1696/Doom and Gloom: CONSEQUENCES

Doom and Gloom: CONSEQUENCES
Date of Scene:	23 June 2024
Location:	Grocery Store
Synopsis:	DG Girl Chaar has found Hinoiri at the grocery store, and this reunion of student and teacher is not going well for the unicorn. Luckily, Black Lynx, Hope Blossom, Nanoha, Katsuko, and Rocket Girl Red are in the area and ready to be on scene! CW: injuries.
Cast of Characters:	Doom and Gloom Girls, Hinoiri Kirara, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Nanoha Takamachi, Katsuko Takezaki, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust

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Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
It's a beautiful day at the grocery store, and Hinoiri Kirara is a terrible horse. Claimed to be a unicorn, didn't even have a stupid horn.

Noriko Motosugi - the Doom and Gloom Girl known as Chaar - has wanted to tear Hinoiri Kirara down for a while, since the day she'd made Noriko realize that Obsidian saw her as disposal, tradeable, worthless. The day she'd left her wrapping burns with bandages and dabbing on cream, aware that the only thing she could do was burn hotter, fiercer, brighter than anyone else.

Then, Noriko would be good enough she that could get revenge. She'd learned from her senpai, worked hard, even thought that maybe, just maybe, she might not be as terrible as Noriko thought.

But then, as if to prove her wrong - as if to prove that she was a fool for ever thinking that - Hinoiri Kirara had come after her, attacked her on the job, drained her of every drop of Obsidian-brand magic, left her covered in burns and unconscious on the floor like garbage.

The other DG Girls - and Yuuhi-san, who'd saved her life, probably, calling that ambulance - had been the only ones who visited her, of course, all the way through that hellish hospital trip, waiting to find out if she'd heal, half out of her mind because she didn't have magic and she didn't know what had happened to her - until fucking Sunbreaker got herself wrecked on the pavement.

Honestly, that day in the hospital when it all came back to her, when her borrowed magic came rushing back and she remembered that she was more than Noriko? Finding out that Sunbreaker - that Hinoiri Kirara was gone - was the happiest day of her life.

Well...

Chaar tosses a ball crimson fire from hand to hand, looking around the burning grocery store, filled with unconscious civilians (energy drain is a hell of a thing), and smiled.

Almost the happiest.

"Hey senpai, am I doing it right? Am I making you afraid of me?" Her voice drips with condescension, and she throws the fireball through the aisle, cereal boxes and their contents catching alight, metal melting, hissing, steaming as it punches right through, allowing Chaar to see through to where Hinoiri had been hiding. "Go on. Keep running."

The Maruetsu supermarket in Pikarigaoka is one of many perfectly ordinary grocery stores, and they are, in fact, normally equipped with sprinkler systems and fire alarms in case of emergency. Unfortunately... it seems the sprinkler system was mysteriously cut off, who could do such a thing?

On this, this beautiful Sunday afternoon, the store had been filled with customers, which made the whole thing sweeter - their energy has already been sent off to Obsidian, carried away by Drie, who'd been happy to leave the revenge to her comrade if it meant this whole attack would score points with the boss instead of just being an obvious revenge ploy.

The whole thing was uplanned; it was just supposed to be an ordinary bit of grocery shopping, snacks for Noriko to take back home and relish in now that she could prep her own food again, and the gods of luck had come smiling, delivering her the perfect target for her rage.

The entrance of the store is blocked off from the outside by a row of carts, not hard to get through, but definitely time-consuming for anyone on the inside desperate to not get caught, and for the last fifteen minutes, Chaar's been playing a game of cat and mouse with Hinoiri, letting her scamper away in terror every time she's found, leaving her with new burns every time she's been caught.

"Come on, senpai! Give me some feedback! Tell your student how great she's doing!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara DID have a horn, just... not now.

Unfortunately, when she'd seen Noriko? She'd felt those sins on her back. She'd... she'd tried to apologize. She'd tried to say she was *sorry*. Because she'd hurt her. She'd done so much damage and there was no way she could make it up to her. Especially since she'd mentioned she'd seen Chaar as her responsibility.

That had only made things worse. Now? Now she was hiding, her back against the wall of a popcorn aisle, breathing heavily. Burns on her legs, her arm, tapping on her phone. She'd sent out texts to every number she HAD. 'Help'.

... One massive 'Help!' text. But, you know what happens to many, many texts in super markets? They don't get out. And she was trying to send them again when--

The fireball blew past, exploding burnt popcorn against Hinoiri and making her let out another squeak, a small burn forming on her hip as part of her jacket just... melted off. Her hair was singed and she couldn't stop coughing as she inhaled more smoke, making her location all the more clear. "D-damn it... C-chaar..." she mumbled.

"A-A class on the fear part, b-but half the lesson was to get them to run away and I'm very much at that point!" Hinoiri yelled.

A hand moved over her necklace. She had to take it off. She... no. No. Someone would come. Someone would--

She left her hiding spot, going deeper into the store, and looking for something she could use to defend herself in any way.

Help was on the way. It had to be. It always was. Please. Please be here soon. She stroked over the necklace and ran towards the produce section, ducking down and hiding behind a row of cabbages, pushing her back to it and tapping on her phone. Damn it. Signal. SIGNAL! SHE NEED A BLOODY SIGNAL! DID ANY OF THE MESSAGES GET OUT?! ANY OF THEM?!

"Please... someone... anyone..." she whispered, a few tears in her eyes and a few more coughs escaping her mouth. Adrenaline at least helped to dull the pain. She didn't know what scared her more.

Chaar.

Or what she'd become if she took the necklace off.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
That was...smoke? A good bit of it too. "What! I need to buy some groceries! WHY IS THE STORE ON FIRE DAMNIT?!" Ikuto started running, putting one hand out to Yoru while the other was on the Key hanging from its chain. No time to be fancy today. There was a fire, and he didn't see anyone leaving the store...that was bad.

"My Heart, Unlock!" Windows. There. The black cat crashed through a window, looking around. Smoke. Some small fires. People unconscious. He can't get these people out of here very quickly. "HEY! ANYONE AWAKE IN HERE?! HELLO! IF YOU'RE ALIVE SAY SOMETHING! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi was looking for snacks, so she was on her way to the grocery store with a pocket full of pocket money. She's humming the tune of some anime and testing Sukaza and Arisa, seeing if they would like something small. Suddenly..!

Lots of fire.

She drops her phone almiost and gasps as she catches some sort of Moth Girl(?) flinging fire at someone running away. She just looks on with worry as she grips her charm necklace. "Raising Heart, Setup...."

< Get set! > goes Raising heart as she transforms in a flash of white light...

Holding Raising Heart , she casts her barrier, the world turning sepia tone as the civilians with no awareness are removed from the premises liker magic.

Before she frowns and starts chasing after the two, huffing. "H-Hey! Stop that! Did you cause this fire!?" she yells.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko was being made to do groceries today, so she was headed over with the cash and a shopping list when she notices the problem at around the same time that Nanoha sets up that barrier.

    <ANFANG> goes Zwillingrute as she transforms in a flash of blue light, and she rushes for the door. Upon seeing it blocked, she does the only sensible thing, and brings both her tonfa to bear to smash that door open. "Hey, what's going on around here?!" She yells as she walks through the remnants of the door.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is on her way to the grocery store with her shopping list. Medo and Gretchen are trailing along, one to make sure that Madoka made healthy food choices and the other to make sure that she made tasty snack choices. Clearly this would not be a potential source of conflict.

    Seeing smoke in the distance and getting immediately worried, Madoka starts running. As she reached the front doors and sees the carts blocking the doors, she can't help but think that this was an intentional act.

    "Doka-chan, be careful," warned Gretchen. "I can feel dark energy inside, and... Yoru is nearby too."

    The pink girl turns to Medo and says, "Henshin with me! We need to keep these people safe." The fairy salutes before Madoka shouts, "MY HEART: UNLOCK!"

    A flash of light and stars later, a flossie-wearing Hope Blossom is aiming a charged arrow at the carts. "I'm sorry for the property damage, but... it's an emergency!"

    Yet before she can unleash pink hell, Gretchen interrupts. "Like... I can just warp them away. I can literally just do that. Look. It'd be faster if we henshined but like..." A few of the carts vanish into a Labyrinth portal, and reappear a few meters away. Not many carts, and certainly not the whole row, but enough to free up one of the doors. "See? Don't be a dummy."

    Madoka opens her mouth to respond, but before she can the Barrier goes up. Instead of arguing with her fairy, she just starts following the others towards the Doom and Gloom girl and her latest target.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy just wanted to get some ingredients to try cooking! But when she arrives at the front doors there's... A bunch of shopping carts blocking them? She ducks out of sight, transforms, and then is quick to help Katsuko and Madoka move the carts. "Doors are open! Everybody ou-- oh there's a barrier." She runs after the others, looking for the source.

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
An apology. She'd gotten an apology, from Hinoiri Kirara, as if a few stuttering words could make it right! No, the only thing that could make it right was repayment. Pain for pain. Burn for burn.

Fear for fear.

So she's been chasing her through the store. Playing games with her. The fire isn't very large - it's mostly that a few boxes here and there are burning, and there's some smoke, and maybe some of the snack aisles are going up but it's fine, it's fine, the people are mostly piled off in the produce section where things are usually wet anyway, it's fine, it's fine! What matters is vengeance, not them, who cares about them anyway?!

"Oh, but you didn't let me run, now DID YOU? When you drained me?!" A fireball, crimson, unnatural, entirely magical in nature is launched at Hinoiri's heels - and if it happens to hit her, well Chaar doesn't mind that.

She does mind the sepia-tone to the world, as the barrier goes up - mostly because she knows it means that the enemy is here, and that means -

"I guess someone cares about you after all. So I should probably hurry up and get to the main event, huh?!" And with that, she flies directly at Hinoiri, aiming to snatch her up. If she succeeds? She'll be draining her of her energy - not her magic, it won't feel the way Sunset of Sora's drain felt, but it will be uncomfortable to say the least.

Her voice is loud, ringing out in the new silence - there's just the flames and Hinoiri's panting breaths and terror, and Chaar's furious voice, now.

The civilians have all been neatly swept away by the barrier.

Nanoha, the only person to see precisely what's going on, has a glare leveled her way. She's not recognized. "None of your business, brat. The Big Kids are having a conversation."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto hears more yelling, and some sort of magical attack. "Oh great. GREAT! I was supposed to go shopping and now we're fighting?! Ugh, FINE!" He's annoyed, running towards the sound of the fighting, and who's that girl? Who's that OTHER girl?! Wait, he recognizes some of them! "Madoka-chan, Amy-chan! Other girl! Small child! What is going-"

Then he sees her. She doesn't look great...but it's definitely her. "Hinoiri-chan...?" He sees this other girl too...throwing fire. Rushing at her. To say he's reminded of what nearly happened to Yuki is an understatement. "No no no...not again, NOT AGAIN!" He's charging in now, claw raised and heedless of how foolish he's being, again. "STOP!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi frowns and narrows her eyes from behind the row of carts and lowers Raising Heart. "That's a wrong answer.....Hammer Shot!" she calls out. Raising Heart Responding in tone: < Hammer Shot! > and a shotgun like energy blast obliterates the carts in front of her and flier fins her way in as she aims Raising Heart again and it calls out: < Hammer Shot! > as Nanoha fires the energy shotgun, again, downrange at the moth girl who has fire powers.

"Stop what you're doing!!!" she yells.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko overhears the yellow Chaar gets up to, even if she can't quite see what's going on, she recognizes that voice and that anger. She rushes towards the source, and hoping that others can help Hinoiri she repeats what she's doing last time. Or tries to anyway, "You still sound like you need a hug!" She yells, before flying forward to try to catch Chaar in a flying tackle hug. Firm enough to hopefully create a bit of separation between Chaar and Hinoiri, but not so firm as to hurt. This is not an attack, after all.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had stumbled, taking cover as best she could, more flames burning her pants to her legs. "I-I wasn't me when I was like that! That's why I'm not using dark energy! I never want to hurt anyone like that again! You were the one I was training, of course I never wanted to hurt you!" she yelled, trying to crawl away...

Escaping the produce aisle, she tried to leap and--

And arms grabbed her from behind. She reached out, trying to grab something and...

"I-I'm sorry! I was trying to teach you!" And then smashed the thing she had grabbed against Chaar's face. It was... a glass jar of pickles. So... ummm... pickle juice to the face?

Probably didn't hurt as much as having all of her energy forcefully drained out of her, or all the burns, clothing melted to the skin, all of that... so... still, point to Chaar.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom arrives a bit late, trailing behind everyone else who entered less carefully. Her branch bow is already in her hands and she still has her pink arrow nocked when she turns a corner and sees--

    Oh geeze. Hinoiri is being attacked by one of her former co-workers.
        Gretchen actually hides behind Madoka when she sees the Doom and Gloom girl. The Witch Chara is in a similar boat to Hinoiri. Sure, she could raise hell and defend herself from things like this. If she was willing to sell her soul, embrace darkness and all of the insanity that comes with it. That alone isn't enough to erase how mad the little fairy is at the unicorn, though.

    Then again, as mad as Gretchen is? She's not so mad that she'd leave Hinoiri to die.

    The dark fairy vanishes into a Labyrinth, her motivations unknown. Hope Blossom, meanwhile, aims carefully and unleashes a single bolt of pink magic that splits into many, each shard arcing through the air and homing in on Chaar.

    "That's enough!" she shouts. "I wont let you take this any further!"

    Granted... it seems like... a lot of the other magicals are charging directly at the youma she just shot. "Oh geeze..."

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
"The first thing you EVER taught me was that you'll hurt me!" Chaar screams, voice echoing through the store - she had made her fame on the internet doing metal covers and rewrites of songs, and that hellish, pitched roar of a voice she'd perfected for that music is still strong. The fact that she gets a pickle jar smashed to her head just makes her moth-eyebrows twitch, as pickle juice runs down her face, and she digs her fingers into Hinoiri's skin as she drains her. And then? She lights them on fire, burning her fingertips into Hinoiri, working through jacket to skin. First degree burns will set in first, second degree if she's able to keep a good grip on her.

"You weren't yourself?! That's such a great excuse to not take the blame, huh?!"

And then she's got not one but two people leaping her way, one with claws out, the other with arms open, and there's a third yelling for her to stop, and a fourth firing - energy? Energy bolts?

This sure would be a problem if she was restricted to the ground, wouldn't it?

"Has anyone ever stopped just because some brat screamed at them too?" With a flap of her wings, Chaar flies up, weaving to squeeze around Hope Blossoms's shots - one manages to graze her, but she's dragging Hinoiri up as a shield between herself and the blasts, so she's not too worried about it. Katsuko and Black Lynx might very well slam into each other, though.

"Why don't you show each other a good time while I deal with my senpai?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy hears Chaar's voice, and winces. Oh boy, this is going to be a *problem*. And Nanoha is attacking...

    Amy runs that way, trying to get into view of DG Chaar.

    She looks at her, glances between her and Hinoiri, looks worried for Hinoiri, glares at Caar. Takes a breath.

    "...She... did terrible things to you, and that was wrong. You deserve sympathy too... but you have to stop this!"

    Amy points at Chaar. "We gave her another chance. We can give you one too. But you have to stop this. Stop hurting people. Please."

    She holds back from manifesting a weapon or shooting. Chaar's words from before stick with her.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara looked up at her and... "I was an asshole, okay?! I don't know how to make up for it but I'm trying my best! I was scared if I didn't do something you'd--"

And then? Then there was fire. Her eyes went wide and she SCREAMED! Pain searing through her chest as she felt the hand melting through her jacket, she reached up to grab the arm, but that only made her pull her hands back, new burns on her hands. She hurt, she was tired, her energy was fading and she let out another, weaker, pained scream. Was she going to die?

At the hands of the monster she made?

No noo NO!

She reached up and tore the necklace off... and slammed the geode down on Chaar's arm. She didn't know if it would hurt much. But she hoped it would do *something*. Because as it was? She imagined she had five... six seconds left of consciousness? At best?

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Arrow. ARROW! He can -feel- something whizz past him, aimed at the person he's rushing to try and stop before he decided to rush in without really...mentioning that to the two girls who clearly have ranged weapons. "Whoa! Sorry Madoka-chan! I almost caught your shot with the back of-"

*THUMP*

"Oof! S-sorry!" He stumbled back, having charged right into the girl who had also run in. Looking up, he glared at Chaar. "I don't know who you think you are, but your senpai is my friend! I don't like hurting people, but if you don't start explaining why you're doing this, I'm going to -make- you let go of her!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope watches as Chaar flies away with Hinoiri while using her as a body shield, and all of a sudden this is starting to get a lot worse. Madoka's arrows could just go around and hit her from behind, but that's not always reliable against a mobile magical opponent.

    Besides, she just grazed Ikuto. She winces. "S-sorry!"

    At the same time, Madoka is starting to get really sick of this. Always cleaning up after some jerk's bad choices."Okay. Alright. Sure. A lot of people don't stop when told to, but-- GRETCHEN!!"

    The dark fairy isn't immediately visible, but her portal has appeared behind Chaar. What comes out is bees.

    A swarm of tiny, angry Familiar bees that, if one got a really good look at them? Would look about as eldritch and freaky as most of Gretchen's familiars. And they're swarming Chaar to get in her face and sting her and do basically anything to create problems for her.

    Hope, worried, leaps on top of one of the aisles, and then starts leaping at Chaar to grab her foot. "Wait! Give her back!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi 'nrgs' when Chaar puts up a human shield and she stops her fire, though she still keeps Raising Heart aimed downrange as she frowns. "I'm YELLING BECAUSE IT'S LOUD AND WE'RE NOT VERY CLOSE... YOU... YOU DORK!" she grits her teeth in determination as she raises Raising Heart straight up and mutters. "B-bah-bind!" she stammers as Raising Heart responds back with < Ring Bind! >, two magenta rings trying to form around the base of the moth girl's wings.

She's trying to lock her in place! Maybe she'll miss, but she was to try SOMETHING to help.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko is bumped into by a big guy, and gets tossed aside and into some shelves. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" She hypocritically tells Black Lynx, before turning to Chaar. "Is this really what you want to do? Hurt people who can't fight back? Aren't you trying to prove you're better than she was?" She tries to argue, moving in to try to hug Chaar once again, and maybe get Chaar to drop Hinoiri as a side effect.

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
The geode slams into Chaar, and the blow itself is nothing - Hinoiri just doesn't really have a ton of strength to gather, injured as she is, mundane as she is. But the touch of the geode burns - not like fire, but like the sting of peroxide in a fresh wound, a sting that hurts and helps all at once.

The presence in the back of her mind, the evil that she unwittingly let in, roars in fury.

It's that rage that compels her to just throw Hinoiri aside like a sack of flour, right as Hope Blossom grabs her, right as bees come flooding for her face -

"GET OUT OF MY FACE!" She shrieks, and kicks at Hope Blossom - dislodging her, which works out for her, because she ignites in flame, burning away the bees and anything that happens to be touching her in the moment. She flies up, turning on Amy and Katsuko, glaring at them, flying higher than ever to try and get away from Katsuko's hugs. "If I stop hurting people, I lose everything they gave me! This is what I have power for! This is what I'm meant to be! NOW STOP TRYING TO HUG IT BETTER, I'M NOT SOME LITTLE KID!"

And then she whirls on Black Lynx, face pulled back in a snarl of rage, "I'm doing this because she hurt me and why the HELL should I have to turn the other cheek, just because she got her ass kicked? She puts me in the hospital for no reason, she drains everything I have, and I'm supposed to let it go because oh, she's sorry, oh, she didn't mean it, oh she didn't know FIRE BURNS PEOPLE?!"

A blast of flame pulses out - it can be leapt over or ducked under, and it ignites the dry produce all around them.

"Well I'm not buying -"

The bind ring snaps around the base of her wings, and she plummets, catching herself furiously.

"I'M NOT BUYING IT," she continues, and throws a fireball the size of a coconut at Nanoha.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was let go, yay! Was plummeting, less yay.

And hurt... and aching... and... "N-necklace.." she said, weakly. "O-on my neck..." She was asking to have it put on. Because slamming it? Tha had been just about ALL her power. The geode was dangling from her finger tips and, right now? With all her emotions? She definitely didn't trust herself to not have it. But she couldn't lift her arm as burned as she was to put it on. She'd need Madoka for that.

And...

"H-help her... p-please... my... fault. I-I did this... she's not... evil... don't... let them... kill her..."

But if she had the energy to say more?

She'd totally okay them beating her up. I mean, she got her ass beat plenty before it stuck. But she'd almost died and... and if that happened to Chaar, especially over her? She'd never forgive herself.

... And then her eyes closed as consciousness finally burned away. And if Madoka didn't grab the geode, it'd slip from her fingers to the ground below.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Does having the power to hurt people make you happy?" Katsuko ass Chaar as the fire washes over her. She makes no attempt to dodge, or even block. She's tanking it the most reckless way, relying just on her knight armour. This hurts, and though she grimaces she tries not to show it. "Because you don't look very happy. My power is very good at hurting people too, but I choose to use it to help instead, because helping people makes me happy." She pauses, "Well most of the time. There was this guy the other day who really just needed to get hurt a little, so I did." She undermines her own point. "And it's not just kids who need a good hug sometimes." She then goes to try to 'hug it better' again.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope holds onto Chaar's ankle for like a moment, just long enough to question the part of her brain that ever thought that this was a good idea, only to get shook loose in a hurry. Madoka watches as Hinoiri gets tossed aside, formulates a somewhat better plan this time, and tumbles through the air like a gymnast to land on her feet. In one fluid motion she touches down, squats, and then super-leaps back into the air to catch the unpowered Hinoiri before the unicorn can hit the ground or anything else.

    "This is just going to be a whole thing with you, isn't it?" asks Blossom, landing on top of an aisle and then hopping down, narrowly avoiding the flaming hell that Chaar unleashes upon the others.

    As the Geode is about to fall, Gretchen makes her reappearance and grabs the tiny rock. "I got a rock!" she announces as she follows her Bearer. "It's mine now!" As she holds the geode in her hand, it burns and there's a slight amount of smoke rising. The tiny Chara, stubbornly, pretends that it doesn't bother her. This lasts about five seconds.

    Hope Blossom gives the Witch Chara an exasperated look as she runs away with Hinoiri. "You can't keep that, Gretchen-chan. It's burning you."

    "Oh so now all of a sudden that's a concern for you!" She sticks out her tongue, but then starts juggling the thing between her tiny hands. "Okay, okay, I was kidding, but I'm still mad! At both of you!" before tossing the necklace over Hinoiri's head so that it'd fall into place. "That makes two people who have necklaces that burn me!"

    Hope Blossom hides out of combat for a moment, a few rows over, checking Hinoiri for vital signs and doing her usual first aid stuff because (A) she is in henshin with the medic Chara and (B) she would be doing this kind of thing anyways.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto quickly rolls to one side to avoid the flame, and seeing Chaar bound for the moment gets up close, almost but not quite in her face. He looks...angry, rather than just annoyed. "She hurt you too, huh? Yeah she tried to power-drain my girlfriend and instead burned the hell out of me. Put me in the hospital for a while. I have every reason to want Hinoiri-chan hurt just as bad as I was, if not worse. But you know what? I'm not gonna do that because from here, all I see is a -stupid- girl who made -stupid- mistakes and has a chance to turn her life around the way I'm trying to!"

"Sure, you can kill her here and now! Do it if you really can't help yourself! Prove you're no better than she was in her darkest moment! Is that what you want!?" He's looking in her eyes now, trying to find some sign that she's a person, and not lost like Sunset was.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi eyes go wide as a burst of fire erupts and she gets pushed back a little by it and nearly falls backwards but catches herself. She then suddenly raises a round shield. No call out. an autocast. It manages to eat the singular coconut sized flame ball before dissipating from the hit. She frowns and spits.

"You need to stop this!" she calls out. "You we're hurting people just because!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy winces at Hinoiri's pain. No one should go through that, but... she can be strong, right? For buying a little time to give Chaar the chance given to her?

    Chaar refutes this, though, honestly. Amy's face falls into resignation.

    "Of course she knew. And she did the wrong things. And we stopped her. And we'll do the same to you. I'm full-size, this time."

    She conjures her rocket launcher and takes aim...

    And Hinoiri's begging for Chaar's life.

    "...We've seen her recover from worse."

    She fires an anti-tank rocket at the DG girl, only afterwards realizing that uhh. Against someone fire-elemental... is using an attack based on extremely hot high-energy particles really a good idea? We'll find out!

    The rocket airbursts before impact into what looks like a lance of light that lasts for only an instant, metal plasma trying to punch a hole through the youma.

    Rocket launchers aren't big on like. Stun attacks.

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
"Having the power to hurt people who hurt me sure does make me happy," Chaar snaps at Katsuko, though she looks taken aback - bewildered - that Katsuko is still trying to hug her. The fact that majority of them are just yelling and talking instead of attacking is baffling, and she wheels around on Nanoha, trying to flare her wings and failing because of the bind. "I just SAID why I'm hurting her! You shot at me first, you can't get mad if I shoot back, that's how a fight works! You don't throw a punch and then get shocked when someone decks you in return!"

She's distracted enough that Katsuko is, in fact, able to hug her from behind, which amkes Chaar stiffen up like she's been electrocuted, startled, shocked, and that's when the rocket comes barreling her way, explosive plasma coming for a fiery moth and surprise hardens into fury.

"Fucking Figures," she spits, and puts both hands in front of her as she blasts fire out towards the rocket. It explodes, naturally, but she sweeps the fire around and around and around, forcing it to twine around itself into a tiny ball that burns like the sun.

There's smoke and soot and singe marks on her wings and arms, but the fireball that is all that remains of Amy's explosive plasma burns bright in her hands.

"I bet I could burn this whole place to the ground if I just dropped this," she says casually. Katsuko, behind her, is untouched, save for perhaps some singes on her arms, where they looped around Chaar's front in that hug. "I wonder if you'd recover from worse?" She looks Amy dead in the eye, before she slowly turns to Black Lynx.

"You're the guy who ran from Easter, aren't you? Lucky you, you still have magic. But I won't. I'm not like you. I didn't get picked by anything but Obsidian, and if I leave them, I'll lose my power - and my memories of having them. I won't even know why they're trying to kill me. Like my senpai said, I'm replaceable! No one is going to try and bring me back, they're not going to try and drag me back! I have power for ONE REASON and as my wonderful teacher Sunbreaker said, it's for HURTING and SCARING people!"

And then she lobs the fiery ball of concentrated heat at Amy -

No, wait, past Amy. It flies right by her head, and the wall of the grocery store bursts into flames.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto jumps at the sound of the rocket exploding just a few feet away. "Whoa! Amy-chan, those are a lot louder than they seem in movies!" Then he listens to Chaar. He's about to respond when she throws the fireball at Amy, or past her rather. But he isn't watching to see where it lands...he's done trying to talk this girl down.

"She's my friend too, and you're taking this too damn far! Hugging girl, cut it out; she's not going to stop unless we make her!" His right arm is a blur, and knowing Katsuko is right behind Chaar he instead aims his claw for the fiery girl's shoulder, stabbing at her with the tips of the claw's blades. He doesn't want to kill her and isn't aiming to do so, but he has to try and stop her. "Madoka-chan can fix you up as long as I don't hit anything important...at least you'd better hope so."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was unconscious. A burned, damaged, utterly wrecked mess. She was suffering from smoke inhalation, terrible burns, and being juuuuust magic enough that she was inside the barrier.

She needed a doctor. She needed real medical treatment. On the upside, though, Madoka's nursing would help keep her stable and she wasn't at risk of dying... immediately. But parts of her clothing would need to be removed from her skin itself. Chaar had wanted to hurt her and she'd succeeded. Unconsciousness was probably a mercy at this point.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Just get Kirara-san out of here." Katsuko answers Black Lynx, trying to maintain that hug. "If we get her to safety, then it doesn't matter that she doesn't want to stop. She still deserves a hug." And to Chaar, "I'm sorry to hear that, but you're wrong. No-one is disposable. If they try to dispose of you, I'll be there to help you, promise."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's eyes widen as the heavy metal plasma is mostly just... captured. That's... even worse! That shit punches through tanks, and she can control it?!

    Her expression hardens, though. She will recover from having a hole punched through her. It's kind of overkill, her body's not as tough as tank armor. She flinches and ducks under the attack thrown back at her and then hears a blaze starting behind her. "Oh, COME ON! Like, YEAH, they're really hot, but the mass is barely anything, that shouldn't--" she sighs. "Magic. Someone has a barrier up, right?"

    She turns and changes her weapon to a gyrojet rifle. The bullets may be rocket-propelled, because they're still bullets, so... hopefully they work?

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
The wall bursts into flames and Nanopha winces at the increasing heat of the barriered store. She frowns and looks to Chaar. "STOP IT!" she calls out as she raises Raising Heart again.....until Ikuto gets too close and she frowns...

She can't Divine Buster Chaar when there's someone so close. She sighs and instead, fires a few careful Shot Barrets towards Chaar.

"I..i won't. Let you get what you want, then!" she says with a little anger behind her voice.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hears some scary explosion sounds, then peeks around the edge of the aisle to see that the wall is now on fire.

    It's a really good thing that they're in a barrier right now.

    Gretchen has her arms crossed and is pouting in Hinoiri's direction, but otherwise isn't trying to rob her or anything. As Madoka looks Hinoiri over her face gets more and more concerned, and the fairy's pouting starts giving way to actual worry.

    "Burns in several places. This is beyond me," admits Madoka. "She'll have to get to the hospital. Moving her would be rough... Gretchen? I don't suppose your spacial magic could help?"

    Gretchen gives her a stare, and then a tiny sigh. "Medo-chan, swap with me."

    Medo's egg pops out of Madoka's heart, and Gretchen's egg goes in. For the first time since the Sunbreaker fight, Hope Witch has entered the game.

    She doesn't really move Hinoiri persay. It's more that the world moves around them, forcing their way out of the Barrier and back outside. Once there, Hope glances back at the grocery store with worry. Pulling out her smartphone, she makes a call. "Hello, yes? There's been a fire at the grocery store on <streetname>. Someone has been badly burned."

    Talking to dispatch will take a moment. Again, the Barrier saves her, since calling emergency workers into a magical fight would be a big problem otherwise.

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
"It doesn't matter because she's your friend and I'm not, right?! That's how it works for you heroes, just like it does for Obsidian. If you like someone you'll do anything for them, spare them any hurt - but if you don't, if they're not likeable you're willing to do anything, hurt ANYONE! That's why I'm never giving up my magic! I'll do whatever it takes! If they're the only ones who will have me then I'll LET THEM HAVE ME!"

Chaar doesn't try to dodge Black Lynx's attack - instead, as he lunges for her, he buries his claws in deep into the meat of her shoulder, stopped only by meeting bone. Hot red blood pours over his palm and though Chaar's face twists in agony, she doesn't scream. Instead, with him quite literally caught on her, she reaches for his shoulder - paralleling his action - and burns him. His henshin will help, but he's going to have a nasty second degree burn when this is over.

"Well, you'd better hope 'Madoka-chan' can fix you... as long as I don't burn anything too important."

The girl on her back is still hugging her, still refusing to let go, so fine then, she won't hurt her - but her FRIENDS can. With Black Lynx stabbing her from the front and Katsuko hugging her from the back, it's really only her sides exposed, and it's all too easy for her to shift around so Katsuko and Black Lynx take the shots from Amy and Nanoha.

"You should really take better care of your friends."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sees Madoka kneeling by Hinoiri, and can guess what's about to happen when she switches to Hope Witch. She's not actually sure if Madoka has supplies although Medo might? Better safe than sorry. "Madoka! Here!" She pulls her first aid kit out from under her cloak and tosses it. It's a soft, small pack that unzips and unfolds with pouches of supplies for wounds of various severity and instructions with diagrams. Admittedly, there's not a lot to do for burns other than keep them clean so they can heal naturally, but but antibiotic and bandages can help with that, at least. Amy's also stuffed over the counter painkillers in there.

    Chaar whines about how she didn't get a chance because she's not likeable enough. "DUDE. We did give you a chance! Like seconds ago! And you said no! We're still not gonna kill you, but we are gonna stop--dammit!"

    Rocket-bullets travel at, y'know, bullet speeds, so it's more a matter of her own reaction time than someone being used as a shield from already-fired bullets. Still, a burst might go into Katsuko or Black Lynx. "Fuck! Look, we got Hinoiri out of here, so just... everyone get away from her! We can't... attack like this!"

    If Katsuko and Nanoha are able to get clear, she just... Summons the giant cannon again and fires a solid round. No fire to control, just a ball of metal with a whole lot of kinetic energy and terrible, terrible physics.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha lets out a marge noise of 'nrrrrg' again when human sheilds are used again. So she stops firing her basic shot barrets. They're not terribly strong. She scowls a little on her young face as she shoots Chaar a glare.

Nanoha is not in the way of Amy. She's a distance away. She frowns. "Red is right! Please get away from her! I need a clear firing solution!" she calls out.

She doesn't know Rashmi's telepathy trick, so she's trying to yell orders.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko gets hit while being used as a human shield and winces, she looks to the others. "It's not about like or dislike." She tells Chaar, as she reluctantly lets go. "It's about protecting people who need protecting. You need help, too, but you don't seem to be willing to accept help." She flies out of the way, "My name is Katsuko Takezaki, if you ever need help. I mean actual help, not just beating people up, get in touch." She promises, while Zwillingrute reaches out to Raising Heart with an attempt to help calculate that firing solution.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto grimaces at the blood coming from the wound, and braces himself when he sees Chaar's hand moving. He knows what he signed up for by getting this close to another fire user. It's not quite as bad as when Sunset grabbed him, but the pain is familiar enough.

"GHHHH!" He's in agony from the burning, but even through the pain he looks right into Chaar's eyes.

"Stop...moving! You're going to tear up your...shoulder more with this claw jammed in there! You're only going to make this worse if you keep fighting right now! Let us -help- you now! You got your anger out, you damn near killed Hinoiri-chan, you got stabbed and gave me a good...agh...hit back. Please."

"Ow!" He takes a few rounds from Amy, wincing. His transformation is tough enough to mitigate any serious injury from the gyrojet bullets, but they still sting something fierce. He glares at Chaar. "I'm going to drop my transformation so you don't have this claw in your shoulder, and then I'm going to go get you some gauze. Those bastards at Obsidian can't decide it for you. I'm Ikuto Tsukiyomi, and you get to decide your own worth. Not them."

Then he relaxes, letting his henshin drop. The claw fades out into some particles, no longer in the wound as the now quite vulnerable catboy tries to run off towards the medical aisle as he said he would.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Witch catches the thrown First Aid kit and says, "Thanks!" before leaving the Barrier.

    Now outside, holding her phone between her cheek and shoulder, she starts tending to the burn wounds. Filtered water is a few aisles over, but it's also cheap and she can pay for it later. Another spacial warp brings the bottles of water next to her and she sets them down to the unconscious Hinoiri. She also takes out the first aid kit and looks over the supplies.

    While doing this, she's also talking to dispatch on the phone. Her voice is calm yet somehow tired. "Right now I'm trying to clean the wound. I have triple antibiotic ointment here. I can't treat all of this by myself because her clothes have been burnt onto her. No, I don't know if anyone else got hurt. The fire was here when I arrived, and there were shopping carts barring the door. Oh? Um, I'm in aisle <X>. I'm the girl in black cosplay. You can't miss me. Ah, sorry, I need to focus. Yes, I'll stay on the line."

    A part of her worries about the others fighting the DG girl in the next dimension over, but she can't afford to let her mind wander. Medo hovers around Hinoiri for a moment, but then wanders off to see if other civilians got hurt.

Doom and Gloom Girls has posed:
"If I stop moving, I'm going to get shot, ad I really don't like getting shot, so -" Chaar growls through gritted teeth, fighting through the pain. Another thing she'd picked up from her temporary mentor - the willingness to destroy herself to get what she wanted. Still - her eyes pop wide in surprise, as Black Lynx - transforms. Detransforms, maybe, goes from a cat-boy hero to just a boy -

' "Are you crazy?!" She doesn't fire on him though, blood pouring from her shoulder, matting down the red fur of her henshin. The swimsuit-esque outfit she's wearing doesn't have any fabric in the way of the wound, so it just drips, drips, and drips down, and she looks down at Katsuko.

"You and your friends are fighting your hardest to protect the one person I needed saving from. The only one who was there for me when I needed help were the girls like me. Even if I thought the people willing to stab me up and shoot me with anti-tank missiles to protect the girl who put me in the hospital and stole my power, why the heck would I leave the people who have my back for the people who will throw themselves away on anyone in need?"

As Amy fires on her and Nanoha shouts about a firing solution? She flips them the bird, and also, a fireball the size of her head -

Then duskports out.

The grocery store will definitely be closed for repairs, Hinoiri will definitely be recovering for a little while, and this fight -

is definitely over.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
As quickly as he could, Ikuto came running back with gauze...only to see no DG Girl. "Typical." He sighed, setting the gauze down on a partially-melted shelf. "Well we won't be doing any shopping here today." Yoru peeked from behind the shoulder that wasn't burned. "Doesn't your shoulder hurt Ikuto? She burned you real good, nya."

The catboy winces, trying to hide the pain. "Yes...yes it hurts a lot Yoru. But Hinoiri-chan is a lot worse off than me and I can wait until she's safe to take care of this." He looks over to Katsuko. "You're nearly as reckless as me. My name is Ikuto Tsukiyomi; how about you?" Afterwards he goes over to Nanoha, nodding. "Device magic? Don't think we've met yet. I'm Ikuto Tsukiyomi. You are..?"

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Katsuko Takezaki. Seventh grade at Radiant Heart." Katsuko introduces herself again to Ikuto. "I'm a knight." She raises one of her Tonfa like she's offering a sword salute with it. "And it's not recklessness, it's courage. Recklessness implies that I do it without really thinking about the consequences." She argues, and it sounds like she thinks that makes her actions less stupid. "Nice to meet you, Tsukiyomi=kun."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi eyes go wide when she's given the bird, and she quickly raises a shield to block it. She is too slow and gets smacked in the chest and into a display of cans of squid. She ughs and gets up, cans sliding off her head as one falls on her head from above and she covers her head and 'ows' as her barrier jacket is scorched hard.

She does watch her as she ughs. "What was her deal." she says as she looks around and frowns.

"I need to. Get home." she says as she starts running away. Her barrier will fall, eventually, but it stays up a little bit longer as Nanoha makes her escape.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy winces at Chaar's words. It is unfair, but... they offered her clemency if she stood down, and she didn't take it! She has to be stopped!

    It doesn't help that she keeps doing things like trapping people in burning supermarkets or making them fight eachother in a rage, which Hinoiri mostly... didn't do. Still, she has to focus on aiming, and...

    She's not sure if that hit before the duskport, but she can't recover from bracing for fire fast enough to dodge the fireball. Her armor and skirt stop it from splashing all over her, but her stomach has only the magical bodysuit for protection--

    Her body switches to puppet mode automatically as the safeguards in the magic that links her body and soul are triggered; A Witch-hunter can't afford to black out in the middle of a fight.

    Amy stumbles back at the impact and just looks kind of... stunned? for a half-second or so, then dismisses the giant cannon and looks down at herself, eyes wide. That's... not good, but like, they need to take stock of hero and civilian casualties.

    She runs over to Ikuto and Katsuko. "The bullets in you probably already dismissed, but the bleeding--" She reaches under her cloak, "Fuck, I gave my medkit to Nanoha! Ugh, I didn't have gunshot treatment stuff anyway and I really should... Um... keep pressure on the wounds and don't move too much, I think? Fuck, fuck, get towels or something, um... Katsuko, can you drop the barrier? Maybe Medo can help... and I guess emergency services will turn up sooner or later. Tsukiyomi-san, did you see any hurt civilians?" She pulls out her phone and starts frantically looking up how to treat gunshot wounds.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto grins. "A Knight...I'm pretty close with one of those. You can find me at Yuki Hoshino's dorm at Radiant Heart if you want to talk more sometime. She's pretty great." When Amy runs over and starts fussing about gunshot wounds, he tilts his head.

"You...shot me? Those weren't energy blasts then...? I don't really feel anything, I guess from the transformation taking most of it, but ah. We should probably grab some medical supplies and get out of here before the police arrive. The store will just write the stuff in here off because of the fires anyway."

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "It's not my barrier, but it should go away soon, I think?" Katsuko answers Amy, sounding unsure. "I'm sure I'll be fine, though. I should go, I still have groceries to do. I'm sure mom and dad won't mind the delay if they hear a fire happened, but they're still counting on me." She waves to them both, "See you around!" She offers both of them, before flying off and dropping henshin somewhere in private, only to then realize just how much it actually does hurt... but now too stubborn to admit to being able to use some help.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." Amy mutters as she fumbles with her phone. "Damn input lag..." She sighs, and starts typing slowly and deliberately. "The supermarket's not gonna have stuff for stopping massive bleeding-- wait, you said you didn't feel anything? And you're sure you'll be fine? From rocket bullets? Geeze, lemme check..." She lifts a finger and motions for Ikuto and Katsuko to turn around, but instead they... run off?! 'I still have groceries to do', what.

    She finds her way to Madoka, to start coordinating... whatever the hell their plan is for explaining to authorities and getting Hinoiri treatment.