766/Out Of The Paladin And Into The Fire

Out Of The Paladin And Into The Fire
Date of Scene:	08 October 2014
Location:	Slum Urbania
Synopsis:	Walking in Slum Urbania at night is not really safe, in general. When buildings are exploding, this goes double. Speaking of double, double the magical girl responders show up to take out the raging inferno!
Cast of Characters:	172, 589

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Princess Paladin (589) has posed:
Slub Urbania is probably not the safest place for a teenage girl to be walking the streets at night. But the fact of the matter is... Miko is lost. Lost is also not a good thing for a teenage girl to be in Slum Urbania at night, but it is what it is. She was originally trying to get back to Urbania and that huge mall to buy a game system such as she was going to during the day before she realized she had to get home very quickly to avoid breaking curfew. But it is different, navigating multiverse transit systems at night. Things look different, and she became confused about where she was supposed to get off and what portals she was supposed to go through and so on. And now here she is in a very dangerous-looking neighborhood, and even knowing she can transform into a super-powered individual who can probably take on anyone in the entire area, right now, at this moment, Miko feels scared and incredibly vulnerable.

She jumps at every shadow, breath hitching in her throat with every rattle of a trash can, every rustle of loose paper. Her heart is pounding, and to make it worse, she has wandered far enough in her attempt to locate Urbania that she is not sure how to get back to the station or really even where to go to get out of here. Ducking into an alley way and transforming seems like her best bet at this point. She could easily leap from roof top to roof top until she is out of this hell hole.

But the alley ways seem the least safe of all, due to being steeped in darkness. Further, Miko is fairly certain many of these alley ways are not empty. She is literally expecting gang members to come out in front of her any moment now and start hassling her, or for a serial killer to pop out of the darkness behind her, like on television.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how one looks at it), any gang attacks are avoided by virtue of an abandoned building with empty lots on either side, a half-block up the street, suddenly exploding into flames. Likely arson of some kind, since it looks like multiple explosions went off simultaneously in different parts of the building. But Miko is not thinking about that. She simply shrieks in surprise and staggers backwards as she shields her eyes from the sudden harsh glare. Her ears are ringing when she manages to actually look at the blaze. She is not the only one screaming. The flames have spread to a rickety apartment building across the street such was the force. Ember of landed in dry, crumbling wood and plaster, and a flaming wooden beam was actually launched through the air to crash through a window and into an apartment.

Continuing through the street, even if she were willing to just run past a flaming building that looks like it could topple over at any time, is no longer an option. Going around is likewise untenable, especially with people starting to come out of their buildings and alleys to see what is going on. Miko curses silently under her breath, and finds the nearest semi-secluded place to transform. If she wants to get out of here without being hassled, this is the ideal time. And yet the reason why she draws the wooden prayer rod from her bag is not about escaping...

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura, meanwhile, is just embracing the joy of flight in the cool night air. After all, what does it matter what's below you when you're several dozen feet above the highest buildings? The girl is wearing thick stockings under her skirt, and a heavy, warm hoodie on her torso, bundled up for the wintery weather. Her pink, feathered wings flap through the cool air as she just enjoys the sensation of weightlessness...

    And then explosions.

    Startled, Sakura ducks down right into the path of a piece of debris, getting hit in the side of the torso and sent spinning into a building on the other side of the street. She bounces along the rooftop a few times, before shakily scrambling to her feet. "Wh-what the heck...? Did something just -explode-?"

Princess Paladin (589) has posed:
There is a flash of light that goes unnoticed admist the distraction of destruction, and a pink-haired woman in something like a cross between a Japanese school girl's uniform and a knight's armor comes bounding up out of the space between buildings, leaping from roof top to roof top, and heading straight for the burning building. Her quest -- her mission -- is to put out the fire. There is an empty lot on both the left and right sides of the structure that is currently a roaring inferno. She looks across the street to the apartment building that is also starting to burn as well. The flames have already spread to parts of three floors and the dozen apartments facing the much larger blaze.

As she sails through the air gracefully, superhuman agility rather than flight magic responsible, she does several flips and twirls, with her Sacred Scepter in one hand. Which fire does she take out first?

The Scepter is aimed at the source of the fire. Those people in danger will just have to fend for themselves for a little while. If this building is not extinguished, it will just keep spreading to even more buildings and endangering even more people. Putting out the apartment building is no going to save it if this building lights it up again.

Rationalization like that would come easy as Princess Paladin, if she needed to justify it to herself. But instead she has absolute faith in her mission. Justification is unnecessary. She transformed to put out the fire. Saving lives is a side-effect of that, not the objective. "Mercy and peace! Divine Breath!" the magical girl calls out. The Sacred Scepter has changed form somewhat, with little pink angel wings protruding from its sides, swirling with white mist. The wings beat rapidly and the mist flies out in a wave of healing magic, to attempt to 'heal' the crumbling building of its fire! She clears most of one floor, but there are six more floors. This may take a while.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura feels the heat of the flames before she sees them. She actually swears under her breath, and takes to the air again. "Aw man... okay!" Two cards! "SNOW! RAIN!" she calls out, tossing both cards into the air above her. Her magic circle erupts under her feet - in mid air - as she brings her wand up to tap the two cards. The cards erupt with magical power, two humanoid figures - a tall 'yuki-onna' and a much shorter jester-like fairy of some sort - rise up into the air.

    Suddenly, the clouds above rapidly knit together... and it begins to rain, and snow, at the same time.

    And -then- Sakura notices Princess Paladin. "...You again?"

Princess Paladin (589) has posed:
Rain and snow!? North winds blow!? Crash car with ice and get a tow!? Princess Paladin does not know what incantation causes this effect, but as she is falling about 80 feet through the air when it starts, she has time to look around and attempt to determine what is going on. Thus, when she is noticed, she also notices Sakura. She frowns and, instead of issuing a challenge or threats or anything, calls up to the other magical girl, "These flames are too intense for just rain to put them out! We need to smother them!" She decides not to embark upon a chemistry lesson in attempting to explain that if the temperature of the flames gets high enough, water may just wind up turning into fuel for the flames if it is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. Hopefully they can do something about the flames before it gets to that point.

"Please!" she calls out, as she turns her attention back to the towering inferno that hisses under the deluge of pelting rain, "Deal with the other building! I will try to take care of this one!" She has an idea. But if it does not work, it might make the situation worse. Someone else putting out the much smaller fire in the apartment building could help to guard against that possibility. Her mission is to put out the fire. Recruiting help is a completely valid method. Her words sound like an impassioned plea, and also the instructions of a veteran who knows what she is doing. In reality, this is her first fire. But it does not SOUND like it based on her tone.

She raises her Sacred Scepter and then twirls it as she gets down into a stance like she is preparing to hit a baseball. The scepter is swept behind her in one hand, then she swings it forward. "Crusader's Crescent!" A large, crescent moon-shaped 'blade' of glowing, ephemereal white magic flies from the Scepter. And then Paladin swings it again. And again. And again. Each time produces a blade of magic that slashes through the building's supports, gradually destroying each floor, and causing the building to collapse downwards, rather than out to the sides. She's going to smother the burning building with the building itself! That should also make it easier for the rain to put it out as well!

The interior of the apartment building is burning where the rain and snow can not reach. They are successfully extinguishing the much smaller flames on the outside, including the wooden beam half-sticking-out of the building's face, but there are people inside who likely need rescue. Paladin is occupied. That leaves saving all those people up to Sakura and her vast array of useful magic! Though will she listen to someone she thinks is a lunatic!?

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura is about to retort - she knows what she's doing! - when the Lunatic Magical Girl(TM) asks her to take care of the other building. She looks towards the apartment building... and nods her head. "Fine." She leaps into the air, wings flaring - then tucks her wings in and dives down. just as she reaches the lowest floor that's currently on fire, she flares her wings again to point in the right direction - then hurtles through the window, wings vanishing into rainbow-coloured fragments as they clip the window.

    She flips and easily lands on her feet, looking around quickly. "Everybody head down stairs!" she calls, as she pulls out yet more cards. "Clear a path! ERASE!" that tall jester woman appears again, but Sakura is already working on another spell as the Erase gets rid of the intervening (non-load-bearing) walls to allow the civilians to more easily reach the fire escape. "Lower the temperature! FREEZE!" Card! "Smother the flames! SAND!" Another card!

    The three card spirits work in unison, quickly ridding the floor of flames... while Sakura is racing up the stairs to the next floor.

Princess Paladin (589) has posed:
It takes several minutes of hectic activity, but working together, the two magical girls extinguish all the fire and get everyone to safety. Though the getting people to safety part is solely due Sakura's actions and her powerful cards. There will be fire damage, but that can be fixed. Especially considering that Princess Paladin can perform large-scale 'healing' even on inanimate objects. It may have felt like much longer than minutes, in such an intense situation, but these two ladies together have accomplished in a short span of time what might have taken professional fire fighters an hour or more!

Flames smothered by sand and fallen building, dehydration combatted by lowered temperatures, drifting embers foiled by the wet surfaces that the rain has now had time to fully cover... And Paladin is digging up the blackened remains of the heap of rubble in the empty lot, making sure nothing is still burning somewhere inside. The people of Slum Urbania tend to suffer much without any intervention from others. No law enforcement, no super heroes, no anything. For two magical girls to randomly show up and save everyone is inspiring, bringing hope to the people, and gratitude.

Some have lost their homes, but in a few short moments, Princess Paladin and maybe Sakura if she has the ability, will be fixing those as well. For now, she just persistently digs and digs, looking for any sign of smoldering or embers. But as the timbers become more drenched by the rain and snow, the less likely it becomes that anything remains. Paladin sighs. She is drenched. Her pink hair is plastered to her head. But she has accomplished her quest. Or she will have once the apartment building is restored, and she is absolutely certain.

Even with super human stamina, she feels slightly worn by all the exertion. It probably would have gone on much longer without Sakura.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Once the final floor is extinguished and all the civilians are evacuated, Sakura drops to her knees and sighs in relief. She takes a few minutes to catch her breath, then promptly leaps out the closest window with a cry of "JUMP!"

    She lands on the wet road below, wings sprouting from her ankles apparently arresting all the momentum of the fall and letting her land without feeling anything. She waves a hand up at the sky, the clouds clearing and two cards reappearing by her side. Then: "BUBBLES!"

    Another card is produced! Bubbles wrap around Sakura for a moment, then recede - leaving her squeaky-clean again.

Princess Paladin (589) has posed:
So much useful magic! Paladin is approaching the apartment building now, stopping several feet away from Sakura as the latter takes a magic bath. "Good work!" What, she is praising Sakura now? It does not sound sarcastic! It sounds genuine and heartfelt, so it probably is! Right? "One thing left to do," she adds on in a serious tone. Oh, no. Is this the part where they start fighting again? Princess Paladin raises her Sacred Scepter above her head. Unlike Sakura, she is still stained with soot and smoke, but she can fix that later. For now, magic builds within the mystic relic. It glows brightly, and the air crackles with energy. The scepter extends about a foot, a large pair of angel wings protrude from the sides, and the vertical line of gems on the scepter blink rapidly. "Watch in awe! Heavenly Glory!" When the magic build-up reaches its peak, the pink-haired woman unleashes it upon the apartment building in a startlingly bright flash of white!

When the light fades, the apartment building is once more fully intact. Even the wooden beam from the other building is gone.

It starts slowly at first, but gradually the clapping of the people who have been shown such kindness and witnessed such heroic action builds and builds. Paladin strides forward and, unless prevented, puts a hand on Sakura's shoulder as she stands next to her, bowing to the crowd and making sure that the younger girl gets plenty of attention.

She can't stay for long. It feels good to have accomplished what she set out to do. The fact it makes people happy is nice too, but it is mostly their positive emotions that are being directed towards the two magical girls that are swelling Princess Paladin with new energy, restoring what physical stamina she lost. "I must depart," she says loudly enough to be heard over the clapping, but quiet enough that only Sakura should really hear it. "I believe the original building to catch fire was set up to explode intentionally. The flames spread too quickly, on too many floors, all at once. You may wish to investigate this arson, if you have an interest in finding out who is responsible." With that she takes a step away, apparently getting ready to depart!

Is that it? No fight? No final words of challenge? No conflict? No 'crazy' behavior? Has Sakura misjudged her? Her aura has not fluctuated in the slightest. She is still surging with holiness, though not as much as when she was using her top-tier healing spell. What is her deal, exactly!?

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "Eheh..." Sakura rubs the back of her head, slightly embarassed at the attention. She tries very hard not to show much much she is in -awe- of Princess Paladin's healing magic.

    Sakura just watches Paladin for a few moments, then shakes her head slightly with a sigh. This is going to take some time to sort out. "...Right. See you," she says, in a way that's halfway between friendly and... unfriendly.