World Tree MUSH

    It's a miserable evening. Monsoon season is, technically, considered over; but no one seems to have told Mother Nature that yet. The city of Natsuto is drenched, a steady downpour serving to cool the summer air only a little, and as the sun nears the horizon, the people of the city only reluctantly start to move about for dates, dinners, and other nights out. Those who can stay in for the night are starting to cook dinner.

    Of course, Yumi would be one of the people with a reason to be out here, wouldn't she?

    The senshi of the cream-orange hair sits at a cafe across from a subway station, picking away at her dinner while on 'guard duty'. Yumi and Elizabeth have been trading shifts; eight hours on for each of them, with the remaining eight covered by Vulpes ex Machina himself. Out of an abundance of caution, Yumi has put out the call to close friends and trustworthy acquaintances, people she knows would be able to pitch in in the unlikely event something does happen.

    They don't expect this whole guard detail to take very long. It usually doesn't. Elizabeth is pretty sure Misaki will go for it. She's also reasonably sure it will just be precautionary; for all the potential senshi in the world, there are a very, very small handful of Executioners. The odds of them showing up for any particular girl are pretty low, right?

    Right?

    Yumi's eyes fall on a girl moving through the crowd, towards the subway station. Slightly taller than most, silver hair, staring straight ahead. Moving with a brisk powerwalk. Something about her tugs the senshi's eyes, nudges at her instincts. She doesn't even realize it, but she's stopped eating, watching the tall girl across the street like a hawk.

    When the girl stops near the subway entrance, turns, and simply starts staring sharply, Yumi quietly slips her phone out of her pocket, and fires off a pair of quick texts.

    One to the group text between her, Elizabeth, and Misaki: 'May have trouble. Sakai, stay in the station when you arrive.'

    The other, to those of her friends with a way to receive texts: 'I think there's trouble. Southwest business district subway.'

Kousuke had a bit more energy than usual today, so Misaki left the hospital late. Then she got lost when swapping trains. In doing so, the last bit of battery charge on her phone went out before Yumi sent that text. Misaki hasn't noticed her phone isn't turned on. So she's just getting out her umbrella and getting ready to walk home, blissfully unaware of any danger coming her way.

    Bravette is stood atop a nearby rooftop, the little Shinki eying the crowds around the subway station through the guncamera on her Gattling. When the text comes through she glances at it briefly and then tracks to the obviously out-of-place girl. <<Target sighted, Yumi. Eyes on. Hawkeye moving into overwatch position at targets 5o'clock.>> she shoots back.

    Uni is out in the rain, moving calmly through the groups of people, before ducking down an alleyway to climb to the roof of a building opposite from Yumi and Bravette. She gets the text and nods as Bravette replies, quickening her pace. <<I'll be there in twenty seconds>> she texts while moving, mantling up the last couple of feet and scooting to the edge of the roof, unfolding her rifle and checking the crowd before she spots the silver-haired girl that her Shinki is broadcasting from her own guncam. <<Got eyes on, should I take the shot?>>

    And off to one side, someone who just came through a Vine is muttering curses under her breath.

    Serrah is looking somewhat tired, but not like she slept THAT badly. She was already carrying a pitch-black umbrella -- even the handle and rod are black, and so is her hand, somehow -- but she's still getting somewhat wet. In a swirl of shadow, a raincoat appears over her ... to mixed results; her clothes-change ability is for form, not function. She tries to pull the sports bag at her hip closer to herself. (Not that her baseballs need to stay dry as such, but still.)

    ... In place of her usual rainbow-colored skort, she's wearing one with a skyblue-pink-white-pink-skyblue pattern, and her voice is a touch more androgynous than those who've met her before might remember.

    For the record, Rydia of Mist looks super out of place in more modern worlds like this.
    Though she's left her chocobo back at the border of the vine leading into Natsuto so that the bird doesn't have to endure the torrential monsoon rains, the Summoner herself is seated opposite Yumi in the little cafe across from the subway.
    The green-haired Caller is also nibbling away at something; it's a slice of pie, as she keeps an eye out the window.
    Jade eyes narrow as Yumi's focus locks in on someone in particular. Especially so when the Senshi's phone comes out to make those texts.
    Rydia of Mist may not be very tech savvy, but she can tell when something is up.
    "Should we be getting ready?"

    Yuck, rain. Fortunately Josuke bought an umbrella -- he's not gonna get his hair or clothes get all messed up! Besides that, rain + phone = dead phone, and he's been trying to keep an open line for Yumi's text.

    Speaking of Yumi's text, the phone in Josuke's pocket goes off with a quiet 'bleep', and he checks it. "...Uh-oh. Trouble." Southwest business district, right. He pauses, looks up at a sign, and heads in that direction.

Benedicta's here in her almir'aj form, figuring it would be best if she ran into trouble on this world. The monsoon is making her second guess that decision though, wet fur was never pleasant after all. Still, it's part of her job as a member of Beacon Society to make contact with magic girls from other worlds whenever possible, you never know when you might need some outside help.

    Misaki comes up out of the subway, and almost immediately, the silver-haired girl is staring at her, sharply. Even at this distance, the ire in her gaze is nearly palpable, a look of nothing less than utter loathing. She turns to start walking after the younger girl at a brisk pace, bumping people aside without so much as batting an eye - a chorus of "Hey!" and "Ow!" and "Watch where you're walking!" follows in her wake, but she doesn't seem to even notice she's being yelled at. The only thing in her world that seems to exist is Misaki Sakai.

    Around ten or so meters from Misaki, the silver-haired girl suddenly flares with a purple, hazy sort of fire, and her entire outfit changes. From street clothes to a fanciful Japanese outfit. A pair of oni masks rest on her shoulders, for all of half a second - then they lift away, floating around her with more of that sickly-looking flame trailing off of them.

    "...yeah. Yeah we should," Yumi replies to Rydia, her voice suddenly urgent. She quickly taps out a one-letter reply to Uni:

    y

    Then there's a flare of gold-white light, and the armored form of Yumi Tachibana is hurtling across the street, about the same time as the transformed Executioner lunges forward. If the sound of those two transformations doesn't draw Misaki's eyes, then what happens next very well may. Because when the armored Senshi of the Sun plants herself between the silver-haired girl and her prey, there is a sudden flash of steel, a katana coming down on Yumi's head-

    -and the pavement underneath her buckles with a loud crunch.

    The massive form of Prominence is in the way of that girl's blade, but Yumi's arms are visibly straining, and the ground beneath her is starting to crater from the sheer force. "Misaki! RUN!"

    After a few seconds of their clash, the Executioner pushes back, leaping away a few meters. By now, the crowds are scattering in a panic. In a way, that's a blessing; it leaves few bystanders. It also leaves the two of them uneasily staring at each other for a moment. The only word the taller senshi utters is a soft, venomous, "Unclean. Move."

    Yumi shakes her head.

>> GAME >> Uni spends an Edge for: Transforming to Black Sister

    The simple response is heeded instantly, and just after the silver-haired girl transforms, a sniper round sails out, directly aimed at her head to put her down as quickly as possible...

    Of course it's not going to be that easy, since she's giving Yumi trouble with her sheer strength. <<Bravette, open fire, suppression spread, make sure she can't maneuver without getting peppered.>>

    Uni then vaults over the roof side, and shouts as she falls. ACCESS! She's surrounded by a pillar of white light that seems to have code fragments emerging from it for the precious moments it takes for her to land...

    Except she doesn't, the pillar bursts, and the form of Black Sister hovers a foot over the ground, her railcannon hissing in the rain as it spins up.

"Are you a friend of..." Misaki's question trails off when blades clash. She blinks in surprise, freezing in place until Yumi's command registers. Then, she runs. Away from home, away from the subway, away from people. She's athletic, but she's just a teenager. She can't outrun the Executioner without Yumi and the others protecting her.

    In an instant, Rydia's pie is forgotten.
    The green-clad Summoner is up from her seat as soon as Yumi says there's an issue.
    No sooner than tht gold-white flare of light happens, the Summoner is out the diner, a handful of Gil left on the table to pay as she's out the door.
    Katana meets Prominence, and immediately the Caller's hands dart to the dagger and whip at her hand as she rushes to assist Yumi.
    In a measure of sheer strength... Rydia is likely to get in the way. She can't stand up to another magicl girl. She'll likely only hinder Yumi in a direct confrontation, and this make her scowl.
    "You! Girl!" She calls to Misaki, before she brings her hands to her mouth to issue a sharp whitle.
    The thundering sound of clawed feet hitting pavement soon resounds through the city streets as a yellow chocobo comes storming down the block, skidding to a halt in front of Misaki Sakai.
    "Get on the bird! He'll get you to safety!"

    ... Aaaand then there's suddenly chaos happening.

    Serrah glares at the strange oni-monster-whatever girl. This is ... this isn't her problem, is it?

    ... A freaking little girl is in trouble.

    "Welp!" Serrah grumbles, and the blackness on her hand fades, and with it, the umbrella reverts to normal. ... It's pink, and covered in red hearts. She quickly starts folding it up, and charges forward towards Misaki and the chocobo Rydia just summoned. "Lemme help!" she calls out, her voice briefly even more androgynous --

    (To Misaki, it looks like the world suddenly became faded and tinted slightly purple, with everyone and everything frozen in place except herself and, uh, the gangly woman ten years her senior with black hair with a single red streak. "Here," she says, and if allowed, she'll help Misaki over to the chocobo and help her climb on. ... And then the chocobo also becomes unfrozen as soon as it comes into contact with Serrah. Time abruptly resumes --)

    -- And then from everyone else's perspective, it looks like Serrah and Misaki are suddenly over there, with no time in between, as abruptly as a video skipping ahead.

    Oh hey, that's handy. The screaming and fleeing people will give Josuke a frame of reference for where this is all going on. He'll run quickly towards the ruckus now, his own electric purple aura flaring, Crazy Diamond appearing behind him.

    So yeah. A Japanese teen that's about head and shoulders taller than a typical Japanese teenage boy, in a purple school uniform with a long jacket, surrounded by a flaring, electric purple aura, steps in the path between the fleeing Misaki and the approaching Executioner.

    And in front of him, a muscular male figure with bubblegum pink skin and powder blue armor with a crystalline sheen floats just slightly off the ground. For a moment. Then both the schoolboy and the armored figure lunge forward, the latter beginning to unleash a flurry of punches! The armored figure's punch-flurry is accompanied with a loud, "DORARARARARARARARA!"

The lop-ear girl's twitch a bit as she hears gunfire, that can't be good. Her horn begins to glow yellow as the presence of magic begins to surge through the area. Now Benedicta just has to find where the chaos is going on from. It can't be too far away from where she's at. Of course she's at a bit of disadvantage here not having been contacted by Yumi like the others. She dashes through the rain doing her best to not trip and stumble. That would be rather embarassing.

    For a split second, it seems as if the sniper round will go off without a hitch - but one of those masks suddenly jerks upward, and at the same time, the Executioner takes a short leap backwards. The round bounces off the forehead of the mask, just grazing the girl's cheek - and she gives the descending Black Sister little more than a hatred-filled look in reply, before turning her eyes back to Yumi.

    "Unclean," she repeats in a hateful hiss.

    Then her masks abruptly hurtle towards Yumi, both of them beginning to spew that eerie purple fire. The sunlight senshi whips her arm in a line, calling forth a burst of solar fire to disperse it; but her opponent lunges in right after, blade flashing out only to glance off Prominence in a split-second block; but the blow lands heavily enough that even Yumi's strength is hard-pressed. The armored knight shifts into a counterattack, hauling the runeblade around into a series of inhumanly fast, powerful swings, aimed at driving the Executioner back - but while she does indeed lose ground, she seems to have less trouble deflecting Yumi's attacks than Yumi did hers.

    But before she can take advantage of her solid defense, a tall man with an angry punch-ghost lunges in. Once again, she starts to give ground. Her blade and her masks all prove shockingly fast, fast enough to start deflecting blows from Crazy Diamond between the three of them... but not every attack can be stopped. The Stand is just a smidge too fast for her, and powerful punches start to sneak past her defenses. However, the murderous magical girl is sturdy enough that she can actually take a few punches from Crazy Diamond. Concerning!

    But when Misaki abruptly blips onto a chocobo with Serrah's help, the Executioner's eyes briefly dart that way - and then suddenly both the floating masks begin to whirl around her, absolutely flooding the nearby area with that noxious purple flame. Anyone in proximity is subject to the assault, and in half a heartbeat the swordswoman drops to the ground and explodes past Yumi with blinding speed. The senshi can only manage a quick swipe in passing, before she's forced to turn and start giving chase.

    As the chocobo begins to run, there is a sudden shimmer - and Misaki is joined in the saddle by what appears to be a clockwork fox, with a gyroscope containing a greenish gem in its tail. "I am Vulpes ex Machina. Please direct this beast one block further up, and then down an alleyway. We will be expediting your decision, Misaki Sakai. That girl will cease trying to kill you once your choice is decisively made."

    Benedicta, as it so happens, is not all that far from the action. It's easy enough to see the clash going on, and the chocobo fleeing from it.

    Black Sister erects a barrier to fend off that purple flame, and when the Executioner takes off after Misaki, the CPU Candidate shifts her Railcannon. "Sorry, I can't afford to take it easy on you. E X Multiblaster. Mode: Empress!" The railcannons tines begin to spin rapidly, before a brilliant lance of golden light surges towards the Executioner. The beam does track a little, rippling with raw power as the CPU pours everything she has into the attack.

There's a girl riding on a giant yellow bird along with a clockwork bird towards Benedicta, "Well, can't complain about things being boring. Seeing the other girl with the floating masks approaching gives her an idea. "Nice masks, you like to play hockey demon girl? Let's see if you can get past the net?" Once Misaki is safely past her, the plan springs into action. Her horn glows yellow once again and several tentacles sprout of her back blocking the executioner's path.

"Huh. What?" Misaki is told to get on a big bird. She's helped onto it with time stoppage. She doesn't look back, she doesn't need to to know that she's in danger. She mutely tries to steer the chocobo according to Vulpes instructions. "What is happening? Why?"

    And there's Serrah- using her timestop powers to enhance the chocobo's flight.
    Rydia is not going to complain about this. In fact her attention is more on the sudden jets of purple flame, taking a tumbling roll backwards to avoid getting scorched as she throws herself around a streetcorner to find a place of refuge and succour.
    But to glance out... To see Yumi fight this Executioner...
    This may well be the first time she's seen the Senshi struggle so, against a single opponent.
    This mere fact alone makes Rydia curse under her breath.
    Meanwhile, Chocobo, the chocobo-- because Rydia is unoriginal with names and she named the big bird when she was three, will follow Misaki's steering to the letter.
    Rydia however, still does not directly interject into the insane battle of mahou shoujo against mahou shoujo.
    If she interferes, she'll likely only get herself killed.
    "Whyt!"
    The mists that linger around the green-clad girl swirls and shifts as though it were alive... And then coalesces into the form of a great white dragon made entirely of mist.
    "Get the girl to safety!" She orders the last of the Mist Dragons, her faithful eidolon dipping his head in a nod before dispersing into mist again...
    A mist that surrounds and envelopes Misaki, making it impossible to see her through a dense fog that does not obscure HER vision.

    Aaaaand someone attacks Serrah right when she's in Stop the World's cooldown. Or at least, the murder-mahou is attacking the general vicinity, whatever. The dhampir zips directly upwards into the air to avoid that flame in complete defiance of gravity and probably at least one of Newton's laws of motion. "Well someone has an acceptable level of chill!" she says sarcastically. "Uni, Josuke, uh ... Tachibana!" she calls out. "What the hell is even going on here!?" (She's met Yumi, but only once or twice, and she's ... not quite sure what terms she's on with Rydia these days.)

    Having taken that moment to take stock of the situation -- including exactly where Uni's blaster is firing -- she reaches into her sports bag and starts lobbing baseballs rapidfire at the back of the Executioner's head, flying at an appreciable fraction of a major-league pitcher. At a rate of about once a second, to boot. "By the way," she calls down to the Executioner, "death from above!"

    It's concerning that this girl is so sturdy, yes. But Josuke's starting to learn that things in the worlds outside his own don't exactly work like he's used to them working. Besides that, all he's trying to do is delay her until Misaki can get to safety.

    For now. Even at this jucture, he's aware that just delaying her isn't going to work forever. Even if they drive her off now, she's just going to come back. But, one problem at a time.

    In fact currently he has a problem of his own -- those noxious purple flames! He really can't do much about them but duck behind Crazy Diamond, and those flames are strong enough to burn the Stand as well. Which means he takes the damage his Stand suffers. That said, it's far less than it would if it was just him standing in the flames.

    He does take a moment to look back and check on Misaki on the weird giant bird-thing. She's getting away from here, it looks like, so he's going to try to buy her some more time. He can't hear the conversation between Misaki and the clockwork fox, though. Serrah's words are heard, though! "She's trying to kill that girl on the bird! Tell you why later!" he calls out. There isn't the time for a lengthy explanation here, unfortunately.

    Though the noxious flames give him an idea. While he takes cover behind his Stand, he begins to calm his breathing, to breathe in the rhythm his wayward dad showed him...

    To those who can sense it, something light sunlight begins to well up within Josuke. When it's at an acceptable level, Josuke paces his hands on Crazy Diamond's back, the sunlight yellow energy starting to manifest around his hands, moving to the Stand.

    And then Crazy Diamond unleashes yet another DORARARARARA punch flurry, this one backed by the sunlight-like hamon!

    The tracking blast of light surges towards the Executioner, and both of those oni masks immediately whip around to put themselves between her and the attack - or rather, to flood the air between her and the attack with more of that purple flame. It doesn't manage to disperse the entire blast, and the murderous young woman is blown nearly off her feet, but she recovers almost instantly, launching into a run again-

    -only to be bowled over again by Yumi. It was a moment's distraction, but it was enough for the armored senshi to catch up. She hurtles over the Executioner and lashes out with Prominence, but when she lands, it's searing sunlight that she unleashes, drawing lines of small explosions to drive her opponent back, and only lashing out with the massive blade when the Executioner is offbalance. She finally seems to have found a means of fighting that keeps the stronger girl on her toes.

    But then Serrah's voice catches her attention. "-!" Once again, that split second is all the Executioner needs to dart past her, and Yumi is left playing catch-up again with a chagrined look. She does take long enough to yell out a reply, though. "What Higashikata said! That's a potential magical girl!"

    Normally, a baseball to the back of the head wouldn't be enough to stymie someone as preternaturally tough as this girl seems to be. But when it's several, coming one after another after another, it's enough of a frustration for her to skid to a stop and turn to glare harshly up at Serrah. "Unclean. Interloper. Ibaraki!" The last almost sounds like a command - and in response to it, one of the masks suddenly veers of and starts hurtling straight towards Serrah like a missile, erupting in purple flames as it does.

    And then she's brought to a halt by Benedicta's tentacles. She's cocking her blade as if to strike; when once again, Josuke descends on her with furious fists, this time pairing it with a crackling energy quite similar in some ways to Yumi's own element. The vibrant light of Hamon, the energy of life and the sun, lends an extra weight to Crazy Diamond's blows that starts to actively drive her back, even with her ability to deflect or parry. As strong as she is, the sheer volume of people attacking and impeding her is making it impossible for her to advance.

    As the chocobo runs, the clockwork creature regards Misaki calmly, speaking in a deep and strident voice. "She wishes to remove you as a potential threat. The most expedient way is to take your life. She will cease only when you either successfully become a magical girl, or choose to have your potential permanently sealed. I am afraid your life now rests on making that choice immediately." And then a fog descends around the two of them, and the Guardian of Natsuto regards it curiously. "Fascinating. I have never encountered such a draconic ability. This will buy us a fair bit of time."

With the mist and the sounds of battle growing distant, Misaki calms down. She listens to Vulpes. "Well, I was hoping I'd have some more time to think, but..." She takes a deep breath, "I want to help people. I want to save my brother. Tachibana-san made it pretty clear you have some ulterior motive, but I don't care. So long as I can do those things, I'm in."

    Black Sister's railcannon shuts off and emits a cloud of steam as it cycles its chamber. She's /still/ up, and still going after Misaki.

    Like some little robots in another world would say: This cannot continue.

    <<Bravette, It's time. Combo Artes, Dolce Vida!>>

    The Shinki frowns behind her visor, then blasts off her perch, going straight up. <<Reflection Field ready.>>

    Black Sister then announces, her voice resonant. "I'll show you my Heart and Soul! SPECIAL ARMS, LIMITER RELEASE!" She aims her railcannon, not at Executioner, but at the tiny speck of Bravette, who is suddenly shrouded by a rotating magic seal. The CPU launches toward it, firing pulses of energy into the seal which then begins to glow... and reflect a version of itself at Executioner's feet. "Dissapear into the Light. DOLCE VIDA!" announces Black Sister, as a snap of her fingers causes a veritable hailstorm of targetted energy pulses to rain down onto the Magical Girl... before exploding violently, contained within the spell seal. "I'm going to give it all I've got!" A brilliant blue sphere then engulfs Executioner, which Black Sister then fires into, causing it to detonate in a rippling, chaotic maelstrom of unleashed energy.

Hearing the fox Benedicta can't help but to comment, "And I thought my awakening was rough." She can't help but to frown a bit as she hears the mention of sealing. Even though her own seal has been removed, it doesn't bring up good memories. Her attention then turns back towards Serrah, "I had to become a magic girl myself, because there were no other choices. Look demon girl, you're in over your head here. I rather not have to kill anyone again, so you might want to back off while it's still an option because the path you're heading down isn't going to end well."

    So close. So close. So close.
    The Executioner being held at bay by the combined force of Yumi, Serrah, Josuke and Benedicta, Rydia opts to keep her focus on getting Misaki out of harm's way.
    But...
    She's already tasked Chocobo to give the girl a ride. Whyt is doing the best he can...
    What else can she do?
    It would still be a fool's suicidal errand to join the fray.
    What can Rydia of Mist do now to further aid Misaki's flight?
    A slow breath to steel herself, and the answer comes to her.
    Jade eyes fall closed as she stills and bites on her lip.
    And when she exhales, power ripples, roiling from her very body as she reaches her arms towards the heavens.
    With all her heart, Rydia of Mist reaches out, Calling for something...
    And somewhere... Far far away in the Feymarch... Something hears her.
    Something listens.
    "Great Queen of the Eidolons... Blessed be in your wisdom, your gentleness and your wrath... Mother! Asura! Come forth!" She declares, every word resounding with power.
    The clouds part... And from the skies a great figure emerges. A woman with four arms, each bearing a sword, slowly weaving amid one another as she dances in the sky, three faces adorning her head... And her head spins to reveal...
    A monstrous mask.
    A cool, wise expressive face.
    And a gentle smiling visage of love and affection.
    The Eidolon's head swivels, spinning wildly until it falls to a stop... On that smiling face.

    QUEEN ASURA HAS PASSED JUDGMENT.

    The verdict...

    A boon.

    A boon of swiftness and speed, that overtakes Misaki and Chocobo, to get them out of harm's way, as the girl mkes her decision.

    Serrah slightly recoils from Josuke's use of sun, but then she has the ... Ibaraki ... thing flying at her. She grimaces at being called 'unclean', but she quickly rallies.

    Only to grimace further at Benedicta's comment. "Good grief," she says in Japanese, translated to all by the World Tree's translation convention. ("Yare yare da wa.") "Yeah, okay, maybe I am kind of 'unclean'," she snaps back, dodging and weaving to avoid the flames. "But I've actively fought my darkness! Whatever you are ... whatever I'm talking to ... you've embraced your darkness!"

    She takes a deep breath, and with a loud yell of exertion, she whips around in midair and does a roundhouse kick at the attacking skull-mask.

    Sending it flying directly back at the Executioner.

>> SUMMARY[Serrah Delany] >> Return to sender!

    And that's really all Josuke's hoping to do -- help the others impede the Executioner so that Misaki has time to get away. Then they can figure out how to more permanently solve the problem.

    He is, however, staying out of all of Uni's very pretty but also very dangerous light show! He doesn't want to test his Stand against all that! "...Whoa."

    Benedicta also has a point, and he adds his own two yen! "It's gonna end with someone else like us, maybe someone who actually doesn't care whether you live or die," he points out.

    Once Uni's laser explosions fade, though, he's on the move again. Hamon fades though, and he's just leaping at the Executioner, Stand reaching out, aiming to grab her by the shoulders. Why? He's trying to 'return' the transformation energy. It's a long shot, and he knows it's probably not going to work, but HEY, it'll keep her busy in the meantime, right?

    Though this also places him within melee distance of the Executioner, so it's kind of a high-risk, low-reward situation. Still -- buy time!

    "Very well," Vulpes declares simply. "Then once we reach momentary safety, I will begin."

    Shortly after he says this, the tremendous form of Queen Asura descends from the heavens. It is such an awe-inspiring sight that even Vulpes ex Machina goes silent for a moment; the gyroscope within his tail stops entirely, and his entire body stills.

    Then the chocobo abruptly kicks into overdrive under her boon of magical haste.

    Zip, zoom, right up into an alleyway. Vulpes does not seem to have expected this at all.

    Once more, the Executioner breaks free, lunging on the attack, only to find herself under assault by Yumi. This time, the sunlight knight swings a runeblade aflame with gold-white fire, channeling her element directly through Prominence to lay heavy blows. She drives a massive slash downward, feints as if to follow up with a stab - and then vaults back, letting that half second of distraction put her right in Uni's sights. The barrage rains down and explodes, burying the silver-haired girl in a storm of pain so potent that even she can't just shrug it off. When the Dolce Vida ends, the girl clad in sickly fire is on one knee, battered...

    ...and looking more murderous than ever.

    Benedicta and Serrah in particular draw furious stares. "...the unclean speak. They dare. They dare. The interlopers dare pollute the world and call Onmyouji the foul one, dare pollute the air with their filthy voices-!"

    The fiery mask comes hurtling back down at the Executioner with enough force to stagger her backward. But Serrah might not get out of that one completely free of harm - the mask was on fire. And not just ordinary fire; if one could somehow compress sheer, raw hatred into the shape of fire, that's what it would feel like. But before anything else can come of it, Josuke closes range and uses the Joestar version of Lay on Hands. The result is an unholy SHRIEK, full of outrage, loathing, pain, and shock - a sound which rapidly transforms into nothing but spite. More of that hatefire engulfs her entirely, and from within all of it, her sword emerges in a vicious slice right at Crazy Diamond or Josuke, whichever she can reach.

    Then, she breaks away, dropping back and adopting a combat stance. For the first time, it looks like the Executioner - Onmyouji? Is that her name? A title? Something else? - might actually devote her attention directly to those hindering her. She is battered, bloody, but she still looks hearty enough that she could give everyone here a fight...

    ...except that's when the alleyway up the street erupts with light.

    Within the alleyway, the chocobo comes to a stop, and Vulpes ex Machina leaps from the bird's back. He never hits the ground. "I am afraid there is little time for ceremony. Misaki Sakai, accept this power. Let it give shape to that which lies in thy heart, forming a blade to scatter thine enemies, a raiment to turn aside their blows. Let thy heart see the evil that distorts the world, and guide thee to its lair that thou might scour it from the face of this world."

    The Guardian of Natsuto City comes apart.

    The gemstone in his tail shines brightly, and his clockwork body disassembles, unfolds, reshapes. Into an altar. Into a doorway. Into a machine. It's many things, and not quite any of them. But the radiance from within settles onto Misaki, giving the strange sensation of affixing to her soul... and then reshaping itself to something which fits her - as if her heart is not just connected to that radiance, but reshaping it into something uniquely hers. A form, a power, a weapon none but Misaki Sakai can call their own.

    The process feels like it's simultaneously an eternity, and at the same time ends quickly. Ever so quickly.

    "It is complete," Vulpes declares.

For a moment, Misaki thinks Asura has come to kill her. When instead it's a blessing, she sighs in relief. And as they reach safety, Vulpes ex Machina does his thing, Misaki is still. As the power becomes hers, her clothes change. From a simple dress she goes to a ruffled white shirt, a black jacket with red ribbons, dark red trousers, and a black and white cap.

Misaki nods to Vulpes, "I'll give her the good news." And then turns around. Her magic alone would make her fast, with that Haste buff she makes it to the Executioner and the people fighting her in short order. "Hey you. You wanted to prevent this from happening?" She shouts, and materializes a pair of handguns, and aims at the masks. Her left gun fires a red beam at the one. Her right gun fires a white beam at the other. "Good job."

    Serrah ... realizes her mistake right away. The flames badly burn her leg, and to her surprise, her own dark aspect doesn't fully cancel out that hatred, and she starts to fall slowly. "OW owowowowow fuck fuck fuck ..." Her voice has become even more androgynous. Her sports bag hits the ground first, followed by Serrah herself, grimacing and clutching her stricken leg. "Nnhh ... well, this doesn't hurt as bad as the time my arm broke on that space station, but --"

    At that light, and Misaki's appearance, she twists her head and body around to watch. Despite her injury, she breaks into a grin, and shoots the newly-minted senshi a thumbs-up. She tenses up at the laser shots, but ... okay. Okay, that's just light, not Light.

    And then she winces again. "Uh ... J ... J-Josuke," she says, "could you please ... hhhh, shit ... uh, yeah."

    On the bright side... Asura has passed judgment in favor of Misaki, blessing the girl and her mount with speed.
    On the downside...
    Doing that takes a lot out of Rydia..
    And once the great Queen of the Eidolons vanishes, returning to the heavens from whence she came...
    Rydia collapses to her knees, panting and soaked in sweat.
    Someone is going to need another slice of pie after all this is said and done.
    "Oh good." She says, glancing up to see Misaki in all her new glory. "She made it."

    Black Sister's form flickers, glitches... and the CPU Candidate drops rapidly to ground level, before her transformation fails. She lands heavily from about four feet up, and stumbles to a knee. She brings up her rifle at Executioner... Onmyouji?.. doesn't matter, as Bravette drops down and hovers beside her Master, the Shinki's gattling spinning up in preparation to open fire.

    THen Misaki comes running back in, newly minted as a Magical Girl and the young Goddess smiles. "Disappear into the light of the one thing you wanted to stop." She pulls the trigger on her rifle, sending a burst of shots lancing out at the stricken Executioner, while Bravette also opens fire, spraying the much smaller slugs from her Gattling all across the target, a withering suppression fire. "Surrender or be destroyed!" announces Bravette.

    Misaki's return could not have comes at a better time. Because while his Stand had taken the brunt of the Executioner's strike at him, that still means Josuke took damage. And it was a particularly vicious strike, one that sends Crazy Diamond -- and in turn, Josuke -- flying back. He gives a choked yelp of shock and pain as his Stand disappears.

    Fortunately he's not hurt too terribly bad. He rights himself to sit on the ground as Misaki's lasers start on the masks! "Oh wow, that's <great>!" he remarks happily. Hopefully that means this thing will go away. Or Misaki will finish her off.

    He looks to Serrah as he hears her speak, though, and winces. "Right, right! I'll fix it," he offers, and stands up -- ow, that kinda hurts -- and heads to Serrah. He'll summon Crazy Diamond again and try to fix Serrah's burned leg.

Benedicta watches as the masks get lasered. She's hoping that they were merely controlling the girl or something and she hasn't been corrupted or destroying them is fatal. She looks at Serrah and offers her support if she needs it. She can't heal her or anything but she might be able to help her a bit until she has a chance to recover at least.

    From light erupts a magical girl. From the magical girl erupts laserfire. One mask knocked back, then the other; they don't shatter, but after all the abuse they've suffered, they do crack, right down the middle. Smoke begins leaking from the cracks.

    Onmyouji hisses, a quiet and spiteful sound, glaring daggers at Misaki now. Her stance is guarded, no longer hostile... unlike her words. "...failure. Failure. Filth, everywhere. Ibaraki. Shuten." The masks both fly themselves down to land upon her shoulders - and in the next instant, the both of them flood the area around her with yet more of that hatefire. Billowing, burning, enough to blast Yumi backwards. The cloud envelops the Executioner entirely, hiding her from sight in sickly purple flames.

    The flames seem to linger in a roiling cloud until Uni and Bravette's barrage of ordnance disperses it. Nothing is left behind, save for a smoldering circle under where she once stood. Yumi takes a slightly unsteady step to one side, head sweeping left and right... then finally relaxes, slumping against a light pole. "...thank goodness." She turns to look over Misaki's way, and gives a somewhat shaky thumbs-up.

    It is now that Vulpes comes ambling out of the alleyway, clockwork body ticking and whiring just as always. One ear twitches, and his gemstone eyes sweep over the others - particularly Serrah and Josuke. "As the Guardian of this city, I am in your debt. If any of you are in need of healing, it will be provided. If you are in need of lodging, it can be arranged."

When the Executioner leaves, Misaki runs over to the strangers who helped, bowing to each of them in turn, "I'm Misaki Sakai. Thank you for saving." Then finally to Yumi, "You should've told me something like this might happen, Tachibana-san." She sounds a bit cross, "You were trying to pretend you weren't hiding anything from me." And immediately she runs off, going home.

    Uni tchs as the hostile escapes. "Bravette, I know it's useless, but area scan, see if you can track where she went."

    The Shinki dismisses her Gattling, flies up higher and starts to sweep with her visor sensors.

    The Goddess shifts from kneeling, to planting herself on her ass, huffing a breath out as she looks over at Vulpes. "A place to rest would be appreciated, that little stunt took a lot of energy that I just don't have... but I'm not going to let someone kill someone else just because they're angry at life." she remarks.

    Much like Rydia, the transformation takes a toll and the black-haired girl looks exhausted.

    Serrah smiles wanly up at Josuke. "Thanks," she says, accepting Benedicta's help to her feet. She winces slightly at the healing-power from Vulpes Ex Machina, but continues, "All three of you, I mean. Uhhh, I might need a place to dry off, but I mean, other than that ..."

    She blinks at Misaki's sudden exit, and winces. "... Well, that could've gone better," she says, running a hand through her (now soaking wet) hair. "Jeez ..."

""Damn, I was hoping destroying the masks would snap her out of it. I guess it can't be that easy. Yeah, it would be nice to have place to crash until the rain stops. Sorry, if I don't smell too great." Benedicta knows she smells like wet rabbit right now. She notices that Misaki's runs off, "Hope she's okay, I know transforming for the first time can be exhausting. Plus being a magic girl can be rough at times." She can understand what she's going through right now.

    More insight is revealed into the reason for the attack with the Executioner's departing words. Josuke sighs. "Too bad none of them stop to think what would happen if there weren't people with that power..." he mutters, mostly under his breath.

    Then he looks to the others. "Anybody else hurt?" he inquires. Vulpes is offering healing too, and he nods. "It would be appreciated. My Stand can only heal others, and it would take some time for me to do it any other way." He could use his hamon to do it, but breathing is kind of hard right now...

    He offers a smile to Misaki as she introduces herself. "Hi there! I'm Josuke Higashikata!" That's about all he has time to do before... she's a little uspet at Yumi for some reason, and... She's running off now and... "H-hey, wait!" And a wince. Too little, too late. And he's in no position to chase her.

    Looking to Yumi, he inquires, "Is she reasonably safe now? It's not going to put her in any undue danger to run off like that, right?"

    What was that social geture Yumi taught Rydia for moments like this?
    Ah yes.
    The exhausted Summoner gives Misaki a thumbs up while still trying to catch her breath.
    And then Misaki bails.
    "... Well at least she's not dead." The Summoner mutters, slowly pushing back up to her feet.
    She looks a little pale and is drenched in sweat, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have the strength to hold a hand out to Uni to help steady the equally exhausted looking Goddess-candidate.
    "I'll let Yumi handle damage control from here. ... Right now I want more pie..."

    "Sakai, wait-!" Yumi moves at first to follow, stricken by Misaki's words. "I just didn't want you to..." But the newly-minted senshi is gone, and Yumi's steps slow to a stop; chasing after would be the wrong call right now. She can't actually deny what Misaki said.

    She'll have to talk to her... later.

    Someone's talking to you, Yumi. "Huh?" The redhead blinks, turning towards Josuke. "Oh, uh... no, I think she's fine." Vulpes walks up alongside her, then sits down, canting his head towards Josuke. "Yumi Tachibana is correct. The danger of an Executioner attack is now past, and her powers pose no innate danger to her unless she begins using them excessively. That much, I can safely watch for myself." He then looks in Benedicta's direction. "The Executioners are unfortunately beyond saving. It is their very nature as magical girls. Fortunately, they are exceedingly few in number."

    Those who still want or need medical attention from Vulpes will be tended to shortly; those who need lodging will be asked to wait here, until they're picked up by a cab and taken to a nearby hotel. Luxury suites await everyone who needs one. They're very nice rooms.