["Barrier critical, purging."] Bright Day said, the flickering barrier momentarily strengthening and rushing outwards in a ablative pulse. It only halted the onslaught for a second, the expanding wave hitting the Director and disispating.

In rescue, an inexplicable lamp post erupted from the ground, its blazing light drawing the Director's insane flurry of laser fire in. It glowed with the contained energy.The dashing figure on top leapt free a second before it exploded. “The toss of a coin sends me to your aid, ladies!”

Akari took advantage of the lull. "No chance to miss! Shooting Star!" she shouted, faling like one herself, nocking her bow to realease a fully charged shot.

The last surviving mudman sprang into the air, spreading itself into a thick disc to act as a living shield.

"No!" Mitsuko shouted, leaping skywards.

["Celestial Sphere"]

"Impulse Rush!"

With a flare from her Impulse Wings, Mitsuko thrust herself at a downward angle, Celestial Sphere appearing just before the tip of her weapon. Not firing it, she rammed bodily into the blocker mudman.

The orb bored through the creature like a cannonball, the mudman's amorphous substance stretched into a wide ring around the point where Mitusko passed through it, breaking apart in her wake.

"Yaaaah!"

The sphere hit just below the eye, a shimmering green field appearing just above the Director's shadowy armour, mapping the shape of every whorl as the Rides glowed.

"Break through it!" Mitsuko shouted as the Director raised a scythe to strike.

Bright Day pulsed and the firing disk collapsed to launch the attack. The crimson projectile grinding into the Ride augmented armour, Mitsuko forced her sphere forward, stabbing into her missile from behind with the shining tip of the spear.

There was a yellow flash, golden light erupting forward and directly into the Director, several Rides cracking. Mitsuko was hurled back unsteadily, tumbling through the air.

Almost instantly after, the comet tailed Shooting Star hit, the green light shattering like broken glass and the shadow beneath boiling off like foul steam from the silvery explosion engulfing the crab-like monsters' torso, the green light of its central eye almost drowned out, the smaller lights of more Rides giving out.

Mitsuko regained her balance in midair, drifting slowly downwards as the Impulse Wings supported her, watching the spectacle.

An icy ribbon plunged into the light, hitting with a snowflake burst, the Director stiffening as hoarfrost crept out along its spidery limbs. The green light of its eyes flickered.

Eight burning stars impacted it last, each one causing a new burst of light.

With a mad, high keening, the Director surged forward, smoky shadows chasing it. It launched into the air with the frames of Void Windows opening about it, cracked Rides glowing as they charged for a new volley. Several exploded, and it fell back.

Its body dissolved into shadowy motes, starting from the extremities and working inwards, burned out rides dropping out of its frame to litter the ground, until there was just the dimming glow of its eye. With a spark, it decomposed into a casting circle, sending up a new flare like the mudmen before vanishing completely.

It was finally over.

OOC: I was wanting to wait for more Verda activity, but it's taking too long, so here's the end of the Autekka fight.

Shimizu landed to the ground, certain that something that big had to have been the big boss that they needed to defeat to maintain the peace.

"Oneesan!"
"Aw, hell." Shimizu turned around and saw Takuya run towards her with an arm waving wildly. It was dark, but Shimizu's scanner was pretty big and glowing, so Takuya already had the questions formed when he got close. "Oneesan, what in the world are you wearing?"
Shimizu rolled her eyes. "Your father's strange present."

Takuya looked her older stepsister up and down. "Dad bought you that?"
"It's a complicated story. I'll tell you later. Look, it's kinda dangerous right now, so could you go home right now and tell Mom and Dad that I'm fine?"
"No, I'm staying here until you come home with me!"
Shimizu stroked Takuya's head. "Okay, kiddo. Just don't be disruptive, okay?"
"Hey, I'm not a little puppy."
Shimizu dragged her gaze across the area so see if the scanner could pick up anymore freaks, just to be safe "Ponpon, disband."

Takuya seemed to feel better seeing her sister without the armor and rocket pack on, and the two joined the rest of the group.

Learning to Ski!
 

["Ambit mode thrust limit exceeded. Suspending primary drive."]

Ceres' report was the only thing that kicked Akari out of her protective fury. Glancing down at the rapidly approaching ground, the girl quickly understood a very important fact about her combat burn that had been intended to confuse the director as to the inclination angle of her attack. She'd forgot to factor a very valid concern about her capabilities.

"Only took a few seconds to get that high, so... Oh no!"

The ground was getting really, really big. It was also doing this at a very, very rapid rate. Akari was uncertain if she could equalise her momentum safely with her current level of skill, and without her main wings.

["Greave friction set to minimum."] Ceres added, ["Find landing incline to safely transfer momentum."] as a light-blue aura of energy glew around her boots.

The ace-in-training nodded as calmly as possible for one having their first close encounter with overspeed dives. Her AESA readout highlighted the nearest, and perhaps only sloped location in the park. None other than the remains of Roji Riraku's lamppost, now smouldering at its exploded tip, but the post of which was still mostly serviceable. Hopefully, maybe.

With a last-second maneuver, Akari positions herself to crash into the lampost, and extends her legs such that her boots will contact with the listing pole. All the while, she prays Ceres knows what she's doing.

*click, Ksssht!* Her boots contact with the post, spraying sparks as one might expect from what is effectively grinding a pole with magical rollerblades. The post crumples under her impact, but not before safely transferring her to a more lateral trajectory. Akari shoots off down the street, those nearby capable of hearing a doppler-shifted "Eyaaaaa!" and feeling the accompanying mild shockwave as she passes. An avid rollerblader but not one of the stunting bent, Akari still manages to slow herself with her fins quickly enough, before peeling out in a rough circle, splaying sparks as she comes to a halt, panting heavily.

["Greave friction fully resumed."] Ceres reports as Akari stares at the pavement with disbelief and adreneline-filled terror. Her boots seem quite calm as they obediently dissipate their bluish aura.

"We... Won?... I'm alive... I was flying!" Akari says disjointedly, the past few moments of ecstacy, fury, frustration, terror, and glee overwhelming her simultaneously. What she was doing was clearly, patently crazy, and yet... She felt strangely at home here.

"You were totally flying. Fortunate, since you're probably the only Autekkan aerial ace currently on earth." Ceres speaks in Akari's mind a simple calm, yet inspiring bit of encouragement. Steeling herself and standing up, she joyfully thrusts Ceres Aphelion skyward, assuming a massive ^_^ grin and cheers victoriously.

"We are the best magical girls EVER!"

Alex looked from the charging Director, to Demi, then back again. Then let out an inner sigh. Of course she can’t fly out of here.

Swiftly, he reached down and grabbed Demi by the wrist. “We’re leaving.” He muttered, as he sprang backward and into the air, taking Demi with him.

Unfortunately, he’d missed the newly formed mudmen. While he and Demi sailed above them, they didn’t get far. The guardians both fired off a tendril of mud at the flying pair, trapping Alex’s red clothed legs and holding him fast.

He let out a surprised gasp as he realized what had happened, and realized his predicament. Quickly, he glanced from side to side for some place to throw Demi. He couldn’t fight well with her up here.

Another connection! He realized suddenly, it was a lot fainter then the one to Demi, he was surprised that he even noticed it. Not taking more then an instant to question it, threw Demi towards whoever it was, hoping his magic had shown him the answer he needed, and that the throw would carry her far enough.

The auburn haired youth didn’t have any more time to focus on her at the moment though, as he felt the mud bindings growing tighter and heavier. “You won’t hold me.” He hissed twisting his body as much as he could.

“Flowing Streams!” The floating scarf behind him lit up with purifying light, and swirled down to capture the mudmen’s extended arms in a tight bind. The mud creaked almost instantly as the purifying magic took hold. The arms fell to pieces seconds later, as Alex pulled himself away from them, and recalled his scarf to him.

He floated back a few paces, turning his attention back to scene in front of him.

((OoC: Alex’s throwing Demi toward Panko. Though, I have no idea who she is .))

Demi really didn't consider too much of what was going on around her as she watched the things move closer and closer to her position. She felt her body get tugged in various directions, and the person that saved her lift her above the crowd. Without too much thought, and only truly breathing inwards, she took a second to assess the situation while slowly gathering magic in her usual style. "~String the mud creatures, siphon magic and with that, we can really use the white star.~" Demi didn't really think about it too much, by now just wanting it to be dealt with, and with some familiarity shot her strings, noticing them go into the two mudmen. Though, about this time, she felt herself being launched away from those beings and towards someone else. "~She knows what she's doing, forget about it and let whatever plan she had catch you, right now just siphon!~" With that sort of wording, Demi felt magic begin to course through her strings a little bit and into her body, the pull getting stronger as her mind honed in on it singly.

"We... We did it?" Anzu asked, realizing what had just happened. "We stopped all the monsters? I mean, really??"

The harp's strings glowed and let out a few notes, canceling out the Song of Flight. Anzu dropped down the remaining few inches to the ground.

"For now, yes," the little object replied calmly. "You fought... passably, for now. Not bad for your first try, but we do need to work on keeping your attention in one place."

"Oh," Anzu said lamely. "Well I'm really not used to having to fight--- Wait, did you say 'for now?' Does that... Does that mean they'll come back?"

"Possibly," the harp replied. "With Verda and Autekka waking up again, anything's possible. That is why you need to learn better control over your powers."

Anzu looked around, fearing more mud creatures.

"Those mud things.... Those were Verda?"

The harp let out a twang that almost sounded like a sigh.

"No, no, a Verda is a kind of mage. There are two types of spell casters: Verda and Autekka. You're an Autekka. That means you use me to create and control exterior forces. Verda are mages whose power comes mainly from within themselves. I'll explain it better later. For now, all you need to know is that our job is to find whatever it is that's causing all this nonsense, and put a stop to it."

Anzu looked over to Akari and the others. She recognized most of them from her old school. Anzu still wasn't sure what was going on or why she had been suddenly given this power, whatever it was, but she would make the best of it. Plus... it was pretty cool.

"Yeah!" Anzu cheered. "We are! We were flying, and doin' magic, and everything! We're amazing!"

"I wouldn't go that far...." the harp replied. Anzu didn't pay attention.

Its over, it's finally over! Mitsuko thought, safely back on the ground again. She resisted the urge to caper around, leaning on her spear a little for support until she felt more steady.

"We are the best magical girls EVER!" Akari shouted, having landed without too much incident.

"Yeah!" Anzu cheered. "We are! We were flying, and doin' magic, and everything! We're amazing!"

Bright Day's core flashed once to get Mitsuko's attention.

Oh? she thought, looking at it intently. Ah, I see.

"This isn't the end." Mitsuko said, feeling awkward and trying to look like she knew what she was talking about. She felt unpopular. How did those stoic, warrior types deal with the feeling?

"I don't know how much you know," she said, "but there's something out there that is going to cause a lot more trouble like this and soon. It's still... waking up. And if we don't take it out now, we won't be able to later."

["Correct."] Bright Day flashed, clearly having a high opinion of the assembled group's capabilities. Looking about the assembled mages, a lot of them seemed suspiciously familar.

"I'm Shimizu Mitsuko and this is my sister, Akari." she said, indicating the proclaimer of best magical girlhood. "It can only be fate that brought us together tonight." she continued, having racked her brains for something a little more inspiring to say. "I don't know about you, but Akari and I are going to go and stop it!" she finished triumphantly.

Her conviction crumbled. "Uh, if that's alright with you, sis?"

* * *

With Alex and Demi taking to the air, the Director simply continued forward, drawing level with the mudmen it had summoned behind them. The tree Mero had slashed continued to fall harmlessly behind it as Alex and Demi shot up and away from the Director, Alex dealing with the mudmen's attempts to cling on and Demi counterattacking..

Taking a step forward, the Director sliced through the siphon strings attached to the mudmen on either side of it with a downward stroke of its scythes. Its second pair of arms jabbed out, scythes deactivated, to implant them with Ocular Rides, one implanted in the right arm and the other in the left.

Scuttling forward with the minions at its side, the Director glared up at Alex and Demi.
Cycloptic eye glowing, it prepared a charged shot, discolourations where it had been damaged. Appearing to have settled on a more defensive posture, the mudmen stayed close and a weak shadow field appeared about it, more a smoky miasma wreathing its body than a zone of darkness.

One of its long limbs suddenly lifted up and delivered a mule kick to Mero sneaking up behind while the giant cat was still in mid lunge.

Bluffing about using the charged laser on Alex and Demi, its eye rolled back in the featureless lump of its head to look directly behind, charged beam firing to sweep at the knocked back Mero and through the bushes where Mernarker was lurking.

Synopsis: Panko catches Demi, recognizes her, yells orders at everyone, and uses Cat's Call. Everyone make a save against sonic effects!

Panko caught Demi, falling on her butt with an "Ooph!" Getting up, she wondered who would throw a girl at her. "Are you ok?" she asked, offering a paw to help the girl up. She recognized her, it was that crazy girl. She hadn't done anything too terrible to her before- well, not directly.

Demi either got up or she didn't, and Panko turned her attention back to the fight. A huge monster was beating the whiskers off of what was probably the cute kitty. The two smaller mud men were now upgraded, and Panko regretted not attacking them sooner. In the street, there was a guy surrounded by snow and a... she paused, considering the man-ish girl surrounded by lights and ribbons. She decided to wonder about it later. She didn't see Menarker.

Her objective was to break up the monster's formation. There had to be a reason that they were clumped together. Maybe the monster was scared by the arrival of Mero? Whatever the reason, she knew that they'd never beat them together, that's rule one of being a punk: pick on people when they're alone.

Knowing that it would draw the monsters attention, she tried to shout above the noise "Hey! Everybody pick one of the smaller monsters and cover your ears! Try to get them apart!" Panko took a deep breath, briefly considered whether the mud men could understand what she said, then went ahead with her plan anyway. "Cat's Call!"

"...And you're going to help," the harp prodded. "Yes?"

"Oh," Anzu said lamely. She felt like she was being forced into this, but at the same time felt uncomfortable about refusing to save the world. "Um... Yeah! I guess I... um...."

"Yes?"

Anzu looked around again. This group of... mages... were all that stood between those monsters and her neighborhood. What would the non-magical people do if the monsters attacked again and the Autekkas weren't there to fight them?

"Yeah! I'll help stop it too!" She finished, sounding more confident. "You can count on me n' Koto! Oh! I'm Anzu, by the way."

"......Koto?? Who's that?" The harp's strings shifted as it pondered this. Anzu grinned.

"It's you, silly! I have to call you something, don't I? And I think it's a cute name." Anzu replied, holding the harp up to eye level.

"I have a name. It's Silver Harmony."

"Oh. But Koto is so much easier to say," Anzu reasoned. "And it's much cuter. Cuz I can call you Koto-kun."

"No."

"Awwww. Just Koto, then? Pleaaaaaaase?" Anzu begged. "It's a good name, and I never get to name anything! My sister named Lychee, and my brother got to name the parakeet we had when we were little! All I got to name was a fish, and it died!"

"Fine, fine, do as you please." bristled the harp. "What do I care."


"All right!" Anzu cheered. "Me n' Koto will help fight!"

"Uh, if that's alright with you, sis?" Mitsuko said with a sudden loss of conviction, but Akari wasn't going to let her sister feel anything of the sort if she could help it. Especially not with a newly blazing fire within her heart and a weapon most likely centuries old. There was a higher calling somewhere out there and she was determined to find it, even if it meant doing crazy things to save the world. Not everyone got lucky enough to have help saving the world, you know?

Jogging over to her in the most dignified power-walk she could muster, Akari threw her right arm around Mitsuko and faced the assembled group. "That's right! If we don't stop it, uh... Bad... Bad things will happen!"

["It is likely it will severely mutate several people until it has expended its current charge."]

"Yeah, bad things! Bad things we can't let happen!" Akari shouted again with added reassurance. Confident she'd at least done what she could to get everyone riled up, Akari turned to her sister and lowered her voice. "After all, when have I ever let you down?" She winked, then meekly added, "On purpose, anyway?"

"Man, how did I get to be the unlucky girl?"

Shimizu joined the conversation, Takuya close behind. "It looks like you all can seem to talk to your robots. I can't understand a word of mine. Looks like I drew the short straw in magical mecha. But, I think I can still struggle through. My name is Miyasaki Shimizu. I can shoot star energy from the special Star Brand on my right hand. See?"

Shimizu raised her right hand and opened it, palm up. The Star Brand was still glowing from the heat generated. "I use this floating robot here, Ponpon, to shape my star energy into direct attacks. But if I use my powers too much, the brand overheats and burns me. That's...pretty much all I know about being a magical girl, right now."

"Magical...girl?" Takuya stuttered. Shimizu rested an arm on her younger step-brother's head.
"Yep, oneechan. We're all magical folk or something. Hey, did your robots and weapons and stuff tell you just what the hell is going on? I'd kind of like to know why we were attacked."

Drawing once more on his long history of wasting his life reading about heros and watching them on television, Rei slid his sword into a hoop on his belt, as gracefully as someone who had never really wielded such a weapon before could--luckily the hoop was rather large compared to the tip of his weapon, and so tenken found itself resting by Rei's side with minimal effort.

This simple task completed, the masked boy strode toward Mitsuko and Akari, stopping just short of the girls. Placing his right fist over his heart, Rei spoke in what he hoped was a strong and steady voice--the type of voice a gallant knight would use when swearing his life to the beautiful princess, "I shall serve you as both sword and shield, so long as I draw breath."

"That was a little cheesy, but then again, I guess that's what these kind of shows are all about," Rei thought to himself as he held his pose for a moment, before dropping the arm and moving to stand beside the two girls. "I really hope I don't wake up for a little while, yet."

Alex's surprise when the Director's beam attack suddenly changed direction was written clearly on his face. He hadn't expected any other people to show up, let alone enough to actually distract the spider.

Well, I can still-

"Hey! Everybody pick one of the smaller monsters and cover your ears! Try to get them apart!" A girl's voice, from the direction he had thrown Demi called out, cutting into his thoughts.

What? Alex thought, hesitating uncertainly.

Listen to her! Miranda snapped in his head. Without another word of argument, Alex's hands flew up to his ears, as he willed himself rise higher and higher. More space to work magic in the sky, he had a feeling that was important.

As the girl called out her attack, "Cat's Call!" Alex's hands began to glow with white light as he built his powers.

OOC: Going to do the Synopsis thing too like Phil. Seems like a good idea given how much text I pump in my writing.

Synopsis: Mern captured Mero, stole buff to make her small and darted away, using Omni-directional shield for minor damage from Director's attack. Sent Mero to act as guardian while the cat-girl attack. Mern takes to the air while waiting for Mero to tell him when to cover ears. Acknowledges Alex's presence.
----------------------------------------



"DAMN IT!!!"

*Menarker bolted out of place the moment the feline's flushed expression of pain surged in his mind. Having abandoned his plan, he clenched his stunned familiar by the scruff of the neck and stole Mero's boosting ability, rendering her small in stature again while feeling slightly reinvigorated himself. The collatoral spread of energy trampling toward him by the Director nearly shocked him, as he threw himself in a gliding motion upward and to his right, as he carried the kitten in his hand. The blast narrowly impacted as Mern blocked, swiping his Ocular Arm offensive in his signature surge like motion, energy attempting to slice through, but only serving to buffer the trampling damage before it collided against Mern's stolen omni-directional shielding, still knocking him back with light bruises but otherwise unfazed.*

"How the heck did this thing know where I was? Is it a special sense of its own...?"
*Mern noticed the other two minions next to the director, and marveled as he looked at his own enhancement device.*
"Or maybe... this thing is acting like a beacon... Calling out for its own!"

"Hey! Everybody pick one of the smaller monsters and cover your ears! Try to get them apart!"

"I will get you covered, Panko!" *Gently shakes his familiar back to attention.*
"Mero!"

*Mero complied and returned to her enlarged state, as she galloped swiftly toward the catgirl, partly acting as her guardian from her blindspot. Mern suddenly spiked his energy on the device to test his beacon theory, double jumped multiple times in mid-air for evasional purpose as he waited for Mero's empathic signal to determine when exactly to cover his ears. As he noticed the floating auburn mage, he gestured encouragingly with confidence, almost trying to prove that having the octopus device didn't make him the mudmen's ally.*

Synopsis/Translation: Demi stands up, familiar listening to the plan and covering her ears while Mogura and Demi prepare for a split personality strike. Mogura directs strings at each of the mudmen, using the light from the white star Demi generated and maneuvered over to blast at the director.

There was quite a rush for a split few seconds, precious magic flowing to her from them, but around the time she crashed into something, she felt them slice open, and retreat towards her body. Demi felt a hand reach to her, and smiling she took it, getting herself straight once again and concentrating, now that she finally had a moment to gather herself. "Yeah... I'll be fine." She took another deep breath or two, and then looked at the creatures while listening to the plan that was being suggested. "~Alright... we have a moment to think about this, and you have a good deal of magic.~"

Demi smiled, looking forward towards the scene and noting each and every mudman, and the beast that was attacking her. Wow... that thing doesn't look nearly so intimidating from here. "Shall we send them to hell?" Of course. I don't think it'll even be a slight problem. "~Alright, now, its time to teach you how to actually use that magic!~" Demi took a deep inhalation, sucking up more magic from the atmosphere, and focused on the mudmen. She smiled wickedly, and mentally nodded back to herself.

Y'know... when we used to get picked on for me stating you were real, and that you were a figment of my imagination? "Yeah..." "~Focus the energy into the Star, form it in your hands and focus all the magic flowing through your veins into it, don't leave it hollow and easily breakable like last time.~" And how I used to respond to them that even assuming that you weren't real, you helped me think about things separately, we could get twice as much thought done, multitask better because we were two separate thought processes, and you could notice things if I wasn't paying attention... "Mmnhmm....." "~Release it, let it float around you, fixate your gaze on your target, and let your star get into position.~" I think its about time we prove you truly are real. With that, Mogura noticed Demi twitching the fabrics around her, and laughed in a crazily giddy way.

With the idea in action, Mogura flung Demi's hands forwards, shooting three strings at each of the mudmen now very likely stunned by the yelling that had just taken place. Their familiar had blocked their ears with some of the strands because neither of them apparently was paying enough attention to the stated plan, both being caught in their usual hyperfast thinking. Though that was over with, and the strings went out, going towards every one of them but the director. Demi wasn't focused on the strands in the least however, rather, she was getting her star perfectly in place to strike at the eye, lighting up the area for the strings to hone in even better, and the star itself shone brightly, emitting a quick flashing ray towards the eye it was now hovering closely to.

Hearing Panko's hellion screech for the first time despite presumably lacking ears, the mudmen jerked, balance reflexes thrown out by the little girl's high volume call.

A fat old tabby wandered out of an alley, attracted by the noise. It sat and watched the fight from the sidewalk with feline disinterest and then started licking a paw.

The mudman implanted in the left arm jerkily raised that arm, a shield of greenish energy appearing on it, the Ride at its center. Demi's strings hit and were repelled.

The other mudman was not as fortunate, activating its energy blade but unable to parry all the incoming strings with its reflexes shot. It jabbed back at Menarker as he harried it, cuts sizzling in its oozing 'flesh' but still funcitonal, trying to sever a string whenever it got an opportunity.

In keeping with its utter refusal to let anything phase it, the Director seemed less affected. Demi still was able to sneak her White Star in close and fire.

Formed out of the condensing shadow field about it, a defensive shield closed over the eye like an eyelid. The ray struck and was absorbed, burning a hole with a smoky miasma, but leaving the eye unharmed. The Director swatted at the White Star in apparent irritation with a scythe.

The circular patterns of transport magic appeared beneath the Director and the mudmen.

With only a single pair of its Riot Scythes activated, the casting discs of two Void Windows appeared to either side of the Director, a trick the Verda mages had not yet seen. Deciding to leave the agile, screaming, cat costumed little girl alone for the time being, it stabbed through the portals with its active scythes.

One burst out of thin air in Menarker's path, the energy scythe being easily able to pierce the flimsy protection his borrowed Ocular Ride gave.

For the other, the casting disc opened behind Alex as he sought to gain altitude, the emerald blade stabbing out of the dark portal to slash at his back.

* * *

Mitsuko perked up a little as everyone declared their support.

"Hey, did your robots and weapons and stuff tell you just what the hell is going on? I'd kind of like to know why we were attacked." Shimizu asked.

"Well..." Mitsuko began.

Bright Day interrupted. ["Time is critical."]

"We'll explain on the way."

It wasn't far, but the story seemed straightforward enough, the fledgling mages checking the facts with their Devices.

There had been a war long ago between Ancient Verda and Autekka, the two sides having developed their magic in different ways. It had bought ruin to both sides and, as a consequence, cut the number of new mages down to almost nothing. For now, the Devies glossed over how exactly this had gone unnoted in history and their own fortuitous reappearance.

Recently, however, things had changed.

It was uncertain if it had been deliberately planted or not, but close by a spell known as a Forced Activation Talisman had been activated. Upon attaining its full power, it would act as a form of magical catalyst, forcing open the talents of potential mages and stirring up spells and creatures left dormant. It had already had a low level effect, the creatures they'd fought being proof of this.

This was dangerous.

Additionally, upon attaining its full power, the talisman would effectively be invulnerable to them, as they lacked the skill to overcome its defences. They would have to strike now, before this occurred.

However, it was possible it was defended. Additionally, Verda mages could intervene, likely ones recruited like how they had been. The Verda faction would believe that the benefits of such a widespread reactivation of magic would outweigh the chaos and necessary sacrifices it entailed.

They came upon on their destination. It seemed to be a empty plot, whatever been there recently demolished. Within a simple maze of low, ruined walls, not even knee high, the forced activation talisman waited.

Poking up from a little hill in the barren earth was an unnatural, solitary flower. On a slender stem a single blossom was supported, large and oddly crystalline in appearance. Its oval center almost seemed to be watching them.

Nothing immediately leapt out to attack.

Mitsuko, pausing a rather intense, hushed consultation with her Device about what exactly she was capable of, looked around carefully. "This is it?" Mitsuko asked. It looked so innocent.

["Correct"] Bright Day chimed.

Alex winced as some of the call got to him, even with his hands over his ears. But kept rising and gaining power regardless.

His hands fell back to his sides, as he watched the field from where he thought he was safe enough. But, his glowing green eyes grew puzzled as the spider summoned up a pair of disks beside itself.

Those...are what he used to block Demi and the white guy. He thought, entirely confused as the Director stabbed two of its arms' into the portals.

Alex, move, now! Miranda shouted, as one of the Emerald blades appeared behind him, coming at his back.

The flying mage reacted as quickly as he could, throwing himself to the right. He managed to avoid getting impaled, but the blade nicked the scarf floating behind him, and the red fabric of his pants.

Start moving. Miranda said flatly, I'll worry about gathering the energy, but you need to keep yourself from being impaled. We're high enough.

Alex nodded, allowing Miranda to take the reins of the energy. He began to let his movements flow into a dance, one partly guided by his magic and partly by music he imagined. He made sure not to stay in the same place long, and kept his eyes and ears open for more portals.

Miranda noted, with some surprise, that the magic gathered more quickly while Alex was in motion. His hands were glowing brightly with white light by then.

They'd fought through anything and everything at the behest of their devices, and now the Autekkan mages stood before something that was relatively peaceful. Akari looked at the delicate, if unnerving, flower with mixed interest. Was this the weapon that was going to turn everyone into... Whatever it was those things were? Maybe not those things, but maybe similar monsters?

Akari overheard Mitsuko and Bright Day, and didn't bother asking Ceres to confirm it again, merely stared at the flower. After a few seconds she felt like it was very hard to not look at, as if she'd seen it before somewhere. It was one of those feelings where you didn't know what something meant, but it sent a shiver down your spine that you knew was wrong on some deep, fundamental level. Her courage melted away to unease and a mild sense of fear, which was awkward considering the flower wasn't acting nearly as frightening as the director had been. They'd actually killed that, after all.

Her reverie was broken by Ceres' interruption.

["Locus Mode, Set up. Standby Sealing Routine Venus."]

The bow hissed as its overflow-vents opened and slid shut as if running a test routine. The accellerator rails slid closer together, and the weapon's arms reclined somewhat, sliding the rear-arm drone racks outward a few inches each. Each one's engine glew to life at an idle level, giving Ceres the effect of neon-blue winglike extentions.

"Remember what I told you when you asked about bombardment magic?" The calm voice in Akari's head asked with a frustrated tone. The girl merely nodded, "Well, forget the whole of it. Now, you learn."

"Ceres..." Akari asks softly, "We're going to shoot the flower?"

["Estimate 95% deflection of shooting attacks. Barrier penetration is necessary to seal successfully."]

"We're going to hit it very hard to make it go back to sleep. There is after all, a certain serenity to be found in extreme firepower." Akari swore she heard Ceres giggle at the last sentance, but it honestly loosened her up a bit. All this serious end-of-the-world stuff was getting to her, and there was a certain wisdom in it, twisted as it was.

"Alright." Akari nods, "Show me."

"~Good!~" Demi smiled, noticing the results of her attack, though her familiar was saying that more about Mogura's success than hers. "Incoming..." With that being said right at he connection, the few strings left in it bega to draw great amounts of magic into their body, Mogura taking a second to really pull, then dividing up her attention to fre more of her strings at the one that got rid of all of hers. "I think this ones about finished, if the first time I saw it is any indicator." Demi mentally grinned as she focused on moving her star out of the way of the swings, getting hit every now and again, causing some of the magic to disperse, though a bit od that got sucked right to Demi again via her aura.

"~Ok, your star doesn't have the magic for a colossal blast, but there is something far more annoying you can do with it. Focus a tiny ray from it onto the eye, a line of sorts to it, and keep lightly applying to it.~" It was a bit difficult to do, especially with moving it around. But she saw the results, and was pleased. There was a consistent ray shooting at the director. nothing too harsh, but the sheer consistency was the point. "Um... what if he attacks us? I can barely pay attention to myself..." "~Mmmn... thats a problem. You'll learn eventually but for now, I'll buzz you if anythngs about to affect you. How does that sound?~" Demi seemed slightly uneasy, but the videogame-like lasering the director was too mentally consuming and too entertaining for her to really argue.

Synopsis: Panko shoots the mudman with the big right arm that Demi stabbed with string.

It seemed like everyone had weathered Panko's attack. The mudmen still hadn't left the giant monster's side, but at least one of them was less mobile. Dropping her old plan, Panko decided to take advantage of the crazy girl's attack. She'd already dropped one improved mudman tonight, and here she was given the same circumstances.

Panko put her hands out and yelled, "Cutie Beam!" A blast of puppy breath and international marketing mascots fired across the battlefield toward the mudman Demi had snagged.

"Then let's destroy it already," Shimizu said, sounding as eager as she really felt, which wasn't much at all. Despite the danger of Star Brand abuse and the threat of monsters, Shimizu didn't immediately want to lose her new existence so soon or leave Ponpon even if the two had only known each other for a few hours. "I'm sure it's what we all want, right?"

Shimizu transformed back into Solblaster. Then, with a sigh, she directed Ponpon toward the crystal flower. Her APS confirmed the lockon. "Ponpon, I have to hit that thing with the most powerful attack I can muster."

Nothing happened at first, but then Shimizu could feel Ponpon transforming into some kind of weapon that would allow her to charge star energy into a single blast for a delayed, powerful shot.

Synopsis: Mern barely dodge Director's scythe, but the enhancement Ocular Ride damaged. Mern attempts to join up with familiar and Panko, only to be suprised by a fluke accurate aim of the Director's frenzied energy ray, and ending up reflecting it blindly, revealing an untrained reflect ability.

---------------------------

*Mern felt a sudden spark of anxiety, as if the wisdom of his familiar predicted something terrible the moment the Director stabbed its scythes into the portals, and threw himself to the side, but felt his energy bolted, as the omni-directional shield around him held off only the fraction of force before it pierced through and cracked the copied enhancement, feeling its benefical effects leaving him. Menarker bombed toward his familiar, only a bit groggy from the sudden loss of the unfamiliar enhancement magic as he tried to weave and bypass the offending array of projectile energy of the Director, pre-empting his approach. Mero being rather occupied, darting back and forth around the mudman, slashing with vorpal energy claws that briefly extended and contrasted in feints and real vicious slashes.*

"Guess I'm not up to snuff at the moment. Either my range attacks are like peashooters, or my melee attacks get dodged or pre-empted! Guess I should leave it up to the others..."

* Suddenly, the guardian ampped up its speed or rhythm, catching Menarker completely off guard with a bolt directly on a collision course. Mern desperately gripped and tossed the broken octopus relic attached to his elbow against the bolt of energy, in a rather futile attempt to weaken it, and feel less weighed down as he braced himself, but the collision shunted the burst backward speedily toward the Director and any projectiles he may have continued to shoot out already in the state of chaotic pandemondium. The magician took the chance to glide to safety along the ground, rather perflexed about the change in circumstances.*

"It bounced backward!?"