff overhead and a small orb of fire forms.

            <<Blaze Burster!>>

Little orbs of fire shoot out from the tip, spreading out. They come into contact with the thorns... they then explode into little tiny explosions. Illuminating the area like dazzling fireworks and scattering the thorns around them, burning away some and maybe sending some back at Tellum. Most importantly, though, the attack would hopefully keep her focus OFF Rashmi and instead on the fires.

Then Madoka's words. Curses! They were in no position to cover for the gem!

Weaving a binding spell, Riventon would likely realize oh so wonderfully... Chrono was doing his binding thing again. One forming behind Madoka's exposed back, to cover if he tried to run her. And another forming over the heart crystal, to try and bind whoever went after it.

And... good. He was a little worried Sunbreaker might go for it, but it looked like she was trying to hide in a shop? "And I'm not police! I'm a TSAB enforcer! It's more akin to secret forces!" he called down to her.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sees the attack coming from all directions, and responds correctly to defend - creating a purple-blue shell of energy from the enhanced form of the Belkan protection spell. It does, however, prevent him from getting there in time to stop Madoka from kicking the crystal - so he instead throws out his cable to try and snatch it in mid air. But it's just a little slow, and thanks to impacting Chrono's bind spell on top of the time spent defending himself, instead all his ribbon-line does is tap it and send it off course - and Riventon redirects the line, in anger, towards Madoka - the dark-energy soaked ribbon hitting her arm and wrapping around it. Of course, Madoka being a civilian, the Dark Energy does damage immediately; and Riventon, who is expecting the standard magical girl defenses, calls the line back to himself immediately on seeing the level of damage it's doing. "What the hell, girl? Are you not in henshin?!" he asks incredulously. But there's something to be said at least for stopping. Maybe.

    Up on the other side of the battlefield, Telun's facemask is jammed off, but mostly that just means she needs to stay out of her own field of pollen - everyone else is fighting unmasked, too. She just needs to stay off the ground. There's a lot of heat, though, and she brings up root-and-vine shields to try and resist the thorns and fires. Meanwhile, the glimmering heart crystal sails away from everyone - landing, convinently for the heroes, closer to their side of the battlefield and relatively near the shop that Not-Sunbreaker sought effective cover from the thorns within.

    Tellun 'surfs' on the roots towards the crystal as they rip up the concrete with their flowing movement, shouting out. "Riventon you baka! Kill the pink girl later get the damned crystal now!" she says as she throws a haphazard rain of sharp petals towards Chrono and Rashmi. It's not threatening really, but she's trying to keep them distracted as the roots do the moving.

    "Stupid girl, you're going to die like that." Riventon adds to Madoka, before turning and also trying to make a mad dash for the crystal.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Now that the scramble for the gem has begun in earnest, Rashmi dives after Chrono. << I'll keep Plant Lady occupied, >> she says in her companions' heads. << Chrono, get the crystal. And um... Miss? D'you need healing? Cos I can help, a little. >>

Peeling off to one side, she takes a deep breath in anticipation of the mana-shock she's about to feel, upon using a new spell at top capacity for the first time. But she needs to make Tellun hesitate, and...

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SWORD >>

Three barrets materialize around her, then transform into swords made of golden light, that lance out toward Tellun. This spell's purpose is, explicitly, for shield-breaking. They hit with a *lot* of force against magical defenses, not so much against things not designed to block, and only one of then is actually aimed at Tellun's shield. The other two, instead, stab into the root that Tellun is surfing on, meant to jam into the wood and stay there until the villain has to decide whether to trip or reposition.

That's distracting, right?

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The kick connects, sending the Heart Crystal to relative, if very temporary, safety. Yet Madoka's miscalculation means that she gets caught instead, and without proper henshin armor... well...

    Madoka's eyes go wide as the ribbon wraps around her arm, and suddenly a surge of darkness courses through her. She shrieks and grits her teeth, and her half-henshin fades as her braids turn back into pigtails.

    'I am such an idiot' she thinks, before stumbling backwards to lean against a wall. Sadly, like this, there's very little that she can actually do to stop Riventon from getting his hand on the crystal, and so if everyone else is out of position...

    It was a calculated risk, but she's bad at math.

    It's a good thing that Riventon has higher priorities than fighting her, because there's not a whole lot she can even do right now as she nurses her wound. She pats her purse quickly to make sure that her new egg is still there. Oh no, is it broken?! Madoka reaches out and sees one half of the eggshell.

    "Chara Change! Become a source of hope!"

    The half-henshin reappears, and her bow shows up in her hand again. A new Chara hovers over her shoulder, and instead of braids a nurse's hat adorns both hers and Madoka's head. The Bearer doesn't have time to process what's happening, but this might be her second wind.

    <<I can't take another hit like that. I'm sorry, but I can't get close to him!>>

    Repowered, Madoka leaps onto the rooftop. Riventon will likely reach the crystal before she could, so instead she tries to keep him occupied with suppressive fire from a distance. She's not risking getting near that weapon again. It was stupid enough the first time. Even so... if no one else can reach it...

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Sunbreaker of Sarek gets out of the shop after the rain stops, a bit surprised at actually made it, but this isn't the time to dally! Both Tellun and Riventon are heading for the Crystal, so she has to stop at least one of the two! Tellun looks more of a priority than Sunbreaker, henshin or not, that guy is just running, while Tellun is using her surfing technique. Bets would say Tellun would get there first.

Not to forget that Veronica knows better than to get the Crystal: she would just accomplish the opposite of what she achieved until now and make herself the target of the heroes. Instead what she does is invade Tellun's path, seeking to intercept her and stop her from getting to the Heart.

She runs to jump in front of her, saying "Told you to leave this to me, but nooo, you just had to hijack my day, didn't you?", and if there, she tries to tackle her to the ground by making a dive at her and adding a good aimed fist for her, for good measure. She just has to keep being the target, nothing else matters. Hopefully something takes care of Riventon. She didn't actually check if somebody was aiming at him.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glanced down at the crystal. Rashmi had his back, so he--

Wait, the girl didn't have shielding?! She was fighting--

< Don't worry, there's no need to put yourself at more risk than is necessary. >

            <<Stinger Move!>>

He was enveloped in a blue arrow of light, taking off ahead and zipping in a zigzag pattern towards the gem. It only lasted a few moments, getting him closer, but he couldn't snatch it while in that spell.

He trusted Rashmi to have his back, though. Instead...

SUNBREAKER DID TOO?! THE HELL?!

He reached out a hand, though, flying low and trying to snatch the heart and then drop, roll and whip around, readying to shield himself if necessary!

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It's chaos and a mad dash for the crystal that has all of the people engrossed, in one way or another. Riventon is slightly suppressed by the arrows from Madoka Kaname, in that the injuries slow him down, but he's not turning to focus her, because what can he do? Without protection he's afraid he might actually kill the girl and then that'd be on his conscience for sure. So he staggers, occasionally, when the shots hit.

    Tellun's vine-shield comes up as expected, and is promptly immolated by the solar sword that is targeting her - the two others embed in the roots and she moves out of the way to dodge them - and then that puts her right in the line of Not-Sunbreaker. Who promptly tackles her. They both go flying to the ground - Tellun's back taking most of the impact with the concrete - and the girl snarls out and reaches out to grab Not-Sunbreaker's arm, to begin draining energy and channeling electricity through it. She is in pain, and rage, and no longer cares about the crystal versus hurting 'Sunbreaker'.

    And maybe Riventon would have grabbed the Heart Crystal, if only he hadn't been slowed by Madoka's arrows, if only he hadn't been frankly shocked by Sunbreaker's decision to bodily tackle Tellun. Not that he's honestly particularly sad to see Tellun get the hell knocked out of her.

    "Give me the crystal, you little runt!" Riventon shouts as he throws out his ribbon-line again for Chrono. And then in a moment of malice, his eyes gleaming, he goes for a bluff. "Or I'm going to go after the girl in pink with no defenses." he threatens.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Don't even worry about that, Chrono, >> Rashmi says... and both Madoka and Chrono can *hear* the flirty wink in Rashmi's thoughts as she watches Chrono beat Riventon to the Crystal. << I'll cover her. ...Also is it just me, or is Sunbreaker acting not at all like herself? I mean I wouldn't *really* put a body-blick like that past her, but... Usually she'd be screaming and on fire too? >>

With that question on her mind, Rashmi banks in the air to fly to Madoka's side, throwing a Shield around the two of them, before adding her own contribution to the chaos.

<< *BONG!* >> << SOLAR STINGER >>

....Maybe she just has a *fondness* for punching Riventon in the head from a distance?

"How badly hurt are you?" she says to Madoka. "That was *super* brave, by the way, and if you want me to, I'll keep covering you, okay?" And the redhead's words are completely sincere; she *does* have admiration for the young girl who punched well above her weight class because she felt she needed to help, and did a lot of good in the process.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's eyes widen as she hears what Riventon says, and then narrow as she frowns. So, that's how it is. <<I'm in the way. I'm sorry.>>

    She's not afraid of death, in of itself. What Gretchen made her see made sure of that. That doesn't mean that she wants to die here, though. There's a part of her that knows that, considering what she'll eventually have to fight, magical defenses wouldn't be enough to save her anyways. Still, that doesn't mean she isn't screwing up right now.

    Her wound hurts, but she knows it could have been a lot worse. Madoka's been spared. By all rights, Riventon won that fight, and if Madoka's honor was the only thing at stake she'd concede that. However, they're fighting over the pure heart of an innocent person. As much as she hates to take advantage of whatever good exists in Riventon's heart...

    Rashmi is there, and shielding her, and asking if she's okay. She smiles at being called brave, but she doesn't have time to talk about that right now. "Thank you. I'm hurt, but he backed off before injuring me too much. If they ends up coming after us, it might be better if I just ran away. That other lady might not be as merciful."

    The tiny Chara, wearing a tiny white hat with a red cross on it, protests, "You should be laying down in bed right now! You don't have the endurance for attacks like that!"

    A part of her wants to retreat anyways, not because she's afraid of getting hurt, but because she doesn't want to be the reason why they lose today.

    Still, she decides to push her luck further. She fires more arrows at Riventon's feet, and this time they once again explode into sparkly fog. Maybe that kind of distraction will help the TSAB Enforcer.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
For all the bad the curse did for Veronica, she got one advantage out of it: she is quite good at continuing to fight while drained. So that's what she does, struggling like crazy, punching, kicking, even headbutting Tellun at one moment, all with the sole purpose of getting away from her before the damage gets too severe. Geeze, she is going to need way more than a day of wait and Naru's protein bars after today is over.

If she succeeds in getting away, before running away to a safer distance she gives a last gaze towards Tellun and spitefully tells her. "This is not over, jerk." And some of that animosity is actually quite real. Veronica didn't enjoy that, not at all. She is going to show up again later as her real self to give Rashmi an explanation, since she didn't deserve a scare like that at all.

If she had noticed Rashmi was there, she would have gone for Hematite instead of Sunbreaker, probably.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown held up the crystal in his left hand, clasped between fingers and dancing back. Yes, he was taunting him a bit. Just a hint. It was almost playful.

"Riventon-san, if you were the kind of person to go after someone without any defenses, I wouldn't be nearly as fond of you." The little brat. "Besides, I think Rashmi has her well protected. You and your friends lost this one, but it was a good effort..." Pause. "Well, on your side. Your... partner... leaves much to be desired. I really hope she isn't someone's Catra as well, because she sounds obnoxious. Kind of a bad seed, to be honest."

Oh my gosh he was making PUNS.

< You're not in the way. Riventon-san isn't the kind of person to go after someone who's defenseless. >

"You're welcome to try and keep fighting for it but uhhhh... your backup seems to have been waylaid. By... your... other backup. Huh. I... really thought after all the stories I'd heard about 'Sunbreaker' she'd be... taller." ... That was rich coming from him. "And less... attacking her own allies. Oh well." He moved his left hand behind him, right staff out. Letting Riventon make the choice. Continue the fight, or retreat?

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon sees the stupid Solar Stinger coming at him and there's a look of annoyed familiarity at it. "That's not going to work every time." He says, but it's working well enough this time as he has to shield and dodge it. And Chrono calls his bluff. Damnit. He'd probably have to do something vicious or lose whatever passed for villian street cred soon enough, now. That's the thought that goes through his head (though at least it's not the Solar Stinger that goes through his head in that moment).

    But Chrono is right, on many levels. Particularly as his backup (okay, he was the backup here, but he never saw it that way) was clearly in a fight with someone who shouldn't have even been there. But now he's suspicious because he imagines if that was Sunbreaker herself, the 'draining energy' would have triggered 'immolate herself' - no reason for her to be so close to Tellun and not on fire.

    "Tellun, something's fishy." He called, roughly at the time that Tellun was getting headbutted (so it's questionable if she heard it) and then 'Sunbreaker' was getting away. Tellun gets to her feet and summons her staff back to her hand. "Each and every one of you... no one will be able to find enough of you to bury you when my flowers get done with you." she says, before she Duskjumps out.

    Now, with just Riventon against Rashmi, Chrono, and Madoka? The arrows landing at his feet? Well, Riventon has no further desire to be here. "Fine." he says. "I'd kick your asses anyways but I bet we're about sixty seconds from another one of you sparkleskirts showing up, so forget it." Riventon says spitefully before duskjumping out of the barrier as well.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< You're awesome, Chrono! >> Rashmi cheers through the telepathic net. << Now give the poor woman back her soul! >>

Turning to Madoka, Rashmi can't help but smile. "You were *never* in the way," she says gently. "And I don't think we could have won without your help."

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A small magical circle spreads out under Madoka's feet, and from below comes the feeling of stretching out under the lazy summer sun. It's not much of a *proper* healing spell, designed for battlefield-medics to get soldiers up and moving again... But the pain of the Dark weapon is dulled, any bleeding is dulled, and some energy floods back into the young archer's heart.

"I'm Rashmi, by the way. I go to Radiant Heart, Grade 10. That's Chrono, my boyfriend. It's very, *very* good to meet you--" her eyes move to the little nurse Chara, eyebrows rising. "--and your friend?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka doesn't really know Sunbreaker well enough to know that something's up, so she remains blissfully unaware of the deception until others start mentioning it. Is that something that can happen? Well, it's magic, so why not?

    Madoka reaches up to rub her left arm. Funny, it's the same arm that got hurt a while back. Now it has a second memory associated with it.

    Madoka looks down at the magic circle that appears around her feet. She's been battlefield healed before, and while it's not quite what Magda can do it's still enough to make her life a lot more bearable. Introductions are happening, and it looks like the villains are leaving empty handed, so maybe they win after all?

    Madoka smiles warmly at Rashmi and nods her head. "Thanks again, Rashmi-san. My name is Madoka Kaname, Grade 8, and this is..." She gestures towards her new Chara, only to remember that she hasn't given her name yet.

    The tiny Chara looks not much different than Madoka herself, but she's wearing a frilly pink, cream and white dress and a tiny nurse's hat. "Medo! I'm Madoka's new Chara!"

    Brai comes flying over from her hiding spot, hovering over Madoka's shoulder. Now the Chara Bearer is being flanked by two mini versions of herself. "My name is Brai."

    Madoka giggles softly, then says, "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm always happy to see people willing to help out around here. We go to the same school, so we'll likely meet again." She turns her eyes towards Chrono and says, "I know I kinda put you on the spot back there, but you really came through."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
As intended, the Princess of Sarek makes her return onto the scene, and huh, she isn't looking well at all. Pallid, emaciated, slow, she is looking like she is a second away from collapsing. It's a miracle she hadn't. At least her cane now actually come in handy, because she is relying on it a lot as she walks over to the group.

"Hello, everyone", she says, a trembling hand raised in greeting. "I wanted to apologise for the scare I gave Rashmi. I hadn't seen her there. That Sunbreaker was me with my disguise magic. I would have made sure not to scare her somehow had I known she was there."

She doesn't mention why she chose to be disguised instead of going for a more straightforward approach. It's all moot now, she is here to apologise to Rashmi. If Chrono does understand something and starts asking question, she will just have to prepare to answer all of them.

She does come in time hear the other two's introductions, so she drops her own name as well. "Veronica Perenna, Grade 7."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown let out a sigh of relief once Riventon left. They'd won. Driven the forces of darkness off again. He gave his girl a small smile before nodding. He then dashed towards the woman's side. "You can take the barrier down," he told her. Once she did so... he knelt down and uhhhh... just kind of... jammed the heart gem into the girl's chest.

... Listen, he thought it was a linker core. Sometimes you just had to ram them back in, get the linker core pumping again. Then... "Wait, maybe I shouldn't be the first one she sees when she wakes up again. Rashmi?" he called over.

Well, being a member of the TSAB carried no long... recognition here. So the woman wouldn't know she was in safe hands.

"And Chrono Harlaown, grade 9," he called back. "But time space administrative bureau enforcer. Yes, I'm an alien, no, I'm crash landed on this planet and no I'm not human." Just... getting all of that out there. "Nice to meet you, Kaname-san," he called to her. "And your... ummm... charas?" Yay. New... thing... to learn about. Well. No worse than everything else. Then... Veronica. He paused and looked to her and...

"Understandable. I would have preferred you had given us a sign that you were doing that, but I understand that it likely wasn't feasible. As it is, you did a good job of spreading confusion through their ranks and not drawing aggression from us. So, all in all? A good, useful application of your abilities. Though perhaps we should work out a call sign or clue so we are aware when you do that in the future. Either way, a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand, offering her a handshake.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh... Oh that was *you,*" Rashmi says, loosing a long sigh. "Okay, now it makes sense. And yeah that was a shock, but... it turned out okay, so, don't worry about it Perenna-san." Smiling, Rashmi drops another healing circle at Victoria's feet, because one does not look that haggard and *not* get at least a shot in the arm. "There... best I can do, but definitely come by the Kor-- hm? Oh! Okay tagging out!" And as Chrono approaches to talk to the girls, Rashmi swoops out to tend to the unfortunate that kicked this whole mess off, gently gathering her up and taking her to a quiet, undestroyed side alley.

<< I'm dropping the Barrier before she wakes up, >> she mentally calls out, to all concerned. << Make sure you're up top! >>

Soon after, the Barrier is dropped, and the woman allowed to recover in a place that isn't at right angles to the Veil.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blinks. Chrono's an alien? Stranded here, no less. Her hand goes over her mouth in an 'oh no!' pose. "You mean you can't go home?" She'd offer to help but... she has no idea how to fix alien spacecraft or how to get him a ride. Nevermind the time-space distortions that she hasn't even learned about yet.

    Yes, she actually does latch onto 'Chrono is stranded here' a lot faster than she does 'Chrono is an alien'. She gets into these messes because she wants to help people, after all. "Well, it's nice to meet you, too! I wish I could help, but I don't really know that much about spaceships."

    To Victoria, Madoka gives her a confused look and tilts her head to the side. "Oh, so that was you? Eheh, honestly at first I couldn't tell the difference between that and normal infighting."

    As Rashmi and Chrono discuss the civilian, Medo decides to fly over Rashmi's shoulder and look the unconscious woman over to see if she's okay. Madoka watches her Chara fly off and says, "Don't go too far, okay?"

    As the Barrier drops, Madoka looks around as the people reappear. With a wry smile she says, "That's always been a pretty useful trick."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Seems like he doesn't watch the news then. A relief, to say the least. Spared her who knows how many question. She wonders how much him being from another planet or something played in that. "Sounds good, yes, we should do that", she says as the Princess accepts the handshake. Please go easy with it.

Still though an alien. That's sur... No, actually, not really that surprising anymore. "So you actually got crashlanded here? I assume there isn't a way for you to contact your friends, or you would have already done so anyway."

She shoots Rashmi an appreciative smile for the healing circle. She doesn't feel like collapsing anymore, and can actually walk more steadily. "That was really helpful, thank you, Rashmi-san." She is heading for the fallen woman, so she tells after her. "I can pass by the Korma Chameleon later."

"Glad I did a good job", she says appreciating Madoka's response. Always feels good being told a job was well done. "Though, I think they are going to be much more wary about some of their allies being impersonated the next time around."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown made sure to keep an eye out that everything worked out. He shook her hand and, while his henshin had metal gauntlets, it was a gentle grip. "A pleasure. And no, I am unable to do both. It's... a long story in its own right, but for now? I am a TSAB Enforcer operating alone." Then... he glanced to Madoka. "It's fine. I'm trained for this kind of thing and I knew when I came within range of this dimension it was a possibility. I'm adapting. Don't worry, my ship is in... pieces... anyway. And would be unlikely to be able to escape the dimensional space even if it wasn't."

He then walked to her and held out his hand as well. "Thank you, for your assistance. Your... lack of shielding is... distressing. But I can understand the desire to aid others with what you can do. Do not let yourself believe you were in the way, you did all you could and were pivotal as any of us in this victory. For a group that had only just met, it was a very effective unison. You should all be very proud of yourself." An impersonator, a girl missing defenses and his crush. All in all... not bad for what they achieved.