2025-08-02: First Law of Thermodynamics

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<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

Sometimes it's tough being the strongest kid in school. The "Boss".

 Eikichi is expected to settle just about any fight that he crosses paths with. There are even routine challenges to his position. Thugs who think they want this title simply because they don't need to answer to anyone. It is a pain in the ass sometimes but Eikichi couldn't let someone else handle what he does.

 The blue haired punk leans back on his desk in Class 2-E, staring at the ceiling as he thinks to himself. At the moment, no one else is in the class room, having left for PE or some Club activities.

 Eikichi is busy though. He is trying to come up with more lyrics for the next show but things aren't going well. He is too busy trying to decipher the ceilings hidden meanings, getting into his own head.

 Ken, Shogo, and Takeshi are notably absent, having had to take care of things on their own. That is ok. Eikichi can handle things on his own too. Still it was quieter than Eikichi would like. It feels slightly vulnerable to be alone with his mind like this.

 For every awesome lyric, Eikichi gets another thought of 'remember that thing from your childhood? What a loser'. He frowns deeply as another bad thought comes to him as he sits up, cracking his knuckles. "Ugh. I need to stop before I get too deep into my head. Not a good look for Kasu's most beautiful man."

 With a snap of his fingers, the darkness is gone for now. Eikichi is just like that, constantly bouncing between loving and hating himself internally. Only he could tell which was the real Eikichi and that is how it will remain for now.

 He stands up, hearing commotion from the outside. "The hell is going on?" He starts toward the door, leaning his head out to see if anyone in the hall could tell him what was up. 

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    It's usually not tough being Jun Kashihara, who is no Boss at all. That's by design. He has no desire to rule over anyone or inflict his will on others; he likes it at Kasugayama High, but that's in the sense that he likes observing the raw realness of the students who attend here. Occasionally someone will give him trouble over his femme looks and interests, but all he needs to do is win a decisive victory, and all is well. Twinks like Jun don't start fights, but they can finish them.
    
    Now, he's had to do that less and less as each year passes, and part of that is because people are more used to him, but part of it is because Kasugayama has had more order and support to it since Eikichi became the Boss of Bosses. So while Jun doesn't involve himself with the politics of the Boss culture here, he does generally support the Death Boss, even though they haven't really exchanged any words before.
    
    But that's not on his mind today. Jun's primary concern at this moment is joining up with a second-year student for a tutoring session. Truthfully, he's not certain it will actually happen; there was something about the barely suppressed smile on the younger boy's face that made him think this might be a prank. Even so, he goes. Sometimes people are just awkward and need a friend, and Jun is happy to be that. He'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, as such--and if it turns out he's about to get jumped, he'll handle that as well. See above.
    
    As he walks down the hallway of the second floor of Kasu High, he passes the doors for Class 2-E just before he hears an odd ruckus. He pauses mid-step, lifting his elegant chin to better listen. What's going on? Is that coming from outside, or...?
    
    One of the doors at his back slides open. He turns around to see none other than Eikichi Mishina himself. "Ah, Boss," he says, turning to face him with a smile. It fades into a look of concern. "What's all that commotion?" 

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

There's a ringing on Ulala's phone. Maybe she picks it up on the first ring, maybe she lets it go. Whatever the case, it keeps ringing until she picks it up. And on the other end of the line is...

"Serizawa-san!? Oh thank God I got in touch with you. We have a crisis on our hands! Nobody else was picking up. I couldn't get in touch with Maya, Katsuya, or Baofu!"
Which means Ulala was called last. Great show of confidence.

"Listen close- we just got a tip. The Old Maid is going to kill the Leader of Kasugayama High, Eikichi Mishina! I'm coming down by myself but I'm across town, can you get anyone down there faster?"

How did Tamaki Uchida know!? Well, Rumormonger Lucky Cat is nobody special nyaa~

-=-=-

~Twenty minutes later~

Tatsuya Suou's phone goes off with two text messages.
>Eikichi Mishina, Kasugayama High
>Old Maid

-=-=-

~Twelve minutes later~

Kasugayama High, the delinquent boys school turned Co-Ed, tries to take on an air of respectability. As much respectability as one can achieve when you're built over an abandoned air raid shelter, and within spitting distance of a converted prison. The walls are of course, covered with greenery, with evenly spaced Cherry Blossom trees as if to imply a fresh start.

That Which Comes From the Darkness - Persona 3 Reload - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlGHMYqKAZU

When three young adults stroll up with a stranger vibe than this school is used to however, people stop, people stare. Two of them set up at the gates.

The third is a girl with long, well-groomed red-hair, and a gothic lolita outfit, long white ruffled skirts that wave in the wind, spiked anklets that look like they're missing the links to a ball and chain. And most peculiar of all is her headband, which looks like her head is being impaled by a dagger.

The boys of course stop and stare, because she's gorgeous, and she looks like she came straight from Harajuku on the express train to their hearts and they have absolutely no idea why someone would.

Someone talks to her, she doesn't say anything save, "Step aside." And walks by, her expression flat as she walks into the school, and up the stairs to classroom 2-E. Eikichi wants to know about the commotion?

It comes from a girl he didn't see at the head of the pack that entered his school that just stepped through the door, "You're the Death Boss, right?" The way she asks is nearly atonal, the look in her brown eyes holding no opinion over who they're beholding.

"I heard screaming from the basement. A girl needs your help."

She waits for him to respond, and only once he does, does she follow at a far more sedate pace, like she herself is in no rush.

<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.

As the group of three splits up, the girl who remains at the gate cheerfully calls after the one who proceeds onwards towards the school building.

"Knock 'em dead, bestie!"

(The word she uses is 'mabu', short for 'mabudachi'. Which gives off the vibe that her subculture slang is a decade out of date, who says that anymore? She does. You can't stop her.)

Stretching herself out and popping her neck, this girl casts just about a mirror image to her 'bestie' - clothed in black as opposed to white, vivacity contrasted by gloom, crudeness versus elegance. And she sure is showing a heck of a lot more skin, wearing only a sleeveless studded mini-jacket thrown over a crop top, frayed denim shorts, and a pair of sneakers, skipping socks altogether. Her most peculiar fashion statement may be the metal chain wrapped about her waist like a belt.

Despite the obvious punk vibe she has going on, with the copious amounts of dark eyeshadow and side-swept hair dyed pink, she has a bit of a babyface compared to her companions. Which would because the only reason she can get away with being counted among young adults is because her fake ID says so.

This is Strega's youngest member as well as the newbie, Niko Kirisaki. Whatever else one may think of her, there's one very obvious reason for her to be invited along today: she's good to have on your side when you're expecting a fight. It just takes one look at her to know that much - those abs look like they could deflect bullets! Her training regimen must be insane!

Given the outward appearance that suggests she'd be right at home among Kasugayama's students, it's inevitable that one would expect a certain type of attitude to go with it. An expectation that she betrays immediately upon opening her mouth, such as when addressing the glasses-wearing boy remaining at the gates with her.

"Ne, Jin-chaaaaan. You're sure people are coming, right? Will they be here soon? I'm booooored."

They literally just got here a minute ago. 

<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.

    Jin is irritated.

    It's bad enough that he's here without Takaya. He's the only one Jin really feels like he can rely on. Especially in combat. It's even worse that he's been saddled with playing babysitter to this musclehead of a girl.

    "Shirato-san," he snips back at her. No way he's going to let her get away with calling him Jin-chan uncorrected. Takaya wouldn't be this disrespectful -- and he at least had the relationship to back up addressing him so familiarly. "And pay attention," he lectures. "At least one of those persona-users is coming on a motorcycle, so he'll probably be here soon. We'll want to take him down as quickly as possible. Before anyone else shows up."

    After all, where there's one persona-user, there's usually more. 

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.

    The Joker was the only real boss of bosses, though in a way that makes Tatsuya Sudou a temp just filling the hole of the real boss of bosses. That might be why his entrance is a little lacking, as he steps from the shadow of the school basement...and trips over some boxes of books. Gravity takes effect and suddenly boxes are scattered everywhere, along with the paperbag. Thank the voice that those Strega brats aren't able to see this or he wouldn't hear the end of it.

    Quickly he puts his face back on and stands up before he gets himself ready for the appearance of the target. Finds a nice corner in the shadows to stand in and wait...and wait .... and wait... before looking at the shadows and asks, "Are you sure he is coming? It's been like thirty seconds and standing around is a bit boring." Still he stands around and waits for another moment or two before a lightbulb goes off over his head. "Oh you think that will work?"

    Taking his sword he stabs it into the ground and a small pixie comes from the shadow looking very confused, "Do me a favor. Scream for me." The Old Maid snaps his finger and blue flames engulf the pixie, he knows he is burning bridges but fake feminine screams are no substitute for the real thing. The pixie's screams echo from the basement.

    Now that the bait was set, the lion waits.... 

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

Niko's comment didn't even cause Chidori to slow down. While her eyes are ahead, she does offer flatly as she continues walking, "Don't we always?" Perhaps the feeling of 'bestie' might be somewhat exaggerated on Niko's part, but if Chidori is ever upset by it, she doesn't let it show.

Once Eikichi is on his way, Chidori's pace is sedate, like she's in no hurry whatsoever. It's a slow walk even as chaos erupts and the school becomes filled with demons. The demons cackle and dance and roar, the students flee and she walks forward - entirely unbothered by it.

Like it's just any other day for her - and yet it's not. She feels her again, more acutely than before, her best friend. And as she does, the resonant sickening heartbeat throughout the school...

S
  P
    R
      E
        A
          D S aND dIStoRtS

Warping to be felt around the entire school - even as Eikichi's presence dims to be consumed by it. Communication feels impossible at this moment, even for those who call themselves 'navigators'. Because for all that is the 'thesis' of their existence, there is always 'antithesis'.

It's only as she's turning towards the staircase that one Cuss High boy, a first year, grabs her arm, "Hey babe! Not that way! Come with-hurk-"

That's the sound he makes as Chidori's axe enters his gut, and she slashes upwards, an arc of blood staining her dress, her face. The boy falls with a scream, hands upon his belly as he writhes, and she keeps moving down the stairs, an axe casually within her hand.

And blood marring her white dress and apathetic expression as she blocks the exit to escape.

Chidori Boss Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOIeJ5DcLQc

"No one is coming to save you."

AS: Penguin Witch has readied for combat as Medea! They are now fully healed! Ready for 3 opponents!
AS: Tatsuya Sudou has readied for combat as Old Maid! He is now fully healed! Ready for 3 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

Ulala Serizawa missed the first call. It was an accident, she swears, as she was cooking lunch and couldn't grab her phone in time. Having a day off is no excuse to not eat properly! But still, she picked up as soon as she could, recognizing the number.

After all, being called about important occult things? Made her feel important.

"Ah, Uchida-san, slow down, what did you say-"

'Couldn't get in touch with Maya, Katsuya, or Baofu'.

Oh. The startling crush of reality.

She knew where Maya was, but Katsuya was probably busy, and Baofu... who knows?

Taking a breath, Ulala played along, listening in deeper. "Shit... okay, I'll call up some people and get right over there. Thank you, Uchida-san."

Hanging up, Ulala slumped against the couch she was sitting on, taking another shaky breath before cursing in her empty apartment. "Fuck!"

She has some calls to make. The Cardboard Dragon, for one...

--

Ulala Serizawa dressed up for the occasion - in her finest green dress, boxing wraps, and pissed-off attitude. If she was going to be in a bad mood, she was going to take it out on the Old Maid Killer and at least *mean something* to Team Whoop-Ass.

She's inside before the rest of Strega arrives and blocks it off, stepping calmly through the halls of the school like she belongs there. That's a trick she learned... people are more likely to buy you being somewhere if you look like you belong.

...wait, no, that requires *dressing* the part, too, and she does not belong.

Either way, she's not hostile towards any of the students, as she spots the blood trail and the student who got an axe to the chest. She almost wretches as she sees the gurgling, before steeling herself, crouching to check on him. She knows he's out of her hands... someone with a healing Persona is the only option, if there even is a chance.

"Psychos..."

Ulala questions why she came without Maya or Katsuya. They're better at this than she'll ever be. But even so...

She descends into the basement, her pace quickened.

"Alright, fuckers, it's time to face the music...!"

That's her arrival words, and it sounded cooler and braver in her head! But at the very least, she's ready and willing to fight and stop the Old Maid Killer and his allies, to prevent any more deaths.

Especially one in particular. 

AS: Niko Kirisaki has readied for combat as Ate! She is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    Damnit. DAMNIT!!

    Why did Tatsuya's instincts have to be a day early?! The defiant, deafening roar of a motorcycle shredding rubber blasts through Sumaru's arterials, at times flagrantly cutting through traffic and even hiking its way up footpaths in its single-minded chase to be at Kasugayama High.

    What a fool! The answer was much easier than he thought -- the Joker Killer! Sugimoto didn't have to be part of any conspiracy, have any artifact on him -- much like the 'Other Side', he bore a deep resentment for Eikichi Mishina, and this time, without the Masked Circle to lure him in... there was a much simpler answer all this time!

    That he didn't have any realistic way to stop him from making a phone call in private was no comfort. The motorcycle Akira-slides around a corner and effortlessly peels down the adjoining road to Hirasaka, where Kasugayama High is located. Make it in time, make it in time...!!

    Those outside can hear the motorcycle's cry. It's a cold yet angry roar, lonely, and desperate. Unfortunately for Tatsuya Suou, Strega is one step ahead of him and--

    THUNK

    tick tick tick tick tick. Tatsuya's perception is awash in Blue as time slows to a near-complete crawl. His pupils dilate as he stares down at just what his front tires have hit. Something's half-buried there in the concrete, in the middle of the road, and his motorcycle's just run headfirst into it.

                              [ SEEK A WAY OUT! ]

    > Push it to the limit
    Offramp from the danger zone

    There's no time. Rev that baby as fast she'll go and--

    KTHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM

    "... reporting live from the scene, a large-scale disruption occurred outside the steps of Kasugayama High School, Hirasaka Ward. While an accurate body count can't be confirmed at this point, investigators have found the body of one identified high school student from Sevens, from the remains of his driver's license..."

    Ara ara maa maa. Giving up so soon... -Takkun-? Hehe, that lady had a nice nickname for you, didn't she? But perhaps you prefer... Tacchan?

                                  BAD END...

    Push it to the limit
    > Offramp from the danger zone

    He must have summoned Apollo subconsciously, instinctively. This only happens in moments of extreme duress and danger, fatal ones, even -- a power he only truly awoke to near the end of his adventure, at the Leo Shrine, when he had to face is Shadow Self in proper...

    There's no time to hesitate. Tatsuya pumps his legs up and lets himself be thrown clear off his motorcycle, letting himself get launched clear and silly like a projectile in an arc. As he flies in extreme slow motion, his vision catches sight of the object -- a land mine, buried into the ground?! Tsk! There's nothing else he can do to protect himself save let Apollo take the brunt of the blast--

    KTHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM

    To those outside of Kasu High:

    A whole-ass land mine just EXPLODED in a ball of fire!

    A sweet motorcycle (rip) is in smithereens, barely identifiable metal parts flying ever which way -- possibly even yours, if you're not lucky -- and in an even bigger pile of fire on the side of the unfortunate Hirasaka street, which is now in a shamble of ashpalt and grease and shrapnel. Car alarms ring out from parked cars enduring the blowback nearby. Citizens are screaming and escaping ever which way. "S-someone's hurt!" they yell.

    Someone *is* hurt.

    A youth in red is on the ground from where was violently ejected from his motorcycle and indirectly took a land mine blast and the subsequent detonation of his motorcycle to his face.

    He should be dead.
     Tatsuya Suou is dead.

    He won't allow him 

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    He should be dead.
     Tatsuya Suou is dead.

    He won't allow himself to be dead.
     Tatsuya Suou shouldn't have risen from the dead.

    He slowly rises, limping to his feet, silhouetted by fire. It's his fire, if we're talking fault. But it feels like the fires of Tatsuya Sudou nonetheless.

    Tatsuya Suou won't allow himself to be dead. His friend, Eikichi Mishina is in there, being stalked by the Joker Killer. He can't this all happen again. And by some miracle chance, he has to take care of this body from the rightful owner he's hijacked his consciousness into...

    Tatsuya Suou limps towards Kasugayama High, the shinai bag tossed to one side as he draws his katana from its sheath. Chief Todoroki's present, the Seven Star Sword, which he needs more now than ever. He glares towards those present -- the members of Strega -- Jin. Niko. Chidori.

    With a face slicked with blood, haircut disheveled, Tatsuya growls with irrepressible cold fury, even through the sickening heartbeat that contorts and floods his heart:

    "Get OUT of my way."

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciOKDH_oncI 

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Tsubasa's abs cannot deflect bullets, though there's a strange texture to them, on their right side, where their concealer and deep fake tan can't quite hide the burn scars. Their abs are visible, though -- more scrawny than built, but visible nonetheless. Their Kasugayama boys' uniform has been unbuttoned from the bottom, covering only half their chest as the bottom half is left to be tied up in the sukeban's style; they wear their pants lower down on their hips, too, just to make their presentation even worse. And their sleeves are even rolled up to their shoulders!

    They're currently lurking in the halls, their multicoloured hair streaking purple and green over bleach white. (... there's the thin lines of a wig, covered up by the wild mullet.) They missed the first couple of classes, today; they had to sneak out, go home, give their dog a nice long apology walk and like ten reassurance hugs, get their uniform and their game face on, then get to school. So... they missed some shit. It's whatever. They're here now, lurking around with the Thorn Boss they follow. At least, until --

    "Fuck, you hear that?" Tsubasa asks, their head snapping up as they look to Ichika. "She's screamin'--!" And they don't need to stop and explain why, today of all days, they'd start bolting for the stairs to the basement. Unfortunately for them, a woman all but appears in front of them, with a black mask and a woolen jacket and tights.

    And... glowing yellow eyes... and ears... and a tail.

    Unfortunately, Tsubasa, who was quite busy bolting down there, all but barrels right into her. They impact the ground, because she's harder to move than they are. "Ugh, get outta the--!!" Tsubasa starts berating her, only to look up at her, blue eyes widening.

    "What the fuck is that."

    "Oh, you have such beautiful eyes, nya!" Nekomata's paws clasp together, as she wriggles, excitedly. "Let me claw them out, okay?! I want to bat them around!"

    Somehow, Tsubasa manages to scramble up to avoid her pouncing on them. "Fuck!" Now, running down the stairs to get to the basement is more than a matter of saving that girl: it's also getting away from this woman.

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

Ichika, too, is at school today. Another Boss, but not on Eikichi's level; she's never tried for his position, and has no interest in it. ...Originally, she just wanted to be left alone. Now, she has a crew to look out for...

Including one Tsubasa Seki. "...Mahiro's gonna be late," she sighs, looking down at her phone and looking back to Tsubasa. "Well, means I can hang out a bit more first."

Ichika is likewise in a Kasugayama uniform, but altered--her blouse is tied up under her bust, her skirt ankle-length, her shoes black. Her bleached-blonde hair is so long. And...

"I got what you missed in class," she adds as an afterthought, because it is an afterhtought. "And I--"

She hears a scream, too. "Shit--"

"Tsubasa-kun, WAIT!"

Ichika is not as fast on the draw--the scream made her freeze, not bolt. After last night...

But she can't leave that woman alone. Or her best friend, either.

"Shit!"

Ichika starts running for the basement. She might catch Eikichi and company on the way down...

But she definitely catches that distortion. The sickening heartbeat that spreads all over. "...What the--"

She senses it. She senses it immediately, and it's effort not to change immediately. She ducks into an empty classroom and lets herself focus--the vine-wound armor she wears over billowing clothes, appears. Her horned mask; her heavy shield. Ichika becomes an oni, tall and powerful, dressed in the trappings of Rebellion with spray-painted roses on her riot gear.

And she catches up with Tsubasa, hearing the Nekomata speak about... eyes.

"I will fucking end you if you don't leave them alone," the Ogre says in a gruff voice, and shoves with her shield to get past and try to catch up.

"HEY!" 

<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

Eikichi turns his head to see Jun, looking a bit puzzled. "No idea. It's messing with my thoughtful time though..." He looks around again. Until he spots the oddly dressed woman coming toward him. He blinks for a moment, trying to figure out if he's dreaming. Why would someone be in Gothic Lolita here?

Whatever.

 The Death Boss nods and gets his gear. "Coming! I guess this is just something that happens here. Is she ok?"

 He follows after the girl, going deeper and deeper into the school's underground. He does not notice the gradual change in this environment until it is too late.

 Eikichi isn't scared to see demons. Not openly. He holds the strap on his guitar bag and stares at Chidori. "I guess I should've seen this coming....One of these days some knuckle head is going to get into all this magic stuff to try to take me down."

 Eikichi flashes a demonic smile, taking hold of his guitar case as he stands ready for the coming fight. "Brought a lot of bullshit to take down the king! WELL, DON'T MISS!" 

AS: Jin Shirato has readied for combat as Moros! He is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    "Hmm... It almost sounds like... an explosion. I hope there wasn't a gas leak out in the city..." Jun muses to Eikichi. "I'm sure we'll see it on the news, but--"
    
    He pauses, eyebrows furrowing, at the appearance of the redhead in the white gothic lolita get-up and the sword headband. It's a striking look, and because of that, he's certain she doesn't attend school here--there's no way he would have overlooked someone like her. There's a possibility she's a recent transfer student, but that doesn't feel likely either. If she's not a Kasu High student, what's she doing here? Why does she know about a girl screaming? And why is she so calm about it?
    
    He shoots a look over towards Eikichi. "I'll come with you," he says smoothly, quickly. "If someone's in danger, you might need backup."
    
    And that's not a lie. If there really is a girl in danger, he doesn't want to overlook this--and the closer they get to the basement, the more clearly he can hear some feminine screams, and the more his pace picks up. Still, something about this gives him a bad feeling. He glances at Chidori warily, making sure to keep her in sight just in case. The Death Boss can probably take care of himself, whether it's a trap or an ambush or the honest truth, but somehow, for some reason... Jun doesn't want to let him face this alone.
    
    His paranoia pays off. When they reach the basement, just ahead of Tsubasa and Ichika, there's a boy there--and Chidori axes him in the gut. Jun gasps in shock. "What are you doing?!" As Eikichi faces off against Chidori, Jun rushes over to the injured boy's side. He has basic knowledge of first aid, and so he elevates him and uses his the first year's shirt to try to staunch the bleeding. Once he's done, he glares at Chidori. "Even if you're here for the Boss, this is beyond the pale!!"
    
    ...At least Eikichi seems more than ready for a fight. Jun will be locked in at this first year's side, trying to keep him from dying. 

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    -----EARLIER-----

    Huh, that was Tatsuya Suou. Judging by his resonance, he was in a big hurry. Should Umie be a nice, polite, boundary respecting adult and mind her own business?

    Nice, polite, boundary respecting adults do not get Personas like Badb, generally.

    She decides to follow, at a safe distance.

    -----NOW-----

    The distance was not far enough.

    A line of red bleeds freely from Umie's cheek, courtesy of the first bit of scrapnel that pinged past her before she ducked. Her ringing ears barely pick up on the screams, but one of them, stands out above the ringing: someone's been hurt. A blonde head of hair peeks out from behind a car; her hand diving into her grey-white windbreaker for the comforting feel of her weapon's handle.

    Fire reflects in her eyes as she immediately sees the motorcycle, and recognizes it, as well as the shifting, limping body next to it.

    This is not a person you can stop; Umie, feeling the chilling heartbeat reverberate through her, could no sooner stop herself, now.

    "Takkun. I'm right behind you." Sorry, Tatsuya, but that tutor you don't remember is here to meddle once again. Did she even listen to you? (Umie did, in fact: she brought her weapon, if the fire glinting off the bifurcated bladed end of the kyoketsu shoge indicates anything.)

    A white 'shield' of energy projects in front of him; if Tatsuya were ever to glance back, he'd see Badb's wide, curved grin, peeking from her red-lined hood, the herald to the battle ahead.

    It signifies another complication to Tatsuya's plan: like Jin predicted, where there's one persona-user, there's usually more. 

AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Recovery skill Shroud on Tatsuya Suou!
AS: Umie Akabane's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Tatsuya Suou takes 60 Recovery healing from Umie Akabane's Shroud.
AS: Eclipse added!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

Akari Hoshi has one plan, one question, and one problem.

The question: So when *do* the demons show up at Kasugayama High, anyway?

In her mind it's a perfectly valid question. There are no demons, as far as anyone reports, during the day. But there *are* absolutely demons at night. Akari knows this because she has seen them, though her attempts to get a picture of a Jack Frost so far have been mostly ineffective. (Jack Frosts are cute, okay?) Therefore, they must show up at one point, and Akari wants to figure out when that is.

The plan: Sneak into Kasugayama right after school, hide, and hang around until they do. Then she'll know! That part's actually the easiest part. Akari's been here before when she wasn't supposed to be, and it's *Kasugayama*. You can get away with a lot if you're confident.

The problem: she did not expect them to be here YET. Or accompanied by humans.

Akari hid herself, then, just like a lot of other people. But there's a *murder*. And an explosion she can feel, the sheer noise having a pressure. Her heart beats a mile a minute as she peeks. Is he okay? Well, he gets up, so he must be - mines aren't THAT dangerous, she thinks, every fight has some pyrotechnics. She's glad.

Demons that threaten human lives... but these are humans themselves.

It's something she's been coming to think about recently, but... Humans are worse. Some humans, anyway. So really she has no choice at all. This is the only thing she can do.

And as the supernatural nature of the space washes over her. Akari makes up her mind. What does she do?

There's only one answer. Ixquic is not shy. Ixquic does not hesitate. Ixquic *acts*.

"STOP, EVILDOER!"

That demand comes from a rangy teenaged figure with dark skin, currently standing on the fence the front gate is set into, balancing easily there despite how hard it must be to actually stand on something that has decorative points.

She is extremely obvious, and only making herself more so; wearing a short-sleeved, short-legged costume in cream and grey with large decorative buttons. Overtop she wears a gold-buckled belt reminiscent of a tokusatsu belt, heavy gold bracers, and a cloak clasp that supports a pectoral plate resting against her chest. All of it is gold, and all of it is shaped and engraved. And finally, she has a half-helmet; red, with a tinted visor, and it only covers her upper face.

It's different than the outfit that Tatsuya knew, once upon a time; the helmet doesn't have the Masked Circle disc to cover her face, the engravings on the gold look less Mayan and more fantastically magical. But it's her.

Also, her red superhero cape flaps in the wind as she rests her enormous golden sword across her shoulders; in another time and place, it might be called a Buster Sword. She looks partway between a magical girl warrior and a tokusatsu superhero and somehow - somehow! - she makes it work.

"I am the magical warrior Ixquic, reincarnated from the depths of per-pe-tu-i-ty," which is a word she has apparently memorized syllable by syllable, "and I won't allow you to hurt another student! Engrave my name upon your heart!!"

Ixquic leaps, cape fluttering, to land on the ground, pointing directly at Niko and Jin with her sword. One-handed. She must have some impressive arm strength.

Behind her visor, she squeezes her eyes closed for just one moment, then opens them. This... is the resolve of a magic warrior...! 

AS: Akari Hoshi has readied for combat as Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic! She is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

    It really seems to be a summer of reconnections for Eriko- first Mark is back in town, and today she gets a call from Tamaki!

    Sure the call IS to inform her of an emergency about the Joker Killer and supernatural nightmares and someone who needs help, but that's Eriko's favourite type of call! And Masao did unfortunately let her know that he's been to Kasugayama before, so it was time for a phone call.

    "Good evening, Mark! Would you like to join me on a little adventure? It'll be fun!"

    ----

    The good thing is, the woman whose description Tamaki gave her is very distinct, and she can see the woman in the green dress marching in, determinedly! Well, that seems a cue. "Well, we're definitely in the right place! Come on, we don't want to lose her!" Eriko, dressed in her fashionable Adventuring Jumpsuit, doesn't bother to hide her weapon with a bag today, dashing in, assuming her old friend will be right behind- because she trusts him implicitly to be so. Eriko may have changed a lot... but some things are still the same.

    "You're Ms Serizawa, yes!?" Eriko calls out, chasing after the red haired woman, hoping to get her attention-

    Only to all but stumble upon a boy who has just been bloodily cut down. Tamaki called her to support Ulala, of course, but she can hardly ignore such blatant attempts at murder, even though the siren call of a demon filled blood shelter was calling to her, beckoning loudly. And even Nike's healing can't do anything for someone without a person. "Mark! Are you ready?!"

    Eriko moves to interspose herself between Jun and the wounded boy, and Chidori. "We'll do our best to keep you safe, so try and keep clear, okay?" Eriko throws Jun a confident wink, before looking straight at Chidori. She knows there's more persona users than the ones she can feel here, logically, and her resonance feels rather... dampened.

    "That was rather cruel of you, miss." Eriko's eyes narrow, dropping into sword stance, and the model's voice gets serious. "Why don't you try and face someone who can fight on equal terms, hm?" 

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.

    You know what sucks, waiting sucks. The screams have died down and now the pixie was all but ash. Still it sounds like the fun is starting as he fades into nothing and Yet it appears someone has actually made their way into the basement. An old lady?! A low growl is let out as she is not who Sudou wanted, but then he hears the voices of the others and the growl almost turns into a purr.

    Moving through the shadows until The Old Maid meets up with the group, and Chidori, a subtle hat tip given of his paperbag before looking at Eikichi, "Now now, don't get ahead of yourself, knave. Confusing yourself for a king..." Sudou's voice trails off as he notices one of the people in tow with Eikichi, the real king, Jun Kashihara. "It's you?! I hadn't planned to see you here and now, it's not time. However from the stories I have heard I am not surprised. If anything I should have expected you'd be called to this. "

    "One moment, let me deal with the trash and we can reminisce together." Sudou says to Jun, realizing that obviously Jun must remember the real timeline. The good timeline, not this horrible nightmare world. Turning his head from Jun back to Eikichi before noticing the others, an ogre and the old lady. He almost forgot about the collateral damage. The ogre and the old lady. " Well I did run out of screams. "

    Sudou doesn't hesitate as he throws balls of fire at both Ichika and Ulala, before dashing forward, sword raised to slice and dice Eikichi, "You did me a favor brat, you brought the real one with you, so I will kill you quick." 

AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Blaze on Ichika Kawase!
AS: Tandem! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Slash skill Slice & Dice on Eikichi Mishina! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Blaze on Ulala Serizawa!
AS: Tatsuya Sudou's turn has ended.
AS: Counter Best! Eikichi Mishina takes 55 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Slice & Dice. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Tatsuya Sudou takes 35 Slash damage in return for his attack! 
AS: Eikichi Mishina gains 1 Limit from Comeback!
AS: Block Best! Ichika Kawase takes 45 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze.
AS: Blast added!
AS: Block Worst! Eikichi Mishina takes 43 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Slice & Dice.
AS: Avoid Best! Ulala Serizawa takes 45 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze.
AS: Blast added!

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

    Mark is one day going to wonder how he went so long before running into familiar supernatural danger from his return to Japan until (roughly) now-ish. Right now, though, is the time to charge down highly angular hallways with righteous tunnel vision while making extremely sharp 90 degree turns. Not that he thinks or phrases it this way, but.
 
     He gets that call from Eriko. It has all the leisurely tone of a good friend about to go into an exciting and enticing experience, but he also takes it as a serious call for action.
 
     Mark doesn't leave his friends hanging.
 
     "Fun. Yeah, I get you, I'm gettin' there as soon as I can."
 
     ---
 
     Good news is, Mark has been inside Kasugayama High at night before when helping deal with what seems to now be a nightly demon problem, so Eriko has that help in her corner as she follows up on Tamaki's tip. "I'm right behind you!" He calls, carrying along a familiar two-handed axe - *that* two-handed axe - in one hand. He does not wield that axe with great grace, but plenty of bravado even if he lacks the stature to really be intimidating with it.
 
     "Y-Yeah, she's cool," he tells Elly as he catches up while she reaches out to Ulala, "we teamed up when shit went down on the... aw, shit!!" He calls as he sees the wounded boy. He can't do anything for them in the moment, other than look up and move to interpose himself between Chidori and the local high school kids caught in the crossfire.
 
     "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He calls, shouting. "Cutting down another kid like that..."
 
     He hoists that axe up over his shoulder defensively, shaking his head. He's never going to be numb to this sort of thing, taking in a breath. "What the hell is this even all about?!" 

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Ulala made some calls - and someone does, eventually, pick up.

"What's going on?" Shinobu replies. ...She frowns - and then, she nods. "...Alright. I'll be right there. Kasugayama, right?"

She hurries over as quickly as her legs can carry her. She doesn't have a cool motorcycle, unfortunately - she has a bike, which she has to take a second to lock up before hurrying to meet up with Ulala.

"I'm here, Serizawa. What's the situation?" Shinobu asks - and then looks toward Eriko, who arrives at around the same time. ...Between Ulala in her finest green dress and Eriko who looks good in pretty much anything she can get her hands on, of the three women Shinobu feels a little underdressed in her coat, band logo t-shirt, and worn jeans.

She glances toward Mark has he arrives - and he, at least, she recognizes from that same late night infiltration into Kasugayama. She has bigger things to worry about than how she looks right, now so she adjusts her duffel bag and hurries after everyone.

And they arrive... to find what looks like the scene of a murder - a writhing high-school student, his stomach slashed, and a woman with a blood-stained axe and dressed. Shinobu utters a curse, drawing her staff immediately.

Chidori's outfit, too, is immaculate - save for the blood staining it.

"...Is this a damn fashion show today, or what...?" Shinobu mutters to herself. Even she can feel a little self-conscious, at times. Ulala heads further inside - and Shinobu elects to remain there, because the injured student isn't the only one on the premises right now, as Jun hurries to try to aid the injured one.

...Shinobu doesn't give the kid good odds, but she's not going to stop Jun from trying. She moves to interpose herself between him and Chidori, to act as a shield, drawing her staff from her duffle bag.

"Kid, how's he doing? If you see an opportunity, run." Shinobu says, glancing back at Jun, then briefly glances between Eriko and Mark. She doesn't know her, but she certainly carries herself like someone who knows what she's doing - and she's at least seen him in action, even if it did't involve much fighting. She'll trust her gut instinct. She looks back toward Chidori. Her... it's hard to get a read on. But anyone who can use a weapon like that without catching herself is dangerous.

"...Yeah, just try us." She says with a nod, as Eriko suggests that Chidori fight someone on equal terms. She eyes Chidori's axe carefully. "Who are you, anyway?"

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

The only answer Eikichi had received on the way is, "She's screaming." She repeats, as if that should answer everything.

Whereas Jun, does not even get an answer from Chidori on it being 'beyond the pale' or not. She keeps walking, like she didn't hear him. It's perhaps, more than a touch disturbing. Kasugayama High was full of people who vied for being the Leader through violence.

But this? This was something else. It's not a contest, it's cold-blooded murder.

Chidori perhaps expects people to come to the basement, after all, people do come to hide in a basement in a crisis. It's a logical place. What she doesn't expect is an pugnacious woman in her thirties (Do school teachers dress like that?) looking for a fight?

Wait, is she? Chidori can't tell, not that it's important. Then a younger woman...

"You didn't get past the others." She notes of Ulala and Eriko, just as she hears a detonation in the distance, proving that Jin is still 'working', "Someone tipped them off." She asides to Sudou, before her eyes settle upon Eikichi.

There's no feeling whatsoever within them, not even annoyance, or frustration.

'Why don't you try and face someone who can fight on equal terms?'

Without even missing a beat, the girl in Gothic Lolita dress brings out what looks like a gun, and places it to her head.

'What the hell is this even about' Mark asks, as she pulls the trigger, as her only answer to him. That, and a single word.

"Medea."

There's the sound of a trigger, a sound of reality warping and shattering - and what comes forth is a effeminate figure with a ram's head, hair in woven braids fluttering in the breeze. It's arms bear a small basin of flame upon it's fingertips, and a long ritual dagger.

The dagger levitates, then is drawn down, plunging into the basin. As it does, fire blooms, roaring around the room as an inferno passes over Masao, Eriko, and Shinobu.

Then it's like those flames trace into a magical glyph behind her, as crimson energy passes through Sudou making their presence even more confusing... strange - hazy.

Suddenly both figures look to everyone beholding them like they're more a heat mirage, than human, the basement lights beginning to flicker and strobe as if whatever magic she called was interfering even with that.

'Who are you, anyway?'

"Someone who is going to kill you."

Huh? (Type "help" for help.) 

AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Fire skill Maragilao on Masao Inaba, Eriko Kirishima, and Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Recovery skill Blood Moon on Penguin Witch and Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Penguin Witch regains 20 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Penguin Witch's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Penguin Witch takes 0 Recovery healing from Penguin Witch's Blood Moon.
AS: Eclipse added!
AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 108 Fire damage from Penguin Witch's Maragilao.

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Ririka doesn't go to Kasugayama. She goes to Gekkoukan. But her sister goes here, and she'd gotten a text from her, saying that she'd had a rough night, and that she wanted to hang out.

Last night, as far as Ririka had been aware, had been a pretty good night, given Gas Chamber's debut performance. She'd parted ways with Ichika, but if something had happened after that...

Shit. It must be really bad, if she's that upset.

So she'd ditched club a bit early to head to Sumaru. She was on her skateboard to make faster time, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, cargo pants, skate shoes, and of course, all of her protective gear. She's rushing a little, trying to stick to out of the way paths she won't be caught on and cited.

She abruptly skids to a stop as Tatsuya comes Akira sliding around a corner right in front of her. "Holy shit! Hey buddy!" she shouts futiley at his rapidly retreating back. "What's the big rush!?"

A second later there is an explosion, and Ririka yelps and throws herself backwards around a corner, before carefully peeking out. "Did that motorcycle just explode!?"

She brings a hand to the side of her head as something washes over her senses, a burst of noise and sounds she can't quite parse all at once. A persona, something that isn't a Shadow (a Demon, which she hasn't encountered yet), and then....

... Any faint information she was starting to make out just vanishes.

"Wh-whoa..." she mutters, a bit unsteady on her feet. "That's..." She gasps in shock and horror. "The school?"

She pauses for only a moment, then scoops up her skateboard and tosses it out in front of her as she runs, jumping on it and straining for every bit of speed she can get. She sees Tatsuya's condition, skidding to another stop. "Shit, you look like--"

Like you were caught in an explosion. Okay, try to process that later. She glances to Umie as she summons her Persona--that's a familiar resonance. "Oh, hello again."

Someone calls evildoers to stop, and Ririka blinks, looking up to see... Ixquic, an apparent superhero balancing very impressively and improbably. "Wha--" Stare. "... are superheroes real too?" she asks in a stunned voice. "Why didn't anybody..."

She looks to Jin and Niko next, frowning. They're facing out, and they don't seem bothered by the chaos. They're blocking everyone else from getting to the chaos... or escaping. Bad vibes, either way. "Okay, I don't know what's going on but..."

Shit, she's gotta unsling her backpack and awkwardly dig around in it to find her Evoker, carefully hidden in the very bottom. She stands back up, takes a deep breath, and brings it up to her head. "Amphion!"

An explosion, shattering glass, and blue flame follow, as a man made of stone with glowing red eyes and a gold lyre with holographic strings rises behind her. "Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but... I'll back you guys up." She means Umie, Tatsuya, and Ixquic. 

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

As Ulala reaches the others, she's horrified by what's going on... even as she hears Eriko and Masao. She recognizes the latter, having helped her on Ebisu Beach, and he gets an appreciative nod. "Hey! You must be the cavalry... I'll deal with bag-for-brains!"

As soon as she says that, and the Old Maid considers her an OLD LADY (how evil, you're not that far in age!), a fireball is coming her way. Ulala jukes hard, falling on her side from the sheer heat of the flame and forcing herself back up while Sudou focuses on Eikichi. The flames lick her, even as they avoid a direct, fiery hit, and she's singing hard. This guy's scary...

Just like at Sevens.

Spotting the Ogre and Eikichi, she calls out to them both, since Eriko and Masao have Jun protected. "I'm on your side!" She doesn't necessarily know that Ichika, in her mask, is on HERS, but she does know Eikichi is. "Run if you get a chance, Mishina!"

A teenager shouldn't have to fight his own killer. That's insane.

Shinobu's arrival gets an appreciative nod. Good. Someone listened to her...

Ulala, for her part, summons her Persona. Callisto, with that shoe in her face, appears in a flash of blue, before a charming pose moves to try and inflict some confusion on the Joker Killer. That's right, baby. It's Marin Karin time. 

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    "Fssssttttt!!!" Nekomata hisses, as the Ogre slams her into the wall, shield-first. "You just want those eyes for yourself 'cuz you don't have any! Well, I'm GREEDY! So you'd better -- mrrrroowwrrrrrr--!!!" ... and that's the sound of a Nekomata getting shield-bashed into the next dimension.

    Tsubasa grasps onto the railing of the stairs, looking up at the fight. "Oh, shit, you sent her packin'," they gasp, and they sound relieved, for all their invectives. Somehow, the Ogre's defence is enough to convince Tsubasa implicitly that she's here to help, and so they tell her: "There was this girl screamin', she needs help! This way--!"

    They're worried about where the Boss went, of course, but -- on the balance of things which need their immediate attention, it's definitely the girl who sounded like she was dying. They have faith in the Boss's ability to handle herself, even if it's like they all walked into the darkest alleyway of Sumaru suddenly?! What the fuck, the rumours aren't supposed to be TRUE!

    They pile on down into the basement, all but running into Eikichi and Jun. "Hey -- hey, shit," they huff, having run down four flights of stairs, don't worry about it. "Dunno what the fuck's going on -- some catty bitch wanted to claw my eyes out --" that's not Nekomata's name, Tsubasa! -- "but I got -- some backup. This chick," they jerk a thumb back to the frighteningly armoured girl behind them, who most definitely is not Ichika, "she's... she's cool... saved my ass back there."

    They're fine. Don't even worry about it. Running down four flights of stairs because some freaky cat wanted to claw your eyes out, regular school day, super cool. It might serve as a helpful reminder to Ichika that they don't know who she is, though.

    Unfortunately, Tsubasa really doesn't have much time to catch their breath before Chidori fillets a boy like a god damn fish. "What... the fuck?" They ask, left gaping, for a moment; unlike Jun, when they come to their senses, they grab a chair in storage here in the basement and hurl it at Chidori. "Shimizu-san!" They call out, because they have no idea why Shinobu is here, but they know she's tough. "She just straight gutted that guy! That ain't how we do it, what the fuck?!" Mark's here, too, but they can't worry about that, right now, there are way too many things going wrong right now.

    Eriko might still be able to tell that they're not the kind of person who can fight these people on equal terms, though. Point of fact: they just assaulted Chidori with a chair.

    Unfortunately, what happens next is...

    "EEYAAAAAHHHH--!!"

    ... Sudou wanted screams, and he gets them. The high, whiny pitch is even pretty close to feminine, as much as they hate that, though the smoke damage is evident in Tsubasa's voice even at this volume.

    When he throws that fireball at the Ogre, all Tsubasa's ferocity evaporates in an instant, ducking down and covering their head with a grasp that makes it quite clear that multicoloured hair of theirs is a wig. "NO! Not again--!"

    They smell Chidori's inferno more than they see it, but still, they scream: "Not HERE!! No! Stop it!"

    ... they don't realise the target they've painted on their back, reacting like that.

AS: Persona! Ulala Serizawa has used the Almighty skill Marin Karin on Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

"Suddenly glad my dorm doesn't allow cats," Ogre mutters after she bashes Nekomata into the next world. Tsubasa calls her on. "I'm coming!" she answers, and rushes down. Catty bitch... That's about right. "I'm on it."

But she sees the guy on the ground, bloody. "Fuck!" the Ogre says, blanching upon seeing it--which isn't really visible, thanks to her mask. "...Fine. If that's how it's going to be--"

The other day, she asked about 'people who are like demons', and maybe she just found one.

Eriko's confidence is reassuring and strange in equal measure. She's going to protect--that's Jun. Kashihara... And the boy. The Ogre steps up. "I don't know who you are--"

Sudou throws a fireball at her. "Whoa--" Luckily, she's been fighting Pyro Jacks lately, so she knows how to deal with fire: she raises her shield, and the blast explodes against its surface. The heat and impact still jar her, but she's spared burning, even if she is knocked back. "Gh--"

"Trash my ass!" the Ogre says.

"Leave the Boss alone!"

Ulala is a fashionable lady who seems to know what she's doing. The Ogre watches her Persona. "Got it!" she calls. "I'm with the Death Boss on this one!"

Tsubasa screams. The Ogre grimaces, and her mask shows it. "it's cool!" Ogre shouts at Tsubasa. "I'm fine! You will be, too!"

The Ogre moves to interpose herself between Tsubasa and the others. "You want them... You go through me."

She lifts her hand, then. She grips the edge of her horned mask. "...That's how it is, then. MOMIJI!"

Ichika rips the mask off of her face, blood pouring down her front that never manages to run out--or never manages to stain her clothes. It turns into blue fire, still obscuring her identity, as an Oni in a beautiful maple-patterened kimono appears and lifts her scroll.

Healing sparkles in green rain down upon Eikichi, Ichika, and Ulala.

"I'm behind you!" the Ogre says. "Fuck him up!" 

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Media on Ulala Serizawa, Eikichi Mishina, and Ichika Kawase!
AS: Ichika Kawase's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Ichika Kawase takes 63 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 108 Fire damage from Penguin Witch's Maragilao.

<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.

    That explosion? Jin Shirato may have been responsible for that. He takes a particular satisfaction in watching the explosion and the high arc of the resulting shrapnel. Unfortunately, he's less satisfied to see that he failed to eliminate the target.

    No matter. He'd just do it himself.

    "Sorry about your bike..." There's a peculiar smarminess in Jin's voice that practically invites a punch to the face. "...but we ain't going anywhere."

    Before Jin can continue making snide comments and start lobbing grenades at 'that special persona-user Takaya told him about', he takes note of a figure approaching from behind his target. Just as he predicted -- another persona-user.

    "A healer, huh? This'll make things interesting." Jin welcomes the challenge. He's just about to stop juggling his grenade and start throwing it when a third one joins the mix.

    What the hell? Does she think she's a superhero or something? Jin's fingers are practically twitching with impatience. Can they get on with the fight already?!

    Apparently not. A fourth arrives. They're swarming them like roaches. Well, it's finally time to exterminate them. All Jin needs to do now is probe their weaknesses. It'd be easier if Chidori were here, but she wasn't, so it was all on him.

    "Kirisaki, you handle Magical Girl and Metronome. I got these two!" He nods his head in Tatsuya and Umie's direction.

    Jin (finally) starts lobbing grenades at his targets. 

AS: Weapon! Jin Shirato has used the Pierce skill Error 404: Not Found on Tatsuya Suou!
AS: Take! Ulala Serizawa takes 63 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Weapon! Jin Shirato has used the Pierce skill Overflow Exception on Umie Akabane! 2 Hits!
AS: Jin Shirato's turn has ended.
AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Suou takes 45 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Error 404: Not Found.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 25 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Overflow Exception.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 51 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Overflow Exception. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

Eikichi keeps a side eye on Jun and the victim of Chidori's attack, maintaining focus on the Gothic Lolita. "They alright? Hey! Hang on! I'll be done with this punk soon." He says cooly, not wanting to let whoever was behind this to get to him. He holds his guitar case ready one handed, shifting in his stance as he readies himself.

 Are these Demons going to attack him as well? Could he handle this? He shouldn't have walked into this trap.

Then the real star of the show comes in, prompting Eikichi to blink. He hears Chidori's words. "So thats who is coming for me"

Eikichi notices the bag with the grinning face scribbled on it and the imposing pressence. He keeps his guard but it is not enough to deal with the incoming attacks.

 As Sudou comes in slashing, the first strike is met with a barrage of "bullets" from the guitar case in Eikichi's grip. Still the Sword grazes his arm.

 Eikichi attempts to block the second attack with the neck of his case but comes up short. The slash hits him in the chest, cutting into his uniform and sending him back with a flesh wound.

 Eikichi falls back, crouching as he breaths heavily from the pain. He grins devilishly to not show any weakness from the person trying to kill him. "Heh...You're pretty good but I'm not going to go down to some bag wearing weirdo, EH?!"

 He raises his guitar case, pulling back the frayed fabric to reveal the barrel of a rather large gun. "Alright, lets dance, Asshole!"

 He opens fire, trying to get between Sudou and the rest of the people gathered. "GET BACK! This Psycho is here for me!"

 He then hears Ulala, not taking his eyes off Sudou. He isn't sure who the woman was but he was busy. "Run? I don't think I can if I tried. This is a fight to the death!"

 Suddenly he feels a rush of cooling energy, taking the edge off his wounds. He isn't quite sure it came from Ichika yet but he is grateful as he continues to blast the Joker Killer with ruthless aggression. 

AS: Take! Eikichi Mishina takes 63 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Block Best! Masao Inaba takes 103 Fire damage from Penguin Witch's Maragilao. Critical Hit!
AS: Persona! Eikichi Mishina has used the Pierce skill Bullet Rain on Tatsuya Sudou! 3 Hits!
AS: Eikichi Mishina's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Recovery healing from Penguin Witch's Blood Moon.
AS: Eclipse added!
AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Almighty damage from Ulala Serizawa's Marin Karin.
AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 20 Pierce damage from Eikichi Mishina's Bullet Rain.
AS: Block Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 28 Pierce damage from Eikichi Mishina's Bullet Rain. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 20 Pierce damage from Eikichi Mishina's Bullet Rain.

<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.

This isn't the first time Niko has been too familiar with Jin for his liking, and it more than likely won't be the last. This correction goes over the same way all the others have, with Niko just going 'haaaai' in the kind of disinterested way that makes it clear she learned absolutely nothing. She's determined to get along with him, and keeps going about it entirely the wrong way. Maybe she thinks that persistence is going to pay off in the end.

Notably she doesn't do that with Takaya, no, he actually gets a -sama. Maybe that shared respect is something they'll be able to bond over, one day.

For today, she brings her hands together in a forward palm stretch, still looking entirely unconcerned. "Got it, got it, take down the guy on the motorcycle, no sweat. That is, assuming he notices your little present in time, hehehe."

The explosion to go with her comment couldn't have been timed better. Yet Niko looks... disappointed. "Awww. There goes my fun." Oh well. Surely others would have heard that. Maybe there'll be some fun to be had in a bit, after all. So she thinks... only for Tatsuya to show up a moment later anyway. Niko didn't get too detailed a physical description beforehand, but given the injuries, that's gotta be him. His threatening tone doesn't faze her at all, but her eyes do widen a little.

"Oooh, hey, he's cool. You didn't tell me he was cool!" Yes of course that's an important detail, why wouldn't you mention that??

And indeed, others did appear to have heard that. Umie's trickery has Niko wrinkle her nose. "Someone's cheating over there. Not sure what that's about, but, don't like that." Another Persona appears in short order, with Ririka's arrival, and that makes her a bit more giddy. "'Backup'? Did you say 'backup'? Oh goodie, I was supposed to get rid of any 'backup'!"

However, it's Ixquic appearance, declaring herself to be making a heroic stand, that ends up drawing the most of her attention. Niko's response to that is... to put her palms to her cheeks. "Awww, look at you! Are you playing Heroes and Villains? That's so precious! Dressed the part and everything!"

Jin gives the orders, and with a nod from Niko, her path is set. This works for her. Although... she looks herself over a moment. "How do I look, do I make a good villain? Should've given me advance warning if I had to dress up!" She pauses. "Also, I haven't hurt anybody yet today, actually. But since you're volunteering...!"

Her hand goes to her 'belt', a length of chain wrapped about her waist. With a single practiced movement, she unfastens it, then pulls on one end, removing it entirely in one go. In the next instant, she swings it down, causing a loud CRASH as it cracks the pavement on impact. She was casually wearing an actual, solid steel chain?! You'd better believe it! Niko cracks a grin.

"Alright, time to be the bad guy~"

With shockingly little effort, she swings that length of chain as if it were a whip, whirling it around from Ixquic to Ririka in a fluid motion. 

AS: Weapon! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Steel Snap on Akari Hoshi!
AS: Weapon! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Steel Snap on Ririka Kawase!
AS: Niko Kirisaki's turn has ended.
AS: Block Worst! Akari Hoshi takes 101 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Steel Snap. Weak! Block Strike!

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    Takkun.

    The nickname alone is enough to send shivers down his spine -- why? Why is she always present? This is all Nyarlathotep's doing. She's just another, like Miyashiro, who's been ensnared into the Shadows... though when he glances back -- and Umie's shield forms over him -- the fuller truth of how Umie deals with the supernatural becomes known to him.

    "... okay," Tatsuya finds himself oddly agreeable right now, if only because right now, in his brain, he just needs to add as many Persona Users as possible to the equation to break through and find the Old Maid and END him before he can end Eikichi. No, he's probably already too late -- is Jun in there too? Is he getting swept up in this too?

    And-- the others here-- is that... Akari? That Akari, from back then? His heart wrenches for a moment -- again, she's been drawn into the shadows as well... no, she doesn't have the Masked Circle disc. The Masked Circle is no more. But Sugimoto's been lured to play his part too, he's certain, so what's she--

    The outfit is different. Tatsuya can feel his supernatural senses prickling. Is that a Cognitive outfit? She awoke as well on This Side... it seems like she's going to fight against Strega. That'll have to be good enough for Tatsuya, even if...

    (Where's the toilet demon?? He's still looking around for that fucking toilet demon that came with Akari last time. Can't discount the toilet demon. Ever.)

    And Ririka... he's convinced he spotted her at Eikichi's concert last night, but he can't be one hundred percent sure. Still, it doesn't take long for her to manifest her Persona -- so he's a lot less alarmed about her being in the threat zone from Strega. Amphion?

    Damnit... he can't see Eikichi nor Jun anywhere. Nor anyone else. With this strange, repressive field around them, it's not even going to be useful to stop time and just dash past them -- he won't be able to guess WHERE Sudou and the others are, and wasting time prowling around Kasugayama is going to just waste time.

    And what's Strega doing here? Were they just hired for this job? Revenge Requests... Revenge Requests... no, it can't be... are they involved with the Joker Killers too? Was Strega the backbone behind the whole operation?

    "Keep your guard up. These guys -- Strega -- play for keeps. This guy in particular... that land mine's just one of his signature tricks," Tatsuya warns those around him. So, he already knows who they are? He's encountered both of them on the 'Other Side', to be certain, but Tatsuya's not certain what's different about Niko nor Jin on 'This Side'...

    And if Strega is here... this distortion is probably coming from one of the other members. That gothic lolita-wearing girl... and where's the leader? Is he here too?

    Still, he can't get distracted -- Jin Shirato is a dangerous enough opponent even not backed up, and he can't afford to divide his attention here. The grenade comes his way, and Tatsuya swiftly slashes at the device without a single iota of fear--

    KABOOOM

    A conflagration of flame and shrapnel consumes the bloodied man again, but he emerges swiftly after, keeping on the offensive. "What's your play in all this, Shirato? Is Strega backing the Joker Killer? Is this an expansion of your website?" he grills the hacker, not waiting for him to give an answer.

    Niko comments on how he is 'cool'. Is he cool? No... nothing's cool right now. Not situationally, not metaphorically, not literally either -- between Jin's grenades and his fires, it's only getting hotter out here on the doorsteps of Kasugayama High.

    "Apollo, to me!" Tatsuya raises his hand, and in remarkably swift fashion, Apollo rises in a column of Blue, thrusting his red-gloved hand forward to create a miniaturised nuclear detonation in Jin's vicinity. 

AS: Persona! Tatsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Freila on Jin Shirato!
AS: Tatsuya Suou regains 40 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Tatsuya Suou's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 183 Fire damage from Tatsuya Suou's Freila. Critical Hit!
AS: Tatsuya Suou gains 1 Limit from Momentum!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 81 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Steel Snap.

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    On the plus side, a whole lot of back-up suddenly appears--Eriko, Masao, and Shinobu all interpose themselves between Jun and the Kasu first-year and the ones who want Eikichi dead.
    
    On the minus side, a lot is happening very, very fast, and it is rapidly becoming clear to Jun that he is in way over his head.
    
    One of these attackers talks to him like he knows him, even. Jun stares at the man with the paper bag mask in clear lack of recognition. "Huh?" he utters. The 'real one'? What is he talking about? No, that's not important right now!
    
    "Thank you," he says to Eriko, because he does appreciate her calm smile in a very un-calm time. To Shinobu and Eikichi, he admits, "I don't know. I only know basic first aid. But he's passed out from shock, I think, and if he doesn't get proper medical care soon..." There's no need to say it. The shirt he's using to staunch the wound is already soaked through with blood. Jun is trying not to think of if he's already dead. His only chance is that Chidori clearly doesn't care either way; maybe she didn't use quite enough force to finish him off. But Jun does not give high odds on that.
    
    More people arrive. One of them is someone he knows. (Someone he knows he knows, anyway.) "Seki-kun! Help me carry this boy out of here!" Jun calls, even as Tsubasa is trying to join in on the fight. It's a good thought--that's a classmate of his, someone he knows is reliable--but then there is fire, fire, FIRE, and Tsubasa understandably starts to freak out. Jun has no fire-related trauma that he remembers, and it's frightening to him too. Is there a way out at all now? Jun cannot afford to move right now--not without someone to help him move the injured boy while he keeps his wound closed.
    
    And then, of course, there are all the spectral beings materializing into existence to fight. That's to say nothing of the fact that Eikichi seems wholly prepared to fight to the bitter end. No wonder he's called the Death Boss... 

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

If there is a toilet demon, it is elsewhere. Such as...

---

BOYS' WASHROOM, KASUGAYAMA

A Belphegor settles in for a nice, relaxing break. Fighting can be someone else's job (unless they barge into the bathroom, anyway; he is fully prepared to try to pull off their head then). He's not a demon of sloth for nothing.

---

"Bwa ha ha! Of course superheroes are real!" Ixquic swings her sword up and around, shifting to a two-handed grip because yeah, okay, that's heavy. "In the darkest hour, when all seems lost, a hero must appear...!"

Arguably, that hero is someone else, but Ixquic isn't one to let facts get in the way of an exciting moment.

"But you, too, have a guardian..." Akari has never seen anyone summon a Persona with a gun before, but Ixquic isn't going to admit that such a thing is new to her. And Ririka says she'll back her up, which is agreeable to Ixquic, too. She grins, giving a thumbs-up made awkward by the two-handed sword.

Exploded Man... Ixquic looks toward Tatsuya. She doesn't know him. Why would she? He's older than she is; he's got a motorcycle, even. And she doesn't think she's met him elsewhere. But something seems vaguely familiar about him nonetheless. They're on the same side, though... maybe it's just that he's cool, because cool guys walk away from explosions and he just did that. "Strega," she repeats, slowly and carefully, as if committing it to memory.

She turns back to Niko. Who has just called her precious. Under her visor, her eyes narrow.

"You do look like a villain!" she decides. "The perfect muscles highlighted by a studded jacket; the torn sleeves; the tattered shorts; the flailing chain! There is only one word for what you are!" She jabs with her sword again, for emphasis and not combat: "You are a thug!"

And then Niko slams the chain into the street, and then into her.

Ixquic practically folds up around the chain, the breath all knocked out of her in a single blow as she's propelled a good ten feet through the air; she hits the ground, tumbles, and manages to stop on one knee by driving the tip of her too-big sword into Kasugayama's rather subpar lawn. She gasps to catch her breath, pushing herself up to her feet as one hand moves to her helmet, touching near the visor:

"My Guardian! Come forth... Quixote!"

Appearing behind Ixquic is a figure, never seen before by anyone here. A female figure wearing lightweight armour halfway between plate mail and sci-fi power armour, a bodysuit beneath it; her legs and leg armour blend into the frame of a motorcycle with ROCINANTE emblazoned boldly on the side. She has a lance with a banner for a bike flag, but in her hand is a sword, and it's the sword she uses; the engine revs and the spectral guardian - the Persona - guns forward, sword lashing out as she drives toward Niko, spinning through a sharp turn as shining silver cuts made of light swirl around the Persona!

It vanishes as Ixquic regains her footing. But this time she's holding the sword differently... ready to block, rather than dramatically point. 

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Spin Slash on Niko Kirisaki! 3 Hits!
AS: Akari Hoshi's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.

    Holy Shit! That girl just ripped her face off, Sudou isn't even sure if he is that hardcore, and then it lit on fire! He has to take notes to ask his friend how to do that on another day as that is metal. She must be some cool leader of a band or something, maybe that is why Eikichi had a guitar bag. He's the roadie, it seems obvious now. Does that make the old lady the manager? He glances over at her and is she flirting with him? Why is she trying to flirt with him? Nothing makes sense anymore. Not even the bullets coming out of the guitar bag!

    At least bullets are something Sudou understands, he raises his sword to deflect the bullets, but is too slow. The bullets whiz by as they strike the body hiding underneath the long trench coat jacket, only benefiting from grazes and flesh wounds as he is trying to still deflect the bullets with his sword. Looking at the source of the bullets he scowls heavily, that can't be seen because he is wearing a paperbag with a smile face painted on it, "Listen here mister roadie, I am doing you a favor. You have peaked already and it's just better to let it all end. The metal rocker over there even probably agrees with me."

    Sudou takes his sword in one hand and a ball of fire in the other and pours it upon his sword, letting the sword ignite on fire. "Ladies, as for both of you I think you both have long lives ahead of you if you just leave now. A heavy metal rocker leading her band and her manager, who by the way, I am not interested in. I appreciate the attempt but no. I'm taken. " Sudou raises his sword and cuts the air, sending the pressure of his slash toward Ichika and Ulala.

    He then rushes towards as the flames on the blade turn into hellish flames, black and purple as Sudou begins to just swing wildly at Eikichi, meanwhile he shouts to Jun, "It's cute you are pretending to care about that dead weight of a soon to be corpse, but anytime you want to stab this guy in the back, we can get out of here. " 

AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Almighty skill Heat up on Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Almighty damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Heat up.
AS: Atk_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Ulala nods - and Shinobu nods back. But she'll let her focus on her end of things for now - it looks like she has her hands very full. And right now... Shinobu sees a chair fly across the basement, and looks back toward the source, who calls out her her.

"Seki!?" Shinobu gasps in surprise at the sight of Tsubasa. ...She internally scolds herself a moment later - of course they'd be here. They're a Kasugayama student! But to show up now of all times... "...Yeah. These people aren't like us. They're cold-blooded killers - you've gotta get out of here."

Her tone is a little strained, and she feels caught - she can't protect them and Jun with the injured-dying-probably-dead student at the same time...

She nods toward Jun as he gives his assessment.

"...Right. Got it. We'll make this quick." She replies. She's not going to tell him otherwise. She's not going to say that he's already dead, whether he is or not. They all need that ambiguity right now, to keep them going...

...especially as things get worse.

There's the sound of a trigger. Reality warps, as Chidori calls upon her Persona with her Evoker. Medea, with her flame and her ritual dagger. Shinobu braces herself as an inferno passes over her. She stumbles through the flames. She can feel the heat threatening to consume her - and it's only thanks to her own Persona that she isn't a charred corpse right now. She stumbles back, using her staff to support herself and keep her from falling over.

'Someone who is going to kill you,' Chidori supplies her answer. Shinobu grits her teeth.

"...Sorry. Not dying here." She mutters, straightening herself back up. "You've already decided how this is gonna go... but I'm not going to let that happen."

She's distracted, briefly, by Tsubasa's panic.

"Shit. Hey! Hey, kid! ...Tsubasa! C'mon!" Shinobu shouts, trying to reach them through it. ...She doesn't really know a delicate way to do it - she might be making things worse, but what else can she do...?

But thankfully, it looks like they have an Ogre looking after them. Shinobu looks her way - and she remembers that mask from that Dark Hour heist. She seems determined to protect them - and that fight is enough for her to be able to trust her.

"...Look after 'em, alright?" She says, with a nod her way - and then she lunges toward Chidori, staff at the ready.

"Let's see what you've got, then...!" She says, and drives it toward Chidori in a flurry of jabs. 

AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Jab Flurry on Penguin Witch! 3 Hits!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu's turn has ended.
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Slash skill Vortex Slash on Ichika Kawase and Ulala Serizawa!
AS: Block Neutral! Penguin Witch takes 10 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry.
AS: Tandem! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Dark Fire Slash on Eikichi Mishina! 2 Hits!
AS: Tatsuya Sudou's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Witch takes 10 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry.
AS: Counter Worst! Penguin Witch takes 35 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Shinobu Shimizu takes 11 Strike damage in return for her attack! 
AS: Block Worst! Ichika Kawase takes 78 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Vortex Slash.
AS: Block Best! Ulala Serizawa takes 79 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Vortex Slash.

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

    "Oh, it seems I missed all the fun." Eriko pouts at Mark, as he vouches for Ulala as someone cool. "Well, there's always next time!"

    Eriko nods back at Ulala. "Ms Tamaki sent us!" That should be more than enough of a sign to trust. "Leave this woman to us and do what you came to do!" When Chidori states that this group didn't get past the others, Eriko smiles. "Ah, you want to know our tricks?" Eriko responds before closing her eyes and placing a finger to her lips. "That's a secret!"

    The flames wash over Eriko, even as she tries to dart back, the blaze coating her before she can summon Nike, and Eriko lets out a cry of pain as she stumbles back. If she hadn't seen the Persona users wield those things against the Emperor and Empress, though, she may have been concerned the girl planned to end her own life here. The moment of shock is still enough to leave her off guard.

    "...Medea, hm. The High Priestess of Hecate, granddaughter of Helios, niece of Circe... and an accomplished user of medicinal magic. I see she has no issues with using her abilities to harm, either." Still... why would a joyless attempted murderess manifest that particular persona? The logic to it eludes Eriko right now.

    Unfortunately, there's also a young person attacking Chidori with a char, and Eriko gasps. "Don't! You can't fight her!" Eriko yells, even as she tries to pat out the flames emerging on her outfit- even as an Ogre emerges to provide a wall for her. "Leave this to your friend there, when you can move go and help the others, okay?" She tries to be reassuring, and to give Tsubasa a goal of a kind. Having something to do in a panic, other than being helpless, is something Eriko finds helps. "He'll need someone to help him move."

    Still, she can feel Mark's anger- and she knows how he operates. At least, she knows how he did operate. Maybe it won't be the same. "Nike, Rakukaja!" Eriko calls, and the Steel Goddess of Victory emerges from Eriko's body, performing an aileron roll behind her and sending a wave of protective magic towards Mark. If her friend is going to wade straight in to the fray, she's going to make sure he survives.

    She looks to Shinobu who joins them right, and she gives a... slightly unpleasant smile. It's hard to say why, but... If anything, it looks a little fake. "Well... I can't always leave my work at home," she responds quietly to talk of a fashion show. (Yes the clothes *are* brand name. Did you know Calamity's Child does combat wear?) (They don't, Eriko has a hookup.)

     

AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Almighty skill Rakukaja on Masao Inaba!
AS: Eriko Kirishima's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 28 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Spin Slash. Critical Hit!
AS: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit from Momentum!
AS: Block Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 21 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Spin Slash.
AS: Block Neutral! Niko Kirisaki takes 24 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Spin Slash.
AS: Take! Masao Inaba takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Rakukaja.
AS: Def_Up added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Eikichi Mishina takes 97 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Dark Fire Slash.
AS: Block Neutral! Eikichi Mishina takes 120 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Dark Fire Slash. Critical Hit!
AS: Eikichi Mishina gains 1 Limit from Comeback!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Umie Akabane, an ordinary person, ensnared by shadows? Whatever do you mean, Tatsuya Suou?

    Tatsuya being oddly agreeable may be surprising, but considering the young man may be suffering from a fair amount of injuries, on top of a possible concussion, it's logical: he has someplace he needs to be on a time limit, and there's obstacles.
    
    "... A healer?" Umie makes a face at Jin's comment. Why does that insult her so much? Is it because she's never had to use that ability on anyone other than herself? (Is this character growth?)

    "... Sorry, didn't have time to read the rule book," Umie then murmurs to Niko, deadpan. "Besides, *somebody* exploded _a guy and his bike_. You've got any idea how long he--" Umie makes a last minute swerve past too much volunteered information "--*might've* spent fixing that up?"

    The glower in her face and voice briefly dissolves as Umie briefly catches Ririka's gaze and greeting. "Good, you're here. We're going to need a proper..." Umie pauses, trying to remember the term. "... navigator, to figure out the source. Just like at Sumaru TV." Ririka's companion is given a brief look of confusion.

    Is this the NWO as well that's responsible? ('I wonder, do your friends know the truth?,' said the masked agent, days back.)

    The ring end of the kyoketsu shoge begins to be swung around, the young woman's face tightening. "... So, Pep-san and Glass-san: you their dogs too?" As Shiryuu once said to never utter that name openly, and Umie agrees with it, though here it only adds to the potential confusion she may cause.

    Thankfully, Tatsuya is here with context, yet again. "Strega, huh..." Wait, *Joker Killer*?! Umie stifles a sputter.

    Focus, Umie. One grenade gets knocked away with a swing of her weapon, but is far too close for comfort. The second, as she backs up, is even closer.

    "Badb!" she murmurs, in the wake of Tatsuya's attack; the battle crow shrieks across the field, rattling teeth and bone alike. 

AS: Ulala Serizawa spends Limit on Shift! Ichika Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

    There's a lot of kids showing up here all of a sudden and Mark doesn't have the time or focus to take stock on who all is here and near, or familiar, because damn if he's going to let one of his best friends from high school excitedly run head long into mortal danger without solid, reliable back-up. (Also, something feels terribly off with his ability to get his bearings about where he is or where they're going, which may be related to the present situation.)
 
     He's glad someone familiar like Shinobu's also here in the moment, even if he can't spare the moment (for now) to speak to her.
 
     "Medea who--" Mark goes quiet when the whole disconcerting thing with that gun goes off to the wielder's own head as a Persona is summoned. He saw something like this before, and that still doesn't tamp down the shock of it any.
 
     "Tch!" The intensity of Medea's flames cuts him off from much further retort, gritting his teeth as he leans into it like he's trying to stop the inferno from passing much further past him. Any capacity to see past the immense heat mirage in the flames' wake is running on adrenaline more than anything else.
 
     "We're gonna do what we can from here to hold her off!" Mark calls to the injured boy's friend (that's Jun). Honestly, he'd praise Jun for his calm and thoughtfulness in a time like this, but this time he's the adult that should've been there to help deal with an unthinkable crisis when things went bad for his classmates some years ago.
 
     "Hey, whoa--" He tries to portest the application of chair, for reasons Eriko more or less goes over. Still, he has to hold his ground, as Eriko makes with the detailed explanation about Medea (which kind of went one ear and out the other), and then the reinforcement with Rakukaja from the same person to reinforce his defenses.
 
     "Thanks," he calls, as he brings his will manifest. A column of blue energy rises about the street artist as he extends a free hand out.
 
     "Ogun! Let's blaze a trail through 'em!" Mark calls, as the humanoid figure in mostly brown, masked, with tufts of green grass about them comes in like a narrow column of colors before finding their proper dimensions, then rears back and forth.
 
     "Tackle!"
 
     Ogun proceeds to hurl themselves through the flames towards the bloodstained woman. The narrowed eyes on the Persona-user says all that needs to be - if the only way out is through the flames and a stoic axe murderer, well, let's get funky.
 
     Eriko can be reassured(?) Mark is still Mark, when it matters most.

AS: Persona! Masao Inaba has used the Strike skill Tackle on Penguin Witch!
AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Witch takes 82 Strike damage from Masao Inaba's Tackle.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

The Ogre is on her side (AND RIPPED OFF HER FACE???)... but Ulala frowns that Eikichi won't run. "Don't play the hero!"

But then, as her charm fails, Sudou gets... weird. And there's so many civilians... "What the fuck are you talking about?! God, I hate this magic psycho shit!" She has to get in there, try and end it, when-

The vortex slash flies at her. She brings her fists up to guard, but is bodily thrown backwards by the slash, rolling into a crouch even as she coughs. "Can't you just not kill the people you're called to kill?!" Please say yes. "What if someone wants to take it back or something, huh?! Or are you a slave to your desires, you crazy bastard?!"

Ulala suddenly stands up, bouncing on her feet before rushing forward, throwing three furious punches straight into Sudou with her fists. She's hoping to open an angle for the Ogre to either attack or help Eikichi, who seems really rough off!

AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Jin Shirato!
AS: Umie Akabane's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Jin Shirato takes 76 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Panic added!
AS: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit from Schadenfreude!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Ririka glances at Jin. "Metronome... Have we met before?" That's kind of a scarily accurate guess of nickname, if not. (Then again, it's not like she isn't know for playing piano...)

But she's apparently fighting the other one. That's fine. "Actually, I didn't say backup. I said I was going to back them up." Beat. "I guess that's sort of the same thing, isn't it?"

She asks how she looks. "Well you kinda got a punk thing going? It's a cool look, and I guess the chain kind of says 'villain'..." Ririka no, don't answer the villain's questions.

But that chain becomes a problem a moment later as she rmoves it and smashes it into the ground. "Wh-- whoa! Wait a minute--" She flinches as it comes for her next, grunting and stumbling back to drop to a knee as it strikes her square in the chest. "Augh. Dammit. And me without my katana."

She glances sidelong and notices Tatsuya Suou's shinai bag. ... shit, that's so obvious. But there's something else she can learn from him, too. "Strega...?" Blink. "Land mine!?" she yelps. "What the hell!? Sumaru has Demons and land mines now!?"

"Whoa--" She can hear the roaring of the resonance in her ears as Apollo is summoned. And without an Evoker. "How the hell--"

In the darkest hour... "Alright, you're a superhero. I can work with that. Do you have a theme song?" (Ririka should you really be indulging her right now?) And a guardian. "That's right," she confirms. Another Persona summoned, and Ririka flicks her eyes over to take it in.

She nods to Umie. "Right. I can tell there's something going down in there, but I don't think I can make contact yet. But I don't think these guys are gonna let us waltz in."

Okay, four versus two. But the more time they waste out here... But there's something else she learned how to do at Sumaru TV besides contact people. She forces herself back up and faces down Niko. "Amphion, Analysis."

Without a word, Amphion removes a pair of headphones from around his neck and places them on Ririka's head, and then strums his lyre. Waves of sound fly forth to echo off of Niko and back to Ririka. With the headphones on, she can sift through the noise, find the tones that are most important. 

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Basic Analysis on Niko Kirisaki!
AS: Ririka Kawase's turn has ended.
AS: Weapon! Ulala Serizawa has used the Strike skill Furious Flurry on Tatsuya Sudou! 3 Hits!
AS: Ulala Serizawa: Blast removed!
AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Basic Analysis.
AS: Ririka Kawase's Strength Scan! Niko Kirisaki resists Elec!
AS: Ririka Kawase's Weakness Scan! Niko Kirisaki is weak against Fire!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

'Miss' Tamaki - Chidori files that name away to give to Jin. He'll know who she is.

Brave Tsubasa tries to assault Chidori with a chair - and Tsubasa will see the scrambled smear that is the girl in Gothic Lolita dress duck before the chair even leaves their hands.

The axe whips up, and carves it to pieces, smashing it aside.

"You're rather stupid, aren't you?" She says in a monotone, knowing full well that they don't have a Persona. It's not like she's avoiding killing them.

It's more prioritizing. There are three - possibly six other people who need to die first.

Shinobu fights to live for a different outcome, before driving towards her, averting any thoughts of killing Tsubasa. The first jab slams against the handle of her axe, while Chidori weaves around the second.

And the third, she takes it on the cheek, if only to use the motion to suddenly encircle the chain around Shinobu's wrist, and pivot before brutally swinging her into a desk, the chain unraveling in that moment.

"More than enough." Is her answer to what she's got.

It hurts, but that's fine.

Eriko speaks of who Medea is, "You're quite knowledgeable." Chidori tells her in a flat tone, "... None whatsoever." Her friend hurts even her. It's how she can think of her as a friend.

There's no real reason to live, none whatsoever. Moments like these are just ways to pass the time until dying.

No fear. No doubt. The pain is better than an all-consuming numbness. A way to exert control over existence without meaning.

There's just this. Nothing before. Nothing after.

Eriko uses defensive magic on Mark, and Chidori back steps suddenly, as if expecting what will come next. 'Teammates' she thinks It's not as if she doesn't know what that feeling is like. There's just rarely ever a foe so strong that they need to utilize teamwork.

Jin enjoys it with Takaya - Niko enjoys it with everyone. Chidori? She tolerates it.

The Evoker is brought to her head again, but not before Ogun is upon her from Masao - and Chidori is suddenly smashed against a wall.

It's a hard hit, and her head briefly lolls, but then she tears herself out of it, standing, this time completing the pull of a trigger.

"Medea."

The ram-headed Persona appears again, and raises it's basin. Shinobu suddenly feels the temperature of the room go up, as flames wreathe briefly but it's like the heat is infectious, not going away.

The dagger in it's hand then vanishes. And Eriko can feel a searing pain in her mind, like the cut of a blade. It's as if so much of her just unravels - as if she were extracting the information that Eriko spills out freely from her lips, forcefully from her brain.

"... Nike. I see."

Medea then surges forward, as the dagger reappears, and plunges it into the floor. Glyphs appear, and from each of them erupts what feels like the slash of the blade, bringing forth that feeling of awful panic.

"Stop toying with them, Joker." She says to Sudou. Not because she's scared - but because Jin and Niko are fighting. The plan was to kill Eikichi Mishina quickly.

AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Fire skill Boiling Blood on Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Slash skill Neuro Slash on Masao Inaba!
AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Almighty skill Revealing Scalpel on Eriko Kirishima!
AS: Penguin Witch regains 20 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Penguin Witch's turn has ended.
AS: Block Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 56 Fire damage from Penguin Witch's Boiling Blood.
AS: Poison added!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Tsubasa's chair shatters with a slice of Chidori's chained axe, and they pale, behind their fake tan and concealer. At least no one can see how freaked out they are under all those layers of artifice. "YOU'RE stupid!" They retort, and it's definitely not one of their best insults...

    Shut up, they're freaking out over here. Gang violence is one thing -- beat a girl until she screams, sure. Maybe a guy pulls a knife and gives someone a bit of a slash before everyone's nerves break and they scatter. Sometimes a bone breaks, or people spit out blood from biting their own goddamn tongue. They think they're pretty tough, pretty brutal. But this? Going straight from zero to murder? It's just like they said to Shinobu: this isn't how they do things. There's brutal, then there's -- whatever the FUCK is going on here?!

    Luckily, someone calls Tsubasa's name, in the middle of their screaming. They look up, breath shallowed, and manage to focus enough to choke out: "H--hey, Shimizu-san..." ... they can't say they're cool, they're obviously not, but they've gotta get a grip on themself here.

    The Ogre gets in front of them, tells them they'll be cool, and Tsubasa's voice hitches as they yell their truth back at her: "It's NOT COOL!!" What is cool -- like, freaky, but still cool -- is the way the Ogre straight RIPS HER FACE OFF to summon ANOTHER OGRE. "What the fuck, there are two of you?" They ask, looking from Momiji back to the disguised Ichika. "Wh-- who cares, just make him go away!!!"

    Tsubasa looks up, when Eikichi insists they get back because he's not here for them. Their voice is still torn from horror, as they hiss: "What the fuck?! Y--you want us to let you burn, Death Boss?! What the fuck! No! You don't want that--!!"

    Jun studied more first aid than Tsubasa ever did -- about all they know is that your blood is supposed to be inside you and any bandaid they ever put on is always going to be wrong because actual dressings take two people, thirty minutes, and a blue sheet of paper for some reason. They finally manage to register that Jun was calling for them, too, and they look to Eriko as they process the way she told them what to do, too. Don't know who that old woman is, but she seems to know what she's doing... "Shit," Tsubasa bites out, slowly pushing themself up.

    ... they get most of the way there before Sudou SETS HIS SWORD ON FIRE and they duck back down again. "NO!!"

    Man, no wonder the best way to defeat Tsubasa was always to bring a lighter to a fight. They're frozen. And why wouldn't they be? They can feel the flames, eating them to nothing. Screaming pain followed by no pain at all, and the horrifying realisation that when the pain stops, THEY stop. Everyone talks like it's the greatest weapon they wielded, but they can't make fire work for them, they can't claim it for their own, it will just chew through and consume and erase --

    They punch themself in their own thigh, their screams cut off by a sharp grunt. "Get it together," they snarl, to themself, as they finally get themself standing and hurrying over to Jun. "Right -- right. I'm here. Okay. This guy... like, I just pick him up and you'll do what you gotta do?"

    They're pretty strong -- see that point about all the brutality Kasugayama punks do get up to -- so while it's not nothing for them to scoop the boy up, princess-style, they don't fall over, either. "Fuck, and that guy wants your ass, that's so fucked," they mutter, to Jun, while they're straightening up. They'll wait for Jun's instruction, to help get this guy out.

    The problem is...

    ... they have to get up the stairwell.

<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.

    "D-dammit!" Jin yelps out in anger at Tatsuya's attack. He pats down his jacket frantically in an attempt to put out the flames. That really fucking hurt. "I didn't tell you he was cool because he isn't," he snaps back in Niko. Jin is clearly in A Mood and Tatsuya Suou has Put Him There. Who would think a guy like that was cool, anyway? Takaya is way cooler than this guy.

    Still... how did this guy know Strega? If the other Rumormongers are spreading things around... then Rumormonger Moriae's going to have to deal with that later.

    Jin's focus on the battle is momentarily lost in that moment. By the time he recovers, the other persona-user he's fighting is already casting Mudo. He attempts to dodge it, but the blow lands true. Jin's irritation meter grows not only with every interaction he has with Niko, but with every injury he receives, too.

    "I don't even know who you are," Jin retorts to Ririka. Should he know her? Jin supposes he'll just have to figure out whether or not she's worth knowing after this battle.

    "Okay, time to get serious!"

    Jin spins around with remarkable agility, then directs his evoker at his head.

    "Persona!" 

AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Jin Shirato!
AS: Jin Shirato takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Block Worst! Eriko Kirishima takes 96 Almighty damage from Penguin Witch's Revealing Scalpel.
AS: Penguin Witch's Strength Scan! Eriko Kirishima resists Light!
AS: Penguin Witch's Weakness Scan! Eriko Kirishima is weak against Dark!
AS: Jin Shirato cancels 1 attacks on Jin Shirato.
AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Tatsuya Suou!
AS: Jin Shirato's turn has ended.
AS: Jin Shirato cancels 1 attacks on Tatsuya Suou.
AS: Counter Neutral! Masao Inaba takes 82 Slash damage from Penguin Witch's Neuro Slash.
AS: Panic added!
AS: COUNTER! Penguin Witch takes 43 Slash damage in return for their attack! 
AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Jin Shirato!
AS: Jin Shirato takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Jin Shirato's Tarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Weapon! Jin Shirato has used the Pierce skill Error 429: Too Many Requests on Tatsuya Suou! 2 Hits!
AS: Jin Shirato's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

"Yeah!" Ogre answers Tsubasa. "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it."

"I'll protect them," the Ogre assures Shinobu. "I'll protect everyone! I promise. Do what you gotta do." She remembers her. She was helpful, back then... Maybe, if she can talk to her later--

If there is a later. Ichika is pretty hardcore though. And as Sudou answers--he calls Eikichi... a roadie?

"I'm not going anywhere!" The Ogre calls to Eikichi when he says to get back. "I'm helpipng whether you damn well like it or not!"

"And he's not a goddamn roadie! He's a ROCKER!"

She doesn't mind being accused of being a heavy metal lady, but she's not in the mood to accomodate pushy guys. The slash comes towards her--

Ichika moves to block, but she can't get her shield up in time, and takes the shockwave on the armor. "Ugh--" She stumbles backward, hit harder than she has been by demons in the past. "You..."

Eriko is yelling to Tsubasa, and Ogre nods to Eriko. "Thanks," she says. "...I'll focus on this guy while you handle the other psycho!"

Jun is doing his best. Tsubasa is doing their best. And--

"I told you. He lives. He's the best damned thing that's happened to this school in years, and you CAN'T TAKE HIM!"

Ogun, ogre. Ichika appreciates Masao's style anyway. She looks to him once--and then back to Eikichi. "C'mon, Momiji! Let's keep him alive!"

Ulala inspires her as she goes. She's getting in there with her fists. so it's easier as Momiji comes forth again--this time, to point both hands at Eikichi, as healing energy surges through him. It feels... fierce.

But Ichika plants herself as the Ogre between Tsubasa, the hurt boy, and Sudou. Someone could step up beside her... but they won't be getting past her from Sudou's side. And--"Don't call them stupid, asshole! And anyway I'd rather be stupid than be like you!" 

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Diarama on Eikichi Mishina!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tatsuya Suou takes 35 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Error 429: Too Many Requests.
AS: Avoid Worst! Tatsuya Suou takes 35 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Error 429: Too Many Requests.
AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Dia on Eikichi Mishina!
AS: Ichika Kawase: Blast removed!
AS: Ichika Kawase's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Eikichi Mishina takes 101 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Diarama.
AS: Take! Eikichi Mishina takes 68 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Dia.

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    Sorry, Belphegor, Tatsuya will never trust you. How else is he supposed to get to Great condition so he can go explore Tartarus with the others?

    ~*~

    Indeed, why would Akari know this weirdo who just got exploded by a landmine? She might think he's cool too, but there's nothing cool... no, his most salient memory, even exceeding the toilet demon, is making him think of Maya-nee again. She nearly died... they both nearly died! He trusted Maya-nee to do the right thing and to do it well, but it doesn't mean there wasn't fear and concern gripping his heart for the both of them.

    And.. Quixote?? ... no, that's good. That's something that clearly comes honest from Akari's heart. It fits her.

    Umie considers being called healer *slander*. Her class icon ain't even green, bruh! You think she's got insta-queues to Mementos?! The odd swerve in dialogue catches Tatsuya's attention, though. Why the hiccup? If Umie had just said it plain, he wouldn't have assumed it odd -- this strange tutor could've been around to see the other him tinker with his bike...

    The shinai bag isn't that subtle. But shinai bags are an everyday object too. And Tatsuya does have extra advantages to get away from being questioned, because he's futilely rejecting daily life, unlike Ririka. "Bombs are just one of this guy's trademarks," Tatsuya confirms for Ririka.

    Jin's gathering his Persona to strengthen his offense, and Moros is after him with renewed offence -- one that Tatsuya simply has to grit his teeth and bear, along with Apollo serving as his shield. It's better he's got his entire attention on him. "You're getting serious now, hmm...? I'll step it up too."

    Tatsuya's next plan was a lot easier when he could do Fusion Spells and had extra Personas... it's going to take a lot out of him, but he's certain he could do it. Tatsuya gathers his thoughts and willpower for a moment, and--

    "Apollo... grant them the gift of prophesy!"

    Red as a dodgeball, Apollo rises from within Tatsuya's bloodied motorcycle reds -- and this time, the gyrating pose that the crimson Shadow takes is almost dance-like. There's something a little off, a little strange about the spell -- like it doesn't quite originate from 'This Side'... but the feeling soon passes, and what lingers instead in Ririka, Akari and Umie is sheer power and strength, fleeting but almost tangible.

    It almost takes him back. He was always the one who looked most after the party, owing to his Wild Card specialty -- which made him flexible, so he was always there to back up Eikichi, protect and supernaturally heal the others when needed... and also coordinate magic with one another, much like how they united against the Master Joker the first time they met.

    Now... he's the leader of nothing. But old habits die hard.

    "Tutor-sensei, it's on you now."

    ... ... ...

    IS THAT THE BEST NICKNAME HE COULD THINK OF?? 

AS: Persona! Tatsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Maha Makakaja on Tatsuya Suou, Umie Akabane, Ririka Kawase, and
Akari Hoshi!
AS: Tatsuya Suou regains 40 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Tatsuya Suou's turn has ended.
AS: Tatsuya Suou spends Limit on Shift! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Tatsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Tatsuya Suou's Maha Makakaja.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Tatsuya Suou's Maha Makakaja.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Tatsuya Suou's Maha Makakaja.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

"The hell you just call me?! I'm the goddamn star of this show!" Eikichi stands firm, trying not to show that this was actually starting to get to him. He is bloody and starting to feel sluggish. The Death Boss tries to aim but the bullets aren't doing anything. They worked on that weird armor thing in the labyrinth!

 "Ok...I guess I need to use my power huh." Eikichi attempts to lower his weapon just as Sudou starts to emit flames and come in slashing. Eikichi Tries to block with his case but is struck again and again, feeling the burning surge through him.

 The Death Boss collapses to one knee, spitting some blood to the side of him. "You think you got me, huh?"

 "I'm not a hero! I'm the damn boss!" He calls back to Ulala, who is acting like some worried auntie at the moment. Eikichi struggles to his feet, dropping his guitar case as his aura begins to glow around him. The shadow covers his eyes as he says quietly. "Persona."

 Suddenly a form begins to build behind him. A mechanical man made out of an engine which whirrs to life as it hovers behind Eikichi, ready for the fight.

 "I'm not gonna burn, Seki. I'm gonna drown him!" Eikichi responds to Tsubasa, not showing them how out of his element Eikichi was. The Death Boss places a hand underneath his chin as he glares at Sudou.

"You're going down, bag man."

 Rhadamanthus crosses its arms as it begins to gather water to Eikichi, manifesting in a tight ball before it attempts to slam down Sudou's throat. The Death Boss coughs again, feeling his legs grow weaker by the moment.

 Its then that he hears Ichika's words and the burst of cooling energy again. The Death Boss breath less and less heavy as the powers mend some of his wounds and make him feel a lot better. He turns his head to look at Kawase, wondering when she got the ghost powers too. He doesn't even recognize that outfit. Maybe he was hallucinating? Eikichi eyes roll back before he forces himself to stand tall once again. "Thanks. If you're not gonna go...lets take down this guy together." 

AS: Persona! Eikichi Mishina has used the Water skill Aques on Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: Eikichi Mishina's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    Things continue to be a lot. Honestly, Jun can't even react to Chidori having seemingly pulled a gun on her own head *or* Ogre ripping off her own face. The expected results did not happen for either of them, and what did happen happened so fast.
    
    Shinobu does not sound convinced. She at least tells him they'll make this quick. Watching the fight from this side of the room, though, Jun is not confident that can happen--not in a way that leaves Eikichi alive. He shoots another glance at Eriko. He thought so, but--isn't that the Eriko Kirishima? She works at Sumaru TV like his mother... It feels so unrealistic that for a moment, he wonders if he's having a nightmare. His nightmares have been so vivid lately, and so unsettling--for all that he doesn't remember the details afterwards, he does remember how they make him feel.
    
    "Thank you," he still calls back to Masao and Shinobu both, because nightmare or not, they're still trying to protect him and this boy he doesn't know.
    
    The man in the paper bag--the man wielding blade and fire to try to kill the Death Boss while wearing a bag on his head--calls him cute for a thing Jun does not find cute at all. Anger sharpens his fine, beautiful features into a snarl. Pretending to care? Who does this monster think he is, talking to him like that?! But--there's an idea there. He is talking to him like that--i.e., like he knows him. Like he expects them to leave as friends. And at the same time, he's trying to kill Eikichi. If Jun tried to stop the fight directly, maybe he could convince Sudou to leave long enough for everyone to get to safety and get this first-year an ambulance.
    
    The problem is that Jun isn't whoever Sudou thinks he is. When he realizes that, he'll definitely kill him and come right back. This is to say nothing of his murderous friend over there. Is it worth trying? Or would he just get himself killed and put everyone else in a worse position?
    
    Chidori calls the bag man Joker. Jun's heart threatens not so much to leap up his throat but smash its way clean through his rib cage. Joker... That, too, feels like something from out of his nightmares. Like something so familiar he wants to start screaming and never stop.
    
    Tsubasa finally makes it over to him. That helps him snap out of it, and he shakes his head with a couple quick little jerks before focusing on them. Get it together. Like they said to themself. "Yes," he tells them. "But first let's get him out of here. We need--we need more dressings. A first aid kit. That'll have what we need. Nurse's office, first floor. We can call an ambulance from there, too."
    
    If the boy isn't already too far gone. If that wasn't actually an explosion outside and an ambulance is able to make it here. Jun does not let himself think about that, like he doesn't let himself think about how he's leaving Eikichi behind. Eikichi is far more capable of handling this situation than he is, he now sees--with that spirit he summons to douse Sudou's flame with the chill waters of the Styx. Jun's eyes widen in wonder, but only for an instant. Focus. What he needs to do is handle the things he can do--and also bring Tsubasa away from here.
    
    Tsubasa, meanwhile, comments on that guy wanting his ass. Jun laughs nervously and does not respond.
    
    They do indeed need to get up the stairwell. But they've got people covering them. Will that be enough? For now, Jun continues pressing that uniform shirt to the boy's wound, half-turned towards the stairs. "Go! Let's hurry!" he tells Tsubasa, and moves with them with speed for the exit. Will they make it? 

AS: Block Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 12 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry.
AS: Block Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 14 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry.
AS: Block Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 30 Strike damage from Ulala Serizawa's Furious Flurry. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 40 Water damage from Eikichi Mishina's Aques. Eclipsed!
AS: Eclipse removed!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Tatsuya Suou's Maha Makakaja.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.

Niko nods several times at Ixquic and Rikika's assessments of her looks, seeming pleased by it. "Good good, it's important to look the part. If you're gonna play, go all the way, that's what I say. Oooh, that was pretty good, I should write that down." If she was carrying anything to write with, she absolutely would've done that right there, too. She cares about that much more than Umie's excuses, which she ignores entirely.

And then Tatsuya shows what happens when he loses his patience. "Shit!" Niko yells, actually recoiling away a little. She does have enough sense to look worried now. It's obvious enough that she should be glad he wasn't aiming for her with that one. She also has enough sense to realize that asking Jin if he's alright would just annoy him even more. She's not actually out to do that. So she doesn't argue with him.

...She was totally right though, that was really cool. Well, the opposite of cool, technically, but we don't need to be technical about words here, Ririka.

She does wonder the same thing though... Tatsuya knowing about them is another thing Jin failed to mention. But she figures it must be more of that 'need to know basis' stuff. She has other things to worry about, anyway.

She wasn't too impressed by the sword Ixquic was waving around, but when she summons a Persona and has it doing that... she moves quickly, especially for someone lugging a heavy piece of chain around. Leaping aside to avoid the first strike, she moves to deflect the follow-up strikes by spinning the chain in front of her. Her instincts served her well in preventing getting skewered, but it's not without effort, despite how it may have looked. Especially given that she was smiling the whole time. Is she enjoying this? It sure looks like she's enjoying this.

She looks eyes with Ririka then, almost daring her to try something. She cants her heads, as from her perspective, nothing much seems to happen when the Persona is invoked. "...Is that it? That all you got?" Now she looks all disappointed, casually hanging the chain from her neck. "If you're not gonna try, then..."

That's as far as she gets, before Tatsuya makes his next move. She doesn't know what his words mean, but she can tell that whatever he just did affected ALL of them, which-- "Okay, that's DEFINITELY cheating. Well then fuck it, I'm cheating too! Persona!"

Her hand goes to the inside of her jacket, and out comes... a big survival knife! Which she points at her own head, and...

"...Oops."

She puts the knife back where she got it, and out comes an Evoker instead. "Wrong pocket," she clarifies, sticking out her tongue. And then casually shoots herself in the forehead.

The giant, ominous spectral form of Ate manifests behind him, a massive head with copious amounts of hair, all tinted dark blue. A purple glow within the hollows of her sightless eyes heralds a wide-area psychokinetic attack, on assault on the senses more felt on the inside than the outside. 

AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Niko Kirisaki!
AS: Take! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Tarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Elec skill Mapsio on Akari Hoshi, Ririka Kawase, Tatsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane!
AS: Niko Kirisaki's turn has ended.
AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Suou takes 73 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio.
AS: Block Worst! Akari Hoshi takes 96 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 85 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio.

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

So fashion is her job? ...But then again, with that smile, it's hard to say.

"Guess not. Me either, looks like." Shinobu replies to Eriko.

The Ogre says she'll protect Tsubasa - that she'll protect everyone.

"Thanks. Counting on you, then." She replies with a nod.

Shinobu watches Chidori's moves. They're definitely those of someone who's done this before, as her jab combo is defended against. And on the third hit - Shinobu she's what she's doing a little too late. The chain wraps around her wrist - and then she's flung. Shinobu orients herself in mid-air to mitigate the damage, but she still smashes through and obliterates a desk. With a grunt of effort she tries to haul herself up, using her staff for support.

"Damn... Didn't think she'd be that strong." She mutters. 'More than enough'... Yeah. Shinobu sees where she gets that confidence, now. She looks up from where she landed, offering Tsubasa a forced smirk.

"H-hey." She replies back. At least they're a little more focused, now. That's good. Jun thanks her, and she sends him a nod. Jun and Tsubasa move to try to transport the student up the stairwell - but they have to get up there, first, and there's two people here with plenty of reason to stop them.

Shinobu moves to provide cover - but she doesn't get far before Medea reappears, raising the basin.

Flames wreathe around her, and Shinobu spins her staff quickly to disperse them - but not quickly enough to prevent them from taking hold. She hisses. She can still feel the heat - it's like the flames got under her skin, trying to burn her from the inside out. It hurts, and it feels like she has to dig it out - but she tries to focus.

"Lachesis...!" Shinobu calls out - and above her, a shadowy woman in a cloak appears, holding a rod to measure thread. She looks upon Chidori. "Swordbreaker!"

The measuring rod shifts, held like a weapon, now - and Lachesis lunges forward toward Chidori. The measuring rod is swung in a sweepign motion meant to disarm - and whether or not a weapon is removed, it's the intent that matters, when it comes to Personas. In its wake, a weakening aura is left behind to reduce Chidori's strength, should she be caught in it.

She looks back toward Jun and Tsubasa.

"...Don't worry about us, alright? Just go." She says. She'll do her best to cover them... but that's not a guarantee it'll be enough. 

AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Swordbreaker on Penguin Witch!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu: Loses 51 HP from Poison!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu's turn has ended.

AS: Block Neutral! Penguin Witch takes 24 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Swordbreaker.
AS: Atk_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

    "We all have our hobbies," Eriko's response to Chidori's acknowledgement of her knowledge, with a more playful smile coming to her lips. The Ogre gives a nod, and gets one in return. "Thank you!" She shakes her head at Shinobu's comment. "It's rather difficult, isn't it?" Mark thanks her, Eriko shoots him another winning smile- despite the flames, she's having fun. She missed this so much... It's almost like high school again! Without the ice and... well, maybe there are zombies here and there are *definitely* demons. Without the CEO bent on becoming god, maybe? Though.... that might not be true either...

    And then a dagger enters Eriko's mind, and she stumbles back as she can feel that searing hot knife in her brain, in her soul. Eriko grabs her head and lets out a pain as she is laid bare to the navigator. Blood leaks from her nose as parts of her are ripped from her mind to inform Chidori of her knowledge. It's agonizing, yet as the blade returns to Medea's hand, and the pain subsides-

    "Oh, absolutely fascinating!" Eriko looks right up at Chidori, and there's something... perhaps deeply concerning in the genuine joy in her smile, and the slight mania in her eyes. "So that's how your power works, is it? I wouldn't call it enjoyable, but it was certainly unique. I do hope you got what you came for with that, Miss." Eriko's smile reveals her teeth, as she raises her sword in a salute, rising back up to her full height. "I won't be giving you a second chance. Nike! Holy Light!"

    She waves her sword forward, as her Persona takes to the sky, lights surrounding it- before it buzzes past Chidori almost faster than can be seen, and the lights trailing it descend toward Chidori, the holy magic moving to bombard the navigator.

    Using a persona in battle, even three years later, it's still such a wonderful rush. "Do be careful!" Eriko calls to Shinobu, Mark and the rest of the room. "It seems our witch can find out what she wants by force." 

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.

    The paperbag turns to look at Chidori, "Hey I don't see you killing any faster than me, Mom!" Sudou shouts back to the Strega girl clad in white and red, turning back to those he has been fighting, "Sorry guys, I have been told that I need to hurry up. Don't worry though, I promise we can play again another day." Sudou raises his sword above his head as if he is about to summon the power of grayskull when someone punches him in the face, and again, and again.

    Stumbling back, Sudou focuses and sees Ulala standing there, " What the hell, just because I am not that into you, you hit me? You have got to learn to manage rejection better!" Rubbing his nose through the paper, stains of blood can be seen bleeding through. " You are mistaken about something, this is not a desire, this is the rules. The rules say that I get a call, I get a name, they die by my hand. One can not break the rules, you wouldn't like that." The last few words to Ulala are cold, ice cold compared to the rest of them. Almost as if it is more of a warning or threat then the playful nature he has been portraying.

    It is at this point that Sudou sees what Eikichi has been doing while he has been blocking Ulala's fist with his face. Seems that the wanna be rocker has a roadie of his own, a big mechanical looking one. "Ooo that thing looks scary, whatcha gonna do, punch me? " The taunt comes moments before Sudou sees the ball of water and he dives out of the way, catching the water in the chest as he gets washed aside up against a wall coughing. Sudou knows that would have been worse if Chidori hadn't been about, he will have to remember to get her some candy later, as kids like candy.

    Standing back up Sudou coughs up a little more water, "Ok look kiddies, Uncle Joker is kinda done. Hate to say it she was right. So everyone of you leave except that damn..." Sudou points his sword at Eikichi only to see the wounds he has given fading away and now Sudou is livid, "You know what, that person had the right idea. " Sudou points at Tsubasa, "Everyone here, save for me, the ax murderer and the real me , are going to burn alive!"

    With a grand gesture Sudou stabs his sword into the ground as fire begins to erupt all around them, centering on Ichika, Ulala, and Eichiki. The fir seems to avoid Jun for some reason. 

AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Holy Light on Penguin Witch! 3 Hits!
AS: Eriko Kirishima's turn has ended.
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Inferno on Eikichi Mishina!
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Inferno on Ichika Kawase!
AS: Block Best! Penguin Witch takes 16 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light.
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Inferno on Ulala Serizawa!
AS: Tatsuya Sudou's turn has ended.
AS: Counter Worst! Eikichi Mishina takes 141 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Inferno.
AS: Haze added!
AS: COUNTER! Tatsuya Sudou takes 6 Fire damage in return for his attack! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Penguin Witch takes 25 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Critical Hit!
AS: Counter Worst! Penguin Witch takes 40 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Eriko Kirishima takes 2 Light damage in return for her attack! Resist!
AS: Block Worst! Ichika Kawase takes 173 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Inferno. Critical Hit!
AS: Haze added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ulala Serizawa takes 135 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Inferno.
AS: Haze added!
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 104 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

Quixote is part of Akari's heart in a way that Reverse Pairika never was. One, awoken by Nyarlathotep, an altered version of a fallen angel; beautiful, but prone to punishing people for social transgressions or stealing them away to another world. The other, Ixquic's - Akari's - own determination to find her own path, one that celebrates her differences.

And as far as Tatsuya knows, she hasn't threatened to blow up even one building yet!

"Sumaru has *everything*," Ixquic informs Ririka. But does Ixquic have a theme song...? "...well, maybe not that." Does she need to get one? Now she's going to be thinking about that all night! Akari draws, and crafts; she can sew, she can sculpt foam, she can use cloth paint and fancy stitching and embossing and carving (mostly foam again). She does *not* do music.

Niko is enjoying herself and... honestly, in some ways Akari is too. It feels good to be a hero, or whatever she is. If it wasn't for the death and explosions and all that she might *really* be enjoying herself, but even as mind-in-the-clouds as Akari can be, it still weighs her down, at least a little bit. She's fighting 'Strega' to stop them from hurting others, after all. She can't forget that.

"That's right! You're a thug," Ixquic repeats. "And that means... we're enemies! Fated enemies, doomed to duel at midnight - " A pause. The Dark Hour makes midnight duels challenging. "Or, um, after midnight...?" She didn't think that part through all the way. "But I'll stop you! Me and Quixote...! This is the power of a magical warrior!"

Her, Quixote, and the others. Tatsuya energizes her in a way that feels faintly foreign, but all Persona battles are new to Ixquic and she can't tell the difference, really. She gives Tatsuya and Umie a little salute with her sword, sweeps it around and into a parry -

Silly Ixquic. You can't parry mental attacks!

Blasted by a riot of colours and sensations, Ixquic stumbles, but this time she manages to not entirely lose her feet. And it gives Ixquic an idea, too; she hasn't practiced much with Quixote, so she's working mostly on instinct, and her instinct shows her something she can do...

She grips her helmet again, and Don Quixote reappears. But this time her sword is shining with a purple light almost the same as Ate's hollow eyes' light, and when she sweeps it it trails a shockwave of impossibly riotous colours, slashing out in a wide wave toward Niko! 

AS: Persona! Akari Hoshi has used the Slash skill Mind Slice on Niko Kirisaki!
AS: Akari Hoshi's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

    Masao's watching closely as Chidori hits the wall from Ogun's tackling, standing firm as she peels herself off of it.
 
     "I don't get what's goin' on with you," he starts in that ever fleeting moment of calm between strikes and summons, "or if you got something going on with that guy," that got axed, "but are you really going to live with yourself if you killed him?"
 
     He has to ask that aloud as much for his own sake because the calm way that Chidori is carrying herself and speaking is unreal and unnerving, and in that - a vulnerability. He can already intuit what that answer is going to be.
 
     The very moment Eriko recoils in pain as something happens by Medea's grace, Masao's in it to win it.
 
     "Elly! Hang on!!" He rushes forward to meet Medea as he seems to willfully try to just deflect the whole of these erupting, sharp glyphs as the image of Eriko's brief agony of something being extracted from her mind (and later curiosity about the experience, in the span of seconds) seems to bleed into the emotion of panic imparted by this metaphorical (and physical) edge.
 
     It's a stark difference between them and their approach to all this, but there's no doubt they're friends, comrades, teammates.
 
     "Ah shit, ah shit, ah shit," the panic magnifies and sets in. The grown-up artist's eyes are wild, unfocused, frightened. The way he hefts that axe is not with the quiet grace of someone just taking a hatchet to the world, but in the moment more like a cornered creature, swinging it wild and clumsily as he overcommits to the swing's momentum in his panic.
 
     He comes very close to accidentally bumping into Shinobu mid-panic, even. 

AS: Weapon! Masao Inaba has used the Slash skill Melee - Axe on Penguin Witch!
AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Witch takes 38 Slash damage from Masao Inaba's Melee - Axe.
AS: Block Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 167 Slash damage from Akari Hoshi's Mind Slice. Critical Hit!
AS: Panic added!
AS: Akari Hoshi gains 1 Limit from Momentum!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Why the hiccup? It'd make sense for Tatsuya to find it odd. The answer would be boring, if it wasn't borne from paranoia... as well as concern.

    Identity can be used as a weapon, and Umie is standing out here without even a cheap party half-mask, or her trusty baseball cap.

    Prophecy, be it the fake words of a lonely child or a temporary boon given from another self from anOther Side, takes to Umie's veins like a duck to water.

    But it somehow doesn't feel as good as what Tatsuya says next.

    Tutor-sensei. _Tutor-sensei_.

    Umie fights to keep herself from smiling like an idiot at the title, as awkward as it might be. "You know, you can call me by my name." She hesitates. Just let it go, Umie. "Umie Akabane, in... case you forgot," she sighs, under her breath. "I get it. Just... don't go and forget it this time, okay?"

    NAME GET. (Certainly a lot easier than getting Akechi's.)

    The metal of Umie's kyoketsu-shoge is a nice conductor, it turns out, to Niko's electric outburst. Umie'd feel sympathetic to the cause of Niko's plight, but that's why you make your own damn jacket, with hidden pockets!!

    That hurt. Now, where was she? Oh right, feeling alive and true to herself, instead of hiding the whole of her from others as a self-defense mechanism.

    Umie's lips curl in a crescent smile. "So we're doing this now, then?" She raises a hand, and snaps her fingers once. "Come, Badb!" From the sea of her soul comes Badb again, the spectral being's capelet spreading outwards like feathers, or, alternately, the spreading fingers of hands. "Let me *heal* you two of your conviction."

    The strengthened scream follows Umie's words in a rain of shivering dark grey feathers.

    She's just an ordinary person. 

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Final Warning on Niko Kirisaki and Jin Shirato!
AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 70 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Final Warning. Resist!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Jin Shirato!
AS: Umie Akabane: Psych removed!
AS: Umie Akabane's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile.
AS: Charm added! Panic removed! Explosion! 50 damage!
AS: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit from Schadenfreude!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    God. Bag man is just... joking about it. That's almost worst than that goth girl being so -- so dispassionate about it all. (And what the hell are those rules...)

    But the Ogre assures Tsubasa she'll handle it, and somehow, Tsubasa believes her. Maybe it's because she already saved them once, in this terrible no good horrible day which is REALLY doing its best to be worse than last night.

    (Not the concert. The concert ruled. Just, you know, what happened after...)

    But whatever the Ogre's doing, it seems to be picking Eikichi up. He insists he's going to drown this freaky guy who doesn't even want to show his face, and... terrified as they are, there's a part of them which finds it easy to believe him. "Kick his ass, Death Boss! If he's fuckin' with you, he's fuckin' with all of us!"

    They really don't know what to think about more monsters being summoned from the aether, but, look, if these monsters want to kill the people trying to kill them instead of clawing their eyes out that'll do, okay?!

    "... you ain't cool either," Tsubasa realises, a touch delayed, as they look at Jun's reactions. "C'mon, Kashihara-kun. We'll... get through it." Their own reassurance sounds pale, even if their layers of artifice stop them from looking pale. "Y--yeah, nurse's office. I-I got it." And they do hurry to the stairwell, to give them a little credit amidst all this horror.

    (Even if Shinobu telling them not to worry about her just makes them worry MORE--!!)

    They have to move to the side to angle themself in a way which will let them get up the stairwell with dead weight in their arms, though, and that means Tsubasa glimpses Sudou pointing at them from the corner of their eyes. Their face -- half-burned, though they're covering it up with so much makeup and fake tan -- turns to him, eyes widening. "N--NO!"

    In that instant, the person Tsubasa is reveals itself -- because they turn their back to Sudou, as his flames pour out, shielding the boy bleeding out from the flames which flood the room with their own body. The worst of the fire doesn't reach them, at least, thanks to their proximity to Jun and the protection of the Ogre and the others -- but enough does pass over their back that the flames catch on their wig, the whole thing lighting up like the cheap facsimile it is.

    "SHIT!" Tsubasa yells, whipping their head violently to the side. Thankfully, because it's not their real hair, it goes flying forward into the stairwell. Unfortunately...

    ... their real hair is kind of a horrorshow. One side is brown, clipped close to their skull. The other side of their head is covered in thick, severe burn scars -- and hair can't grow through scar tissue, so only the barest patches and scraps peek through between the wide swathes of damage. Unlike the part of their face they show, they don't put makeup on their skull, either -- which means those scars are even more prominent, pale blotches in stark contrast to their dark tan.

    They lean on the side of the door, their breath shallow in their chest, and it must be an exercise of sheer will that they haven't dropped the poor boy yet.

    They'll be coherent in a moment.

    Or maybe just dead.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

Ichika heals Eikichi, and both get a nod from the cool and fashionable older lady who certainly isn't an internal disaster. As Eikichi summons his Persona, Ulala's eyes widen, however, and there's a low whistle. "Well, guess you can stay."

Ichika gets a glance, as well, appreciative in her power. "The three of us should be able to send this guy into the ground!"

But Ulala gets cold news. A cold fact. If someone calls the Joker Killer... whoever you call on will die. You cannot break the rules.

The cold news are joined with hot fire, and Ulala is thrown backwards as she attempts to dodge, her dress singed and her screams from the flames stifled only by her will to survive. She's on her knees, before rising again...

Ulala takes a breath, before taking a step backwards, trying to prevent herself from showing the *absolute worry and fear* in her heart, for Eikichi and for anyone else who's been called on, as well as the combatants here. "Then guess we just have to take you out before you can fucking kill someone else!" If Katsuya was here, maybe he could cuff the guy, but alas! They'll just need to knock him out and kidnap him, she guesses.

Flexing her fingers, Ulala calls out. "Callisto!" The Persona reappears in a flash of blue, before kicking straight into the ground, creating a shattering spear of stone that comes up to pierce into Sudou and attempt to stagger him.

For her part, Ulala decides to do something risky. She jostles out of the way of the spear, grabbing some of that latent energy, moving to punch Sudou straight in the face with a fierce hit and then another, the power of Earth enhancing her fists. 

AS: Tandem! Ulala Serizawa has used the Earth skill Chthonic Wrath on Tatsuya Sudou! 3 Hits!
AS: Ulala Serizawa's turn has ended.
AS: Block Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 106 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Final Warning.
AS: Panic added!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Jin doesn't know who she is. "Oh. Well... fine." She doesn't know what to say to that.

It's not like she's about to volunteer her name in the middle of this battle with these... Strega people, whatever that is.

But she frowns in concern as a not-Evoker is called out. "W-wait-- You're using Evokers, too?" Well that doesn't make things less confusing. It's different from the ones the Battle Bride at Sumaru TV had, though...

"A trademark?" Ririka asks, glancing concernedly to Suou. "You mean he does that a lot. That's... okay." Deep breath. Process that later. But she takes in a deep breath as she feels that strange not-quite-right spell settle over her. "Whoa..." she says in a hushed voice. "... and here I was gonna back you up, biker-san." (Look she just got here. She doesn't know anybody else's name besides Ixquic's, because she introduced herself.)

"Hey, you call this playing? You just blew up a guy!" She pauses and clances to Tatsuya. "Sorry. I didn't mean to rub it in." She looks back to Niko. "And I'm pretty sure there are people in there being hurt!"

But Niko is disappointed when Ririka apparently doesn't try. Her eyes are closed as she listens... the sound of a muted electric guitar... but then the sound of a blazing solo that reminds her of--

She opens her eyes, and can't help but smirk a little. "Oh, I'm trying. You're strong against Electric attacks..." She glances to Tatsuya. "And weak to fire." She knows there's at least one Persona here who can do fire attacks.

But if she'd have thought ahead, she might have realized something about what Niko being strong against electric might mean--as a psychokinetic attack comes for her. She grunts and tries to bear it, but she's clutching herself and shaky on her knees after. "U-ugh... dammit..."

It looks like it really affected her.

"Shit..." she mutters. She looks up Ixquic and nods. "We'll talk later. Right now we're klinda busy." She's glad her backup is so eager to fight, at least. Maybe that'll take some of the heat off of her for a moment.

She's got a more traditional form of healing in mind for everyone here. She struggles to stand upright again, raising her Evoker to hear head. There's a brief moment where she closes her eyes as she pulls the trigger. "Amphion, pick up everyone's spirits!"

Amphion surges with new strength, and he begins to play his lyre, the colographic strings of it flickering into life at tthe touch. Healing energies settle over her, Ixquic, Tatsuya, and Umie, to help them weather the battle against the two members of Strega. 

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Mediarama on Ririka Kawase, Akari Hoshi, Tatsuya Suou, and Umie
Akabane!
AS: Ririka Kawase's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

Shinobu will count on her. The Ogre remembers that. Being counted on in a situation like this...

She doesn't speak enough English to understand Eriko's thanks, but she sort of vaguely understands that it's a positive. Tone! It helps.

"FUCK your rules!" the Ogre shouts at Sudou's response to Ulala. She glances at Jun and Tsubasa, but with them trying to get the boy out, she isn't wanting to draw more attention to them than she has to.

nd Eikichi...

"So he doesn't want to drown so easy," Ichika says to Eikichi. "We just need to keep trying!"

She's... about out of juice. THere's not a ton more she can do; she's so tired already from this battle. And yet...

The fire comes, and the Ogre burns. "Aaaah!" she calls in alarm, as it moves straight past her shield to ignite as a column that briefly blocks her from view. The power of her Persona shields her from what would happen to an ordinary person engulfed in such flames--but it hurts. She hits one knee, down on the ground, coughing. "Agh," she starts. she just said she would protect everyone. Is this the limit of her power?

"...NO," the Ogre growls. "I'm NOT DONE YET."

She forces herself up, looks around. "No," she starts as she sees Tsubasa's wig burn, and her eyes sting. That shout--that horror...

"I'm not done! RRRAAAAAAAGH!" the Ogre shouts, and charges, shield forward. She runs up, her horns glinting in the dark--her mask has been replaced by now. "Get out of our school!" she screams as she rolls into a full-body shield bash straight for Sudou's face. 

AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 125 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Mediarama.
AS: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit from Supporter!
AS: Ichika Kawase spends Limit on Psych! 

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

"I don't remember giving birth to you." Chidori replies flatly to Sudou, "I'm sure I'd remember the paper bag."

Is it a joke or isn't it!? It's hard to tell with that tone and the girl's seeming lack of humor. Either way, Sudou's flames flicker as reflections in her eyes, as she watches her protection from him fade.

Chidori does not bother to warn Tsubasa that if they stay, they'll be burned too. It doesn't matter. The way their face is burned - it's like they escaped death once already from the flames.

Perhaps this is just their time. Why not? It's as good as any other.

Lachesis suddenly falls upon Medea and it's rod is swung, as Medea rises to parry with the dagger in a clash. Except... Medea's dagger subtly shows cracks afterwards from that exchange. The weakening power having infected the Persona.

Whereas Eriko indicates that the experience was fascinating - the joy in her eyes on her face, Chidori doesn't understand it. She has never smiled that way, she can't understand how people do.

And Holy Light falls upon her, as Medea weaves suddenly to stand in front of Chidori, the first two flashes of holy light borne steadily, before Medea suddenly flicks the dagger forward, and like a mirror, an echo of that light strikes back.

Just as Medea shatters. Perhaps Eriko was correct? That she wouldn't be getting a second chance.

Mark surges forward, in a panic - as if to capitalize on the opportunity, to prevent a second chance. Teammates indeed. And Chidori suddenly sweeps to the side, Mark's axe blade grazing across her own - sparking in the strobing light of the room as she stumbles away.

And in that moment Ririka on the outside will feel a moment where she can pinpoint the resonance of what's going on inside... it's - in front of them, no wait it's below-!

Before she stands in the middle of it again, with the Evoker to her head, her body moving strangely as she stands up straight, and pulls the trigger.

"Medea."

-And Ririka's senses are instantly dashed away again.

The ram-headed figure appears again, it's dagger still cracked by Shinobu's assault, but present.

This time when the dagger plunges down, a purplish pentagram forms, and Eriko can feel it, the rising energy... as Chidori pulled her weaknesses straight out of her brain. The pentagram rises, and tries to snuff out her life in an instant, like it is touching the fabric of life itself.

"Tell me if this feels just as fascinating."

And Shinobu feels something intrude inside of her head. Like there's something just - strange about her perception. As suddenly there are two Chidori's standing in the room.

The real one, and blink - and so too is Eriko.

Blink again, and the affect fades - but it's back.

And then Medea in the strobing light of the room, brings a dagger up to one of it's wrists. The flames rising higher to consume the point of entry, like it's cauterizing the blood instantly.

And each of them feel a shattering sensation around them, as enchantments begin to disperse beneath a feat not unlike Witchcraft that Eriko will recognize.

The resonance of these supernatural feats dim further, until it all - fades... to nothing, and they can't feel each other, they can't feel their Personas. They know they're there, but it's a strange emptiness that takes them.

AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 125 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Mediarama.
AS: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit from Supporter!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 125 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Mediarama.
AS: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit from Supporter!
AS: Take! Tatsuya Suou takes 125 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Mediarama.
AS: Penguin Witch spends Limit on Exploit! Penguin Witch can use another Weak skill this round!

AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Dark skill Mamudo on Masao Inaba, Eriko Kirishima, and Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: You still have 2 regular actions and 1 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Dark skill Witchcraft on Eriko Kirishima, Shinobu Shimizu, and Masao Inaba!
AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 1 bonus Weak actions!
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Almighty skill Still Life on Eriko Kirishima, Shinobu Shimizu, and Masao Inaba!
AS: You still have 1 regular actions and 0 bonus Weak actions!
AS: #93: Player not found, or player not in room.
AS: Persona! Penguin Witch has used the Recovery skill Crimson Hue on Penguin Witch and Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: Penguin Witch regains 20 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Penguin Witch's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Penguin Witch takes 0 Recovery healing from Penguin Witch's Crimson Hue.
AS: Vigor added!

<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

Eikichi growls as his water attack seems to do little to the bag headed man. "So you're the Joker, eh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the shit I've seen over the past few months. You gotta tell me who called or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?"

 He tries to sound tough but it is clear that the Death Boss is starting to slip. His bravery is starting to crumble from the back and forth between being hurt and healed.

 Rhadamanthus doesn't react to Sudou's scolding. How could it? It's a machine manifestation of Eikichi's psyche. The Person revs it's engines as it continues to wait for Eikichi to act.

 The ground explodes with fiery fury. Eikichi doesn't miss a beat, sending a punch toward a firey chunk to counter Sudou. He winces as the flames engulf him. "You getting on my nerves, Baghead!"

 The Death Boss grins at Tsubasa's words, cracking his knuckles as he forces himself to keep standing. "You're right. I'm not gonna let this punk win. Lets go!"

 He sees Ogre charge and decides to do the same, pulling back his fist as he aims right for the smile on the bag. "GRIT YOUR TEETH!" He screams as he throws the fist wild toward it's target. 

AS: Weapon! Ichika Kawase has used the Strike skill Shield Bash on Tatsuya Sudou!
AS: Ichika Kawase: Psych removed!
AS: Ichika Kawase's turn has ended.
AS: Weapon! Eikichi Mishina has used the Strike skill School of Hard Knocks on Tatsuya Sudou! 2 Hits!
AS: Eikichi Mishina's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 116 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Mamudo. Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Eriko Kirishima takes 93 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Witchcraft. Weak!
AS: Eriko Kirishima is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Take! Eriko Kirishima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Witch's Still Life.
AS: Spd_Dn added!
AS: Eriko Kirishima is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 102 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Mamudo. Weak!
AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 70 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Witchcraft. Weak!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Witch's Still Life.
AS: Atk_Dn added!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Masao Inaba spends Limit on Brace! 
AS: Block Worst! Masao Inaba takes 49 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Mamudo.
AS: Block Worst! Masao Inaba takes 49 Dark damage from Penguin Witch's Witchcraft. Critical Hit!
AS: Def_Up removed!
AS: Take! Masao Inaba takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Witch's Still Life.
AS: Atk_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.

    Shit. This guy really was trouble. The spells his Persona was casting was grades higher than what Jin anticipated. But maybe he should have expected it. Takaya didn't give most people a second thought unless there was really something special about him.

    And Jin -- as much as he hated to admit it -- could really tell there was something special about Tatsuya.

    He didn't like it, either.

    He especially didn't like it when his partner brandished a knife at her own head, either. He stares at her, knowingly leaving himself utterly open to attack but unable to stop himself from reacting.

    "'Wrong pocket'?" he repeats finally, as if not hearing correctly. "Did Metronome's persona fry your brain or somethin'?"

    No, Niko's brain was probably fried long before now.

    There's no time to linger on that for long. The battle's back on before Jin can direct his attention fully to his opponents.

    He takes one attack from Tutor-sensei, then a second one. Something's off about that second attack. He feels disoriented. Something's wrong and he doesn't know what. He's completely off-balance.

    "No one in there's getting hurt that doesn't already have it comin'." Maybe Jin was a bit liberal with his idea of who 'had it coming', but he wasn't about to tell them that. "Truth is... if you leave now, you won't have it comin', either."

    But while they're still here, they remain among the ranks of people who do have it coming. Jin spins around again, pulls the trigger on his evoker and summons Moros once more.

    "Persona!" 

AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Wind skill Magarula on Tatsuya Suou and Umie Akabane!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Jin Shirato takes 60 damage!
AS: Block Best! Tatsuya Suou takes 82 Wind damage from Jin Shirato's Magarula.
AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 161 Wind damage from Jin Shirato's Magarula. Critical Hit!

AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Slash skill Cleave on Tatsuya Suou!
AS: Jin Shirato: Charm removed!
AS: Jin Shirato's turn has ended.
Jin Shirato (jin) pages Penguin Witch and Niko Kirisaki: will do on jin's next turn

AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Suou takes 60 Slash damage from Jin Shirato's Cleave.
Jin Shirato (jin) pages Penguin Witch and Niko Kirisaki: unless niko wants to powerpose jin doing it at the end of her
turn?

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Ririka lets out a sigh of relief as Amphion's healing magic settles over her. "Whew." She feels a bit better now... but she's still got her headphones on, she's still listening to the wider world around her, using Amphion's help to try and filter out the excess.

For her, when she processes her Resonance, she perceives it as sound. Yumi's resoance, meant to confuse and disorient, sounded like some kind of static or distorted noise. Chisato's feels like everything is muted. She can feel the baseline thrumb of something present, but it's impossible to locate anything with specificity.

And then, suddenly--it all blossoms out in full. She sucks in a sharp breath and pushes her senses out. Demons, students, there's chaos--she puts a hand on the cup of her headphones.

There. Persona users. That must be where the battle is. She tries to reach out, to send a brief message, "I see you. We're trying to reach you--"

But then everything goes mute. She can't sense anything, but she knows where they are now.

Her eyes open. "They're in the basement," she says firmly. "We have to get to them." 

AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 46 Earth damage from Ulala Serizawa's Chthonic Wrath. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 32 Earth damage from Ulala Serizawa's Chthonic Wrath.
AS: Block Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 32 Earth damage from Ulala Serizawa's Chthonic Wrath.

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    No, Jun's definitely not okay. But if he focuses on what needs to be done and then doing it, he can be okay. He needs to be okay for Tsubasa and the boy's sakes. If he falls apart, so will Tsubasa, and the boy will die. He does give his classmate a more sincere smile, though, when they say it aloud. Having someone recognize it makes him feel--less overwhelmed, somehow. The beauty of being seen.
    
    "Yeah," he agrees, steadier this time.
    
    They're almost to the stairwell when it happens: Sudou points at them, and unleashes a truly unholy sea of flame. Jun hears what he says and, like many other things happening right now, will have to process it later, but right now he sees Tsubasa turn their own body on the fire and partially catch on flame themself. That burning wig whips away, thankfully--but their reason for wearing it becomes horrifyingly apparent.
    
    Jun's never pried into the pasts of his classmates; they're nearly all troubled, and so while he'll listen if they want to talk, he makes a point not to ask first. Whatever happened to Tsubasa--it makes it very clear why all this fire has been terrorizing them up until now.
    
    But he notices something else too: none of that flame is touching him. In fact, Tsubasa only got a bit caught because they're next to him. Of course not; after all, didn't the "Joker" say he wouldn't burn?
    
    So he quickly wraps an arm around their shoulders, holding them as he does his level best to keep applying pressure to the wound. It's the best he can do to protect them both. He's not the one who needs to worry about getting burned, apparently. So he won't concern himself right now about Tsubasa's face or hair.
    
    "Come on. We're going to get through this, Seki-kun, remember? All three of us, together," he whispers to them, hoping that holding them like this won't also freak them out. "The Death Boss and everyone are protecting us; we've got to make the most of their efforts. I've got you. I won't let him burn you. We'll save this boy. To the nurse's office. It's just a little farther. Let's go."
    
    He'll repeat similar reassurances as many times as he needs to until Tsubasa can pull themself together and they can continue moving on--
    
    --unless, of course, something else happens. 

AS: Avoid Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 69 Strike damage from Ichika Kawase's Shield Bash.
AS: Avoid Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 69 Strike damage from Eikichi Mishina's School of Hard Knocks.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 58 Strike damage from Eikichi Mishina's School of Hard Knocks.
AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Recovery healing from Penguin Witch's Crimson Hue.
AS: Vigor added!

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    Tatsuya's experienced enough at combat to keep tabs on multiple combatants -- Napoleon's holy lance robot army, the Order of the Reunion, definitely got him *used* to that if he hadn't before. And what Niko's doing is-- that's a psychokinetic attack! He braces himself a bit more mentally, perhaps silently thankful of the resistance Apollo has against damages to the nerve and mind, even if the sheer impact still washes over him and sends him down to one knee momentarily.

    "Tsk..." Tatsuya's head swims for a moment. The explosion from that landmine did a number on him. Is he losing blood? He can't tell with the red motorcycle leathers.

    Really? You're going to falter now? You've been through so much worse, Tacchan. Do I need to hit you with a big pile o' daddies again to wake you out of this stupor?

    ... it's insulting, but remembering the powerful blows of Great Father does remind him -- he's been through worse. Suck it up and stand! That's what a Man's Man would do!

    But 'Tutor-sensei' finally tips things over and... Tatsuya finally obtains Umie's name. Umie Akabane. Umie Akabane... 'this time'? No, he's looking too hard into things. "... all right, Akabane-san." Isn't it nice when he's cooperative like this, instead of just crawling into the nearest manhole to go cowabunga on someone? But Badb... Badb's rain of feathers is awe-inspiring to watch, but-- as Tatsuya has quickly learnt last time -- a 'dark' Persona doesn't suggest anything about a person's allegiances.

    Biker-san? Well, that's just fair game, after he hit Umie with Tutor-sensei. Ririka apologises, and he does, to his credit, try to look unaffected by it, but...

    Damnit! That was his favourite bike! It didn't explode on the Other Side! It's not like he can just go home and beg dad or Katsuya for another bike! He doesn't have the money to buy another! Okay, thinking about that does piss Tatsuya off further. But Ririka reveals her Navigator powers a moment later, and points out that Niko is weak to Fire, while providing vital healing.

    "Got it."

    This proves to be a costly distraction, since Jin's capitalised on the fact that his mind's split multiple ways -- even in the fraction of a second -- to have Moros bearing down on him with malevolent winds, which easily knocks him off his feet and has him slamming against a nearby parked car, and it's only his experience that has him raising his katana in time to parry the follow-up cleaving blow.

    Youth and Persona both struggle in weaponlock against each other, and when Tatsuya pushes Moros aside, the might of his slash continues to just SLASH that car clean in half.

    But Ririka points out something crucial -- they're in the basement?!

    "The Air Raid Shelter," Tatsuya has instant recognition. "Thank you. I have to get to him!"

    Tatsuya looks to Jin for a moment and narrows his eyes. "If you're involved with the Joker Killings, Shirato... I'm going to uproot your operation."

    He's got to finish this now -- Jin isn't messing around either, and if he continues to let himself get into a dragged out fight here, he'll definitely be too late. He might already be too late. He can't be too late. He has to believe that he isn't too late.

    "Apollo, with me," Tatsuya calmly states, that cold fury sinking in once more as he starts towards the stairs, and in a tandem attack with Apollo disappearing and reappearing on the other side--

    "You can take my message back to Sakaki!"

    --he bursts into a flurry of slashes, wielding grace and expertise that no high school student from Sevens really ought to, while from the other side, Apollo explodes into a similar flurry of flame-enhanced punches. 

AS: Tandem! Tatsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Blazing Wrath on Jin Shirato! 3 Hits!
AS: Tatsuya Suou: Eclipse removed!
AS: Tatsuya Suou regains 40 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Tatsuya Suou's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 122 Fire damage from Tatsuya Suou's Blazing Wrath. Critical Hit!
AS: Tatsuya Suou gains 1 Limit from Momentum!
AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 70 Fire damage from Tatsuya Suou's Blazing Wrath.
AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 70 Fire damage from Tatsuya Suou's Blazing Wrath.
AS: Jin Shirato is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Having been too distracted to respond at the time, Shinobu finally finds a moment to look toward Eriko at her warning.

"That so...? Great. As if this couldn't get any worse." Shinobu mutters. Still, it's a good warning - she'll have to be careful. She glances toward the side. Mark starts to swing his axe wildly. Is he... panicked? He nearly bumps into her. She moves away, to try and avoid getting caught by his axe.

"Hey! Hey, Inaba, c'mon - focus!" She calls out. ...She'll have to worry about herself now, though. Medea appears once more - and Shinobu can feel something inside her head. She recalls Eriko's warning. She tries to focus - but suddenly, her opponent has multiplied? Where Eriko was, Chidori is, too...

No, what is she seeing? This - this isn't -

Shinobu takes her staff up in both hands and swings around herself at both of them - more to clear space and give her room to think than to actually attack. She shuts her eyes and tries to focus, but it's difficult.

And then - danger. A shattering sensation - and Shinobu is laid low from its power. Lachesis shatters, too, as Shinobu's staff clatters to the ground.

She lays there for a moment - but she hears Tsubasa shouting from the stairwell. Right... There was... something she was doing.

With a grunt she grabs her staff, forcing herself to one knee. She can't feel the spells flying around her anymore. She can't feel Lachesis - and she doesn't have the strength to call her back out to confirm it.

She doesn't have the strength to fight back - all she can do now is use her staff to support her, hands shaky and weak, and glare defiantly back at Chidori.

...Is she going to die here? ...Possibly. As long as those kids get out of here, she can be fine with that...

...She doesn't want to think about how her sisters will react when they find out, though. Right now... she can only count on the others to keep fighting, to ensure that doesn't happen. 

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

    Everything's kind of a mental blur where the panic has taken hold. His axe swing doesn't find purchase with Chisato's decisive movement, and there is another passing moment where object permanance feels sorta wobbly as a concept when the colors of white and bloody crimson aren't in view. Someone calls 'Inaba' (that's not Elly's voice, that's the other one), but that flicker of reason doesn't last too long.
 
     'Medea,' and the sound of a psyche being jolted somehow cuts above the noise of light, sound, and searing heat before it all just... shatters, to pieces, to some numbing emptiness.
 
     "Agh," Masao falls to a kneel, breath labored. "Damn... here, after all this," he coughs as that emptiness overtakes. The panic doesn't subside, so much that now he has a dulled view of the world around him - and those who are hurt and sprawled out. Those who are struggling to get away.
 
     The kid that just got axed. The other soft-spoken one trying to do his best. The one with all the orange that... did they ever get to make something of their own? Yeah, that's them, isn't it, even with the-- never mind that for now.
 
     "Elly, hey..." He murmurs, trying to get her attention. "Shimizu?" Whatever just happened between all of them, those two got it way worse off than he did. Some of the aggression's just... too dull.
 
     He shakes his head. "I dunno what you're tryin' to achieve with this, but... I got a promise to keep." After all, a certain classmate wanted every one of them to become 'great' in their own ways.
 
     Adrenaline, muted as it is at the brink, through a man that seemed to generally fall a bit behind his teammates back in those... adventurous days, feels that gnawing in the back of his head.
 5r "So... I'm goin' through," he says, staggering up as he holds up a hand to the flickering blue light that surrounds him. "Hey, Ogun..."
 
     He holds up his own axe hand, and Ogun holds up their spear in turn, as both move to descend in one unified swing, stymied but not stopped, trying to swing down in unison to dissuade the bloodstained Chidori from aggressing again.
 
     It's desperate, at best, but he's not going to let down Elly or the rest for a lack of trying, as the force of the swing parts some of the ambient flames in its wake. 

AS: Tandem! Masao Inaba has used the Slash skill Flurry Stab on Penguin Witch!
AS: Masao Inaba takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Masao Inaba's turn has ended.
AS: Block Best! Penguin Witch takes 81 Slash damage from Masao Inaba's Flurry Stab.

<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.

"It was an honest mistake!" Niko whines at Jin in protest, as if messing up the knife and gun pockets is something that could happen to anybody.

Ririka proceeds to clarify what it is she just did, and Niko blinks blankly in response. "What's with the smugness? You think you're smart for figuring that out? Everyone's weak to fire, doofus. Who doesn't get hurt when they're set on fire?" She may have skipped the tutorial on Persona weaknesses and resistances being a thing.

The healing that follows, though, that makes her frown. They don't have Chidori with them here... if they have a healer, that's not good for their odds of staying standing longer than their opponents. One might not think Niko to be the kind who thinks about such things, but surprisingly yes, sensible thought does happen in that muddled brain of hers.

She's distracted from that immediately by Ixquic - hearing the insistence of what a villain she is and what that means for them makes her mood turn a 180, and she smiles widely, meeting those words with even more enthusiasm than last time.

"Yeah! Yeah yeah! Tell it, li'l sis! You get it, that's what I am, right? You'd have to be blind not to see it, right?!" ...She's getting strangely manic about this. Is this... working to encourage her, somehow?

She certainly seems happy to see Quixote coming in for another go. Less so when the sword slash comes earlier than she expected, and blasts her full on. She stumbles, and brings her hands to her temples. "Uwa... m-my head..." Umie takes maximum advantage by piling on the mental assault further. Niko swipes at imaginary shadows of birds that only she can see. "G-go away! Stop it! Jiiiin, make them stop!"

Jin, however, is a little busy, getting the stuffing beaten out of him by Tatsuya and his Persona's team attack. Eyes widening, she seems instantly sobered up by that sight, and breaks into a run. For a moment, it may look like she's about to intercept Tatsuya--

But instead, she prioritizes Jin, reaching him just in time to keep him standing, following that assault. The mirth is gone from her eyes, as she speaks but a single word.

"Ate."

It's like a flashbang goes off in the heads of those present, blinding the brain rather than the eyes. But if they thought their eyes were safe, think again, because Niko has also pickpocketed an actual flash grenade out of Jin's pocket.

"Getcha next time~" she sing-songs, already back to former self as she chucks the grenade, turning at the same time... cradling an undoubtedly unwilling Jin in her arms. He's going to hate this... but, he's hurt, and they gotta bail. She can run fast enough while carrying him. It's fine, between the fight and the double blindness they probably stalled for enough time, that guy Mishima's gotta be dead by now. 

AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Broad! 
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Soul Break on Akari Hoshi, Ririka Kawase, Tatsuya Suou, and Umie
Akabane!
AS: Niko Kirisaki takes 60 damage from Panic!
AS: Niko Kirisaki: Broad removed!
AS: Niko Kirisaki's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added!
AS: Take! Akari Hoshi takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added!

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

    "I'll be fine, Mark!" Eriko calls out, to try and reassure her friend. "We've beaten worse odds!"

    And, technically, they have. But there were more of them back then- and they nearly died a whole bunch of times.

    "Well, we don't know that it can't." Eriko sounds a touch more serious now, a touch more concerned- but even then, she is not prepared for the onslaught of darkness that comes for her, as Nike's defenses break. Mamudo is not an unfamiliar spell, she has been on the receiving end more than once- and it still hurts every time as the pentagram consumes her, followed by the witchcraft. The Goddess of Victory fails, and Eriko lets out a shriek as she hits the ground, her epee clattering to her side. Damnit... She tries to push herself back up to her knees, but she can't even manage that. She hadn't expected that.

    "I'm sorry..." Eriko's voice is weak, barely above a whisper. "It's my fault... I underestimated her..." She had gotten overconfident so quickly, she had really expected that just having a friend with her again, they'd be as strong as they used to be.

    Or maybe she was just riding the high of being involved in the supernatural world again.

    ...There's so many people she still wanted to see again...

    Mark keeps fighting though, and Eriko can see that much. A promise to keep...

    They all made that promise, didn't they? And a chill reaches her heart at the thought of not fulfilling it. "...We need to retreat." She mumbles, because her legs won't let her stand up. 

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    As Tatsuya says her name, Umie laughs, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Though I wouldn't say no a good 'tutor-sensei' every once in a while."

    The battle continues, and Ririka makes a breakthrough. Aha. Thanks to her 'experiment' weeks ago, Umie knows *exactly* where that is. "Tatsuya, you know where that is, right?" Tatsuya confirms, and Umie nods, raising a finger. "<Correct.>" (Someone has to take over for Eriko in the gratuitous English department, though Umie's is meager and heavily accented.)

    Umie's movements have been nimble throughout the battle; Badb's defense comes from maneuvering out of harm's way, as agile as a creature of flight in air.

    However, all birds must eventually land, as Umie does-- right into another car next to Tatsuya. It takes her longer to get up, but get up she does, summoned by Jin's words.

    'No one in there's getting hurt that doesn't already have it comin'.'

    So this is how Strega works? Strega, the Joker Killer... they're dark versions of the Phantom Thieves, in a sense. One side offers a 'solution' through bloodshed, another side through... something.

    'It's more fun to dance on a person's grave than to listen to them sob their guilt.'
    
    Something in Niko's attack pulls the energy out of her step; Umie looks to Tatsuya for a source of fire, and feels determined to return. "Go go go!"

    Badb's at the back of Apollo, sounding a joyous, metalic call.

The two of them fall. Chidori feels nothing. She was smiling, now she isn't. One of them said they weren't dying today, now perhaps they are.

Chidori looks upon Masao as she walks up to him, the axe in hand. And he has a promise to keep, Ogun comes at her, and so too does he. Medea flies up, clashing with Ogun, while she quickly swings her chain up to catch his axe blade, keeping the cut against her dress shallow.

It bleeds red, but - eerily, as Masao watches her, the crimson stain only spreads so far, and no more, like the bleeding stopped.

"Are you prepared?" She asks him, face-dress-axe splattered in blood, as the two remain locked in this moment, face to face. The strong veteran, and the unusual teenager with an eerie expression, "Not to keep your promise? It only means you won't open your eyes again tomorrow."

However she hears a sound in the distance - and looks away, with his axe still partially dug in, "That's his flashbang. ... We're out of time." And Chidori suddenly twists, pulling his axe away, as she moves past him quickly towards Sudou.

Drip... drip... ...drip...

Perhaps she could take this fight further, but Takaya and Jin told her she wasn't to face that one they were warned about. And however she feels about this, her abilities are too necessary to their operations in their eyes. Without her, they can't have the freedom they desire.

And no matter how apathetic she is about the concept of dying - she feels she owes them that much.

"We have to go. We'll come back and kill him later."

As Tatsuya Suou runs to the basement, he hears a voice - like it's up against his ear, close enough that he could feel the tiny hairs of it being brushed by the sound, it weaves in and out of him brain cells - words for him alone.

Do you remember Ta-chan? A face as beautiful as any woman's behind the mask.

What'll happen when he sees? Do you think he'll remember?

And as Jun Kashihara beholds the Joker Persona come out of Sudou one last time, it's form becomes a startling 'Deja Vu' to him. A hand moves up to the mask just as everyone running inside enters the room...

... and pulls it off, casting it aside - as it dissolves into a sickening swarm of black butterflies. The Navigators feel a pervasive wrongness in the room, like a tentacle just brushed against their brains.

Nyarly WVOOP Sound Effect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RARotEaobh0

Beneath, a grinning visage, a smile far too wide. But it's not Jun Kashihara's face - or even Jun Kurosu's face. No, it's not so pert, or pretty.

Instead it's more masculine, the coal dark face and the burning eyes. The handsome male features, the way the crimson hair is parted.

It is Tatsuya Suou's photo-negative. And it's grinning right at Jun, the world becoming a flashing of chaotic color and sounds.

 remember
remember remember
 remember
rememberrememberremember

The sheer wrongness the contradiction. The impression it's supposed to just be different... a different mirror image entirely.

It draws Eikichi in too before long.

why is it the wrong face
 why would you even think it's the wrong face
rememberrememberremember

And even more besides... perhaps Akari is subject to that sickening crawling sensation over her senses, that weird Deja Vu a feeling of deference to them...

Perhaps more than that, perhaps even reverence.

The Persona gets closer, and closer to Jun Kashihara - looming, as if he might get drawn in, grinning like a Cheshire cat, and raising a hand as if to beckon him to him - possessively.

Like he's meant to be his. Like he was always meant to be his. His hand is already so close to his face, like he's going to caress it, like a lover might.

Maybe this time around he'll call me Ta-chan rather 

AS: Take! Tatsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added!
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Jin Shirato! 3 Hits!
AS: Umie Akabane: Psych removed!
AS: Umie Akabane's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

The two of them fall. Chidori feels nothing. She was smiling, now she isn't. One of them said they weren't dying today, now perhaps they are.

Chidori looks upon Masao as she walks up to him, the axe in hand. And he has a promise to keep, Ogun comes at her, and so too does he. Medea flies up, clashing with Ogun, while she quickly swings her chain up to catch his axe blade, keeping the cut against her dress shallow.

It bleeds red, but - eerily, as Masao watches her, the crimson stain only spreads so far, and no more, like the bleeding stopped.

"Are you prepared?" She asks him, face-dress-axe splattered in blood, as the two remain locked in this moment, face to face. The strong veteran, and the unusual teenager with an eerie expression, "Not to keep your promise? It only means you won't open your eyes again tomorrow."

However she hears a sound in the distance - and looks away, with his axe still partially dug in, "That's his flashbang. ... We're out of time." And Chidori suddenly twists, pulling his axe away, as she moves past him quickly towards Sudou.

Drip... drip... ...drip...

Perhaps she could take this fight further, but Takaya and Jin told her she wasn't to face that one they were warned about. And however she feels about this, her abilities are too necessary to their operations in their eyes. Without her, they can't have the freedom they desire.

And no matter how apathetic she is about the concept of dying - she feels she owes them that much.

"We have to go. We'll come back and kill him later."

As Tatsuya Suou runs to the basement everyone's vision clearing, ears still ringing, he hears a voice - like it's up against his ear, close enough that he could feel the tiny hairs of it being brushed by the sound, it weaves in and out of him brain cells - words for him alone.

Do you remember Ta-chan? A face as beautiful as any woman's behind the mask.

What'll happen when he sees? Do you think he'll remember?

And as Jun Kashihara beholds the Joker Persona come out of Sudou one last time, it's form becomes a startling 'Deja Vu' to him. A hand moves up to the mask just as everyone running inside enters the room...

... and pulls it off, casting it aside - as it dissolves into a sickening swarm of black butterflies. The Navigators feel a pervasive wrongness in the room, like a tentacle just brushed against their brains.

Nyarly WVOOP Sound Effect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RARotEaobh0

Beneath, a grinning visage, a smile far too wide. But it's not Jun Kashihara's face - or even Jun Kurosu's face. No, it's not so pert, or pretty.

Instead it's more masculine, the coal dark face and the burning eyes. The handsome male features, the way the crimson hair is parted.

It is Tatsuya Suou's photo-negative. And it's grinning right at Jun, the world becoming a flashing of chaotic color and sounds.

 remember
remember remember
 remember
rememberrememberremember

The sheer wrongness the contradiction. The impression it's supposed to just be different... a different mirror image entirely.

It draws Eikichi in too before long.

why is it the wrong face
 why would you even think it's the wrong face
rememberrememberremember

And even more besides... perhaps Akari is subject to that sickening crawling sensation over her senses, that weird Deja Vu a feeling of deference to them...

Perhaps more than that, perhaps even reverence.

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

The Persona gets closer, and closer to Jun Kashihara - looming, as if he might get drawn in, grinning like a Cheshire cat, and raising a hand as if to beckon him to him - possessively.

Like he's meant to be his. Like he was always meant to be his. His hand is already so close to his face, like he's going to caress it, like a lover might.

Maybe this time around he'll call me Ta-chan rather than 'Otousan.'

OOC Note: If there's even a chance that your character knew Jun Kurosu was the Joker in IS, you can have a weird Deja Vu moment! Don't worry if you decide otherwise later.

AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Soul Break.
AS: Exhaust added!

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.

    Sudou begins to laugh as he watches his fire burn it all, before he focuses on Tsubasa, "Oh looks to me like you have already been blessed by fire before. Maybe you took Ma-ya's place? Maybe it is just fate that you burn..." Jun get's closer to Tsubasa and instinctively The Old Maid decreases the fire to nothing around them, can't let Jun get hurt after all.

    The focus on removing the fire from Jun causes him to be unable to do anything but raise his sword in an attempt to block the stone spear. Followed by raising his arm to block Ulala's direct attack but stumbles away right into Ichika's and Eikichi's path. The Old Maid does his best to dance out of the way of the attacks but has never been a dancer, in either timeline. One blow after another as The Old Maid bounces around like a pinball between the two before stumbling back.

    Laughing a little as blood dribbles out of the bottom of the bag he looks at Ichika, "I like you, I like the idea of how to treat the rules. The rules are chains that bind and restrain you. Throw them off. I would if I could, I have begged them so many times." Stumbling as he steps forward, Eikichi's punch has unknowingly connected with Sudou's chin, and Sudou has to keep talking while he stops his legs from turning into jelly. " Heheheh, you know Eikichi, maybe I should let you live for now. Let you remember today when you know that in the end you would have died. Let you know I am still out there and still have you on my list to delete from this fake timeline." Sudou chuckles, " Delete the you that isn't even the real you!"

    Then he feels his legs regain a little strength as he steps forward with more confidence, "Hmm maybe not, maybe today is the day for all of you fakes to die. " Raising his sword the flames on the sword turning purple as magic begins to activate around The Old Maid...

    Chidori pulls the plug and the magic wilts, as Sudou lowers the sword, "Well can't be helped. Boss man should have come himself to make sure we had plenty of play time."

Then as Tatsuya appears and Sudou locks eyes with him his Persona comes forth.

    By the time anyone can react to the spectacle of what just occurred between Joker and Jun, Sudou and Chidori are already gone as if the darkness itself swallowed them. 

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    Jun is still trying to whisper confidence to Tsubasa when the flashbang sounds--still trying to move them on when Chidori falls back to Sudou.
    
    When that terrible Persona of his takes off its mask and reveals the wrong face.
    
    It feels like his brain is being violated by tentacles. Like a distorted shimmer of a sound is rising and falling in his soul. Like bile is rising not just in his throat but his entire being.
    
    That thing--doesn't have his face. It has a face he should know, but doesn't. Even so, deep down, it feels like it should. Jun's expression is horrified and stricken as he flinches away from Tsubasa and staggers back, away from the thing drawing closer, yet closer to him. As the Joker Persona approaches, beckoning with its wide, wide grin and outstretched hand, for an instant, Jun's vision blurs and overwrites that face, of which he has only caught a glimpse of as of last night, with his own.
    
    It is the thing of his nightmares. He has never remembered their details, but he knows it like he knows his own
    
            don't remember
    
    Jun clutches his head with both hands, brown eyes wide and wild. It almost looks like he's a child trying to hide himself from the boogieman in his own arms--save, of course, for the blood still soaked onto his hands from trying so desperately to staunch the first-year's bleeding. That blood smears over his hair and skin now, a grotesque parody of childhood fear.
    
            don't remember
    
    It's a look Tatsuya would know well. Jun always looked like that when reality collided with his manipulated memories. "No," he moans, continuing to stagger away from that hideous creature, eyes like the pinpricks that stars make in the empty horror of space. "No, no, stay away! Don't come any closer! Don't--"
    
            Don't Remember
    
    His "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" back "STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" hits "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT" the "STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP--" wall.
    
            DON'T REMEMBER
    
    Jun screams.
    
    But it's not just any scream. It's a deep, primal scream. It is the scream of a wild animal seizing all the air it can just before jaws rip out its throat. It is the scream of a doomed woman, cornered and trapped, by the slasher raising his machete again and again. It is the scream...
    
    It is the scream of a man actively in the process of being driven insane.
    
            DOn'T rEmeMBeR
    
    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" 

<Pose Tracker> Eikichi Mishina has posed.

Then the world goes weird and Eikichi is caught up in the weirdness. He witnesses the grinning face and grabs his head, feeling his knees just about buckle. Remember? Why did it feel like he forgot something? Why? Who is this Jun? Why does it feel like he forgot something?

 Eikichi grabs his head and sinks to the floor, coughing from all the trauama of today. The pain surges through him again and again. Everything was suddenly harder.

 He looks up as Sudou addresses him, wanting to spit back another come back. But it just feels so hard right now.

As if all the energy from this weirdness startled Eikichi into complacency.

"I...What the hell is going on?!" Eikichi screams as he tries to get back to his feet but the word keeps coming back up.

 Remember. Remember.

 There is something sinister there in that word.

 Eikichi coughs and almost faints, catching himself on the floor as he falls forward.

The Death Boss has never looked this bad before. 

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Distantly, Tsubasa hears that the Ogre isn't done yet. Unlike them, she really can fight... and she's not giving up so easily. The Death Boss is yelling at someone to grit their teeth. Tsubasa's are, too. They can hear that horrible man telling someone they've been blessed by fire, and a moment later, they realise, with an acidic taste in their throat, that he's talking to them. "Nnnnnnn," they hum, head jerking from side to side in something too laboured to truly be a shake of the head.

    Jun can feel them stiffen -- flinch -- when he puts an arm around them, head snapping to face him with wide and wild eyes. It takes them a moment longer to actually focus on him, and when they come into themself enough to register him, tears well in their eyes.

    They shift, against the doorframe, leaning their weight on Jun instead. "Mm," they hum, trying to figure out how to talk instead of scream. He's got them. He's got them, and that man won't burn him. "O-okay..."

    The truth is, Chidori, that Tsubasa didn't escape the flames last time. Under their own power, they would have burned to death... if the political assistant they'd told about their worries hadn't shown up to pull them out of the burning office. Back then, it was Kurou Nagasawa who saved them from the pyre. Now...

    They look over their shoulder, only to see Shinobu struggling to stand, anchored only by her staff -- and not just her, either, that woman from TV is doing just as poorly. Mark manages to stand, somehow here fighting even though he's an artist, but it's clearly an effort. Horror stabs in their gut, a horror only underlined by their fear that maybe Eikichi's water can't smother these flames. "Hey... Ogre lady... I'm countin' on ya," they call out, though their voice is thin and whining.

    Slowly, painfully, they take a step up to the stairs. With Jun's help, they take another. Their grip on the boy in their arms is so rigid as to be locked in against them; they're terrified that the moment they falter, they'll drop him, and then he'll really be dead.

    They're the first faces the people coming in will see, charging into the basement from the stairs -- two(?) male students (well, certainly they're both wearing male uniforms, even if one is more ambiguous than the other and that's saying something), one showing burn scars on their patchily-haired head which couldn't have been from the flames below -- the scar tissue is old and established.

    And that Persona comes forth, and Jun shrinks back, and...

    ... Tsubasa doesn't remember. Not a single thing.

    What they know -- what they see, what they HEAR -- is the anguish Jun's going through, as that horrific thing like a ghost or a monster or a demon reaches out to him. Tsubasa draws breath into their lungs, and tries to forget how hot it felt.

    "HEY,"

    They call out, to that horrific thing,

    "FUCK OFF."

    Hands full, they have no recourse but to rock back and slam a foot into whatever the fuck that thing is, not knowing if it's even corporeal or whether it's some sort of horrible spirit whatever.

    Regardless of whether they hit anything, though, the whole motion sets them off-balance, and they fall, heavily, onto their back -- managing only to keep the boy they're carrying on top of them.

<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.

As Chidori and Sudou prepare to kill all of them, something happens. First, Chidori tells Sudou they have to go, which causes a tense sigh, until the 'kill him later' part at least. But as deja vu hits and the Joker appears, Ulala feels it too. She gets on the defensive, fists up to protect herself, when suddenly, she's tripping onto her knees, retching on the ground for a long moment from the pain, stress, and fear.

She's not doing so good. The cool older lady vibe probably died completely, a short tenure.

When Ulala eventually can get back to her feet, she'll try to help get Eikichi out of here. She'll exchange her name with everyone... but otherwise isn't talkative. 

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

It hasn't been enough.

Ogre feels her shield impact. She feels it, and she knows that well behind her are Tsubasa and Jun, trying to save that boy. She has to make that doable.

Apparently they've beaten worse odds, says the confident woman. Shinobu is going down. Masao is still up. Masao... the artist she met. He's here, too.

She said she would protect everyone. But Ogre feels herself getting more and more tired. This battle is sustained beyond most that she's had so far, against a more fearsome opponent than any she's yet faced. "I--"

"Damn you!" Ogre shouts at Sudou. "Shut up!" Fate that they burn. But still. Blood comes out of the bag... and he--

He likes her. Ichika growls at that, a guttural and primal thing.

It isn't a comfortable feeling, hearing what he says there. But even so--

"Even if I lose," Ogre says, "I... won't... stop!"

But she, too, sees the strange vision. She never knew the faces involved. ...But now--

It hurts, all the same, something low in her body, in her core. "Ah--"

It's terrible. It's a photonegative. It's...

'FUCK OFF', Tsubasa calls out, and Ogre stumbles towards Eikichi as he falls. "Hey--Boss--"

"Eikichi!" she calls, and moves to shake his shoulders. "Hey! Stay with me!" 

<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.

    Mark's grip on his axe is as a vice, but that's the only sign of strength he's got in him. He doesn't get up from a kneel again after the amount of strain from trying to fight through that magically-induced panic and anxiety. His head's slightly bowed, but not enough to lose the strange anomaly in how the crimson stain just seems to... stop, somehow.
 
     'Are you prepared? Not to keep your promise? It only means you won't open your eyes again tomorrow.'
 
     "Hnnnnn." A labored breath is about as far as he can get out with a scowl. It's a twist of fate that a disengagement happens entirely on her terms - being 'out of time.' The sheer horror of seeing how she stoically handles even having that axe shallowly embedded (and the strength to just pull it out) might be helping keep him awake and conscious.
 
     'We have to go. We'll come back and kill him later.'
 
     There's no verbal parting shot. There's an eerie silence, where certain people are being subject to a cacophonous horror of something he can't comprehend - but he can hear screaming. Did they get someone?
 
     Masao staggers down to the ground. "Hey... can you get up? Get up!" He coughs. "Come on!"
 
     It's unlikely anyone among his trio is going to have it in them to get up and hurriedly get over to the screaming schoolkids, but not for a lack of trying. 

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

"I'm not li'l sis!" Ixquic objects. "I'm Ixquic, the legendary reincarnated warrior maiden!" She's not even that much smaller than Niko... well, that much shorter anyway. Akari is going to be tall when she's done growing, though right now she's mostly kind of rangy... even Ixquic gives off that kind of unfinished, immature vibe, right through her mask.

She raises her hand again as if to call back Quixote one more time, but a light explodes in her face - in her mind. "Ow!" she yelps, as the second flashbang bursts. She covers her eyes (visor) with her hands and it doesn't really help much.

And then Niko is gone. Ixquic blinks, rapidly, trying to recover her vision, while Ririka mentions the basement. And then Tatsuya, who Ixquic is still thinking of as the Cool Guy Who Walks Away From Explosions, indicates the air raid shelter.

Akari is actually aware of the Air Raid Shelter, what with her attention to rumours about the occult in Sumaru. She may not have any interest in remembering who sells what when they're not supposed to, but she *absolutely* keeps tabs on places said to have demons in them.

"Bwa ha ha! Leave it to Ixquic, the great and wondrous warrior maiden! It's this way!" Akari actually knows where the door is, apparently??

So it's a *sprint*; Akari's long-for-her-height legs come in handy here as Ixquic actually manages to pull forward, between them and her immense reserves of energy, down to the basement, down to...

...

Ixquic pulls up short, unsure what she's seeing. It's so chaotic, but her gaze is drawn in one direction alone. It's a crawling sensation, a creeping sensation, that feels both right and wrong at the same time in a way that she doesn't know how to process. It's wrong and she knows it's wrong and she doesn't know *why* it's wrong but at the same time something about it is not wrong at all -

The lingering echoes of a choice she never made, here. She rejects them and does not even know why, or how.

Ixquic pulls her gaze away from the Thing, the Joker, and staggers back, blinking rapidly, when some of the others try to strike it: Tsubasa, for one. The sensation fades for her faster than some of the others, and she almost feels her normal self again. Was that a demon? Or... something else?

If someone looks for her some time later, she is gone. A superhero needs to know how to make an exit when their job is done.

(Also, and perhaps more critically, she did not want to be found here when she stopped being Ixquic. This is not a time and place for Akari Hoshi.) 

<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Suou has posed.

    Tatsuya barely senses Niko coming up on his periphery, whirling around to thrust his hand forward, no doubt to inflict some menacing measure of fire--

    Ate.

    Everything suddenly is a blinding flash of light, his already concussed head experiencing even more intense sensations. It's enough to disorient him long enough for Niko to pull Jin away to safety, and the telltale 'clink' of a grenade pin being pulled prompts him to say, "Get clear!"

    There's no time. Strega isn't his target. As bold a proclamation as he provided to Jin, it's clear he has other priorities -- and thus, in a mad sprint, he's proceeding towards the basement, where the Air Raid Shelter is. Go. Go! Make it in time, please, make it in time...

    But by the time he arrives at the basement --

    The Joker Persona rises from Sudou. "You!!" Tatsuya yells, face bloodied, jacket covered in burns and shrapnel, ready to pounce and end this once and for all--

    The Joker Persona pulls... his mask off. It's his face, in negative.

    W... what...?

    What... does that mean? No, he knows what that means. He knows exactly, the moment the voice whispers to him. It only takes a moment's cognisance to understand what he is talking about.

    "No...! Don't look... don't try to remember anything!"

    Tatsuya suddenly shouts in desperation, fear creeping into his voice. Eikichi is here, still breathing -- good. It looks like there've been others here to defend him too... that's Kirishima-san and Inaba-san and Serizawa-san? Tamaki must've gotten in touch with them. He wants to be relieved, but he can't, because -- any relief that Sudou didn't accomplish what he was ordered is dashed because he knows this IS his true prize.

    "Don't try to remember, Eikichi!"

    Why... is this guy he's never met before yelling at him like he's known him his entire life? Ichika's gone to support him, though, and he'll have to trust her with that. He too is worried about Ixquic's exposure to this, but...

    Tatsuya feels entirely helpless as he watches Jun clutch his head with both hands -- a look that he knows too well. On the other side, Jun struggled so hard with that, until together, they slowly confronted the reality that they all wanted to forget and endured pain and trauma to come to togetherness and a chance at a future.

    Must... must he go through this again? No. No! That Jun's suffering and memories are as much a ghost as he is. This is another Jun... a Jun that should be allowed to live his life on his own terms!

    "Apollo!!"

    Panicked and in a frenzy, Apollo rushes on out of him in a blaze of Blue, and rockets forward with a decisive fist to shatter the core of the Joker-Persona, making sure to steer clear of Tsubasa's kick before he goes in.

    While Apollo goes on the offensive, Tatsuya's abandoned all pretense and has swooped by Jun's side, cradling him close and tight, instinct taking over as he fears that the moment he lets go, he'll lose him... all over again.

    "Jun... Jun! It's okay. It's okay... ... it'll be all okay..."

    Nothing's okay... how can he bald-facedly lie like this? Everything's just slipping out of his grasp, like sands flowing between his fingers... 

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Masao's the only one of them with enough energy to keep fighting... but diverts his axe with her chain. Shinobu can't let him fight alone... She tries to force herself forward with her staff - falls over - and forces herself back up again.

"Hey..." She starts - but then, something seems to catch Chidori's attention. They're out of time? Shinobu watches as she moves to join Sudou.

The part of her that is still a young punk at heart wants to shout at her, ask her where she's going, to say that she isn't finished yet, to feel insulted -

She's an adult now, though. She's mature enough to stuff those thoughts back down. She'll take this chance - it's fine if her pride is a little wounded, as long as she's still alive. It doesn't escape her notice - how different it could've been, if Chidori had a little more time to spare.

But a Persona comes out of the Joker Killer. She doesn't see its face - but she sees the way it goes toward the stairwell.

"No!" Shinobu calls out. What's it going to do...!? There's a scream... Isn't that...!? "H-hey!"

She puts as much force into her voice as she can.

"Get... Get away from- !!" She calls out. It's hard to tell if she's telling it to get away from them - or them to get away from it. She doesn't finish her her sentence. She tries to push herself forward with her staff - but collapses again, as her strength fails her and it and she goes clattering to the ground. Masao's assessment is right on the mark, it seems. 

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

"I'm not li'l sis!" Ixquic objects. "I'm Ixquic, the legendary reincarnated warrior maiden!" She's not even that much smaller than Niko... well, that much shorter anyway. Akari is going to be tall when she's done growing, though right now she's mostly kind of rangy... even Ixquic gives off that kind of unfinished, immature vibe, right through her mask.

She raises her hand again as if to call back Quixote one more time, but a light explodes in her face - in her mind. "Ow!" she yelps, as the second flashbang bursts. She covers her eyes (visor) with her hands and it doesn't really help much.

And then Niko is gone. Ixquic blinks, rapidly, trying to recover her vision, while Ririka mentions the basement. And then Tatsuya, who Ixquic is still thinking of as the Cool Guy Who Walks Away From Explosions, indicates the air raid shelter.

Akari is actually aware of the Air Raid Shelter, what with her attention to rumours about the occult in Sumaru. She may not have any interest in remembering who sells what when they're not supposed to, but she *absolutely* keeps tabs on places said to have demons in them.

"Bwa ha ha! Leave it to Ixquic, the great and wondrous warrior maiden! It's this way!" Akari actually knows where the door is, apparently??

So it's a *sprint*; Akari's long-for-her-height legs come in handy here as Ixquic actually manages to pull forward, between them and her immense reserves of energy, down to the basement, down to...

...

Ixquic pulls up short, unsure what she's seeing. It's so chaotic, but her gaze is drawn in one direction alone. It's a crawling sensation, a creeping sensation, that feels both right and wrong at the same time in a way that she doesn't know how to process. It's wrong and she knows it's wrong and she doesn't know *why* it's wrong but at the same time something about it is not wrong at all -

The lingering echoes of a choice she never made, here. She rejects them and does not even know why, or how.

Ixquic pulls her gaze away from the Thing, the Joker, and staggers back, blinking rapidly, when some of the others try to strike it: Tsubasa, for one. The sensation fades for her faster than some of the others, and she almost feels her normal self again. Was that a demon? Or... something else?

But she can't stay. Staying feels *wrong*, as wrong as anything else. And she can't help. Ixquic has done her job; she battled those threatening people. She whooped ass. There's nothing else Ixquic can do right now - and this is not a place for Akari Hoshi, when that time comes. She feels guilty, but the crawling sensation every time she thinks about staying convinces her.

If someone looks for her some time later, she is gone. A superhero needs to know how to make an exit when their job is done. 

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Witch has posed.

Kicking the grinning Persona does nothing, Tsubasa Seki cannot manage to even scuff it's coat. It's still reaching, as Jun screams - and screams.

Like an unstoppable force.

And then Apollo rushes forward with a fist draw from a narrative of divine power - of countless battles, sacrifices. The resistance he meets might as well be nothing. The Persona does not only shatter like glass, it powders. Each speck of dust becoming an infinitesimally tiny black butterfly, then nothing at all.

Reminiscence - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKA4vyE7PiY

That place where Tatsuya Suou's face one rested. Well look where Apollo came from and you'll see the 'Joker' Persona come to life on the man that summoned him. The colors are more human and alive, less caricature.

But it is unmistakably the same face. And now it's being worn by the guy who just burst in here like a man possessed.

The battle is won. Despite their best efforts - no one died today - or at least no one will if they hurry, but why is there so much about this battle that still makes so little sense?

Who called the Joker Killer?

Why did this seem more personal to him?

Why was Strega assisting them?

Why did the Killer's Persona have Tatsuya Suou's face?

They were expecting him, weren't they?

Why were they expecting him?

What was he even here to do to begin with?

There are so many questions that might be asked with only one person in the room that might have answers.

Doesn't he at least owe them to the people who fought - risked their lives, almost lost them in here today?

That's up to no one but them.

<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.

    That terrible persona... It feels like she's felt something like this before. That mocking, unnatural face too. Where did she feel it? Why does this... feel familiar? How can it still familiar? She doesn't understand but it feels like... No. Whatever it is, whatever about it feels familiar, is escaping her? It just feels... horrid. And it makes that ache in her heart hurt all the more. Why...?

    "...Kandori?" Her voice is quiet, barely audible... No. No surely not. That's not him, and from what she was told he wouldn't make an appearance here. Then... what is this feeling? Why doesn't it feel right? Why does she feel like she's forgetting something...?

    And then several other personas users collapse, and that scream is haunting. A sort of terror that a human cannot simply bear. She knows the boy screaming, now that she takes the time to look. But she can't offer some balm for the pain right now, she doesn't even know what's wrong. But he seems terrified.

    ...Why does it remind her of a lost friend, too... When that Maki found out the truth of that world...

    Eriko feels helpless, in the wake of suffering, as she slumps a bit back down to the ground, the pain from her injuries starting to overwhelm her. 

<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.

    Everything is warping and shattering and melting and that horrible creature won't stop reaching for him--
    
    Until suddenly an entity in red and white impacts the creature with such force that it powders to black butterfly dust and is gone.
    
    Until its summoner, Tatsuya Suou, has swooped to his side and pulled him into his strong arms in an instant, whispering his own desperate reassurances.
    
    The screams strangle into silence as Jun instinctively leans into him, clutching at his scorched and shrapnelled leathers as if for dear life. He doesn't have the mental bandwidth to acknowledge Tsubasa's courageous (if sadly ineffective) kick; that, like so many things, will need to come later. Jun only sees Tatsuya right now.
    
    And though he might have the same face as that Persona--even though Tatsuya's face now is as bloodied as Jun's--when his eyes focus on him after a moment of scratchy panting, they shift into a look of...
    
    ...relief. Comfort, even.
    
    Like he knows he's safe now. Even though he couldn't possibly know how he knows.
    
    His brown eyes tear up then. Jun sobs once and crumples into Tatsuya's manly embrace, head sinking to his shoulder as he blessedly passes out.
    
    It seems like he'll be all right for now... The damage he sustained was all mental. The aftermath might be hell, though... 

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Despite all their efforts to fight...

    ... Tsubasa really can't do anything, here.

    Something in that realisation -- that futility, crushed by the weight of the world's expectations -- is holding them back more than they know. They lay on their back, dimly horrified, for a moment, before --

    -- it comes back to them, again.

    Tsubasa looks up to see Tatsuya, and screams, less fierce and more desperate: "GET AWAY FROM HIM!! Please...!" They can't see how reassured Jun is by his presence; all they know is that he is the same creature that just did that, save for the fact that his colours are reversed, now.

    But there's nothing they can do to stop the origin of that apparition which hurt Jun so much from reaching him; they're pinned under the body of a boy bleeding out, and they won't just leave him aside.

    Tears in their eyes, they plead with the people coming in: "You gotta help him... he's real hurt." With their brown hair clipped close to their skull and barely growing between all the scar tissue on the right side of their head, they look like they've been through the wringer, too; it might take a moment for someone to place this person as Tsubasa, without their colourful wigs or their usual bravado.

    Is the Death Boss... even okay, behind them?

    ... why would they just leave when they were so close to killing them all...?

    It's an exhausting set of questions. A horrifying set of questions.

    And they've got their hands full.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "Mishina-san?" Umie's coming in hot on Tatsuya's heels, and clutches the railing to keep from colliding.

    Umie doesn't remember anything from any 'Other Side'.

    No, it's something else.

    Just a sickening feeling she knows far too well.

    The feeling, no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape sit back and enjoy the show no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape Her right hand no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape don't try to escape enjoy hurts no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape is this what you wanted and sit back sit back sit back sit back sit back SIT BACK she can't no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape no escape don't try to run away, um-i-e-channnn think sit back and enjoy the show it's just the beginning such wonderful sights you will see

    ".... Ah," Umie's mouth utters a single, senseless sound.

    don't disappoint me now by giving up

    Time's past, and she's on the floor, her left hand clutching her right with rigid, white fingers, the red nail polish standing out like the splatter of blood.

    Tatsuya's cradling the young man Umie saw the other day, the one she thought seemed out of place.

    I'm not going to look away, anymore.

    She just needs to remember how to walk, again. 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

She might not have picked up Tatsuya Suou's name, yet, but she does file Umie Akabane away for later. But she's also stretched multiple ways, trying to keep track of the fight while searching... and she frowns a moment later after she relays her information. "Wait-- Air raid shelter?" She never got the tour of the school, apparently. And Umie knows about it too, apparently.

Do all schools have something weird like that happening? GEkkoukan's got Tartarus...

She does a double take, though, as Suou mentions the Joker Killer. "Wait what? Is that real too!?" She might be giving away that she only awakened, oh, 2 days ago.

But that power and skill... she's pretty sure that's not typical. That feels like way more Resonance than she's used to hearing.

Ririka blinks, as Niko... apparently misses the significance of what she did. "Well... yeah... but..." Her fingertips drum on her thigh as she she tries to puzzle out how to explain. Once she did it it felt so instinctual... "Uh... you ever play an RPG...?"

Should she be giving the enemy a tutorial? Well, an enemy already gave her a tutorial, so maybe it's fair?

But she's distracted, trying to keep tabs on everything, and when that 'flashbang' of an attack comes she reels back, clutching at her head. "Augh! D-dammit! That hurts!" Oh, she's going to feel that ringing in her ears for a while yet... and whether that's lingering Resonance or her actual ears or whatever, it might not make much of a difference for her.

But once she gets steady enough she lets Amphion be dismissed as she takes off running.

But they get down there, just in time to see the Joker Persona remove its mask, it dissolves... and Ririka stops in her tracks with a gasp. She grows unsteady, slumping against a wall as her free hand goes to her head. A deep, unpleasant shudder is released from deep within her at that utterly unpleasant, grimy. "Wh-wha--" her voice is a whine. "Gack!" The hand holding her board tenses; she wants to drum her fingers but they're clenched too tight.

It's an otherworldly sound that just persists and lingers in her personal soundscape. "Ew ew ew..."

But she forces herself up, forward, into the room, there's people that need help--and she pauses, as she sees that photonegative face. "What the--" She does not have the same weird reaction some others might be having. But it's still weird enough on its own. "What in the world--"

Tatsuya--the one she was fighting alongside, anyway--seems to have that handled, at least. One problem down... and as for Jun... her heart aches, but she's not sure what she can do for him--or even what the real problem is. She's utterly new to... all of this.

There's kind of a lot to take in. She sweeps her gaze around the room. She doesn't recognize Ogre, in her current state, though Ogre would certainly recognize her. Ririka frowns, as she reaches out with her senses. "Where did they go..." she murmurs, looking for Chidori and Suduo. She was pretty sure she felt them last time when the silencing effect dropped, but...

"Okay. I think they're gone, I don't hear them anywhere..." She opens her eyes and looks over Tsubasa and the injured boy. "I can't do anything for the two of you, but let me help you get him upstairs. We'll call for an ambulance." If there isn't already one up there to respond the land mine from earlier...

She stops and stuffs something that looks suspiciously like a gun into the bottom of her backpack, slips it back on, and then picks up the injured boy's other arm to drape it over her shoulder. "Let's go, Seki-san. We got this."

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