1650/In Defense Of Love

In Defense Of Love
Date of Scene:	23 February 2015
Location:	Spring
Synopsis:	The DEFENDER OF LOVE moves in to strike a blow for romance across the Multiverse! However, things don't go quite as planned. Will Lute be shown the error of his ways, or will the DEFENDER OF LOVE encounter a stumbling block in their efforts?
Cast of Characters:	Crys Gattz, 39, 140, 188, Riva Banari, 571, Ayako Hasekawa, 589, 643

---

Riva Banari has posed:
Lute is off doing Lute things.

This is according to THE PLAN. THE PLAN, as enacted by Riva Banari and basically anyone else who wants in on this, is to engage in a bit of shenanigans to deal with the fact the Lute would probably paste Riva in a fair fight.

But Riva isn't interested in a fair fight. Fair fights are for people who like losing fifty percent of the time. THEREFORE, everyone who arrives is provided with an identical-looking armor suit. The suit in white and red and has a nifty visor on it.

There's one for each of you and they're all designed to adjust to allow you to move normally despite all of them looking /exactly the same/ in dimension and build. What will happen is that they will swap out, retaining their own health and stamina while Lute's gets worn down, no matter how many Pokemon he happens to have to back him up.

Today, they are all the Defender of Love. Riva, as the idiot who is handling the plan, is going to go in first and probably eat an alpha strike for the Cause.

Now all that remains is for the Defender of Love to face off against Lute.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute is, currently, fairly casually hanging out in Spring. He has just gotten done with a bit of practice battling with his Pokemon, so it's time to relax a bit. But, well. Why, exactly, is he in Spring at the moment? What is he doing to relax? Well, even though he isn't a religious guy, he still likes to pray on occasion. And as such, he's visiting a little shrine in Spring, Japanese style. He slips a coin into the donation box, kneels down, and prays a bit.

     "Please protect all of the women I care for, and please let them continue to care for me."

     He stands up, smiling, walking away from the shrine rather happily. Hands in his pocket, enjoying the field of flowers around the shrine. He's taking his time. He's not really in a hurry to leave. After all, he put out an offer just a bit ago, to some of his friends. Meet up at this shrine, have a good time afterwards. So for now, he just kneels and sniffs some flowers. And, he casually grabs a few. Which, well. It's not really a /good/ thing to do, but hey, he put a decent amount of money to this shrine recently.

     "...This pink one would be good for Miko. ...And Serori might like this purple one."

     Lute just smiles, thinking more.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis declines the use of the armor Riva's offering up, but only because she came prepared.

    A hologram generator gives the same basic effect, without sacrificing her preferred STALKER suit for the most part, otherwise looking totally identically dressed to the others present as she checks the chamber on her Barret .50, the massive anti-materiel rifle handled as deftly as an ordinary man would a toy in the cyborg's hands. She has a massive muzzle break and a smart-scope attached that links up to her neural implants and her armor's HUD, handy little gadget that it is.

    As she waits for the battle to begin, she takes cover atop a grassy plain, comfortably lain across the tip as she sights Lute down. She sniffs a little, but otherwise she is motionless, a sniper ready to unleash thunder from afar to strike her target.

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    Guess who was also here?

    Not that she was here specifically here for Lute, she had been taken to wondering. Helena's mood has grown more dire, infact to a point that Souji told her to take a break because she might have hurt someone who was happy. For no other reason than to cause them pain to try and make herself feel better. Perhaps in a way that was harder to be covered up.

    She is ignorant of Lute being here, or the other women. Right now she looks...hollow, moving slightly woodenly.

    She probably fails notice checks.

Crys Gattz has posed:
They say life goes in cycles. It seem, to be the case long ago another Logan had been sought out like this. Here it goes again it seems however this lute has actually even annoyed Crys even with her own hedonist tentacies so here she was with Riva arriving just a moment after she does. She's willing to follow her and to face off against lute she seems calm for the moment however she has to wonder about how this is going to pan out.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    Naturally, Ryuko is here. Transformed and able to modify his shape somewhat, Senketsu fits on easily enough, underneath her armor. It's enough to make sure she won't have any huge issues kicking this particular person's ass.

No objections with the plan, either. Ryuko is more than willing to play along. A lot of people are gunning for Lute, but she knows she'll have her turn. It's not just about the way he treats women, either. She's got several bones to pick.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Miko Fujimoto has recently become much, much closer with Lute. It wasn't just the struggle to help a friend survive. It wasn't just the date that went so well even with so many confusing emotions. It wasn't that they were working together to help make Lute stronger. There were connections being made. Interactions that were building a relationship of great complexity. And that relationship wasn't necessarily a healthy one. Miko is still working through years of psychological and emotional torment, and she has a lot of pent-up aggression that she is trying not to let run her life. But the person she's interested in is also interested in lots of other women. And while he may be fine with many relationships of that kind, Miko... Isn't.

Even so, she is trying to do what she can to work through her own problems. And hiding away to fester isn't going to achieve that. So when Lute invited her to come visit him in Spring, she was pleased with the invitation. She has shown up in a white blouse with a knee-length, pleated black skirt, with a pink line about the hem. White socks and black, buckled shoes adorn her feet. She has her hair tied back in a ponytail with a white ribbon, and she even has a cute cat hair clip!

Yes, she assumes Lute has invited her to spend time with him. Maybe a date, maybe not. But she isn't expecting anyone else. And when she arrives, she has a couple of home-made bento, one for Lute and one for her. She can not imagine anything bad happening here. It's a shrine, and such a pretty location, after all!

She is currently approaching the specified location, humming a happy tune, and oblivious to impending dooooom.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ungh. Riva?! What is this plan? Those were the inital thoughts that ran through a certain Water Spirit's head when she heard about Riva's... unusual Defender of Love plan. How is this even a plan? How will they even 'swap out'? But of course, Ayako couldn't just let Riva go out and do this alone. Best to be around to heal everyone, just in case.

    Ayako herself isn't in the armor costume, though. It's not like she could fight even to begin with. However, the plan is taking place in Spring! She knows this region extremely well from fortune telling constantly here. And so this time, she's in her fortune telling outfit (since it just feels right to wear it here), and is keeping an eye on everyone else in on Riva's plan. You would think a girl in deep blue would stand out here, and normally, yes! But Ayako knows several good hiding places here, inadvertingly discovered by setting up her fortune telling 'booth' in them and having no visitors for the entire night.

    And so she watches, just in case she can help them 'swap' or support them in some other way.

Jinx (39) has posed:
    Jinx's SHENANIGANS ALARM had been on high alert ever since Riva put out her call of vengance against Lute and today is apparently the day. Which is why the Loose Cannon has found herself a nice rooftop to camp out on. She's got her lawnchair, a cooler full of Smirnoff's fancy ass not-beers, and a bullhorn next to her.

Riva Banari has posed:
Lute's prayers are not going to be answered in the way he thinks. A shadow looms over Lute from above, and a voice calls,

"Your selfishness will be your downfall, Logan Trieste!" Standing atop the torii gate to the shrine, the DEFENDER OF LOVE stands there with a pair of guns at their hips. They point dramatically at Lute. "Your gloating, mysoginistic ways will come to an end! I, the DEFENDER OF LOVE, will punish you!" With several dramatic poses, the DEFENDER OF LOVE leaps from the gate, pulling a pair of guns out and raking the area with hissing bullets of magical energy!

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute smiles, and waves to Miko. He figured, at the very least, that she would be here. As he sees her, he runs up to her, to hug her, and give her a quick kiss on the lips. Lute is obviously happy to see her.

     "I'm glad you could make it! And your outfit is cute as usual!"

     And then, he sees Helena. Moping, wandering aimlessly. And he frowns a bit. He shouts to her, "Helena? Helena, are you okay?"

     And then the Defender of Love comes in. Lute looks over to the gate of the shrine, just staring, bewildered. Wait, Riva actually meant she was contacting an actual personification of love? A love super hero? He just stares at her, baffled.

     "...Wait. You're the... defender of love? And... You've come here to beat me up and interrupt a /date/? You're a pretty crappy Defender of Love!"

     Lute just siiighs though. But. He smiles. He had a plan for this. And he pulls something out of his clothes, while meanwhile moving to sit on the ground. Overly casually.

     In one hand, a bottle of sake.

     In the other hand, a cup.

     He poors himself a drink.

     "...Are you really the type to fight someone who doesn't plan to fight back, though?"

     This is, mostly, a bluff. If he is attacked, he will fight back. Because he knows Miko would leap to his defense. If it was just him here, he'd likely just take the beating. But with Miko here as a likely defender, and with him assuming Helena's bad mood likely to make her willing to kill something... Well. He'll have to fight, if forced.

     He pulls out a couple more cups. One for Miko, one for the Defender. A smile at the Defender.

     "Want to join us for a drink?"

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    Helena does not stir initially, though if she had known about a bunch of people comeing to beat up Lute...eh, she could have gone either way. Not that she dislikes Lute or frowns on his way...but more because she likes seeing people hurt.

    Slowly she raises her head as Riva shouts and Lute responds. The energy coming off of Helena could kill, completely and utter hate radiates off of her in the direction of the Hero of Love.

    She doesn't move yet.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is in her normal hot pants fair she looks at Lute and those with him. She while not quite as silly as Riva on she does see Lute as a threat he's clearly far more on the ball than he let on and this is a huge probolem. She folds her arm for a moment and pauses for a moment. Then there's a scream in the back of her mind he does have a point at least about crashing the date. She's tilent but staring at everything with her one good eye.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Miko smiles even more when Lute rushes to embrace her, hugging back even with one hand holding a handkerchief with two lunchboxes in it. She also gladly returns the smooch. The compliment makes her look down a bit briefly, before looking back up at Lute. "I'm glad you like it," she replies, pleased. But then Lute is distracted and Miko's expression twists a bit towards something darker at someone else taking attention off of her. But she has no quarrel with Helena, and she puts aside herself for the moment to seperate from Lute and check on if the necromancer is doing okay.

BUT THEN.

Someone is standing on a torii and yelling at them! ...Or more just at Lute. "Wha..." she begins. When she sees guns in hand, she doesn't even worry about concealing her identity, and instead a gohei (prayer rod) appears in her hand which she lifts above her head. The lunches are tossed towards Lute as he seats himself, and pink light flows over Miko's body, momentarily turning her into a shining silhouette that grows visibly older and taller. It only takes a second, but at the end of it, when the light splinters and flies away from her like a physical thing, she appears to be a completely different person. Face, form, and attire all belong to a clearly different individual. And that gohei is now a long pink scepter with a shining, jeweled top.

Princess Paladin moves to stand between Lute and the lunatic shooting magic bullets everywhere. She'll try to block any that stray too close, even if that means taking damage herself. "You have one chance to leave without further violence," Paladin says, her holy aura and her magically sincere-sounding words making her seem like a hero herself instead of a villain. "If declined, I will destroy you."

S-some magical girl!

Also she is not old enough to drink yet, so that sake will have to wait.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako sighs softly as the plan begins. "Am I being unreasonable?" She quietly watches... and then blinks her eyes quickly. Weird. She shakes her sleeves for a moment and... oh. Her deck of tarot cards pops out. "Oops... did I forget to put these away?" Curiously, she shuffles the deck. "What do you think about this?" As she draws a card.

    The Emperor, upright. She sighs softly and nods her head slowly. "I know, I know... I'm being inflexible. And trying to control her would not make Riva, Riva." Ayako nods her head once and then floats up into the branches of a nearby cherry tree. As she does so, the deep blue of her outfit flows into a light pink to match the cherry blossoms. "Let's give it a try then." She watches Riva pose on top of the torii gate.

    That's the signal she's about to start! Let's go in hot! Or rather, help Riva go in strong! "Concave Mystic Ice Barrier..." Normally, she'd shout it, but... she's trying to be subtle this time! And a half-sphere of ice forms in a barrier in front of Riva, ready to amplify her anima bullets!

Riva Banari has posed:
"You little asshole!" The Defender of love hits the ground, stalking towards Lute as he plays it cool that he was just getting shot at. Being Lute really does seem to take a certain level of guts.

"This isn't a date, this is a travesty. You're sitting there, feeding her a line about emotional attatchment and trying to manipulate her in order to accept being a part of your would-be harem." There is a hand cutting through the air. "You make a mockery of relationships everywhere, you jerkbag. You gloat about it. You get into COMPETITIONS over it in order to prop up your ego, making the problem even worse. Women start feeling pressured to join in because others have, even when it makes no sense whatsoever!"

The DEFENDER OF LOVE crosses their arms and looks to Miko as she transforms. "Are you really dating this scumbag? Are you REALLY going to defend him treating you like cheap trask for his desires? You deserve /better/ than this. Get out of the way and I'm going to remove a blight on the romantic landscape of the Multiverse."

The ice barrier forms before her. "What's your decision?" The DEFENDER OF LOVE asks.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis waits for Riva to kick things off, and eventually it does indeed kick off as she spots Riva spout off a spiel about...things. She's only heard of Lute through hearsay from time to time, so Alexis herself can't think of many reasons to hate the guy personally. That said, Riva's an...acquaintance, and long as she's been paid at the end of the day, this won't be a total waste of time.

    It is however fucking hilarious to watch. Maaka hides a smirk as she takes aim at Lute, her scope and neurals doing the math when it comes to compensation of ballistics given how far away she is, a good half a mile or so. It's a good thing she at least brought a big enough gun.

    She aims for the head, and the trigger is pulled as a deafening blast splits the skies, and a .50 caliber round hurdles at Lute. It /does/ have a good distance to travel, and she's got windage to worry about as well...

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute just poors some more sake into another glass, and sets it in front of him for the Defender. He just smiles at her.

     "The competition was just to make a fool out of Vegeta, because he kept bragging. I sent a blow to his ego, so that he would realize he isn't god's gift to women."

     Lute takes a sip from his own cup.

     And then he is struck in the arm by a bullet. It's lucky; if he hadn't been drinking the sake at the time, it wouldn't of struck his arm. It would of hit his head.

     He throws the cup aside. He knows Miko is going to be pissed. The cup breaks, he stands tall. And, finally, he throws out a Pokeball.

     "Go. Giratina."

     The legendary Dragon Pokemon appears, letting out a massive roar. It rushes forward, trying to smash into the Defender of Love.

     "...I guess it's pointless talking to you. I'll fight you off. And then I'm going to go back to my date."

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    "SHUT UP!" Helena says as she starts walking towards the other side of Lute to flank with Princess Paladin. Her eyes are hard to read for a moment, slowly looking up towards Riva as she speaks.

    "What the hell do you know." She says, with bitterness and anger. "Love? You come here and talk about love, yet you are interupting a date. Why, because it doesn't fall within your narrow minded view of what is proper. Right, because I forgot, love has to fit societies morals. It can only be between a man and a woman, nor can open relationships happen..."

    "Pathetic simpleminded fools, you are the reason my happyness has been taken from me..." She hisses. She has a outlet for her own sorrow, and right now she's more than willing to take her pain and suffering on others.

    Chains start to litterally tear out of her own body, forming out of the calcium of her body and forming spikes on the ends of these chains. It looks like it hurts, but she steps forward, as she takes a step right towards people as they all come at Lute.

    "PATHETIC! YOU CAN NOT EVEN FIGHT YOUR OWN BATTLES! YOU CAN NOT EVEN ENFORCE YOUR OWN MORALS WITHOUT THE LEMMINGS YOU HAVE GATHERED TO YOURSIDE!"

    "COME YOU PATHETIC WORMS! HELENA IS FIGHTING FOR REAL TODAY!"

Riva Banari has posed:
"If you didn't fight back, I would have just sackbeaten you and had done with it. I sure as hell WOULD kick your ass for what you did. Hanging around like a limp noodle wouldn't change that one bit."

No one's coming at Lute except the DEFENDER OF LOVE.

Said DEFENDER OF LOVE gets smashed backwards by Giratina, and the guns come out, firing an array of augmented Anima bullets through the ice shield at the legendary pokemon.

However, things get complicated. Helena arrives and begins screaming. The DEFENDER OF LOVE is fored to make a choice as the chains come out. She turns and barrels towards Helena, bodily throwing herself into Celba in an attempt to bull rush her off the stage so someone else can get in there and carry on the Defending of Love.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Princess Paladin has magical surety and grace. Mystically-imbued maturity of tone and action. But it's just part of the transformation. The person underneath it doesn't actually have that, doesn't actually think that, doesn't actually feel that. Even if some of what Riva says might be true, the Miko underneath the calm exterior of Paladin simply says, "Discharging weapons is an act of aggression that I will not overlook. You have been warned and given the chance to retreat without further violence. I must follow the rule I set down when I transformed: To protect Lute. Negotiation is non an option."

Helena stands with her - with them. They will protect Lute together. Miko knows what Lute's like. She knows what he does. But she accepts that part of him. Because accepting others - even their flaws - is what she believes love is.

Then Lute is attacked. The Sacred Scepter is whipped around and a crescent of magical energy flies from it in the direction the rifle shot came from. "CRUSADER'S CRESCENT!" she yells. The energy crescent will slice through absolutely anything between it and its target, like a glittering moon-shaped buzzsaw of magical girl ultra-death. But whether Alexis is still there when the magical attack reaches her location is another matter, and if the sniper is under concealment, then Paladin may not know where exactly the attacker is!

Paladin can act with practicality and confidence.

Miko, inside, is freaking out both in fear and anger, at the fact that the one she transformed to protect has been injured.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    Just as soon as Riva removes Helena, Ryuko's out in front of Lute, next. "Yo."

She's just as fast as she is, when she's fighting, without this silly armor on. Just as strong, too. No scissor blade out, at least, for now. Her feet and fists are enough. She charges in, and with little hesitation, tries to knock Giratina out of the way with a kick, so she can focus on Lute. "Got enough of those to deal with me? Or aren't you man enough to fight yourself?"

She doesn't wait for an answer, at any rate.

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    Helena stumbles back from being crashed into...Helena is a lot more sturdy now than she seems, but it is enough to tumble her off stage with Riva above her. However, it does mean that Helena recovers quickly, her aiming to whip out and try and grab Riva, before repeatedly aiming to slam her into the body as Helena rights herself, aiming to land in a perfect three point stance.

    "Come on! GIVE ME SOME ANSWERS DEFENDER OF LOVE! START DEFENDING!" she says, all into this now. As more chains start to wrap around herself. Magic starts to radiate too, she's getting into it now.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute just frowns at the Defender of Love. Whoever the heck this is? They're fast. Getting Helena out of the way, and then getting back again. This... It will be quite an opponent.

     "...Nah, I'm not going to fight you myself. Really, this whole thing is pointless. What do you even want? Just revenge? To kill me? What? Even if you beat me, my path won't change."

     He releases another Pokeball. As it opens up? A large steel golem appears. This is, in fact, Lute's other Legendary Pokemon. Registeel.

     "GIRATINA! REGISTEEL! HYPER BEAM!"

     And, the two Pokemon fire off massively powerful beams of energy towards the Defender of Love, aimed to hit her head on. Lute just remains standing still, on the defensive. He doesn't have the ki powers of the world of Pokemon-6 anymore. He couldn't minimize the bullet's damage. So, the bullet in him is going to cause a lot more damage than he is used to.

     He siighs. His Unown are coming. He had left them nearby, but it will take some time for them to be back.

     This... could be bad.

Jinx (39) has posed:
    Ah cripes now everyone's getting into it. Jinx leans forward in her chair and pops another Smirnoff's, and looks slightly concerned at one of the Defenders squaring off personally with Helena.... who looks a bit unhinged. Right. Well.
    She siiiiiips her drink and files this away for later use.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    Ryuko cheats, just a bit. Life Fibers are pretty durable, and Senketsu has proven able to shift form enough to make this possible. The armor is a plus, as well. He actually slips out some of himself in the cracks in the suit of armor, just enough that Ryuko's able to jet out of the way of the beams, rather than take them head on. Or, both of them, anyway.
    One of them still catches her, and tosses her clear of the fight, for now.

Riva Banari has posed:
The Rivafender of Love is grappled by the chains, the spikes digging deep into the armor as she slams her around repeatedly. The impacts dent and chip the armor, causing her to grunt as she hits the ground herself. But with a sudden motion, she thrusts a gun into the mass of chains and begins firing, Anima bullets rapidly spewing from the weapon. "You don't want answers. You want excuses." That's all Riva's reply is as she struggles with the tearing chains.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako is keeping an eye on Riva right now. She's just carefully watching... and absentmindedly shuffling the deck of tarot cards. What? It's habit for when she wears this outfit. Hmm... what to do, what to do? She doesn't want to take any fire. Nor get out in the open-that would ruin the Defender of Love plan! And so she's sort of trapped in indecision at the moment. Idly, she draws another card.

    The Chariot, upside-down. "Huh? We're in danger of losing? What do you mean?" Ayako shuffles the card back into the deck and looks aro-Oh. She turns towards Ryuko and hears the words 'Hyper Beam' from Lute. And then watches Ryuko go flying off from the attack.

    Ayako wafts from cherry tree to cherry tree as she floats over to where Ryuko ends up landing. "Healing Water..." And a ball of purple water drops from the cherry tree's branches she's in and onto Ryuko.

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    Helena just grins in a way that is far from kind...and sort of unhinged.

    "Oh please...I want the same thing you do...the difference is the /source/. You want his blood, and I want YOURS for your blithering and ignorant views." Shots bounces off of the chains, but Helena winces...they are hard, but they are still PART of her. It is the drawback of the reach she has...but at the same time..

    Her eyes widen, finishing the spell she started and touches the chains around Riva. Aiming to send a wave of dark magic into the DEFENDER OF LOVE, and draw back some of that DELICIOUS life force.

    Helena starts to look immediately healthier, infact STRONGER, if she gets the infusion.

    "So come on, shout your empty and hollow messages at me, come on! COME ON! TELL ME how much you are here to defend love and your small minded views!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    A razor energy magic beam hurdles towards Alexis, and she swears in shock as she slaps something on her belt. Within a split second, the Barret is split in two as the razor beam hits it hard enough to rip its atoms into little bits. Considering it hit the scope first, and it was linked to her brain, this isn't too pleasant.

    Alexis screams in pain as she dissipates into thin air, reforming back aboard her ship...which is hovering miles and miles and miles above the ground as Alexis returns to it immediately later.

    She takes a moment to regain her faculties, then the cyborg returns to the fray.

    THIS TIME, she teleports much closer to Lute.

    Hell, she's a few yards away from him when she's back in the fight. Wasting little time, she snares him with her grappling wire around the neck, pulling him towards her with a strong enough yank to bring him into striking distance. She capitalizes on this by delivering a brutal uppercut.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is well holding back perhaps she was going to hold back but well thing just get into it now. She had actually paused and now comes the blst and the hyper beam is a powerful attack. The hyper beams are not aimed at her but she goe lucky it she now makes ready to move in and assault there are no words to say nothing to be sad by here. She now draws an energy blade of some sor and rushes over to Riva, she strikes not at the enemy but at the chains holding Riva, hopefully to free her.

Riva Banari has posed:
Helena steals some life force.

She finds out Riva's got a lot of it. The blast of Anima washes back through the chains in a flare of golden light, She might get what she wants... But not without incident. In the meantime, Riva turns, grappling the chains and pulling on them, trying to use them as leverage herself as she tries to slam Helena into the ground. Maybe she can get some better combat positioning there.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately? You're raging out, woman. There nothing in the world I could say that would change your mind, you're just looking for a place to take out your aggression. I want Lute to stop treating women like crap. You want to kill someone for whatever... made you rage out. Like I said, you're just looking for excuses."

Crys comes in and cleaves at the chains, and Riva pulls free, bouncing backwards and gasping in pain as she finally gets a moment oout of their deadly embrace. "Watch the chains!" Defender-Riva calls to Defender-Crys.

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    The blade cuts into the chains, causing Helena to release Riva, not necissarily because they all are broken, but because it's like striking a hand. Helena recoils from the strike, and glares towards Crys.

    SOMEONE was interfearing on her rage, and one target is as good as the next...

    But Helena has an answer for that too.

    "I'm sorry, I can't hear either of you...let me /TURN IT UP/!" She shouts, before holding a hand up and a wave of darkness appears in her hand. "DARKAJA!" she says before slamming her hand into the ground, a massive sphere of darkness aiming to try and catch both defenders of love in it's embrace, aiming to expose them to the darkness between the stars...to the emptyness of life...the destruction by pure entropy.

    "Scream!"

Lute (188) has posed:
     As the Defender of Love appears again, Lute is caught almost immediately. How many weapons does this person /have/? Still, though, he is punched by the uppercut, and blood comes out. Even a few teeth. Yeah, they really aren't holding back, are they?

     "ALRIGHT. SERIOUSLY. FUCK YOU. I DIDN'T WANNA HAVE TO DO THIS, BUT LIKE. I WILL. ALSO, REGISTEEL, SHADOW RUSH."

     Lute's Registeel attempts to tackle into the back of Alexis!Defender from behind, with a massive burst of shadow energy. It lets out a completely bestial roar, and attempts to tear into her with his massive steel claws.

     Lute, though?

     He is reaching into his pocket. Pulls out a... flare gun? He fires it, and a black flare shoots into the sky.

     Nearby, there is a lake. It is a romantic spot for dates, especially this time of year. A handful of couples are hanging around the lake, rather casually.

     And then, suddenly, it bursts from the depths of the lake. A gigantic crab monster, eighty meters tall. It heard an alert on its radio, and then it sees the flare in the air. While he is not a smart beast, he has been trained to recognize that flare.

     The kaiju walks towards the battle. It is large. It is powerful. It is sophisticated.

     It is Mr. Crabs.

     The couples run away from him, shouting his name, just like out of an old Japanese monster movie.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Paladin can't tell if the sniper is dead or not. But judging from the lack of dramatic blood sprays, she thinks they may have escaped somehow. Then suddenly that Defender person is back after being double-blasted with poke beams! Paladin doesn't realize at first, but when she turns to see if she can heal Lute's injury with her magic, that's when she sees a wire heading for Lute, wrapping around his neck, and being used to attempt to pull him right off his feet.

Princess Paladin raises the Sacred Scepter again and aims it at this 'Defenders' right leg, as a sphere of white light forms on the tip of the holy artifact. "PENANCE BEAM!" A penetrating beam of drill-like magic energy tears forth, trying to hit this hyper-fast assassin and remove their ability to move so damn fast.

By removing a leg.

Miko is freaking out. Paladin is retaining her cool. And between the two of them, they are averaging out to, 'very dedicatedly trying to kill the mystery attacker using whatever methods are available'.

And hey, hobbling the attacker while a legendary pokemon rushes this wicked fiend from behind is a sound strategy.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis is /about/ to do something as she hears something headed her way, but before she can draw whatever weapon she has on hand, a searing pain is felt as something rips through her femur like a high-penetration round, but on steroids. It hurts as much as you would expect, the whole leg from the thigh down going red hot in pain as she loses feeling in it, and the cyborg grits her teeth as she resists the urge to scream aloud.

    Being held by Registeel doesn't phase her as much, and she drops a flashbang grenade that HOPEFULLY has some sort of effect on the pokemon, even as he slashes deep enough in the back to cut through armor and skin alike, blood also gushing as well.

    She then takes the time to retract her wire, using it like a makeshift tourniquet to keep blood and mech fluid from gushing from the open wound in her upper leg.

    She drops to a knee, rage and pain fueling her as she draws twin Glocks from the small of her back. Both pistols trail upon separate targets, and the paired 19s fire rapidly towards Lute and Miko, aiming center mass of both. "We're not finished, little bitch..." She snarls, her focus all directed towards Miko after she's fired, even as she teleports.

    THey really don't pay her enough to deal with kaiju, not with a bad leg and her biggest gun present having been split in half anyways.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    So, if Lute's just gonna hide behind his toys, Ryuko figures she'll have to break them. Or at least rough them up. Registeel first, she figures. Charging back in, using those jets, she rams into the Pokemon like a rocket with her shoulder, sending it flying backwards. The residual energy from the blow is enough to tear up the ground and trees behind the golem, as well.

"Whatever, man. Doesn't really matter what you pull, you're getting what's coming."

That's one of his stupid pets that will need to take the time to get back into the fight, at the very least. So, she goes straight for Lute again. Throwing out some kicks and punches, before turning her attention to Miko.

"How about you piss off, yeah? It's a lot more complicated than you think."

Ryuko aims a kick at her, as well, to get her to.. well. Leave. It'll hurt, at least, or maybe knock her on her ass for a minute or two.

Jinx (39) has posed:
    Goddammit.

    Jinx slams the Smirnoff's. Like two of them, and then rolls her neck. FINE. If we're doing this, we're going to look good doing it. He slaps at her bangle, and in a flash of light, she's in a rather... flashy outfit. It's got more cloth than usual but, uh... Yeah.

    Also Pow Pow and Fishbones are now suddenly Pink and Valentine's Themed. "GODDAMMIT LUTE." And then she's levelling Pow Pow down at the GUARDIANS OF LOVE and opening fire. "LUTE I HATE YOU SO GODDAMN MUCH."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako nods her head once she heals Ryuko and cherry blossom tree hops back back towards the torii gates to watch how Alexis is dealing with Lute. "Hmm... I wonder how well we're doing over here?" And then winces when Miko's Crusader's Crescent lands on Alexis. But then Alexis vanishes... and then reappears relatively close to Lute.

    That uppercut! Ayako actually takes her radio out and uses the camera function to take a few pictures of that. It was that perfect. That glorious. It's almost art! Riva would like it anyway.

    And then winces when both Lute's Registeel and Miko both go after Alexis, causing her to have to teleport away. Oh! Ryuko has rejoined the fray!

    Ayako sighs softly... and then draws another card. The Sun, upside-down. "Oh. Right." She whispers into her radio. "Everyone, we got what we came for. I think it's time to pull back."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva gets blasted by Darkness. A whole lot of Darkness. The all-consuming, crushing power of Shadow rolls around Riva and crushes down on her, shredding armor and tearing at flesh.

As the invocation ends, Defender-Riva is left on one knee, grunting in pain as blackness boils off of her. She struggles to stand, and she looks up at the raging Helena. "This isn't even your fight, you crazy bitch." Riva hisses. There is an explosion of light, and a huge, two-handed hammer appears in her hands, hefting it up. The sides are hooked outwards, almost like an ornate anchor.

Or, more accurately, the Ajoran Cross.

The weapon surges with red-gold Anima as she launces forward into the shredding chains, slamming the weapon down into a shockwave that erupts upwards around her. Blood trails off of her armored form as she swings again and again, each strike accompanied by a blast of Anima. "Just /go away/. Lute needs a huge asskicking and you are /getting in the way over a stupid rageout/. This fight doesn't concern you. LEAVE."

Jinx (39) has posed:
    But at radio contact, Jinx heaves Pow Pow over to point at Riva and Crys. "AND FUCK YOU GUYS TOO. FUCK EVERYTHING HERE YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL CRAZIER THAN ME."

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Paladin has a breast plate that takes some of those hits from the Mystery Assassin's guns, but while she'd like to take the ones aimed at Lute too, even she can't move that fast. Also, the impacts hurt, leaving smoking indentations in the magical metal, and actual bleeding holes in the exposed skin just below the armor. It hurts bad. But because of her magic, she isn't allowed to scream out in pain. She isn't allowed to flinch or shield herself, or do anything to mitigate the injuries.

Because that's not the Rule.

So she toughs it out, raises the Sacred Scepter again even as she suffers, only for the attacker to vanish right after making a promise of future retribution.

When this 'Defender' tells her to get lost, that raised Scepter suddenly obtains a blazing ball of holy magic floating above it. There's so much concentrated magical energy that the entire area looks like it's trapped perpetually in the flash of a lightning bolt. It's like there's a miniature sun above that scepter.

And the pink-haired magical girl returns, "Lute is precious to me. And you are attacking him. There is -nothing complicated about this-." Then she swings the Sacred Scepter down, unleashing her strongest attack, in the form of what is basically a compact, small-scale holy nuke.

"HOLY AVENGER SHOCK!"

It doesn't even matter if the attack misses, because the explosion may provide enough of a distraction to help Lute get to his objective.

The explosions of darkness from Giratina may even mix and swirl with the blinding white energy, becoming a sort of tempest of shadow and light. If that doesn't make the battlefield far more hazardous, then Paladin doesn't know what will.

Thankfully, Jinx is here in a pretty outfit to shoot at all these terrible awful bad guys. There is never a bad time to have a crazy woman shooting at your enemies! Okay, maybe there are bad times for that, but this is not one of them!

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute is left with bullet holes in his center. He is bleeding. Quite heavily. But the sheer willpower is keeping him going. He can't hold on too much longer at this rate. But. He knows their trick.

     The one Defender vanishes, and another comes in. But, at this point? Lute is onto it. Jinx, over Confederate channels, revealed that yes, there are multiple Defenders of Justice. He frowns, looking at Ryuko!Defender. And flips her off.

     "HEY, FUCKER. If you lot have to be ganging up on me, at least let me know who the /fuck/ you all are. Defender of Love my /ass/."

     Registeel is, indeed, hit, and slides along. But, Mr. Crabs is getting closer. Once he is near, Lute will be going for it, and using him to help cover their escape. On radio, though? He gives Jinx orders. Protect Helena.

     And then Lute just looks at Ryuko. Rather casually.

     "Giratina. Shadow Force."

     This? It is, in fact, Giratina's most powerful move. It temporarily phases out of this realm, and enters another. Upon its return, it is loaded with the power of the Reverse World, the flip side to the World of Pokemon. Filled with energy, it charges at Ryuko. A swirling torrent of energy flies around it, as it tries to bite into Ryuko, slash at it with the claws on its wings, and overall just try and beat the crap out of her with everything it has. Explosions of darkness everywhere.

     This is, more or less, the strongest move Lute can pull out.

     And Lute just stands there. Furious, waiting for the way out to arrive.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    Well, back into the trees she goes. Ryuko's hit pretty hard by that one, and her armor doesn't fair too well, either. It's basically not there anymore, so she stays where she is. "Nnh. Ugh. Damn, that hurt." Hell, she's having a tough time getting up, but.. he needs to be taught a lesson, one way or another. So, fuck it. If she's gonna all in, now'd be the time to do it.

"Senketsu, gonna have to do this one quick. Alright? Don't even wait for me to say something, just.. react."

<<Right.>>

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    "Doesn't concern me..?"

    The weapon bashes into the chains scattering them and leaving Helena to get trashed by the Anchor/cross. Helena gets bashed in, unwilling to evade, but at the same time she feels tough. It is like hitting something much sturdier than she should be, either through magic, actually being this physically tough...or something else entirely.

    "How does it not concern me. It is people like you that take from me. You force your own versions of morality and love on others. This right here? You blame HIM for wanting nothing but the pleasures out of life, and seeking what he feels is love. You BLAME something because he seeks his own happyness...in a way /you do not approve of/ and blame HIM for the weakness in YOU."

    "It is DISGUSTING. I am sick of you and people like you poisoning the minds of others and getting away with it because you are /pretty/ or /rich/ or /socially acceptable/." She hisses, even as she feels her body strain to stand back up...but she does.

    This time, she dives at Riva, aiming to try and land a foot right into her chest, aiming to kick her into the ground, before aiming to repeatedly stomp on her.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Wait did Jinx just call them out on Crazy? Wait she might have a leg to stand on this. It's too late howeve the die is cast but it seems Riva is lose on the other han she did get blasted by the darkness She gets a look at Helena as she now move to get blasted by the beam. IT's a strange feeling but it's one she knows far too well but it wasn't a direct attack like this no something that's clawed at the back of her mind for over half her life ansd she also wants to embrace the nothingness she's offered here almost.

HEr world is now also a world of pain, and she takes more than a little bit to get back up, when she does however there's some very movmenta and there's a burst of ice racing towards Helena now.

Riva Banari has posed:
Helena gives her the boot, knocking her to the ground. The stomps crunch the remaining armor, breaking pieces of it off and revealing some of the person under it. "You know, I'd like to apologize..." She grunts as she gets stomped again, and she coughs up blood. With a strangled gasp, she continues, "But I can't. You're just blaming me because people won't put up with you being a selfish crazy bitch. You don't get accepted because you're willing to hurt and kill people for your own satisfaction. That's not love at all. You want to know why I'm doing this?"

The hammer swings out, hooking behind Helena's neck and pulling, visor to face.

"Because they need protection from selfish, egomaniacal, crazy people like you."

Then she brings her head back, slamming it forward to begin hearbutting Helena. The helmet shatters on the first impact, cracking half away to reveal her face. The helmet then breaks off on the second hit, and she just keeps going. It looks like Riva's willing to see who runs out first.

Lute (188) has posed:
     With Ryuko hit by Giratina, Lute just frowns at her. He still isn't certain who is in each armor. Instead, he will try to worry about it later. Most likely, all of them are Union. So, really. It doesn't matter much. He'll just take some revenge on the Union.

     But, now?

     Mr. Crabs is here.

     "Mr. Crabs? Attack."

     The giant Kaiju's approach honestly was very loud, so Ryuko shouldn't be surprised at all. It lets out a massive roar, and then begins to lift a foot. It slams the foot straight down at Ryuko, trying to crush her. Lute doesn't care if she could survive or not. He's just pissed at the moment.

     "Giratina, bring me atop Mr. Crabs."

     And with that, Giratina flies in to Lute, and he climbs atop. Giratina, flying him up to the top of the eighty meter Crab Kaiju. Where, Lute stands tall. Frowning. Looking for Helena. At the least, he can judge where she is based on the gunfire from Jinx. And, Lute is having Mr. Crabs walk towards that gunfire now.

     "...Helena. I'm coming for you."


     He looks to Princess Paladin, smiling. "Simply cover me. I will save our friends, and get us all out of here."

     He siiiighs. That'll probably mean Jinx, too.

Helena Celba (643) has posed:
    Helena takes repeated hits the the head, thanks to Riva. Stumbling from the blows, but now down from them, she can feel her own lives blood drip down her face, she twists her face into a snarl, ready to return the favor..

    Only to get blasted in the back with ice, she turns to glare towards the other Mage she thought down. But as things are going...

    Helena shoots a chain straight up towards Jinx and away from the pair.

    She has no interest in continuing this...after all, a fair fight is for losers.

Ryuko Matoi (140) has posed:
    Senketsu's Shippu form is enough to get Ryuko out of harm's way, and probably without anyone catching sight of her, either. Still. She's pissed this didn't go well. She still has those bones she needs to pick.

Jinx (39) has posed:
    And as Helena chains her way up to the rooftop with her, there's a glare from the Cannon at her friend, a growling huff and puff as she looks over the edge of the roof at the rest of that mess down there, and... She sighs.
    And holds out a hand to snag Helena's.
    And then the pair are absorbed out of the fight in a towering column of blue light.

Riva Banari has posed:
Helena breaks off, and Riva's face is covered in blood. She's not sure who would have won the 'who has a harder head' contest. It's almost like Helena has some inherent advantages or something. Regardless, once she sees the massive Mr. Crabs loom from the shrine, she stares at it for several seconds, her hammer in her hand.

Then she grunts, turning to run away from the Kaiju and his accompantying Legenedary Pokemon.

Once she can duck behind something, she pulls out an odd sphere of metal and clockwork and pokes at it. She begins floating in the air, the sphere spinning up as she is engulfed in golden light.

Should nothing prevent it, she will wink out, pulled along the local ley lines back to Agartha.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Paladin is furious, scared, in-pain, and can't show any of it. As the giant crab stomps forth, Lute is gotten to safety by his pokemon, and the enemies are fleeing, the magical girl is still looking around frantically for some sign of someone - anyone who might be a threat. Her breathing is coming harder thanks to those bullets inside her chest cavity, and the bleeding is obviously a problem. She could heal herself, but that has nothing to do with protecting Lute.

So, once it seems as though these 'bad guys' are gone, she performs a series of superhuman leaps up on top of Mr. Crabs, until she is where Lute is, and uses her healing magic only on him.

She holds the Sacred Scepter before her and releases potent healing magic to restore not only his flesh, but his state of being. That means even high-powered rifle rounds cease to exist within him, because they are not part of his 'healthy status'. She does not seek vengeance. Despite her distress, she does not rain destruction down from Mr. Crabs' back and invite more of a beating upon herself from these clever assassins.

She does not tend to her injuries, or those of her other allies.

Because that's not part of the rules.

And the rules are important.

But she fully expects this isn't over. Both in terms of her going after the enemy, and them coming after her.

....

She is going to be so pissed when she realizes those bento she made were ruined during the fight.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys has been messed up worse than she thought by Helena, ashe staggers back to her feed at this poing she stares at Lute for a momen but it's time to go and she knows it. She sees Riva has departd and she now focues her mind as she activates a telepipe she's getting the heck out of here and leaving a way for allies to follow at this point. She knows this is a lost cause in the end.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako nods her head once she notes everyone retreating safely. She draws one more card from the deck as she tucks the radio away. The Devil, upright. "Oh shush you. I'm not a fighter. And someone had to stay back." The deck of tarot cards go right back into her sleeve and the hiding Water Spirit dissolves into water vapor.

    Time to pull back and treat everyone's wounds!

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute feels incredibly relieved, as Miko heals his wounds. It feels incredibly refreshing to him. But, he stares at Princess Paladin's own wounds. And, he is incredibly worried. And so, as she is in front of him, healing him? He reaches for her, to grab her, and pull her close to him. He's not trying to stop the healing. He's just worried about her.

     "...Princess Paladin.... Miko. You did it. You've protected me. Thank you."

     He isn't entirely certain how the rules of her transformation work. He just knows: There are, in fact, rules. But, he knows that she'll likely transform back with her mission accomplished. And so he's ready to hold her in his arms, and get her back to base, to be healed.

     He looks over the side of Mr. Crabs. No one left. Everyone, gone. And so, he lets out a sigh.

     "...Mr. Crabs? ...Take us to base."

     This... was a total disaster of a time.