Scene #58: Dream Kingdom Akanbe!

Owner	Pose
Mie Kitamura	It's a bright summer day in the Dream Kingdom theme park, and people have come from all over Japan to enjoy the rides and attractions. Being summer, it's rather hot, but that just means that the shaved ice and ice cream kiosks are making out like bandits. Families of all sorts and sizes mill about the place, enjoying various thrill rides and attractions and generally having a good time. You know who's not having a good time though? Lamya, one of the generals of Emperor Pierrot's Bad End Kingdom. She hovers over the scene on emerald wings, disgust visible on her face. Her green hair floats behind her in the wind, bracketed by horns the curl out and up and red eyes watch the guests enjoy themselves below. "Tch."
Nanoha Takamachi	"Look Nanoha, you're not going anywhere." says Suzuka. "Yeah, we're keeping a close eye on you..." says Arisa, keeping a ''close eye on Nanoha from behind, as Nanoha 'moooouuuuss' about it, "Look, I'm really sorry, guys..." says Nanoha. "I promise I won't go anywhere today!" she says with a smile though, glad to be here with friends, and there's nothing happening and Raising Heart is being quiet at her. Maybe it's time to go onto a ''roller coaster'' with friends! And thusly, the three get into the line, queueing up!
Tori Morte	Tori is, of course, not wearing her school uniform. It's a weekend, and she's at a theme park! So instead, she's wearing a black t-shirt and a straight pink skirt that reaches just below her knees. She's carrying a pink Hello Kitty parasol to protect her sensitive European skin from the sun... because she's both English enough to forget sunblock exists, and also English enough to think umbrellas are such a necessity that you should own three. Currently, she's walking through the park, looking for attractions she's not too short to ride, while chatting amiably to... herself, apparently. Or the white-haired ghost girl in the outdated Radiant Heart Academy uniform, if you happen to be able to see things like that.
Rashmi Terios	Rashmi is a Giant Fantasy Nerd. Before anything else, there is that single truth. She loves tales of princesses and knights and wizards and healers and and and. If it's a tale of a world not our own, with stone and wood instead of concrete and steel, odds are she's at least read the first volume. Which is why on this particular day off, to treat herself after starting her practice regimen, she is sitting on a bench, eating daifuku and watching the character-actors mill around and delight children. This was the best idea.
Francesca Leon	You know, sometimes... Sometimes a girl just has to have a little fun. And things like 'not being able to afford admission', well... Okay that's an obstacle. Francesca is... Well. Outside the themepark, staring in at all the people milling about and hustling and bustling and having fun and getting on the rides. Sigh. A glance left. A glance right. A hop over a waist-high fence when no one is looking, and her problem is solved.
Mie Kitamura	"Look at them," Lamya says derisively. "Playing out their little happy fantasies. Knights and princesses? Don't make me laugh!" She floats down on some air currents to hover a little closer to the central area of the park, where a large mass of families are. "I'll show them how lame their little fantasies are." Suddenly she lifts up a hand holding a tube containing the Black Paint of Darkness and cries, "This world will be stained with the worst possible conclusion..." She crushes the tube in a clawed fist causing the paint to ooze out between her fingers. "...a Bad End!" A book appears in her hand and flips open to an empty page, and she smears the paint over the pages. "The blank slate of your future will be clouded in darkness!" Suddenly the world turns grim and grey, and the guests all sink to their knees in despair. "These rides all suck." "The mascots all look cheap." "I just want to go home," mumble the guests as bad energy rises up from them and gets sucked into the book. "Ohohohoho!" Lamya chortles in glee. "The Bad Energy we gather from these people will resurrect the Emperor of Darkness... Pierrot!"
Rashmi Terios	This was absolutely not the best idea. But all the same, being here allows Rashmi to do something about whatever creature it is this time, draining people and ruining a perfectly good time. ...But there's no place to change quickly. A moment's glance around, and yes there is! Thus she rolls underneath the bench she happened to be sitting on, and after a brief golden flash of light, crawls out and dusts off her Barrier Jacket. Then, she looks around for the source of this disruption, hoping that the monster isn't too terrifying.
Tori Morte	Tori stops in her tracks as several other guests simply fall to their knees, and the world turns dark. She looks left and right in confusion. "What... what is-" She closes her eyes for a moment, then shakes her head. "This isn't a Tristis, it's too spread out. What is going on..." She takes her ghost friend's hand and squeezes it tightly, while looking around, letting her empathic senses guide her eyes. She slowly begins to look up, into the sky, and then right at Lamya. "... So she's the one who's doing this..." Tori darts off into the closest bathroom. *** "Memento Mori." Energy swirls around Tori as she stands there, hand gripping the memory stone she wears around her neck. Sayo Hasegawa stands behind her. The ghost nods her head, then steps forward, interposing her body with Tori's. A flash of dark violet light erupts from the girls, while salmon-pink ribbons wrap around them. A salmon pink undershirt replaces her t-shirt, to be covered a moment later by a black, white-laced corset, then a short black jacket. Her skirt shifts and transforms into a black pleated skirt and salmon pink petticoats, and her socks becoming long black stockings. A salmon pink bow ties up her hair, and her eyes turn red. *** She takes a deep breath, then flies up into the air, right through the roof of the bathrooms.
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha Takamachi is glad nothing bad is happening. Then something bad happens. and Arisa and Suzuka get to their knees. 'She's just gonna run away anyways.' 'yeah, let's go home' they both say similar varying phrases as Nanoha seems uneffected. She frowns and Raising Heart registers a disturbance to her.. "Set up!" Nanoha Takamachi dons her barrier jacket and hovers off the ground a few feet to hover over the queue she was in the middle of and land onto the ground as she hefts Raising Heart in her hands. "H..hello!?" she calls out. There's a girl with a book and did someone just fly through a roof without damaging it just now!?
Francesca Leon	Okay. She's in. Now to hop in line for a few rides, spend what little cash she's got on ice cream and cotton candy, and not get caught in the middle of a battle between good and evil. Unfortunately for Francesca, none of that is going to go her way. She's barely two steps into the park when people start to sag and collapse to their knees and complain about how the theme park sucks as the color is sucked from the world. "Ah..." <Hey Kitten. This looks bad.> "Yep." She replies dryly to the talking sword-shaped necklace on the chain around her neck. <You should do something about it.> "I think I'll hit the restroom." She says, turning on her heel, walking into the nearest unoccupied restroom building and-- pauses as she sees Tori. "Excuse me." The girl says, heading into the nearest stall. "Mister Mistoffelees! Set up!" <Standby ready!> There's a flash of purple light from under the door, and Stray emerges, looking as weary as ever, with her device in hand, the heavy looking two-handed sword gleaming in her grasp. <Okay what is the plan?> Mistoffelees chimes. "... I thought you had one." <Don't look at me.> "I AM LOOKING AT YOU!" Ugh. Oh look there are other people here who look... Magical. Let alone the fact that Tori has now flown through the bathroom roo. Stray just... Uses the door and utterly halts as Rashmi comes rolling out from under a nearby bench. "Uh. Hi." Awkward pause. "I'm new to this, should I be doing something?"
Mie Kitamura	Lamya gazes down upon the despair that she's wrought and laughs. "Ohohohoho! So much despair! Emperor Pierrot will have his fill in no time!" The dragoness is very visibly the one who is doing this, hovering above the central courtyard as the Picutre Book of Darkness sucks up the Bad Energy being generated by the people on their knees. She gasps at the sudden appearance of four magical girls who don't seem to be affected by the Paint. "Who are you!?" she demands. "You should be on you knees like all the other peasants! Why is this not working on you?"
Tori Morte	Tori flies up into the air until she's hovering level with Lamya. She's... partially transparent? Until she lets out the breath she was holding, anyway, becoming fully visible - and physical - in the process. She points at Lamya dramatically. "This is a place of wonder and joy, where people go to escape the world and build memories of happier times!" she announces dramatically. "How dare you sully this sacred place! I am Memoriatrix Tourmaline, and-" she glances down, and can't help but grin. "...And together, we will protect these people's precious memories!" Lamya, like any magical person, feels a tingle in the air as the Memoriate focuses her psychokinesis on her and tries to drag her out of the sky. "Now get down there!"
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha Takamachi looks upwards as she blinks and eyes the dragon girl up there and lifts off the ground again, flier fin casting as she flies upwards a moment. "Is...is this your doing? Well. that..that isn't nice..." she trails off as she frowns. "I was out with my friends! I'm not supposed to run away again!" she says as she calls off a shoot barret, the ball of energy firing off towards the dragon girl. as Tori tries to drag her down.
Rashmi Terios	...A girl flew out of the bathroom? Where's she go-- oh. Ooooooh. IS THAT A DRAGON. It's very, very handy that Stray emerges normally from the bathroom just now and speaks to her, snapping her out of the emotional loop of 'terror/fangirl/terror/fangirl' Shaking her head, she smiles uncertainly at Stray. "Hi! I'm new too, but..." She simply points up at Lamya. "That. we need to make that go away." So there are two children almost half her age rising up to meet it. Frowning, she sets the book in the air in front of her, where it just sort of floats. "Okay so first thing, draining needs to stop. If I can catch her in this, I can do that. You don't know how to fly by the way, do you?" As she asks her nonsequitur of a question, a magic circle spreads out under her feet, and the crystal in the center of the book's cover flashes, then speaks. BONG! << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >> And as the spell is released, a dome of gray-black light forms around the circle, then spreads out, and up, to cover a good deal of the area of the park. With luck, it'll engulf Lamya as well as the other combatants, ending the drain and taking the battle to a dimension where everyone involved can cut loose.
Francesca Leon	That. That sure is a dragon. Stray stares up for a long beat. "That's a dragon-girl." She points out helpfully. She doesn't quite hit the same loop of fangirling and terror that Rashmi does, but enters more of a zen state of quiet utter bafflement as she stares up at Lamya. Because she has never seen a dragon-girl before, God so help her. Tori gives an honest to god justice speech. "'Together' is kind of a stretch." Stray points out. "I don't ''know'' you." And Nanoha opens fire. She pauses to look at her sword in her hands. "Can you do that?" <I could. If you were better.> "HEY!" Heaving an exasperated sigh she returns her attention Rashmi once she's set up a barrier and scuffs the toe of her boot on the ground awkwardly. "... Am I supposed to know how to fly?" Oof.
Mie Kitamura	"Hah! Precious memories. Don't make me la-OOF!" Lamya doesn't get a chance to laugh off Tourmaline's speech as Nanoha's hits her straight in the gut. It's only her psychokinesis that keeps her from flying away. Rashmi's barrier slows the draining of Bad Energy down to a trickle. "Meddling brats!" she spits, flying backwards and pulling out shiny blue ball about the size of her fist. "I don't have time for this. Akanbe! Take care of them!" She tosses the ball at the Ferris Wheel and as soon as it makes contact there's a flash of energy and in it's place is a clown faced Ferris Wheel /monster/ in it's place. It towers over the courtyard, easily as tall as the ride was before it became a walking being of pure destruction. The blue ball has turned into the creature's nose at the axel, and it's clownish features radiate from the hub. The supports have turned into its feet, and each of the cupolas have turned into hands. "AKANBE!" it bellows as the wheel spins and a hand flies out at Nanoha, the most obvious threat of the bunch.
Tori Morte	Tori's focus falters, and Lamya is freed from the psychokinetic force. She turns around to watch the blue ball arc through the air, and- "<What the heck!>" she squeaks out in English. She turns as if to pursue Lamya, but then reconsiders and flies back down towards the sudden Ferris Wheel monster.
Nanoha Takamachi	Oh no, clowns, Nanoha's one (of many) weaknesses. Clowns are kind of scary, okay? So when a giant clown Ferris Wheel comes to life and swats at her, she dips out of the way and starts crying out. "W..what!? Why is it a clown!? This isn't fair!" she yells as she avoids many swatting arms letting flier fin dash her through the air. She looks down at the others. "Uh..h..help!?" she suddenly splutters out. She tries to fire off a stray shoot barret into the youma every so often, but she isn't aiming properly with having to move all about!
Rashmi Terios	"No it's okay I've got it!" The dark-skinned redhead chirps, eyes tracking Nanoha's fire. There's a wince as the Barrets hit home, and then... And then the Ferris Wheel became a monster. A clown monster. "...Um. Yeah okay hang on we need to get you there quick. Nico?" BONG! UNDERSTOOD, MASTER. << FLIER FIN >> Shimmery, yellow dragonfly-like wings sprout from Stray's ankles, coupled with the feeling of warm, rising spirits. "Just... think about it like jumping, but gravity doesn't make you stop!" And with that advice and the ability to fly just plastered onto the poor girl's feet, the redhead darts toward the monster, trying to keep Nanoha in sight. "I'll be right there!" she calls up at the girl... then pauses, frowning at herself, and starts summoning Barrets of her own, attacking the oncoming hands at a hopefully-unexpected angle, to take some pressure off.
Francesca Leon	You know. Stray wanted to ride that Ferris wheel. She sure as hell doesn't want to, NOW, that it's a clownish horrorterror monstrosity. But she still can't help but stare in quiet bafflement as Lamya turns the part attraction into a monster right before her eyes. Rashmi, ever so helpful, however resolves Stray's issue of flightlessness. "Thanks- right... Jumping... No gravity... Got it. I think." She says shooting the other girl a thumbs up before taking a running start. And then she jumps. And proceeds to sail completely ass-over-teakettle as she loses her balance, topples forward and somersaults through the air several times with a squawk. <Get ahold of yourself.> Mistoffelees chides. One more tumbling forward flip and then she seems to right herself, the wings at her ankles fluttering gently as she stomps the air and double-jumps higher. "O-okay... I think I've got this." She says sailing clean past the Ferris wheel youma. <You missed.> Mistoffelees points out. Before Stray curls up in a ball, tumbles forwards and kick off the air horizontally, propelling herself back at the monster, sword gleaming in her hand as she slashes at it several times in passing. Okay, she's... She'll get the hang of it.
Mie Kitamura	Lamya cackles as she watches the Akanbe throw the girls into a panic. "Pathetic!" she taunts. "I expected more from this region's magical girls. If this is all you got then this world's Bad End is all but written!" The Ferris Wheel Akanbe's hands that are striking out to Nanoha get knocked aside by Rashmi's Barrets attacks, and it stumbles forwards as Stray slashes at it's back. "AKANBE!" it yells in confusion. It obviously didn't expect this kind of retaliation. Seeing as there's multiple magical girls to contend with, the Akanbe starts spinning the wheel around, sending hands flying everywhere. "AKANBE!" it shouts as each of the magical girls have a hand to contend with.
Tori Morte	Tori flies in closer to assist Nanoha - then turns her head to see a hand coming flying at her. She gasps! Or... did she just do a sharp inhale on purpose? In either case, her body becomes semi-transparent, and the youma's fist simply passes right through her harmlessly. She holds one hand back, then lets out her breath to become solid again. "This ride has a lot of fond memories bound to it. It's a shame we have to wreck it." She thrusts her palm forward. "Kinetic Blast!" Dust thrown up into the air by the youma's movements suddenly parts as an invisible blast of psychokinetic force slams into the ferris wheel!
Rashmi Terios	Wings unfurl from Rashmi's ankles, and she pushes off into the air to join the fight, glaring up at the dragon-girl, she adjusts her glasses, frowning deeply. "If you think we're going to just give up, you don't have any idea what you're facing! We're going to win, and--GAAAAH!" Well it was a good attempt, but an incoming hand forces a frantic midair backpedaling. BONG! << SOLAR SHIELD >> Because backpedaling isn't quite enough, her book summons a shield just before the hand can grab hold of her. Now the problem is, the fact that the shield is also tuned for kinetic recoil means that Rashmi is blasted a few dozen feet away and downward, tumbling in the air until she manages to halt momentum and right herself. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, the redhead glares down at the Ferris wheel, then looks to her fellow combatants. Tori seems to have her part on lock, Stray's figuring out flight pretty nicely... BONG! << BARRET -- BOOST UP >> A golden wisp of light streaks out from between Nicomachea's pages, and eels through the air toward Nanoha. Darting forward, it wraps itself around Raising Heart's head, becoming a halo of golden light tuned to give the young Mage a substantial upgrade in Shoot Power.
Francesca Leon	It takes Stray a second but... She gets the hang of it; kicking off the air at various points to pick up speed or slow down or change her direction and momentum. She's no expert flyer, and she's... Well she's not a natural. It takes her a concerted amount of effort to work through the kinks and keep mobile. In fact she's so focused on figuring flying out that when the the Ferris wheel turns its attention and starts swinging, she nearly panics. It's a last second jink that turns her body as a massive cupola-fist comes sailing at her. She twists her body, turning to evade, it misses her by SUCH a small fraction of an inch that her cheek grazes along the metal in passing and she loses a few strands of hair in passing. "G-GEEZE." She declares her feelings on the matter succinctly. <Lucky.> "Shut up!" She says to her Device as she hacks away at the akanbe with several flailing swings of her blade before she's caught by ANOTHER fist on that spinning wheel and it punts her into the ground, leaving a pretty deep Stray-shaped crater in the pavement. "Guh..." Yeah she's a little stunned. Just a little.
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha Takamachi takes a hit from one of the arms and is sent flying through the air and tumbles against a snack shop. She 'ughs' and shakes it off as she boosts off into the air towards the Ferris Wheel monster again as she returns fire with her boosted shoot barrets! Sending an array of shots through the air at the clownwheel!
Mie Kitamura	"AKANBE!" Several of the hits strike true, sending knocking some of the magical girls around. Tori's Kinetic Blast has the unfortunate effect of making the spinning wheel go /faster/, sending more hands flying out, this time kind of out of control. Hands slam into buildings, knocking giant holes in them (or completely demolishing the smaller ones.) Strangely, none of the civilians seem to be in all that much danger, as their Bad Energy gets sucked from them. Probably something to do with keeping the G rating. The Ferris Wheel Akanbe stumbles about, the gyroscopic effect of its madly turning wheel causing it to loose its footing, and it's knocked flat on its back when Nanoha's boosted shoot barrets impact its face. "Akanbe..." it says dizzily.
Tori Morte	Tori darts backwards away from the wildly twirling ferris wheel monster. ''Focus on the target,'' she thinks to herself. ''Everyone will be fine. You can worry about them later.'' As the Akanbe stumbles and looks ready to fall over, she flies up higher into the air. ''Any second now...'' she thinks, raising her hand up into the air, open-palmed, fingers locked together and extended like a blade. The Akanbe falls over. Tori brings her hand down in a chopping motion. "Kinetic Sword!!" she calls. A wave of psychokinetic force parts the air again, this one focused to a slicing edge, a blade of kinetic force slamming down into the Ferris Wheel Akanbe.
Rashmi Terios	"All right," Rashmi cheers as the Ferris Wheel falls backwards. "Time to finish this!"Herrienting to glare at the dragon girl, Rashmi once again tries to turn ont he Lecture Mode. "If you spent more time having fun and less time ruining other peoples', you'd understand why there's no good reason to seek a Bad End for anyone!" ...That was good, right? Then a tingle hits the back of her head and she turns, staring at the dust plume streaking down toward the Ferris Wheel. "EVERYONE! HIT IT NOW!"
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha Takamachi watches as the Ferris Wheel tilts over, she then blinks. "Oh!" "Cannon mode!" Raising Heart shifts into another, longer range form, as she grips the pistol grip on Raising Heart's shaft, and then takes a deep breath... "Divine..." < Divine > "...Buster!" < Buster! > >..as she calls out the attack, a giant beam of pink energy erupts from Raising Heart, aiming to hit the toppled Ferris Wheel with devastating force!
Francesca Leon	It takes Stray a second. Stunned and reeling from the impact of being slammed to the ground, she slowly picks herself up to her feet with a wobble. Just in time to see the Ferris wheel monster go toppling. <Now, Kitten!> Breaking into a sprint, she rushes back towards the creature. All the dust and soot and debris makes her eyes burn but it does something else. It makes Tori's blade visible. And with a vaulting leap from behind the ghost-speaking mahou, Stray somersaults over Tori's head, planting her boots on the back of the girl's very magical attack, riding it down for a boost in momentum as she brings her own sword down hard in one incredible slash that sees her landing on the complete opposite side of the clownwheelbeast into a tumble on her knees as she lunges aside from Nanoha's Divine Buster. Slowly rising to her feet she cuts the air once with her blade as though to clean it of dust before peering over her shoulder. "Some people just want to have a little fun. It'll be a cold day in hell before I let someone like you take that away."
Mie Kitamura	Individually the magical girls wouldn't be able to take down this monstrosity, but together as a team? It stands no chance. Nanoha's Divine Buster seems to envelope and enhance Tori's invisible blade, causing it to glow with even more power than it had, and then Stray uses it to fling herself at the Akanbe slicing the blue nose clean in half with enough impact to leave a crater in the ground. "AKANBEEeeee..." the Akanbe wails as the nose disintegrates into nothing. There's a flash of blinding light and when you can finally see through the little spots in your eyes, the Ferris Wheel is back in it's place, gently spinning its wheel. The damage of the buildings seems to have disappeared like nothing had happened at all, and the theme park guests slowly get to their feet, mumbling and questioning what had happened. "Tch." Lamya says, snapping the Picture Book of Darkness closed. Somewhere, outside our reality in a place where there are only Bad Ends, a thunk can be heard of a giant clock hand ticking. "How annoying. No matter. I've collected enough Bad Energy to bring us one step closer to resurrected Emperor Pierrot." She raises her voice so she can be heard across the courtyard. "You may have won this time, magical girls! But you won't be so lucky next time!" With that, there's a blurring in the air as Lamya disappears into the Bad End Kingdom.
Tori Morte	Tori stares as another magical girl rides her psychokinetic blade like a wave. Once the youma fades away, to be replaced by a fully intact theme park, Tori floats to the ground, staring in amazement. "I... guess when you defeat a Bad End you... get a Good End?" she asks the air, very unsure of what just happened. "...Tristes are way easier to understand than this."
Rashmi Terios	"I mean, that kind of makes sense?" Rashmi asnwers Tori's question, shaking her head in puzzlement. "This whole thing was weird though, and why clowns?" Letting out a long, deep sigh, she collects Nicomachea, drifting to end up in proximity to Stray. "Hey... THat was really good work you did, are you sure you're new to this?" A thought occurs to her, and she holds up a finger as if to say 'hang on a second' and turns to Nanoha. "Are your friends all right, by the way?"
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha Takamachi floats down, outside the barrier, Arisa and Suzuka start to wake up and... Nanoha is gone. "She's gone again." she says Arisa. Suuzka armcrosses. "I don't like this. We're gonna need to get the councilor involved." says Suzuka. Nanoha Takamchi sputters. "GOOD QUESTION, I gotta go..." she says as she sputters away, finding a safe place to drop her barrier jacket so she can catch her friends quickly!
Francesca Leon	So like. Let it not go unsaid, as Stray watches Lamya depart, that uh. ... Nanoha's firepower is kind of terrifying. "Geeze..." <She's on a whole other level, Kitten.> "Ya THINK?" The girl bickers with her Device for a beat before rubbing at the back of her neck. "Yeah. I just got lucky is all." She replies to Rashmi. "... Thanks for the wings." She says a little awkwardly. "Anyway I should uh. Go, too." She didn't pay the park entry fee and it would be bad if she's caught now well that would be her hide. "Mistoffelees, do the thing." <Disappearing Trick!> her Device announces before light suddenly bends around her, rendering her mmmmmoooostly invisible to the naked eye so long as she doesn't move too fast, and she's going to start sneaking out of the theme park.
Tori Morte	Tori glances left and right. People are starting to stare. "...Uh... Bye!" she chirps, then dives into the floor to go find somewhere to change back.