World Tree MUSH

    It's a bright and sunny Summer day in Tokyo! Once again it looks like there's something going on in the Juban district though. But it's nothing bad! A new theme park has opened up! And this new park is open equally to residents and offworlders alike! AND it's not a school day!
    Local completely ordinary slacker schoolgirl USAGI TSUKINO and her best friend NARU OSAKA are currently just getting off the line to buy tickets, giggling like... Well. A pair of schoolgirls.
    "Naru I can't believe this, it's like our own personal Disneyworld or something!" Usagi squeals as a man in a mascot suit wanders by. "Oh man what should we do first? Get cotton candy, candy apples? FUNNEL CAKE?" The blonde says excitedly, while her friend struggles to put on an awkward smile.
    "Shouldn't we, ya know... Try some of the rides first BEFORE we eat?"
    It is the logical thing to do as eating before getting on roller coasters and topsy turvy rides usually ends in gastric tragedy.
    "Awwwww but can we at least get some popcorn?"
    "U~sa~gi~. You're gonna hafta wait, because I'm totally not holding your hair out of your face if you hurl."
    "That's so mean! I'd hold your hair back!"
    "Nyahaha~"
    There's a pause between the two of them though.
    "I still don't get what the mascot for this place is supposed to be. And what kind of name is 'JADE-LAND' anyway?" Usagi muses, tapping at her lower lip.

Benedicta was invited here by Damian, she's not really big on theme parks but it was something to get her mind off everything else that was going on. At least she wouldn't attract too many strange looks at a theme park, but she might have to deal with some people wanting to take a picture with her. She keeps her hoodie up to avoid attracting too much unwanted as she waits for Damian to arrive.

    Even with diplomatic ties, there's only so far Octavia de Tenebrae can go in justifying the presence of Hauteclere at her hip. This 'theme park' goes a bit beyond it; in her own world, certainly, but in a place like this where weapons are generally NG in public, taking a sword into a packed amusement park and worrying the locals would be utterly uncouth.

    So, as Octavia sets foot in the park, she does so without her trusty mageblade. Only her holdout wand is with her, and that stored in an accessory bag acquired from a local shop. Nevertheless, it should be quite enough to ensure her safety. She's not so unlucky as to stumble into another youma attack, right?

    "Ah, Miss Tsukino~! How wonderful to see you again," the noblegirl calls out, changing course towards the familiar dango almost immediately.

     Miwa has never been to an amusement park before, but they always did sound fun when people told her about them, so coming to this grand opening seemed like a no brainer. Currently, she's somewhat aimlessly wandering through the park, looking around and trying to decide what to do first, while casually singing 'Wishing' by Ayumi Hamasaki, which got stuck in her head after hearing it earlier in the day. Despite not really knowing Japanese, and only a little of the similar language spoken in Kanto and nearby regions, she's nailing it pretty well from memory to be honest.

    Since Dante had heard the news about this amusement park coming out of -nowhere-, he was curious. Usually these kinds of places showing up tended to be a bad sign. It was reason enough for him to show up, strapped to be prepared. His guns and sword were in a guitar case, totally secured and sensor proofed because -reasons-, and it hung off his back.

    "Hey, Octi." He waves to Octavia, and nods to Usagi when he recognizes the girls, not to mention Usagi's friend whose name escapes him at the moment. It's totally not weird that he knows these girls, given the age difference right?

    "Doesn't Tokyo already have a Disneyworld? Coulda sworn it was in the brochure." He wonders aloud, curious as he takes a look around.

    Josuke is skeptical about it -- probably understandably so, since everytime 'yay new thing' has happened in the past couple weeks, it's been some monster trying to turn the people into juiceboxes. He's thought about it, and he's come to the conclusion that whoever's doing it needs a punch in the face. Or lots of them, via Crazy Diamond. Because there are so many more passive ways to get energy from people that only someone who's objectively BAD would use these much more active methods that threaten to actually KILL people.

    So he looks less than excited as he enters the place. He's out of uniform this time, since he's not here on the Speedwagon Foundation's behest; no, he's here purely for his own benefit. So instead of that uniform he's in a lime-green t-shirt, darker green pants, and light green shoes. There's a belt fastened around his left thigh for some reason, and around his neck he's wearing a gold pendant that looks like an anchor.

    Of course, he notices a familiar grouping of people as he enters, and his expression turns cheerful! He'll head in their direction, and wave once he's close enough. "Hi!" he greets to the group at large. "So you guys all came to check on things too?"

The food! The rides! The stage shows! "New theme parks are so great!" With her tail happily swaying behind her and a dress with quite a lot of ruffles, Elizabeth has already managed to blend in with some of the park mascots. She hasn't even had to sing yet, but she's already soaking in the attention! 

Silly questions from employees like 'I don't remember you at work this morning' or 'when did we get a dragon mascot' or 'what are you doing back here' are completely ignored. Confidence is all she needs, and she's having the time of her life posing in as many photos as she can. It's probably going so well because she hasn't started singing yet.

"You! You should take a photo with me, cute little piglets~!" A gathering of people means a photo op, and she reaches out to grab hold of Naru's hand while looking at the others nearby.

     Benedicta isn't kept waiting too long, as Damian simply *poofs* in next to her with a cloud of smoke and some sparks for extra flair. "Heya, Benny. I would've been here sooner, but uh..." he says, his face blushing black as he gestures at the fancy suit he's wearing. "Tentadora caught me and wouldn't let me go until I told her what I was doing. The suit was her idea by the way."

Glancing around, he takes in the sights and smells and sounds, eventually noticing the gathering of familiar faces. "Hey, it's uh... those guys! Come on, we should say hi!" he remarks, flying off toward Dante, Josuke, and the rest. No banjo this time, thankfully.

    It sure is active and busy! Then again it's a theme park on opening day, of course people are going to flock to the place. Usagi and Naru spend a moment longer bickering between food or rides while people arrive, and AS people arrive, park attendants go around passing out souvenier necklaces! With jade-hued in color, though obviously cheap-- they're not going to pass out real jewels! Naru takes one~.
    "Oh! Octavia! Hi!" Usagi chirrups, as the noblegirl approaches. "--Please! Just 'Usagi' is fine, really!"
    "Well yeah, I mean there's a Disneyworld, but this place is brand new and shiny!" The blonde pipes as Dante arrives.
    "Oh hay! You were there the day people were going crazy at my mom's shop!" Naru recognizes Josuke immediately. "... I never really got the chance to thank you for what you di-" Oop she's cut off though as ELIZABETH BATHORY catches her off guard. "P-piglets?" She blinks, while Damian guides Miwa over to join.
    "Who are you again?" Usagi asks point blank of Elizabeth while shooting Damian and his pokemon friend a wave.
    Meanwhile, anyone keenly observant might notice the black cat with the crescent moon patch on her forehead darting between the buildings and rides.

     Miwa recognizes Damian and offers both him and Benedicta a wave of a flipper, then follows them over toward the gathering, still singing, though a little more softly. Once she gets over to the group proper however she does eventually stop in time to answer Usagi. "I don't think we've met, I'm Miwa, a Pokemon from the Alola region on my world. I've never been to a place like this, so it's a bit exciting." She says with a grin, a gleeful look in her large blue eyes.

    Someone offers a necklace to Octavia, and after a moment's inspection, she waves it off breezily. "I'll pass. I'm not one for wearing faux jewelry."

    When Dante greets her, Octavia's footsteps stop dead in their tracks. One eyebrow twitches. Twitch twitch. "Octavia," she enunciates.

    And then she keeps right on moving as if nothing happened, her expression snapping back to the hello-so-glad-to-see-you of running into Usagi. Just in time to see a peculiar pink-haired girl with wings and a tail! "Goodness, you're certainly forward. Is that a costume, or are you some sort of part-humanoid? I can't say that I've yet met one." The familiar patter of a noble's speech is probably quite evident to Elizabeth! "Ah, and Higashikata as well~! It's so good to see you."

    Of course, there's newcomers, unfamiliar faces. "And you two, I don't believe I've met. Octavia Alicette de Tenebrae, daughter of the Tenebrae family and Schildan ambassador to other worlds. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"A suit? That seems like overkill for a theme park, I just hope no one vomits on me." That would be a pain to get out of Benedicta's fur. She's glad Elizabeth's getting most of the attention. She looks around for any familar faces besides Damian as he leads the way and only Dante she's actually meant before. She waves back at Miwa a bit surprised to see her, a talking seal is a new for her. She wonders if she's normally that way or a transformed human like herself.

 "Yeah, I've been called bunny a lot but not piglet before." She adds to Dante's comment. "At least I won't stand out too much with the odd crowd."

    To be fair, it's not terribly hard to recognize Josuke. His facial features are Japanese, but he's incredibly tall for a kid his age, and his shoulders are way broader than most of his peers. Besides that, given how the hairstyle he wears tends to get associated with the delinquent set, most Japanese teens avoid it these days, while he wears it proudly!

    He offers a smile in Naru's direction, though before he can reply, he sees her get dragged away by... a mascot? Dragon? Well, it's a cool costume, either way. Really lifelike! He chuckles, and then waves to Naru. "Not a problem at all! Just glad you were okay!" Keeping it short so it could be heard before the 'mascot' pulls her in for pictures.

    Octavia's greeting gets a broad friendly grin, and he offers in return, "Hi there. Nice to see you again, too. You been doing okay?" Since fighting energy-draining monsters can take a toll! "Thanks, by the way. I don't know if I'd have been able to tag back in at the arcade without you." He makes it sound like it was just a marathon video game session!

    And yes, there do seem to be part-human people here! At least... maybe? Josuke isn't sure what a 'Pokemon' is, but he greets Miwa with a smile nonetheless. "Hi there," he greets. He's not quite sure what to make of her, but he didn't stress about people's weirdness to begin with, and the World Tree's only enforced that.

    Benedicta gets a similar greeting, a wave and a, "Hey there." She does seem a little familiar to him, but he's only met her once, months ago, and there was a lot going on. Besides that, she's covered up a bit more, so he probably doesn't actually recognize her here.

     Damian waves to everyone, a cheery grin on his face. "Hey, what's up everyone? Yes, yes, the party may start now, the prince is here~" he says with a wink and a slight chortle, before turning to answer Benedicta. "Haha, yeah. Overkill. She insisted on a bouquet of flowers too. I had to make a detour to dump them into an active volcano before heading here. She's uh... I mean, she tries, you know?"

But thankfully there's a distraction! The dragon girl trying to get everyone to pose for a photo calls them all piglets, so Damian takes the opportunity to shapeshift into one, though maintaining his red coloring. "Oink oink! Make sure to catch my good side~"

But there's also Dante to greet! So the jackal does so after returning to his normal form, air guitaring as he asks, "So, D, they hire you to do a show or something? I'd pay to see you shred on some unsuspecting dorks." He then gives Josuke a bit of attention by running his fingers through the fur on his head, shaping it into a similar pompadour hairstyle. "By the way, never got the chance to say before, nice style you got going there. Very retro."

Cheap necklaces are waved off. Not because they're cheap, but because green clashes horribly with her outfit.

Oh. This certainly is an interesting group of people! "Piglets~!" repeats Elizabeth, but the tone in which she says it is rather cutesy and doesn't... seem insulting. Probably. "Though, you..." She squints for a moment at Usagi, as if trying to work something out in her head... but then just shrugs. Maybe she'll figure out what it is that makes this girl stand out. "Mmm... though I suppose you're not all piglets, are you..." She reaches up and scratches at her cheek with one long finger. "Nnnn..." Her tail lashes back and forth a few times in annoyance as she tries to figure out just -that- some of them are... and then, with no pause whatsoever, she suddenly reaches out to grab a random tourist with a camera. "You there! Come take our picture~!" She's not asking, and she speaks with such confidence that she doesn't even stop to check if it was even done or not.

"Now then! I'm Elizabeth Bathory, number one cutest idol, and I know I can count on all of you to come to my concert later, right~?" Her tail swishes back and forth as she peers at Octavia and squints a bit. Something about this one... "Ah! Of course it's a costume. Isn't it cute?" The Servant plucks at her frilled skirt a bit. "Makes my tail stand out even more, right? Right~?" She must have completely misunderstood the question.

As she's posing, she glances up and notices a certain tall individual nearby with something very unique about him. "Uwaa.... your hair! It's..." Hands clasp, and sparkles fill her eyes. "It's so cool~!"

    Dante gives a big wave to Damian and Josuke when he spies them. "Sup." He greets cheerily. "I might be a smiiiidge overdressed, honestly. People keep asking if I'm a mascot or just a musician doing a gig." Dante says, noting the guitar case. "I mean, hell I might do that if there's interest enough." It'd be worth it just to see himself showing off again, he DID enjoy that duet with Damian.

    Speaking of blending in, Elizabeth's arrival does get Dante to tilt his head in confusion. "...piglets? 'scuse me, lady?" He wonders, eyebrows narrowed in confusion.

    Already this chick is giving him weird vibes, in the 'cute but -scary-' way. "Is there at least a bar?" He asks, already wary of Elizabeth and sporting the air of someone who's in no way gonna indulge her sober. He's fallen for this trap several times before.%R    When offered necklaces, Dante just kind of nudges those offering away and focuses on finding a beer or something to snack on. Maybe a Strawberry malt.

"Flowers? I could have replanted them, then again I don't have a vase or anything to put them in." Benedicta is into gardening, "Elizabeth Bathory...why does that name sound familar..." She watches as Damian transforms into a pig, "Yeah, don't expect me to change into that. Being a rabbit is awkward enough at times. I think I saw a stand selling pigs in a blanket. Maybe she's referring to that? I wasn't really paying attention." She's distracted by the others and ignores the person offering necklaces. She doesn't really remember Josuke but then again she's not that familar with most people here.

    Goodness, barely in through the theme park doors and already the group has gotten pretty big.
    "We haven't met!" Usagi chirrups to Miwa, stars in her eyes, "I have NO idea what a pokemon is but you're just adorable!" She says before furrowing her brow.
    "A suit is kind of overkill." She agrees with Benedicta mildly. "I mean it's not like you're going out on a date right~?" She says completely cluelessly as she sets her hands on her hips. "Oh hey! Josuke, it's good to see you too."
    Still in greeting mode at least for a moment, at least before Elizabeth squiiiiints at her.
    "Wh-what? What? --And can I have my best friend back? We were trying to figure out what to do first, I still say we should get something to eat before we hit up any rides or concerts."
    All in all it's pretty fun though! Pictures are snapped, strawberry malts are had, and the rides are all super exciting, and everyone gets to have a fun time for a while!
    It's not until sunset, hours later, that things start to seem... Odd...
    The parkgoers- at least anyone who's wearing those cheapo necklaces are looking really beat. Like. Bags under eyes, sagging in place, can't stop yawning exhausted. Can't blame people for having fun, but maybe something is wrong when it runs someone down so ragged. Especially when a man just collapses in the middle of the venue that something might be wrong.

     "Hello!" Miwa offers kindly to Josuke, and then she remembers where she saw him last. "You were in New York the other day, when there was that pizza sauce monster thing, right? I don't think we met though. I'm Miwa, if you didn't catch it before." She offers before looking back at Elizabeth as the woman calls them all piglets again, and if it wasn't for the cutesy tone she might take offense too, she hasn't put on that much weight recently has she? She's certainly been doing plenty of swimming and training to burn off those malasadas. 

     When Damian mentions people wondering if he's a musician, she grins and chuckles a little. "Well, you do look rather dapper, maybe we can do a performance together at some point, It'll be fun, and a hit for everyone else I'm sure." 

     Usagi calling her adorable makes her blush, turning those white cheeks a light pink for a moment. "Heh, thanks, you're rather cute yourself." She says with a smile, then finds her gaze wandering over to Benedicta, a curious thought about how crazy excellent her hearing must be bubbles up before she looks away as she starts to feel like she's staring too long and feeling awkward.

    "Quite well!" Octavia replies to Josuke. "A good night's sleep and some of my butler's cooking, and I was feeling good as new. I really should have you aboard the Rilarn's Chariot some time to visit!" She adjusts her purse, and adds with a note of pride, "And think nothing of it, by the way. My holy magic exists for the purpose of fighting such beings and aiding those beside me."

    There seems to have been some sort of disconnect with Elizabeth - but it answers Octavia's question regardless! She shifts track smoothly without so much as batting an eye. "Certainly. It's quite a fetching look." The noblegirl regards Liz curiously, but says no more, choosing instead to watch the Servant fuss over hair.

    Still, having such a nice few hours roaming the park is rather relaxing! So many new foods and pastimes. But as they go, something nudges at the back of her mind, something... familiar. Her instincts are nudging her that something is off in a way she's seen before. But what could... oh. Oh dear.

    "Higashikata," Octavia says simply, nodding her head towards the collapsed man. Her tone is Significant - she trusts the tall young man to know exactly what she's getting at. And she's already reaching for her purse.

     "Why thank you, madame~" Damian says with a bow to Miwa, before changing gears and coughing into his fist at Usagi's mention of a date. "Yeah. Definitely not a date. Just took a cute girl to a theme park and my nanny made me wear a suit and wanted me to bring flowers." It kind of sounds like a date when he puts it like that.

He immediately goes off to check out those necklaces, thankful for a distraction from the awkwardness. "Blech, these are so cheap-looking. Not even real jade, are you kidding me? Here, watch this." With a flick of his wrist he produces a necklace nearly identical in appearance, save for the fact that it does indeed seem to be made of real jade. "/That/ is a jade necklace. I know you guys probably aren't making enough to spring for the real deal, but come on..."

After a moment though, he dismisses his conjuration and takes two, floating over to Benedicta and offering one to her. "Well, I guess it can't be too bad to have a souvenir, right?" And then someone collapses. "Huh. That's weird. Must've had a late night."

    Oh hey, compliments! Josuke smiles at Damian's words, and raises a hand to pat at the front of his 'do. "Thanks!" he chirps happily. "Keeping it this way means a lot to me." So of course it makes him happy that someone compliments it! He also offers a return greeting to Dante, in his usual chipper way!

Also yeah, if a camera gets aimed his way, he'll pose for a picture. FABULOUSLY! He does have those prodigious Joestar eyebrows, so he might look a little intense, but he's also practiced how to move with elegance...

    Yeah, it's a little weird. But he makes it work somehow.

    Usagi's greeting also gets a grin. "Hey! Hope you been well!" Since she seems to always have the bad luck of being there when weird shit goes down...

    Miwa's words get a nod, but he raises a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "Yeah... sorry about that," he offers sheepishly. "I kinda have a thing about turtles, and seeing a giant one just... yeah." He's pretty sure she understands where he's going with that. "Though I... really should apologize to him soon. he did save my life..."

    Speaking of weird shit? That guy collapsing right where he stands. Oh sure, it's hours later... but this is exactly the kind of weirdness that Usagi seems to always have the bad luck to be around. "Shit..." he mutters, heading over the the guy's side to try and check on him almost before Octavia's utterance of his last name has left her lips. He can't completely fix the problem, he's seen that much. But he can try to mitigate it.

    ...Except suddenly he's getting tired too. Quickly he shakes his head to clear it. ('Get it together, Higashikata! If this guy needs help then that means there's probably gonna be more people who need help!') His Stand seems slow to manifest this time, and its colors are far less vibrant... more muted. The armor sparkles less like the diamonds it shares its name with.

    Josuke shakes his head at Damian's words. "No, it's worse. It's..." He trails off, wobbling. "...Dammit!" He shakes his head again, sharply, trying to keep his bearings. "It's what happened at the arcade again...!" It's a good thing he's sitting down, or he might have fallen down.

Benedicta turns a bit red herself now upon hearing Damian calling her cute. She takes the offered necklace, "Well, that was better than I was expecting. It's been kind of a long day." She does indeed have excellent hearing, "This has happened before?" Her attention turns towards Josuke as he's suddenly fatigued. "What happened there?" The rabbit girl wasn't present for that.

Elizabeth Bathory only makes sense about sixty percent of the time anyway. And that's probably being quite generous. Whether she's hanging out with everyone or just tagging along and harrassing them is... really up to interpretation, but she's cheerful the whole time, and smiles and laughter are infectious, right? She certainly doesn't learn anyone's name along the way.

When people around begin to collapse, the Servant looks confused for a moment. "Huh. Most tired people wait until they're by a bed or at least a chair, right?" She walks over toward him and gently nudges him with a foot. "He's not dead, though. Good thing, because this is a happy place!" Turning around to glance back at the others, she points down to the man. "I think something drained all his mana or something!" She walks back to the group and reaches out to poke at Crazy Diamond's shoulder, not seeming to recognize that it wasn't there a moment ago. "You look that way too!"

    As things start to darken, Dante explores the park. There's rides to be ridden, strawberry malts and pizza, there's pictures, and so on. Come sunset, Dante starts to notice something is -very- off about the parkgoers. The way they all seem to be shambling zombies, someone even fainting, it tells Dante something is off. It's just like that arcade, and he's suspicious.

    "I dunno, guys." He says. "People were feelin' faint at that arcade we cleared out the other day. Feels like this might be a trend."

    He grabs a water bottle, and by that he punches open a vending machine and just steals one, and hurries over to the collapsed man before he tries to rouse him. "Hey, you alive? C'mon, buddy, say something!" He says, slapping the man's cheeks gently and trying to get him to drink the water.

    Things only get worse.
    Naru is next to collapse, immediately resulting in a panicking Usagi catching her friend and struggling to hold her up.
    "Whuh- huh?! Not this again!" The blonde bleats, flailing one arm while heftin her best friend as best she can. "Nngh, geeze Naru, for someone who wanted to go on the rides first you sure had a lot of funnel cake!" Usagi grouses.
    It's not just that man and Naru though. People are beginning to drop left and right.
    "I- ... I'll get Naru out of here and leave this to you guyyyyyyys. Sorry about your daye but I think it's about to get ruiiiinnnneeeddddd!"
    That girl really has the worst luck. At least she didn't put on a necklace or she'd have passed out too.
    It's not until almost everyone around the group has dropped that the echo of boot steps on the pavement resounds in an almost otherworldly echo, as a blonde youth in white, with blue eyes emerges from behind a building.
    "Heh... I knew this would be a perfect way to get energy for our Great Ruler. Trapping the interlopers from offworld was just a bonus." He says looking directly at Octavia, Josuke, and Dante. "Now all that's left is to catch that impudent Sailor Moon and this would be an absolute victory." He smirks.
    "I am Jadeite, one of the Four Generals of the Dark Kingdom, and I will be your death." He announces, raising his hand.
    "Go my youma! Kill the rest of them and take their energy for our Great Ruler!"
    As he says this, the park staff drop their disguises, turning into grey golem-like creatures that rush the group en masse seeking their precious energy.

    And then Naru falls over. "Oh hell." Dante says, just as bootsteps get his attention.

    Immediately, Dante goes for his guitar case, producing his pistols and his greatsword, stowing both on his person as he draws the .45s and aims at the General.

    "Oh you cheeky bastard, I figured one of you would show up to bleed folks dry again!" He opens fire on the park staff turned golem creatures, his guns letting off a ridiculous barrage of lead as he unloads. "I'm gonna knock that pretty mug of yours sideways when I get to you!"

     Miwa smiles to Damian, she really wouldn't mind doing some kind of duet with him later, here or otherwise. Her gaze shifts back to Josuke, and she nods to him. "Yeah, he did certainly save your skin. I guess I'm used to seeing giant turtles, though ones that can speak English are a bit rarer I'd think... Honestly, I think the only reason I haven't gotten reactions like that is I guess I look more cute than threatening.. Unless you're afraid of seals or something." 

     As more people drop like they're fainting, Miwa blinks, looking around as if wondering what the heck is going on, though she doesn't have to wait long for an answer it seems as Jadeite appears. She suddenly rips off her necklace, that gentle look in her eyes turning to a fierce glare. "This has happened before then?" She questions as the others seem to have dealt with this sort of thing already.

    "Higishkata-?!" Oh no, not again. Octavia's wand clears her purse, and the first thing she does is to sweep it through the swiping, darting motions that inscribe her Sacred Ground spell in the air. With her wand, the power behind it and the area it covers will be noticeably less - but it should still be at least enough to blunt the effects of the drain, and perhaps insulate the collapsed man from it as well.

    She hears Elizabeth over her shoulder, and calls out without turning to look. "There are monsters in this world that do that, I'm afraid. We're under attack." Of course, after saying that, a blonde man appears to prove her right; and declares his name, no less. She slides a shoulder back, and despite that she's wielding a wand, she's suddenly in something more akin to a fencer's ready... except that her left hand isn't behind her. It's right beside her mouth.

    "OOOH-HOHOHO~!"

    Slipping her hand back again, the drill-haired young woman declares, "Kill us? What a joke in poor taste. I might not have brought Hauteclere, but these 'youma' of yours hardly require a blade of that caliber to defeat. Watch well, General Jadeite, for such is the magic of Octavia Alicette de Tenebrae~!"

    Like a conductor leading a symphony, she begins to swipe and swing and cast - and though her power is lesser without her sword, she can still unleash barrages of holy-energy lances into the golems!

"You know with rabbit's feet you figure I would be luckier." Benedicta still seems to run into trouble no matter where she goes. Her horn glows yellow and she's suddenly covered in quills as she rushes at the gray creatures. Grabbing her right now wouldn't exactly be the best idea unless they want to be impaled by her.

    Josuke looks up at Benedicta's question. "Someone was draining the energy of people who were playing the video games," he explains. "They almost got me. Get ready, there's probably a monster behind this." They all have so far, right? Though in the meantime, Josuke's still trying to 'fix' the people that have passed out. He knows what's going on now, so he can try to reverse the flow a little bit -- he can 'fix' energy, after all, and return it where it came from. But this is just so many people, and so much energy...

    But then, the first 'monster' to show is... a blond guy? Josuke blinks, pulling himself to his feet. Notably this takes him longer than it normally does, he's just so damn TIRED... But he's not too tired to notice the connection. "'Jadeite'? Jade... 'Jade-Land'. You made this place as a trap!"

    Of course it hardly needs to be said, because in the next moment the blond guy is unleashing gray golem-like monsters against them! Josuke shifts to get ready to fight. "You should have stayed in whatever hole you were hiding in, prettyboy!" Yeah, that translates a little weird, but the implication of 'prettyboy' here is 'you look like a girl', a very 90s-esque cut on the other person's masculinity from back before people learned not to do that. He is, however, a child of the 90s.

    Though right now? Golems. Those things need dealt with. For the moment, Josuke summons his now slightly paler-colored Stand and unleashes a barrage of punches at whichever of the things gets too close.

More people begin falling over, and Elizabeth turns to look toward the others. "Is this normal for Japanese theme parks? Did I miss a call to naptime?" If so many people are doing it, then it must be standard, right? But some of the others are upset, so perhaps they're just grumpy they missed their nap. Or... something. 

"This is all so confusing..." Shifting from one foot to the other, she almost misses the arrival of Jadeite... but there's something so noticeable about those footsteps. "Oh? A gorgeous new challenger has appeared~?!" She looks from the General toward the three being addressed. "And you know him? Is he a love rival? Oooh, I love songs about love rivals!" She hums happily to herself and turns around... but then narrows her eyes as she sees some strange creatures rushing in.

"Idols are not to be touched so carelessly!" With a slight shift of weight, she twirls in place, slamming her powerful tail into the first creature who dares come too close.

     Damian immediately tosses the necklaces away, shaking out his hands as if they had been submerged in something filthy. "Blugh, I /thought/ I was starting to feel tired all of a sudden! Guess we know why now." he remarks, slapping his own cheeks to make sure he isn't going to fall over asleep any time soon. "So these weirdos are who attacked the arcade, huh? I don't know if I was lucky that I left when I did or unlucky because I couldn't join the party."

As he goes to follow Benedicta into battle, body twisting and contorting into a half-skeletal monstrous form with bony spikes and tentacles lashing toward the golem creatures, he takes a moment to respond to her, "Eh, it's not so bad. Never gets boring at least! It's like living in a comic book or something~"

    In an instant it's an all out brawl. The youma are weak but they are NUMEROUS, rushing from every corner of the park to join this fight now, means that Dante will have a lot of targets. And they DO try to grab Benedicta but are sharply shown why this is a bad idea. The youma that rushes Liz is obliterated by the Servant's tail, hit so hard that it turns into dust and clay while [CRAZY DIAMOND] starts laying into the youma en masse. But there are so many...
    Thankfully Octavia's Sacred Ground spell is enough to sever the connection between the energy draining jewels and Jadeite, who holds a glowing sphere of energy that is steadily growing in his left palm. While he aims his right hand.
    "Love rival? No. Rival, yes." He replies to Liz before focusing on Octavia, "Hmph. Unfortunately to deal with me, you will need more than just that fancy sword that you didn't bring." He says unleashing a series of powerful energy bolts right at Octavia.
    It's right about now that a squad of youma come rushing from another part of the park, holding aloft a twin-tailed blonde in a sailor outfit...
    "Awawawa! H-how dare you use-- wah! People's desire to have fun-- awa! For your- evil ways?!" Sailor Moon says whilst flailing. "In the- put me down!- name of the moon, I'll-HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE TOUCHING!-- punish you!"
    Sigh.

    Dante has himself a target-rich environment, so to speak. The youma rush him, only for Dante to swap deftly to his greatsword and start slicing these things in half. He moves too quickly for them to keep up, moving from youma to youma as he dashes and slashes. Flinging a youma to the air, Dante swaps back to his pistols and opens fire, shredding the golem creature as he delivers a fierce back-kick to a youma behind him.

    Spying Sailor Moon, Dante shakes his head before taking off after her. "Hands off the lady, fellas!" He calls out, opening fire on the Youma. Usa-Err, I mean Sailor Moon, will thankfully be unhurt. Despite his reckless attitude toward gunplay, Dante is an -incredible- shot. Not one hair on her head will be harmed.

    He'd be taking on Jadeite himself, but Octavia might be handling this just fine on her own.

     Miwa watches as the golems come rushing toward them like wolves on a herd of sheep. She rises up a bit as she sort of stands on her tail, and suddenly the pearls holding her hair back let loose, and her hair flows in all directions like a great mane as she uses Sparkling Aria. A large orb of water forms above her nose, and then at the last moment, she spots the Youma carrying Sailor Moon and joins Dante's assault, the orb of water splits into several smaller ones, and they are sent soaring toward the youma by a high note in Miwa's little song. They explode quite powerfully on contact, like water balloon grenades.

    Energy bolts hurtle towards Octavia, and she's just a hair too slow to stop them. She reflexively moves to dodge, but that comes too late; one of the bolts takes her across the side. A glancing blow, but enough to put the hurt on. But despite that, she stands back up proudly, beginning to draw a spell in the air... no, TWO spells. One carries the usual white-gold radiance of her holy magic, but the other shines with a scintillating rainbow light instead, a change in elements. "I regret to inform you, dear General, that I have quite a bit more than just a fancy sword." She shifts her wand over to her left hand, and uses her right to flick one black hair-drill haughtily.

    "Now watch carefully, or you'll miss my finest assets. Grace, poise, technique... and flash."

    She closes her eyes, and whips her wand across the pair of spells with her left hand. The Holy spell on her right flares into a corona of white-gold radiance. The shimmering Light spell? It detonates in a blindingly bright FLASH of light. Opening her eyes again, Octavia quickly shoves her fist through the ball of holy energy, enchanting the curled fingers with a holy spell - and then charges forward at a full run, hoping to take advantage of her flash-blinding spell to give Jadeite a holy haymaker with a lot of momentum behind it.

    And there's Sailor Moon! And of course, she's in trouble again! Seeing the youma carrying Sailor Moon, Josuke gets an idea. "Heads up, <Sailor Moon>!" he calls out. And then Crazy Diamond pauses in his punch-flurry, to try to grab one of the numerous youma. With a loud, "DOURRRRA!" the Stand flings the youma as hard as it can at the ones holding Usagi. It aims its improvised projectile at the feet of the youma holding Sailor Moon, hoping to flatten THEM without flattening HER. Might also toss them into the air for Dante to bullseye or to get exploded by Miwa's bubbles -- fish in a barrel, anyone?

"Hmph! Serves you right, trying to run at an idol like that! You're not even a fan... I can tell, you know!" Elizabeth crosses her arms and huffs, tail flicking behind her to get rid of any remnant of youma that may have stuck there. 

"You're all so persistent, though!" She glances over at the strange blonde being carried by more of the monsters. Well, the others have her, so it's probably fine. Most of her abilities don't obey friendly fire anyway, so it's probably just as well. With so many youma golems still around, though, she lifts one arm and snaps her fingers. "Ei~!" A shadow appears on the ground, and a whistle of something plummeting echoes... before a giant iron maiden slams down in front of her. Its doors open up, and a strong force draws in any creatures that dare come close, before slamming shut on them again with a loud CLANG of metal.

"I really need to figure out how to transform more, but my magic is kind of limited." Benedicta certainly doesn't have the same powr that Damian as. Her quills deattach as she continues to stab at the youma. She lets loose a punch and kick combo to protect herself further. She feels a bit weary all of a sudden, vulnerable to magical draining effects.

 Seeing the giant iron maiden drop in front of Elizabeth and begin to suck the youma in, "Remind me to never piss her off."

     Damian flashes Benedicta a toothy grin- and boy WHAT a toothy grin it is, with fangs like daggers because he clearly just cannot help himself- and remarks, "I can help you out, maybe. I mean, it can't be too different from how I do it, right? Magic A is magic A or whatever." As he watches her stab a few youma and pound on some more with her arms and legs, he chuckles and adds, "And maybe you can show me how to punch like that. Call it a trade of services."

However, they do have a threat to deal with, so as a couple of those golems decide to jump him, he suddenly shrinks down into the form of a hawk and flies out of the way, leaving them to crash into one another... and then flies above them and takes the form of an elephant, dropping right on top of the pile with earth-shaking force and a triumphant trunk trumpet.

    Thus begins operation SAVE SAILOR MOON.
    With a mighty cry, [CRAZY DIAMOND] hurls a youma for the squad carrying our intrepid heroine, bowling them up into the air for Dante and Miwa's combined fire. Though the two are impeccable shots this doesn't stop the magical girl from flailing and panicking all the more.
    "WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
    But she hits the ground, landing in a pile of ash and clay, the youma obliterated, leaving her coughing and sputtering as she picks herself up.
    "R-right, where was I..."
    The poor youma don't stand much of a chance against Elizabeth though. Compared to a Servant, they're utterly outclassed as a metric ton of them are swallowed, flailing, by the iron maiden before it slams shut to seal their fate.
    There are those that attempt to attack Benedicta and Damian, but it doesn't go well for them either as the dating duo pierce, puncture, stab, and flatten another squad of the monsters.
    Octavia though... Octavia goes charging at the Dark Kingdom General. And he does not move. Jadeite stares down his would be attacker levelly as the noblegirl summons her holy might and great white flash of divine light, before she comes rushing at him with the force of a typhoon and with all that holy hell to pay.
    Only for Jadeite to catch her fist mid-swing and stop all that momentum cold.
    "That was supposed to impress me?" He muses questioning, free hand rising, palm flat, poised to axe-chop down on the girl in a merciless, monstrous reprisal that--

    @-',--

    Never comes as a rose streaks down from the skies, the sharp, thorny, stem cutting his palm and earning a grunt of pain, distracting him as he glances up...
    At the dashing young man in a full tuxedo, domino mask, and top hat standing atop the nearby ferris wheel.
    "It's uncouth for a man of your stature to strike a young lady, Jadeite! You'de do well to show more manners!" He declares. "Sailor Moon, now's your chance!" He does note though, clutching the hem of his cloak and leaps out of sight behind the ferris wheel. "Until we meet again."
    Sailor Moon... Is too busy drooling.
    "Oh my god who was that, he was gorgeous."
    <3_<3

    Dante takes a moment, pulling out his greatsword. Rebellion aims right at the youma that Josuke threw his way, and Dante just lets gravity do the rest, impaling the beastie on his sword. It might go allllll the way through, no less, as the blade punches down the youma's gullet. At least, Dante THINKS his sword is going down its gullet anyway. With a flick, he splits the creature in half, and then he sees a rose. Not a rose he pulled out either.

    It does SOMETHING, as this well dressed stranger shows outta nowhere to distract everybody.

    "...huh." Dante shrugs his shoulder, and takes Tuxedo Mask's sudden intervention as a cue to finish this show off. He rushes Jadeite, nodding to Octavia, and then Dante promptly dropkicks the general.

    "Surprise, asshole!" He says, before bringing his sword down upon Jadeite, intent on smiting this demon here and now.

    The rose comes down and Josuke jumps back, figuring it's just another monster. But then there's... a guy up there, with a mask on? He doesn't attack, but... it does seem to have put Jadeite off his guard, for some reason. Who knows, maybe Jadeite is into that whole 'mysterious stranger' thing? Either way, it's the perfect opportunity for Usagi to strike! Except... she doesn't, because she's too dazzled!

    Josuke does hesitate, just long enough to realize this. But he just can't let the opportunity pass him by. "Sorry, <Sailor Moon>," he offers quietly. And then he swoops in, using his Stand to deliver him via FASTBALL SPECIAL! Of course, he's not doing that to hit Jadeite himself, but just to get the blond guy in range.

    But even Crazy Diamond isn't here to attack Jadeite directly. The Stand is aiming for that energy ball, its fists glowing that orange-gold color that they do when they're trying to 'fix' something. Josuke is trying to 'fix' the ball of energy, figuring that's where the blond guy was storing all the energy he'd been using his tricks and youma to drain.

    As soon as he can get close enough, the Stand just unloads on the ball of energy, with its distinctive rising, "DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"

"Sure, but if you can turn into an elephant I don't think you really need to worry about punching or kicking much. The best I can do is the trunk." The quills vanish and her horn glows yellow once again. As if to prove her point, a rather long white trunk extends from her nose and she smacks Jadeite with it before making a rather loud horning sound.

    Oh.

    Oh, that's not good.

    Though she's been in her share of scraps, Octavia's never really trained much for hand-to-hand. She quickly shifts to try and get away, to yank her hand free, to at least brace for the incoming blow- but it never falls, because a flying rose slices the blonde man's hand. She takes advantage of the surprise to break free and stumble back several steps, prepping her wand defensively...

    But then she goes completely and utterly still.

    Followed by whipping around to look in the direction of the ferris wheel, the direction of her savior, and call out to the masked man as he turns to depart.

    "Excuse you?!"

    Wait, what?

    "'Uncouth to strike a lady'?! How dare you! I am a trained swordswoman and mage! I've risked my life in more than one fight already, I'm a capable monster slayer and a noblewoman besides! I am not some princess to be coddled and protected, not some wilting flower that will come apart at the slightest- DON'T YOU DISAPPEAR ON ME YOU UNBELIEVABLE LOUT! YOU COME BACK HERE AND LISTEN WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! AND WHERE DO YOU GET THE GALL TO MATCH THAT HAT WITH THAT SUIT? OR THAT MASK? OR ANYTHING?! IT'S UTTERLY GARISH AND SO ARE YOU!"

    Has she completely forgotten she's in a fight with a monstrously powerful man?

     Miwa is happy to see that the girl the youma were carrying is unharmed, and now she looks around for what to do next. She sees a few stragglers of the golems and attempts to mop them up with Hydro Pump, a powerful jet of water coming from her like she's a living firehose, then she turns her gaze toward that ball of energy and decides to add to Josuke's attack, even if he might not really look like he needs the help. The moon appears in the sky over Miwa, and a large pink orb of energy forms near her mouth, and then it gets fired at the other orb of energy, Moonblast vs Youma energy ball.

After a few seconds, the iron maiden explodes in a shower of sparkles, confetti, and... whatever is left of the golem youmas. Elizabeth takes a deep breath and leans forward slightly... but pauses as a rose comes flying in from nowhere. "Eh?" She crosses her arms and glances up, but when she sees the cause, she gives a few rapid claps. "Ooooh. I like his style! Is he a circus performer here?" Because who else would dress like that, right?

The idol snap her fingers again, and a black sphere appears in her hand. As she reaches over to touch it with her other hand, it sprouts wings and opens a wide, fanged mouth, letting out a little squeak. "These things are barely worth my attention. Go, my cute batty-bats, and take care of them for me~!" She throws the ball, which splits into a cloud of a few dozen smaller bat creatures, each of which latches onto one of the remaining golem youmas - with a few even flying at Jadeite. Once they've glommed on, they explode with a tiny pop and a burst of magical energy.

     Damian rolls off of the crushed youma, shifting back to his normal form and casually floating through the air, heedless of the danger around them... for as long as it lasts, anyway. "Yeah, but it's still cool. I wanna do badass martial arts stuff like you, y'know? And in return I can show you how to do a lot more than just the nose."

He catches sight of the rose out of the corner of his eye though, and follows the voice of the MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, sniggering a little at the guy's melodramatic act. "Jeez, this guy is really hamming it up, huh? I mean, come on, who wears a tuxedo to a carnival?" A beat passes, and he grumbles a bit. "Yeah, anyway..."

As Octavia goes on her rant, Damian calls out to her, "Alright already, he's gone! Chill! Yeesh!"

    Oh dear.
    This... 
    This will not end well for Jadeite.
    Though he is spared reprisal from Octavia as she turns her attentions on someone else, railing the now very far gone Tuxedo Mask. But that doesn't stop Dante from swinging in. Now... The Generals of the Dark Kingdom are very hardy, but a sudden dropkick from the son of Sparda will just about ruin anyone's day, sending him reeling, only to follow up with Rebellion. Though Jadeite raises a magical shield in time to soften the blow, he's still battered aside and punched by Benedicta's... Trunk.
    This leaves that sphere of stolen energy free for Josuke and Miwa to deal with, {CRAZY DIAMOND]'s blows and the Primarina's energy causing the stolen energy to disperse and return to the people from whence it all came. While Liz handily deals with the remaining youma, her cute little bats making youma explode left and right, while Jadeite tries to fend off the few headed his way.
    "I- I won't forget this! I'll return and kill you all!" Jadeite declares as he very quickly steps into a nearby shadow and vanishes back to the Dark Kingdom.
    There's a long, silent, pause as Sailor Moon realizes something.
    "H-hey I didn't even get to do anything this time!"

    "I'll be waiting on ya, shitbird!" Dante calls out as Jadeite makes a hasty retreat. He twirls Rebellion in his hand deftly, before letting it rest on his shoulder as he strikes a heroic pose, hearing the energy ball fall to pieces thanks to Josuke and Miwa. You can practically hear the victory theme during the silent period, until Us-Uhh, Sailor Moon, breaks that silence.

    "Honestly, thought you were gonna finish him off." He points out to the Senshi.

    "-SPENT ON THAT COULD HAVE BEEN USED ON LEARNING HOW TO WEAR A PROPER CRAVAT!" Huff!

    Octavia finally turns herself around, just in time to realize Jadeite's gone. And Damian's staring. "What? I won't stand for a boor like that. A girl has to have some standards of dignity and self-respect." Huff! "A-anyway, is anyone injured? I can do some basic healing magic. It's little more than light first aid, but it should suffice for anything minor."

As the bats explode and take out the rest of the golem youma, Elizabeth lets out a melodious giggle. "Again and again~! That'll teach you~!" 

She turns to look back at Jadeite just in time to hear him utter a familiar line and run aawy. "...huh. I wonder if he has Battle Continuation? That would be pretty embarrassing otherwise!" A slight frown crosses her lips. "Still... energy draining at a theme park, huh? Not something I ever thought of. I wonder..." 

After a few moments of thought, Elizabeth glances up and blinks once. "What?"

"I don't really have much training, just what they taught me at Beacon." Benedicta's no martial artist's master after all. "Are you sure you I would be able to learn the magic you use? We're from different worlds after all." Plus, the rabbit girl isn't a prince of Hell or anything. Her attention turns towards Elizabeth as she says that, "Don't even think about it, going through this once was bad enough."

    Josuke sighs as Jadeite finally disappears. At least his own energy's starting to return -- he's not sure he'd have stayed on his feet much longer otherwise! He just kind of deflates, slumping where he stands. His Stand's colors seem to return, slowly, and then the blue-armored pink figure finally disappears.

    Usagi's words draw his attention, and he looks to her. Giving a sheepish look, he notes, "Yeah... sorry about that. You were too busy staring at the cute guy who showed up and then disappeared." He points at the place where Tuxedo Mask had been. "I didn't want to miss the chance, and you didn't move, so..."

    Here he tilts his head, his hand still on the back of his neck. "You gotta work on your focus, <Sailor Moon>." He doesn't sound angry or upset, just a little disappointed. And he is sporting a bit of a pout as he speaks. "I wanna see your awesome finishing move one day."

    Octavia also brings up another issue! "Oh, right!" he's reminded. "If she can't, I can probably fix it." Always nice to have two healers in the group, isn't it? He hasn't said anything about her outburst to the guy with the mask.

    Elizabeth's silence and then abrupt 'what' draws a blink from Josuke. He doesn't know her, so he can't really know she's keeping the ideas for later! Also he can be naive at times, and he just can't think she has anything nefarious in mind. Not yet, at least...

    

     Now that it's all over, Miwa heads over to Josuke, and notes he seems to be really tired. She pulls out a pair of pear-like berries from a pouch hanging from a strap around her torso. "Here, have a sitrus berry, always makes me feel better after a battle." She says while offering one to Josuke and taking a bite of the other.

     Damian just sighs and shrugs, turning away from Octavia as he instead opts to chat with Benedicta some more. "Eh, never hurts to try, right? And I mean, hey, it'll probably be fun! Well worth the price of admission even if you can't teach me cool kung fu tricks." And an excuse to hang out more. "Anyway, let's get these people checked out and clean up the place. Pity our... er, 'date' got ruined, but it was still fun."