2026-07-17: The Cat's Meow
- Log: The Cat's Meow
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Remi Ryuuja, Yuuki Hoshizora, Misato Fushihara, Yukari Takeba, Umie Akabane, Hyousuke Suzuki, Katsuya Suou
- Where: Club Zodiac
- OOC Date: July 17, 2026
- IC Date: December 11, 2012
- Summary: Noriko Katayama, a second-year student at Seven Sisters High School, was the most devoted loyalist of the school's former star athlete -- Anna Yoshizaka. Anna reputation took a real hit, lately; people whisper about how she even called the Joker Curse down on the man responsible for her hit-and-run...
... but in truth, the girl who called that number -- and then called it again, to punish the very Prinicipal Hanya who participated in those rumours -- was that girl standing behind her, Noriko. And when Noriko is kidnapped by a mysterious hooded girl after school, the Sevens students who saw suspicious things raise the alarm amongst the Rumourmongers and call their helpful friends. Their path will lead to Club Zodiac, a place controlled by the Taiwanese mafia.
But it wasn't the /mafia/ who kidnapped Noriko...
(|=============================== Club Zodiac ================================|)
-=============================================== Sumaru City/Yumezaki Ward ====-
The hottest nightclub in Sumaru.
Both teens looking to take the plunge into adulthood, and young adults looking
to have a good time are here, dancing their lives away. The liquor is top shelf
to those who can afford it, and if you're cool, you maybe can convince the
bartender to sell it to you without carding you. The dance floor is epilepsy
inducing, with strobing lights rainbow lights in a room, while the DJ plays and
plays and plays.
It is the siren's allure to let it go. Let it all go. All your worries and
struggles just for long enough to have a good time.
And then the back room is a winding dangerous maze with acid puddles and
exploding fire traps because the Taiwanese Mafia supposedly has set up shop
here, but you're not here for that, right?
BGM - Club Zodiac - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IFriJZFhnk
</poem>
AS: Katsuya Suou has readied for combat as Helios! He is now fully healed! AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! AS: Hyousuke Suzuki has readied for combat as Achilles! He is now fully healed! AS: Misato Fushihara has readied for combat as Nitocris! She is now fully healed! AS: Yukari Takeba has readied for combat as Io! She is now fully healed! AS: Remi Ryuuja has readied for combat as La Maupin! She is now fully healed!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Everyone's busy studying, leading up to finals. Students are staying late in the library to study --
-- and that includes Noriko Katayama, second-year student and the strongest of Anna Yoshizaka's supporters, even after all those allegations which rocked the school shortly before Principal Hanya's death. Anna was the victim of a hit-and-run, and they all say that she called the Joker down on the perpetrator... but Noriko's never lost faith in her.
No: she's certain Anna didn't do it.
She's certain, because Noriko called herself to kill that driver, and then she called herself to erase Hanya for joining in on the gossip, too.
Right now, though, she's trying not to think about kegare -- she really needs to worry about karyotypes. She's shared both worries with her 'big sis', Anna... but only in general terms.
... she doesn't know that Anna's been looking into it, hearing those worries.
But the curse of karyotyping is she's been studying for so long the sun's almost set, as she's finally shooed from the library to go home. (And it's still only Tuesday!) She walks with her friend, grousing about their biology homework, and... getting a little... too... into it.
"Who cares about genes, anyway? No one cares. It doesn't matter. It didn't matter," she accuses Anna, as she turns to her, sharply.
"Noriko-chan... what are you saying?" Anna asks, frowning with concern.
"I killed them both, just for you," Noriko says, "and did you even try to fix your image?! I hold myself back SO MUCH -- for YOU -- AND YOU ALWAYS LOOK AT ME WITH THAT STUPID PLACID FACE! LIKE YOU'RE WEARING A MASK!"
"I --" Anna starts, as she steps back.
"I know," Noriko says, and it's her face which is masklike, now, porcelain-white in a way which obscures her eyes and calls attention to her red, red lips. "I'll rip it off."
"Help!" Anna cries, as she takes a step back --
-- and help arrives, landing like a ten-tonne weight. The figure has a girl's height, but a raised dark hood obscures her features... aside from a pair of claws where her feet should be. "Oh, great! You're finally done." The girl's voice is far too laid-back for the situation, particularly as Noriko slashes at her -- and she turns with her, flinging her into the pavement.
"I really wanna fight you properly," she says, as she pulls out a needle and jams it into her neck, "but orders are orders, so c'mon, we're goin' clubbin'."
"Let her go!" Anna yells, trying to grab at the strange girl -- but she plants a foot in her gut, leg kicking far too high, leaving gashes in her uniform which mercifully don't dig far into her flesh. "HELP!" Anna cries a second time, where she's fallen on the sidewalk, as that girl throws Noriko over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and -- simply leaps onto the nearest rooftop and away.
"I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO CLUB ZODIAC!" Anna yells, in sheer frustration, as she gets up and runs after her before she can be stopped.
... she does stop, eventually, to call Maya's friends and ask for help. And anyone who asks their local rumourmonger for help will hear the story, just as she's told it:
'I heard the people who called the Joker are being kidnapped and taken to Club Zodiac. Isn't it run by the Taiwanese Mafia...?'
Gathering that information -- and allies -- is a matter of hours; for those who did not witness the kidnapping, hearing the Rumour in time is one of luck, destiny, or
A HOUSEWIFE'S DETERMINATION: Ayame Watanabe, Rumourmonger wife of Vice-Principal Watanabe and at least temporarily retired from adventuring to have her next child, who is briefed on the situation by an extra phone call from Maya's friends and proceeds to mobilise the entire Persona-User Network she's amassed. Any openly Persona-User social links on her list can presume she has tried -- and successfully -- gotten in contact with them to help her friends.
However you get here, you get here at night. It's not quite the Dark Hour -- but it is dark; the sun was already setting when Noriko was kidnapped, and there's not much moon left in the sky, right now.
Of course, Club Zodiac is thumping. Anna's there, too -- she tells everyone to head to the back of the club, where they can find the Mafia who took Noriko. Sneaking into the back is something of an event, but through charm or skill or bribes, it's quite doable.
Back here, it's...
It doesn't feel familiar.
(It didn't even feel familiar to TATSUYA, when he charged in, before the rest of you. ... and not recognising the area, if anything, only makes Baofu even pricklier.)
It's dark, back here. The walls feel... hostile. The floor is hostile, in splashes of blood scattered around -- splashes which will drain your hit points, forcing you to summon your Persona to heal before you even reach Noriko. There's one saving grace, though: there are Demons, here, and negotiating with them will teach you that one in particular is a neat freak. Once you've found Kiyohime and beseeched her aid, the unsettling, black-and-red stained geography will lose those horrible traps, as she pours all her efforts into fighting the force which has gripped the back rooms.
Only with regards to its bloodstains, though. As for the rest, you're on your own.
Finding the Secret Casino once is hard enough. Finding it again, once they've managed to fumble their way to a break room -- where Baofu broke away from the party to break a Tien Tao Lien member having a smoko and come back with the password 'Panther' -- may well end with some of you sniping at each other, for how hard it is to remember where you've been.
"Don't look at me," Baofu growls, to Katsuya, for one example. "It's not supposed to be like this. Something's up... but you just go ahead and make a fool of yourself."
Somehow, when you enter that Secret Casino...
... despite the grim surroundings, men are still gambling.
"Identify yourselves," demands a bodyguard -- speaking Taiwanese Mandarin -- but Baofu bulls through, to face a man with a scar, dressed in a white, Chinese-style suit as he sits in a commanding chair.
"So," says the man with the scar, "it was you, at the Sanitarium."
"... meet Yung Pao," Baofu introduces him to the others, instead of answering him directly. "A lowlife assassin... who's gotten into all kinds of trouble. Who are you working with, now?"
"Trouble? I am being hurt. I have killed only one Japanese, and you -- you kill twenty-five Taiwanese. So unfair," Pao sighs, raising his hands in a broad shrug.
"Shut your face!" Baofu snaps, as he lights a cigarette. "Tell me what you know before you die. What is Tatsuzou planning? Come clean, and I'll kill you painlessly..."
"Hahaha," Pao laughs, as he stands from his chair. "Come now, Baofu... you know I would never agree to those terms. This, I will tell. I work with the police... his woman here, now, making club 'comfortable'." He gestures, to the unsettling walls. "New Japanese government very egalitarian... hahaha," and this, too, is perhaps another little joke. "Joker hunting is good for 'our' relations, and not just us. Many people in on it."
But when they demands to know where Noriko is, Yung Pao shifts, looking towards the back door.
"No one else here beside the kitten just brought in... if you want, I give cat back. Maybe she worn out, after fighting dragon woman... maybe."
He turns, snapping his fingers -- and his men call to attention, as he walks to the door and raps on it.
"Women! Your company is here! Remember, you protect our Club!"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It soon becomes a question of following them, or dealing with the women emerging from the room --
-- plus a girl, who's carrying a fainted Noriko over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, with a strange robotic dinosaur ambling after her. (That's not as intimidating as it sounds; Welwetes is about the size of a chicken.) "Heyyy!" She says, as she drops her down, thunk. Her voice is lackadaisy, but there's a dark, hooded cloak over her body, obscuring her -- though it can't quite obscure how mechanical she looks, under there. She has claw feet. She's not human. "You were worried 'bout this girl, right?"
A more familiar voice echoes, from her -- the Bride, Yumi. She does not emerge with the rest of them -- perhaps she's still in the back room the others came from? "Scion," Yumi speaks through her antenna, "once skinned, a cat may lay as a rug. Pray not drape her in full grasp of thieves."
And unlike some Navigator transmissions, these ones transmit out to the whole room -- blame the electronics.
"Oh," the girl says. "Sorry, Yu--Yumi!" She's definitely gotten lectured on codenames three times this night alone, too. She spouts some cheerful Okinawan amidst her folksy Japanese, with: "Ahhh, nankuru nai sa! It's fine! Pa-- uh -- 'THAT GUY' said we were just gonna send everyone who poked their nose in off to --"
"Shshshshshshshshsh," Yumi scolds her, through the antenna.
"Uhhh... we're gonna skin so many cats!" Scion settles on, cheerfully. "Hey, wait a sec, how come you're cool with skinning cats now? You said that was -- and I quote -- a 'big no-no'!"
"I speak through routes of metaphor," Yumi transmits. "To embrace, to illuminate -- ah -- Miyu, tell her," she settles on, with frustration.
To be clear: you're the cats.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho Ijuuin is not studying for finals, because she's been out of high school--and university--for some time. But that shouldn't be important right now.
Right now, a very tall woman in a gray mask and armor is here: the Groom, Miyu. SHe walks with the strange girl, a sheathed sabre with a strange dragon motif for the hilt at her hip--scarlet, for today.
She does not immediately draw it. Instead, she steps to the side, nodding to the other woman here, and--
"She speaks in metaphor," Miyu explains to Scion, and the others, "To occlude meaning. By 'skinning' these cats, we reward their curiosity as to our allies' dealings."
Pause. "The reward is violence. It is not actually a positive reward."
Finally, she pulls her sword and adopts a ready stance. "You wish the girl, do you not?" she says.
"Choose. Try to get past us, or fight for the girl. You will not be able to reach both places in time."
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Remi would, perhaps, have classes to study for at the moemnt, had not life taken her in a... different direction. But she can't do anything about that right now.
Instead, she has to be here, dressed in an all-black fencing suit with a black fencing mask that obscures her face to match. Visibly she has a rapier on one hip and a holster with a dark gray heavy revolver on the opposite thigh. She steps out with the other two, silent, but her attention sharp and focused on the intruders.
Miyu gives them the option: fight for the girl, or to get past them. Tsurugi draws her own rapier. She doesn't speak, but her promise of violence is implicit, nonetheless.
AS: Remi Ryuuja has readied for combat as La Maupin! She is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
Yuuki is trying to study before finals. She is having difficulty with it; her mind is more on matters related to Personas, to her parents, and other such matters. So when rumor came through Sevens -- that Club Zodiac has people held there, connected to the Joker -- she decided she had to go.
She approaches the club at night. It is literally thumping; she frowns a little at the music. "Th-this is distracting," she says. "It's such a racke--"
Yuuki turns to her side when she notices that Magus is also here. "M-Magus!?"
She sputters with embarrassment, before she follows along until they reach the interior. She looks from Baofu to Pao, and then she frowns at him. "Give us--"
She starts to say 'our classmate back.' She is rudely interrupted. She looks at the girl, carrying Noriko, then at the robotic dinosaur. She exhales, before she looks at Magus. "...That's a classmate of mine," she tells the masked girl. "We have to get her back."
She frowns, then she draws her rapier out. She cries out, then: "GALILEO!"
The clockwork Persona appears behind her; rotating rings of gears, with crystalline orbs. It moves -- ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-CHUNK -- as th clockwork falls into place. Then, Yuuki LAUNCHES forward. She flies in a straight line, rapier thrust out for Tyrrha.
"Give her back...!"
AS: Yuuki Hoshizora has readied for combat as Galileo! She is now fully healed! AS: Tandem! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Earth skill Mass Driver on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Yuuki Hoshizora gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yua Ijuuin has readied for combat as Tyrrha's Summoned Guardian!! She is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents! AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents! AS: Yuuki Hoshizora has readied for combat as Galileo! She is now fully healed! AS: Tandem! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Earth skill Mass Driver on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Yuuki Hoshizora gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 78 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Mass Driver. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 44 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Mass Driver. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 44 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Mass Driver. <Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Studying... How dull. But, Misato's grades have already been slipping pretty badly. If they get any lower, she might have problems...
So, studying it is, into the night until she has no choice but to leave. What she didn't expect was, on her way home...
...To hear signs of commotion.
She's not a known Persona User - but she overhears the shout, and that gives her a direction.
Club Zodiac is a ways away, though, and she has to get in unnoticed - at least until she enters the Club proper. And if there were any suspicions that something was going on here, it's confirmed in the way that comforting sense of anonymity settles over her, school uniform replaced by a dark purple hooded cloak with gold trim and a porcelain half-mask covering the top half of her face.
Magus is here, now... and it's clear from the layout that some manner of power is at work here. Whoever is responsible for this is an Anti-Navigator of some great talent...
And so, it seems, is Yuuki.
"Yuuki Hoshizora... We meet again." Magus greets. "I didn't expect to see you here. Fate works in strange ways, it seems..."
Everyone proceeds through the labyrinth of Club Zodiac - a twisting, tiring trek, but soon enough, they find a place where men gamble. A confrontation is had... and soon, a conundrum is put before them.
Try to get past, or fight for Noriko... Magus grimaces. It's a difficult choice - but hearing Yuuki say that they have to get her back... the choice is made.
"...Alright. Then today, we're on the same side." Magus decides. She turns her attention toward the girl, Scion. If they want to retrieve Noriko, then they'll have to go through her...
She listens as she speaks - and as someone speaks through her.
"...That's right. So why don't you just let us take her off your hands?" Magus confirms. The girl refers to the voice as 'Yumi', and spouts a familiar phrase. 'Nankuru nai sa'... She remembers hearing it just the other day, too.
She remembered thinking how nice it must be to be able to feel that way.
Metaphors are spoken, and metaphors are mangled.
"...Careful. These 'cats' have teeth... and they bite." Magus warns, then glances toward Miyu as she lays down the situation.
"...We'll accept your 'reward', then." Magus says. "...But I hate an uneven exchange. So don't mind..."
As Yuuki calls upon her Persona and accelerates toward Tyrrha, Magus draws her saber and parrying dagger and races after her, dodging to the side and bringing both of them down toward Tyrrha in an X-shaped slash.
"...if I return the favor!" She concludes.
AS: Weapon! Misato Fushihara has used the Slash skill Overpower on Yua Ijuuin! 2 Hits! | Pressure: Misato Fushihara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 79 Slash damage from Misato Fushihara's Overpower. Critical Hit! AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 29 Slash damage from Misato Fushihara's Overpower. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Why does something like this have to happen during final's week?
Yukari Takeba is here, having taken a late train, because the faster method can't work this time.
She thinks of this girl Noriko, who supposedly called the Joker Killer twice, to- avenge her neesan?
"That's real familiar for a senpai..." But not so unusual, girls call other older girls they look up to neesan all the time when they get real close.
It's- unfathomable to her on the one hand, to want anyone to die, but when she hears about hwo close the two were... perhaps she gets it a little.
Enough to feel at least a pang of sympathy for her.
So here too, is Yukari, who nods to Yuuki, whom she recognizes some at least- but given the situation, doesn't take time for a proper greeting. It's only when they find the secret casino, that she puts on her SEES jacket and armband, pulling out her bow and unstringing it.
It's then that Baofu starts an argument with Katsuya-
"Do we really have to argue about this now?"
The mafia causes her to bite her lip, remembering Kaneshiro, in her mind she tries to think up a fake name just in case. She doesn't want people like this to get her real name.
'I have killed only one Japanese, and you -- you kill twenty-five Taiwanese. So unfair,'
Yukari's eyes snap to Baofu, wide, like- 'What kind of guy are we working with?' non-verbally, before.
The strange sight of the three that come in. "Uhhhh..." She seems taken aback by everyone walking in, "It's- who even are you?" She asks the girl, when a more familiar voice can be heard, and her gaze snaps to attention, as she hears the transmission.
"Staying off your feet tonight, huh?" She murmurs of the woman behind it. Now she was beginning to understand what was going on. Then the tall woman that was with her enters, wearing a mask and armor.
'that was -- and I quote -- a 'big no-no'!'
"Who wants to actually skin cats!?" Yukari exclaims, in exasperation, this is finally getting to be too much for her. Then, the armored woman helpfully clarifies their options.
As she takes an Evoker out from her thigh holster, and puts it to her forehead, with both of her hands. "... I'm not here to be the police." Something in her eyes contracts, then dilates as the adrenaline of the fear response kicks in.
From pulling the trigger.
There's a shattering noise, as green energy erupts, and through the temporarily separated fractures of her mind, a being emerges, like a cow's skull, hollowed out into a coffin, with a fey girl of pink and black chained to it.
"And we're not letting you take that girl. Io!"
And immediately, Tsurugi feels the speed sapped out of them from a burst of energy that latches to their spirit.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Almighty skill Sukunda on Remi Ryuuja!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
If Umie Akabane was smart, she'd stay at the hospital. Counterpoint: if Umie was smart, she wouldn't *be* in the hospital. Umie'd also newly single, and would no longer have a kindly quiet roommate who minds his business and makes tea.
The world doesn't turn because 'smart' people say it can; it turns regardless. Umie shall always do the same... and have her left arm in a sling because that fractured clavicle is still tender, Persona healing and Dark Hours be damned.
Also, if Umie was smart, she would have given her right hand and wrist more time to rest, but that hand was needed for eating the bounty of food Akechi snuck to her, and later, for browsing her phone. So scratch the sentence about the world turning and all that: Umie's here because she was a captive audience in her hospital room, as she tried to convince the hospital staff that, yes, she just wasn't as badly off as they had originally thought she was, a few days ago.
====A LITTLE BIT BEFORE JUST BEFORE NOW====
".... I'm not going to be much help here with any information on this place, I'm afraid. I was never a club person when I was at Sevens," Umie says to Katsuya, who she has elected to follow. "I *do* know they didn't have a secret casino in the back, back then.." The sling on her right arm stands out against the white winter jacket as she follows behind him, hood drawn up to try to hide her face. "I don't have my weapon on me, so I'll be depending on you, Katsuya-san."
It's like that fateful day at Ebisu beach, in a way-- just, now her injuries come from trying to save the very person who she and Katsuya fought she and Katsuya on the beach that day. Life is strange...
And now, Umie tries to hook the cheap paper mask she grabbed at a dollar stuff along the way. "... Um..." She pauses. ".... Katsuya-san. Could you.... uh... help me, with this?" SHe quickly adds, "I'll be fine if we run into trouble, okay? This is all just a precaution!"
====JUST BEFORE NOW====
Life is, again, strange. Just like these hallways, which, Umie will note, likely did not exist before the rumors. "You think this is because of that Bride lady...? We definitely must be getting close to something, if we're getting resistance like this..."
That, or the rumors are filling everything in with traps. "... Either way, I can't use Badb to guess where we need to go, at this rate, and if there's normal mafia running around, Badb won't see those."
====LIFE IS SUFFERING NOW====
".... I wish I hadn't eaten so many of those snacks..." That is, the ones Akechi gave her at the hospital, which is a detail Umie shall not provide. "I can handle some demon negoiations, maybe.... we could get some information that way."
====NOW====
Forgive Umie if she stands behind you, Katsuya. Even if the demon negotiations eventually helped, the blonde is still looking a little pale, a little grumpy, but otherwise, she's reaping the benefits of the Badb's protection.
... Which is evident when she feels the need to bite back at the 'Groom', in spite of... everything.
"And if we split up and reap the rewards?" Umie shoots back. "You're lucky there's still a few of us still lost in that maze!"
It's a ploy to make the showing seem larger, of course. Umie... has no clue if there are people still trying to make it here.
"Badb!" With a funnel of blue light, the grim grace of Badb manifests, pointing a lace wrapped claw towards Miho. With luck, Miho may feel a little bit of the exhaustion Umie's feeling right now, which will give Katsuya some space to work around with.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Soul Break on Miho Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Soul Break. | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke had been keeping his ear to the ground for any news about the Taiwanese mafia. He was a high school student without very many connections, and not a particularly clever one at that, so any information he received was hearsay at best. But when some very reliable sources gave him what they assured him was very reliable information, Hyousuke was quick to strap his armour on and bolt out the door with all due haste. There was no time to gather his allies or verify the information himself - time was of the essence, and he was almost certain there'd be others to back him up there anyway.
The details of what had happened - the ones that had been passed onto him, at least - rattled around in the back of his head, but whatever noise they made was ignored. He could unpack everything he'd been told later. For the time being, he was like a hunting hound catching the scent of blood on the wind. His eyes were alert, his muscles were taut, his fists were curled into fists with knuckles almost as white as the teeth bared behind his mask... Watching him close in on Club Zodiac was like watching a beast home in on its prey. Savage and vicious, but precise in its own way.
He was glad that others managed to finagle their way into the back, however. Hyousuke did not believe himself nearly charismatic enough to charm his way past the guards, and he was fresh out of spending money after recent shopping trips, so bribery was out the window as well. Instead, he simply tagged along as the muscle, acting as an intimidating presence whenever one was needed. He did, however, allow himself a small sigh of relief when they successfully infiltrated the club. Not that it could be seen behind the layer of reflective plastic affixed to his face.
Getting into the club, however, seemed to be the easy part. Getting through it was another matter entirely. Trudging through traps and cajoling a demon into removing them after he'd all but spent all his healing resources was no easy task, even when he'd learnt that she was a neat freak that would not stand for the mess left in her domain. Then there came what effectively amounted to him and the group fumbling around in the dark, searching blindly for that one location. He felt like they'd only managed to get to it through a stroke of luck, and it took all he had not to level some snide remark at whoever had accompanied him.
Baofu barged forward before Hyousuke had a chance to surge in. He didn't recognise the man before him, but Baofu's dialogue with him made it quite clear that he wasn't on their side. Hyousuke clenched his fists, throwing them halfway up into a guard as he readied for a fight, but the Yung Pao turned out not to be the one he was to throw himself against. No - that honour went to some familiar faces, so to speak, and one he did not recognise at all. The girl, he could not infer much about, other than getting an abject sense of danger from her. The automaton by her side, however, drew a quizzical and glaring eye.
Whatever she looked like didn't matter. He was all too eager to start throwing out attacks, knowing just how dangerous any one person could be in a supernatural space. But others demanded his attention, and Tyrrha appeared to have opponents of her own already. His talents would have to be deployed elsewhere.
"You again?" Hyousuke spat at Remi, cracking his knuckles as he strode forward. Red-hot anger laced his every word, to the point where they felt like they singed his throat when he spoke. "Not gonna drag that weirdo and his magical girls in with you this time?"
Battle-scarred bronze, creaking beneath its own weight, rose from his shadow while he walked. It was forged into armour, wrapped around the frame of a man, while a glowering red burned from within the black void of the helmet. Achilles had entered the fray beside Hyousuke, and looked as ready to fight as his wielder.
"Fine by me. I don't want any distractions. Now hand over the girl, or I'll tear through you, your friends, and anyone else in my way!"
Achilles drew to his full height, standing tall and towering over his wielder. He appeared taller still when he raised his shield to the heavens and bellowed out a rallying cry, bolstering the defences of Hyousuke and his allies in preparation for the fight to come.
AS: Take! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Almighty damage from Yukari Takeba's Sukunda. | Spd_Dn (Avoid Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
BEFORE
The phone message had been a startling one to behold, not least that it confirmed the worst of Katsuya's suspicions. The reason why not a single one of the new Jokers had been apprehended was... in fact because someone else was intervening.
And he thinks that he remembers Noriko from Sevens. Does that mean that she is the one responsible for the death of the Principal? It's hard to believe anyone else would have had the motive. And even on the statements taken in the school afterwards, she'd been adamant about her senior's innocence. As for Anna...
He supposes he'd misjudged her, too. Through her information alone, they were alerted to the problem and able to disseminate the message as far and as wide as they could and...
JUST BEFORE
...meet with their other allies. "Are you going to be alright?" Katsuya had asked Umie, of that sling she was wearing.
She of course had then paused to grab a mask. Katsuya is then given to wonder, for the first time, why does she wear the masks? But now is not the time to ask such a thing.
"I... see. If you are certain, Akabane-kun." She should have her Persona, but...
Then it's a matter of getting into the back area of the club. According to what Anna said, the ones who took Noriko were working out of here, but clearly they have to be operating out of the rest of the building and using the... energetic dancing here as a cover. Of course, just sneaking into the back isn't going to be easy, especially if you're Katsuya Suou who gives off an aura of 'I am definitely a cop'. Fortunately, he's also not alone. Between the rest of his own merry band and Umie, they're able to cover for him and collectively make their way into the back.
AND THEN THERE WAS A HORRIBLE DUNGEON
"What in the world...?" Katsuya utters, not insensate to the strange feeling that crawls this place. It's dark. The whole place feels like it's not the back room of some club, but rather like another dimension. Moreover, the more he walks, the more he's certain that the area they've tred extends beyond the physical boundaries of the building. He's already experienced some strange things in supernatural realms, certainly, but they had just been in a space that was full of people! It's ridiculous. "The 'Bride'? Perhaps," he answers Umie.
The worst is the part where the floor itself seems intent on draining all vitality from them. It makes continuing forward a struggle, up until the point where a chance conversation with a demon unveils another way. There's a demon that doesn't like messes lurking around in here.
They just have to find her.
"Miss, we would be grateful if you would help us. I have seem for myself the state that this place is in..."
However it goes, it works. It only makes it slightly easier. There's still the maze that this place has turned into.
And somehow, Baofu has managed to beat a password out of a member of the Tien Tao Lien. There had been a rumor before even all this that they ran the club in actuality, but without evidence, there wasn't much that the police could do (Katsuya's own beat is homicide, not vice or organized crime). Even if they had a connection to the NWO, they didn't have the time to waste chasing after dead ends. Maybe, in this case, they should have.
"Haven't we been this way before?" he wonders, as they become seemingly even more lost. He glances at Baofu, rather sharply.
Baofu responds in kind, of course. Before Katsuya can reply, though, Yukari interjects and he rather visibly withers.
AND THEN
And then, quite suddenly, the maze comes to its end.
Katsuya draws his gun, keeping the weapon aimed towards the floor. Somehow, given how many people are in here, he doesn't think they're about to receive a warm welcome... Baofu, though, does the introductions.
"What?" he asks of Baofu, some melange of surprise and serious concern in his expression. "Twenty-five people...?" Baofu lays out his own terms, which prompts Katsuya to frown, but before he can interject, Yung Pao answers in turn.
"The... police?" He knows already that there's corruption on the force. He'd even confided in Maya that he'd feared that it was likely that the police were involved in the 'disappearance' of the people who turned into Jokers. But it's one thing to suspect and another to have it confirmed. "That's--" He shakes his head. "No, you will be returning Katayama-san at once! Holding a person against her will is a serious crime!"
Does he say things like that because he believes in the law, even if it's been corrupted? Or is it just to cope?
But three women emerge from the room beyond, and he knows he's seen several of them before. In fact, they've tried to kill him.
"Put down the girl," he tells them, only for Tyrrha to do just that. He winces. Hopefully, Noriko is already unconscious... Turning his head, he realizes that the Tien Tao Lien are making their escape. It's possible to still catch them, of course.
But only if Katsuya forsakes the girl lying on the floor for that.
"As I said," he repeats, "abducting a person is a crime. I will see her returned to her family!"
And that's his answer to Miho's challenge.
"...Cats?" Katsuya wonders aloud at Tyrrha's remarks, to which Baofu, a baleful gaze on the escaping men, replies, "Hmph... getting past you won't be easy. So they sent three of you...?" He shakes his head. "Heh. Someone up there must really want us all dead. Well..." And he has the gall to smirk. "I'll leave it in your hands, Suou..."
And after that, he moves swiftly, giving chase after the departing gang members. If he's a hound after his prey, though, will he be able to catch them in time? And... will he, even with a Persona, be able to handle them alone?
Katsuya has far more pressing problems, the strangeness of 'Scion's' commentary aside. "Enough, if you will not release her now... Persona!"
Helios makes his entrance onto the stage of 'reality' and a snap of his claws, he sends a beam of light rocketing towards 'the Groom'.
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Light skill Kouha on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 108 Light damage from Katsuya Suou's Kouha. Weak! AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Recovery skill Invincible General on Hyousuke Suzuki and Yukari Takeba! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi is silent throughout all the rest of the chatter, fixing her gaze--maybe the intensity of her attention can be felt, even if her exact eyeline can't be spotted--on Yukari.
Out comes the Evoker. Bang it goes, from Yukari Io rises, to drain her spirit. Still she doesn't move. "I wonder... do your hands still tremble at all?" she asks, deathly quiet, despite the battle kicking into gear around them. "Or have you grown accustomed to it?"
She pivots her attention to Hyousuke. "It was not I who dragged him in that day," she says simply. Which is perfectly true.
But at the threat to tear through her, she only lets out a single, contemptuous chuckle. "... You may try."
But she takes the initiative instead, flinging herself forward as she lunges straight for Yukari with the point of her rapier, then steps deftly to the side to take a wide cut right for Hyousuke's side.
AS: Weapon! Remi Ryuuja has used the Pierce skill Balestra on Yukari Takeba! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Remi Ryuuja has used the Slash skill Moulinet on Hyousuke Suzuki! 2 Hits! AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 5 Slash damage from Remi Ryuuja's Moulinet. AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 10 Slash damage from Remi Ryuuja's Moulinet.
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 5 Pierce damage from Remi Ryuuja's Balestra. AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 61 Pierce damage from Remi Ryuuja's Balestra. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Scion's hood has little slits in it to let those antenna poke out, to either side of her head; they're tipped with pearls which swirl with pink energy, when the Bride transmits messages through them. Is that why they're being broadcast to everyone?
Questions for later.
Those antenna light up, with pink swirling power, as the Bride transmits -- apparently she picked up Yukari's words, from wherever she's scanning from -- "I will not fight you myself. Neither should I like to leave the girl to fight alone." This is, at least, something Yukari knows to not always be true...
... because when Reiya and Aigis fought her, there were no antenna poking out.
Scion, on the other hand, waves to Yukari and says: "Hi! I'm Scion! Well, y'know, that's not my name, but it's my SEEEECRET fake name for murders! Don't worry, though, I won't skin the cat, I was just curious. Like, he's a pet, right?" He -- she's thinking of a specific cat?!
"They wander," the Bride agrees, with Umie-in-a-mask, and says it with such surety that she may wonder whether her bluff has truth to it, "and are lost. Your life wanes... these halls ill comfort you." What, is she concerned?
The really concerning thing is that with this club as horrific as it is right now -- and clearly altered in the process -- it's going to be really hard to make any charges stick... if any of you can even find the way back here, coming around a second time. Baofu will have a hell of a time getting out, but then again, he's used to his time being Hell...
(Mercifully, Katsuya will note, with his expert homicide-beat eye: Noriko is unconscious, but still breathing, and perhaps by sheer luck Scion dropped her somewhere she's unlikely to get hit by friendly fire.)
"Whoaaah!" Scion gasps, as a clockwork Persona rises up. "So cool, so cool! Are you a robot, too?!" She says that while she's hopping back -- but Yuuki's rapier catches her and throws her to the ground, anyway.
Yuuki may note, then: Scion is. That's steel, under there.
It's made more obvious for the onlooker as jets right her, bringing upright again. "This is GREAT!" Scion says, and her grin is audible. "First we got to fight that Joker girl, and she fought sooo long before we got her down! She had so many dirty tricks!" There is a sense, held in fate... that you have avoided a terrifying boss fight now Noriko's unconscious. "And now, and now! We get to fight you guys! Like, you!" She points at Yuuki, emphatically. Point, point! "I know you! You're --!"
"Shroud to obscurity the origin," those antenna light up, again, with another pink swirl, as the Bride transmits a message through Scion. A light pause, and: "Sh-sh-sh."
"Oh, right," Scion grins, rubbing a hand at the back of her hood. "Oops. Okay, sooo... you! You! I've never seen you around!" She points at Magus, instead. "'Today, we're on the same side'... that's soooo cool! Hey, can I steal that?" She... seems to be asking genuinely.
"Whoa, humans bite people?! Show me show me show me!!!" That's -- that's probably not what the warning was supposed to do. Scion just sounds so jazzed. "Yeah! Violence time! Violence time! Do the crime for the violence time!!"
Magus charges her, and she just about gets to say, "two blades? That's so cool," --
-- CLASH! Clatter! With the sharp ring of a critical hit, Scion hits the ground again!
"Wow, you're tough!" Scion grins, as she picks herself up. "Rapier and saber, just like--!" She cuts herself off before she can betray Auntie Remi and Mimama over there, with the lingering feeling that this girl is a walking opsec nightmare. (Let us take a moment to wonder how much damage Baofu could wreak here if he wasn't such a dubious ally...) Instead, she points, emphatically, to Tsurugi and the Groom. "You know!!!"
"I don't get weapons," she says, and her pout is audible. "But that's okay! That's why I got my little buddy!" (The little robo-saur wags his pangolin tail.) "Instead, I got... a physical paling! Let's see what else you guys can do! Summoning!"
Her Persona -- it's strangely organic, at its core, a beast like a lion which is plated with armour and steel to create a strange cyborgian menace. She does not name Guardian, as it roars, a spectral wall slamming down before her. Its attention moves to Magus and Yuuki, before it fades -- bringing down bolts of lightning on them both!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Elec skill Mazio on Yuuki Hoshizora and Misato Fushihara! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Line Guard on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Take! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Yua Ijuuin's Line Guard. | Phys_Safety applied!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yuuki Hoshizora takes 112 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Mazio. AS: Avoid Neutral! Misato Fushihara takes 106 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Mazio. Critical Hit! | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They have teeth, and they bite. Miyu inclines her head to Magus. "I would expect nothing less. Scion, be careful."
Umie bites back, and the Groom turns towards her. Under her mask, her eyes cannot be seen--but there may nevertheless be a sense that she is scrutinizing Umie. "What you do away from me is not my problem," she says simply. "And it is not luck but skill that sees your comrades absent."
Badb passes on the exhaustion, and Miho feels her arm try to sag. "A clever gambit," Miyu says. "We shall see if it is enough."
But he looks towards the others. "You will see her returned if you are strong enough," Miyu half-agrees with Katsuya. "But I would be careful. If she awakens..."
They'll have trouble.
Baofu leaves--and true to her word, Miyu lets him go without trying to stop him. It's not her problem what happens from there.
Katsuya strikes first--his Persona comes forth, and a beam of light sears into Miyu's armor. The Groom turns to let her off-side take it, rather than her sword arm, and hisses a breath in return as she's knocked to one knee for a moment.
"Magic is not how you will defeat me," Miyu says as a sudden spectral wall slams down in front of the Groom, like metal plates stacking on metal plates--before it disappears into invisibility. The Groom rises.
BGM: FF14 Endwalker OST - On Blade's Edge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSJOc9pPBcU
"FAUST!" Miyu calls forth her Persona, and the figure in plague doctor's garb hefts a blade--and hacks forward, before a whirling blitz of scythes crashes around Umie and Katsuya both. ...None target Umie's injured arm, as it happens.
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Gale Slash on Katsuya Suou and Umie Akabane! | Pressure: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Spell Guard on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Miho Ijuuin's Spell Guard. Safety! Magical damage reduced! | Magi_Safety applied!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Achilles rises and she feels herself bolstered for the battle to come, "Thanks, Suzuki-san!"
She remembers Tsurugi from the Warehouse, but also that weird thing that Hyousuke brings up- the Magical Girl demons.
'Do your hands still tremble at all?'
"... Don't ask stupid questions."
Of course they do. But that doesn't matter.
Tsurugi leaps at her, and that rapier cuts in once, as she sidesteps, then the second one catches her jacket, snagging in the fabric and tearing down the side.
"You're between us and a girl who in no way deserves whatever you psychos have planned for her."
A beat.
"MOVE!"
And Io responds to that, with simplicity itself. By raising an arm- and trying to make that happen. With one repeated blast of shredding wind after another.
Because she remembers from last time they fought. That while Tsurugi uses wind magic- she has no special resistance to it, not bending like the willow.
But breaking if you strike her hard enough.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Consecutive Garula on Remi Ryuuja! 2 Hits!
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
"It... it certainly does," Yuuki says with a soft sigh. She rolls her neck, once, before she nods; her back gets a little straighter, and she forges ahead with more purpose. At least one person, she thinks, will be watching her.
It isn't much longer before they're facing off against Scion and the others.
"Only for today...?" Yuuki says, with a glance at Misato. That prompts a moment of hesitation, before she shakes her head. "...I won't hold back here, either!"
She rushes in for Scion, and she asks if Yuuki is also a robot.
"...No," she says. "Wait--'too?'"
Yuuki's eyes blink once, then twice. Did--did she mishear?
But the impact of her rapier was all wrong. And she--she has heard about Yuuki, too? She looks sideways at Magus. "She--she seems to be some sort of automaton, or--that can't be possible!"
The lion-like Persona sends out a wave of lightning. It hits Yuuki, blasting her back with a spray of sparks and the stink of ozone. She flies backward and lands in a three point stance. Her eyes glance at Tsurugi, then the Groom.
"They're effective weapons," she says. "But--please! Just... give her back! We need to see her to safety!"
She looks at Magus, a sidelong glance. "I'll make an opening!"
She throws her hand out. Light flashes -- shooting up Scion and her robo-dinosaur both. It washes over them, then drains away into a black and white static -- and pulls at their very defenses while at it.
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 30 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Gale Slash. AS: Persona! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Almighty skill Marakunda on Yua Ijuuin! | Pressure: Yuuki Hoshizora gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yuuki Hoshizora spends Limit on Shift! Misato Fushihara can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 221 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Gale Slash. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Tsurugi's chuckle was met with a low, warning, growl. The muscles around the mask twitched and shifted as his lips curled into something more beast than man, and he fixed her with a glare so fraught with burning anger that it threatened to melt straight through his mask.
"Gonna do more than try." He threatened, mind leaping between snatching the shotgun off his side and launching himself at her instead. "I'm gonna rip my way through, and there's not a goddamn thing you can do to stop me." Was it determination that plagued his mind? Rage? A melding of both? Whatever it was, it fuelled him like a coal fire, hot and choking.
Hyousuke blocked the first strike, shifting away while his guard tightened inwards. It carved away a layer of skin, etching a thin line of crimson into his skin. The hiss that came after was more from surprise than pain - it was a flesh wound at most, but it had still caught him off guard. The second blow sank deeper, carving away a narrow stretch of flesh beneath his ribcage, but he was ready to counterattack that time. He took the strike, letting Tsurugi extend in, before summoning Achilles to strike down at her with a savage spearblow.
His Persona heaved the keen point down, making it descend towards her shoulder like a thunderbolt. It was not a killshot, but that made it no less savage.
"Takeba-san!" Hyousuke called out, backing up to try and form ranks with her, and leverage that mighty shield to protect them both. "We got a plan?" She was smarter than him, he thought. She'd certainly shown herself to be back at the park. If anyone had a strategy between them that extended beyond gratuitous violence, it was likely to be her.
AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Pierce skill Counterthrust on Remi Ryuuja! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Exploit! Hyousuke Suzuki can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 41 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Consecutive Garula. | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Counter Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 118 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Consecutive Garula. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Yukari Takeba takes 63 Slash damage in return for her attack!
AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Shift! Yukari Takeba can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Marakunda. | Def_Dn (Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 99 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Counterthrust. AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Magaru on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Yukari Takeba cancels 1 attacks on Remi Ryuuja. AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 38 Wind damage from #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE's Magaru. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
"We'll see." Magus replies to Yuuki. "I usually work alone."
...She says that, but in this past week she's done a lot of fighting alongside others. Is she just trying to sound cool??
She says she won't hold back, though, so Magus nods.
"Good. Against people like this... that might cost you your life." She says. Miyu, meanwhile, expects nothing less. Magus nods back. "Good. Then we have an understanding."
Scion introduces herself. Or rather, her 'secret fake name for murders'.
"...You're very direct, aren't you?" Magus notes. In more ways than one - she hears the way she asks if Yuuki is a robot too. That implies... Scion is a robot?
That's... really cool. She never thought she'd fight a robot some day. It's not visible on her face, but... she's definitely glad she decided to follow up on what Anna said.
"I think we're far beyond the veil of possibility at this point." Magus comments, with a glance toward Yuuki. "If a nightclub can become a labyrinth... a girl can be a robot. It doesn't change what we have to do."
Scion comments on her next, having never seen her around.
"I keep a low profile." She explains without explaining. Her question, though... Magus pauses. She does sound genuine, and that's the part that slows her down. "...Sure. Knock yourself out."
As for biting... Magus smirks.
"Sorry. I think I'd break my teeth if I bit you." She comments with a shrug.
And she thinks her dual-wielding is cool! Magus smirks - but she doesn't have a chance to comment, as what she says next forces her to reconsider her next move.
Her attention turns to the guardian with her. ...It looks like a cute toy - but a 'physical paling'... A barrier? So her weapons are a no-go, unless she wants to stab at a wall. And more than that - Magus tries to leap aside as lightning crashes down... but it catches her regardless. She feels a strong jolt run through her body and her hands trouble. Even without that paling, it'll be hard to fight like this...
Yuuki, though, says she'll make an opening.
"...Then I'll put it to good use." She decides, then reaches for her mask. "Nitocris!"
Behind her, a regal woman in Egyptian royal garb appears.
"If you want to see what else I can do... then I'll oblige. Let's see how well you've been waterproofed." Magus says. Nitocris raises a hand upward - and a geyser of water races up toward Scion!
...And then, a smirk crosses Nitocris's face. The geyser, whether it hits or not, forms into a sphere and looms over the battlefield.
Nothing seems to happen yet, but... for now, it hangs there ominously.
AS: Persona! Misato Fushihara has used the Almighty skill Delayed Gratification on Yua Ijuuin! | Pressure: Misato Fushihara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Misato Fushihara has used the Water skill Aqua on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Misato Fushihara's Delayed Gratification. | Omen (Damage in 2 rounds!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 78 Water damage from Misato Fushihara's Aqua. | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi also does not want Scion to skin that particular cat. But honestly she's not sure whether to be worried or not for Scion's enthusiasm. (Or, perhaps, continued enthusiasm, considering.)
'Rapier and saber, just like--!'
"Scion!" Tsurugi snaps. There is a brief pause as she considers, and her tone is stern but not quite as sharp. "... the less we reveal of ourselves, the stronger our position."
'... Don't ask stupid questions.'
"... I see," is all Tsurugi says in reponse.
She's in between them and the girl, who doesn't deserve it. "So you would spare her, despite her transgressions?"
It's true. Tsurugi's resistance is not to the magic she wields--it is to the weapon she fights with. She sidesteps the first of those Garulas, wind sheering across her body as it passes by, but then tries to plunge directly into the second to strike at Yukari again--and takes the worse end of the exchange, being blasted back.
And she is not ready for when the Counterthrust comes, taking the hit dead on and clutching at her chest. "Ripping now, are we? So violent..." She glares at Hyousuke for a moment. "Take care, that your vitriol does not consume you."
Is she giving advice now?? Or is she trying to piss him off more? (It's both.)
Then she snatches up her own Evoker and puts it to her head in one smooth motion, her voice a bit dull as she says, "Persona."
Broken glass and blue fire hail the rise of an androgynous figure in a red straightjacket, clutching a chipped rapier through the sleeve, the remainder left dangling. La Maupin raises their hand towards Tsurugi, and winds burst out from her feet and wrap around her to help restore some of that lost mobility.
"You shall not pass!" She declares, as she holds her rapier out to touch La Maupin's. A bright, burning blade explodes where they touch, traveling down the rapiers and down their bodies to spill on the floor around them. "Scorching Wrath!"
Persona and User surge forward in tandem, both leaving gouts of flame in their wakes as they swing at Hyousuke and Yukari in coordinated strikes as they trade targets before retreating.
Once delivered, Tsurugi darts back and pulls an item from a pouch on her back. She lets out a faint hiss through clenched teeth as she mends some of her wounds.
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Broad! AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Almighty skill Masukukaja on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Take! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Almighty damage from Remi Ryuuja's Masukukaja. | Spd_Dn removed!
AS: Tandem! Remi Ryuuja has used the Fire skill Scorching Wrath on Yukari Takeba and Hyousuke Suzuki! 3 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Medicine! +75 HP to Remi Ryuuja! AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 28 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 28 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 38 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 58 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 58 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 10 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Scorching Wrath. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miyu tells Scion to be careful, and Scion chirps: "Okey-dokey!"
But Yuuki... is not a robot. "Awwww..." Scion pouts. "So it's just that girl with the ninja so far... she was soooo cool, though! Did you know there's more than one place makin' robots?! For real, she was WAY different, like she kinda looked the same but she had SO many cool weapons!"
Scion pauses, looking to Tsurugi as she reminds her to zip it!!!
"Ahahaha, oh, right," she says, her grin audible. "That's more oh-pie-es-kee, right?" She... she probably means 'opsec'. "Right, right, secret fighting... okay," she looks back to Magus and Yuuki, "if you can just like, totally forget all that? Thanks a lot!"
It's apparently possible, but... this girl doesn't sound like a robot.
Here comes Marakunda, though -- and Scion hops up and down as it falls over them. "Hey, hey! I know that trick, but like, the opposite trick! Ahhhh, but if I use opposite Rakunda, I won't get to see what you guys are setting up... mouuuuu!!"
Is she messing around?!
"Your buddy's so cool though," she says, pointing to Magus again. "'I usually work alone'... like, that's totally something the adults would say!" Another helpful point at Tsurugi and the Groom. She turns to Magus, as she adds: "I like to keep things easy, so I just say whatever comes to my head instead of worryin' about it! I guess that is pretty direct, huh?"
She adds, though: "But I'm not knockin' myself out. I wanna see you guys knock me out. If you don't, I'll just grab you, too, soooo... kari-chikiyun!" That's more Okinawan, but she translates, helpfully: "Y'know, good luck!"
Water, though --
Water and water and water and water crashes down over her, despite the way she hops back -- and she does fritz a little bit, but it seems to have more to do with the paralysing force of the water than any mechanical fault. (That paralysis handily stops her from looking up to see where the water went...) "I love the water!" Scion declares, when she's figured out movement again. "I always sink, though... maaan, I wanna swim, too!"
Those pearls swirl pink, as the Bride transmits: "Beware! Her ways misaligned to behind!"
"Eh?" Scion asks, looking around, behind herself, and still not up.
"Stay still," the Bride's voice echoes. "Gretchen, aid her!"
Those pearls reflect an indistinct maiden in white, for a moment, in their pink swirl, as an energy is channeled through Scion -- and, it seems, with Scion acting as a relay there's a few things the Bride can do to help even now she's tucked away. (That energy's definitely going through her, though, there's no doubt about it... so defeating Scion should take care of it!) The power which washes over Scion isn't Scion's Persona... nevertheless, it shrouds her in dim light, the darkness healing some of that damage she's taken.
"Thanks, Yu-mi!" Let's pretend that's just Scion being cute and not Scion tripping over a name the Bride doesn't want publicised. "Okay... time to show you guys a cool trick! If I reroute some subroutines, I think I can get both of ya... hey, hey, you know what I heard?"
She gestures, animatedly. "I heard that if you get hit by a powerful enough shock, electricity can make you Sick! Come on out!"
Once again, she calls Guardian forth, as that strange, metal-bound lion dances across the battlefield -- and ferocious bolts of electricity follow. Hey, this isn't just 'Zionga'... it's HYPER Zionga!
AS: Yua Ijuuin spends Limit on Broad!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Why *does* Umie wear a mask? A delightful question for another time.
"Of course I'm certain. I'm perfectly fine," she assures, wiggling the fingers of her left hand where they peek out of the sling. "I took a spill with an agent, is all. It's just a precaution." (Hint: It was Black Mask, aka Ruin.) Still, Umie does take a moment to look at Katsuya in the face, and nod. "... But I appreciate your concern." He's always been like that, hasn't he? Even if it annoyed his little brother...
====HORRIBLE DUNGEONS AND DEMON NEGOIATIONS===
"If that's not enough, I *might* have an extra egg sando with your name on it, if you're feeling hungry." Umie considers, right hand jerking as she tries to keep from lifting it up to mime an air of thoughtful consideration. "After all, I won't need it if I have a trouble-free way around those traps." She gives the demon a cheeky grin. "Satomi Tadashi has some good ones, don't they?" It's not really 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' here, but if Katsuya's politeness doesn't hit the spot, a bit of transactional business may work better.
In the end, it's skill, not luck, that allows them all to persevere, as Miho would later say...
====NOW====
Umie was so focused that she overlooked those commands about the police. To her, it was a given, and maybe to Katsuya, it's the same, but... Umie's gaze softens as she looks at Katsuya's back, unable to figure out what to say.
Or... there *is* something she could say.
"Just focus in and keep going, Katsuya-san," Umie murmurs. "... You're the member of the law here, not them." That is, the law that Katsuya looks towards, not the one that would see that as a means to wrestle control from others for selfish reasons.
In other words, the ones that have sided with the Order's aims. Umie looks at the Groom. "We know where to take her before that happens."
Katsuya's feline Persona strikes Miyu, and Umie steps back in her excitement, playing the playful crow following the ambushing house cat.
Umie shakes her head as Miyu shields herself and her allies. "There's more than one way around your lo--"
Ah. That was bad.
Miho's care does avoid Umie's sling, even when Umie reflexively moves to avoid it. Unfortunately, that isn't what slows Umie down, but the fractured clavicle, which also isn't the whole of Umie's injuries, being a common sort of injury that can happen.
What isn't so common is the mostly healed (thanks Persona!) bullet wound, hidden well underneath her coat and clothing. Was Miyu... avoiding her sling? And the Bride, where her comments earlier that of concern?
.... Why would they be concerned about her?
Getting up with an obvious, slowed speed, Umie swallows the sharp ache in her voice. ".... To continue what I said... _Persona_!"
Badb remerges, slinging a set of black balls of energy with a red smile: intending to lapse Miyu's exhaustion into rage, and..... quickly reversing that, for Katsuya (and her) sakes. "Keep going!"
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Elec skill Hyper Zionga on Misato Fushihara and Yuuki Hoshizora! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Deep Shroud - Gretchen's Calling on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Take! Yua Ijuuin takes 157 Recovery healing from Yua Ijuuin's Deep Shroud - Gretchen's Calling. | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Warrior's Bell on Miho Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Soul Break on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Medicine! +75 HP to Umie Akabane! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yuuki Hoshizora takes 109 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Hyper Zionga. | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) and Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added! AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Warrior's Bell. Safety! Magical damage reduced! | Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added! Exhaust removed! Explosion! 59 damage!
AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Soul Break. Safety! Magical damage reduced! | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added! Rage removed! Explosion! 59 damage!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Misato Fushihara takes 110 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Hyper Zionga. | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) and Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added! <Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Katsuya looks at Umie, steely, there in those moments outside Club Zodiac. Is he doubting this on some level? "I see..." he answers her. In their current situation perhaps, he can't turn away help, and he does know how her Persona works.
-------
He doesn't answer Umie's encouragement, not now. His focus remains for the moment on Yung Pao. And then all hell breaks loose, in a sense of the term.
And once again, they've been abandoned by Baofu...
In this moment, it's none of Katsuya's concern. More immediate is Noriko's condition: after a moment's steady observation, he can confirm that she's breathing, and her body betrays none of the concerning signs that might alert him to a more serious condition. If what the NWO operatives are saying is true... as a Joker, Noriko gave them quite the struggle. He's not certain how he feels about that.
Is there, vaguely, a sense of relief? If she was difficult enough for all of them to fight, after all. Besides, he's not loving the idea of fighting with a girl of school-going age, even if she's possessed by a curse brought on by a wayward rumor. It just feels unseemly.
Also, fortunately, she was dropped over there, while the action is ensuing over here. Absent some true carelessness, she should be fine where she is. Moving to her right now, he thinks, might attract their attention. Better he doesn't do that as long as she's there, even if he would feel better if she weren't in this room in the first place.
And Miho, or rather, Miyu, says that they can have her back, if they win. However, they'll want to take care.
That she doesn't awaken again, that is.
...So they'll want to take her to the Velvet Room immediately, if they get through this. No, he corrects himself. Amano would say, 'when they get through this'.
"I understand," he tells Miyu. "Simply being knocked unconscious isn't enough.
Magic, though, is not how he'll defeat her, and Katsuya, understanding what she means through bitter experience of his own, nods. "Akabane-kun... leave this to me!"
Or so he would have proceeded, if Miyu had not at that moment directed that raging gale of blades at him. Bringing his police firearm up as the only thing he has other than his Persona to shield him, he's able to divert one of those conjured weapons with a lucky strike.
"Akabane-kun, are you all right?!"
She's already injured, and she's just been hit again, after all.
But she, drawing on her own Persona's power, exhorts him to keep going. Katsuya pauses but a moment and then, nodding, doesn't hesitate any longer.
"If it's to save that girl, then-- prepare yourself!"
And that's when he shoots at Miyu.
AS: Weapon! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Handgun - Suppression Fire on Miho Ijuuin! 2 Hits! AS: Block Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 29 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Suppression Fire. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 18 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Handgun - Suppression Fire. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
"Mm."
Yuuki tries to sound neutral. But, a little disappointment slips into her voice regardless. She does glance at Magus -- and then she nods at her assessment. "You're right. We have to get Noriko-san back."
She watches Magus and Nitocris go to work. Yuuki has sparred against her -- it's different seeing her in action. The confidence is impressive.
She blinks, a little cluelessly, at Scion.
"I--um. What?"
She seems at a loss for words -- and she shakes her head sharply, before the Bride grants her assistance -- and summons Guardian, who summons a veritable storm of electricity. "Move!" she shouts to Magus. A bolt of lightning flies in.
It catches Yuuki mid-leap. She gets slammed backward, with another spray of sparks and a stink of ozone. She pushes herself to her feat, her breathing more ragged. "You... you want us to knock you out?"
She kicks off the ground. Then she is leaping through the air -- no, she is falling. She falls towards the wall on the other side, slamming into the decorations and making them rattle. Yuuki bicycle kicks off it to come at Scion from the side.
Both hands grip her rapier. She grits her teeth, as she hurtles towards the robot -- and once again, she is falling. This time, the opposite wall is 'down' for her.
Which means she is falling at Scion's side, coming in blindingly fast.
"HyaaaaaAAAAAAAH!"
AS: Tandem! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Earth skill Delta V on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Yuuki Hoshizora gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tyrrha and Remi will have to fend for themselves; Miho has done her best to prepare Tyrrha, and Remi she trusts... but she has her own opponents to deal with, now.
That being Umie and Katsuya. She notes the mask, of course. And she notes that Umie was about to say something about her--lo? Logic?
Miyu does not reveal why she'd be concerned. She simply continues.
But Umie indeed has... an approach. Badg emerges, and those energies sap Miyu's--she feels rage, all of a sudden, burning and building within her, and just as quickly feels that same exhaustion that got her before. While physically she does not move, under her mask she grits her teeth. It is an assault on the senses, and on her adrenaline.
"That is correct," Miyu answers Katsuya when she recovers, that unconsciousness is not enough. She doesn't comment as to whether Umie's all right--instead, at a distance, she finds herself aimed at--
No hesitation. Miyu cannot dodge bullets--but she can rely on her armor. The first bullet hits her dead center, in her vest--but it hits hard, knocking the wind out of her. The second she moves to dodge, but it grazes her arm, and there is blood there, not just red flame.
"Then this is how far you would go for her... Is it because you know her? Or is it because it is 'wrong' that we hold her?"
"Is it your heart or your mind that sees you fight us?"
"...Regardless, I am prepared." Then, she raises her blade in salute. "Faust! Come forth!"
REd light shines as Faust reappears--to swing her long knife at Katsuya and Helios, hacking down across. Then, Miyu pulls out a talisman and snaps it, her exhaustion fading in an instant as she uses the item.
Then she lunges across the battlefield; as her PErsona strikes at Katsuya, Miho herself hacks forward at Umie. She goes for her good arm, slices there, at her torso, at her hand--
Nothing lethal, once again. But it may hurt indeed.
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Fatal End on Katsuya Suou! AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Salve! Exhaust removed from Miho Ijuuin! AS: Weapon! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Sabre Rush on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits! AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 10 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Sabre Rush. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 10 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Sabre Rush. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 10 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Sabre Rush. Critical Hit! AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Brace! AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 72 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Fatal End. <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Consume me?" Hyousuke asked, half-snarling as he continued his advance for the sake of keeping pressure up on her. Counterthrust had landed a clean hit, and he would have been a fool to not try and capitalise on whatever opening it granted. "It's gonna consume YOU. It's gonna break you!" Her advice seemed to not just have fallen on deaf ears. She'd given it to someone that seemed to revel in his own hot-blooded fury, letting it burn in him and spur him ever forwards. But even those flames were not hot enough to overwhelm those that came crashing down on him and Yukari.
Achilles took the first blow, but Hyousuke's command to block it came too late. The edge scored a blackened mark across his chest, singing fabric and skin alike. The second, he tried to redirect, but his arm took another blow, and another heated trench was carved into him. The third one, he tried again to block, but his other arm took a matching slice instead, sending him staggering backwards in shock and pain. Rather than make it back down, however, Tsurugi's hail of blows only seemed to have stoked his fires even further.
Once he regained his balance and refocussed, Hyousuke drew in front of Yukari, once more calling the general to the fore. Once he was certain she was shielded by both his body and a sheer wall of bronze, he spoke, though did not dare take his eyes off of Tsurugi.
"This is taking too long. We let that asshole keep hitting us like this, we'll never get her out in time. We need to break through - if you think you can do it, I'll cover you and give you strength. We *can't* let this drag on."
Beneath the thin veneer of rational and tactical thought was recklessness, impatience, and aggression. The ever-burning desire to push onwards and break through with little more than brute force. But perhaps brute force was what they needed for such a foe. He certainly seemed to think so as he called upon Achilles, and entrusted the power of that favoured warrior to Yukari.
AS: Hyousuke Suzuki has initiated a fusion spell! The spell still requires 1 Strong attacks, 1 Limit, and Wind! Anyone can join! AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 7 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Delta V. Safety! Physical damage reduced! AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 38 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Delta V. Critical Hit! Safety! Physical damage reduced! AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 23 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Delta V. Safety! Physical damage reduced!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
'Takeba-san!'
"Yeah!?" She looks Hyousuke's way.
'We got a plan?'
"Uhhhh..." A pause, then, "... win?"
Nobody ever claimed for her to be a leader within SEES, her most of all.
'So you would spare her, despite her transgressions?'
"So you wouldn't?" Yukari Takeba counters with, as if to her that were the more important questions, "Why do you even want her? There's no way this is about 'justice' to someone like you."
Someone like you.
Someone who just aided and abetted murder in a warehouse. Someone who attacked a school and was aiding a guy who shot a librarian.
'You shall not pass!'
"... You won't stop me."
As Persona and User come at her, both swinging flaming wrath in tandem, Io intercepts, a bull's horn parrying the other Persona's blade, long enough for Yukari to get away. The girl atop the Persona is scorched.
But Io protects Yukari without complaint. Perhaps because whatever screams she has are silent, just like the person she belongs to, for so long.
Then, Hyousuke steps in front of her and-
"Wait, give me strength, do you mean... that, fusion thing?" Her amber eyes suddenly grow wide, "H-Hey you can't just ask something like that out of nowhere!"
Unfortunately, Yukari Takeba has only fused once before. With her crush, Minato Arisato, which as a teenager means her mind can only think of one thing.
"... Ugngh- you have a point though. Fine."
Achilles glows, and so too does Io, in synch.
It happens in a way akin to simplicity itself. Achilles throws Io a Lance, who catches it in a current of wind. Then turning end over end, it suddenly rockets upwards as if firing far beyond the rooftop of the club.
Only to descend in one massive strike. The lance coming down at supersonic speed thanks to the boost it's been given, slamming into Tsurugi if they're not careful.
Before the winds churn out as one giant, eruption, in a riotous column of wind that will slam them against the roof, if they're not careful.
Then, Io spreads out a hand, and a healing fresh scented breeze spreads out between Achilles and her.
"L-Let's just not make a habit of this without planning ahead next time."
AS: Yukari Takeba has joined Hyousuke Suzuki's fusion spell! The spell still requires 1 Limit! Anyone can join! AS: Hyousuke Suzuki has initiated a fusion spell! The spell still requires 1 Strong attacks, 1 Limit, and Wind! Anyone can join! AS: Yukari Takeba has joined Hyousuke Suzuki's fusion spell! The spell is ready! AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on Yukari Takeba and Hyousuke Suzuki! | Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 142 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media. AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba and Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Wind skill Forceful Fury on Remi Ryuuja! 2 Hits! AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 115 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media. AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Recovery skill Form Ranks on Yukari Takeba! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 81 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Form Ranks. | Cover applied!
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
"'Noriko-san'... I see. That's right - that's what's on the line right now." Magus replies to Yuuki with a nod. Misato already knows Noriko's name, going to the same school and being aware of her reputation - but Magus shouldn't.
'The girl with the ninja'? So there are more robots out there... A lot more, from what she says about other places.
Also, ninjas, apparently.
'Oh-pie-es-kee'... It takes Magus a second. Scion's not great at keeping secrets, is she...
"Don't worry. I've already forgotten about it." She lies.
Scion says she's cool again. ...She's not used to fighting an enemy like this. Usually they're after her head... but it seems like everything she does makes Scion just all the more excited to keep fighting. She doesn't hate it... but it takes some getting used to.
"Very.." Magus comments. The comment about knocking her out, though...
"That makes things easier for us, doesn't it?" She asides to Yuuki. "It just means we get to do her a favor."
Scion, it seems, has indeed been waterproofed. She loves water, in fact! But the Bride's comment... She recognizes what she did? And more than that, that power that goes through Scion...
"So you're working through her..." Magus notes. To be able to do that from a distance - at least she assumes, that must mean she's quite capable.
But so is Scion with her Guardian. Yuuki tells her to move and Magus leaps back, bracing herself - but she isn't able to get out of the way fully. The Hyper Zionga strikes her, sending her crashing to the ground. She does feel a little ill, in addition to the way her body refuses to move properly... It becomes harder to keep her focus on Nitocris.
But with a grunt of effort, she forces herself to her feet. For as light as her tone is, Scion's pretty dangerous.
As Yuuki attacks directly, Magus supports from a range. She starts to walk, trying to circle Scion - and as she walks, she leaves herself behind.
Images of Magus, illusions, trying to confuse and distract her as she draws upon Nitocris's power to obfuscate her presence.
"...Let me return the favor." Magus calls. She takes the pain she's feeling now and gathers it up - and with a push of her hand, Nitocris sends it toward Scion in a wave of force.
AS: Misato Fushihara spends Limit on Exploit! Misato Fushihara can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Misato Fushihara has used the Almighty skill Falsify on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Persona! Misato Fushihara has used the Wind skill Vengeful Zanma on Yua Ijuuin! | Pressure: Misato Fushihara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 20 Wind damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Forceful Fury. AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 118 Wind damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Forceful Fury. AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Misato Fushihara's Falsify. | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) and Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 109 Wind damage from Misato Fushihara's Vengeful Zanma.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
There is a cloudy mess of memories, some warm recollections of friends coming to her aid, and others not so great, that happened during the last time Umie faced someone cursed with the Joker.
Being unconscious is not enough insurance.
"Right. We'll make it quick. Justice can come later." There are likely a few people who would have clenched at the sound of those words, but none of them are in the room right now, right?
'We', after Katsuya told Umie to leave it to him, for good reason: namely, he has a weapon.
Umie can't leave Katsuya to shoulder all of it now that Baofu's left. Especially not after her spill, when he spends extra seconds seeing if she's okay. To his credit, however, he understands her command to keep going.
Umie can't dodge bullets either, so she understand on some level, a corner of her eyes twitching at the sound of Katsuya's gun firing. It's not enough to keep Miyu from coming in for a counterattack, however, but this time, Umie is ready.
After all, Umie needs to keep up her end of it, and allow Katsuya to focus on ensuring Noriko's safety, as well as answer Miyu's question, if he chooses.
Arms held close, Umie weaves from one slash to the next, her feet turning away like she was performing a dance, her face held in a grimace of pure concentration.
After that, it all ceases to matter: the pain, the memories (or lack thereof), rumors, Joker Killers, displaced ships, and fear.
"That's it... Keep going!" The Badb in Umie has no time for injuries, only violence.
"You might be fast, but you can't keep that up for long!" the hooded girl chides, as Badb spins into being behind her. "Badb!"
With the crow of the battlefield in play, what comes is the sink and ancient unsteadiness of the mire, threatening to slow and weiogh the Groom's ankles to the floor.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Water skill Howling Mire on Miho Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 19 Water damage from Umie Akabane's Howling Mire. Critical Hit! Safety! Magical damage reduced! | Spd_Dn (Avoid Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi has to fight to keep herself from sighing. "... Yes. It is a matter of 'opsec'," she says, as both an answer and a reminder of the proper way to say it.
But Scion wants to see what they're setting up so doesn't use 'opposite Rakunda'. "Fight to your utmost, Scion--remember our objective."
"My, my... 'Break me', is it? I see the hound has turned rabid, then... How savage." One might imagine her saying that in a teasing, almost sing-song tone... but she doesn't. It's as flat and stoic as anyting she says.
There's no way this is about justice, to someone like her, Yukari says. "... no, it is not. There is no justice in this world save for what those with power can claim for themselves or impose on others. The rest of us are merely tethered with leashes to their whims."
But they propose combining their power-- "Another fusion, then." Another!? Well, she's counting the one from Kasugayama. But she's already shifting her stance, preparing to evade whatever comes next.
The lance comes diving down at supersonic speeds, and Tsurugi throws herself backwards, rolling into arms crossed in front of her to shield herself from the buffeting winds-- but it's the seocnd strike that ensnares her instead, tossing her like a doll up to slam at the roof. There is a sharp crack of impact, but Tsurugi barely makes a sound as she starts falling to the ground.
It's La Maupin who steps up to catch her and gingerly set her down, where she falls into a kneel for a moment. She's panting, and clearly winded. "I see... then... I will not relent."
She throws a hand forward to shout, "Agilao!" La Maupin raises a hand, and a giant explosions of flames erupts at at Hyousuke's location. Then Tsurugi pushes into running from her kneeling position and then leaps, slashing out at Yukari while still in the air, and when she lands there is a second follow-up strike from the dagger she pulls out of the sheath on her back.
AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Fire skill Agilao on Hyousuke Suzuki! AS: Weapon! Remi Ryuuja has used the Slash skill Flunge on Yukari Takeba! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Counter Best! Yukari Takeba takes 40 Slash damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flunge. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Remi Ryuuja takes 48 Slash damage in return for her attack! Resist! | Cover! Hyousuke Suzuki takes half of the damage, 40!
AS: Counter Best! Yukari Takeba takes 40 Slash damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flunge. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Remi Ryuuja takes 48 Slash damage in return for her attack! Resist! | Cover! Hyousuke Suzuki takes half of the damage, 40!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
ELSEWHERE, IN IWATODAI:
Minato looks up from his history homework, blinking, blearily. "...?" He wonders, as he feels a shift in the universe...
... before the strange feeling passes, and he returns his gaze to the paper in front of him. "..."
Deciding he was hungry, he leaves the papers scattered on the dorm table as he goes to hunt for a snack.
ALRIGHT BACK TO HELL KIDS:
Miho doesn't have to worry about her new, innocently vicious daughter; Yua's keeping a special eye on her. She insisted, in fact... even though Noriko turning today is poor timing, for her. Luckily, Miho was able to insist, in turn, that she tuck herself away somewhere safe back there... and insist that Yua not take their opponents into herself too deeply, knowing the toll it can take.
"Insight aligned to action," the Bride's voice emanates from those pink-swirling pearl antenna, when Magus realises that Gretchen is working through Scion. "Through Scion do I See, my anchor and forward assault."
That -- that probably means Magus got it right.
"Welllll... see, it's tough, 'cuz, like... I wanna see how strong you guys are! Buuuut, we're supposed to actually win here. They said it was super important! Yeah, you remember!" She adds, saluting to Tsurugi, as she tries to remind her to actually win. "You guys see the bind I'm in?" Scion gestures, a touch haplessly. "I wish I could fight you guys just super casual, but everyone reckons that's too risky for some reason..."
'some reason' THE REASON IS YOU HAVE NO FILTER SCION THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET CONSPIRACY
But Yuuki leaps -- and falls with style! "Whoa!" Scion gasps, as she watches her fall towards the wall, and then towards her, and she turns and throws her mechanical arms up in an 'X' (hey, wait, that's a different Series --) to receive that hurtling blow! There is a horrible metallic scraping sound as she slides across the floor from the meteoric impact -- and with a final push, Yuuki scores another of those criticals which sends her tumbling down!
"Ahhh, you even did the cool yell!" She exclaims, as she rights herself, bouncing on her claws. "Just like in the cartoons..."
She looks to Magus, though, realising something. "Oh, yeah! I don't know your name! Hey, hey, what's your name! C'moooon, tell me. Tell meeeeeeeeeee. Like, you're super tough, keeping movin' after Hyper Zionga! You and Hoshizora-senpai, too!" S--senpai?! "Did you see her movin' around like gravity just decided to do her a favour?! SO cool!"
They're both cool...
And so, force pushes Scion back -- she braces against that, too, screeeech -- and something else sinks into her systems...
"Huh?" Scion blinks, looking down at herself, as her fingers twitch. "Hey, my systems are actin' weird... cool, I haven't had glitches for a while!" M--making the robot Sick is something that makes her feel like... she's glitching...?
"Ahhhh, that feels so weird! Hey, little buddy! Help a brother out!" Scion has a girl's voice, but apparently that won't stop her from using whatever terms of address she likes. (She's acting like a boy right now, she's pretty sure. Just don't ask her why she feels that way...)
Welwetes, the little raptor with a pangolin tail and a mane like a lion, says "rah!" as he activates, ambling over at a fast little whirr-whirr-jog to open his raptor-maw --
-- and CHOMP right onto Yuuki's ankle.
He resembles one of those cool remote-controlled toys that was all the rage a little while back... but he's got sharp teeth!!!
While he's doing that, Tyrrha is sorting out her movement. "All right!" She decides, having mostly figured out how to work with it, though it's taking some mental effort in the background to correct everything. "Hey, tell me how cool this looks, okay?" She adds, turning to Magus. "The adults are soooo cool with their swords, so I really have to up my intimidation game! Take a look -- come out!" That last one, to her Persona -- a thing she hasn't invoked with 'Persona', one notes, this whole time...
Guardian appears, and the metal plates bolted into its paws make for effective weapons, it seems, as it slices its claws and sends a shockwave-slice through the air towards Magus.
AS: Block Neutral! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 72 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Agilao. Critical Hit! AS: Weapon! Yua Ijuuin has used the Pierce skill Bite Order on Yuuki Hoshizora! 2 Hits! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Stunning Slice on Misato Fushihara! AS: Avoid Neutral! Misato Fushihara takes 45 Slash damage from Yua Ijuuin's Stunning Slice. | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yuuki Hoshizora takes 79 Pierce damage from Yua Ijuuin's Bite Order. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Yuuki Hoshizora takes 57 Pierce damage from Yua Ijuuin's Bite Order.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He'll have to swallow the need to see justice done. Leaving behind a schoolgirl to chase after criminals... no, he can't do it. He has to see her safe, first.
Katsuya shoots at her, twice. In so doing, what Katsuya confirms without a doubt is that Miyu is wearing body armor. That's not... good, he thinks. A shot at a limb is risky: miss, and he'll either not hit her at all, or risk striking another combatant in the room, and hitting a limb on a moving target with a handgun is a difficult attempt even in the best of circumstances. And all that's before he takes into account that she's also a Persona-user.
Worse, he's noticed that... she's pulling her own attacks. If she suddenly accelerated the situation here, things could become incredibly dicey. He might have to take a chance to ensure that Noriko remained unharmed.
But, as Miyu asks him, is he going to such lengths to rescue a girl like Noriko?
"As an officer, it's my duty to see her home safely," he tells her. "Wherever you take her... you can't guarantee her safety! None of the people who have been taken away have been returned, have they?"
He'd know it better than anyone else. Recently, haven't there been more people reported as missing as well? They had been told that the police were reviewing the cases, and searching for their loved ones, but...
Not a single person has been found. Not even a body. Not to Katsuya's knowledge. It's true, it's rare to find people who have gone missing more than a day or two, but... there's something wrong here.
If the police are involved with ensuring Joker cases go missing after a violent attack is reported, and, after someone's been vanished, they don't do anything but stall on missing persons cases, then what are the police--
He can't let himself finish that line of thinking. To go forward, right now, is to let himself lose his faith entirely.
Instead, Katsuya shakes his head, fixing Miyu with a gaze that could cut steel. "If you're the ones behind the disappearances, then I will ensure you return them, or answer for what you've done!"
It's then that Miyu's Persona responds with a blade of his own, hacking at him and his Persona in the same broad motion. Helios before him is able to slow the swing of her blade just enough that
it just cuts across his left shoulder and arm. He staggers back: yes, it could have been worse had he not used Helios like that. But it doesn't erase that he's been hit at all.
Keep going. They're not done yet.
"Helios!" he invokes, and here, his Persona draws as if from within its chest (or perhaps, just inside its jacket somehow) a turn-of-the-last century firearm. With the unerring precision of the solar deity whose concept it invokes, it unloads upon Miyu, firing shot after shot as if they were but rays of the sun.
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Torrent Shot on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits! AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 45 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot. AS: Block Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 21 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot. AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 23 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Torrent Shot. AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Hyousuke Suzuki can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Hyousuke Suzuki! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They'll make it quick. "We'll see." Umie can say that, but...
Miyu does not intend to let up. Umie is prepared for her counterattack at least, weaving through a master swordswoman's strokes with grace and aplomb. Only a dancer could do this, and only an adept dancer could do so so well. ...And if Umie's not? Maybe she should consider picking it up.
Badb sinks something into Miho; the lingering remnants of her shield prevent her falling, but she feels slower all of a sudden, unable to dodge as quickly.
Katsuya, though--
"Your 'duty'," Miyu repeats. "I respect duty. And indeed, I do not guarantee her safety--quite the opposite. She will very much remain unsafe, with us."
She points her sword tip-down at the ground. "Nevertheless, I will not release her into your care."
Miyu salutes with her blade once more. But this time, her Persona roars forth before her call, in a flash of red. Humming with power, Faust extends a hand--and light burns into being around Umie, gathering and gathering until it erupts into an explosion of blue nuclear flame.
Even as her Persona strikes, she lunges for Katsuya.
"You will have to take her to free her!"
AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Blood! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Freila on Umie Akabane! AS: Weapon! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Blade of Joka on Katsuya Suou! 2 Hits! AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 173 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Freila. Critical Hit! | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
Yuuki's feet skid over the floor -- as she makes gravity reassert itself in the right direction, so she lands on the floor. She turns to look back at Scion. Who...
...compliments her.
She flushes. "W-Why are you complimenting me!" she stammers. "W-We're fighting!"
She sputters; it takes her a second, but Magus pointing out that they're doing Scion a favor helps. "That... that's true," Yuuki answers. She sets her jaw, looking back at Scion. As her ally said: they know who is on the line here.
She frowns as she hears the Bride's voice -- then looks sideways at Magus. "Whoever's in mission control, there," she says. "You should order her to let that student go!"
She notices the raptor too late. She tries to step back -- and Welwetes bites down onto her ankle. She yelps and cries out, yanking away. She stumbles backward, breathing hard. "She's... she's really strong. If--if you can distract her, I'm going to try something."
She throws a hand out, focusing, and calls out: "Galileo!"
The familiar sound of gears turning sounds; the interlocked four rings appear behind her, turning with their precise clockwork motions. One of the glassy gems, a black one speckled with gold, gleams. Then, a wash of brown light flows down over Welwetes.
Yuuki lifts a hand up. She makes an L-shape with her fingers, squints, and then rotates her hand just so. Her lips work, quietly. Magus can hear her muttering: "Ten--no, twelve meters there, divide by mass--guessing it's..."
One eye closes, before both eyes open wide. "There!" Then, Yuuki thrusts her hand out, fingers balling into a fist.
And suddenly, grey light erupts above Welwetes. The dinosaur robot gets yanked at the ceiling -- and then the wall is the floor for him, as he falls -- flies through the middle of the room -- like a rocket for Scion.
But that isn't all. The Taiwanese Mafia has a large, metallic dragon's head on the wall. Or rather, it was on the wall -- now it's falling through the middle of the room towards the opposite wall.
Which is now the decorative dragon head's floor.
And between it and its new floor are Scion and the robo-dino.
AS: Yuuki Hoshizora spends Limit on Exploit! Yuuki Hoshizora can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Almighty skill Earth Break on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Persona! Yuuki Hoshizora has used the Earth skill Precise Magryva on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 112 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. Critical Hit! | Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Counter Best! Katsuya Suou takes 54 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. | COUNTER! Miho Ijuuin takes 25 Slash damage in return for her attack! Resist! AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Earth Break. | Earth_Break (Earth Affinity Down!) added!
AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 91 Earth damage from Yuuki Hoshizora's Precise Magryva. | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added! Haze removed! Explosion! 18 damage! <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Well when the hell else am I supposed to ask? I didn't know you were coming here!"
Hyousuke was a rather oblivious person, all things considered, and reckless to boot. One or the other would have been enough of a headache for people to deal with, but combined? They were a rather deadly combination. Almost as deadly as the one their Personas were commanded to undertake. Though he and Achilles remained steadfast, standing as shields against whatever storms and swords were levelled against them, he could not help but cast an awestruck gaze at the attack.
It was like watching the wrath of the pantheon being delivered upon Tsurugi. A shot he barely had time to even register had happened, a howling storm that threatened to sweep him off his feet, titanic blows that seemed strong enough to rend the very flesh from someone's bones - all occurred before him, and all let him with something closer to a maddened grin than a bloody snarl.
"Hopefully we won't *have* to keep doing attacks like that." He said, not at all understanding that his remark could have been interpreted as 'I do not wish to fuse with you' rather than 'I hope we are not in a situation dire enough to require the use of fusion attacks.'
It was unlikely that, even if he had the context of her relationship with Minato, he would have been in any way less oblivious about the whole thing. Though Hyousuke meant well, he was far from the most intelligent or socially-aware of the people gathered that day.
Before he had a chance to expound on anything or organise acceptable times and dates for fusion attacks, Remi emerged from the attack's aftermath. Not unscathed, but very much in fighting shape.
"Heads up! They're coming back in!" He shouted out. He took up a defensive stance, ready to intercept whatever blow came his or Yukari's way, but nothing erupted from Tsurugi's direction. Rather, something erupted from near him instead. A great, blinding, flash ripped through the air, followed a fraction of a moment later by the deafening crack of a fiery burst.
It hurt. The flames seared and tore through fabric to singe his now-exposed skin, while that which had been bared before had their injuries deepened yet further. It was agony - pure, unrelenting, fire-fuelled agony that left him staggering on the spot. He cried out in pain, desperately gritting his teeth to try and suppress it, but it was no use. His instincts acted before his mind could, and the heat consumed him as surely as rage did. But, even as he stood with his back hunched and chest heaving, he still saw fit to draw in at the last and dull the blows that were levelled at Yukari. He could not stop them - not completely - but he refused to simply stand there after stating so firmly that he'd cover her.
He did nothing to dissuade Remi from the notion that he was a hound, nor that he was some rabid, slavering, beast. Instead, he remained quiet for a moment, catching his breath being the excuse he would use to avoid telling anyone he needed a moment to think of an appropriate response.
"So what if I am?" He spat, uttering his venom between rattling - but steadying - breaths. "You think I give a shit? At least I'm not some piece of shit that goes around with freaks attacking schools!" Where his eyes had threatened to sear holes through the mask, poison threatened to melt a portion before his lips. The anger there was not the blazing pyre of an enraged animal, but neither was it refined into something cold and calculated.
This was, in essence, plan vitriol.
Even so, it was enough to send his emotions into a fever pitch. Lives were at stake, his pride had been insulted, his body had been cut and burned and battered... All of it was amplified by the adrenaline that ripped through his veins like a flash flood, leaving him with teeth grinding and fists clenching.
"We're leaving. We're taking the girl. And if you don't move, whatever happens next is gonna be on you." Achilles stood tall once more, creaking and screeching beneath the weight of that grinding armour. But no defensive blessing came.
A glow of sanguine red appeared on Achilles' spear, seeming to slough away from the weapon in thick, oozing, chunks of light. The entire thing was hued that bloody colour, and as he raised it, the red in his helm grew ever more intense. Hyousuke raised his fists into a guard, and with a single command, sent that titan of clanking, crashing, armour surging forward like a cannon shot.
"Achilles!" He shouted out, pointing towards Tsurugi. "End it NOW!"He bolted forward, propelling himself on swift feet, but his Persona was nowhere to be seen.
One moment, Achilles was beside Hyousuke. The next, he had vanished in a cloud of dust, turning into little more than a gleaming streak lit by red. He hurtled towards Tsurugi in a blink, bludgeoning his shield into her with tremendous force, before driving the spear towards her with titanic strength born of a fury that defied the gods themselves. Hyousuke did not speak over the resulting burst that sounded as air was so violently displaced, instead venting his anger as a bellowing, visceral, cry. He was no more than a second behind Achilles, ducked low so that he could rise into a vicious, jaw-shattering uppercut.
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Pierce skill Princeslayer on Remi Ryuuja! 3 Hits! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Magus meets Yuuki's glance when she looks sideways at her, as the Bride speaks.
'Insight aligned to action'... 'Anchor and forward assault'...
That part Magus gets well enough. If she thinks about those words in sports terms, that makes perfect sense.
"I see... So that's how it is." Magus comments.
It's tough, Scion says. She wants to see how strong they are, but they're supposed to win...
"I understand." She sympathises. "When you have a talent, it's only natural to want to test it. To pit yourself against strong opponents to see who's better. ...If you just wanted to fight, though, there was no need to go to all this trouble."
And Scion asks for her name.
"You can call me 'Magus'. You've earned that much." She replies. That, too, must be a secret fake name for... well, not murders, hopefully, but the opposite of that. Scion praises Yuuki too, and Magus pauses for a moment.
"She is quite impressive." She admits, then looks toward Yuuki. "Look at that. You're 'Hoshizora-senpa.'
Where did she get that, though....?
It looks like her power has taken hold. Glitches? It's hard to say how that lines up... but it makes her call upon her Guardian again - who slices outward, sending out a shockwave! Magus tries to dive out of the way but it manages to catch her, forcing her to come to a stop. She grits her teeth.
Scion... she's good at keeping her from moving. And unfortunately for her, evading things is her specialty... Still, Yuuki has an idea.
Teamwork, huh... Well, it might be nice.
"...Alright. I'll do what I can." She replies with a nod. "Nitocris!"
Nitocris casts her hands forward. Suddenly, water begins to swirl and gather around Scion, forming into highly-pressurized spheres. They're so tightly bound that a single touch is enough to make them explode... and she's littered the field with them, to make it harder to escape Yuuki.
"Are you running out of space?" Magus asks - and if she planned it out just right, that sphere of water she sent upward earlier should be coming to meet her any moment now...
AS: Persona! Misato Fushihara has used the Water skill Pressure Mine on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 135 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 135 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 71 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. AS: Avoid Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 86 Water damage from Misato Fushihara's Pressure Mine. | Bomb (Attacker takes damage on damaging attacks!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
'Well when the hell else am I supposed to ask? I didn't know you were coming here!'
"Even so- there's some things you just don't ask in public!"
'There is no justice in this world save for what those with power can claim for themselves or impose on others.'
"... You think I don't know that!?" She blurts out, suddenly emotional, "I've known that my entire life! I'm just sick of it!"
Hyousuke interposes themselves, with more than just bodily, but with a physical force that envelops her. When that Flying Lunge comes straight at her, and abruptly, raises her bow. it looks like she's going to parry it, and just missed as it passes between the string and grips.
But instead, she lets go of the drawn, right as as the blade tip slides into her SEES jacket. And Tsurugi will feel a searing pain as the taut string slams with all of the compound bow's draw force slams against their fingers, spoiling the blow.
Stumbling back, there's a red stain against her jacket, despite her best efforts. And that's when she pulls a clip out of it, with her other hand, and slides it to the bottom of her Evoker as it glows bright red.
"Just acting like this just can't be helped, that it's just the way things are-"
She puts the Evoker to her head, and pulls the trigger.
Io appears, her eyes glowing bright crimson, as the two are shrouded, and she pivots quickly, taking a knee, as Tsurugi will find themselves having to handle a barrage of multiple windborne arrows, coming one after another.
Before she rises, borne on wind currents, with one last arrow already nocked and drawn.
"-you don't know what unrelenting is!"
For years, for so many years, she wouldn't- she wouldn't let herself give up. Despite knowing the entire world was against her. Despite knowing the Kirijo Group would never help a child discover what she wants to know.
So many years without any progress.
No, she knows what it means to be unrelenting, until the absolute- last moment, one can be.
She lets the arrow fly, and it lands, erupting into another column of uproarious violence.
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Exploit! Yukari Takeba can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Cyclone Arrow on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Aegis! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 93 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Cyclone Arrow. | Remi Ryuuja is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
'None of the people who have been taken away have been returned, have they?' That bubble of joy and senseful(or less?) violence is popped in Umie's mind, as she hears Katsuya point out something rather important.
"...." Come to think of it, where did Hodai... go?
.... really....
Does it matter? She's got better things to worry about than that guy, Umie thinks. He not only called the Joker Killer on her, he tried to kill her later himself. Besides, as Miyu reveals, Noriko will remain unsafe as long as she's with them.
Anger burns bright both in Umie's heart and in the white hot flame Miyu's Persona wields; this time, the Badb's wily weaving around isn't enough to twist away from the Groom's magic in time, throwing Umie back.
Perhaps a better strategy may work...
If Katsuya keeps the Groom busy, perhaps, Umie could--
.... no, that's not going to work. WHile Umie showed earlier grace in evading Miyu's attacks, she can't use Badb right now to cloak her long enough to extract Noriko; her body isn't going to be strong enough to carry Noriko to safety and not get hurt. But if she can *act* like she can...
Or, maybe, slide Noriko down a frozen carpet? .... that's a terrible idea, and the amount of forethought needed to make it work means Umie's not already doing it.
But she is, however, using a crumb of that plan in order to slip around, using the Badb's cloak and Miyu's focus on Katsuya to her advantage.
Miyu may realize something off in that there's no one rejoining Katsuya; while Umie could have likely have been knocked unconscious somewhere...
However, Umie's ploy can't work for *too* long; as Miho will realize if she looks around.. There's just a pesky blackbird there, like a cognitive placeholder for something else.
The fact that it's Umie will become very clear when the very human, very cranky Umie tries to kick the Groom in the shins and run to Noriko, as the Badb howls.
AS: Tandem! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Seeker in the Dark on Miho Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 127 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Seeker in the Dark. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
She says that she respects his duty. Katsuya, stonefaced in the midst of the fight, regards her silently at first.
"...So you admit it," he says.
So it's true.
Perhaps in its own way, it's just as well that he's not able to think overmuch on the implications of what this all means for him, for his workplace, his colleagues. In this moment, he doesn't need Umie to tell him it: he needs to keep going, because it's just as Miyu says. She will not release Noriko into their care.
Not unless he opts to instead take Noriko from them, first.
Nuclear fire roars through the air, too close at hand. It doesn't touch him: instead, Miyu herself lunges at him. Though he tries to brace for the incoming blow, the fact remains the he is very
unequipped for a block
against an attack like that.
Miyu lands a solid hit and he staggers in just the same moment as his Persona intrudes into the attack following, repelling a measure of the strike back at her. "Damn..." he utters, regarding the injury she's given him on his side. He's not down just yet: he's a Persona-user, and that at least means that an attack like that, however grievous, is something he can withstand.
But not forever.
If he wants to free Noriko, he has to put his back into it. The clock is ticking: how far can he go before she whittles him down to nothing?
"I can't-- be defeated here!" he belts out. "Helios! To me!"
His Persona for a moment vanishes. In one motion, he levels his sidearm at Miyu and pulls the trigger, but what follows isn't just a bullet. It's flame.
It's Helios, as furious as the sun that never sets.
"Akabane!" he shouts, dropping in this moment the honorific as he tries to hold the line. "Save her!"
Is he connecting to the same plan that she had thought about and then discarded? Can it work, even if he stays here to occupy entirely Miyu's attention? That's right. If he does it, he'll just draw attention towards Noriko, but if he can make himself an unignorable problem...
AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Exploit! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Katsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Midnight Sun on Miho Ijuuin! | Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 246 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Midnight Sun. | Miho Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting! <Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Remi also prefers it that Yua is not in direct combat, for many reasons, not the least of which is her being pregnant. (And also that pesky conditioning and wanting just, in general, to keep one of her closest friends safe.)
"There is nothing 'casual' about combat, Scion," reminds Tsurugi. "Remember, we are to protect Yumi, as well. Do not let them get past you."
The force of that compound bow's string slamming into her fingers is almost enough for Tsurugi to feel the impact. She feels the jarring, at least, though when her hand seizes, fortunately for her it only clutches the rapier harder.
Going around attacking schools... "Call me what you will. You will need that ferocity to overcome what you have set yourself against. But do not lose your head."
Archilles comes at her as a streak before slamming a shield into her. The first hit staggers her, knocking her back with a crunch of something unpleasant, and before she can recover the second bash almost sends her sprawling. When the spear comes in to drive for the final blow it is a Maupin who intercepts, bringing chipped steel to spear. There is a struggle before La Maupin can throw Achilles off, but there is still a strain in the doing.
She struggles back to her feet as Yukari begins her barrage. Arrow after arrow impacts, and although she can wave her way through a few, and deflect a few more by chance, she is slammed back again and again.
She is panting, when the last arrow strikes, squarly on her right upper arm, the one holding her rapier. With a scowl she steps forward, "Now I will show you--"
There is a twitch, but her rapier hand doesn't rise. Her head moves down, to stare at it, as her arm twitches helplessly. There is a long pause as she register it.
Did... did she not feel that she'd lost the use of her arm before that!?
She reports back through Yumi's Navigator Link, "My right arm is compromised. I can't keep fighting."
She looks to Yukari once again. "Do not act as if you are free from the same leash that I must bear... I know the price it takes to use that weapon of yours." She means the Evoker.
She holds her position, awaiting coordination from the others.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"You may draw your own conclusion," Miyu says to Katsuya. Umie is able to sneak around her in the moment. Does she see her? Does she notice her moving? It would seem not, since Katsuya is dominating her attention. Warrior versus warrior, they strive. And while Katsuya takes an injury... Miho turns to the side--and spots that bird. "Trickery," she says, and it is not disapproving. But then Umie kicks her n the shin, and the armor over Miyu's leg cracks.
"Tch," she starts, and returns her attention to Katsuya. Katsuya, who now--
"Can you not?" she asks. But then--
His flames batter through even Faust's protection, as Helios's sun gives Umie the opportunity to save Noriko. Miyu attempts to parry the blaze, bringing up a sword that somehow doess not melt in such heat--
She steps back when finished, her gloves blackened by heat and fire. She aches all over; the exhaustion that was imposed earlier may well be real, now.
Miyu with difficulty steps towards Remi, standing beside her. She knows Yumi is watching.
"...It would seem their strength is sufficient to this task."
"This time. But did their friend who went alone fare as well...?"
The careful eye can see what Miyu's shoulders sag as she takes a knee, still holding her weapon but waiting for the Bride.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Yeah!" Scion agrees, quite happily, when Yuuki flushes red. "That's why!" Tsurugi reminds her that this is about protecting the Bride, though, and Scion gasps. "Oh, right! Yeah, that's important!"
But Yuuki tells mission control to let that student go, and the pearl flashes pink, again, as Gretchen transmits. "Think you I hold such power? It is not by our hand the girl is doomed. Her flesh must pave the way... this, decided far from here. Power which shapes monsters from men... perhaps it is human ingenuity alone which could be so cruel."
Gurl, she's talkin' shit 'bout SCIENCE.
Luckily, it seems like Scion is easily distracted. For instance, by Magus's name. "Wow, your name's cool, too!" She exclaims, turning to her. "I totally wish we could just fight for not real, Magus, but there's this whole thing with the mission... oh yeah, and we're supposed to grab you guys too so you don't tattle! Well, don't even worry 'bout it! It probably won't even hurt!"
"Promise them not," the Bride warns, through Gretchen's transmission. "It will hurt very much."
"Huh," Scion says. "I mean, I guess I wouldn't know, huh?" She doesn't... understand pain...?
Nitocris summons those bombs -- and Scion does dodge back, only to get EXPLODED BY THE SPHERE OF WATER FROM ABOVE! "Huh?" She asks, as she turns, and the camera does a long, sweeping pan around their section of the room...
... to reveal...
... all the other bombs. "Awww, crap," Scion says, eloquently, as her situation dawns on her. And so, Yuuki uses the power of MATHS -- and gravity plays favourites. Welwetes yelps, "RAA?!", as he's picked up by his centre of gravity shifting, exploding one of those water-bombs as he hurtles right for Scion, knocking her down as those bombs are revealed to be sensitive to chain explosions. Water bomb after water bomb showers out, much more like bombs than playtime, though the way Scion's "YEAH!!!" is drowned out by their dual attack those boundaries might be terribly blurred for one party here.
That's not all, though. While she's busy admiring (and getting blasted by) those bombs, Yuuki is still calculating -- and the dragon's head rattles, and shifts --
-- and FALLS --
GONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!
That's the precise sound an airheaded robot makes when she is struck dead-centre by a dragon head. Little tweety-dragons flutter around her skull, as she sways. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Scion warbles, before tilting forward to faceplant on the ground.
"Rrrr..." Welwetes tugs at her cloak, only for her to shove at him.
"Five more minutes..."
Those antenna swirl pink, where she's fallen. "I hear you," the Bride affirms, as she hears her Groom sound the retreat. "Gather." Scion picks herself up, scoops Welwetes up to sit on her shoulder, scrutinises the dragons-head statue she was just assaulted with...
... and cheerfully picks that up, too, like the massive thing was just a heavy bag of shopping. "Okay," she chirps, brightly, "but I'm takin' this! Those guys were soooo rude, they SO owe us! Why are we even workin' with them!"
"Their chemicals to dull and pacify," Yumi transmits -- through Scion, to everyone else, as it happens. "A leash to grant sure victory. Yet... victory against the Joker was not enough, today."
Scion ambles off to join Tsurugi and the Groom, carrying her ill-gotten gains, Welwetes coiled around her shoulder as he chatters his teeth at the onlookers.
"-- Persona," Yumi's voice cuts through directly, as Gretchen manifests around them, that woman in her armour and bridal dress shadowed by the massive Persona in her white gown and jewels as she curls her arms -- and the jail bars driven through them -- around the Order's agents.
"Leave quickly," she advises them, in that moment. "My magics have been frustrating the demons which dwell here for long moments... if they find you, they will kill you. ... and when my magics fade, they will find you."
(Somewhere in the building, Kiyohime howls vengeance over those DAMNABLE BLOODSTAINS --)
She raises her heavy, revolver-like Evoker to the place where her left eye should be, beneath her veils -- "Gretchen --" and with that firing, they diappear, leaving the unconscious Noriko to the heroes.
If Yumi's warning is to be believed, though, they'd better find their way OUT quickly -- and the lucky thing is that navigating gets easier, as Yumi's influence starts to fade, but the UNLUCKY thing is: yeah, those demons are all super pissed and super hungry.
One might imagine, then, a timed escape sequence, numbers ticking down at the upper corner of their screen as they gather up Baofu and any other allies who got lost in the maze, and get out of the bloodied dark corridors before reality reasserts itself properly and the demons can figure out how to get around too.
They might end up at the Velvet Room a little out of breath, this time...
... but luckily, Noriko will wake up just fine, if horrified over her actions towards her dear big sis.
She's okay... but what about the other people who've been disappearing...?
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
"I-Impressive?" Yuuki sputters at Magus. "S-Senpai!? I-I don't have... have the foggiest about--about any of that!"
But how did Scion know her last name?
Her eyes narrow, though, at the answer from the pearl. "That's--that's not something for you to decide!"
Fortunately for her and Magus, their teamwork was enough to handle Scion -- for now. Though, the way she lifts that statue gives Yuuki pause. She hesitates for a moment, and then she frowns at the warning. They have to leave, before the demons come.
And the way Yuuki wobbles when she takes a couple of steps... she doubts she is up for that.
She looks back at Magus. "Good work," she says. "Let's--" She looks at the others, too. "...Let's get out of here!"
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Magus smirks as Yuuki sputters. Oh, that went a lot better than she thought it would. She can't enjoy it for long, though.
Magus listens as Yumi speaks. Pave the way? Pave the way to what?
"Using people as stepping stones..." Magus comments. "Now I have to intervene."
Scion says that her name is cool. She wishes she could fight, but there's a thing with the mission...
"You're being wielded to, are you?" Magus comments, with a brief glance toward Tsurugi. Getting grabbed, though... "I'm afraid I can't let that happen."
Their teamwork, though, proves true... But Scion is still cheerful enough, even at the end of the fight. She's able to lift that statue...
...But then they're advised to flee. ...If the enemy is advising retreat, in a situation like this, then...
"Good work." She agrees with Yuuki. And as for everyone else. "Yes. We've secured Noriko - there's no point in sticking around any longer."
And with that, she'll make her escape. Undoubtedly, shenanigans are involved in their high-intensity timed escape. But in a rare show of camaraderie, she'll employ her own powers to help mask their presence from the demons, too, to give them an easier time reaching the exit.
...And then she'll mask her own presence, to slip away while preserving her identity.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Katsuya calls down the sun.
Flame red reflects in Umie's eyes as she glances up, momentairely amazed.
'Save her!' Ah.
Hm.
Umie carefully kneels down besides Noriko, turning her body around.
As her halfcovered hand attempts to close around Noriko's shoulder--
--a flurry of images, half-remembered moments, and cold fear level on the blonde's shoulders.
this girl may look innocent, but the moment she wakes up, she'll do all those things all the other Joker Killers have done, and Umie will be right there, and there's so much beyond that, a deep pit that keeps going further and further down--
"... I'm going to need some help," she says, when the agents disengage, with warnings about the demons that will likely soon flood in.
She'd be telling the truth, but her current physical limits are only there to hide her shame.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
In all truth, he could. He easily could lose. He could even die here, with so much left unfinished.
But sometimes people tell themselves lies in order to move forward, to keep going. He can't stop here. Not yet. As long as he can still keep Miyu's eyes on him and him alone, then Umie has a chance, and thus, Noriko has a chance. And then, in the end--
There is fire. In at least one religion, it is said that truth is embodied by fire.
He doesn't call out to Umie, he doesn't look, he doesn't even turn his head. His attention remains in Miyu throughout those moments where he can't know if they've failed or succeeded, up until that moment when it appears to him that Miyu yields. This time, they're sufficient.
This time.
But time, as the distant 'Yumi' voices through Scion's equipment, is quickly slipping through their hands. Did their friend who went alone fare as well? What about Maya? Will Katsuya himself, or the others who came with them, fare particularly well when this place floods with demons as promised? They'll have to backtrack out of here, yes, through a place that is impossibly too big and too maze-like. Quickly.
"We don't have much time!" He invokes Helios the once to heal himself (and anyone else who might be close enough or in serious need) before he gestures to the door. "Stay together! And hurry!"
They all need to get out of here without losing anyone...