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Lyner Barsett There was no fanfare this time. No leisurely time spent to gather and discuss what was happening. Radolf and company were caught quite off guard when the Wings of Horus began quaking once more. They rushed their way over to the Phantom Cocoon to find it already active. The front gate was already opened, leading into blank white, with no clue as to what was within.

     "This happened way too early this time..." Lyner mumbled lowly as he, along with everyone else came rushing into the clearing. He frowned, taking note that the outer defense systems were not attacking them this time. This was all too suspicious.

     It's Radolf who speaks up. "Lyner, Misha, take the others to head inside once they arrive. I'll keep an eye out here with the others. Something isn't right, and we're going to need keep our wits about us." Ever the reasonable one, he hefts his lance, stepping aside and looking out for anything momentarily.

     "There has to be a reason for this. Good luck and stay safe in there."

     And at that point, a voice echoed out in song...

                                  What I can see                              

                    Is the distant, distant abyss of the past                

     Oddly, Luke was nowhere to be found. And he was usually the first to enter, without a care for the others.
Misha     The... Entrance to the Cocoon is open... And the defense mechanisms aren't active... Misha is already looking REALLY suspicious.
    The Reyvateil isn't in her fancy black dress or her armor, this time...
    This time, Misha Arsellec Lune is a child.
    She's come lacking... Pretty much all of her curves, and the Star Singer has a reason. If she was too big a target to dodge, before, and too heavily armored to move like last time, this time she shall try something different.
    "Lynerrrrrr how do I look?" The MAGICAL REYVATEIL asks, practically hanging off his arm. That's right. Magical Reyvateil. That very pink, very ruffly outfit looks like something right out of an anime. Though her questions of her looks, once set aside, are replaced with something of a grim expression. "You know... If Luke's not here..." It's a thought she muses, eyeing the entrance suspiciously. "Mm, we'll do our best, Radolf." She replies to her old church knight friend.
William Pauwel     The last time Will was here, he ended up being COOKED ALIVE and needing some serious healing magic to avoid the abrupt but inexorable hand of death. Now, he's back! And his outfit looks like it's been repaired since then. This time, he probably won't be hugging any killer robots!

...

...Probably.

    But more importantly, there's adventure afoot! And so Will is here. He's standing not far from the others, looking every bit the image of a young trailblazer. It's pretty far from Misha's--

Misha's uh.

Will stares a little bit.

    "...I don't think I've ever seen anythin' that uh..." Embrassing? Frilly? Eye-bleedingly pink? "Girly. Weren't you... You know--" He does not make an hourglass figure with his hands, that would be rude. "The last time?"
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa is here.

    Kazusa is here and moving in a bit of a panic.

    Kazusa got some people willing to be part of her cards! She did, she really did. Blake and Black Arachnia for the Cutthroat card, Yang and White Berserker for the Beast... she'd planned to get in touch with them today and load up both cards, in fact! But then this happened. So here she is. With no loaded cards. Whatsoever. Again.

    One thing she does have, though, is a stun gun! She requisitioned it from the Union. She was in Njorun when the call went out, because it's the easiest place to meet up with other Union people.

    (And the cafeteria is amazing)

    "I'm here! I'm here I'm here I'm- I don't know how much help I'll be, I mean unless there's another giant robot, but I'm he-"

    Chibimisha.

    "...aa."

    /Chibimisha/.

    ".../aaaaaaaaaa!/"

    There are now a pair of nerdy arms wrapped around Misha. "Oh my /gosh/ this is /SO CUTE/ why didn't you tell me you could turn back to kid size?! And oh my god this outfit, you look like a perfect magical girl, I mean I guess you kind of are! Aaaaaa~!"
Reina Kinney If you're a member of GUARDIANS, you have some sense of how to be a good investigator. But even without that skill, it's plain to see that something's not right when the Entrance to the Cocoon is already open, and the defense systems are turned off. That's more than enough to put Reina's senses on high alert. She snaps her fingers and her sword materializes in her right hand. "I'm not going to be caught off guard," She thinks to herself out loud as she moves inside.
William Pauwel Will continues to stare as Kazusa wraps Chibimisha up in what can only be described as a 'turbocuddle.' He begins feeling embarassed on their behalf. Will looks to Lyner and inclines his head towards the girl on his arm, and the girl on that girl's everything.

As if to say... 'Does this happen a lot?'
Sanary Rondel Shouldering a massive axe quite literally longer than her, Sanary jogs along behind Lyner and company, moving fairly quickly for once without her usual heavy armor on her. "Think we're getting close to figuring out what this is?" She slows to a stop when Radolf gives the group the order to head in, nodding once before closing her eye. "'cause... Uh. If you do, fill me in."

     Afterwards, she holds her hand out to direct a green light ball towards Radolf, providing him with a temporary regenerative effec. "Be safe out here. Especially if those turn back on." The healer gestures at the defense systems before turning back to the rest of the group heading into the Cocoon. She raises an eyebrow at the voice coming out, adjusting her grip on the giant axe and starting towards the entrance.

     "Might as well look for Luke on the way in, too..." She murmurs and raises an eyebrow slowly when Misha comes out looking much less... Well, less in everything than she did the last time Sanary had seen her. Instead of recoiling in horror , however, the healer's actually staring at her like someone confronted with a puppy. She approaches her slowly with one hand free, ready to go for a quick pat on head when Kazusa interferes! Thus, the healer's left with her hand just hanging and a mildly dejected look on her face.
X "This is getting out of hand." X complains, though with the determined air of someone very focused on dealig with that very thing. He's starting to get fed up with the strange mind games this coccoon keeps playing. But all he can do is hope that today they get to the bottom of it and find who.... is..... singing.

    He really wants to speak with her.

    "Strange it's not hostile this time. What cha-... anged..."

    Cue him sort of staring cluelessly as he relates MAHOU SHOUJO Misha with ARMORED SENTINEL Misha and...

    And Kazusa starts going ballistic from it.

    His expression shifts to a sheepishly appreciative smile, but... the serious nature of things strikes a moment later.

    "If we let this continue much longer the land WILL fall and everything on it!"
Lyner Barsett Lyner looks down...and down at Misha hanging on his arm. ...He already saw her before, but...he still hasn't quite gotten used to the sight. It's bee FOREVER since she voluntarily returned to kid form. It was... old, but new again. He smiles sheepishly and brings his free hand up to the side of his head, rubbing his hair.

     "You look.....magical." He says, smiling wide. Magical huh? And then Will questions her appearance. The knight is tempted to say what exactly is going on, but...then Kazusa SWOOPS IN and wraps Misha in her very own cuddle cocoon. Well. Lyner looks at Will and smiles sheepishly, nodding plainly.

     Yes, this happened...a bit more often than you'd think. Minus kid shenanigans.

     But no, this was no time to laugh and joke around. As hard as it was not to. Lyner sobered up and faced the entrance. Sanary gets a look and a nod. "We'll look for Luke, of course. But... Well, hopefully everything's alright." X is next. "We won't let the land fall. We'll figure this out soon." After that? He stepped forward.

     "Alright, let's head in."

                                  What I can see                              

                           Is cruel, cruel frozen eyes                        

     As they stepped into the white, everything matched that color. Turning blinding for a moment. And then when the light faded...

                                  What I can see                              

                Is the dream of a sheep who has been softly woken            

     ...They came to be standing in a vast space. There was misty white fog to be seen all around endlessly. And what they stood upon was...water itself. A clear, endless body of water that shimmered with each individual step and allowed them to peer endlessly down into nothing. The shadows they cast upon the surface were muddled and misshapen.

     Lyner frowned a bit as they came to, and looked around. "...I don't see Luke." He mumbled, taking a careful step forward as he looked down next. "Are we standing on water? Whoa..." Where in the world was this place? Even for a Reyvateil's inner world, this was... actually oddly gloomy.

                                  What I can see                              

                         In a space in the din, a cradle                      

     What were they supposed to do here? There was nothing in every direction. Nothing but white mist and a reflecting pool beneath their feet. What Lyner didn't notice however was that... While he walked, the shadow in the pool did not follow. It remained where it was, stretching with the knight's footsteps, and then detatching from him completely... But it remained below the surface of the water.

     The other's shadows did the same thing, all detatching from their owners and looking up at them from the water below...

     That certainly boded well.
Sanary Rondel Maybe Sanary'll get her chance next time. Either way, she steps into the white void, gripping her axe just a little more tightly when the water appears beneath them. Her first instinct is to put some energy into her anklets to give her enough lift and stay above the water, but she relaxes once she realizes that nobody's actually falling into the water.

     "That's... Kinda weird. No signs of the guy, no... Just more weird singing." Gesturing at the air around them, Sanary narrows her eye as she tries to get a better idea of just what kind of situation they're in right now. She follows after Lyner, glancing back every now and the to make sure the group is actually moving and not getting separated.

     "Stick together, everyone. Don't know what it is we'll find in here with all this... Not-water we're not-falling in." She even gives the water a brief stomp to test it! Or.. Whatever it is she's standing on.
Reina Kinney Not one to feel fear at the unknown, Reina rushes in quickly, not caring what might be within that white void... until she sees the water beneath her feet, and she scowls a little. "Fine time to forget my swimsuit," Reina comments to no one in particular, until she sees that it looks like it's mostly for effect and not an attempt to drown them. "Then again, my boots are waterproof, so it's no skin off my back!" She says with a grin, although it quickly fades. She looks and briefly notices there are no shadows being cast, but she doesn't really note it for the time being, as there are far more important things to worry about right now.

    "In a strange place like this," Reina comments to Sanary, "We don't want to take any chances until we have an idea for where we truly are. I'm for sticking together until then."
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna was off-planet when the call came through from Lyner, so her arrival was delayed by a combination of detouring to Ar Ciel, landing the Mike-maru-go at a halfway friendly spaceport, and getting to the Cocoon - right as the last of the (non-late) group were heading in.

Cue Yuna scrambling to join them before the cocoon closed. Elner and Marina make it in with her; Jiina and Erina don't - and as Yuna realizes it's not solid ground underneath, but a reflective surface of water, the blonde idol lets out a yelp. She doesn't have time to actually freak out before she realizes that the surface - be it water or something else - is supporting her well enough that she doesn't need to worry about swimming.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone," Yuna apologizes as she stands up straight again. She tentatively pushes one foot against the water's surface, seeing how much 'give' there is or whether it's likely to stop supporting her under duress; she's hesitant to give it the kind of stomp that Sanary did, though. "What do we know so far?"
Misha     "Yep." Misha's reply to William is simple, curt, and speas volumes of 'don't talk about the missing curves'. But before she can quite explain a thing, the girl SQUEAKS. This makes perhaps the third time, Kazusa has performed the secret Ujikane Grab And Cuddle Of Doom technique. "Wah! Ah! Awawawa! It's-- it's easy to move in!" She squeaks. "And makes me a smaller targ-awa-et!"
    Misha Arsellec Lune is thus cuddled. There is no escape, and she too shall sing songs of despair and- no, it's time to go inside. Thusly spared from being headpatted like the 25-year-old she is, she enters the fog door with the others.
    "Um..."
    The glance down is awkward. To be standing on a semi-solid water surface is one thing, but it's clear... And to look down into what is essentially an abyss below, makes the magical-girl-looking Reyvateil recoil- actively, hiding against Kazusa.
    It's like standing on glass over a bottomless pit. To Misha, it's utterly terrifying, too terrifying to pay attention to any other detail. Who cares about shadows, when there's all that space to fall down, just on the other side of the watery surface?
    "D-don't do that!" She bleats, at Sanary when she test-stomps it.
    What if she breaks the water or something?
Kazusa Ujikane     In they go. Into a weird, endless place with water below and fog around. Kazusa's attention is completely on the eerie (and kinda cool) surroundings, which means she's completely not paying attention to Misha when the reyvateil suddenly executes Situation Reversal technique. There is now an adorable songstress clinging to her. "Awawawa-?!"

    It takes Kazusa a second to parse what's happening, but then she puts arms around poor Misha and hugs, trying to comfort. "It's okay, it's okay. It's holding us all up pretty well, I don't think we're going to fall in. It's alright..." She can be surprisingly gentle!
William Pauwel Yep. Don't talk about the curves that may or may not exist. Schrodinger's Curves shall forever remain unmentioned, until it's clear which way the waveform will collapse. Not that waveforms aren't themselves curvy.

Maybe this wasn't the best analogy.

    Will remains mum as they wander into THE INFINITE VOID and only says something when he realizes that they're basically standing on ~nothing.~ "Uh," Will says, staring down into the void. He stomps the ground just as Sanary does. And then does something questionable and whips out his handgun.

Does he shoot the ground?

    Yeah, a little ways off. To his credit, he does that BEFORE Misha complains. Regardless, the Solano's blast fizzles out of the handcannon has he fires. "Huh," Will murmurs. "This is... A little weird, ain't it?"
X Into the coccoon! Again. X rushes right on in, hoping to be among the first in case anything crazy jumps out.

    What awaits... astounds him.

    Because as soon as his sensors have cleared and recalibrated... "Are we standing-?!" Yup. Lyner took the words out of his mouth. He testingly taps the 'ground' with his foot. Splash. But it's supporting him.

    "Guess we'll just have to work with this." He's on guard, but it's only because Lyner goes walking first that he notices something strange is going on. Still... X starts walking too, and makes a point of looking back.

    Which gets him frowning.

    "Not even a little. That's EXTREMELY weird!"
Lyner Barsett More than a little weird. Lyner is completely lost. He just slows to a stop and stares forward. "Huh..." Oh right. Misha's afraid of heights. And here they are standing on a crystal clear liquid surface leading down into an endless white abyss.

     ...Whoops.

     He smiles a bit sheepishly as Kazusa handles it, nodding to her but keeping to where he was. Something wasn't right here. But then, when is anything ever right?

                        No one can touch this skin of mine                    

                 In a space in the din, a cradle, a crimson scar              

     Will and Sanary's stomps cause the water to splash, rippling the surface, but it does not break. It goes back to being solid and supportive as before. Yuna's test of the surface's resistance tells her that it's firm enough for them to move as they wish, while not terribly disturbed. And Will's shot causes much the same reaction as a stomp.

     "Uh. Well okay. We still need to figure out what-" Something in the corner of his eye catches his attention, and he whirls around to look behind himself, and everyone else as well. "-Behind us!" He calls in a hurry. And what everyone could see now, were various shadowy figures rising up from the surface of the water. Their own shadows, given form. Reina, Will, Misha, Kazusa, Sanary, X, Yuna, and Lyner. All of them, dressed exactly like their real selves, but toned in blacks and grays with glowing red eyes.

                                   THIS TATTOO                                

                                THIS THIS PREVIEW                            

                                  THIS HEARTBEAT                              

                                Within the silence                            

                                WHERE IS MY GEAR?                            

                            WHERE WHERE ARE MY STAIRS?                                                  WHERE IS HEARTBEAT?                            

     "...Huh? They're...us?" He mumbled, surprise causing him to stop and stare dumbly for a moment. Unfortunately, their shadows did not seem to be possessed of their own mental afflictions or fears. No, they all stared forward with determined frowns on their faces.

     And then they moved. Like a practiced unit. Shadow Misha stayed in the far back, going immediately into a singing trance. Shadow Kazusa brought out The Magus, and with a flash, they transformed into an approximation of Misha, going back to back with her as she began to sing as well. Power began to build up above them as the words left their mouth.

     Shadow X and Will took up position ahead of the reyvateil and her copy, aiming both buster and gun. Shadow Lyner stood ahead of them, a black blade drawn and pointed forward. Shadow Reina stood next to him, energy blade held ready. And Shadow Sanary and Yuna made up the front line, tower shield and Shugoseiheki held ready.

     "......"

                               THIS SILENCE IS MINE                          

                                THIS THIS SILENCE                            
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna didn't even realize that her shadow wasn't sticking with her; when the dark forms rise up from the water behind them, she turns with the others - and blinks at the sight thusly before her.

"... well," Yuna says quietly after a moment, "that can't be any kind of good." The Matrix Divider appears in her hands, although she doesn't lift it to aim at nay of the shadows. She's not even sure what's at work - are these shadows their own 'darkness,' somehow? Or just the unknown Reyvateil putting into action a belief that the 'intruders' can best be countered by their own selves? Whatever the cause of the shadows, the fact that the dark copies of Misha and Kazusa are beginning to sing tells her clearly enough that they don't have a whole lot of time to waste; the shadowy bulk of Shugoseiheki's own dark copy, side by side with Sanary's massive shield, make it very clear that they intend to be the first line of defense.

Still, Kazusa seems to have some sort of idea how to go about this. Yuna is admittedly somewhat skeptical, but she finally raises the Matrix Divider, ready to provide the cover fire that Kazusa just asked for on the radio. Hopefully the power-copying magical girl is on the right track - but if nothing else, Kazusa has one idea more than Yuna can offer, so Yuna's going to put her support behind that at this point.
Misha     If ever there were a time when Misha had tried to hide herself by clinging ti Kazusa as tightly as humanly possible... Well now is that time. So yes, Kazusa has a small magical girl latched on, not letting go, in spite of gentle words and support. "I- I'll be fine just give me a minute." She manages after a moment. A minute passes, and she's still holding on but...
    The shadows rouse. The shadows take form. ... Two of the shadows- not only look like her AND Kazusa but begin to sing.
    Everything has just turned from nightmarish to utterly nightmarish.
    "-Why-?!"
    It is a good question right about now. But she takes a breath. Her voice is labored, words shaky and quavering, but Misha begins to sing. She focuses as best she can while doing so. Kazusa says she needs to go faster. Misha's song spreads- though much more slowly than usual, but it spreads- a gift of hasted speed, not just to Kazusa, but working its way to the others of the group, one at a time.
Reina Kinney The fact that Reina didn't have a shadow seemed trivial a few moments ago, but now it seems like something she really should've taken notice of. Now that she's staring at a shadow version of herself, complete with evil looking red eyes, Reina's imagining Laia chewing her out over this. Nevertheless, she figures that this may not be the type of thing that calls for a fight just yet, so she leaves her sword pointing down towards the 'water.'

    When Misha begins to sing, Reina raises an eyebrow at her, until she begins to feel a strange sensation slowly flowing over her. It makes her feel like her movements are becoming quicker. She hrms, then smiles at Misha and says, "Thanks."
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa is quite happy to keep hugging Misha, partially out of sheer irresistable adorability, but mostly out of genuine concern for the reyvateil after that flipout. As long as Misha needs, Kazusa is there... at least until the shadows show up. And one of them is her, and it- it- "HEY! That's no fair, my Magus card is expended! That's cheating!" They're starting to sing, and Kazusa has nothing to counter with...

    Wait, no. She doesn't have nothing. She has a taser. And it's kind of wussy, but on the other hand, they're /singing reyvateils/. All she needs to do is get around the other enemies!

    Radio strategizing gets Misha moving - if a bit slowly. But it will be enough. She's got a speed boost. "Thanks," she says, reaching over to give Misha a quick squeeze, and an added murmur of, "Hang in there, okay? We won't let anything happen to you." And then she's off.

    Let's be fair. Kazusa is not exactly a track team star. But with a haste boost from a reyvateil, even she can dart in, around and through a crowd. She's doing so at full speed, making an open break for the reyvashadows in the back, and trusting her allies to keep the rest of the shadows off her. Because trying to taze first Shadowzusa, then Shadowmisha, is going to leave her wide open to attack from any of the others.

    Also, her running is not cool in the least.
Sanary Rondel Dammit, Misha, stop being so damn...! No, Sanary. Calm yourself! Think of something else! Like... Beating up the water. Yes. Beating up the water will make things better. William's got the right idea, at least, and his attempt at shooting it even draws an amused smirk from the healer. That's a good distraction!

     What's an even better distraction? Facing an evil clone of herself. All the training over the past year, all the self-reflection on her own weaknesses and shortcomings, all the advancements in er own abilities... It's all come down to this! Sure, her evil clone might be stronger, faster, and probably even more capable with that shield than she is while being more of a team player with the Shadow Yuna next to her, but..

     "... I know how to take this one down, at least. " The healer takes a deep breath and hesitates for a moment before calling out to her shadowy self. "Hey! You! Yeah, you! You've never done anything useful in this hole, and you never will anywhere else! You look stupid, too, and nobody likes you anyway, so you might as well just shrivel up and die to feed the w... Uh. Ocean worms!"

     Of course, without any of those deep-seated mental issues, it's probably not going to do much. Time for plan B (once she calms herself down). Clearing her throat, Sanary instead just starts channeling energy in front of her into a wall of gray bricks, augmented by the effects of Misha's speed boost. It's easier than taking the charge blade apart, at least, and with this magical wall of steel-like bricks? It'll be easy enough to direct it to defend the others!
X Spotting the trouble at roughly the same time as Lyner, X balks, leaning back with eyes that have gone completely wide with disbelief. What is he seeing? What are his SENSORS DOING?! "My optics aren't malfunctioning, those figures are real--" Real and they're OPENING FIRE.

    X is caught by surprise. The buster shots catch him in the chest and knock him right over. He rolls over the water but flips to his feet with teeth clenched and panic in his eyes.

    What kind of MADNESS did they step into?!

    And of course, Misha proves to be scared of heights. Not so with Shadow Misha!

    "These aren't us... but what are they?!" Whatever they are has him pretty spooked, but X rises to fight. A whirrrrr of mechanical parts accompanies his right hand transforming to buster mode and in no time at all he's jumping from side to side while closing in, laying down a stream of shots at his double while he works to assess the situation!
William Pauwel     Well. That's a thing you don't exactly see every day. Will's world is full of a whole bunch of things, but 'evil clone replicators' are not among them. At least, not that he's aware. If they do exist, they certainly don't function by splitting his shadow off and turning it into something that's probably going to try to kill him in a second now.

But...

The stance. That's not right, is it?

    Will's jaw sets. He pops it left and right a couple of times. "Alright, well. If they're goin' all regimented and stuff," Will's hand goes to his hip. The Solano crackles as it's drawn, a cloud of coruscating plasma materializing around the barrel. "Kazu, y'all just do what you can. I'll give 'em the runaround!"

    Misha's spell hits him just as he breaks into a run. The wheels at his feet snap down, digging into the water-mirror beneath him. The Scirocco screams as its servos, fueled by *~SINGING ANGEL: MAGICAL MISHA-CHAN'S~* songs, whirr into motion.

    Kazusa starts off. Will darts to the side at an oblique angle. If she's going in straight ahead, and Lyner and the others are in her way, then his and X's copies are going for the sniping role. Alone, without cover, that makes him a target.

Except he knows something about his armor that these copies probably don't.

    Will takes targets of opportunity. Tiny Misha and Yuna, way at the back, may not necessarily go down with just a bit of tazing, but it's as much of a plan as anything. He starts firing at anything that gets too close to Yuna, targeting heads and gaps in armor and defenses. Anything he can pick apart, he fires on; the Solano's barrel sizzles every third shot, its core glowing white-hot as he fires over and over and over again.

If he gets the chance, he'll fire on Shadow Yuna and Shadow Misha, too. No time to get sentimental now!
Lyner Barsett "Tch! Fine! If we've got to face ourselves then...we'll just have to win!" Lyner shouted, bringing out his white blade to mirror his dark copy's black one. They were too far apart to engage, but there was something he could do. He flipped his weapon into reverse grip and reared back, while also veering aside to avoid the bursts of buster fire and plasma shots. A few grazing hisside and pauldron in the process. "Kh-!"

                                   When I pray                                

                       That is when I am touched with fever                  

                                   When I shout                              

                     That is, that is when my voice is stolen                

     Skidding aside with a splash of water, he suddenly felt himself growing faster, more nimble. "...Perfect." Lyner grinned and then lurched forward, slamming his sword into the water's surface. "Go!" And a burst of wind escaped from his sword, blasting across the surface towards Shadow Yuna and Shadow Sanary.

     But Shadow Yuna was prepared. "Shugoseiheki." She shouted, expanding the defensive field of the shield and tanking Will's shots, as well as Lyner's Impulse burst. It receded then, and she aimed the Dark Matrix Divider forward, letting loose several laser blasts into their ranks, aiming to tag anyone. But mostly Yuna, Sanary, and X. Shadow Sanary doesn't even give Sanary a glance at her heckling, and she swipes out her free arm, causing multiple masses of gray stone to form and revolve around her in the air. What were those for?

     It became clear soon after when they actually levitated about, intercepting shots from X and Will that would otherwise have made it past. With a cold look in her eye, she manipulated the multiple stone shield fragments with hand movements, some of them breaking upon impact with a shot and leaving less after. But they were doing their job!

     Kazusa speeds forward, as does Will, veering around the encampment in differing directions. Shadow Reina and Shadow Lyner, as well as Shadow Will and Shadow X respond in kind. The two snipers back up, Shadow Will aiming his dark Solano at his counterpart and ripping off shots three at a time at the approaching Chaser. Shadow Reina grips her energy blade and bursts forward into a run.

     She chases after Will, unleashing a flurry of heavy slashes at the boy, aiming to cleave into him if he's not quick on his feet. But with Misha's empowerment, that probably wasn't a problem. Shadow X meanwhile stands guard in front of Shadow Misha, and his buster begins to charge...and charge... and charge....and he lets loose a furious charged shot directly at Kazusa once he gets her in his sights.

     Shadow Lyner meanwhile grips his black blade and raises it to the sky. ".......!" Lightning bursts from it in a storm of chain lightning spreading out and chasing after Will and Kazusa both for a shocking end.

     And Shadow Kazusa and Shadow Misha? They both open their eyes at the same time and speak.

     "Overcome fate."

     "Go beyond possibility!"

     "SYNCHRONITY CHAIN!"

     Suddenly the power that both of them were building up SURGED. No longer a mere energy ball, it grew massively and exponontially, towering over the void space ominously. And the two continued to build up their power. No doubt soon to unleash it upon them all.

                                   When I live                                

                That is when I dance with abandon, as if released            
Reina Kinney As the shadows move out, Reina readies her blade, expecting to attack her evil twin. But instead, her evil twin goes after Will, along with William's shadow as well. "OK, that's just not right!" Reina yells as she charges at her shadow double. "You're supposed to be fighting ME! Not double-teaming him!" She rushes up towards Shadow Reina and attempts to strike her from the side with her sword. "You make me look like a cheap fighter, you know that!"

    Reina's attack isn't anything special, just swinging her blade at her shadow's torso in a horizontal sweep. "I'll teach YOU a lesson!"
Sanary Rondel Sanary's not to let her evil clone outdo herself in a battle of shield masses! Even if they're... Not actually aiming anywhere near each other. As her shadow blocks X's and William's shots, the real Sanary too directs her own brick wall outwards to do the same with their shadowy counterparts as well.

     "I got this..." She mutters to herself as her own mass of bricks fly out, half heading towards Shadow Will and the other half towards Shadow X. The former's shots towards William are met with a wildly moving swarm of bricks, although it's clear that the real Sanary's control over them isn't nearly as accurate. Some of those shots might even still get through!

     The latter's blast at Kazusa, meanwhile, is met with that bunch of bricks merging into a more solid wall to try and intercept that shot as well. As with the bricks meant to defend William, however, they don't last for very long under that concentrated torrent of energy.

     Time for plan C, then. Setting the head of the giant axe down against the water, Sanary starts focusing her energy into nothing but the green healing light. She's already sweating a bit (partially due to her fuzzy white and blue parka armor) as light beams travel from her to each of her allies, linking herself with them and granting them a significant boost to their natural regeneration and providing them with direct access to her own magical energy. "Don't use up too much now... But go nuts! Especially on the other me. Egh... Aim for my left!"
Kazusa Ujikane     Dangit. Kazusa was banking on everyone keeping their own doubles busy; and here she is, faced with a charged buster pointed right at her. Under normal circumstances, she'd probably never get out of the way in time. With the amplification of Misha's haste, she only just manages it; when she hits the watery 'ground' in her diving roll, she comes out of it expecting to have a scorched back, but there's a brick wall where she was. She doesn't have time to thank Sanary, though, because she's now scrambling to her feet in a near panic. That big attack the reyvashadows are singing up is going to be a major problem for the group if she doesn't stop it.

    So now she's got to dodge plasma shots /and/ hit one of the back-line singers! This involves moving in a circling sort of arc, trying to go around Shadow X while someone /hopefully/ distracts him. Her course takes her straight at the duplicate Misha, whom she intends to slam into full force, taser-first. Misha's the stronger of the two, something Kazusa knows for a fact, so hitting her first will defang that big blast quite nicely.
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna lets out a yelp as the shadows open up on them, and dives for cover, rolling away (and trying not to think about the physics of it) from her counterpart's Matrix Divider blasts. She's not even bothering with her own shield at this point - evasion is more helpful, and the Divider is too big to wield in tandem with Shugoseiheki, anyway.

This isn't going to get them anywhere, she thinks; whatever caused the shadowy counterparts to take form in the first place is also *controlling* them, and doing so in perfect tandem. Any direction the party could come at them in seems to be covered ...

Well. There's one possible exception to that. Maybe two, but the shadows could likely jump (or fly) just as readily as the actual party members can, maybe even better. Meanwhile, Sanary makes with the buff magic, and Yuna can feel the spells taking effect - the regen spell reinforcing the Light Suit's defensive reserves, and the MP boost - well, Yuna doesn't use magic per se, so that's not as useful, but it still might come in handy. More importantly, Yuna's frantic dodging brings her up next to Marina, who's *also* been dodging the hell out of everything the shadows ditch out, and Yuna calls out one word:

"Combine!!"

Marina's optics blink once, and then she goes translucent, her see-through form phasing over Yuna's body; in the next moment, a wireframe shape surrounds Yuna, Marina seems to have disappeared completely, and pieces of a secondary armor start to materialize and interlock around Yuna's Light Suited form. By the time all of the armor has appeared and connected, Yuna is clad in a sleek, mermaid-styled battlesuit with a very distinct tail and a pair of 'pigtails' attached near her head; additionally, a solid helmet surrounds her head, most of the helmet a perfectly transparent visor.

And with her mermaid-tail springing off from the 'water's surface,' Yuna does a vertical 180 and dives beneath that very surface which was supporting her weight a moment prior. It's a very, VERY deliberate maneuver - and if it didn't work, Yuna would just bash her helmeted head into an impenetrable surface ...

But fortunately, that surface is penetrable enough that she disappears underwater ... and that's all she really needed. Checking the depth of the 'water,' Yuna maneuvers for a better angle ... and then her 'pigtails' pivot to point up at the Shadows' footing, a spread of about ten minitorpedoes launching towards the Shadows to start detonating under their feet. If THAT doesn't help turn the tide (no pun intended), Yuna really will be out of ideas ... but if nothing else, it should create enough of an opening for the non-swimming members of the party to make their attacks count.
William Pauwel     Well, that didn't work. It wouldn't be that easy, of course. There's no way it would have been. Shadow!Reina charges in just as Shadow!Will's shots streak in. Dodging both, even with Misha's song playing on, would be... difficult. Fortunately, Sanary's got one of them covered! Which leaves Will to deal with a girl with a beam saber.

Fortunately, Will has speed.

Also fortunately, she's bringing a SWORD to a GUNFIGHT.

    Will dashes backwards the Scirocco's wheels screeching as he pivots and spins to disengage from his particularly slashy assailant. At this range, it's going to be hard to miss...

But that doesn't mean he can't be certain about this.

    Will braces the Solano's barrel and fires-- skimming the flat of the armor covering one of his arms. The black plate flashes red as the heat disperses-- but the ridged plate does its job. The plasma scatters, dispersing from a single slug of energy into a splash of superheated gas... Aimed right into the swordswoman's face and eyes.

Can't sword when you're blind! OR HEADLESS! These aren't actually *people* so Will doesn't feel particularly bad about shooting them like this, thankfully!

    He fires a quick succession of similar shots before his armor grows too hot to continue. Provided he's successful, Will tries to speed away, dashing away in a wide arc as he tries to line up a few more shots on the relatively more distant shadows.
Misha     Misha slowly works herself along, every word floating in a tense tone between terrified and desperate. She means it when she says she's had her eyes closed the whole time. The Reyvateil, normally known for opening her heart, spreading her arms wide, and singing to the heavens, is crouched in a small ball, head buried in her hands.
    Her songs shifts in tone and theme. Though the speed boost from before remains, a small speck of light pops up over her head. It fizzles and flickers... The faster and harder she sings and strains past her fear, it flutters...
    With a pop, a cheap lighbulb appears over her head. She pushes the song- she's forcing the emotions through the fear, and the light turns from a cheap bulb to a halogen- from a halogen to a torch- from a torch to a spotlight, from a spot-light. It crackles to life, before FLARING a bright light at the shadow copies. Her intent is pretty simple.
    Blind the lot of them. Especially the vangaurds so that Kazusa and the others can reach the rear lines.
X X grimaces the instant his shots are blocked. Blast it, now what?! Well, he's not about to let that slide. With a flicker of light his armor shifts colors to red and black, Phaser Beam activating.

    The Shadows have made a very big mistake by leaving him be, and he's going to capitalize on it.

    He takes aim at SHADOW SANARY, who he's rationalizing as NOT HUMAN OR EVEN PEOPLE - or he'd never do such a thing.

    Because he opens fire with a thick, crimson, pulsing beam of blazing light, one that will make short work of such stones and pierce on through the shield in no time at all!

    And all the while he charges in at top speed, kickig up a spray of water in his wake. He's moving to break through the defensive formation and disrupt it...

    Even if he ends up taking heavy damage in the effort.
Lyner Barsett

                                   THIS TATTOO                                

                                 THIS THIS SCREW                              

                                  THIS HEARTBEAT                              

                                Light and justice                            

     And immediately, everthing goes to hell at once. Lyner decides not to charge in, and instead? He stands in front of Misha and Sanary, parrying any shots that come their way. As flashy as his shadowy counterpart was... this was his job. He wasn't going to do anything else. What's what his friends were for. They could handle the big movements.

                                WHERE IS MY GEAR?                            

                            WHERE WHERE ARE MY CHOIR?                        

                              WHERE IS MY HEARTBEAT?                          

                            THIS SILENCE THIS SILENCE                        

     Sanary's defensive interceptions do their job, saving will from being perforated and saving Kazusa from being vaporized. From there, Will backpedals away from Shadow Reina, who continues to unleash a combo of slashes upon him. But the REAL Reina swooping in to attack her isn't accounted for, and she's cleaved into, while also being riddled with shots from Will's trusty Solano. She doesn't even offer any pained reaction as she slumps into the water and sinks, melting into inky blackness...

     X changes forms and them unleashes his Phase Laser, sending a burst of concentrated plasma Shadow Sanary's way. She sees this and attempts to direct her remaining shields that way. But to no avail. The powerful laser punches through the magistone and washes over her, searing her shadowy body and sending her flying back. She lands into the water and slowly sinks below the depths...

                             "Throw away your sadness                        

                                 Lose your heart                              

                              Violate your thoughts                          

                If you can go on ahead, ah, it's all for the best"            

     The counter offensive continues then as Misha's song creates a BLINDING light that covers the battlefield. It turns out to be just the trick they needed as Shadow Yuna ceases her laser fire. Shadow Lyner and Shadow Will as well is interrupted. Shadow X doesn't seem to be affected, but it's too late. A volley of missiles comes hurtling up from below the surface of the water and explosions rock their formation. Shadow Yuna, Shadow Will, Shadow X, and Shadow Lyner are sent flying. But only Shadow Yuna and Shadow Lyner begin to sink, melting away. Shadow Will struggles to his feet, as does Shadow X. The both of them frown in determination, despite their 'wounds' and take aim. ...But Kazusa sprints past them at that moment. With no one left to stop her, she tackles Shadow Misha, taser first, sending the both of them crashing into the water's surface like a pair of wrestling school children.
Lyner Barsett      The gathered song magic then begins to fluctuate, losing control as one of it's singers has been tackled out of song trance. With only Shadow Kazusa left, the gathered power violently surges, rapidly losing power as huge flecks of energy spill outwards across the sky.

     ...But she carries on Shadow Misha's will, and with both arms thrust forward, she calls out.

     "Seven Bloodstains!"

      My body is whispering, whispering, whispering, whispering, whispering  

                           your symphony is neverending                      

     Though unstable, and very likely weaker than what it would have been, the spell activates. From high above, the shuddering mass of energy EXPLODES into countless smaller laser blasts. A large number of them fizzle out due to the instability, but the rest? They streak into the water, spiraling far below...

                                   THIS TATTOO                                

                                THIS THIS PREVIEW                            

                                  THIS HEARTBEAT                              

                                Within the silence                            

                                WHERE IS MY GEAR?                            

                            WHERE WHERE ARE MY STAIRS?                        

                               WHERE IS HEARTBEAT?                            

     and then the entire space quakes. Stone debris from the abyss below rises upwards as the pinkish light expands beneath their feet.

     Then it surges upwards as multiple rays of destructive plasma breaks the water's surface, aiming to envelop several large sections of the visible space in it's primal fury.

     The only saving grace was there were also large spaces in which no energy surged up from beneath, creating safe zones. No doubt due to Shadow Misha being tackled, and the spell being unstable and incomplete!

                               THIS SILENCE IS MINE                          

                                THIS THIS SILENCE                            
Kazusa Ujikane     Zap! Zapzapzapzap! Kazusa is tasering the everloving crap out of Shadow Misha. "Just- just stop- come on, just stop already- I'll keep tasing you if I have to-!" It's kind of a knock-down, drag-out wuss fight. Where one side has a taser. Unfortunately, Kazusa keeping Misha's evil twin occupied results in leaving her own dark twin to finish the weakened attack. "...oh crap." She starts to scramble to her feet-

    -but not before giving the shadow Misha one last zap.

    *zap*

    Then she's lunging for Shadow... Mishzusa? Kazusha? That person who is copying her copying Misha. Under the assumption that one safe space will absolutely be 'where the caster is'. She's trying to take shelter there... and, y'know. Tase her shadow duplicate if she gets the chance.
Misha     THIS is -precisely- why Misha came tiny today.
    As soon as Lyner is in front of her... She doesn't budge an inch. Still crouched low and hiding her face in her hands, the NOT A MAGICAL GIRL Reyvateil... Makes an extremely tiny target behind the wall of armor that is Lyner Barsett.
    It is probably a good thing she does not see the level of how much tazer her shadow self is getting via Kazusa's judicious zapping. She will, probably, however need to be hoisted and dragged to one of the safety zones, because she's not budging. The 'heights' thing is really bad for her.
    Good thing she's portable, like this.
Sanary Rondel Just as Lyner's got her and Misha's (figurative) backs, so too does Sanary have Lyner's (literal) back! although she's keeping herself linked to way too many people at once already, she still manages to draw on some more of her magic to direct it towards Lyner as another cloud of healing light. It's the least she could do, considering how he's covering herself and Misha, and it'll supercharge his own regeneration even more than the link already is.

     Sanary's feeling mildly conflicted when she sees her shadowy self getting blasted through. On one hand, now she knows where to improve her stuff-making magic! (Make it stronger against lasers somehow). On the other hand... Is even her evil clone's powered up magic that weak, too?

     She'll have more time to mull over that later. Without needing to focus on the walls any more, Sanary can instead turn her focus to the more immediate threat of the giant death lights readying to kill all of them. Spotting one of those safe zones, the healer channels another ball of healing light not towards anyone in particular, but upwards inside one of those very zones.

     "Up here, people! We're probably not gonna die in here!" She calls out and even makes the light cloud ball jerk around in the air. Sure, it's not healing anyone or giving them an energy boost (she's still linked to everyone for that), but it's at least doing its job as a signal flare of sorts!
William Pauwel That... Went a lot better than Will thought it would have, honestly! He's not horribly crippled OR terribly burnt, for once. Though judging by the fact that /terrible song magic/ has been released unto the world, even in incomplete form, that might still change!

    Will is... just a little bit proud that his own double seemed to have lasted until now, though. That's pretty flattering, actually. But he needs to worry about that /later./ He needs to get to a safe spot before he's VAPORIZED.

    Fortunately. Sanary is helping out in that regard. Will zooms over toward Sanary's floating light-ball as quickly as the Scirocco can carry him. But will he get there fast enough to avoid being vaporized!?

(Probably. He's already been nuked once this adventure! The next time can't happen so soon... CAN IT!?)
Yuna Kagurazaka Needless to say, Yuna thought underwater would be relatively safe - it certainly wawsn't part of the shadow doubles' battle plan before she pulled her little stunt. The rain of plasma beams, or whatever those are, puts the lie to that assumption, and Yuna finds herself diving deeper (albeit diagonally) in pursuit of something resembling safety from the barrage. She gets tagged a few times anyway, but between the Light Suit's defensive aura and Sanary's earlier buffs, the damage isn't too bad.

It's still enough to prompt Yuna to head to the surface ... albeit only after the plasma beams have turned back towards the 'ground level' party. That also gives her the chance to break the surface in one of those safe zones, rather than having to resume dodging as soon as she gets there. "Everyone okay?" Yuna inquires, readying the Matrix Divider just in case there's any fighting left that she needs to contribute to.
Reina Kinney The shadows dissolve, which makes Reina smile a little... then things begin to go crazy. She doesn't know what to make of this whole thing, but she knows she needs to get to one of those 'safety zones,' fast. She rushes towards the one where the others are gathering, and somehow she makes it with little difficulty. Once she gets there, she looks to the others and then speaks to Yuna. "I'm OK, yeah. Now how about we get the Falz outta here before something else goes wrong?!"
Lyner Barsett Once that spell goes off, Lyner immediately grabs Misha under one arm, and HAULS ASS over to a safe zone, particularly one indicated by Sanary, who he also nods thanks to meanwhile. Several pillars of plasma tag him here and there, but he makes it into a safe spot without bringing the cargo to harm. That cargo being Misha herself.

     Will is fortunately not vaporized as he and the others also scramble into places that aren't getting blasted, and eventually, the spell wears off.

     In the end...Shadow Will, Shadow X, and Shadow Kazusa have surviv- Wait no, she's getting tazed. Tazed tazed tazed. ...Okay so Shadow Will and Shadow X survived! But..they don't move to attack. Instead? They sink into the water and melt back into shadow, leaving no more opponents to contend with.

                               THIS SILENCE IS MINE                          

     And with those last words, the song finally comes to an end.

     "...It looks like we made it." Lyner murmured, looking about warily. The sound of fuel exhaust, which doesn't sound lie it belongs, catches his attenton however, and he looks to the sky. "Huh? Up there!"

     A familiar robotic figure floats in the air, wearing white and red armor, with a black body suit, purple hair, pointed legs, and an array of red laser bits floating behind her, currently being used as flight thrusters.

     It's that robot girl from the city! And she stares down at everyone impassively. At the same time, a golden pillar lights up in the distance. Paradigm shift? The robot girl speaks in monotone right about then.

     "You have passed three out of four of the Administrator's trials. Therefore, you have been deemed worthy to face her directly." She pauses, unblinking and giving them all time to process this. "Now. Leave this place." She says simply, turning away, prepared to fly off again.

     That was it. But she could potentially be stopped if someone called out to her. Maybe.
X Although he's not a fan of fighting, X has seen some pretty incredible combat manuevers in testing and R&D for the Maverick Hunters. But never, not once...

    NOT ONCE has he ever seen one or two entities of any sort, just PEOPLE-LIKE ANYONES, who are able to bring out a level of destruction and calamity of this scale. He skids to a halt as all hell breaks loose, having just taken down his opponent... and then....

    FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!

    Utter destruction, as far as the eye can see. NOT that he can see very far, because it slams right into him from below. The robot SCREAMS, a rather awful wail of pure agony that doesn't dwindle - as he doesn't need air to make noise. At a few points the voice fills with gibberish and static, for he's vanished within one of the pillars! And yet....

    Movement flickers in the wall of destruction, and X... BURSTS through into one of the safe zones, only to collapse on the water, sparking and crackling and looking extremely... well... melted. His feet and arms are heavily damaged, the left arm almost GONE entirely. Kind of a wonder that he's still functioning...

    "Ghh....hrrrgh..."
William Pauwel Shadow!Will and Shadow!X did pretty well! Will salutes his double as he finally sinks down into the depths with a tip of his hat. Good showing, other me. Way to hang on until the very end.

The one who doesn't make it through OK is... X.

Ah, jeez, X.

    Will breathes a sigh and starts digging around in his many toolbelts for what looks like an attachment for the Solano. It... looks like he's putting together some kind of... welding torch. Maybe he can put some of X back together!?

Wait.

Hold on. Distraction.

    Will stares into the sky when THAT VOICE calls out to them. His eyes widen in sudden recognition! "Hey!" He calls, waving his arms at the robo-girl, "Heeeey! It's you again! Sorry about uh... Meltin' you the last time! You mind answering a few of our questions 'fore you go!?"

X will start getting some basic repairs here in a second, though. Will's pretty good about at providing robot first aid, it turns out!

Or at least, that's how it works with Abyssals. Reploids can't be that much different, can they?
Sanary Rondel So much ass is hauled in such a short time! Sanary's got that big axe of hers to lug around, and she's definitely getting tagged by some of those energy blasts, but it's nothing some heavy healing magic and twenty bottles of painkillers won't solve in a few hours!

     Alas, she'll just have to stick with the healing magic for now. She can't quite keep those links to everyone maintained for much longer and eventually breaks the links, but that hovering light cloud does come down soon enough to work its way around the group to try and mitigate the worst of their injuries.

     "Only three? Huh... Hey! What was the fourth one?" A pause, a wince, and more healing magic getting directed to her arms before she speaks up again to try andg et that floating robot girl's attention. "... Also, what were the other three?"
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna is tempted to try and ask a question or two of the secretary-droid, but that DID sound like the kind of 'get out' that won't brook argument, or debate. Besides, getting back to the 'real world' sounds like a pretty good plan to her right now. Yuna's not going to go to the 'log-out' point on her own, but once the rest of the group is heading that way, she'll happily take the lead.
William Pauwel "Uhhh, first one was making it through the forest. Second was the tower. Third was this," Will counts to Sanary. "Fourth is... We haven't run into it yet!"
Lyner Barsett The robo-girl blinks, pausing in mid-air momentarily to peer down at Will. "What inquiries do you have to make?" And to Sanary, she plainly answered, while ticking off fingers. "The Living Forest. The Abandoned City. The Deserted Battlefield. And the Reflecting Pool. That is four."
William Pauwel "Well," Will calls to the sky, "We were kind of wondering what your Administrator's name was! Also, what are they doing with all the energy they're taking from the Tower?" Pause. "Sorry again for melting you! That was completely an accident!"
Lyner Barsett She blinks slowly, and then lowers her head, eyes closed as she seems to be mentally debating something. Or perhaps she's in contact with someone else. After a few moments, she answers, eyes opening. "The Administrator's name is Sotiris. That is classified information. And do not waste time worrying for the integrity of my chassis. I am operating at 100% functionality." She turns away now, and her funnels flare to life. "Now, be gone." FWOOSH. She bursts off, piercing the sky and vanishing.

     They still don't know her name, do they?
William Pauwel "Hey! Wait!" Will calls as the robot BLASTS OFF AGAIN, "I DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME YEEEEEET!"

...Damnit.

NEXT TIME