*Menarker had been all but mentally prepared for another round of combat, secretly worried for Mero's well-being, but the introduction of the verbally clumsy and honest individual was somewhat relieving, if only because it was a moment of peace. Menarker gestured as he spoke, arms to his side, uncertain of the intelligence or wisdom of the small agile "child", especially after her apparently hasty and screwed up entrance. He intended to show confidence and yet openness, but his paranoia and consideration for his familiar beckoned him to omit the feline's presence.*

"It's dangerous here, so I hope the two of us can be friends, at least for a little while. I'm Menarker. I'm sorry, but if you have any particular business, I advise you leave and come again later... unless perhaps you yourself have seen or understood what has happened tonight?"

*Mero, however, had other ideas and popped her head out of Mern's hoodie and mewed, behaving like a common housecat.*

"MEEEEW!"

*Mern promptly face-palmed himself, having to resign to the fact that his own partner had other ideas of her own.*

"And this little scamp *Points to his familiar*, is my pet, Mero..."
*Mero promptly climbed out of her master's hoodie, climbing expertly on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek forcefully with her own, almost as if claiming him in front of the imitation cat.*

Synopsis: Panko wants to pet the kitty. Picky says "Mern's a Verda, let's go." Panko reluctantly agrees, doesn't pet the kitty, and follows Picky , trying to remember if she had antagonized Mern at school.

Panko squealed when the cat crawled out of Menarker's hood. "Oh! I saw you earli--" She interrupted herself again. "Er, I mean, what a cute cat." She thought hard for a moment, then decided she probably wouldn't get another chance. "Can I hold her?"

This was too much for Picky, who fluttered out of the bushes. "Alright, that's enough stupid happy time. This guy's definitely a Verda, so just grab'im and let's go. Unless you'd like to explain to your fallen comrades that you were too busy petting the kitty to mmph!"

Panko had grabbed him and covered his mouth. "And this is Picky." She let him go. "And may be a jerk who likes to go on tirades, but he's probably right. This isn't the time for petting your cat." Panko sighed.

"Darn right, I'm right. Now follow me, and let's try to actually get there this time." Picky flew off again. Panko followed, trying to remember if Menarker went to her school. Yeah, she remembered his face. She then worked on remembering what she might have done to him over the years.

*Menarker had put Mero back in his hoodie, so she could continue resting while he followed the cat-girl ernestly, watching the surroundings carefully.*

"Oh, you're a Verda too? Well, that's relieving. Anyhow, just in case we run into any trouble, I should let you know that I can copy other's personal enhancements to supplement my own abilities. Any traits of yours or your familiar, that I should know about in advance?"

CONJURATION! LANTERN DRAW!

A gleaming card slices the night into two halves. It imbeds into the ground before the brawling autekka and melts into the earth. Dirt rockets into the air as a lamppost errupts from the earth. A blazing light floods the battlefield, casting strong shadows. The flurry of Director lasers curve in the air, drawn into the vortex of light at the lamp-posts’ tip. It glows brilliantly with the contained energy


“I hope I’m not too late to the party?”
Poised crane style on the top of the lamp is no other than Roji Riraku, garbed in a gleaming silver-blue fabric. On the device at his hip the dream card pulses and he is the picture of a Prince Charming. A cape flutters with shifting colours as he swings his silver rapier in a gleaming arc. He lowers his sunglasses, unleashing a dazzling smile.


“The toss of a coin sends me to your aid, ladies!”
Bolts of energy continue to stream into the lamp-light. It pulses wildly and the Lucky66 chimes, Roji vaults free just as the lamp-head supernovas, exploding in a wave of light. The sunglasses gleam, as to Roji the array spins, calculating speed, tarjectoryand targets.

The momentum carries him through the air, he twists over Anzu’s head as her attack splinters a mudman. He lands, heels together in the rubble, the strike shattering the gleaming jewel of the loosed ocular ride. Its tentacles flail as the cracks spread.With a resounding crack, it too is vanquished.

Compliment! theLucky66 barks in Roji’s head. Behind the glasses the 66 paints two hearts on either side of Anzu, Roji thinks he recognises her. She made brownies for one of the dramatics society baksesales,maybe? Compliment!!!the metallic voice sounds again.

“With the melody of an angel, you strike like a demon!”
Good job! “Just don’t expect meto do it all the time” he hisses under the breath, trying to disguise his panting breath. SHUFFLE He fans the dealt cards, the Tiger, the Friends and the Traitor.

Rei landed in a crouch across from the director as it fell to the ground, his cape still fluttering behind him for a moment as if it hadn't caught up with the rest of him. Closing his eyes he quietly took a long breath and concentrated on regaining control over the flow of energy to the blade--now held out at his side, parallel to the ground--and a moment later the flames swirled inward recreating the rapier from before.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief as he stood. "Well, that should just about take care o..."


'Hostile energy source detected' the words flashed brightly across his HUD once more, along with a rapidly growing set of numbers to either side of his compass prompting him to spin around. What he saw actually caused a bit of fright to etch itself into his gut. The creature was rising up and transforming into something even more terrible, as eyes opened all over its newly armored form. If Rei had realized this was real he'd be certain that this thing would give him nightmares. As it stood, he merely believed his dream was taking a dip for the worse.

"Then again, I guess monsters like this are kind of common in those kinds of sh-"

A bolt of energy flashed past his face, forcing him to leap away or face the loss of his mask, or his head--depending on how optimistic he felt like feeling about their effects on him.

'Activate your shields. His energy signature is dropping, we need only sur-' Tenken was cut off as a new arrival appeared on the scene. A dashing prince who seemed to negate the creature's attack in a moment, appearing at the highground and being even flashier about it than Rei had been. And what's worse, just as Rei had been forced to dodge for his life, in a manner that wasn't quite as smooth as is befitting a Kamen.

His stomach sank in his chest, as he once more felt like normal Rei Shoda. Quiet and worthless.

He suddenly felt very small, and wanted nothing more than to wake up, but that was not how nightmares worked. One merely had to ride them out, but this time Rei seemed to be in control, at least of himself, and he wasn't going to let himself be as worthless in his dreams as he was in real life.

Forcing back his fears and feelings of inadequacy, he stood and held his rapier at his side, looking toward the explosion and waiting to be certain the beast was dead.

"Yes, got him!" Akari cheered as the void windows closed shortly after her arrows sliced through. She skid to a stop in midair, and pivoted to face the ground once again. Ceres chimed a word of praise, but the celebration was cut short as green lasers rent the sky around her.

"I don't..." She growled in a low tone of frustration, shifting her weight to graze an incoming beam, "Believe this..."

[Auto-barrier Status Red, Assume High Level Defense Immediately."] The bow reported, and Akari's right hand pulsed a dull azure. "Shield!" Ceres shouted, "Your hand!" The girl instinctively interposed her glowing hand between herself and the director's wild storm, and the pulse ballooned out into a pair of counterrotating squares that quickly formed a disclike barrier.

["First Eclipse."]

Not but a moment later, a green lance of light impacted solidly agaisnt her disc shield, splashing outward like it were made of high tension liquid. "Ceres!" Akari yelled over the sound of crackling energy, "Why is it still shooting us?!"

"It appears to have entered a purely offensive state. I doubt it can maintain this level of bombardment for very long." The voice replied.

"So that's why you told me to forget it?" Akari responded, referring to the pair's earlier exchange of words. "I don't know how much longer I can hold this..." She continued as another lance impacted the edge of the shield, and shot off at a glancing angle. Her eyes looked onward past the maelstrom, noting Mitsuko and Rei were in similar trouble, much closer than she. "But we've got to take advantage of it somehow! Can we shoot while doing this?"

["Negative, not Conventionally."]

"Would you stop hiding things from me?!" Akari angrily responded to the cryptic answer, "I'd rather not die because I didn't know I could do something!"

Fortunately, Roji entered the fray like a mysterious harlequin saviour, flinging a card that would give Akari the opening she needed. As the lamppost ripped from the earth to contain the fury of the storm, she ended her shield spell and shot earthward, fully drawing Ceres as she streaked downwards, holding the string firm for as many seconds as Roji's spell would give her.

"No chance to miss! Shooting Star!" She cried out, wind whipping twofold faster past her as she loosed a fully charged arrow, which cut through the night air like a spotlight lancing into the darkness. From a distance, one would see the comet-tailed arrow seperate from the falling starlike form of Akari's flaring wings to intercept the Director's center of mass.

"Ooh!" swooned Anzu. She clasped her hands together as the newest arrival paid her a compliment. "Magical boys! Now it's REALLY starting to look like Radiant Angel Scouts!"

"....what?"

Anzu rolled her eyes.

"It's the show that's on after Flower Maiden Kimiko, about normal teenage girls who get magic Angel powers and save the world. Where have you been, little guy?"

She gasped. "Oh no, I'm gonna miss that show too!! I'll be behind in two series!"

The harp sat in her hands, in a sort of uncomprehending yet disgusted silence.

"Well come on, Harp! We can't just sit around up here: We could get attacked again! That was bad. How do I go down? Just by thinking about it? Oh, yeah, that works! Okay, we're gonna go down by the others, alright? It's kinda scary floating around up here like a balloon."

She descended towards the others, now noticing the much larger monster that was still alive there.

"Oh!" she yipped, jerking back up into the air. "Um... Yes! I'll help!"

"Song of Winter!" As Akari released her Shooting Star, Anzu played her Song again, the ribbon of ice following the glowing arrow.

OOC: Sorry, Mern, for rushing along, but we need to catch up.

Before running off, Panko answered Menarker. "Well, I'm really fast, if that helps." Then she took off.

Picky finally lead Panko to where the remaining Verda were fighting. She stood out of sight, considering what to do.

"Spider Strike!"

And now eight spheres of star energy homed in, right on the tail of Akari's Shooting Star and Anzu's Song of Winter. Shimizu had to compensate for the recoil and ended up doing a backwards somersault in midair as she was flying when she fired. Whatever that thing was, it would seem that a combination attack from multiple magical girls at once would strike it a lot harder than just firing at will.

As she regained control of herself in flight, Shimizu waved her left arm towards Akari. "Hey, I can lend some help, now! Let me pick up the slack!"

OOC: Slight setting up to a flashback, then his entrance into combat and his surprise attack. Sorry for the big sized post. Finally am a bit caught up now.

Since Arhra wrote multiple times about my previous monster having "right arms", I'm portraying the monster as some sort of beefed up Asura creature, with 3 right arms moving freely around its right torso. Its left side wasn't mentioned, so I figured it was disproportionally buffed with only one arm. :3
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*Menarker slightly trailed behind as his thoughts started to swarm.*

"As much as I would like to take the time to examine the battle ahead, if what that airborne hog's was true to the very word, then others are already in the fray... maybe exhausted, plus there is no telling what sort of guardians or sensors it has... Plus..."

*Menarker's enlarged right arm twitched slightly, enhanced by an odd relic of the previous fight, an octopus gem which oddly aided his own understanding of energy control.*

“This octopus-like gem seems to be acting a source of power… and my body is reacting pleasantly to it… It even seems like my body finally grasped the concept of manipulating energy... But if it has its origin from where I suspected, it won't last long... What happened back then... I effectively should have died... That monster suddenly appeared and chased after us, spiking its right arms toward us like a scorpion's spear toward its prey, each fist probed from the side or tip with light, like some damned lightsaber. It missed us by narrow margins, destructively tearing up the ground ahead of us, as we sought to escape a rather unfavorable situation, even if its left arm was defective and left mostly unused. It took one of the other trees laid scattered amidst the area and threw it over us, and cleverly chopped it downwards with its other arm, as it knocked me off-balance against the earth with the impact...


---------

*The mud-man, gifted with absurd power vested in a twisted human form, grappled the lad with its left arm, still comparably intimidating to the amateur magician. Mero mentally flipped out in a berserk state and slashed viciously with feral claws as it bounced off almost uselessly. Her claws continued to maul viciously at its body and arm, which shimmered with a repelling radiance, like a rippled aura that originated from the impact, but with vaguely weak indentations from the repetitive furor focused in the spot. The familiar seized the initiative as it darted underneath one of the arms' retaliation and leapt, clenching her jaws crushingly against the tell-tale indentation, and applied her particular energy within her canines. Her jaw clenched in a merciless vicegrip, wedging its teeth between the aura's opening, piercing through the tough sludge with enough force to crack the inner core, rending the arm into a useless stump. The unmoved terror tore off its own arm viciously in whipish motion and battered Mero’s frame against a sizable boulder.*

"MERN, get out.. NOW!"

*The titan's grip gripped crushingly against Mern's chin as the teenager struggled to nudge the brute's hand away from his face with his previously flailing limbs. Mero’s form ached trying to muster strength, although its failing aggression only served to alarm the hunter, which pointed its remaining right arm, practically ready to finish her off. Though the oppressive left hand gripped tightly, Menarker felt an equalizing presence that surged through his body, especially through his right hand, but desperation would not allow him to be introspective as he attempted to deal a stunning blow with his invigorated limb. Seeking instinctively to merely push the arm away, Menarker gaped with surprise and motivation once the monster roared in agony, green light weakly illuminated from its hand, promptly speared from the spike of energy exactly like the monster's emanating from Mern's right arm. Attached to his right elbow was the clingy octopus idol, where the foreign energy seemed to teem from. The beast roared and tried to rid itself of the obstructing familiar, darting its spare lance toward her. Snapped to attention, the lad glided across the grass, bludgeoned the sludge-humanoid with his own body and swooped the copied arm against its chest viciously with energy blade extend, only for it to bounce harmlessly from shielded impact with little more than an annoyed groan.*

“One of those arms left…”
“…Why? You should have left…”
“… Devotion. That’s all I can say.”
“You haven’t even known me one day…”

“I could say the same… for someone you barely knew, you used your body as a shield…”

*Menarker dashed maliciously toward the titan as it stared in a severely vexed manner, as it weaved its lone right hand extended from its body like a muddy tentacle, ready to spike it toward the mage. Menarker flicked his arms in short compact hooks, slashing two fast waves of energy which shimmered with impressive light, but dispersed amidst the shield his opponent held. The limb jerked in response with rapid stabbity action of blade-tipped tentacle, Mern’s dodging movements wide and fairly predictable, desperate to take the duel in close range, but hopelessly locked down in the attempt to stay alive. The magical teenaged lad glanced at Mero who stared unflinchingly, and Mern felt a little surge as if Mero was instinctively guessing when he should guess.*

“Guess I should follow her lead…”
*Menarker slid backwards on the ground like a fictional hovercraft on reverse and waited for the slightest reaction from the cat. A scant few meters away, the surge came and the lad bolted to the side and jerked back, nearly impaled as the monster grinned as if confident in its trickery. Mern waited again for the signal and dodged, only for the energy blade to graze lightly against his left rib, much to Mero’s scowling nervous expression.*

“Mern! Stop insisting on being locked-down!”
“EH?”
“PRESSURE!”

*The whipish movement came again, and Menarker jolted to his side feeling confident about his sense of timing this time, and while it felt like the movement of his feet became easier to manage with practice, wounds still appeared on his body.*

“Maybe I’m looking at this wrong?”
*The whip came again and Mern tried to divert its path with his signature projectile, but the result was marginal for a hasty piece of work, although it did miss.*

“Damn it, Mern! Stop being so cowardly!”
*Menarker interjected heatedly as if physically slapped.* “Cowardly!?”
“It only LOOKS safe from a distance!”

*Leaving no time to react, the impatient monster dashed toward the lad and shot his tentacle forward, but Menarker dashed in turn toward the spiked right arm and pivoted his footing mere feet from impact as it sped right past him unable to pull back or swerve in time as Mern slammed his bladed arm sideway, knocking the protrusion aside with a wound.*

“I was blind… if I only dodge, then it gets a free chance to attack again and again… With any fight, the victor has to step into the foe’s realm. Letting the foe attack me from its own safety zone was a blunder!”

“Step inside Menarker! It is dangerous, but it is really the safest place! All combat is in essence the ability and courage to step into the fray! PRESSURE THE FOE!”

*Menarker glided above the deadly extension and felt the back of his foot to be solid and light, as if supported by something approving. The lad leapt in mid-air, flipping his body like a top spun sideways with his energy bladed arm that cleaved along the mud strand connecting the arm with the main body as it penetrated past the shield, far removed from the main body. As the remaining arm plopped to the earth uselessly, the speedily approaching duelist ceased his rotating movement only to smoothly glide backward with aid of his barrier jacket into a backward somersault with the left leg extended viciously to release a focused Vacuum from its arc toward the abomination's throat. It reacted with panic as it used its skinny left arms to block the surge of cutting energy. It faintly managed to carve a decent carving into its throat as the lad's body bolted toward the freak in mid-air, virtue of his jacket. The lung-less brute barely twitched from this slice, although the force briefly knocked its head upwards as Menarker slammed his enchanted uppercut into its throat, intent on aiming for a critical point with the energy blade of the mysterious octopus device. However Mern's fist shuddered internally with power as he swung swift and compactly, and while the blade pierced on through, the fist’s collision, with the mudman's shielded headplate, exploded in an electrical array. Its head lit up as high voltage channeled through its body and shot out in powerful residual force from their sockets and the area right below the throat was seared horrendously as the body shot upward a few metres, a rocket lit from inside it by Menarker's stormy fist, small scorched marks laid bare on the ground below and on the mage's fist and forearm, disgusting magically tingly mud.*

“EEEEEWWWW!”

---------

"You may not have intended for that effect to happen, but it's still..."
*Menarker slightly glanced at his hand almost as if an old man glimpsing philosophically into his past.*
"Yes... THIS is my strength... and I won't let it go to waste!"

"A sudden arrival of re-enforcement and the element of surprise may be the pressure we need to inflict to distract with, so as to take advantage of our size in numbers, however untrained and unfamiliar with each other we are..."

"Mero, I'm sorry to bother you..."
"Don't be. I know it's time."

*Mero soared out of her resting place and resumed her predatory form so her partner could straddle her as he gripped tightly for an impulsive dash. Menarker took this moment to copy her buffed state, as he felt the addicting source of energy, almost like a drug, his mind and flesh elated and powerful and limber as his size and form became more formidable. They dashed noisy through the brushes, weaving and darting, following the titanous crashing impact of the Director's collateral damage.*

"NOW!"

*The mage dismounted his partner and separated from his familiar, his barrier jacket's emblem shimmering with a regal array, as the two darted and interweaved among the bush. Menarker glazed his body through the underbrush, his energy forming a shield which assured him to go faster, unfazed by the meager forces of twigs and thorns in his path brushed away from his face as he worked his way around the surroundings aiming to be behind the beast.*

*Mero's path shredded toward the sidelines, leaping past a tree with shredding energy of her Vorpal Claw that caused it to fall perilously toward the Director. Unoptimistic that the tree would likely strike its target, the feline bolted toward the arachnid sentry while the tree still arced downward with gravity at its force, intent on intimidating it with a direct yet evasive zig-zag motion, while paying close attention to the attacks of the other Verdas.*

"I can feel Mern's ambition... Aim to get this beast in the air, preferably by its jumping away to flee an attack... Menarker will bolt out from the bushes from behind, keeping to the ground and spike the very earth with that technique... The spiking electrical bolt from below would be unexpected and fast, while leaving my partner distant from close range attacks... Come on Mena... I'll give you the chance... so hit it with that Storm Crest!"

"After I perform my plan, I'll try to assail it from afar, pressuring it to a mobile battle of attrition. I sure hope the others haven't bit the dust yet, or it'll be going up directly in my face!"

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OOC: Menarker is buffed with Ocular Ride Arm Version (probably has 7 minutes left) and Familiar Boost (10 minutes).

I didn't realize this previously, but in addition to being a buffer, the anti-air property of Storm Crest, the ranged slashes of Surge Vacuum, and the future Reflect ability also makes Mern a bit of an anti-air type. Psych-up also tends to make down and dirty grapple matches more favorable for this guy. Seems that mid-long range distance battles where aviation distance is not a factor will be the more challenging aspects of combat for this guy.