528/Hunting the Blue Griffin Part 2

Hunting the Blue Griffin Part 2
Date of Scene:	29 September 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Riventon takes up a job to ostensibly murder Hannah! ...Or at the very least scan her stuff. Luckily, Riventon has /some/ morals as it turns out and Hannah has friends!
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Steiner, Amanda Faust, Erika Shimizu, Takashi Agera, Coco Kiumi, Greta Legend, Usagi Tsukino

---

Hannah Steiner has posed:
FREEDOM! After being released from the tyranny of the Tokyo healthcare system, Hannah Steiner intends to celebrate. How does a Steiner celebrate? Well, in this case, Hannah has 'requisitioned' (stole) both a training dummy and a practice fencing blade from the fencing club.

Dressed in track clothes and a muscle-tee, the young woman is gleefully thrusting, stabbing, spinning, and slashing away furiously in a small clearing not too far away from the playground. Luckily she has Lyra to bark at anyone that would think to get too close to someone using a sword that happily and proficiently in public!

"Acht! The air tastes so sweet! Mein muscles, they burn GLORIOUSLY! Truly the Sankt Kaiser has blessed me this day, for nothing could possibly ruin such an auspicious moment of mein return! Come, foul wretch, you cannot stop the fury of Hannah Steiner!" Comes the young woman out loud, presumably to her 'opponent' the training dummy, laughing happily as she steps back, then in, THRUST!

She is having /way/ too much fun now that she no longer has a swollen brain and is stuck inside!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Despite Lyra, Hannah has an audience! Amy, also in gym-ish clothes (a black T-shirt and school athletic shorts) is alternating between watching Hannah with a dreamy smile on her face (optionally while petting and hugging Lyra) and imitating her moves with an identical practice fencing blade, or practicing unarmed martial arts katas from self-defense class.

    It's just so good to see her girlfriend up and about, and Hannah's enthusiasm is infectious! Although, she wonders: "Is spinning in a swordfight really a good idea? Taking your eyes off your opponent like that... but then, if it is, I can make good use of that when hitting things with my rocket launcher..."

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    o/` ~"Yo ho, yo ho~
    The seas forever roll.
    Yo ho, yo ho~
    'Til I'm not but skull and bones...
    Yo ho, yo ho~" ~ o/`

    Sometimes ERIKA SHIMIZU likes to come to Penguin Park. Partially because it's legitimately a nice park. Partially because she can sometimes catch Zephyr Windstar selling her favorite flavors of Jan Ken Pop soda.
    Though she hasn't encountered her favorite soda slinger today, that's okay as she makes her way through the park and encounters Hannah practicing her fencing and Amy not too far off.
    "Oh huh..." She muses to herself before lifting her arm in a friendly wave to both.
    "Ahoy, girls~." She greets.
    "And you can!" She says in regards to spinning in a swordfight. "I mean, sometimes you just gotta have a proper flourish! Just don't try it if your footwork isn't the best~."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Hannah Steiner is not, truly, a difficult person to find. She's up there with Chrono in terms of the magical people of this city who somewhat make their identity a common knowledge fact. But, Takashi wasn't about to attack her in the hospital - contrary to Hannah's jabs, he has some degree of dignity, and plus even with a Barrier there's no telling who else might be magical and injured in the area. So he'd busied himself with other things - other projects. Plus he wasn't really keen on dealing with Hannah's uncle or helping him anyways, the man just irritated him from step one. But eventually he'd probably come with some obnoxious middle management complaint or something, so eventually it had to be done.

    But he -was- curious about the tool that he'd claimed could scan a device and retain relevant data. If Takashi could witness that in action, and maybe duplicate it, well that was a thing that actually pulled him out of the lab and into the field.

    Of coursee it's not Takashi Agera who is hunting, but his alter ego of Riventon - and not alone. The Count has sent along a youma, so Riventon's not bothering to hide his energy signature today - the youma would give it away in any case. And he -does- have an insult and injury to pay the Steiner back for.

    But he's not coming to exact quite the debt that her uncle hopes, a fight, a thrashing, a good show, and information. It's only truly the things that advance his own agenda that he has a care for. But this does mean anyone who is assembled with a device or other form of senses will know Riventon is coming; this isn't a sneak attack, in fact it's brazen. The big youma with him helps that feel slightly less suicidal.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
It was hard not to notice Hannah's vigorous fighting spirit, nor the noise of the noble's blade against the dummy's body. And Coco was actually still on edge after the previous event, even with nothing actually giving any sign of danger, so she presumed the worst and came there as Yellow Pearl Voice. This is gonna be embarassing and maybe annoying in a second if someone actually saw her.

The mermaid quickly dives behind the ice cream parlor, going back to her normal self, before approaching the group with a smile. "Hello, Hannah, Amy, Erika. How is the training going?" Her tone is only ever so slightly tinged by the embarrassment of her misunderstanding.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
"Well!" Comes Hannah amid another spinning strike! Slash-stab-spin-slash!

"It entirely depends on the situation und your own skills!" Starts the young woman, even as Lyra so happily nestle-huggles against Amy's side! So many pets! This is her favorite Amy. Sorry, puella red, you're not getting that lizard away from you now!

"Guten aben mein dear Erika! Yes, style und skill is /everything/ when doing the legendary sparkleskirt spinny attack!" Confirms the young woman, grinning to the sound of her favorite privateer's voice!

And Coco too!? This just gets better and better!

"Spectacularly! Acht, to smell fresh air und feel the sun on your face with blade in hand! What better feeling is there!? Come, once I am finished, I believe ice cream is in order!" Comes the young woman extra-cheerily, bludgeoning her girlfriend and friends with a thousand-watt grin!

But, alas, there's something in the air. Two somethings. And with an energy signature that bodes ill.

Hannah outright sighs, and lowers her voice. "...Does anyone else feel the distinct aroma of Heathenry und disappointment coming this way?" She's already inching towards the ice cream parlor.

Time to get into transformation and Barrier range!

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Ahoy, girls~
    For some reason Amy just gets a warm, fuzzy feeling at being included, grouped in this term, and grins.

> How is training?
    "It's going fine I guess! I don't really expect to be fencing, but it *is* fun... who hasn't wanted to learn how to use a sword, right?"

    She giggles at Hannah saying 'the legendary sparkleskirt spinny attack' out loud. "Ice cream!" she cheers.

> Heathenry and disappointment
    "Huh? What do you mean?" Amy really is that clueless. Also she only knows how to sense dark energy when actively *trying* to.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Why would Erika not include Amy in that greeting? She's right there obviously, so of course she's included!
    Nevertheless, the blonde facepalms at the 'the legendary sparkleskirt spinny attack'.
    But then...
    Hannah is acting like something's coming.
    Erika tilts her head to one side, neck popping softly as she rolls her shoulders, and in the next instant there's a glint of a golden coin dancing in her fingers.
    "Ah... That's a thing isn't it." She mutters before she flips the coin.

    "Under a black flag we sail and the sea shall be our empire! Take what you can! Give nothing back!" She declares, catching the coin.

    In an instant her clothes are replaced with her piracy regalia; bicorne hat, greatcoat, and all, as she adjusts her hat to its usual jaunty angle with one hand.
    "Well. We're ready for it... Aye?"

Greta Legend has posed:
"Oi! Just because you're bloody free from the hospital, doesn't mean you can go mental the second you're five meters from the door!"

She's British, she's swearing, and uses metric, it could only be Greta Legend making her approach. "None of that, unless you're absolutely sure that something's coming, which..." She does consider the odds of an ambush just outside the hospital...

"At least we're near the Hospital."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It's easy to tell Riventon wasn't in hearing range of Hannah's remarks because he doesn't respond to them - but he is in fact coming, and it is in fact A Thing. Well, two things. One of those things is Riventon, and his energy signature is a lot louder than usual, now. This is a personal project and he's in the pursuit of knowledge, and he came fully prepared to spend energy today, gorged on potential and power more than usual.

    And then, next to him... is what looks like someone who had never seen Goro from Mortal Kombat, tried to make Goro out of mismatched and oversized stuffed doll peices. Four arms, each in a different color, a permanently smiling sewed head with button eyes - and an eight-foot-long needle being carried in one hand along with a long row of what looks like oversized yarn in the other.

    "I have a message from one overbearing jackass to another overbearing jackass. Some dude calling himself a count wants you dead. He pays like shit, though, so I think I'm just going to beat the crap out of you as payback for the last time, and take your device." Riventon calls out - he's using magic to increase the volume of his voice now, even - he's as brazen as anyone here has seen him.

    "My lumbering associate here..." and he gestures to the Machampular Doll Youma "... is happy to meet with anybody else who needs something to do while I attend to my business here." And he doesn't have to look far to see Hannah, in henshin. "Perfect. Let's get this family fued over with."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Sounds great!" Coco exclaims, trying to imitate (and failing) the intensity of Hannah's grin. Sorry, looks like you are gonna need another upgrade for that. "I think I will go for some mango ice cream, if they have it. I could also box some for Cho, later on", the yellow girl muses out loud.

"I hadn't thought to for a long time, actually", Coco admits when Amy talks about wanting to learn how to use a sword, "but I had started getting some training from Hannah when I noticed how people around here go much more on the offensive than what I was used to."

Coco chuckles at the thought of a legendary sparkleskirt spinny attack. She wasn't there for the whole discourse, so the image she gets is of two of them spinning side by side as a midair drill.

"What do you mean by heathenry and disappointment? Is this your way to refer to demons and similar associates?" Coco asks, the thought of them attacking right now casting a shade on the day to her. Those terms weren't too far away from what Hannah had used for Hematite.

Regardless, she is all too ready to trasform yet again in the span of mere minutes, especially since Hannah did so. "Yellow Pearl Voice!" she declares, by now way too used to transforming in public, the pearl in her shell locket responding to her will and starting to shine with a yellow light.

A kaleidoscope of colours covers Coco's clothes as those change into her yellow gloves and boots with flowy extensions, as well as a yellow blouse with a yellow skirt, while her pearl expands into her trusty E-Pitch microphone, its blue shape settling comfily into her hand, the jewel nestled safely in the head's center.

"Weren't you the one using demons modeled after workers?" she says, recalling a robot-vacuum cleaner-maid thing and a nurse, somehow those two encounters sticking the most in her mind. Count Otto's assassin having been a maid too didn't really help matters.

"So, that's what you are after. You can forget anything happening to Trager", she adds once he mentions the family feud. "With all of us here, this attempt won't actually accomplish anything."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    When Erika transforms, Amy does as well. And then.

    Riventon. And the Machampular Doll. "...Let me get this straight. Her uncle not only won't bother to come in person, but *underpays* assassins? Seems like he's just using you. But if you think you're getting her Device..."

    The rocket launcher appears on her shoulder. And fires, right at Riventon's feet to explode. "Then I won't go easy on you!"

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Smiiiile! "I mean it is time for fire support mein dear engel~" Comes the young woman...suspiciously cheerily. Being crunched so hard by Hematite has wounded Hannah's pride. And the idea of combat right now is...well, she has to reassert her whole self-image thing. And the thought of a potential /target/ is just far, far too pleasant right now. So behind the ice cream shop she goes!

A Belkan triangle appears beneath her, and as light swallows her, she calls out!



"Blauer Greif! Aufwachen!"

<Linker Core Online>

<Sensoren Online>

<Zauberspruche Online>

<Alle Systeme Nominal>

<Bereit meine Herrin>

She walks back out from, oddly, the front doors of the ice cream parlor, slurping up an ice cream cone, before chucking the remaining cone-bits to Lyra so she can viciously and loudly chomp-chomp it up all while looking at Takashi. The big Razorhound licks her mouth and 'grins' with far, far too many teeth pointedly.

Erika gets a grin. "Indeed, mein dear privateer!" She off-hands to the piratess!

Greta gets a smile! "The only 'mental' one, mein dear meistro of the axe, is our opponent!" She offers proudly, starting to just work in that karmic debt that any good noble works up by being an arrogant jerk.

Or maybe she's hyping herself up and trying to not let that wounded pride fester. Quite possibly. Definitely!

"T...truly herr Riventon!? You are working with mein Kinslayer of a backstabbing little Sankt Kaiser hating heretic!? Und to think, I actually /respected/ you for ambition! You lower yourself to even breathing the same air as that little worm!" Pause. Then she processes his words.

"...However if you /must/ wallow in the mud as a sow, I do find your playing him for his knowledge utterly amusing und by all means, /any/ method of shorting the bastard is one I appreciate! Mayhaps we may be freunds after all, herr Riventon!" Oh gods, his words are somehow /cheering her up/. What a terrible lot these space nobles, so easily turning on each other.

She whips out her blade swiftly, her cape fluttering behind her!

"However you shall pull mein Device from mein hands only by chopping them off or cutting mein throat, therefore perhaps you have chosen poorly this day mein dear freuendfeind!" Ends the young woman with a growl in her voice, motioning to her allies and friends. She knows they can take that youma monstrosity!

For the moment, she has only eyes for the freundfeind Riventon-kun!

And then there's Coco backing her up! A grin is flashed to the sound of her voice!

"Mein Uncle is like this. Always drawing everyone in und using them!" She huffs, her anger seeping out of her voice viciously.

"Riventon. You are an arrogant hund, but one I like! Beware of betrayals by the perfidious wretch, hm?" Comes her honest warning to the mad scientist. By the Sankt, she likes the guy! And hates her Uncle so much!

Amy leads the assault with a rocket, and Hannah follows up even as she levitates up in the air, using a nearby light pole!

<Schwerkraftwurf>

With a calculated trajectory from BG, she tosses her Device's sheath hard, an arcing spin aimed to swoop out of the indirect fire of Amy's attack and go straight for Riventon's chin!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    And then. There's Riventon. ... Riventon and a youma.
    The pirate-themed mahou purses her lips briefly.
    Unfortunately she has no idea who Riventen is.
    Or how dangerous he is.
    And that means, like any assassin worth their salt, he and his youma accomplice need to be taken with utmost possible seriousness.
    It's as Amy leads off with a rocket that Jolly Roger slowly reaches into her greatcoat, drawing a pair of smoothbore flintlock pistols, which she twirls on her fingers briefly before taking aim at the youma nearby, still humming that tune to herself as she gears up for what she knows will likely be a harrowing fight.
    "Well. Iffin' ye came for a fight, I can tell ye, ye'll be gettin' one."
    The krak-krak BOOM-BOOM of her pistols going off sounds off next as she fires the pair at the youma, snapping off her shots at the doll-like... Thing before she simply tosses the spent pistols aside, letting them dissolve into seafoam and glitter.

Greta Legend has posed:
Greta blinks as suddenly Riventon around the corner, and the Machamupular at his side, at which point others start henshining and that leaves Greta by herself as the odd girl out. "Oh bloody hell, FINE!"

She reaches to her brooch and holds out her device, "But the only one going back into the hospital is you! DREISEELEN!"

<*ksh*STAND BY*ksh*Let's Go*ksh*Little Red!*ksh*> Comes the distorted voices of her device, which to Riventon MIGHT be considered a travesty, because what did that girl DO to it?!

One Henshin later, and she's wearing her red mask and cape get-up, and her device has shifted into axe form.

"Riventon, huh?" Greta hears the name for the first time, "Well take your Monster Rancher knock-off home to Uncle Otto, because we're gonna have none of this bollucks!"

She then raises her device, and it shifts form, "Zurückkehrende Axt!"

<*ksh*Zurückkehrende Axt!!*ksh>

And then Greta THROWS the axe at Rivington and the Youma, aiming to get them both in either the throw or the return, which she holds her hand out for.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon smirks. "I could tell he was the backstabbing type within five nanoseconds of seeing that smile that managed to be false and snide at the same time. It's one I'm plenty familiar with." Riventon admits. "But..." and then he's cut off by his device.

    <<HAND REMOVAL PROPOSALAKZEPTIERT. LASS UNS ROCKEN.>> (Accepted. Let's Rock.) Riventon's device notes, both voices sounding ready despite the monotone, the black gem on his hand gleaming in tune with the words.

    "I think it feels like it owes you one too." Riventon says, his red eyes flaring brighter.

    <<JAWOHL.>>

    Explosives are useful in their own way - Riventon's circular shield pops into existence very close to him - it doesn't actually try to stop the rocket, but it does protect him from shrapnel and debris instead. The usefulness of having a second magical helper is shown when a Belkan triangular barrier pops into existence and prevents him from getting his jaw cracked by the sheathe from the side.. Explosives are loud and distracting, though. As the debris flies up into the air, Riventon suddenly leaps over his own shield - covering a tremendous amount of distance and leading with his hand glowing with purple-black energy, diving towards the Peulla Magi.

    <<DUSK CLAW.>> The danger isn't in the obvious glowing hand (well, that's still Dark Energy), but the followup swipe with his left hand that will unleash black waves of energy, and try to grab Amy if she's close enough.

    Greta's axe sails through the air and Riventon's long gone but the big youma isn't - putting its' four hands up high to soak the two pistol rounds from Jolly Roger means the axe can get a clean swipe on its side. The youma responds to Greta by trying to launch the needle like a spear at her, with the thread trailing behind - then whether shielded or connects the youma JERKS the string-spear with its other hands, pulling it suddenly off course to perhaps slam into Jolly Rodger and/or Coco - it's not picky which. Either way it reels the needle back in with its two upper arms while charging forward and trying to bash someone - anyone not Riventon, really - with flailing arms.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    The youma's needle jerks in the air and-
    Jolly Roger eats it right in the shoulder. She takes it without a sound, not so much as a grunt of pain as the spear-like needle slams into her with enough force to knock her back and-- pin her to the nearest tree.
    Jolly Roger glances down at the weapon embedded in her body and tries to wiggle off it.
    Wiggle. Shuffle. Squirm.
    "... Come on. Come on, come onnnn." She grumbles while trying to pull the needle out of the tree and her body and...
    She sighs.
    "Ah carp. I'm a little stuck, girls! ... Ye've all got this, right?"
    Right?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon's getting into the habit of patrolling, at least sometimes, when her load of homework isn't too bad. Luna's pleased with it, at least, and with the Dark Kingdom moving forward with the Midnight Tokyo Project, looking out for trouble doesn't sound like a bad idea. Sure, there's always the risk of running into trouble alone, but how likely is that really?

That Penguin Park is near the hospital Hannah's been staying at, and that she's supposed to get out today, might just have everything to do with it, too.

What? Isn't a girl allowed to feel a little bad that her beloved boyfriend put a beloved friend into the hospital after said friend tried to light him on fire with a motorcycle-gravity-sword?

All that is to say, Usagi Tsukino wasn't exactly unprepared for trouble. But, standing on a roof-top near Penguin Park, she still wasn't prepared to see a full scale battle going on, two enemies against a team of magical girls - and Hannah-chan is one of them.

SHE JUST GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!

One of the girls - the piratey one for Hannah's gathering - takes a blow to the shoulder. Through the shoulder, and gets pinned to the wall. Just imagining the pain makes Sailor Moon cringe, her face wrinkling in sympathetic agony. Never mind that the magical girls have this creep and his monster out numbered - if he's willing to hurt someone that badly then there's no reason to play fair!

"Moon Twilight Flash!"

The joy of her newest ability is that her range is greatly lengthened. Sure, it's more powerful under the light of the Moon, but what was Moonlight but reflected sunlight (according to Ami-chan, anyway)? Her range is more than enough to blast from the rooftop she stands on to the enemy youma's back.

Only after it strikes does she back off and then take a running leap from the roof to the ground in the park, managing an epic superhero landing before toppling over. Whoops! Still clumsy.

Greta Legend has posed:
Greta catches her device upon its return, just in time for the Spear-like needle to fire upon her, which she goes wide wide and dives in order to not be on the receiving end of being impaled, going wide eyed as she sees Jolly Roger getting hit and... Not being bothered much?

There will be questions later.

When the youma pulls the needle bck to retrieve it, Greta has a fantastic idea, and reaches to catch the needle in mid return, and uses the pull to her advantage by raising her axe again, and SWINGING upon the needle returning to owner, and she tries to slam it into the Machampular once she's RIGHT up close.

"COME HERE, YOU BASTARD!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
When the disorderly strike ends up hitting Jolly and pinning her against a tree, Coco quickly looks back, and is relieved at finding her mostly fine. She is not so hurt as to be unconscious, which is definitely good, though being pinned like that probably doesn't feel much better.

"We will get you free soon, Jolly!" She really wouldn't want to leave her like that any second longer, but turning her back to Riventon and Machampular probably isn't a sensible move. Summoning the Live Stage around her, the mermaid princess starts singing her most prized song, the nostalgic melody of her homeland. "Legend of Mermaid: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" she declares, the soundtrack beginning to spread in tandem with her voice thanks to the influence of the Live Stage.

The purifying music dances around the park as Coco sings of clouds slowly floating away, vanishing away as they aim for the rainbow's end, from whence the stars release a powerful, wondrous light, like pearls. Just at that moment two move Live Stages make their appearance to both of Coco's sides, pure white light diffusing from them.

The mermaid princess sings of a promise as the two Live Stages cut the air quickly in the direction of the youma, the promise that even if a day comes where everyone is to journey away from here, as long as we sing the melody of the seven countries, she will never forget.

Just as she sings of that, Sailor Moon arrives, and Coco smiles happily at her. Not anything more than that, though, since the song and dance is taking her concentration, and she still has to keep the purifying atmosphere up.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
There's just this /wince/ as Jolly is strung up upon the tree like needlework upon a tapestry! Greta is tossing her axe, and the young woman is more than happy to enjoy the arc of that massive, if wounded, Device's long-toss!

"Excellent! Und while I do not appreciate you attacking mein freunds, the /proper/ House of Steiner appreciates your honesty in such dealings!" Hannah nods firmly, and even offers him a proper duelist's salute!

And then she's /grinning/!

"Acht, Axiom was it??? What is the phrase? 'COME UND GET IT YOU FLEA-EATING HUNDS!!!!'?" Offers the Countess as Axiom raises their ire at her!

Despite the twisted abomination of two different magic systems, the combined attitude of Axiom and Riv-kun feels so very, very Belkan! Oh, this is such a better battle than with the last youma brought to her neck! She then, as Riventon goes for Amy, reminds herself of the stakes!

"NEIN!"

She kicks off the lamp pole, and interposes herself between Puella Red and that wave of Dark Energy, raising one hand!

<TURMSCHILD>

A massive energy shield emerges upon her arm, a true tower shield of Belkan excess, and that wave of dark energy crashes upon it! She's pushed back towards her engel, but gravitic forces keep her aloft and her heels grinding! Despite pumping more magic into it? The tough gravity-shield shatters, and all the remaining Dark Energy crashes into her Knight Armor! There's this cough, and half of her cape is cut apart, and one gauntlet is shorn away as she violently resists the attack upon her beloved!

"Gahh!!!!" She spits, adjusting her height a bit after such a strong strike!

Teeth grit.

And then, Sailor Moon emerges, lashing out with the light of the moon itself, and doubly so with anything she's ever witnessed from her Would-Be-Little-Sister and fellow Warrior! She barks, focuses in her Area Search from BG, and flicks her hair back, now somewhat freed after Riventon's dire strike1

"The Moon und the Stars shall conquer any opponent!" Comes the Belkan, trying to keep morale up with a grin, even as her body stings.

Knowing Coco and her now twin Live Stages has the youma, Hannah focuses on the real target! Riventon-kun!

Suddenly the young woman gravity-leaps over to the side of the Ice Cream Parlor. She taps the nearby dumpster with her Device!

<Fluss: Aufhellen>

Suddenly the dumpster is floating, and stuffing her Device's sheath into a belt? She grips the thing!

With a floating leap up into the air, she kicks off another nearby lightpole, and sparkleskirt spins in the air! A blender of pure Belkan violence aimed at Riventon, as she tries to spin-hammer a full-on dumpster right into the mad scientist's noggin!

WHAM!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "R-roger!" Amy cries out, holding out a hand in that direction, but she has other problems: Riventon is attacking. She aims her rocket launcher down at her feet and--

    --and Hannah is there, protecting her. She's a bit stunned. She doesn't expect someone *else* to leap in front of *her* in magical combat. Isn't she the expendable one, in age and in-- oh. And there's layers of messed-upness there, but no time to unpack them now.

    Of course, even though Hannah leapt in *front* of the attack, she can't help but feel anger at Riventon when she sees the energy tear at Hannah's Barrier Jacket, hears her beloved cough and cry out.

    "You..." She hefts the rocket launcher to aim at Riventon, but suddenly it's a little rocket pistol, and she's firing several tiny rockets to give him more trouble dodging. Huh, she thinks, I wonder if I can just create a multi-tubed launcher... maybe try that next.

    "Why do you have to do this?! Why can't you leave us alone?! HhhhhhTragar-chan is a wonderful person and you, and you're *helping* her uncle! Of *course* we're going to fight tooth and nail to stop you! Why can't you see it's senseless to help that man?!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Well, Jolly Roger is pinned to the tree by one of those swinging heavy needle lines. The youma is in position to counter Greta's axe-gambit, but then Sailor Moon's twilight flash hits it in the back, shoving it forward as Greta's plan is enacted, and it's smooshed between the two before the Live Stages can careen in on it as well.

    Maybe Obsidian is making tougher youma, or maybe Riventon shelled out for this one. Or the Count. The youma is still standing after the attacks - even if there are cuts in its stuffy body where dark-energy tinged stuffing can be seen escaping like puffy but angry storm clouds.

    The youma starts to whirl its roped needle around, and uses its four arms to guide it in strange directions, sweeping across the battlefield at the people trying to put it down. Of course, that's not all it can do, and when the needle is bounced off the Live Stage, suddenly the doll turns its button eyes on Coco's live stage and pulses out... laser beam eyes. Two dark energy floodlamp-like blasts erupt from its head and try to overtake the stage and Coco. Are laser beam eyes just a standard option for youma? (yes)

    Riventon is... accounting himself well against the rockets. Part of that is that smaller orbs of Dark Energy are also bursting into existence and trading with the rockets - and he's not having to focus on it, as Axion has taken up the air-defense role. He's about to move in for another swipe when...

    'Hey, isn't that the girl Mamoru said was his girl? I told him this kinda thing was gonna...'

    WHUMP

    And that's how Riventon got a dumpster slammed into him and got chunked a fair distance into the air before catching himself - just before he'd have hit a wall. You can't take your eyes off the enemy, not when your other set of eyes is busy guarding you from a ton of incoming rockets. And not when the enemy is a Belkan who wants to use the environment as a weapon.

    Riventon's... unhappy now. Also in pain. Hannah has successfully gotten his attention though, as he changes course and tries to go after his initial target now.

    <<DIREKTE LEITUNG!>> calls his device as he talkes another big leap into melee, purple-black Dark Energy dripping like ink from his hands and leaving puddles on the floor that dissapate. "You think I'm doing this for him?! You're insane. I'm doing this because I want to. I'm only going to get combat data from combat!" he yells, somewhere between angry and manic, those hands just trying to grab hold of Trager. Of course the attack isn't playing fair, and he's just looking for some way to contact her so he can forcibly shove nega-mahouwatts of Dark Energy into Trager - it's easier to fight in melee if your opponent can't safely touch you. "You can't protect each other forever. I only need to iterate and improve until I overtake you!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It takes a second, but then Sailor Moon is back on her feet, and the youma is torn into by Greta's axe. It's still standing, which is honestly a surprise, but not one that Sailor Moon is letting keep her down. Not when there's friends to protect! If that monster wants to blast beams at Yellow Pearl Voice, she'll meet it beam for beam!

"Jerks like you who attack innocent girls should touch grass insteads! The Soldier of Love and Justice is here to take you down! Moon Twilight Flash!"

There's always time for a speech. Especially when you don't need your mouth to attack - instead, there's her hand, aiming the gem, and the beam fired from her tiara, slamming into the eye lasers of the youma! Sure, the physics maybe shouldn't work out like that, but they are now! This is the rule of cool! The rule of Mahou!

Greta Legend has posed:
"Bloody...! Bugger...! Bullocks..! GAH!" This time around, Greta is pushed to the defensive with all the needles being thrown and whipped around at different angles from what she's antipating. She swipes with her device, slashing one of them as she weaves past another, needle, but it's only so long before they finally catch her, one of the needles twisting in mid air and driving into her back.

If she were not protected by the Barrier Jacket, that might have have done more damage than it does, but it does send her crashing into the ground and begins the process of shredding her jacket. She takes a breath as she picks herself back up slow, and raises her device again, "Dreiseelen...! Große Klingen!"

<*ksh*Große Klingen.*ksh*>

The emitters of her device shift a bit in such so as to double the size of the blade on the axe, and Greta roars, charging at the YOuma, flying at the monster and aiming to cleave off AT LEAST one arm at minimum.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "*Combat data*?! Seriously? That's who you think you are, the one who walks into a fight with a bunch of people with powers and goes" and at this point her clothes sparklepoof into another witchy outfit, a bit like a loosefitting white sleeveless jumpsuit with a dangly leather strap with runes on it in front, matching leather gloves and boots, and of course, the wide-brimmed purple-red hat and matching cape. Her hair, aside from her bangs, is in three braids behind her.

    She keeps right on talking as she imitates... someone. "'ah, I see, a sonic-speed punch makes a shockwave, yes yes' or 'what's a Maverick Hunter doing in *this* dimension?'" Amy wtf are you talking about.

    She points at Riventon. "First off, I'm mad that you're ruining a trope I used to love. Second off, I'm-- well I'm also mad you're attacking my friends, but third off? I wonder... does that ever, really, *work*?"

    She spins so that her cape hides her conjuring a handful of small rockets she tosses towards him like grenades, only to cancel their detonation as he gets too close to Hannah. (They may, however, become a zoning hazard later if she sees him near them when Hannah *isn't*.)

    "You'll say, each time, oh, I know what went wrong! If I just do it slightly differently... but will it ever really work? Will you ever truly *learn?*"

    She runs towards them. The cape seems to reshape into the neck and head of a dragon hiding her hand -- it's all just changing the shape of costume, after all -- and she thrusts the dragon-head forward, and it opens, and of course there's nothing inside the mouth except ROCKET LAUNCHER

    "Or is there something bigger, something we missed and just couldn't understand?" And then the 'dragon' is just ordinary cape, and the rocket launcher is firing point blank, a shaped explosion more like a piercing lance of light than a blast. This *should* put a hole through someone, from what she knows of physics, but it keeps knocking magic targets back somehow instead, but you know what, that's what she *wants*, to get him away from Hannah.

    And if he gets knocked into those dormant rockets from earlier and they go off, that's a him problem.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco doesn't yield when their combined attacks do nothing to the youma, continuing to sing and dance, repelling the darkness with all she has. "Ever Blue: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!" she chants, beginning a new song, the Live Stage promptly perceiving her will and changing its soundtrack.

Having switched song, the mermaid princess sings softly of the feeling she gets that on the other side of the seven seas, someone is crying, squeezing her heart and causing her loneliness. But she embraces the guidance of the stars in her heart, the destiny of the ever blue sparkle of the ocean she loves calling to her and letting her gather the power to protect the future in her hands.

She sings for everyone to find solace from the fatigue of battle, the melody expressing her feelings of cherishment towards her friends,and the mysterious blueness of the ocean, prettier than heaven, just in time for the attacks they are carrying out, turning the any fatigue and tiredness into hope and relief.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Truly, the WHUMP feels so good! And then Riventon is calling out about combat data and combat, and really? Hannah is seriously wondering if the young mad scientist is an offshoot of Belkan lineage, because despite herself?

She has to stop herself form nodding at his utter Ambitious Rush of Power! Still, he's gunning with her Uncle, and that doesn't exactly make it hard for her to bring up the energy to fight back!

And then she's leaping, dodging, and then gravity-hammering herself towards the ground! There's a mild impact of her armored heels, and a big ol' crater before she lashes out with her Device!

Slice! And again! And her lashes out at those many hands trying to bring her down, carving out much of them, but then the Dark Energy fueled hands grip her shoulders and legs!!!! She openly bites to the air, and puts all her strength into tearing those restraints apart!

Rather than just let him shove all that Dark Energy into her, so many Turmschilds pop up, slowly and then inevitably cracking from Riventon's force! The Dark Energy seeps into every crack...and oddly seems to be drawn in, as she inwardly rages at her Uncle, pure hate and vengeance on her mind!

Which suddenly fades as a certain Justice Speech wakes Hannah up!

"The Light of the Moon makes me wish to dance upon every little seedling that counts even as scrubgrass!" Comes Hannah, her commotion suddenly being far less desparing with the work of one Sailor Moon!

Hannah can't exactly talk down her love. No, rather, all that ranting has the young woman's sightless eyes lighting up, just for her sheer determination! She wants to cheerleader her beloved, but, also part of her just feels like such a thing should stand on its' own! And so as that Dragon Head launches for Riventon?

"Such is the price for deigning to target mein liebe!" She growl-huffs, and on overwatch? Lyra absolutely hiss-growls at Riventon!

Thankfully YPV is singing, and helping prop her up after such a solid hit! Hannah sucks in a breath, mouths a prayer to the Sankt Kaiser, and suddenly she's /way/ up in the air!

A mere motion of her hand, and her Device speaks!

<Fluss: Anlocken>

Comes Blauer Greif, and a minor gravity well opens up just behind Riventon! Hannah 'grabs' onto it, and lances towards her opponent, and raises her blade above her head!

<Fluss: Erhöhen> Ends her Device, as she simply grips her blade with both hands, and suddenly gravity is four-fold as she attempts to use all her pure Belkan strength to smash directly upon the top of Riventon's noggin!

With the flat of her blade, luckily! It seems as though despite her own thoughts on Vengeance, Riventon is not amongst those she's like to split in two!

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It turns out four arms doesn't really make the youma any better able to deal with so many magical girls. It's putting on a good showing, but it still only has the one head. And Coco's song is having an effect, too - at first it wasn't easy to notice, but all of that exposed stuffing is slowly going from pitch-black to grey. It's about to become a lot more clear, as when trying to wrangle the needle to defy inertia and stab Greta in the back, instead it leaves itself open to a cleave. Now it's a three armed youma, and that's not very good for it. Three arms have to be less dangerous than four.

    Although there's the matter that arm number 4 starts crawling on its own towards Greta like an early halloween present, trying to get closer as the stuffing inside glows brighter black.

    Before it explodes. Explosive limbs are -not- a common feature of youma.

    The attempt to stop the eyebeams it fires next is met by Sailor Moon, interposing herself between Coco and the youma, Coco's song giving her the energy she needs to feed power into her Twilight Flash and overtake the youma's beams. Finally the thing starts to be wearing out - it must be some combination of all of the wounds inflicted on it that opened its stuffing up and Coco's melodious songs purifying it. The once-tough four armed fluffdoll is now three armed and struggling to pull back the needle, dragging it along the ground instead of dexterously guiding it.

    Since the others are doing such a good job of keeping the doll-youma's attention, Amy and Hannah are able to continue to weather even the enhanced Riventon's assualt - but truly it has been a team effort. Riventon, however, does get one of the things he wanted, one of the reasons he was burning through energy like Usagi through a cake. He's able to stay close enough for the device her uncle gave him to do its work - and Axion hasn't been ENTIRELY focused on Amy (though a good bit).

    And now Hannah is trying to smush him from above while a giant flash of rocketburst is coming for him out of an artistically designed dragon's head cape launcher. "I don't know any of what you're talking about, offworlder. Try making sense if you're gonna insult me." he says - to Amy. Her references are so out there to him, he's assuming she's one of the girls from another locale like Hannah.

    He's got barriers up in both hands - one for the blast and one for the one above - and he's flooding Dark Energy into the cracks as both give way, due to him having to divide his attention and energy between the two...

    So they also shatter, just as he's trying to backstep - it results in him getting clipped by both the blast and the blade, and now, it's Riventon's turn to do a spin of his own as the sheer impact trauma makes his whole body do a bit of a spin. But as he comes out of the kinetic thing, there's still a sneer on his face and in his hand there's a tightly gripped, condensed ball of dark Energy that may have been there for a while.

    <<ZERSCHMETTERN IMPULS.>> the device says as that little sphere of dark energy explodes into a short-range but high damage attack that he had been charging for who knows how long - a gift from another offworlder, in a sense. The energy crackles out of his hand like an electrified shotgun cone.

    <<Scan abgeschlossen.>> A voice that is not Riventon's device adds. Riventon, suddenly, backs away from Hannah and Amy as quickly as he dove in, that being his cue to make a lot of distance while blasting sticky low-damage dark energy beams of harassment mostly to clear that space. Which is good, because his Barrier Labcoat looks like hell, and the only thing doing worse on his side is the doll, with the stuffing dropping out of it and going from black, to grey, to white...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Offworlder?! I'm from HERE you twit, I thought YOU were from some other world!" Also, He can block in TWO directions at once? What the hell! Now that Hannah's in the air she just sets off the rockets lying on the ground though.

    She does NOT have a defense against being point-blank electroshotgunned. How wass she supposed to see it coming? "AAH!" She screams in pain, stumbles back, and falls on her butt... only for Riventon to get out of there like he sees a targeting circle she doesn't. No time to think about the pain -- although it seems to have mostly just blackened her clothing -- She aims the launcher against the ground and blasts herself up into the air again. It's not very *controlled*, but it moves her fast.

    She's still focused entirely on Riventon, not on the doll. She's suddenly shooting the rocket pistol again, but if he has a visible barrier up, the rockets just plink and fall to the ground to blow up if she sees him drop the barrier without moving. She's *got* to find a way through that barrier!

    "Hey, is there any way to get through those barriers he's using?" Hannah knows more about this magic than she does!

    In the meantime she refreshes her outfit. No need to let it stay all burnt!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The good thing about coming into a fight late is you have more energy than everyone who was there from the beginning. Sailor Moon has more energy than the rest of them, and with Yellow Pearl Voice's song weakening Dark Energy -

Well, the poor youma, one arm down, is in for an unfortunate time. He's tasted her Moon Twilight Flash, but how will he handle old reliable - her tiara?!

Let's find out.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

It flies free, that disc of cosmic energy, aimed for center mass, directed by the careful flick of Sailor Moon's wrist. But she doesn't wait to see it hit, turning to watch the rest of the fight (because cool kids don't stare atexplosions), and more importantly, to make sure Riventon isn't giving Hannah-chan and Red too hard of a time.

"Just keep hitting him! Even the strongest barrier can break, and he's not that tough!"

She has no idea who this guy is. But every guy is weak to a shot to the ego, right?

Greta Legend has posed:
There was a fair bit of satisfaction to be had from de-limbing the Youma, and Greta pivots upon landing to the big lug in order target another limb, unaware that the one arm she's already cut off has crawled up to her foot, and it's only when she feels it grab her ankle that she looks down, blinking as she tries to shake it off. "What the..? Bugger off..!"

Her Device, on the hand, paying attention to sensors and realizing the glow was not a good thing, chimes out, <*ksh*Blitzbarriere!*ksh*>

There is a flsh of a barriere that covers Greta, just as the limb explodes, and the blast sends Greta CAREENING into the sky, either into a building or into the arms of anyone who catches her. The barrier ate the brunt of the blast, but she still took a fair bit of hurt, barrier jacket even more shredded and her mask partially shattered.

"Ow... Bugger... OKay... That's bloody it..." She grunts out, before taking to the air, almost limping, as she raises her device up, "Dreiseelen... Let's finish this bastard...!"

<*ksh*Disengaging Limiter! Ready when you are!*ksh*>

Greta grits her teeth as the device begins to shieft again, the magic emitters pointing upwards, as the device fires off a giant beam into the air, as the girl roars out, "HIMMELSPALTEN!"

<*KSH*HIMMELSPALTEN!*KSH*> The three distorted voices harmonizing into one as the beam takes the form of a massive axe with the head forming up above.

Greta growls and roars out as she brings the axe down, aiming to cleave the Youma asunder down the middle. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Seeing the demon mostly weakened by all their efforts and deprived of one of its arms by Sunshine Spark, the mermaid princess decides it's time to deal a good blow that would end this once and for all.

She raises her arm, the yellow bracelet at her wrist starts shining with a white light, the blessing of Aqua Regina surrounding the yellow idol, adding more frills to her clothes as a bright yellow halo descends from her head to her feet and endowing her song with additional strength.

"Coming Back to the Sea: Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!", she declares, singing of millions of stars that enchant everyone's gaze, the Live Stage surrounding her shining bright as her purification magic is pushed to the max. The inevitable destiny Yellow Pearl Voice sings of moves to repel the darkness of the youma, a protection to the pure of heart against whom fear won't prevail.

Coco sings of her love for her homeland, the most lovely memories that await her there, providing her the resolution to help anyone that extends her hand up to her, as the melodious magic calls up 2 more Live Stages, adding them to the purifying power as a strike to stop the monster physically too rather than just via purification.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
The shield she's smashing on suddenly gives way! Hannah is all but up on victory over Riventon! With a wide grin, she reaches up with her blade, and energy already starts to draw into herself, ready to smash down the mad scientist with the help of her dear freunds!

Too bad both his scan and his sphere of dark energy make their mark! Riventon gets a full-on scan of the Ancient Belkan Device, with all it's history and nigh-on lost Belkan technology, kept by none but this merchantile family that's survived so many wars!

That dark energy blast impacts Hannah, and sends her crashing towards the ground, only to crash out in a /second/ crater this fight. Gritting her teeth, she raises her blade, and points it towards where she last sensed Riventon...

And he's gone!!!

Her entire body aches, and she slices at the air!

"You...gutless...CURR!" She huffs after the mad-mahou-scientist, her senses still swimming and her body once again shivering in pain!
Shehe also hears questions about shields and barriers! A cough, a hack, and her head spins!

"Honest answer, mein engel? Exponential force upon the surface area of the shield! Just because the most basic aspects of defense is...basic, does naught insult their strength!" Comes Hannah to Amy, laying out a simple truth of Device Mage battle!

Sometimes it's all about strength versus strength! And Hannah is leaning against the wall of the Ice Cream Shop right about now!

Greta lashes out. And Hannah doesn't even speak. Instead, Blauer Greif pips right out to Dreiseelen!

<Gut gemacht>

'Well Done'

And with the youma crashed in by YPV's additional purification magic? Hannah decides that falling back on her backside is the best course of action. Mostly because she's out of energy and her whole hide still hurts from Riventon's Dark Energy assault. She slowly drags herself out of the hole!

"By the Sankt....Have we won?" She questions, the Belkan's legs feeling far-too-quivery after that fight!

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It's not that the girls can't break the barriers - they have on several occasions. It's why his outfit is torn and there's some blood dripping down his arm. But they haven't broken -him- or Axion, so he's able to continue putting new Barriers up, alternating with his Device, while stepping backwards and trying to not end up splatted into a tree or something. But chalk some of that up to his attitude, to his ego - the ego Sailor Moon is attacking. That he can continue to banter while fending off an angry Puella and a Belkan, and not end up paste like his youma? Even with all of the Dark Energy he came in here amped up with, and has been bleeding off in attacks and defenses, there's something else. Something drives him.

    Much like something is driving the youma - well, it's a giant axe, and it's driving into the youma's three arms, which it has brought up to try and block the Axe. And it does a good job, too - until the Live Stages also dive in, and along with the song, break the youma's guard further, and Greta gets what Greta was after - a clean strike down the middle cutting the youma in twain, and then the purfication finishes it off (before it can explode again) - letting it drop into the strange stew of parts it was originally made from. Two children's dolls, a need and thread, and a few firecrackers. Was this youma made out of what they found in some kid's pockets?

    Riventon is about to give some more snark when a tiara comes flying in from the side. Too many hits, too many strikes, too much energy burned, and it's the combination of Moon's tiara and Amy's rocket barrage that breaks his barrers yet again, only this time, the barriers don't stop the incoming hits at all. The Barrier Labcoat does - a little - but the positive energy is bad Bad BAD for him. The attempt to taunt turns into a cry of agony, which is then converted into a comment of surprise

    A little blue-and-black robot, artistically similar to the ones Wako and Takuto often have, appears over his shoulder, flickers, and then it and Riventon are gone. All of this happens in short order, though it's clear the youma is down and Riventon is likely in no shape to come back for a repeat performance anytime soon.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Otto is doing a really good job at being annoying", Coco cooments with a sigh after Riventon disappears. The mermaid princess stretches her arms out now that the fight is done and they don't have to deal with that musclebound fisher(?), going over to help Jolly Roger off if the spear hasn't vanished along with the youma, or checking how she is doing if it has, apologising for her tardiness.

" I think I am up for that ice cream now, what does everyone think?" she proposes, reverting immediately to her civilian self. The perks of everyone here knowing her normal form. Looking around, everyone seems alright, and good ice cream is just what is needed as a reward for the victory, she feels. She is so going to order that mango flavour once everyone has decided.