EPIC 3-day TP Conclusion (part 3)

[karaokelove]

WHO: L, Ling Yao, Shizuru Fujino, Celene Hunter, Mashiro Windbloom (as Himitsu no Bunny later), Ichigo Kurosaki, Miyu, Mai Tokiha, Takaya Akizuki, Hayate Yagami, Yuuichi Tate, Makoto Kino
Guest-starring (emitted): Mashiro Kazahana, Alyssa Searrs, Miyu Greer, Nagi Homura and many nameless brave, Searrs redshirt guards.
WHERE: Fuuka Academy
WHEN: July 29, 2007
WHAT: The Gameplan: The fight to take back Fuuka! Go Team Venture! (Ground Troops)


The elevators lead up to different places.
One leads to a tunnel with a long runway leading out. Among others, a young girl with black hair arrives there, crouching down on what looks like a runner's starter block while holding a massive sword in one hand.
One leads out to a stack of girders that may or may not be partial construction for a new building.
Another leads to a cliffside. Natsuki stands there with Duran, ready to go.
Once everyone is in position, one of those camera-pods fades into existance. "Everybody is ready."
Mikoto doesn't nod. She doesn't say anything. She just takes off running, dashing -much- faster than she has any right to while carrying a sword that's bigger than she is.
"Go, Duran!" Natsuki grabs onto her Child's shoulder and hops onto his back as the wolf Child lets out a howl and takes off running.

He chooses seemingly at random. Ichigo hits the end of the tummel at about the time that the girl with the sword bolts. He chooses correctly, it seems. The Soul Reaper bolts along after her, hakama rippling in his wake. One hand rests above his shoulder on Zangetsu's hilt, the other trails at his side. He keeps up pretty well, even without using Shunpo.
It is time to go to war.

As the elevator rises, Celene reaches into her pocket again, drawing a new cigarette (does that pack /ever/ end?) and putting it in. She pulls out her lighter, strikes it--
"I seriously can't believe," she says around that little tube of cancer, "that this nuthouse has an honest-to-God Batcave."
She releases a cloud from her lungs, and then squints a little behind her glasses as the sun streams down upon them.
"Construction site..." Celene mutters, sighing. She looks around to see who all - if anyone - is with her, and then unshoulders her rifle, cigarette dangling from her lips. She sights along it, makes sure the scope is still good, and then she's moving, bounding with a not totally natural acuity up the pile, toward the campus.

Before she chooses the path to take, Miyu can only offer a small smile to Ling. "Please do not worry. To protect others is also a maid's duty."
So off she goes, eventually finding her way out to a runway-- occupied by a small girl with a greatsword. Momentary recognition passes through her mind, and -- well, it seems like she's going to have to get used to -every- aspect of this 'altered world' business. Waiting a few moments upon the runway, she begins the charge in time with her comrades, tilting ahead and half-skating the ground before one last final vault up-- and -up-. A hiss of light and energy trails away from the trails of her long white jacket, which by now separate into lengthy, loose and independent flaps that ripple in the air as she moves. Surveying her options from the air at first, Miyu is opting to glide in from above in order to set up her plan of attack-- whoever the unfortunate victim may be.

It's hard to ignore that Tate's fallen in next to him...and a momentary lapse in the projected personality allows a small bit of a nigh-girlish 'grk'. ..but surely it was just a slight hiccup, since immediately afterward, he offers a deep and muttered, "..pleased to meet you." With pleasantries out of the way, however, things will have to turn to strictly business. It's time to move out, and Mashiro -- err, the mysterious stranger -- happens to choose to move towards the tunnel that has Natsuki waiting at the end.
--at least both Natsuki and Tate already know about what he can do, but it becomes more complex when he's pretending to be someone else! Accordingly, once the elevator brings him up, he has to flinch another time in surprise. Must act casual, since it's still not too late for 'onee-chan' to send him back down.

As the elevator advances to the surface, Takaya can feel something tugging at the edge of his mind. 'There it is,' he thinks as an overwhelming sensation of tunnel vision overtakes him. When the lift finally reaches the surface, emptying into the half-constructed building, the 'shinigami' is once more pale-faced and dark-lipped. Taking in his surroundings, Boogiepop looks up to one of the security 'cameras' and gives it a brief nod, acknowledging L as the being he may remember from the day before, before swinging up into the half-finished building to try and get a better view of the area as Celene runs off towards the campus.

Yeah, elevators in a cave is pretty weird, but by this point? Tate doesn't even question weird crap anymore. The space laser was a surprise, sure, but beside that, elevators, not so much. Of course, because this is how his life works, Tate ends heading to the same staging point as Natsuki, looking somewhat out of place given his apparent lack of any mojo whatsoever. But at least he's alongside this... Mysterious person who probably is also in the same boat as he is!
"Uh, yeah, same," Tate says a bit gruffly, because this is Serious Business. But when the elevator brings them up and there's Natsuki and Duran, ready to go kick some ass, the scarred Key briefly palms his face. Of course, of course. /Figures/.

Along with the Mysterious Person and Tate is the prince, standing behind them with his sword resting on his shoulder. He'd elected not to accompany Miyu as he's had enough being yanked around and carried for this week. His gaze drifts downward, raising an eyebrow at the adorable bunnies peeking back at him. He says nothing, however, simply smiling lopsidedly and looking back at the doors as they open. There is no real reaction to spotting who else is here-- maybe there's something he's missing. He'll follow behind Tate and Mash--err, that is, the Mysterious Person for now.

Freight elevators in a cave? Bah, Jupiter's seen castles on the moon! When you get wierder than that, then she'll actually start to worry. Naturally, she takes the same elevator as Ichigo, which means she winds up at the runway.
She /would/ have to wind up here. The senshi abruptly freezes in place, her face suddenly going pale in terror. "Um- T-This i-isn't for e-everyone flying," she stammers meekly, "I-Is it? I-Is t-there a-another way d-down f-from here?" Behold, the one true fear of Sailor Jupiter! No way, Hanniboo, she ain't gettin' on no plane!

It doesn't take long for the soldiers to be alerted to the approach of a good number of attackers. Tanks and troops are mobilized out across campus. After following the paths from the tops of the elevators, it isn't hard to see all the other groups arriving on the edges of the main quad of the academy. It is from there that the troops seem to be assembling. "Here they come..." "Stop them! Don't let them reach the buildings!" Machineguns come up and bullets are fired. Now that there are no regular students around, they don't seem to mind firing. A few of the tanks pull around as well, some of them shooting large explosive shells. Better watch out!
Now that she can see the enemy, Mikoto picks up speed. "AaaaaaAAAAAA!" Her eyes almost seem to glow as she darts around bullets, trampling right over one of the soldiers, and charges a tank head on. The girl plants a foot and swings her sword around, nearly being thrown back by the weight of the blade being twirled around her body. She somehow manages to keep her footing, however, and brings the sword around and up, across the tank... and through it. Several soldiers yell in surprise as the entire tank is cut in half, both pieces flying several feet.
Duran -can- carry others, but he chooses not to. Because ew, Tate. "Don't die, Tate." That's all the encouragement Natsuki gives before her Child darts off. Ling, you'd better keep up too! Fortunately for Mashiro, she doesn't notice that he is right behind her. She assumed he's down below with Yukariko or Yukino! Better not tell her otherwise.
As she gets within line of sight of the troops, Natsuki lifts a gun, seemingly not bothered by the trotting wolf she's riding. She squeezes off a few shots, and one of the soldiers yelps in pain and drops his gun, holding his injured hand.

Berry witnesses a tank being cut in half. That's awesome. He may or may not be getting shot at. Even if he isn't, he tries to avoid the bullets, because he doesn't know if they can hurt him. What he does know is that /he/ can hurt /them/. His smile is almost predatory as he pulls his zanpakuto, and the wind rages around him in a sudden vortex as he brings his reiatsu to bear. It is, as they say, on.
He vanishes in a burst of Shunpo, and not to be outdone, reappears near a tank. Not too close, though. Spirit power spikes, a great bonfire of blue flame encircling the Death God for a moment before it's all focused into his blade. He grips the hilt in both hands and bellows, "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" The swing releases a masive crescent shaped wave of cutting power. The soldiers may not be able to see it, but they certainly /can/ see that the ground itself is being cut apart by something that smoothes the edges to almost glass. And that tank /is/ in the way.

Celene is by now standing atop the girders, her heavy, heavy coat suddenly whipping in the breeze.
She hates this Matrix look, but even she has to admit that having something snapping behind her looks...pretty badass. And it's a lot better than having long hair or something.
Maybe a scarf? She really does hate this coat.
Either way, Celene digs into her inner pocket, and withdraws her SWAT badge, which she holds high. Time for the protocol.
"ATTENTION, PLEASE!!" she roars, her voice carrying far and wide. "I AM SERGEANT CELENE HUNTER, INTERPLANAR PEACEKEEPING AGENCY, SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS TEAM FIVE!" She levels her Remington - ONE-HANDED - at the nearest tank, and says, "CEASE AND DECIST ALL WORLD CONQUEST ACTIVITIES /RIGHT NOW/, OR I AM GOING TO /SHOOT ALL OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS IN THE HEAD!/"
She pauses a beat.
"PLEASE!"

"So it begins," Boogiepop says without a hint of emotion, although that odd smile of is twisting at his lips, his immense cloak billowing in the same wind that causes Celene's coat to whip around, revealing high-heeled boots and black slacks beneath. As Celene proceeds to call ALL ATTENTION TO HER, he runs along the girders of the half-finshed building, leaping gracefully where there are gaps and not slowing down for anything. Eventually he reaches the edge of the building and, with a running jump to grab a higher girder, swings himself into the nearby tree line.
The feats of acrobatics continue as he proceeds to leap from tree to tree, attempting to make his way closer under the cover of foliage. Unfortunately, the shaking of leaves and branches makes his advancement fairly obvious, but the purpose of the action was to make him harder to hit, not harder to track. He got far too close to those guns for comfort yesterday, after all.

He'll keep his cards firmly in hand until the proper time to play them. ..that's the thought, anyway. That'll minimize the risk of being sent back and scolded. For now, Mashiro reaches up with one wrapped hand to adjust the edge of the hood, and get a better look at the scene of things. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a bit scared and intimidated of facing these forces, but somehow doing it with friends behind you, as with everything, makes it so much easier to deal with. Even one that he hasn't really gotten a chance to know, like that nice Ling fellow.
"..alright, let's do this," he utters, again trying to emulate a course young man's manner. And then, he starts bolting forward, actively sliding down any slopes that happen to be between where the forces closeby seem to be attacking from, just to try and get enough speed to even try to keep up with Duran. Meanwhile, the bunnies being carried in the satches's ears flop in the wind, as they enjoy the ride as much as possible.

Well, Tate wouldn't want to ride on Duran anyway! He's done it before, with other Durans, and it was uncomfortable and smelled funny. With an irritated huff at Natsuki's 'encouragement', he replies with: "Same to you, Kuga," but he actually means it. He doesn't want anybody to die! Not even people he seems unable to do anything but argue with. But, off goes HiME and giant robot dog/wolf thing, leaving Tate with Ling and Totally Not Mashiro, and thereupon he sighs.
"Yeah, let's go," Tate agrees with Not Mashiro, nodding firmly, before he too takes off down the hill. Isn't it weird how he and this mysterious person both have very similar speech patterns?! Almost identical in fact! But Yuuichi doesn't even notice, he's too busy focusing on what's ahead of them. He's not going to let what happened back home happen here, too. Even if it kills him.

Large, explosive shells? Don't be silly, such tactics can't harm the maid in flight! -- Well, they can... but Miyu isn't about to let herself get killed now.
She still has people to go home to, as cliche as the expression is.
On the descent, the maid zeroes in on another tank in the campus grounds shortly after Mikoto makes short work of one-- and whips around her right arm in a smooth motion, the air literally segmenting around her right forearm and below. Quickly, the bulk of the weapon she carries comes into view. The thick, reinforced body. The long black rectangular box that trails away from it, behind her. And then, upwards of nine long steel pipes, grouped into three specific circles. Yes, that's right...
She's holding a triple gatling gun in one hand.
*rrrrrrrrBRRRRRRRRATATATATATTATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAT*

Ling falls in next to Mash-- uh, that person, on his other side. He could run a lot faster than this, of course, but for the moment he finds it wiser to stick together. Once he gets a better idea of the battlefield he may choose to move off on his own. On the other hand, he has no idea of what Tate or their little friend are capable of, and he would hate to leave them on their own if they have no real way of defending themselves. To that end... "By the way," Ling calls as they jump and slide their way down the precipice, "Do we have any kind of plan of attack?"

Strangely enough, for those who are a bit slower to arrive to the main part of campus, it doesn't look like anything is happening. It's just a normal, peaceful day! Until they pass the tree line and into the campus proper, when everything fades to reality
There seems to be quiet a lot of panic and confusion as something invisible running around is making things blow up. After a moment, though, a few solders hop out of an APC and start passing around something that looks like night vision scopes. The men who put them on scan the battlefield... and as one turn and open fire on Ichigo. Um. Looks like they can see him now. They're just regular bullets though, for now.
Then Celene hits the Taunt button, and several soldiers and one tank open fire on her position. They don't seem to be taking this whole surrender thing into consideration.
"Is that Miyu?" "It looks like her! But she's going the wrong--" The tank is rocked backwards by the shells, eventually splitting open from the firepower being poured into it. Its turret rotates and manages to get off a single shell toward the MAID before an explosion rips through the armor and the driver and gunner dive out.
Mikoto drops to all fours in a manner not unlike a cat. Her head twitches to and fro, looking for her next target. When she finally leaps to her feet again, the soldiers scatter away from that scary sword.
As they scatter, Natsuki leaps off her Child's back. Duran continues running, tackling one to the ground and biting neatly through his gun. As the others turn to look, Natsuki charges them, planting a foot on the ground, and swinging her other leg high to nail one under the chin with her heavy boot. The motion continues, and the blue-haired HiME spins, slamming an elbow into the side of another soldier's head.

They're shooting at him now.
"Shit."
Ichigo is not the most nimble guy. Not in this state of release, anyway. Bullets rocket his direction, and he starts moving again, racing across the ground like a ...a....fast guy. He's charging the guys in the goggles. He leaps impossibly high, arcing through the air only to stop and stand on air like solid ground. Uh oh.
Kurosaki lets Zangetsu dangle from his hands by the now lengthening bandage tassel. Then he starts swinging it around, spinning it first at his side, and then above his head until it whistles through the wind. He then hurls it down into the midst of the golggles wearing soldiers, purposefully hitting none of them. That'd take the fun out of it. with a good yank, he flings himself downwards at his sword and the soldiers, using the tension on the bandage to swing him around the weapon, leading with his feet in a moving rendition of the Kurosaki Family Secret Technique.
That is to say, kicing these bastards in the face.

A 'plan' is something Mashiro might be following if Nina-chan were around. Right now he's kicking it Arika-style..which is to say that he's going to close in and wing it, hoping that guts and willpower will see the three slower warriors through it. "..don't die..and keep the path clear for the evacuation, I guess," is about the best he can offer, still trying to sound unrefined -- Tate is a good model for it. "Other than that, all we can do is hope they can take out that Child."
After a few moments, he finally makes it on campus..and what a contrast it is. Were they using a hologram or something? Because it sure didn't look this much like a warzone from the outside! While it's just normal soldiers, Mashiro is more in his element, and he won't have to give things away just yet. Instead, he looks to close in on one of the scattered ones while the grunt's distracted with flashy HiME matters, and shoulder-butt him in the small of the back. The momentum dislodges a lock of braided blue-lavender hair from inside the hood of the stranger's jacket, and the rabbits' arms almost seem to hang on for dear life in their carrying bag, but everything else stays in place.

"Well," Celene muses, as she hears guns being readied, shells loaded, "I warned ya."
Then the world is shattered. Anyone with even a scrap of supernatural sensitivity sees it writ large upon the cosmos, as Fate itself is yanked like a guitar string, played like a harp. Celene's body moves far faster than a human ever could, leaping off the girders, forward - didn't she say she couldn't fly!? But no, she flips around in the air, and draws her Desert Eagle as she goes. This is an army. A sudden, terrifying display of power will startle them, get them spooked, and then she won't need to use her powers to their full extent. Yes. She hopes that'll work.
When Celene lands, she has her desert eagle thrust into the gut of one of the soldiers, and her Remington into the chest of a second.
She pulls both triggers at once.
"Your lives were forfeit," she notes, for the record, as the report dies down, "the second you landed."

"What he said," Tate says, gesturing towards Not Mashiro, Seriously. "Ain't much else we can do, the HiMEs can take care a' most of it, an' Miyu too... Plus some of those other freaks were probably pretty powerful too." He /guesses/. But in the end, they have to do what they can with what they've got, and maybe it's not phenomenal cosmic power, but it'll do. "'sides, you got those grenades, we can probably cause some damage." And Tate's got what exactly?
He's got GUTS!!
Meanwhile, Tate has a similar intention to Mashiro's as they get down to where the grunts are, actually going so far as to leap up and knee the next nearest one in the head. "This is for HITTIN' ME IN THE NECK WITH A GUN!!" is his battle cry, even if it wasn't the one who cold-cocked him. BUT HE'S STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT.

Boogiepop should be thankful that such high-profile people as Celene and Ichigo are there to draw all of the aggro, leaving him free to find a good sniper nest. Stopping in a tree a few plants down from the end of the line, he watches neutrally as Ichigo wreaks havoc on the soldiers, then kicks them in the friggin' heads. "Hmm," the phantom says simply. He seems to have things under control.
As does Celene, it seems, as Boogiepop hears the Guitar of Fate be rocked out upon in a stunning ten minute solo. "...it would be pointless to stay out here," he says to himself, with all of the firepower that's being thrown around. Instead, he'll wreak havoc in his home environment: inside the school.
He resumes leaping through the branches, reaching the last in the line and swinging off of the highest branch he can reach to hurl himself through the air and INTO the building, elegantly crashing through a window and rolling to throw off the weight of the impact, quickly getting to his feet and raising a gloved hand to anyone who made the mistake of being in the same room as his entry point. His finger's loaded, man, you don't want to mess with him.

Lead rockets through the sky and red hot bullet casings spray out into the sky like a hot brass rain on the grassy Fuuka land below. Miyu's gatling gun has been seen before on this campus-- once, in the tight confines of an alley to save the life of Mashiro. Still, the shot fired off-- and the gauntlet has been thrown. Miyu's hand suddenly detaches from the gatling gun as the air segments in parts and the gun begins to fade and break up on descent-- and with a circular burst of light and energy, the gap-end that is the MAID's arm is suddenly filled with steel, a tapered blade bursting out before the segments tightly rejoin. A gap at the base contains a glowing light, and the blade hums but slightly as she angles herself to face down the incoming shell. Her arm swings ahead in one massive cleave-- one meant to plow through the shot and carve the shell in halves mid-air, catching her in the explosion or not. At least... She's confident she'll survive either way... she's built Aries tough!

Ling nods in calm understanding at Tate and The Amazing Hoodie's replies. "I see," he says, smiling lopsidedly as the other two rush into battle. "Alright, then!"
A distraction, then? The prince thinks he can arrange something like that. He dashes past the other two, leaving them to their own devices for now. Though the battlefield is hectic, Ling quickly makes note of the areas under assault from the more supernatural of their little band of heroes, changing his path to accomodate them-- that is to say, to keep the hell out of the way.
Though at first he's fast enough to brush past a number of soldiers without incident, a number of them have noticed the orange-and-white clad dodgemonkey and have set their sights on him (quite literally, in fact). As the bullets start flying, the prince starts weaving back and forth, seeming to stumble here and there without any visible pattern. Nothing like a moving target! He digs into his pouch, withdrawing two round spheres as he ducks around the back of a tank. His sword is thrust into the ground momentarily and Ling switches hands, ripping the cords out of the grenades with his teeth.
The first grenade is chucked over the top of the grenade towards whatever pursuers may have been after him. The second? Is rolled underneath the tank he was hiding behind. His gifts delivered, the prince grabs his sword and starts running the hell away.

The soldiers with the goggles keep focusing their fire on... what looks like a kid in black pajamas. What the heck, man. Of course, as a giant meat cleaver is thrown their way, some of them dive to the ground. Those who don't are treated to a sandaled boot to the head that at least breaks those goggles. The ones who got out of the way lift their guns and try to shoot at the berry again. No kid in pajamas is gonna show them up!
The shell is cut in half by the MAID, both halves exploding just beyond her as the motion of her path continues.
One of the soldiers is busy trying to get a bead on Mikoto, when he's suddenly knocked over by a kid from behind! Augh! He turns around and is about to just -shoot- the Totally Not Mashiro person when Tate's knee hits his head and knocks him out cold. Good combi! Of course, there's another one right there, his gun wavering between the two least bulletproof people here. Who to shoot first?
The soldiers continue to fire on Celene as she arcs through the air, but this isn't the type of target they're usually shooting at! The two men to either side of where she lands look surprised... but that's what body armor is for, right? Well, not against a Desert Eagle. It's probably a good thing for -that- guy that he's suddenly flung to the side as his shadow rises up into a massive Orphan. One of its legs is blasted clear off and it stumbles a bit... but it has five more. One of which comes down hard right toward Celene.
Several other Orphans rise up from the shadows around campus, one right in front of where Miyu would land. That thing's mouth is bigger than most cars! And it's hungry for robots! Nom nom nom!
Soldiers go flying every which way as the grenades explode, and the tank seems wrecked as well. The gunner inside pops out from the top and opens fire after Ling, though!
As more Orphans appear, Mikoto spins around to face one... and continues spinning, dragging her sword in a circle around her feet. Finally she stops and plunges the blade into the ground. "Miroku!" The ground rumbles, and black spikes erupt around her feet and along a fault that forms between her and the Orphan, skewering it several times.

Natsuki shoots the gun out of another soldier's hand before spinning to kick him in the midsection, causing him to double over in pain. "Duran! Load Silver Cartridge!" The wolf turns to face the same direction as his master as a pair of shells is loaded from his rear legs into the cannons on his back. "Fire!" On command, the shells are fired. As they fly through the air, they suddenly hit a pair of blue circles... and emerge on the other side as a shower of icicles that rain down to pin a tank to the ground, somehow missing the pilot and gunner inside. They can't -move-, granted...
Inside the buildings, it's... surprisingly quiet. There aren't many soldiers, save for the two standing guard on either side of the nurse's office.
Outside, the door to the boy's gym slowly opens...

The Kurosaki Family Secret Technique never fails! Except when they duck.
Ichigo lands on his feet and yanks his weapon from the ground as the soldiers round on him. He smirks. "You're a hundred years too early to beat me!"
The guns bleat, and Ichigo's moving again, taking a good one in the shoulder, seeing apparently means they can hurt him, as he lunges with his hefty blade in a mean horizontal strike at one right in front of him. In a flash of black, he changes course after striking, not even seeing if he hit, and swings the heavy flat at another who shot at him. Pajamas indeed.

As the boy's gym opens, Reito is already outside waiting. Seems like a little bird told him that help would be coming and to get ready. The older teenager looks at the boys with his usual calm expression and he begins gesturing, pointing to some of the older boys. "You six, help me organize everyone else. We're leaving." All the boys look surprised at the former Vice President but by the very fact that he made it sound like they were all about to go for a stroll in the park helps a lot in keeping things orderly. So, the six boys all get up and begin organizing people into lines.
"Just follow me, don't look around, stay in the line. We'll be out to safety shortly. Takeda-kun, take some members of the Kendo team and Judo team and bring up the rear guard." Reito gives one of his winning smiles before walking away. As one, the boys begin following Reito, murmuring quietly as they wonder just what is going on as they carefully step around the fallen soldiers that were guarding the gym. It is remarkable to note however, that from the boys point of view, there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong with Fuuka other than it looks completely deserted.

Boogiepop's eyes quickly scan the room. Nothing. That makes things simple. Walking to the door, he carefully cracks it open and stares down the hall in the direction he can see. Nothing again. Throwing the door all the way open, he proceeds to step into the hall facing the other way, hand held out and ready to fire...
...except there's no one there. They must all be occupied dealing with the attacks from all fronts, not suspecting somebody would actually try to break into the building in the ensuing chaos.
Still on the alert, the phantasmal bubble tries to sense the area, locating hearts in peril, the bubbles that are a person's psyche, fractured by pain and worry... the location of nurse's office is easy to find from the sheer mass of frightened girls there. And so he moves, hand raising at the first sight of any guards to point at their temples, a blast of psychic energy trying to drop them into unconsciousness as he meets them. There's very little room to dodge in these hallways, so hopefully he can take out any patrols before they can open fire or warn the others.

That guy was a bit more durable than Mashiro would have thought..this 'Searrs' organization must not take training their soldiers lightly. In the end, though, it seems teamwork and superior numbers have prevailed, but there's more immediate concerns than high-fiving Tate. You see, it seems the straggler has a nearby friend, and one that's waffling on his targets. Perhaps it's time to make the decision easier! '..well, it was nice while it lasted.' Hopefully Tate won't be too surprised by what transpires next.
Considering his hooded ally holds out both hands, and a light breeze accompanies a green glow beginning to form there around them. Oddly, it seems to be coming from the chest area, but the effect should be familiar enough to both Tate and the gun-toting soldier. HiME!? Regardless, if left uninterrupted, the Mashiro Diamond itself forms in mid-air first, then a large, two-handed sword around it, stuck conveniently in the ground and ready for use! The question is..who gets to grab it first?
If Tate hasn't worked it out by now, he'll definitely recognize this little number, anyway.

Teamwork is what you need when you're outnumbered and outgunned like this! Tate was about to tell Not Mashiro 'good work', but then there's another soldier - and really, there's always more, right? - trying to decide which one of them to shoot... And then things get really hairy. The sudden appearance of the Mashiro Diamond and then the sword that sticks in the ground certainly doesn't go unnoticed by Tate, whose eyes widen and mouth drops open. DAMMIT MASHIRO, YOU HAD HIM WORRIED.
"Son of a bitch!" he declares, though it's more a general statement - he's not saying anything about Mai, honest! - and, unless Mashiro goes for his own weapon first, Tate's immediate reaction is to grab the sword with a muttered 'borrowin' this', yanking it free from the ground and swinging it in the same, smooth motion, at the soldier. Nah, he's not trying to kill the guy, just... Discourage him from shooting teenagers. If this all works out, then he'll over the sword back to Mashiro, since it's his and all.

One by one the guards fall silently to Boogiepop's attacks. The way to the girls' holding area is far better protected than the boys are. Of course, this is mostly because the girls are much more important to what Searrs wants than the boys are.
One's luck can only hold out for so long though before there's trouble. Before the two guards standing at the nurse's office, there is a small patrol. A female of African decent leads a group of three other well armed soldiers escorting a pretty looking young woman in a business suit with ash brown hair. It is fairly obviously from the way that they are escorting her that while she may be someone important, she is also their 'captive.'
Woman is the first to spy Boogiepop, the fluttering cloak a dead give away in the empty halls. "Intruder!" She raises her hand pistol and opens fire at 'Phantom', the other three soldiers fire as well with their semi-automatic rifles.

*ska-BOOM*
Miyu comes out of the cloud of smoke and fire none the worse for wear, a bit of soot and black smudging on her white clothes, her sword arm trailed back and her left arm curled up in front of her, legs drawn up in front of her and folded. Translucent white trails flap and flutter as she descends, the smoke cutting a trail from the tips of her feet and the edge of her Anti-Materialization Blade.
Turning her arm vertical, the blade twists and her arm swings back again in a dramatic cut of air, her left leg presenting itself-- and a panel of her pants dropping open near the top of her left thigh. With a series of high-pitched, *sheeeeeeeeeeeeew~n~*, a small series of fist-sized missiles scatter away from her leg in a spray of explosive death toward the Orphan awaiting her immenent landing and the immediate surrounding area. She'll probably end up landing in a cloud of black smoke... if the Orphan doesn't decide to get strategic and swallow her up, first.

Celene's guns.......don't kill anyone.
Celene looks up at the sound of an Orphan, as it smacks both her targets out of the way. "Titanspawn on /top/ of the norms," Celene mutters, spinning her Desert Eagle and holstering it. "Oh, that's just lovely."
Celene is from a White Wolf game, you really think she cares about things like human life? Please.
But as the Orphan looms, Celene uses her now-freed hand to cycle the bolt on her Remington, and then she's moving. Something that big won't hit her with such a pathetic attempt; she bounces back, lands on her rifle, held out between both hands, and then uses the impact force to ricochet higher in an acrobatic spin, onto a branch of a nearby tree.
She lands in a crouch, already watching the Orphan through the scope of her rifle.
"Die," she commands, and then facilitates this process by means of a round to the face. Or at least whatever face approximation Celene could find in that short interval.

Oh, that worked rather well, Ling thinks to himself-- that is, before someone emerges from the tank and starts shooting at him. The prince yelps as the bullets start coming, and curses inwardly as he realizes there isn't any good shelter nearby. Hmm, well, as unfortunate as that is, that's just how things are, isn't it? Digging into his trusty handy dandy pack 'o bombs, the prince withdraws a cylindrical object and then skids to a halt and leaps to the side to avoid the gunfire. He doesn't stay still-- he rolls on the ground and then leaps to his feet, weaving, ducking, and jumping as his path is now aimed directly at the smoking tank. His sword is thrust between his teeth, freeing his hands as he follows his erratic path back towards the gunman.
As soon as he's close enough, Ling leaps into the air, ripping the cord from the top of the cylinder in his hand and aiming that end directly at the soldier's face as he lands right in front of him. The cylinder is actually just a flare-- but few people deal well, he's found, with having a burning projectile fired directly into their face.

Hmm... this is going to be awkward. As he rounds the corner and spots the rather large patrol, Boogiepop is sure that he can't take them all out. Once the cry of "Intruder!" goes out, it's guaranteed, and his shooting hand immediately goes to the side.
Not wanting to risk discovering that the adjacent classroom is locked or not, he fires an immense blast at the door and BLASTS THE DAMN THING OFF ITS HINGES, ducking into the classroom as the bullets fly. Running down the length of the classroom, he proceeds to pull the stunt a second time, blasting through the wall in a shower of dust and, hopefully, catching the soldiers and their 'captive' by surprise, and greeting them with another volley of sleep-shots.
Of course, the slightest miscalculation, whether in just how far down the group was or in how fast they could circle around and catch up with him, could end very badly, and the phantasmal bubble has sneaking suspicion that the soldiers aren't sticking to nonlethal attacks like he is.

Yes, dangit. Pajamas! But there are only so many soldiers here. There aren't many left around Ichigo, and a couple are starting to feel like they should have picked a better target. One of them even makes a break for it as the other two try to pour on the bullets. The reason for the one who ran is evident soon enough, though, as he pops back out of a wrecked APC holding an RPG launcher over his shoulder. Take this, weird pajama boy!
The soldier closes in on Tate and Not Mashiro, but pauses as suddenly a -sword- appears. "Uh..." He takes a step back, raises his gun, and promptly gets it sliced in half. Swallowing hard, he drops the rifle and shakily draws a pistol. "Don't move, either of you!"
Of course the Orphan tries to swallow Miyu! That's what it came out here for. Or something. The missiles impact along its back, gouging a huge hole, but it grows it all back fairly quickly. The huge mouth opens and it leaps, engulfing Miyu in one bite. Nevermind there's not enough room in its body for a stomach or anything.
The other Orphan's face... suddenly doesn't exist, blown away by the shot. But never let it be said that these things aren't resilient. The thing lurches forward a few steps, then suddenly sprouts a pair of octopus-like tentacles from where the head used to be. They both whip out, trying to grab onto Celene.
When Ling throws his flashbang, the soldiers are smart (or gullible) enough to go for cover. That leaves him enough time to get close before they're back in firing position. They look around a moment, trying to get sight of him, but he's pretty close with that sword before they finally open fire again.
Mikoto's black sword flashes in the sun as she swings a mighty blow, neatly slicing in half the final tank. Natsuki takes careful aim, firing off a few shots. Pwing! Pwing! Pwing! And three soldiers drop their guns. Duran wastes no time in charging them and knocking them roughly to the ground with a growl.
It seems like there isn't too much left around here in the way of opposition...

A rocket. They're shooting a rocket at him. That's okay. Gripping Zangetsu in both hands, he swings at the incoming projectile, "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" A crescent of bright blue bursts from the tip of the blade and slings through the air, bisecting the rocket and continuing on towards its source.
Do not screw with the guy wit the sword.
"You boys have two options," he says, bringing his weapon to bear and using the flat to keep him mostly protected from bullets, though a couple graze him. How he does this with an already injured shoulder is easy to answer. He's just that strong. "You can throw your guns down and get lost, or I could stop playing around and cut you down where you stand."

"Damn it!" One of the guards shouts, "he ran into one of the classrooms!"
"Well, don't just stand there! Go after him damn it!" The three masked soldiers begin running towards the classroom that Boogie ducks into, leaving behind the commanding woman and their hostage. Boogiepop's timing is dead on as he blasts through the wall and plaster rains down on the three guards. "What the?!" They shout in confusion as they begin firing somewhat wildly at the opening but the opening volley does not last for long as they suddenly drop down to the ground, the sleep-shots hitting before they are even fully aware of what's going on.
By the time the dust settles down, the only person standing is Boogiepop himself. Which is just the distraction that Shizuru needed. With a single graceful move (and stolen from a movie), she raises a hand and pinches the commanding officer at the base of her neck. The soldier collapses to the ground and she dusts off hands gracefully but the job isn't done yet! Instead, she smiles pleasantly at Boogiepop and gestures towards the two guards at the girls' holding area who are running down the hall to investigate the noise.

Immediately following the materialization, there's a time when Mashiro's reactions aren't what they could be, considering it still takes a bit of effort to pull that stunt off. Accordingly, he doesn't protest, even if he could have wanted to. If Tate can make more immediate use of the Diamond, then so be it. Once his senses are a bit further recovered, however, the hooded stranger's hand accepts grip of the large blade.
"...sorry," the now-somewhat-more-obviously Mashiro can only offer. The unspoken explanation should be clear enough, if the scarred youth had ever seen how much close attention gets paid to keeping him safe. Just once, he'd like to be the one that's helping keep Fuuka safe! Speaking of which, he turns to the somewhat jostled soldier, and holds the sword level at him. "It's two against one. I think you're the one that should be backing down...mister."
Yeah, he got to use a tough guy-ish line! Too bad the residual motion from the weapon-pointing also causes the satchel to swing around, and so the white rabbits flail a bit in the soldier's direction, as though advising him to go on home. Besides, with those Orphans around, they should be what everyone is focusing on.

Huh, well, maybe Tate should've kept ahold of the sword... But it's too late to worry about that now, he looked all cool handing it off like that, and stuff. The fact that the soldier had more than one gun wasn't something Yuuichi had really compensated for. But then, Mashiro is here to save the day, and show his tough side! Uh, kind of. A little bit. "Yeah, buddy, just put that thing down. You don't really wanna shoot anybody, right? 'specially not /kids/."
Though if the soldier actually looks like he's going to shoot? Tate WILL rush forward, and quite possibly be the one who takes the bullet. After all, right now Mashiro is the armed one. And Tate is supposed to be keeping the kid safe. BUT WHO'S KEEPING TATE SAFE, HUH?! Nobody, that's who! "So just drop the gun an' get the hell outta here. We won't tell nobody."

Boogiepop stares curiously at Shizuru as she takes care of the last guard herself. There is something unsettling about the girl, and the way that she so easily dispatched that commander... there's no time to dwell on it, however, as the two guards from the nurse's office come running. Should she make an escape now, as the shinigami steps past her to psyblast the approaching guards, he won't be able to chase after her. Regardless, the nurse's office is his main concern right now, so following a cursory glance back (and a 'come with me' gesture if she's still there) Boogiepop continues down the hall.
Hopefully there are no more distractions along the way, so that he can open the door to the office without issue and take stock of his new surroundings. Also hopefully, there won't be too much in the way of screaming and/or swooning as a mysterious cloaked prettyboy enters a room full of excitable schoolgirls.

The prince lingers atop the tank only long enough to remove the last grenade in his side pouch, yank the cord out, and drop it down the hatch and into the interior of the tank to kill the men inside. He leaps off immediately, arcing high into the air as the bomb goes off. The heat and smoke are his cover as he descends, sword drawn from between his teeth and arcing out in a vicious, powerful strike aimed at the faces of whatever soldiers may be within reach.
Whether his sword connects or not, Ling hits the ground running, directing his path towards any gathered groups of soldiers-- the more, the better.

Never fear, Miyu! Rescue is here! "Hey! School rules say 'No eating the students!'" The MAID's class status can be debated later, Sailor Jupiter just felt that line was too good to pass up. (Blame Usagi.) The senshi of the green fuku strikes a valiant pose, her arms folded in front as she stands and delivers the Orphan a stern look. Yes, she finally made it past the runway, and her aviatophobia, to join up with the melee.
And just in time too, for blue-haired girls make lousy snacks! Without waiting for the creature to turn its attentions to her, Jupiter vaults forward and launches herself feet first into the Orphan's gut! "JUPITER KICK!" That /should/ be enough indigestion for the creature to spit the MAID out. Right?

Miyu disappears in the smoke-- but just ultimately lands in the wrong place. Swallowed and introduced to decidedly close quarters, the MAID from Aries is introduced to the crushing force of a throat to a body that simply doesn't have the anatomy to really -keep- her in there, or have a stomach to launch her down into.
The Iron Maiden is still a bit more resiliant than she lets on-- and more stubborn. Dragging her arm up slowly, she seeks to drag that edge upward to a horizontal pose-- and then thrust. Perhaps timed well with the kick from Jupiter, it will give her the edge she needs to start carving the otherworldly beast apart from the inside-out.

Celene takes a deep breath (her cigarette is getting perilously depleted) as she blows a hole in the Orphan! That was, she decides, MUCH too easy, and so is only somewhat startled when it grows facetentacles.
"I /HATE/ Japan monsters!" Celene growls, bounding into the air. She cycles the bolt on her rifle again, narrowly escaping the tentacles' first grab. She knows that a leap like this is dangerous - if she doesn't kill the thing on this attack, it might actually get a chance to hit her - but she's got to...
She aims, and fires her third shot, pointed at roughly where she imagines the thing's spine to be.

Well, there -were- three soldiers. After the energy cuts the rocket, it explodes, blasting one of the men with machineguns several yards away. He doesn't get up. The other one has enough sense to dive away. The one who shot the rocket is right in the path of that same energy and is sent flying when it hits. Er. One soldier left, and he's staying down on the ground where it's safe. He'll pretend to be dead. It's probably smarter right now. Besides, that blast damaged his goggles and he can't -see- the shinigami anymore.
The soldier with the pistol is momentarily distracted as he has white rabbits waggled at him. What? There's a brief rush of wind as something metallic flies from the trees and lands behind him, on his shadow, but he doesn't notice it. He narrows his eyes and tries to pull the trigger... but finds he can't move! Another swish sounds through the air, and the man falls to the ground, clutching his somehow-wounded shoulder. Wherever those two projectiles came from, it's hard to tell.. but there's nothing there now!
Clink. Uh... not a good sound. Two men suddenly scramble from the tank, just before the grenade goes off, though one is caught in enough of the explosion that he doesn't get up after he hits the ground. The other soldier rolls when he lands and gets up, looking around... just in time for Ling's sword to slice into his helmet and facemask. He fires a few shots wildly before falling.

Jupiter's kick strikes the Orphan hard enough to make it stumble, just as Miyu's hand spears upwards and out of its back. The massive beast wobbles for a moment before crashing to the ground and slowly fading away into a cloud of sparks.
Silly Celene! Orphans don't have spines! They also normally don't mind conventional weaponry all that much, but there's something about those bullets... The shot blasts right through one of the tentacles, vaporizing it. The bullet passes through the thing's body, making it stumble, but it seems to still be alive. The other tentacle whips out, wrapping around her waist.
"Duran! Load Chrome cartridge! Fire!" As Natsuki's voice calls out, her Child shoots a pair of shells into the Orphan, detonating with a huge explosion that takes out half its body. The rest fades away into sparks, leaving Celene to find her own way down to the ground.
It seems... quiet. There are a few groans from men who are injured but unable to fight, but that's about it. Mikoto seems a bit disappointed as she looks around, then nudges one of the fallen soldiers with a foot. "They're all still alive?"
Suddenly, one of those camera pods appears in the air next to each person's ear, and Yukino's voice can be heard. "We've found Alyssa Searrs and Miyu Greer! They're out on the cliffs!"
And then... the sky begins to shine with ribbons of a golden aurora borealis. It hasn't been anywhere near six hours yet though. Better hurry.

To be honest, Shizuru could have problem taken care of ALL the guards but that would have lead to exposing her secret, not something she wants to do, especially at this point in time. Not while those Searrs creeps are running around at least. Instead, she makes eye contact with Boogiepop and smiles at him knowingly as she takes a step back and out of his way. Whether or not she actually KNOWS anything is and shall always remain a mystery.
The two guards fall without a fight and it seems like no other distractions are coming. Shizuru follows quietly behind Boogiepop, saying nothing to the handsome young man yet that damn smile stays plastered to her face as if this is simply an ordinary day and she is moving from classroom A to classroom B.
The pair get to the nurse's office without any more problems and when the door opens, he is greeted by... well. First some screams and whimpers as the younger girls think that the soldiers are back with more 'doctors' and more needles. These die away quickly when Shizuru comes into sight next to Boogiepop. Once realizing that the handsome young man is standing next to the formal idol of Fuuka Academy, the girls begin swooning and gushing. "Fujino-sama! You're here! Oh thank god! Who's the cute guy? This isn't the time to think about that! We need to get out of there!" All of these voices and more begin pouring out but Shizuru stops them all with a smile and placing her finger to her lips.
She turns to Boogiepop and bows politely. "Thank you. I will take care of the evacuation of the girls now. I know a route to the outside where they will be safe. A colleague of mine should already be there with the male student population." Her voice is pleasantly accented and the sincerity in her voice cannot be faked, despite the fact that she does seem remarkably calm. "I wish you luck and stay safe." With that, she turns back to the girls and begins organizing them, much in the same way that Reito organized the boys. Two to three orderly lines with the youngest in the middle protected by the older girls and Shizuru in the lead. Members of various sports teams bringing up both the rear and leading up front. They begin to quietly wind their way through the now abandoned school building towards the outside and into the safety of the wilderness where Reito and the boys are waiting. Thus freeing Boogiepop from the responsibility indoors to allow him to pursue the one outdoors.

The pod appears and imparts information. The cliffs are a bit away. He could shunpo, or run, but he might be late for the party.
This means, time to enter Endgame Mode. Ichigo holds Zangetsu out in front of him, blade pointing at the ground. The bandage wraps around his arm from wrist to shoulder as his power skurockets. Blazing brighter than the noonday sun, Berry calls on his sword's full power.
"Ban-KAI!"
There's another burst of power, black this time, and a cloud of dust kicks up. As it settles, one thing is apparent. He's gone.

Boogiepop can't help but be suspicious as Fujino is /too damn calm/ considering everything that's happened, but then a little bird tells him that Bad Stuff is happening. "..." There's simply no time to make sure that the girl is as legitimate as she's acting. He looks 'skywards', as if staring through the ceiling, and murmurs as he did two days before, "Disbeat Disruptis..."
The cloak whirls, and the phantasmal bubble is gone. No magic involved, of course, he's just rather fast. Hopefully the sudden disappearance will help to put an air of mysticism around his presense here, and maintain the rumor that he's a merely ghost while he bolts off to go deal with the very real threat of a space laser about to decimate the campus.
Thankfully, while Boogiepop does not have the greatest of knowledge of the campus, Ichigo has left a nice little dust trail that gives him the general direction. His recollection of the area map from the briefing fills in the rest.

Were they just saved, or at least aided, by..a secret ninja that protects this school!? This gives Mashiro pause, as he simply blinks at the now wounded and presumably incapacitated soldier before them. Behold the power..of team work? He turns to Yuuichi, and offers a bit of a helpless shrug at what just transpired, but mentally thanks the mysterious force that helped them out. Immediately after, though, something a lot more troublesome than soldiers, unknown benefactors, or even the Orphans on the ground presents itself. Those glowing ribbons...like the night the bridge was taken out, capture his immediate attention. There's no way it could have been six hours already, could there?
However, the projected message of urgency helps to confirm it, as he gives a bit of a nod to noone in particular, save maybe tonight's partner in crime. Since there's little use to hide it now, at this decisive hour, Mashiro finally takes down the hood. Things seem less gloomy with it off. "..Yuuichi-san," he begins his apology, "I'll explain more, but right now we'd better get over there." The HiMEs of this world and other visitors might be more than enough, but it can't hurt to join them! "It's odd -- I feel like I've known you for a lot longer than I have." ...that's pretty common in HiME land, isn't it?

Celene's bullets work! Yay! Except oh crap NOT ENOUGH -- it's got her waist, pulling her down. She blew up its mouth! What's it going to do, rub her to death?
...she realizes she doesn't want to know if that would actually work, and cycles the rifle's action even in the thing's grip.
And then Natsuki blows it the hell up. Her eyes widen, and she quickly spreads herself out just so, landing in an abrupt three-point crouch.
For someone who keeps saying she's normal, she really does act like anything but.
"Thanks," Celene mutters. "Might've had to actually try a little, if that kept up."
She turns around, noticing the ribbons in the sky, one of Yukino's pods appears and notifies her of the problem... And growls, throwing her cigarette to earth and stomping it out. She lights a new one, quickly, with practiced hands.
She looks Natsuki dead in the eye.
"How high can you get me? I can snipe that thing if you can get me close enough. Otherwise...I guess we go deal with the ringleader. Your call."

As the sky overhead starts to turn golden, Hayate comes screaming back across the water at flank speed. "I'm.. going to have to land and recover some strength!" she calls out to those coming along with her. "I've used up too much energy too quickly."
To be honest, she hasn't had to work without the Tome at full power a day in her life since she became a magic user. With the Tome's functions crippled from the Gate closing, she's not doing so hot.
As she buzzes along towards the land she spies a copse of trees that looks like it might be a good place with sufficient cover to set down.
"You go on ahead!"

Man... What the hell just happened?! Tate looks absolutely bewildered as the soldier gets taken out ever so mysteriously, totally ruining all the badass points that he and Mashiro were accumulating right there. But on the upside, he didn't get shot, which he was kind of prepared to have happen. And then... The ribbons of light in the sky. Oh hell. Yuuichi's gaze goes up to the sky, and he frowns; could this be it, really? But it's Mashiro speaking that kicks the Key out of his reverie, and his dark eyes move over towards the supposed princess.
"Yeah, no point in stayin' here," Tate agrees with Mashiro, barely even seeming to register the apology. Nobody ever explains anything to him, why should they start now? So, the two of them get a proverbial move on, and Tate at least puts the fallen soldier out of his mind. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he adds, when Mashiro mentions the odd feeling. It's a natural side effect of being constantly reincarnated! But to himself, he thinks; if that Child is going to blow them all up, there's no way he's going to fulfill his promise. Not to Kuga, or to the Natsuki back in his own world.

Natsuki Kuga glances back at Celene and shakes her head. "There's no way I can get high enough, and I don't know if Duran can keep you alive up there." She scowls slightly, but reaches back for Celene's hand. "Let's get to the cliffs and try to stop this. Duran!" The Child lets out a howl as his legs pull up into his body, replaced by hoverjets. Natsuki leaps on his back, motioning for Celene to follow. Once the passenger is on board, Duran makes all speed for the cliffside.
Along the way, Natsuki reaches a hand out and grabs Mikoto by the back of her shirt, pulling the other HiME along for the ride.

Leave it to chance to overpower skill. The downed soldier's panicked firing catches the prince in nearly the same spot as his other wound, but the bullet spray sends projectiles through to his upper arm, their path marked with shredded fabric and tiny fountains of blood. Ling stumbles, gasping and grunting in pain as he falls to one knee. One look at his arm is all he needs-- it's useless.
As the sounds of destruction and gunfire fade from the air, the prince takes his respite to unwind the wrappings from his wrist, bunching up his ruined sleeve and winding the bandages around his wounds as tightly as he can. It's messy, and it's not very good, but it will have to do for the moment. He grits his teeth and then grabs his wrist, hissing in pain as he tucks his arm through the strap of his bag, using it to hold his arm securely against his body.
Grabbing his sword, Ling gets to his feet, looking wearily around the campus-turned battlefield. Letting out a pained breath, he turns and jogs towards the remains of a tank-- bisected, from the looks of it-- grunting as he half jumps, half climbs atop it, hoping to see where the others are going, as he has no idea where the cliffs are.

Celene Hunter mutters something bitter about wanting to be able to add 'sniped a demonic orbital deathray satellite from ground level' to her resume, but settles in on Duran's back anyway.
"Your robo dog is a hovercycle," Celene notes. "I think I hate you."

Mai Tokiha nods at Hayate, "All right! Be careful, there may still be some soldiers nearby!" Probably not though. They're probably all running for home now.
Hayate has left the party.
Mai (with Midori following) darts off on Kagutsuchi. Alyssa and Miyu - the evil one - are found on the cliffs; Mai and Kagutsuchi will reach the spot a little bit after the others do, just in front of the cliff's edge. And she'll still plead with the two from Sear(r)s. "Alyssa-chan, please - don't do this! Please!" Maybe if she says Please enough, she'll change her mind!

Sizzle, burn-- and the Orphan that consumed Miyu breaks away into dust and fades into nonexsistance, leaving Miyu to remain on one knee, turned away from Makoto. The maid doesn't breathe hard, doesn't look entirely disturbed... no, she's faced worse than this in the past. Rising slowly, the trails and flaps on the Mithril Dress shift and flutter before smacking against the back of her heels and calves, turning to face her lightning-wielding help. "Thank you, miss."
Lifting her blade and snapping it hard to the side as if she were an iaido swordsman, any remaining guts-- blood, or whatever these things have-- being flicked clean off the surface.
The message reaches her ears, and-- "We must hurry!"
Breaking into a full-on sprint back into the battlefield, she catches sight of the Xingese prince once again and leaps, reaching out. "Ling-san!!" And unless he turns away or dodges at the last moment, the maid snags him by the scruff of his neck and carry him along toward the cliffs-- the same cliffs that the group seems to be converging on as a whole...

That's it? As the Orphan dissolves, the ponytailed sailor blinks, glances over at Miyu, then looks down to check her boots. "That must have been some combo," she whistles. No time to gloat, however! Jupiter looks back over to the blue-haired girl to make sure she's alright, and nods once at her thanks. "Right! Let's go!" And they're off and running, not even slowing down to pick up a wounded passenger. "Uh, are you sure we should bring him? He doesn't look too good!" Maybe there's a first aid station set up along the way or something.