2014/The Best Kind Of Quest II

The Best Kind Of Quest II
Date of Scene:	23 October 2024
Location:	Plot Room 3
Synopsis:	Riventon and Ember arrive as another piece of Radiant Heart's defense network arrives, but Kyouka has brought Mamoru, Usagi, and Jadeite to ensure it's protected!
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Kyouka Inai, Jadeite, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Ryoko Gushiken

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera is spending this evening, as he does many evenings lately, sitting in his lab and still trying to work with a series of shattered purple crystals - trying to place them into a small spherical shape. Beside him is an empty pan where a tart laid until recently. Of course, that is all about to be disrupted, and not by Glimmer.

    <MEISTER. Faint energy signature detected by Watchtower 6. Does not match background information. Source Distant. Triangulation in progress.> Takashi carefully levitated the half-assembled crytal, about the size of a golf ball, into a small cloth and wrapped it up, putting it into a drawer which locks. Because of Others. "Then it's time to head out."

    -------

    Much like for Setsuna Meiou, the message that Kyouka recieved from the Candidus Cordis organization wasn't with a lot of warning, though it was comparatively a lot. She recieved word from the Headmistress' attendant in the morning that something would be coming in on a cargo plane that evening - another peice of the puzzle to 'protect Radiant Heart Academy' - and that she'd been asked to escort it in.

    To the south of Radiant Heart, on the most isolated airstrip at Haneda Airport, a long-haul small private plane has landed. There are two men inside, neither of whom are Japanese but both look nervous, and as the passenger gets out and leans in he grips a suitcase-sized wooden box out of the plane, with a carrying handle and intricate carvings all along it.

    The men in their business suits and tense postures are probably a stark contrast to the person they'rewaiting to meet up with - Stellar and anyone standing with her, with the windy fall evening lending a dramatic air to flowing hair and outfit bits.

    A car pulls up - frankly a rather beat up looking thing - and a young japanese man who is an even starker contrast to the tense businessmen steps out. Either a Senior in highschool or in University, he's blonde and very obviously in henshin, with bright yellow top and flowing garments. He takes one look at Stellar and gives her a head nod before turning to the suits and taking the box. "Wow, you guys are tense. Come on, there's no way they can pick up on anything through this box." he says, smacking it. "This should be a nice, easy drive back to the Academy. Most danger we're going to get tonight is the danger of falling asleep at the wheel." he says, turning towards the car.

    At about this time those who are sensitive to the presence of Dark Energy can pick something up, right at the edges of their sensation- but getting closer. "Just kidding, I'm a great driver." he clarifies.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Although the actual alert was on relatively short notice, Kyouka had been told to expect such a thing quite a while ago, and had even informed the students she intended to take as her 'security detail' that the request would be coming... at some point. It's been long enough that most of them may have forgotten about it by this point, but when the alert does actually show up on her phone it wasn't a complete surprise, at the very least.

    So she's there,at the airport. Alone, as it happens. Not because she doesn't have help, but because she's actually got a decent mind when it comes to tactics, if not strategy.

    She has a small bluetooth earpiece in her right ear, hooked up to her phone, with an open line to Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and Jadeite, all of whom she has stationed at various places around the airport nearby. Out of sight, but not out of seeing. Her instructions were to follow the car, close enough to keep an eye on things but far enough away to avoid easy notice. That way, if someone does attack the transport, they will in turn get attacked from behind while they try to steal... whatever this is.

    Though she's not in a suit, Stellar is, at least, in henshin and her henshin has a certain formality to it, all white and gold and militaristic. "'Bout time, I'm freezing my balls off out here." She complains idly, the autumn wind whipping across the man-made island of Haneda as she watches the exchange take place. "C'mon, let's get going then. Last time an attempt was made to steal the package.. we'd be idiots not to expect trouble of some sort. I'll happily be proven wrong, but my track record is unfortunately quite good." This last addressed to the young man in yellow.

    Just as she says it, her senses begin to tingle with the faint trace of Dark Energy. Still far away. Could be a coincidence. "Guys, heads up. Possible incoming." She murmurs to those listening via audio, before moving towards the car.

Jadeite has posed:
An airport. Jadeite feels a little uneasy for reasons he can only half-remember, but this is definitely not going to be like any previous airport related disasters. Everyone will get out uninjured, the artifact will be taken safely, and he can possibly take Mamoru on at least a third of a date afterwards! Maybe? He'll take sipping on Usagi's soda while the two of them make out. He's been licking his emotional wounds and so has Mamoru, so he'll take an excuse to hang out again without thinking about Other Stuff. Like letting himself be vulnerable around people.

HE is not vulnerable on the roof, keeping an eye on everyone and everything from his high vantage point. He can drop his shields and his bells from high up here to block attacks if need be, or to make any villains driving a car have a very slippery time. Or a very abrupt and icy one.

"I've got an eye out. Shields are ready at your order or if there's trouble," he says into his phone.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"'There's no way' is an engraved invitation," sighs the tallest of the waiting teenagers into his headset. He's a black-haired young man in a luminous white mask and a white tie and tails, cape billowing in the wind as he stands on a handy cornice overlooking the handover. "...yeah, there's already dark energy headed toward us. Moon you are being so cute right now, why are you always so cute. Stellar, I'm staying high and ranged. Jadeite is the best with shields who isn't you. He is also cuter than you, sorry Kyouka."

'Oh, Usagi, come help and bring friends' wasn't supposed to be 'bring your boyfriend and his boyfriend' was it?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Quite a while ago, Stellar had told Usagi about this - a plan to make the school safer that would a series of escort missions - not that she'd exactly described them that way, but Usagi knew an escort mission when she heard about one. Ideally, she'd have wanted a few more people here, but smaller teams made for easier moves, and also it had been a little last minute, so the fact that it's her and Mamochan and Jadeite is pretty good.

"I'm always cute! But today, I'm scary too, since that dummy invited trouble. I'm gonna focus on offense," Sailor Moon says in the communicator, though her voice sounds deeper, more mature than usual. She'd used her Disguise Pen to transform into an airport employee, and now her fuku is disguised by the long-pants and brightly colored jacket of an airport runway employee. "Kamen-kun, you and Stellar and Jadeite are all good for defense, but you're right about leaving it to Jadeite and Stellar-sensei today. If it's Riventon again, I don't want to disintegrate him unless I absolutely have to."

She's sitting inside one of the nifty machines meant for moving around luggage from airport to the plane and back, thankfully not being asked to operate it, sharing some of her own strategy ideas.

"I'm close to the target, when you guys start moving, I'll follow behind. Riventon usually tries not to hit civilians, so he might not even notice me - but since none of us can make a barrier, let's at least try not to blow up the airport again?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Earlier in the day:

Ryoko Gushiken was sitting at her desk furiously manipulating data in a spreadsheet. It was budgeting season and The Grim Queen could not be bothered with such droll things as capitalism, so it fell to Ryoko to deal with the bureaucracy. If only she got paid like the executive she was in fact, instead of the executive's assistant. She was fuming because her formulas would just. Not. Work. When the intercom beeped.

"Get in here now," The Grim Queen demanded.

It's not often Ryoko was happy to be summoned like that, but facing The Grim Queen's wrath would be a nice change from those damned formulas. She wanted to set the computer on fire.

The Grim Queen had good sources that had informed her of the incoming shipment, but not precisely when it would be. She needed her trusted lieutenant there to help intercept it, so that DUST Entertainment could be seen as a team player.

Now:

Unfortunately that's how Ember ended up perched on a Nevermore circling high above the landing pattern at the airport. So high that the Grimm just looked like another bird. She had no way to tell the thing was there, so she was just waiting for some sign. She figured Riventon would make a splash when he arrived.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Sometimes Riventon was subtle, but not when he had to rocket across several wards late at night - unlike Ryoko there was no way for him to get there quickly. The Airport didn't have a Door, maybe he'd put in for that later. And the information Ryoko got hadn't filtered out to him (or, rather, through Precia, given that it didn't have anything to do with Jewel Seeds).

    "Trouble? Do you think?" The blonde haired boy asked. He didn't sound concerned, rather, he sounded excited.

    Like the word trouble called him out specifically, Riventon rushes closer at speed - turns out he was visible so easily because he was moving so fast - spending energy to do it - and he ends up coming in like a brilliant comet of purple-black energy wrapped around a jerk in a Labcoat, summoning two orbs of Dark Energy in his hands and hurling one of each of them at Stellar and the yellow male Cure. They move out in long, spiraling paths in the air, before starting to move towards their intended targets, moving highly erratically, zig-zagging in the air to try to slam into the two magical folks from awkward angles.

    Meanwhile the two who dropped off the suitcase are yelling from the (now loudly starting up) plane. "I thought you were bringing backup, Stargirl!" one yells. He means Stellar. Probably. Possibly. Exchanging glances at one another. Debating getting out. But for now staying as the plane's noise is loud in the baground.

    "Don't know who you two are and don't care..." Riventon calls as his orbs move on their strange courses before connecting. "But your best course of action is to drop the magic trinket before I drop you." he says as though there aren't attacks likely to connect at exactly that moment.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I've never particularly minded blowing up the airport, and I've never claimed to be cute," Stellar says absently into her headset as her grey eyes look up towards the sky, tracking the now-rapidly-approaching source of Dark Energy. "But it definitely seems like we have incoming, so look lively, kids."

    She's not super familiar with Riventon, but is familiar enough to have a pretty good idea who she's dealing with when he makes his not-at-all-subtle appearance. This at least she can appreciate. The dark energy projectiles less-so. "Take the box and go." This over her shoulder to Yellow Boy. "We'll cover you."

    So saying, bright golden light ignites along both of her arms, crackling with little traces of orange-red lightning. Her eyes track the zig-zagging energy orbs, the pattern clearly meant to defy prediction, but you don't need great prediction when you have great reflexes. The ball coming for her gets within several inches before she swats it out of the air with her forearm, the impact of the dark energy on her shield making a hissing crackle before the orb smashes into the pavement a couple feet from her feet and detonates.

    Without hesitating, she turns and attempts to do the same for the one heading towards the Cure with the box, her goal to intercept it before it can reach him. "Go, go!" She says again to him as she does. "We got this." The doubting man in the plane is ignored- he can complain about her methods all he wants when she is not actively under attack.

Jadeite has posed:
Oh. It's...this guy? Jadeite remembers him, vaguely, and his irritation at how he buzzed around Mamoru like a fly around a week old fruit bowl. There's still jealousy biting his heart as he watches him flit through the air, causing trouble on date night like a, like a - mosquito or something!

"Moon, I'm going to try and cut off his mobility while Stellar deals with the artillery. Hopefully that will make it less likely you have to disintigrate him."

He's going to be normal about this and attack a normal amount. Because he KNOWS Mamoru would be upset if he swatted this guy. So Jadeite will simply do what he does when he deals with an insect in his apartment: trap it in a cup and take it outside.

Or in this case: "Snow Thimble!!"

Summon an enormous bell made of ice to fall on Rivington - big enough that it won't hurt him unless he's careless, but also big enough to trap him if he's inside when the bell hits the ground.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon does not know how to drive. She's never learned! She's got three years before she's allowed to do it legally, and also, now that she can run across rooftops, she's not even slightly super excited about it. Public transportation is great! Running is great!

Running isn't going to help with moving two people though, and Sailor Moon isn't going to abandon them to their fate. So, with a few stops and starts as she figures out how to get the luggage cart moving...

HOOOOOONK HOOOOOOONK!!!!!!

Soon, the large airport cart is barreling down the runway, headed for the regular guys in a zagging line of uncontrolled driver! Sailor Moon is screaming as she lays on the horn, and thankfully there are minimal other airport staff to get out the way.

SCREEEEECH goes the brakes as she goes into a wild, wide donut that stops before it gets close to the airplane or the guys.

Sailor Moon stops screaming, and looks at the panicked guys - "Hey! You two, get out of here, now! Take this thing and tell the airport staff there's been trouble and to call the fire department or something!"

Because if her sensei doesn't mind blowing up the airport, there sure might end up being a fire, because Riventon obviously doesn't care about that!

Hopping out of the machine, Airport Employee Moon-chan storms out towards the fight.

"Hey! Break it up! There's flammable objects here, are you trying to cause an explosion?!"

Sure, the fight has started, but maybe she can slow them down with confusion?

She's got one hand behind her back, clutching the Crescent Wand.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Castanets. From somewhere.

And a rose, rocketing through the air toward the attack launched at Cure Soul--

"Riventon!" Tuxedo Kamen calls out, "Hi!" It might distract him, never know.

He's trusting Kyouka to take care of herself, and also Moon and Jadeite to take care of themselves, and his attention's split between his brother and the kid with the briefcase.

"You are always cute," he says into his headset, then adds, "Yeah please don't disintegrate him. But do remember he's really strong, so you can hat him if you want. When you get there." A beat as he watches in fascinated horror at his fiancee's driving skills. "Nice," his voice comes through everyone's headsets, a little faint. "Did Hinoiri teach you that?"

He does not stay in one place.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
The purple comet streaks past below her, and Ember knows it's time. She squeezes her knees tightly against the back of the Nevermore and then leans forward urging the bird to dive. The Grimm folds its wings against its sides tightly, rapidly accelerating on a course aimed directly at the airport tarmac. Directly at the fight below.

It's an almost silent approach. It might even go unnoticed if nobody's looking up. That is, until the Nevermore lets out an ear piercing shriek that echoes across the entire airport. It's huge taloned feet extend out as it's wings spread to slow it just enough to come in and snatch the yellow-jacketed boy with his box like a Kestrel catching fish.

Meanwhile, Ember leaps off the back of the Nevermore, the drawing two halves of Nightfall from their sheath on her back and slamming them together as she backflips in the air. She nocks three arrows and draws them back, loosing them to hit one, two, three into the car at the front, middle and rear. Orange circles start to radiate out from the arrows until the entire car is covered with magic light.

And then, just as Ember lands on the tarmac opposite the car from the others. The car explodes.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon has to stop to put one of his hands against his ear - he's not immune to the pitch of the Nevermore's screech. Then someone gives him a cheerful 'Hi' from a direction he wasn't paying attention to? This combines to distract him long enough for Jadeite's frozen bell to slam onto him and pin him within. And this does prevent him from directly addressing airport-employee-notmoon.

    There's a couple of explosions; one is of ice as Riventon is engulfed in an expanding sphere of Dark Energy that fights against the bell until it shatters in a glorious explosion of magical ice shrapnel. Shortly after that, the car explodes behind him from Ember's shots, and Riventon turns top shield himself from it with a runic ward.

    Meanwhile, the giant bird swoops down and snatches up the male yellow cure as he tries to run from all the chaos - collected up in the youma's feet, Cure Soul realizes what is happening a little late. "Oh. That's. Big." he says to the bird. But he knows what they're after, and it's not him - so he lobs the wooden box down towards Stellar. "Hey, this is what they want not me!" he shouts which will in no way alert the antagonists to what he's done.

    This is before the cure throws his hands together and yells out. "MAELSTROM GATE!" he shouts as a surge of yellow energy fires from his hands up at the bird which is taking him up in the air which would absolutely be a good idea if he could fly himself, but unfortunantly, he can not.

    Back on the Tarmac, the plane starts to roll away from the fight. In the distance, the two men can be heard slightly, and one says "Don't worry, this will be a dream by the time you wake up. It's not our fight or our world, just go."

    And Riventon starts walking towards Stellar after the box is thrown her way. "Have we met? Feels like, if we have... it's been a while." He says as energy is collecting into his hand. "I'm guessing you're about to choose 'get hurt' out of the 'give me the box or get hurt and give me the box' decision tree?" He asks. A mid-childan runic circle erupts into glowing existence underneath him.

    <SCHATTENSCHLAG.> calls Riventon's device as his outstretched hand unleashes a powerful blast of Dark Energy after just a moment of waiting. He's aware of the others, and he knows he's about to get dug into a longer fight if he waits too long.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Well, so much for the car. Also so much for the yellow boy- not that he's dead (yet) but he's getting carried away. "Not what I meant when I said 'go!" Stellar calls to him, only grimacing at the loud screech of the bird-thing as she tries to keep track of the situation.

    As Baggage Handler Moon 'drives' up in the luggage cart, she calls to her, half over the radio and half just out loud, "Watch your back, there's at least two more of 'em." Meaning the bird and Ember, not having realized the Nevermore is merely a minion in the rush of things happening all at once.

    She might be about to do something about that when Cure Soul tosses her the box. Unsubtly, but considering everyone is looking their way anyway it's not exactly like they weren't going to notice. She leaps nimbly up and snags it out of the air, tucking it under her arm as she lands before turning to face the approaching Riventon. "I punched you in the face once in the library." She tells him, matter-of-factly. "I figured you'd remember something like that, but I'm not adverse to reminding you what it felt like."

    Then he uses magic. Unfair! A powerful burst of dark energy is blasted towards her, but if there's one thing Stellar is good at, it's not getting hit with magic attacks. She half-turns her body so the box is away from the blast, her other arm raising up, golden light flaring out in an arc which parts the incoming dark energy like a wave, rushing to either side of her without actually hitting her. Or the box.

    Of course, that's about all she can do, she can't shoot back. So, abruptly, she turns towards where she can sense Tuxedo Kamen darting nearby. "Tux, think fast!" She calls, as she hurls the box towards him like a football.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Nope," the disguised airport employee says, "Learned that from video games, and it was terrifying. Never doing that a-"

A piercing shriek from an overhead monstrosity, an enormous pitch-black bird with a plate of exposed bone and talons on its wings and of course its feet -

"What the hell," she breathes, before a girl leaps from its back and fires three shots, lighting the get away car on fire and - oh there goes the trouble-seeking Cure!

"New plan," she says into the communicator, quiet and fierce as she throws her hands up, banishing her disguise in an instant - "Kamen-kun, you're the best at tall things, I think you should go for the bird and the idiot boy! Jadeite, you stay on Riventon's butt, I'm going after the new girl, we don't need them matching us on numbers!"

New girl is an unknown threat and Sailor Moon has a diverse toolkit and also prefers not to risk blowing up her fiancé's brother. As the explosion lights up the dark airport, Sailor Moon races forward, leaps on the plane's wing, and launches herself into the air, carving a spiraling circle of light into the air as she does so.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Silver beams of light and mists of fog fly at Ember - it's purifying power, one of the strongest bursts of it that can be fired all at once. If Ember has any dark energy or corruption, that beam will burn like peroxide dumped on an open wound, stinging, scouring.

As she's doing this, Stellar throws the box at Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon doesn't screech because she knows he's good for dodgetank keep away, but -

"Hey, New Girl! What's with the bird?!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
For a second, there's a fervent wish on the part of one Mamoru Chiba that he was wearing his earplugs. Alas, his ears are now ringing. Less on the headset side, at least.

"Check!" Tuxedo Mask calls out, though whether it's to Stellar or to Moon is anybody's guess. Either way, he lets Cure Soul fall, figuring that the other boy can land on his feet like the rest of them, or land badly and Mamoru can come back and fix him later--

--and he yoinks the box from midair and leaps, tucking it under his left arm and leaving the right free to attack anyone who comes after him, even his brother if Jadeite doesn't keep him busy enough.

Across the tarmac, alternately running and jumping, Mamoru makes of himself a very, very difficult target. And he knows where this is going. "Why they sent a kid with a car," he says into his headset, "is a vast mystery."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ember pauses for just a moment as the car explodes. The rush of heat and air causing her hair to blow back as she quickly splits Nightfall in two, bringing the blades up to deflect a piece of flying shrapnel. Flicking the swords around and bringing them up to the ready she scans the field.

Her eyes tick up just in time to see that yellow-jacketed fool blast her Nevermore point blank in the chest from his vantage in the bird's talons. The bird never stood a chance. The attack shredding it's form to a cloud of shadowy dust that definitely cannot hold on to a magical boy.

Ember lets out a guttural scream of rage that coalesces into a sentence eventually, "THAT WAS MY RIDE YOU JERK!" Swords in hand she starts running to intercept him. But it can never be that easy, can it? She can take stock of the field and then suddenly Sailor Moon.

Lucky for her, she's already on the move, so when the beam of purification comes hurtling at her, it is easy for her to dodge. She will deal with Sailor Moon in a minute, right now she has a singular purpose. Revenge. As she hurtles toward that poor Cure, she lets out another primal scream, her swords igniting with flame as she slashes at him with a flurry of attacks just moments after he lands.

Jadeite has posed:
Explode his bells, will he? Attack some yellow kid falling out of the sky, will she? Oh, he doesn't think so. The collateral damage isn't as bad as it could be, but Jadeite is here to protect people and hang out with his boyfriend and girlfriend-in-law, and right now they're both engaged in combat.

"Roger that, Sailor Moon!"

"Snow Thimble!" he casts again - this time, two enormous bells fall. One covers the flaming car to contain the explosion. The other falls on top of Riventon AGAIN, and the walls are significantly thicker. He'll have to use a lot more firepower or find a way to melt his way out with this sucker.

And - "Glory of the Snow!" he casts in addition, to drop a shield in front of the falling yellow mahou. The shield may not be able to tank a lot with him doing multiple casts at once, but it should be enough for the mahou to either get out or for Sailor Moon to get to him.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    If it wasn't for 'in the library', proclaiming herself to be on the list of people who had punched Riventon, wouldn't really narrow it down much. "Well, good for you." he says, in retort. "You can keep it like a medal, or tell the story to your ancestors when I send you to meet em'." he adds.

    But then she's throwing the box away, to the jerk in the formalwear, who he has also encountered before. "Well, I guess you're not the target anymore but I should really pay you back for the punch." he says, gesturing to the burned out hulk of the car. "Animus Umbra!" he calls, his gauntlet glowing, and the car suddenly lurches straight up and down, before the groan and crunch of metal turns it into more of a wrecked-car-youma and it rumbles towards Stellar. Because he can't have her blasting him from the back. And he doesn't know she can't do that.

    Another thimble falls from the sky as he gets ready to chase after the loot, and Riventon is blocked off from sight for a moment. There's a few glowing shots of purple where Riventon tries to blast his way out of the bell, but it holds.

    Meanwhile, Ember rushes Cure Soul as he hits the ground - hard, but not so hard he can't stand up, if wincing a bit - and then the shields are there, and the flaming swords are there, and the blades are slowed by the ice but cut in and Cure Soul brings up his arms to shield himself from the enraged Ember. The shields prevent him from taking severe damage, draining the hits as they do, but between that and the fall, by the time he's able to get back, his uniform is a bit shredded and there's red liquid dripping down his arm. He looks up at Tuxedo Mask, who is leaving without being currently pursued, and decides he's had enough excitement for one day. "I'm - dancing offstage!" he yells, before taking a giant leap away from the battle, in a direction perpendicular from the fight.

    Meanwhile, from under the edges of the bell that had been dropped on him, a black liquid, shimmering in the light like oil, flows out, before forming into a human shape and solidifying into a Riventon. Easier to flow around than through, it seems. He'll have to check the data on those things and figure out why they're so darn tough, but for now... he's got a box to steal.

    Still, Tuxedo Kamen is a hard target to get a bead on, and Riventon fires a few blasts his way that miss and leave marks in the sidewalk. "Those are warning shots!" he calls out like they missed on purpose. "But I'm all out of warnings, so drop the case." he shouts.

    <DAMMERUNGSFEUER.> (Dusk Barrage) the hybrid Device calls out, as several spheres of inky-black Dark Energy surge into existence with little low 'pings' in a semicircle around Riventon as he flies after Kamen. "Gonna be hard pressed to dodge all of these, so drop the box before I launch em and you get hurt. Whatever's in there isn't worth your life." he adds. Not that he even knows what there is in it, either.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Jokes on you, I don't know who my ancestors were, and I doubt I'll meet them anyway. With my karma, I'll just end up reincarnating into yet another cycle of belligerence. Good thing I rather enjoy it- all that heaven stuff sounds boring as hell." Stellar responds to Riventon, with a bit of a smirk.

    She notes Tux catching the box, nodding to herself as she resolves to get in Riventon's way as much as possible... a plan which is somewhat derailed by him turning the car into a car-youma which is now moving directly towards her.

    She has to dance nimbly back away from its heavy swings, grunting as she takes one of the blows on one of her shields.

    "Tux, get the box out of here! If you other guys can keep the bad guys occupied long enough for him to do that, I'll buy you all ice cream after this."

    She backs further down the runway. "I'll draw this thing away, but don't worry about me right now, complete the mission. I'll meet you at Rendezvous Point Kappa afterwards!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
As Ember ignores her and her attack - in favor of seeking vengeance over a youma of all things - Sailor Moon scowls, setting her jaw stubbornly. Fine. New Girl wants to go after Cure Dummy and expose her back? Then she'll make it so she can't dodge her attacks.

As the car youma rumbles after Stellar and draws their sensei into her own battle, Sailor Moon chases Ember, gripping the Crescent Wand tight, and she spins in a circle, carving an ultra-wide circle into the air, light blazing forth - this time, spiraling out in an area of effect cone that widens the further away it gets from her.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

The attack even catches Cure Dummy in the blast-range, though given that he isn't infected with Dark Energy, all it will do is boost his energy and spirits.

Then? She wants to turn her back on her, go after Mamoru, but she also doesn't want to disintegrate any of Riventon's body again if she can help it, and Jadeite still doesn't have to worry about that. Plus, fire and ice - fire has an advantage.

"Jadeite, follow after them! I've got Flamey Slice and Shoot!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Whatever's in here isn't worth my life, Riventon!" Tuxedo Kamen calls back after Riventon, jumping way up -- up, up, to the roof of the terminal -- then running lightly across the top of the gleaming building. "So don't kill me for it, doofus! I already gave you a thing once, but that was mine to give."

His dress shoes tap against glass and steel and concrete as he runs, before he jumps again and makes a three-point landing on the top of a moving monorail.

He doesn't stay there long, just long enough to hop up again to an even further part of the airport, headed for the busy roads that surround it.

Dark energy spheres.

Mamoru's free hand starts glowing. "Tuxedo," he says, and his voice gets more warning in it, "la smoking..."

The glow is getting brighter. He doesn't loose it.

Jadeite has posed:
"Roger that!" Jadeite is running for Tuxedo Kamen even as Sailor Moon gives the order - he knows that Moon and Stellar have everything on their ends secure, and the yellow mahou is flying away - which means it's time to help Tuxedo Mask not completely fry this fly to a little buzzing burnt bit.

"Glory of the Snow!" he casts, throwing up a dozen icy shields around Tuxedo Mask to block the dark spheres -

And one more for good measure, dropping in on Riventon' flight path. He'll have to dodge right into the path of Mamoru's smoking bomber... or smack into a thick sheet of ice. Have fun!

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Ember and Sailor Moon are fighting; Riventon isn't in any rapid hurry to fight Sailor Moon again either, not after last time. Even if he got away with loot that day. Not worth. Tuxedo Mask on the other hand, has never tried to discombobulate him. But maybe he's underestimating him.

    Riventon outstretches his hand. "Fine. Axion, FIRE!" he calls. <FIRING.> his device replies as the orbs rocket off and try to swarm Mamoru from all directions. It's Jadeite's shields they impact with, though, rather than Mamoru - but there's no doubt about what path they'd be heading into if they weren't so deftly intercepted.

    And Riventon, who does not want to impact an ice shield either, dodges exactly as Jadeite expects he would - into the path of the Smoking Bomber, if Kamen looses it.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Even if it were a beam, Ember wouldn't have noticed it to dodge. Her swords swinging at the ice barrier trying to get to Cure Yellow as she just screams with rage. Sailor Moon could have walked right up and tapped her on the shoulder and she wouldn't have noticed.

The purification washes over her like alcohol on an open wound. Grimm are little more than dark energy given shape, and she has the power to make them. Of course she's corrupted with dark energy, even if the rest of her magic doesn't rely on it at all. She screams out in pain, which quickly shifts again to rage and she spins around, with her flaming swords held in front of her.

She just stands there, staring at Sailor Moon for a moment, collecting herself. She doesn't really want to let on just how much she still hurts. Riventon is already closer to the box than she is, and besides, she's slower than he is without her Nevermore. If she can distract Sailor Moon, maybe he can still get the box.

"Ouch, that hurt," she says, finally, sounding calm, even if she was barely keeping that facade up. "I really didn't like that at all."

She takes another deep breath and the flames vanish from her blades. She whips them around and slides them each into the sheaths in the small of her back. "It doesn't seem fair to come at you with swords," she says, as if she isn't outclassed in every way regardless of her choice of weapon. She takes off running and leaps into the air, flying at Sailor Moon with a kick.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's jaw sets, even if his chin's maybe a tiny bit crumpled, but Takashi warned him this would eventually happen. Takashi did warn him.

And Takashi shot first.

Light-stepping feet take the opportunity granted by Jadeite's shields and Tuxedo Kamen dances to one side then jumps again, flinging out his glowing hand with a well-charged "BOMBER!!!"

"You shot first, Riventon! You shot first-- I didn't want to!" he calls out, something fiercely emotional in his voice.

But he's still running. He jumps again, up higher, aiming for the closest row of tall buildings across the multi-lane highway surrounding the airport, still aiming in the right direction to get to the school.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The scream makes Sailor Moon cringe, corners of her mouth downturned, lip bidden. She doesn't like hurting people - she's never liked hurting people - and she's seen again and again that purification hurts immensely. That doesn't change that when it works, it works. It's her best bet against most of their enemies -

And also? Flaming Slicey Shooty isn't her future brother-in-law.

"It sure sounded like it," she says, and there's some honest to god sympathy in her voice, when her opponent is finally sounding calm. "Most people don't like that one at all. Lots of you guys are allergic to it."

She's not a hand-to-hand fighter, not at all, but she's been in Mahou Fite Club for over a year at this point, and she's practiced with her friends and even if she's not a dedicated physical fighter, she's ready to try and fight explosive tiara to swords -

And then the swords are gone, and Ember is saying it doesn't seem fair, and -

"You could always just go home," and then the kick is flying at her and she rolls to the side, the kick catching her shoulder instead of her body, and she calls out -

"Moon Twilight Flash!"

A blue beam of light flies from the jewel on her tiara as she scrambles to make distance. It's mostly to make Ember flinch, because this attack does low-level damage on physical enemies, mostly impacting ghosts, spirits, and possessors of that sort.

"Because we're not letting you guys have this one!"

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite hops off the rooftop to join Tuxedo Mask in his run to safety, summoning another shield on his arm for him to throw if need be, preparing a few more to manifest in case Riventon tries to get antoher volley of dark blasts off.

As for Riventon - Jadeite creates an ice slide underneath Riventon, so that if or when he gets blasted back by La Smoking Bomber, the slide will catch him before gravity does and gently deposit him on the asphault - and far, far away from the direction Jadeite and Tuxedo Mask are running.

"I've given him a safe landing," he reports to Tuxedo Mask as he takes his side once more. "He'll be fine."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's a little surprised, but any fight with Riventon is a fight against two minds... well, against one mind and one AI. Auto-Guard:ARMOR SHIELD.> his device calls, a trangular Belkan-style barrier erupting in front of him and giving him the time to not be completely staggered by Tuxedo Kamen's attack - enough time to bring his own hands up and reinforce the barrier against the golden-light energy, pouring Dark Energy into it to reinforce it where the runes crack like light glass. That doesn't mean the attack doesn't push him back - and that the ice doesn't helpfully mean he's got no way to get footing to stop being pushed back, so he's farther and farther away. Eventually it's over and Riventon is breathing heavily, but still standing.

    But it gave Tuxedo Kamen a 'lot' of distance. And when Riventon tries to chase him again he's flying slower. This stupid airport was too far away, he'd had to burn energy to get here... and how long had it been since he'd drained any energy, topped off his stores? It'd been a while, and then deflecting that blast also took a lot, and slipping out from under that bell, and ugh. But he's still trying to follow them. It's just becoming less and less likely since he's not following them like an evil comet but more a slightly fast evil loom while Kamen and Jadeite are able to jump and dash.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ember lands on the tarmac and does flinch. Her semblance almost completely absorbs the little blue beam. Low-level stuff hardly even registers. If that's all Sailor Moon is going to bring to a fist fight, then what's the point? "That tickled," Ember sneers.

But she doesn't come at her again. Because she's right. It's pretty clear that the boys are getting away with the box. There's certainly nothing Ember can do about it at this point. And especially considering she's all the way out at the airport without her bird. There's just no point.

"Apparently not," she says with a sigh. She just looks at Sailor Moon, standing there all defiant and regal, as if she can be anything else, and says, "I had better things to be doing anyway."

Then she just turns and starts walking back toward the city.

She really needs to learn to duskport.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's only the briefest of glances back, to make sure, just to make sure, that Riventon's sliding on the ice and not crashing through it or anything, and then Tuxedo Kamen gives Jadeite a grateful smile.

"Thanks. He probably would have been okay, he's really, really tough-- but that definitely made me feel better about it," he says to Jadeite, but at the speed they're going it's probably easier to hear him through the headset.

Also through the headset, as they jump up another level of rooftops and into the range of taller and taller buildings, "We should be good if you two want to either come with or meet us at the destination -- Riventon's still chasing, but he's falling back."

Okay, one more glance. He's perversely tempted to lob a rose toward Riventon like he's leaving a stage instead of like he's fighting, but he can't keep playing like that. And this wasn't playing. They attacked each other.

At least neither of them truly meant it.

Mamoru hopes.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The attack doesn't do very much damage at all - but Ember flinches, and Sailor Moon scrambles to get distance between herself and the other girl. When she dismisses the attack? She smiles brightly.

"It was supposed to," Sailor Moon says cheerfully, "Why burn you out when I don't have to?"

That's the end result, right? And it works - because Ember's on her way out, and Sailor Moon darts off to join the youma fight Stellar is in, because Stellar? She's got the ability to teleport out, and Sailor Moon would rather not walk home, the way her opponent seems to need to. She'll be meeting the boys at rendezvous point kappa the easy way.

"Hey - if you ever want out of this, let's chat sometime! I'm Sailor Moon!" Is what she calls to Ember's back.

Jadeite has posed:
"If he could have stayed trapped under the bell, it'd make all of our lives easier - but giving him a nice slide away is also good," Jadeite muses through their headsets. "I'm glad you felt better about it. I had this - feeling that I wanted everything there to go right."

His memory is slowly recoveirng, but some things stay a void - and there's something about the airport that makes him think of distant screams, a feeling like his head was made of ice, and a bone-deep conviction that he couldn't make Mamoru sad again.