World Tree MUSH

    Things are hopping in Tokyo's Azabu-Juban district. It's three o clock and that means it's after school hours, but not everyone is leaving the school grounds of Juban Middle School. Because it's getting to the end of the baseball season and rivalries between schools are at their most heated!
    Cheerleaders dance, players chill in the dugouts, and parents, teachers, and students alike mill in the bleachers cheering excitedly.
    It's a big game, today. The winning school will go on to the national competition!
    So why is there such an ominous feeling hanging in the air...?
    Not that the locals seem to realize it, but there's an odd sort of lull in the air that makes it feel like something bad is about to happen!
    But everyone just goes right along cheering for their team cluelessly.
    USAGI TSUKINO is here, sitting in the bleachers with her best friend NARU OSAKA, sipping on a soda and watching the beginning of the game excitedly.
    "Huhhh, I didn't know you liked baseball, Usagi." Naru muses.
    "I don't really. I just failed another test and don't want to go home and let my parents find out!" Usagi says way too cheerily.
    "... I... see..." Naru doesn't sound surprised in the least.

    Why is Hyouka here?

    The most honest answer to that is "a great big shrug."

    She'd been offworld for other reasons, but with her business concluded, she's on her way back home - and hey, it's high school baseball! There's some vaguely fond-ish memories involved there. The faux-elven woman isn't exactly sitting down, but having heard the baseball game going on, she's at least stopped to watch for a few minutes.

    Sense of doom in the air? Something weird and wrong? This is Hyouka we're talking about. She's absolutely oblivious to things like that unless they're really, blindingly, glaringly obvious. She's just stopped to watch a bit of middle school baseball!

    The oblivious nature of the locals would likely mean that a woman in a white robe and cowl would go unnoticed, perched atop a nearby building like some kid of gargoyle. She can feel that ominous air and after what happened at the electronics store, she's wary. "Aquila, anything?" she asks, glancing at her partner on her shoulder, the shinki tapping away on a holographic keyboard with a furrowed brow, her scar crinkling oddly as the surface creases.

    Piera's here to keep tabs on that strange blonde girl that keeps vanishing, only to be replaced by another blonde girl with special powers... there's something going on there, but not even Machiovelli can tell what without more info. So here she perches, watching. Waiting.

Misaki isn't actually in the stadium. She has no reason to be there. She's noticed the feeling in the air, and has decided to stick nearby, but she doesn't want any awkward questions from people who assume she's here to watch the game. So, she's transformed and discretely and swiftly made her way to to the top of the building, then untransformed so she can watch. She finds out she's not alone up here, and sits down next to Piera, "Hi."

    Serrah was going for a walk through the World Tree to clear her head; she's been relatively consistent about not spending too long away from home the past couple of weeks, and, having heard about where Hyouka was going, decided to head on over to see if they crossed paths.

    And there she is!

    Serrah walks down the street towards Hyouka, with her baseball bag slung under one shoulder and shading herself with her umbrella -- it's currently pitch black, almost like a silhouette, and so is the hand holding it -- and she's looking ... kind of sleepy. Not the worst, but definitely not the best, either; she still hasn't fully defeated her disastrous sleep schedule. She nods in greeting to Hyouka. "Hey," she says simply.

Benedicta remembers when she was in middle school, those were simpler times. Today's her day off from Beacon Society and it's been a while she's had a chance to get out in human form. She's more into nature than sports and is about to go for a hike when she passes by the school wondering what's going on. It seems to be a baseball game.

    Soon enough the game is underway! The CLINK of metal bats hitting fast-pitched balls resounds over the roaring cheer of the small crowd in the bleachers. All in all it's a pretty standard middle school baseball game! It's fun to watch, a little exciting-- though not quite as edge of the seat as a pro game, the level of competition is pretty high for a bunch of middle schoolers!
    Something's odd about that other team though. Their coach- a really, really pretty short-haired blonde man doesn't appear too happy with his team's performance, as the Juban Middle School team is crushing them. Which is odd because no one has really noticed how much uh... Bigger the kids on the other team are.
    It's when the score gets abysmally one-sided that Jadeite gets fed up with his team's performance.
    "I've had enough of this charade! Youma squad! Take the precious energy of excited youth and gather it for our Great Ruler!" The 'coach' declares.
    And as he does, the 'kids' on the other team burst out of their uniforms to reveal grey, putty-like, monstrous creatures, which leap and lunge to steal the energy of the Juban team and people in the bleachers!
    "WAH! USAGI WHAT'S GOING ON?" Naru shrieks.
    Usagi is, already, blue in the face with terror and trying to crawl under the bleachers to hide.
    It looks like this game has taken a very bad turn for the worst.

    "-oh? Serrah~!" Hyouka greets the dhampir cheerily. "Fancy running into you here." She turns her attention back to the baseball game. "I'm not planning to stick around here long, but I could stop and do dinner, if you're hungry." She turns to look back at the game, frowning faintly. It feels bad to see one side getting so badly stomped; at this rate, the cyborg is just about done watching-

    ...

    ...watching strange putty monsters take off their disguises and go on a rampage?

    "DARGN, what the hell are...?" she mumbles. "Some form of golem, potentially. Charged with 'taking energy', from what that main said-"

    Instantly, Hyouka is at a full charge, dinner with Serrah absolutely forgotten. "Oi, oi, oi! There's not gonna be any draining energy from kids while I'm here!" One jump just takes her straight up over the fence in a high vault, and she turns her descent into a flying kick straight towards one of the putty monsters. She's going to land on her ass, of course, but it will be worth it, right?

    The sound of someone approaching doens't get the Assassin's guard up. She can't feel any animosity, so she remains still, and simply nods in return to the magical girl. "You can feel that oppressive air too, right?" she asks conversationally, watching the game begin and unfold. Aquila continues to tippytap on her holoboard, going through various wavelengths to try and pick out what's causing it.

    That's about when Jadeite drops the ruse and sends off the Clay Cadre. "Looks like I was right... Go time, Aquila!" Piera stands, and then holds her arms out to the sides as she drops off the edge of the building. Luckily, someone left a large container of laundry right under where she falls. Aquila closes her panel, and jumps off Piera's shoulder as she drops, summoning her armour, jetpack and weapons, arresting her descent before she too ends up in the laundry hamper too.

    Piera leaps out of the hamper, and runs off to engage the youma, drawing a sword from within her robes, the metal glinting in the spotlights. Aquila's bident blurs as she spiins it, ready to divebomb hostiles heading for the civilians.

"Oh come on, the entire team?!" Crap, I hope the kids that were supposed to show up are okay." Benedicta knows it could be rather bad if the youma managed to kidnap them. For someone who can turn into a rabbit she doesn't seem to be very lucky. The teenager's not as strong in this form but someone still has to stop the monsters from causing trouble. Her legs suddenly glow yellow and are covered in rabbit fur as she leaps over the fence.

    Serrah nods. "I ... don't think I'd mind that," she says softly, which, by now, Hyouka would recognize as Serrah-speak for 'ooh that sounds like a great idea, yes please'.

    And then she does a double-take at the attacking youma. She opens her mouth to comment, and in the time that took, Hyouka's off. Well, then! Serrah frowns and closes up her umbrella with a brief wince -- it suddenly becomes pink with red hearts as she stows it away in her sports bag. She then leaps into the air, not just to a superhuman height but in a complete defiance of gravity as she charges forward towards the melee ...

    And then, as abruptly as a video skipping ahead, Serrah is suddenly behind the devilishly-handsome blonde coach; one second, she was flying, and the next, she was right behind the man, fist swinging with superhuman strength.

"Yeah I do." Misaki answers. The feeling is explained, and Misaki transforms once again and leaps down. She manifests Joyous as she runs into the arena, taking a few pot shots at the youma while rushing towards the non-youma players to try to pick one up and deliver to the bleachers.

    Everything immediately breaks out into chaos.
    Students scramble and scream, trying to make a run for it as youma grab them and begin to sap away their energy. That blonde girl- Usagi? She goes completely missing in the ruckus.
    And then the heroes emerge!
    Hyouka lands right on the face of a Youma, causing it to splat beneath her foot before she lands on her behind; several of the grey goons swarm Piera, held at bay by her sword, while others try to duck and cover her shinki's dive tactics, tumbling away with displeased burbles.
    Misaki lands on the ball field, peppering youma with her magical gun, just before...
    "H-huh who are you?"
    Naru Osaka looks very confused as she's scooped right up by an honest to goodness magical girl and rushed to safety.
    And then... Then...
    There's a Dhampir trying to sucker punch one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
    It's a hard, solid, blow. And to his credit, Jadeite takes it standing; though he staggers from the impact, clutching the side of his head and scowling.
    "... You won't live to regret that..." He snarls, holding up a hand and launching a close-range blast of dark energy right back at Serrah!
    Meanwhile... Elsewhere...

    "Usagi! You ran away again?!"
    "It was scary!"
    "That's no excuse!" A little black cat seems to be berating Usagi from around the corner of the building while everyone is busy.
    "Transform into Sailor Moon and fight!"
    "Dun wanna!"
    "Usagiiiiii!"
    "Dun wanna, dun wanna, dun wannaaaaaAAAAAHHHHH DON'T USE YOUR CLAWS! OKAY OKAY!" She shrieks as Luna gets very convincing.

    There's a flash of light from around the corner.
    Along with some soft sobbing.

    Piera jukes and parries the Clay Cadre's attacks, using the over extension of one to draw it past her, then stab it in the neck with her offhand Hidden Blade. She then sequences over the body as it falls into an overhand slash with her sword, shifts to kick another in the stomach. The Assassin then flicks a trio of throwing daggers at yet another in her little swarm, moving with a fluid grace that few mortals and non-magical girls would even hope to achieve.

    Aquila scowls behind her visor, putting herself between the fleeing students and the clay monsters. She twirls her bident, holds out her other hand and makes a 'come at me' gesture, before summoning her laser blaster and loosing off a volley of laser bolts as she hovers on her wing-like jets.

It looks like Hyouka and Misaki have things under control with the youma so Benedicta's attention turns towards Serrah fighting Jadeite. The teenager's shoes are quickly tossed aside leaving bare rabbit feet exposed, that was much more comfortable. She leaps at the heavenly king from behind launching a series of kicks aimed at his head. Hopefully she could knock him off balance and make sure he's unable to hit Serrah.

    Hyouka remains on her backside for only a second or two. Another day, she might grimace at what remains of the youma mook; now, she's mostly just worried about the students. "Fisto, ON!" she yells, already hopping to her feet. As she charges at the next of them, her arms come apart, reassemble, seeming to gain mass as panels slide into place from some kind of pocket space within her forearms. By the time she's swinging a blow at the next monster, her forearms are both encased (or perhaps transformed into?) a pair of massive gauntlets, each about as massive as her torso.

    She'll be focusing her attention pretty much exclusively on the youma who are already, or about to, snag students for draining.

"Misaki Sakai, I'm from another world." Misaki answers Naru as she sets the girl down, "Keep going away, I have more people to rescue." And back in she goes, looking for people to rescue, shooting lasers youma while going in.

    Serrah is ... kind of surprised that Jadeite didn't go down from that. "... Huh. You're made of tough stuff."

    And then she has a dark-energy-blast thrown at her. Serrah zips sideways to avoid getting hit, and smiles up at Benedicta as she comes in. "Thanks, Bene!" She presses her advantage, and charges right back in, attempting to unleash a punch-flurry onto Jadeite. "POWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOW --"

>> SUMMARY[Serrah Delany] >> Serrah is not the kind of person to admit when she has a bad idea.

    And thus... Naru is saved. She's not going to question Misaki, and indeed starts running in the indicated direction away from the fracas, while Piera cuts down youma and Aquila sends more scattering, cuasing one to leap near ten feet in the air when her shots pepper its back, while Misaki puts another down with hr magical gunfire.
    Hyouka tears into the putties, that mighty blow is all it takes to reduce one to a pile of wet clay- which makes them all pause briefly.
    The youma begin to panic.
    Jadeite... Swings back. Surprisingly, he seems able to match Serrah blow for blow, fists empowered by dark energy with every swing as knuckles meet knuckles in a flurry of swings right out of a DBZ episode! Up until Benedicta starts kicking him in the head from behind.
    "--Damn you!" Jadeite snarls, having to divide his attention between the two, making it harder on him as...

    "How DARE You try to use Japan's favorite passtime for your nefarious ways!"
    Sailor Moon appears, standing atop the bleachers as she strikes a pose. "In the name of the moo--a-a-ahauahaahgh stop shaking the bleachers!"

    The youma are rattling the bleachers with her atop it, causing her to lose balance-- and land butt-first on a youma's head, squishing it beneath her.
    "Oh EW this is never getting out of my skirt!

    Piera's sword jams in one of the clay monsters. Instead of trying to pull it free, she lets go, grabbing a short blade from inside her robe and switching her attack style. She bullrushes one of the putties, stabbing it in the chest rapidly before kicking it away into a group of its buddies. "Is this all you have? I've fought far more dangerous creatures than you could ever HOPE to be!" she taunts, spreading her arms and taking a swaggering approach. "Is there not even one of you that can challenge me?!"

    Aquila continues to harrass and chase the fleeing putties, dive bombing with her bident, and firing bursts of lasers at others if they even think about turning to chase after the fleeing civilians.

    Smash, slam, punch, splat, Hyouka is going to town. She's just about lost focus on anything else - but the rattle of bleachers pulls her back to reality, so to speak. "-ah! Hey, cut that out!" That poor magical girl is having a tough time of it, and they're messing up the stands besides!

    Hyouka comes within a hair's breadth of lunging right in on that, when she catches sight of Serrah and Benedicta squaring off with Jadeite. This is enough to give her pause; she stands, for a moment, torn... but it's two on one, right? They can at least hold out long enough for her to smash the youma messing with the stands. So Hyouka runs for the stands, FISTEAU gauntlets starting to glow with a gold-orange light as they're infused with earth-elemental mana. Her blows might not sear like they do with fire, or shock as they would with lightning, but they'll land more heavily, and there's still a burst of elemental energy with every strike.

"You know if I was going to steal energy from people, I wouldn't pick the place where they have metal bats readily on-hand." Benedicta can't help but to point out how badly thought out this plan was. She continues her fancy footwork as she fights the Heavenly King. "Man, I'm glad I don't have to clean this up." Her attention turns towards the stands for a moment where the youma are getting splattered.

Misaki notices Sailor Moon's troubles, and rushes over to help her up. "Don't worry, I'm new at this too, I'll cover for you. Look away from me for a sec." She warns, before yelling, "Hey, bad guys! Look at me!" She then generates a very bright flash of light, a little brighter than a flashbang grenade.

    Serrah is increasingly unnerved that Jadeite just has her outmatched like that. Still, she makes a point of having a good attitude. "Hey, I've never had someone match me like this, either!" she says, shaking her hand; it seems that Jadeite came out slightly better in the exchange. "You're not bad, man!"

    She grins at Benedicta. "Heh, tell me about it, kid." She glides backwards a moment, and ... furrows her brow at Sailor Moon. "Oh, huh, it's her," she says absently, then shakes her head and turns back to Jadeite. "Anyway," she says, "this being baseball, your swings are good. How about your catching?" As Misaki activates that bright light, she rises off the ground and spreads her arms, eyes closed. "STOP the WORLD!"

    And then Jadeite instantaneously has a dozen baseballs flying towards him. (And Serrah's posture and location are slightly different as well; she didn't quite get back to the exact same place.)

    Piera's sword gets stuck and she doesn't give a damn does she? Several braver youma rush her when it seems that all she has left is a shorter blade.
    This is, likely, not going to go well for them.
    Thankfully though, Hyouka fends off the youma squad bumrushing the bleachers, reducing many of them to paste as Sailor Moon covers her eyes. Misaki's bright flash of light stuns the rest of the youma handily as the blonde-haired magical girl... Picks up a baseball bat. It's an aluminum bat. This will not be pretty.
    "I'LL. TEACH. YOU. TO. RUIN. A. SCHOOL. BASEBALL. GAME!"
    And goes to town on the youma with Hyouka.
    Meanwhile, over with Benedicta and Serrah... Jadeite has about had his fill. Scowling as he does his best to fend them both off, he suddenly erupts with a flare of dark energy as he holds his hands out.
    "Damn you! Don't think this will be the last you've seen of me!" Declared as he steps sidewards and vanishes into a shadow that wasn't there before.
    With a little more work, the rest of the youma are easily mopped up, leaving a breathless Sailor Moon covered in clay-putty-sludge, holding her baseball bat up, before she collapses to her butt in the outfield grass.
    "Uweh... That was scary..."

    There is a brief moment where Hyouka suddenly rests a massive hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder, while the other is held up towards the youma brigade. "Wait. Hang on a second."

    Then, she reaches over and... carefully adjusts the magical girl's posture. "Here. Shoulders square. Elbows out a little more. Twist your body into it. More force that way." She takes two steps back, then sweeps her arm in a silent, 'Go for it,' then turns around and goes right back to punching the tar out of beings which seem to be comprised entirely of tar, so to speak.

    Only when they're all bested does she finally take a couple of steps back, turning, sweeping the area for more... and then finally relax. It takes a few seconds of shaking things loose before she's comfortable reverting her arms to their normal mode. No way she's getting... whatever that evil clay goop is, into the works inside her arms. "Are you all right?" she asks Sailor Moon, crouching down next to her.

    Piera grins as the youma rush at her. "At least some of you have some guts!" she deploys her hidden blade as well, and shoulders in under the first putty, catapulting it over her, bringing her dagger up in a slash at the next. She twists, backhands that youma grunt, and jams her hidden blade into the next one's throat. A jerk sideways releases that blade, letting the next putty run into her and get a hold... until she rams the dagger back into it and headbuts it for good measure.

    Aquila dives in at that point, dive bombing a fifth grunt with her bident, aiming straight for the eyes, or eye analogues. Her jetpack set to full, giving off an eagle-like shriek as she dives.

Benedicta hops back at the dark flare of energy, she certainly doesn't want to get caught in that. "Great another enemy, just what I need. Oh well, I guess that count as a forefeit as far as the game goes? Man, I hope there isn't entire school of those guys. That would be rather awkward." Her attention turns towards towards Usagi, "Still new at the magic girl thing, kid? Don't let those guys get to you."

    Serrah grins at Jadeite as he gets pelted ... and then hurriedly crosses her arms over her face as he unleashes that darkness.

    She staggers back and exhales as Jadeite beats feet. "Damn, that guy didn't mess around," she says, wobbling slightly. "Guess I'm not really strong against 'darkness' ... at least, compared to when I was dead. Uh. You doin' all right, Benedicta?"

    She looks around; she can't help but smile at Hyouka helping Sailor Moon out. To both Sailor Moon and Misaki, she calls out, "Nice job, guys! Good showin'!" She shoots them a double thumbs-up.

Misaki dismisses Joyeus and walks to the others, "Hey. Does this happen a lot around here?" She glances towards Serrah, "Nice to see you again. ... if you ever want to talk, just let me know." She does not clarify what that is about and turns back, "My name is Misaki Sakai. I've been a magical girl for almost two weeks now."

    In that moment... Sailor Moon is given a quick bit of batting coaching...
    In the next moment a youma loses its head. But then things calm down. Things calm down a LOT between Piera and Aquila utterly mauling their putties and Hyouka reducing more to sludge.
    A deep HUFF and Sailor Moon is bracing herself against her baseball bat, which she has jammed into the ground to hold herself up while her legs wobble.
    "U-um! So like thanks a lot for your help and everything!" She manages, putting on a faltering grin, rubbing at the back of her neck.
    "... T-two weeks?"
    H-how has Usagi been a magical girl for longer and yet Misaki is more competent than she is?!!?

    Serrah smiles at Sailor Moon. "No problem," she says. "I mean, except insofar as that guy was tough, but, y'know." She stops time to pick up her baseballs.

    At Misaki's words, though, Serrah opens her mouth ... and closes it again and looks away. "I'm ... doing fine, jeez!" she says.

>> SUMMARY[Serrah Delany] >> *TSUN*

    Once the final Putty has gone down, Piera finally retrieves her sword, wipes off the sludge and resheathes it. She adjusts her robes, pulls her hood back up and turns to leave without much fanfare. her job is done. She makes a simple click with her tongue, drawing Aquilas attention and bringing the shinki back over to land on her shoulder. As she passes Sailor Moon, she says, simply. "Still need to work on the landing."

"A bit worn out, but nothing major." There's a flash of yellow and the rabbit fur disappears from Benedicta's legs. She looks around a bit before picking up her shoes. "At least nothing like that time when Shel blasted me." Thankfully Jadeite hadn't launched any serious hits on her, or she would have gone down easily. "I don't know this is only the second time, I've been on this world. Come to think of it, that was the same idiot as last time." She's suddenly remembers the carnival.

"Well, you know how to find me." Misaki assumes Serrah is one of the friends Yumi has been calling in to help out. "Glad to help!" She tells Usagi, "If you want, we can do some sparring sometime?"