Chaos on a planet. The thought made Penthesilea's skin crawl even worse than the Eternal's - Maia's - aura. Could there be Chaos lurking somewhere on her planet? It wasn't possible, was it? Not when it had made her so pure and clean and incorruptible.
But maybe there was, and...she didn't really have time to worry about it, because they were all scooped up and transported to space, and oh there it was, something distinctly and deeply wrong with the Senshi that was making her turn on them.
But this was what she was good for, what she was made for. There was a reason she couldn't give energy the way some of the others could.
Her magic would require time to charge, but it was still useable, and so she reached for it.
"Penthesilea Warparth!" The glowing blade appeared in her hands, and two quick slashes sent red power careening at the tree.
It lashed back at her, sending electricity through her body - but that certainly wasn't the worst pain she'd ever experienced.
Athene had recognised some of the source of the gathered auras as he and Ida stepped into sight of the senshi and knights already gathered about Maia and Shangri-La.
There had Ganymede and Valhalla and Chaldene and he had given each of the three a nod and a quiet smile as he moved closer to the assembled group.
There had also been an orange-haired eternal (Penthe), with the distinct aura that Athene had come to associate with senshi that glowed like Ida and Ganymede, although her markings were probably the most extensive he'd seen.
It had taken a few moments for him to place just why she seemed so familiar given that he couldn't place a name for her, until he remembered that she had been amongst those taken by the Negaverse, remembered Thraen carrying her out from the very much not fun house.
The others were unfamiliar - at least to him they were - although he noted that one of the knights also had the same distinctiveness to his aura that Ida, Ganymede and the orange-haired eternal (Penthe) had. And he had glowing markings too.
His attention had shifted back to Maia and Shang as Ida stepped over the pair and whilst he didn't offer up conversation, there was worry in his eyes and quiet concern for the red-haired eternal as he watched his team mate and friend give energy to the curly red-haired eternal.
And he had made a mental note of Maia's warning about 'back seeds' even though it didn't make much sense to him.
He had stepped closer at Shang's gesture as Maia took out her phone, their surroundings shifting suddenly as the teleportation took hold as the surroundings of the park that they had all been standing in changed suddenly to a grove of trees, dark and forbidding and surrounding a tree of a pure dark obsidian black.
His attention caught by the tree and by weird feel of it, it had taken a few moments for for Athene to realise that Maia was no longer with the others, his eyes beneath his glasses startled as he heard her speak almost casually about them all dying with an expression of such cruelty on her face that for a moment he couldn't help but stare at her.
It had been Ida moving to call her attack that galvanised him to action, noting as he started to move that the orange-haired eternal was also moving to attack the weird tree that Maia was standing by.
Taking a few steps forward, Athene had found himself pausing as he realised that he wasn't sure how to actually go about attacking the tree.
Close up seemed bad given that the tree was casting out tendrils of what looked like electricity, but unlike Ida his magic just wasn't offensive - that was if his magic decided to co-operate and actually work.
There was Maia and perhaps he could try using it on her - but...
But a part of him was reluctant to try using his magic on the red-haired senshi - especially since if it worked and trapped her in place then there was a chance that she could perhaps end up getting hit by the electricity that the tree was sending their way.
Ida's attack hit the tree dead on with what looked to be a solid hit, but then she was caught in turn by one of the tendrils of electricity.
He couldn't just stand debating, he'd have to just go for it and hope that it would be enough.
Going for it ended up being finding something to throw, his hand closing round a stone that he thought might do the trick as he sent it in the direction of the tree.
He had forgotten however about Maia's attack, translucent musical notes circling him and making him feel sluggish, his hand falling down limply after his attempt at a throw.
Athene hits for 16 damage and gets caught by Maia's attack
Shang watched as Maia was given the boost she needed to get them to her planet. She seemed sort of half in awe of the renewed feeling before they were transported to her planet, but as soon as they touched down in that wicked grove she seemed to loose her cool and attack them.
Shang frowned as she touched the tree and electricity rolled forth followed by Maia's own attack. He summoned his weapon and jumped out of the way, calling out, "watch your feet too, the black seeds will shock you too."
He frowned at the crackle of energy around their feet and moved to attack the tree. He doubted his magic would do much to the tree but he tried it anyway getting up close and hit the tree as hard as he could with his weapon and focusing on his magic and sending it into the tree.
It screeched haunting trill that sounded different to each hit of magic, each touch. A function of the tree itself which normally played the heart song of the person who touched it.
At first, Ganymede was content to let Babylon and Ida handle the energy transfer, but Maia looked awful. Ganymede needed to touch her, to know that she was okay, so she used the transfer of energy as an excuse, placing a hand along Maia's back as she pulled energy from within herself and pushed it into her friend.
That all changed when they left Earth and arrived among a grove of trees. Something seemed to come over Maia; her expression shifted to cruelty. There was a dark tree in the center of the grove that Ganymede took to be responsible. Indeed, her allies soon commenced the attack on it.
“Bad is an understatement,” Ganymede responded to Babylon, and then, “Watch out!”
She placed herself in front of Valhalla, concerned by his ability to fight when he still wasn't quite himself. She considered making the transformation from Eternal to Princess, but thought better of it when she looked at Maia. She might need that power later. It'd likely be a waste to use it now. She had other magic at her disposal, in any case.
Ganymede cried out as she took a hit from the tree. She recovered quickly enough, aiming for the tree as she called upon her magic, “Searing Passion!”
Quote:
The enemy's sense of desire manifests itself in a physical sensation, a heating of the body that grows progressively stronger until the target feels as as if they are burning up from the inside. The attack reaches its peak after 45 seconds. The target is likely to feel weak and disoriented once the attack has burned itself out.
Guine
Silverah
Kaori_luv
Ganymede does 13 + 5 = 18 damage to the tree!
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
Guine rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17Total: 17 (1-20)
Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
Offline
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:52 am
Valhalla stayed close to Ganymede, knowing she would want to do whatever she could for help, and while the use of her energy would probably be beneficial, they needed to wait until the right moment, otherwise she would end up powerless. “Don’t do anything rash,” he requested as they arrived on Maia’s home world and saw the large black tree. He could feel his stomach twist uncomfortably as Maia seemed to turn cold and possibly affected by chaos.
Oh the other hand, Ganymede might need to help sooner than he thought.
He supposed it was good that Ganymede had the same idea, even without his comment, although he wasn’t all that comfortable with her standing in front of him to protect him. At least they both at least manage to get out of the way of the tree’s, and Maia's attack.
“I don’t need to sense it to know you’re right,” he replied in a breath to Babylon’s comment. The others around them seemed to have a good idea about what to do, although he was concerned about hitting Maia in the process. She was his friend after all…
Or at least he assumed the concerned feelings towards her meant that she was his friend. Obviously Ganymede was concerned with helping her, but he didn’t know if he knew her prior to all of this. Was she someone he knew? Same with Babylon. There was a tournament and countless other interactions, some not as great as they could have been, but the Surrounding and his help at the summer camp stood out the strongest.
Valhalla shook his head and tried not to dwell on the things he couldn’t remember, stepping away from both Ganymede and Babylon so he could try to approach Maia. He didn't bother suggesting the others attack the tree; they seemed to have the same idea about it as he did. Right now he was more concerned about Maia.
Besides, he was a knight of Jupiter; he wasn’t afraid of electricity.
“Maia, we’re just here to help you,” he called to her, holding his hands up to show he was unarmed as he tried drawing closer, but knowing she could very well use her magic again. Weighing the odds of being struck by lightning, Valhalla lifted his hands to remove the metal helmet from his head and tossed it to the ground. This time he wouldn’t have Ganymede to protect him, but as he was unable to use magic, himself, this was the best he could do.
If he could distract her long enough for the others to take down what seemed to be the source of this chaos…
Athene gave a slight nod at Shang's voiced warning, a quick movement of his head as acknowledgement that he'd heard the Squire's words, the whole black seeds thing making much more sense given that the malevolent tree was trying to zap them all.
Or at least he tried to move his head in a quick nod, however his movements felt sluggish and almost heavy in the wake of Maia's magic and it was kind of a toss up on whether he had managed to succeed.
The hampering of his movements had the secondary effect of dulling his reaction time down to the point that he was not able to move out of the way as one of the reaching tendrils of electricity headed his way.
He gasped, the sound pained and quiet - well at least when compared to the shrieks of sound coming from the demented tree sending lightning their way - the pain hitting him like a sharp swift blow.
He tried to throw another rock in the tree's direction, but it was hard to tell if he had actually succeeded due to the pain.
Athene hits the tree for 3 damage and gets hit by lightning for his trouble
((Working off phone. Lots of post edits to come, and any major fixes/codeing will have to be done at home))
Antares only hesitated joining the crowd that had gathered around because she didn't want to touch and be touched in the process of the planet jump but there was no way she was being left behind. She didn't have much time to come to grips with her issues before she found herself whisked away from the park and arriving on Maia's planet.
The young senshi was shocked and slightly awed. She had never been to a homeworld, not her own nor others, so the concept of being in space was a little hard to wrap her head around. It wasn't until Maia spoke that Antares focused on the task at hand. The cold and malice filled look on the redhead's face reminded Antares of her father... But worse since she knew Maia was not the same kind of twisted person she was currently acting like. "Death is overrated." The blond's smile was hard and mocking, best distract Maia so others can deal with the tree.
She absently nodded at Shang's warning and winced as others began to get shocked, including Shang himself. Antares was mentally debating what she was going to do when she saw a knight step up to the tree and remove his helmet thingy ((Valhalla)).She smothered a curse and headed towards the tree, if the knight wanted to get hurt she won't stop him but she could at least muffle the damage some. Once she was close enough she called out her attack, "Scorpion Sting!" The ghostly scorpion appeared and immediately scurried up to the tree and struck, the senshi wasn't even sure it would work. Could the effect of the scorpion's sting even affect the tree? She was willing to take that chance to give others some breathing space against the shocks even as she recieved a painful jolt as a electrical tendril lashed out in retaliation to her attack.
[[Sailor Scout Attack: Scorpion Sting
When the attack is called out a ghostly scorpion around the size of a rat or a hamster appears and advances upon the attended target. The scorpion can be touched, swatted, hit, and stepped on but it is not recommended since it is able to sting through clothes and armor alike. When it stings, it's target gets severe pins and needles sensation in the limb that was stung... as if their limb had fallen asleep and was just then waking up, this effect lasts 30 seconds. Any residual affects are up to the target if there is any at all.
The scorpion can be dodged and after 7 feet it disappears and it can only manifest for 30 seconds at a time. It does not travel in a straight line, rather it will head to anything moving so it could be tricked. The length of the scorpion and the length of the effects of the attack are separate, if you are stung in the beginning you have just as long as someone stung right before the scorpion disappears.
This attack can be used up to a maximum of three times in a battle. When the three scorpions have been used no more can manifest until later.]]
Babylon ducked at Ganymede's provocation, and the spinning musical notes of doom whizzed over his head - though his good luck was probably more due to the fabric of the universe forgetting a karmic dice roll. (Oops.) "Thanks!" he called to Ganymede, then looked Valhalla's way. Was the other knight... agreeing with him? No snark, no attempts at undermining?
Did he hit his head?
Okay, weird, thought Babylon, but they were kind of sort of in the heat of battle, so thinking more about that was gonna have to wait.
"I wish I had combat magic," he grumbled, adjusting his grip on his lantern - less light, more flail. Seemed like he was going to have to go get close quarters on this thing. Valhalla looked to be going in unarmed ahead of him - which only added to Babylon's suspicion that the other knight was suffering from a head injury, but he wasn't going to ask.
That would be rude.
Lantern raised, he ran long around Valhalla's right side in what he imagined to be a really cool football maneuver (Babylon had never played football in his life). Nearing the tree, Babylon swung hard.
The lantern connected! It looked like it hurt!
It sent a jolt of lightning up Babylon's arm that sent him spinning backwards from the tree, head over heels, and totally made his hair stick up even worse than it had been before.
"Okay, so that was a bad idea," said Babylon, falling back to the group.
Babylon hits the tree for 16 damage, and gets struck by lightning, so he's not gonna do that again.
“Val!” Ganymede called when he stepped away from her, immediately concerned for his well-being. He might have managed to avoid being hit by both the tree and Maia's attack, but confronting Maia under the circumstances didn't seem like a smart move.
There was something obviously very wrong with her. Not quite totally corrupted, but not herself either. It might be dangerous to approach her, especially if she was using her magic against them. Valhalla currently had no means to defend himself, and certainly no means to attack on his own. He would have to rely on physical attacks, but Ganymede didn't expect he'd resort to that against their friend.
Leaning over to pick up a piece of debris, Ganymede hurled it at the offending tree before drawing closer to Valhalla. One of the tree's tendrils flicked out at him. Ganymede pushed him out of the way and took a jolt to the shoulder.
“Who's the one being rash?” she hissed in pain.
Guine
Ganymede does 12 damage to the tree!
Guine rolled 1 20-sided dice:
7Total: 7 (1-20)
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:47 am
He had no intention of drawing his friends or allies into danger, and when he could see both Babylon and Ganymede heading towards the tree to attack, only to be struck in return, and in Ganymede’s case it was to protect him, he felt sick. It wasn’t just them, either. He could see Athene getting struck by the lightning as well.
“Maia, stop this!” he called to her again, but taking the time to throw his arms around Ganymede, pulling her under the protection of his arms which were covered in armor and leather and hopefully would be enough to absorb some of the electricity. He did not want her getting hurt, especially if she was only getting hurt in the process of protecting him.
“Please, I know you’re not yourself, but look around you. You know us. You brought us here to help you, so please…”
He ignored Ganymede’s comment about him being rash and quickly pushed her behind him as another tendril shot out towards them, this time with him receiving the damage as it hit his arm. “Leave Maia to me, please,” he asked, not wanting Ganymede to waste her time trying to protect him when she could use her magic to bring down the tree.
“And Babylon’s only making himself into a human lightning rod with that lantern of his. If you have to cover someone, make sure he doesn’t get hit,” Valhalla requested although he was concerned for the others as well. “I’m a Jupiter knight; I can take the lightning.”
The small group of senshi and knight that had gathered in response to the call was full of vaguely familiar faces. Some she, like Phact, she knew quite well while the rest were more so encounters she had forever and a day ago it seemed. Ganymede was one of the few Acrucis could recognize by name, though had changed a lot since the two last spoke.
There was little warning on what to expect as the group was teleported from where they once stood gathered in the park to Maia’s homeworld before their immediate area turned into a battleground. Before the Senshi of Prayer had time to gather her bearings, the battle had already begun.
Her attention had been on the Eternal Transcended Senshi clad in a dark purple and white uniform, someone she vaguely recognized as a participant in the first battle against the Shadow Beasts and Animatron Guards several weeks prior, when Maia’s notes came barreling towards her. Unable to dodge out of the way, Acrucis could feel the immediate effects of her friends magic with the slowing of her own heartbeat.
'Maia, stop this!' Acrucis heard one of the knights call out as she herself fell to her knees from the effects of the notes dancing around her.
((Rolling dodge for Pompeii. Same warning as before, on phone so will be multipule edits tho hopefully I can get it done in one go.))
Pompeii was more then ready to get her friend and teammate back so she gladly huddled in with the group and before she could think 'let's go' the were transported to a grove of dark and strange trees. This is what is causing Maia's madness. Pompeii thought as she surveyed the surroundings. Maia's taunt had the brunette knight glance over to find the senshi in question perched under a blacker than black tree. "You said that before and like then I don't plan on dying here Maia." It wasn't more than a distraction as Pompeii mentally ran through fighting stradegies since she knew brains would be imperative for them to win.
Sadly she didn't get much chance to plan before Maia launched her own magical attack. As the glittering, shimmering, notes flew at them Pompeii did her best to avoid them. The tranquilising effect of the attack was not what she needed at the moment, what the Saturn knight needed was a plan and the ability to follow through with the plan. She was able to dive out of the way but when Pompeii hit the dirt she encountered one of the black seeds they were warned about.
The seed delivered a painful zap but it seemed to spark an radical plan in the knight's mind. Pompeii scrambled to her knees and scooped up the seed, her teeth gritted against the pain as her arm slowly became numb. Eyeing the distance and guessing at the trajectory she threw the seed with all her strength right at Maia. With luck it would hit the eternal senshi and not one of the others... And it would deliver a shock to the redhead just like it shocked Pompeii. The first was much more likely than the later but she had to try, she didn't want anyone else to have to fight Maia. Staring into those familiar eyes, so hard and cold, and realizing your friend really wouldn't hesitate to kill you was not something Pompeii wanted anyone else to come to terms with.
For once Phact had to admit she was grateful for the senshi ability to teleport to another world via their phone. While this was truly only her second time on another planet, she did not seemed at all phased.
That was until she heard Maia's voice.
It sent that same chill down her spin the first time she had been attacked by the senshi so many here loved. Their reactions made sense but it was one knight she did not know's call to leave Maia to him that made her call out "She isn't Maia right now! Watch out!"
And so she too took off towards the tree praying that with their efforts on it, Maia would not suddenly decide now was a good time for southern fried Order members. They had to destroy whatever was controlling her.
Chaos, again, corrupting someone that would otherwise be a strong force of good in the world. She hated the stuff, hated it's influence, and hated how it tore people apart. It wasn't right or fair how it could infect people, even on their own planets! She wasn't going to let it claim anyone else, not while there was a breath left in her body.
She grabbed her garland and held onto the symbols of Earth on the ends. She concentrated, forcing her anger, her love, and her determination into it. Thorny vines wrapped around the tree, squeezing and scratching the thing. She felt for a moment that she was doing very well, she saw the gouges in the wood from her thorns.
But then the thing struck back. The lightning caught her right in the stomach and she doubled over, breaking her concentration. The vines withered and she stumbled back a few steps. Her breathing felt erratic. Her entire body tingled with pain and a strange sort of numbness and she struggled to move past it. She wanted to keep going but the moment she was going to have to listen to her body.
Sherwood didn't know what she was doing here and the threat of dying sounded ominous. She wished for someone, anyone, that she knew to stand by her and help. But among the crowd there wasn't a single person she knew. So, she had to find the courage in herself. She looked down deep inside of herself, getting in touch with her magic for the first real time since she discovered that she was a knight.
"I am going to help her." she promised aloud, softly. There was no one really that was going to disagree but she had to say it, hoping to convince herself.
Steeling her will Sherwood stooped and picked up a rock and hurled it at the tree. She narrowly missed a bolt of electricity that came moving toward her at an alarming pace but the rock hit and she stood there in shock for a moment admiring the fact that she managed to do something right.
