Actaea looked around as the creatures appeared and she started punching and kicking every one of them she could reach. She figured she would wait to pull out her reap what you sow for a bit. There was no telling if these guys were the littles and something bigger was on its way. Since she only had no much magic to work with she didn't want to waste it at the start of the fight. Unlike the white moons, she didn't rush to defend civilians as she had told the cat she wasn't a hero. She hadn't even known the cat was there to be saved.
.Vaina was still sleeping and had no idea there was a melee going on all around her. She just kept on sleeping, she could likely sleep through a marching band going past her bedroom window and likely already had.
It wasn't as if Ashton's day had been good regardless -- just because Captain Larimar had (apparently) gone missing didn't mean he could slack off on energy collection, and the heat wave was making hospitals run just about overtime, and he'd sort of been co-opted by family and friends -- as someone with medical knowledge -- into 'six ways to beat the heat the news doesn't want you to know about', which was utterly stupid, but he was going along with it regardless because it built goodwill he could use later. There'd been no time at all to even enjoy the Star Festival, not with people dropping left and right, and it wasn't as if her uniform as Aschera was the most heat-resistant thing in the world. (He wasn't sure what it was made out of, even, but he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to know? Velvety on some layers, leathery on others; it was a mystery that didn't need to be solved.)
Irregardless. Ashton's day hadn't exactly been good so far. Too many intervening factors -- she'd had to postpone things she'd been wanting to do for a week already and simply hadn't had the time for. The sun was hidden behind enough clouds that its relentless heat was less of a threat, so he'd taken up Aschera's outfit and name and aimed to skip congested traffic, to get some exercise in --
And the world had broken open and dumped her face-down on the ground into a dark, dank cave, already congesting with people; there was moss in her face, in her nose, and something sticky and tarlike on her fingers that Aschera wiped off on her overskirt, once she pushed herself to her knees and then to standing. Nothing felt twisted or broken, and there was no dizziness, not at first glance; that would have to do for now.
So with the electricity on his skin, with the tears in the not-sky here -- the issue seemed to be monsters, then. Not pleasant. Gorgeous creatures, surely, emaciated and terrible; but too aggressive to potentially be studied, especially with these many people inevitably making it into some sort of frenzy. There had to be some spot that was open for a rush to a rescue, to earn a positive thought, some place she could insert herself in all this mess --
There. Purple and blue hair, arching horns, howling in pain as a beast took his arm in its mouth - an ideal sort of target.
"Writhe," Aschera hissed, that imperceptible feeling of magic kicking up across her hands; it seemed to be cooperating, even if it burned a little on her skin, and that was fine. Pain was illusory. It was easy to trail his fingers across the beast's face, its snout, and have it uselessly work its jaw in agony as the muscles spasmed -- tragic, really, but at least its captive was slipping free -
"It won't last forever," she said, kneeling down to extend her hand to him, "but if we can get somewhere slightly safer, I can figure out some sort of makeshift bandage for your arm."
As soon as Anniliese saw the creatures, she knew she wanted to get the Hell away from them. She wanted nothing to do with them. She didn't want to know what they could do to her and she did not want to find out. She started moving however way she could. She had to get away. Of course, being a Senshi this is one of the many things she had to deal with. Another Con to add to the list.
Zenobia went as still as she could. Those things whatever they were they looked scary. She didn't want to pet them. Didn't want to have anything to do with them. She looked around her. The first thing that came to her mind was look for an adult for help.
Acubens' heart leapt when she saw Kuichi, Rana, and Panacea. Granted, a portion of that leaping was because she saw them exactly when those... things... started to appear. She saw Kiuchi point at her and then saw Rana start a dead run at her. She was ready with open arms when the younger senshi hit her, whimpering the whole time. She curled herself around Rana as a monster passed close enough to them for Acubens to reach out and touch. Tegmine did what he could but... being a late bloomer his magic did what it usually did. It tried to eat him alive. Acubens tried to help him but he waved her off, the flush of embarrassment clear on his face.
She only released the girl when Kiuchi and his partner finally made it over.
"Oh thank god, you're alright. You-you... you were all just gone and... and I was so worried about you guys!"
She checked Rana first, turning her face in her hands, and then moved to Kuichi and Panacea doing the same to each of them.
"We're alright Miss Acubens," Rana said shakily, finally taking her hand. Acubens allowed herself a moment of calm before she felt something else.
Another Dark Mirror Aura.
Her head snapped up and she searched the area for the source before she finally found it. A basic senshi had appeared and while she seemed capable, having trapped two of those creatures in a bubble, she was still alone.
"Kiuchi," she instructed hastily, passing Rana off to Tegmine. Being larger than her by a large margin, he could put her in his back like he was want to do and get her out more safely than otherwise possible, while still freeing Kiuchi up to lead. "Protect the others, try and get everyone through a fissure. Together is best but... you know... at least as together as possible. I'm going to go get that senshi and I'll meet up with you when I can."
She didn't wait to see Kiuchi's responce. She trusted him with her life, but more importantly, she trusted him with the Court's lives. Rana, Panacea, Tegmine, and Morpheus would all be safe as long as they had one another.
The senshi in the field had no one.
She called on her magic to give her speed as she raced towards the lone senshi.
Velociraptor Agility Type Offensive Duration and Timing The charge lasts five seconds. She can use this attack once every three minutes, and can only attack twice, with just enough energy left over for a Velociraptor Dash after a five minute charging period. Uses A power up of her first attack, Acubens now is able to get up to cheetah speed. Besides that, however, he is also a great deal more agile. She can now turn, for instance, and while it may not be on a dime, at least she can change direction. She can also stop sooner and without having to run into things. Drawbacks Because the turns are still pretty sloppy, it's still pretty easy to dodge Micah's attack. It's still also pretty hard to stop, so Acubens might actually end up running into something while she is trying to do so.
Tegmine saw the three previously-missing senshi at the same time his sister did. He took a step to meet them half way, but a creature cut him off with a snarl, causing Tegmine to stumble back. Another passed close enough to be a threat and Tegmine cast his magic, hoping against hope that it played nicely now.
It didn't.
The second Tegmine called on his magic, the sand flew back in his face and began it's work on him, enveloping him and stealing water from his skin. Shame crept up his neck adding an uncomfortable heat to his dehydration as his cheeks and ears flushed. It was only about half a minute, but it felt like three times that. When the sand finally let him go, Tegmine coughed and sputtered, pushed Acubens away in his embarrassment.
He did, however, meet Kiuchi the same way his sister met Rana -- with open arms and a tight embrace.
"We assumed the worst," he admitted, still panting from his own attack.
It was an easy breath in the middle of bedlam, and Tegmine knew that, but he savored it, checking everyone in the same fashion as his sister had.
And just as he saw Kiuchi, Panacea, and Rana at the same time as his sister, he saw the lone senshi at the same time she sensed her. He accepted Rana as Acubens instructed the other ranking senshi, wordlessly stooping to allow her to scramble onto his back where she clung with arms and legs, still whimpering lightly in his ear.
"C'mon Rana," he tried to soothe, "have we ever let anything happen to you?"
Her only answer was to bury her face in his shoulder. As Acubens dashed off, Tegmine turned to Kiuchi and asked, "what's the next move, Boss?"
Tegmine Desert Preservation Inspired by the mummies of paupers found in the deserts of Egypt. Tegmine calls out the name of his attack and holds out his hand and sand erupts from the palm of his hand. The sand, upon reaching the target, totally engulfs the target and begins the first stages of dehydrating them. Skin begins to feel tighter, joints grow stiff, and vocalization becomes difficult as the sand draws moisture from the body. The attack can reach five feet from him and can hit one target. The effects last for 25 seconds, and once the attack is done, the physical effects wear off. However, lingering thirst from dehydration may persist. May be used 2 times per battle.
Rana didn't wait for further instructions. As soon as Kiuchi gave the all clear to make a mad dash for Miss Acubens, Rana made the maddest dash of all. She could feel herself making pathetic little frightened sounds, but she also couldn't stop herself. She'd spent the whole time they were alone fighting off fearful tears, and now they were all but let loose. She slammed her full self into Acubens, melting into her arms as she wrapped them around her. Over her shoulder, Rana regarded the other senshi, a purple haired man that she didn't know, but if she was with Miss Acubens, then Rana trusted him.
They would have to do introductions later, as a creature passed threateningly close to them, causing Rana to hide further in Acubens' shoulder.
When she was finally released and checked over, Rana took Miss Acubens' free hand and reassured her, "we're alright Miss Acubens."
Miss Acubens smiled and Rana allowed herself to breathe. She even smiled at the new senshi, waving weakly at him as she tried her best to be brave.
And then Acubens was giving instructions. Mr. Tegmine also looked very serious all of the sudden, causing another surge of fear. Miss Acubens passed her to him and she scrambled up onto his back and burried her face in his shoulders, the pathetic whimpering returning despite her best efforts.
"Ballerina..." Lourdes' nose scrunched up in confusion as the kid in front of her accused her of being something that she very much was not. Really, Lourdes had all the grace and flexibility of a wooden plank. And were this not a pocket dimension, uncertain of their fates, she might have been flattered.
"No, I'm not a --"
Her explanation was cut off by a horrible cry from a creature that she was instantly convinced was a youma. She echoed the sound in both surprise and anger, and instantly grabbed the kid's hand, ready to break into a run. She got exactly three steps before she was collided with and then grabbed.
By a kid.
Holy s**t, these were both kids.
"Yeah, not s**t," she gasped, still clinging to the other child she'd found as they all ran. "But do you have any idea about where we're running to?"
Alexander scrambled to his feet as he saw the creatures begin to seemingly rend their way into the cavern through the darkness. One. Three. More. Too many, not good. And what even were those things?! Like some cartoon monster come to life. His arms flung outwards instinctively, palms facing back, as he did his best to wall himself between whatever these were and the others.
Then some of the creatures started exploding into goo. Did that person just throw fire? Okay, that person definitely just breathed smog on one. That was a lot to process, later. For now though, it didn't seem like everyone was exactly equipped to handle this.
"Get behind me, and let them through!" He hollered over the crowd. He may not be producing magic, but he was still a giant of a man clearly offering to meat shield. It was better than nothing, he thought.
Steady footing and slow movements, he tried to move backwards, creating an opening for the creatures. While others were going for the fight, he was content to wait and see at least. Ideally.
Quote:
Anyone is welcome to hide behind the big man!
Sunshine Alouette
Behold, meatshield!
Strickenized
You got noticed, and definitely spooked my civ!
Whimsical Blue
You got noticed, and really spooked my civ!
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:20 pm
Spei, Page of the Moon "Not a clue," Spei said, hand still on the woman's arm as they ran, dragging the civilian girl with them. "But there's a strong energy signature ahead, in the direction the… things are running." One of them brushed past, its leathery wing appendage smacking him in the face. He yelped with surprise and disgust.
"Yeeurgh. I don't know about you, but I sure don't want to run upstream against them."
One of the creatures suddenly reached out from the darkness and with a horrible sound slashed out across Spei's arm The Moon Page cried out in pain, letting go of the woman to clutch at his wound. "Aaaaah s**t," he hissed as he felt the blood seeping through his fingers. He continued to run, though it was more of a fast stagger now. "One of them got me."
She leapt down from the roof top she'd been standing on to observe the rifts. Good grief, it was one thing when youma patrolled over the city, or a giant monster of glowing wisps when nuts, but this was a whole new problem. The fissure rippled in front of her in the alley, then vanished out of thin air. Damn. She growled in her throat and turned to launch up the building again.
The fissure swallowed her whole.
It dropped her feet first into a... cave? She seemed to be up on a higher level but it wasn't... was it? Static crackled around her, rifts splitting open and closed around her. There was something in the air, like a great breath was being held. The blackness around her shifted, things crawling out of the cracks. She leapt back, evidently off the platform she'd been on.
"Get behind me!"
Skoll's head wiped around and she stared at ALEXANDER WHO WAS TRYING TO PUT HIMSELF BETWEEN THE MONSTERS AND OTHER PEOPLE.
"Are you kidding me right now?!" she screeched, launching herself forward to put herself between Alexander and the hungry monsters.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" she snarled, slamming a foot into a monster as it launched itself at her. He was absolutely nuts to be in this situation as a plain civilian! Olive gold eyes glared at him for a minute. She bit her tongue and turned back to the monsters writhing across the way.
"Oh hell —" Adrian didn't have the chance to start scrabbling away when another great rift yawned open for him. The things had some kind of vacuum strength to them; no matter the strength of Adrian's resistance, the gigantic holes simply sucked him down and swallowed him into some other dark, disastrous place.
He couldn't tell how long he'd been living the extradimensional life, but it felt like a few hours had passed since he was first trapped inside one. He didn't even get the chance to power up, in case there were some nasty varieties inside these pocket spaces, and his pen was still sitting on the end table in his home.
Or he thought it was. For all he knew, it was also floating in space, having been swallowed up by one of these rifts. Wouldn't that be galling? Assuming he made it out of all of this alive.
This time, when he was drawn through, Adrian found himself in a space that was slightly brighter than the previous ones. Slightly couldn't be understated here — he hardly even noticed it was an improvement, and he couldn't say if it was because of the character of this place, or if it was that fire in the distance. Why there was a fire here, he couldn't say. Wasn't sure he particularly cared to say, because fire usually meant heat and light, which were two things these spaces sorely lacked.
When Adrian tumbled out of the rift, he was dumped into a helluva crowded space. People all over, nut to butt, all clamoring over each other to get to the walls. One even elbowed Adrian in the side, then pretended he didn't see Adrian just appear like two feet away from his face. Adrian shot him a dirty look for that. Would've pulled his starseed, but the damn pen was off in Candyland by now.
As he took stock of the place, he saw some bigger threats rolling through, while some big dude (Alex) over on the side tried to get people to fall in behind him. Smart idea, if he wanted people to survive. Seemed like the other creatures — nasty, bat-looking ******** with teeth and claws and not much else to them — were only interested in people when they were right in front of them. Slashed and clawed like these people were standing between them and the first scrap of food they'd had in seven years. Adrian wasn't about to tangle with that.
Maybe they were youma, and this whole thing was a Negaverse shtick for which he missed the memo. Wouldn't be able to tell, though, not without that stupid pen.
So he did as the others had, and he kept to the walls, scooting ever closer to Mister Big Guy who seemed perfectly content to make himself a target. Well, if the dude wanted to get eaten alive by creepy bat youma things, Adrian wasn't one to deny him. Apparently it pissed someone else off (Skoll), though, since she was starting to holler. And Adrian guessed she was a senshi, by the look of the outfit. They were here, too?
Morpheus nodded to the girl who waved at him and he looked around at the various people moving about the area before the creatures started appearing. Morpheus stood at the ready to attack the creatures he saw that Rana was clearly afraid and he stood in front of her. "Don't worry Rana I won't let them hurt you." He stood guard and had his soot in his hand to attempt to use on the creatures if they came close. They seemed to be alive so the illusions should confuse them as they would any other beast. It had seemed to confuse the last creature they had fought. He had no intention of running off it had seemed that Acubens cared about these dark mirror members. Even though she annoyed him at time he was not willing to let court members come to harm by not protecting them if they were weaker than he was or frightened for some reason.
Henny had no idea what was going on in this weird dream she figured it would end sooner or later. It wasn't a big deal you couldn't get hurt in a dream so the monsters the ballerina and other girl and then they were running. She was then clawed by one of the creatures and it hurt and she started to bleed. "What the hell!!?!" Henny exclaimed, "You can't get hurt in dreams, what is all this?" She frowned as she looked around at everything with new eyes. She had no idea that her destiny was right around the corner waiting for her to find it. She wouldn't find it today so she had to depend on those who already had the power to protect her this time around.
They hadn't exploded into his stolen boys. When he wiped the tar from his eyes, he saw only more of those creatures marching toward him. All that fire and spite, and for what?
As he took stock of the injuries to his arm, Faustite felt his throat tighten. He tore his undershirt at the elbow, wrenching it off of his arm for use as a wound covering. He'd wrapped it about the wounds and twisted it tighter when he had begun to sniffle and sob quietly. What if he never got his boys back? What if they were gone forever?
Giving up on trying to tie the sleeve single-handed, Faustite let the material fall as he turned back. He'd been covered in tar; what tears had fallen would blend with all that black. What did it matter, anyway?
Rifts opened and shut. More creatures followed. The cavern, narrow as it felt, swelled with bodies that tripped and pushed and fell over one another. People parted, people clumped together. Most people avoided him, even as he marched dejectedly in the direction that those bat-like creatures meandered. Again, he rubbed his eyes. He wondered — would they need to enter each rift, somehow, and search it for people? Would everyone get dropped here over time? Were they all ********, even if he found his boys? His mind raced with possibilities, but his body felt sluggish.
Then a miasmic cloud burst further up in the cavern. He recognized the magic — unmistakeable as the horns adorning the senshi's head. Faustite hadn't expected to find Fafnir, nor had he expected one of the creatures to be dragging him along while taking his arm apart.
Faustite pushed past a throng of civilians, uncaring if they got burned from his touch. Whoever lingered on the path between Faustite and Fafnir would be pushed aside, until he reached the boy and his captor. He leapt for its back, hoping to catch it unaware enough to press its sinewy meat to his grate. "That's mine," he seethed, and reached for its face with superheated hands.
The fangs tensed and spasmed, making him gasp in pain, before they went slack and he slipped free, crumpling into a pile of limbs on the ground. Still terrified, and now shaking with reaction, he jerked as someone came down beside him, reaching out a hand. Blinking up into the face of a blonde corrupt, he felt relief wash through him and grabbed for that hand with his undamaged one.
“T-thanks.” He managed to get out past his chattering teeth, desperately ready to be anywhere but here, especially if that thing was gonna wake up and bite at them again. Hopefully whoever this was could protect him, because he was not sure how much good he was gonna be in this state. His arm screamed at him, the lacerations down his bicep and over his elbow dripping blood down to the slick, dark rocks under them, but it was the shoulder that nearly made him pass out as he moved. Was this how it felt to dislocate something? Should he… pop it back in, or something?
Fafnir had only ever seen that done in movies. He’d never even seen someone dislocate something in his general vicinity, let alone someone treating such an injury. It was only the haze he floated in that made him consider it, or at least consider how he’d go about it. It seemed awfully important, almost as much as getting away from the monster. Didn’t he need his arm to make an effective escape?
The flicker of orange light on the rocks seemed surreal in this dark place, and then something was on top of the monster that had grabbed him, flaring up as… someone drove hands into the creature’s face.
“F-Faustite?” Fafnir gasped out. “Back up… back up!” He hissed now at the corrupt he held, his turn to be the one to drag them out of the way. Whatever Faustite was gonna do, whatever he could do, they needed to be out of the way for it. If anyone could handle these things, he felt like someone who was literally on fire, and a general to boot, should be the one.
It was dark. That was the first thing Mirzam observed, and she could have kicked herself for the observation. It was obvious, and stupid besides. At least she hadn't said it aloud.
Wherever the strange rift that had opened up and pulled her in had deposited her, she was...not well pleased to be there. In the dark, with monsters prowling--ugh. And she wasn't sure if she would be taking too much of a risk, slinging her magic around here. One of the creatures lunged for her, and she leapt out of the way, and searched the area, looking for Helena--not sure if she hoped that her sweet girl was there, or hoped that she was somewhere safe.
Perhaps it had been an honest mistake. Perhaps the rift had meant to open in some other location. Perhaps, Perhaps. Arianna was sick and tired of "perhapses" that decided to spring up and ruin a nice summer day. Her gaze narrowed on the empty space in which she used to have a beehive. The anger simmered just underneath even as she marched around the empty box in which the hive had sat upon. This would just not do at all. Arianna needed all of her bees. The loss of even just one hive was unacceptable to her. She had tended the gentle insects when she was Izobel and she wished to continue to do so now. She clenched her hands into fists before pursing her lips together. Retrieving her henshin pen only took a few minutes and getting away from Rhona's took a few more minutes. It wasn't much effort to call upon her powered self to set out on the hunt. Before long she was actively scouting around, actively seeking out the strange rifts that had been popping up. About as she was she loosed one of her mirror wraiths for a quick pass through some civilians for a burst of gathered energy before summoning it back to it's shard. That would have to do for the time being.
In the distance the sun dipped lower and lower until night remained. That was fine. She would still be able to try and track down a fissure. If it was the last thing she did, Lacerta would want to get her stolen hive of bees back. Frustration welled up in the bandage senshi before she spotted what she was hunting for. Down a side street she noticed a black tear in the air and cautiously approached it before taking a deep breath. Acubens would probably scold her for the rash impulse she was taking but without further thought Lacerta leaped into the fissure.
What she had been expecting -- it wasn't this. As she adjusted to the darkness of the space in which she found herself she shuddered. Once before, there had been a strange place in which she had found herself sucked into. Was this place similar at all?
Closing her eyes for but a moment Lacerta inhaled softly before noticing the faint glow that was to be seen. So not exactly the same - but some features seemed close enough. She registered other powered auras on her radar and paused once more. Should she try to find her missing item or close the distance?
Once more it seemed as if the choice was taken out of her hands. Strange creatures that were emerging from fissures that continued to open and close. That was the most concerning thing to deal with. Fleeing one such emergence of a 'thing' did Lacerta find herself landing hard on hands and knees. "Ow. Stupid stupid stupid. Gotta watch where I'm going I think."
As she struggled to get to her feet again and keep moving she found that her path was suddenly blocked by another creature. Well this just kept getting better and better, didn't it? Glaring at the creature and figuring she might as well cast the blame of her stolen hive on this misshapen mass of talon-ending limbs did Lacerta activate the magic of her ring. She knew that in doing so she would hit harder and seemingly inflict more damage in the process of being hit. But even as she lashed out with her fists to persuade the creature to move along, and felt them connect, did she also feel the things talon's score a direct strike to her midsection. With the ring's magic, she heard the thing screech in agony as it pulled back but she also winced. Those talons had definitely torn into her skin.
Backing up, Lacerta watched her opponent before it loosed a low growl. It paused for but a moment before it moved away. Lacerta watched it go.
Hunched over for but a moment to catch her breath Lacerta called on her basic magic to start the healing process before wincing. Enough was enough - now she still wanted to retrieve her missing bees but was her new imperative just to get out of this alive?
Pressing forward seemed to be the only option, really.
Reidite was still fussing over Cymophane. No one was paying him any mind, so he was ignoring them as well. He didn’t care if there were flaming half-youma Generals asking about their quiet roommate and Cymophane’s friend. He didn’t care if there was another Senshi ogling Cymophane’s giant bow (actually he did, and he shot a glare at Cryolite for it). He didn’t care that Senshi or Knights were popping out of the woodwork.
As long as Cymophane was okay.
He muttered grumpily in Russian about Destiny City being a horrible place, but he kept his eyes focused on making sure he brushed the dirt out of Cymophane’s hair and giant bow.
And keeping Cymophane protected from the crackling electricity and strange creatures.
“Stay behind me,” he grumbled in Russian once more, and if he thought Cymophane would allow it, he would have picked him up and put him on his shoulders. He sneered at one of the wrinkled, disgusting looking creatures, and kicked it in the face when it came too close. And when it made angry noises at them, he roared back. He might not always like being as tall as he was, but for this instance, he would be happy to scare the creatures away if it meant keeping Cymophane save.
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