2812/What Do Vegan Zombies Eat

What Do Vegan Zombies Eat
Date of Scene:	28 October 2025
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	A gathering of heroes tries to purify legions of zombies by shoving them onto school grounds. This actually made sense at the time.
Cast of Characters:	Takuto Tsunashi, Rashmi Terios, 222, Ikiko Hisakata, Chiyo Sakai, Amanda Faust, Fuyuko Yuuhi
Tinyplot:	Hamburger Zombies

---

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Mai Elcamino, known to most of our heroes as Corona, started a zombie apocalypse at 11am over a busted manicure.

It's afternoon now, and some people have found out that purification turns people back-- but not everyone can purify! Right now, there are three zombies capable of flight, an unknown number of Luis zombies (you can tell they are an iteration of Luis because every Luis is seven feet tall and has a handlebar moustache.)

Right now, Takuto's sailing down to ground level and straight-up scooping running kids away from a crowd of zombies, one under each arm, and depositing them on places. Places like the FaM-Mart rooftop. There's screaming everywhere, not just kids getting put on conbenie rooftops, and there's groaning from the zombies, and they shuffle, and the news is trying to make sense of it, and every time the police try to engage they get bitten, and now there are police zombies, and it just. keeps. spreading.

Takuto slams into the ground feet first outside Radiant Heart, and he yells, "HEY EVERYONE," then manifests Tiny Tauburn who starts trying to interface with Devices in an info-giving way to echo the information his Driver is yelling, "CAMPUS LOOKS SAFE!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
This is *absolutely* Corona's fault.

How does Rashmi know? Because some of the people biting others and looking disappointed are seven feet tall, with handlebar mustaches. There is simply no other Obsidian employee who would *dare* to copy that sty-- ... ...aesthetic.

So when Rashmi spots a spreading zombie apocalypse creeping toward the Academy, she takes immediately to the air and into action.

"Thanks, Bishonen-kun!" she calls out after the Star Driver's report... then banks over to apply herself to the rapidly-spreading job she has to help clean up.

In *no way* is this an enviable task.

Spotting police trying to contain the threat and being turned themselves, Rashmi draws in a deep breath.

    << *BONG!* >> << AREA INDEX: TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

While she can't phase out the *entire* apocalypse, she *can* at least get a good couple-kilometer-diameter of exclusion zone.

While it doesn't make the zombies any less *dangerous,* it should at least narrow the field of potential victims.

Ace Saijou (222) has posed:
"What in the *world?*"

This is a place time heroes are needed, to be certain -- but outside of his TV roles, Ace has never thought of himself as a hero. As such, he's not the sort (yet) that will willingly seek out trouble like this.

No, he had been here purely by coincidence, a walk through the ward on what *was* a pleasant evening. When the zombies at first started manifesting, he had thought it was someone's idea of an early Halloween celebration, perhaps.

The handlebar mustaches probably had something to do with that as well, but the bites and the screaming quickly disabused him of *that* notion.

"This way! Quickly!" It's not a flashy thief is needed, and so it's *only* Ace Saijou that sprints through the streets, doing his best to ferry onlooking towards safe places from the slowly-spreading crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he can make out a flash of bright color depositing children a nearby rooftop, and follows suit as he moves to help boost others up as well, putting them out of reach. Pausing for just a moment as he feels a shift in space -- a minor reassurance as he realizes someone is doing their best to curtail the flood. But indeed, it's no less dangerous for those within that contained space, and so it's only that moment's pause before hurries on his way.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
*nom*
    *ptui!*

        *nom*
            *ptui!*

Cute Wolf Tsukiko is helping with the purification of the zombies, albeit with a slight twist: the only purification she can do at 'skirmish-speed' is the silvery energies of her extended fanglies.

    'Zombie bites mahoujin' is a hazard;
        'mahoujin bites zombie' is a comedic cure.

"Good to know!" the wolfgirl calls back to Ginga Bishounen after leaping clear of her latest 'anti-victim'. Spot a straggler on the periphery, dash in, (gently) bite their shoulder, then leap to safety -- while clearing the taste out of her mouth.

    *nom*
        *ptui!*

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Get *back* already!" Ginga Hanma was doing her best to ward off some of the zombies herself. The glowing Star Sword that she could weild had already been transformed into the weapon she was more familiar with--A large hammer with an elongated handle. It came in handy in this instance because that meant she could use the very blunt end of the hammer to push back against zombies trying to herd them away from any yet untouched. It was better than stabbing. At most they would have some bruises.

A quick upward jerk of her head allows her to catch sight of Bishounen where he was already helping some kids on the rooftop. Without hesitating further she gives one last *shove* to a small group of zombies allowing them to topple over one another like falling dominos. It frees her up to grab a salaryman that was cowering with his breifcase held overhead like a shield. With ease she hefts him one armed to leap up toward the rooftop to place him with the others already rescued.

"Of course the school would be safe, that makes sense. Should we make a path?"

Quietly she murmers beneath her breath, "I see why my cousin hates 'escort missions' now."

Amanda Faust has posed:
EARLIER
    Walking along the sidewalk, minding their own business, are a college couple, the blonde American dressed as a sexy cowgirl and her black-haired friend, the sexy vampire countess.

    The cowgirl laughs at something on her phone.

    "What is it?" Asks the countess.

    "Oh... just something a friend sent me. Here." She holds out the phone showing a meme:

Therapist: What's really bothering you?
Me: [Photo of a section of kitchen interior, with a stove in between counter sections and above it, a light matching the stove set between cupboards, but misaligned a few inches to the left from the stove.]

    The countess's red eyes widen. "...Mom would kill any contractor who did that to her or Dad's designs."

    The cowgirl stops walking, just a few feet shy of the corner. "...I thought you'd laugh. ...You know, sometimes you talk like your mom is a serial killer or something and I'm starting to wonder if you're not joking. What's really--"

    "HAAAMBURGEEEEER!"

    They both turn to look at the zombie that just rounded the corner ahead of them. "Excuse me?!" asks the cowgirl.

    "HAAAAM BUUUUR GEER!" The zombie shuffles towards the pair.

    "Oh no. Looks like we've got a zombie! Love the acting, but you could do so much with a little makeup and costume work."

    "She's in theater club." explains the vampire.

    "HAAAM BRRRR GRRRR" The zombie shuffles forward, and the blonde plays along. "Well you can't have our brains or hamburgers, I'm unbeatable at House of the Dead 2!" The blonde draws both revolvers, with their obvious orange caps indicating they're plastic props.

    The dark-haired vampiress slumps shoulders slightly at the game mention, "She really is..." but can't help smiling at the show their girlfriend is making of protecting them.

    "bur...GHEEER!" The zombie lunges, "Woah, too close! Back off, guy!" The cowgirl kicks them in the stomach, and they go down, landing on their ass looking stunned. "Was that really necessary?" asks the vampire. "YES!" The cowgirl whirls on her, "Seriously, Z, there are creeps out there--"

    "Hammm..." "HAMBURGRRRRR" "Hamburg? Er?" "HAMBARGARRGGH!" While they were focused on the one, another group of zombies accosting a woman and a younger man across the street who were commenting on the 'flash mob'. "Hey, let go!" "This is too far, hands off!"

    And they get bit.

    And while the zombies that bit look confused, the two who got bit look across the street at the couple, more come around the corner, and the guy who got kicked is standing up... and all those eyes are focused on the pair.

    The two of them start to back away. "Okay y'all, this ain't funny!" She's aiming the toy guns threateningly, with trigger discipline -- force of habit -- when the red Puella lands in the intersection.

    "Just run! I can handle... whatever this is!" She motions for the two civvies to run off.

    "Tailred? Wait, no, the costume's different--" The vampiress starts, while their girlfriend focuses on the one weird non-zombie. "Do you have a permit to film... whatever this is here?!"

    Amy stares at the misidentificaction, then looks to the cowgirl. "Uhh... What? No, I'm a real magical girl--" "Come on, this is real life." The vampire speaks with certainty. "You all just have really bad taste--" (the zombies that bit earlier nod sadly, "Not hamburger...") "--in pranks," The cowgirl interrupts, "And my Dad's a lawyer! We didn't agree to be in your show, so--"

    And then Red, and the zombies, vanish into Zero Time., leaving the two civilians to look around in confusion.

Amanda Faust has posed:
NOW
    "...We're back to normal?!" "Did that girl just purify us by biting us?! Is that how it works?!"

    The Red Puella Magi following in Ikiko's wake looks at the pair of civilians in... cowgirl and vampire costumes? Did she see them before? Not important. "Come on! The school's safe! Uh, Radiant Heart, I mean!" She waves them forward.

    Since purification, Amy's mostly been trying not to become a liability again. She can carry people, and distract with fireworks, and shoot Luises, and... that's pretty much it. But given the size of the problem, even someone who's just fast and strong and hard to catch and can shout directions is something!

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"A path sounds like a good idea," the Ginga Bishounen answers the Ginga Hanma, nodding firmly as Tiny Tauburn tries to communicate with a salaryman who can't see him and is so confused -- and then abruptly, the Page Mage has erected a barrier, and...

...all the unbitten civilians, and one after another each civilian that Ikiko antibites and every solo purification, vanish. There are only the groaning zombies civilians now, no Luises in this barrier.

"YAY! Okay, we don't even need to do a path, we can just sort of... we can herd the zombies toward the school! Maybe? Maybe the dark energy will get purified if they go through the gates... or maybe they'll just get stopped at the gates and crowd there."

Takuto hovers mid-air, chin-tapping, watching everyone scrambling around and looking, honestly, really really tired. "Sugata-kun is still a zombie," he says, finally floating after Rashmi. He raises his voice as he sees Veronica approaching, so she can hear too. "Wako-chan said that Corona got turned into a zombie herself. And that Red did. Glad to see you're feeling better, Red-chan."

He sighs. "This was really funny up until like an hour and a half ago."

HAAAAMBARGARRRR. The buzz of a hundred thousand people or more all saying variations on the same few syllables is omnipresent in the background, the sun is shining, the day is crisp and lovely, and they're in the middle of the dumbest apocalypse ever, and his boyfriend is missing and also a zombie. Takuto adds, "But it was definitely Corona. The youma's name is Luis."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"*Absolutely Corona,*" Rashmi groans right on the heels of Takuto answering Sarek's question. "I *knew it.* Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Bobbing in the air for a moment, she lifts her glasses to rub at the bridge of her nose.

'Haaaaaaaaambargaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr...' sounds again from under her feet.

"....Okay herding them toward the school sounds like a really good idea... weirdly enough. If Tsukiko-chan-- wait TSUKIKO-CHAN ARE YOU *BITING THEM BACK TO HEALTH?!*"

Take a moment to process *that,* and Rashmi tries her best but a few semi-hysterical giggles escape her throat.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< So Bishonen-kun has a *really good idea,* >> she says over the comms net. << If Tsukiko-chan's bite alone is enough... maybe the school grounds will be too, and we can get a lot more. So let's start a-herdin'. >> And with that, she peels off toward the edge of the zombie crowd.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- GLACE SHIFT >>

At the very edge of the crowd, ice Barrets impact into the Barrier street, building up and up and up into a thick, golden crystalline wall, preventing the 'zombies' from turning back.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Ginga Hanma watches with momentary amusement when Tauburn tries to communicate with the very confused salaryman. He'd have more luck with the kids perhaps. Either way she nods firmly as she starts to look ahead for the best way to get where they need to go.

"Right, then we should--" She begins only for the barrier to erect sending those not affected to safety. "Oh, thank goodness! Thanks, PM!" A hand lifts to wave to her roommate with a broad grin at the help provided.

It was far easier to see from the vantage point now that the crowds were thinned out dramatically what was going on. Even she has to stare in shock at Ikiko running and biting the zombies in turn. "Okay that's handy."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Well, this definitely makes it easier to tell who still needs cured," Tsukiko nods approvingly as the Barrier ejects the non-/de-zombified civilians. Fewer people for zombies to chase, and less need to sort through targets!

Rashmi's flabbergastedness is answered with a huge, cheerful grin. << Tried it as a joke at first, but it worked, so...! >> comes the response as the wolfgirl switches to herding the zombies... by being agile bait out in front. After all, if you want the horde to move forward, it helps if you don't give them a reason to move not-forward.

    (she still occasioanlly darts in to pick off stragglers, but only if they're really lagging behind)

Ace Saijou (222) has posed:
Whoops! The fact that Ace hasn't vanished along with the rest of the unbitten (or cutely bitten) civilians, is going to be a tell to anyone who happens to spot him that whatever else, he is *not* an ordinary person. That however, is going to be a problem for another day.

Because there *is* a bigger problem right now. Although Ace does feel a sense of relief as he feels sees people starting to disappear out of harm's way, it leaves *him* now more or less by himself in the street... with a very large number of zombies now turning their attention his way, as one of the few fresh bodies remaining.

He is given pause once again however, as he makes out just what the approaching throng is saying. " ...eh?" Hamburger... ?"

Those *would* taste better than brains, he supposes. Or would they? It's not like he's ever tried brains. *Would* they taste better?

Questions for another time.

"Sorry, no hamburgers here. Could I interest you in some konpeito?" Ace asks gamely, reaching into his jacket pocket. "No? Ah well."

Sprinting forward, and kicking first off the wall of the alley he had been trying to herd someone through, and then a nearby dumpster. Catching the edge of a fire escape and boosting himself up, and quickly making his way up to higher ground. To the rooftop, and from there to take a quick look around. Hm -- they all seem to be heading towards one place, aren't they?

Check that -- *herded* towards one place? Though not with a sinister purpose, as it looks like it's the same people who were doing the rescuing.

Whatever the case, it seems heading in the same direction is the safe bet for now, running across the rooftop and jumping the gap, following the sluggish flow of the shambling crowd below.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "And no, that's not how it works! Do not bite the zombie people!" she says, as the vampire countess is opening their mouth wide and judging with their hand and arm the best angle to try and get a bite with costume fangs. "We're professionals on a closed course! Well, not a closed course..." Amy looks towards the sound of groans coming from around a nearby corner, and throws a smoke grenade so the approaching group won't see the newly-purified civilians just yet. "Go! Go!"

    "I am so' glad you *huff* made this costume and I can run in it." "I'm glad I *huff* made it too, you can show me how glad you are *puff* tonight!" "*huff*...How exactly was an American lawyer going to help if *puff* it was a prank show?" "I'm sure Dad knows someone who can reccomend a good lawyer, and *huff* the threat is enough to make them think twice!"

    Meanwhile, Amy calls out, << I've got another group of zombies over here! >> But then the Barrier goes up, and Rashmi has an excellent idea! ...Amy hopes.

    She smiles as she sees the Ginga Bishounen, "Yeah! I'm feeling much better now that I'm not consumed by an irrational hunger for flesh! ...sure is a sentence I just said."

    She launches fireworks that fly over the nearest entrance to the grounds and detonate in colorful starshells. "Heeeey! Over here! Tasty hamburger!" Amy waves at the zombies emerging from the smoke. "If you want a bite, you gotta catch me!" And she starts intermittently jogging and looking back and trying to keep the zombies' attention, launching the occasional whistling, crackling starshell to encourage everything with eyes and ears in the area to focus that way!

    Fireworks... might mean someone's grilling hamburgers... okay, maybe that's more an American thing, but who knows! Can hamburgers be festival food? Maybe they could for all Amy knows!

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
The wall Rashmi makes is solid as well as beautiful -- the zombies, all groaning about hamburgers, mill around desperately looking for JUST! ONE! BITE! of hamburger, and all they can see anywhere is either more zombies, or... oh, oho, they've spotted the fireworks, they've spotted Amy, they are following Amy. They are following Ikiko. They are definitely (okay every once in a while one of them sort of wistfully tries biting another zombie, which only annoys the other zombie and they yell hambargar at each other a couple of times before going back to groaning and shambling) going after the girls toward the school.

After giving Amy a small smile, Takuto flies down and opens the other half of the wide gates, making it easier for people to flood in-- but they do need to be pushed a bit, which is going to get dicey. People are grouping up and milling around in front of the gates instead of going in... so Takuto drops down to the ground inside the gates and waves his arms, too. "Come on, come and get it, see my hair is ketchup AND mustard," he coaches them carefully, making beckoning gestures.

The whole thing's a lovely picture for Ace to see as he parkours his way the rest of the way toward the school, following the mob. More mahoujin, and-- there! One zombie just crossed the threshold and vanished. One. It was one of the ones following Tsukiko!

Takuto dives back into the crowd to start grabbing people by the shirts and hauling them across the threshold. He's going to get himself bitten-- he's definitely not moving as quickly as usual, himself.

Every civilian herded into the school is one less person to worry about.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Into the chaos that is Tokyo on Halloween featuring a zombie plagues comes one other roaming the roof tops -

A young woman in smart business attire, her long-sleeved purple button-up tucked into her black slacks, her jacket unbuttoned, blowing lightly in the breeze as she stays above the horde.

She watches what's going on, interested enough in the show, but not motivated to stop it, not when this is obviously due to one of her own brats...

And then she leaps down from a building, light flashing as she henshins on the other side of the building. Just as the heroes are successfully herding zombified citizens through the gates - and seeing them vanish - a large figure is tossed through the gates.

A seven-foot tall large figure, with a handlebar mustache. It's Luis! A Luis, anyway, and as he collides with the ground, he does not purify like the infected civilians... and then on top of that? As soon as he hits the ground, there are two Luises picking themselves off the ground.

Anyone who looks up to see where he came from will see Lacuna.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Acting as bait has definitely helped gather the zombies at the gate, but the resulting bottleneck is slowing things down. Following Ginga Bishounen's lead, Tsukiko helps pull the zombies across thr threshold, although she does do so in a more cautious manner, grabbing them by the wrists in order to pull them forward -- and keeping an eye on Takuto, in case he needs an antidote!

Then the tall zombie makes a kinetic entrance, and stands up... as a pair?!? << Uh, did that zombie just duplicate itself from hitting the ground?? >> the wolfgirl inquires on the comms net while backpedalling away from the crush of zombies at the gate.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Okay, this is starting to work. Vanishing burger-zombies mean purified people mean *outside* the Barrier is a growing crowd of safe -- if presumably very confused -- civilians. Okay good.

At which point a Luis arcs through the air, and lands beyond the Academy gates... and *multiplies.*

Disbelieving, Rashmi turns to stare at the youma's point of origin, eyes wide and not a little furious.

Sound doesn't carry *quite* to Fuyuka's ears from this distance, but between the expression and the gesticulating it's pretty easy to understand what Rashmi feels about this new development.

"WHAT. IN THE *ACTUAL HECK?!* WHY. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN-- AAAAAAAUGH."

Whipping back around, she thrusts a hand toward the Luises.

Luises?
Luisi?
Luisoix?
Lueese?

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

A dome of golden light resolves around the pair of youma, and with a screeching *CRACK* becomes a spiky no-touchy dome of golden ice.

<< YES. YES IT DID. I WANT TO BITE SOMETHING *MYSELF* NOW. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy laughs lightly at Takuto's comment about his hair. "Does that make mine ketchup? Huhh... or maybe tomato... Hey, zombies!" She backs towards the gate, waving at them. "Come get a hamburger with--" her outfit is white and red. "...onion and ketchup! Mm-mm! Oh wait maybe the white is cheese too. Cheeseburger! Or... mayo. My dad likes mayo on his burgers."

    And then, to give them a little extra encouragement, she explosion-jumps high into the air and flings some molotov cocktails out behind the horde, where they burst into flames. Zombies don't like fire, right?

    Or will they just hope that it's cooking burgers...?

    While she's up in the air, something flies past far below... and when she lands and turns around? Two Luises.

    She holds out her hands and as soon as she's holding two gyrojet pistols she is also firing them, one for each zombie! 12mm non-explosive homing rocket-bullets curve toward Luis' heads. It can't actually be that easy, can it...?

    Amy is pressed to do something quickly, though, given she just threw fire to drive the horde of zombies towards her and the gates...

    And then there's ice around the Luisi. Okay! Things sure are happening, fast!

    << Wait, it did what?>> asks Amy, who was looking the wrong way when Luis actually split.

Ace Saijou (222) has posed:
The strange night just keeps getting stranger. Ace had landed on one roof to peer out and see zombies being herded into the school -- getting them all in once place was a smart idea, to be sure. For containment? Extermination?

No, something else. Sharp eyes pick out the unfamiliar form of Ginga Bishounen coaxing one of the zombies in -- only to see the staggering figure *disappear* once it actually reaches the threshold. And more of them disappear as he sees a -- wolf girl? -- biting at them.

Although Ace isn't familiar with Tsukiko either, and isn't sensitive enough to feel out the exact boundaries of the barrier, he can take some guesses as to what's happening. And he starts to relax as he checks the trickling-out flow of zombie traffic below. He can just sit tight until the barrier disperses -- it seems like these individuals have things well in hand.

But that's when Lacuna, who approaches from a different direction across the rooftops, makes herself known. By throwing a mustachio'ed wrench into the rescue efforts.

Even then, it looks like defenders are quick to rally, albeit with a set of powers that look *very* different than the kinds he's used to dealing with. Regardless, things could end up going quite badly if there's a slip at the wrong time (there are still zombies, after all).

And so Ace drops down off the roof as he hurries towards the school building himself. The only good thing in all this chaos is that odds are he won't actually be noticed while he gets himself in a better position to see just what in the world is unfolding *now*.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Takuto scrambles out of the crowd back onto the school grounds by shoving the part of the crowd in his way into the school ahead of him, making them vanish, and then a Luis slams into the ground in front of him and self-replicates and he's looking at seven foot tall twin handlebar-moustachioed youma. His expression goes from D: to D:< very quickly, and he looks up, too, and there's ... "WHEN DID YOU GET OLD AND LAME?" yells a white-and-gold-military-coat-wearing teenager with a shock of spiky red hair (with a bright yellow star-shaped forelock on one side) and his voice is absolutely not Stellar's but... "You were helping US last year!!" he yells even more indignantly, taking off the ground again, floating too high for Luis and Luis to catch.

"FIRE MAYBE?" he yelps, looking down at the youma and charging his lasers. "TAU--" he starts, arms outstretched in front of him, fists together, pointed at a Luis, when Amy shoots and a wall goes up, and he breaks it off and lets the energy dissipate.

He just-- "Just leave them in there while we get the rest of the zombies through the gates," he calls out, and drops down next to the gate to start just pulling people through from the safe side.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
The two youma named Luis have not embraced there brotherhood, and instead are calling, "HAMBAAAARGAAAAAAR", at each other, loud enough for all the world - or at least the campus - to hear. They do not notice the shots coming their way -

At least, not until they're both shot, and suddenly there are four of Luis within Rashmi's golden ice.

Two are on the ground, dead. The other two are clawing at the ice. They can't seem to get out easily... but they aren't being purified by the ambient energy of the Crystal Heart, either. It seems that unlike the civilians they can readily infect, they will not be disappearing when the barrier drops.

Lacuna casually lopes across the roofs, getting closer to the school and the heroes, frowning as she catches the shouting from -

There's a flash of an ugly sneer as she takes in red hair, white and gold coat -

But Kyouka isn't a tall boy, and she's never been so hungry for attention that she blotted a portion of her hair as gold as the sun. It's someone else, and just like that, the aggression leaks out of her stance.

"I've never worked with you, so you must have run into the mini-me. She's dead."

The words are delivered casually, and Lacuna moves closer, standing on the gate to the school's entrance. She whistles when she notices that the two trapped youma stand over the bodies of their dead.

"Well now, that's certainly something. Corona certainly made something interesting with this one. Perhaps she's onto something with her bespoke youma concept."

She pulls a notebook out of a pocket and jots down a few notes.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< It's *always something* these days, >> Rashmi grumbles, still casting poisonous looks over her shoulder at random moments. But, if Lacuna seems content to observe from afar, Rashmi's not gonna complain about a *fifth* new problem being all up in their business.

<< Okay so Luisen aside... we've got a pretty good setup going. I've got half an eye on the Shield, but if someone wouldn't mind actually *watching* it now and again, and tell me when cracks are starting to join up? Also Bishonen-kun, if you're getting *tired* tired it's okay to come up here. I can give you a shot of energy if you're not done fighting yet. >>

Obligingly, Nicomachea manifests a screen showing a cartoon 2-d picture of the Shield, and >:E-faced Lueese bouncing around inside of it. A bar graph showing Structural Integrity steeeeeeeeeadily climbs downward, with only two of the trapped youma actively scraping at the ice.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
<< Maybe we could get a hamburger after all of this is done? >> Tsukiko rhetorically asks Rashmi, some good-natured ribbing clear in her tone of 'voice'. She sighs as Red's attempt at a kinetic solution to the Luis problem results in more Luis-ends to deal with. Well, that definitely narrows down what her options against the tall zombies are...

<< I'll focus on pulling more simple zombies through the gate, >> the wolfgirl declares. << And I'll let the problem-solvers and energy-throwers deal with that zombie that's cloning around, given that most of my fighting style would not be helpful with that. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Two Luis. Four Luis. Dead Luis. Iced Luis.

    Someone suggests fire -- at least, Amy thinks she heard that? -- so she runs up to the ice shield and lobs some kind of bomb atop it. A grey-and-red canister the size of let's say a 2 liter soda bottle, its looks don't actually mean anything because she doesn't know how it works, it's just full of magic that she's willed to turn into heat and fire when set off.

    It'll need some real elemental magic to properly focus it, though. << Rashmi! Charge this with your fire buff, then let me know to set it off when the shield breaks! Or I will if I see it, obviously. >>

    And then Amy can turn and get a good look at Lacuna, and isn't that the from-the-past girl from last summer but like... adult, now? Ginga Bishounen asked before she could, though.

    Amy's eyes widen. "Uh, you mean metaphorically because you're not the same person you were, right? Or did something actually...?"

    As for Corona... "She sure did!" Amy retorts, her tone of voice making it clear she thinks this is the terrible kind of 'interesting'. "Is this the world you want though, really? Hell, can this even last? Won't they all starve if they can't think about eating real food? And like, if you ever get careless and get bit, you're infected too and then you can't think about anything but HAMMM BARRR GARRR!"

    A smidge of anger creeps into her voice at the end from having experienced it.

    "Did you even find and purify her yet, or is she still running around as hamburger-crazy as the rest of them?"

    Amy runs back towards the gate to resume luring zombies, and then stops just outside it as she realizes something, possibly at the same time as Fuyuko.

    "Wait, you guys don't have a way to purify... so how are you gonna..."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
<< Whoof, yeah, thanks, >> the Ginga Bishounen's mental voice comes over the telepathy, and he flies up next to Rashmi and... takes a break. << I've been at this for three damn hours, and I still haven't found my boyfriend. Who's still a hamburger zombie. >> He also shoots Lacuna a dirty look. "Okay, whatever," he calls back over to her, "that sounds stupid, and YEAH!! What Red-chan said! Your good idea girl got bit by MY BOYFRIEND when he got bit, and now she's off biting people. Make sure you give her an F in forethought."

Takuto turns to Amy, then. "But you know the answer as well as I do, honestly. They know we'll do it free of charge the second we get a chance. Oh, good idea, I'll help charge it too--"

So much for taking a break, he holds up his arms in front of him again, hands together, and points them at the bomb.

"TAU GALAXY BEAM!" he yells, and he shoots the bomb with raw homing magic plasma basically.

Meanwhile, the zombies do, in fact, rush Amy while she's talking to Lacuna: they're nearly a crush, groaning and yelling and grasping and pulling and BITING BITING BITING on the way through the gates as they push and push--!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"I mean that literally," Lacuna says dryly, rolling her eyes. "She was nothing more than a memory, and I put an end to what remained of her time."

She has no shame in her game for killing her own past self. If anyone deserved to kill her, it was her. Or Kyouka, but Kyouka didn't have it in her anymore.

She jots down a few more notes on Corona.

"Are you deluding yourself, girl? This isn't going to last - the distribution is too haphazard and nearly a quarter of you have been observed to have some variant of purification ability. I would be shocked if this lasts into tomorrow."

There's anger in Takuto and Amy's voices, and she glances at them, and then laughs a little. "She definitely could have done better in foresight if she was bitten by one of her own victims, and I'd be angry in your places, so you might as well enjoy the fights to come."

She looks carefully at the Tau Galaxy Beam, the planted bomb, the frozen ice - it would be good to know that Radiant Heart's new defenses aren't enough to outright end a youma. Valuable insight for the trainees.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A Midchildan circle spreads out under Ginga Bishounen, radiating warm summery light up over his body. While it's not much of a *heal* heal, it does ease aching muscles, soothe incipient bruises, and -- most importantly -- delivers a shot of extra energy; a cup of extra-strong coffee, for magic. "There," she says, as the glow fades. "Best I can do, but I can give you another once we're done. Now what's this about Kingu-kun?"

Amy's plan has the Devicer's head snap toward the Puella, a grin spreading over her face as she sees the 'bomb,' which is then supercharged by pure Star Driver Orneriness. Oh boy...

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

A single wisp of energy forms above the Device's pages, then streaks down to impact the bomb, adding a warm golden glow to the energies coursing through it.

A quick check sees that the bouncing angry Luiseseseseseses have carved their way through a good bit of the interior of the Shield. << Oh boy, >> she mentally murmurs. << I give it... ten seconds before the Shield fails! If not I'll break it down myself, so... TEN SECOND WARNING. >>

At which point Ikiko's question pierces her thoughts, and she just *sighs* from her soul. << ...Yeah I *really want a burger now,* let's go to that place in Ueno where they slice the burgers in half and serve them on a sizzling cheese puddle... >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy absolutely looks horrified at Lacuna's admission.

    Most people have probably never considered the situation. Amy has, and decided that all extant Amys are equally her!

    Amy just looks gobsmacked by Lacuna, and then

     HAMBRGR! HAMM BARGARR! HAMMBURG! HUM BARGER!

    The zombies are a couple of feet away -- Amy reflexively conjures a pistol but stops herself before firing as she's swarmed.

    "NO NOT AGAIN!"

    She can feel the press of bodies shoving her, teeth trying to get through her bodysuit-- did she get bit again? She'll know in a moment! And then--

    Lands on her butt as the zombies pushing her are purified and vanish from the barrier, and she's purified too if she needed it. (Oh, that's how Obsidian could purify their generals in the event of a hamburger zombie apocalypse.)

    << 7... 6... >> comes Nichomachea's countdown. Amy glances back as she stands up. Did Ginga Bishounen just add tau power to the bomb? Does that work? Amy has no idea what Tau power is, and also starts to wonder what the result will be if it does work, and how much having two people will enhance the bomb, and

    << 5 >>

    she can wonder it just as well from a distance! She starts running through the now-clear gate, leaping over any zombies still milling about outside.

    4...3...2...1...

    The ice breaks. The canister falls in next to the Luises.

    And then all is heat and flame in a great big sphere. This may be the closest Amy or Rashmi has come to seeing a fireball spell as described by D&D rules in real life. Outside the gate there's a blast of hot air that feels like standing in front of an oven. Inside--

    A wide circle of grass is just ash over a thin layer of glassed dirt. It's loud due to the sheer size of the explosion, but aside from the blast of hot air, and any effect that normally accompanies Tau plasma, there really isn't much impact, which is why Amy asked for magical help to pull off what she only partially could alone. There is the distinct smell of ozone.

    There probably isn't much Luis.

    Amy stares. "...I'm glad that was in a barrier."